Long Way to Fall

by rylek196

"Be careful when you fight monsters, lest you become one." As Hilbert Warren travels through the Unova region, he will learn the value of these words, as each hardship he endures drives him further down the path into murderous psychopathy... Novelization of Pokemon White. Rated T for language and some content. Cover drawn by Karliroja on DeviantArt.

29. Chapter 27: System Shock

A/N: Warning: This is an absolute BEHEMOTH of a chapter. Slow readers beware! Also, there's an important addendum I've put to the opening prologue's A/N which I'd like you all to go and read. Should clear the air about a rather annoying situation I've been dealing with where I've been impersonated while I was actually away writing this enormous chapter.

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Long Way to Fall

By: Rylek196

Chapter 27: System Shock

After buying a few more PTMRE's and getting his Pokemon healed, Hilbert made his way to the west. He knew that it was only a matter of time before someone discovered the body of the man he left to bleed out, and didn't exactly want to be inside the city limits when that happened. He kept to the south of the hill upon which the old building sat. Strangely enough, near the west of the said hill, was an excavator, left unoccupied in what looked like the beginnings of a dig site.

Probably an attempt by Clay to create some jobs, Hilbert thought. Who knows when that'll be done, though.

He kept going, leaving that unusual sight behind, and was near the edge of the city when a familiar voice yelled his name. "HILBERT!"

The boy didn't even need to turn around to know who it was. Bianca… he thought, growling. Sure enough, when he turned around, there she was, running full-tilt towards him.

"Hilbert! Stop!" she yelled again, even though he already was. Stopping about fifteen feet away from him, she leaned over for a second, catching her breath. "Where… have you… been!?" she cried. "I've been looking everywhere for you for the past three days, all over Nimbasa, and I only now find you after Elesa told me you were here!?"

"Where have I been? Where have I been!?" Hilbert shouted right back at her. "Try getting my ass handed to me by some green-haired psycho stalker, getting into a fistfight with Cheren- who's completely obsessed with beating me now for some reason, by the way- and freezing my balls off in a giant freezer because this city's arrogant-ass Gym Leader said I had to! Frankly, you've been the last damn thing on my mind for days! So unless you're here for something important, then get out of my sight."

"Oh, I'm here for something, Hilbert," Bianca said, seeming to spit out his name like a disgusting taste. "I'm here to prove to you that I'm worthy of being a Trainer- that I can handle myself on this journey! I challenge you to a battle!"

Bianca ended her little speech with a dramatic finger point, expecting Hilbert to back off, but he didn't. Instead, his expression only turned into one of cold fury. "If you really think you're gonna beat me- that you can even hope to compete with me- you're delusional. Do as you were told back in Nimbasa and go home, or show you how pathetic you are."

Hilbert then turned around and started walking towards Route 6 again, leaving Bianca fuming and on the verge of tears. She balled her fists and grabbed her Pignite's Poke Ball off her belt. "We'll see who's pathetic after this, you BASTARD!" she shouted, throwing out her starter.

Hilbert stopped as he heard the Pokemon materialize behind him in a flash of white light. Glancing over his shoulder to see what Pokemon it was, he then gave a bloodthirsty smirk. "Oh, big mistake."

In one smooth motion, he whirled around, grabbed Scrapper's Dusk Ball, and threw it. Bianca's face immediately went pale as she saw the Excadrill emerge, but then she steeled herself. "Tar-Taroko, use Arm Thrust! Take that thing out!"

The Pignite did as commanded, dashing towards the Subterrene Pokemon. "Scrapper, Earthquake!" Hilbert yelled.

Excadrill snorted, thrusting its claws into the ground, causing a zigzagging series of cracks in the ground to race towards Pignite. It tried its best to dive out of the way, but it was too late, and it was caught in the explosion as the concrete burst underneath it, severely damaging the road. Pignite was sent flying, landing hard behind Bianca, and didn't get up.

"No!" Bianca cried. She quickly recalled her starter, and more than a few drops of nervous sweat ran down her temples. Oh, this is bad, she thought. Pignite was the strongest member of her team, at level 28, and Hilbert's Pokemon had downed it in one hit. With her other Pokemon being weaker than Pignite, what chance did she have? No, that's just the mindset he wants me to be in. I won't give up!

"Go, Pepper!" the girl cried as she threw out her Herider. The Loyal Dog Pokemon growled at the Excadrill, eager to avenge its fallen teammate.

"Use Take Down!" Bianca shouted. Much as everyone liked to peg her as one, she wasn't a completely clueless ditz, knowing full well Hilbert's Pokemon was probably a Steel-type, and that Take Down would do a pittance at best, but she would take anything she could get at this point.

"Scrapper, Earthquake it!" Hilbert yelled. Once again, the Excadrill stabbed its claws into the ground, sending another earthen shockwave at Herdier which, once again, was a one-hit KO. Hilbert's Pokedex chirped as Scrapper's level increased.

Oh damn, Bianca thought. I still have two more though. I can still turn this around!

She sent out Sidehopper, her Pansage, to hopefully do at least neutral damage to the monstrous Pokemon she had by now figured out was a Ground/Steel-type.

"Siderhopper, Seed Bomb!" she yelled. The Pansage jumped into the air, opening its mouth to spit several small, explosive seeds in a fan-shaped formation at Excadrill. Scrapper wasn't even fazed, nimbly dodging to the left, and batting another one clean out of the way with his claws. The seeds caused small craters where they landed and exploded.

In a way, Hilbert was glad for all the damage the battle was doing to Driftveil's outskirts. Serves Clay right for being a dick, he thought.

Pansage came down to earth, Scrapper once again embedding his claws into the ground, causing a network of cracks in the concrete that raced for the Grass Monkey Pokemon. Pansage cried out, trying to run away, but was caught in the explosion of Earthquake. This sent him flying, but to Hilbert's amazement, the monkey just barely got to his feet, a pained expression on his face.

Scrapper snorted, yanking his claws out of the concrete and rushing straight for the helpless Pansage. He slashed it across the face with Metal Claw, knocking it out. Looking up at Bianca, the Excadrill gave a derisive snort before hopping back in Hilbert's direction.

Hilbert looked at Bianca. The poor girl seemed like she was on the verge of tears once again, but these were tears of fear rather than frustration. Her knees shook as she recalled her Pansage, and she seemed hesitant as she took her final Poke Ball off her belt, holding it in both hands and cradling it against her chest. Without warning, she steeled her gaze, her eyes bloodshot, pulling her arm back in a throwing motion. "Musha, give it everything you've... got!" she yelled as she tossed the ball. To Hilbert's surprise, Bianca's Munna had evolved somewhere along the way, likely in Nimbasa, into a Musharna. The Drowsing Pokemon let out an echoing, ethereal-sounding yawning noise as it appeared, hovering several inches off the ground like all Musharna did.

"Scrapper, you know what to do!" Hilbert yelled.

Scrapper plunged his claws into the concrete as Bianca yelled, "Musha, Psybeam!"

More cracks in the already-destroyed concrete appeared, rushing towards Musharna at a rate the slow Pokemon could not hope to dodge. Musharna was hit by the explosion of earth underneath it, stopping the Psybeam attack before it was even launched. However, just like Pansage's type allowed it to survive an Earthquake, Musharna's bulk made it withstand the blow, but it was obviously weakened.

"Scrapper, Earthquake one more time!" Hilbert yelled.

Almost rolling his eyes, the Excadrill stabbed his claws into the concrete once more, sending one more shockwave through it, pulverizing it beyond all hope of repair. The final explosion sounded Musharna's knockout, and Bianca's defeat.

"No!" the girl cried out, recalling her Musharna. Her hands trembled as she looked at the Poke Ball in her hand. Hilbert had beaten her without his Pokemon taking so much as a scratch. She looked up to see Hilbert walking quickly and aggressively towards her, like a heat-seeking missile that had just found a target.

"Give me your Trainer Card," Hilbert demanded. When Bianca looked at him with fearful, hesitant eyes, his narrowed. "Now!" he added.

Without another word, Bianca reached into her bag, rummaging around for a few seconds, and pulled out her Trainer Card. Hilbert ripped it out of her hand, tapping it against his. He then flicked it back at her, Bianca just barely catching it.

The blond-haired girl stared down at her Card with distraught eyes, wondering if she was even worthy to have it anymore. "...Why?" she finally asked in a broken, quiet voice. "Why did I lose..?"

"Why do you think, Bianca?" Hilbert shot back gruffly, crossing his arms. "Because you're a shit Trainer, and you always have been! From the moment we set out in Nuvema! You should've done as your father said in Nimbasa and gone home! You're pathetic! You're worthless!" Hilbert's last shouted word echoed in the air around them for several seconds, but that was nothing compared to how it rang in Bianca's mind, drowning out everything else.

That was the straw that broke the Camerupt's back. Bianca burst into tears, turning and running away. As she did so, her bag swung in a violent arc on her shoulder, and something fell out, landing on the broken road. Hilbert bent down and picked it up as Bianca became a blur in the distance, seeing that it was the jewel case for a TM. He scanned it with his Pokedex, and his eyes widened. This was no ordinary TM. In fact, it wasn't a TM at all! It was the coveted HM02, Fly. Hilbert briefly wondered where the hell Bianca of all people got her hands on such a useful move, then shrugged, deciding it didn't matter. He then kept going, trekking farther into Route 6.

