How do you think it feels to be liquidated and have your soul fused with a golem? Well, this isn't a game show, and there's no prize. You'll find out soon enough.

A Mid-Sinnoh Night's Dream - XVI - Not Another One!

"Misaltron doesn't have any outgoing flights for the next month, I'm sorry."

Hilbert inwardly groaned the response the airport receptionist gave him."Right, sorry to bother you…" He walked over to where everyone was waiting. "We're stuck."

"Aw man."

"Indeed. So, any other options?"

"You rang?"

He looked down at his cross-transceiver, seeing Porygon's eye close to the display.

"What've you got for me, Porygon?"

"Well, accessing the GTS, I can easily determine that there are modes of transportation besides flight."

"...Is that all?"

"Of course not! Who the hell do you think I- Ack, ahem, something in my throat. There are many ocean liners on the northeast coasts, would you like me to book a trip?"

"Can you get one with an officer's discount? I mean, we are technically deputized. I think."

"No problem! Click click clack… Alright! In a few days, go to this port near Undella Town, and…"

After they got the instructions, they decided to head straight towards the seaside town in preparation.

It turned out to be more of a resort than anything else, looking remarkably like the route to Pastoria.

Hilbert stood at the end of a grassy trail, looking over the ocean.

"Hope this doesn't turn into another beach episode…"

"Man, what?"

"Nevermind, let's just-"

"Yo, is that my favorite punching bag?" Someone suddenly shouted, and when he turned he was greeted by a kick to the face.

Smartly, his aura shield was still up, but the Hi-Jump Kick's force still carried over.

Spitting sand out of his mouth, he said, "I'm starting to recognize a theme. Maylene? What are you doing in Unova?"

The pink-haired Gym Leader was standing over him, entirely too smug about landing the hit, while wearing her usual black tank top and white shorts.

"Cynthia invites the women in the League here for a retreat every summer," she shrugged. "It's not required for gyms to stay closed, but we are allowed a break during the year if we want. What are you all doing here?"

Dusting himself off, he was glad they'd invested in zip-off cargo pants, as it was really too hot in Unova. Greenhouse effect or something, he didn't know. He was glad that he ditched the jacket too for a bit, because he'd hate to get sand in it and then have to kill Maylene.

"We're on vacation too, just passing through. Technically Interpol business, but y'know."
"Interpol?"

He pulled the badge out of his pocket and flipped it open. "Got my code name and everything."

"Pfft. You're really sticking with Black?"

"It's a family name- I mean, uh, shut up, it's cool!"

Maylene shooed him off and turned to the girls. "You three are welcome to join us. No icky boys."

"Alright, see you guys later." Dawn waved and walked off with the other two following suit.

Hilbert, Barry, and Lucas just stood there, confused.

"...You guys want to go train or something?"

"Hell yeah!"

Hilbert called out Lucario, who promptly punched him in the stomach.

"Where's my screen time, huh? So disrespectful!"

"You have to earn respect. Anyway, while the girls have their fun, we're training."

He let out his other four, Shaymin already perched on his shoulder. Lucas threw out his Infernape, Mareanie, Pyukumuku, and Roselia. Barry let out Prinplup, Phantump, Raichu, and Tropius.

"Lucario, since you're weak to fire, I want you to work with Infernape. That cool with you, Lucas?"

"Fine by me."

"Right. When am I getting my drill finisher?"

"Just use your aura and make it spin. But it's a finisher, got it? Don't lead with it, or you'll get tired out. I bet Infernape could learn if you tried to teach."

As Lucario approached Infernape, charging aura spheres, he turned towards Golurk and Garchomp. "Golurk, I think we need to work on ranged moves. Being able to Shadow Sneak is good, but you need to be able to hit moving targets. Garchomp, that's where you come in. You can take hits well, but you need to work on dodging."

The two nodded, and Garchomp flew off over the water, looping and doing fancy air tricks. Golurk turned to face the waves and raised his arms.
Hilbert turned again, looking at Tyranitar and Abra. "Abra, start trying to use Fighting-type moves. You have a disadvantage against Dark-types, so you need to get better at taking them down. Tyranitar, don't destroy the place."

"Boss, are you-" Abra got punted down the beach by Tyranitar, who was already stomping towards him.

"Okay… Shaymin," he tapped the hedgehog-like Pokemon on his shoulder. "I've noticed your stamina has been getting better. You were still awake after Castelia, which is good news. Work on your endurance. Maybe try swimming?"

