Rosa knew that Hilda had figured something out. She would be wary. Nate and her had to do this. It was for everyone's good.


"Hey. If you had a catchphrase, what would it be?"

Rosa looked at her teacher, confusion etched in her face. A question like this, uttered in the territory of the enemy? They were in the library of Neo-Plasma now, with books balanced precariously all around them, and the bright windows on the ceiling masked any view of anything beyond eye-level, almost making it impossible to see. There could be an enemy hidden anywhere in here. Sure, they might be in an alliance with Neo-Plasma and there was no danger in being with them for the time being, but for Hilda to let her guard down like this? Even asking stupid little questions? Rosa sighed and looked to the side. Sometimes, she wondered if Hilda (and Hilbert, for that matter) were as great as others claimed them to be.

Well, they had taught them everything they knew.

Rosa mentally slapped herself for supplying herself with a counter-argument. Really. Sometimes her mind needed to shut up.

"Er...what?"

"I've asked Hilbert before," (Hilda mentally cringed at this thought; of course she hadn't asked that bastard what his answer would be, but he had asked her in a private meeting this morning, and told her something he wanted to confirm...and she complied, strangely enough) "...and he said that if he were to choose, it'd be something like 'Now, bow to me!'. What catchphrase would you want?"

Rosa thought for a second.

Well, I have to say something that's in character, or else Hilda would be suspicious...

"Well...I guess I would choose 'Oh, it's tea time.'"

She probably won't notice the meaning in it anyway; she always hated history.

Hilda nodded after a few moments, appearing to register something in her mind, returning to whatever it was she was doing. Rosa looked over at what Hilda was reading. An old and tattered book, with some of the words faded away:

"Am_r_lo_s _i_ary"

Rosa looked away from the book quickly when Hilda turned around, and she fidgeted nervously when Hilda turned and scrutinized her.

"Rosa, do you believe in Anamnesis?"

Rosa looked at Hilda, in a deadpan expression.

"What's that?"

Hilda looked at Rosa like she was an idiot, and Rosa felt that sometimes, she really wasn't sure whether or not Hilda was her teacher or her really sarcastic friend, but Hilda just rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Anamnesis: the recalling of past memories, as part of Platonism."

Sometimes, Rosa thought that even if Hilda looked like she wasn't smart, was clumsy and spontaneous, there was something hidden in her that no one could decipher. Maybe that was the genius of her. Maybe Hilbert was a genius like that as well.

"...Sure, I guess?"

"What kind of an answer is that?"

Rosa rolled her eyes before walking away, leaving to go to the command room on the ship of Neo-Plasma.

"My answer." She shut the door behind her.

Rosa needed to talk with Nate. He had told her that Hilbert was curious with their past, but didn't get much else out before Rosa had to leave to meet with Hilda. If that was true, and Hilbert and Hilda were prying into their past, they needed to be stopped.

It's for their own good.

Rosa rushed out of the room, wanting to meet Nate in the command room before Hilda and Hilbert got there, so that she could confirm his suspicions. Hilda and Hilbert must not know. If they did, then they would be met with force. Rosa and Nate were not to be deterred in their goals, even if it was for the sake of the ones trying to stop them.


Hilda stayed silent in the room she was located in. Standing up, she put her hands above her eyes, blocking the piercing light streaming down as if some Pokemon had just used Sunny Day, as she squinted up towards the general direction of the ceiling.

"...Y'know, you could come out now."

A shadow suddenly grew darker and larger, and Hilbert suddenly landed on the ground, feet hitting the ground with a dull thud, as he dusted himself off. He pulled his sleeves to straighten them, and he looked at the door Rosa had just left from with scrutiny.

"So she does remember."

Hilda nodded, silently staring at the door as well, when Hilbert suddenly held out his hand. Hilda stared at his hand, glaring at it in question.

"We have to go to the command room now. Hurry up."

Hilda slapped him in the face, before sighing and grabbing onto his hand and walking to the headquarters. She heard a mutter of hatred from the boy next to her, but she just jabbed him in the gut and continued walking, dragging him with her. (Hilbert and Hilda both thought back to when they were still friends, and how nostalgic it all seemed, because they both had done the same thing in their childhood, although in a playful manner.) They smiled calmly to all of the grunts on board, who were wary of the girl but had been notified of the alliance. Hilbert had told them that they had a small alliance at the moment, to get rid of Olde-Plasma first, but then they were free to fight each other. The grunts had nodded in approval of their king, saying that their king was strategic, unlike N had been. After all, Hilbert had his enemies in priority, and was targeting the main enemy first.

