Bahhh, sorry for the delay, y'all. Tears of the Kingdom came out, which is... part of my excuse, but mostly, the delay was because this chapter just did not want to be written. You know how it is.
But it's also, like, twice as long as a regular chapter, so... that makes up for it, right? Or maybe it makes it worse. I dunno. Notes at the end. Carry on.
Interlude Pt. 3
The streets of Castelia City were overflowing with human life, as per usual.
And normally, N would have done anything to stay away. Cities were not really his 'thing'. He wasn't a fan of such crowded spaces, the way that humans seemed determined to pack themselves in like Tandemaus, all piled up on one another, seemingly reveling in their filth and squalor and moral degeneracy. Oh, he'd begun warming up to humans in the past few years, but cities still disgusted him. The quiet folk who lived in smaller communities, closer to nature and pokemon, were more his speed.
That didn't stop him from making the trip here today. Some things were worth putting up with the worst parts of humanity for, he considered, as he sprinted down the bustling street, calling out breathless apologies as he awkwardly forced his way through the crowd, earning a slew of shouts and rude remarks in his wake. Well, he probably deserved that.
But who could blame him? He was excited - his months-long search was finally - finally! - at an end. Did he feel a bit guilty about having his best friend, a Zoroark, create an illusion so he could sneak into the back room of the post office, break into the manager's office while he was away at lunch, and rifle through their computer systems so he could find the address he was looking for? Yes. Did that stop him? No, not really. It was probably illegal, but it was for a good cause. The police would understand if he was caught. Right?
In his excitement, he slammed into a young man in a dark black sweater and a matching beret as he was exiting a coffee shop and just about bowled him over. He stopped long enough to help him up and apologize, barely noticing how he gaped at him like a Magikarp - perhaps he'd never been run over before? - but in a flash, he was back on his way, forgetting the man entirely.
He was close now, according to that map he'd been given by that kindly old man at the pizza parlor. So close… Was this the street? Yes - yes! And there it was - Conkeldurr Condominiums! At last. At last!
Breathless, he jogged to the entrance and shouldered open one of the glass double-doors. The atrium was cool and air conditioned, but despite how pleasant it felt after his race through the city, he didn't linger. There was a hallway in the back. He made a beeline straight toward it.
Around the corner. Up two flights of stairs. His heart was hammering, his breathing strained, his mind in disarray. Down the hallway. Take another left. 304… Room 304…!
There! He slid to a stop, panting for all the world as though he'd run a marathon - which, he supposed, he literally had. His limbs felt jittery, electric tingles shooting up and down his fingers. He took a moment to try and fail to calm himself, running his sweaty palms across his jeans, straightening his shirt, adjusting his hat, then finally lifted his hand, fist poised to knock.
And froze.
What was he supposed to say?
It had been two years since he'd seen her. Two years since their fated battle, since they'd clashed, two chosen heroes, fated rivals, truth vs ideals. And in the end, she'd turned his world upside down.
He was still panting for breath, still standing in front of the apartment door, but now, suddenly, he felt nervous. Anxious. They'd had no contact since he'd disappeared, and while she'd remained forever in the back of his mind, his north star, his lighthouse on a stormy sea, the trainer who had changed his life… What was he to her? Did she ever think of him at all? Did she even want to see him again? After everything they'd been through with Team Plasma, honestly, he had his doubts.
And truth to tell, that was unusual in and of itself. This strange sort of… hesitation. This unusual fear. The way his face felt flushed, his palms sweaty, his sudden concern over whether his clothing was clean, whether he was presentable… It wasn't like him. He didn't understand where these concerns were coming from. But they were there, and they were making it very hard to move forward. He'd run this whole race, but now here he was. Frozen before the finish line.
His eyes seemed to drift of their own accord until they landed on the nameplate sitting above the doorbell. It read 'H. White', black on gold, though clearly made from cheap plastic. She was here, just beyond the door. Whatever awaited him, he'd never know unless he mustered his courage and knocked. Be brave, like she was.
He took a breath. Then another, to steady himself. Wiped his palms on his jeans again, straightened his cap a second time as though it had somehow gone askew in the last couple of seconds, then cleared his throat and, with one more pause for no other reason than because he needed that extra moment, he let his knuckles rap cautiously on the heavy-set wooden door.
A minute passed with his heart in his throat.
Nothing happened.
He knocked again, this time a little louder. Still nothing. Was she not home? Had he come at a bad time?
Growing desperate, he rang the doorbell. First once, then, in a slight panic, several times. Now that he thought about it, it was entirely possible that she was out. She could be running errands, or out training, or… Or she could be away on a journey. That thought hadn't even occurred to him. What was he to do now? He'd come all this way. How on earth was he to find her?
Just then, he heard the unmistakable sound of footsteps approaching behind the door. His heart leaped, his body froze as hope and fear collided inside of his chest in a violent explosion, spinning in wild, kaleidoscope colors as the lock clicked, a chain rattled, and the door finally, finally opened.
But only a crack.
There, peering out at him suspiciously through the gap between the door and the wall, was not Hilda.
It wasn't a girl at all.
"Bruh," said the boy, his tone flat, his expression a mixture of suspicion and annoyance. "What kind of lunatic goes around ringing people's doorbells like that?"
The wave of disappointment that rushed over him then was so potent that he felt his body sag beneath the sheer weight of it. It wasn't her. This wasn't Hilda. He was mistaken.
Or was he? That was her name on the nameplate, was it not? Perhaps this person was… a friend? An acquaintance? A… lover? For some reason, that last thought made him feel even more antsy. A sharp spike of fear seemed to be rising in his throat, but for the life of him, he couldn't understand why.
N's silence only seemed to annoy the mystery boy further. As his scowl deepened, however, N couldn't help but notice that his hair, sticking out in messy tufts beneath his blue cap, was the exact same shade of brown as Hilda's. His eyes, glaring at N with distrust, were like mirrors that showed Hilda's same shade of pale, morning-sky blue.
"Are you gonna talk, or like…?"
N blinked, then shook his head, centering himself.
"Ah, I apologize," he said quickly, straightening up. He was several inches taller than the boy, yet somehow, even with his face pinched between the crack in the door, he seemed to be looking down on him. "I… I'm looking for someone. Is this the residence of H. White?"
The door opened a bit wider, but the suspicion didn't leave his face.
"You're lookin' at 'em."
N gaped. Did he have the wrong place after all?! But no - no, he said that his name was H. White, which would mean… This was never Hilda's place of residence at all. This was just someone with a similar name. Of course. That was bound to happen in a city so large. He'd been such a fool - if he'd been more accustomed to city life, he probably would have seen this coming.
But if this wasn't her place, that meant she wasn't here. And who knows where she could be? Anywhere in the world, possibly. Would he ever find her again? And what was it, exactly, that he was looking for anyway?
N's silence had stretched on for too long yet again, it seemed.
"Forgive me," he said quickly. "I just… It appears I have the wrong location. I was looking for… someone else. Someone with a similar name. A Hilda White, not… Well. It doesn't matter. I apologize for disturbing you. Have a nice day."
With that, N turned to leave, feeling spent, only to be stopped when the boy took a half step out of his apartment and called, "Wait up - what do you want with my sister?"
The boy's apartment was, well… chaotic, for lack of a better word. Clutter was everywhere, gathered in the corners of rooms, on the tops of tables, strewn across bookshelves and countertops and every available surface. Piles of clothing, clean and otherwise, candy wrappers, fast food containers, energy drinks, pokechow, comic books and video games. Everything, everywhere, all at once.
It was a lot to take in, but more unkempt than actually dirty. Surprisingly, the room didn't smell. The floors were relatively clean - cluttered, certainly, but free of lingering grime or dirt - and the dishes in the sink were mostly cleared of any old food residue. A bachelor pad, then, but not a hopeless one. The boy clearly cleaned sometimes. Enough that he wasn't worried about catching any disease.
"I wasn't aware that Hilda had a younger brother," N said, giving the apartment a curious once-over as he followed the boy down the hall, past the kitchen and toward the main sitting room where he could hear the muted sounds of a television. And under that, the unmistakable noise of pokemon. Several of them, in fact. They sounded… rude, perhaps even a little crass, but clearly in good spirits. Well cared for, then. He felt some of his unease begin to lessen.
"Twin," the boy said curtly. "She's got, like, two-and-a-half minutes on me. That doesn't count. No matter what she says."
"Still. I would have thought she'd have said something."
