[b]Hoenn Saga (S1)[/b]
[i]Next City Arc (A2)[/i]
Chapter 12: Iri's New Trainer, Seraphine

The next morning, Seraphine woke Iri up early in her excitement. He was groggy from their late night dinner and even later bedtime. But she wasn't giving him the opportunity to sleep in, as she dragged him physically out of bed until he rolled off and unceremoniously landed on the floor with a heavy thump and a groan. "Oh come on, stop being so dramatic!" she laughed at his being a limp rag doll.

"Gimme a minute to wake up enough to move first," he groaned.

"Well wake up faster!" she giggled, then dragged him up to his groggy feet. "After we're done with registration you can go back to bed and flop for the day."

Iri sighed and trudged along behind Seraphine as she eagerly ran out to the lounge of the pokémon center. Draco and Honoubushi were already in the lounge waiting for the pair. Draco offered a tankard-sized mug of coffee to Iri to drink and wake up.

"So, how does this registration thing work, anyways?" Seraphine asked.

"We're still waiting for the local pokémon professor to arrive and administrate the process, but it's mainly done right here at a pokémon center. I've already explained why we're doing this when I called him up this morning, so he won't be offering any starters to you like when you were offered to Iri."

"Would that make Iri my starter, then?" Seraphine asked with a grin.

"Actually, it would, yeah. And it'd fit in with one of the sets of starters, too," Draco said as he kicked back to watch morning talk shows on the television.

"Hey Iri, after this, you wanna--?"

"Don't get any ideas of making me battle for wild pokémon," he grunted tiredly.

"I was just teasing, grumpy-head," Seraphine giggled as she nudged him. "You're no fun when you're groggy!"

Iri grunted and resumed drinking from the tankard of coffee. It still looked like a lot of coffee to him, but given his new size it seemed like a normal-sized mug of coffee now. They didn't have to wait for very much longer, and Iri was waking up by the time the professor arrived to register Seraphine.

He walked into the lounge and blinked a few times when he saw the group of pokémon casually sitting around, then smirked. "Professor Oak would be fascinated to see this," he said to the group. The new voice caught Iri's attention, and he turned to see a familiar white lab coat draped over the shoulders of a smiling man. He was clean-shaven and had a well-kept haircut, and bore a tablet and a tray of pokéballs in his hands. He walked over to the group to introduce himself.

"I'm Professor Thomas. But you can just call me Tom," he said with a smile as shook hands with Iri and Seraphine. He nodded a silent greeting over to Draco and Honoubushi, who both nodded back. He looked over Iri and Seraphine, but Iri wasn't wearing his utility belt of pokéballs today. "So, who's the lucky charizard to be a new trainer?" Seraphine raised her hand as the others all pointed right at her.

"Alright, let's begin." He woke the tablet up and held it out to Seraphine. "We'll need some information from you and then a picture. After that, it'll take a few minutes to get your new trainer ID and sideload it into your new pokédex and pokégear. It's pretty quick and simple, really."

She nodded and accepted a stylus from him to begin tapping in information. When she got to the home town field, she paused and looked over at Iri, and then Draco. "We don't have a home town."

Draco stood up and asked the question for her. "What would a trainer do if they do not have a home town that extra pokémon can be sent to?"

Thomas blinked a few times, then smiled. "Ah, that's a rare case but I can override that. But before I can, I need to inform you that for any battles, you'll be restricted to using a maximum of six of your pokémon on hand," he said to Seraphine. "You'll have to carry all of your captured pokémon with you, so I would recommend being very selective about who you carry on your journey."

Seraphine nodded, already familiar with the same limits that Iri dealt with. She pointed to Iri and then to the blank home town field again.

"Your trainer doesn't have a home town either?"

She nodded again and grinned.

"Then you're already familiar with the rules. Good! Go ahead and finish the form and I'll override the home town before you submit your information."

Seraphine nodded and continued entering information until the form was full, save for that one field. Thomas leaned in for a moment to tap a few times on the form and enter in some sort of passcode, then stepped back again. "You're all set!" She smiled and took a moment to realize that once she submitted her information, she would be permanently registered as a trainer. She tapped the button with the stylus and handed the tablet back to Thomas.

While they waited for Seraphine's official ID to come back, Thomas set the tray of pokéballs down and pulled a case out of his coat's pocket, then handed it over to Draco. "Here's the special order you asked for."

"Thank ya," Draco said with a nod, then approached Iri and Seraphine. "We've only known each other for less than a day, but I can still show my gratitude for waking up a dormant wish in the depths of my heart. Take these as a gift from a new friend." He opened the case to reveal a pair of customized pokéballs. They each bore a top-down silhouette of a black charizard's head, and a pair of wings with blue undersides sprouted from either side with a curved tail ending in a brilliant blue flame.

Iri and Seraphine both gasped at the gift, and they each took one out of the case to look at. "Why're they black and blue?" Seraphine asked.

