Chapter 16: Crumbling Lies

"Napoleon, you're up!"

"Aiden, go!"

Facing Hilbert's Vanillish was a Fraxure. Hilbert almost expected that, if only because most of the other Gym Trainers had at least one of these. Idly, he wondered how many Dragon-types could be found in Unova, if so many of the Trainers had multiple of the same evolution line.

And it did! Napoleon did get hit by a Dragon Claw, but he hit back with an Ice Beam. Drayden and Hilbert then took a turn to heal their respective Pokemon up. The next Ice Beam was able to take Fraxure down. That was surprising, and for a moment Hilbert feared that Ice Beam had killed the Fraxure... but he was relieved to see that wasn't the case.

"Not bad," Drayden commended, returning the Fraxure to his PokeBall. "I didn't see that coming."

Hilbert glanced over at his Vanillish, whose eyes seemed to be sparkling as he cheered. "I don't think you're the only one."

Napoleon stopped when he heard his Trainer's comment, and he stopped his dancing to give a sheepish chuckle.

The sight was amusing to both trainers, but that wasn't going to stop the match. Drayden unclipped his second PokeBall.

"Good to see a spirited challenger! Let's see how you handle Hugo!" he said as he summoned his second Pokemon.

It was easy for Molly to catch the Plasma Grunts off-guard, but because there were six of them it took no less than a half hour to get through them all. Thank Zacien, she finally managed to get clearance to bring her Galarian Pokemon here while she was still in Galar. Both regions had strict regulations that had to be taken care of, and she had already gotten cleared on the Unovan side of things. It was a huge headache, but the timing made it all worth it already.

Not that she wouldn't have taken these Grunts down with just Mango. The Arcanine was a swift hitter (and frankly she had her Tyranitar as backup, just in case), but he always did work best with Aspen.

Speaking of Aspen and Mango, they managed to corner two particular Plasma Grunts. The other four seemed to have evaded them, but that was fine. Everything that she knew about Team Plasma was from that video and Whitlea's stories about them; she was going to hear of this from the source.

The two Grunts seemed to be acutely aware of the trouble they were in.

"Man, I don't get paid enough for this," the first one complained. "This is literally our first time in the field! Why do the Sages want this Hilbert kid so bad, anyway?"

"Wesley! You seriously don't know?!" his companion hissed. "That's the kid that's been interfering with our work! Our lord N chose him to be his opponent!"

"Funny, being accosted by an Arcanine and an oversized Simisage is making me rethink my choices!" Wesley shot back. "Why did I let you talk me into this, Sasha?!"

"Oi!" Molly barked. "You've never seen a Rillaboom before? Shows how much you know - claimin' to be for the liberation of Pokemon when you can't even recognize one when you see it! No wonder your reputation is shot."

"Get bent!" Sasha yelled, backing up when Mango growled at her outburst. "Our reputation was fine until that brat started interfering with our plans! It's because he lied about what happened in Dragonspiral Tower that so many of us have deserted the Team!"

"Y-Yeah! We're trying to help Pokemon! Team Plasma wouldn't stoop to murder in order to ensure liberation for all!" Wesley added. He paused, and there was a clearly conflicted expression on his face. "...Right?"

"Of course we wouldn't!" Sasha snapped at Wesley, before turning her gaze to Molly. "Who even are you, anyway?! With your accent and that...what did you call it again? Rilla-boom? Anyways, you're obviously not from here! We got a reliable tip-off that Hilbert was here. I don't know how you helped him get away from us before we could surround him, but you have no reason to get in our way!"

Hmm. Interesting how different the two seemed to be. While Wesley seemed a little less certain about his choices, Sasha seemed almost desperate to cling to her belief in Team Plasma.

"Well. You're no' wrong about one thing," she admitted. "If any of you Grunts did your homework, you'd know that Hilbert's mother was born and raised in Galar. I'll let you connect the dots from there."

Wesley and Sasha were silent as they connected the dots. It was Wesley that spoke up first; "Y-You're his mother."

"I...guess that would explain why you're helping him out," Sasha admitted. "But that doesn't mean that he's in the right! He has to be lying about Team Plasma killing one of his Pokemon! He just has to be!"

