A Big Gift in a Small Package

Its been close to three months since Feebas evolved into Milotic and in that time we continued to train and battle with trainers staying in the penthouse. Milotic was able to fully adapt to her new form and was even able to master some of her moves. At that time the Penthouse just became more known in Lumiose city where it is said that only the top elite trainers can be able to stay due to the need to battle for the right to stay. More and more trainers signed up even with the limited application slots and in order to fix this, the trainers also made their own rule without me knowing which they decided that only trainers with 5 badges above are allowed to challenge the penthouse which somehow served as a must-visit rest stop after beating the Lumiose Gym.

As the number of challengers increased my father thought to take advantage of it to promote his company by making small metal pins with the company logo along with the image of the penthouse by the lake etched on the surface. My father ordered hundreds of the Pins to be made which was amazingly finished within a week and he then asked me to give it to anyone who was able to win against Milotic in battle which I really did not think was a good marketing campaign as isn't it better to just give it to every guest? however, in his own words 'Rarity gives it value and that value will make it known'.

I was also getting well known as the landlord of the lakeside which is to most people sounds funny considering I'm a seven-year-old landlord but to those who had stayed in the penthouse, I was the one who they need to battle in order to prove that they owned the right of there stay in the famous Penthouse by getting the Pin which was fine and all but for all my being I really didn't care as I just wanted to get some good battles for Milotic.

In that situation, I was in a constant schedule of battles as the tenants made sure that they at least have battled me once before leaving and some only stays for a day so the battles really stacks up but even so Milotic was able to push through as most battles didn't even dent her scales and only those in Elite level was able to give her a challenge.

On one of our battles against a Machamp, something interesting happened where after using Dual chop on Milotic because his trainer thought that what they are up against is a dragon type, Machamp got infatuated with Milotic. I don't know how a humanoid Pokémon gets interested in a serpent that's not even in the same egg group but I digress.

The Ace level Machamp was out of commission after getting infatuated with Milotic which allowed her to use a Wrap and Surf combo to land us an easy and confusing victory as I didn't see Milotic use any move such as Attract which she also doesn't even know but then I remembered about her hidden ability Cute charm.

I had thought that she did not have it because after months of battling not once did it activate however something I fail to remember was that Milotic needed to be hit by a physical move and even with that it also has a low chance of being activated. In the last months, we battled in more of a sniper fashion in order to improve her mastery over Dragon pulse and Water pulse, thus aside from the Wrap and Surf combo and the casual Iron tail either to send them away if they get too close or In order to ground Electric-type attacks Milotic was usually bombarding her opponents with ranged attacks as even if she gets hit Recover is spammable as long as she has enough energy for it.

In our following battles, we tried to tank most physical hits that we can while using recover right after, and lo and behold Cute charm activated which made it clear that my Milotic has the ability to Simpify any male Pokémon if they so dare touch her.

Knowing that Milotic has her hidden ability was a great boon however considering how rarely it activates made me realize that it's not something we could effectively rely on in a battle. One thing we could do is make it so that Milotic is always hit by physical attacks and use Recover right after, which is not the smartest strategy unless her ability Marvel scale is also triggered during battle which surprisingly enough does so more often than not as the most trainers that stayed in the penthouse all like using status moves.

We also practiced one particular tactic that I remembered from the anime which I recall was called a Counter shield. It involved using attack moves in addition to rotational momentum to create a protective barrier for the user that could be used for both offense and defense.

(If Paul from the anime was able to use it using his Gastrodon with Muddy water then I think Milotic could high likely be able to do the same with Surf.)

Milotic trained the tactic with great interest however little progress was made even after a month as we can't seem to figure out how to increase the speed of rotation of the generated water. After a week I was able to think of a way to utilize and practice the tactic at the same time and that's by using Dragon dance. I was not sure If Milotic will be able to effectively use the combo of Surf and Dragon dance but it was worth a try.

After a month of practice and training the combo finally yielded positive results as Milotic was able to use a functioning counter shield however there was only an increase in speed but not to her attack which I think must be due to the draconic energy being disturbed by the use of Surf.

However, this combo would still be useful even without the boost given by Dragon dance as Milotic was able to Float while using it which gives her the capability to move while performing her counter shield unlike in the anime which needs the user to be stationary. Even if Milotic is able to use a Counter shield we still need to work on the combo until we figure out how to successfully boost its speed and attack with Dragon dance while being protected by the Counter shield.

