At this point, things were more or less over.
But no one left, because they still wanted to figure out why Hoopa could summon Dark Eternatus from another world.
Until they got to the bottom of that, none of them could rest easy.
Just as everyone was about to wake Hoopa Unbound, applause suddenly sounded behind them.
"Well done, everyone!"
Wearing high heels and a faint, pleased smile, Cogita covered dozens of meters in a single step, arriving before them in just a few flickers.
At the sight of her, all the Legendary Pokémon immediately grew reserved, including Zygarde, Flash Rayquaza, and the two Eternatus.
Chen Shi's expression darkened. "Were you here all along?"
"Smart boy." Cogita chuckled. "That's our hero for you."
"So you just stood there watching the show?" Chen Shi asked unhappily.
"You've got me all wrong." Cogita shrugged. "How could you call it standing around watching the show?"
"I moved all the humans and Pokémon out of Dahara City."
"Otherwise, your battle would have reduced them to ashes ages ago."
Chen Shi paused and looked around. Only then did he realize that Dahara City no longer existed. All that remained was a field of ruins.
There wasn't a single human or Pokémon corpse in sight.
He had been so focused on the battle that he hadn't noticed any of this.
"Well? Don't you think you owe me a thank-you?" Cogita looked at him with a smile.
Chen Shi gave a dry cough and was about to speak when he suddenly sensed something was off. "What are you after?" he asked warily.
Though he hadn't interacted with Cogita many times, he still understood her somewhat.
Cogita never did anything pointless.
If she had suddenly shown herself now, she had to have some purpose.
Her smile unchanged, Cogita