This time, they started in a place that wasn't as inconvenient for Hideo to navigate as that workshop had been. Wide, open areas with little clutter to trip over were far less inconvenient to him, even if he had Uxie telling him where everything was.

"A lot livelier than where we started last time," Hideo noted; he could hear plenty of people in the area, and what sounded like a lot of construction work going on…but not high-tech construction? He didn't hear any power tools or machinery being used.

It only took asking one person to get a general idea what was going on: this was the simulation from far back in the past, where they were building a tomb.

A tomb they just got invited to visit.

Hideo turned to Eris, a grin on his face. "Wanna do some Tomb R-, er, Visiting?"

Eris Halla

Hideo may have been oblivious to Eris's discomfort, but Uxie noticed it very quickly. It could've easily gleaned why by a simple Future Sight, or perhaps even peek into her mind…but where was the fun in that?

So Uxie would remain silent as Hideo happily nodded. "Been to a desert before, so I know there's plenty to trip over. But I got someone to help me with that right here~"

He'd meant to allude to Uxie, but Eris taking his hand would also serve to keep him from tripping over anything.

Once they were within the tomb, Uxie brought his attention towards the "star" that the tomb was being built around. It was…familiar. A strange sensation emanated from it that he swore was familiar.

And he wanted to touch it.

Uxie wanted him to touch it.

The combined desire to touch was too strong to ignore.

"Let's go touch it," Hideo insisted, lightly tugging Eris's hand in its direction.

Touch the Purple Chunk +50 points

Eris Halla

This time, Hideo noticed Eris's resistance - made all the easier since he could actually feel it this time. She wasn't outright stopping him, though.

"Oh. Alright." He didn't stop her from escaping his grasp, the boy taking a moment before continuing onto some tactile entertainment.

Standing close to the thing was really hitting him with deja vu, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

He could, however, put his finger on the purple chunk.

Touch.

He was immediately struck with a much more familiar sensation: the unsettling feelings from the Ultra Sea were hard to forget. That sudden feeling of the mental sheathe around his mind from Uxie told him enough - that had to be a part of Eternatus.

As if the vision Uxie was relaying to him didn't make that obvious. Though there was one thing that this vision revealed to him: there was another Pokemon present, one that attacked Eternatus in the first place.

One that neither Uxie nor Hideo knew what it was.

Hideo backed away from the core, the strange sensation of forced paranoia seeping in. "Shit," Hideo muttered, "Hope we don't gotta deal with those weird Pokemon now…"

Shift to the next scenario

Eris Halla

"You…you don't mean those weird fusion things we'd find in the Ultra Sea, do you?"

He doubted she was talking about Eternatus there, so the thing that Rocket had was…whatever it was that knocked Eternatus's piece down here.

That wasn't very reassuring.

But at least Eris's hand calmed him down a bit, enough that he could wait out until the simulation shifted over to a much more familiar environment.

One that he really wanted to go to. As did Uxie.

"Before we take another shot at Azelf…you got any clues where this place is? I still got nothing." He'd really been stuck at a roadblock for a while, though it was still better than the nothing he'd had for a year.

Eris Halla

"Well, it was worth a try asking." He didn't know if Eris was doing this any more or less than he was; Gym Leader duties and Wilds explorations ate up a lot of time that could've been spent exploring these simulations. "I still got nothing. Can't say any Wilds I've been to were anything like this island…just hope Azelf is alright, wherever they are."

Didn't help that Uxie was tight-lipped about it. He could only assume Mesprit was also staying quiet.

Though Eris's question broke him out of his contemplation.

"I…"

He let that trail off, trying to think of a good answer.

"I really don't know."

He didn't have a good answer.

"Maybe we become avatars? Maybe it just ends up being business as usual but Azelf hangs out at the treehouse? I'm still not entirely sure what the Lake Trio want to do right now…other than stop Necrozma if it comes back." Like they tried to do at the Tree of Life.

"And to be honest…I think we're gonna need to look for more help if we want a chance at getting any answers. I know we're supposed to be discreet about having Uxie and Mesprit…but I'm thinking about talking to the League about me having Uxie. See if the people there could lend a hand."

Eris Halla

Painful…that wasn't wrong. "Yeah, I can still remember that killer headache we got at the tree of life, when Necrozma showed up." Felt like it was gonna split his head in two - and he could recall what Eris (and several others) went through when they had the charm-holder meetup. "They really made us work for this…and still are."

He could hear Uxie giggle atop his shoulder, patting his head. They certainly had a strange sense of humor. "They certainly haven't made it easy for us to reach Azelf down there…"

He paused, letting Eris get her own thoughts out. "I was only planning to out myself," he said. "I won't push you to do the same. You can let people know when you're ready…when you're more comfortable."

He knew he was in a much better position to reveal it than Eris did. The League knew he was on their side.

And Melody Miro 's encouragement had been getting through to him.

"Just gotta get the right opportunity to do it."

Whenever that'd be.

Hideo looked towards the lake - their ever-present obstacle. "…ready for the Lake Trio to push us a little bit more?"

Dive Into The Lake +50 points

Eris Halla