A lot was done in those three months and now I'm once again facing an event in my life that I am forced to experience every year, it's my birthday and I'm now eight years old. The party was quite livelier this year as for one we finally had guests, well kind of as they are trainers currently staying in the penthouse so they could be considered as guests .... I think.

After the party, Joseph informed me that my parents have something to give me and are currently waiting outside of the mansion. It was strange as they had already given me my presents during the party which was a set of Pokeballs made by Kurt the master Pokeball smith of Johto. I specifically made the request for the Pokeballs two years ago after my mother told the story of where she got her specialized Pokeballs such as the Lure ball she caught her Gyarados in.

I decided to have a set of Pokeballs early because the process of getting such Pokeballs is tedious with one needing a year-long wait just to get a reservation and even with that it is said that as the last Apricorn Pokeball Smith, Kurt is very selective on those that can order a Pokeball from him. However, even with all the odds, my mother was able to convince her old acquaintance to make me one of each type of Pokeballs. I made that request when I was six and it took almost two years before I could get the Pokeballs which is better than ordering them after I have started my journey as within two years I could have already made a full team. The Apricorn Pokeballs are considered a novelty item in this world as even with their helpful effects the price still trumps that of a normal Pokeball by a very large margin and since a trainer can just buy a Great Ball which is only close to three times the price of a Pokeball. One interesting tidbit I found is that Ultra balls are yet to be invented however since Silph Co. already has the Great balls in mass production, I doubt it would take long before it shows up.

Even though I asked two of each of the seven types of Apricorn Pokeballs I was only allowed to have one of each and the transaction my mother had with Kurt was strange as instead of money Kurt asked for some shed scales from my mother's Pokémon which he said is to be used as a possible new Pokeball material which high likely would fail as I never heard of a dragon type specialized Pokeball in both the games and anime.

When I arrive outside the mansion I saw my parents waiting for me. I still have no clue what they plan to give me but it must be related to needing us to be outside.

"Albert, you are finally here. We expect that you must be curious about the matter but let your mother first explain the details"

"Hmm, Okay?"

"Albert, as you are now eight years old we had decided to give you your first Dragon-type Pokémon as a right of passage"

"You're giving me another Pokémon?"

(I'm not complaining about getting another Pokémon, who doesn't want a free dragon type? but haven't they already given me my starter Milotic or does my family have a tradition of giving a Dragon-type Pokémon to those who reach the age of eight as the Ryuma is a dragon clan after all, that must be it)

"Albert as a member of the Ryuma clan, you are to receive a dragon type today as it's your eighth birthday. You can consider yourself lucky to be the first in our clan to be handed one"

"What do you mean, aren't things like this supposed to be a multi-generational event where each eight-year-old of our family gets one, or in the past do they get theirs at the age of ten or something?"

"Yes and No, we had a different right of passage at the age of ten which I decided to recently change into what we're doing now"

"You're allowed to do that?"

"I'm the current head of the family so nobody could really stop me as even your mother agreed to it, however when you have a more refined team at the level of your Milotic I will tell you about it as in every generation one member of our family is required to go through it"

"Wait, then why can't I do it too if they can go through it at the age of ten then what's stopping me?"

"First of all your eight and second as I said I'll tell you when you fulfill my requirement"

"A strong team right? Sure, I don't know how long it will take but I was already planning to do that from the start."

(The right of passage did get my curiosity but the new Pokémon is much more important, as now we have a new team member! It does beg the question on what Pokémon they chose because from my first experience they ain't giving a multiple-choice like with the Professor of the region but I have already had a clue since my mother said it's a dragon type and there are only so few of them per region.)

"Then are you ready to meet your new Pokémon? It's one I personally chose so you better be excited"

"Of course! If mom chose it then it is bound to be strong, so what is it?"

"It's a Pokémon which only hatched about five months ago that I got from a friend in Unova but I think it's better if just show you, Come out!"

'Deiinooo!'

After my mother called out the Pokémon from a Great ball, I was faced with a small sauropod-like creature with thick black fur covering its head and neck that has a few wounds while its lower body is covered with small blue scales.

"A Deino! Hi Dei....."

'Swoosh' pulled away

".... What just happened?"

As I saw my new team member I immediately tried to approach it in order to introduce myself but my mother suddenly stopped me by pulling me to the side.

"First of all, as you seem to already know this is a Deino a Pokémon native from Unova but as you just tried to haphazardly approach it then it's clear you did not pay attention to the specifics of it."

"Is there a problem with this Deino?"

