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When it came to the matters of Dragon Island, Lance's expression became more serious than ever before.
Even with Ash being among the three, matters concerning Dragon Island had to be treated with gravity. This was the foundation of the Dragon Tamer Clan's strength; whether it was catching Pokémon, Clan trials, or various rewards, everything involved Dragon Island. Furthermore, there was an existence within Dragon Island that even their Dragon Tamer Clan had to respect.
If Ash and the others stayed on Dragon Island beyond the prescribed time limit, they would definitely face severe punishment, unless there were exceptional circumstances.
So, even when facing Ash, Lance had to maintain a serious posture and sternly warn them.
The three youngsters nodded to show they understood. Subsequently, all three mounted Dragonite's back, donned blindfolds, and began their journey to Dragon Island. Along the way, Dragonite's speed forced Gary and Paul to grip Dragonite's body tightly.
Only Ash sat on Dragonite looking perfectly relaxed. Setting aside his extraordinary physical fitness, just the act of riding Pokémon was something he had done countless times after Pidgeot and Charizard completed their evolutions.
After all, he had wanted to fly on the back of a Pokémon since he was a child. After starting his journey, even though he could use jumping as a form of flight, Ash still wanted to ride on Pokémon to experience the feeling of soaring.
Therefore, Ash was already used to flying on Pokémon, even if Charizard's speed was much slower than Dragonite's.
Along the way, Ash honestly refrained from using his Aura to probe the surroundings. He wasn't a greedy person; there was no need for him to know the location of Dragon Island. After catching a Pokémon this time, it wouldn't matter even if he could never return to Dragon Island again.
If it were someone with a poorer character but possessing Ash's abilities, they would probably be calculating the route right now, planning to memorize it and find a time to return to Dragon Island later to catch a few more Pokémon.
After all, although Dragon Island was the property of the Dragon Tamer Clan, they didn't actually manage it. Instead, they allowed the Pokémon on the island to grow freely. Only when Family members needed a starter Pokémon or received a reward would they set foot on Dragon Island.
Thus, Dragon Island remained uninhabited for most of the year. If one knew the route and snuck over, no one would notice unless they caused a major commotion on the island.
This was why Lance was so cautious. Even though he knew Paul, Gary, and Ash weren't that kind of people, he still had to maintain the best precautions.
As time passed, Ash could clearly feel that the surrounding airflow seemed different. He had arrived at a place filled with dense Dragon Power. Even though Dragonite was still flying at extreme speeds, he could feel his skin being stimulated by the Dragon Power.
They should be on Dragon Island now, and would likely land soon.
As Ash expected, in less than two minutes, Dragonite's speed gradually decreased until it came to a complete stop.
"Wu-oh~" Dragonite let out a cry, signaling Ash that he could remove his blindfold. Ash took off the black blindfold and slowly opened his eyes.
What met his eyes was a forest. There were almost no traces of Pokémon in his line of sight. Every direction looked the same; he had no idea where this place was.
Beside him, Lance and his Dragonite also slowly descended, but Paul and Gary were nowhere to be seen.
"We've arrived, Ash."
"Uh— where are Gary and Paul?"
"Since you are the Champion, you have the right to directly enter the inner region of Dragon Island. As for them— they not only need to explore the island, but after finding this place, they must pass the Dragon Trial before they can come here."
Inner Dragon Island— Dragon Trial— Ash knew that entering Dragon Island as a Champion came with many conveniences, but he hadn't expected there to be so many more privileges than the runner-up and third-place finisher.
Being able to come directly to this so-called inner Dragon Island was one thing, but he also didn't have to participate in that so-called Dragon Trial. Although he wasn't afraid of such trouble, this saved a lot of effort that could be used to find Pokémon.
"Is there any difference between the inner part of Dragon Island and the outside?" Ash looked around and asked curiously.
"First is the variety of Pokémon. You could say all the pseudo-legendary Dragon-type Pokémon on the island are in the inner part of Dragon Island. While there are many Dragon-type Pokémon on the periphery, pseudo-legendaries are few and far between. Even if you find one, its talent might not be good. Of course, the quality of a Pokémon's talent can only be judged by your eyes as a Trainer; there are no Talent Testers here."
