Little Hoopa fell silent after sensing the weight of that power.
There was nothing to argue with in what had just been said. From beginning to end, Hoopa alone had carried the punishment for its own actions.
Little Hoopa took a deep breath and flew back to hover in front of Steven. Its serious round eyes seemed to look straight through him, as if using Foresight to study the power sealed inside his body.
"Then, let's trade places."
Steven flinched at the words.
"Let the shadow and Hoopa switch!" Little Hoopa declared. "Let Hoopa feel the pain the shadow has suffered! Let the shadow feel the good, happy days instead!"
Just then, Meray and her Lucario leapt down from Lugia's back. She walked slowly toward Steven, looking at the young man before her with a gentle smile.
"You've grown taller..." she murmured. Then she composed herself, her expression turning serious.
"Shadow, you are both yourself and Hoopa. That means you can sense Hoopa's true feelings, can't you?"
Steven turned his head slightly to look at her. His expression was hard to read, though if anything, it looked like inner conflict.
"Merge with Hoopa. You'll share both the pain and the joy together."
Meray and her Lucario raised their hands, and a stream of blue Aura flowed toward Steven. The powerful Aura sank into his body. The hand gripping the Prison Bottle slowly loosened. The black flames wrapped around him flickered out. The bottle shone with a sudden burst of golden light, and the red glow in Steven's eyes began to fade.
"Hoopa has always... been waiting for the shadow to return!"
A beam of golden light shot into the sky and vanished in an instant.
"The dark power is gone!" Baraz's face brightened with relief. He could feel that the power sealed within the Prison Bottle had turned pure once more.
This whole ordeal was finally over.
Baraz looked out over the ruins of Sanctum City with a bitter smile. The city had grown so much, only to fall right back to what it once was, in a single night. Sanctum City had risen because of Hoopa — and had fallen because of Hoopa, too. Perhaps that was simply how it was meant to be.
Nearby, Groudon, Kyogre, and White Kyurem, still lying among the rubble, slowly opened their eyes. The red glow that had clouded their gazes disappeared completely, and their own minds returned to them.
Groudon and Kyogre looked at each other and frowned, as though ready to fight again. But then both turned toward Rayquaza in the distance. Groudon gave a low hum and turned away. Kyogre clapped its large fins together and did the same. The pain in their bodies hadn't faded yet — even they knew this wasn't the moment for another battle.
Steven was helped up by Baraz and Ash.
"Here — take this," Steven said weakly, holding out the Prison Bottle to Baraz. He was afraid he might drop it, though by now, it probably wouldn't have mattered even if he had.
"Once this is done, Meray and I will bring Hoopa back to the Distortion Valley to reunite it with its other half," Baraz said solemnly.
Steven nodded and looked up at Rayquaza.
"Human, I will remember you," Rayquaza said.
Steven gave a faint smile. "Thank you, Rayquaza. That was a good battle."
"It really was," Rayquaza replied.
"Now then, Hoopa will send everyone home! Hehe!" Little Hoopa laughed.
Finally, Steven's eyes turned to the young woman standing quietly beside him. Meray reached out gently, her voice full of concern. "You've done so well..."
Before she could finish, or even touch his hand—
A deafening roar tore through the sky.
A black rift split open above them, and dark energy poured down, swallowing the Sanctum Tower whole. Anything the energy touched shattered instantly.
Baraz raised his hand at once, sensing the strange force. "Space itself is warping! It must be from summoning so many Legendary Pokémon at once!"
Rayquaza and Lugia exchanged a glance. A Dragon Pulse and a burst of countless Air Slashes collided with the approaching wall of dark energy.
The attacks barely made a dent.
Groudon, Kyogre, and White Kyurem joined in, unleashing Precipice Blades, Origin Pulse, and Glaciate — but the wall of energy remained unaffected.
"What do we do?" Ash asked, watching the wall creep closer.
"It's so scary!" Bonnie clung tightly to Clemont, trembling.
Serena moved closer to Ash, seeking comfort.
Steven clenched his teeth and forced himself to stand up straight. "Rayquaza — let's try again, together!"
"There's no point. It would only make your death meaningless," Rayquaza said calmly.
If neither Rayquaza nor Lugia had a way to stop it, adding Steven to the fight would change nothing — and Steven's body had already reached its limit. Forcing himself into another attack would only kill him.
"So what if it's death?" Steven said. "If I can be reborn once, I can be reborn again. Getting to fight this hard before the end — it was worth it."
Rayquaza had never known fear. It possessed tremendous power and lived only for the thrill of a good battle — it would have challenged even Arceus without hesitation. Its confidence was the true source of its strength. Even in defeat, it would simply grow stronger and challenge its opponent again.
Lugia nodded in agreement. "Just do your best. Don't worry about anything else."
Rayquaza smiled at Lugia. "It's a shame we never got to battle each other, to see who was stronger."
"You're taller," Lugia said simply, with a calm smile.
Somehow, the exchange between the two Legendary Pokémon eased the tension in the air, and that same calm spread to everyone watching.
Meray reached out again, gently touching Steven's cheek.
"I won't just stand here and watch you disappear," she said softly. "That's not something I can allow."
"Leave it to me."
She stepped forward. Some things, she knew, always needed "someone" to solve them.
Meray spread her arms, and stones of many shapes rose into the air around her, glowing with soft shades of pink. The three stones in Steven's pocket flew out and joined them, until more than twenty fragments hovered behind her.
Her gaze turned clear and steady as she called out:
"In the name of the messenger, by the light of the sacred jewels — I call upon the gods to descend!"
At once, the stones fired beams of light into the sky, and a rift in space tore open...