"Are you giving me a break?"

"Hey, don't tell anyone I said this, but I kinda owe it to you. You came all this way just to fix some city you've never been to. You deserve the break more than I do."

"...I'll keep Garchomp from drowning when Golurk hits him with a rocket fist."

"Rocket what?" Hilbert turned towards the water, where he saw Golurk's fist glaciate like a comet and shoot towards Garchomp, leaving an empty arm socket. It was quickly replaced with a new fist from inside his body. "...Huh. Does that count as a special attack?"

The three girls saw Cynthia, Gardenia, Maylene, and two other women they didn't recognize. One with a track jacket tied around her waist and black hair, and the other an old woman in a more traditional suit.

"Oh, miss Cynthia…" Dawn waved awkwardly, not quite sure how she was supposed to greet a champion.

"Hm, oh! You're Black's friends. Greetings!" The older blonde waved back, smiling. "What are you all doing here?"

"Hilbert- That's his real name- He had some business in Orre, and decided we all needed a vacation."

"After dealing with Team Galactic? I can see why."

"You know about…?"

"I help out the International Police, they keep me updated. I heard the Legendary Birds were involved."

"Yeah. Anyway, is the League on vacation right now?"

Cynthia gave her a half-nod. "We get a break during the summer. Gyms can stay open, but they aren't required to. My friend, Caitlin, owns a villa, and she lent it to me for a bit."

"That sounds nice. We're stopping by until our boat arrives to take us to Kalos. Misaltron's not got any flights for a week."

"Sounds like Skyla's taking a break…" She sighed. "Never mind that, I'm sure you'll be fine."

Cheryl looked around them. "Excuse me, but… Is Fantina here?"

"Oh, no, she's on a contest tour right now. I believe she'll be in Kalos next week, if my memory serves correctly. She has a habit of taking her time off earlier than us."

Lucas looked at Golurk's barrage of icy rocket fist, then back at Hilbert. "So, he's not just the Gurren Lagann, he's an Arceus-damned Gundam now?"

Looks like he picked up Hilbert's incorrect use of the swear.

"What's a Gundam?"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, WHAT'S A GUNDAM?"

"He's not, probably. You can get inside Gundams, right? Plus, he's not painted bright red, so it doesn't fit your protagonist theory anyway."

"Not right now, anyway…"

Hilbert laughed, "Seriously, watch this. Hey, Golurk! Open up!"

The golem swiveled its head, almost like it was on a spinner. Its back melted open, blinding them with bright white light, and leaving a conspicuously open hole in its back.

"...You have got to be fu-"

"Sick!" Hilbert ran towards the hatch that folded out of Golurk's back, scrambling up into its back.

"I wouldn't recommend that…" Lucas's concern drifted off as Golurk resealed itself with Hilbert inside.

"Are you serious?" Hilbert floated in a white void, blinding yet soothing at the same time. He couldn't feel his eyes, but he could sense it. "Did I just die?"

"No, sir," echoed a mechanical voice, "You seem to have atomized yourself and melded into my mind."

"So I'm dead."

"I'm sure you can get out."

Hilbert sighed, but found he had no mouth, nor a body to sigh with. The sound still echoed.

"So essentially, you're an Evangelion too, and I just reached a four-hundred percent sync ratio."

"If those are the terms you would like, yes. And now that I'm looking inside your head, I understand what you mean. Interesting."

"How are you looking in my head? You're a Ghost-type."

"You've melded our consciousness for the time being. This should make sense to you."

"I guess. Can you let me in on your senses? I'm kinda floating in the void right now."

The white world melted away, and he felt gravity return. He wasn't in his own body, clearly, as he was about twice as high up as normal. He felt lighter, strangely, despite now being made out of… Not rocks, as clearly it wasn't made of natural materials. Aura-stone? Soul-stone? Soul-stone.

He heard Lucas and Barry shouting behind him, so he turned. They stopped looking up at him. He could see vague outlines of aura floating around them, even with his 'eyes' open.

"Hilby! You in there?"

"Yes- Whoa! That sounds weird…" His voice was distorted by a mechanical tinge, like his voice had replaced Golurk's own.

"That's… Okay, I've heard of Legendaries being caught, I've heard of people taking on evil teams, but… This is new," Lucas said, his voice dropping into a bored monotone, "That's it, nothing makes sense anymore, I'll accept it."

He saw Maylene walk up to them, oblivious to the conversation.

