"Tell me! Why is there still an Arceus scent on you?!"
"Or else Hoopa will get Baraz to deal with you!"
Mischief Hoopa puffed up with intimidation, acting tough while using Baraz as a shield.
It threatened in a cute, childish voice.
But because of the childish voice—and the way it was currently acting—it actually made it even more like it was being adorable.
It had its whole body tucked behind Baraz.
Only half its head was sticking out.
"Arceus?!"
Baraz froze at the word.
Then he quickly reacted.
"Hoopa, you can't be so rude."
"These are guests."
Baraz helplessly educated Mischief Hoopa.
To Baraz, Mischief Hoopa was both a friend and like a kid.
Because ever since they were little, Mischief Hoopa had always been their friend.
Now they'd grown up, and their mindset was slowly maturing.
But Mischief Hoopa was still exactly the same mischievous troublemaker as it had been back then.
No change at all.
"But it's really…"
"It smells like Arceus—so strong!"
Mischief Hoopa still refused to come out.
It grabbed Baraz's clothes and wouldn't let go.
It wasn't that it was scared.
It was just—really, genuinely afraid!
A hundred years ago, back when it was still the carefree Djinn Hoopa—
its power, and its innate spatial rings—
made it totally dominant.
Invincible.
Go wherever it wanted.
Do whatever it wanted.
Then one day, a human came along—
and sealed its power.
And then gave it punishment.
Even Sinnoh's Creation Trio couldn't do something like that.
But some human—
actually did it.
"A human???"
But later, Hoopa understood.
That human named Ghris—
was human, sure, as a species.
But you could also say it wasn't really "a human" anymore.
It was basically a Superman.
And the reason it had such ridiculous power—
was because it had faith in Arceus.
The people of Arche Valley were the same.
From a young age, they trained those strange abilities.
And Ghris—
was the most extreme one in Arche Valley.
"Mr. Damian…"
"Have you really seen Arceus?"
Seeing Mischief Hoopa in such a rare, pathetic form—
Baraz had no choice but to believe it.
"Yes."
"I had the honor of encountering Arceus."
"It granted me special abilities."
Damian smiled.
He lifted his palm slightly.
Golden light—bright, yet gentle—flared up.
Mischief Hoopa swallowed hard.
It shrank its body in even more.
It could feel it.
This energy was very similar to Ghris and Baraz's—
but clearly much more refined.
"Damn…"
"Another Superman."
"And this guy…"
"He was granted the power by Arceus in person…"
"Scary…"
He had to be even scarier than Ghris.
"Truly the power of Arceus!"
Baraz was actually a bit excited.
He raised his hand too.
The golden light in his palm turned into circular patterns, like a magic array.
"Huh?"
"Baraz, you can do it too?"
Dawn sounded genuinely surprised.
"Yes."
"This is a legacy from our ancestors."
"We've been training it since we were kids."
The golden light in Baraz's hand dimmed.
With his matured temperament, he'd already calmed down.
"According to what our great-grandfather told us…"
"It's because our ancestors received a gift from Arceus."
"So this power lives on in our bloodline."
"If you practice properly, you can master it."
"Wow!"
Dawn couldn't help gasping.
"So it's even a bloodline-inherited ability??"
Caitlin's eyes flickered slightly.
If what Baraz said was true—
then if she later had children with Damian—
would they be able to inherit the power Arceus granted too?
Hmm.
That was pretty nice.
Caitlin had personally seen Damian demonstrate this power.
It was practical across the board.
Far more useful than her psychic abilities.
"So we've always believed in Arceus…"
"But unfortunately…"
"We've never seen Arceus grant another miracle."
Baraz said with regret.
"Arceus had been slumbering for a while."
"It only awoke recently."
"But it's been living in an Alternate Dimension all along."
"So it really is hard to meet it."
Damian said so.
"And as for the Arceus scent Hoopa mentioned…"
"That's this."
Damian took an Azure Flute out of his bag.
The moment the Azure Flute appeared, Mischief Hoopa instantly shrank its head.
"Don't be afraid."
"This is just an item."
"It won't hurt you."
Damian couldn't help chuckling.
But it was also clear that Mischief Hoopa's psychological shadow about Arceus ran pretty deep.
"Hoopa isn't scared!"
Mischief Hoopa felt underestimated.
It puffed out its mouth in a very disgruntled way.
"Really?"
Damian raised a brow, half-smiling.
"Like… even if Hoopa is just a tiny bit scared of Arceus…"
"That's totally normal, right?"
Mischief Hoopa sounded a little guilty.
It didn't dare meet Damian's eyes.
Its gaze kept drifting elsewhere as it added that one more line.
But Mischief Hoopa felt it had nothing to be wrong with.
What was wrong with being afraid of Arceus?
Arceus was the God of Creation.
And most importantly…
It didn't even need Arceus to act.
Humans who had received Arceus's granted power already dealt with it.
They sealed its power.
Waaah…
So much for saying more.
"Haha—alright, I'm not teasing you anymore."
"I know you're really strong, Hoopa."
Damian smiled and put away the Azure Flute.
He praised Mischief Hoopa.
"Really?"
Mischief Hoopa's eyes lit up.
"You can even tell the Pokémon aura on me."
"That alone already makes you really amazing."
Damian smiled.
"Yeah."
"Hoopa, you know so many Legendary Pokémon too."
Dawn strongly agreed.
"Hehehe—Hoopa used to be super strong!"
"Hoopa could snag up a bunch of opponents!"
"And then beat them!"
Mischief Hoopa put its hands on its hips again.
