The New Normal - 18-1

The New Normal – 18-1 – Public Trial

As I stepped into the courtroom, I realised that this might be the first time that I’ve ever found myself in one of them. Fortunately, I was not in any trouble, and I was only there to be a spectator. I wasn’t going to be on the stand – that was reserved for the three Sages from PLASMA that we had captured from our earlier raids in Unova.

And it wasn’t just them, as we were going to bring out one final Sage back into the spotlight once again – Zinzolin. He had previously been rotting away in prison, but now he was called up so that he could be charged for further crimes that he committed while he operated as a leader of PLASMA.

Although, truth be told, this was mostly a show trial. With how much overwhelming evidence we had against them, it was extremely unlikely (read: impossible) for them to walk out of the courtroom without being given a life sentence.

Usually, we wouldn’t be able to make use of information obtained from Psychic interrogations in a trial, mostly because the use of psychic interrogations in the first place would have been disallowed. However, as this was now deemed a matter of international security, it was a different matter.

So, their crimes had been so severe and so utterly monstrous, mostly due to the horrible levels of Pokémon abuse that were committed or orchestrated by them, that we knew that it was almost a guarantee that they wouldn’t be walking out of here scot-free. The jury would not allow for that to happen.

That was why we were doing this. On paper, we were giving them one final opportunity for them to defend themselves as it was proper. But in reality, we were just doing this so that we could fully air out all of PLASMA’s crimes in a public setting one more time – just to make sure that the entire world really, and fully knew what they had done wrong.

Being slandered in the news wasn’t enough. We had to make it ‘official’ by laying everything out in a trial.

We also hoped to set a precedent for any future cases of Pokémon abuse – we wanted to show that all of the Leagues were willing and able to crack down extremely hard on any such cases. There would be no leniency here.

So today, four different trials would take place – one for each Sage that we had captured, and Zinzolin. Rood was up first, as he was the most cooperative among the Sages. In fact, even after his capture, he continued to remain quite talkative – especially after we revealed to him that we had captured two more Sages.

And he was almost broken when he heard about the full extent of the vile Pokémon abuse that PLASMA had subjected their own Pokémon to. Obviously, we were initially sceptical about how he didn’t know about this, considering that he was a Sage himself, but our Psychic scans proved that he was not lying. Of course, he wasn’t completely unaware, and he knew that many of PLASMA’s Pokémon were taken to a secret facility for ‘check ups’, but he didn’t realise the extent of the abuse that was carried out on them.

However, it was more out of selective blindness than anything else. From what he told us, he should have known that these things were happening, and if he were a better person, he should have moved to stop it. But he was either too trusting of PLASMA’s goals to doubt their actions, or he overlooked them because he wanted to preserve his conscience. Either way, he wasn’t a good person, but at least he seemed willing to repent.

The same could not be said for the other Sages that we had captured, and they were far more culpable. Bronius himself was in fact in charge of most of PLASMA’s finances, and therefore was fully aware of the illicit activities that they were taking part of. Likewise, Gorm was overseeing the construction of PLASMA castle, so he definitely knew about what acts of horror were being committed there.

He just didn’t care. The way he saw it, whatever means was necessary to ensure N’s ascension as King of Unova was justified. He was a true fanatic, much like the Galactic Commanders were.

My thoughts were pushed aside as I heard someone sit down next to me.

“You doing good?” Flint asked.

“…I am, but why wouldn’t I be?” I returned curiously.

“Well I thought that our dear Champion might be bringing the work back home with her. And given how busy shew as these days – I was concerned that if she did, you’d be dragged down alongside her.” He replied, “Especially considering that she’s trying to juggle dealing with both what’s going on over in Kitakami, and this upcoming trial. You know how it is for people like us – we don’t have usual work hours, but that just means we have to work whenever we’re called for. And when it does rain, it pours.”

