"P-pree?" The confused noise had all of us looking towards Dragonair who had been taking a nap after Chansey healed her. Milotic was curled up around her so as she awoke she quickly snuggled closer as she made some questioning noises.
"Mil. Milotic." He offered I could hear him trying to be kind even if the exact words were lost on me, but Dragonair seemed heartbroken. Nearly crying as she pressed herself against him.
Damn now I feel bad.
I wait a moment for her to turn to look around and see me sitting with Arcanine beside me.
"Pree... Dragonair."
"No." I shook my head. I could tell what that meant right then. It was a disheartened noise. A surrender. "I won’t capture you." I tell her earning a jerk from her head as she wonders what is going on.
"Pree?"
"I discussed it with Milotic while you were... unconscious. We can set something up to come visit you. It can even be pretty often, Milotic is plenty fast to be able to swim here from Vermillion or something. But I won’t capture you. You don’t want to come with me and I’m not in the habit of building a team with Pokemon that don’t want to join me." I tell her with a sigh.
"Dragon, Dragonair."
"Of course I want you to come." I tell her instantly hearing the sound asking if she wasn’t good enough.
"Listen. If you choose to come with, I would be happy to take you with me. To fight alongside you, to train you to be a legend. I think that’s my goal, you know? I started this journey just because it’s expected... But I want to make a team of Pokemon that everyone says are legends. A legendary team... But not made up of legendary Pokemon. I want their strength to be something we work on together to build towards."
Funny to think that it took me not capturing a Pokemon to get an idea of what I wanted out of this journey.
"Anway I’m getting side tracked. Dragonair. I beat you in a battle. Both of my battle Pokemon defeated you. You may be strong, but you aren’t that strong. Not enough to overcome my team. My training. So the question is. Do you want to come with? Do you want me to train you? If not Milotic will come to visit a lot. I’m not cruel. I am super happy Milotic found someone he likes, and I’m glad you like him."
"Pree." She turned away from me looking up towards Milotic as she snuggles into him for a moment. A quiet few seconds pass. Then she pulled away and untangled herself from Milotic. With a haughty air she slithered across the sand until she was standing across from me with nothing between us.
A moment of silence and she barked a question. I wasn’t sure what it was, but Milotic suddenly stirring in happiness meant it was a good thing. A few moments and Milotic came to my rescue as I tried to work out what was being said.
Funnily enough his charades were worse than I expected. Not having hands I guess will do that, but his spinning into a dragon dance made it click at least a little. She was a dragon, they did all their relationships like this. A battle of sorts. But it was more than that. A discourse. Agreement.
"If you come with me. You will have to actually be on my team. If you refuse to do anything I say, then it’s a no go."
"Dragon! Dragonair... Dragon Drag Dragonair."
She pointed towards Milotic, and I almost snorted, but I got the feeling that was a bad idea.
"Milotic will be with you. If I ever send Milotic home because I need to switch out my team... I don’t know why I ever would. But you will be with him, and I won’t send you away either. Wherever he is. You are." I offer, and earn an accepting trill from that.
Then she hesitated and then seemed to stand taller made herself puff up a bit, and she pointed towards Milotic. It took a few moments before I got it.
"You want to be able to stand equal to him. You want to grow strong? I will train you hard. You will get the same training as the others. Or even more since you are behind. I promise you Dragonair. If you join me. You will not be weak. Ever. You will grow equal to any Dragonite that there ever was. I swear that."
"Dragonair."
That was an acceptance, but not a defeat. Now it sounded like a challenge. I reached into my pocket and grabbed one of my premier balls.
"Dragonair. Join my team let’s become a legend together."
"Pree."
She pushed her nose forward and into the Pokeball. And then she disappeared in a flash of red light.
I breathed out a solid chunk of air as I fell on my butt. "That was exhausting." I mutter as I fall back into the sand more than willing to lay there for a while.
"Mii?"
"Oh right. Here buddy. Let’s not keep you away from your Girlfriend." I mutter as I release her, with a loud cry Dragonair appeared and she was quite pleased to then cuddle with Milotic. What a day... Oh right. It was still early morning...
Nope. Taking a nap. Pulling my sun hat over my face I simply plopped in the sand.
Waking up a bit later I was greeted with a sand colored dog nose, and a cuddly fish with his QT Dragon GF.
Man what a weird group. Chansey was out too, but she had wandered off to play with the Dratini after healing up Dragonair earlier. So she was probably having fun.
