A/N: I know this might seem like a weird request, but trust me when I say it would mean the world to me. Can everyone who's been regularly reading and reviewing this story please go review IcyAltheon's story The Legend of Kalos: The Hero of Everlasting Life? Tell him I sent ya. :)
Long Way to Fall
By: Rylek196
Chapter 13: The Big City
"C'mon, guys!" Cheren called. "I can see the Skyarrow Bridge from here!" Neither Hilbert nor Bianca cared to answer, each too lost in their own thoughts.
It was two days after the incident in Pinwheel Forest. Bianca had earned her Basic Badge the day before, the trio making the decision to move on to Unova's biggest city, and capital, Castelia, after Cheren and Bianca captured additional members for their teams in Pinwheel Forest, though they hadn't told Hilbert what they were. The murdered Rangers' bodies had been recovered from the forest to be cremated, as all human corpses were in the world, with the Dragonite bones being returned to the museum. Lenora, in a display Hilbert thought was uncharacteristic of her, comforted a grieving Burgh, telling him to do what he loved- painting- as a way to memorialize his fallen friends. Burgh had dried his tears somewhat, said he would do just that, and returned to the city he called home.
For Hilbert, though, the thought that he could have easily joined the Rangers in death weighed heavily on his mind, following him like a raincloud. The fact that most of the Plasma grunts in the forest were arrested also meant nothing to him. With how unreliable the cops were, they'd likely escape in a week. He hadn't told Cheren and Bianca about what happened, either, even though Bianca noticed the different, somber look in his eyes.
And so here they were, making the trek through the busy two-and-a-half kilometre forested path leading west to the Skyarrow Bridge, the gateway to Castelia. Cheren had run ahead, Hilbert was in the middle with his hands shoved into his jacket pockets, and Bianca brought up the rear. This path, while colloquially known as 'Route 3.5' to Castelia and Nacrene locals, was not a true Route. Rather, it was simply a connecting area that linked Nacrene to the Skyarrow Bridge.
Suddenly, he heard Bianca's footsteps stop behind him. "...Guys?" she said in a quiet voice, "I… I can't do this. We're going into the city, and it'll be full of strangers, and I can't help but think something bad will happen… I know it's irrational, but I'm scared…"
Hilbert exhaled heavily through his nostrils, stopping. Oh, for the love of-! he thought. He angrily gestured for Cheren to get back to where he was with sharp waves of his arm, the other boy rushing back with haste.
"Bianca? What is it?" Cheren said tenderly. "We have to keep moving."
"I… I can't," Bianca said. "It's not that I don't want to, but the thought of taking another step terrifies me, and I can't explain why. My heart's going a hundred miles an hour right now…"
Cheren took her hands in his, and he noticed they were shaking badly. "Bianca, it's gonna be fine. Stop worrying. If anything goes wrong, either Hilbert or I will be there to help you." He held up one of his pinkie fingers. "Back each other up. Right, Hilbert?"
Hilbert just rolled his eyes, halfheartedly throwing up his pinkie and beginning to walk away. "Yeah, whatever. Let's just get going."
As the distance between Hilbert and his friends quickly grew, Cheren swallowed, looking at Bianca. "What's gotten into him?"
"I don't… I don't know," Bianca said. "He looked kinda… down when he came out of Pinwheel Forest, but I didn't ask him about it." She then noticed that Cheren was still holding her hands, and a few people were starting to give them looks, and she blushed. "Um… you can let me go now."
"Oh! Sorry!" Cheren pulled his hands away from hers like they had burned him. "Just kinda forgot, is all." He rubbed the back of his neck, blushing himself. They stood in awkward silence for another ten seconds until Hilbert's voice calling them broke them out of their trance, and they rushed to catch up with him.
The entrance to the grand white construction known as the Skyarrow Bridge was a large, counterclockwise on-ramp that had two separate lanes divided by white fencing- one for cars, one for people on foot. Hilbert noted there were bathrooms off to the right just before the on-ramp. Once they had actually gotten onto the bridge proper, the Nuvema trio was taken aback by the way the structure dwarfed them. The Skyarrow Bridge was nearly two kilometres long, and from where they were standing as dozens of others passed by them, seemed to go on forever. Far in the distance, though, they could make out the towering skyline of Castelia.
Hilbert took a deep breath. "Well… ready, guys?"
"A-as I'll ever be," Bianca said, Cheren nodding and giving her an encouraging smile.
"C'mon, Bianca, you gotta think like Samus here," he said. "Would she be scared?"
A new look came over Bianca just then, one of determined realization. "No… no she wouldn't. Let's go."
The trek across the bridge provided some incredible views, with Bianca stopping to admire them constantly, and each time Hilbert's patience was ground down ever further. He had taken off his hat and stuffed it in his bag so as to not lose it due to the wind on the bridge. Far off in the north, they could make out the faint outline of Marvelous Bridge, which connected Nimbasa City to the White Forest.
At one point when they were about halfway across the bridge, Bianca stopped to look at the T-shirts a vendor had set up underneath one of the supporting towers, and Hilbert's patience finally ran out. Fuck this, he thought bitterly, rocking back on his heels and taking off without a word.
"Hilbert, wait-!" Cheren cried, but Hilbert was already long gone into the throngs of people. Seriously, what is with him today? he thought, his expression growing angry.
