Fracture.

This was meant to be an entirely different story between Ash and Hilda, but a new idea managed to find its way into my brain so I am going with that Idea, this is not a sequel but hopefully something a little more interesting, this was also meant to be one of the main pairing stories, but since I like rare pairings more, I am going to make it another rare pairing story, please enjoy this one.

Like Pokemon Shattered Empires the romance will happen slowly, but at some point I will be picking it up at a chosen point of the story.

Summary: Ash's journey is complete, but when he starts revisiting regions he delves into a mystery that could change the world forever, a mystery that brings out his inner darkness that could help save the world, he meets a young woman by the name of Hilda who is a starting trainer, who also holds a secret that can bring the world to ruin.

Ash: 19

Hilda: 18

This is a darker story with a hint of violence and mild-moderate language but it is still rated T

Chapter 1: Behind Closed Darkness

In the alleyway of the busy Castelia City, a man wearing a black trench coat and a white mask walked up to a door, knocking and awaiting for the response that he desired. Taking a quick glance in hopes that no one was watching, the winds picked up pushing a newspaper to break away and to whirl around the man's feet, "is there news that you want to present to the boss?" a voice was heard from the door.

The man turned to the door and removed his mask, revealing a glare as dark as night, and a smirk that would send a chill down anyone's spine, "yes, the whereabouts of Hilda has finally been discovered, her powers will change the balance of power," the man confessed as he started laughing.

The door opened allowing for the man to enter the building, "the boss isn't here yet, but make yourself at home," the man suggested not noticing the briefcase in the mystery man's grasp, "is there other business you mean to tend to?" he asked, but no response emerged from the man as he walked onwards towards a secret location.

'No, there is nothing, but soon enough my boss, will meet his end,' walking towards the room of his boss, he began to sense the uneasy gazes of the people around him, 'this case has enough explosives to kill everyone here,' the man started laughing, he opened the door only to discover a man sitting in front of him.

A man with silver hair, wearing a black suit appeared was sitting in a chair, he opened up one of the draws in his desk and looked down at a shining item, "so you mean to destroy everything here, as well as the evidence, that is very cliché of you Adam," the man informed his associate as he pulled out a gun from his desk.

"So you know?" Adam lowered the briefcase, he walked up to one of the seats and opened up one of the bottles, "what do you want to know? Like maybe my own use of Hilda's abilities, what I expect from her or maybe, it would be best that she were to be killed, I don't know, you tell me, you vile son of a bitch," Adam started passing suggestions to his boss.

The boss got up and started walking around his desk, approaching Adam with his gun still pointed at the man, "I have no interest in this Hilda, in fact what you intend to do goes against the mission my old comrade left me," the leader stated, pushing the gun up to man's head.

Adam remained calm as he started laughing at his boss, "so you are going to shoot me here and now, then what about the information you desire? Kill me now and that information goes to the grave with me," Adam laughed at his boss, he lowered the gun knowing that he was correct, Adam waited for his boss to turn around, "as for your comrade, you can join him."

Turning around the boss spotted a gun with a silencer, "you coward," the boss berated his former teammate.

"Do you know who I really am?" Adam asked the leader as he smirked at him, he took a deep breath and started laughing in a sinister manner, "Death, Pestilence, Famine, War I am one of these four," Adam stated as he moved closer to his boss, "and you know what, Hilda is also one of them and she doesn't even know it," the man prepared to fire the weapon.

"What's your point?" the boss asked his former ally with disgust.

After standing up he pointed the weapon at his boss's head "after this, I will no longer need such trivial weapons, there is a weapon waiting for me in Nuvema Town," he laughed at the leader who had fear in his eyes, before he could react, Adam fired twice causing the man to collapse, grabbing his suitcase, he placed it near the dead leader and walked out of the room without his weapon.

Upon exiting the building Adam took a quick glance at his watch, "farewell," he whispered as a powerful explosion ripped through the lower floors of the building, placing his mask back on he continued towards the eastern part of the city while the wails of police sirens rang through the air and the panic of the people started to fill the streets, 'soon people you will know what fear is all about,' Adam started laughing at the commotion that was going on.

"Death seems to have overdone it again, he was only meant to join then kill only that man, not an entire….. oh well, it isn't like those fools were going to be of any use to us," a female lowered her gaze at the panicking people, she pulled of the hood revealing shoulder length black hair and green eyes, "what about you Pestilence?" the woman turned to one of the male members of the group.

