Supplements for the Heart

by stringdog

Not all events can make it into the main story. Some just don't fit or add enough to the plot to merit inclusion. This doesn't mean that they shouldn't be told. Here is a collection of events that occur during 'Dreams Come From the Heart' that didn't make the cut but do supplement the series in some way. A fun, lighthearted, pearlshipping collection set during the Hearts Series.

7. How To Train Your Dratini

Here is the seventh Supplement for the Heart, released at the right time within the Heart Series timeline. The events of this Supplement take place between the events of Parts XXIX and XXX the day after Ash caught his Dratini in Part XXIX, hence the really cheesy name of this Supplement that I couldn't resist. This is a standard Supplement in the sense that it covers part of Ash and Dawn's journey that is bound to occur but including it in the main series would add to its length and detract from the main plot, though some of what is done in this Supplement will be referenced briefly in Part XXX. That is all I have for the administrative stuff, announcements for the next Supplement and the Spinoff chapter releases will be at the end of the part. There was one question in the reviews asking for a Supplement to showcase a few other Kanto characters for the day and while there is one on them in the works, it will be different from other Supplements in its release being after the events of a specific Part that comes chronologically after that Supplement and is done to explain some of the events in that Part but that is about 2 months away. Anyway, that is all for the pre Supplement note, anything else will be addressed at the end. Now it is time to sit back, relax and enjoy the latest Supplement for the Heart: How To Train Your Dratini.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon.

How To Train Your Dratini

"Alright Dratini, the best way to train and get stronger is to battle." Ash said to his new Dratini who was at his side at the moment. "Which is what we are going to do today. You ready? I want us to be as good as possible for when we face Sabrina in a few days."

It was the day after Ash had helped out and then caught Dratini. They were still in the field and were set to head to Saffron that evening but both Ash and Dawn stull had some practice to do of their new Pokémon for their respective upcoming events in Saffron City. That was what they were doing now, it was time for training.

"Dratini." Dratini said with a nod, he was ready to grow in strength and ability for his trainer. "Dratini."

"Good, today we will be facing Dawn and her Gloom." Ash said as Dawn took her place opposite him in the field at roughly the right distance as an official battlefield. "They need to practice for their Contest in Saffron while we practice for our own challenge so it works out well for both of us. The purpose of training today is not to inflict damage however, but rather work on defense, evasion and speed."

"Dratini." Dratini said with a nod as he slithered to be in front of Ash and look at his grass and poison type opponent.

"Alright, ready Dawn?" Ash asked his girlfriend.

"Of course." Dawn said with a grin. "Gloom, ready to show Dratini what we can do?"

"Gloom." Gloom said with a nod ready to show her trainer just that before looking at Dratini and issuing her own challenge. "Gloom."

"Alright we are going to work on speed with your Sleep Powder." Dawn said to her Pokémon. "Dratini may get hit or it may evade the attack but that isn't the focus of our training. Our focus is getting the attack off as fast as possible, timing will be key if we get to the battle stage of the Contest."

"We can just wait for the attack to start to dodge." Ash said. "It will be good for us as well. Let's begin."

"Gloom, Sleep Powder." Dawn ordered not waiting for anything else, she had to be ready to strike as soon as the order was given. "Fast as possible."

"Gloom!" Gloom yelled as she leaned forward and sent out the purple powder from her bulb.

"Dodge with Agility." Ash countered using one of the two additional moves his pokedex had said that Dratini could use in addition to Dragon Rage and Thunderbolt. "If Gloom can hit you at that speed that would be impressive."

"Dratini." Dratini said as he activated the move and sped up.

The Sleep Powder wasn't the fasted move and Dratini easily dodged the cloud of powder and charged at Gloom. Dawn grimaced, they would need to work on the speed of the attack if her idea was going to work. Perhaps if it was faster but less potent it could give them the needed moment to charge up a Solar Beam or land a Razor Leaf.

"Now Dratini, Slam!" Ash ordered using Dratini's 4th move.

Dratini leapt up into the air and came down belly first right on Gloom, or at least where Gloom had been when he had leapt. At the last-minute Dawn had ordered her to dodge as gracefully as possible so Gloom had pirouetted away on her toes in a way she had seen Piplup do when practicing and had been working with Dawn on. Dawn grinned, it was exactly what she had hoped for.

"Sleep Powder again." Dawn said adding her new alteration to the move. "Sacrifice potency for speed this time."

"Gloom." Gloom said stopping, lowering her head and sending out the purple powder again following her trainer's orders.

This time it wasn't as strong as it normally was. Rather than focusing on making sure that it was at full potency, Gloom gathered just enough of the attack to ensure that most opponents would fall asleep, or at least get drowsy, and sent it at Dratini. It sped up the move by a few seconds, it wasn't much but it was enough to make a difference in a battle. Of course that didn't matter at the moment as Dratini was too close to dodge even if he had the space and took the powder to face. Instantly he was out.

