Disclaimer: Pokémon is owned by The Pokémon Company, which in turn is owned by Nintendo, Game Freak, and probably others I forgot. The following fanfiction is me playing around in their sandbox, using characters they envisioned and created, except for the odd character that wasn't. I own nothing of this.

Chapter 8: Dragons

Max let a string of unintelligible grumbles slip from his mouth as he hauled himself up the rope ladder. Ash had said he needed to go north, and Max had talked Danny into taking the same route. It felt like old times, and Max liked that.

He did not like the route Ash was taking. Too much climbing, and this was the fourth or fifth rope ladder of the day. At least baltoy could lift the Pokémon egg up, he reflected as he grabbed it from the psychic-type's grip, and Ash had managed to persuade charizard into carrying the packs up. The draconic fire-type had looked like carrying the packs was beneath him, but he had relented anyway.

As Max released Danny's hand after helping him up this ledge, the charizard roared; the roar loud enough to leave ringing in Max's ears as it faded. A clang hung in the air as the packs were dropped, and a whoosh of flame told Max that charizard's tail flame was burning harder, even as he spun to see whatever had set the proud Pokémon off.

It was a small Pokémon, mouth dripping with purple venom, claw-like tail ready to strike. It showed no fear, not even when charizard took flight, mighty wing beats throwing dust up. It didn't skitter away when flames started building in charizard's mouth. Behind him, Max heard Ash climb onto the ledge.

"Charizard, stop!"

The voice came from Max's right, but it wasn't Ash who spoke up. Danny stepped forward, his left hand enlarging a pokéball. "I'll do this," he stated confidently.

Flames subsided, and charizard looked over Max's head, seeking out his trainer. Whatever Ash did, Max was not quick enough to catch, but the fire-type landed with a heavy thump and a fiery, dismissive, snort. Max didn't think he was pleased, but Ash walked up, whispering that it wouldn't be long now.

Long for what?

The thump had muffled the sound of a pokéball opening, and Max had been watching Ash and charizard interact, but a pained cry turned Max's attention back to battle. Duskull floated in the air, hovering two balls of eerie flame in front of her before sending one off to the enemy skorupi, which dodged, but an angry welt on its body meant that an earlier Will-O-Wisp had not been avoided.

It was never a real battle. Duskull stayed out of the range of the skorupi's mouth, claws, and tail, and the only time the poison-type tried a ranged attack – a volley of Pin Missile that wavered uncertainly in mid-air – she dodged, before a red glow surrounded her and the skorupi, Disabling the attack for a few minutes. Not even five minutes after Max had climbed onto the ledge, Danny had a new Pokémon, his sixth.

"Nice catch, Danny!" Ash said happily, reaching for his pack on the ground. "We're nearly to the top now. Just need to walk some more." Charizard was returned, and Ash took a few steps uphill. It was a gentle slope, but Max could still see it rise in the distance.

"Joy," Max mumbled, not enthused with the prospect of walking up a slope with a pack on his back any more than he had been three days earlier. They were high up: the air thinner than he was used to; the temperature thankfully quite a bit lower than at sea-level. The sun did beat down on them, mercilessly, and there had been no relief from it for the past few days. Even the best sunscreen they brought wasn't enough to avoid a reddish skin, but at least they weren't imitating corphish.

The part of Meteor Falls they climbed onto was home to a small lake. To the north, the falls rose a bit higher, host to a variety of powerful wild Pokémon. To the south, water fell down from the plateau, into the caverns that held the main path.

At the edge of the lake, a man, grey-haired and wearing a black coat, sat. A shelgon stood by his side, and a blue Pokémon Max didn't immediately recognise floated in the lake to the man's other side. A moment later, the sun peeked out from behind the cloud, and Max looked back at the man again, carefully not looking at the lake and the sun's reflection.

He realised who the man was a moment before Drake turned his head to see the three approach. "You make good time, Ash," he said by way of greeting. "Punctuality is a virtue, one not many of your generation understand."

