AT LAST, IT IS DONE.

Some of you reading this may know of a certain pair of ex-Plasma grunt characters of mine named Tom and Roger. Some of you may also know that they originated in a story called Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Plasbad, which was written for Serebii's 2015 Criminal Intent contest. I've posted the preliminary story both here and other places, but I've always been itching to revise it to unleash a bit more of its potential. Most of you won't have known any of this before, and that's okay - it won't impair any enjoyment of the following.

All you need to know is this is that revision. Feel free to read, enjoy, and maybe drop a review - this is one of the most fun stories I've ever written... both times around.

But so I give you...

Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Plasbad: Re-PLASMAAAAA'd Edition

Two young men stood side-by-side in the corridors of a massive, lavish castle. They were dressed in strange uniforms, resembling the armor of medieval knights, with an elaborate blue-and-black symbol on their chestplates. The young man on the left - black-haired, hazel-eyed, and sharp-featured, looked around at his surroundings, sighed, and shook his head.

"You'd think we'd spend more of our budget on our cause instead of buffing up HQ, but whatever."

He then turned to his companion, ginger-haired, blue-eyed, soft-featured, and shaking madly, grinning as if some cosmic force inside him was about to be unleashed full-blast.

"...You seem excited, Tom,"  said the first young man.

Tom turned instantly and energetically towards his companion and replied as if said cosmic force was in fact bottled up inside him the whole time. "Am I?! Roger, this is gonna be freaking awesome! You and me are gonna help save the world and every Pokemon under the iron heel of hu-"

"Yes, yes, Tom, this is gonna be a world-shaking event for a cause we both deeply care about and very much want to make a reality for the good of the world, but calm the fuck down. We've already been hired by Team Plasma but we're still waiting for an evaluation and debrief before we can actually get in on the action, and if you mess that up it's good-bye for the both of us. So just try to calm down, OK?

"Can I still do the skit wher-"

"Dear Cobalion, no. Act as serious as you can."

Tom then stood up unnaturally stiff and straight, saluting with an exaggerated grimace on his face. Roger sighed again. "Not like that. Just... Relax, OK?"

Tom finally shifted to a more-or-less neutral pose and expression.

"Perfect," said Roger, smirking.

Tom then noticed something out of the corner of his eye. "Hey! The evaluation person is coming!"

"Shit!" said Roger. "Do what I said!"

The two stood in position as a blonde woman, slightly older than they were but wearing the same uniform, approached them with a disdainful look on her face.

"Are you two the new recruits?"

Both Roger and Tom nodded.

"Alright then... Names?"

"Roger Guildenstern." replied Roger.

"Thomas Rosencrantz!" replied Tom in turn.

"Alright then..." said the woman, in a fashion so dry you could tell the exact multitude of times she'd done this before. She produced two Pokeballs, handing each to Roger and Tom with a similar lack of enthusiasm.

"These are the two Pokemon you'll use to further our cause. You can request more when you've been around long enough... Or liberate them from other trainers. Your choice."

Roger frowned. "Wait a minute. We're supposed to prevent Pokemon from being misused like this."

"Yeah!" said Roger. "We can't free 'em all if we stuff them in teeny little balls like everyone else does!"

The woman rolled her eyes. "We get that a lot. Unfortunately,people opposing our cause will likely use Pokemon against us, leaving us no choice but to use Pokemon of our own. The Pokemon used by Team Plasma will be liberated alongside everyone else's when the time comes."

"Oh! That totally makes sense!" said Tom.

"...If it's necessary and lets them be free in the end, alright," Roger said, looking down uneasily at his Pokeball.

"Alright then," said the woman. "You two are good to go."

Roger stared at her in shock. "...That's it?"

"Well, you got through the actual hiring process, didn't you?"

"...Point."

"Anyway, you two joined up just in the nick of time... We're having a big rally in Accumula Town in a few days. N, the King of Team Plasma, and his trusted advisor Ghetsis will be there."

"The King?! His most trusted advisor?!" said Tom.

"Yep. Welcome aboard, you two," the woman said.

With that, she walked off, not bothering at all to look back.

Roger stared after her blankly for a bit before turning to Tom, who had a huge grin on his face.

