"Alright.
Everything's taken care of."
Yveltal landed.
Reshiram touched down at Yveltal's rear, and it shot Yveltal's back with a resentful look.
Damn you, Yveltal!
Damian's mount was supposed to be me!
So unfair!
Damian naturally had no idea what his Reshiram was thinking right now.
He laughed and spoke to the others.
Caitlin kept a soft smile.
Dawn's eyes were sparkling with worship.
Serena was also extremely excited.
"Hehe~
Baraz, Meray, I'm back!"
Mischief Hoopa drifted over in front of them, grinning so wide it practically split its face.
"Welcome back.
And congratulations on getting your power back, Hoopa."
Baraz showed a sincere smile.
It smiled at Mischief Hoopa.
"Thanks, Mr.Damian.
And sorry for the trouble."
Then Baraz expressed his gratitude to Damian.
"Thank you so much, Mr.Damian."
Meray held Mischief Hoopa close, wiping down her slightly reddened eyes as she told Damian.
"In the middle of the battle, I got scared into near not being able to breathe a few times."
"No need to thank us.
We're friends, after all.
And how should I put it—
today, it was also all thanks to Hoopa.
Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to enjoy a scene this huge."
Damian chuckled lightly.
"But there's one thing that feels weird."
Damian turned back toward that battlefield.
He looked puzzled.
"What is it, Mr.Damian?"
Baraz asked, not understanding.
"Just now, with that many of these top Legendary Pokémon in one big battle—normally, this space should've been unable to take it and collapsed.
But now, there's absolutely no sign of that."
Damian explained his ideology.
"Is it because Origin Forme Palkia was involved back then?"
Even the little "skirmish" in the original movie caused the space to start collapsing.
Not to mention that fight with two-digit top-tier legendaries just now.
By rights, this space should've already started collapsing.
Was it because after Palkia's Origin Forme…
it boosted this space's sturdiness and stability?
But… it didn't seem right.
"How could that be?
That has nothing to do with Palkia."
Mischief Hoopa tossed its mouth to the side.
"Oh?"
Damian raised a brow.
"Palkia being born gave the concept of 'Spatial,' that's true.
But after that, it only handles the stability of the world's overall space.
This space being able to withstand the pressure of the battle without collapsing—
has absolutely nothing to do with Palkia."
Mischief Hoopa said it with total certainty.
"And I'm not slandering Palkia either.
If this space really collapsed, it probably wouldn't even be able to stop it."
"If you ask me, when it comes to using space in some area, Palkia isn't even as good as Hoopa."
Mischief Hoopa clearly doubted Palkia's space power.
After all, as a Dragon tied to the concept of "Spatial," Palkia couldn't counter Hoopa's Spatial rings.
So it really wasn't surprising that Hoopa would look down on Palkia's space power.
"Then do you know why this space didn't collapse?"
Damian asked Mischief Hoopa.
Mischief Hoopa answered in the most confident, shameless way possible.
"Of course I don't."
Damian rolled his eyes at that.
But that glance was so casual.
Above the clouds in the distance, a streak of golden light flashed.
A white silhouette disappeared beyond the horizon behind the clouds.
If it was Arceus, that was honestly totally unsurprising.
Damian clicked his tongue.
He already knew—
with a scene this huge, how could Arceus not show up?
"Alright, enough.
Let's head back first and get some water.
This place isn't good for chatting."
Arche Valley.
Damian and the others returned here.
Meray was extremely enthusiastic and pulled out some fruit wine she'd kept stored away.
"Come on.
Have some.
This is homemade by my grandma.
It tastes really good."
Meray poured one cup for everyone.
She didn't leave out Mischief Hoopa or Terapagos either.
After all, today's mood was great.
"A little sweet.
Mmm… a bit bitter too.
So good."
Dawn took a sip.
She looked pleasantly surprised.
It was her first time ever drinking alcohol.
"Right?
It doesn't have high alcohol content.
One cup won't get even a first-timer drunk."
Meray looked delighted.
"It really is good.
By the way, Baraz—
after this, you should have Hoopa try breaking out of Confined a lot."
Damian glanced over and saw Mischief Hoopa using psychic control to clink a bowl with Terapagos and Jirachi.
Damian couldn't help but find it funny.
"Even though it got its power back, the effects of Confined are still there.
It still can't pass through the Gold ring on its own."
That was right.
Even though Hoopa could now freely transform into an Unbound form…
it was still under Confined.
It had just regained its power.
It hadn't broken past Confined yet.
But that was only a matter of time.
After all, Mischief Hoopa's mindset was already fine now.
As long as it tried more, it would eventually break Confined.
Then, once Hoopa could freely pass through the Gold ring on its own—
that would be the true meaning of freedom.
"Mm-hm.
We'll keep encouraging it."
Baraz smiled.
He also genuinely hoped Hoopa could break Confined as soon as possible.
Because only then would it truly achieve Great-grandfather's original purpose.
They chatted while drinking.
Meray even cooked a few dishes.
Not to mention—
"You bunch of bastard!
I told you to drink a little.
Not to drink the whole bottle!!"
Meray's sharp scream startled the slightly tipsy Dawn and Serena.
When they turned their heads—
they saw Meray pinching Mischief Hoopa's ears.
She was looking at the fruit wine amount in the barrel—barely more than a tenth.
Her face was practically crying.
"It hurts, hurts, hurts!
Hic—
Meray, don't be mad, okay?"
Mischief Hoopa pouted.
It hiccuped too.
Then it giggled like a total idiot.
"I saved you some on purpose."
"Should I be thanking you then?
Hoopa!!"
Meray gritted her teeth, and glanced over at the Jirachi and Victini that were knocked out belly-up, drinking themselves drunk—
as well as Mesprit.
