Chapter 5: Learning about Each Other

AN: I made a slight change to Salamence's last words to Bagon in the previous chapter as I thought this worked better, you don't have to re read it if you don't want as I've repeated them in this chapter

Thanks for the support so far!

***

Zeus woke up on his second day in this new world. After paying his final respects to Salamence, he carried the sleeping Bagon back to the lake where he first woke up to set up camp, eat and rest.

Bagon did not wake up the entire time, clearly physically and mentally exhausted after what it went through recently. Not wanting to disturb it, Zeus lay the Bagon next to his sleeping bag and went to sleep himself.

The first thing he noticed was that Bagon was no longer next to him, but after poking his head out of the tent, he saw the little dragon sitting by the lake with a longing look in its eyes.

Zeus walked over and sat down next to the Bagon, who merely gave him a quick glance before returning his gaze out across the lake.

Zeus followed its gaze as they sat side by side before he started speaking, "When my mother died, I thought I had lost everything. I had the same look on my face that you have now, emptiness. I felt like giving up. She was the ray of happiness I had left."

While speaking, Bagon had turned to look at Zeus and was listening intently.

Zeus "But out of death she gifted me with something equally precious… a sister. With her dying breaths, she made me promise her to look after her. And that promise was my new purpose in life. It reignited my will stronger than ever and I kept that promise for over 20 years…"

At this point, Bagon turned back to look at the lake. She remembered the last promise she made to her mother and replayed those words over and over again in her mind. 'Promise me, no matter what, you will become strong. Strong enough that nothing will be able to take that which you love.'

Zeus "While I can't speak the Pokemon language, I saw the same resolution in your parents eyes when they spoke to you. They made you promise them something didn't they?"

Bagon turned back to Zeus, surprised that he knew and meekly nodded.

Zeus "It was a promise to get stronger wasn't it?"

Bagon again widened her eyes in surprise, impressed by his intuition, before nodding again.

Zeus "I thought so"

Zeus then stood back up and turned to face the still sitting Bagon. "I can help you. I can train you, give you strength. Make you a Salamence that will be feared throughout the world. I can let you keep that promise you made."

Bagon looked at Zeus, then back at the lake, replaying her mothers last words one more time in her head before standing up and looking at Zeus. Gone was the look of emptiness in her eyes, all that remained was fire.

Zeus smiled and took out a pokeball from his bag "Good. As you made a promise to your mother, I will make one to you. I will make you the strongest Salamence the world has ever known. And it will not only be you. I will raise a team of the strongest Pokemon out there. You will be the first Pokemon on this team and as such the leader."

He held out the pokeball to Bagon's head, letting the little dragon take the final step by itself and with no hesitation and a resolute gaze, she tapped her head on the button of the pokeball, causing a red light to cover her body as she was sucked inside.

There wasn't a single shake as the ball confirmed the capture immediately. Zeus looked at the ball containing his first Pokemon and smiled.

***

I sat opposite my new trainer who I learnt was called Zeus, as he told me his story. Needless to say my mind was completely blown. Not only from the fact that he came from a different world, but that he was given the chance to save someone who had already died.

Zeus "..So that is my goal in this world. To get the power to travel back to where I came from and save my sister."

I sat there for a while, still not quite believing what he was saying but I could feel he was telling the truth. Suddenly an idea popped into my head as I suddenly opened my mouth to speak but Zeus beat me to it.

Zeus "Before you ask, No. I don't know if it will also be possible to go back and save your parents. I was given the chance by a higher power to change my past and I don't know if I can change the past of anyone."

I was saddened at this thought but that didn't last long.

Zeus "But… That doesn't mean we can't try!"

I looked back at him as I smiled and leapt up, signalling to Zeus that I was eager to start and get stronger. Zeus also stood up with me.

Zeus "That's the spirit! First things first, I need to create a training schedule for you. You are still young so we will need to work on strengthening your body and getting you used to using your moves."

I nodded in agreement, already happy that Zeus had planned out a training path for me.

Zeus "So… why don't you show me what you can do!"

Zeus and Bagon were now standing in front of a few rocks about the size of Bagon.

Zeus "Lets see what you can do. I want you to use every move you currently know at these rocks."

Bagon nodded and used her first move. She ran towards the rocks as fast a she could while lowering her head and smashed her skull into it.

'That looks like Headbutt' he thought as he started making a mental list of all the moves Bagon was about to show him.

