The villagers who had met Lucien the previous evening asked no more questions and raised no more doubts. The gratitude and respect in their faces needed no words.
The sky darkened, and the village came alive. Wooden tables and benches were carried out, bonfires built, tenderloins grilled over the flames until they glistened and sizzled. Wild fruit and barley wine covered the long tables.
Mew drifted through the crowd, landing on a child's head here, perching on a flowering branch there, producing laughter wherever it went.
Hoopa was in its element, its rings opening continuously to produce sweets, snacks, and small toys, the originally reserved village filling with sound and warmth.
Dragonite stood in the center of the open space and allowed the children of Jubilife Village to approach and examine it.
Akari, arm bandaged, led a group of small children to the stone house and thanked Lucien quietly.
Luxray rested nearby, occasionally looking up at Lucien with calm, grateful eyes. Lucien gestured to the accompanying physician to leave several bottles of healing ointment behind.
Coldfront watched all of it with something complex moving through him. He had a feeling that this land was about to change in ways he could not yet imagine.
Not a word passed between them that night that needed to.
The next morning, before the warmth of the fires had fully faded and the horizon had just begun to lighten, the villagers of Jubilife Village were already at the gate, waiting.
Lucien and Columbus had been preparing since before dawn. As Lucien looked over the assembled team, his mind turned back to the conversation with Coldfront the previous evening.
According to Coldfront, Jubilife Village was not the only settlement in the region. To the east lay Celestica Town, built by the ancient Celestica people. Lucien knew this history.
Roughly one to two thousand years before the founding of the modern Pokémon League, the ancient Sinnoh people had been the earliest inhabitants of this land. They had worshipped Arceus, the God of Creation, whom they called the Sinnoh Lord, and had built magnificent structures in reverence to it, including the great Snowpoint Temple.
Their civilization had centered on a place called Celestica, thriving and built to last. But across the centuries, it had fallen. By the Hisui era that Lucien remembered from the records, Celestica Town had vanished entirely, its ruins buried, its secrets lost beneath the earth.
At this point in time, however, Celestica should still be standing.
Once Jubilife was settled, he would go there.
For now, there was more immediate work.
"Hoopa," Lucien said.
Hoopa patted its chest. "Leave it to Hoopa."
It rose into the air, focused itself, and opened a ring far larger than anything it had produced before. The golden light spread wide, encompassing the village and the surrounding fields.
Through the ring came an orderly procession: craftsmen, scholars, Trainers, and farmers in Unova uniforms, carrying tools, building materials, and supplies. Pokémon moved alongside them in formation: Machamp bearing heavy timber and stone, Oddish and Exeggutor tending carefully to seed stocks, Eevee assisting with lighter supplies, the whole column steady and purposeful and full of life.
Coldfront and the villagers stared.
They had heard Lucien describe Unova the night before and had believed it in a vague, uncertain way. What they were seeing now was something else entirely. It overturned their understanding of what was possible.
Mew settled on Lucien's shoulder and watched the procession with bright, curious eyes. Hoopa hovered above the ring and worked to maintain the passage, its short arms moving with effort and pride.
The lead administrator stepped forward and bowed. "Your Majesty. All craftsmen and materials are present. Awaiting your orders. We are here to assist Jubilife Village with construction, land reclamation, and to establish a survey base for Hisui's terrain."
Lucien nodded. "No rushing for results. Begin by reinforcing the village's defenses and repairing the damaged houses. Then reclaim the wasteland along the riverbank. Teach the villagers to cultivate crops and work alongside Pokémon as they do it."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
The administrators turned and began directing the work immediately. The craftsmen divided into groups and spread through the village, surveying the land, cutting timber, laying foundations.
The villagers, past their initial shock, came forward at Coldfront's call. The language barrier remained, but watching the Unova craftsmen work, their steady competence, their easy, relaxed manner with their Pokémon, the last uncertainty in the villagers dissolved. Men and women, old and young, came alongside and worked.
Machamp moved through the village, lifting timber and stone with unhurried ease. Exeggutor and Oddish attended the rice seedlings being prepared for the riverbank plots.
The scholars and healers moved to their assigned positions. The simple settlement that had been Jubilife Village that morning was, by midday, humming with a purposeful energy it had never held before.
Coldfront stood at the edge of it all and watched.
Yesterday, humans and Pokémon living together had been a story someone told. Today it was in front of him, real, moving through his village, changing it in the space of a morning.
Dragonite had joined the work as well, using its claws to straighten and reinforce the crooked sections of the village fence. Luxray, the same Pokémon that had been tearing through the village the day before, moved through the crowd of people and Pokémon, keeping watch over the children at play, nudging them away from hazards.
Coldfront stood beside Lucien and looked at the scene without speaking for a long time.
Coldfront turned to look at Lucien and found words difficult to form.
"Lord Lucien, this... this..."
Lucien smiled. "Humans and Pokémon both belong to this world. When they stand together, life becomes something better for everyone."
Coldfront's expression shifted, something surfacing in his memory. "I recall that in Celestica Town, the people there also live alongside Pokémon, as you do."
