Spring had finally arrived, and the entire territory was bustling with activity.
Miners returned to the quarries to dig up clay and limestone, hauling the materials back with the help of the Bouffalant, their thick black manes swaying as they trudged up the muddy slopes.
At the brickworks, blacksmiths and laborers, assisted by the Simisear, baked the freshly shaped clay into sturdy red bricks.
After an entire winter of accumulation, the territory now had enough bricks to fill an entire open yard. Once the next batch was fired, they could finally begin constructing brick houses and paving solid stone roads.
After finishing his morning training, Lucien made his way back toward the settlement. On the way, he caught sight of Megan crouching beside the pond, tossing bits of fruit into the water for the six Magikarp that swam there.
When she saw him approaching, Megan quickly stood up and bowed nervously. "Y-Your Highness!"
Lucien smiled and waved his hand. "No need to be so formal, Megan."
He turned his gaze toward the pond, where the six Magikarp had surfaced, mouths opening and closing eagerly. Thanks to Megan's attentive care, they all looked lively and healthy, their scales gleaming under the morning sun.
"It seems you've been taking excellent care of them," Lucien said.
"That's… what I should do!" Megan replied earnestly, though her voice trembled a little.
The Magikarp blinked their big round eyes, staring at Lucien as if studying him.
Lucien could only sigh with a helpless smile. In his mind, a vivid image flickered, a timid girl standing in front of six colossal Gyarados, their serpentine bodies coiled protectively around her, each one charging up a devastating Hyper Beam in unison.
Now that would be terrifying… and magnificent, he thought.
But he couldn't deny, he looked forward to seeing that day come.
He smiled and said gently, "Keep taking good care of them, Megan. They'll become strong before you know it."
"Yes, Your Highness," she said softly.
As Lucien turned and walked away, Megan watched his figure retreating into the distance, her tense shoulders finally relaxing.
She crouched beside the pond again, smiling as she spoke to the Magikarp.
"That was Lord Lucien. He's… really kind. Thanks to him, my brother and I can live in a real house now, and eat proper food every day."
Her voice softened as she continued, eyes dimming slightly at the memories.
"Back in the capital, when we were slaves, all we had were scraps of stale bread and a hard wooden floor. If we ever made a mistake…" She trailed off, shaking her head.
The Magikarp seemed to sense her emotions. With a splash, one leapt from the water, flopping back with a cheerful plop! as if to cheer her up.
Megan giggled. "But now… everything's different. Everything's getting better."
Later, back at the lord's hall, Lucien let Dratini and Snivy play nearby while he settled at his desk.
He picked up his quill, dipped it in ink, and began writing on a sheet of parchment, a letter to the Old King still residing in Aindoak Royal City.
Though Lucien was not the original "Lucien" of this world and had no real blood ties to the king, his current position required formal correspondence. It was only proper to report on the territory's safety and progress.
Besides, it would give him an excuse to ask the royal capital for more skilled craftsmen, and perhaps a few Pokémon who were being overworked there.
Before long, the letter was finished. But a new question arose: how to deliver it.
He leaned back in his chair, tapping the quill against the desk in thought.
The Pokémon world was vast and sparsely inhabited. Ever since they had lost their way in the blizzard months ago, no one knew exactly where in Unova they had ended up, let alone how far they were from the capital.
Then there was the danger of the roads. Wild Pokémon roamed freely, and an unguarded courier could easily perish before reaching the city.
Lucien sighed. "If only there were Pokémon that specialized in carrying letters…"
In his mind's eye, he pictured a Wingull soaring through the clouds, clutching a sealed parchment in its beak.
Just then, the old butler Elif entered the hall.
"Your Highness," he said, bowing slightly, "are these the cones you were looking for?"
Lucien looked up, and froze.
In Elif's hands were several bright red fruits, faintly glistening and releasing a sharp, resinous scent.
'Are those… Red Apricorns?' Lucien murmured in surprise.
Lucien was startled for a moment, then asked, "Where did this come from?"
Elif smiled faintly. "Your Highness mentioned this fruit before, so I had the patrol knights keep an eye out. They discovered these special fruits growing in a grove near the southern forest."
Lucien took one of the bright red cones into his hand. It was smooth and light, almost identical in size and shape to the Poké Balls he remembered from stories of the future.
No mistake about it, these were Apricorns.
He opened his system's technology tree, hoping to find a related development node, but quickly frowned. The necessary research option was still locked.
"Not enough satisfaction points," he murmured. "Then we'll have to figure this out ourselves."
But before diving into experimentation, there was a more practical issue to solve.
"I've written a letter for the royal city," Lucien said, setting the Apricorns aside. "But we still don't know how to send it. Any suggestions, Elif?"
The old butler thought for a moment, stroking his beard. "Perhaps someone in the territory still remembers the route we took here. If Your Highness allows, I can send a small scouting team to search for any nearby villages or trade routes. If we find one, we can ask for directions back to the capital."
Lucien nodded. "Good. I'll leave that to you."
"Of course, Your Highness," Elif said with a bow.
As he turned to leave, Lucien added, "Oh, and send for Morik, the blacksmith."
While Elif went to fetch him, Lucien sat back down at his desk. He dipped his quill into ink and began sketching the rough outline of a Poké Ball on parchment, drawing from memory.
He still remembered a peculiar story from his old world, about a Pokémon professor whose experiment went wrong, causing his Chimchar to shrink and hide inside a glasses case.
That incident had given Lucien an important clue: Pokémon possessed the natural ability to compress their bodies when weak or resting, retreating into smaller, enclosed spaces.
"If that's the case," he mused aloud, "then in theory… a Pokémon could fit inside an Apricorn shell."
He turned the smooth red fruit over in his hand, eyes glinting with curiosity. "Even without advanced tech, maybe we can make this work."
A short while later, Elif returned with Morik, the burly blacksmith.
Lucien handed him both the Apricorn and the sketch. "I want you to see if you can make this," he said.
Morik studied the drawing with a puzzled look.
"What is this?" Morik looked at the ball on the blueprint with some confusion, but he answered honestly, "It should be possible."
He set to work immediately, splitting the Apricorn in half with a knife, hollowing out the core, then attaching the two halves with a small metal ring so it could open and close freely.
"It's possible," he said after a while. "But… we lack proper materials. We've found traces of iron ore deeper in the mine, but the men won't go there. The place seems to be crawling with magical beasts."
Lucien's eyes narrowed slightly. "What kind of beasts?"
"Floating stones with arms," Morik said, his expression tightening, "and massive serpents made entirely of rock. When one appeared last time, the ground shook like an earthquake."
Lucien immediately pictured Geodude and Onix.
"I see," he said quietly. "Then I'll take a look myself."
If the Pokémon in the mountain could be reasoned with, he'd attempt negotiation. If not, he could forcibly mine the ore through battle.
Lucien's gaze drifted to Snivy, who was lazily coiling on the windowsill.
"Well," he murmured with a wry smile, "a Grass-type like Snivy should have no trouble against a Rock- and Ground-type."
...
Stones PLzzz