Ah, Fallarbor. Fallarbor, not Fallaber. The city was Hoenn's breadbasket. The volcanic ash from Mt. Chimney ensured the land here was fertile, and it was far away from the battlefield of Team Rocket and the Pokemon League. It reminded Howard of Dewford in that sense, even though Dewford had seen its fair amount of battles.

Hopefully Fallarbor remained untouched, given its importance for food production. Hoenn had a laundry list of problems. It didn't need a foot shortage on top.

Besides, this was an interesting experiment. oscar clayton and Howard were jointly working on a farming experiment in Ultra Desert. This was simply... a joint follow-up of Route 119 and that experiment! Two birds with one stone. Plus, the stash that he was peddling to Shred Zeppelin had ran out instantly. Three birds with one stone.

Man, Howard was good at his job.

"This is a nice plot!" Howard looked at the small garden, fenced in with a small gate. The soil looked good, as well. It wasn't made of Stakataka bricks, so there was that. "Nice and... loamy?"

Was he... ignoring the incident? It was admittedly pretty shameful. Maybe Howard was experiencing residual damage.

---

Eris Halla

"It means..." Howard blinked. He had been preparing to give an extremely complex lecture about soil composition. It'd fly over Eris's head, but she'd probably ask questions until she figured it out. That was just how the ex-Rocket was.

It warmed his heart.

"It means the brick is really good!" Howard tried for a smile. His head rang with a familiar bell sound as he remembered the events north of Dewford. The archaeologist blinked. "Soil. The soil is really good!

Howard watched the Shaymin work its magic, and whistled. This would be an excellent asset for the terraforming project in Ultra Desert, should he and Oscar succeed. Maybe he could get Eris's help with it if he offered her cotton candy, or something. Reaching for his belt, Howard tossed out his Excadrill and Dugtrio.

"The bear? He's been an exciting research partner! His ball broke in my apartment and I almost suffocated, but I'm fine." Dugtrio and Excadrill began to till the fields with Rototiller while Howard whistled. "Do you miss him?"

---

Eris Halla

"Heavy. Obscenely so." Howard said grimly, almost haunted. The bear had definitely sat on him. "Much like his ball."

The Gigaton Ball was quite heavy, but that was besides the point. Howard had been researching the mechanics of the ball, but his engineering knowledge was lacking. As a result, he was forced to hit the books. The bear helped by ensuring that Howard couldn't leave the library.

Mostly by blocking the door. Stupid idiot bear.

"I wish we could feed ourselves with just sunlight." Howard thought about slashing his food bill to zero. "Instead, we farm."

Taking a knee, Howard took a clump of upturned dirt and put it to his lips. Clumps of plant matter, insects, mixed together with differing granules of soil. Even if Howard wasn't a professional when it came to agriculture, he did have experience with geology. Rocks were cool, and dirt was just smaller rocks.

"Water, access to lots of nutrients. To plants, this soil is like a feast of Yeggo waffles. If we were to plant these in, say, Slateport, there's no feast. No waffles. Only sadness."

As Howard inspected the soil, the Gigaton Ball at his belt began to rattle, before erupting in a burst of light. Doug yawned, blinked, and looked around.

"Grrr?"

---

Eris Halla

"Steam and a wind-up mechanism." Howard said as Doug wandered close to Eris. The bear sniffed her, then licked her face, before curling up to snooze. Howard nodded to himself and turned to Eris, pointedly ignoring the bear.

After almost getting crushed by an Ursaluna, you learned to accept a defective ball.

"Listen, I spent eight years being taught about rocks. If anyone gets to taste dirt, it's me." Howard puffed his chest out proudly, as if suffering through grad school was something to be proud of. Tasting it just happened to be faster than testing soil samples. Besides, it wasn't even required here. In Fallarbor, all of the soil was good.

Howard was simply checking for the best, when he started hauling topsoil. Depending on how this little experiment went, revitalizing Ultra Desert might actually be possible.

"The bear is a rare artifact, and the central piece of my paper! He only eats the finest food money can buy!" The bear snored in agreement, and Howard clapped his hands, beaming. "You brought food? Huzzah! I haven't eaten in a day and a half! Thank you, little lady!"

---

Eris Halla

"Hm? Oh. You turn this little dial about thirty times, and each time you open the ball, the mechanism unwinds slightly. It's a wonderful piece of tech. I'll show you, some time."

Howard viewed everything as an artifact. It was just the type of person that he was. When everything kept a small section of history within it, everything could be considered an artifact. Even Eris's lunch box was an artifact. If someone uncovered it someday, mankind would learn how food was stored.

History was spectacular.

"Hey, it's nothing scary! Look, I even have the receipt!" Howard stuck his hand into his pocket and pulled out a slip of paper from the Croager store near his apartment. As the two gathered around Eris's Skitty lunchbox, Eris would get the chance to peruse the most deranged receipt known to man.

Cabbages (20) - 4 PD

Beef stock - 5 PD

Razz berries (4) - 2 PD

Saltine crackers (40) - 30 PD

Yeah, that sounded pretty normal for Howard, if his Carbink was anything to go by. Yet the receipt kept going.

Grade 1 Miltank Cuts (Butcher) - 9000 PD

Golden Razz Berries (40) - 400 PD

King Kingler (5) - 900 PD

"See? I can skip meals! The bear can't!" Howard beamed at her, unaware of how atrociously balanced this receipt was. How did he even have this much money?

---

Eris Halla

"Nonsense. The soil shouldn't have any methane in it. You should be perfectly fine!" Howard leaned down and gave the plants a firm sniffa. He looked up at her, frowning in confusion. "See, perfectly fine."

He turned to Azalea. "Right?"

The Shaymin gave no reply. Another win for Howard Slayte.

"Right." Doug growled in agreement, and Howard leaned forward to pluck the receipt from Eris's fingers. Who knew how much irreparable damage had been done to Eris's developing brain? Yet it was an important lesson to teach the young trainer: the lesson of financial mismanagement.

Something that had brought empires to heel in the old days.

"That's not too many zeroes. If you want to see a lot of zeroes, you should see the Kalosian duke's crown that I bought the other week at auction. Now there's an expensive piece!"

---

Eris Halla

"Because he was a good man who was killed by his brother, and it passed from person to person in that noble house. The stories of many bled into that crown, and now it's an item stained with sin." Howard shrugged self-consciously. "I wanted to appreciate it for the man who owned it, not for the people who killed for it."

Preserve the past. Ensure that each story is not forgotten. That was the goal that Howard Slayte had given for himself. Yet he felt like no matter how much he tried, something was slipping away. Hoenn was slipping away, even as its history came back to life. He felt like the crown's first owner, buried.

Except now he was a Rocket Admin, filling the position left by Remiel Calcifet.

Doug grunted and sniffed at the Shaymin, before groaning and falling asleep again. A lazy, slow, and silly guardian angel, protecting Howard from the might of Azalea. A silent protector, guarding in the night.

"Do you want to know why I asked for your help with farming?"

---

Eris Halla