The question goes unanswered. What else remains is insufficient.

"That, or she'll pull herself together in the eleventh hour. A cracked blade can still wet itself with our blood before shattering. Palkia is responsible for the foundation of this world. It's.." He fell back in his chair, defeated. Flabbergasted. "We should accelerate her collapse. The sooner that the League implodes, the sooner Hoenn will be ours."

The notion that this war was unwinnable did not fall from his lips. Such utterances would win him nothing but misery and despair in a den of vipers. Especially since Elisabeth was planning to take Petalburg from him, since he had apparently made her grave far too shallow.

"We are outnumbered in this war. The League has too many things to field. I heard they've bestowed Legendary Pokémon onto new trainers who have lacked them in the past. If we can drag even one avatar down to hell, we should. As for Rayquaza..." He gestured broadly, his hand clasping into a fist.

"Keep freya morningstar around until she buckles. Let her savor the sky from a grave of rock when the moment is right. White stone is a perfect tomb for one inheriting the Peacemaker's will."

It was a shame. He actually respected the Ascendant. Howard shrugged in his seat, before discarding the used cigarette. He considered lightning another, but abated for several moments. He wasn't an addict, after all.

"How do we deal with the amount of weapons that the League can field to counter ours?"

---

Still wants to kill Illeana but doesn't want to get banned from Walsh's discord server so he lightens his tone. Bemoans Elisabeth returning to operations in Petalburg.
Brings back Hitoshi Inoue 's point that Rocket is outnumbered in the Legendary Pokémon race. Ignore Regirock/Regice breakdancing in the corner.
Says to keep Freya around until she's no longer useful and it's best to let Kyogre/Groudon rampage.

Solgaleo. Fuck. He refused to meet the God General's eyes. Instead, he reached into his pocket for a lighter and another cigarette.

Click. Click. Click. He fiddled with the lighter for a moment as he waited for the flame to ignite, before lightning the stick of nicotine and sin. He wasn't addicted. This was just a remarkably stressful meeting, and THEO BECKETT had done little to settle his nerves. What was his game?

He takes a drag, letting the smoke pool in the air above.

"Touché." He finally said. "Though unless kyle lopez was buried with it, I don't see how we can seize it other than to wait for its deployment and overwhelm its trainer. What, do you want me to meander into Ever Grande and waltz out with it?"

Howard had friends in the Pokémon League, like ollie morales and freya morningstar and even Navy , but his credentials weren't so impeccable that he could ask to borrow the Top Champion's Pokémon. The real Top Champion, not the benchwarmer that sat at his place. How Melody Miro could sit there proudly and claim herself Kyle's heir confounded the admin.

"Disabling their powers is a good start, but we're still outnumbered. Solgaleo does not erase their Legendary Pokemon from existence. It merely... slants the playing field. Furthermore, we cannot deploy it everywhere. Avatars cannot hold ground." He shrugged, waving his cigarette around. He nodded to Lulu Flint before turning back to Theo. "Don't count me when discussing fights. I'm hardly gifted."

Academia and administration were his positions. His strength was transient, and connected to the giants he controlled.

"Beast Quinn is right. Avatars are not gods. They're just humans who partake in divinity who think themselves ascended. Legendary Pokémon can die. Speaking of..."

He frowned, his eye flicking to Walsh.

"Why is Xerneas dead? Where was the value in that?" Its death had saved the Dyna Tree, and for what? The Obfuscator was wasted on declan walsh . The Butcher would've been a more apt title. "It was an asset that we could've revived."

---

Howard has a breakdown over Solgaleo, before agreeing with Theo. He notes that Solgaleo does not stop the numbers advantage, and merely creates a different type of problem. Agrees with Temp, before yapping about the Dyna Tree and Xerneas.

"Ting-lu..." The admin snorted and waggled his cigarette. "Heh."

He was wondering what that stench of fear wafting off of Regirock was. The same sensation that had rotted his mind. It tasted similar to the sensation he had felt upon meeting it in a fictional version of Galar, though even now the line between fantasy and reality blurred in the sand. Elisabeth had died there. Elisabeth had died here. If there was one thing that Elisabeth Fiorelli excelled at across the multiverse, it was getting killed.

"An empty vessel. Its contents, if any, are far more terrifying. As is, it's a boogeyman meant to be squashed."

Maybe he'd commission her a trophy. He filed the thought away for later.

"Why are we trusting the word of something that sacked the Ancient Tomb and has done nothing but cause us misery? It says that you all are fated to die, but why? Why would you resign yourself to such a ridiculous fate?" He shook his head. Regirock and Regice did not deem him worthy. He wondered if it was a contingency against scenarios like this. "Deny it, don your masks of mockery, and rewrite the laws of destiny."

Kyurem's prophecy had been witnessed by hundreds. It was as universally prevalent as the cigarette smoke in this room. There was no use in putting Pandora back in her box, so to speak. Unless Pandora was Elisabeth's nickname, and her box was another coffin.

He turned from jayden cross to Elisabeth Fiorelli , perturbed. Hitoshi Inoue 's shout caused his hairs to stand on end.

"You actually believe in this ridiculous prophecy? Arceus above, don't be absurd. It's called ruination!" He almost wanted to point out the misery Chien-pao and Wo-chien had brought down on their avatars. The God General's plan, meanwhile, brings little but derision. "As for Greyson Connors ... if he lets Solgaleo out of his sight, he's a complete fucking mor-"

SMASH!

The wall collapses in on itself like dominoes as a king steps through. There are multiple breeds of kings in this world. There are 'Royals' who labor to preserve Hoenn with hands that do not bleed. There are kings born from buds, blooming beneath trees. There is even Remiel Calcifet's bloodline, so long and inbred that one could describe it as a wreath rather than a line.

What stood before them was a king that could not be.

Howard's first thought is simple. It's gorgeous.

His second thought is also simple. It's hideous and I want to kill it.

Yet he drew himself away from the Paradox Pokemon of yesterday that mocked his entire profession and towards Team Rocket's two Avatars. He steepled his fingers together innocently, like a student preparing to ask a question. He blinked once, serenely, as if attempting to bury his true emotions.

"PENELOPE LIVY will come later. Do not fret, Underboss Fiorelli." If Elisabeth had died easily, so too would the councilwoman. Her HBIC was a bigger threat than her. "But I'd like to second that question."

He smiled with all the control he could muster.

"Where is the vessel?"

---

Fantasizing about killing Elisabeth again as per usual. Thinks she's bold for yapping despite getting folded with remarkable ease. Hates that he's forced to lie for her.
Relates Ting-lu's fear to the version of it that he fought in Garden of Avalon. Ponders if Regirock had come into contact with it prior to Petalburg. Questions the validity of something that has done nothing but cause problems and hide for a whole year. Mocks Ruination and its 'destined fate'.
Calls Greyson an idiot before getting interrupted.
Koraidon is cool
Koraidon sucks actually
Asks where the bowl is and tells Elisabeth that he'll deal with Penny eventually.