Author's notes/Replies:

Navit : Everyone will get their turn to be trolled, Minato included. For hisuian Zorua, I do think there are records for but they are still extinct in Unova as their time as already past. Liz just got lucky there. P4 dancing games won't be canon in this one but yes, P4 and P3 do exist both in this story.

Haziq: Good guess, but not quite. The sword is from Narukami. Hmm that's a good one, I might show who he got with later.

Lazy Lord: Flashback is before P5.

Janson Wu: yes, Liz best girl, agreed.

The ancient city spanned for hundreds of miles, each ruin holding echoes of a forgotten past, as the faded murals decorated its withered walls. Depictions of everyday life between people and pokemon played out on these elaborate stone surfaces, undisturbed by the mellowness of the present, nor the absence of the past. Ancient people in medieval dress lived with pokemon, ate with pokemon, and celebrated with pokemon, their experiences forever encased underground, undisturbed by the slow erosion of time.

White pressed her fingers against these faded surfaces, taking in every grove and crack that sunk into these ruins. Below her, she occasionally kicked up pieces of broken pottery as she walked, or passed through rotting stone buildings that once bore life. Families no doubt raised generations upon generations here, and now their homes are lined empty, unused, giving them a haunting eeriness of what once was. When things were given life, so will death take and so the ruins now lay barren.

As they trudged through the sombering darkness, using only the guiding light of their torches, she spotted something curious that shone against her light. Approaching closer, she wondered what sparkled in that blackness and so she reached out, only to reel back in shock.

"Is that a-?!" White backed away, a golden mask of a human face stared back at her, emerging from a wall.

"Are you ok, White? Did that Yamask scare you?" Ryoji approached the creature, seeing it fully emerge into the light. Glowing red eyes with a shady body, carrying a mask depicting a human face, the pokemon watched the group in curiosity.

"Ya? Yamask?" It took a look at the humans around it, and then its eyes lit up like it had met an old friend.

"Do you know this pokemon?" The brunette questioned, pulling out her pokedex. It gave her quite a scare, enough to reignite her new fear of ghost types where she feared they might accidentally latch on to steal her life energy.

"Not really, no. Although I've seen plenty of wild Yamask in these ruins."

The Yamask circled around the humans, giving each of them a quick look, as it tried to communicate with them.

"Ya, yamask, ya? Yamask, ya mask!" The spirit exclaimed, but no human understood its language and soon, its eyes drooped. Just then, the pokedex came to life in a cold, mechanical voice.

"Each of them carries a mask that used to be its face when it was human. Sometimes they look at it and cry."

White's hand shook. "These pokemon used to be human…?" Now it explained the spirit's friendliness and mask. She wasn't looking at a pokemon, but what was technically a human spirit that transformed into one.

"I'm sorry we couldn't understand you, but it's nice to meet you all the same." Ryoji shook the little spirit's hand, his Mimikyu coming out of the shadows to speak for him.

"Kyu! Kyu!"

"Yamask?"

"Kyuu."

"I wonder what they're talking about?" White observed the two creatures interacting.

"Mimikyu serves as a good translator for me, so I'm sure it's relaying to Yamask our situation."

They watched the Yamask nod at Mimikyu's words before gesturing for the group to follow it.

"Looks like our new friend wants to show us something." Ryoji waved for his subordinates to follow, "You coming, White?"

"O-of course. I have to keep an eye on you Plasma folk." The brunette crossed her arms, following along, with the spirit leading them into an obscured passageway, through an array of cobwebs and down a steep flight of stairs. Once inside, they found a group of unconscious trainers surrounded by a few other Yamasks.

"Yamask, ya." Yamask said, pointing to the unconscious people, noting how they fell above from a sand pit. Ryoji called for his staff to hurry over and check the vital signs of the fallen, ensuring they were still alive. Thankfully, no one was in critical condition but they were deteriorating. Being knocked out with no food or water for hours or days no one knew, however many showed signs of broken bones or severe dehydration.

"We have to get them out of here quickly." One of the Plasma members, a doctor, said, "It doesn't look like dream eater, but still they appear to still be unconscious from the rough fall."

"How severe are their injuries?" Ryoji questioned, frowning.

