In the Unova region, on an unnamed back road.
Today, after seeing the messages Grey had sent him, N felt a faint but persistent sense of unease.
"N, what's wrong?"
Zekrom noticed something was off. It lowered its black head and asked what was going on.
"It's nothing. I just feel like Father is hiding a lot from me. If the Streamer hadn't told me, I'd probably still be kept in the dark."
N's voice carried a quiet sigh.
He had lived under Ghetsis for so many years, yet Father still guarded against him like this.
And Grey—how many days had N even watched his streams? Yet whenever N asked something, Grey always answered.
What's more…
N had told Grey outright that he was "Team Plasma's king."
And Grey didn't report him.
You could tell from the fact that no Trainers from Unova had come to arrest him—Unova still didn't even know this was happening.
If people found out that Team Plasma's king had gone out traveling, then N's fate would probably…
Back when he told Grey, N had wanted to see Grey's attitude toward him.
Now he had his answer.
Neutral, but leaning toward friendly.
From this alone, N felt Grey was still on his side.
Someone he could rely on.
With that thought, N took out his phone and called the only contact in his address book.
Beep… beep… beep…
It rang for over ten seconds.
Click.
Ghetsis picked up.
"What is it?"
On the other end came Ghetsis's cold, impatient voice.
These past few days, every message from N had brought bad news, and Ghetsis was out of patience.
And now Colress had been arrested by the Kanto League—alive or dead, nobody knew.
He'd had a champion-level Genesect, and still he got caught.
Bang!
As that thought hit him, Ghetsis didn't even care that he was still on the phone.
He slammed a fist down on the console, denting the metal panel.
Veins bulged at his temple, his teeth grinding hard.
Kanto…
Good. Very good, Kanto!
He pinned the phone against his shoulder and stared at the screen showing Colress's file.
All that enhanced data—numbers that supposedly neared Champion level—now felt like a cruel joke.
If Alder had led a suppression team, Genesect's firepower could've at least blasted a way out.
But instead, he fell into the hands of that Kanto League bunch!
Team Plasma's third-in-command had been ripped away just like that, without even a chance to resist.
This humiliation—he would make the Kanto League repay it a hundredfold.
At the same time, N's voice suddenly came through the phone.
"Father, about Colress…"
"Pfft!"
Rage surged straight to Ghetsis's chest, and he spat a mouthful of blood onto the display.
The veins on the back of the hand gripping the console stood out, and his vision blurred, splitting into overlapping images like someone had used Double Team.
Of all times for this adopted son to bring up that forbidden topic—why now, when he was at his angriest?!
Crimson droplets slid down the screen over Colress's photo, as if mocking his loss of control.
Ghetsis forced down the metallic taste rising in his throat and squeezed out a sentence through clenched teeth:
"This isn't something you get to ask about."
A short silence fell on the other end.
N could clearly hear Father's ragged breathing.
This abnormal agitation was nothing like the calm, unshakable Ghetsis he knew.
"Father."
N's voice remained even, but doubt deepened in his eyes. "Colress is conducting Pokemon modification experiments that violate basic ethics…"
"Enough!"
Ghetsis's roar exploded through harsh electronic static.
Both phones seemed to tremble.
The outburst stunned N.
In all his memories, Father had never lost control like this.
In the final second before the call was brutally cut off, N faintly heard the sound of metal cracking—like someone had smashed another console.
He slowly lowered his phone.
Some truths were like fallen leaves doomed to rot—buried deep beneath the soil long ago.
But—
At a time like this, the truth no longer mattered.
N rubbed the phone lightly.
Its cold touch couldn't extinguish the confusion surging in his chest.
The echo of Ghetsis's fury still rang in his ears, like heavy blows hammering at the faith he'd carried for so long.
Rumble…!
At that moment, lightning flickered above N's head.
Dark clouds rolled in, pressing down on the world until everything around him felt suffocating.
"Coo, coo…"
A flock of Pidove beat their wings and swept across the gloomy sky.
Watching them soar freely, N couldn't help thinking of the Genesect Colress had altered.
How bitterly ironic, compared to the "liberation" Team Plasma preached.
"So what are we really pursuing…?"
N raised an arm toward the sky, as if trying to touch his shattered convictions.
Ghetsis's outburst. Colress's atrocities. The screams locked inside mechanical bodies…
Every clue pointed toward a truth he didn't want to face.
Whoooo—
The wind howled.
N's long green hair whipped wildly in the storm.
Right now, he was like a Braviary lost in a hurricane, no longer able to find the direction he once believed in.
"N. What are you thinking now?"
Zekrom could feel the power of ideals inside itself rising higher and higher, and the sensation made it feel unbelievably comfortable.
Who said dreamers were a bad thing?
Reshiram was simply jealous!
Look at the ideals N was feeding it—how exquisite they were.
Yes. This was exactly how it should be!
Reshiram only chased thrills!
Zekrom had never felt this clear-headed in its life.
It felt like it was witnessing a rebirth.
If N's ideals became even firmer, Zekrom might just become one of the most outstanding Legendary Pokemon of them all.
"I want to build a new Team Plasma."
N stood in the rain, letting the downpour lash his body.
His dark green hair snapped in the gale, but it couldn't hide the resolve burning in his eyes.
Those words cut through the curtain of rain, heavy and absolute.
A bolt of lightning split the clouds—its brief light illuminating the fist he had clenched tight.
Rainwater ran down his chin, carrying the past away.
Colress's mechanical alterations. Ghetsis's lies. Secret dealings with Team Rocket…
So many filthy truths had already twisted noble ideals into something unrecognizable.
"A Team Plasma like this…"
N wiped the rain from his face, his voice ringing with steel. "I'll end it with my own hands!"
"Good! Good! Good!"
Zekrom lifted an arm, and thunder erupted instantly.
Several black bolts slammed into the ground. In the flash of lightning, N's face looked carved from conviction.
From this moment onward—
A new Team Plasma, an organization with N as king, was born.
"Grey… I'll make you see my ideals."
"If they can meet the truth you walk, this world will finally be liberated!"
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