We're going to die out.

Nobody had bothered to tell them that they already had.

As the admin wandered through dead streets occupied by ghosts, he occasionally found blackened stone from skirmishes held between ancient tiles. He recognized several of the attacks as Hyper Beams from Claydol, given that one of his first Pokémon had been a Baltoy.

Yet occasionally, he would come across an attack that had gouged an entire street, turning stone and dirt into a shiny glass that reflected distorted visions back at Howard. As he leaned down to inspect it, chunks of melted dirt broke apart between red-scarred fingers. The admin let out a weary sigh as he looked closer.

"It was here. Damn. I'm years behind." Creighton had once hid from the draconic construct, and with it locked in an alternate world, Howard had decided to retrace the giant's steps. "But that hasn't stopped me before."

He'd keep searching. This was just a minor hurdle.

As he peered at the massive gouge in the earth, he found pieces of cracked pottery, likely remnants from when the village had found itself attacked. A few small holes indicated something had buried itself within the upturned earth. Taking his light, the admin shined it into the hole.

And something green hopped out, and his scream echoed across the ancient cave.

"AIYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

---

freya morningstar Roy Aker

Kyle attempting to explain multiversal physics and the laws decreed by the Alpha to a drunken Howard Slayte was folly. He would've had a better chance in making rain fall upwards. He took a deep breath, swaying from side to side as he processed Kyle's words.

Processing was a strong term, though. It was more akin to smashing his head through the wall.

"We don't need a defective one. We need the Emergent! Navy's friend! Matias's victim! The one that actually knows how to save this world!" He spat at the defective cog used to replace the genuine article. Calling the former Kyle a broken piece spat in his memory. "I want the old one back!"

Ghost and grudges. Grudges and ghosts. How could he trust this specter after Elisabeth had returned from the dead, more corrupted than ever?

"No." Howard shook his head once. A plan began to form in his mind, cruel and terrible, yet wholy necessary. It was one he'd regret later, but for now, it would have to do. "I'm not giving anything over to a faker."

In the distant heavens, a fist the size of Kyle's beloved hospital descended like a meteor.

---

kyle lopez

Dynamax transcended all when it came to raw power. There was no need to bond with a Pokémon to create a Mega Evolution, nor did it require surveying alternate universes in order to find the optimal formula. No, Dynamax was simply the leavings of a god that had long since died. From its tomb in Dewford, Eternatus gnawed at the bones of the world.

Even worse, Regirock was optimized for the phenomenon. It had been built to wage war with a god, and it was not limited in movement like other Dynamaxed Pokémon.

Thus, as the Mega Medicham jumped upwards to give a definitive blow, Regirock simply stepped backwards. The ground shook and Pokemon ran and screamed as acres of land were crushed by the simple motion. The Force Palm sailed through the air, and Regirock responded with a Max Knuckle the size of a building.

Howard, meanwhile, was blasted back by his own Dynamaxed explosion. As his eye adjusted, he saw that Hideo hadn't moved an inch. The Gym Leader's own barrier protected him, and it was coming from... a Ralts?

"That's impossible." Howard staggered to his feet, begrudgingly impressed with the Gym Leader's display. "How'd you block that?"

In the faintest recesses of his memory, the barrier felt familiar.

"Regirock's Dynamaxing leveled Petalburg."

---

Hideo Kino

She tells him to shut up. He does. The logical mind is swaddled in thick blankets of inebriation, and thus Absinthe is able to cow the Rocket Admin into slowly shutting the door as he attempted to figure out how this had all happened.

The Loyal Three have been everywhere by this point. He and half of Rocket have run into the three bastards, and at every turn they've done little other than cause misery at every turn. Despite Hideo Kino's strength as a Gym Leader, even he was incapable of fully quashing this tide of poison.

Why, then, does Fezandipiti sit on the table now?

"What the fuck did you do?" Howard hissed at her, his voice stinking of liquor. She's dark and malicious and definitely defective, but so is everyone else in Team Rocket. Absinthe is not Jayden Cross, nor is she Elisabeth Fiorelli. If Howard can dance with them, then he can dance with her. "What's it doing here?"

