[attr="class","zevpostpost"]



When the corpses of his Hydreigon and Tam Fawley's Togekiss had fallen to the ground, entwined in death, Zev immediately had the mind to pick out a Pokémon to replace his fallen Dragon-type. His own Tyranitar stepped forward in a flash of light, her roar deafening as it joined the sounds of chaos around them. The wind whipped around the immediate vicinity, lifting up dirt from the ground and mixing it with conjured sand in a vicious SANDSTORM.[break][break]

[break]

[break]

But then a different shout cut through the air, desperate and defiant. And Zev could recognize that voice anywhere. He turned his masked face toward the source and laid eyes upon the man he'd been seeking for three long years.[break][break]

Caleb.[break][break]

"Finally," Zev declared, loudly enough so that Caleb could hear him over the din of battle, even though he only stood a few yards away. Absently, he recalled his injured Cofagrigus into her Poké Ball so she could escape further injury from the whirlwind of sand around them. "I've found you at last."[break][break]

Tam Fawley could leave if he wished. Zev didn't care for the Ranger Captain, even though Tam's Togekiss had killed Zev's Hydreigon in a last ditch effort to survive. Pokémon were things, tools. If Zev had to discard one of them for victory, so be it.[break][break]

In any case, his real goal had shown his face. Nothing else mattered.[break][break]

Zev turned to his Tyranitar. "Bring Caleb to me."[break][break]

The Armor Pokémon rumbled obediently and stomped toward the younger man, intending to seize him as her master ordered.[break][break]

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Abruptly, the RAIN DANCE ended. Caleb held up a gloved arm to shield his unmasked face from the sudden gust of dirt and sand that had kicked up around him and Lyra. Any doubt that remained in Caleb's mind that this was, indeed, his brother faded away as soon as he heard the man's voice cut through the raor of battle around them.[break][break]
Caleb barely registered Zev's command, still shocked that Zev was really here, in Hoenn, standing right in front of him. Lyra, seeing that the Tyranitar was heading directly for her master (as opposed to facing off against her), moved in front of Caleb, shielding him with the bulk of her great shell. Caleb, momentarily confused, finally caught on to the same thing she had: Zev wasn't ordering his Pokémon to attack, but rather, capture.[break][break]
A white hot anger flaired unexpectedly in the pit of Caleb's stomach, and his blue eyes flashed with a rush of defiance. What gave Zev the right to treat him like some misbehaving child? He really thought he could collect Caleb so easily, by merely sending a Pokémon over to grab him? Zev always had been arrogant, hadn't he.[break][break]
Sensing Caleb's change in mood, Lyra bellowed. She opened her mouth and sent a blast of HYDRO PUMP directly into the chest of the oncoming Tyranitar, intending to stagger her progress, as well as weaken her.[break][break]
"When did you get here?" Caleb demanded of Zev, hands balling into fists, ignoring the tiny pinpricks of sand against his exposed skin. "Was Hoenn a shot in the dark, or did you know I would be here?" So many questions needed answering, and Caleb was going to get those answers, no matter what his brother might think.[break][break]

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[break]

NOTES

+ Caleb is wearing basic military-grade tactical gear over his Ranger uniform (Example)[break]
+ In addition to his Pokeballs, Caleb carries the knife made by Aurelie Lefevre on his hip[break]
+ Caleb's Lapras uses HYDRO PUMP (WATER is 2x effective against ROCK)[break]
+ Caleb attempts to talk to Zev as their Pokémon battle[break]
+ At the end of the round, Lapras is buffeted by the sandstorm (takes minor damage)[break][break]

MP TRACKER

[break]

[attr="class","zevpostpost"]



Caleb's Lapras had always been a nuisance, trying to protect and coddle him over the years while Zev ordered Caleb around. The fact that she defied Zev now was not new, and he sighed with impatience as the Hydro Pump blasted his Tyranitar, halting her progress toward his younger brother.[break][break]

Zev whistled a particular note, and despite how winded she looked, Tyranitar rushed at the Lapras, smashing her fist against the Water-type's flesh in a vicious PAYBACK. Then Tyranitar whirled around, rock-hard tail whipping at Lapras to strike with STONE EDGE.[break][break]

Keeping one eye on the battle, Zev called back out to Caleb with a calm voice edged in arrogance. "Your kidnappers were sloppy. They never once considered I'd notice you missing, and even left a trail for me to follow here to Hoenn."[break][break]

Unwilling to divulge that the trail had gone cold for three years, he shook his head.[break][break]

