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TAG WITH @zev

POSTED ON Apr 16, 2024 12:50:42 GMT

Elisabeth Fiorelli and Naomi Sato like this

[nospaces]

[attr="class","zev3"]

[attr="class","body"]

The recording made by Naomi Sato's Unown was irrefutable. kyle lopez was dead. News reports made no mention of a recovered body, and when Zev went to Mt. Chimney himself, all he found were battlefield scars upon the landscape. [break][break]

He should have been satisfied. A loss of this level was a catastrophic setback to the League, ensuring Team Rocket's success in its future operations. Ensuring his own success, and Necrozma's, in their private plans. [break][break]

Instead, he could not help feeling like something was amiss. The doubt tugged at his mind, accompanied with the fleeting sense of words spoken a long time ago, in a place far from Hoenn. [break][break]

"You're talking to Ho-oh's Avatar. I don't die. I respawn." [break][break]

Zev stood within the alien landscape of the Border. Rocky formations floated through a twilit sky. A gentle breeze ruffled his hair and clothing, carrying with it the soft whispers of the dead. He did not know if their murmurings were real or trickery caused by the realm itself. [break][break]

Nevertheless, they prompted him to speak into the quiet desolation. [break][break]

"Where are you, Kyle?"

TAGS – kyle lopez[break]
NOTES – mission

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Gengar ♂ (Smoke) | Cursed Body | Brick Break, Dazzling Gleam, Giga Drain, Hex, Mean Look, Phantom Force, Poison Jab | Gengarite G & Z-Moves

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TAG WITH @kyle

POSTED ON Apr 18, 2024 18:18:42 GMT

navigation within the border was not something that he can ever understand. nothing makes sense, and of the entire time he has spent exploring it, the one thing he understood is that emotions and sentiments rule over this dimension.

perhaps something similar brought him here when another lost soul calls for him.

"hi, that's my name. i'm kyle."

the nonchalant greeting comes first before his figure steps out of the mist.

his image appears in traditional johtonian clothing. wooden slippers make a distinctive sound as he steps out, appearing to check behind him first before turning to zev.

"oh?"

an eyebrow is raised when he sees him. seemingly surprised, it takes him a moment to shift his expression from shock to a lazy smile. he doesn't expect him, but something unexplained ironically becomes the feeling's explanation.

"are we even close enough friends to coincidentally find each other in this place?" he humors.

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TAG WITH @zev

POSTED ON Apr 18, 2024 21:43:34 GMT

[nospaces]

[attr="class","zev3"]

[attr="class","body"]

The mists coalesced into a familiar form, though Zev had never seen Kyle wear Johtonian clothes and shoes before. The ghost—if it was a ghost—otherwise wounded and looked like the Top Champion, though. Unbidden, nostalgia tugged at Zev at the sight of that lazy smile. [break][break]

"It's not a coincidence. I wanted to find you, so you appeared," he said, keeping his expression neutral. That was the logic that ruled his world, at any rate. The man believed neither in fate nor chance, only in plans well-researched and executed. [break][break]

Still, he could not account for the supernatural. And he had seen too much in the past few years to know that other powers ruled in places like this one. [break][break]

"How do I know you're the real Kyle and not some hallucination?" Zev asked, tilting his head, his gaze even more scrutinizing than before. [break][break]

But the real Kyle can't possibly be here, his mind argued. The real Kyle can't die.

TAGS – kyle lopez[break]
NOTES – mission

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Gengar ♂ (Smoke) | Cursed Body | Brick Break, Dazzling Gleam, Giga Drain, Hex, Mean Look, Phantom Force, Poison Jab | Gengarite G & Z-Moves

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TAG WITH @kyle

POSTED ON Apr 19, 2024 16:57:22 GMT

"fair enough."

the border was unexplainable, even for other spirits who have been here longer than the portal to this dimension existed. abstract concepts were easier to accept as concrete ones. it made zev's explanation hold just as much merit as any other interpretations one can surmise.

