Queen Rin bowed with a smile that had genuine relief in it. "With your word, the people of Kanto can rest easy."
Aaron and Lucario stepped forward and bowed together. Lucario's aura moved through the room, steady and clear: trust, freely given.
In the council chamber, the Unova League officials rose one by one and knelt.
"Congratulations, Your Majesty, on the unification of Unova, Galar, and Kanto."
"Long may the Pokémon League endure."
Lucien gestured for them to rise. His gaze settled on the continental map laid out across the table. Unova, Kanto, Galar, Kalos. Regions that had been torn by war, now gathered under a single order.
He exhaled slowly.
"From today, the Unova League will serve as the center. Galar and Kanto will each form their own Regional Leagues under the same framework. The Gym system is retained. Rules, order, and the protection of both humans and Pokémon are unified across all three regions."
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
A midday feast was laid out in the main hall. Hoopa worked through an entire table of sweet pastries. Dragonite and Volcarona basked in the sunlight outside. Serperior curled beside a pillar, occasionally intervening when Minccino edged too close to Hoopa's food. Kyurem sat on the upper terrace in cold silence, its ice-blue eyes moving across Lucien City below.
By the time everything had concluded, the sun was going down. Outside the city walls, the people had lit lanterns and strung decorations along the avenues. Fireworks bloomed over Lucien City in colors that made the already bright streets look like midday.
Hoopa pulled at Lucien's sleeve. "It's so lively out there! I want cream puffs!"
Lucien allowed himself to be dragged into the crowd.
On the shopping street, shopkeepers called out when they recognized him. An old woman pressed a plate of freshly baked potatoes into Hoopa's hands, smiling: "His Majesty has brought good fortune to us all." Hoopa ate until its face was greasy and then wiped its mouth on Lucien's sleeve. Dragonite and Volcarona circled overhead, following wherever they went.
Back at the castle, Elif presented a report before Lucien had fully sat down.
"From Queen Rin, Your Majesty. Details on the situation across the various parts of Kanto."
Lucien scanned it. Several familiar names: Celadon City, Viridian City, Viridian Forest, Mt. Silver.
"Queen Rin also mentioned another matter," Elif said. "To the east of Mt. Silver lies a region called Johto, currently suffering from ongoing conflict."
Lucien's expression became thoughtful.
Previously, he might have let things there unfold on their own. But after Kalos and Galar, his thinking had shifted. The sooner a region could be unified and a Pokémon League established, the better the outcome for everyone living in the middle of that conflict, people and Pokémon alike.
"Unova, Kalos, Galar, and Kanto are now unified," he said. "The remaining regions are Johto, Hoenn, Alola, and Paldea."
Johto's situation was not unlike Kanto's had been: ongoing warfare between small kingdoms, no stable authority. Hoenn he knew less about from direct observation. Alola was still in a tribal era, with the island guardians, the Tapu, holding real influence; any attempt to impose outside authority there would be treated as invasion.
The right approach for Alola was establishing relationships with the tribal chiefs, not campaigns. In the modern era, the Alola League had not even existed until Ash traveled there and helped found it. That could wait.
Sinnoh was almost certainly still the land called Hisui: undiscovered, untouched, its connection to Arceus making it a matter of a different order entirely. That too was not a problem for now.
"Leave Johto to Geralt," Lucien said. His gaze moved from the report to the city outside the window, the last of the fireworks fading against the dark sky. "Issue an order alongside his advance: any territory that submits to the Pokémon League is to have the protection laws implemented immediately. Equality between humans and Pokémon, the abolition of slavery and Pokémon hunting. Local lords who cooperate become security officials in their own regions."
Elif took a slow breath, his fingers slightly unsteady as he wrote.
He had followed Lucien for years. He had watched this person arrive with nothing and build something that had changed the shape of the continent. At this moment, the enormity of it was not something he could entirely contain.
"Yes, Your Majesty."
After Elif withdrew, the hall was quiet. Hoopa, clutching an empty pastry box, looked up at Lucien with round, considering eyes.
"Lucien, is Johto far? Do they have anything better than donuts there?"
Lucien rested a hand on Hoopa's head. "Yes. When Johto is settled, I'll take you to a place called the Rage Candy Bar."
Hoopa's eyes blazed with immediate enthusiasm.
The following day, a heavy rain swept over Lucien City and then cleared, leaving the sky a clean deep blue. The afternoon sun settled on the League castle's spires and the white stone pillars below them, warm and unhurried.
Lucien had just finished the last of the Kanto handover documents. Hoopa was floating nearby, head drooping, eyes closed.
His mind drifted to Kanto, and from there to the Tree of Beginning, and to the small solitary Mew that lived there. He had made a promise: when Kanto was settled, he would come back to visit. Now the time had come.
Before, he would have had to ride Kyurem across the ocean to get there. Now, with Hoopa, a single request was enough to open a ring to the Tree of Beginning directly.
"Hoopa."
Hoopa startled awake, rubbing its eyes. "You woke Hoopa from its rest! Hoopa was dreaming about a giant donut!"