"Will they be ok?" White asked, many trainers harboring bruises, some even bleeding minorly. Their pokemon beside them had similar reactions, where no amount of shaking would wake them.

"We can't perform a diagnosis unless we get everyone back to the surface."

"Is teleport available?"

"No captain, we're still getting some interference down here." Another staff member tried to ask her Abra to no avail.

"Then we're dealing with a race against time to escort back up to the surface." Whatever the ancients have set up appears to prevent even pokemon from moving about freely. "Let's get going." He lifted two unconscious Cottonee, when White picked one from his hands.

"I'm helping too…."

She saw Ryoji chuckle, giving another sunny smile. "Thank you, White. We appreciate your aid."

"I-I guess not all Plasma supporters are bad." Blushing, she turned and started to briskly walk alongside the others, avoiding his gaze. Why was she so shy looking at Minato's face? No, why was she shy at all looking at some guy's face who just happened to be similar to Minato's?

"Yaaaa mask, ya?"

"Gah! Stop it, you scared me!"She tried to shoo away the wild Yamask but it avoided her every swat of the hand. In fact, it enjoyed their little game as it followed her throughout the labyrinth city.

"Aren't you supposed to live here? Why are you following me?" She raised a brow at the spirit, of which Yamask just showed her its mask."

"Huh? You wanna fight or something?" Showing a stranger your death mask like it was some prize made the brunette crack her knuckles, but the spirit shook its head, gesturing to its mask again.

"Wait White, you should take a closer look at its mask." Ryoji noticed the resemblance of the item to White's face. "Doesn't it seem similar to your appearance?"

She paled, "What?"

Yamask smiled, showing off the mask once again, making White do a double take, blinking.

"No way, what are you trying to imply?" Was this sometime of curse the spirit held? Nope, it once again denied.

"Yamask, ya mask!" Floating to a mural, it pointed to a woman with brown hair that bore a striking resemblance to White. She wore a pure white toga, in garb that suggested she was a priestess of some kind. Curly brown hair flowed down her back as she interacted with a sun themed shrine."

"..." She was speechless, staring at the women on the wall, then mumbled a little "no way…"

"The universe has a strange way of reuniting souls doesn't it?" Ryoji exchanged looks between the art and the brunette. "Not many can say they've met an ancient ancestor, yet here we are."

"Yamask." The pokemon smiled, petting White's head like a doting grandparent before she hugged the spirit, embracing it. Astonishment, confusion, shock, and finally bits of guilt seeped through her soul like a wave, causing her to tear up just a bit. She had lost her father at a very young age and never met her grandparents because their families didn't approve of her parent's marriage. White was once told by her mother how her father fought tooth and nail to move regions and start anew in Unova when their wealthy relatives back home tried to infere, and so she had to grow up tough. Once she lost her dad in an accident at a young age, her only family became Black and her mother.

"Yamask, yamask" The spirit stroked her hair in a soothing voice, comforting her. Emotions she refused to let out as she bottled up her grief behind a tough girl persona. Even if they lived centuries apart, she found one soul that was willing to care for her like family.

"There, there, White. Let's take a moment to rest…" Ryoji stopped.

Minato dropped down a sandpit, using the Krookodile from before as a guide. Landing on top of a pile of sand, he lit up the chamber with a small flame from his palm. Somehow, he's dropped down to a tomb full of stone coffins. Wiping the dust from some of the graves, he was greeted with a barrage of ancient text.

"Where is this…?" His voice echoed across the area, the dark ceiling above was so high that it was impossible to spot where the hole he fell from. Turning to the coffins again, he realized the croc had guided him to an ancient tomb of some kind.

"Hey Krook."

"Krook!?" The pokemon jumped, now fearful of the Messiah.

"Don't tell me you sent my friends to see this stuff too." He was used to the coffins and death, but subjecting his innocent friends to this stuff was crossing the line. Krookodile shook its head, drawing in the sand of various sand pits and people falling in.

"So it's different for everyone?"

"Krook!"

He put a hand to his face in a swift facepalm, "Which means my friends are scattered across this place aren't they?" The croc nodded, sheepishly.

