Hilda tapped her foot rapidly as Johanna reentered the room, carrying two glasses of water. The older woman set both down on the coffee table, then sat opposite her.
The living room was clean enough. There was a fine layer of dust over unused wardrobes and cabinets, but the table was already clean, as if it had been used before Hilda arrived.
Johanna took a sip of water.
"Enough of this!" Hilda exploded. "Where is he? Hilbert's not in his room and he's not here, why are you acting like nothing's going on!?"
Johanna held the glass with both hands and looked downwards. "Hilda… you're a wonderful young woman. If things hadn't turned out this way, you could have been my daughter in law, one day. You're strong, assertive, and you never give up."
"Yeah, and?" she asked, clenching her fists.
"You need to let him go," Johanna said. "He's not dead, but he's… he's not coming back until he feels he's finished."
Hilda slammed her fist into the coffee table, feeling her nails cut into her palm and ignoring it in her burst of fiery rage. "What the hell is that supposed to mean? I've been waiting for years for him to come back, and you… you know he's gone! He's talked to you, hasn't he?"
Johanna shrunk back. "Yes."
"Where did he go?"
"I…" Johanna wiped a tear from her eye. "I can't tell you. He doesn't want you to follow."
At that moment, something snapped inside of Hilda; a spark ignited in the back of her mind. The pyre that had been building up within her for years collapsed onto the tiniest bit of flame and exploded. A red hot inferno was lit inside her heart, and she felt the fire begin coursing through her.
"I don't care what he wants!" she said, rejecting the ideals that she had been holding onto for so long.
The ideal where everyone, her, Hilbert, Cheren, and Bianca, would be together forever. The ideal that apparently hadn't been shared.
Red hot flames pulsed in her eyes. "I want the truth!"
The Lights in the Sky Are Thunderbolts - VII - All I Want
Shortly after he'd made it, someone replied to Hilbert's post on the GTS. There had been rumors of strange noises and flickering lights in a construction site on the far side of town, and the locals hadn't been able to find the reason for it.
Hilbert was doubtful, truth be told. New buildings didn't have a lot of spiritual energy, unless they were built over a site that did. He knew that in schlocky horror movies, especially the ones Hilda liked to watch and make fun of, messing with burial grounds was a bad idea. It was cliché but it was accurate to reality.
He checked around on the GTS for recent obituaries and cross-referenced the date that the construction started. He found nothing, though that didn't rule out a haunting. Pokémon didn't usually get obituaries in the papers.
For most of the day, he trained with Golett and Sinistea, meaning he meditated with the Ground-type in order to further understand Sinnoh's spirit and had the tea cup continuously produce liquid to increase their control over Water TE. He'd tried looking for drink concentrate at Oreburgh's markets, but smacked himself when he remembered that most restaurants ordered it from corporate suppliers, not local stores. He made a note to look further into it later.
Before the sun set, he checked in at Oreburgh's inn for travelers. The rooms were barren, the lobby lacking in information for tourists, and there was a map of locations that were recommended to go to next hung up on the wall. It screamed, "Yeah, get your gym badge, take care of business, but don't stick around."
Which was sort of a sentiment Hilbert could appreciate, since it didn't try to distract him from his goal. While collecting gym badges would make him more credible as a trainer, he wasn't intending on becoming a world champion or top coordinator or anything. It was an afterthought, something that would be helpful but not entirely necessary.
When the street lamps kicked on, he could hear the buzz a mile away. They had to be powerful to cut through all the dust in the air. He took it as his cue to start investigating.
The site had been easy enough to find. His new Pokétch had a mapping and a notepad feature, which helped him keep track of where exactly he was going.
The site itself was what he expected. Pillars of concrete, I-beams, and rebar made up the structure itself, and the brick pathing of the roads gave way to reddish dirt. The building looked to be four of five stories tall, though the scaffolding was messing with his impression. He could have charted it in his head by focusing on its mineral composition, but he didn't want to shift anything around and potentially cause an accident.
As he approached, the small buzzing that he thought he heard dissipated. He cursed himself for not being quieter, but after standing silently for a few moments, it started up again with a small laugh. A bit of light was coming from the upper floors, though clearly lit by a small flame.
Hilbert took a deep breath through his nostrils. Yep. Tobacco smoke. And, if he wasn't wrong… a little bit of alcohol. Focusing on the spirit energy in the air, he couldn't see any Ghost TE through the site, only that of a dozen or so people and a handful of Pokémon.
He sighed and started turning around. A bunch of trainer schoolers messing around really wasn't a problem he could or needed to fix. It was a social situation, and the only social situations he could properly navigate were ones with dead people or Pokémon involved.
His responsibility was to save everyone, or at least, everyone that he could. That was the ideal he held fast to.
Something pulsed behind him, something like a combination of fear and hope.
"Please… stop…" came a weak voice.
The laughter he'd heard distantly redoubled.
Something itched in the back of Hilbert's mind, like he'd gotten a woodchip lodged between his brain and skull. His brow furrowed.
He clenched his teeth and turned around again. "Fine, fine, I'll deal with it," he said, before Golett could metaphorically get a word in edgewise.
