Ultimately, the impact brought by Hoopa Unbound was confined to Lumiose City.
Although the Legendary Pokémon summoned by Hoopa ran amok in the city center, causing severe damage to most of the squares and streets, and even the Precipice Blades created by Primal Groudon still pointed straight up at the sky...
Fortunately, there were no casualties.
As for the post-war cleanup and restoration work, the Kalos League and the outsourced Rainbow Corporation joined forces to take charge, and other regions also actively lent a helping hand.
For the romantic and freedom-loving people of Kalos, a mere destroyed city was nothing; it wasn't like they hadn't seen it before!
Instead, they could take this opportunity to properly renovate the building complexes left from years ago and officially launch the "Urban Redevelopment Plan" actively promoted by the Kalos League.
Once the reconstruction was complete, the new Lumiose City would continue to strive toward the coexistence of humans and Pokémon.
At least, that was what their Champion, Miss Diantha, said at the press conference.
With the League Champion personally stepping forward to respond, the impact of the event should theoretically have ended there.
However—
On the internet, the "Hoopa Unbound" incident quickly went viral in a short period, forcefully occupying the top spots on PokeTV's trending list.
The reason was very simple.
Lumiose City had always advocated freedom; even in the face of a massive crisis, there were naturally brave warriors willing to risk their lives to capture precious footage of the battlefield.
[Holy shit, that flying muscle bro has a crazy background, how did he summon six Legendary Pokémon at once???]
[T-this isn't right, do Mythical Pokémon have no prestige at all?]
[As expected of a monster that makes Teacher Azure take action, definitely not simple!]
When Aiden faced that powerful deity head-on, countless viewers silently sweated for him in their hearts.
Even though they already knew the outcome was good, having to face multiple Legendaries at the same time must have been an immense pressure even for Teacher Azure!
But soon, the bullet screens were dumbfounded once again—they saw Aiden, riding on Salamence's back, remaining completely unfazed. Even though the camera was over a hundred meters away from him, his calm and composure could still be felt.
And when he waved his left hand to the side and pointed his right hand to the sky—
Giratina and Marshadow, who quietly emerged from a black hole, launched a sneak attack, directly dragging the Space-Time Dragons into the Distortion World;
The sky, previously disrupted by Groudon and Kyogre, suddenly cleared up, and among the parting clouds, a black silhouette backlit by the sunlight was dazzlingly striking.
The situation was instantly reversed. The bullet screens, which reacted half a beat slow, immediately spammed question marks like crazy in the video.
[???]
[Facing Legends × Networking Display Session √]
[Teacher Azure: So you know how to call in reinforcements, huh? Just wait until I call in Arceus!]
[For a moment I actually can't tell which side is more ridiculous, both sides seem a bit insane—]
As for the fact that Hoopa Unbound summoned even more Legendary Pokémon after that, the audience had already become desensitized, and the reaction was actually mild.
It wasn't until the black Rayquaza fell for the trick and flew into the ring, and Aiden's side seemed to be completely overwhelmed in combat power, that they finally got fired up again.
Because behind Aiden, who was temporarily avoiding the enemy's sharp edge, was one former tournament competitor after another.
They appeared in front of the camera, casually exchanged a few words, and then each took on a clear division of labor, drawing the Legendary Pokémon's firepower away from him.
[Damn, there are even more pros?]
[Networking Display 2.0 Session, this time even the two Battle Legends were called in by Teacher Azure!]
[Wait, can the cameraman use Double Team? I want multi-angle views!]
[We got 'em, bro, we got 'em. Kalos has no shortage of geniuses, the process on every front was filmed by heroes, the related videos are all up~]
In the videos from many different shooting angles, the audience saw the vastly different reactions of those Elite Trainers.
There were the Sinnoh Elite Four members being miserably chased by Giratina, forced to flee with all their might;
There were the two Battle Legends facing the Legends head-on, forcefully clashing with the power of the gods;
And there were the Champions and Elite Four working closely together, coordinating to resist the Legendary Pokémon.
Of course, the most ridiculous was still Teacher Azure, who summoned the white dragon Reshiram again, and alongside Giovanni, suppressed Hoopa Unbound's main body during the battle.
It wasn't until little Hoopa brought back the black Rayquaza and finally absorbed all of the evil shadow's power that the battle finally came to a temporary close.
But obviously, the progress bar told the viewers that things were far from that simple.
When the space-time storm struck and even the Space-Time Dragons were helpless—Aiden made his move again.
