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oops-prow-did-it-again · 4 years

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Pokémon Retold: Hidden Grottos - Whispers in the Dark (1)

Pokémon Retold (series) on AO3

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Some conversations between Hil and N.

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Timeline: ~5 years after Black 2

Setting: Unova

Notes: So I had a few ideas that I wanted to write, but none of them really had a plot, it was more just “hey I want these characters to talk about X thing,” so that’s what “Whispers in the Dark” oneshots are gonna be. No real plot, just two characters rambling at each other. This particular one is fluffy again, though there are some mentions of blood/violence (recollections of the past on N’s part). And of course, it’s a little long since I just kinda let myself go and write as much as I wanted lol.

Characters: Hilbert (Hil), N, Noodle and Hil’s other pokémon, N’s Zoroark

Prerequisite Reading: Black, Black 2

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It was only about seven in the evening, and as such, N was finished with all tasks he had piled up for the day. He and Hil were back in Unova for the time being, and would be for quite a while, thanks to turbulent disagreements over some new laws that he and Hil had fought to get into place (regarding the breeding and keeping of shiny pokémon… that entire process had been headache-inducing, and N had gotten angry about it more than his fair share of times, so he didn’t particularly want to think about it anymore that day). All he really could think about was how depressing it was that pokémon rights activism—the kind that simply pushed for better living conditions for pokémon with humans, not to treat pokémon exactly like humans or whatever ideals Team Plasma had shoved down his throat for him to spew back out at the populace—had been so severely damaged by Team Plasma’s name. The public was suspicious of proposals aimed at bettering the lives of pokémon and could be vocally distrustful of their proponents, as if instinctively convinced there had to be more to it than simply wanting to help pokémon.

He knew he wasn’t innocent in the cause, either; sure, he had never wanted to hurt anyone, and had been raised in a veil of lies to make him see the world in such a light, but he had been the one to raise the castle from the ground around the Pokémon League. There were still entire routes around it that were closed due to rockslides, and the area immediately surrounding the main Pokémon League building was off-limits due to fears over the instability of the ground, despite the country’s efforts to restore its integrity. It hurt to call it what it was, but that had been a terrorist attack on the Pokémon League. The physical and mental scars from his stay in Team Plasma as their ‘King’ were very just that: scars that would always be visible, even if they faded over time.

He jolted upright in the chair he was sinking into when he heard the front door click. Hil had left earlier that day to talk to Gym Leader Drayden, as well as other high-ranking officials in Opelucid City, as it was one of the most vocally displeased with the new laws. He had told N that he had just wanted to see if he could see what exactly the people there had an issue with, or if it was just flat-out paranoia causing the issues. When the door opened, Hil staggered in and then slammed it behind him, leaning back against it and groaning. “Opelucid’s still such a mess,” he whined. “Yeah, Gym Leader Drayden had actual concerns, but I still have no idea what the police chief woman, whatever her name was, was trying to tell me. I had to get her to write it down to see if Church or Nathan or somebody can decipher her language.”

“Mm,” N laughed softly, “it was that bad, was it?” Truthfully, he was elated that Hil was back, and he restrainedly got up out of the chair to go greet him. He really just wanted to dart over and hug him, but he had difficulty allowing himself not to be so mindful and composed of his own movements (even after so much time, proper ‘etiquette for a king’ was still instinctual to him, beaten into his head by the various Sages as he had gotten older. “A King does not run around like a child,” he remembered specifically being chided at one point. At another, after he had excitedly pumped his fist at finally grasping some concept that had been eluding him in a math workbook, “Stop that. People don’t respect someone that so childishly celebrates themselves.”).

At his approach, Hil casually leaned forward and wrapped his arms around him, leaning against his chest, almost. “Yes. I’m ready to be done thinking for the day.” The sight vaguely amused N—Hil was quite a few inches shorter than he was, the top of his head barely coming past his chin—and he stiffly moved his arms to lazily loop around Hil. Before he had a chance to say anything, Hil added resignedly, “Also, Cheren called me about something.”

Frowning, N tilted his head slightly. “About what?”

“Amber’s not doing great,” he sighed, clutching N a little closer. “Apparently, her job in Accumula sent somebody to go knock on her door because she’d missed like four days in a row without calling ahead and wasn’t responding to anything, not even voicemails. Nothing was wrong, really, just she was in her bed and wouldn’t get out of it except to answer the door, and so that person went and told Cheren and…” he trailed off and shook his head against N’s chest. “I don’t like her. At all. I haven’t forgiven her for all she did. But I don’t want anything bad to happen to her… I think I’m gonna head down to Nuvema tomorrow. Cheren said he left one of his Watchog with her, and he said that if anything goes wrong,” Hil laughed halfheartedly, “the whole town’ll know.”

