The sun's light was softened by the window curtains as it entered the room. It rested gently on Hilda's face, letting her wake up slowly and at her own pace. Her first night's sleep at the hotel was pleasant. The hotel wasn't quite as lavish as the Milotic back at Striaton, but it was many leagues above the motel. And it was certainly better than most nights back at home. Hilda awoke facing the window, so she turned around to see her brother in the other bed, still asleep.
He lay on his back, his legs spread apart. Between them was Houndour, also on his back. His head turned to rest on his master's leg. The rest of his body lay beside Hilbert's other leg. Hilda chuckled. She always found Houndour cute, no matter what he did. She hoped he'll stay his easy-going self forever.
As she decided to get out of bed, she felt something small and furry touch her leg. The weird feeling made her toss the covers to the foot of the bed to expose what it was. Her fear turned to relief upon seeing Cubchoo. His fluffy white body was curled into a ball. His blue head was turned up, due to Hilda accidentally brushing him with her leg.
"Sorry, Cubchoo," Hilda said with a smile. She rubbed her pokemon's head and his low and rumbly purr let her know he had forgiven her. As she pet him, she heard Hilbert let out a loud groan. Looking over, she saw that Houndour had rolled upright. In the process, her brother got hurt.
"Every time..." said Hilbert. Hilda laughed.
"You could just keep him in his ball at night."
"He gets antsy when I do that. He doesn't like staying in it for that long. Even though everyone else is," with his last sentence, Hilbert locked eyes with Houndour. The pokemon let out a small bark, then hopped from Hilbert's bed to Hilda's. He began sniffing Cubchoo curiously. The ice type allowed it, even sniffing the fire type in return. Hilda smiled at the two, then got up for the bathroom. When out, she saw the pokemon laying together. She sat down on Hilbert's bed, not wanting to disturb their pokemon.
"When did Cress say the event started?" asked Hilbert. He rubbed his leg where Houndour had rolled onto him.
"I think sometime in the evening," replied Hilda. "So, we have a while before we have to do anything."
"Anything you want to do?"
"Hm..."
Hilda thought of any activity the twins could do. But nothing came to mind. She had always seen or heard of events happening in Castelia. Fashion shows, plays, the best restaurants in the region. As much as she wanted to experience at least one of those things, she knew she couldn't. She was sure their age wouldn't be a concern, but they still had almost no money.
The hotel was being paid for by Cress and Hilda had no idea where he was. She didn't feel he would give them any spending money anyway, not without helping him with something first.
"How much money do you have?"
Hilbert reached to the ground and pulled up his pants. He checked each pocket for some cash. When he was done, he had just twelve dollars on him. Hilda wasn't much better. She remembered the day before and how Cress robbed the two gang members with her help. Cress pulled a stack of cash from the jacket he searched, but she only pulled a few bucks. Between the twins they had just twenty-eight dollars. Not a lot to work with.
"Hey, what time is it?" asked Hilbert. Hilda checked her Xtransceiver.
"About nine."
"I think I saw this place serves breakfast until ten. We can start with that," Hilbert got up as he spoke. Hilda turned away since he wasn't wearing his pants.
"I'm down," said Hilda with a smile. Once she turned around, her brother was fully dressed and holding his jacket. A puzzling look was printed on his face. "What's wrong?"
"I'm trying to decide if I want to wear my jacket or not."
Looking at her brother's chest, Hilda thought he looked weird without his jacket on. She had become used to seeing him wear the same blue jacket everyday. Still, she was honest with him.
"I think you look weird without it on," she said as she turned away. She reached down to get her shoes and behind her, out of her sight, Hilbert gave her a stern look. "But if it's at all hot like it was yesterday, you probably shouldn't wear it."
Hilbert shrugged, then placed his jacket on the nightstand beside his bed. Next to it, was an opened pokeball. Grabbing it, Hilbert closed it and pointed it towards his pokemon.
"Houndour, return!"
Houndour looked up to his master, just as a red light enveloped him and brought him back to his ball. Hilda did the same for Cubchoo. The twins then set off for breakfast.
