Mew's face filled with curiosity. It turned immediately to look at Hoopa.
Hoopa nodded with great confidence. "Hoopa can do it!"
It raised a hand and summoned a golden ring. With a small shift of intention, the ring's interior distorted, and through it appeared Lucien City in the afternoon sun: busy streets, clean buildings, people and Pokémon moving together.
Mew startled. "Miu?!"
It flew to the ring and passed through.
The scenery changed in an instant. Above: clear blue sky, white clouds drifting. Below: a prosperous city spread across fertile ground. Mew turned its head and saw a small golden light floating close behind it.
It had left the Tree of Beginning.
Mew spun and flew back through the ring.
"Hoopa is amazing!" Hoopa said.
"Miu!" Mew nodded repeatedly.
Lucien smiled. "That's my city. Whenever you're lonely, you can go there to play. Hoopa, Dragonite, Serperior, and Kyurem are all there."
Mew's face lit with a joy it had not shown before. It circled Lucien.
"Come on, Mew. We'll take you to Lucien City properly." Lucien nodded to Hoopa, who widened the ring.
They stepped through together.
The golden light of the ring faded. The cool, damp forest air was replaced by the warm, familiar atmosphere of Lucien City: smoke from kitchens, the smell of fresh bread, the sound of many people going about their day.
Mew flew close beside Lucien, its large eyes wide as it took in everything around it. This was its first time truly leaving the Tree of Beginning and standing inside the human world.
From the ring it had seen the city from above. From here it was different.
Beneath its feet: clean, square brick paving, warm from the morning sun. No moss, no soft earth, but solid and safe-feeling. Around it: rows of tidy buildings with white walls and light brown roofs, flower boxes on the windowsills, petals moving in the breeze and releasing a gentle fragrance.
Down the street, pedestrians walked alongside their Pokémon, and the sound of cheerful conversation drifted toward them. Warmth of a different kind than the forest's quiet.
"Miu..." Mew's eyes shone.
Hoopa could not hold back. It pulled Mew by the hand and began talking immediately.
"Mew, this is Lucien City! It's so much fun here, and there's so much good food! See that stall over there with the colored flags? Snacks. And over there in the square, in the evenings, everyone dances together. And the best of everything is the donut shop on the corner, they just made a fresh batch, thick sugar coating, so sweet with every bite..."
Hoopa's eyes went bright at its own description. It pulled Mew toward the corner.
"Slow down," Lucien said, following at a slightly faster pace. "There are many people on the street. Be careful."
"Yes, Lucien!" Hoopa slowed marginally, still holding Mew's hand, still talking.
Mew turned its head in every direction as they walked. Children walking hand-in-hand with their Pokémon. A flower shop owner arranging bouquets with unhurried care. Customers sitting outside a café with drinks in hand.
Everything peaceful, everything alive with the ordinary warmth of people living their daily lives.
So lively, Mew thought.
As people recognized Lucien, they stopped to greet him: "Good morning, Your Majesty."
"Out strolling with your Pokémon?"
"Would you like to try our fresh bread?"
Lucien returned each greeting with a warm smile, no formality in his tone. He had never been comfortable with being treated as a figurehead. Now that the land was stable, he preferred simply to be part of it, living among the people the way he would wish any king to live.
The people of Lucien City had long since learned not to be afraid of him. They greeted him with open, easy warmth every time they saw him.
Mew watched this and felt the particular quality of what it was seeing settle over it: the love the people had for this person, the trust between them, the peace of this land. No war. No fear. Simply people and Pokémon living together in warmth.
The world Lucien had described at the Tree of Beginning.
Then a sweet smell reached them on the wind, rich and warm, wheat and sugar and something caramelized underneath.
Hoopa's hand tightened on Mew's. "Mew! That's it! The donut shop!"
Ahead stood a small, comfortable-looking shop with white walls and two donut-shaped decorations at the entrance. Through the glass display case inside: donuts covered in chocolate, strawberry jam, powdered sugar, nuts, crushed candy, every color imaginable. The smell coming from inside was enough to draw passersby to slow their pace.
Hoopa pulled Mew inside at speed, Lucien following just behind.
The owner, a warm-faced middle-aged woman, looked up and smiled immediately. "Your Majesty! Same as always? Two large portions?"
Hoopa's head bobbed. "Yes! Extra sugar coating! And a strawberry one for Mew!"
Mew looked soft and round and fond of sweet things. Strawberry was the right choice.
"Five portions," Lucien said, counting the Pokémon with him.
"Ready shortly!"
The owner disappeared into the kitchen and returned quickly with several plates. The largest was Hoopa's: a full plate of assorted donuts, thick with sugar coating and sprinkled with colored candy, fragrant enough to be noticed from several steps away. Smaller portions for Dragonite and the others. And for Mew: a strawberry donut, its glaze a deep pink, the jam inside rich and sweet-smelling.