“You will need to head there alone, won’t you?” N asked, though it came out sounding more like a statement. He felt a small pang of guilt for that—it wasn’t like Hil wasn’t allowed to go places without him, after all, and he certainly didn’t wish Hil any heartache over his mother—but he couldn’t help the almost childish desire to want to be by his side no matter what. Not to mention, he hated being stuck at the Pokémon League without him… Rarely did their duties require them to be separated, since the Consul position had been built around the idea of the two leaders operating as a team, but it seemed to N that just meant whenever for some reason they did have to separate, it was that much more difficult.

“Yeah,” Hil answered softly, loosening his grasp on N some and backing up a step. With a goofy smile that he was so good at, he shrugged. “It shouldn’t be too long, though… I’m just gonna try to talk to her and see what’s up and see if I can’t suggest something for her to do.” With that, he gingerly took N by the hand and led him over to the couch in the living room, letting him go only to flop down on the left end. His voice hardening some, Hil remarked, “I’m gonna see what I can do to help her, but if she’s just gonna act the victim and try to guilt me, I’ll leave her there. I’m not her bargaining chip anymore. So, either way, it’s not gonna take long.”

Awkwardly sitting down on the opposite end of the couch, N briefly looked for the remote, only to jump when Zoroark rushed up to him with it in her mouth. At his quizzical raise of an eyebrow, she snorted and dropped it in his hands. You were busy with paperwork and whatever else it is you do most of the day, she reminded him. What did you think I was doing all that time?

Watching TV, apparently, N teased. I don’t know how you watch that thing alone. I hardly understand any of it unless it’s a documentary or I’m watching with Hil. And I’ve tried!

With a shake of the head that was followed by an eye roll, she limped away from him and her attention was drawn to Noodle as Hil released the Serperior from his Poké Ball. Upon spotting Zoroark, Noodle trilled and shook out the leaves over his body, waving the very end of his tail at her tauntingly. She moved like she was going to chase him, and he zipped around the couch and out of sight, far faster than it seemed a ten-foot, legless creature should have been able to move.

Watching them go, Hil snarked, “Y’know, I’d release the others, but I feel like they’d crash the place.”

“Can always ask them not to,” N chuckled. “My other friends are around here somewhere…”

“Around here somewhere, he says,” Hil laughed. “My guess is… Archeops is in the ceiling fan in our room, considering Klinklang hasn’t fought him over it today, Carracosta is outside trying to catch the sun before it goes down, and Vanilluxe has probably abandoned her funny ice enclosure and decided the freezer was more appealing.”

“You say all of that like it’s a bad thing,” N coyly replied, a tiny smirk playing at his lips. Just in case he was incorrect in assuming Hil was joking, though, he not-so-smoothly added, “Also, Vanilluxe’s enclosure might be fine, but it’s only natural she’d want to explore some like the others…”

“I know, I know,” Hil snickered, “I’m just kidding. Though, I am glad you managed to convince her to learn to shut the door after her… That was fun when we had everything melt into the floor that one day… And also am glad that we found out Archeops was doing that before he completely ruined the fan motor by trying to catch it while it was on…” Shaking his head in amusement, Hil tossed the other six free (N had learned a long time ago that the ‘six pokémon at a time’ rule only applied when people were participating in League matches or, in battle, a person was disallowed from using more than six pokémon maximum), including his Musharna, Zebstrika, Liepard, Simipour, Watchog, and Druddigon. Sleepy, Prada, Lucky, Crest, Roadie, and Shay.