So they were still cautious around the girl, but were aware that she was just as powerful as Hilbert was, so no one dared question her. Plus, she seemed nice, often helping and talking with the grunts, but it seemed that her hatred was just directed towards their leader. All of it, apparently. The girl was nice, and if it weren't for the fact that she was the Hero of Ideals, most of the grunts could envision her as their queen. An all-powerful queen, yes, but a kind queen nonetheless.

Even when they saw the two throwing punches around and throwing daggers and knives at each other, they knew that soon after, the girl would mutter an apology to Hilbert when she was defeated (because no matter how much she trained, she always found herself overpowered and plus the fact that she didn't really train herself much besides for reflexes didn't really help her, because Hilbert had trained his reflexes and his strength), and then tell him, stubbornly, that the only reason she was admitting defeat was because they were in an alliance, and then their king would just mutter an "it's fine" to her, grabbing onto her hand to secretly check for bruises. The grunts thought this a tiny bit weird that their leader couldn't just ask her, because their king would exert a lot of his strength on her hand when grabbing her; if she winced or yelled at him for pain, he would then know that she was hurt and call a medic to help her. Still, the grunts (most of which were older than him and respected him, but still thought of him as inexperienced in life {and love}) still thought that it was a cute but painful way of showing his affection. Like a kindergartner, almost.

(That's right, wasn't their king's original motive for joining Team Plasma to protect the girl?) The grunts secretly thought that, no matter how strong and capable their king was, he was always focused on the Hero of Ideals more than any other person.

(But god, those two fought an awful lot. Secretly though, some of the female grunts were betting money on how long it would take for one to confess to the other. Other grunts were betting on whether or not Hilbert would tell her first. They had heard that once, Hilda had told a guy that she liked him, when it was customary for the guy to ask the girl out. She became the idol of some younger female grunts because she was brave enough to ask some guy out. But all of the grunts knew that they were lucky and didn't say these words often. They were lucky that Hilbert had not found out what they were saying as gossip; who knows what would've happened to them.)


They would have to destroy them to save them; traitors amongst traitors against friends against allies-


Earlier that morning, Hilda had walked up to Hilbert, who was reading an old book, and tapped him on the shoulder. His first reaction was to pull out a gun, jump away quickly in an offensive position, and push it against her head. Hilda found herself looking at the end point of a gun while being backed to a wall she didn't even notice before she was forced up against it. Well, she imagined his reaction to be something like that. Arceus knew that she was the same, drawing out a knife and immediately putting the blade at the person's neck, if the same thing was done to her. Rolling her eyes, she pushed the gun away and glared at Hilbert, whose expression changed to one of annoyance.

"What do you want, idiot?"

Hilda glared at him. That was a wonderful way to greet your ally.

(Ally, not friend. They both knew the difference.)

"Don't you think that Nate and Rosa know something we don't?"

Hilbert stared at her in silence.

"I mean, the two, even though they say they hate each other, don't even fight nearly as much as we do, and the two almost always look at us as if they're remembering something. Haven't you noticed it? Every time Nate looks at you, he always looks away soon after, cringing, and Rosa's the same... Do they have a history with us or something?"

Hearing no response from Hilbert, Hilda slowly inched closer to him, wary of any sudden strangling movements he might make on her, but relaxing as she found there were none.

"...So you think that as well."

Hilda blinked. As well? Well then, it looks like she wasn't the only one suspicious of their students' motives.

"Yes."

"..."

Hilbert then picked up the book he was reading before, having thrown it to the side when whipping out his gun, and placed it in Hilda's hands.

"This might be useful. It's a diary from the previous region."

Hilda stared at it curiously. Most of the time, when Hilbert and Hilda were in a peaceful mood, there would be no traps or anything, so the other could be trusted, but still...she moved slowly to reach it.

She could almost sense the exasperation flowing out of him.

"Just take it, will you?"

She took the book from his hands, faded letters showing on the cover. She looked back up at Hilbert, only to find that he was staring at the title as well.

"Its title is faded, but it's known as 'Amarillo's Diary'. It's named after the writer, a maid who is supposedly named Yellow, and tells the tale of the two princes. It appears that the legend passed down is false."

"...And I suppose Rosa and Nate are the two princes?"

