AN: Just wanted to make a quick note at the beginning, I am for the most part only going to be showing Hibiki's Pokemon Gym Battles. It's not like I'm only going to show her gym battles, but for the sake of getting this story's chapters out at a reasonable pace, only hers are going to be shown.
Chapter 6: A Test of Skill! Hibiki vs Sonata!
The next morning after the concert, there was a lot of buzz around the town. Lots of talk going around about how cool it was and gym challengers saying they'll be taking on Sonata today. As for Hibiki and Echo, they were both relaxing and marking stuff for shipment back home. "You definitely went a bit overboard sis." Echo told Hibiki as she saw her sister marking about a dosen packages
"Look, this is the one time that I have to get things that I like, let me have this." Hibiki said blissfully as she put a plush in a box. Echo was going to say something but quickly just sighed and went to the door.
"Just get done soon, remember what Sonata said last night?" Echo told her sister. Hibiki looked at Echo for a moment before remembering and closing the last box.
"Right… be there at 8." Hibiki said as she rubbed the back of her head with a nervous smile and looked to see that it was 7:35.
"... Your memory is hopeless sometimes, you know that?" Echo sighed as she opened the door. The two then left the room of their hotel and headed over to the gym to find that it was not very crowded. As they looked around, they saw Sonata calling them over to the side of the gym.
"Let's keep around the edges, don't want people to see us going in." Hibiki said. Echo simply nodded as they made their way to Sonata.
"Was wondering if you two would get here a bit early." Sonata said with a smile.
"Figured we would so we don't have to make the others wait for you. Especially with what you said at the end of the concert." Hibiki responded.
"Heh, I came up with that after talking with you. Come on, let's do this." Sonata told the two as she opened the door. The two entered the gym as Sonata closed the door behind them. Once inside, they saw that there was no one else there and the stadium was a basic ground stadium. "Ok, so since you're a special case, I want you to bring out your current team so we can find an even ground." Sonata questioned.
"Seems fair." Hibiki said as she brought out both Melody and Venemy. As Hibiki and Echo talked about what would be a good matchup and balance, Echo watched from a distance as she brought out her own team.
"I'm proud of my sis you know, just a bit weird to see this moment happening." Echo told her team, knowing she couldn't talk to them like with Melody. Ralts and Sewaddle looked at Echo and both simply hugged her legs. "Thanks you two, I appreciate it." Echo said as she leaned down and picked the both of them up. As she looked at Ralts, she thought back to yesterday and wanted to try something. Taking a deep breath she closed her eyes and focused on Ralts, who looked confused for a moment before realizing what she was doing. Ralts hugged Echo as a psychic link formed between them.
"...Hello?" Ralts called out.
"Hey, my idea worked." Echo said happily.
"Echo… Trainer…" Ralts responded happily.
"Still learning how to speak… fair enough." Echo said with a smile. Seawadle saw this interaction and bit at Echo to get her attention. "Ah right. Now to try for you little guy." Echo told Seawaddle. Echo did the same with Sewaddle, taking it a bit slower since he was not a psychic type.
"Hello?" Sewaddle tested once the link was formed.
"Glad that worked." Echo said as she sat down in the stands, exhausted from the psychic links.
"Are you ok?" Sewaddle asked, a little concerned.
"Yeah… just a bit exhausted from using all of that energy to link with you two." Echo said as she panted a little and put the two on her lap.
"Happy…" Ralts said as he hugged Echo.
"Yeah Ralts, I am happy. ...Do you two want names?" Echo said as she looked at them. The two Pokemon looked at each other before looking back at Echo. "I'm only asking because my sis does it for all of her stuff, so she was ready for her pokemon, but I never really thought about it till now." Echo explained, a slight blush appearing on her face.
"It's fine, you can come up with names later or even ask your sister help." Sewaddle told Echo, who simply smiled in response. As the three continued to talk, Hibiki looked over and smiled.
"Looks like your sister did something." Sonata commented.
'Yep, I'll have to ask her about it later. Anyway, the team we discussed is fine with you?" Hibiki responded.
"Yep, it's a good one. One of my being team a low level for your Venipede and one from about the midpoint for Meloetta." Sonata reiterated. Hibiki nodded as Sonata walked to the back room to grab the pokemon.
