Part CXXXI: Ash and His Dragons

"This looks like a good place to stop." May said as they came to a clearing in the small, wooded area that they were currently traveling through right at the northwest of Kalos. "We're less than a day out and the Fire Festival won't begin for a few more days so we can take a bit of break."

The others agreed and they set down their stuff and stretched after the walk. It had been three days since Ash and Lucario had won the Kalos Fighting Type Tournament they stumbled across thanks to the Alolan Fair and they were making good time on their way to their next planned adventure, a special festival for fire types.

In the wake of the tournament, they had spent the day after it in the town where they had a few battles with Max and Owen while also getting the first of the two required cases needed to confirm that Dedenne as a species had added a fairy type to everyone's shock. Dedennes weren't a common Pokémon and the few that were known about, like Bonnie's, weren't used for battle often so there were limited records on them.

Add in their appearance as a standard looking electric rodent and no one thought that Dedenne might add a fairy type. Most fairy types were pink hence the easy mistake to make but as many species of Pokémon proved, looks could always be deceptive.

That perception of Dedenne began to change when Bonnie's showed a friendly attitude towards two known fairy specialists. The first had been Valerie in Laverre City when they were there as Dedenne had run up to her and she'd talked to him until Bonnie proposed to her on Clemont's behave and was then dragged away by Max. The second had been during the break between the final and the medal presentation of the Fighting Tournament when Bonnie had talked to Emily as neither could participate in the special luncheon.

All that had led to Bonnie requesting a test for Dedenne and as Ash had a Sliggoo it made sense to try with him as he was a dragon type with a move for his type while also being small enough to not overwhelm Dedenne. It didn't hurt that Sliggoo, who was wary of fairy types due to past trauma the details of which none of them knew other than that it had to have involved a fairy type given his reaction to Serena's Sylveon, was uncomfortable with Dedenne as if he knew its type change. However, Dedenne reassured him that it was ok and Sliggoo had attacked.

The results had been a surprise but in hindsight it shouldn't have been. Sliggoo's Dragon Breath had no effect on Dedenne thus showing the immunity that fairy types were known for. Still, to be confirmed a second Dedenne taking a different dragon type attack from a different Pokémon would be needed but they'd already reported their findings to Oak and Sycamore, as well as Emily as she'd wanted to know as well, so they knew to be on the lookout for one.

After that though, the day was pretty normal. Ash battled three of Max's Pokémon with Sliggoo, Sigilyph and Dunsparce, the first time he'd used the other two, and won thought two of his Pokémon were beaten in the battle. Then Misty and Owen had had a 3 on 3 match after he requested one to face her Spiritomb that he'd met in Lumiose City when they were last there and also lost 3-2 in a good match that Spiritomb had carried in the end. Then May and Max battled as they enjoyed a day off after the long fighting tournament.

That tournament had been something else for all of them. None had been in anything like it as it was a tournament designed to test raw fighting skill, not moves, and in the end it was Ash who'd emerged victorious when Lucario defeated Adam's Poliwrath in the final to claim the title. Along with it had come a mysterious Pokémon egg that was the special prize and which Ash was certain would evolve soon, hence why he always had it one him as they walked.

They'd left the town a day before to head out on the two day walk to the village where the Fire Festival, basically a collection of events for all kinds of fire types while also featuring stalls and vendors for the type, would take place. It wasn't for another 3 more days so they were making good time for it.

They would be seeing Max, Bonnie and Owen there as well as the first two had fire types and the latter, while not having one, wanted to attend to learn more about caring for the type and varied physiologies that came with it. However, before then they were sorting something out as Owen had found a person who had a special Galarian candy he needed for one of his Pokémon, so they'd meet them at festival.

That was fine with Ash and the girls as they got to be back on the road after a hectic few weeks that had all begun with the Alolan Fair they'd stumbled across when Ash and Iris had literally run into each other and were now coming to the final hurdle on the way to Laverre, the Fire Festival. It had all worked out well though because the delays had slowed them down and now they were on track for both the Laverre Contest and the Dendemille Showcase that would be after it and on the way from Laverre to Anistar for Ash's gym battles in those cities.

