Would you look at that? I'm actually… done…

Like, I'm very, very sorry, but as you can see, I'm having a really hard time writing out this section of the story. Like, I already have plot points mapped out in my mind, but I can't seem to actually write it down properly. And it's really annoying, I'm sitting in front of the desk in the morning trying to write out something to no avail. Then at the night I can't sleep and decided to write the story, and that's exactly when inspiration strikes, but my mom complains about my rapid typing because she's trying to sleep. Why is she sleeping in my room anyway?

Anyway… The new FF layout kind of confuses me. It's a good change, I guess, but it'll take awhile for me to get used to.

This chapter is shorter compared to the older chapters, but still longer than the part a. And like the previous chapter, less fluffy moment. I'm saving that for the next chapter… sorry. I hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer : Own Pokémon do not I

~ Subway Trouble ~
Chapter 8.b : Foreboding?

"Alright, here comes your drink. Take your pick." Hilbert brought the tray to the middle.

"Sweet! My milkshake has the strawberry toppings!" said Leena, grabbing her drink and slurped. "Mmh!" she squealed. "I love strawberries!"

Hilbert raised a questioning eyebrow. "Aren't strawberry milkshakes usually accompanied with strawberries – "

Oreste laughed grimly. "You just couldn't plant that fact to Leena." He ignored the look the black haired girl sent him. "Trust me, my twin and I already tried."

"Oh…" the brunet then took a cup and peered at the inside. "Hilda, you ordered MooMoo milk again?"

"Uh? Something wrong with that?"

Hilbert coughed, before the brown orbs glinted with a hint of amusement. "So did what Cheren told me about – "

"We are not going there, Hilbert. Just… don't," Hilda growled.

"Fine…" he sighed theatrically before handing his partner the milk. He took another cup to find it warm in his hand. "Okay, this one's my chocolate. That's yours, Oreste."

"Thanks."

"By the way, Oreste?" said Hilda, ripping off the bag of chips and took a piece. "Where's Ceano?"

The blonde drank half of the cup's contents before answering. "My twin? He's still high from the incident yesterday, it'll be safe to keep him somewhere less… thrilling."

Leena sighed. "Hey, that's your brother you're talking about."

"What? He's usually even worse when describing me."

"That's still no reason to badmouth him…"

"Whatever."

Hilbert absently munched the potato chips. "How long have we been in this train again?"

"About two hours… that was quick." Said Hilda after a quick glance to her X-Transceiver.

"I suppose time does fly when you're having fun," Leena chirped.

"I don't count doing handstand around the cab and singing gay song as having fun."Oreste slammed his head to the table.

"Neither running back and forth like your lives depended on it." The brunet boy added.

The black haired girl puffed her cheeks. "Okay, that doesn't count. But despite the annoying ones, I have to say I enjoyed these little games."

Hilda paused to contemplate the words, letting it sunk in. While most of the quizzes are not the least bit amusing (though probably, those quiz maker begged to differ), she did have fun watching Hilbert attempting a heel flip with the skateboard (and failing miserably, she might add). Don't ask why the quizzes involved skateboard instead of Pokémon – they're really out of their wits. And then she was asked to dress up her Pokémon. She didn't like dressing up herself, but her Pokémon? That's an entirely different story. She grinned. "I suppose you're right." Her right hand moved to reach the bag of chips, but then she furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. There was nothing in there…?

Suspicious, she raised her hand and slammed the bag. It deflated unceremoniously.

"Uhh. What, Hilda?" asked Oreste.

"Last two minutes ago, I was sure the bag was still full of chips," she deadpanned. "And now look what happened."

Oreste glanced at Leena, who shook her hands profusely. "Not me! I'm on a diet anyway!"

"Do people on diet drink strawberry milkshakes on daily basis? I thought it'll be tea or plain water."

"Don't rationalize! Well, did you eat the chips?" Leena countered, crossing her arms and pouted childishly.

