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Regarding Miraidon learning to fly, Aiden wasn't actually making things up.
In the latter part of the Scarlet and Violet DLC, Amarys—one of the BB League Elite Four—would give the protagonist a special gift after a series of events concluded.
A special pill that permanently taught Koraidon/Miraidon how to fly.
After all, being officially designated Legendary Pokémon, not knowing how to fly was indeed a bit embarrassing.
You agree, right, Groud...?
However, currently Aiden didn't know how Amarys had accomplished this either, so regarding the topic of "teaching Miraidon to fly," he was just speaking casually without taking it seriously.
Patting Miraidon and simply soothing its emotions, Aiden quickly raised his head.
"Calculating the time, they should be arriving soon, right?"
In the original Pokédex, Dragonite was described as "capable of circling the Earth in just 16 hours at full speed."
Converted, this was far beyond supersonic speed—about Mach 2—and also 1.5 times the Earth's rotation speed, extremely terrifying.
At Dragonite's speed, flying from Kanto to Paldea would take about three hours. And because it flew opposite to the Earth's rotation direction, it might even outrun time—flying from dawn to dusk wasn't impossible.
So if they departed in the morning, they should still arrive in Paldea during the morning.
Vaguely recalling geography knowledge that had died years ago, while Aiden was thinking, two orange figures quickly flashed across the sky. As they cut through the clouds, their speed immediately slowed, and they rapidly descended toward the ground at an exaggerated rate.
"Hmm?"
Bagon, which had been running around releasing energy outside early in the morning, lifted its head, its eyes instantly sparkling with brilliant stars.
A flying dragon!
Although it seemed somewhat different from its ideal image, just from having wings and being able to freely soar through the sky, it must be a very powerful dragon!
"Graaow?"
Noticing the guests descending from the sky, Miraidon instinctively narrowed its eyes.
So familiar... I feel like I've seen them somewhere before...
Must be my imagination, right?
Aiden also noticed the figures in the sky and immediately smiled.
As expected—the timing was perfect.
But every time he saw this, he really wanted to complain—human physical abilities in the Pokémon world were too terrifying!
Without wearing any protective gear, directly riding Dragonite at supersonic speeds, and even being able to smile and wave from the sky...
So ridiculous!
After diving close to the ground, the two Dragonite's speeds quickly decreased like hitting brakes, finally landing smoothly on the ground, raising only a small amount of dust.
"Long time no see, Aiden."
Lance smiled and spoke, then immediately turned around with flair, jumping down from Dragonite, his movements incredibly practiced.
Although only about a week had passed, for Lance—who was on vacation and bored enough to count days on his fingers every day—it might indeed have felt like quite a long time.
"Nice to see you again, Teacher Azure."
Clair also greeted him.
She and Aiden had actually met quite early on.
Back when Lance had discovered Teacher Azure's videos on Pokémon TV, he had forwarded them to her as study materials for preparing for the Dragon-type Master Tournament.
And at the Master Tournament in Mesagoza, after being eliminated early, she had chatted with Aiden briefly.
At that time, she hadn't realized that this gentle-looking, sunshine-filled young man would so profoundly change the world's battle atmosphere over the next few months...
Thinking of this, Clair couldn't help but sigh.
If only I had known earlier—I should have learned more from Aiden back then, staying ahead of the meta.
However, being able to observe up close this famous "tactical master" Teacher Azure, who had many fans worldwide, might allow her to learn some new insights from his habits?
"Long time no see, both of you."
Aiden also smiled and greeted them.
He had quite a few interactions with Lance, so they knew each other well enough to be considered good friends.
"Come inside first."
Aiden spoke, about to lead them into Sunshine Gym.
Just at this moment, Bagon—who had been staring intently at the two Dragonite for a long time—suddenly made an "hmm hmm" sound, then trotted over to Lance's side with unrecognizable steps.
More accurately, it was to Dragonite's side.
"This is..."
Clair was the first to notice this cute little fellow, quickly realizing.
"Hmm, it's the Pokémon egg I gave to Aiden back then."
Lance's gaze also instinctively shifted to Bagon, his previously tense expression relaxing considerably.
For a proud Dragon Master, what could be more joyful than seeing a carefully nurtured baby dragon growing strong?
Salamence was a rare Pokémon first discovered in Hoenn.
Like Dragonite, it was a late bloomer type, so during the Bagon stage its growth would be relatively slow.
However, as an expert in raising dragons, Lance could immediately tell this Bagon was developing very well and had adapted well to life here.
It seemed giving it to Aiden back then was the right decision.
Lance thought to himself.
"Hmm!"
Bagon wasn't idle either—after quickly approaching the two Dragonite, it immediately started dancing excitedly, its gaze fixed on the small wings behind Dragonite, filled with longing.
Faced with its strange behavior, Dragonite slowly tilted its head, expressing a question mark.
However, being one of the few good-tempered Pokémon among dragon types, Clair's Dragonite quickly understood, instantly smiling and extending its short arms to pick up Bagon, placing it on its shoulder.
"It's said that Bagon naturally loves climbing to high places and yearns to fly one day—turns out it's true."
Seeing this, Clair couldn't help but sigh in admiration.