Draco smiled a bit. "You may not look it on the outside, but your hearts are as rare as the black-and-blue coloration for your species. It is said that some pokémon who are true to their hearts can earn such a ‘shiny' evolution from the gods. Perhaps if the legends are true, you may be this lucky."

"Don't all charizards have an orange flame?" Iri then asked as his thumb claw traced over the blue flame on his pokéball.

"The hotter a fire burns, the bluer it becomes. Charizard tail flames burn either larger or hotter, the more powerful they become. Anybody who looks at either of you can tell that your tail flames burn hotter, given their brilliant blue centers. A charizard with a pure blue tail flame represents a level of power that could rival the gods of legend," Draco explained. "It's my way of wishing that the both of you can earn such prowess."

Iri smiled as he heard that, and Seraphine leaned in to hug Draco tightly. "Thank you so very much!"

Just then, Professor Thomas's tablet beeped and he took a few moments to tap some information into the other red devices that he was carrying. He closed them both and handed them to Seraphine. "Congratulations, Trainer Seraphine. Now, choose your first pokémon."

Seraphine grinned as she held up the customized pokéball, "You ready?"

Iri sighed, obviously not eager to be locked up into a pokéball. "I guess as ready as I'll ever be. This is gonna suck."

"Well I'll let you out when it's locked you in," Seraphine offered as she tossed the pokéball at Iri.

Iri closed his eyes as he felt the ball bounce off his body. He half-expected the sensation to feel like an electric buzz, but instead the entire world glowed bright red for a few moments as he felt his being become very disembodied. Everything went dark for several long moments, but soon he felt his solid body again and found himself curled up in a soft and relaxing nest of some sort. He couldn't make out what it was, and while he could clearly see himself, the light inside came from no single source.

Meanwhile, outside of the pokéball, it fell to the floor and waited for a few seconds. Then, it made a dinging sound to signify a successful capture. Seraphine walked over and picked it up from the floor and examined it. "Well, at least he knows what it's like to be inside one of these now," she murmured.

"It should be a relaxing and comforting environment inside the pokéball. It tends to be very generic, but some can be programmed to simulate a specific environment inside the ball," Draco explained. "Those custom balls should be programmable."

Seraphine nodded, then pressed the button to unlock the pokéball. It burst open and ejected Iri with a very digital sound, and his body rematerialized in the room. He shook his head and then his body as the sudden change momentarily disoriented him. "Gah, no wonder you don't like being in one. It's so boring in there!"

Seraphine smirked. "Well at least now that you know what it's like. I won't be so annoyed if you ever have to put me in mine."

"I heard Draco say these can be programmed with an environment?" Iri asked.

Draco nodded. "I've got a programmer that'll do it, but I don't know how to set up a custom environment. I can get a premade one set up for you. It makes it a lot more pleasant to be inside a pokéball."

"I think even an okay premade one would make it a lot nicer to stay inside. But I think we should worry about that later," Iri said. "So I guess this means I belong to you now, huh?" he asked to Seraphine.

A cheeky and mischievous grin crossed her face. "This means you gotta do what I say now," she teased.

Iri crossed his arms and grinned back. "Good luck with that. I'm not gonna be your favorite fighting toy."

"All's fair in love and war. I've been your favorite all these years. It's time to return the favor," she threatened as she held up Iri's pokéball. "I have the power to contain you if you don't listen to me."

"... Damnit." He was defeated by that rebuttal. Both Draco and Honoubushi laughed at the exchange.

"Well, I need to get going," Professor Thomas said as he packed up some stuff. "Seraphine, your new pokéballs are right here on the table, and I'm leaving my contact ID in case you need to call up and ask any questions. I've got more new trainers to register today."

"Thank you very much for your time," Draco said, and Thomas nodded and turned to leave the room.

"How did that human understand you?" Iri asked once Thomas left.

"It's a trained and learned ability," Draco explained. "The few pokémon who put an effort forth are able to learn human speech on their own. It took me at least two years just to get a discernible sound out that could be understood by more than only other pokémon." He saw Iri open his maw to ask another question, "And yes, it was a frustrating experience at first. But the result is rewarding."

Iri fell silent after that as Seraphine opened up one of her pokéballs to examine its interior.

"Iri, can you humor a request from a seasoned pokémon?" Draco asked.

Iri looked up and tilted his head. "What is it?"

He looked at Iri with a grin. "I've yearned for the thrill of a good battle for several years now. Until today, I've not encountered a pokémon who could promise a tough match. And I want to see what you're already capable of."

Iri grinned, his confidence already boosted by the invitation for a battle from an experienced pokémon. "Wanna show down at the sparring arena? I bet I could give you a run for your money."

Draco smirked at Iri's confidence. "Don't get too confident, young one. I can defeat you in minutes."

"Wanna bet, old timer?" Iri challenged back. They exchanged a competitive growl and immediately turned to leave the pokémon center.

Minutes later, they faced each other off on opposite ends of a battlefield in the sparring arena, with all of Iri's pokémon and Honoubushi and Venom the nidoking all watching. "So how hardcore do you wanna take this?" Draco asked. "I got no problem taking my gloves off."

