"Don't remind me," Josh sighed. "That's how I ended up holed up in Dewford Regional for a month."

That battle was one he wanted to forget about. There were still scars all over him from where his bandages were. Having overworked himself while he was separated from his Gym paid off. With his sentence partially commuted and working almost 60 hour weeks for six months, he could now work part time and get his hours in to claim the Champion title he had put so much effort into chasing.

"That's the last time I go on the front lines like that. If they need me on the warfront again, I'll be a supply runner. A messenger. If I have to, a skirmisher. Not one who holds the line. Because, and pardon my Kalosian, fuck that."

While Josh wasn't sleep-deprived like Howard was, it was clear that he was not in a good, cheery mood like he normally was. "Oh, the game? It's a rerun of game 7 of the ELCS from last season. Baseball season's over. Ended over a month ago. Was a really good game, though. If you're invested in it at all, I won't spoil the ending."

"In Kalos, they say merde ça." Howard said dully, face still firmly planted into the table. Ever the language nut. "You gotta sound like you're hawking spit."

Of course, Howard knew that Josh had been on the island, but Josh didn't know the same for him. It was a fine line, the archaeologist was dancing. Admittedly, if he was on the island, Howard could've just made up nonsense about how he had been drafted. Drafts were trackable, though. Before Howard could get a forgery, damage could've been done.

"I've been translating the texts with help from professors in several of Hoenn's top universities. It didn't take too long to crack." Between Howard and Head Scientist Sato, the translations were doable. Translating runes was more time consuming than hard. "They're ominous, Josh. Ominous. Have you gotten a translation?"

Howard figured the League would keep their Gym Leaders in the loop. How naïve.

"It worries me, but it gives me hope. It's odd."

---

Josh Devlin

Josh wasn't terribly impressed with Howard's knowledge of vile language in other tongues. What impressed him more was how the archeologist was able to access them. "I haven't, and I doubt I'll be able to get anywhere near the texts. I'm impressed you were able to get in touch with someone with access to them."

As far as Josh was aware, access to the texts was limited to members of AQUA. Other than safety, was this part of the reason PENELOPE LIVY had urged civilians to stay out of the war? To keep nosy minds out of secrets they didn't want spreading beyond government confines?

"Academics get special treatment. You didn't get a report? Seriously? Gym Leaders don't get a heads-up on this sort of thing?"

That sucked. Howard knew that Josh was under supervision from the League regarding a certain incident regarding a small child and a Beedrill, but to keep him this out of the loop made Howard feel for the poor racer. Howard and several of Rocket's top translators, including Head Scientist Sato, had gotten all the information they needed as soon as it was requested.

Was the League that slow? A massive organization was slower than one like Rocket, but still. It made asking Josh for information a slog.

"Especially since a ruin is supposed to be in New Mauville. The League constructed a map of several ruins related to the one north of Dewford. I got to see it with the School of Histories over at Rustboro." Howard had seen the map with other members of Rocket's high command, and to his knowledge, they had yet to find anything from picking over the ruins.

Yet one was completely vacant: New Mauville's. Rocket couldn't find anything on it. If the League knew anything, he'd have to get it from Josh. The Mauville Gym Leader was his best shot. "Have you seen the ruin? C'mon, Josh. You gotta tell me. It's a great discovery!"

The archaeologist's eye sparkled, despite his closeness to exhaustion.

---

Josh Devlin

"We don't," Josh frowned. "A Gym Leader's primary jurisdiction is their own city. I do a lot to keep Mauville running. Almost like a mayor would. Of course, a lot of the political and administrative duties are handled by the city's actual mayor, but I get quite a bit of say in how the municipality is run. The bigwigs don't pass that information on to the Gym Leaders unless they think we need to know it." It had nothing to do with his supervision from the Eris incident; it was just the way regional security was handled. The fewer people had access to League secrets, the better.

"There's a ruin under New Mauville?" Josh asked. "That's curious. I've been down there recently and was never aware anything like that was down there." He had done some Rocket busting down there with NIKOLA SAMSA and Andrea Vaneau recently, but there had been no reports of ruins down there. Perhaps that's why there was a lab buried beneath the old power station? "That's... a bit close to home. Given that... ice titan was at Dewford... it sounds like a ticking time bomb to me. We should go down there when you're feeling better."

