Disclaimer: I own nothing.
The thin branch shook slightly as the Bug type Sewaddle traversed across it. It stopped and opened its tiny mouth and started to nibble on a leaf, then took larger bites. It continued to eat for a time, until it finally finished the leaf and was left momentarily looking down at the ground.
It tilted its head curiously at the human boy and girl who were staring at it. It continued to sit on the branch for a while until, as though it sensed a sudden awkwardness, turned and left. It departed into a hole and pulled its leafy hood up over its head as it curled up to sleep.
Hilbert smiled. "I guess he got stage fright." He turned to Bianca, and briefly wondered if he was going to be chastised for 'bullying' the Sewaddle. Instead, she seemed to have been amused by the entire scenario. This trip through Pinwheel Forest was being done slowly, but the two seemed to be enjoying it.
The Pokemon native of the forest were watching them curiously, but made no hostile movements. Hilbert hoped there would be no incidents. After both a Gym battle and the episode with Team Plasma, he was feeling honestly drained. Still, he did want to get to Castelia and have his fight with Burgh before the day was over.
"Do you suppose Cheren and Hilda are out of the Gym yet?" Bianca randomly asked. Hilbert turned to her, thought for a moment, then answered in the affirmative. "Do you suppose they're in this forest, then?"
"Probably." Hilbert supposed. "I imagine they're interacting with the forest in their own way."
"You don't know how lucky you are, Hilda." Cheren said. Hilda was sitting on the ground, one hand up, nursing a new bruise on her cheek as a Pokemon was walking away from them. "If that Lilligant really thought of you as an enemy, it would have done a lot more then just slap you."
Hilbert looked ahead, noticing that the trees were thinning somewhat. They had to have been coming to the edge of the forest. He looked to Bianca, she was still following. They were about to leave… and they suddenly heard a rustle.
Hilbert turned, and watched as two Pokemon dashed out onto the paved road. One of them was chasing the other, and it seemed highly unlikely that either of them was playing. Hilbert took out his Pokedex and looked at the two.
"Petilil, and… Venipede." Hilbert said. He read the data on both Pokemon, and saw clearly that the Venipede was a predator, and Petilil was prey. Hilbert knew full well that some Pokemon were carnivorous, and this was perfectly natural, but he wasn't willing to stand and watch the Petilil become food.
"Excuse me, Bianca. I'm going to send the Venipede packing." He released Pawniard, who immediately jumped into the Venipede's face. The Venipede stopped, glaring at this intruder. The Petilil took off, running and getting behind Bianca's leg, peeking out to peer at what was happening.
The Venipede curled itself up, looking like it had transformed into a wheel, and started to roll toward Pawniard. Pawniard raised its arms and blocked the attack, not even skidding back. It forced the Venipede back with a simple motion, then took a step forward and slashed the Venipede once.
The Bug type shivered in pain for a moment, and then turned around, unwilling to engage an enemy that was capable of fighting back. It ducked into the shrubs, Pawniard loosened but remained on edge, but it seemed that the Venipede had truly fled.
Bianca looked down at the Petilil that was behind her leg and smiled in a comforting manner. "You're safe now." The Petilil looked like it was out of breath, and slowly stumbled out from behind Bianca's leg, before tripping and falling flat on its face.
It started to get up and saw that Pawniard had walked up to it, it quailed, but Pawniard instead just looked it over before turning to Hilbert and pointing at something on the Petilil's side.
"What are you trying to show me, Pawniard?" He followed Pawniard's blade. "Something catch your eye and-oh." He saw it. There was a hole in the Petilil's side, covered with some kind of purple liquid. He understood at once that the Venipede had probably already managed to poison the Petilil before Pawniard had stepped in.
Bianca stepped forward and picked the Petilil up. It looked exhausted, but still relatively healthy. "Should we bring it back to Nacrene? I don't want to leave it wandering around the forest if its poisoned."
"Castelia's Pokemon Center is probably closer, and I doubt it's in any life-threatening danger, so long as the predators stay away from it." He opened his Pokedex and examined some further data on Venipedes. "It won't die from the poison so long as its gets plenty of rest. We can just speed up the recovery by taking it to Castelia's Pokemon Center."
