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It had been his first forray into the Giant Chasm. He might have expected some vast, desolate land of rock and stone, separated only by deep ravines settling between its peaks. This was nothing akin to his imagination. It was its own ecosystem, a habitat of some utopian design. He did not feel ill at ease, but he should have.[break][break]

"..." The gouges taken out of the earth with these alleged 'footprints' were not so decisively identified, at least to Adrian's eyes. He would never think to dismiss the possibility, and yet... he did not know what creatures lurked here—so he couldn't say.[break][break]

Yet he's no stranger to being a yes man.[break][break]

"Sure, sure. Could be." At his waist a belt had several pokeballs latched to it, his fingers polishing over one such item, thinking to release the pokemon contained therein. But he did not wish to draw unnecessary attention. And so he wouldn't.[break][break]

It struck him as odd. Already Howard was busiedly pursuing the next Regi, putting Adrian to work, though he knew not on whose orders. He had not ever personally met the man—Declan Walsh.[break][break]

He might've liked to keep it that way.[break][break]

Though the trampling of earth beneath their feet gave him pause, as he couldn't hear the world's ambiance around them for their loud footsteps, he liked even less the idea of leaving his back to anything for more than a moment's time.[break][break]

"Shall we keep going then?" Though he has had ample practice, Howard would be able to tell through his impatient façade that Adrian was growing slightly more nervous the further they spelunked.

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"Patrolling?" Adrian is not sure he gets their meaning. Had he meant Regirock intended to surveil the landscape, to guard it... or perhaps simply to explore? To him, the aimless tracks could just be that—aimless—as the entity failed to guide itself through an alien environment.[break][break]

In order to better gauge that, he would need to understand how a Regi perceived the world around it—and that simply wasn't fathomable.
And so he relied on Howard's intuition—for what it was worth.[break][break]

"How did it get here, anyways?" Adrian does not overly familiarize himself with Rocket reports—preferring not to arouse suspicion—so he is ignorant to the events that followed the landmass appearing just beyond the island of Dewford. He remembers pitching in during their effort to plunder the ephemeral island, but made a retreat in short order after Copperajah was heavily wounded.[break][break]

But now he had nothing but time to burn, and an emphatic storyteller to regale him with starry-eyed recollections... It might prove rather interesting.

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Adrian offers a solemn nod, though he's as yet undeterred. Much and more has happened since the Desert Ruins sank. He has to believe he's become more competent since then.[break][break]

It is strange that Howard believes in himself so little, considering the power he wields. But as he ponders it more, the pair of them trekking across dirt and stone, he considers their dilemma for a moment...[break][break]

"...Have the Regis ever battled before?"[break][break]

He's not even confident they've encountered one another before, but it seems unlikely they would do battle with one another. Especially if Howard's theories on them held true. Machine minds...[break][break]

They would be inextricably bound then, he figured.[break][break]

Adrian considers for himself the size and stature of Regirock. In spite of its weaknesses, it would prove a daunting foe to any pokemon; there is only one to whom he entrusts the task: His rock, his strength...[break][break]

"We'll be alright." Adrian did share their doubts, but of their safety he was assured... mostly.

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"Couldn't it be a matter of simple type advantage?" Rock smashes ice, it wasn't a novel concept—though Howard must've felt there was something more to it, or he wouldn't appear as troubled by the matter.[break][break]

That didn't seem to satisfy either of them, so he mulled it over some more. But nothing really made sense. Could it be perhaps that time had ravaged one more than the other? Without knowing the fundamentals which they were created and operated under, he could do no more than ponder over theories, unproveable as they were. Next question.[break][break]

"It had tried to before, but it seemed to use my fragment as the epicenter." As far as he knew, that fragment had been special; so he wondered how another might've taken its place, or fulfilled its purpose. "...Could another have been found? But how could it look without..."[break][break]

However vexing the matter of whether this is Regirock reassembled, or another instance of foreign pokemon invading their world, Adrian suddenly finds himself in a series of critical thought—[break][break]

Without a physical body, Regirock couldn't have searched—It hits Adrian all at once. He throws Howard a quizzical stare, wondering if his musings held any merit—or if they were just ramblings.[break][break]

"So this Regirock is searching for an even larger fragment than one it already has?"[break][break]

It's almost a statement and not a question, but Adrian remains uncertain in the face of academic scrutiny. Perhaps Howard will offer a rebuttal, or at least refuse any of his scholarly affirmation. But when he considers the massive crystal formations dotting the chasm, the emergence of tera crystals and dynamax shards... It seems like the Giant Chasm is precisely where Regirock would want to be.[break][break]

Just the same as the League, or Team Rocket; it sought a power to manifest its own idyllic destiny.[break][break]

"What are the fragments made out of?"[break][break]

Adrian might have already known, but he couldn't help wondering what a bit of research had turned up.