Hilbert, meanwhile, was ducking and weaving around other pedestrians, just trying to get to the other end of the bridge as fast as possible. At the pace he was going, it took just over another fifteen minutes to get to the entrance of Castelia City, which was the largest gate building in Unova. To make sure Cheren and Bianca couldn't contact him, he shut off his Cross-Transceiver completely. Inside was a bustle of people trying to enter the metropolis, everyone having separate conversations that blended together into a cacophony of white noise, though Hilbert swore he heard "Team Plasma", and "released Pokemon" at least once, causing him to scowl. Meanwhile, up on the wall, the electronic bulletin board scrolled several informational tidbits about Castelia by over and over, each one followed by the current date.
That all changed when Hilbert stepped past the attendant. All of a sudden, the bulletin board started showing, in flashing capital letters, the word CONGRATULATIONS!
"What the..?" Hilbert said. "What's going on? Why's it doing that?"
"Oh, I almost forgot about this!" the attendant said. "We began a promotion at the start of this year, and you just won it! You're the 500,000th person to cross the Skyarrow Bridge this year, which means your prize is a super-exclusive Liberty Pass!" She reached under her desk and handed a small plastic card to Hilbert. "Take this to Liberty Pier on the west side of the city, and a boat there will take you to Liberty Garden! Take care not to lose this."
Still somewhat confused, Hilbert put the card in his bag without a word and exited the gate building, emerging amongst the towering skyscrapers of Castelia City. Immediately, he was struck by a sense of vertigo just looking up at one of the buildings, having to quickly look down to reorient himself.
"Okay, first things first," he said to himself, shaking his head, "Find the Pokemon Center."
The bridge having dumped him out near the west edge of the city, he began his search by going south. Castelia had a thin strip of concrete going all around its circumference, which the piers connected to, providing the city with its gateway to the ocean. These piers, from west to east, were Liberty Pier, Unity Pier, Prime Pier, the Cruise Ship Dock, and another, much smaller pier simply called 'the Thumb', which held the entrance to Castelia's sewer system. These were obviously meant to represent the fingers of a human hand.
He passed by the Thumb alongside hundreds of others all going about their day. It was like being in the middle of two opposite-rushing rivers, both made of people. All the while, he kept his gaze trained forward, looking out for the Pokemon Center.
It took a while, but when he was near the Cruise Ship Dock, he could see a distinctive white building with red trim along its edges. "That's gotta be it," he said to himself, increasing his pace slightly. It was then that a loud fog horn sent his ears ringing. He cried out and turned his head towards the source of the noise, and saw the huge cruise ship Royal Unova pulling into the dock.
The Royal Unova had been under construction for the past seven years thanks to numerous delays at the shipyards in Slateport City in the Hoenn region, having recently travelled to its namesake region for its maiden voyage.
Shaking his head, he turned back to the building. It indeed was the Pokemon Center, but it was unlike any he had seen up to this point. Given Castelia's size, this one was a skyscraper, a white concrete monolith sixty stories high, with enough rooms to house hundreds of Trainers on their travels. Inside the structure, it was just as busy as the street outside. There were multiple healing stations run by multiple nurses, an entire room off to the left had nothing in it but PC's, and the Poke Mart had two floors, its shelves stocked to the brim with necessary supplies.
Hilbert booked his room in the Pokemon Center, going up to it to change the bandages on his arm. Gonna need to get these stitches taken out soon, he thought. But it can wait another day or two at least. I hope so.
He exited the Pokemon Center and went out into the street, considering what to do. It's probably not a good idea to go to the Gym right away. Burgh would trounce me with the levels my Pokemon are at now. Gotta train up a bit first. Well… that, and I don't even know where the Gym is.
Deciding to keep making his way around the circumference of the city and move north, into the city, once he got to about the midpoint, he continued on. He passed by Prime Pier, the sunlight reflecting off the windows of the skyscrapers, including one building called the Battle Company, where a street performer had set up shop. He did his best to resist the urge to look at them, not wishing to experience the sense of vertigo again, but it became almost impossible to do so once he started moving into the city itself.
Geez… Nuvema's a far cry from this, he thought. All these buildings are so tall! In fact, he was so engrossed in looking at the buildings he nearly ran into people several times.
Eventually, after about twenty minutes of walking, he came to a small plaza with a fountain in the middle. There was a small crowd of about fifteen people gathered near said foundation, and hearing a hip-hop beat that made a thudding sound in his eardrums, he made his way over to the side to see what was going on. What he saw was another dancer, his dreadlocks flailing around as he performed a series of elaborate breakdancing moves. His routine went on for another minute before, with one last twirl off the rim of the fountain, he stopped and took a bow. The crowd burst into applause, many of them going up to him to tap Cards with him. Hilbert noticed something strange about the man, though: whenever he tapped Trainer Cards with another person, he tapped his chest.
What the..? Why is he doing that? Hilbert thought.
As the crowd started to disperse, the dancer noticed the boy in the blue jacket looking at him- and more specifically, the four Poke Balls on his belt. "Ah wait, hold up, everybody!" he said, pointing at Hilbert. "We've got a bit of an aftershow here, because I've spotted a Trainer to battle!"
