Team Plasma

Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.

Artwork of Team Plasma Grunts from Black and White

Team Plasma is met early in the games. Ghetsis appears in Accumula Town where he is holding a rally trying to get people to join Team Plasma's cause. Following this rally the player will be approached and battled by a person named N. After this, the player will next come across two Team Plasma Grunts at the Dreamyard who are trying to capture a Munna in order to get some Dream Mist to spread their message in people's dreams. After defeating them here they will steal a young girl's Pokémon and hide in the Wellspring Cave. The player will team up with Cheren and save the Pokémon.

After defeating Lenora at the Nacrene Gym, Team Plasma will attack the museum in Nacrene City and steal a bone from the Dragon Fossil. As the player gives chase, N will appear again and battle the player. After this, the player heads into Pinwheel Forest where they will defeat the Team Plasma Grunts, causing Gorm to return the Dragon Skull to player, which the player then immediately gives to Lenora. The next encounter is in Castelia City where they have stolen Bianca's Munna. After confronting them, they will give Munna back.

After entering Nimbasa City, the player will find two grunts harassing an old man. After defeating them, they will run off. After heading over to the Ferris wheel, N will appear again. N and the player will take a ride on the Ferris wheel where N will reveal that he is the leader of Team Plasma. The two will then battle after getting off the Ferris wheel. The next encounter will be in Driftveil City. Cheren will appear and say that Team Plasma has been seen in the city. Zinzolin and some grunts are at the Cold Storage plotting something. Clay, the Driftveil Gym Leader appears and chases them off.

Later, as the player journeys through the Chargestone Cave, the Shadow Triad appears and takes the player to N and the two will battle again. After being defeated, they will leave. N is then briefly encountered outside the Mistralton Gym where he tests the friendship between the player and their current lead Pokémon. After defeating Brycen at the Icirrus Gym, Team Plasma appears at Dragonspiral Tower where N awakens Zekrom^B or Reshiram^W. After a brief talk with the player, N flies off. Alder, who has also witnessed these events, advises everyone to go to Relic Castle where they run into Ghetsis who tells them it is pointless to continue resisting them and leaves. Ghetsis will then confront the player on the Tubeline Bridge and tell them that even though they have the Light/Dark Stone Team Plasma will achieve its goal. Soon after the player will witness Ghetsis giving another speech in Opelucid City.

After defeating the Elite Four, the player will head to the Champion's room where they will see N after he has defeated Alder. N will then reveal his castle, which rises out of the ground and attaches to the Pokémon League building. The player then chases N into the castle where the Seven Sages try to stop them. The Unova Gym Leaders, except the Striaton Gym Leaders, then appear to keep the sages busy while the player searches the castle. Two women who claim to be goddesses and the Shadow Triad will then lead the player to N. Before anything can happen, Zekrom^W or Reshiram^B will appear and the player will have to capture the dragon. The player and N will then have one final battle, with the player proving victorious. Ghetsis arrives and is furious at N and says that he was just working behind the scenes on his true goal of ruling Unova as the only one with Pokémon. He will then challenge the player in rage.

After the player defeats Ghetsis, Cheren and Alder take him away while N accepts his beliefs were misguided. After the credits roll, Looker will appear at the player's house and request their help in finding and capturing the other sages of Team Plasma. Each sage will tell some back history on Team Plasma before being arrested. The Shadow Triad will also appear at Marvelous Bridge where they will give the player the Adamant, Lustrous, and Griseous Orbs. They also reveal that they rescued Ghetsis from being arrested and he has now fled.

Before the sage Ryoku is arrested at Relic Castle, he says that he was planning to catch the Pokémon Volcarona and give it to Ghetsis, but no one knows his and N's whereabouts, and that no one even knows if they are really parent and child. Once all the sages are arrested, Looker says that he heard N was seen in a distant land with a Dragon Pokémon.

Some Team Plasma Grunts will also appear during the Liberty Pass event where they will take over Liberty Garden and try to capture Victini.

Genesect was going to be revived from a Fossil and powered up by Team Plasma to create the most powerful Pokémon ever, but the project was abandoned because N felt that any Pokémon modified by science had lost its pureness. However, one scientist kept working on it, annoyed that N denied his talent. This scientist reconstructed Genesect and powered up the gun on its back.

