Chapter 11: Morning Shadows
Morning arose as Hibiki stirred awake and stretched, before sitting up. "Man, that was the best sleep I had in a while." Hibiki said to herself, still a bit groggy. As she shook the sleep out of here, she heard some talking outside from Echo and Cherry. Hearing the talking outside, Hibiki got up and crawled out of the tent to see them both talking and Melody hovering next to them. "Morning you two." Hibiki called out as she stood up.
"Hey Sis, I was wondering when you would wake up." Echo said as she was cooking.
"What time is it?" Hibiki asked as she looked around.
"About 7:30, you were sleeping like a log, so we decided to leave you asleep." Cherry said happily. Melody quickly floated to Hibiki and smiled as she landed on her shoulder.
"We've been messing around with the PLT and figuring out how it works." Melody told Hibiki.
"How many errors?" Hibiki asked.
"...I think it's better you see for yourself." Melody said. Hibiki suddenly felt the writer in her begin to stir as she walked over to the table Cherry was at. When she did, she saw that there were several conversations on the PTL screen. The conversations in question had several misspelled words and sometimes completely missing words from some sentences.
"My god…" Hibiki said, a hint of pain in her voice as she looked at the screen.
"Yeah I figured you would react like that. I knew it would be bad, but not this bad." Echo commented.
"I'm surprised that they managed to get this thing working. Though… working is an operative term here." Cherry said. Melody simply giggled upon seeing Hibiki's distressed state.
"But that's not how you spell… Oh why is this word here…" Hibiki muttered out, a bit lost in her own world.
"Is she always like this?" Cherry asked.
"Only when she sees some horrendously bad writing and grammar. Don't worry, she just needs to absorb it for a bit." Echo commented as she sprinkled some seasoning on some food. After about a few minutes, Hibiki regained her composure and immediately sat down.
"I'm sorry you had to see that." Hibiki said, a significant amount of blush on her face.
"It's fine, I completely understand that feeling myself." Cherry told Hibiki, giving her a pat on her back. Hibiki simply nodded and smiled before she recalled something that happened last night.
"Hey Echo, did you show the picture to Cherry yet?" Hibiki questioned.
"I was going to do it after we ate, but I did mention it to her." Echo responded as she brought the food to the table.
"Ah yes, we were discussing that before you woke up. I was telling her that I don't know every symbol, so it's entirely possible I might not know who it belongs to." Cherry explained.
"That's fine with me, I just felt like I should ask after yesterday. While we're on the topic though, I have to ask, how are you able to tell what an Esper symbol looks like?" Hibiki responded.
"Simple way, they look like unique magic circles with different designs depending on the Pokemon. They generally look different in color and various markings, usually with various Kanji symbols on them with phrases related to the Pokemon in question." Cherry told Hibiki as Echo simply nodded.
"Interesting." Hibiki said as she began to eat their food.
"Something I've been curious about is if it's possible to have multiple blessings in a person from different Pokemon." Echo chimed in. Cherry let that thought sit in her head for a moment before answering.
"There are some very rare cases that I have heard of, but they are unconfirmed and all the information I know about those cases are very iffy at best." Cherry responded. Echo nodded and the group began to eat, talking about various topics both science and Pokemon related. As they began to finish up though, Echo got out her phone to look at the symbol and noticed something odd about it that she hadn't thought of.
"Hey Cherry, just a quick question I have before I show you this." Echo said, her brain processing information. Hibiki immediately looked at Echo with a hint of concern on her face, recognising her sister's tone as her thinking tone.
"Sure, what is it?" Cherry responded.
"Should her symbol have two different colors and be shaped like a yin-yang sign?" Echo questioned. Cherry immediately walked over to Echo and looked at the picture, Melody curiously floating over as well. Cherry's eyes immediately went wide as she stepped back a bit while Melody just looked confused.
"Do you think you could project the image in AR and let me be able to manipulate it?" Cherry said as she covered her mouth. Echo simply nodded and put her phone to AR project mode as Cherry put on a pair of AR glasses. Curious, Hibiki did the same with her goggles and saw the image in the air. Her symbol, which she had really only seen now, was a yin-yang symbol, one half a black red and the other a bright yellowish-pink, with various different nodes along the two halves and one in the direct center, with a few elements of a magic circle mixed in. On the darker side, there was one kanji symbol, while on the light side, there were two.
"Huh, how have I never looked at this before?" Hibiki questioned.