Hilbert just rolled his eyes and grit his teeth, knowing he couldn't turn down a direct challenge. The dancer threw out the same Pokemon Cilan used- a Pansage. Hilbert had a feeling, though, that this one was higher level than Cilan's. Then again, if it is, that could be a good thing, he thought. Sensei's kinda lagging behind in terms of levels.
His mind made up, he threw out his Sawk. The Karate Pokemon stared down its opponent, and to even the odds, Hilbert commanded him to use Focus Energy. Sensei then ran forward before the Grass Monkey Pokemon could react, and pivoted on his left heel, bringing his right foot to bear and slamming it into the Pansage's head, sending it tumbling away. The Pansage recovered surprisingly quickly, hopping to its feet and lashing out with a Vine Whip as Sensei made to deliver the second kick.
The blow landed, causing the crowd to let out cries of approval. Apparently this guy's got the people on his side, Hilbert thought. Meanwhile, Sensei was dodging repeated cracks of the Pansage's Vine Whip, each one coming closer and closer to hitting him. "Sensei, Leer!" Hilbert yelled.
Sensei stopped trying to dodge, and just as the Pansage drew back its arm to strike with the whip again, his eyes glowed, freezing the Grass Monkey in place. He then ran towards the helpless Pansage, kicking it again. Not giving it any leeway, he then brought his foot down on the Pansage in an axe-kick, knocking it out. Hilbert's Pokédex chirped as Sensei went up another level, his hunch proven correct.
The crowd vocalized its disappointment at the dancer's loss, then began to disperse as Hilbert and the dancer recalled their Pokemon. Hilbert walked up to the dancer, taking out his Trainer Card to collect his prize money.
"You got some skills there, man," the dancer said, tapping his Card against Hilbert's, and touching his chest as he did so.
"Thanks," Hilbert said flatly. He looked at the amount of money on his Trainer Card, his expression growing angry. "What the hell!? That was only 200 Pokedollars! You should have given me more than that!"
The dancer smirked, reaching into his shirt and pulling out a golden coin that he wore as a necklace. "Relax, man. This is the secret to my success. It's called an Amulet Coin. It doubles the money I get from anyone who likes my dancing enough to make a donation, and cuts the money I have to give up when I lose."
"So basically, you're a scam artist," Hilbert said, grumpily crossing his arms.
"Hey, it's not like I force anyone to pay me," the dancer said. "If they wanna, that's their choice."
The boy just rolled his eyes. "Whatever," he said, and began to walk away.
"Wait, hold up!" the dancer said. "I might be willing to part with this… but you'll have to do somethin' for me first. Did I mention that this thing is a Pokemon hold item as well? With your skills, you'll be able to rack up a fortune in no time!"
Hilbert's mind immediately launched into visions of him in swim trunks, diving into a giant pool full of golden coins. He licked his lips greedily, and the dancer knew he had the young Trainer hook, line, and sinker. "Alright, I'm listening," Hilbert said.
"Good, good," the dancer said. "To tell the truth, I've been lookin' to form a dance crew for a while now. This solo gig is kinda getting boring, y'know? So, what I want you to do, is find me two other people and convince them to join me! And it has to be by the end of today!"
"What!?" Hilbert cried. "Are you nuts? That's gonna be impossible! It'd be like finding a needle in a haystack with a city this big!"
"Well, then no Amulet Coin for you, I guess," the dancer said, tauntingly spinning the item by rubbing its string between his fingers.
Hilbert let out an audible growl. "Alright, I'll do my best," he said at last. "But no promises."
"By the way, the name's Mickey!" the dancer called as Hilbert walked away.
After he had disappeared into the crowd, out of Mickey's sight, Hilbert sighed to himself. Why did I agree to this? he thought. Asking me to find two other dancers- that's insane! Wait… didn't I see one outside that one building? The Battle Company, right?
The realization striking him like a lightning bolt from nowhere, he rocked back on his heels, and began running back towards the outer edge of the city. By the time he got there, it was nearly 12:00 according to his watch, and his stomach growled, crying out for food. Luckily, him being in Castelia, there were no shortage of places to grab an inexpensive pizza slice from. He stopped in at one of these places, buying a slice for 100 Pokedollars and eating it on the go.
To avoid getting a painful stomach cramp, he was forced to walk to his destination, and he eventually managed to do so after about half an hour. To his relief, the dancer was still in front of the Battle Company, performing for a small group. Noticing the Poke Ball attached to the guy's belt, Hilbert joined the crowd, waiting for him to be done, which took about two more minutes.
After the dancer had taken a bow, the boy decided to make a move. "Hey!" he called. "I wanna battle you… on one condition."
"Alright, alright," the dancer said. "What's the condition?"
"There's another dancer named Mickey near a fountain not too far away from here," Hilbert said. "If I win, you have to go join him in a dance crew."
"And if I win?"
Hilbert smirked. "Then I'll give you double prize money. Deal?"
"Sounds good, kid!" the dancer said, grabbing the Poke Ball off his belt and enthusiastically tossing it out. "Go, Pansear!"
The Pokemon he threw out seemed to be a relative of Pansage, as it looked extremely similar. It was a small simian-like Pokemon with a dark cream torso and arms, while its lower body was red. The main difference between it and Pansage was the shape of the fur on its head. Unlike Pansage, whose fur resembled broccoli, this looked like a small flame, like the head of a burning torch. Either way, it was clearly a Fire-type, and that made Hilbert's choice a no-brainer.
