“Huuuuh” Donny took a deep breath as he came back to the surface of the underground lake he landed in. He looked around as he swam to shore, a group of Frigibax stopped and looked at him before moving on. He took in the cave again from the ground level, still stunning. Before he did anything he looked up at where he’d jumped from, his father gave him a look that was a mix of approval and tiredness, then Kyurem flew off. His first order of business: find a partner dragon and food. As much as he liked to think it, Donny knew this wasn't all fun and games. Dragons were the most dangerous type of pokemon. It was the most important lesson hammered into his head from birth: they were not to be trifled with; they could and would kill anyone they pleased in an instant. Especially if they felt their pride was hurt. There was a silver lining to this though, dragons value respect above all but their pride. Their respect was earned by beating them in battle of any kind in a fair match. But that was gonna be a challenge for Donny. All he had on a baby dragon was his brain. Even a baby dragon would be faster and stronger than a 10 year old. Y'know also the elemental abilities like ember, dragon rage, roar, etc. yes even a normal type or status move had innate elemental energy.
As much as Donny wanted to find a suitable dragon right now he knew he needed food first luckily the problem of finding food wasn't his concern, his meal was biting his ass very comically right now. “Karp Karp” donny pulled the flopping fish that attached itself to him away. While Magikarp were not this big anywhere else in the world they were in this cave; it was the only way they'd survive long enough to reproduce, dragons only ate the biggest ones and waited for others to grow. Donny remembered learning from the cerulean city channel on TV from a red haired girl who surprisingly only looked about his age, too young to be on TV, that Magikarp were 90% scales and the only 10% that wasn't were their strange lips, tiny brain and eyes. So Donny uncomfortably got to work with a sharp rock on the ground gouging the strange lips from scale, no blood surprisingly. Using more rocks and some sticks from a nearby apple tree, somehow growing in the cave, he made a small fire and began to cook the lips. Then it hit him that he’d been sitting under an apple tree.
He slapped himself and climbed the tree to grab an apple. Biting into it, more like failing to, he understood why it was growing down here, Applin. The tiny wyrms needed apples from aptly named Applin trees. The trees were not only extremely resilient like the dragon residents of their apples but also produced apples that most pokemon’s teeth simply were not strong enough to bite through. He tossed the apple and continued waiting for the Magikarp lips to cook.
They were awful, the magikarp lips were rubbery, tough and strangely hard, not to mention they didn't exactly taste any good. Especially to Donatello who had come from the life of a rich kid prior to the cave. But he ate nonetheless, oh and the brain was edible too but see Magikarp scales where too tough for some rocks to break through. Donny had enough dignity to not stoop to the level of trying Magikarp eyes.
With his stomach semi filled, Donatello decided to get a move on, with a particularly big stick as some pitiful form of self defense. The first baby dragon he ran into was a Jangmo-o who was with a pack; the leader of said pack seemed to be the Hakamo-o eyeing him warily. Donny corrected himself; he made sure he was standing tall, breathing steadily, and kept his eyes sharp. Talking to a dragon ment there was no room for fear. You spoke clearly and wore your pride. It was a tightrope that you treaded carefully because if you came off arrogant a dragon wouldn’t appreciate that either. “Hakamo-o I was wondering if I could have a quick match with that Jangmo-o. Being a human I dont have the innate strength of a dragon so I believe that match would be a fair one.” Hakamo-o stood considering the challenge for a moment before turning to its pre evolution and pushing it forwards. The rest of the pack and a few nearby dragons formed a circle around us. Jangmo-o lunged and Donny barely dodged. Being closer there would be no way to dodge the next lunge, so Donny raised the stick and the little dragon had a mouth full of tree branch. It was quickly burned by an ember, but it left Donny enough time to uppercut the baby causing it to let out a yelp and fall back. Donny pounced on the chance if he let it get back up it would be over. Donny grabbed its tail and swung it into a wall breaking a scale off of its head. The poor baby was too panicked to try and use ember back at its attacker, and after a few more times being slammed against the wall it surrendered. “Jang…” it said, head lowered to Donny.