"This is gonna be great!" said Tom.

Finally, Roger smiled back.

"I sure hope so, buddy. I sure hope so."

---

The two later had entered their, small, dingy room in the barracks, idly chatting before Roger happened to glance at the two Pokeballs they were assigned.

"...We should probably let them out."

"Oh? Oh yeah!" said Tom. "They're probably all cramped up in there!"

The two released their Pokemon, a Scraggy emerging from Tom's ball and a Golett emerging from Roger's.

"Scrag!" said the Scraggy, looking around wildly and chittering.

"Aw, this little guy's adorable!" said Tom.

Roger's Golett, by contrast, surveyed the room making buzzing sounds before fixing its eyes on Roger and giving a wary "Lett."

"Er, nice to meet you too?" said Roger.

Tom, meanwhile, was already hugging his Scraggy close, the Scraggy squirming to escape.

"You and me are gonna be total bros!"

"Tom," said Roger, gritting his teeth, "I know you're excited, but... these Pokemon are just our assistants liberating their kind from humans. Once that's taken care of we'll let them go because it's the right thing to do. So... Don't get too close."

"Oh, yeah, right..." said Tom, setting his Scraggy down, leaving the pantslizard to scurry off into a corner and look between the two humans in panic.

"It's just... I never had a Pokemon growing up, and eventually I found out it was a good thing all along thanks to you, but now that I actually have one it feels pretty... pretty sweet, you know?"

Roger stared at him frowning briefly before shaking his head and giving him a small smile.

"I think I know what you mean. We can go ahead and give them names for now then."

"Yes!" said Tom, pumping his fists. "You go first Roger!"

Roger blinked and gave his Golett a stare, who warily stared back.

"Um... Are you OK with Vladimir?"

After a slow pause the Golett nodded.

"Alright!" said Tom. "I gotta choose an equally funky one for mine..."

He turned to his Scraggy, who was still cowering in the corner. "How about Estragon?"

After an equally slow pause the Scraggy calmed down noticeably and nodded.

Tom then frowned and turned to Roger. "Say... You've never told me what got you into Pokemon rights. I mean, I know you got me into it, but-"

Roger's smile faltered and quickly gave way to an outright bitter scowl.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"But we've known each other for-"

"What did I just fucking tell you?! I'm not talking about it!"

He turned away from Tom to face a corner of the room, causing Vladimir to stare at him in confusion. Tom, by contrast, stared at him in worry. Estragon continued to look on cautiously but curiously from a corner.

"Just... Please. Don't ask." Roger said after a while.

Tom didn't reply, just sitting down and staring off into space himself, Estragon looking back and forth between them, now just as confused as Vladimir.

---

A bit later, Vladimir and Estragon had met up with each other.

"Your human called you Vladimir or something, yeah?'

"Something along those lines, yeah. And yours Estragon?"

"Yeah!" said Estragon. "And speaking of which did you get a load of those humans we were assigned?"

Vladimir paused. "I do not know what you mean by a load, but judging from your phrasing I suppose yes."

"I grew up with a bunch of mean humans who only raised me for battle potential, and I was so scared when I got snatched up by those Plasma guys!" said Estragon. "But these humans seem nice! And they want us to help them free Pokemon from mean humans like the ones who raised me!"

Vladimir shook his head.  "All I knew before Plasma was Dragonspiral; I sympathize but cannot echo with your sentiments."

Estargon huffed. "Fair enough."

His Scraggy face scrunched up. "Speaking of which, I'm still confused about why our humans got to fighting all of a sudden when they first met us - It seemed kinda weird for 'em!"

"We can likely no ascertain the cause until we know them better... And we each other."

"Again, fair enough," said Estragon. "Besides, they - and we - are bound to do something important eventually."

---

A few days later, in Accumula Town, the rally was going full swing, with Ghetsis giving a passionate speech to a large crowd while a similarly-large group of Plasma grunts stood behind him, Tom and Roger among them. While both were listening intently, Roger kept an eye on the crowd, while Tom's facial expression became increasingly annoyed as the rally went on.

