//------------------------------// // How to Train a Dragon Trainer // Story: My Little Pokémon: Grander World // by Amarvax //------------------------------// Unova. Castelia City. Day. Visiting the Pokemon Centre, Twilight, Rarity and Pinkie Pie were here to wish their Pokemon well once more, bringing them more of them favourite gifts. The recovery process for them was certainly major considering what they had to receive, but at least they were recovering. With the gifts left behind, they would leave their respective rooms, talking to Nurse Joy for the end. "Thanks for visiting as always. Come again another time, and hopefully by then, one of them will be awake." "Thank you!" The three girls collectively said before taking their leave. Another day of their visit has come to an end as they stepped out into Castelia's scenery. "Alright. I should get going right now. I have a school to run." Twilight said, needing to be present at the Pokemon School as its principal. "I'll see you all later today." "Mm. When you get back, let's stop by Pegalyasium. I wanna try their food. They've actually got cotton candy clouds after all!" Pinkie Pie expressed. "Sure, sure. Plus, if I go there, I can visit Starmap. I'm worried about Potion Nova. Haven't seen her for a while." Twilight gazed up at the azure skies, thinking about Potion Nova. "You don't think she and Galaxy Master lost in space, are you?" "I'm sure they're fine. After all, she has a superhero next to her." Rarity thought otherwise. "I'm positive they'll be back and with a great outcome." "I hope so. Anyways, I'd better get going. Wouldn't want to be late." Equestria. Canterlot. The Pokemon School. The Pokemon School. Another day there and another lesson to be had. Today's lesson which was being taught by Windflash, would be about how a Pokemon's Cells react to different environments and how to track where Pokemon are by their own cell activity. The class itself had many of the usual students in it and they were all eager to learn what this lesson had to offer. Smolder yawned, seeming tired today and her head kept nodding off a few times. It took Gallus nudging her to jolt her awake for the umpteenth time. "I'm up, I'm up!", she grumbled, looking a bit dazed still. "You alright, Smolder? You seem to be a bit out of it today. More so than usual anyway.", Ocellus asked her, with concern in her voice. "I'm fine. Just...haven't been getting much sleep lately. That's all.", Smolder replied, looking away from the changeling. "Oh, what's keeping you up at night?", Sandbar asked her, turning his attention to her now. "Ah...Charmander wanted to check out one of the few places with Dragon-Types, even late at night. Of course, how could I say no? Any excuse to see some Dragons." Smolder grinned, remembering that night. "Charmander's been feeling over the moon recently. In pretty high spirits too." "Really? Did something great happen to him?", Silverstream inquired. "Well..." Smolder then started recalling back 3 days ago. 3 Days Ago. Frenzy Forest. Nightfall. The night sky, filled with stars and a crescent moon shining brightly. Over at Frenzy Forest, Smolder found herself in the Dragon-Type section of this forest. The night sky, filled with stars and a crescent moon shining brightly. Over at Frenzy Forest, Smolder found herself in the Dragon-Type section of this forest. She strolled alongside her partner Charmander, searching for Dragon-Types at this time. It was originally Charmander's idea to come out here, even if it was quite late at night. "I only have 3 Poke Balls on me right now, so I can only catch 3." Smolder looked in her bag. Only 3 were available for her to use so she would have to make them count. "Char-Char-Mander!" Charmander's tail flame shone a bit brighter, making him seem excited. Smolder could not help but chuckle at her partner's enthusiasm. "Alright, let's try to find ourselves a good target, buddy." Smolder patted the Fire-Type on the head. "I'm sure you'll have a blast either way, though." The two made their way through the woods, going deeper and deeper until they arrived at the edge of the lake, with a large island in the middle. A small wooden bridge stretched across the lake and led to the island. Upon looking at the island, Charmander saw something that caught his attention. "Char?!" Charmander's eyes widened upon seeing what appeared to be a Shelgon in the distance. He would stay silent when eyeing down this Dragon as Smolder would soon spot it as well. "A Shelgon? That's a good find...It's already halfway through evolution. It could have some really great moves, depending on how well it was raised. Good catch, Charmander. Alright, let's see if it will respond." Smolder took a breath, readying her Poke Ball. But as soon as she was about to take action, sliding into the scene and screaming at the top of