jayden cross would be remarkably proud of Howard's running form.

Running from Chien-Pao, fishing up Chi-Yu, and dodging Shred after stealing the last box of cigarettes had given him both speed and stamina. He wasn't good in a fight, but you didn't need to be strong on the battlefield.

You just has to be faster than the slowest person.

"Huff... I've seen that before! On Mt. Pyre!" He speaks between quick breaths as he turns down another cavern corridor. Reiner and Doug follow after them as more cracks in reality pierce through Area Zero. "Distortion... World!"

He had never been there, but he recognized it all the same. The Distortion World, where Giratina held court with antimatter demons and monsters from another plane. Not like Ultra Space, but something more alien.

THUD. THUD. THUD. The rumblings grew louder.

---

Eris Halla
OBKXz3Ax

"Dunno...!" Howard grunted as he hauled Eris through the cavernous network. He was beginning to tire from carrying Eris and their bags. If he could stop, he would, but the pangs of fear kept coming. This place was unnatural. It had no right to exist.

The Distortion World was proof of it. Only a place where reality was thinnest could the immaterial bleed through.

"Hup!" Howard jumped over a rock, with Doug taking up the rear. The bear growled as the various 'eyes' of the Distortion World ignored him in favor of what was up ahead.

Howard turned a corner and stopped, dumbfounded. Awestruck.

Thud. A large boulder stepped over the corpse of an unlucky Scream Tail as it continued its march forward. Thud.

"Impossible..." Howard held Eris tight as his knees wobbled and shook. His teeth chattered and shuddered as he stared up at the colossal titan. "I've been looking for you, Regirock!"

Tendrils of the Distortion World recoiled as it got close, familiar with the entity. This golem had managed to escape its grasp, and now the two had met once again.

The titan did not respond. Perhaps it couldn't. Long ago, it had been split into thirds. In Howard's research, Rocket had recovered a shard of it, though it had been incapable of doing much. The mind had failed. The soul was gone. And yet...

Thud.

...the body still resisted.

---

Eris Halla
0oNbO485

"I don't know." His voice is a frenzied whisper. He had never seen the genuine article, only the simulated version of Regirock that existed within the RKS Simulation. Somehow, the real deal seemed far more threatening.

Maybe because RKS ultimately wasn't real. It was a simulation that could not inflict lasting harm. This Regirock that stood before them was real. It would kill them if they didn't move.

It was sworn to defend Hoenn, but that didn't include the life forms that crawled across her corpse like maggots. Those, it could wipe away. Its objective was its own, and they were in its way.

Thud.

It towered over them. It was terrifying because it made no internal sounds. Regice made a shrill series of beeps whenever Howard fielded it. Despite everything that it went through, Regice was still functional. Regirock was broken somehow. The pattern on its face was completely dull. There was no life.

Regice's Pokeball shook slightly. Regirock continued marching forward, before turning to Eris. There was no blink of recognition on its face. Instead, there was only the scrape of stone as it raised a colossal limb and prepared to strike down.

"Eris! Get out of the way!" Howard screamed as he lunged, Doug roaring behind him as it lunged towards Regirock with a Headlong Rush. Without blinking, the golem bashed Doug aside as if swatting a fly.

An unstoppable force. An immoveable object. Ancient. Primal. Undefeatable.

---

Eris Halla
DHFcmAtN

Regirock's fist came down.

The only thought that went through Howard's mind was a panicked 'fuck, I'm dead'. When faced with quick combat, there was no time to think of a melodramatic farewell or solve a complex moral quandary. He wondered if this is what Navy felt whenever he got cornered in one of his endless wars.

If so, he pitied him. Being a warrior was hard work.

After a second of waiting for his death, for his body to splatter against stone and line the walls of the cave, Howard opened his eye. he was not dead. Instead, he bore witness to Regirock breaking down a pink barrier.

"Pichu...?" Howard asked, awestruck. Even Eris's Pichu was stronger than Howard's best Pokémon. Obscene.

Then, his mind clicked. He remembered what he promised to Isaac Merlo and the unspoken vow to Chu-e Choi . Pink energy.

There was no time to think. He reached for his belt and plucked the familiar cold Pokeball that glimmered with a sheen of ice.