"Alright." She looked down at the Petilil, it still look frightened, but was calming down. "If Pawniard hadn't noticed the wound, we'd have just left her in the forest."
Hilbert frowned slightly at the thought, he looked at Pawniard, who looked uninterested in what was happening. He gave the Pokemon a pat on the head to make sure he knew that his observation was appreciated. "We're at the exit of the forest. Let's go."
Since the Petilil was not in mortal danger with the Venipede gone, they were able to take their time on Skyarrow Bridge. The two went to a rail and Bianca set the Petilil down, it seemed to have fallen asleep. Bianca looked over the rail and signaled for Hilbert to look at what she was seeing.
Hilbert tilted his head and looked across the waters that Skyarrow Bridge was built over. A wave of almost painted colors came from the sun, setting after such a long day. The orange was impressive, but Hilbert just turned to Bianca and shrugged. "Um… it's… pretty, Bianca."
"Pretty?" Bianca repeated, dismayed at how the image's quality was lost on Hilbert. "It's… it's… the Pokemon deserve to see this!" She reached for her Pokeballs and released Oshuwatt, Lillipup, Munna, and Pansear. The Pokemon stretched briefly, then followed their gesturing trainer to the sunset.
Their collective eyes were riveted as one for a long moment, then Oshuwatt turned and noticed the Petilil Bianca had a hand on the shoulder of. Waddling over to the sleeping Grass type, Oshuwatt boldly started to poke the Grass type.
"Stop that!" Bianca yelled when she noticed what Oshuwatt was doing. "She needs her rest." Despite Oshuwatt stopping the moment he was scolded, Petilil started to stir, opening her eyes and yawning, she still looked tired, but didn't seem to be in pain.
Bianca's other Pokemon started to approach the Petilil, who tried her best to retreat shyly despite there not being much space for her to go. Bianca lifted the Petilil up, and sighed. She looked at Hilbert and shook her head. "Why don't you let your Pokemon out, they might distract some of them."
Hilbert shrugged. In a moment Servine and Pawniard were standing on the thick rail with all the other Pokemon. Petilil saw them, and suddenly started to struggle in Bianca's arms.
"Whoa. What's wrong?" Petilil was suddenly fighting Bianca's grip, Bianca slowly put the Grass type down, and it moved over to Servine and Pawniard. It had retreated from Bianca's Pokemon, but it seemed to want to spend time with Hilbert's Pokemon.
Interesting. Hilbert mentally noted. Well, Pawniard had just saved the Petilil from a Venipede, and Servine was a fellow Grass type. He found himself smirking at how Pawniard seemed to immediately want to put distance between himself and this girl. Servine seemed to love being the subject of positive attention.
Petilil looked like it wanted to move closer, close enough to touch both of them, but suddenly she collapsed. Servine took a step forward and looked at it. Hilbert came up and rolled the Petilil slightly, just enough to look at the wound it had. "Still needs plenty more rest, even that activity was a bit too much."
Bianca picked it back up. The Petilil turned slightly, first looking sadly at Servine and Pawniard, then looking at the sunset, before closing its eyes again. Bianca looked at the Grass type, smiling sweetly, sadly, and wondered why it seemed to be so outgoing with Hilbert's Pokemon but not with hers.
"Let's get going." Hilbert said. "Skyarrow looks like a long bridge."
Long it was. Bianca felt her feet begin to ache as they traveled the length of the bridge. She did take the time to examine some of the views, such as a large, noble ship floating in the water beneath the arch of the bridge, or the majestic sight of the bridge that came whenever she turned to look back. Whenever she noticed these things, she always turned to Hilbert, and was annoyed at how he could never seem to appreciate what he was being privileged to see.
At last, they reached the end of the bridge. Bianca felt relief as she took the opportunity to sit down at the rest station between Skyarrow Bridge and Castelia City and relax her feet. Hilbert didn't seem to be at all bothered by the long walk, and continued to stand. The Petilil was still in Bianca's arms, Hilbert absent-mindedly wondered if it would be unhealthy to take the Petilil from a forest and into a large city. Hopefully the Center in such a place would be sanitary.
