The first thing Leo noticed was the silence.
It wasn't true silence, because the mountains around them were far too alive for that. Wind screamed between the enormous peaks, loose stones rolled down distant slopes, and somewhere beyond the rocky ridge, something roared with enough force to make the ground tremble beneath their feet.
There was simply no sign of the battle they had just escaped. There were no armies, no explosions, no Giratina tearing through the sky, and no Z standing somewhere nearby.
Leo slowly straightened, his breathing still uneven from the escape. Cynthia stood several steps ahead of him, carefully scanning the unfamiliar landscape, while Claire remained close to his side and Bertha had already moved toward the ridge overlooking the valley.
The landscape was almost impossible to comprehend.
Mountains rose in every direction, but they weren't simply large. They were colossal, with peaks that disappeared into the clouds as though the mountains themselves had pierced the heavens. Jagged cliffs surrounded valleys filled with dense forests, winding rivers, and enormous rocky plateaus.
Leo looked from one mountain to another, trying to determine where they had landed.
"Where are we?"
Bertha didn't answer immediately, because something had already caught her attention.
A small shape suddenly burst from behind a boulder.
Then another appeared.
Then five more.
Leo's eyes narrowed as the Pokémon spread across the rocks almost instantly. Jangmo-o surrounded the group from several directions, their scales rattling against one another as they lowered their bodies and stared at the strangers who had suddenly appeared in their territory.
Claire's hand moved toward one of her Poké Balls.
"Looks like we've got company." One Jangmo-o suddenly charged. Leo stepped forward and raised a hand. "Wait." The Dragon-type swung its head toward him before immediately continuing its attack.
Leo shifted his weight just as the strike came from the side. He ducked beneath it, feeling the rush of air pass over his head, but another Jangmo-o was already coming from behind with its jaws snapping toward his shoulder.
Leo twisted sideways and caught the side of its head with his palm, redirecting its momentum rather than trying to stop it. The Jangmo-o stumbled past him, its claws scraping against the stone as it struggled to regain its footing.
A third attacked before Leo could fully recover.
He jumped over it, but two more Jangmo-o rushed underneath him at the same time. Leo landed on the back of one, pushed himself off, and flipped over another before touching down several feet away.
His expression changed. The Jangmo-o weren't attacking randomly. They were surrounding him. Another wave came faster than the first.
The small Dragon-types darted between the rocks, forcing Leo to keep moving while using the terrain to their advantage. Their bodies were small enough to slip through spaces that larger Pokémon couldn't, allowing them to attack from angles that were difficult to predict.
One attacked high. Another attacked low while a third waited until Leo moved before charging toward his blind side. Leo blocked the first strike, jumped over the second, and barely avoided the third.
"You're learning."
He wasn't sure whether the Jangmo-o understood him, but their response suggested that they did. The entire group immediately changed formation. Leo's eyes sharpened as the Pokémon shifted positions around him. "They changed."
Cynthia noticed it too.
"They're coordinating."
Another Jangmo-o lunged toward Leo.
He caught its arm and redirected it toward an approaching attacker, causing the two Pokémon to collide and roll across the ground before quickly separating again. The first Jangmo-o shook itself, stared directly at Leo, and rattled its scales.
Leo laughed despite himself.
"Again?" The entire group charged. This time, Leo stopped trying to escape their formation.
He stepped into it.
His movements became smaller and more precise as he began studying them rather than simply reacting to their attacks. Every movement told him something, because the younger Pokémon attacked aggressively but often left openings, while the more experienced ones compensated for those openings by adjusting their positions.
It was crude, but it was effective.
Leo slipped between two attacks and tapped one Jangmo-o on the chest, sending it stumbling backward. Another rushed him immediately, and Leo stepped aside, expecting it to continue past him.
Instead, the Jangmo-o corrected its trajectory.
Leo's eyes widened.
It had learned from his previous movement.
"That's better."
He ducked beneath another strike as the Jangmo-o turned with him. Leo blocked. Another attack came from behind. He spun and blocked that one too, only for a fourth Jangmo-o to attack from the front.
Leo dropped low and let the attack pass over him before planting one hand against the ground and kicking upward. The Jangmo-o went tumbling backward.
Before Leo could follow, a heavy impact suddenly struck the ground between them.
BOOM!
Dust exploded outward.
Leo raised an arm to protect his face as several larger figures stepped between the younger Pokémon and the group.
Hakamo-o.
They were noticeably larger than the Jangmo-o, with hardened scales covering their bodies and limbs built for close combat. The difference between the two evolutionary stages was immediately obvious.
