In which you find out what Burgh wanted to apologize for. Or not.

WARNING: Badly-written battle scenes, implied Burgh antics, stupid Tommy, and roller coasters.

Of the Pokémon N had caught, the only real challenges were the Darumaka and Sigilyph. Sandile's typing made it easy for Sewaddle to defeat it, while Erika quickly took out Scraggy. Lillipup managed to be on equal footing with Darumaka, barely standing when the red thing went down, while Blitzle's Shock Wave was the only thing keeping him from meeting a horrible fate at the hands (or wings, or whatever they were) of Sigilyph.

N didn't seem surprised at her victory. "Exactly how I envisioned it," he said softly, sadly, as he healed up his temporary allies. "But there's nothing you can do. You may have defeated me here, but my plan is to become the Champion. To be the very best, like no one ever was. And young children look up to the Champion. If the Champion releases his Pokémon, then others will follow his example, and the world will be perfect."

"I can so stop you," Hilda said, pretending that his logic made sense.

"You?" N questioned. He stretched to his full height, grinning down at her. She tried not to let him know that it was a bit intimidating - he had to be nearly six feet tall! "How?"

"By physical force if necessary."

"I would love to see that," he said, only a little sarcastic, before heading off with his friends.

Hilbert stared after him. "Did he break up with you?" he asked obliviously, his hand reaching into his pocket where his fork rested. Hilda put a hand out to stop him.

"You can't break up if you were never together. I'm over him, anyway."

Hilbert tilted his head. "I thought you said it was allergies." As his sister shrugged, he grinned and linked his arm with hers. "Don't worry, Hilda! I'll always be there for you! In the snow, in the rain, in the sun, on the moon...I promise I'll never leave your side." The touching family moment was interrupted, however, when Hilbert saw something else and ran off, yelling "Funnel cakes!"

Hilda turned to Erika, a sad smile on her face. "We just can't keep him focused for long, can we?"

Erika barely paid attention as her trainer went after Hilbert, instead staring into the distance where N had disappeared.

So you're the king of Team Plasma, huh? she thought, wondering if his ability to understand her was telepathic, and if so, if she was still in his range. All right, Your Majesty. Bring it on.

Each with a huge funnel cake they were sharing with their Pokémon, the twins set off to explore Nimbasa City before challenging the gym. Of course, the word 'sharing' implied that there was no contest as to who would get the most of the treat.

"Tommy, don't inhale it!" Hilbert whined, attempting to pull the funnel cake from his Dewott in order to get some for himself, Pidove, and the females on his team.

"Yeah, Tommy, don't inhale it," Erika repeated, nibbling on her own piece of Hilda's. "Cheren's probably around here somewhere, and, knowing him, he'll challenge Hilbert to a battle. You don't want to be too fat to move when he does."

Tommy squeaked in surprise, backing up a bit as the other starter's words registered with him. "Wait...he? Cheren's a male?"

But the siblings weren't paying attention to the conversation, and wouldn't have understood it if they had. They had found none other than Bianca, arguing with her father. This surprised them. Bianca never argued, even if she disagreed with somebody, instead making her points quietly and hoping for the best. This must have been important.

"I'm sorry, Bianca," her father was saying. "But don't you think you've gone far enough?"

"No! No, I haven't!" Bianca objected. "You always say you want what's best for me. Didn't you ever think that this might be it?"

"But Bianca, you could get hurt! I don't want to see my little girl upset, and especially not dead."

"But I have Dewott and Munna and the others to protect me," Bianca whispered. "I don't want to go home, Daddy. Not yet."

"Good for you, kid!"

Everyone's heads turned as a stunningly beautiful blonde woman approached, her high heels clicking against the pavement and the cords on her headphones waving behind her. Hilbert even dropped a piece of his remaining funnel cake to stare as she walked by, up to Bianca and her father.

"Who are you?" Bianca's dad asked, and the woman introduced herself.

"I'm Elesa, Nimbasa City's Gym Leader. I couldn't help overhearing your conversation, and I have to agree that letting the girl continue her journey means she might get hurt." Bianca's dad turned back to his daughter, ready to use the Gym Leader's confirmation as an excuse to drag her back home, but Elesa continued before he could. "However, being hurt is no reason to give up on something you really want. Let her decide."

Bianca swallowed nervously, focusing on a button on her father's shirt instead of his face. "I want to keep traveling. I have Hilbert and Hilda and Cheren looking out for me. My Pokémon can find them for me if I get into too much trouble. And I promise, when I'm done with my journey, I will come home."

Her father fell silent. His eyes flickered from Bianca to Elesa to the twins before finally settling back on Bianca. "You're right. Trying to stop you is just selfish of me. You're your own person, Bianca. I'm sorry I didn't see it before."

Bianca beamed and took his hand. "Come on, Daddy. Let me show you the Musicals before you go home!"

