I couldn't believe it. Right before my eyes, I watched a horde of Electric-types attack Hilbert. It was almost surreal. Hilbert was like this stoic, benevolent Trainer who seemed like he could never be caught off-guard like that. That alone was strange enough. What was even stranger was that the Pokémon had only gone for him, not me, or Nate and Hugh. Before we could even really react, the horde vanished deeper into the cave, Hilbert's unconscious body in tow. Without a second thought, we chased after them.

   Chargestone Cave was a labyrinth of blue stone, the only light provided by the electric currents arcing between the occasional floating stones. The low-pitched droning of the Magnemite leading us onwards. They led us down many winding passages and two flights of man-made stairs, built for passing Trainers. I suddenly heard a voice echoing farther down a tunnel.

   "Well, well, well, what do we have here?" I swear I knew who was talking, the slight accent was so familiar. The loose ends in my memory wouldn't connect though. I stopped running and held out my arms, prompting Nate and Hugh to stop too.

   "We might have to fight," I said, removing Ivy's ball from my bag. After we had sent out the Pokémon of our choice, we cautiously proceeded.

   As we got closer to the voice's source, I began to make out shapes in the blueish gloom. First the Pokémon horde, then Hilbert's motionless form on the ground, then finally... No, it can't be! My mind refused to believe who I was seeing. I saw... Colress? What was he doing here? He was staring down at Hilbert. Was he...?! He then seized Hilbert by the arm and yanked him upward, a cruel smile on his face.

   "Ivy, Vine Whip!" I commanded. Ivy lashed her vines out at Colress, smacking into his chest and whipping him against the wall. Hilbert crumpled to the ground, and the Pokémon horde reacted with furious buzzes and screeches. They all launched a bolt of electricity at us.

   "Surge, use Thunderbolt!" Nate's Magneton launched a huge bolt of lightning at the oncoming attack. The two bolts collided in a blinding flash, the sound of crashing thunder occurring when they made contact. Through the blinding light, I could faintly see the separate bolts fighting against each other, trying to overpower the other. Surge's bolt managed to win out, sending both attacks back at the horde. The Pokémon were consumed by a miniature explosion, sending dust and debris flying everywhere.

   As the dust began to settle, the weak droning of the Magnemite continued, their Sturdy Ability keeping them clinging to one HP.

   I told Ivy to use Vine Whip one more time, whipping the Magnemite into both walls of the passage and knocking them out. Ivy started glowing white and her form changed as did Surge's. The light faded and their new forms were revealed. Ivy had become an elegant serpent with a collar made from two vines and beautiful leaf patterns etched onto her long body. Surge was now a huge hunk of glistening steel with two magnets attached to its front and one to its back. A pair of yellow antennae sprouted from its top side, electricity already crackling between them.

   "Very impressive, Nathan and Rosalyn. And your other friend... I saw him on the Frigate as well. Still meddling with affairs you have no business with," Colress said, grimacing in pain from the blow to his chest.

   "Why did you do this?" I yelled. "I thought you were a good person, Colress!"

   "This young man is property of Team Plasma's science department. And like a disobedient little Rattata, he had escaped his cage." Colress roughly kicked Hilbert's side. To my surprise, he didn't move. "He had hid from us for two years, and all I'm trying to do is bring him back to where he belongs."

   "I knew there was something up with him," Nate said quietly.

   "Now, if you excuse me, I need to be on my way. Ghetsis will be pleased to have his precious subject back. Beheeyem, Psyshock. Klingklang, Charge Beam."

   "No you don't!" Hugh growled. "Flaris, Flamethrower!"

   "Ivy, use Leaf Tornado!"

   "Surge, Thunderbolt!"

   The three attacks hit Colress' Pokémon before they could attack. Thankfully for us, they fainted within seconds. The Beheeyem and Klingklang fell to the cave floor, Colress recalling all but one Beheeyem a second later.

   "Tch! You think you have won this, but you're wrong! It was unfortunate that I was caught with only three of my Pokémon. Clearly I haven't figured out how to bring out the power of my own Pokémon yet," Colress sighed with frustration. "But that makes me all the more intrigued with yours... Train them well, because once we take control of Kyurem, nothing will stop us from freezing Unova solid! Beheeyem, Teleport." Colress vanished in the blink of an eye, the fallen horde the only sign he had been here at all.

   "Did... did that really just happen?" Nate asked.

   "Yes it did. And that means Hilbert was right. Ghetsis and the others survived," I said, recalling Ivy. "Come on, we need to help him." We rushed over to the older Trainer, who was beginning to move. I knelt down next to him and helped him sit up. His movements were incredibly stiff and he twitched constantly.