Meanwhile, one of the Shadow Triad, hidden in nearby foliage, watched him walk off with a dead-eyed stare, before vanishing. He had to inform Lord N about this… interesting occurrence.

N clicked the central button on his last Poke Ball four times, releasing the final Pokemon-a Deerling- he had caught on Route 6. He and a Team Plasma grunt were in Chargestone Cave, the entrance about twenty feet behind them.

"Go on, my friend," N said softly to the Deerling. "Go back to the wild where you belong."

The Season Pokemon gave him a sad look, then took off, out of the cave. It soon vanished into the wilds of Route 6.

"Um… Lord N… if I may… Why must you keep releasing your Pokemon?" the grunt said after a second of silence. "What purpose could there be to such an action?"

N snapped the now-useless Poke Ball shut, looking down at it as he gripped it tightly. "It's because I can't… I just can't keep Pokemon trapped in these evil devices!" he cried. "I can't bear to make them suffer so! Battling is even worse. Even though I know I have to put them through that to change the world, that doesn't make it any less painful for them… or me."

"But… catching Pokemon and battling them is what people have done for generations!" the grunt replied. "Isn't it just the way of the world? How it works?"

N suddenly whirled on him, his eyes darkening. "And who decided that? Who decided that imprisoning Pokemon- living, feeling beings- inside capsules and making them fight for sport was how the world should be!? It's unjust! It's disgusting! And I hate it!"

With a cry of rage, N threw the Poke Ball at the cavern wall. It struck the rock right on the hinge, and broke in two.

The grunt gulped down a lump of saliva. He had never seen the king of Team Plasma give such an outburst of anger. It was extremely uncharacteristic of him to display anything other than cold, stoic commitment to the goal of Pokemon liberation. If he was being honest with himself, it scared him.

"Then… then I'll let my Pokemon go, too!" he stammered, grabbing a Poke Ball off his belt, only for N to grab his wrist.

"Not yet," the young man said, looking him dead in the eye, all traces of his previous anger gone. "The time will come soon- the time when I awaken the Legendary Pokemon, and defeat the Champion. Then it will be time." He let the grunt go, his arm falling limply to his side. "I will become the Unova region's new hero, rest assured. We only have to wait a little while longer. For now, head to your post, and wait there."

"Yes, my Lord!" the grunt said, hurrying off deeper into the cave. However, once he was out of earshot, he muttered, "Can't believe I have to take orders from that whackjob… work before play, I know, but this is a helluva lot of work…"

I will separate Pokemon and humans, N thought, looking at the broken halves of the Poke Ball on the ground. Split this world into two distinct pieces that should have never combined to begin with! I will not waver in my beliefs- I cannot! But then why… why have all the Pokemon I've captured seemed so reluctant to leave me? Could what Hilbert's Oshawott have said back in Accumula Town really have been true?

He let out a cry of confused frustration. "Hilbert!" he declared to no one, "I swear I'll defeat you! I will prove myself as the worthy hero! The one to change the world!"

Shortly afterwards, Professor Juniper, a huge backpack slung over her shoulders, landed in front of the Driftveil City Pokemon Center on her Braviary, eager to get to Chargestone Cave, but knowing she had to stock up on supplies first. The weight of said supplies would be no hindrance to her, as not only was she far, far stronger and more muscular under her lab coat than she appeared, she and her father, Cedric Juniper, had been traveling backpackers in her teenage years, so she was used to it. She walked into the building, but heard loud sobbing as soon as she did so. Looking left, she saw the source of the crying was Bianca, curled up on one of the chairs in the lounge area, bawling her eyes out.

"Bianca!" Juniper exclaimed, running over to the girl. She knelt in front of her, gently placing her hands on Bianca's shoulders. "What happened?" she asked in a soothing tone. "Why are you crying?"

Bianca looked down at Juniper, stopping her wracking sobs for a second. Her green eyes were bloodshot, red lines spiderwebbing the whites like veins of magma. She then burst into tears anew and turned away.

"Bianca, I'm only trying to help," Juniper continued. "And I can't do that unless you tell me what's going on. I'm not a Psychic-type Pokemon, I can't read minds."

"I-it's... H...Hilbert," Bianca stuttered thanks to her crying. "I...I t-tried to f-fight him, but he b-beat me s-so eas-easily! And-and... he... he called me pathetic! He called me w-worthless!"

Juniper's blood ran cold as Bianca started sobbing again. Could this be my fault? She thought. I have been rather hard on Hilbert, and now it seems like he's taking it out on those who don't deserve it.

"He- I d-don't know wh-what's gotten in-into him," Bianca said, her breathing shaky. "He was just... cruel. So, so cruel."

Juniper stood up, getting Bianca to her feet and wrapping her arms around her in a hug. "Bianca, listen to me. You're not worthless. I don't care what anyone says, you're not." She pulled back, still keeping a gentle grip on the girl's arms. "In fact, let me see your Badge Case."

She let Bianca go, the girl digging into her purse and pulling out her Badge Case with a forlorn look, handing it to Juniper. Juniper opened it, walking over and sitting on the lounge's couch, with Bianca sitting beside her.

"You see these Badges?" Juniper asked, to which Bianca nodded, sniffling. "These are proof that you've accomplished something. They say you overcame a challenging situation, and won. Just like you're going to now. You'll get through this. I'm here for you."

"T-tell that to my Dad," Bianca sniffled. "He-he didn't care about any of that, and basically said that... I-I wasn't good enough!" She burst into tears yet again.

"Then you know what? Screw him and what he says." Juniper said.

"W-what?"

"I said, screw him," Juniper repeated. "Who the hell cares if he's your father? He has no right to judge whether you're worthy of going on this journey. The only person who has the right to make that call is you. Do you?"

"R-right now, no," Bianca said miserably, wiping her eyes.

"That's not the Bianca I know," Juniper said. "Where's that plucky girl who was full of energy? I want to see her again. This isn't you, Bianca. This sniffling, sad girl- it's not who you are."

"She left after she got constantly beaten down," Bianca mumbled.

"No, no she didn't," Juniper corrected her. "Take another look at these Badges and ask yourself: 'how many battles have I won compared to what I've lost?'"

Bianca sniffled once more, then she perked up slightly as she thought more about it. "Well... I've beaten every Gym I've faced so far on my first try. In fact, I've rarely lost to anyone but Hilbert."

Sensing she was getting somewhere, Juniper pressed that point. "Exactly. So, are you going to let a few losses get you down, compared to all your victories?"

A new, more determined light began to shine in Bianca's eyes. "No, I won't."

"Good. Keep your chin up. If you want me to be, I'll cheer you on in your battle against Clay. By the way, tomorrow I'm going to Chargestone Cave for a research trip on the request of my father. You can join me if you'd like. You can be my... bodyguard."

For the first time in a while, Bianca gave a genuine smile. "Okay."

Just then, the nurse turned on the TV on the wall right in the middle of a news report. "-Agic scene here today as a body was discovered in Driftveil's port," the newswoman said, the 't' in 'tragic' having been cut off due to the TV being turned on too late.

"Workers discovered the body a little over half an hour ago," she went on. "Police have ID'd the body, but have not released his name. We've been told police believe the victim bled to death from deep gashes in his thighs, but the autopsy will provide a more conclusive statement. From what has been gathered, it seems the wounds were caused by a Pokemon attack, most likely one of a slashing nature."

The newswoman went on in her report, but Juniper was deaf to it all. The only thing she could think was simply, Oh, no.

With Driftveil now far behind him, Hilbert stopped to catch his breath and have something to eat. He was about halfway to the entrance of Chargestone, currently on the east bank of a river that wended its way down the wide mountain valley he was in, cutting it in two.

Geez… he thought, digging into his food, I don't know how long it's gonna take me to get to the cave… and it's already about three in the afternoon. Might be sleeping under the stars tonight.

Luckily, the Pokemon of Route 6 weren't all that dangerous, save for the mushroom-like Grass/Poison-type Foongus, which naive travelers often mistook for discarded Poke Balls, only to be afflicted with a nasty malady upon going to pick up the supposed 'trash'. This was another area of Unova where Vanillite could be found, but they only came out in the winter months. From here, the mountains loomed over him, their beautiful white-topped peaks a common thing for hikers and mountaineers to climb to. He wasn't interested in doing that, however, as the entrance to Chargestone Cave was less than halfway up the widest mountain, with a well-worn trail leading up to it.

After finishing his meal, he packed the trash into his bag and kept going, leaving the river behind, the terrain getting gradually more rocky as the sky turned orange. He continued on until around seven-thirty at night, when the last dregs of sunlight faded, the darkness forcing him to stop. The last thing he wanted to do was go halfway up a mountain in the dark. And so, after eating a light dinner in the form of an LMT, he laid down on his back, using his bag as a pillow. Can't believe I'm actually doing this, he thought, closing his eyes to sleep.

The next morning, NOTE: MARCH 28TH he awoke, much to his chagrin, to find his jacket covered in morning dew. "Dammit…" he moaned, wiping his clothing clean of the droplets using his hands as he stood up. After putting a layer of deodorant on his armpits, he continued trekking on, the ground gradually increasing in elevation, and he had to take wider and wider steps to make any progress at all. At last, he reached the grassy plateau where the wide, gaping mouth of the cave could be clearly seen.

