Hilbert opened his eyes and stared blankly up to the ceiling. Judging from the lack of light coming in from the window, he assumed it was around three in the morning. Despite his tired state, the events of the previous day flooded his head. He remembered helping his sister catch a venipede, then coming back home to find out the man he had stolen from was dead. Placing his hand on his face, he wondered what he should do. They had no idea who killed him, the specific reason why, or if the people who did it know about them.

He knew they needed a plan and that they needed one soon. Sitting up, Hilbert looked over to his sister. Seeing her sleep, seemingly peaceful, filled him with fear that something might happen to them, to her. He doesn't want himself to be the reason his only real family member gets hurt or even killed.

Hearing a small yawn, he looked down to the floor, seeing his pokemon staring up at him, with his head turned sideways. Giving a small grin, Hilbert stood up and walked out of the room, Houndour in tow. Once he made it to the kitchen he looked through the fridge for anything to eat, which after a few minutes, was some lunch meat.

"Sliced roasted Pignite..." he said as he put a piece in his mouth, "Eh, it's alright."

Houndour gave a quiet yelp. Hilbert tossed him a slice, which his companion was quick to consume. Chuckling, he went back to serving himself. After a few minutes of going back and forth between them, he heard the sound of a car pull up into the driveway. Being sure of who it was, Hilbert froze in place, dropping the package of meat that was in his hand.

Houndour was about to help himself when he was pushed back by his owner. Looking up, he was told to go into the room and stay there unless told otherwise. Obeying the command, he ran back and jumped onto Hilda's bed.

Picking up the package, Hilbert heard the door open, and loud footsteps come in. Dreading what might happen, he quickly threw away the floor meat and tried to walk back into his room when he heard his name called.

"Hilbert, why are you awake?" a deep masculine voice sternly asked him.

"I was just eating something, but now I'm going back to bed."

"Well hold on, I want to talk to you," the voice commanded, angrily.

Hilbert let out a sigh, "What is it, Dad?"

"You want to tell me why, while I'm at work, the police come and start asking me questions about some man who was found dead?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he tried to keep a calm voice.

"Oh really, so you weren't the kid seen talking to him just a day before he was killed?"

Hilbert tensed up and as fast as he could, he attempted to calm himself.

"What are you talking about?"

"The police said that witnesses claimed to see a kid, fitting your description, talking to him the day before his body was found. And considering he was seen at a place in walking distance from here, I have suspicion to believe it was you."

"So what if I talked to some now dead guy?"

"So you admit you talked to him? You're lucky that a friend of mine who's a cop came to talk to me first, had he gone directly to you, you probably would've been arrested."

"I didn't do shit."

"Cut the crap, just tell me the truth you little punk."

"What truth?"

"You probably had something to do with that man."

"I didn't do anything. What are you so fucking pissed for?"

"Because if that man was connected to any gangs, and they find out who we are, we could be targetted for something you two idiots did."

"And I'm supposed to care, why?"

Not saying anything, his father rushed forward and grabbed Hilbert, pushing him into the wall behind him. A hand came up and clasped his mouth shut. Hearing the front door open again, he heard lighter, quieter footsteps walk into the house.

"Now honey, don't hold our son like that."

"Alright dear..." letting out a crooked smile, he dropped Hilbert onto the floor.

The woman, his mother, walked up to Hilbert and looked down at him with pity in her eyes. She crouched down, Hilbert attempted to sit up and be eye level with her, when she struck him across the face with the back of her hand. Falling again, he felt big, strong hands grab the back of his neck, lifting him. Turning him around, his father then slugged him, hitting him on the eye.

Hilbert couldn't contain the sound of pain this time and let out a small shout. With his now one good eye, he saw an arm get cocked back, ready to punch again. Hilbert closed his eyes.

"Gah, fuck! What the fuck is this thing?!"

He forcefully opened his eyes and saw Houndour biting down on his father's arm, blood around his teeth.

