In Agreement
Hilda climbed to the top of the stairs as fast as she could. She was exhausted and could barely push herself up the steps, but was eager to make it up there in hopes of finding Alder eaten by Zekrom.
She reached the top and was disappointed. Alder wasn't bitten in half yet. In fact, he was still very alive, even if he was kneeling on the ground and looked on the verge of tears.
Oh, no, if he started wailing...she was sure her sanity wouldn't be able to take it.
N was standing over the defeated champion and smiling. He was declaring his absolute victory. It made Hilda smile weakly; N losing would have been a much worse case scenario she supposed...At the very least, she was still the only one who was able to beat him.
Aaaand Alder was arguing back. Typical.
She clenched her teeth and snarled silently. Could this guy be any bigger of a jerk? He needed to be bit in half via dragon Pokémon now, please!
And now Alder was begging. Anything but the separation of people and Pokémon! It would be devastating for the people! Hilda made a gagging gesture and rolled her eyes. Just let Zekrom bite him in half, she begged silently, please, N, just shut him up.
Instead, N narrowed his eyes and frowned before meeting the defeated champion's gaze, "You and I both put our beliefs on the line and fought with all our strength," N smiled ruthlessly, "and I won."
Hilda nodded approvingly. While she didn't agree with the idea that caring about your Pokémon meant victory, people like Alder did. It was the unspoken terms he and N had agreed on. By winning, N had shown Alder and the rest of Unova that he was in the right, even by their own rules. Ignoring that because it wasn't the result that the champion wanted was insulting, and N definitely seemed to think so.
"Don't say another word," N hissed at the champion. He waved a dismissive hand at Alder and turned away. Miraculously, Alder stayed silent for once.
Hilda stood a bit straighter when N turned towards her. She noticed that he was smiling sincerely as he met her gaze.
"I've been waiting," he started, "In the future I envisioned, you obtained a stone." Hilda quickly pulled out the Light Stone from her pack. His smile widened. "And, indeed, you have."
There was a loud roar from above them and N frowned. "That Light Stone... Zekrom is responding to it."
The Light Stone started to glow in her hands, shining brighter and brighter until it was blinding. She closed her eyes at the brightness, but N was his composed self as he ordered Zekrom to stop. Almost instantly, the light died out and she could open her eyes again.
"This is not a suitable place for the legendary dragons!" N declared. She smiled at him while blinking spots out of her eyes, silently appreciating that he didn't use the horrible "legendary Dragon-type Pokémon" mouthful everyone else insisted on using.
N turned away from her and walked up the steps. He reached the top and, keeping his back to her, he raised his hands in a grandiose fashion. "From the ground, rise up!" he called loudly into the empty space before him. "The castle of Team Plasma! Surround the Pokémon League!"
"Wait, what?" Hilda asked. She was answered by the ground starting to shake violently. She lost her balance and crashed hard into the ground and was unable to get back up. Somehow, in the mess, Alder managed to get close to her and grab at her in an attempt to steady her. She screeched at him to get away from her, kicking at him when he didn't get the message. When he finally did let go, the ground had stabilized, and she was able to stand up again. Her first course of action was to glare at N, but it was a short lived glare as she had to stifle her laughter instead. The poor boy hadn't expected the miniature earthquake, and his grand gesture resulted in him falling down the stairs. He was currently on the ground rubbing his head. When he noticed her looking at him, he pointed at the windows before going back to rubbing his head.
She hurried to the windows and stared out in disbelief at the giant castle that appeared from nowhere.
"What." She said in a flat voice. This was ridiculous. But then again, her whole life was pretty much ridiculous.
"What has just appeared is Team Plasma's castle," N told her. She turned to look at him and found him standing and looking much less flustered than a few moments ago.
"No, we get that part," Alder said. He was about to say something else, but N glared. Hilda noticed how close the champion was standing next to her and inched away in repulsion. The guy was such a jerk, seriously.
"The king's words will resound from the heights to all below." N continued his speech as if he was never uninterrupted. "You," he pointed at Hilda, "must come to the castle, as well. Everything will be decided there."
"Can't I just agree now?" Hilda asked loudly. Her question echoed awkwardly in the big chamber as both men regarded her with varying degrees of disbelief on their faces.
"Whether...Whether Pokémon will be liberated from people, or-" Hilda realized that this was a practiced speech. Great. It meant he wasn't stopping any time soon. "-whether Pokémon and people will live together..."
