[attr="class","text"]

Zev stood within arm's length, watching Nenet's Minior as it neared the rift. He'd never been to this one at Fortree City nor through it to the Ultra Crater on its other side. Of course, he'd read the reports, but nothing had compelled him to investigate it for himself.[break][break]

Not until Nenet had mentioned wanting to visit after revealing she'd already taken some trips to the Ultra Deep Sea. Zev remembered the hallucinations it had induced in even the most resilient minds of Team Rocket, the Ultra Beasts that dwelled there, the pink interdream mist seeping from tears in the fabric of reality, and the Paradox Pokémon that it summoned.[break][break]

A violent protectiveness had filled Zev then, a heated stubbornness that underscored his words. Nenet was not going through the rifts again without him by her side. She was a capable woman, but she didn't know the Wilds like he did.[break][break]

"I haven't noticed," he replied, shaking his head. Then again, he wasn't the kind of man who cared about those details. "If it does change, why does it matter?"[break][break]

Nearby, his Seviper lifted her head. A forked tongue flicked out between the reptile's crimson fangs. She hissed a warning to her master, drawing Zev's attention away from the rift.[break][break]

He frowned at the way the snake began to uncoil herself. Instinctively, he stepped closer to Nenet, putting his body between her and whatever Seviper sensed. His blue eyes darted across their surroundings as a tension filled his body.[break][break]

The security guards had vacated the area when they learned a Ranger and Mossdeep's Senior Astrological Observer had arrived to take measurements. A hunch told Zev their return was not what was triggering his alarm bells.[break][break]

"Something's coming," he warned Nenet, his voice low so only she could hear.

[attr="class","ooc"][break]

NOTES

- Zev Harcourt.[break]
- Mission: Ultra Recon Squad (5th Anni).

MADE BY GUNSMILE

[attr="class","text"]

The quiet area around the rift burst into chaotic action. Zev counted three strangers as they rushed out from behind tree trunks and bushes. A Poipole flew high past his Seviper's head to attack Nenet's Minior.[break][break]

When the Meteor Pokémon turned toward him and Nenet, when the shrill command came from one of the ambushers, instinct took over. Zev shielded Nenet with his body, one arm rising, black crystals covering his skin in the blink of an eye.[break][break]

The SWIFT bounced harmlessly off the armor that covered him from head to foot. His clothing concealed most of it from view, but Nenet would see the crystal all along his bare arms and hands, where it turned his fingers into wicked claws, and on his exposed head and neck. Only his eyes and hair were uncovered.[break][break]

Two Nihilego joined the Poipole in the air. Zev turned his back to Nenet and opened another Pokéball, releasing his Hatterene. She joined the fray at once, lashing out at one of the Nihilego with PSYCHO CUT while his Seviper used BRUTAL SWING on the other.[break][break]

One of the human attackers charged at Zev and Nenet, a heavy pipe raised as a club. As he caught the pipe on the downswing, Zev saw the filed, triangular teeth in the enemy's open mouth and the blue tint of their skin.[break][break]

Megalopolans, he realized, before slashing at the alien's face with his free hand, tearing flesh and spilling blood.

[attr="class","ooc"][break]

NOTES

- Zev Harcourt.[break]
- Mission: Ultra Recon Squad (5th Anni).

MADE BY GUNSMILE

[attr="class","text"]

The strength of the Megalopolan paled in comparison to Zev's own. Later, he would wonder about how many of them were in hiding, starving and reduced to stealing food from human settlements. But in that moment, as the Megalopolan screamed in agony from having his face torn off, Zev only thought about killing them.[break][break]

He wrenched the pipe from his opponent's hand and swung it in a clean arc. It smashed against the Megalopolan's skull, crushing bone and battering brain matter. The alien fell to the ground in a boneless heap.[break][break]

A thunderous roar reverberated through the air and Zev's bones as Nenet's Pyroar brought up a shimmering, protective field. Good, he thought when he saw it. Against a Pokémon, the second alien with her blunt weapon would be minced meat.[break][break]

So Zev charged from Nenet's side at the third Megalopolan. He sprinted past his Hatterene and Seviper as they exchanged blows with the Nihilego, dodging another PSYCHO CUT from the former and a FLAMETHROWER from the latter.[break][break]

The Megalopolan met him, throwing a solid jab at his solar plexus. But Zev felt nothing, only the sensation of impact. The alien, however, yelped with pain as his bones shattered upon contact with Zev's hidden armor.[break][break]

Grabbing his hapless opponent by the throat with one clawed hand, Zev stabbed clean through the Megalopolan's chest with a blade of pure crystal extending from the back of his hand. Blood spilled across the void-black carapace covering his forearm and splattered on the ground at his feet.[break][break]

When Zev pulled the blade from the corpse, the crystal retracted to rejoin the mass covering his hand.

[attr="class","ooc"][break]

NOTES

- Zev Harcourt.[break]
- Mission: Ultra Recon Squad (5th Anni).

