Ash stared at the Mega Stone in his palm. A Dragonite Mega Stone. Just handed to him. No trial, no gauntlet of challenges to prove his worth.
"Why?" He looked up at Deepwyrm. "This matters to you. Even at five minutes, the power boost is massive. You don't just give something like this away."
Anyone else would have pocketed the stone and kept their mouth shut. Ash couldn't do that. If he didn't understand why, the doubt would sit in his chest like a rock. And if pressing the question made Deepwyrm change his mind, then so be it. A gift that didn't make sense was worse than no gift at all.
Deepwyrm's eyes creased with something between amusement and approval.
"Two reasons. First, you have the potential to become a trainer of the highest calibre, and I believe you can guide that Dragonair to the peak. Perhaps beyond it." A pause. "Second, I like you. You walked onto my island, treated my clan with respect, taught one of my Dragonair to fly in half a day, and you're standing here questioning a gift instead of grabbing it. That's enough for me."
I like you, so I gave it to you. The reasoning of someone powerful enough that justification was optional.
"In that case..." Ash fumbled for the right words. The phrase hovered at the edge of his vocabulary and refused to come out. His Pokémon knowledge had grown by leaps since his journey began. His command of polite language had not.
"Thanks. I mean it. Thank you."
He tucked the Mega Stone into his pack. Good enough.
"Does Lance know you had this?"
"That young man?" Deepwyrm's tone shifted to something fond and distant. "No. I haven't spoken with him in several years. His performance during his Dragon Island trial was exceptional. The best I'd seen in a century. When he returned a year or two ago, he'd grown into a remarkable trainer. Two days ago, when he came back to prepare for your visit, his strength was enough to warrant a second look."
"But he is not you."
Deepwyrm could sense every Pokémon Ash carried. Most of them sat below Lance's team in raw power, and the gap was significant. But one of Ash's Pokémon matched Deepwyrm himself. And that single presence changed the entire equation. All of Lance's Pokémon combined might not be enough to overcome that one partner.
The level disparity within Ash's roster was strange.
Deepwyrm couldn't explain it and didn't try. What he could see was potential so dense it was almost visible, concentrated in a fifteen-year-old boy who had no business being this strong this early.
And then there was Pikachu.
The yellow mouse stood on Ash's shoulder, small and bright-eyed, radiating a bond with its trainer that ran deeper than anything else Deepwyrm had sensed. This was the Pokémon closest to Ash's heart.
Its power level was laughable by Deepwyrm's standards. Not even Elite Four tier. A sneeze from the ancient Dragonite would end the fight before it began.
And yet.
Deepwyrm felt a thread of threat from it. Like looking at a campfire and sensing, somewhere beneath the small flames, the memory of a wildfire.
He couldn't explain it. The feeling didn't match the data. But it was there.
One more reason to invest in this boy.
"When I've trained Dragonair to her full potential, I'll bring her back to visit." Ash's grin was wide and genuine. A Pokémon that resonated with him and a Dragonite Mega Stone, free of charge. Dragon Island had exceeded every expectation.
He thought of Lance. The Elite Four leader had shared some details on the flight over. His trip to Kalos had yielded one Mega Stone, which was more than any other Elite Four member had managed. Unfortunately, it was an Altaria stone, not Dragonite. Lance was planning another Kalos expedition to search for the one stone that could push him to true Champion level.
The Dragonite Mega Stone had been on Dragon Island the entire time. In the possession of the island's absolute ruler. Under Lance's nose for years.
Ash made a quiet decision: Lance did not need to know about this particular acquisition.
"Release Dragonair," Deepwyrm said. "I have something to tell her. Then I'll escort you to the island's exit."
Ash tapped the Poké Ball without hesitation. Dragonair materialised in the cavern, blinked in confusion for a moment, then saw Deepwyrm. Her head lowered in immediate, deep respect.
There weren't that many etiquettes within the Dragonite Clan. For seniors and such, there was no need for troublesome things like bowing. But it was different when facing the Dragonite Ancestor.
