AN: So before we begin this chapter, I just want to say that my father did while I was in the middle of writing this. That might make one part of this chapter seem really weird, but I put it in there cause I felt like I should, even if it's using different characters. Also, I got a bit impatient towards the end of this chapter so you will definitely know who the main antagonists are for this story. While I won't say it explicitly, the character I'm describing definitely will be a big clue/ tell you exactly who I'm using. With that though… enjoy the chapter.
Chapter 7: Alaria City and Memorium
About an hour after Echo had done her Gym battle, the two were sitting at a cafe eating some food, getting ready to head out to Alaria City. "So what is the plan from here?" Echo asked her sister as she polished her badge. Hibiki took a moment before she brought up the regional map on her phone.
"Well, we can head to Alaria City and head to the IPP Headquarters there to let Anabel know what we found and see." Hibiki said in a slightly oblivious tone.
"No, I mean after that. I'm curious what gym you want to do next." Echo told her sister. Hibiki put a hand to her chin as she considered the question.
"For sure not the Steel Gym, that one seems like it will suck at the moment. We also could head to the Fairy Gym or wait for the Dark Gym Leader to return. I was thinking something different however." Hibiki said as she looked on the map. Going through the list of gyms mentally mentally in her mind, Echo nodded before looking at Hibiki.
"So either the Grass Gym or the Ice Gym?" Echo asked curiously as she ate some more food.
"I would say Grass, our teams are better suited for it." Hibiki told Echo with a smile.
"Are you sure you're not just saying that to get it out of the way early?" Echo said teasingly. Hibiki gave a murderous glare at her sister before sighing and nodding yes. "That's fine with me then, I personally don't want to be on a boat any longer than necessary." Echo said, rubbing her head a bit and giving an awkward laugh.
"Well at least we're both in the same mindset." Hibiki said as she smuggly took a sip of her drink.
"...Hey, have you tried to contact Anabel?" Echo questioned. Hibiki went quiet for a moment before nodding no and getting out the card. "May as well do that right now and let her know before we head out." Echo said. As she said that, Hibiki was already dialing the number in her phone and calling Anabel. After a few seconds and ringing, the phone was answered.
"Hello?" Anabel answered from the other end.
"Hello Anabel, it's Hibiki." Hibiki responded.
"Ah Hibiki, funny enough I was about to call you myself regarding Melody." Anabel told Hibiki.
"Really? What for?" Hibiki asked.
"Well, a... colleague of mine would like to speak to you as soon as possible about Melody. Don't worry, it's nothing bad, he just has a proposition for the both of you." Anabel told Hibiki in a cheery tone.
"That's very interesting, any information as to what this is going to be about?" Hibiki asked curiously.
"All I can say is that it's something you might like. Enough about what I have to say though, why did you decide to call me out of curiosity?" Anabel responded.
"Well… it's about something I found during my gym battle and probably has to do with Melody." Hibiki began to explain. After explaining what she had found, she heard Anabel give a deep sigh.
"Ok, thanks for letting me know about that. God, this is already getting complicated." Anabel sighed over the phone.
"Yeah… what should we do?" Hibiki questioned.
"What I would recommend you do is get to the city as soon as possible. While we could see you as soon as you get here, I think it would be good to hold off til our meeting at 1:15. There's a bit of risk in waiting, but it's better so we can all talk about it and come up with at least something." Anabel explained.
"That sounds like a good plan, at least it's something we can do." Hibiki said with a sigh.
"Got it, I'll let my friend know and we can go from there. See you then." Anabel said before she hung up. Hibiki put down her phone as she looked at Echo, who was waiting for her to speak.
"Well I let her know and she told me that we should head to the city as soon as possible." Hibiki said as she proceeded to get up.
"Got it, and what was that about a meeting I heard?" Echo responded as she finished off her food.
"We've got a meeting in about 5 hours with Anabel, says she's got a colleague that wants to meet with us." Hibiki explained, checking the time and .