"I guess we should get some training in then. Dragonair. Let’s go find Chansey, and then? Then we will show you how Team Legend trains." I say as I sit up wiping sand from my hair. I adjusted my hat without a care to keep the sun off me as I got up. Already Arcanines tail was wagging up a storm, and Milotic was looking eager to show off for his girlfriend.
Chansey was easy to find a group of Dratini circling her happily as she played with them. Her mothering instincts were pretty strong after all.
"Chansey! Training time. Dragonair is on the team."
"Chansey Chanse!" And as always my pink blob goddess was more than willing to be the force of nature that my team pit themselves against to sharpen them into legends.
—-
Dragonair’s first meeting with my good frienemy Gravity was a hilarious experience. Chansey had been getting a lot better at using the ability, for almost a year now she had basically used it constantly over and over until she simply couldn’t anymore almost every day.
If Arcanine and Milotic trained their body every day, Chansey trained this one ability. The old adage of training 1000 punches once, vs training 1 punch 1000 times came into play.
Gravity was Chanseys best ability and her healing was getting amazingly solid as well.
So as Chansey improved in ability Arcanine and Milotic had both grown with her.
But Dragonair? Well she ate sand on the deserted section of the beach I had claimed for a spot of introductory training.
The force of Gravity was a bit too much for the surprised dragon.
"So this is one of our secrets to our strength." I call out to her. As she slowly rises up from the ground and noticed Arcanine already moving full tilt just as fast as always, Milotic also showing little issue had her slump.
"It’s gonna be tough especially at first, but Chansey is here to heal you and make sure you are healthy as you go through the training. So Dragonair... Are you ready to sweat?" I grin almost menacingly as the Dragon starts to realize what she was in for.
—--
That night a little fire set up to heat up some food I couldn’t help but feel at peace. My pokemon were passed out around the fire. Milotic and Dragonair curled up as only two eels could. Arcanine was my backrest happy in her doggy dreams after a day of exercise. Chansey was there as well, happily helping me cook. As always she wanted to support the team.
It was perfect.
Which is why I was sad that I would have to leave. As much as I loved this little island surrounded by cute dragons, I still had things to do. Pokemon to catch, gyms to battle.
Plus Mama and Papa are probably getting worried that I didn’t call. It’s been a lot longer than I wanted to be out of touch.
So tomorrow I would return to civilization. It was almost too bad. This island had a bunch of berry trees that the Dragons ate, plus since it was just dragons here I didn’t have to worry about someone stumbling upon my Gravity training. Which was a pain because I couldn’t just train anywhere.
I sighed, grabbing my ladle out of the pot, and started parting out bowls for everyone. Arcanine was already perking up in her little dream to get some. Heavy training meant heavy hunger.
Ugh. I would have a long swim tomorrow.
—--
Considering Milotic knew how to get back to Vermillion we didn’t bother to stop back on Dewgong island. As much as I might want to. I wanted to get to a Pokemon center to call Mama and Papa. And since this time we were a bit more on point for where we needed to go it didn’t take nearly as long. Although it was still a good six hours of swimming to once more come into the Vermillion harbor.
Once more taking a few minutes on the rough rocks of the beach I finally hauled myself through town and ended up tiredly dragging my feet as I entered the Pokemon center.
"Hi Nurse Joy. Can I get a room?"
"Welcome to the Pokemon Center. Are you alright?"
"Just tired. I was in the ocean for hours." I yawn out groaning a bit as I rub my butt. My butt hurts.
"Of course. Shall I look after your Pokemon?"
"Please. We all went through an adventure, we could probably use a checkup even if I do have Chansey with me."
"Oh you have a Chansey? That’s so nice. I’ll give them all a nice checkup."
I throw a thumbs up as I wander off to the rooms and crash for a bit. I would need to change out of the wetsuit but for now all I wanted was to lay flat for a while.
—--
"Hi Mama!" I called out as soon as the video phone connected, earning a look of relief from Mama.
"Vicky! You had us all worried girl! Did you get lost? You should have been in Cerulean days ago!"
"No no not lost. I went on a bit of an adventure. Milotic and I went out onto the ocean. I was looking for something. Anyways. I’m okay! Sorry I took so long... Well Milotic sort of found himself a girlfriend, and that took a few days for them to get ’settled in’ and everything." I tell her, finger quoting as I said settled in.
