[attr="class","text"]

Zev trudged through the thick mist, all senses on high alert despite his exhaustion. Though his armor protected him from injury, it did nothing for his endurance; the gauntlet of numerous battles from the day had worn him down.[break][break]

If he could just make it back to an aid station on Team Rocket's side of the island, he could retreat for a quick nap before returning to fight.[break][break]

But the Interdream mist surrounded him on all sides, making it difficult to find his way back. His Hatterene floated beside him, using her psychic powers to discern the way. Still, it was not easy going.[break][break]

A sudden roar reverberated through the air, too close to be from one of the distant battles. Zev tried to match it to a Pokémon he'd heard before, but this one slipped from his mental bank of knowledge.[break][break]

Hatterene, however, picked up on the emotions of the nearby Pokémon—and her mistress. With a sharp gasp, she yanked on Zev's arm with her clawed tentacle, urging him forward.[break][break]

"What is it?" he asked, immediately alarmed, but in a different way. He'd never seen his Pokémon act like this before.[break][break]

Of course, she couldn't answer; she just made frantic noises in her own language and pulled him along. He followed, growing more concerned with every passing minute. Soon, two shapes became solid in the fog. Zev recognized them instantly.[break][break]

"Nenet?!"[break][break]

Swearing loudly, he ran the rest of the way, ripping off the mask that covered his face so Nenet could recognize him, too.[break][break]

"What happened? Who did this to you?" he demanded as he pulled her into his arms, his sharp eyes darting over her wounds for a mental catalog. A muscle in his jaw worked. His nostrils flared with the first hints of building rage.[break][break]

The mist shifted and swirled around them, unnoticed by the man as he wiped blood from his wife's face with a quaking hand.

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

NOTES

- Zev Harcourt.[break]
- 10 MP per IC post in a RT Battle/Mission.[break]
- 10 MP for incorporating INTERDREAM MIST.[break]
- Total: 80 MP.

MADE BY GUNSMILE

[attr="class","text"]

Zev eased his grip on Nenet at the mention of the broken arm. Up close, he observed how she held one of them stiffly, and also how she favored one leg over another. "Sit," he said, helping her to a nearby rock.[break][break]

Once she was seated, he knelt in front of her, checking her legs and ankles. He found the injured one in short order, the swelling indicative of something painful.[break][break]

Every new revelation of Nenet's physical state sent a spike of white-hot rage through Zev. When he looked back up at her, gone was the cold aloofness that normally graced his expression. In its place was a burning fury. Each line and angle of his face was taut with the promise of violence.[break][break]

Around them, the fog and the island and everything on it had abruptly vanished. In fact, they were not on Hoenn any longer. The alien, futuristic, prism-like skyscrapers around them glowed with a sickly light, almost preternatural.[break][break]

Nenet would not recognize this place, this half-imagined Lesser Megalopolis that used to be, which Zev had come to envisage in his explorations.[break][break]

"Who did this?" Zev repeated, his voice a low and terrible rumble. His searing blue gaze remained fixed on Nenet's, as if he hadn't noticed the change in their surroundings. "Someone in Team Rocket?"

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

NOTES

- Zev Harcourt.[break]
- 10 MP per IC post in a RT Battle/Mission.[break]
- Total: 90 MP.

MADE BY GUNSMILE

[attr="class","text"]

Nenet nodded.[break][break]

The sky shattered.[break][break]

A furious wind howled as an enormous wormhole opened above the strange, prism-filled city. Two monstrous, crystalline claws reached through, followed by the black, angular body of Necrozma as it descended. Its eyes flashed white.[break][break]

All the surrounding light streaked toward it, as if the creature had taken a deep breath and sucked it all in.[break][break]

Zev did not seem to notice. Against the sudden, claustrophobic darkness, his eyes shone bright and deadly. He slowly rose to his feet in front of Nenet, the image of her broken body seared into his mind even if he could not see her at that moment.[break][break]

The face of every Rocket operative on the island that he knew flashed through his mind. Each one with the strength and motivation to harm a woman in this way.[break][break]

Cillian Quinn. His husband Tempest Quinn. THEO BECKETT. Fellow Beasts mint frost and bryan delarosa. BARNABY FINCH. Even a grunt like Kouji Matsubara or a scientist like Amor Rose.[break][break]

jayden cross with the HATRED exuded by his new patron.[break][break]

Elisabeth Fiorelli and her deep-seated GRUDGE.[break][break]

Without warning, a prismatic laser beam sheared through the nearest skyscraper, illuminating their surroundings with dreadful light. Metal shrieked and stone crumbled. Necrozma roared and fired again. People in the distance screamed.[break][break]

Bending over, Zev gently picked up Nenet to cradle her, princess-style, against his chest.[break][break]

The hole in the sky stretched wider, as black as the void. The stars around it began to smudge and stretch, pulled into it like water down a drain. Another laser cut the street in half, sending concrete flying into the air.[break][break]

But nothing touched them even as rubble rained down around them, as if they were standing witness to a memory of long ago.[break][break]

Zev pressed his lips against the top of Nenet's head. "I will never let this happen to you again," he swore to her. "I promise."

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

NOTES

- Zev Harcourt.[break]
- 10 MP per IC post in a RT Battle/Mission.[break]
- Total: 100 MP.

MADE BY GUNSMILE

[attr="class","text"]

Nenet's blood stained Zev's skin, masking the wetness of her tears, but the way her shoulders betrayed her emotional state. His grip on her tightened as the rage in his veins reached a boiling point.[break][break]

Then, prompted by the accumulation of negative emotions gathered in that spot, Zev's Hatterene appeared at his side. Reaching up, she placed a gentle claw on Nenet's cheek. A HEAL PULSE passed between the two, easing Nenet's pain and prompting the blood on her more superficial wounds to clot. The swelling of her ankle began to lessen.[break][break]

It wasn't enough—it wouldn't set her arm or heal her broken bones—but it was a start.[break][break]

The interruption drew Zev from the narrow path of future violence. He glanced down at his Hatterene, offering her a slight nod of approval. "Get us out of here," he said, his voice still thick with unbridled emotion. "My wife wants to go home."[break][break]

Hatterene nodded. She teleported a few feet away to face the interdream mist and blasted it apart with SPRINGTIDE STORM. The winds of the attack dispersed the fog at once, destroying the hallucination of Necrozma's wrath upon Lesser Megalopolis.[break][break]

The bright sun shone upon a rocky landscape. The smell of salt water filled Zev's nose, and the breeze that ruffled his hair was warm with the Hoenn's mild autumn weather.

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

NOTES

- Zev Harcourt.[break]
- 10 MP per IC post in a RT Battle/Mission.[break]
- 100 MP for completing a RT Mission.[break]
- 250 MP for "tying" a RT Battle/Mission.[break]
- Total: 460 MP.[break].

MADE BY GUNSMILE

[attr="class","text"]

Cradling Nenet as if she were a fragile possession, Zev trudged down the rocky slope toward the beach, where he knew Team Rocket's medical department had set up an aid station. He said nothing as he arrived at the camp; his dark glower spoke volumes, sending grunts scattering before him.[break][break]

The medics directed Zev to put Nenet on a stool, where they fussed over her wounds. He stood by her side the entire time, growling out commands and questions. No one dared ask who she was.[break][break]

Eventually, the medics finished. They gave Nenet painkillers and instructions on how—and for how long—to rest. Zev listened carefully. He intended to ensure that she followed their instructions to the letter, knowing she might return to work too early out of stubbornness or impatience.[break][break]

When all was said and done, he finally brought her home, the whisper of teleportation delivering them to his doorstep in Slateport City.

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