The Life Solidification equipment had entered its final phase. Colress stayed in the laboratory, watching the data, the Life Energy curve on the screen gradually settling into stability. The technology was complete. It needed only the energy core before it could be used.
Lucien accepted Alder's invitation and left the research facility with him.
They went to a café on a street corner in central Lucien City. Afternoon light came through the floor-to-ceiling windows and lay across the wooden tables and chairs. The smell of coffee and a faint sweetness filled the room. Through the glass, the street outside was unhurried and ordinary, people walking past with their Pokémon, the city going about its day.
Just across the road stood a stone monument inscribed with ancient Unova lettering. The pattern carved into its base was the same pattern Lucien had designed for the League emblem two thousand years ago.
Alder chose a quiet seat near the window and ordered two black coffees without asking. He pushed one cup toward Lucien and held the other in both hands.
He looked at the person across from him. The face was exactly as history described it, exactly as it must have looked two thousand years ago. Young in appearance, but the eyes held something that no young person's eyes held: a depth of weariness and clarity that could only come from centuries.
Alder sat with that for a while before he spoke.
"Where have you been all these years?"
He had spent his life studying the history of Unova's founding king. After Lucien had established the League and restored order, he had gone silent. The historical record offered several theories. Some said he had died protecting Unova and his spirit had passed into the land itself.
Others said he had traveled to another dimension with his Legendary Pokémon. Others said he had simply chosen to disappear, immortal, watching from a distance. Historians had searched for a lifetime and found nothing. The founding king had become the most sacred and most mysterious figure in all of Unova's history.
And here he was, sitting across a café table with a cup of black coffee.
Lucien looked out the window. His gaze moved past the crowd and settled on the distant monument.
"Somewhere quiet," he said. "The chaos had ended. The League was running. Unova had its own order and didn't need me standing at the center of it anymore. I stepped away, found a place where no one would disturb me, and stayed with my companions. Watching from a distance."
He had spent most of the years since at the Tree of Beginning, or moving through the world as an ordinary traveler. Watching generation after generation of Champions take up the role of protector. Watching Trainers and Pokémon find each other and build lives together. Sometimes walking through the streets of Lucien City, just a person among people, seeing the city flourish and the peace hold.
"I never truly left," Lucien said. "I only watched from outside the picture. That was enough."
Alder's grip tightened on the cup. The emotion that had been moving through him since the laboratory was finding its way into his expression despite his effort to contain it.
"So you were always here," he said quietly. "The whole time."
He had spent his entire life as Champion following the standard Lucien had set, working to protect Unova, believing that the founding king had long since passed into history. And now he understood that the king had never gone anywhere. He had simply set down the crown and kept the promise he had made, in the gentlest and most unassuming way available to him.
"According to the records," Alder said, and there was a reverence in his voice that he could not fully control, "you ended centuries of war single-handed. Built the League from nothing. Gave the displaced people a home and the oppressed Pokémon a place to live. Everything Unova is now stands on what you built."
"I've seen it," Lucien said. He smiled at Alder. "The chaos ends. Order takes hold. But I was never the true protector of Unova. The true protectors are the Trainers of every era who choose to care about this land, the bonds between humans and Pokémon, and every living thing here that simply wants to live in peace. I only gave it a beginning."
Alder was quiet for a moment.
"I've always wondered why you left when you did," he said. "There was no sign, no farewell. The League was stable, Unova was at its most peaceful. Why then?"
Lucien set down his coffee.
"Because authority is a shackle, in the end. If I stayed in that position, future generations would always live under my shadow. They would stop developing their own strength and judgment. That's not what I wanted for this place." He paused. "And I had made a promise to my companions. Once Unova was stable, I would step away and live with them. I intended to keep it."
He looked at Alder.
"My purpose was to give Unova a solid beginning, not to be its permanent protector. You and the Champions who came before you did that work. And from what I've seen, you've done it well."
Alder looked at him for a long moment, something settling in his expression.
"I see," he said.
The afternoon light outside shifted, coming through the window at a lower angle now, warm and unhurried, falling across the table and across Lucien's face.
Lucien turned his head and looked out the window. Children walked past on the street below with their Pokémon, laughing. The people of Lucien City moved through the afternoon with the easy pace of people who had never known anything else.
