The voices had made Jimmy wander around the Battle Subway and talk to various attendants for half an hour, having accomplished almost nothing in the process. They clearly had a goal in mind- there was a WRONG TRAIN, which naturally implied that there was a right train elsewhere in the subway system. And what was so special about that particular train was something that the voices made all too clear.
GUYS, WE NEED TO MEET HILDA!
They repeated the name over and over again. Hilda. Hilda. HILDA! They'd said the name a few times before, mostly before he'd even managed to leave home under their control, but who exactly Hilda was or why she mattered so much to them remained a mystery. She was important, clearly, but that was as much as Jimmy knew.
After a tedious cycle of talking to the attendant over and over, Jimmy finally managed to register for a Multi Battle, and the voices rejoiced. This, then, was the right train, the one they had been searching for all along. But why?
Jimmy stepped aboard the train, and immediately came face to face with a girl roughly his own age. Hilda. It had to be, especially since the voices' excitement only grew as the two drew closer together.
And yet… He hadn't been sure what exactly to expect from this mysterious Hilda, the figure of the voices' preoccupation. A master Trainer, a superstar, a figure of exceptional beauty- that last one seeming all the more likely given their focus on her physical appearance, her shorts, her curves, her BOOTY. Though the image in his mind had been somewhat vague, Jimmy certainly hadn't been expecting to see… well, her.
What he noticed most about her shorts wasn't how short or tight they were- BOOTY SHORTS, as the voices so eloquently put it- but how torn and ragged they were, the fabric worn thin from overuse. Her vest was ripped, her shirt stained, her hair scraggly. This girl was clearly no superstar.
"Any time you'd like to stop staring would be just fine with me. I promise you, there's more to me than a butt."
Jimmy's face turned hot and red, and he stared down at his own shoes, which he now noticed were caked in mud and grass. His pants had a few tears in them, too, and his jacket was somewhat baggy now after his spending several days without eating. He didn't exactly look the part of a superstar, either, even if he had managed to grab a few badges while under the voices' control. "I-I'm sorry," he stammered. "I didn't mean… uh… well, I guess you're my battle partner then? Hilda, is it?"
"So you've heard of me." She laughed darkly. "I'm surprised."
HILDA! GUYS IT'S REALLY HILDA! WE FOUND HILDA! TEACH US YOUR WAYS OH HILDA-SENPAI! HILDA HYPE! "Yeah, I've heard of you, they, er, I mean…" Jimmy looked back up, looking not at Hilda's butt or boobs or even her scraggly hair, but her eyes, big blue eyes as deep as the ocean. "I'm Jimmy, by the way. Nice to meet you." He extended his hand.
Hilda shook his hand, her grip weak, making only the slightest contact before her arm fell back at her side. "Jimmy, huh? Thought you might be Hilbert."
"Hilbert?" The name sounded vaguely familiar, but he couldn't quite remember where he'd heard it before.
"I… uh…" Jimmy noticed that Hilda was staring at the metal subway wall behind his head, refusing to look him in the eye. "I used to know somebody named Hilbert, and he looked like you…"
Jimmy shook his head. "No, I'm afraid I'm Jimmy, not Hilbert." Then he realized where the name had come up before. Way back at the start of his journey, when the voices had spoken the name Hilda before, they had also spoken of Hilbert. Something about choosing Hilbert? He didn't remember the details, and even if he did, it was probably just another one of the voices' meaningless fixations. The names did sound alike, though- Hilda and Hilbert. Siblings, maybe?
"Ah. Well then." Hilda looked back at Jimmy, giving him a tight smile and a terse nod. "Guess we'll be battling together, then, huh. You ready?"
"Sure." His voice was steady and confident, but Jimmy wasn't, having no idea what he was in for. The voices were desperate to maintain contact with Hilda, that much was clear, but whether that meant actually winning battles with her or just struggling to enter the Multi-Train again and again he didn't know. And even if they were trying to win… well, who knows? "A-and I'm really sorry about earlier…"
"Don't sweat it, kid." Jimmy wasn't sure if he could trust the girl's wide toothy grin.
The first battle went surprisingly well. Sure, he hit Hilda's Pokemon a couple of times and spammed useless moves sometimes as well, but it was a win, a solid win at that, and that was what mattered. And then Hilda and Jimmy were face to face again as their Pokemon got healed between battles.
"Sorry I hit your Pokemon and all that." Jimmy stammered out, his voice racing. "I'm not the best battler, I just became a Trainer and, well…"
"Don't worry about it." A strand of Hilda's long hair fell onto her face, and she swept it behind her ear. "I'm a newbie, too; just got this gig three days ago."
"Three days ago, huh…" Jimmy was thinking out loud more than directing his words to Hilda. It was hard to tell when he couldn't sleep, and when he'd spent hours early on in a world that never changed, but… based on the sunrises and sunsets he'd seen… "I got my first Pokemon three days ago, actually. Left home then, too."
