Lance's words weren't for show. Dragon Island was the foundation of the Dragon Tamer Clan's power. Trials, rewards, starter selections, everything of value to the clan ran through this island. And deep within it lived something that even the Dragon Tamers themselves treated with reverence.
The three-day limit was absolute. Overstaying meant consequences, and Lance did not use that word as a formality. Even for Ash.
The three of them nodded. Blindfolds went on. They climbed onto the Dragonites' backs, and the flight began.
Gary and Paul gripped their mounts with white-knuckled intensity. Elite Four-level Dragonite didn't cruise. They moved, cutting through the air at speeds that turned wind into a weapon.
Ash sat on his Dragonite like he was on a park bench. Between Charizard, Pidgeot, and his own ability to launch himself through the air, high-speed flight was old territory. He'd wanted to ride Pokémon since he was a child, and he'd done it enough times since then that even Dragonite's pace felt manageable.
He kept his Aura sealed. It would have been simple to map the route, memorise landmarks through the blindfold, calculate headings. But Ash had no interest in cheating. He was here to catch one Pokémon. After that, whether he ever returned to Dragon Island didn't matter.
Lance's caution was justified regardless. Even good people didn't need temptation, and Dragon Island spent most of the year unguarded. The clan didn't patrol it. A person with the right abilities and the wrong character could slip back unnoticed. Better to eliminate the possibility than trust in virtue.
The air changed first. Ash felt it through his skin: a dense, thrumming energy that pressed against him from every direction. Dragon-type power, saturating the atmosphere so thick it tingled against exposed flesh. Even through the blindfold and the wind, the sensation was unmistakable.
Dragon Island.
Less than two minutes later, Dragonite's speed dropped. The descent was smooth, the landing gentle. A low call from the Dragon Pokémon told Ash they'd arrived.
He pulled the blindfold off and opened his eyes.
Forest. Dense, ancient, untouched. Trees tall enough to block the sky, roots thick enough to walk on. No visible paths. No signs of habitation. Every direction looked the same.
Lance and his own Dragonite touched down beside him. Gary and Paul were nowhere in sight.
"Where are the other two?"
"Different drop points." Lance dismounted. "You're the Champion. That earns you direct access to Dragon Island's inner region. Paul and Gary start on the outer perimeter. They'll need to explore the island, locate the inner boundary on their own, and pass the Dragon Trial before they can enter this area."
"Dragon Trial?"
"A test the clan uses to filter who deserves access to the interior. Strength, instinct, compatibility with Dragon-type energy. It's not easy."
Ash absorbed that. He'd known the Champion's placement came with advantages. He hadn't expected the gap to be this wide. Direct interior access plus bypassing the trial meant he could spend all three days searching for Pokémon instead of navigating obstacles.
"What's the difference between inner and outer?"
Lance answered without hesitation.
"Species density. Every pseudo-legendary Dragon-type on this island lives in the inner region. The outer perimeter has Dragon-types in abundance, but pseudo-legendaries are scarce.
Find one out there and its potential may not be exceptional. In here, every Pokémon has been filtered by the island's own ecosystem. If they've earned a place in the interior, their talent is confirmed."
He continued. "The inner area is compact. Pokémon populations are concentrated. Your Pokédex has the full distribution map: habitats, species locations, all of it. There are a few zones we haven't charted, but everything else is marked. The outer region has an incomplete map with no Pokémon locations. The area is too vast for that kind of detail."
Ash glanced at his Pokédex. The map was dense with markers. Species names, habitat boundaries, territorial warnings. It was like being handed the answer sheet before a test.
The Champion's treatment and the runner-up's treatment weren't on the same level.
Time was the only currency that mattered now.
The inner island wasn't small, and three days wasn't long. Every hour spent fighting territorial Pokémon was an hour not spent searching. And there was only one capture slot.
The Dragon Tamer Clan's Poké Balls were custom-built and monitored. One catch, one chance. No releasing a Pokémon because something better appeared around the next bend.
