I don't know if I'll get this out by Sword and Shield, but if I don't, well… idk when I will since I'll be playing Sword and Shield and deciding on ships and such!

Really, i'm quite excited! Most games I go in knowing "you know, I kinda ship this", but this time around I don't know who I'll ship Gloria(SS protag) with!

Anyways, enjoy the chapter!

Amy47101 does not own pokémon, only her OCs, Vale, Agent Blitz/Sara Knight, and the Bennet family.

o.0.o.0.o

The Adventure Saga

The Truth Behind Us

o.0.o.0.o

Start Date: June 2nd, X017

Current Date: October 7th X017

o.0.o.0.o

"All right," Vale said, deftly leaping from the fence after Hilda fell flat on her ass after her foot got caught. Cursing under her breath, she jealously glared at Vale as she got to her feet. Hilda was never one for grace and poise, always more of a Bouffalant than a Minshao. "We need to be careful. No doubt that guards were alerted to the alarm and might be patrolling once they find the generator is blown."

"Whats the possibility that we blew out electricity in this entire place?" Hilda asked, brushing some snow off her jeans.

"Incredilby low. Look." Vale pointed up, and Hilda saw a camera with a blinking red light, staring right at them. "Don't move, Hilda."

"Why-"

Hilda's question ended in a yelp as she leapt to the side. A long spiraled wire had shot at her upon her movement, scorching the ground where she stood. Hilda, now on her bottom, stared at the ground horrified.

"They're specially made, it looks like." Vale's voice fell quiet as she stared at the camera. "Motion sensitive, thats why it's looking at us. If we move a second time under it's gaze, it seems modified to shoot a taser at us."

"What the fuck is this dudes kink with shocking people?" Hilda hissed under her breath. "What do we do?"

"Do. Not. Move." Vale muttered. She heard a popping noise. "Jolt. You need to crawl up my back."

"Veve?" Hilda heard Jolt question Vale, but responded, clamoring up on her head. "Veve! Veve! Veve!"

"Calm down, Jolt." Vale extended her hand, Joltik crawling out onto her palm. Despite the no-nonsense attitude, there was a sense of warmth as Vale addressed Joltik. "I have a job for you. I just want you to crawl around and shock things like that. Think you can help me with that, Jolt?"

"I can! I can Veve! Shock, shock, shock for Veve!"

Joltiks response came like a chant as he braced himself, then leapt towards the wall. The taser retracted into the With a brief smile, Vale brought her hand up and let Joltik rest on her head. From then, Joltik leapt onto the nearest building, and scurried to the security camera.

"Shock, shock, shooooooock!"

With that chorus of chirps, Joltik electrocuted the camera with all his tiny might. There was a pop and then smoke erupted from the inside. The camera fell limp, no longer blinking, the taser falling limply to the ground.

"You should be good, now." Vale said quietly. "Good job, Jolt."

"Jolt?" Hilda couldn't help but tease as she stood. Vale glanced at her, an uncomfortable, embarrassed look on her face. "Ooooh, are these all secret little nicknames?"

"I'm just…" Vale trailed off.

"Jolt! Jolt! My name is Jolt!" Joltik hummed happily to Hilda. Vale paused as Joltik spoke, glancing at him, almost like she knew he was trying to express something. "Veve has names for all of us! Mine is Jolt!"

To accompany his excited chitters, he scrambled around Vale's wrist and palm. Vale sighed.

"… I… when I was in Johto, I had a team of pokémon. I left them with my, uh… brother. Due to circumstances. I never felt like I was close to them. I wasn't allowed to be." Vale spoke stiffly. "So I thought that… the names would help make up for that. But I… can't let people know that I'm this close to them. Or else..."

She trailed off cryptically. Hilda was both confused but also felt as if some things were more clear. Vale, despite coming to Unova with no pokémon except for her Audino, displayed experience well beyond being a "new trainer"… Or at least a trainer with only a supporting pokémon on her team. The idea of her having a strong team prior didn't surprise her, because she had the experience. But with that gleaning information came more questions.

It was obvious that Vale adored her pokémon and she at least liked being around Bianca, Cheren, and herself… Yet she doesn't openly use nicknames with her pokémon? She wasn't allowed to be close to her previous team? And people can't know she's close to the current team? Why? What was stopping her?

Or rather…

A thought probed at her mind as Hilda felt her gaze hone in on Vales bangs, recalling the scars on her face, around her eye.

What did Team Plasma do to you, Vale?