I nodded, accepting the point, “Fortunately, the situation in Kitakami has mostly calmed down by now.” I said, “There’s not much that requires her direct attention anymore. The Sinnoh Police and Rangers stationed there can pretty much handle everything independently now. Didn’t you know that she put Aaron in charge of most of the work anyways?”

“Ah. I didn’t hear about that, no. But poor guy.” Flint replied, before he leaned back as he placed his hands on the back of his head, “Welp. Better him than us I guess.”

It was then that I felt a tap on my shoulder, “Good to see you again, John. Been a while.”

I turned around to see Lorelei smiling down at me, “Oh, hey! Yeah, same.” I said as I patted the seat next to me, gesturing for her to take a seat, “You enjoying being in Indigo without me? I do hear your name a lot more often on the news nowadays than I did before, so it seems like you’re doing well.”

Thanks to the recent raids against PLASMA, the International Police were once again in the spotlight. Naturally, as Lorelei was their leader, that meant that her political influence was growing too.

“It’s been going quite well. The takedown of PLASMA has bolstered the International Police’s reputation by a significant margin.” She admitted, “Though it feels dirty to be benefitting off of such… vile actions, even if only tangentially. The things they’ve done…”

“You were there for the raid at the PLASMA castle, weren’t you?” I asked, “The one where they found all those abused Pokémon?”

“I was.” She nodded, a slightly haunted look in her eye, “And let’s just say that after what I saw there… I consider throwing these Sages in jail to be a mercy. They deserve far, far worse for what they’ve done.”

I couldn’t agree more.

=================

A short wait later, and the court was finally in session. Reporters had swarmed into the courtroom, and cameras were set up all the place as they prepared to televise the whole proceedings to the entire world.

Meanwhile, I remained in the VIP area, with the Sinnoh Elite Four, Lorelei, and Cynthia all sitting next to me.

A solemn silence descended on the entire room as the judge banged his gavel and began the proceedings.

As planned, Rood went up first. His hands were shackled, and he was escorted by two Jennys – both with two Arcanine also flanking them – as he took to the witness stand. However, despite this entourage, he looked neither nervous nor afraid. Instead, he seemed resigned, with just a hint of resolution in his eyes.

Then it began, and the prosecution thoroughly laid out all that he had done wrong on behalf of PLASMA. They laid out the horrible acts of abuse committed by them, the illegal funds that they had corrupted themselves to obtain, and the brainwashing that they had tried to enact on their new recruits to ‘encourage’ them to follow in their footsteps.

Team Galactic was mentioned a lot, and many comparisons were drawn between the actions of PLASMA and those of Team Galactic. To the public, there were many uncomfortable and terrible similarities between the two.

Rood admitted to all of it. However, when he was given the right to speak, he did his best to defend what PLASMA did.

“It was not meant to be like this.” He said sorrowfully, “When I joined PLASMA, we were just a fledgling group with only a few members in it. We Sages were the first to join – and we joined because we truly believed in a dream. We were convinced that Pokémon deserved more than the happiness that they currently felt. That while Pokémon trainers can sometimes bring happiness and fulfilment to their Pokémon, it was the rare exception, not the rule. We felt that Pokémon would be better off if they returned to the wild, without being at risk of being shackled to the whims of a trainer.”

“In my younger days, I’ve seen all too much the horrors that trainers are able to inflict upon their own Pokémon, and even though a Pokémon may have the strength to fight back, they are conditioned not to. So they merely subject themselves to the abuse, often not having any recourse unless another trainer notices it and takes pity on them. But if not for that, then they will forever be trapped.”

“And I rejected that. I loathed seeing their sadness with every fibre of my being. I loved Pokémon too, and much like everyone else, I wanted to continue to be around them. I wanted to be able to co-exist with them, as we have done for so many years now. But at the time, I felt that, as much as it would hurt to do so, it was better to let them go – because human traditions and culture were corrupting them by making them artificially dependent on us. So if they would be happier without us trainers, then that cost would be something I was willing to pay in order to ensure their happiness.”

