AN: Yo, hope you enjoy this. This will become relevant late into Paul's journey. I'm plotting after all mwahahaha! Anyway if you were to enjoy some fluffy pokemon fics then may I introduce you to my Skyla x oc fic "Flying High". I'm proud of it even though I haven't gotten many views on it compared to this. Anyway, on with the reviews!

KresnikMBM: Yooo someone else likes Hilda too! Cheers.

Oblivious IJ: Haha, I hope to make Paul's victories believable even with Mega Evolution. I hope I pull that off.

KingAntasma: I pulled moves from either what is available for them or what they've been known to use. There is no move limit, but moves do need to get taught or figured out by a Pokemon to be used. Movesets will continue to improve.

DraconixVargas: I'll probably continue to add people and/or feature trainers from either the game or anime that I like. I appreciate the hype on the cliffhanger!

Both Guests, cristianenachi2, and SunnyDR: Thanks for the praise! I try to put a lot of thought into battle choreography and how the moves would interact.

NazgulBelserion: This is definitely a distinction I've been trying to make but this is indeed a self insert but maybe just take it as that Paul's personality is at the forefront. I wanted to stray away from making another character be Paul, so I allowed him to have memories that say a future Paul wouldn't have like mega evolution, certain plot points that pertain to only Ash, etc. Hope this clears it up.

In the future, I may pick and choose which reviews I put in the story and may resort to dming to respond. Hope you understand. Anyway, now that the reviews are done, here's the story!

A long sigh could be heard from the strongest trainer in the region. There were very little trainers that could climb to the ranks of champion, beating all the elite four first before battling against the champion.

"Someooooone battllllle meeee!" yelled out Hilbert, the reigning champion of the Unova region. Giving out another sigh when he received no response from his plea, he muttered, "I guess I'll just call up Alder again…"

Dialing the former champion on his Xtransceiver, Hilbert lay in wait for Alder's form to show itself.

"Yo, how's it going Champion Hilbert?" The figure of the former champ showed itself on the Xtransceiver. "Are you asking for another match to test your strength as the strongest trainer in Unova?" Alder asked, knowingly with a smile.

"Of course! Please tell me you're up for a battle!" Hilbert had very little challenges since the aftermath of Team Plasma's take over of the Pokémon League. It took a fair bit of time to broadcast to the general public what happened and how everything was getting dealt with.

"What? Don't tell me you're not up for all the duties being a champion entails," Alder said in a playful manner. He was happy relinquishing his title to Hilbert, left him more time to relax with his Pokémon.

"Oh, I'm doing alright. It's just despite all the interviews, the challenges I've sent out to aspiring trainers, the self-help book I wrote for traveling trainers, no one has been able to get past the elite four!"

Alder took one look at Hilbert with his almost comically tearful eyes and then he burst out into laughter.

"You don't have to wait for an official challenge Hilbert! You very well know that you can challenge anyone. Why don't you challenge your elite four or your friends Cheren, Bianca, or your rival Hilda?"

"Challenging the elite four isn't that hard once you know their teams and can plan around that, Cheren is teaching at the Pokémon academy in Striaton, Bianca is interning with Professor Juniper, and Hilda ran off to Sinnoh for another adventure." With a heavy sigh from saying all that, Hilbert followed that up with, "I wish that I could travel through Sinnoh," he said looking pleadingly with Alder.

"Hmm ask Cynthia or go through the league for clearance. You still should help with the cleanup of Team Plasma. There's still some small pockets of them in some towns and routes."

"Eh, after N left, the ones that are left can be defeated by any 3 badged trainers. I'll do a quick survey over the region to check for them. I may deputize some experienced trainers that I meet, but they aren't going to be a huge problem right now. We can't sniff them all out until we catch Ghetsis, but that guy disappeared after everything went down at N's Castle."

Alder looked contemplatively at nothing in particular before asking, "What happened with N anyway. Do you know where he ran off to?"

Hilbert could respond with nothing but a shrug. "Who knows? I'm sure he's still in Unova, but like Ghetsis, something tells me we won't find him until he shows himself."

"Anyway, like I said to your friend Cheren, don't forget the needs of the Pokémon at your side! Maybe go out and see what they want to do. And hey, if all this Champion stuff isn't all that it's cracked up to be for ya, I heard that Iris is getting pretty powerful. Maybe powerful enough to surpass you."

