Chapter 23: Noisy Festival
As the group got closer to the festival grounds, they all heard this loud rock music coming from the grounds. "Do they always do this?" Sigma asked, putting his hands over his ears.
"Yeah, this is something that they do. Here, you'll need these." Skyle said, handing Sigma a pair of earplugs. Sigma gladly took them and put them in his ears, the others doing the same as they got closer. When they got to the festival grounds, they saw the mess that Team Noise had made, various decorations torn down, their logo sprayed on various houses, and a pile of speakers and boomboxes in the center.
"How long did all of this take?" Echo asked, a bit scared to hear the answer.
"A good few days." Skyle said with a sigh. Hibiki sighed as she looked around the square before noticing someone of interest. In the center of the noizy pile, there stood a white man wearing a helmet of sorts in a black shirt, short brown hair, gray cargo jeans, and brown combat boots.
"Hey… isn't that Discord?" Hibiki asked, pointing out the man in question. Everyone, except Sigma, looked at the person in question and nodded in response to the question. "What is he doing here?" Hibiki questioned, putting a hand to her chin.
"That's something we can wonder about later, right now we need to get these guys under control." Cherry said.
"Right, we should focus on taking care of the grunts first." Echo suggested. The group nodded and were about to split up when Sigma coughed, getting their attention.
"If you don't mind, I can probably take care of DIscord." Sigma told the group.
"Any reason why you think you can take on Discord?" Skyle asked skeptically.
"More than likely, based on what you all have told me, they've heard about the pokemon you all have and what strategies you employ. Even if you do change up your team, they'll probably plan around your changes. I know that Hibiki and Echo also haven't been trainers for that long, but just give me a shot on this one." Sigma told the group. The others thought about it for a few minutes before giving him a thumbs up.
"All I will warn you about is that he is a trickster, so be ready for any underhanded tricks he might use." Hibiki told Sigma. Sigma nodded as the group dispersed to deal with the grunts, Sigma walking towards Discord, who was still setting things up. As the group was noticed, Discord turned around and revealed a mask covering his mouth and a pair of goggles.
"Well, I was expecting some interference, but I didn't expect this." Discord said, his voice distorted by a voice changer. As he looked around and saw his grunts getting into Pokemon battles, he noticed Sigma walking up to him, which amused him. "Well, we got a brave one amongst this little group. I'm surprised you're coming after me first, thought you would join the others in beating down my crew." Discord told Sigma.
"I thought about it, but I don't really think you'll be much of an issue to me. That being said, I could also just be underestimating you." Sigma said, with some confidence.
"Huh, brave and knows when they're in over their head, I like you. What's your name kid?" Discord asked as he got out a pokeball.
"Sigma, you must be Discord?" Sigma told Discord.
"I see you've heard of me. Now then, I take it you're here to get me to stop?" Discord questioned.
"Of course, this town just wants to have a peaceful festival. You and your lackeys are just messing the whole thing up." Sigma responded.
"You're right, we are messing the whole thing up, but that's so people can see the horrors of technology." Discord said.
"... What the hell does any of this have to do with what you just told me?" Sigma said, more than a little annoyed.
"I… know it has nothing to do with this, I am just spreading the word of our leader. She just told me to come here and do this." Discord admitted.
"Oh? And she sent you out here to take care of a festival? That sounds very petty to me." Sigma said in a somewhat amused voice.
"Ok, ok, I admit it does seem that way, so how about a little wager from me?" Discord offered. Sigam raised his eyebrows, a bit surprised that Discord hadn't sent out his pokemon yet, and let him continue. "Since it's obvious that we're going to fight, how about a little something to make this more interesting?" Discord said.
"Go on…" Sigma told Discord.
"If you manage to beat me, I'll let you in on something about Team Noise. If you lose, however, you have to join Team Noise" Discord said.
"You're awfully generous." Sigma commented.
"Eh, got to have a bit of fun to make these jobs more interesting." Discord said. Sigma thought about that for a moment before taking out a Pokeball.
"Very well then, I accept your wager." Sigma told him.
"Excellent, now let's get down to business." Discord said as he threw out his Pokeball, calling out his Conweave, a brown and gold arachne with a mantis-like body and purple eyes. Sigma said nothing as he sent out Steel, who had evolved into a Lairon.
"Steel, use Iron Defense!" Steel nodded and growled as his iron shell shone a bit as it hardened.
"Setting up a defense, not a bad strategy. Conweave, use Web Weave." Conweave nodded before opening its mouth and spewed string before using its forelegs to create a web around their immediate area, the two Pokemon and trainers in safe areas.