   "Th-thank you..." Hilbert said. "I was hit with a Thunder Wave... and I was paralyzed. Everything's so... so numb. Too bad Paralyze Heals don't work on people."

   "I think you owe us some more answers," Nate said sternly.

   "Like how that guy said Neo Plasma is still around!" Hugh said.

   "And why Colress is working for them!" I added, still shocked by the recent revelation.

   "I know. J-just give me a sec, I... I want to be able to actually feel my limbs before I do anything else," Hilbert stammered. After an agonizingly slow few minutes, Hilbert's paralysis had worn off enough for him to move normally. He shakily stood up, and he led the way through the rest of the cave.

   "Before I start, you each get one question. Deal?" Without waiting for a response, Hilbert started talking. "I was sixteen when I started my journey, and it was great at first. I won badges, caught Pokémon, the usual journey stuff," Hilbert said. "Then I had my first run-in with the original Team Plasma, and they soon turned my life into a waking nightmare. The reason? I could— can... do something all but the Hero of Truth can't," Hilbert sighed. "I can talk to Pokémon."

   "What?!" all three of us said in unison. Talking with Pokémon? How is that possible? I thought. But what Hilbert was doing with Illie yesterday, how he seemed to be having a conversation with her... It all made sense!

   "Is that why that Colress guy tried capturing you? He knew you could talk with Pokémon?" Hugh asked.

   "Yes, and yes. You're lucky I let you ask two questions," Hilbert said. "I accidentally let it slip once when I was fighting a few Plasma grunts. The information spread like wildfire, and they haven't left me alone ever since."

   I knew what I was going to ask, and it almost sounded too simple. "What does Colress want with a Kyurem, whatever that is?" 

   "Kyurem..?" Hilbert sighed. "Oh Arceus, how am I gonna explain this without it turning into a history lesson?" He paused, seeming to mull it over.

   "Explain it however you want, we're listening," I said.

   "Okay... I'll try to keep this short. Hundreds of years ago, Zekrom and Reshiram used to be one Pokémon. Once the war between the original Heroes began, this Pokémon split into two beings: Zekrom, and Reshiram. All that was left behind was a dead, ice-covered husk. Soon after abandonment, the husk somehow reanimated itself, becoming a being of nothingness. While Zekrom and Reshiram are the warders of Electricity and Fire, Kyurem is the warder of Ice. That's all the knowledge I have. Unlike the other two dragons, very little is known about Kyurem.

   "When I was apart of Neo Plasma, there was one thing every grunt knew, and that was our overall goal. The goal was, or is I guess, to enslave Kyurem and use its powers over Ice to freeze Unova. And that was where Colress came in. Colress hid his true motives under the guise of researching a Pokémon's hidden power, ready to go to any lengths to further his research. Ghetsis wants revenge on me, the Hero of Truth, and Unova as a whole, and I guess he saw something in that whack-job of a scientist. Since I never got too close to either of them while I was there, I couldn't find out how exactly they were going to do that. It's funny how the one person I fear the most is the co-leader of Neo Plasma." 

   I was struggling to take all of this information in. Compared to the other information dumps I had heard over the course of my journey, this one was the most vital. Yet while it revealed so much when it came to Neo Plasma's plans and Hilbert's past, it left even more questions in its wake. It made my head spin.

   "Colress called you his lab Rattata, does that mean you wer—" Nate tried asking his question.

   "Yes." Hilbert cut him off. He didn't say anything else.

   None of us said anything. Hilbert didn't look at us, and we tried not to look at him. No wonder Hilbert was so desperate to hide who he was. Being hunted by people who wanted you as nothing more than test fodder was reason enough. Not only that, he had Zekrom, the Pokémon of Ideals. No wonder the Hero of Ideals was so... secretive.

   We didn't talk to Hilbert the rest of the time we were in Chargestone Cave. I still went through with my catches and recordings. Hugh's Scraggy evolved into a Scrafty, and Nate even caught a Ferroseed, though our "congrats" and "good job"s went virtually unnoticed. I could tell all of us were unsettled by Colress' words. I thought we were free from Neo Plasma but I was proven wrong, very wrong. I still had so many questions to ask, mainly who the Hero of Truth was and how Hilbert could speak to Pokémon. Of course I wouldn't be receiving an answer anytime soon. A girl could dream, though.

   Finally, we found the cave's exit. We left Chargestone's gloominess in exchange for a gray sky, light drizzle and a thin layer of mist. Many short buildings rose up in the distance along with several tall, thin towers. The sound of planes taking off and landing filled the air. It was clear where we were now. After not speaking for a long while, Hilbert turned to us.

   "Well, we're here. Welcome to Mistralton City."