The heart monitor had been the first to alert him of the change in Howard's condition, the constant cry of it spiking for a moment when he woke. Laurence had been reading the newspaper he had gone and scooped from a fellow doctor, his attention now shifting to Howard who had been settled down on the cot. 

Where am I?

"You're back at the lab. You fainted after the Raging Bolt fell, and unfortunately for me, I had to carry you back injured and all."

The doctor had responded cooly, getting up from his seat as he grabbed some things that had been idly with him, a cup of water, a flashlight, and a white pill that had been crushed and ground in half. He passed the pill first, silently instructing the admin to ingest it. 

"This will at least help with the lack of nutrients that you have, once you're done, I'll give you water, now open your eyes so I can check to see if your vision has been impaired."

Laurence would wait a bit for Howard to follow the directions before he'd go and temporarily blind his good eye with the flashlight for a moment, checking to see if there was anything else that he'd need before continuing with the necessary checkup. However, he wouldn't go silent, his mind stayed stuck on the memory of the Regice that had been present on the battlefield, he'd want answers as anyone else would. 

"So, will you explain why you have it? The Pokémon that is."

He couldn't even say it by name. It was too much for him to even understand beforehand, and even now, it didn't make sense. 

"It's a legendary, that much we know even throughout our lives. And given how it's such, why is it in your Pokeball. Do you just carry it about like its nothing? You said that the league had Groudon...I assume they have it just captured as well like that?"

howard slayte

"I see." Howard's voice was thoughtful, even as no thoughts went through his head. It was stuffed with cotton, and his dry mouth made talking difficult. The weight his presence had—as lacking as it was—was diminished by him sitting in a hospital bed. "You brought me back?"

He hardly looked like the man who held Laurence's life in the palm of his hand, and more akin to an average patient. Mortal. Fallible. A man who could drop Laurence's daughter like an egg and watch the fragile shell of innocence shatter against the floor.

"Thanks. I know doctors swear to do no harm, but you did a good thing today. Even if it was for an Iron Moth of all things. In that objective, we failed. Disappointing."

His voice wasn't accusatory, more so annoyed at the fact that he was sitting in a hospital room being tended for again. With the topic of Regice, Howard's eye narrowed, before widening to Laurence could shine a light into it. When his other eyelid opened, a Key Stone for Mega Evolution glimmered in the socket.

One eye.

"Groudon is different. It's a sword without a hilt, held by a man with few scruples. It killed Hoenn's champion. Bailey Cooper, several years ago. I assume they treat it with the reverence it deserves." Howard shrugged absentmindedly. "I hope so, at least."

The water Laurence gave him was cool and good, refreshing upon parched lips and a dry tongue.

"Regice is an artifact. I use it as such." The admin frowned. "Does that bother you?"

---

Laurence Whateley

"If I didn't you'd be back at the area likely in the stomach of another Pokemon, so yes. I did take you back."

He continued his work, trying to ignore the glimmering stone that had been holed up in his eye. That was another question that would be asked at a later time. Howard continued to talk about the mission, though Laurence had hardly cared about it as much at that point, no, they did not get the Iron Moth personally, however, they had escaped with their lives intact. He could care less about anything else. 

"Well, we got what is seemingly a lot better. If that thing eats Iron Moths, I'd say its a win."

The doctor's eyes trailed to the Pokeball, the same one he had caught it with that lay dormant on the counter. He had only gone and released it once, the beast too injured to retaliate or fight back, and cured it. However, before it could regain the strength, he returned it. That in itself was too much of a risk to do. 

"So, they keep a ticking timebomb essentially, great. I guess you weren't lying, but to keep answers short, yeah. It bothers me a lot. People just having artifacts and legendary Pokémon in their own collection? From what you tell me, it seems exactly why we shouldn't have them. But I guess I'm also in that now. If paradox Pokémon are similar in any matter, I'd just be a hypocrite."

howard slayte

"We built Regice. Us. Mankind. It is ours to use as we see fit, because we dared to use fire. We need it."

