Convincing Delia was honestly the hardest thing. Drayden loved having Ash as his pupil and Professor Oak knew that the boy would wither in Pallet Town but flower at the Academy. However, how can you convince a mother to leave her son in another country for over five years and then some more when he goes on his journey. She would have only been with him for ten years before losing him.
Thankfully, Delia used to be an assistant in Professor Oak's Lab before Ash was born and his name always makes a good impression in anyone's resume. So, she easily found a job at the Nature Preserve as a researcher and aid. She sold her café and with that money and Drayden's help she bought a house in Opelucid City for her and Ash. She then left their house for rent, so they could have a nice extra source of income and could start saving for Ash's journey. Many people from Viridian City loved going to Pallet City for the weekend or a week vacation to relax in the peaceful town. So, there were always people ready to rent.
As for Ash, he had been studying English for half a year now and was picking up the language very fast- he seems to have quite the affinity for languages. But he still needed some time before he would be proficient enough to attend the Academy, so he would continue being homeschooled the rest of the year while helping out at the Preserve and training his Altaria.
Talking about Ele during the following six months she mastered Dragon Breath and Dragon Dance. She also learned three more moves: Aerial Ace, Double Team, and Dragon Claw. She advanced incredibly in her training especially since Ash wanted to take it easy after she evolved and get used to her new body. He had her learn no new move, not even practice the one she had learned through evolving, and only practice the ones she already knew- and that only after he had her flying everywhere for two weeks straight. But it did work, Ele now flies as if she had always been an Altaria.
If Nephele and Ash were inseparable when she was a Swablu, once she became an Altaria they never left each other's side. Delia would enter his room and find them cuddling, he looked so adorable all bundled up in Ele's fluffy cotton-like wings. This leads them to the situation they are in; Delia and Drayden leaning against the door of Ash's room as he naps on his Altaria. However, Ele was not asleep, if anything, she was enveloping Ash with her wings protectively as she glared at the adult humans, daring them to wake up her charge. Unfortunately, as adorable as they are, they needed to wake up Ash for this.
"Ash, sweetie, wake up." Delia shaking her almost eleven years old boy.
"Mmm, m-what's wrong mom?" Yawned Ash, blinking as he woke up.
"There are some issues we need to attend in Sinnoh, as we can't leave you on your own, you'll need to come with us." The Dragon Master explained.
"Drayden-sensei?" Ash asked, confused.
"I already packed you a bag, sweetie." Delia comforted him. "Why don't you wash up and change? We'll explain everything in our way there."
It seems like an old friend from Drayden, Wilma, from the Dragon Tribe needed their assistance. She had moved to Sinnoh to become a Move Tutor, a very sought after Move Tutor for her success rate in the difficult move Draco Meteor. But she stumbled upon a trainer who severely abused her dragon pokemon. The trainer was smart and knew how to hide the abuse, but Wilma was older and more experience, she noticed and reported it to Officer Jenny who arrested the trainer. However, now Wilma had an abused and scared Altaria in her possession in deer need of help. Being an international affair someone of power and prestige had to be there for the transition, which is why Drayden was going- Delia accompanying him as his aid.
They took an Alakazam teleportation to Sinnoh and then Drayden and Delia got into a car to Wilma's house. Ash decided to mount Ele and follow the car from the air. He had a lot in his head. He had seen many pokemon in need of rehabilitation, abused and injured by humans. But hearing a trainer abusing their Altaria… Ash's heart gave out for the pokemon. He held on tighter on Ele's feathers, catching the attention of the pokemon.
"Al-Altaria!" Nephele's soprano's voice resonated through the morning forest.
"I am just mad at the trainer, Ele," Ash assured her, patting her neck softly. "I just can't believe that someone would ever hurt their pokemon. I mean I have seen it; we have helped many pokemon in those situations before… but, why would someone ever do that? Pokemon are our precious friends, they are our family." He said with tears of frustration and anger in his eyes. "Not to mention, it's an Altaria this time…" His voice broke by the end. "If I hadn't found you then… what would have happened to you?"
