So, a small update before I begin this chapter, I am currently done with college so I, in my infinite wisdom, have decided now would be a good time to revive an old fanfic of mine. Just letting you all know that I am still going to work on this story as my main project. With that, enjoy the chapter.
Chapter 22: Verdant Mysteries
After another half day of traveling on the boat, Hibiki leaned on the rail and looked out in the distance as she saw Verdant Isle coming into view. "Someone looks excited to get there." Lan said as he walked up to the railing.
"Of course I am. After all, it isn't often that one gets to visit the island during their pokemon journey, let alone during the time of the festival." Hibiki told Lan.
"True, this will be my fourth time coming, and I've had a lot of fun every time I've been able to attend." Lan said.
"This will be my first time ever, since well… you already know…" Hibiki trailed off.
"Hey I totally get that, not going out wanting to go to events while grieving. Though that being said, what did you do while you were grieving, if you don't mind disclosing that information?" Lan responded.
"Honestly, not much out of the ordinary other than keeping to myself and the family and not really wanting to go out. The one thing I didn't do was stay depressed. I said my goodbye to her in the best way that I could have and I know that's not what she would want me to do." Hibiki said. Lan nodded as he put a hand on Hibiki's shoulder, somewhat comforting her as they looked at the island. "Oh yeah, before I forget to ask, what is the festival like? I've only heard things about it from mom and Cherry." Hibiki asked.
"It's an interesting experience, but I will say that it is a bit… weird at first." Lan told Hibiki.
"Is that because of the island culture being a bit off putting?" Hibiki responded.
"Correct, while there are no big island traditions that they use in their celebration, there are a few things you might raise an eyebrow at. Other than that though, it's just a festival that the town celebrates every year to worship the Twin Moons, with celebratory games, feasts and Pokemon battles that are open for anyone to partake in and the whole thing is led by Skyle, the local gym leader." Lan explained. Hibiki nodded as she processed that information before her mind focused on one detail of what Lan told her.
"The Twin Moons?" Hibiki questioned.
"They're the gods that the festival is dedicated to and that's all that I really know about them. Skyle has told me that there is a statue of the two somewhere on the island, but they only show it to outsiders that best the gym or that they deem worthy." Lan said. Hibiki nodded as she got a bit lost in thought, thinking about what Lan told her. "We'll talk later, I gotta take care of some things before we arrive." Lan told Hibiki. Hibiki waved goodbye as she watched Lan walk back into the crowd and disappear from sight.
"You look like you have a lot on your mind." Melody said. Hibiki was surprised when she heard that voice and looked around for a moment before looking over the railing and seeing Melody floating just out of sight.
"What are you doing out here? People could see you and make a fuss." Hibiki said telepathically, trying to keep a calm face.
"You act like I haven't avoided humans for several years. Anyway, you want to talk about things?" Melody asked.
"... Yeah I kind of want to get some things off my chest about myself, but if you don't mind, I would like to talk about you. Mainly some curiosities about you that have been nagging me." HIbiki responded, trying to change the topic.
"I was more talking about your worries, but I'm cool to talk about that. You've told me so much about you that I don't mind sharing a bit of myself. That being said, we are coming back to your worries later." Melody said with a coy smile. Hibiki nodded as she moved to a quieter part of the boat where the two could talk with no interruptions and more face to face. "Ok, so what do you want to know?" Melody asked.
"Before I start asking away, I want you to know that if you don't feel comfortable sharing some information with me, you can just let me know." Hibiki told her. Melody simply nodded and Hibiki smiled as she put a hand to her head in thought. "Then I think the best place to start is probably one of the more obvious questions. Where is your home village?" Hibiki asked.
"That one is a bit complicated. I technically own two homes, my hometown to the south of the Alaria Region and one that I'm working on building in an abandoned dome near the southern edge of the region. As for why I'm working on a second home, let's just leave it at complication in my hometown." Melody explained.
"An Abandoned Dome? … Oh the Proto Dome, I forgot that it was out there." Hibiki said. Melody tilted her head in confusion as Hibiki worked out what to say. "If the dome you're talking about is the one I'm thinking of, then it's more than likely the Dome Prototype that was created as the basis for the Terra and Blizzard Domes. After The Surge, it was found out that the tech was fried and couldn't be replaced, so it was decided to abandon it." Hibiki elaborated.
