He had the decency to look embarrassed.

"H-hey!" Howard protested, ears turning red as Eris vowed to protect him. "I can protect myself!"

Lie. The only things Howard was good at protecting were bears and fossils. Howard had brought both of those today, with Shirley and Doug being his main defenses while he was in the caves with Eris. Since he was in his League persona today, there was no need to try overly hard. He could just be plain, ordinary Howard.

He had forgotten what that felt like.

"Agreed. Doug doesn't like it down here." As if on cue, Doug emerged from his Pokeball with a growl. He looked at the glimmering Tera Crystals and actually roared, which echoed across the cave system.

"See?" He gestured at Doug, whose haunches were raised.

---

TOTAL: 156
Eris Halla
VJtPE8eD

Eris Halla made for good backup. She was essentially a one man army wrapped up into a bright red package. Unfortunately, she was rather short. It'd be difficult to hide behind her if something hit the fan.

"Megalopolans." Howard said darkly as they marched forward. His face was a thinly veiled mask of contempt as he remembered the magenta chains that had bound Eris's heart when they were under Route 119. "Paradox Pokémon. Beyond that, I don't know."

He had gotten reports from Rocket regarding strange footprints, portals, and other unknown phenomena. The Giant Chasm and Area Zero were the maw of possibilities, an arcadia that existed beyond reality.

"This place shouldn't exist."

Yet it did. It existed in spite of reality and Hoenn deeming it impossible. Hoenn was hollow, and within its hollow form existed a paradise in which any fiction could become reality.

---

Eris Halla
6UmBndmG

"Tera Crystals make me think that this cavern was created as soon as the earth was cracked open, but Route 119 makes me think differently."

Hoenn had misunderstood the threat that they were facing. Rocket. League. Both had looked at the phenomenon threatening to undercut everything and had seen only the surface of Hoenn being infested. They had refused to look under the hood. The region beneath their feet was rotting. Route 119 had caves like this, and the Island Cave had emerged due to the interference of the crystals.

He should've noticed this sooner, but his promotion had preoccupied him. Why was he so stupid?

"I would guess since a few months past Meteno, at the very least. This place isn't natural, even though it's paradise. Besides, I'm hearing about all sorts of freaky stuff that lives down in the crater."

He counted on his fingers.

"Dinosaurs... Paradoxes... More dinosaurs..."

---

Eris Halla
THB1HMdc

"It is paradise. This place was free of human interference until we cracked it open like an egg. Now, we've poisoned it with our minds. We're nothing but Murkrows feasting on carrion."

If the afterlife was paradise, and the crystals in the cave's bowels were capable of performing miracles, that made Area Zero Elysium. The Giant Chasm was were life went on, unmarred. Hoenn made up the sky, and it was constantly at war. The battle between Rocket and League had split the sky and allowed demons into this unmarred utopia.

Yes, Inferno and Bless were inversed. The sky was hell, and the earth was heaven.

"Something is-" His eye widened. He knew what an earthquake was. Before he could react, Eris's Pichu erected a barrier that prevented harm. It created a pink barrier. Wait, pink?

Before he could say something, it was over.

He stared at the Pichu, then at Eris, then at Doug.

"That's not natural. It's deliberate. Your Pichu was a big help! Man, I wish I had crackers to feed it..."

Blissfully oblivious, yet something tugged at Howard. Strange...

---

Eris Halla
P7zFQvoP

"Huh." He stared at the Pichu for a moment, before closing his eye and nodding. "Yes. That makes sense. They are quite delicious."

Nonetheless, he wouldn't forget the pink energy barrier. Where else had that shown up? It was familiar, he was sure of it! Yet he was preoccupied at the moment, pondering the implications of Area Zero and this new segment of paradise.

"We are not falling for it. My boss is making me go down here, and you're simply helping out a friend. I've read enough explorer journals to know what happens when we explore too greedily and too deep."

History never made notice of a mass of cave networks that intersected the region like veins on a body, but Howard felt like each day marked a new occurrence.

Ah, but that was Hoenn.

---

Eris Halla
ujUGI9Kx

"I'd get jumped by a dozen Scream Tails. Howard smiled wryly and shook his head. "And you'd have to save me."

Oh, how he loathed being saved by a child, even if she was a powerful one. The weight of the world was pushed onto the shoulders of the small. How many Atlases needed to shoulder the burden of his folly? How many people would need to pick up the League and Rocket's pieces?

The weight was incomprehensible.

"Tracks? Hm." Howard knelt down in the dirt and frowned. He saw them immediately, and began to appraise them with the eye of a professional. Heavy. Whatever had stepped here weighed several metric tons. He felt a familiar pang of fear. "Huh. Have you seen this before?"

The twinge of fear had been with him since he was young. His eye darted back and forth.

---

Eris Halla
2yFxPz7m