Zev allowed himself a heavy sigh of relief when the butcher collapsed to the floor at their feet. He gave Rhys a nod of acknowledgement. "Good job." [break][break]

As the simulation melted away, the butchery around them transforming into a building's familiar interior, Zev took the time to answer Rhys' earlier question. [break][break]

"The last time I did a run of that scenario, we chose the option to help with cooking. The result was completely different. This time, by choosing to refuse, we learned that the butcher was in league with the Megalopolans." [break][break]

He spoke as if Rhys should already know his meaning. [break][break]

The next scenario finished forming itself, revealing the shadowy figure of declan walsh standing within Fuschia City's gym. Zev had heard this speech many times and knew what would happen next. As the Rocket Boss' Nidoking emerged from a Pokéball, so too did Zev's Infernape. [break][break]

Yet he did not give a command. Instead, he looked over at the grunt. "So, Collins. What route should we take for this one?"

TAGS – Rhys Collins[break]
NOTES – the rks simulation

[attr="class","pkmn"]

[attr="class","itemcolicon"]

[attr="class","itemcolname"]significant figure event

[attr="class","lgdcol"]

[attr="class","itemcoltexttit"]WALSH 1

[attr="class","itemcoltext"]Fuschia City is under siege. You find yourself face to face with a then Admin Walsh within Fuschia Gym. Beneath you, the tatami flooring is scuffed and gouged from the battle that has been waged here. The simulation sets the Rocket Boss as a hostile figure.[break][break]

He says to you: "fuschia has already fallen. nothing you accomplish here will be of any worth."[break][break]

Should you attempt to step toward him, you'll knock into an invisible wall: an intriguing puzzle for gym challengers, but a frustrating conundrum for those attempting to engage with him.[break][break]

"i'll strike you down before you can even perceive the real me."[break][break]

Suddenly, Walsh disappears. Throughout the gym, multiple "Walshes" appear behind invisible walls. Periodically, he will lunge from a secret space with his GLISCOR, NIDOKING, &/OR HYPNO to attempt to slay you and your Pokemon.

As soon as Zev's back touched the Wishing Star, he saw the vision again in his mind's eye. [break][break]

Deoxys versus Eternatus. The latter's body plummeting to the planet below. The strange sensation filling him that he could not name. [break][break]

Distantly, Zev saw a bright glow, but it was as if he was not directly in front of the HYPER BEAM but floating above it within the vast void of space, a mere observer among the stars. Crystal continued to crawl over his body, encasing him in their protective embrace. [break][break]

The attack never came. Howard's concerned shout jolted Zev, bringing him back to the present moment. Reality around the pulsating Wishing Star shifted as the scenario melted away to reveal a new one. Slowly, cautiously, Zev got to his feet. [break][break]

"I'm fine," he replied, frowning at Howard. "Keep your Pokémon under better control." [break][break]

TAGS – howard slayte[break]
NOTES – the rks simulation

[attr="class","pkmn"]

The sudden flash of patterned lights caught Zev by surprise. To him, they were nothing more than random lights, though he noticed that the first pattern did not match the others that followed it. Discarding that observation as irrelevant, he tensed as the lights turned red. [break][break]

The color of warning. [break][break]

Zev moved when Regice moved, anticipating an attack. Instead, the golem lunged for the Wishing Star. Zev registered Howard's plea for help, but the Rocket Beast was already reaching to intercept. [break][break]

A blackened claw dug into Regice's arm. A sudden chill slammed into Zev from the contact. He shuddered and stumbled, feeling like a blizzard was raging against the heat stored in his body. [break][break]

As he attempted to wrestle the Pokémon away from the Wishing Star, both he and Regice tumbled to the ground. His back scraped against the pulsing purple-and-red stone. [break][break]

TAGS – howard slayte[break]
NOTES – the rks simulation

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Zev glanced sidelong at Theo. He had always been loath to reveal anything that others could perceive as vulnerabilities or weaknesses. The fact he might have any at all still chafed at him, fueling him to find solutions to remove those weaknesses entirely. [break][break]

Yet he could not lie then, not when so many members of Team Rocket had witnessed him during the battle against Kyurem. They saw the laser and what happened to Zev afterward. [break][break]

The way he'd fallen. The way his body refused to keep going. [break][break]

