"Arceus wants to play hide-and-seek too, right?"
Seeing his own Arceus just as eager to join in, Xu Mu remembered that Arceus was still a kid, too.
"Lugia, come on out."
Xu Mu let Lugia out and explained the rules to the little guy.
"Then our first game of hide-and-seek starts now. You can't leave this Secret Realm. I'll count to a hundred, and once I find you, you lose!"
"Oh, and Hoopa, no hiding in another dimension!"
Arceus was already impatient, tilting his head back to hurry Xu Mu along.
"Got it, Xu Mu!"
Lugia was just as eager. He had eaten and played plenty of fun games with Xu Mu before,
but this was his first time trying hide-and-seek.
"Got it! Hurry up and start!"
Finally, Hoopa looked at his enormous body. An idea struck him!
"Wait! I'm too big like this. Hoopa will change shape to play with you!"
With that, Hoopa picked up the Prison Bottle from the ground and slowly sealed away his own power.
In the end, he took on the small form of Hoopa Confined.
Hoopa also tucked the Prison Bottle into another dimension through one of his rings.
That way, he could release his power whenever he needed it and regain his immense strength.
"Okay, let's start!"
Now that he was smaller, Hoopa seemed even more excited to play. He was livelier than ever.
Xu Mu nodded, closed his eyes, and began counting. "One, two, three, four, five..."
When he reached a hundred, Xu Mu slowly opened his eyes.
Lugia had psychic powers. Hoopa could enter other dimensions and had psychic powers too.
And Arceus could do just about anything...
Playing hide-and-seek with little ones like these, Xu Mu naturally had to use every trick he had.
He activated his Aura, Viridian