Hilda sat on her bed, with her head between her knees and her arms gripping herself tightly. Outside her room, she can hear shouting between her brother and parents. Some glass got smashed and the shouting got louder. She couldn't help but feel as though it was her fault, that she caused Hilbert to get yelled at by her parents right now. She just wanted the yelling to stop, for Hilbert to not have to try and defend her. Suddenly, everything went quiet and she could hear footsteps getting louder and louder.
"Why are you going to our room!?" she could hear her brother shout from outside.
"You keep saying you did it but I don't believe you. So, let's see if your sister has anything to say."
"I already said, she had nothing to do with it, so leave her out of this!"
She then heard some muffled noise from right outside the door. Suddenly, a loud thud, then the door swung opened.
Hilda sat up in her bed, her pillow drenched in sweat. Her chest rose and fell quickly. She looked around the room. Seeing her brother lay in a bed just a few feet from her, instantly made her calm down and feel relieved. She looked down at the floor, seeing Houndour, and remembering the events of the previous day. Laying her head back down onto the pillow, she let out a sigh and smiled. Hilbert had a pokemon now and soon she'll have one as well. She won't have to be defenseless anymore.
Hilbert jolted awake to sudden pain. Sitting up and grabbing his stomach, he looked at the cause of his current suffering. Sitting in front of him was Houndour, his new pokemon. Houndour looked at his owner confused, wondering why he was grabbing himself. He then walked up to Hilbert's face and gave him a lick. After stepping back, Houndour started breathing with his mouth opened, giving the impression he was smiling. Hilbert then heard a chuckle come from his left. Turning his head, he saw his twin smiling at him.
"He seems to be pretty jolly, doesn't he?"
"Yeah, wish he didn't jump on me though," Hilbert said still holding his stomach.
"If it makes you feel any better he did the same to me. But, I kept saying 'no-no, go to Hilbert' while pointing to you, so he left me alone."
He just glared at his sister.
"You're welcome."
Once the pain from Houndour jumping onto him went away, Hilbert swung his legs out to the side of his bed, sitting up and letting out a yawn. Hilda began brushing her long hair and Hilbert stood up to go to the kitchen, Houndour jumping off the bed to follow him. When in the kitchen, Houndour sat next to his owner, staring up at his face. At first, Hilbert felt awkward with his pokemon just watching him, however, he quickly turned to like his presence. After a little while, Hilda came out of the room with her normal clothes on.
"So, what do you want to do with all the money we got now? We can't just leave it hanging around here. If someone robbed us and found that kind of money they'll likely just come back."
"Yeah I know, but I'm not sure what to do with it yet. The only thing I thought of so far was to just lay low with it. Whenever we go somewhere we only take some of it and hide the rest. Since we have Houndour, we can probably find you a pokemon as well. "
"Then what?"
"Well, that's all I got so far."
"Seriously? Who steals twenty thousand dollars and not have a plan on what to do with it?" Hilda asks, annoyed.
"Hey don't blame me, it was a spur of the moment kind of thing," Hilbert says defensively.
"You're an idiot sometimes."
"Yeah yeah..."
"Just hurry up and go get dressed, the faster we leave then the faster I can get a pokemon."
"Damn, I never knew you wanted a pokemon so badly before."
"Well, that was because we weren't exactly able to get one. But now with Houndour, we can."
"Alright, I'll go get dressed."
"Better not keep me waiting," Hilda said as Hilbert walked past her.
Almost ten minutes later Hilbert finally walked out of his room wearing his normal outfit, much to the annoyance of his sister. Without saying anything, Hilbert just smiled at her and walked out, with her following right behind, and Houndour following her. After a minute of thinking, Hilbert calls Houndour back into his Pokeball, not wanting people to see him. A medium-length trek to some woods nearby later, Hilbert and Hilda were out of the town. The two kept their eyes open for any kind of pokemon that they would be able to fight with Houndour. After a while of searching, they came across a group of pokemon.
"Shh, stay quiet," Hilbert said as he crouched down behind a bush to observe the pokemon. Hilda quickly sat beside him.
"Is that a group of venipede?"
"I think so, oh wait, I can check with the Pokedex," he said as he pulled out the rectangular device and opened up the second screen. Pointing it towards the pokemon, it read out their description.
