The entire plot of BW in less than 600 words!

I wonder if this fic will be finished before Sun and Moon come out or whether it will see yet another release of a new generation lol


The tale was a long one, but Zoroark spoke with little emotion. It was a long time ago that these events happened and for him things were resolved, so there was no reason for him to feel bad recounting this story. There were a few times his eyes narrowed, that his lips curled into a brief snarl, and each time it was at the mention of the man named Ghetsis.

N had lived in a forest a long time ago, when he was only a few years old. The Zoroark Ryan had known since the day he stepped outside had lived with him then, still a Zorua, as well as Darmanitan and some other Pokémon they hadn't seen since. Ghetsis had taken N in as his son, given him the name of Harmonia, and given him shelter – or rather, a prison – in an underground castle. Zorua had stayed with him; Darmanitan did not.

Ghetsis brought countless injured Pokémon to N, only ones that had been hurt by cruel trainers, using his gift of understanding the creatures to train him into thinking that all people treated their Pokémon like this. He raised him to be Team Plasma's king. Except the Team Plasma N thought he was leading wasn't to Ghetsis' true intentions at all. N was trying to free Pokémon from humans; Ghetsis was trying to gain power for himself by making sure nobody in the region could fight back when he tried to take over.

Understandably, people didn't like having their Pokémon taken from them. Some released their Pokémon willingly after hearing the speeches Ghetsis made, others – like Eldred, Ryan could only assume – had their Pokémon taken from them by force. People did take a stand, though. The gym leaders. Alder, the champion at the time. And a trainer named Touko.

She'd told Ryan before that she first met his father in Accumula Town, but never that it had been because of one of Team Plasma's rallies.

Ghetsis had set N on the path to finding the legendary dragons, so that people would give up their Pokémon out of fear for the sheer strength Team Plasma possessed. Things didn't go exactly as Ghetsis planned, though; he didn't expect Touko to be a factor, the trainer who N didn't understand in his world because her Pokémon loved her. She was nothing like the trainers his friends had suffered from. He didn't understand, and it was his wish to know the truth that enabled him to awaken Reshiram from the White Stone it had remained as for thousands of years. Despite his father's wishes he wanted to battle Touko and make sure that what he believed was true.

Touko rose to the challenge. And with her plight, her search for an ideal world where she and her Pokémon wouldn't be separated from each other, Zekrom awoke to fight alongside her in the fiercest battle Unova had seen for millennia.

Ryan's parents were the new heroes of truth and ideals. The two heroes in the story N had told him, where the hero of ideals won but they didn't remain as enemies.

That was why Reshiram had asked him about his parents. Dad was the hero who befriended Reshiram!

"After Touko won the battle, Ghetsis revealed everything. Maybe not intentionally, but he did. After that, Touko defeated him in battle too, and N left the region. I never knew what happened to Touko after that – but she's your mother, isn't she?" Zoroark glanced over at him, not really seeming to care much about the answer since the boy was still trying to take all this information in.

Ryan nodded slowly. "I… I had no idea so much had happened. When Jeremy said… when I thought… I didn't know Dad had been through so much." Now he understood why he cared so much for Pokémon. Why he did everything he could to save them, even if in the end he couldn't do enough – why he hadn't wanted Ryan to become a trainer.

He felt bad for everything he'd said. For shouting at his mother, too. She'd tried explaining things to him but he'd refused to listen.

"I should probably call them back," Ryan mumbled, talking more to himself than Zoroark. "… Later." He didn't want to speak to his parents again just yet. Especially after the way he'd spoken to them just now.

"He'll probably understand," Zoroark said. "I don't know if anything's changed since, but he never used to be too great at human emotions. I hope he's happy now, wherever he is. Is Zoroark still with him?"

"Yeah. He lives in the forest near our home," Ryan nodded, more enthusiastically this time. "Maybe one day you'll get to see him again. Are you related to him?"

