On the reverse side of the world, the distorted replica of Petalburg was unmarred. There were no mountains that formed valleys in once verdant fields. There was no war. No destruction. It was Petalburg, but a version in which certain colors were incorrect. Time did not flow. Space did not expand.

Nothing worked.

Yet before their eyes, the city begged for destruction. Certain buildings sagged under the weight, and replicas of mountains flickered into existence before vanishing again. The Distortion World wished for replication, yet could not provide it.

A set piece was needed.

"Dammit." The admin groaned from a nearby wall as he stood. He straightened his hat, before looking around the building that gravity pulled him towards. A pet store catering to Magikarps and other Water-type Pokemon stared back at him, and the admin looked around until he saw Theo. "Shit. You're here, too?"

Several ledgers floated in the air between them.

"So this is the Distortion World, then? The place that Walsh wants to invade?" Howard put a hand on his hip. declan walsh asked, and it was like reality obeyed. "Mark that off the list, then."

---

THEO BECKETT

The fact that Theo Beckett, an engineer of Team Rocket's seizure of Kanto was going to get fooled by a fishie store was something that would've likely destroyed any iota of credibility that Team Rocket had or would ever have. Luckily for the universe, that fact remained buried.

For now.

"It is." Howard confessed as he hopped from the fish store towards the ground. His eye flicked from the underboss to Regirock's Pokeball, before crossing his arms. It was a cheap container, shined and scuffed and held with little regard. "You got Regirock, splendid."

He did not turn to take it from the underboss. Instead, the archaeologist looked around, peering through distorted windows that reflected twisted visages back towards the admin. In one, Howard's original body stared back. That window, he pointedly ignored.

"How do we get back?"

---

THEO BECKETT

Howard's eye flickered as it regarded the Pokeball. Occasionally, the admin felt less like a human and more akin to a porcelain doll, carved from stone and ore where flesh and bone had withered away and died. Inhuman. In spite of that, he still raged and hated and cried all the same.

He had done so over Elisabeth's grave while Theo had watched. Yet now, while the underboss questioned him, it seemed apparent again.

"It was all I had on hand, at the time." Howard said brusquely, frowning as he did so. Whenever Regirock's seizure was mentioned, it often led to Petalburg. After the upper command's meeting, the admin had grown defensive over the fragility of his success. "I should replace it, but it's not time yet."

He gave Theo a look.

"I get the feeling in my gut that there's a better Pokeball for it than any I can offer."

---

THEO BECKETT

Realization dawned in the admin's bloodshot eye. A reminder that he had been drinking heavily since Elisabeth's return from the dead.

"No. Because as long as it ends up in the hands of a human being, it will serve its purpose when the time comes. That Pokémon is with me because we are the same. That doesn't mean it won't march alongside you or any of the Rocket Beasts when the time comes."

There was no use for a tool that only obeyed one person. Regirock and Regice were partial to Howard, but there was a shared understanding that the golems would serve humanity.

"If it ended up in the hands of a strong trainer like you or Cillian, I wouldn't be anxious." He shrugged again. "You'll use them well. If anything, I'm ashamed that you find my value reliant on Regirock and Regice."

He extended a hand scarred from Dynergy. Then, he clenched the hand into a fist.

"I gave you my body. I threw it onto the pyre so Regirock could be ours. This is all that's left of me. Despite that, I will continue to give. I'm just the gift that keeps on giving."

---

THEO BECKETT

There's a moment where the admin meets the underboss's gaze. There's an unspoken question, there. A query about Theo Beckett's loyalties. It's as if a bond of something beyond Team Rocket was threatening to form.

"What my underboss advises, I strive to accomplish." The admin closed his eye and bowed his head. "As you say."

He doesn't tell Theo that the release from Rocket Admin would be one of bliss.

The Pokeball is taken, and the moment is lost. The admin tossed it up into the air, and it cracked open. Regirock towered over the buildings in this phantasmal world, and any attempts from the Distortion World to sever it seemingly fail. The world doesn't seem to desire the golem's destruction.

It was, instead, celebrating its return. This was its home, after all, before its original trainer had disappeared into the bowels of this corrupted world.

"But I'm serious, Theo. There will come a day where I fall, and it will on Team Rocket to ensure these golems remain active. In the case where I fall, you all must continue my work to create a world without Eternatus."

At the mention of the Skeleton Gigantic's name, the golem twitches, before marching forward. There's something in the air, and the golem can sense it. Regirock's massive body scrapes against the fishie store, destroying it as it marches forward.

Towards its destiny.

Towards the closure that Katherine Fairburne owed it.

---

THEO BECKETT

As Theo talks, Howard simply cocked his head in response. Occasionally, it's forgotten that the admin is a simple bookkeeper. He generated wealth for Team Rocket and snapped his fingers to make gold appear, but his strength came from other sources. Howard Slayte was not strong. His golems were. Team Rocket was.

Thus the light of power shined through the admin's transparent body. It was his, but it did not come from him.

When the underboss mentions compatibility, Howard simply laughed, his voice echoing through the dark recesses of this alternate world. He starts walking after Regirock, his hat fluttering as he did so. After a moment, he turned to face his superior.

"Are you human, Theo Beckett?"

---

THEO BECKETT