Hilbert stared at her, for once, disbelief etched into his face. This book was only in Team Plasma records, and there was only one copy. How could she know?

"You've read this before?"

"No."

Hilbert looked at her strangely. It was only after reading this that Hilbert even had the possibility of those two being the princes in his mind at all, and she without reading this, thought of this already?

"H-How-"

"...I had a feeling they would be. I dreamt it once. I had a feeling that in a perfect world, the four of us would somehow be ruling. Well not really ruling; there was this feeling that we would be used as puppets; as mere dolls, made to look pretty, but in the end, useless except for our original purpose."

She's the hero of ideals, is she not?

"There can't be a sense of what's perfect, an ideal, without something to compare it to. There can't be an ideal without a fault."

Hilda paused for a moment, looking at Hilbert, and he saw, once again, a lost little girl who daydreamed under a tree.

"...And in a perfect world, those faults would be us." There was a sign of worry on her face.

Because a world can't be perfect without having faults, or else there is no sense of the world.

"That's why I hate you so much. That's why I hate everything so much. That's why I have to dream. Because no one else needs to, because no one else needs to!"

Because in a world full of love, someone has to hate, or else there is no such thing as love.

"You know it too."

And indeed he did.

"The world around you is a lie."

And he was the only truth. He was the only one who accepted the faults of the world. He was the only one to truly know the horrors. And he would do anything to prevent that hate of hers from spreading, so he made sure all the hate was directed towards him...

That was why the two were meant to be together, and they both knew it. They were meant to go against each other, meant to destroy everything in their paths, and meant for each other, but that's why they had to rebel against it. Because this was a perfect world, and there was no such thing of one. But they had no way of rebelling against everything, so they chose one thing out of the three to disobey, and that was their feelings for each other.

"So you believe the reason why Nate and Rosa are our students is because...?"

Hilbert opened the door for Hilda, as she walked out, and he followed her. Holding onto the book, Hilda glanced at it before putting it away in her bag. On the way to the library, where Rosa was going to meet her at three, they both didn't speak. They both knew the questions Hilda would ask her. It was more of an unspoken habit that they both had still retained from their childhood years. Hilbert was going to be there, to gauge Rosa's reactions.

"...They want to repay us somehow. If the four of us were being controlled like puppets with pain and horror, and if they really were the two princes last time, then their emotions would be manipulated to a point where they feel they deserve to be in pain. Something happened last time that made them wish to be in pain. We must have taken a part in it. They wish to take away our pain and put it upon themselves. They want to repay us by torturing themselves."

It was then that Hilbert realized that he needed Hilda as an ally to truly understand everything. It all made sense now. But Hilbert felt some feeling of betrayal with his student's actions. (He knew that Hilda must probably feel the same.)

Hilda opened the door to the library and held it open for Hilbert, who walked in shortly after.

"And that's why we have to learn how to get along."

They both knew it wasn't learning. They just had to accept it. Accept it to protect Nate and Rosa. Stop rebelling, and there will be no more pain for Rosa and Nate to inflict upon themselves because Hilda and Hilbert would just accept it all so that there was no more to take-

She held her hand out to Hilbert, who looked at her, searching her face for malice of any kind.

There was none.

"We need to prevent them from destroying themselves and saving everyone else."

He grabbed onto her hand tightly, shaking it in an unspoken agreement.

And thus the two heroes become villains in an attempt to thwart the saviors.


A/N

...*don't kill me

*sometimes I don't know what kind of twisted logic I must have to write this

*really this logic just astounds me

*can anyone wrap their heads around what Nate, Rosa, Hilda, and Hilbert are thinking? (=_=)

Thanks for the support last chapter! XD I naturally put myself down because I don't have a lot of self-esteem, but thank you guys!

XD For those of you who guessed that the song last chapter, you'll probably know like half of the region's kingdoms' past, but you probably won't guess the end. XD

And yes, the faintest amount of Chessshipping has appeared! :D Even though it's from bystanders! (Hilbert is so childish, isn't he? :3)

I feel that all amounts of Chessshipping may be revealed by onlookers though, instead of the two characters themselves, for some amount of time, but...

(Did you guys know that originally, this was not how I wanted the story to go at all? XD I wanted it to be a revenge fic, of course, but I wanted something...more psychological and stuff {what am I saying}, but look at how this came out (0-o) Has there ever been a pokemon fanfic on this site like this? XD I just wing everything and hope for the best.)