However, there was a problem: the lower half of the cave's entrance was covered by what looked like a big yellow spiderweb, preventing anyone from gaining access to Chargestone. He growled, fed up, and was about to march right up to the webbing and tear it away with his bare hands… until he saw it let out a visible spark as a gust of wind blew it. "...Okay, let's not touch that, it's obviously electrified," he muttered. "Either way, I guess this is what Clay was talking about after our battle. Time to give him a call."

He selected Clay's number on his Cross-Transceiver, and after a few rings, Clay's face appeared on the tiny screen. "Yeah, what is it, sprout?" the Gym Leader said.

"I'm at the entrance to Chargestone Cave, but there's this weird yellow spiderweb blocking it! I can't get in!" Hilbert said.

"Yep, that sounds like what I was called about after our battle," Clay answered. "I'll be there, but it might take a few hours. Got a challenger scheduled for five minutes from now, and that takes priority,"

"Are you kidding me!?" Hilbert yelled, his voice echoing in the wide open space he was in. "So I came all the way out here, only to be told I have to wait more!?"

"Gym Leaders're busy people, what d'ya want me to say? Just hang tight and I'll be there soon as I can."

Without another word, Hilbert stabbed his finger down on the 'END CALL' button, growling bloody murder. The ravenous monster that was his anger was unleashed, and it needed an outlet. He could see swarms of wild Pokemon in the nearby grass, and grinned evilly. Time to level grind.

For the next several hours, he set out with his team, decimating the local Karrablast, Shelmet, and Deerling populations, increasing his Pokemon's levels a little bit in the process. With all the Pokemon he fought here (with the exception of a few Tranquill) being weak to Fire-type attacks, his Darumaka gained several levels, going up from 30 to 33. At this level, she tried to learn the devastatingly powerful Flare Blitz, a 120 base power Fire-type move that was guaranteed to destroy anything it hit, but came with the drawback of recoil damage. Despite this, Hilbert chose to overwrite Headbutt in favor of the new move.

With the wild Pokemon sharing a weakness to Flying-type moves, Archen likewise got to level 33, learning Dragonbreath at level 31, which Hilbert overwrote Quick Guard for. Sawk, however, was only able to level up twice, to 31, learning nothing. He didn't bother bringing out Excadrill at all, seeing as how he was already at an adequate level- 34, due to his merciless, single-handed sweep of Bianca's team.

When Herdier hit level 32, however, something exciting happened. Hilbert gasped as the Loyal Dog Pokemon began to glow with the telltale sign of evolution. When it faded, Logan was no longer a Herdier. Instead, where he once stood was now a fully-evolved Stoutland. Hilbert ran up to his first-caught Pokemon and hugged the big dog around the neck, overjoyed that he had come this far.

Stoutland was a nearly four foot tall canine Pokemon covered in a thick, voluminous fur coat. The fur was light gray on the lower half of its body, becoming a dark blue on the upper half. Its head was covered in fluffy brown fur, and from its nose sprouted its most prominent feature: a gigantic moustache of cream fur, so long it trailed on the ground behind the Pokemon. Its ears were large, and it still retained the three-pointed crest on its face of its prior form.

However, all this paled in comparison to when Maru hit level 36. It took by far the longest amount of time to do so, as he was out training for as long as all of Hilbert's other Pokemon combined, but he, too, evolved. When it was done, the bipedal Dewott Hilbert had known was gone. In its place was a quadrupedal beast of a Pokemon: Samurott.

Samurott was a mostly blue Pokemon that resembled a sea lion. There was segmented, beige armour plating on its fore and rear limbs, and it wore a huge seashell on its head as a sort of helmet, and said shell had a fearsome-looking, pointed protrusion on the front. It had a wide, fan-shaped tail, and there were large white whiskers poking out from its face.

Hilbert ran up to his starter in joy, but Maru simply growled and ran past him. Hilbert turned around, and to his astonishment, saw the Formidable Pokemon grab one of the pieces of armor on its forelimbs, and actually unsheathe it, the piece of armor turning out to be a sword-like weapon. Maru then used it to dispatch a Karrablast that had been sneaking up behind them with one hit.

Hilbert could only smile in pride. It only seemed like yesterday he had picked this powerful beast as an Oshawott back in Nuvema Town. Guess I was right when I saw potential in you, Maru, he thought. You really have gotten stronger, haven't you?

Trainer and Pokemon then continued to stare at each other for a few more seconds, and Maru nodded. The nod seemed to say, I will follow you wherever you go, Master. Thank you for allowing me this chance to travel with you. Hilbert then recalled his starter to his Poke Ball. Checking the Pokedex, Hilbert saw that Maru was trying to learn Slash, a 70 power Normal-type move, but just like he had with Aqua Jet when Maru was level 33, he passed on it, as his starter's moveset was already good enough.

Taking a glance at the status screen on the device, he saw that his Pokemon were quite dinged up from the training, with only Scrapper still entirely healthy due to not taking part. Dammit… and I don't think I have enough healing items to fix all this, Hilbert thought. I'll do what I can, but it's not gonna be enough… Gah, fuck you, Clay! If you had just hauled ass over here, I wouldn't have gotten angry, and wouldn't have done this!

Just then, he heard the flapping of great wings, and he turned around to see the Gym Leader in question descending on a Braviary. "Well, speak of Giratina…" the boy muttered as he ran over to the man. "Didn't think a Ground-type Gym Leader would own a Flying-type."

"Kid, all us Gym Leaders own ourselves a Braviary, but Skyla's the only one who uses 'em in the occasional battle," Clay replied, returning the Pokemon to its Poke Ball. "Scout here is jus' fer transport." His tone then took on a more sarcastically caustic edge. By th' way, I saw the damage ya did to the road just on the edge o' town. Thanks fer that, not like it's gonna cost thousands of fuckin' dollars to repair. What in the hell were you even doin' to wreck things so badly? Testin' out Earthquake for some stupid reason?"

"One of my former friends challenged me to a battle. I put her in her place. Let's leave it at that," Hilbert said. "Anyway, you gonna deal with that webbing, or not?"

Clay simply nodded, and they made the short walk to the entrance of Chargestone.

"Yep, this here is definitely a Joltik or Galvantula web," the man said once he saw the yellow strands of spider thread. "Impossible to tell which, honestly… Either way, time to get rid of it. Krokorok, go!"

He threw out a Poke Ball, and the Desert Croc Pokemon quickly got to work, slashing the webbing to bits with its claws, its Ground-type rendering it immune to being zapped.

Satisfied, Clay recalled his Pokemon, and turned to Hilbert, reaching into his pocket, and handed him a jewel case. "Here, as promised. TM78, Bulldoze."

Hilbert scanned the TM's QR code with his Pokedex, finding the move much weaker than he thought it would be. "This is only 60 base power," he said, underwhelmed. "Earthquake is better than this in every way."

"Fine, then have this, too. Little somethin' to sweeten the deal, I guess." Clay reached into his other pocket and pulled out a small drawstring bag, which he placed in Hilbert's palm.

"Pokemon hold item, I assume?" the boy said.

"Yup. Soft Sand. It boosts th' power o' Ground-type attacks by twenty percent. However, I'd advise against usin' Earthquake in that cave, or any area of effect attack in confined spaces. That goes fer Surf, too. It's askin' fer trouble. Worst-case, you could end up killin' yerself."

"Only you would give me an item that boosts the power of a move I won't be able to use," Hilbert sighed. "Anything else I should know?"

"Yeah, actually, there is," Clay said. He pointed past Hilbert. "Just down the way from this plateau, there's a B&B with a Pokemon Center-certified healing machine. Saw ya trainin' on the way down, so I figured yer Pokemon could use a bit of healin'. They sell food, too, so don't worry 'bout that. Now, if you'll excuse me, I gotta get goin'. That road ain't gonna fix itself."

Clay called out his Braviary, mounted it, and flew off without further ceremony. Hilbert looked at his watch, seeing it was close to one o'clock in the afternoon, and hurriedly made his way to the bed and breakfast. Chargestone was a long cave, and stocking up on supplies was a necessity. He bought three meal packs, three more Super Potions, as well as several cans of Super Repel spray on the advice of the person behind the counter. Repels were a non-flammable, aerosolized spray that had the effect of making someone more-or-less invisible to wild Pokemon by masking their scent. However, while it was odourless to wild Pokemon, it smelled putrid to human nostrils.

After healing his Pokemon, he was off to the cave. He had foregone washing his clothes and showering, trading hygiene for expediency. It was a decision that, in the following days in the cave, he would come to regret. Once inside the cave, the temperature instantly dropped a few degrees. Unlike the Cold Storage, it was nothing unpleasant, but it was enough for him to flip his hood up.

The next thing that struck him was the dull blue glow that permeated everything. The cause of the luminescence were the plentiful stones, both embedded in the walls and held aloft by electromagnetic repulsion, around him. Even the walls and dusty floor were a blue-grey color. He approached one of the levitating rocks, reaching out to touch it, but when his hand was an inch away, a small bolt of electricity shot out and zapped him. "Ow! Ah, fuck!" he cried, yanking his hand back and shaking it. "Okay, lesson learned, don't touch those things."

The area he was in was a large, somewhat kidney bean-shaped cavern, the ceiling about thirty feet above him, the glowing rocks in it making it twinkle like stars in an impossibly close night sky. At the far end of the cavern was a wide tunnel, going deeper into the cave, but how far it went, he could not tell.

He quickly sprayed himself down with a Super Repel, his nose turning upwards at the stench, then began walking forward. He had taken no more than five steps when two white-haired figures that he could only describe as looking like ninjas appeared on either side of him with a vssh sound. "What the f- ummph!" he cried as one of them clamped over his mouth.

