In the not-so-far future.

Hilbert was falling from the sky, flower petals were pelting his face, and he was pretty sure that used to be a desert. That skyscraper was starting to look awfully close, too.

Record scratch.

Yep, that's still Hilbert. You may be wondering how he got himself into that situation.

The author is, as well, but it's something yet to come.

A Mid-Sinnoh Night's Dream - XIV - Not Exactly a Road Trip

Abra teleported them all to Sandgem Town, leaving the Pokemon in a daze. Hilbert gave him a few berries, but the Psychic-type needed to rest.

They headed over to Professor Rowan's lab, figuring he'd want to check out the Legendary birds.

"Hey, old man!" Hilbert pushed open the door.

Dawn slapped the back of his head, walking in behind him.

"I mean, uh, greetings, professor."

The other four walked in, as the Professor turned in his seat to face them.

"Ah, hello, everyone."

"Check this out, I don't think they scanned properly." He tossed the belt over, and Rowan effortlessly caught it. Was the 'fragile old man' thing just a facade? Hilbert didn't know what to think about it.

The professor eyed the three dark Pokeballs and clacked them into a scanner one by one. His eyebrows shot to his hairline.

"Hm. I didn't think the birds could be found in Sinnoh." Rowan leaned back, tenting his fingers in front of his collarbone. "I'm sure there's a fascinating story about this?"

Hilbert rubbed the back of his head. "You know what? All things considered, it could have gone worse. They're Shadow Pokemon, apparently."

"...I see. I'll contact Professor Krane."

"...?"

"They are the leading expert in Shadow Pokemon studies. Given the rare and localized nature of Shadow Pokemon, and considering they're not common outside of Orre, he is the only expert as well."

"How do you know so much?"

"He was under my apprenticeship, many years ago."

"Huh."

Rowan shook his head, returning to the present. "Well, what are your plans?"

"I was going to talk to my mom, then get on a plane."

"Road trip!"

Shut up, Barry.

"I see. It's just as well you take these Pokemon on your person, these Pokeballs aren't keyed into any system that I'm aware of," Rowan said, looking back to his PC screen, "This is only showing me biometrics, nothing like trainer IDs or box numbers."

"So you can't just send them over?"

"Unless you'd like to attempt to recapture them in Sinnoh, which I may add, sounds very difficult, what with all the wildlife, it'll have to be done in-person."

"Road trip!"

"Shut up, Barry."

That's what I'm saying!

Hilbert reached up to tap his ears, like they were clogged. "Did you guys just hear something? It seems like some asshole is breaking the fourth wall."

"...Hilbert, what the hell are you talking about?"

Rowan exhaled and shook his head. "If you're still interested, I have received the uplink technology from Galar to link you to the PC," he said, reaching for a half-dozen sensors, "It's an app, and these disks will let you transfer the Pokeballs. Just plug in the link cable and the software will install itself."

"Thanks a ton."

"Hey, mom!"

He was quickly engulfed in a hug from his mother. "Hilby! What are you doing home?" She looked over his shoulder at the two newcomers to their group (to her knowledge). "And who are your new friends?" She leaned back down to him, whispering, "Did Lucas and Barry get girlfriends?"

"Mom!" He was lucky no one else heard her.

"Oh, I'm just playing, dear." She let go of him, thankfully. "Thank you all for being my son's friend, he-"

"You've met half of them!"

"Can't let a woman have her jokes…" Johanna muttered. "Well, what are you all doing here?"

"See, mom, uh…" Hilbert averted his eyes. "Did you hear anything about Celestic Town by chance?"

"You stole three Legendary Pokemon."

"Uh…"

"After someone turned them evil."

"That's not quite it…"

"And now you want to go to Orre. The middle of the desert."

"Kinda?"

Johanna sighed. "Oh well, nothing to be done about it then."

Hilbert abruptly fell out of his seat.