"Go, Maru!" he yelled, throwing out his starter. The dancer's face visibly fell as he saw the Water-type, and Hilbert smirked again. "Water Gun! Now!"
The Dewott sprayed a high-pressure stream of water from his mouth, blasting the Pansear right in the face, sending it tumbling back, knocked out in one hit. The crowd gave Hilbert a round of polite applause as he walked up to the dancer, tapping Trainer Cards with him.
"Aw, damn…" the dancer muttered. "After all that time I spent in the Battle Company earlier today, too…"
"Wait, what?" Hilbert said, gesturing to the building with an upwards tilt of his head. "What does this place do?"
"They're an R&D thinktank for developing Pokemon battling items," the dancer replied. "Think they're a branch of Silph Co…. Anyway, you should go there if ya have time. They're always welcoming towards Trainers. Ya might get a Pokemon up a few levels."
"I might," Hilbert said, crossing his arms. "Regardless, a deal's a deal. Go meet Mickey at the fountain, and tell him I sent you."
"Alright, I'm goin', I'm goin'!" the dancer said. "Geez, you're kinda pushy, ya know that?"
I have damn good reason to be, Hilbert thought darkly, but said nothing as the dancer packed up his things and walked off. He looked down at his starter. "Well, Maru? What do you wanna do? Up for more battles, or do you wanna sightsee while looking for another dancer?"
The Dewott made an excited clicking noise with its teeth, pointing towards the building.
Guess that answers that. Hilbert returned Maru to his Poke Ball, going into the building's lobby. The lobby was large, but with sparse furnishings, and a flat-screen TV mounted on the right wall. There was a secretary's desk off to the left, and two elevators on the far wall. Hilbert walked up to the secretary's desk, telling the woman behind it that he was a Trainer and if anything was going on.
"Oh, of course!" she replied. She tapped a few keys on her computer's keyboard, bringing up a schedule on the monitor on her desk. "In fact, there's a research tournament in progress in the basement right now. It goes until three today. Take the elevator on the right if you want to join in. We hold all tournaments in the basement."
"Okay, thanks."
Hilbert walked into the elevator, pressing the button marked 'B1' on the panel. The elevator then began its smooth descent into the building's underground. Ten seconds later, the doors opened, and Hilbert walked out into a scene of organized chaos.
The room resembled an underground car parking lot, just much better lit. A Pokemon battle arena had been painted on the concrete floor, and currently, a cheering crowd of Battle Company employees was gathered around it, creating a cacophony of noise that, combined with the sounds of the battle they were watching, was deafening. No one had even noticed his arrival over the noise.
This seems less like a serious R&D company and more like a rowdy bunch of drunks, he thought, walking towards the crowd and tapping the nearest person on the shoulder.
The man nearly jumped out of his skin, whirling around to see the teen standing behind him. "Dammit, you scared the hell outta me!" he shouted above the noise.
"What's going on!?" Hilbert hollered as well.
"We're just finishing up a tournament to test out a new type of X-item!" the man loudly replied. "We still need to do a bit more testing, 'cause some of them were duds, so we're holding another tournament after this one! If you wanna join in, just wait a couple more minutes! We're on the last fight of this one!"
Hilbert just nodded, pushing his way through the crowd to watch the last few minutes of the battle. The Trainers currently fighting were a guy in a lab coat with a Sewaddle versus a woman in a pale pink blouse and skirt with a Cottonee.
Sewaddle was a Bug/Grass-type that resembled a caterpillar. It had a broad leaf around its yellow head that looked like a hood, and its neck was white. It had two tiny, sharp teeth sticking out of its orange, crescent-shaped mouth, and its green body had three segments, out of which six stubby, orange globes that were its feet were attached.
Cottonee, meanwhile, was a Grass-type that looked, obviously, like a ball of cotton. It had oval orange eyes, and two leaves sticking out of either side of its body. On its back, there was a green, star-shaped growth.
Though the lady with the Cottonee was fighting hard, and even managed to paralyze the Sewaddle with Stun Spore, but in the end, the Grass-type was no match for the Sewaddle's super-effective Bug-type moves.
The crowd around the arena burst into applause, Hilbert covering his ears. This crowd is getting on my nerves, he thought.
The next tournament then began shortly after, with Hilbert pitted against his first opponent, a woman named Ingrid. With no explanation on how to use them, he was given a handful of cylindrical plastic capsules with domed tops, each of a different colour. Thankfully, they were at least labeled, so he could tell what stat each capsule was supposed to raise- the pale red one was an attack boost, the dark blue a defense boost, the baby blue one a speed boost, and the grayish-yellow one raised special attack.
"Remember, this is as much for research and quality control as it is for fun," Ingrid said. "If your Pokemon stats don't go up by two stages when you send them out, then that means the X-item was a dud. If that happens, just recall the Pokemon and send out another one- no harm no foul."
She pressed the top of a blue capsule to the front button of her Poke Ball, causing both to glow for a second, then tossed it out, revealing a Herdier. A blue aura then surrounded the Loyal Dog Pokemon, followed by another, indicating its defense was now raised by two stages.
