ENGLISH NAME	JAPANESE NAME	POKEMOPOLIS NAME	DODGINESS RATING	ANIMATION	STORY	TEAM ROCKET	MORAL LEARNT
753: A Village Homecoming!	759: Airisu, Ryu no Sato e Kaeru!	Dragging On			Iris returns to the Village of the Dragons and impresses the yokels there	Nope	Everybody is special and important; they just don't all get their own cartoon

Today finds the twerps arriving at the last hill before Iris' home - the Village of Dragons. She's excited, of course, as are Cilan and Ash who are keen to see Iris' home. They say they can't wait, but they have no idea as they discover Iris is already well ahead of them and yelling at them to hurry up. They rush after her as she beams with pleasure about returning home, and reveals for the first time (in the show) why she didn't want to go anywhere near Opelucid City because Drayden is the Gym Leader there, the person who gave her and Excadrill their first defeat. Now that they've bypassed Opelucid, though, she doesn't have to worry about that and can just enjoy...



They cross the hill and the Village of Dragons is in front of them... all 15 buildings of it! In the fields, Axews, Fraxures and even Haxorus are enjoying the sunshine, while people just kind of stand around staring at the dragons and not really doing anything. As the twerps head down the path, a little purple haired girl comes running down to greet Iris - it's Iris' friend Shannon. She grabs Iris by her hands and asks if her journey is over already, and Iris explains they're just stopping by. She introduces a blushing Shannon to Ash and Cilan, explaining they're on Iris' journey with her (well to be precise, SHE and Cilan are on Ash's journey with him!). Shannon wants her to come to her house and tell her all about her trip so far, but Iris says she should probably go and see the Village Elder first (and does she even have parents?). A rustling in the bushes gets their attention, and they spot a couple of Zweilous come happily stumbling out like oversized puppies with two heads each.

Ash checks them out with his Pokédex as Shannon pets one on a head, explaining she is looking after these two now. Considering that Iris - the best young trainer they had - was "only" given a single Axew, something feels a little odd about this. One of the Zweilous is slightly older and acts like the big brother to the other, eating everything in sight while the smaller one plays about and tugs playfully on the other's fur with its mouths.

Iris agrees to see Shannon later and takes Ash and Cilan to see the Elder. The old woman is happy to see Iris and teases her a bit, asking Ash if she has been any trouble and telling them how Iris has always been headstrong and done things her own way. Axew leaps into her lap happily and she is pleased to see him, looking him over closely and announcing that Iris is doing a great job of raising her. She dismisses Iris noting that Axew hasn't evolved, saying that isn't everything, but Cilan couldn't help but notice there was something.... off.... about the way she looked at Axew.

Two of the Elder's boy-toys ask if she has other Pokémon, and she takes everyone outside to show off the latest addition to her team - Dragonite. Everybody is impressed, of course, but the trouble is that Iris has just brought out her Dragonite inside a village filled with other dragons.... and right near a tough looking (but sleeping!) Haxorus!

It wakes up and doesn't take kindly to Dragonite's immediate challenge, getting up and approaching, the two butting heads angrily before exchanging uppercuts. Iris is horrified and asks the Elder what to do, and the old woman... smiles and rushes in between the two battling Dragons! She puts a smiling face in Dragonite's way as it swings one huge club-like paw (not deliberately at her, it didn't expect her to get into the way) then zips out of the way with surprising speed. Unbalanced, Dragonite falls over backwards and the Elder turns to the Haxorus, approaching it with a happy face and causing it to back up and fall on its own ass, where she proceeds to... give it a tummy rub!?! Calming it down, she turns to Dragonite as he approaches angrily and starts rubbing his tummy too, telling him he's a good Dragonite and it's all right, it's okay, good boy, whose a good boy, huh? Who's the best boy? Who's the best fella? Who is that one? :3



She talks up how strong he is and tells him there is nothing wrong with wanting to test himself against another strong dragon, and notes how many fights and battles he must have been in to get so strong. She thanks him for how brave and powerful he is, and asks that he do his best to protect Iris going on into the future.

Dragon Master? This lady is a Man Master!

Ash and Cilan are impressed by how competent the Elder is, and ask to learn more about the Village of the Dragons. The Elder asks Iris to show them around, and Iris figures the best way to go about this is to go to her best friend's house and sit around while they catch up on gossip. They head off, and the Elder hears a rustling and turns to spot a tall figure hiding in the bushes. It's in no way concealed as to who it is so I won't pretend I don't know it's absolutely 100% Drayden. She notes that Iris is still under the impression that she left the Village without Drayden's permission.... why would she need his permission? Something is up here, but we don't find out what, Drayden just grunting that he wants to see if the path Iris thinks she has chosen for herself is the right one.

At Shannon's, one of the Zweilous seems to have an upset stomach. Iris wonders if it ate too much, and Ash blushes and blanches without the usual accompanying gut-rumble sound. Guess that one was silent but violent, and he apologises to them. She invites them in for a meal, saying they can eat and she can keep an eye on Zweilous, and hey... she has cheese! CHEESE!

It seems she was telling the truth, as they head inside (having helped her move Zweilous) and the repast she has prepared for them is... literally melted cheese on bread. Apparently she has mixed in a little heroin too, because the twerps won't shut the fuck up about how this is some amazing fucking cheese. Either that or they've just decided to be huge assholes and be sarcastic at this poor little country bumpkin. Cilan says that though he is a city boy he enjoys the relaxed comfortable pace of life in the country. Shannon can see the appeal, but she herself wants the freedom and adventure of Iris' life - that's no surprise, of course, everybody would bum around the countryside on the Government tit if they could not only get away with it but be lauded for it by everybody they met.

