The very next day after Jord evolved his Graveler into a Golem, they finally covered the last stretch of their journey and arrived in Vermillion City.

The first order of business, at least for Hilda, was booking a room at the local Pokemon Centre and promptly using the laundrette area that trainers got access to.

While she could use a laundromat easily enough instead of doing it herself, she actually quite liked doing her own laundry, something she picked up from her mother growing up.

Thankfully, her pokemon didn't need to spend long at all with Nurse Joy, other than a brief check up. Unlike Jord's pokemon who trained into the ground relentlessly multiple times a day and needed to actually get some extra rest.

Annoyingly for Jord apparently. He seemed quite antsy about heading straight for Surge and beating him. She didn't know what riled him up about it, and she'd almost be insulted since they would be parting ways after he got his third badge, if she didn't already know that it definitely wasn't her.

Couldn't be with how blatant he was in his appreciation of her.

Shaking her head, Hilda looked up at the clock over the door frame from where she was sitting in the laundrette.

It was just coming up for noon, they'd arrived early this morning, "I guess we'll head for the gym in like two hours or so." Hilda mused. Like Jord, she would also be challenging Surge, she needed the thunder badge herself.

After Jord dumped her ass to go do whatever secretive stuff he was so tight lipped about needing to do alone, she would probably double back and head for Saffron.

If Jord's new buddy Gary Oak was anything to go by, the fighting type gym in Saffron City wasn't up to the same level as the Cerulean or Vermillion Gyms, so she could score an easy win there.

Just then, her phone began vibrating in her pocket. Reaching into her shorts pocket, Hilda pulled it out and was surprised to see the one calling her was her younger cousin Rosa.

"Hey cuz, what's up?" Hilda answered the phone and greeted with a smile.

"Hey Hil," contrary to Rosa's usual upbeat and cheerful voice, right now her cousins voice was dull and almost monotone, "Where are you right now?"

Hilda's eyebrows rose at the reply. It was so odd hearing Rosa like this, "I just got to Vermillion City a few hours ago," she replied, "What about you, what's up with you? Did you lose a battle or something?" it was the only thing that really came to mind that would put her cousin in this kind of state, getting crushed in a battle.

At least with how competitive she could get.

Rosa snorted, "I wish," she replied, "I'm back in Unova right now."

Hilda cocked her head, confused, "…What are you doing in Unova?" she asked. They'd both more or less come over to Kanto together.

"Hugh's little sisters birthday was coming up, he asked me to come to her party, so I came back for a brief visit," her cousin explained, "…But…"

Hilda's brows furrowed and she was starting to get a little worried, "What happened Rosie?" she asked, biting her lip.

"I….I caught a really rare pokemon in Kanto while there, an Eevee," Rosa began explaining, "And I was bragging about it to Hugh on the phone on my way over right?"

"…Right…" Hilda nodded absently.

"I should have kept my mouth shut," Rosa suddenly spat, "Some weirdo's overheard me talking about it, calling themselves Team Plasma."

Team Plasma? What kind of stupid kind of name was that. But then again, there was Team Rocket over here in Kanto.

"They popped up while we were in Kanto, some pokemon rights activists weirdo's claiming we shouldn't be keeping pokemon in pokeballs and forcing people to release their pokemon," Rosa continued, the dullness leaving her voice and being replaced by rage, "They jumped me on my way to meet Hugh and stole Eevee's pokeball from me, would have got all of my pokemon if your buddy Cheren wasn't passing by and helped me out!"

Hilda's eyes widened in shock, "They stole your pokemon!?" she gasped. First Jord with Team Rocket and now her own cousin with this Team Plasma!?

"Yeah, so I'm just callin' to let you know I won't be coming back to Kanto for the next lil while so we won't be able to meet up," her younger cousin explained, "I'm gonna find these bastards and get Eevee back! Just wanted to let you know."

Before Hilda could even wrap her head around the situation fully and think of anything to say, her younger cousin bid her goodbye and hung up.

Hilda sat there in a daze for a moment, just utterly stunned.

A criminal organization had popped up in her home region. Not only that, but they had stolen her little cousins pokemon and now said little cousin was going after them?