A young dragon longing for flight, eventually growing strong, powerful wings to become Hoenn's famous tyrant of the sky.
This story was quite romantic.
Watching from the side, Aiden couldn't help but twitch his mouth.
Of course it was true—and far more absurd than Clair imagined...
If not for Dragonite constantly supporting this little one with its hands, Bagon would probably already be charging up, preparing to perform "High Altitude Flying Dragon."
"It seems Teacher Azure will also become an excellent Dragon Master in the future."
Seeing Bagon so energetic, the smile on Lance's lips grew wider, and he couldn't help but nod repeatedly.
At the same time, he didn't forget his ultimate goal for coming to Paldea—
Dragons!
"Speaking of dragons... I've long heard from Teacher Azure that Paldea is home to various dragon Pokémon. I hope to have the chance to see them this time."
Lance changed the subject, getting straight to the point.
Last time he came to Mesagoza for the Master Tournament, although he had heard about Paldea's rich Pokémon variety, he ultimately couldn't spare time to see them due to the tournament schedule.
Originally, discovering new dragon Pokémon wasn't something Lance had placed too much importance on.
After all, his team composition was already sufficient—he probably didn't need to raise other Pokémon for now.
However, several recent events quickly gave him a sense of crisis.
First was Aiden guiding Lorelei in his stream, giving her ideas to optimize her hail team.
As everyone knows, the young prodigy Lance—who had even earned Professor Oak's recognition—still hadn't become Champion, and his contemporary nemesis Lorelei had definitely contributed greatly to this.
As his lifelong rival, once Lorelei had room to strengthen her team, the pressure naturally fell on him.
According to Aiden's recommendation, it was said Lorelei had recently planned to travel to the Alola region, attempting to capture an Alolan Ninetales, which locals regarded as a sacred beast.
If this succeeded, how could he ever become Champion again?
That's why, after having free time, he immediately remembered what Aiden had said back then.
Of course, this was just the main reason...
There was another reason that was harder to bring up.
Lately, for some unknown reason, the number of fans calling him "Lance the Flying-type Elite" online had surged dramatically, leaving Lance somewhat puzzled.
Especially in Aiden's live streams—whenever topics related to him came up, he would definitely see chat messages calling him this, making him too embarrassed to speak using his main account...
What was most infuriating was that what they said actually made some sense.
To break through Lorelei's Ice-type army, he had chosen compromise options like Charizard and Aerodactyl—at least their names contained "dragon."
However, as the chat messages pointed out, strictly speaking, they couldn't really be considered dragons.
To prove his Dragon-type Elite Four title wasn't hollow, Lance indeed needed to expand the number of dragon Pokémon in his team.
"..."
Hearing this, Aiden first fell silent for a moment, then revealed a big smile.
"Don't worry—Paldea's dragons will absolutely exceed your imagination. Each one brings a surprise."
"As for exactly which Dragon-type Pokémon exist—waiting for Mr. Lance to confirm with his own eyes will leave a deeper impression, right?"
Regarding this topic, Aiden decided to keep the suspense until they reached Casseroya Lake.
"You're right."
Lance nodded, agreeing with Aiden's words.
As a Dragon Master, he should indeed personally discover new dragon Pokémon.
After all, as a member of the Dragon Tamer clan with over a thousand years of heritage—no one understands dragon Pokémon better than me!
Aiden smiled and nodded.
However, just as he turned to enter the gym, he quickly noticed Miraidon lying in the doorway sunbathing.
After a moment of stunned silence, a smile quickly reappeared on Aiden's face.
"Speaking of which—this child is also a Dragon Pokémon, and probably the world's only unique dragon."
Don't look at Miraidon's usual lazy, carefree attitude—in reality, this thing had quite a background. It was a special individual from the future, captured under extremely coincidental circumstances by that pair of professor spouses, assisting with research in Area Zero.
Its typing was indeed Electric+Dragon.
A unique dragon?
When Aiden said this, Lance and Clair's curiosity was instantly piqued.
However, when they followed Aiden's pointing finger and only saw a slightly chubby, lazy "motorcycle" lying on a cushion sunbathing, occasionally letting out comfortable grunts, the two exchanged surprised glances.
Wait? You call this a dragon?
Lance's expression was incredulous, and when their eyes met, he similarly detected disbelief in Clair's gaze.
Even worse...
As a Dragon Tamer clan member who specialized in taming dragons, Lance could keenly sense the dragon aura emanating from Pokémon.
On Miraidon, although the dragon aura wasn't obvious, upon careful feeling, he could indeed detect a portion of it...
So what Aiden said was true—this Pokémon called "Miraidon" really was a Dragon Pokémon!
But where exactly did it resemble a dragon? It clearly looked more like a tech-filled giant lizard!
The first dragon Pokémon Lance encountered after coming to Paldea made him suddenly realize something terrifying—
His understanding of dragon Pokémon seemed a bit outdated.
To this, Aiden thought:
This is just the beginning, brother!
Frankly speaking, the Dragon Tamer clan who only raised Dragonite—what do they know about dragons!
It seemed every dragon they would encounter next in Paldea would basically subvert Lance and Clair's understanding of dragon Pokémon...
Thinking this, Aiden couldn't help but reveal a kind smile.
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