So one quick thing to amend before the start, I had forgotten to give Hibiki's Mother a name and Description when I first published the last chapter. My bad, but I might as well put it here before I go back to edit it later. Sophia a a tall woman in her mid 40s with blue hair, dark blue eyes, and a side ponytail on the left side of her head that goes to her elbow. She normally wears a sky blue blues and jeans, a purple scarf, and purple shoes.
Chapter 2: Partners Formed
An hour had passed since Hibiki had left Meloetta With Professor Cherry and Anabel. SInce then, she had returned home and mainly stayed in her room playing various instruments she owned to calm her nerves a bit. "I hope everything goes well with Meloetta. Today is becoming a lot more exciting than I anticipated." Hibiki thought as she played her pan-flute. As she played a familiar song to her, one that she usually plates when she needs to calm down, her mind wandered a bit.
"I wonder why they were chasing after Meloetta to begin with. According to the Unovan legends I've read, Meloetta's song does have enough power to calm other Pokemon. I get why using that power for evil is bad, but why go after her?" Hibiki began to thought as she autopilot the song she was playing. After finishing the song, there was a knock at the door before Echo came into the room.
"Hey, are you ready?" Echo asked her sister.
"Yeah, just calming my nerves. You know me and my anxiety." Hibiki responded, pushing her theories to the back of her mind, as she put her pan flute in her bag.
"Yep… will you calm down? It's just getting our starting Pokemon." Echo said in a caring tone.
"I know, but you know me, worrying about everything." Hibiki said meekly. Echo simply smiled before giving Hibiki's cheek a soft pinch.
"Of course, and I wouldn't have you any other way sis." Echo said happily.
"Thanks." Hibiki responded in a happier tone.
"If it makes you feel better, I am probably just as nervous as you are and just not showing it." Echo said happily. Hibiki simply laughed at that comment as the two left her room before heading downstairs. Once there, their mother approached the two of them with two separate packages.
"I'm so proud of you two and a little nostalgic for when I was your age." Aria said, a smile on her face.
"I can tell that you are. You prepared some farewell gifts for us?" Echo responded.
"Of course I did, you know how I am." Aria said before she gave both of her daughters a package. Aria explained the contests of both packages, which were both fairly similar, they each had a few items that their mother picked out for them, some special Pokeballs, and a pair of goggles. "Now, I did put one unique thing in each of your packages. For Echo, since I know you love your tech and everything, I gave you a pair of AR gloves. For you Hibiki, I gave you my mother's personal songbook, because I know how much you loved her." Aria finished. While Echo was completely ecstatic at that news, Hibiki felt a little nostalgic at the thought of having her grandmother's songbook.
"... Thank you Mom, I really appreciate it." Hibiki said, tearing up a little as she remembered her grandmother.
"I know you both do, and I feel like I don't need to say this, but come show me your Pokemon when you get them." Aria said with a somewhat sad smile.
"We will mom, trust me I wouldn't forget that for anything." Echo said. Hibiki nodded before they both hugged Aria and left for the Pokemon Lab.
Once they arrived at the Pokemon Lab, they saw a few other kids from town there as well waiting in the lobby. "Looks like we weren't late at least." Echo said as they waited for the Professor. After a few more minutes of waiting for a few more kids and chatting, Professor Cherry arrived with a small cart of Pokeballs. Everyone else went quiet as the professor cleared her throat before beginning her speech.
"Apologies for the wait all, I had to get a few things ready. Now then, welcome one and all to the start of your journey in the Alaria Region. As you all know, this region is home to a wide variety of pokemon from all across the globe, from Kanto to Galar. Additionally, I am obligated to tell you that the Pokemon League is available for all to enter this year. As you all know, you may do the Gyms in any order you wish, except for the gym in Destiny Town, which need the other 7 Badges in order to gain access to. Now, I feel like I don't need to say this, but you don't need to take on the League at all, go out in the world and do what you want to do."
