Two hours. For two hours Hilda has been forced to sit still and not make much noise. Having not moved her legs in so long, she was starting to get pins and needles. Had she been in the limo, the vehicle she was used to, she would've had all the room she needed. But instead, Cress made her and Hilbert take a smaller, less luxurious ride. One that he drove himself.

The car seemed cheap. From its chipping paint, to its windows that had to be rolled up and down with a hand crank, and even it's lack of air conditioning. The only thing about the car that spoke true to Cress' affluent nature was the custom heavily tinted windows, aside from the windshield, which was only lightly tinted. When looking out her window, Hilda felt as though she was wearing sunglasses. Despite the dark glass, soon Hilda began to see tops of buildings over the trees. Any minute now, the three will be in Nacrene City, and Hilda will get to finally get out of the car.

The moment Cress pulled into a near empty lot and stopped, Hilda swung her door open and jumped out. She stretched her legs, arms, and shoulders. By the time she finished stretching, her body felt light and loose like normal.

"So why are we stopping in Nacrene anyway?" Hilda asked when Cress came up beside her.

"I just have to go meet Lenora. Gonna talk to her about the Gym Leader meet," said Cress. He glanced at the teen girl, then looked around. "Hurry up and get the other one, so I can tell both of you what to do."

Hilda looked to her side, where she expected her brother to be, only for him to not be there. Looking back to the car, she could just make him out through the dark windows, leaning on his door. Hilda sighed and walked over to open his door. The sleeping boy's body slumped out and fell with a thud.

"Bitch..." Hilbert muttered as he slowly brought himself up.

"Wear your damn seat belt," said Hilda. The two began to walk back to Cress. Hilbert brushing any loose dirt off his clothes as he went.

"Now what?" asked Hilda.

"Now, we split up," said Cress. "I'm going to the museum, which is also Lenora's gym, and you two are going to go train. I'll be too busy to watch you personally, but I'm sure you'll be fine. Just head west of here and you should find training spots people use. And stay out of Pinwheel Forest. Alright, any questions?"

"Uh-"

"No questions. Good. Just meet back here in a few hours. Then, we'll begin to head to Castelia," Cress said before walking off. He put on his sunglasses and flipped his hood on. From behind, Hilbert and Hilda gave him rude gestures with their hands before heading to where he told them.

Sure enough, after just walking down the only real road in Nacrene, Hilbert and Hilda found a spot with some trainers. The ground was either mud or grass, and very much wet wherever they looked. Of the dozen or so trainers around, most battled each other, a few exercised with their pokemon, and a couple lazed around on a thick blanket.

"This place sucks," said Hilbert.

"You've been here all of two minutes. You can't just judge a place that quick," said Hilda.

"There's not even any wild pokemon around."

"Well yeah, there's a lot of people here. We'll have to go deeper in the woods to find some. Jeez, you're such a child," Hilda said as she pushed her brother forward. Quickly jogging ahead of him, Hilda turned around and began walking backwards to talk to Hilbert. "You know, I was thinking, why do you think Cress decided to bring-AHH!"

Hilda was cut off as she slipped on an especially wet patch of grass. Her lower backside ending up in a small puddle. The cold water made her lift yourself out as quickly as possible. Drops of the muddy water flowed down the back of her legs, making her shiver at every inch traveled. "Oh, son of a bitch!"

Hilbert said nothing, only laughed at his sister's misfortune. His chuckling turned into howls of laughter when she slipped trying to stand up. What was already wet, the lower part of her shirt and her shorts, were now soaked and most of her back was drenched. If it wasn't for her black vest, everyone would be able to see her back through her now see through tank top. Hilda said nothing as she grabbed Hilbert's arm and pulled him along. She ignored the strangers stares and and snickers. It wasn't until she was well out of sight of the other trainers that she let go of her brother and fell onto her hands and knees. Hilbert heard her cursing under her breath.

"Stop laughing!" shouted Hilda as she glared at her brother.

"What?" said Hilbert, still giggling. "If it was me you would've been laughing this long."

"But it wasn't you, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, yeah. While you're moping, I'ma go look around, maybe train a bit," said Hilbert as he started to take his leave.

"Wait," said Hilda. "Can you leave Houndour with me?"

"What, why?"

"I want to try and use him to dry my clothes."

"Fine."

Hilbert tossed his sister Houndour's ball. When she caught it, he turned and walked past some trees. When he was out of sight, Hilda looked under the ball, to the dried I written in blood. Her face lazed. For a moment, she forgot about her wet clothes. She forgot why she was even holding the ball. The only thing she focused on was the I. The memory of when it was first written flooded her head. She looked up to the direction Hilbert walked off in. Part of her wanted to get up, to not leave him alone. But a drop of water fell onto her calf, snapping her out of her trance.