"Yo. You guys training?"

"Uh, we were…"

Maylene looked over and up at Golurk. "You hiding behind there, Hilbert?"

"No, see…" He held his arms in front of him, flexing the rocky fingers slowly. "I may have… Done something weird. Again."

"He climbed inside Golurk."

"He what?"

"Yeah, Lucas said he looked like a Gundam, I said it wasn't because Golurk doesn't have a pilot's seat, then his back opened up, and then I climbed in, and now… I can probably get out."

"You fused yourself with a Pokemon?" Maylene asked, skeptically.

"We're kindred souls."

"Wait, I didn't say… Golurk, was that you?"

"I'm borrowing your voice, sir."

"Fair."

"That's a pretty elaborate act. Let me guess, your Abra is projecting your voice?"

"He's not kidding, man, he turned himself into a Golurk! Funniest shit I've ever seen."

"I'm pretty sure he ate my body, but I should be able to get out. Wait a minute…"

His vision faded to black, then white, then black again, and then felt his body flop onto the sand. He was looking up at Golurk's back, so he could tell he'd been thrown out the back.

"That was an experience."

Clank.

"Indeed, bud, indeed."

It turned out that Dawn had caught a Mantyke, and it was a fairly cute thing. Marley caught a Buizel, which was strange, considering the location, but they figured someone had just released it.

He recalled his larger Pokemon, with only Lucario and Shaymin trailing behind him. Hilbert decided his little adventure into the bright unknown could wait until it would be funny to show them, so didn't mention it. Maylene had brought them over, since she'd stolen half of their party.

"Oh, hey, Gardenia, Cynthia."

"Is Shaymin with you?" The Grass-type leader sat up on her blanket.

Shaymin peeked further over his shoulder, becoming visible. They were snatched by Gardenia, who hugged it and started rolling on her beach towel.

Ignoring the weirdness, he nodded to Cynthia. "How's it going?"

"We're doing fine. How did your business with Interpol go?"

"Fixed it. The birds got to stretch their wings a bit."

"I thought that was you I heard about on the news, I don't know anyone else with a Shaymin." She glanced back at Gardenia, who was still laughing and asphyxiating Shaymin.

They'd live.

"I do have a flair for the dramatic."

"You'd be good in contests."

"Haha. No. Battling is my thing, and I'd piss off a lot of people every time Golurk used his finisher."

She shrugged. "Just a suggestion."

"Hey!"

Hilbert turned to the other girl who had long black hair and the aforementioned tied track jacket around her waist. "Uh…"

"Oh, I'm Candice! I'm the Ice-type Gym Leader, up in Snowpoint!"

He was thrown a bit off balance.

"...Ice-type?"

"I know, I know, I need to work on being more 'cold and brooding', but that's boring! Nothing wrong with liking Ice-types and being nice, right?"

He felt a bit out of his depth. The guy definitely wasn't an expert on how Gym Leaders should act."Um, no, not at all."

"So, do you have Articuno with you?" She leaned forward, smiling.

"Uh…" He looked around, making sure it wasn't too crowded. "I'm sure letting them stretch before we leave couldn't hurt."

He tapped the three balls on his belt, letting the birds appear on the beach.

"This isn't Johto."

"Obviously, nitwit."

"You two stop arguing before I use Zap Cannon!"

Moltres and Articuno wisely stopped squawking at each other.

"Ooh, aren't you pretty," Candice walked up to Articuno and stroked its feathers.

"Oi, mate, what's the big idea?" Articuno asked, not moving but seeming a bit uncomfortable.

"She's an Ice-type Gym Leader. She knows what she's doing. Probably."

"Of course I do! Who the hell do you think I am?"

A beat passed.

"...You, uh…"

"Gardenia showed me your battle with Roark. That's one of your lines, isn't it?" She nodded along as she spoke, running her arms down Articuno's ribbon-like tail feathers.

"...Oh, yeah, I kinda forgot about that. It feels like it's only been a month, but… Man, that was like five months ago. Time flies, I guess."

Barry inched over to Dawn and started hurriedly whispering.

"You know, she looks about our age."

"Yep."

"She quoted Hilbert without making fun of him."

"Do you have a point?"

"She seems pretty new. Bet whoever ran the gym before her could step in if she left."

She shrugged. "If she wants to travel with us, that's Hilbert's choice."