"Nah. I was one of the Pokémon Ghetsis brought to the castle. Trainer put me through some nasty fights when I was still a Zorua and got mad when I didn't win, broke one of my legs and threw me into a river. N was the one who patched me up, but when he left he only took Reshiram with him. His sisters and an old man took the rest of us away to look after, but Zoroark refused to leave the castle until N eventually returned."

"I'm sorry that happened to you," Ryan said sympathetically, wanting to reach out and pet the fox but not quite sure how he'd react given his past experience with humans. "Humans can be awful sometimes."

"You're telling me," Zoroark muttered. "N was one of the few nice ones. I did see him again once or twice – he helped Nate take down Ghetsis once and for all when Team Plasma resurfaced. A while after that he disappeared again. When I thought he'd finally returned, turns out it was just his son."

"Oh… that must have been disappointing," Ryan sighed, remembering the fox's reaction when they'd first met. "Sorry. I didn't know. Dad didn't really tell me much about his time in Unova, as you probably know."

"Yeah, well, it's all water under the bridge now. He's alright, got himself a family. Zoroark will look out for him." The younger fox stretched after sitting in one position for so long. The coat began to slide off him from the movement, and he let out an irritated sigh. "Let's go look for my trainer. This thing is too heavy and it moves around too easily." He hopped off the boulder, kicking the coat off his back in the process and nearly flinging it at Ryan. "You carry it."

"Uh, thanks," Ryan said with a wry smile. This Zoroark wasn't quite as friendly as the one he knew, but they came from similar backgrounds. The older Zoroark hadn't had the most pleasant experiences with humans either. As Ryan attempted to fold the parka to make it easier to carry, he thought about what the fox had just said. "How did you end up with Nate, anyway?"

"Rood decided I was too 'restless' to stay in their place with all the other Pokémon." Zoroark had already started to pad away, not looking back to see if Ryan was keeping up. "So he just handed me over to the first trainer who showed potential. What kind of potential he saw in that idiot, I'll never know."

"He seems like a nice person," Ryan shrugged, snatching his bag from the ground before hurrying over to walk alongside the fox. "Do you like him?"

"He grows on you after a while," Zoroark muttered. "I hated him at first. Even took a chunk out of his hand. He didn't get mad at me for it, though, just assumed he'd scared me. Lucas… eh, he was another matter." The hint of a smirk appeared on his face. "He was fighting against Team Plasma, though, and an enemy of your enemy is your friend. Not to brag, but he made me pretty damn strong too. If any of those Plasma crapshoots show their faces around here again I could lay them flat with one paw tied." He looked over at Ryan. "Besides, he's attached to me like the rest of the team. If I left now it'd break his poor little heart. What kind of soulless creature would do something like that?"

Ryan wasn't fooled by the sarcasm in his voice; he could see from Zoroark's eyes that he was joking. He loved his trainer as much as the others did.

It was only a few minutes before Zoroark halted suddenly, glancing around and sniffing at the air. He snorted as if confused before glancing up.

Curious, Ryan turned his gaze to the canopy above; and there, five metres above them, sat Nate with an impish grin on his face.

"I wondered if you were just going to walk past. Great tracking skills you got there, Z," he laughed. Chief was perched further along the branch, eyes closed and feathers puffed out; he opened one eye to look down at them.

"Don't make me cut this tree down." Zoroark rolled his eyes.

"Isn't it dangerous to climb trees?" Ryan called. Not that he'd ever really listened to that warning.

"It's all a matter of trust," Nate replied simply, standing up on the branch. "Not that I trust this birdbrain to catch me; more like I trust myself to not break anything too bad if I fall out."

Chief let out a huff at the name. "Good riddance if you do," he tutted, shimmying his wings a little before reverting to his fluffy resting state.

Ryan instinctively stepped back as Nate jumped from the tree, his breath catching in his throat for a moment – that was a rather high branch. But Nate landed without much trouble, the ground almost seeming to shudder as he did, and he stood back up to full height a moment later with his hands in his pockets as if nothing had happened. Maybe that was something he did often.

