The question goes unanswered. What else remains is insufficient.

"That, or she'll pull herself together in the eleventh hour. A cracked blade can still wet itself with our blood before shattering. Palkia is responsible for the foundation of this world. It's.." He fell back in his chair, defeated. Flabbergasted. "We should accelerate her collapse. The sooner that the League implodes, the sooner Hoenn will be ours."

The notion that this war was unwinnable did not fall from his lips. Such utterances would win him nothing but misery and despair in a den of vipers. Especially since Elisabeth was planning to take Petalburg from him, since he had apparently made her grave far too shallow.

"We are outnumbered in this war. The League has too many things to field. I heard they've bestowed Legendary Pokémon onto new trainers who have lacked them in the past. If we can drag even one avatar down to hell, we should. As for Rayquaza..." He gestured broadly, his hand clasping into a fist.

"Keep freya morningstar around until she buckles. Let her savor the sky from a grave of rock when the moment is right. White stone is a perfect tomb for one inheriting the Peacemaker's will."

It was a shame. He actually respected the Ascendant. Howard shrugged in his seat, before discarding the used cigarette. He considered lightning another, but abated for several moments. He wasn't an addict, after all.

"How do we deal with the amount of weapons that the League can field to counter ours?"

---

Still wants to kill Illeana but doesn't want to get banned from Walsh's discord server so he lightens his tone. Bemoans Elisabeth returning to operations in Petalburg.
Brings back Hitoshi Inoue 's point that Rocket is outnumbered in the Legendary Pokémon race. Ignore Regirock/Regice breakdancing in the corner.
Says to keep Freya around until she's no longer useful and it's best to let Kyogre/Groudon rampage.

"It's ancient Hoennian, Hoyeon, or Draconid. It's always those three, unless we run into braille or something." Howard raised an eyebrow at Yuina as he absentmindedly fingered the Gigaton Ball at his hip. "Wish I had brought my notebook on language trees. I suspect everything in Hoenn originates from the same source."

He turned to peer at the clay totem that Koa-Kanno had mentioned. As he leaned down to inspect it for the final time, he nodded at Doug's wording.

"Yes... I am in a nerd." He said it with a remarkable amount of confidence as he scratched his chin thoughtfully. After giving the clay blocks one final look, he rose to his feet and adjusted his hat. "Archaeologist. Historian. Historian. Archaeologist."

He pointed at himself and Yuina to insinuate that they were both. Then, he pointed to Doug.

"Employed."

He followed the old man, giving Kimyo a glance. He winked, though the motion was lost on a face with one eye. He could've produced a more satisfying motion, but it'd require him to take his eyepatch off. Not ideal.

"By significant, Koa-Kanno, I assume you mean that there are still small pieces around the island? Effigies and whatnot? Small things?" He would've killed for a smoke, but Doug would've killed him for littering if Yuina didn't throttle him first. Somehow, someway, he'd get a littering fine delivered to his mailbox if he tossed away dead cigarettes out here.

"Those are historically relevant. They're just not... grand."

---

John Sullivan Yuina Higashi

"My life is sworn to Navy, Eris. You have no right to take it, nor do you have the right to preserve it. That contract was written in blood, and it was cemented with the blood of heroes."

This change worried him. Her passion concerned him. Her rage scared him. Instinctively, he took a step back, before remembering who he was facing. This was Eris. She was a child, broken beyond her years. He had no reason to be afraid of her. Yet he was. Eris Halla was defective.

She was emotionally stunted.

He ignored Mesprit. It didn't matter. It was a foul, ugly creature.

"Only he can kill me. Not you. Not Regirock. Not anyone in this world. Until I face him, I'm not allowed to fall on the battlefield." A deep breath, followed by a 'tsk tsk'. He shook his head and frowned at her. "Besides, what have I told you...?"

He blinked once.

"Language, little lady."

---

Eris Halla

"Hm." He put a hand on his hip as he regarded the flock of deceased. A lot of lives had been lost because these people had been impatient. Given enough time, they would have seen Petalburg again in a splendor that would rival Ever Grande.

Now, all they had to experience was the taste of dirt.

"Not a bad idea, Tsubame." Not the idea of cleaving tongues from bodies, but there was an image to uphold. They wanted to see the closed fist of a destroyer, so that was what would be offered. Only at the end of this long march would that hand open and beckon for something more. "Let's line them up and march them back to base."

There, questions would be asked, tongues would be cleaved, and answers would be given. He did loathe torture, though. Such an impractical thing. It existed to vent rage, not to elucidate answers.

"Your city is gone. I will rebuild it. If you all are fortunate, you might live to see to see the tomorrow Team Rocket will bring you."