The man removed his hood revealing his short blonde hair, "who cares, as long as we get what we want in the end, plus we also need to find Famine, she is an important member of our team, too bad for her she doesn't have much of a choice, it is the will of our leader," Pestilence stated as he burst out into laughter.

"Correct, but sadly the only one who knows where she is, is our good friend Death," War informed her ally, she turned away, relishing in the screams of the people and the wails of the police sirens, "this is only but a small taste of the horrors that we will unleash," the female of the group, peering back one more time as the police force tried to prevent the people from getting closer to the buildings.

(Nuvema Town 3 weeks later)

A young woman with long brown hair sat up after a long night's sleep, in her night gown she stretched out and yawned loudly, she opened her eyes and looked out the window, "oh wow, it is going to be a beautiful day," she cheered, jumping out of the bed happily rushing to the window.

"Hilda, I called for you numerous times this morning!" A female voice called for the young brunette known as Hilda.

"Yeah I know mom, but sleeping in is so good," Hilda replied as she opened the window to let the breeze in, Hilda placed her hands on the window seal and watched the flying pokemon rushing through the sky over the green fields of her home town, 'I am so happy that I have the best view in the world, this is more than likely why I love sleeping in,' Hilda thought to herself as she looked out towards the port, seeing a ship docking in, "maybe my first rival is on that ship as well," she whispered to herself.

"Hilda, Professor Juniper has been waiting for the last three hours, I already gave your breakfast to Herdier," the mother informed her daughter.

"Oh man, why did you do that? You know I am a little lazy!" Hilda complained, puffing up her cheeks in disdain.

"Well it is after twelve in the afternoon," the mother replied, she waited for her daughter to exit her room, Hilda's mother started preparing lunch for her daughter, hoping that she would be a little more active than usual, "sometimes I wish you would be as active as your older brother and his friends," the mother wished, frowning at the test results of her daughter.

"So mom, what are my test results?" Hilda asked her mother from her room.

Grabbing the paper she looked at the failed test, 'she is way smarter than these results suggest, even smarter than her brother,' the mother sighed at the inadequate score of twenty five, "your score is twenty five out of a hundred," Hilda's mom replied angrily.

Hilda walked out of her room this time wearing a white tank top, black vest and denim shorts, her hair was tied up and was held in place by her white hat with a pink pokeball design. Hilda grabbed the paper and proudly smiled at it, at least it was better than the previous score," Hilda confessed, all much to the dismay of her mother.

"Hilda, you are way better than this, why aren't you even trying?" the mother asked her daughter as she placed the plate of food on the table.

Hilda picked up the remote that was on the counter, pressing the button to hear that a news report was being presented with a man in a black suit. "It has been three weeks since a powerful explosion destroyed a part of Castelia City, yet there is still no motive as well as who the culprit is," the broadcaster stated as the scene was switched to an interviewer and Officer Jenny.

"So there is still no word on who was responsible for this, but it seems like the target was a person who had an association with Ghetsis and N," the interviewer pointed out as the officer shook her head in disbelief.

"Sadly all we have is an image of a man with a black mask and trench coat, we have no idea of who this person is and what this person really wants," the officer explained leaving the family feeling very uneasy about the mystery behind the destroyed mob.

"So there is still no answer," Hilda whispered as she watched the news report from the table in the dining room, 'something odd is happening, I can feel it,' she thought to herself as she looked at the food on the table, 'but not only that, ever since we moved here, I haven't been able to make any friends, in fact I wish I had at least one friend,' Hilda continued to stare at her food with a hint of sadness.

"Now answer me Hilda, why are your grades so bad?" the mother asked her daughter with anger.

"Come on mom, next thing you are going ask is why am I holding back," Hilda suggested with a carefree expression, she grabbed the plate of food and started to wonder about her part in this town. The mother let out a sigh, knowing that her daughter had confessed her lack of interest in her studies. Hilda looked outside to see children playing with their pet pokemon, sadness filled her mind as she showed her first signs of loneliness, "mom, I have been hearing a lot of people talking behind my back recently, especially from this town," Hilda mentioned a problem she had been having, "do you know why?" she asked her mother softly.

