ABOUT THE STORY AS A WHOLE: the story is mostly plot-focused, with the main pairing being Hilda (here known as Amalia) and N. It's not really a happy, feel-good relationship fic, and any happily-ever-after is going to be a loooong time in the making! I have taken some liberties regarding the source material, since I wanted it to seem, idk, somewhat close to real-life? Sometimes I like to sit back and imagine pokemon existing in the real world, how it would change our lives. Would things be better, or just the same? Even in a fictional universe where we have colorful animals that love us and have magic powers, there are still gonna be really bad people around. Regardless of the setting, humans are humans, imperfect and sometimes unpredictable. That's what I want to portray.
I include content warnings before every chapter that needs them. While the main relationship is straight, most characters aren't, lol.
also, i usually post links and other things at the bottom of each chapter as 'footnotes' but for some reason fanfic dot net's draconian filters don't like that. so uh, I did the best I could.
Amalia frowned as she exited the Accumula Pokémon Center, having just spent nearly forty-five minutes trying to register her amanita dot net account. She headed for the bus stop a couple streets away, eager to get to Striaton as soon as possible.
It wasn't something she had wanted to do, because really, who wants to spend three-quarters of an hour filling out virtual paperwork, but it was necessary if she wanted to be able to catch more than six pokémon or do much of anything else related to pokémon training or battling. The whole account registration process was made exceedingly overcomplicated in the name of security, and it reminded her a bit of the two neopets accounts she had lost due to registering under fake birthdays when she was eleven. She thought solemnly of her shoyru, tWiligT_PRinCESsxxx, who would never again see the light of cyberspace, and she patted the strap of her backpack to make sure her spinarak's pokéball was still securely clipped on. Good.
She cut through Accumula Park, skirting the edge of a large crowd of people who were probably there for some demonstration. Whatever it was, Amalia didn't care.
"Amalia! Over here!" She looked around, wondering how any of these people would know her name, but spotted Cheren in her peripheral vision right as he grabbed her arm to pull her deeper into the crowd.
"Cheren, what—"
"I dunno, I think there's some kind of demonstration going on."
"I couldn't tell!" She had thought that, after living in this city for eighteen years, he of all people would know better than to pay attention to any of the silly things that went down in the Park. What was it this time? A juggler? A spontaneous production of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar put on by students at the local university? That Mr. Mime interpretive dance troupe?
"No, no. Don't look at me like that! This is different. I mean, check it out. Look!" Cheren pointed towards the wooden stage, at a figure whom Amalia could sort-of recognize as one of their regional politicians, whose name escaped her at the moment. What was he doing here?
He stepped up to the podium and waited a few moments for the crowd to quiet down. Amalia, for the life of her, could not remember this guy's name. She was sure she had heard it thousands of times before, but she had never really cared enough to pay attention. It should have been so familiar! Rick? Rodney? Dennis? Dennis sounded about right.
Dennis Garcia, which is what Amalia decided his name was, began to speak: "Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. As many of you know, I am Ghetsis Harmonia, your regional representative."
Or, you know, his name could be Ghetsis.
"Now, we are all aware that Pokémon play an extremely significant role in each of our daily lives. Whether we are trainers or not, we can rest each night knowing all that we've done, and all that we will do, could not have been possible without Pokémon.
"This has been the situation since the very founding of our region thousands of years ago. I'm sure we are all aware of the myths of legend, where two heroes united our land?"
There was a murmuring among the crowd. Yes, everyone was aware of that story. It was practically impossible not to be, since it had been shoved in the face of pretty much every child who had gone to public school.
"And I'm sure we are also aware of the ending to the tale, the twin brothers locked in a bitter rivalry, their two Pokémon acting out their violent struggle against each other?"
The crowd murmured again. Ghetsis smiled. It was slightly crooked, yet amiable.