Hilbert had to take a second to respond to all of that. "You're right. I should ask my Pokémon. I bet they're itching for something to do besides battles! And I'll be awaiting Iris' challenge then if she wants to go through an official league challenge. Last I heard from her, she was still training under Drayden, so to hear something like that now would mean Drayden is impressed. That speaks volumes, huh."

"Indeed, it does! Anyway, I gotta go! I promised Bouffalant we'd go out into the fields so he can graze on the tall grass. See ya later kid."

"See you Alder." Closing the Xtransceiver, Hilbert took a look at this pokeballs and went out to see what his Pokemon had in mind.

(-)

It turned out that most of his Pokemon had their own ideas about what they wanted to do, so Hilbert made it into something of a productive check on all the gym leaders.

"Hey Cilan, Chili, Cress! Do you guys think you could whip up a quick meal for me and my team?"

"Why we'd be glad to," Cilan replied, calm and steady.

"We'll fire something up real quick for ya!" Chili yelled out.

Cress just waved as he went back into the kitchen to actually prepare the food. Meanwhile, Hilbert made small talk with Cilan. The three had an accomplished restaurant that was currently in closing hours until the lunch rush came.

"I understand completely. Just make sure to go through the proper channels to finalize your decisions."

"We hope that we're not causing any unnecessary trouble for you Hilbert, but this is just how we think we can better grow as trainers."

"It's fine, really. It's just another thing to do after this Team Plasma mess. I'm glad to receive this notice early so I have time to help look for a replacement."

Cilan nodded before going into the kitchen to help with the cooking.

Hilbert leaned back into his chair and sighed. 'So, Unova is going to get another gym leader soon, huh. I'll just have to be on the lookout for some potential trainers. I'll just ask around. Should be easy enough then with how many talented trainers I've seen while traveling.'

After a few minutes of waiting, a delightful smell made its way to Hilbert. He threw out all his Pokémon on hand to enjoy the meal with him. The noise of all their battle cries was ignored by Hilbert as he laid in wait for his food to arrive.

"Uh, Hilbert?"

"Yes, Cress?"

"Why is Zekrom out?" Cress questioned as he eyed the large powerful dragon.

"He's going to enjoy the meal with us," Hilbert replied, matter-of-factly.

"Right…" Cress sweatdropped at the hilarious scene of a legendary inside a restaurant.

(-)

"Zekrom really is an impressive Pokémon. I'm delighted to have this opportunity to have a look at such an impressive legendary creature."

"Now now Lenora, just take it easy on my pal Zekrom, alright?"

"I would've preferred you bringing up something more bug-related," Burgh said in a joking manner.

Giving a deadpan glance at Burgh, Hilbert ignored that comment and opted to get down to the more official reason for the visit.

"How has Nacrene and Castelia been doing?"

Burgh started, saying, "We had an exorbitant amount of Team Plasma members that took some careful investigating to shut down, but overall, Castelia has been just fine. Business is picking up again and the landscape has been inspiring to look at!"

"Right. That's great to hear! Castelia City is incredibly important to Unova, so having it up to snuff will be incredibly important for the annual Pokémon league challenge to be go off without a hitch. How's Nacrene?"

"We're recovering, but we're going to need some more sweeps to be done to stamp out remaining Team Plasma members. I was talking with Burgh to get that done, so it shouldn't be a problem for much longer, but we'll inform you if we might need your assistance."

"Sure. And if you want to annoy Alder to get him to help ya, be my guest. That old man needs to do some more work around here."

The two gym leaders chuckled at Hilbert's grumbling before exchanging in some idle talk and admiring Zekrom.

When it was finally time to move on to the next gym leader, Hilbert hopped onto Zekrom's back and took off.

(-)

"Chaaaandelure!" Chandelure gave out a long happy cry at the sight he was watching.

"It's interesting to see Pokémon so interested in watching Pokémon Musicals. Especially one so powerful!"

"Hehe, well Elesa, Chandelure can always be counted on to light up the world with anything he does. I guess eventually we'll have to practice in our own musical," Hilbert thought out loud.

Chandelure loudly agreed with that.

Hilbert and Elesa were in the VIP seats, so they wouldn't be bothered by anyone recognizing them. This has the added feature of having the best seat in the house, something that Chandelure is taking great advantage of.

