"I am." He closed his eye. "You're right. That's what I need to be, though. It'd be disrespectful for me to be anyone other than unredeemable garbage. If I mock you, disrespect you, and deride you, you won't cry. You'll just be angry."

That was an emotion he could tolerate. Not the tears of a child. Not the sight of Isaac Merlo's little sister breaking down in front of a monument to the slain.

"So be angry." His eye flicked to the Pokeballs she hadn't picked up, to the golems she could not command. Even if she stole them and ran away, they would answer the call of their adoptive sibling. Even if they did not love or hate him, they saw Howard as just another model of their assembly line.

At this point, he was. He rubbed two fingers together and watched as tiny pieces of stone fell off and clattered against the floor.

"They exist to kill. They have always existed to kill. That is what we designed them to do. I am simply assigning them with a higher purpose."

His eyes met hers.

"I'm giving them hearts."

---

Eris Halla

"It's the best I could find on a short notice, and the oxygen deprivation is good for me. I can't think I look ridiculous if I'm depriving myself of oxygen."

The admin waggled a finger thoughtfully, his eye gleaming through the bag like a Duskull's pupil bobbling around in its skull. He carried himself with remarkable poise, despite the shamelessness of his interactions with everyone in the main lobby earlier. Nobody could say that pride was Howard Slayte's downfall.

It was a shock that he had any left. Instead, he focused on Cillian's last question before he turned green from overdrinking.

"I do. Hopefully while being inebriated as possible. I'm at my best when I'm drunk enough to be shameless but not too drunk that my depth perception comes back. Means we can poke around in the back while occasionally going back to the party. Might try to get a number or two, depending on how things go. Nobody expects a Rocket Admin to be such a... wastrel."

He popped open the bottle and poured himself a glass, before downing it. "Regardless, I want to snag a few pieces from this place for my personal connection and sell the rest."

He raised his empty glass to the underboss in a toast.

"Gotta pay the electric bill on that fossil machine somehow, right?"

---

YAPPING WITH CILLIAN, OPEN TO BEING FOLLOWED/ENOUNTERED BUT ASK THORN FOR PERM
RIDDLE: GREEN

He was not, but he appreciated Jayden's insistence. It felt like a lie masquerading as a prayer, a mantra uttered insistently with the desperate hope that it could eventually be true if deception disturbed the air enough. With enough utterances, lies could become truth if uttered with enough conviction.

It was a lesson Howard would learn personally, soon enough.

"The Tapus are fickle spirits, and they're proving to be notoriously unreliable. Keep that in mind when with Admin Delaney. Don't let Tapu Koko betray him when the opportunity is ripe." Fernando's spat with Tapu Fini was new to him, and it did little to abate his concerns. "And don't take that tone with me."

It was in the small things. The way Jayden's eyes shined, the way his lips moved, the way he spoke like a puppet dancing on cut strings.

A reminder that jayden cross was still a cog. A follower, not a leader. Except he wasn't being led by Team Rocket, but by something else entirely.

"I've diminished nothing. I won, Jayden. I took this city for you. For Monroe. For Walsh. Something is afoot. I don't know why Regirock attacked Petalburg. I don't know what's going on with Tapu Fini. But I'm going to find out."

His eye flashed.

"I expect to see you standing on my side when that happens. Not the Cursed. Not Admin Cross. You."

---

jayden cross

"Sorry, Lulu. We rarely get so lucky in war." Howard shrugged sheepishly, his hat obscuring his gaze as he did so. "Who would've thought shields could be so buoyant?"

To an extent, it was good that Greyson Connors was still alive. He was needed for the war to come. He and Navy were imperative to Eternatus's defeat. He had seen it in the false Galar. It had not been ordained by something as trivial as a prophecy or fate, but by the will of heroes.

Heroes must return to slay giants, after all.

"Just keep him away from me. Keep the sheriff away from me, as well. I'd rather not get mercilessly crushed. He hasn't forgiven me for burning down his town, unfortunately."

Even if they had a blood oath to kill each other, overseen by a hero of Galar, that did not need to be today. He intended to stall that battle as much as possible, until it could be fought on his terms. As for Greyson... he made good honey. Howard had little experience with him.

Yet what seized was not Shred and his proclamation. Howard would deal with him when this was over. Instead, it was jayden cross 's observation that drew the admin's attention away.

Glacial blue met magenta red. The admin blinked slowly at his colleague.

"I won. We won." He shrugged, before gesturing at priam conrad and Elisabeth Fiorelli . "I was tested in the crucible and I did not chip nor did I shatter. As a swordsman, you can appreciate that."

He leaned back in his chair, dragging a cigarette.

"That is undeniable. Thus, I get to speak my mind. Lo and behold, I have spoken it."

---

LULU THINKS A CHARACTER DIED ON HOENN LMFAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Ponders Howard/Navy and their advantage over him. Brushes it off as irrelevant cuz REGI PUNCH
Yaps at Jayden about how cool he is because he took one w and that's his entire personality now

A long time ago, Howard Slayte told himself something.