Minato swallowed his rage and continued onwards, walking past the coffins, occasionally spotting skeletal remains along the way. This place must have been abandoned long ago, he thought. Hopefully his gravesite back home was more cared for. Staring at the lifeless dead, it made him morbidly wonder how his friends saw him after they buried him under a gravestone. Shaking his head, he approached a sealed, stone door likely weighing hundreds of pounds.

Great, he's going to have to break this, doesn't he? He turned to Krookodile who just looked away.

"No other ways out?"

Nope, the creature shook.

"Then how do you usually navigate this tomb?"

Krookodile simply made some more marks in the sand, implying they had landed in an extremely unfavourable spot, one it likely didn't know about either.

Inwardly, he said a silent prayer and begged for the forgiveness of the dead around him before he channeled a power energy into his punch, causing the croc to back when he rush slammed into the stone seal. Rock chunks flew, blasting out the tomb, shaking the entire area as the veteran delivered an earth shattering blow, forcing open a sealed path.

"Whew, just enough to not cause a cave in, come on, let's go." He beckoned the horrified pokemon, who was now beyond terrified.

When they emerged, they were greeted by a mammoth sized temple overlooking an underground city. Amazed, Minato stood taking in the view before seeing faint movement out of the corner of his eye. Swiftly, he turned to find someone turning a corner into another hallway.

Was someone else down here, he mused? Maybe they'll be able to help him find his friends. With this in mind, Minato chased after the individual, passing grand murals of worship of a sun like pokemon. Paintings of red flames stretched on for ages as he made his way further in, turning corner upon corner until he ended up in an empty ceremonial chamber.

"N…?" He stopped, watching a man who resembled the Plasma King briefly watch him before running off once more. Climbing to the top of the altar, he noticed how it was once inhabited by a pokemon, where tufts of its red plumage remained

"Cheren! Bianca!" White found her two friends collapsed in a pile of sand.

"They won't wake up no matter what I try…" White frowned, Yamask soothing her once more. It made her wonder what saved her from such a fate as every single person or pokemon they've found had sustained terrible injuries.

"Let's help them to the surface too. We set up a mobile hospital to care for them." Ryoji assure. The doctors on the team suspected everyone who fell into the ruins likely experienced a rough landing, thus knocking them unconscious which likely contributed to their current coma-like state. They even ruled out Ryoji's Darkrai as the creature was explicitly told not to cause trouble. So whatever spirits in this ruin must have taken advantage of the new bodies that dropped down from above as a way to escape this somber tomb.

"Yamask, yamask." Yamask said, floating over Bianca and Cheren.

"Yep, these are my friends, we have one more to find tho…" Thankfully their conditions were better than the rest, but there was the issue of Minato who she was unsure if he fell or not at all. Chances are, he either entered the ruins like they did or he would come down here to find them.

"You mean Minato, yes?"

"Yea, I know he's tough but I doubt he can brace a fall from that high." Looking up to the stone ceiling, she hoped the bluenette was at least ok. A drop from that height would have been a death sentence if it weren't for the sand piling up to break everyone's fall.

"From what you've told me, you were attacked by a Krookodile before you sank below, right? Knowing him, I'd wager he came down here to look for you but I can't be sure where he might end up."

White raised an eyebrow, "You sure are certain he would come down here without a scratch."

"What can I say? We have a similar thought process."

She thought for a moment before turning to him with a skeptical tone, "You resemble him more than a lot, are you sure you aren't his clone."

Ryoji laughed and then joked, "Maybe. Maybe not. I could dye my hair blue and brush it to call myself Minato if I wanted to."

She nudged him in the rib, "Nooo, you'll make him look weird. You smile too much, Minato always has a deadpan."

"Oh? Do I? I prefer a smile."

"I take it back, you're both like night and day. Total opposites."

"Haha, you nailed it. Minato is the light to my shadow you could say."

"And I'm lost. You say some cryptic things sometimes." White went up a flight of stairs, they had finally reached one of the upper floors of the ruins.

"I'm sure he will tell you more if you ask one day."

"Again with the riddles."

Hours later, they reached the surface to a pitch black desert as it was now approaching midnight. Ryoji had the Plasma members carry the unconscious into their mobile medical facility, where the doctors began patching everyone up.