"Enough questions for now. Come with me, and I'll answer them all later."[break][break]

Around them, the sandstorm raged.[break][break]

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Lyra grunted in pain as the injured Tyranitar seemed to find a second wind. Caleb was forced to take several steps back as she staggered due to the sheer force of the deadly PAYBACK and STONE EDGE combination. Around them, the sandstorm continued to rage.[break][break]
"Kidnappers?" Caleb shot back with genuine confusion. "What the hell are you talking about?"[break][break]
At Caleb's wrist, a soft, white glow began to emanate, reminiscent of a wintery snowfall. He had embedded the misty, somewhat opaque quartz-like crystal he and Lyra had found together in the depths of the ocean that Summer into a simple band of leather that he could wear around his wrist like a watch. He tapped it now, calling on its power. Lyra began to glow as if covered in a shining frost.[break][break]
Does he think the League forced me out of Kanto? Caleb thought incredulously. The League was powerless against Kanto Rocket, Zev had to know that; that was the result of the takeover: there was no other option, no other faction, no hope of salvation for Kanto's people. The League had failed Kanto, so Caleb had had to take matters into his own hands.[break][break]
With a defiant roar, Lyra finished absorbing the enery from Caleb's Laprasite, and transformed into her mega-evolved form. Towering over the Tyranitar now, taller and bulkier, the air around Zev and Caleb grew several degrees colder. Sparkling snowflakes danced around Lyra's glistening, freshly healed body. The sandstorm became a mere nuisance rather than something to be reckoned with. Caleb stepped calmly around her, so that he could look Zev coldly in the eyes again.[break][break]
"I left. It was my choice. I'm not going back."[break][break]
Emphasizing the unyielding quality of Caleb's tone, Lyra summoned a G-MAX RESONANCE, and for a moment, their surroundings were filled with a blinding blue-white burst of ice. The ground underneath of the Tyranitar crystallized, and spikes of ice, as sharp as blades, shot upwards and pieced its body in several places. There would be little chance of the already-weakened Pokemon surviving such an attack, but Caleb did not back down, did not look away.[break][break]
Zev needed to understand that he was not in control here. Not anymore.[break][break]

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[break]

NOTES

+ Caleb is wearing basic military-grade tactical gear over his Ranger uniform (Example)[break]
+ In addition to his Pokeballs, Caleb carries the knife made by Aurelie Lefevre on his hip[break]
+ Caleb's Lapras MEGA-EVOLVES using LAPRASITE (1/3)[break]
+ Caleb's Lapras uses G-MAX RESONANCE[break]
+ At the end of the round, Lapras is buffeted by the sandstorm, but because of the G-MAX RESONANCE, she takes significantly reduced damage[break][break]

MP TRACKER

[break]

[attr="class","zevpostpost"]



"I left."[break][break]

Snowfall. Caleb's Lapras seemed to emanate it, the glittering crystals showering off her enormous body. Ice erupted from the earth at her bidding. Each beautiful curve and facet shimmered with a cold beauty as it arced toward Zev's Tyranitar.[break][break]

Snow had fallen, too, nearly four years ago in Kanto. Winter had come early, the forecasters had said. Caleb and Zev sat together in the kitchen of their Saffron City apartment as snowflakes smothered the world outside with perfect white.[break][break]

"It was my choice."[break][break]

Bloodstains. Zev had scrubbed them out of his knuckles after Caleb's outburst. Some misplaced desire for rebellion had sparked fire in the younger Harcourt, giving voice to thoughts about leaving the secret police for a less useful career. Zev's fist had hit hard enough to draw blood, but Caleb would know it was a light tap. Restrained. A warning.[break][break]

The blood staining the ground of Littleroot Town was not a show of restraint. It was, in fact, the opposite: a flagrant violation of the laws of the world.[break][break]

The laws that governed the brothers' relationship with each other.[break][break]

"I'm not going back."[break][break]

The corpse of Tyranitar slumped to the ground. Zev stared with openmouthed shock at the sheer and unabashed defiance on display before him. His mask, however, hid his expression; his stony silence was the only indication of his immediate reaction.[break][break]

Then he spoke, his bewilderment transforming into pure, unbridled rage.[break][break]

"How dare you," came the snarl, white hot and livid. The human mask bled away as the monster emerged. "You think you can defy me?"[break][break]

A Poké Ball opened. Dark smoke poured out, coalescing into the grinning form of a Gengar. One look at Caleb caused his red eyes to gleam with knowing. A pink tongue lolled out of his mouth, the tip of it cradling a MEGA STONE.[break][break]