Iris has no problem with this concept, happily inviting Shannon along to join them without so much as a consultation with Ash and Cilan. She looks unsure though, and Iris reminds them of their childhood (they're 10 years old!) dream to travel around Unova together. Shannon says she doesn't have the talent that Iris has though, elaborating further when Iris insists she's just as talented. She reminds Iris that very few people in the Village of Dragons (what's the population anyway? 30? 40?) have the ability to "speak" to Dragons like the Elder does, and Iris is one of them, and Shannon is not. Since she is training to become a Pokémon Breeder (snicker), staying at home and making sure the floor is mopped is a good enough life for her! She mumbles,"It's all I'm good for," which is just a horrible thing for any child to ever say.

Cilan speaks up though, saying he thinks it is an incredible talent and one to envy - the ability to be able to raise, look after and care for any Pokémon at all. Ash agrees, but doesn't mention that he knew a guy who devoted his entire life to the idea of being a Breeder till he found out he could be a Doctor and get way more pussy that way. Shannon admits that she was going to ask the Elder for permission to go on a journey once the two Zweilous evolved, and now Iris has returned and made the offer for her to join them - it's like its fate or bad writing or something!

An alarmed cry from the younger Zweilous outside gets their attention and they rush outside to discover the older one is missing (wasn't it brought inside by her and the twerps?). The younger one is going nuts, and they spot his friend over by the lake glowing blue - even Ash knows what that means, Zweilous is about to evolve, and they watch in delight as Zweilous grows another head and increases in size, turning into Hydreigon. They congratulate Shannon on successfully evolving one of the Zweilous, but she has noticed that something is wrong. The Hydreigon looks into its reflection in the water and freaks out, apparently not onboard with the idea of having a third head now. It glows yellow and then lets rip with Draco Meteor, which explodes out into smaller meteors that blast down around the Village, alarming and hurting other Dragon Pokémon and the people who stand uselessly around them.

Shannon screams for Hydreigon to calm down, joined by Zweilous, but Hydreigon is having none of it, blasting up a heavy wind (it literally doesn't matter what the move is, I'll call it Gust and you can just deal with it) and knocking Shannon off of her feet. Zweilous turns one of its heads in her direction, then turns both onto Hydreigon and launches itself into the air to attack. It is blasted out of the sky by Dragon Rage, and the twerps rush to her side to see if she is all right. She can't understand what is wrong with Hydreigon, it was always so well-behaved and friendly before. The twerps ponder this and come to the startling conclusion that maybe evolving out of nowhere has caused it to freak out? How to calm it down, though? Iris has an idea, remembering what the Elder did, and tells Shannon they need to find a place surrounded by hills. Shannon reminds them of a nearby area that suits her needs, and she calls out Emolga and Dragonite to help her.

Interestingly, Dragonite immediately listens to Iris' instructions, apparently still under the Elder's "you're so big and stroooooong I'm really impressed!" spell from earlier. Together, he and Emolga set up an effective double-team that keeps Hydreigon off-balance, using fake attacks that herd it in the direction they want it to go, the twerps keeping pace along the shore of the lake.

Getting Hydreigon away from the lake and into the area they wanted, Iris cuts off Hydreigon's avenues of escape with Dragonite and Emolga in the air and Excadrill and Axew on the ground. Blocking Hydreigon's attempted attack, Iris instructs them to keep it from escaping and rushes up onto the raised ground at its back. Getting behind it, she leaps through the air and lands on its back, holding on tight as it bucks wildly trying to knock her clear. It succeeds, sending her tumbling but landing safely thanks to her gymnastic skill. She rushes back up to try again, and Ash and Cilan prepare to call out Pokémon to help her, but are told to wait by... the Elder? She has shown up, apparently deciding to actually investigate the source of the Draco Meteor attack (eat that, Officer Jenny!) and seen what Iris is up to, and wants to give her a chance to succeed. Drayden watches from the bushes, hiding his face despite the fact we all know who he is so what the hell?

Shannon is concerned, saying she wouldn't be able to forgive herself if one of the Pokémon she is responsible for hurts her friend. The Elder tells her to trust in Iris, she wants to be a Dragon Master and they need to give her their support. They watch as Iris is thrown clear again, giving Axew instruction on what to do next, distracting Hydreigon with attacks as Iris gets onto its back once again and holds on tight. Tiring it out as it flails about angrily, she tells it that it is going to be okay, it's good, it's all good, it's going to be fine. She explains that it evolved, it's okay that it freaked out because of the surprise but it has to calm down and learn to deal with the change in its life. Hydreigon listens and lowers to the ground, letting Iris down having calmed down. The others join her, the Zweilous reintroducing itself to its big brother again and the Elder very pleased with Iris' good work. But somebody else still isn't entirely sure, shocking Iris who recognises the voice. Everybody looks up and sees....



Oh shit it's Trapjaw!

Oh. No it's Drayden. Why is he in the Village of Dragons? He heard that Iris was visiting (who told him? Cynthia?) and came to see how well she had improved on her journey. She gasps that she is sorry that she dropped out of school (what business is it of his? Is he her Dad? Her Granddad? A creepy uncle?). Regardless, he tells her that she has grown a bit, and he will be waiting for her at Opelucid City to test just how much she HAS grown.

With that announcement he turns and leaves, a blushing Iris gasping that he actually complimented her while Cilan explains to Ash what the fuck is going on. Shannon finally gets up the courage to ask the Elder for the chance to leave on her own journey after the second Zweilous evolves. The Elder is pleased, saying she has been waiting for her to ask, and tells her that all of the young people in the village have their own special talents and need to set their own path. The twerps tell her they look forward to seeing her when she does start her journey, but for now it seems they need to book it, because they're going to Opelucid City AFTER ALL!



Are they EVER going to get to the Unova League?

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