N had never given his pokémon nicknames, but through talking to Hil’s, he had found the pokémon didn’t mind, or in some cases, even enjoyed theirs. An interesting discussion with Lucky had revealed that although she hadn’t understood the name at first, she had heard Hil explain multiple times it was because he felt ‘lucky’ to have caught her at all. Over time, she had come to understand most humans didn’t see Purrloin or Liepard as lucky creatures, or even good pokémon at all, and she had come to appreciate the name so much more. Every time he says it, she had purred as she had rubbed against N’s legs, I’m reminded of how glad I am to be with a trainer that appreciates me, even if I am not a powerhouse compared to other pokémon… He’s seen the power of a legendary, and still appreciates me. I think that’s really something special. Following that conversation, N had talked to his pokémon and asked if they had any thoughts about nicknames or wanted any. The consensus from his partners was that while they wouldn’t have minded, they weren’t hurt by the lack of nicknaming. They even appreciated that N had respected them so much that he hadn’t wanted to saddle them with a name that might have meant nothing or even been annoying to them. That all had happened not too long after he and Hil had started staying together at the Pokémon League, and it was one of many eye-opening experiences since then. While he had previously believed nicknames were made by callous trainers that couldn’t have possibly known what their pokémon wanted, he then learned they could be something special, and represent something so much more than a mere label.

“N?” Hil called, in an almost sing-song voice. “You home?”

Jolting out of his thoughts, N blinked at him. “Yes?”

“You’re staring real hard at that remote,” Hil teased. Despite the smirk, his voice dropped to something more tender and he asked, “You okay?”

Setting the TV remote down within Hil’s reach, N nodded. “Oh, yes,” he answered quickly, “sorry…” Pausing, he then shook his head. “I was just thinking about how much I have learned since we started doing… this. Consuls.”

“Yeah?” Hil musingly asked, and although he picked up the remote, he didn’t press any of its buttons and had his eyes squarely trained on N. “What about it?”

“It just amazes me sometimes,” N reluctantly went on. “How much I thought I understood about pokémon and how I spent so much time in that castle learning about them and the world, and yet… I knew practically nothing at all,” he almost laughed, a pained chuckle. “Something as simple as nicknames seemed like such an evil and scary concept back then… I bought so easily into that, where if I had just simply spoken to someone and their pokémon about it sooner, I would have seen how silly that was… Of course, that isn’t the only thing I was led wrong about. It just… is amazing how so many little details I was given to train me against reality.”

Bringing his arms to cross over his chest, N almost hugged himself, even moving so he tucked his legs up on the couch at a slant, his knees pulled partially up to him. Of course, remembering the lies that came with his past was a slippery slope, and the next thought that crossed his mind made him want to cringe and shake. Ghetsis had, at one point, personally brought him a Snivy to his bedroom. The pokémon was wrapped in a white sheet splotched with dark green, and shut the door behind them, signaling to N nobody else would be joining them in that moment. N had immediately dropped the basketball he had been playing with and stiffened his back. Zoroark—a Zorua at the time—had wedged herself between his feet, instinctively cowering in that way she always did whenever Ghetsis was around. N didn’t remember how old he had been exactly, but he was sure he had been somewhere between eight or ten, and Ghetsis had limped over and leaned down, moving the sheet just enough to show N what was wrong with the Snivy in his grasp.

N had recoiled in horror and nearly tripped over Zorua as he backpedaled to his bed, the shock forcing him to take a seat, all of which had made Zorua yelp as she dove under his bed to get away from whatever was going on. Breathing heavily, N had gawked at Ghetsis with round eyes. The Snivy wrapped in the sheet was bleeding profusely and N could only just barely tell that it was alive at all, with the way its eyelids fluttered (though its eyes were rolled into the back of its head). Its tail was in tatters, missing huge chunks, and its lower body had deep, jagged slices cut into it, meaning it had no legs, either, and half of one arm was missing. It had taken a moment for N to finally choke out, “What—what happened to him?” It had never dawned on N until he retroactively looked over the memory that Ghetsis had remained perfectly quiet until N had asked that question. He had kept deliberately quiet because he intended to shock N.

“It was lost by a careless breeder, from one of her prized Serperior’s newest broods, and hit with a lawnmower,” Ghetsis had matter-of-factly explained, then unceremoniously dumped the pokémon in his lap, blood-soaked sheet and all. N was forced to catch it with his shaking hands to keep it from rolling off his lap and into the floor.

“A-and what do I do?” N had asked in a sheer panic. “It’s—it’s going to die, if we can’t get it help!”

“Oh, N,” Ghetsis had almost crooned. “There is no helping a pokémon that injured. You see, that careless breeder didn’t even notice she was missing one of her pokémon, because humans breed pokémon carelessly for profit and for battle. Why bother counting or keeping track when you can always produce more? Moreover, the person that hit this pokémon didn’t even notice, because it could not hear it over the sound of the engine of their lawnmower, and Snivy, as you can see, bleed green. It was the Shadow Triad who brought that poor thing to me. I brought it to you because I want you to see how careless people can be with living creatures, even as defenseless as a two-week-old Snivy.”

