4. Battle Trains and Blushes
"HILDA! YOU SAID SO YOURSELF! YOU"RE FINE! NOW GET UP! YOU HAVE NO EXCUSE!"
"HILBERT! SHUT THE HELL UP!" Hilbert had woken Hilda up, and she wasn't enjoying being awake one bit. She had been having dreams about fluffy Mareep and Buneary, but there was always some man with a cap and green hair invading these dreams. And not in a good way; in a oh-my-gosh-what-are-you-doing-in-my-dreams-get-the-hell-out way.
She dragged herself up, putting on clean clothes, and joining Hilbert in the cafeteria for breakfast. She arrived at the table, where he was sitting with two stacks of pancakes covered in golden syrup, having already eaten most of one.
"I hope that other one is for me!" she joked, taking a seat at the other side of the table. Hilbert nodded, his mouth full of pancakes. She lifted the fork, and dug in.
10 minutes later, the pair were stuffed, barely able to move.
"Does this give me a good enough excuse to go back to bed?"
"Nope! Come on, we're going out. To the Gear Station!"
"But don't they just go to Anville Town?"
"Well, they used to, but not anymore. They opened new lines, going in new directions. And on these trains, you can battle. Let's see if I can remember…"
"SingleSuperSingleDoubleSuper DoubleMultiSuperMultiGASP!" a voice interrupted Hilbert partway through his sentence. The two brunettes looked round, at the boy with dark hair and glasses.
"Cheren!" gasped Hilda.
"And Bianca too! Don't forget meeee!" the blonde poked her head around Cheren's shoulder. Hilda mentally cringed.
"Care to elaborate…?" Hilbert asked.
"Oh, sorry. This is Cheren and Bianca, my two best friends from Nuvema Town!" she gestured at the pair standing at the two standing. "And you two, this is Hilbert!" Bianca looked from Hilda to Hilbert, and back again, before breaking out laughing.
"What's so funny?!" Hilda exclaimed.
"Oh, it just looks like… ha-ha! It looks like you two are on a date!"
"WHAT?! NO WAY!" they two in question shouted at the same time. Hilda's face was significantly redder than Hilbert's
"And besides, why would I take her on a date for pancakes? That's totally unromantic," Hilbert put in.
"Oh? So you would take her on a date?"
"I didn't say th-"
"Just you keep telling yourself that!" Cheren conveniently intervened,
"What was this about trains?" he asked.
"Oh, we were going to battle in the Gear Station," Hilbert explained, "And I was telling Hilda all about it, before you two rudely interrupted with your false accusations and speed talking." He narrowed his eyes, and looked at the pair: Bianca with her green beret slightly falling off her blonde hair, and Cheren with his strange cowlick hair, and his constant readjusting of his red glasses. Cheren muttered apologetically, but Bianca was a lot less polite.
"Well, she was our friend first! Stop being all protective!" Then she smiled slyly. "Maybe you do like her!" Hilda got up, gesturing to Hilbert, and left the cafeteria.
The two teens walked to the Gear Station, heading for this new 'Battle Subway'.
"What was that all about?" Hilbert asked incredulously.
"Don't even ask…" Hilda sighed. "They've always been a bit… well, you saw for yourself."
"Yeah… there's so any people in Castelia, so you kinda get to pick who your friends are, but I guess in Nuvema there's not…"
"Hah, that's true. They're the only people my age, so I just have to get on with it. Anyway, what exactly are we doing in the Gear Station?"
"Well, as Cheren said, one of the lines is called the Multi Line, and you need two people to enter it, and I was thinking we could do it together!" Upon seeing the worried look on Hilda's face he added, "Because it's held in a train compartment, there'd be no one except us and the people we're battling, so you wouldn't need to worry about your Agoraphobia."
"Oh, well that sounds fun! I'd love to do that!" Hilda said enthusiastically.
"Alright then! Let's get us registered."
Hilda and Hilbert swiped their Trainer Cards into the machine, and submitted two Pokémon each; Hilda her Dewott and Lilligant, and Hilbert his Pignite and Zebstrika. They boarded the train, and soon came face to face with their first opponents; two Preschoolers. They easily sweeped the duo's team of Woobat, Herdier, Patrat and Solosis with only Dewott and Pignite. The next two battles were also easy: two Cheerleaders and a Lass and a Youngster.
At the resting point between battles 3 and 4, Hilda and Hilbert healed their Pokémon and waited for their next battle.
"Going well, huh?" Hilbert asked.
"Yeah! We're totally going to win!" Just then, the train jerked around a corner, causing the two trainers to fall back to the edge of the train, Hilda landing on top of Hilbert. She noticed how close their faces were, and immediately began to blush. She jumped up, muttering a quick 'sorry', just as they were called into the next compartment,
Everything was going well until car number seven. They were going strong, never had been backed into a corner, and had flown through the challenge. The automatic doors slid open, and they walked through to their last challengers. A blue haired couple, with orange and black clothes.
"They're Ace Trainers!" Hilbert hissed.
"Hello!~ I'm Florence!" the girl said.
"And I'm Austin," they boy continued, with much less enthusiasm.
"Let's do this! Right here, right now! We know about you! You're Hilda and Hilbert, yes? Let's battle!" She threw her Pokéball high into the air, sending out a Haxorus. She spoke so fast, Hilda and Hilbert didn't realize what was happening until she sent her Pokémon out. The boy, Austin, sent out an Escavalier, and Hilda and Hilbert countered with Dewott and Pignite.
"These two look tough, so we best keep our guard up," Hilda whispered. Hilbert nodded in agreement.
"Alrighty! Haxorus, Dragon Rage!"
"Meet it with Ice Beam, Dewott!" The two moves collided.
Soon enough the blue haired trainers were down to one Pokémon between them; Florence's Chandelure.
"Lilligant, just stay out of the way of all their fire type moves!"
"Zebstrika, go at it head on with Wild Charge!" The Chandelure sent a Flamethrower, followed by a Will-O-Wisp in the direction of Lilligant, who Teeter Danced around them. Zebstrika headed towards Chandelure with Wild Charge, knocking it onto it's side.
"Now, Lilligant finish it with Solar Beam!" The grass type Pokémon powered up the finishing move, and fired it at Chandlure. It hit before the candle-like Pokémon had a chance to move, knocking it out.
"ALRIGHT!" Hilda and Hilbert yelled, high fiving each other.
Stepping of the train ten minutes later, the pair were awarded with their BP, allowing them to purchase items from the shop in Gear Station. Hilbert turned around and looked at Hilda.
"Shall we go again?" She smiled, and readjusted her cap.
"Definitely!"
I hate writing battles ugh. But, I have an idea for the next chapter involving some other Unova characters and a battle, so I'll work really really hard to get it good! Also… don't forget to review!