"Now, many of you may be wondering why I chose to speak to you today. Just this morning, one of my associates asked me 'Mr. Harmonia, what is the purpose of your speech today?' Well, dear friends, I came here not to be questioned by the media, but to pose a few questions of my own.
"Many of us are under the impression that Pokémon and humans need each other, that it is a symbiotic relationship from which both parties benefit equally. How is it though, that this is considered truth? How can we, as human beings, be so sure that this is how our Pokémon see things?"
He paused. The crowd was silent in thought.
"Such a belief is merely rooted in human assumptions; there is no scientific evidence to support it. However, there is scientific evidence that proves that Pokémon are capable of human intelligence. My friends, these creatures are not animals; these are individuals, just as you and I!
"Yet every day, these individuals are pushed around and forced to fight based on the selfish whims of their trainers, and are called 'friends'. They are forced to work for us, with no say in the matter, and are considered our 'partners'. They do our bidding, whether they want to or not with little to no compensation. Tell me, does this not remind you of slavery?
"I ask you, people of Accumula and of the entire Unova region, how can we, in good conscience, allow for the perpetuation of such an unfair, unequal relationship? What does that say about us, as human beings, when we actively support the confinement and manipulation of intelligent, free-thinking individuals?"
He paused for effect. During the silence, a man standing somewhere behind Amalia spoke, almost to himself: "I… I don't know…"
Ghetsis slammed his hands on the podium, producing a loud crack that resonated through the air. "You don't know because you don't want to acknowledge it! Our country is a society built off of slavery, whether of Pokémon or of people, yet we just refuse to see it! We, as a people, have been blinded by our own comfort!
"Our nation's twin heroes fought for justice and truth, yet even they ignored their Pokémon's wishes! I'll ask you again: did the heroes' Pokémon fight of their own accord, or were they merely puppets, serving out of an unwanted obedience?
"My friends, I am not asking you to release your Pokémon. I am merely asking that next time you throw your 'friends' into battle, or unload crates with your 'business partners', please consider how they feel, what they want. Pokémon are individuals, and I just ask you to consider them as such. Thank you for your time."
The politician left, a trail of photographers and reporters following in his wake. The people in the crowd were left in shock.
"Are we really...?"
"Are my pokémon really unhappy with me like that?"
"Is that really how they feel?"
"But we can't just change things, our economy depends on…"
Amalia just rolled her eyes as the people began to leave. What a waste of time.
"Even I have to admit, he is quite skilled with words," Cheren remarked.
She gave him an incredulous gaze. "Cheren, please tell me you aren't gonna give up on your dream just because some crusty old white man made you doubt yourself."
Cheren looked disgusted. "Oh, no, I was merely making a statement. Really, I thought you knew me better than that. I don't give up on my goals so easily. Besides, pokémon and people are friends. We help each other out."
"I know, it's just, I mean… you saw what the other people were saying."
Cheren shrugged. "Well, Ghetsis is a politician, and a fairly popular and well-respected one at that. People tend to listen to authority figures."
Amalia bit her lip and looked around the nearly empty park, tuning out her friend's bleak political rant. She and Cheren were really the only people still standing around, save for a green-haired youth who was probably lingering behind to pass out pamphlets for some obscure interest group. Even so, the boy didn't look very professional, what with his long, unruly hair and casual clothes. He looked like the kind of person her brother would hang out with, smoking a joint behind the science building during lunch hour.
She'd glanced in his direction only briefly, yet that was somehow enough time for him to turn around and catch her gaze. Amalia quickly looked away. Weird. Hopefully he wouldn't approach them.
He approached them.
The man came to a stop a few feet away from her, and she pointedly looked in the opposite direction. "Um…" the strange guy said in a voice barely audible over Cheren, who was still talking. Amalia pretended not to notice. The guy tapped her on the shoulder, and even though Cheren had stopped talking, she tried to ignore this too.
