"Mmph phere."

Hideo's attempt to let Eris know he was there went about as well as it could with him face-first on the other side of that beanbag chair. His Alakazam's Teleporting was accurate, but it didn't always leave him in a comfortable position.

Though he'd suppose it was better than being face-first on the floor.

Hideo lifted himself off the beanbag chair, hearing Eris claim it as her own seat. He knew the room well enough to find a seat himself. Uxie was ready to help him anyways, but Mesprit took its hand, Uxie looking towards its sibling through closed eyes.

"Yeah, I can give him a call. Or a text might be faster." The exhaustion was clear in his voice, but his hands were fast, taking the phone out of his pocket. He tapped away at his phone, the assistive program aloud as he went to his text app, and read out every word as he typed it out.

Doug. Come to treehouse. We need to talk about Littleroot. Now.

Eris Halla John Sullivan

Aftermath

Imagine taking 4 whole ass months to reply. Couldn't be me, right Hideo Kino & Eris Halla? hahaha...

The tremors from each bump and turn on the road jostled the young Captain's body, splayed out on the military vehicle's seat as he was.

Now that the battle for littleroot was (tentatively) over, all of the adrenaline that had carried him through the day had abandoned him, leaving behind an exhausted husk of a young man who really didn't want to deal with anything except his bed right now.

Naturally, his cellphone chose this moment to ring.

Hey, Listen!

He had thought himself hilarious at the time.

"Urgh." He groaned, grabbing his cap tightly and shoving it over his eyes in frustration as every muscle in his body tensed up, before he went limp. "Fine!"

He picked up his phone and swiped it open, before blinking ever so slowly at the text in front of him.

Aw shit.

---

There were several seconds between Hideo sending the text and a portal of phantom force appearing into the base and dumping Doug face first onto the couch, the youth's body bending over the arm before his legs lifted and he ended up in a nearly yoga like position.

From which he refused to move.

"You two okay?" He asked into the cushions, voice slightly muffled.

Hideo didn't even have a chance to put his phone away before he could hear the low hum of a Phantom Force, with a Doug-sized mass plopping onto the couch shortly after. He'd assumed Doug would take a minute or two to actually get here.

Not even enough time to collect his thoughts on what to say. Hideo didn't even have enough time to right himself in his seat. Eris's answer at least gives him a moment to put something together.

"Machine Kingdom under Littleroot Theater. Rocket might've been looking for it for something."

Uxie was dragged over towards Doug by Mesprit, its hand still held. It didn't poke at Doug, but it did look over him carefully with closed eyes.

"I fought an avatar. Think he had Xerneas."

Eris Halla John Sullivan

Aftermath

Chilling in the couch, dying with Hideo Kino & Eris Halla

"Horse Dialga, hah." Doug said, face flat against the cushion as his scorpion tail legs dangled over him. "Good job livin'. Le'me do a quick sweep."

And by sweep, he meant the sharp expelling of healing scales that followed shortly after, the exposed parts of his skin briefly glowing a neon pink before the whole living room became a glitter party.

"So Chu-E's arrested, huh. Urgh. Karma has shit timing." He commented after, before releasing what sounded like a groan shortly after. "I'll try n'keep him outta trouble."

Hopefully that went well.

"What the heck is a lake guardian?" The youth grumbled, dragging his face up and away from the cushion to glare at Eris for poking him.

He found Mesprit and Uxie instead.

"Oh. Those guardians. Right." Durr. With all the chaos, he had nearly forgotten the little tattoo Hideo had shown him last time. "Uh... Good job guys, knew you had it in ya."

He was so proud, he could've hugged them. Any other day.

Oh, there was a kingdom underneath Littleroot? Weird, kinda cool, but mostly weird—

Doug propped himself up sharply onto his elbows at the avatar mention, eye twitching as his spine curled further unto itself, his head nearly touching against his scorpion tail legs.

"Wolf Mask?!" He said, before hissing as he felt something pop, and rolling off the couch with a— "Shit!"

Thud.

Wait, Hideo couldn't have seen the mask.

"Anything happen?"

Uxie freed its hand from Mesprit's grasp, catching several of the sparkling scales in its hand, looking over them intently. Its focus only broke to observe Doug's glow, its mouth slightly open in surprise.

Hideo's attention was taken by the second Doug-sized thump, this time on the floor. "That's what he's called?" he asked, an eyebrow raised. "He didn't really give me a name, but I've encountered him before. First, he nearly burns me to death in that fire. Then today, he goes out of his way to give me a hard time. Xerneas really chose a dick for an avatar."

He sighed. "He knocked out my Aggron, and Elga. He was teleporting through vines he was making grow everywhere, attacking along with his Pokemon. And he was strong, too, 'cause I can't imagine any normal person punching out a steel-type, let alone an Aggron."

