Hideo heard something flying above them - not the average bird Pokemon.

"Looks like a Salamence just flew in," his Rotomdex stated unprompted. Hideo still had to limit the amount of Psychic communication going to his head, so in the absence of a Pokemon's Telepathy, his Rotomdex would talk to him. "Think it's a Rocket?"

"If it is, they're gonna get swarmed."

And true to his word, by the time Andrea had touched ground, there was no less than six Pokemon hiding in the shadows, assessing her and her Pokemon. But the sight of Ogerpon stopped them from approaching with hostile intent; they'd already been told Ogerpon had helped Hideo during the battle in Petalburg.

Nothing stopped Andrea from searching around Littleroot - and eventually finding Hideo. The boy's Rotomdex was quick to tell him such; "Loooooooks like it's an Ogerpon and I'm guessing its trainer?"

Once Hideo heard said trainer's voice, he knew who it was talking about. He raised his unslung hand, waving to her. "Yeah, it's me," he answered. "I'm here 'cause…well, I'm the Gym Leader here. And I don't like sitting around in a hospital all the time."

Spending a week in that bed was, above all else, extremely boring.

"What about you? What's brought you to Littleroot?"

Floating behind him and his Rotomdex was said cause - Uxie, who waved to the new arrivals.

Without telling Hideo. Or his Rotomdex.

Andrea Vaneau

"Well…that was my Minor League Gym. I'm a proper Gym Leader now…been here for over a year."

It was strange to think how much time had gone by since he took up the mantle. It felt like it'd only been a few months ago.

"Their friend?" Hideo parroted, clueless to who she was talking about. That was the moment that Uxie made its presence known to him, its foot tapping against the back of his head as it flew ahead, waving back to Ogerpon.

"Oh, Uxie." Hideo let out a sigh. He shouldn't be surprised that Uxie was getting up to shenanigans like…

The realization slowly dawned on him; Uxie had just outed him as being connected to him. In front of someone he didn't know all too well. He'd put so much work into keeping that a secret, and it was soiling it all by-

A pat on the head stopped that line of thinking. It'd be hard to think as he heard his Rotomdex start making noise; Uxie had floated over to it and grabbed it. "Hey, get off of me you chunky pixie! Stop touching-"

A swipe up, and the Rotom within was expelled. Though its words were now incomprehensible to the humans, it was clear from its tone that it was not happy Uxie was messing with its Rotomdex.

But Uxie paid it no mind, tapping away on the screen.

The pantomiming went unnoticed by Hideo, but he got the gist of what was going on from what Andrea said. "Lousy Three…wait, you talking about those three guys with those Toxic Chains on'em? Like that dog?"

Uxie had to have known he was looking around for their effigies - so it must have called Ogerpon and Andrea here for that reason; Uxie never did stuff like this without a reason.

With another tap of the Rotomdex, the device read out what Uxie had typed.

I DO NOT KNOW IF THEY ARE HERE.

BUT WE HAVE A MUTUAL GOAL.

WE WANT TO END THEM AS MUCH AS YOU DO.

AND I BELIEVE WE HAVE A LEAD TO STOP THEM FROM COMING BACK.

IT'S WHAT HIDEO IS LOOKING FOR.

Hideo let out a sigh. "...yeah. Uxie thinks they're putting effigies around the place that can help them come back to life. I'm trying to find any that I can around Littleroot…'cause, you know, I don't want them popping up at a time like this."

Andrea Vaneau

"Uxie can talk normally," Hideo said. "Well, Psychically. But I think it's just trying to give my head time to heal. I, uh, got a bit roughed up by something at Petalburg, and I'm not supposed to have any Psychics poking around for a while. It's why I was using my Rotomdex in the first place."

Even Telepathy was forbidden - so he was well and truly running blind here.

As for how they'd find the effigies?

"I already got my Pokemon looking all over Littleroot for'em. Got'em checking from the ground and from the air…might even have them check the water too at some point. They at least know what their statues look like."

Other than that? Hideo could only answer with a shrug. He could root them out of Littleroot, but the entirety of Hoenn? He didn't know.

At which point, Uxie stepped in, tapping away at the Rotomdex.

THE MAIN REASON I HAD YOU COME HERE WAS TO ESTABLISH THAT WE CAN WORK TOGETHER ON THIS.

IT IS BETTER THAN WORKING ALONE.

AND WE HAVE AN INTEREST IN STOPPING THE LOUSY THREE AS WELL.

Hideo nodded along. "If we can stop those from popping out of nowhere like in Petalburg, we'll have a better shot at keeping Littleroot safe in case Rocket attacks again…"

He trailed off, trying to remember what'd happened on that day. It was still mostly a blur, but he could still remember hearing that dog's chains swinging about.

And Uxie appearing out in the open…

…

"I, uh, also got a favor to ask. Don't tell anyone I got Uxie. I've been trying to keep closed-lip about it do I don't draw too much attention."

Not that it didn't stop Rocket from targeting him anyway, but he didn't want to give them more reason.

Andrea Vaneau

"Yeah. It's even clearer than my Telepathic Pokemon. Think I could chalk that up to them just being such strong Psychics." Even the Beheeyem he'd had for six years couldn't talk to him that clearly. "It's usually just feelings or sensations with other Pokemon, but Uxie's words are clear."

"And, uh, thanks for keeping Uxie a secret. It hasn't been easy finding people I can talk to about'em." Even opening up to the League got him to a bit of trouble with some people - he even felt a bit of relief that he could open up to someone outside of it.

He nodded as Andrea spoke. "Of course. We gotta keep Hoenn safe. From Rocket, and from whatever Legendary Pokemon's got a rock in its shoe and makes it our problem."

It didn't take a Gym Leader or Champion to keep Hoenn safe; he'd been doing it long since he took up the role of the former.

The Rotom by his side wasn't happy to let someone else use its Rotomdex; it was already miffed that Uxie took it, and it made it clear to the Ogerpon it objected to such.

But the Rotom wasn't the one with the Rotomdex.

Uxie was.

And Uxie handed the Rotomdex over to Ogerpon.

"Oh, uh, sure." Did Ogerpon know how to type on a Rotomdex?

Time to find out.

Andrea Vaneau