A/N: Von Kaiser is a character from the game Punch-Out, which is also made by Nintendo.

CHAPTER 7: STRESS

Cilan and Bianca were walking home with Hilbert. The two of them were pretty annoyed with Hilbert. Bianca was grabbing Hilbert's wrist so he wouldn't run off and cause trouble.

"I can't believe you would do that, Hilbert!" said Bianca.

"It's not right to touch people," said Cilan. "You don't want to be touched like that."

"No," said Hilbert.

"Not to mention that man was William J. Gaffney," said Cilan. "He's a businessman in Castelia City. And he's really well-respected and has a lot of publicity. It's especially bad considering you decided to mess with him and his girlfriend."

"Don't you dare do it again!" said Bianca.

Hilbert began to whimper.

"You mean you don't love me anymore?" whined Hilbert.

Bianca frowned a little herself.

"No, Hilbert," she said. "You'll always be my friend. But there's limits to some things. Like for example, you can't just play with expensive items that can break. I'm sure you wouldn't like it if I broke something of yours."

"Right now," said Cilan, "we're going to take you home. We'll just explain to your parents what happened."

"Is Mommy going to be mad?" asked Hilbert.

"I don't think she will be that angry," said Bianca, "though she will be concerned."

Hilbert was upset, even though he couldn't quite understand what he did was wrong. His amnesia prevented him from thinking deeply about it.

Later, Cilan, Bianca, and Hilbert arrived at Hilbert's house. They saw Hilbert's father Conrad in the front. Conrad was a man of average height, with longish brown hair and brown eyes. He was wearing a black muscle shirt and khaki shorts.

The group looked at Conrad, who was clipping the hedges.

"Hello, son!" said Conrad.

"Hi, Daddy," said Hilbert. "What are you doing with that scissors?"

"I'm pruning," said Conrad.

Hilbert tried to reach out, but Bianca held him back.

"Those are dangerous," said Bianca. "You don't want to get hurt."

"They can cut your finger off," said Conrad.

"Try getting Hilbert to listen," said Cilan. "Hilbert embarrassed us at the restaurant. He went up to a couple and tried touching everything of theirs. He even got into the guy's pocket and grabbed his pen, squirting ink all over him. I felt bad for him."

"Oh dear," said Conrad. "Looks like Hilbert here will need to think about it."

"He can't really think," said Bianca. "The crap he pulled at the restaurant proves it."

"I think Hilbert will need to rest a bit," said Conrad. "Do you know what time it is?"

Cilan looked at his watch. "It's 7:15," he said.

"Okay," said Conrad. "We'll put Hilbert to bed at 8:00." Conrad turned to Hilbert. "In the meantime, I'll tell your mother that you're home. I'm done clipping the hedges anyway."

Conrad put away the hedge clippers. He then led Hilbert, Cilan, and Bianca inside. Conrad called out to his wife to tell her that Hilbert was home.

"Flora!" he called out. "Hilbert's home!"

"How was he?" asked Flora, who came out of the living room.

"It was good at first," said Bianca. "We went to see Lenora, we saw Frank and Sydney on Route 3, and we had dinner at the Striaton Gym. However, after dinner Hilbert took some man's pen and squirted it on him."

"That's not good," said Flora. "I hope it wasn't too hard on Hilbert."

"But don't worry about a thing," said Bianca. "We're going to make Hilbert go to bed at 8 PM."

"Sounds good to me," said Flora. "Are you going to stay for dessert?"

"We'd love to," said Cilan.

"Okay," said Flora.

After everyone had had dessert, Cilan and Bianca let Hilbert watch a little TV. When it was 8 PM, Cilan and Bianca notified Hilbert.

"Hilbert!" said Bianca. "It's time for bed!"

"Remember," said Cilan, "you're going to bed early today."

"Fine," said Hilbert. "There's nothing good on that big screen thing anyway."

Cilan and Bianca took Hilbert upstairs. When they entered Hilbert's room, Cilan and Bianca closed the door behind them. Cilan took off Hilbert's shirt, pants, and socks, leaving him in a pair of blue boxers. Bianca got out a white muscle shirt and put it on Hilbert. Cilan got the bed ready for Hilbert to sleep in.

"You're bed's ready," said Cilan.

"Oh, goody!" said Hilbert. He ran over to his bed and got in.

"How are you doing?" asked Bianca.

"I'm doing okay, Bonita," said Hilbert. "May I please have a toy?"

"Sure thing," said Bianca, rolling her eyes yet again.

Bianca walked over to Hilbert's dresser and looked at his toys. She saw a funny-looking chibi doll. It wore brown pants with suspenders, black boots, and boxing gloves. It had brown hair parted in the middle.

"Lol," said Bianca. "It's Von Kaiser, the crazy German guy! Cress has a doll from the same game."

Bianca picked up Von Kaiser and brought him over to Hilbert.

"Thanks, ma'am," said Hilbert. He hugged Von Kaiser.

"Anything else?" asked Cilan.

Hilbert shook his head.

"I guess that means no," said Cilan.

"Okay," said Bianca. "We'll go get your parents. Goodnight!"

"Goodnight," said Hilbert.

Cilan and Bianca left Hilbert's room. They went to get Conrad and Flora, who were downstairs.

When Hilbert's parents entered their son's room, they walked over to him.

"Hello," said Hilbert.

"Hello," said Flora. "Listen, dear: this is a lot of stress on all of us. It's very hard to deal with that amnesia."

"But we're pulling through," said Conrad.

"Just remember that you have us to support you," said Flora.

"And if this doesn't get better," said Conrad, "we'll call up the doctor and he'll have a look at you. For now, just try to get some sleep. And remember that we love you."

"Goodnight," said Flora.

"Goodnight," said Hilbert.

Hilbert's parents left the room. Soon after, Hilbert himself fell asleep.

Conrad and Flora went downstairs to talk to Cilan and Bianca.

"This is a very tough situation," said Flora. "I don't know how much longer Hilbert will have amnesia."

"It could wear off anytime," said Cilan. "Maybe it will even happen tomorrow."

"You never know," said Bianca. "But in the meantime, try not to get too stressed out."

"We won't, Bianca," said Conrad. "I'm just glad that Hilbert has friends like you and Cilan."

"I'm glad to be his friend, too," said Bianca. "We'll get through - you can count on that!"