"So, what's going on with you Elesa? It seems that Nimbasa is coming along just fine."

Elesa couldn't help but take a step back to ponder how to answer the question. "Hmm yes, it is true Nimbasa has moved on from the Team Plasma menace easily. As for me… I was thinking of dying my hair back to black." It was a bit embarrassing for Elesa to talk about something comparatively so trivial with the Champion of the region.

"Ooh you should totally do it! You'd look amazing! Uh, not that you don't already look amazing, but you get my point!"

Elesa couldn't help but giggle. "Hehehe, I guess I do get your point. Thanks for the compliment. I have to dye my hair now that the Champion ok-ed it," Elesa teased.

'I sometimes forget that Elesa is a model and with that job comes a very very attractive girl,' Hilbert thought with his small blush intensifying slightly with Elesa's comment.

"A-anyway, we better get a move on.," Hilbert addressed Elesa before turning to his Pokémon, calling out, "Chandelure, come on!"

With Hilbert gone, Elesa giggled to herself and mumbled, "What a shame he had to leave so soon…"

(-)

At the Driftveil City Mine, two Excadrill could be seen interacting with each other and showing digging techniques.

"Thanks for indulging my Excadrill, Clay. He's been wanting something to do with his claws for a while now."

"Yer welcome sonny. It's no problem on our end, so yer can come anytime you want."

"Thanks, I'll take you up on that offer sometime. How's Driftveil?"

"Eh, Driftveil's a tough town so I can safely say we're doin' well. There are some Ex-Plasma members on the house on top of the hill, overlooking Driftveil but they're harmless. Ain't hurting a fly with how apologetic they were after all this nonsense."

"Well, that's great to hear! We'll get outta your way once Excadrill has had his share of digging.

Clay chuckled at that condition. "Haha, if you abide by that rule, I reckon you'd be here forever! Excadrill live by digging."

Hilbert looked over at Excadrill's content look and couldn't help but agree with Clay's assessment.

(-)

"Everyone enjoys a good fly sometimes, right," The High-Flying girl, Skyla perkily says.

"Unfeazant certainly does. Thanks for letting out your Pokémon so that Unfeazant has someone to fly with."

"No problem! My Pokémon hold the same joy for flying as I do!"

Hilbert held a thinking position before saying, "Well, maybe we can go flying some time. On your airplane I mean."

Skyla brightened up. "Sure! It's a shame you don't have time to fly with me now though. Sigh, I wish Elesa would go flying."

A mischievous grin made its way onto Hilbert's face. "We can surely get her to do so with a little persuading. We might need to just nudge her in the right direction to get her to do so."

Skyla's face shifted from surprise to the very same mischievous look that Hilbert had. "Yes, let's 'persuade' her into getting into my airplane. I usually fly with precious cargo anyway. This'd be no different."

While the two plotted their devious plan to get The Shining Beauty into the air, Unfeazant and the others happily enjoyed their air games.

(-)

"Conkeldurr, use stone edge! Beartic, you back him up with icicle crash! We're going to box them in!"

"Ha, you won't get us that easily! Haxorus get in front of Lapras and use protect!" Both the Icicle crash and stone edge failed to hit due to Iris' quick thinking.

Two onlookers who were watching Hilbert and Iris battle it out were impressed with the skill and power that the Pokemon and trainers showed in this battle. "I was beyond impressed when Hilbert and N caught Zekrom and Reshiram, but I have to admit, Iris being able to go toe to toe with the Champion of Unova is a… foreign but greater feeling to me. It's a beyond pleasant feeling but I can't quite tell what it is."

"That's pride Drayden," Brycen answered. "It's normal to be proud of your protégé." As Iris' Haxorus threw a swipe at Hilbert's Conkeldurr who dodged, Brycen continued, saying, "They both have a wonderful partnership with their Pokemon. I almost envy them."

"Hmm," Drayden hummed at that assessment. "The next generation of battlers could only have these great strengths in their Pokemon training career through guidance that the previous generation gave. Just take pride in their accomplishments, the future of Unova is right here."

"Indeed," Brycen agreed as he watched Beartic knock out Haxorus with an ice beam and Conkeldurr delivering a dynamic punch to Lapras knocking it out. Turning to Brayden he said, "Please inform Hilbert that I'm resigning for my gym leader position."

"Hoh? Any reason why?"