He must have been walking around for five minutes, yet he never found anything. Hilbert swore he heard bushes rustling many times, yet when he went to look, whatever made the noise had fled. Upon this happening for the sixth time, Hilbert groaned and called it quits. He let himself fall onto his back and, glad he didn't accidentally fall into a puddle, closed his eyes. Figuring Hilda will come looking for him sooner than later, Hilbert tried to nap.

After what felt like, only a few seconds, Hilbert shot up when a pokemon's cry pierced his ears. Getting to his feet, he looked around the clearing to no avail. He heard another cry, this time paying attention to which direction it came from. Sprinting in the sound's direction, he stopped when he stumbled into another clearing. Standing a few yards away, was a blue egg-shaped pokemon. From behind, Hilbert could see it had small, light blue bumps across it's back. On the sides of its head, it had two larger bumps, these with a black stripe around the base. On the small of its back was a flat ovoid tail. It was leaning forward and breathing hard. Parts of the clearing were thrashed. Spots where grass had been kicked up, large unnatural puddles of clear water, and trees missing branches.

Hilbert figured the pokemon had just been in a battle with another wild pokemon. Seeing an opportunity for a new catch, Hilbert brought out his Pokedex.

"Palpitoad: The Vibration Pokemon. When they vibrate the bumps on their heads, they can make waves in water or earthquake-like vibrations on land. This palpitoad is male and currently level twenty-six."

Releasing Pidove into the air, Hilbert turned his eyes onto the blue pokemon. The tiny pigeon pokemon flew into the air and back down with a cheerful cry. Hilbert waited until Pidove was fluttering above him to begin his command.

"Pidove, use Air Cutter!"

"Seed bomb!" shouted a new voice from somewhere out of Hilbert's sight.

Pidove launched his attack, sending sharp winds through the air at the Palpitoad. At the same time, Hilbert saw small, round pellets soar through the air towards Pidove's target. Both the winds and pellets landed at the same time, resulting in an explosion of dirt and smoke. Hilbert had to shield his eyes from the blast.

When the dust settled and the smoke cleared, Hilbert saw the palpitoad, laying face first on the ground. Before he went over to the unconscious pokemon, Hilbert looked to where the other attack came from. Waiting for whoever or whatever sent the attack. He saw a few branches high up in the trees shake, before a little green pokemon appeared. It stared at Hilbert with curiosity. Hilbert, in turn, looked the pokemon up and down. It seemed to be the same height as the palpitoad, maybe a bit smaller. The top of its head seemed to turn into a tiny tree. The bush directly below the branch the pokemon was on began to move, and a boy emerged from the shadows.

"Thanks for the unnecessary help, but I saw that palpitoad first. It's mine," said the boy.

"You battled it?" asked Hilbert.

"I did. It tried running away so me and Pansage here followed it. Your attack was pointless, it was already low enough for us to finish it," said the boy. Something about the way he talked annoyed Hilbert. Something about the way the boy looked also bothered him.

"Well, you should've taken it out sooner. He's mine now," said Hilbert. His voice unwavering.

"Oh, please," said the boy, visibly annoyed. "You barely did anything, I did the most damage and delivered the final blow. Your pidove only made it harder to see the last attack."

"I was able to see it, I didn't have literal trees blocking my view," said Hilbert, his voice and temper rising. "Now back off."

The boy looked Hilbert up and down. A questioning look on his face.

"Say...don't I know you from somewhere?"

"What? I don't know."

"Yeah, I do. From when I got the Trio Badge, back in Striaton."

"Oh...hey, yeah. Now I remember," said Hilbert. Looking over the boy he realized he was Cheren, they boy who had beaten Cress for a badge. He was even wearing the same outfit. A blue coat over a white shirt with an orange Y shape on the front, black dress pants with a matching belt with a silver clasp, blue slip-on shoes, and glasses with orange rims.

"I already captured a tympole. Thought I'd just catch that palpitoad to avoid training something weaker," said Cheren. He turned his head down and put a hand on his chin, clearly in deep thought. "Alright, how bout this. You and I have a quick battle. One pokemon each. Whoever wins, gets the palpitoad."

"Hm..." Hilbert pondered the idea. He did want the pokemon and he did want to beat this guy in a fight. Not having much to lose, he agreed.

The two stood on opposite sides of the clearing. Both had already withdrawn their pokemon, after agreeing to only use Pidove and Pansage. While Cheren had been to one to bring up that rule, Hilbert was grateful for it, since he had forgotten he only had Pidove to fight with. The two boys simultaneously released their pokemon. The pokemon circled each other a few times, before Cheren called the first move.