“Good job, honest you had me if you managed to get back up.” He patted the small dragon’s head before standing up and walking off. Donatello had done it, he beat a dragon, sure it was a baby but that didn't matter. Of course the thought of asking it to join him crossed his mind. He couldn’t bear to ask the dragon to leave its pack though, call him soft, but baby dragons were too cute to rip away from their parents. So he continued on his way. This was gonna be his life for the next 6 months. It wasn't so bad, if you ignore the food.
2 weeks in this hell hole. Donny was tired of it all, sure he’d been getting physically stronger but every single baby, sometimes even juvenile dragons he’d beaten had denied joining him or the leader of their pack didn't want to lose a member. And Donny couldn't beat a leader yet! The process of catching Magikarp gouging their lips off and eating them had also gotten to him. IT WASN'T WORTH THE DISGUSTING MEAT. He didn't have a choice though so he ate them anyway.
Though in this monotony of Donatello’s life perhaps there is someone else you can follow to spice up this story. Jack was a trainer who had made it to the sixth badge before conference entries closed this year he was quite proud of himself, his team some may have considered quite basic in the Kanto region but they were his friends nonetheless. Pigeot, who had been his starter, was his ace. The bird was beautiful and strong. Many times it had taken its trainer on joy rides through the air after he got a flying licence. Growlithe, who had struggled with the fact that it would likely never evolve with how expensive fire stones were, was still a loyal dog. His small size compared to other pokemon at the 6 badge level was sometimes an advantage allowing it to quickly dash between larger enemies attacks. Slowbro despite its response time being less than stellar, the large creature could take 1000 hits and be no worse off than it started. Nidorino though initially caught to make growlithe feel better had become a key part of his team being able to deal heavy damage and tank a reasonable amount. Exeggutor, while there was nothing particularly stand outish about it, it was a consistently strong pokemon and had the capability to teleport its trainer around. Last but not least Hitmonchan the punchy pokemon was always first to protect its trainer from any danger and had clutched more battles than Jack could count. Jack would have given anything to be stuck in this moment though he was only 11 this was the most happy he’d been in his life, surrounded by his team.
“We comeback with breaking news for the 8th time this week a trainer has been found dead alongside his pokemon. This seems to have been the final straw for Kanto residents as they riot in the streets of Saffron, Cerulean, Pewter and Viridian. The rioters scream for the Kanto/Johto Minimum Age to Travel and Train Alongside Pocket Monsters to be raised because quote “these children cannot defend themselves even with pokemon.” The Indigo League is currently facing more and more pressure by the day to change this law. The trainer in question was named Jackston Oculus the pokemon with him were determined to be Nidorino, Pidgeot, Hitmonchan, Slowbro and Growlithe. Jack also has an Exeggutor registered to his pokedex but authorities assume it managed to get away from whatever happened to the rest of its team and trainer. There is no more information available at this time…”
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“Oh boy another one I’ve been telling Lance he really should push for the minimum age to be raised. I can't stand for this anymore. It'll create more pushback if I stop sponsoring trainers…”
An old man said as he watched the screen with a worried look
A month and a half in the cave Donny was really at his wits end for finding a partner. He had to venture into the darker corners of the cave and if that didn't work he might have to go deeper. As he chewed on more Magikarp lip as he thought back on the past month. “This cave is doing something to me. I don't know if it's fighting dragons over and over but my body is changing way too fast. Same with my head." He'd been keeping track of his mindset but it was getting progressively harder by the day, lately he’d been more irate and prideful. Pride was nothing new to him but what he felt now he constantly had to reel back lest it become arrogance. And he was more vicious whenever a dragon beat him. The real part he was concerned about though was he was seeking out stronger opponents. Opponents that were way too strong for him. Next his body he wasn't complaining, but he was getting way stronger way faster than the human body should have naturally changed from exercise. For now that wasn't too big of a concern though so he shooed it from his mind because he had found something quite interesting. A Dreepy was flying around in front of him. It looked quite distressed and Donny knew why, its parent Drakloak or Dragapult was nowhere to be seen and these pokemon didn't leave their parent until they evolved so if one was missing a parent that was out of the ordinary. What was more out of the ordinary though was that the Dreepy flew over and attached itself to the top of his head much like it would a Drakloak. “What in the world? Now why would a little thing like you attach to me where's your mom or dad?” The Dreepy made ghostly, wispy, happy noises at him and snuggled into his hair. “While I do like you, we should probably find your parent.” Donny said as he picked up the pace on his walk. Dreepy were known to be impossible to train without a Dragapult or Drakloak around, they were just too curious, hyper and easy to lose. After about an hour of walking it became clear why the Dreepy had been alone. A battle had definitely happened here and not an honor match like Donny had been having with first stage dragons; this had been a fight to the death, and Dragapult was not the winner. The ghostly part of its body had long since faded leaving only its upper body and aerodynamic head. Dreepy made a sad sound as it flew down from Donny’s head, and flew into one of the holders on the Dragapult’s head. “So that's why you attached to me. I'm sure they went down in glory if you still wanna come along I won't stop you but I gotta ask you a question. Do you want to battle?”