Cheren pointed behind her. "Uh, Amalia, there's—"
She hesitantly turned around. "Yeah, uh." she gave a little smile, "hi, uh, are you… are you lost?"
She hadn't noticed it before, but now that he was standing right in front of her, she saw that he was kind of tall. He looked to be a couple inches taller than Cheren at least and was nearly half a head taller than she was. His grey eyes were open wide, and his face wore an expression that was a mixture between excitement and apprehension. Amalia couldn't quite put her finger on it, but he just wasn't... he didn't seem normal.
She didn't get to dwell on it, for as soon as she had turned, the guy had released her shoulder, taken a step back and started talking.
"YourPokémon… justnowitwassaying…"
He spoke very fast, in a manner that seemed almost frantic, and his hands were wrung together so tightly they were almost shaking. She could barely understand the words that had come out of his mouth, and the ones she did understand she couldn't believe. Pokémon talking? Yeah, right. That only happened on television.
"Whoa, whoa, there," Cheren interrupted, "I think you need to slow down, okay? I don't think we caught what you were saying. Did-did you just say something about pokémon… talking?"
"Yes!" The boy said with barely-contained excitement. He seemed to regain his bearings a second later, taking a deep breath as he did so, before struggling to continue speaking at a more moderate speed. "Yes, they're talking."
Amalia and Cheren made brief, worried eye contact. What the hell was going on?
The boy's eyes shifted back and forth between their confused faces.
"Oh, I guess you two can't hear it, either…" He said, his shoulders slumping a little bit and his eyes moving from Cheren's face to hers. He looked downwards and continued speaking, almost to himself. "…How… sad."
Amalia and Cheren looked at each other again, this time with matching looks of apprehension.
The boy smiled at her. It unsettled Amalia, not because he was a stranger, but because of how positively childlike his smile was. His teeth, while not horribly misarranged, were slightly crooked, with his prominent canines overlapping the adjacent teeth. It was a smile more suited to a nine-year-old child than a nearly six foot tall man. If Amalia hadn't been so creeped out by the boy's mannerisms alone, she would have found it mildly refreshing that not everyone in America was obsessed with orthodontics. "My name is N."
"That's nice," Amalia said, wanting to get out of this conversation as quickly as possible. There was no way she was gonna tell this guy anything about herself.
"Oh, well, my name is Cheren, and my friend here is Ama—" Amalia glared at him. "What, Amalia?!"
N didn't seem to notice or understand the two friends' silent argument. "Amalia," he said while looking at her, "that's a good name…"
A chill went down her spine. Amalia saw many possible outcomes for this situation, and they all ended with her being dead in a ditch.
Cheren adjusted his glasses. "Yes, well, ah, nice meeting you N, but we're kind of busy and we really should be—"
"You're Pokémon trainers," N stated.
"Well, yeah…. I guess so," said Amalia, crossing her arms.
"Why?"
Amalia looked at Cheren. "We plan on entering the championships next year," he said, "and, um, filling the Pokédex that Professor Juniper gave us. Why do you ask?"
"Oh, no reason…" N knitted his eyebrows and looked away. "I was just thinking, though. To complete the Pokédex would require the confinement of many, many Pokémon." He looked at her face and frowned. "I'm also a Pokémon trainer, yet I can't help but wonder… is that truly what's best? Are Pokémon truly happy that way?"
Amalia shrugged.
N stepped backwards and made eye contact with her. "Amalia! Let me hear your pokémon's voice again!"
"What, seriously?" N had already let out a Purrloin, so yeah, seriously, and she panicked just a little bit. She fumbled incompetently for Hecate's pokéball, dropped it on the ground, scrambled to pick it back up and finally let her Pokémon out of its ball. Fortunately this was the hardest part of the battle. Hecate quickly went to work tying up the other Pokémon with her string shot.
N looked thoughtful. "I never expected to hear Pokémon say such things…"
Amalia, who had been petting her adorable spinarak, looked up. "What are you talking about? Are you going to tell us what this is about?"