"But I'm not fighting for that!" she yelled, "Pokémon liberation, all the way!"
"What!" Alder screeched. Hilda glared at him and he lapsed back into silence as N tried to finish the rest of his now invalid speech.
"W-We will see whose-whose belief is stronger...and...and..." he couldn't remember the rest of what he was saying, so Hilda cut in.
"N," she called to him, and he looked at her with almost panicked eyes. "See this Light Stone? It means I get the dragon of truth, not ideals. I'm not about believing and faith; I'm about what's true and what isn't." She paused to let it sink in was happy to notice that she had N's complete attention. "And what you say is true! We're in agreement here."
"What?" N replied disbelievingly. He looked as if he couldn't decide if she was serious or not. She gave him a resolute look and met his gaze solidly. After a few moments of indecision he whispered, "Really?"
She nodded.
"But...why?" The doubt in his voice almost made her reconsider, but she didn't have time to dwell on it. The door behind them smashed open, and Cheren, along with the gym leaders, burst in.
"Mr. Alder!" Cheren ran right past her towards the Pokémon champion and she felt downright insulted. Weren't they supposed to be friends?
As Cheren reached the champion, the gym leaders advanced on N. N looked at her and then ran up the stairs behind him. He called to his dragon and climbed on it before shouting that she should meet him at the castle. As he flew off, the other trainers swarmed his footsteps, pathetically attempting to catch him on foot.
She took the opportunity to flee the scene. She never knew when Alder would grow a brain and decide to tell everyone the important things first.
By the time she reached N, Hilda was more than ready to commit mass genocide of the human race. Even Ghetsis was being a colossal idiot. For someone who wanted his plan to finish as flawlessly as it started, he was doing a poor job of sabotaging her.
Seriously, N was the only sane man she'd met until now, and considering his state of mind…she sighed and gritted her teeth.
The first thing N noticed was her lack of legendary Pokémon, and she felt bad for disappointing him. He didn't give her a chance to tell him what she thought about the whole ordeal before summoning his dragon. She sighed in exasperation as the giant dragon landed next to its hero and her stone started to glow. This was going to be a long hour, wasn't it?
When the hour was up, Hilda stood victorious over N and his dragon. She put her dragon away in its pokeball before walking over to her opponent...who was mumbling something about how his ideals weren't strong enough.
She wanted to slap that boy. She really did.
He looked up at her when she was close enough and said, "Reshirom and Zekrom... Each of them choosing a different hero... Is that even possible? Two heroes living at the same time-one that pursues truth and one that pursues ideals."
"That's what the legend says, N." she replied irately.
"Could...could they both be right?" he asked himself.
"Yes!" she yelled, "Yes! I said it before and I'll say it again! I agree with you!"
His eyes were full of doubt, however, and he mumbled "I don't know..." to himself.
That was it. The last straw. She would not be ignored. Slapping time.
The slap made a loud sound and was hard enough to knock N's hat off of his head. Startled, he looked at her like was about to cry. Hilda grabbed his shoulders and shook him.
"Listen. To. Me!" Each pause was punctuated with a hard shake. "I am the hero of truth. I believe what you are saying is true. I think it's true so much that I won! Get it?!"
She released him and backed off a few steps to let him collect himself. He took his time absorbing the information then said in a small voice, "I don't understand."
"Yes, you do," she replied instantly. "You care for Pokémon, and you can understand their language. You've seen what it's like, too. They're happy no matter what. They're happy being free. They're happy being with good trainers. They're happy with being with bad trainers. They're also happy with abusive trainers."
"The abusive trainers are the worst," N interrupted. "I never understood why the Pokémon still loved their trainers, even after the pain they put them through."
"It's called Stockholm Syndrome," she replied. "Look it up sometime." N nodded and she continued, "Look. I've been on the other side. Every person you told about your ideals said that you were crazy. That Pokémon need humans. That we rely on each other. That we help each other achieve potential. And battles? Battles are about trust! We build trust with our Pokémon by making them attack other Pokémon." N was scowling now. "No one who argued against you said anything about what the Pokémon want. No one argued that staying together was good for the Pokémon's sake, just for the trainer's sake. And a few people even said that Pokémon can't speak, which we both know is false. You speak to Pokémon all the time." N nodded, but he still looked hesitant. She sighed exasperatedly. "What?"
