The battle had gone well; Hideo knew beforehand what team his opponent would use, so his own team had been carefully curated: one that had some advantages over the challenger's, but also some disadvantages.

A fair fight, that could go either way depending on the challenger's choices.

With that dealt with, Hideo was onto the next thing on today's schedule: a meeting with Paxton.

Not something he was particularly excited for, after their last meeting in Area Zero, but he still had to play nice. And he did want to hear about whatever Project Sapphire was up to.

"Hello," Hideo answered, a Ralts sitting upon his shoulder - the same disguise Uxie used in public. "I got a place we can talk in private. I'll show you where it is."

His office was a short walk away, Hideo more than ready to sit in his nice, comfy desk chair. There were plenty of seats for Paxton to take, whether a simpler chair that was easier to move or a comfy couch (that was half-occupied by a Musharna).

"So…kinda depends what you want me to do," Hideo answered, the "Ralts" on his shoulder hopping off onto the desk, taking a seat on a cushion that sat upon the desk. "Gym work keeps me pretty busy lately."

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Hideo tapped a small button behind his desk, deactivating the recording equipment in his office. Better to keep this kind of stuff hush-hush.

He let Paxton speak, the "Ralts" sitting on the desk cushion removing its illusory disguise, Uxie's form becoming clear to see (for those who could see).

"Does sound a lot like what I already do here," Hideo said, passing over the paperwork to Uxie, who'd do the reading for him. "I'd even teach Dynamax here, if we had a power spot."

Alas, none within or near Littleroot. Not even an artificial one. Though with how Rocket was acting, attacking people out of nowhere, that might've been a blessing in disguise.

"But I'm gonna take a guess and say you're not just here to ask me to be a teacher," he added, reaching over and lightly tapping Uxie's dangling foot. "Considering the little legend over here."

It'd be the first time the League asked to study Uxie directly; every other conversation had been more about his own goals and desires for the chunky pixie.

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Hideo nodded as well. "Makes sense. Think I could even pick out some people in Littleroot that would be interested."

"All public" meant it probably wasn't anything sketchy. Probably.

The conversation naturally moved to the pixie in the room, Uxie placing the paper down it'd just finished reading. Uxie looked over towards Paxton as he mentioned the Red Chain - in relation to Necrozma.

"Yeah…we already know they can restrain Necrozma, so long as a second one doesn't show up again. But their gems are still kinda messed up. I dunno if any of them can make the chain right now. And trust me when I say I've tried hard to heal'em up, so I dunno if this is something we're just gonna have to wait out too."

Hideo did his best to not react as Azelf was brought up. He had to report that he had Azelf in his (relative) custody, but that was the extent that he shared. He'd already promised Cassandra Kubrick to keep her out of the League's sight - something he could fully understand and support.

Uxie, however, was more expressive, its forehead scrunching - it would have furrowed its brow if it had any brows to furrow.

"Can't say I know who Azelf is paired with," he said, "if anyone. But Azelf itself needs time to rest. It did kinda die for a little while we were in that prison ship."

Hideo took a moment to read over the paper, his hands feeling through the braille lettering. Uxie briefly looked over the document as well, before looking towards Paxton again, its arms folded.

The words rang in both Paxton and Hideo's heads.

LEAVE OUT AZELF

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Hideo had fully expected further insistence from Paxton. And he did nod along as Paxton made his case - but the boy wasn't going to budge.

In part because he wasn't the one with the strongest opposition towards involving Azelf: Uxie's eyes may have remained closed, but it practically radiated a glare at Paxton, the frown on its face apparent.

But it'd leave the actual explaining to Hideo.

"I've already talked to Eva and Illeana about Uxie," he said. "And there hasn't been much progress on healing up its Gem. Everything we've tried's gone nowhere, so I don't think that'll work any better for Azelf."

"We" was a discreet way to hide he'd attempted most of that with Eris Halla , not Eva Morales or illeana reyes . But all of their attempts led to no progress. The closest thing he had now was the artificial lake plan Eris cooked up.

"And…well, Uxie doesn't want Azelf to participate." The little pixie nodded, corroborating Hideo's words. "Maybe it just wants to keep its eyes on Azelf, but I don't think the League'll have any luck helping either of them out if we get on their bad sides."

Hideo was well aware he wasn't putting a good foot forward in negotiations - but he knew losing Uxie's cooperation would be a really bad idea. It was already hard enough to keep watch on its activities; the last thing he wanted was Uxie to hide Azelf somewhere he didn't know.

Uxie looked over the documents one more time, before looking over at Paxton.

