...nothing.

There was nothing.

But before there was nothing, there was a blinding pain as the admin felt his leg break with a sickening snap. No, it was more of a crack. The same sound as when a stone shattered or an ice crystal cracked. It felt less like the internal failing of the human body and more like a machine part giving out.

The pain, though? That was real.

"FUCK! SON OF A FUCKING BITCH!"

Half of the avatars in Rocket had solutions to this. Nomi could bend reality to set her leg right. The God General would've never broken it to begin with. Shred would've propped it up with Orichalcum. Howard lacked those powers. He just had giants meant to kill.

They were on old stone. Ancient, even. As the admin looked up, he saw nothing but darkness. His leg hadn't recognized that it was hurting like hell, yet, so as long as nothing else happ-

Thud.

Something landed on him.

---

june sleigh

GIDEON GRAVES has not taken notice. They're safe. Though that might be because he was distracted by a nearby Vivillon, bless the director's heart. His appreciation for insects is matched only by Remiel and Howard's passion for archaeology, and for the former's appreciation for dragons.

"My bad. My bad!" Howard grumbled as he poked his head out next to Remiel's. "Sorry, geez..."

Then, the admin's ears perked up as Remiel mentioned his exhibit. He got a fucking exhibit??? Royalty was getting way too many perks these days. It wasn't fair. Where was the justice in this world?

"What's the exhibit on, crown prince? Dragons? Galarian history? Is Gideon updating the Hall of Bones, finally?"

---

Remiel Calcifet

Genevieve Cromwell will fight.

Genevieve Cromwell will lose.

That was her fate, even if she refused to accept it as she trudged further than she had any right to, down a road that held no places to rest nor allies by her side. All that remained were the corpses of Team Rocket and Pokémon League members. A few have ranger uniforms. Reminders that Genny's group had not been enlisted for war.

They were people who simply loved Pokémon.

Then, suddenly, the route transitioned into ice. Trees became husks and leaves became daggers that fell to the ground and embedded themselves in hardened dirt. She went further, but Genny did not fall. Instead, she froze. Autumn into winter, with but the snap of a finger.

"You're a long way from home." An armored man sat atop a frozen colossus once sealed in an island that Genny's Pokémon had perished on. He held a frozen leaf in his hand, before crushing it in his palm. "Nor are you dressed for this weather."

The masked man let out a sneeze.

"Fuck, it's cold."

---

Genevieve Cromwell
armor
+10 (Post)
+10 (Weather/Terrain)

'You are Rocket.'

The depressing thing was, it felt more and more true every day that he woke up. He spent more time working on their goals than his own. When had the archaeologist died in favor of the people who demanded everything and more. Howard had already died for them. His face wasn't his own anymore.

There was no glory to be won in this organization of madmen. Yet there was a small part of him that accepted that these were his madmen.

"It's happened before. My predecessor sunk into the debauchery of the League. Our old mutual acquaintance." He smiled without mirth as Remiel entered the conversation. What harm could the Exacting's ghost do to either of them, now? "I've always wondered why he chose that name."

He was silent, save for the flowing of blood. Nomi and Lulu could try their hardest to save him. He did not need saving as much as this world did.

"Killing her was too easy."

---

jayden cross

He might actually kill himself. This was unfathomably embarrassing. Who couldn't afford three digits at a random street stall? Who had to pull out a checkbook and an Aerodactyl pen in order to pay for a piece of art? What kind of artist offered to discount their own work?

This was embarrassing. More than fighting in a war, this exchange made Howard want to end it all right here.

"Miss Harmon. Ana." Howard swallowed nervously, before his magenta eye met her two orange ones. "If I pay fifty for this, I think I'll die. Legitimately. My heart will explode and I'll collapse right here on the sidewalk out of shame. Art is a luxury, and it'd be like stealing from you."

To steal from an artist was a tragedy that had claimed many famous painters during their heyday. If that happened to Ana because she sold at an absurd discount, he'd never forgive himself.

Instead, he scratched his chin thoughtfully, fingernails running against the stubble. After opening his wallet and peering inside, Howard exhaled.

"I have eighty." He dug deeper, before nodding. "And a couple random coins."

He pulled the funds out and pushed them into her open hand, before huffing stubbornly.

"If you reach into your pocket and pull out change, I'm running off."

---

Anastasia Harmon

"It's awake."

He lit a cigarette, feeling the rushing anxiety clawing back into his psyche. He missed when it was a lot easier to remain calm and feel that nothing could go wrong. "And it's moving."

He had felt it move when he had burned Dewford to the ground. The ground had rumbled slightly, and something had shifted. The portal that separated it from them had widened when Regice had clawed its way through.

