On the way to the Village of Dragons, the friends ran into a pair of brothers who introduced themselves as Rocko and Soren.

"And we challenge you to a double battle!" Rocko added.

"...only, not that kid," Soren said, pointing at Ash. "We challenge any of you to a double battle so long as it's the girl and the green haired guy."

"Is that because you think I'm going to be an easy challenge?" Iris asked, reaching for her belt.

"No, actually," Soren replied. "Just… we'd rather that it be a double battle, rather than Ash Ketchum's Pokémon smashing our team into a thousand tiny pieces."

"He's got a point," N admitted. "I don't think it's against the Pokémon Field Challenge Recommendations to specify which trainer or trainers you're challenging to a battle, out of a group."

There was an expectant pause.

"What?" N added. "I said I don't think there's a rule against it, not that it involved a specific rule. There's no violation here."

"I feel cheated now," Arc grumbled.

Iris sent out Excadrill.

"Do you mind skipping this one?" she asked. "I want to give Dragonite a go."

"Fine," Excadrill agreed. "It's good of you to ask."

"Right, then," Cilan decided. "And I'll send out Stunfisk!"

The Electric-type emerged with a flash, and Dragonite appeared as well a moment later.

"...so, how are we meant to work together?" he checked. "Because I've got an idea but it means I'd be doing almost all of the moving around."

"I don't think Stunfisk would mind," Cilan said.

"I guess I'll be the referee!" Ash decided, stepping back as Soren and Rocko sent out their Pokémon – a Braviary and a Drilbur respectively. "Okay, three, two, one, begin!"

"Spark!" Cilan called.

"Drill Bird!" Soren and Rocko said together, and Drilbur dove towards the ground with a whirr of drilling motion. His claws bit into the ground, grinding out a hole, and Braviary did a backflip before diving into the ground – just ahead of a spinning, sparking Stunfisk as Dragonite threw the Electric-type.

"Oh, that's really neat!" Ash added. "That must have taken a lot of training – Charizard does that sometimes but doing it with two Pokémon must be harder."

Drilbur broke out of the ground, diving aside, and Braviary shot through to hit Dragonite under the chin.

"Dragonite!" Iris called. "Catch!"

The Dragon-type looked up just in time to avoid being hit by the returning Stunfisk, caught him, then glanced at Iris for instructions.

"Speed up!" Iris decided.

"Fury Rock!" the brothers called.

"Stunfisk," Cilan called. "Sharpen and Bounce!"

"Oh, I get it!" Iris realized, as their two opponents started to barrage their Pokémon with rocks. "Dragonite, throw Stunfisk at a rock and then go in with Ice Punch!"

"That was a really interesting battle," Ash said, afterwards. "I think it was great!"

"Yes, quite right!" Cilan agreed. "And I think what you two need is some Water-types to round out your team in future… perhaps we should go fishing? I'm a connoisseur of fishing!"

"Hey, Ibid!" Ash said. "Can you pick some random Pokémon? I want to see if I can come up with fun two-Pokémon combinations for them!"

Iris winced.

"Is there a problem we should know about?" Soren checked. "Getting some Water types sounds interesting, if they fit with us."

"That's not what I was wincing about," Iris replied. "It's just the idea of Ash being creative."

"Mind if I do some training against you guys?" Ash added. "That way I can see if it works!"

"So, we're supposed to use our own judgement on this one," Drilbur said, glancing up at Braviary. "If our trainers don't think of something, at least… what do you think the chances are?"

"Probably pretty good, really," Braviary opined. "I mean… you know. Weird tactics, sure, but we've spent some time training to work together. We make a good team."

"True," Drilbur agreed.

"Let's go!" Ash said. "Okay, Boldore, Aten, you know the plan!"

Boldore slammed a claw into the ground, raising a large rock wall between them.

Drilbur immediately jogged forwards, claws glittering with Metal Claw, and slashed at the wall.

It didn't work.

"That's surprisingly tough," he admitted. "What is that, a Steel Wall?"

"Corundum!" Boldore called faintly from behind the wall.

"Okay, give me a lift?" Drilbur added. "It's a wall, which means you can go over it."

"Or through it!" Boldore added. "Fling!"

Aten passed straight through the wall and collided unerringly with Drilbur's face.