Dawn gave Ash a smirk at successfully landing the move. If this had been a Contest she would have backed it up with a second attack to deal damage like Razor Leaf, remove points and take the lead or extend it if she already had it. However this was training though so she wasn't going to attack. That said, even if she had wanted to attack right away she may have had a problem against Dratini.

Mere seconds after Dratini fell asleep it glowed but not the white of evolution, rather it was lighter and Dratini could still be seen within the light. Then in front of their eyes its head popped up as its skin fell off it and a completely wide awake Dratini emerged as it returned to normal and blinked at a now surprised Gloom.

"What was that?" Dawn asked confused. "Does Dratini not get affected by sleep inducing attacks or something?"

"No the only thing that that could be is Shed Skin." Ash said with a grin at the realization. "It's an ability some Pokémon have, including Dratini apparently. That will be a useful surprise for us. Slam Dratini while Gloom is distracted!"

Before Dawn or a shocked Gloom, who had not expected her Sleep Powder to wear off so quickly despite its lower than average potency, could react Dratini attacked. Apparently the newest Pokémon to join them had an ability that negated a status-based attack like Sleep Powder. Gloom was still processing this when Dratini slammed his full body into her and sent her flying backwards to hit the ground hard and roll away. Dawn winced, that was a direct hit and would have taken out a good bit of her points in addition to the damage that Gloom suffered.

"Dratini follow it up with Dragon Rage!" Ash said pressing his advantage that Dratini's ability had suddenly given him. "Time to put Gloom on the defensive."

"Gloom, this is what we practiced for." Dawn said as Gloom got up, shaken slightly but still in the fight. "Razor Leaf but don't attack with it. Form counter shield just like we practiced!"

"Gloom." Gloom said as she sent up her leaves directly into the air before turning them around herself in a cone of leaves instead of sending them at Dratini.

It was just in time as Dratini had unleashed his dragon type move and the dragon shaped blue fire sped towards Gloom. It slammed into the leaves and exploded on contact. The attack kicked up a lot of smoke that obscured Gloom as expected but prevented any damage. The counter shield had held and Gloom was fine. Still Ash wasn't done yet.

"Trust your instincts Dratini." Ash said encouragingly. "Thunderbolt!"

Dratini obeyed opening his mouth and forming the ball of electricity in his mouth feeling the power of his latest move. Then he sent it out in flash of electric type power right at the cloud of dust that obscured Gloom. His aim was true, he knew precisely where the other Pokémon had been. The dust may prevent Dratini from seeing Gloom but it also meant that Gloom couldn't see him so had the edge so long as he sent his attack into the dust cloud.

The Thunderbolt cut through the dust and cleared it in a parting move revealing no Pokémon present. It missed Gloom, who was no longer there, but did strike Piplup in the side as he idly walked past right at that moment and blasted the poor Penguin Pokémon a good 10 feet away to land in a charged, smoking, and very pissed off heap with swirls for his eyes.

"What!" Ash exclaimed as Dratini blinked in confusion at striking Piplup, who was going to make them suffer for that, and not Gloom. "Sorry Piplup that was meant for Gloom but she's disappeared."

"Simple sleight of hand Ash, I did learn from the best remember." Dawn said with a grin and a seductive wink at Ash as he turned to see a Gloom a few feet away glowing in the sun. "Well that and Gloom's ability is Chlorophyll which increases her speed in the sun, I confirmed that during our practice yesterday while you were fishing. Now Gloom, Solar Beam!"

"Gloom!" Gloom yelled as she leaned forward and sent out the beam of grass type power she had been storing up while Ash had been focused on the dust cloud right at Dratini.

"Dodge with Agility." Ash ordered but it was too late.

The Solar Beam slammed into Dratini and sent him flying back and into Ash, blasting Ash off his feet and onto his ass hard enough to bruise it. Ash grunted as he held Dratini close to help protect him from more damage. He could tell that Dratini was beat after that and needed a good rest and some potion to heal up. It had been a good move by Dawn, she had gotten the better of him using a tactic he himself had employed in the past.

"I yield." Ash said ending the battle. "You win Dawn."

"Yes we did it Gloom." Dawn said jumping up with her Pokémon who then proceeded to grab Dawn's hair in her mouth and drag her down in the process.

"Dratini?" Dratini asked Ash as he came too looking up at his trainer upset at his loss.

"That was good Dratini." Ash praised soothing his upset Pokémon. "We were beat by a skillful use of deception, something we should learn from so that it doesn't happen again. We will practice on situational awareness as well as speed and precision in the future. I failed to notice the surroundings, that's on me not you."

"Pikachu." Pikachu said with a nod coming over to give his own support to his new teammate and blame the loss on Ash. "Pika Pikachu."