"So… this isn't going to be a simple fight for me." Melody told Hibiki.
"Sorry but I figured you would want a challenge." Hibiki said as she returned Venemy to his Pokeball.
"It's fine, but I'm starting to think I bit off more than I can chew." Melody said, a hint of nervousness in her voice.
"Don't worry too much about it, you should know that I'm fairly competent when it comes to battles." Hibiki said with a confident smile. Melody simply sighed as Sonata entered the room with two pokeballs on her hip and a determined look on her face.
"You ready?" Sonata questioned as she walked to her side of the battlefield. Hibiki nodded as she and Melody did the same before coming to a stop at her position. "Now before we continue, you know that I have to activate the judge system right?" Sonata said. Hibiki looked at Sonata for a moment before face palming and sighing.
"Judge system?" Melody asked.
"Basically it's a system that is used for judging matches… and it registers the challenger into the system." Hibiki explained.
"It's fine in this instance, Anabel gave me a special judge system. It'll send the info to the IPP Regional Headquarters in the capital." Sonata explained. Hibiki looked at Melody who just sighed and nodded before giving Sonata a thumbs up. Sonata nodded before she got out a remote and pressed a button on it. Within a few seconds, a yellow drone flew above the stadium and scanned Hibiki.
"Challenger Registered… Sending data to Officer Anabel." the drone said.
"And there we go." Sonata said, letting out a small sigh of relief.
"Ok, fair enough. Now then Sonata, what do you say we get started?" Hibiki declared. Sonata simply smiled back as the drone hovered over the arena.
"This battle will be between Challenger Hibiki and Gym Leader Sonata. The first to eliminate each other's team of two Pokemon wins." the drone said.
"Don't expect me to go easy on you after yesterday. I'm giving you my all as a gym leader." Sonata said confidently as she got out a pokeball.
"I wouldn't have it any other way." Hibiki responded as she did the same.
"Let the match begin!" the drone declared as it flew into the sky.
"Come out Aipom!" Sonata said as she called out her Pokemon, which appeared in front of her.
"Let's do this Venemy!" Hibiki yelled as she did the same. Both Aipom and Venemy looked at each other, waiting for their trainer's orders before Aipm dashed.
"Aipom, use Slam." Sonata ordered as Aipom leaped into the air towards Venemy.
"Defense Curl now!" Venemy rolled into a ball as tight as it could before Aipom hit it. When Aipom impacted Venemy, he was pushed back a little but otherwise fine. "Poison Sting!" Venemy quickly uncurled before launching a barrage stingers towards Aipom, who couldn't dodge them in time and got hit.
"Aipom!" Sonata called out. Aipom simply shrugged the attack off and smiled in anticipation. "Alright then, use Agility!" Sonata ordered. Aipom proceeded to dash towards Venemy at increasing speed.
"Ho boy, this is going to be trouble." Hibiki said to herself.
"Scratch now!" Sonata said. Aipom immediately scratched Venemy, who instinctively went into a defensive position just before getting hit. "Don't let up! Keep putting the pressure on!" Sonata yelled. Aipom nodded before it continued to do run-by Scratches on Venemy. Hibiki took a moment to analyze the situation before she smiled with a glint of inspiration in her eyes.
"Venemy, use Rollout and spin in place!" Hibiki said. Venemy took a moment to process that instruction before understanding it and executing it. Aipom, who was going in for another hit, couldn't stop in time and was hit back by Venemy. "That's good, keep it up!" Hibiki said. As Venemy kept spinning in place, a small cloud of dust was created.
"Aipom, don't get intimidated. Use Double-Edge now!" Sonata shouted. Aipom nodded before dashing towards the spinning Venemy. As Aipom went through the dust cloud, it did see that Venemy kept spinning in place which made it stop. "Still spinning is it? Alright then, use Bounce!"" Aipom nodded before jumping up high into the air.
"Oh boy that's not good…" Hibiki said to herself. As Aipom descended, Venemy was still spinning, waiting for a signal from Hibiki. "Now!" Venemy immediately tipped on its side a tiny bit which caused it to spin outwards as Aipom nearly hit him. Aipom shook itself off a bit as it looked and saw Venemy spinning in a circle, as he kept speeding up.