Bagon took a few seconds to recover herself before looking at the rock, and was disappointed seeing there was only a small dent the size of her head in the rock and she failed to smash it.

She was annoyed. She tried a different move this time. She opened her jaws and Zeus observed a dark aura coalescing on her fangs as she proceeded to sink them into the rock.

Zeus 'That was definitely Bite'

Bagon managed to leave 2 gashes on the rock where her fangs went but wasn't able to break the rock. Not willing to give up, She tried to bite it one more time but something different happened this time.

Zeus 'Hoh, instead of a dark aura this time, it's a few flames around its jaw. Must be Fire Fang. As I recall, that's an Egg move for Bagon, looks like I'm in luck.'

Bagon was still unable to destroy the rock with Fire Fang so another approach was needed. She jumped back to make some distance from the rock before taking a deep breath and shot multiple small fireballs at the rock.

Zeus 'A special move in Ember as well, not bad.'

Bagon was unwilling to give up as she now viewed this rock as her rival. She took another deep breath and instead of flames, shot out a thin stream of water at the rock.

Zeus was shocked 'Wait, that looked like Water Gun! But Bagon couldn't learn that in any game. Looks like this world still has a few surprises for me still.' Zeus's mind began to spin thinking that if Pokemon were able to learn more moves than in the games, there were many special combinations he could do.

Bagon stopped the water stream out of her mouth and looked at the rock. It had taken quite the beating but was still standing… barely.

Bagon looked at the rock like it was mocking her and roared before taking in one last breath and shot out a purplish beam that looked like pure energy towards the rock.

Zeus 'That's definitely Dragonbreath. I can't believe Bagon already knows 6 moves. 3 Physical, 3 Special and good coverage. A future powerhouse for sure.'

Bagon ended her Dragonbreath attack and was slightly panting at this point due to releasing consecutive moves. But as the smoke cleared, she could see that she had finally broken the rock in front of her.

Bagon jumped up in joy and started cheering for herself as she turned around and saw Zeus smiling at her, making her even more proud of herself.

Zeus walked over and squatted down in front of her and patted her head.

Zeus "You did well, who knew you had such a versatile moveset. We don't need to spend any time on learning any new moves, only focus on your current ones."

Bagon closed her eyes and enjoyed Zeus's pats. This was the first time Zeus had seen Bagon with a smile. It made him think of his sister and the never ending smile she had on her face, especially when talking about Pokemon.

Zeus of course always smiled along with her but he never truly understood the appeal of the games. But seeing the little blue dragon with a smile on its face, it brought him a warm feeling that he thought he would never feel again.

Zeus "We will start your proper training tomorrow, for now, lets make some dinner. Wanna help?"

Bagon aggressively nodded and ran ahead of Zeus towards the campsite. You wouldn't be able to tell that she was mourning her mother just a few hours ago. But Zeus knew there would be a while to go before she completely overcame the trauma.

While Zeus was making dinner for them both, he remembered something from the games that he wanted to try. So he turned to Bagon and asked "By the way, do you want a nickname?"

Bagon stopped what she was doing and looked at Zeus in deep thought, before frantically nodding.

Zeus smiled and started to think of a name befitting a mighty dragon that Bagon will become before his smile froze and was replaced by a look of confusion.

Zeus "Um… Just wanted to check… are you a boy?"

Bagon froze in place for a moment before she dropped what she was carrying and charged at Zeus aiming a Headbutt as his chest while crying out in agitation.

Zeus saw the Headbutt coming from a mile away and caught her, falling on his back to absorb the momentum and cushion the blow. 'To think She was a girl this whole time? I also wonder if that was her mother or father, I should probably find out but let's be more tactful next time…'

Bagon was now on top of Zeus with tears in her eyes having been completely wronged.

Zeus "Ok, Ok, I'm sorry. I should've known you were a girl… sheesh"

Zeus gently patted Bagon until she calmed down and was again taken back to thoughts of his sister who always wanted head pats from her older brother.

Zeus was lost in the memory before he realized he had the perfect name for Bagon. The way she smiled and enjoyed his head pats, she was exactly like his beloved sister.

Zeus "Hehe, well I have the perfect name for you in that case. It's the name of my sister, the most important name in the world to me, and If you want it, That will make you my sister too."

Bagons stopped the tears coming out of her eyes as she nodded even more aggressively than before. Since she was still an impressionable child, she had started to see Zeus as her new family so the thought of having such a precious name to him made her giddy.

Zeus "So Bagon, what do you think of… Sylvie."