"Did not. Only ate a piece. You know I don't really like potato chips," the blonde said defensively. "Cassava chips, on the other hand…"

Hilda blinked. "Okay, that leaves…" she turned to her partner, narrowed eyes glaring dubiously at the brunet. He was munching on something, but quickly gulped it down when he noticed Hilda's glare. "Did you…?"

"Nope, I don't eat that much." Hilbert answered smoothly.

"Oh, sure," she murmured sarcastically. She did a quick check on her companion, and after noticing the crumbs by his mouth and collar, she slammed her hand to the table. "Of course you did! Don't lie!"

"Why would I?"

"Oh, I don't know. But then again, you could gulp down five servings of huge sandwiches and still demand for more!"

"Look who's talking…"

"Okay, I suppose I did that too. But I'll bet it was you who ate the most of the chips."

Leena giggled slightly at the bickering of the brunets. "Easy, Hilda. It's just a bag of chips!"

Hilda frowned. "I would go easy, if he just – "

"I don't see what's wrong with this. I mean, the bag of chips you bought wasn't that big." Hilbert said nonchalantly, eyebrows flicking in annoyance.

Oreste pondered what size the brunet would consider as big, glancing at the ten inches empty bag. Hilda crossed her arms. "What's wrong is that you…" she paused, letting Klanks on her brain to delve on her friend's statement deeper. "… Darn, how fast do you usually finish this bag of chips by yourself?"

"Eh, this?" Hilbert took the empty bag, eyes narrowing to examine it. "If I'm not doing anything that requires my hands? Two – scratch that. A minute and a half." And he said it like it was the most normal thing in the world.

Which is why both Oreste's and Leena's eyes widened in surprise. "Dude," Oreste said. "Did you chew those chips?"

"Well, duh. How could I swallow them if I didn't chew it? Well… most of it."

The Driftveil trainers were at lack of words when Hilda (contrary to their response) burst into spontaneous laughter.

"A minute and a half, darn it! And Cheren thought I'm a glutton! I'd need three minutes to finish that!" she screeched in amusement, holding her abdomen before facing the brunet boy. "Respect, Hilbert, respect! I give, you win!" The brunet boy grinned from ear to ear and gave her a thumb up.

Leena twitched glancing back and forth between Hilda and Hilbert. "Three minutes' aren't that slow, either! And that's not something to be proud about!"

Hilda took several minutes to reduce her laughter into a quiet giggle, apparently already forgetting the whole who-ate-the-chips thing. In the meanwhile, Hilbert managed to voice his sorry for eating the most of the chips, though whether he meant it or not is up for a debate. Leena then clapped her hands together. "The more you know~" she sang before turning towards the giggling brunette. "Right, Hilda?"

"What?" Hilda questioned, still giddy from the entire laugh before. "Sorry, I don't get it."

Leena snickered, snapping her fingers. "You now know Hilbert's a quick chips eater – "

"He's a quick and huge eater in general," Hilda interrupted her. Hilbert doesn't seem to mind the apparent jibe, Oreste noticed.

"—ehm!" Leena coughed. "So, next time you two went on a date or something and you brought him a snack, make sure it'll be enough for both of you!"

Silence.

"W-wh-what are you talking about? " Hilda stuttered loudly, looking at the black haired girl like she had grown a third head. "Not like that!"

"My mistake!" Leena teased. "You'd be probably making him lunch, so – "

"No, that's not it either!" Hilda spat in embarrassment, face went as red as a Tamato Berry. "It's not like we're d-dating or something, anyway!" she covered her face in her palms, while Hilbert just looked to the other way, hands trying to rub off the red in his face. It doesn't work.

"Denial!" Leena laughed, raising her hand before Hilda could retort. "Easy, I was only kidding!"

"…"

After finishing their drinks, they heard the intercom informing about break time's finished and they can go to their home cab and ask for a new quiz. And it so happens that both Hilda's and Leena's (and their partners) cab attendant were chatting with each other, so they received the same quiz (well, not) and was asked to go to the Rock cab. The farthest cab, if you don't remember.

