P.S. All credit to respective owners.

Ash hadn't said much since he'd seen Noah's family in their full glory, maybe because he'd never really understood just how strong they were. He'd expected them to be elite-class at least, after all dragon types were constantly and consistently ranked in the pseudo-legendary category of pokemon in almost every region. He didn't think Noah could take on Lance or anything and come out on top, but definitely up there in terms of power and and skill when he fought with his true team. Ash then realized that if anything Noah was above the elite by a considerable margin and him clashing with Lance and doing pretty damn well didn't seem such a impossible idea.

Part of unsettling realization was because the former Gym Leader seemed so… relaxed about life and who he was. Sure he carried himself with a relaxed assuredness of self, but displayed none of the overwhelming personalities related to the Gym Leaders and Elite Four. Noah himself was smart about pokemon, something Ash had always thought as a byproduct of his time as a Gym Leader where aside from whatever work Noah did in that position he learned about pokemon. However, Noah never struck him as the type of person to ever be all that serious about things as he should be. Sure, Noah was stern and teasing and clever and wise — raising a team of dragon and making them strong was proof enough — but Noah didn't seem to do 'serious'. Honestly, Ash had imagined a lab coat draped over his shoulders rather than his regular clothing, and it didn't seem out of place. Noah felt like one who enjoyed pokemon more like someone who thought of training as a hobby rather than a way of life with the way he talked about it.

Then Noah showed him the Gym Leader he used to be.

Ash had grown up watching the matches and battles that happened in The Indigo League, where at the end the best of the best brought themselves to bear against their equals. Lance and his Elite Four conducted exhibition matches that were fantastic and amazing displays against their opponents. Ash had loved seeing the heights that were waiting for him to scale in order to be the very best like no one ever was. He imagined himself in the challenger box with his partners at his side, Lance giving him impressed look as they both drew their poke balls and released their teams.

Comparing those images and videos to Noah in that moment was almost an insult the former Gym Leader.

The fresh-trainer was discarded for a face that may have been carved from stone and eyes blazed with a cold fury that contrasted yet complemented the oppressive weight of his team displaying their hell-fire rage. His presence loomed as large as the dragons he raised as he stared down a threat with just as much a promise of death as any dragon could. The persona of the carefree trainer melted away to show the man who crushed the threats to his city with no mercy. The man who didn't take the shit of the bureaucracy that tried to strangle him and tore it apart at the seams. He was the man who would not hesitate to tear any threat to the things he loved apart limb from limb for even daring to try.

The Dragon Gym Leader of Umbal City.

Ash shook off the feelings, but the image of his companion and his team would forever be burned into Ash's mind.

Reaching the Viridian Pokemon Center was nothing short of a blessing after the long day the two had had trekking through the forest. Ash had made a point of fighting against some of the wild pokemon to give Abra and Poliwag some practical experience. Noah would have done the same, but he needed a good idea on where Nidoran stood before setting an appropriate course for the poison-type. One could just throw their pokemon against others, but in Noah's humble opinion you needed to analyze them to maximize their potential. When Nidoran would evolve to be come a Nidoking, Noah would have to make sure he relearned how to move properly and take advantage for the dexterity of his body. He would have a much easier time when Nidoran became Nidorino because of the footing being the same and the fact that their general movement wouldn't change.

Either way, it late enough that all members of their party got some rest and rented a room for the night. Noah happily accepted the offer to drop off Abra, Poliwag, and Nidoran off with the nurses so they would be completely clear for a workout the following morning.

Soon, both were happily asleep.

Noah was up very early as he didn't need much sleep and made the small trek to the gates of the famous Victory Road. The gate keep had been skeptical until Noah had to show his Gym Leader account to the gate guard to try to convince the man of his ability to be here. Unfortunately the guard had never heard of Umbal City — few did since it was rather isolationist until the Pokemon League sent the rangers to establish a station there so they could make sure something like Noah went through didn't happen again — but relented when he saw Samuel Oak's authorization endorsing Noah as Gym Leader level. Noah had no intention of going to the Indigo League Stadium and simply informed the guard that his pokemon wanted to get a workout done while they had some free time. Despite the dubious look directed at him for that comment, Noah stepped in and a involuntary smile crossed his face at the sheer difference of power he could feel emanating from the pokemon inhabiting this place.

Yes… this would do nicely.

Girac's red eyes gleamed as he and the Rhydon crashed into each other, the two trying to get the upper hand in order to attack the other. Noah already had Astarot laying a beat down on a poor Sandlash and crew that tried blindside him from the darkness. On the other hand, a Machoke was happily fighting Grunu who was roaring in glee as several machop cheered at the spectacle. Surya was torching a group of Golbat that had tried to swarm Noah before he had made it more than thirty yards in and was paying the price for their bad choice of target. Deadary was currently harassing an increasingly aggravated Golem who was launching rocks at the mischievous ghost who was phasing through them to fire a rather annoying barrage of swifts to mock it. Drakon was acting as Noah's shadow after soundly thrashing a rather tough Marowak that challenged it to a fight.

Rather poor choice on the Marowak's part.