"Interesting, well I would advise caution with this meeting. Even if it is the PII and they are trustworthy, I would advise caution because you never know." Echo cautioned.
"Huh, weird to hear you say that. Like I completely understand why you're saying that, but at least have a bit more faith in them." Hibiki said.
"You're probably right, but that camera drone has me nervous." Echo admitted.
"Yeah I understand that." Hibiki said as she hugged and comforted her sister. Echo nodded after being consoled and looked at her sister with a smile.
"Thanks for the hug, sorry about bringing the mood down." Echo said in an apologetic voice.
"It's cool. Now come on, we have to get going early." Hibiki said happily and with a smile. Echo simply nodded as they both headed off to the next route.
As they walked along Route 002, Hibiki, Echo, and Melody were talking a little bit about various things and letting Melody know about what Anabel had told them. "Interesting, well this is certainly a development that I'll need to think about." Melody said.
"Yeah, and it would be for the best. I just have a feeling that our journey is about to get a lot more complicated." Hibiki said with a sigh.
"By the way Melody, I've been meaning to ask you something. Are you originally from Alaria or did you migrate here from another region?" Echo asked.
"I originate from here, though I can see why you ask that. While there are several regions my species have been spotted in, I personally have lived here all my life, but I have not really interacted with the human world much at all." Melody told Echo.
"How much do you know about the region now that I think about it? Apologies if I did ask you this question before, I kind of forgot." Hibiki questioned, rubbing the back of her head.
"It's fine, truth be told, aside from what you two have explained to me, I don't know much other than the technology of the region being very advanced and the very faint presence of electromagnetic fields." Melody said.
"Might as well take the time to inform you about the region. What do you want to start off by talking about?" Echo questioned, a bit of anticipation in her voice.
"Well, why not start the technology of the region." Melody said as Hibiki walked forward a bit.
"A good place to start. Well like you said, the technology of Alaria is very advanced, the most advanced of any region in the world in fact. This has led to a lot of trade with other regions, most often asking for some of the advanced tech made here." Echo began to explain.
"I take it that all the different technologies are what causes the EM field around the region?" Melody questioned.
"Maybe? It hasn't really explored why the EM field is produced, some researchers that have tried haven't been able to pinpoint an answer. Most say that it's the amount of technology and electricity we use is what generates the field, but a few say that there's an unknown Legendary Pokemon causing it." Echo explained.
"Interesting, I guess one less question I should probably ask is why is the Capital of the region named after the Region?" Melody said.
"...Ok that one I don't know much about other than it's actually the other way around, the region being named after the city. I'm not that big of a history buff, but I can probably look up why it's called that later." Echo admitted, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. Melody simply chuckled as she floated up to Hibiki, who had walked a bit ahead of them in a bit of a trance.
"You ok Hibiki?" Melody asked.
"Huh? Yeah… I'm fine. Just thinking about some stuff I'm not comfortable talking about." Hibiki said in an upset tone. Melody raised an eyebrow at Echo who just rubbed the back of her head with a frown that made Melody sigh.
"Fair enough, I'll leave you to your thoughts then. Just… know that I'm here if you need to talk." Melody said awkwardly. Hibiki perked up when Melody said that and gave a small smile to her partner.
"Well, looks like she's in good hands at least. Thanks Melody, I appreciate it." Echo told Melody mentally.
"It's a Pokemon's job to look after their trainer and give them comfort. A little weird for me to say, especially considering that I am a Pokemon, but I feel it's the least I could do for Hibiki after she took me with her." Melody told Echo. Echo simply nodded as the group continued on to Alaria City.
After the group had finished walking the route, they entered Alaria City and were taken aback by the splendor of it. The capital was vast, having several high rise buildings and skyscrapers, several holographic signs hovering in the air, people wearing AR gloves and special visors, and a few holograms standing outside of buildings. "Given that you both have some amazement on your faces, I take it that neither of you have been here in person before?" Melody asked, now invisible to everyone. The two simply nodded as they basked in the glory of the capital.