Hilbert inhaled again, before shouting, "What the hell is going on up there?"
The voices cut out for a moment, before one of them shouted back, "Screw off, guy!"
"Bullying is wrong!" Hilbert yelled, before cringing. It wasn't like they could have a nuanced discussion on the topic, but boiling it down like that made him feel stupid.
"Yeah? Do something about it, bitch."
Hilbert briefly considered jumping up to their level just to freak them out, but decided against it.
But before he could do anything else, his connection to Sinnoh's spirits wavered, and the earth beneath his feet began shaking.
This wasn't a local phenomenon, either, as he could see the trees in the distances sway and the nearby buildings vibrate.
He managed to keep his footing, despite this, with no effort. Was it because of Golett's nature that he was treated as a part of the ground?
The delinquents began shouting in shock, and Hilbert saw his opportunity.
His heart pulsed.
He leapt onto the nearest concrete pillar and dented them just enough to use as handholds. When he was on the same level as their spiritual presences, though they had dropped their lights, he was able to pick out the most frightened spirit. He blitzed forward, picking the small boy and his bag up and throwing him over his shoulder, before reaching the other side of the floor and leaping from the third story over the site's fences.
The boy coughed as Hilbert landed. Concrete turned to light powder beneath his feet, cushioning his fall as they slowly shifted to being as dense as air. Hilbert rolled with his opposite shoulder, throwing the boy around but not hurting him any further. Golett repaired the earth behind him as Hilbert ran for another minute among the confusion.
Soon enough, the mild earthquake faded and Hilbert put the boy down before people began streaming into the streets to assess for damages.
School uniform, typical for most trainer schools though not any Hilbert had attended. Covered in a variety of fluids, smelled faintly like instant noodle water, booze, and urine. A few cuts, but not much else was obvious at that time of night.
He put it down to bullying being different in Sinnoh. Not much he could do about it.
"You alright?" Hilbert said.
The schoolboy proceeded to throw up on his shoes.
Luckily, Hilbert was quicker than that, so he avoided the stains, but it was still a pain.
Like he had predicted, lights began turning on and people began checking outside their homes. Trash cans had been tipped over all around him, which definitely didn't make the smell any better.
"I really don't know what to do here," Hilbert said, stepping back gingerly.
The boy wiped his mouth. "That doesn't really make me feel any better," he said in a small voice.
"What's your name?"
The boy started muttering, not at all answering the question. "It's not my fault I wasn't born here, it's not my fault my only Pokémon is a Wooper that can't even use Water Gun, it's not my fault I can't…
"Hey, I don't really care about any of that," Hilbert said, tapping the boy's arm with his shoe. "Listen up! Telling you to "man up" would clearly be unhelpful here, so I'm just giving you some direct instruction!"
The school boy looked up again, listening attentively.
Hilbert pointed at the stars with one hand while letting the other hang loose, fully aware of how silly he looked and not caring. "Even if you're screwed over from day one, you've gotta push forward. If people just want to hold you back, not help you move forward, then move on. Get over it."
"But I can't leave yet…" the boy said.
No. No, he couldn't. Hilbert was a unique case, and he didn't want other people to be like him and give everything up.
"You don't have to leave," Hilbert said, in a slightly lighter tone. "You've got people that still care about you here. If those guys don't want to be part of your life, then you don't have to let them be. Beat the hell out of 'em until they leave you alone. I dunno. Whatever works. But you shouldn't just run away-" Hilbert cut himself off before he said like I did.
"I don't think I could do that…"
Hilbert pinched the bridge of his nose. "Dude, it's like a Pokémon battle, but you're fighting. Fighting is literally the basis of our society." Hilbert's society, anyway, but that was a human nature thing, by his estimate. "Just get buff and do it. Or have your Wooper piss in their bedsheets or something, it's not really my problem."
The boy clenched his fists, still kneeling. "I can't do anything about it, that's not going to work!"
"Hey, shut up," Hilbert said. "Stop going on and on about what you can't do. If all you do is worry about what you can't do, then you'll never get around to doing what you can. Listen, man, I don't know what the whole situation is, but doing what I do best and letting things work themselves out has gone pretty well for me. Just do the best you can and things'll work out eventually."
The boy nodded, so Hilbert felt that he had finally gotten through.
"Just… don't kill yourself, no matter how bad things get, alright? It won't work out the way you want it to," Hilbert said carefully. It was selfish of him, truthfully. Golett had taught him that some spirits didn't pass on so easily, especially not the young ones that never had a chance to live properly. Those were the kind that became the most vengeful, even if they started with simple mischief.
The boy nodded again.
Hilbert knew he couldn't stick around. The solution for these sorts of problems was long-term support by friends and loved ones, not a pep talk. You couldn't change a person's worldview with an epiphany speech. It would take time, and it wasn't time he had to spare.
Though… time with friends who would treat you better… getting away from home and the past…
"How old are you?" Hilbert asked.
"Fourteen," the boy replied, still staring at the ground.
Hilbert considered it. He had heard of trainers taking apprentices under their wing as they traveled, but it was sort of a rarity. When you went on a journey, all sorts of things could happen, so only people with some kind of credibility or clout were given that much trust.