"Let's get to work...!" Howard threw the ball. It gleamed in the air as it did so, a crystalline sphere glimmering with possibility. "...REGICE!"

The cave immediately covered in ice and snow as the golem emerged. For the first time in millennia, two Legendary Giants met in Hoenn. If Regirock had an opinion on this, it could not utter it. It was only a body, lacking in mind and soul. A massive stone doll, chasing after an objective that nobody knew.

"You're supposed to protect this region!" Howard shouted as Regice pushed Regirock back with the help of Pichu's barrier. "We're part of this region, you lout!"

---

Eris Halla
FC5qaW3h

No time to think about the pink cloud and the odd powers of the Pichu. That would have to wait. Reiner had saved him, and Howard and Eris were both even again, safe in the fact that they had saved one another. In another time, he would've felt sheepish to be saved by a kid, but now he was only grateful.

"Got it! I'm trusting you, Eris!" Howard shouted as he snapped his fingers as he pointed at his golem. "Regice! Prepare to strike! Unleash everything you have!"

Meanwhile, the golem stood still as it took the full force of Regirock's swing. What had originally been a death blow had been softened by Pichu's barrier, but it was still a blow capable of cracking a mountain. Howard had seen what Regice had done in the Island Cave, and priam conrad had told him about his adventures with Regirock.

Hoenn's giants would not be struck down easily, except by one another. Rock cracked ice apart, causing Regice to wheel back with a static-filled shriek. Latently circulating Dynergy fluctuated around the two golems.

⠗⠑⠎⠏⠕⠝⠙ ⠗⠕⠉⠅ Regice's patterns flashed in the cavern. ⠗⠑⠎⠏⠕⠝⠙

The body could heed the message, but there was no mind or soul to respond to it. The pattern on Regirock's face did not even blink in response to Regice's query. As Regirock began to wind up another strike, Howard's anger bubbled over at his golem's pathetic display against its colleague.

"Regice! For fuck's sake, fulfill your obligation!"

Immediately, Regice's energy began to skyrocket as it wound back its arm, preparing to throw a fist backed by a tremendous Superpower. As its power reached its zenith, Regice swung a mighty blow.

---

Eris Halla
6Q|h|Tnh

Ally Switch.

Regirock had had those, once. Not for a very long time, given the death it had caused, the people it had killed and the empty Pokeballs that it had left in its wake. Now, more than ever, it was alone. It didn't have to be, but for this moment, it was alone. A lonely warrior on a march with no discernable end.

The Regice across from it registered it as an ally, but for now, the Legendary Giants were divided.

Ally Switch.

SLAM! Regirock fell to its knees from the weight of the Superpower to its back. Regirock instinctively swung a massive fist backwards, only for the Regice to no longer be there. In its place was a Pichu, small enough to dodge the strikes.

Ally Switch.

Regice slammed into Regirock from the side with another Superpower, knocking it over. It prepared to launch a Hyper Beam that would atomize the golem. It Locked On with pinpoint accuracy. It would not dodge this strike. Before it could fire...

...Ally Switch.

SLAM! Regirock was smashed into the wall.

---

Eris Halla
Xmih0FT2

Ally Switch.

Ally Switch.

Ally Switch.

Two Legendary Pokémon could defeat one, especially if two of them were equal. Between the Pichu's support and Regice's raw power, Regirock simply could not keep up with the onslaught. However, rock was tenacious. It was likely that Regice could strike at it for hours without stopping it.

All Regirock needed was one good strike, and Regice would crack like so many Pokémon before it.

"You're doing it! Keep going, Regice!" Howard cheered as the wall crumbled. He didn't seem to think anything was wrong with Pichu using Ally Switch, but Howard was an archaeologist. He didn't study Pichus, and he barely knew what moves his own Pokémon knew.

Training was not his forte.

"Wait..." Howard's jaw dropped as Pichu transformed into a pink sprite. He recognized it immediately. After all, he had just seen it a month ago. Mesprit, Being of Emotion. What was it doing here, as a Pichu? "It's..."

Of course. It made too much sense. After a moment of staring, Regirock was forgotten as Howard's eye began to water. He turned to Eris.

"You've had that Pichu since I first met you. All this time...?"

---

Eris Halla
0e6qI9in