Ancient rocks shifted as Regirock rose to its full height.

"Line up and march." His eye flickered. "Or die."

They chose to live.

---

Aoki Hana

Even if he had a blade, her wrists would not bleed. Such a waste of life was unbecoming for one wise to the ways of the world. The old had a right to perish for their young, but what youth was this woman protecting? Her convictions interested Howard, and he commended them.

To let her die to defend them would be such a shame. Though, in his own jaded admittance, it was better for the wrists to bleed than the back. To leave belief behind in favor of life was the greatest shame of all.

I've stood before them, yes. I did not feel blessed by their presence. Suicune deemed me a threat, and thus decided that I had to perish. It was my convictions against it and its trainer's. They fled, and I am still here. I suppose that makes my will stronger than theirs."

It had been an ugly fight, brutal and cruel and vindictive and utterly human. Howard had killed an underboss and watered the ground with her blood. His biggest regret was not salting the earth so Elisabeth Fiorelli 's flower would not grow again. After crushing her under Regirock's fist, he had beaten Kouji within an inch of his life with a rock. Then, and only then, had he faced Suicune and their chosen Liberator.

Then, as Suicune was like to do, it fled.

"I wonder what made you see that illusion, though. Maybe it was the genuine Suicune, before Team Rocket razed its sacred places to the ground. Perhaps it was simply testing you on its own metrics. We'll never know, though. Such is the cost of indulging in legends."

Maybe this woman had once desired it so deeply that it had manifested before her eyes. If that was the case, then the human will could shift reality to suit its own ends. What difference was a myth from historical fact? What distinction mattered when faced with a distant illusion or the genuine article?

"I hope you never face Suicune or his partner. His heart is genuinely as pure as a spring pool, especially for someone who will likely die before this war is over." A deep breath. A sigh of lamentation. "We're expected to kill him."

Team Rocket does not forgive defectors, after all.

---

Yotsukura Yotsugami

There were once three people who held Regirock in their palms. angelo vestri had departed Hoenn, leaving the soul behind. Katherine Fairburne had held Regirock's body, and had used it to crush her foes. Adrian had possessed something that had never held its own form.

The mind had shattered, and it had imprinted itself onto him.

Regirock remembered the sensation of thought, and for that reason, it did not crush Adrian Malcolm into paste. He was familiar in a way most weren't. He was not a true sibling, nor did Adrian's blood flow through Regirock's nonexistent veins like Howard's did, but that did not change on simple fact:

Adrian Malcolm was its sibling.

Thus, he lived.

"What the... a Marshadow? What's it doing here?" Howard's eye narrowed at it, before cocking his head. Adrian had one of these. It must've recognized that this person wasn't the trainer it had sworn itself to. Thus, it did what its kind were like to do and expelled the darkness from its trainer's body. "Adrian?"

Howard poked him. He breathed. Howard screamed and leapt back, jumping into Regirock as he did so.

"What the fuck was that? You're not like... scary or fucked up, right?"

---

Adrian Malcolm

As instructed, he held onto his hat. Not that it would do him much good, given they were about to go on an insane ride that would probably get them killed. At least his hat would be firmly placed on his head before they got crushed by a boulder or fell to their deaths.

Lucky them.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-" Nikola and their Arcanine sent the admin on an insane trip that reminded him of Josh Devlin. It had been a while since he had actually practiced riding a Pokémon, but occasionally the skill had its moments of usage, like this. "FUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!"

However, as the Gym Leader was oft to say, he needed practice. His nerves? Terrible.

They made it above the golem's face, though. A cliff alcove that allowed them to survey the stalled battle between ice and stone. Any blast fired by Regirock was intercepted, and vice versa.

"Alright, thanks for the ride." The admin wormed off of the saddle, before dry heaving. "If I die, Regice should keep you safe. It's been a pleasure, Nikola!"

With a cheery, nervous salute, the admin jumped from the cliff towards the Regirock below.

---

NIKOLA SAMSA

"It certainly keeps my eye open."

As for the other? That one had been replaced with a Key Stone long ago. Now, it was cursed pink from Tapu Lele's interference. Even now, he saw its spectral form dancing over Lulu's shoulder. A vision that was not real, before quickly disappearing into pink mist. It was something only he could see.

"My stance on the Tera Crystals has not changed. They are a scourge that rot our region from beneath us." He nodded to her, before checking his watch. It was stuck at 4:01. It had been like that for years. "They are the most dangerous force in the world, and I suspect that they're replacing the bones of the region. If they were to disappear..."

He shrugged innocently.

"...what would happen to Hoenn?"