"Well? Z tell you what you needed to know?"

"Yes," Ryan nodded, not intending to explain everything to Nate and knowing he didn't expect him to.

"Good. Hopefully you know where everyone stands with Team Plasma now," he smiled. "N especially. It's getting kind of dark, so… you should probably head to the Pokémon Centre."

Ryan grimaced. "The people in Opelucid don't like me, though. They chased me out."

"Iris has spoken to them. If anyone can make those people see reason, it's her; they respect Iris a lot."

"Is it because she's strong?" If that was the case, there was no saying how they'd act towards him when Iris wasn't there. "I… she's a really scary gym leader. I couldn't beat her."

Nate burst out laughing. "I'm sure she'll be glad to hear that! Yeah, she's tough. She was the champion before me, y'know. Still, if you train some more, get some new moves for your Pokémon, I'm sure you can do it." He gave Ryan an encouraging pat on the shoulder. "The people of Opelucid respect her for more than that, though; her mentor used to be the mayor of the city. Since he's gone now, they look up to her like she's taken the roll, so I doubt there'd be any funny business."

"Well…" Ryan glanced in the vague direction of the city, anxiety clouding his eyes. Would things really be any different?

After a moment of hesitation, Nate let out a small sigh. "Hey, if you're still not convinced… I'll walk there with you, okay? If anyone tries to start something they'll have me to answer to."

Ryan looked at him in surprise. "You'd do that?"

Nate shrugged. "Yeah, sure, if it'll make you feel better. Today's been a rough day."

"Thank you," Ryan smiled, genuine gratitude in his voice.

Maybe Nate wasn't just talking about what had happened to Ryan. Still, he didn't need Alder's advice to think it was probably better if the champion didn't know he'd witnessed the quarrel between him and Benga.

It wasn't until a drop of rain fell from one of the leaves above, causing a loud noise on the hood of his raincoat, that Ryan remembered part of the reason he'd followed Zoroark back here in the first place. "Oh! Here," he said, holding the parka out to return it.

"Huh? Oh, right. Thanks." Nate took the old coat, but instead of wearing it he just slung it over his shoulder.

There was something Ryan noticed, though, as he reached for it. Not the fact that Nate had a couple of plasters on his hand, because it was probably safe for Ryan to assume that was the result of punching that tree earlier. No, there was a slight discolouration on the side of his right hand, something Ryan wouldn't have thought too much into if he'd noticed it before, but now he realised it was the size and shape for the jaws of a Zorua.

Zoroark. Ryan had to bite his lip to keep back an amused smile. It looked like the fox's story had some evidence behind it.

"Alright. Opelucid is… this way? I think. Hopefully." Nate pointed in a direction – fortunately it was the right one. Ryan was quite good at navigating forests, so at least he'd probably be able to tell if Nate was on track to get them lost.

Meanwhile, Zoroark's eyes had begun to glow as he snickered quietly, still watching the trees above where Chief was perched. A bunch of ominous-looking shadows shot up into the air, floating around the bird and looming ominously. As soon as he blinked open his eyes once more, Chief let out a shriek of surprise, almost falling from the branch. It was only a second before he realised what was happening, and shot a glare down at Zoroark. If looks could kill…

"Ooh, I scared you!" Zoroark yowled with laughter as the illusions faded.

Chief had no words to respond, hopping down a branch and letting out an angry screech. A nearby rock raised itself from the ground and went flying towards the fox.

Zoroark hopped over it as it sailed past. "Oops, missed me." He ducked to avoid another. "It was just a joke, gosh. No need to start going all rock slide on me."

Their little scuffle was brought quickly to a halt as the two Pokémon vanished into red light. Nate clipped the Poké balls back to his belt. "Geez, those two. Can't take 'em anywhere."


It became apparent to Ryan as they walked that Nate had probably been joking when seeming unsure about the way back to the city, as he didn't have any problem leading the way back to the main part of the route, even as the sun started to set and the shadows drained the light from the forest. As they left the cover of the leaves, Ryan actually felt a little surprised when Nate finally put on the parka – they weren't sheltered from the rain out here, of course.