As the professor's speech finished, a screen came up from the card and displayed several pokemon on it. "These are the Pokemon that are in these Pokeballs and that will be your starters, please come up as your name is called to get." Professor Cherry said as she got out a check list. As the names were called up and the Pokemon were taken, the room slowly became quieter until it was just Echo and Hibiki left with three Pokemon to choose from. "Hibiki, you're up." Cherry called.
"Hey, leave a good one for me." Echo said with a smile. Hibiki simply nodded with a small laugh before she walked up to the three remaining Pokeballs. On the screen over their respective Pokeballs were a male Venipede, a male Ralts, and a female Litwick.
"Huh, interesting choices." Hibiki said as she looked at the selection. After some thought, she eventually grabbed the Pokeball that had the Venipede in it.
"You're going with Venipede?" Cherry asked. Hibiki simply nodded before turning around to wait for her sister. "Echo, come on up." Cherry called. Echo simply walked up, looked between the two of them and picked the Ralts. Echo simply nodded before heading back as Cherry cleared her throat. "That looks to be everyone. I hope you all enjoy your new life as a Pokemon Trainer. Now before you all leave, we do have a special guest with something to say." Cherry said as she motioned for the person to come out. On cue, Anabel came from an adjacent room and stood beside the professor.
"Thank you Professor Cherry. Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Anabel, agent of the International Pokemon Police." Anabel introduced. Almost immediately after that introduction, the room was abuzz with chatter.
"What's the IPP doing here?" Echo asked her sister.
"I don't know." Hibiki responded, now asking that question herself. As the Chatter died down, Anabel spoke up again.
"Now, to put some things to rest, I am technically not here on any official business. I was merely in the area and happened to run into Professor Cherry. Seeing an opportunity to warn you all about something, I requested to come along and inform you about this topic. Recently, an unknown organization has been spotted in Alaria and we don't know what their goal is. There aren't many reports about them, but from what we've been able to gather, they seem to be attempting to recruit people from Alaria for an unknown reason. For your safety, please report any suspicious activity that you feel is suspicious."
As Anabel finished, all the trainers there looked at each other for a moment. "I should stress that we are looking into this and that it should be obvious to avoid them. Either way, just be careful out there." Anabel told the trainers. Everyone simply nodded as Anabel left the room and Cherry spoke up.
"Well, that's all that I had planned. If any of you want to test out your Pokemon in a battle, we have an arena next door." Cherry said before she left the room. Everyone that was there to pick up a Pokemon then filed out of the building, Echo and Hibiki last.
"I can certainly say that I didn't expect an IPP Agent to come here." Echo told Hibiki, still processing everything.
"Yeah… same." Hibiki said, attempting to hide a small smile. Echo noticed the small smile and simply sighed before giving Hibiki a slap on the back, causing her to tumble forward a bit out from the force.
"What did you do?" Echo questioned in a somewhat serious tone.
"Look… let's just say something happened at my Den and I might have known about Anabel already. And before you ask, no nothing bad happened, more than I found something unexpected there." Hibiki admitted. Echo then pinched her nose before looking at their house.
"Let's just go show Mom our Pokemon… and you can explain what happened at your Den." Echo said in a slightly annoyed tone. Hibiki simply nodded in agreement as they returned home.
After they got home and Echo told their mom what happened, as well as introducing their Pokemon, Hibiki explained what had happened with Meloetta in the living room. "So, you're telling me that you found an injured Meloetta in your Den, who was running away from some shady people that you happened to see, and you brought it back to the Professor?" Echo recounted as she rubbed her head while watching Ralts slowly walk around the living room.
"Yep, sorry for not telling you sooner." Hibiki responded as she patted her Venipede, which she had named Venemy.
"I can understand why though, that seems like a ridiculous story." Aria said in a kind voice.
"No offense, but I don't entirely believe you sis." Echo said out of disbelief.
