Chapter 23 Do or Die
"Where are the Shadow Triad?!"
Dr. Colress' attention was snapped to the present as he stepped out of the PWT building, alarmed to hear someone mentioning that name. He found Rosa, Nate, Hugh, and Cheren encircling a Neo Plasma grunt there. Cheren appeared lost but had jumped to assist the other three; Hugh was clearly the aggressor, as he was the one asking the questions, the others following his lead; Rosa was as white as a sheet, sweating profusely. She noticed Dr. Colress watching them and her mouth fell open. She looked like she might faint with fear.
Recognizing he needed to defuse this situation, Dr. Colress cleared his throat. "Stop! There is no need for you to stick your necks into something so dangerous!" he called with mock concern lacing his deep, smooth voice. He could not let them harass Neo Plasma. No, no, he couldn't, they needed to stay back. This was a detriment to his research, indeed. If they caused too much of a scene, he would have to relocate the Plasma Frigate, and he didn't want that at all. Vexed, he wondered why on Earth one of the grunts would have been wandering the PWT in full uniform!
The four trainers ahead of him jumped, startled by his words. The distraction was enough to let the Neo Plasma grunt take off running… heading straight for the docks. Dr. Colress wanted to rip the very sensor out of his head, the embedded cords in his skull and all! What a moron! I distracted them so you would run AWAY, as in, deeper into DRIFTVEIL! he thought annoyedly. Why would you lead them TOWARD the ship? Where does Ghetsis FIND these vagabonds?
Hugh spastically looked between the doctor and the running grunt, then decisively bolted after the grunt.
"Hugh! Wait!" Nate hollered after him. He shared a look with Rosa, ignoring Dr. Colress altogether. "We've gotta go after him," he told her desperately.
"I…" Rosa had frozen up entirely. Dr. Colress' lip twitched. She was intelligent. She would know better than to run up into his ship, surely.
He found himself uncharacteristically concerned at the inevitable possibility that she could still decide to, though; just because she was more likely to pick the smarter option didn't mean she was guaranteed to. He frowned, privately questioning his reason for his concern, while he tried to verbally dissuade the trio ahead of him. "No, none of you need to do any of that," Dr. Colress said dramatically, silky-voiced, as he approached Cheren, Nate, and Rosa. He tucked his hands behind his back and boasted that fake, beaming grin. Rosa looked like she might have seen a ghost. "It wouldn't be courage to chase your friend down, but sheer recklessness! Neo Plasma is a bunch of horrible rogues, as violent as they come, and you are willing to tangle with them?"
Nate pointed a finger at Dr. Colress and sneered, "What do you care? Go back to your tablets!" He turned to Cheren and Rosa. "Please," he begged, "we can't leave Hugh alone!"
Rosa backed away slowly. "Nate… I can't… I won't be any help; I only have three pokémon and they're not well-trained…"
Cheren put a hand on her shoulder. "That's okay, Rosa, you should stay back. I'm going to call Clay. Nate, come with me, we'll get your friend." The gym leader challengingly stared down Dr. Colress. "What do you care of our involvement?" he pried. "Do you have a stake in this somehow?"
"What?" Dr. Colress borderline yelped, alarmed by just how suspiciously accurate Cheren was. He cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses. He had clearly underestimated the perceptiveness of this new subject. He wouldn't make that mistake again. "Mm, apologies, voice crack. No, I don't, I just don't…" He paused to think for a reason, internally gagging at the one he settled on. "I just don't want to see people get hurt." Feigning concern took so much energy. How did people actually care so much for one another all the time? Didn't that take so much exertion?
"Thank you for your concern, but I'm a gym leader, I'll watch them," Cheren tersely informed him. Issuing Nate a curt nod, they headed off down the docks after Hugh and the Neo Plasma grunt, leaving Dr. Colress alone with Rosa.
Dr. Colress regarded Rosa with an expressionless stare, the corners of his lips twitching on occasion. His calm exterior was betrayed by the small crackle of blue electricity that danced across the sensor on his head. "Your friends are idiots." And yet, she stayed behind, just as I predicted she would. She is a fascinatingly intelligent subject.
She blinked at him and said nothing, as if lost in a stupor.
…Most of the time, anyway.
