Before Baimu could say anything.
"Oh, de ma xi!"
Hoopa excitedly raised its hand, and the largest Golden Ring at its waist flew out, enlarging and hovering above the dining table. As if guessing what it was about to do, Mei Yali hastily reached out—
"Hoopa! Stop!"
Crash...
Dazzling golden light instantly flooded Baimu's entire vision, a large amount of gold, silver, and jewels covered the table, and many flew around, attracting gasps and panic from onlookers.
Without a doubt, the reckless Hoopa had summoned a huge amount of gold and silver treasures through the Golden Ring, right in front of everyone.
Balza and Mei Yali had expressions of absolute disbelief as they frantically picked up the scattered items. Mawile and the Dreepy Siblings exchanged a glance and joined in.
Only Baimu remained seated, trying hard to push the treasures forward to prevent them from falling.
"Hehehe, Xiaobai, did I scare you?"
It seemed very proud, winking at Baimu and then standing akimbo, "This money can be used to help the Ore people! Hoopa is super generous!"
Who is Xiaobai!
For those who don't know, they might think he was calling some Growlithe.
Speaking of which, what exactly did Grings punish? Why is Hoopa still so mischievous...
Having interacted with it for less than ten minutes, Baimu already felt a headache, and it was hard to imagine how Balza and Mei Yali could tolerate its unruly nature for so many years.
Maybe it's the bond of growing up together?
Alright.
He knew that Hoopa didn't have any bad intentions, it was just used to playing pranks and occasionally messing things up with good intentions.
The main purpose of Grings' punishment was to make Hoopa understand that power should be used for protection, not for mischief and destruction.
"You almost scared me to death."
He sighed helplessly, as expected Miss Joy arrived after hearing the news, first shooing away the curious or passionate onlookers, then glaring angrily at the three present, "You shouldn't expose your wealth recklessly when you're out. That's basic knowledge, right? I'm going to call Miss Jun Sha!"
"No!"
"Please don't!"
"We're really sorry, it wasn't intentional!"
The three spoke up in a rush, while Hoopa scratched its head and looked at the "bejeweled" Mawile and the two little Dreepys, finally realizing it seemed to have caused trouble again.
But as an optimist, it tends to forget its mistakes quickly, so it just giggled mischievously.
"Looks like we need to find another place to continue our conversation." Baimu communicated with the siblings, and the latter exchanged a glance and nodded in agreement.
They had experienced the consequences of Little Hoopa randomly summoning money before and were eager to find a secluded spot.
Thus.
The three once again shifted locations through Little Hoopa's Golden Ring, this time to a quiet park.
Apart from the occasional Wild Pokémon passing by, there wasn't a single person in sight. Even Porygon II couldn't find any surveillance cameras.
As expected, it's quite effective in fulfilling wishes, just a bit prone to overdoing it.
Baimu held the bag containing the gathered gold and silver treasures, handing it back to Hoopa, "Return these things to where you got them from."
"Why? Why?"
The mumbling Hoopa gnawed its hand, looking curious.
"Taking things without permission is considered stealing, and it's wrong to just take others' stuff. Besides, the Ore Region isn't so poor that it needs to borrow someone else's money to prosper; what we lack most is talent."
He had no attachment to this pile of goods, potentially worth tens of millions.
After all, with a wealthy wallet, he had enough for his Pokémon, and his confidence wasn't shaken by material wealth.
"Exactly! Taking without permission is considered stealing!"
Balza instantly liked Baimu upon hearing this, thinking he was the most mature youth, always troubled by Hoopa's reckless actions. Back in the Valley of Creation, it was fine, being isolated from the world, even if there were troubles, they wouldn't be a big deal.
But outside, every move isn't as free as before, causing trouble is a headache.
That's why Balza chose to look for the Vase of Punishment alone back then, but unlike his grandfather Grings, he got swallowed by the malice inside.
"Hoopa~ Did you hear that~"
Mei Yali also wore a lecturing expression. She was a fan of Baimu's Gorgeous Competition, and his actions only confirmed the beautiful image she had of him.
Hoopa looked completely puzzled, under the "criticism", it pouted aggrievedly:
"Xiaobai wrongly accuses me! Hoopa didn't steal, it picked it up from an ownerless treasure chest under the sea."
"Treasure chest under the sea?"
Baimu was slightly taken aback, reaching into the bag twice, indeed, it felt a bit damp... He hadn't noticed in the rush to change locations, but it was actually unowned treasure.
Not only did he not feel relieved, but he was more troubled about how to handle these things.
Hand them over to Miss Jun Sha? Or really send it back to the Ore Region...
Wait!
He turned to look at the pouting Hoopa and unhesitatingly clasped his hands to apologize: "Sorry, Hoopa, I misunderstood you. I apologize, will you forgive me?"
Seeing this, Balza and Mei Yali didn't stand firm either, and promptly apologized as well, clearly, such misunderstandings due to Hoopa's misuse of the Golden Ring weren't rare.
"Hoopa forgives you all!"
The optimistic Hoopa once again had a smile on its face, flying around the three of them.
Then.
At Baimu's request, Hoopa opened a passage to Shanren's bedroom, where he peeked in and indeed found the guy snoring on the bed—