"Make one more sound and you're dead," the ninja on his left said in a raspy voice. "You're coming with us."

Hilbert's heart was pounding in his chest as he dragged a short ways into the tunnel, where he quickly saw N leaning against the wall. The boy's eyes narrowed. N! What's that son of a bitch doing here!?

"Lord N, we have done as you asked," one of the ninjas said.

"Excellent," the green-haired young man replied without turning his head. "You may go now."

The pair of ninja nodded, then vanished, leaving no trace they had ever been there. Hilbert opened and closed his mouth a few times, trying and failing to form words. Throughout all this, N remained still as a statue, not even looking at him. "What… wha- what the hell was that!?" Hilbert finally managed. "Who were those guys!?"

"They were the Shadow Triad," N said, at last pushing himself off the wall to face Hilbert fully. "You only saw two, but there are three- kind of implicit in the term 'triad'. They serve as spies for Team Plasma."

"Oh, yeah?" Hilbert said, trying to appear less creeped out than he felt. "And how long have you been using them to spy on me?"

"Honestly? I haven't been until about yesterday," N said, giving an innocent little shrug. "However, one did tell me about the battle you and your friend Bianca had on Route 6." He shook his head. "He said Bianca put up the most pathetic performance in a battle he'd ever seen."

"I had no choice," Hilbert said. "Someone needed to tell her in no uncertain terms she wasn't cut out to be a Trainer, and it may as well have been me."

N took a breath to say something more, but then his eyes narrowed, and he leaned in to confirm his nose had been correct, sniffing the air around Hilbert, much to the boy's consternation.

"That scent… Repel spray," N hissed, recoiling back. "Yet another thing man invented to disrupt the sacred balance of nature."

"Oh, would you shut the fuck up!?" Hilbert said in exasperation. "Do you know how dangerous the wild Pokemon are in here? I've heard of more than one person getting swarmed and shocked to death by Joltik- no one with an ounce of sense would go in here without any Repels! Which I guess explains why you don't have any- you're clearly completely nuts."

"Am I? Or am I the only one who sees how wrong the current state of the world is?"

Hilbert made a show of looking up and to the right, crossing his arms, in mock-deep thought. "...Nah, you're just nuts."

N gave Hilbert a glare that would have made him burst into flames if looks could kill. He raised his arm and snapped his fingers. A Shadow Triad ninja appeared by his side, grabbed his wrist, and the two vanished into thin air with a vssh.

"Good damn riddance to you, too," Hilbert muttered. "He'll be lucky if I don't kill him the next time I see him."

If he was being honest with himself, the idea of beating N to death with his own severed arm did sound quite appealing. Letting that mental image comfort him, he prepared to keep going, when he heard a familiar voice echoing down the tunnel behind him. "...Remember, Bianca, we're here to study Klink. According to the records, they just suddenly… appeared about a century ago. It's our job to gather data that will help us figure out why!"

"Alright, Professor!" Bianca's voice replied.

Oh, no… Hilbert thought. For a second, he considered running down the tunnel, but then realized there was no point. They would hear his footfalls, and likely demand to know who was there. So, he gave in to the inevitable, and walked back towards them.

As he came into view, a look of surprise overtook Juniper's face, while one of fear crawled across Bianca's, her skin going pale. The Professor, he noted, was wearing a big backpack that seemed full of supplies.

"Hilbert!" Juniper said. "What are you doing here?"

"Trying to get through this cave, what does it look like?" Hilbert said, motioning with his head to the tunnel behind him. "Better question is, how'd you two get here so fast?"

"The same way I got to Nimbasa ahead of you and Cheren- my Braviary," Juniper said. "You're quite forgetful, aren't you?" She slipped the backpack off her shoulders, knelt down, and opened it. "Either way, Bianca, can you take some of the equipment I have here and go set it up back at the entrance? I want to talk with Hilbert privately."

"Okay," Bianca nodded, seeming relieved to get away from her former friend. She grabbed a few random scientific instruments out of the bag, some of which were sensors for magnetic fields, and scurried off.

Hilbert sighed as Juniper led him about ten feet deeper into the tunnel, to make absolutely sure they were out of Bianca's earshot. "Hilbert, what the hell has gotten into you?" Juniper hissed. "Yesterday, I went into the Pokemon Center in Driftveil, and I found Bianca in there, crying. She also told me you called her worthless. I don't what's going on with you, but you need to stop it. Now."

"And why should I, Professor?" Hilbert shot back snidely. "She wanted to battle me, she faced the consequences. That's all there is to it."

"No, it's not," Juniper said. "She wouldn't have been bawling her eyes out if you had simply beaten her in a battle. You insulted her, you belittled her, and you made her feel worse than dirt. According to what she told me on our way here, you didn't even stand up for her when her own father was against her."

"Oh, this shit again?" Hilbert huffed. "What was I supposed to do? Tell her to keep going when I've seen and experienced firsthand how dangerous these journeys get? Lie and say she's a good Trainer when she's clearly not? Sometimes, the truth is better than lying, even when the person doesn't want to hear it."

"Okay, then tell me the truth on this, even though I don't want to hear it," Juniper countered. "Practice what you preach, if you will. Just after I consoled Bianca- because of you, might I add- there was a news report on TV that said the body of a man who bled to death was discovered near the Driftveil port. They also said the wound was caused by a Pokemon attack, one of a slashing nature, and I know you were around there before then." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "Hilbert... did you kill someone?"

Hilbert just barely managed to keep his surprise off his face, only the subtle raise of his eyebrows betraying his true emotions. He instead laughed and scoffed. "Juniper, I was training on Route 5 to get ready for my battle with Clay. Had to go through one hell of a mad dash to get across the drawbridge in time for the battle, but I made it. Hell, the only time I was in Driftveil that day was during the battle. After that, I left."

Juniper's face twisted into a look of suspicion. Something wasn't adding up, but she couldn't put her finger on what. "...Okay, I'll believe you," she said at last. Hearing Bianca calling, she started walking away. "But I swear, if I find out you had anything to do with that, I'll have your Trainer Card revoked in a heartbeat and have you thrown in jail."

Rolling his eyes, Hilbert then at last kept trekking down the tunnel, the ground remaining more-or-less level, though he maintained a vigilant watch for wild Pokemon.

He hadn't been kidding when he said the wild Pokemon in Chargestone Cave were dangerous. They included Boldore, the evolution of Roggenrola, and while these usually weren't a big threat, the ones in Chargestone were notoriously rowdy, and had mauled more than one person to the point of serious injury or even death. Meanwhile, Joltik was a small Bug/Electric-type resembling a spider, that, while very small (only being about four inches in height) could jump onto a person without them even noticing and zap them. If several Joltik joined in on this 'game' the results were often death by electrocution. The pure Electric-type Tynamo could do the same, but it was really only seen in the deepest parts of the cave, and encountering one higher up was very rare.

However, the last two species were the absolute worst. First was Klink, a Steel-type that resembled a pair of constantly turning gears. Even those who chose to train these Pokemon kept them at a literal arm's length, as a limb caught in between Klink's gear-like body could be crushed or even amputated. The most feared of all, though, that not even Repels would save those unfortunate enough to disturb from, was Ferroseed. These Grass/Steel-types buried themselves in the ground like landmines, with only the green spike on the top of their body visible poking out of the dirt. If anyone had their foot so much as brush against this protrusion, the Ferroseed would burst out of the ground to about abdomen height, and shoot a barrage of Pin Missile spikes in all directions, more often than not shredding the victim's guts, leading to a painful death.

Luckily, Hilbert had not seen any of the green spikes poking out of the cave floor- the telltale giveaway for the evil little creatures- and all the Joltik he could see crawling on the walls ignored him. The Super Repel was doing its job. The tunnel wound onwards, and he walked for over an hour before it ended in another chamber, this one slightly smaller than the one at the entrance. To his dismay, there were two tunnels at the end of the chamber- one on the left, one on the right.

Great, he thought. So it's a crapshoot. Just wonderful. Not getting anywhere fast by standing around, he decided on the left path, reasoning he could double back if it led nowhere. The ground quickly became more slanted at a downwards angle, and without warning, became near-vertical, causing him to take a painful tumble down.

"Ow… ah… dammit, that hurt…" he groaned, pushing himself to his feet. He lifted up his jacket and shirt, noting one place on his abdomen that was tender and bruised due to him landing on one of the Repel cans in his bag. Checking the can, he saw it was dented, but still usable. Looking behind him, he saw that the way he came was much too steep to climb back up. "Okay… I vote this way."

Turning around, however, he saw that he was in a relatively narrow passageway now, and it was filled with large boulders and other loose rubble. Making his job harder, there was a giant electrified rock in the center, though this one didn't float. Cursing once more, yet knowing there was no turning back now, he began pulling himself on top of the nearest boulder. For the next half-hour, he gingerly maneuvered around or climbed over the boulders, knowing one slip would lead to a painful fall of up to eight feet in height. He was sweating and exhausted by the time he made it through.

Deciding to take a quick break to eat, he sat down and took his second and final LMT from his bag. After this, he only had the three full-size PTMRE's, but was sure those would be enough to get him to Mistralton. After finishing his meal, he stood up, sprayed himself down with another Repel, and continued. The passage continued to gradually narrow, until he was forced to sidle through a particularly tight portion of tunnel.