That single restriction changed everything. Catching the first decent Pokémon that appeared was a gamble. Spending all three days comparing options and running out of time was a different kind of gamble. The smart play was to survey as much of the island as possible before committing.
Which made the Champion's privileges crushing. Direct interior access. Full species distribution map. Compact search area. While Gary and Paul were navigating an uncharted outer perimeter five times the size, fighting for scraps of information and hunting for the entrance to the inner zone, Ash had every pseudo-legendary habitat marked on his Pokédex and three full days to browse.
"This feels excessive, Lance. Even for the Champion, this is..."
"Don't carry that weight. The Champion earned the best treatment. That's how it works." Lance mounted his Dragonite. "Explore at your own pace. I'll be at the exit in three days. The location is on your map."
He lifted off and was gone.
Ash watched the Dragonite shrink against the sky, then turned back to the forest and opened his Pokédex.
The holographic map bloomed above the screen, marking his position in the interior. Species names dotted the terrain in clusters. Ash scrolled through them, and his eyes widened with each new entry.
Altaria. Dragonair. Dratini. Dragonite. Salamence. Goodra. Dragons from every known region, not individuals but entire populations, living and breeding in a single concentrated ecosystem. No fake dragons, no species that borrowed the name without the typing. Every Pokémon marked on this map carried genuine Dragon-type blood.
Which raised a question Ash couldn't resist. "If all these real dragons are here... why does Lance use Charizard and Aerodactyl? Neither of them is Dragon-type."
He filed it under mysteries to solve later. Right now, the priority was clear.
"Too many options. Where do I start?"
Visit them one by one.
Mewtwo's voice resonated in his mind. Practical as ever.
"Works for me. Let's go, Pikachu."
Pikachu looked up from the wild cherry tomatoes it had found growing at the base of a tree, cheeks stuffed, and scrambled onto Ash's shoulder. Dragon Island: ancient, powerful, home to god-tier Pokémon, and apparently also grew snack-sized produce.
One day burned through fast.
Ash covered the interior from end to end, cataloguing every species, assessing every population. He didn't see Gary or Paul. They hadn't reached the inner zone yet.
The survey had been eye-opening. Pokémon he'd only seen in research data and regional studies were here in the flesh: Salamence packs hunting in coordinated formations, Goodra colonies near freshwater marshes, Dragonair gliding through forest canopies like living ribbons of silk. Seeing them on paper and seeing them breathing ten metres away were different experiences.
He'd also found something else.
Deep in the territory belonging to the Dragonite clan, a presence radiated outward like heat from a furnace. Ash hadn't entered the territory. He hadn't needed to. Just approaching the boundary, the aura hit him.
God level.
A Dragonite that had crossed into the realm reserved for Legendaries and Mythicals. That was what lived at the heart of this island. That was the existence Lance had said even the Dragon Tamer Clan treated with reverence.
The math made sense. Pokémon below Legendary status almost never reached God level. The ones that did possessed triple-S talent and lifespans measured in centuries once they crossed that threshold. A Dragon-type, which was long-lived by nature, could have been here for a thousand years. Maybe longer.
Mewtwo ran the numbers from inside her Poké Ball. Without Mega Evolution, the fight would be close. With it, Mewtwo would win. But "would win" and "should fight" were different calculations.
Ash had no intention of provoking it. A God level battle on this island would flatten the ecosystem. The goal was to find a partner, not start a war.
He searched everywhere else first. Every habitat, every clan, every nesting ground. The strongest prospect he'd found was a Bagon: one S-rank stat, three A's, two B's. Strong talent by any measure.
But it wasn't right.
The stats were good. The species was solid. Ash couldn't explain what was missing. It wasn't about numbers. It was about resonance. The feeling he got when he met a Pokémon that was meant to be his. He'd felt it with Pikachu, with Charizard, with every partner that mattered. This Bagon didn't give him that feeling.
Which left one place he hadn't explored.
Ash stood at the boundary of the Dragonite clan's territory and looked into the forest beyond. The God level aura pressed against his skin like standing too close to a bonfire.
He stepped forward.