Then again, would she have? They'd only met a handful of times, and the conversations they'd had - profound, introspective, and fascinating as they had been - had all been about grand topics, like the purpose of life, the nature of humanity and pokemon and where they all fit together in this grand tapestry called life. He'd never asked about her past, her family. Just another reason for him to see her again. There was so much more to talk about.
The boy - he still hadn't told him his name, actually - turned and flashed him a crooked grin over his shoulder.
"Meh. She doesn't talk about me much. Says I'm an embarrassment."
Well, that sounded… cruel. Had Hilda really said that? That couldn't be right.
Then again, he hardly seemed upset by it. On the contrary, he actually seemed… pleased? By the insult?
Humans, he considered for the billionth time, were strange.
"Sorry the place is a mess," the boy said as they walked into the living room, not sounding sorry in the slightest. "I wasn't expecting company. Well, actually I was, but… Well, whatever."
The place really was a mess, but N felt like he was already becoming accustomed to it. The living room was sparsely furnished, with only a cheap old couch on one wall and a second-hand tv stand on the other, the wood chipped and flaking, the television itself showing the pause screen to some kind of video game. What looked like a large, fuzzy white bean bag occupied a third wall, half buried under a pile of blankets and pillows.
Aside from that, there was a coffee table in the middle of the room, littered in pizza boxes, soda cans, two mismatched socks, and a bowl of what looked like diced pinap berries. In a corner sat a computer desk that sported four monitors - why on earth anyone would ever need that many, N had no idea, but then he'd rarely used computers anyway - and a flashy computer chair, one of the few things in the room that looked new, that was seemingly spinning of its own accord. It slowed to a stop as N's eyes rested on it.
But the decorations, minimal as they were, didn't mean much to N. The faded carpet, the movie posters on the walls, the shelf full of toy figures that were still in boxes - none of that made much of an impression. What stood out to him immediately were the pokemon.
"Say hi to the crew," the boy continued, making a generalized sweeping gesture with his arm. "Crew, this is… Uh… He's like, Hilda's… boyfriend or whatever, I dunno. Boyfriend, this is the crew."
The crew, as the boy had called them, were an eclectic bunch, and their voices echoed out around him, drowning out the muted sounds of the video game blaring from the tv screen. Curious, confused, cautious.
"This is Bossman," he said, pointing to the Kingambit sitting on the couch, who was clutching a video game controller of all things and staring up at him with a look of complete boredom on its face. It was impatient, he could tell. And annoyed that N was interrupting them.
"Up top is Miss Squawks." He pointed to a Chatot roosting on a perch near the window. The pokemon preened for a moment in welcome before opening its beak and saying, in mimicked human speech that sounded distinctly effeminate and sultry, "Hey there, handsome!", and then, in a completely different, deeper, more aggressive voice, "You got a death wish, punk?!"
"Ignore her, she watches too much tv," the boy said, rolling his eyes. "Then we got Funky Kong - like the video game guy? - sleeping over under those blankets."
He pointed to the beanbag, which suddenly shifted, revealing a thick, meaty arm that emerged from beneath one of the blankets to lazily scratch at its belly. It was a Slaking. And it seemed to be asleep.
"And then Jarvis is in the computer, I think,"
All four screens winked to life, showing the bouncing image of a Porygon Z and a caption that read, 'Help, I've been sucked into a video game and I can't get out!'
"And that's it. Oh, well - Amy Rose is asleep in the back room. I almost forgot about her. She's a baby, so try to keep it down."
And with that, he plopped back down on the couch, picking up his discarded game controller and unpausing. And without even a glance at N, who was still standing awkwardly in the middle of the room, the boy resumed playing games with his Kingambit.
After a moment's hesitation, when it became clear that he'd all but forgotten about him, N decided to make his way over to the empty computer chair to take a seat. It was that or sit on the floor, and with all of the junk on it… Well, that didn't seem like a pleasant idea.
As he moved to sit, however, something odd happened. He could have sworn he felt something brush past his leg, only there was nothing there. And something had definitely laughed - a playful, mischievous giggle. Only the voice hadn't matched anyone he'd yet met. Hilda's brother had only named five pokemon - was there a sixth he'd forgotten to mention? A ghost-type, perhaps?
After a few minutes of silence in which N was hesitant to speak lest he break the boy or the Kingambit's concentration, he finally decided that he'd waited long enough. This awkwardness was going to kill him.
"So, um… Forgive me, uh… Mr. White?"
The boy, who up until then had displayed perfect concentration on the video game, suddenly blinked and stared at N with wide eyes.
"The heck did you just call me?"
"Oh. Well, I mean - you haven't given me your name, so I-"
The boy let out a bark of laughter, returning his attention to the game.
"Dude - you're like, two years older than me. Don't call me 'Mr', it's weird."
"Mr. White! Mr. White!" the Chatot parroted overhead, swinging back and forth on its perch.
"Then, what should I call you?"
"The name's Nate. Short for Nathaniel."
"Nathaniel, then."
"Dude. Just Nate."
"Nate. Right, of course." He stared for a moment, frowning. "...But didn't the nameplate say 'H. White'? Is this actually your sister's apartment?"
He glanced around at all the clutter and frowned. Surely she didn't live like this too, right?
"What? No, man - I don't know where she lives. Actually, I don't think she's ever technically settled down anywhere, not since she left on her journey. She does sometimes send her mail over here though. Mom has a tendency to go through our stuff. Shouldn't you know this, Mr. Boyfriend?"
"No, I'm not… Wait, then what is the H for?"
"Nothin', man, don't worry about it."
Only at that moment, the monitors behind N winked to life again with another message from the Porygon, whose icon now resembled a genie along with the words 'Your wish is my command!', followed by a picture of Nate wearing thick coke bottle glasses and a button-up shirt with a bow tie and suspenders and a caption that read 'The H stands for Hilbert!'
"Bro! What the heck!" Nate - Hilbert? - exclaimed, turning his attention away from the video game entirely to shout at his Porygon. "Not cool! Don't just go exposing my identity to strangers!"
On screen, the Porygon brought up an image of an important-looking document with the title 'The Freedom of Information Act', while overhead Chatot shouted in a loud, deep, male voice, "You can't handle the truth!"
"So your name is… Hilbert, then?" N asked, trying to make sense of the conversation.
"No! Yes! I don't - look, my name's Hilbert Nathanial White, but I go by Nate, ok? Hilbert's a lame name for dweebs. Don't call me that."
Something happened on screen - a cinematic played in which one of the characters brutally murdered the other in a method so over-the-top gratuitous and graphic that N actually felt bile rise in his throat, and Nate let out a cry of despair.
"Hey! I was distracted! That's cheating!"
The Kingambit shrugged, leaning casually back on the couch and smugly stroking one of its long, pointed mustaches. Nate scowled.
"Oh, it is so on…"
After another pause in which Nate and his Kingambit doubled down on their video game, N cleared his throat once again.
"My name is N. Just… so you're aware."
"N?" Nate said after a moment, not taking his eyes off of the tv while his fingers flew wildly across the controller in a staccato of clicks.
"Yes."
"N? Like the letter?"
"Yes."
"Is that short for something too?"
"Natural."
"Natural?"
"Yes."
"It's natural that it's short for something?
"No - well, yes, I suppose, but no - it's short for Natural."
"Natural?"
"Natural."
"You messing with me?"
"No?"
"Naturally."
Someone laughed - a pokemon, but not the Kingambit or the Chatot or the Porygon, and the Slaking was still asleep. Nate's eye twitched, but didn't comment. Had he not heard it himself?
That settled it. There was definitely another pokemon here. Whatever it was, though, it was hiding. But why? And how? A Kecleon, maybe? Whatever it was, wherever it was, it couldn't hide from N. Not completely. He could hear its voice.
It was a unique talent N had. A gift that apparently separated him from most if not all other humans. The reason Ghetsis and the rest of Team Plasma had taken an interest in him in the first place. He could hear and understand the voices of pokemon.
To be fair, that was a bit of an over-simplification. It wasn't as though his brain magically translated the unique sounds they made into human language; every specific bark a Lillipup made didn't have a direct one-to-one human language equivalent word. And pokemon didn't communicate with one another strictly with vocal sounds anyway; if they did, pokemon wouldn't be able to understand each other. It was more that he could do what they did - interpret the intentionality behind their sounds and actions and understand their meaning. In a way, he was closer to being a psychic than to say he was fluent in pokemon language, but that wasn't quite right either. He wasn't reading minds, he just… understood what they felt, in the same way that they understood each other.