The Persian was a grand hotel, but its price was quite fair. So much so, that there were wealthy businessmen, families, and couples on romantic getaways. Despite the differences between the three, they all stared at the same thing, the two unaccompanied minors sitting at a table. They walked into the room with no parents and throughout their time spent eating, no adult came to claim them. It was also odd that their clothes were a bit dirty as well.
While they all thought it was weird, no one said anything to them. No one asked what their deal was. But they did keep staring. Hilbert and Hilda paid them no mind. They were too focused on their breakfast to notice them.
By the time the two came down, there were a couple empty trays, but there was still a great selection of food. Hilbert had two waffles, stacked on each other, drenched in syrup. Hilda had a medium sized bowl of oatmeal, with berries on top. In addition to the twins' main meals, they also had side dishes. Poffins, eggs, strips of meat, and juice.
Once they were done eating, they threw their trash away and left the room. Never noticing all the stares they got.
"So, what you want to do now?" asked Hilbert once the two were a couple blocks from the hotel.
"I don't know. Not a lot we can do," said Hilda. She looked at the surrounding buildings. She knew the street was mainly for businesses and some higher priced entertainment, such as theater shows and museums. The live shows would be too expensive and the museums didn't sound interesting to her. "We can go to one of the piers."
"Eh. Maybe later. Seems like it would be really cold right now. How bout we just go to the park for a bit?"
"I walked through it a bit yesterday with Cress. Don't really care to go through it again."
The two let out a sigh each and tried to think of something to do. As they walked ahead, a trio of teenagers came towards them. As the three passed, their conversation piqued the twins' interests.
"So after we eat, we'll go see the battle. Alright?" said one of the teens. The other two agreed and they carried on. Though they stopped when someone called to them. They turned to a boy, about their age, with hair that spiked out to the side.
"You guys said something about a battle?" asked Hilbert.
"Yeah. Grimsley of the Elite Four is in the city. He's going to have an exhibition match with someone."
"Do you know where?"
"Up at the Amber Arena in about an hour. It's right in the middle of the park."
Hilbert said nothing more to the teens. He only turned to his sister, an eager expression on his face. Hilda returned the same look. Without any words between them, the two knew what they were going to do.
The walk to the park took a small while, though the twins didn't mind. Despite having pokemon themselves and having battled many times before, they still found excitement for watching other people battle. Even though he met him the day before, and was intimidated by him, Hilbert still wanted to see Grimsley in action. Hilda, never seeing an Elite Four member in person and being jealous of her brother, was as ecstatic as he was.
While she went through the park earlier, not having Cress rush or talk to her made Hilda look at the park differently. She was able to focus on the trees, flower bushes, and art pieces. She didn't notice yesterday that there were numerous statues around.
As the twins got deeper into the park, they saw more and more people. All of whom headed the same direction. Eventually they were walking in a large group. Since they were stuck in the middle, and going the same place anyway, they bared with it. Though Hilbert was swearing at everyone in his mind. Not long after they accidentally joined a group, they arrived.
Neither of the twins knew about the designated battle areas of the city, only learning about them the day before. They certainly had no idea what they looked like. Hilda had pictured something similar to the arenas she would see on TV. Large stadiums that could hold thousands and had no roof. Hilbert imagined something smaller. A sizable venue in the middle of the park, large enough to have some battling but nothing too crazy.
Both were mostly wrong, but with some things right. Hilbert was right with it being a lot smaller. Hilda was right with it having an open roof. Both were wrong when it came to it being any normal form of structure. Instead, when they approached the arena, it was dug out from the ground. A wall only a few feet high surrounded it. The wall appeared to be in a rectangular shape, with the corners rounded. The longest walls seemed to be almost two hundred feet, with the shorter walls being a bit under a hundred.
In the middle of each wall, and on each corner, was an entrance way leading down some stairs. Hilbert and Hilda managed to head in before the arena got too crowded and were able to get a spot near one of the top rows. They weren't close to the battlefield, but due to the arena being its size, they still had a clear view. The only downside was sitting near shoulder to shoulder with strangers.