"Secondly, the inner area isn't very large, and the Pokémon distribution is quite dense. Basically every kind of Dragon-type Pokémon is present, and they have all been screened by Dragon Island to enter this place. In other words, their talents are all quite excellent."
"Your Pokédex contains the distribution of various Pokémon within the inner part of Dragon Island. Basically, the habitats of all Pokémon species are marked, except for a few places that even we haven't explored. As for the outer area, not only is the map incomplete, but the locations of Pokémon aren't marked either. After all, the outer area is simply too large; marking it wouldn't be realistic."
After listening to Lance, Ash couldn't help but marvel. The treatment for the Champion compared to the runner-up and third-place was truly on a different level. Not to mention entering the interior directly, there were all these other benefits.
The most important thing after arriving at Dragon Island was time. He hadn't explored the size of Dragon Island yet, but it shouldn't be too small. It was basically impossible to traverse the entire Dragon Island in three days, not to mention there were powerful Pokémon on Dragon Island with their own sense of territory.
If you had to fight them, it would take up more time, unless you intended to catch those specific Pokémon.
However, there was only one slot for catching a Pokémon on Dragon Island. Once you caught one, you couldn't catch a second.
The Poké Balls they carried were specially made by the Dragon Tamer Clan, and the capture status could be monitored from their end. So, although they had more than one Poké Ball, there was no such thing as releasing a Pokémon because you were dissatisfied after catching it.
There was only one chance to catch a Pokémon. Once you set your sights and caught it, you couldn't release it.
Therefore, for them, choosing a Pokémon naturally had to be done with caution. No one wanted to waste their slot for coming here; these were slots they had fought through immense hardship to earn, so how could they just waste them?
At the very least, they had to try to see as many Pokémon as possible on Dragon Island before they could decide which one they wanted to catch, or perhaps catch one immediately if it caught their eye, though such Pokémon were likely very few.
So, most would shop around and compare to choose which Pokémon was best to catch. If you caught one right at the start, who knew if it was good or bad?
Thus, the greatest advantage of entering the inner island was the massive amount of time saved. Most of the excellent Pokémon on Dragon Island were here, the area was smaller than the outer island, and the distribution of Pokémon species was even marked on the Pokédex.
These various conveniences were a treatment that completely crushed the runner-up and third-place!
"This is a bit too exaggerated, Mr. Lance. Even if I'm the Champion, this is a bit too—"
"Don't feel burdened; this is a right the Champion should have. You are the strongest in this Indigo Plateau Conference, so what's wrong with receiving some preferential treatment? Alright, I won't waste any more of your time. You can explore the rest yourself. I'll wait for you at the exit in three days. The location of the exit is also in the Pokédex map."
After Lance finished speaking, he mounted his Dragonite and flew off, leaving Dragon Island. Ash watched Lance's receding figure and finally turned his gaze back to the island.
He clicked on the Pokédex he hadn't used in a long while and opened the map on it.
Nowadays, as the era progressed, the Pokédex had become increasingly advanced. As long as a map was imported, it could pull up the map and show your current position.
A holographic image emerged above the Pokédex, marking Ash's current location. The map wasn't extremely detailed, but it wasn't too coarse either; it encompassed almost the entire Dragon Island, showing both the outer and inner parts.
Ash couldn't help but marvel once again at how good the Champion's treatment was. According to the map information, the outer area was roughly five times larger than the inner island. He didn't know where Gary and Paul had been placed on Dragon Island, but now wasn't the time to worry about them; he should see which species of Pokémon he wanted to catch.
"This is— Altaria, Dragonair, Dratini, Dragonite, and even Salamence? And Goodra?! There really are a ton of dragons, even ones from the Kalos region! Then why does Mr. Lance still use Charizard and Aerodactyl—"
Ash cried out in surprise as he looked at the species marked on the map. There were quite a few Dragon-type Pokémon here, encompassing species from almost every region, and these weren't just one or two individuals, but entire groups!
There were even Goodra from the Kalos region.