"but that's the thing. you can't."

this was the domain's bread and butter. illusions are more likely to appear than visions. there's nothing to prove whether one is real or not, especially when fiction and reality had already started melding together as well in the real world.

it only gets better since it wouldn't be out of character for kyle to remain neutral, neither swaying the other's opinion to coincide with his nor outright lying about it.

"would you even believe it if i said i wasn't? that's what a hallucination would say."

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TAG WITH @zev

POSTED ON Apr 19, 2024 17:47:14 GMT

[nospaces]

[attr="class","zev3"]

[attr="class","body"]

Zev was silent for a long moment. He watched humanoid silhouettes flicker in and out of the mist surrounding them, catching glimpses of other people, though their features were blurry or unfamiliar. Kyle's was the only one that seemed solid, even if the soft haze tugged at his edges. [break][break]

"That's the nature of this place, isn't it," Zev said, instead of answering directly. "It's difficult to tell if whatever we're seeing is real or not, whether it's a Ruinous Beast, a Moltres, or something else." [break][break]

He supposed, though, that whether Kyle was an illusion or real didn't matter. If he was the former, then Zev was alone in that place, speaking to the wind. And if he was the latter, then those words echoing in Zev's head were a lie, and Kyle was never coming back. [break][break]

Upon realizing that, a stubborn conviction seized Zev, accompanied by the unbidden desire to give it voice. [break][break]

"I should have been the one to kill you."

TAGS – kyle lopez[break]
NOTES – mission

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Gengar ♂ (Smoke) | Cursed Body | Brick Break, Dazzling Gleam, Giga Drain, Hex, Mean Look, Phantom Force, Poison Jab | Gengarite G & Z-Moves

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TAG WITH @kyle

POSTED ON Apr 22, 2024 17:16:13 GMT

"you know i'm not allowing you to do that."

the forms that zev sees weren't actually around until recently. their volume increases with time as ho-oh's avatar stays in one place. for now, they appear as natural, but the time ticks away regardless.

"there's a reason why i let myself die to matias' hands of all people."

there's sharpness in his expression, akin to him being playful with someone he's comfortable to be around with. a raised brow and a sly smirk mars the gentle features of the dead.

kyle shouldn't know this, but circumstances has led him to read the devourer more easily than what a person who has only met him a handful of times hsould.

"you aren't actually a masochist, are you?"

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TAG WITH @zev

POSTED ON Apr 22, 2024 17:27:41 GMT

MATIAS SILPH likes this

[nospaces]

[attr="class","zev3"]

[attr="class","body"]

"And what reason is that?" Zev snapped, his features hardening with sudden emotion: a mix of exasperation and resentment. [break][break]

His own vehemence surprised him. MATIAS SILPH meant little to him in the grand scheme of the universes, but Kyle's preference for the Volatile grated on his nerves. Despite how little Zev knew Kyle, and how much Kyle might have known Matias, that exact dynamic seemed wrong. [break][break]

Frustrated with his own outburst, Zev tore his eyes away from Kyle. Instead, he gazed out at the foreign horizon of the Border, only glancing back at the strangely posed question. [break][break]

"Of course not. What makes you think I could be one?" Zev's tone was sharp, derisive. An ordinary person would be put off by his prickliness, but was Kyle ordinary?

TAGS – kyle lopez[break]
NOTES – mission

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Gengar ♂ (Smoke) | Cursed Body | Brick Break, Dazzling Gleam, Giga Drain, Hex, Mean Look, Phantom Force, Poison Jab | Gengarite G & Z-Moves

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TAG WITH @kyle

POSTED ON Apr 22, 2024 17:38:15 GMT

"i wanted it to hurt."

matias' preference for the champion was obvious with his every action.

"the worst feeling is being directly responsible for the death of a loved one, don't you agree?"

a longing sigh escapes him.

hands rest on his hips as he faintly shakes his head at the thought. impishness was replaced with fondness as he stares down the ground at the same way zev looked back at the horizon.

"you're awfully attached to me. wouldn't killing me result to a similar end for you?"