"That's some Rollout, but don't back down! Agility now and use Double edge when you!" Sonata ordered. Aipom nodded before dasing to catch up to Venemy.
"Don't let him catch up!" Hibiki said. Venemy simply sped up faster as it dodged the attacks from Aipom.
"Get ahead of it and get ready to use Counter!" Aipom nodded as he dashed forward and waited for Venemy. As Venemy got closer, Hibiki simply nodded as Venemy charged forward toward Aipom. Venemy's tail then proceeded to glow purple as it sped up. Seeing this, Aipom took a defensive stance as it got ready to take the brunt of the attack.
"Now, Poison Tail!" Just as Venemy reached Aipom, it uncurled out of it's spin and delivered a strong tail slap. Aipom, after getting hit, delivered a counter to Venemy, resulting in the both of them getting knocked back.
"Venemy!/ Aipom!" the two trainers called out to their pokemon. As both Pokemon landed, Hibiki and Sonata ran up to them to check on them, finding that both were knocked out.
"Both Pokemon are unable to battle." the drone said above them.
"Sorry about pushing you hard Venemy, get some rest." Storm said as she returned Venemy to his Pokeball. Sonata did the same to Aipom before they both walked back to their places.
"You really are an interesting trainer. Didn't expect that strategy." Sonata told Hibiki.
"Well, I had to get a bit creative for this fight." HIbiki said proudly.
"I'm impressed, but that doesn't mean I'm backing down easily." Sonata said as she got out a Great Ball. Hibiki simply nodded as she looked at Melody.
"You ready?" Hibiki asked. Melody simply nodded before floating ahead onto the field.
"... To think I would battle against a Mythical Pokemon, it's an honor and a fight that I don't intend to make easy. Come on out Wigglytuff!" Sonata said as she threw the Great Ball. From the Great Ball came a Wigglytuff that starred in wonder at Melody.
"Well, this just got a bit more complicated. Your Pirouette form will work, but it'll be a risk depending on what Wigglytuff knows." Hibiki told Melody mentally.
"I know that and I'm counting on you to direct me with your crazy plans. You know all the moves that I know how to do, I'm leaving this up to you." Melody responded. Hibiki nodded as she focused on the Pokemon ahead of her. After a moment of silence, Sonata got a serious look on her face.
"Wigglytuff, set up a Light Screen and Reflect!" Sonata said. Wigglytuff nodded as she started to create two barriers around her.
"Don't even think about it! Melody, Quick Attack!" Melody simply nodded before dashing in and landing a hit on Wigglytuff, who didn't flinch as the barrier formed around her. "Ok… that is a tough Pokemon." Hibiki said to herself.
"Now, Body Slam!" Wigglytuff nodded before jumping up and aiming at where Melody was. Melody quickly dodged out of the way as Wigglytuff impacted the ground, causing a small dust cloud. "Thunder Wave, Now!" A wave of paralyzing electricity emanated from the dust cloud and managed to catch Melody in it, causing her to be paralyzed.
"Melody!" Hibiki called out.
"I knew that Meloetta would be speedy, so I figured this would be the best way to take it down a notch." Sonata said with a smile. Melody looked at Sonata with a small grimace, though she did think otherwise.
"Looks like this is going to be more of a challenge than I thought. I'll work with this for now, just work with this." Melody told Hibiki. Hibiki simply nodded before she turned back to Wigglytuff.
"Wigglytuff, use Echoed Voice!" Wigglytuff let out a loud voice that Melody heard and endured, taking some damage from the attack. Hibiki took a moment to think about a solution before deciding on at least a temporary strategy.
"Melody, use Calm Mind!" Melody simply nodded as she struggled to concentrate and calm herself through her paralyzed body.
"Don't give them an inch! Use Rollout." Wigglytuff then jumped in the air before curling into a ball and charging.
"I kind of asked for this. Melody, do your best to dodge!" Hibiki said. Melody nodded, abandoning her endeavor and focussing on dodging. As she saw the Wigglytiff charging towards her, she managed to get her body to respond long enough to be able to jump over it, barely feeling the ears on her back before she landed. The Wigglytuff took some time to turn around and come around for another attempt, which Melody attempted to dodge but she felt her body tense up.