The Jangmo-o fought like a swarm, while the Hakamo-o fought like soldiers. One Hakamo-o slammed its foot against the ground. The surrounding Jangmo-o immediately withdrew.
Leo's eyebrows rose. "Oh."
The Hakamo-o moved. The first came straight at him. Leo raised his arm and blocked its fist, but the force drove his feet several inches across the stone. Before he could fully recover, the Hakamo-o attacked again.
Leo twisted around the strike and drove his elbow toward its ribs, but another Hakamo-o stepped into the exchange and intercepted him.
Its arm slammed into Leo's side. He flew sideways. Claire shouted his name. Leo rolled across the ground before coming up on one knee, rubbing his side for only a moment before grinning.
"They're protecting the younger ones." Cynthia watched the battlefield carefully. "Or protecting their formation."
The Hakamo-o advanced. Behind them, the Jangmo-o began moving again. Leo realized what was happening just before the attack, the younger Pokémon weren't retreating.
They were repositioning. The Hakamo-o had created space for them.
A Jangmo-o rushed through the gap, forcing Leo to jump over it. Another was waiting behind him, so Leo twisted in midair and barely avoided its attack.
He landed awkwardly. A Hakamo-o was already there. Its fist came flying down.
Leo crossed his arms and took the blow head-on, but the impact drove him into the ground and cracked the stone beneath his feet.
He pushed back.
The Hakamo-o staggered.
Leo immediately moved around its side, caught its wrist, and used its own momentum to throw it over his shoulder. The Pokémon hit the ground hard, but before it could rise, Leo released it and turned toward the others.
More were coming.
"How many of you are there?"
The answer came as another roar.
Then the mountains answered.
A deep rattling sound rolled through the valley.
Leo froze.
The Jangmo-o stopped.
The Hakamo-o stopped.
Even Cynthia turned toward the mountains.
Something enormous was coming.
The first Kommo-o emerged from between two cliffs.
Then another.
Then another.
Leo's smile slowly disappeared.
These Pokémon were different.
Not merely stronger.
Experienced.
Their bodies carried the weight of countless battles, and every movement caused the scales covering their bodies to rattle against one another.
Clink. Clink. Clink.
The sound spread through the valley.
More Kommo-o appeared behind them.
Leo slowly straightened.
"So that's what you were waiting for."
One Kommo-o struck its scales together.
The sound echoed across the valley.
The Jangmo-o immediately moved.
The Hakamo-o followed.
The entire battlefield changed.
The younger Pokémon began attacking from the edges while the Hakamo-o pressed forward, creating openings and forcing Leo to constantly adjust his position. The Kommo-o remained farther behind them, watching the entire battle unfold.
Leo blocked a Hakamo-o strike just as a Jangmo-o attacked his leg.
He jumped over the smaller Pokémon.
A Kommo-o was waiting when he landed.
Its fist came across.
Leo ducked beneath it, but the Kommo-o immediately swept its tail toward him.
Leo jumped again.
A second Kommo-o attacked from the opposite direction.
Leo crossed his arms and took the impact, sliding backward across the stone as the force pushed him several feet away.
He dug his heels into the ground.
His smile returned.
"Okay."
Leo rolled his shoulders.
"Now we're talking."
The next exchange was faster.
The Kommo-o struck with heavy, deliberate movements, and every attack seemed designed to force Leo toward another Pokémon. Leo stopped trying to retreat and began breaking their rhythm instead.
When the Kommo-o attacked high, Leo stepped inside.
When it attacked low, he jumped.
When its scales rattled, Leo watched the surrounding Pokémon instead of the Kommo-o itself.
That was the signal.
Every time.
"You're calling them."
Leo ducked beneath a strike as a Jangmo-o rushed into the opening. He caught the smaller Pokémon gently and moved it aside before a Hakamo-o attacked from his blind side.
Leo blocked the blow.
Another Kommo-o entered the exchange.
Leo spun away.
The entire colony shifted with him.
It was beautiful.
Chaotic.
Almost impossible to follow.
Yet underneath the chaos was structure.
The younger Pokémon were learning.
The Hakamo-o were teaching them.
The Kommo-o were teaching the Hakamo-o.
And every battle was another lesson.
Leo's expression softened as he watched the colony move around him.
"You're training."
A Kommo-o slammed its scales together.
The colony surged forward.
Leo laughed.
"Then teach me."
He charged.
For the first time, Leo stopped holding himself back simply to survive.
He didn't use enough force to overwhelm them, because that wasn't what he wanted. Instead, he matched them, allowing their attacks to challenge his movement and forcing himself to adapt to every change they made.
The battlefield erupted.
Jangmo-o darted between his legs.
Hakamo-o crashed through formations.
Kommo-o struck with overwhelming force.