Letting go of his grip, he dropped his son, attempting to swing on the mysterious beast biting his arm.

"Use Poison Sting!" he heard a girl's voice shout. He then saw a small needle hit his dad in the side of the arm, causing it to go limp and for him to scream from the pain. Feeling a hand grab him, Hilbert stood up and was pushed towards the door.

"Houndour, Venipede, return!" his sister shouted, "Hilbert, run!"

He did as he was told, running as hard as he could outside, feeling his sister's presence behind him. He attempted to slow down his pace, so he could run next to her instead of ahead, but he was met to a hand pushing his back. So, he continued to just run. After a while, he collapsed against a fence. A few moments later, Hilda crashed next to him as well. Eventually, they caught their breath, and Hilda was the first to speak.

"Well, looks like they didn't run after us...here, take these," she said as she handed him Houndour's Pokeball, half of the money, and a pair of socks and shoes.

Being grateful for not having to run barefoot anymore, Hilbert hastily put on his shoes. Hilbert leaned his head back onto the fence, a little dazed from all the running and the punch he got from earlier.

"What the fuck just happened?" Hilbert knew what had occurred, but it felt like a dream. He just needed someone to confirm it.

"Well, Houndour came into our room and woke me up by jumping on the bed. He looked worried so I started trying to comfort him when I heard dad's voice. I tried to keep myself quiet but then I heard him start to yell and assumed the worst was gonna happen. So, I got myself ready to leave in case something happened, and when you screamed, he ran out to you."

Looking down at the Pokeball in his hand, Hilbert thought of how, despite only being together for less than two days at this point, Houndour was willing to save him, just like that. Gripping the ball tighter, he made a mental promise to himself. He doesn't want to be in a situation where his partner would have to risk his own life because of him. Shrinking the ball, and putting it in his pocket, he started staring up to the sky, placing a hand on his, now, black eye.

"So..." he started.

"We're, homeless now..." she finished, "What do we do now?"

"I...I don't know."

The two sat there, for what felt like an eternity. Hilda, sitting with her head in between her legs and Hilbert, trying to think of what they should do. They can't go back to the only place they ever called home and it's not like they know anyone that would take them in. They were on their own. Finally, after an extensive period of silence, Hilbert spoke up.

"Ok, we need to find a place to stay. We can't live on the streets."

"But where can we go?"

Looking around them, Hilbert tried to figure out what area they were in. After a few minutes, he had an idea of their location.

"Hm, I'm pretty sure there's a motel, like three blocks from here. I say, we go and stay there for a couple of nights."

"Well, beats sleeping on the streets I guess."

The two got up and set off in the direction Hilbert had hoped was way of the motel. Once they passed a few blocks, they became less and less hopeful that they would find it. Just when Hilbert was about to call it quits, his sister pointed down the street at a pink neon sign that read "The Munna Motel". Picking up their pace, they marched on over to the complex.

"Oh thank god we found it!"

"Yeah, I don't want to walk anymore. Okay, I'll go check us in for a room, you wait out here."

"Okay," Hilda sat as she sat down on a bench while Hilbert went around a wall looking for the main office.

Sitting alone, she covered her face in her hands. She began to think about what could happen to them, what would happen, now that they were homeless. They could be easily mugged or killed, or anything. Their only saving grace was that they had their pokemon, but she only had hers for a few hours at this point, and even Hilbert only had Houndour for a little over a day.

Not to mention the fact he's only been in one battle with a wild pokemon, and she hasn't even done that. If someone on the street who was only a half-competent trainer tried to mess with them, they could be screwed. Tears began to form, and then fall, from her eyes.

"Now now, a pretty girl like you shouldn't cry."

Hilda looked up, tears still falling, confused to who was talking. Standing in front of her was a somewhat tall man with long green hair tied in a fluffy ponytail, with some of the hair hanging in front of his face.

"Tell me, what brought you to the point of crying?"