"Now, Giga Impact!" Wigglytuff, still in a ball from using Rollout, jumped in the air and was surrounded by a purple aura. Melody felt her body loosen up a bit just in time to get hit by the Giga Impact and get launched a few feet away.
"MELODY!" Hibiki exclaimed, worried that she might have fainted. Melody was still for a moment before she got up with a bit of struggle, her body now covered in bruises.
"Ok, obviously I didn't think I would have this much trouble. Any ideas?" Melody asked. Hibiki was quiet for a moment as Wigglytuff took a moment to recover herself.
"I have a crazy idea, but I'm not sure it would work or if you want to go through with it." Hibiki responded. Melody simply nodded, signalling she was good for just about anything. "Is there any way that we could share our senses?" Hibiki questioned.
"... It's possible, but I don't think that would help with the paralysis. Plus it does have the drawback of some of the more intense pain being transmitted back to you. " Melody answered, feeling her nerves tingling a bit.
"True, but who said we had to cure the paralysis? More stimulus and better recognition should offset the slowness. The pain shouldn't do much to me, I've had worse happen to me before." Hibiki responded.
"Well… it's worth a shot at least. Just giving you a warning now, this is going to feel weird." Melody told Hibiki. Hibiki simply nodded before she felt a sensation in her mind and more stimulus than she was used to.
"... Wow, that is weird." Hibiki thought as she adjusted to the new senses. As Melody looked around and got used to those senses as well, she noticed that Wigglytuff had recovered and was currently rolling towards Melody. Thinking fast Melody dodged out of the way,incredibly surprised at how much more she could sense. Using the new senses, she launched a green ball towards Wigglytuff causing her to unroll when it hit.
"Ok, this is actually working." Melody thought before she felt the paralysis take hold once more.
"Wigglytuff, use Dig now!" Wigglytuff nodded before digging down into the ground. Melody recovered from the paralysis and looked around ready for her to pop back up. Closing her eyes for a moment, she focused as she waited. She then quickly opened them before jumping to the side, evading Wigglytuff's attack.
"Relic Song, now!" Melody nodded before closing her eyes and sang her song, producing a barrier around her as she changed to her Pirouette form. "Don't back down, use Drain Punch!" Melody nodded as she dashed forward and delivered a punch to Wigglytuff, which did get blocked a bit by the barriers in place, but still pushed back it a bit.
"Took you long enough. Disarming Voice Now!" Wigglytuff then let out a loud, grating voice that Meloetta really didn't like as she covered her ears. Hibiki, having her senses connected to Melody, felt a sharp sense of pain in her head, but it was nothing she wasn't used to before.
"Work Up Now!" Melody nodded as she focused and fought through the paralysis, feeling her body getting stronger. Hibiki nodded as she closed her eyes and just listened, hearing various things before taking note of a strange sound she had heard. "Letting your ears do the talking huh? Fine then, I'll try that out as well." Melody thought as she closed her eyes as well.
"I don't know what you're planning, but we won't let that happen. Disarming Voice once more!" Wigglytuff let the attack go once more, Making both Melody and Hibiki wince in pain, but they remained focused. "All right, we're ending this now. Dazzling Gleam!" Wigglytuff ran forward a bit and let out a dazzling light in front of Melody. As she did that though, Melody and Hibiki's eyes snapped open and Melody jumped in the air, dodging the move.
"Let's Go! Use Brick Break!" Melody nodded as she landed and landed an elbow shot that shattered the two barriers surrounding Wigglytuff. "End this with Focus Blast!" Melody complied as she put one hand on Wigglytuff before sending a point blank blast at it, causing Wigglytuff to get knocked away. Once she landed on the ground, Sonata saw that Wigglytuff had fainted from that last attack and let a small smile form on her face.
"Wigglytuff is unable to battle! The winner is Challenger Storm!" the drone above said as Melody panted in exhaustion.
"We won…" Hibiki said as the realization set in. Hibiki then smiled as she jumped up and down in joy as Melody walked over, occasionally stopping because of the paralysis. Feeling the paralysis in her mind, Hibiki quickly ran over and got out a Paralyze Heal to heal Melody with as well as her badge case for her first gym badge. "Sorry about that, the excitement got to me a bit. You did awesome out there." Hibiki said with a big smile.
