He had come to see how the Wishing Star mining was gone when the news had been relayed to him. It was a strange feeling to witness the defeat of an enemy that you had no hand in dealing with.

"Do you know what this means?"

He did unfortunately, and as he closed the gap between himself, and his colleague there was an unmistakable frown on his lips.

"It means that we're going to attack prematurely....Though I doubt we're going to get a better chance....Everyone is going to rush, and if we're not careful...." They would be repelled. Besides Amor didn't really think kyle lopez was gone, he had gone through all the Champions past exploits, and Amor had confirmed at least two other cases of people reviving after death. Not for a second did he believe that the man was truly gone, but he had no idea where he was right now.

"We will have to be prudent....Because I don't think death will stick to him that easily, and I personally don't want to be blindsided in the midst of our advance...." He stated simply.

Even with Erebus, and Howards own Regice....Two pieces that were incredibly valuable, along with the rest of what Rocket had, he couldn't help, but think....This was a trap of some sort....the Champion died from one of his own supposedly, and it felt like it was planned somehow to make them take action swifter than they should. To leave them vulnerable. Though that could just be his paranoia, and his overanalytical kicking in, but if he had the means to revive people from the dead. It was certainly a tactic he'd use to lull the enemy into a false sense of security.

"Where do you think we'll attack? Dewford? Or Mossdeep?"

howard slayte

The admin looked at Amor with a bemused expression. The Nebula head was incredibly intelligent, but occasionally Howard felt that he was limited in his grandiose ideals. Dialga. Regidrago. Deoxys. Pieces on a board that were designed to fulfill Amor's grand plan that he had wished to complete for years.

Yet that grand plan was all that existed. It made the Head Scientist's way of thinking inflexible. Nonetheless, he was a moderately good man in a sea of demons. Perhaps it was for the best that Amor only looked to the reaches of what he strove to accomplish, instead of beyond.

He supposed that was why he liked the Head Scientist. His story was easy to follow, and it was a grand one.

"Simple." Howard coughed into his fist and gestured at the mountain of Wishing Stars. Wishes consolidated into the form of glimmering jewels. If a person's dream was their most important aspect, then Howard strove to accumulate as many as possible. "We'll take both."

Dreams. Rocket needed more dreamers who dreamed of a brighter tomorrow, instead of a future of ash and abandoned worlds and cooked meat.

"I am not a military commander. I will leave that to Underbosses THEO BECKETT and Cillian Quinn given their experiences in Kanto." The admin held up a trembling finger. "But each city has a different value. Mossdeep will help us blockade Ever Grande. Dewford has Wishing Stars and Dynite Ore."

The admin sniffed, evidently on the verge of tears.

"We will attack quickly, because that is what our forefathers did. When the foe leaves their neck bare, you pierce it." A moment of bloodthirsty reckoning revealed by mourning and loss. The admin gave Amor a look. "You do not think he will stay dead?"

---

Amor Rose

"Both good reasons, but that is if everyone can cooperate to pull it off....My bet is we'll take Dewford first, and Mossdeep. We don't have necessary resources to launch a two pronged attack, and hold three areas at once." It was a matter of taking two places while still defending one. Plan for the worst case scenario that was his motto, but like Howard he himself was no grand strategist he could only assume the worst, and do his best to prevent that from happening. There were those within Rocket that he had some measure of fondness for.

"You don't?" He answered the question with another, and he laughed easily. "Ye of little faith Howard....Killian Decker, the original owner of Erebus died, and was brought back. Not to mention kyle lopez's ability to resurrect others, there would be a large gap in his abilities if that didn't also apply to himself. I have no proof of course, other than our own logs have mentioned his ability to bring others back...." But that was also part of his job, to look at the possibilities, and apply when it was necessary. "Phoenixes in all myths....Don't tend to stay gone for long...." Because if Kyle was truly gone, then that meant Amor had lost an avenue to fulfill his own ambition, and that would make him hate MATIAS SILPH all the more.