"Who are you?"

"You know, some people do think it can be quite rude to ignore a question," the man spoke somewhat fast, yet soft At the same time, gave off a sense of authority in his voice.

"You just ignored my question though," she sniffled.

The man placed a kind smile on his face, then began to speak again.

"My apologies, I'll first answer your question, then you can answer mine."

She just stared at him through her watery eyes.

"My name is irrelevant for right now. I do bet you'll find out on your own soon enough."

"That doesn't answer me," she said as she wiped her tears away.

"Just because my answer differs from what you wanted, doesn't mean it isn't an answer."

"Well, I guess."

"Now tell me, what brought you to the point of crying."

"It's...something personal. I don't feel like telling someone I just randomly met outside a motel."

The man chuckled.

"Alright...how about-"

"Hilda! Come here!" Hilbert shouted from around the corner.

"Oh, that's my brother. So if you'll excuse me," Hilda said as she got up and walked quickly out of sight.

Looking at where she disappeared, the man turned around and his smile grew.

"Soon," he said as he walked off into the night.

The room Hilbert had managed to get had a somewhat cozy atmosphere about it but still felt cheap. The full-size bed was close to the wall, with only a nightstand keeping a space between them. Straight across was a large box of a TV on top of a small dresser. Just a few feet from the bed was the small bathroom, with just a toilet, a small sink, and a shower. Other than the air conditioner. the room didn't have anything else.

"How much did this room cost?"

"About two-fifty for four nights."

"God damn," Hilda sat on the bed, feeling the cheap sheets and blanket on the poor mattress.

"Well, it's a motel in a bad part of town, not a six-star hotel."

"Don't hotel ratings only go up to five stars?"

"Shut up," Hilbert said as he dropped face-first onto the bed, too tired from the night to even care how it felt. "Let's just try and get some sleep, and figure shit out in the morning."

"Alright, just wish you could've gotten a room with two beds..."

"You're welcome to sleep on the floor."

"No no, it's fine."

The two laid in bed with their backs to each other. Hilbert trying to go to sleep after everything that happened not hours before, while Hilda kept thinking about the man she met. She had no idea who he was, only spoke with him for a moment, and didn't trust him to tell her the time of day.

Yet, she couldn't help but feel that she wanted to meet him again. Something about the way he spoke, the way he smiled. Him asking what made her cry as if he cared. She quickly brushed away those thoughts and began attempting to sleep in the starchy bed.

Hilda awoke to the sun shining its light directly into her eyes from in between the blinds on the window. Confused that her brother wasn't next to her, she scanned the room. Seeing he wasn't even there with her, she began to worry, sitting up in bed she threw off the covers and stood up.

About to go running towards the door when it began to open. Expecting someone who was going to harm her, she grabbed Venipede's ball from the nightstand and stood ready to throw. When the door opened all the way, she saw that it was just her brother, holding two large bags labeled "Clefairy Clothing". Hilda just looked confused.

"Uh, morning?" Hilbert said to break the silence.

"God damn it, Hilbert. Don't just leave without telling me!" Hilda shouted as she threw a pillow at him.

"I tried to, but you wouldn't wake up. I even had Houndour try to lick you awake but that didn't work either," he replied as he dodged the soft projectile.

Hilda blinked a few times, before feeling her face with her hand, and feeling dried saliva. Flashing a face of disgust, she ran to the sink to try and clean it off. Laughing, Hilbert placed one of the bags on the bed.

"For you," he said as he went into the bathroom and closed the door.

Drying her face with a hand towel, she peered into the bag. The first thing she noticed was a white hat with a pink bill and a Pokeball on the front. Underneath that were some more clothes. Taking them out, she laid down a white tank top, black waistcoat, short denim shorts, long black socks, and a box of black boots with pink laces and soles. Quickly changing into the clothes before her brother came out, she looked at herself in the small mirror above the sink.