“It was that dream that spawned PLASMA as an organisation. I believed in it wholeheartedly, and in my younger days, I know I would have done anything to achieve it. I still remember my first few talks with Ghetsis…” Rood reached out with a hand, as if trying to grab onto something in front of him that didn’t actually exist, “He painted such a beautiful picture for us... and it touched something in my heart. I truly thought that we were doing good. All of us did. After all, trying to bring true happiness for Pokémon couldn’t possibly be a bad goal, right?”

Then he let out a bitter sigh, as if all of the fight and resolve had left his body, “However… however, hearing all of these crimes laid out against us – I now see that we’ve lost our way. That beautiful dream of ours has been tainted. Our once noble intentions were corrupted by our greed and false justifications. And I think I had been too blind to see it, since I was still reaching for the sun.”

A tear began to roll down from his eye, “…I didn’t want this.” His voice had fallen into a whisper, “I didn’t want this… it shouldn’t have ended like this. We should have been better.”

…Despite knowing all the evil that he had done, or had allowed to be committed while he himself turned a blind eye, I felt for him. His heartfelt statement – his regret – had really shown through in his voice.

This wasn’t the man putting on an act to earn himself sympathy for a lighter sentence. No, this was a man who had finally seen the dark path that he had been walking down, and was now bitterly despairing at the choices that had led him down it.

Because of that, I couldn’t see him as an evil man. A man who had done a lot of wrong, certainly, and he still deserved to be punished for those actions, but he wasn’t inherently malicious. He was misguided and corrupted, much like I’m sure many other members of PLASMA were.

And he said as much in his final statement, “…I do not ask clemency for myself. I know the wrong that I have done. I know that my actions were inexcusable. However, I ask for the remaining members of PLASMA, the ones that had no knowledge of the actions of the Sages like myself, to not be treated so harshly. They were as innocent as we were when we first started, and had it not been for our insidious whisperings, they would not have fallen down the same path that we did. We were the ones to approach them with a blackened hand – so place the blame on us. Not them.”

It was a moving request. And truthfully, it was the stance that the League had also chosen to take with the PLASMA members, hence why most of the recruits that we had arrested during the raids were let go unless there was solid evidence against them. Though that wasn’t a blanket statement – some of the older members had definitely committed crimes that warranted their arrests, but in order for it to be ‘just’, the fate of each member needed to be decided on a case-by-case basis.

We didn’t want to be too harsh here, both because it wouldn’t be just and also because it would make us look bad.

Nevertheless, Rood’s confession, while emotional and tearful to some, didn’t save him from being charged to spending his life in prison (since he was already quite old). However, with good behaviour, he might be granted parole in his later years and be allowed to see the outside world again.

It could be said by some that Rood got off lightly. But there was a reason he was up first.

We wanted to show the public that we weren’t going to paint all of the PLASMA members with the same brush – that those who were repentant and understood their wrongdoing, could be given a lighter sentence. Because it shows that they were willing to do better. Again, it showed that we were willing to be fair.

And more importantly, we wanted him to contrast against his fellow Sages, who were coming up next. The audience now knew what the ‘Good’ guy was like, so now they were going to see how different the ‘bad’ ones were.

Just as we hoped, the Sages that came after were nowhere near as repentant as Rood. And their expressions were filled with far more righteous indignity as they were dragged onto the witness stand. If anything, they seemed enraged that Rood went away so meekly.

Upon being questioned, they were nowhere near as sympathetic. They raged and raved, ridiculing us for stopping them from achieving their final goal of freeing all Pokémon. It was clear to everyone they did not see anything wrong in the path that they were walking down – they were merely doubling down on their beliefs.

Though at one point, Gorm did try to justify PLASMA from his perspective.