It was rousing itself from the distant dream of the Ultra Deep Sea.

"It caused Dynamax. Do you think we invented that alone? No. I've seen it. I've fought it. I can show you it, when this is all over." He gave her a wary look, wishing that he had a Wishing Star on him to show her what he meant. Yet he didn't, and somewhere deep down, he feared that she didn't even care.

How mad, he must seem to her. Apathy interfaced with obsession in curious ways.

"But fine, whatever." She had a special talent, and that talent was pissing him off. He didn't know if she was dysfunctional, getting back at him, or simply uncaring. Maybe all three. "Let's see what this Power Plant is hiding. Hopefully Regieleki is right."

He crushed a Z-Crystal under his heel, and its energy flowed into Regirock. Was using a Z-Move to destroy a wall and floor overkill? Probably, but Howard wanted to be thorough. Rather than making a thousand holes, he'd simply make one.

ROYAL DECREE: EARTH-CRACKING FIST

Then Howard realized something.

"Wait, being this close is b-" The ground cracked and rumbled and shattered. "Ah."

Then he fell.

---

june sleigh

"June."

---

june sleigh

He nodded. Everything June had said seemed to track with his experiences. Regirock and Regice were normal, until they weren't. For the most part, they were perfectly subservient machines. Regirock was violent, but from his prior appearances, that seemed to track with its personality.

The struggle of lacking fingers to interface with. He considered telling June his theory on Regirock, before silently shelving it. She'd probably just call it lame.

There were more important things to discuss. Things that he could now explain that had been impossible before, back when they had constantly been fighting each others. Now that they were on speaking terms, and June needed employment, he could tell her what she needed to know.

"Keep it safe, June." He looked at her, his eye barely visible from beneath his hair and cowboy hat. "When the time comes, and I do mean this: it will save the world."

The words sounded absurd as he uttered them. Silence followed, interrupted only by Regieleki's zipping around and Regirock's loud thuds as it lumbered forward. How had mankind produced such a stark contrast in their ancient machinery, Hoenn would never know. Hopefully whatever lie beneath New Mauville could answer that question.

Assuming it hadn't been rotted away by Tera Crystals and human hands.

"You're heir to something that was designed to save our region from ruin. Something that we as a species designed to destroy a genuine creator god. When you threw that Pokeball, you accepted a legacy far vaster than anything anyone else will ever experience."

He stared at her.

"Whether you like it or not, this is your fate. So..." He crossed his arms. "...are you willing to see where this goes?"

---

june sleigh

He looked back, and she shrugged. In response, Howard raised an eyebrow.

"Don't make me bring up the car." He turned back to face the wall. There was a high chance she'd throw something at him. Hopefully it wasn't anything fatal, like a chunk of concrete. Most people would've struggled to lift something like that, but June was powered by rage and adrenaline. "Because I will bring up the car."

He knocked on the wall, thoughtfully. Being near Regieleki caused his hair to frizz slightly, as if static electricity was warping it. This much power was... inspiring. It could probably power a city.

It'd certainly cut Rocket's electrical grid cost down to zero.

"I'll knock it down. Shouldn't be too hard." He coughed into his fist and reached for the lexicon that only giants could understand. Braille was a written language, and one that Howard had learned when he was younger. Yet for some reason, his body knew how to speak the language of royalty. "⠏⠗⠑⠏⠁⠗⠑ ⠽⠕⠥⠗ ⠵ ⠍⠕⠧⠑."

Regirock turned to Howard and began slowly lumbering forward.

"What do you think of Regieleki?" Howard asked June as he fished in his pocket for a Z-Crystal he had pilfered from Shred a few months back. "Regirock and Regice are a lot more... chill. Slower."

Regieleki zipped around, as it tended to do.

---

june sleigh

Before he spoke, Howard knew that the words he planned to utter would do more damage than they would help. Yet Howard loathed lying, especially after being strung up and mocked by his colleagues during their meeting.

"The League tried to stop me, actually." He was conversational as they followed Regieleki through tunnels that hadn't been inspected in decades. It reminded Howard of his experience with Josh, where they had found nothing of note in the tunnels while searching for proof of a ruin's existence.

Yet now, they had the key.

"I climbed it, y'know. Dynamaxed and all. All I felt was fear the whole time. Fear of falling. Fear of dying. Fear of failure." The last one is spoken of with utter reverence. A reminder that, no matter what Howard did, he'd always be too slow. "I got to the top, and one of the League's avatars just pushed me off and watched me fall."

He'd never forget the Jinxed's expression as he fell to his death, how apathetic and uncaring it was before Oscar had grabbed him and saved his life.

