A silent notification popped up in the corner of Zev's laptop screen, indicating the email Tempest sent over. He left it there, unopened, as the Beast changed the topic with a personal request. [break][break]

On the surface, what Tempest wanted was a simple matter of temporary personnel allocation. Two facts stood out to Zev, however: one, that declan walsh had directly assigned a project to a Beast; and two, that Tempest had not bothered to mention any details of the project in his request. [break][break]

"Do you already have individuals in mind, or do you need me to forward a list of recommendations to you?" Zev asked, keeping his tone neutral, almost uninterested. "If the latter, then I'll need to know more about the nature of your project." [break][break]

The best tools for the job. He lived and worked strictly by that mantra.

TAGS – Tempest Quinn[break]
NOTES – social

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Zev nodded, satisfied that Oscar was now fully on board with his idea. He stepped back, gesturing for his Chandelure to follow him to the door to the room. "Then we'll guard this place while you work." [break][break]

While the minutes passed, he contemplated Oscar's question: what sort of light could rival the sun in intensity? Dreadful implications layered between the words. [break][break]

"Oscar, are you theorizing that the Megalopolans built this tower—or at least these machines—after Necrozma destroyed their city?" Zev asked. "That these machines were made to try and replicate the light of a sun that was taken from them? Because if that's true, then where… no, what were they getting light from?" [break][break]

Reports from the blackout of Slateport indicated that Shadow Pokémon were first infected by shards of black metal. Necrozma's crystals. The same material that protected and reinforced Zev's body. [break][break]

An image sprang, unbidden, in his mind's eye: the corpses covered in crystal that littered the streets of Lesser Megalopolis and the floors of the tower. [break][break]

"How much light do you think a Megalopolan contains inside them?"

TAGS – oscar clayton[break]
NOTES – mission (repeat)

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Zev nodded, accepting that answer. Theo was right. As much as Zev preferred to plan everything out to the smallest detail, ensuring the highest chance of victory, real life never went according to theory. One had to adapt to every situation, making adjustments in the moment. [break][break]

"I look forward to your success, then," he said. "And to seeing what both Kingsman and the Light Stone can do for us." [break][break]

With a few button presses, Zev cleared the map of all the highlights and markers. Zooming it out for a better overview of the entire Hoenn region, he swept his gaze from Mossdeep to Petalburg. [break][break]

"Was there anything else, Beckett?"

TAGS – THEO BECKETT[break]
NOTES – social

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"You can start reporting to me," Zev said. "The Genesect production is important, but we can use the Voltorb elsewhere, too. Forward to me what you have and I'll update our numbers." [break][break]

Already, the gears of his mind were drafting plans for Sootopolis' defense. Opening his laptop, he pulled up notes he had started taking and organizing into a proper tactical report. To a running tally of acquisitions, he added a line for the Voltorb. [break][break]

"That's all for now, Quinn. You're free to go—unless you have other questions for me?" Zev asked, glancing over.

TAGS – Tempest Quinn[break]
NOTES – social

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Even before Fern opened their mouth to express eagerness for an expedition, Zev saw in the hunger to satiate curiosity in their eye. He understood that desire well, but pragmatism was ever his strength. [break][break]

Craning his neck to regard Necrozma once more, Zev expressed his gratitude not through words but through their psychic bond. The obsidian monstrosity leaned back, putting colossal distance between itself and the top of Lesser Megalo Tower. The air rushed to fill in the space where it once was. [break][break]

With a knife-like claw, Necrozma opened another Ultra Wormhole and disappeared into its shimmering depths. An uneasy silence fell upon the ruined city in the wake of its destroyer's departure. [break][break]

"We should start thinking about who to bring with us," Zev said to Fern as he turned away to descend the stairs. "Experts in Ultra Space, maybe." [break][break]

Already, a couple names crowned the top of his list.

