Last time, I’ve just reached the final showdown of ultimate destiny!

Ghetsis: Come now! I want to see your face at the moment you lose all hope! Battle to protect Unova! I’ve prepared the finest stage, and it’s wasted on a bit player like you! Lose and go down in flames!

Ghetsis you are exactly what I want out of my enemies. Let’s do this.

Bazzakyurem!

It’s a mere L55.

I mean, it’s tough to take down, but…I don’t even need to pull out a revive, and I went into this with half my team compromised.

It’s satisfying to knock out a legendary, though.

Bazzash! Haaahraaan!

The helpful narrative box that tells me things like that the barriers are gone now informs me the two pokemon have separated. I’m really not sure who’s telling me this stuff. Besides, couldn’t I figure this kind of thing out on my own?

Ghetsis: I can’t believe it! The Black Kyurem I went to all the trouble of preparing!

You should try simpler evil plans.

How irritating! Now I have to recapture Kyurem, don’t I? But first, I’ll take down this disgusting Trainer with my own hand!

Finally! N, if you wanna double-battle with me for this you can, just don’t let Failry in.

This time I WILL succeed! No matter what they try, no one will be able to stop me!

N: …!

Ghetsis looks absolutely awful. What the hell happened to him? Although he’s still strong enough to smash that thing he’s holding into the rock.

L54 confagrigus. Also, somehow my pokemon are all healed.
L54 seismitoad
L54 eelektross
L54 drapion
L54 toxicroak
L56 hydreigon

The battle’s actually challenging!

Could it be?! My plans for complete and total world domination foiled yet again? No! It mustn’t be! I couldn’t have been defeated by some random Trainer from who knows where!

Ah, long speeches during the battle section, my secret bane. Thank god Bulbapedia has the script for a lot of characters up.

Also this isn’t really as satisfying as I hoped. Like I said about being identified as Marlon’s friend, the time for people telling me I’m some unknown is the earlier part of the game. By the end, I want them to respect and fear my accomplishments.

Ghetsis: How can this be? I’m the creator of Team Plasma! I’m perfect! I’m the absolute ruler who will change the world!

Uh, no, you were trying to be that, but you failed first.

And I’ve lost to some unknown Trainer not once, but TWICE?!

He paces back and forth.

I can’t accept this! This isn’t possible! I can’t be bested by fools who can’t even use Pokemon correctly!

Then the music gets all nice.

N: It’s hard to call you this, but… Father! Please understand. Pokemon are not tools. Pokemon and humans take each other to greater heights.

Another thing to like about N, he’s saying “pokemon and humans” and not “pokemon and people” like everyone else.

They are our wonderful partners. Some humans understand this. Why can’t you?

Ghetsis responds with the dialogue box of spiky hate: Ghetsis: Shut your mouth! Shut up! Shut up! Shut UP! Don’t talk like a person, you freak! No real person could talk to Pokemon!

I don’t really get why he’s so fixated on this. It’d be interesting if actually N isn’t a human but a transformed pokemon. I mean, if Ghetsis is so bent on considering pokemon as mindless tools, what could be more disturbing to someone like that than the idea that if you raise a pokemon like it’s a person, it acts like a person with the talking and the having noticeable feelings? And that would add yet another layer to Ghetsis’ legendary hero gambit. Mew are supposed to be purehearted and learn transform…

Suddenly, ninjas! The music is still the nice music.

Shadow Triad: Lord Ghetsis has…lost control… We’ll take it from here…

N: OK… Without Father, Team Plasma is…

Shadow Triad: Farewell…

And they vanish. But N’s still here! Yay N! I’m not even annoyed that you’re trying to let the guy get out of just punishment for his crimes like that stupid sage guy, because you’re N, you don’t understand how laws and stuff work!

N: On behalf of everyone… Thank you. Kyurem is fine. Now, it has lost its power, but it will come here again.

Bazzash!

N: Zekrom says thank you as well!

No problem worlddestroyingdragonfriend!

That’s right… I can talk with Pokemon.