The rest of his teammates, all scattered in stools around the kitchen island, looked down at him.

"Huh?" He asked, shakily getting back on his chair.

"I'm just glad you asked, really. It would be a first."

"I'm not that bad…"

"How many times have you been on the news? Gym battles notwithstanding."

"Ah, you… Have a point."

"Of course I do, I'm your mother." She looked over the other five. "Do all of you have permission?"

"I'll ask my folks soon, don't worry!"

"I'll ask Barry's parents too."

"Professor Rowan has talked to my parents, they're fine with it."

"My grandfather would ask to let him come along, haha!"

"...I live on my own, but I trust in your judgment…"

Johanna nodded along, "Just making sure, just making sure. Why don't you all stay the night? It's getting rather late."

Hilbert spread out their sleeping bags in his barely-used room. The girls were sleeping downstairs, for decency's sake, so it was just him and Lucas, since Barry had run off to get permission.

"Say… You said you'd ask Barry's parents, didn't you?"

Lucas shook his head. "He'll ask for both of us, it's fine."

"...Why would you ask them?"

Lucas blinked.

"Oh. They're my guardians. Not my parents, but, y'know."

"Ah. Sorry for asking."

Lucas shook his head. "Don't be. They adopted me when I was… How old were you when you left?"

"About six, I think. I'm pretty sure the author retconned my age."

"...Alright. I think they found me a little after then."

"That's… Weird."

"Let me think for a minute…"

A Legendary Pokemon, rumored to have the power to move through dimensions, created a portal from one world to the next.

It was through one of these rings that an unconscious child fell through.

Hoopa looked down at the boy, then shrugged.

It did the job, filling the hole in destiny that had been left. Two Celebi appeared from the portal, speaking to it.

Lucas, still dazed, looked up at the tiny figures, unable to make out their forms or their speech.

One Celebi looked from one to another. "See, I didn't know they'd leave! It's not like I can just change their mind."

"Why'd you take my chosen one, then?"

"Because the other one stayed in Twinleaf, in your timeline."

Hoopa, though it could travel between dimensions, didn't quite understand the concept of separate timelines, so just floated around the two, confused.

"Well, he's here now." Celebi looked down, still appearing blurry to the little boy. "I'm sure if there are any major issues, I would've come back to this moment to stop myself by now."

"That could just mean it went horribly wrong."

"Eh, we all live in a Pokemon world, it can't get too terrible."

Hoopa decided not to comment about the innumerable dark dimensions they'd traveled through. The ratio of darkness in the multiverse to light was, as they'd once heard, too damn high.

"Just leave him here, the humans here will probably take care of him."

The two Celebi nodded, one flying off into the sky, and the other returning through the ring they came from.

Hoopa just looked around blankly, back down at the boy, and mentally bookmarked the dimension for later. End of the year… In one decade. That sounded like a reasonable time to return. It flew through the dark ring space, and let it shrink away into nothingness as it left.

Lucas was sitting there, confused, looking around. He couldn't remember anything, and he had no idea what happened.

"...Hello?"

"So, yeah, I woke them up in the middle of the night," Lucas said, shrugging. "I walked towards the first thing I saw- Well, more like into it. Weird way of knocking on the door, I know."

Hilbert snorted. "Sounds like you're the chosen one, waking up in the middle of nowhere like that."

"The guy with aura is telling me that?"

"I bet you have it too, like a real hero, along with being able to understand any Pokemon, catch any Legendary, and beat any- Wait."

"That's you!"

"It is not! I don't- That's just coincidence!"

"Sure, sure."

"Why don't you just try using aura, then?"

"How? You're the one who actually learned."

"Yeah, but you probably just have the super-secret-superpowers that you can hide easily when you shouldn't be able to for dramatic tension-"

"You watch too much TV."

"Ah, shaddup. Hey, what movies should I bring?"

"Huh?"