Exiting through the gap, he was greeted with a much wider room, with a crevasse spanning the entire length. Looking down into it, he was greeted with a sight that made his skin crawl. About halfway down the twenty-foot deep chasm, was a massive yellow spiderweb, and in the center, with their four legs splayed out to evenly distribute their weight and seemingly sleeping, were three Galvantula.

Galvantula was a yellow spider-like Pokemon covered in yellow and purple fur. It had four legs, and two large pedipalps. It had six eyes, two bigger ones on either side of its head, and four smaller ones between them, arranged in a square pattern. Four large tufts of blue fur grew from the underside of its abdomen and sprouted upwards.

Hilbert took a step back, his heart pounding in his chest. "Now what?" he whispered to himself. "How the hell am I supposed to get around this?"

He scanned the room, looking at the walls, and saw his salvation. On the right hand wall, was a long, if somewhat unstable-looking, rock ledge, that looked just wide enough that he could shimmy across it. Deciding to take the risk, he adjusted his bag so it was in front of his body, stepped up onto the ledge, and quickly swiveled so he was parallel with it. Doing his best to remain calm and ignore his heart hammering in his chest, he began to sidle along the ledge, knowing that falling would mean landing on the web and being shocked into total paralysis by it. Though he hadn't heard of a single case of a Pokemon eating a human, he didn't want to end up paralyzed so badly he couldn't call for help, and if it turned out Galvantula did eat humans, he didn't want to be a helpless meal for future consumption by spiders the size of dogs.

Taking it slow and steady, he cringed at every slight crack of the ledge under his feet, sending a few small stones tumbling down into the crevasse, but this didn't wake the napping Elespider Pokemon below him. When he reached solid ground at the other side of the crevasse, he took a second to catch his breath. "Never… never doing that again," he said breathlessly.

Readjusting his bag, he left that terrifying room behind, moving forward into the next tunnel, which turned out to be rather short, and ended in a massive chamber that took his breath away. Scattered throughout the cavern were stalagmites and stalactites of various lengths, but that wasn't the impressive part. Many of these formations had big electromagnetic stones held in suspension between them, looking like something out of a masterful painting. "Unbelievable…" Hilbert breathed.

Though he didn't know it, he had entered into what the spelunkers that first explored Chargestone had nicknamed 'The Room of Floating Columns', due to the stones suspended serenely between the stalactites and stalagmites like stasis pods in a science fiction movie. When stalactites and stalagmites grew so long that they eventually met and combined, it was called a column, hence the room's name.

Unfortunately, taking a closer look, he could see the telltale green spikes of Ferroseed sticking up out of the ground at countless points, some less than three feet apart from each other. "Great… gonna have to thin these out." He plucked Makue's Great Ball off his belt and enlarged it, throwing it underhanded in such a way that it struck the nearest spike, knowing it would likely cause a chain reaction.

Time seemed to slow as the Ball arced through the air, coming down and landing on the spike, as Makue was released, disturbing it. The Ferroseed was quick to burst out of the ground.

Ferroseed was an ovoid Pokemon that resembled a kind of fruit straight from the bowels of hell. Its steely skin was grey with black speckles all over it, and there were black stripes that separated its body into four segments. It had yellow eyes, and sticking out at all angles from its body were green thorn-like spikes.

Hilbert dove to the side, landing hard on the dusty ground a nanosecond before the Ferroseed unleashed Pin Missile, shooting the spikes in every direction. "Makue, Fire Punch, now!" he yelled. Makue quickly circled around the Thorn Seed Pokemon as it came down and gave it a fiery punch that sent it flying and knocked it out in one hit. However, as it landed and rolled along the ground, it disturbed five more of its kind, each popping up and firing a Pin Missile barrage, which failed to hit anything.

Hilbert's eyes widened as theirs zeroed in on him and his Pokemon, and they began rolling towards them. He pushed himself to his feet and brought out Sensei's Poke Ball. "Okay, gonna need some backup here… Sensei, go!"

The Karate Pokemon emerged as soon as he threw the Ball, taking a fighting stance, ready to defend his Trainer. "Sensei, take the two on the left! Brick Break 'em!" Hilbert yelled, his voice echoing in the cave. "Makue, you take the three on the right! Fire Punch, go!"

As one, the five Ferroseed launched an enormous barrage of Pin Missile spikes, which Hilbert's Pokemon had no chance of dodging, and though they absorbed the brunt of the attack, Hilbert still had to turn to the side to avoid being hit by a few stray spikes.

His team members recovered quickly, going on the offensive as the Ferroseed popped out new thorns. Sensei reached his quarry first, delivering a punishing series of three chops to the nearest Ferroseed- the first two to the sides of its body to discombobulate it, the third overhead one to do the damage. Though the attack was just barely sufficient to knock it out, Sensei too cried out in pain as his hand made contact with the spikes.

Oh no… why didn't I think that would happen!? Hilbert thought. Obviously hitting the spikey thing is gonna cause damage to the attacker! I'm such a fucking IDIOT!

Fighting through the pain, Sensei gave the other Ferroseed a Brick Break, knocking it out as well at the cost of inflicting more damage to himself. Meanwhile, Hilbert watched in shock and despair as Makue knocked out the last Ferroseed, but the damage incurred on the defensively-frail Fire-type was enough to knock her out in turn. Once again, Hilbert's Pokemon had come through for him… but it had been at a cost.

The young Trainer recalled both his Pokemon, his breathing heavy and his heart pounding in his chest from the adrenaline rush of the past few minutes. I can't afford to keep fighting those things, not if they chip my Pokemon down like that, he thought. But there's gotta be dozens of them in here, and I only have five Super Potions! Dammit! Fucking dammit!

He let out a cry of anger and swung his arm in a frustrated manner. Taking out his Pokedex and looking at the status screen, he saw that Sensei had lost nearly half his health from both the Pin Missile and striking the Ferroseed's spiky body. He quickly healed both his Pokemon back to full, using three of his five Super Potions to do so. Two left… gotta make 'em count, he thought, grimacing.

From then on, he was forced to play an extremely dangerous game of the-floor-is-lava, gingerly stepping around the spikes or using Maru's Scald to trigger the Ferroseed from a distance when there was no other option, then running like hell.

At one point, he encountered two Boldore and a Klink, but they were dispatched without much issue by Maru and Sensei. Though Maru did end up taking a Thundershock from the Klink, it caused only minor damage even though it was super-effective, because it was such a weak move, and Hilbert didn't think it necessary to heal it.

At last, he came to the end of the chamber and went through it, emerging onto a wide and long ledge over another crevasse. Unlike the last one, though, this time there was an actual bridge spanning across it. It looked to be made of fairly solid wood and was wide, but it had no handrails- meaning a single careless step could send one falling off to their doom. Hilbert took one step towards the bridge, when out of nowhere, the three ninjas appeared around him, one behind him, one to his left, and one to his right. He cried out in surprise, and the one on his right grabbed his wrist in an unbreakable grip. Hilbert gasped at the contact, as the ninja's skin was cold as ice.

"Come with us," the ninja said. All of a sudden, Hilbert felt as though his body was being blended into a slurry. It only lasted a fraction of a second, but it was nauseating and disorienting beyond words, and felt strangely violating at the same time, like his innards were being rearranged by demented surgeons at impossible speeds.

Just as fast as the feeling began, though, it ended. They were now on the opposite side of the crevasse, having never so much as set foot on the bridge. The ninja let him go, leaving Hilbert to drop to his hands and knees, trying to hold in the vomit that now fiercely wanted to exit his mouth. In the end, it proved to be a losing battle, and whatever half-digested food that was in his stomach was expelled the same way it went down.

"Wha… what the… wh'thefuck…" he breathed, barely able to utter those words due to the sick feeling puking left in its wake.

"That wasn't exactly an uncommon reaction to being teleported for the first time," one of the ninjas said. "Lord N did the same. Even Master Ghetsis could barely hold in his lunch."

Another ninja pointed at a ladder five feet from where they were. "That ladder leads deeper into the cave, and you will take it. Team Plasma is waiting for you there."

Hilbert shook his head, pushing himself onto one knee. "Y-you really… really think those pathetic... grunts are gonna stop me?" he growled. "I've… I've beaten them more times than… than I can count."

"Truthfully?" the third ninja said, "No, we don't expect them to stop you." He grinned behind his mask. "But they will weaken you."

With that, the Shadow Triad disappeared with their signature vssh sound. Hilbert made it to his feet, clutching his stomach, which was currently still doing backflips. "Ugh… I hate Team Plasma…" he groaned. He looked at the ladder and stumbled over to it. It looked to be about fifty feet down at least. "And… and if they think I'm gonna be going down right away, they're gonna be disappointed. I'm gonna sleep here, and go down tomorrow."

He lay down, using his bag as a pillow. He considered settling an alarm on his watch, but decided against it, instead allowing himself as much time as he needed to sleep. It had been a long and exhausting day, and he was dead tired. It came as no surprise that sleep claimed him quickly.

When he next opened his eyes, the first thing he did was check his watch, finding it to be nearly eleven in the morning. He got up, groaning as his stiff leg muscles complained. Brushing himself off, he had one of his last two meal packs to appease his stomach, left empty after having thrown up its contents the previous day. One should be enough to get me through this last stretch… I hope, he thought.