"There is someone on that ship they should hope they don't meet." Dr. Colress clapped his hands and turned on a heel. He was far more nervous than he let on. He knew Ghetsis would be upset if a gym leader had help encroaching upon his ship, but there was nothing he could do now without revealing his association with Neo Plasma, and he couldn't have that. He needed this research like he needed the very oxygen in the air; there was nowhere left in this world for him to go beyond Unova. Indeed, Dr. Colress had left a smoldering trail of burnt bridges in his wake. As much as Neo Plasma needed him, he needed it… More accurately, he needed Ghetsis' assistance to conduct his work. That thought made every muscle in his body tense furiously. Through a dry throat, he muttered aloud, "They have made a grave mistake, mm."
"Dr. Colress…" Rosa shuffled closer to him, grabbing a lower corner of his coat to keep him from sauntering away. He curiously turned to face her when he felt the pressure and found her eyes were glassy with a knowing sadness. That look gave him pause. He did not understand it. Whatever she was about to ask, it was obvious she didn't want to, that she was frightened, possibly even of him, but she wanted to ask him anyway… "Isn't there something I can do? They don't know… know about me and you. I can stop them…"
Dr. Colress narrowed his eyes at her scrutinizingly. She was a truly fascinating subject, with her abject nosiness, an inherent wonder for the world that reminded him of himself, except she also deeply cared about others, to the point she was willing to put herself on the line at this very instant for her friends safety. All because he had wryly joked that they might face someone dangerous. He circled her for a second, tilting his head like a confused canine, and then stopped in front of her again. Mm, indeed, Miss Rosa is an enigma, he thought. Perhaps too intelligent for her own good, in many ways, such as how she questions my reasoning for science… I wonder… Just as my technology is able to bring out hidden potential in pokemon… He bared his teeth in a wicked grin, and said, "Miss Rosa, there is nothing you can do now that they have run off, but I do have an idea to dispel their future curiosity regarding Neo Plasma." …Can I use it to bring out that of people? Miss Rosa has much potential hidden beneath that nauseatingly caring persona of hers…
She swallowed hard. "You do?"
"Absolutely!" he chuckled and brought a finger to lightly tap the tip of her nose playfully. "I'll talk to you about it later, Miss Rosa! In the meantime, I do hope they survive their time aboard!" He laughed raucously to himself as he briskly stepped away, headed for Driftveil's inner core. Oh, Dr. Colress thought himself very clever as his mind whirred with thoughts on what he could potentially do with Rosa's dedication and care for her friends, how it could be weaponized and focused… Unlike his other human subjects, which had focused on physical strength and the nullification of one's emotions thus far, he was considering using one's emotions as the driving force behind his experiment.
As of that moment, however, there was nothing to do except find something to interest him until he was inevitably called back to the Frigate by a furious Ghetsis… He wasn't looking forward to that. I really do hate my uncle, he thought irritably, pulling the tablet he still had tucked beneath his arm free. He tapped away at some apps, almost mindlessly, his brain working equations and logic like second nature, while he slowly grew more irritated the more he tried to forget the anxiety at hand. Jabbing his finger at the screen so hard he nearly cracked it, he frustratedly growled and stuffed the tablet back into place. The last thing he needed to do was break something. I hate my uncle. My science is my own. My work is my own. My story is my own. I am not his experiment. I am the scientist.
Ghetsis didn't have any real power over him, that was true; Dr. Colress had an ace up his sleeve to keep the old man from owning him entirely.
But that wasn't good enough. Ghetsis had something over him he could never get back, and he despised his uncle for that… and there was nothing he could truly do about it.
Therefore, it was easier to pretend it just wasn't true at all.
The grunt had fled to a dark sailboat docked south of the PWT. Its gangplank rested against the docks and he scrambled aboard without a second thought. Nate and Cheren had caught up to Hugh just as he started to shakily cross it, disappearing over the banister of the ship in seconds. Cheren and Nate just shared a resigned look and followed suit.
Cautiously aboard the ship, they scanned their surroundings, noticing at first there appeared to be nobody. Hugh was in the center of the ship's main deck, huffing, his fists clenched at his sides in aggravation. He howled to the skies, "Come out and face me, you cowards!"