"Hey, no need to worry, I'll keep it secret or whatever." Hilda grinned, deciding to not probe further, it wasn't important right now. As much as she didn't want to rely on Vale, Hilda knew, as of now, she needed Vale's tactical mind since she didn't have Black to keep her loud mouth from ruining any sense of sneakiness they may have. "Irregardless, this little guy loves it. Your pokémon… they appreciate your affection."

"Veve?" Joltik cocked his head, staring up at Vale. Vale glanced at him, as if sensing that Joltik was addressing her. Hilda couldn't help but smile. Even if Vale claimed to not feel close to people or pokémon, she was doing something right if Joltik addressed her so adoringly and if Bianca clung to her like a little sister.

"Our goal is to find Team Plasma and try to keep them busy until Clay can get here." Vale abruptly change the subject. "In retrospect, the best way to do that is to cause as much trouble as possible… except I also want to find out what, exactly, they're planning."

"I wouldn't mind knowing that either." Hilda muttered. "Any foot we can get up on these assholes is an advantage we need. Plus…"

Hilda cracked her knuckles, remembering her captivity in Castelia, recalling watching Black being subdued and Bianca quietly crying in the corner. She remembered that punch in the face like it was yesterday, and she was still pissed about it.

"I have yet to introduce my fist to Ghetsis's face."

o.0.o.0.o

Hilda felt as if she was learning a lot about Vale as they snuck through the Cold Storage. It almost felt like Vale's perception of the world around her was on hyperfocus. Nothing seemed to take her by surprise. She knew where every camera was before they encountered it, she almost seemed to know where to go despite being in a new environment.

"That should be the last camera." Vale said simply as Joltik scuttled back down to Vale. Hilda shout her a strange look.

"How would you know?"

"There's a pattern." Vale glanced at her. "All the units are paired in fours. The bigger units, ten by ten feet, are at the front. Ten by eight is farther in, followed by five by ten units. Bigger units…"

"Are near the front because they're supposed to advertise to companies and be easier to haul bigger supplies, like, say… furniture for a house or something of the sort. Smaller units are supposed to hold more valuable items that are still to big to be in the common household safe, thus why they are in the back." Hilda grinned at Vale. "So naturally, a person who owns a place like this doesn't make money necessarily off a rental, but moreso off the insurance of the smaller units that the buyer is suggested to pay. So while the smaller units might not seem to make a lot of money for the owner, it's the insurance and added protection that makes the big bucks."

"… Not what I was going with, but okay." Vale stared at Hilda. "Profits aside, the pattern does show that there are more camera's around the smaller units. However…"

"However?"

"If my analysis of the place is correct… if your hypothesis is correct… Then there should be no reason for a batch of four ten by tens in the very back corner near the west of the property."

Vale scaled along the storage containers, gesturing for Hilda to follow. Hilda did so until the reached the fence, only to look over into the water lapping below. She had to clam her hands over her mouth and bite down to keep from screaming.

There were pokémon, all types of pokémon, laying dead in the water, floating on top.

Hilda knew that death was a part of the circle of life. She understood that well… after all, someone had "accidentally" run over her Mom's pet Sentret, a pokémon that her parents had domesticated. She used "accidentally" loosely because Josiah Steel had threatened her mother a few days before about "disciplining her wild daughter so she wouldn't corrupt his child", and a few days later their poor, poor Sentret was a crumpled, broken mess. And Hilda knew it was Josiah, because no one else in Nuvema had cars. If anyone wanted to get anywhere, they walked or took the train from Accumula.

But… perhaps it was moreso that the idea of death being premature is what bothered her. Premature and utterly meaningless. Completely avoidable.

Reaching out, with her teeth still digging into her other hand, now desperate to avoid vomiting and blowing their cover, she reached out and gripped the fence. The electricity was still down, but the pokémon still weren't moving. Arceus… she didn't even want to describe it.

She was shaking like a leaf, eyes shooting from one set of dead eyes to the next. Helpless lives, taken because they had touched the wrong thing… some of them dumped off land and into the sea, polluting the ocean to more pokémon living in the water.

Her stomach lurched, and she bit harder into her hand.

Suddenly, a hand so cold that she felt it through her jacket fell on her shoulder. Hilda jerked out of it's grasp, prepared to fight, only to see it was Vale. Her hand hovered where it was, meeting Hilda's gaze with a look of concern, but her expression was… stony.

"… I know this is awful. But the only way we can stop this is to take Team Plasma down and get them out of here."

