The World Where Ghetsis Won

A look into how a world where Ghetsis succeeded may have looked like.

I would like to take a moment to say that this story is strongly inspired by canon dialogue and events in Pokémon Black and White, Black 2 and White 2, and Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. It would break the flow of the story to try to explain where in-game each idea comes from, but please feel free to ask for proof of any ideas presented in this oneshot in reviews—I'd be happy to talk about it with readers! Oh, also, the character referred to as "Hil" is meant to be Hilbert. I just... I can't see any 14-year-old boy being okay with the name Hilbert, lol. At least this rendition of Hilbert isn't okay with it, hahaha.

This version of Hil is based on the version of Hilbert that will be presented in my Pokemon Black/Black 2 novelizations whenever I get to them.

Hil clutched the stone tightly against his chest. It emanated a soft, yellow glow from its smooth, silvery-white surface that warmed his fingertips to the touch. Yet, with the warmth came a cold feeling of dread that crept through his veins and slowly turned them to ice. His hands began to shiver. He overlooked a lake with round, wide brown eyes. Noodle, his trusty Servine, nuzzled his hand and tilted his head. His red eyes were upturned in concern. Hil took one look at him and then hugged his knees close to his face. His hand that held the stone fell limp at his right side.

"I can't do it, Noodle," he blubbered to him through the fabric of his pants. "I'm not strong enough. I'm no h-hero."

Noodle nosed his way between Hil's chest and his thights. Hil left go of his legs a little to give the Servine more room. As Noodle curled up in his lap, Hil's eyes watered something fierce and he slowly let go of the Light Stone in his right hand, turning his attention instead to the Pokémon curled up in his lap. Noodle's comfort was warm and welcome; it tore him from the dark, sinister reality that he would have to face Team Plasma's leader, N, alone, as a hero of Unova. He hugged Noodle tighter and tighter, feeling the cool touch of his leafy body against his own.

Then he felt his right hand brush the Light Stone to his right, and he watched in horror as it started to roll, away toward the lake, and then plopped into its depths. In a blind panic, he shoved Noodle out of his lap and staggered over to the shore, plunging his head into the bitterly cold water. A Basculin then rushed at his face and caused him to jump away from the water. He had been upset, but he had intended to at least give fighting N a try! Had he really lost the Light Stone in such a stupid way?

Noodle dove at the water and shot several volleys of Razor Leaf attacks below the water, but it was no match for the swarm of Basculin that soon began to nibble at its leafy body. He hobbled back out of the water with chunks of flesh missing from his tail and his upper back. He looked up at Hil apologetically and Hil scooped him up, holding him tightly again. "No, no, Noodle," he whispered, "it's okay. This is not your fault at all. I shouldn't have ever come here, I should have gone straight to the League, and…" he gave a shuddery breath. "It'll be okay… It'll be okay…"

He pulled his Xtransceiver free from his other pocket and frantically dialed for Cheren, Bianca, and Professor Juniper. He was going to need all the help he could get.

The castle was far too quiet. The sprawling room in front of him was eerily empty save for the gentle trickling sounds of water from the pools below the main floor and from the occasional shuffling of feet that came from the small group of grunts gathered, as well as the three Sages, Ghetsis, Bronius, and Giallo. Disappointed, N had to admit he had hoped for better than this. He had hoped somebody, anybody, would have showed up to the castle and try to stop him. Someone to show him that there was another way. As he shifted in the throne overlooking the castle, Zekrom standing proudly at his side, his mind wandered. He thought of the many Pokémon he had met along the way of his recent excursions into Unova's heartland who enjoyed their trainers' company and as he had told Hil back in Mistralton, it did break his heart somewhat that he would have to separate Pokémon from trainers who were good friends to their Pokémon.

So, he had hoped Cheren, or anyone, really, would have arrived to prove him wrong. But if nobody could even reach the throne room of the castle, then nobody had the convictions to prove him wrong. It was a sad but not unexpected realization. He knew what he had to do was right, however solemn it made him feel.