And they were off.

Hilda cleared her throat and tapped Elesa on the shoulder. "Excuse me. I'm glad this family moment ended happily, and I'm really, really glad Bianca's staying on her journey, but I need to talk to you. Do you know the gym leader from Castelia City?"

Elesa sighed, as if she'd had quite enough dealing with Burgh already. "Whatever he did, I'm sorry. He's weird, and he doesn't take to new people easily, but trust me, once he gets used to you, you've got a friend for life."

"He didn't do anything to us, actually. He actually told me to pass on an apology from him to you."

Elesa seemed surprised. "He did?"

"Can you tell me what it was he might want to apologize for?" Hilbert asked, butting in with a bit of funnel cake hanging from his mouth. Patrat climbed onto his shoulder to snatch a piece off the plate, but he paid no attention.

"Well, there's a number of things. The silly string, the pants, Halloween...but since it's the only thing I got mad at him for, I'm assuming he's referring to Incident 366."

Hilda looked mildly interested. "What's Incident 366?"

Elesa tried not to laugh. "How old are you?"

Hilda cleared her throat nervously as Hilbert blinked in confusion. Elesa laughed quietly. "Well, to the gym, I guess."

Hilbert and Hilda naturally stopped to trade after hearing Elesa specialized in Electric-types, so of course Elesa was waiting for them in the back of the gym. The gym was very obvious about how to reach her, with bright, flashing patters across the floors.

The path to Elesa, and the Bolt Badge she gave to victorious challengers, would have been much easier to handle if it hadn't involved roller coasters.

Next to Darmanitan, nothing scared Hilda more than roller coasters, and adding that to the fact that Hilbert almost always got sick on them, well, wouldn't you want to back out? But, of course, her fourth badge was waiting for her, and she had to conquer her fears sometime. So, she swallowed her fear, climbed into a car, and squeezed her eyes shut as Hilbert climbed in with her. She whispered prayers to whatever god or legendary was listening to just make this go fast and help her win the badge, especially with her borrowed friend Sandile, and it wasn't long before she was climbing out of the last car, violently shaking, and curling up on the ground.

"My therapist would be so proud," Hilda muttered, not bothering to look up at all when Elesa rushed over and asked if she was ok.

Hilbert, too, was more than a little woozy. "Hey, Elesa? Do you have a pukey bag?"

Elesa decided to take it easy on the poor girl, letting her get away with a one-on-one challenge instead of the usual battle. Once Hilda had recovered enough to accept the challenge, her brother picked her off the ground and carried her to the battlefield, before heading off to the gym's bathroom to brush his teeth. The battle began as soon as Elesa let out her Zebstrika.

Hilda was still a bit wobbly, but she called on Sandile anyway. The crocodile looked around, bewildered at her new surroundings and even more confused about her new temporary trainer.

"Come on, Sandile!" Hilda whined as the creature flicked her tail nervously. "Hilbert trained you against Pokémon in the desert. I know you've battled!"

The Pokémon sighed, but faced the Zebstrika with determination.

Elesa thought hard. Electric-type moves had no effect at all against Ground-types, which meant her favorite Volt Switch was out of the question. "Zebstrika, use Flame Charge!"

That wasn't too good a move, either, but at least it got the battle started.

"Sand Tomb!" Hilda called back, and Sandile let loose a stream of sand out from out of nowhere, trapping Zebstrika and doing a lot of damage. Of course, Elesa was a Gym Leader, and a bit more difficult to defeat than the random trainers Hilda and Hilbert had battled on the road.

"Use Quick Attack!"

Sandile rolled out of the way, now mad enough to do whatever Hilda asked without hesitation.

"Sand Tomb again!"

And so on, until Zebstrika collapsed in front of Elesa, unable to continue.

Sandile did a little victory dance, only to make a very odd sound two seconds later as a glowing light flashed from her body. She seemed to disintegrate completely before materializing again, this time in a much bigger body on two legs instead of four.

"That's weird," Hilbert stated. "I thought for sure we'd have to wait a bit before she evolved."

His new catch gave him a smug Krokorok-smile, exposing her sharp teeth. Elesa sighed and handed Hilda the Bolt Badge.

"I'm afraid the only way out is to ride another roller coaster," she admitted. "I'm sorry. I didn't think when I had those installed."

Hilda clicked her badge case closed, somewhat calmer. "Actually, I see you have a window. I'll go and climb out of that."

And she did, recalling her brother's new Krokorok as she did so. Hilbert smiled at the Gym Leader, seemingly oblivious to Hilda's near-peril. "Where can we go next?"

"Well, first I'll have to call Burgh and ask why he didn't bother to apologize himself, but you can get Hilda and meet me at Route 5, ok?"

And she waved him on to the coaster while she called up Burgh, letting him take his sister's Lillipup for a ride.

Lillipup, too, got a bit sick at the end of it.