Like lab trainers.
"I've got some friends coming through here in the next few weeks," Hilbert said. "They're sponsored lab trainers, and they can help you get stronger."
The boy's eyes lit up. "Really?"
Hilbert had left out the part where he was a lab trainer as well, hadn't he? Oh, well, it wasn't going to be his problem.
"Yeah, if you annoy them hard enough, they'll probably let you come along. You'll know when you see 'em. Tell them I sent you. Oh, and the name's Hilbert Jo- excuse me, Kuroiwa.
"T-thank you, Mr. Kuroiwa!" the boy said.
Hilbert began walking away and waved over his shoulder. "Don't sweat it. Now, I've got to figure out what the deal with that earthquake was…"
In the future, Hilbert would realize that he ought to have been more specific about who the boy needed to look out for, but the point where that would become a problem was months away.
Hilbert thought that "Evolution Stone Race n' Battle," while technically descriptive, was one of the silliest names he had ever heard, so naturally, he also thought it was pretty great. If everyone was super serious all the time, then there would never be enough passion to get anything done.
The rally for participants was near the entrance to Oreburgh's mines. It was a decent sized crowd, maybe a hundred or so people. Any number would have looked small, though, as the ceiling of the mine was held up by pillars as thick as skyscrapers and reached nearly as high as one. Tunnels, stairways, and ramps were all built into the walls, and even so early in the morning, carts upon carts of coal were being wheeled out.
After seeing it firsthand, Hilbert could believe that the town supplied the entire region's coal.
Before the event organizers began speaking, Hilbert walked over to one of the pillars, pretending to be in awe to avoid questions, and put his hand on the pillar.
A jolt ran through his body, and he flinched. Golett pulsed, annoyed.
He slowly pulled his spiritual pressure back into his soul, decreasing his sensitivity, and tried again.
They weren't pillars. They were fossilized tree branches. When he looked down, he saw the faint Rock TE pulsating down into the earth, narrowing and joining a wider network before it all became a distant blur.
Hilbert shook the shivers off and pat Sinnoh's branch, hoping that he hadn't upset the spirit.
It was denser than anything he had ever made before in the real world, and maybe even while he was training in his dreams. That density, along with the latent spiritual energy protecting its shape, practically guaranteed that it could never be broken.
Seeing as how the mines had been built around the fossilized wood, that was pretty easy for Hilbert to believe.
He was starting to get used to the idea of his own smallness. The only thing that set him apart from other people was his soul and having Golett lodged in his chest, and in the grand scheme of things, when there were forces like the lake spirits and Sinnoh all around him, could he really do anything-
He stopped that thought process then and there. He couldn't allow himself to go into a death spiral, not when he'd bet his entire past, present, and future on the chance that he could make a difference, avert the fate of the world that he'd seen in his dreams.
The organizer's voice allowed him to refocus, and he wandered back over to the rest of the crowd.
Pinned to the wall, a chart explained the basic rules as well as showing a map, and a code that would allow the map to be downloaded to a participant's Pokétch. Along a charted course through the mines and into Sinnoh's vast underground, trainers would race alongside their Pokémon and see who could arrive at the goal first. Immediately afterwards, the first place winner would battle Gym Leader Roark, who specialized in Rock-types as well as being the mine's overseer.
They were directed to one of the largest tunnels that sprung out of the cave, where the trail had been blazed along the ceiling in hi-vis neon. Judging by how a Steelix was demonstrated the tunnel's height by just barely scraping the ceiling at full extension, Flying-types would find only moderate difficulty.
The countdown began.
Three.
Hilbert's heart pulsed, and Golett began pulling themself together beneath him.
Two.
The sound of Pokéballs unclasping filled the air, and bright flashes of light revealed so many varieties of Type Energy that Hilbert felt epileptic.
One.
Not too far away, Hilbert noticed the green-clad musician he had seen in the diner, alongside a Kricketune rising up their bow.
"GOOOOOOO!"
Just as Arcanine kicked up dust, and Rapidash began to gallop, Hilbert watched the musician begin a command.
Normal and Ghost TE began to tinge the air before the horrible, shrill musical notes did.
"Perish song," the man said, distantly.
Immediately, Pokémon began yowling and throwing their riders from their backs.
Hilbert willed a bit of dust to become wads of clay about as dense as ear plugs and watched idly as the musician released an Altaria, climbed onto its fluff, and gave a bow before the Dragon-type took off flying down the tunnel, easily climbing into first.
Thirty… Forty… Fifty or so miles and hour?
"We can beat that," Hilbert said, his eyes still tracking. "Golett?"
His heart pulsed with a mild amusement, as if his partner was thinking the exact same thing, or couldn't believe exactly what Hilbert was thinking. It was sometimes a toss-up.
"Turn into a motorbike."
His heart pulsed, though there was something more than usual.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll wear a helmet like Mom would want me to," Hilbert said with a shrug. Dust and clay began solidifying in his hand, and as he raised it to his face, it wrapped around and formed a visor like a knight's, as well as the rest of the helmet. It was a dull brown, but he wasn't Kalosian; fitting an aesthetic wasn't a life or death matter to him.
