Three months passed in what felt like an instant.
Coronet City had risen from the Coronet Highlands: wide streets, dense rows of brick and stone buildings, the Pokémon League headquarters tower at the center, the whole city arranged in expanding circles outward from that point.
Residential areas, commercial areas, training grounds, food districts, parks. The Celestica people, with Cogita among the first group of residents, were seeing this kind of city for the first time in their lives.
They walked the streets with expressions of open disbelief. In their understanding, people lived close to water sources in simple, scattered dwellings, surrounded by forest.
They had never imagined a city of this scale and order, and they had certainly never imagined that humans and Pokémon could work together to build one from nothing in the span of a few months.
Cogita stood beside Lucien on the upper level of the headquarters tower, looking out over the city below, and laughed softly.
"My ancestors have not left the Coronet Highlands in a thousand years. Moments like this are why." She turned to look at him. "The Sinnoh Lord's choice of you was not a coincidence."
Lucien looked at the city, wind pressing his robes flat. "Haven't you seen the future? You would know better than I would."
"I returned from the future," Cogita said. "If I had not, I would have been just like them."
"It is simply how things go," Lucien said. "Humans and Pokémon understanding each other and learning to coexist, all of this is inevitable, given enough time."
"Not necessarily," Cogita said quietly. "The Sinnoh Lord has created countless worlds. Some of them, perhaps, contain realities where humans and Pokémon never find their way to each other."
Lucien thought about that. Arceus's true form existing independently of all the worlds it had made, observing each of them develop in its own direction. How many of those paths led somewhere like this?
"Maybe," he said.
Hoopa came flying in from somewhere in the city and landed beside him, its small face full of pride.
"Lucien! Hoopa has done so much! All the supplies, Hoopa brought them. And those aggressive Pokémon that kept causing problems, Hoopa scared them all away!"
Lucien flicked its forehead gently. "Your contribution has been indispensable."
Hoopa covered its forehead and dissolved into satisfied laughter. It floated beside Lucien and looked down at the city with him, and something in its expression was different from usual. It had watched this place come from nothing.
It had seen the first stones laid and the first walls rise, and now it was looking at streets and buildings and people and Pokémon moving through everything with that particular ease of a city that has found its rhythm. That feeling, it had never felt anything like it before.
Below in Coronet City, the construction dust was long gone. People who had migrated from Unova, Trainers, Celestica people, and villagers from Jubilife Village moved through the streets together, already beginning to blend into a shared life. In the training grounds, Trainers and their Pokémon worked through drills with sweat and laughter.
Grass-type Pokémon had spread along the green corridors between buildings, their canopies adding color throughout the city. Water-type Pokémon followed the channels, keeping the waterways clear. Even normally aggressive Rock-type Pokémon, under Onix's quiet leadership, had taken up positions protecting the city's foundations.
Beyond the city walls, the Celestica people were already traveling to tribal settlements across Sinnoh, carrying the League's proclamations and Lucien's token. Many remote villages were wary at first, some outright refusing.
But when the Celestica priestesses revealed the sacred connection to the Sinnoh Lord, resistance softened. And when Calyrex arrived, riding Spectrier, its body blazing with golden light, transforming barren ground into green, fruit-bearing fields in a matter of moments, all remaining doubt disappeared.
Calyrex accepted the opportunity to accumulate believers with characteristic enthusiasm, sensing that this arrangement suited both parties very well.
Landorus followed, assuming its Therian form, pouring vitality into the mountains and soil, completing what Calyrex had begun. The hearts of the Sinnoh tribes followed not long after.
Within half a year, every tribe and clan in the Sinnoh Region, large and small, had acknowledged the Sinnoh Pokémon League's authority. Towns were built around Coronet City's model, roads connected the settlements, and Pokémon resting areas and training grounds appeared wherever people gathered.
The League system that had been refined across Unova, Galar, Kanto, Kalos, and Johto was transplanted to Sinnoh and adapted to the local character, and in several ways improved by what Cogita's knowledge of Legendary Pokémon and the region's deeper history contributed.
Cogita walked Lucien through what the ancient maps revealed: the Lake Guardians Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf at their respective lakes; Heatran deep in the volcanic mountain range; Cresselia moving in the sky. And at the heart of it all, the Space-Time gods.
"Dialga and Palkia hold the space-time balance of the Sinnoh Region together," Cogita said, pointing to the three positions on the hide map. "They rest in a space-time rift. The Sinnoh Lord sent me here not only to help you establish the League, but also to help you ensure that your actions do not disturb them. The stability of the space-time order here must be maintained."
Lucien considered this. Dialga and Palkia were not Pokémon he intended to approach or challenge. Leaving them undisturbed was entirely his preference.
"Thank you for the guidance," he said.
Cogita smiled. "Your understanding is enough."
Then Elif appeared at the top of the tower stairs, carrying a document.
"Your Majesty. News from Galar, Kalos, Kanto, and Johto. League operations are stable across all four regions. The people are living well. Trainer systems in each region are becoming more sophisticated." He paused.
