The Heist
Ash and his friends arrived in Nacrene City in the late evening hours, the group decided to head on to the Pokémon Center since there was little point in finding the Gym as the Gym Leader would be closing up shop soon. Nacrene City was a bit smaller than Striaton City, but that was partially due to Nacrene City lacking a park. There was still a fair amount of apartment buildings and houses but a distinct lack of Pokémon labs. Train tracks could be seen at the southern end of town, leading towards a subway station.
"Hey Cilan, where is the Gym anyways?" Ash asked as the group neared the city's center, where the Pokémon Center could be seen along with a smoothie shop and the city's museum.
"Right there actually," Cilan pointed towards the museum. "She runs double duty as the Nacrene Museum's Caretaker."
"Her?" A goofy expression formed upon Brock's face. If she was running the museum along with the Gym then she had to be at least eighteen, things were looking up for the ol' Brockster.
"Don't get your hopes up, I heard she's married." Cilan stated.
"Ugh!" Brock face faulted while Croagunk uttered out his usual laughter, he was going to jab Brock but there was no need as Cilan already crushed his dreams. Croagunk grabbed hold of his trainer and began dragging him off while the others sweated.
"Where does he take him?"
"We don't-N?!" Hilda exclaimed upon turning to see who asked that question. Hilda's heart began to race and her body began shaking from excitement as hearts filled her eyes.
"Hello Hilda, I had a feeling this would be where I'd find you seeing how Ash is participating in the Unova League." N commented, giving Ash a light nod before focusing his attention on Hilda. "I must admit you've been on my mind ever since we first met, which is quite unusual. This may come off as being a little sudden but... do you believe in love at first sight?"
"Yes!" Brock made a quick recovery and raced up to shout simultaneously with Hilda.
"No." Cilan stated while Ash remained silent.
Hilda was blushing a violent shade of red while N rubbed his arm as a nervous expression formed upon his face. "Would you like to go on a date?"
"Yes!" Hilda eagerly exclaimed while Brock face faulted.
"She joins the group and gets a date within four weeks while I've been single for seven years." Brock groaned.
"You sure about this, Hilda? We barely know him." Ash spoke with concern.
"Mind your business!" Hilda snapped causing Ash to flinch, she was still cross with him for scaring off her brother when she was getting through to him. She knew Ash meant well but she wasn't happy about it.
"How about the Nacrene Musuem?" N suggested. "It's open for another hour and we can go to the smoothie shop afterwards."
"That sounds good to me!" Hilda eagerly exclaimed while turning towards the group. "I'll see you all later!"
"There sure are a lot of paintings of Bug types." Hilda commented. The walls were practically filled with paintings of Bug types such as Sewaddle, Swadloon, Leavanny, Venipede, Whirlipede, Scolipede, Dwebble, Crustle, and some unfamiliar ones such as a Bug that resembled a knight and another that resembled a vigilante.
"Ah those were actually painted by a local artist, or former local artist I should say." The tour guide chuckled. He was a middle aged man with balding brown hair, he squinted behind his glasses as he pointed throughout the museum. "Burgh generously donates his paintings to us whenever he switches out those within his Gym."
N wasn't paying him much mind, his gaze rested upon a skeleton that resembled a Dragonite. He narrowed his eyes at the sight while his hands clenched. "That shouldn't be here. Those are bones."
"Actually sir, only the skull is authentic!" The tour guide spoke. "The rest of the skeleton is uh, fake."
"My point remains, it should be buried and treated with respect." N spoke while other spectators began to stare at them.
"Please sir, I respect your opinion but don't make a scene." The tour guide pleaded while N was visibly ticked.
"Okay, moving on." Hilda grabbed N's arm and dragged him away before N could continue. The pair soon came across an exhibit which contained a mysterious circular white object which was labeled 'Mysterious White Relic'.
"It says it was found in the Desert Resort, wonder what it does." Hilda mused.
N stared at the object in silence for a moment before shifting his eyes back and forth while looking quite anxious. "You mind if we go and get smoothies? I'm quite parched."
"Sure!" Hilda beamed, his anxious appearance not phasing her as they left the museum.
"Well that was quite interesting," Cilan mused as the pair left.