"Will they be ok?" White watched the medical staff diligently attend each human and pokemon, they didn't differentiate between care schedules, choosing to focus their resources on both. This made her wonder just how Plasma was doing this much good when her last two encounters involved them behaving like criminals. She wanted to know her friends would make it, yet at the same time she couldn't help but want to dive back into the ruins to search for Minato.

As she mauled over her options, she snapped out of her musing when someone handed her a warm towel.

"I know you're worried, I am too. But getting enough rest to go back in is a priority too. You can't rescue someone if you don't help yourself first."

"Yamask, ya." Yamask nodded in a similar tone, handing White a glass of water.

She wrapped it around herself, still but decided not to question the two. To say she was tired was an understatement as the track back from the ruins took its toll. Exhaustion slowly creeped her every muscle until she fell asleep at her seat.

Waking up early in the morning, White poured hot coffee for herself, carefully maneuvering over the exhausted medical staff and unconscious trainers. She checked her bag for essentials before making her way to the main cabin of the portable facility when she saw Ryoji already working on a laptop.

"Morning White, did you sleep well?" He stopped, turning to her from his open office.

"Yea, you're up early too."

The time on the clock read five in the morning and everyone slept in like rocks. Both people and pokemon had dark circles under their eyes from yesterday's exhausting work.

"I had to answer some work emails, nothing too exciting. And if you're wondering, we managed to help everyone here recover. They may still be out but they need the rest too." He shut his laptop, containing written instructions from Ghetsis.

"Team Plasma sounds pretty corporate…"

"We are. Our organization is run by hundreds of people in various different fields. We may not be too different from Devon or other corporations at the end of the day."

"That's a cynical way to look at it, and here I thought you guys functioned more like a gang…" Still reeling from that museum incident, she couldn't help but speak out. She wanted to ask him why Plasma had done so much bad, and now was doing a complete one eighty the other way around.

Ryoji nodded, appearing to acknowledge her pain. "I understand your hesitation towards us. Lately there's been…a split within our organization. You could say our leadership hasn't been up to par. We've had groups branch off and cause all sorts of trouble, but I can assure you the real Team Plasma really means no harm to people or pokemon."

"I want to believe you…I do." She put down her cup, "After seeing your crew work so tirelessly, I just can't see you guys being the same Plasma who steals from people…" Eyeing the recovering trainers and pokemon, and then shifting to the honest medical professionals still asleep, they give everything to save the lives of strangers.

"I sure trust them."

White jumped at the voice as Minato emerged from one of the rooms. "M-minato?!" Twisting around she exchanged looks between the twins. Ryoji was holding in a laugh and the bluenette as usual held a nonchalant aura about him. "D-did you guys find him while I was out?"

"Nah, I found this place first." Minato said, "Anyone want some homemade pancakes?"

"Are those the blueberry ones? I'll take a plate." His twin reflection said, with Ryoji already digging into the breakfast like it was the most normal reaction in the world. Between them, White was speechless.

"B-but how…? How did you know..or get here even?" A hundred questions swirled in her mind, she was worried where he was and made a promise to set out to search for him in the morning, yet it looks like he had found them first.

Minato offered her a plate of pancakes, "After you guys fell, I looked for the sinkholes but found this trailer instead. It's parked right by the entrance of Relic Castle." He gestured outside, the bright daylight of the sun illuminating a sand covered hold in the desert that led down to the ancient ruins.

"So you found us by sheer luck…? But I'm glad you're ok!" Unbelievable, White thought. And deep down she knew he wasn't telling the full truth, however that thought never surfaced to her conscious mind. Instead, she embraced him in a tight bear.

"I can't breathe…" He almost coughed up some pancakes.

"Hahah, I recall your defense being better against Aigis."

"Mitsuru told her to not overdo it." Oh yes, the blonde robot tried to hug him once or twice, the first time she failed to limit her strength and almost gave him a few broken ribs. Minato was glad she eventually mellowed out, understanding the difference between her combat parameters and regular human interactions.

"Who's Mitsuru?" White let go, now curious.

"A family friend who moved away to another region. I'm sure you two would have fought if you met." Ryoji said humorously, picturing the image of two headstrong girls arguing for dominance. Like Yukari, White likely wouldn't have taken the red head's shit without a fight.

"Really? I find I get along with most people?" She said, unaware.

