Long Way to Fall
By: Rylek196
Chapter 1: Childhood
"He who fights with monsters must take care to ensure that he himself does not, in turn, become one." -Frederich Nietzsche
Eight Years Earlier...
"Five...Four...Three...Two...One... Ready or not, here I come!" six-year-old Hilbert Warren said, turning around and opening his eyes. Like he expected, his two friends, Cheren Weiss and Bianca Kinway, were nowhere to be found. Still, the young boy WAS going to find them. That was the point of hide-and-seek, after all. On top of that, there weren't many places to hide in their small town of Nuvema, and if worst came to worst, he could just ask around, and people would happily rat out Bianca and Cheren for him.
Smirking at that last thought, he then began scouring along Nuvema's dirt pathways. The rules of the game the three friends (and their parents) had agreed upon was that the interior of any of their own houses was a viable hiding place.
A tiny hamlet located in the southeastern corner of the Unova region, Nuvema consisted of eight houses, with his, Bianca's, and Cheren's houses in a row of four with one other house facing south, while the other four houses were placed above those in another row facing north. The last building in the town was a combination house and lab for Cedric Juniper and his eighteen-year-old daughter, Aurea, though the pair was rarely around, with Cedric out doing research and Aurea off in university at Castelia City.
For the next five minutes, Hilbert ran through Nuvema Town, checking the sides of and behind houses, his loose blue T-shirt flapping in the wind. His brown hair was covered by a baseball cap with a half-red, half-white design, with a black Poke Ball insignia on the front. In truth, he knew exactly where Bianca was, but wanted to prolong the game because he found it fun.
Sure enough, when he looked on the right side of the northeastern-most house, there she was, her back turned to him, her off-white clothing and blonde hair sticking out against the burgundy-red bricks. He smirked again. He could finish this without even needing to chase her, and then she would be 'it' next game.
With soft footsteps, he crept up behind her, and yelled, "BOO!" in his high-pitched voice. Bianca shrieked and whirled around, but it was too late. Hilbert had already touched her on the shoulder. Now, not only was she 'it' next round, now, she had to help him track down Cheren.
"Hilbert!" Bianca whined, "Don't do that!" And how do you always find me so fast every time?"
"It's 'cause you pick the same hiding spot every time, Bianca!" Hilbert said. "That's why I find you so fast. You're very pre... pre..." he trailed off in his speech, trying to find the right word and failing. "Well, you're easy to guess, is all."
The girl crossed her thin arms, her face falling. "...This means I have to help you find Cheren, right?" She sighed, hating the fact that she was going to have the impossible task of finding Hilbert and Cheren next time. Out of dozens of games, she had never found them without help.
Hilbert's face, on the other hand, brightened, a smile dimpling his cheeks as he nodded. "Mhm-hm! Now c'mon! Cheren's not gonna catch himself!"
For the next twenty minutes, they looked all over Nuvema Town, including thoroughly checking their own houses with help from their respective parents. Hilbert knew that Cheren was rather intelligent, and never gave up a game without effort.
The pair then checked the last place they knew Cheren was allowed to hide as per the rules: His own house. However, even there, they came up empty-handed, and in defeat, they went downstairs to talk to Cheren's parents to get the black-haired boy to give up. Just as they went into the kitchen where the two adults were having lunch, they heard the front door slam. Hilbert and Bianca both exchanged a look, and then raced to the door, throwing it open, catching a glimpse of Cheren running to the left, to the side of the house. Apparently, he planned on switching hiding spots to give them the slip.
"I'll take one side, you take the other!" Hilbert yelled as he ran in the same direction as Cheren. "We'll cut him off!"
"Okay!" Bianca said, taking the opposite direction around the house. Cheren soon found himself cornered, but didn't give up, trying to run ahead of him, but Hilbert caught him before he could, giving him a rough shove- far rougher than it needed to be. Cheren nearly faceplanted into the grass, but just managed to put his arms out in front of him to catch himself.
"Hilbert!" Bianca said in horror, "That was too much!"
