Chapter 11:
"Wow, Skyarrow bridge is breathtaking, and look at Castelia's city line! I can't believe how big it is," Bianca said with wonder as she proceeded to take a million pictures of it.
"I know! I can't imagine ever living there though," I say as I look out onto the city with it's big sparkling lights, "there's just so many people there and not enough trees."
"I completely agree," N said who was walking right between me and Trixie, who was currently disguised as a little girl and holding N's hand, "the times I've been here I've always been excited to leave. There are just too many people everywhere."
"Oh, don't spoil it, look we're almost into the city, let's just have fun here and not worry too much about stuff like that."
The city is huge with large skyscrapers towering over us and neon signs flashing everywhere. There are so many people hurrying around us, most of them blabbering away on their phones, that I feel like we're being pressed on every side. I almost feel a little claustrophobic and I instinctively move closer towards N causing me to blush.
N and I had gotten even closer since we'd journeyed from Nacrene City to here. With Bianca off training half the time in her determination to get even better after her near fourth loss to Lenora. We had talked about anything and everything. I loved how N had become more and more relaxed between us as time had gone by and I often felt Nightstar nudging me towards him and giving me a sly look. Trixie also seemed to be in on it. She would often pull pranks that involved either me or N falling on top of each other which made her laugh and made both me and N blush.
"Okay, where will I train my Pokemon?" Bianca asked as she looked around at all the people around her. "We can't battle on the streets, and I don't even know who's a trainer or not."
"Bianca, didn't you read the big notice when we walked through the gate into Castelia city? It had a sign saying there was a special building where a company had hired trainers to battle anyone coming through. It costs about 5000 pokedollers."
"What!? I didn't see it."
"How could you miss it? It was in big, bolded, neon colors with flashing lights around it!"
"Well you know," Bianca said blushing, "I had… other things to think about."
"Like all the places you need to take pictures?"
"Maybe I was! And for a valid reason, there are so many things to do here! So many places to see! Speaking of, Ivory where's your next internship?"
"It's actually with Team Plasma," I say simply.
At this N turns to me, his eyes bright with excitement, "what really!? That's wonderful! I'll take you right to them!" He then grabs my hand and runs down the street with me leaving Bianca in the dust.
"Hey, that was mean to Bianca," I chided N as we ran down the street.
"Why? She's right behind us."
I turn to see her huffing and puffing after us. This is kind of surprising seeing as she's never gone to one of my internships before. We finally reached the street where Plasma's headquarters were located. There were flags to either side of them with the Plasma insignia on them. I looked across the street and I noticed that the Pokemon Gym was also in this same area, "that's… kind… of ironic," I wheezed, still out of breath from our run through Castelia, "Plasma and the League on the same street. Does Team Plasma go out and set up a lot of protests around the gym?"
"Unfortunately, no," N replied, "that's illegal."
After we've caught our breath we head inside the building. I have to say that Team Plasma's headquarters look really nice. Everything is super clean, and all the furniture is well maintained and proper looking. I don't know why, but when I came here last spring I had expected it to be kind of dirty with a bunch of Pokemon loafing around the building and the members to look like total hippies who had been getting too many doses of Dream Mist. I guess because in Nuvema town, a place where mainly scientists working for the League lived, everyone kind of thought of Team Plasma as ridiculous hippies who naively thought Pokemon and humans should be separated. However, after I met them, I realized that most of them were really well educated and respected members of society. I had read that the seven original founders all held one or more PhDs and were quite wealthy.
The receptionist at the front comes over to us and bows slightly before saying, "welcome to Team Plasma's headquarters how may we assist you."
"Wow," Bianca says, "I always wanted to come meet Team Plasma because I've heard such different things about them!"
"Oh, we hold tours of our organization that explain our philosophy and objectives. If you want, I could arrange a tour for you!"
"Can I give them a tour?" N asks excitedly.
"Oh… um…" the receptionist stutters and flushes slightly, "I'm sorry my… um sir, but we can only allow those officially signed as members of the Team to give a tour."
N truly looks crestfallen and says, "Oh, I see."
"But I can arrange a tour with one of the founders that oversee our area, and it'll be for free."