And how a pokemon felt said a lot about their trainer. When with Team Plasma, he'd intentionally only ever been introduced to poor trainers, those who abused or mistreated their pokemon, all to reinforce the idea that all trainers were evil and pokemon deserved freedom. That was part of Ghetsis's plan, to make N a tool to suit his own evil purposes.
But meeting Hilda had changed that. The voices of her pokemon had been so… happy. Friendly. Unified behind her own voice, working in tandem with her not as pawns, but as equals, as friends. As family. And it was that, more than anything, that had caused the first chink in his armor, the first fracture in the stained glass castle of his false ideals, built up by Ghetsis, that Hilda would eventually bring crashing down with her courage and her kindness and her smile.
He'd met many other trainers since then, and had come to see the error of his ways. There were many kinds of people in this world, and many different bonds held with their pokemon, each as unique as the last. But Hilda and her bond with her pokemon had always stood out to N, even after all this time, as something truly unique. Truly special.
And yet…
Here, in this dirty room, amidst the chaos and the clutter, in a world so unlike any he'd ever known… Though Nate was so very different from his sister, N couldn't deny - he felt it again. That special something that had set Hilda apart, so clearly echoed here in her twin brother.
The way he interacted with his pokemon - no, not his pokemon, his friends. The way they joked and laughed with each other, the flippant remarks, the teasing banter, the affectionate shoves and nudges. On screen, Nate pulled off a combo with his character that must have been particularly good, because the Kingambit let out a frustrated grunt and sat forward in his seat, focusing all of his attention on the game all while the Chatot cheered them on overhead.
Nate may not be able to see it himself, but to N, someone who'd never really had friends of his own, it was apparent. And it made him a little jealous.
Finally, the match concluded in what N could only assume was epic fashion, because Nate leaped to his feet, crowing loudly, hands thrown into the air and shouting, "Yes! Get some! Who's the real king? This guy, that's who!" all while Kingambit chucked his controller to the side, slumping back into the sofa, crossing his arms and sulking. Porygon let out a series of sharp air horn blasts from the computer's speakers while playing loud victory music played, and overhead, Chatot began to sing, "You're the best around, nothing's ever gonna keep you down!"
N, for his part, simply covered his ears and smiled awkwardly. He may be jealous of their bond, but certainly not of their volume. At this rate, he was liable to go deaf.
"You ready to go again, you sore loser?" Nate asked, but suddenly, a new sound split the air. A loud, piercing wail, coming from down the hall toward where N presumed Nate's bedroom was.
Nate and his pokemon all cringed in unison.
"Oh, crap. We woke her up."
"Woke who up?"
But he didn't have to ask. A moment later, a small, pink pokemon waddled into the room, crying loudly as thick, wet tears dripped down its tiny, cherubic cheeks, dragging a thick, makeshift metal club along behind it.
"Aw, Amy Rose? What's wrong, my little gremlin?" Nate asked, dropping his controller on the couch and scooping the Tinkatink into his arms. She buried her face into his shoulder but continued to sob theatrically. Nate began to bounce her like an infant, awkwardly patting her back and looking lost.
"Sorry," he said to N, looking a little embarrassed. "She only just hatched a few days ago, and I'm not really used to dealing with baby pokemon, so…"
He cast his eyes around at the rest of his party, clearly desperate.
"Anyone have any bright ideas? Does she just need more sleep, or…?"
Kingambit pressed both hands over his ears as though to block out the noise, looking dower. Slaking continued to sleep, clearly used to all the noise. Chatot began singing a lullaby that could barely be heard over the wails, and Porygon pulled up multiple articles on its computer screens, including 'Baby Pokemon for Dummies', 'So You Want To Raise a Fairy Type?', and '10 Signs You're A Terrible Father'.
N let out a chuckle. Rising to his feet, he stepped closer to Nate and held out his arms.
"May I?" he asked, and Nate, looking slightly surprised, passed her over.
"Be my guest," he said.
The Tinkatink scowled up at N in confusion, not recognizing or trusting this strange new human, and then began to cry all the harder. He laughed, then settled her against his side, gently stroking her head.
"There, there," he murmured. "It's alright. You're just hungry, aren't you?"
It wasn't a guess. He could tell from the way she was crying - not out of fear or pain, but for attention. Baby pokemon voices weren't as clear or distinct as their adult counterparts, but he could still more or less understand her. She was hungry, and sleepy, and sort of bored, and she really wanted to play with Kingambit's mustaches, but hungry before all of that.
"I have some berries with me," he continued, reaching into his waist bag and plucking out some oran berries. He usually carried a few on his person at all times, in case he came across an injured pokemon, or just wanted to share a snack. He glanced up at Nate for permission, and when he nodded, offered a couple to the Tinkatink.
She stared at them for a moment, her crying completely stopped, before leaning over and chomping them right off of his palm. As she chewed, cheeks bulging, drooling slightly, she gazed up at N with shining eyes full of newfound trust and interest.
"Whoa…"
N glanced up, confused, and found not only Nate, but Kingambit, Chatot, and Porygon all staring at him in a mix of wonder and adoration.
"How… How did you know…?"
For a moment, he considered telling Nate the truth. After all, Hilda knew, and despite only having known him for about ten minutes now, he seemed trustworthy. Ultimately, however, he decided to keep the truth to himself. His ability to speak to pokemon had gotten him in trouble in the past. Better to keep quiet for now.
Instead, he merely shrugged and said, casually, "I spend a lot of time with wild pokemon, so I've gotten pretty good at reading them. And baby pokemon are all pretty similar at the end of the day. If they're crying and they're not obviously scared or hurt, it's usually because they're hungry, they're sleepy, or they need to relieve themselves."
The Tinkatink had already swallowed her berries and was now searching for more, trying to crawl out of N's hold and down his shirt towards his waist bag.
"Alrighty, guys," Nate said, rescuing N from Tinkatink and earning a shout of angry protest from the baby pokemon as she reached continuously for N. "The person we're supposed to be waiting for still hasn't arrived and I don't know how long they're gonna be. Wanna go grab some lunch?"
There was a general cry of assent, and with a rustle, Slaking suddenly rose to his feet, looking eager and not at all asleep.
Tinkatink, who was still fighting to get to N, bonked Nate over the head with her mallet, earning a pained hiss from her trainer.
"Yeah, ok - here, Funky, take her for a sec while I go find my wallet."
Nate thrust Tinkatink at Slaking, who took her with a confused look on his face. A moment later, she'd crawled out of his hands, up his chest, and around onto his shoulder where she began gnawing on his fur, babbling incoherently. N didn't have to be able to read pokemon's minds to tell that Slaking was not impressed with this new turn of events.
He didn't suffer for long, however, as within a few minutes, N and Nate were exiting the condominium, heading down the stairs and back to the street where they set a course towards the small park N had dashed through earlier. Nate had recalled most of his pokemon, bringing them along, but the Tinkatink he kept in his arms, carrying her down the street and laughing as she oohed at every passing car and screeched at the Pidove that flew overhead.
The park wasn't much to speak of - just a sparse, circular field of dead grass, surrounded by a few thin trees and a structured sidewalk. It sat off of the street between a cluster of tall buildings, a lone spot of corporatized nature in a sea of capitalism and human vanity. One end of the park sported a rather rundown playground, the slide covered in graffiti, the swingset missing half of the swings, and a small skate park that hosted a few teens smoking and ditching school. The other half had a few gazebos with dirty metal picnic tables, and parked off to the side near them was a gaggle of food trucks.
It was to these food trucks that Nate made a beeline, waving to the stoners in the distance but denying their calls to join them.
They stopped in front of a large, candy apple red truck with the words 'Burg's Burgs!' spray painted atop the top in garish yellow and neon green. A few plastic tables had been set up around it, the white of the plastic now a dull yellow due to years of accumulated grease, but why anyone would sit there when there were picnic tables under the gazebos just a few yards away was anyone's guess. An old box TV had been set up near one of the other trucks, showing the local news. The scent of grease was thick in the air, merging with the exhaust from the trucks in a rather unpleasant fashion. N knew that no matter how much time he spent with humans, he'd never get used to city life.
The man inside - Burg, N presumed? - was plump man in his mid-to-late forties wearing a dirty apron and a hair net over his greasy black locks, lazily reading a newspaper while the cooking stations were busy being managed by a fighting pokemon duo of a bored looking Throh and spindly Sawk.
