"Wooo!"
Lugia's cry rang out like a whale call that could travel thousands of miles.
Its blue eyes swept over everyone present. Rather than settling on the faintly smiling N, they landed on Baimu, and its puzzled expression seemed to deepen.
"Hee hee hee! Surprised?"
Little Hoopa showed no fear at all. It flew circles around Lugia's head, then enlarged the Golden Ring again, revealing Lugia's entire body.
A little seawater spilled onto the ground, proving that, just as Baimu had thought, Lugia had been at the bottom of the deep sea.
"Well? Isn't Hoopa amazing?"
Hoopa flew over to claim the credit, but Barza and Meray didn't answer. They only turned toward Baimu. He was the one who had wanted to find Lugia, and he was the one Lugia had looked at.
Well? Say something already!
N, who had been called in to help, smiled slightly and looked over too.
And so...
Baimu, who had quietly slipped behind Mawile to wait for N to work his magic, somehow became the center of attention for everyone, Pokémon included. Even Mawile and the Dreepy siblings turned to look at him.
In an instant, Baimu went from calm to painfully self-conscious.
He couldn't understand why Lugia kept staring at him when N, the child of Pokémon, was standing right there.
"Little White—"
"First, my name is Baimu. Second, Hoopa, you're amazing. Third, are you sure this is the Lugia that left Orre?" Baimu asked quickly, keeping his voice low.
Hoopa scratched its head. "What's the differensh?"
That lisp was really something...
"The difference is huge. There's more than one Lugia in the world!" As he spoke, he stole another glance at Lugia. It was still watching him, and N still hadn't done anything, which only made him more frustrated.
*Come on, man.