"Getitoff getitoff getitoff!" Drilbur yelped, staggering backwards, and Braviary tried only to discover that Aten was, in fact, incorporeal enough to avoid being grabbed while simultaneously corporeal enough to use Bite.

"I'm doing my best," Braviary admitted, flailing in a very ineffective sort of way. "Any suggestions?"

"This one should be really interesting," Mew decided.

"Really interesting?" Iris repeated. "More interesting than when he combined Clefairy and Zacian and somehow dug a very large hole?"

"Yeah, not sure what he was channelling there," Mew admitted. "But you've got Bayleef and Snivy doing a combination move… so it's very astronomical!"

"Bayleef, charge up with Morning Sun!" Ash ordered. "Snivy, Lunar Blessing!"

Snivy did a twirl, lighting up with silvery energy even as Bayleef glowed with the summery yellow light of the sun in full splendour.

"Okay, now, Snivy, move just in front of Bayleef!" Ash added.

Then there was a very loud implosion.

"I think that I am going to need to request my Grandprogenitor patch that one," Arc said, as they looked at the crater. "Please wait, compiling change request."

They pulsed. "Bug report. Under rare conditions a lunar and solar Pokémon interacting can produce a Black Hole Eclipse when it should only produce a regular eclipse. Incident report attached. Priority… I will say Medium."

"I've got her!" Pikachu called, catching Snivy, and Tepig helpfully used Bounce in the form of a large trampoline to arrest Bayleef's fall.

"Can we please do that water Pokémon thing now?" Rocko asked. "At this point spending hours staring at a fishing rod sounds wonderful."

"And here we are!" Iris announced, when they were there. "The dragon village!"

Zygarde raised a paw.

"Can I get a lift?" they requested.

Ash held out his hands, and scooped Zygarde up before holding the Pokémon so he could get a better view.

"The houses all seem to be human sized," Zygarde stated, sounding slightly disappointed. "I was hoping there would be dragon sized ones."

"No, most of the dragon Pokémon either live in Pokéballs or in the wild," Iris explained, as Ash let Zygarde down again. "But I'm really glad to be able to introduce you all to the people and Pokémon who live here!"

She chuckled. "I was going to say to introduce the people and Pokémon to you, too, but you've got so many exotic Dragon types between you that I'm sure they'll be amazed with you."

"What I wonder is whether the dragons here will be up for a bit of a spar," Zacian said, considering. "I could promise not to use Fairy type moves?"

"That would still mean you can use your giant sword," Iris admitted. "You can always ask, though… oh, yeah, that reminds me! I need to introduce you to Drayden, if he's here, because I can finally complete a piece of course work I was set when I was attending the Opelucid Academy!"

"If it's undone course work, it must have been a three course meal," Cilan said. "Did you forget the pudding?"

"No, I was set work to work out what was up with Ash Ketchum," Iris explained. "Nobody actually came up with the answer… and it might not quite count, but I think introducing Ash to Drayden should at least let Drayden try and work it out."

"I guess that sounds interesting," Ash decided. "I could ask him about what it's like running a Dragon type gym, I've only battled Clair's Dragon type gym and she seemed a bit distracted during that battle. And afterwards."

"Because that was the first time you battled a Gym Leader's Pokémon yourself, perhaps?" Zacian suggested.

"I don't see why that would be it," Ash replied. "There's all those rules about Zoruas and Zoroarks… anyway, I should send everyone out!"

He took his backpack off, and held it upside down. "Everyone, come on out!"

Over two dozen Dragonite, one Dratini, a miniature Latias, a full-sized Latios, Silver, Charizard, Rayquaza, Gible and Zekrom fell out or otherwise emerged in a tidal wave of opening Pokéballs and white light.

"We've arrived!" Ash explained. "Remember, don't cause too much trouble, okay?"

He pulled a mirror out of the bag as well. "Giratina? If you're busy it's okay, but it'd be kind of nice if you visited!"

"What are Silver and Charizard doing here?" Iris asked, taking a step back. "Are you even allowed that many Pokéballs at once?"

Ash shrugged. "Well, Charizard's obviously a dragon, I mean, look at him," he invited, and Charizard posed. "Plus, he's got a Charizardite X, and that makes him Dragon type. And Silver's an honorary dragon."

"By royal decree!" King Dragonite agreed brightly.

"Iris!" someone called. "It's nice to see you where on earth did all those Pokémon come from?"