"Thanks."

"No need to thank me yet," Drake replied. "We'll see how much you like me after the training." He let out a short, booming, laugh. "Of course, you relish strong battles, do you not? My Sinnoh colleagues told me you challenged two of them, and fought admirably."

The news that Ash had fought two of the Sinnoh Elite Four was news to Max. Ash'd never spoken about those battles. Before he could tell Ash off, Drake addressed him. "And you, young Max. Do you think you have what it takes to challenge the best in the future?"

"I certainly hope so!" Max stated confidently.

"Hope?" Drake echoed. "Hope is the refuge of the cautious. I cannot hope for a good wind when I sail. I must seek it out, with confidence and skill." He fixed a stare on Max. "Hope is the enemy of confidence. Do not leave to chance that which you can control."

"Okay, sir!"Max replied. A warm feeling spread throughout his body, but though he felt it, he didn't know what it was for.

"Good lad. Better to learn that now than later. Show me what you can do in December, in the League. As for you," Drake addressed Danny suddenly, "I can't recall your name, but you're Birch's nephew."

"Yes, sir," Max's best friend replied politely. "Name's Danny."

"Ah, yes, Danny. That was it. Tell me, Danny. Have you got what it takes?"

"I..." Danny started hesitantly. "I'm not as good as Ash and Max."

Max just stared at Danny after his admission. He tried to come up with something to say, but when he inhaled, Drake spoke up again.

"It seems Max disagrees," the Elite Four trainer observed. "There's a flaw in your statement, Danny. It's not about how good you are. It's about how good you can be." He returned the seadra that had been in the lake. "If you want to reach your full potential, you cannot doubt yourself. Doubt has neutered many trainers. Learn from them, work hard, and believe in yourself. That is the road to becoming a good trainer. No matter your skill." Without waiting for Danny to reply, Drake turned to face Ash. "So, Ash. Ready to start?"

"You bet!"

"Let's start with a rematch. Your pikachu and my shelgon."

~~§~~§~~

The egg? Where was the egg? It had been in his arms a moment ago. He didn't remember dropping it, or putting it somewhere. It wasn't at his feet, and he couldn't see very far: it was too dark. There was no moon, no starlight, nothing. Was he inside a cave? It didn't feel like a cave.

Light! Eyes closed automatically, opening cautiously to accommodate. There the egg was! When had he put it on a pedestal of all things? Why was there a pedestal here? Where did the light shining down come from? He didn't see a lamp or anything. Wait, was that a second source of light?

The egg was glowing. It was hatching! It was hatching! He couldn't wait to see what Pokémon would come out. Maybe a poliwag, or an azurill? Or a female nidoran? Perhaps a shinx? The glow became brighter and brighter.

One moment, he'd been watching his egg hatch, the next, an eardrum-shattering roar washed into the cave. It was dark out, but a gigantic ball of flame shot across the sky beyond the cave's exit, providing light for a half-second. Then, another roar followed, and Max pressed his hands to his ears, trying to block the sound out.

Fire shot across the sky, and lightning arced back, giving brief periods of enough light in the cave. The egg was still unhatched, Max saw as he hastily shoved the blanket he'd been sleeping in in his backpack. More roars echoed in the cave, a higher-pitched roar joining the first one.

"It's dragonite and salamence fighting!" Danny yelled from the cave entrance, having sneaked a look out into the night sky. "They're—"

Something slammed into the mountain above, causing dust and stones to fall from the cave ceiling. Moments later, an attack hit the mountain, causing more of the ceiling to drop debris. "We can't stay here!" Max yelled as he shored up his pack.

"Can't leave either!" Danny returned. "Hyper Beams everywhere out there!"

Max joined Danny at the entrance, seeing the combatants for the first time. The salamence was firing attack after attack at the dragonite: Flamethrowers, Hyper Beams, something that looked like Dragon Breath, and some bluish ball that looked like Dragon Pulse. All the while, it tried to get in close as well, wings aglow in silver, a red hue surrounding salamence's entire body. It made no effort to dodge any of the dragonite's attacks.