Not disliking what she saw, but not entirely loving it either. Her brother exited the bathroom, she looked to see what he was wearing.

Hilbert don a similar hat to Hilda, except it was black where the pink was and red on the front with the back being white. He also had on a light blue jacket with the neck and cuffs being a darker shade of blue, baggy gray pants with a black belt wrapping around his waist and a silver metal belt buckle. His feet were covered with red shoes that had black panels and white soles. Posing to show off his clothes, he waited for his sister's response. She just stared at him with a bit of confusion. Eventually, she let him know what she was thinking.

"Why did you buy new clothes?"

He went back to a normal posture.

"Because we can't just walk around in pajamas all the time. People will look at us weird."

"Yeah, but couldn't you have asked me what kind of clothes I wanted?"

"I tried to but someone didn't want to wake up this morning."

"Not my fault, plus it's probably still early. What time is it?"

"Take a guess."

"I don't know, like eight?"

"Hilda, it's almost ten-thirty."

"What!? How long did I sleep?"

"Way longer than needed."

"Okay, that's debatable."

Hilbert looked into the mirror, noticing the swelling around his eye grew more in his sleep, causing his vision to even be slightly blurred. Letting out a sigh, he walked over to the bed and laid down, stretching his arms out wide. His sister sat beside him, giving his knee a quick squeeze.

"How is it?"

"Hurts, but probably would've been worse if we stayed."

"I'm still not sure running away was the best choice to make. Especially since we didn't plan anything out."

"Well, it was better than nothing. But anyway, I got something we can do," he sat up, "Well, more of an in the moment idea until we find an actual plan."

"Better than nothing, let's hear it."

"We should just try to lay low, train Houndour and Venipede, maybe find a way to make money on the side."

"Hm, yeah, that seems like a good idea and it's not like we can do much anyway. Plus it'd be nice to be able to bond with Venipede, I've only taken her out once since catching her."

"Should we go now then?"

"Not like there's anything to do here," she shrugged.

The two set off for the closest location to find wild pokemon they could battle, Hilbert mentioned there should be some woods leading out of town. The two partially argued on the way about which direction to walk in. They agreed to go Hilda's way, which turned out to be the exact opposite so they had to take even longer to get to their destination. Once they did arrive, it had been almost an hour since they departed from the motel.

"Finally!" Hilda shouted as she collapsed onto the grass, tired of walking.

"Would've been here sooner but..." his sentence was interrupted by a small pebble hitting the side of his head.

Looking down, he saw her smirking up at him. Wanting payback, he grabbed a handful of the grass and dropped it onto her face.

"Agh! My mouth was open!" she spat on the ground before jumping up and attempted to attack her brother, who in turn began to run off laughing. She chased him for a few minutes, her face painted red while he just laughed nonstop.

"You ain't gonna catch me!" Hilbert said. His foot then caught a tree root and he was sent tumbling down a small slope.

"Are you alright?!" Hilda asked while running to the spot her brother fell.

"Yeah, I think so..."

"Gah fuck!"

She landed on top of him, causing both to let out sounds of pain, him more so than her.

"How...the fuck...did you fall?"

"Ow...I tripped..."

"Were you...not looking?"

"...You fell first..."

"Which is why...you shouldn't...have fallen," he said as he pushed her off of him.

Using the push as a boost, she managed to stand up, dusted herself off as much as she could, though not like it helped much, and offered a hand to her brother who swatted the hand away and stood up on his own. He began dusting himself off as well when he looked straight ahead. His eyes shot wide open, standing about fifty feet away from them were two large groups of people.

One group wearing blue suits and the other wearing light grey suits. Though some members were wearing lighter shades of blue and some wearing white instead of grey, on their respected sides. While he was just discovering them, they have been knowing they were there ever since Hilbert first fell down the slope.

"What are you loo-" Hilda paused her sentence. She was now looking at the two groups of randomly ornate dressed people.

