Howard Slayte, second leader of Nebula, holder of two of Hoenn's five Legendary Giants, and only sane person in Team Rocket's upper command...

...was frankly worthless. He was a drunkard and a scoundrel and too married to his desk. It was incredible that someone could go bar hopping so much, get so drunk, and somehow come back alone every single time to sign reports and dutifully continue to rebuild Petalburg.

Amor Rose would be rotting in his grave if he saw him now.

"You're doing great, you two!" Howard cheered from his lawn chair as he drained his whiskey flask. "Clayton's been complaining that the plumbing hasn't been that good recently."

Granted, oscar clayton was the type of person to dump grease from all his machines down the drain, so the admin didn't mock him too much. Howard would've done the same at his apartment if he wasn't afraid of getting evicted.

The large square pit had been easily shifted by Howard's Pokémon, but Howard himself had done remarkably little. For a man with impeccable knowledge of geology and soil restoration, he seemed perfectly content to let his Pokémon do much of the work. Thus, Apolle drained the vigor from any plant life that risked getting in the way of the excavation.

The admin took another swig of his flask.

---

ameena abadi Makoto Kurumi
Fire/Water/Grass 80 BP
Absorb = 20 BP

When Makoto had been told they'd be joining Nebula on some quarry work in the Ultra Desert... The last thing they had expected, was for them to be helping howard slayte with his septic tank plumbing, alongside ameena abadi.

It's hard for them to complain; working in this more 'tamed' - if that was even the right word - part of Ultra Space was preferrable to being chased down by more giant wild bugs, or being forced to hide from a giant mechanical Corviknight. But all the same, as they direct Kitsunebi's Fire Spin to burn and clear away the scraggly weeds...

... They can't help but cast a look to Howard's drinking. Did he really want to be getting drunk here? Sure, this was probably safer, but it was still Ultra Space, wasn't it?

One of Makoto's pokemon seemed to concur. Because Erebus would make to yoink Howard's flask from his hand with telekinesis - and replaced it with a bottle of water. This was no time to be poisoning oneself, if you asked it.

(Regardless of whether Erebus was successful in the intervention, Makoto just managed to hold in an amused snort at the sight of it all.)

Fire Spin - 35 BP

By the time Erebus snatched Howard's flask away, it had already been halfway drained. Regardless of Nebula's opinion on their second leader, the universal truth was hard to deny. Howard Slayte drank like a fish. Still, as his flask was taken, the admin let out a low groan and rose from his lawn chair.

"Security is good. Me and Oscar keep a few Pokémon on standby. It's a big farm!" The admin gestured off into the distance, where berry trees rustled in the hot wind. Plumbing and irrigation pumped water from an underground oasis that the admin had found while spelunking, thus this section of the desert was green and verdant. "Can I have my flask back now?"

When appealing to Erebus didn't work, Howard turned towards its trainer.

"Come on, Makoto! That flask belonged to a Kalosian war general! It's expensive! You trust me, right?" Howard's eye grew wide and pleading as he looked towards them. "Please~? I'm not drunk!"

As if to prove it, he downed the entire water bottle.

"See? It's no problem at all!"

---

Makoto Kurumi ameena abadi
DISAGREEMENT

Makoto's gaze flickered between Howard, Erebus, and soon Ameena. Though they'd much rather avoid any disagreements or confrontations... "... I.. don't think this is a safe place to be drinking, security or no security." They spoke - placing themself more than firmly on Ameena's and Erebus' sides. "And that you've been drinking so much... It honestly worries me, Howard."

Glancing to Erebus, they'd mention "Put that somewhere safe? We can, uhm, grab it later."

The Deoxys would nod - disappearing in a Teleport, before soon reappearing, having put the flask away somewhere secure. Howard would get the flask back later; but not now.

And as if to emphasize this, Erebus would replace Howard's water bottle with a refilled one.

Makoto, meanwhile, would look over the excavation at work; before blinking. Though they were digging up the plumbing... "Huh. There's stuff down here..." They murmured, pulling up an old urn. It actually looked a bit like something that Howard would take interest in.

Disagreement

He squinted at Ameena.

"Hm." He put a finger on his chin thoughtfully for a moment, before staring off into the distance. "When I met with the building board for Petalburg to discuss allocating resources, I was sober! That was..."

The admin flipped through his notebook. "Hm."

A month ago. Whoops.

"Listen, my job is hard, okay! Petalburg is a wreck and drinking gets me through the day. I can quit whenever I want." Howard huffed and drained the second water bottle. His hat obscured him from much of the shade, but he still felt like garbage. Arceus above, he hated sand. "Fine, I'll be productive."

Even though he had built a farm that defied science, everyone was a critic. He had been sober enough to beat Ameena's boyfriend into the dirt, but he didn't tell her that. Ultimately, what snapped him from his stupor was the urn that Makoto had found.

"Sweet! Looks like the urns Megalopolans use to store light!" The admin dusted it off and beamed at Makoto. "Good find."

His beam quickly turned into a peer of confusion. The pre-gaming session had left his head slightly stuffy.

"Did you do something with your hair?"

---

Makoto Kurumi ameena abadi
USING BOMB FOR 600 BP POGGERS

Makoto looked to Howard with a mix of humor and sympathy. "I don't really expect us to do more than, uhm, our pokemon," They admitted as Howard got up - they didn't necessarily mind if he sat back for this, they just wanted to make sure he didn't drink himself unconscious.

'I can quit whenever' was generally a lie, they found.

But, at the very least, the megalopolan urn seemed to grab Howard's attention enough to cheer him up, and they couldn't help but try to meet his smile with a small one of their own. "How... do you store light, in just an urn?" They asked, a mix of genuine curiosity and wanting to keep Howard's focus on what he enjoyed. Light wasn't exactly a liquid or solid object...

However, the subject quickly shifted to hair. Makoto blinked at the question - raising a hand to comb their fingertips through their ponytail. "Ah, well... It's been growing out, over the past year, but I've not been bothering to get it cut - so... I thought I'd put it up, to keep it off my neck." The sun was beating down harsh, after all.

It turned out that Howard's security wasn't as good as he thought. As Leaguers rushed over the fence and sprinted between orchards of berries, all Howard could do was let out a low groan and snap his fingers.

"You're up, Regirock." Howard threw a Pokeball in a graceful arc, and a stone colossus stepped forward. Limbs the size of sixteen wheelers rose up as the golem released a large shout that caused individual grains of sand to vibrate and flatten. "Kill 'em."

With a shrug, the admin produced a second flask and began draining it while the golem faced the swarm of League officers.

"Actually, don't. There's no crime in exploration." The admin sat against the edge of the pit, drinking away. "They're brave. That should be commended."

A Dynamax Cannon flashed in the golem's pattern, before erupting forward in an arc of light.

---

Makoto Kurumi ameena abadi