Nate slapped his palm on the side of the truck, shouting, "Burg! My man! What's shakin'?" Tinkatink mimicked him, screeching and slamming her mallet against the vehicle.
Burg jumped, startled, reaching for a spatula to defend himself, but then he caught sight of Nate grinning sheepishly at the window and he relaxed.
"Nate! Arceus, boy, you nearly gave me a heart attack!"
"Yeah, sorry 'bout that. My kid hasn't learned any manners yet."
Burg stepped closer and leaned out the window to get a closer look. He'd missed a few spots while shaving that morning. "This that Tinkatink you said you got the egg for? Where're you always gettin' these rare pokemon from, anyhow?"
Tinkatink blinked up at him then grinned, showing her blocky, misshapen teeth.
"Aint she just a cutie?"
"Meh," Burg said, noncommittally, before switching to business mode. "So! What can I get for you today? Full spread again I take it? Brought a friend along this time, eh? Told you these were the best burgers in Castelia!"
"More like cheapest burgers, right?"
"Eh. Best. Cheapest. There are many metrics through which one can subjectively gauge superiority. Or so my lawyers tell me, anyways."
"You got a lawyer, Burg?"
"Who's askin'?"
"Fair enough. You want just one, N, or are you hungry for more?"
N blinked. "Oh, um. Yes, just one - but I can pay for myself, you don't need to-"
"Nah, let me get this one," Nate said, trying to fish for his wallet and juggle Tinkatink at the same time. "I won big last week anyway, so I'm loaded."
He then proceeded to order eight cheeseburgers, four of them doubles, with fries and sodas, a corndog 'for the kid', an extra order of fries 'for the missus', and while Burg got his boys 'Mario and Luigi' to work cooking the food, Nate headed over to another truck and ordered twenty pounds of vegetarian pokechow.
That was a lot of food, and had to have cost a pretty penny. Then again, he had a lot of pokemon, so that made sense.
They sat at one of the plastic tables while they waited, Nate keeping an eye on Tinkatink as she ran around the grass, smashing dandelions and generally wreaking mayhem, while N, at a loss, let his gaze idly bounce around from truck to truck, unsure what to do with himself. Social interactions weren't his strong suit, and Nate was genuinely so different from most other trainers that he'd met, he didn't even know where to start.
Actually…
"Do you mind if I ask," N began, his gaze once again resting on the television as an ad for excessively manly trucks began to play. "You must be rather widely traveled. Most of your team isn't native to Unova. Have you already ended your journeying, then?"
"Ended?" Nate said, then let out a short laugh. "Man, I never even started. When my sister and all of her friends set off on their journeys, I stayed home."
N turned in surprise.
"You did? But then… How do you have such a wide variety of pokemon on your team?"
"Trades, mostly," Nate said with a shrug, checking his pokegear. "I have my license, obviously, I just never did the whole 'travel the world, challenge gyms' thing. Hilda would send me pokemon from time to time, like if she caught one she knew I liked or didn't have time to properly care for, and then I'd sometimes meet trainers on the Battle Subway and we'd trade. Pretty normal."
"The… Battle Subway?" N asked, confused, and it was Nate's turn to look at him in surprise.
"You've never heard of the Battle Subway?! Aw man, it's sick - way better than those boring, official League battles."
He leaned closer, looking suddenly animated.
"The Battle Subway's, like, a connected series of subway stations all across Unova. You ride around and do battles on the Subway, and they all have different rules and restrictions - it's a blast. They offer some pretty crazy prizes sometimes, too. You should give it a try! I keep telling Hilda to come check it out, but she never does. I think she's just scared she's gonna lose to me."
Thankfully, before Nate could really get going on his explanation, a loud, trumpetting fanfare sounded out from the television, and both boys turned to see a 'Breaking News!' banner flash across the screen.
A moment later, the banner was replaced by an austere woman in too much makeup who said, without preamble, "We've just received word that multiple terrorist attacks have broken out simultaneously across the island nation of Alola. Eye witness accounts report that these attacks seem to be the work of the thought-to-be-debunked Team Galactic, which was known to have terrorized the Sinnoh region over a decade ago. Events are still unfolding and news off the ground is limited, but we do have this live footage to show you of one of the attacks that seems to have been focused on a cultural landmark known as the Ruins of Conflict on Melemele Island."
The picture changed to a rather shaky video recording of what looked like someone standing atop an old bridge, clearly from a tourist's pokegear. The only sound that could be made out clearly was screaming and distant explosions. Several men and women dressed in gray could be seen approaching, directing what appeared to be a gang of Skuntank and Purugly to attack the civilians, firing off Sludge Bombs and Hyper Beams, tearing up the terrain and destroying the surrounding area.
Someone grabbed the person filming, trying to drag them away, shouting that they needed to run. The man complied, and N lost sight of the attack for a moment as the tourist ran through the crowd, the image a wild blur of color as his arm pumped up and down..
Without warning, the man tripped, the image bouncing wildly as he hit the ground, rolling over, trying to get up, but then suddenly the screen was filled with the image of a massive Drapion looming over him, lifting a poison-tipped claw, poised to strike -
Then, with an ululating cry, it appeared - the legendary guardian deity pokemon of Melemele Island who N had only ever seen drawings of in books - Tapu Koko. It flew in from nowhere at great speed, nailing the Drapion with a powerful sucker punch from one of its massive, shield-like arms, and the offending pokemon was blasted backwards, away from the tourist.
The video was shaky and crooked and hard to see, but it looked like the guardian pokemon took a moment to let out a battle cry before charging forward to face the oncoming Galactic grunts alone. Then the video cut out.
"Goodness…" N breathed, hardly daring to believe his eyes. The incident with Team Plasma here in Unova was bad enough, but this? This was madness!
"Yeah," Nate said, shaking his head. "It's getting crazy out there. That looked pretty bad, but according to Hilda, what went down in Goldenrod the other day with Team Plasma was even worse-"
N hadn't even realized he'd moved until he'd seized Nate by the shoulder and yanked him in closer.
"What incident with Team Plasma? What are you talking about?"
Nate stared at him in wide-eyed shock.
"Bruh. Where have you been? Do you not watch the news? Team Plasma attacked Goldenrod City in Johto just the other day. Blew a bunch of stuff up, sent loads of people and pokemon to the hospital, set half the town on fire - it was crazy. They knocked down the Radio Tower too, or something like that. Hilda was there with that Johtoan Champion - that Gold guy or whoever - and they got caught up in the fight. You really didn't hear about any of this?"
N released Nate's shoulder and settled back in his cheap plastic seat, feeling winded.
"No, I… I'm usually on the road, I… don't follow the news…"
He didn't even have a pokegear or a pokedex. He'd rejected most of those things, preferring to interact one-on-one. He'd never considered it a problem before, but now…
Plasma was back. Back, and in Johto for some reason. And they were openly attacking people and pokemon now. No more hiding, no more lies, yet somehow, worse than ever.
And he was here. In Unova. Doing nothing.
"I'm sure whoever Hilda's sending over will have more news, so you can ask them about it if you'd like."
"Hilda is sending someone?"
"Yeah. Didn't I tell you? Wait… Maybe I didn't. I don't remember. But yeah - Hilda called me the other day, and I guess she - or, well, Iris technically, since she's the Champion now - is sending someone out to, like, babysit me, or whatever? They're going to take me to a safe house and keep me there till this all blows over. Which sucks, but like… What do you do, amirite?"
The news continued, anchors and analysts debating on screen, but N was hardly paying them any mind, his head spinning.
Plasma. In Johto. Was his father there, too? Why? For what purpose? Hilda was sending someone… He could ask them questions then, find out more… Part of him wanted to pick up and leave right this second, charge off to Johto to Hilda's side to confront his father, but waiting just a couple of hours more could give him the benefit of added information. Yes… Yes, he'd wait here for just a bit longer, and then when Nate went off to his safe house, N would…
"...are now reporting that the island Kahunas have rallied their Gym Leaders to confront these attacks. Meanwhile, we've received word that two members of Kanto's Elite Four, Bruno and Koga, have arrived in Alola to back up local law enforcement."
The news droned on, but N hardly paid attention, his eyes on the cracked pavement beneath his feet and his mind in another nation across the sea.