"No sleeping," Lucien said, stretching his shoulders as he stood. "I'm taking you somewhere."
Hoopa's eyes opened fully, a ring already beginning to drift around it. "Somewhere with good food? Or interesting Pokémon?"
"A very small, very cute Pokémon that's been waiting." Lucien's voice softened slightly. "We're going to the Tree of Beginning."
Hoopa thought about this for a moment, then raised one small hand. A golden ring opened in the study, its interior shimmering and distorting, a glimpse of ancient green forest visible through it, suffused with a pure light unlike anything in the human world.
Serperior, sensing the movement, rose quietly and came to stand beside Lucien. Dragonite drifted closer.
Lucien smiled. "You two come as well."
Dragonite made a happy sound.
Lucien took Hoopa's small hand, and the group stepped through together.
The transition was instantaneous. When Lucien opened his eyes, the study was gone.
No noise. No dispatches waiting. No strategic calculations pressing at the back of his mind. Only the Tree of Beginning, rising into clouds ahead of them, its branches radiating a deep, steady green light.
The essence of life moved through the wood of it, and the leaves above formed a canopy so thick that only tiny points of brightness came through, drifting down like slow, permanent stars. Beneath their feet, soft moss and small luminescent flowers covered the ground. Each step was like walking on something that gave way gently and wanted to support you.
The air was cool and clean and sweet with the smell of living things. Breathing it felt like rinsing the inside of the chest.
Hoopa landed and drew a long breath, eyes closing briefly with satisfaction. "What is this place? It feels incredible."
"The Tree of Beginning," Lucien said. "It's also where Mew lives."
He did not move forward immediately. He simply stood and let the quiet of it reach him. The fatigue of the past days, the accumulated weight of governance and strategy and politics, receded steadily. He closed his eyes and breathed.
After a while, a faint sound came from somewhere in the foliage above.
Lucien opened his eyes.
A small, pink shape descended slowly through the leaves: soft body, star-bright eyes, moving with the unhurried ease of something that had lived here longer than most things in the world had existed.
Mew.
It hovered at a small distance, head tilted, looking at Lucien with wide, clear eyes. A moment of confusion. Then recognition crossed its face entirely, and it rushed forward with a sound of pure delight.
"Miu!"
It circled Lucien in rapid loops, its happiness completely uncontained.
Hoopa watched it, curious. "That's Mew?"
Lucien nodded and reached up to rest a hand on Mew as it passed. "It's been a long time, Mew. We came to spend some time with you."
"Miu!" Mew pressed against his hand, its fur impossibly soft, its small body warm.
Hoopa edged closer. "Can I touch it?"
Mew turned to look at Hoopa, then looked at Lucien. It read his smile and gently extended one paw to touch Hoopa's hand.
Hoopa spun on the spot. "It's so soft! Even softer than candy!"
Lucien watched the two of them and felt something in his chest settle into a warmth he recognized as simply being at peace.
He walked to the base of the tree and sat down. The bark under his hand was ancient and smooth in places, rough in others, crystallized in sections by the long passage of time. He rested his back against it and watched Mew and Hoopa chase each other through the air among the slow drifting lights.
He thought about the tree itself: standing here from the beginning of things, watching Pokémon come into the world and spread across the continents, watching dynasties rise and burn and fall, never moving, never leaving, witnessing all of it in absolute silence.
"It's very peaceful here," he murmured. "And very lonely."
Mew had lived here all its life, unable to be away for long. What did that feel like across all those years?
He thought of Xerneas, and of the gift he now carried. When the work was done, when there was finally nothing more that required his direct presence, perhaps this was where he would come: the Tree of Beginning, with Hoopa and Kyurem and Mew for company, away from the noise of governance.
After a while, the Pokémon tired of their game and gathered around him. Lucien put a hand on each of them in turn.
He spoke to Mew quietly, explaining what had happened in the years since they had last been together.
"I established Pokémon Leagues beyond Unova. Galar, Kanto, Kalos, none of them are at war anymore. The people there know how to live alongside Pokémon. No one is hunting them or enslaving them. Everyone protects this world together."
Mew's eyes shone with something that looked like hope. It seemed to want to see it.
"Once Johto is settled, and Hoenn, and eventually Alola and Paldea." Lucien looked up through the canopy at the light coming through. "I'll come here more often. I'll take you to see the lights of Lucien City. Try food in Kanto, the Rage Candy Bar in Johto. Let Hoopa play with you. You won't be alone here anymore."
Mew's eyes went wide.
Then its head dropped, and a small, sad sound came from it.
"Mew."
It couldn't leave for long. Its life was bound to the tree, if it stayed away too long, the Tree of Beginning's energy would slowly drain, and the tree would begin to weaken.
Lucien smiled. "Don't worry. With Hoopa here, that isn't a problem."
...
STONESSSS 💎💎
If you're enjoying the story and want to support me, consider joining my P2reon! 15 Advanced chapters are available there, so you can read ahead whenever you like @keepsmiling818 p2reon