The Dreepy flew back out and nodded as fiercely as the cute little ghost could and attached itself back to Donny’s head.
He sat in a meeting room with a plethora of faces, first were his Elite 8, then major news broadcasters, the old men in suits who didn't even remember what being a pokemon trainer was like and just clung to traditions, but the biggest source of his problems, Professor Oak and Professor Elm. Lance glared and cleared his throat causing the room to quiet down. “Ahem ladies and gentlemen we are here for one reason the crisis of the boycotts and riots in major cities over the minimum age to train pokemon-” an older man cut him off “i’d like to-” Lance glared again “Mister Wentner perhaps you can shut your mouth until I'm finished speaking you fossil. Anyway the main source of our problems comes from 2 more fossils in this very room Oak and Elm, now I'm going to stop talking and give you imbeciles a chance to explain yourselves.” Oak spoke up “In an effort to move this meeting along ill excuse your rudeness lance, for myself I made my decision because I agree with the masses though I went through my life as a trainer at 10 years old like many in this room I believe it's incredibly dangerous and unsafe to send children that young into the world and for that reason I’ve stopped sponsoring trainers that I haven't already sponsored.”
“I agree with Doctor Oak on this one Mr. Champion. I can't in good faith reward children for going out into an incredibly dangerous world and possibly dying any longer.” Elm said shakily
“YOU THINK I CARE ABOUT YOUR PEACE OF MIND ON THIS! Professors I don't think you understand that you will go down with the ship. People have stopped sending their kids out into the region due to your actions. We are losing money. YOU are losing money. The indigo league won't even last the next 4 and a half months till gyms and conference sign ups open at this rate. If that happens children dying won't be the only problem, all of Kanto/Johto becoming no better than Orre will be.” Lance expected this to at least get them on edge or rile up other attendees but nothing aside from the old men but their opinions don't mean much. Lorelei spoke up first “lance this meeting is pointless everyone besides you and as you said the “fossils” are in agreement here this law has stood unchallenged too long we will raise the legal age whether you want it or not we are still willing to compromise though 15 years old is the lowest we will go.”
“It does not seem as though I have a choice in the matter, 15 years old it is.”
3 months in. “Dreepy, use astonish and combo into dragon rage!” Dreepy quickly spooked the Noibat and released the energy of dragon rage into its face but Noibat was quick to respond with a supersonic and sonicboom, but Dreepy was able to sucker punch it before it could fire off anything else and took it out. “Good job little buddy, let's take a break.” Donny walked and talked as he headed back towards the lake of Magikarp, Dreepy already back on his head. With Dreepy’s help wrangling in a Magikarp was easy plus while Donny ate the cooked lips Dreepy ate the scales, which are still nutritious just inedible for humans, Dreepy didn't actually need to eat right now though while not truly a ghost he was still mostly ghost so he could go for a few years without any food or water. “Alright let's get back to training. We need to be as strong as possible when we get out of here because we are going to a different region with more dragons, not many dragons in Kanto.”
“The law has officially been passed, children can no longer become trainers without being at least 15 years old, more at 10.” Oak smiled happily at his screen as the news reporter spoke, it was done and the economical damage from the first month had been healing since it was released to the general public that a change was in the works. His grandson had nagged him about it the past month and a half saying Oak betrayed him and His birthday was ruined.
Ash ketchum sat in the living room with his mom, he was whining about the new information. How was he supposed to wait five more years? That would take too long, especially because Pichu was so excited. Was Oak going to take him back now because Ash couldn't travel with him?