Zev grabbed the face of his wristwatch, his finger jamming against the keystone embedded there. Bright light encased Smoke, and he grew huge, large enough that his body sank into the ground. When the light faded, he was almost entirely a gaping maw. The cacophonous wailing of countless dead souls drifted out from deep within him, filling the air with dread.[break][break]

[break]

[break]

"Teach my brother a lesson," Zev commanded.[break][break]

Smoke's eyes burned with hellfire. A swarm of screaming wraiths shot out of his mouth as he cast SHADOW BALL at Caleb's Lapras.[break][break]

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Smoke's huge mouth was like the gate to some dark hellscape beyond the living realm, made more nightmarish by the SHADOW BALL emerging from its seemingly endless depths. Anyone unfamiliar with Zev's Gengar would almost certainly find themselves utterly horrified by that gaping maw. Zev did not partner with Pokémon, he used them, and the Gengar towering over Caleb was a testament to just how effectively Zev's cruel approach could be. As if in a disturbing mockery of Lyra's steadfast loyalty to Caleb, Smoke executed his attack with the same coldhearted efficiency Zev had always embodied.[break][break]
But Caleb was not afraid - not of Smoke, and not of Zev.[break][break]
The shattered remains of ice crystals rained down around the brothers as the Gengar broke through the lingering effects of Lyra's mega-evolution, a stampede of howling ghosts crashing into her body and pummeling it repeatedly. The brutality of the attack, on top of what she had already sustained from the now-deceased Tyranitar, pushed her already damaged body over the edge. The Lapras let out a defeated trill as she fell forward, fainting, the aura of ethereal protection around her mega-evolved form dispersing in a shimmering burst of energy.[break][break]
If I don't act quickly, Zev will kill her. He will not hesitate.[break][break]
It didn't matter that Zev knew Lyra, that she was Caleb's childhood Pokémon, his oldest companion. To Zev, all Pokémon were tools. Lyra would be just another victim of Zev's arrogance, no different from all the rest that Zev killed in pursuit of adhering to his own rigid standards, a pattern of behavior that Caleb had always known - but had never once admitted out loud - was highly indicative of a sociopath.[break][break]
He is my brother, and he's here for me. If people - and Pokémon - die because of him, it's my sin to bear. This is Hoenn, not Kanto. Things are different here.[break][break]
He thought of Tam Fawley and Orion Lykos, of the Slateport Rangers, and all of the people who still fought to protect Hoenn's citizenry from the radicalization of Rocket's regime. dahlia goode might not be perfect, but she was no totalitarian dictator. There was hope for Hoenn; he hadn't always believed in it, hadn't always thought of himself as a part of it. But now he understood his role. This sudden clarity was like a lighthouse beacon guiding him towards calmer seas.[break][break]
The price Caleb would pay for his continued freedom was something he'd always known he'd have to face: the reality that Zev was a monster that would stop at nothing to get his way. And if that monster had come to Hoenn, then it was up to Caleb to reign him in.[break][break]
With a quick flick of his wrist, Caleb recalled Lyra, returning her to her Pokeball. He would not allow Zev the pleasure of killing her after she had already fainted. He was loath to sacrifice any of his Pokémon, but he could see no other alternative - Zev would be compelled to retaliate equally - a death for a death. Only then, would Caleb have a chance to really speak with him. He at least knew which of his team had the best chance of surviving until the Gengar returned to its normal form, and so he gambled, releasing her.[break][break]
The Miltank's eyes glittered fiercely. "Attack the Gengar," Caleb commanded, intentionally altering his tone to sound like Zev's. She bellowed, and stampeded towards the Gengar. PLAY ROUGH, an onslaught of glittering fairy energy, suddenly engulfed the massive ghost.[break][break]
"I can defy you," Caleb addressed his brother. "And I will."

