The world seemed to spiral beneath him.
Stars melted and warped in the distance around them. Everything was swirling into nothingness, the negative space that was located dead-ahead.
A boy in a fluttering jacket stood defiantly on a platform of warped stone in the distorted space. The world swirled around him as he spoke, with his teammates at his back.
A royal stone colossus stood behind them, towering over all that was left of the world.
And the boy shook off the end of all things, laughed, and shouted his battle cry.
That same boy sat at a campfire, his friends and allies exhausted, but merrily gathered together in celebration.
"So, how exactly did we get here, Hilby?" The blond boy, his oldest friend, asked as he leaned his head against the log.
Flames once again sparked up as an Infernape used Ember on the dying flames, and more wood was thrown on the pile.
The boy in the cap, their de facto leader, kicked out his legs and crossed his arms. "Well… I guess I should remember that myself."
A Mid-Sinnoh Night's Dream - I - Life Starts Now
Hilbert, son of Johanna, was originally from the Sinnoh region, halfway across the world from where he lived for the more recent half of his life. The only reminders he had of his time there were from the occasional mention by his mother and the occasions where Glameow would stop napping and actually walk around.
They'd moved, as you might guess, when he was a little boy around the age of eight. Most of his memories involved Unova's smoggy skyline, tripping on the concrete on his way to trainer school, and the barest hints of actual wilderness outside Nuvema towns borders. Wild pokemon were all but unknown to him, save the occasional Patrat that the instructors drove off.
But even as he didn't know what the forests and grasslands were like, he had the soul of an explorer, always searching for that next step, always looking for another way forward.
Like a drill, you could say.
A young boy, barely the age of ten, stumbled out of the creek. He had a map and compass in his bag, although he hadn't the slightest idea how to read them. Nuvema town far enough behind him, Hilbert began to finally get a glimpse of what the wilderness was actually like.
And don't laugh at his name. It's a family name, y'know? Pay a little respect.
Well, that's what he'd told everyone at school. His cool, badass nickname was so obviously fake that no one actually called him that.
But, back to the topic at hand. He explored the forest, peeking around trees, under rocks, through the canopy- Of course, he didn't have any Pokeballs. Those were for adults. But the spirit of a trainer resided in his mind and body.
Eventually, after scaring off a herd of Deerling, he found a blasted heath. Concrete rubble, still smoking, was strewn about. And, like the stupid little boy he was, he kept looking around.
He wasn't stupid enough to touch the sharp and burning bits, but he turned over some rocks, curious to what he stumbled upon.
Of his efforts, he of course found smaller rocks. But one of those rocks was special, as it turned out. First of all, it was gray, but it was also glowing, and everyone knows you should touch glowing rocks in the wreckage of what was probably some kind of laboratory.
It had arms.
"Oh my gosh! The rock has arms!"
Well put, Hilby.
He dragged the arms out of the rubble, kicked aside some of the smaller bits.
The pile of glowing rocks was round-ish, and had a strange spiral mark on its front. As he looked closer, he saw its legs, and the thing's head looking up at him.
Strangely enough, that was the start of what would become an absolutely beautiful friendship.
Minutes later, shadowy figures appeared in the trees surrounding the wreckage. One of the Triad held a finger to his ear.
"Nothing recoverable, Colress. I sense nothing. We will investigate further, but I suspect we will find no remains."
"Ah. That is unfortunate. Though, I didn't expect much from the project anyway."
Johanna was concerned, in a few words, when her son had arrived back home after dark, bleeding from cuts on his legs and arms, and lugging along a rocky Pokemon that just wouldn't stop hitting him.
They both ended up unconscious. Glameow bit the thing until it stopped moving, and Hilbert collapsed on top of it not long after.
She quickly called Juniper, their local expert, hoping she would be alright with a house call that late in the evening.
The Pokemon was a Golett, easily determined by the professor. Unfortunately, that was about all she could say about it, as going off of that, it looked nothing like anything she'd ever seen.
First off, the color. She'd known that the species would occasionally be silvery gray in color, everyone knew about Shiny variants, but the glow it emitted was nothing like what she'd expected. The crevices of its body pulsed between colors, bright yellow to a sickly green to a blinding white-
And that's nothing to say of its hands, which randomly would transform into drills and back as it slept.
Hilbert had broken his arm carrying him back to the house, but he was happy to see him anyway.
Once it had awakened and noticed it was suddenly healthy, it acted more cautious than outright hostile.