"What! Really! That's great," Bianca cheered, "this is going to be so cool."
The receptionist makes a few calls and asks us to wait in the waiting room. It isn't too long before an older gentleman in a nice suit comes to greet us. "Welcome young travelers, my name is Bronius and I am one of the cofounders of Team Plasma. I hear you are interested in learning more about us."
"Well," I say honestly, "I'm actually here for an internship with Team Plasma, but I would love to get a tour."
"Ah yes, you're the Whisperer that will be joining us for about a week before you move through Unova on your journey. Quite a fascinating arrangement you have there. Your name is Ivory Greystorm is it not?"
"Yep that's me," I said cheerily.
"Well I'm not here for any internship thing. I'm Bianca from Nuvema town and I'm on my Pokemon journey. I've heard a lot about you guys, especially from our friend N, and I want to see what you guys are all about."
"Excellent, then this tour is perfect for you," he said as he ushers us towards the elevator.
"Team Plasma was founded about twenty-three years ago by me and my six friends. My friends and I had met at university where we studied, among other things, Pokemon. It was there that we realized that the law and society has not made enough of an effort to try to understand Pokemon or even allow them a choice of whether they want to become integrated into our society. Instead, fear has kept us apart and has driven humans to enslave the other all in the name of protection against wild Pokemon. While we do understand and acknowledge that Pokemon are dangerous, we believe it would be in all our best interest to have as few Pokemon be enslaved until better communications between people and Pokemon can be created. This means that we highly discourage trainers from pursuing and capturing Pokemon. It's why we made such a push against things like PCs where Pokemon are digitalized and virtually abandoned by their trainers. We also are the ones who pushed for only allowing a trainer to catch six Pokemon. Of course, exceptions were made for the League, but we believe it's been a huge improvement compared to what we had before."
The elevator stopped and we walked out while Bronius continued, "We're also dedicated to protecting and rescuing any and all abused Pokemon," he said as he gestured toward a room filled with plants (they even had planted grass on the floor) and Pokemon with humans attending them, "this is our Whisperer division. They are devoted to the care and support of Pokemon. When Team Plasma conducts a raid on criminals such as Team Rocket that holds Pokemon captive, the Whisperers are the ones that help rescue and recuperate the Pokemon. They also assist abused Pokemon to adjust and trust humans again."
What I had always loved about Team Plasma was how many Whisperers were here. They all looked genuinely happy, and when I had been here last spring, I could tell that every single one of them was devoted to Team Plasma. I knew it was a little controversial to have so many Whisperers to work for the same group (especially one that was slightly antagonistic toward the League), but they all had volunteered and didn't want to go anywhere else.
Bronius looked over at me and said, "Ivory, you'll be working here with the other Whisperers. There's been a recent raid on an underground section of Narrow Street where humans have forced wild Pokemon into death battles amongst each other for entertainment. We're going to need all the help we can get to calm those Pokemon and help them to not kill any human that isn't a Whisperer on sight."
We then continued the tour where Bronius told us more about their history and philosophy. We saw some of their research and development projects, all on ways to better understand Pokemon, and we even got to look down the hallway where all the seven leaders of Team Plasma worked. There were six doors across from each other and one at the end.
By the end Bianca says, "wow this place is amazing! I never knew all that Team Plasma did. You almost make me want to join!"
"Yeah! Me too," I eagerly agree.
Those statements made both N and Bronius smile in approval. "Well we are always recruiting and accepting donations. Bianca, if you want you could join us."
Bianca looked amazed and stuttered "r-really?!"
"Well…" Bronius started and hesitated, "you would have to revoke your trainer's license. Not that you have to give up your Pokemon, but trainers are technically members of the League until they finish their journeys. Team Plasma and the League are… not on the best of terms and the League has now barred Team Plasma from entrance into the Pokemon League and certain positions within the League. We have several scientists working for us that used to be Professors in the League laboratory in Nuvema town, now they live here and solely work for us. So, in political retaliation, Team Plasma doesn't allow any League members to join."
"Oh… that's too bad. Well I still want to continue my journey, so I guess I'll pass. What about Ivory though? She's a Whisperer and not technically part of the League."