The seats themselves weren't too comfortable. The top half of the arena was made of smoothed concrete. Near the bottom, it turned into a different material. The ground where the trainers will meet seemed to be natural. There was a white rectangle painted on the stone. Two semicircles laid in the middle of the farthest ends. The middle of the rectangle had a pokeball design. The line separating each half of the ball, extended out to the sides of the rectangle. On the farthest ends of the pit were large entrances leading somewhere.
After a few minutes of waiting, a woman emerged from one of the entrances. She walked to the middle of the arena and turned to the crowd. The audience went silent.
"Ladies and gentlemen, Elite Four member Grimsley will emerge in just a few moments, along with his challenger!"
The quieted audience immediately let out loud cheers. Hilbert was annoyed at the sudden loud noise. Especially with the man who sat right next to him, screaming in his ear. He only became more annoyed with the yelling crowd as it continued for a full minute.
The moment they started quieting down, someone emerged from one of the tunnels. It wasn't Grimsley. Instead it was the challenger. Hilbert and Hilda had no idea who he was. The crowds cheered him on though. It was unclear if it was for recognition or just for support. Wasn't everyday someone got to fight an Elite Four member. He probably needed it.
Only moments later did Grimsley emerge himself. The crowd turned from cheering to roaring. Though the crowd had a much louder reaction, Hilbert didn't mind. It was exciting to see him again. Though he seemed slightly different from yesterday. After a second, Hilbert realized what it was. Grimsley dressed like his normal self. Signature pointed hair, a black, red, and yellow suit, and a long yellow scarf. Yesterday, he wore a plain colored suit and his hair was slicked back. He also wasn't hiding his face behind a mask now.
Hilda gripped her knees tight and leaned in. She never thought she'd be able to witness someone as high profile as Grimsley operate in person. In just a moment, she'll see one of the strongest in Unova battle.
Grimsley stood on one side of the field. His opponent on the other. The announcer from earlier stood equal distance from both. She pointed to Grimsley. Her mouth could be seen moving, but not heard. Grimsley simply nodded in return. She did the same for the unknown boy. He mirrored Grimsley. The announcer brought her chin down, took a deep breath, and turned back to the crowd. This time, she faced Hilbert and Hilda's direction.
"Ladies and gentlemen! All official Pokemon League rules apply for this match, though limited to just one pokemon per fighter! Sir Grimsley's opponent will get to release his pokemon second, as per Challenger's Advantage!" on her last few words, the announcer stepped back. She stopped once she was out of the rectangle. "Now may the battle between Sir Grimsley and Challenger Marlon...begin!"
Once again, the crowd roared. Before they could quiet, Grimsley made the first move by tossing a pokeball. From out of the light, stood a long, quadrupedal, feline-like pokemon, with purple and yellow fur. The crowd's cheer never settled, but it still got louder at the sight of Grimsley's Liepard.
The pokemon took in its surroundings. It eyed the crowd and Grimsley's opponent, before raising its head and hunkering down into a fight ready position. The young man named Marlon studied Liepard. It wasn't until the crowd settled down that he acted. From the pocket of his blue and white pants he tossed a pokeball. Once its light was gone, a blue and black pokemon of a short-medium stature stood. It had long flipper-like arms and a large heavy looking shell on its back.
Some crowd members let out gasps and awes at the sight of it. Hilbert and Hilda had never seen such a pokemon, nor have ever read about it.
Hilbert noticed Grimsley's lips were moving, but was too far to hear anything. Hilda, who stared at the challenger, noticed his lips move after. A second later, the challenger spoke again, this time yelling so his words were heard.
"Carracosta, use Shell Smash!"
The large pokemon tucked its head and fins into its shell, which began to glow white. The shell started to expand. Least, that's what it looked like until cracks formed in the white. From the cracks came red. Until the white shell burst and the carracosta stood shell-less. Instead of its blue color, its entire body was covered in a clear red aura. Hilda thought it looked kind of gross.
"Now, use Aqua Tail!" yelled Marlon.
His pokemon let out a quick cry of its name and water began to form on the tip of its tail. The water started as a small grape-size orb, but quickly grew to be as large as a beach ball. After a second, the liquid flowed downward, encasing carracosta's tail. Battle ready, Carracosta charged at Liepard. Hilbert could barely track the pokemon's movements. It was almost a blur.