Alright. Never again will I get so attached to any person, friend or foe. Half of them are going to die before the sun rises on the next battlefield. It doesn't matter how much I care, they're going to die. His footsteps clicked against ice as he marched past frozen statues and dead men. I'll just stop caring. Easy. Everyone else does it.

That had lasted exactly sixteen hours before he had broken down crying after the Island Cave's slaughter. Almost a year later, and it had happened again in Petalburg.

Apathy was hard. Each time a piece of Team Rocket's machine broke down and found itself replaced by another, he found bile building in his throat. He stepped past another frozen body. He had known that person. He stepped past another. He had paid that one's salary.

He looked for parker jones , for oscar clayton , for Yuan Wright . He found none of them. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"None of you are replaceable to me." He looked down the distant route and saw a swarm of Pokémon Rangers running forward. He looked back, and saw a small contingent of Team Rocket grunts fleeing. Oldale was on the horizon. How much farther was he expected to push towards the city? "Even if you should be. Even if THEO BECKETT says you are."

He paused and fingered his Dynamax Band, regarding the distant pocket of lives that might end today. They'd beat him if he didn't Dynamax his Pokémon. It was unfortunate, but it was the price he paid for mediocrity.

"Regice." He told the golem behind him. "It's time."

An eruption of red energy emerged from the band and Royal's telltale heart. A pillar of light and crackles of magenta thunder accompanied the massive growth of an icebound colossus, which quickly towered for everyone from Rustboro to Oldale to see. It was a gross overkill, but the admin didn't seem to think so.

"Give those rangers a moment to run." He waited a moment. "Fire."

A Max Hailstorm fell from the sky.

---

freya morningstar june sleigh | ARMOR

Flat metal beds were meant for torturing underpaid focus groups and prisoners of war. The fact that Ameena had actually gone through the effort to replace them with couches was commendable. It also worried the admin that she had gone through that much effort for something like this.

It did little to abate his nerves.

"Understood." The admin tottered on a remarkably thick cast, designed to set bone and numb the pain. It was amazing what one could afford when Team Rocket was footing the bill. Blisseys. Comfeys. The whole nine yards turned several months of hobbling around into a remarkably quick experience.

He clapped Ameena on the shoulder as he passed.

"If anyone asks, this is on Nebula's dollar." The message was clear: tell Rocket and I'll end you. "Let's start, then."

He fell onto the couch with a huff and hid from the light by using his hat. When he spoke, it came from beneath the muffled headpiece.

"It's safe, don't worry." Howard told June, as if lying for the thirtieth time would make it true. "I've got Z-Crystals if you need them, Ameena. I assume you have a stash here at the lab, though?"

---

ameena abadi june sleigh

"It's not a threat."

The words come quickly, their intention perfectly plain. The admin could weave a web of lies, but the woman who sat at the pinnacle of the HBIC was not some errant grunt that Howard could humble with a wave of a hand, nor could he outplay her on a chessboard where they were both equal opponents.

No. When dealing with schemers, it was best to crush them without much care. Elisabeth had taught him that, before she had crawled her way out of hell.

"I never had the fortune to be born into nepotism like many people in this world." He smiled without humor, thinking of FERNANDO SILPH and jayden cross and Remiel Calcifet . "To me, business is a transaction and money is worthless. That's why we barter with cities instead of credit and lives instead of gold. There is only so much value in this world, Penelope. Otherwise we would mint an infinite amount of coinage."

He tapped his hand against the table. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. It was a mechanical motion, done by a clockwork doll instead of a human. How fake it would sound on an audio recording. Yet that falsehood was what made it genuine.

"Blood? That, we will never run out of." He paused to consider her request. It surprised him. It disgusted him. It impressed him. She went for something truly irreplaceable: proof of Kanto's commitment to Team Rocket's cause. "And you've chosen expensive blood indeed."

He cocked his head, musing on her words.

"Rustboro as well, then. I'm sure that CIAN MAHER can find a nice warehouse in Fallarbor to call his gym in the meantime."

---

PENELOPE LIVY
+40 (post)
+50 (recall a thread)
+50 (describe le Pokeball)
+50 (antagonistic dialogue)
+50 (learn something)
+50 (respect)
+50 (tag)

clover matamata was here? They were letting anyone into the the banquet, it seemed. It took all of Howard's will to not look around for a kid's table to see where the young Hoyeon was supposed to sit. Oh well. In a way, it was unlucky that he didn't, otherwise Howard would've made a note of Roy Aker and abandoned Clover and Miyako to their own devices.

"Call me 'Dr. Slayte', Clover. If I'm gonna be here with all of the big names in the region, I'm at least flexing a doctorate or two! Maybe I can heckle a raise or two out of my bosses if he thinks I'm a commodity." Howard took another bite of bread, chewing thoughtfully. "I'm getting out of here in a bit. Sootopolis is a bit too dangerous, these days. Forget the hotel prices."

