Ash's Unova Ideals

Chapter 4: Hilda's First Capture

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon.

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"I'M GOING TO BE THE VERY BEST!" Ash and Pikachu sweat-dropped as they heard a very familiar voice just behind them.

Both of them turned around and sure enough, they saw Hilda (Oshawott next to her), yelling at the top of her lungs.

Hilda after finished screaming, saw Ash just in front of her. She then waved at him and ran excitedly.

"Hey Ash! It seems I finally caught up to you huh?"

"Yeah. Good job on catching up. But I want to ask... what was that?"

Without her smile ever leaving, Hilda continued to speak. "I'm making a promise. No matter what, I won't give up and I'll achieve my dream. To become the very best!" Hilda's tone gradually became more and more excited as she continued to talk.

Ash, completely forgetting the talk with Pikachu, made a genuine smile. Hilda resembled himself so much back when he too started his journey. Granted he was much more immature than Hilda. "So your dream is to be the very best?"

Hilda picked up Oshawott before looking at Ash. "I'm not sure what I want to be. I've always been scared of big, scary Pokémon like a Scolipede so being a Pokemon trainer wasn't something that I wanted to be. But I love the Unova Region. Honestly, I was planning on just being a normal person with a normal job like a clothes designer or something."

Ash tilted his head. He never had a problem like that before. Ever since he met his father's Rapidash, he had always wanted to become a Pokémon Trainer. He just wanted to be friends with all the Pokémon. And later his dream changed to becoming the very best. Hilda's situation was different. Though he was reminded of May, who didn't even like Pokémon to begin with. "So why did you choose to become a trainer then?"

Hilda looked down. "It's because of Bianca. She wanted to go out into the world and see what it holds for her. She wasn't scared at all. I realized that I would never truly be able to understand Pokémon if I never even tried." She looked back at Ash with a determined expression, the fire in her eyes surprising even Ash. "My dream...is to become friends with Pokémon!" Hilda ran back to the top of the hill. "I WILL BE FRIENDS WITH EVERY POKEMON THERE IS!"

"Pikachu." Ash whispered to Pikachu

"Pika?"

"I feel like I'm too young to say this, but she reminds me of, well, me."

"Pika," Pikachu agreed nodding his head.

"Oh and speaking of Pokemon, did you catch any yet?" Hilda said to Ash.

Ash smiled as he held out his finger. "Yeah, so far I caught one Pokemon, which is a Rufflet. However, I can only show you after it recovers in the Pokemon Center. What about you?"

"Ah, I didn't encounter a single Pokemon since the start of the journey. So currently I didn't catch one yet."

"Oh I see, sorry. It seems like I was showing off didn't it?" Ash frowned, sorry for his tone.

"No no no. It's fine. I am the one who asked anyways." Hilda shrugged off Ash's apology, as it was not his fault.

"Yeah but..." Ash still felt sorry for Hilda. After all, he saw the bitter smile she made during the talk they had. He was trying to find a way to make up for what he said. Then he found a solution.

"Alright then. How about if I were to help you catch your first Pokemon."

Hilda was shocked more than surprised, "Really? Are you sure?"