"Next time you hide a body, put it somewhere easy to find. See how it works out." For his part, Chu-e was just fine. While poor Rowan Wrynn was stuck doing the physical labor, he was riding on the back of his Mudsdale with the equipment they would need for this little archeological hunt.

"He approached Rocket hoping to buy a kid." Disgust filled his voice as he spoke. "Kid, you're new to this. We're a fucked bunch of individuals, but we got lines. I just figured I would solve a problem before it became a problem, ya know?" His Mudsdale snorted as she waited for Rowan to clear the path for her bulky frame.

"Eh, lots of places you can buy your way out of any trouble. Shitty, but it's true. Grease the right palms and you don't have to worry about things like 'consequences'." Since Rowan Wrynn had paused, Chu-e slid from his perch and pat his pokemon on the nose in thanks. "Maybe you just have strong morals." Which was funny, considering.

"We should be able to walk from here." Rummaging around in the packs on his Mudsdale, Chu-e offered Rowan a mask for his face before sliding one on himself. "This'll stink. Might make you sick, too. Put this on."

"Expect pus and rot. This guy has been out here a month or so- put on some gloves." The path didn't take too long to traverse. Chu-e didn't stop in the middle of some clearing or some open space. Nope, after a pause to get his bearings, he stopped in the middle of a cluster of twisted, young trees. The ground looked perfectly normal aside from a small pile of stones, nothing too unusual. He kicked them over and brushed aside the leaves, revealing slightly discolored and soft dirt underneath.

"Welp, start digging. Two feet down is a dead Golduck. He's about two more feet under that, crammed into two duffel bags."

"Nah, I found it on the way up." Chu-e was not opposed to murdering a pokemon or two, he already killed humans after all, but that didn't mean he enjoyed killing animals any more. In fact, he kind of hated killing in general.

"These types of places, you can find dead things pretty easy if you know how to look. Try not to thin my own stock unless I'm really forced into it." A pokemon with a powerful nose, for example, was a good pick.

"But, you said you haven't killed anyone, right? What kind of missions you been on?"

"You might have to, someday. Do you think you can handle it?" It was frank in the way he said it. The Rocket of now, unlike the Rocket he had joined, was a kinder animal. But even kind animals would bite if prodded. If Rowan Wrynn was already rubbing elbows with big dogs like him, Cillian Quinn, and oscar clayton then he had a promising future. If not, a very eventful one.

"It won't always be a pedophile. It could be a guy just doing his job and trying to feed his kids. A lost college student could wander up here and see us doing this. We'd have to kill them. Do you think you'll be able to live with yourself after?" It's not said as a threat or even a warning, some plea to Rowan's humanity. It just how it is for them. You put the lives of your fellow Rockets before you did those outside the group. It made it messy.

"You always have an option. Even if it doesn't seem like it." At the promising clunk, a pokeball was tossed out. A Drampa grunted, cramped in the small space of the trees.

"Load those on him. He knows where to take them." Whenever Rowan Wrynn would get done with that task, however he did it, the Drampa would levitate into the air before flying off like the weird dragon he was.

"With murder," Was continued from the earlier conversation, after the silence had hung and Chu-e has time to think it over. "Is if you enjoy the act or not. Knowing that, even if it was in self defense or to keep yourself safe, that blood will always be on your hands. That you have no right to determine if someone lives or dies."

Which, at the end of it, was a bit contradictory for what they were. What they did.

"That man. Even if he was a terrible person and I thought he should die, well, his family wouldn't agree with me, would they? They still loved him at the end of the day. It was still a choice I made and will have to live with."

"I try to weigh the bad I prevented with the bad I did."

It's not perfect. It doesn't always help. Sometimes, Chu-e can't do anything when he's alone but sit numbly and stare into space. It's all that you can do.

"How many kids would that man have hurt, do you think? If he was alive? All those kids traumatized, some of them would grow up to perpetuate that abuse. None of them would have ever gotten any justice, even if they spoke out. To me, for this kill, ending that cycle of abuse, saving all of those potential kids, it was worth it to me. Every kill I do has a reason. You know someone is really gone when they're just... senselessly violent."

Somewhere along the line, Chu-e's eyes had been staring somewhere far away. Slowly, he comes back, eyes raising to meet Rowan Wrynn with a surprisingly soft look.

"Rocket broke me down into a weapon. If you let it, it'll break you, too. Never let go of your morals, no matter what happens. As soon as you do, you've lost."