The weather was great today.
Damian lounged in the backyard, soaking up the sun, humming a tune.
Caitlin handed him grapes one by one, already peeled and ready to eat.
More than a week had passed since Lumiose City's big battle.
Kalos had been busy lately.
Rosa and the others had played in Kalos for a few days, then went back to Unova.
As for Lysandre and the others…
Damian hadn't gone to see them yet.
He planned to let them cool off for a few days.
So Damian hadn't really been busy either.
In the daytime, he occasionally just played around with Caitlin's group.
At night, it was Diantha or Alexa.
Then—phone call.
"Baraz? What's wrong?"
Damian picked up and asked, smiling.
"Damian, something happened."
Baraz's voice was heavy.
"Don't panic. Tell me."
"It's hard to explain over the phone. Are you free?"
"If you are…"
"please come to Arche Valley."
"Sure. Just a second."
Damian licked his lips.
He probably already knew what was going on.
With Baraz that worried…
it could only be one thing.
Prison Bottle had messed up.
"The legends… it's about to start."
Hanging up, Damian's lips curled upward.
"Arche Valley—what surprised you over there?"
Caitlin hadn't caught it clearly.
"Yeah."
"Something's gone wrong."
"But this is actually good too."
Damian stood up and stretched big.
"Caitlin, come with me."
"Go watch a wild celebration between legends."
"That's a once-in-a-millennium scene…"
...
Arche Valley.
Spatial rings opened.
Damian walked out first.
The first thing he saw was Baraz and Meray.
And right beside them…
Mischief Hoopa looked completely drained.
Not energetic at all.
Behind Damian came Caitlin, Dawn, and Serena.
"Damian, you're here."
"Mae—"
Mischief Hoopa pouted its mouth.
Then it slowly flew toward Damian.
With its two tiny short arms stretched out—
it looked like it wanted a hug.
Damian naturally caught the little chaos god.
He patted Mischief Hoopa on the back.
"I'm here."
"It's okay, it's okay."
Damian comforted it.
"Also…"
"I'm Damian."
"Not Mae."
And Damian didn't forget to correct Mischief Hoopa again.
"Mm-mm~ I know."
"Mae~ That thing was scary."
"It scared Hoopa to death."
Mischief Hoopa nodded again and again.
Damian: "..."
Seeing that scene, even Baraz and Meray—
who were still heavy-hearted—
couldn't help letting out a soft chuckle.
The atmosphere eased up a lot.
Serena standing beside Dawn was very curious.
She had been doing special training battle with Dawn.
Then Damian suddenly stopped it.
He said he wanted them to see a once-in-a-lifetime big scene.
They hadn't even seen the big scene yet.
But just this Pokémon's abilities were already enough to shock her.
Passing through a Gold ring—
and then they were in a whole new place?
"Baraz, what exactly is going on?"
"Is someone targeting Hoopa?"
Damian asked Baraz directly.
"No."
"It's just…"
Baraz shook his head.
His brows were tightly knit.
"Damian, I told you earlier."
"I wanted to help Hoopa get its power back."
"Yeah, I remember."
Damian nodded.
"So these past two days…"
"I've been searching for the Prison Bottle that my Great-grandfather used to seal Hoopa's power."
"And today, I found it."
"But the weird thing is…"
"After Hoopa got its power back…"
"it fell into this really creepy state."
"And it seems like its mind was affected too."
Baraz said in a deep voice.
"Really?"
Damian pretended to look stunned.
He looked at Mischief Hoopa.
"Yeah."
"Once the power came back, all Hoopa saw…"
"was pitch-black."
"And it was terrifying."
"Like there was another Hoopa watching Hoopa from somewhere else."
Mischief Hoopa tucked its chin.
It shrank its neck and said, very upset.
"And the most important part…"
"I actually didn't get any memory of holding the Prison Bottle."
"Meray said that…"
"I was riding Braviary back."
"And once I came back…"
"I opened the Prison Bottle right away!"
Baraz added another key detail.
His tone was extremely serious.
"I suspect…"
"whatever was inside the Prison Bottle…"
"has its own self-awareness."
"And it can control the people who touch the Prison Bottle."
Damian said thoughtfully.
"That's right."
Baraz nodded.
"But can a single piece of power even develop self-awareness?"
Dawn was shocked.
"Nothing in this world is impossible."
"And Hoopa's power was already so strange in the first place…"
"that it could be stripped out and sealed separately."
"It's not completely impossible for it to form a real resentment consciousness…"
"from being sealed for a hundred years…"
"and from the intense hatred that built up."
Damian looked at Mischief Hoopa.
Mischief Hoopa was frowning at the moment too.
It also seemed to not understand.
How could its power be that… insane?
"So now the real key issue is…"
"what exactly does that resentment consciousness want to do."
"Hoopa, what do you think?"
Damian asked Mischief Hoopa.
After all, Mischief Hoopa had "touched" it "personally."
Baraz, even though he had been controlled by evil Hoopa…
had no memories at all.
"I… I don't know."
"It seems like it wants Hoopa to disappear…"
Mischief Hoopa sounded deeply wronged.
It really was wronged to the core.
Damn.
Its own power wanted it to disappear.
Who was supposed to explain that?
Totally backwards.
But the problem was—
Mischief Hoopa felt like this was totally random.
Like, did it even do anything wrong?