"For the most part, symbols are subconsciously hidden unless you choose to show it to others." Cherry explained as she began to mutter some things to herself. Echo set her phone down and walked over to her sis, a look of curiosity on her face.
"Something on your mind?" Hibiki questioned.
"Yes there is, because from what I can tell, symbols don't generally look like that." Echo told Hibiki.
"...You've known about them for a while, haven't you?" Hibiki inquired.
"I mean, I did awaken my powers first." Echo said, lightly tapping her on the shoulder.
"If you knew then why did you listen to Cherry yesterday?" Hibiki asked.
"Hey, just because I knew about it, doesn't mean I understood it… in fact I was basically completely clueless on what exactly my powers were." Echo told Hibiki, a hit of blush appearing on her face.
"Well… you could have just told me. I would have helped you attempt to understand it." Hibiki said, seeming completely ignorant about Echo's simply looked at her sister and gave a sad but understanding smile, as Melody floated over to the two of them. "If you don't mind me asking, what are you're thoughts on all of this?" Hibiki questioned.
"To be frank, I have no idea. All I know about all of this is what I heard yesterday." Melody responded.
"Ok, I'm done. You three better come over here." Cherry called The three looked at each other before simply watching they approached, they noticed a few markings that Cherry had made.
"Ok, so let me ask you two questions before I begin my train of though. When did you awaken your powers and have you had any sudden mood whiplashes since then?" Cherry said with a sigh.
"Um… I got them about 6 months ago and I believe I've had a few every now and then, though they are usually." Hibiki responded, thinking about the questions a bit. Cherry simply sighed and joted a few more notes on the image.
"Ok, so let's start off with something obvious, this is not your typical Esper Symbol." Cherry said as she brought up another symbol in AR. The new symbol looked like a typical magic circle, with various kanji strewn about with a symbol in the center. "This is your typical Esper Symbol, with Kanji representing values that reflect the users personality and a symbol representing the Pokemon that blessed the bloodline." Cherry explained.
"Yeah that's what mine looks like as well." Echo said, pointing to the normal symbol.
"Exactly, and the symbol that Hibiki has is the most unique one that I've seen." Cherry said.
"How so?" Hibiki questioned.
"Well, remember how Echo asked if there were rare cases that Espers can have multiple blessings?" Cherry responded. Hibiki nodded and Echo immediately went wide eyes as she gripped her back. "This appears to be the case here and from what I can tell, there are two different blessings given to you and if the Kanji is anything to go by, I have a fairly good idea of who they are." Cherry continued. Curious, Hibiki walked up and looked at the Kanji, taking a moment to recall her lessons in Japanese.
"...Oh." Hibiki said as she understood what words they represented.
"Well, what words do they translate too?" Echo questioned, not knowing anything about the language in question. Hibiki turned to Echo before pointing to the top and bottom characters.
"The top one is 'Nightmare' and the bottom one is 'dream'. Does that sound familiar to you?" Hibiki told Echo. Echo's face immediately turned serious as she glanced over at both Melody and Cherry.
"Cresselia and Darkrai. The Lady of Dreams and Lord of Nightmares." Echo simply said. Melody felt a shiver go down her spine as she gulped while Cherry simply nodded as she looked back at the AR hologram.
"From what I have heard about multi-blessings, apparently the user has two sets of powers depending on who the blessings come from, but they are obviously tamer compared to a usual Esper. From my own analysis, it also seems as if both powers don't necessarily awaken at the same time." Cherry explained.
"How can you tell that's the case?" Hibiki asked curiously. Cherry pointed at the extra Kanji that was on the light side in response.
"The presence of this Kanji, roughly translating to 'Kind', tells me that there is at least some connection to an awakening of sorts. Again, I know only what I've heard about this kind of Esper, but this is unique even among those." Cherry told Hibiki. There was a moment of silence as the three just looked at each other, Cherry in particular giving Echo a 'we need to talk' look, before they all heard a Pokemon cry from nearby. Quickly taking off her goggles, Hibiki looked around, saw that Melody was already heading in the direction of the cry, and quickly dashed off towards the cry. "We need to talk later… alone." Cherry told Echo before she followed Hibiki. Echo simply sighed before doing the same.
The group continued running towards the Pokemon cry when Melody and Hibiki stopped and hid behind trees. Cherry and Echo did the same as they looked ahead to a clearing with 2 people, one woman and one man, in familiar outfits standing around with a relatively big cage with eight smallish Pokemon in it. "What is Team Noise doing out here with those Pokemon?" Cherry whispered.
"No clue, but they seem to be waiting for someone." Hibiki responded as she listened closely.