"Ya mask, ya!" Yamask appeared, like it was scolding her, shaking its head.

"Geez, you already sound like Black." Despite meeting her ancestor only a day ago, the lost soul understood her descendant better than most.

"Claudia told Honedge how she came across her descendant in the ruins and decided to help." The veteran handed the pancake to the spirit, who happily woofed it down.

"H-honedge spoke to her and told you her name?" White wondered how that ghost blade was able to convey everything back to Minato, in the human language.

"I forgot to tell you this but like Claudia, Honedge used to be a human too so it can understand both human and pokemon to a certain extent. I had him write some stuff in the sand."

Now it made sense, and Yamask smiled, nodding along.

"Oh…I wanna thank him later then…" Deep down she still had her reservations against that sword but he did help.

"I know you're still recovering from what happened with him White, it's alright if you two take your time to understand each other." Minato said mellow, looking at Honedge's ball.

"It's ok, after what I went through in the ruins and now?" They were now in a mobile Team Plasma base, being saved by the same people who once terrorized them, "I feel like sometimes you can give others a second chance."

At that, Ryoji smiled.

Hours before morning, during the middle of the night.

Typing away on his laptop, Ryoji relayed the events of the day to Ghetsis. After everyone else had retired to bed, he started his real job. Reading the directions from the man, he marked the message as urgent before replying to others in his list.

First was Rosa who wanted him to confirm some marketing material for the next month and then N asking some personal advice. To say his life had gotten busy was an understatement as he typed away with a brief sigh, then he stopped, hearing a knock at the trailer's door.

"Hm?" Who can it be this late at night? He opened to find Minato, who was just taken aback. He had a Honedge and a Krookodile beside him, who both stayed silent as ghosts.

"Hey buddy, long time no see."

Awkward was the word that hung above the two as they both took seats opposite of each, sitting across. Ryoji, still in his captain uniform, put up a calm front while Minato crossed his arms like he knew the other was guilty. From his twin's perspective, he didn't know Blake had informed him of the truth beforehand, however a brief glance at the bluenette made him realize he had messed up. Instead of saying anything, Minato just watched him, waiting.

"So…"

"Yes?"

"I should explain our current situation first…" Ryoji walked over to a row of blinds, revealing the sleeping staff and trainers, among them were Minato's friends, which caught his attention. "Don't worry, they're only asleep. We rescued anyone we could down in those ruins."

The bluenette nodded, noting the exhaustion of the medical personnel, some falling asleep in their scrubs, others appearing disheveled. "I understand. You were helping to recover those who fell into those sinkholes, am I correct?" He still acted distant, remaining coldly composed.

"Indeed. As a member of Team Plasma, I was sent with a crew to save those who had fallen. I even encountered your friend, White helped us too. She was also suspicious of us at first." At that, he hesitated, noticing the subtle change in the Messiah's face.

"If she trusts your team, then I have no reason to suspect them."

"I'm glad we're able to sort things out."

Another blanket of silence fell, where the bluenette met his gaze, demanding a different set of answers. Ryoji was the opposite of Minato, instead of using the quietness to his advantage, his extroverted nature came as his downfall. While the Messiah thrived in the absence of words, Death was shaken by it.

Defeated, his twin gave in, "Minato, please tell me what you have to say."

"Can I confirm something?"

"What off?"

Taking a deep breath, the Messiah hoped his old friend was at least safe, "Can you tell me your plans for Team Plasma? I know this is your choice and you can reject answering me if you wish to do so."

He knew he was asking out of concern, "Did you perhaps speak with N recently? I apologize for our first meeting at the cafe, Minato. But I'm sure you've heard what he had to say about the organization, yes?"

Nodding, Minato simply conveyed the general summary of his meeting with the greenette, even the part where he was able to break into his Castle.

"You actually came to our HQ?" Ryoji said in disbelief, yet he recovered just as quickly. "Although what N said was true, the way Team Plasma is run now is extremely unethical. I shudder to think of the reaction of the public if the truth ever came out…"

"So can you confirm with me the reason you're still among their ranks? I don't want to overstep your boundaries, but I can't overlook the crimes some of your members have been committing."

"N is someone I want to root for." Death, or rather, the former avatar admitted. From here, his face darkened, almost holding a grimace.

