Hideo went silent for a moment. He thought back to the first time he'd encountered Uxie, after Necrozma's arrival, when he'd been marked.

"Well, pretty much everyone told me to keep a tight lid on even having Uxie's mark on my wrist. We didn't know who was safe to trust with knowing me and Eris were that involved with the Lake Trio. Back when we could've even been marked as their avatars."

Alas, no powers had come from the mark - and as far as he was aware, the mark was gone after Uxie properly joined him.

"Rocket was the biggest concern, 'specially when I was on my own doing Gym Challenges. But even with League, we had to be careful. At first I thought it was just 'cause something might get leaked to Rocket, but now I know there's people in League we gotta look out for too. Some people that might try to use Uxie, or even take Uxie away for themselves."

All those rants from Andy Blackadder about how untrustworthy the Silphs were gradually proving true, after what he'd heard about MATIAS SILPH . The bad apples didn't spoil the League for Hideo, but he still had to make sure he didn't bite into rot.

"I do want to help the League out. But I want it to be in a way where I can get some distance if I need to, so I can have some control over what I do. I'm just trying to be careful."

Melody Miro

The anxiety on Hideo's face would be clear; he didn't like needing to actively distance himself from a system that should, by all means, be helping him. It'd just been drilling too much into his head that he had to be cautious who to talk to - not helped by his experiences needing to keep secrets from his family.

"I guess…" He was still reluctant to budge on it. "I just feel I'd be safer if I was anonymous for now."

A life spent fearing punishment from even a single piece of information reaching the wrong ears wasn't so easily overcome. Not when the consequences of this getting out could be so much more severe than a grounding.

Hideo was taken out of his funk when Melody asked him for a favor - and then immediately thrown off by what the favor was. Even his Pokemon were surprised, though Uxie's frown would likely be easier to decipher than the Beheeyem's head tilt.

"What?" Hideo asked first, breaking a short silence, only to fall into a new one. "W-...Why did you want to forget that?"

Melody Miro

Hideo quietly listened to Melody's reasoning. The frown in his face didn't go away, but some of the previous anxiety was gone from it.

"...I have heard there are Avatars that can make people tell the truth," he said. "Or they could just get their Pokemon to look through memories. I guess it would be even worse for the League to find out about Eris having Mesprit, than me having Uxie."

At least he was already a part of the League. Eris had been part of Rocket; they had a lot more reason to be suspicious of her than of him.

And the best way to beat something that could read your mind or tell the truth from lies, was to simply not know what they were looking for.

"Uxie probably could do precise stuff like that." His Beheeyem probably could too, but Melody specifically named Uxie as the trustworthy Pokemon. "I'm still kind of hesitant about outright joining AQUA…but I guess I could help them out with stuff? Though I don't have too much to show for it right now."

Other than possessing Uxie, he didn't have anything special; no powers, no big secret knowledge, and he didn't even have Uxie's mark anymore.

Hideo could feel Uxie float off his lap, aware that it was floating over towards Melody. "So, uh, you want Uxie to do it right now? I dunno how fast Uxie would be at it, or if you'd want to sit down first before it starts going through your memories and stuff."

Melody Miro

It was for the best that Melody closed her eyes. It'd make it much easier for Uxie to be precise, to avoid taking away more memories than she wanted. It made sure to warn the others not to look, to stay facing away from it. Hideo's Beheeyem made sure not to watch, even making sure Hideo was turned away as well (pointless as that may be).

Bright, glowing eyes opened, staring straight at Melody. A low hum could be heard as its psychic powers went to work, easily making their way into Melody's head. It gently sifted through her memories, looking for any connection to Mesprit and Eris - and neatly taking them away.

They were gentle removals, like a soft breeze sweeping away fallen leaves. There was no pain, barely even a small sensation with each removal. Uxie was thorough, removing each and every connection it could find.

It would even remove it from her most recent memories - of having asked for Uxie to remove her memories connecting Eris and Mesprit, though still leaving her with the memory that she'd requested it remove specific memories. The holes left by those removals wouldn't stay for long, perhaps patched up by her own mind making new rationalizations about the Pokemon Eris possessed at those times.

None of which would lead to Mesprit.

It was a quick process, no longer than ten seconds. When it was down, the hum would fade away, Uxie's eyes closing once more. It floated over to Hideo, landing directly on his lap.

"I…I think Uxie's done," Hideo said, feeling Uxie reach over to take what remained of the boy's dessert. "You…feeling alright, Melody?"

Melody Miro

Hideo wasn't unfamiliar with having his own mind altered - he knew it helped him get through some pretty difficult times. Altering someone else's mind was a different thing entirely; it felt a bit wrong to do it to Melody, even if she'd quite literally been asking for it.

He didn't feel as bad about it as he'd expected, though. Probably because it was with consent, in the interest of protecting someone he cared about. And there didn't seem to be any harm that came of it, if Melody's words were to be trusted.

"Honestly…I didn't know it was gonna be that easy," Hideo said, holding Uxie close to his body (as the pixie finished off what dessert that boy had remaining). "I just kinda assumed it's easy when my Pokemon do it to me 'cause they know my mind so well. Maybe Uxie's just that good at working with memories…which makes sense."

Uxie represented knowledge, after all.

"...that's the kind of stuff you think AQUA would want me to do?" he asked. "Help people forget stuff that they want to forget? I dunno if they'd even need Uxie to do that."

Though it wasn't exactly secret that he had a lot of psychic Pokemon, and the League hadn't asked him to use his Pokemon to help people forget stuff. Or to look through memories.

Melody Miro