After some time of staring on both sides, one of the men wearing a light blue suit scowled, and said something out of earshot of the twins. The people in blue ran back, and got into cars the two didn't realize were there, and took off on a dirt trail. The people in grey looked, displeased to say the last, and began walking towards the duo.

They pulled out pokeballs, Hilbert and Hilda copied. Seeing how shady this group was, they didn't think they would fight fairly at all. Once they were only a few meters apart, they expected the worse. But out of nowhere, a voice traveled through the air.

"Ahem!"

The grey suits all turned their heads to the voice. A few seconds later, they split down the middle. Then, a man walked down the path, in a pure white suit. It was cleaner than anything Hilbert or Hilda had ever seen and it almost hurt to look at it in the light. The light reflecting off of him and the fact the people made a passage for him, made his presence seem almost divine. He walked up to the twins, moving some green hair out of his eyes.

"I knew we would meet again soon," the man said to Hilda.

"You know him?" her brother asked in a whisper.

"No, I just talked to him outside the motel last night for like, a minute."

"It's nice to see you not crying, I do hope you're feeling better."

"Uhm, yeah, I'm fine."

"That's good news for me. It truly is."

"I'm sorry, who are you?" Hilbert chimed in, with annoyance in his voice.

"Oh, that's right, you had a brother."

He noticed the man talked fast, which annoyed him even more. It hasn't even been ten seconds and he already hates the guy.

"So, what brings you two here to our meeting?"

"We were running through the woods and ended up fall-ow!" Hilda was punched in the arm by her brother as she tried to tell what happened.

"What kind of 'meeting' was this? Pretty much as soon as those guys in blue saw us they ran away," he demanded as his sister rubbed her arm, praying to not get a bruise. The man just chuckled.

"I don't mean to offend, but you aren't in a position to act tough here. In case you haven't noticed," he gestured to the dozen or so people around him, "If it comes down to a pokemon battle, you won't leave unscathed."

He just gritted his teeth and stayed quiet, knowing he was right. The only thing and Hilda could do would be to try and run away, which probably wouldn't work out anyway.

Seeing that the boy was going to keep his mouth shut, he spoke up again.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to tell you who I am. My name is..." he paused, "N."

"N? That's it?" Hilda asked while Hilbert just glared at him, unable to be even more annoyed than he currently is.

"I'll admit, it is more of a nickname, but that doesn't change the fact you now have something to refer to me as."

"Excuse me, sir?" one of the men in the lighter grey suits interrupted the conversation.

"What is it?"

"The boss wants us to hurry this up, given the fact 'they' left, we're just wasting time staying here."

"Hm, you're right. Get the cars ready, I'll be there in a minute," the man nodded in acknowledgment as he, along with all the other suited people, turned around a corner, out of sight. The sound of car engines starting up could be faintly heard.

"Well, this is where we part ways. But trust me, we'll be meeting again very soon," N smiled at the two, before turning around walking out of sight. A moment later they heard the cars drive off until they were surrounded by silence.

"God I hate that guy."

"What do you think they were all doing here?"

"I don't know and I don't care. Now let's go, we should try to train Houndour and Venipede as much as we can."

"..."

"Hilda?"

"Huh? Oh yeah! Let's go..."

Hilbert looked at her confused, he would've tried to figure out why she acted weird but he was still pissed about talking to N, so he ignored it instead. The two climbed up the knoll and began trekking through the woods. Keeping their eyes out for any pokemon, they tried to find their way back to where they started.

They mostly wandered around aimlessly, due to them just running earlier with the sole purpose of either running away from someone trying to attack him or running to attack someone running from her. So they didn't exactly take in their surroundings.

After some time, they saw a bush rustling. They stopped in their tracks, watching, waiting for something to come out. Just a few moments later, out came a purple feline pokemon.

The two stood in place, just looking at the pokemon enjoying itself. They watched on for a few seconds until Hilbert broke the silence.