her lungs was someone else. Smoler and Charmander paused as the one responsible for this was none other than Iris, the Champion of Unova. The girl was currently fleeing from what appeared to be a plethora of Ice-Types. "Get away!" Iris cried out, running across the bridge. As always, even to this day, she was still afraid of Ice-Types. So afraid, in fact, she would not hesitate to jump off the bridge and into the water, swimming back to shore. The Ice-Types followed, but were not willing to go into the water to pursue her. "Hah..." Iris sighed, relieved that the Ice-Types were not pursuing her any longer. "Oooh...That's the Unova Champion!" Smolder yelled, revealing herself and approaching Iris. She zoomed past Shelgon along with Charmander, almost getting into the water before coming into a screeching halt. Iris looked up and saw Smolder looking at her. "I can't believe it! It's really you!" "Uh...hello." Iris waved nervously, feeling a little awkward and embarrassed. "I-I'm a huge fan!" Smolder's eyes lit up with joy, as did Charmander's. "Char-Char! Charmander!" The Fire-Type cheered, seeming quite happy. Iris invoked a certain reaction from the two and that was simply because she was a Dragon Trainer who was a Champion. Best of both worlds. "Well, uh...thank you." Iris smiled, blushing a bit. "I didn't think I had fans over at Equestria. Then again, I'm not used to having fans." "Well, you should because you're a big inspiration to Dragon-Types trainers all over the place! Especially me!" Smolder exclaimed, getting all giddy. She then gasped, realizing that Iris was still in the water. "Oh! My bad! I should probably help you up!" "Ah, it's fine." But Iris could handle that. She grabbed ahold of the edge of the wooden bridge and pulled herself up. Her clothes and hair were dripping wet, but she seemed to be fine. Immediately after getting out, Iris would rapidly shake her head, causing droplets of water to fly in all directions. "So what brings you here?" "Ah...sometimes I come over to Equestria just out of curiosity. And because it's still getting adjusted to Dragon-Types, creating new stuff because of it. I'm also here to see if there's a regional Dragon here, just like Equestrian Axew. And that's just the first few parts. There's just a lot I wanna do here, honestly." Iris explained, giving her reasoning for why she was here. "Ah, gotcha." Smolder nodded. "Well, I was out here looking for some Dragon-Types to catch. But now that you're here, I can do something else! You can teach me! I mean, I know you're the Unova Champion, and the reason why is because of your knowledge about Dragon-Types." "Hm? You want to be taught by me?" Iris blinked. "I never really done something like that. I don't think I would be a very good teacher, though." "No way! You would be a great teacher!" Smolder shook her head. "Please! I've always dreamed of learning from the greatest Dragon-Types expert and trainer around! Please!" Smolder clapped her hands together, looking up at the Champion. "Char-Char~!" Charmander was quick to join in, looking up at the young woman and begging her. "Mmmm...I'm just not cut out to be a teacher. I'm sorry." Iris apologized, rubbing the back of her neck. She knew she wasn't the best at teaching. "But..I guess I can at least try. But only because you seem so insistent on it." "Awesome! Thank you!" Smolder grinned. "You won't regret it!" "Alright. The best thing I can do is show you what I always do! Right now, I'm in my natural environment!" Iris outstretched her arms, referring to the forest. "The best thing a Dragon-Type trainer can do is get themselves accustomed to their Dragons and their environment. You should be able to blend in and feel like you belong with the rest of the Dragons. The moment you can do that, that's when you can say you're a master Dragon-Types trainer!" "But...I already am a Dragon." Smolder pointed out. "R-Right!" Iris grinned nervously, laughing awkwardly. "Uh well...then...uh...I guess just follow me!" "Yes ma'am" Smolder was more than eager to do so as she and Charmander would follow Iris into the woods. The two watched as Iris would make her way through the forest, being one with nature. She would climb trees, walk across vines and leap between branches. She was not afraid to get a little messy either. "Alright, now it's your turn!" Iris told the dragon girl, watching her from the branch she was on. "Try do it without your wings!" "Char!" Charmander would encourage his partner to do her best, as he was not far behind her. "Yeah...this should be a breeze." Smolder grinned. She would try her best, but unlike Iris, she was a lot less graceful. She had trouble keeping her balance, especially on the vines. Eventually, she would lose her footing, falling off and into a bush, which broke her fall. Not using her wings, Smolder would