Hilbert shrugged. "I'm guessing we're going to be spending a lot of time in hotels, might as well bring something good to watch."

Lucas walked over to his desk. "Evangelion, Gurren Lagann, Big Busty-"

"Hey, stop right there!"'

"Oh, I misread that." Lucas held up the last film. "Black Luster Soldier? Isn't that a thing from Duel Monsters?"

"Spin-off movie. Thought you found something else for a second- I mean, uh, yeah, I don't have any other movies."

Dawn, Cheryl, and Marley were sat down in the living room by Johanna.

There was a tense air, as Johanna stared at each of them for a minute.

"So. Who likes who?"

There was a brief wave of dull confusion.

"...Eh?"

"You heard me. I haven't seen you or the boys in five months! I want to hear all the details," she said, taking up the Gendo-pose.

The ensuing conversation was uncomfortable enough that the author is entirely unwilling to describe it. That, or it'll fall under 'men writing women', your choice.

Looker set up a flight for them to take care of the birds ASAP, and it arrived outside Sandgem the next day. It was going to take them to an international airport, and they'd planned on taking a normal flight to be less conspicuous. Not that there were many normal flights headed for Orre, but it was a common enough refuel point.

Luckily, there was never any need for something like a TSA, so they got on easily enough.

They were expected to keep their larger Pokemon in their balls during the flight, though that didn't stop Lucas and Barry from snagging extra seats for their partners. That was allowed, as long as Infernape didn't set anything on fire.

The seats were grouped by fours, with pairs facing each other.

"Not it," Barry said, not wanting to catch cooties.

"Not it," Lucas quickly added.

"Not- Damn, fine." Hilbert sighed, splitting off from the two and their Pokemon and taking a seat with the girls, Dawn choosing to sit beside him.

After the few other passengers got situated, they were off for the races.

Hillbert had nodded off at some point during the flight with Shaymin napping in his lap, and groggily awoke when the outside of the plane was nothing but darkness. All he heard was light snoring and the roar of the engines and the wind.

Looking down, making out his surroundings through the slight lighting given by Infernape's flames, he saw Dawn sprawled across him cuddling Shaymin in her arms. He knocked his head back, shrugging his arms slightly, before drifting back off to sleep.

They stopped halfway, in the early morning, on one of the Alolan islands, Melemele.

"We have a few hours, y'know," Hilbert said, stretching his arms and wincing, "I don't think we can go swimming, but we can probably look around. Wonder if there are any sights to see."

His cross-transceiver buzzed.

"Hey, listen!"

He looked down at the watch, and saw a hexagonal white eye surrounded by pink on its screen.

"Finally! My screen time! Did you guys forget about me?"

"...Oh. Shit, I forgot Abra got you."

"Wiped your memory so you'd stop yelling."

"...We're going to talk about that. Sorry, Porygon."

"It's fine now! So, you wanted to look at the sights?" Porygon flew back inside the screen, revealing an online map of the island they were on. "There's Ten-Carat hill, they say a Legendary Pokemon lives there," It pointed an angular foot at a point to the south, which they could see from the port. "To the north, there's the Melemele Meadow, where many Oricorio gather to dance and practice their routines." He saw Dawn get a glint in her eyes, turning towards the route slightly. "And the main town, where you're currently located, is Hau'oli City."

"Thanks, but why haven't you said anything before?"

"You haven't asked anything you couldn't figure out yourself!"

Lucas went off to the beach anyway, deciding a Water-type wouldn't be the worst addition to his team. He later learned that he caught this weird thing called a Pyuke- Puku- Pyukumuku? Yeah, that. It apparently was easier to catch, showed by it knocking out Infernape, by just rolling a Pokeball its way. Considered a pest on the beaches, it was the local equivalent of a Wobbufet. After pissing it off enough, a few Poison-types showed up to defend it, of which he defeated with Luxray, making a reasonable guess that they were Water-type as well, and respectfully caught two, with one of them being for Barry, because-

Barry heard about the local delicacy, and immediately ran off to the Malasada shop with Prinplup not far behind.