After a couple more minutes, they brought on an analyst to discuss the recent attacks which had apparently been happening all over the Alliance, led by multiple different criminal organizations, though League Officials had apparently been quiet on the presumed motives. He really had missed a lot. Maybe he should consider getting a pokegear of his own. Maybe then he could register Hilda's number and not have to worry about searching the world for her.
"And what do you think," the Unovan reporter asked the analyst from Kanto, both of them talking heads filling colored squares on a pixelated screen, "was it wise for Kanto to send two members of its Elite Four to back up another region, or do you-"
"No, I don't. I don't think it was wise," the analyst interrupted, looking stern. He was surprisingly young, maybe mid-to-late twenties, with black, gelled hair, slicked back, and a narrow, dark suit, and eyes that seemed completely insincere. "I think it was a mistake. While I applaud our nation's desire to aid our allies in this time of need, we're clearly at a critical juncture here, and what this attack has shown us is that no one is safe. We should not be weakening our own defenses-"
"Yes, but Kanto is the only nation that hasn't been attacked," the Unovan reporter cut in. "So of all of the members of the Alliance, I think a lot of people would say that Kanto should be the first to be offering foreign aid-"
"Yes, but yesterday, people were saying the same thing about Alola," the analyst argued. "Yesterday, it was 'oh, Kanto and Alola are fine, Kanto and Alola are the only regions that are safe' - but now, we see that's not true. Alola has also been attacked, and who's to say Kanto isn't next? We don't know what these people are after, so there's no reason to think that Kanto is being spared - we could be attacked tomorrow, and with half of our Elite Four missing, we're weaker now than anyone.
"I think I speak for a lot of Kantonians when I say that the question I have on my mind most right now is 'where is our Champion?' Where is AJ Ketchum? If we had both her and Lance, I don't know that we'd be as nervous about sending Koga and Bruno away, but she's gone. Mysteriously vanished. And for those of us who were already uncertain about her, who thought she was too young, too emotional after that immature public outburst at her victory celebration, we're now looking at her absence and thinking that our concerns were justified.
"Even other former Champions who've been replaced or stepped down, like Hoenn's Wallace, or Unova's own Hilda and Alder, are coming out of the woodwork to step up and help out where needed - but AJ, our acting Champion? Just - gone, she's ghosted us. Her first opportunity to show us what she's made of, and she's playing hooky? It's not a good look, and the world is taking notice."
N frowned, then turned back to Nate.
"Wait. You said someone was coming to get you?"
"Yup," Nate replied, glancing over at Tinkatink, who was currently singing along to herself as she bashed out a melody against a chair leg.
"But… why? Is there some reason to believe that you're in any more danger than anyone else?"
Nate seemed to freeze for a second, his mouth half-open, as if searching for an answer.
"Hey, Nate!" came Burg's voice from inside the truck. "Your burgers are done! You need some help carryin' it?"
"Oh, yeah!" Nate said, jumping to his feet. "Um, sure! If one of your boys wants to lend me a hand, that'd be great. We'll be heading over to the picnic tables under the gazebo. N, let's go!"
And with that, hands juggling multiple plates of burgers and fries, Nate hurried off, the Throh and Sawk scurrying behind him, arms equally laden with food.
N stood and followed, but at a slower pace. He was avoiding the question. Why? Was he in danger? Him, specifically? What could any criminal organization want with him?
Lunch was a chaotic affair, though N could admit he was already becoming used to all the noise. N, Nate, and Kingambit sat at one of the picnic tables with plates of burgers and fries set out in front of them; one for N, and two a piece for Nate and Kingambit.
Tinkatink and Chatot sat on the table top, eating from plates of fries, the Tinkatink having temporarily set down its club in favor of a corndog, while Slaking laid out on the grass, the twenty pounds of pokechow laid out in front of him. He glowered up at Nate sulkily.
"Don't give me that," Nate said warningly. "I got you two burgers just like me and Bossman."
Slaking snorted dismissively.
"Dude, I can't afford to buy you fifteen hamburgers for every meal! Besides, that's like, super unhealthy. You want to get fat or die of a heart attack? Is that what you want?"
N eyed Tinkatink, whose mouth was stuffed with so many fries that they couldn't all fit inside, and idly wondered if Nate had any room to talk about feeding pokemon healthy diets.
He also couldn't help but notice that one of the burgers was missing. Nate had ordered eight; one for N, and two for Nate, Kingambit, and Slaking. Where had the final burger gone? Their mysterious, invisible friend?
Whoever it was - whatever it was - it was nearby. Down by Slaking, it sounded like, and while he couldn't hear the cries it was making, he could feel a sense of contentment coming from it, joy from getting to eat a tasty burger, and amusement at Slaking's annoyance.
Well, it seemed happy. And friendly. If Nate was keeping it a secret, he must have his reasons. No need to pry.
"So how long has Hilda been in Johto?" N asked.
"Dunno," Nate replied around a mouthful of burger. "I hadn't heard from her in ages till she called the other day, and she didn't have time to chat. Sounds like whatever's going down over there is pretty serious."
N looked down, disgruntled. He wanted to be there, to help. Sitting here, eating junk food… He felt useless.
"Any idea on when the person you're waiting for is supposed to arrive?"
"Nope," Nate said. "Which is kinda rude, right? Like, can't I even get an ETA?"
"Could you… Could you call Hilda now and see?"
He tried to hide his excitement. Why hadn't he thought of this earlier? He didn't have a pokegear, but Nate did.
Nate shrugged, then glanced down at his wrist, taking a moment to type a few things in, pausing only to shoo Chatot away from his plate as she tried to steal some of his fries.
A call signal rang out under the gazebo. N held his breath.
Silence… Then, after a moment, the answering machine picked up.
"Hey, this is Hilda! Leave me a message and I'll think about getting back to you."
"Brat," Nate muttered, then, a moment later after the beep to signal to begin leaving your message, he let out another, louder, "Brat!" into the pokegear.
"She's probably ghosting me," he said, ending the call. "She does that all the time. Time for plan B: Jarvis? Take a letter for me."
A large holographic display lit up over the picnic table, showing an old-fashioned bit of parchment onto which Nate's words began inscribing themselves, a small, pixelated Porygon Z floating off to the side with a quill in its hand.
"To my dearest sister," Nate began, purposefully making his voice pompous. "Greetings and salutations. It's a pleasant afternoon here in sunny Unova, but though I've been waiting all day, your dumb babysitter hasn't shown up yet and I'm starting to lose my mind."
Well, N thought. He lost that fake snobby voice rather quickly.
"But don't worry - I'm not bored. I've actually just met an old friend of yours, and let me tell you, he's all Natural, if you catch my drift. We've been having lots of fun talking about you, so please, tell your babysitter to take their time. I'm just busy showing him your old baby photos and telling him all your most embarrassing stories. Now Jarvis, snap a pic."
N, who had a mouth full of burger and who was reaching for a napkin to wipe some mustard off of his face, suddenly had Nate's arm thrust around his neck, dragging him in close. A brief click later, and a holographic image of him and Nate was floating in front of him just below Nate's letter - Nate, grinning like an idiot, flashing a peace sign, and N, looking confused, cheeks stuffed like a Skwovet with mustard on his chin.
"And send," Nate said, sounding pleased with himself, and before N could swallow his mouth full of burger and protest, the message - and the picture - were both on their way.
Well. Alright then.
Their lunch continued amiably for a time, Nate periodically checking his pokegear and becoming increasingly frustrated from his lack of response from his sister. N could relate; while the photo had been somewhat embarrassing, it at least let Hilda know that he was with her brother. Assuming she cared at all.
A thought occurred to N, and he glanced over at Nate and asked, "How does the person we're waiting for know where you are?"
Nate frowned, chewing on the end of his last fry like it was a cigarette.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, we're at the park right now. Are they coming to look for you at the park? How would they know you're here? Wouldn't they be going to your place first?"
Nate stared at him for a moment, then slumped forward and let his forehead thump on the tabletop.
"Wow. I am so dumb."
A minute later, he'd gathered up all of his pokemon except for Tinkatink and rushed off, telling N that he'd be right back after he left a note on his door telling 'the babysitter' where they were and to please keep an eye on Amy Rose till he got back. N had offered to go with him, but he was a much slower eater than Nate apparently was. He still had half of his burger and most of his fries left to eat. How had Nate eaten both of his so quickly?