"Venipede: The centipede pokemon. Its bite injects a potent poison, enough to paralyze large bird Pokemon that try to prey on it."
"Bug and poison type, Houndour should be able to take them on," Hilbert said as he pulled out his pokemon's ball.
"Be careful," Hilda said.
"Yeah, I know."
Hilbert jumped over the bush and threw Houndour's ball, releasing the pokemon.
"Hound!" Houndour cried.
Most of the venipede immediately turned to run back into bushes and trees out of fear, except one. A venipede that was a bit larger than the others stood still and faced its attacker. Houndour was first confused, however after looking at Hilbert and looking at the venipede, he quickly realized what was happening and his pokemon instincts kicked in. He stood still, ready to attack at a moment's notice. The venipede, despite facing off against a pokemon bigger than it, stood valiantly. Hilbert, never having been in a pokemon battle before, stood unsure, with the only experience he has being from watching pokemon battles on TV.
Shooting out a small needle, the venipede made the first move, which just barely missed. Right after, the wild pokemon shot another needle, which Houndour dodged as well. Repeatedly, the venipede shot at Houndour, just missing each time. Finally, Houndour was hit directly in the leg, causing him to give a quick yelp of pain, before staggering. The venipede wasted no time and quickly rolled itself into a ball and moved towards Houndour. Hitting him directly, he was sent flying back to just a few yards in front of Hilbert.
"Houndour!" Hilbert shouted to his pokemon.
Hearing the sound of his trainer, Houndour jumped back up once the venipede unrolled itself. Turning around, he ran back to Hilbert. Kneeling, Hilbert placed one of his hands on his pokemon's head and the other under his chin, giving him a small grin, trying to assure him that everything will be okay. Responding with a quick nod, Houndour turned his attention back to the wild venipede, who stood ready to attack.
"Alright, let's try being offensive," Hilbert said. "Use Ember!"
Obeying the command, Houndour shot out a small flame that went straight towards the venipede. Being a little sluggish from how much energy it had used already, it just barely got out of the way. Hilbert ordered his pokemon to use Ember right after the venipede had dodged, causing it to trip when trying to dodge the attack.
"Now use Howl!"
Houndour raised his head and let out a cry, sending visible soundwaves away from his mouth. A red aura started to glow around his body and rose into the air. Hilbert read the move list for Houndour on his Pokedex, noting that Howl boosts the attack of the pokemon who used it. However, in addition to increasing Houndour's attack, it also managed to raise his fighting spirit and he began jumping around, ready to get back into the fight.
"Use Ember repeatedly!"
Houndour shot continuous balls of fire at the venipede, a couple of them hitting directly. Due to how intense the fire was, plus having a weakness to it, the venipede rolled backward, stopping when hitting the base of a tree. Despite having to struggle, the venipede got to its feet and began to roll towards Houndour once again.
"Houndour, it seems to be weak now, use Ember on it as it rolls towards you!"
Once the venipede began to roll towards him, Houndour shot out a breath of fire, as much as it could on the rolling pokemon. This proved to be too much for it, as it then stopped rolling and collapsed on the ground, unconscious. Houndour took some breaths before standing as tall as he can, proud of his first-ever knockout on a pokemon. He ran back to Hilbert, who was then knocked down by his pokemon unexpectantly jumping into him.
"Yeah yeah...good boy," Hilbert said in between licks from Houndour. "I'm proud of you...return!" Houndour went back into the Pokeball in Hilbert's hand.
"Ung," Hilbert sat up, wiping all the slobber from Houndour off his face.
"Hey, you decided to steal a pokemon," Hilda laughed as she came out from the bushes.
"Oh shut up. Just go catch your pokemon."
"Yes, ma'am."
Hilbert gave her a look. Hilda walked over to where the venipede was lying down. Looking down at it, she could barely move. If the ball succeeds in catching it, she would now have a pokemon, something she's wanted since she was just a little girl. Hilbert leaned back on his hands and let out a sigh.
"For something that lasted just a couple minutes, that was stressful."
"Well, now you know how to battle. Plus, Houndour seemed to enjoy it."
"Yeah," Hilbert rubbed some of Houndour's saliva into the grass, "Despite what he went through in the fight, he still seemed to have a lot of energy when it was over."
