Tough as Nails
The new Champion of Unova is Nathan Daniels, and he's known for being blunt, rude, but also, a determined protector of the region. Yet, that blind, fierce desire to protect is a double-edged sword… And while Hil was saving Unova, Hilda carved her own path, far from Unova's borders and woes.
Timeline: At least 5 years after Black 2 at the start, though it talks in general of time later than that.
Setting: Unova
Notes: Strong language, alcohol mention/mentions of being 'buzzed,' sexual innuendos
Characters: Nathan (Nate), Churchill (Church), Hilda, Hugh
Prerequisite Reading: Black, Black 2
A challenger was supposed to be meeting him here.
He had been warned by Church that someone had challenged the League today. A woman, one they hadn't seen before, and so he had been requested to the Champion's Hall to await her arrival. He hadn't bothered asking her name. Truth be told, whenever he heard of a challenger approaching the League—which wasn't that often these days, all things considered—he always felt a thrill of excitement, swirling with that powerful, defensive desire from those five or so years ago back when Neo Plasma had nearly seized control over Unova.
Caring for and defending others was an act of love, yes, but love was a battle; fierce and all-consuming. His title as Champion of Unova was one of a defender, a Hero of Justice, and whenever someone challenged him for it, he took it very seriously. Although he knew not everyone that passed that threshold and stood before him wished to take that title, he knew that if they managed to beat him, it would be up for grabs regardless, and he needed to make sure, make certain, that whoever had the opportunity to wield his title was damn well ready for it.
In the years following settling into his new role, Nathan had admittedly lived for that thrill, looked forward to feeling that all-consuming protective desire again.
The challenger didn't keep him waiting long today, at least. He watched her ascend the stairs to the golden Champion's Hall with a confident bounce in her step, and a Serperior at her side. When she reached his floor, she adjusted her pink and white hat, and smirked at him, a mischievous glint in her brown eyes. Her Serperior narrowed its eyes at Nathan and flicked its leafy tail.
That burning anticipation coursed through his veins like fire as Champion Nathan crossed his arms and regarded her with a cold, expectant stare. "What's your name?" he asked, raising his chin slightly at her.
"Hilda," she answered matter-of-factly, then put her hands on her hips. Torn jean-shorts clung to her thighs. "Champ Nathan, right? You ready for a fight or what?"
He raised a brow at her, somewhat taken aback by her… attitude. He nodded stiffly. "You have beaten the Unovan Elite Four and find yourself at the Champion's Hall. My name is Champion Nathan Daniels. Should you defeat me—"
"I can potentially take your title, and write my name in the Hall of Fame," she cut him off, rolling her eyes. "Look, I know the spiel. There's like, five or six regions I've been to that all have that system. C'mon, let's do it already!"
Blinking, Nathan genuinely was shocked. He had never had a challenger face him quite like this before. Most seemed to understand the gravity of the revised Unovan League, not to mention he wasn't the first person at the League that was supposed to inform the challengers of the reformed League's purpose. He had to wonder how she had gotten this far and remained so lacking in knowledge. He scoffed at her and shook his head. "Nah, listen here. You will let me finish. Or I can call Hil and N and half a dozen other people down here to get this challenge canceled altogether, and trust me, that will take a lot longer than letting me do my opening speech, got it?" He stared her down intensely. I hope we understand each other now. "Besides, do you even know what is at stake here, on this battlefield?"
She frowned. "Oh man, you're one of those types, aren't you? All melodramatic? And I thought Champion Peony in Galar was a lot… at least he had the bark to back up his bite, though. He beat me really good and it's super hard to challenge their champions again and again, so I didn't bother, ha!"
Incredible. He almost laughed in disbelief before just restarting his speech, intending to just flat-out talk over her if she tried to interrupt him again with further unrelated nonsense. "Hilda. You find yourself at the Unovan League's Champion's Hall. My name is Champion Nathan Daniels. Should you defeat me here today, you will have the right to my position as Champion of Unova—a title that is functionally VERY DIFFERENT from the Champions of other regions." He paused, giving her a pointed stare as he said that.
She jolted in surprise. "Oh? What do you mean?"