The sound of staggering, shuffling footsteps pulled him from his thoughts. He and Zekrom turned their heads slightly to look at the approaching figure. A man cloaked in violet and gold robes, a gleaming, angular red monocle, a lame arm; this was N's adoptive father, Ghetsis. His failing body was a dastardly disguise. N could speak from experience Ghetsis was many things, but frail was not something one could even fantasize about describing him as. "Our Lord N," Ghetsis said sharply, "it seems your chosen hero will not make it."

"It would seem nobody has the conviction necessary to oppose me," N said in melancholy agreement as he nodded. "I knew there had been a probability, a chance, of that happening. I had just hoped somebody would…"

Even from his throne high above the main floor, N could see Ghetsis' lip twitch. "You are to give your inaugural speech now," Ghetsis said calmly. "Our scientists have assumed control over all of Unova's television stations. Today, Lord N, you set Pokémon free of their suffering by telling all of Unova to release them."

N raised his chin and narrowed his eyes with noble determination. "Yes, Father," he said softly as he rose from his throne. Although N's attention had been drawn elsewhere and so he did not notice, upon being called 'Father,' Ghetsis's lips twisted into a horrible, lopsided grimace thanks to his partially paralyzed face. The elderly man's body shivered in an anger none of the rest of Team Plasma would have understood. Not N nor even any of the Seven Sages. Ghetsis had been waiting decades for his plan to come to fruition and now that it was finally reaching its success, he found it harder and harder to keep a lid on his true intentions, and his true feelings toward N.

But he knew he could not divulge his true desires just yet. He needed N just a little longer to guilt the people of Unova to release their Pokémon through convincing words. As much as it angered him, he understood that nobody would release their Pokémon willingly if they used force. N's gentle, passionate words would get him results, regardless of whether he truly understood why or not.

Despite the hero N had chosen not showing up here, however, Ghetsis knew better than to assume that thorn in his side was gone for good. After N was led to the appropriate room in the castle to broadcast his speech by Bronius and Giallo, Ghetsis watched with careful calculation. Once N was out of earshot, he gave the familiar, yet still eerie command: "Shadow Triad, come to me."

Within seconds the trio of bodyguards appeared, and they flanked him on all sides except directly in front of him. "Yes, Lord Ghetsis?" one of them asked tentatively.

"Find the hero and his friends that N was hoping would show up here," Ghetsis said coldly, "and kill them. Leave no possible opposition alive."

"Understood," a different member of the Triad whispered. Just like that, they were gone again. Ghetsis followed N to the room where he would make his live speech across all of Unova's television channels. He wanted to oversee the speech and ensure that N stuck to the script. Now, as the true 'king' of Team Plasma, Ghetsis was a little worried N would grow bolder and attempt to buck Ghetsis' control. It would take far more careful manipulation from this point forward to keep his tool in check.

Within two weeks of Team Plasma seizing control of Unova, they had traversed the region, hitting almost every established town and making more public speeches, and trainers were releasing Pokémon by the dozens. All Pokémon in the computerized storage system had been seized by Team Plasma's scientists and stored in a private system of their own. N appeared at each and every speech as the face of the movement. His voice, quick and efficient, was punctuated by a determined and triumphant air that permeated gathered crowds like an airborne virus, swaying them to his view easily. N should have felt victorious. Yet, everywhere he traveled, all he saw was devastation.

Gym Leaders had all but disappeared overnight. In Nacrene City, nobody could find Lenora, despite a raid made by Team Plasma members on her museum in a bid to draw her out. The triplets in Striaton City had done a similar disappearing act. Burgh had been spotted but had escaped their grasp by disappearing into the Castelia Sewers, along with quite a few other frightened civilians. Team Plasma agents had been sent within to hunt them down and draw them out, but to no avail as of yet. Elesa had stood her ground and then escaped on her Zebstrika while the Team Plasma agents sent after her recovered. Clay merely locked his city up and waged a nearly one-man war on Team Plasma's efforts, utilizing a terrifying mix of machinery and Pokémon. Skyla had fled with her airplane and nobody had seen her since. Brycen, much like Lenora and the triplets, had all but vanished, and Drayden, his apprentice Iris, and former champion Alder had retreated along with most of Opelucid City to a small but well-defended village north of Opelucid that primarily used Dragon-type Pokémon as its choice weaponry.