Hilda's mother placed the kitchen utensils on the sink and refused to turn around to look her daughter in the eye, "it is nothing that you should worry about," she snapped back, refusing to show the concern on her face.

"Nothing to be concerned about? I don't have any friends and men in this town see me as weird," Hilda started complaining to her mother, "that is the reason why I never went all out in my studies, or maybe you know of the other reason why these people are talking, especially since I get the feeling that they fear me as well," Hilda informed her mother as she hit the table with all her might, the table split in half causing everything on the table to through the middle of, "hey what just happened?" the brunette asked her mother.

'I wish I knew as well,' the mother answered quietly, ignoring the growing frustrations of her own daughter.

"Mom, earth to mom," Hilda leapt out of her seat, she walked up to her mother and waved her right hand in front of her, "can you explain why I split the table in two?" Hilda requested seriously.

"I don't know alright!" the mother snapped back forcing Hilda to leap back in fear of her mother.

Hilda walked up to the door with a slight hint of disappointment, she grabbed her backpack and opened the door, "alright mom, I will give you a call in the next town," the brunette replied quietly, she looked back once again to see the table collapsed in the middle, "even the frame is bent too," Hilda whispered to herself.

Hilda's mother watched her daughter walking slowly towards the front gate, "if she were to know what she is, she would understand why people view her differently, I just wish she would make an effort in her studies, as well as making even one friend," the mother smiled at her daughter, seeing the wind pick up, gently causing Hilda's hair to sway, "just one friend for Hilda, would be enough to make her rethink her stance on life."

(Nuvema Port)

A young man with spiky black hair, wearing a red jack and blue jeans walked off the ship with a small yellow Pokemon on his right shoulder, "you know buddy, it has been a while since we have been in Unova, I wonder how Iris and Cilan are going," Ash said with a smile, walking down the gang plank he felt the air grow could around him, "something doesn't feel right buddy," Ash whispered, he looked up towards one of the rolling hills that bordered the town, spotting a man in a black trench coat, 'who is that man?' Ash asked himself as he looked around to find out where his uneasy feeling was coming from.

Later that day Ash was in a Pokemon Centre with two of his pokeballs, "Ash's Ketchum, your three pokemon have been checked and are in good health," a female nurse announced over the PA system.

Ash walked over to the main counter and looked back, 'it isn't just one person, it is all around me,' Ash thought to himself, the small yellow pokemon leapt on to his shoulders, while Ash picked up the two pokeballs, "come on out you two," Ash called out for a dark blue frog like pokemon with bubbles around his body and his tongue wrapped around his neck, and a much larger pokemon lavender at the front, with a mauve body, a powerful tail curled inwards, two antennae, "Goodra and Greninja, welcome to Unova," Ash introduced two of his pokemon to the new region.

"Oh wow, we have never seen those pokemon before," some of the children rushed excitedly towards the strange new pokemon.

"Oh right, these two pokemon come from the Kalos region," Ash reminded himself as the two pokemon watched as the young crowd surrounded them.

"Some things never change with you Ash," a familiar male voice echoed from behind, "bring in exotic pokemon from a different region," a man with short blonde hair, wearing an orange jacket with blue jeans informed Ash as he approached him.

Ash turned around to see his old rival, "long time no see Trip," Ash replied joyously.

Trip looked at the two new pokemon, "so, I see you have travelled to another region, that is just like you," Trip stated with a hint of sarcasm, pulling out his pokedex to gather information on the pokemon he had never seen before, "I see, so my pokedex needs upgrading," Trip put his pokedex back into his pocket and started approaching the pokemon cautiously.

"Seems like it Trip, so what have you been doing?" Ash asked his friend.

"Traveling the world, haven't been to every region yet, but I came back here to have a little break," Trip explained to his friend as he watched the raven haired trainer recall his pokemon, "and you?" he asked calmly.

"Me? Well apart from capturing new pokemon, collecting more badges and winning the Kalos League, not much has changed, just waiting for the next challenge," Ash answered his former rival as quickly as possible.

"I can see it on your face, there is something wrong," Trip pointed out Ash's uneasy expression.

"Yeah, it has been since I arrived," Ash retorted with concern, he scanned the area feeling like it was all around him.

"Have you even watched the news lately?" Trip asked the Kanto native.