"Which is why like the hero he is....I have no doubt that he will show up on the battlefield to halt our advance....That is why it's our job to be prepared for that. Along with Makoto Kurumi, and Tempest Quinn....I do not intend to let false ideals overrun the truth." Because that is all the League was to him. A loose collection of false ideals, because if they were true heroes like the ones he would read about as a child.

They could make those ideals a reality....

howard slayte

"Death is meaning less and less every day, it seems."

The dead had to remain dead, but Howard couldn't hide his visible relief that Kyle had a chance at survival. Even if Kyle returning to the board was a detriment to Rocket, Howard couldn't help but express excitement at the prospect of the Top Champion's return. A great figure had no need to disappear into the night.

Not withouth Howard there to chronicle it. If it was not penned, it had no purpose. Even if Kyle's name would last into eternity, Howard would weep if his story was not told.

"I'm glad, though. I wonder if that makes me a traitor." Amor had been a traitor, once. He had betrayed the League searching for justice for his own personal wrongs. "Kyle will become a martyr, then. Once he returns, that value will be lost."

Amor was right, then. They had to move quickly.

"Dewford cannot be held. Mossdeep can. Yet Mossdeep is only valuable as a chunk of rock. I suppose you'll appreciate the space center though. Erebus might, as well." Howard's lips became a thin line. "And what truth is that, Amor?"

He was genuinely curious.

---

Amor Rose

"You assume death ever had any meaning....It only means something to us that remain....Even then it fades over time....For most...." He explained to howard slayte with a wry smile. Some deaths though, some of them never faded, those memories seared into your heart, body, and soul. Kyle's death was meaningless in that regard, but his ability to cheat death was another matter.

"I don't think it makes you a traitor....It makes you human, and I don't think it's wrong to mourn for someone we respect....As long as that is all it is." He spoke simply to Howard, and as to what they should take. "We should take Dewford....With Lulu Flint the Space Center is little more than a mere decoration....It might expedite extraplanar explorations, but it's not needed....Dewford is our best bet, we will have a shot at taking it....If we raze Pacifilog to the ground to force the League to divert resources to aide it which will by us more time to take Dewford...." Though putting that plan into action was another matter, and only if the upper brass agreed upon it.

"Once we control Dewford.....Slateport is sandwiched, and would let us break into the mainland...." That is how he saw it, but again he wasn't a proper strategist he was sure there were many holes in his plan. "Without the threat of Kyogre....The seas are less protected, and we could leverage that...." The avatar of Kyogre had been the biggest thorn in their side, but that was no longer an issue.

There would be no better chance for them, all of the stars had somehow aligned for this strike, but whether they could do pull it off was another matter. His gaze turned to his companion when he asked for the truth.

"The region is sick....And that sickness starts at the top....With the League....Crime only happens due a failure of government, someone as well versed in history as you should know that. It's a symptom of a bigger problem....If the League accepted their failure in that regard, then I wouldn't be here today....Do you know why I came to Rocket? Why I'm the only person who has ever defected the opposite way?" He stared at the man with one eye.

"Because with Rocket....You know what you're getting....You can always trust a liar to lie Howard....But the 'honest' ones....How many innocent people have they killed? How many lives have been lost due to their negligence? We barely have to lift a finger, and MATIAS SILPH will wipe out cities for us at the slightest provocation....The Truth is that the League is full of nothing but people who want to feel like they're doing good....But not put in the work....They're no better than us, and you're so called martyr kyle lopez enabled it...." He let his words sink in for a bit.

"The truth is they should be eradicated from top to bottom....Like a cancer....You cut it out...."

Even if there was nothing left in the end.

howard slayte

"There is no government in this world that is not corrupt. There has never been an institution whose righteousness was absolute."

Never, in a thousand years. There were legends of golden kingdoms with gilded halls ruled by kings of such wisdom and kindness that they were more akin to gods than mortals, but all were lies. Kingdoms fell, men grew complacent, and chaos followed order. The upturning of civilization was a concept that would never vanish.