Not only did the Gym Leaders' refusal to cooperate cause unrest and inflict unnecessary pain on Pokémon, but watching regular trainers release their Pokémon had been far more difficult than he could imagine. Everywhere he went, he was assailed with the thoughts and feelings of distraught, devastated Pokémon. Some had even sought him out and made sure he knew of their anger and pain. How could he feel victorious about saving Pokémon if he had so many telling him every single day he had done the exact opposite? That he had ruined their lives? He could tell his personal partners felt the same. Zoroark was disappointed in the state of the world. Zekrom began to grow angry at Team Plasma and primarily, Ghetsis, feeling they were betraying the ideal Zekrom and N had sought. N couldn't help but agree.

Every time the king of Team Plasma observed his father, however, a heavy stone weighed in his stomach. His mouth would feel like cotton and words became difficult to string together. Having learned common tongues as a secondhand language anyway, they were already difficult to assemble, and the nervousness that flowed whenever he spoke to Ghetsis only exacerbated the issue. He tried to ignore it at first. Consider it growing pains, he had told himself. But the misery didn't seem to end…

Within a few short months of Team Plasma's ownership, almost every citizen in Unova no longer had personal Pokémon except for those involved in Team Plasma's affairs, which was to say most people within Team Plasma still had partner Pokémon of some sort. N had finally been driven to anger when he discovered secretive Team Plasma agents, dressed in more modest, black outfits that almost resembled the Shadow Triad's except they didn't show skin, were re-capturing most of the freed Pokémon that wandered into Unova's hinterland. This had not been the future he had fought for!

He had confronted Ghetsis once they returned to the castle surrounding the Pokémon League. Aside from Colress, who had been handing Ghetsis a deep black staff with a draconian sculpture on its handle, they had been completely alone in that room. The throne room often remained empty except for Ghetsis and N and whoever they wished to see. N stormed up to Ghetsis with purpose, thoroughly fed up with what had become increasingly more and more apparent as a lie.

"Father!" N declared as he stopped just a few feet away. "This is not the future I had promised!"

Ghetsis and Colress exchanged a look. Ghetsis took the staff from Colress and waved him away. The scientist shot Ghetsis a dirty glare but pushed his glasses up smugly and stepped away. Ghetsis took a deep breath and licked his lips as he looked N over. N didn't like the calculating look in his father's eyes. "Yes, Lord N?" Ghetsis asked quietly.

"Do not call me that!" N huffed. "I am no Lord, I am not your hero, this is not the future I fought for. I allowed Pokémon to be hurt for this future and instead of liberation, Pokémon are being hurt more and more by the day and your subordinates are catching them for their own personal use still!"

"N, this is a process," Ghetsis said through gritted teeth. His crimson eyes narrowed darkly. "It's not easy right now, but in the future, Pokémon will be entirely free of humans."

"Your subordinates catching and using Pokémon that have been forced to sever from their beloved trainers is not a necessary part of the process!" N spat as he squared his shoulders. A terrible truth was slowly dawning on him, but he didn't want to believe it. He wanted to believe anything other than what he was worried was happening. "Father…" N paused and breathed deeply. "Is Team Plasma working to liberate Pokémon for their sake, or for Team Plasma's—or more specifically, your—gain?"

Colress clicked his tongue and N glanced at him, and then back at Ghetsis.

"Perhaps the education I gave you was too much," Ghetsis mused. He gripped his staff tightly in his unscathed and uncovered arm, and then rapidly raised and slammed it to the floor again. N felt a strange burst of energy overcome him, but not a pleasant one; rather, it felt like a small electrical shock that made his muscles heavy and difficult to move. Ghetsis glowered at N knowingly. "As our king, perhaps it is best I advise you honestly from now on." Ghetsis then smirked. "There is no reason to separate people from Pokémon, N. People and Pokémon together can achieve great things they cannot do alone. That is fact."

N gasped and took a step back. He tried to find something to say, but no words would leave his mouth.