Eventually, the rally ended, the crowd discussed anxiously what to do with their Pokemon, and Ghetsis and the various Team Plasma grunts quickly dispersed. Roger moved to follow them, but stopped and turned back to Tom, who was standing stock still with anger and frustration etched into his face.

"...OK,"  said Roger, "I never see you this angry unless you've got a pebble stuck in your shoe in a painful way or something, so what the hell is-"

"The king!"

"...What?"

"Lord N! He didn't show up at all!"

"...Maybe he had sudden kingly duties to attend to?"

"But he's the king, the guy supposed to lead us into victory to freeing all the Pokemon! I wanted to meet him! Oh, I'm so disappointed I can't even-"

Roger peered over Tom's shoulder.

"...Isn't that him right there?"

Tom did a 180-degree turn in under a millisecond and gasped in delight upon seeing a young man matching the description of N to a T. Said young man was rapidly approaching another.

"It really is him!" said Tom. "I'm gonna walk right over and-"

Roger immediately grabbed Tom and pulled them both into a pair of nearby bushes.

"Tom, hell no. He's probably doing something importa-" Roger said before they both noticed N had struck up a conversation with the other young man.

"Doesn't look like it..." said Tom.

"Look, let's just... Wait and see what happens," said Roger.

And thus the two enacted the age-old tradition of watching from the sidelines.

---

After a few minutes, N had gotten into a Pokemon battle with his partner, both had left, and Tom and Roger were both still sitting in the bush, trying to register what had just happened.

"...Okay," said Roger, "I didn't mention it before in case they heard us, but there was something I no-"

"That was so cool!" said Tom."

"Tom, I'm trying to-"

"Lord N made the first real stand against the vicious tyranny of humanity, and even though he lost this occasion, he has such grace and determination that when it comes down to the denouement of this vicious conflict he will surely emerge victori-"

"Did an Elgyem shove a thesaurus into your brain during that fight?"

"....Say what, bro?"

"...Never mind."

Roger then looked back at where the battle had occurred.

"Anyway. Do you remember anything Lord N actually said during that fight?"

"Nope!" said Tom, with a mouth-wide-open smile

"Figured. Anyway... Lord N mentioned several times he could hear what the Pokemon were saying during the battle."

"Wait, he can talk to Pokemon?! He's even more wonderful than I thought!" said Tom, quivering with excitement.

"Well, at the very least it makes him a better leader for our cause than that battle would imply. But on that note I'm curious about something..."

"What?"

"He said the things that the kid's Pokemon said surprised him... And for some reason I feel like that's significant somehow."

"More significant than your favorite TV show being canceled?" said Tom. "I know you went on for days when-"

"...We should get back to the others," said Roger.

Tom shrugged and the two headed off in the direction of their comrades.

---

A few days later, Roger was sitting on his bed in the barracks reading a book, Vladimir peering over his shoulder trying to decipher the text.

This was all promptly interrupted by Tom and Estragon pouncing on Roger, causing his Golett to buzz in alarm and try to pry them both off.

"Agh!" said Roger. "What the hell was that for?!"

"We found it!" said Tom.

"Found what?"

"The King's room! Estragon helped a lot - he's the one who actually found the door!"

Estragon gave a "Scrag!" and churr of approval.

"Wait, you did? Did you actually go in? I hope you didn't interrupt any kingly duti-"

"Er, I actually got too nervous to go in..." said Tom with a sheepish grin. "I would have wanted you with me." 

Roger sighed and pinched his brow with his fingers. "Probably a good thing, as I said he's likely very busy."

"Oh, he sure was! He was scribbling math equations on the floor with a crayon! Super seriously. It had to be something important!"

"Wait, math equations? On the ground? With a crayon?!"

"Yup! It must have been important!"

Roger stared at Tom, open-mouthed in disbelief, before turning to his Golett, who merely shrugged. At this, Roger turned back to Tom.

"OK, I changed my mind, I need to see this King of ours and find out what the hell is up with him. How'd you get to his room unnoticed, anyway?"

"Well..."

"Yes?"

"...You remember our senior prank in high school?"

---

In a bright, pastel-colored room filled with all sorts of children's toys, the green-haired young man known as N had finished his mathematical scribblings and was laying on the floor, staring at the ceiling, his mind lost in a myriad of rapidly-moving thoughts.