Putting his garbage in the bag and slinging the bag over his shoulder, he began his slow, methodical climb down the near sixty foot-long ladder. He tried his best to push all thoughts of what one misplaced step could mean away, only focusing on going hand-over-hand, one after the other, down, down, down… Until finally, he made it. Unbeknownst to him, he was not alone.

Ghetsis watched as Hilbert came down the ladder, not worried in the slightest about being seen. The Pokemon next to him was seeing to that. Until that is, it saw the boy, and let out a hiss of aggression. The man flinched as Hilbert turned around, staring right at him, but thanks to the illusion, saw nothing but the wall behind the ladder.

"Hello?" Hilbert said. "Who the hell's there?" He took a Poke Ball off his belt. "Show yourself, or this is gonna get violent!" He took a few cautious steps forward, and Ghetsis held his breath. Ten more inches, and he would walk right into the illusion. However, the young Trainer never did. He instead muttered, "I must be hearing things… This damn cave's drivin' me nuts. I need to get out of here ASAP…" and walked off.

Ghetsis gave the Pokemon beside him a withering glare, making it cower. "You are a fool, Zoroark," he said. "You had better not do that during the real thing. If you give yourself away at any point then, I'll let my Bisharp use you as a cutting target. Understood?"

The Pokemon nodded feverishly, fearful of having to endure more beatings and pain.

Zoroark was a Pokemon that resembled a fox. Unlike the Ninetails and Vulpix native to Kanto, however, this creature stood bipedal, and its fur was gray-brown. An enormous, bushy mane of red fur with black spikes at the top sprouted from its head and trailed down its back. Its chest fur was thick and black, and the claws on both its feet and paws were red.

"Now, have you memorized the plan, or must I go over it a third time?" Ghetsis continued. The Zoroark whined, but in the end shook its head no. Ghetsis sighed. Useless creature… he mentally growled, but complied. "You are to slip past that boy and lie in wait near the end of the cave. When he passes you, trap him in an illusion- the most powerful you can muster, and keep him there until he dies from starvation or dehydration, or goes mad. Whichever happens first. Do not dispel the illusion until then. Am I clear?"

The Zoroark gave another nod, this time for yes.

"Good," Ghetsis said. With Hilbert long gone, and therefore with no chance of being spotted, Ghetsis exited the illusion, making his way up the ladder. The Shadow Triad would pick him up at the top, leaving the Zoroark alone to carry out its task.

The Zoroark just sighed, sitting down, causing its back-jointed legs to bend in an inhuman way. As a Pokemon, a being of pure energy, it didn't exactly need to eat or drink (though it could), but it knew the waiting of this task might drive it just as mad as the boy. Still, it could do nothing but wait, as the threat of the green-haired man's Bisharp was still fresh in its mind.

With Maru's Poke Ball clenched in his hand, Hilbert made his way slowly through the massive singular cavern that was Chargestone's lower floor. This wasn't as deep as the cave got- there was still yet another level even further below where Tynamo could be found- he didn't intend on going there, as there was no need to. The cavern was utterly gigantic, with huge glowing blue rocks jutting up out of the floor at various points, smaller rocks hovering around or stuck to them. The ground was rocky, and quite uneven, meaning one misstep could result in a twisted ankle.

He carefully made his way through the cavern, flicking his gaze to his feet every few seconds to ensure he wasn't about to step on an uneven bit of ground and trip, while at the same time trying to stay alert for any grunts that he knew were around. It was a frustrating back-and-forth game, making him wish that human eyes could move independently of each other. The large blue rocks divided the place into a maze of scattershot pathways, but as long as he kept going north, he figured he wouldn't get too lost.

As he came around a corner, his eyes widened. There, about twenty feet away, was a Plasma grunt. His back was luckily turned to the boy, so Hilbert took the opportunity to duck behind a nearby rock. Said rock, however, decided to betray him, sending an electric shock into his back, making him cry out and force him to get away from the rock.

The grunt, unsurprisingly, heard this, and he whirled around. "Who the hell's there?" he said. Hilbert could hear his heavy footfalls come closer and closer, each one in sync with the thudding of his heart. "If it's you, kid, you might as well come out," the grunt continued. "There's no use hiding."

Shit, no way around this guy now, Hilbert thought. He took Logan's Poke Ball off his belt, praying the Stoutland would come through for him. He then stepped out from behind the rock, making the grunt give an evil smile. "Yep, that damn well figures. Took ya long enough to get down here." Without further ado, he threw out the first of his three Poke Balls, and a Sandile materialized onto the ground.

"Go, Logan!" Hilbert yelled, tossing out his own Pokemon. "Strength, now!"

The Stoutland growled, pawing the ground twice, then dashed towards the Desert Croc Pokemon, slamming into it and sending it flying back. Logan's higher level, coupled with the frail defensive stats of the Sandile, was enough to knock the latter Pokemon out in one hit. Logan growled at the grunt, baring his fangs, then ran back to his Trainer.

Let's press the advantage, Hilbert thought as the grunt recalled his Sandile. "Work Up, Logan!" His Stoutland made the familiar jackhammer-like vibration, followed by the red-orange aura surrounding it.

The grunt pulled his next Poke Ball off his belt. "Let's shut that thing down, shall we? Watchog, go! Use Hypnosis!"

As soon as the Watchog appeared, its eyes started glowing. Hilbert gasped in horror, being reminded of what happened in Nimbasa. "Logan, attack now!" he cried. However, it was too late. Even as Logan raced for the Watchog, it fired the beams from its demonic eyes, hitting Logan directly in his. The Big-Hearted Pokemon was put to sleep immediately, crashing to a stop.

"Super Fang!" the grunt commanded. The Watchog's teeth glowed white, and it ran at the sleeping Stoutland, chomping down on his face with sickening force. The grunt then did something Hilbert didn't expect: nothing. He didn't order any follow-up attack, even though Logan was an easy target.

"What the hell are you playing at!?" Hilbert yelled. "Why aren't you attacking!?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" the grunt sneered back.

Hilbert knew something was off, but couldn't do anything about it. So, he and the Plasma grunt continued their strange stalemate for another three minutes until Logan opened his eyes once more. Now ready for action, he obeyed Hilbert's command to use Crunch, which knocked out the Watchog thanks to the attack boost.

"Hah! Perfect!" the grunt said triumphantly. He recalled his Pokemon and threw out his last one, which caused Hilbert to grimace. It was a Scraggy! "Brick Break!"

The Scraggy leapt at Logan, delivering the left-right-overhead karate chop combo to the Stoutland, the hit being more than sufficient to knock him out.

"Fuck!" Hilbert said, recalling his Pokemon and sending out Sensei to quickly finish off the Dark/Fighting-type. With a Brick Break of his own, the Scraggy was knocked out.

"Well, would ya look at that, I lost," the grunt said, seeming completely nonchalant about it. "Not like it matters, though. I've chipped you down, as will everyone else down here."

"Sensei, grab this guy," Hilbert growled. "Let's see if we can't beat some info out of him."

"Not a chance," the grunt smirked, pulling a Smoke Ball from behind his back even as Sensei ran towards him. He threw it, and it shattered on the ground, releasing its smokescreen. The gas enveloped both the grunt and Hilbert, the boy coughing and clutching at his throat, falling to his knees. By the time it cleared, the grunt was long gone.

"I'm getting really damn sick of those things…" Hilbert muttered as he climbed to his feet, recalling Sensei. He used his final two Super Potions to heal Logan. That's it. Anyone who gets hurt from here on out is staying hurt. Guess those ninja bastards weren't lying.

He continued on through the cave, passing by glowing rock after glowing rock. Looking down at his watch at one point, he saw that ten minutes had passed since he battled the grunt, meaning it was about twenty minutes since he first entered the lower floor of Chargestone. He was just about to turn his gaze back up, when he ran into something solid and person-shaped, his heart skipping a beat.

The man immediately whirled around as Hilbert stumbled back several feet. Oh, shit!

"Heh, thought I heard the sounds of a scuffle a little bit ago," the Plasma grunt said. "Seems I wasn't just hearing things." He grabbed his sole Poke Ball, unclipping it from his belt. "Get out there, Scraggy!"

"Go, Maru!" Hilbert yelled, tossing out his starter. "Keep it away! Scald!"

The Formidable Pokemon gathered boiling water in his mouth and blasted it at the Scraggy. At the close range the Pokemon were at, there was no chance of it dodging, and it was hit full-on. The Scraggy cried out in pain, and Hilbert grinned as the grunt's Pokemon turned a dull red, and fire began to eat away at it. "Yes! How do ya like that?" the boy said.

Then, to his shock, the burning patch of skin on the Scraggy's chest began to glow white and flake away, leaving behind perfectly unblemished flesh, curing the burn. "What the-!?" Hilbert cried, to which the grunt only smirked.

"Shed Skin, dumbass. Now Brick Break!"

The Scraggy ran at the bewildered Maru, giving him the customary three-chop combo of Brick Break, the last hit sending him stumbling back, yelling and clutching at his face with a forelimb. He didn't stay in that state for long, however, and began to glow red with the aura of Revenge. With a truly terrifying roar, he ran at the Scraggy, batting it aside and making it fly into a nearby rock with enough force to crack it.

The grunt recalled his Pokemon with haste and threw down a Smoke Ball, covering his escape. Hilbert just barely pinched his nose in time, holding his breath to avoid inhaling any of the irritating fumes. Like the one before him, by the time the smoke cleared, the grunt was gone.

"Assholes," Hilbert growled, returning Maru to his Poke Ball. Looking at the status screen on the Pokedex, he saw that a chunk had been taken out of his starter's health bar. Sighing, he began walking again.