Who is this chick and how the hell did she get here? Did Church's Victini not tip her off? Has she been living under a rock for the last 7 years? Hell, I would have thought Hugh would've told her his whole life story during their gym match at least. He's always going on and on too much to his challengers… "The Champion of Unova acts as Commander-in-Chief, overseeing much of how security and threats are handled. Unlike other Leagues, the use of legendary, mythological, and otherwise normally disallowed pokémon are permitted. By everyone. This will not be an easy battle. You may be fighting for glory or a name for yourself, but I am fighting for what is best for Unova." He paused and took a deep, steadying breath, his heart racing as it did every time he gave this speech. Suddenly, he motioned for her to come forward. "Now, come show me what you can do!"
Beaming at that, he swore he saw that mischievous glint in her eye grow. "You really are one of those types!" She giggled, then lunged forward, calling out to her Serperior. "Finally! Go ahead, Sylvia!"
Annoyed and affronted with her approach to this frankly sacred ceremony, as far as he was concerned, Nathan took no pity on her. He led with Cobalion, the valiant dual Steel- and Fighting-type, knowing it would resist the Serperior's attacks easily. This Hilda was completely caught off-guard, staring at the Cobalion blankly, as the battle started.
And, well, not to stroke his own ego too much (…okay, maybe just a little bit) but Nathan destroyed her in that match.
Cobalion crushed her Serperior. She returned fire with an unfamiliar pokémon from another region that Nathan was quickly able to determine was a Fire- and Poison-type, something he'd later learn was a Salazzle—which his Samurott, Spacey, handled with ease. Next was a Manectric that Terrakion leveled, same for yet another foreign pokémon of hers, a Coalossal. Her remaining two, a Sylveon and Kingdra, were stomped by Cobalion and Virizion respectively. It wasn't that she had been unintelligent in battle, she had clearly known what she was doing—she just had no idea just how far out of her depth she was by approaching this Champion.
And Nathan reveled in it. He couldn't help but smirk in the aftermath, recalling Virizion following the match, having successfully defended his title once more. "Well, I'm gonna be honest," he started cockily, "I have no idea how you made it this far without learning a thing about what kind of League you were up against, but—"
"That was AWESOME!"
What. Caught off-guard, he looked up at her dubiously. Her brown eyes shone with admiration, and she pumped a fist. "That was the most exhilarating match I've had since I caught Lance on that train in Johto! O-or when I managed to convince Red to battle me!" She had a huge grin as she focused on him again, then bowed respectfully to him. "Thank you for going all out on me. I look forward to challenging you again someday soon!" When her head rose again, she was back to giving him that conniving smile. "After all, I can't not beat my own home region's League, right?"
Almost sputtering as he tried to figure out where to start, he eventually settled on, "Did you hear a thing I said before? This isn't just some friendly sparring match, lady, this is about Unova's safety, this match. This isn't like the titles you earn from other regions' leagues." Offended, he crossed his arms.
"I mean, yeah, but everyone battles to get to know their team and themselves better, too, and it's all in good fun!" she scoffed, brushing off his annoyance. "I don't care about your title, really. But you are crazy strong, and I am totally going to beat you one day!" She saluted him, and Nathan wasn't sure if it was meant to be endearing or playfully insulting. "By the way, tell Hilbert I said hi, would you? Just tell him it's from Hilda. He'll know."
Giggling to herself, she turned around, and started her descent down the stairs from the Champion's Hall.
Bewildered, Nathan just watched her go for a second, before snorting and going, "Fine, then, bye." Writing off his confusion, he simply shrugged as he started to take his own private exit from the Champion's Hall. "Women. Who needs 'em?" he mumbled contemptuously to nobody in particular.
"Well, that's not very nice. Better not let Shauntal hear you talk like that. Would be a shame if I told on you to her though, she'll have an essay as thick as your skull on your desk in the morning."
"Gah!" Nathan yelped and jumped, whipping around to find Church standing on the stairway. Glowering at him, Nathan just sarcastically greeted him, "Oh, hi there, Church. Fancy meetin' you here." He groaned. "Also, please don't."