"He's a bit odd but I don't think there's any need to be concerned about him." Brock stated. "If he had ill intentions, he'd have just taken her back to the Pokémon Center or somewhere private."
"Maybe you're right." Ash shrugged while watching N and Hilda leave the museum. "Excuse me a second." He spoke while making his way towards the various paintings as he began scanning them with his Pokedex.
"Okay so the museum's security system is way too technical for us to pull off a night job." Chase spoke while sitting across from Brooke and Brick in the exact same smoothie shop they used to plan their previous heist.
"Isn't our lord wealthy?" Brooke questioned.
"He is but pulling off a job like that will bring too much attention, nobody knows that the 'Mysterious Relic' is really the Light Stone. Well as far as we know anyways." Chase explained while flipping a coloring page over before proceeding to draw a rough layout of the museum that came off as a child's drawing due to his lack of skill. "Okay that is the Light Stone, the round circular stone with several henges in it. We don't want to steal anything else, it'll just draw too much attention to us."
Brick gave a thumbs up while Brooke silently stared at the drawing. "So what does the Light Stone do again?" She asked.
"I'm afraid that's classified." Chase simply spoke with a firm shake of his head.
"Aw." Brooke pouted while looking away from him.
Across the smoothie parlor, N and Hilda were seated across from each other. "I must say that it's been quite the eventful day, Hilda."
"I had fun too," Hilda stated with a fond smile, she could have done without people staring at them but N wasn't like most people. There was something different about him, something special. "Maybe we could...?" She twiddled her fingers together while looking towards his lips.
"Kiss?" N guessed. He looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding in response to her suggestion. "Sure."
The two leaned forward and closed their eyes, their lips parted as they prepared to kiss. Their lips mere centimeters away from each other when Brooke suddenly called out.
"Hello my lord, it's good to see you!" She waved. Chase scoffed and quickly pulled her out the door, not processing the fact that Hilda was right there.
Hilda saw red and immediately pulled back before delivering a large slap that knocked N out of his seat, the slap echoing across the entire smoothie parlor. Fortunately, the only person left was the cashier and they immediately ran to the back in fear. "I don't get paid enough to deal with this!"
"You're with them?!" Hilda spat while N simply looked up in shock.
"Yes? You never asked if I was." N stated while rubbing his cheek. "That's going to hurt in the morning for sure..."
"Then you had something to do with my brother, that's what!" As cute as she found him, she loved her brother far more. "And to think I almost kissed you!"
"Your brother...? What are you on about?" N groaned, attempting to stand back up only for Hilda to hit him again.
"Your organization kidnapped and brainwashed my brother, likely holding his Pokémon hostage somewhere too." Hilda growled.
"What does your brother even look like? If you bear a resemblance, I assure you that I've never met him in my life." N spoke truthfully.
"Then why did she call you her lord? You'd have to be pretty high ranking to have that title, I call Tauros." Hilda gave him a light kick. "Let him go, I want my brother back! He's the only family I have left!"
"Hilda, I assure you I have no idea what you're talking about!" N shouted before coughing out. "Believe me, I have no idea what you're talking about!"
Hilda narrowed her eyes as she glared into his eyes. His eyes stared directly into hers and didn't waver, but she wasn't having it. "You're lying, there's no way you couldn't have known. And even if you didn't, you're still part of that organization. Stay the hell away from me!" She turned and raced out of the smoothie parlor while N called after her.
"Hilda please come back! I can... I can help you..." N hung his head, he understood how Hilda could have felt used but he genuinely did like her and never intended to mislead her. There were several women within the organization such as Anthea and Concordia, whom Ghetsis intended on becoming N's concubines so their 'legacy would live on' but he never felt the emotions that he felt towards Hilda until he met her. N genuinely did love Hilda and he didn't care if she was over him, he was determined to get down to the bottom of this no matter what. If he was successful in reuniting her with her brother and she still wanted nothing to do with him, he'd leave her be. He just didn't want things to end on such a sour note. "I swear, I'll help you. Whatever it takes I'll help you get your brother back."
Hilda didn't tell the others about N yet, there were too many emotions involved and she didn't feel like telling them everything that went down. Brock could tell that they broke up though and had offered her a shoulder to cry upon as he'd been there too many times, she'd spent a good two hours crying before leaving his side to cry herself to sleep. She was done crying when she woke up but her eyes were red and bags were under her eyes as she hadn't slept well the previous night either.