Molly almost felt bad for Sasha; she was clearly headstrong and passionate about her belief. She'd be lying if she said that didn't remind her of herself when she was their age. All of Sasha's remarks seemed a desperate attempt in convincing herself that she was in the right. Unfortunately for her, any chance of sympathy was gone the minute she learned about Hilbert getting tangled in their plot. Molly couldn't claim to be the perfect parent, but nobody endangered her kids and got away with it.

"Two problems with that," Molly said, holding up two fingers. "First, Hilbert is a piss-poor liar. The worst I've ever met. Even if he could make up a story like that, it would be obvious that it was a lie from the first word."

Molly paused, giving Wesley and Sasha time to absorb that. When that moment passed, she continued, "Second, who told you it was Hilbert that told the crowd that story? Because he didn't; his Maractus did."

Sasha scoffed. "Now I know you're lying! Maractus is a Grass-type, they can't talk!"

In another contrast to Sasha, Wesley seemed visibly disturbed. "Actually, uh...I did hear through the grapevine...apparently one of the Trainers the Triad had been following did befriend a Maractus that could talk..."

"What?!" Sasha exclaimed, the shock clear on her face. "But-! How did I miss-?!"

"Lemme see if I go' this right," Molly interjected. "You came here with the insane belief that Hilbert lied about what happened to 'im. Who told you this? Have you even seen that video?"

Wesley and Sasha were both confused by that question. "Well...we did hear about a video that went viral. That's why so many people left."

"That doesn't answer my question. Did you two ever actually see this video for yerselves?"

The two Grunts were silent, which was its own answer. Molly sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. Aspen and Mango glanced at each other, then at their trainer. They knew that she was conflicted. It would be one thing if the two were completely aware of what Team Plasma had done and were unrepentant about it. But these two seemed to have no clue whatsoever.

Molly Williams was known for being downright brutal to people that she thought deserved it, but never let it be said that she wasn't fair.

"Okay, you two clearly don't see the entire picture, so here's what's gonna happen," Molly finally ordered. "You two are gonna come with me to Castelia. When I get a proper signal on my phone, I'm gonna sit you down and show you that video. You're gonna turn yourselves in, and tell the authorities there everythin' you know. You'll prob'ly get community service when everythin' is said and done, but that'll be a slap on the wrist compared to what your companions'll be facin'. Am I clear?"

The two mumbled, and Molly barked, "Am I clear?!"

That caused the two Grunts to stand at attention. "Yes, ma'am!"

"Good. Now, let's be off."

Aspen walked over to Molly, and the two led the way to Castelia. Mango trailed behind the group to make sure they couldn't drag their feet or run off. To their credit, Wesley and Sasha didn't pull anything. Whether that was because they were intimidated or genuinely questioning the choices that brought them here, Molly couldn't say.

When she first heard about how Team Plasma had tangled Hilbert in their plot, she had been adamant on doing whatever it took to bringing them down. Her original intent was doing that through sheer brute force (having come out of retirement, even!), but she didn't mind if her part was to help shed more light on Team Plasma's lies.

Hugo turned out to be a Druddigon. And as much as Hilbert wanted to keep Napoleon in the fight, he was also aware that this Druddigon probably had Revenge. Seeing as that was how Captain died, he wasn't about to risk Napoleon meeting the same fate.

"Get back, Napoleon!" he said, returning the Vanillish to his PokeBall. Okay, what to do...there was a good chance that Hugo had Rough Skin. While Roger had Ice Fang, maybe he shouldn't start out with him.

After a moment's deliberation, Hilbert chose to send Dodger out. While there wasn't much she could do outside of Signal Beam, she did have Flash. At the very least, she would be able to bring down Druddigon's accuracy before switching out, right?

That didn't work as well as Hilbert would've liked. Dodger used lash a total of three times, and Druddigon landed Night Slash every time.

"Shite," Hilbert cursed, taking out a Hyper Potion and calling Dodger over to heal her wounds. "You okay, Dodger?"

The Galvantula nodded, and got back to the battlefield. Clearly, she was ready for another Night Slash...but then Drayden gave Druddigon the order to use Dragon Tail. After Dodger was knocked back from the attack, her PokeBall opened up and forced her inside.

Then the PokeBall next to Dodger's opened up, and Hilbert had a moment of sheer panic. Crap, how did he arrange the party for this?! Or was it random, which Pokemon would be sent out? Either way, he didn't seem to have a say in which Pokemon would be dragged out, so he could only hope that it wasn't Belle or Napoleon.