"Arceus, if you don't do something about this, I'm going to drop dead right in front of you!"
A sentence that seemed like a threat, but was actually a desperate last-ditch "harsh word," let the audience feel Aiden's helplessness right through the screen.
But soon—
In the chaotic and disorderly center of the storm, a golden light suddenly flashed in that calm eye of the storm, and then a dazzling golden centaur-like figure appeared before the viewers' eyes.
[Ah?]
[Wait, Teacher Azure wasn't bluffing? He even called in the legendary God of Creation?]
[Now you know why the protagonist of Teacher Azure's first 'Mythical Pokémon Talk' video was Arceus, right? He practically showed his cards!]
[What do you mean 'popularizing Mythical Pokémon'? For Teacher Azure, isn't this purely a documentary?]
[When Teacher Azure posts videos, it's so unnecessary for him to put on so many disclaimers. He should just let Arceus show its face, and let's see who'd dare to doubt it and call it unofficial history!]
A crisis that could have destroyed a city was immediately calmed after the appearance of this world's Creator, Arceus, as if the space-time storm that threatened to swallow more than half of Lumiose City had never existed.
And in the last little tail-end of the video's runtime—
Since Aiden had already ridden Salamence up to high altitude, the cameraman's lens could only capture their blurry figures.
However, the small action Aiden made at the end was still very obvious.
In the video, something suddenly appeared in Aiden's hand, and then he threw it straight up towards Arceus in the sky. The object unnaturally accelerated upwards, defying the laws of physics, until it was swallowed by the dissipating space-time storm.
The video abruptly ended there.
But the viewers' storm of question marks only grew fiercer.
[???]
[Did Teacher Azure just throw something at Arceus?]
[As expected of Teacher Azure, he easily did something we wouldn't even dare to think about. This is too ridiculous!!!]
[On why Teacher Azure is a God—]
[When It left at the end, Arceus seemed to be smiling. Did he complete another shady backroom deal with It right in front of everyone?]
[Why did you say "another"?]
At this point, tags like "Just How Hardcore is Teacher Azure's Backing", "The Must-Read Stories Between Teacher Azure and Arceus", and "Teacher Azure Bullying Arceus" quickly surfaced.
When Aiden scrolled past these, he could only laugh and curse helplessly: "The netizens' imaginations are truly too rich!"
"I always feel like Kalos people are way too chill—"
The day after the incident ended, Aiden sat at the end of the unaffected Vernal Avenue, looking at the crowds coming and going in the distance, and couldn't help but sigh.
"True to the Kalos region indeed, the disaster only ended yesterday and people are already back at work."
"Even Mom went to busy herself with work. Everyone must really want to make Lumiose City look brand new as soon as possible!"
Sitting across from Aiden, little Ansha rested her chin in her hands, seemingly recalling the Lumiose City of the future.
Yeah, everyone is pretty busy, even Cynthia is—
It seems like he was the only one still on vacation, so it was fine to temporarily stay in Lumiose City.
Recalling the scene of saying goodbye to everyone at the airport that morning, Aiden quickly shook his head.
No wait, he had legitimate business too!
The reason he was temporarily staying in Lumiose City was also because of the "prophecy" left by a certain alpaca before Its departure.
Due to the butterfly effect caused by the interdimensional rings, Legendary Pokémon in multiple regions were very likely to awaken in the near future, especially the two XYZ gods in the Kalos region.
Since Arceus, that hands-off boss, had dumped all the work on him, he had no choice but to stay in the Kalos region for now to observe the situation.
Otherwise, he would probably have gone back to Sinnoh with Cynthia to rest for a while.
While Aiden was daydreaming, Ansha beside him suddenly raised her little hand and waved at him.
"Uncle Aiden, the Lumiose City of the future is really interesting! Several 'Special Zones' where Pokémon live have been carved out right in the city center!"
"In the Lumiose City of the night, trainers looking for battles will all go to the mysterious 'Battle District' to participate in Peak Battles where they can earn rewards!"
Ansha's tone was full of longing, making Aiden chuckle.
"I remember you saying that Uncle Aiden from the future will visit Lumiose City again?"
"Then I must have challenged the Battle District at that time, right?"
Based on his own personality, since he was already there, he would probably scoop up some rewards along the way, right?
Although it might be suspected as smurfing, but—
If I don't smurf and you don't smurf, how will the little fish ever grow up?
I'm doing this all for the growth of those Elite Trainers!