Though Lucas didn't bother catching one for Hilbert, which did piss him off, it was explained that his team was badass enough so Hilbert would stop shaking his co-leader.

Dawn had run off to the Meadow, hoping to catch an Oricorio, dragging Cheryl with her. Marley had tagged along with Lucas in the first place, so he wasn't completely caught out on his own.

Hilbert was just wandering around town, looking at the sights.

A little tan boy with green hair skipped past him. "Gonna be Kahuna, gonna be Kahuna, gonna be Kahuna, believe it!"

Hilbert shrugged when the odd boy left his vision. He had no idea what a Kahuna was, naturally, but assumed it was close enough to a Hokage, even if he'd never watched that show.

When they met back up at the port, Dawn had actually caught an Oricorio, while Lucas caught a variety of local Pokemon, and Barry was full of sugary sweets. He bought plenty extra for them to share on the plane, which was nice.

Soon enough, they were back on the plane, on route to Orre.

The Gateon port was most likely the brightest place in the region, as miles off, Hilbert could see nothing but mountains and sand.

Hilbert held up his cross-transceiver. "Hey, Porygon, can you pull up the route to the lab?"

"What is this, an ad for Nookazon?"

"Shut up, Barry."

"Hm… Well, if you mean the Pokemon HQ Lab, you can access it via scooters and motorbike. It's recommended you use protective gear and face shields."

"Ah. Anywhere we can rent those?"

"Around the corner, you'll find a tour guide service. The price is steep, but because of high crime rates, you can't blame them."

"...How steep, exactly?"

Hilbert's jaw dropped when he heard a six-figure number.

"Yeah… No. Golurk, you're flying us, I'll get Lucario to help with shielding."

The golem and Fighting-type appeared, clanking and nodding respectively.

"Hey, Michael? Would you mind testing this machine for me?" Professor Krane beckoned for his young assistant, a family friend's son.

"Huh? Sure thing, professor." The young red-haired boy walked through the lab's archway.

Krane, a man on the younger side of thirty, was tinkering with a headphone-like machine, with a blue shield over one eye. Leave your assumptions relating to power levels at the door.

"Oh, the Aura Reader again?"

"Yes, I've nearly got it working. You don't mind trying it on, do you?"

"Not at all, professor," said Michael, pulling the band over his head.

"Alright, alright," Krane muttered, turning towards his PC. "Turning on, turning on…"

Michael's vision was mostly normal, and he turned, looking around the room. When he looked south, there was a dark cloud on the horizon. Figuring it was just a storm, he closed the eye under the shield. Then he saw nothing.
"Uh, there's a cloud on the scouter…"

"Hm? I must have missed a weather report." Krane was not an incompetent man, but he was used to his machine failing at that point. He took a sip of coffee, pulling up the corresponding recording from the reader. He quickly spit his coffee out through the holographic screen.

"Oh!" He proceeded to say a line of swears that Michael's mother would find very distasteful if she heard them. "Team Cipher already? I didn't think they'd find out so fast- Michael, get the lab's defensive team."

"Sir, what's happening?"

"Those are Shadow Pokemon, a lot of them."

Unfortunately for everyone involved, Professor Krane was never good at checking his emails.

Golurk had enough space on his back for them, though it was a tight fit. Lucario and Hilbert held them on with aura while shielding them from the sharp winds. They passed over the small forest and through the plains.

They were surprised, obviously, when Golurk was hit with a Psybeam to the face.

He dropped lower from the sky, as a barrage of Psybeams flew past them. They hopped off, slowly descending thanks to Abra, and Hilbert threw out his Dark-type.

In a blue flash of shining metal, Tyranitar was punched across the grassy clearing.

"Is that a Metagross?" Lucas yelled, as Tyranitar roared and slammed into it with Payback.