climb out of the bush and dust herself off. "Take it from me, if you rely too much on your wings, then you won't know how to use your body in those tough space." Iris advised her. "That's something you gotta work on. If you can't keep up with your partner's pace, then there's a good chance that you can't work together as a team." "Huh?" Smolder then looked to the side, seeing how flawlessly Charmander was moving through the forest, doing everything that Iris did without a problem. It shocked Smolder. Since when was Charmander this agile? The way he moved was impressive as he caught on fast. "Looks like your partner gets it." Iris pointed out. "He's a quick learner, for a Charmander." "Charmander!" Charmander cried out, landing near Iris. "Aw, come on, Charmander! You're gonna show me up and make me look bad in front of Iris?" Smolder asked him, seeming a little embarrassed. "Char-char." Charmander grinned right afterwards as that was exactly his plan. "Great work there, Charmander! I can see you'll do great in the future!" Iris smiled at him with her eyes closed before then patting him on the head. Charmander would look at Iris for a moment before his cheeks grew a little warm. In his eyes, he pictured a pink background with a plethora of sparkles around Iris. The fire on his tail was burning a bit more. Before he knew it, Charmander was in love. "Alright. Let's keep at it, Smolder! I'm also training myself, ya know! This way!" Iris ran off, heading deeper into the forest. Smolder would quickly follow, with Charmander following close behind. The three would soon arrive at the Fire-Type section of the forest, where the ground was a bit harder and rocky. Naturally, it was hotter than the previous sections, being the natural habitat for Fire-Types. "Now here's another important part of training your body. You should be able to move just as well no matter where you are. Here, give it a try. I'll watch over you." Iris encouraged the dragon girl, smiling. "Right!" Smolder nodded, ready to give it a go. But just like the previous time, she was not doing too hot. She would slip and slide on the hot ground and would lose her footing. Charmander would watch his partner struggle, before looking over at Iris. "She's...not doing too well, huh?" Iris noticed, crossing her arms. "Well, she's doing her best. It takes a while to build up that sort of endurance. I mean, I was the same way when I was a kid." "It's not usually this hard..." Smolder grunted, trying to keep her footing. But soon, her arms would give way and she would fall. Just as she was about to hit the ground, Charmander would dash over and grab her arm. Without using her wings, this was way harder than Smolder thought. But Charmander did not seem to have trouble with it, not even once. Iris, despite knowing that Charmander wasn't a Dragon-Type and only counts as a Dragon thanks to his egg group, could see the potential that was hidden within. "It's already late and I'm already too tired or this..." Smolder sighed, looking down. "But I really wanna keep going! Just to impress you!" "Well, uh...I am impressed." Iris nodded. "And flattered. I've never had someone look up to me like this before. It's all new to me. So, uh...thanks, Smolder." Iris rubbed the back of her head. "Maybe next time, we can try this again? When you're feeling a more energized." "That would be great! Let's meet up again here at Frenzy Forest!" Smolder grinned. "Char!" Charmander chimed in. "Ahaha...well, I'm glad you two are happy." Iris giggled. "See you later!" With that, she bid her farewell, but there was a promise to see her again. Rather soon too. And most likely tomorrow. "Wow, so that's what happened." Ocellus smiled, feeling warm and fuzzy. "You're so lucky. Not a lot of people have a chance to spend some time with Iris." "Yeah. I'm definitely not letting this go." Smolder replied. "But yeah, that's what happened. After school, I'm heading back to Frenzy Forest to meet her. I can't wait." "Aren't the other dragons jealous?" Gallus questioned. "Oh, yeah. They sure are."Smolder replied with a proud grin, knowing the other dragons were envious of Iris. She could already sense the stares she was getting. "I'd say the best part is the fact that Iris was so impressed." Sandbar pointed out. "Charmander's not even a Dragon." "I know right? But he counts since he's in the egg group. If I can impress her a lot, she'll make me her disciple! I'm sure of it! Just gotta keep pushing! She won't be able to resist me and Charmander, hahaha!" Smolder laughed, grabbing the attention of the other students and Windflash. "Oh? What is it?" Windflash asked, curious as she didn't mind the interruption. "Ehehe..." Smolder squeaked, feeling a bit embarrassed. But she knew where she was heading after class without a doubt. Later in the day, Frenzy Forest. As usual, Iris