---

Lulu Flint

"What do I want?" His eye twitched. A deliberate motion or a personal tick? "That's remarkably simple, Ms. Moreau."

What sort of admin didn't do basic research, after all? Once someone entered Petalburg, their name, presence, and history was known. Team Rocket's intelligence stretched from Kalos to Unova, after all. With Kanto's Team Rocket here as well, intelligence flew across the world with the snap of a finger.

She assumed him human and fallible. That was correct. He was both of those things. He was not smarter than Team Rocket's academics. He was far weaker than the Rocket Beasts. He wielded less power than their avatars. He simply... was. It was in that moment that he figured out why this woman annoyed him. Her diamond bracelet reminded him of when he was heir to a jewelry store.

That was a lifetime ago. The perks that his family offered him had disappeared like morning dew when he had slipped into Rocket.

"What I want..."

She wanted power. Team Rocket could provide that. It could even provide her a future. Yet it would never offer her meaning beyond monetary gain. Perhaps that was what she wanted. At the window, a massive face of stone stared through at Giselle, seven dots inspecting her face with otherworldly knowledge.

"...is the world."

---

Giselle Moreau

It was moments like this that reminded the admin that Amor Rose had used Deoxys as a tool. It was a piece on his chessboard to reach a far greater prize. How could he care about a being that existed for the sole purpose of seizing Regidrago? A task that had fallen onto his subordinate when he returned to Kalos was his imprint on this region.

That, and the name Erebus.

"Oh, Makoto." He squeezed them tightly in a hug. Proof that, despite his belief in the alternative, Howard Slayte was still himself. Even if this form wasn't his, even if he wasn't himself anymore, this was proof that he was still human. "You're still you. No matter what happens, you are human because you have a human's heart. You care."

He did not understand Deoxys. He had held it for mere moments before giving it to Makoto. That was not enough time for him to even comprehend what the alien was capable of, but he did know that it was not of this world. Howard commanded giants, and he did not have the right to hold sway over aliens from beyond the stars.

It doesn't matter how many Zorua you surround yourself with, Makoto. That is no illusion." He let go and pulled out a pen and paper. His Aerodactyl pen scribbled against a notepad with a small Omanyte in the corner. "Report to the Head Scientists, if possible."

Normally, Deoxys had been transferred from Head Scientist to Head Scientist. That chain had been broken here and now.

"I know a chemist. She's... an asshole, but she lets me pass out on her bar without kicking me out. She's smart. She's also in town." He slipped a paper with Absinthe Blackwood 's information into their trembling hand. "If they give you trouble, let me know."

---

Makoto Kurumi

She flew.

It was an ugly, hideous rendition of flight, comparable to a flightless bird attempting to replicate the actions of their more fortunate siblings. Yet there was a disgusting purity to the attempt at freedom, one the archaeologist could not fully deny. As blood wet stone, all the admin could do was stare blankly ahead.

"I can't match that." He said, unmoving, as more of the mound was shifted. This was not from the burrowing of a lizard like Violet, but from the incessant shifting of earth with hands the size of mountains. "Few can."

Violet had come for her, not for him. He simply waited for the tunnel to partially fill as Regirock and Regice tore into the earth with reckless efficiency. He could not move, so he let them come to him.

Instead, he uttered a single sentence between the sounds of churning earth.

"What're our names?"

---

june sleigh

She stole his breath and left poison in its wake. There was no better way to describe how he had ruined her life with an exchange she could never remember. It had started all of this. It had led to this moment. She had chased Regieleki to fill a void. A void that she would never be able to fill with something as material as speed.

"Hah..." Lips coated in dust parted. He tried to swallow another breath to repeat the process, but she batted him away to resume her torture. She reminded him of a bird trapped in a cage with a broken wing, forced to scurry across the earth on fragile limbs.

But birds were meant to fly.

"He's dead, ____. Your dad is dead." His voice was slurred in pain. He couldn't rationalize anything to someone on the edge of delirium. "Someone killed and now you're chasing a ghost. Someone killed him for daring to live."

The ceiling trembled as cracks began to form.

"But this isn't what he wanted for his daughter. He wanted you to fly. Why else did you keep the bike?" ______ was on the verge of tears. He could feel them welling up, before the dust quickly sapped the moisture before it could fall. "And you can't fly with bloody wings, so..."

He lunged forward in the cramped space, grabbing her again to stop the cycle of self-inflicted pain. Insanity was the term used to describe a repeated action with the expectation of a different outcome. If that was the case, then ______ was mad.

His leg screamed in pain as she clawed at him.

"...I'm not letting go, June. Not now, not ever."

The ceiling cracked open, and violet light spilled into the room. With it came something far more important: oxygen.

Breathe.

---

june sleigh