"And truth be told," Ghetsis continued, "I don't think there's anything wrong with people having Pokémon. Except for the fact it gives them an avenue to rise up and fight me. I have spent far too much of my life working at this for a freak without a human heart such as you to ruin it for me." Ghetsis suddenly pushed away part of his cloak, revealing his partially mangled arm; it trembled and convulsed in his attempt to raise it, but Ghetsis was able to grab hold of N's necklace all the same, pulling him until Ghetsis had his mouth inches from N's ear. N staggered in surprise, but his intense stare never wavered. "This is my world, and you are just a tool living in it, like every other Pokémon in the world," Ghetsis growled. "Is that clear?"

N's mind was reeling, but he writhed under Ghetsis' grasp, and when he couldn't break free of Ghetsis' frighteningly strong hold, N kicked away Ghetsis' newfound cane. It destabilized him enough to force him to let go and N stumbled backward. He heaved for breath and shook his head at Ghetsis. "That's not true!" N hollered. "You can't be serious!"

But N knew he was serious. Ghetsis did not joke. Colress looked N over analytically as he came to terms with the truth. Ghetsis managed to haul himself back to his feet after a few seconds and he practically bared his teeth at N. "You!" he snarled in a breathless voice, "You are nothing more but my tool! You have no control now! You are no hero! There are no heroes! Zekrom, Reshiram, they are just Pokémon all the same! You are a disrespectful, horrible excuse for a human being—because you're the same as them!" Ghetsis hissed.

N straightened himself out and regained his composure. He set his jaw as he looked at his father. "You are wrong," N said in a quivering tone. It felt so strange and difficult to tell Ghetsis that he was wrong. Keenly, he became aware that he had never said anything remotely like this to his father before. "Zekrom chose me! We are friends! Zekrom recognized me as Unova's new hero!"

"What or who it chooses means nothing," Ghetsis jeered, "because it's a tool! Anyone with the right training can use a tool! Even a freak like you!"

N tensed at the words but stood strong. "You led me to believe the words of all people were lies besides yours, but yours are no better!" N retorted. "You tried to make it look like the rest of the world was full of abuse, and yet you stand here before me, and lie for your own gain!" N stomped a foot. The gravity of the situation was taking a moment to sink in, but as it settled, he couldn't begin to describe the hatred that washed over him. He had been utterly and completely used, and Pokémon were suffering because of it!

…And people, good people, were suffering as well…

"What happened to the other hero?" N demanded. "And his friends? Cheren, Hil, that girl Bianca? What became of them?"

Colress gave a snicker that tore both N and Ghetsis' attention away. He blinked at their stares and shrugged. "Oh, no, don't let me drag you out of this lovely father-son moment," he laughed, "I am just surprised the great Lord N here has not yet figured it out."

"Keep your mouth shut, or else!" Ghetsis threatened him.

Colress merely rolled his eyes. "We don't go there, Ghetsis, and you know why."

"What became of them?" N demanded again.

"They were dealt with like the threats to Team Plasma they were," Ghetsis answered dryly.

N felt as if he had been struck with a physical blow with the way the wind left his lungs. He swallowed hard and shook his head. "Y-you can't mean that you—"

"Yes," Ghetsis snapped, "yes, I did. Threats to Team Plasma are taken seriously." Ghetsis gave a slack-jawed, crazed grin that unsettled N deeply. "Do you want to be a threat to Team Plasma, freak?"

N thought about it for a minute. He would be lying if he said he wasn't scared. No, it would be downright foolish to say he wasn't; Ghetsis was terrifying in every sense of the word. Even before his discoveries in the recent months, he had known not to disobey his father from a very young age. He had ignored all the warning signs over the years for the sake of getting to help his true friends, the Pokémon who had raised him, and the broken creatures that he had come to know over the years—the ones whose hearts were so scarred they would never heal. On top of the fear from confronting Ghetsis, he also had mountainous guilt that practically suffocated him. He had helped Ghetsis build this world, after all; how could he have been so blind?