His physical exhaustion lifted somewhat by the healing scales, righting himself in his seat. "He had a Pokemon just like Frankie too. 'Least that's what Elga told me. Elga was able to knock it out with a z-move, but then 'Wolf Mask' brought out Xerneas."

Saying how Elga was knocked out wasn't necessary at that point.

"I got away after that. Gave Elga a Revive and managed to get behind the theater without him noticing me again. That's where I found Eris…or, uh, Rosmontis here. Rosmontis was helping stop Rocket, not Eris."

Surely she hadn't shared that identity with this Gavin guy…right?

Eris Halla John Sullivan

Aftermath

Chilling in the couch, dying with Hideo Kino & Eris Halla

Aw, they were trying to keep secrets.

"You guys are adorable." He said with loving, if entirely unimpressed condescension, before turning his gaze to Eris. "No point worryin' 'bout it, Eris— I mean... Rosmontis. We all know Eris stayed home like a good girl."

He almost snorted halfway through the sentence.

Hideo's tale was the tragic tale of an ass whooping.

"That guy really decided to beat on a civilian child in the middle of a warzone, huh?" He said as a scowl slowly morphed his face. "Good to know he's as stupid as he is an ass."

After much consideration the youth finally said.

"Did anyone see you guys bond with these two over here?." He commented as he lifted a hand up to Mesprit, holding out a single finger for a tiny hi-five. "Havin' legendaries with'cha always brings unwanted attention— League and rocket alike."

The best case scenario was for only the people present to know Mesprit and Uxie had bonded with the two kids.

Eris's revelation came to no surprise to Hideo; she'd already warned him about it before Rocket's attack. After what he'd heard happened in Kanto from the two present here, and what he'd witnessed in Littleroot, he didn't expect any less than that. "Bet he even thinks he'll 'do it better' this time, huh? One ruined town at a time."

He already recalled the time they'd temporarily taken over Slateport, though things went so badly for Rocket they'd basically gone underground after that.

Until now.

Uxie watched as its sibling completely misinterpreted Doug's gesture - but rather than correct Mesprit, it watched Doug, curious to see how he'd react.

"Far as I know, only one other person knows we got Uxie and Mesprit. Locke Jamison was there, and he helped us get away from Littleroot, but he helped us meet the trio in the first place. I trust him." Even let them take a ride on Latias. "I know we gotta be as careful as ever, now that they're with us."

Eris Halla John Sullivan

Aftermath

Chilling in the couch, dying with Hideo Kino & Eris Halla

Doug blinked as Mesprit pulled on his finger.

'Must. not. fart.' he mantra'd to himself in stunning display of self-control, waggling the finger up and down instead, as if to shake hands with Mesprit.

"'Course he does. He's old school, ain't he?" he said simply, leaning his head onto his cheek. "They didn't come back to 'do it right this time' or anything like that."

Any old rocket who truly regretted Kanto would (eventually) leave rocket. Chu-e Choi stood as proof of that— at least to him.

"After the fiasco at the tree, most people guessed the lake guardians would be around." Doug commented, rubbing his chin. "So long as no one saw you with 'em at the place, no one can definitely tie you in particular to them... Hopefully."

Doug was woefully out of the loop were the whole prophecy and all that jazz the kids had been investigating was concerned.

Hideo was quick to shoot back after Eris's outburst. "Rocket doesn't need to take over anyone's homes." He could feel his heartbeat get higher, anger brewing.

"They aren't really gonna 'do things better' than Kanto, no matter what they promise anyone. We're lucky they didn't manage to mess up what League had planned to get rid of the meteor." There wouldn't even be any Hoenn left for them to take if they stopped it.

Before this, he might've been willing to hear Rocket out, for any constructive changes. But witnessing their methods was enough to tell him how destructive they were for Hoenn.

He didn't want them destroying his home.

Doug was able to bring his mind back to the Lake Trio. "We weren't the only ones trying to get answers out of them…but as far as I know, Eris and I were the only ones marked. I got no idea if Azelf marked someone, and I don't think they even showed up in Littleroot."

It was the Lake Trio, yet there was a glaring lack of its third member.

Hideo unconsciously tapped the tattoo on his wrist. "I've kept mine under wraps. Only people I've shown it to are you two and Melody Miro ."

Granted, now he was more or less stuck spending his nights at Melody's house, so maybe that decision could've used more time in the mind oven.

"And, well, I kinda didn't get any progress with finding Uxie after I got marked. You both made it clear I had to be careful, but I don't know as many people as you two do." That was more of a guess, but he knew they had more time to make connections than he did cooped up at his house. "Uxie and Mesprit coming to us kinda came out of nowhere."

He could feel Uxie's hand patting him on the head, the pixie doing what it could to comfort him.

Eris Halla John Sullivan