It was another half-hour of wandering through the maze of corridors and hoping he was still going the right way before anything else of note happened. The 'anything' in question was a truly massive glowing rock that cut off the left hand side of the path entirely, leaving only the right side open. Dozens of Joltik crawled around on the giant stone, feeding off the electricity it was imbued with.

"Just my damn luck," Hilbert muttered to himself. He went through the path left open, and when he rounded the bend, he was greeted with a sight that both reassured him and chilled his blood in equal measure. Lying on the ground, with green spikes embedded in her stomach and back, was the dead body of a Plasma grunt. Her blood was still fresh and flowed from the wounds, staining the rock around her. Also around her, were three Ferroseed, all trying to burrow back into the ground by spinning like tops.

Dammit… there's no way I'm sneaking by these things, Hilbert thought. Gonna have to fight through them… even if that'll cost my team more health. At least they saved me from having to fight another damn grunt.

He tossed out Sensei, the Ferroseed stopping what they were doing upon the sound of the Karate Pokemon materializing before them. Hilbert ducked back behind the rock as the Thorn Seed Pokemon launched barrages of Pin Missile spikes, not wishing to share the Plasma grunt's fate. Having ducked to avoid the attack, Sensei was also okay, and quickly jumped into the fray, dispatching the wild Pokemon with Double Kick and Brick Break.

Hilbert's Pokedex let out its signature ding! as the Sawk leveled up from the battle, something he really wished it hadn't done at the present moment. He checked the device nonetheless, finding that Sensei was not trying to learn anything, and that a fair bit of health was missing from the bar. In a rage, the boy smacked the rock wall next to him.

Leaving the body behind (but not before stomping on its face a couple of times to relieve some anger) he spent another half-hour wandering through the cave. By now, it was approaching ten past twelve in the afternoon, and he was beginning to get hungry, if the rumbling in his stomach was any indicator. Not wanting his own body to give away his position to however many grunts were still around, he took the last meal pack from his bag, and was just in the process of heating up the main course when a Plasma grunt stepped out from behind a rock.

"Shit!" Hilbert cried, shooting to his feet and grabbing a Poke Ball from his belt.

"Sorry to interrupt your lunchtime, kid, but Team Plasma waits for no one's meal!" the woman said, grabbing a Poke Ball of her own. "Go, Trubbish!"

"Artemis, get out there!" Hilbert yelled, throwing the Poke Ball out. The grunt gave a hiss of apprehension, evidently being familiar with the First Bird Pokemon and how powerful it was.

"Stockpile!" she yelled. The Trubbish opened its mouth, the very air around it turning into globs of energy as it inhaled. It was then surrounded by a red-orange aura, indicating both a defence and special defence boost.

"Dragonbreath, Artemis! Let's give 'em a taste of your new move!" Hilbert yelled. Artemis opened her beak and shot a pink, somewhat fragmented pink beam of energy at the Trubbish. It was hit, but due to the special defence boost, it managed to cling on to consciousness.

Without needing a command, the Trubbish took a large gulp of fetid saliva, and it glowed green for a second, some of its health recovered. Oh, shit… Hilbert thought, just before the Plasma grunt ordered her Pokemon to use Sludge. The Trubbish obeyed, belching up a glob of poison that sailed in an arc and came down on Artemis, who dodged, her high speed saving her.

Hilbert let out a quiet, brief sigh of relief. "Acrobatics!" he yelled. Artemis squawked in savage anticipation, then took off running at her opponent, jumping into the air and landing directly on top of the Trubbish with her talons, slashing away with both them and her claws. The already-weakened Trash Bag Pokemon was taken out by the attack.

The grunt sneered at Hilbert and recalled her Pokemon. "Take Down!" she yelled, throwing out a second Poke Ball. To Hilbert's surprise, what emerged was another Trubbish, and it slammed weightily into Artemis, the move doing quite a bit of damage despite not being very effective due to the Archen's paper-thin defensive stats. Artemis was sent flying backwards, landing behind Hilbert.

"Artemis!" he yelled, running up to her as she stumbled to her feet. "You're gonna damn well pay for that!" he yelled at the grunt.

However, she didn't reply. Hilbert looked at her, following her gaze, which was directed at his food. Their eyes met, the grunt giving an evil grin. In a heartbeat, the Shadow Triad's words came back to him.

"No, we don't expect them to stop you. But they will weaken you."

Oh, no. "Artemis, Dragonbreath, now!"

It was too late. Even as the attack was launched, the Sludge was already flying through the air, and it landed right on Hilbert's last remaining food, the poison melting through the plastic packaging and rendering the contents thoroughly contaminated and inedible. Seconds later, the Dragonbreath connected, knocking out the Trubbish, but Hilbert was too angry to care.

The rest of the battle passed by in a blur of movement and fury. In the end, the grunt was handily beaten, sent running off after popping a Smoke Ball. Recalling Artemis, Hilbert went over to examine the remains of his meal. Like he was so dreading, nothing was in any state to eat anymore, and in a fit of rage, he kicked the destroyed remnants away with a scream.

Angry, however, quickly turned to dread as he realized that he was now completely out of food, and still who-knew-how-far-away from the exit of Chargestone. "Shit!" he cursed. "Shit, shit, shit!"

He checked his water bottle, finding that it was still about three-quarters full. Still have that, at least… but what good is it gonna do me if I don't have any damned food!? I have to move. Time is officially against me now.

With a now very unhappy stomach that continued to complain at him for food, the young Trainer kept walking for another long, lonely three hours walking through the cave. It was now almost five o'clock in the evening according to his watch, and though he was tired, he knew sleep was out of the question, as there was no telling if or when another grunt would pop out of nowhere, and he didn't want to leave himself helpless.

At long last, he found himself within sight of the extreme north wall of the subterranean cavern. There was a hole in the wall off to the right that led down to the deepest part of the cave, and a ladder leading up on the left.

Unfortunately, in front of the ladder, stood one final Plasma grunt. Unlike the others, she already had her Pokemon- a Liepard- out beside her, ready for immediate battle. Worse, she and Hilbert spotted each other at nearly the same time. She gave an evil grin, then yelled, "Liepard, rip that kid's guts out for me! Pursuit!"

Hilbert's eyes widened as the Cruel Pokemon dashed towards him with frightening speed. He stumbled back a few steps, but tripped, falling backwards. Grunting at the impact, his body then reacted on autopilot, moving faster than he ever had. He ripped Sensei's Poke Ball off his with enough force to damage the clip, and threw it, frantically yelling, "Sensei, Brick Break!" just as the Liepard jumped at him.

The Sawk materialized, quickly whirling around and grabbing the Liepard by its tail, then yanked it back, giving it a punishing chop to the spine. This single, super-effective hit was enough to knock the opposing Pokemon out, and Hilbert pushed himself to his feet as the grunt returned her Pokemon. "You got lucky, kid!" she cried, and with the throwing down of one more Smoke Ball, she vanished.

Breathing heavily, both from adrenaline and from the aftermath of inhaling the smoke, Hilbert recalled Sensei to his Poke Ball. Trying to put the sphere back on his belt, he found he couldn't, as the clip,was now badly deformed.

"Add a new belt to the list of things I'll have to buy when I get to Mistralton," he said, irritated, looking down at his jacket. It was covered in rock dust, beginning to tear in a few places, and smelled of sweat, despite his application of deodorant whenever needed. "Either way, time to get outta here." Grabbing hold of the first rung, he began his ascent up the ladder. It was another fifty feet up, so he took it slow and steady, trying to conserve energy. He emerged in a small chamber, with the entrance to a tunnel leading sharply west off to the left. In the rock wall directly beside it, there was what looked like the outline of a tunnel entrance carved into the wall, but that was it.

"Huh, that's weird," Hilbert said to himself. "They must've been planning on digging a new tunnel here, but just stopped all of a sudden."

Shrugging, he then stepped into the left-hand tunnel. He could have sworn he heard a faint animalistic cackling as he did so, but brushed it off his mind playing tricks on him, or the distant cry of a wild Pokemon. Little did he know, the latter notion wasn't entirely wrong.

The Zoroark ceased its laughter as it reminded itself that getting caught in this situation was unacceptable. Still, it was hard not to at the human boy's stupidity. The illusion that the actual exit tunnel was sealed hadn't even been that convincing, yet he had fallen for it hook, line, and sinker. It narrowed its eyes in malicious glee. Now the trap was sprung, and the human was kind enough to ensnare himself.

After ten minutes of walking, exhaustion finally caught up with Hilbert, and he decided to call it a day. Even though he knew he needed to get to Mistralton, it would do him no good if he collapsed before he even exited the cave. He lay down on the ground, this time setting an alarm for six in the morning on his watch. After this harrowing experience, he just wanted to get to the next city as early in the morning as possible and get some food in his aching belly.

The Zoroark, who had been following close behind, cocked its head to the side as the boy lay down. It wondered if its job was done before it even started, but then it heard Hilbert's slow, methodical breathing, and realized he was just sleeping. That suited the Zoroark perfectly well. It too, needed a rest. It knew sleeping would dispel the illusion, but so long as it woke before the boy, things would be fine. Curling up on the floor and trying to get as comfortable as possible on the rocky surface, it closed its eyes to nap.