"Hypocritical bastards." Hilda hissed. She forced herself to turn away, to stop from looking over every pokémon with hopes one was still alive. Clenching her fists, she moved forward, following behind Vale.

"This one is open." Vale whispered as they got to a container in the very corner. "I think that it's no coincidence at this point, since we haven't seen-"

"YOU MOTHERFUCKERS!"

Hilda's voice tore from her throat like a cross between a scream and a wail, tears still gathered around her eyes, mourning what she had seen. She threw open the door. prepared to march into the container in a burst of fiery rage, but as soon as she stepped inside, she felt Vale's same frigid hands shove her to the side. The force was so strong that she actually fell to the floor and slid due to the ice practically coating the cold metal. Her slide came to a stop when her back slammed into the steel side of the empty unit, shooting pain up and down her spine.

She got on her hands, feeling her hip throbbing from the blow of the fall along with the corresponding bruising that would no doubt show up on her back tomorrow. Vale, despite looking like her willowy limbs could snap in a moment, was way stronger than expected. Opening her eyes as she shook off the pain, she turned to give Vale a verbal ass-chewing, only to stop dead in her tracks.

Vale was hunched over, arms straight at her side and legs bent, teeth ground together. Surrounding her entire form was this… netting.

"Hmm…"

Hilda's gaze snapped up as the interested hum echoed throughout the cold storage facility. Against the icy glow of the lights above them, Hilda saw a small, portly man hunched over, with combed down lilac hair and round little glasses on his oversized nose. In his grasp was a small… remote, Hilda supposed, and he was staring at Vale like she was an organism under the microscope.

"Zinzolin, I know you warned me her stamina was miraculous, but these setting is set at a four right now, that should have brought any average human at least to their knees."

"And yet here stands Vale."

Hilda didn't know what to say, watching as another man dressed in Team Plasma robes came out of the shadows, flanked by Plasma grunts. The man, Zinzolin, continued stepping forward. There was an obvious tension in the room, and while Hilda wanted to break it, something kept her frozen in her tracks. Something… but she wasn't sure what.

"Isiah. Don't dare to underestimate this girl."

"Of course, sir." Isiah's grin grew, and he turned the dial on his little remote. Vale let out a grunt and Hilda screamed as the netting surrounding her sparked, electricity flying. Vale slowly fell to her knees, then to her hands, curling up as the electricity coursed through her body.

"What the hell?!" Hilda couldn't help but scream as she scrambled to her feet. "What the hell is wrong with you?!"

Without even thinking, she rushed forward with two pokéballs in hand. Dewott managed to get out before grunts swarmed forward trying to restrain her. Two grabbed for her arms, and when a third came forward, she kicked them in the stomach. Bending her arm, she managed to jab another in the stomach. Using her now free arm, she punched the other grunt in the face. Both hands free, she let out more of her pokémon.

"Eevee, Petilil, Braviery, support Dewott!"

"Understood!"

"We're going, Hil-da!"

"Orders accepted, hero!"

"Hilda…" Vale managed to grunt as Hilda ran forward with Zebstrika. "You need… to go!"

"Like hell I'm leaving you like this!" Hilda exclaimed, recklessly reaching out, only for her hands to be burned from the sparking electricity. She stumbled back, staring at the criss-crossed burns on her hands. How was Vale even withstanding this…? "Dammit all! Victini, defend! Zebstrika, help me with this!"

As soon as her pokémon materialized, however, Liepards leapt forward, onto Zebstrika. Hilda could feel her heart pounding as Zebstrika thrashed, trying to get the dark types off. Screaming, Hilda, raced forward and grabbed onto one, throwing it off, only for it to leap back up and tackle her to the ground. Her hat went flying off her head as she fell, claws digging into her skin through her coat.

All her pokémon froze, seeing their trainer pinned by a deadly Liepard. Hilda was breathing through her nose. For a moment, the only sound in the storage unit was the whistling of air passing through her nostrils and the crackling of Vale's net.

"Well, well, well…" Zinzolin stepped forward, crushing her hat under his foot as he continued. "I managed to capture a traitor and a hero. A decent, if not wonderful, surprise."

"Hil-da!" Petilil suddenly jumped forward, standing between Hilda and Zinzolen, her little body fanned out, almost like she was holding her arms out, trying to provide a worthwhile shield. "Stay away from my Hil-da!"

"Petilil!" Hilda grunted, trying to move, only for Liepard to snarl at her throat. Zinzolin took a step forward, staring down at Petilil. Petilil was quivering, but bravely lifted her gaze up to meet his.