All of that, however, was precisely why he couldn't stand down. N blinked and drew in a long breath. "Yes," N growled, "I do. I am Unova's hero whether you like it or not, Father, and I will fight you on that until my last breath if I must. I am done being your tool!"

"Then you will fight me until your last breath!" Ghetsis shouted. He slammed that cane again, taking a considerable amount of effort to raise in the first place, and added hoarsely, "Shadow Triad, come to me!"

"Zekrom, help me!" N exclaimed as he reached for the dragon's Poké Ball. He tossed it, but it did not open, and his friend did not appear in front of him. Alarmed, N dove to try to grab the Poké Ball back, to prevent Ghetsis or any of his goons from grabbing hold of it, but he felt an intense pressure on his back and his shirt became a collar as it yanked him away from where the Poké Ball had landed. He landed on his rear and looked up to see the imposing figures of the Shadow Triad looming over him.

N's eyes darted around the room until they locked onto Ghetsis' cane. Colress had been fiddling with it moments before N had walked into the room. N turned his attention to Colress. "Why are you helping him do this?" N asked desperately. "What do you possibly have to gain from this?"

"More funding and time to research," Colress answered with a non-committal shrug.

N glared at them all as he tried to get back to his feet. A member of the Shadow Triad retrieved Zekrom's Poké Ball from the floor and handed it to Ghetsis. The other two members latched onto one of N's arms each and held him so tightly he could feel their nails digging at his skin. Just like that, the surroundings of the castle left them, and Ghetsis, N, and the Shadow Triad were alone in an eerie, chilly forest of pine trees. N saw a couple of Absol curiously peak out from some bushes nearby. He shook his head vigorously at them and begged them in an inhuman chuffing sound to leave. Alarmed at his warning, they took him at his word and fled. The rustling of leaves and snapping of twigs told him that more Pokémon had been around nearby and had also decided to leave at his warning.

"Team Plasma has no more need of your speeches," Ghetsis sneered, "no more need of your ridiculous parlor trick. Shadow Triad! Execute him!"

N threw all his weight into a flipping motion that ripped him free of the two Shadow Triad members' holds on his arms, and he wildly kicked his legs as he rolled away from them. "Shadow Triad, listen to me! I am N, Team Plasma's king and Ghetsis' son! You take orders from me as well, remember?" N howled as the Triad descended upon him. N's exclamation gave them all pause. They stopped in their tracks and exchanged slow looks amongst one another, and then finally looked to Ghetsis.

"Don't just stand there!" Ghetsis barked. "Take care of him!"

"We cannot," one of them answered softly and shook his head.

"He carries your blood," another whispered.

N blinked incredulously at that Shadow Triad member. "What do you mean?" N asked anxiously. "He found me and he is my father, but we are not blood-related…" N trailed off as he realized the only proof he had of that statement were words Ghetsis and his other two 'adoptive' children—N's childhood caretakers and sisters—Anthea and Concordia, who were likely equally as duped as he was. N panted for breath as the situation continued to get more and more dire, more and more upsetting. "Father, are we related by blood?"

"Yes," Ghetsis answered swiftly, "but I am not your father, you freak of nature! Shadow Triad, your oath is with me and me only, I renounce the extension of my mastery to N!"

The Shadow Triad still did not budge. It was the third who spoke this time. "This does not change the fact that he carries your blood," he said pointedly. "We cannot bring harm to him."

"Then I'll just have to finish the job myself!" Ghetsis spat after the Triad. The three men simply took a few steps back and watched with the usual, deadpan expression. N had to wonder how he intended to do that but found his question answered when that Ghetsis lunged at him and that cane found N's open mouth, striking him in the teeth. N yelped and hit the ground on his back. He didn't have time to assess the damage because in seconds, Ghetsis clambered on top of him and pressed the staff against N's throat. His frail right arm shook and twitched under the pressure, and N scrabbled at Ghetsis' face and hands with his own, writhing beneath him. Ghetsis gave a furious yell as N continued to fight him and managed to succeed and pushing the cane up and off his trachea enough to allow himself air again. "I created you and I will destroy you here!" Ghetsis screamed.

