"Man is faulty, but that's not what I mean." Howard made a broad, vague gesture with his hands, as if trying to consolidate a concept down to its base fundamentals. How did you strip down something as conceptual as mankind to its base fundamentals, without doing them a disservice? It was an issue many philosophers struggled with.

Howard didn't bother with that. He simply believed in an absolute truth, and he followed it to its idealized conclusion. That was his version of 'humanity'.

"These golems are artifacts, built by our forefathers. It was their first attempt at harnessing fire, so I'm not blaming them for how they turned out. They're golems, sworn to defend Hoenn. They serve mankind because mankind needed to be saved." He thought of the translations from the Regice Ruins north of Dewford. Howard had helped translate them at Rustboro University for both League and Rocket.

Both sides deserved knowledge. Both sides deserved the truth.

"They were built from Eternatus. We don't know if they're corrupted or tainted. We're relying on the wisdom of our ancestors. Do you trust something that tried to destroy your country, Remiel?"

---

Remiel Calcifet

Admin Fox kneeled before Galar’s king.

The messenger did not bring the king a grand procession of music, laughter, and song. He brought only himself and a golem made entirely from ice. The frozen automaton stood silently, a good distance away from the tree. Several of its dots were still dark, an indicator that it had not recovered from its battle with Palkia and Chi-yu.

“My king, I’ve been chosen by my lord to tell you a story.” Admin Fox said, his head still bowed. He spoke in the ancient tongue of Galar, a language that hadn’t been spoken in a long time. He spoke it well, despite the lack of practice.

The only people in the region who spoke it were a sea away. It was a language as isolated as this Calyrex was. Alone, in a sea of foes it did not yet understand.

“Do not fret, for I know many stories. If one should displease you, I will simply tell you another. I have no shortage of stories to tell.” He had read from Naomi Sato ’s Violet Book a dozen times. He knew of the fairy tales that nested within its pages.

Galar. Alola. Kalos. Unova. Sinnoh. Hoenn. Johto. Kanto. He knew stories from all of these places as well.

“I did not dream the dream others did. I was not in Galar. For this great shame, I am sorry.” He spoke deftly, with the cautious tongue of a man who knew how to appease his superiors. “I am not a storyteller, but I will try my best.”

A vow, made for the newly born king whose memories had faded with the morning dew. He raised his head to look upon Calyrex.

“There was a king, long ago, who tried to destroy the world.”

Too dark. He bowed his head in apology.

“Once, there was a Pokemon who watched children play in a village.”

Too childish. He bowed his head lower.

“When the world was young, people battled to hold a throne.”

Too grisly. His head bowed to the ground, and his hat slid onto the ground before him. That hat was his passion for history, given form. He picked it up off the ground and stared at it.

“I’m sorry.” Admin Fox apologized as he stared at the hat. “I don’t know how to jog your memory. I never knew you. I-”

“Cro-rown?” The king expressed his confusion at this messenger. Its memories are a blur, gone like the dream it once ruled. Yet its heart is in the right place. Its heart was pure, and its dream more pure still.

The messenger was the opposite. His memories were there, but his heart was a blur, forgotten like a dusty ruin.

“Huh?” Admin Fox looked up, frost from the golem behind it beginning to creep up his back.

“Cro-rown!”

It still wanted a story.

“I see. Very well, then.” He bowed his head. “Allow me to tell you the story of a man.”

“There was once a man who dreamed of following his love for knowledge. He was a man who dreamed of dreaming. When he grew up, he decided that he was going to become a scholar. His parents laughed at the idea, and told him to abandon it.”

His mother told him thus, “come, work in my shop. You’ll never want for money again!”

His father told him thus, “come, work in the king’s castle. I will get you a fine position, close to the king!”

Admin Fox’s eye twitched, and frost continued to creep across his body from the golem that stood behind him.

“The man denied them both, and struck out into the world to find his place. He never saw them again. Eventually, he found himself in the company of two brave knights. One spoke like a duke, quiet and formal. The other spoke like a wretch, cruel and hard and full of scorn. They set off on a series of adventures.”

“At first, he hated them both. He found them violent, mean, and cruel. He found them incapable of having a shred of humanity within them. He wished for the day that they would both die.”

“The man still wanted to follow his dream, but he needed money. So he traveled, fighting, robbing, pillaging. When he began his journey, the sky was clear. By now, it had clouded over.”

“Eventually, the formal knight went to protect his friend’s daughter. It was only the man and the wretch, now. Together, they faced down a great ice dragon. The wretch unsheathed his blade, and lunged forward to slay the dragon alone."

“The man found him foolish. Why would the wretch do something so foolish, he thought. Eventually, the wretch looked back and smiled at him.”