"Interesting, it would explain why I've found a lot of old, destroyed tech there." Melody said.
"Anyway, the next question that I have might be a bit sensitive, but are you exiled from your home at all or just on the run?" Hibiki questioned.
"On the run, I can safely say that with absolute certainty. I wanted to protect my home when I heard they were being watched by Neo Cypher." Melody said.
"How did you know your home was being watched if you were working at the Proto Dome?" Hibiki asked.
"Psychic-type Pokemon tricks and alarm systems, that's all you need to know." Melody said with a coy smile.
"Ok, next question, since you say that you come from a village, is it solely Meloetta that live there or do various other Pokemon live alongside you?" Hibiki questioned.
"The village mainly consists of other Meloetta, but there are various other pokemon that live there as well. We get along with each other well enough and exist in peace." Melody responded.
"Ok, then last question for now, do you have a family back in your hometown?" Hibiki asked. Melody thought about the question for a moment, thinking about what to say, before mentally nodding to herself as she decided what to tell Hibiki
"Well… that is a very interesting question that you asked. Yes I do have a family, I have a mother and two sisters that all live in the local castle. We have a nice life, even if it is a bit dull at points." Melody told Hibiki, before waiting for her reaction. Hibiki nodded and breathed a sigh that she had as she processed the information for about a minute before what Melody told her clicked.
"Wait… are you a princess?" Hibiki asked, wanting to make sure that she was thinking on the right lines. Melody simply nodded, which made Hibiki pause for a moment as she let that information sink in. "Oh… That's…" Hibiki said as she tried to find the words to process her feelings.
"Trust me, Pokemon feel the same way when they find out." Melody said with a chuckle.
"This might sound offensive, and I mean you no offense when I say this, but the concept of real life Pokemon actually having kingdoms and territories of their own in the way that I usually think about royalty and such is so off-putting to me, mainly because I associate that more with humans." Hibiki told Melody.
"I mean… I get why you would feel like that. I know that you humans often have fantasy depictions of Pokemon kingdoms in your drawings and stories, but there are a few examples out there. They're usually smaller and try to keep the piece in a general area, along with keeping themselves secretive and hidden because… well I'm sure you know how humans can be when something powerful or threatening comes along." Melody exposited, anger in her voice as she finished off.
"... I suppose you're right in that regard, because you're not wrong. Still, thank you for telling me about that, I appreciate it." Hibiki said with a smile. Melody nodded as she sighed, feeling a bit of weight lifted off her shoulders. "Come on, we should get back, we're probably almost at port." Hibiki told her before she turned around.
"Yeah… Hey Hibiki?" Melody called as she reached behind her. Hibiki turned to face Melody, who floated over to her and handed her an green, oval shaped gem that looked similar to the one that Melody had in her head. "I want you to have this." Melody told her.
"What is it?" Hibiki asked, looking over the gem carefully.
"It's a memento from my grandmother, she always loved to collect gems and this is one she gave to me herself before…" Melody said before awkwardly looking away. Hibiki nodded as she carefully looked down at the gem before gripping it and looking back at Melody with a look of pity.
"I appreciate the sentiment, but if I'm getting what you're saying, then I can't take this from you. It doesn't feel right and knowing my background, I would feel like scum if I accepted it, even if it is a gift." Hibiki said, her voice cracking a little as she held out the gem. Melody was more than a bit surprised herself, before she sighed and took back the gem.
"I appreciate that Hibiki and to be honest, I didn't really think it through. I just wanted to give you something for taking me with you, it's opened my eyes in more ways than I could have expected." Melody told Hibiki.
"You actually coming with me and always being by my side is more than enough for me. That being said, I actually could use your help on something." Hibiki said. Melody tilted her head in curiosity and the two talked as they waited for the ship to arrive at port.
After the ship arrived at the Verdant Isle Port, Hibiki and the others all breathed in the air as they walked onto shore. Verdant Isle was a very peaceful island, with several docks, small wooden houses with metal reinforcement, aside from the Pokemon Center, and dense jungle away from the main village surrounding a large mountain. "Wow, this place is beautiful." Hibiki said as she looked around.
"Yeah, I always take the time to take in the sights when I'm out here. The fact that this island is mostly untouched aside from the improved dock and reinforced houses is amazing to me." Cherry commented.