The dragonite was avoiding most of the attacks with precise turning and dipping or rising, and blocking most of the rest with its own Dragon Breath and electric attacks. Some attacks made it through, but the orange Dragon-type just let those splash on its body.

Two sets of blue beams shot upwards, heading directly for the salamence. It rolled over in mid-air to dodge one, and stopped the other with a quick burst of flame. Moments later, its claw glowed, parting the ball of water dragonite had sent before rushing at it, claw and wings glowing bright against the night sky.

Two altaria flew into view, firing off light blue beams and orbs of pink energy, but the salamence had a preternatural sense of where and when to dodge: banking, zig-zagging, breaking downwards whenever appropriate, sending random bursts of flame and energy at the altaria, before resuming its pursuit of the dragonite, which was trying to get a good angle on the salamence itself.

"Now!" Danny said as one of the altaria was hit by a small sphere as it charged another pink orb. "Run!"

They ran for it, Danny leading the way. Max heard attacks tear through the air, and more than once, one of the altaria cried as it was hit. He couldn't tell if the salamence was being hit: the angry roars were just as angry as before, and the amount of fire shooting across the right side of Max's vision just told him that the salamence wasn't out yet.

A loud cry, followed by an extremely loud crash directly above them made them slow down and look up. Max saw the outline of something white lying on the mountain's exterior, and it wasn't moving. Rocks clattered onto the path, and Max noticed an orange glow in the corner of his eye.

Max and Danny ran for it, but the attack wasn't aimed at them. The Hyper Beam never made it to its real target – the altaria flattened into the mountain – because another Pokémon used its own Hyper Beam to intercept it, Max saw when he turned his head at the sound of the second attack firing. Eyes closed instinctively, and when he reopened them, a second dragonite dropped a rider off before flying directly at the salamence, its antennae cracking with electricity.

The rider, dressed in black and orange, snapped into motion immediately, returning the altaria with her left hand and sending out a fifth Pokémon with her right. A flygon came out, but it didn't fly off to fight the salamence. Instead, it hovered near the rider, who took a moment to look around, spotting Max.

Whatever she said was lost in the sound of attacks colliding, but the motion of her hand was clear. Move!

Wingbeats told Max the flygon was just behind him as he followed Danny down the mountain, coming to a stop after a minute or so more. The reason was yet another rope ladder, and the bottom was barely visible, except when the sky lit up from an attack. "You okay?" Danny asked, slightly out of breath.

"Never better," Max replied, likewise short of breath. Running at this altitude was hard, and the pack plus egg did not make it any easier. "Feels like old times." He looked at the sky. The salamence was still visible, outlined in red, but its wings weren't glowing, and multiple electric attacks came close to it.

"Old times," Danny repeated flatly. "Sometimes, Max, sometimes..."

A whoosh, followed by a crash, heralded the end of the fight. Salamence crashed into the mountainside above them, sending a shower of small rocks trickling down, but none of those came close. One orange Pokémon landed, while the other circled overhead, but the salamence gave no sign of consciousness.

The rider came into view, holding something to her ear. In the silence, her voice carried a fair distance. "... scious now. Requesting medical to come up." She listened for a bit. "No sir, not to my knowledge. There are two boys, but they appear uninjured." She took a good look at them, taking a step back when she noticed something. "A moment, please."

The rider walked up to them in fast strides, her eyes fixed on Max. "You. Put the egg down," she ordered. Max hesitated. "Now," she added, and a snap of her fingers saw the flygon get close enough to Max that he could feel its breath – hot, dry, but devoid of anything Dragon-typed – on his face. He put the egg down, carefully, and the flygon swept it into its arms a moment later. "My apologies. I'll bring them to post five. It's closest to my current position." More chatter, audible, but incomprehensible. "Understood. Sophie out."