"Hugh!" Cheren hissed, descending on him. He took care not to touch the other, likely (and rightfully) concerned that Hugh might attack him if he did, but hovered his hands around him and tried to corral him back to the gangplank. Hugh refused and spat some profanities back at the gym leader. "Hugh, that's enough! We are on their property right now and we have no idea how many there are!" Cheren paused and a violent tremor ripped through his body, causing him to drop his rulebook. "Arceus, it's cold!" he muttered, reaching down to retrieve it.
Nate hugged his silver windbreaker closer to himself and shivered. He was keenly aware of the cold, the fact he could see his breath in the air. That light jacket hardly helped at all (though he didn't envy Cheren, who wore nothing but calf-length cutoffs and a collared shirt). The bite of the frigidity sank all the way to his bones, and he had to wonder how, or, why… The rest of Driftveil hadn't been that cold and it was the middle of summer…
"Is this their base?" Hugh wondered aloud, bravely inspecting more of the ship's deck.
Sinister laughter echoed around them as a sea of grunts seemed to pour from every nook and cranny of the ship. Nate sped closer to Cheren and Hugh, instinctively raising Spacey's Poké Ball. Cheren protectively threw out his arm in front of them as the Neo Plasma members converged on them, a tightening circle of people in black uniforms. His voice was suddenly deeper and sharper as he snapped at them, "Step back, now! We were just leaving! You are illegally posing as Team Plasma and endangering a gym leader as well as two gym challengers!"
"Oh, look, he knows the rules," a girl with an all-too familiar serpentine drawl snickered. Nate glared at her. Lacey. That name came flooding back to him right away. He remembered her from the forests near Floccesy and their confrontation with Neo Plasma in Virbank. She circled Cheren, Nate, and Hugh like a predator, and licked her lips like one, too, like a beast enticed by the scent of bloods. "How's just knowing the rules working out for you, Gym Leader Cheren?"
"Playing it awful tough for a group of overdramatic pirates," Cheren growled. "Seriously, your base is a big b-boat?" He violently shivered again. Nate was finding it difficult to fight off the quivering as well… It was so cold on the ship… Yet, encouraged by Cheren's brave tones, he resisted the urge to shake, and harshly glared after Lacey. He was not afraid of these Neo Plasma people and he would help Hugh and Cheren as needed. He was good at being stubborn if nothing else.
Lacey laughed. "Loving that disdain, Cheren, all that bitterness." She got into his face and pulled her lips into a wide, Joker grin, exposing the pink of her gums. "It's awfully fitting for the chump wannabe Hero from a couple of years ago…~"
Cheren seemed to reel for something to say, so Nate picked up for him, taking a threatening step forward… not that any of the grunts reacted to that beyond some errant guffaws. "Back off of him," Nate warned, "now."
"Or what?" Lacey challenged him, snatching an Ultra Ball from her waist, and bouncing it in her palm.
Nate saw Hugh lurch forward and he pitched his Unfezant's Poké Ball. Nate didn't wait for him to speak, and instead smirked back at Lacey. Recalling something he had heard Hugh say more than once in the past, something he had often mocked the other over, he taunted, "Or we'll unleash our rage on you." He wiggled his eyebrows at her teasingly. Hugh jerked his head up to look at Nate with almost amused incredulousness, who just shrugged back at him. "We're already here. Might as well kick their asses while we're at it, Qwilfish Kid." …Seeing as you were going to do it regardless of whether we were here or not.
Hugh scoffed and adopted a poised stance, the happiest grin on his face Nate had ever seen. "Now you're talking!"
The grunts around them all began to send out pokémon as well. It was a sea of Seviper, Krookodile, Garbodor, Watchog, Weezing, Golbat, Liepard, and Muk. Realizing they were at the point of no return, Cheren lobbed a handful of Poké Balls at the ground, revealing a variety of Normal-types as well as an Emboar, Unfezant, and Simisage amongst others, and shot a look over his shoulder at Nate and Hugh. "Send out all your pokémon!" he demanded. "This is no League battle. This is to get out of here unharmed! Forget the rules!"
"Right!" Hugh and Nate exclaimed in unison, throwing out the rest of their teams.
"I do love it when we throw out all rules…~" Lacey drawled, then hissed, "Get them!"