"Doing some set up of your own I see." Sigma said as he began to think of a plan.
"Conweave, follow it up with Hone Claws!" Conweave immediately rubbed its forelegs together, a glean coming from them.
"Steel, see if you can maneuver around the web and hit him with Iron Claw." Steel did as it was told, hopping between safe areas the best it could before getting close enough to attempt an attack, but Conweave easily dodged.
"Sorry to say, you're going to have to be faster than that. Conweave, use Dig!" Conweave quickly dug underground using its forelegs, causing Steel to go on guard.
"In that case, use Earthquake!" Steel nodded and stomped on the ground, causing it to rumble and a few cracks to appear in the area around Steel right before Conweave emerged and hit Steel, causing him to wince in pain. "Use Rock Slide!" Steel roared before pulling some of the ground up and tossing it at Conweave.
"Dodge it and use Shadow Ball." Conweave swiftly dodged, skittering across the still intact web before creating a small black ball in between his forearms and launching it at Steel, who recolined in pain once it hit.
"Steel, are you good enough to keep fighting?" Sigma asked. Steel nodded, though he was in pain, which made Sigma think. "In that case, use Bulldoze on the ground in front of you." Steel did as he was told, stomping the ground to create a smoke screen.
"Don't think that will work. Conweave, use Aerial Ace!" Conweave nodded and jumped forward to hit the pokemon before realizing that Steel wasn't there anymore, going through the smoke to see its target in a piece of ground that sank after Stell used his last attack.
"Iron Head!" Steel's head glowed with a metallic sheen and he jumped as hard as he could, hitting Conweave and launching it back toward Discord. Conweave attempted to get back up before fainting from the attempts, Discord returning it to its pokeball.
"Not bad, using Bulldoze to make the ground beneath Steel collapse and hide in it. You're a good planner and that is something I can respect in a trainer." Discord said as he reached behind him. Sigma smiled and was about to say something when he saw Discord get out a Great Ball with a sticker that looked like a dark mass with red eyes. "Unfortunately for you, I feel like getting a bit more serious." Discord said, his tone dropping a bit.
"...Oh boy." Sigma said to himself as he realized what that sticker represented.
"Let's go Guardibee." As Discord threw out his Pokeball, calling out a yellow skinned humanoid bee with green eyes, honeycomb themed armor, a shield in the shape of a beehive, gauntlets with stinger like tips, and bee wings on his back. As Guardibee looked at Sigma and Steel, Sigma noted the red glow in Guardibee's eyes.
"Steel come back, this one is out of your league and you need to rest." Steel nodded as he returned to his pokeball and Sigma got another pokeball. "Looks like I have no choice but to count on you. Let's go, Flare." Sigma said. As Flare appeared, he looked at Sigma before looking at the Guardibee and taking an offensive stance.
"Ho, looks like you have one too. Though I have to wonder what you went through to get it seeing as only Team Noise has access to them." Discord said. Sigma knew that he was talking out of his ass, but he decided to take a chance to poke the bear.
"Well if I manage to have one of these obviously special Pokemon, what does that say about your little team?" Sigma provoked.
"Oh, that is not a place you should have gone little one. Guardibee, use Shadow Rush!" Guardibee nodded as he was surrounded by a dark aura and charged at Flare.
"Dodge it and use Shadow Blaze!" Flare jumped over Guardibee's charge and breathed a gush of black fire, which Guardibee seemed to not mind aside from the burning he felt.
"Guardibee, use Pin Missile!" Guardibee turned around and looked at Flare before pointing his gauntlets at him and firing stingers from them, which hurt Flare wasn't able to dodge, tanking the hits from the attack.
"In that case, use Fire Spin!" Flare shook off the pain before breathing a ring of flames which hit Guardibee and surrounded him in a wheel of fire.
"Shadow Purify!" As he felt the flames around him, Guardibee closed its eyes before the shadow aura flared up again and extinguished the flames around him as well as the burning he felt.
"Not bad, but how about this? Fire Fang!" Houndoom proceeded to run up to Guardibee, fangs gleaming a bright red, and pounced on his opponent, managing to hit him. As Guardibee recoiled from that attack, Sigma saw the aura around him take on a rust-ish color and immediately got worried.
"Guardibee, are you alright?" Guardibee looked at his trainer with a somewhat feral look in his eyes before turning back to Flare. Guardibee grabbed Flare's snout before tossing him away, who noticed the shift in demeanor. "Ok then, use Hive Guard!" Guardibee ignored what Discord ordered and instead charged towards Flare, an urge to kill rising.