Years passed. Hilbert and Golett grew to be great friends, partners even, as they recovered. Golett had some strange breakage along his body that didn't seem to heal with potions, but it mended by itself with time.
Johanna had gotten tired of the city, apparently, and they decided to move back to Sinnoh.
Hilbert looked out the window of the plane, looking down at the wild region that was growing before his very eyes. A pamphlet lay forgotten in his lap, while Golett sat next to him kicking his legs. They were a bit strange, in more ways than one. His coloration had shifted back to blue as the damage healed, and he could control what color the light shone. Hilbert called him 'he', as it turned out Golett were genderless, but his partner didn't seem to mind either way.
They landed on the coast of Sandgem town. The international flight was thankfully small enough to make water landings.
Which he thought was good, as Sinnoh didn't seem to have any actual airports.
Hoo boy.
Sandgem town was a small trading post when the region was first being settled. It was their pit stop before they could get to Twinleaf, their destination.
Apparently, she wanted to meet up with some old contacts of hers from the 'contest circuit'.
Whatever that meant.
It wasn't snowing, but there was still plenty of white on the ground and the trees. He could see his breath fog up in front of his face. Golett insisted on being carried, though he put that up to laziness rather than the sensitivity he had as a ground type.
It was getting later in the morning, the sun rising higher into the sky.
His mom suddenly waved to a couple and their daughter standing near the town's border. Mom walked up to a couple about her age.
Oh. She's cute.
Hilbert, keep this in mind, is a teenage boy.
A nice-looking girl, about his age, was standing next to the couple. She had a long red coat, a white hat, bag, and a large, puffy scarf. Her hair was long and slate-gray. So, yeah, pretty nice to look at. She noticed him checking her out and walked up.
"Hello. I'm Dawn." She had a soft, yet impactful voice. A little hard to describe.
"Hi, I'm… Black." He decided to use his cool, badass nickname. Totally didn't make it up himself, obviously.
"..." She looked at Hilbert weirdly, her gray eyes screwed up in confusion.
He sighed. "Okay, my name's actually-" He lowered his voice and leaned in.
She's even cuter up close… Is that a blush? Must be the cold.
"Hilbert. Please don't tell anyone."
She giggled. "Aw, but why? That's a cute name."
Covertly so, he dropped down and put down his passenger so Golett could introduce himself like a big kid.
They had the sort of friendship where mild patronization was taken as a joke with only mild threat of injury.
"Oh, what's this little guy?" She dropped down as well, her hands on her knees.
"He's a Golett. Don't think you can find them around here."
His lights flashed white for a moment in confirmation.
"That's a shame… He's pretty cute," she sighed, standing up.
He followed suit, watching Dawn's gaze travel to his mom.
"So... Johanna is your mom?"
"Yeah? I mean, isn't that… obvious?"
Dawn shook her head. "Y'know, Johanna, the contest star?"
"The what?" He was confused by her words.
Is that what she meant by contest circuit?
"She didn't tell you? She was a pretty big deal when I was little. I was really into contests back then." Dawn laughed. "Most of the other girls were too, now that I think about it." Huh.
"Huh," Hilbert eloquently stated.
The adults called them back over not long after. Apparently, Dawn's mom was a rival of his mom way back when, and her dad works for Professor Rowan. Old man studies Pokemon and stuff like that.
Pretty cool, I guess.
They were going to have dinner later tonight after Hilbert and his mom got settled down in Twinleaf. Normally he'd be dreading it, because of how adults can be with that kind of thing, but a cute girl would be there, so in his mind, iit was probably worth it.
The walk to Twinleaf was pretty short; It was a wide-open trail and barely a quarter of a mile. Not much tall grass on the way. Taking the high road instead of the low road, right? It was getting late in the morning, and the air started warming up. Golett toddled along with him and his mom.
Cute little guy, even if he can kick my ass.
The house was pretty nice. Larger than the house back in Unova was. Hilbert got the upstairs room. As he unpacked the bedsheets, he remembered they had designs from an old Pokestar movie. In his words, "Don't call it kiddie stuff, the plot was great."
Not that he would actually say them out loud, of course.
Anyway, unpacking only took a few hours, not much cleaning had to be done beforehand.
Who knew the moving companies taught Machokes how to sweep?
He went downstairs to make a sandwich because it was a little afternoon. His mom had headed out to get some more groceries for dinner. A news report about a red Gyarados was playing on the television. He guessed it was pretty cool. There was a knock at the door.
A blond boy with a striped shirt bounced around outside the window.
Another boy with a red hat stood by next to him. Looked more reserved, or alternatively, boring.