Deepwyrm. The Ancestor. Older than every living Dragonite on the island, stronger than all of them combined. The title wasn't honorary. It was factual.
"Raise your head." Deepwyrm's voice was gentle. "You belong to Ash now. Between us, there's no need for that."
Dragonair lifted her gaze, uncertain.
"I asked Ash to release you because I want to teach you something. My training method." Deepwyrm settled into a comfortable position, his round face carrying an expression that was part warmth, part gravity. "You've always been the one I watched most closely in this clan. If anyone in the Dragonite line is going to reach the level I stand at, I believe it will be you."
Ash blinked. He hadn't expected the Ancestor's opinion of Dragonair to run that deep. But it tracked. Double S potential. Willpower that refused to break. And now a trainer who specialised in unlocking what others couldn't see. The combination had no ceiling.
Deepwyrm began to teach.
Ash watched from the side, expecting something arcane. God Domain secrets. Esoteric techniques lost to time.
What Deepwyrm taught was breathing.
A specific, precise method of using each inhale and exhale to vibrate the body at a particular frequency, turning the simple act of drawing air into a continuous, passive form of training.
The concept was staggering. The problem every Pokémon and trainer faced was the same: you could only train so many hours in a day. Fatigue, mental and physical, set hard limits. Rest was non-negotiable.
But if breathing became training, if each breath strengthened the body the way a repetition strengthened a muscle, then training never stopped. Waking, sleeping, walking, resting. Every moment became progress.
If Ash hadn't watched Deepwyrm demonstrate it, he would have dismissed the idea as fantasy.
But he saw it work. The air entering Deepwyrm's lungs resonated through his body in visible ripples, each exhale carrying a faint pulse of Dragon-type energy that thickened the atmosphere around him. The effect was subtle but undeniable.
Deepwyrm had named the method Dragon Breath. It tempered the Dragon-type energy within a Pokémon's body, accelerating growth in a way that stacked on top of conventional training.
The limitation was specificity: only Dragon-types benefited. Pokémon without the typing would gain nothing from it. Those who knew Dragon-type moves might feel a marginal effect, but nothing meaningful.
Even for Deepwyrm, Dragon Breath was his only success. Over a lifetime spanning centuries, he'd developed one breathing method. The theory allowed for others: breathing to strengthen physical power, breathing to sharpen move execution speed, breathing to increase defence. Each would require its own unique frequency and rhythm.
A seed planted itself in Ash's mind. If he could develop breathing methods tailored to each of his Pokémon, each one targeting a different aspect of their growth...
The idea was beautiful. Whether it was achievable would take time to prove. He filed it away.
Deepwyrm held nothing back. Every nuance, every adjustment, every principle behind Dragon Breath was passed to Dragonair without reservation. By the time the teaching concluded, it was noon on the third day. Pickup was at three.
"I'll take you to the entrance." Deepwyrm rose. Then, to Dragonair: "Come back and visit when you can. This is still your home."
Dragonair's blue head dipped. Her eyes glistened. The Ancestor had given her his most precious technique and still called this place her home. Her heart, which had room for Ash at the very top, carved a space just below it for the ancient Dragonite who had believed in her when no one else did.
Ash rode Deepwyrm to the island entrance. Gary and Paul were already waiting.
They'd arrived hours early. Unlike Ash, they couldn't move through Dragon Island with impunity. Flying out on a Pokémon risked being intercepted mid-air by a territorial dragon. Walking was safer but slower, so both had given themselves generous margins.
Gary spotted Ash descending on the back of an unfamiliar Dragonite and raised an eyebrow.
"Of course you made friends with a personal chauffeur. Let me guess, the same Dragonite that dropped you off? You arranged the pickup in advance?"
"No, this Dragonite is actually..."
"ANCESTOR DEEPWYRM?!"
Lance's voice split the air before his body cleared the treeline. He dropped from the sky on his own Dragonite, face white, eyes locked on the golden figure beneath Ash.
"Why are you outside the interior?!"
Gary and Paul stared. Ancestor?