Sure, evil Hoopa had been sealed in the Prison Bottle for a hundred years.
But the key was—
it wasn't that Mischief Hoopa didn't want to get the power back.
It just didn't even know where to find it.
It was basically powerless right now.
It could only use the Gold ring.
"That's a pretty classic plot."
"An avatar trying to replace the main body."
Damian summarized.
"Or maybe…"
"it needs Hoopa's original body."
"After all, it's only a power."
"It needs a proper body talent to exist in this world."
Although in the movie, the evil Hoopa did manage to condense a real, physical body through energy.
But Damian had a reason to doubt that this physical form couldn't last long.
Otherwise, why would evil Hoopa be so obsessed with chasing Mischief Hoopa?
"Then what do we do now?"
Damian said.
"The Prison Bottle has already been taken out."
"And once you touch it…"
"it influences your mind."
Meray was anxious.
The Prison Bottle was still lying not far away in that patch of grass.
Because Baraz and Meray's siblings didn't dare go near it.
They were afraid of being controlled by the resentment inside.
But they couldn't ignore it forever.
Because whether it was humans or Pokémon—
once they touched the Prison Bottle—
they'd get their minds controlled by evil Hoopa inside.
Then it could control other Pokémon too.
Breaking free from the Prison Bottle.
"We have two plans."
Damian thought it over.
"First: bury the Prison Bottle somewhere uninhabited completely…"
"without making direct physical contact."
"But there's a safety risk."
"We don't know if this power could somehow break free again in the future…"
"or if Pokémon that live underground could come into contact with the Prison Bottle."
Damian continued.
Hearing that, Baraz frowned.
Honestly, this method wasn't that great.
As Damian said, the safety risk was huge.
"Second: release this power."
"I'll go touch it."
"I'll figure out what it actually wants."
"If I can beat it…"
"and make the resentment disappear—"
"that'd be the best outcome."
"If that still doesn't work…"
"then let Hoopa deal with this power itself."
"After all, it's your power."
"Can you retrieve it or not?"
"That's the real key here."
Damian looked at Mischief Hoopa.
"What do you think?"
"Hoopa chooses the second one!"
Mischief Hoopa didn't hesitate at all.
Its eyes were already extremely resolute.
"That's Hoopa's power!"
"That's Hoopa's thing!!"
"It actually wants to wipe out Hoopa?!"
"It's going against fate! It's revolting!"
Mischief Hoopa waved its little fists in anger.
It felt like This power was totally doing things backwards.
And it had the nerve to—
show disrespect like that.
Seeing Mischief Hoopa like this, everyone couldn't help smiling a little.
"And with Mae's help, Hoopa isn't scared of that thing!"
Mischief Hoopa was full of confidence.
Because in its mind—
even in its full-power state back then…
it probably wasn't Damian's opponent.
Not to mention—
a mere resentment consciousness?
Besides, Damian had so many legends on his side.
It wasn't just talk.
"This is the best option."
"Then we'll have to trouble you, Damian."
Baraz fully endorsed it too.
Both plans pointed to choosing the second.
Because plan one might be peaceful for a short time.
But that safety risk was way too big.
"No trouble."
"We're friends."
"And honestly…"
"I just really like this little Hoopa."
Damian rubbed Mischief Hoopa's tiny head.
"Mae~!"
Mischief Hoopa looked moved, teary-eyed.
"It's Damian."
"Not Mae."
Damian corrected it like he always did.
Mischief Hoopa's tongue was too long—it really couldn't be fixed?
Mischief Hoopa mischievously stuck out its tongue.
"Then let's find a secluded place and start."
Damian tossed out Reshiram's Ultra Ball.
The spotless, sacred Truth Dragon landed in front of them.
It stood tall with a cool, proud head held high.
"Y-yeah—Reshiram, Reshiram…"
"Do you remember me?"
Mischief Hoopa's eyes lit up.
It immediately flew in front of Reshiram and asked eagerly.
Reshiram's blue dragon eyes lowered and locked onto Mischief Hoopa.
"Hoopa?"
Reshiram's gender-neutral, cool Telepathy rang out.
It seemed uncertain.
But that aura was definitely familiar.
Still…
how could it become so small?
And so… weak?
Reshiram's dragon eyes narrowed slightly.
"Hoopa got weaker."
"Yeah, Reshiram~"
"It's been a hundred years."
"Have you missed me…"
"Waaah—!!!"
"What are you doing, Reshiram?!"
Before Mischief Hoopa could finish—
Reshiram blasted it with a mouthful of fire.
Mischief Hoopa was furious.
It ducked behind Damian, glaring at Reshiram with bulging cheeks.
Watching Mischief Hoopa get roasted into a mess—
Reshiram felt absolutely satisfied.
You got it today, huh?!
"Uh…"
Seeing Reshiram burn Mischief Hoopa,
Dawn and the others were a bit stunned.
"Mae!"
"Your Reshiram is bullying me!"
Mischief Hoopa looked so wronged.
It had clearly been so excited, trying to catch up with Reshiram.
"You forget what you did back then."
Damian couldn't help but chuckle.
Mischief Hoopa gave a small awkward smile.
Damned it!
If my power hadn't betrayed me…
just a mere Reshiram dares to burn me with fire?!
Fine.
I'll tolerate it for now.
I'll remember this grudge!
Once I get my power back, Reshiram—
you'd better wait for me!
~~
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