Hilbert opened the door.
"Hey, new kid! My mom just told me we had a new- wait, you look familiar…" A strange memory tugged at his brain. From before he left for Unova. Playing tag with a blond boy in a small town…
"No way, Barry?"
"Hilby?" The boy pumped his fists up and down, laughing. "Man, you came back!"
"Guess so. And don't call me Hilby!"
"Alright, dude. Man, this takes me back!" Barry laughed. "Oh, and this is Lucas! He moved in a little bit after you left."
He turned to the other boy. "Yo. I'm…" He thought about using his cool, badass nickname again. Then again, a cute girl said she liked his real name. "...Hilbert."
"Nice to meet you. My name's Lucas." The boy offered his hand, which Hilbert shook. Barry walked in and started looking around his house.
"Cool." He could at least attempt to be polite.
"Hey, this sandwich is pretty good." Barry bit a chunk out of the sandwich Hilbert left on the counter.
The boy in question facepalmed. "That was my lunch."
"Sorry, dude, worked up an appetite!" Barry shrugged his shoulders.
"You never changed, man, you never changed." He shook his head.
"I'll pay you back. Let's go get some kebabs!"
He quickly wrote a note for his mom and headed out with the other boys.
The kebab shop was barely two minutes away. Twinleaf really was a small town. Maybe one or two hundred people by the looks of it.
"Man, this place really hasn't changed, has it?"
Barry laughed at Hilbert's question. "No, not really, but that's what gives it the charm, right?" He asked rhetorically.
"I suppose," contributed Lucas.
Hilbert bit into a kebab. Nice belleper berries with curry-spiced potatoes. Not quite bitter, but not too salty.
"So, Hilby, why'd you decide to move back?" Berry- Barry asked before drinking from a can.
"Mom got sick of the cities in Unova. The air is pretty clear around here, now that I'm back." He looked around at the clear grey skies.
"So… You've got to give us some details."
"About… what?"
Barry slapped the table a few times. "Y'know, the city girls! What're they like?" Lucas slightly leaned in, almost imperceptibly.
Hilbert knocked his head back, "Are you serious?" He groaned.
"Yeah dude, of course!" Barry kept being Barry, as in, a hyperactive child.
"Well…" He scratched his head. He paid attention to girls, obviously, like any other guy would, but never really understood them either. "I dunno, really." He shook his head. "I mean, there was a nice blonde girl I was friends with, but she was too bubbly for me. Not my type."
"Aw man… You leave for ten years and you don't even come back with important info? Lame. Did you get any cool pokemon at least?"
"Ah well, I got this one…" He looked behind him to realize that he'd completely forgotten Golett.
He's gonna be pissed.
"Ah. Ah! Okay, I'm sorry! Lay off the shins!" Hilbert ran around the coffee table to keep Golett from punching his legs again.
His power level may not be that high yet, but his arms are still made of stone. Or whatever weird rocks he's made of.
Hilbert jumped on the couch to protect himself, and the midget smacked the cushions. "Okay," He said, rubbing his shins, "This is my partner, he's a Golett. You can't find them on this side of the world, I think."
Barry oohed and awed at the rocky pokemon. "Hey, if you painted him red, he'd look like-"
"I know, the Gurren Lagann. Don't remind me." Damn good show. He didn't get how they got that Pikachu to make spiral power, but still, pretty badass in his opinion. "I didn't think you'd be into that kind of stuff." He felt the comparison was accurate, if annoying, aside from the size difference.
Ironically enough, none of them actually knew that that specific Golett could make drills out of his arms.
"I'm not, Lucas is, though."
"Hey!"
"No problem with it-"
"Hilby? Is that you?" Johanna called from outside the door.
He shot Barry a death glare as he was about to crack a joke. He walked over and helped his mom carry the armloads of groceries through the door.
"Oh, are these the neighbors?"
"Yes ma'am! Thought we should introduce ourselves; Well, more like reintroduce, ha!"
"Oh my, Barry? You've grown so much! I remember when you were just a tiny little squirt…" Johanna set the groceries on the table and walked up to Barry, who laughed.
"It's great to see Hilby back in Twinleaf."
"And how are your parents doing? I haven't seen Michelle and Palmer in ages…"
Parents really can get on your nerves when they do the thing.
You know, the thing.
"...And would you two like to join us for dinner? We're having some old friends over, but I'm sure we'll have more than enough."
That's a way too high guy-girl ratio!
