Warning: Angsty stuff. You have been warned.
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon.
A Champion's Ideal
The flapping of wings sounded through the wind as several Swanna passed over the Driftveil City and towards the ocean. In the flow of wind, Hilbert felt his brown hair moving - his cap clutched gently in his hand. His hands were resting against the wooden fence as he leaned over it.
As far as his eyes could go, he was seeing a vast area with a few people on the streets. There was a heavy but somewhat low voice of rumbling coming from the southern region of the city. Hilbert looked into that direction and noticed a ship anchoring on the docks.
He could not help but let out a sigh.
Even though it was a major city of the region, it was rather peaceful. A serenity that he could not describe.
It was early morning. The sun was over the horizon now but has risen not too long ago. Except for a few people busy on the docks and warehouse, there was barely anyone around. A complete silence in the city. The voice of ruffling of trees due to the heavy wind and flapping of wings as a gigantic flying Pokemon passed by was all he could hear.
His eyes glanced after the familiar sight of the aggressive flying type. Its blue underwings and red upper wings were too catchy to ignore, giving a sense of nobility as it passed by.
"You are early."
A feminine voice broke his trance and Hilbert looked around. A young pink haired girl stopped next to him.
"Anthea..." he muttered.
Anthea nodded her head lightly, her eyes still fixated on the scenery in front of her.
"This is beautiful, isn't it?" she said. Hilbert hummed but did not speak, his eyes returning back to the city and the ocean. "I come here every morning... it reminds me of N."
Hilbert shivered inwardly on the mention of his name. His eyes closed and his head leaned down, breathing heavily. Anthea noticed the discomfort radiating through the younger boy next to her. She could not help but feel bad for him. Whatever happened a few months ago - he was the one affected most by it.
"Would you like to take a walk to the harbor?" Anthea proposed. When Hilbert looked up at her, she smiled reassuringly at him.
"Sure," he nodded after a brief pause.
The dim sunlight started brightening little by little. The flow of wind didn't feel as free and cool as it was back at the hill. Still, Hilbert walked. A silence brewing between him and the pink haired maiden next to him. He did not mind though.
"We used to come here once in a while," Anthea started. Hilbert briefly stared at her from the corner of his eyes as she continued. "N liked it here. He said it was relaxing... helped him to think freely and carefully." She paused, a brief silence once again falling between them until she continued again, a nervous smile cracking on her face. "My apologies. I shouldn't be talking about all these-"
"No. It's alright," Hilbert interrupted. His eyes glanced down at his feet as they continued to walk on the street. "Tell me more about him... his past. If you can. I want to know more about him."
Anthea looked at him briefly, noticing the grieving expression lurking on his face. His eyes were heavy and lips curved neutral. If she was certain, she had seen that expression many times before. Hilbert was so much like N in many ways. He always reminded her of N.
"N was... he wasn't the real child of Gethsis," Anthea started. The surprising words caused Hilbert to look up at her. "We were orphan. That man... Gethsis... took us in. N was very young back then so he decided that we would look after him."
"I never knew..."
"There were things he would never tell anyone," she replied. "If he would, his friends were the only ones he would talk to." When Hilbert gave her a questioning look, Anthea continued. "All the Pokemon he has."
Hilbert could not help but let out a quiet chuckle at that. "Would you believe that he used to talk to my Pokemon? The first time he did that it creeped me out." He laughed while Anthea stared at him with amusement. But that expression changed soon as his laughter died down. His eyes and voice lowering once again. "A bush for hair. Dressed up like a hipster. A stupid name. He was really strange. He would come really close and say weird things... like my Pokemon are talking. That I was the chosen one - meant to be a hero..."
Hilbert sighed and crossed his hands behind his head. His eyes stared up at now crystal clear blue sky. With such an expression shrouding him, Anthea could not help but smile.
"He wasn't lying," she said. Hilbert looked at her and blinked in confusion. Reading his mind, Anthea continued. "Whatever he said...was true. He can understand Pokemon. I can too."
Hilbert opened his mouth to say something, but everything vanished from his mind immediately. His mouth stayed agape as he stared at her.
"Your Pokemon...I can listen to them," she said. She paused, her eyes furrowing gently as she concentrated. "They say... you trust them. And they trust you, too.." There was a brief silence as the two stared at each other. Hilbert found himself unable to speak anything. Anthea broke the silence, her gentle voice ringing in his head. "Isn't that what N said?"
"I don't know..." Hilbert whispered while looking away, his voice shallow. Anthea rose her eyes at him, unable to grasp the situation. His voice, however, rang again. "I don't know... If we ever got along."
That expression. He would do it, too. Anthea could not help but smile to herself.
"Every time we would meet, we battled. He always tried to stop me... Huh! Foolish." Anthea could swear that Hilbert wasn't even being honest with himself. But those words came deep from his heart. He meant them. "Sometimes he won. Sometimes I won."
"He hated the idea of Pokemon battling each other. He hated seeing them hurting each other and getting hurt themselves..." Anthea breathed, then continued. "He was raised up isolated, separated from people ever since he was a child. All the Pokemon he grew up with...they all were betrayed. Abandoned. Mistreated. Hurt by other people. N was touched by their plight and started persuading the truth, thinking only of and for Pokemon."
"I had a guess," Hilbert stated. "The way he talked. The way he treated his Pokemon - calling them his friends."