"Nope~"
To Aiden's surprise, Ansha immediately crossed her hands into an "X" shape after hearing this, and replied with a smile.
"Uncle Aiden at that time was already the well-deserved number one in the world. Even if he went, no one would dare to challenge him anymore."
"So for the final Peak Battle, Uncle Aiden sat on the judges' side, and only fought a match as a mysterious guest with Sister Korrina."
"Korrina, huh—"
The image of that energetic roller-skating girl appeared in Aiden's mind.
Right now, this "Mega Evolution Successor" was still a bit immature, and she had many shortcomings as a rookie Gym Leader.
He wondered if she would become stronger in five years?
"Mmm—, maybe the future Sister Korrina will surprise Uncle Aiden?"
Seeing the curiosity in Aiden's eyes, Ansha thought for a moment and gave a very tactful answer.
Although Sister Korrina was indeed very reliable, her fashion style just felt a bit— alternative?
Five-year-old Ansha really didn't know how to describe it.
"Is that so?"
Aiden nodded, not thinking too much about it.
After all, he couldn't meet the people from five years later right now anyway.
"Hoopa~"
Just as Aiden was about to change the subject, a golden ring suddenly appeared next to the table.
Little Hoopa quickly poked its head out of it, and very impolitely reached out and stuffed two donuts directly into its mouth.
"Hoopa, you're finally back!"
Ansha narrowed her eyes and patted Hoopa's head with a smile.
"How are things in Desert City?"
"Hoopa took care of everything!"
After swallowing the donuts whole, Hoopa patted its belly with a smile, and continued proudly.
"After everyone knew that Hoopa understood the meaning of 'discipline', they all smiled and said goodbye to Hoopa, and even invited Hoopa to go back and play when we have time!"
"Everyone is so nice!"
Aiden and Ansha smiled as they listened to Hoopa finish, both showing relieved expressions.
After this incident, little Hoopa had indeed grown a lot.
Perhaps its sudden appearance five years in the past was dictated by fate to sever the karma of the past?
"So, what's your next plan?"
Aiden asked casually.
Without the influence of Big Hoopa, Hoopa had now regained its ability to travel through space-time using the interdimensional rings.
Logically speaking, it was about time for Ansha and Hoopa to leave.
But clearly, it seemed they still had other unresolved matters, so they weren't planning to go back just yet.
After Aiden asked them directly, Hoopa and Ansha looked at each other, both seeing a hint of guilt in the other's eyes.
In the end, it was Ansha who took the initiative to raise her hand and asked timidly, "Uncle Aiden, do you know Mr. Lysandre?"
Aiden: ?
Why would Ansha know this name?
This was the first question that popped into Aiden's head.
According to the normal timeline, Lysandre should have been caught in the Ultimate Weapon's blast when the XYZ gods resurrected and died directly, right?
Could it be that he and Team Flare reappeared five years later?
Seeing Aiden's eyes instantly become incredibly sharp, Ansha immediately waved her hands repeatedly.
"Uncle Aiden, you must have misunderstood something!"
"The future Mr. Lysandre once told you that he believes his past views were wrong, and he deeply regrets the things he did."
"Although I'm actually not clear on what he did in the past, nobody wants to talk about it—"
Ansha pouted, clearly a bit dissatisfied with this.
"So I thought, since we've returned to five years ago, I should personally witness what actually happened in the past!"
"If possible, maybe I can stop Mr. Lysandre from doing things he'll regret?"
After Ansha finished speaking, Aiden sighed silently.
This child is truly an angel—
Lysandre could actually be redeemed?
Aiden couldn't quite imagine such a future.
But since it was Ansha's choice, it meant his future self must have tacitly allowed her to do this, right?
Anyway, the awakening of the XYZ gods was inextricably linked to him, so he might as well help her fulfill this wish.
After pondering for a moment, Aiden nodded.
"Alright."
"But if you encounter danger, Hoopa must take her away immediately."
"Hoopa will protect Ansha!"
Hoopa showed a confident smile and struck a muscle-posing bodybuilding pose.
"Then, let's get going."
Aiden nodded and stood up, looking towards another plaza in the distance.
Lysandre Labs—
At this time, the Y Bird's Cocoon of Destruction should have already been transported there, right?
------------------------------------------------------
Voting for a new Pokemon novel is up on patreon! Make sure you get your opinion heard, members, please remember to vote!
30+ Chapters Ahead: patreon.com/EphemeralShadow
There's something for free patrons too! Free Patrons receive 1 chapter in advance :)