"Celestica Town." Lucien turned his gaze toward the distant Coronet Highlands. It made sense. The Celestica people revered Arceus, the Creator God who had given rise to all living things. They would naturally hold a different relationship with Pokémon than villages that had simply learned to fear them.
Once the work team was settled and operating, Lucien turned to Coldfront.
"Village Chief, now that Jubilife is in good hands for the time being, I plan to visit Celestica Town."
Coldfront's face went through several expressions. He leaned forward. "Lord Lucien, the Celestica people have kept to themselves for generations. They worship only their Sinnoh Lord and are deeply wary of outsiders. Even we scattered village people rarely manage to enter Celestica Town. You may simply be turned away."
"Wariness comes from not knowing one another," Lucien said. "I've come to Hisui for friendship and to find a path of coexistence with Pokémon together. Celestica Town is at the heart of Hisui. I should go to them. Even if they refuse me for now, the attempt itself is a form of sincerity."
Coldfront saw that the decision was made and stopped arguing. He found two hunters who had traveled near Celestica Town before to serve as guides, gave them careful instructions, and saw the group off.
Lucien left the construction work in the hands of the Unova officials and set out with Dragonite, Hoopa, and Mew, following the two guides inland.
As they moved deeper into Hisui, the wild forest gave way to more open terrain, wild Pokémon appearing in the undergrowth at intervals. The guides described Celestica Town as they walked: a people skilled in architecture and ritual, their town built in a protected mountain basin, self-sufficient across thousands of years, revered as the cultural center of all the Hisui tribes.
After about an hour, they crossed a low ridge, and the view opened.
Celestica Town rose on the Coronet Highlands before them. Grayish-blue stone walls, tall and solid, their surfaces carved with ancient symbols that bore a close resemblance to Arceus's own markings. Inside the walls, rough timber and massive stone blended in a style that was deliberate and ancient, the pathways running straight and connected.
In the distance, a towering ritual platform rose above everything else. Smoke came from chimneys throughout the town, and people moved through the streets in purposeful rhythms. No signs of dilapidation anywhere. This was the living heart of Hisui, the Celestica people's home.
Even knowing what to expect, Lucien felt the weight of the place.
Beyond the walls, wide fields of tended land stretched in neat arrangements, Celestica people working the soil alongside Grass-type Pokémon. Children ran through the streets with Rattata and Pidgey.
The relationship between people and Pokémon here was different from Unova's in character, but the peace of it was unmistakable.
At the town gate, guards stopped them. They wore animal skins and bronze armor, and carried engraved spears with ritual patterns worked into the shafts. Their expressions were solemn, their eyes sweeping over the group with open wariness.
"Outsiders, halt. Celestica Town is under the protection of the Sinnoh Lord. We do not welcome strangers. Leave."
Lucien stepped forward alone, still in his plain dark coat.
"My name is Lucien, King of Unova. I come with no hostile intent. I wish only to meet the leader of Celestica Town and speak about goodwill between our peoples and the principles of coexistence between humans and Pokémon."
"Unova. Never heard of it." The guard's tone did not soften. "Celestica's affairs require no outside interference. Whatever your intentions, you may not enter. If you do not withdraw, we will not be lenient."
Spears tightened in hands. The people near the gate had stopped to watch, their faces carrying the particular aloofness of a people who have been self-sufficient long enough to find outsiders more puzzling than threatening.
Lucien remained calm.
He understood the Celestica people. Their reverence for Arceus was the foundation of everything they were, and their wariness of outsiders was not hostility but a deeply held instinct to protect what they considered sacred. After a moment, he reached for a Poké Ball. White light, and Dragonite landed beside him.
The reaction was immediate. Several of the guards' expressions changed.
"A Pokémon."
"I know you worship the Sinnoh Lord and revere all living things on this land," Lucien said, his voice carrying clearly through the gate. "In Unova, humans and Pokémon have lived in coexistence for many years. I have not come to disturb Celestica, but to share what we have learned and to seek a way to protect the peace of this land together."
His eyes were direct and without guile. His manner showed no arrogance and no aggression. The only thing he held in evident respect was the Pokémon beside him and the faith of the people before him.
The guards did not lower their spears, but the tension in the air shifted slightly.
The leader said: "Wait here. I will inform the Arch Priest."
He turned and walked quickly into the town toward the central platform. Lucien waited.
The guard returned before long. "The Arch Priest will see you. Follow me."
He led them through the carved stone gate and into Celestica Town. The two Jubilife hunters stayed outside — neither of them willing to push their luck — and Lucien followed with Dragonite, Hoopa, and Mew.
At the center of the town, the ritual platform rose before them. It was built from massive blocks of stone, nine tiered levels narrowing toward the top, and at its summit stood a stone statue of Arceus, simplified in form but unmistakable, surrounded by circular runes and sacred markings. Sunlight came down on it and caught the carved surfaces in a quiet, steady shimmer.
At the base of the platform stood a woman in a long black dress, pale-skinned, her hair long and white. She turned as they approached, unhurried.
Her eyes settled on Lucien.
"I am Cogita," she said. "And you are?"