TAGS – fern delaney[break]
NOTES – mission (repeat)

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Zev shook his head, suppressing a frustrated sigh. "No. I didn't manage to siphon even a little bit of its energy, which means Primal Energy is a whole different category than Infinity Energy or Dynergy." [break][break]

He gripped the railing hard, the whitened knuckles of his hand the only sign of his disappointment. Despite how Dynergy poisoned him, his ability to absorb it into himself gave him an edge over his enemies. But should he face Kyogre, Groudon, or Rayquaza in battle, their Primal Energy might prove a terrible inconvenience. [break][break]

"Let's head back to Sootopolis," Zev said at length, turning his back on the raging sea. A quick word to the steersman set the ship on course for headquarters. "We need to resume planning our assault." [break][break]

He spared a glance at Mint at last. [break][break]

"Do you have a good handle on your powers by this point?"

TAGS – mint frost[break]
NOTES – mission

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Standing at the bow of the main warship as it surged ahead of Team Rocket's fleet, Zev was one of the first to observe the calamity at Sootopolis: the cliff face breached by Kyogre's fury, sea levels rising around it. Cillian Quinn's Shadow Lugia engaged in battle with the leviathan, while Galarian Moltres clashed with Rayquaza in the skies above the crater. [break][break]

Zev's mouth pressed into a thin line as cold blue eyes regarded the two Primal Pokémon. How dare they force him to retreat, he thought. How dare they snatch his victory from him. [break][break]

The ship's radio network, silent for the majority of the race back from Mossdeep, crackled as it finally picked up distant comms from the city. Zev pressed a hand to his earpiece, listening closely. [break][break]

It was Admin Bee's voice, shouting for backup at the Dyna Tree. [break][break]

Zev patched into the ship's comms to dispense orders. "Keep going at full speed," he instructed the fleet's steersmen. To everyone else, he said, "Engage with any League forces you encounter. Stop them from taking the city, and stop Kyogre." [break][break]

He turned to Neffatari Nzingha, who stood nearby, her identity hidden by mask and codename. [break][break]

"Nova, you're with me." [break][break]

As his gaze swept back toward Sootopolis, he looked inward. He plunged himself into the psychic bond that tethered him to his patron, flooding it with all his rage and hatred. Filling it with the unquenchable urge to destroy. [break][break]

Heartbeats passed. [break][break]

Above the advancing fleet, in the storm-wreathed heavens, light exploded outward as an Ultra Wormhole tore through the fabric of reality itself. From within the portal, a massive obsidian form emerged, dwarfing almost everything within sight. Necrozma stepped forth like a living nightmare, its alien roar reverberating through the air to herald doom. [break][break]

Zev's heart soared, his entire body thrumming with his patron's presence. He dashed forward in a reckless sprint and launched himself clear off the bow of the ship. An enormous claw scooped him up, and together, the Destroyer of Worlds and its Avatar descended upon Sootopolis. [break][break]

Once he was within range, Zev switched to the city's Rocket comms. "Incoming, Admin Bee." [break][break]

A scintillating beam of light lanced through the air toward Rayquaza as Necrozma fired a POWER GEM. Spying the Dyna Tree far below, Zev leaped from his patron's hand, manipulating gravity for a harmless landing on nearby high ground. He threw a suspicious look in the Entei's direction first, then took in the rest of the scene. [break][break]

"What's the status?" he asked, glancing around to make sure Nenet had followed him as ordered. [break][break]

TAGS – BARNABY FINCH Neffatari Nzingha freya morningstar[break]
NOTES[break]
– Zev is at LOCATION D-4. He is unmasked and unarmored.[break]
– Orders the returning Rockets to engage with the League ASAP, and orders Nenet to follow him into the battlefield.[break]
– The real Necrozma emerges from Ultra Space to answer its Avatar's call.[break]
– Zev and Necrozma descend upon Sootopolis. While Necrozma uses POWER GEM on Rayquaza, Zev lands on high ground near the Dyna Tree.

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Reshiram. Zev thought of the Light Stone in Team Rocket's possession, acquired during the battle against Kyurem. The titanic dragon had fused with Reshiram, which meant Razz had lost his Avatarship around that time, if not earlier. [break][break]

"Good to know," Zev said, not caring how the Ranger became compromised. What mattered is how Theo planned to use Razz, and if those plans could be folded into the bigger scheme of their operation. [break][break]

"You're already in communication with him, then? What sabotage do you have in mind?"

