Ameena was mistaken. Zev had no intention of training grunts how to defeat Legendary Pokémon, or whatever else their psyches conjured. He had been specific in his demand: survive. [break][break]

Their surroundings transformed as the scientist spoke of her collaborative work with both Lulu Flint and Amor Rose. The battlefield bled away, crimson hues paling into the stark white of laboratory walls. Swatted out of the air, Ameena's Corviknight crashed through the ceiling and vanished in a puff of acrid, chemical fumes. [break][break]

"You can do that on your own time, when you are safely ensconced in your office," Zev said of her interest in studying the divine quality of the gods. "But this region does not guarantee safety." [break][break]

He turned away, appearing to tire of the conversation. [break][break]

"Enough talk. Let's end this." [break][break]

Before Ameena's eyes, Zev transformed. Pale skin rippled like an ebbing tide, revealing black shards buried beneath the surface. They spread across his form like rapid necrosis, covering him from head to toe. In less than a minute, the man appeared no more than a silhouette cut into space itself, a void that consumed all light. [break][break]

Above them, the Necrozma changed, too. Its prism-like body shed metal fragments in curtains, revealing stony skin of a deep red hue and wicked, shovel-like claws. Golden light emitted from between scales reminiscent of tectonic plates. [break][break]

"Survive for as long as possible, Abadi." [break][break]

The dream-Groudon opened its mouth and spewed forth an ERUPTION into the laboratory.

TAGS – ameena abadi[break]
NOTES – mission

[attr="class","pkmn"]

A psychic blade swathed in electricity cut through the massive pillar of Necrozma's light to land a PSYCHO CUT on its prism-like body. The shard roared in frustration, causing the very air to shake. It raised a claw, summoning the surrounding darkness for a SHADOW CLAW, unaware of the blessing granted by the Comfey's Z-Move. [break][break]

As the two titans fought for dominance, Zev turned his attention back to Greyson. Just in time, too. Steel flashed like fire in the midday sun as the Elite Four raced for the Rocket Beast in a headlong charge. [break][break]

If Greyson wanted to die, then so be it. [break][break]

The Aegislash swung for Zev. Crystalline tendrils burst from his shoulder to catch the blade and force it aside. In the same fluid movement, Zev stepped into Greyson's reach. One hand seized the other man in a cruel grip, while the other raked at flesh, aiming to disembowel. [break][break]

But at that moment, Mt. Chimney shuddered. One of the Dynamaxed Pokémon had slammed into the ground. The two men were thrown into the air and forced apart; the killing blow Zev intended did not cut deeply enough. [break][break]

Still, when he recovered and saw the blood pooling from Greyson's midsection, he knew the Elite Four was not getting up. [break][break]

Let's go, Zev willed. His shard pivoted away from the Iron Valiant and scooped him up in a massive claw. As he rose high into the air, he watched Greyson's body become smaller and smaller. He can bleed out and join Kyle in oblivion. [break][break]

The Necrozma shard peeled away from the peak, seeing that its attacks were only healing its enemy. As it shrank in size, Zev finally opened another Pokéball. Shadows spilled out, coalescing into his Gengar, who whisked the three of them away with PHANTOM FORCE.

TAGS – Greyson Connors[break]
NOTES – mission[break]
– Zev is FULLY ARMORED: nothing can break through his defense, and things that hit him may take damage on impact[break]
– Necrozma Shard is DYNAMAXED (barrier: 2/3)[break]
– Necrozma Shard is hit by PSYCHO CUT; uses SHADOW CLAW on Iron Valiant, inadvertently healing it

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"Training," Zev repeated with severity, "because it is no secret that the League has its own Legendaries, and you must be prepared to fight any of them." [break][break]

He raised his gaze to the skies above. Deoxys dealt powerful blows against the obsidian body of the Necrozma. Ameena's Corviknight wove between the two, dodging the attacks with expert aerial maneuvers. [break][break]

"This simulation, if that's what we can call it, is based on our subconscious, though—yours and mine. It's exactly how Tera Crystals and Interdream Mist function. So, of course it uses what we know." [break][break]

He himself made no move to assist. Instead, he raised an eyebrow at the woman. "You know Team Rocket's Deoxys?"