At that, the battle was on. Ironically, despite his involvement in a situation that should have been terrifying to the core, Nate had never felt more alive. A Seviper lunged at him, and he ordered Crag to stop it with a Bulldoze, which also served to knock back several other pokémon as well as the grunts controlling them. Hugh and Nate's Unfezant zipped through the air, divebombing the opponents with quick Aerial Ace rushes, dodging attacks easily; Hugh's Servine, despite its typical shyness, lashed vines at anything it could reach and would swing them over to Spacey, who was glad to send them flying with a combination of slashes from her dual shells and a blast of water. Any that survived that onslaught met Cheren's Emboar, a beastly, enormous pokémon that finished them off with brutalizing strikes or baths of flame.
Yet, despite the heat of battle, the air on that ship was still chilling to the core, and it soon started to overwhelm them and their pokémon. Somehow, the grunts were ignorant to the chill in the air, their pokémon equally as unfazed, but Nate, Hugh, and Cheren were soon struggling to move. Hugh and Nate both recalled their Unfezant when the two of them crashed to the ship's deck, unable to flap their wings through their uncontrollable shivers, and Hugh's Servine collapsed at his feet after a while, frost setting on across its leafy extremities.
Lacey was quick to return to the forefront of the sea of grunts, laughing gleefully. She focused on Cheren and puckered her lips. "Aww, what is it, Gym Leader Cheren? Did a poor job of protecting your little friends, Daddy?"
Cheren clenched his hands into fists and snarled through chattering teeth, "B-back off! You're in plain sight here, right at the PWT docks! Th-the p-p-police will tr-track you down ea-easily!"
"A lot good that'll do you when you're dead," Lacey whispered in his face, immediately following up by shoving him on the chest. Cheren staggered backward and his back collided with the mast in the center of the ship. Unable to catch himself due to seized muscles, he collapsed to the deck. Nate, muscling through the tension in his own form, made his way over to him and stood over the fallen gym leader, glaring up at Lacey.
"I said back off him!" Nate spat at her, raising his foot, and slamming it down on hers without a second thought. Lacey howled and jumped back.
"Little fucker! You're dead, kid!"
"Try me," Nate almost laughed, "because I don't think there's anything you clowns could do that's worse than what I've dealt with already in life. So, think you're so fuckin' tough, Lacey? Bring it, bitch!"
"Nate," Cheren hoarsely coughed, "stop…"
"What in Arceus' name is happening out here?" an almost nasally, high-pitched voice cut through the air. The gathered grunts collectively muttered under their breaths, producing a dull roar of frustration, as they parted for a man in thick, violet robes and a tall, maroon hat, ceasing all attacks. He had a pudgy face and small, beady eyes that scanned Nate, Hugh, and Cheren with contempt. Then, he turned that look to his own crew. "What the fuck do you all think you're doing?" he shrieked. "This is a gym leader! It's broad daylight!"
Lacey crossed her arms and pursed her lips. "Oh, calm down, Zinzolin. We were just having fun," she insisted innocently.
"Fun!" he mockingly echoed. "What's fun is getting through our plans alive, and without visiting prison!" He pointed at her angrily and swept that accusatory finger across the crowd. "Recall of your pokémon. Right this instant!"
Nate shuffled aside as Cheren clambered unsteadily back to his feet. He was wheezing with the effort and, with a bolt of alarm, Nate realized his lips had started to fade blue. Shaking violently, Cheren still tried to sound menacing as he called for Zinzolin's attention. "Zinzolin… y-you're that p-pathetic… Gym Le-Leader Clay found you in… th-the Cold Storage… Shiv-shivering like a lost… Herdier…" He cracked as much of a smirk as he could. "Th-then… later… I saw him punch you in the nose…" Through wheezes for breath, he laughed.
Hugh and Nate concernedly recalled the rest of their pokémon as Cheren did the same, and they fell into place on either side of him. Thanks to their jackets and perhaps because they weren't as spindly as Cheren was, they were nowhere near in as bad shape as him. Wordlessly, it seemed they agreed to protect him, remaining poised for battle even though they had returned their pokémon. Cheren looked like he wanted to tell them to stop that, but his violently chattering teeth wouldn't allow him to articulate the words.
Zinzolin huffed and stomped a foot as he regarded the three of them. "My name is Zinzolin. You'd be wise to use it."
"What's the ship for?" Hugh interjected, apparently deciding he no longer cared for their exchange of biting remarks. "I want answers!"