"It was fine," Zev reassured Theo, keeping his voice neutral despite the aggravation rising in his chest. [break][break]

In the same vein, there was no use lying to the underboss that he used light as fuel. [break][break]

"That's correct. Oscar's quick thinking with his Xurkitree ensured I wouldn't need more than a day off for recovery. It makes me think I should get one myself soon. Or a similar Pokémon, at any rate." [break][break]

Zev paused in front of a wall of glittering Tera crystals. Their gleam was both alluring and dangerous, a beacon and a warning. He contemplated them briefly before making another admission. [break][break]

"I tried to replenish myself with Dynergy straight from a Power Spot once. It wasn't compatible with my body, though, which is why I wonder about the different energies."

TAGS – THEO BECKETT[break]
NOTES – mission

[attr="class","pkmn"]

The Dratini came into view, but not without a pursuer. Stepping back into the shadows to avoid being seen, Zev watched as Draco intercepted the security guard. The grunt incapacitated the guard swiftly, knocking him out but not killing him. [break][break]

Zev made a mental note before emerging from the shadows. "Good work," he said, the callousness of his voice at odds with the direct praise. "Smoke, get us out of here." [break][break]

His Gengar floated to the middle of the group. In the blink of an eye, PHANTOM FORCE took the two humans and two Pokémon back to the alleyway across the street from the museum, where darkness cloaked them. [break][break]

Zev tucked the small flashlight away in his pocket. When he withdrew his hand, it had reverted back to normal, the black crystals having vanished. They receded back into the skin of his neck and face, too, like rocks consumed by a rising tide. [break][break]

"Head back to headquarters for your mission debriefing," he told Draco as he recalled his Gengar and released his Beheeyem instead. "I'm going to drop these off at the lab in Sootopolis." [break][break]

The eyes of the Cerebral Pokémon flashed, ready to teleport his master away upon command.

TAGS – Draco Prowler[break]
NOTES – mission

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Before Zev had the chance to answer Rhys, the butcher shouted and attacked. Zev's fight instinct took over at once. He dodged a swing of the massive cleaver, even as black crystals crawled over his torso beneath his clothing. [break][break]

Before the butcher could recover, Zev took a half-step toward the other man and landed a punch in his ribs. For a simulation, the butcher felt very real. In that moment, Zev forgot where he was. It was either kill or be killed. [break][break]

"Collins! The skillet!" he shouted as he blocked what would have been a grievous blow. [break][break]

Behind the butcher, warming on the stove, was a large cast iron skillet. A man such as Rhys should have no problem swinging it with lethal force at the butcher's head. [break][break]

TAGS – Rhys Collins[break]
NOTES – the rks simulation

[attr="class","pkmn"]

"We brought them back for study but I haven't heard of anything since," Zev said. "I wouldn't be surprised if there was nothing in them for our scientists to uncover. They looked as if they'd been buried for a long time." [break][break]

If he was aware of Howard's caution and terror, he did not show it. Instead, blue eyes fell upon the Pokéball that jettisoned itself from the admin's belt and burst open on the tomb's floor. Ice spread outward across the ground and walls as Regice emerged in a flash of light. [break][break]

Zev stared up at the Pokémon, unblinking and unfazed. His expression remained neutral, though he watched Regice with heightened intensity, waiting to see what it would do. [break][break]

"What does it want?" he asked Howard, not taking his eyes off the golem.

TAGS – howard slayte[break]
NOTES – the rks simulation

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Zev had not anticipated using all his powers during the battle against Kyurem, but the fight necessitated them. Like the time he'd demonstrated them to THEO BECKETT, he'd ended up utterly exhausted afterward, requiring a full day's recovery. [break][break]

At least, with oscar clayton's help, Zev had a better understanding of how to refuel. Light and energy. As he emerged from the tunnel with Theo, he wondered if he could put the Tera crystals to use somehow. [break][break]

Apparently, Theo had thoughts of a similar vein. Zev shook his head at the underboss' question. [break][break]

"No. Not to my knowledge," he replied. "Though that could always change. And it does make me wonder about the differences between the energy of these Tera crystals and other energy types, like Infinity Energy and Dynergy." [break][break]

At his side strode his silver-colored Iron Leaves, a recent procurement from his wife.