"Seed Bomb!"

Pansage shot the same little pellets Hilbert saw earlier. None of them hit Pidove, who flew into the air directly above Pansage.

"Air Cutter!" called Hilbert. Pidove flapped his wings as hard as he could, sending cutting winds down at his enemy. The pansage was quick and agile, dodging most of the air blades. However, a few managed to clip him, causing him to lose his footing and trip.

"Pidove, use Air Cutter and then Quick Attack!"

Once more, Pidove flapped his wings and sent down the aerial attack. But before the winds landed, Pidove zoomed down with great speed. Right when both Air Cutter and Pidove were about to land, a red light absorbed Pansage and brought him back into his pokeball in Cheren's hand. All the sharp air crashed into the ground, sending up grass and dirt. Pidove also landed into the new small crater, sitting up dazed.

"What was that for?" said Hilbert. He walked up to Pidove, gave him a quick glance over, and returned him to his ball after seeing he wasn't seriously hurt. He turned back to Cheren. "Why'd you withdraw him in the middle of the fight?"

"Because he was still weak from training. Weaker than I thought he was anyway," said Cheren. "We had been training for a few hours already, so he was still a bit too exhausted to have dodged that attack. He wouldn't have lasted that much longer."

"So that's it? You're just going to forfeit?"

"I don't know why you're getting so mad," said Cheren, stuffing his hands into his coat pockets. "You got the palpitoad. Now, I'm going back into town."

Cheren turned away from Hilbert, who did nothing more than watch as the loser boy left. Just a moment later, Hilbert heard footsteps behind him. Turning around, he saw Hilda walk up to him while looking around.

"What happened here?" she asked.

"Had a battle with someone. They had just battled that pokemon over there."

Hilbert led Hilda to the passed out palpitoad. Hilda placed a hand on the pokemon's back, then removed it when she felt it was still breathing. Pulling out an empty pokeball, Hilbert enlarged it and dropped it on the pokemon. After three shakes, it clicked. His third pokemon. He crouched to pick it up.

"Huh, I guess it was a good thing you stole those pokeballs from Cress," said Hilda. "Oh yeah, here's Houndour."

"Thanks," Hilbert said, grabbing Houndour's ball and sliding it into his pocket. Instead of standing, he fell back to sit. Looking up to the sky, he thought back on his battle and his opponent.

"That guy beat Cress...in an actual Gym battle. So, that must mean he's good. Did I just get lucky? He probably could have beaten me easily if he wanted..."

Hilbert dropped his head between his knees. Lifting it only when Hilda sat behind and against him. He looked back at her with a surprised expression, but instead of meeting his gaze, Hilda was focused on the sky.

"Do you want to go back?" asked Hilda. Her eyes on a passing cloud. Hilbert looked back on the ground.

"Yeah."

A couple hours after leaving the woods, Hilbert and Hilda were sitting on the hood of the car they arrived in. Both eating burgers from a local fast food restaurant. As Hilbert was fixed on his food, Hilda kept her eye on her brother. She could tell from the way he forcefully sipped his soda and aggressively bit his burger that he was troubled. The words she wanted to say were hard to find. Anything she thought in her head just didn't feel right. She kept glancing at Hilbert, only to look back down to her food. All tension Hilda felt didn't waver until Cress came up behind the two.

"Alright, I'm done here. Time to head to Castelia," Cress said. He walked around the twins, and entered the drivers seat of the car. "Also no eating in the car. I'm not driving a whole hour smelling that kind of food."

"Aw, what?" said Hilda. "I barely got to eat anything."

"Then hurry up and finish or throw it away."

Hilda cursed under her breath, then began to wolf down her burger. The only time she stopped was to sip her drink. Cress and Hilbert, who had finished his food before his sister got to eat, were watching the girl. It must've been no longer than two minutes of her nonstop eating. By the time she was done, she had to breathe through her mouth. As good as she thought the food was, she felt sweaty and hot after eating it so fast. After wiping her mouth with a napkin, she took her trash to a trashcan, running back when Cress started the car. When she was inside and her seat belt on, she heard Hilbert chuckle.

"You know, you should go into competitive eating."

"Oh, bite me."

As Cress began to pull out of the lot, Hilda closed her eyes. Her head now resting on the window, she thought about Castelia. 'The City of Grandeur' as she's heard it been called. Ever since she was little, she heard about Castelia. Seeing it on the news, in shows and movies, even in magazines. Despite living for fifteen years, not once has she been to the largest city in her region. She just hoped, that the city will live up to her expectations.