At the sound of the bell, David quickly guided his group toward the front of the plaza, releasing his only Dragon-type Pokémon along the way — the Bagon he had caught the day before.
His grandfather had already explained it to him the previous evening, in the study of the ancestral home: the moment the bell rang, he was to move immediately. That bell was the signal for the ceremony to begin.
The other Trainers clearly knew this as well. As the last toll rang out, the crowd began flowing in one direction — everyone making their way toward the great bell at the far end of the plaza.
On the high platform at the very front, an old man stood with his hands clasped behind his back. He was dressed in traditional robes from the ancient Cloudspire period, and he wore them with a quiet, composed dignity. David recognized him immediately and couldn't help a small smile. It was his grandfather — and the old man actually looked quite distinguished in that attire.
By the time the bell had finished ringing, the air around the plaza had changed completely.
Dragon-type Pokémon had gathered from every direction — on the ground, along the surrounding ridgelines, and across the sky above. The terrifying Dragonite David had encountered the previous day stood silently on the high platform, positioned just behind his grandfather.
From one ring of the bell to the next, rare Dragon-type Pokémon that would be nearly impossible to find in the outside world appeared in numbers that made them feel almost commonplace. The great bell rang eighty-one times in total. By the end, David estimated that tens of thousands of Pokémon had assembled, each one in its final evolutionary form. The weakest among them, by his estimation, were at the Superior tier. As for the strongest — he could not say for certain, but he had already sensed several presences within the Dragon crowd that felt close to the level of the Dragonite Family Head.
Given how long Dragon-type Pokémon could live, it was not hard to imagine that many of the individuals gathered here had been alive during the Great War a hundred years ago.
Then the music began.
It was ancient, measured, and solemn — a piece none of the Trainers present had ever heard before. And yet, as they listened, something about it felt oddly familiar, like a half-remembered dream.
Among the crowd, only David understood why.
The piece was called the Dragon Song. It had been composed at the very founding of the Cloudspire Empire as a ceremonial tribute to Rayquaza — the empire's patron and guardian deity. The great affairs of any nation had always rested on war and worship, and music written in honor of a guardian deity carried that weight naturally. What made it even more striking was that the Moore family was performing the original score, unchanged for nearly a thousand years.
The versions that had circulated in the outside world over the centuries had been adapted countless times and bore little resemblance to the original. But they had all come from the same source — which was why the Trainers gathered here felt that strange pull of recognition without being able to place it.
As the Dragon Song played, the assembled Dragon-type Pokémon began to move.
In rhythm with the music, they broke into a deep, powerful dance. Their movements were broad and forceful, almost battle-like in their intensity. The crowd drew sharp breaths as the realization settled in — every Dragon-type Pokémon present was performing Dragon Dance in unison. Tens of thousands of them, all moving together. Here and there, a Pokémon with no natural connection to Dragon-type moves shuffled awkwardly through the steps, apparently attempting Swords Dance instead — they seemed to have drawn the short end of things somehow.
The younger Dragon-type Pokémon alongside the Trainers were quickly swept up in it as well, their bodies moving instinctively with the rhythm before their Trainers had said a word.
As the music built toward its final crescendo and the energy in the plaza reached its peak, every Dragon-type Pokémon seemed to act as one. Together, without any signal David could detect, they turned their heads skyward and exhaled.
Dragon Breath, released simultaneously by tens of thousands of Pokémon, surged upward in a single massive wave. The Dragon-type energy was so dense it stained the entire sky a deep shade of purple.
The sight was unlike anything David had ever seen. He imagined most of the other Trainers present could say the same.
Up on the high platform, Gavin watched the wide-eyed reactions of the young Trainers below and stroked his beard with quiet satisfaction.
The Dragon Festival served two purposes: it was a ceremony of worship for the Dragon-type guardian deity Rayquaza, and a commemoration of all the Dragon-type Pokémon resting within the Dragon Tomb. A moment this meaningful deserved to be made as grand as possible — and it had been.
After the Dance of Ten Thousand Dragons came the traditional offering to Rayquaza. Each step of the ritual was carried out in careful sequence, one after another, until the full ceremony was complete.
And then came the moment everyone had been waiting for.
The Dragon's Blessing.
Once Gavin formally announced that the ceremony had concluded, he turned — along with every Dragon-type Pokémon present — and faced the depths of the Dragon Tomb in respectful silence. The crowd below exchanged confused glances.
The overall shape of the Dragon Tomb was that of a vast valley, narrow at the entrance and expanding deeper inside. The further in one went, the more the space opened up — but beyond the entrance, everything was hidden behind a thick, hazy mist. The plaza where the Dragon Festival was held sat only at the outermost edge. The true heart of the Dragon Tomb was still far beyond where anyone here stood.
The Trainers waited, uncertain of what they were supposed to be looking at.
Then a deep, low rumble rolled up from somewhere within the valley.
What came next made more than a few people forget to breathe.
Within the pale purple mist, a massive shape began to take form — vast, and tall enough that it seemed to press against the sky itself.
Then it moved. And as it moved, the ground beneath everyone's feet trembled.
Every heart in the plaza lifted at once.
The figure pushed through the mist and stepped into view.
"—!"
Even David felt the shock hit him like a physical force. He had always known the Moore family had a guardian deity. He had heard it mentioned by family members more than once over the years. But no one had ever shown it to him, and no one had ever described it.
No one had told him their guardian deity was a Dragonite.
A giant Dragonite.
The first emperor of the Cloudspire Empire's most trusted partner. The Moore family's ultimate hidden strength. The legendary Thousand-Year Dragon, spoken of in whispers for generations —
It was a Dragonite that stood tens of meters tall, its presence filling the valley entrance like a living mountain.
As the enormous figure fully emerged from the mist, the stunned silence across the plaza gave way to noise.
"No way—"
"Can Dragonite actually grow that large?"
"This isn't some kind of illusion, is it?"
Trainers throughout the crowd turned to one another in disbelief, murmuring and staring upward at the Dragonite looming before them.
And yet, despite the sheer scale of what they were looking at, the mood did not tip into fear. Dragonite had long been known for their gentle, dependable nature — that reputation held even now, in the face of something this overwhelming. The shock was total, but the panic never came.