"You know, I knew this would be an interesting first visit. I didn't think that it would look this splendorous in person." Hibiki said as she regained her senses.
"Yeah…" Echo said as she looked at the AR Gloves she was wearing.
"Oh yeah, you haven't gotten a chance to try those out yet have you?" Hibiki asked as she glanced at her sister's gloves.
"I've used them a little, but I think I want to mess around with them a bit if that's fine with you." Echo told her sister.
"That's totally fine with me, we have about 2 hours before our meeting anyway." Hibiki said with a small smile. Echo simply nodded with enthusiasm before she began to walk off and remembered to ask her sister something.
"What are you going to be doing?" Echo called.
"I think I'm going to just… look around some music stores." Hibiki said, pausing to choose her words carefully. Echo stopped walking and turned back to her sister and saw a look of nostalgia in her eyes before turning to where she thinks Melody is.
"Keep an eye on her, she's probably going to need you." Echo mentally said. Melody simply nodded before Echo started to walk away into the city. Hibiki stood still for a moment before sighing and heading into the capitol, Melody following her. As they traveled through the city, Melody noted all the different technology that she saw and was a bit amazed by how much was packed in this one city.
"So, where are you going to head to if you don't mind me asking?" Melody said.
"A place I've been meaning to go to for a while." Hibiki responded aloud. Melody noted the hint of sadness in Hibiki's tone as they continued on. After a few minutes of walking, Hibiki stopped in front of one of the stores called 'The Vocal Lounge' and put on the goggles that her mom had given her along with a pair of headphones. "I'm going to put on some AR stuff for myself, so you should probably connect your senses to mine. I would recommend waiting though, I got something I need to take care of first." Hibiki told Melody as she switched the goggles to their AR Mode. Melody nodded and did as she said, curious to see what was AR in this store. Hibiki took a deep breath, shaking off some anxiety she had and went into the store.
"Welcome to the Vocal Lounge!" a voice said to Hibiki's right. Turning to her right, she saw a person standing behind the counter. The person was a woman in her early 30s wearing an outfit that had the logo of the store on it on a white shirt with a name tag that said Note, black jeans and a pair of AR Glasses.
"Hello…" Hibiki said awkwardly as she looked around. The store was full of various shelves of music disks, AR stands with different holograms, and a few sound booths all around.
"Is there anything I can help you with today?" Note asked.
"Um… well I was kind of curious if someone named Sympia ever visited this store?" Hibiki questioned. The clerk was silent for a moment before remembering the name and looking at her.
"Yes I do… you wouldn't happen to be a relative of hers, would you?" Note responded.
"...Granddaughter." Hibiki said simply, looking down at the counter.
"I see… come on then." Note said somberly as she walked towards a door on the far wall of the store. Hibiki followed with Melody close behind, already getting an understanding of why she was here. Note got out a keycard, swiped it over the reader, and opened the door for Hibiki who entered. "Take as long as you need." Note said before she closed the door behind Hibiki. Once inside, Hibiki felt her breath catch in her throat as she stood in front of a memorial. The memorial had a picture in the center and was surrounded by various flowers, Music CDs,and some incense. The picture was of a woman in her late 50s with dark blue hair, white skin, and purple eyes and was labeled "Symphia Eversong: A renowned Musician and amazing Champion".
"...Hey Grandma." Hibiki choked out, sadness and nervousness very clear in her voice. Melody appeared again now that they were alone and just looked on as she felt a sense of familiarity. Hibiki slowly walked up to the memorial and kneeled down in front of it. "I just thought I would come here and check up on you." Hibiki said.
"Wow… didn't think I was going to be feeling this today." Melody thought to herself, deciding to respect Hibiki's space for the moment.
"So Echo and I started on my League attempt this week and I'm pretty nervous to actually be on it. I got my first badge, though I will say that it was mostly thanks to my partner." HIbiki said as she looked over her shoulder. Melody, taking the cue, became visible and carefully floated at eye level with the picture before bowing midair out of respect. "Yeah… let's just say that some things happened and Melody here is my partner now. Let's just say that thing happened… but it's totally ok, we make a good team as we found out." Hibiki said as she rubbed the back of her head. The two stayed for a few minutes, Hibiki saying a few things that had happened over the past few days, before leaving the room with tears streaming down both of their faces, thought Melody was invisible again.