"It's not that there's a problem with this one, well except that it's smaller than the usual but the problem stems from everyone in its line"

(Everyone in its line? Ohh, wait I forgot about that! Hydreigon is the 'kill on sight' kind of Pokémon and its pre-evolutions like Deino smell and bites everything to navigate its surroundings and I just tried to get close to it without any preparation. Considering that Deino is a letter away from 'Die now' just supports that what I was about to do was a stupid move on my part.)

"Let me tell you more about it first before you get any closer, remember this Pokémon is one that you need to be careful with since most of the things you learned from us may not be applicable in raising it however it's gonna be one of your strongest Pokémon if you manage to properly train it."

"I'll do my best!"

"Good but one more thing Deino is a blind Pokémon so it will high likely try to smell and bite you first in order to get to know you, this Deino is also male and considering that it is both Dark-type and Dragon-type better be careful dealing with the attitude that normally comes with those three things"

"Duly noted, I just forgot about the dangers of it earlier due to my excitement of getting my second Pokémon which is also my first dragon type but it won't happen again ..... I hope"

'Deino dei'

As I was talking to my mother, Deino suddenly walk closer to us seeming interested in its new surrounding.

"Albert, first try and introduce your self then remove your shirt and let him smell it"

I'm not too keen on giving it my shirt however

the instruction given by my mother seems logical as Deino may be blind but he still can hear and smell thus my shirt is needed for Deino to get used to my smell in order to avoid getting bitten so I decided to follow as my mother is clearly more experienced with this.

(Too bad .... I really like this shirt)

"Hello Deino"

'Deino?'

"I'm Albert your new trainer"

'Deino dei deino'

'Sniff'

'Deino!'

'RRRIPPP' 'torn to pieces

After introducing my self I removed my shirt and put it in front of Deino which he smelled then ripped to shreds. It was an offending sight as seeing the shirt with my scent being torn apart and then spit out like it was the worst thing the perpetrator has ever tasted.

(I'm at least happy that I agreed to give my shirt or else I'm the one getting shredded right now. It's also a plus that he already got a whiff of my scent with my shirt and did not consider it as food as a matter of fact he seems to think that it's so horrible that its worth ripping apart which I'm still not sure is a good thing)

"I'm not food Deino. However, I'm the one who will feed and train you"

'Dieno?'

"Yeah I'm your trainer, also here have a Poffin"

(It seems interested in listening, but better stay vigilant as right now I'm equating trainer to food which may not be the best approach)

'Deino'

'Sniff'

'Deino!'

"You like that, then I will give you more but you behave and listen"

'Deino'

Deino looked at me as if understanding what I'm implying which I viewed as a good start at getting closer to him.

"Albert, call out your Milotic to let Deino get familiar with her and on that topic, it's better to have your Milotic by your side in the next few months when your with Deino as you might have problems with its biting tendencies as when I first met Deino it tried to bite Echo after smelling him. Imagine that? something so small has the spunk to chomp on Echo."

"Sure, I'm more comfortable having Milotic nearby anyway, just in case. Milotic come out and meet our new friend!"

'Milotic'

"Milotic this is Deino a new member of our team"

'Milotic mi milotic!'

"Yep, try and introduce your self just be careful as he may bite you"

'Milotic?'

"He does it not with the aim of attacking. He is blind and is only able to keep track of his surrounding by smell and ..... taste, I think"

'Milotic mi'

"Yeah it's problematic but at least try"

'Milotic'

After our short talk Milotic approached Deino and at first Deino who was interested in the new scent that suddenly appeared quickly went to investigate the nearing Milotic by smelling and biting her. Milotic seems fine about the situation as her defenses are strong and I did not really expect a Pokémon that only hatched five months ago to be able to injure Milotic, unlike that of my Eight-year-old body. As Deino finished getting familiar with her, he started conversing with Milotic. Milotic explained in detail Deino's situation and our goals for the future which Deino took quite well in fact, as he seemed excited about the aspect of getting stronger. However, the conversation still ended with Deino biting Milotic's tail and dangling from it like an ornament. I had no clue what displeased Deino in their conversation that led to him to attack, luckily Milotic was able to explain to me that it was due to a disagreement with food distribution as Deino wanted to be the sole consumer of our Poffin supply which she replied with along the lines of 'Over my dead body' and it seems that Deino took it quite literally.