"How about we sharpen our claws, too, while we're at it?" Iri challenged back.

"Sounds good to me," Draco said with an eager growl as he hunkered down with one hand on the ground, ready to leap into action. He could feel his heart racing and a few of his joints already aching slightly from the pump of adrenaline. He was out of practice, and this would certainly give the younger pokémon the advantage. But he was still many levels beyond Iri. "This should be a quick match, heh," he thought to himself as he shut the rest of the world out and cleared his mind to focus on the battle.

Honoubushi stood at the center edge of the field and raised her hands. "Pokémon ready? [b]Fight![/b]" she shouted.

Draco launched off with a massive push, his body instantly a blur as he rocketed across the field. He pumped his wings hard to propel his body at breakneck speeds towards his opponent. He focused his own aura into his skull to prepare for a massive Skull Bash into Iri. Iri leapt up and gave his wings a hard flap to spin himself around. His tail glowed bright blue, and as he spun himself around sideways, he rotated and brought his tail down hard onto Draco's shoulders.

Draco impacted the ground hard and his body tumbled and bounced several times. He quickly righted himself and went airborne as Iri landed on his feet. He could still feel the impact from Iri's Dragon Tail between his shoulders, and it hurt quite a bit more than he anticipated. "Maybe I won't defeat him in minutes," he muttered to himself. "He can think quickly on his feet and he's had some training already. That was a Dragon Tail attack, too. There's no mistake that he has dragon's blood in him."

Iri looked up at Draco, then grinned and launched himself into the air as well. Once he was level with the dragonite, he spat a Flamethrower at him, forcing Draco to dive and evade the attack. However, Draco looped down and then back up again and charged up a surge of electrical energy into his hand. As he flew up past Iri, he slammed his hand into his opponent with a fierce Thunder Punch uppercut.

The punch briefly paralyzed Iri, enough for him to fall back down to the ground. Draco positioned himself over Iri and started flapping his wings hard. A Tornado formed just below him and slammed into Iri, picking him up and tossing him across the battlefield. Iri was able to right himself and skidded to a halt on his claws. He drew in a deep breath to charge up another attack as Draco did the same. They both released massive flamethrowers that met in midair and exploded, filling the sparring arena with smoke and embers.

Iri was already up in the air again, and his body burst from the cloud of smoke to slam right into Draco with a Wing Attack. The impact struck right across Draco's chest, and he let out a sharp cry. It wasn't enough to knock him out of the air, as he flipped himself over and gave chase to Iri. The young pokémon made a tactical mistake, letting Draco get behind him. His aerial speed was far superior to charizards.

Draco quickly gained distance on Iri, but he underestimated Iri's technical training from Winona. Iri suddenly pitched upwards into a Pugachev's Cobra maneuver in front of Draco, his forward airspeed dropping to almost nothing as his altitude rose up just above Draco. By the time Draco could look up and react to Iri's stunt, the charizard had already leveled himself down and was hot on his tail to launch an Ember attack. Draco's eyes widened and he only had time to spit out a shocked "Shit!!" when all five fireballs struck him in succession and knocked him out of the sky.

Draco barely regained control from his fall and leveled out just in time to skim mere inches over the battlefield. He climbed upwards into the air again, but Iri was already behind him again. Iri launched another Ember attack, but Draco was prepared for it. He pitched himself up into a slow loop to try and get himself behind Iri. Iri was faster as he looped himself up tightly to perform an Immelmann Turn. He struck Draco in the back with a Wing Attack as the dragonite was coming down the back-side of his loop.

Draco tumbled out of his loop and impacted the ground with a hard thud and bounced up once to land hard again. Iri's attacks, combined with Aerial Ace maneuvers, made the charizard far more agile than he expected. Draco grunted and dragged himself up to his feet. He was feeling each hit now, and he looked up towards Iri. He wasn't going to win this battle through agility. He would have to overpower Iri.

Draco spread his feet apart and started charging up another attack. Iri flew in a tight circle around Draco, then flipped himself over into a swift dive as the forward edge of his wings glowed for a Steel Wing attack. This was the perfect setup as Draco opened his maw and a thunderbolt arced forth. It struck Iri and knocked him out of his dive. Draco rushed in and grabbed Iri, then flipped the charizard over his own body to Slam him into the ground again.

He thrust himself up into the air again and flew a holding pattern over the battlefield while Iri struggled to pull himself up to his feet. He didn't expect that much strength from Draco, nor did he expect the attacks of different types either. Draco stopped to hover over Iri, giving the charizard another opening to spit a Flamethrower attack.

Draco darted to the side and opened his mouth wide. A large, turquoise orb of energy charged up and grew in front of him, and he unleashed the Dragon Pulse towards Iri. Iri's eyes grew wide when he didn't have time to dodge, and the orb struck him and exploded on the ground. The dust cleared quickly after that, and Iri was sprawled on his belly. Draco landed right in front of him and leaned over the charizard with his hands confidently planted on his hips.

"You win..." Iri groaned.