"Done resting?" Hilbert asked.
"A… few more minutes, please." Bianca breathed. Hilbert accepted Bianca's request and turned and looked at the large screen in the middle of the rest center. Text was scrolling across the screen… Hilbert read them and breathed a sigh. Castelia was apparently having incidents related to Pokemon theft. He wondered if this was Team Plasma again. By some strange coincidence he kept being around whenever these things happened.
He turned back to Bianca, who started to stand up. She smiled, nodding to confirm that she was ready to be walking again. Hilbert made no mention to what he had just read and motioned to the door leading into Castelia proper.
The first thing Hilbert did was look up. Striaton had been huge, without a doubt. Yet this was something completely different. Skyscrapers, the origin of the name plainly obvious, rose up to the clouds, and busy people were moving everywhere. Large electronic signs were on the side of buildings, identifying what corporation owned each individual building. Everything about the city was moving purposefully, with no time to get sidetracked. He turned to Bianca, who was far more obviously intrigued by what she was seeing. Hilbert hoped that her behavior wouldn't get them both labeled as gawking country bumpkins.
They continued on, their first objective was finding the Pokemon Center. Unfortunately, they had no manner of guide to help them, and what maps were present were utterly unhelpful. They would have little aid in finding the Center.
Hilbert felt himself growing annoyed, were they just to wander around aimlessly until they found the Center? Considering the size of this city, walking up and down the streets looking for the Center could take hours, especially if they started in the wrong area of the city.
"Better be prepared for a lot of walking." Hilbert cautioned to the girl who had just finished resting from a too long walk. "It seems that we'll have to move and look until we find the Center."
Hilbert imagined, and he hoped Bianca was sharing the thought, that they were making good progress as they moved. Even so, given the size of Castelia City, they had barely started, Hilbert sighed and continued moving. Something would eventually turn up for the better. They walked a bit further, and Hilbert saw a sign, with a bit of hope sparking in him he moved a little faster to reach and read it. His head sunk slightly as he realized what it was, directions to the Pokemon Gym.
He perked up at the thought, if Burgh was around, he could just ask him where the Center might be. He and Bianca both began to move with a new confidence, and in moments they spotted the Gym.
Bianca made a sound, Hilbert turned and noticed that something else had caught the girl's eyes. "Bianca, we have a reason to be going to the Gym now."
"I know, Hilbert, but can I check out this store while you talk to Burgh? I'll just be a Xtransceiver call away."
Hilbert looked at her for a moment, then smiled. "Sure. I'll be back in a second. I'll call you with the Xtransceiver if I can't find you. Perhaps you should let me have the Petilil, so he knows what I need to get to the Center for."
Bianca smiled a thanks, handing the Grass type to Hilbert and then went into a nearby store. Hilbert looked down at the Petilil, she didn't seem to mind the change of arms to be held in, and glanced at Hilbert's Pokeballs. "Um, sorry, it'll be a little while before you can see those two."
Bianca, confident that the Petilil would be safe with Hilbert, started to look around the contents of whatever clothing store she had wandered into. She looked at the city clothes, completely different from what she wore. Everything seemed rich and exotic, though Hilbert was holding all of their money. She frowned, she'd have to ask him after they got the Petilil to the Center, and then-
"What is this?" A foreign female voice spoke, Bianca turned, seeing a girl near her age. Bianca wasn't sure what the girl was talking about, and stood speechless for a moment. The girl, quite a pretty girl dressed in glamorous clothes, was clearly examining Bianca specifically.
"Are they letting penniless stooges into the store now?" She words came with bile, Bianca took a step back from the tone. "Where did you buy that outfit? This store would never carry anything so hideous looking."
"W-" Bianca looked down at her attire. "What's wrong with the way I'm dressed?"
"A lot." Were the first words. "Though what's wearing them is probably worse."
Bianca almost felt herself shatter. "Why would you say that?"
"Just being truthful." The girl raised her chin. "All the work in the world couldn't help your appearance, but let me go point by point with you."
