The sweet Meloetta that had been spying and following us for months has finally been returned back home by her protector Ridley. He had been contacted by Ash and they had arranged the whole thing. It was a pity she had never been brave enough to come and say hi, I would have loved to meet her. I did not dwell much on it, focusing on visiting my hometown, the Village of Dragons. We met with my childhood friend Shannon, who I was so happy to meet and tried to convice to join us in our journey. However, she refused saying that she had found her dream, while raising two Zweilous, and decided to become a breeder. I was sad she would not join, but I was also very happy she had found her dream.

Later that day I paid a visit to the Village Elder, who greeted me warmly. After a quick examination, she declared that I've been taking good care of Fraxure, after congratulating me on evolving him. Some of the other villagers wanted to see the rest of my pokemon, so I called Altaria and Dragonite to come out. Everyone oohed and ahhed over my impressive catches—at least, until Dragonite decided to pick a fight with a nearby Haxorus. Before Altaria and I could interfere, with a few gentle words from the Elder, she had calmed them both down.

It was fascinating! So, I decided to train hard and be able to do the same! I did not expect to find an opportunity that day's same night. We were having dinner at Shannon's house when we began to hear the frantic cries of one of the Zweilous outside. We rushed to investigate, and discovered that the older Zweilous was evolving into Hydreigon. It was an exciting moment and I was ecstatic for my friend! However, the moment was quickly disturbed when it became clear that Hydreigon's sudden evolution had thrown her into a state of panic and confusion. She went on a rampage, attacking everything in sight! That's when I sprang into action!

With the aid of my pokemon, we backed Hydreigon into a corner where I could get close to her. It was a difficult task, one that the Elder had made seen much easier, but I hanged in there, speaking calm words of reassurance and encouragement. My patience paid off, because I succeeded and Hydreigon calmed down, much to everyone's relief. The Village Elder, who had been watching, came up to congratulate me... and so did Gym Leader Drayden! The same person I've been trying to avoid because I felt bad about leaving school, but he just complimented my growth and challenged me and Max to come to the Opelucid Gym for a battle with him.

Which we were already going to do...

So, here we are now, in front of the Opelucid Gym.

"Welcome back Iris," Drayden greeted me warmer than I've ever heard him sound. "Welcome to my gym, Maxwell Maple, Ranger Captain Ash Ketchum, and Blue Knight Riley Gen and his bonded partner Lucario." It was then that Pikachu squeaked angrily. "Of course, welcome to my gym as well, Pikachu." Pikachu was still angry, but he had calmed down. "Who will be facing me first?"

"I will," I stepped forward.

"Ok," Drayden agreed. "As I have three challengers today, it will have to be a two-on-two match for all of you," he informed us. "Then, please, let's all take our positions." Once my friends were all seated and I took my place on the challengers box, Drayden finally released his first pokemon. "Haxorus!"

"Haxorus, eh," I muttered, recalling the brutal loss of my dear friend. "Then, it's time for our rematch! Excadrill! Use Metal Claw!"

"Block it!" Drayden comanded. Haxorus easily blocked it, although he was pushed back by the hit- making me smile.

"Dig!" I commanded, as Excadrill burrowed himself underground. This time when Haxorus was able to dodge it and start a Rock Smash, we were ready. "Focus Blast!" Excadrill fired a Focus Blast at Haxorus before the move could hit, hitting him in the move-using jaw. "Let's take advantage of this opening! Drill Run, now!"

"Don't let them win! Giga Impact!" Drayden shouted. Excadrill and Haxorus launched themselves simultaneous, colliding in the middle of the battlefield. They were both knocked out by the resulting collision of the moves. "Congratulations on the progress Iris," Drayden congratulated me warmly, making me blush under the praise. "But it will take more than that to defeat me. Druddigon, come on out!"

"Altaria, time to shine!" I called out my beautiful dragon. I was thinking of using Dragonite because of his power... but he was still out of control most of the time. "Ice Beam!"

"Druddigon, Dragon Claw!" Drayden commanded. Altaria's Ice Beam landed a hit despite Druddigon's successful Dragon Claw. However, Altaria's Flamethrower was negated by Druddigon's Flash Cannon, and a momentary Double Team defense. I tried to finish the match with a Dragon Rush, but... "Druddigon, catch Altaria and use Dragon Tail!" Druddigon caught my pokemon by the neck and slammed Altaria down, finishing the battle with a powerful Dragon Tail. I winced as my pokemon fainted and recalled Altaria with a sad sigh. "You've advanced quite far and your pokemon have grown powerful. However, you are still as impatient as always. You would have won the battle if you had remained patient. Maybe next time teach Altaria some Fairy-type moves like Disarming Voice or Dazzling Gleam. That will give you the edge on a dragon-dragon battle. Still, I am glad I recomended the Elder to allow you to start your journey, it did you good."

"W-what?! That was you?!" I was stunned, and here I was feeling guilty for leaving his school.

"I might think that education is very important, which is true! But forcing students to learn in an environment they are not comfortable is not right. Some people learn more out there in the world than in behind a desk, case in point Ash Ketchum," Drayden pointed a very cheeky Ash on the bleachers- who was smiling proudly at me. "This! What you just showed in the battlefield is proof. This talent of yours is why I want you to be the one to become the next Opelucid Gym Leader." I was shocked by what he had just told me. "Take your time to consider ir, for now, next!"