As this occurred, Golett began emerging from the ground, but only their core kept its normal shape. Wide, unchipped, perfectly smooth stone wheels emerged, along with a bulky, though sleek body, and a dirty windshield that was made with limestone and the best material Golett could scrounge together.
Hilbert hopped into the driver's seat, which left him low to the ground; just how he liked it. "Alright," he said, smirking and revving the non-existent engine. "Let's go save Tetsuo."
The engine in front of him, emblazoned with a glowing purple spiral where the dials ought to have been, pulsed as Golett conveyed their confusion.
"You know, like in Akira?" Hilbert said. "You made the bike, I know you know what I'm talking about. Cheren tried to convince me that it's the best movie of all time back in the day."
Golett pulsed again, and Hilbert agreed. It really wasn't that important.
By that point in time, most of the other trainers had recovered, though their Pokémon were still groggy.
With a much louder than necessary rev, Hilbert and Golett shot past all of them, kicking up another cloud of dust as they went.
Hilbert ducked low as he kept an eye on the map. The overhead trail would be helpful, but as they began violating Oreburgh's speed limits, they would need to know when to turn and when to slow down. The Pokétch screen was small and hard to read, but he managed.
He put both hands back on the handlebars and let the tunnels they passed by turn into blurs of darkness. The grinding of dirt and gravel beneath them sounded like the dull roar of the ocean. The air cut into them as they shot down the tunnel, and the bits of dust in the air flowed around them harmlessly.
He could finally see the musician again, far ahead of the pack and sailing along atop his Altaria. The tuft of white clouds was healthy, though strained as they flew. Certainly the kind of Pokémon that preferred gliding. Their head, dwarfed by the rest of their body and as blue as the sky, was craned forwards as they flew.
The musician seemed to notice the rev of their engine, and looked back with a fascinated grin.
"What-ho?" he called back to Hilbert.
"You do that sort of thing often?" Hilbert shouted.
There wasn't too much wind, but they were both moving awfully fast. Luckily, he had his spiritual energy to cheat with, so he was able to understand just fine, and hopefully, the same was true for his opponent.
"Only when I need to win," the musician called back. "I need a Shiny Stone for my Roselia to evolve with, and if I get a different stone, then I can sell it. Music is an expensive hobby, I'm sure you understand."
"Don't gotta justify yourself to me," Hilbert said, "Just wondering. Race and battle, I guess."
The musician got an odd look on his face at that. "It is, isn't it." He looked ahead and then back at Hilbert. "Altaria, use Disarming Voice!"
Hilbert's face went blank as the Dragon-type began funneling Fairy TE towards its throat and vocal cords. "Race and battle, yep," he said flatly.
Altaria swerved as they cried, releasing waves upon waves of magenta music towards Golett.
According to the rules, they were allowed to attack the mounts of other trainers, with the understanding being that you couldn't knock them out while they were still moving, but distracting and weakening them was fair game.
Hilbert leapt into the air as Golett soundproofed their vessel. He tapped Sinistea's Pokéball and began rooting around in his bag for a thermos. He landed just as the last of the voice subsided, and Altaria tried to regain the lead.
"Sinistea, help us out!" he called out, before finding what he was looking for and throwing it into the air.
The tea cup Pokémon looked around, saw the shiny object in the air, and grabbed it with their telekinesis. Still floating along with Hilbert, they emptied out the thermos of ice cream into their cup.
Hilbert smiled as their TE shifted to an icy blue.
"Alright!" He pointed back at Altaria, who was trying to speed ahead. "Sinistea, use Icicle Spear!"
Sinistea cried as they spread their spirit energy thin as if along a pane behind them. Bits and pieces of ice began forming in the air like a sideways storm of hailstones.
Hilbert pointed ahead like his finger was a spirit gun and smiled widely. "Fire away!"
The freezing bolts shot forwards, most missing but a few stabbing into the Altaria's fluff and collapsing into patches of ice.
The Dragon-type cried out and listed to the side, but they quickly regained altitude and their rider found his grip again.
Hilbert had gotten ahead by this point and returned Sinistea to their Pokéball.
They were coming up on one long stretch of tunnel, and in the distance, he could make out a painted ring that defined their finish line.
He smiled and revved his engine, only to hear it sputter out.
Golett pulsed with a distinctly nervous tinge.
The earth began shaking again, and Golett's body beyond their core began to break apart. The tunnel's walls began vibrating and dust was being shook loose from the ceiling. Bits of the floor were snapping up in shards-
Hilbert was thrown into the air when Golett's wheel suddenly hit a ledge they couldn't smooth out. He shouted in surprise, but couldn't hear his own words over the wind and the sound of the earth collapsing in on itself.
Someone grabbed him by the arm before he could hit the ground, and for a minute, all he could see was a cloud-like mass of fluff.
Soon, the ground stopped shaking, and looking ahead, one of the support pillars had tilted. That was… worrying, for certain.
The Altaria slowed to a stop, and the musician let him go and hopped off.
"Are you well?" he asked.