"I don't think he even cared. I tried, I fell, and all he thought was 'good riddance'. Rocket helped me catch it, and when I did, everyone decided that I needed to die for daring to succeed."

The League watched him fail. They had cheered when he fell, and then booed when Team Rocket had saved him and ensured that Regirock had joined their side. Then, when it was caught, Elisabeth attacked him and Kouji betrayed him. Fuck. He was getting mad again. Why had he even bothered opening his mouth?

"Nevermind." Howard muttered to himself. "It's stupid."

---

june sleigh

"There is no need to train them, though I'd love to see the attempt."

The process to becoming a true Kimono Girl was a long one. His eye flicked over the hints of age on his colleague's face. A long one, indeed.

"I simply wanted your opinion as one who has experienced the genuine article. Though I suppose you've done far more than experience it?" Howard's eye lingers on her kimono, out of appreciation for the cultural heritage. He is not some Kantonian dog to lust after flesh or proclaim himself strong in the presence of the weak. "You've lived it."

There are few in this organization that are as weak as Howard Slayte. His Claydol floats nearby, scanning the darkness for potential threats to the admin's life. He is capable of blasting this building off the map and turning everyone here into cooked meat and ash, but there is no grace in annihilation. Giants crafted in the vision of kings did not need to breathe in this befouled air.

No, Regirock and Regice could stay away and labor. That was their penance for attempting to raze when their purpose was to raise.

"Team Rocket consists of those who've been rejected by the world. Outcasts and thieves, scorned aristocrats and nobles, scientists whose academia is considered taboo. We are dregs. Whether you believe that or not, they-" He waved a hand at the drunken, cheering crowd. "-believe it or not. We even had Galar's Crown Prince, once."

He tone reeked of discontent at the final person's mention. It was not a label or a group of people, but instead a single person. Royalty. It had been years since Remiel Calcifet had graced Team Rocket with the holy light of a divine right to rule, and even still that light cast a very long shadow.

And it was only growing longer.

"Perhaps the Rainbow Pokémon has denied them its grace because it is sworn to another. Tell me." He turned to face Yotsukura Yotsugami, a wry smile on a face carved from ice and stone. "Can an immortal phoenix offer fealty to a ghost?"

---

Yotsukura Yotsugami

"Bitch, it's adorable."

Yet that didn't stop him from sulking when June got the mechanism working with nothing more than a snap of her fingers. How was she so good at that when he could barely get his toaster to work? It had to be one of her powers. He'd have to make a list, because they seemed to exist exclusively to torture him.

That, and to dig into his sides and make him wince. At least she hadn't tazed him this time. He glared at Violet, who seemed perfectly willing to let this humiliation continue. Stupid motorcycle.

"It was like looking into a mirror, actually. Didn't stop me and Regirock from turning Petalburg into a glass crater. We're still filling in the tunnels." The admin frowned in thought as they meandered through old, dusty tunnels that hadn't worked in years. A testament to urbanization and its failings. "Every time he said something, I wanted to kick that guy's ass."

Regirock and Regice surrounded their sibling, beeping in unknown tones.

"Realized pretty quickly that he was just me all along. Fuck Jules, man."

He was in a bad mood today. June always made him want to kick a wall and stub his toe. Maybe it was her. Maybe it was him. Maybe it was the overwork, or maybe it was the car. The car that didn't exist, with the police officer who never pulled them over.

"Yo, Regieleki! Any of this feel familiar to you? Feeling homesick?" The admin shouted over at the golems. "Regirock, Regice! You can talk to each other later. We've got a job to do!"

Damn golems.

---

june sleigh

They sit in a corner, away from the prying eyes of their Kantonian comrades.

In one of the very few buildings to survive Petalburg's collapse, a community theater has been repurposed into a solemn mockery of a certain dance theater located in Johto's Ecruteak City. Yet the aura is different, and the scent of incenses and solemn reverence has been replaced with the drunken cheering of Kanto Rockets and dancers that could only be described as lecherous.

"They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. I suppose that even a child's scribble of a masterpiece can be considered a compliment, but when does imitation devolve into such... debauchery?"

Click. Click. Click. A lighter flint is sparked multiple times against a cigarette, before finally catching a light. The admin took a deep breath of nicotine and released a plume of smoke.

The act is not out of place. Every member of Kanto's Team Rocket had been doing the same since Howard and his companion sat down. His eye flicked to her.

"They never were able to take Johto. Maybe they simply want to experience something they'd never be able to see otherwise? Even a fake can be genuine if there's nothing to compare it to."

He tapped the cigarette against the table, before turning to the older woman next to him.

"What do you think?"

---

Yotsukura Yotsugami