TAGS – ameena abadi[break]
NOTES – mission

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Zev normally did not remember his dreams. When he did, the recent ones were filled with stardust and supernovas, memories of Necrozma conveyed by its alien thoughts. That night, however, he dreamed of a city he'd never visited, yet nonetheless felt eerily familiar. [break][break]

It was a lucid dream, he realized upon running into Cillian Quinn. Not only did both men have full awareness of their situation, but they were dreaming it together. [break][break]

Capitalizing on this revelation, Zev shared what information he deemed appropriate to tell the underboss. And when they went their separate ways, he looked for others who might also be caught in the dream realm. [break][break]

The next person he ran into was Bee (BARNABY FINCH). Their conversation took a different turn, however, when Zev remembered his agreement with Elisabeth Fiorelli. [break][break]

Finally, in an abandoned daycare center filled with glass displays of their Pokémon, he found Neffatari Nzingha. In the privacy of that macabre place, they talked freely: of their strategy for surviving and their visions seen in the mask. [break][break]

They parted ways to maintain their false tale. Zev hated to leave her, but if the dream was truly just a dream, they'd wake up in the same cell before long.

TAGS – Neffatari Nzingha & ugly ward[break]
NOTES[break]
– Zev is in the UGLY WARD.[break]
– Traveling through the dream world, he talks with Cillian Quinn, BARNABY FINCH, and Neffatari Nzingha.

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Zev scoffed, telling her everything she needed to know about what he thought of oaths. "It's not my business what happens between you and Underboss Quinn. After all, you said it yourself: you're just another face. You're no threat to him." [break][break]

An Electrike padded into view, sniffing around for something to eat. Instead, Zev's Type: Null surprised it with a sudden CRUSH CLAW. The dog's high-pitched yelp attracted the Beast's attention long enough for him to throw a Pokéball at it. [break][break]

Resuming the conversation with Soyeon, he said, "Don't throw your life away just to take down another person. That's stupid. If you're going to do anything, do it well. Do it with the goal of succeeding." [break][break]

They continued on down the corridor with Type: Null leading the way. [break][break]

"Rise in Team Rocket's ranks through your achievements and feats. Get close to Quinn. Make him believe you would never betray him." Zev glanced sidelong at her, judgment finally in his eyes. "And learn to control your emotions. You're too soft right now."

TAGS – soyeon kwan[break]
NOTES – duo wild (electric/steel) | catching Electrike

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The air thrummed with a sudden and violent power, interrupting Zev's concentration. He released his control over gravity, his attention now wholly captured by the sudden intrusion of sinister energy. [break][break]

Dynergy. He recognized the taste of it at once, a tainted memory that nevertheless filled him with ravenous yearning. [break][break]

The crystals covering Zev rippled in unison, reinforcing his body, transforming him into a vessel to contain Eternatus' life force. Starlight swirled in his eyes as he gazed skyward. The towering Iron Valiant swung its great lance, and he rooted himself, bracing for the inevitable impact of the NIGHT SLASH. [break][break]

Nothing could dodge such a massive blow. [break][break]

All around him, stone shattered and exploded outward. Nidoking fell, unconscious, bleeding shadow upon the barren ground. Zev recalled his Pokémon with the flick of a wrist, unfazed by the sight of such grievous injuries. [break][break]

But he did not choose another Pokéball. For an instant, it seemed the man was insane enough to face down a Dynamaxed Pokémon all by himself. Then the air high above the battlefield spasmed. Through the wormhole that opened stepped a familiar sight, all brutal angles and obsidian planes. [break][break]

[break]

The same violet light that had consumed Greyson's Iron Valiant engulfed the Necrozma shard. It grew enormous, achieving a size similar to the real Necrozma that lurked in Ultra Space. Zev felt the echo of the transformation reverberate through his body. [break][break]

Without warning, searing white light illuminated the peak of Mt. Chimney as a PHOTON GEYSER erupted around the Iron Valiant.

TAGS – Greyson Connors[break]
NOTES – mission[break]
– Zev is FULLY ARMORED: nothing can break through his defense, and things that hit him may take damage on impact[break]
– Zev and Shadow Nidoking are hit by NIGHT SLASH; Shadow Nidoking faints[break]
– Necrozma Shard joins the battle and DYNAMAXES (barrier: 3/3); uses PHOTON GEYSER on Iron Valiant

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Compared to Ameena, Zev maintained a calmness that contrasted starkly with the monstrous terror that surrounded them. "Put it back?" he asked, his tone mocking in its detached apathy. "We're going to use this machine and its data to train grunts, Abadi. Ones like yourself." [break][break]

He tilted his head to regard her more closely. In the sky above, Necrozma unleashed a brilliant laser beam that cleaved the sky in twain. [break][break]

"If you're going to survive this kind of training, then I should be telling you that. So show me." [break][break]

Around them, hazy figures of different shapes and sizes began to coalesce. If Ameena looked closely enough, she might recognize her own Pokémon in some of their incomplete forms. Which ones manifested, however, depended upon her will. [break][break]

Zev made no movement. He simply pinned her with his starlit gaze. "Show me how you'll escape this nightmare."