Hilbert stretched his arm to work out the non-existent pain in his shoulder. "Well enough. Thanks for the save."
The musician nodded with his eyes closed and a beatific smile. "That is good. And don't mention it, I simply did what anyone would do. I must say, though, what a strange thing."
"Yeah, I've been trying to figure out the deal with all the earthquakes." At the musician's bemused look, he added, "I'm a Ground-type specialist. Call me Hilbert Kuroiwa," Hilbert said. It was a weird way to phrase the statement, but it technically wasn't his legal name.
"You may call me Nando," the musician said with a bow. "I'm afraid, though, that I will be winning this race. Farewell."
Hilbert watched as the man climbed back onto Altaria's back and sped off. He could already hear the rest of the racers coming up behind him.
Absent-mindedly, he dropped into a squat and placed a hand on the ground. "Maybe… a quarter of a mile left to go?" he guessed, feeling how the minerals were composed.
A Rapidash sped past him, their rider whooping in victory already.
Hilbert sighed and prepared to jump.
His heart pulsed.
A section of the earth solidified behind him like a slab, though it was hinged right below his feet.
Hilbert jumped.
Golett threw the slab at him with the force of a subway train. And he'd been to Castelia City, he knew how fast they were.
As something of a Ground-type himself, it didn't hurt too much, and after he'd poured so many minerals into his bones that they were practically solid steel (with Golett's guidance, so he didn't kill himself by accident), the worst he'd deal with was probably some pretty intense bruising. He might have dislocated his ankle, but Golett could easily shift it back into place.
That didn't mean feeling the blood around his body flushing around to fix the damage was a pleasant feeling, but the lack of long-term damage made it more bearable.
The G-forces he experienced as he soared through the tunnels were worse, along with the motion sickness, but he had to take the cards he was dealt. The other racers became blurs beneath him, though far beneath… he thought he saw a flaring burst of Fighting TE, but it quickly blinked out.
He wish he had a camera to capture Nando's face as he flew overhead, as he'd been able to see it perfectly. He would have laughed if he had crossed and crashed into the finish line moments later.
He rolled for a few seconds, kicking up dust and carving a furrow into the ground before he finally hit the opposite wall with an echoing THUD.
When his vision finally cleared, he was looking at a man dressed like a construction worker. His red hair was concealed by a bright orange mining helmet and a smart pair of glasses. He was fairly certain that this was Roark, the gym leader.
"Are you alright?" Roark asked, staring down at him and offering a hand.
"Depends." Hilbert took his hand and stood up. He tilted his head to the side and clapped it to get some dirt out of his ear. "Did I win?"
Roark turned and Hilbert followed his gaze.
Nando had only just gotten off of his Altaria, and his gaze was sweeping across Hilbert's impact site. The rest of the racers began crossing the finish line soon after, though it was clear who was in the lead.
"Yes, I believe you crossed first," Roark said, before side-eyeing Hilbert. "How exactly did you manage that? Do you have a Psychic-type that can make a full body Reflect?"
"Something like that," Hilbert said. "What's the deal with the earthquakes?"
Roark shook his head. "Believe me, we're doing everything we can to figure out the source of them. It doesn't seem to be caused by any natural seismic movements, and underground colonies of Gible rarely cause this many problems."
"Those support pillars aren't supposed to break, are they?" Hilbert asked.
Roark winced. "No, they're not. It's practically impossible even with machinery." He shook his head again. "Excuse me, I've got to check for injuries along the track." He pointed at what looked suspiciously like an elevator on the other side of the cave. "If you'll wait over there, we can begin your gym battle as soon as possible."
Hilbert did as he was told.
A technician came over to fit him with a microphone for the battle as well as confirm his identity. On a tablet, they typed out that he had an exception for the Gym Challenge and didn't need to register his Pokémon before walking off.
Hilbert still thought it was odd that such an obvious loophole existed, but couldn't be bothered to look into it further.
After a few minutes of standing around and not doing much at the center of the platform, sat down on the edge and waited.
Nando approached, a little bit soaked from the ice that had melted off Altaria, but no worse for wear. "Greetings, again."
"Yo," Hilbert said.
"That was really something," Nando said, offering his hand. "If you don't mind, I hope we can have a serious battle one day."
"Don't mention it," Hilbert said, shaking firmly. "And yeah, a battle sounds good. I'll see you around."
Just then, the elevator shuddered and began to rise.
Hilbert let go, a little surprised, before he scrambled to his feet and began mentally preparing. The gate quickly shut in front of him, cutting him off from the underground.
Nando gave a simple wave as the light shining through the grated walls gave way to darkness.
I am born.
I am a tool.
I am disregarded.
I am not given the gratitude I am owed.
I am victimized.
I am strength.
I am the stone this city is built upon.
I am the pile in the driver.
I am replaced.
I am forgotten.
I am.
You have no right to deny that of me.
You have no right to forget.
I am to unmake all that I have made.
I have no name.
My voice is the voice of the forgotten you have built your world upon.
It will not be your world any longer.
It is MINE. IT IS MINE! IT HAS BELONGED TO ME. IT IS MY BIRTHRIGHT! I HAVE BUILT IT, AND YOU HAVE FORGOTTEN!
