Driftveil City sprawls out before us as we reach the other end of the great drawbridge.  Unlike Castelia City and Nimbasa City, this place has changed a great deal in the last two years – in fact, it’s barely recognisable.  Great swathes of residential space have been converted to commercial use, filled with innumerable hotels that, in true Driftveil style, do not reach for the skies but plunge deep into the rock.  The whole city is a tourist town now, and a very profitable one by the looks of it.  Probably the work of Clay, the ‘Miner King,’ Driftveil’s shrewd Gym Leader and, I quietly suspect, mob boss.  The old industrial zone, the Cold Storage, is gone too, replaced by… something, looks exciting, lots of tourists, but we don’t have time to look at it now; something is happening.  There’s a Team Plasma member at the entrance to Driftveil City… along with another man wearing one of the old grey hooded Team Plasma uniforms from two years ago.  The two men are having an argument about something – the one in the old uniform is trying to convince the other man to leave Team Plasma, while his friend seems to be complaining that he’s not cool anymore and that he used to love stealing Pokémon, but they never talk now and he’s gotten so distant, always going on about whether things are ‘right’ or ‘ethical,’ or wondering what Lord N would think, and damnit, N doesn’t care about you; what about us, doesn’t that even matter to you anymore?

…he seemed to say.

Normally we would figure this is none of our business, but they’re blocking the main bridge into downtown Driftveil City with their little drama, and Jim is on the verge of approaching to ask what’s going on.  He doesn’t get the chance because Hugh comes screaming out of nowhere, tackles the fellow in the black uniform, and starts demanding answers about his sister’s Purrloin.  Jim quietly releases Ulfric and gestures to him to get ready to restrain Hugh with a Vine Whip.  The Team Plasma grunt says he’s supposed to avoid trouble, waves to his friend (no doubt stifling a flood of tears) and runs, with Hugh in hot pursuit.  Jim and I look at each other and I shrug helplessly, pointing after them.  Jim and Ulfric give chase, leaving me with the man in the old grey uniform.  I learn, through some brief questioning, that Team Plasma is not the unified organisation it once was.  There has been a schism between the followers of N, who want to help Pokémon, and the followers of Ghetsis, who want to take over the world.  I can see how those two policies might not mesh perfectly.  I am invited to meet the splinter group at their base in Driftveil City and hear about their beliefs, an offer I hesitantly accept.  They’re probably not like those door-to-door evangelicals who wake you up early on weekends but you never e know.  I follow the ex-Plasma to his group’s building on a hill overlooking the city, where he introduces me to their leader: Rood.  In Black and White, Rood was one of the Seven Sages, the group of wise men assembled by Ghetsis to help him take over the world – except that most of them didn’t know that this is what they were doing.  After a quick Pokémon battle to test my worth, Rood decides that I am trustworthy and allows me into his sanctum to tell me more.  He explains apologetically that his group are often targets of hatred and retribution for their former actions as part of Team Plasma, and they need to be careful about who they talk to.  As he speaks, I hear another voice from outside, shouting something about “Team Plasma lowlifes!”

Why, speak of the devil…

Another ex-Plasma member leads in a very curious train of guests.  In the lead is Hugh, who is screaming blue murder as he struggles with the thick, tough vines wrapped around his body, trying to grab for his Pokéballs and demanding the return of Purrloin.  Behind him is Ulfric, Jim’s Servine, who is supplying the vines.  Ulfric is clearly annoyed, but is having little difficulty keeping Hugh restrained, being much stronger than a human adolescent.  Bringing up the rear, Jim is walking several paces behind Ulfric, one hand covering his face, trying to pretend that he doesn’t know Hugh.  The ex-Plasma quietly tells Rood that he found the three of them in the middle of Driftveil City, where Hugh tried to attack him, and Jim had requested help dealing with the lunatic.  Rood asks me whether I know them.  My mortified hesitation is all the answer he needs.  Rood calmly walks up to Hugh, waits for him to get tired of shouting, and gestures to Ulfric to release him.  Ulfric looks uncertainly at Jim, who shrugs.  Once Hugh is free, Rood asks him what he’s so angry about.  Hugh breathlessly repeats his story about his sister’s stolen Purrloin.  Rood shakes his head sadly, apologising on behalf of his whole group for their part in Team Plasma’s operations, but regretfully explains that there are no Purrloin in their base.  The Pokémon in question is probably still in the possession of one of Ghetsis’s loyalists.  Hugh very nearly explodes again, raising his voice as he demands to know what good an apology does him.  Ulfric tenses and prepares for another Vine Whip.  Hugh settles down, though, turning away from Rood and telling us that he’ll be in the Driftveil Gym before leaving under a dark cloud.

These guys are interesting.

My biggest complaint – perhaps my only major complaint – about the plot of Black and White was that it underutilised the ambiguity inherent in the main conflict with Team Plasma.  What they are fighting for (or, rather, what Ghetsis claims to be fighting for) is not, on the face of it, a bad thing.  Many of the people who attend Ghetsis’s rallies, even including a Gym Leader, Burgh, admit that he has a point.  The actual Team Plasma members themselves, though, are not nearly so admirable when you meet them and speak to them.  They are, almost without exception, a bunch of zealots with little sympathy for the unfortunate trainers they seek to separate from their Pokémon.  Many of them, in fact, seem to enjoy it, and are working with Team Plasma more because they like having an excuse to commit crimes than because they actually believe in what N is trying to do.  This, I felt, blunts the effectiveness of the ambiguity which makes the plot interesting.  These guys – the splinter group led by Rood – are exactly what was missing from the first games, the members of Team Plasma who are genuinely good people, manipulated by Ghetsis into doing terrible things in the name of Pokémon liberation.  They’re now caring for the Pokémon they once stole in an attempt to atone for their crimes, and honestly their story is what really grabs me about the new games so far.  I want to know what happens to them!  Heck, I want to help them, because even if they did dreadful things they were at least doing them for noble reasons!  Ghetsis fooled a lot of people – even his six fellow Sages, who were supposedly chosen for their intelligence and their… well, sagacity.  Now his ex-minions have no idea what to do.  Theoretically they still follow N, the ‘child of the Pokémon,’ and try to emulate his teachings; in fact they seem to view him almost as a sort of messianic figure – and why not?  He was wise, and kind, and for goodness’ sake the guy could talk to Pokémon!  He’s buggered off to heaven knows where with Reshiram, though.  We meet his handmaidens, Anthea and Concordia, in Rood’s base.  They give us a little more of N’s backstory – all three of them were orphans taken in by Ghetsis, who groomed N to be the King of Team Plasma and the girls to care for him (because, let’s face it, he’s nice but the guy’s a little short on general life skills).  Despite their relationship with N, though, they can’t provide any direction.  They’re not leaders.  They just kinda hang out in the basement and help take care of the Pokémon.  Basically, this group has been ditched by its one unifying figure and left with no purpose in life but to fix its own horrendous mistakes, while enduring the shouts and attacks of lunatics like Hugh, and I cannot help but feel for them.

As we leave, Rood apologises once again that he can’t offer us any help – in fact, he has a favour to ask.  He needs to find a trainer for one of the Pokémon in their care – one of N’s childhood friends, a Zorua.  I glance at Jim with a look of “well?”  He agrees to take it and thanks Rood, deciding immediately to add Zorua to his team (with no nickname, sadly, since N counts as its ‘original trainer’).  With a new Pokémon in tow, we depart to prepare for our next Gym battle – against Driftveil’s conniving master, the mining tycoon Clay.