What the Wind Carries [Pokémon Black and White 2 fanfiction]

26| Regrouping

   O-kay..? I was about to ask Hilbert what he was meant when Nate rushed over, saying that we could leave.

   "Can you leave Zorua out? I want her to stay close to me," Hilbert asked quietly, making sure no one else heard him speaking. "F-for the illusion, of course." He hurried those last words.

   "No problem. I don't think she wants to leave your side anyways," Nate responded. "Hey, Illusion sounds like a good nickname. I haven't given one to her yet, and Illusion seems to fit, or Illie for short."

   Zorua yipped in approval, spinning in a circle as she did. Illie it was. We then left the hotel. On our way to the Center, we picked Nightwing up from Rood's house. Her Great Ball had been lost on the Plasma Frigate, and she needed a new one. I ended up using one of my spare Nest Balls but didn't mind. The Pokémon out here were getting too high-leveled anyway.

   When we got to the Center, Nate immediately went inside. However, Hilbert refused to come in with us. "Could you go in without me? I don't want to go inside," he said, not looking at me

   "Why not?" I asked. "Your disguise is working fine."

   "I'm not worried about that, it's this." He held out a slip of paper. On it was a set of numbers written on it in pen. I looked back up at him and saw that his cheeks had taken on a pink hue. "One of the nurses wanted to talk with me after her shift, and I kind of blew her off."

   I stifled a giggle. A girl had given Hilbert her number! I hadn't known him for long, but I could tell Hilbert wasn't too good around people, much less girls. I found his awkward reaction cute. What that a strange thing to say?

   "Okay, that's fine, Aaron." I said, smirking.

   "Thanks." Hilbert turned away from me and sat on a nearby bench, Illie sitting at his feet. He... really was a strange guy, wasn't he? As I was turning around, I heard Hilbert talking to someone. Quickly glancing back, I saw him talking to Illie. Illie would bark or yap, and Hilbert would say something in response. I was confused, the way he was responding to Illie made it seem like... he could understand what she was saying in Pokéspeak. That didn't make sense, Illie wasn't a Psychic-type. How could Hilbert understand her? Whatever, if he wanted to keep some things from us from now, that would be fine.

   I entered the Pokémon Center, already searching for where Nate went. Standing near the Communicators were my brother, Hugh, Hugh's mother, and Lily. I was surprised to see them there.

   "Mrs. Vallance?" I asked. The middle-aged woman looked at me and smiled, flicking her long black hair over her shoulder.

   "Rosa! It's so nice to see you again. When I heard about what happened to you and Nate from your mother, it nearly scared me to death!"

   "It was so scary," Lily said softly. She had tears running down her cheeks. "And after you said that you wouldn't get hurt!"

   "I'm fine, Lily. I won't get hurt again, I promise." Hugh hugged his little sister tightly. I noticed that he was wearing a different jacket than usual. His ripped, red high-collared jacket was now black. It was the exact same kind, just a different color and much newer looking. Lily began sobbing and buried her face in her brother's coat, muffling her sobs.

   "Hugh will be fine," Nate said. "He'll be with me and Rosa."

   Lily pulled away, her face scrunched up. "Do you really promise this time?" she asked.

   "I promise," I said.                     

   By the time we left the Pokémon Center, it had started sleeting lightly. I was even more thankful for my new clothes when I saw the slushy droplets roll off my waterproof coat. We found Hilbert in the exact same place where I left him, only now he had Lucy and Charlotte out. He seemed to be introducing Illie to his Pokémon. He saw us approaching and called his Pokémon back.

   "Ready to go?" he asked. We said yes and he asked me for my Town Map. "We're in Driftveil right now," he pointed to a spot on the map, "and in order to get to Mistralton, we have to go through Route 6 and Chargestone Cave. If we walk nonstop for the rest of the day, we can make it to the cave before nightfall and make camp. Sound good?"

   "Why are we in such a hurry?" Nate asked.

   "Do you want to spend more than one night outside?" Hilbert retorted. No objections there.

                           ~*~*~*~

"Lucky, use Tackle!" I commanded. Lucky crashed into the Deerling, knocking it into the nearby river. The deer-like Grass-type surged up out of the river, ready to charge at Lucky with a Tackle. My Great Ball intercepted its path though, and it was sucked into the ball. One, two, three shakes and the accompanying star. Lucky brought the ball over to me where I was ready to scan it.

   "C'mon, Rosa! We're burning daylight!" Hugh called.

   "I'll be there in a s-second!" I yelled back, slipping the occupied Great Ball into my backpack. While were traveling down Route 6, I thought it would a good idea to do some on-the-fly catching. I hadn't caught every Pokémon on this route and I knew we wouldn't be coming back here anytime soon. With Deerling and Marril added to my collection, I had caught every Pokémon on the route. I ran to catch up with the group, finding myself walking next to Hilbert soon after.

   "You're... really into that Pokédex of yours, huh?" Hilbert said, noticing me fiddling with it.

   "I r-really want to become one of Professor Juniper's assistants. S-so if I complete the Pokédex, she might let me." I flashed him the device's main screen, a ratio of how many Pokémon I'd seen verses how many I'd caught displayed on it. The numbers were 47-106. "Battling isn't my strong suit anyway. I'm t-trying to building my team around stalling and disabling."

   "Disabling? Have you thought about catching an Electric-type? Actually, no. I can do you one better." Hilbert fished a black Poké Ball from his bag, presenting it to me. "This is Charlotte's ball. I... want you to have her."

   My eyes widened. "Hilbert, I can't! Don't you c-care about your Joltik? Wh-why are you trying to give her away?"

   "I have a full team of six, and Lucy and Charlotte make that eight. I was planning on giving another one of my Pokémon to your brother or Hugh. I know that may sound selfish of me, but I don't want to release them or store them in a PC box forever. Design has to spend nearly all of his time cooped up in his ball, and I can imagine what it would be like to spend eternity that way."

   That comment made me think of what I was doing this whole time. Capturing Pokémon and storing them in the PC for Juniper to maybe study them, I now felt bad for doing it. Hilbert saw the look on my face and tried to reassure me.

   "I didn't mean it like that, Rosa. I'm talking about people who catch Pokémon for collector's sake. Professor Juniper treats all sent Pokémon kindly and doesn't make them stay in their Poké Balls."

  I nodded, feeling more reassured about what I was doing. And now with Charlotte, I could possibly accomplish my task quicker and easier! Welcome to the team, Charlotte.