"He's in Reverse Mode, you need to calm him down!" Sigma called out. Flare dodged Guardibee's attacks, which were coming fairly quick.
"Guardibee, stop your attacks!" Discord called out. Guardibee kept up its assault, managing to land a good hit on Flare and sending him back a bit. "Guardibee!" At that second exclamation, Guardibee turned towards Discord and started to slowly walk towards him.
"Oh for the love of… Flare, see if you can get close and end this." Flare nodded and proceeded to pounce on Guardibee, who dodged and turned to blast Flare with Pin Missile when he saw Flare's mouth. "Overheat!" Flare breathed a gout of fire that impacted Guardibee, knocking him out and launching him towards Discord who caught his Pokemon.
"You know… if not for that little incident, I probably would have won that one." Discord said as he called back Guardibee.
"I know you still have Pokemon to use." Sigma told him.
"I do, but something about that made me bummed out. I'm giving you this one." Discord said as he tossed Sigma a disk. Sigma caught it as he called back Flare, looking at it before turning back to Discord.
"We could cure your Guardibee for you." Sigma offered.
"As much as I would like that, I'll get back to you on that." Discord said as he turned to leave. When he did, he was met by Hibiki and quickly surrounded by the others.
"You realize you're coming with us right?" Hibiki told Discord. Discord was silent before he laughed and a click was heard. A few moments later, round objects popped out of the ground as Discord covered his ears and kneeled down. Before anyone could react, the flashbangs exploded and blinded everyone except Discord, who managed to run away. Everyone took their time to recover from the flashbangs, shaking their heads as they looked around.
"How did he even set that up before we got here?" Sigma said as he shook his head.
"I have no clue." Hibiki said as she kneeled on the ground. The group, taking a moment to recover, looked around and saw that Team Noise had cleared out.
"Well this could have gone better, but at least we drove them off. Sorry about the damage to the plaza Skyle." Sigma said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.
"No problem amigo, this is nothing that doesn't happen normally. That being said, we could use some help reconstructing the fair." Skyle told Sigma with a smile. Sigma sighed before returning the smile and the group got to work on rebuilding the festival grounds.
That Evening…
After a few hours of rebuilding and resting for the group, they managed to get the festival ready in time with help from the locals. At the festival, everyone was having fun, Skyle was making sure the whole thing was running smoothly, Cherry was joining the villagers in crafting, and both Echo and Hibiki were helping run the battle areas. Sigma was, at the moment, resting on a bench to the sides and watching all the people enjoy the festival. "Hey, mind if I take a seat here?" Lan asked as he walked up to Sigma.
"Yeah go ahead." Sigma said, motioning to the empty seat. Lan took a seat and handed SIgma a tropical drink, which he kindly accepted before looking back at the festival.
"Why don't you go out there and have fun? I know there are people out there who want to thank you for beating Discord." Lan said.
"I probably should, but I honestly just don't feel up to it." Sigma responded.
"Something on your mind?" Lan questioned.
"I suppose so, it's more something about my past. You've heard about it from Hibiki right?" Sigam told Lan.
"She has, do you feel guilty about your time in Neo Cyper?" Lan asked.
"Of course I do, why wouldn't I? I just don't get how I could be so stupid for joining them." Sigma said as she sighed heavily.
"We all do stupid shit sometimes and we regret it. It's nothing new for us." Lan told Sigma.
"Well, at least most fuck ups don't lead to joining an evil organization." Sigma said.
"True, that doesn't always happen, but at least you managed to recognise that you were on the wrong path and got yourself off of that path." Lan comforted, a smile on his face.
"Yeah… that is true." Sigma said as he gave a smile. The two sat in silence as they basked in the activity and joy of the festival.
"You're nervous about admitting that you have feelings for one of them aren't you?" Lan asked nonchalantly. Sigma nearly choked on air as he was caught off guard by the question.
"I.. Wh… No idea what you're talking about." Sigma said as he recovered.
"Come on man, you're in a group with three beautiful girls, all of whom are talented trainers in their own right. You act like you don't have some sort of feeling towards any of them?" Lan questioned.
"... Echo." Sigma said, sighing in defeat.
"Really? I thought for sure it would have been Hibiki you would have had an eye for." Lan said.
"It's not that I don't have any feelings towards Hibiki, hell, she is by far one of the nicest people that I've ever met. The thing is… something about her gives me the strangest feeling of unease." Sigma told Lan.