"Forgive me for not telling the full story, Minato, however when I first entered this world I thought what my parents were doing was just. Team Plasma helped pokemon who suffered, they saved those who couldn't themselves, and gave hope to the downtrodden. Still, as time progressed I started to notice the insidious parts of our organization and then I discovered what our Sages had done to N. Everyone kept saying he would bring salvation to our people, yet I could only see someone who bent to the wills of others."

N did whatever the Sages told him to like a puppet, growing delusional over time as they fed into his festering ego. One would think he felt some semblance of sympathy for the people he ruled, yet when he spoke what came out were the trained mantras of Ghetsis and the others. And then, there was his responsibility as the Hero of Ideals, where they gave him no choice but to go after the dragon. Where no one, not even those who supported him from the bottom of their hearts were too caught up to see him as human, but more so a tool to bring them salvation. He was their false Messiah. Their hope.

Memories of a time where Ryoji could not do anything of his fate flashed in the Messiah's mind. Where both his life and death were decided the moment he came into existence in the form he was now. No amount of begging, crying, or bargaining could stop Nyx from coming down to earth and he was going to become her avatar regardless of his own protests. And that was the fate N was going to endure if he kept walking this foggy path, where someone with just a little more power would wield his fate, orchestrating his childhood, from the moment of his adoption, to the climax of his demise. And what was worse? Unlike the former avatar, the greenate was unaware of his true destiny, believing he was in full control of his life.

"And unlike my circumstances before, we can fight back and beat the big bad this time." Ryoji finished. Perhaps knowing you were fighting against someone you could swing back at was therapeutic to him, despite his kind nature. Nyx was the night mother, a force no power in the universe could defeat, yet now she was only a memory, one Death refused to forget.

"Treat it as a round two huh? I can't say I don't have my own grudges against that giant cheese wheel in the sky…" Although Minato didn't regret his sacrifice, it didn't mean his personal feelings toward Nyx had to be…pleasant.

"Pfttt! Giant cheese wheel?" He wasn't wrong, the moon did look like cheese.

"I came up with a few more with Junpei if you want to hear them." Right before their final operation, the boys of SEES decided to have a mini creative contest to cope with the inevitable. If they were going to die, they might as well throw out some petty insults to even whatever score they could. Looking back, it was a dumb story with an even dumber winner.

"So that's why I remember you guys yelling funny stuff during the fight." A light bulb lit up in the former avatar's mind, of which Minato quickly shifted the topic to avoid further embarrassment. They were only careful to drop some terrible one liners against the goddess to boost morale, nothing else.

"Anyways," he cleared his throat, hiding his sweat drop, " I told N I would help him change Zekrom's heart and overthrow the current Team Plasma."

"That's a serious commitment, are you sure Minato? You still have your friends and the Pokemon League too." Wasn't there too much on his plate already?

"I see this as an investment to bettering the world and helping a few friends…it's the best I can do after our final meeting." He couldn't do anything to help Ryoji either back then, and now he could, and that was enough of a debt to repay.

"Thank you, Minato."

Cutting back to the present, Minato was cooking a team dinner, working with the kitchen staff. Stirring up a batter of eggs for an omelette, he worked at light speeds to complete the next few dishes. His training from back home fuelled his hunger to achieve greater heights when he heard someone drop a metal tray.

"White, are you ok?" Ryoji made sure she was fine, he was teaching her how to bake when she clumsily stumbled into a shelf full of equipment.

"Yamask." Claudia picked up the remaining scattered items, practically shooing the two off to get back to work. She saw the boy show her great granddaughter how to ice the cookies carefully. At first it looked like she splattered batches of toothpaste haphazardly on the confections, yet as time passed she started to perfect her swirls.

"Yay, these don't look like they're in pain." The girl drew a smiley face on one of the cookies, only to frown when she messed up her last application and ended up with a mess.

"Now its a….sad face?" Ryoji inspected the cookie, like someone had wronged it in some humorous way. Of course this earned him a nudge in the rib.

"It's still happy…" White pouted, her face red in embarrassment.

The boy held in a laugh, the corners of his mouth practically fighting against their will.

