Japanese Title: The Kairyu Paradise and Hakuryu's Ordeal!
Original Airdate: January 26, 2020
US Airdate: June 12, 2020
On a research mission for Professor Cerise, Ash and Goh locate an island where Dragonite are said to dwell. There, Ash befriends a Dragonair who has trouble mastering flight, resulting in Ash resolving to help it out.
- Big Damn Heroes: Ash is falling into the water and Dragonair is unable to save him because of its slippery skin. Out of desperation, it evolves into Dragonite to save him.
- Bottomless Magazines: A rare aversion as Goh is unable to catch any of the Dragonite or their pre-evolutions due to using up all the Pokéballs he had on Dewgong. Even worse, he didn't think to just pick up the empty Pokéballs back up. He just left them there floating in the water.
- Call-Back: In "Beauty Is Skin Deep", it was mentioned that Dratini shed their skin. Here, we actually see it happen.
- Call of the Wild Blue Yonder: The Dragonair that Ash befriends longs to fly like its fellows, but is unable to due to not knowing Dragon Dance. Ash decides to help it learn the move so it could fly.
- Chekhov's Gag: A very serious one. Ash tries to ride on Dragonair, only to find it impossible due to its slippery skin. When it tries to save Ash while he is falling, he can't get a grip on it because of the same reason. It prompts said Dragonair to evolve so it can grab him.
- Color Failure: Goh after realizing he used all his Pokéballs on Dewgong.
- Crazy Enough to Work: Ash's plan to have Dragonair learn Dragon Dance is to jump on Pikachu's Electroweb as a trampoline. It takes a few tries but eventually Dragonair gets the hang of it.
- Crazy-Prepared: In preparation to catch the entire Dragonite line, Goh brought along a whole backpack of Pokéballs...only to waste them all trying to catch a single Dewgong.
- Cuddle Bug: Dragonair after Ash teaches it how to fly. This trait carries on after it evolves where it hugs Ash to show that it wants to join him.
- Death Glare: After the Dragonite that Team Rocket trapped is freed, it gives them one before blasting them off with a Hyper Beam.
- Didn't Think This Through: Goh shows what happens if you don't weaken a Pokémon you wish to capture — you end up with all your used Pokéballs floating in the water, leaving you without any to capture the Pokémon you intended to use them on. Moreover, Dewgong is Water/Ice and Scorbunny knew Double Kick, a Fighting move that Dewgong is weak to.
- Foreshadowing: When Goh bemoans not having any more Pokéballs to catch a Dragonite, Ash offers him one of his own. Goh tells him to keep it as he might end up using it himself. He was right.
- Hope Spot: As Ash is falling, Dragonair flies to save him. So Ash grabs onto Dragonair...and quickly remembers that Dragonair skin is slippery and can't maintain his grip. Thankfully, Dragnoair evolves at that point to save Ash from a watery doom.
- Lampshade Hanging: Ash and Goh hang a meta one as to why Dragonair evolves into the bipedal Dragonite instead of something serpentine like Milotic. Ash after Dragonair evolves suggests the serpentine Pokémon do so to save people.
- Leeroy Jenkins: Goh has clearly gotten used to catching Pokémon simply by throwing a Pokéball straightaway. When he finds a Dewgong that proves unusually stubborn, he decides to spam the Pokéballs instead of battling Dewgong to soften it up.
- Mythology Gag: The Dragonite Island and how Ash and Goh end up there alludes to Dragonite's dex entry from Pokémon Sun, which mentions a shipwrecked man who was taken to a paradise occupied by solely Dragonite.
- Oh, Crap!: As Ash is falling, Dragonair tries to have him grab on...but Ash remembers that Dragonair skin is slippery and he can't hold on.
- Series Continuity Error: Ash couldn't ride or grab hold of Dragonair due to its slippery skin, yet the infamous Dratini episode has him riding a Dragonair without trouble.
- Wham Episode: While people guessed that Ash would catch the Dragonair struggling to fly, what no one anticipated was the Dragonair evolving and being caught as a Dragonite!
- Wham Line: Goh stating this changes the fans' expectations on Ash's team.Goh: It seems like it [Dragonite] wants to join you [Ash].
- Wingding Eyes: What Goh's newly caught Dewgong gets when he spots a female Dewgong.
- The World Is Not Ready: While revealing the existence of Dragonite Island would be a world-shattering discovery, Professor Cerise decides to keep it a secret to maintain the mystique of Dragonite, and also because he wants them to live in peace after Team Rocket attacked them and to prevent people with ill intentions from finding them. Ash's new Dragonite shows him gratitude for this.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Team Rocket pretends to be shipwrecked people in order to lure in a Dragonite and trap it. It isn't happy with them for tricking it and point-blank Hyper Beams them the first chance it gets.
- Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Goh doesn't understand after throwing all his Poké balls that he could just have Scorbunny Double Kick Dewgong because a Fighting-type move is strong against the dual Water/Ice Dewgong.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Said by Goh when his new Dewgong takes him and Ash into a storm while chasing after a female Dewgong.