That is, until a Team Plasma grunt burst into the room brandishing a knife.

"Hey,Lord N,you want some fresh-baked brownies?!"

N yelled and crawled back in horror on his hands and knees only to see the Team Plasma grunt in question - Tom- was indeed also holding a pan of brownies.

"I'll cut 'em up while they're still hot, your highness!" said Tom with a grin as he started to do so.

Roger entered the room shortly after. "My apologies, your highness, he's a bit... Enthusiastic."

He proceeded to look around the room with a bewildered look on his face.

"...Is this some weird 'new wave' of throne room design going on here?"

N blinked. "Who... Who are you two?"

"I'm Tom! He's Roger! We're both dedicated to your goal of saving the Pokemon!"

"...What he said," Roger replied.

"...I see," said N.

He got to his feet. It was then Roger noticed that while N seemed very much aware of their presence he was also visibly nervous at it and struggled to maintain eye contact with either of them.

"Usually the only humans" -the last word tinged with a degree of icy resentment- "that come in here are Ghetsis... And Anthea... And Concordia... But you two are Team Plasma. And as you said you're on my side - and more importantly, the side of my friends."

"...Friends?" asked Tom.

"All the world’s Pokemon," replied N.

He started pacing back and forth.

"As far as I remember I've lived among Pokemon, up until Ghetsis took me in. In the years since he's brought many, many Pokemon to me... All beaten, abused, tortured, broken by humanity..."

By now his expression had hardened with anger, even as he kept pacing.

"That's why I've sworn to free every Pokemon from human tyranny, creating a perfect world of black and white. And I have a plan - an elegant formula, of sorts - to pull it off."

By now Roger's expression had hardened much like N's.

"We'll most certainly be behind you the whole way."

"Yeah!" said Tom. "We're the guys you can count on!"

"Thank you, both of you," said N, stopping his pacing to hesitantly nod in approval. Afterward, though, his expression grew puzzled.

"How did you get to my room anyway?"

"Extreme ninja skills!" said Tom, striking a karate pose.

Roger rolled his eyes. "We co-opted some tricks from an old high school prank and-"

"High school? Prank?" said N, blinking in confusion. "What are those?"

This time it was Roger and Tom's turn to blink in surprise.

"You... Don't know what either of those are?" said Roger.

"What about... Toasters?" asked Tom.

"I... Don't know what those are either," said N, shaking his head.

Tom furrowed his brow in thought. "...A calendar?"

"Not that either."

"...The Internet?"

"That sounds interesting, what's it for?"

"All sorts of magical things, but also mean arguments, porn, and terrible fanfi-"

At the last point Roger's expression became horrified and he promptly covered Tom's mouth.

"...Never mind. Is there anything else you need, your highness?"

"...Not particularly. You two can go if you want."

"Alright..."

Roger gazed at N a bit longer before solemnly turning around and walking out. Tom, on the other hand, stayed a bit longer, his smile returning.

"Nice to meet you, Lord N! Looking forward to helping you save all the Pokemon!"

He turned to leave, stopped, turned right back around to leave the pan of brownies in front of N, then hurried after his friend.

N watched them go, then cautiously removed a brownie from the tray and took a bite. His eyes widened, and he proceeded to gleefully consume the entire batch.

---

After conversing with N, Tom and Roger were sitting by themselves in their room, Vladimir and Estragon playing a card game with each other, when Roger suddenly spoke.

"You know, I  like this King of ours... But he also seems kind of... off."

"Oh, how?" said Tom. "He seemed fine to me."

"Well," said Roger. "He's got all the right ideas about Pokemon liberation. But..."

"But what?"

"He has almost no outside knowledge of the world. None. And from what I heard him say about how he learned of Pokemon suffering combined with that makes me think he's shut himself up in that child's bedroom for years, possibly even until we saw him a few days ago!"

"That... is kinda weird," said Tom, shifting uncomfortably.

He scrunched up his face trying to think of an explanation. "Maybe he's got some crazy psycho side he needs to keep himself in that room for so it doesn't go out of control! Like-"

---

N walked up to a random person, smiling.

"HI! said N. "My name is N! Do you know what the N stands for?"