For the next few cabs, they were walking silently (not awkwardly) to said cab when Hilda suddenly sighed.

Hilbert glanced at the brunette trainer. "Is something wrong?"

"Eh?" she placed her fingers on her lips. "No, I just had this… feeling."

"What?"

She sheepishly grinned. "I had this foreboding feeling. Like, something would go wrong or something."

Oreste snorted, running a hand on his spiky hair. "Hey, don't jinx it…"

"But I'm not!" said Hilda, placing her hands on her hips.

Hilbert playfully nudged her cheek. "But you just don't say that kind of things out loud."

Fighting back the urge to wipe the pink dust on her cheek, she pouted. "Well sorry. I don't say those things out loud normally, it's just…" she trailed off.

"Just?"

She leaned closer to the brunet's ears. "I feel the same foreboding feeling like back then in the subway jack. I didn't really like this…" she whispered.

"Same feeling?"

"Yeah, I know I'm more or less jinxing it, but I just can't help it."

The brunet boy didn't say anything at first, contemplating her words silently. Hilda rubbed her head sheepishly before fidgeting with her cap when he finally responded. "It bugged you that much?" She gave him a quick nod.

"It probably won't happen," he reassured her with his bright grin. "Don't think too much about it – "

"Oooh," Leena interrupted with a crafty wink. "What are you two whispering about?"

Oreste flicked her forehead, blue eyes rolling. "Hey, you're ruining their moment."

The black haired girl stuck out her tongue childishly. "You're just jealous."

Hilda blinked several times before she sighed in annoyance."Look, what you are talking about and why do you keeps pressing us about it?" she said in annoyance. "If you're thinking what I'm thinking, then the answer is no!" she added as an extra thought.

"Yeah, right, whatever." Leena whistled. "Hey Oreste, let's go to the toilet."

"What?" The blonde groaned. "I don't feel like – "

"Then you're accompanying me to the toilet. No buts!" she grabbed her childhood friend before he started to complain more. Hilbert's hand made contact with his forehead when he realized she's going to the farthest toilet in the cab, Oreste started to scream obscenities.

"What in the world is she thinking? There's a toilet nearby…" he gestured at the toilet sign by his side.

"Who knows?" She did a stretch before walking to the seat nearby. "Might as well sit down. I'm sure they will take their sweet time."

"Right…" He walked over and took a seat beside her, shoulders against each other. Hilda quickly dismissed any thoughts that she labeled as "crazy".

"By the way," he suddenly said, gaining the brunette's attention. "Have you ever been to a dentist?"

Hilda raised her eyebrows. "Uh… No, I haven't. But I think I'm planning to get dental braces so…" she turned to him. "What's about it anyway?"

The boy visibly winced, wrinkling his nose in disgust. "Ugh, why would you want to? They're horrible…"

She giggled quietly, leaning back to her seat. "Well, I think my face will look better with those. And even if I eventually didn't, going for a checkup won't hurt."

"Yeah, and they'll pull your teeth!"

"I heard that many times… What's so bad about getting your teeth pulled anyway? I mean, the operation's most probably hurt, but you'll get better." Said Hilda while crossing her arms.

Hilbert snorted. "That's easy for you to say. Then after you got home, you'll look yourself in the mirror and find that your cheeks are getting chubbier."

"Chubbier? Oh, you mean swollen cheek? I can live with that."

"Yeah, and for the next couple of hours, it'll hurt to keep your mouth closed." Before Hilda could say anything else, he raised his hand. "So when you're all hooked up on your book, you noticed a drip of liquid dropping on your arms, then you noticed that blood is running through your chin from your mouth!" Hilda snickered at the image of Hilbert freaking out while holding a mirror when he added : "That's not the worst part, though."

She turned her head towards the brunet. "What is?"