Laverre was certainly going to be an interesting city when they reached it. It was the only city in the world with an official fairy type gym having been reclassified from a normal type gym almost as soon as the official announcement was made, though the Ballonlea Gym in Galar would become a fairy type gym withing the next two years apparently according to Owen. So far they'd had some interesting reactions to Ash and his role in the types reveal but they all knew that Laverre would be different.

It was also one of the few Kalos cities that May and Serena hadn't visited the year before. She'd missed it out because it wasn't scheduled for her to demonstrate in when she was in Coumarine and as she was heading briefly to Hoenn from Lumiose after that stop for the Wallace Cup she didn't go north when she returned but instead they headed east to Dendemille for the Showcase there and as such missed the city. She had met Valarie once though, in the aftermath of the incident, and had described her as eccentrically odd.

All that was to come though as they first had to get to the nearby village and enjoy the Fire Festival there. Before then though it was lunchtime and they all set up what they could while they let out their Pokémon to stretch and get some food.

Today it was Serena on the cooking alone while May and Misty helped set up and give the Pokémon their food. That was because Ash had his egg and he had to look after it. Nurse Joy had said that the light purple egg with dark purple, eye like, designs on it, should hatch within a week if not sooner as she'd had it since finding it a month before the tournament abandoned in the woods near the town and already Ash was certain that it would be sooner.

He'd even made preparations for the Pokémon that was to hatch having gotten some generic Pokémon formula from Owen for when it hatched with instructions for how to make tailored formula for basically any type combo one could thing of should the Pokémon want it. Ash had also sent Conkeldurr and Hawlucha back to Professor Sycamore for a break and prepared his team for the coming hatching, festival, and gym battle. As such he had Pikachu, Lucario, Fletchinder, Charizard, and Sliggoo on him with a space for the egg when it hatched.

Ash was excited for it to hatch as he had no idea what it might be and neither had the founder of the tournament, but he and Nurse Joy had decided to make it a special prize to the winner as they felt the winner would be worthy of it. He hoped it was something native to Kalos though as then he'd swell his roster with native Pokémon, but he'd love whatever Pokémon it was that hatched. It was as he was thinking this, and Serena just about to start making the food, that the egg suddenly began to glow in the incubator it was in.

"Guys, it's hatching." Ash called out to the girls excitedly as he pulled the lid off the incubator and set the egg on the ground in front of him. "I wonder what it will be?"

The others all turned to see but stood a respectful distance from the egg as they knew that Ash had to be the one the Pokémon first saw. That would allow them to bond right away as he'd imprint on the new hatchling right away, and he could then catch it after a bit of bonding. Both May and Misty had had eggs in the past, so they knew how it worked.

The egg glowed white and then began to crack as Ash held it in his lap, only Pikachu on his shoulder to watch it hatch up close but all the Pokémon present were watching it closely waiting to see what it was. A second later the egg broke apart in a flash and a small Pokémon appeared in Ash's lap sitting there, it's head down before it lifted it and opened its yellow and black eyes so that the first person it saw was Ash.

The Pokémon was unlike any that Ash had ever seen before which meant that it had to be a native Kalos Pokémon. It was small, bipedal, purple and black Pokémon with wings for arms showing that it was likely part flying type. It had a pair of large purple ears that looked a bit like speakers with a black center that was ringed in rich purple, light purple, and then rich purple again at the edge. It's face, wings, midriff and legs were all light purple with the underside of the wings and it's nose rich purple. Lastly its black fur on its collar, thighs, and under its mouth.

Almost a second after it woke up and saw Ash, thus deducing that the thing it saw was his mother, the Pokémon let out an earsplitting cry that sent powerful shockwaves from its mouth, amplified by its ears, around and brought everyone to their knees other than Ash who was already sitting. Still, Ash pushed through it and gently rubbed the Pokémon's cheek as he spoke to it in a soothing voice as he opened his heart to it.

"It's ok, there's no need to cry." Ash said softly as Pikachu reassured it from his shoulder. "I take it you're hungry. I have just the thing for the moment, but I promise we will find what you like as soon as possible so you can grow big and strong with me."