Bronius shook his head sadly before saying, "Ivory, you're about fifteen, right?" I nod and he continues to say, "we can't accept anyone under the age of eighteen. That's the same with the League and almost any political entity or company."
"Oh… well I guess in three years' time I'll think about it," I say.
"I hope you do," Bronius encouraged. He then handed us Plasma pins and said: "here. You don't have to be official members to support us."
"Thanks!" Bianca and I say together as we both reach for out bags and put the Plasma pin on them.
With the tour done, Bianca and I wave goodbye to Bronius and Bianca turns to us and says, "well that was fun! I feel kind of hypocritical saying this, but I'm going to go to the battle company and train up my Pokemon!" She turns and leaves, leaving me and N together at the entrance.
"Ms. Greystorm," I hear the receptionist call over to me, "this is your security clearance for Team Plasma. It gives you access to where the Pokemon and other Whisperers are. I hope you enjoy your time here with us." She smiles at me and nods respectfully at N before returning to her desk.
N looks over at me and asks, "are you ready to get started?"
Bianca sighed as she stepped out of the Pokemon Center with her freshly healed Pokemon. The battles had been hard, and she could hardly get past one trainer before having to leave and heal her Pokemon. She felt kind of frustrated at this, why was it so difficult for her to battle with Pokemon? Didn't she work hard enough?
"Bianca," a familiar voice called over to her. She looked up and saw that it was Black.
"Oh hey Black! Long time no see!" She said as she ran over to him. "How are you and your Pokemon?"
"Great! Are you going to battle the Gym Leader? I had my freshly caught Rufflet with me along with my Pansear to help me fight, so it was a breeze!"
"That's awesome Black! Yeah, I'm on my way to challenge Burgh, well at some point at least. Hey, have you seen Ivory recently?"
Black looked kind of distant when Bianca said her name, but he shook it off and said lightheartedly, "not recently. Why do you ask?"
"Well because she is your little sister and I think that maybe you should oh I don't know, go and say hi at some point. She's at Team Plasma's headquarters right now. You should go visit her."
"… Yeah. Anyway, Bianca do you want to battle?"
"Sure!"
They raced over to a battlefield and Bianca sent out Moon while Black sent out Blade. It was almost humiliating how fast the battle went. Black and Blade, who had now evolved into a Dewott, were so in sync that Blade followed every order without question or hesitation. It was almost like a dance; Black would rapidly shout out a command and Blade would leap and execute it perfectly. "Blade use Razor Shell," Bianca was surprised that Black would say this when Blade was still in the air from dodging a psybeam from Moon, but Blade didn't hesitate and immediately threw his shell with a burst of energy and water right onto Moon who promptly fainted after that hit.
"Moon," Bianca cried, "Moony are you okay?" She held the fainted Munna in her arms for a moment before returning Moon to her pokeball.
Black helped Bianca to her feet and said, "Bianca… you need to take more control of the battle. You rely too much on your Pokemon knowing what to do when the truth is that they need to be able to trust you and your commands to win the battle. Don't give up though! You are way better than you were when we first got our Pokemon."
"Thanks Black," Bianca said shakily, fighting hard to keep the tears out of her eyes, "I hope you keep improving too."
With that Black tipped his hat and walked away to downtown Castelia. 'Gee Black, couldn't you have asked how I was doing or what experiences I've had,' Bianca thought bitterly, 'you didn't even let me take a picture with you.' Bianca let out a frustrated sigh but decided it would be best if she just let it go. She couldn't help but remember something N had told her earlier "Victors decide what's right." At this moment, when she felt so weak and incompetent, Bianca couldn't help but agree and add mentally, 'and victors are the only ones that are worth anything. Losers are nothing.'
She was about to buy some casteliacones and wallow in self pity when she noticed two people not far from where she stood. 'The gingers, Team Smoke,' she thought, 'so this is where they go to sell their Dream Mist.' Bianca glanced around and saw that there were surprisingly few people around where she was and that no one knew or cared about the two thugs. 'Well,' Bianca thought, 'I guess that I'll have to take matters into my own hands. Then we'll see who's important and worth something.'
With those thoughts in mind, she swiftly walked over to see what the two were up to.