The little people would win. They would all win.

There were those in this world who were not blessed with divine power or providence. There were people who simply lived their lives as Hoenn burned itself to ash. It was not right for gods to infringe upon this land of mortals and hail themselves as the true authority in the land.

"If I die, I die. As long as ordinary people keep living, it's worth it."

Yet who what were people to avatars? Men to deities? Kings to gods?

There was no part of this world that existed for humanity. It needed to be saved and Eternatus needed to die. Once Eternatus was dead, Howard's part in this war was over. There was nothing else for him to do. The great evil would be purged, and humanity could continue its scuffle.

Absinthe and others would simply need to fend for themselves, but they would not be crushed under the feet of gods that did not see them.

"How romantic." His voice is casual, yet it is clear that the admin is distracted as the statue lies dormant. It does not activate, nor does it resonate with power. "It's similar for me and Regice. When I got it, I didn't care. Now, I find myself needing it more and more."

To compete with people like Jayden or Barnaby or Fern or any of the other great trainers in Rocket. To evenly match any great threat that dared to besiege this world. Normal Pokémon were not enough. His Aerodactyl was not enough. He needed engines of war.

"I still don't know if I care about it. I should. It is my obligation to do so, but I just can't."

A vision of a world with unending land struck the admin's gaze. Not a drop of water in sight, not a hint of anything that can challenge a world where Groudon retained mastery over the land. This statue's golem was not in Hoenn.

Not this Hoenn.

Howard opened his eye. Regice's pattern flashed.

"Good." He turned to her. "It's still there."

---

Absinthe Blackwood

It's a nice piece. I'll show it to you sometime."

Having Hunu in his office or private collection seemed like a recipe for disaster. He'd have to put away all the real pieces, lest the Alolan break them with his careless strength. A replica could shatter. The genuine article? Certainly not. Rather than muse on Hunu destroying everything in his office, the archaeologist simply rubbed his temples.

This was why he hated mercenaries.

"This is an age of gods, yes. Yet it will, when this is all over, be one of humanity. We will barter with the divine, we will test their loyalties, but in the end, they will save our world." Howard sighed again, anger flooding into his voice. "If they don't, they weren't gods at all."

He looked up at the Alolan.

"Alola has its own protectors, doesn't it? Tell me about them."

---

Tangaroa Emzar

Montgomery was not normal. He was defective.

Howard didn't know if he needed conflict or if he simply wanted to see the worst in people bubble up so he could justify breaking their jaw. He didn't particularly care.

"Don't worry..." Howard snapped his fingers. "...about the coffin."

It and Howard's Baltoy disappeared in a pop. Above, the rattling clang of gold landing on sand told the duo that their cargo had been delivered. It meant that the duo were alone in a silent tomb, dead until they breathed life into it and dead again when they departed.

"I'm leaking this tomb's location to Castelia University when we're through here." Howard crossed his arms and glared at Montgomery with an almost childish pout. "Any problem with that?"

---

Montgomery James

"That's cheap. They're worth more now." Howard nodded to himself thoughtfully. He would know, given he wrote up and paid for many of Rocket's bounties. "The current Elite Four is something else."

All of them avatars, all of them worthy. Elite Three or four or two, it hardly mattered. Each one dead would be a major blow to Rocket's morale, even if they were pillars in the war against the real enemy.

MATIAS SILPH deserved a higher bounty for killing Kyle. A personal vendetta from beyond the grave would be good. Navy as well, even if the admin did not want him to fall.

He was needed.

"Yumi is good. Admin Fox worked with her once or twice." Howard frowned as he recalled the party in December. "She's very reliable."

---

Hitoshi Inoue
CATCHA DA PENGUIN

A grunt of agreement. "You're right. It will rouse soon to fight for its truth."

It should be a momentous occasion, but in an era of gods and men and heroes, another deity throwing its lot into the ring doesn't impress the archaeologist as much as it would've a year ago, or even five years ago. He'd seen much, studied much, learned much.

When this age ended and humanity sat at the pinnacle, when all gods returned to their abodes, what would they say in a millennia? Would this era of history be considered myth, too fantastical to have ever existed? If Howard had his way, no. The glory of this era would never end.

It would remain unchanging.

"Rocket will want the candidate to be on our side, naturally. I suspect that it will rouse in our defense merely because of Zekrom." The word felt like dust in his mouth. In another world, Howard would have grasped that stone and begged it to awaken for him. The chance to fight Remiel Calcifet was too desirable. Now, he didn't want that at all.

He did not want to be equal with Remiel.

He wanted to surpass him.

"I have a proposition." Smoke fell from his lips as the cigarette spewed it like a dragon. "You're S.P.E.C.T.R.A, yeah?"