Then, he kicked her across the room.

"You-!" Hilda snarled, reaching out and gripping Liepards face and shoving it back with all her strength. "You asshole! Fucking bitch! I'll beat your ass, you motherfucker!"

"Hey!" Dewott suddenly ran forward, shell in hand as Hilda struggled with Liepard. A Watchog suddenly darted forward and began to brawl with him. In addition, a few Whirlipede and some Krokorok began to attack.

Hilda was still trying to fight off the Liepard, but now she could feel her skin on her hands being pierced by the Liepard's teeth. Vale was attempting to stand again, slowly making it to her feet, but as Hilda screamed for him to stop, Isiah turned up the voltage. Vale's entire body spasmed and crumbled.

"Dammit…! Dammit! Dammit! Liepard!" Hilda was begging, trying be rational with the pokémon as her own were trying to fight off the Plasma's pokémon. "Liepard, hear my voice! Listen to me! Listen! Please listen to me!"

Liepard seemed to pause, ears folding back as she stared at Hilda. Closing her mouth, she stared at Hilda. Hilda reached out, and stroked the side of Liepard's face.

Let me go.

Liepard's tale went from wagging to being still, then she slowly backed up. Hilda stood, turning on her heel and raising her hands. She hadn't had to do the "wavy hand" trick since she was in Pinwheel Forest. She wasn't sure what to really do.

"Now you see, Hilda, pokémon are especially in tune with their trainers. For instance, your Mama spent a lot of time with her pokémon, so she sort of "knows" what they want or what they say. It's a common phenomena among trainers. I call it 'The Bond Effect'."

"The Bomb Effect, Daddy?"

"Bond, Hilda. Bond Effect."

Her fathers voice echoed in her head, that familiar chuckle as she mispronounced the Bond Effect for something much more destructive. A memory from so early on that she knew she only recalled it because it was imprinted in her mind. She wasn't even sure where they were, the reason, just that she was on her Dad's shoulders, and he was walking, her hands buried in his long, brown hair.

"But some people feel that bond straightaway with pokémon they love. The effect is seen in trainers who choose their first pokémon, something that connects them, like a soulmate."

"Like you and Missy!"

"Yes, like me and Misdreavus. But Hilda… I can do something special."

"Special?"

At that point, Hilda remembered her fathers hands moving from her ankles, so in response, she gripped his hair tighter. Briefly, she saw his hands move, and to her awe, several Pidove landed on his outstretched arms, one even landing on her fathers head. She remembered the joy at being able to pet the Pidove, grinning and laughing.

"Do you know them, Daddy?"

"No, not personally."

"How'd you call them? Did you whistle? I can't whistle yet, but if I could I'd be able to do it too!"

"No, no, Hilda, I didn't whistle. See… I was able to call these pokémon, connect to them, without words."

"Whoaaaaaa… How?!"

"It's not something anyone can just do, Hilda. You need to be special."

"So you're special? If you're special and can do it, does that me I'm special and can do it, 'cause you're my Daddy?"

"… I suspect you might be able to, Hilda."

"Then tell me the secret! I wanna know how to do it!"

"It's not something I can explain. It's something that you can just do out of instinct, Hilda."

"In-stink? Like garbage stinking in the bag?"

"No, no, it just feels natural, Hilda. You don't have to be told how to do it. For instance,"

He suddenly jerked his shoulders, and Hilda grabbed for his hair.

"You were afraid of falling, right?"

"That was mean, Daddy!"

"But were you afraid?"

"Yeah, I was! That was mean!"

"I'm sorry, Hilda. Anyways, when you grabbed my hair, did you need to think about it?"

"No, not really…"

"Then that's instinct. You just know what to do and how to do it. So in order to call pokémon like I did… Hilda, don't overthink it. Just do it."

"Oh?" Zinzolin seemed interested in her stance. Hilda, however, ignored him, trying to calm her boiling blood as she prepped herself. She knew her emotions might influence her pokémon. Sighing again, she closed her eyes for only a moment, and suddenly, she just felt silence.

It wasn't that she didn't hear anything, but she felt the quiet. Though her eyes were closed, she was staring at the colored outlines of her pokémon, their aura's one with hers, waiting for orders.

Zebstrika, use your lightening rod to get that net off Vale. Eevee, Braviery, and Victini, get these pokémon off our backs. Dewott, guard Petilil.

And me, Hil-da?

Hilda smiled at Petilil's eager voice, so filled with hope and wanting to help despite being kicked to the side. Opening her eyes, Hilda didn't even realize that her hands had moved until she pulled the Sun Stone out of her bag.

