#zoroarkbert

The beef with N is one of my favorite parts of this tbh. N can tell fairly early on that Hilbert's human form is a Zoroark's illusion, and is under the impression he disguises himself in fear of being attacked by people. Hilbert, who disguises himself for different reasons, is a little weirded out by this guy who knows what he is and assumes he's afraid of his friends and basically sister.

N's also not...completely far off, so there's a bit of defensiveness on Hilbert's side.

To sum it up:

Hilbert doesn't have his own pokemon, it feels a little weird to him. Hilda does though, but he doesn't mind. She treats her pokemon well and they enjoy battling more than Hilbert does.

There isn't a human Hilbert that he got his human form from, he bases it off Hilda herself! He's basically been posing as her twin since they were little. Everyone in Nuvema thought it was a bit strange, but Hilda's mom insisted he was just shy and stayed in the house a lot before. How many people believed it is up for debate, but he does look exactly like Hilda, so...

Does anyone else apart from Hilda and N know that Hilbert is a Zoroark? (Like the gym leaders, the elite four the champion etc)

Hilda's mom knows! The whole reason Hilbert initially stuck around is because she patched him up when he was injured after he got separated from his pack. Alder finds out at some point during the events of Black and White and is pretty chill about it.

Cheren and Bianca find out after the events of Black and White in a less than chill way

He gets a new fit in BW2!

In Black and White, still not fantastic. Hilbert wasn't there when Hilda confronted N and Ghetsis (he was with Bianca), but he trusts her and Cheren's order of events. Still, he doesn't completely trust N himself and hopes he isn't causing trouble off...wherever he is, and he hopes he figures stuff out.

Black and White 2's postgame on the other hand is more like this

Also does zoroarkbert have any friends outside of Hilda's friends? Or are they just a package deal?

Cheren and Bianca are pretty much Hilbert's only friends, not that he minds very much! He gets along well with them, they're both used to him being a bit strange and have learned to just roll with it. Cheren sometimes gets a little exasperated with him, which Hilbert is also used to for the most part. He thinks it's funny.

Hilbert and Bianca are both used to being on the receiving end of Cheren's exasperation and are pretty close as a result! Hilbert doesn't speak much and Bianca talks a lot so they kind of balance each other out in that way.

Things are more strained and distant between the whole friend group by BW2, but Hilbert still stops by to see Bianca on occasion