"Any word on when our employer is supposed to get here?" the man asked.
"They said early morning in the Fairy Tale Forest, so it should be soon." the girl said.
"Yeah well, I hope they get here soon." the man said, sitting on top of the cage. Hibiki turned to Cherry and Echo, who both simply motioned to stay put.
"I want to punch them so bad." Melody told Hibiki.
"I know that you do, but for right now, we listed." Hibiki responded as she turned her focus back to the three. As they kept waiting, eventually there was movement on the far side of the clearing as a man in black white armor the only noticeable mark being a yellow scarf. Cherry instinctively tensed up when she saw the armored figure, which Echo recognized but didn't comment on.
"There you are, wondering when you were going to show up." the man sa said.
"Apologies, I had to take care of some unexpected issues. I see you have what I requested." the armored man said, casually looking at the cage of Pokemon.
"Yep, general Pokemon from the area and a few from our area of the region." the female said.
"Ok, now you move into position. Wait for my signal before you do anything though." Hibiki told Melody, who nodded and moved up into the trees.
"I must admit, you three really did a good job at this. A nice variety in here for eight Pokemon." the man said as he walked closer.
"Yeah well, I hope to expect a good payment. They all were a bit tricky to catch." one of the male Noise members said.
"Of course, only the best for our most loyal providers." The man said as he got out a case of cash. He put the case on the ground and opened it up, revealing a lot of money on the inside.
"Ok, how much is that exactly?" Echo asked.
"If I'm right about the size of that case, about $650,000 give or take 100,000." Cherry responded. Echo immediately made a look of surprise in Hibiki's general direction, who returned that look after hearing that number very faintly.
"Sweet, is there anything else you need?" the male Noise asked.
"Nope, just to remember not to speak about this openly about this, wouldn't want your fellow members to hear about this after all." the man said. The two members simply nodded before they left the clearing with the case in tow. After making sure they were gone, he simply sighed and walked to the cage, where the Pokemon backed away from to the other end. "Cute, thinking you can run from me. Now then, to get you all in balls." the man said menacingly before reaching behind his back to get some Pokeballs.
"NOW!" Hibiki yelled out. The man looked in the direction of where the voice came from before Melody knocked him down and quickly broke open the cage, letting the Pokemon free.
"All right, who has the balls!?" the man said angrily as he picked himself up. As he got up, Hibiki, Echo, and Cherry entered the clearing while Melody helped the pokemon escape. "Okay you three, you want to explain what you were doing listening in on that conversation?" the man said as he got out a Pokeball.
"Obviously stopping you from taking these pokemon." Echo said as she got out a Pokeball of her own.
"Oh, some kids and their guardian trying to be the heroes here?" the man said as he reached behind him and got out two Pokeballs, calling out both an Aron and a Sandshrew. Hibiki was about to send out Venemy, but was stopped by Echo who motioned in Melody's direction. Hibiki nodded and ran around the man to get to Melody, knowing full well that he was watching. The man glanced over his shoulder and was immediately shocked to see a Shiny Meloetta and Hibiki run into the forest.
"Hey Casanova, eyes over here." Cherry said as she and Echo sent out Litwick and Leaf respectively.
"I'll deal with you two myself… and as for your friend." the man said as he called out a Houndoom.
"Oh that's not good." Echo whispered.
"Chase them, do what you want with the girl… and bring that Meloetta back to me alive." the man said. The Houndoom simply barked and rushed after Hibiki and Melody, leaving Echo and Chery with the armored man. "Now then, to take care of you two. Aron, take care of that Sewaddle. Sandhrew, take the Litwick." the man said with a small smile. The two pokemon nodded and jumped forward at their pokemon, Arom very slowly in its case.
"Leaf, focus on Sandshrew." Echo ordered. Leaf did as it was told and waddled towards Sandshrew as Flame just stood in place. As Sandslash got ready to hit Flame, it simply smiled and vanished from sight, causing Sandshrew to stop in its tracks.
"Hey, it shouldn't be able to do that!" the man said as Sandshrew looked around and noticed Leaf coming towards it.
"Astonish now." As Sandshrew got ready to defend itself, Litwick appeared behind it
And screamed loudly, surprising it and causing it to turn around.
"Leaf, Bug Bite now!" Leaf simply waddled up to Sandshrew and bit it, causing it to be surprised and move away.
