A few characters:
- Professor Spruce - The region's Pokémon professor.
- Al - The main character's older brother, an enthusiastic Pokémon trainer.
- Waldemar - The Pokémon Champion
- Hope and Faith - Two suspicious twin sisters who seem to be employed by the Pokémon league. They follow the classic trope of "tomboy and girly girl", with Hope being girly, and Faith being tomboyish.
The two versions follow the same overall story. The paths taken during the story, however, diverge. The plot summaries are here, they are mostly the same, but have differences. Pokémon representing day and night are found in post-game and don't intervene during the main story.
Day version:
This game takes place entirely during daytime (or, at least, the nights in this version are shorter) .
As per usual, the player wakes up and, after speaking with his mother, meets his rival and gets his first Pokémon. After travelling through the usual early-game locations, the player gets to the first gym. The first trainer he fights in the gym is actually Al, his brother. The gym leader explains that since the player doesn't have a badge yet, he will use his weaker team (like in Pokémon Origins) . After leaving the gym, the player witnesses a discussion between the gym leader and the twins Hope and Faith. They tell the leader he is on thin ice and then disappear without elaborating. The rival meets up with the player and after their fight mentions that there might be a conspiracy going on, like if there was an evil Team in the region, but their members do their best to blend in among regular trainers and are impossible to recognize.
After the second gym, the player comes across a road that goes north or south. A Snorlax is blocking the northern path, so the player goes south. As the player advances towards the next Gym, he passes by a Gym that's in the middle of being built. The Professor Spruce and Al are also there, looking for someone. While the Professor seems to be aware of the conspiracy, Al flat-out dismisses the possibility.
Two gyms later, the player arrives to a warehouse filled with suspicious trainers, and at the very end meets Hope. Hope notices that the player is a capable trainer and admits that, yes, there is a conspiracy, she's involved and she wants out, but not without her sister, the sister in question being too stubborn to listen to her. She doesn't tell more, gives the player a Pokéflute and sends him on his way.
The travels through the next three gyms are pretty uneventful, but the player meets more and more aggressive trainers who seem to be aware of who he is. He eventually meets up with the rival. The rival erroneously believes that the player is part of the evil Team, but after the battle he understands his mistake. He says that all those aggressive trainers made him reconsider being a Pokémon trainer and that this is his last battle ever.
The player gets to the final gym and fights the leader, only for the battle to be suddenly interrupted. Faith enters and declares that the gym is no longer recognized as the official Gym, that their badge is no longer officially recognized by the League, and that a new gym is now open, the same one that was in construction before.
After winning at the new Dark-type Gym, the sketchy Gym Leader gets really angry, says that the player wasn't supposed to win the battle, and even threatens him. After leaving the Gym, the player is suddenly ambushed.
The player wakes up in what appears to be a jail cell, without his Pokémon, but with Professor Spruce and Al by his side. Hope sneaks in and gives the player his Pokémon back. They tell the player that the Pokémon League Champion has become firing Gym leaders and replacing them with his own people for an unknown purpose. As the four of them sneak out, Faith intercepts them. Just because she knew they were about to break out, Hope and Al suspect that someone tipped her off. That's when the Professor reveals that he is a member of the evil Team.
He explains that in all his life, he never could make any scientific advancements, and fears that, because of his age, he might never do so. That's when Waldemar contacted him and promised he would get a new and much bigger lab if he accepts to work for him as a recruiter. The player battles the professor, and Hope ends up swaying her sister to her side. The player, Al and the sisters lock up the Professor and leave.
The sisters tell the player that since he has all the badges, he now has the right to go to the Pokémon League and challenge Waldemar. After a few words of encouragement from Al, the player goes to the League.
The sisters turns out to be two of the members of the Elite Four.
The player challenges Waldemar, who, before the battle, finally explains his objective: stay in power as the Pokémon Champion long enough to replace all the Gym leaders with his followers, and then ban the rule (seen in Pokémon Origins, again) that the Gym leaders have to use different teams if challengers don't have enough badges (all this time he has been firing Gym leaders who wanted the rule to stay) . With all Gym Leaders always attacking at their full strength, trainers wouldn't be able to get badges and ultimately challenge him, leaving him the power to do whatever he pleases, and eventually conquer the entire region.