He looked at her with an even expression on his face, eyes narrowing the slightest bit. "You can't chew hard foods." And he said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. In this case, it is.

But the fact that she couldn't chew foods – be it a day or the whole week – was a whole new kind of terror Hilda couldn't possibly imagine. No cakes? No cookies? No sandwiches? No fried chicken? No – okay it's getting old. "How long!"

"I can start chewing something properly at… day five."

"Five days? What do you eat for five days straight?" she freaked out like a Sewaddle would do while being chased by a Tranquil.

"Porridges. Only porridges. And occasional soups in day four." He slumped in his seat.

"… only porridges and soups?" Did you even feel full at all? was not mentioned.

"It was horrible… I could hear my stomach growled in the midnight like, every five minutes…" he paused at the memory. "The growl was so loud that my Solosis woke up from its slumber and peeked through the window."

Hilda laughed for a good few seconds before his sentences clicked on her mind. "Solosis?"

"Oh," he straightened up before putting his hands behind his head. "Yeah, I already had my Solosis before I started my journey. It was a gift from my grandpa. Loyal as an old dog, it was, and still is." He stated proudly.

The brunette trainer looked at him curiously. "How old were you when you went to the dentist anyway?"

"Eeh… Mmm…" he closed his eyes in an attempt to recollect his memory. Now, despite her tendency to be a ditz, Hilda did have her moments of wit, like this time. Hilbert's expression looked so cute in her opinion, and that is exactly why she's trying her best to not look at that face, because if she did, imaginary red ink will be sprayed on her face and when he opens his eyelids, he'll be looking at her weird, opened his mouth and –

"Hilda? What's wrong?"

Yeah, somewhere along those lines, she thought mentally. "Oh, nothing!" she waved her hands in an attempt to go back to the line. "So, I was asking…"

"Yeah, I was twelve when I got my teeth pulled. For extra information, I received Solosis when I was like, six or something? Yeah, probably around that age."

"That's real early," stated Hilda. "My first Pokémon was a Snivy – well, Servine now. I received her from Professor Juniper just a few days before I left Nuvema…"

"I heard those Pokémon can get quite snotty the first time."

"It did. Eventually I cracked the girl."

Hilbert gave her a shrug, turning his attention to the direction where Leena and Oreste 'went' to the toilet. "What took those two so long, anyway?"

"I don't know…" She stood up and stretched again. "Maybe we could – "

Poor Hilda was tackled by a blonde blur back to the seat she was sitting on, a yelp escaping his lips and her hand accidently knocked on Hilbert's head, causing him to wince slightly. "Ooh, Hilda! Finally! I was wondering where you could be, I looked all over for you! And hey Hilbert! How are you guys doing? Taking a rest for now? How about the quizzes? I bet you guys did great – "

Cheren coughed while looking to the other way, fervently wishing that he did not know the klutzy blonde who was tackling the frozen and confused brunets duo in their seats, either literally or with questions. "Hey, give them a breather first. Especially Hilda. You don't get answers from asking a train of questions."

Said brunette squeaked few words that involves the words medic, oxygen and heavy. Bianca obviously took offense to the last one. The blonde puffed her cheeks in response but took a step back anyway, then Hilda wiped her forehead while catching her breath. "Oh, come on! What am I, your personal punching bag or something?"

"Well, no…" Bianca giggled shyly, readjusting her beret.

"And I don't know if it's just me, but are you getting heavier than this morning?" she accused while holding her laughter. "Eating sweets again?"

"Wh-what? No, of course not! I ordered like, only, two-three piece of – "

"Two-three plates of cakes, if I may." The black haired boy supplied.

"Not helping, Cheren."

"I try my best."

"I'm not surprised, really," Hilda giggled. "I know you all too well, Bianca."

"Not that you're any better, really," Hilbert teasingly added, flicking his friend's forehead. "You could eat all that and more."

"Not helping, Hilbert."

"Why, thank you."

