The most striking thing about the hall was its bright red walls. Along each wall, there are hundreds of flags stringed together, with colours of yellow, red and blue on each. The hall was usually empty; sometimes, a few officials use it as a room for an impromptu meeting, or perhaps some formal dinner. However, this evening was different. The hall was packed to the brim with various Pokemon, of different types, different sizes and different shapes. But they were here for one event: the most important one in the year.

A jet-like Pokemon stood on a stage in front of the mass of Pokemon. Like the other participants of the event, he was wearing a set of flowing, red robes. But one thing was different: the shade of his set was much darker, tending toward a crimson. And perhaps more importantly, a shimmering gold crown adorned the Pokemon's head. Carved into the crown are words, cementing his complete authority over the territory he now ruled over: "Leader of Hoenn".

The speech he was giving had been going on for hours now. His speech was not thrilling by any means. After all, he was a somewhat subpar speaker; he tended to drone on when giving long speeches, a far cry from his short, but much more rousing, speeches he gave so often during the war. Most of the participants, indeed, came only for formality's sake; they tried hard to keep themselves awake, but some seemed almost enamoured toward the Latios, fervently taking notes as the Latios spoke.

"…there are still conflicts in our state, make no mistake. Opposers of Project Jyuxin has continued to exist, despite most of them turning to support us; and we cannot predict what would happen if the humans launched an attack on us, despite our best efforts to keep good relations with them. However, I say we're doing well; many of the problems that we have encountered have been solved amicably and by compromise of both parties. And I think, if we continue with our good work, that Hoenn will truly become a Pokemon paradise."

The Latios closed the file he had been holding and lowered his head in something like a bow. "Thank you, everyone, for coming."

Applause rang out through the audience as ushers, identity made clear by bright yellow robes, rose, guiding the delegates out of the hall. The Latios stayed behind, quietly viewing the slow exodus of the various Pokemon, while slowly sipping a glass of whiskey-and-water. As he watched, his mind wandered: why was Rosemary not here? Perhaps, she was sick, he thought, but it was probably unlikely; more likely than not, she was actively avoiding him. But why? His relationship with Rosemary wasn't the best after the war, sure, but…

"Sir."

The voice jolted him out of his reverie; turning around, he saw a shiny Metagross, seemingly slightly concerned.

"Don't worry, Aurum. I'm fine."

"Good to know, sir. Would you need to be escorted back?"

"No. No, thank you."

The Metagross nodded, retracting his legs and gliding away. And Latios did too, clutching his robe in both paws and lifting off into the night.

It was cold. Snowflakes drifted down from the air to the ground, covering the buildings below in what looked like a thin, white blanket. As he glided in the air, slowly ascending ten, twenty, thirty thousand feet above sea level, he silently viewed the land, his land. But it came at a cost. If I were to choose between the humans being here and Latias being alive and this…I would choose the former. But such is reality: Cipher had killed Latias, and Latios is the ruler of Hoenn. And he had to live with it. He did not have much time to ruminate though; Southern Island is ahead.

Few populated the historic home of the Eon Duo. Formerly a capital of the old Dynasty of Latios, it had been taken over by the humans, whom, in a cruel twist of irony, used it especially as a prison for the Pokemon that it was meant to house. But now that Hoenn has been liberated, Southern Island has become the Eon Duo's home again, or rather, Latios's home, as he had to constantly remind himself. It was much quieter now; it served as a home to Latios, exceedingly private with few allowed in, except servants. And even those servants are hand-picked by Latios.

A melodic voice rang out from a sound system in the building. "Please present iris scan."

Latios nodded, looking directly into the camera, his bright emerald eyes seemingly piercing into the scanner. After a few seconds, the camera seemed satisfied; with a clink, the door opened, along with the same singsong-y voice saying to him: "Welcome back, Victor."

The Scizor had been waiting for him since he finished speaking at the conference. One claw gripping a thermos flask filled with hot tea, he stood in the doorway, waiting for the arrival of his master. As he saw the shadow of the winged Pokemon approach, he knelt in reference, head pressed to the ground. "Great Leader. You're back."