"Don't be a prick, then," Church pointedly told him, snorting in amusement. Beyond that, he was just grinning like a fool. "Ohh, but anyway, I knew after I met that Hilda in my chambers, I'd have to come see her fight you," he teased, the taunting smile on his face only growing.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Nathan asked (perhaps a little too defensively), raising a brow.
"She's fun." Church almost couldn't hold back his giggling. "And you're not."
"Well, first of all, ow, rude," Nathan huffed, trying to fight the smirk off his face, and rolled his eyes. "And second of all, that's not 'fun,' that's 'careless.' Big difference."
"You're gonna burn yourself out if you take every match that seriously, you know. If someone's really a terrible fit for taking your spot, you know we have checks and balances to keep that from happening," Church sighed, his smile fading somewhat. "It's not a bad thing to let yourself have some fun with those matches every now and then."
"I did have fun!" Nathan irritably shot back at him. An awkward pause followed his outburst, broken only by Church finally caving in and laughing. Nathan just glared at him more intensely. "What're you laughing at? I did!" Seriously, what's more fun than fulfilling your purpose? Mine is protecting you and the rest of Unova. That's fun to me. That's what I did. I had fun!
"Alright, Nathan. I just wanted to give you my two cents." Church shrugged, and then he, too, started down the stairs of the Champion's Hall.
That was far from the last time he saw Hilda.
Lazing with Hugh on a day off at a bar in Humilau, Nathan slammed his empty glass down next to Hugh's, and was ranting about this carefree, seemingly-impervious-to-current-events of a trainer known as Hilda. "She just keeps coming back! And every time she just laughs like she's having the time of her life, she's not taking it seriously at all! It's infuriating!" Curling a lip as he begrudgingly took a sip of his drink, he then groaned. "At least last time she managed to faint one of my pokémon. But still!"
Hugh was just laughing. He brushed some messy, spiky hair out of his face and shook his head at Nathan. He was already lightly buzzed, as evidenced by his unusually laid-back and giggly mood, but he was still coherent enough to hold a conversation with. "Dude, what're you so worked up about? A cool girl keeps coming to battle you at the League. What else do you have to do up there, anyway?"
Offended, Nathan indignantly puffed out his chest, rapping his knuckles on the wood of the bar. "I'll have you know I have plenty to keep me busy up there. Like… like…"
Hugh took a swig of his drink, his words coming out muffled as he tried to speak before he finished. "Like what? Worrying obsessively about when things'll go wrong again?" Setting his glass down, he leaned an elbow on the counter and smirked at Nathan.
"It's not obsessive, it's being ready!" Nathan retorted, crossing his arms.
Hugh poked him in the chest. "It's called, 'youneedtherapy.'" Then, he burst into a raucous laugh at his own joke.
Rolling his eyes, Nathan exaggeratedly repeated what he'd said, mocking him. "'Youneedtherapy'—we all need therapy, shut up. Why do you think we hit up this place every other day off we get?"
"Anyway, my point is," Hugh yawned, conveniently skirting Nathan's scathing response, "try and let the pretty girl have some fun when she battles you, will ya?" He then nudged Nathan with an elbow. "I know this is a stretch to ask, but you could try having fun too, y'know. World's not gonna end if you goof off with the pretty lady for a day."
"You don't know that," Nathan mutinously retorted, finding it more and more difficult to come up with reasons to refute what Hugh was saying. As such, he turned to taking playful shots at his friend, as they were known to do to each other nowadays. "Also, you're one to talk. When's the last time you 'goofed off with a pretty lady?'"
"More recently than you," Hugh fired back without skipping a beat, a broad grin spreading across his face. He abruptly leaned in close to Nathan and whispered to him, "Elesa has a sister. Did you know that?"
Groaning, Nathan shoved Hugh away, all before breaking into laughter. "Gross."
"You're gross," Hugh childishly retorted, sticking his tongue out at him. He gestured to Nathan's drink. "By the way, drink that, or I will. We're supposed to be having a good time and you're a ball of anxiety."
"That's like, my job. Protector of the region and all."
"I know, but that's why today's a day off. Now drink it before I do and make a scene in the bar." He flashed Nathan a toothy grin, Nathan already knowing where he was going with this before he got a single syllable out. "I'll—"
"—Don't you fucking say it—"
"—unleash my RAGE!"