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TAG WITH @zev

POSTED ON Apr 22, 2024 17:49:15 GMT

[nospaces]

[attr="class","zev3"]

[attr="class","body"]

"I wanted it to hurt." [break][break]

The admission was enough to draw Zev's full attention back to Kyle. What the ghost of Hoenn's Top Champion described was something alien, an incomprehensible concept in a language Zev would never be able to speak. [break][break]

Love. [break][break]

"I don't know what that's like," the assassin replied, though his tone no longer carried the harshness it possessed a moment ago. "I don't love anyone." [break][break]

Not even Neffatari Nzingha, whose face nevertheless flashed through his mind for the briefest instant. [break][break]

"So no, it wouldn't be similar for me. Killing you is my right, as your—" Zev paused, the word poised on the tip of his tongue. [break][break]

His what? What role had Kyle possibly played in his life? When he searched his mind to find the answer, he only drew a blank, as if a heavy fog occupied the space where memories should have been. [break][break]

Brother?

TAGS – kyle lopez[break]
NOTES – mission

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Gengar ♂ (Smoke) | Cursed Body | Brick Break, Dazzling Gleam, Giga Drain, Hex, Mean Look, Phantom Force, Poison Jab | Gengarite G & Z-Moves

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TAG WITH @kyle

POSTED ON Apr 23, 2024 15:03:30 GMT

the reaction causes him to smile. no hint of malice nor mischief taint the expression, but one of amusement and lightheartedness.

"that's a cute reaction. has anyone known that you're capable of doing that kind of thing?"

even had he not been an apparent reflection of the past, he still would have said it. petty teasing never went to the rocket beast's head as long as it was ultimately trivial.

these small, superficial slices of life he shared with the king of the night had been the bread-and-butter of their relationship, unbeknown to both.

"if you don't, then i suppose that's good. it is a weakness that gave me the opening to stop groudon without breaking his host. isn't that nice?"

he turns back to zev, raising a brow as he dangles a new topic to divert away from the earlier teasing. he wouldn't want zev to fight back with a more aggressive retort after all.

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The Devourer

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Murderers are not monsters, they're men. And that's the most frightening thing about them.

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TAG WITH @zev

POSTED ON Apr 23, 2024 19:59:13 GMT

[nospaces]

[attr="class","zev3"]

[attr="class","body"]

Zev recognized the change of topic for what it was and let Kyle lead them there. It felt natural, somehow. As if they had conversed in that same manner a thousand times before. [break][break]

"Are you so sure about that? Didn't you just describe killing a loved one as 'the worst feeling'?" the assassin asked. "How do you know you haven't broken him in another way—one that makes him more susceptible to Team Rocket's ambitions?" [break][break]

The general assumption among the crime syndicate's leadership was that Matias was recovering in a secure location. His exact status, however, was unknown. [break][break]

Zev doubted that Kyle knew anything about that. And even if he did, the chance of him revealing that information was slim to none.

TAGS – kyle lopez[break]
NOTES – mission

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Gengar ♂ (Smoke) | Cursed Body | Brick Break, Dazzling Gleam, Giga Drain, Hex, Mean Look, Phantom Force, Poison Jab | Gengarite G & Z-Moves

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TAG WITH @kyle

POSTED ON Apr 24, 2024 15:13:59 GMT

MATIAS SILPH likes this

"he did break, but not the way you think."

the mist thickens. a few spirits manage to get close, but kyle shoos them away effortlessly, like a wisp on the wind. a flick with the back of his hand was enough to keep them at bay for their conversation.

"he no longer feels the need for self-preservation. he is a man who lost it all and will go all out whenever the fight needs him to. best of all, guilt will now act as a cap for careless destruction."

prediction after prediction, he reads everything about the foresight of MATIAS SILPH' future to zev.

the tone wasn't threatening, but more reminiscent of his various projects for the city they once ruled together. it's playful and satisfied, but anyone who knows how to read him will realize the forsaken emotions over logical conclusions.

"unbridled power handled in the most delicate way-- league hasn't had that for a while. you're right that rocket has to deal with him before he recovers."

he knows the knight that stuck with him throughout the entire ordeal.