TAGS – ameena abadi[break]
NOTES – mission

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Zev saw the approaching dream-man in the same moment Ameena did, but she acted more quickly. He watched as the corpse thudded to the ground and dissolved into a stream of fluttering Butterfree. Then they dropped, too, one-by-one, their corpses turned inside-out like the Caterpie he used to dissect as a boy. [break][break]

Unfazed, he raised his gaze higher as Ameena mentioned something horrid from space. As if on cue, the cloudless blue sky darkened to black. A shadow eclipsed over the sun. Figments of the dream, both Pokémon and human, screamed in terror. [break][break]

A wormhole opened above them, and clawed hands reached through it. Necrozma's angular body emerged, its prism-like eyes flashing with the whole spectrum of colors. [break][break]

"Is that what you were imagining?" Zev asked Ameena without taking his eyes off the enormous creature. He recalled she was from Galar; had she lived through Necrozma's reign of terror there? [break][break]

Blood splashed under his boots as he took a few steps toward the great cosmic entity. The battlefield had transformed into a sea of red; the soldiers were brutalized corpses, strewn about in irreverent disarray. [break][break]

Zev glanced back at Ameena, his eyes bright with the light of a thousand dying suns.

TAGS – ameena abadi[break]
NOTES – mission

[attr="class","pkmn"]

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"]

After parting ways with Cillian Quinn, Zev continued wandering the strange city. The architecture's familiarity continued to pester him as he walked, though he had never visited such a place before. Ignoring it, he swept his blue gaze over the surrounding crowds, looking for any other human faces—whether he recognized them or not. [break][break]

Eventually, he did find one such face. [break][break]

"Bee!" he called out to the admin, aware that he might seem like an illusion to the other man. After all, Zev was dressed in his usual black suit and tie, not the green uniform that he'd fallen asleep wearing. Neither mask nor Toxic Chain covered his head. [break][break]

"Do you recognize this place? I feel like I've been somewhere similar before."

TAGS – BARNABY FINCH[break]
NOTES – prismatic penitentiary dream world

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Zev listened to Aurelie's perspective without revealing any thoughts of his own, neither through interjections nor changes in his expression. She seemed stubbornly insistent about the mass hallucination that she and others had witnessed. [break][break]

And from his experience, it behooved him to let people believe what they wanted to believe. [break][break]

So instead, when her confidence wavered and she looked up at him for reassurance, he offered his opinion. Whether she found comfort in it or not was for her to decide. [break][break]

"They will resist Eternatus for their own selfish reasons, just like any Pokémon of their caliber." A callback to his earlier comments. "You can count on us, at least, to hunt it down like prey." [break][break]

Zev meant himself and Necrozma, of course, though it did not occur to the man how vague he sounded in that moment.

TAGS – Aurelie Lefevre[break]
NOTES – mission

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Zev's frown deepened at Cillian's observation. "You're right. They and the three Pokémon wardens serve the Never-Rot, whatever it is." [break][break]

The underboss gave too few names for the number of prisoners Zev had seen in the Tera Crystals' projections. It was possible Cillian recognized Naomi Sato, Shred, and Tempest Quinn by the sounds of their voice or distinct physical features that weren't their faces, while he was unable to identify the others. [break][break]

"Fiorelli, Beckett, Cross, Bee, and Delaney are with me in the Ugly Ward," Zev answered. Like Cillian, he did not deem it necessary to name everyone, especially Neffatari Nzingha. "There are a few important League personnel, too: freya morningstar, John Sullivan, and Navy." [break][break]

Then the Beast paused, deciding how best to proceed. In the end, the more information he shared about their circumstances, the higher their chance of escape. "Velmos has been compromised. We met him in the Chamber of Desires, which is on a floor above the wards." [break][break]

He remembered the platform descending down to the cells of Ugly Ward after their near-scalding shower.

TAGS – Cillian Quinn[break]
NOTES – prismatic penitentiary dream world

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"Then today, you'll learn how," Zev said, unsurprised by her total lack of experience. The rich and elite tended to prefer watching battles and betting on them, not participating themselves. [break][break]

He launched into a brief explanation of battling basics: type advantages and disadvantages, offensive and defensive moves, expectations of fairness from the League, and how to catch them off guard with underhanded tactics. [break][break]

"We'll do a practice round today, just to familiarize you with how fights tend to go." Selecting two Pokéballs from his belt, Zev opened them to reveal an Espeon and an Ambipom. "Choose two of yours to face off against mine. These two have been trained for public matches, so they'll be good sparring partners for yours." [break][break]

Then he fell silent, waiting to see what Diana would summon.

TAGS – Diana Cavendish[break]
NOTES – mission

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