---

Hitoshi Inoue

It's for the best that the smith does not lecture the admin. It would end in only one way, with one question.

Why, then, are you being nice to me now?

The legacy of knowledge was a curse. The power of divinity was a mockery. All it did was eat at the minds of those who dared to hold stars in the palms of their hand and proclaim themselves lords of creation. Aurelie was human. She was, as far as the admin knew, content.

It was easy to mistake openhandedness with kindness, especially when nobody had bothered to check on Aurelie herself, only the commission requested by Galar's Once and Future King. Yet that musing disappeared into nothingness as Howard's eye narrowed at what she viewed as meager offerings.

"You're wrong, Aurelie. It's worth everything." He took a deep breath and released her with slight regret. Instead, he took her callused hands. He held them gently, tracing his fingers over ridges and bumps and evidence of labor. His hands were similar. Bumps where he gripped his pen too tightly, but years of calluses from working in the field and unearthing the past.

He raised the smith's hands so she could see them.

"This is proof that we can win. You build things. You create things. You work on things. Do you think a god understands the concept of labor or the joy of creation? No, Aurelie! This is you." His eye burned with fervor. "You don't need to be a hero to change the world. Regice was not born, it was built by people like you."

He was not good. It didn't matter if she had that much faith in him, but still... he wanted to believe in someone who created instead of destroyed.

"Do not undersell yourself. If you do..." Without missing a beat, the admin dropped a heinous punishment. "I'll dock your pay."

His face was perfectly serious, though his gaze shined.

---

Aurelie Lefevre

The mech closes in around the duo as they enter. @darkwinggod and gaius marcellus find themselves in a central control room, with each individual brick glowing in a thousand different colors. They all glow in a bright halo, surrounding the beating core of the mecha.

'Oho! It's been a long time since I've had any visitors!' A Carbink chirped at them from its special control console, where it controlled many of the Stakataka's actions. Slowly, the mech rose to its feet, and the walls were enhanced with Gravity to ensure that Andrew and Gaius did not fall over.

'Welcome, welcome. Take your seats and prepare to fight the great blue devil!' Gemsly shuddered in a rich upper-class Galarian accent. 'Prepare to... oh?'

Several eyes projected a screen before the duo, signifying breaches in the mech as it flew forward to face the Dynamaxed Wooper.

'Egads! We're being ransacked!' Gemsly cried. Nearby, doors to the lower body opened, revealing long hallways complete with crawl spaces. From within, the distant cry of a 'wooooooooooo' could be heard.

'Off you go!' Or, without the translation: 'Carbink carbink carbink!'

---

8/1 - Pokeball
8/2 - Tera Bug (Aerodactyl)
8/3 - Big Pearl
8/4 - Incense
8/5 - Incense
8/6 - pokeball
8/7 - pokeball
8/8 - big pearl
8/9 - Incense
8/11 - pokeball
8/12 - egg tutor
8/13 - pokeball
8/14 - pokeball
8/17 - pokeball
HXTAV2QS

Another attempt. Yippee. Maybe this time he'll make it. Eighteenth times the charm, or something like that.

Alas.

He ran out towards the surf.

---

MAGIKARP SPLASH
iuk7knzL

Oscar's taunts are nothing but dust in the wind, hardly heard over the pounding in his ears and the screeching in his mind. Yet in a strange way, they raise the question as to why is this even happening. What had Howard done to deserve this?

Why had declan walsh cursed him with an impossible order? Why was he tasked with an objective that nobody could accomplish?

FAILURE. FAILURE. FAILURE.

Every moment spent in Team Rocket has been a waste. All he had ever wanted was an unchanging world, where history had reached its conclusion. The tapestry had been weaved. A world where his endless march to chronicle everything in the world could actually be possible.

Time denied him that luxury.

It was a GRUDGE forced onto him by the world from the moment that he was born.

"Shut up. I'm not a failure. I'm going to do this. I'm just as good as Jayden, Fern, or Barnaby." Stones clattered around him as chips of stone rained down on his head. Stones and scales cut at his Sygna Suit, but oscar clayton has designed this version well. "I am strong. Zacian said I was strong. Navy said I was strong."

The sheep could pretend he was a lion when backed into a corner. Fear leaked into his suit, black lines of fear coursing through his suit and gnawing at the primal part of his brain that demanded he run away and hide. He would not submit.

He would not run.

He would not run.

He was not a FAILURE.

Regirock knew he was there. The statue near his chest beat in sync with his own heartbeat. It beat in sync with Regice's, which released a massive Dynamax Cannon towards its Dynamaxed foe.