TAGS – THEO BECKETT[break]
NOTES – mission

[attr="class","pkmn"]

It had been some time since Zev walked through the incomplete tomb of this RKS simulation. He took his time to survey his and Howard's surroundings in case anything had changed. The workers were the same, though, as was the tomb itself. [break][break]

How disappointing. [break][break]

Ignoring Howard's comment on the sand, Zev turned to regard the purple, rock-like object wreathed in pulsing red veins. "I do, though it's been a while," he replied. "priam conrad and I found old ones in the desert ruins off Route 110. Defunct ones." [break][break]

Zev took a step toward it, compelled by a sudden urge to seize the simulation's version for himself. Not for its own sake, but because of what it represented. [break][break]

Eternatus. [break][break]

In the end, he stayed his hand, choosing instead to glare at the Wishing Star with frigid intensity.

TAGS – howard slayte[break]
NOTES – the rks simulation

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Zev froze at the sound of muffled, distant voices from outside the storage room—security guards, of course. He weighed his options in a matter of milliseconds before unfreezing and opening the shoulder bag he he'd carried with him. [break][break]

The guards were Draco's responsibility. Zev's was to steal as many fossils as possible. [break][break]

With care and alacrity, and with Smoke's help, the Rocket Beast shoved the fossils into the bag. Soon, both drawers were empty. Zev zipped up the bag and crept over to rejoin Draco. [break][break]

"Where's your Dratini?" he whispered. More crystals had bloomed across his neck and face in small, scattered clusters. One of his hands was still transformed. "Call her back. We'll leave the easy way, as long as the guards don't follow her here." [break][break]

And if they did, knocking them out would be no trouble at all.

TAGS – Draco Prowler[break]
NOTES – mission

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Back on the boat, Zev ripped off his face mask, shrugged out of the oxygen tank, and removed the scuba suit's hood from his head. He wiped the water from his forehead before it could drip into his eyes, getting his hair wet in the process. [break][break]

His frigid gaze turned on Helena when she finally spoke up. "Barely," he said, his tone giving away none his thoughts or feelings. Hoisting up the net of wriggling Luvdisc, he walked past her toward the holding tank. [break][break]

"You need more Pokémon. At the very least, don't bring Fire-types to a mission in the ocean." [break][break]

The grunt from earlier—the one Helena had tried to use as her replacement—helped Zev unload the captured Luvdisc into the tank. Head down and eyes focused on their task, the boy pointedly ignored the woman. [break][break]

"And you're not on vacation," Zev added as he moved the lid back over the tank. "Don't come to your assigned job expecting others to do your work for you, unless you want a reassignment to bathroom-cleaning duty in headquarters." [break][break]

Turning, he signaled to the grunt behind the steering wheel to turn them around and start the trip back to Sootopolis.

TAGS – Helena Hawthorne[break]
NOTES – mission

[attr="class","pkmn"]

The brilliant light from the Solrock's FLARE BLITZ blinded the Megalopolans momentarily, causing them to stumble and pause. It bought Zev, Nenet, and their Pokémon enough time to dash for the indicated tunnel. [break][break]

As they ran, more vines and roots snaked down from above, no longer slow but whip-like in their speed. Zev's crystals surged over his body, lashing out with scything tendrils. They sliced through the predatory vines, keeping them away away from Nenet. [break][break]

Eventually, the group burst out from underground. Long beams of emerald steel and strewn Celesteela parts littered the moon's surface in a haphazard array. [break][break]

"Infernape, close off this exit," Zev ordered, his body half-covered in his black carapace. [break][break]

His Pokémon smashed a MACH PUNCH into the ground around the tunnel's entrance, causing the rock to collapse. Faintly, Zev could hear the frustrated, animalistic cries of the Megalopolans as their pursuit halted. [break][break]

Turning away, the man scanned the distant horizon for any sign of the earlier storm. "We're fortunate the storm passed. Are you okay?" he asked Nenet, walking over to her. [break][break]

On the ground nearby, small compared to the detritus surrounding it, was a dull and inert GRASSIUM Z-CYRSTAL. [break][break]

TAGS – Neffatari Nzingha[break]
NOTES – Ultra Crater #4

[attr="class","pkmn"]