She must have sat there in a daze, her thoughts swirling as she tried to think of what to do for a good half an hour at least, more even.

She was only broken from her thoughts by the sound of the washing machine beeping signifying the end of its cycle and her clothes having finished washing.

As she got up and began transferring her clothing from the washing machine to one of the tumble dryers, Hilda nodded to herself coming to a decision, "…I'll need to head back myself." she mused quietly.

She couldn't let her little cousin go off and pick a fight with a criminal organization alone. She had to go and convince her to give up that crazy scheme, or at least be there to lend a helping hand.

And she was going to be going her separate ways from Jord soon anyway, so it was as good a time as any.

Hilda paused at the thought of her travelling companion, 'Should….should I ask him to come?' she wondered to herself.

Say what you will about his age, but his pokemon were definitely powerful, and he had tons of them and he wasn't any slouch himself. He was a little shit, but he was a tough little shit. It would be reassuring to have him backing her up.

But….no, she couldn't ask him to put his own journey on hold just to come help her with her families problems. Sure, he may have originally been from Unova like her, but he'd already taken up Kanto citizenship and his hometown was now Viridian City.

And friends they may be, but they weren't that close. Sure, he'd love to sleep with her and he'd no doubt lend her helping hands if asked, but they'd only been friends for a few weeks.

There wasn't enough substance in their relationship for her to feel comfortable asking him to leave all his plans behind to come tangle with a criminal organization with her.

An hour later, once she was done with he laundry Hilda had finally managed to organize her thoughts a bit.

She decided, that she'd support Jord in his gym battle today before parting ways with him to head back to Unova.

With that decided, once she was done with the laundry, she headed to find Jord and do just that.

She found him in an odd place, for him at least. The trainer lounge. He tended to avoid the place in the other centres they'd been in together unless he needed something specific.

Odder was the fact that he was just standing at the entrance, arms folded as he leaned against the wall and observed the people within the large lounge area.

And my was it noisy in this place today.

"What are you doing?" Hilda asked, confused.

"Just listening to all the scrubs," Jord shrugged and snorted, jutting his chin at the mass of trainers in the lounge, "Pretty much all of them are complaining about how brutal Surge is in battles and how badly they lost to him."

Oh.

"Nervous are we?" she couldn't help but tease.

"Fuck no," Jord huffed and rolled his eyes, "I just had nothing better to do." he shrugged.

A bit lamely in her opinion.

It was almost novel seeing this little arrogant shit actually being a bit nervous for once.

He pushed off the wall and rubbed the back of his neck, "So you done with your shit then?" he asked, changing the subject.

"More or less," Hilda resisted the urge to sigh, "You ready to head to the Gym?" she asked.

"Aye," he nodded, before suddenly stepping forward into her personal space. She merely raised an eyebrow at him as he grinned up at her, though not that he had to do that much, he was only a few inches shorter than her, "And once I win, you can give me that lapdance you promised when we get back to our room." Jord added, any trace of the nervousness she had saw before gone like a trick of the light as if it were never there in the first place.

'Oh…it's the first of November today isn't it?' she realised. She almost forgot, it was his birthday today wasn't it?

"I only said I'd think about it." Hilda refuted.

"Good enough for me," he laughed and began leaving the room, prompting her to follow, "Once you see me in action beating Surge's ass like he owes me money, I doubt you'll be able to resist."

"…My panties are practically phasing out of existence already." Hilda deadpanned.

Surprisingly, the fluffy haired former actress found that she was actually going to miss this dynamic.

It didn't take them long after leaving the Pokemon Centre to reach the Vermillion City gym.

It was actually just down the street. Which was probably a good thing with how brutal Lt. Surge was in his battles, it meant that his opponents could get to the Pokemon Centre quickly to get their pokemon treated.

Perhaps it was set up that way deliberately? Hilda shook her head and put it out of mind as they arrived in front of the gym.

And she had to admit. The place was daunting and intimidating looking. It was like a massive military barracks, painted in dark colours. The only vibrancy at all was the front of the building that was formed into a massive guard tower with rippling bolts of lightning carved into it all the way up for hundreds of feet.