Legendary Pokemon had no right to exist within the palm of humanity, but that was because they didn't. Mankind had a tenuous grasp on them, if Chu-e Choi was to be believed. Humans were simply vessels from which the ideals of the divine could be acted. They were the instruments of gods. Necrozma had not been captured by a human, Necrozma had enslaved a human. Twice.

Regice was many things, but it was not that. It could not be that.

"Listen well." Howard leaned back in his bed and crossed his arms thoughtfully once Laurence was done with his inspection. After a moment of thought, he started to speak. "From what I've helped translate, these golems were built by Hoenn's forefathers to defeat a great enemy. At some point, they were sealed away. They have begun to rouse themselves over the past five years to defeat something bigger than all of us."

A great dragon that had razed Galar to the ground, before turning its colossal eyes on Hoenn.

"A Pokemon called Eternatus." The name was foreign. Nobody but a select few knew of Eternatus's existence. "It is bigger than Sootopolis."

Hopefully that would make for a fine scale.

"Paradox Pokémon are... abominations. Ugly. But we deal with them now, so get used to hypocrisy. You'll be reveling in it."

He was a doctor aiding Team Rocket. He'd need to get used to hypocrisy. It was a lesson Howard was still trying to learn.

---

Laurence Whateley

Built. 

Regice was built, Howard said. Something about it had unsettled Laurence, the idea of knowing that such a thing could be made. Could be sculpted. He put away the flashlight, getting up to move a bit, he needed space. Learning such a thing had felt wrong, he hadn't heard of things happening like that, and surely, he didn't poke his head into places that did. He was a doctor, and that was the only thing he knew about.

The story had seemed unrealistic, a story of forefathers going about things in Hoenn to defeat such a mysterious dragon that had dwarfed his hometown, but Howard was yet to be labeled a liar, so Laurence shut up. He couldn't even imagine what part such an elaborate lie would start from. 

"And since you must've gotten it, meaning Rocket trusts you to handle it."

Another obvious observation, but it at least showed he could believe in some parts of the story, even if it were something so minute. He wouldn't give into responding to Howard's comment of hypocrisy though, he'd felt too ashamed in such. 

"Well, that is a crazy story...The world is much bigger than I thought it was, forefathers building golems and all. Besides that, I have to tell you, you took a beating out there. You broke three ribs, and frankly, you're going to be out of commission for a bit. Don't be dumb and battle, I bandaged you up, but you'll need to be careful for now. I suggest resting up for the moment, but if you have to do work, make it easy. And if it's super easy, I'll do it." 

He had spoken about such a thing as if it were him reading off a newspaper, slow and methodical, not quick to give any emotion. However, as Laurence went and sat down, the man was quick to pick up back the Iron Moth paperwork he had, rereading what he had written before. 

howard slayte  

"Trust." Rocket hardly trusted him. Had they trusted him when he first joined up, when he led the planning for the assault on the Island Cave back in October? Had they trusted him when Regice towered above, Dynamaxed due to a Power Spot? Had they trusted him when he and Shred ran towards the construct in a desperate final charge? When he had salvaged its remains, had they trusted him then?

"Anyone can handle Regice. It is a machine. It thinks little, and does much. Anyone can command it on the battlefield." Lips curl in derision. "Or so I thought."

No, it could feel. It could make decisions, although they were minor quirks in a greater program. Regice refused to serve oscar clayton on the battlefield. It refused to battle Regirock or Regieleki as well. It could make decisions, and those decisions were continuously making things difficult.

It was better when it was just an artifact.

"I will get you an Iron Moth." Howard frowned as he gave the doctor an odd look. "Doctor, I believe you're warming up to me."

The broken ribs were obnoxious, though. He could not afford to be bedridden for very long. There was so much to do, and so little time to do it. If he was going to recover, he needed a job done.

"I'm going to give you a job that I think will pertain to your skills." The admin frowned thoughtfully. "It's a little outside your expertise, but I think you will rise to it."