And over there, Terapagos walked around proudly with a drunken gait.
Its steps were a little wobbly, but it was weirdly excited.
Meray felt like crying without tears.
Those barrels of wine…
those were the fruit wine her grandma had left behind.
And this was the very last barrel.
Probably because everyone had drunk a bit too much—
Caitlin and the others also fell back asleep in the rooms Baraz had prepared for Damian and the others back then.
As for Damian himself—
he held the slightly tipsy Terapagos in his arms.
He went out to a grassy field and sat down.
"Terapagos.
You used your ability to send me back today, right?"
Damian asked Terapagos.
"Did I?
Oh—yeah, I think so."
Terapagos' crisp Telepathy carried a hint of confusion.
Then it confirmed it.
"So can you still use that ability right now?"
"I should be able to… maybe?"
"What do you mean 'maybe'?"
Damian froze.
If it works, it works.
If it doesn't, it doesn't.
What does "maybe" even mean?
Was Terapagos drunk and confused?
"I'm not sure, Damian.
My ability isn't something I can use however I want.
And I can only send Damian you to a Past or Future that's connected to you."
"What do you mean?
Damian thought it over.
But he still wasn't fully sure.
"I can't send you to some exact timeline.
I can only send you to a time point in the past or future that you will definitely experience."
Terapagos tilted its little head.
It thought for a moment, then answered like that.
But—
how do you put it?
Those words were honestly kinda vague.
Terapagos seemed to notice that what it said wasn't very clear.
It turned around in circles, struggling to figure out how to explain more plainly.
"That's right, Damian.
Back when I sent you to the past…
didn't you meet someone you knew?"
Terapagos suddenly thought of something.
"…"
Damian looked like it suddenly clicked.
"So your meaning is—
you can only cross over me into someone's timeline who I'm guaranteed to intersect with?"
"Yep.
And it has to be people with causality.
Because of the 'cause' in the past or future…
the 'effect' exists in the present or future, because of that."
Terapagos' eyes lit up.
It nodded hard.
"So in that case, your time-space travel really has a lot of limits."
Damian thought about it.
If that was the case, Terapagos' time-space travel—
was basically a causality cycle.
Still…
thinking back to the plot of Crimson and Violet—
Terapagos' influence really did "deserve credit."
thinking back to the plot of Crimson and Violet—
Terapagos' influence really did "deserve credit."
The Great Crater of Paldea has been extremely mysterious since ancient times.
Before modern days, only the Area Zero observation team from 200 years ago reached the deepest part of Area Zero.
And based on that, explorer Heath wrote the exploration record books, the Scarlet Book and the Violet Book.
They documented bizarre things the expedition encountered along the way, and later generations passed them down.
However, most modern people believed the content in the Scarlet/Violet Book was far too unbelievable.
And the authenticity couldn't be verified.
So no one trusted it.
But the Professor couple, Sada and Turo—
who read the Scarlet/Violet Book—
believed it wholeheartedly.
Why?
Because they really had experienced an extraordinary, uncanny encounter.
They had seen the Pokémon described in the books.
And because they'd grown up reading the Scarlet/Violet Book, their hearts had long been captured by the Pokémon recorded in it.
And to see those ancient Pokémon and future Pokémon again—
they did everything they could to run experiments in Area Zero.
In the end, they successfully developed a time machine!
A time machine really could send ancient and future Pokémon from those times to the present—
those were Paradox Pokémon.
Sada and the other couple truly succeeded.
But why could Sada and Turo be sure the Scarlet/Violet Book was authentic?
Because in the Future, protagonist Juliana caught Terapagos.
And when Terapagos used its time-space travel ability in the Crystal Pool—
it teleported Sada and Turo over.
At that time, they hadn't even manufactured the time machine yet.
So in the Future, they saw Koraidon (Miraidon) in person.
That made them even more certain the Scarlet/Violet Book was true.
So they manufactured a time machine.
But in reality—
Heath's expedition team had already seen all kinds of Paradox Pokémon in Area Zero two hundred years ago.
So why did when Sada and Turo entered Area Zero…
they didn't see a single Paradox Pokémon?
Most likely, Heath's expedition team from those two hundred years ago got teleported by Terapagos.
It sent them to the era of Sada and Turo after the time machine had already been manufactured.
So they encountered the various Paradox Pokémon and wrote down the exploration record.
Paradox.
And paradoxes weren't just those ancient forms and future species appearing in modern games.
The Area Zero plot was also full of paradox.
In that storyline, who was the real "cause"?
Who was the real "effect"?
Cause first, then effect.
And the opposite, where the effect becomes the cause.
Terapagos' ability truly was extremely strange.
But no matter what—
as long as Damian could confirm whether it could still send him back to Hisui—
that was all that mattered.
"So can you send me back to Hisui again?
It'd be best if you send me and Dawn together too."
Damian clicked his tongue.
He only cared about that one thing.
"What's 'Hisui'?"
Terapagos was completely lost.
"Huh?"
Damian froze.
"Uh…
At the time, I was actually trying to send you back three thousand years ago.
Because Damian, the 'thread' of your past—
the longest it could tug on…
was only up to three thousand years ago."
"My idea was to send you as far as possible.
So when you weren't around, you'd be able to take down Hoopa."
Terapagos said, tilting its head.
"But I didn't get sent back three thousand years ago."
Damian answered strangely.
Terapagos' meaning was easy enough to understand.
And Damian probably already knew that the "thread" of three thousand years ago—
had to be Az and Eternal Flower Floette.
After all, Az was a person from three thousand years ago.
"Yeah.
Back then my head wasn't right anyway.
Now thinking about it—
some other power must have changed my ability, and sent you off course.
I even don't know where I sent you."
Terapagos was completely innocent.
"…"
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