As the royal opened, the admin looked up from his workbench. Shattered Tera Crystals glimmered like bits of stardust.

"So you are." The admin blinked once slowly as he inspected her. Remiel Calcifet's concubine. The one with the obsession with Tera Crystals. He checked his watch, and returned to his work. Glimmering shards were split into piles, sorted by color.

They clinked like glass as the admin sorted them further.

"The lab has been boring without you around. You asked to meet with me."

A statement, not a question.

---

Diana Cavendish

As the Luxury Ball wobbled on the table, Howard's eye flicked up.

"Despite that, you're back here. Are you sure you didn't miss me?" The admin's face reflected in the brilliant spectrum of crystals. He had not forgotten how she had stormed off from him. That did not bother him as much as it did either.

Admin Fox did not have the weight of his colleagues. His power was a soft one. A gentle hand guided by the machinations of money and power.

"I'm listening." He plucked up the ball and inspected it. Expensive. Fashionable. Befitting of royalty. "What's inside?"

He had a suspicion.

---

Diana Cavendish

True to Diana's word, it was indeed familiar. Too much so, even. After digging around in the Giant Chasm for so long, Howard had grown to foster a deep hatred for Walking Wakes.

One had taken his Aerodactyl's eye out, after all. Birds of a feather often flocked together, and all that. Nonetheless, Howard kept his composure. The only hint at his distaste was the narrowing of an eye. Howard resisted the urge to scramble backwards. Instead, he focused on his work.

"I recognize it. It'd be rather hard to forget this one." Howard's eye fell from the Walking Wake to its trainer. "It's recovered well from being frozen."

If Regice hadn't needed to recharge so often, if its body hadn't grown so weak, this beast would've been naught but a stain on the wall of the cave it had been fought in.

"What'd you want to do with it? What hypothesis are you testing? What theory are you attempting to prove?"

Ever the scholar. Ever the academic.

---

Diana Cavendish

"You're still on about this?"

Diana's insistence on utilizing Tera Crystals was something that he had quickly realized was a dangerous obsession. Few forces in this world could be safely harnessed, least of all a substance that barely existed on this planet. The royal made no attempt to mention Galar, but Howard suspected that her motives were still for the salvation of the region.

Forget Galar. Who was going to save Hoenn? He couldn't order her to stop. Well, he could, but he suspected being told no wouldn't stop her. She could always get permission from another admin or scholar if she wished.

Better him than another. Only he held a cautious respect for the power of Tera Crystals. Their power was great, but the human mind's potential for malice was not to be underestimated.

"Very well. I'll get my coat." The admin stood up. "Gather what you need. and wait for me outside."

Messing with these crystals inside the lab seemed like a recipe for disaster, and Howard did not feel like stirring trouble for himself within the walls of his domain.

---

Diana Cavendish

Hell would freeze over before Howard believed that Diana would give up on her ideals.

Royalty was a concept that only existed due the unending proclamation of those who held it. The act of inheriting a family name through succession was what gave royalty and nobility their power. If they did not insist upon their noble roots, the names of nobles and their weight upon the world would be forgotten.

This was the type of woman who asked for his help. As a representation of the traditions she held so dearly, to turn away from her ideals was to forsake her lineage as a Galarian noble.

No, she would not let go of her dream, just as he would not let go of his. To do so was to betray herself on the most fundamental of levels. Diana was many things, but she was not that. Few people were.

"..." As he stood at his locker, the admin's hand reached for Shirley's Pokeball. The Aerodactyl was his closest Pokemon, his first and only. Yet she had almost died fighting a Walking Wake. "Shirley."

His hand pulled away. Not today. He reached for Regice's Pokeball and marched out to meet Diana.

"There's a Tera Crystal formation close by." The admin pointed by jerking his head. "Only a few hundred meters. I'll lead the way."

---

Diana Cavendish

"It was just tired, then. It'll do fine now." Howard laughed lightly. "Trust me."

He lied as easily as he breathed. Every day that passed, Howard became more and more convinced at the golem's lowering output. The Regice he held now was nowhere near as mighty as the one from the Island Cave. Nonetheless, he would not tell Diana the truth on its condition.

It was best to let people wonder, and to form their own conclusions. They were likely to be wrong.

Besides, it was still his strongest Pokemon. The only thing he held that could wage war against the various threats of Area Zero. He had let Shirley get hurt. Never again. His Aerodactyl would not shoulder the burden of battle.

"There." He pointed at a glimmering mound of Tera Crystals that jutted out of the cliff like a tumor. "What's your plan? Terastalize it and hope?"

---

Diana Cavendish

Typically, when one performed an experiment, they were typically attempting to validate a theory. Not that Howard expected much from a royal. He doubted that she ever even went to college, or suffered through university. Hell, she probably had been given everything on a silver plat-

It always came down to that line of thought. Every time he had a chat with a Galarian noble, Howard automatically thought of him. His predecessor. The one who had held the title of 'Admin Fox'.

He steadied his breathing as he inspected the Walking Wake.

"You have Terastalized it. Nice work." His voice was dry enough to make a desert seem like a vast ocean. "That's pretty standard. I suspect that the energy readings would be in line with other specimens..."

A typical Terastal reaction, as far as Howard knew. He tended to avoid Terastalizing his Pokémon. The energy readings, though... Howard reached for his belt and found nothing.

Damn. He wished he had mint frost's energy reader on him. The beast would've likely wanted the readings for Project Infinity.

"We can do a field test, if you want. I'm admittedly no battler, but it's up to you." He attempted to console her, as if this experiment hadn't been a complete waste of his time. "Regice would make for a sufficient foe."

---

Diana Cavendish