He was also surprised that Nate had so willingly left his Tinkatink with him. True, she'd made a fuss when Nate tried to recall her, and N obviously wasn't going to try to steal her or anything, but Nate couldn't have known that for sure. A part of him admired how trusting he was - but having seen some of the darker parts of the world, he wondered if it wouldn't be better for Nate to be a bit more cautious.
The condo wasn't that far away, so he knew Nate wouldn't be long. He entertained himself in the meantime by continuing to eat his burger and feeding his leftover fries to Tinkatink, who would eat some, or smash the others with her mallet with a fiendish sort of glee.
Nate had a point. She was rather cute… in a gremlin sort of way.
"Well, well, well…" came an unexpected voice from behind them.
N turned, and was surprised to find himself confronted by not one, but a group of no less than eight or nine people. All of them strangers, all of them wearing black, long-sleeve shirts with dark berets, just like the man he'd run into earlier. Except that these ones had cowles pulled up over the bottom halves of their faces.
The one in front spoke, a burly man in his middle years with close-cropped hair and eyes that burned with a malice that N was certain wasn't only in his head.
"Male, roughly twenty years old, long, green hair… It's really him. Looks like that rookie was tellin' the truth. He really is in town."
Laughter rang out among his comrades and they slowly began to spread out around the gazebo.
N swallowed his half-chewed mouthful of burger, then slowly rose to his feet.
"Do you have some business with me, sir? I'm afraid I don't know you."
The older man blinked in surprise, then let out a bark of laughter.
"I keep forgetting they had us change our uniform. I get it's for secrecy, but… Eh. Where are my manners?"
He lifted his left arm, tugging down the sleeve. There, emblazoned on his wrist, was a tattoo. A scarlet capital R.
"Prepare for trouble," the Team Rocket admin said, smiling sinisterly through his mask.
Flashes of red emanate from all around him. Pokemon being summoned from their balls. Raticate and Weavile and Golbat and Arbok and Weezing. Surrounding the gazebo. Trapping him.
Panic began to overtake him. He had no idea what was going on, but he was alone and drastically outnumbered, surrounded on every side, and with only two pokemon of his own to his name. And on top of all of that, he had Nate's Tinkatink to think of. Getting out of this unscathed would be hard enough, but with a baby to protect?
"Come now," he offered, raising his hands in front of him to show he wasn't a threat. "Surely, if we talk this out, we can arrive at a peaceful resolution."
Sitting on the table, Tinkatink banged her tiny mallet against the tabletop and growled as menacingly as she could at the strangers. They paid her no mind.
The man snorted.
"You really are as soft-hearted as they say, aren't you, Natural Harmonia?" At the sound of his real name, N felt himself stiffen. "I hear Ghetsis is willing to pay a pretty penny for news on your whereabouts. Or more specifically - that pokemon you carry around with you. I wonder how much he'd pay if I stole it from you? Heh… Then again, I'll probably just keep it for myself-"
"Hey!" a loud voice shouted from somewhere behind them, and the man turned around, looking annoyed.
There, standing behind him, flanked by Mario the Throh and Luigi the Sawk, looking as heroic as a man could expect to look in a greasy apron and a hair net, stood Burg of Burg's Burgs. Behind him were a gaggle of other food truck owners and their pokemon - a Torkoal, a Simipour, a Krokorok.
"I don't know what business you clowns are up to," he said, trying to sound intimidating, "but this is our turf! You idiots startin' fights is bad for business! So scram - get outta here! And don't let us see you round these parts no more!"
A chorus of assent rose behind him, food truck workers raising fists, shouting for Team Rocket to get out of town.
A couple of the Rocket grunts broke away from the circle, heading towards N's would-be saviors, wicked gleams in their eyes.
Before they had a chance to respond, however, N seized his chance and plucked the first pokeball off of his belt, chucking it into the grass just outside the gazebo.
In a flash of red, a towering black dragon materialized, taller than the gazebo, with strong talon-tipped feet, wide, imposing wings, and a bulbous tail that crackled and sparked with arcing blue electricity.
Throwing its head back, Zekrom let out a roar so powerful the very air seemed to vibrate, and the ring of Team Rocket grunts broke in a panic, freeing up room for N to snatch Tinkatink from off the table and escape. He ran around Zekrom, turning once he'd reached the grass behind him and found that most of the grunts had turned away to face him, including the leader. A few of the others, however, had chased after the food truck vendors, who had apparently broken and fled as soon as Zekrom had appeared, clearly terrified that this powerful dragon was coming for them.
Well, great. Looks like he couldn't count on them for backup after all. Where was Nate? How long until he returned?
"Beautiful," the Rocket leader murmured, gazing up at Zekrom with fervor. "But don't worry - you'll be out of this pacifist coward's unworthy hands and with a real master before you know it."
And with that, he called forth his pokemon - a Jynx, her hips swaying, palms extended, a malevolent glower on her face.
"Once we'd heard you'd been spotted running through town, I put in a call," the leader explained, looking smug. "I may not be arrogant enough to think that I can take down your Zekrom all on my own, but we've kitted ourselves out with Ice and Fairy-types to give us the edge. You may as well give up now."
And before N could respond, the Rocket thug roared, "Ice Beam, now!", and the Jynx complied, pressing her hands together and firing a powerful, frigid blast of ice, directly at Zekrom's head.
Zekrom didn't move. It didn't even attempt to dodge. The bolt of ice blasted clear through his head, tearing straight through it, as though there wasn't any resistance at all.
For a moment, the Rocket leader and his Jynx could merely gape in shock at the bizarre image of a towering, headless Zekrom loomed over them.
But then the Zekrom vanished as though it had evaporated, its body merely dissipating into mist, and before they could comprehend what had just happened, a smaller, jet-black form was revealed in its place, charging straight towards them, leaping high into the air with a savage snarl and scoring Jynx directly across the torso with a powerful Night Slash.
They hit the ground together, Jynx and N's Zoroark both, but a moment later Zoroark was on his feet again and racing back to N's side. Jynx, however, shuddered on the ground and couldn't get up.
The Rocket leader looked murderous at having been tricked and recalled his Jynx. Over his shoulder, however, N could see the truck vendors flagging under the assault, Burg's Sawk blasted back through a plastic table, the Simipour collapsing after a vicious Thunderbolt.
They needed to run. They couldn't win this battle. To be fair, N wasn't much of a battler to begin with - he'd been raised believing that pokemon battling was abusive and wrong. And though he'd begun to come around, begun to see that it could be a safe and empowering sport for people and pokemon alike, he still didn't much enjoy it. His skills were nothing compared to the likes of Hilda. His hopes of victory were basically zero.
Still. He had to do what he could. These people were in this situation because of him - Tinkatink and Burg and the others were being put in danger because of him. Because of his association with his father and his past ties with the criminal gang known as Team Plasma. He couldn't stand back and let abusive, wicked humans win. That wasn't the world he wanted to live in. His ideals may be lofty and impractical, but wasn't that why Zekrom had chosen him?
The Rocket grunts who'd stayed to confront him with their leader were moving in now, urging their pokemon forward. An Arbok slithered to his right, hissing menacingly. To his left, a swift Raticate, drool oozing from its fat cheeks. And in front of him, Jynx was recalled, replaced by a Clefable that stomped at the ground, its cruel glare looking uniquely out-of-place on what was normally such a sweet and shy pokemon.
N could hear their voices. The hate. The rage. But above all of that, the fear. Fear of what their trainers would do to them if they failed to deliver results.
Zoroark snarled, arms wide, as though he could protect N from all three at once. In his arms, Tinkatink whimpered, not quite understanding what was happening but fearful all the same.
A red glow lit the buildings around him and he heard screaming. Something was breathing fire in the direction of the food trucks. Trucks - vehicles, full of gasoline to power their engines, propane to light their grills.
He snatched his second and final pokeball from his belt and lobbed it into the air - not in front of him, but away, towards the street. It opened with a flash, and the sky instantly blackened, thick, furious thunderclouds filling the air.
For the second time, the truly massive, black dragon materialized, only this time, it was no illusion. It hit the pavement in front of Burg's food truck with a heavy crash, placing itself between the fleeing vendors and the pursuing Rocket grunts, and with a roar of vengeful fury, its wings beating the air, its tail beginning to whir then whine then roar as a cavalcade of blue bolts of lightning rained down from the heavens like meteors, tearing up the pavement, striking at pokemon and Rocket grunts alike, driving them back.
At the same time, N seized upon the distraction to turn and flee. Zekrom would follow, he knew, once they were at a safe distance - and if he could get Team Rocket to follow him, they might leave the vendors alone, giving him the chance to climb on Zekrom's back and fly to safety. It was a desperate play, but the only real one he had.