"Why, Gym Leader Cheren here should have been able to tell you that," Zinzolin smirked. "The same as ever. To use one of the Ancient Dragons of Unova to rule the region and take pokémon away from stupid, worthless trainers such as yourselves!" Laughing to himself, he waved away some grunts, ordering them to give him some space. Then, loud enough to stress his voice, he howled, "Shadow Triad! Come to me!"
There was a long stretch of awkward silence… and nothing happened. Hugh and Nate dubiously looked between one another, snickering amusedly against their better judgment.
Zinzolin growled in frustration. "Shadow Triad! I said come to me!"
A dark figure manifested in front of Zinzolin. A primal bolt of fear shot up Nate's back, causing him to jump backward like a startled Purrloin, as he saw the lean man appear so suddenly. Gaping in shock, he could only watch in blind awe as two more appeared at his side. Oh, my Arceus, they're real, and there they are. The Shadow Triad. They're really real!
The first spoke. "Sage Zinzolin… We do not serve you."
"You are not the one we are bound to," another supplied in a hoarse tone.
"We only serve Lord—"
"I KNOW!" Zinzolin screeched to cut them off. "I know, I know! However, he would want this! Understand? Now, take care of them! Get these three off my ship so that we can get the hell out of here!" Taking a deep, harried breath, he grumbled, "I'm going to kill that nephew of his when I get my hands on him!"
Nate didn't have time to snap out of his stupor before the three men vanished and reappeared inches away from each of them. They each grabbed their targets by the arm and Nate's throat practically closed as he cringed and shut his eyes at the sensation of such a harsh hold on his forearm. He slumped, limp as a ragdoll, as soon as the Shadow Triad member gripped him, his blood running cold as the air surrounding them and his breath hitching. He wanted to fight, he wanted to scream he wasn't scared, to shout that defiance to the world, but… it was so cold, this man's hold so strong… Nate was tired…
"Let me GO! You bastard! Where's my Trapinch and my sister's Purrloin? You thought you had nothing to worry about after all those years, huh? ANSWER ME!" he heard Hugh fiercely snarl. Daring to open his eyes, Nate caught a glimpse of Hugh fighting the Shadow Triad member that had taken hold of him with all his might. He wrestled against the other's arm, throwing punches with his free hand, kicking wildly, throwing his body around like a battering ram. None of it seemed to affect the other, but Hugh succeeded in bloodying and bruising the man when he struck his face, his nose; Nate didn't pick up on the fact the Shadow Triad member was mostly oblivious to the attacks. He was too mesmerized by how Hugh, despite the fruitlessness of his efforts, was not going down without a fight.
Nate met the slate eyes of the one holding him with newfound determination, reinvigorated by Hugh's relentless display. Staring into the other's soulless gaze, he decided that he was not done. Not yet.
Right then, he was teleported, finding himself on the docks and he learned the ship's gangplank had been withdrawn. Despite the wave of nausea and weakness that crashed over him following the teleport, he was running on sheer, nasty adrenaline, and so he made the most of the momentary lapse in attention on behalf of the Shadow Triad member holding him by using all his strength in his frozen body to wrench his arm free and punch the other square in the nose. Leaping free of his captivity and ignoring the painful sting in his hand, Nate bared his teeth at the other. "I'm not afraid of you!" he bellowed. Glancing to Hugh for further strength, he was relieved to see Hugh rip himself free as well. He retreated to Nate's side, standing almost back-to-back with him.
"You okay?" Hugh asked briskly.
"Fine," Nate growled, his stare on the Shadow Triad member unwavering.
"Do not interfere with us again," Nate's former captor huskily warned, and then the Shadow Triad disappeared into thin air once again.
"Damn it!" Hugh frustratedly hollered. "They got away!"
"We're alive," Nate breathed, relief sapping his frigid body of all the strength he'd had to fight a second ago. He sank to his knees onto the docks and strongly considered kissing the algae-soaked wood below him. "Oh, my Arceus, they are something else…"
Suddenly remembering how cold Cheren had been on the ship, Nate jerked his head up to look for the gym leader. Casting a look over his shoulder, he noticed him struggling to get to his feet further up the dock, having apparently been dropped on his side.
"I can't believe it! They were right in front of me and they got away!" Hugh was still blustering to the world. He ran his hands through his unkempt, dark hair in borderline hysteria, ruffling it. Nate absently wondered if that's why Hugh's hair was always such a mess. "I've got to go after them—!"