“What about the Pokémon Centers?” N had puffed through suddenly very dry lips. His throat had felt coarse and it had been difficult to swallow. Shivering at that point, he had withdrawn his legs and arms to the bed, much like he was currently doing on the couch there with Hil. He had cradled that dying Snivy close, unable to catch his breath, desperate for anything to do to save it or end its suffering, at the very least… The way its eyelid had kept fluttering had made him want to vomit.

“Pokémon Centers are made for healing pokémon after battle,” Ghetsis had nonchalantly informed him. Again, N hadn’t even realized how dissociative Ghetsis had sounded until so many years later… “Pokémon this severely injured are left to die or are euthanized. People see pokémon as easily replaceable. To them, investing time and energy into saving a pokémon this egregiously injured, which may be crippled for the rest of its life even if it did survive, just isn’t a priority, when you could just as easily breed another.”

“N? Hey, you’re scarin’ me a little…”

N blinked and shook his head vigorously, glancing back at Hil. “Hmm…?”

“I tried saying something back to you and you spaced out…” Hil frowned, concern etched all over his face. Brushing a dark, brown curl of hair out of his face, he gently asked, “Did you hear anything I said before I called you just then…?”

N swallowed hard and looked down at his trembling arms, crossed tightly over his chest. “No…”

“You know it isn’t your fault, all those things you didn’t understand or have been relearning…” Hil repeated himself calmly. He didn’t make a move to get any closer or to touch him, and N silently appreciated it. Although Hil loved physical affection whenever his mind spiraled somewhere less than pleasant, N found that he usually didn’t, at least, not when it came to remembering his time in the castle. Usually, once he calmed down some, he would quietly or wordlessly ask for a hug or something, but during, close physical contact had a way of merely stressing him out…

“I know it isn’t… But it still is… unpleasant to think about sometimes,” N mumbled.

“Then, maybe we shouldn’t think about it too much, eh?” Hil looked up thoughtfully for a moment, and then said, “Maybe it’d help to think about when you did start to learn some of that stuff better, huh? I know you still had all of them in your ear while you were traveling Unova and beating the gyms…” As he trailed off, N almost snickered at the way Hil had said ‘them.’ He said it with such animosity, and he seemed intent on never mentioning Ghetsis’ name nowadays if he could help it. Although he didn’t realize it consciously, N did find it cute, how Hil could sound so protective of him when badmouthing Team Plasma and everything they had done. Sure, N had seen firsthand how dangerous Hil could be when he needed to be, but for the most part… Hil was a kind-hearted, anxious, delightful mess, and his threats could come off as childish in idle conversation… Somehow, that just felt even more endearing. “…But when you were fighting the gyms and traveling, you had to have learned some new stuff that made you think… What do you think was the first time anything really seemed to challenge what all they taught you?”

“You should already know that answer,” N laughed, his posture loosening a little at the much more pleasant memory flooding him, instead of that horrific one. He gave Hil an expectant look, still amused when the other’s cheeks dusted red and he nervously smiled.

“Ah… I should?” Hil asked dumbly.

Rolling his eye—N had ultimately decided to get a glass eye to replace his missing one, and the doctors had done such a wonderful job, it was only whenever he did something like this that it was apparent his other eye was false—N mused, “Well… There was this time in a little town named Accumula where I was stocking up on supplies and preparing to go ‘free’ some pokémon from some trainers that had just been given them by a professor in Nuvema. My intention was to set them free and then head to Striaton to challenge one of the triplets. I believe then that I ran into two boys, one with a Snivy and the other with a Tepig, and a girl with an Oshawott.”

Picking up on the game, Hil’s face lit up and he tauntingly pressed, “Are you sure…? I dunno, might’ve been the girl with the Snivy,” he laughed.

N all but groaned. “Anyway,” he pointedly huffed, “that was the first real experience I remember where something… really conflicted with all I had been taught.”

As if on cue, there was the sound of clattering from the kitchen. Hil peaked over the back of the sofa. “They knocked over a chair,” he reported. “No damage, but…” He then tried to articulate in something of a trill, Noodle, careful!

Despite the questionable execution, Noodle hissed back after a brief pause, She did it! She’s using illusions! I didn’t see it there!

And you were using vines, Zoroark chimed in smugly with a chuff. If you use vines, I get to use illusions.

On what planet is that fair? Noodle moodily huffed.