Since everyone had been focused on Marlon's pokemon, not many noticed Grimsley's lips had been moving for most of the transformation. His liepard was standing close to him, taking in every word.
Immediately once the enemy began its attack, Liepard ran forward as well. Its front paw glowing a dark purple, almost black, aura as it ran. The carracosta jumped once it had reached the middle of the field, with liepard doing the same. The two pokemon seemed to connect then fall to the ground. Liepard landed on its paws, while Carracosta landed on its back. It's unclear to most of the crowd what had happened.
"What was that!" said some girl a couple rows in front of Hilbert and Hilda. The twins looked down to see a blonde girl in a green hat turning her head at the battle.
"Man, you weren't kidding when you said you needed a mentor," said a purple haired girl sitting next to her. The blonde girl straightened her head and looked at the other girl, who let out a sigh. "After Marlon ordered his pokemon to use Shell Smash, and due to how long it took, Grimsley gave an order to Liepard. From the look of the move, it was clearly Sucker Punch, so even with Carracosta's speed boost, Liepard still hit first."
"Speed boost?"
The girl with purple hair let out another sigh. "Shell Smash is a move that causes the user's defense stats to drop, but raises its speed and attacking stats dramatically. However, Grimsley had ordered Liepard to use Sucker Punch the moment Carracosta attacked. Sucker Punch is a priority move. You do remember what priority moves are, right, Bianca?"
"Yes..." the blonde, Bianca, thought for a moment. "Priority moves cause the user to attack faster than the opponent, even if they're faster."
Hilbert and Hilda listened to the two girls. Hilda wondered who they were and how the purple haired one was so knowledgeable. Hilbert focused on what they said about the different moves used.
"Exactly," said the purple haired girl. "Judging by the hit, Carracosta wasn't expecting it and fell hard. I'm surprised its even getting up."
Hilbert and Hilda snapped out of their thoughts to face the battle once more. While it was a hard hit and fall, the carracosta was still able to lift itself up. Once it stood on its two feet, it jumped away from the liepard. Liepard stood in the middle of the field and Carracosta stood where it started the battle. The two pokemon stared each other down.
"Carracosta, Shell Smash!"
Repeating the same move from earlier, Carracosta began to glow white, however, Liepard didn't just standby and watch again. The purple pokemon looked its opponent in the eye and winked. Carracosta stopped glowing and let out a loud cry. This cry differed from the ones it let out before. It was louder and longer and more forceful. Everyone could see it was agitated.
"Do you know what just happened?" asked the purple haired girl. Hilbert looked down to see the blonde girl quickly answer.
"That was Liepard's Taunt, a move that angers the opponent and causes it to only use attacking moves...right?"
'Only use attacking moves?' wondered Hilbert. His eyes darted back to figure out what she meant.
"Carracosta, use Shell Smash!" ordered Marlon. Despite loyally following its orders before, his pokemon shook its head at him. Instead, it let out another roar and its mouth began glowing white. It charged at Liepard once more. Grimsley's grin grew and he shouted his next order.
"Night Slash!"
Liepard's claws obtained a purple aura once more and it charged at the enemy. Carracosta lunged at Liepard who swiped at its chest. Carracosta's attack missed, but Liepard didn't. The larger pokemon stopped its charge and stumbled back, its eyes closed. Liepard jumped behind it and slashed with both its front paws on the shell. Even with the shell taking the full brunt of the attack, Carracosta tumbled forward from the hit. Its body did not stop until it was on the opposite side of the field. Lying on its back, unmoving, its eyes still closed. The announcer from earlier stepped forward and cleared her throat.
"The battle is now over! The winner...Grimsley!"
For the final time, the crowd cheered loudly. Even Hilbert, who hated expressing himself so publicly, clapped, along with his sister. Once the minute of clapping was over, Grimsley returned Liepard and headed back into the tunnel. Marlon withdrew his pokemon and took his leave as well. However, unlike Grimsley, he walked away with his head and shoulders low.
Once the two battlers were gone, the audience began to take their leave. It took several minutes for the twins to make it out. Once outside the arena, they hung near one of the walls, not wanting to get caught up in another group. As they waited for the crowds to disperse, they talked about their thoughts on the battle.