The Poffin problem was quickly fixed after informing Deino that I had more than enough Poffin for both of them. At first, he did not believe my claim but after showing five Poffins I had in a Poffin holder I always carry quickly made him relax however he immediately requested five Poffins per day which I accepted as it's about the same amount Milotic used to eat as a Feebas. It's for the best though that Deino does not know about the fact that Milotic currently eats about ten Poffins in a day which may seem a lot however a single jar of Apicot can make about twenty-five Poffins which is not much considering she still eats a whole jar of Apicot in a day.

My parent soon left after seeing that I was able to safely interact with Deino and knowing that Milotic was around helped in easing their worries. In the following hour, I kept interacting with both Deino and Milotic however as I noticed that it was getting late I decided that it's better to get to know Deino more the following day and rest for the night. Since my parents already fed Deino which was a smart move considering that the alternative was letting an eight-year-old meet a hungry dragon-type which is not the wises Idea, so I just returned Deino to his Pokeball. Milotic also had her fill in the party as her food was always ready in the storehouse after my mom increased the amount of high-quality water-type food she orders to make sure that two large serpents are well fed so Milotic also decided to rest in her Pokeball for the night.

.... A few hours later ....

I woke up early in the morning to start our daily rounds around the lake after which I decided to call out Deino in order to get to know the dragon-type more. And in our interactions, I noticed that aside from the biting tendencies and daring attitude that is normal in its species, Deino was pretty much well behaved which I mainly attribute to his nature which I'm still not sure of.

After a few more minutes I finally had the courage to touch Deino and when he got a whiff of me he quickly remembered that I'm not food and just lay back down, Deino has a weirdly fluffy fur that is soft yet strong and its blue scales are like that of Milotic's but are much smaller.

My mother also told me that Deino was unusually small for his kin as he is about only half the regular size of what a normal Deino should be. I did not really care about Deino's current size as there are Pokémon foods that can help supplement growth but what I did find interesting is what my mother said about the details of Deino's birth that her friend from Unova told her because from what I can understand is that Deino actually hatched from the biggest egg but still came out the smallest one of the bunch which I thought was a little fun fact to remember in the future.

Now that I'm acquainted with Deino it is time to proceed to the exciting part that is knowing its moves and capabilities.

"Hey Dieno what kind of moves do you have?"

'Deino dei'

"Ohh can you show me? but try aiming for the lake or the rocks"

'Deino'

'Deeeeeeiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii'

As I was thinking of the possible moves Deino's could possibly have in his arsenal, I saw a familiar scene that I was sure Milotic did in the past when she was still a Feebas when performing her unsuccessful Dragon breath but as I already know dragon breath does not need changing so I was curious what attack Deino was doing.

'no!'

'Swooosh' 'flight'

'Boom!'

Instead of shooting out a continuous barrage of flames like Dragon breath, Deino shot up a flaming ball of concentrated Dragon-type energy towards the lake which caused a big explosion sending water scattering around and leading to a slight mist forming in the area.

"Dragon rage! That's amazing Deino"

'Deino Dei Deino'

(It seems that unlike Milotic, Deino is pretty open in expressing himself)

"then what's next?"

'Deino dei deino'

"Another strong one huh, go for it"

'Deino'

'Deeeiiiiiiiiiiiinooooooo!'

'Whoosh'

'Boom!'

"...."

Deino once again used dragon-type energy but instead of concentrating it he continuously released a barrage of flaming dragon-type energy and such its all too clear that he used Dragon breath.

(That's pretty useful as now we only need to keep using that in order to make sure Deino could learn Dragon pulse right after evolution or even before that as Milotic could tutor Deino on how to do it)

'Deino'

"You have a couple more right"

'Deino dei'

'Deino!'

'Wham!'

After using Dragon breath, Deino showed a well-executed Bite on one of the large rocks by the lake. His fang lit up with Dark-type energy that he used to sink in into the rock and cause it to crack and shatter which may not be possible with his fangs and teeth alone.

"That a nice Bite you got their Deino, I bet with one to two weeks of training its possible that we could teach you Crunch"

'Deino?'

"Crunch is a stronger version of your Bite attack, and after you master Crunch we can proceed with Dark Pulse"

'Deino dei deino!'

"Excited huh, but before that do you have any more moves left?"

'Deino dei'

"Ohh last one? then show me what you got"

'Deino!'

'Deiiino'

(Hmm, Flames?)

'Wham!'

Once again used a biting attack on another large rock however this time instead of using Dark-type energy Deino used Fire-type energy which not only cracked the rock but also scorched its outer perimeter.

(That's Fire fang! I don't remember Fire fang in Deino's usual learn set of moves it could learn so high chance its an egg move considering that Deino just hatched a few months ago)

"You actually know Fire fang Deino, that's great as that could serve as a foundation for learning other fire type attacks in the future which will help a lot as coverage against Ice-types"

'Deino dei deino!'