Admin Fox’s voice cracked for a moment, before continuing forward.

“The man realized that the wretch had wanted to die. He realized that the wretch had come to care about him.”

“And the man realized that he cared about the wretch and the knight.”

Howard Slayte looked up at the king and smiled, his face covered in a thin layer of ice from the damaged Regice behind him. It was cold, and it was good. It was good to feel.

“I don’t know what you’re doing here, but please give us a direction to go. When you remember what you can do, guide us to victory. Please.” Admin Fox’s breath frosted as he breathed out. “I am not a strong man. I’m a liar and a fool, but I want this war to end, and for our region to be saved. I'm hurting people on the battlefield, when I couldn't before. I don’t want to be a villain, and let my heart freeze over.”

Admin Fox closed his eye.

“I want to be a hero.”

In the blistering cold and silence, he heard a voice.

“Cro-rown!”

---

The frozen heart of the Liar of Rustboro, and his icebound defender

"You understand. That's good, I hated economics in college." Howard's good eye flicked to the ledgers he had printed from Xenon's club. Her numbers had started well, but they were declining fast. Xenon was right, nothing new could remain as such forever. Eventually the future turned into the now, and the now became the past.

Luckily, the past was Howard's domain. He could work with the past, with the now, and let Xenon use the knowledge from those events guide her ship forward. Howard couldn't look forward, Xenon couldn't look back. Yet she could learn from him, and improve. He had no such luxury.

"Beast Frost." Howard gently reminded her. "He's a good man, for the most part. He's a big asset, and he DJ'd at that party back in December. Tell him he owes me for letting him poke Regice with his energy reader, and that we'll be square once he does it."

Pity. Howard was saving that favor, but he could always get another. Shipping items around for Rocket ensured that every Rocket would come by his office eventually, looking for some valuable or another. All valuable. All expensive. All worthless.

Except for the artifacts, that was.

"There's a reason big companies spend a metric ton on marketing. Ask Wyndon Cross, or Silph Co, whatever Fortune 500 company Head Scientist Rose has." Howard waved a hand, as if dismissing the thought. "It is, put simply, the act of making something worthless valuable. Those companies have the value of making things people know they need. Medicine. Machinery. Insurance. You're not selling those, you're selling an experience."

Club Ultramodern had the unfortunate limit of not being directly connected to Rocket's supply line. It didn't produce anything that Howard could ship under the cover of darkness, but it had potential. Lilycove was prime real estate, after all.

"It's valid, but you should ensure that this opportunity doesn't..." Howard squeezed a fist. "...close. How often are you at the club? When you're there, are you a member of Rocket, or the manager of a clubhouse. Are you Xenon, or someone else?"

---

Xenon Antheil

"Really? Truly? That's excellent news!" Howard breathed a sigh of relief. "Protecting our past is how we preserve the future. Sky Pillar is far too important to let those hoodlums trespass onto!"

Interesting. Of course, Freya Morningstar would say that. She was a government official, sworn to defend Hoenn from any threats. A powerful dragon tamer, capable of commanding anything from the most feeble Tatsugiri to the greatest Salamence to kneel. She was the epitome of potential reached. There was one small snag, however:

Freya was a politician. Politicians lied.

Was Sky Pillar truly defended? Did Freya care about the Draconid site, or was it simply a ploy? He didn't know her. He couldn't verify it. As a historian, Howard liked to trust but verify. History needed to be held by those who respected it. If Freya didn't respect it, then she didn't deserve to hold a spec of Sky Pillar.

"Excuse me, miss Freya?" Howard chuckled nervously, eye flicking from side to side before leaning in. "The Head Professor you're talking about... It's Eva Morales , right? Could you..."

The words hung in the air.

"...get her to sign my compendium too? Please?" Howard's eye sparkled. He bowed his head. "Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease...?"

---

freya morningstar

"You've gotta be kidding me. This is absurd! We've been dealing with attacks all week!"

The Dyna Tree that erupted in Sootopolis had dubious origins. Originally, it had bloomed from a petal that had been passed around when Rocket's upper command had met within the Cave of Origin. Grigori Sokolov had told him about the meeting, and each time he recounted it, the more Howard suspected that Rocket's leadership was more and more unhinged every day.

Howard's Ursaluna, Doug, crushed a Pinsir under its foot. It then blasted a Blood Moon at a nearby Scizor, which was atomized in the blast. Letting out a huff, Howard watched as the attacking bug-types dispersed.

Admittedly, he understood their reasoning. The Dyna Tree bore delicious fruit, too tasty to resist. If Howard was a bug whose entire purpose in life was eating green things, he probably would've wanted to take a bite too.

