What if Its supposed to resemble a feathered raptor. The mention of scales on the dex probably hints at the fact that they were confused for so long. Looking at that evolution, it always kinda looked more like a headdress to me. SO in actuality its probably feathered, people assume its scales, similar to what happened with real life raptor. Plus this picture of the flying raptor I found looks like it could forsure be part fighting type.