Chapter 9: Hilbert
Hilbert and Hilda were at yet another café. It was by far the easiest place to meet up. Hilda got to see her brother, and Hilbert got to eat. Everybody won. He knew he should be glad to see family (Ma could only call gram a couple times a month, way back when), but his stomach took precedence.
Hilda leaned into the back of her chair and smirked across the table. "So," she asked, "how was your battle?"
Hilbert took an overly large bite of his sandwich and chewed as noisily as he could. "Fon," he answered without swallowing.
Hilda gagged and tossed him a napkin. "Did you really have to do that?" she asked him.
Hilbert nodded yes. It was part of the Twin Brother Code of Ethics to be as annoying as possible. She should know this already. He gulped down more of his cola before wiping his mouth off with a jacket cuff adding to the various stains there. "I did fine," he said again.
"You were complete crap at it, weren't you?" His sister said. As usual, she could see right through him.
"Totally," he admitted. "Cress wiped me out in two hits. I'll just need to practice a bit more and I'll have him down."
Their cross-transceivers began to ring. Hilbert was the second to answer; Bianca and Professor Juniper were already on the line. A second later, Hilda's face joined the screen. Bianca spoke. "Can I call you back later?" she asked. "I'm kinda busy at the moment."
"Of course, Bianca" said the Professor. Bianca's tiny face winked out.
"Are either of you near Striaton City?" Professor Juniper asked. She was framed by a bookshelf and multiple flatscreen monitors, each with a different program running.
"We both are," said Hilda, "but I was just about to head out of town. Hilbert needs to challenge the gym here again."
"I won't keep you then, Hilda," said the professor.
"Cool." Hilda logged out of the call. "I'll be around," she told her brother.
She rewrapped the uneaten half of her sandwich and stuffed it into her bag. "I got this. Let me know if you need anything. Or if," she added slyly, "you need any advice on how to beat Cress from someone who actually has a badge."She slapped twenty bucks on the table, gave one last long draw on her lemonade and headed out down the street, Blitzle trotting behind her.
"So what do you need, Professor?" Hilbert said to the vidscreen strapped to his wrist.
"If it isn't to much of a bother, I need you to deliver a package."
"Couldn't you just sent it directly to their address, whoever he is?"
"She is. And no, I can't." The Professor pointed to on of the screens behind her. "Professor Birch just published a new paper on Mawile domestication."
Oh, he thought. Nerd stuff. "Then how am I going to deliver it?" he asked Juniper. "I'm not going to be here for long."
"I don't have it. I need you to gather it for me."
Hilbert could only stare at the screen in shock. "So why can't Wassername do it?"
"She's in the middle of a delicate experiment." Hilbert grunted in frustration. He needed to get back to training. Though he had agreed to do this and, hopefully, it would give him some advantage for the upcoming rematch with the Gym. Whoever the lady was, if she was friends with Juniper, she could be useful. "What do you need me to do?" he asked.
"There is an old construction site outside of the town. Doctor Fennel needs residue from the psychic pokémon that live there."
"That seems easy enough," Hilbert said.
"The thing is," said the professor, "the residue disappears after about an hour. If you get it back to Dr Fennel quickly enough she can put it in stasis."
"Not so easy, then."
"Nope. Sorry about that." The professor seemed pensive for a moment, then continued, "Ask her about the translator project. She's going to need some beta testers."
"Translator project?" Hilbert asked.
"I'll contact you later." Professor Juniper hung up.
"Weird," muttered Hilbert