As a part of Ghetsis's plan, Team Plasma had set up a laboratory in N's Castle which was used to attack and break the security around Amanita's Pokémon Storage System and gain master access to it with the intention of releasing every Pokémon that was stored there. Team Plasma had everything ready to begin releasing Pokémon, but this plan would only be carried out on N's command; since N, Ghetsis, and Team Plasma were ultimately defeated by the player, the plan was never executed.

In Pokémon Black 2 and White 2, Team Plasma is broken into two different forces. One force remains loyal to N and, seeking atonement, dedicates itself to the protection of Pokémon that were separated from their Trainers; the other is loyal to Ghetsis and serves a new purpose: to take over Unova.

The new Team Plasma first appears at Floccesy Ranch where they try to steal a Herdier, but they are stopped. They are found again in Virbank City, where they attempt to steal the player and Hugh's Pokémon. After fending them off, Hugh believes they have retreated to Castelia City, where they are found in Castelia Sewers. Colress appears in the sewers, where he mentions he is researching how to draw out the most strength from Pokémon. After defeating Burgh at the Castelia Gym, Colress will use a special machine to clear the Crustle blocking off Route 4.

In Nimbasa City, Team Plasma is confronted by Hugh who demands answers from them about a Pokémon kidnapping in Aspertia City. After competing in the Pokémon World Tournament, the player, Hugh, and Cheren confront Team Plasma on their ship which has docked at the PWT. There Zinzolin appears and reveals they have a new plan to take over the Unova region before telling the Shadow Triad to remove the trio from the ship. After winning at the Mistralton Gym, Professor Juniper sends the player to Opelucid City to find out more information about the Legendary Dragon Pokémon from Drayden. On the way, the player and Hugh encounter Zinzolin in Lacunosa Town where they battle him and a grunt in a tag battle.

Following the player's victory at the Opelucid Gym, Team Plasma begin their operation by covering Opelucid City and nearby routes with ice in search of Drayden's DNA Splicers. They are quickly defeated and retreat to the Seaside Cave, although Opelucid City remains frozen for some time. After winning at the Humilau Gym, the player heads to Route 22 where Colress gives them his device to make the Crustle roadblocks disappear. Upon making it past the Crustle, the player defeats the Team Plasma members inside the Plasma Frigate, but once again is removed from the ship by the Shadow Triad and watches the ship fly off.

They track it down to the Giant Chasm where once again they must fight their way through the ship. Upon the defeat of Zinzolin and the new boss Colress, Ghetsis reveals himself as the true mastermind behind Team Plasma. He again reveals that he never intended to liberate Pokémon two years ago; it was just a ploy to get N to follow his plans. After defeating the Shadow Triad, the player gives chase to Ghetsis and finds him in the deepest part of the Giant Chasm, where he summons Kyurem. Ghetsis orders Kyurem to attack the player, but the attack is stopped at last minute by N who arrives to save them. Ghetsis is not surprised by this, who then uses the stolen DNA Splicers to merge Kyurem with N's Dragon. The player then takes on the new Dragon as well as Ghetsis and puts an end to his plans once and for all. Colress then disbands Team Plasma for good, taking the Plasma Frigate and docking it outside the P2 Laboratory where he continues his research.

There is also a group of former Team Plasma members, still loyal to N, who reside in the house just above Driftveil Gym with Rood, Anthea, and Concordia. Ashamed of their past deeds, they have vowed to make amends by returning the Pokémon taken from their Trainers, as well as caring for the Pokémon whose Trainers they couldn't find. They openly welcome the player and Hugh into their cause to help stop Ghetsis and take care of the abandoned Pokémon. As such, Rood gives the player N's Zorua, deeming them a caring Trainer. They also confront the new Team Plasma at the Giant Chasm and help hold them off so the player can enter the Plasma Frigate. The player can also find N's Pokémon in various locations after witnessing a Memory Link.

On Victory Road, Backpacker Mae mentions that she was a Team Plasma Grunt, and that she battled Hilbert/Hilda.

Team Plasma Grunts in the anime

Before Team Plasma's proper appearance in the anime, Giovanni mentioned a secret organization operating in the Unova region and wanted to draw them out.