"Ok, Aron just hit them Metal Claw." Aron simply nodded as it jumped and hit Leaf in the back, causing it to wince in pain and stumble forward a bit. "Sandshrew, use Sandstorm now." After recovering, Shandshrew yelled to the sky before a sandstorm formed in their arena.
"How does it know Sandstorm already?" Echo exclaimed.
"A TM." the man responded smugly. Both Litwick and Leaf stayed close together as the sandstorm beat at them. Cherry gave Echo a glance before looking at their Pokemon.
"I have an idea that might work, but would you be willing to take a chance?" Cherry asked in a low voice. Echo simply nodded in response to the question, signalling her agreement, which made Cherry smile.
"All right you two, get to work on them." the man commanded his Pokemon. As both Sandshrew and Aron approached their targets, a spark of flame was visible from within the storm before a circle of fire surrounded Litwick and Leaf. "Oh, still fighting back? Sandshrew, charge through and end this." the man said arrogantly.
"Energy Ball, Now!" As Sandshrew charged forward, a ball of green energy came out from the wall of flame and hit it, causing it to fly back and hit a tree, fainting as it slid to the ground. As the fire faded, Leaf sat there panting as it was sweating from the experience, with Litwick nowhere in sight.
"Ok, where did that little bastard go?!" the man exclaimed as he looked around.
"Flamethrower." Litwick reappeared behind Aron and let loose a stream of flame that hit the Aron and caused it to flinch in pain.
"HOW!?" the man yelled out of frustration.
"TMs and TRs, you should know how it is." Cherry said, a smug look on her face. The man just looked frustrated as he looked at his Aron.
"You two got lucky that I'm in a bit of a hurry with something." the man said as he got out two pokeballs He then quickly recalled his two pokemon and turned to run away when he immediately tripped and fell over. Looking back, he saw a vine held by psychic energy and saw Psy at the other end holding the rope. Before he could get up, he felt a foot on his back Echo held him down. "Ok, you caught me, but what are you going to do, arrest me? You kids aren't the police." the man said, a hint of smugness in his voice.
"Yeah well, one of those 'kids' happens to be the Regional professor." Cherry told the man. The man lost his arrogance as he looked up at Cherry, a bit speechless. "And though she may not look like it, my friend here is a junior member of the IPP." Cherry said with a smug look on her face. As Cherry said that, Echo cuffed the man and kept him pinned while Cherry pet her Litwick.
"I'm just doing this as a formality, I don't even know if you're doing that bad of things. Given what we saw though, I think this is a safe bet." Echo said as she kept him down. The man stayed silent for a moment before breaking out in laughter. "What's so funny?" Echo questioned as she recalled Leaf and Psy.
"Just that you're forgetting about your other friend." the man said smugly. Cherry's head immediately snapped to the direction Hibiki and Melody had gone. Echo immediately pushed down with a little more force out of slight anger, causing the man to gasp a little and stop laughing.
"Go ahead, I'll take care of him." Cherry said as she walked next to Echo.
"Are you positive?" Echo asked, a hint of anger in her voice.
"Very, I have a few things I can try to get some things out of him." Cherry said as she took Echo's place. Echo simply nodded before sprinting in the direction that her sister had gone, leaving Cherry and the man alone. "All right wise guy, I'm going to ask you a few questions and you're going to answer them." Cherry threatened in a harsh tone.
"Or else what miss professor?" the man asked. Cherry brought out a Luxury Ball and called out her Delcatty, which stood in front of the man with a death stare. "... Why am I intimidated by a Delcatty? All right, you get one question." the man relented.
"Why did you send that Shadow Pokemon after them?" Cherry asked calmly.
"Cause they were getting away and that's all I'm-" the man stopped what he was saying before he looked up at Cherry, who had a triumphant smile on her face. "You sneaky bitch!" the man said as he wiggled under Cherry, realizing the slip up he made. Cherry then knocked the man out while Delcatty purred in a calm tone.
"Thank you Kaya, sorry for bringing you out for that. Come on, let's catch up with those two. I just hope we catch up with them in time." Cherry told Delcatty. Kaya nodded and grabbed the unconscious man and put him on her back before the two headed off to catch up with the two sisters with Kaya following suit.
Meanwhile…
Hibiki and Melody were currently not in the best of moods, as they were currently running from a vicious Houndoom. "Is it still behind us?" Hibiki asked as she dashed under a branch. This was answered by a bark and a Dark Pulse barely missing them and hitting a tree causing it to fall over as they passed by it.
