Elif's composure slipped. "Your Majesty, you intend to go personally? Is that not too dangerous?"
"Don't worry," Lucien said.
In truth, he had strong feelings about the Galar Royal Family that went beyond this incident.
From what he knew of them, they had spent years positioning themselves as heroes by quietly claiming credit for repelling a threat that Calyrex had actually handled, attaching the title of great defenders to themselves while doing everything possible to consolidate their own power and suppress anyone who might challenge it.
Watching that pattern continue into the future held no appeal for him whatsoever. Better to act now: remove the royal family's grip on Galar, restore Calyrex to a position of genuine influence, and use the Pokémon League to build something new in its place.
A nation where humans and Pokémon actually coexisted, rather than one where Pokémon were either weapons or symbols of royal prestige.
There was also the matter of Calyrex itself. Unlike most Legendary Pokémon, Calyrex was a deity whose strength was directly tied to the belief and knowledge of the people around it.
As the King of Bountiful Harvests, Calyrex had the capacity to address Galar's food security entirely on its own, if it were known and trusted and allowed to do so. The implications of that alone made the case for intervention straightforward.
Lucien turned to the large map on the study wall. Kanto, Kalos, Paldea, Unova, Galar, Alola, Hoenn. Several regions already discovered, each one carved out of the deep blue of the ocean, each one bound to the others by war and old grievances and the slow, difficult work of building something better.
His fingertips traced the Galar coastline.
"They captured my fleet. They imprisoned my people." His voice was even and quiet. "I cannot stand by and do nothing."
He had known, when he chose to intervene in the Kalos war, that Galar would not forget it. He had made that choice with open eyes. If the choice had been between standing aside and watching Kalos be destroyed, or acting and making an enemy of Galar, he would make the same choice again without hesitation.
"Going myself is the most direct approach," he said.
Elif could see that the decision was already made. He had known this king long enough to recognize when argument was pointless. This was the same man who had walked into the Battle of the Three Kings alone and changed the outcome by himself. Galar was not going to make him take a single step backward.
"I understand," Elif said quietly. "I will arrange for the three letters to go out immediately. Commander Geralt's army can be ready to depart within three days. The armored ships and Water-type patrol fleet will follow behind you to Galar."
Lucien nodded. "Good."
His gaze returned to the urgent dispatch on the desk. In the early spring of year 153, before the fires of Kanto's conflict had been addressed and before any of the larger plans had fully taken shape, a force of an entirely different kind was already crossing the sea toward Galar.
Two days later, as the early spring sun lifted above the ocean horizon, an ice-blue shape rose from the high platform of Lucien City Castle and climbed into the sky.
Kyurem's cold condensed the morning air into drifting mist as it carried Lucien across the horizon. No procession. No army. One person and one dragon, moving fast and direct toward Galar.
Below, the people of Lucien City looked up and watched the Ice Dragon's silhouette recede into the distance. There was awe in their faces, and something steadier beneath it. Their king had never allowed any of his people to be left in despair without answer.
Kyurem flew at tremendous speed. After half a day in the air, the dark Galar coastline became visible on the horizon. At the harbor, a dense formation of warships waited in rows. Above them, Corviknight blotted out the sky in organized masses. The Galar Royal Family had known he was coming, and they had prepared accordingly.
On the highest tower of the royal city, Paty IV gripped the railing and watched the approaching ice-blue shape with white knuckles.
"He actually came. With nothing but a single Pokémon?"
"Your Majesty, the intelligence is confirmed," the general beside him said, his expression grave. "The Unova Kingdom has deployed no soldiers. He is alone."
"Arrogant fool!" Paty IV's eyes blazed with the particular fury of someone who has been waiting for exactly this opportunity.
"Perfect. Unova interfered in our ambitions before, and today we settle everything. Give the order! Full formation! Corviknight Legion, take flight! I want Lucien and that dragon buried at the bottom of the Galar Sea!"
The coast erupted into action. Thousands of Corviknight launched simultaneously, their black wings cutting out the sunlight, metallic talons catching the grey glare as they rose in a massive coordinated formation, a dark tide moving to intercept.
Lucien sat on Kyurem's back, his robes pressed flat by the wind, his expression entirely unchanged.
"Kyurem."
The roar that answered shook the air across the entire harbor.
Kyurem's body blazed with concentrated ice energy, the power building in its throat and releasing in a sustained beam that swept across the surface of the sea below in a single, unbroken arc. Ice Beam.
Wherever the energy touched, the ocean froze instantly. Ships were locked solid in a matter of seconds, soldiers on deck crystallizing where they stood. Several warships at the leading edge of the formation were caught fully in the beam, the ice driving through their hulls, and when Kyurem moved past them they cracked apart and sank into the frozen water below.