"...You know, I'm not the most observant guy, but I can tell you two have something going on. Plus, if it weren't for Maylene, you'd probably think the League has a rule about the leaders being pretty girls."

Further down the beach, overseeing an impromptu sparring match between her and Hilbert's Lucario, Maylene felt the sudden urge for murder.

"That's rude."

"My point is, shouldn't you be the last person to be okay with that?"

Dawn sighed, smiling slightly.

"Hilbert… He's not looking for that kind of thing right now. I know, trust me. I got over it. I respect him, admire him even, and don't you dare tell him that- And I think I was just a little confused. In a few years, or whenever you guys finish fighting Team Galactic, and he's open for it, I don't know if I'll feel that way about him again."

"Ouch."

"It didn't… Okay, it hurt, but not the way you're thinking. I understood, even if I didn't like it. He cares, obviously, but in the same way he cares about you, or Lucas, or Cheryl, or Marley, or… You know? And I get that. I think I felt the same way. When I really start working at being the Top Coordinator, I'm not sure if I'll have time for it either."

"Huh."

"Articulate as ever, Barry."

"Articu-what?"

"Alright! I have an idea!" Candice stood back from Articuno, reaching for her belt, and grabbed a Pokeball, repeatedly tossing it in one hand, "Let's have a battle! Six-on-six! If you win, I'll give you the Icicle Badge! If I win, I get to train Articuno!"

"Oi, you get to what?"

"Chill- Ha, out, I'm not going to lose."

"Hmph. I object to being used as a gambling crisp!"

"...I'm pretty sure they're still called gambling chips in Galar… Actually, I'm not gonna ask where you got the accent from." Hilbert shook his head, and called Lucario over. "I'm pretty sure the author is padding out this chapter so he can ask something in the author's notes and not upload less than a 3k chapter."

He lost. Hilbert lost.

It was then he contemplated the wisdom of having a team that was two-thirds Pokemon weak to ice.

Her Weavile wiped out Abra in a few swipes. Tyranitar hit the problem really hard. Mamoswine used Earthquake. Lucario hit that problem really hard. Froslass threw a few Shadow Balls and defeated the Fighting-type. Golurk teleported with Phantom Force, and knocked it out. That went pretty well, until the second-to-last Pokemon, Abomasnow, used Solar Beam. It was a very sunny beach, regardless of their ability, Snow Warning. Garchomp already knew what was coming, but it still managed to use Fire Fang before being buried by an Avalanche. Shaymin took on Glaceon like a champ, but couldn't take the… Well, the lack of heat.

"Man… So much for that 5k average..."

"Wow!"

"Yeah, yeah, gloat all you want."

"No, what? You did great! That was the team I used to qualify for Gym Leadership!"

A beat passed.

"...You know that I only have four badges, right?"

"Well, I didn't actually bring my four-badge team, aha…" She rubbed the back of her head, awkwardly laughing. "So, can I come with you?"

If Hilbert had gotten off the sand, he would have fallen on his face. "Wha?"

"Articuno's a Legendary, so you're clearly taking it somewhere. I mean, it's not illegal to use Legendaries in the League, but-"

"-People don't really like that, yeah, I know. I'm just taking the birds to Johto. Why do you want to come?"

"I won, didn't I? I'll teach Articuno some of my icy wisdom on the way!"

"I guess. Yo, Lucas!"

The black-orange-clad boy looked over from where he was talking to Marley about Weavile's speed. "Yeah?"

"You cool with Candice traveling with us?"

"You're the boss."

"Alright, my co-leader's cool with it." He looked up to Candice, offering an open palm. "Welcome to Team Black."

They shook hands.

AN:

Yeah, this chapter is short, but in my defense, they were supposed to be in Kalos by the end of this chapter, but one thing led to another, and I realized I wanted reader input on Pokemon they catch there. They won't go to Galar, because I don't feel like it, and the DS era games need more love. Red and Blue are great, don't get me wrong, but they get too much attention. Also, I just don't think Galar is that interesting. They might stop by though. I dunno.

Anyway, anyway, what Pokemon should the team catch? I'm thinking an oddly large Honedge for Golurk, because, you know, objectively badass. Pokemon you guys think would be good against Ice-types?

Okay, this is the most, most important thing. I have fanart now! It's very cool. It was submitted by an AO3 guest, but as soon as they get back to me, I will give them all credits.

www dot reddit dot com/r/pokemonfanfiction/comments/mynn7s/a_midsinnoh_nights_dream_fanart_by_ao3_guest/