"I see." Howard said, visibly disappointed. If Josh didn't know anything, then it was likely that the League hadn't bothered to tell him anything, or that the League had found nothing. Both were disconcerting, but this meant that New Mauville's missing ruin was a dead end.

"That's disappointing..." Howard slumped back down, defeated. This field study regarding the missing ruins was giving the archaeologist a headache. Silph had confirmed the sinking of Regirock's ruins, and Regidrago was off in another world somewhere. Registeel was... somewhere. Regice was with Howard, and its ruins were sunk.

Where was the ruin related to Regieleki? Howard had seen a Regieleki once, in Ultra Plant. It couldn't be the same one, though. There was no precedent for it. Other worlds had all types of things. Ultra Deep Sea made up Eternatus's bowels, after all.

"You're right!" Howard looked up again and scrambled closer to Josh, eye beaming. The Gym Leader made a good point. Besides, Howard needed to go down there at some point anyway, right? "You're a good trainer! If there's anything down there, I'll be screwed by myself. You can be my escort!"

Bringing Josh was not ideal. If they found anything, it'd be hard to finesse it from Josh's grasp and into Howard's. Even if he did, Josh would tell the League, and they'd come knocking at Howard's door. It was undesirable, but adventure was calling, and its name was Josh Devlin.

"An academic excursion!"

---

Josh Devlin

Josh backed up when Howard clambered toward him without warning. He had plenty of experience in places like that, thanks to his adventures retrieving Mega Stones. The Sharpedonite he recovered from deep within the Seafloor Cavern's Water Temple was quite the doozy, but it would prove to be invaluable in New Mauville.

"If it's anything like the last two, especially that waterway beneath Pyre, it won't be an escort," the Gym Leader warned. "We're gonna need to watch each others' backs." Though Howard wasn't as good of a fighter as Josh was, given their unknown-to-him meeting at Dewford, his fighting skills were good enough to be a reliable partner.

"Indeed," he nodded. "Let's get a date squared away, and hopefully sooner rather than later. You'll want to bring some Pokémon adept at traversing ruins, too. I'm bringing Extratone, my Kommo-o. You'll be surprised what they can do." It may not have come to a surprise to Howard, given his much he had witnessed Shalin's antics with the Pokémon capable of grinding stone to dust with his vibrating fists...

"Sure. I'll leave your back half-watched." Howard grinned and tapped his missing eye, stinging the nerves. "I suppose I'll bring Shirley, then. Remember her? Oh, and I suppose I'll bring R-Runegrius."

Regice. He had meant to say Regice. Yet he couldn't mention the ancient automaton. It was too sensitive. Howard had already fielded it once, and he intended to keep it that way. There was likely nothing down there. Whatever old one lie dormant within the bowels of New Mauville was gone. This was an expedition doomed for failure.

Yet there was a saying: 'Trust, yet verify'.

It was the best lead Howard had. Josh had given him aid, so Howard would take it. He'd take his Kommo-o, his Pyroar, his Boltund, and every other Pokemon that the Gym Leader would bring out into the field. You used what you were given, and you did not complain. Anything to defeat the enemy known as Eternatus.

"I suppose I'd better catch up sleep, then. I don't think five hours of sleep in five days is gonna cut it!" He blinked wearily, before standing up. "I'll text you!"

---

Josh Devlin

As much as Josh had suffered in the war, he did not suffer a permanent injury like Howard did. Those were the kind that changed one's life forever. In one sense, he was lucky. On the other, he had failed the League in a critical operation that could very well put them on the back foot during the next big battle. He had succeeded in many smaller operations, but not the most important one. "If you can find room for Shirley to maneuver down there," Josh reminded Howard in a roundabout way. "New Mauville's underground, remember?" There was some space to fly, given the scale of the underground facility, but not as much as there was in the great outdoors.

"Wait, did you say five hours of sleep in five days?" Josh asked. "I can't function on five hours of sleep in one day. You better get back home and rest up. Text me when you're ready. I'll take you to the entrance. Can be a bit tricky to find."

"Scholarship never rests, my friend." Howard laughed before sauntering away with a casual wave. "If the world doesn't rest, then why should I?"

Shirley didn't need to fly to be a complete menace on the battlefield. The Aerodactyl was so ferocious that she hardly needed Howard's instructions. He was a poor battler, but she was anything but. Between her and Josh, he would be perfectly safe. Besides, if there was anything down there...

He had a god by his side.

"Later!" Howard bid his friend and enemy farewell.

---

Josh Devlin