He pointed at the bird with frustration.

"It's caused nothing but pain and misery." Howard glared at her, before drinking straight from the bottle. He wiped his lips of amber liquid and took a deep breath. He repeated it multiple times, until the lines of red circuitry that occasionally thrummed in his body turned dim with composure. "Explain."

His eye opened.

"Now."

---

Absinthe Blackwood

For a moment, the admin wanted to scream at how unfair this was. There wasn't a Power Spot anywhere in the woods, as far as Howard knew. The closest ones were on Route 102 and 104. Yet he knew Dynamax better than anyone in Team Rocket, and he could quickly parse that this wasn't Dynamax.

It was a load of bullshit, but not Dynamax.

"Oh, FU-"

The Titanic Munkidori sent Howard flying into the treeline with his psychic powers. Branches snapped and cracked and tore at the admin's back as he disappeared into a sea of green.

"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-"

Eventually his voice disappeared as well, leaving Serizawa and Shirley alone to compete with the monkey. Taking advantage of the roosting Fezandipiti, the pupa slammed into the ground with Earthquake, causing trees to fall over. One threatened to crush the monkey, but foresight saved Munkidori from splatting against the floor.

Shirley dove down, tearing at the Toxic Chain, before swooping out of range once again.

---

Shred Grigori Sokolov

"If you're human, then you have as much of a right as any to hold these giants should I fall. You are compatible, because I say so."

He followed Regirock between buildings as the golem marches on, clearly looking for something.

"And have more faith in our colleagues. Even now, they are human. It's not the body or the mind that makes us who we are, but our will. As long as Team Rocket keeps trudging forward, we are human. Even if we're reducing to nothing, we are human. We are heir to something that Necrozma and Eternatus can only steal."

He clenched a fist.

"Regardless of if I'm worthy or not, regardless of if you are worthy or not, we are people." He blinked once. "I wish you could see that."

---

THEO BECKETT

There's a long moment where the admin said nothing. A statue that did not breathe nor shift. The only proof that Admin Fox was alive was the steady shifting of the admin's coat as the air blew it every which way.

"I do not deny those claims." The admin spoke in even tones, his eye shifting towards Mint as he spoke. He would not validate facts that would go against mint frost or BARNABY FINCH 's twisted rendition of events. Not here. Not in front of innocents. "And I've seen true heroes knighted. I am not one of them."

She mentioned declan walsh , and the admin's eye instinctively found the shadows cast by the countless people at the banquet. Walsh could be in any of them. It took all of his courage to not turn around and check his own shadow.

"If you don't stop us, we'll destroy upend your whole world. If we didn't stop you, you'd massacre us by the thousands, until your scales are polished bright with the blood of our friends and family." The weary apathy in his voice was apparent. "That day, when you breached Sootopolis's wall, you destroyed the livelihood of my friends and beloved comrades."

'Beloved'. There was little love for Team Rocket in Howard's chest, and yet...

He thought of Cillian, living alone with a dead husband in an apartment that wasn't his. Nomi's house was ruined, with Parker breaking down in her apartment as her life collapsed around her. Jayden and Fern now lived in Rustboro, with years of memories turned into a swamp-ridden wreck.

"Why, Freya? Tell me why Sootopolis's people had to bleed for a city that was ours for years?" He knew the answer, but he wanted to hear her say it. An sliver of truth from a brutal warrior born into an era of change. "I consider every member of the Pokémon League to be my enemy. So I crossed the region and went to war."

He had warred until it had changed his body and mind in a haze of magenta fog.

"And when I made it across, I found a threat greater than Team Rocket and the Pokémon League, and I subdued it at the cost of my dignity because a little girl was brave enough to lend me power that I didn't deserve."

Eris Halla had helped him subdue Regirock. Her and countless others had ensured that Petalburg wasn't completely destroyed, just as Freya and countless others had ensured that Sootopolis would not become a necropolis.

Just as Eva had ensured that Hoenn would not become a crater, two years prior.