MY RAGE IS THE RAGE OF THOSE LEFT BEHIND.
Hilbert forced the shuddering away. The spirit energy in the air was swirling around him, funneling downwards into the ground and disappearing, as if pulled in by a black hole.
He would investigate as soon as he could. He would have to make this battle quick. He didn't need glory from this battle, only credibility. Strength was strength, that was what mattered to most.
His plan would be effective, even if he held back. There were only so many Rock-types in Sinnoh. Meaning the variety of species, not the number of individuals. Hilbert was pretty sure even if he and Golett cut loose, they couldn't make multiple species go extinct.
Maybe if Golett ever evolved…
No, he couldn't let his thoughts take dark turns. He mentally kicked himself and tried focusing harder internally. Introspection wasn't a big part of his skillset, which was why Hilda and Cheren usually pointed out when he was acting weird.
Maybe he ought to travel with the others…
No, stay on task, he had to stay on task. The elevator was beginning to slow, he had to keep things clear in his mind.
He crossed his arms as he emerged into a world of light.
The gym's arena was large, and while not regulation flat, it was to be expected from a Rock-type gym leader. It looked as if the mines had been recreated as a battle arena.
Wrapping around the arena was the seating, which was decently full. The race had taken place on most people's day off, though a skeleton crew remained to keep the mines functional as well as the race's organizers.
Someone yelled something about "showing that half his place," which he only just managed to pick out. His spirit sometimes picked up on things and translated them even when he wasn't focusing. Perhaps the speaker had a lot of spirit energy?
He wasn't quite sure what the comment meant, though it sounded somewhat familiar. Maybe something from when he'd lived in Twinleaf?
Focus.
His heart pulsed.
Golett emerged from the arena behind him, taking on a sort of chalky red hue before it faded to a dull grayish-brown. Their appearance caused some excitement in the audience.
Roark had emerged at about the same time that he had, hands on his hips and a confident smile on his face. He stood at the opposite end of the arena and posed for a moment before speaking.
"Two Pokémon, no substitutions! You have the first pick, Kuroiwa!" Roark called, still confident. The audience went up in cheers at the Oreburgh native's show of confidence.
"You're leading, Sinistea," Hilbert said, quietly, though the mic on his jacket's lapel still caught the sound.
There was some awe as Sinistea appeared on the field, though not much. The species wasn't too common in Sinnoh, since house spirits tended to take other forms.
He was lucky Sinistea's spirit hadn't taken the form of a Banette or something similar, else he'd be having other problems.
They were still tinged with Ice TE from the ice cream earlier. Though Hilbert hadn't planned to use it so early, they would have enough time for the plan to work well enough.
Roark sent out his first Pokémon.
As the light receded, a towering Onix was revealed. Each boulder within its body was at least as thick as Hilbert's body. Even coiled and leering over the field, it stood twice his height. If Sinistea was a rock, Onix was a mountain.
It was partially Ground-type, which would be annoying if Sinistea got knocked out before Roark sent out his ace, but the strategy could still pan out later.
"Start with Withdraw, like we practiced!"
Sinistea bobbed in the air before their cup began overflowing with water and forming into a shield around them.
"Set up Stealth Rocks!" Roark shouted.
The Rock-type reared back and spit out a barrage of sharp, splintered stones. Some floated in the air, and when Hilbert looked closer, it seemed like each stone had a bit of Rock TE attached to it, fueling their floatation. He had never been quite sure how that move worked before.
"Keep going, Sinistea, and watch where you're floating!"
Sinistea weaved around the rocks in the battlefield, all the while making more and more water.
"Screech!"
Onix inhaled, if it needed to do such a thing, before spitting out a visible shriek of sound and Normal TE.
Sinistea's orb of water wavered, but they held it in place with telekinesis.
Hilbert grit his teeth as it felt like he'd been inflicted with tinnitus, but managed to bear it out.
Not waiting a second longer, Roark yelled, "Rock Throw, take them down!"
Onix slithered on the ground with a great rumble, dragging large rocks out of the arena floor and adding it to their length. Suddenly, they writhed and whipped their tail towards Sinistea, sending a barrage of rocks in every direction at once.
Hilbert leaned to avoid a pebble as Sinistea dropped low to the ground, avoiding most of the spray but losing moisture to smaller debris. Their orb of water had grown to nearly two feet in diameter.
"Good enough!" Hilbert threw out a fist, smiling through the tension. "Sinistea, Pressure Valve into the air!"
The TE surrounding the water sprung multiple leaks simultaneously, and sprayed water all over the arena.
"Now, Powder Snow!"
The remaining water in Sinistea's hold splashed to the ground as the Ghost-type refocused.
"Onix, use Dig to avoid it!" Roark called.
The snake-like Pokémon dove into the ground with a resounding rumble.
Snow began gently falling over the arena, most melting on contact with the ground and forming into small puddles. What didn't melt formed into small patches of ice that soon would.
"Alright, Sinistea, back-"
Onix soared into the air, and their jaw snapped shut around Sinistea like an avalanche.
Air rushed by him as they slammed back into the ground, coiling around into their typical shape.
