Howard hated his life.

That wasn't new, wait. Howard hated his current circumstances. Yeah, that was far better. He hated his life, his circumstances, and the circumstances of this poor backwater town. There had been a war here, once. A war that threatened to shake the foundations of reality within this quaint little town.

He wondered if the local Gym Leader felt any responsibility for what was going on. If so, he pitied Hideo Kino and his responsibilities. To be so young and to oversee your town's infection was a heavy weight to bear.

"Yes, report to Viper that I'm fine. I'll need no further reinforcements." Howard murmured Elisabeth Fiorelli's old code name into his communicator. Rocket's chain of command would respect his request, and cramming a dozen Rockets together during an active infection was the height of folly. "I've taken precautions."

A thin layer of Safeguard, Light Screen, and Reflect glimmered around him like a thrice-bound shield. He had learned an important lesson from Route 119 that his fellow colleagues had not. It had taught him to have a healthy respect for this contagion.

Hopefully Navy took his advice on it.

Splatter. Howard's small blade cut through Toxic Chains like a hot knife through butter. Jayden had taught him... to a passable degree. He was no master swordsman, nor could he compete with Jayden himself, or Gwyar, or anyone else who had actively studied the field. He could sever a Toxic Chain though, no problem.

Shred Zeppelin had done it, after all.

The admin stopped at the man in front of him staggering forward. Normally, Howard would've simply turned the other way. It was no good for him to stand around another admin, especially when he was undisguised, especially when the other person was rambling about mochi.

"Jayden." The word is soft. "You're infected too, huh?"

A small voice inside him uttered a single word: good. The rest of his body ached, though. This was no way to go. Infected and poisoned and dying from the inside out. Rocket was vile, nobody had heeded his warning about the Toxic Chain. One of the admins had gotten themselves infected. Death would be ideal.

But Jayden Cross did not deserve this.

"It's Howard. Admin Fox."

---

jayden cross

Long ago, in that cave, he had ran from Eris Halla and her suffering. The Toxic Chain had caused her to dance to the whims of an unknown puppeteer.

He would not repeat that. Not today.

A few people who had the Toxic Chain had forgotten what happened afterwards, until it had been excised. To not remember, to not know was the greatest sin imaginable. It was a fate that Howard would not wish onto anyone, even someone as violent as Jayden. He cocked his head as the admin questioned him.

Did he think that Howard was someone else? There was only one other Fox, and he was long gone.

"No."

The voice was cool. It was harsh. It did not care. There is no need to lie to a madman. Even the biggest charlatan of all needed a moment to take off the mask.

"We're colleagues. Associates. Rockets. Admins. We're a hundred things and more. We're a thousand things and less, but there is one thing you and I will never be."

The vision of Remiel Calcifet flickered over Howard's visage.

"Friends."

---

jayden cross

"No. You were loyal to an idea, Jayden. You've always been loyal to an idea. To a dream that you've been dreaming for years."

His leg trembled as Jayden unleashed the powers of Avatarship onto him. In rapid succession, he had experienced the raw power of several Avatars. The Alchemist, the Coveted, the Cursed, the Scorned. Each of them had the power to destroy him, and each had the raw authority to make him turn tail and run.

He wanted to run. This was no fight he could flee from, even if he wanted to.

"It's time to wake up." The small saber at his belt was ornamental, more of an artifact than an actual weapon. He had started using it when Jayden had began to spar with him. "Let's dance, you and I."

He slammed the butt of the blade into Jayden's chest to knock him back, before readying his blade.

"I hate you. I always hated you."

Rage bubbled up. The wave of cold and rage and scorn hit him like a storm wall. Immediately, Howard's clothes began to frost over in ice. Behind him, Regice appeared as a cold sentinel of the coming duel. Various corrupted townsfolk were frozen in place, preserved in a sheet of ice.

---

jayden cross

The only thought running through Howard's mind was that victory was an improbable outcome.

Time was a tree that sprouted branches as decisions were made by individuals. It did not take much to birth a new timeline into existence, nor did it take the universe much time to cull the unchosen and undesirable outcomes from existence. History was a bush to be pruned.

Fighting Jayden Cross was an undesirable outcome. Nonetheless, it had to be done. He could not kill his fellow admin—Chien-Pao would not allow it—but he could accomplish something.

What was it? Why? Hatred? Scorn? Wrath? Did he truly hate Jayden Cross enough to pick up arms against him?

Yes.

He did not shiver from this cold. He shivered from the wrath of his colleague. Regice's freeze did not discriminate, but Jayden's wrath did. A dagger, aimed at the heart. Poisoned by wrath, sweetened by something else.

Why? He could run.

"I can, because I must. It's my obligation to give you direction. All you do is follow." Howard's teeth chattered. He didn't know what he was saying. Run. Be the person you know yourself to be. "There's only one reason that you'd feel this strongly about me. About the man named Remiel Calcifet. About Admin Fox."

The admin fell onto his back as Jayden leapt at him with the wrath of a carnal animal.

It call came back to Remiel Calcifet.

---

jayden cross

"Because he was your friend." The admin's voice was a rasp, static buzzing against the last vestiges of Jayden's Toxic Chain. "Because you were proud to stand alongside Galar's Crown Prince."

It had brought purpose to Jayden's silent war. Reason. Validation. To have the successor to Galar at your shoulders was something that emboldened even the most craven of fools. Purpose was all that any person asked for.

Jayden Cross needed it. Validation that this had been the right path. That he was content to be a slave, a subservient individual who simply followed orders as he marched towards an ending that he did not even want.

He had started that path with Admin Fox, and at some point along the way, had looked back to see that he was alone. Now, there was another Admin Fox. Poor of blood, poor of wealth, poor of appeal. Yet the passion was there. The love for archaeology, for dreams, for a greater purpose.

"You disgust me. I hate you. One day, I'll wake up and a knife will be in my back. It'll be your knife, and you'll twist it until my body breaks from the cold and ice." Hiss. The helmet clicked off. Howard's face stared through the visor. "But..."

His grip lessened.

"You're me. A cog in a machine that we're content to follow. What do you believe in, Jayden? What's your dream?" His eye flashed. "What dream have you used Rocket to fulfill?"

---

jayden cross

The Toxic Chain evaporated, melting away like a viscous sludge.

That such a small chain could do so much damage was laughable. A pandemic born of delusion that altered the perception of the infected, that was the world that this Toxic Chain had created. This town was ground zero. This infection would spread long after today, and it would echo for decades to come.

As Jayden's mind cleared, Howard let go.

"I was thinking about how this would all be less infuriating if you were easier to hate. I thought you were aimless and without purpose, but..." Howard stood up and dragged Jayden to his feet. "...there's something there. Passion. I can't fault that."

He wiped the blood from the man's lip, smearing against a gauntleted hand. They were not friends. They never would be. He hated this man. He had to.

But he could not despise him.

"We're heading back. Littleroot is lost. Lean on me."

The Toxic Chain's ground zero was Hideo's problem, now. He pitied the poor boy for the disaster that he could not mitigate. Yet that was not his nor Jayden's problem.

Tomorrow was another day.

---

jayden cross