"Same here, I'm actually impressed how little technology there is present aside from the Pokemon Center." Sigma said.
"The people wanted it this way and it turned out really good." Lan said as he walked up to them, helding an electric clipboard.
"Shouldn't you be helping your workers get down stuff?" Echo asked.
"I will be, but I just need to get a signature from Skyle to make sure everything is good to go." Lan said.
"Skyle is the gym leader right?" Hibiki asked.
"Oh yeah, you've never actually met him have you?" Lan commented.
"She was pretty reserved these past few years, so she hasn't really seen anybody. We have let her know about the new Gym Leaders, but she hasn't had the chance to meet them all." Echo said. Hibiki simply nodded in response and was going to say something when they heard a commotion behind them. The group turned towards the ocean and saw someone gliding in the air, with a Swanna flying next to them.
"Oh god, he's still goofing off." Lan said as he put a hand to his nose.
"I'm going to guess by your reaction that the person is Skyle?" Sigma asked, pointing at the glider.
"Yep, that is totally him. I don't know why he likes to goof off so much, but he's a great leader and very responsible." Lan said as he began to walk towards the beach.
"You guys mind going on ahead? I kind of want to meet this guy." Hibiki told the others.
"Any reason why or do you just like the fact that he seems carefree?" Echo asked.
"What I tell myself is that I want to meet every gym leader but I honestly just want to see how he acts." Hibiki responded. Echo simply nodded and was about to move on, when she remembered something.
"By the way, I'm going to start looking through grandma's file today. Do you want me to wait for you before I take a look?" Echo asked. Hibiki let out a deep breath as she thought about that question before nodding her head.
"As much as I want to, and don't think I don't want to be filled in, I… think it's going to be better for me I don't look at the time being. I know you'll fill me in later anyway." Hibiki responded.
"Ok… if you ever want a run down of what I have found out, let me know." Echo said. Hibiki nodded as Echo and the others walked towards the town while Hibiki followed Lan, getting her mind out of the brief gutter she felt. Lan noticed Hibiki walking behind him and waited for her to catch up with a smile, the two of them proceeding to the beach where they could see Skyle gliding.
"How often does he do this kind of thing?" Hibiki asked.
"From my experiences with him, fairly often." Lan said. Hibiki nodded and turned back to look at the glider, which was slowly approaching the ground. As he flew over the beach, Skyle let go of the glider and went into a free fall, his Swanna following him. As he started to speed up, his Swana swooped in and caught him before the two glided down to the beach below. "Before you ask, this is a regular thing for him." Lan said as people clapped.
"Thank you everybody, now if you'll excuse me, I need to go prepare for the festival." Skyle told the group of people. After they all cheered, they moved out of the way and the man returned Swanna to his Pokeball as he walked towards Lan and Hibiki. "Yo Lan, sorry about the later arrival, I thought the ship was supposed to arrive later." Skyle said with a smile.
"Don't worry about it, I know you. Anyway, I need you to sign off for the items." Lan told him. The man nodded and took the paper he needed to sign as Hibiki took note of him. Skyle was a man in his early 20s with tan skin, blue hair, and yellow eyes wearing a loose, lime green shirt with dark green wings, a green scarf, blue jeans with wave-like patterns on them, and green boots.
"And done, here you go Lan. By the way, I take it that this little senorita is Hibiki?" Skyle said as he looked back at Hibiki,
"How did you know?" Hibiki asked.
"Lan has told me about you and I figured you would want to come see me before the festival begins. Anyway, My name is Skyle and I'm the local gym leader, as you probably already know." Skyle introduced with a small bow.
"A pleasure to meet you. If you don't mind me asking, what happened to Leon, the old gym leader?" Hibiki asked.
"You mean my dad? He retired three years ago and left me to take over the gym." Skyle said. Hibiki nodded as the information clicked before looking abc at a bit of surprise. "What? You didn't know that?" Skyle asked, looking at Lan with a smile.
"No, I knew that Leon had a kid, but I didn't think they were that much older than me." Hibiki said, rubbing the back of her head.
"Ah I see." Skyle said with a smile.
"Sorry to leave you two to yourselves, but I gotta go make sure everything is in order back at the ship. Take care of her Skyle and expect her to kick your ass in your battle against her." Lan said as he walked away.