"In accordance with your earlier instructions, we have begun preparations for an inter-regional competition and exchange event. The finest Trainers from all four regions will gather in Lucien City, strengthening the bonds of the Alliance."
Lucien took the document, read it, and felt a quiet satisfaction settle through him. Sinnoh under control, four regions stable, the map he had been building for years now nearly fully realized.
"Approved." He returned the document. "Leave the arrangements to you, Elif. Make it worth attending. The people of all four regions should be able to see what the Alliance has built."
"Yes, Your Majesty." Elif bowed and withdrew.
Lucien turned back to the view. Mt. Coronet stretched across the horizon, sunlight laying gold across its ridges, the Sinnoh land spread below it full of life, people and Pokémon moving through it everywhere in the easy way of those who have found their place in the world.
The image of Arceus crossed his mind again. A Creator God who had never once appeared directly, yet who had quietly arranged support and assistance at every stage, including Cogita herself.
Perhaps from the moment he had transmigrated into this world, Arceus had already been watching.
But none of that changed anything. Whether Arceus had arranged all of this or simply observed it, Lucien had walked his own path. Unova, Galar, Kanto, Johto, Kalos, and Sinnoh were now under the League's order, the regional Leagues unified into a single framework.
But this was not the end. His gaze moved naturally to the regions still beyond reach, the lands where the League had not yet arrived, where people and Pokémon had not yet found what was waiting for them.
He wanted the entire world to coexist and flourish together. All of it.
Cogita, watching the expression on his face, allowed herself a small smile.
Below in Coronet City, a cheer erupted. Envoys from the assembled tribes had gathered at the base of the tower, and their voices rose together.
"Greetings, Your Majesty Lucien!"
"Loyalty to the Sinnoh League!"
"May humans and Pokémon coexist forever!"
The sound filled the Coronet Highlands and carried to every corner of Sinnoh. Lucien stood at the top of the League tower, the sunlight catching his figure, and looked out over all of it.
At this moment, he was the king of this land. Acknowledged by the Creator God, respected by the people, recognized by the Pokémon.
With Sinnoh's foundations established, the region entered a period of steady development. Farmland needed to be cultivated, towns built, roads laid between cities. Useful Pokémon from other regions needed to be introduced to support the local ecosystem: Miltank for dairy production, Combee for honey, Gogoat for transportation and energy.
Sinnoh itself had its own exceptional Pokémon for human partnership, including Torterra, Kricketune, and Cherubi, and the intermingling of species from different regions brought new vitality to the land.
Lucien left all of this in Cogita's hands. She had been sent by Arceus and she came from the future, even without detailed instructions, she was capable of managing most of it. He gave her the specific points that needed emphasis, assigned the remaining duties, and set off for Unova.
Back in Lucien City Castle, Lucien stood before Columbus's world map.
Sinnoh was settled. That left three regions: Hoenn, Paldea, and Alola.
His gaze moved to Hoenn first. In legend, that land was known for the conflict between land and sea, an ancient homeland harboring ecological forces unlike anything in Sinnoh, centered on Groudon, God of the Ground; Kyogre, God of the Ocean; and Rayquaza, God of the Sky.
He had passed through the area once briefly and clashed with Rayquaza. But the full situation there remained unclear.
He had Hoopa bring Cogita through and asked her about it.
"Hoenn?" She considered. "I have spent most of my life in Sinnoh and rarely traveled, so my knowledge of Hoenn is limited. But from what traveling Trainers have described, and from historical records..." She paused.
"A very long time ago, the region's Legendary Pokémon fought a catastrophic war over natural energy that nearly destroyed the entire land. At the critical moment, a warrior riding a Dragon-type Pokémon arrived, defeated both Groudon and Kyogre, and ended the disaster. After that, the Hoenn League was eventually established, drawing on the Unova system and adapting it to Hoenn's unique geography."
She looked at Lucien.
"I suspect that warrior is you."
Lucien said nothing for a moment.
The problem was that he had no idea when Groudon and Kyogre would awaken.
"Do you know the specific timing?" he asked.
Cogita shook her head. "History does not record it precisely."
He let it go. He could not plan around something he could not date. He would simply need to be in a position to respond when it happened.
His eyes moved to Paldea.
That land was surrounded by mountains and concealed a phenomenon found nowhere else: Paradox Pokémon. Koraidon, God of the Past. Miraidon, God of the Future. Along with Scream Tail, Roaring Moon, Iron Thorns, Flutter Mane, and the others, a range of creatures that were ferocious in ways that surpassed ordinary Pokémon entirely and were not something ordinary Trainers could approach.
Koraidon in particular occupied a unique place in his thoughts. In the records he carried, it had a temperament closer to a large, enthusiastic dog than a god, which was not what the name suggested.
An idea formed.
"Now that things are stable across the regions, perhaps it is time to explore the Great Crater of Paldea," Lucien said to himself. The possibility of encountering a Koraidon or a Miraidon was not unwelcome.
He turned to Cogita again. "What do you know about when the Alola League was founded?"
"Not recently," Cogita said. "From what I know, Alola was deeply xenophobic and each island had its own Guardian God. The Alola League was the last of all the regional Leagues to be established."