The New Normal - 16-8 - Interlude - N

The New Normal – 16-8 – Interlude – N

He was so glad that Hilbert had joined PLASMA. He couldn’t deny that he had recently begun to feel a little lonely. He knew why he wasn’t allowed outside, but that meant that he wasn’t really able to meet new people outside the occasional new recruit that joined PLASMA. And even then, those recruits tended to treat him with a polite distance, meaning he was never really able to form deeper, friendlier, connections with them.

But Hilbert was different. Hilbert hadn’t hesitated to approach him, and he knew how trustworthy the newest foreign recruit was thanks to his conversations with his Croagunk – who had been all too happy to spill all of Hilbert’s secrets to him.

Croagunk had explained how good of a trainer Hilbert was, and how excited they both were to join PLASMA. Croagunk had also told N that Hilbert was someone without a lot of friends too, which only made N all the more interested in befriending him.

It turned out to be a great idea. It was always so nice to see the wonder and joy in their latest recruit’s eyes whenever someone spoke to him about PLASMA’s true goals of freeing all Pokémon and bringing happiness to all. That enthusiasm was infectious, and Hilbert always made him feel better after their conversations.

So he was both happy and sad for his friend when he heard that Hilbert would be heading over to Sinnoh to assist Zinzolin. Happy, because this was an excellent opportunity for Hilbert to show-off his enthusiasm and be rewarded for it. And sad, because he was now left alone without his friend.

Still, even though the man was off in Sinnoh now, helping to spread the message, Hilbert still found time to exchange messages with N and tell him more about the ‘outside world’. He was both equal parts happy and sad for his friend; he wanted Hilbert to stay with him, but he was also happy that his enthusiasm and work ethic was being recognised.

However, it seemed like PLASMA’s first venture into Sinnoh was turning into a complete and utter disaster. He already had a bad feeling when there had been reports back about how John had interrupted one of their speeches and verbally humiliated them in front of a new and foreign audience, slandering PLASMA’s message and goals.

That incident alone had caused Ghetsis to fall into a fit of fury, as he roared about how John was deliberately out to smear their image and tarnish their reputation. And while Ghetsis did say that this incident was only a minor setback that they could easily recover from, that was not so believable after what happened next.

Because Zinzolin had just been completely defeated in a battle – one that the Sage himself had proposed. That was already humiliating enough, but then the Sinnoh League went one step further and called out Zinzolin for cheating.

Truthfully, he was both shocked and horrified by the accusations laid out against Zinzolin. Creating and making use of artificial stimulants to cheat in a battle? And therefore deliberating hurting their own Pokémon by making them ingest a harmful concoction of chemicals?

It was everything that PLASMA stood against. So he refused to believe the accusations. He knew Zinzolin, the man was one of the more ambitious Sages, sure, but he wouldn’t sink to this level.

He wouldn’t believe that. He couldn’t believe it. One of PLASMA leaders, someone that he looked up, would never do something like this.

Right now, Ghetsis had called up all of the remaining Sages and himself to discuss what they would do in response to such a disaster. The problem was, none of them actually knew what was going on in Sinnoh. They had practically lost all contact with the team in Sinnoh, and were forced to rely on panicked reports or articles from the Sinnoh League themselves.

But from what they did know, every single PLASMA member that they had sent over to Sinnoh was now under investigation. And Zinzolin himself was taken into custody.

The ‘good’ news, and the only bright spot of light in this whole catastrophe, was that Hilbert had apparently managed to evacuate with a few other PLASMA members before the authorities got to them. They were currently returning to Unova, having fortunately managed to avoid the authorities, though they weren’t able to bring any of their equipment back.

“—This is disastrous.” Bronius said as he held his head in his hands, “Our first venture into foreign shores… and this is the result? Do the other Leagues hate us this much?”

“We shouldn’t have expected anything different. Zinzolin was a fool for thinking otherwise.” Ryoku spat out, “And now we’re left cleaning up his mess.”

“At least Hilbert managed to pull through.” Giallo tried to bring back the mood, “Who knew our latest recruit was so decisive? He should be rewarded. If only for the morale.”

N perked up slightly after hearing this. Was his friend about to get rewarded? That was a great news!