I dumbly climbed the stairs to take a seat, while Max skipped down. "It's shocking right," Ash commented as we watched Drayden's Flygon attack with Dragon Claw, only to get blocked by Max's Gallade's Quick Guard and then recieve a Disarming Voice point blank on the face. "I felt the same when Professor Oak came to tell me about all the job offers I've been offered... it was a shock."

The battle raged on beneath us, but I did not pay it much attention.

"What did you do?" I asked him, feeling completely lost.

"I did what Gym Leader Drayden told you to do, take time to consider it," Ash smiled at me gently. Flygon tried to take Gallade down via Earthquake, but Gallade simply teleported away. He reappeared above the flying dragon and finished the battle with a Dazzling Gleam. "I traveled throughout Sinnoh and tried to forget all about it, it worked less times than it did," Ash chuckled. Down on the battlefield Drayden's Hydreigon took Gallade down with a wicked Dark Pulse- making me wince in sympathy. "Having a goal helped a lot. I told them that I wanted to win a Pokemon League before I even thought of deciding. The only reason I chose to accept the ranger's proposition was because I wowuld be doing what I was already doing, but had a badge to give me authority."

Down on the battlefield Max had released his Breloom and decided to use a Pounce-Toxic combination. Breloom pounced on Hydreigon and then, while on the dragon, released the toxic bomb, which poisoned the dark dragon.

"So, I should focus on getting my Dragon Mastery first and then decide?" I asked him, confused. "Won't that be... impolite?"

"Since when do you care about that?" Ash turned to me with an amused smile. "Look, you are still young. You are lucky you even know what's your main goal, we both were. But that's the thing about goals, once you've reached them it leaves you with a sense of satisfaction and dread. What should I do now?" I gulped hard at the lost look on his eyes. I did not want to feel like that, but I knew I will. "So, enjoy this journey for now. Reach your goal at your own time and then see if you want to become a Gym Leader... or maybe you'll want to be a Champion. Who knows?"

"Who knows..." I repeated, still lost, but the goood kind of lost.

I looked down and got startled at how much the battle has advanced. Breloom looked at his last leg, but so did Hydreigon. Using Toxic so early on was a great choice, it weakened and exhausted the pesudo-legendary pokemon fast. It was then that Breloom and Max's patience game worked, Breloom finished the battle in one last punch. A small mushroom used Dynamic Punch to bring down the big bad dragon. I jumped on my feet and cheered for my friend. Max smiled slightly my way and then rushed forward to hug his pokemon, who was on his knees gasping.

"Congratulations on your victory," Drayden smiled down at Max and handed him a badge shaped like a dragon's wing when stretched out. "This is the Legend Badge, which shows you've defeated me. With this you have eight badges and are able to enter the Unova Pokemon League."

"Thank you!" Max and Breloom were both beaming, as they accepted the badge.

Ash was already on the battlefield and hugged Max tight. I could not see Max's face, but I knew that whatever Ash had whispered in his ear had him crying. Which proved right later when he climbed up to sit next to me, his eyes were red and puffy. The battle had already started, Drayden had released his Altaria, while Ash, as he had planned, called out his Dewott. Ash was quick to command a Snowscape, which created a snowstorm. It was not powerful enough to bring her down from the sky, but from the look on her face I could say she felt very uncomfortable.

"Dewott, Avalanche!" Ash shouted. Dewott's body glowed light blue, and a dark cloud appeared above Altaria. Altaria dived down as chunks of clear ice began raining down from the cloud... but that was part of Ash's plan, as it had her flying on the straight path towards Dewott. "Ice Beam!" Dewott froze Altaria solid to the surprise of Drayden. "Let's finish this with Water Pledge!" The column of water broke the ice surrounding Altaria and was enough to knock her out. "All right!"

"Not bad," Drayden praised, recalling his Altaria. "Quite sneaky. Let's see if you can keep it up! Salamence!"

Pikachu growled from Ash's shoulder, cheeks sparkling with electricity. "You are so lucky I decided not to call Charizard," Ash commented, making Drayden wince.

"What? Why?!" I turned to Riley who had a grimace on his face.

"Well, last time Charizard faced a Salamence, he almost ripped off his wings," Riley answered me slowly.

"W-wha..." I stuttered, not believing my ears.

Was Charizard that savage? I asked myself in both awe and horror.

A bright light from the battlefield snapped me out of my train of throughts.

Dewott was evolving into a Samurott.

"What is happening to me today?!" I whined. "I'm not paying attention and dragons are battling! What's wrong with me?!"

"Gym Leader Drayden threw a bomb to you," Cilan smiled at me gently. "Salamence atatcked Dewottt with a rapid Dual Wingbeat-Dragon Rush combo, which damaged him quite a lot. That pushed him t evolve."

Salamence's Flamethrower met Samurott's Ice Beam, bating the battlefield with a steam and blocking our view. Seeing Ash's smile, he was waiting for that. Samurott then summoned a Blizzard that had Salamence being thrown from one side to the other in the sky, and in an impressive accuracy ability Samurott knocked him out of the sky via Dark Pulse. Finishing the battle with a Ice Beam-Smart Strike, freezing Salamence was able to get up and then crashing on him.

I looked down with a smile as Ash received his eighth Unova badge, but inside I was troubled. I was the only one who did not win my battle against Drayden.

I won't let it keep me down!

It will be my motivation to win next time and become the very best Dragon Master!