Hilda let out a chuckle. Looking back to the venipede, she pulled up the Pokeball. Pressing the button, she dropped it onto the venipede. The ball bounced and opened up. Sending out a red light on the venipede before taking it into the ball. It then shook once, then twice, then three times. For Hilda, time froze and she held her breath. Something that only took about a second felt like it was taking an hour to Hilda. Finally, she heard a click from the ball. She now had a pokemon of her won.
"Yes! I got my own pokemon!" she shouted as she picked up the venipede's ball. Hilbert looked up at her with a bit of surprise.
"Man, I didn't know you were gonna be so happy to get a pokemon."
"I am, I've wanted one since I was just a kid."
"Technically speaking you are a kid still. You know, fifteen."
"Oh shut up," Hilda threw a small pebble at Hilbert.
"Ow..."
"What you get."
"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, we should probably go home and rest, I'm sure Houndour is at least a little exhausted. Even if he didn't show it."
"Yeah, I don't really like being in the woods anyway. Kinda creepy here, don't you think?"
"Eh, not to me, I got Houndour," Hilbert said as he stood up and began walking out of the woods, "Plus, now I have you and that venipede."
Hilda smiled at that thought.
Once home, Hilbert crashed on the couch with Houndour laying next to him, with Hilda going into the yard to get to know her pokemon better. Hilbert turned on the TV, flipping through the different channels trying to find something of interest to him. After a while, he ended off on the news. Not finding anything better, he decided to see what's going on in the world. The news anchor talked about some local criminal activities, boring current events, and something related to Unovan gym leaders. But then they brought up that a body of an unknown man was found in a dumpster. Slightly intrigued, Hilbert stayed watching.
Nothing of note was said about the man, other than basic descriptions of him, like his height and possible age. Hilbert got a questioning look on his face.
'That sounds similar to the guy I took the stuff from yesterday,' he thought to himself. 'Eh, I doubt it though.'
They then flashed a photo of the man's face, causing Hilbert to completely freeze. Just then, the front door opened, and Hilda stepped back into the house with a small grin on her face. Noticing the face on her brother, her smile quickly faded.
"Hilbert, what's wrong?" she asked with concern.
Hilbert, with a shaky arm, pointed towards the TV. Hilda looked at the man on screen, still unsure of what he was trying to say.
"What is it? Who is that?"
"It...it's...the guy..."
"What guy?"
"The guy...I took..."
Realizing what Hilbert was trying to say, Hilda looked at the TV in the same shock as her brother. If the man he had stolen from is truly dead, then for all they knew, they could be in trouble as well. The people behind the man's murder would probably want to hurt or kill anyone involved.
"I remember...when I watched the man's briefcase, he said he was meeting someone. I, I think that he was supposed to hand the briefcase over to whoever he was meeting."
"Do you think that he might've been killed because of the items you stole?"
"I don't know. I don't even know what the guy's name was."
"What if we go to the police? They'll likely put us into some kind of protection."
"No way," Hilbert stood up and began pacing around, "If we go to the police, then they'll make us give up everything I took, even Houndour."
"Well, we can't just sit around and do nothing!" Hilda jumped up.
"I know!" Hilbert stopped pacing and covered his head in his hands, "Look I'll, I'll think of something."
"Think of something fast, I don't want to die over twenty-thousand!"
"Calm down okay?! Look, we don't even know why the guy was killed. For all we know, it could be for something entirely unrelated to that briefcase."
"There's no way that can be true! It makes perfect sense if stealing that money and stuff got him killed. Whoever he was making the deal with was pissed that the guy tried to cheat him out of whatever he was offering for it."
Hilbert sat down and leaned against the back of the couch. Hilda doing the same.
"Okay, all I know is, that we need to think of something to do..."
"If just one person who is involved with those people behind that guy's death in any way find out about us..." Hilda turned to her brother and he looked at her.
"We are so fucked..."
And chapter two of the rewrite is done. I have plans for chapter three but will probably do a chapter for my other story before doing the third one for this. I don't want to take too long to write for one story over the other. As you can probably tell I'm tryna make this a bit more serious than my last one. By the end of the story, I would want it to be as seen as fairly dark but without being overbearingly so.
If you have any questions on it leave a review or PM me, and I'll try to answer without spoiling things I have planned for n stuff. Like always leave a follow/favorite if you want. Peace.
~~~Sikahdik.