"What?" Hilbert replied with total nonchalance. "He's fine." He helped Cheren to his feet, who started laughing.
"I... I can't believe you two missed me!" he said between bouts of laughter. "I was hiding in the closet, and y-you didn't even think to check there! Hahahaha!"
Despite Cheren's joviality, Bianca felt uneasy. There was something about the unnecessary force Hilbert had used (and this wasn't the first time, either), and his total lack of caring about the consequences that bothered her. There was just an air of subtle aggression about him. Nonetheless, she didn't dwell on it, as it was time for the next game.
Things went predictably. Bianca, for the life of her, couldn't find Hilbert or Cheren, as their methods of hiding were far more crafty, and so she enlisted the help of her neighbors, who pointed her in the right direction. After that, having gotten bored of hide-and-seek, the three children just lay in a circle on their backs, watching the clouds go by. Hilbert had taken off his cap and placed it in the center of them all, not wishing to get grass stains on it by wearing it while laying down. The hat meant a lot to him, his father having given him it shortly before the man had left two years ago.
"Hey, that cloud looks like a Swablu!" Bianca cried, pointing upwards.
"Of course it does, Bianca," Cheren sighed. "Swablu have clouds for wings."
"Oh... Well I knew that!" the blonde girl snapped in a meager effort to defend herself. Deciding to change the subject lest she make herself sound even more foolish, she said, "Hey, speaking of Pokemon, what do think we'll do when we're on our adventures after we get ours?"
Both Hilbert and Cheren were silent for a moment at that, then Hilbert said, quietly, "I don't know. But just... think about it. We'll be grown up by then, able to explore on our own... It'll be great!" His voice was steadily growing more enthusiastic. "We'll see the all the places Unova has to offer, meet all kinds of people and Pokemon... I can't wait to experience it! We'll get stronger, beat the Gym Leaders... maybe we'll be lucky enough to battle the Elite Four! Maybe even become Champion!"
Unknown to both Bianca and Hilbert, a ravenous look was growing in Cheren's eyes at Hilbert's words, especially at the 'battle the Elite Four and become Champion' part. The black-haired boy could practically taste the adulation he would receive from that accomplishment. Cheren decided, right there and then, that that was what he wanted to do on his journey when the time came. 'Become the Champion of Unova' would be his ultimate goal.
"Hey," Hilbert then said, rolling over onto his stomach, resting his head in his palms, "When we're on our Pokemon journeys, let's agree to back each other up when we need it." He extended an arm, his pinkie finger outstretched towards Cheren and Bianca, who were now on their stomachs as well. They both nodded, wrapping their own pinkie fingers around Hilbert's.
"Promise!" they all said simultaneously.
That night, before Hilbert was tucked into bed by his mother, Julia, he turned on the small TV in his room, and after a few minutes of flipping through channels, happened upon a live broadcast from the faraway region of Orre, where a Trainer clad in a black trench coat the announcer called Wes was battling an evil-looking man named Evice.
What followed would haunt the young boy's nightmares for days, but also leave him strangely fascinated in a morbid way. The battle on TV was utterly brutal, with both Wes and Evice's Pokemon fighting savagely. It was clear to even the six-year-old that there was something at stake in this battle. Eventually, Wes was able to win by capturing the terror of Evice's team, a Tyranitar, in an Ultra Ball.
When his mother came into the room, she started to scold him for staying up so late, but seeing the shellshocked look in her son's eyes, she comforted him, drawing the young boy into her arms to calm him down.
A few years later, Hilbert would learn the truth behind that battle. Evice was actually the leader of an evil crime syndicate called Cipher, dedicated to the conquest of the world. They preformed unspeakable experiments on Pokemon, turning them into soulless monsters used only to destroy. Wes, by thwarting Cipher, had, in turn, essentially saved the world. Hilbert could only hope his journey never took that path, but a small part of him longed for it, to experience the violence and thrill that it would bring. Much as he tired to push that part of himself down, though, he found it never totally went away.
