Lucien looked at Hoopa. "Can you help?"
Hoopa chewed its donut and assessed him. "You want to go find Eternatus?"
"I need you to open a ring directly to that location. Calyrex, I'll need you to use your power to bring Eternatus to the surface. If it wakes partway through, Kyurem will freeze it. Then we put it in a Poké Ball."
Calyrex nodded. "Understood."
Hoopa yawned, conjured a ring on the ground, and a moment later the other end opened onto a completely different landscape. The group stepped through.
An uninhabited wilderness spread around them, dominated by a large crater at its center. It had clearly been formed by a meteorite impact long ago, the edges worn down by time, the whole depression covered over with vegetation that had grown in undisturbed for centuries.
Calyrex turned and looked around. "This is the place."
It closed its eyes. A faint blue light enveloped it. A vast psychic force surged outward from Calyrex, sweeping across the wasteland in every direction. Immediately, a deep rumbling came from beneath the ground, as though something immense was being moved.
The earth shook violently. The air became turbulent. Dark red particles filled the space around them, churning like a tide.
Then Eternatus came up through the ground, drawn by Calyrex's power.
It was over twenty meters tall, a skeletal dragon composed entirely of dark purple bone and dark red flowing energy, no flesh or blood anywhere in its frame, only layer upon layer of blade-like bone, cold and hard as meteorite.
Its head was a triangular skull covered by a semi-transparent crimson membrane, five long pointed protrusions rising from it like a crown. Its spine and joints formed a structure of crystalline bone from head to tail, each segment carrying a dull metallic sheen.
The ribcage was intricately shaped, and at its center, embedded like a heart, was a pink rhombus-shaped core, pulsing with slow light, distorting the air around it.
Eternatus. Dormant. Enormous. Every surface radiating the particular quality of something that did not belong to this world, even in sleep pressing against the air with an oppressive alien presence.
Hoopa's eyes went wide. "What a creature."
"It hasn't woken," Calyrex said.
Lucien took an empty Poké Ball and threw it. The ball dissolved on contact, red light wrapping around Eternatus's vast body and drawing it inward. The ball fell to the ground. The button flashed red, once, twice, and then stopped.
Capture successful.
Hoopa stared. "That's it? No fight?"
Lucien picked up the ball. "This is the best outcome."
With Eternatus contained, the Darkest Day would not come to Galar. It was an alien Pokémon, not an inherently malicious one. When it woke, they could speak with it properly.
The dark red particles dispersed across the plain. The vibrations faded. The wind moved through the green grass, carrying the smell of earth.
Lucien looked at the Poké Ball in his hand and knew it was time to go.
The group returned to Hammerlocke through Hoopa's ring. Lucien called Chelsea, Zacian, and Zamazenta together. He looked across the gathered faces and before he could speak, Chelsea understood.
"You're leaving, Your Majesty."
"Yes. The work here is done. The League's Trainers will handle what remains. I've been away from Unova for almost a year."
He looked at Zacian and Zamazenta. "The Eternatus threat has been resolved. I'll take it to Unova. Galar I leave to you and Calyrex."
In a sense, the Crowned Sword, the Crowned Shield, and the King of Abundance had all become guardians of the League he had built here. With them present, Galar would be safe.
Zacian and Zamazenta nodded. Their gratitude needed no words.
Calyrex floated in the air, a pale blue aura moving slowly around it. "Lucien. You built a new life for this land. The people of Galar will carry that with them." Its voice held the weight of something that had seen empires rise and fall and knew the difference.
"I will protect Galar with the Power of Abundance, green fields, full harvests, humans and Pokémon living well together. Galar's doors will always be open to you."
Lucien nodded and smiled.
Hoopa, gnawing on the last of its donut, watched the farewell scene with its head tilted, its small face cycling through several expressions.
"Humans," it muttered. "Such a nuisance. If you're going, just go. Why all the talking?"
But it did not move away. It stayed beside Lucien and waited quietly as the farewells finished.
These past months in Galar had been, it had to admit, the most satisfying of its existence. Donuts without end. Companions to bother. No need to wander and cause trouble to feel something. A kind of peace it had never known before.
Lucien turned and rested a hand on Hoopa's head. "Time to go. Open a ring to Unova."
Hoopa lifted its face, still chewing, and waved one small hand. A golden ring opened in the air. Through it, the Unova landscape appeared: forests, wide rivers, and in the distance, the familiar outline of League architecture, the particular quality of air that meant home.
