Ash, Iris, Cilan, and Alexa continue their shipboard tour of the Decolore Islands. As they near Cave Island, Porter explains that the name comes from the island’s enormous cave, where many kinds of Pokémon live. They’re all set to explore the cave when Alexa realizes she has to go back for her recording equipment, and our heroes aren’t sure where to go.
Fortunately, Ash spots a familiar face: Clair, the Gym Leader of the Dragon-type Blackthorn Gym in the Johto region! Iris is excited to meet a Dragon Master, and the two of them bond quickly. Clair says she’s going to the cave in search of a rare Druddigon with different coloring, and our heroes are excited to join her in her quest! But first, she has to find her Dragonite, who’s wandered off somewhere...
Iris’s Dragonite and Ash’s Charizard go looking for Clair’s Dragonite, but when the two Dragonite meet, sparks fly—and not in a good way. The battle is on! When Cilan catches up, he has a different interpretation...since Iris’s Dragonite is a boy and Clair’s is a girl, the Film Connoisseur is convinced that this battle is merely the first step in a star-crossed love story. (Iris and Clair aren’t so sure about that...)
When they finally get the Pokémon calmed down and arrive at the cave, they see many kinds of Pokémon running away. It seems the Team Rocket trio overheard Clair talking about the rare Druddigon and decided to go after it! They’ve blocked off one of the two exits from the cave and set up a device that emits painful sound waves that only Pokémon can hear, intending to drive the Druddigon to the other exit, where they’re waiting to nab it.
That doesn’t go so well. When Druddigon emerges from the cave, it’s furious, and the villains’ attacks enrage it even more. It blasts them off with a powerful Dragon Rage and then turns on our heroes! Clair quickly realizes that battling isn’t the answer, so she starts trying to calm it down, using the patience and skills she’s learned as a Dragon Master.
As Iris watches Clair calmly working with the rare Druddigon, she tells Ash and Cilan about a similar situation she faced as a young girl. She met an angry Druddigon in a cave, and though she was afraid of it at first, she quickly realized it was injured and decided she had to help. Iris treated Druddigon and won its trust, and that was the first time she realized she had a strong connection with Dragon-type Pokémon.
Sure enough, Clair’s soothing words and gentle manner get through to the raging Druddigon. Clair decides that she doesn’t need to catch Druddigon after all, and advises it to go back home now that she’s disabled Team Rocket’s device—but it refuses to leave, and the Gym Leader happily adds it to her team. The four of them return to the ship, where they meet up with Alexa, who’s disappointed that she missed all the excitement. Clair does give her a brief chance to film the rare Druddigon, but then it’s time to go. Ash, Iris, Cilan, and Alexa set off on their voyage once more, and Clair and her new Druddigon are beginning an adventure of their own—after hearing about them from Iris, Clair is making plans to visit the Village of Dragons and then stop by Opelucid Academy to meet Drayden!