"Er, what?" asked the random person.

N suddenly pulled a chainsaw out of nowhere and adopted a psychotic expression.

"No survivors!"

He leapt forward cackling madly with the chainsaw buzzing as the random person screamed.

---

"...And then he goes on a murderous rampage culminating in-"

"Tom," said Roger, "tell me the truth: Are you hiding anything in your mattress, have you used it recently, and most importantly did you put it in N's brownies?"

"...No?"

"OK, good... It's just... I'm worried something fishy's going on here, but I'm not sure what."

Tom paused again.

"...Well, N still has the same goal we do, and believes in it as much as we do, right?"

"Yeah, true..."

"So we oughta still help him out, right?"

Roger paused himself for a while. "...Alright. But if something is up don't say I didn't warn you."

Tom frowned. "That's not the Team Plasma spirit..."

Their Pokemon looked at each other with concern.

---

Vladimir and Estragon had met up again.

"My human... No, Roger... He is having doubts..." said Vladimir. This is concerning..."

"Damn well it is!" said Estragon. "Me and Tom found the king of the Plasma humans doing all the liberating! We were making progress toward that!"

"Still, I cannot help but feel from what Roger said about that N fellow something seems off about him..."

"True. Plus, from the sounds of him on my end he's got the brains but needs a Pokemon partner to truly lead the liberation effort with him! Something tough from right here in Unova like a Zebstrika... Or maybe something from far away like a Pangoro!

He raised his Scraggy paws in the air.

"Heck, maybe even something.... Legendary!"

---

A few weeks later, things seemed to have settled down. Tom and Roger were stationed in Nimbasa, specifically in the section of the amusement park containing the ferris wheel.

"Alright, Tom," said Roger, "We gotta stay focused; our mission here is to-"

"Hey, it's that meddling kid!" said Tom.

"Wait, where?! We have to stop him!"

"Near the ferris wheel, with Lord N!"

Indeed, the two were talking outside the ferris wheel entrance.

"Shit," said Roger, "Let's get there and help him squash that kid!"

By the time the two had run over, however, N and his companion had already entered a cart on the ferris wheel.

"What the hell is he doing?" said Roger.

"Who cares, we gotta follow 'em!" said Tom.

They rushed up to the next ferris wheel cart behind them and tried to pry it open as they were slowly lifted up with it.

"Tom, help!" said Roger. "I'm having a hard time undoing this latch - didn't you take a mechanics class in school or something?"

"I flunked it! I never paid attention in class!"

"I suppose you never did your homework eith- wait, got it!"

A fair bit of awkward scrambling and clambering to get inside later and Tom and Roger were in their cart, right behind N and his companion. The two had their faces pressed against the front of the car, trying to get a good look at what at what their leader and his supposed enemy were doing.

"What are they saying?" said Tom.

"He's telling the kid he's King of Team Plasma, Ghetsis is..." said Roger.

"We already know that stuff!. Anything else?"

"I can't really pay attention if you're shoving your elbow in my face."

"Your knee is in my crotch!"

The bickering continued until N and his companion's cart reached the bottom. At that point the two Plasma grunts managed to sneak out of their cart and suddenly appear behind N and his companion, standing in formation and making it look as if they'd entered the scene from somewhere else entirely.

"My lord N!" said Tom.

"You're safe, sire!"

N looked backwards slightly, recognised the two, and smiled.

"There's no problem. You're part of the people we brought in to help us save the Pokémon. So, you're under my protection, as well. Go, quickly, and let my battle cover your retreat."

The two nodded and started to make a hasty retreat when Tom got his turn to pull Roger into a pair of nearby bushes.

"What the hell are you doing?! He gave a direct order for us to retreat!" said Roger.

"He's having another battle for the fate of Pokemonkind! We have to watch!"

Roger groaned, only to stay and watch anyway.

---

After N and his adversary had completed their battle and gone their separate ways, the bush-dwelling Plasma grunts were once again contemplating what had just happened.

"...He lost to that kid. Again. This isn't good in the slightest."

"He was still utterly magnificent, though!" said Tom.

"Let me guess, you saw an aura of roses and sparkles around him the whole time?"

"...I don't get it."