She barely spoke a word over breakfast apart from thanking Brock and Cilan, the boys all decided to let her be for now as Brock told them she just needed some time to herself. So they decided to head on out to the Nacrene Museum so Ash could have his Gym battle.
"Welcome to the Nacrene Musuem, how may I help you?" The tour guide asked with a smile as the group arrived. "Oh, you four again." Hilda cast the others a questioning look but remained silent.
"I've come to challenge the Gym Leader to a battle! Is she around?" Ash asked.
"Yes actually, my wife's downstairs doing paperwork so I'm sure she'll appreciate a distraction." The tour guide laughed while Brock face faulted.
"Of course she's married!" Brock groaned.
"I'm sure you'll find somebody eventually, Brock!" Ash patted his shoulder while helping him back to his feet. The group followed the tour guide downstairs where a large amount of bookshelves could be seen lining up the walls, the subjects of which were too complicated for Ash to understand as he wasn't exactly intelligent if it wasn't related to Pokémon. A large battlefield could be seen in the basement's center while on the far end a woman could be seen writing at her desk. She appeared to be mid-age or possibly a few years younger than her husband, she had dark skin and teal colored eyes which matched her long hair which was tied upward. Her attire was quite fitting for an archeologist, wearing grey cargo pants along with a tan pocketed shirt.
Lenora looked up upon hearing footsteps and a smile formed upon spotting her husband. "Hawes, are they all challengers?"
"Just the boy and his Pikachu I'm afraid." Hawes chuckled.
"I see," Lenora stood up and made her way towards the group. "Pleasure to meet you, I'm Lenora the Gym Leader and caretaker of the Musuem. Who are you?"
"I'm Ash Ketchum and this is my buddy Pikachu!"
"Pi Pikachu!"
"My name's Hilda." Hilda spoke in a lower tone than the rest.
"Cilan."
"The name's Brock!" Brock made no attempt at flirting with her, he had no interest in getting a married woman's attention. If they cheated for him then they'd cheat on him, he wanted something permanent and long lasting.
"I thought that was you, Cilan." Lenora nodded towards the former Gym Leader. "Well Ash, are you ready to start our match? You only have one badge so this will be a two against two match up."
"I'm ready!" Ash excitedly exclaimed.
Lenora smirked and beckoned for him to follow her onto the battlefield while Hawes took his place upon the sideline. "This battle will be a two on two matchup with one substitution allowed on each side. As soon as either side is unable to continue battling, the battle will come to an end. Alright you two, you may release your first Pokémon on my mark. Get set... and GO!" He shouted while throwing his arms up into the air.
"Snivy, I choose you!" Ash shouted.
"Herdier, I'm counting on you!" Lenora shouted while tossing a ball into the air.
"Woof!" A dark blue and brown colored schnauzer Pokémon burst out onto the field and growled out as it laid eyes upon Snivy.
"Snivy!" Snivy raised her head while giving Herdier a smug look.
"Whose that Pokémon?" Ash asked while pulling out his Pokedex.
"Herdier the Royal Dog Pokémon, Herdier is a very smart and friendly Pokémon. So much so that there's a theory that Herdier was the first Pokémon to partner with people."
"Use Tackle!" Ash shouted out.
"Sni!" Snivy cried out as she shot across the field, slamming her head against her opponent's side and knocking him off balance. Herdier grunted as he shot back to his feet.
"Bite!"
"Use Vine Whip to launch yourself into the air!" Ash shouted out.
"Snivy!" Vines grew beneath Snivy's arms and pushed down upon the ground, slinging her into the air and allowing her to drop down upon her opponent. "Sni!" She cried out as her legs crashed down against his back.
"Fire Fang!" Lenora shouted.
"Woof!" Flames ignited around Herdier's flames as he shot around, chomping down on Snivy's arm.
"Snivy!" Snivy cried out from the fiery touch.
"Magical Leaf!"
"Sni!" Glowing green leaves shot out from her body and flew towards her opponent, repeatedly striking against him.
"Woof..." Herdier groaned out before collapsing onto his side as swirls formed within his eyes.
"Herdier is unable to continue battling, Snivy is the winner!" Hawes shouted out.
