After a light dinner and a quick shower, Daniel did a last check on his new house to confirm everything was running smoothly. ‘No signs of intrusion… cameras are working fine… the emitter is working like it should…’

With a satisfied huff and a nod, he went to the master room on the first floor and collapsed on his new bed. The rest of his team took different spots inside the house. Lily shared a room with Elizabeth on the second floor, both on the same bed. Mothra slept in the attic with Casper, each in their corner. Gamera and Rodan both decided to sleep outside since the cold felt right at home with them.

His first night was not great. Dreams and visions of the future plagued him. He saw the world collapsing around him as Ultra Beasts poured into the streets. Team Anarchy was marching with an army of Legendary and Mythical Pokemon. His brother blamed him for his death… When the alarm rang at 7 AM, he didn’t feel rested at all.

“Fuck…”

Daniel whispered as he slowly made his way to the kitchen. His eyes were puffy and heavy with bags. Occasionally, he would scratch one of his multiple scars on his torso. While he prepared a Chesto berry Juice to help him wake up, he took a quick look outside.

Gentle snow drizzled as Elizabeth danced, firing Axe kicks to the rhythm. Rodan watched over her from his tree, making sure she didn’t injure herself or destroy anything. From his angle, he couldn’t see Gamera, but he suspected the Lapras napped inside his pool.

Opening the pantry revealed a mess of half-eaten pastries, berries, and broken glass. Amid everything floated a partially invisible Dreepy with his cheeks full. With an exasperated sigh, Daniel radiated his Fairy aura outward, canceling Jack’s invisibility.

“Jack.” He said gravely, already feeling a headache coming. “We spoke about making a mess in the past. Yeah?”

The Dreepy swallowed and nodded nervously.

“Start cleaning and go back to your mother.” With another flare of his aura to accentuate his disappointment, Jack frantically nodded and zipped towards the half-eaten berries to clean everything up.

The trick with dragons, especially with species as powerful as the Dragapult line, was establishing a chain of command. Having the right temperament and knowing when to punish them was vital to secure their loyalty. Push too hard and they’ll rebel. Don’t push enough and they’ll rebel, too. It was a delicate balance he had to maintain since they were young and even more so after they aged.

Casper made even more horrible messes when she was just a Dreepy. She also tried to attack him several times and didn’t listen to him when she evolved the first time. He thanked Arceus he had a Fairy Aura, or it would have been almost impossible to manage her, even less a flock.

He wondered if they missed their cousins and uncles back in the future. He hoped the separation didn’t hit them as hard as it did to him. “Eventually, it will. Best to get ahead of that.”

He prepared a cup of coffee while overlooking the young Dreepy’s work. The young dragon carefully held the fruit in his mouth, returning the intact ones to the fridge. “Don’t forget to clean the juice. It’ll stain.” Jack looked at him with a betrayed expression. “Go on.”

With a defeated sigh, He used a low-powered water gun to clean the juice. It was shoddy work, but Daniel knew he tried his best.

“Back to your mother. Next time you do this, you’ll clean without moves.”

The dragon nodded and left defeated towards the attic, phasing through the ceiling. When he was out of sight, Daniel grabbed a towel and properly cleaned the water and berry juice.

“They’ll need some playmates...” He left the mop down and grabbed a towel to clean the counter. “R2, leave a message to Iris. Say I want to talk.”

[ACKNOWLEDGED]

This time, R2’s voice came from tiny speakers hidden inside the house. Progress on modernizing their abode was going relatively well. However, they didn’t have materials for advanced electronics, gems to make droids, or space to put machines. “It’s a matter of time.”

[YOU HAVE (3) UNREAD MESSAGES FROM “CHAMPION IRIS”.]

“That was quick.”

The TV lit up and displayed the messages.

[Hi Daniel.]

[I should have time for a brief visit in about 30 minutes.]

[Drayden wants to come with me. Is that ok?]

“Say that I’ll be waiting for them.”

