Hideo had, unfortunately, been stuck at a wall for a while regarding the Lake Trio. The most progress he'd made was exploring the RKS simulation, where a simulation of Azelf resided…that he could never reach. Caution was needed to keep himself from drawing attention from the wrong people - but he couldn't climb that wall himself.

So he tipped his toe into the water, sharing Uxie's presence - and to his fortune, the first bite was one that wanted to help him.

He didn't need much help finding the place: Uxie's guidance did wonders, the pixie sitting atop his shoulder in its usual Illusionary disguise of a Ralts. It's only once they reached the laboratory that Uxie released its Skill Swap, its Illusion disappearing as it Levitated just above Hideo.

Guidance was still necessary, though, to keep Hideo from knocking over any equipment, so the pixie didn't float away from him.

"Thanks for the invitation!" he answered, being guided along. "Dunno the last time I was in a lab like this."

Science was never his strong suit.

He stopped when he heard her footsteps approach. "Kinda assumed you'd wanna ask questions. Pretty sure a lotta people do now. Even I got questions, though I dunno if anyone's got the answers to them."

"So, uh, ask away."

illeana reyes

Uxie and Hideo followed Illeana along, still staying careful not to bump on anything on the way over. Hideo eagerly took a seat on one of the plush chairs, Uxie landing neatly on his lap once he was settled.

"It wasn't too hard to get here," he answered, "Uxie here's pretty good at giving directions - when we know where we gotta go."

When they didn't? Uxie would let him wander.

The mention of information-gathering got a nod out of Hideo - seems they'd just be talking for now. As he'd expected.

The first question wasn't an unexpected one; it was something he'd contemplated how to answer for some time. If he lied, then it'd make things awkward if the truth got out, but he expected the truth would need a careful follow-up.

"I've had Uxie with me for a little over a year now."

He chose honesty. He couldn't get them to doubt him.

"To be more specific, Uxie joined up with me during Rocket's attack on Littleroot, back when that big meteor was coming down on Hoenn. Though the first time I met it in-person - or uh, in the flesh - was when Necrozma appeared at the Tree of Life."

He poked Uxie's belly, just to emphasize the "flesh" part. That got a grin out of the little pixie.

illeana reyes

Hideo nodded along to Illeana's praise, though the smile on his face was a bittersweet one. "I…guess it did. But it could've gone better. A lot better."

He could've not let so many Pokemon die. He could've stopped the Lake Trio from getting injured by those Shadow Pokemon.

It took Hideo a moment to think back on the time before Uxie showed itself.

"Well…I don't remember it too well. But a while back, during the Soiree where that Dream Mist first started showing up with the Unown, I got lost in the Mist. It was a bit chaotic, but once I got out of the mist, I noticed there was a weird amulet around my neck."

"I tried asking people about it…turns out I wasn't the only person with an amulet. Apparently, a lotta people got visited by the Lake Trio, but couldn't remember it unless there was a pair of amulets close to each other…but I don't remember meeting Uxie at all before that."

Hideo faced down towards Uxie, holding it close to his body.

Uxie laid its large head on Hideo's sweater, its little feet swaying up and down.

"Wasn't 'til a bunch of us got together, that we actually got to see the Lake Trio, though it was just a projection of them. Tried to warn us about Necrozma showing up…but they were doing vague prophecies, so they didn't make much sense back then."

Hindsight was 20/20.

illeana reyes

Hideo's legs playfully dangled as he readied his answers.

"More of a charm, I guess? It was just around my neck outta nowhere - no idea if it popped out of the mist or if Uxie gave it to me. I got no idea how it got there, and neither do my Pokemon."

He trusted his Pokemon on that - as if they'd have any reason to lie about it.

"I'd hear a letter any time I touched it. Or touched someone else's. Apparently people saw letters, so that might've just been to accommodate for me?"

Uxie nodded along.

The next question forced Hideo to think, the boy taking some time before giving an answer. He tried to think back to the time he'd heard those prophecies, though that'd been a while ago, and so much had happened since.

A small glow emanated from Uxie, one Hideo wouldn't notice - bringing his memories to the forefront of his mind.

This was gonna be a long one.

"Oh, right. I said it was a single prophecy…but it was kinda three-in-one? Each member gave a different one."