"If you had been faster in taming Kyogre, if I had climbed that mountain just a tiny bit quicker, if that meteor had vanished just an moment earlier, we could have saved countless lives or created a new future." From the depths of his mask, a spark of red indicated an eye. "But we didn't, so we'll have to live with that failure until the world ends. Freya. Eva."

Admin Fox clasped a hand over the 'R' insignia on his coat.

"We're the same. That's why I'll keep moving forward until all of my enemies are dead, regardless of your messiah's quality." He pointed at them both. "And on the battlefield, that includes you both."

---

Yapping at Freya/Eva and that's it really

"I await that day gladly. We'll see whose will is stronger when you finally catch up with me. Until then, I'll keep doing what I'm doing."

Watching Montgomery struggle was an incredible view. Howard's touch was soft as it reached for the deputy's throat. For a moment, the admin considered choking the life from him. That quickly disappeared as rationality took hold. Navy had chosen this man, and it was not for Howard to deny that.

Despite his sins, Navy's senses were good. Even now, the admin would not doubt the Warrior's instinct.

"You did this, Montgomery. You started me on this road, and I'm going to see it all the way to the end. I don't care how bloody this path is, I'll walk it. When you obstruct it, I'll kill you and keep moving. That moment of affection, when you folded me into Team Rocket... you thought that was a blessing. You thought you were being kind."

Howard's lips curled upward into a smile, and a flicker of Dynergy sparked between fingers as he spoke.

"That kindness was a curse."" The pressing weight on the deputy vanished as Howard stood up, and turned towards the portal that Nomi's power had constructed for him. "But I won't deny it now."

He walked into the portal, and by an unseen force, the call button next to Montgomery's bed was pressed.

"Because that's what it means to carry the weight of the world."

The portal winked out of existence.

---

Montgomery James

"I said worthless, not unimpressive." The umbral folds of the admin's mask swallowed the light as he looked at Eva Morales . When the admin stopped to take a breath, it frosted. He dusted off several pieces of ice from a gauntleted hand, which fell to the floor, clattering. "And I will not leave, I am not Rayquaza."

He let out an apathetic shrug. Cords in the admin's coat shined in the light as they swayed to and fro. He gave Mint a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder as the Rocket Beast went for the throat.

Silently, Howard made a note to not call mint frost short. It would've been the pot calling the kettle black, but hypocrisy was beneath him and the Rocket Beast would likely thrash him in a direct confrontation.

"I'm not much of a fighter, apologies. Neon can take you both." He held up his hands in surrender, though he didn't seem particularly concerned. The helmet hid his emotions, and the archaeologist's voice was even. Fighting King or Caleb would likely end with Howard bleeding on the floor. "But I should introduce myself. It's good manners, right?"

He bowed his head once, silently glad that his mask hid his confusion. What the hell was an incel?

"My name is Admin Fox." Remiel's codename was his, now. None could deny his seizure of that name, and it would hopefully ignite some spark in the two ex-Rockets' minds. A flicker of remembrance, or some iota of doubt to cast upon Remiel Calcifet. "I helped take Petalburg while Sootopolis drowned, crushing houses and lives beneath the feet of giants."

An iota of soul died as the words fell from his lips.

"I guess that makes me a bad guy, huh?" He chuckled slightly. "But it's funny. From our side..."

He raised his head.

"...You look like villains too."

---

Yaps at Eva about the low (mint is short ref???) hanging fruit aka rayquaza
Makes a note to not call Mint short
If he fights King or Caleb they'll beat his ass hello!!!
Introduces himself as Fox (sequel)
Heartbreaking: the worst person you know just called you a bad person

Howard let her conversation float in the air for a moment.

Rather than speak, he waited as a man in a flowery shirt cut between them, holding a Corsola. Then, a woman in sandals and a tank top passed them by. Each passerby was more casual and dressed for the temperate Pacifidlog than the last, especially when compared to the archaeologist's suit and tie.

In a tropical paradise, people who wore formalities were a rarity, unless they were there on business. Pacifidlog's rich culture went back thousands of years, when people first began to build on top of the Corsola reefs in the area. It held an exotic air that the average suit and tie could not hope to imitate.

"No." He chuckled as a man in a swimsuit passed them by, and jumped into the sea. "I'm not. Rustboro, actually. I'm here for a funeral, actually."