It lifted its head proudly, brimming with pride.
Damian smiled but didn't say anything.
Mischief Hoopa really was adorable.
It was naive, lively, and loved being praised.
After a hundred years, it was still like that.
It could only be said that in its punished form—
not only had its body shrunk and its power been sealed—
even its mindset became a lot more childish.
And once Baraz learned that Damian had once received Arceus's gifted—
Baraz's attitude became clearly a lot warmer.
And with very sincere invitation, Baraz asked Damian and the three of them to come sit at his place.
Damian had no reason to refuse.
"Hoopa!!"
"How dare you come back again?!"
The moment they entered the house, a frying pan flew straight over instantly.
It went right at Mischief Hoopa.
Mischief Hoopa immediately panicked.
It pulled out its gold ring, and "swallowed" the frying pan into itself.
Only then did it sigh in relief.
A young woman in white clothes stormed over, furious.
Dawn and Caitlin froze, watching in shock.
"Cough-cough."
"Meray, we have guests."
Baraz covered his forehead with a helpless look.
He spoke to his little sister, Meray.
"Huh?"
Meray's expression stiffened.
Only then did she notice Baraz and Damian and the three of them behind Mischief Hoopa.
Her face immediately went red.
She stood there, unsure what to do.
"Um… Meray isn't usually like this."
Baraz tried to defend his little sister awkwardly, trying to salvage a bit of his image.
"That's right, that's right."
"Meray usually uses a stool."
"This is the first time she's used a pan."
Mischief Hoopa nodded in full agreement.
It spoke very seriously, like it was explaining something important.
Skitter—skitter—
That was Meray clenching her fist joints, making a grinding sound.
"It's fine."
"Meray is… very temperamental."
Damian smiled warmly.
That served as a peace offering.
"Meray, are you cooking?"
"Ah—yeah!"
"Why don't you all stay and eat with us too?"
"My cooking's actually pretty good."
Meray said quickly.
"Eat together~ Mae also eat together."
Mischief Hoopa didn't sound afraid of Damian anymore.
In fact, because Damian praised it—
it now had quite a lot of goodwill toward him.
"Then we'll have to accept."
Damian acted politely and respectfully.
"And also, Hoopa."
"Damian, not Mae."
Even though Damian knew Mischief Hoopa had a bit of a lisp—
calling him "Mae" was too feminine-sounding.
"Hoopa, come in with me."
Meray grabbed the extremely unwilling Mischief Hoopa.
She turned around and went into the kitchen.
As for Damian, he released his "mascot squad,"
and he sat with Baraz outside in the yard, chatting casually.
Before long, Meray called everyone to eat.
Worth noting—
Mischief Hoopa seemed like it had experienced something.
It was limp and wilted, like a beaten eggplant.
But the moment it saw Jirachi and the others—
Mischief Hoopa suddenly came back to life.
It darted into the mascot squad and bounced around everywhere, making itself at home.
At the dinner table, the group inevitably talked about Mischief Hoopa too.
Baraz and Meray naturally talked about what happened in Dahara City a hundred years ago.
"So Hoopa used to not be like this?"
"Of course."
"Hoopa used to be HUGE!"
Mischief Hoopa floated over at once.
It said proudly.
"Umm…"
Looking at Mischief Hoopa's mischievous and adorable personality—
Dawn found it hard to imagine.
"Hoopa was really, truly super strong back then!"
"Reshiram and Kyogre couldn't beat Hoopa!"
Seeing that Dawn didn't seem to believe it—
Mischief Hoopa got a little anxious.
"If you don't believe me…"
"Tell Mae to release Reshiram and Kyogre."
"Back a hundred years ago, Hoopa beat them!"
"It's Damian."
"Not Mae."
Damian corrected it.
"Hoopa really is very strong."
"It was the recognized Djinn Pokémon back then."
"Uh…"
"Everyone didn't like Hoopa."
"But it really was strong."
Mesprit interjected.
It also knew about Hoopa.
As one of the creation "Six Spirits,"
Mesprit wasn't strong—
but its show was incomparable to other Pokémon.
And the "everyone" Mesprit was talking about—
meant other Legendary Pokémon.
"Come on."
"Everyone liked Hoopa."
Mischief Hoopa still insisted stubbornly.
"But even Regigigas doesn't really like Hoopa, either."
Mesprit tilted its head, acting all innocent on purpose.
"Tsk~"
Mischief Hoopa clicked its tongue and pouted.
"So many Legendary Pokémon all recognize Hoopa?"
Dawn blinked.
"Because Hoopa's gold ring has spatial abilities."
"It could forcibly pull even Palkia and Dialga out from the Alternate Dimension."
"And those forced spatial transfers…"
"They happen without any warning."
Mesprit explained.
So it can do that too?!
Dawn stared at Mischief Hoopa in shock.
"And back then, Hoopa's personality…"
"It was overbearing, nasty, and warlike."
"It often relied on its advantage in abilities…"
"to summon other Legendary Pokémon…"
"and bully them."
"That's why everyone hated Hoopa."
Mesprit continued.
No wonder in the movie, when Kyogre and Groudon were summoned as Hoopa Unbound—
they attacked Hoopa Unbound right away.
Turns out it wasn't the first time.
Damian couldn't help but chuckle.
And after Mesprit directly exposed that dark history—
feeling the weird looks Baraz and the others were giving—
even Mischief Hoopa, thick-skinned as it was, still scratched its head awkwardly.
"Hoopa hasn't done that in a long time!"
"Hoopa hasn't summoned them in a hundred years!"
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