There were no 'fake dragons' here that only had 'dragon' in their name but lacked the Dragon type; they were all genuine dragons with the Dragon type. So the question was, why were half of Lance's six main Pokémon not actually Dragon-type?
Although those three Pokémon all had 'dragon' in their names, they weren't Dragon-type Pokémon!
At most, Charizard counted after MEGA Evolution, but the others— at most, they were just borrowing the name.
"Maybe it's because Mr. Lance's other Dragon-type Pokémon haven't been trained up yet— Anyway, where should I go first? There are too many—"
"Why don't you just visit them one by one?" Mewtwo's voice echoed in Ash's heart.
"Right, since it's not that big, I'll just visit them one by one. Let's go, Pikachu!" Ash called out to Pikachu, who was eating cherry tomatoes on the ground. To think there were cherry tomatoes growing in a place like this; what a— rustic island.
Time flew by, and a day passed. Ash had explored almost the entire inner island and seen all the Dragon-type Pokémon, but he hadn't seen Paul or Gary; they probably hadn't reached the inner island yet.
During this day of wandering, Ash saw many Pokémon he had never seen before. Although he had seen or heard of them in data and studies, seeing them in the real world for the first time greatly expanded his horizons.
Furthermore, Ash discovered an extremely powerful existence on Dragon Island— a Pokémon residing deep within the Dragonite Clan. Ash didn't approach it, but just by coming near the Dragonite Clan, he could already feel that Pokémon's aura.
According to his intuition, that Pokémon might have already reached the— God Domain Level.
There was actually a God Domain Level Pokémon on this Dragon Island? No wonder Lance said there were some Pokémon on Dragon Island that even he and the entire Dragon Tamer Clan had to treat with respect; it would be strange not to respect a God Domain Level Pokémon.
Mewtwo, inside the Poké Ball, roughly calculated the combat power between herself and that Dragonite. If they really fought, without MEGA Evolution, it was hard to say who would win, but if she MEGA Evolved, she would definitely win!
However, that Dragonite was definitely an old monster who crushed Mewtwo in terms of age. As mentioned before, there were basically no Pokémon other than Mythical or Legendary Pokémon that could enter the God Domain.
After all, there were very few Pokémon below Mythical/Legendary status that possessed triple-S rank talent. Even if they did, they wouldn't necessarily reach the God Domain Level. Non-Mythical/Legendary Pokémon stepping into the God Domain were likely very few in all of history.
Once they entered the God Domain, a Pokémon's lifespan would increase significantly, especially for Dragon-type Pokémon who were already long-lived; they would live even longer.
So, that God Domain Level Dragonite in the Dragonite Clan was definitely an old monster who had lived for hundreds or even thousands of years, perhaps even longer than the Thousand-Year Gengar.
However, Ash had no intention of provoking it, so it didn't matter. Now the main thing was to decide which species of Pokémon to catch.
In one day, Ash had visited almost every place. He said 'almost' because there was still one place he hadn't explored: the Dragonite Clan's territory.
As the iconic pseudo-legendary of Kanto, and with a powerful God Domain Level Pokémon presiding over it, Ash intended to leave the Dragonite's habitat for the final exploration.
The primary reason was that God Domain Level Dragonite. If he found a Pokémon that met his heart's desire elsewhere, Ash would simply not come here. After all, if he stepped into the Dragonite's territory, who knew if he would touch that God Domain Level Dragonite's Outrage.
Even if he, with Mewtwo, didn't fear the opponent, he didn't want to cause trouble. Besides, once a God Domain Level battle began, the entire Dragon Island might be completely destroyed!
Therefore, if Ash could avoid provoking it, he naturally didn't want to go.
However, after making a full circle, Ash found that the one with the strongest talent in the entire inner island was a pseudo-legendary Bagon, with a configuration of one S, three A's, and two B's.
This talent was already quite strong, but Ash always felt— this wasn't the Pokémon he was looking for on Dragon Island. It wasn't a matter of talent; it was mainly that there was no sense of resonance.
So, in the end, Ash still came to the place where the Dragonite Clan resided.