There was some collective groaning from the bar, not just from Nathan, at that.
The next time Hilda approached the Champion's Hall, Nathan was begrudgingly mulling over the idea of being less of a hard-ass on her. Between Hugh and Church's constant teasing, he wondered if maybe it was worth just… not taking her matches so seriously. After all, if he stamped her out so easily every time, what did he really have to lose?
…He gnawed his lower lip as he asked himself that question and she stepped into view. That was what always kept him so on edge during these matches. He'd watched Unova fall into disarray before, he'd seen how much they could lose. It was hard, even as he looked over that goofy girl that always had jokes to crack and juvenile enthusiasm at their battles to express, to set that deep-seated fear aside, to set aside the fierce rage of a protective love for everyone in Unova he harbored so near and dear to his heart.
"Na-a-athan!" Hilda practically sang, waving excitedly to him. She winked at him teasingly. "Miss me?"
Dryly, he tried to joke, "How could I? You don't give me a chance to forget you."
As it was the first time he had returned her banter in all of their matches, she perked up at that, and laughed. "Aw, you do like me!"
Begrudgingly, he crossed his arms, and muttered, "Yeah, yeah. Now—"
"Oh, oh, I know this part!" She gave him a shit-eating grin and, in a mockingly deep voice clearly intended to emulate his own, said, "'Hilda. You find yourself at the Unova League's Champion's Hall—"
Incredulous, he scoffed, "Hey, stop that—"
"—My name is Champion Nathan Daniels. Should you defeat me here today…'"
He couldn't stop the laughter that blossomed in his throat and forced its way out as he tried to stop her again. "Hahaha, hey, cut that out, I don't sound like that!"
"Oh, you sound exactly like that!"
"Wow." Nathan shook his head in disbelief and then pitched Cobalion's Poké Ball, the regal leader of the Swords of Justice spilling out in a wave of red light that dazzled the glittery, golden room for a moment. "Alright, well, if you know it so well, then let's get started, huh?"
For a moment, for just one, tiny, amused moment, Nathan forgot the weight of everything riding on his shoulders. And he gave Hilda a most genuine smile, a beaming grin so few others had ever seen on his face. "Challenger Hilda, I, Champion Nathan Daniels, challenge you to a pokémon battle!"
Her eyes practically glittered with adoration as he said that. "Hell yes!" she exclaimed, then tossed her Salazzle free. "Let's do this!"
She lost to him again that day, but suddenly, it didn't bother him so much after that. He even started to look forward to those days where the eccentric Hilda would ascend to his quarters. Her giddy, playful demeanor proved infectious and, with time… he even found himself frowning whenever it was time for her to leave. Yet, he never dared ask her to stay, or to do anything else. Surely, it was enough to simply take his job a little less seriously whenever she was around—that was the most he could afford to slack off.
He was a defender, a protector, a Hero of Justice, he was not about to let himself be distracted by this Hilda girl, no matter what. He knew better.
…Even though he had to admit, he really loved the sound of her laugh, and wished he could joke with her for days on end rather than just at most an hour every few weeks. Throughout their frequent clashes, he learned more about her life, too. He had gathered through her many offhanded comments that she had traveled plenty throughout other regions and she lived for testing her skills in battle. She clearly liked him too, though Arceus himself probably couldn't have told anyone why.
Others tried to will him to act on his obvious blooming feelings for her over time, but Nathan would resist, insisting he had far too important a job to do to spend time on such a thing. While others, like Church, like Hil, and even like N, seemed to slowly be relaxing in the years of peace following Neo Plasma's defeat, Nathan felt as if he was festering in it, growing restless.
The more peaceful it became, the more on edge he was.
Because he just knew how fragile peace was and he knew it couldn't last forever. He didn't know when or how or what would change it, but he felt certain this comforting peace couldn't last forever, and he had to be ready. Sadly, being ready didn't include any significant others in those plans. A bittersweet, fun, cute, sometimes even flirty battle with Hilda every few weeks was the closest he would allow himself to get to her.
…But he had to admit, it was awfully lonely at the top.