"Way to go, Snivy!"
"Pi Pikachu!"
"Snivy!" Snivy raised her head while continuing to wear a smug expression.
Lenora recalled Herdier and placed the ball back upon her belt before reaching for another ball which she enlarged before tossing it up into the air. "Watchog!"
A tall brown meerkat that greatly resembled Patrat burst onto the battlefield, his eyes looked quite hypnotic as he stared down his opponent. "Watchog..."
"Watchog the Lookout Pokémon, using luminescent matter, it makes its eyes and body glow and stuns attacking opponents."
"Retaliate!"
"Watchog!" Watchog lunged at his opponent, pinning her against the ground before performing a powerful headbutt that knocked her unconscious.
"Sni!" Snivy groaned out as swirls formed within her eyes.
"Snivy's out just like that?" Hilda questioned.
"Retaliate is quite powerful if you use it directly after one of your Pokémon faints." Brock explained.
"It's quite situational though so not many trainers are willing to dedicate a move slot for the move." Cilan stated.
"Snivy return, you did great out there and deserve a long rest. We'll wrap things up here," Ash grabbed hold of a ball and tossed it into the air. "Farfetch'd I choose you!"
"Farfetch'd!" Farfetch'd cried out as he burst onto the field.
"Use Sand Attack!"
"Far!" Farfetch'd kicked up some sand, flinging it at Watchog's ear causing tears to fall out as his accuracy lowered.
"Watchog..."
"Hypnosis!"
"Close your eyes and use Aerial Ace!" Ash shouted out.
"Farfetch'd." Farfetch'd close his eyes as Watchog's eyes began swirling intensely. The bird listened for Watchog's breath before taking flight, soaring across the field before slamming into his opponent and knocking him onto his back.
"Hyper Fang!" Watchog's fangs grew longer and sharper as he lashed out, sinking them into Farfetch'd. Farfetch'd uttered out a loud shriek upon being dealt a critical hit, his breath began to grow heavy as he leered at his opponent.
"Fury Cutter!" Ash shouted out.
"Farfetch'd!" His leek glowed bright green as he lashed out, repeatedly striking it against Watchog's body.
"Watchog..." Watchog groaned out, his body began teetering back and forth before collapsing backwards as his eyes reduced to swirls. "Hog..."
"Watchog is unable to continue battling, Ash Ketchum is the winner!" Hawes declared while raising an arm as he declared Ash the winner.
"Pi Pikachu!" Pikachu excitedly cried out.
"Alright, we won!" Ash shouted out.
"Farfetch'd!"
Lenora reached into her pockets, producing a badge that resembled the spine of a brown book as she made her way towards Ash. "Congratulations Ash, you've earned the Basic Badge. You fought well and with an amazing strategy, I'm sure you'll get far in the Unova League."
Ash thanked Lenora as he took the badge from her, turning back towards his Pokémon as he held the badge above his head. "Alright, we just got the Basic Badge!"
"Pi Pikachu!"
"Farfetch'd!" Farfetch'd exclaimed while Ash and Pikachu did their signature pose.
Alarms began ringing throughout the museum while red lights shined brightly within the basement.
"What's going on?!" Ash shouted out.
"Something's going wrong." Hawkes glanced up with an anxious expression.
"A burglary." Lenora clenched her fists.
"Team Rocket!" Ash instinctively shouted out as he raced out the stairs, however when he got back to the main lobby he saw the Team Plasma trio making a mad rush for the door. The Dragonite skull wasn't anywhere in sight causing Hilda to groan out.
"He really is with them." She sighed out.
Brock and Cilan noticed and shared grim expressions as they realized why Hilda and N broke up. Ash paid little mind though as he chased Team Plasma out the door. Chase felt his pockets with a smirk before showing a look of alarm upon noticing the Dragonite skull beneath Brooke's arm.
"Why are you holding that?! I told you we weren't to steal anything else!"
"I saw those annoying do gooders go in, we can give them this and keep them off our tail if they happen to corner us." Brooke casually explained.
"Hmp, good idea." Chase gave a light nod, unaware of her true intentions for doing so. "We can lose them in Pinwheel Forest, the forest stretches out for miles and has little light source. There's no way the twerps will catch us this time so we can sell that thing for cash."