Despite his previous meeting with Grimsley being rather rough, Hilbert found witnessing a battle between him and Marlon exciting. Hilda agreed with her brother. Though she didn't add that she found both battlers cool in a different way.
As Hilbert was expressing himself some more, Hilda started peering behind him. Most of the crowd was now gone so she was able to see the blonde girl from earlier, just a few yards away. She was talking to the girl she had sat next to during the battle. Since the two were about Hilda's age, she decided to approach them. She said nothing to Hilbert about it, who in turn stopped talking and watched his sister walk away. As Hilda approached, the shorter girl, with purple hair, turned and began to run away before Hilda arrived.
"Uh, excuse me," she said when she was a foot behind the blonde.
"Ah!" said the blonde girl. She lightly jumped when Hilda spoke. Hilda visibly recoiled back. Hilbert laughed to himself. The blonde girl turned to Hilda.
"Sorry! Didn't mean to scare you..."
"Oh, it's alright! I'm just a little jumpy, haha," said the blonde. "What do you need?"
"Well, I overheard you talking with that other girl, during the battle, and are you a trainer?"
"Why yes I am," she said with a smile. "I'm Bianca."
Hilda and Bianca shook hands as Hilda said her name. They smiled at each other for a moment before speaking again.
"So, are you a trainer too?" asked Bianca.
"Not officially. My brother and I have pokemon but we aren't collecting badges or anything."
"I see..." the two girls paused again for a few seconds, both unsure of what to say.
"So, did you want to talk to me about something specific?"
"Oh, yeah! From the way you and that girl talked earlier, it was obvious you're both great trainers."
"That's sweet but I'm not that good. I'm an average trainer at best, haha," Bianca blushed as she spoke. "I would only be able to really teach the basics."
"Honestly, that would be extremely helpful. We never went to a trainer school so we don't know a lot of simpler stuff."
"Don't you have anyone to mentor you?"
"We do. But...well..." Hilda thought about her training sessions with Cress. Most of the time, he teaches her and Hilbert how to get things out of people, mostly with coercion. And most of the battle training was more of learning to battle with a partner and staying calm in a fight. While helpful against any random thug, after watching Grimsley and Marlon, she realized she needs to learn a lot more if she doesn't want to become a statistic. "He's not exactly great."
"Ah, I understand. My father was the first one to teach me, but he barely knew anything about pokemon. Let alone battling."
The girls shared a laugh. When done, Hilda looked down at Bianca's wrist. She was wearing a Xtransceiver the same color as hers.
"Oh, you have a Xtransceiver. Can I get your information?" asked Hilda.
"Sure!" Bianca said happily. The two put each other's numbers in their respective devices. After doing so, Bianca's Xtransceiver beeped. She read the incoming message and let out a small sigh. "I'm sorry, but I have somewhere I need to be right now."
"Oh...well, will you be busy tomorrow?"
"A little, but I should have a few hours free. You?"
"I think I'm free all day."
"Then let's meet up here tomorrow, at this time."
"Perfect!"
Bianca started to walk away, and the two girls waved at each other, until they could no longer see each other. Happy to have met someone, and finally having another girl friend, Hilda turned to get her brother.
"So, what you talk to Blondie about?" Hilbert asked when his sister got to him.
"Her name's Bianca and just normal stuff. But tomorrow I'm meeting up with her to hang out."
"Have fun with that. But you should be careful with her. Remember the last girl you became friends with?"
"Look I don't plan on stealing anything from her, alright?"
"Alright," Hilbert chuckled. The two walked away from the arena and continued their talk about the battle they witnessed. Eventually they started talking about their own pokemon. Then their past, before having even Houndour. They don't know how long they walked or talked, since neither checked the time until they were interrupted.
"And then Mom came in all mad and screaming her head off, like 'Why is Hilbert on the roof!'" Hilda said as she and Hilbert laughed. "I just remember going out and seeing you laying on the roof like you were trying to sleep."
"I was trying to. I would've done it too if Dad didn't come out."
"Oh, yeah. He was taking a nap when Mom came home. He came out all confused and slow."