"So have you chosen what pokemon you'll use?" Hilda asked as they stopped in front of the building, "I know you want to use Golem, but what about the others?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'll be using Pidgeotto if it's a two on two." Jord replied.

What?

Hilda stared at him, gobsmacked, "…You're going to use Pidgeotto, the flying type…in an electric type gym?" she asked disbelievingly.

"Mmhmm." Jord absently nodded as he stepped forward and rang the bell at the front of the entrance.

Pidgeotto was a monster, no doubt about that. But, using the flying type against the premiere electric type specialist of the Kanto region? A man known for his brutality and ruthlessness in battles?

Perhaps her pervy young buddy could use a dose of humility smacked into him here and now, because this was silly.

'Or does he have some type of strategy and reason for picking Pidgeotto?' she wondered. For all he was as subtle as a smack to her fine ass, he wasn't stupid.

Her thoughts were cut off as the ring of metal sounded out and the heavy metal front doors of the gym began to slide apart as a massive giant of a man stepped out, a broad grin on his face. And when Hilda said massive, she meant massive.

He had to have at least an entire foot on her, easily being over six foot five in height, wearing a dark Kanto military uniform, and heavy black combat boots. The dark shirt he was wearing was left undone, leaving his torso rippling with bulging muscles that would make a Gurdurr jealous in clear view, a pair of dog-tags hanging from around his neck.

Hilda found herself nervously gulping at the sheer air the man gave off. He was a very scary sight, and she was almost glad she wouldn't be battling him now.

"Ey, why if it ain't a lil baby, and he brought along a babe as well," Surge chortled, his bright blonde hair glinting in the sun light, "Or is it the other way around? You wanna send your lil baby brother away babe and come on in?" he winked roguishly at her.

Before Hilda could even formulate a reply, Jord replied with a snarl, "Who the fuck do you think you're talking to fuck face," he spat out, "You better throw a fucking apology my way quick before I shove my foot so far up your bitch arse your tongue will have grip."

Surge merely snorted and reached down to pat Jord patronizingly on the head, "Ey, the lil baby has a potty mouth," he chortled, "Somebody needs a time out huh? No cookies and milk before bed for you tonight."

"K…k…k." Jord trembled, lips pulling back like a snarling Houndour. She didn't think she'd ever seen him so livid, maybe not even when that weird idiot kid Goh stole Krabby briefly.

Honestly, it was almost weird to see. Jord typically didn't get so angry over banter like that. Heck, he tended to relish in trading barbs with people. Seventy percent of his message history with his new buddy Gary was predominantly the pair of them insulting each other and trying to one up the other, and he was always grinning or laughing at shit the Oak kid fired back at him.

Him losing his cool so easily over Surge making a few kid jokes about him, wasn't at all like him.

Hilda just didn't get it. She'd never seen him look so offended and dare she say threatened by a few jibes.

Wait.

Her eyes widened a tiny fraction.

Could it be?

'Is he actually feeling threatened by Surge?' she wondered. Everyone else he traded jibes with, he'd never seemed to take it seriously, was it because he didn't feel threatened at all by them.

And thus the difference here was, he actually viewed Surge as a threat to him in some way?

Her mind wandered back to earlier, when she was sure she could pick out some tell tale nervous signs from Jord about this upcoming meeting and battle.

Despite herself, Hilda couldn't help but feel interested. It was so novel to see him like this, she was seeing an all new side to her travelling companion.

But she wondered, what about Surge made him feel so threatening?

She eyed the towering man who had to be approaching seven feet tall, if not eclipsing it, and his impressively muscular torso, with biceps like tree trunks.

…Well beyond the obvious.

The huge mans gaze strayed from Jord to her, and he blantatly let his eyes roam over her, checking her out. Hmm, horn dog gym leader huh? She had to admit, that was a new one. Well, it wasn't as weird as the Striaton Gym Leader triplets at least.

"Oi, watch the eyes stupid ass tree, that ain't for you." Jord apparently caught where his eyes went.