The donuts had small plum decorations on top, making them look particularly appealing. Lucien did not particularly like donuts himself, but Dragonite and Serperior were happy to eat them.
Hoopa took its own plate, then carefully picked up the plum donut it had set aside for Mew, and held it out with a small, earnest expression.
"Mew, this one is delicious."
Mew looked at the donut, then at Hoopa's sincere face. It blinked gently, extended both small paws, and accepted the plate with a soft, happy sound.
Hoopa sat and bit into a chocolate donut. The crust gave way, the filling spread across its tongue, and its eyes narrowed to satisfied slits.
"Delicious!"
Mew imitated the posture, lifted the plum donut with careful paws, and took a small bite. The clean flavor of plum and wheat spread through its mouth: a slightly crisp outer shell, soft and dense inside, sweet but not heavy. Something it had never tasted in its long life at the Tree of Beginning.
Its eyes lit up completely.
"Miu! Miu!"
It took another bite, its pink cheeks puffing out, a smile spreading across its small face.
Hoopa became even more delighted than it had been over its own food. It began pushing items from its plate toward Mew.
"This chocolate one, you have to try it. And this one has cream inside, you'll love it."
Mew accepted each offering and tasted everything, two flavors at once in its small mouth, somehow better for being combined.
Between bites it looked at Hoopa with warm eyes, making soft sounds, the two of them leaning their heads together over a shared plate, eating steadily and talking in their own way, forgetting everything else entirely.
Hoopa's face ended up coated in powdered sugar, the corners of its mouth stained pink from strawberry jam, its expression completely innocent and entirely happy.
Lucien sat at the roadside table and watched them, his hands around a cup of tea.
Clean streets. People and Pokémon living alongside each other without fear. No war, no exploitation. Pokémon playing freely, enjoying the world, free from suffering and loneliness.
This was the Pokémon world he had set out to build.
Time moved.
By year 156 of the Kingdom Calendar, eight years had passed since Lucien arrived in this world. Eight years was enough time for a great deal to change.
Many of the people who had helped him build from nothing had grown old. The elders of the early years had passed on. Even Elif, his closest companion through all of it, had become a white-haired, deeply lined old man, his steps slower than they had once been.
Lucien, for his part, had not changed at all. Xerneas's gift, received two years earlier, had settled into him and held: his appearance unchanged, his body unmarked by time.
The people of the territory had made their own sense of this. Lord Lucien did not age because he was a god sent to protect them. This interpretation did not trouble him, but it settled something heavy in his chest.
One afternoon during official business, Lucien looked up from his work.
"Elif. It's been eight years since we came to this land."
"Eight years, Your Majesty." Elif looked at him with quiet feeling. "Your Majesty remains young, while I have grown old."
Lucien watched the old man, still upright, still moving with care and purpose, and said gently: "I've prepared a room for you in the city. If you want to step back..."
Elif shook his head. "No. This old servant wishes to stay by Your Majesty's side a little longer."
Lucien did not press. He looked at Elif and felt the particular ache of what eternal life actually meant: the people around him would age and pass, and he would remain. This thing he had once pursued as something to be grateful for had shown him its other face.
"Your Majesty need not worry," Elif said, his voice quiet but firm. "To serve Your Majesty, to watch this city grow day by day, to see people and Pokémon live well together, for this old servant, that has been a full life. Even death would be no cause for regret."
Lucien was silent for a moment. Then he said softly: "Since you insist. But from now on, you do not need to handle everything yourself. Let the subordinates carry the day-to-day. Rest more."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Sunlight came through the study window and lay across the open map.
By year 156, the territory was no longer what it had been.
Unova, Galar, Kanto, Kalos, and Johto were all unified under the League framework. Geralt's army had pacified Johto. The Pokémon Protection Decree had been implemented across all five regions, ending the practices of enslaving, hunting, and mistreating Pokémon.
Humans and Pokémon living together had become the standard, not the exception. Trainer culture had spread widely enough that it no longer needed to be promoted, it had simply become how people lived.
Lucien looked at the map.
Paldea and Hoenn remained. Both regions had already been contacted, and the rulers of each were not cruel people: their populations lived in reasonable peace and prosperity.
Forcing those regions into the fold through military campaigns would make Lucien's forces look like invaders in the eyes of both the nobility and the common people.
The approach there would be gradual: contact, trade, cultural exchange, integration over time rather than conquest.
Alola remained a challenge. The chieftains were deeply protective of their islands and hostile to outsiders. All four island guardians, the Tapu, were openly hostile to foreign presence. The one thing in Alola's favor was that the people there treated Pokémon with genuine reverence, some Pokémon venerated as deities.
Likely the Tapu's influence. Alola could not be approached the way the other regions had been. It would require patience and a different kind of relationship-building.
And Sinnoh, almost certainly still known as the Hisui Region, undiscovered, its connection to Arceus making it a matter of a categorically different order. An expedition fleet had been dispatched a year ago to explore in that direction. By now, it should be approaching the time for news.
...
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