Thankfully, he didn't have to as the noises coming from the main cabin reached them. One of the Plasma staff came in to report to their captain that many of the humans and pokemon had awoken from their comas.

"Thank you for the report, can you tell everyone to kindly settle down for now? We will be arriving in Nimbasa shortly, where we'll give them a chance to visit the hospital."

"But sir, some of the trainers among them are complaining they want to disembark now in the desert."

"We can't let anyone off now, they just braced a life threatening fall and some of them need serious medical attention. They can't possibly track the desert in their conditions." One of the doctors protested. She was unaware of Minato's generous healing spell being applied the night before, still that wasn't an excuse to have weakened pokemon and trainers out into the wild unsupervised.

"Let us leave, you pokemon thieves!"

Everyone hurried into the main cabin to see a male trainer yell at the top of his lungs, his Scrafty kicking over one of the hospital beds.

"You think we forgot what you all did in Nacrene? My dad lost his Ducklett because of you cold hearted people!" A woman joined him, her pokemon ready to attack whoever came close, leaving the rest of the trainers confused on what was going on. Some whispered among themselves, while others watched the drama in silence.

"Hey! It's not nice to treat the people who just saved you like this, you idiots!" White threw out her Gigi, the pig cracking its paws, ready for a beat down.

"White…?" Bianca whispered from the sidelines. Cheren stopped the blonde from inferring by pulling her back.

"The fuck did you say to me little girl?! I'll let you know I've challenged the Pokemon League several times now and fought one of the Elite Four, you better back down if you know who you're dealing with." The man commanded his Scrafty to topple more beds when Gigi caught the creature in the act and smacked it with a powerful paw. To everyone's surprise, it went down in one blow, leaving its trainer agape. Little did they know, the pokemon's shadow was darker than usual as Ryoji watched Darkrai from a corner.

"Save that for actual League jackass. Looks like your pokemon's more out of shape than you are!"

"Why you-"

"Everyone stop." Ryoji stepped in between the combatants, demanding for a cease fire.

"And why should we listen-"

Minato's gave the women a death glare, making her instantly back down as she sensed something behind it. Cheren's eyes widened, noticing the interaction.

"First off, I apologize to anyone here who feels uncomfortable or threatened by our presence. We at Team Plasma can only do our best to mend our reputations with the pokemon and trainers of Unova. On the behalf of our splinter group colleagues, I apologize for their evil acts, however our organization does not approve of their actions." He said firmly, but all it received were weary glances and eyes full of malice.

"Right now you have the free will to choose to depart or ride with us to Nimbasa, of which I promise we will safely deliver you there. However, before you make your final choice, please listen to my words first." Ryoji then commanded the driver to stop the trailer car, opening the doors to a wide, featureless desert. "I am someone who respects the free will of all beings, so I won't stop you if you choose to brave the desert alone. The reason you are with us now is because we recovered you for the numerous sinkholes that litter the Desert Resort and afterwards, we simply patched you and your pokemon up enough to survive the drive there. Because of this, I cannot guarantee your safety if you head out on your own." He dug through a supply box, handing one to the rowdy male from before.

"Here. Take this for your journey."

"What's this?" The man opened the box to find several bottles of water, a tent, food for both him and his pokemon. Ryoji then performed a similar action with the women, leaving the two complainers speechless. He even pulled out an expensive full heal, using on the downed Scrafty, who instantly recovered.

"Hey…don't these cost thousands of poke dollars?" The woman dug through the supplies, her face white at the expensive items. Premium stuff reserved only for those who've truly made it to the top. Ten max revive was enough to run most trainer's wallets into the ground, it was why no one spammed them endlessly in wild battles.

"We had to supply you the best for your tracks to Nimbasa. As as a representative of Team Plasma, we cannot let you go without the best chance of survival on the road."

"I can't believe that women left…" White said, icing over the cookies once more. Her hand shaking from the annoyance.

"You can't please everyone sadly, I'm afraid each person is different." Ryoji stood behind her, he gently guided her hand on the tray.

"At least that guy stayed I guess…" After the women left, the rowdy man sat alone, then quietly started to help the staff fix the equipment he'd damaged with his pokemon.

"I'm glad I was able to at least convince one of them at least, we'll be in Nimbasa by tonight." She leaned into him, relaxing a bit.