He ignored her outburst with a brief hand motion, and briefly looked at her face before gazing into the distance. "No matter… as long as Pokémon are confined in pokéballs, they'll never reach their full potential, they'll never become perfect beings." He placed particular emphasis on the word 'perfect,' enunciating the word as if each letter was of utmost importance.
"I will change the world," he continued, "It will become a better place for Pokémon, because they are my friends."
N walked a short distance away from them before abruptly turning around again, as if he had something else to say. He seemed to stand there for a while before he actually said anything.
"…I guess I'll, uh, um…" he struggled for words, before finally shaking his head. "…just, never mind…" he said, before walking off.
After he had disappeared from sight, hopefully to somewhere far, far away where Amalia would never see him again, she turned to Cheren. "Wow, what a freak. Was he… was he crazy?"
He opened and closed his mouth several times. "I… I guess? I certainly can't think of anything else that would explain… whatever just happened."
They laughed uneasily. Cheren looked at his watch. "It's 5:30. The next bus to Striaton should be here in about 20 minutes, if I'm remembering the schedule correctly." He sighed. "So much for racing Bianca, she's probably beaten us there. Anyway, I aim to start training at the gym as soon as possible."
Amalia hadn't really planned on challenging any gyms, but having Cheren as a friend meant that she didn't really have a choice in the matter. He liked to make everything into a competition, from seeing who could make the best grades in their high school graduating class (he had lost that one) to shit like seeing who could complete normal, everyday tasks the quickest. For Cheren, winning wasn't just the outcome of a game, winning was a way of life, and from the moment they had learned that the Unova championships were open to anyone with eight badges, Cheren had known that he wanted to win it. Amalia was just along for the ride, as far as she was concerned, and sure, maybe she'd enter the championships too, because why not? The worst that could happen was losing, if she even made it there in the first place. Professor Juniper had told them that working on the Pokédex could count towards college credit, and though Amalia had no idea what college she would go to or what she wanted to do with her life, that's all she needed to hear. And if all that meant spending loads of time with the baby spinarak her father gave her, then she was totally cool with it.
I started this in 2011/2012, wrote 45 pages, and then lost interest for five years. Forgive me if some things are a little anachronistic. Also I live in Texas. That's important for you to know, because I've only been to New York once, and I was like 7 years old. And Unova was based off New York...
Anyway, I originally started this bc I thought N was attractive way back in the dismal days of high school/1st year college (i was into weedy long haired guys), but I was kind of grossed out how everyone was like romanticising how fucking creepy he comes across as. So I wanted to write a story where he's creepy, and is considered creepy by the narrative, and that his bad actions are treated by the narrative as bad. This way he can grow as a person, like he does in the games.
Originally Amalia had tepig, but I... didn't want to have tepig as a final member of her team, and a subplot that revolves around her starter pokemon caring about her falls kinda flat and loses steam if she abandons her starter as soon as she gets something more interesting, lol. I'm really not enthusiastic enough about the gen 5 starters, or any starter that isn't blaziken, so please forgive me for admitting that I wouldn't be able to tell as good a story if i kept her with tepig. I was already planning on ariados being central to the plot, so I just, yknow, consolidated things. Don't worry, tepig is still in the story, you'll see!
Footnotes: 1) a childlike smile: japantoday dot com /category/lifestyle/view/why-japanese-women-go-for-fake-crooked-teeth (delete the spaces)
2) originally, the website in the first fucking line of this story was written NORMALLY LIKE IT WOULD ACTUALLY APPEAR IN THE SEARCH BAR BUT NOOOOO, THAT TRIGGERS THIS GODDAMN WEBSITE'S GARBAGE FUCKING HYPERLINK FILTER? WHY? im so FUCKING incensed.
Also, this is posted on AO3, and I'd prefer it if you read it there. I mainly post my fics on so I can have a cohesive library of them.