Hilbert could hear the Ghost-type's shrieking, though it was muffled.
Then came a crack.
The liquid, though usually carefully controlled by Sinistea, began to drip from Onix's jaws.
He heard another screech of rock against ceramic and couldn't take it anymore.
"I'm retiring Sinistea!" Hilbert said quickly, recalling the Pokémon before they could shatter completely. Their spirit would repair the vessel eventually, but it would take time.
Onix roared as the red light retreated, almost taunting him.
"Send out your next Pokémon!" Roark called, like he'd never battled before.
Jeers filled the stands, echoing around him like he was back in trainer school and still being treated like an idiot.
Hilbert's face went blank. For a moment, all he could hear was the blood rushing past his ears, even as he felt Sinistea's Pokéball click back into his belt.
"Golett, let's kick some ass."
His heart pulsed.
He placed a hand to the stone, feeling its warmth through the cloth of his shirt.
"Get going," he said simply.
Golett was an even rarer Pokémon in Sinnoh, mostly found in the western hemisphere. Most people that saw them reacted with wonder.
Hilbert wondered if it would be so bad for this particular Onix to react with fear. He crossed his arms. "Show them what a real monster looks like."
His spiritual energy flooded into his heart, and he saw the connection between Golett and Sinnoh's spirit strengthen once again.
There was that flicker again, far beneath them… Fighting and Ghost TE?
Focus. He had to focus.
"Finish this up!" Roark called, "Iron Tail!"
The Rock-type reared back and their lower section was immersed in a steely gray glow. Like a shotgun blast, they exploded towards Golett and slammed their tail into the Ground-type.
A fist of solid stone, shaped like one of Golett's gauntlets, suddenly appeared from the earth and struck at the exact same speed. If one hadn't been paying attention, it would have seemed like Onix hadn't attacked at all.
Through the sudden spray of rocks and dirt, Golett's form became visible again. Ghostly purple smoke billowed out of their eyes and the spiral in their chest.
Another fist exploded from the ground and slammed into Onix's side, sending the snake-like Pokémon rolling across the field in a spray of rocks.
Another fist brought it to a sudden stop, before yet another threw it into the air.
Onix slammed into the ground in front of Roark, the barrage of blows having only occurred over about ten seconds. Roark had the look of someone who couldn't quite believe what he was seeing.
"Rock doesn't do so good against Ground, does it?" Hilbert said, feeling that it was a fair statement once the imbalance had swung into his favor.
A huge grin appeared on Roark's face. "No, it doesn't. But that means I know what I'm working with, Kuroiwa! The first thing any specialist trains for is their weaknesses!" Roark held a Pokéball up to the sky. "Rampardos! Come on out!"
Hilbert, previously feeling confident, suddenly felt his chest tighten.
He'd looked at Roark's matches, his record, his team, everything. Gym Leaders generally used weaker Pokémon, or explicitly held back, for new trainers.
But he'd blown the chance for an easy win by losing his temper.
Roark only owned one Rampardos, and they had battled on the Conference level. Even if they would be holding back…
His attempt to refocus was shaken as Rampardos appeared on the field.
The revival of fossils was still a hotly debated topic in some regions, or it was the last time Hilbert checked. Some people called them abominations and argued that with such a great length of evolution occurring between their era and the modern era, they shouldn't have been considered Pokémon.
Looking at the revived Pokémon in person, he started to understand a little better.
Its torso was the largest part of its body, closely followed by the head. A hulking gray mass of muscle that seemingly only had legs to charge down prey and obliterate them. Along its body were highlights that were a startling blue, dull like the veins beneath his skin. Atop its head and its savage visage was a spiked crown that was covered in scratches, something that had been worn away and strengthened countless times. It didn't look like something from their time. Hell, it didn't look like it had ever belonged among the living. It had carved its own head away out of desire for strength.
Rampardos stared him and Golett down and grinned.
Hilbert shuddered. He needed focus.
And so, he cut himself off from the world around him, immersing himself in the spiritual energies that cloaked the field.
As usual, Golett's spirit was interspersed with his own as well as sharing energy with their current vessel. Lightning bolts crackled along his soul, just begging to be used. Across the arena, Rampardos's energy primarily swirled around its skull, while leaving the bare minimum around the rest of their body. It seemed the species had only survived through the thickness of their skull, and even that hadn't lasted forever. Roark had a normal spirit, though slightly more energy than the average person. That made sense to Hilbert, since gym leaders needed to hone their skills and grow to understand their specialization to a great degree. When he looked closer, Roark definitely had a tinge of Rock TE to him, likely acquired through all the time he spent with the type.
Deep below them, Sinnoh's spirit was near perfectly still. Compared to the hurricane of the average soul, theirs was a gentle, quiet breeze.
Rampardos charged.
Hilbert saw without seeing.
His heart pulsed.
The composition of the arena's floor began to shift. Molecules lined up with molecules, winding together into strands of wire a scant millimeter thick, if that.
Golett dodged the first headbutt with a leap, though the second sent them careening into the sphere of Normal TE, the Protect covering the arena. They bounced off and quickly made their displeasure known. Not that they could feel pain, but Hilbert was working with their power and splitting their focus was rarely a good idea.