"That's fair, I still can't believe it happened myself." Hibiki admitted. The room then fell into an awkward silence before there was a knock at the door. Hibiki, wanting to break the silence, got up and went to answer it. As she opened the door, she was surprised to see Anabel standing outside.
"Miss Anabel, what are you doing here?" Hibiki asked, getting the attention of Echo and Aria.
"Hello there Hibiki, may I come in?" Anabel asked in a kind voice. Hibiki silently allowed Anabel into the house and closed the door behind her.
"If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing here?" Hibiki questioned.
"I came to ask you and your family something important." Anabel said as she took a seat in an empty chair. Hibiki simply returned to her seat, and Venemy crawled on her lap. "So, I feel like I should ask this to start, did you tell them about the Meloetta?" Anabel questioned. Hibiki quickly looked at her family before she meekly nodded yes in response. "Then there shouldn't be much to explain. Simply put, I want to ask for your help with something Hibiki." Anabel said.
"What did you need my help with?" Hibiki asked as there was another knock at the door. Aria got up to answer it this time and looked to see who it was before quickly opening the door.
"Professor Cherry!? Please come in." Aria said. Echo then watched as both Professor Cherry and the Meloetta that Hibiki had told her about entered the room as Aria returned to her seat
"Huh… looks like I was wrong." Echo said, a bit in disbelief.
"Well, I think you can probably guess what I want to ask you." Anabel said with a small smile.
"Uh, I think I get the general idea, but please explain in more detail." Hibiki asked, already seeing where this was going.
"One thing before we start, what is shared here does not leave this room. Understand?" Anabel said in a very serious tone. Everyone in the room nodded before Anabel softened up a bit. "Now then, on to business. What I'm requesting of you is for you to take this Meloetta with you on your journey to keep it safe." Anabel explained.
"Ok, but why me though? I'm just a starting trainer." Hibiki questioned.
"To be honest, I don't entirely know myself. I suppose it's because you were the one to find her." Anabel said. Hibiki simply nodded and looked over at her mom for her thoughts before Meloetta hovered over to Aria, who had been staring at her this whole time.
"I'm sorry for staring, but I feel like I've seen you somewhere." Aria told Meloetta. Meloetta tilted her head slightly before she hovered over to Echo and looked over her.
"From what I've been able to tell, she has some memory loss. Nothing major from what I'm able to tell aside from some missing memories of the past. What gets me though is the cause of the memory loss because it seems to be self inflicted." Cherry told the group.
"How are you able to tell if it's self inflicted?" Echo asked as Meloetta examined her.
"Psychic Pokemon have a distinct mental wave pattern that they use. After examining her mental patterns, I was able to at least guess that she inflicted this on herself in the past and doesn't remember how to undo it." Cherry explained as Meloetta simply looked down in sadness. Echo simply patted Meloetta, who in response shied away from her. "Another thing probably related to those memories, she seems to be really shy, and sometimes aggressive, when it comes to humans." Cherry said.
"I see, so you want me to take care of this Meloetta for how long exactly?" Hibiki questioned.
"I… don't exactly know. Ideally, I would just ask you to take it to the IPP Headquarters and leave it from there, but I have this nagging feeling that there's something bigger going on here." Anabel said before she closed her eyes. As she did that, Meloetta looked around the room before hovering over to Hibiki. The two simply stared at each other until Aria spoke up.
"Hibiki, I think you should do it." Aria told her daughter.
"Mom, why are you encouraging her." Echo questioned.
"You know she's going to insist and do it." Aria pointed out. Echo simply sighed as she realized who they were talking about.
"I mean, they said it better than I could have. I'm willing to help out, but do you mind if I talk with Meloetta a bit?" Hibiki said. Anabel simply nodded with a smile before Meloetta floated onto the seat beside her and looked at Venemy, who gave a happy cry. "Looks like someone already like you." Hibiki said kindly as she patted Venemy.
"Yep, looks like it." Meloetta said mentally, a bit weirded out at the quick reception.