In one strike, Galar's harbor defense was gone.
The Corviknight formation did not break. They drove forward into the space Kyurem had opened, talons extended. Kyurem banked and beat its wings, sending a dense volley of ice spikes outward in every direction.
They punched through wings, shattered armor plating, sent Corviknight spinning from the sky trailing black feathers that fell through the frozen air like ash.
"What is that thing?!" Paty IV's voice had lost its composure entirely. "I said full assault! Everything on that dragon, now!"
The remaining warships opened fire, their cannons discharging in rapid sequence. Every projectile hit Kyurem's ice aura and froze, dropping harmlessly into the sea below.
One person and one dragon moved through the entire Galar coastal defense as though it were not there, flying directly toward the royal city.
Less than half an hour later, Kyurem descended into the central square of the Galar Royal City. Ice crystals settled across the cobblestones as its wings folded, and the cold that radiated from its body spread outward across the square in a slow, silent ring.
Lucien stepped down and looked at the city around him
The ice crystals spread outward from Kyurem in a slow, silent ring, touching the edges of the square and the base of the palace walls.
The royal guards raised their weapons and moved to surround them, then stopped. The pressure radiating from Kyurem reached them before they could take another step forward, and their legs would not cooperate.
Paty IV came out with his personal guard, looked at the man standing calmly beside the Ice Dragon, and his face contorted with fury.
"Lucien! You storm into the Galar Royal City, you destroy my fleet, and you think you can stand here without consequence? This is a declaration of war against all of Galar!"
"I didn't destroy your fleet," Lucien said. "Kyurem's power froze them. They'll recover."
He raised his eyes to Paty IV and held them there. Then he took a step forward. The ice spread further with each step, and the Galar Royal Family members moved back instinctively to make room.
"As for declaring war: this war was already started. By you. I did not come here looking for conflict with Galar. But you imprisoned my fleet, held my people captive, and confiscated my cargo."
His voice was not loud. It carried anyway.
"I'm not sure how you expected that to end."
Paty IV's face had gone red.
"I came here for one reason," Lucien continued, as though the interruption hadn't happened. "Release Captain Columbus. Free all the Unova crew members. Return everything that was taken."
He glanced at Kyurem beside him. Kyurem's ice-blue eyes had settled on Paty IV with the particular quality of something that was simply waiting.
"If you'd prefer not to, I wouldn't mind giving Galar's Royal City a different character entirely. And perhaps a different name."
The color drained from Paty IV's face. He wanted to shout. He wanted to order a counterattack. He looked at Kyurem, at what he had just watched it do to an entire harbor's worth of warships in a matter of minutes, and then he looked at the soldiers around him, pale and trembling, and every defiant word lodged itself in his throat and stayed there.
He finally understood what the Unova Kingdom's real strength was. It was not the size of its army. It was the fact that its king, alone, could come here and do this.
"Bring them," Paty IV said, his voice stripped down to something flat and quiet.
A commotion moved through the crowd at the edge of the square. Columbus and his crew were escorted out by soldiers, clothes disheveled, but every back straight. The moment they saw Lucien, the exhaustion in their faces broke open into something else entirely.
"Your Majesty!" Columbus dropped to one knee. The crew followed him down, several of them no longer trying to hold back tears.
Lucien gave a small nod and turned back to Paty IV.
"Do I need to say it again?"
Paty IV's remaining composure collapsed entirely. He waved a hand, the gesture of a man with nothing left to argue with. "Untie them. All of them. Return the cargo. Return everything."
It was done.
Lucien walked to Columbus and reached down to help him up. "I'm sorry you went through this."
"Your subordinate failed to anticipate the situation," Columbus said, his voice tight with self-reproach. "I have caused Your Majesty trouble."
"No," Lucien said. He looked out at the harbor, at the frozen ships beginning to thaw in the pale sunlight. "Citizens of Unova do not suffer humiliation without answer. That is not something I will ever allow to stand."
He turned back to Paty IV, who had not moved from his spot in the center of the icy square.
"There is still the matter of what comes next, Lord Paty. We should discuss the aftermath."
"What do you want?" The question came out as barely above a whisper. In Paty IV's eyes, behind the anger that had not fully left, there was now something that looked very much like fear.
"Galar's surrender to Unova," Lucien said.
The fury came back instantly. "Absolutely not!" Paty IV's hand went to his sword and drew it in one motion, the tip leveled at Lucien, his voice sharp and shaking. "The Galar Royal Family has stood for hundreds of years. We have noble blood and deep roots in this land. I will not kneel to you. Whatever power your Pokémon has, you will never make me bow my head!"
