Azure and N haven’t seen/spoken to each other since N left Team Plasma at the end of BW. I have however been thinking about them reconnecting eventually… … .
I like the idea of N hearing rumors about weird stuff going on with pokemon in Lumiose and deciding to go see if he can lend a hand, always looking for an opportunity to aid pokemon when he can, but kind of ending up late to the party. I’m kind of conflicted on whether I want him arriving in Lumiose post-main-game or post-DLC, bc either way I think it makes for interesting but different dynamics between him and both Azure and the rest of Team MZ.
Because I’m very much imaging N arriving in the city, and Azure running into him in the plaza outside the train station very much in the same way they first ran into Taunie when they arrived in Lumiose, and, wanting to kind of give him the same welcome to the city they were given, inviting him back to the hotel to stay for the duration of his trip.
And if this is happening post-game, pre-DLC, then we’re still kind of dealing with Azure at the point where they are hiding a lot of their past with Team Plasma from Team MZ, and so there is that kind of tension there of ‘oh I brought him back here without thinking out the consequences, if anyone recognizes him there’s going to be questions that I don’t know how to answer’ in addition to like. Okay now N is also having to kind of play down/hide a part of his past that he has admittedly had much longer to come to terms with for the sake of not outing Azure’s Team Plasma association, all while the two of them are kind of trying to work through like. Everything that happened to Azure after N left Team Plasma and the ways that kind of affects their relationship. And also I know in my heart of hearts that at least Naveen would recognize N, and, already kind of having had his suspicions about Azure, would definitely starting putting those puzzle pieces together, and as much as I think Naveen is the king of minding his own damn business, I think even he at that point would struggle not to say something about it. Which I think is all very fun, I love when interpersonal relationships get reallll messy lol
On the other hand if we’re going post-DLC then the vibe is completely different, because Team MZ already know about Azure’s past, would all probably recognize N at least by name when Azure brings him in, and the conflict becomes less 'Team MZ doesn’t know’ and more 'Team MZ knows and is maybe a bit overprotective about the whole thing’. Which is fun! Azure, oblivious, super happy to have N around, meanwhile the rest of Team MZ are staring at him across the table at dinner with the kind of look that says they will kill him if he does the wrong thing. It’s a little sillier and more light hearted than the other timeline. Team MZ and N can eventually work that out pretty easy once they both realize they all just want Azure to be safe and happy. It’s cute. And I do also kind of like it for the fact that. I guess it gives N and Azure a bit more space to deal with their interpersonal issues. If there is not the additional complication of hiding everything from Team MZ.
I imagine that while the two of them do basically immediately go back to getting along like old friends, there’s definitely some tension once you dig beneath the surface. The last time Azure saw N he was the King of Team Plasma, which kind of leaves them on rocky ground in terms of. How exactly to interact with him now that they’re equals. And also when he left they really didn’t get a lot of context on why, and obviously now that they’re older and have gone through the things they have with Ghetsis they understand why he had to leave, but I think there is certainly a little part of them that they feel guilty about that wishes he hadn’t left them behind, and I’m sure there is a bit of that guilt on N’s side once he realized what happened to them in his absence. I can also kind of see there being a bit of unease around Azure giving him a place to stay in the hotel for free. Bc like. They’re just trying to be kind, do the same thing Taunie did for them when they came to the city, because he’s a friend, but he’s maybe a bit uneasy about being given special treatment, again bc of the whole 'used to be a king’ thing.
And then there’s obviously the actual conflict of what happened between Ghetsis and Azure. Because it is kind of a story in two parts, first in Ghetsis almost killing them with Kyurem, and then the aftermath of that, the months after where they were stuck with him. And N, as much as he suffered under Ghetsis for his entire life, basically got to his one major disagreement with him and then left, a privilege that Azure simply never got. And I can very much imaging Azure getting to explaining the aftermath of their original disagreement with Ghetsis, and N very much being shocked to find out they stayed afterwards, and Azure maybe getting a bit defensive about that fact that they literally physically could not leave for a long time, let alone the fact that, unlike N, they had never had the opportunity to travel outside of Team Plasma, meet people outside of Team Plasma. They barely had a concept of what the world was like outside of the group and most of the ideas they did have were propaganda passed down from Ghetsis in order to keep the people under him in check. It wasn’t exactly an easy decision for them to make.
So, yeah, just some interesting layers of conflict that might be nicer to see have some space of its own rather than being caught up in the additional conflict of Azure hiding their past from Team MZ. On the other hand I think it maybe makes more sense timeline wise for N to be like. two or three weeks late to the whole conflict in Lumiose rather than 2 or three months lol
Also
This would be a little funny.