"He has grown fond of you, Hilbert," Anthea said. Hilbert looked back at her again, surprised. "Whenever he would return, he would talk about you. He would always talk highly about how you and your Pokemon trusted each other. He was so much like you..." Anthea looked up at him. "You are very much like him."
"I noticed," he whispered to himself.
The sun was in their view now - the blue ocean with a slight glint of orange fading from it. They were nearly at the harbor.
"He was different. Every time I met him, I felt it," Hilbert started. "Did we ever got along? I don't know. But before I knew it...I realized...I was one person in the world who understood him the most."
A brief silence fell between them. Anthea did not dare speak, hoping for him to continue, to let it all out.
"It feels like it was just yesterday. The moment I looked up, I saw the beauty of Unova over the horizon. It was strangely amazing... But I did not enjoy it the way I hoped I would. I thought beating Alder was all I wanted to do, to become a champion. But now that I'm a champion...I don't know...I don't know if it was the dream I had ever wanted to fulfill. I don't even know if it was my dream all along in the first place."
Anthea was not expecting such shallowness from the champion of the Unova region. His eyes were dripping with sorrow and regret. And now that she realized it, there was a lone tear in his eye. But he was forcing himself to continue.
"I remember, he said to me... The dream I have...to make it my ideal. Because that dream and ideal would give the power to change the world. If anyone... only I could do it..." He sighed. "Only I can do it."
"Hilbert..." she whispered. "My Lord N has realized it long ago, deep down in his heart. The world always opposed him and he always opposed the world, but he could never oppose you. But he had spent too much painful time in the loneliness of that castle to admit that."
"He was always kind..."
"My lord has an innocent and pure heart, Hilbert," Anthea said. "Nothing in the world is more beautiful than that. But nothing can be as terrifying as such pure innocence either."
"Before I could even say wait..." Hilbert sighed longingly. "...wait don't go..."
Words did not come out after that. His throat was completely dry, his voice was shaky and breath shallow. He was on the verge of losing his self-control.
Anthea could not speak a word. The thought of somehow offending him or breaking him was terrifying to her. She could not bring herself to do anything like that.
"I miss you...N."
Before long, the two finally reached their destination. Standing on the pier, the two stared at the wide ocean. It felt calm. The serenity he could not describe, yet again. But he somehow had an understanding now. It was that feeling, the feeling that he suffered from. That he was not meant to suffer from. It was the feeling of loneliness.
Hilbert took a heavy breath and reached out for his belt. He grabbed a Pokeball and took it in his hand, staring down at it. Anthea noticed him from the corner of her eyes. Realizing washed over her. She could not help but ask.
"Where will you be going now?"
"I don't know," Hilbert whispered. He took steps forward and stopped at some distance from her. "But as long as I get to do it... I don't care."
"And what it is you want to do?" Anthea asked.
Her words hitched when a powerful presence anchored over them. Hilbert turned around, the Pokeball still in his hand. His hair flew wild in the wind as he wore his red cap back. For a brief moment, she felt like looking up and wash away her anxiety. But she could not bring herself to do it. To some degree, the presence terrified her. She had felt such presence and pressure before. It was similar. Yet so different. It couldn't be that. That means...?
Her assumptions proved to be correct when from the sky descended a monstrous figure. Lightning roared and the earth shook. The disturbance caused several waves in the water, too. No sooner some people who were present at some distance came out and noticed - their eyes widened and mouths fell agape.
"N asked me to make my dreams my ideal. So that is exactly what I'm going to do..." Hilbert said to her and turned around. With his back facing her, he climbed the back of the Legendary Dragon. He could not even see the expression on her face.
When he finally managed to look at her, he nodded, a small smile coming over his face.
"Thank you for your hospitality, Anthea. But now it's time for me to go," he declared.
Anthea hesitated for a moment, but then spoke, "You are always welcome here!" She said that louder than she had expected. "Please, come back and visit us sometime!"
"I will," Hilbert nodded. "And the next time I will return I will have your brother with me. For my ideal is to find N and bring him home, Zekrom shall lead the way!"
Anthea had never seen a view so majestic. He reminded her of him every time. He was so much like him. Her brother, N.
Her trance broke when she felt electricity surging near her. The Legendary Dragon of Ideals was already moving, floating over the ocean and away from her. The dragon started picking up speed, its conical tail shimmering with electricity. A loud, menacing roar shook the entire city as Hilbert commanded it.
The dragon shot up high in the sky. The pressure of wind was too strong to keep Hilbert in his place, but the gigantic body of the dragon appeased him. His eyes narrowed as he looked over its shoulder. In the distant ocean, he knew lied the boundary of Unova. And if he wished to find N, his ideal - he needed to go, far, far away.
"Zekrom!" he declared. The tail of the dragon shone bright blue with energy surging through it. "Let's go!" And with that, the dragon flew faster than he could have ever imagined.
So, aside from my typical (although original) Amourshipping stories, I wanted to contribute something else in this fandom as well. This one-shot - although a stand alone work - is also a prelude to an upcoming short story. If you are interested, then please keep up with me.
Please leave an honest review so I can improve in any way possible. If possible, make sure you support it on Wattpad as well. My account has same username as here.
BTW, this is also my entery(s?) for Pokemon Wattys 2017 on Wattpad. This is my first time entering so...err...wish me luck?
-Sam.