"Mostly Kanto!" As called back. "That's all the Dragonite except for Iris' one she hasn't sent out yet, and Charizard, at least… Silver, do you count as from Johto or the Orange Islands?"

"Mister Ketchum," Drayden said, about an hour later. "I've wondered if I'd ever have the opportunity to meet you, and now I can ask you a few pertinent questions."

He frowned slightly. "Starting with… what."

"That's more of a word than a question, isn't it?" Ash asked. "Look, I'm a bit busy, so-"

He broke off, and sprinted away to catch up with Glastrier as the Wild Horse Pokémon galloped past. "Hey, can we talk?"

"Of course," Glastrier agreed. "If you're not going to get me involved in one of those crazy schemes Calyrex sometimes invents, be my guest."

"Sure!" Ash agreed. "I guess it's nice for you to be able to stretch your legs, right? But the problem is, a lot of Dragon types live around here, and it's a bit intimidating for them that you're galloping around like that."

"Dragon types live here?" Glastrier repeated. "That's strange. I haven't seen any."

"They're all hiding behind the nearest hills when you get nearby," Pikachu provided.

"That would explain it," Glastrier admitted. "Do you have a suggestion?"

"Well, you could go and see Kyurem over at Full Court," Ash tried. "He's a Dragon type, sure, but he lives mostly with Ice type Pokémon. And the Swords of Justice live around there, so I assume there must be great terrain to run around and stuff…"

A few minutes later, Ash skidded to a halt next to Drayden.

"Okay, I think I sorted that out!" he reported. "Glastrier says they'll see if Kyurem has any good suggestions, and if not Keldeo will probably be able to give him a lift. Anyway, what did you want to ask?"

Drayden put his fingers on his temples.

"I'm not sure there's any point asking," he confessed. "It'd be like asking a Basculin to explain how water works."

"But a Basculin's a Water-type, so they'd have a unique perspective," Ash frowned. "Right?"

"Gym Leader Drayden, I am forwarding you Professor Oak's lecture series Coping With Ketchum," Arc stated. "You may enjoy them."

Meanwhile, down in the village itself, a Zweilous had just evolved into Hydreigon.

"That's amazing!" Iris' friend Shannon said. "I didn't know they were that close to evolving!"

Hydreigon then caught sight of its reflection in the river, and snarled. "Go away! I live here, not you!"

"I didn't know they were that stupid," Emolga said, quietly, as Hydreigon started breathing fire out of all three heads. "You'd think three heads would be better than one."

One of the Pokéballs at Iris' belt flashed, her Dragonite emerged in a blur of speed, and rammed into Hydreigon with a headbutt and double-ice-punch that knocked all three heads for a loop.

Doing a mid-air overhead turn, Dragonite snagged Hydreigon in a head-head-headlock, then pointed the other Dragon-type down at the river.

"Now, I know you're probably really angry," he said, then briefly dunked Hydreigon in the water as they tried to use Draco Meteor. There was a wha-fooom, sending plumes of water and air all over the place and soaking everyone in the area, but when the echoes had faded Dragonite still had Hydreigon in a grip. "But listen carefully. The Dragonite holding your heads in place is me, and the Dragonite you could see in front of you is my reflection. Understand?"

Hydreigon mumbled something incoherent.

"Me," Dragonite repeated. "Reflection. It's a fairly basic concept. Do you need my trainer to get a mirror so we can demonstrate?"

"Wow," Shannon blinked. "Your Dragonite's got an unusual style."

"I know," King Dragonite sighed, wistfully, making both girls jump. "I tried to teach him the finer points of conflict resolution through hugging, but he didn't quite interpret it the way I hoped..."

"Nearly there," Cilan said. "Hmm… you know, I'm going to miss travelling together, after the League."

"Who says we have to stop after the League?" Ash replied. "I guess I should go to Kalos at some point, but there's still some cool stuff to see in Unova, right?"

"That's true," Cilan agreed. "I'll certainly be willing to travel with you a bit longer! I can't stay away from the Gym forever, but I'm sure it'll be okay to keep going for a bit. We'll see what it's like after the Vertress Conference, I suppose."

"I hope all the Pokémon battling in the Vertress Conference agreed to be there," N fretted. "I know that's almost certainly the case, but my father always made a big deal out of the Pokémon League as Pokémon being forced to battle."

