"Not like I got much of a choice," he sighed, "but the illusions'll throw them off. Think I could even get my Ditto to mimic me if I need a more physical clone."

Though that had its own challenges; no voice, since it couldn't hide the Rotomphone, and it would have to train extra hard to not open its eyes.

Hideo's posture lowered somewhat when Eris volunteered her own likeness. He could have his Rotomphones copy her voice, learn her mannerisms. Uxie could help with that. Rocket had an interest in her too, so they had a reason to go for a fake of her…

But it already felt weird hearing his own voice speak to him, or hearing people react as if they were actually talking to him. Even if she was offering herself up for it, it didn't feel right.

"I…I don't wanna use you like that," he said. "I don't wanna draw too much attention to you…I don't wanna give Rocket reasons to make your life harder."

He wanted her help. But he didn't want to push her to do something risky. "And it's not like I'd just run off after chaining them. I'd have a Pokemon capture them. Heck, Uxie could do it."

Said pixie burped after finishing off its pizza slices. Truly a reliable partner in stopping-crime.

Hideo was ready to offer her an out - to tell her of his negotiations with Andrea Vaneau and Ogerpon - but stopped himself when she told him of her wavering will.

And at that moment, Uxie looked over at well, a tilt to its head.

"...what do you mean?" Hideo asked. There were a lot of ways to interpret what she said - but the right answer would probably come from her own words.

Though he didn't have a good feeling about it.

Eris Halla

Hideo gripped the table; he was right to feel uneasy.

But he quickly let his grip loose, reaching over to Eris to take her hand into his own. His Beheeyem ensured he'd actually find it, while Uxie merely watched, taking note of the chain she'd partially summoned.

"I'm not going to tell you to help me with Rocket." He wanted to outright ask her, but hearing the distress they were putting her through dashed that plan; he didn't want Rocket to have more reason (and opportunity) to go after her.

"If you don't want to…I won't let anyone make you."

Eris Halla

Holding her hand felt uncomfortable - Elga warned him about the chain fragments, but feeling them pulse in and out was an unexpected sensation that he did not like.

The weight of her forehead was welcome in comparison.

"I…"

He had no illusions telling him Rocket had good intentions, or that they would stop destroying anything in their path for domination. That they weren't making new Eris Hallas with every town they took.

"If…if you're really sure you want to do this, I won't stop you."

As if he could.

"I could teach them to mimic you. We'll keep them out of Oldale, and we'll keep them out of Littleroot."

They had to stop Rocket.

"We'll keep Hoenn safe."

They had to.

Eris Halla

A silence was what followed, his words lingering in the air. He had to keep the region he'd been born and raised in safe, not just for himself, but for everyone else that was just trying to survive. Rocket had already ruined one region, and now they threatened another.

He didn't want to lose his home.

He didn't want to lose anything else.

Or anyone else.

It's Eris speaking that brought him out of those thoughts, hearkening back to their time in the RKS simulation. "...yeah. I said I had no idea what we would do…and I guess I made good on that promise."

He was still unsure what to do to help the Lake Trio heal up their Gems. Heck, it hadn't even been his own machinations that led him to Azelf - just a stroke of luck in one of their darkest times.

"And you…"

Eris Halla

It wasn't something he'd ever really put any thought into. It was an irony; despite the chain he could call on a whim, despite every ordeal he'd gone through, he didn't feel like he was something different.

So despite everything…

"I'm still Hideo."

He held her hand, even as it trembled in his own.

"And you're still Eris."

He didn't know what the future held for them. But he was going to see it through. And he would do everything he could to protect that future.

"Whatever happens, we got each other."

As they always had.

Unconsciously, his own chain formed around his hand. It was a solid, resolute chain, careful not to trap Eris's hand within. Of all the doubts he had swirling in his mind, this wasn't one of them.

Eris Halla

"Eris."

He doesn't know what she'd been going through, or what brought on so much doubt into her heart.

But he knows he's talking to Eris Halla.

But he's also unsure if she would listen to him.

He still has to try.

"Because I know it's you. I know it's your hand I'm holding…I know I felt your chain in your hand. And I know I'm still me…because I trust everyone to know that I'm me, and that they'd know if I wasn't me anymore."

His Pokemon would've noticed if he'd changed. He knew his friends could too.

"After all, you knew it was me under this before I told you, right? And you knew something was off real quick with my doppelganger."

Uxie looked over to Mesprit, mentally asking how long Eris had been feeling like this.

"So you can trust me to know it's still you in there."

Eris Halla

Uxie nodded as Mesprit gave its answer - and added a comment of its own - that Hideo's Pokemon would have interjected had Hideo suffered such a crisis of identity, and that the boy never had undergone one in the first place.

And if it had gotten to the point that Eris was at, Uxie would have interjected as well - albeit without stopping it, as some of his other Pokemon would've.

And that Hideo likely couldn't help her at this point. He would try - but it was an issue that he wouldn't be able to resolve.

All the while, Hideo stayed silent, trying to think about what else to do, what he could say to help her. Anything to help break this uncomfortable silence.

"I'm…I'm sorry," was all he could get out.

Eris Halla