Dragon aura

Chapter 54: Revelation

It was close to midnight. And Daniel lay on his back, one arm under his head, and the other was cradling a sleeping Iris.
They were outside, enjoying a night under the stars and all their Pokémon lay around them. Daniel squeezed his girlfriend and she snuggled in closer.

It occurred to Daniel that this was perhaps the happiest and most content he'd been, in both lives.

He reflected on his past life and just how selfish he'd been, and how now that he was once again on a journey to gain power, he'd become caught up in the end goal, missing out on the journey itself.

He sighed as he recalled his grandfather warning him of doing just that. Young adults weren't sent out to travel and train with their Pokémon for the sake of power. It was meant to force them out and make friends and rivals. Make them work together with their Pokémon and make lasting memories as they searched for their roles in this life. Out of the thousands of trainers who went on a journey, only about one percent actually made it as a professional trainer. The rest had to find out where they fit in.

And Daniel felt that During the last few months, he'd reverted back to his original personality a bit. Looking for fortunate encounters while dancing on the edge of the chasm of death. Pushing himself to be stronger while forgetting to enjoy the journey.

That wasn't to say that he couldn't enjoy battling. Professor oak was a prime example of that. Even after all these years, the man was still a battle maniac. But the mindset had to be reset. Otherwise, he'd be no better than the members of those criminal organizations out there.

Daniel decided that a reset was in order. His Pokémon were strong, he knew that, but they'd been growing too fast. They needed to learn how to use that strength effectively, and he needed to learn how to work together with them, as he had in his early days, instead of just pick the best str and dictate every move.

With that goal in mind, Daniel turned over and wrapped his other arm around Iris, hugging her tightly, and thanking Arceus that he'd met her.

Daniel woke at dawn and carefully extracted his arm from Iris' embrace. He crept quietly up to where his Pokémon lay slumbering and carefully woke them up.
The Pokémon and their trainer made their way to a quiet stream and Daniel invited them all to sit. He wanted to have a heart to heart with all of them, and connect with them, as he had not done since he was a child.

Iris woke with a shiver, covered in morning dew, tot he sight of her Pokémon up and about, some wrestling with one another, and others doing a pre-breakfast workout.

She looked around but didn't see Daniel or his Pokémon anywhere. For a second she panicked, thinking he'd left her, before she cast out her senses and found a heavy concentration of draconic energy a few hundred meters south of her location. She smiled as she thought that her handsome boyfriend just wanted some alone time with his Pokémon. It seemed as though they'd been kind of atratched at the hip ever since they'd met, and that left their Pokémon partners a little left out. She decided to spend some one on one time with her own Pokémon as well.

A few hours later, Daniel was sitting as he mediated. Every one of his Pokémon lay in a protective circle around him, and he realized yet again just how lucky he was. Every trainer in the wild wild kill to have even one of his beautiful dragons, yet he had collected them all.

He began to categorize the information he'd gathered from his friends. It had not been an easy conversation to have with them, as nearly all of them hadn't even realized how far their original relationship had strayed. He was a father figure to many of them, as most had hatched from eggs and he'd raised each of them to trust him unconditionally.