Just… don’t break anything, Hil resignedly called after them in something mixed between a growl and a trill, before shaking his head and slumping back down on the sofa. He rubbed his throat. “Yeah, that still hurts a bit,” he chuckled. “Anyway… as you were saying?”

Seeing Hil try to talk to pokémon like that still was so thrilling for N. Despite years of practice, he could still struggle at times, but that didn’t matter at all. N had been told for so long that his ability was hated by humanity and even Ghetsis had hated it when he said anything about speaking to pokémon around him… It had been beaten into his head to never repeat what a pokémon had said to him, or to even acknowledge his ability unless absolutely necessary (and yet, Ghetsis loved to rub it in the faces of any who would listen that N was King because of his ability to understand pokémon…). Still, smiling like a fool after listening to Hil talk to the pokémon, N continued his story at a faster rate, his words naturally kicking up in speed in his excitement, “You had let Noodle out of his Poké Ball during Team Plasma’s speech, and when you did that, he said something… something about how he really liked you already. And even when I tried talking to him briefly before I approached you, from a distance, um… using my ability, I had told him that I was there to set them free. That I was sure all he, the Oshawott, and the Tepig knew was a room in a lab and the confinement of Poké Balls. And after that, he had said that he liked you, that he was going to see more at your side, and that he was done talking to me… unless I could best him in battle. And that was why I wanted to battle you to—”

“Hear my pokémon’s voice again?” Hil cut him off, grinning practically from ear to ear. “Y’know, I always did wonder why you wanted to battle me that day… For someone that hated pokémon battling and all that, you sure were ready to throw hands that day.”

“Even after beating him, he didn’t talk to me anymore,” N snorted. “Well, he did, but all he said was that he wanted me to go away.” He shook his head. “I had… never in my life, until that point, heard a pokémon claim to like a trainer and resist my company over it… At the time, I told myself that pokémon didn’t know any better, that it was little better than Stockholm syndrome, or that Poké Balls somehow brainwashed some pokémon into believing their captors were good unless the person actively abused them… Then, I kept traveling and kept running into pokémon that claimed to like or even love their trainers… Even if I didn’t change right then, looking back on it does feel good… I always knew there was something wrong, even if I couldn’t place it…”

“See?” Hil cheerfully insisted.

N nodded, then wryly added, “But I also kept running into that boy and his Snivy, or Servine… and oh, how he made me think.” Dramatically making a show of huffing in irritation, he then scanned Hil’s expression to ensure he was understanding his teasing. N thought he was replicating how Hil sometimes sarcastically joked, but he still couldn’t be totally sure, so he was relieved to see Hil cackling at him, flushing darker red as he spoke.

“Oh, thinking!” Hil played along. “The horror!”

“You laugh, but to me at that point? It was,” N chuckled. “Every single time I ran into you, more questions were raised about Ghetsis’ plans and all of that, and I just had to stuff them all down and believe I was correct, because I was the ‘Hero of Ideals.’”

“Now that you mention it,” Hil coyly mused, “I remember running into this green-haired dude all the time that loved to show up and drop bombshells, almost every time. But my favorite thing he ever said to me was, ‘Maybe if the world were simply different, we could have been friends.’”

N blinked. “What, really? That?”

“Well, for one,” Hil snorted, “the main reason I was half-obsessed with you, before I knew how wrapped around his thumb he had you, was because of you saying that. How you decided right away that we couldn’t be friends. I didn’t understand you and, uh, 14-year-old, hormone-riddled brain decided, ‘Oh, we can’t be friends, huh? I’ll show you!’ And now, well…” Hil slyly put his hands behind his head, lazily kicking his feet out to the floor. “Wouldn’t you know it, we are friends, aren’t we?”

Opening and shutting his mouth for a second, N then frowned and cocked his head. “Why yes, we are, aren’t we? I had barely even remembered saying that… You took that that seriously?”

“Maybe,” Hil abruptly pulled his hands from behind him and crossed them tightly. A smirk betrayed his amusement (not to mention the still-raging blush over his cheeks). Teasingly, he raised his chin back at N. “Why, you wishing I hadn’t?”

“What? No, not at all,” N uneasily responded as he had difficulty parsing Hil’s reaction, then scooted closer to him. The discomfort from earlier had waned and he wanted to be closer to the other now. Almost purring as he inched his way nearer, N tried to smoothly comment, “I have no idea why you took that remark so seriously… But I am glad you did…”

“I’m just teasing,” Hil softly whispered as he hooked his right arm around N’s left and gently pulled him a little closer, leaning his head down onto his shoulder. “Honestly, I don’t know why, either.”