"Dratini." Dratini said with a nod understanding it and promising to work hard on it as well. "Dratini."

"In other environments you would have won Dratini." Dawn said finally getting up and joining them with Gloom still dangling from her hair.

Dawn then sat down and gave Dratini a poffin that he enjoyed as much as all of Dawn's own Pokémon did. She was going to have to make extra after the Contest as Piplup was clearly not happy with her for some reason so she needed to bribe him, again.

"Remember, environment is key in a battle." Dawn continued as Dratini ate. "When I am outside, the sun is out and I am using Gloom I have an edge due to speed. In water you would have the advantage against all of my Pokémon other than Piplup."

"Dawn's right, I always use it if I can and we will practice that over time." Ash said with a warm smile at Dratini. "I don't intend to rotate you out of my roster unlike the others Dratini, you and Pikachu will be on my main roster for the entire year so we will practice a lot."

Just then Ash's stomach growled loudly and they all laughed. It had been a busy morning and it was clearly time for lunch. Getting up, Dratini using the move to slither up and drape himself over Ash's shoulders much to Pikachu's annoyance as Ash's shoulder was his perch, Ash offered his hand to Dawn and they headed back to their camp, Gloom still hanging from Dawn's hair.

"That was really clever Dawn." Ash praised as Dawn blushed cutely at his compliment. "I think Gloom will do fine in the battle stage."

"Yeah I am confident she will." Dawn said as they reached the camp to Dratini, prepare the food for the Pokémon, Gloom finally letting go of Dawn's hair so that she could run over to Pinsir to brag about her win, and then make their own food. "And Pinsir is looking really good for the appeals."

"Yeah we saw last night, I can't wait to see their Contest debut." Ash said as he fired up the small camp stove they had and got out the food that was simple enough for them to make while Dawn began to prepare the Pokémon food for their Pokémon. "You will rock the house again."

"I hope so but if we lose then that is a learning experience for how to improve." Dawn said as she set out the food for the Pokémon. "That is the point in Saffron, experience. There is plenty of time to win the 5 ribbons I need but if I must lose a Contest or two to get my new Pokémon up to speed then so be it. Naturally I'd love to get 2 already out of the way this early but unlike Cerulean, this Contest is about ensuring that my new Pokémon get the necessary experience rather than securing a win."

"What about Eevee?" Ash asked looking at the shiny Pokémon who was eating her food on one side of Pikachu, Buneary on the other and Pikachu looking very uncomfortable as he was squashed in-between his two admirers. "When will she debut?"

"I am thinking in the appeal round of my third contest." Dawn said as she began to get their own dishes out for when Ash was don cooking. "She sparkles, literally, when she bursts out of Poke Ball which will look great when it happens so it will add to her appeal. Then she can perform her opening move right after. I have her whole routine already planned out so that we can start practicing after your battle with Sabrina. After that I will see about when to use her in the battle stage."

"Sounds good." Ash said as their food was finished and he began to serve them. It wasn't as good as Brock or Cilan's food but it was edible which was good enough. "She will do great after watching her first Contest in Saffron."

"I know she will." Dawn agreed as they sat down and began to eat. "Eevee is already interested in Contests, she watches us intensely when practicing, so hopefully she is hooked after her first Contest. Speaking of debuts, Is Dratini ready for its debut against Sabrina?"

"I think so, I know it will be tough but Dratini can do it." Ash said with a nod. "I will use it first as that should be the weakest Sabrina has to offer against me so a good first experience. Usually I wouldn't throw a new Pokémon in like this but as it is a full battle and I want to keep Dratini on my roster until the Indigo Conference I have to do this. After the first battle it will be an as see basis for my other Pokémon."

"Do you have any idea what Pokémon she will use?" Dawn asked as she slurped down the instant noodles Ash had made them. "And what you will do to counter them?"

"I know that Sabrina will have a Kadabra or Alakazam, its evolved form, on hand." Ash said thinking back to his first encounter with Sabrina. "That is a given with her being a psychic type leader and would be in line with what I have faced before. Other than that I am not sure. If I had to place a bet on it I would say that she has pretty much all psychic types so we have to prepare for any of those Pokémon. Duel types aren't a problem, it is the pure psychic types that will be an issue.."

"Won't she just use Kanto psychic types?" Dawn asked a little confused. "That would make the most sense given the region. I know that the others didn't but the nonnative Pokémon were either caught while Brock or Misty were with you or were evolutions discovered in Sinnoh if I recall. The only exception was that Manectric that Surge used I think."

"I am expecting at least 3 to be from Kanto but that doesn't limit it that much." Ash said thinking over the variety of psychic Pokémon native to his home region. "Mr. Mime, Hypno, Exeggutor, Slowbro, Jynx, and Starmie are all psychic types. Only the first two are pure psychic, the others are secondary psychic types so easier to beat. Remember she's a gym leader, she will throw at least one curveball like the other leaders."