Brick narrowed his eyes at the bone, not feeling right stealing or selling it.
"What's wrong? Purrloin got your tongue?" Chase gave off a mocking smirk causing Brick to scowl as he raced alongside him.
"Team Plasma, get back here!"
"Pi Pikachu!"
Team Rocket and Wobbuffet were incognito and standing in the crowd that separated as Team Plasma and Ash rushed past.
"Feels good to not have him chasing us for a change." Meowth commented.
"Agreed." Jessie and James spoke simultaneously.
"Wobbuffet!"
"Ash, slow down!" Hilda shouted, lagging slightly behind the others as she wasn't as athletic.
Two Pokémon that greatly resembled characters from an educational children's show were sparring punches with each other when Chase barreled in between them, knocking them off their feet.
"Sawk!"
"Throh!" The two Fighting types shook their fists after him before quickly ducking as Brick leaped past them.
"Sorry!" Brooke called out to the pair, athletically backflipping over them. Brick noticed and raised his brow.
"Huh," Ash commented, her movements briefly distracted him causing him to trip over Sawk and Throh. "Oof."
"Sawk!"
"Throh!" The two Fighting types quickly sprang up and began punching Ash, thinking he did it on purpose like Chase had.
"Pikachuuuu!" Pikachu shot off a warning shot of lightning causing the two to back off, their hands raised above their heads.
"Sorry about that..." Ash nervously chuckled, giving a quick bow before chasing after Team Plasma while the two glared after him.
Chase looked back after roughly an hour of running, he was quickly growing tired of it as Ash was annoyingly persistent. "Forget this," He reached into his pocket and handed the Light Orb to Brick. "Take this and run. We'll distract him."
Brick silently nodded and raced on ahead after pocketing the orb, Ash shot around the corner and saw Brick running off empty handed while Brooke and Chase were staring him down while holding the Dragonite Skull.
"Hey cutie!" Brooke giggled out.
"Ketchum, we meet again and you're alone this time." Chase smirked. "Not even you can handle both of us at once!"
"Yeah." Brooke giggled out. "Roserade, time to play!"
"Roserade!"
"Sneasel, you're up!"
"Snease!" Sneasel sharpened his claws as he burst out.
Ash clenched his fists as Sneasel and Roserade stared him down.
"Okay Pikachu, let's do this! Use Thunderbolt!"
"Pikachuuuuu!" Pikachu's cheeks sparked as he sent a powerful bolt of electricity towards Sneasel and Roserade, blasting the two off their feet and shooting electricity through their veins.
"Rose!"
"Snease!" The two cried out.
"Night Slash!" Chase shouted out with a venomous tone.
"Snease!" Sneasel's claws glowed bright purple and black as he leaped across the field, lashing at Pikachu before stabbing his stomach.
"Chaaaa!" Pikachu cried out.
"Petal Blizzard!" Brooke sang out while spinning in place.
"Roserade!" Petals formed and spiraled around Roserade before flinging towards Pikachu, pelting his body.
"Volt Tackle!" Ash shouted out.
"Pika..." Pikachu groaned out as the blue electricity began flickering in his cheeks once more. The blue electricity then engulfed his body as he shot across the field, a burst of blue electricity shot off as he made contact with his opponents causing Sneasel and Roserade to cry out in pain as electricity flowed through them.
"Rose!"
"Snease!"
"What was that?!" Ash gasped out.
"Pika...?" Pikachu formed a shocked expression as Hilda, Cilan and Brock finally caught up.
"Whoa, I didn't know Pikachu could do that!" Cilan gasped.
"Neither did I." Brock stated while giving Pikachu a silent look.
"What the...?" Chase appeared to recognize the attack but he sure wasn't going to give that information away for free.
"Roserade..." Roserade suddenly collapsed as swirls formed within her eyes.
"Return!" Brooke swiftly recalled Roserade while Chase enlarged another ball.
"Tyranitar!"
"Tyra!" The large dinosaur roared out while leering down towards Pikachu.
"Snease!" Sneasel crossed his arms as he sneered at his opponent.
"Hyper Beam!" Chase shouted out.
"Tyra!" Tyranitar began charging up an orange-yellow energy beam as a figure leaped between Pikachu and Tyranitar, their arms outstretched causing Chase to flash a look of alarm.