The Pokémon was soothed by Ash's words, feeling the love in his heart and instantly bonding with him as he was the first thing the Pokémon had seen upon hatching and trusted the person that the electric Pokémon on his shoulder called a human male. Ash for his part just produced the bottle he had from Owen and gave it to the Pokémon, helping it hold it in the claws at the ends of its wings as it drank the formula, clearly liking it though it wasn't what it preferred.

"There you go." Ash said as the Pokémon drank its fill and burped contentedly, the rest of Ash's team now approaching to help out. "Now, let's find out what you are, shall we?"

As the Pokémon sat in Ash's lap, content after the meal and comfortable where it was, Ash pulled out his Pokedex and scanned it. It didn't take long to chime back an entry for what it was.

"Noibat, the Sound Wave Pokémon." The Pokedex said helpfully. "They live-in pitch-black caves. Their enormous ears can emit ultrasonic waves of 200,000 hertz."

"That explains the sound." Ash said as he looked over the information on the Pokémon to see what it ate, fruit that it could use its sound waves to determine ripeness apparently and noticed something strange and unexpected about it. "Huh, that's a first."

"What is?" Misty asked as they all approached the Noibat at last, it was a Pokémon that not even May or Serena had seen before so they were all curious about it.

"It's a primary flying type." Ash said looking at the entry. "Secondary dragon type not the other way around."

"Piplup!" Piplup squawked before he turned and dove behind May's Slurpuff as she was immune to the type, and he did not trust any dragon types that his Misty's mate had as they were always bad news for poor little Piplup though no one, not even Slurpuff, noticed his actions.

"How is that odd?" Serena asked. "There are a lot of flying types out there, it's a common type."

"It is but in all my years as a trainer I've never seen a flying type have that type listed as its primary type." Ash said putting the Pokedex away and looking at them as Noibat was introduced by Pikachu to the others in his, and hopefully soon Noibat's as well, team. "It's always been a secondary type, even with the normal type Pokémon that have it. It's never been a primary type in any Pokémon that I've owned."

"Are you sure?" May asked thinking on it and realizing that her only flying type, Beatiffly, was a secondary flying type to its primary bug type.

"It's the type I have the most of, so I know it well." Ash said with a nod. "I have or had at least 21 Pokémon with that type, including pre-evolved stages for Pokémon like Fletchinder here, and none of them have had a flying type as a primary type, it's always been their secondary type. I've also met basically all flying types out there, including legendary ones, and as far as I know none of them have it as a primary. I think one of those Unova Forces of Nature legendaries, Tornadus, is a pure flying type but that would be the only one like that that I know of."

"Huh now that you mention it, I've never known a flying type to be primary." Misty said as she thought on Ash's words. "It's secondary with Togekiss even with the change of her normal type to fairy type as her primary type and all the other ones I've met have been secondary."

"But it's not for Noibat." Ash said as Noibat hopped off his lap and stretched ready to try and fly for the first time. "I wonder why."

"It's the world of Pokémon." May said with a shrug. "We might never know why Noibat and probably any evolutions it may have are different from the norm."

"True." Ash said as Noibat began running and flapping his wings while they all watch curiously. "I think it's trying to fly."

Sure enough, Noibat was trying just that. It ran, flapped, and leapt into the air but it didn't stay airborne for long before it fell down and landed hard on its ass on the ground. Almost instantly it began to cry, and Ash was by its side as quickly as possible picking it up and comforting it with soothing words. This was something he was good at, so he knew what to do.

"There, there, Noibat." Ash said softly. "Do you want to fly?"

"Noibat." Noibat said with a nod as it was comforted. "Noi, Noibat."

"Ok then let's teach you." Ash said. "Charizard, Fletchinder, come and help."

Almost at once the two fire and flying types were with them and helping the new hatchling out. Charizard stayed on the ground, it was too small and area for him to properly fly in right now, so he had to remain on the ground to give pointers, while Fletchinder, who was small enough, flapped in the air and demonstrated for Noibat while also giving pointers to it.