Oscar was nearby. The others were watching. Team Rocket was watching. They had always spit on him. He had wanted to love them, but he never could. He wanted to respect them, but he rarely could. The bare minimum he could offer was buried disdain, and one day they would see it and kill him for it.

They hated him for Dewford. They hated him for the meeting prior to this battle.

"I HATE NOBODY MORE THAN THEM."

It was not fair. Why did Remiel Calcifet and Isaac Merlo get to leave Rocket? Why was he left to this task? What did they have that he didn't? Worth? Power? What did they have that he lacked?

"I ENVY THEM." His voice cracked with fear as his hands grasped for ill-gotten stones. "THEIR GOALS ARE SO SIMPLE. THEIR PASTS SET THEM UP FOR SUCCESS. THEIR FUTURES ARE WRITTEN IN THE STARS AND REPEATED THROUGHOUT HISTORY. THEIR PATHS DO NOT LEAD THEM ASTRAY."

Words fell from his lips in broken syllables. For once, the thudding in his mind stilled. The storm of Dynergy burned his fragile lungs and broken form. Even now, it branded him with a lesson in folly that the fear ensured he would not forget.

"I JUST WANTED TO CHASE MY DREAM. WHAT ARE WE ENTITLED TO, IF NOT THAT?"

Tera Crystals rotted the world from below. Eternatus and Necrozma threatened it from above. Rocket and League threatened it from the surface. Everything burned, and yet this golem could not do its duty. It had not for years.

It enraged him. Howard reached a decision. Purge it. Remake it. Restart.

"REGIROCK. GIVE ME YOUR FEAR. FIGHT ON ROCKET'S —MY—SIDE." His voice rang out amidst the swarm of Dynergy. That swam in his mind as well, feeding delirium. "I WILL CARRY BURDENS UNFIT FOR SUCH A SYMBOL OF TRIUMPH, AND YOU WILL RID THIS WORLD OF ALL THAT RUINS IT. I WILL FIX YOU, LIKE I FIXED REGICE WHEN I DRAGGED IT FROM ITS RUIN IN PIECES."

He laughed as he climbed to the head. Scales continued to batter him as he reached for the top.

Towards Declan's ambition.

Towards the Jinxed.

Towards John Sullivan .

---

Regice is using DYNAMAX CANNON
Howard/Regice are getting corrupted by da FEAR
Keeps climbing, reaches the head eventually to SQUARE UP
Getting fucked by Doug's scales
Regi Statue Pog
OSCAR WATCHES BRAINROT
lhjbR345

Another deep breath of annoyance.

"I am, and you're a mercenary. We all make poor financial decisions every once in a while. There's an Alolan relic that I bought from a private collector recently. Ate most of my salary." It was a remarkable piece, carved from wood and stone and ivory. It would've been a shame to let it stay in the hands of someone who did not appreciate it. "When you kill someone, their brothers and sons and fathers enlist. You kill one enemy and create three."

The cycle of violence did not end for as long as the hammer was wielded without a care for the lives they crushed. Team Rocket would kill people, Howard accepted that, but Hunu would not kill under the admin's gaze.

Or he would face worse threats than a few measly rangers. Howard's throat constricted as he regarded Hunu.

"We are not giants. We are men and it is our right as human beings to rule this world. Hunu, listen to me." He tied up another wound, sighing as he did so. The admin glared up at Hunu with the gleam of a teacher. "You must crush our enemies without a care, but when they grovel before you and beg for mercy, you must lift them up. Otherwise the League will never surrender."

They would not surrender either way, but that was hardly the point.

"Understand?"

---

Tangaroa Emzar

"Trust me, everyone finds their way to the frontline eventually. It's a rite of passage."

A Serizawa. Nice. Maybe this one could teach Serizawa proper to actually contain his anger. That, or the Pupitar would gather another poor soul to brutalize.

Howard tossed a Pokeball at it. Worst case, it could be put to work.

"How many rocks does LeQuint actually want? Did he give you a number?"

---

Hitoshi Inoue
CATCHING LARVITAR

"You think I can afford hot nurses? I can barely afford rent."

It's a sad truth as the archaeologist tied off a round of bandages. A deep drag of the cigarette followed, and a plume of smoke wafted into the air. They had medical staff on site whenever drilling was being done, but unfortunately for the massive Alolan, the nurses were gone and only Howard remained.

Truly, Hunu was suffering.

"I brought you because you're an unstoppable force. You're a wall. I don't need a sledgehammer that breaks my fingers as I swing it, and I certainly didn't bring you to bash rangers into the dirt." He poured disinfectant into an open wound, washing it clean of dirt and grime. "You're meant for better things. I didn't hire you to kill rangers."

A heavy sigh.

"You're here to kill giants."

---

Tangaroa Emzar