Sure enough, Hilbert was sitting at the kids' table while the adults drank their wi- Vacation juice; Not allowed to talk about alcohol in a kids game. Wait, huh?
The four of them crowded around the coffee table with the news playing on the TV. Not that he was paying attention to that, there was something else of much more importance.
Cute girls.
Or, girl, singular.
Damn that ratio.
He briefly wondered if Lucas had any older sisters.
Barry, of course, was lounging around and tearing into his food.
Golett decided he wanted to sit in between Hilbert and Dawn. So much for 'Partner'. Though, it was kind of funny that he was sitting like the rest of them.
Lucas seemed to be actually watching the news. Lame. That report about the red Gyarados was still playing, seems like someone managed to catch it, the madman. Though... Suppose it could have been a woman.
"...So what have you guys been doing?"
Yeah, a lame conversation starter, but there wasn't much else to do.
"I've been helping Professor Rowan and my father with their research," said Dawn, tapping her chin.
"The Pokemon Professor?" Lucas asked.
"Yes, his work is well-known in Sinnoh. You may not have heard of him, Hilbert."
"It's Black…" He muttered.
Come on, I gotta sound cool! Well, she already knows my real name, not much I can do about that.
"I think I've heard the name once or twice. Y'know, like Elm and… what was it? Sycophant?"
"Sycamore?" Lucas suggested.
"Yeah, that. Unova had a big one, Professor, uh…" The name slipped his mind.
"Juniper? She's really cool, isn't she?"
"Total badass, more like." Well, yeah, pretty cool. He only felt a little bad for forgetting, gotta make up for it. She helped him and Golett out, even if she never brought it up again.
"That's an interesting way to describe her, but I'm inclined to agree." She sipped some canned tea after pouring it into a cup.
Someone rang the doorbell while it was getting dark out. Mom stumbled over to the door, still laughing at something Michelle had said.
A gray-haired man walked in with a briefcase.
"Johanna, greetings. I brought something extra, but that can wait. How is everyone?"
Everyone was pretty good. Lucas seemed awestruck. Nerd.
"Now for introductions. Kids, I'm Professor Rowan."
We know. Speak of the devil, right? Does that idiom apply around here?
"Good evening, professor."
"I'm Lucas, uh, sir."
"Oh, I'm Barry."
Yay, my turn.
"I'm-"
"Your real name, Hilby," his mom laughed from across the room. Women like wine a bit too much, sometimes.
"Ugh, fine. I'm Hilbert, Johanna's son. Nice to meet you, sir."
"Greetings, all. I heard that there were people moving in, so I figured now was as good a time as any to drop by." Hilbert started eyeing the briefcase. "You may have already deduced the purpose of my visit." The professor walked over to their table and sat on a free side, with the four kids facing him. He placed the briefcase on the table, clicking it open, to show an assortment of items.
Three Pokeballs. A little underwhelming, if Hilbert was being completely honest.
"You're giving us Pokemon! Uh, sir." Barry seemed to have an ounce of situational awareness. But only the one ounce. The professor chuckled.
"Indeed, young man."
"But sir, there are only three of them." Dawn was counting up the items with a finger.
"I was told that Hilbert already had a partner. These are for the three of you." He closed the case and stood up. "I'd hate to get this place dirty, so we'll take a look at them outside."
They walked out in the front yard. It wasn't too dark out, they could see fairly well. The professor took out the three Pokeballs.
"The Fire-type, Chimchar-" Golett had followed them outside and walked up to the monkey. He tried to shake hands, but Chimchar refused.
"The Water-type, Piplup." A cute little penguin. It walked up to Golett and slapped his arm with a flipper.
Looked like some kind of secret handshake, heh.
"The Grass-type, Turtwig." A turtle, who walked straight up to Dawn and nudged her leg.
"I've been helping take care of this little gal at the lab." She explained, while rubbing the shell. It- Barked? Snapped happily, maybe?
Lucas seemed focused on the Chimchar. The monkey noticed and stared back, before jumping on his head.
"Ah, get off!"
Barry was no help, as he sat back and laughed. Piplup seemed to be doing the same thing, pointing a flipper and hooting? Do penguins hoot?
"Seems like you all know what you're doing. I'll entrust them to you." The old man was amused. "Come by the lab tomorrow, we may have some additional items to discuss." With that, they returned indoors.
Piplup was tearing into a pile of berries just like Barry. They learn fast.
Lucas's Chimchar was just sitting there and drinking out of a cup, just like him.
Dawn's Turtwig sat on her lap and ate out a bowl. Cute little gal.