He heard Rampardos roar even through his meditation. They spun up another charge.
Limply, metal wires rose and wrapped around their ankles. They had no anchor, so for the moment, they sailed listlessly behind Rampardos as they rampaged towards Golett.
Hilbert's control slipped as Golett created a dozen pillars of stone throughout the arena, freestanding but needing support as they jumped between them to avoid Rampardos. They, Hilbert especially, knew that if Golett's body took too much damage and still functioned, there would be questions, so they had to avoid that eventuality for the moment.
Between the puddles of water that littered the arena, Hilbert created small networks of wire that were insulated by non-conductive minerals. If the attack was grounded before they could get it off, then they were boned. Literally, in Golett's case.
Rampardos smashed through another pillar, which fell to the ground with a great crash.
Hilbert's control lessened.
Golett formed more pillars all around Rampardos, thin and slanted outwards as if they were the center of a funnel.
Rampardos's roar was deafening, and seemed to shake the earth itself. It slammed into a pillar, causing it to crumble… but in the center, just barely visible to Hilbert, there was a small cable. It looped around Rampardos's leg as they charged into the next pillar, where another cable appeared.
Then another, and then another.
Roark seemed to realize what was going on, though not exactly. "Rampardos, they're baiting you! Shake those wires off and be careful!"
The fossil Pokémon roared in annoyance, before jumping back and out of the ring.
His heart pulsed in annoyance. Of course, it wasn't going to be that easy.
The dozens of remaining pillars shattered as their conductive minerals were forged into wires and the rest were turned into a smokescreen.
Golett charged at Rampardos, their stubby gait made more menacing by the cable they held in their hands.
Rampardos met the charge with their own, only for Golett to throw themselves over their back with another pillar of earth. Rampardos broke the new pillar effortlessly and snorted in annoyance.
It then notices the wire that had been looped around its chest and began roaring in rage at a fever pitch.
Hilbert smirked, even as he was certain his ears would start bleeding soon.
The web of wire and cable laid out across the arena snapped shut, rapidly wrapping around Rampardos. Even as they bit and clawed away at the mass, more and more metal began looping around their body.
Golett held the cable's end tight, even as Rampardos attempted to drag them away.
The water soaking the arena only added to the conductivity, and it so happened that Rampardos was standing in the middle of a puddle.
Show them the strength of our Ideals.
From on high, electricity flooded into Hilbert's Platinum Soul. The ambient electricity grew exponentially, and he fed it directly into Golett, who shared the TE with their vessel.
"I don't need to aim for the horn," Hilbert said.
With Hilbert making the same motion in perfect sync, Golett pulled the cable taut.
The Ground-type crackled with electricity, burning the air around them with ozone. The arena was filled with the sound of thunder rolling.
Rampardos heaved as if struck by a thunderbolt, their scales blackening as the electricity coursed around their body. A visible sphere of lightning surrounded them, and the buzz met the volume of their cries. The Rock-type convulsed, attempting to ground the current but failing. More and more volts poured into them, and the white of their horns began to yellow and darken.
And eventually, Rampardos collapsed to the ground, a mess of wires and twitching limbs. A heavy thud echoed as their skull slammed into the arena's floor.
Golett threw the wires away, and it quickly dissolved into something like iron sand. Where the wires had cut into Rampardos, blood began to flow freely.
The Pokémon disappeared in a flash of red light, leaving only sand and scorched earth behind.
"Well," Roark said simply, placing Rampardos's Pokéball back onto his belt. "Hilbert Kuroiwa. I don't think there's anything I can do but announce you the victor. Good show!" He spread his arms wide and laughed. "I've never seen a Ground-type that can do something like that! This is great!"
Hilbert was a bit dumbfounded at the man's reaction. Most people didn't take a loss like that. Maybe there was something in the water?
A gym trainer approached from the sidelines, carrying an insulated metal box, designed to keep the crystallized TE inside from leaking out.
But as they did so, Hilbert felt his connection to Sinnoh loosen, as if it had been torn away from his grasp. Then came the rumble.
DRRRRRUUUUUUUUUUUUUM.
Hilbert heard trees crash to the ground in the distance. The earth shook and splintered beneath them, worse than it ever had before. People were thrown from their seats in the stands. He was almost certain he heard the roof creak and bend.
Beneath him, he was certain now that there was a spirit causing this. Through his own thundercloud of spirit energy, he could see theirs clear as day. A swirling, angry mass of Fighting and Ghost TE… he hadn't heard of such a Pokémon before, but that was why he had come to Sinnoh. He needed to save people and Pokémon from the things that no one could understand.
The elevator shaft beneath his feet collapsed, and along with the slab of metal he was standing on, Hilbert tumbled back into darkness.
AN:
I'm not too proud of this chapter, but I feel like there are some good moments in here. I'm going on a trip soon though I'm hoping to get some work done on my new laptop.
Meta notes, Hilbert's patron has been implied and referenced since II, so I'm hoping it didn't seem like an ass pull. The lights in the sky are thunderbolts, after all.