"Did you put this on Zoroark or something?" he questioned, brushing some red fur from the insides of the coat.

"It was raining!" Ryan protested. Nate just laughed and shook his head.

There was certainly a change of attitude as soon as they reached the city, though. While Ryan followed behind and glanced around worriedly at the few people that were out despite the rain, Nate led the way to the Centre silently, the hood of the coat pulled forward and avoiding eye contact with anyone they passed.

Ryan vaguely remembered Bianca – and Lucas too – mentioning that Nate didn't like going into the city. Did he not want to be recognised? Given how some people had spoken about the champion, Ryan didn't blame him.

Nate hesitated outside the building when the automatic doors slid open. "Well… here we are," he stated, taking a step back. "You shouldn't have any problem getting a room for the night, but if you do," he nodded in the direction they'd come from, "first right, house at the end of the street. I'm sure Iris will give them a good talking-to if they break their regulations and turn you away."

"Right," Ryan nodded. He doesn't want to go inside. "Um, thanks again for bringing me here. You were a good bodyguard!" Maybe attempting to imitate his sense of humour would bring it back.

Nate smiled at that, and to Ryan's relief, it didn't seem forced. "Ha. My future career awaits. You're welcome; good luck with the last gym, hey? See ya 'round."

He didn't even wait for Ryan to respond before turning to walk away down the street.

"See ya," Ryan mumbled a little helplessly. Even if his leave had been abrupt, it had been nice of Nate to walk him here.

As Ryan stepped into the Pokémon Centre and out of the rain, he glanced around at the open room. There were a lot of people around, especially in the dining area, but they paid no heed to him, so he continued walking.

Until he noticed one person in particular, and stopped dead in his tracks.

No… no, no, no…

Jeremy was here. Sat at one of the tables with an empty plate. Espeon was curled up next to one of the table legs, and her ears twitched as she saw Ryan, blinking in surprise. She didn't alert her trainer, though, hurriedly lowering her head back onto her paws. Jeremy was too focused on his phone to notice Ryan on his own anyway.

Espeon's gem took on a dull glow.

"I won't tell him you're here." The voice was quiet inside Ryan's head. "Keep walking and he likely won't see you. I'm sorry for what my trainer has done."

It's not your fault, Espeon. Ryan didn't know if she could read his thoughts or only send her own voice telepathically, but he didn't want her to feel guilty for it. It only made him resent Jeremy even more; his Pokémon shouldn't have to suffer because of the things he said.

Perhaps one day they'd teach him a lesson, but for now, Ryan was happy to just stay out of his way.


Much to Ryan's relief, he had no trouble getting a room for the night. He wanted to wait as long as possible before going back downstairs to get food in order to avoid another confrontation with Jeremy, so to pass some time, he told the story he'd learnt to his Pokémon.

He didn't know how he expected them to react; Jay mostly looked confused at first, but as the tale progressed his eyes widened in shock to hear the past of one of the people he'd seen so often in his life. Axle listened silently, seeming thoughtful; he was probably old enough to have been alive when Team Plasma was around. The most horrified was Sigilyph, taking in the knowledge of what had happened to the person he looked up to so much both before and after they met.

Dinner was uneventful, as by the time Ryan went to eat, the café was almost closed and Jeremy was nowhere in sight. He was probably staying here for the night too, and as Ryan picked at his food he tried to decide whether it'd be better to head out earlier or later the next morning to avoid running into the man again.

He wasn't going to challenge the gym again straight away. That was for certain. They needed to do some more training in order to stand up to Iris, and besides, there was still some of the region to the west that he hadn't explored yet.

When Ryan returned to his room, he checked his Xtransciever. There were no missed calls, even though it was later than when his parents usually rang him.

They probably wouldn't call him tonight. Not after how he'd acted earlier. As much as it scared him, not knowing what they would say, Ryan knew he needed to apologise. He wouldn't be able to sleep tonight otherwise.