"Keep running, we'll deal with it when we get to a clearing." Melody told Hibiki as she hovered over a few trees. Hibiki nodded and kept running as the Houndoom chased them deeper into the forest. A few minutes of running later, Hibiki was starting to lose steam as they finally reached a clearing. Thinking quickly, Hibiki slowed down for a moment to let Houndoom catch up to her. The Houndoom eagerly took the bait and went to lunge at Hibiki, who rolled to the side to dodge the attack.
"Knock it away, now!" Hibiki ordered. Melody nodded and quickly slammed into the Houndoom, causing it to fly into a tree. Panting heavily, Hibiki stood up slowly and looked at the Houndoom who was a bit groggy by the sudden attack.
"That was risky." Melody told Hibiki.
"I agree but it did work." Hibiki pantted. Taking a moment to catch her breath, Hibiki closed her eyes and focused on the Houndoom to see what auria it could get off of it. She immediately snapped out of her trance when she felt this malevolent, dark aura around the Houndoom. "Hey Melody… this wouldn't happen to be one of those Pokemon you were telling me about, would it?" Hibiki questioned as the Houndoom stood up.
"If you felt something similar to a dark presence around them, then yes." Melody told Hibiki.
"Then we should be careful, no telling what this thing can do." Hibiki commented as she stayed alert. Melody simply nodded as she floated forward and sang her Relic song, changing into Pirouette form for an advantage in combat. The Houndoom growled and glared at Melody and Hibiki before howling and charging at them. "Low sweep, now!" Melody nodded and attempted to sweep the Houndoom off its feet, but it jumped over her and attempted to bite at Melody. She quickly dodged and recovered quickly as she panted, a bit exhausted from their chase.
"Stay on your toes, he seems to like going after trainers." Melody warned Hibiki. She nodded and almost as if on cue, the Houndoom quickly turned to Hibiki. "OH, me and my big mouth." Melody said, mentally kicking herself. Hibiki simply started to run again as Houndoom started to run after her, Melody following suit to protect her trainer. The Houndoom used Ember in Hibiki's direction, which she barely avoided, as Melody caught up.
"Brick Break now!" Melody nodded as she went in close to get a hit in, but the Houndoom managed to dodge and turned to face Melody. Hibiki sighed as she shough of another plan when she felt some bad vibes coming from Houndoom. The Houndoom leaped toward Melody and rammed into her, sending her into a tree even after blocking the attack "Melody!" Hibiki yelled out.
"Don't worry about me, he's probably more interested in you at the moment." Melody told Hibiki as she groaned in pain. Hibiki nodded and began to turn around as the Houndoom got back to chasing it's target. Thinking quickly, Hibiki quickly turned around and ran towards the Houdoom, who was a bit surprised at Hibiki's movement. She quickly jumped over the Shadow Pokemon and quickly swept the Houndooms legs out from under it, causing it to fall over. Hibiki smirked and quickly ran over to Melody, getting out a Fresh Water in the process.
"You ok Melody?" Hibiki asked as she gave the water to Melody.
"I'm fine, you're a crazy trainer, you know that right?" Melody said. Hibiki simply gave a big smile before going silent and grabbing Melody, rolling out of the way as she felt the Houndoom's claws graze her leg. Hibiki attempted to stand up but winced in pain and went to her knees, realizing she had cut it a little too close as she went to grab some first aid supplies to stop the bleeding. "Ok, do you mind if I get a bit more serious?" Meloetta asked, now more than a little ticked off.
"I thought you said you were hurt from these Pokemon?" Hibiki said as she staunch the wound.
"A half-truth, I am still hindered, but not to the level I told you about. I was also just holding back because I don't think you're ready for me yet." Melody told Hibiki.
"At least you're honest about it, go ahead. Oh, and please see if you can help me after." Hibiki responded. Melody simply nodded and smiled before she cracked her neck and breathed. The Houndoom jumped at Melody, ready to bite her, when Melody just grabbed it's mouth to stop it. As the Houndoom realized how much trouble it was now in, she simply tossed it aside. The Houndoom landed on its feet and growled at Melody as they circled each other.
"If you can speak then answer me this, how did you get the way you are?" Melody asked the Houndoom. The Houndoom stayed silent and simply growled at Melody. "Well that tells me you're too much of a coward hiding behind your trainer to do anything about it." Melody remarked with a smirk. The Houndoom immediately lunged at Melody who simply dodged it's attack with some ease.