The ringing of Hilbert's watch alarm woke him, the sound echoing through the tunnel, and he opened his eyes, getting to his feet. His stomach let out a loud growl, desperate for food, but the only thing he could give it was a long swig of water from his bottle, hoping that would be enough. He then began to walk through the tunnel once more.

To his confusion, it began to curve east, even though that made no sense. Going for another ten minutes, a feeling of unease settled in his stomach as he got the sensation he was going around in a circle. The tunnel soon ended, putting him right back in the small chamber, except there was one difference this time: the ladder was gone.

His unease turned into a slow, spine-chilling dread. "What the hell?" he whispered. "Where'd the ladder go? I couldn't have taken a wrong turn… it's impossible…" He then clenched his fists, shaking his head, reassuring anger beginning to well up inside. "No, it's possible. I had to have taken a wrong turn- I had to somewhere along the way. I'll just retrace my steps. I'll be outta here in no time, and good riddance. Fuck this stupid cave. I hate it."

He then walked back through the tunnel, this time keeping a much closer eye out for anything he might have missed. There was nothing, and ten minutes later, he emerged back into the same chamber as before. "...Okay, this is weird." He looked at his surroundings, then went back over to where the ladder once was. He knelt down and ran his hand over the floor. It was solid, with no indication that a hole had ever been there. He frowned, but nonetheless went back into the tunnel. This time, he took out his flashlight, going over everything with a fine-tooth comb, coming up empty-handed, and emerging into the chamber once again.

Hilbert's heart rate was now somewhat elevated, and though he wasn't usually one to panic, he could feel it setting in. He checked his watch. Just going over the tunnel like that had taken over an hour, making it now close to eight in the morning. I think I'm officially lost, he thought, his heart sinking. I've got no food, limited water, and I'm lost in a cave. Fucking fantastic. His stomach growled loudly, and he wrapped his arms around it, feeling the hunger pangs keenly.

Just then, an idea hit him. My Cross-Transceiver! Of course! I'll call Juniper for help! He brought the device to his face and quickly selected the Professor's number… only to get nothing but static on the screen. His face contorted in rage, and with a cry, he ripped the Cross-Transceiver off his wrist and threw against the wall, and it clattered to the ground.

"Of course! Of fucking course!" he yelled, then sank down against the wall, pulling his knees up to his chest. "Should have figured… the electromagnetism this place gives off interferes with the signal…"

He sat there for another five minutes before getting to his feet again, snatching his Cross-Transceiver up. With nothing else to do, he went through the tunnel six more times, which took over another hour, each time ending up exactly where he started. His stomach was now growling near-constantly, and he could tell he was getting weaker. He took a swig from his water bottle in the futile hope it would appease his hunger.

Meanwhile, the Zoroark watched him go through the tunnel again with glee. It sniggered to itself, running its tongue over its fangs, but then heard something that wiped the smugness out in a heartbeat.

"I guess… I guess I could have Scrapper try and hit the walls with Metal Claw…" the human was saying to himself. "See if that does anything… I'll try it tomorrow if I can't find my way out…"

The Zoroark let out an angry hiss despite itself. If the human had his Pokemon actually attack the walls of the illusion, they would jiggle like gelatin without extreme concentration and on its part. Worse, if he kept it up, the energy expenditure could cause it to faint. The Zoroark was in what humans called a 'coin toss' situation now, and it knew it.

The rest of the day passed by without further fanfare. Hilbert continued to walk through the same fake tunnel enough times to lose count, each time growing paradoxically more angry and weaker at the same time. By eight o'clock at night, he said, "Hell with it. Time to sleep." and laid down on the floor after taking a drink of water. His eyes closed, and within minutes he was asleep.

Sensing the opportunity to rest had come for it as well, the Zoroark did the same.

When Hilbert woke up, his head was pounding. Groaning, he took his hat off, rubbing his head, and felt how greasy his hair had become. He pushed himself to his feet, holding his stomach, currently screaming at him for sustenance, but all he could give it was more water. His bottle was now below the halfway point. Fuck… running outta water, too… he thought, then hissed as a jolt of pain went through his head.

After another two go-arounds of the looping tunnel, he uttered the words the Zoroark was dreading so much: "Alright, time to try chipping away at these walls. Scrapper, come on out."

The Zoroark let out a quiet gasp of despair as it saw that 'Scrapper' was in fact an Excadrill. It immediately began shoring up the durability of the illusion, concentrating almost everything it had on the rock wall the human was standing in front of.

"Okay… Scrapper, Metal Claw on that wall," Hilbert said, the Zoroark bracing itself.

Doing as he was told, Scrapper pulled his arm back, delivering a mighty swing, hitting the wall using all his strength… only for his claws to simply bounce off the wall. Hilbert was stunned. The attack hadn't so much as scratched the wall.

The Zoroark, for its part, nearly cried out in pain at the force required to keep the illusion solid. It gulped as the human growled and said, "Why didn't that work!? Come on, Scrapper, three more times! Give it all ya got!"

There were three more metallic clangs as Scrapper hit the illusion, each one feeling like a physical blow to the Zoroark, the noise not doing Hilbert's headache any favors. At the end of it all, the wall stood.

The reality of the situation crashed into Hilbert like a tidal wave, complete despair left in its wake. He was trapped in a cave, without food, very limited water, and no way out. Giving a choked cry, he ran at the wall, slamming his fists against it.

"Let… me… OUT!" he screamed, hitting the wall with each word. "Dammit, dammit, dammit! I can't fucking take this anymore! Fuck it! Fuck EVERYTHING!"

Scrapper looked on helplessly as his Trainer slowly ceased hitting the wall, then slid down onto his knees and turned around, sitting with his back against it. The Pokemon could tell that angry tears were forming in Hilbert's eyes, and it gestured to the wall with its claws.

"No… there's no point in trying again," Hilbert said, his voice quiet. "These walls are solid rock." The Excadrill looked down at the floor sadly.

"Don't think you're at fault here, buddy," Hilbert continued, leaning forward to put his hand on the Pokemon's arm. "You did your best, and that's all I could ask of you." He returned Scrapper to his Poke Ball and stood up. "We'll just have to find another way… if there even is one. I'm running out of ideas here."

As he walked down the corridor, the Zoroark collapsed to its hands and knees, panting. That had taken far more energy than expected, and it knew it needed to rest. Still, the human had caused it pain, and now it was angry. The boy's emotional distress was not good enough for it. It was time to make him suffer.

After spending another four loops, meaning forty minutes, going around in the tunnel, Hilbert could swear he felt the air temperature take a slight dip. Oh great, now it's getting colder on top of everything, he said, rubbing his forehead. His headache hadn't gone away, and it remained a persistent, annoying throb that he wouldn't be able to ignore forever. His breathing was laboured, and it felt like his muscles were getting heavier, making it harder to move them. To try and counter this, he took another drink of water.

His hunger pangs had by now passed the point of being an annoyance, and were now getting actually painful- combined with the headache, it was a double-whammy of agony. Throughout it all, he felt the temperature get inexplicably lower, and if his experience in the Cold Storage was anything to go by, it would soon be a triple-whammy.

It only took another fifty minutes before the gradual temperature decrease made him start to shiver. "W-what… the h-hell… is-is going… on?" he said through chattering teeth. Doing what he did in the Cold Storage, he stuffed his hands deeply into his pockets, balling them into tight fists to conserve as much warmth as possible for as long as possible.

Being totally out of ideas, he kept doing the one thing he could do: go through the tunnel over and over and over again. The cold, combined with his headache and severe hunger pangs, made him feel like he was being assaulted from every angle, with no sanctuary from the discomfort. Everything was simply… pain. Persistent, inescapable pain. His legs felt like jelly, and more than once, he nearly collapsed, falling to his knees, but every time he somehow found the strength to get up, though what was propelling him, he didn't know.

Hours passed. Mercifully, the dip in temperature seemed to abate after a while, and things became a bit more tolerable, meaning he was able to pull his hands from his pockets to check his watch. It was now seven in the evening. This was a bit earlier than his usual time for sleep, but he was so completely drained he decided to call it anyway and go to sleep.

Is this how I'm going to die? he thought as he lay his head on his bag. Starving to death, trapped in this stupid cave..? Tears came to his eyes, and he allowed himself to let out despairing sobs, the water leaving streaks upon his dust-covered cheeks.

With a sense of morbid pride and satisfaction, the Zoroark curled up as well, ready to nap.

Hilbert was surprised his eyes opened at all the next day NOTE: ON APRIL 1ST. He felt so unbelievably weak, and even stretching his legs to get up caused him to wince in pain. For some reason, his muscles felt like they were having severe cramps. This made even getting up a struggle, and continuous movement was agony. Worse, his headache had only intensified, and as he stumbled through the tunnel, he could feel the cold coming back.

Gritting his teeth, he planted an arm against the wall for support, trying not to give in. With a supreme effort of will, he kept putting one foot in front of the other, slowly and unsteadily making his way forward. It felt like walking against hurricane-force winds with how much energy he needed to put into each step.

However, after only another two hours, he reached his limit. His vision going hazy, his eyes drooped, and the combined effect of all the pain he was in served to bring him to his knees, and then he collapsed onto his side, unconscious.

The Zoroark then stopped its illusion, making itself visible again in the process, and crept up to the unconscious human. The boy was still alive, if his breathing was anything to go by, but it was shallow and the Pokemon figured he would be dead soon anyways without help. Giving a chattering cackle, it then ran away on all fours, assuming its task was done, leaving Hilbert to his fate.