Max wanted to protest, but the trainer gave a look that brooked no disagreement. "You two. Down the rope ladder, then follow the path until you see a wooden outpost. Go inside and stay there. I'll join you later." She took the egg from the flygon's arms. "Flygon, escort them. Make sure they don't run off."

"But..."

"No buts. Move, unless you want me to call Officer Jenny outright."

Max was of half a mind to challenge her to do it, but Danny put a hand on his arm, tugging him towards the rope ladder. "Just go there. Fix it later."

The climb down and the walk did little to cool Max off, but with a flygon following them, making sure they moved at a reasonable pace, there was nothing he could do to express his disagreement, except shoot it, and Danny, foul looks. Neither of them seemed to care.

After about ten minutes of walking down a gentle slope underneath an ever lighter sky, the side of a porch came into view, soon followed by the front of a wooden house, built into one of the caves that littered the mountain. "Dragon Clan post 5" a sign hammered onto the porch railing read. The door was open, light shining from inside.

A man stepped into the doorway, clad in the same orange and black as the other Dragon Clan trainer had been. "Good morning to you!" he said far too cheerily, waving them in. "I know it's early, but I've got breakfast if you want it. Bacon, cereal, plain toast, just ask and I might just have it!"

"Not hungry," Max mumbled angrily as he entered the fairly spacious building. A table had been set for two, and a set of Pokémon food bowls was stacked up on a small coffee table off to the side.

"Really?" the man said as he closed the door. "A boy your age who's not hungry? Not even for pancakes?"

"Pancakes?!" Danny turned so fast Max swore he teleported. "You have pancakes?"

The man nodded, taking an apron from a chair before walking to the small stove and cool box near the entrance. "Sure do. Well, not yet. Have to make them first, and there's a problem." He leaned forward, inviting Danny and Max to come closer. Danny did so, Max didn't. "I am shit at making pancakes for one person," he whispered. "I make too few or I make enough to feed my entire family of ten. Two, on the other hand, I can do, because that's normal. So if you want some, you're going to have to convince mister grumpy."

It was way too early for this. "Oh, fine," Max said before Danny could start pestering Max. "I'll have some." Besides, he hadn't had pancakes in ages either.

"Great! You go take a seat and we'll talk more when there's food on the table."

The pancakes soon caused a delicious smell to fill the room, and Max found his stomach growling as a stack of pancakes was delivered to the table, even if it was barely six in the morning. "Tuck in!"

There was no need for talk as the boys demolished the first few pancakes, and Max had just grabbed his second one – Danny was already halfway through that one, he saw – when their cook spoke up again. "Oh, I completely forgot. Please, forgive my horrible, horrible lack of manners." A chair scraped against the wooden floor as the man grabbed it, setting it at the head of the table. "My name's Nicolas. I'm a Pokémon Ranger and member of the Hoenn Dragon Clan," he introduced himself. "And may I know who are obliterating my pancakes?"

"He's Max, I'm Danny," the older boy stated after quickly, and loudly, swallowing a bite. "We're trainers from Petalburg."

"Doing the Gym Leader circuit then? Off to see old Terry in Coral Cape for a Cave Badge?" Nods greeted Nicolas. "That explains why you're on the mountain, but why are you here in my outpost, eating my delicious pancakes?" Seeing Danny swallow again, he quickly added, "Wait, wait, don't tell me. You were on the mountain when the salamence went crazy? Sleeping in a cave or something? And then Sophie rescued you and sent you here?" He leant forward. "Please tell me I'm right."

"Just two," Danny stated, and Nicolas's face fell comically. "Salamence fought with the dragonite and altaria. Lots. We just ran. No rescuing."

"A good decision," Nicolas said. "You don't want to be around enraged dragons. It's not good for your health. I've got the scars to prove it." He rolled up his left sleeve, revealing a pink trail of skin across his lower arm. "Wouldn't have them any other way. When we have a tough battle, no holds barred, it's the best feeling in the world," Nicolas said. "Adrenaline just floods your system, and the thrill of battle just takes you over, filling you with confidence and daring." He gave a wan smile. "Sometimes, overconfidence."