Drawing in a deep breath and letting it out slowly to calm his nerves, he called home for the second time that day.

It was a painfully long time before the call was answered. "Ryan…?"

His mother had picked up the phone this time, of course. Ryan held his breath for a moment, trying to decide how to respond. "… Hi, Mum."

Silence. Apparently Touko didn't know what to say either.

"Mum, I… I'm sorry. For shouting at you," he said eventually.

"No, no, it's okay. I should be the one apologising. We kept you in the dark for so long about everything that happened and in the end you had to find out the hard way." Touko paused. "Are you okay now?"

She'd forgiven him so easily; she wasn't even mad. Despite him shouting at her on the phone earlier she was still worried about him. Ryan could feel tears welling in his eyes again and hurriedly blinked them away before he could end up crying again. He'd lost count of how many times he'd done that already today. "Yeah. I'm okay. I… I know what happened now. To Dad."

"You do?" Her voice sounded slightly alarmed. "Wh—who told you?"

"Zoroark. Uh, a different Zoroark. He used to be friends with Dad when… when he lived in the castle."

"I see…" Another long pause. "How do you feel knowing what happened?"

At first, Ryan as confused at the question. Then he realised what she really meant; she was checking whether he still blamed his father or not. "I think—I think I understand now. How Dad feels. I'm sorry I got mad at him. It wasn't his fault."

"Well, I'm glad you understand now," Touko said with a relieved sigh. "Are we forgiven?"

"Yeah." Ryan gave an unseen smile. "I know Dad probably doesn't want to talk to me, so… can you tell him that I still love him?"

"Of course," she assured, and Ryan had the feeling she was smiling too. "We love you too, okay? And if there's anything else you want to know, about what happened in Unova… just ask. Maybe when you get home we can go over the whole story."

"Thanks, Mum." Ryan said, his words almost cut off by a yawn. "Appreciate it…"

"Oh, Ryan, you sound exhausted! You should go to bed," Touko insisted. "From the sound of things you've had a long day."

"I guess." At least now he could rest easier. "Night, Mum. And… thanks again."


Touko gently placed the phone back on the receiver after the call was ended. Things seemed to be resolved, Ryan was okay, and she felt beyond relieved for that. She'd been worried that if Ryan ever found out about their past with Team Plasma it would create a rift between them, but fortunately he was understanding. Perhaps that was even due to their influence in raising him.

When she re-entered the living room, N was sat rigidly on the couch, twisting the sides of the old void cube he still kept after all these years. He must have heard the phone go off, but whether he'd heard the conversation or not, Touko didn't know; he'd probably turned to the object as a distraction. His eyes kept flickering between the cube and the carpet.

"N." She announced her presence to him in case she ended up startling him, but she had the feeling he knew she was there. She sat next to him, carefully placing a hand on his shoulder. "Ryan called back. It's okay."

"He's upset," N mumbled, turning the edges of the cube a little more frantically. "I lied to him. I hurt him, Touko."

"He isn't upset about it anymore," Touko told him. "He was still taking everything in earlier. Now he knows more about what happened, and he forgives you."

N turned to look at her at last, eyes showing hope but also uncertainty. "R—really? Did he really say that, or are you just trying to make me feel better?"

"He did. No more lies." She sighed. "I'm sorry for keeping things from you. I know I already apologised but… I don't know. It hurt, lying to you."

"It's okay. I already forgave you. And I understand why—like Ryan, if he understands why we kept the truth from him now." N gave a small nod, setting the void cube down on the coffee table. His gaze remained on it for a few seconds. "How did he find out?"

"He said a Zoroark told him. Not Zoroark who lives in the forest, I assume," Touko shrugged. Maybe he would be more likely to know what Ryan was talking about than she would.

For a brief moment, N looked confused; then it cleared as he realised. "Zorua… I mean, Zoroark… Ryan must have met that trainer. I haven't seen him in a long time. I guess that means they're both okay still."