"Petilil, evolve!"

The Sun Stone flew threw the air as her other pokémon erupted into action. Hilda knew that, against her instinctual want to jump in with her pokémon, she had to stand back and focus on how to give orders. She wasn't used to this whole "wavy hand" trick that she and N apparently possessed, but she was going to use it to get the upper hand.

She just couldn't overthink it.

Meeting Zinzolin's gaze as Petilil jumped up and grabbed the stone, light flashed, enveloping the room. Hilda shot out her arm, and Victini took over for Dewott while her faithful partner rushed forward by her side. With the light distracted them, Dewott knocked people aside with his shells.

"You little brat!" Isiah yelled as Hilda rammed into him using a full on tackle. While they wrangled with the remote, Hilda felt her other pokémon guarding her while she tried to get it away. If she wanted to end this quickly she needed to get this remote…!

"Audino, Gothitelle! Take them down!"

"I'll support you, Veve!"

"Understood, Miss!"

"Hypnosis! Dream Eater!"

Hearing Vale's voice, followed immediately by her pokémon, Hilda knew she had her backup back. Immediately, though, some of the grunts, collapsed, then began to convulse. Using that as a distraction, Hilda wrenched the remote away and bolted.

Looking over her pokémon, she saw Liligant had complete the evolution, and was dancing in circles her moves being hurled in every direction as she cheered. Zebstrika had the net, still crackling on her horn, Dewott was tag teaming with Eevee, and Victini was riding on Braviery's back, both unleashing devastating moves on their opponents.

Hilda glanced at Vale, and while she was hunched over and moving a little slower than normal, she otherwise seemed fine.

"Vale…" Hilda trailed off, glancing between her Audino and her Gothitelle, knowing that Audino could use Dream Eater and Gothitelle Hypnosis. Her gaze drifted back to the still convulsing grunts, some now finally settling down as Audino ceased her attack. "You attacked the grunts?"

"… I'm not proud of it, but it was necessary." Vale said simply. "We need to even the odds, we're incredibly outnumbered right now."

"… Right." Hilda muttered. It wasn't so much that she didn't think attacking the grunts was necessary, she just wasn't so sure how necessary it was to use Dream Eater on them as well. "Then we'll do it in one swoop. You handle the pokémon, I'll take care of the people."

Hilda looked at Zebstrika, and she nodded. While Audino and Gothitelle charged for the pokémon, Hilda turned the net off completely, then shot her arm back, giving her pokémon the signal to retreat.

"Zebstrika!" she called out, throwing her arm up and towards Zinzolin. "Let it rip!"

Zebstrika winnied, tossing the net off her horn and in the direction of Team Plasma and Isiah. Just as it was about to drape over Zinzolin, his hands flying up to deflect it, Hilda put the net on two, recalling Isiah saying four was enough to shock people unconscious. She didn't want him unconscious, per say, just stunned.

As soon as it draped, they all flinched, hunching over with shouts of surprise and pain. Hilda turned her gaze away. She didn't mind punching the shit outta a well deserved asshole, but she saw Vale suffering under the force of this net and she wasn't sure she wanted to inflict the same pain on Zinzolin. But even still, it caused all of the Plasma grunts to freeze, especially upon seeing that their pokémon had been defeated.

"Give me the controller, Hilda." Vale said simply. Hilda glanced up at her, hesitating. She knew Vale was strong, but at what point did Vale decide to hold no bars and go all out? "You don't have it in you to do this, so I'm going to keep control."

"… Fine." Hilda muttered, passing over the control. "I'm trusting you to not fucking maim him, Vale."

"Thank you." Vale said, then turned to the grunts with a terrifying glare on her face. "Now then. Anyone moves and I'm turning up the dial. Since I'm sure no one wants their sage to be electrocuted to death, you best sit against the wall like good little grunts and wait to be arrested."

As she finished this, her Gothitelle stood threateningly behind her. The grunts slowly backed up while Isiah pouted in the corner.

"Well then, Vale," Zinzolin spoke. "You haven't changed at all, have you? Does your little friend there know about you?"

Vale ignored him, but Hilda was confused, furrowing her brow as she stared at this sage.

"You there, hero of truth. Hilda Veritas. Do you know who she is?"

"I don't think I need to know anything from an ass like you." Hilda squared her shoulders. "And what's with all of you calling me 'Hilda Veritas'? My name is Hilda White!"

"Yes, but that is your mothers name, or your fathers?"