There would always be skeptics such as Amor Rose in the world.

"Kyle was not perfect, nobody is. Yet he was strong, and he did not deserve to go out in the way that he did." That, he would not budge on. Kyle was the one person Howard would be biased on. He had lived in Hoenn when Ho-Oh's chosen had ascended to his position.

As a historian, he was to remain unbiased. He tried his hardest. Everyone had their flaw, and Amor's was that he chose to upturn the world by joining Rocket.

One bad decision. That was all it took.

"Every person? Every Leaguer? Every single member of that government? You know that's not true, Amor." Howard turned back to the pile of Wishing Stars. "But I digress. I'm not here to spar with you."

Arceus knew that infighting was the cleanest way to bring down an organization. The first iteration of Rocket had fallen for that trap, and Howard knew that if Rocket began to fight themselves, the League would win. Howard would be forced to pick a side within Rocket, and risk the consequences.

He already was to an extent.

"Dewford's infrastructure isn't good enough. I've been to their docks. Their sheriff has done a good job, but it's harder to defend. Sootopolis's walls are strong. Dewford's beaches are not." Plus a shore invasion would likely destroy the condo that Navy had loaned out to him. "You would burn Pacifilog?"

Of course Amor would.

"Tactically sound, but Amor..." Howard coughed into his fist. "If you do that, you will do to League's recruitment what Matias has done to ours."

---

Amor Rose

Amor turned to Howard, he was right they weren't here to fight, or spar. They disagree on a fundamental level, but that was alright that didn't make the man next to him any less of a friend. Though Howards surprise at his supposed course of action, did cause him to quirk a brow.

"I believe you may have mistaken a few things about me....It isn't something I really hide, but so few people peel past the surface I understand I can give the wrong impression...." It wasn't him mocking others just a simple statement of fact. Amor saw little need to correct, or elaborate further usually. "None of this matters to me Howard, this war, who lives, who dies....None of it matters to me...." What a callous thing to say.

"You asked me once what I would do if I got Dialga's power....Do you remember?" His gaze turned upwards to the stars. "This reality would no longer exist....This conversation would never happen....This timeline would be erased....Because I would go back, and prevent a single moment of my life....I'd never leave Kalos....I'd be happy...." The words were unusually sincere as he mulled them over. "For a long time....I've sought a reason to not want that....So when you tell me the consequences of my actions....Or act surprised....I want you to truly understand...." He would turn his eyes back to the man.

"I would burn a thousand cities to the ground if it meant getting one step closer to that goal...."

I would destroy a thousand universes to see her again....

howard slayte

It was easy to forget that Amor simply did not care. The Head Scientist did not often lie, but he did misdirect. He omitted information when it was convenient and twisted fact when it suited him. Dialga. Dialga. Dialga.

If Dialga could fix everything, there would be no cause for suffering. If Palkia could remake the world, then illeana reyes would've done it by now. Unbeknownst to him, the universe remained stable due to her interference, but the Alchemist could not end this war alone, no more than Dialga could.

"That's why you and I are here, instead of on opposite sides of this war. Amor." He turned to face the Head Scientist. "We both decided that our desires outweighed the good of others."

A lie. Howard had always joined Rocket for the money. He had always wanted the money, yet somewhere down the line Howard realized that he had become the person he hated. He didn't know when that happened, but it did. He had sold out his passion for money, and justified his deeds in the name of that passion.

Had it been worth it? Likely not. Yet it was all he had.

Archaeology. History. Those were what remained to him. It was his legacy and duty to shoulder the weight of those burdens.

"You feel just as strongly about this vow now? Time cools passion, as you should very well know. Are you the same person that you were when you made this your goal?" Honesty and truth. If Amor had gone this far, there was no need to lie anymore. There was nobody to call foul. "You said you'd save the world with Dialga's power, but if you have to turn everyone to ash in order to do so..."