That thing's a tank now, Hilbert thought, considering his options. I don't think Sensei could break through it without an attack boost, but should I use the X-item in the first round?
The crowd of employees, meanwhile, was getting restless, calling for him to do something. Hilbert growled like an animal at their shouting, the noise grating on his nerves. Looks like I've got no choice. He took his Sawk's Poke Ball off his belt and used the attack X-item on it. He tossed out Sensei's Poke Ball, knowing that he couldn't afford for him to take any more damage given how Mickey's Pansage had already landed a hit.
"Herider, Take Down!" Ingrid commanded. Herider ran towards Sensei with frightening speed, but Sensei still had enough time to get off a Leer, the red glare his eyes were giving off stopping his enemy in its tracks.
"Low Sweep!" Hilbert yelled, and Sensei obeyed, running at the Herdier, lashing out with a sweeping kick when he got close enough, upending it and causing it to crash onto its side. However, thanks to the X-defend, it wasn't near enough to knock out the Herdier, even with Sensei's dramatically boosted attack. Plus, his ankle was within range of the Herdier's jaws, and it decided to take full advantage of that, chomping down with sharp jaws.
Sensei cried out in pain, shaking his leg around to try and dislodge his opponent, to no avail. Though he knew the attack wasn't very effective, nervous sweat still ran down the side of Hilbert's face. Dammit, I can't let Sensei take any more damage! he thought. I'm gonna have to bench him for the rest of this, much as I don't want to.
Sensei had finally managed to shake the Herdier off his leg, and used Double Kick, with the attack being just barely enough to knock it out.
Hilbert and Ingrid both recalled their Pokemon, then stood aside to let the next pair of Trainers do battle. The two after them threw out a Woobat and a Roggenrola.
Roggenrola was a pure Rock-type that was primarily dark blue in colour, with brown feet and a brown oblong rock atop its head. It was roughly spherical, and there was a yellow, hexagonal shape in the middle of its body.
The battle lasted an annoyingly long time, thanks to the Roggenrola's slow speed and the Woobat's penchant for dodging, but eventually the guy with the Roggenrola came out on top by landing a lucky X-attack boosted Rock Blast.
"Ready, kid?" the Roggenrola Trainer said, giving his Pokemon another X-attack and throwing it out.
Hilbert didn't say anything, just giving his Drilbur the X-speed. Scrapper does need the experience, after all, he thought, tossing out his Pokemon.
After the auras had faded, the Roggenrola made the first move, forming three white balls of energy in front of it that quickly materialized into rocks, then launched them at high speed towards the Drilbur. Thanks to the X-speed, he was able to duck and dodge two of them, but the third struck him in the face, sending him careening backwards.
"Keep it up, Roggenrola! Headbutt!" the guy said. With agonizing slowness, the Roggenrola tottered forward, though it was building up speed.
Scrapper pushed himself to his feet, saw the Roggenrola coming towards him, and ran forward himself, his claws taking on a metallic, almost white sheen as he did so. He slashed at the Roggenrola with Metal Claw, the super-effective attack doing a number on the Mantle Pokemon, despite its naturally high defense stat.
The Roggenrola was sent flying backwards, and in a cruel reversal of where it had been just seconds earlier, was now being set upon by its opponent. Scrapper showed no mercy, slashing it repeatedly with Metal Claw until it went down.
It was at this point that Hilbert noticed something: the crowd around the arena had gone relatively silent, save for a few people whispering, "Wow, he's good!" and, "I've gotta admit, the kid's got talent," among other things. It was thanks to this silence that everyone heard the elevator ding as it reached its destination. Everybody turned as one as a janitor with a bushy gray moustache in a green jumpsuit walked out, all but Hilbert either gasping or saying, "It's the boss! What's he doing down here?"
Needless to say, the boy was confused. "What do you mean 'it's the boss?'" he said. "That's just the janitor." Immediately, everyone gave him a look, and he got the feeling that he said something wrong, even if he wasn't able to tell what.
"Just the janitor? Tsk, tsk, tsk, that stings, sonny boy," the janitor said, walking towards Hilbert and standing over him. "You need to learn to be more respectful of your elders."
"Oh yeah? Give me a reason why I should," Hilbert said through gritted teeth, glaring up at the man.
"Because it's just common decency for one thing," the janitor said, reaching into the breast pocket of his jumpsuit and pulling out an ID badge. "And because this 'janitor' might just happen to be this company's CEO."
Hilbert's jaw dropped as he got a look at the badge. The small headshot on it and the person standing in front of him matched perfectly, and it read, 'Geoff Andrews- CEO'. "Then… then… what the hell's up with the janitor thing?" he asked in disbelief.
"It's mainly because I like screwing with the heads of any Trainer who happens to come in here," Geoff replied, sliding the card back into his pocket. "Plus I'm a workaholic by nature, and cleaning up the building is kinda my hobby."
Hilbert just rolled his eyes. Man, people in Castelia are weird.
Before he could say anything else, an employee piped up. "So, what brings you down here, sir?"
"Meh, just wanted to see how the testing of the new X-items are going," Geoff said. "But it appears I missed all the fun. Shame, that. I was itching for a good battle or two to loosen up…"
"Then you've gotta battle this kid, sir!" another person said. "He's young, but he's really good!"
"He is, huh?" Geoff said, rubbing his chin. "Believe it when I see it."