"he's tenacious. he'll get back to his feet after a while."

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Murderers are not monsters, they're men. And that's the most frightening thing about them.

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TAG WITH @zev

POSTED ON Apr 24, 2024 18:02:11 GMT

[nospaces]

[attr="class","zev3"]

[attr="class","body"]

Zev had no reason to disbelieve Kyle. Actually, it was more accurate to say that Zev knew he could depend on Kyle's frankness. The other man was more clever than he seemed, but he was neither deceptive nor malicious. [break][break]

Still, the foretelling did not bode well for Team Rocket. [break][break]

"Good to know," was all Zev said in response. He thought to leave then; the mist thickened around them, filling him with the sense that their conversation was coming to an end. [break][break]

And he had an obligation to pass on Kyle's warning to his superiors, anyway. [break][break]

Reaching up with a hand, Zev pulled on a thin chain that hung around his neck. Most of it had been tucked under his shirt, but as he drew it out, the twilight sun glinted on metal. They were not his black shards, but ordinary steel forged into small rectangles. [break][break]

He could not remember how he'd gotten them. [break][break]

"One last question. Do these look familiar to you?" Extending his arm toward Kyle, Zev let the dog tags sway on their chain in the breeze. [break][break]

King of the Day, they said.

TAGS – kyle lopez[break]
NOTES – mission

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Gengar ♂ (Smoke) | Cursed Body | Brick Break, Dazzling Gleam, Giga Drain, Hex, Mean Look, Phantom Force, Poison Jab | Gengarite G & Z-Moves

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TAG WITH @kyle

POSTED ON Apr 25, 2024 15:08:29 GMT

"i wore those all the time before," he points out. "especially during the early days of the invasion. you never know when you'd drop back then."

noticing something inscribed on it, he takes a closer look. he leans closer instead of using his hands to grasp it closer to his eyes before promptly stepping away once he has read them.

"king of the day doesn't really ring any bells though."

various comments made by other people spring back to memory. the small shifts in his expression convey the moment where similar ideas click in his head.

"people did call me a king after the sword and shield dog incident, but you can never be too sure. according to them, there were multiple versions of galar." he waves his hand in front of him dismissively afterwards. "but those memories implanted on them in their dreams. who's to say it's just not someone's fanfiction playing out in their heads?"

kyle shrugs, putting the topic away for now.

"you should practice the same caution here. there's no telling if i'm real or not, though it would be funny if you consider my warning, only to realize your speculation about matias turns out to be more accurate."

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Murderers are not monsters, they're men. And that's the most frightening thing about them.

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TAG WITH @zev

POSTED ON Apr 25, 2024 16:40:55 GMT

MATIAS SILPH likes this

[nospaces]

[attr="class","zev3"]

[attr="class","body"]

Zev had also heard talk of kings of ancient Galarian cities shortly after Team Rocket had returned from its operations at the Ancient Tomb. He didn't put any stock in it, either. So he nodded, finding it natural to agree with Kyle's logic. [break][break]

"It's just foolish nonsense. People let their imaginations run too wild." [break][break]

Hanging the dog tags around his neck and tucking them into his shirt, Zev gave the ghost—or illusion—of Kyle another critical look. He was also right about the ambiguity of his own existence. Even if Zev passed on the warning to his superiors, how much did he truly believe a conjuration? [break][break]

"Then we'll just have to kill MATIAS SILPH before he can recover," the assassin declared as he turned to leave. [break][break]

In the distance, the portal back to Hoenn flickered with power. But he did not trudge toward it right away. Instead, he glanced over his shoulder at maybe-Kyle. Despite finding salutations and farewells pointless, he considered—for just a moment—the small action of saying goodbye. [break][break]

Then he looked away again and started up the path back home.

TAGS – kyle lopez[break]
NOTES – mission

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Gengar ♂ (Smoke) | Cursed Body | Brick Break, Dazzling Gleam, Giga Drain, Hex, Mean Look, Phantom Force, Poison Jab | Gengarite G & Z-Moves

[attr="class","credit"]