was making her way through the forest and towards the island in the middle of the lake. As she made her way across the bridge, she waited for Smolder to appear. "I wonder if she's coming. She did seem pretty tired." Iris thought, looking back. "Char!" A familiar cry caught her attention. Charmander ran over the bridge, waving his arms at the Champion. Iris would look down and see the Fire-Type, a smile growing on her face. "Hey, there. I'm guessing Smolder isn't far behind." Iris knelt down. In reality, Charmander came by himself due to his crush on Iris, causing him to come running over the second school ended. "Char!" Charmander grinned, his tail flame growing. "Oh, is that Iris?" Smolder peeked over from the corner of the forest. "Hey!" Smolder would make her way out of the forest, waving at the young woman. "Ah, Smolder. There you are." Iris would get back up. "Sorry for calling you out here. I know how busy school can get. I just wanted to talk about the other day. And well...a few things." "It's fine! We have a long break so don't worry about it. I'm happy to see you!" Smolder replied, smiling at the Champion. "So what's up?" "Well, I actually have something for you. I talked to Drayden this morning about me being a mentor, since he was my mentor, so he helped me out and told me to give you this. You can have this." Iris held out a necklace, which had a white and orange gem in the shape of an orb attached to the end of it. "This is...?!" Smolder was a little surprised. "It's a Dragon Tamer Necklace. It's actually pretty new to even me. It's supposed to grant the wearer power over Dragons." Iris explained. "It's not much, but I think you would benefit from it. So...here." Iris gently handed the necklace to the dragon girl. "Wow, thank you!" Smolder happily put on the necklace. "Ahaha, no problem. It's the least I could do for a fan. So uh...do you think you can become a great Dragon-Type trainer?" Iris inquired, curious about the young dragon girl's aspirations. "Well, of course. That's the plan, at least." Smolder nodded. "I mean, you're the reason why I wanna be a Dragon Trainer, after all. As soon as I heard that there was someone powerful that's a Dragon Trainer, it was an easy answer for me! You and Lance" "Alright. For today, let's-" But before Iris could finish her sentence, she was interrupted by the sudden sound of multiple wings flapping in the distance. As the two of them turned their heads, they would see the sight of many Dragons from the Dragon Lands approaching them. Iris gasped at the sight while Smolder grimaced. "What's going on?!" Iris cried out. "All those Dragons coming our way!" "Me and my big mouth..." Smolder knew the reason as to why they were all here. All that bragging she did earlier today. Now, she would have to face the music. All the Dragons were coming to Iris, aiming to do the same thing Smolder did just last night. "They're all coming this way?!" Iris cried out, backing up a little. But her nervousness would soon subside as her fear would soon turn into a sense of excitement. All these Dragons for her to see, all different types and all different sizes. "Smolder!" One of the Dragons yelled, swooping down and landing in front of her. "We're not letting you hog Iris for yourself!" "That's not fair!" "It's not every day a Dragon-Type master comes to our world!" "Well, I'm not actually a Dragon-Type Master, I'm just really good at-" Iris was cut off one more by Smolder. "I wasn't hogging her!" Smolder yelled, crossing her arms. "But now that you're all here, you're the ones trying to hog her!" "Well, you shouldn't have brought it up! Miss Iris!" One of the young dragons flew up to Iris, looking at her. "Teach us too!" "Yeah, teach me as well! Please!" "You're our idol!" "Ahh..." Iris was a little overwhelmed by the number of Dragons asking her to train them. This was definitely something she was not used to. Now she was truly getting the champion experience with all this publicity. "So this is what Ash experiences sometimes..." Iris was being bombarded with words and pleas by the various dragons, with all of them asking her for guidance and assistance. But eventually, a shout would break the noise up. It was from one of the Pokemon from Frenzy Forest who was being disturbed by all this riff raff. "Pyroar!" The roar of Pyroar echoed, reaching them all and ceasing all the commotion. All of the dragons turned their attention to the Normal-Fire-Type, seeing him standing on top of the hill. Once they saw Pyroar, they all stayed silent, understanding his message very clearly. "Okay..." Iris sighed now that there was silence. All these Dragons requesting her to train them was overwhelming sine Iris has never been a mentor before. But she definitely didn't want to let them all down. That's when it clicked for her. "Duh! I know how to fix this!" "What