"You expecting a curveball?" Dawn asked. "Like what?"

"Most likely a Pokémon from one of the other nearby regions." Ash said. "She could use Espeon, Gallade, Gardevoir, Girafarig, or many more that she could have caught. It will be hard to say. For all I know Sabrina may use a non-psychic type Pokémon and throw me for a loop, Forrest didn't rely solely on rock types in our battle and few gym leaders use full parties in battle so it could be any Pokémon."

"I see." Dawn said as she finished her meal. "So it really could be anything but almost certainly part psychic type."

"Precisely." Ash said. "This unknown is what makes this so much fun and such a challenge. All the leaders after Misty I only know from my original battles against them so I have no idea what to expect beyond what I faced last time and that was 6 years ago. In addition the Fuchsia City Gym Leader is not the same as last time so that is an entire new battle that I have no idea what to expect. This is just the kinda challenge and training I wanted this year when we decided to stay in Kanto."

"Well you always pull it off and know what to do." Dawn praised and Ash smile back at her with a smile that still set her heart aflutter despite managing to land him. "I am sure you will be ready for whatever comes. I assume you have a strategy."

"I do and we will work on it after lunch." Ash said looking over the Pokémon he had chosen to face Sabrina with. "Unfortunately the only psychic type I have is Mr. Mime and I have never battled with him so he won't be much practice but we will be ready. Plus as always I have an ace in hole just in case."

"A type advantage." Dawn said looking at Ash's Pokémon as they ate and noting the one who had the advantage, or at least who Dawn thought had the type advantage as she it was the only one who's typing she wasn't sure about. "That will surprise Sabrina."

"That is what I am hoping for." Ash said with a grin. "But as with Seismitoad I want to focus on neutral and disadvantages first and then move onto type advantages to truly challenge myself.

"Makes sense." Dawn said knowing that Ash would make these battles as hard for himself as possible. "It is better practice."

"That it is." Ash agreed before changing the topic. "What about you? What will you do after lunch?"

"I was actually wondering if we could do more training with Dratini and Gloom if that works for you." Dawn said. "I want to work on a fast version of Sleep Powder and I think Dratini is the best to do it given that Shed Skin ability. This way we can get it up to speed while you can work on how best to utilize it in battle when it happens."

"That's a good idea." Ash said with a nod as he finished his meal. "We can work on agility at the same time as well, with Dratini's size and power levels speed is one of the advantages we need. It won't be battle practice but more speed practice. Pikachu, can you get the others to practice their moves for Sabrina while Dratini and I do our own work?"

"Pikachu." Pikachu said turning to his team and began barking orders at them. "Pi Pikachu."

The other Pokémon all listened, got up without complaint and made their way away from camp to begin working on their best moves with Pikachu. Ash was surprised that it had actually worked. He hadn't expected his Pokémon would all get up and began working their hardest for him. It touched him to know that they were all there for him.

"Dratini." Ash said as his most recent Pokémon slithered over having not joined Pikachu after hearing that Ash wanted him for more specific training. "We are getting back to the same training from earlier. You ready?"

"Dratini." Dratini said with a nod eager to resume getting stronger.

"Good." Ash said getting up and heading back to where they had battled before, a happy Dratini on his heels.

"Come on Gloom." Dawn said with a smile as Ash was already ready. "We can't stop Ash when he gets like this, his dedication is just one reason why I love him but that's not relevant now. Now it is time to perfect speed Sleep Powder."

"Gloom." Gloom said with a nod as she got up and joined her trainer for their training while the others watched them.

Ash waited for Dawn to get there to get to work, ready to continue as soon as possible. This was what he lived for, training a new Pokémon, traveling a region and having a great time along the way. The fact that the girl he loved was with him only added to the fun of his journey.

Ash couldn't wait for Saffron City; he knew that it was going to be a great adventure there. As Dawn joined him Ash grinned, it was time to get back to training his Dratini.

A nice, short, standard Supplement that is basically what I envisioned the Supplement to be, telling the mundane stories of travel and training that would detract from the main series, as well as side oneshot adventures like the last Supplement. This is a straightforward Supplement so nothing more to really address here. The next Supplement will take place after Part XXX but concurrent to the first half of Part XXXI so unlike most Supplements it will be released at exactly the same time as Part XXXI as the Part is Ash centric but Dawn is doing her own thing at the start which for an obvious reason is in the Supplement. I haven't forgotten about the spinoff with Brock and Lucy but that is the lowest priority for me and with the real world coming for me it may be on hiatus but I have the stories at least planned. I am hoping to update Luck this week as chronologically within Dreams this is when the events would take place but I will make no promises. That is all for this post Supplement note. As always please continue favorite and follow both me and this story to keep abreast with new releases and keep the reviews coming. Until next time.

Stringdog