Rood looked at Ghetsis hesitantly, who had kept silent ever since the beginning of this meeting, “…Maybe it could be a good idea to scale back our goals? It might make things more palatable to the general public—”

“We will not be doing that.” Ghetsis’ voice came out calmly, but with a undertone of authority, as if daring anyone to disagree. It was a reminder of just who held the power in this room, and it caused the entire room to instantly fall silent as all eyes turned to Ghetsis.

“I did not recruit you to be the Sages of PLASMA just for you to whimper and retreat at the slightest setback.” Ghetsis said, “Our goals cannot be compromised upon. The public must be able to see the harm that they are doing by keeping their Pokémon trapped within their Pokéballs. They must see that it would be better for all if they were to release them into the wild. That has not changed. So instead of running around like lost Ducklett, let us actually make use of those brains of yours to come up with an actual plan – without arguing like you are mere children.”

N knew that his place was to remain silent and simply listen in on the conversations. Ghetsis never liked it whenever he tried to give his own opinions, so he just kept to himself and focused on his own thoughts. Or more accurately, he was focusing on what Hilbert had previously told him.

Occasionally, his new friend liked talking about his past and how he ended up becoming an Ace trainer. Hilbert did admit to him that not all Pokémon were unhappy to have a trainer, and instead some wanted to be by their trainer’s side. When he heard that, N explained to Hilbert that this was just due to humans’ manipulating and conditioning Pokémon to feel this way – which is what Ghetsis had told him previously – but one day his friend had off-handedly mentioned that perhaps a less radical course of action would be better.

N knew that this had been nothing more than an idle comment from Hilbert. He knew that Hilbert was more than dedicated to the cause, and was willing to see it through. However, Hilbert’s off-handed comment had provoked some reflection in himself.

Especially after the recent events, he could see for himself just how much the public seemed to hate the very idea of PLASMA forcing their Pokémon to be released. Of course, they were biased due to the recent, unfounded, accusations of cheating, but it did make him think.

Did this refusal to release their Pokémon stem from their desire to keep control of their Pokémon, much like Ghetsis and a few of the other Sages suggested? Or is it because they simply didn’t want to be separated their family – which was what these trainers considered their Pokémon to be?

And if it was the latter, then was it right for PLASMA to tear these families apart? Even if it’s for the greater good? He currently didn’t have an answer to that.

However, realising he had been too wrapped up in his own thoughts, he quickly refocused on the discussion before his daydreaming was caught.

“—No matter what, we need to consolidate whatever support base we have left in Unova as the utmost priority.” Gorm said, “We need to launch an aggressive campaign to win back the Unova’s public’s trust in us. We can’t afford to stay low.”

“But what about our reputations elsewhere?” Giallo asked.

“That is unsalvageable at this point.” Ryoku shook his head, “Gorm’s right. We need to focus all our efforts on Unova for now. Maybe in a few years’ time, when the public has forgotten about what has happened in Sinnoh, then we can try again. But definitely not anytime soon.”

That seemed to be the agreed upon plan, but N noticed that during this entire meeting none of the Sages had even mentioned the supposedly false accusations laid out against Zinzolin – they didn’t even seem all that outraged by the accusation itself, only by the consequences that it had caused them. They didn’t try to defend their own honour at all.

Was it because they knew that arguing against a rigged case was useless? Or was it because they had already anticipated something like this might happen one day, and were simply rolling with the punches?

That fuelled his suspicions, because he thought that the natural reaction to hearing about Zinzolin committing such acts of hypocrisy would be to be surprised and deny it – as his actions were completely opposite of PLASMA’s intended ideals. But they didn’t, and instead went simply into damage control straight away. This implied that they could have believed that Zinzolin was actually capable of doing this.

…His gut was telling him to find out more. This couldn’t be the full story.

Perhaps once Hilbert returned, he could talk to his friend about this. Maybe he would offer a different perspective to things.

A.N. I wanted to show that N isn’t as radicalised as he might be in the games/canon, and the subsequent reaction from PLASMA’s perspective about what just happened in Sinnoh. Thanks to Hilbert/Looker’s influence, he finally has someone to talk to that isn’t going to try to brainwash him into PLASMA’s agenda. He’s finally given more agency to think for himself. Which is really bad for Ghetsis. But that being said, he’s not seen the light yet. It’s going to take far more than this. Hope you enjoyed!