Alas.

"Alba!" Howard turned to the grunt. "How're you holding up?"

Alba had drafted Howard's Route 119 Incident Report from paper to computer, which had been a great help. Howard wasn't particularly good at working with computers, so it was nice to have someone who knew the difference between a .doc and a .docx file.

Whenever he asked Xenon Antheil , she laughed at him.

"How's the tree holding up?"

---

Alba Evovae

"When I heard we had a new recruit, you piqued my interest immediately."

Depending on who told you those words in Team Rocket, the appropriate response could sway from 'thanks' to 'running in the opposite direction as quickly as possible, lest you be interrogated by a Rocket Beast'. For Howard, it was a compliment. If he really needed to voice his distaste, it wouldn't be particularly hard to have a new recruit dragged into a cell to be interrogated.

It was an ominous thing, Rocket. You never truly knew what you were going to get. That was what happened when you allied yourself with the fickle, the powerful, the morally dubious.

The Rocket Admin hardly looked the point, with his hair tied up into a ponytail while wearing a Slateport Archaeology Expo - 2017 sweater. That alone made him look like a pushover, but that mixed with a ratty pair of jeans and faded sneakers made him look like a destitute teaching assistant, or some poor college student. Or both.

The outfit is a masquerade, completing the duplicity of Rocket. A personal hell masquerading as paradise.

"Want to know something funny?" Howard's eye flicked to Frank and the Rocket Admin smiled faintly. "I joined up right here, in front of this Tyrantrum skeleton."

The Tyrantrum skeleton soared to the ceiling, snarling like the ancient beast that it had once been. He'd let Frank figure out who Howard had 'joined up' with. It didn't take a rocket scientist.

"It's amazing how much Graves charges people to come and see a replica." Howard waggled a finger as he turned to Frank. "Can you guess why I dragged you out here to look at overpriced skeletons?"

---

Frank Caffey

The Giant Chasm made for a great gashing wound in the Hoenn region. Then again, there were dozens of those at this point. Hoenn was suffering from the cancer of Tera Crystals, the internal parasite of Eternatus, devouring its way through Hoenn and her heart. The growing Dynamax Phenomenon, erupting across her skin in bursts of Power Spots and giant Pokémon.

Hoenn was sick, and she was dying. How many more wounds could it handle before everything fully collapsed into chaos? Or perhaps it already had.

When the chasm had opened its maw, Team Rocket had sent their most experienced caver into the wound to inspect it. Whether it was punishment for Admin Fox's indirect attack on Beast Zeppelin, or for genuine interest hardly mattered. Rocket had sent him away from the office, and he had taken it in stride.

The Pokémon here were powerful, but Howard simply hid and wormed away. It had been a few days since this cave had revealed itself, and Howard had only been here for several hours.

"Jokes on them. I get to chill out here and avoid filling out casualty reports. Let Bee do it while I get paid to eat waffles. See who's laughing by the end of it."

Crackle. A small fire burned in a fire pit built shamelessly from shards of Tera Crystals and various rocks. Several sticks had skewered Yeggo waffles on them, waiting to be cooked.

Admin Fox II, Remiel's successor, Howard Slayte, stared at the flames. He hadn't taken off his helmet or body armor, as damaged as it was. Instead, he was content to wait to take it off. It wasn't like there was anyone down here, right?

Right?

---

Kazimir Wynter

"Life finds a way." Howard agreed, wiping his brow as he picked another weed. "So why can't life find a way to fuck off?"

Unlike ■■■ (Zev Harcourt ), Howard approached gardening with a mixture of bleating and whining. When Bryan asked for ■■■'s help, the Rocket Beast had come and lent his assistance with weeding. When Howard tended to the crops, there was a lot more noise, and a lot more complaining.

Yet there was a passion, there. A love for the craft as Howard complained about his aching back. There was emotion, a genuine care.

"I hate my liiiiiiiiiife..."

He was enjoying this. Yes. This was the right thing to do. Using his knowledge for good, to help people. As he leaned his head back to stretch and yawn, he found himself coming face-to-face with the x-shaped pupils of Xerneas.

"Um... Bryan?" Howard said sheepishly as he began to sweat buckets. He was in the audience of the purveyor of all life. "I want to bow, but..." His eye flicked to the Shaymin on his foot. Damn, it was so cuddly!

Xerneas or Shaymin. Xerneas or Shaymin? Xerneas or-

Shaymin.

Howard picked it up and cuddled it, risking the ferocious claws as he did so. He'd lose his other eye if it meant picking up the fluffy lad.