"Well, I guess one of us should battle it."

"I don't know, it looks so happy. We should probably leave it al-"

"Go Houndour!"

While Hilda hesitated, he was quick to engage in a battle. Wanting to get as much training as he can to better himself. The wild pokemon noticed the two after Hilbert shouted so it stood ready for battle. Once Houndour had come out from his ball, he looked around. Wondering what was happening, then he realized, he was in another battle. He stood like he was ready to pounce forward, waiting for an order.

"Hilda, here!" Hilbert said as he tossed her the Pokedex.

'Shit shit shit' she thought as the device went flying towards her.

She wasn't much of a catcher and she was worried about it breaking if she failed to receive it. It was a tad bit too high, so she jumped as hard as she could, reaching for it with one hand. She fell back and rolled for a few feet before landing against a tree. Rubbing her head from the tumble, she looked down to her other hand, seeing the rectangle grey object.

"Yes!"

"Would you hurry it up?!"

"Huh? Oh right!" she said as she got up to her feet and ran back to the action. She pulled up the second screen and pointed it to the purple creature.

"Purrloin: The devious pokemon. Its cute act is a ruse. When victims let down their guard, they find their items taken. It attacks with sharp claws. This purrloin is female and currently level seven."

Once the Pokedex was done with speaking, the purrloin struck. Its claws grew on one paw as it leaped towards Houndour. Striking him on the face. He stumbled back, shaking off any of the pain he felt. Staring the feline down, he let out a growl. Showing he was ready to fight.

"Houndour, use leer!"

Houndour gave a successful intimidating look towards Purrloin. The former then coward back for a few seconds, in which timeframe Hilbert gave the order to attack with an Ember. Getting hit by the fire directly, Purrloin stumbled back trying to get a hold of its footing. Attempting to stand tall, a wave of red washed over her. Houndour's flame left the wild pokemon with a burn.

Annoyed, she let out a loud growl at Houndour, who then crouched down from the noise. Seeing an opportunity, the cat-like pokemon ran up to him and swiped with its paw once more. This time, he jumped back and unleashed another breath of fire hitting it once more at point-blank range. The force of the blast caused her to roll back, when she did manage to stand up, she was engulfed in the flame from her burn. She fell onto her back paws, breathing hard.

"Finish this with another Ember!"

Once again, Purrloin was devoured by fire. Letting out one last cry, she fainted on the spot. Standing triumphantly but still hurt, Houndour looked proud. He turned to his owner, who smiled down to his four-legged friend and his sister, who was clapping enthusiastically for him.

"Way to go Houndour, now get some rest. Return," Hilbert lifted the Pokeball that sent out its red light to retrieve his pokemon.

"We keep going like this he'll probably evolve before we know it."

"You think houndours do evolve?"

"Well, I don't know actually. They could, or might not. Maybe he'll stay his lovable self forever."

Looking down at the ball in his hand, Hilbert wondered if he would want that. He sees Houndour as his new best friend, if not his family, but he isn't the most powerful thing in the world. What if he wasn't strong enough for them? What if he stays too weak, and when the time comes, he isn't able to keep them safe? If Hilbert doesn't have a strong pokemon, he won't be able to better his or Hilda's life. They'll be stuck living as they do.

"Welp," Hilda said, interrupting his train of thought, "We should train some more."

"Yeah, we should. For now let's just walk around, but make sure we know where we are. Also, stick together, at least until we know the woods better."

"Aye aye captain."

And we are done! I took quite a bit to get this finished, mostly because stuff was goin on, plus I wanted to write a lot. It's 5,072 words long, the longest I've ever done lol. My first chapters combined are 5,044 words. So definitely a big difference lol.

Can't say if other chapters will be this long, maybe try to do 3k+ from now on. But other than that, like always, leave a review if you have anything say, don't forget to favorite/follow if you like it, and cya later. Peace.

~~~Sikahdik