"You sure you want to do this? I'm just making sure because of your… current experiences with humans." Hibiki asked.
"It's fine, I'm just doing this to stay safe anyway. I do want to set some ground rules though." Meloetta said a bit begrudgingly. Hibiki simply sighed before turning to Meloetta, motioning for her to proceed. "Nothing big, just one rule from each of us. I want to be out of my Pokeball as much as possible." Meloetta told Hibiki.
"I'm fine with that, but you stay in there while in cities." Hibiki told her.
"Fair." Meloetta said, not arguing the point much.
"As for my rule, you try to interact with me and others as much as possible. Not saying that you have to, but at least give it a shot." Hibiki said.
"That's… at least reasonable." Meloetta responded.
"Good, one last thing though…" Hibiki began to say, before getting a little sheepish. Meloetta then turned to Hibiki with a curious look. "I'm naming you Melody because I don't feel you right just calling you Meloetta all the time." Hibiki said, a hint of blush appearing on her face. Meloetta simply looked at them for a moment before giving a small smile.
"Man humans are weird… that's fine with me." Melody said. Hibiki simply nodded before extending her hand out and Melody shook it.
"Well, I can see you two worked that out fairly quick." Anabel said as she got out a Pokeball and tossed it to Hibiki. Hibiki caught the Pokeball and saw that it had note marks on. "That is a special Pokeball I made called a Music Ball. I made especially for this Meloetta, but it looks like you'll need it more than me." Anabel said with a small smile.
"Question, and sorry if this is a bit obvious, but wouldn't a normal Pokeball be better to hide it?" Echo questioned.
"Normally, it would be, but the Music Ball is made to be special. While Meloetta is in Music Ball, her signal is basically hidden to tracking devices. Also, Meloetta can sing to change the design of the Music Ball for about a day before it turns back to it's default look." Anabel explained. To test that, Melody sang a song and saw as the Music Ball turned to a Pokeball.
"Ok, that's a smart move." Echo said, a bit envious that her sister got a bit of nice tech.
"So, are you ready for this?" Hibiki asked Melody, holding out the Music Ball. Melody hesitated for a moment before she touched the button and went in the Pokeball. The ball then shook for a moment before a click was heard, confirming the capture. Hibiki, with a smile, then threw the Music Ball and called out Melody, who immediately looked at Hibiki. "Welcome to the team Melody." Hibiki said as Venemy squeed happily.
"... A pleasure." Melody said.
"Well then, with that all settled, I must be going. I have some things to take care of elsewhere." Anabel said as she stood up and walked up to the door.
"Thank you for this opportunity." Hibiki thanked Anabel.
"No problem, I'll let the gyms and HQ know about this. I would recommend you stop by the HQ in Alaria City to meet my boss." Anabel said before leaving.
"Well, I should probably head out as well. I'll keep in touch as I find out how to undo Melody's memory loss." Cherry said before she left as well. This left the family alone in the house with their Pokemon and their own thoughts.
"That was a thing I didn't expect." Echo said as she walked over to Ralts and patted it.
"Same. Speaking of this thought, have you met a Meloetta in the past Mom?" Hibiki asked.
"I feel like I have, but I can't remember for sure." Aria told her daughter. Hibiki let that thought mull over in her head for a moment before Echo touched her shoulder.
"Come on Sis, we gotta get going if we want to make it to Harmony Town before night." Echo said as she recalled Ralts. Hibiki simply nodded as she recalled Venemy and both she and Melody proceeded to get ready to leave.
"Don't forget to keep in touch." Aria called happily, a little sad to see her daughters leave.
"We will mom, love you." the two said in unison before leaving. After they left, Aria sighed and got up to walk and think.
"I swear I've seen Melody somewhere before, but I just can't remember for the life of me." Aria thought as she walked up to a framed photo. She picked it up and looked at the picture that she and her mother had taken when Hibiki and Echo were born. "Mother… I wish you were still here to see this." Aria said with a somber smile as before watching her kids run to Route 1.