"Figured. But what's more worrisome is that our king wants to apparently take over the Unova Leauge by force... which sounds less effective to our cause and more like a Pokestar Studios B-movie villain plot."

"That... is kinda funny..." said Tom, scratching his chin.

"But... it makes even less sense because as much as he can't stand up to that twerp, I know from all we see of him N genuinely cares about freeing Pokemon as much as we do."

"Well, if he does... We should keep helping him all the way, right?"

"Normally I'd say yes... but I've been seeing and hearing things making me think Team Plasma's not quite the Pokemon rights organization we thought it was... and that we're in way over our heads."

"Well, there's one thing we could do, though," said Tom.

"And exactly what is that?" said Roger.

Tom grinned. "Visiting N himself again, of course!"

---

N was pacing back and forth in his pastel room full of toys again when Tom and Roger appeared suddenly at one turn of his stroll, causing him to yelp in surprise only to smile upon recognizing them.

"Ah, it's just you... Tom and Roger, was it? You were truly helpful in that Ferris wheel situation - I have to thank you."

"You're welcome, Lord N!" said Tom. "But Roger here wanted to ask you something!"

N turned, still smiling, to Roger. "What is it?"

"OK, your highness," said Roger. "First time we met, you told us a lot about what you didn't know about the outside world back then. Let's change the subject to what you do know from all the time you've been here in this castle."

N thought to himself a bit. "Some history."

"Like what?"

N's face hardened.

"Thousands of years ago... There were two kings, who ruled jointly alongside a nigh-powerful dragon-god Pokemon whose origins and name have been lost to time. However, the two kings grew conflicted over one's deluded ideal of humans serving Pokemon, and the other's righteous truth of Pokemon being free from humanity."

He started pacing again, with the same expression as before.

"The dragon grew conflicted enough between them to split into two new beings, and a war began that was only stopped when the lesser kingdoms of Unova were threatened. The kings called a truce, and both the truce and their dragons were passed on to their sons..."

The pacing and expression grew worse.                                               

"Only for the Prince of Ideals to betray the Prince of Truth, seal his dragon somewhere within Unova, and use his own dragon to enact a tyranny of humans over mons."

He finally stopped, calmed down, and sighed.

"Ultimately, his own dragon was sealed away itself, but the tyranny remained... But I'm the one destined to stop it. And I full well plan on doing so."

By the end of it all Tom seemed unusually stoic. Roger, on the other hand, was utterly baffled.

"That's... That's not..." he said.

"Not what?" N replied.

"Just... no, it's not important. Thank you for sharing that with us, it was enlightening to our cause."

N smiled again. "You're welcome."

Roger quickly headed out. Tom, looking on confused, followed. N looked on confused at hem both before resuming his thoughtful pacing, more calmly this time.

---

A few hours later the two had returned to their barracks, Tom was tossing a ball with Estragon while Roger was sulking on the corner of his bed, staring off into space, Vladimir pushing at him to snap him out of it.

Finally Tom turned to Roger, an uncharacteristic look of worry on his face.

"Something wrong, buddy? You've been this way since we last saw Lord N... Whatever it is, I want to help..."

Roger continued to stare at the wall, but after a while responded.

"At first... At first when we talked to him about his goals he seemed like everything we could have hoped for as a leader... But as we kept talking I started getting more questions than answers."

"Like what?"

"Did you ever actually pay attention in Unovan history class or- No, wait, I already know the answer to that."

"Okay then?" said Tom.

"Either way though... His summary of ancient Unovan history was pretty accurate... Except two things that were just plain fucking wrong!"

"Wait, what?!"

"First off, the first kings' conflict wasn't over Pokemon liberation; there was a wholly unrelated romanticism versus enlightenment thing going on there!"

"Romantiswhatsit and enlightenhooey?"

"...As N phrased it, truth and ideals."

"Oh, OK... But go on?"

"Second, past the point where the truce and the dragons were passed on to the king's sons... Everything he said was complete Taurosshit!"

"Wait, how?"

"The Prince of Ideals didn't do anything N said he did! What actually happened was that both princes ignored the truce and started the whole argument right back up again, and it escalated to the point both dragons pretty much blew up Unova!"