N, hands clutching at the staff for dear life, curled his lips into a snarl. "I cannot let the world fall into the hands of someone such as you!" he hissed through gritted teeth. With a surge of strength, he managed to throw Ghetsis off of himself altogether. He seized his father's cane and held it out threateningly. N's throat throbbed with pain and he was panting heavily, but he was still alive, and now he had the staff. Ghetsis' crippled frame would surely give up on him before he managed to overpower him, wouldn't it…?

Ghetsis seemed intent to prove N wrong as he rushed at him again, this time with his hands outstretched and going for N's throat. N slapped his arms away with the cane and staggered away from him, turning in circles. N shook his head. This was insane. "Father, listen to me!" N demanded breathlessly. "We can still fix this! We can truly release Pokemon, and release the ones that Team Plasma holds captive! It is not too late!"

Ghetsis stalked about N in a way that reminded N of a Liepard circling its prey. "I have come too far to let you destroy everything I have built!" Ghetsis snarled. He abruptly launched himself at N in a way that shouldered N to the ground and there they wrestled again. Ghetsis took a fistful of his gold and violet cloak and plastered it across N's face. He used his left hand to stuff a significant amount of the fabric into N's mouth and was able to use it as a restraint. N may have been swifter, stronger, and younger, but he had almost never been in a physical altercation in his life. His lack of experience painfully showed.

Ghetsis planted his knees on N's thighs, keeping him from being able to get up, and his arms were gripping the cloth over N's face, which as a consequence made N's hands disoriented as he scrabbled and fought to try to throw Ghetsis back off. "You are no hero and you will not die like a hero!" Ghetsis boasted as he gripped the cloth tighter and tighter around N's face. N dug nails into Ghetsis' arms until they drew blood. "Maybe if you would beg…" Ghetsis grinned.

"No, I will… will not… At least… I… fought for… making the world better…" N puffed through ragged, pained breaths, muffled by the cloth in his mouth. "My… only regret is… helping you!"

"Even in death, you mock me!" Ghetsis snarled. "How dare you continue to speak as if you have won, you freak!"

"You're the… freak without… the human heart," N hissed in his dying breath. He knew he was defeated and there was no way out of it for him at this point. His head swam and blackness deliriously circled his vision. Admittedly, he was quite upset he had not managed to stop Ghetsis as he had intended, but he would not let Ghetsis know that. Maybe he couldn't actually win, but if he could get under Ghetsis' skin, then perhaps he could destabilize Ghetsis' control.

Ghetsis screamed and clamped both his hands around N's neck, the cloth of his cloak still covering N's face, and he squeezed. He squeezed as hard as he could, all the while howling at the top of his lungs in an inhuman expression of rage and didn't stop until N's body fell still below him and he felt something give way in N's throat. He then collapsed on top of N in a heap.

He had won, and yet, fury still made Ghetsis' heart pound wildly. He couldn't believe N's audacity to call HIM the freak without a human heart! N was the freak! He was the mistake, the tool used to carve out his new world! He had raised him from nothing and made him king and rather than accept that cushy lifestyle, N had chosen to fight him to… to the death! He growled as he shakily tried to pick himself up off of N. He had been unable to force N into submission, even as he was strangling the life from him, and that made his blood boil. "Shadow Triad, help me!" Ghetsis gasped when he found he could not get up. The fight with N had sapped all of his strength.

He noted that they moved slowly over to him and when they hauled him from the ground, they did so by his partially paralyzed arm, sending waves of pain firing through Ghetsis' body. He howled in pain and glowered at them once to his feet. "How dare you! You know better!" Ghetsis shot at them.

The three members of the Shadow Triad simply looked at him. Their usual deadpanned expression was different somehow. In their narrow eyes he thought he saw for the first time contempt. Ghetsis curled his lips and said, "Know your place, Shadow Triad! Now, take me back to the castle. Leave him here. We're out in the wilderness beyond the Giant Chasm, nobody will find him here anyway."

"As you command," a member of the Shadow Triad whispered. He spoke so quietly it was almost difficult for Ghetsis to understand him. The three members of the Shadow Triad descended upon Ghetsis and then teleported him back to the castle as he had asked.