Aw, he looks away for a second. Poor N.

On that day two years ago, a certain Trainer and Alder taught me something…

N, I was there and I told you not to listen to Douchy, remember?

By accepting different ideas, this world creates a chemical reaction… So I met many different Pokemon and people

Dammit N.

and heard so much… And that’s how my world quietly grew bigger… By being with Pokemon, humans can continue toward new horizons. By being with humans, Pokemon can exhibit their true power. That’s what Zekrom taught me: the ideal for Pokemon and me. And someday both ideals and truth will come together… Then Pokemon and humans will be free from the oppression of Poke Balls.

So…those are definitely evil, though?

…huh. Ten years of arguing about this and I WIN. CANON, MOTHERFUCKERS! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!! Now all I need is for them to stop capitalizing everything and I can die of smugness.

Then N runs up to me. Hugs!

You! What are you and your Pokemon striving for?

…I’d only murder a couple people…

You should head to the Pokemon League and put your ideals to the test!

Yay N’s cool with my murderfest as long as I win! Thanks N!

Who knew might proves right could be so much fun.

And he climbs up on Zekrom’s back and leaves.

Ah, that was how NPCs should be. N has a very different role than mine, so there’s no resentment for him stealing my spotlight. He briefly showed up earlier but didn’t impact anything or even let me see him, then appeared at last to be awesome, then was taken out of the fight in a cutscene so I was the one who had to actually save the day in battle. The extended dialogue was interesting and they didn’t seem to be deliberately snubbing me from the conversation because there was a reason for their interaction.

…and then Failry. The opposite.

Team Plasma’s ship flew away… Is it over?

What? Hell no, I still need to get a legendary and Ghetsis got away AGAIN and I bet there’s still plots I haven’t foi-

no no I meant yes yes go home and

I suppose… You have to be the one who decides when it’s over. More importantly, you rescued Kyurem from Team Plasma, right?

Rescued, beat the shit out of, same thing right?

You’re really something!

Of course I am.

I’m…gonna make sure Purrloin gets back to my sister.

Oh god you’re going to catch a replacement purrloin and tell her it’s her old one, aren’t you? Because otherwise you’d be calling it Liepard by now.

Still can’t take it out of the Poke Ball yet, though…

I’m really not sure what the game is trying to do here. So again it’s pointing out the liepard doesn’t want to go with him, and now it’s adding that he’s only able to overrule its wishes because he has its pokeball.

What are you gonna do?

Steal the pokeball and let it go because you’re a selfish fucker!

…
…
He said to go to the Pokemon League? That’s a good idea!

Arg.

Now the game lets me “participate” in conversations.

I mean, now you’re the strongest in Unova, right?

If I am, then why should I bother with the League?

Go prove it!

Oh, right, the fame.

Do you remember where we first met up in the Giant Chasm?

No, it’s all a blur of hatred.

If you follow the path from there, it goes out onto Route 23. Victory Road and the Pokemon League are just past there!

Fine.

Let’s check out the cane first. It’s still stuck in the ground.

It’s the cane Ghetsis was holding. Was he controlling Kyurem with it?

My avatar stubbornly refuses to pick it up. Bad avatar!

I guess it could be trouble if it makes pokeballs not work – but, it doesn’t prevent me from using my already caught pokemon, and it probably has an on/off switch. Even if it doesn’t I could probably deliver it somewhere more convenient than some random cave.

Actually if Kyurem comes back here it’ll have to be removed, won’t it?

So… Actually I quite like the flow of this section. Failry was properly offscreened for most of it and reappears only to gape in awe at my accomplishments, the fight was challenging, and I felt like I was accomplishing something. And it’s a good idea to have people first just battle an angry legendary and focus on just surviving long enough to beat it – it lets the legendary be tougher and makes it all the more impressive if I can come back later and capture it. And it heavily featured the good NPCs, who had personalities and talked to me. Unlike last game, which began to marginalize me more and more as I reached the endgame, this one started off infuriating but now is turning quite good. Let’s hope this trend continues.