He couldn't hold it anymore and broke, he held tight into Ele's neck and cried his heart out. Nephele couldn't handle it anymore and decided to land, not caring about the older humans. Her priority is, has been, and will always be her human. Her caring and selfless trainer worked day and night for her dragon friends to get better. Her trainer was only a young human and all of this was beginning to be too much on him. She gathered him in her wings and used Sing, lulling him into a deep slumber.
She has never had another human trainer before, only those bad men who stole her away. But since she had moved to Unova with her trainer, she had met various pokemon who had had trainers… bad trainers and they all kept on saying the same thing: "You are so lucky." Looking at the boy in her wings, the boy who would cry for a strange Altaria because they reminded them of her, she never felt those words being truer than then.
'I will protect you,' Nephele swore then and there.
"Ashy! Ele!" Delia called out, rushing towards them as Drayden got off the car. "Oh, Ash," she sighed, noticing the tears on her son's cheeks.
"It seems that he has finally reached his limit," the Dragon Master commented a worried frown adorning his face.
"But why now? He has seen worse things at the Preserve." Inquired Delia worriedly, knowing better than to reach for Ash when Ele's protective instincts were acting out. "He hasn't even met the… Altaria…" Delia sighed, realizing what was their mistake. She looked at her son, who was holding into his pokemon with such desperation, even when he slept, as if she would be taken away from him or hurt if he ever let go. "We better keep them away from the pokemon while we deal with this," she decided. "I know we will need to stay there for at least a week until all the paperwork and legal work are done, but it will be a vacation for Ash and Ele. I don't care how good they are, they are still young. There is a reason why the age to start your pokemon journey was moved from ten to fifteen."
"I understand," Drayden accepted, seeing the mistake of their actions. "For now let's put them in the back seats."
No one dared to touch Ash while he was enveloped by his Altaria's wings, they both knew better than to get into the bad side of a protective dragon. So, they let her carry her human in the car on her own- which she did again when they got to Wilma's house. The adults went straight into a deep discussion but Ele paid them no mind, she had heard them and knew that this was their vacation time now. So, no work.
As expected, Ash did not like it, he wanted to help. But he also knew that he would be of no help and it was Ele who needed his attention now. He was her trainer after all. So, they decided to go out and look around a little bit. However, they did not expect to find a young Gible practicing Draco Meteor on his own.
"Not bad." Ash praised, catching the attention of the wild pokemon, while Ele chippered her own praises. Even though the move failed, and it was far from being accomplished, that a first evolution level dragon was capable of even focusing on his dragon energy to such an extent and even managed to gather so much in the first place was impressive. "You shouldn't be capable of doing that until you have at least evolved one time. As expected of the pseudo-legendary dragon line."
The Gible took in the praise with a bashful blush, before happily jumping on the human and biting his head. Nephele panicked for a second, but when her human laughed, she realized it was the little dragon's way of showing affection. As expected of her trainer, gaining the trust of a wild dragon so fast.
"But you know, I don't think you'll manage Draco Meteor just yet," Ash told the wild pokemon once he was finally released. "You see, you'll need to get stronger and build up more energy for that. A way of doing that is evolving, but if you are too impatient you will need to train not only the move but your body and learn new moves."
"Gi-gible!" The dragon exclaimed determinately, pointing at himself and then at the human boy- before jumping around the Wilda's training ground.
"You want me to train you?" Ash asked, surprised.
"Gible!"
"Ok. I can do that," he replied thoughtful. "Mom and Drayden-sensei are working, and I have a week off from studying. What do you say Ele? Will you help?"
"Al-taria!" She replied, nudging her trainer lovingly.
"I knew I could count on you" Ash giggled, cutely "Ok, Gible. Show me what you can do!"
Rapidly the wild pokemon rushed to a pile of rocks and smashed them with Tackle before jumping in the air and biting the many flying pieces.