"Then you're gonna see it right now," Hilbert said confidently, though there was an impatient edge to his tone.
A smirk crawled its way across Geoff's face, clearly finding Hilbert's attitude amusing. "Alright, you asked for it." Turning to his employees, he added, "You all know the drill. Stand back, 'cause you know what I'm packing."
Everyone obeyed, retreating to the edges of the room, and Hilbert got a sinking feeling in his stomach. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. This guy's probably pretty powerful if he's telling everyone to back off, but there's no turning back now.
The two took opposite sides on either end of the arena, each taking a Poke Ball off their belt, Hilbert taking Maru's and giving him the X-Sp. Atk, while Geoff gave his Pokemon an X-Defense.
"Go, Trubbish!" Geoff yelled, throwing out his Pokemon. The particular monster that appeared was one of the most disgusting things Hilbert had ever seen, not helped by the horrible odour it gave off.
Trubbish was a Poison-type that, quite literally, looked like a small green trash bag come to life. The 'knot' at the top of the bag served as ears of sorts, and further adding to its off-putting appearance, were its bulbous eyes and sharp teeth that looked like a piece of broken glass sticking out of its upper jaw. On top of all that, its arms were made of the garbage that had spilled out from rips in either side of the bag.
Hilbert immediately covered his mouth and nose with a hand, gagging at the stench. "What the fuck is that thing!?" he cried. "How can you stand that smell!?"
"When you've been with this thing for as long as I have, ya get used to it," Geoff said. "Nose-blindness is a thing, you know. Now send out your Pokemon, or I'm considering this battle a win by default!"
Now I know why he wanted his employees to move away… Hilbert thought. "Maru, get out there! Water Gun, if you can!"
Tossing out his starter, he was unsurprised to see Maru do the same as him at Trubbish's stench, hacking and covering his nose with a paw. Though the Dewott's nose was small, it was fairly sensitive. Doing his best to follow his Trainer's orders, he sprayed a high-pressure stream of water out of his mouth, hitting Trubbish in the face.
This did, thanks to the X-Sp. Atk, did quite a number, but the Trubbish didn't go down. It retaliated by lurching forward a bit and then spitting a vile stream of viscous black fluid out of mouth, not dissimilar to vomit, at Maru. The Dewott, too distracted by the Trubbish's smell, was unable to dodge, getting covered in and knocked back by the Sludge attack. Worse, Maru turned the same sickly purple hue he had in Pinwheel Forest.
This instantly brought the bad memories of the previous day rushing back. Fights against the Plasma grunts, the Venipede, getting captured, watching the Rangers die-!
No! Not again! NEVER AGAIN! the boy mentally screamed. Hilbert looked directly at Geoff, shocking the man with the sheer hatred he saw burning in his eyes. "Maru, take that thing out! NOW!" Hilbert roared. Hearing the passionate rage in his Trainer's voice, Maru put the nausea he was feeling aside and spat another Water Gun at the Trubbish.
This was more than enough to knock the Trubbish out, sending it flipping end over end through the air before crashing to the floor as gravity took hold again.
"Well… didn't see that coming," Geoff said. "You okay, kid?"
"Just shut up and send out your next Pokemon!" Hilbert yelled. "Let's get this over with!"
"Okay, okay!" Geoff said. "No need to get so angry for no reason."
I have more than good enough reason to be angry! Hilbert thought, but said nothing, only narrowing his eyes to slits.
"Minccino, you're up!" Geoff said, tossing out his second, and final, Pokemon.
Minccino was a gray chinchilla-like creature with soft and fluffy fur. Its eyes were large and brown, with huge ears that had pinkish-red insides partially covered by tufts of fur. There were more of these tufts on its head and chin, almost looking like a beard. Its tail was fluffy and looked like a feather duster.
"Swift!" Geoff yelled. Minccino gathered energy around it, then shot a volley of star-shaped bursts at its opponent. Maru, despite the nausea of the poison rapidly taking hold and draining his health, acrobatically dodged all the stars launched his way, only for them to turn in midair and come right back at him like a boomerang.
"Maru, look out!" Hilbert cried, but it was too late. The stars slammed into Maru's back, each causing a small explosion when it did so. The Dewott was thrown forward, but managed to push himself to his feet, knowing he was mere seconds away from fainting.
Minccino then made sure he would by bounding forward with speed that belied its small size, whipped Maru in the face with its tail. Maru had been expecting this to do no damage, but was instead greeted with a bone-hard tail, hitting him with the force of a crowbar swung at high speed. He was sent flying back, knocked out.
Hilbert knew he was quickly getting backed into a corner, but his anger hadn't dissipated. Still got Logan, and I've got one X-item left, he thought. Time to fuckin' use them!
He gave Logan the X-Defense, hoping it would give him an edge, then threw him out. Minccino scampered back to its side of the arena as the two blue auras finished surrounding Logan. The Loyal Dog Pokemon then ran forward, building up an incredible amount of force as he did so. The Minccino started to gather energy in front of it, but it was too late. Logan rammed into it with enough force to damage himself, sending it flying past Geoff before skidding to a stop against the left wall, knocked out.
Still breathing heavily from anger, Hilbert recalled Logan without a word, the battle over. Geoff recalled his Minccino, then rubbed the back of his head. "Well, uh… dang," he said. "Looks like everyone saying you were strong was right. Mind telling me what that outburst was about, though? Ya seemed pretty angry there."