"I don't doubt that amigo, later." Skyle said as he and Hibiki waved goodbye.
"Do you always say Spanish words when you talk?" Hibiki asked.
"Yeah, something is wrong with that?" Skyle questioned.
"No, I actually kind of like it. Anyway, do you need help with anything?" Hibiki responded.
"Actually, I do need help with festival preparations." Skyle told her.
"I don't mind helping." Hibiki offered.
"Perfect, then follow me. There's a lot to do and I would love an outside opinion about it all." Skyle said as he smiled and turned to walk into the city. Hibiki proceeded to follow him, a bit entranced by his carefree nature.
"...I like him." Hibiki thought to herself, smiling as she walked behind Skyle. The two continued to talk about what was needed for the festival as they walked into town.
Elsewhere on Verdant Isle…
Echo, Sigma, and Cherry all had been waiting in a small, single room house with two beds, chairs, a small kitchen area, and a desk against the wall. "So what do you think Hibiki is doing right now?" Sigma asked as they sat in their room.
"Knowing her, she's probably already offered to help Skyle with the festival. You've seen her help people without hesitation before and I don't see why she wouldn't." Echo said as she pulled out their grandmother's file.
"Are you going to go through that now?" Cherry asked.
"Well, we've been moving so fast recently that I haven't had the chance to rest and look through it." Echo told her. As she looked through the general contents, she found quite a bit of information on the case. After organizing everything, she saw that she had two autopsy reports, one for her grandmother and one for Hikari, several photos of the bodies and crime scene, notes and reports from Anabel, and the package that was received recently. "This is certainly a lot… and the fact that it is unsolved doesn't give me much confidence that we can find anything new." Echo thought as she began to look at everything.
"Need some help with that?" Sigma asked as he walked next to her.
"Yes, because do you see what I have to work with here? Any help is appreciated." Echo responded, handing Sigma some of the notes.
"Can I have the autopsy reports? I was the one who did Hikaris and I feel like making you go over Syphia's would just be in bad taste." Cherry requested.
"Sure, maybe there's something that you can glean from them. By the way, did you…?" Echo said, getting up and handing Cherry the autopsy.
"No, I didn't look through Hikari's organs. As valuable as that data could have been, I… didn't feel comfortable doing it. The scan I got was just from a pure X-ray." Cherry said, shivering a bit as she thought back to that day.
"Fair enough. Moving on from that, if either of you two think have any theories as to what happened after we go over what we have, say them after we're done." Echo told the two. Cherry and Sigma both nodded as the group got to work on their reading. Echo picked up some notes about the crime scene on the table and started to look through them. "Thinking about it now, I never saw her body or what the scene looked like." Echo thought as she began to read.
"Preceding Note: Due to the fact that this crime occurred during The Surge, limited technology was used due to the investigation as most of the equipment was still offline at the time. With this in mind, some assumptions are noted based on what we think might have happened. In addition, we have called Special Agent Anabel for her opinions on the case and her notes are listed."
After reading that, she proceeded to look through all the notes that were present, making mental notes of what she thought was important. "For what they had to work with, the investigators found a good amount of clues. The building itself was fairly intact, save for the room that grandma was found in, which looked to be damaged via a Pokemon's attack, though which Pokemon is unclear. They also found the remains of a suit of some kind, probably from whoever attacked grandma, footprints leading away from the scene, a broken Ultra Ball, and various signs of a struggle." Echo thought as she sorted through the information. A few minutes had passed, the three sitting in the room in silence as they read their respective sets of notes. Eventually, Echo turned and saw that they both were thinking about what they had read as well as what to say.
"So, what have you two found out?" Echo asked, a bit eager to get started with the talking. Sigma held out a hand to signal for Cherry to go first.
"Ok, so to start with what I found, the autopsy report looks like how I remember it. To leave out some of the… nastier details, Hikari died due to internal bleeding caused by severe damage from another Pokemon's attacks. Something I made note in my initial report of was the external oddities I found, mainly that the attacks looked to be made by a very aggressive Pokemon, as I had made note of several deep scratches and wounds all over her body. Aside from that, it looks like how I remember it, same for the pictures, but it's been a while so I could be missing something." Cherry explained.