"Quite a powerful Bite attack," Ash commented.
"Altaria," murmured Ele, agreeing in surprise at the power of the small pokemon.
"As expected of the Land Shark Pokemon, his jaw power is incredible even in the early stages." The boy continued.
Then Gible surprised them once again by using Sand Attack to hide as he landed on the floor, once the attack had disappeared so was the dragon. All that was left was a hole where Gible should have landed. Out of the blue, the Land Shark Pokemon jumped from the ground right before the human and his pokemon- taking them both by surprise.
"Wow!" Ash sighed, once the shock wore off a little bit. "You are a powerful and sly little thing." He praised, patting the pokemon animatedly- before he got jumped and bitten once more. "Ok. So, I think that we can teach you Take Down easily. With that power behind a simple Tackle, you can get it done in a day. Then we can add a Dragon Dance, it will raise your attack stats which will be good as you'll need that if you want to manage a Draco Meteor young. You are good with dragon energy it will come easy. If you master both moves, as I can see you did with the rest of your roaster, I'll have Ele tutoring you in the art of Dragon Claw. Imagine having caught your enemy in a powerful Bite attack before starting to land various Dragon Claw attacks, it would be awesome!" Ash exclaimed, gaining a cheer from Gible, who had stars in his eyes. "If you have any problems you can always go to Ele she knows all those moves and can give you a hand for better understanding."
They got to work right after that. They spent every free time training that young Gible until he had mastered Take Down and Dragon Dance. Then they moved to Dragon Claw for the last two days of their stay in Sinnoh, Gible at the verge of learning the move, when their training session was interrupted by Delia, Drayden, and Wilda.
"Stop!" Ash commanded, one of the few times he ever gave orders was during training because he knew how important and dangerous it was to train dragons. Both dragons obeyed him immediately. "Take five," he told Ele and Gible, before turning to his mother, sensei, and a new friend. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, sweetie," Delia assured him, with a proud and kind smile.
"We just finished all the paperwork and legal work," Wilda informed him.
"It's time to go back home," Drayden finished for the women, being the bearer of bad news.
"But… that means I'll have to say goodbye to Gible," Ash said, at the edge of tears now.
Having heard him, both dragons cried in protests. Gible jumped on Ash and bite his head, not letting go. He loved the human boy and didn't want to say goodbye. He also loved the pretty rare-colored Altaria, she was like a mom to him. Ele flew in front of her boys, wings spreading wide before them. She glared at the adults, daring to separate her from her new baby.
"As you are still too young to catch any pokemon, Ele being a medical exception, we came up with the idea of me catching Gible for you." Delia butted in, not once faced by the angry dragons. "But you'll be the one who'll have to bathe him, feed him and train him. Got it?"
"Got it!" Ash replied, excitedly. "Did you hear that Gible?" He took the dragon off his head and hugged him happily. "You will be coming with us!"
He then took the Poke Ball his mom was offering him and captured the happy young dragon, before analyzing his data through the Pokedex, Drayden-sensei had lent him. It said:
Pokemon : Gible.
Gender : Male.
Ability : Rough Skin.
Type : Dragon/Ground.
Move set: Tackle, Sand Attack, Dig, Bite, Take Down, and Dragon Dance.
The pokemon knows the egg move Iron Tail.
NOTE : The egg move has yet to be unlocked.
"Rough Skin?" Ash asked, releasing Gible out once he was done. The info was what he had expected, with the sweet bonus of a powerful Iron Tail as an egg move. But he was confused about the ability. "What kind of ability is that?"
"It's an ability that allows the pokemon to inflict damage with their rough skin to the attacker on contact," Drayden-sensei explained, an appraising look on his eyes. "It is a rare ability."
"Sweet! Did you hear that Gible? You are awesome!" Ash praised, getting bitten once more by his new pokemon.
Everyone laughed at the heartwarming scene. They had come to Sinnoh because something bad had happened, but now they leave with something good happening.