"Rise, Cobalt." With a flick of a claw, the Latios motioned for the Scizor to stand up. "And I told you before; just call me Victor. It's fine."

The Scizor nodded, standing up. "I thought you didn't like robes."

"Yes, I don't. But official events require such embellishments; it wouldn't be good if I mandated them for everyone and then turned out without mine." With two of his claws, the Latios unfastened the buckle of his robe, taking it off and throwing it to the side with a fluid motion.

"You must be cold, Si- I mean, Victor. Here, have some tea." The silver-coloured Scizor opened the flask, pouring a cup of tea out, which Victor quickly accepted.

"Thank you. Bloody heating didn't work half the time; I should have known better than to rely on anything those bastards created."

"The- humans, sir?" Cobalt knew that the Latios can get…animated when talking about them and approached the topic with a shred of trepidation. But the storm merely brewed within Latios, who merely shot a glare toward Cobalt and silently nodded, continuing to sip the tea; after the six-hour-long conference, he was too tired to rant about the humans again.

"…Latios?"

"Yes, Cobalt?" Victor finished his tea, handing the cup back to Cobalt.

"Should I take you to bed?"

"No, not yet. You can go to bed first; I just need to do a few more things here."

"You don't need me to accompany you?"

"It's fine. Just prepare my bed and go to sleep. You've had a long day."

The Scizor nodded, trying to hide his gratitude. "Thank you, sir."

"Thank you, Cobalt, as well." The Latios looked into the Scizor's eyes for a few seconds, before gliding away, leaving the stunned Cobalt standing in the middle of the corridor.

Latios's room, though originally constructed as a jail cell, was cozy. It was small by design; he didn't need much space to sleep, given he had separate rooms to have food and do his other business anyway. Candles were placed at each corner, the flickering light also providing a warmth to the room that was especially comforting in the cold weather. The floor was almost as comfortable as the bed, as luxurious gilded red carpet covered every inch of the concrete that the humans laid down.

Victor glided into the room. Exhausted, he collapsed onto the bed; can't fall asleep now, he reminded himself; he had to send a few emails to the participants of the conference. And, in one case, a non-participant of the conference. Pulling up a laptop that originally belonged to the humans, he typed a curt email, thanking the participants for their attentiveness and reiterating some of the points that he had mentioned; specifically, the importance of Project Jyuxin and the continual threat of the humans, which, though not palpable, can result in devastation if one lets down their guard.

And on to the final email. He had to write a email to the one significant non-participant of the conference (though quite a few others also did not attend, they sent in letters well in advance, alerting Latios that they would be out for work-related purposes): Rosemary. That email had a much sharper tone, though Victor was aware not to make it sound too accusatory, lest it further strain the already dismal relationship between him and the Province Leader.

"I hope to receive a reply from you soon. Sincerely yours, Latios, Leader of United Hoenn."

The Latios breathed a sigh of relief; he had always hated writing emails, especially when he knew he had the risk of furthering a conflict. Though she may hate me now, I don't want to get into too much of a fight with her at the moment. It would be too messy for me to handle, he mused as he sent the email. But however she replies, I shouldn't worry about it for now.

Having closed his laptop, the Latios finally sank into his bed, embracing the warmth of the down blankets. Try as he might, though, his thoughts eventually returned, again and again, to the Espeon, to the War, and to their increasingly strained relationship. When had it gotten so bad, he wondered. Was it immediately after I took over Hoenn, or was it after? Yes, it was probably after…

An alarm sounded.

The Latios, then drifting off to sleep, immediately woke up; he hadn't heard that alarm in months, probably years.

He rushed toward the command centre of Southern Island. And there, a voice rang out, bold and authoritative, a voice that had been fading from Latios's memory.

"Shadow signals have been detected from one of the observation stations. Location: Citadark Isle. Certainty: 89% that an unfound Shadow is there."