The Metagross flew back, circling around them, making strange buzzing noises as it passed.

"Team Snagem- Wait, you're a bunch of kids!" A man, probably twice their age, in a lab coat ran into the clearing, holding a Pokeball. "Don't tell me they're recruiting that early!"

"What? No, we're Team Black-"

Dawn smacked the back of his head.

"What he means, sir, is that there's clearly some sort of misunderstanding."

A red-haired boy ran up behind the man, holding a strange headset to his face. "You were right, professor! The reading is coming from the guy with the blue jacket!"

Metagross floated above the ground, making Tyranitar's Earthquake completely ineffective.

"Reading?" Hilbert asked, stumbling.

The flying Metagross was thrown through a tree by a Stomping Tantrum, with loose rocks pelting its shields.

"You have Shadow Pokemon!"

"Uh, yeah, that's why I'm here." Hilbert held up the belt of dark Pokeballs. "Didn't Professor Rowan send you an email?"

The man froze, the upper half of his face turning blue.

"I… Michael, make sure they don't get away!" The professor turned away and pulled a portable PC out of his pocket, along with what looked like a satellite array. He connected it to the screen and started tabbing through it.

Michael, the red-haired boy, turned towards them. "So… How's it going?"

Hilbert shook his hand out, in a 'so-so' gesture. He heard Tyranitar roar. "Hey, we're not doing that right now! Time out!"

The Rock-type sheepishly looked up from where it was holding down Metagross with one hand and about to punch it with the other. The Fire Punch flickered out.

"By the way, since when can Metagross fly?"

Michael shrugged, as Metagross rose and appeared to be dusting itself off. "That's the professor's partner. He got a Metagrossite from a friend in Hoenn a while ago, and he's been holding onto a Keystone."

"Man, I gotta get me one of those," Hilbert sighed.

Krane abruptly stood up, packing away his equipment, and turned back to them while adjusting his glasses. "As it turns out, Rowan did send me an email. The circumstances sound fascinating. Please, join us in the lab."

"...You have three of the Legendary Birds?"

Hilbert patted the belt hanging from his hip. "It's a whole thing. Turns out, they're Shadow Pokemon, it wasn't my fault, I stole them from a crime boss. Do you have a machine that can fix them?"

"I've been working on one. Luckily, the inside is resistant to damage, so it's unlikely they'll cause harm once they're entered."

They walked to another part of the lab, into a control room, facing into a dark grey cylinder.

"Just put their Pokeballs in this sensor," Krane gestured towards a semi-circular input. "It can purify up to six at a time… But considering the circumstances, it may be best to take it slow."

Hilbert scooped one of the capsules into his hand, nodding.

Articuno appeared in the chamber, unconscious. Hilbert had reservations about taking them to a Pokemon Center, all things considered.

"Aligning tempo… Place four Pokemon in the sensors. Tempo depends on the effectiveness of the Pokemon placed. Ground, Water, Fire, Grass."

Hilbert shared a look with his teammates. "That's a funny coincidence. Alright, Golurk, you're up."

After their four starters were placed in, Krane clicked on a few levers.

"Alright… Starting Purification."

Lights began spinning through the chamber, floating between the five Pokemon.

"How long is this going to take?"

"A few hours. Though, I hear that with enough friendship, a relic up in Agate Village will do the same."

Hilbert leaned back and sighed. "I'm gonna go catch a nap. Later."

Indeed, a few hours later, he was called back to the chamber. Articuno was still knocked out, but their other Pokemon were starting to look a bit tired. The dark aura around the Legendary had dissipated.

"I'll take care of the Pokemon. You guys can go to bed." Hilbert waved the rest of them off, placing a new Pokeball in the sensor, and the professor nodded.

"That's true, you all don't have to wait around."

Articuno disappeared into the Great Ball, leaving the four starters alone in the chamber.