"Don't sell yourself short in this victory. After all, your quick thinking was what won it for us, even if it was a bit risky." Melody said as she moved around before floating up to Hibiki's right shoulder.
"By the way, you should probably get rid of that connection so we don't get sensory overload or something along those lines." Hibiki told Melody. Melody nodded before she cut the connection between the two, returning their senses to normal. Hibik was going to say something until she heard footsteps behind her. Turning around, she saw Echo and her team walking up to her before she patted her free shoulder.
"You did really well out there sis. I'm really surprised at how well you did." Echo said with a big smile as she nodded.
"I would have to agree on this, the way your Meloetta moved was amazing. Thought I had a good strategy set, but you sure showed me." Sonata said with a smile as she walked up to Hibiki. Hibiki turned and saw Sonata extend a hand out to her, opening it to reveal a gym badge in the shape of two music notes. "Here, the Symphony Badge. You've earned it." Sonata said in a proud tone. Hibiki grabbed the badge and looked at it before placing it in her badge case.
"The first of eight… wow this feels weird to have this moment." Hibiki said.
"As a gym leader, I can certainly say that was one of the most interesting battles I had. As a friend, if you'll consider me one, don't think that I won't challenge you again at some point." Sonata said with a smile, extending an open hand. Hibiki, a bit taken aback by the statement, stared at Sonata's hand for a moment before she quickly shook it as her face turned beet red.
"Wow, I had a feeling you were a reserved person, but I didn't think you were this reserved." Melody told Hibiki.
"Anyway, let's get Echo's battle out of the way, so I can open." Sonata said as she walked over to a console nearby. Hibiki and Echo nodded as they walked off the field, Hibiki grabbing a rock as she did. Sonata then pressed a button when the field was clear of people and the field immediately started to be cleared of debris as it turned back to it's pre-battle state, a regenerative field filling in all the holes and craters.
"So this is the restoration field that they developed for Pokemon Arenas. I have to say that this is impressive considering how much it's used around the region." Echo said aloud. Hibiki nodded as she closed her eyes and listened for something. A few seconds after the field was restored, Hibiki heard what she was looking for and tossed the rock she picked up in its general direction, close to the ceiling. Immediately after she threw the rock, she heard it hit her target before hearing it hit the ground.
"What was that?" Echo and Sonata asked at the same time as Hibiki walked to where the object had landed. When she reached the area, she leaned down and picked up a now broken drone with a camera on it.
"Looks like we had a little spectator watching our match." Hibiki said as she held the drone up for the others to see.
"A drone? Where was that and why?" Sonata asked, a hint of concern as she looked at the destroyed drone.
"It was up near the ceiling and if I had to take a guess at the why, I would hazard a guess that it would be the people looking for Melody." Hibiki said as she handed the drone to Echo. Echo took a cursory glance at it before looking at Hibiki.
"I can tell you right now that this was being streamed live to whoever sent this judging by the parts used." Echo told Hibiki.
"So whoever this belonged to knows that I own Melody… that's not the greatest news." Hibiki sighed.
"... Well you two are heading to Alaria City after this right?" Sonata asked. The two nodded which made Sonata give a relieved smile. "Then I would immediately head to the International Pokemon Police Headquarters when you get there. I see no reason they would turn you away." Sonata said with a small smile.
"You make a good point." Hibiki said as Melody floated around the drone. Echo simply nodded in agreement as she gave the drone back to Hibiki.
"Good, now don't worry too much about this discovery, you've got enough on your mind as it is." Sonata said with a smile. Hibiki simply nodded before she went back to the spectator stands.
"You think they found out?" Melody asked, a hint of concern in her mental voice.
"It was either them or some other group. I'm pretty sure that it's that group after you though." Hibiki said as she inspected the drone. As she did, she noticed a symbol on the back of the camera. Taking a closer look, she saw that the symbol looked like a "C" enveloped by a shadowy aura.
"Any idea what this could mean?" Melody said, also taking notice of the symbol. Hibiki took a moment to think about it before shaking her head in response. "All right then, let's keep this in the back of our mind. For right now though, I want to see how your sister does." Melody responded with a smile.
"Agreed." Hibiki said with a smile as she sat down. The two proceeded to watch as Echo's Gym Battle had started.