But having lost the power of their Pokémon, how far could they run? Finally, at Auron's signal, Darkrai used an enlarged Dark Void that directly put everyone into Sleep status.
And because of Darkrai's ability, even those in Sleep status would occasionally twitch and convulse. The Nightmare God—for those in Sleep status, the name truly lived up to its meaning.
Looking at the masses of people lying on the ground and the defeated Pokémon with swirly eyes, Auron couldn't help but feel a headache coming on.
"So then, what do we do?"
Su Qianyan smiled. "You don't need to worry about this. Naturally, someone will handle the cleanup."
Auron furrowed his brow. "Mongolia's officials?"
If Mongolia's officials take them, what about my reward? Just wiping out one base before got such good rewards. This time I directly helped capture four cardinals and many Church personnel alive—the reward can't be less, right?
Su Qianyan sneered. "Mongolia? To be honest, Mongolia might not be able to hold four cardinals. After all, the Church does have covenant legendary Pokémon."
Auron froze, then realized—right, Mongolia really wasn't as strong as the Church. After all, Mongolia truly had no covenant legendary Pokémon. In terms of high-end combat power, they were immediately much weaker.
Moreover, Mongolia's number of Elite Four members might not even exceed the Church's. After all, the Church—no matter how you looked at it—had started from Free America and was a global organization.
"Don't worry. Your reward won't be short."
Seeing Auron's expression, Liu Xiangjun knew what he was worried about. She immediately said to him with exasperation.
Auron awkwardly rubbed his head. "It's not that. Um, I was afraid they'd escape. Right, that's it."
Su Qianyan and Dax both rolled their eyes. Like we don't understand anything.
But though they saw through it, they didn't say it. With this kind of thing, understanding in your heart was enough.
"So can you explain now?" After seeing the situation stabilize, Ashen looked at Auron and asked.
Auron felt a headache but still started from the beginning.
At this moment, a Mongolian Elite Four member who'd been preparing to leave stood rooted in place again. He also wanted to hear exactly why Dragon Nation and the Church could fight on their territory.
When that Mongolian Elite Four arrived, Auron and Ashen had already noticed. No helping it—aura was just that powerful.
But because it was someone else's territory, and he wasn't coming out, you couldn't just go drag him out. So they ignored him.
"Mm, that's about how it happened."
After a while, Auron finally explained the whole story clearly to everyone. His mouth was so dry from talking.
After hearing it, Ashen's mouth twitched. "So you're saying—because Darkrai ate the food you'd prepared for Victini, then Darkrai was coerced by Victini to find Hoopa, so Hoopa scooped you over?"
After Ashen finished, Darkrai on the side nodded somewhat embarrassedly. After all, it really was because of his gluttony that this whole series of events had been triggered.
And after hearing this, Auron also froze. What? You summarized everything I just said in one sentence?
"Yeah, that's right."
"Slap!"
Everyone held their foreheads in unison. So it was just such a small matter! And here they'd thought Auron had been captured and had disappeared from this world.
After the speechlessness, Jace seemed to suddenly remember something and asked cautiously: "So... Hoopa didn't do anything to you?"
Both Auron and Darkrai looked at Jace strangely. "Why would he do anything to me?"
"The records say Hoopa is very ferocious. At first we thought you..."
Auron's face darkened. He looked at the others' expressions and found they all thought the same. So he could only explain helplessly:
"Hoopa isn't ferocious at all. Though I don't know where you saw those records, what you saw was probably about big Hoopa—that is, Hoopa Unbound's records."
"Big Hoopa?"
"Hoopa Unbound?"
Everyone froze. What kind of explanation is this?
Seeing his grandfather's eyes nearly bursting with curiosity, Auron looked helplessly at the darkened sky, then continued explaining:
"Hoopa has two forms. One is Hoopa Unbound—that is, the ferocious big Hoopa in the records you saw. The one who brought me here is Hoopa Confined—a very cute, very gentle little Hoopa."
"Hoopa Confined? Little Hoopa?"
Everyone still couldn't quite grasp it. Auron also helplessly slapped his forehead. "How about this—once we've dealt with these people, I'll take you to meet Hoopa. How's that?"
"Sure! I'll call them right now and tell them to hurry up."
At the mention of meeting a legendary Pokémon, Ashen immediately got excited. He directly pulled out his special phone and called the military.
Seeing the excited Ashen, Auron felt somewhat helpless. "Darkrai, why don't you go back first and ask Hoopa whether he's willing to let me bring a few people over?"
"Mm!"
After Darkrai coolly nodded, he dove into the shadows and slipped toward the passage in the mountainside on the other side.
Seeing everyone's expectant gazes, Auron helplessly spread his hands. "Darkrai went to ask first. If Hoopa isn't willing to see you, then I can't help it."
Liu Xiangjun nodded and made the decision for everyone. "That's natural. If he's unwilling, we certainly can't go disturb him casually."
"Mm, your grandmother is right."
Having finished his call, Ashen returned with a smiling face and gave Liu Xiangjun a thumbs up.
"Hoopa!? Darkrai!? Is Mongolia going to have covenant legendary Pokémon too? This is a great opportunity!"
The eavesdropping Mongolian Elite Four member looked delighted. If their Mongolia also had a covenant legendary, they'd have bargaining power!
After making up his mind, the Mongolian Elite Four member resolutely stood up from behind the rock. At this moment, his silhouette seemed so tall and imposing.
The moment the Mongolian Elite Four stood up, Su Qianyan had already noticed—who told him to be facing directly toward the Mongolian Elite Four's hiding place?
After seeing Su Qianyan had already discovered him, the Mongolian Elite Four's figure immediately deflated. Then, with a fawning smile on his face, he jogged over to everyone.
"Um, I'm a Mongolian Elite Four member. When you go to see Hoopa, could you possibly take me along?"
Hearing this, everyone instantly understood what scheme this Mongolian Elite Four member was planning.
Su Qianyan furrowed his brow, but before he could speak, Auron spoke first:
"Do you see that energy barrier?"
The Mongolian Elite Four turned to look, then rapidly nodded at Auron.
"Mm mm, I see it. What is that?"