The hurried patter of feet rushed up behind him, and the impression of a scavenger streaking after its prey impressed itself on N's mind. The Raticate was rushing forward, not willing to let them escape.
It leaped, mouth gaping open, its massive incisors shiny with saliva, only to get tackled out of the air by Zoroark.
In spite of the desperation of the situation and the infant pokemon in his arms, N stopped. He couldn't leave Zoroark behind. They tussled on the grass for a moment, the Raticate's teeth sinking into Zoroark's shoulder, eliciting a cry of pain from his partner, but a moment later, Zoroark's body became enveloped in a black patina and Raticate was hit point blank with a Night Daze that blasted it backward.
The scuffle had taken too long, however, and the others had caught up. Arbok appeared, rearing up out of the grass, yellow eyes glinting under the sea of roiling clouds, and it hit Zoroark with a nasty Glare attack that left it paralyzed. Unable to move or defend itself, it could only watch as the Clefable sauntered up, drew back its fist with a savage smirk, and Mega Punched him straight to the face.
He hit the grass with a whimper and didn't get back up. N was defenseless now. In the distance, he could see Zekrom beginning to flag. Lightning still arced down from the sky, but Zekrom was hunkered down, unmoving, as it tried to defend the food truck vendors and their injured pokemon from the barrage of attacks coming from the small crowd of Rocket grunts. Their leader hadn't been kidding; from all of the icicle shards and powdered snows, dazzling gleams and mud shots, they really had been prepared to take Zekrom on.
Zekrom couldn't dodge or flee - not without abandoning the people and pokemon behind him. And he couldn't let loose with his more powerful attacks - not without damaging the food trucks and possibly triggering explosions. He was trapped, just as surely as N was.
"Well that was easier than expected," the Rocket leader laughed, admiring the scene in front of him. "Someone, secure that baby pokemon - it's weak, but I'm sure someone will pay money for it."
Help. He needed help. Nate - the police - anyone!
A grunt stepped forward, extending a hand down to grab Tinkatink, and N wrapped her in his arms and huddled over, kneeling on the grass, shielding her with his body.
"Just give up already will you? Golbat - Supersonic this idiot."
N braced himself, knowing there was no real way to defend against a sonic attack of this nature and already inwardly begging Nate for forgiveness - when something jumped up on his back.
Whatever it was, whoever it was, it let out a furious shout of "Vi!" and suddenly, everyone - people, pokemon - was picked up off the ground and hurled backward as thought caught in the blast radius of some kind psychokinetic explosion.
He lifted his head, astonished, craning his neck in futility to try and see who his savior had been. He couldn't see them, but he could hear their voice - taunting, victorious - and he recognized it. It was that same, invisible pokemon who'd been with Nate all day. Had it stayed behind when Nate left? To watch over Tinkatink?
It finally jumped off of N's back, landing on the grass in front of him, squaring off against the Rocket Grunts, and he got his first good look at it.
It was short, maybe about as tall as N's knee, with soft, yellow fur and tall, orange ears. It turned around, its massive cerulean eyes bouncing from N's face down to the Tinkatink in his arms, and it gave off a bright, confident smile.
He knew this pokemon. Has seen pictures of it, old drawings from centuries past, while doing his research on Zekrom and Reshiram.
It was a Victini. An actual Victini. The pokemon of Victory itself, coming to his aid.
Its voice was emboldening, encouraging. Telling N and Tinkatink not to worry. Friends were here.
And they were, N suddenly noticed. From all around them, pokemon were there. Drilbur and Exadrill, burrowing their way up from out of the grass. Flocks of Swanna and Unfezant swooping down out of the sky. A manhole cover was torn off of the street as swarms of Trubbish and Garboder came oozing out of the sewers.
Pokemon. Wild pokemon, acting on their own, without the bidding of a trainer to compel them. Coming to his rescue, just as they had when he was a lost, scared child, alone in the wild with no one to protect him.
The barrage of attacks against Zekrom faltered as packs of wild pokemon descended on the Rocket grunts. What they lacked in battle training and prowess they more than made up for in sheer numbers and righteous indignation.
N pushed himself to his feet, recalling his fallen Zoroark and gazing around in wonder as the tides around him quickly began to turn in his favor. Tinkatink was shouting victoriously in his arms, cheering them on, adding to the chaos.
The Rocket grunts who had surrounded him were getting back to their feet now, fighting off their disorientation. The Leader ordered a charge, barely audible over the chaos of battle all around them, and their pokemon moved - Golbat, Arbok, and Clefairy - surging forward, full of fury and fear.
But Victini was there. In a flash, it was in front of Arbok, tiny arms extended, and with a cry of might far too powerful to be contained in such a small body, Arbok was seized in a wave of purple psychic energy and lifted up off of the grass.
It let out a cry of shock and its body undulated in the air for a moment, struggling pointlessly, before suddenly whipping around like - well, like a whip - and slapping the Golbat straight out of the air as it moved to strike Victini from behind.
Golbat hit the grass with a dull crunch, its wing bent, unmoving, and Victini sent the Arbok flying at its trainer, sending them both in a heap of twisted, tangled limbs and tail.
All that left was Clefable, who prepared a powerful Dazzling Gleam, the pink-and-white light glowing between its palms, illuminating the gloom under Zekrom's storm-summoned skies, only to halt as Victini began to glow even brighter, red flames turning white, so bright they dimmed even Clefable's Dazzling Gleam, and a moment later, in an incandescent V, Victini charged forward, colliding with Clefable in a fiery explosion so strong, it singed the hairs on N's arms and set the bill of his hat ablaze.
By this point, even the leader of the Rocket Grunts had to concede he was outmatched. Two legendary pokemon, a sudden swarm of wild pokemon coming in to defend them - and there, down the distant street, he could see people were coming. Men and women in blue and black. The police had finally answered the call.
The Admin glowered, enraged, but took a step back nonetheless, recalling his Clefable and cursing.
"You're not getting away!" N shouted.. Tinkatink screeched as well, waving its club like a conductor's baton, and Victini readied itself to move if the man tried to run.
It was over.
Until suddenly, it wasn't.
From overhead, around the side of a building, a helicopter was suddenly there, the sound of twirling propellers loud enough to drown out some of the frenetic sounds of battle. Then there was another, and another, flying towards them, straight towards the park.
At first, N thought that it was the police - who else would be flying helicopters around the city toward an active fight scene?
But then one of the helicopters turned, revealing a man in a black shirt and hat with a Slowbro at his side, standing near the open door. He pointed, and then Ice Beams began raining down on Zekrom from the sky.
They weren't the police - they were Team Rocket reinforcements!
Another helicopter joined the aerial assault, but the third touched down on the grass, spilling out a handful of new grunts, calling out pokemon, coming to the Admin's defense.
N, his eyes on Zekrom, overwhelmed in despair, didn't notice the Granbull racing toward him, jaws open, ready to bite, until Victini nailed it with a Flame Charge that sent it bouncing backward, yowling in pain.
The number of pokemon surrounding them were growing, however, and N was beginning to doubt that Victini could hold them all off on its own…
If only N had more pokemon… If only he'd trained more seriously… If only he was a fighter, like Hilda, then this wouldn't be happening and Victini and Zekrom wouldn't be forced to handle this all on their own…!
A Houndoom barreled forwards, only to get tackled by Victini, which left N's right side open to attack. An Escavelier approached, zooming over the grass at high speed, spear-like arms poised to strike, too fast for N to outrun. All he could do was panic as he tried to think of the best way to shield Tinkatink from harm.
But then, out of nowhere, like a hero in a storybook, Kingambit was there, catching the Escavalier by both of its arms, feet digging into the grass as he stopped the charge single-handedly, his expression murderous.
"Alright, now - Finish Him!" came a familiar voice from behind, and with a sinister smirk, the Kingambit hunkered down and lifted the Escavalier straight up into the air like he was deadlifting - only to then slam it back down on the grass with his whole body, letting the massive blade on his forehead tear through his foe's iron outer shell in a savage Guillotine.
Victini blasted back a Persian in a wave of vivid flame while Slaking appeared, not rushing even now, stopping a Graveler in one mighty fist and hurling it backward like a bowling ball, scattering a row of grunts in a panic.
"N! You alright? Where's-?"