Alder set down his cup and spoke again, his expression more serious now.
"About the Life Solidification equipment, the League has sealed off all information completely. Our best Trainers are guarding the research facility around the clock. Nothing will leak."
He understood the weight of what they were dealing with. Their society was not ready for this technology to become public. If word got out, the consequences would be severe and unpredictable. The Unova League had no framework yet for handling something like this.
Lucien was quiet for a moment.
He thought of Alder's Volcarona in the original course of events, dying from injuries that could not be treated in time. The grief that had followed, the way it had changed Alder. If the Life Solidification equipment were simply destroyed after its immediate purpose was served, those losses would remain permanent for every other Trainer who faced them.
Every beloved Pokémon lost to an accident or illness that could have been reversed. Every bond cut short.
He exhaled slowly.
"Alder," Lucien said. "I'm going to hand the Life Solidification equipment over to the Unova League."
Alder looked at him.
"But you need to establish clear laws governing its use. It can only be applied to Pokémon and humans who have died in accidents. It cannot be used to extend natural lifespans. Those who have reached the end of their lives naturally must remain beyond its reach."
The balance between life and death had to be maintained. A world where no one died of old age would not be a better world. The Ghost World would fall into disorder, and the human world would follow.
Alder considered it carefully. He was not a simple person, and he understood what Lucien was trying to preserve.
"I understand," he said. Then, after a pause: "When you built this technology, it was for your companions, wasn't it. The ones you lost."
Lucien nodded. The faces of those who had traveled with him and eventually left moved through his mind.
"There are bonds that shouldn't be severed by the limits of a lifespan," he said.
Alder asked nothing more.
They sat in the café for a long time after that. Alder talked about the current state of Unova, the League's recent developments, stories of Trainers and Pokémon from around the region. Lucien listened, occasionally offering a few words, the familiarity in his voice for every detail of this land unmistakable.
The sun had lowered considerably by the time Lucien stood to leave. Alder walked him to the door and watched him step out onto the street.
He stood at the café entrance for a long time without moving after Lucien's figure had disappeared into the crowd.
He thought about what it meant: a king who had built everything, stepped away from all of it, and then spent two thousand years walking quietly through the land he loved, watching it live and grow, protecting it without anyone knowing. Still carrying the same purpose. Still honoring the same bonds.
Alder had spent his life following the standard that figure had set. He understood now, in a way he had not before, what that standard actually meant.
Lucien walked through the twilight streets, the evening breeze moving through his clothes, his shadow long behind him on the pavement. People and Pokémon passed in both directions. The houses were beginning to light up one by one.
A golden ring opened silently beside him, and Hoopa came through it, circling around him.
"All done?"
"Let's go back," Lucien said.
He stepped through the ring.
The Tree of Beginning settled around him: warm afternoon light, soft grass, the smell of flowers. Calyrex stood quietly beneath an ancient tree. Zacian and Zamazenta lay on the grass in the easy way of creatures with nothing urgent to attend to. Spectrier and Glastrier rested nearby. Kyurem sat with its head lowered, its cold aura subdued, looking out across the clearing. Mew, Victini, and Melmetal played together in the open space.
Every Pokémon turned as Lucien arrived. Kyurem lifted its head, its yellow eyes asking the question silently.
"Everything is arranged," Lucien said. "The Life Solidification equipment belongs to the Unova League now. The rules are set: it can only be used for those lost to accidents, not those who have reached the natural end of their lives. The balance holds."
Calyrex nodded.
Now came the final step. Inputting the energy and activating the equipment to bring Dragonite, Serperior, and Volcarona back.
"Do you need help?" Calyrex asked.
"I can lend my power," Kyurem said.
"Hoopa can help!"
Terapagos made a small sound from his shoulder. Mew added its own soft call. The others joined in various ways.
Lucien looked at all of them and felt a smile come to his face before he could stop it. He reached out and rested his hand on each of them in turn.
"I've prepared for this," he said. "Don't worry."
His plan was to channel his own energy directly: his near-limitless Life Energy shared with Dragonite, Serperior, and Volcarona as the foundation of their return. Not just resurrection, but a permanent bond. A way to ensure that what time had taken would not be taken again.