"What do you mean, 'beloved'?" Howard cocked his head at Xerneas, before bowing in reverence. "Sir, my lord, boss, chi-"

---

bryan delarosa

"Not to worry, my pupil! One session with me, and you'll be extracting fossils like a pro." Howard grinned, oddly confident for a nervous wreck. If there were two things that Howard was good at, it was Varoom Kart 64 and fossil excavations. He hadn't gotten all those degrees for nothing. They had cost an arm and a leg, after all.

And an eye. Howard's missing eye twitched. The cold caused the nerves to ache.

"A new discovery is grand, but dealing with the editorial process is a nightmare. That paper I wrote on Doug? Reviewed by twelve people. I was questioned into the dirt. You want hell on earth? Forget Route 119, go to college instead."

Listening to Yuina's instructions, Howard scrambled off of North in a style that could only be described as a mixture of graceful and falling. Luckily, he didn't fall flat on his face, but he came very close. Glastrier was a pain to ride, despite being a horse. Howard needed to get more lessons from Josh Devlin when he was in Mauville again.

When Yuina mentioned Regirock, Howard sighed and took a deep breath.

"A few years ago, there was a ruin here. A battle was fought over it for control of the treasure inside." Howard began, realizing how similar this must have seemed to the battle north of Dewford, where the League and Rocket battled over the Regice now in Howard's possession. "There was a Regirock inside the ruins, now Regirock..."

How did he describe this thing? Beast Quinn would call it a blessing from the earth, others would call it a living weapon, Howard described it as an artifact from a bygone era.

"It's a golem, sworn to defend the region. It's been missing for a while, but..." Howard heaved a sigh. If he any extra layers, he would've given them to the freezing Yuina. Instead, he had his hat. His helmet hair under the hat? Atrocious. It would've scared Boss Walsh to death. He sighed again.

"It's gone, now. Come on." Howard hopped down into the shallow quarry, which was filled with the shallow outlines of bones and fossils.

---

Yuina Higashi

There were only so many archaeologists of note in the League. Freya Morningstar was a Dragon-type specialist. Remiel Calcifet was chosen by Zekrom. Howard knew almost every archaeologist and historian in the region, and it wasn't too difficult to sniff out Rocket's first Admin Fox. His stench permeated the highest part of the League.

No matter where Remiel went, his shadow would follow him. His failures would not allow him to walk away from Team Rocket. If Remiel was a shining beacon of Galar, Howard was the shadow that basked in that glorious light. The stains of Admin Fox would never wash out. Not now, not ever.

Remiel had been born lucky. Everything he had was due to circumstance and fortune. Howard didn't have that, so he was still in Rocket.

"Oh, I'm aware that he is. We work at the same museum, after all." Howard blinked once. The two had danced around similar projects while the Crown Prince was in Hoenn. Remiel had always placed in higher positions. "He's one of the smartest men I know. I'm glad that he's on our side."

That piece of shit.

"I have, actually. It's a marvelous piece of architecture, and one of Hoenn's grandest displays of pride. You can't be a historian here and not visit it." Howard chuckled good-naturedly, glad to leave the topic of Remiel drowning in the trash. "But I confess, I'm worried about its integrity. It's so close to Sootopolis..."

The threat of Team Rocket, as always, remained dormant, swinging overhead.

---

freya morningstar

Mt. Chimney was hot. Spoiler alert.

Hell, after fighting Kyurem in the Silent Icelands alongside several members of League and Rocket, it was even hotter than usual. Going from an extremely cold temperature to an extremely hot one was making Howard sweat, but he was here on extremely important business. BARNABY FINCH was still hunting for his birds, and Howard did promise to help him. Maybe he could catch sight of one, report it to Admin Bee, and rake in a favor from the senior Admin.

Besides that, Amor Rose confessed that he was interested in using Mt. Chimney as the site of an experiment, and so Howard was doing a field check to ensure its stability.

That was a lot of work, though. It was especially suspicious for a Rocket Admin to poke around a volcano alone, even if he was a geologist. It was for the best if looked like he was relaxing, chillaxing, flourishing. If he was going to do fieldwork, maybe it was best to look like he wasn't up to anything malicious?

So he fished.

He whistled to himself as his fishing rod was strung out, the fishing line lax as Howard saw the bobbling hook in the boiling magma below. If anyone knew that Admin Fox was fishing in magma, they'd call him insane.

"Hot..." Howard groaned as he checked his ice chest and pulled out a beer. He cracked a cold one and drank it while his fishing rod rested in the crook of his arm. He cracked another beer and unceremoniously poured it over his Aerodactyl. Shirley grunted in appreciation, before closing an eye and returning to sleep.

"IT'S TOO FUCKING HOTTTTTTTTTT!"

---

PENELOPE LIVY