"Wow, she really was holding back." Hibiki thought to herself as she wrapped her leg in gause. Melody took a moment to analyze the Houndooms movement before she quickly dodge another swipe of it's claws and quickly delivered a Drain Punch to its stomach. Houndoom howled in pain as it flew back before catching itself on its feet. The Houndoom growled as it's aura flared up again and it slammed the ground, sending a wave of Darkness at Melody. Melody quickly dodged, but turned around to see it following her.
"Clever move, but I can use this to my advantage to at least learn something." Melody thought as she continued to dodge. Melody quickly turned and hopped over the wave before dashing towards the Houndoom. She quickly slid under a swipe it tried to do and did a Low Kick to trip the Houndoom. While the Houndoom held firm against the attempted trip, it did distract him enough for the wave to hit him. Melody smiled for a moment before a look of concern appeared on her face as the Houndoom simply shrugged off the attack. "Well… shit." Melody simply said to herself as the exhaustion from the chase, the impact of the Shadow Wave, and the battle caught up to her. As the Houndoom walked forward, also a bit tired from the ensuing battle, with a look to murder when it get hit with a twig.
"Hey dog-breath, over here!" Hibiki yelled as she shakily stood up. The Houndoom charged at Hibiki, Melody trying to follow but winced in pain as she attempted to float. As Houndoom got closer, Hibiki stood her ground as she looked at it dead in the eye. Just as it was about to reach her, a rope wrapped around the Houndoom's leg as it was lifted upward by Hibiki, who was very obviously struggling. "Melody, now would be a good time." Hibiki called out as she struggled to keep the Houndoom up. The Houndoom growled at Hibiki and began to use an attack before Melody came up and knocked him out. Hibiki sighed as she gently let the Houndoom down before panting and sitting down.
"You are probably one of the craziest humans I've ever met…thanks for the help." Melody told Hibiki as she rested in between her legs, taking a moment to check Hibiki's wound.
"Thanks I get that a lot. Not even joking about that. Sorry about interfering, it looked like you could use a bit of help." Hibiki told Melody, panting as the adrenaline rush left her.
"It's fine, I was running out of steam anyway." Melody brushed off as she leaned back. Hibiki simply nodded as she took note of what looked like old scars on Melody's head, remaining silent as she did. The two sat in silence as they rested from the chase when they heard someone calling out to them.
"Hibiki! Melody!" Echo called out.
"We're over here!" Hibiki responded as she stood up with Melody floating alongside her. Echo quickly ran up to her sister and gave her a hug before looking her over.
"Are you ok?" Echo asked as she looked at the Houndoom.
"Yeah… aside from a few cuts and a lot of exhaustion, the two of us are fine." Hibiki said as Melody smiled. Echo immediately pointed at the gause and looked at Hibiki.
"That doesn't look fine to me." Echo said. Before Hibiki could say anything, there was a light growl as the Houndoom woke up and shakily stood up. Echo immediately got in front of Hibiki to protect her as the Houndoom looked at them before surveying the area. It simply growled at the two before turning around and dashing off into the forest.
"Well... That was slightly terrifying." Hibiki said as she tripped over herself. She was immediately caught by Echo who simply held her under her shoulder. Echo simply sighed as she helped her and got Melody's Pokeball out from Hibiki's bag.
"Come on Melody, we'll rest at camp." Echo said as she held out the Pokeball. Melody simply nodded as clicked the front of the Pokeball and returned to it. Echo returned the Pokeball to the bag as Cherry walked into the clear, very exhausted from the run through the forest.
"Oh thank god, you're both fine." Cherry said as she walked up to them.
"Fine is a relative term." Echo said as she motioned to Hibiki's leg. Cherry kneeled down and brushed it which caused Hibiki to flinch.
"Is this the only injury that you managed to get out with?" Cherry questioned.
"Yes it was." Hibiki said.
"I'm impressed. That Houndoom looked like it was out for blood. Speaking of, where is the Houndoom?" Cherry asked.
"It just ran off after it woke up." Echo explained. Cherry put her hand on her chin as Kaya walked out of the forest with the man still unconscious on her back. "I see you took care of him." Echo commented.
"Come on, we should get back to camp, have a lot to talk about or would you rather talk here?" Cherry told the twins.
"Camp." the two responded. Cherry simply giggled before nodding as she and Kaya went back to camp with Echo and Hibiki following behind.
"Looks like I'm going to have to explain some things to these kids… and probably talk about some things." Cherry thought as she bit her thumb. Kaya noted this movement as continued walking before glancing at Cherry with a look of worry. Cherry simply gave a smile upon noticing Kaya and pat her on the head before sighing and going back to thinking about what she wanted to talk about.