"I knew you weren't from around here! I hadn't heard of you, and then the dirty clothes, and the accent…"
"Accent?!"
Hilda giggled. "Hey, nothing wrong with being a Southerner. Well… maybe a little bit…"
"Hey!"
"I'm just messing with ya, kid."
"And stop calling me kid! If I'm a kid, you're a kid too!"
Hilda shook her head slowly, her eyes cast down. "No… you might be my age, but you haven't lived like I have. Never left home before, never had to battle to get by… you're a kid, a sheltered little kid, compared to me."
Jimmy took a step closer to Hilda, looked straight at her, and tried to keep his hands from shaking. "You have no idea what I've been through."
"Same goes for you, kid."
The nurses handed the two Trainers back their Poke Balls.
"Guess we'll have to complain later." Hilda swept a strand of hair off her face again as she turned to face their challengers. "It's go time."
This battle went even more smoothly than the last, and Jimmy started to get his hopes up that the voices actually cared about winning this challenge. A few mishaps here and there, of course, but it wasn't as bloody and chaotic as before, which was impressive for them. And Hilda, though apparently new to battling, was able to make up for his incompetence, her commands strategic and careful and everything that his own commands could never be.
And then it was over, and they'd won, and all that was left was to stand around and wait once more.
"So, earlier, I didn't…" Jimmy trailed off as he noticed that Hilda was staring off into space, her eyes unfocused, clearly distracted by her own thoughts.
"Huh? Sorry, I was just… trying to think about… you know, stuff. Wish it was quieter, 'cause it's hard to think like this, huh?"
Jimmy stopped to listen to his surroundings. Aside from the voices' constant chatter, he could hear the train's movement, but the mechanical noises didn't strike him as particularly noteworthy. "I dunno, it's not too bad. And the train needs to move, they can only make it so quiet."
"Not…" Hilda sighed. "Never mind. I guess you don't even notice anymore."
"Notice what?"
The girl rolled her eyes. "They're so loud and you don't even care. It figures."
They're so loud… What did she…
And then he realized.
DAT FINE BOOTY
Wait this is still going on?
WE'RE DOING IT GUYS! WE'RE MAKING IT HAPPEN!
We finally met Hilda!
BOOTY BOOTY BOOTY ROCKIN' EVERYWHERE
Good job everybody! I knew we could do it!
HOW HAVE WE MANAGED TO NOT SCREW THIS UP YET?
"You… wait… you can hear it? Hear them?"
Another strand of hair, or maybe the same one from before, had made its way onto Hilda's face. She blew on it, making it fly from one side of her face to the other. "Now you're getting it."
"But… how…"
"They almost chose me, didn't they? It could have been me." Her voice was soft now, soft and low.
"Yeah." We reached Hilda? I LOVE HILDA Hilda-senpai's such a good battler Why didn't we pick Hilda HOW DID WE LAST THREE DAYS WITHOUT SEEING THAT BEAUTIFUL BOOTY "I think they wanted you."
"And I wanted them." Hilda looked away, staring at the floor once more. "I wish I were the chosen one, the special one, not you. Is that wrong?"
Jimmy shook his head. "I wish they'd picked you too."
"I guess nobody got what they wanted." Hilda started picking at her fingernails, which were covered in dirt. "But that's how the world works, I guess."
"…I guess so." And as Jimmy struggled to figure out what to say next, whether there was some way he could comfort her at a time when he could use comforting himself, the nurses arrived. It was time to battle again.
He could tell from the start that this battle was different. The voices were making moves that were even worse than usual, which was saying something, and he took out the Pokemon of his own teammate early on. Then the other Pokemon ganged up on him, two against one, and even if he'd been able to strategize it would've been an uphill battle, but as it was fighting back was downright hopeless.
And once he lost, he had to start leaving the subway… leaving behind Hilda.
She walked with him as far as she could, but it wasn't far enough. "I'm glad I met you, Hilda."
"I'm glad I met you too, Jimmy."
As he reached the subway doors, Jimmy turned to face Hilda. "Look, I'll come back, okay? Not just because they want it, but, you know… after…" He waved his hand in the air as he tried to come up with words that could explain the phenomenon that had taken over his life.
"Right. After you go become Champion and save the world or whatever. If you have time for a subway dweller like me after all that, I'd be glad to see you again."
"I will. I promise."
Hilda took his hand and squeezed it. Her hand was warm, warm and callused, and as he looked down at where they touched, he wasn't quite sure which of them were dirtier. It was quiet then, or as quiet as it ever was given the circumstances, and Jimmy tried and failed to rearrange his new and jumbled thoughts.
And then, after a brief moment of warmth and connection, he had to go.
As Jimmy left the subway, what he pictured of Hilda wasn't her curved butt or her ragged clothes, but the thin, sad smile she gave him as he walked away.