"Oh!" Mama looks a little surprised before laughing a bit. "Of course I should have expected this. You found a wild Milotic?"
"Huh? Oh no worse. Milotic totally impressed a Dragonair." I tell Mama, whispering the name of the Dragon and looking around a bit to make sure no one was around. Thankfully the Pokemon center was empty.
I could see Mama slowly come to the realization of what I had just said. "V-vicky! Did you find a Dragonair!?"
"Yeah. Well.. It’s a long story. Next time I’m home I’ll tell you the whole thing. But yeah I uh.. Well I managed to convince the Dragonair that if she wanted to stay with Milotic she had to join my team. So I have a Dragonair now too."
"A-ah." Mama made a broken noise in her throat for a moment. "Victoria! How did you even find a Dragonair! Those things are almost myth! If not for that Blackthorne clan in Johto we wouldn’t even be sure they are real!"
"Battle begin!" Brock called out and we started.
"Pikachu! Thundershock!"
"Pika! CHUUUUU!"
"Thunder Rod!" I called out, smiling as Milotics’ tail turned white from Iron Tail as he pushed it into the ground in front of him.
This was the culmination of why training Iron Tail had been so important for my team. A steel move that would act like a lightning rod, redirecting the lightning damage through the steel and into the earth.
We hadn’t gotten much practice, in fact up until now I wasn’t even sure if it would work. I hadn’t had any Pokemon with electric moves until Dragonair who has thunder wave, after all. But I was confident. Pokemon moves were magic, but it should work. And as Pikachus Thundershock hits Milotic I could see him wince a little but nothing like what a electric attack would normally do.
"W-what!?" Misty gasps in shock at the outcome but I ignore the peanut gallery as they talk about what just happened.
"Milotic! Water Pulse!"
"MIIIII!"
The sound of Water cutting through the air echoed as it blasted out. It still wasn’t that much stronger than it had been against Brock. But Brock also was facing me with Pokemon with years of training and experience. Pikachu tried to dodge, but Milotic was used to facing Arcanine in practice bouts.
Pikachu was quick, but he wasn’t extreme.
Water Pulse slammed into the retreating mouse and hammered it all the way across the arena until it landed in front of ash.
"Piiiii." I could hear faintly as Pikachu picked itself up and shook the water off, but I could tell and so could Ash that the hit wasn’t gentle.
"Pikachu! That! Quick attack this time! Go around him!"
"Piiika!" The little rat called out causing a white aura to surround him as he charged in, and was immediately met with a Iron Tail acting like a wall.
Pika’s Quick attack might as well have been moving at a brisk walk compared to Extreme Speed.
The rat managed to dodge away with a cry but it was obvious his Quick attack had failed the white aura disappearing.
"Hit him with a Thunder shock again! Just don’t let up!"
"Thunder rod."
The sparkling thunder was bright and powerful, but almost all of it simply soaked back into the ground since Milotic was floating and all the energy went straight through his tail.
"Milotic! Iron Tail!"
"Miii!" And Milotic moved. Much faster than the startled Pikachu that was panting after its massive electric release expected because a moment later Pikachu was batted away with a small *dong* as Milotics fan-like tail swatted the mouse.
This time it was obvious Pikachu was done.
"W-what!?" Ash gasped, unable to understand what was going on. "But Pikachu hit! Your Pokemon didn’t take any damage!" But the moment Pikachu didn’t get back up, that was his whole focus running up to his Pokemon with a cry of "Pikachu!"
"Chansey." I call out releasing my girl. "Chansey help out that Pikachu." I called out and she danced over towards Ash who had jerked at her appearance, but a few moments later Pikachu was looking much better after a heal pulse.
"Chansey chanse!"
"Piii Pika." The two pokemon spoke to each other.
"Hey Ash. We aren’t finished are we?" I ask, and he looks up and shakes his head.
"No way! If Pikachu won’t work, then I still have the rest of my team!"
I nodded. And then he returned to the battle circuit Chansey wandering over to the others patting Ivy on the head in greeting.
"Bulbasaur!"
And Bulbasaur came out. I could tell instantly, he was a lot stronger than Ivys. Probably a good year or so older and with a lot more battling experience.
"Another type advantage. But it won’t matter." I told him and Ash scowled.
"Bulbasaur! Razor leaf!"
"Milotic Iron tail and parry them away!"
