"Enough." The vague answer was what Howard was willing to dispense. He feared the man next to him, but these silent rebellions were the best he could muster against his colleague. "The issue is not the present supply. It's pulling it from the ground and keeping it for ourselves. We are not the only people to the stuff."

Lilycove and Fortree watched this place, he knew. Rocket could not pull as much as possible due to the eyes of Guillermo Marceliño and LANCE VOLLANS . Involving the Pokémon Rangers would start a war, and war was bad for business.

"It's why you're here, actually. All the Dynergy swirling around is toxic. How's your resistance to the stuff?"

Another drag of his cigarette as the admin led ■■■ through a complex of tunnels and ruined paths. Dynite Ore thrummed in veins as the two reached a large room with a big stone door, engraved with markings found across the tomb. A team of scientists, engineers, and miners sat talking.

They turned to the duo as they entered, and Howard waved them off.

"There's an issue, see."

---

Zev Harcourt

"Issues. I misspoke." He hadn't, it was just easier to enlist someone's help when they thought they were getting into less than they thought. "Two. One of which, you're gonna hear right about now."

As if on queue, a rumble shook the ruins. A deep roar echoed on the other side of the door, and the beast could, if he cared to, sense a rush of Dynergy associated with a Dynamaxed Pokémon. Dangerous. Destructive. Delicious.

"There's a big vein of Wishing Stars and Dynite Ore behind this door. The Dynergy is toxic, and I'd rather not risk any more men." Howard took a deep drag akin to man trying to drown their senses in a cloud of smoke. He let the smoke trail out from his lips. "Unfortunately, that means Dynamax."

The man smiled without humor.

"I wanted you to drain some of the Dynergy from the room while my men pull out the biggest Wishing Stars. In the meantime, I'll deal with the Dynamaxed Pokémon."

In Howard-speak, that meant he'd sic Regice on it.

---

Zev Harcourt

"Gotcha. Thanks for your help." Howard heard Chu-e Choi howling from the depths of hell.

Howard nodded respectfully, his eye flickering with fear once it was out of ■■■'s gaze. He turned to his men.

"You heard the man. OPEN UP!" When an admin and a beast gave an order, it was obeyed. Men rushed to forklifts and drills and brought out Pokémon capable of tearing into Eternatus's corpse. As they assembled, Howard gave a whistle.

The great stone door opened on ancient hinges that screamed and groaned. Red and violet mist curled forward, causing the admin to instinctively take a step back. From the massive room beyond the stone gate, a Power Spot glimmered with alien power. Wishing Stars and Dynite ore lined a wall to the left. In the middle of the room stood a Dynamaxed Gigalith.

A bastion of defense. Unbreakable. Unmovable. The admin flicked his cigarette to the ground and gestured to his colleague.

"Get busy." Howard gestured at ■■■ as Regice stepped forward to meet this new foe.

The Wishing Stars glimmered with a brilliant light, a primal allure to a devourer.

---

Zev Harcourt

When faced with a monster, Howard ran. It was why he had survived so long in a career that was full of hustlers, dangerous ruins, and various threats. To run was to survive. To run was to fight another day. In his nightmares, he ran from black crystals, outpacing them until he woke tired and afraid.

Afraid and alive. The terrors of the night were pushed back by the conscience of wakefulness. To understand and to elucidate was to remove fear and replace it with understanding.

He did not want to understand the man in front of him. He could not. Understanding Necrozma's chosen was to know his name. Howard would never allow himself to hear ■■■'s name again. It was gone, lost to history, and buried beneath mounds of sand. It was a hypocritical action. Archaeologists did not shun from the truth.

Yet this truth? This one, he would shun.

"Go! Help him!" As the Dynergy recoiled, a small army of drills, hammers, and lifts rushed in to extract the valuable ore. Meanwhile, Howard turned to face the Dynamaxed Pokémon alone. A risky venture for one without training, but Howard bridged the gap with remarkable ease.

The knowledge of ancients outweighed the understanding of the living.

"Regice, Dynamax!" Howard shouted as his golem reacted with the Power Spot. Despite the lack of Dynamax Band on his wrist, his Regice began to swell in size until it matched the Gigalith. Latent Dynergy mixed with the energy in this Power Spot, and the golem became more primal as it embraced its true nature.

It was a weapon, built for war.

Regice matched the Gigalith with a Max Hailstorm, blocking the foe's attack as ■■■ drank an unholy toxin.

---

Zev Harcourt

The Dynamaxed Gigalith fell with remarkable ease. It did not fall through clever tactics or intrepid command. It fell because it was fighting something completely out of its league.

What lied in the basis of Hoenn's Legendary Giants was the purity of machinery. Something that oscar clayton continued to grapple with as he welded his armada of Genesects together for a war that had yet to come. Regice could only act in a handful of pre-programmed ways. Its intelligence was minimal, and all it had was brought forth by the insight of ancient programmers.

As a result, none of its emotions were genuine. That was why the ancients had sealed it away, Howard surmised.

When the Gigalith's barrier broke, it died due to an overload of Dynergy within its system. As ■■■ and Howard left the room, it reverted to its original size. It did not die. The door screamed shut as the party returned to safety.

No Dynamax Band gleamed on the admin's wrist.

"You did well." The admin's voice was even, but he paled at the walking nightmare standing next to him, leaking power. A new nightmare would greet him when he fell into slumber today. Another addition to the menagerie of shades clawing at Howard's consciousness.

We.

"Take my Claydol. It can teleport you." He didn't know how ■■■'s power worked, but Howard was cautious. Meticulous. He wanted the beast gone. "To the surface, at least."

A statement, not a request.

---

Zev Harcourt