Thankfully, it was neither of them. Standing in Dodger's place was Roger, who took one look at the situation and did not hesitate to go for Ice Fang.

Between Hugo's Rough Skin and another Night Slash, Roger was already starting to hurt. The Stoutland pushed through the pain and delivered another Ice Fang, and this time Hugo was frozen in his tracks.

Drayden then took a turn to heal Hugo up, but it didn't seem to matter because Roger's next Ice Fang was a critical hit. That was what knocked Hugo out.

"Impressive. You're a difficult opponent," Drayden remarked as he returned Hugo. Hilbert wasn't entirely certain if he was addressing him, Roger, or both. Maybe it was both? It wasn't like Hilbert actually commanded Roger to do anything - he was too stunned at the turn of events to do that.

Then Drayden summoned Levi - his Haxorus.

The last time Ghetsis was in what could be called a 'good mood,' it was after he addressed the crowd in Opelucid regarding N and Zekrom. He overheard the crowd talking among each other in fear and doubt - surely they would release any Pokemon they had into the wild by the next day.

He did hear a scream as he and Team Plasma left Opelucid City, but he chalked that up to a little girl not wanting to be separated from her 'precious friend.' He didn't think much else about it...until the next morning, when one of the Shadow Triad had informed him that several Grunts had deserted the Team. Not just two or three, either. Dozens quickly turned to close to a hundred. No prior word of resignation, either; it was like they all disappeared into the night. How could they lose that many people in the span of twelve hours?!

It took the Triad less than an hour to figure that out; they showed him a website that had all these posts marked #Justice4Jude and #TeamPlasmaGetsHit.

When taking the first steps to building Team Plasma's reputation, Ghetsis would have to be foolish to not take social media into the equation. Of course they had an official page on most of these websites. He came back to one of these sites to find so many notifications calling for an answer to what Carmen had said. Who in the Distortion World was Carmen?

He soon got his answer; one of those pages had shared the video that caused all this. He recognized Hilbert and the Light Stone in the background, but in the spotlight - where Team Plasma had delivered their speech in Opelucid - was a Maractus.

A Maractus that spoke human words, telling the crowd about how it was her friend that Team Plasma had killed in Dragonspiral Tower.

The anger overtook him quickly, and he grabbed the tablet and threw it against the wall before he could stop himself. The only thing holding him back from ordering Hydreigon to eat the messenger was the fact that said messenger was a member of the Shadow Triad. They still held use for him, so there was no point in killing any of them.

He did issue a meeting between himself and anyone remaining in Team Plasma that was involved in the Dragonspiral Tower operation to. Someone was going to die for this, and he didn't care if it was Giallo. That was how angry he was.

Yes, he made that order to ambush Hilbert and kill any members of his party that they could. Because a talking Pokemon was infinitely useful - who wouldn't keep one in their party?!

The absolute worst part? The entire reason he planned the Dragonspiral ambush in the first place was because he was informed of the massive failure in Chargestone Cave. The Triad had come so close to getting rid of the Maractus for him, but they were thwarted by the freak that he crowned king!

Zekrom's influence might have something to do with how out-of-control N had been recently, but Hilbert had been a thorn on his side for much longer than that dragon was awake.

It was for this reason that Ghetsis decided; while he couldn't kill Hilbert now without inviting any annoying questions from N, that only meant that the boy was fair game after his battle with N. Whether he awakened Reshiram or not, that brat would die by his hand.

Once Hilbert was gone, Ghetsis was going to enjoy killing that Maractus himself. No matter what it took, he was going to make it pay for having the audacity to speak out against him like this!

As terrifying as Lenora's Watchog was in a fight, that thing had nothing on Drayden's Haxorus.

Maybe that was a thing with all Dragon-type Pokemon - an intimidating presence that demanded respect. Thorn had that kind of presence too (to a certain extent), but it wasn't anything like this. This Haxorus was strong, and Hilbert could see that right away.

What do I do? he thought to himself. There's no way this Haxorus doesn't have Dragon Dance. I could heal Roger now, but that could give him a turn to set up and potentially sweep my team. That would be a huge mistake. But at the same time, Roger already looks beaten up from his fight with Hugo. Man, Rough Skin is a bitch when it's used against you.