And once more, words resounded in both Hideo and Paxton's heads.

I WILL PARTICIPATE. NOT AZELF.

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"The problem, then," Hideo said, "would be getting all three together. I don't know where to find Mesprit and its partner, and I barely know anything about Azelf's partner."

Getting Eris Halla and Mesprit involved was bound to end in failure; Eris's distrust of the League was readily apparent, and getting Mesprit to sit down and cooperate seemed like an impossible task.

And Cassandra Kubrick , he'd specifically promised not to get involved with the League. With how high tensions were, he didn't blame her; he'd be in the same boat if he wasn't already a Gym Leader.

And he wasn't lying to Paxton either; he didn't know where Eris lived now, and he didn't know squat about Cass other than her being paired with Azelf.

"So if you really need all or nothing…well, I can't really offer you all right now."

Hideo was ready to let Uxie handle negotiations, with Paxton now addressing the Pixie over him. The boy sat back in his chair, letting out a small sigh; things were going over as well as he'd expected. He was sure Uxie could reason with Paxton and get him to understand…

Uxie folded its arms, a pout on its face as it lay back in its seat, the papers it'd held plopping on the desk. Its words would be mentally heard by both it

AZELF NEEDS TO PRIORITIZE REST.

Hideo nodded - a simple enough statement to agree with.

THERE WILL BE NO EXPERIMENTS IN THEIR CURRENT STATE.

MESPRIT WOULD CONCUR.

I WILL HELP, BUT AZELF WILL NOT BE INVOLVED.

Hideo realized there wasn't much reasoning put into that; just reiterating what had already been said. "I think Uxie's just worried about their sibling. They don't want Azelf getting too involved after that jail ordeal. And I don't think it's a good idea to make them mad by forcing Azelf to get involved before they're ready."

"And as someone who's got siblings…I can understand."

He'd get defensive too, if he was asked to get one of his siblings involved. Heck, he'd do it for his friends too - he was doing it right now.

"I know Dahlia's asking too, but this is as much as I can do. All I can give you is Uxie's help in the project, and you'll at least know where Azelf is."

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"That's only if Uxie wants to tell me."

There was little doubt that Uxie was spending a lot of time with Azelf - including when Cassandra was around. There was no way it didn't know where they were, and he was pretty sure more than one absence was because Uxie was busy trying to stuff pizza into Azelf's mouth.

"And Uxie's…"

It was already clear Uxie had no intent of sharing that information. And Hideo already shared what little he knew.

While Hideo didn't know the full extent of Project Sapphire, Uxie was more fitted for reading between the lines. And the concept of being used as a weapon was not something it was eager about - even if it were something it was trying to work against.

And it didn't expect Azelf to truly be limited to just getting medical care and being studied.

So when Paxton once more made a plea - this time asking them to try and convince the others to get involved - Hideo visibly deflated, and Uxie just stared at Paxton through closed eyes. Hideo already knew Cassandra Kubrick and Eris Halla wouldn't want to be a part of League operations like these - but he couldn't outright say it.

Uxie, however, merely floated up off of its seat - and disappeared, teleporting out of the room.

Hideo knew it happened the moment he stopped receiving information from Uxie - and he did his damndest not to let his anxiety show, but the beads of sweat on his brow would betray how he was really feeling.

"I…I don't think Uxie's gonna budge on that," he said, his voice wavering slightly. He didn't often run up against Uxie's obstinance, but he knew Uxie was perfectly willing to sit out of something it didn't want to get involved in - even if he really wanted Uxie's help.

He hoped Uxie would cool off soon…

"I can get Uxie to work with Sapphire, but I don't think it wants to get its siblings involved at all."

He hoped Uxie wasn't mad enough that he was making empty promises.

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"I'll…see if I can make time to visit Sapphire."

Speaking with Paxton just never seemed to go well. Hideo knew this didn't look good for him, not after promising to be more open the last time they'd talked. But he wouldn't sell out Eris or Cass. Nor Mesprit or Azelf. He could only hope Uxie would calm down and go with him, as had been the original plan.

Though he'd have to wonder if Sapphire truly could help them, if they could fix what other avatars couldn't fix.

"But I don't think I'll get the others to join me. Not if Uxie's keeping them out."

He couldn't provide all. So that left him with nothing.

As usual.

"Sorry for taking your time," he answered, hearing the papers being placed on his desk.

He could feel a limb patting him on the head; the Musharna that had been napping on the couch floated over to him, offering a small bit of comfort in a stressful situation.

The only comfort he'd gotten from these negotiations.

…

He really hoped Uxie wouldn't take too long.

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