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Zev almost laughed at the absurdity of the stranger's response. His words were stilted, as if he had been plucked from another time and place. The manner of speech almost reminded Zev of the masked vigilante he'd fought in Slateport City's outskirts, but that man had been far taller than this one.[break][break]

No, there was only one person whose sense of theatrics, gait, and height matched this stranger's.[break][break]

"I have." Above them, the ceiling light flickered erratically. "They're the same as any man or Pokémon. They have flesh and blood; they can be cut and bleed."[break][break]

Zev's eyes flickered to the Grimmsnarl hunched next to the other man, protective of his master.[break][break]

"You have your own Pokémon with you, at least. You should be fine, provided it's strong enough. Wouldn't want to lose it and then get stranded here, lost and alone."

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Zev listened carefully to the voice that answered. It was deep, with a slight rasp, and muffled behind the helmet. Still, there was a nagging feeling in the back of his mind. The man's—because the stranger was a man—natural gait had been familiar, especially earlier, when he had been walking.[break][break]

Even if the voice was wrong, the gait paired with his height narrowed down his possible identities significantly.[break][break]

"This place is like a maze," Zev said, not answering the question. He emerged from the shadows at the end of the hall, a shadow himself, the flickering ceiling light barely illuminating his form.[break][break]

"The elevator doesn't work, and many of the stairs have collapsed or are blocked. And there are monsters lurking on every floor. Though I think you've noticed those by now."[break][break]

Empty, colorless Z-crystals lay scattered across the dusty tiles between the two men. Zev kicked them with every step as he approached the stranger. They clinked together, a gentle sound made louder and more threatening by the oppressive atmosphere of the tower.

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TAGS – soyeon kwan[break]
NOTES – takes place after Disseminate II but before Resurfaced Treasure

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The intruder moved through the floors, fending off Ultra Beasts and pushing past fooled Megalopolans. Zev followed at a distance, curious to see what the other person would do. Their pace picked up as they increasingly came face-to-face with the horrors of the tower, until they were running at full speed through the labyrinthine halls.[break][break]

Zev was glad he knew all the shortcuts through the tower—all the ones he'd made with BARNABY FINCH and Marza Volchitsa. Using them, he managed to keep up with the intruder's flight.[break][break]

Finally, they stopped before one of the many murals etched into the walls. Zev recognized it at once as the golden dragon descending up on the city. He'd found its same likeness scattered elsewhere—not just in the tower, but in the city at large.[break][break]

"You must be new to the tower," Zev said from the shadows. His cold, unfeeling voice cut through the silence hanging heavily upon the dust-laden air.[break][break]

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"I'm from Kanto," Zev said matter-of-factly, as if that was explanation enough. But just in case, he added, "Chili oil runs in my blood."[break][break]

For his dinner, he'd chosen dan dan mian, a spicy noodle dish he'd been eating since childhood. The restaurant was thankfully well rated for its authentic Kantonese cuisine; otherwise, Zev would have declined Kouji's invitation to dinner.[break][break]

The mere fact Kouji had invited Zev to eat had been strange, of course. Kouji hated Zev, all because of a nightmare the boy had a few months ago. But if the boy had any motivations other than food poisoning or acid reflux, he hid them well.[break][break]

Picking up the plastic chopsticks that came with their table setting, the hitman started tucking into his food. "What do you want to talk about, Matsubara?" he asked, getting straight to the point, his voice coldly apathetic.[break][break]

Normally, he would slip into his charming civilian persona in public, but there in Sootopolis, he didn't have to wear any masks. They could discuss business for Team Rocket without fear of repercussion.

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The Honchkrow fell, recalled into its Pokéball before it could hit the water. The Seadra soon followed it, leaving the rookie Ranger defenseless out on the open ocean.[break][break]

At her master's command, Zev's Dragalge came to an abrupt stop alongside the girl, sending a wave of water splashing over her. Zev's hand shot out, curling around the collar of the Ranger's uniform jacket.[break][break]

"Then you're coming with me," he said, the mask digitally warping his voice into a guttural growl.[break][break]

With a single arm, he attempted to haul the girl onto the back of his Pokémon.

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In the midst of the vicious tug-of-war between the League and Team Rocket, respite was a rare and brief opportunity. Thankfully, Zev had seized one. He sat on a boulder, administering Potions and Super Potions to his Pokémon that he'd pilfered off League bodies.[break][break]

If only there was a quick solution to his own fatigue. Though he bore few wounds thanks to his unnatural armor, it did nothing to help his endurance or the mental strain of active combat. This lull was as much for his own benefit as his Pokémon's.[break][break]

A fresh surge of adrenaline lanced through Zev, however, at the sound of a frantic scrambling across stone. It sounded near, much closer than the sounds of battle elsewhere on the island.[break][break]

And it was getting louder—coming closer.[break][break]

Zev stood, his Hatterene at his side. Freshly healed from the potions, she glanced around with narrowed eyes, her tentacle poised to take down any approaching foe.