Then noise erupted behind them.
Lucien turned. Across the plain, people were running toward them from every direction: farmers from Wedgehurst, residents from Motostoke, fishermen from Hulbury, Trainers from across the region. Word had traveled. They had come to see him off.
As they reached the ring, they stopped. Every one of them bowed.
"Lord Lucien, travel safely."
"We will protect Galar. Come back and see us."
"Thank you for the peace. Thank you for showing us how to live with our Pokémon."
The voices layered over each other across the open plain. Children held their Pokémon and waved. Elderly faces were wet with tears.
The hunger and oppression were gone. They had fields, shelter, and Pokémon companions. All of it had come from Lucien's hands, and they knew it.
Lucien looked at the crowd before him and raised his hand.
"There is no need to see me off. Go home. Live well. Take care of your Pokémon. Galar's future belongs to all of you."
Chelsea dropped to one knee, his hands clasped, his expression more serious than Lucien had ever seen it.
"Your Majesty. I will hold to my duties, strengthen the League's laws, and manage Galar better than you left it. You will not regret entrusting this to me."
Lucien reached down and helped him up. "I know you will. I have no doubt about Galar in your hands."
Chelsea nodded, eyes red at the edges, his gaze on Lucien full of something he did not try to put into words.
Lucien could feel the reluctance building in his own chest. If he stayed any longer, leaving would become harder still. He looked one last time at Zacian, Zamazenta, and Calyrex. At the crowd of Galar people spread across the plain. At the land he had walked into as a stranger and rebuilt from its foundations.
"Farewell, everyone. We will meet again."
He turned, Eternatus's Poké Ball in one hand, and walked toward the golden ring.
Hoopa fell into step beside him, moving with unusual care, glancing back once at the smell of donuts still in the air and at the people who had always treated it with unexpected kindness. A rare quiet settled over its small face.
It faded quickly. After all, it controlled the ring. If it wanted Zamazenta's kitchen, it could simply go back through.
The light inside the ring shifted and brightened, and Lucien and Hoopa stepped through and were gone.
Calyrex, Zacian, Zamazenta, and the people of Galar stood for a long time looking at the place where the ring had been.
The weightlessness of dimensional travel lasted only an instant, and when Lucien opened his eyes, he was standing on the soil of Unova.
Soft green grass underfoot. Lush trees on every side. The air carried the particular floral fragrance that belonged to this land and nowhere else.
After all the months away, the difference was immediate and complete: not the desolate openness of Galar, but something familiar and alive, something that settled in the chest like a weight being set down.
This was where everything had begun.
Hoopa tumbled out of the ring behind him, took in the new scenery, and was immediately distracted.
"Lucien, what is that?! It looks like candy!" It pointed at a Swablu drifting overhead. "And are there donuts here?"
"That's Swablu. And yes, there are donuts. When we get back, I'll have someone fill a basket for you."
"That's wonderful!" Hoopa forgot about Galar entirely.
Lucien shook his head and smiled. He mounted Dragonite and set off toward Lucien City.
At the castle, Elif met him at the entrance, face bright with relief.
"Your Majesty, you've finally returned."
"It's been a long time, Elif."
"It's so good to have you back." Elif paused, then said it plainly: though the Pokémon League had kept Unova running smoothly through his absence, there had always been a particular emptiness without him present. That weight had now lifted.
Lucien settled into his chambers and sat at his desk. Before Elif could begin the report, a sound came from outside the door: excited, high-pitched, unmistakable. The Minccino burst in and rushed at him in a group.
Lucien caught them and laughed. He stroked their small heads one by one.
"I'm back. I'm not leaving again. We'll stay home and spend time together, all right?"
The Minccino nodded vigorously, eyes wet.
Elif watched from the doorway and smiled. It was not only the people who had felt the absence.
After the reunion had settled, Elif gave his report on the year's events. Lucien listened quietly.
The Unova League had maintained order throughout his absence without difficulty. Trainer culture had continued to grow.
The steam rail network had extended further across the country. Electric lights and Electric-type power systems had become standard across the region. Unova was prosperous and stable in every direction.
Lucien turned it over in his mind. The Galar League was established. A working relationship between humans and Pokémon had taken root there.
The next stage was to deepen the connection between Unova and Galar, refine the League systems across both regions, and continue spreading this model outward: to Kanto, to Kalos, to wherever the foundations could be laid.
"How is Queen Rin doing?" he asked.
...
STONESSSS 💎💎
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