[ACKNOWLEDGED]

Her quick response surprised him a bit. He was prepared to wait several hours at least if he was honest. “Won’t look into the Zebstrika’s mouth.”

He shared breakfast with the rest of his team, minus Jack. The young dragon was sulking inside his mother’s horn, but he didn’t comment. If he relented and left the Dreepy to get away from the consequences, it would form some bad habits.

Just as Daniel was putting the dishes away, he heard a knock at the door. He washed his hands and opened it.

“Mr. Mystery Man.” The young woman said with a bright smile.

She wore a loose dress like the one she used when they met, except for all her accessories. Drayden followed closely behind, wearing his usual formal clothing, barely restraining his muscles. He wondered if the rumors that he wrestled with his Pokemon were true. Wouldn’t be the first one to do that.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“Welcome, Champion Iris, Leader Drayden.” He bowed towards them and led them inside.

***

Iris didn’t know what to think after receiving Daniel’s message. There were a lot of things that the time traveler would want to talk about. Another potential end to the world? New revelations that would destroy her worldview again? That he wanted to be the champion instead of letting her?

“Just accept. I’ll be coming with you.” Luckily, Drayden helped to ground her.

Both were in Drayden’s office in Opelucid. Daniel did them a big favor by shooting down the frigate, but disposing of the thing was a nightmare. Salvaging anything useful was relatively quick since there was barely anything left. The hard part came after, getting rid of it. Several teams worked hard to cut it into pieces to take it away, but not too quickly since the crew that came with ex-leader Brycen needed to film.

She thanked Arceus for Roxie’s idea, even if she crumbled like a cookie after giving it. It was taking a lot of heat off the League, even if their coffers were suffering.

“Let’s go then.”

The journey to the Joy clan was silent and tense. She strongly suspected that Drayden didn’t like Daniel that much, and it was understandable. The man beat him and had a strange aura to him from the supposed ‘18th Type.’ She had read notes about it from Professor Juniper and the man’s Pokedex but still found it hard to swallow.

A type that completely nullifies dragons. She felt a shiver down her spine just thinking about it.

“We’re here.”

Before she realized it, she had already dismounted from Hydra and was standing in front of the man’s house. It looked ordinary from the outside, but something inside her gut twisted. She felt watched by a predator.

Grrrr…

And Hydra felt it too.

“Return him from now, Iris.” Drayden drew her attention. “We don’t want trouble here.”

She looked around, seeing curious gazes from other members of the Joy clan. With a sigh, she returned to her Hydreigon and rapped her knuckles on the door.

***

The inside of the home was mostly normal. Mostly. She noticed that the locks looked like they were pulled from a movie. There was a strange glass box that looked like an expensive art project. The TV didn’t look like anything she ever saw on the market… Still, she expected more crazy stuff, like robot maids or holograms.

The man himself seemed a bit more relaxed. He still had an edge, but he appeared less wound up and ready to strike. His Pokemon seemed relaxed at first sight, but close inspection betrayed their tension. All were ready to be called at a moment’s notice. The creepy feeling of being watched intensified with each passing second. So much so that even Drayden looked like a bow ready to fire.

“So, I wanted to talk about a few things.” The man said, holding a tray with some Oran berry juice. “But first. Juice?”

“Thanks.” Both said, but Drayden didn’t take a glass. Iris took a sip and was surprised at how sweet it was.

“The first is that the Dragapult line is made of social creatures.” The man waved his fingers, and the dragon suddenly appeared, hovering behind him.

It was a majestic specimen. She could feel the power emanating from it. Eyes that pierced into her soul and judged her. A presence even heavier than a lot of dragons she ever encountered in the past. Her Pokeballs rocked back and forth as if trying to answer the challenge in front of them. However, just as suddenly as the aura came, it went away.

The Dragapult let her trainer scratch her chin, letting out happy warbles.

“They tend to form flocks led by the eldest Dragapult, and since part of their strength comes from their young, it’s necessary to have one for their full potential.”