"How does that work?" Danny asked, curious. "Is that just your bond and you being really into it?"

Nicolas shook his head emphatically. "No. Well, kinda. It's the bond between a Dragon and its trainer. Not even all Dragons, too. Just some. Dragons thrive on combat, more so than any other type. It's why Dragons are typically so powerful. They fight, and fight, and fight, just to get better." He paused. "What do you think, Max?"

Max wasn't sure about that feeling. He felt pretty into it when fighting for a badge, and it sounded like Nicolas was just describing that. "Most Pokémon can be powerful with the right training," Max answered, thinking of many of Ash's exploits, and some of his Dad's Pokémon, like slakoth or whismur. "Dragons just have a good typing."

"Can you explain your answer?" Nicolas asked. "What makes you say that?"

Max shrugged, pushing away his plate, which made a scraping noise on the table. Two pancakes was plenty. "Dragon skin is pretty tough. Heat and electricity don't really touch it; water often just slides off, unless it's a Hydro Pump attack or something; and Grass doesn't work either. Those are four really common types, and they're only weak to Ice, Fairy, and other Dragon-type attacks. Lots of aquatic Pokémon learn some icy attack, but Dragon attacks aren't common. Besides other dragons. Fairy is the best counter, but there aren't many Fairy-type Pokémon, and they're rare in Hoenn." Marill, ralts, jigglypuff, clefairy, togepi... Maybe a few more. "Probably about fifteen different Fairy-type Pokémon in Hoenn?," he ventured. "Dragons just have few counters, and most of them can just absorb a lot of blows too."

Nicolas nodded, looking satisfied. "A good explanation. But that's only defence. You don't win by just defending, do you? What about their offence?"

"They hit hard, and most of them don't care if it's up close or from range. Lots of them learn control over fire..." Max trailed off, thinking of more examples. "Some of them can even learn Ice-type moves, like altaria and kingdra." He remembered something. "And dragonite can learn everything." Opposite him, Danny snorted.

"That they can," Nicolas said. "Well, not everything, but quite a lot. Had a good breakfast?" he changed tact, and the boys nodded. "Good. You have any small Pokémon that could do with some food?"

"We're rookies. We only have small Pokémon," Danny shot back, grinning. "Let them out?"

"Sure. Grab as many bowls as you need," Nicolas replied as he gathered the plates and cutlery, taking them to the kitchenette. When he returned, big sack of Pokémon food in his arms, he raised an eyebrow at the sight of all the Pokémon. "That's an eclectic collection of Pokémon. Definitely a few I wasn't expecting to see."

"Like?" Danny asked.

"Baltoy, duskull," Nicolas said, offering no explanation as he poured food into bowls. "Which ones are yours, Max?"

"Treecko, baltoy, ninjask, electrike."

"In order of capture?" Max gave a soft sound of confirmation. "Okay. I've got a problem for you to solve. Wanna do it?"

"Sure." It wasn't as if they were doing anything else while waiting for Sophie. "What is it?"

"Suppose, for a second, you come across another Dragon-type. It's a basic stage Pokémon, but it's just as enraged as the salamence, just an itty bit less destructive," Nicolas started.

"No Hyper Beams everywhere?" Danny interjected.

"None," the Dragon Clan member confirmed. "This Pokémon is bound to land, and is most adept with close-in attacks, though it knows one or two ranged options. With your Pokémon only, Max, how would you stop the dragon's rage?"

That was a tough question. The salamence was forcibly overpowered, but Max didn't have anything that worked half as well as most that was flung at it. That really left only one option. "I think... Tire it out first." Nicolas made a gesture for Max to continue. "Ninjask would need to use his speed to dodge, and same for treecko. Maybe lure it into a ramming a tree or a cliff. Baltoy could throw up rocks to hinder it. Maybe electrike could generate enough electricity to paralyse it, but that's hard."