Surge snorted, turning to look back at the boy, "Yeah, well it definitely can't be for you little tyke," he shot back, "Little baby boy like you couldn't handle a woman like that."

"As if you could you giant ass bitch," Jord jutted his chin out challengingly at the huge man, "With how obviously juiced up you are, those tiny raisins you call balls ain't worth shit!"

Surge's eyes widened, before he lost the 'jovial' attitude he had before and glared back down at Jord, "Those were just rumours made up by little weaklings that couldn't handle their loss to me!" he spat, "Little pansy's like you in fact squirt!"

Wait, what!? Hilda resisted the urge to snort in amusement at Jord apparently hitting the nail dead centre on the head.

"Who are you calling a pansy you massive pussy!" Jord stepped forward, hands clenched into fists, "I'll wreck your fucking shit and fuck you up you fucking ponce!"

Eeesh, that was a lot of F-bombs.

'I should look into teaching him to be a bit more presentable to project a better image of himself for when he ends up on T.V.' Hilda mused.

Honestly, it was almost like watching an Arcanine and Growlithe butting heads, with the Growlithe trying to warn the Arcanine away from its territory.

Hmm, did Jord know about Surge's tendency to flirt with good looking girls, she wondered? That would almost fit, but he hadn't really been bothered at all about Gary trying to flirt with her.

….Unless he actually thought there was a chance she'd leave him for Surge.

But nah, that was too simple. And self centred, she was hot, she knew that, but she wasn't that special.

Either way, while it looked like they were about to come to blows, cooler heads prevailed.

Which was a good thing, because Hilda wasn't actually sure who would win in a punch up between them. Sure, Surge was a literal behemoth of muscle that made Jord look tiny in comparison, and a grown man compared to a young boy, but Jord was packing some serious strength in that frame of his and she'd seen him on more than one occasion play wrestling with Milotic.

Who dwarfed even Surge.

Surge let loose a deep shuddering breath, "So I take it you're my opponent then brat?" the huge blonde man asked.

"Aye," Jord crossed his arms, cooling a bit himself, "Here to mop you up right quick and get my third badge."

"Usually I go a little easier on little brats like you, but I'm gonna enjoy putting you in your place tiny," Surge huffed, turning on his huge booted feet and gesturing for them to follow, "Come on then, I'm a busy man unlike you."

He led them through the gym, the huge strides he made due to his immense size making it so both she and Jord had to power walk and almost jog just to keep up with him, and along the way she noticed Jord kept clenching and unclenching one hand into and out of a fist, each time she heard his knuckles pop.

...He really wanted a piece of Surge, didn't he?

The gym itself was a bit odd though to Hilda. In the fact that the halls were just pure, cold metal with overhead lights. Nothing fancy to show off the type of gym or the gym leader himself like most gyms.

It was honestly really plain compared to the likes of the Cerulean City gym that also basically doubled as an aquarium filled with tons of water types and the halls lined with news articles and awards the trio of gym leaders had won over their lives.

And when they finally got to the battlefield, it wasn't very impressive either. It was literally just a massive plain dirt battlefield with white lines painted into it within a huge metal room, the only thing that stood out at all, was a large viewing room embedded into the wall and hovering over the battlefield, where she could faintly make out the shapes of a few people and pokemon.

"Alright, my aides are a bit busy right now, but I suppose if you wanna be a little wimp and have a ref make sure you don't get slapped around, I can call one over." Surge called out to Jord as he made his way over to one side of the battlefield.

"Don't need any on my account," Jord snorted, heading to the other side of the battlefield, "Stop trying to use me as an excuse to call back up to come hold your hand old man."

"You've got a smart mouth brat," Surge shook his head, and didn't fire back this time, "Alright, this'll be a two on two, capeesh?" saying so, the huge blonde man reached into his camo trousers and retrieved a pokeball.

"Fine with me." Jord grunted, doing the same and grabbing a pokeball from his belt.

With his other hand, Surge clicked his fingers and suddenly, a massive blue barrier popped up and surrounded the battlefield.

It was so sudden it made Hilda yelp in surprise, and she even saw Jord give a startled little jump.