"Th-that's impossible!"

"Not for a pair of Legendary god-dragons. It took centuries for Unova to rebuild and recover after that."

Roger put a hand to his chin.

"Now if there's anything I learned from the Internet aside from over-the-top arguments, porn, and-" he shudders- "you know, it's that what school teaches you about history is often total Taurosshit itself. But even so I've never seen or heard an account anything like N's, and combined with the first thing... I feel even more like something weird's going on here."

Tom patted Roger, smiling slightly.

"Hey, cheer up, buddy; things are going just fine, from what I see. Besides, this isn't a video game or something where there's some secret evil mastermind pulling the strings on everything."

He chuckled to himself.

"Really, what are the odds of that?"

---

About a week later, Tom was playfully chasing Estragon through the halls of the castle when he suddenly bumped into a tall man with heavy robes.

The man, who Tom swiftly realized was Ghetsis, turned on him in an instant.

"You whelp! Watch where you're going so you don't disgrace your superiors!"

Tom panicked, stood straight and saluted, though trembled in fear the whole time.

"S-sorry, sir, it won't happen again I swear, please don't kill me!"

Estragon likewise hid behind his leg and cowered.

Just as quickly as he snapped, however - to Tom, almost too quickly - Ghetsis' expression became much softer and apologetic, though in a way that seemed vaguely plastic and artificial even to him.

"Dreadfully sorry about that outburst, young man; I should never treat a valued member of Team Plasma in such a manner."

"You're... Welcome?" said Tom, shifting nervously.

Ghetsis continued to smile at Tom, before adopting a more serious but still unnaturally serene expression.

"Tell me... What's your name?"

"Tom Rosencrantz, sir."

"A fine name, to be sure...But more importantly, do you believe in our cause?"

Tom smiled and nodded.

"Very much, sir! I'll serve Lord N to the end, sir!!"

"Yes, good, good; loyalty is always a most admirable quality... I'm sure you'll continue to do us proud."

Tom's smile faded a bit.

"Ghetsis, sir?"

"Yes?"

"I've heard from... the others you've taught Lord N everything he knows... Is that true?"

"Why yes, of course! He's my only, precious son, and the one destined to save all of Pokemonkind. Of course, there's the issue of that child he's so fascinated with poisoning his innocent mind, but I'm always ready to console him over his doubts from that. And besides..."

Ghetsis proceeded to actually grin, which Tom noted seemed a tad unnerving.

"Everything's going just fine in terms of our plans. Very soon N will have what he needs to defeat the Pokemon League and create the world I- no, we - always wanted."

His expression became more neutral again as he inspected Tom up and down.

"I do hope you'll join us for the occasion?"

"Yes sir!" said Tom. "Looking forward to the big party afterwards too, sir!"

"...I see. Alas, while this conversation has been fascinating, I need to plan something extremely important with N and the Sages. So farewell, Tom. Keep the Team Plasma spirit alive.”

He walked off briskly, not looking back, seemingly trying to get as far away from Tom as quickly as possible. Tom, on the other hand, frowned in disgust as soon as Ghetsis was out of sight.

"Something's really off about that guy..."

Estragon emerged from behind his leg, chittering and nodding rapidly.

"What should we do about it, though?"

Estragon put a paw to his chin in thought for a few seconds, suddenly raised said paw and uttered a "Scrag!" that likely translated to "Eureka!" and pantomimed a scowl and sulking posture.

"Oh, we should tell Roger?"

Estragon returned to his original posture and nodded vigorously.

"Let's do that, then!"

They both hurried back to the barracks.

---

"Wait, you actually talked to Ghetsis just a bit ago?!"

"Yeah! It was really unnerving!" said Tom.

"I'm probably gonna regret this but... More detail, please?"

Tom proceeded to explain everything about his conversation with Ghetsis. By the end of said explanation Roger's demeanor was even more dour than usual.

"...OK, now I know we're into way deeper shit than we signed up for."

"Wh-what do you mean?"

"N's isolation, his delusions, his plans - everything you said about Ghetsis pretty much confirms he knows about all that or possibly even orchestrated it all, and that he's hiding something truly nasty from everyone."

He shakes his head, then sighs.