TAGS – THEO BECKETT[break]
NOTES – social

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"We are," Zev confirmed, noting the challenge in Cillian's response, in the steel of his level gaze. The underboss' fears were warranted, but until Team Rocket outlived its usefulness to Zev, they remained his ally. [break][break]

"In that case, if you have any recommendations for individuals to remain with you at Sootopolis under your command, I'd be interested to hear them." [break][break]

Tempest Quinn had already expressed interest in the island's defense, but if there were any protégés under Cillian's wing or grunts loyal to his cause, Zev would know their names. [break][break]

A dog fought hardest when he knew his master was nearby.

TAGS – Cillian Quinn[break]
NOTES – social

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"Even though I wasn't there, Underboss Quinn asked me how it happened." Cillian Quinn's line of logic was sound; after all, one assumed that Avatars understood their patrons on a level mere mortals did not. "Necrozma created Shadow Pokémon by removing the light from them and replacing it with darkness." [break][break]

He recalled the words he used in translation: "When I take one, the other assumes its place." [break][break]

Zev raised his gaze from the machine to look Oscar in the eye. Black crystals had bloomed across the God General's skin, pockmarking his face with spots of void. [break][break]

"You've built a machine that can extract Infinity Energy from a Pokémon. These machines extract light. Could you take one of these apart to learn how it works? Maybe all it does is take light, but I want to know why and what it uses the light for." [break][break]

Glancing at the machine once more, he added, "Maybe there are logs here. Research notes."

TAGS – oscar clayton[break]
NOTES – mission (repeat)

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Alba's form was slightly off, his arms raised as if he were wielding a weapon instead of empty fists. Stepping up to the younger man, Zev corrected Alba's positioning, forcibly making the adjustments. [break][break]

"It's hand-to-hand combat, not melee with a sword," the Beast said as he stepped back again. He nodded then, satisfied. "Now I'll run you through basic drills." [break][break]

He started with footwork, showing Alba how to move forward, backward, and side to side without crossing his legs and risking a stumble. Once Zev saw that the grunt had gotten the gist of it, he moved on to the different strikes, emphasizing technique over power. [break][break]

At the end of the session, he reached for his water bottle, signaling that Alba could do the same. "Do you have any questions about anything we went over?" Zev asked between gulps.

TAGS – Alba Evovae[break]
NOTES – mission

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Zev considered Maki's suggestion and nodded. Team Rocket used such tactics frequently, especially when protecting their safe houses. It was smart to do the same on these truck drivers. [break][break]

"Good thinking." [break][break]

When Beheeyem finished with teleporting the stolen goods, Zev directed it to carry out the mind-wiping. After that was complete, he recalled his other two Pokémon into their respective capsules. [break][break]

"We'll return to Sootopolis and report in, then go over the mission debrief," he said to Maki. [break][break]

His Beheeyem glowed with psychic power. In the blink of an eye, the two humans and the sole Pokémon vanished from sight, leaving an empty line of trucks on the scorched, barren desert sands.

TAGS – MAKI YUKIMURA[break]
NOTES – mission

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Zev nodded along with Theo's spoken thoughts; he had similar ideas for the movements of their troops. "With Beast Delarosa starting his attack from the eastern side, we can eventually meet up right here, near the Space Center." [break][break]

A different portion of the map lit up with green as bryan delarosa's marker shimmered into existence above Mossdeep's southeastern coastline. [break][break]

"If he can keep the League forces from reinforcing the Space Center while we infiltrate it, then you and I can approach from their flank, trap them along the hillside, and crush them." [break][break]

A few more button presses caused Zev's own image and name to appear between the two, directly south of the island. Then the simulation began, showing the described movement of Team Rocket's assault. [break][break]

At the mention of Raziel Beckett, Zev looked over at Theo. "He was a former Head Ranger and is the current Slateport City Ranger Captain. What about him?"

TAGS – THEO BECKETT[break]
NOTES – social

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