Ash shook his head and shrugged his shoulders, "what about it?"

"Something horrible happened in Castelia City about three weeks ago," Trip pulled an old newspaper showing him the headline article, "not even the motives are known to the police as well as," Trip informed Ash.

The Kanto trainer stared at the newspaper with disdain, "so what happened?" Ash pushed the topic further.

"A powerful explosion," Trip replied sadly, "no one knows who caused it, but witnesses have said that a man in a trench coat wearing a black masked was seen walking away before it happened, no one has seen him since the explosion," Trip explained to his friend, but was quick to pull out more pictures from his pocket, "that isn't all Ash," trip introduced a few more newspapers.

"What are these?" Ash enquired.

"This one here is the effects of a strange outbreak that claimed the lives of thousands," Trip pointed to the first picture showing the corpses of people lining the streets of a town, focusing on the next picture Trip showed images of a destroyed town, "in this one for an unexplained reason two cities went to war over something they had always agreed upon."

"Wait a second then why do I feel a coldness in this town?" Ash asked his former rival.

"Well there is this young woman in this town, since she moved here a while ago, the crops have all wilted and died, even the emergency food storage was burned to the ground," Trip explained the problems within the town, "better not continue Ash, the people are now staring at us," Trip packed up the newspapers and put them in his backpack.

Ash noticed a picture dropping on the floor, he picked it up and spotted a woman with long brown hair standing in front of the storage facility, he fixated on the woman for a moment, 'what?' Ash asked himself and in shock the woman in the picture turned around revealing the tears streaming down her face, "she was crying," the raven haired man whispered, but the photo reverted back to its original state.

"What was that Ash?" the blonde haired trainer asked his friend.

"Nothing," Ash lied to Unova native, he quickly turned his vision back to the photo, 'odd, why did I see that?' Ash asked himself, thinking about the occurrences around the pokemon world, "is there anything else I should know?" he asked the blonde haired trainer.

"I don't know more than I have already told you," Trip replied, he walked out of the medical facility with Ash watching from one of the chairs.

Ash rushed towards his friend with the picture in his hand, "I am curious about her, so tell me more about her," Ash rashly demanded more information.

"Alright just follow me, I will show you why people despise her," Trip submitted to Ash's thirst for knowledge. He led his former rival through the streets, "here it was lined with berry trees, and just further down the street….." Trip pointed to a farm now filled with dead crops, Ash's scanned the area as the farmers were picking out the dead crops, "don't blame the weather, the weather has always been great, but this is just a small portion, one day I was walking pass and area where I help teach children about training pokemon, sadly none of the children visit that area out of fear," Trip explained as he continued to lead Ash around the small town.

Moments passed as the two friends walked towards the place where Trip would teach children about pokemon training. Ash looked around to see the remains of the training area, "what happened?" Ash asked the native with a concerned tone.

"She punched the wall," Trip retorted with a sigh, picking up one of the last remaining bricks that wasn't destroyed in the hit, "I don't know why, but the one thing is, she wasn't even trying either, she is physically a very strong person which is why people fear her," Trip informed Ash, he dropped the brick and turned to Ash, "I advise that you stay away from her, she is bad news."

'I cannot do that, what I saw was pain in her eyes,' Ash thought to himself as he turned away from his former rival, "I am heading to Professor Juniper's Lab," Ash walked away, he pulled the picture out of his pocket, stared at it thinking about the image he had seen, 'why was she crying?' Ash asked himself, his eyes remained fixated on the woman standing near the burnt down building.

Ash continued on without watching where he was going, not taking any notice of the approaching woman, the small electric mouse tried warning him about the approaching brunette, but before Ash could react the woman crashed into him, causing them to fall over, "ouch, that really hurt," Hilda complain, she tried to ease the pain, but turned her blue eyes to the man she crashed into, "maybe it would be best if you watched where you were going," Hilda ordered the man.

Ash slowly got to his feet and extended his hand out, "here, let me help you up," Ash waited for the brunette to accept the assistance. He felt the mysterious woman slapping his hand away not wanting assistance, "hey what was that about?" Ash asked furiously.

"I know what most of you are like, you will only push me back down again, that has happened way too many times for me to fall for that to happen again," the brunette refused the assistance, but she again was in shock to see the hand appearing in front of her again, "I can pick myself up," Hilda remarked angrily.