The guards around him stepped forward, weapons out, faces white, caught entirely between their orders and what Kyurem was still radiating across the square.
Lucien raised one hand slightly. Kyurem pulled its aura back. The bone-chilling cold receded, and the square grew merely cold rather than threatening. The atmosphere shifted.
"I see. If I continue down that road, we will have a war today regardless." Lucien's tone settled into something slower and more considered. "So I'll offer a different arrangement. I need one coastal city ceded to Unova. That's all."
Paty IV blinked. He had been braced for something far worse. "One city? What do you mean by that?"
"Unova is not here to conquer Galar," Lucien said. "We want no war. But look at your people."
He gestured toward the city's edge, where a gathering of civilians had appeared at the noise of the confrontation. They were thin, pale, dressed in rough cloth, their expressions shaped by fear that had clearly been there for a long time.
"Galar's land is fertile, but years of war preparation and an inflexible system have left your common people unable to feed themselves properly. You know this better than I do."
"Galar's affairs are not your concern!" Paty IV snapped.
"I'm offering Galar a different path," Lucien said. "That's all. One coastal city, where Unova establishes a trading post and does business with you. In exchange, we help Galar establish a Pokémon League, and send Trainers to address the Pokémon disturbances that have been building across your territory."
Everything had to be approached carefully. Galar and Unova were far apart, and Unova had no standing here yet in the hearts of ordinary Galar people.
Even if he removed the royal family entirely, the people would see it as invasion, and resentment would fester for generations.
The better path was a trading presence first, then a Pokémon League, then gradual reform from within, letting the people of Galar see with their own eyes what a different way of living looked like. The support of the common people, once earned, would be unshakeable.
"And the Galar Royal Family," Lucien continued, "remains the nominal ruling authority of Galar. You keep your throne. You keep the respect of your people."
Paty IV's head came up sharply. He had been certain this was about destruction and annexation. He had not expected this.
"The League doesn't replace the Royal Family," Lucien said. "You remain Paty the Fourth, King of Galar. The League operates under Unova's framework and manages Pokémon affairs, stabilizes the countryside, reclaims unused land, and suppresses lawlessness. That is all it does."
Paty IV stared at him. "Why would you offer this? What do you actually want from all of this?"
"I want the entire continent to find a path toward humans and Pokémon living together," Lucien said, without hesitation.
"Kalos, Unova, Kanto, Galar, eventually joined in peace, without war. You keep your throne and your dignity. Galar keeps its stability and has a chance at genuine prosperity. And I move one step closer to what I've been building toward. This is the best outcome available to all of us, including the people of Galar who have nothing to do with any of this conflict."
Paty IV looked at his sword. Then slowly, he loosened his grip.
He looked at the soldiers around him, their expressions uncertain. He looked at the civilians watching silently from the distance. He looked at the King of Unova, who had come here alone with enough power to level the city, and had instead chosen to negotiate.
That was not weakness. That was a kind of calculation that Paty IV, if he was honest with himself, could not match.
After a long silence, he sheathed the sword.
"This Pokémon League you keep mentioning. What exactly does it do?"
The confrontation was over. Lucien recognized it.
"Three things," he said. "First: wild Pokémon are protected. Indiscriminate hunting is prohibited and protected areas are established.
Second: trained and fair-minded people maintain public order across the region.
Third: agricultural techniques are introduced, using Pokémon's abilities to improve farming, food production, and water management."
Paty IV closed his eyes. He stayed that way for a long moment.
When he opened them, the arrogance had left his expression. What remained was the face of a ruler weighing a real decision.
"I can agree to this," he said quietly. "But you must guarantee one thing. Do not interfere in Galar's internal governance."
"Agreed," Lucien said, and smiled.
What he did not add was that once the people of Galar saw genuine prosperity, equality, and enough food and dignity for ordinary people, no external interference would be necessary. The people themselves would do the rest.
Paty IV turned to face the square, and raised his voice so that everyone present could hear him clearly.
"From this day forward, Galar and Unova cease all hostilities. The Unova crews are to be released immediately. All confiscated cargo is to be returned in full, with appropriate compensation for damages. The old friendship between our nations is restored."
He paused, and his gaze moved briefly to Lucien.
"And the Galar Kingdom will cooperate with His Majesty Lucien of Unova to formally establish the Galar Pokémon League."
The soldiers in the square let out a collective, barely audible breath. From the edge of the crowd, low, tentative cheering began.
Lucien gave a small nod, and let himself smile.
....
STONES PLZZZZZZZ
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