"The Pokemon Center?" Burgh tilted his head, by some luck he had been standing right outside the Gym, and Hilbert wasn't forced to enter. Burgh smiled and offered some easy to follow instructions, apparently the Center was only a ten minute walk. Though if Hilbert and Bianca had continued to move in the direction they had been moving, they probably would have been walking away from the Center for the next hour.
"Good thing you found me, because I was about to take off." Burgh's face suddenly went serious. "I need to deal with some serious matters. Have you heard about Pokemon thieves in Castelia?"
Hilbert nodded. Burgh sighed. "Members of Team Plasma are lurking in the streets. Gym challenges will have to be postponed until we can root out where they're based." He started to move, but then stopped to turn and smile at Hilbert. "Shouldn't even take me a few hours, Plasma is a lot clumsier then they think they are. I should be able to accept a challenge tonight."
"Alright." Hilbert accepted the story. "I need to get back to Bianca now."
He turned and looked back to the store and… Bianca was outside it, sitting on a bench. Hadn't she wanted to check out the store? Hilbert sincerely doubted that Bianca would be done looking around that quickly. He moved over, Bianca kept her head down and didn't notice Hilbert's approach.
She was startled at a hand on her shoulder and looked up at Hilbert. Her face was… puffy. To Hilbert it looked like she was ready to start crying, the sight pierced Hilbert, who never wanted his friends, especially the sensitive Bianca, to be bothered like this. He sat down beside her, the Petilil in his lap, and spoke to his friend.
"Bianca, what happened?"
"T-t-there was this g-girl, and s-she came and-"
"Bianca." Hilbert stopped her. "Try that a little slower, it's hard to follow when you stutter like that."
Bianca swallowed, then started again, she told Hilbert everything that happened, Hilbert listened with an understanding face. As Bianca finished, she bowed her head, feeling… defeated. She didn't notice Hilbert suddenly scoot closer to her.
He clasped his friend's shoulder. "Bianca, I want you to listen to me." He turned to her. "You don't need to let people like that get to you. The opinions of people who act so hateful, and think they're so much better then others, really aren't worth thinking about."
"B-but, what if she was right? What if I'm really-"
"Bianca." He sighed, then suddenly started to pull her, Bianca found her cheek was now pushing onto Hilbert's chest. "You know as well as I do that that girl was wrong. You are not ugly, and there isn't anything wrong about how you're dressed. You are the exact opposite of what she called you, and you know it. I know you put her to shame in all the categories she insulted you in."
The girl paused as the words sunk in. She wondered if Hilbert realized that he had just indirectly said that Bianca was the most attractive girl he had ever seen. Heat began to rise on her face, but then she realized that Hilbert was just moving to console her. Still, it was a nice, if embarrassing, thought, to think that Hilbert would think of her as beautiful.
His arm was around her shoulder, Bianca, on impulse, put one of her arms around Hilbert and held him for a long moment. She didn't notice Hilbert growing uncomfortable with Bianca returning the gesture.
"Feel… better?" Hilbert asked. Bianca raised her head from Hilbert's chest and nodded, then smiled. "Alright. I think it's time to get this little thing to the Center."
They arrived at the Center easily enough, Petilil was in Bianca's arms again. They were about to go in, when Hilbert heard a loud noise. He turned and looked up, seeing a large electronic sign attached to a building, it was showing an advertisement for some battle tournament.
"Um, Hilbert?" Bianca asked, looking at her friend. "Um, the Center?"
"Y-yeah, I'll be right behind you. Don't worry." He was still staring at the sign, Bianca sighed and smiled.
"You're so funny sometimes. I'll be right back." Still smiling, she entered the Center with the Petilil. Hilbert continued to stare at the sign, enraptured by footage of a Pokemon battle between two pro trainers in ways that the sunset that Bianca loved could never accomplish.
Then, someone tapped him on the shoulder. "You are the one who's interfered with us three times, aren't you?"
The words triggered a nameless feeling in Hilbert's gut. He turned, and saw a member of Team Plasma standing behind him. The next thing he saw was the Grunt raise a clenched fist, and then Hilbert's world went dark.
Another variation from the game, where Hilbert's the one who gets his Pokemon stolen.
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