"I don't wanna talk about it," Hilbert said. He started walking towards the elevator, giving a dismissive wave of his arm. "I think I'm done here."
"W-wait!" Geoff said, running after him. "Let me at least give you a reward for that!"
Hilbert stopped in his tracks, his finger an inch away from the elevator's 'UP' button. "Fine. What is it?"
"It's this," Geoff said, taking a green orb with gold circuitry patterns all over it out of his back pocket, handing it to Hilbert. "That's an Experience Share, or Exp. Share," the man continued, seeming to anticipate Hilbert's question. "It does exactly as the name suggests- give it to a Pokemon to hold, and they'll share the experience gained by the battling Pokemon, even if they didn't participate in the battle."
"This'll definitely come in handy," Hilbert said, putting the Exp. Share in his bag. "Thanks."
With that, he entered the elevator, going back up to ground level. Geoff just rubbed the back of his head again. "Weird kid," he muttered, before turning to his employees. "Alright, everybody, show's over! Let's get back to work! We've got X-items to perfect!"
Back in the elevator, Hilbert checked his watch. Ah shit, it's nearly three! I gotta hurry up and find another dancer willing to join Mickey or I'll miss out on the Amulet Coin!
The elevator doors opened with a ding! letting Hilbert out into the lobby, and the receptionist waved him over. "How'd it go?" she asked with a friendly smile.
"As… well as can be expected," Hilbert answered uneasily. "Listen, are there any street performers or dancers near here that you know of? And can you heal my Pokemon for me here?"
"Oh, of course!" the receptionist said, taking out a few Super Potions from behind her desk. "We don't have a healing machine, so this is the best I can do for you. As for the dancer, I recall seeing one on Unity Pier on my break yesterday."
"Sweet, thanks," Hilbert said. He healed his Pokemon, and left. Luckily, Unity Pier was just a stone's throw away from the Battle Company, and even better, he found the dancer there, just as the secretary said. Just like with the other two, there was a small crowd around him, and Hilbert waited until he was done with his performance before he approached him, inquiring about Mickey's idea. The dancer was wearing a T-shirt with the logo of Castelia City's baseball team on it. Castelia and Nimbasa's baseball teams had a fierce, yet friendly, rivalry, rivalry between each other, and the games where they faced off in Nimbasa's Big Stadium always sold out.
To Hilbert's complete lack of surprise, the dancer wanted a battle, and Hilbert gave it to him. The man sent out the final of the three elemental monkey Pokemon, Panpour, to fight.
Panpour was similar in appearance to its brethren, but its body was predominantly cream, with only the upper extremes of its torso, as well as half its head, being blue. Its oval eyes were closed, giving it a zen-like air about it. Atop its head was a crest resembling a wave, with a blue three-leaf clover shape on the end of its tail.
The fight was tough, with Hilbert having no answers to Water-types save for hitting them hard with Sensei, but he came out on top with a series of Double Kicks after dodging a Water Gun, making the Sawk level up.
"Well, a deal's a deal, I guess," the dancer said. "Where's this guy you were talking about, again?"
"Near a fountain in the central plaza," Hilbert said. "I'll lead ya there. Gotta collect my reward for doing this for Mickey, after all."
When they finally reached the fountain, Mickey was beside himself. "Man, you actually did it!" he exclaimed. "Had my doubts for a while there, gonna be honest, but now I have my dance crew!"
"I hope you haven't forgotten your end of the bargain," Hilbert said, folding his arms across his chest impatiently.
"'Course man!" Mickey said. He took the Amulet Coin off his neck and tossed it to Hilbert, who caught it.
"I guess that's all," Hilbert said. "Good luck with your dance crew, Mickey."
"Happy trails, man!" Mickey called after him as he walked away, vanishing into the crowds.
Alright, I think that's enough excitement for today, Hilbert said. Time to head back to the Pokemon Center.
He could have caught a taxi there, but decided to do a bit more sightseeing by walking. It took him nearly another hour to get there, making it almost five in the evening according to his watch by the time he walked into the Center's doors. Much to his displeasure, Cheren and Bianca were sitting in the lounge, and Bianca spotted him, excitedly pointing him out to Cheren.
"Hilbert!" Cheren called. "Get over here now! We've been looking everywhere for you!"
Dammit, Hilbert thought, making his way over to the chair opposite the couch Cheren and Bianca sat in, taking a seat himself.
"You're getting a real bad habit of leaving us behind, you know that?" Cheren said. "First on Route 2, and now this."
"Says the guy who just up and left me on Route 3," Hilbert countered without missing a beat.
"Guys, can we not fight?" Bianca said. "Please? Seriously Hilbert, where were you all day?"
"Let's just say I was making my way around town," Hilbert replied. "Got some good items, too." He reached into his bag, pulling out both the Liberty Pass and the Experience Share, but decided to keep the Amulet Coin a secret.
Cheren's eyes widened in awe. "No way! A Liberty Pass!? They only give a few of those things out every few years! How the hell did you get one?"
"Apparently I was the 500,000th person this year to cross the Skyarrow Bridge," Hilbert shrugged. "Some kinda contest or promotion, I don't know."