"Well I can't deny that you have a couple of amazing moves"

Deino, even though young already has several good moves to use in battles but lacks coverage moves for both Fighting-types and Fairy-types. However, I'm not too worried about Fairy types for now as it's a type that has not even been discovered yet, and even after some researcher finds out about its existence it will still take years to learn which attacks are from the type and which Pokémon to include to it.

'Milotic Mi'

"Ohh yeah, sorry Milotic we will start our training after I explained to Deino my plans for him"

Last night I decided for Deino to follow the same training plan I had with Milotic which includes stamina training and attack in the morning and moves training in the afternoon. As Deino is still getting used to his surroundings I decided to start his training the following day and for now, allow him to observe what we are doing to have an idea of what he would also go through. Even though Deino is blind he could somehow get an Idea of our actions which I think must be from the vibrations from the ground that he feels with his feet and is further supported with the sounds that he is hearing. Since as a Hydreigon he will be constantly levitating in the future the ability to feel ground vibration will high likely become obsolete.

(Now that I think about it in the future high chance I could have two or more levitating Pokémon as even Milotic can float in the air even without the ability Levitate)

After our morning training, I started preparing food for both Deino and Milotic. I first tried feeding Deino several kinds of Poffins before his actual meal to know if he has a specific flavor that he likes.

The Poffins were made with different kinds of berries and when Deino was presented with the multiple Poffins he did not even think about what's in front of him aside from it smelling like Poffins and just started eating everything which I think signifies that he likes every type. However, after eating all the Poffins Deino requested more of the ones I gave him yesterday which were made with Apicot as he seems to know that it's the type that Milotic only eats and thinks that it must be the main source of Milotic's strength. I first thought that Deino may have a refined Pallet in terms of Poffins as even though he will eat any Poffins he still would prefer the top quality stuff, Milotic was kind enough to explain to me the situation after listening to Deino's turmoil on the truth behind the Apicot Poffins.

The food that I gave Deino was the food that my mother prepared for it beforehand which is a mix of high-quality Dark-type Pokémon food and the high-quality Dragon-type Pokémon food that she feeds her dragon types. The high-quality dragon-type food was a family recipe of my mother from Sinnoh which was improved further by my father's knowledge and the help of his company.

One surprising thing I learned about Deino was that he could eat like a Munchlax because before I knew it he already finished his food and was even asking for more which then repeated until his fourth refill of the Pokémon food. The amount that Deino ate in that one meal was even able to rival the amount my mom's Gyarados eats and Deino's body is not even a tenth of the size of Gyarados.

(There's a high chance that my Deino may not evolve into Hydreigon with his third evolution but instead turn into Guzzlord considering his eating habits. Where does the food he eats even go? how can Deino's small body even be able to fit the amount of food that could make a Gyarados full.)

We continued our training in the afternoon after taking an hour's worth of break. Milotic also battled a few guests at the Penthouse which showed Deino how we apply the things we have done during training in real battles. Deino was really excited to join us after observing what we did for the day as he was quite amazed at the power that Milotic was able to utilize and by the end of our battles Deino decided to join Milotic in her training and started blasting Dragon breath towards the lake.

The next day I officially started Deino's training, as I've already explained to him yesterday the things that we will be doing. We started with the usual morning routine with Milotic swimming in the lake and the addition of Deino running alongside us. I removed the obstacles in the route since Deino will have a hard time navigating them and decided to only add them again in the future when he gets used to our routine.

After which we proceeded with training his attack moves which is similar to Milotic when she was a Feebas in where the first half of the afternoon focused on mastering his current moves and the latter was for learning new ones. I only accepted a few challenges for the day to allow myself to focus on Deino's first day in training, my mother also helped in Deino's training by introducing Deino to her favorite dragon-type attack, Draco meteor. My mother taught me that for Deino to learn Draco meteor it is best that we first master the move Dragon rage as the process of initiating the two moves are essentially the same except that when performing Draco Meteor the dragon type energy is concentrated internally in the belly in order to gather as much power as possible and it is then released towards the sky, it may sound simple however a Pokémon would first need to be able to hold that much energy to be able to release a successful Draco meteor or else the move will not be able to create the rain of attacks associated with the move.

And such is how we got our second team member, Deino may have his flaws but it's nothing we couldn't get around, but it's sure that he will be one of our main powerhouse in the future.

..........