Just as Hilda finished her sentence, Hilbert's Xtransceiver began buzzing. He looked to see that Cress was calling him.
"Hello?" he said after answering.
"Where are you two?" asked Cress.
"In the park. Why?"
"Just come back to the hotel. Need to tell you both a couple things for later."
Cress hung up before the twins could say more. Though they wanted to walk around the park more, they began to head back to the hotel anyway.
By the time they got back, there was only a couple hours before the event. Cress was waiting for the twins in their room. Hilda was surprised to see him when entering. Hilbert wondered how he got in.
"About time," said Cress.
"It takes a while to get around in this city. Especially without a car," said Hilda.
"Get a car then."
"We can't drive."
"Then stop complaining," Cress stood up and pointed at Hilbert. "You, you're coming with me. And you, stay here until we get back."
"Where we going?"
"Don't worry about it."
Cress ushered Hilbert quickly out the door and pushed him out the room. After telling him to go ahead and hold the elevator for him, Cress went to talk to Hilda.
"There's something in the bathroom for you, try it on while we're gone. It's what you need for the event. By the time I get back, you and I will have to leave not long after."
"Okay."
Cress looked at Hilda for a few seconds. Hilda could tell he had something to say. Though she didn't know what it was, since he turned around and left the room before speaking a word. Cress went down the hallway and saw Hilbert in the elevator. He was keeping his arm up so the doors won't close, despite a family of three sharing the space with him. They were clearly annoyed at the teen who refused eye contact, though they said nothing. Once at the elevator, Cress looked at Hilbert and spoke.
"You know, it seems a bit crowded. I'll get the next one."
Hilbert brought his arm down and pressed the lobby button. His eyes were unblinking while he glared at Cress as the doors slowly closed. Cress snickered to himself.
Upon entering the bathroom, Hilda saw a rectangular white box on the counter. It was wrapped around with a couple strips of black ribbon. Undoing the ribbon, she opened it. Laying among light blue tissue paper, was a black garment. It was until she took the item out that she saw it was a dress.
Hilda's eyes went wide and her mouth began to gape. She had never held a dress before, let alone got to wear one. Holding it by the shoulders, she let the dress unfold itself and held it to her body. Looking in a mirror she got an idea how it'll look. Though she quickly tossed away her hat after realizing it didn't match at all.
As much as she wanted to immediately put on the dress, she felt she couldn't. She ran her hand across her forehead and hated the feeling. She was so tired when she got to the hotel last night that she didn't shower. Gently setting the dress back in the box and taking the box into the room, she went back and took a quick, but thorough, shower. When she got out and felt much better, she retrieved the dress.
She was quite careful when putting it on. Worried she'll rip the seams if she was too rough. Luckily she didn't have that issue. While it did fit her, it was a size or two too big. The waist especially was a bit loose. Though it wasn't slipping off her shoulders or anything, so Hilda considered it to fit.
Once the dress was on. Hilda faced the mirror and opened her eyes. Her eyes widened once more. The dress looked even more amazing than when she was just holding it. She began to stand up straighter, to keep the dress itself straight and unwrinkled.
A lot of thoughts ran through Hilda's head.
She thought about how formal this event will be. She thought about how Cress had to buy her a dress and went off only eyeballing her for measurements. She found it impressive he was only a little off. Despite her shady relationship with him, him being her boss and having her do illegal stuff all the time, she was sure to take him later.
Seeing herself in a dress also made her think of her past. Staying home all day with Hilbert. The last few years of her life were hell. She and her brother had no friends, due to them all moving away to mostly better neighborhoods. They never got enrolled in higher education to become trainers like they wanted, since their parents didn't want to pay for it. Plus they were left alone almost everyday. And the days their parents were with them, they would get yelled at or hit for the smallest of reasons.
In spite of all that. Even with her shitty upbringing. Here she was, in a nice hotel, in Castelia City, wearing a dress and getting ready to go to an event filled with gym leaders. She even made a friend.
She knows it's mostly just luck she's at where she's at. But still, her life is improving for the better and she won't let anything take that away from her.
Finished this one way faster than the last. Hope you enjoyed.
~~~Sikoh