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After multiple expeditions into Lesser Megalopolis, Zev no longer felt the same tense apprehension as he had during his first arrival. The bleak, lightless cityscape was familiar to him, and he could navigate Lesser Megalo Tower with ease.[break][break]

The lifeless Megalopolans and the Ultra Beasts randomly appearing through wormholes no longer concerned him. He and his Pokémon could handle them.[break][break]

He stood alone on the 20th floor of the tower. Machines surrounded him, some of them carrying defunct Z-crystals. A lone computer terminal illuminated him in pale, sickly light as his eyes read logs that had not yet been corrupted.[break][break]

"Ultra Megalopolis has also fallen. There is no hope for us now. We are ruined."[break][break]

Light-bringer, other logs downstairs had suggested. Light-eater, cried the refugees from Galar and the survivors of the Darkest Day.[break][break]

A sudden noise drew Zev's attention from the monitor. His head snapped in its direction before his entire body grew still. Straining, he picked it out: the beating of wings from outside the tower.[break][break]

No creatures native to Lesser Megalopolis used wings to fly.[break][break]

The wind howled suddenly, briefly, buffeting against the steel and glass of the tower. Then footsteps, very light on the dusty floor. From their sound, they came from a single individual.[break][break]

Zev stood slowly, careful not to make a sound. As he walked toward the source of the footsteps, he called forth the crystals in his body, covering his skin with them from head to toe. Dressed as he was in his black field gear, and swathed as he was in the shadows of the tower, they were not easily visible.[break][break]

He paused in a doorway. On the other side was a person dressed in a Megalopolan recon squad uniform and helmet. Judging by their movements, however, they were not undead.[break][break]

No, they were very much alive.[break][break]

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Zev had to give the gym leader credit; his reflexes were fast. But fleetness was not enough to deter the Beast from his hunt. The punch Navy aimed at his throat was a fool's gambit. Zev was tempted to let the strike land, if only to see the horror on the other man's face when flesh shredded and bone shattered.[break][break]

But there was a quicker and more efficient way to end this fight. Zev dropped into a crouch, kicking out his leg to sweep Navy off his feet. If successful, he would jump back up and aim a spike straight down into Navy's heart.[break][break]

Unfortunately, that was when the Dragapult's REFLECT activated. Zev felt the shield's resistance, watched its glow ripple across his victim's body as his crystal struck it.[break][break]

Elsewhere, the DRAIN PUNCH sapped the strength from Hydreigon. He screamed in outrage, looking more and more ragged as the clash with Navy's Urshifu dragged on. Flapping his wings, he tried to put distance between himself and the bear before retaliating with HYPER VOICE.[break][break]

Above, a whisper heralded Smoke's return, the Gengar appearing behind Navy's Dragapult to finish his PHANTOM FORCE strike.

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Zev stopped next to Nomi at the crossroads. His flashlight followed the line of symbols carved into the wall. To him, they were completely unfamiliar and incomprehensible.[break][break]

"Well? Can you read it?" he asked the girl. Perhaps she had previously encountered such symbols in her study of the Unown.[break][break]

As he waited for Nomi's response, Zev shone his flashlight down both corridors. The noise of feet against stone came from both directions, but they weren't growing louder. And the cadence of the gait sounded quadrupedal, not bipedal.[break][break]

Did wild Pokémon live down there in the cave system? That was the only conclusion Zev could reach, with his limited knowledge.

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From his vantage point at the mouth of the cave, Zev spied the glowing power spots—not just one, but several of them aiming beacons of magenta light into the sky. He knew what they were as soon as he laid eyes on them, yet he could not explain how or why.[break][break]

For him, the memory of Galar was a black smudge in his subconscious, nothing more than fragments of knowledge and enduring convictions.[break][break]

Zev did not concern himself with the studies into the Violet Book, the glowing petal, or the power spots in the coming days and weeks. He left that to Team Rocket's Head Scientists, trusting he would learn of their findings eventually.[break][break]

And though he helped with the search for the three Galarian birds when requested, his own hunt for his elusive patron took priority, prompting an eventual visit to declan walsh's office later in September.[break][break]

"I want to meet with our prisoners," Zev said. "Velmos and Cotillard. I want to ask them some questions about Necrozma, and about their earlier offer."[break][break]

Ultra Megalopolis, as an extension of Team Rocket.[break][break]

But if what Zev found in Lesser Megalo Tower was true, was there even an Ultra Megalopolis worth allying with?

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Zev listened closely to Soyeon's explanation, frowning at her mention of 'harvesting'. "So we would have to visit the various pockets of Ultra Space we have access to—the Wilds—in order to gather Infinity Energy readings from there?" he mused aloud.[break][break]

While he had no qualms traveling through the rifts and braving those untamed worlds, something he'd done many times at that point, his goal was not to capture data in brief windows of time.[break][break]

Turning to the scientist once more, Zev asked, "Is there no way to set up a machine here that can be constantly recording those readings?"[break][break]

He paused, momentarily taken aback by her sudden rambling about other studies: Terastallization and Shadow Pokémon.[break][break]

"I know a little about Shadow Pokémon," he said, "but their numbers dwindle, and we have no way to make more. Some say it might not be the smartest idea to make more," he added, his expression turning grim.[break][break]

And then it eased again into cold indifference. "If you're dead set on studying something other than Ultra Space, however, I'll find someone else to assist me."[break][break]

Without warning, a rip in the fabric of space-time opened to their right, revealing the top of the cliffs of Sootopolis. A pleased satisfaction filled Zev at the confirmation he'd been right. "We should leave now, before this closes again."

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