Cheren walked closer to the group, slipping his hand to his pocket. "Okay, stop. Hello to both of you. How's the, erm, quizzes?" he used his finger on his free hand to emphasize the air quote.

"Erm…" Hilda paused. "It was… hmm, unique?" she tried.

"No, it was ridiculous." Hilbert deadpanned with a sigh.

"I think so, too," the boy groaned. "Most of them are loads of nonsense. I think they're out of bright ideas."

"Yeah, you're telling me. One had us went to a marathon."

"Well, one had us to…"

Hilda watched with fascination how the boys got along easily. Seeing Hilbert converse with Cheren could get kind of weird, really. One minute he's being childlike who complains about how porridge wasn't enough to satisfy his stomach, and the next minute he's talking with Cheren, self-celebrated snarker of Nuvema. Bianca, too, watched both of them, but she seemed to have different things in her mind.

"… you do have a point, there, but I was looking more of a battle than random trivia." Cheren was saying to Hilbert, readjusting his glasses.

"Well, there's actually this good quiz they gave us, it's about – " before the brunet could finish the sentence, his arm was suddenly grabbed by Bianca. His brown eyes looked at the blonde in confusion. "Uh… what is it?"

"Bianca?" Cheren asked with a tone of disdain, mostly for interrupting their chat. Mostly.

"Uhh… Hey, Hilbert, do you mind if we talk a bit?" she chirped awkwardly, before turning to her female childhood friend. "Hilda, let me borrow your partner, just for a few minutes, okay?" she assured the brunette.

"Uh. Erm… sure?" Hilda tilted her head.

"Great!" Not waiting for the boys' approval, she dragged Hilbert away from both Cheren and Hilda, to the direction where the Driftveil trainers 'went' to the toilet. Both Nuvema trainers looked at them until they entered the other cab and out of their sight. Then they looked at each other.

"What's wrong with her?" Hilda broke the silence.

"Beats me," the black haired boy shrugged.

Bianca kept dragging Hilbert through the cab, opening the door to the other cab with her free hand. To his record, Hilbert actually didn't voice his thoughts and complaints, unlike both Hilda and Cheren who would probably do so, loudly. Though, that questioning glare he gave her was pretty unnerving – it bore holes on her back. That's some death glare.

"Okay, spill the beans." The boy suddenly said, removing his arm from her grip as gently as possible. "What do you want?"

Bianca shuffled her foot and adjusted her beret. "Well, umm… no, nothing bad!" she started to wave frantically. "I just want to ask you some questions!"

He raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Question?"

"Well, not exactly questions… It's more like… Mmm…" she gritted her teeth. "Ah! I just need some opinions, that's all!"

Hilbert looked at her with a dumbfounded expression. "What kind of opinion? You couldn't just ask me back there?"

"Well! Actually, it's… umm, I can't say it there… because…"

Luckily, Hilbert was quick to catch on. "Is it about Hilda or Cheren?"

"Oh, yeah!" the blonde chirped. "It's about Cheren! I wanted to ask you something!"

"Why ask me?" he questioned back. "You know him way better than I do, you're childhood friends."

"Uuh… Okay, I'll explain…" she eventually said, slightly reluctant tone lacing her words but she gave out a small grin anyway. "Yeah. I'm in need of some help and opinion about him. His birthday is coming up, and I want to give him a present. And…" she looked at the brunet, who only shrugged, motioning her to go on. "I'm really beat. I don't have any idea what I could get him. That's what I want to ask you, I mean, you seem to get along with him so well, despite only knowing him for what, a day? And – "

"Okay, okay, I got the whole point, Bianca," he eventually stopped her. "Hmm, how about books?" he suggested.

"No!" she suddenly said a bit too loud. "Anything but books. Yes, he loves reading, but that's the point! Every time I actually give him books he would say that he had already read and remembered the contents!"

"…really." Hilbert looked at her again. "When is his birthday coming up anyway?"