"Heh, sorry, did I scare ya?" Surge taunted with a booming laugh, "Dat was just one of ma Raichu setting up a barrier cuz I tend to cause a lot of destruction in my battles, it's for yer own safety and all that jazz."

A raichu capable of using barriers? It must have been one from Alola then.

"The rules are simple shrimp, since you're the challenger, you're the only one who can substitute, and I'll have to reveal my first pokemon first, give ya' a handicap an' all that, yeah?" Surge chortled, "Come on out, Golem!"

Wait, Gole-

In a burst of light, a familiar large, reptilian rock shelled pokemon appeared in front of Surge. But unlike Jord's Golem, this one was noticeably bigger, with what looked like a giant black beard, and a massive pair of prongs on its back.

'Ah, an Alolan Golem.' Hilda's eyes widened in realisation. Surge sure had some pretty exotic pokemon.

The huge rock and electric type stood stoically and projected quite an intimidating aura.

"Not impressed," Jord scoffed, apparently not intimidated in the least, "We'll see how that failed spark plug lives up to a real GOLEM!"

Like Surge, Jord in a burst of light released his own Golem. Unlike Surge's Golem that was silent and stoic, Jord's practically vibrated on the spot as it appeared, bouncing on its feet almost like a boxer.

It was kind of ironic that the part electric type was the one that was stoic and silent.

"A ground type huh, well, least you know your type match ups, impressive considerin' I was sure you hadn't even graduated from diapers," Surge laughed, "Though, it sure is a puny lil thing ain't it? Like pokemon, like trainer, huh?"

"Big things come in small packages," Jord growled, "Not that you'd know anything about having a big package, huh juicy?"

"…I'm gonna enjoy this," Surge closed his eyes, before opening them and glaring savagely at his opponent, "Begin."

"Rock Polish!" Jord snapped out the instant Surge declared the beginning of the battle.

"Go!Go!Go!" Golem chanted so fast it sounded almost like gibberish to Hilda as the dual ground and rock types body erupted into bright white light before fading away a moment later, except for a faint little white aura that surrounded his shelled form.

"Now Rollout!" Jord followed up and Golem immediately retreated into his shell that began to rapidly rotate like a race care tire, so fast she could even hear the sheer velocity on it.

Then Golem shot forward, a blur to the eyes.

"Give em da Railgun." Surge simply uttered in response.

As Golem shot towards its Alolan counterpart, something bright and silver appeared between the two prongs on Alolan Golem's back, before the entire silver glow spread to its entire body and then began to crackle with electricity.

"Go around!" Jord quickly countered.

It was a testament to how used to going fast Golem was, that Jord's pokemon immediately did just that, swerving and changing direction in an instant and zooming right by Alolan Golem to get behind it.

In response though, Surge snorted.

An instant later, a massive boom resounded in Hilda's ears and some kind of beam shot out of Alolan Golem, then the area shook like an earthquake went off.

And the barrier around the battlefield shimmered and rippled as if something powerful slammed into it and a massive plume of smoke was kicked up inside.

'What the hell just happened!?' Hilda gaped, she hadn't been able to really follow what went on there for a split moment at all.

She had to wait to see. But when the smoke cleared a few moments later, her eyes went so wide they felt like they would pop out of their sockets and her mouth dropped agape.

…Because laying limp and unconscious against the barrier, was Jord's Golem.

It had been taken down in an instant.

Utter silence dominated the battlefield.

It was only broken through by Surge chortling, "Well, so much for showing me a real Golem, huh shrimpy?" the huge blonde behemoth Jord who just stared wide eyed at his Golem.

What…

How?

What?!

Hilda was completely at a loss. 'Railgun he called it?' she thought, stunned. An original move of some kind? A lot of trainers made them up by like combining attacks, but she'd never seen one so powerful in person!

And…and.

One hit!?

He took out one of Jord's pokemon in one hit? That literal bevy of monsters he toted around?

Her eyes drifted to the Aolan Golem, and she was interested to note, that it had lost the stoic expression and was panting deeply now, looking quite exhausted, feeble little jolts of electricity sparking out across its body.

