People who can understand Pokemon speech are not unheard of, but those are typically from the Dragon Taming Race. Most people in the Dragon Taming Race possess Dragon Taming Power, which not only enhances the strength of Dragon Attribute Pokemon but allows them to communicate and understand the language of Dragon Attribute Pokemon.
But it's limited to Dragon Attributes. The Dragon Taming Race seems like a family born specifically for Dragon Attribute Pokemon.
Apart from the Dragon Taming Race, others who can understand Pokemon speech, Dragonite and the others haven't seen them before. It's rare to see a foreigner who can understand their language today; it's really uncommon, or rather, never seen before.
"Woo~ woo oh~" Since Ash could understand them, they decided to share everything about that Dragonair with him.
That Dragonair entered the inner part of Dragon Island from the outside. Though there are Quasi-Gods on the outskirts of Dragon Island, their talents are generally not that impressive. Even in the Pokemon Realm, there are distinct hierarchies.
For Pokemon, the criteria for judging talent are simple: how fast you evolve and how quickly your strength increases. That's all.
Compared to humans, the standards on the Pokemon side are much simpler, focusing merely on the speed of strength growth, which sometimes leads to misjudgment.
Like this Dragonair, it's a case of misjudgment.
On the outskirts, this Dratini evolved into a Dragonair at an incredible speed. In terms of improvement speed, very few Dratini can progress as fast without a Trainer.
Thus, she was directly deemed qualified to move to the Inner Island of Dragon Island. On the Inner Island, not only will Dragon Attribute power increase faster, but competition within the same race will also quicken growth, which should have been the case.
However, since entering the Inner Island, the speed of this Dragonair's improvement has been rather slow, not to mention she couldn't fly.
It's normal for Dratini not to fly, but if Dragonair can't fly, it's somewhat unreasonable.
Dragonair's flight doesn't rely on wings but on manipulating weather forces, flying using the wind. Some Dragonair can enlarge the wings on the sides of their heads to fly, but only those exceptionally talented Dragonair can do this.
A Dragonair that can't control the wind aiming to fly with head wings is impossible. So, this Dragonair is evidently the type that progresses fast initially but slows down later, with average talent.
However, since this is the Dragonite clan, not the more aggressive Salamence group, this Dragonair gets to stay here.
Even so, though Dragonite clan didn't expel the Dragonair, she felt quite inferior because of the gap between herself and her companions. She tried hard, hoping to at least fly even if she couldn't boost her strength!
Despite her desires, her strength remained stagnant, and she couldn't fly either. The reason for this is still unknown.
After listening to the Dragonites' explanations, Ash looked at the Dragonair with a puzzled expression. What puzzled him was... this Dragonair obviously has great talent, talent-wise, Lance's ace Dragonite is on par with her level. Why does she perform so poorly?
Interestingly, most Pokemon he encountered seemed to be thought to have poor talents but were actually explosively talented.
Whether it's the neglected Pikachu or the abandoned Charmander, Bulbasaur, Squirtle, and recently acquired Chimchar, they were all considered to lack talent.
Now there's another one, which is the Dragonair before him.
With excellent talent but poor performance, it's the same as the Pokemon he caught before, prompting Ash's interest. Could it be...
"Leave it to me. I'll make her fly!" Ash patted his shoulder, saying to the group of Dragonite, then started to slowly walk toward the dejected Dragonair.
...
At the same time, Paul and Gary were fiercely battling a Salamence, which was one of the gatekeepers of the Inner Island entrance.
Upon arriving at this island, both knew that talented and strong Pokemon are at the island's center, because the map they received, though differing, had one common point: there's no center area shown.
Also, after Dragonite dropped them on the island, people from the Dragon Taming Race specifically told them about the division between the inner and outer island.
Not only did they need to find the entrance to the Inner Island, but they also had to pass through the Dragon Trial at the entrance to enter the Inner Island.
The placement of both was quite far, so meeting at this entrance was purely coincidental, which allowed them to face the test together.
The test content is simple yet not simple. It's simple because defeating the gatekeeper allows entry. It's not simple because only one Pokemon can be used at a time, and if the Pokemon falls, the trial is considered a failure, prohibiting a second challenge.
The gatekeeper is a Junior Elite Level Salamence, an Elite Level Quasi-God acting as the gatekeeper. If not for participants like Paul and Ash, hardly anyone could enter the Inner Island.
Even Paul wasn't entirely confident he could use Torterra to defeat the Salamence because, after a day of battles, Torterra isn't in its prime state.
This is why Paul chose to team up with Gary.
One person can use only one Pokemon at a time, but multiple people can take the test together, meaning they can fight two against one with justice!
With Blastoise MEGA evolving, Gary's Pokemon has Elite Gym level power. While it might not be suitable for being the main combatant, it certainly works well as support.
To ensure entering into Dragon Island's interior, two not-so-close individuals decided to cooperate, since...they didn't have substantial conflicts.
"Blastoise, block him with Hydro Pump!"
"Squirt!" Two thick water columns shot out, blocking the heavily wounded Salamence from flying skyward.
"Torterra, Frenzy Plant!" At the moment Salamence descended to lower altitudes, Paul did not hesitate to command Torterra to unleash a Grass Type ultimate move, Frenzy Plant.
The Grass Type skill is four times resisted by Salamence, a reason Paul wasn't sure about defeating the opponent with Torterra. But the Frenzy Plant wasn't to cause damage to Salamence but to restrain him!
Several thorny green plants burst from the ground, tightly binding Salamence's wings and limbs. Though Salamence fiercely struggled and tore apart numerous vine tendrils, he was ultimately restrained!
"Now! Ice Beam!" Gary seized the opportunity and shouted.
Blastoise slightly bent its body as Ice Type energy fiercely condensed within the three turrets, bringing a deadly threat sensed by Salamence, prompting more vigorous struggles against its bonds. The Frenzy Plant on the brink of snapping under Salamence's frenzy was finally torn apart!
"Don't think of escaping, Torterra!"
"Metah!" As Salamence attempted sky flight, Torterra squeezed inner power, and a large vine re-emerged from the ground, snaring one of Salamence's legs, momentarily tethering the nearly escaping Salamence, during which three icy blue beams burst forth from Blastoise's cannons!
"Go, Blastoise!!"
"Squirt!!"
"Boom!!" Ice Beam, direct hit!
Salamence, resisting Grass Type four times but...weak to Ice, four times, same as Dragonite!