But then Tinkatink leaped out of N's arms and ran to N, bawling in a mixture of fear and relief as her trainer scooped her into his arms.
Nate hugged Tinkatink for a moment, looking equally relieved, before recalling her to her ball where she'd be safe.
"Thanks for looking out for her, N. Seriously."
"No…" he said, pushing himself back to his feet. "Thank you for saving us."
A Honchcrow swooped in low, poised to strike, only for N's Poryzon Z to blast it out of the sky with a Tri-Attack.
"This is insane," Nate said, watching as Victini, Slaking, Kingambit, and Porygon Z fought the Rocket Grunts back. Victini was doing most of the work, but the other three were there to watch its back and make sure it wouldn't get overwhelmed or let anything sneak by. "I'm so sorry you got pulled into this mess."
"No - it's me they're after, not you."
"You? Wait, why would they be after…?"
But then it seemed like he noticed Zekrom for the first time, and his jaw dropped.
"Whoa… Whoa whoa whoa, no way! You're him?! You're that guy, the one my sister fought against?! That's crazy!"
The Rocket Admin, realizing he'd lost the upperhand a second time, took the opportunity to retreat while his colleagues, unawares, continued the fight. He jumped into the helicopter that had previously lowered to release his backup and ordered it back into the sky. A couple of the other grunts, realizing they were about to be left behind, jumped in after him, but three or four were abandoned as it lifted back into the air.
He was getting away… Well, they couldn't run forever. The police would catch them. So long as they could stop the fighting for now, that was what mattered in the short-term.
Something blasted out of the side of one of the other helicopters. There was a woman standing there, holding some sort of… bazooka, it looked like, except instead of explosives, it fired some hunk of metal that, when it collided with one of the Swanna trying to defend Zekrom, suddenly expanded into a large, metallic cage, trapping it inside.
It seemed like the cage could fly on its own, thankfully, so the pokemon didn't drop out of the sky - but when it tried to beat the cage open with its wings, it received a powerful electrical shock that rendered it momentarily senseless. A moment later, the cage was pulled almost magnetically back within the helicopter.
More of these strange bazooka blasts came out of the helicopters, snatching up the wild pokemon who had come to help. One of them hit the Simipour who belonged to one of the food truck vendors, and another struck a Herdier that was fighting with the police. Both of them were trapped and sucked into the helicopter as well.
They were stealing pokemon! They needed to stop them before they got away!
One of the more enterprising Rocket grunts tried to fire one of those cages at Zekrom, only for the dragon to blast it out of the sky with a bolt of lightning. The wild pokemon were in a panic now, however. Upon realizing they were being captured, they were beginning to flee in every direction.
As N watched, the Slowbro from before readied another Ice Beam, only to be hit unexpectedly by a fleeing Unfezant. Clipped by its wing, the Slowbro's body jerked right as the Ice Beam was fired, and it scored a direct hit - not on Zekrom, but on the other helicopter's tail rotor, freezing it in a block of ice.
The helicopter drifted for a moment, unable to steer properly, and as it listed sideways, the main blades struck the outer wall of a building, tearing through the windows in a terrible cacophony of screeching metal and broken glass.
Faster than you could blink, the helicopter spun out of control, spinning in a death spiral, plummeting down to the ground - right where the Zekrom was standing.
But he couldn't move - couldn't flee. If he did, the helicopter would hit the foot truck vendors he was protecting. N could do little more than shout in horror as the helicopter collided with Zekrom's chest, exploding in a ball of fire and metal shrapnel.
Zekrom roared in agony, and the pokemon and people battling around it began to flee in earnest now, no longer interested in battling, just getting away from a place where helicopters apparently rained down from the sky.
Zekrom slumped forward, disoriented, clearly in pain. He was done. N needed to recall him - this battle was over. Burg and the others would have to fend for themselves.
Though that actually didn't seem necessary. The battle lines had seemingly broken with the helicopter's surprise demise, and most of the wild pokemon had already fled the scene. All that was left were the police force pressing forward and the Rocket Grunts falling back.
This time, it actually seemed like the battle was well and truly over.
The first helicopter, the one with the Slowbro, turned tail and fled as well, retreating back where it had come. The second, however, that held the Admin, paused just long enough for the man to heft one of those odd, cage-shooting bazookas and aim it right at Zekrom.
"No!" N shouted, fumbling for his ball. Zekrom had been able to easily defend itself before, but it was stunned now, injured. He might not be able to protect himself this time!
He pulled the ball off of his belt, but was too late the Admin had already fired.
In a burst of fire, Victini materialized in front of Zekrom and took the hit.
"VICTOR!" Nate shouted, but the cage was already expanding, trapping Victini inside. The tiny pokemon struggled, letting out a blast of fire and psychic power, but the cage fired back, zapping the tiny powerhouse with a torrent of electrical energy, and Victini slumped sideways in the cage, dazed.
Without thinking, N clicked the button on his pokeball, and Zekrom was recalled, safe.
Then the cage trapping Victini was pulled back into the helicopter, and realizing they'd missed their chance for Zekrom but had caught another, unintended prize instead, the helicopter was flying away.
As though by impulse, Nate broke out in a run, chasing after it, as though he could possibly catch up, but they both knew it was useless. Neither had any pokemon strong enough to carry them, or fast enough to pursue helicopters. There was nothing they could do. He was gone.
He had saved N and Zekrom both, and then he was gone.
The fighting had ended just as abruptly as it had begun.
What followed was a blur. The police asked him and Nate to remain beneath the gazebos while they put out the fires and saw to the wounded. They'd need to take their statements, figure out what was going on. Neither argued.
Nate had completely deflated. His pokemon had tried to comfort him, but they looked just as badly shaken as he was, and he'd ended up recalling them all, claiming he needed a moment to himself. N didn't know what to say. How do you comfort someone whose friend had just been kidnapped right in front of them?
This… This is what his father had done. Done to every trainer whose pokemon Team Plasma had kidnapped while claiming they were being 'liberated'. Was stealing pokemon really what this had all been about? And what of those other attacks, by those other organizations? Was this why they had attacked Goldenrod and MeleMele Island? Were they out there, stealing more pokemon, ruining more lives? For what? For power? For the thrill of it?
N didn't know. But he knew they had to fight it. Had to fight to keep things like this from happening again. Because that was the world he and Zekrom strove for.
Nate's pokegear began to buzz. Listlessly, he lifted his arm, going to silence the call. Then, he caught the caller ID and hesitated.
After a moment, he chose to answer.
"Hilbert?" came Hilda's unmistakable voice from the other end of the call. "You absolute brat - what are you doing to N?! How did you even meet him?! And where-? No, nevermind, just… What did you tell him? I swear, if you embarrassed me, I'm going to-!"
"Hilda," Nate said, his voice raspy, but Hilda was talking to quickly to hear him.
"-got a call from Rosa, the one Iris sent to get you. She says she stopped by your place but you were gone. Tell me where you are so we can coordinate - Rosa says there's some sort of commotion in the city and traffic is backed up, but maybe you can go to her-"
"It's too late," Nate cut in, and N didn't think he'd ever heard someone sound so broken.
"What's too late?" Hilda asked, then, after a moment, with growing concern, "Hilbert - what's too late? What happened?"
"He's gone," he gasped, body beginning to tremble, and N found himself wrapping a bracing arm around his shoulders.
"Who's gone? N? Where'd he go?"
"No… No, Victor! Victor is gone! They took him!"
And then he was sobbing outright, and N was trying to hold him up, and Hilda was demanding explanations, and a police officer was approaching to finally get their statement, and it was all wrong. Everything was all wrong.
Just a couple quick comments-
First, I combined the characters of Nate and Hilbert into a single person here. Why? Because in the initial draft, Nate and the characters from B/W had a much larger plotline and a lot more screentime, but I didn't need three guys - N and one other was enough. So rather than choose between the male protags of B/W and B2/W2, I just combined them. I mean, they look almost identical anyway - just different hats - so whatever. But yeah, them being one character is just a hangover from older drafts. We'll get more about him in the next -and final - interlude.
N having pokemon in pokeballs is based off of his appearance in B2/W2.
Finally, I am sorry again for the like 3 month unintended hiatus, but I've got the next 3 chapters already completed, so expect a semi-normal release schedule for the next few weeks. We'll be getting back to AJ and co on Mt. Silver next, and starting to really focus on her and Ash's relationship, so if that's what you're here for, well congrats, we're there. It's time.
Keep it Zesty
ZC