Howard was just there.

Being in a room with Admin Bee and Head Scientist Sato was a huge honor, even if they were all part of the upper brass of Team Rocket. Howard was new, his position shaky, and his office was still loaded with cardboard boxes. It felt like it'd be hard to fit in with many of these people, given their abilities.

Maybe he should kick a few grunts around to assert his authority. That's what Admins did, right? Man, this felt weird.

"You had this book under so many locks and keys, I thought it was a myth." Howard looked up from the Violet Book reluctantly. "I've wanted to study this thing for months. Ever since I've heard about it, actually. The stories I've heard about this work."

Several of the stories involved Grigori Sokolov tackling Elisabeth Fiorelli, screaming, and several explosions. Grunts loved to talk.

As Kallistatus floated by, Howard's eye visibly glittered. Unowns were such spectacular creatures. Many languages stemmed from them, and as a linguist, Howard found himself a fan of their applications in language analysis. Maybe he could pull the Head Scientist aside later, and the two could gush about Unown and their contributions to lexicons.

Probably after Howard kicked those grunts around to 'fit in'.

Lowering his head down to inspect the book again, Howard sighed. It was a remarkable text, with all its stories and glyphs. He could've spent a lifetime studying it, but he suspected that he'd never get the chance. Events were moving far too quickly. "I will be honest: I have not seen these glyphs. They are alien. I'm unsure if they even belong to our reality." Howard flipped a page. "You can typically trace languages through branches and fluctuations, so I should recognize something on this cover. Unfortunately, I don't."

Howard slumped his head, dejected.

"Please don't be mad."

---

BARNABY FINCH Naomi Sato

"It's a valid idea. We live in a world where nonsensical concepts intertwine. I hate talking to the Megalopolans, though." Howard's tone suggested that there was a story, there. That story included a bear, lots of screaming, and a spaceship. He didn't hate the Admin Bee's idea, but he suspected that Rocket and its army of scientists had tried everything short of blowing up the blasted book. His tone was far more supportive, though.

Besides, Admin Bee had supported him. He would not demean the man.

Now, they were left with scraps of ideas. It was like translating a particularly stubborn rune, and deciding to reference it against a language from the other side of the world. They were shooting in the dark, desperately hoping that they'd strike gold. In that sense, he was fortunate that Head Scientist Sato and Admin Bee were only dragging him in for a long shot. He suspected that this book would drive him mad normally.

"It's a Pokémon. At least, a stylistic effigy of one. Looks like a bastardized mixture of a Rayquaza and a Cyclizar." The archaeologist piped up helpfully. 

So many questions. Howard was not present at the dream at the Ancient Tomb, much to his frustration and chagrin. The capacity to explore Galar for twenty years, as well as generate a historical account? What luck! He didn't understand why people were so scarred by the endeavor. Such was the fine line between naivety and understanding.

"Yet we cannot know what agenda it may have. We can only look backwards, and move to predict." Howard consoled. "Yet that is hard to do, when we don't know what this alleged Pokémon is capable of, or if it even exists at all. It could be a beast that revels in malicious plots, or something more supportive."

The only Ruinious Beasts Admin Slayte had seen recently was Elisabeth's Wo-chien, which Howard had fought back with bleach and a mop. Long story.

"Why would the book's cover be different a different language from its contents? Why is one translatable and the other is not? Perhaps the cover and pages do not go together. How was the book acquired, Admin Bee and Head Scientist Sato?" Howard looked around sheepishly, his inexperience in his position showing.

"Am I classified to know that?"

---

Naomi Sato BARNABY FINCH

"Man." Howard listened to the story Sato and Bee spun for him with the investment of a child listening to a bedtime story. When they finished, Howard was silent. After a moment, he spoke. "You guys get up to some crazy shit, huh?"

Understatement of the century.

The only details Howard had gotten from the meeting in the Cave of Origin were those he had tickled out of Grigori Sokolov , who had begrudgingly confessed to having his Scizor throw hands with several of Rocket's finest trainers when Howard brought him luxury frosting imported from Kalos. The older man was unfathomably modest, but his accomplishments were impressive.

"I agree with this assessment. I believe that everything that comes from Tera energy comes from the popular consciousness of mankind. It's our collective consciousness spitting out abominations, because it's all that we can fathom."

His distaste was evident. He loathed the creatures that came from the past. They disgusted him, twisted abominations that mocked his passion for archaeology and history.

"I still think that Iron Thorns comes from this movie I saw one time..." Howard scratched his chin thoughtfully. "If they spawn from dreams, then we're in trouble, Admin Bee. Dreams do not end. Ever."

That was the one truth of the world. A dream could never truly end, as long as someone still lived to dream it.

"Have you guys considered taking it back to the Cave of Origin, then? Try rubbing the book against some Tera Crystals for good luck?"

Back to desperate theorizing.

---

Naomi Sato BARNABY FINCH

Tap. Tap. Tap. Howard's foot clacked against the floor as he scratched his chin. He pondered over Naomi's theory, before nodding.

"This reminds me of a story, if you'll indulge me." Howard scratched his chin and closed his eye and remembered his old classes and time in Galar. He rarely got to use these bits of history anymore, and he was always willing to teach something like this. "I think it went something like this..."

He took a deep breath and peered at the book.

"Back in Galar, it wasn't uncommon for archaeologists to race each other to be the first to discover something new." Howard smiled grimly. The race reminded him of the conflict between Rocket and the League. Academics were poisonous behind the scenes, full of toxic and desperate scholars attempting one-up each other. "Sometimes, they'd excavate the same location in an attempt to beat one another to the next big find."

That described the tensions between League and Rocket perfectly. Even the battle at the Island Cave north of Dewford had been waged in an attempt to gain an upper hand over the Pokémon League.

"If you can't find certain bones at a dig site..."

He gestured at the Violet Book ponderously, before smiling at Bee and Naomi. His eye glinted with academic fervor. In this hypothetical, perhaps it was best to treat Rocket as an archaeologist and not a large organization.

"Perhaps someone else already has it."

---

Naomi Sato BARNABY FINCH