“You denounce us for spreading evil – but don’t you understand that our greater goal is worth whatever sacrifices that we have to make to pave the way for true happiness? We did not mean to bring suffering to Pokémon, but we understand that without strength, we are unable to change the world. If you and your Leagues were not too blind to see the truth – we would not have to resort to such measures. So if you dare condemn us for your actions, you had better condemn yourself first!”

“For it is not we that sank into the darkness first.” He growled, “We are merely trying to fix the mistakes that you made. Our lord N – the great prince – he knows the way to break all Pokémon free from their shackles, and he will save us all!”

But all that did was evoke more of the extremely uncomfortable similarities between PLASMA and Team Galactic – as this was exactly the kind of rhetoric used by the latter to justify their atrocities and mad plans.

So, rather than making himself look better, Gorm had just doomed both himself and Bronius with his words. The spectator stands erupted in boos and jeers, and it took five bangs of the gavel from the judge and a full minute after that to properly silence them.

In the end, both Gorm and Bronius were given life sentences without any chance of parole. Their lack of any guilt, and their obvious madness, sealed their fate.

So once Zinzolin was dragged to the witness stand, we thought that it would be more of the same. Except it wasn’t.

Because if we thought the other two Sages were bad… then Zinzolin was far, far, more insane. For all he said was a single statement.

“You will come to regret this, I promise you that. You may have bound me in chains now, but it will not hold me down for long. The day will soon come that Ghetsis will reward us with our rightful place in the world – and I look forward to the day that you are all destroyed.” He said this as he glared up to the VIP stands, with eyes shining with pure evil and malice, “I will enjoy savouring your last moments with my eyes.”

He snapped into a salute, “GLORY TO GHETSIS! LORD OF UNOVA!”

…Needless to say, he was dragged out of the witness stands. There was no need to listen to any more of his ramblings.

I glared at him as he left. Not because I was bothered by what he said, but because I was making a promise of my own.

His words would never come to pass.

Much like his peers, Zinzolin was sentenced to life in prison, with no chance for parole. If there was a harsher sentence that we could have given him, then I was sure that it would have been done.

With Zinzolin as the final member to be sentenced, the trial came to a close. All four of the Sages would be imprisoned in maximum security prisons, not just in Sinnoh, but in all the other regions too. Coincidentally, there happened to be four Sages, which meant that each region got one. This was to separate them and prevent a possible breakout to free all of the Sages at once.

Also, it was politically uncomfortable if the Sages, who were all citizens of Unova, were all imprisoned outside of their own region. Even if it was smarter to do so, we had at least give them one of the Sages just for ‘appearances’.

Because of this, Unova actually got Rood. The reason was that Rood was the Sage that had ‘openly betrayed’ PLASMA, and was very likely the one that they valued the least. So he was the least likely member that PLASMA would go out of their way to break out. Or even if they did break him up, he was the least likely to be cooperative with them after everything that had happened.

Overall, the trial went about as we had expected, and considering the public’s reaction to it, it had been a resounding success.

The immediate reaction from the public was pure outrage, especially when they realised that most of the Sages were completely unrepentant about their actions. Even though it was nothing new, and they had heard it all in the news before, the recent trial had seared their wrongdoings into their memory.

And with the whole trial being broadcasted to the world, this was officially the end of PLASMA.  

Now it was just time to mop up all that remained.

A.N. This is the start of Arc 18 – Ideals. Also, as promised, this will be quite the action-filled arc as we deal with the final remnants of Team PLASMA, which will not be going down easily. This is why I chose to start off with this trial, as unlike with Cyrus and Team Galactic (who had some public support up until the very end), I felt that it would be good to show how the League have learnt their lesson and are now much more thorough with their actions to deny any possibility of a resurgence.

Not only that, but I wanted to hint towards the Black and White 2 Storyline here and show that not all Sages were of the same mindset.

And as always, thank you for your support. I know I’ve said it before, but your support is directly related to why I kept writing this story after the Galactic arc was over. Thank you, and hope you enjoyed.