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[break]

NOTES

+ Caleb is wearing basic military-grade tactical gear over his Ranger uniform (Example)[break]
+ In addition to his Pokeballs, Caleb carries the knife made by Aurelie Lefevre on his hip[break]
+ Lapras faints.[break]
+ Caleb recalls Lapras[break]
+ Caleb releases Miltank[break]
+ Miltank uses PLAY ROUGH: in addition to doing massive Fairy Type damage, the opponent's Attack stat is lowered by 1[break]
+ At the end of the round, Miltank is buffeted by the sandstorm, taking minor damage[break][break]

MP TRACKER

[break]

[attr="class","zevpostpost"]



Behind his mask, Zev's eyes narrowed. Caleb's quick recall of his Lapras before Smoke could deliver a killing blow was not unexpected. The younger Harcourt had always possessed a bleeding heart, which was precisely why Zev had forced him to harden it over the years.[break][break]

"Recalling her doesn't change anything."[break][break]

Smoke suffered the Miltank's attack, using his tongue to absorb the damage before swatting her away like a gnat. Still, he was fresh for the fight; Fairy-type moves or no, the cow was not going to survive this encounter. Zev would make sure of it.[break][break]

Taking a small vial from one of the myriad pockets of his tactical outfit, he tossed it toward his Pokémon. Smoke's enormous tongue whipped out and snatched it from the air. In a single gulp, the Ghost-type swallowed the entire PHILTER OF PASSHO ESSENCE. Energy surged through him.[break][break]

Then Zev looked right at Caleb. "I didn't spend these last three years looking for you just to endure your disobedience. You are my brother, Caleb. You belong with me." No familial love softened those words. "Or has the League made you forget everything I've done for you?"[break][break]

Looking after Caleb when they were children. Learning martial arts together. Pulling him out of his drug-addled college years. Getting him a job with the Saffron City Police Department. Splitting the rent on a nice apartment in the city center. Ensuring they survived the Kanto War and thrived in its aftermath.[break][break]

Had it taken a mere three years to undo a lifetime? Nevermind that it had been a lifetime of manipulation and emotional abuse.[break][break]

The twisting knife of betrayal stoked the fire of Zev's rage even hotter. "End this," he snapped at Smoke.[break][break]

The Gengar needed no further instruction. Between his upraised hands, he conjured a vortex of purple psychic energy. The very air seemed to hum, louder and louder, as he concentrated his power into it — until, at last, the energy blasted Caleb's Miltank in a devastating SHATTERED PSYCHE attack. The Z-Move targeted the opposing Pokémon's mind, overloading it with terrors of its own making until its mental capabilities completely broke down.[break][break]

A horrifying end for anyone, made worse in the hands of a monster.[break][break]

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Matcha fell to the ground in an unmoving heap. Caleb knew instantly from the way the Miltank's eyes had rolled back in her head that she had not merely fainted: she was dead. Her brain had been thoroughly and decisively liquified by Smoke's Z-move. Her body appeared relatively unharmed - not a single physical wound - but she would never wake up again.[break][break]
Caleb wanted to feel something - rage, grief, frustration. But nothing came. Instead, a tremendous weariness washed over him, and he briefly closed his eyes.[break][break]
Has the League made you forget everything I've done for you?[break][break]
"No," Caleb murmured with a heavy sigh. His eyes snapped back open, and he gazed at the mask his brother wore to hide facial features that were similar to Caleb's in many subtle and not-so-subtle ways. "Nothing - nobody - could make me forget about you, about us. Starting over isn't about forgetting: it's about never making the same mistakes twice." And then, after a pause. "It was easy to leave Kanto, but it wasn't easy to leave you. I knew you were the one person who could talk me out of it...I knew that if I wanted to be free, I had to disappear. Even from you."[break][break]
Zev might be a monster, but he was Caleb's monster. That was the unfortunate reality that weighed on Caleb's heart. Loving someone meant accepting who they were - who they really were. How many years did Caleb look up to Zev? Try and emulate him? Listen to everything he said? But there was always something disturbing underneath the brotherly affection: a smile that never quite reached the eyes. A commanding tone when there should have been a compassionate one. A reprimand when Caleb changed his mind about something - never "why?", always "no."[break][break]
It hurt to be mistreated precisely because of love. That would never stop being true.[break][break]
A strained silence hung between the brothers, though around them, battles raged. The sounds of others clashing seemed far away to Caleb's ears, like hearing things above the surface while submerged under water. Caleb did not release another Pokémon. Instead, his hand went to his belt and he unclipped the utility knife that Aurelie Lefevre had crafted, flipping it open. The metal blade gleamed, reflecting sunlight. It felt good to hold something sharp in his hand, something solid and functional and dangerous, to be the fighter instead of the tactician.[break][break]
You are my brother, Caleb. You belong with me.[break][break]
"Fight me," he called out coldly to Zev. "Not with Pokémon. If you want me so badly, fight me. Incapacitate me yourself."[break][break]
And just like that, Caleb's weariness was replaced with an unwavering resolve.

