If Lex paid any attention as to what’s been happening in the organization she probably would have heard of Isaac Merlo. He’s made quite a name for himself. But in all honesty, Lex could care less about the one below her. She’s more focused on her own tasks and accomplishments than the organization as a whole. If her work contributes to Rocket’s glory, that’s a bonus.

She appreciates his punctuality, but as always, her rather neutral gaze doesn’t give it away. Amber eyes shift from the blonde to his three pokemon. They linger a beat longer on the Honedge, simply because it’s a ghost.

Three of his best, hm? “No need to thank me,” she finally says after a long pause. It’s part of her job, after all. She’s certainly not doing this out of the kindness of her heart for a complete stranger. Her ‘lesson’ could strengthen Rocket, and that more strength for her.

“Ahh, a Z-Crystal,” she doesn’t reach to inspect it, she’s seen them before, “I would save that for when you really need it,” unless her had too many when he knew what to do with, “That can temporarily give pokemon without the power to perform Z-moves the ability,” Any pokemon. It could be quite the powerful asset.

“Today, I’ll be using Smoke,” ground beneath her feet seems to shimmer. A dark mist travels across the floor as the Gengar rises from the Phantom Plane and into their reality, “You may use one, or all three, your choice,” the smile that follows is mischievous.

Isaac Merlo

“You don’t disappoint, Merlo” she smiles as he agrees to a three-on-one battle, his pokemon seemingly just as excited. It’s even risky on her part, but Lex had tossed caution to the wind a while ago and lived on the rush of pure power. She too was anxious to see how Smoke had grown and developed his skills. He’s still a precious pokemon, too skilled to be nonchalant with his life. That’s what training matches like this were for.

Smoke can feel the shift in the Phantom Plane like fish can feel vibrations in the water, “Tank it,” comes the harsh command from behind. Lex and Smoke had been together since he was a tiny, floating ball of gas, their trust ran deep. Instead of a scream, the Gengar laughs wickedly as the Honedge slices through his CURSED BODY, spitting atoms as noxious, purple ectoplasm leaks from his wound. The ghost is the only one that can shift and escape him. Time to changes that.

Smoke glares down at the Honedge with malicious intent, his sinister grin growing wider and wider as he bears down on the Honedge’s will to flee. The MEAN LOOK should lock him into place.

But why aren’t the others attacking? Smoke feels a bit offended. To goad them, the ghost lashes out with a DARK PULSE in their direction.

“Mega e volution and Z-moves come form a similar energy,” she speaks up so Isaac can hear her, “Mega-evolution requires a bond, Z-move just require tapping into the power,” she explains as the engagement ring on her left hand begins to glow, signaling the impending mega-evolution of the Gengar.

Isaac Merlo
+ You can decide how you wanna deal with CURSED BODY (disabled vs. not)
+ Smoke uses MEAN LOOK on Honedge
+ Fires a DARK PULSE towards the Cubone and Vespiqueen

Lex’s brows twitches up above a rather stoic expression. Resting bitch face is stoic for Lex. Her gaze drifts down to the accessory that he references. It’s a rather clunky bracelet, looks very old. The unmistakable shine of primal energy emanates from it. Its subtle, but recognizable. None of his pokemon on the field could mega-evolve anyway, obviously it would ‘take five’ as he so eloquently put.

“Are you mocking me, Merlo?” she gets straight to the point as her arms cross over her chest.

Smoke’s oppressive gaze keeps the Honedge close, but pricks at the other ghost’s own pride. Tank it, the command resonates in the Gengar’s head again as a NIGHT SLASH whips out towards his core. It would have easily been a critical hit if the ghost didn’t subtly shift, allowing it to whip across his back rather than his front. Still, the super effective dark-type attack ushered forward another maniacal laugh from the Gengar.

A dark energy swirls around him, the whisps of black and purple tethering him to his trainer. The primal energy consumes the ghost until her morphs into the mega-evolution of himself as the ATTACK ORDER begins to swarm like a cloud. The Combee surround him, nipped at his ethereal skin. It’s nothing more than a nuisance compared to the Night Slash. With his newly formed strong arms, he pushes off the ground, back flipping to land behind the cloud. Unknowingly, it happened to take him out of range of the Cubone’s BOOMERANG.

