The rain of Mistralton city fell down in steady, calming drops as Hilda wandered aimlessly. She didn't care about the drops lightly hitting her head and streaming down her face; she had too much on her mind to sweat something trivial as that. The sky was tinted a light orange with thin dusts of lavender clouds, even though the sun had gone down it hadn't darkened yet.

"How come N thinks the way he does? He doesn't seem that much older than me yet he's the king of Team Plasma… what are the secrets of Team Plasma? Also… what is it with this Ghetsis guy? Is he really his… father? What is going on here? I don't know…"

There's no doubt that N was a young man of mystery. A mystery that, for Hilda, was one too intriguing to let go.

"There's something about him… something very special."

She sighed, "I guess there's no sense in worrying about it. I have to defeat the gym leaders and become the champion, it's the only way to stop him."

In her gut she wanted to believe that N was just making empty threats, to accomplish a feat like that is simply impossible. But his projected seriousness about the whole situation did leave her with concern. What if he does find a way?

Her thoughts went to her friends, "Cheren and Bianca have no idea what I'm worrying over, I feel bad lying to them but I don't want them to worry about me."

Hilda was so engrossed in her thoughts she didn't hear the approaching footsteps.

"Are you okay Hilda?"

All of a sudden she no longer felt the rain falling on her; she glanced up to see a navy umbrella draping over her, shielding her.

Her eyes slowly fell upon Cheren's, who had a look of concern on his face.

"You shouldn't stand out in the rain like this, you'll get sick." He handed her a small towel.

"I… I know that." She took the towel and wiped her flushed face, "Say Cheren?"

He listened.

She stood there silently, not knowing exactly what to say to him. She did feel a sense of comfort looking into his eyes. Those eyes that mostly stayed behind those protective frames, and the seriousness within them.

He spoke first, "We should find the Pokémon Center before we get sick."

She nodded and they started walking.

Hilda had never found herself this tongue-tied before, she guessed that everything that was going on was all too overwhelming. Except there was no guessing, it was all real.

"This really is crazy…"

The Pokémon Center was especially warm and inviting in such nasty weather.

"Sheesh… of all the weather it had to be the rain." Cheren muttered.

Hilda took her hat off and undid her ponytail to squeeze water out of her hair, "We are Pokémon trainers on a journey Cheren. We'd have to put up with rain sometime."

Cheren simply stared, surprised by Hilda's long hair. He hardly ever sees her without it tied up.

"Something wrong Cheren?" Hilda wondered.

"Uh, no… no. It's just…. You look a bit… different with your hair down like that." His eyes averted.

"Wha… what am I saying!?"

Hilda gave a flirty smile, "Do you think I'm pretty?"

Cheren felt his cheeks warm up, "Um…"

A flash of light from the flustered boy's pocket surprised the two. His Dewott popped right in front of them. The water Pokémon's eyes looked up at his trainer.

"What?" Cheren asked.

Dewott's face peeled into the most devious grin that would make anyone know that he was plotting something mischievous.

Cheren's blush intensified, "Gr! Return Dewott!" He hastily brought Dewott back in the Pokeball. Hilda found Dewott just too amusing and giggled.

"So, are you going to challenge the Gym now Hilda?" He averted the subject.

"I will, but I'm going to see if the rain lets up soon. It'd be bad to catch a cold. What about you Cheren?"

"I've already gotten the badge." He somewhat bragged, "Once you've caught up, we can battle and see who's the stronger one now."

Hilda smiled softly, "All right, sounds good."

Author's Note:

Haaaaiiii everyone! ;) did you guys think I died or something? XD

Well I didn't! Yay! ^.^

Sorry for not writing anything recently. New Years and Christmas was just all so fun! ^-^ Plus my computer got infected with something nasty and I had to do a factory reset. Lovely.

But at least my computer is running fresh and new! ^.^

Sorry for this short chapter,

AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE! XD