The door slammed shut, leading Shalin alone. For a moment, it was as if the Rocket Admin had left, before a slot in the door slid open.

"You created a bond between human beings and Ultra Beasts. I wish you the best in explaining to the fathers and brothers and sons of those who lost loved ones during the Three Days War. I will praise you for doing the impossible, and I will decry you for aligning with monsters."

A chuckle filled the room through the cell door's opening.

"The world I plan to build will have no Ultra Beasts. It will have no Paradox Pokemon. It will have no Dynamax or Terastallization. These are all anomalies. They will all burn."

The door slot slid shut.

"Goodbye."

The distant sounds of footsteps against the floor echoed as the admin left the prison block behind.

---

Shalin Nariya

"If you're ever interested in learning, swing by at your leisure." The admin shrugged again. "I live to serve my underbosses. I promise not to kill you."

As if promises meant much when talking to a man who forced justice onto his betters, as if his laws overwrote theirs. Yet Hoenn was an ancient region, and its laws were sacrosanct. Humanity stood at the pinnacle, and the laws of ancients written into stone would supersede all.

"It'd be an honor."

Silence. The howling of the Distortion World surrounded them, now that Regirock had defiled a monument to itself in order to return an artifact to itself.

"So what no-"

A portal opened under their feet.

---

THEO BECKETT

Katherine's Pokeball for Regirock was clipped to the admin's belt. Only then does he answer Theo's question.

"Before I joined Rocket, I specialized in ancient languages. I keep up with them even now. A smattering of Draconid, a lot of ancient braille, and a lot of Hoyeon. I can even talk to my Claydols fairly well." The various emoticons that each eye could produce was almost a lexicon in its own right. "Visual braille is weird. Hm."

Howard tucked his head against his chest, deep in thought. It had been a while since he had last discussed ancient languages with another.

"If you live amongst Pokémon for long enough, you begin to pick up on things. You learn things through osmosis."

Howard's eye flickered.

"It's like that. It got a lot easier when I turned into..." He gestured down at himself. "...this."

---

THEO BECKETT

As Munkidori squirmed against the unyielding fist choking out his titanic neck, the rest of the pupa crumbled as Serizawa emerged. The beast within seemed to grow in size as the pupa shattered apart, littering the ground with discarded pieces of stone. Any poisoning was discarded by the Shed Skin of Serizawa's prior form, and the forest was hit by a massive sandstorm as Sand Stream activated.

"GRAAAAAAAAWR!"

With that proclamation, Serizawa grabbed the monkey by its Toxic Chain and swung it through several trees. With a desperate squawk, Munkidori attempted to pelt the Tyranitar with several mental attacks, only for his Dark-type to shrug them off with minimal ease.

SLAM! A tree fell on Munkidori as Serizawa slammed it around again, but foresight allowed it to dodge the fall. Using the opportunity, a Focus Blast was fired towards the tyrant, but with such poor aim, the monkey was struck with a curse that many users of the technique had suffered before:

Focus Blast missed.

"Uggguhhhhhhhh..." Howard's eye fluttered, his vision swimming. Yet his eye narrowed to watch as his wallet flew past Grigori. As if opened by an invisible hand, the wallet opened, and a few humble pennies flew towards whatever Chester was planning. "Wait, NO!"

A half-dozen plastic rectangles emerged from the wallet and connected with Chester's golden surface.

"MY CREDIT CARDS!"

Somewhere, the funding for ameena abadi's research was cut down to zero, and Absinthe Blackwood would have to forgo any hopes of Howard settling his tab. Business accounts emptied to mere triple digits, including decimals.

"SHREEEEEEEEEEEEEED!"

---

Grigori Sokolov Shred

"If they refuse, then..." A flame flickered to life as the admin lit his cigarette. He took a deep drag. "...well, they won't have a choice."

Rose was too softhearted for this job. It was clear as day. From the way she spoke to the way she looked at him made it very clear that this girl was going to have her heart broken and shattered some day. This world was cruel to place her in this position. Team Rocket was crueler to recruit her.

Yet when the dying piled up, healers were a scarcity. It was best to take what was available.

Another drag. A cough. A scarred hand tapped against the cigarette, raining ash down. He hadn't used Dynamax in a while, and still the poison from Dynergy turned his existence into a perpetual ache. He ignored it. There was a job to do.

"Come along."

As they grew close to the building, a grunt opened a gate for the duo. The admin's hat offered a modicum of shade, though the day was undeniably dreary. As they stepped through, a grunt gave Rose a white flag to hold. A surrender flag. A display of peace. The flag of an envoy.

There were a lot of ways to interpret it. None of them were worth shooting if you were a defender.

"Keep it raised high." Howard tried hard to ensure he showed no signs of fear. They stepped past a small crater, where an explosion had burned so hot that it had melted the dirt into a shiny, glasslike substance. "We'll be okay."

He hoped.

---

Rose Soleil

FERNANDO SILPH.

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.

With how many times Howard and the councilman had fought, they weren't on the best of terms. It didn't help that Howard killed one of Fernando's Pokemon by stabbing the councilman in the back. It really didn't help that the grunts thought Howard had beaten him in a six on six battle without breaking a sweat.

It really didn't help that Fernando knew what Howard used to look like, before his body had been replaced.

But still, if Roy could get a few crumbs of knowledge from Fernando, it'd be a victory for Roy. If he was lucky, Roy would use the cube to suck up Fernando's weird dog and save Howard the trouble of dealing with it in the future.

"Tell him to drop my taxes when you see him." Howard nodded in approval. "I can't believe you get to meet Fernando. That's super lucky!"

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK.

"And that phrase... foreign bodies, right?" Howard scratched his chin. He thought of Regirock and Regice's staunch antagonism to anything outside of Hoenn. "Maybe this cell is from Hoenn, so it doesn't recognize it as an anomaly?"