"I am not a native of this town, in fact, I am not a native of this region," the raven haired trainer argued with the woman, persisting with helping her, she looked up at him causing the trainer to stare blankly back at her, 'that's the woman I saw in the picture not too long ago,' Ash immediately concluded.

"What do you want?" the woman asked the trainer.

"Let me help you up," Ash answered, refusing to budge from his stance, "but I do have a few questions I need to ask you," he continued to wait for the brunette to accept his helping hand.

"I guess, you aren't going to leave me alone then," the brunette grabbed the trainer's hand pushing herself up.

"The name is Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town," Ash introduced himself to the young woman.

"My name is Hilda," the brunette followed with her introduction, she released her grasp on Ash's hand and started walking away, "now if you will excuse me, I am going to get my first pokemon," Hilda continued on her path towards the lab.

"Well buddy, I guess that is one reason why she doesn't have friends," Ash whispered, he looked up to discover that Hilda had halted, her fists clenched, he smiled at the brunette, "now that I have your attention, maybe it would be nice if you answer at least one of my questions," Ash pulled out the photo of the woman, Hilda turned around to see the picture in his hands, she stepped back in horror at the photo, "I take it something painful happened here," Ash turned the picture towards him, "why were you crying?" Ash asked catching Hilda further off guard.

"How did you know I was crying when that was taken?" Hilda asked the experienced trainer. She took a deep breath and looked away, "the person I thought was my friend was caught up in the fire, I tried to enter but the people of this town pushed me away, then blamed me for the fire starting," Hilda explained the situation to Ash, she turned away with a pained expression on her face, "I try to put on a brave front, but every time I try, that is when even more bad things happen and all the people can do is blame me," Hilda continued to explain to the raven haired trainer.

"I am going to see Professor Juniper anyway, so do you mind if I tag along?" Ash asked the brunette softly, she nodded while the young man smiled at her. As the two walked on quietly, the trainer peered to the hills again seeing the man watching the village from the vantage point, 'that person has been there for over three hours, what is that person planning?' A curious Ash asked himself, trying to figure out the motives of that person.

"I see, so she is about to become a trainer," the man whispered to himself as he looked down at the small town yet again, "it matters not, all I care about is her ability to bring this world to ruin and since she doesn't fully understand, we have the perfect bargaining chip, her brother," the man whispered to himself slowly bursting out into laughter.

"Death, why are you still waiting?" a woman asked her comrade.

Death pointed down at the man entering the laboratory, "something is familiar about him, almost like the king that sealed us away and killed the original Famine," Death glared at the blacked haired trainer, clenching his fists tightly.

"It isn't like that king is around anymore, so we can do as we please, unfortunately, the new Famine is mortal, not like us, the king of Pokelantis did a poor job in defeating us thousands of years ago," the woman said with a smirk, laughing at the small town, she looked down at the dead crops and burnt food storage, "funny part about is, this Hilda, doesn't even know this is her own doing, all we need to do is to let her travel around Unova while we prepare for our leader's return," the woman started walking away from the town, she left her ally alone as he watched the town.

"So the fun is about to start, just let me know when I can stop holding back," Death showed his thirst for blood.

"Take it easy Death, the only being that can defeat us is no longer living and his dark spirit has been sealed away, so our mission will be very simple, well that is once we get Hilda to join us in destroying all life on this planet," War explained with overconfidence in their ability to win, she looked up to see the flying pokemon heading away from the ocean, 'we almost succeeded three thousand years ago, but this king of Pokelantis thwarted our plans and sealed us away, but now, there is no chance of him stopping us,' War started to grin maliciously, 'time to show off my ability,' War raised her right hand into the air, clicking her fingers making the pokemon turn towards the city, "let's see how wild these pokemon really are," War whispered as the pokemon started heading towards the small town.

Well that is Chapter 1 of this epic new story, hope you all like it and yes I think having the main female protagonist as a powerful entity that can bring the world to ruin is a really cool idea, but I do have plans for it so watch what I have in store for Hilda in this story.

With the first salvos being fired in this new conflict, it will be up to Ash to stop the wild pokemon from destroying the town and killing the inhabitants?

Next time chapter 2: Lingering darkness

And now with Shattered Empires completed, I will now started fulfilling promises I made earlier in the year and before that, starting with this one.