The deputy screamed curses at him. An iota of Howard felt a twinge of regret for lowering someone who had risen up from a sinful past, but the rest of him felt nothing but pride. Montgomery James hadn't changed. He had wanted to, he had even tried to, but he was still the same piece of shit from Unova.

From the opposite direction of the explosions, Howard Slayte cut through the snowstorm. Behind him, Regice's pattern glowed red as the Wishing Star within recharged the golem's power supply.

There had once been a time when Howard had practiced with a stray piece of Galarian nobility. When Howard had fought her, Regice had shut down after running out of power. It had guarded its ruin for millennia, and thus it had run low on the power that allowed it to move. Registeel had something in its core, charging it with power. Regirock had a memory of the forefather to guide it.

Regice had held nothing until Dewford had burned. Now, its heart overflowed.

"I was wondering," Howard said, for it was Howard that stared down the deputy as he approached on horseback. "Wondering if you had that disgusting habit of throwing things away to explode for you, just so you could get ahead."

Bits of exploded Baltoy and Claydol littered the floor.

"You taught me that. That it was okay to toss things aside so that the greater whole could survive. That's why I turned Dewford into a glass pit." He could explain that it had been a mistake. That it had been an error that the admin had fixed. Yet Montgomery wouldn't accept that. Why even try? "So haunt away, Montgomery! I have a millennia of ghosts who want my head!"

He smiled as the dots above grew in intensity. Howard spread out his arms in a loving embrace.

"So come and take it."

---

Montgomery James

Montgomery reached him. It wasn't particularly hard, for a man of his size and stature.

"...!" Howard made no attempt to dodge the attack, simply observing as the deputy closed the gap with remarkable ease. Bloody hands reached around his neck and attempted to squeeze the life from the former disciple's body. "Montgomery...!"

Yet as the deputy squeezed, the admin's throat did not constrict. His eye grew wide in a potent display of frustration, but ultimately the man's neck did not snap nor did it even constrict properly. It was like squeezing stone.

Even his Sygna Suit should have folded under the deputy's manic strength, and it did. That was a testament to Montgomery's power. Yet the flesh below did not give.

It cracked.

"I'm not dying to you, Montgomery." Howard's snarl was low and deep, like mountains cracking. "The only person allowed to kill me is the sheriff, and YOU. ARE. NOT. HIM!"

Overhead, Montgomery's Pokemon got close to the barrier. They were there. They were right there. Montgomery James had been on the cusp of defeating divinity, and yet he had fallen short, for his Pokemon were engulfed in a Dynamax Cannon that emerged from the exposed Wishing Star.

"You haven't changed, you fake piece of shit!"

THUD. He struck Montgomery in the side of the head with a fist carved from stone.

"But I have!"

THUD.

"So either stop me..."

THUD.

"...or die in a pit!"

---

Montgomery James

"Ha... ha..." Howard swallowed, dust coating his throat. Dynergy hissed from his body like gas leaking from a pipe. He would likely be saturated by the outpouring of Dynergy from Regice's core, but it was not a pleasant sensation.

Lulu Flint had been right. Dynergy was affecting him, but there wasn't much to do about that anymore. The damage was done, and this form was replaceable.

"I'm human. I'm me." He grunted, removing his broken helmet and taking a deep breath. "Which you never cared about, because I was too weak to stand alongside you. My heart wasn't in those scams we ran in Unova. There's something greater at stake."

He stood, legs trembling.

"So I will give everything to make my dream a reality. Just as you did everything to make my nightmares reality. That is what separates me from you." Howard looked around and all the fainted Pokemon, before turning back to face his frozen construct. Despite every fallen creature, the golem stood proud. And it even had a Dynamax Barrier remainin-

Wait.

"Only one?"

Montgomery had broken seven? Alone? The admin turned back towards Montgomery, eye flickering with interest. He took several steps forward, before a Pokémon appeared at the admin's belt in a flash. A Skarmory chirped at him in a mix of frustration.

"Steelheart... The distant howl of a hero of many battles echoed over hills and oceans, originating from Dewford Town. Two of Navy's Skarmory's chicks had met on the field, and thus it was impossible for one to die. It was not in their place. "He should die. He ruined my life! HE RUINED ME!"

Chirp. Chirp!

Then be better. You build, not destroy.

"Tsk." Howard turned away. "Navy's faith in you is impeccable, Montgomery. Never betray it." He turned away and left the deputy's body in the frozen field. "Because if you betray Navy's memory..."

His steps echoed into infinity. Montgomery would continue to think about ameena abadi , far into the future. That was the blessing that Montgomery James would inherit from Howard Slayte and Michael Navidson.

"I'll kill you."

---

Montgomery James
Total: 1555 MP