Leo moved through all of it, adapting faster with every exchange. He began predicting the rattles, recognizing which Jangmo-o were aggressive and which preferred to wait, and noticing which Hakamo-o always moved toward the younger Pokémon whenever Leo created an opening.
The Kommo-o were even easier to understand once he stopped looking at them individually.
One controlled the left side.
Another controlled the right.
Another waited in the center.
They weren't simply attacking him.
They were controlling where he could move.
Every movement became information.
Every mistake became another lesson.
And for the first time since escaping the Dragon Enclave, Leo stopped thinking about the battle he had left behind.
He was having fun.
"This is amazing!"
Cynthia stared at him as Leo ducked beneath another Kommo-o's arm.
"You are enjoying this?"
Leo jumped over the Pokémon's sweeping tail.
"Absolutely!"
A Hakamo-o attacked from behind.
Leo twisted and caught its wrist before redirecting it toward another Hakamo-o. The two collided, allowing Leo to use their momentum to propel himself upward.
Three Jangmo-o jumped after him.
Leo spun through them and landed several feet away.
The entire colony paused.
For a moment, nobody moved.
Then every Kommo-o rattled their scales at once.
The sound became deafening.
Leo's eyes widened.
"Oh, no."
The colony charged.
The mountains shook beneath their feet.
Leo planted himself firmly against the ground.
"Come on!"
He rushed forward.
The battle swallowed the valley.
For several minutes, there was nothing except movement.
Clashing scales.
Cracking stone.
Roars.
Footsteps.
Laughter.
Leo kept adapting.
But the colony kept adapting too.
Every time he found an answer, they created another question. Whenever Leo discovered a weakness in their formation, the Kommo-o changed the formation before he could exploit it again.
Eventually, Leo realized something else.
They weren't trying to defeat him as quickly as possible.
They were testing him.
The Jangmo-o were testing whether they could catch him.
The Hakamo-o were testing whether they could break his rhythm.
The Kommo-o were testing whether he could understand their battlefield.
And now, the oldest Kommo-o stepped forward.
The others immediately moved aside.
Leo stared at it.
This one was different.
Its scales were worn from years of combat, and its movements were almost unnervingly calm. It didn't need to rattle its scales to command attention, because the entire colony simply listened when it moved.
Leo slowly raised his hands.
The Kommo-o lowered its stance.
Neither moved.
Then both disappeared forward.
CRACK!
Their fists collided.
The impact shook the valley.
Leo slid backward.
The Kommo-o slid backward.
Both stopped.
Leo looked at his hand before turning his attention back toward the Pokémon.
His grin returned.
"Yeah..."
He clenched his fist.
"You're definitely the boss."
A distant roar suddenly interrupted them.
It wasn't coming from the colony.
The sound came from somewhere much farther away.
The Kommo-o turned toward the mountains.
The other Pokémon followed.
Leo looked toward the distant ridges and saw shapes moving across them.
More Dragons.
Dozens of them.
Maybe hundreds.
Cynthia's expression became serious.
"How many tribes live here?"
Bertha had been watching the mountains for several minutes.
She finally spoke.
"I think we've misunderstood where we are."
Everyone turned toward her.
Bertha pointed toward the surrounding peaks.
"Look at the mountains."
Leo followed her gaze.
At first, he saw nothing unusual.
Then he noticed it.
The mountains weren't randomly positioned.
One enormous peak connected to another through a chain of ridges. Those ridges continued around the horizon, disappearing behind forests and cliffs before emerging again in the distance.
A massive circle.
Bertha's eyes narrowed.
"These mountains surround the entire Dragon Domain."
Claire looked at her.
"You're saying we're still near the Domain?"
"No."
Bertha slowly shook her head.
"We're on its border."
She pointed toward a distant passage between two mountains.
"And judging by the tribes occupying these mountains, this isn't an ordinary border."
Cynthia understood.
"This is a checkpoint."
"More than that."
Bertha looked toward the colossal range surrounding them.
"This entire mountain range is known as Dragon Fall."
Leo looked around at the towering peaks.
"Dragon Fall Mountain Range..."
Bertha nodded.
"One entrance. One exit. Every safe passage through these mountains is controlled by a Dragon tribe."
Her gaze shifted toward the colony surrounding them.
"Anyone trying to enter the Dragon Domain normally has to fight their way through."
Leo slowly looked at the Jangmo-o. Then the Hakamo-o. Then the Kommo-o. The entire colony was still watching them.
His eyes widened as the pieces finally came together. "So..." Cynthia finished the thought, "We didn't escape the Dragon Domain."
Bertha looked toward the massive mountains surrounding them.
"We escaped into its front door.