A pair of young dragons slipped from the Dragapult’s horn, looking at the pair with curiosity. One of them tried to challenge her with their aura, but a look from their mother made them both go back to her horn.

“I have a proposition.” He nodded in gratitude at her. Likely for putting the small dragon in their place. “I plan to rear a new flock, and I can part with some of the young. I don’t want to use a Ditto and dilute their genes, so I thought of asking you, the best dragon trainer in the region. And Drayden as well, quite convenient that you came too, Leader Drayden.”

Drayden had been silent since they arrived, content with just staring at the time traveler. He took a deep breath and examined the Dragapult with narrowed eyes.

“I’m interested.” He broke up the silence. “I can pair her with my Salamence.”

“Wonderful.” Daniel smiled and stretched out his hand. “I can part with one egg from the first clutch. They usually have them in pairs when the flock is thinning.”

Both men shook their hands and nodded their heads at each other.

“How big is a flock usually?” Iris asked with a tilt of her head. “And I’m also interested. I think my Haxorus or Hydra would be excellent partners!”.

“In the wild, they can get big. When I was in Galar I found one that had like 45 of them, maybe more.” Drayden tensed when he heard that but didn’t otherwise react. “For competitions, between 6 and 8 members would maintain them happy, and leave enough for reserves.”

“Reserves?” Iris downed her juice.

“Yeah, Dragapults use their young to empower their attacks. Sometimes, they get injured or… worse, Arceus forbid.”

“That’s…”

“Doesn’t sound that good saying it aloud, but let me assure you, Galarians used them for centuries and there was no drama that I know of.” He thought about it for a moment. “Well, there was some drama, but nothing major.”

“Uh-huh.” Iris didn’t look convinced but decided to press on that. “Anything else?”

“I need to plant my emitters to recharge my bracer.” He showed them the pitch-black bracer on his right arm. It flashed in orange light before a digital screen appeared on top. “My Terastal and Dynamax energies are depleted. I can’t go all out without them. The problem is those emitters affect their environment. If I use them, eventually there’s going to be wild Dynamaxed or Terastalized Pokemon roaming around.”

“Is there any way to prevent that?” Drayden answered this time, a scowl deepening.

“Building dampeners, but I don’t have the materials for the machines necessary to build them yet.”

This gave her an idea.

“What if I give you those materials… if you accept a duel with one of the Elite? Marshal, to be exact.”

“If you accept that I won’t go fully all out, then yes. I don’t see why not.” Daniel shrugged.

“Perfect!” Iris clapped with a cheerful expression. “We’ll contact you in a few days with a date, then.”

“Great.” Daniel’s face went from a smile to a frown quickly after that. “Finally, what should I do with Kyurem?”

“I mean… He’s your Pokemon now?” Iris asked, unsure.

“That was a containment Pokeball, not meant for captures.” He shook his head. “Having a Legendary is strictly forbidden on my time. There are exceptions, of course, but I don’t want to mess with the timeline more than I need to.”

“That complicates things.” Iris sighed, defeated, and slumped. “We’ll deliberate on that and get you an answer soon…” Her emphasis on deliberate painted an excellent picture: Politics didn’t change in 300 years.

“My condolences.” He whispered to the girl, who quirked a smile. “And that would be all for my concerns. Do you need me for anything?”

“No, that’s all on our end, too.” She shook her head, whipping her hair around. “We’ll be in touch.”

Just as both were getting out, Drayden suddenly looked at Daniel directly in the eyes. Pride and defiance burned deep inside them. Draconid aura radiated from his body and his muscles tensed as he crossed his arms.

“I want a rematch.”

“Gladly. Tell me when and where.”

Iris could see the sparks flashing in the air as both trainers stared at each other. She could object, throw her weight around, and prevent them from fighting unnecessarily. The man would eventually fight one of the Elite Four. That old saying ‘When trainers’ eyes meet, they’ll have a Pokemon fight’ briefly flashed in her mind. She wouldn’t be able to stop them. And she would be lying if she said she wasn’t excited to see them fight.