"But I don't know if we can bail out at this point... If we just leave and someone finds out why we're really screwed..."

"But we can't leave! N still needs us!"

"Tom, I'm not even sure N himself knows what's really going on..."

"I don't care! Either way he needs our help!"

"Tom, this is serious, I-"

He was suddenly interrupted by another Plasma grunt barging into their room.

"Yo! We've got a team meeting in thirty minutes!"

"Wait, that soon?" said Tom.

"...What about?" said Roger.

"Apparently something about busting into a creaky old tower to find a legendary dragon-goddess." said the third grunt. "I dunno."

At his words Tom and Roger exchange a very worried glance.

Their mons, who had been listening in all the while, gulped, or the closest equivalent in Vladimir's case.

---

"I was right!" said Estragon. "That N guy's getting a Legendary to help him!"

He put a Scraggy paw to his chin. "Problem is with what Roger said a while back about Reshiram I'm not sure whether to be excited or scared..."

"Me?" said Vladimir. "Scared."

"Because one of Reshiram's awesome explosions might end up un-awesome and blow up Unova again?" asked Estragon with a gulp. 

"Oh, I am not worried about Reshiram herself; I met her a few times, in days of old..."

"Wait you did?" said Estragon.

"Yes... She is kind, keen to sense out good and righteous people, and dedicated to her role as a goddess of truth..."

He paused.

"She was also admittedly judging from my few encounters blunt, a bad liar, had a self-righteous streak, and was more than a bit prone to abusing her phenomenal power over fire, but no one's perfect."

"Right..." said Estragon. "So what are you scared of if not her?"

"N."

"Huh? Why him?"

"Reshiram seeks those whose hearts are in the right place and are true to themselves... And N meets all of those qualities almost too handily. But Roger's doubts are making me doubt he shall carry out anything good from joining up with her the state he's in now."

"Well..." said Estragon nervously. "He's still got the right ideas, correct?"

"He might," said Vladimir. "What I worry of is the execution."

"I guess..." said Estragon. "But that's gotta wait until it actually happens..."

He started heading off with Vladimir. "Besides, didn't Tom and Roger want us to train up for something?"

---

"...So are you ready to appease the Dragon of Truth, Reshiram?"

Alone in his room with Ghetsis, N nodded sternly.

"Yes, Father."

"Good," said Ghetsis, "I shall be off the-"

"Oh, Father, one more thing?"

"...Yes, my son?"

"There have these two Team Plasma grunts who have been awfully kind to me, could you pass them along my thanks?" said N. "It's been a while."

Ghetsis raised an eyebrow. "...How have they been kind to you, exactly? And what do they look like?"

"Well, one's got orange hair and blue eyes, the other's got black hair and hazel eyes... They've been coming into my room, telling me about all sorts of wonderful things like the Internet and high school and toasters... And they helped during the Ferris wheel incident too... And they were so attentive and supportive when they explained my cause... Oh, and one of them makes these delicious treats called brownies! You should try some!"

If N were paying more attention to Ghetsis' face he would have noticed his raised eyebrow twitch  violently.

"That is all I need to know, I shall pass it along appropriately," said Ghetsis.

"Thank you!" said N, smiling.

Ghetsis walked out of N's room, made sure to close the door gently, walked into a corridor of the castle where he knew N couldn't hear, and screamed violently.

"No, no, no! First I had that impudent boy getting the wrong ideas into that freak's head and now some of my own rank and file may be interfering with them! This cannot happen!"

"Well, we suppose we can't let it happen, can we not?" said a whispery voice from nowhere.

Three ninja-like figures appeared out of thin air. Ghetsis visibly, genuinely relaxed upon seeing them.

"Ah, the Shadow Triad... I can always count on you to clean up any unsightly messes."

"We wouldn't be repaying you if you couldn't, Lord Ghetsis," said The First.

"What unsightly mess do you need taken care of this time?" said The Second. "Something about our own intervening?"

"There are two Team Plasma Grunts that may be very well be giving N the wrong ideas much like that meddling brat. If they directly intervene with him again I need you to ensure there are no repeat instances."

"Consider it done," said The Third.

And they vanished into thin air as quickly as they arrived.

---