"Hugh, they teleported," Nate reminded him sharply. Lightly elbowing him to pull his head out of the clouds, Nate then nodded toward Cheren. "Let's help him. He's hurt."
Hugh stared back at Nate with a dead-eyed, confused expression for a few seconds, until he seemed to catch on and he followed Nate's gaze to Cheren. "Oh," he puffed, springing over to the fallen gym leader. "Gym Leader Cheren! Are you alright?"
Nate stumbled after them, his legs shaky and unreliable as they dethawed.
"I just… need a minute…" Cheren panted as he finally hauled himself to his feet with Hugh's assistance. He shook his head, eyeing the dark sailboat as it began to depart from the dock. Nate watched as well in morbid fascination as the formidable, black boat vanished into the darkening evening horizon. With a shuddery sigh, Cheren mumbled, "I don't understand…"
"Don't understand what?" Hugh impatiently pressed. Nate could tell he wanted to run, to leave, to go after the Shadow Triad, but even in his blind rage, Hugh had recognized he had no idea where to start.
Cheren's body seized up again as he was racked with another wave of harsh tremors. Once they subsided, he focused on Hugh. "How do you know the Shadow Triad? What did Gym Leader Clay mean when he talked to you about them earlier? I don't understand why you would chase a Neo Plasma member onto their very home base. That was irresponsible, reckless, downright dangerous—we could have died!" Cheren's voice rose an octave or two as the seriousness of the situation dawned on him, harshly critical. Shaking his head in aggravation, he added, "And I don't understand what they mean about using the Ancient Dragons of Unova… Both are gone! Neither are even in Unova anymore!"
Usually unaffected by the criticisms of others when it came to Neo Plasma, Nate was shocked to see Hugh shrink under Cheren's reprimand. "They… like I've said before… Team Plasma stole my Trapinch and my sister's Purrloin a long time ago… I discovered at the…" He paused and wrinkled his nose in disgust. "I discovered at the Silver Knights that it was likely the Shadow Triad that stole them from me…"
"So, you think getting yourself killed will get you any closer to them?" Cheren retorted sarcastically.
"That's not fair, Gym Leader Cheren," Nate interrupted breathlessly, defensively. Truthfully, his head pounded, and he didn't want to get involved in another argument, especially not after all of that. The adrenaline and high of battle had worn off and he just felt exhausted, like he'd been beaten over the head with a bus. "He didn't know that was their base before he ran up on it and… and he's got every right to be upset about those pokémon being gone."
Cheren opened his mouth to say something, then decidedly closed it again, gritting his teeth and looking away. He pressed his lips to a thin line and crossed his arms. "Find Rosa and then all of you go to the Pokémon Center."
Nate waved at Hugh to catch his attention before he could fire something back off at Cheren. "Let's just go to the Center, Hugh," he whispered with a hopeful half-smile. "It's… it's been a long day… let's just regroup…"
Contemplating what to do, Hugh blinked at Nate and then stared at Cheren. Crimson gaze hardening, he growled, "Well, what are you gonna do about what just happened? You're gonna do something, right? You can't just let Neo Plasma get away!"
"Us gym leaders will handle it," Cheren tersely muttered. "Neo Plasma will not be allowed to get away with this, and now we know what their main base is. We have critical information that will cost them this war. Now, the both of you, go to the Pokémon Center. You have no business getting wrapped up in this."
Nate didn't have to be told twice, though he had to wonder… What had Cheren meant by war? His mind briefly considered the possibility that, if Neo Plasma was going after a legendary pokémon as they claimed, Unova could go to war with the group if they got what they wanted… That thought made his legs feel shakier than the cold had made them. Banishing such thoughts, he started to limp away, gesturing for Hugh to follow.
Hugh had one last bitter remark for Cheren, though: "You helped Hil save the world when you were fourteen, but I'm not allowed to try to get my pokémon back?"
Cheren was stunned into silence as Hugh hurried after Nate.
This felt like loud noises: the chapter. I hope it was comprehensible. I had TONS of fun writing it and like it, but like, still lol.
QOTD(s): Some more sweet sweet Colress info has been released, but also more hinted at... Any new theories on our dear Doctor of the Shadows? Also, hooray for us finally cresting the hill to Nate and Hugh bonding! Thoughts on that?