---

Laurence Whateley

He spoke about handling legendary Pokémon as if they were but pieces of a chessboard, as if they were simply machines that could turn off and on with only a command. Laurence could only disagree; however, he wasn't the one with the Regice in his back pocket, and even then, it seemed to a certain extent, that Howard himself was wrong too. But Laruence simply continued to read his paperwork, trying to take his mind off it. 

"The Iron Moth would be appreciated for the toxin but try not to take this as me asking you personally. The sooner you have one, the less you have to worry about others dying from it. And warming up to you and making sure you don't die are two separate things, they may sound the same, but you still are a part of Rocket. Sorry, if I'm being unreasonably cold, but I also can't just let an Admin die on my hands."

He said that as plain as day, a reminder that while Laurence had healed him, he had yet to see him as but a simple Rocket Admin, who had hired and could fire him. He had power, and power didn't exactly mean that there was full loyalty. However, while he spoke the truth, the Doctor had felt relief that someone hadn't died that day. He was still a doctor after all. 

I'm going to give you a job that I think will pertain to your skills. 

His request had come at such an odd moment, immediately after he had suggested that he do little, but it should have been something he expected. He had said it, so it was fair game, Laurence sat back in his chair and put the paper down, his eyes rising from their current topic to look at the bandaged architect. 

"And what would that be?"

howard slayte

"Investigate Dynamax." The admin's eye was flat, whether with pain or something else it did not matter. He leaned forward, grunting in pain. "That is to say, look into Eternatus. Understand it. Observe it. Learn about it."

More people needed to be aware of Eternatus's threat, but Howard also knew that it was dangerous to talk about such a loaded subject. Eternatus had appeared in a distant dream that Howard wasn't part of, but he had heard of its might from people like Navy.

It needed to be stopped.

"Regice's ruin was built on top of a massive supply of Dynite Ore and Wishing Stars. Dynergy is very prevalent around them. Dynergy poisoning is serious. It can kill you." His eye flashed for a moment. "It can kill your daughter. "

When Eternatus woke, it wouldn't leave anyone alive. Howard was aware of the power of bonds. If he made Laurence think that doing this was for her sake, he'd be far more willing to help.

"Do it for her. Not for Rocket."

---

Laurence Whateley

He had a tall order, investigating Eternatus, something he said was much larger and much more destructive than anything Laurence had ever heard of, and the admin had the nerve to bring Sophia's name so casually in such a thing. He hated it, that twitch his heart did whenever anything came to her. Howard knew exactly what he was doing. The doctor sat there silent, his breath slowing as he fumbled for words...

"That isn't a damn request, and you know it. And I have no damn idea where I'd even start that Howard."

There was that anger, the annoyance that began to rise. It wasn't a request at all, putting his kid in such a thing when she would have no idea of what the world entailed, and yet he had to do the work of researching it. He had to be the one asked for this. Laurence pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling the heat of anger turn into a headache. What job was this? Did he think that he could just go and become some sort of superhero? Just get up and conjure up results as if there simply written on the wall? But Howard had been smart, because even when he knew the answers were hidden, Laurence couldn't ignore the idea that it'd keep her safe. At the end of the day, he was a father too. A doctor by himself may not have much to live for, but a father? He had everything to live for. 

A moment passed...The only sound permeating the tense atmosphere was the heart monitor that interrupted the silence. Laurence had to think...No, he had already thought, he had to simply accept it. It would take a moment before he could only let out a tired and defeated sigh, his hand falling to his lap as those his eyes looked at Howard, true defeat in them. 

"I won't be able to do this alone."

The admittance of it was the only thing he could think of, this wasn't just something that could be done by one person. But, it had been a verbal acceptance of his fate. 

"I'd need more than one, more than two, or three people to work with this...And I'd need help from you since you know a lot more about this than I do. I'll do it, but I want help, Howard. Thats it. And keep my daughter out of any damn thing past this." 

howard slayte