The two moves met in a flurry Milotics tail acting like a shield. Blocking the leaves and stopping them cold with seemingly little to no damage.
"F-fine! Bulbasaur! Leech seed!"
"Surf! Knock the seeds away!"
"Miiiii!"
The two moves met and while Milotic was still not the strongest with special attacks it did its job. The seeds never managed to reach as they were pushed away with water pressure.
"Agh!" Ash scowled as his move failed again. Even if Bulbasaur I could tell was only getting more serious. Good.
"Vine Whip! Like Ivy showed us! Get above it and keep up with Razor leaf!" Ash called out and I nearly whistled as Bulbasaur started using Ivy’s 3d maneuvers. Pulling itself into the air on its vines and beginning to attack from awkward angles.
"Ice beam! Freeze one of the vines!" I called out and despite Milotic taking a few razor leaves, his attack worked, hitting a light pole that Bulbasaur was using and freezing the vine solid to the metal, earning a cry of pain from Bulbasaur and stopping him from being able to move. Instead he was stuck hanging.
"Bulbasaur!"
"Hey Ash. Recall Bulbasaur. He can’t get out of that on his own like this." I call out, seeing Bulbasaur try and fail to break the ice from his trapped vine.
Ash hesitates, but after a moment he nods. "Bulbasaur return."
Thankfully the return brings the vine with and the ice is left as a sculpture hanging from the pole.
"I think that’s enough." I call out even as Ash goes to grab another Pokeball. I step away from the battle space for trainers and walk up to Milotic patting his head and telling him he was amazing as I walk up to Ash.
"I-I still have Pokemon!"
"I know. But you should know when to say enough is enough. Can any of your Pokemon beat Milotic? Can they beat the rest of my team as well?" I ask and he hesitates.
"There isn’t any shame in not putting your Pokemon into pointless battles, Ash. You have potential. Don’t get stuck in thinking every battle needs to be fought to the bitter end." I tell him, because honestly if his Pokemon with super effective moves against Milotic couldn’t even start to bring him down, nothing Ash had left could win.
He lowers his head and nods quietly without a word, he takes his Pikachu and runs off.
Yeah I know that feeling.
"I feel kinda bad." I muttered but Brock was suddenly there.
"Don’t be. Ash wants to be a Pokemon Master. That means losses. It means hitting walls and having to learn to overcome them." He offers a smile and I return it.
"I’m surprised you didn’t teach him that then. Your Pokemon could have taken out his team."
Brock looks a little embarrassed. "Ah, I left them all at home. My... Dad took over the gym, so he needed the gym Pokemon including my main team. I only took a few that I knew wouldn’t be missed. I wanted to train a new team anyways." He offered with a shrug and I nodded.
"Wow." Misty whispered word had me turn from Brock as she approached Milotic who was being checked out by Chansey despite not really being hurt. "Milotic." She whispered, stepping closer catching his eye .
"Mii?"
"Ah sorry I’ve just never seen a Milotic before. You’re really beautiful."
"Mii! Milotic."
"Oh, Umm Handsome, you’re very handsome." She corrected herself at Milotics’ whining tone but that was fine he perked up with that.
"Milotic is pretty awesome." I say breaking away from Brock for a moment to join Misty at Milotics side.
"Yeah.. Where did you even find him?" She asked but I shook my head.
"Family secret."
She groaned at that which made me chuckle. "Yeah I get that. You did great, buddy. I’m really impressed with how you handled that fight." I tell him earning a purring call as he nuzzled me wanting attention.
"Do you think Ash is going to be okay?" Ivy asked, having been looking towards the Pokemon center since he ran off.
"I think Ash will be okay." Misty offered simply. "He shouldn’t have such a big head anyways."
"I think you are just upset that he beat you." Brock offered which had Misty turning on him instantly.
"The match was interrupted and I was about to win, not him!"
I chuckled at their bickering. I returned Chansey and Milotic and walked over to Ivy. "C’mon let’s head inside. I want to hear all about your adventure." I tell her earning a bright smile as she nodded, standing tall and looking proud.
"I made it all the way to Cerulean on my own!" She says proudly, which earns her a pat on the head.
"Great job. I knew you could do it." I say earning a flush.
"Well I didn’t make it all the way alone. I met up with Brock Misty and Ash in Mt. Moon. There were these people putting up lights through all the tunnels and it was causing the Pokemon to freak out..."