The next day, Johanna woke them up. And yes, all of them. Dawn rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and sat up. Barry immediately jumped up and stretched out. Lucas pulled his hat off of his eyes.
She even printed out a picture of them all sleeping on the seats. That's what happens when the adults are up drinking all night. They went home earlier without waking them up, the nerve! And she had the gall to laugh at them for it... Though that might just be another parent thing.
She told Dawn where the bathroom was, while throwing the rest of them toothbrushes. Women and their makeup, something like that. We were quickly kicked out to walk up to Sandgem town. It was a bit chilly, but nothing too terrible. I managed to snag one of my heavier jackets before heading out.
Our new partners followed behind up, though Turtwig seemed to have a preference for being carried. Hilbert wrapped her up in his light jacket and handed her to Dawn. Grass types don't mix well with cold, y'know.
Piplup was riding on Golett's shoulders, pointing at random landmarks they passed with his flippers and chirping happily.
Chimchar just followed Lucas, seemingly imitating his stoic walk.
Hilbert yawned again, because damn, sleeping on a couch with jet lag? Not the best sleep he could have.
Finally, they arrived in Sandgem town. Seemed like there was a bit of hail last night, but he just didn't hear it.
"Ah, good morning. How did you all sleep?"
Ah, shut up, old man.
"Fine, professor. What did you need?"
"I neglected to ask what you may choose to do with your new partners. Of course, you could stay in town, and never see what the rest of Sinnoh, but that's a path chosen by many-"
"Well, why would I do that? If I came all the way here, I may as well see what it has to offer." Yeah, it was rude of him to interrupt.
Sue me.
"Exactly, my boy!" Rowan had a light grin on his aged face. "I'm not a young man like I used to be. I can't climb Mt. Coronet or surf to Canalave city like I used to. I'd hate for my research to be halted, so I have a request."
"Of course, professor, what can we do?" Suck-up. Well, Lucas had a point, they did owe him for the Pokemon.
"I'd like for the four of you to take a Pokedex. While you see what the region has to offer, do this old man a favor, eh?"
"I don't have a problem with it." Might as well, right? Hilbert walked up to the table and grabbed a Pokedex.
Dawn followed soon after. Suppose as the assistant, it was an obligation.
"It'd be an honor, sir." Lucas reverently picked one up too and carefully pocketed it.
"Ah, why not?" Barry got the hint.
"But sir, what about your research here?" Dawn asked the professor. He simply waved her off.
"Don't worry about it. Youth is for adventure! And your father is more than enough help."
"Alright... Thank you for the opportunity, sir."
"Go on now, youngsters. Have a talk with your parents. Though I can't imagine them not being ecstatic."
Johanna handed him a bag full of toiletries as soon as Hilbert walked through the door.
"You're quick to get rid of me," he joked.
"Oh, don't say it like that. Go have your fun. I look forward to seeing you on TV."
"You really think I can do the gym challenge?"
I mean, I didn't go to trainer school or anything specific, but I knew the basics.
"With Golett by your side? You can do anything, sweetie." Blech. She kissed his forehead and ruffled his hair.
Parental love really is something else, huh?
"I'll… I'll do you proud."
No, I wasn't about to cry. I would never cry over something like this. I'm way too cool for that!
She wiped some wetness from his eyes.
"I know you will. Now get going, squirt."
"Yes- Yes ma'am." Hilbert smiled, pulled his hat over his eyes, and shouldered the bag. "I'll see you later."
"Make it soon, yeah? I'd like a nice plaque on the wall.".
He met up with everyone else on the outskirts of Sandem town, right next to the route marker.
"Isn't this really cliche? The group of friends setting out for an adventure?"
"Aw, come on, man? Did you have to put it like that? You've seen too many movies."
"I'm still right."
"Whatever." Barry turned and pointed to the Jubilife skyline. "Onward! To adventure!"
"...You do know that's only like, a few miles away, right?"
He fell over, facepalming. "Details, man! So not important!"
AN:
Attempt two. Switched to third-person, because that's my groove. You could get a better sense of personality from first-person, but Hilbert'll develop.
I guess it doesn't count as overt power boosting if it's a crossover? It's only vaguely so, let's say that Team Plasma did an oopsie trying to make Gurren Lagann real and leave it at that. It won't be a plot point… Probably.
Don't expect super frequent updates, I'm just taking a break from life to do this one.
Team suggestions, match-ups, side characters, leave em all.
Oh, and I've read about ⅓ of Ashes of the Past, and the species names were all capitalized there, so I don't think I actually got that wrong.