"I don't think it's likely," Reshiram said.

"And if there are any, then they're Pokémon which we can rescue with a clear conscience," Pidove agreed. "There won't be many of them, if there's any at all."

"And you can easily let Pokémon know you're willing to help, without telling humans," Lillipup suggested.

N stopped, and looked back at the latest speaker.

"You're new, right?" he checked.

"Yes?" Lillipup agreed. "Was that a mistake? I heard you were going to Vertress, and I'm going that way as well. I can walk if you'd prefer."

"I'm starting to wonder if I should register myself as a bus," N admitted. "That way I wouldn't be violating whatever laws might prohibit carrying lots of Pokémon without you being a bus."

"Hey, excuse me!" someone called.

A boy came running down to them, with an Eevee trailing at his heels.

"Sorry about this," he began. "But I have to ask – it is you, isn't it?"

"Which one of us do you mean?" Cilan said. "If you're looking for a connoisseur, it's me you're after."

"I'm actually after Dragonizer!" the boy replied. "I'm Virgil, my family runs the Pokémon Rescue Squad – a team that helps rescue people stuck in danger, but we heard from Accelguard about you and I had to check if it was you."

"Oh, that's cool!" Iris admitted. "Yeah, that's me."

She eyed his Eevee. "You don't have a Sylveon, do you?"

"Well, no," Virgil answered. "I've got all the other Eeveelutions, but not a Sylveon. Eevee isn't sure if he wants to be a Sylveon yet, though."

"That's fine, it'd be bad to force an Eevee to be who they didn't want to be!" Ash said. "So what kind of things do the Pokémon Rescue Squad do?"

"I'm guessing they use Pokémon to rescue people," Pikachu speculated. "In a squad sort of way."

"Huh, that's pretty cool," Virgil admitted. "It'd be really helpful if I could do whatever it is one of your Pokémon's doing."

"If you've got an Espeon, I think Lokoko could teach you?" Ash suggested. "I should see if she's available."

"That'd be-" Virgil began, but then his watch began to make a beeping sound.

"Virgil," an older voice said from it, as Virgil brought his arm up to check his watch. "There's trouble at the dam, and Davy's stuck by ice. Can you help out? You're closer than I am."

"Sure thing!" Virgil agreed. "Sorry, I guess I have to deal with this-"

"We can help!" Iris said, rummaging in her hair. "Just give me a moment with this!"

Virgil looked at what she was holding out.

"That's a Mew," he said. "Which, admittedly, would be very helpful."

Iris blinked, then focused on the pink Pokémon in her hand.

"...how did I get you mixed up with the potion bottle?" she asked, letting go, and Mew shrugged with a squeaky giggle. "Anyway… Axew, where's the bottle?"

"Here!" Axew replied, holding it out with a stubby arm, and Iris took it before popping the top and taking a quick mouthful.

Then she transformed into a Salamence.

"Let's go!" she called.

Fifteen minutes later, Virgil's Eevee had become extremely large and fluffy and was blocking off the whole valley just below the dam – containing a spurt of water which was slowly rising up to the level of Eevee's ankles.

"There we go!" Ash said. "Now, just try and stay Gigantamaxed until we can get the dam fixed, then we can pump the water back up into the dam!"

He paused. "Oh, and, uh, I think this means Eevee might not actually be able to evolve. Zacian said something about that once, and she'd know… still, this is a neat compensation!"

"Thank you so much for the help," Virgil told him. "My first thought was to get Glaceon to freeze something to help fix the hole, but that was how we got in this mess in the first place with those Cryogonal…"

Iris came flying up to them.

"I've got news!" she called. "Turns out there's a baby Cryogonal stuck in the dam, that's why they're all agitated – Keldeo's trying to talk to it and work out how to get it out without scaring it."

"That sounds like something Glaceon could help with," Virgil decided. "Then we're going to need to re-power the dam's systems, that'll mean Vaporeon… I'm not sure how to fix the dam itself, though."

Ash frowned, thinking.

"I could ask for Dialga's help?" he suggested. "Or I think Jirachi's awake today. Or maybe Boldore knows something, if concrete counts as rock."

"Maybe we could form a franchise team," Pikachu suggested. "Unintentional rescue?"

AN:

His name is Virgil. It's a pity his father isn't called Jeff and his older brother Scott, really.

Though Ash does have a thunder bird.