The weakest admin sat with the weakest beast, looking at a statue that allowed retainers to transcend death. It humbled the admin in a way few things did, knowing that the Loyal Three were eternal. There was a paradox, at play here.

They could smash the statue, and a piece of Hoenn's history would be lost. Yet Okidogi would not revive from this statue, and it would have to conduct its mayhem elsewhere.

Or they could let it sit, and Howard could preserve it in his private collection. Andrea Vaneau and Hideo Kino were smashing up every statue in the region. Frankly, Howard couldn't blame them for that. They were perfectly justified in doing what they were doing, and yet Howard wasn't willing to let go of such a traumatic chapter of history.

Future generations needed to know what happened here.

"Things I'd rather not elaborate on in word." They had been prisoners, and thus less than human to the Megalopolans within. "They beat us. Stripped us of what made us individuals. Stripped us of what made us strong. Hellish, put simply."

---

Hitoshi Inoue

As Hitoshi acted on his anger, Howard seriously considered kicking the statue himself. After a moment of ponderance, he shrugged and kicked the statue. Stone struck stone, and the admin hissed in annoyance as he hopped on one leg.

Yet, for a moment, it looked as if the statue had cracked. After a moment, the crack seemingly repaired itself. Perhaps it had been nothing more than a trick of the light, or perhaps Hitoshi's eyes were playing tricks on him. Yet it didn't matter, for his gaze was on Howard.

"Because if we destroy them all, they'll become nothing more than a distant memory. If people forget, then they won't learn. Only a small handful of people respect the Loyal Three. That must trickle down and be remembered, long after all of us are gone."

He sighed deeply and put a hand on Hitoshi's hand.

"Our children and their children cannot forget out struggle, so that they know how to deal with this evil when everyone who dealt with it has gone. Words and accounts will disappear. Statues will remain."

Statues had saved Hoenn when fighting Eternautus. These statues would hurt Hoenn if they stayed. Still, they had to stay.

---

Hitoshi Inoue

Hitoshi spoke words. Absinthe Blackwood turned them into reality, even if nobody knew it yet.

"Because they are, by definition, unreliable. They have no care but their own, and both Team Rocket and the Pokemon League have a special place in the ground for those three. They're retainers with no home. What would you do without a doghouse, Beast Inoue?"

Howard spoke with bemused tones. The Loyal Three were strong. They were growing stronger. Yet it was a high priority to kill the Loyal Three due to personal grudges. Necrozma was chained to their cause, and it had caused nothing but destruction over the past five years. Yet Necrozma's threat was not personal. People overlooked it.

Those in prison had suffered from the Loyal Three. It was personal.

"They're corrupted by that Toxic Chain. It's a pandemic." He frowned, sensing his dog's growing unease. "What do you smell, Rocket Beast?"

---

Hitoshi Inoue

Surprisingly, the admin doesn't laugh at the beast's shameless confession. Instead, he gives Hitoshi the side-eye with the only eye left to him.

"Nobody knows the Miltank's body better than the butcher." That's all he's given the luxury to say before a dog comes crashing through the brush with all the dexterity of a sledgehammer. Its green and black body gives the archaeologist pause. This is Shred's enemy, not his own.

The dog fills him with rage, but it's not personal. It's simply the enemy in the same that the Nihilego from the Ultra Deep Sea are: collaboration with another foe.

"Shirley!" Howard shouted, the Aerodactyl flying over the Arcanine with a primordial howl, older than the retainer that challenges them. Regirock or Regice would be more apt foes, but Shirley is Howard's Pokemon more than the two giants are.

Thus, she flies down, tearing at the dog's eyes, blinding him before being forced to fly away as Okidogi leverages his strength to break her bones.

---

Hitoshi Inoue

"Cut off his chain. Mutts die the same as any other Pokémon." Howard growled, before yelping and backing up as the dog approached. Trees to the left and the right. If he jumped at the right time, the dog wouldn't be able to adjust without striking a tree. "It might come back, but we'll simply kill it again."

He didn't know how Cillian Quinn and Tempest Quinn would react to being called Blondie and Brownie. That was an ice cream flavor, if the admin recalled.

"Unless there's some hidden trick, it should fall with ease." As the poison sprays about, Shirley avoids all but the faintest drops of splatter, which peppered her wings and caused her to flap violently.
But whatever we do, we do it now."

Using his Sygna Suit, the admin picked a rock off of the ground and threw it with all of his Strength. Shirley flew down, serrated teeth shining.

"Now!"

---

Hitoshi Inoue

The dog was remarkably frustrating. Okidogi was a durable beast, on account of the fact that it had taken a rock to the head with little more than a shrug and a continued struggle.

Strength wasn't just about lifting heavy things. It was about getting up against after being knocked down. It was about finding something deep within that forced one to keep going, regardless of how bloody and battered they were. With a deep breath, the admin's hands erupted into energy.

From that energy grew pseudo-fangs.

"Nothing easy is, Hitoshi! We do it anyway, because it must be done!" Shirley scratched at the dog's eyes, temporarily blinding him from anything about to happen. "Every struggle makes us stronger, so do what I promoted you to do..."

He raked Okidogi's back with makeshift Psychic Fangs.

"...and bring me his fucking head!"

---

Hitoshi Inoue