"I'm sorry if that was hard for you, I can't even imagine how it must feel." Note said from behind the counter.
"It's fine, I've been meaning to come here for a while anyway." Hibiki said in a somewhat hoarse voice.
"Well if you ever want to come back, I'll let the other workers here know. I'm at least grateful that your mom contacted the store to let us know that her daughters were coming." Note said with a smile.
"I figured she would." Hibiki said before going to look at some of the music in the store. As she looked at the music, Melody floated a bit away as she reminisced on what she just experienced.
"So that was Hibiki's grandmother… I can see why she wanted to come here. Still, why does being in there feel familiar to me?" Melody said as she linked her sneses with Hibiki's and floated around the store. Melody noted that there were a lot of AR displays showing various logos of companies, holograms in promotional outfits, and various other things. As she kept an eye on Hibiki, she quickly noticed her attitude had quickly changed as she was looking through the various music.
"Are you looking for anything in particular?" Note asked Hibiki, also noticing her happier attitude.
"I listen to all kinds of music, though I listen to a lot of calming music and anime music." Hibiki said as she picked up a few songs that caught her eye. Note nodded as she went and helped Hibiki with picking out some music. Melody smiled, both because she was happy and for the new music that she could try. After a few minutes, Hibiki was at the counter paying for her haul.
"You know, I don't think I ever got your name." Note commented.
"Oh, it's Hibiki. Hibiki Eversong. You're really friendly, you know that?" Hibiki said with a smile.
"I'm no one special, just someone who helps run this shop." Note said as she gave Hibiki a bag.
"Speaking of, I haven't really seen people come to this store." Hibiki commented as she saw no one else in the store.
"This place really doesn't see much business. Only people that come here are those that come to pay respects and for the occasional shoppers." Note said.
"Well I can safely say that I am going to be a regular here. I hope to see you again whenever I stop by Note." Hibiki said as she grabbed the bag and started to walk out the store.
"It'll be a pleasure to see you then. Have a good day." Note said as she waved Hibiki off. Hibiki left the store and sighed happily as she put the music disks away in her backpack.
"So you ready to meet up with Echo?" Melody asked. Hibiki was about to respond before she felt something off about the area. "You noticed it too then?" Melody said, seeing Hibiki react.
"Yeah, how long ago did you notice it?" Hibiki responded as she started to walk away from the store.
"I noticed it right before we entered the store, but I said nothing cause they seemed to be keeping their distance." Melody responded. Hibiki took a glance behind her to see if she could find who Melody was talking about and it was not hard to see the person in question. The person looked to be wearing a very unique outfit that didn't seem to be Alarian and looked to be following her.
"Think we should put some distance between us?" Hibiki said as she looked around and started to walk.
"Yep, though I would advise to maybe try and talk to him. I don't sense any foul intent from him." Melody told Hibiki. Hibiki took a moment to process that suggestion in mind and looked to make sure that the man in question was indeed following them. After confirming that he was, though at a noticeable distance, Hibiki got out her phone and called Echo.
"Hey sis, so what are you doing right now?" Echo asked.
"Not much, just got out of a music shop. What about you?" Hibiki said as she led the man to a relatively safe area. Almost immediately she heard the sounds of arcade games in the background. "...Why am I not surprised?" Hibiki responded as she rolled her eyes.
"You know me too well. By the way… did you go to the store mom told us about?" Echo asked awkwardly.
"Yeah…" Hibiki said.
"...Send me the location, I'll head there in a bit." Echo said.
"You do that, I'm sure she would like to see you. As for me… let's just say things are going to get a bit complicated." Hibiki said as walked into a park.
"Got it… you're being followed by someone aren't you?" Echo responded.