Noibat listened closely and nodded at what was being asked of him before he tried to replicate it. He got a bit more than the time before but didn't go that far before he fell again. This time, though, Ash dove to catch him and reassure him that he was doing well and almost there. All of his Pokémon were helping now as they knew that Noibat would soon be a teammate, so they were going to do their best to help it out.

What followed was, well, typical Ash. The girls just watched, lunch ignored now, as Ash and his Pokémon spent the better part of an hour working with Noibat as they tried to help it learn to fly. Even their Pokémon, minus Piplup who wanted nothing to do with the situation due its type and who its human would be and Meowstic who was sleeping waiting for her servant of a human to feed her, joined in to help with Serena's Vivillon also aiding in the flying lessons as well.

This was one of the reasons why all 3 girls had fallen so hard for Ash Ketchum. He had a huge heart and never gave up on something or someone and he was showing that right now as he worked hard with Noibat to help it learn to fly. He didn't care how dusty and dirty he got, or likely bruised as well, he was smiling and laughing as he helped Noibat to the best of his abilities and did everything he could to get it to fly. He hadn't even caught it yet and already he was showing how good a trainer he would be for it as he worked hard to help it.

It also helped that for once they weren't interrupted. Usually this would be the time that Team Rocket showed up, tried to capture Noibat, Pikachu, and everyone else in some large, over the top, trap. Then they'd gloat, something would happen, and they'd win as usual. Little did they know that Team Rocket weren't going to bother them for a bit as they were off to the east preparing Jessilina for a Contest out there that she would end up winning over Emily and as such they wouldn't be seeing them today.

Regardless, their lack of presence made the whole thing easier and after an hour or so, Ash had managed to finally get Noibat to fly on its own. Noibat was smiling and flying around with Fletchinder and Vivillon as he showed off what he could do while Charizard roared his approval from the ground. He even went to the woods and found some perfectly ripe fruit with his sonar for his new friends, and they brought it back to enjoy it with the others who all loved the juicy fruit Noibat had brough them.

Ash had read that Noibats loved fruit and used their sonar to find the best ones. That would be good, and it looked like Noibat wouldn't need anymore formula so they could get fruit and with Noibat they'd always have best out there thanks to its pickiness and sonar. That was nice but as the flying lesson ended and Noibat came back to Ash, still young so he was tired Ash, there was one thing left for Ash to do.

"Well, Noibat, what do you say?" Ash asked as he caught a tired Noibat in his arms as his Pokémon gathered around him. "Do you want to join me and my team?"

Noibat looked around a little confused at this but the others who had told him that they were Ash's Pokémon, those being the nice Pikachu, the Charizard and Fletchinder who'd helped him learn to fly, and the Lucario and Sliggoo who'd encouraged him all voiced their support for accepting the offer. He was still confused and asked them as such, and Pikachu responded what it was. Well, Noibat was already attached to Ash, so he had nothing to lose with this.

"Noibat." Noibat said with a nod as he looked at Ash. "Noi, Noibat."

"Alright, welcome to the team Noibat." Ash said as he pulled out an empty Poke Ball and touched the button to the top of Noibat's head.

Instantly the Poke Ball opened and sucked Noibat into it in a flash of red light. It closed and Ash watched as it twitched and flashed red in his hand for a few seconds. Then it clicked shut and dinged to signal a successful capture.

"Alright, I just caught a Noibat!" Ash said as he gave his victory pose with his newly caught Pokémon while his Pokémon all celebrated behind him.

"Well, that wasn't unexpected for once." Misty said as Ash pulled down the Poke Ball before his stomach suddenly roared for all of them to hear. "But I think we've been distracted long enough. Let's have some food and make camp here. We can continue to the village tomorrow seeing as we are within a day's walk of it."

The others just nodded as Ash let Noibat out and the team welcomed their new teammate while Serena got back to making food and Misty and May set up camp. It was a bit of a distraction, but they had time and it was always nice to watch Ash be Ash, so no one complained.

It had been a good break with the addition of a new teammate joining Ash as they all enjoyed the moment on the road before they continued their journey to their last stop before Laverre City eager to see what the Fire Festival had in store for them. They had no idea what kind of adventures awaited them as they continued on the road to Laverre.