MADE BY GUNSMILE

[attr="class","text"]

When the final Megalopolan fled, she took the Poipole and two Nihilego with her. Zev watched them disappear into the underbrush, weighing the options of remaining with Nenet or chasing after them. Ultimately, he decided to remain.[break][break]

As he turned around to return to her side, he caught the words that spilled from her mouth. Her golden gaze stared at his hands, still covered in black crystal and dripping with alien blood.[break][break]

"They were Megalopolans. Flesh-eating aliens from Ultra Space who invaded our world some time ago," he said by way of explanation. His voice carried a sharp edge to it, a lingering effect of bloodlust. "If I hadn't killed them, they would have killed us."[break][break]

With a thought, Zev dismissed his armor. The carapace receded back into his skin, starting with his head and face, then continuing down his body. By the time he was standing in front of Nenet, the crystals had vanished completely.[break][break]

But while his skin was unmarred by the transformation, the blood remained on his hands. He seemed not to notice as he leaned in close, checking her for injury.[break][break]

His expression softened by a fraction, as did his voice when he asked, "Are you hurt?"

[attr="class","ooc"][break]

NOTES

- Zev Harcourt.[break]
- Mission: Ultra Recon Squad (5th Anni).

MADE BY GUNSMILE

[attr="class","text"]

Zev stood still as Nenet grabbed his wrists, preventing him from touching her. He watched her face closely as she stumbled over her words.[break][break]

It was clear to him that she was overwhelmed—by what she'd witnessed, by the new information he'd just shared. And her brilliant, scientific mind was struggling to hold everything at once and organize them so she could understand it all.[break][break]

So he waited, patient, letting her hold him at that distance. He knew that pulling away from her would put some rift between them he did not want. Forcefully closing the gap would only do the same.[break][break]

Finally, Nenet found her focus. And it was not about the Megalopolans, or Ultra Space, or the murder he'd just committed. No, the look in her eyes was not fear but curiosity.[break][break]

And not for the first time, Zev smiled at her, pleased. "I have Avatar powers," he said. It was the most straightforward explanation he could give her without going into the whole story.[break][break]

"I've had them since May. There are crystals in my body, and I can cover my skin with them, among other things. They're indestructible, so as long as I armor myself, I can't be harmed."

[attr="class","ooc"][break]

NOTES

- Zev Harcourt.[break]
- Mission: Ultra Recon Squad (5th Anni).

MADE BY GUNSMILE

[attr="class","text"]

Though Nenet's comment reflected a simple observation, Zev caught a flicker of emotion across her face. Surprise, he thought, but a version of it that carried disappointment, too.[break][break]

"It wasn't relevant," he replied, head tilted curiously.[break][break]

Nenet had always been a woman who cared about her business more than his, which is what made their relationship work. And up until that day, she'd given no indication that the arrangement had changed.[break][break]

So why did she sound hurt?[break][break]

As cool water poured over his hands, Zev cleaned the blood off. "If there are other things you wish to know, you can always ask me. I may be a liar, but you're my wife."[break][break]

He'd be honest with her, if she wanted.[break][break]

After drying his hands on a clean cloth fetched from his own backpack, Zev recalled his Seviper into her Pokéball. His Hatterene remained out, standing guard in Seviper's place.

[attr="class","ooc"][break]

NOTES

- Zev Harcourt.[break]
- Mission: Ultra Recon Squad (5th Anni).

MADE BY GUNSMILE

[attr="class","text"]

When Nenet took his hand and asked for his patron, her thumbnail pressing into the palm as if to cut him, Zev did not answer right away. A full retelling of the story would reveal much more than his connection to Necrozma.[break][break]

His involvement in Team Rocket, for example.[break][break]

And Nenet was a curious woman; she would not be satisfied until she knew every detail. On one hand, disclosing everything to her would put himself at risk. Knowledge that he was an assassin (a murderer) was one matter, but knowledge that he was a high-ranking member of a terrorist organization? Zev did not know how she would take the news.[break][break]

On the other hand, she had grasped him gently, ignoring the violence he'd just wreaked on the Megalopolans to ask questions about him. He recalled, not for the first time, how she'd stuck with him through the lies.[break][break]

How she'd proposed marrying him. Her little "please" when she'd asked him to accept.[break][break]

"Necrozma," Zev said at last. He didn't know the extent of Nenet's familiarity with the abomination, but the attack on Sootopolis known as the Darkest Day had happened around the same time as her arrival to Hoenn.[break][break]

And of course, the news in the latter half of last year had been full of reports from Necrozma's attacks on Galar. If she had paid attention, she would have heard of the devastation it caused there.[break][break]

"My organization received a request for help from a person in League custody who previously had this same power. He wanted it gone. An associate of mine and I broke him out, temporarily, to remove the crystals. As a result of the successful procedure, they transferred to me instead."[break][break]

Gently, Zev lifted Nenet's hand to stop her thumb from pressing into his palm—but just enough so he could cover his hand in void-black crystal once more. It only extended a little past his wrist.[break][break]

The surface was not one whole crystal but, instead, made of countless shard-like facets that barely gleamed in the light. Each facet was smooth, except for what covered his fingers, which narrowed to razor-sharp points like claws. These he kept away from her skin so as not to cut her.[break][break]

He released her hand so she could examine the crystal to her heart's content. "Careful," he warned. "Whatever hits it with enough force breaks on impact. I don't want you to hurt yourself by accident."

[attr="class","ooc"][break]