"Do you have any theories, whether new or old, on what kind of Pokemon could have done it?" Echo questioned.
"Judging by the wounds and bruises, it could have been a very aggressive Dragon type. Another candidate could be Blosber, as those are known to be aggressive at times. Still, there are a lot of options to choose from and the culprit Pokemon could be from out of region." Cherry said as she thought of options. Sigma mulled over the information before noting something that he found a bit odd.
"Do you mind if we talk about what I found out? I think I have a theory about what might be going on here, but I want to make sure I'm on the right track with my thought process." Sigma asked. Echo and Cherry looked at each other before shrugging and letting Sigma speak. "Ok, so what I read in Symphia's autopsy report has some of the same injuries, which says that whoever attacked her was someone who meant business. Aside from that, other injuries on her include bruised knuckles, indicating she got into a fight, a stab wound in her stomach area, and a broken arm. It's also found that she seemed to have those injuries for a good bit before passing away, from what was determined by physicians, at least 30 minutes before Hibiki found her." Sigma continued.
"How did she keep herself alive through those injuries?" Echo asked, shuddering at the thought of dealing with the pain.
"If she's anything like you and Hibiki are, probably some Esper or psychic powers. As for why she decided to do that, I would hazard a guess that either she wanted to find something to help point to the person who did this or she wanted to see her grandkids one last time." Sigma said. Echo clenched her fist at that as Cherry got up and put a hand on her shoulder.
"You said you had a theory as to who might be responsible?" Cherry inquired.
"I did, tell me, have you thought that it might be someone from Neo Cypher?" Sigma responded. The two immediately looked at Sigma with a bit of shock before they both got lost in thought. "I get that they only became a problem recently, but it's something that I've been mulling over ever since the mission." Sigma told the two.
"Do you have anything other than a gut feeling to help you with that?" Cherry asked.
"I actually do. I wasn't going to bring this up until it was relevant, but Strong told me about a failed infiltration attempt into Alaria about 10 years ago. While he wasn't specific about anything due to the details being murky, he told me that it had failed due to something with the electronics and the interference of the champion at the time. Now, this could be related to something completely different, but it's something to think about." Sigma responded.
"That… is a good enough reason. Your theory is a good one and it does make me wonder about some things." Cherry said.
"Ok, so before we get into speculation, do you want me to say my piece?" Echo said. The two nodded and Echo told them what information she had gathered, adding a few observations of her own. "There is one thing in the report that is bothering me. I don't remember my grandmother having many Pokemon in Ultra Balls, though that's not saying much as she does like to transfer them to other types of Pokeballs. Still, she usually never used Ultra Balls much aside from like 40 or so Pokemon." Echo commented. Cherry and Sigma nodded as they thought about that fact as they heard the sounds of someone knocking on their door.
"Come in." Sigma called. As the door opened, Hibiki walked into the room looking a bit exhausted, but with a smile on her face.
"Sorry I took a bit, I was helping Skyle out with some of the festival preparation for the past hour." Hibiki told the group.
"Huh, time flies when you're talking about police cases. Speaking of, you actually came at the perfect time sis." Echo told Hibiki, not sure how to word what she was about to say. Hibiki tilted her head as she closed the door and the others explained what they were just walking about. "... And that's about the jist of what we were just talking about." Echo finished, waiting to see her sinister's reaction.
"Huh… that is… it's the start of getting somewhere." Hibiki responded, unsure about how to feel.
"Not sure how to feel about what we just told you?" Cherry asked.
"Yeah, like I'm happy to know what we're getting somewhere, but it's still weird to me that we're actually talking about this. I'll be fine though, so don't worry about me much." Hibiki told the group. They all nodded before they all got back into their thinking modes, which made Hibiki remember something. "Putting my feelings aside though, one thing I do remember about my grandmother is that she usually kept her heavy hitters like or pokemon she cherished like Hikari in Ultra Balls. She also was prone to keep any Legendaries she caught in Ultra Balls before releasing them." Hibiki said.
"She caught legendary Pokemon?" Sigma questioned.
"Mainly for study, she always had a knack for researching the various legends and myths of the world." Hibiki said.
"Do you think it's possible that if someone from Neo Cypher was responsible, they could have caught her when she had a Legendary on her?" Sigma questioned.