“That just seems to be how you are,” N chuckled after he relaxed in Hil’s hold, eventually awkwardly leaning his head over onto Hil’s. “You… are so kind to a fault. I don’t know if anyone else would have been able to fill the role that you have… I’m glad that Reshiram recognized that…” Closing his eyes and sighing contentedly, he then had an evil idea pull his lips into a broad grin. “I certainly can’t imagine sitting here and doing this with Cheren.”

Sputtering, Hil finally incredulously gasped, “Where did that come from?”

“Remember how I was insistent on him being the ‘Hero’ for a while?” N teased, though a small pang of anxiety flared as he wondered if he had gone a little too far with his attempt at humor…

“Oh,” Hil laughed away N’s nerves. He wrapped an arm around N and rubbed his back reassuringly. “Mm, wouldn’t you like that, third wheeling it with him in Nuvema while that wild two-year-old of his tries to eat your hair.”

“What is it with Jessica and my hair?” N complained as he remembered their last few visits to Cheren and Bianca’s. Although their daughter wasn’t old enough to go without supervision that long yet, she could walk, and she had taken a keen interest in N during their visit. Which, despite everyone’s best attempts to keep her away from N, had resulted in her yanking on his lengthy hair more than a few times. Having never interacted with a young child in his entire life, N had already been anxious just by being around her, and that experience certainly hadn’t helped at all. Why did something so cute and small have to be so intimidating…? She seemed fearless, too, for one of the times she yanked on his hair, he hadn’t been expecting it at all and had hissed in surprise, and she had just laughed!

“It’s pretty,” Hil replied simply, stroking some of it for emphasis.

“Well, I’m glad you think so,” N almost purred again as he leaned against Hil’s hand. Having someone he trusted and knew didn’t want to manipulate him in any way showing him such affection just felt so nice…

Thumbing the TV remote at last, Hil flicked his thumb across the button at the top. “You wanna pick something while I figure out something for dinner?” he asked gingerly.

“Like what?” N asked distractedly, still focusing more on the soft strokes of Hil’s hand over his hair. It dawned on him that what Hil had said meant he intended to get up in a moment and he frowned at that thought, but more than that, he genuinely didn’t know what to find to watch… He didn’t really tend to watch much of anything without Hil there, so he didn’t know what he would have ‘found’ for them to watch.

“There’s a new comedy or something that came out the other day. Would you wanna watch that?” Hil suggested, as if sensing his uncertainty.

“That sounds nice,” N agreed blithely. He usually still enjoyed whatever Hil picked, so he was happy with letting him do that.

With a hum that served as all the answer N needed, Hil located whatever the movie was with a few touches to the buttons on the remote, and then left it hovering over the ‘play’ button. “I’ll go make something and make sure Noodle didn’t break the kitchen,” he yawned as he slowly unraveled his arm from around N, eliciting an involuntary whine from him. N immediately scrambled to sit upright and cleared his throat.

“I mean, alright,” he flatly covered up his whine, hoping Hil wouldn’t comment on it. Not that he understood why he felt embarrassed and didn’t want Hil to comment on it…

Hil hopped up and snickered, then rubbed the top of N’s head, messing up his hair some more. “I’ll be right back,” he promised. “I swear.” Loping off into the kitchen, he heard Hil then hiss at Noodle, Will you get off that? That rack is for pots and pans, which you definitely are not!

Giggling to himself, N heard Noodle sulkily growl back, Well, I was playing hide and seek… and now you just gave me away.

And you can play it somewhere that’s not in my kitchen, Hil retorted without skipping a beat.

Don’t mess with him and his kitchen, N thought amusedly to himself. Hil has a thing for his kitchen… (Which, admittedly, was a good thing—N had discovered when Hil had tried to teach him to cook that he not only was gifted with the ability to talk to pokémon, but also with that of somehow burning water, and Hil had subsequently decided that perhaps it was best if he cooked from then on.)

Noodle slithered back out into the living room and Zoroark suddenly materialized with a flash of purple from beside the reclining chair in the corner of the room, lunging at him. They played in the floor for a moment before Noodle complained that he was tired.

For as uncomfortable as it sometimes felt to stay at that house for too long, N had to admit, over time, it became easier and easier to stay there for longer stretches of time as long as Hil was there.

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