"Lucky bastard," Cheren muttered under his breath. "What's the other thing?"
"That's an Experience Share," Hilbert said. "I got it from a place called the Battle Company. It does pretty much what you'd think it does- shares experience between your Pokemon. Dunno how it works, don't really care. Anyway, what've you two been up to?"
"Looking for you, obviously," Cheren said. "We tried to call you, but your Cross-Transceiver was off. Thanks for that, by the way. I just love wild goose chases." The sarcasm could have been scraped off his tone with a knife.
"Cheren, stop," Bianca said. "We're all here, and that's what counts, right? Let's go out for some sightseeing and dinner. I'm getting hungry."
"Alright, fine," Cheren said. "I guess we did see some interesting things."
The rest of the day was spent wandering around the city, just taking in the sights. Bianca was concerned, though, about Hilbert's brooding silence throughout most of it.
This isn't like him, she thought. What happened in Pinwheel Forest to do this to him?
By the time they returned to the Pokemon Center for bed, it was nearly ten at night, but while Cheren and Bianca drifted off quickly, Hilbert stayed awake for more than ten minutes, staring up at the ceiling. Is going on this journey really worth it? I know a lot of people do it, but they didn't have to watch anyone die, either. I don't think I have a choice, but still. I don't want to go through anything like that again.
Closing his eyes, he fell into an uneasy rest.
"You fool!" Ghetsis yelled, delivering another punch right to Gorm's forehead. The lesser Sage was already bruised and bloody, though it wasn't like he could defend himself, being held in place by Cofagrigus's Psychic while Ghetsis unleashed his onslaught upon him.
The other person in the room, another of the Plasma Sages named Bronius, looked on as Ghetsis continued with his beating of Gorm, confused. He wore identical robes to that of Gorm, but his were brown instead of blue. When Gorm had come back from Pinwheel Forest reporting on the failure to steal the Dragonite bones (albeit with the silver lining that the bones meant nothing to them, anyway) Ghetsis hadn't so much as batted an eye. However, when Gorm told him of the two Rangers they had captured and executed, Ghetsis flew into a rage, immediately killing the grunt responsible and then continuing to take his anger out on Gorm.
"You complete imbecile!" Ghetsis continued, punching Gorm again. "Why did you order those Rangers killed!?"
Bronius, seeing Gorm was getting weaker, decided to intervene, stepping forward. "Lord Ghetsis, if I may interrupt… What is the purpose of this? You can't tell me you actually care about a few worthless civilian casualties, do you?"
Ghetsis went deathly quiet, and then without warning, whipped around, backhanding Bronius across the face with a closed fist. The impact was like getting hit with a steel ball on the end of a chain, and Bronius let out a pained, "Oof!" as he was sent tumbling to the floor.
"'Do I care about civilian casualties?'" Ghetsis said in a mocking imitation of Bronius's voice. He grabbed the man by the throat, lifting him up off the floor with one arm. "Do you think I care!? OF COURSE NOT!" He threw Bronius away, Bronius gladly taking the impact of the tile floor over the snapped neck it easily could have been. "What I do care about is our operations!" Ghetsis continued, turning back to Gorm and pointing at him. "Which you could have disrupted with your shortsightedness! We are supposed to have the people of Unova eating out the palms of our hands, and strike when the time is right! Then was not the time! You could have derailed everything with that one move. I truly do hope you understand the gravity of your failure here, Gorm."
Gorm could only weakly look up at him. Ghetsis scoffed, motioning to his Pokemon. "Cofagrigus, let him go. I think he's had enough."
The Coffin Pokemon let out an unearthly noise, and the pink outline around Gorm's body vanished, Gorm collapsing to the floor, groaning in pain. Smirking, Ghetsis gave him one last kick in the stomach. Standing over him, he said, "Think on your failure, and know that next time, every action you perform is for the good of the organization. Not yourself. Bronius, see to the wounds of this incompetent. I must check in with Zinzolin. I can only hope his smuggling operation in Driftveil is going smoothly. My patience can be tested only so many times per day."
As he was walking out of the room, Gorm spoke up. "L-Lord Ghetsis! There… there was one other we managed to take prisoner! A boy… he wore a blue jacket!"
"Yes, I've heard of him," Ghetsis said without turning around. "I will have N deal with him eventually." Without another word, Ghetsis left the room, but inwardly, his thoughts were a bubbling cauldron. N will no doubt be up to the task of breaking that boy's spirit over his knee. If not… more drastic action will be required.
A/N: No, your eyes did not deceive you: the Liberty Pass is a thing here. Which means, yes, Liberty Garden will be covered. What makes this more exciting is that to my knowledge, this is the first time that event has been covered in a Gen 5 novelization, so go me! :D As for how I got my hands on this long-over event, it's doubtless you've heard of that exploit that came to light late in 2019 that allows players to access past event items and Pokemon in Gen 4 and 5 games. It was just a happy coincidence that I heard about this, and used it to get the Liberty Pass (though sadly, I was unable to get anything from Gen 4- it's much more difficult to access those events reliably, unlike the connect-and-go nature of Gen 5's). Another thing is that yes, I changed the Exp. Share's design, because honestly, has anyone ever really looked at that thing's official artwork? It looks like a cross between a jester's hat and BDSM gear. It's… weird.