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[break]

NOTES

+ Caleb is wearing basic military-grade tactical gear over his Ranger uniform (Example)[break]
+ In addition to his Pokeballs, Caleb carries the knife made by Aurelie Lefevre on his hip[break]
+ Caleb's Miltank dies.[break]
+ Caleb does not release a Pokemon. Instead, he stands in front of his brother and pulls out his knife, challenging him to fight man-to-man.[break][break]

MP TRACKER

[break]

[attr="class","zevpostpost"]



In any other circumstance, Zev would have laughed at the absurdity of challenging another man to a knife fight while Pokémon battles raged around them. But Caleb's refusal to go willingly was no laughing matter. If Zev had to knock Caleb out with his bare hands, so be it.[break][break]

"If that's how you're going to be, you leave me no choice."[break][break]

Zev's voice was unrecognizable, a harsh and unpleasant sound, like stone dragging across stone. He reached back with a gloved hand and drew the combat knife from its sheath at his belt. By sheer coincidence (or perhaps not), Aurelie Lefevre had made this one, too.[break][break]

Falling into a fighting stance, Zev raised the knife toward his brother. A dozen different scenarios flashed through his head, each one ending in Caleb's incapacitation. Blue eyes trained on blue eyes, waiting for the slightest movement, watching for the first lunge. The tension hanging between them was so palpable, one could reach out and grasp it.[break][break]

Then the earth rumbled, and an enormous tree bloomed to life atop Littleroot Theater and the legendary Pokémon Xerneas stepped out of its trunk. The booming voice of bryan delarosa reached Zev's ears, ordering his allies to stay close.[break][break]

And then the tree burst forth an explosion of thorny roots and branches. They shot outward in all directions, shattering the trunks of other trees, slashing at humans and Pokémon alike. Sinuous branches sped toward Caleb and Zev, threatening to tear into them.[break][break]

"Run!" Zev shouted at his younger brother as he recalled Smoke into the Gengar's Poké Ball using his free hand. A thorny branch whipped past him, ripping a gash into the sleeve of his outfit and the skin underneath. Gritting his teeth against the sting, Zev dodged the next vine and dashed toward safety, in the direction of Delarosa's voice.[break][break]

When he looked back over his shoulder, a wall of briars blocked his vision from the rest of the battlefield. Caleb was nowhere to be found.[break][break]

Zev swore loudly, the words spitting out of his mouth in a venomous snarl.[break][break]

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The thorny vines summoned by bryan delarosa's Xerneas were thicker than tree trunks and ten times as deadly. They seemed to extend for miles in every direction, rocketing outwards from the Littleroot Theater with unnatural speed. Caleb barely had time to process what was happening, before he was forced to retreat backwards. He managed to avoid getting impaled by a vine, but sustained several cuts and bruises in the process of scrambling away.[break][break]
All of a sudden, something hard and solid slammed into his back. He had backed all the way into the Theater itself, he realized - a part of it that was still intact, anyway. Didn't Tam and Orion go in there? He wracked his brain to recall. Everything up until his battle with Zev was now a hectic blur in his mind. Speaking of Zev...[break][break]
His brother was nowhere to be seen. Caleb scanned his surroundings, but the only things he could see were the massive vines - which had come to a stop - their thorns as sharp as needles, crisscrossing into wall of lethal vegetation that, at first glance, seeming decidedly impassable. Zev must be trapped on the other side...[break][break]
Caleb's heart pounded, his body still surging with adrenaline, the desire to act. But he knew that it would be a waste of time to try to hack and claw his way through the briars. Zev would likely find his way back to his Rocket colleagues to regroup before Caleb could breach them. Caleb ought to do the same. Tam Fawley and Orion Lykos, Hailee Jacobs and Noah Camus... he had to let Zev go. They were the ones who needed him now.[break][break]
He would find Zev later...if they both survived.[break][break]

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[break]

NOTES

+ Caleb is wearing basic military-grade tactical gear over his Ranger uniform (Example)[break]
+ In addition to his Pokeballs, Caleb carries the knife made by Aurelie Lefevre on his hip[break]
+ bryan delarosa's BLACK BRIAR Z-Move interrupts the fight between the brothers[break]
+ Caleb avoids getting impaled by a thorny vine, but is separated from Zev Harcourt in the process[break]
+ Caleb, trapped on the side of the Littleroot Theater, goes in search of Tam Fawley and his fellow Slateport Rangers, resolving to find his brother after the battle for Littleroot - if they all survive...[break][break]

MP TRACKER

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