On one hand, he could heal Roger and let Levi set up. On the other hand, he could use Ice Fang and hopefully catch Levi off-guard. Drayden used his last Hyper Potion on Hugo, so he wouldn't be able to heal if he got a critical hit.

But…they already had a crit and a freeze on Hugo. What were the odds that either could happen again? He could swap out too, but that presented the same dilemma as healing! What should he do?!

"Roger-"

Roger looked back at him, and almost instantly, there was an understanding. While Hilbert couldn't hear his voice like N could, that didn't mean he couldn't understand; Roger was his first capture, after all. There was a determination in his Stoutland's eyes; as if he was saying, "Don't you dare switch me out now."

Okay, so that eliminated switching him out. Healing...hm. Now that he thought about it, Haxorus using Dragon Dance would be a free hit for them. He didn't know how much Ice Fang would do, but with any luck it would be enough.

Luck. Hilbert snorted at the thought. He had been questioning that philosophy he had at the start of his journey, more than ever since he lost Matt. Ironic that luck would be what they needed the most right now.

"Alright...let's do this! Roger, use Ice Fang!"

Roger leapt towards Haxorus, fangs bared and coated in ice.

"Levi! Dragon Ta-"

It would only be in hindsight that Hilbert would recognize Drayden's command as Dragon Tail and not Dragon Dance. Haxorus generally had greater speed than Stoutland, but Dragon Tail would all but guarantee that Roger would move before Levi.

That didn't occur to Hilbert at that moment. For that moment, he was shocked that Roger had managed to bite into Levi's leg before the Haxorus could set up a Dragon Dance. Before the Dragon-type could respond, the ice coating Roger's fangs started to swiftly spread from where he bit, until it encased Levi's body completely.

It managed to freeze Levi...and was it a critical hit as well?!

A moment of stunned silence passed. Hilbert's jaw dropped, and Drayden's eyes were pretty wide. Even Roger seemed to be surprised that Ice Fang turned out like it did.

The Stoutland's surprise didn't keep him from acting again, though. After Levi failed an attempt to break through the ice, Roger delivered another Ice Fang.

The ice encasing Levi then broke, and Hilbert watched as Levi fell to the ground. The Haxorus was alive, that much was certain from how he seemed to be breathing - but very much knocked out.

And then there was his Stoutland - at half-health, and clearly tired from the fight - but he was also alive. He couldn't have done better in that fight if he tried!

It clicked in Hilbert's mind - Roger did it, he actually pulled through - and he couldn't stop the grin from creeping up on his face.

"ROOOOGEEEEER!" He ran towards Roger, arms outstretched. The Stoutland seemed to catch onto Hilbert's excitement, because he turned around and leapt right at his Trainer. Hilbert was knocked over from the force of Roger's pounce, and he dissolved into laughter as Roger licked his face.

Drayden returned Levi to his PokeBall, oddly satisfied with how that battle turned out. Dragon Tail had the best chance of just knocking Roger out as opposed to outright killing him. Ice Fang freezing came as a total surprise, and a pleasant one too. He didn't know how to describe how he felt about losing a battle when it ended on a note like that.

So, he was glad to approach Hilbert and his Stoutland with a Legend Badge in hand.

"Wonderful! I'm glad we had the chance to battle," he praised, handing the badge over. "With this, you now have all the Badges in the Unova Gym Challenge. I also want you to have this TM - it's for Dragon Tail. You've already seen what it does."

Hilbert accepted the Badge and TM with a grin. "Thanks so much!"

Drayden nodded as he and Hilbert shook hands. "Now that you have all the badges, you can access the Pokemon League, which is just past Victory Road and Route 10. I don't want to rush you; I know how strong the Elite Four and Alder are, but I'm less certain about N's power."

The boy nodded, giving a thumbs up and a cheeky grin. "No problem! We'll train up and get there no problem!"

The first time Hilbert left the Opelucid Gym, he felt nothing but sheer devastation and crushing grief.

This time, he felt a newfound surge of confidence and joy as he practically skipped out of the Gym. While the grief from would never truly be gone, Hilbert felt like he and his Pokemon could do anything at this point.

Author's Note: That's right - Roger was the surprise MVP of the Drayden battle! I was shocked that Roger went first, but that was before I realized that the AI probably determined that Haxorus use Dragon Tail. The fact that Dragon Tail is a low-priority move didn't take away from how emotional I got when the first Ice Fang was a crit and a freeze.