"That quick? I thought we still had another day." For some reason, she didn't want to leave yet.

"We're driving through the new tunnel shortcut." Unlike the footrack through the desert, construction of a new tunnel had made vehicle transport faster than ever before once the trailer finally hit the main road from the Desert Resort.

"Huh…didn't know they finished that already." She said awkwardly. The cookies were just about finished.

"I like to cut down on our expenses when necessary."

"You're a meanie."

"Eh? How so?"

She didn't reply, giving him her own version of cryptic treatment.

Once they reached Nimbasa, as promised the other trainers and pokemon were brought to the hospital and Team Plasma bid everyone farewell. Cheren, Bianca, White and Minato made their way to a hotel in the city.

Ryoji parked the trailer in a campground, letting his staff take a breather outside, leaving him alone. Typing another report to Ghetsis once more, this time he turned to the source of the person that suddenly appeared in his cabin.

Dust clung to his clothes as a man with messy green hair tied in a ponytail handed him a pokeball radiating a warm glow. Piercing yellow eyes lit up his face, giving them an eerie glow as this shadow moved like a puppet to an unknown entity's commands.

"Ah, you're back. I thought you'd lost yourself in those vast ruins." Ryoji picked up Volcarona's ball. "Everything went according to plan, I suppose?" His once innocent eyes darkened, his voice flat.

"I was seen." The shadow's ghostly voice echoed.

"Oh? By who?"

"..."

"I see, so Minato spotted you huh? Well, that can't be helped now. Maybe he'll chuck it up to it being an illusion of the ruins."

The green haired shadow nodded.

"Since your other self just arrived in Nimbasa, I forbid you from going out in the city without my permission." Ryoji saw the shadow nod. "Oh and more thing…"

"Yes?"

"Inform father of one abnormality. Have him send someone to monitor her." He showed the puppet a photo of White, one where they happily took when handing out the cookies they made.

"Why so?"

"From Lenora's leaked private footage, we believe she's the Hero of Truth…" Furthermore he needed to confirm something else. When they had found her in the ruins, she appeared nearly unscathed while every other person took a hard fall enough to develop broken bones, but her?

Almost nothing.

The next morning Minato received a call on his phone.

"What's up, Black?"

"Hey Min, you might wanna check the news."

Grabbing the TV remote, he was greeted with a report of Team Plasma's selfless act of rescuing trainers from the desert.

"Coming live from Nimbasa city hospital, we have now confirmed the conditions and identities of the lost travelers who braved the Desert Resort. During the past week, both authorities in Castelia and Nimbasa have received reports of people and pokemon going missing in the desert."

Next the segment cut to a Team Plasma spooks person giving a heartwarming speech where the survivors were reunited with their families, with members of the organization donating supplies as well as flowers.

Somewhere in his underground castle, Ghetsis enjoyed a fresh brew of tea, grinning to himself for a job well done. Around him were new pieces of marketing material delivered by Rosa and the rest, it was time they started muddling the narrative again. Cute cartoon drawings of a happy world where people danced with Team Plasma scattered on his table. He had to give their artists some compliments for a job well done.

After all, they were the good guys, so in his mind wasting a few thousand dollars or so wasn't that much a concern. The rescue mission carried out by that boy was as successful and now they were back in the news, and back in the limelight. This will make it way harder for Interpol to make a move. Not with this much attention on them now.

"You appear rather in high-spirits." the person next to him said. The greedy man turned, looking at the owner of the voice. Someone who just appeared to him one day, someone even he could not fully comprehend.

Author's Notes:

White does indeed get feelings for Ryoji, she was just too shy to ask for his number.

Ghetsis is playing everyone into his hands. He was the one sent Ryoji to rescue people in Relic Castle to get some good PR and shield Plasma from more investigations from Interpol where he could just turn public opinion against them eventually. Rosa accidentally helps by creating great marketing material which you saw Ryoji approve of too. As a bonus as they are helping lost trainers, Shadow N came in to snatch Volcarona as a double deal. Blake is probably seething rn.

Shadow N makes his first appearance here too, and so does our big bad technically but they'll be revealed...way later down the line.

Cheren doesn't speak but he's thinking about what's going on around him.