"We'll run into a few of those, too." Howard agreed grimly. Like many of Hoenn's populace, he disliked Ultra Beasts. Many had been used in warfare during the Three Days War, including a Dynamaxed Xurkitree that had left Mauville under siege.

Dewford's siege hadn't ended, it had merely decided to elongate. Instead of one great battle, it had drawn out into a war of attrition. Nihilego would ruminate in the Ultra Deep Sea, before leaking out into Granite Cave below. Navy and his sheriffs would push them back, and the cycle would continue.

Nihilego would try to escape. Dewford would fight them back. Such was the eternal cycle of war. Solstice and Howard were simply bystanders who had willingly marched onto the battlefield, the former far more eager than the latter. Howard silently noted and catalogued that for future reference.

"I'm not particularly good in a fight, but we should be able to fend off a few. Just be careful. One sting, and..." Howard slid his fingers across his neck. "I can't think of a worse way to go."

The Aerodactyl sitting next to Howard growled, putting the statement of battle into question. With the cowboy aesthetic and ancient dinosaur by his side, he looked more like a treasure hunter than a caver. He still fit in more than Solstice, though. Shorts? Seriously?

Shirley stared at Sol's finger guns and growled at the display. Kids these days.

The two descended into the cave. It looked like a pretty typical cave found in the Hoenn region, yet Howard knew that as you went down, it broke down due to constant exposure to Eternatus's power. Unfortunately, that was where most of the murals in the caves were.

"Why Granite Cave?" Howard asked as they picked their way down a narrow stairway carved from rock. "Hell, why Dewford? It's not a great tourist destination. I would've thought Lilycove or Mauville would've fit you more."

Judging from how you dress, at least. Howard thought silently.

---

Solstice Arylide

"Depends who you ask. I know a girl who believes they're angels, born of divine proclamation. Anything they do, then, is divinely mandated by their god. The real enemy." Howard's eye flashed at Sol. "Our enemy. The sheriff thinks that. I agree."

Hoenn was always warring. There was always a conflict brewing in the shadows. Rocket versus the League. Hoenn versus the DRK Triad, interdimensional warriors aiming to defend the multiverse from Hoenn's corruption. Hoenn versus the Ultra Megalopolans, aliens sworn to invade this region to supplement their dying world.

There was always battle, should one choose to seek it. Yet these wars had opened the door to new discoveries. Dynamax, Terastallization, and so on. Science was pushing forward at a breakneck pace, and that meant there were more mysteries to tap into. That was good. It meant Howard could keep writing academic papers and coasting off of government grants.

"Shirley's been with me since I was in my teens. She's my only family, since my folks don't care." He laughed, before scratching Shirley's head. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a saltine cracker, before tossing it into her mouth. "We're the same, then. The past... well. It's better to look backwards, not forwards. The future is strange and unknown, while history is the concrete. I can learn from the concrete."

Learn from history, or be doomed to repeat it. What did you do when Hoenn was constantly rewriting the history book?

"I'm just doing the sheriff a favor." Howard smiled grimly when they asked when he was poking about. "He saved my life. I also owe him thirty PD for lunch, so I help when I can." Shirley stared at Sol as they descended, seemingly reading his mind that Aerodactyl wasn't his favorite fossil.

"What were you looking for, then?"

---

Solstice Arylide

"That depends on who you ask, I think. If your mom is your god, then maybe so." Howard squinted as he thought about it. "Seems like a pretty fucked up home life, if you ask me. We're both just dudes. How we're born doesn't matter. What we do does."

And Howard spent his life on a degree that got him no job, a position in Rocket that got him no sleep, and a social life that involved crawling through ventilation shafts with Tempest Quinn to chase after a Ferroseed.

Maybe his opinion didn't mean as much as he realized. His entire life felt like a sitcom where he was constantly failing upwards. He had gone from unemployment to grunt to admin in a remarkably quick amount of time. He had wanted to be Head Scientist, but had shamelessly been pushed into the office of Rocket Admin.

It sucked. It stopped him from being on the field as much as he liked. That was another reason he was fine with helping Solstice and Navy. That way, he could get out onto the field more.

"Oh. Um..." Howard blinked, then reddened. He looked down at the cave. "Thanks. Yours is good too. I've been skipping to pull all-nighters for work, so it's not as good as yours. Keep your eyes on this part of the cave. It's not sturdy."

Howard wanted to throw himself off a cliff. He was only in his twenties! Arceus, did he look old? He knew it. He'd need to get some tips later.

"Anyway," Howard barreled on, ignoring that this conversation had become a trainwreck. "Don't worry. If he needs you, he really needs you. If a member of the Elite Four needs your help, it's not a joke. He's one of the strongest trainers I know."

Navy was strong, and that was the way the sheriff preferred it. Yet that man was barreling towards destruction. His war with Eternatus would end in his death, one day. If Navy had his way, he would be the only person who could wield strength. To him, weakness was beautiful.

"A crystal? What kind?" Howard asked as he jumped down a rock and looked up at Sol. "Maybe I can help with it."

---

Solstice Arylide

"I'm missing a lot of things. My eye, for one. You'll have to forgive me if I don't see the point."

As he said that, Howard stepped down into the depths of the cave, picking the route for Sol to follow. As funny as it would've been to let a man dressed for clubbing lead the way through the cave, he wasn't that mean. Sol was a civilian, not yet in the war between Rocket and League. Demeaning him just wasn't worth it.

Besides, he was driven. Howard respected the hustle. Someone with a dream was someone capable of great things. Desperate clinging to his own dream had allowed Howard to rise to the rank of Rocket Admin. Clinging to that dream had let him learn things he never would've if he had given up on becoming an archaeologist.

Dreaming had power.

"Gems, huh?" Howard whistled to himself as he tapped his foot in thought. He knew a lot of myths and legends, but he hadn't heard that one. "If it's Kalosian, maybe it has something to do with Carbink? It's a popular Pokémon, especially in Shalour City. The Kalosians love their gems."

Kalosians loved their gems, their wines, their food. They reveled in their vices and their virtues. It was unfathomably frustrating, but Kalos was a cultural hotspot for a reason.

"A perfect gem, though? I wish. I know there's Anistar's sundial, but it's hardly perfect on a geological leve." Howard snorted, before frowning as the spasm of pain passed. "Are you bleeding?"

He took a step towards Solstice. They were about to go caving. A bleeding gash was enough to cause issues as they descended. As they got closer to Ultra Deep Sea, it was more likely for the toxic air to seep into the open wound. It'd be deadly. Painful. Miserable.

But turning back would mean abandoning the chase for 'glory'.

"Are you?" Howard asked as his eye flicked to the darkness. Shirley growled at it, sensing something. Hopefully it was nothing.

---

Solstice Arylide