is it, Iris?" Smolder asked her. "Let's stop by Opelucid City and meet my mentor, Drayden! He'll know what to do!" Iris suggested. "There's just way too many of you right now for me to handle. Its better if someone with way more experience with a lot of training and discipline does it." "I guess so..." The Dragons murmured, looking down. They were a bit disappointed. "Trust me, my mentor will not disappoint. I'm sure he'll be more than willing to help." Iris reassured them. "Opelucid's gateway isn't too far from here, so we can be there in a short amount of time. I promise you, it'll be worth your while." "Aw, but we already had Clair and some other Dragon Trainers come by that one day and learned from them. What makes Drayden so different?" One Dragon asked. "You'll see. Come with me." Iris insisted, leading all the Dragons away from Frenzy Forest, taking them to the nearby Opelucid City. Smolder was gutted. There goes her only chance of being Iris's only student. All that bragging led to this which was just downright unfortunate for her. Unova. Opelucid City. They had all arrived in the city in a relatively short time thanks to the gateway. The second they arrived, Iris wasted no time in heading for the Gym where Drayden mostly resides. She had a lot of Dragons behind her. Enough to fill a mansion. Iris was not cut out to handle all of these Dragons. Dragon Pokemon, maybe, but not Equestrian Dragons. Iris was also a bit hesistant bringing all of them to Drayden, but she trusted her gut and believed that Drayden could handle this. She surely couldn't. "Pretty please, Drayden!" Iris bowed, hoping he would comply with her request. "I know you already have other Dragon Trainers to teach here and you're also teaching Spike, but can you at least teach some of them? Just a few. And they're from Equestria, too so you can always use the gateway to reach them quicker. Just for a short while." "Hm..." Drayden looked at the Dragons behind Iris, then looking at her. His face remained stern. "Well...I suppose it couldn't hurt." "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Iris cheered, jumping up and down. "However!" Drayden shouted, shutting the girl up. "It's not as simple as just letting them all train under me. For this many trainers, I'll have to issue a challenge for them all." "What kind of challenge?" Iris tilted her head, not sure what kind of challenge would be fitting for the sheer number of Dragons. "All of you. Listen well. You will all begin a search. A search for an item." Drayden explained, putting his hands behind his back and looking at the necklace Smolder was given. "Do you see the necklace that young dragon is wearing? There is another like it out there. I want all of you to find another like this." "This thing?" The other Dragons gazed at Smolder's necklace. When getting a closer look at it, it didn't seem that special at all. "Exactly. The stones you see there are actually relatively new to the world, appearing not long ago. They were actually originally found somewhere near the Arcane Ocean, covered and flowing with Rift Energy. Since they are new, you can imagine that they are rare to find. The one your fellow Dragon is wearing was cut off from a larger stone." "This thing has Rift Energy in it?" Smolder gawked. "And you gave it to me, Iris?" "Well..." Iris shrugged. "We only called it a Dragon Tamer necklace because it helped calm down a rampaging Salamence and Tyrantrum at the same time from such a short distance." Iris explained. "Regardless, that's not important. All of you, search for the other stone. Bring it back here and I'll teach you what you want. When we retrieved it, the stone was immediately broken down so that we could have smaller pieces. I'll know where they are. Now go. You have a month to retrieve the stone." Drayden instructed them. "Right." The Dragons nodded. "Well, uh...good luck! I'll be rooting for you." Iris smiled, feeling relieved that the problem was resolved. The Dragons were most definitely going to accept. They love a good challenge. They all set out, taking flight and searching for this newly created stone. They only had to find one and that was easier said than done. All they knew was that it was somewhere in Unova and with the knowledge they have, all of them had a few places in mind. As for Smolder, she already had a piece of it as she would then look at Iris, wondering if she should go. "Should I...?" "Go." Drayden encouraged. "You may have another piece of it, but I want you to join them all. To test you." "A-Alright!" Smolder saluted before rushing out with Charmander, confident in herself. "I'll be right back!" Now, they were all on the move as dragons galore were flying across the skies of Opelucid and very soon, places in Unova. The search for this stone began as the journey continues. Chapter 490 End.