"It's about when I first met you in Accumula Town." He looked at her and she nodded for him to continue. "I was shocked when I heard what your Pokémon were saying. I was shocked because that Pokémon said it liked you. It said it wanted to be with you."
"Well, maybe by that point," she shrugged, "I doubt it liked me much when it first met me. I mean, I get most of my Pokémon by beating them up and then capturing them. Then they have to stay with me even if they don't want to. I guess, after a while, some sort of trust form from their end. At my end though, I expect the Pokémon to obey me outright. You don't do that though. I noticed in our battles that all of your Pokémon were local. Do you even fight to capture your Pokémon?"
"No, I...I just asked. Very few actually wanted to come along. Most Pokémon didn't really like the idea of being in a pokeball."
"Yeah, I wouldn't think so. Anyways, what I was trying to say is that no one thinks of Pokémon as people. I've seen it from everyone, including myself. So, you're right. Pokémon should be liberated, and since you pretty much handed me a legendary, I wouldn't mind helping out."
N looked at her for a long time before standing up and smiling at her. "Then, we are in agreement? Pokémon should be liberated from humans."
"Yes," she smiled wearily, "You finally get it. I'm on your side."
"Excellent!" Ghetsis suddenly spoke up. Both heroes jumped at the sound of his voice; they had forgotten he was there. "Finally, we shall proceed! Our first order of business is to stop the gym leaders. The rest of the sages are still keeping them busy-"
"No, stop. Ghetsis just...shut up!" Hilda yelled at the old man before turning to the other hero. "N, do you realize the level of corruption there is in this organization?"
"What?" N asked in bewilderment.
"N, Ghetsis doesn't want to free Pokémon from people. He wants to keep them all to himself. He wants to use them to rule."
"...Is that true?" N asked his father.
"My Lord, don't listen to her!" Ghetsis exclaimed. "We need the Pokémon to rule. If we release them all, then no one will listen to us! They will take their Pokémon back by force!"
"But I have Zekrom!" N countered angrily. "I proved to them that I am the hero of legend, and with Hilda and Reshirom joining my cause, everyone will listen! And as long as we stay true to our beliefs, the dragons won't abandon us! They will always be by our side, and we won't need any other Pokémon!"
"Don't be a fool, boy!" Ghetsis snorted, "A pair of dragons will only intimidate people for so long. We will need the other Pokémon!"
"Oh, and while we're at it," Hilda interrupted, "a good number of your followers are as corrupted as Ghetsis, including the sages. You might want to do something about that."
N glared at his father figure for a few moments before declaring, "Ghetsis of the Seven Sages. By my right as king, I order you to leave and never return."
"What?!" Ghetsis roared.
"You heard him!" Hilda said triumphantly, "Get going!"
"Never!" the old man yelled, "I worked too hard for this! This is my victory! It doesn't belong to a pair of brats!" He turned to Hilda, "You! This is all your fault! I will make you pay!"
He pulled a pokeball out from underneath his robes and proceeded to attack. Hilda was fast enough to have her own Pokémon out and barely registered N's shout of concern. Within a few minutes, the first round was over. Within another twenty, the battle was won.
Ghetsis growled in frustration as N ordered him to leave his Pokémon behind and go. He refused, and, true to his word, N used Zekrom to force him.
Hilda wanted to celebrate after the old man left, but N was looking distraught again.
"What is it now?" she asked him.
"I...don't know if I can do this."
"Yes, you can! You made it this far! And you're a king with a dragon and an army!"
"But without the guidance and support of the sages..."
"You can make a new circle of sages if you want, but make sure it's people you trust this time."
N was quiet for a moment before he nodded resolutely. "Very well. Hilda, by my right as king, I hereby declare you the first of the sages. The rest of the positions will be filled later. For now, we have interlopers we need to drive off, and an organization to purify. After that-"
He was interrupted when Alder came dashing in. The Pokémon champion looked at the two of them and wordlessly pulled out his first pokeball. N moved to reply in kind, but Hilda stopped him.
"Let me," she smirked, "I've been dying to wipe the ground with him since we first met."
"Are you sure?" N asked.
"Yep!" she replied, "besides, there's still the rest of the Elite Four. And the gym leaders."
N nodded. "Very well."
Hilda smiled and released her first Pokémon. Life was going to get so much better from here, she knew.