"That's probably a possibility, but then it becomes a matter of which one she had or if it was just a random attack." Cherry commented. The group nodded as Echo took down some notes on her laptop.
"I suppose one last question to ask, as we should probably take some time to relax, why was that letter sent only now?" Echo questioned.
"That… is a good question. I actually haven't read the letter yet, so I'm interested to see what it says." Hibiki responded.
"Truth be told, neither have I, mainly because I'm anxious to see what she wrote." Echo told Hibiki as she got the letter out.
"Letter?" Sigma questioned.
"From what they told me, someone sent the IPP a message with a letter and a photo from their grandmother, the photo only being a few months old and the letter being from before she died." Cherry responded. Sigma nodded as Echo unfolded the letter and started to read it.
"Dear Biki and Echo,
If you're reading this, then it's most likely that I have died in some horrible way and knowing you two, at least Biki anyway, you're going to want to look into the cause of my death. Normally, I would assume that my death would be out in the world somewhere away from Alaria, but something in my gut is telling me that won't be the case. If I'm right about this feeling that I have, you're going to need some help for this.
Now I don't know who, but recently, I've been getting the feeling like I'm being watched. In response, I've taken to noting any weird behavior of people around me, but there's a few in particular that I have my eye on. I want to tell you who, but I would rather not risk telling you as some of the people in question are close to me. So what I'm doing is probably the biggest gamble of my life, and if things go as I think, it will also probably be my last. After you read the contents of this letter, give your mother a call and tell her that you read this, she'll tell you what to do from there. As for that picture and the questions that you may have, don't worry about it for now and you'll find out where it came from later. That being said, if you work out the trick behind it, you have the answer right in front of you.
One last thing from me for now, you two are strong and smart. Hell, more than likely you'll be on your own journey to become champion as you're reading this. If you are, then know that I'm always watching you two. Biki, you're the sweetest grandkid I ever could have wished for and I know that you'll be a good trainer. Echo, you are a bit headstrong, but you are also very smart and I see you being a good complement to Biki on your journey. Both of you take care of yourselves and the Pokemon you meet along the way.
Love, Grandma Symphia"
As Echo finished reading the letter, she put it down as she felt tears coming onto her eyes, before looking at Hibiki who was visibly crying with a smile. "She really was the sweetest, wasn't she?" Echo asked, a bit of shakiness in her voice.
"Yeah… we have to make her proud." Hibiki said through her tears. Sigma put a hand on Hibiki's shoulder and smiled at her, which Hibiki appreciated as she calmed herself down.
"Still, the letter does answer why it was sent only now, but that also begs the question of who sent the package." Cherry said. The room went silent with thought as Echo put away the letter.
"That is true and probably something we'll talk about later, but I think for now we should take a break. The last thing we need is to be sitting here and talking for hours on end about topics that may or may not be true." Echo told the group.
"She does make a good point. On that topic, you said that you were helping with the festival, right Hibiki?" Sigma asked.
"Yeah… the preparations should be done by now, they should be good to go soon." Hibiki said. As soon as she said that, there was a knock on their room, causing Hibiki to fume as Cherry opened the door and saw Skyle on the other side.
"Yo, nice to see you all settled in, sorry about coming so suddenly, but we have a situation." Skyle told the group.
"It wouldn't happen to be Team Noise, would it?" Hibiki asked, a hint of annoyance in her voice.
"Yep, they're causing trouble at the festival grounds. Normally I would be able to handle them myself, but it looks like they're really causing a ruckus this time. I would appreciate any help you can give." Skyle explained. Hibiki simply sighed and looked at the others, who simply nodded at her as they got ready.
"We'll see what we can do." Hibiki said as she cricked her neck. Skyle smiled and gave a thumbs up as they all walked out of the room and headed to check out the problem. As they left, Echo sighed and turned back to the room, wanting nothing more than to relax. When she did, she could have sworn she saw her grandmother leaning against the house and smiling at her. Echo, more than a bit stunned, rubbed her eyes and when she looked back, her grandmother had vanished.
"You ok Echo?" Sigma asked, noting her weird behavior.
"Yeah… I'm fine. Just think I need that break more than I thought I did." Echo responded. Sigma nodded and the two walked back to join the others, Echo still a bit flabbergasted at what she just saw.