[attr="class","light"]the professor's steeled expression remained neutral. a small tilt of the emanated a ray of curiosity. his mind silently pondering as to what could have possibly driven the ranger to wanna return to such a day. it took a lot to surprise the professor. though this wasn't much of a surprise, he just didn't expect Raziel Beckett to return so soon on the subject matter.

"let's go to my office."

and so zenji lead the way.

once there he would open the door for razz and salem to enter. the professor would follow in right after. once inside he would head over to his desk in order to take a seat. "what brought this thought on, kingsman?" zenji inquired. porygon could be seen nestled and asleep atop of the professor's desk. wherea, for lucario, the pokemon was assorting things for the head scientist while he spoke with Raziel Beckett.

"you were hesitant last time. did something happen recently?"

note: Raziel Beckett

[attr="class","light"]several footsteps echoed throughout the lobby of evol. though none of them were belonging to the head of the institute. it wasn't until the mechanical doors slid open that he would appear. with paperwork in hand and briefcase in the other. zenji's head had been buried, at the moment, with his work.

a small glance was made off to the side upon noticing a familiar pokemon and trainer. "Raziel Beckett," the professor called with a neutral tone. "is something the matter?" the professor would ask upon walking over to the youth to stand before he and salem. "is salem in need of another physical?" he'd set down his briefcase to pull out a small penlight. ready to check the small pokemon for any injuries.

"sorry for keeping you both waiting. i had something to attend to and got lost in my work at lunch."

was it normal to do work while on break? probably not, but zenji had little time for those nowadays.

note: Raziel Beckett

[attr="class","light"]the vial in her possession captured the researcher's narrow gaze. the blue substance was, as far as he knew, foreign to him. though it wasn't unfamiliar in color and shape. zenji would proceed to begin typing upon his desktop.

porygon, who had already been out and nestled upon the side of his desk, had been awoken with one word, "arise." the modified porygon was ready for duty. "pull up lucas lane's file." this data had no concern for zenji since it wasn't exactly something he'd been ask to do research on. porygon's orbs began to light up.

a holographic screen would emerge before it and @aria. "it's touchable, so just swipe your hand to shift through the document." what was written had never before been read. aria was welcome to take a look at what she needed to learn while zenji remained at his desk. "if i recall that substance in your hand was discovered on the day of some pokemon contest. i thought it looked familiar due to a photo or three residing in this case file when i was doing a bit of digging unrelated to this."


note: you can just ask shiv or SPIRAL what @aria can/would discover from these files since i barely remember anything from that event weoinmoinfefn. so i'm not sure what would be known by the league or recorded in the league archives.

[attr="class","light"]"if that's all you have to report then i'll be off. i'll see you both soon." the professor had currently been at work. while still in recovery from his recent excursion. he would be back at home, his original home known as evol, presiding over his personal project. currently he was on call with colleagues that were in his place and gathering data from the trainers participating within the hoenn star tournmanet.



"signing off." they said.

upon hanging up zenji would come to hear the door open. turning to face it, he would then hear the voice of @aria . "coller, come in." he would invite. a gesture was given for her to have a seat. "what can i do for you?"


note: @aria

[attr="class","light"]comparing the data gathered on stormy and FERNANDO SILPH to illeana reyes's. there was a difference in all three. if you placed Stormy Silph's chart next to FERNANDO SILPH's and illeana reyes's on the opposite side. you could see where one remained stable, whereas the other two weren't. though just like how there was a strong difference between their chat and Stormy Silph's chart, there was a major difference between them.

"it's nothing..." he responded lowly in thought. "it's just...whatever is plaguing FERNANDO SILPH doesn't seem to show up on either of you." what was this abnormal reading that was being detected? it was a anomaly. something he couldn't figure out just yet. turning toward illeana reyes, he would ask her for a favor, "i have a request."

a small but large one. "would you do me a favor and keep an eye on FERNANDO SILPH? for health reasons. if you find anything odd to ever occur i'll need you to immediately contact me. even the smallest thing that may seem out of ordinary or insignificant is helpful." it was nothing to worry over just yet. but, regardless, FERNANDO SILPH was a man who didn't know the meaning taking it easy.

note: illeana reyes

[attr="class","light"]the test subject used for the experiment was irresponsive. they were considered to be placed within a temporary coma and taken out of the testing lab. the alarm was turned off. once everything settled down the many gathered became the few. each dispersing one by one.

as james gathered information from those that remained. that information would come to be relayed to zenji. a disgruntled expression donned upon james. his fist tightened as gritted teeth, too, indicated annoyance. it was mainly not with the project, but the co-lead who was apart of this: professor francis ream.



"what a foul look, professor james."

a new voice spoke. entering the scene was the man of the hour: francis ream. "you seem displeased with the experiment, understandable. we will have to try again once subject #626 has awoken—" quickly james lunged to grab the collar of his co-admin. with fierce anger, james would say, "you took it too far again, you were suppose to stop once they couldn't handle it. they weren't ready to expand past the set time!"

the bandaged zenji merely watched. evan, who cowered behind zenji, watched as well. "without the ability to push past a limit we cannot breed result. i simply did what was best." calmly he would swipe james' hand away. "subject #626 is the only one who has come close to showing the needed results. lest you forget our agreed upon arrangements—" once more he would come to be interrupted. though, this time, by zenji with a hand risen.

"if i may interject. the purpose of the signum project is to further understand the correlation of a trainer and pokemon's bond honed by battle. i can only assume that the failure was due to a forced bond, which isn't how the relationship should work."

francis eyed the league scientist. francis' stern look would come to meet zenji's neutral gaze. "this suit has the potential to rival that of a mythical legend. the possibility to release a pokemon's potential power. yet you would rather focus on something as trivial as a 'relationship' between man and pokemon?" francis would say.