"That… is more common than you think. People who first meet her generally get that feeling, even if they don't show it." Lan said. Sigma simply nodded and looked at the festival in front of him, seeing all the people who were smiling and having a good time. "So why Echo, if you don't mind me asking?" Lan questioned.
"I don't know honestly, something about her just attracts me towards her. Might be her similar personality to Hibiki, but with a touch more sass. Might be her expertise with technology. It's probably both now that I'm saying it aloud." Sigma responded.
"Heh, at least you have a good eye. Now come on, let's go enjoy the festival." Lan said as he got up. Sigma nodded and he followed Lan as they walked over to the battle area and had some good times. At the same time, Hibiki and Echo were taking a walk along the beach, taking a break from the craziness of the festival.
"Man, I knew the festival would be good, but I didn't think it would be this good." Echo said as she stretched.
"This is why I tell you to get out of your room for stuff like this, it's really fun and refreshing. By the way Melody, you can come out now." Hibiki said. As she said that, Melody appeared behind them, looking very happy. "Looks like you're happy that you decided to join the festival." Hibiki told her partner.
"I may be invisible most of the time, but I had fun where I could." Melody said as she floated over to Hibiki. As Hibiki smiled, Echo turned to the sea and smiled as she saw the sunset over the water.
"This is nice." Echo said as she felt the ocean breeze flow over her face.
"Yeah, not everyday you get to sit on an island beach and just relax." Hibiki said.
"I just… wish she was here to share this with us." Echo said as she sat down on the shore. Hibiki nodded with a sad smile as she and Melody joined Echo. The three sat in silence, taking the calm of the ocean waves and relaxing as they heard the world around them.
"If you two don't mind me asking, what was your childhood like?" Melody asked.
"That… is something I'm actually surprised you didn't ask earlier. We're more willing to share, well, I am anyway." Echo responded before looking at Hibiki.
"I'm more than ok to share, just… don't share anything too personal about me right now. I would rather get my thoughts together before talking about that with Melody." Hibiki said. Echo nodded in understanding which made Melody curious about what Hibiki was talking about, making a mental note to ask later..
"Ok, well our childhood was fairly normal all things considered or at least as normal as it can be with us being grandchildren to the current champion at the time." Echo told Melody.
"Any special treatments you two got or was it normal for the most part?" Melody asked.
"Mostly normal, though we did have a few things going for us, mostly small things like people being nicer to us and some nicer times at school. Nothing was really granted to us as a special privilege, though it was obvious that people did at least respect us. That being said, it's not like people were always immediately nice to us." Echo continued.
"Did you have those kinds of people who were just assholes because they felt like it?" Melody asked.
"Yes we did, and boy were they annoying. We had people bully us, threaten to get in fights with us, and a bunch of other stuff. Thankfully, they mostly talked themselves up and lost their spine once they remembered who they were talking to." Hibiki chimed in.
"Remember that one kid who actually tried to get in a fight with us, but grandma showed up and intimidated him so bad that he fainted?" Echo questioned, a small smile on her face.
"Yeah, and the next day he apologized to us." Hibiki said with a smile. The two laughed and Melody smiled before sighing, knowing what she was about to ask.
"And… what about after?" Melody asked, knowing the two could fill in the gap on what she left out. Echo pondered for a moment before realizing what she said and turned to Hibiki, who looked like she was preparing herself mentally.
"I'm good to talk about it, just… expect us to skip some parts." Hibiki told Melody. Melody simply nodded and Echo sighed as she let Hibiki take it from there. "It was… certainly a change, from before our grandmother's death to after. Even if they never showed it, a lot of people had always looked up to her in some way, so hearing the news really touched them in a way. A lot of people reached out to us, offering condolences and even sinding us gift cards. I won't get too much into her impact right now, but needless to say, it left an impression on… all of us." Hibiki said, hugging her knees as she did.
"As for the two of us, well… I don't even think I need to say that we all took it hard. We all consoled each other, but the three of us were in denial." Echo continued.
"I… can't say that I didn't expect that. From what I've heard the two of you and Cherry tell me about Symphia, she was someone that everyone in the region had to look up to. She was also your grandmother and I can only imagine how much that impacted you both as children." Melody said, a frown appearing on her face.
"Yeah, it was... rough to say the least." Hibiki told Melody. The three sat in silence as the sun continued to set, Hibiki thinking of something to say before Melody chimed in.
"Since you two have told me so much, I figure I should share some things about my life." Melody said.
"You don't have to Melody, we're only telling you because we consider you a friend." Hibiki said, her familiar smile returning to her face. Echo nodded in agreement as Melody looked between the two of them before thinking about something.