With a smile, Brycen replied, "I'm going back into acting full force, effective next month. My Pokémon and I may enjoy battling but our place is in front of the big screen!"

Drayden chuckled, "Well, how exciting for you! I'll be sure to relay that to Hilbert. Until next time."

Brycen nodded as he walked out of the Opelucid gym. And when he left, Hilbert and Iris recalled their Pokémon and walked up to Drayden to see his assessment. "Ah," Drayden said, "That was a fantastic battle for both of you. The teamwork you both showed with your Pokémon was outstanding! You should be very proud. Unfortunately, I have some more serious business to discuss with you Hilbert."

"What is it?"

"Ah, nothing too serious, I assure you. Just so happens that Brycen has decided his place is with the big screen."

(-)

'Uggggh, I'm out two gym leaders so far. What a mess. At least Team Plasma has been snuffed out of most of the cities. They don't seem to be as big as a problem as they once were, thankfully,' thought Hilbert.

Pulling up his Xtransceiver, Hilbert called both Cheren and Bianca, his closest friends. Soon both of their figures showed themselves on the screen. "Hey guys! How're you doing."

Cheren let out a tired sigh. "The younger kids are a little too rowdy for me to keep up with them. I prefer the older ones who have a bit more volume control," Cheren said. "Needless to say, I'm exhausted right now."

Bianca decided to answer her part. "Professor Juniper has been running me ragged with on site Pokemon research." With a tired but happy sigh, Bianca added, "It's getting to be that time when new trainers start their journey."

"Just like we did," added on Hilbert.

"Right. I wonder what these new trainers will have in store for the league. Oh, btw Hilbert."

"What's up?"

"Lenora has chosen to train me as her replacement for the Normal Type Gym leader position for next year."

"What! She didn't tell me when I visited her today!"

Bianca added her thoughts, "Well maybe she didn't want to add unneeded stress to you. She does have a replacement ready after all."

"Right. She is rather motherly in that regard. So," Hilbert said focusing on Cheren, "You're ready to be a gym leader?"

"I'd say I am. I've read through the manual that Lenora provided, and everything seems pretty standard." With a smirk, he said, "You can attest to my skills as a trainer."

"I can too!" Bianca pouted, "Just because I'm not as battle-oriented as you two doesn't mean you can ignore me!"

Cheren and Hilbert laughed at her antics. "We know that you're putting in good work with Professor Juniper. You may need to remind us of your skills in battling though," Hilbert said, winking at Bianca!

"Oh you can bet your socks I'll remind you!"

"Uh, all betting on socks aside, what's up with you Hilbert. Last we heard from you was when you were doing all those press releases for Unova's clean up."

"I've been all over the place but doing nothing at the same time. There's no one to challenge me at the moment, so I get rather bored there, but I have responsibilities all over the region with helping to snuff out Team Plasma. Hehe, it makes me envious of Hilda who just up and left to Sinnoh for another adventure."

"Can't you visit Sinnoh sometime," Bianca asked.

"I have responsibilities here, sadly, but I can ask Cynthia if I can visit after some work is done in Unova."

"If you end up going, give our best to Hilda. Her calls are few and far between, like yours," Cheren teased.

"Alright, alright. I'll call more you nag!" Hilbert said in a joke-aggravated manner. "I really want to battle her again! I can't help but think that she's gotten stronger! She seemed to be always improving during our journey!"

With those thoughts out there, the conversation turned to talks of the future and their Pokémon. After a few minutes, goodbyes were given and Hilbert's Xtransceiver was shut off.

Hilbert looked at his Samurott who was out of his pokeball for the entirety of their conversation. "Hey, buddy. I think our journey will pick back up soon enough. And if something throws a wrench into that plan, we'll handle it together!"

Hilbert ended up echoing Samurott's answer to what he wanted to do. Hilbert's mind recalled his answer earlier this day. "I'm fine with doing whatever you want, as long as I'm with you." All Hilbert could do to react is smile. He was truly happy with his team of Pokémon, especially his starter.

AN: Review if ya like it. If you don't like it, yell at me in the review and I'll yell back. I wasn't planning on posting anything throughout December (even though I'm basically 1 chapter per month anyway) because I want to have a bunch of chapters already written to have for you'all to read, but this is the Christmas chapter! Even though it isn't Christmas... or even Christmas week, but it's close enough! Merry Christmas guys and happy holidays!