"Shoot up, shoot up! Don't hit him!"
"N?!" Ash exclaimed upon spotting the green haired individual. "What are you doing here?!"
"N!" Hilda spat out while Brock and Cilan silently glared at him.
"Two against one isn't a fair match up." N scolded while shaking his head at the two Plasma agents. Brooke hung her head while Chase gritted his teeth.
"My lord, you don't understand he-"
"Stopped you from doing something illegal?" N stared at the Dragonite Skull for a moment before giving Brooke a nod. "Go with my blessing."
Brooke nodded while forming a large smirk as soon as her back was turned to them.
"Oh no you don't!" Ash tried to race after Brooke but N quickly grabbed his arm.
"That skull doesn't belong in a museum, I assure you that I'll make sure they get a stern talking to back at base."
"You really are with them!" Brock growled out.
Cilan remained silent as he'd never met N before.
"I was hoping that I was wrong about you but I can clearly see I was right, those three are partners with my brother!" Hilda shouted while pointing her finger towards him accusingly. "What did you do to him?!"
"Your brother-?! But he's not-" N went pale as he realized who Hilda was talking about. He never saw the knight's face but recalled seeing him around the Castle at times. The timeframes started making sense as Hilda said he disappeared around seven years ago. "Oh." N took a deep breath upon realizing how bad it looked. There was no way that Hilda would ever give him another chance now but he'd do his best to fix things for her and her brother's sake.
"My lord, we must get out of here." Chase grabbed N's hand. "We can't linger any longer."
"You're right." N nodded.
"You're not going anywhere, Eevee use Shadow Ball!" Hilda hissed out.
"Eevoi!"
"Snease!" Sneasel lunged forward and quickly slashed Eevee, knocking her off her feet before she could even fire the attack. N uttered out a whistle while Ash called out.
"Pikachu use Thunderbolt!"
"Pika..." A black and red blur suddenly leaped down from the tree, snatching both Chase and N up before springing back into the tree.
"Ark..." A Zoroark stared down at the group for a brief second before leaping from tree to tree, N and Chase upon his back as he quickly leaped out of sight.
"No!" Ash gritted his teeth out of frustration as Team Plasma had gotten away again.
N was out in his garden beyond Plasma Castle, giving the Dragonite skull a proper burial while Ghetsis 'attended to' the Plasma trio as per his request.
"You three did a great job as usual." Ghetsis spoke, giving the three an approving nod. "Unfortunately, though it appears that the Light Stone is a fake."
"What?!" Chase growled out. "That's impossible, there wasn't anything else there! I made sure of it, I-"
"Silence!" Ghetsis slammed his cane against the ground causing Chase to gulp as Sneasel was forced back into his ball. "You should find yourself fortunate as not even I knew until you brought it here!"
"It appears that much like the Dark Stone was forged into the sword our knight carries around, something similar occurred to the Light Stone." Colress spoke while adjusting his glasses. "Now what it could be, we have no idea. We don't even know who the other 'Hero' is."
"The knight is clearly the Hero of Ideals but he's been unsuccessful in summoning Zekrom. Nobody else could make it wield lightning like he does." Ghetsis stated. "That's why we're seeking out the Light Stone, having the Dark One bond with either of them is crucial to m-our plans." He rubbed his palms together as a sinister glint appeared in his eye.
Brick and Brooke looked unsettled while Chase flashed a smirk. "Excellent, Giovanni won't know what hit him!"
Brooke shot Chase a look. She had no idea who the guy was as the only data she could find was that he was Zach's former companion and studied to become a Dark type Master. In fact there was nothing on him before he joined up with Zach and Skyla. Just who was this guy and why did he have a bone to pick with Giovanni of all people? Most of Team Plasma were former street thieves like Brick or people who genuinely believed in the cause like the Shadow Triad but Chase didn't appear to be either one of those despite his dark tendencies.
I always loved when the bad guy got away, that's why Team Plasma essentially 'wins' most the time. Even if it's Jigglypuff, the knight or N saving them from Pikachu's wrath for the most part. I'm unsure if Hilda will end up with N, while I was writing the argument dialogue it felt like Hilda would have wrote him off entirely since she genuinely thinks he is part of the 'bad' part of the organization.