"...How?" Hibiki questioned simply, a bit bewildered that her sister had guessed correctly.
"I know you too well… and I connected my senses to yours before I took off." Echo said smugly. Hibiki fumed a little before sitting on a nearby bench and waiting. "Well I'll just leave you too it since you seem to have at least some plan." Melody said as she hung up. Hibiki put away her phone and took off her headphones, hearing a snickering from Melody.
"Not. A. Word." Hibiki said mentally, a bit ticked off and impressed at Echo. After a few seconds of waiting, a man sat on the bench next to Hibiki. Now getting a closer look at the man, he looked to be about 6'1 in his late 40s, wearing an black open chest jacket, black pants, dark blue shoes, sunglasses, and had an afro that looked like a Pokeball.
"Well, I see you noticed me. Why did you stop if you knew I was following you?" the man asked simply, a suave tone in his voice.
"... Just a feeling that you meant no harm to me, a bit of a gamble on my part." Hibiki responded calmly, seeing how much this man knew.
"Interesting, now I see why that Meloetta chose you." the man said, a small smile appearing on his face. Hibiki gripped her the back of the bench tight as Melody got close to him. "Now now, I'm not here to hurt you." the man said.
"And how do I know I should trust you?" Hibiki asked, a bit of venom in her voice. The man put a hand to his chin for a moment before snapping his fingers.
"How about this then, I'm going to give you some things that my friend made and you can do whatever you like with it." the man offered. Hibiki thought about that and that did sound like a good offer, in fact it was so good that Hibiki took a moment to think about it being a trap.
"What's the catch?" HIbiki asked.
"Technically there isn't one and the only reason I say 'technically' is because it has to do with the group that's interested in your Meloetta." the man said.
"Which group would that be? In fact, now that I think about it, who are you?" Hibiki questioned, a bit less hesitant
"Just call me Beat and I can't say the name of the group outright, but it should be fairly simple to figure out once you see the package." Beat said as he reached into a bag he had with him. He proceeded to pull out a small, ornate wooden box and handed it to Hibiki. As she did, Melody took it and gave it a quick look over to make sure there was nothing off about it.
"Looks clean to me, just be careful with what's inside." Melody cautioned mentally. Hibiki mentally nodded before carefully opening it to look inside. The contests were thankfully nothing harmful and actually looked fairly simple, a pair of AR gloves, some clear red goggle lenses, a book with a pokeball on the cover, and three disks.
"Ok… you know I'm going to let the IPP know about this meeting right?" Hibiki told Beat.
"Of course I know that, but I think you'll find that their enemy and mine are one in the same." Beat said ominously. He then got up before he started to walk away. "By the way, I will give you one hint as to where to start researching for the group I mentioned as well as a word of warning." Beat said.
"And those are?" Hibiki asked, a bit unnerved.
"Look to remote regions as that's where they started. As for that warning… just know that if you do decide to continue down this path, it's not going to be an easy one for you." Beat said as he put a hand to the back of his head.
"Ok… thanks for the warning. Also you could have been less creepy and suspicious about this meeting." Hibiki said.
"Fair enough, I'll be heading off now, but you will be seeing me again at some point." Beat said as he walked off. Hibiki sat in place for a moment before closing the box and sighing.
"So… what are you going to do?" Melody asked as Hibiki put her head in her hands out of frustration.
"To be frank, I have no clue. For all I know, if I take this to the IPP, this could infect their systems or something." Hibiki said, a hint of panic in her voice.
"I mean it's the best option we got, plus there is some sense to his actions. He does seem rather shifty, but I sensed no ill will from him." Melody said as she became visible and sat next to Hibiki. Hibiki looked down at Melody before looking at the box again.
"I suppose you're right…" Hibiki sighed before her mind trailed off. She quickly got off of the bench and put the box away before perking up a bit. "Come on, let's at least show this to Echo before we decide to do anything." Hibiki said with a smile. Melody returned the smile before she turned invisible and the two of them headed back to the shop to meet Echo.