"I…" Hilda opened her mouth to say it had to be her fathers, but to be honest, she wasn't really sure. Her mothers name was Lisa White, after all. It was on her trainers license, but her parents are divorced so would her mother keep her fathers name after the fact?

Now that she thought about it, were her parents ever married to begin with? She never saw wedding pictures or anything in her household, and she knew she searched that place up and down for change when she was a kid, hoping she could "help" her mother. She never saw a marriage certificate, but she did remember finding her mothers birth certificate. Lisa Melody White. That was her mothers name on her certificate.

She would've had to had seen a picture, or at least her mom's dress… wouldn't she have? She was always just told that her parents divorced when she was little… but did they really? Or did her father take her mothers name and they never bothered to tell her?

… What was her fathers name?

"Perhaps you should implore your father about that, Hilda. You know-"

"What in tarnation is goin' on here?!"

The booming voice was accompanied with the doors to the storage unit slamming open. Hilda couldn't suppress her sigh of relief as Clay, in all his cowboy glory, marched inside with several officers and cold storage workers by his side. Assessing the situation, seeing the empty storage unit and the roughed up trainers before him, as well as the cowering Plasma members and Isiah and Zinzolin in the back.

"Isiah!" Clay shouted, causing him to flinch. "What in the name of Giritina's wobblin' jaw is going on here?"

"Sh-Sheriff Clay!" Isiah exclaimed. "I was… I was just helping these customers move their supplies but these two trainers attacked us!"

"Bullshit!" Hilda shouted. "You almost killed Vale and had Liepard's on me at all times! And you!" she jabbed her finger at Zinzolin. "You asshole, you kicked my Petilil across the room and tried to kidnap us!"

Turning to Clay, Hilda continued her tirade.

"We've got the marks to prove it!" Hilda said, holding out her hands, cross-crossed with electrical burns and still bleeding from Liepard bites. Vale herself said nothing, just moving her hair to the side to show the scorch marks on her clothes and across her skin. "Anything we did was outta self-defense! These assholes are nuts!"

Clay didn't say a word as he crossed the room to stare at Isiah.

"Isiah, why the hell are ya hangin' fire?"

"Wha-"

"Ya already know I done warned ya 'bout those damned fences! And I'm seein' nothing but bird bait in the oceans! You done killed at least thirty to forty pokémon with that electric fence! And for what?! So ya could rub two more coins together?! You ain't nothin' but a no good, rotten, varment and I oughta get the wildlife preservation society on the phone for this! Now quit your caterwauling, you flannel-mouthed liar! Your brother would be absolutely ashamed! You lot!"

Clay suddenly turned, pointing at two of the officers.

"Light a shuck and take him a away! The rest of you, too, I want Team Plasma in the slammer tonight! Don't think I don't know 'bout what y'all were doin' here, tryin' to smuggle things in and outta my city."

"Yes sir!" the cops saluted, and then went for Isiah, Zinzolin, and Team Plasma. Vale apparently turned the net off, and all of them surrendered peacefully, putting up little to no resistance.

"Now then, lasses," Clay turned to Hilda and Vale. "You two are getting checked out at our local clinic. I don't know if any them pokémon they had were rabid, and if y'all were electrocuted, I wanna make sure there ain't side effects."

"Sorry, no can do." Hilda shook her head. "I can't afford another hospital bill. I doubt Vale has a proper insurance plan either, bein' from Johto and all."

"No skin off my back." Clay said, placing a hand on both their shoulders. "I'm the second richest man in Unova after Josiah Steele, I'll cover it. This is my fault and I'll make it right by ya, ya hear?"

With that, he turned them around, and began to lead them out of the storage unit.

"Now lets run along. I don't wanna contaminate the scene any longer than necessary, Vale, and, uh…"

"Hilda." Hilda spoke with affirmation. She paused for a moment, recalling Zinzolin's words, about the evidence she found that perhaps her father hadn't told her the whole truth about her last name. Shaking the unsettling feeling that Zinzolin planted in her about her true name, she continued. "Hilda White is my name."

Always has been, always will be.

o.0.o.0.o

THERE.

TOOK ME A WHILE BUT IT'S DONE.

I'm surprised I even managed to squeeze this in, what with finals and all, but I promise, promise, promise you'll get at least one more chapter before the New Year, 'cause at this point it's a damned running gag that I like to play.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed! I had a lotta fun looking up the cowboy lingo for Clay. Hopefully y'all enjoyed it as much as I did!

Amy47101 signing off! ^.^