Ash the Dragon Specialist

Twinleaf Festival

"Hey, do you mind making a detour?" Ash asked Celeste as they were on their way to Lilypad Town and, hopefully, Celeste's last contest before the Grand Festival. "Professor Oak had just contacted me, it looks like he is in Sinnoh."

"Oh, I do not mind, we have time," Celeste replied. "Though, why is he doing in Sinnoh?"

"He was invited to a festival in a town nearby, Twinleaf Town," Ash answered, whistling to call down Nephele, who was out enjoying a fly with her Thunder. The moment they heard Ash's whistle, the Thunder descended in a matter of seconds, landing in a protective circle around the human trainer. Celeste giggling at how overprotective Ash's dragons were and wondered when such a impossing group of pokemon had become natural to her. Her life was insane! "He is scheduled to give a lecture on "the interrelation of pokemon and evolution stones." But a flat tire forced him to make a stop near a marshland, where he discovers a wealth of pokemon. I had to cut off the call there, otherwise he would have spent the remaining battery of my Xtransceiver talking my ear off about how he helped one of the pokemon, a Lombre, evolve into a Ludicolo using a Water Stone. Honestly when it comes to pokemon he never shuts up! And his pokemon poetry! Don't even get me started on that!"

Celeste chuckled at that, she had only met Professor Oak shortly but his passion for pokemon had come through. "Let's get going then."

Ash and Celeste mounted Nephele, one of the few dragons of Ash's Thunder, that allowed another person other than their trainer to mount her. They flew towards the directions Professor Oak had sent Ash and found him having quite a lot of fun researching the wild pokemon in the marshland. His smile was beaming when he noticed the five dragons and two trainers flying towards him.

"Ash, my boy!" Professor Oak received him with a warm hug. "Thank you for picking me up! You too Celeste!" He turned to the coordinator with a warm smile, before going to check on the dragons, but specially Nephele and Agni who Professor Oak had been there for when Ash had gained them. "Look at them... magnificent! No wonder I've been hearing nothing but praises of you from Unova and Sinnoh." Professor Oak's praises had Ash blushing, as they meant the world for the aspiring Dragon Master. After all, it had been Professor Oak the first one to have believed in him and giving him the tools to come this far. "I wish Gary would be more like you, focusing on quality rather than quantity," Professor Oak sighed, making Ash feel a bit vindictive about it, even though he had long since grown up from his childhood rivalry with Gary. "Oh, well, let's get going. I am already late as it is."

"Aeolus will fly you to Twinleaf Town," Ash told him, guiding him to the Dragonite, who hugged him with excitement and warmth. "Other than Nephele, he is the only one willing to let others ride on him. Ladon, Bruce, and Agni would fret if anyone but me rides them for anything but an emergency."

"It's better we make sure pokemon are comfortable. Otherwise, you end up with rider pokemon throwing off humans in anger," Professor Oak told them seriously, making the best friends wince at the image.

"Yeah, we better," Ash nodded in agreement. "Don't worry about the car, Ladon will get it to Twinleaf Town for you."

Professor Oak beamed. "Perfect! Thank you, my boy."

They made quite the stir when they reached the small town, five dragons, one of the carrying a car on his own, was quite a sight after all. They were rapidly hounded by the whole town, who had been waiting excitedly for Professor Oak. Though, Ash and Celeste were also received by some fans. A couple of Twinleaf Town's natives childhood friends, Barry and Dawn. Barry had seen Ash's telivised competitions and his father seem to have some contacts in the Sinnoh League and had been telling him stories about Ash's dragon, so the ten years-old-boy was quite eager to chatt up with Ash. Which had Ash blushing bright red, but he was not the only one. Celeste was being cornered once more by another young aspiring coordinator, this time she was a bluehaired. Dawn was adorable, but most importantly, her mother was Johanna! Celeste grew up watching Johanna's contests and studying up her techniques to use for her own training.