A few hours later and several pokemon's lust for battle sated, Noah made a mental note to travel here every few days to make sure he kept up with his true teams training. It wasn't like the small practice yards behind the Pokemon Centers in the city could contain the magnitude of power his dragons like to fight at. If anything he wished there was a bit more variety in opponents, sure the pokemon that lived there were experienced and they were much stronger than one would think but even if you flew above the caves you couldn't find all that many different pokemon on the mountain. Well, at very least his dragon pokemon were happy and only had superficial wounds that wouldn't even take an hour for Nurse Joy to fix before Ash woke up.

After dropping off his dragons he retrieved his Nidoran who he took the back of Pokemon Center and released. The Nidoran blinked a few times but brightened upon recognizing Noah who was grinning down at him.

"Hey there." Noah said as he knelt to pat the poison-type gently on the head, "How are you feeling?"

The Nidoran huffed happily and nuzzled carefully into Noah's hand.

"Glad to hear it." Noah replied, pulling out his pokedex, "I was thinking that if your up for it we could get started on your training. It's your choice, but I did promise to take care of you and part of that is making sure you can be the best you can."

Noah held up his pokedex which immediately began to speak, "Nidoran the poison-type pokemon. It stiffens its ears to sense danger. The larger its horns, the more powerful its secreted venom. This pokemon is male and currently knows the moves: Peck, Poison Sting, Focus Energy, Double Kick, and Poison Tail."

Noah let out an impressed whistle, "Man, no wonder that Nidorino was scared of you, you've got a pretty awesome move set and the size to make it really work for you. Of course I do want to buff it with some more moves later, but lets make sure you got all of these down pat first."

The pokemon nodded and Noah began doing some drills with it, ones he made sure to memorize when he was training his charmander. He set up some substitute dolls for target practice and held a few in reserve to practice its dodging abilities. Nidoran bore it all with remarkable calm as Noah put him through his paces, it was tough work, but Noah made sure to always have water and berry ready for when Nidoran got out of breath.

Peck and Focus Energy weren't really trainable moves for him, so he let them go as there wasn't much to do for those.

Nidoran had remarkable aim with his poison-sting, able to hit each substitute with a the spray of poisoned needles without needing to pause to reorient too much. He even managed to create a condensed spike rather than the bards and shot it without a single miss or aim going astray. He was also able to widen and used a more widespread version to his trickier to tag opponents, which Noah complimented his ingenuity on.

His double-kick was still a work in progress but the basics were set, what was really needed was a way to hone the finesse. Fighting-type moves needed a teacher as while they did have a better effect than a replication without typing, it would never match a practiced move. Grunu would be a difficult task master, but he would provide the necessary instruction to get the move to be its best.

Poison tail was best only used sparingly for now, it would see massive gains once Nidoking came into the picture, neither Nidoran or Nidorino possessed the necessary length and strength to make it viable. Best just use it as training wheels for his future more than anything else.

Next was Nidoran's speed, which wasn't bad per-se but also wasn't anything to write home about. This was mainly because until their evolution to Nidorino or even Nidoking, their build was not exactly built to charge. It would take a bit for time, but hopefully Nidoran's speed would increase with repeated workouts and practice. He probably up the pace once he evolved, which —if the former Nidiorino was any indication — wasn't too far off. He'd love if his Nidoran could evolve before he had to face Brock, but he wasn't going to push the issue, his pokemon's thoughts and comforts came first.

That being said. He always managed to side-step or deflect the dolls Noah threw his way as a way to practice he reflexes.

Nidoran's durability was difficult to test, mainly because he didn't have any pokemon for Nidoran to reliably spar with. Nidoran's only example of injury was when Noah and Ash had come across him in the forest, and while he did look tough enough, Noah didn't have an accurate way to gauge it. Using one of his true team to hit him was out of the question, even a love tap from one of them would knock the little poison type out. He'd asked Nidoran but the pokemon refused to say it was anything other than he would get back up no matter what, a declaration to which Noah sighed.

Apparently Nidoran was still sore about the whole Nidorino beating him and then being seen defeated.

Maybe he could find another pokemon to add to his team that was on Nidoran's level?

Nidoran would be able to take on a mankey that roamed the path to Victory Road due to his typing, but honestly he would prefer if fought some pokemon without his typing. Tougher battles meant better gains after all and it would teach Nidoran that while his poison was dead useful, he may not always be able to rely on it. He was definitely still going to have him fight the fighting types as their speed would make them tricky opponents, but he was going to ease into it.

Noah sighed, he really had no choice.

He decided that it was time to find another family member.

He still had an hour or two before Ash got up and the stores opened, he could do a bit of scouting in the Viridian Forest and if Nidoran was up for a few battles with the local wildlife, then all the better.

He just needed to recollect his team first.

Noah stared at the Pichu that literally ran into him about an half-hour after he stepped into the forest as the pokemon stared back at him. Pichu was playing tag with its family when it came across Noah who was looking for a new pokemon to add to his team while heading back to Viridian City. The Pichu was squeaking in glee as it played with its family before it slammed into something that definitely not a tree. Trees did not grunt when you hit them.