The power behind that Railgun was immense, but it seemed to take a massive amount out of Alolan Golem to be used. And Surge had surprised Jord with that, he would be ready for a second attack like that, for sure.

Still, she could see the disbelief in Jord's eyes. He just stared at his downed Golem, before woodenly raising the pokeball and returning Golem.

"So what else ya got kid?" Surge gave another mocking laugh.

Jord was silent at his taunting and closed his eyes. Before, they suddenly snapped open and he directed the most livid glare she'd ever seen him have at the huge blonde man, casually switching the pokeball in his hand for another, "Pidgeotto, wreck their shit!" he roared.

In a burst of light, a keening ear piercing cry heralded the arrival of Pidgeotto on the battlefield, Jord's strongest pokemon, "GEOTOOOO!" the flying type spread his wings apart far and proud and glared down at Alolan Golem from the air.

And surprisingly, despite being put up against a pokemon his own had a massive advantage against, Surge's expression sobered in an instant.

Surge then uttered three words.

"Golem, go boom." the electric type gym leader ordered simply.

Hilda's eyes widened as Alolan Golem began to glow with bright light instantly and then before Jord could even utter a word himself to counter, exploded in a wave of pure force and flame that deafened her for a moment and blotted the entirety of the battlefield within the barrier out of view.

'How ruthless!' Hilda gasped.

She couldn't really hear or see anything within the battlefield for a good thirty seconds, and even then as the smoke began to part, her ears were ringing and she could feel a splitting headache coming on.

Finally, the battlefield came into view and she could see steam literally rising from the ground.

The first to come into view, was Alolan Golem, body blackened, charred and limp.

And then her eyes swung frantically on instinct to the other side of the battlefield to where Pidgeotto was.

…And she was shocked.

Because Pidgeotto, was grounded. Even from where she was, she could make out the mass amount of injuries on the large bird pokemon, and both wings of Pidgeotto lay limp at the birds side.

She'd never seen Pidgeotto in such a state before, not even close!

"Hmph," Surge's voice rang out through the massive room and she could see him with his arms crossed and still staring seriously at Pidgeotto, "As expected, no way anyone not a fool would send out a freakin' Pidgeotto of all things against me, this things a beast."

"Pidgeotto!" Jord ignored the behemoth of a man and cried out in worry, "Are you okay?"

Mechnically, Pidgetto turned his head to look at Jord, and Hilda could see how much effort it took just to do that, "G-goto!" the bird smirked through his beak at his trainer, trying to assure Jord he was fine.

Even though he wasn't.

"It ain't fine, it's done," Surge scoffed, returning Alolan Golem to its pokeball, "Better return that little bird boy, it ain't got nothing left."

"Don't tell me what to do!" Jord snapped at him, but Hilda saw his hand tremble around the pokeball in his hand.

He was actually thinking of throwing in the towel. And she couldn't blame him.

"What a foolish little brat," Surge rolled his eyes before glaring at Pidgeotto, "Maybe you should look into finding a better trainer than this little waste of-"

He was cut off.

By Pidgeotto.

"PIDGEOTTO!" What left Pidgeotto's beak, was not at all like an avian screech, but more that of a howl of defiance and rage.

And then Pidgeotto erupted into bright silvery white light and before all of their eyes, began to massively grow in size. He doubled in size, then continued growing and growing, and when he reached the apex of his new height, he had to tower above even Surge.

And when the light died down, not only had Pidgeotto increased massively in size, the pink streak on his head had flourished into a massive golden mane that stretched the length of his entire body.

"Pidgeooot!" the newly evolved Pidgeot continued to glare defiantly right at Surge, as if daring the man to insult his trainer again or even insinuate he should give up.

"Testy little birdy huh?" Surge merely chorted, before bringing out another pokeball, "Well, don' say I didn't warn ya, come out, Electivire and give it a taste of ya' Tundapunch!"

What appeared from the pokeball in Surge's hand was a bipedal yellow behemoth that made even him seem small in comparison. The massive, muscular grinning evolved form of Electabuzz punched two gargantuan fists bigger than Hilda's head together eagerly.