The player battles Waldemar and wins, but he is not done yet: he revives his final Pokémon, an Arcanine, and orders it to use Fire Blast... on the player. Just as the Pokémon hesitates, the sisters barge in, with police, and the Champion is arrested.
Night version:
This game takes place entirely during nighttime (or, at least, the nights in this version are longer) .
As per usual, the player wakes up and, after speaking with his mother, meets his rival and gets his first Pokémon. After travelling through the usual early-game locations, the player gets to the first gym. The first trainer he fights in the gym is actually Al, his brother. The gym leader explains that since the player doesn't have a badge yet, he will use his weaker team (like in Pokémon Origins) . After leaving the gym, the player witnesses a discussion between the gym leader and the twins Hope and Faith. They tell the leader he is on thin ice and then disappear without elaborating. The rival meets up with the player and after their fight mentions that there might be a conspiracy going on, like if there was an evil Team in the region, but their members do their best to blend in among regular trainers and are impossible to recognize.
After the second gym, the player comes across a road that goes north or south. A Sudowoodo is blocking the southern path, so the player goes north. As the player advances towards the next Gym, he passes by a Gym that's in the middle of being built. The Professor Spruce and Al are also there, looking for someone. While the Professor seems to be aware of the conspiracy, Al flat-out dismisses the possibility.
Two gyms later, the player arrives to a building filled with suspicious trainers, and at the very end meets Faith. Faith notices that the player is a capable trainer and admits that, yes, there is a conspiracy, she's involved and she wants out, but not without her sister, the sister in question being too brainwashed by their leader to listen to her. She doesn't tell more, gives the player a SquirtBottle and sends him on his way.
The travels through the next three gyms are pretty uneventful, but the player meets more and more aggressive trainers who seem to be aware of who he is. He eventually meets up with the rival. The rival reveals that he joined the evil Team. After the battle, he freaks out, curses the player out and disappears. he is never seen again after this.
The player gets to the final gym and fights the leader, only for the battle to be suddenly interrupted. Hope enters and declares that the gym is no longer recognized as the official Gym, that their badge is no longer officially recognized by the League, and that a new gym is now open, the same one that was in construction before.
After winning at the new Dark-type Gym, the sketchy Gym Leader gets really angry, says that the player wasn't supposed to win the battle, and even threatens him. After leaving the Gym, the player is suddenly ambushed.
The player wakes up in what appears to be a jail cell, without his Pokémon, but with Professor Spruce and Al by his side. Faith sneaks in and gives the player his Pokémon back. They tell the player that the Pokémon League Champion has become firing Gym leaders and replacing them with his own people for an unknown purpose. As the four of them sneak out, Hope intercepts them. Just because she knew they were about to break out, Faith and the Professor suspect that someone tipped her off. That's when Al reveals that he is a member of the evil Team.
He explains that he is becoming frustrated with being just a run-of-the-mill trainer, employed by a Gym in the middle of nowhere, and that he wants more power. Waldemar contacted him and promised to make him a Gym leader, but on one condition: he must defeat any powerful trainer and either force them to join the team or take away their Pokémon. He says he will not steal the player's Pokémon, being siblings and everything, and strongly suggests the player should join him, or else. The player declines, they battle, and Faith ends up swaying her sister to her side. The player, the Professor and the sisters lock up Al and leave.
The sisters tell the player that since he has all the badges, he now has the right to go to the Pokémon League and challenge Waldemar. After a few words of encouragement from the Professor, the player goes to the League.
The sisters turns out to be two of the members of the Elite Four.
The player challenges Waldemar, who, before the battle, finally explains his objective: stay in power as the Pokémon Champion long enough to replace all the Gym leaders with his followers, and then ban the rule (seen in Pokémon Origins, again) that the Gym leaders have to use different teams if challengers don't have enough badges (all this time he has been firing Gym leaders who wanted the rule to stay) . With all Gym Leaders always attacking at their full strength, trainers wouldn't be able to get badges and ultimately challenge him, leaving him the power to do whatever he pleases, and eventually conquer the entire region.
The player battles Waldemar and wins, but he is not done yet: he revives his final Pokémon, a Houndoom, and orders it to use Fire Blast... on the player. Just as the Pokémon hesitates, the sisters barge in, with police, and the Champion is arrested.