He put his finger to his chin, thoughtful for a moment as he regarded the woman. His eye flicked to the Ampharos, eye softening slightly. Shirley coiled off of Howard, and sniffed after the Electric-type lightkeeper. It was better to focus on Alina and her Pokémon rather than focus on the fact that Tempest Quinn had died.

Besides, one-eyed wonders had to stick together.

"They're not gonna open early, I'm sorry to say. Kyogre messed up the nearby routes well and good. Realistically, there's nothing stopping ships from sailing to Slateport, but a lot of traffic has been suspended due to the war."

He pursed his lips, thinking as the admin adjusted his hat.

"You picked a bad time to visit, tourist." Howard put a hand on his hip, suddenly grinning. "Where you from? Johto? Sinnoh? Paldea?"

---

Alina Hamako

Despite its heaving bulk, Okidogi could hustle. As the bear flew through the air, Okidogi decided to make like a tree and leave. Ogerpon was a dangerous threat, after all.

As Andrea tackled him to the ground, he let out a pained grunt as he crashed into a mostly buried Munkidori statue. It'd likely bruise, but for now, there were bigger fish to fry. Namely, the statues that were coming to life. Latent grudges made the impossible possible, and the statues began to quickly move.

Yet they weren't genuine automata. They moved like puppets, fleshy tendrils substituting for something greater.

"Dammit!" Howard ducked as an Okidogi statue flew over his head, before being batted to pieces by Doug. The bear let out a ferocious roar, before manifesting a crimson orb above his head. It grew in intensity, before releasing a massive Blood Moon that incinerated the earth before it. "Doug, wait! We need to-"

BOOM!

---

Andrea Vaneau

Monroe had beaten noah faber's ass so hard that he had crashed the housing market around Verdanturf. That was power of Hoenn's former commissioner, Howard supposed.

Having a Rocket Admin here ensured that Himiko couldn't just kick around in the car for ten minutes before turning around and heading back to headquarters with the incorrect ghost type. After the lawnmower incident with Absinthe Blackwood, Howard was completely over ghosts and the utter disaster that was haunted housing.

Unfortunately, if he spent another minute cooped up in his office signing reports, he'd probably throw himself off a cliff. Thus, he was here without the God General's permission.

"Yeah, I could be signing your bonus right now but we're out here ghost hunting." Howard closed his eye thoughtfully and sighed. "Truly, our lives are terrible."

Digging through the supplies they brought, Howard pulled out a flashlight, a UV light, and a tub of Garganacl salt that the admin sourced from his own collection of Garganacl and Nacli. He straightened his hat, flicked on his light, and grabbed the house keys on his way out of the GMH truck.

Hopefully oscar clayton didn't kill the admin for borrowing his assets.

As Howard and Himiko crossed the dead lawn, the admin fumbled with the door key, before having it creak open. He shined his light into the house, frowning.

"You find out where this ghost is, and I'll find the breaker. Sound good?"

---

Yamaguchi Himiko

There was no need to test them. Zacian had proven herself in a past life, even if the histories had forgotten that ancient story. It now existed in the admin's mind as an eternal chronicle.

"But that just means that when good triumphs, it's more satisfying than ever. Nobody enjoys a once-sided victory. Even the villain must win sometimes. Perhaps that's what separates stories from fairy tales." Shirley curled around his body, growling softly. Sand blew against old boots. "Although..."

He snorted softly to himself and looked out over this small pocket of paradise he had helped build.

"...I'm sure to some people, the League is just as evil as us."

Maybe they were right. Likely not. Even the League at its worst paled in comparison to Team Rocket's atrocities. Their crimes had stacked far too high to ever fully atone. They were just coasting the wave.

"Maybe I should reach higher, as per my position expects. Just be careful when you try to grab that star, Alba. It's easy to fly high, overreach, and fall to earth. It's not about the falling, though."

He squeezed Alba's shoulder as he passed towards the scientist, his gaze planted ahead towards the base ahead.

"It's about picking yourself up."

He left Alba alone with his wine bottle and fairy tales.

---

Alba Evovae