"An interesting solution." Max couldn't read Nicolas's tone. "Decidedly non-confrontational. Why's that?"

"If it's enraged, the Dragon won't care about most of the attacks my Pokémon send at it. If you can't beat them by force, try speed and guile."

"I see. Last question. Is there anyone besides the two of you who knows you had a Pokémon egg?"

"Yes."

"Can you contact them?"

"Yes," Max said, taking the Pokénav off his belt, navigating to his – surprisingly empty, why hadn't he added some of his former classmates yet? – contacts. "Want me to… Hang on, I never said anything about an egg."

"But I did," came a voice from outside the door. A moment later, the trainer who had taken the egg away walked into the cabin. "No eggs were missing as far as we could tell."

"Excellent," Nicholas replied. "Though that raises questions why the salamence would fly into a rampage." He slung an arm around the female trainer's back. "Is everyone alright, Sophie?"

"One of the altaria got pasted into the mountain, but that's the worst. Had to intercept a Hyper Beam for it." Max remembered that happening. "Right..."

"Max," Nicholas supplied helpfully.

"Max. I believe I have something of yours." Sophie stepped aside, revealing her flygon behind her, egg cradled in its arms. When Max made to step towards the flygon, she blocked the path again. "Before you get it back, tell me something. Where did you find a rare egg such as that one?"

"Route 114."

"And you have someone that can corroborate – confirm – the story?"

"We were about to do that when you interrupted," Danny said from Max's left. "Go call Ash, Max."

Max found Ash's number, and pressed the buttons to call him and to put the output on the Pokénav's tinny speakers. The ringback tone rang through the cabin. "Ash, Ash… That name is famili..." Nicholas mused until a click interrupted the tone.

"Max?" came a sleepy-sounding voice. "'s six. Why you call?"

"Good morning, Mr. Ash," Sophie called out. "My name is Sophie Jones-Wrangler, Ranger at the Meteor Falls Dragon Reserve. Your friend Max claims that you have seen him with a Pokémon egg."

"'s right." Max suppressed a smile at Ash's, admittedly diminishing, sleepiness. "Found it off route 114, week or so ago?"

Sophie nodded. "And what colour is it?"

"Blue and grey," Ash replied instantly. "He's not in trouble, is he? Can you put him on?"

Max didn't wait for Sophie's approval. "Morning Ash. How's training?"

"Brutal like you wouldn't believe. Pikachu has bruises on his bruises. Drake's a harsh taskmaster." A sleeping bag scraped over rocky ground. "What did you do to get mixed up with Rangers, Max?"

"To summarise, Mr. Ash, I confiscated the egg after helping the boys escape a rampaging salamence. I mistakenly thought that the egg could have been a trigger for the dragon's wrath," Sophie admitted. "I found out that is not the case, but it is Ranger policy to check the source of protected eggs regardless."

"Right. So the egg is Max's egg. Can he have it back now?"

"Of course." Sophie stepped aside, and the flygon offered the egg without hesitation. "Thank you for your time, and apologies for waking you up."

"No problem," Ash spoke forgivingly. "Max? Call when you're in a Center or when the egg hatches. Drake wanted to talk."

That took Max aback. "Drake? Why?"

"To tell you all about caring for young bagon, of course."

~~§~~§~~§~~§~~

Pokémon Rangers protect specific areas. Often, the Pokémon in there are of the same type or have some sort of relationship with each other. Hoenn has six such areas protected by Rangers. They'll help you, but only if you don't upset the local Pokémon! If you do, you could be in a lot of trouble!

From: Kinds of Pokémon Trainers, Kid Edition.

Author's Note: No more Ash for now, and one new team member. And a rampaging Pokémon, but those were fairly common for Ash and company anyway. Max isn't too bothered once they're out of danger. Danny is rather less used to it.