[attr="class","light"]"start ❤ "




the countdown had begun. agonizing scream would be heard within a facility somewhere that was neither league nor evol, but rather aether owned. this facility was spearheaded by a man some would consider...whimsical, arbitrary. a former colleague of zenji jabami from their youth as newcomers within their respective fields.

outside did a car reside. exiting the vehicle was zenji jabami . upon being granted access and dealing with the usual security check. he would come to be greeted by that colleague, "hey, hey, hey! the man of the hour, zenny boy!" a cheerful jest called the now irritated head scientist.


"james crick." zenji dryly responded.

a casual greeting exchange occurred. a light-hearted laugh shared. zenji's eccentric assistant, evan, boredly stood off to the side texting. evan was here to act as a chaperone to ensure that, the supposed-to-be bedridden, zenji didn't push himself too hard since his return from the excursion.





red flashed throughout the facility. that could only mean one thing: the reason for zenji jabami 's visit wasn't going well. evan panicked, which was expected for someone with his eccentric demeanor. zenji would order for his assistant to aid him in movement. as they neared the experiment room. there were many scrambling to turn off the machine that was in use. screaming was heard inside of the pod.



james orchestrated for his research team to prepare for extraction. the medical team on standby would run to aid the individual they were extracting. zenji, for now, watched the scene unfold before interrupting james.

[attr="class","light"]"worried about your sister, are we?" zenji cheekily grinned.

if there was anything he needed to know, it was this, "stormy showed nothing detrimental to her health. she's fine, for now. but her data does prove helpful in comparing it to your chart." and then there was illeana who was soon to visit herself. "i was also about get illeana to cooperate. she won't be here until tomorrow." to have these three proved to be monumentally helpful.

"you a unknown factor, stormy a avatar, and illeana who is without her avatar status yet had the ability to cause the fragment to react. the three of you are by far the best subjects a geneticist could ask for." for what reason did the fragment react to illeana reyes and how was she still connected to those who remained as avatars. what was the abnormality forming within FERNANDO SILPH's body? what made the two of them different compared to stormy or any other avatar?

"the team will be running a bunch of tests with the samples you've all chosen to provide us. if anything interesting develops, i'll be sure to let you know as soon as possible."

note: FERNANDO SILPH

[attr="class","light"]with all that being said and done, they would continue on with the exam. in the end her brain pattern was shown to be normal. nothing too out of the ordinary or noteworthy. her mental state was normal like no other.

as testing continued throughout the morning. nothing detrimental was uncovered. though nothing had been fine, this session was considered a success. to have a subject that was pure and free of toxins would prove useful to compare with the others. he would be sure to share this note with Eva Morales. for now, with that being said and done, he would send Stormy Silph on her way. thanking her for allowing him to do this. her cooperation would not go without appreciation.

note: Stormy Silph, fin.

[attr="class","light"]zenji's concious slowly began to fade. his position left him wondering as to when exactly was the last time he had been in such a pitiful state. a former gangster in his youth somehow lived to see such a day like this. a day when he'd place his own life in the way to save another. but that was how zenji had always been. growing up, and even now, he would always place others before himself.

on the outside his exterior, physically at the least, seemed cold and distant. even though he had a tendency to be lazy and didn't exactly enjoy being around others. he was probably the only man, so far as he knew, that held such a strong heart for others. it was ironic really.

it's so loud, he thought to himself.

all he wanted to do was sleep. for now that was what he would do. he had faith in the others to proceed. for now the head scientist would take a slight respite. but, before doing so, he would whisper to his porygon one order.

"find the fragment."

he would entrust this objective to porygon. it had enough capability to run on autopilot and hunt the source of what they came for. if porygon could find it, it would be sure to return. if not, it would still return if proven unsuccessful. "ah, and one more thing," he lowly said, "upload the data we've obtained so far back to our home database." and with that he'd leave the rest to porygon and fellow league members.

note: Alexandra Briarwood , Raziel Beckett

- zenji ordered porygon to continue hunting for the fragment for a little while longer, hoping it would locate it.
- he would give one more order and told the porygon to upload what they've found so far back to evol's database for later purpose.
- he would fall unconscious.
- zenji outtie!

[attr="class","light"]it all happened so fast. Alexandra Briarwood 's capture, Raziel Beckett 's injury, the escaped pokemon, and the call of more. what was more important? the fragment or Raziel Beckett 's safety? a choice many in his field would find to be more simple and logical: the fragment. but that wasn't zenji jabami 's choice. he wasn't like the others that placed science above all else.

so that's why he chose to place the capture of Alexandra Briarwood and the fragment beneath him. for Raziel Beckett took priority over all else. hence why, when the braviary was aiming for one or the other, zenji took the brunt of it all. zenji would mesh Raziel Beckett 's head into his chest while utilizing his other hand to hold the youth's body. together they would fall to the ground in a attempt to dodge the braviary's powerful crush claw.

disrupting the pokemon's chance at snagging one of the two. zenji would not go unpunished in his attempt to defy the braviary. the braviary's bottom tslon would come to place a large gash upon zenji's back. causing the head scientist to develop a diagnol open-wound that would bleed profusely. he was toppled over Raziel Beckett while blood spat up from his gullet.

huffing, he'd ask, "didn't i...tell you to take...care–⁠" he'd spit up a small bit of blood from his mouth, some of it accidentally falling upon the youth's cloth that covered his scarred eye. the wound was deep, but zenji would use all his strength to press on. just how long did he have to until his inevitable collapse?

note: Alexandra Briarwood , Raziel Beckett

- zenji protected Raziel Beckett
- received a critical injury from the braviary
- is barely holding on and is trying to remain concious