Smoke’s gaze shifts up, eyes glowing a multitude of colors as a CONFUSE RAY pulses from the golden eye on his forehead towards the VESPIQUEEN.

Isaac Merlo
+ Smoke MEGA-EVOLVES, SHADOW TAG now in effect
+ Smoke is hit with NIGHT SLASH and ATTACK ORDER
+ Smoke DODGES boomerang
+ Smoke uses CONFUSE RAY on VESPIQUEEN

As a Blizzard tears across the field, chilling the air, the Honedge makes another strike at the Gengar. This time, letting it hit the ghost was not intentional. Smokes howls in pain as the NIGHT SLASH hits. Lex’s neutral expression changes for the first time, wincing with the ghost as he expresses his discomfort. Fine. It’s time.

“Now,” especially while the Honedge if confined to the ground.

A blast of energy radiates from the ghost. His fists pound into the terrain, sinking as he modifies it with psychic power. A strange purple haze washes over the ground like a tide. It reaches and pulls for the living, including Isaac if he happens to wander into the mist. The pokemon will find themselves unable to resist the lull to sleep. As the Blizzard settles, they’ll notice the fine details: dark tendrils rising up to ensnare those affected by the z-move. Their sharp energy will penetrate the barrier of their soul, siphoning it to feed back to the Gengar.

summons a hypnotic terrain that put those affected to SLEEP. this amplifies the area of effect for the user's DREAM EATER attack. this terrain can only be dispelled by other terrain based z-moves. it lasts three turns.


Isaac Merlo
+ 2/3 Mega-Evolution
+ Smoke is hit with BLIZZARD and NIGHT SLASH
+ Smoke uses Z-move HYPNOTIC TERRAIN + DREAM EATER

A matching set of dark tendrils that pierce the souls of the grounded pokemon appear around Smoke. They crawl across his amethyst form, settling over wound previously pierced by the Honedge. Like suture, they begin to pull his wounds together, healing him and making him new. The Mega Gengar smiles, feeling a renewed sense of energy coursing through his ectoplasm.

More.

He digs his hands deeper into the HYPNOTIC TERRAIN, his fingers flexing and tightening around his hold on the Cubone and Honedge. Like a ravenous beast he’s so focused on his prey, that he forgets about the bug hovering above. The CONFUSE RAY pierces through the Hypnotic Terrain, swirling around its target. Smoke shift uncomfortably, his smile growing tighter as he attempts to resist the attack. He digs his fingers deeper into the others, drawing from their life force to heal his. With mega-evolution and his own hypnotic terrain, he's able to keep his focus . . . for now.

Isaac Merlo
+ 3/3 Mega-Evolution, 2/3 Hypnotic terrain
+ Smoke attempts to resist COFUSE RAY (1-33 = Confusion Damage)
+ Smoke’s DREAM EATER continues

hGl9_RWP

The tendrils are what mostly keep the Honedge from escaping the terrain. Nothing couldn’t save her partners’ fates at this point. Unless Sectiona had a z-move up her sleeve to disrupt the terrain, it would remain for its full effect. Pity he didn’t try to knock the bug down into it when he had the chance. Oh well, it was more important to immobilize and weaken the ghost which was the Gengar’s biggest threat.

Lex did turn her focus to the Vespiqueen as she prepared a threatening attack. With Isaac’s declaration, Lex expected more than just a Light Of Ruin. She would have been more impressed if it was something super effective against the Gengar. The strange fairy-type attack is still impressive and quite strong, but Smoke’s poison type protects him to a degree. She loses sight of the ghost within the cascade of fae power that consumes him.

When the wake of the light clears, she sees the ghost’s silhouette staggering, his shape reassembling that of a normal Gengar again. He lurks froward, plunging his hands back into the ground, determined to drain every ounce of soul he can from the Cubone and Honedge still under his spell. The tendrils of DREAM EATER spread, stitching together new wounds left by the LIGHT OF RUIN.

Isaac Merlo
+ Smoke’s mega-evolution ends with the LIGHT OF RUIN
+ Smoke’s DREAM EATER continues
+ 3/3 HYPNOTIC TERRAIN