Route 111, Nameless Valley.
Although Hoopa's Shadow had been dealt with,
and Hoopa had regained all its power,
even so,
Hoopa still could not pass through its golden rings.
Originally, Hoopa had possessed that ability.
Li Wei suspected that Arceus had imposed this restriction on Hoopa as a punishment for misusing its power.
At Li Wei's prompting, not only Hoopa but also Steven, Lance, Red, and the others began contemplating the meaning of that punishment.
Lance had his own understanding of the matter.
He, too, had done wrong in the past.
Even now, Lance still made mistakes.
Of course, those were only minor slipups at work.
The Justice Vanguard was now both his way of making amends for his past mistakes and a punishment he had imposed on himself.
Li Wei did not simply give Hoopa the answer,
because that would be nowhere near as meaningful as Hoopa arriving at it on its own.
Hoopa would encounter many more humans in the future, unless it stayed in the Valley of Creation forever.
If something like this could happen once,
it could happen a second time.
Hoopa had to understand the meaning of its punishment. Otherwise, it was not ready to enter the human world.
As everyone pondered,
Cynthia's voice softly broke the silence.
"I believe punishment is a restraint, but even more than that, it is protection."
Her voice seemed to echo Ghris's words from long ago. "What it restrains is not your power, but your heart when you wield it."
Hoopa blinked.
Ash clenched his fists and said earnestly, "Hoopa, you used your power to help everyone. That shows how much you've grown!"
Everyone's guidance mingled with its family's watchful care, like warm sunlight melting the last remnants of ice.
The confusion in Hoopa's eyes vanished completely,
replaced by