He had only just finished a series of battles with Nidoran and had been satisfied with the data he got Nidoran's toughness before he was going to walk back to the pokemon center.

Noah had already had set his mind to a Pichu earlier, but had no idea he'd be lucky enough to find one right off the bat.

But like most new interactions between trainer and pokemon, there was bit of rocky start and a few teething issues.

Naturally — Pichu being a naturally skittish pokemon as is — it let out an involuntary jolt of electricity at realizing it had been staring at a human while frozen. The voltage was enough that it made Noah gasp as the Pichu fell onto it's back panting from the strain of using its own attack. Noah collapsed as his muscles lost control and convulsed erratically, only just managing to catch himself on his hands and knees as he tried to stay still through the shaking. It wasn't uncommon for an electrical attack from a pokemon to act similar to a taser, causing the body's electrical signals to go haywire and cause a complete loss of control.

In a flash, Surya was there with heat shaking the air around him as he glared at the tiny yellow rat that dare hurt his trainer. Licks of orange flames leaked from its mouth as a rumbling growl that shook the earth began building in its throat. Noah looked up and tried to catch his breath in order to avoid his furious pokemon from setting the forest aflame.

That was the last thing he needed.

The Pichu's eyes widened at the sight of the angry fire-type and it began to tremble in fear as it realized that all the anger was directed at it alone.

It was dead.

It didn't want to die!

"Stop!" Noah's voice cut through the building tension like a whip.

Noah took a few deep breaths and eventually sighed, "Hold Surya. Just hold. This isn't the Pichu's fault."

Surya eyed his trainer skeptically, but settled down as the oppressive heat the Charizard was generating began to dissipate.

Shaking off the last bits of the tingling, Noah crouched in front of the baby mouse, "Are you alright little one?"

The Pichu was still too terrified to answer so Noah let out an frustrated sigh, "Okay… How about I wait until you relax and then try talking?"

The Pichu managed a timid nod and Noah made himself comfortable while Surya curled around Noah and rested its head on his lap.

Thirty minutes had passed and apparently Noah and Suyra had been designated as a jungle gym for the Pichu and Pikachu of the Viridian forest. It had taken ten minutes for the Pichu to calm down, ten more minutes to explain what he was doing here, and then minutes for the rest of the the electric types to decide that he wasn't here to cause any harm and was therefore there to play with them.

Thank you Surya for the translation, you useless flying lizard.

Suyra was amused as he saw his trainer trying to hold four separate Pichu — not counting the others that were scrambling all over him — in his arms as they all wanted to see what caused the commotion, Noah trying to set them gently on the ground didn't really pan out as they just climbed right back onto him. The Pichu and Pikachu liked Surya as his body heat was apparently nice and warm in the cool shade of the forest, causing several of them to curl up against him and pass out into contented piles of yellow fuzz.

"So… back to my original reason to come here, I was hoping to catch a Pichu or Pikachu as a new family member and join me on my journey to be a pokemon trainer." Noah sighed as the very first Pichu managed to perch itself on his head and decided it liked it's new throne, "I was going to ask if you were okay with that or if you didn't feel comfortable with me that fine too. I can offer free room and board and a chance to see all of Kanto if that interests you."

The Pikachu and Pichu all chittered loudly at this and Surya lifted his head to make them know they needed to quiet down.

The Pichu on Noah's head conversed with the Charizard and after a while the Pichu hopped off Noah's head and nuzzle into his stomach.

Noah's grin split his face, "You want to come with me?"

The Pichu nodded eagerly, despite the fact that this trainer could've ordered his giant dragon to roast him, he didn't. He waited for Pichu to be comfortable, didn't lose his patience when Pichu was too scared to move and just… waited.

He didn't force the trainer issue and just wanted to make sure this was a decision Pichu was ready to make.

Pichu's conversation with Charizard cemented Pichu's decision.

Even when Charizard was a Charmander, Noah offered him freedom, to go his own way if he didn't like him. Charmander had been taken aback at that, he was raised with the expectation to serve a trainer the moment he was given one.

But Noah?

He wouldn't take the choice away from those he captured and expect utter loyalty.

Noah had no interest in pets and masters or serving and enslaving, if he was to have pokemon with him, they were family, no exceptions. It was the sincerity that had bound Charmander to Noah, stronger than any other offer or promise that could've been made. Each member of their family was given the choice once Noah explained what he wanted to be, and Noah meant every word of the offer. He then made sure to know that he would suffer with them, treat them with the love and care that they inherently deserved, and make sure that if they ever wanted out, they were free to go. But after all the battles they fought, time they shared, parties they enjoyed, and love that tied them together?

There was no other option they could conceive or desire.

Where Noah went, they would follow.

If death was about to take him him, it would have to rip him from their dead bodies before they let go of him.

"Are you okay with fighting?" Noah cautioned the little mouse, "I am aiming to be a trainer, so I will call on you to fight, are you okay with lending me your strength?"

The Pichu paused, considering this before nodding again and resting against his stomach willing to give this one a chance, Noah pulled out another one of his ultra balls and held it out, "You mind if I use this?

Soon after that, Noah was Pichu's new trainer.