It was hot, still. Howard didn't know why the RKS System had so many deserts, but all that meant was that the simulation desperately needed new material. One desert was obnoxious. Two was overkill. If he wanted sand, he would've gone to Orre.

Yet the desert was cold. Not only because of Regice's Pokeball at his hip, but because there was someone who sucked in light and warmth like an uncaring void. Howard tried not to stare at ■■■, because it always felt like the abyss stared back. Unfortunately, being colleagues meant that Howard occasionally had to deal with ■■■.

No, that wasn't right. Say his name. ■■■.

No, say it. ■■■.

Dammit.

He could say the man's name properly, but Howard himself never heard it when it left his lips. Instead, he heard nothing. Sometimes, the sound of his name was replaced with wind, a buzz, or a howl. It took hundreds of forms, but it never became the name of Necrozma's Avatar.

"I hate sand." Howard grumbled to the Rocket Beast as the simulation started up. "I'll give this thing credit, though. The RKS is exceptionally good at simulating life."

He regards the Wishing Star with his sole working eye. At his belt, a Pokeball noticeably twitched. Howard frowned as he looked at it, before looking back at the strange chunk of ore. It felt familiar to Howard, and yet...

"You recognize this, Beast?" The formality in his tone was palpable, yet the words that came out were casual.

---

Zev Harcourt

"Is that so?" Howard asked, slightly peeved that ■■■ actually did know what it was. He half-hoped the Rocket Beast would look at it, grunt, and then smash it with those beloved black crystals of his. Occasionally, Howard forgot that Necrozma's chosen wasn't a brute. He was aware and clever.

An annoying combination. Luckily, all Howard had to do was stay out of his way and let someone else deal with him. He wasn't on ■■■'s radar, a gift he was everlastingly thankful for.

"What happened to them? Did Rocket seize it?"

His eye narrowed as the Beast took a step towards it. ■■■ halted after that one step, but Howard disliked that. ■■■ showing interest in anything was a particularly bad fate for the interested party. Being ignored was far better, but the Beast's interest had been noticed.

The Pokeball shook again, then again, then again. It wrenched itself free from Howard's belt, landing on the floor of the tomb. It shook again, and ice began to spread across from where the Pokeball landed. It shook a final time. Then, with a click, the Pokeball opened.

It got cold. The tomb crusted with frost as Regice towered in front of Rocket's Beast and Admin, seemingly stopping the two from approaching the chunk of ore. A latticework of cracks had spread across its Clear Body following the battle with Kyurem, but it was still functional.

Still, the golem stared at the duo, before turning slightly towards Necrozma's chosen.

"Oh, hey. It's you." Howard's voice sounded particularly unamused, but he frowned. "How did you get out of the ball? I must've pressed the button on accident."

---

Zev Harcourt

He didn't know.

"It doesn't want anything. It can't want anything. It's a golem." No matter what Naomi Sato said, this thing had no purpose beyond defending Hoenn. It was a 'Pokémon', but Howard struggled to view it as such. It had shown no proof of sentience. It was a machine.

It had spoken in the Unown Dimension, but that had been a fluke.

It stayed with Howard, but that was because it lacked a will.

It had wept when it found the Regi Effigy in Meteor Falls, but that was-

⠝⠕⠞ ⠽⠕⠥⠗⠎ ⠕⠞⠓⠑⠗⠺⠕⠗⠇⠙⠇⠽ ⠕⠝⠑

The patterns flashed unfathomably quickly in a bright yellow light. The glare of light strobed against the duo, and Howard took a step back. It continued to focus on Necrozma's chosen. Did it have a grudge against the Blinding One? Howard was glad to know he wasn't the only person who hated ■■■, but this wasn't the time.

⠉⠕⠍⠏⠇⠑⠞⠑ ⠍⠑ The flights flashed brightly. Something was very wrong.

⠉⠕⠍⠏⠇⠑⠞⠑ ⠍⠑ The same pattern flashed again. ⠉⠕⠍⠏⠇⠑⠞⠑ ⠍⠑

The braille pattern blinked a reddish hue. The color of Eternatus reared its head, pulsating in the same color as the ore.

⠓⠑⠁⠗⠞

With remarkable speed, the golem lunged towards the pulsating chunk of ore. It did not glide like normal. Instead, it leapt. It was an oddly human gesture, and that made it very wrong. A golem had no right to look like a human. It had no reason to imitate those emotions, because it had none.

"Stop it!" Howard shouted at ■■■. He hated relying on the Beast's help, but this was wrong. "Don't let it touch that ore!"

---

TOUCH THE PURPLE CHUNK
Zev Harcourt

It was like punching at winter itself.

The golem was weakened, but it was larger than its assailant, with a freezing aura that made the warmth of spring and summer feel like an ever-distant fantasy—a dream that would never come. It was cold, and it radiated a primordial rage. Regice was born from humanity's gentle hand, but its materials were chilling, uncaring, indiscriminate.

It saw. It froze. It hated.

When ■■■ scraped against the chunk, Regice let out a shrill scream that caused Howard's nerves to crawl. Then, the vision struck. He saw the Deoxys, and thought of Amor Rose . There was a battle, and a shard of Eternatus fell like a shooting star.

As the the Rocket Beast tried to keep Regice away, Howard stared at the shard. No, not a shard, a Wishing Star. Immediately, the admin's mind returned to the translations in Regice's ruins.

IN THIS CAVE, WE HAVE FLED
HIDING FROM THE SKELETON GIGANTIC
FROM ITS RIBS, WE SCULPTED GUARDIANS

"One of Eternatus's ribs..." The opportunities were endless. Howard assumed that the golems had been built from Eternatus's scraps. It explained their ability to Dynamax. It explained a lot. Yet as the Wishing Star pulsed and Regice continued to wrestle towards it despite the limb tearing into it.

⠍⠽ ⠓⠑⠁⠗⠞

Its weight pressed on ■■■ even further as it reached for the Wishing Star. A bright glow appeared as it prepared to Hyper Beam, before the golem disappeared into its Pokeball.

"■■■! Are you good?" Howard asked, though he didn't move to help the older man. Instead, his eyes were wide with fear as the simulation prepared to shift.

---

PROCEED TO NEXT STAGE
Zev Harcourt

That glare of his was always unnerving. It reminded Howard of their meeting in his apartment. Not that he needed much reminding, with the experience living in Howard's mind without having to pay a shred of rent.

Yes, it lived in his mind eternally. The experience had taught him that Rocket was likely doomed.

"I... don't know what happened." Howard shank under the Beast's glare. He grasped at the topic of Regice malfunctioning, desperate to avoid dealing with his colleague's terrifying expression. "It's never done that. That chunk..."

That chunk was unnerving, and it was alive. Where had it come from? What were all those boulders for? The universe they were in offered few answers.

As Howard adjusted to the new stage, his eye widened in terror as he saw Walsh. He had never been in the Fuchsia Gym before, but Walsh and his Pokémon were enough to cause the archaeologist to turn around and flee.

"No! I'm not... I wasn't..."

He ran. Walsh's Gliscor lunged at the admin from behind, attempting to cleave him apart with a Cross Poison.

---

Zev Harcourt
RETREAT