Touko smiled. She had a feeling N had mentioned Zorua to her before, though she didn't remember any specific details. "Ryan asked me to say something to you, y'know. He wanted me to let you know that he still loves you."

N stared at her for a few seconds, his eyebrows rising in surprise and a bewildered look on his face. She knew how much those words must mean to him, after all the anxiety he'd had since Ryan left for Unova – and the row the two of them had a week before he started his journey. It wasn't long before a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth, and he choked out a single laugh as his eyes started to glisten with unshed tears. "I can't believe…"

"Well you should!" Touko beamed, resting her chin on his shoulder. "You're not a bad person, N—or a bad father. Especially considering everything that's happened in the past. You only kept it from him because you care so much, and that's why Ryan loves you. That's why I love you."

She couldn't tell if N was laughing or crying, but his smile was now a wide grin. He took a deep breath, wiping his eyes with one hand before he turned his head to look at her. "Thank you, Touko… thank you." He placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. "That—that's the reason I love you too. Because you care so much, about me and Ryan."

"Oh, shush, you're going to make me cry too," she giggled, returning the kiss; N was a little too tall for her to reach his forehead, so she settled for his cheek instead. "Why don't you call Ryan tomorrow? Then you can thank him too."

N nodded, happy now that he no longer felt scared about speaking to his own son. Maybe things would work out after all. "Yeah. I'll do that."


Iris always insisted he take the spare room for the night whenever he visited Opelucid. Although Nate may have found her slightly overbearing at times, she was only looking out for him, and a bed was a lot warmer and more comfortable than the forest anyhow, so he wasn't complaining. Champ seemed happy about it, having already rolled back and forth over the duvet at least five times and thus coating it in dog fur.

"Thank you, Champ, I'm sure that extra layer will make the bed even warmer," Nate said with a roll of his eyes, grimacing as he tried to think of the best way to brush it off tomorrow morning. It was probably a bad idea to let her out, in all honesty, but he couldn't imagine being able to fall asleep without her there.

The Arcanine was oblivious to his sarcasm, having finished her aerobics and now lying at the foot of the bed, head almost hanging off the edge as she stared at the cardboard box in front of him and tail wagging lazily.

By the time Nate had returned to Iris's house earlier, she'd collected the pieces of the metal robot – or more likely had Evelyn do it – ready to send to Professor Juniper in the hopes that she might be able to find out something given another sample. Still, Iris was asleep now, and Nate hadn't had the chance to look at one of these things while they were inactive, so he'd taken the opportunity to poke around the wreckage with an old pencil.

"I'm sure this mess probably makes sense to someone," he muttered, attempting to strip a piece of metal off a dented cube but found it almost welded to it by multi-coloured wires, some of which had been frayed by the attack that shut it down. Nate knew nothing about how stuff like this worked, but the inner workings of technology always seemed so cool. The only reason he didn't dare take things apart usually was because he knew he'd never be able to put them back together afterwards.

He was cautious, not willing to touch this thing lest it give off some kind of shock, but it didn't seem to have any electricity in it any more. It was just a dented and slightly singed pile of metal that held a lot of secrets.

"Huh… that's odd." There was a dim light coming from part of one of the pieces of metal, a tiny blob attached to the inside of the frame. It probably hadn't been noticeable when Iris had packed this mess up, but in this room with only the moon shining through the window for light it was much easier to see. What was it? A tracking device, maybe?

Nate let out a helpless sigh. This sounded like something out of a sci-fi movie. Evil robot Pokémon attacking people? Mr. Stu Deeoh would have a field day.

There was something that had been nagging at his mind ever since that day in the forest. That giant robot must still be there. Or at least he hoped it was. If that thing left and started attacking people like these smaller ones did…

"Champ, I hope you're up for a little adventure tomorrow," Nate said, the words causing the dog to lift her head, tail wagging a lot faster now. "We need to go check up on our not-so-little mechanical friend."