That was not heroism, but Amor had never been a hero. He had given himself a goal and decided to march towards it.

"Don't tell me it won't matter because you can rewind the clock, Amor. Tell me anything, but don't tell me that."

---

Amor Rose

Was he the same person?

"A good question...." Like a teacher giving a presentation to a student he smiled sincerely at the man in front of him. "You're right....I'm not the same....I'm stronger now....I have far more knowledge than I did....And I killed the man who took everything from me...." A casual admission, one that now only howard slayte knew. Amor had never told anyone about the man he had killed until now, and his smile never faded.

He did say that....

"And I meant it....But tell me Howard could you make that call...." Amor's gentle smile receded, and his usual neutral expression came back. "Do you think anyone else could....Let me weave you a tale...." Because the truth was probably far scarier than Howard realized.

"Do you think Cillian Quinn could do it? Because I don't....If he was faced with the ability to save this universe, and lose everything in the process....He would choose not to because it would erase Tempest Quinn, and his daughter....I appreciate him for everything he does, but I do sincerely believe if he had to choose, he'd condemn the world to be with the one he loved...." There was no mocking in his voice as he calmly explained his reasoning.

"Do you think Elisabeth Fiorelli could do it? Despite all her torturous self loathing, she's nothing more than a child acting out a tantrum....However even she has a tether...." Or he at least suspected she did. "Do you think she'd throw it all away for a chance to save the world? She'd sooner see it burn just to feel the warmth." That was his assessment at least.

"Personally I like Naomi Sato, but I don't think she has the conviction to throw away everyone, and everything she knows to rewrite everything....She's to nice at the end of the day....Like Isaac Merlo...." He stopped at those three, but he could keep going.

"Even you Howard have tethers, morals, and ethics that would prevent you from making the objectively correct choice....I don't blame them, or mock them for not being able too....But a God can't be both all-knowing, and all-good....Would you be willing to kill declan walsh, or Monroe in the womb to prevent Kanto? Sacrifce two for hundreds, thousands, and millions? Because I could....If that were my mission...." And he wouldn't second guess it, there was no longer a need to pretend anymore. He had been restored recently....He knew who he was, and what his mission was.

"I am not burdened because my tether is long gone....But there is a beacon of hope for you Howard....I pray that kyle lopez is every bit the hero, and man you believe him to be....Because that is the last lifeline I will extend to this place....If he fails, then I go back to plan A....And in the end everyone, and everything becomes forfeit."

So I hope you're right....I hope I can be stopped....

howard slayte

"You are burdened." The admin turned to the scientist. "You say all that, and you tell me you're untethered? Disconnected?"

To love was to suffer, as the emotion was simply a prelude to the eventual separation of two lives over the course of existence. Amor Rose's existence was a painful one, for the Head Scientist was encumbered with the knowledge that there was a way to solve everything.

Dialga.

What a solution.

"Your gaze is too narrow. You're tired. Rest." He did not accept Amor's answer. His explanation made sense, but it was incorrect. It reminded the admin of the DRK Triad's motivations for purging this universe from existence to save the others. What was the difference between a universe and a timeline to the average person? "I have no right to speak on your life. I only exist to chronicle what has already occurred."

If Amor got his way, Howard's life would have been for nothing. An entire lifetime of chronicling, only for one man to erase it all for 'something'.

"I hope that one day, you can break free from the shadow your tether held over you." He plucked a Wishing Star from the pile. To think that an object so vile could have such a lovely name. "You're miserable enough as it is. Perhaps you should learn from Deoxys. How do DNA stands work again?"

The admin put a finger to his chin in thought. He quickly snapped his fingers.

"You sever half of the stand, and it regrows from what remains. Who knows what opportunities will arise from that regeneration? I do know this, though."

He turned towards Amor, Wishing Star in his hand.

"I believe in humanity. In our potential. I believe in kyle lopez."

---

Amor Rose