"Azelf was first. What it told us was

THE FUTURE IS LOST
YOUR CHOICE DOESN'T MATTER
THERE IS NO CORRECT ONE

Which…didn't really tell us anything."

Not a very encouraging prophecy.

"Mesprit's was next. It told us

THE DARKEST DAY IS ACTIVE.
THERE ARE TWO.
ONE WILL STEAL THE FOUNDATION OF LIFE.
ONE WILL KILL THE APPARITION OF DEATH.

That one almost happened one-to-one to Necrozma showing up at the Tree of Life - and its clone popped up too. It tried to kill Xerneas and Yvetal…and Kyogre. We managed to save them, so I guess we ended up beating that prophecy."

He could've saved so much more if he'd just been careful.

"Uxie here's was last. It went

ENERGY PULSES. HERE AND BEYOND.
YOU PEOPLE CALL IT IN THREES.
CREATION. LAKE GUARDIANS. EXISTENCE.
BEGINNING, MIDDLE, AND END.
THE LAST WILL BE RELEASED.
IT WILL RUIN ALL.

…that's one that we still gotta work on, I think."

The boy went quiet, almost as if he was hearing it all for the first time - and because he needed a moment to catch his breath.

"...to be honest, I haven't been looking too hard into the prophecies. I've been putting most of my free time into trying to find Azelf. It got hurt pretty bad during Necrozma's attack…worse than Mesprit or Uxie."

Plus, he already knew where the latter two were - one was on his lap, resting its chin on his arm. The other was with a trusted friend, putting her through wacky adventures.

illeana reyes

"Yeah…well, there were two different kinds of amulets, but each of the same kind gave me the same letter. Uxie's would give me an 'O', while Mesprit's gave me an 'I'. I think everyone else saw a different letter, but I dunno what everyone got."

An unfortunate gap that he had no way to fill. What letters he knew people had, did nothing to form any words.

And he had far more to focus on than guessing words.

It'd been a long while since he'd heard the prophecies; his own recitation was the second time he'd heard it, and he needed a moment to take in all the details.

"I still got no idea what the 'existence' trio could be. Lake Guardians is pretty obvious, same for Creation…" Trios weren't a rare thing among legendary Pokemon, but none carried that label.

And there'd been so many legendary (and mythical) Pokemon popping up in Hoenn, that the prophecy could mean a lot.

Another enigma that he was left to scurry around for like a headless Combusken.

But there was a different mystery he did have some information on - as little as it was.

"...just one. In the RKS simulation, one of the scenarios has us appear on an island. There's a lake in the middle, and if we swim as far down as we can, we can find Azelf there. We can never reach it before…well, we get a little closer each time."

It was the only lead he could find, and damn if he didn't try to wring out every bit of info he could out of it.

"Dunno where the island is though. It's small, but there's gotta be tons of small islands in the world…if Azelf is even somewhere on this world. Been trying to look over Wilds for Azelf too, but haven't had any luck on that front."

illeana reyes

Hideo shook his head.

"I got no idea. Only letters I could hear were my own. Everyone must've seen something different, but most didn't tell me about it. Probably too late to ask them about it at this point, and there were a lotta people gathered there."

And even if he could ask them, how forthcoming would they be about it? He didn't even know who was or wasn't Rocket in that meeting. "Though to think back on it…for Mesprit's, the other letters people said were a 'T' and a 'Y'." Leaving him with the letters I, T, Y. "Nobody shared their letters from Uxie's though…except for one person, said they saw a G on my amulet."

G, O. Not much to work with either.

Oh. Right. "Almost forgot…there was one other guy I knew that had been visited by Azelf. Said they saw a 'D' on both kinds of amulets. That's all I got for letters."

Alas, he'd been late to the party, and others had made much more progress in investigating these amulets than he had.

Freya's mention of the mirage islands did make him perk up a little. "That could be it," he mused. "Far as I know, the island is just in the middle of nowhere. Didn't seem off like the Wilds I've been to." It was in no way mechanical like the Mechanical Kingdom, it was fully intact unlike Lesser Megalopolis, and it was certainly less dry then the Ultra Desert.

"But we still don't have any hints to where it could pop up. Or when it'll pop up."

Or if it'd pop up.

"Do you think the only option we have is to wait?" Seemed like Freya knew more about those islands than he did.

illeana reyes