"Really? Sweet, give Prinplup some berries for me," Barry said, tossing him the Water-type's Pokeball.

Lucas did the same, carefully handing him Infernape's ball.

"I can stick around, I don't mind," Dawn said, through a yawn.

"Do you want some coffee?" Cheryl asked, tilting her head.

"Coffee?"

"Okay, some for Shaymin too, then."

Krane was suddenly distracted by the Mythical's appearance. "That's a… Well, I did hear about someone catching a Shaymin, should've figured."

"We've had a very strange time so far in Sinnoh, professor. Almost like a dream."

...Uh, roll credits?

Michael jumped over the couch in the living quarters and flicked on the TV. "So, you guys wanna watch anything?"

Marley and Cheryl went to sleep in the guest room, so the three boys stuck in the communal room.

"Hm…" Lucas rubbed his chin in thought. "Say, Michael, have you ever seen Gurren Lagann?"

"Grind what?"

Lucas shook his head, and reached into his bag. "I'm glad Hilbert let me borrow his blu-rays. Alright, Barry, start the popcorn."

Watching the light pulse inside the chamber had a near-hypnotic effect on Hilbert. Zapdos, unconscious, was laying in the center of the chamber. His head rocked forward and backward, tapping the back of the chair he was slouching in. Shaymin was on their nth cup of coffee, despite almost definitely not needing it. Dawn was doing the same as his, sitting sideway in another chair, scrunching up and hanging her legs over the side. The professor was drinking about as much coffee as Shaymin was, taking notes and doing other paperwork.

Sometime after midnight, there was a deep buzz, and Zapdos's aura had cleared up. He groggily got up and took the other Pokemon out of the chamber, using Awakenings and Ethers to keep up their energy. He contemplatively tested the Awakening on himself, but only received a faceful of wet medicine.

After returning them all to the chamber, he placed Moltres inside the sensor, and decided he could probably catch some sleep.

Late into the morning, Hilbert was shaken awake by a loud buzz. Moltres was clear, and it looked like the sleep deprivation had finally hit the three non-Ghost-types. He retrieved all of the Pokemon, and shook Dawn awake, before giving her Turtwig. Walking into the living area, he was the three other boys spread across the sofa, while a movie menu was flashing on the TV.

"Alright, up and at 'em." He threw them their Pokeballs, shocking them awake from getting smacked in the head. "We're healing up then I'm going to talk to the birds with Lucario."

"Yeah, yeah," Barry yawned, rubbing his forehead.

They shuffled outside, into the same clearing they'd been intercepted by Metagross in. Hilbert's team was called out, in case the birds were still under negative effects. Krane had healed them, but he wasn't quite sure.

He threw the Pokeballs out, and in a burst of light, Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres appeared.

Instead of standing regally, they looked rather confused.

"Articuno, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore," Moltres said, snorting fire.

"We're from Johto, you dolt." Why did an Articuno from Johto have a Galarian accent?

"Shut up, both of you. There's a human."

The birds' heads swiveled towards them.

"Uh… Hey? You guys don't feel like Shadow Pokemon anymore, do you?"

Articuno's head bent sideways at a right angle. "Hm… I remember that Lugia was mad about something or other, and then… Those chaps were rather strange, weren't they? I haven't the foggiest where we've been."

In truth, there was an attempt by a certain evil team to capture Lugia, which failed, but they had managed the Legendary Birds. They decided they would make great test subjects, and sold them to the highest bidder. That highest bidder just happened to be Cyrus.

"A man named Cyrus had captured you. We're across the ocean right now, in Orre. We can get you back there, but it's going to take a while."

"Sounds agreeable to me, mate."

Hilbert figured the birds had an accent because they weren't speaking telepathically.

"Since when are you in charge?"

"Shut up, both of you, I'm in charge."

"Oi, like 'ell you are!"

"Um, excuse me…" Cheryl stepped forward, holding her camera. "You wouldn't mind if I took some pictures before we leave, would you?"