Besides, he had to link up with the upper echelons of Team Rocket. He wasn't going to let the other admins throw him under the bus. Until then, he had to deal with June's parole officer.

Hopefully she never found out that they had been yapping.

"I'm no criminal! My record is impeccable and my driving skills above average! You try driving with her in the passenger seat and getting through Slateport." Howard huffed and crossed his hands. "And you can charge me as much as you like. My parking tickets are funding this war effort, I'll tell you!"

He puffed up his chest in pride.

"If my parking tickets end up paying freya morningstar's salary, then I say 'thank Arceus for government'!"

---

YAP ABOUT STATE OF THE REGION

"You need your hands more than I need my leg." He protested as June grasped for his shoulder. The sensation felt unpleasant, a reminder that she was human and fallible and her body was broken and she was in pain. "How're you going to-"

Hold things? Feel things? Experience anything other than pain?

"...work?"

Sometimes, it felt like that was the only thing she understood. Work, work, and work some more. As if grinding her soul into dust due to monotonous, grueling labor was somehow equitable to having a life. Sometimes he wondered if she had a life outside of her job, then he thought of the woman who she had caught Regieleki with and killed that thought immediately.

"Fine. Help me up." Rather than let broken fingers hoist him to his feet, Howard clawed up June, using Violet as a handhold as he did so. He collapsed on the mechanical bike, breathing heavily.

He didn't hate this Paradox Pokemon. It wasn't one of yesterday. It was one of tomorrow. He could abide it, because it didn't mock the purpose he had sold his life to.

"Doctor. Then leg and hands." His voice slurred slightly as he rattled off several addresses. "And I'm not hiding!"

He slumped forward as they escaped the tunnels. His last sentence died on his lips.

I'm just afraid.

---

june sleigh

The shield. The admin's eye twitched. How many times had he wondered what the fate of Zaria's brother had been? He had not been present in Galar's pristine garden, yet the shield's absence had been noted. In a twisted sense, Howard was furious Cyan and Magenta had been reunited in this world.

It made Howard far more vulnerable than he cared to be, so he simply didn't acknowledge it.

"Maybe you did. Maybe you didn't. Does it really matter? Each time we interact with another, our dream changes slightly. Minute corrections that keep us on track for our ultimate goal. Even as I talk your ear off, am I not influencing your dream now?"

As he spoke, he scratched his Aerodactyl's head thoughtfully, remembering a dream and a vision that did not seem fully real. Every time he looked upon Shirley, his eye hurt.

That didn't mean he'd stop looking.

"My promotion was based on practicality. I did well at the Island Cave, and I was promoted. It sucks, though. I enjoyed the freedom that being a grunt entailed. Freedom is traded for responsibility, and responsibility begets a pay raise."

Rows of trees rustled in the hot desert wind.

"That's life."

---

Alba Evovae

When life gave you Applins, host a banquet to put a band-aid on the walking bullet wound that was Sootopolis City. The admin actually respected freya morningstar 's attempt, which was why he had decided to appear as Howard Slayte instead of Admin Fox. Besides, he couldn't devour the banquet table with his helmet on.

The luxuries of being acquainted with Freya and co, he supposed. Admin Fox was in Petalburg. Howard Slayte could appear to support the return of a major cultural site to the hands of the League.

"This bread is immaculate! Cheers to history! To Draconid culture! To biscuits shaped like Shelgons!" The archaeologist cheered as he meandered past Miyako Noguchi , before stopping. "Oh."

He took a bite of his bread, slowly. He looked around, as if expecting june sleigh to astral project from behind a banquet table and bash his skull in with a tire iron. When Howard decided that he was safe from deliverywomen and mechanics, he took another bite of his bread.

"It's you." Howard raised an eyebrow. "Hey. You good, traffic gal?"

He took a look at her. Definitely not.

"Bread?" He offered her a slice.

---

HOWARD EATA DA FOOD AND RUN INTO THE COP FROM THE JOWARD THREAD AND WONDERS WHERE FREYA IS
ENJOY THE FOOD
HOWARD IS CIVILIAN PERSONA

"I will never mock your dream." Howard raised an eyebrow, bemused. "I'll steal your lunch from the breakroom, deride your handwriting, and sleep through half of the reports I get from you and Nomi."

He crossed his arms, thoughtful.

"But I'll never mock what drives you. Otherwise I'd throw myself off of Meteor Falls' highest cliff."

It'd be a long way down. He wished it was easier to poke around the mountain, but unfortunately Rustboro stood in the way. Team Rocket would have to take Howard's hometown before he could rip Meteor Falls apart in an attempt to chase yesterday.

"But you're right. Knowledge is imperative." He chewed the inside of his cheek. "How're we getting to space? We failed to take Mossdeep."

---

Lulu Flint