"Two months."

He paused again, brown eyes looking at the blonde oddly. "It's still two months? Why such a hurry?"

"Uh-uh! Umm, let's just say I want to prepare it from now!" she answered with a hint of panic. "Tell you what, if you could help me figure out something, I'll tell you what kind of stuffs Hilda likes!"

His eyes slightly widened, he almost lost his composure when the energetic brunette was suddenly brought into the topic. "What does she have anything to do with this?"

"Everything! Don't lie, like, you only knew her for a couple of days, but I'll bet all my money you had this teeny-bitsy feeling about her!" she gushed.

"She's a good friend, but I didn't really – "

"Oh come on! You're probably in – "

Hilbert sighed in irritation, as they're really getting out of topic (and getting into the area he did not want to discuss now) and decided to interrupt her. "Okay, okay! I'll help! Present for Cheren, right?"

She covered her mouth, green eyes tinkling in happiness. "Yeah!"

Left behind, the two Nuvema trainers waited for their friends, wandering around the cab. Hilda wasn't feeling very well. The foreboding feeling she felt minutes ago started to invade her mind again, and it's getting worse by every second. It's like red sirens are trying to warn her about something, anything that is about to happen. But she had no idea what in the world is going to happen, nor what should she do about it.

Cheren furrowed his eyebrows, trying to focus on the surrounding. He readjusted his glasses. "Hilda… do you hear something?"

Hilda gave him a confused expression. "…hear what?" she looked around the cab, as if looking for something.

"No… I thought I heard something…" the boy placed a hand on his chin. "Like… something burning?"

"Burning?" Hilda asked. "Let's see…" she closed her eyes in an attempt to amplify her hearing.

*crackle*

Hilda's blue eyes shot open. "Wait, I heard it too – "

The brunette couldn't finish her sentence as a loud, ear-rupturing sound of explosion was heard.

Yeah, I almost think this chapter as pointless. Hopefully there's more action (and maybe fluff?) next chapter. Which I do not know when it'll be done. I just looked at the poll, so the plan is that it'll be done in two weeks. I hope I don't disappoint again…

Yes, I've been to dentist. Like, two weeks ago. And I'm not eating anything except for porridges. I'm not eating those for a whole month. The whole blood thing happens to me, and I happen to have a big mirror in front of my computer!

I won't get bored repeating this, but I don't plan to stop writing this. I'll stop after it's finished!

Oh, a word of notice. I feel like I'm annoying you or something with the PMs, so I will stop PM-ing you guys about updates in my story. I will respond to your reviews, though, via PM, but I won't message you about I updated a new chapter because it's pointless if you're already following my story. Sorry about that!

Now, for the reviewers!

PrincessOfDestiny14 – Thanks for the review! I know… It's hard to find fics of this pair… And Chess is one of my most favorite shipping. *bawls*

alees-sa – Thanks for reviewing again! Sorry for the typo, I got two of them all mixed up! I think I already changed them… Or not. No kidding, I was grinning non-stop when I wrote the tray-carrying part.

Seirin-chan – Creepy coincidence? Thanks for the review! Yeah, the Spelling & Grammar check really helps me. I think this personal writer's block of mine won't go away any soon until I finish this part of the story, though… ;_;

Falsetta-Arias – Thank you, for welcoming me back and reviewing! I wanted to update as quick as I can, but I just can't due to many circumstances… x.x Oh, you're making a Chess story? Cool! I would love to check it out, if I can be of any help. We need moar Chess!

Rat2rrj – Thanks for the review! I hope you'll enjoy this chapter too!

The First Gatekeeper – Thanks for reviewing! Writing Hilbert can get pretty confusing for me, but I'm happy you liked him the way I wrote him! Hope you're enjoying the story!

Done! Now… Review please? With… giant strawberry shortcakes? Or chocolate sandwich, or blueberry cheesecakes, or KFC, whichever you prefer. Reviews makes authors happy.