N debuted in New Places... Familiar Faces! followed by Colress, Ghetsis and the grunts from Black 2 and White 2 in Team Plasma's Pokémon Power Plot!. Anthea and Concordia also appeared in Team Plasma's Pokémon Manipulation!, and the Seven Sages appeared in a flashback in Secrets From Out of the Fog!.

Team Plasma had a role in Genesect and the Legend Awakened, where multiple grunts were seen overseeing the awakening of the newly revived Genesect Army. However, they only had control of the Genesect for a short time before the five Paleozoic Pokémon rebelled and violently escaped.

In Ash and N: A Clash of Ideals!, Team Plasma attacked the White Ruins in order to steal the Light Stone discovered by Cedric Juniper. After successfully obtaining the stone, Ghetsis performed a ritual that resurrected Reshiram from the stone. Using Colress's Pokémon Control Device, Ghetsis then took control of Reshiram, but with the support of Ash's Pikachu, Reshiram was able to fight back against its controllers and destroy the control machine. Ghetsis, Colress, and the Plasma Grunts present were subsequently arrested by the International Police, thus bringing down the organization.

Unlike other teams, Team Plasma has named grunts in the anime. Aldith and Barret are two grunts who answered directly to Colress and Ghetsis and acted as commanders toward other, unnamed grunts. Two others, Schwarz and Weiss, have been seen conducting specific operations and may be of similar rank.

Team Plasma, in their incarnation from the original Black and White games, was initially set to debut in BW023 and BW024 in a confrontation with Team Rocket over the Meteonite. They intended to use the Meteonite's ability to influence Pokémon into leaving their Trainers.

These episodes were postponed indefinitely due to the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. With the events depicted in Team Plasma's Pokémon Power Plot!, the episodes have been retconned out of continuity altogether. It is unknown if they will ever air in any form.

Team Plasma Grunts in Pokémon Generations

Black 2 and White 2 Team Plasma Grunts in Pokémon Generations

Team Plasma first appeared in The Uprising. The Seven Sages (except Ghetsis) and multiple Grunts appeared at the Pokémon League after N's Castle rose from the ground and surrounded the League. The team was faced by the Gym Leaders from Unova, who arrived to stop them.

Team Plasma reappeared in The Frozen World, this time assuming its role from Pokémon Black 2 and White 2. The team attacked Opelucid City and froze the city using Kyurem, allowing Zinzolin to steal the DNA Splicers from Drayden.

In The King Returns, Ghetsis was seen in Giant Chasm, where he ordered Kyurem to continue freezing Unova. He was confronted by N and Reshiram, but managed to fuse Reshiram with Kyurem using the DNA Splicers, creating White Kyurem. At the end of the episode, Hilbert arrived with his Zekrom to put a stop to Team Plasma's plans.

Team Plasma was first seen in An Odd Speech, where they were attempting to build a stage for Ghetsis's speech on the place Black and White were sleeping that night. The next day, Ghetsis gave a speech to the citizens of Accumula Town, urging them to liberate their Pokémon, which some of the listeners actually did. It was later revealed that Black's Tula used to belong to another Trainer until Team Plasma convinced the Trainer to release him, some time after when Black fought N.

Some time after this, three grunts harassed Musha at the Dreamyard and were also behind the artifact robbery of the Nacrene Museum. It is also revealed what Team Plasma is after in order to achieve their ultimate goal: a Legendary Dragon-type Pokémon who would help their leader to unite the minds of the people in Unova as one and liberate Pokémon. They kidnapped Bianca's Litwick, together with several other Pokémon and held them in their stronghold in Castelia City. Later, they also attempted to capture Victini at Liberty Garden. Ryoku also sought to capture Volcarona of Relic Castle. In Nimbasa City, N trapped White in a Ferris wheel car and announced himself as the king of Team Plasma.

Several Team Plasma operations throughout this chapter were conducted by the Shadow Triad; in particular, their kidnapping of the Unova Gym Leaders at the same time that they set their sights on stealing the Dark Stone. At the end of the arc, several Team Plasma Grunts escaped.

One of the Team Plasma Grunts who escaped, Whitley, became a Pokédex holder by this chapter, which was set two years after the previous arc. By that time, Team Plasma reemerged as a new force led by Colress, who designed the Grunts' new attire.