"I have said this so much, but you two are the strangest humans that I have met… and I am more than proud to call you my friends." Melody said, giving a sincere smile. Hibiki and Echo both smiled back as Melody nodded to herself and cleared her throat. "It is also because I consider you two friends that I am choosing to share this with you. This is something that only the royalty back at my home village know about." Melody told the two twins. Hibiki nodded with a look of acknowledgement before realizing something and turning to Echo and seeing her sister processing information.
"...Did you say Royalty?" Echo asked.
"Knew I forgot to do something." Hibiki thought to herself. Melody simply laughed as Hibiki explained what Melody had told her on the board before they arrived at the island.
"Ok… that is not something I expected to learn today." Echo responded as she absorbed that information.
"Yeah, it shocked me too. Though if you don't mind me asking, and apologies if this seems weird and out of nowhere, how exactly did you… come about? I was always under the impression that all of the Legendary Pokemon in this world couldn't reproduce." Hibiki said, putting a hand to her chin.
"That is an understandable question and I can explain it fairly quickly. What you said is actually true for most legendaries save for my kind. We actually can breed, but only with other members of our species. Before you ask, we've tried to… do it with Ditto and it doesn't work." Melody told Hibiki, being very careful about her word choice.
"Does that mean you're a female then?" Echo asked, curious about how this works.
"Not exactly, though I guess you could say that. If you're going by the… parts, Meloetta are mostly female, but since you can't exactly have kids with only females, there are also males, though they definitely are more sparse. That being said, there really is no visible difference between both genders, so we just refer to the males as 'Chosen ones'." Melody explained.
"I'm going to guess that those chosen ones are born every so often, like 100 years or so." Hibiki commented.
"That is… exactly how it works. How did you guess that?" Melody said.
"When you play video games enough, you get so much random useless knowledge that sometimes comes in handy." Hibiki responded. Melody simply nodded as Echo giggled, knowing how Hibiki is about everything. "Anyway, you wanted to tell us about something secret?" Hibiki asked.
"Oh right. Well, before I tell you about it, I need you both to promise me that whatever I tell you, you cannot tell anyone about it or at the very least just Cherry and Sigma." Melody said, her voice getting serious. Hibiki and Echo silently nodded, which made Melody take a deep breath before continuing.
"In my village, there is a legend passed down throughout the royal family. While I don't remember the exact wording of the legend at the moment, I can give you the general gist of it. The legend, which we call, "The Advent of the Dark Moon" tells of a great disaster where the throne of human plummets and a great leader is lost. Ten years after this disaster, one of the Twin Moons will fall to darkness and turn the region to dust. The legend continues to say that a brave trainer will wield the pure moon to vanquish the darkness and restore the light to the darkened moon." Melody exposited. As Melody finished talking, Hibiki and Echo both let that information sink in as Hibiki looked at her back.
"That is not what I expected to hear, but now that you've told it to us I'm suddenly very worried about it coming to pass." Hibiki said.
"Yeah, it's so similar." Echo said, a bit of disbelief in her voice.
"Apologies for not letting you know earlier, but I didn't want to say anything until I was sure I could trust you." Melody said, a small smile appearing on her face.
"It's fine, but is this why you readily joined me aside from the obvious need for safety?" Hibiki asked.
"Truth be told, no. I haven't been in the region long, but it was very easy to hear about Symphia. That being said, I didn't know she was your grandmother til you paid respects to her in Alaria city." Melody told Hibiki.
"I see…" Hibiki said as she got lost in thought.
"That aside, If what that legend says is true, then we have to keep an eye out." Echo commented.
"Yeah, now comes the question of which of the Twin Moons is the 'Dark Moon' in that legend." Hibiki said. The three all thought about that when Hibiki began to yawn and rub her eyes.
"Looks like someone's getting a bit tired." Echo said, a small smile on her face.
"Yeah, I have been having a lot of fun." Hibiki admitted.
"Come on then, this is something we can talk about later. We should get some sleep." Echo told Hibiki. Hibiki nodded as they all got up and headed back to their hut, night now fallen on the island. As they were walking back, Hibiki suddenly turned around and looked at the tree line. "Something wrong?" Echo asked.
"I think my mind is playing tricks on me, thought I felt someone watching us." Hibiki said as she rubbed her eyes. Echo simply nodded as they continued to walk, Melody stopping to look at the treeline for a moment before following the twins. As they headed back to the village, none of the three noticed a pair of red eyes watching them from the tree line before they disappeared into the night.