"Lass, make you get my bloody good side, eh?"

"That was an offensive use of that accent."

"Bugger off, Moltres."

Zapdos raised its wing, almost as if facepalming. "I can't wait for Lugia to set you fools straight."

"I'm just… Not gonna ask."

After Cheryl took her pictures, the birds understood they'd have to travel in Pokeballs for the rest of the journey, but he got the idea they wouldn't let that last after they got back to Johto. There were multiple of the birds, obviously. Every region allegedly had their own set, though the appearances of Lugia was much less widespread, as they simply took much longer to multiply.

Michael caught them before they could leave. "Hey, before you go, let's have a Pokemon battle!" He held up a Premier Ball. "I'm really good in the simulator, but I haven't tried the real thing, so let's do it!"

"You know, I'm not some fantasy hero. If I went easy on you-"

"You better not!"

"Well, alright then. Abra." Hilbert threw out the Pokeball, and the Psychic-type burst onto the field.

"Eevee!"

The Normal-type mammal yipped, appearing in the grassy clearing.

"Am I allowed to use mind-tricks on that kid?"

"No, Abra, I told you not to give people psychosis."

"Fine, fine, we'll do it your way."

"We need to get you some therapy… Start it with a Reflect!"

Abra held out his arms, forming a slight purple sheen in the air around him.

"Sand Attack won't do anything, his eyes are closed! Use Growl!"

Somehow, Eevee's hiss-like Growl actually came off as intimidating, and a shiver went down Hilbert's and Abra's spine.

The two trainers spoke simultaneously.

"Teleport and use Drain Punch!"

"Use Sand Attack above you and dodge!"

Eevee kicked dust into the air, before jumping to the side. Abra Teleported under the falling sand, only hitting the particles.

"Now, Quick Attack, and start using Tail Whip!"

Eevee slammed into Abra, nudging it, before dashing back, wagging its tail cutely.

Abra froze up for a second. "Are you kidding me? That thing's basically a baby! Why am I fighting that?"

"Why are you still an Abra?"

"Figured sleeping gets more uncomfortable the taller I get."

Their discussion was interrupted by another Quick Attack.

"Get your head in the game!"

"Yeah, yeah. Psychic!"

Eevee froze, rising into the air on psychic waves.

"Endure!"

Abra sent it slamming back down, as if being cracked by a whip.

"Work Up!"

"Tsk. Psychic."

"Shadow Ball!"

Abra's eyes widened, inadvertently filling them with sand. He tried to wipe them, but was thrown back by a critical sphere of deathly energy.

"You've got to be kidding me…"

Eevee fell from the sky, having been thrown by the Psychic, but was left in the air. It was knocked out the second it landed.

"...I think that's a tie, right?" Michael asked, scratching his head and returning Eevee.

"Guess so." Hilbert shrugged. "Nice battle."

"Thanks, I practice a ton."

"You have a cross-transceiver?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"Cool, give me your info, we can hang out if I'm around again."

"Seriously? Alright, sure!"

They were back on the plane soon enough, heading off for the rest of their trip.

So, Hilbert started thinking about Unova. He'd called his mom, asking for details, but she didn't tell him anything he didn't already know. Though… He could've sworn he was forgetting something.

AN:

Forget about the level thing, those don't exist. Prinplup and Infernape have roughly the same amount of experience, but they've never been in a situation where the former has needed to evolve. Evolution is a result of energy, experience, or in other words, willpower. Or not, who gives a damn.

If it wasn't clear, the Orre bit takes place an amount of time before XD's events, but definitely after Colosseum's. I like Wes and Rui, but I'm not sure about them showing up.

So, this is probably the first of maybe three chapters, detailing the gang's wacky adventures across the Pokemon world. They're not stopping in every region, but some are in their futures. Next chapter is going to be fun.

Ooh, I'm goin' off the rails on the crazy train...