Many of Hoenn's artifacts and creations were built for Hoenn. They did not piggyback off of the entities and technology from other worlds.

Except Eternatus. Howard's eye twitched at the thought of Wishing Stars.

---

Roy Aker freya morningstar

Cillian didn't come here alone. Before, he came with Temp. He had left alone. Yet if Howard told Cillian that, his wrath would shake this empty world and Howard doubted that a dozen Regirocks would save him from the underboss's rage. Thus, he kept that to himself.

The words he chose to speak were worse.

"I don't really believe in Rocket. I don't believe that what we're doing is morally correct. Regardless of how this war ends, we will be seen as the biggest monsters this world has ever known. The textbooks will remember us as a mad court of fools, consulting with daemons. We're bad people, Cillian."

Even Howard. Why else would he work so hard to make clover matamata cry at a funeral?

"But we're comrades. You're my friend. Team Rocket is still there, and they still need you. Nobody else in this world has Team Rocket's back but Team Rocket. They need their underboss, and they need him to reassure them that everything will be alright."

The admin lowered his hat to hide his gaze.

"Everyone loved Temp. He was our heart. And now we have to win this war heartless, just like the League wants. He tried to kill me. I hate him for that, but you know what, Cillian?"

Sniff. When Howard looked up, the admin was crying.

"I really fuckin' miss Tempest Quinn."

---

Cillian Quinn

"I think this is hell, actually." Howard said as he held tightly to Oscar as his Kingdra took them to the skies. He could've taken Shirley, but the admin didn't trust this false world from the other side of the veil.

Actually, no. That wasn't quite right.

This world was a cornerstone constructed by a creator god at the beginning of time to imprison a devil on the level of Eternatus. IT wasn't some anomalous void that nobody knew existed before the Three Days War. It was not Ultra Space. It was a biblical hell spoken of in myth, except Howard had learned that hell was real, and the devil had left the doors open to rattle in the wind.

This world was known to him, however faint. It was hell, but it was a trustworthy hell. Every iota of Howard's body prayed that Giratina wouldn't notice them.

"But Team Rocket already consorts with monsters, so I guess this place would be comfortable to someone like you."

Oscar Clayton was a very strange person. Sometimes, he was human. Other times, it was important to recall how distant academia and humanity could truly be. This was one of those times.

"I see Regirock." Howard suddenly pointed at a golem lumbering slowly across a contour of this mockery of a crater. "There!"

---

oscar clayton

Ultimately, guns are ineffective against Pokémon. Yet a loud noise in an enclosed space was definitely enough to startle the sentinel, which had likely heard nothing for centuries. Howard's ears, meanwhile, were still ringing as the shot echoed through the ruins.

At least Montgomery was back, Howard supposed. Better than nothing. Even if the gangster's kneejerk reaction was to shoot at anything that annoyed him.

Between Shirley and Skarmory's dancing, the Sigilyph quickly fell. Wordlessly, Howard threw a Pokeball at it. It rattled once, then twice, then thrice. For a horrifying moment, there was a chance that it was going to crack open.

Ding. Sigilyph was caught.

"Alright, we gotta run." Howard picked up the Pokeball and broke into a sprint. "You just alerted everything in this ruin by shooting a gun."

---

Montgomery James

The shuffling of papers and folders reminded the admin of his own office. His was an odd mix of ancient artifacts, strange curiosities, and mountains of paperwork that threatened to topple over and crush him beneath tons of ink and file. When he passed out at his desk, they often did.

He wondered if Cecilia ever had the same problems. Rather than ask if she slept in her office and get a glare of derision in exchange, the admin kept his mouth shut.

The seat was comfortable. A hand scarred from Dynergy exposure explored the seat's contours, fingers tapping deftly. Occasionally, a red glow would pass under his skin like circuitry. Only when the admin was comfortable did he speak.

"No need. I bring water with me wherever I go." A flask filled at the Snake Pit sat in a pocket, dormant, waiting to be drained. Rather than heed the fine whiskey's call, he continued. "I won't infringe upon your hospitality overmuch."

She already served at Team Rocket's discretion. There was no need to abuse his rank. A folder was placed on the desk. Thin, with only a few papers within.

"Those are the current rates at which Team Rocket is receiving supplies from Kanto. They are too few for too high a price." He nodded at the folder. "We need to renegotiate. Personally."

He paused, before giving Cecilia a questioning glance.

"Have you ever been to Kanto, Cecilia?"

---

Cecilia Brooks

Howard hated Slateport, he hated Rocket, and he hated his life.

In that order.

Team Rocket had, in all of their wisdom, placed him in charge of the reconstruction of Petalburg. It was likely for the best, given that Howard was responsible for the destroyed state of the city after Team Rocket had attempted to seize it. It would've been a clean victory, if not for Regirock erupting from the ground and razing the city with a few attacks.

If Howard had been faster, he could've stopped the titan. He hadn't been. Now all he had to show for it was Regirock itself, a great many lost lives, and a job too herculean to accomplish alone.

"Yeah, I'm getting the people together now." Howard murmured into his phone, a magenta eye scanning the small office space before him. "I depart in a few days. Fret not. I don't expect a difficult trip. Yes. I understand. Goodbye."

He clicked the antique flip phone shut with a sigh. Team Rocket didn't typically need legal advice, given the fact that they were often engrossed in warfare, but that didn't mean there weren't lawyers on Team Rocket's payroll.

Such as this one. He pushed the door open and allowed his face to morph into the guise of a professional, rather than an overworked pencil pusher. Such was the life of a Rocket Admin.

"Pardon me. Hello?" Howard poked his head through the door. "Cecilia?"

---

Cecilia Brooks