Zev had been in Lilycove City for a different job when a Rocket admin had reached out to him with a second one, a simple one for trafficking Pokémon from a pickup site in Lilycove to a dropoff site in the nearby city of Fortree. Zev had almost declined, stating that his very specific skillset would be wasted on such a menial task. The admin had said, however, that an undercover policeman investigating the trafficking circuit may be at the dropoff site; if so, he should be eliminated at once. Moments later, Zev received a message with the policeman's photograph and personal information. After memorizing the target's face and details, Zev removed the SIM card from his Rotom phone and snapped it in half, tossing away the pieces.

As the sun set on Lilycove, Zev made his way to the pickup site: the back alley of a boba tea café. Hidden underneath his jacket, he wore his handgun in a shoulder holster and two combat knives in black suede sheaths — just in case. As soon as he entered the side street, he saw the parked truck with its covered bed. Two individuals and two Pokémon loitered next to it. He neared them in time to overhear the exchange of the passphrases, confirming his suspicion of their purpose.

"I'll drive," Zev offered as he stepped out of the shadows and into the light.

The other man turned toward him. "A starving Noctowl—" he began to say.

"The night yields the greatest prey," Zev cut in impatiently. "I'll drive," he said again, extending a hand for the keys.

The Rocket grunt hesitated, but only for a second before relenting. "Good luck," he said, looking from Zev to Xiura and back. "Don't fuck this up." Then he walked away into the night. Zev heard the sound of a Pokéball releasing its contents and the hiss of teleportation before silence fell upon the alleyway.

Zev took a moment to peek under the tarp covering the bed of the truck, saw the sleeping Eevees in their cages, and let the tarp fall back before he turned to the young woman standing with a Poliwrath and Hatterene. "I'm Zev," he said to her. "We should get going. It will take us all night to get to Fortree and back."

Xiura Balfaltin

Zev didn't particularly care what happened to the Eevees. Whatever Team Rocket did with the Pokémon they stole was none of his business. But he had to admit that some conversation was a better way to pass the hours of driving than total silence, so he humored the woman's idle chatter. "That's a better fate than most other Pokémon in their situation could ask for," he said. And most people, for that matter.

Their truck pulled out of Lilycove City proper and onto the main route heading westward to Fortree. Zev estimated something like a three-hour drive; they would reach Fortree by 10 or 11 pm, then the actual exchange itself should take no more than thirty minutes. Keeping one hand on the steering wheel and his eyes on the road ahead, he opened the glove compartment in front of Xiura with his free hand. He rummaged blindly inside it for a moment until his fingers closed around a thick wad of folded paper. A map. He knew from past jobs that Rocket equipped their vehicles with paper maps marked with secret locations. He withdrew the map from the glove compartment and he handed it to her.

"Check where the Fortree drop-off site is supposed to be and enter the directions in your phone's GPS," Zev instructed her, his tone one of cold command, though there was no harshness in it. "It will probably be at ground level, out of sight from most of the city."

Fortree was unique in that most of the urban areas were built on the branches of massive trees and connected by bridges. However, roads still cut through the city on the ground, and many illicit dealings took place in the cover of the untamed underbrush.

Xiura Balfaltin

"Boba tea?" Zev mused aloud. "I've never had it before."

Truth be told, he never had a reason to drink it. He'd perused menus while passing by cafés before, but he assumed that they would be too sweet for him, even the coffee ones. A long time ago, he'd trained himself to prefer black coffee, foregoing all of the frivolous add-ons like cream and sugar. Tea normally wasn't enough caffeine for him, either, not for the double life he led.

"I'm not exactly a 'tea and sweets' kind of guy," he continued, making no promises whatsoever to visit Xiura's café. "I run a bar in Slateport as my day job. Howling at the Moon. If you're ever there, come stop by. We serve dinner too, if you're not much of a drinker."

Xiura Balfaltin

Zev paid keen attention to Xiura's GPS even as she chattered away, driving them safely through the increasingly uneven roads as they traveled closer to Mossdeep City.

"I've never visited the Oceanic Museum," he admitted. "However, I go into the night market all the time. I live not far from the main market, and my bar is close by, too. I recommend it. I'm sure you'll find something you'd like to eat there, and you can buy local crafts, too."

It was odd, engaging in small talk like this as if he were trying to be his false self. But it did make the time go by more quickly, for which he was grateful.

They arrived at the drop-off site around 10 pm, as he expected. As Xiura called out into the darkness, the only light coming from the truck's headlights, Zev walked slowly in a wide arc, casing the area. He heard the hidden man before he and his Scizor emerged from the shadows.

The man's face matched the one in the photographs Zev had memorized. Slowly, so as not to alert the stranger, Zev reached behind him and loosened one of his combat knives in its sheath.

Xiura said the pass phrase, to no response. The tension mounted instantly. Zev weighed his options, a dozen of them flashing through his head as Xiura spoke again.

The man — the undercover cop — ordered his Pokémon into action. Zev released his Gliscor at the same time. "EARTH POWER," Zev snapped.

As soon as the Scizor knocked Xiura to the ground, the earth around them rumbled. A massive column of compacted dirt shot out of the ground beside the young woman and smashed into the large Bug-type Pokémon.

In the same moment, Zev launched himself at the stranger. Distracted by the Gliscor's sudden attack, the other man did not notice Zev's approach until the assassin grabbed him by the collar with one hand. He started to shout, but Zev cut him off by stabbing the knife into his neck.

Blood gushed out of the wound. Zev released the corpse and stepped away quickly to avoid any splatter, taking his knife with him. He stared at the body for a moment, as if daring it to rise, then looked over at Xiura and saw her startled expression.

"I was told an undercover cop was investigating the smuggling around here and to eliminate him if we encountered him," he explained to her, his tone utterly devoid of worry or concern. "In any case, he saw our faces, so there was no other choice but to kill him."

Xiura Balfaltin

NOTES
+ Mission: Poke-Trafficking

Xiura's expression took on a different emotion, the surprise of the Scizor attack falling away as a strange calm fell across her features. She smiled in a distracted way, and Zev guessed it had more to do with the body and less to do with the approaching vehicle.

He hung back as she greeted the Rockets who approached. These people, two women, responded with the appropriate pass phrase. They checked the cages of Eevees in Zev and Xiura's truck; satisfied that their shipment was correct, they turned to Zev.

"Take our car back to Lilycove," one of the women said, holding out her hand. In her palm was the keys to the car they'd arrived in. "We'll handle the unload here."

After exchanging keys, Zev walked over to the car and opened the driver's side door. Before he got in with his Gliscor, however, he looked over at Xiura. "Before we head back, let's grab some coffee," he told her. "We could both probably use it, and I need a smoke."

Xiura Balfaltin

NOTES
+ Mission: Poke-Trafficking