Chapter 14: The Wishing Cave Disgraced
Cherry walked through the city as she headed to the gym, thinking to herself about a few things. "First off, Hibiki is being way too helpful and will probably get into trouble. Secondly, Neo Cypher is in the city and probably at the cave. Lastly, there is something here that is bothering me and I can't put my finger on it. Is there anything else to make this day more complicated?" Cherry thought. As she continued walking, she noticed a commotion going on ahead of her with someone being arrested.
"Let go of me, I'm telling you I'm innocent!" the man yelled.
"Yeah, explain to me why you're wearing armor that looks exactly like Neo Cypher's then and the reports of you stalking people." the officer told the man.
"Uh… It was a dare?" the man said in an unconvincing tone. The officer just sighed as he took the man away, Cherry watching from a distance as this happened.
"Well… that happened." Cherry said to herself. She was about to continue on when she noticed a disturbance in the air around her and felt something land on her shoulder. "... Melody?" Cherry called out in a hushed voice. She felt a pat on her shoulder, confirming her suspicion, before Cherry started to continue towards the gym. "So what's up?" Cherry asked Melody.
"Let's say that I found out that things are going on right now. By the way, where's Hibiki?" Melody told Cherry.
"This wouldn't happen to be about a certain group going to a cave to the north of town and desecrating it, would it?" Cherry responded. She heard nothing for a moment before hearing a sigh and the slap of a hand on Melody's face.
"She's already heading that way, isn't she?" Melody questioned in an annoyed tone.
"With the gym leader, so she does have someone with her. You should be able to catch up with them if you go now." Cherry told her. Melody simply nodded as went up and left to go meet up with Hibiki. A few more minutes of walking later and she arrived at the gym to see Echo and Sigma waiting outside.
"There's Cherry, now where's your sister?" Sigma said as Cherry approached.
"Given this feeling that I'm getting, I suspect there is more going on." Echo said.
"Right you are Echo, and it's probably for the best if we head over to where she is going currently." Cherry said.
"At least tell us what the issue is so we know what is going on?" Sigma questioned. Cherry nodded as they walked to the north of town, explaining the situation to Sigma and Echo as they went along.
"So she's with the Gym Leader… well at least she's not just charging in blindly without help." Echo said as she pinched her nose.
"Still, what might Neo Cypher want to gain from desecrating this cave?" Cherry asked Sigma. He thought about it for a moment before a lightbulb went off in his head.
"I remember Commander Strong saying something about an item of importance that was hidden deep within the cave. They were supposed to go and see what it was shortly after I left to do my mission… which failed horribly." Sigma said.
"Well that would be reason enough depending on what it is, but that leaves the question of what exactly it is they are looking for." Cherry pondered.
"We can figure that out later, for now let's catch up to Hibiki." Echo said. Cherry and Sigma nodded in response as they rushed to go to catch up with Hibiki. Unknown to them, someone was listening in on their conversation as one of the passersby from a nearby stall stepped out into the open and looked at the direction Cherry and the others had gone.
"Hey Wolf… are we going to do anything about that? They seem to at least know something is up and it looks like one of their members defected." Krystal asked. Wolf walked up beside her, looked at the direction she was looking at, and took a deep sigh.
"You make a good point and we probably should go… but I don't feel like it." Wolf said as he turned back.
"Are you sure that we want to do that?" Krystal asked.
"Yep, even though we should, I don't feel like it." Wolf said.
"... Is this about what Strong did to those forests of Pokemon a few months ago?" Krystal questioned.
"Exactly, as much as I value my contract, what he did to that forest was horrible. Frankly, I'm hoping those four deal with him so we don't have to answer to him anymore." Wolf said, a fierce tone in his voice.
"What exactly makes you think they stand a chance against him?" Krystal asked, a hint of worry in her voice.
"Call it a feeling that I have." Wolf said. Krystal was about to say more, but sighed when she remembered who she was talking to.
"Fine, have it your way." Krystal relented. Wolf simply smiled as they walked back into town and acted like they saw nothing.
A few minutes ahead of the others, Hibiki and Myth were approaching the cave.. "Wow, this is out here huh?" Hibiki said, panting a little from the walk.
"Yep, it's also supposed to be hidden by a seal, but that has been waning in recent years." Myth said.
"I wonder if that's how they found it in that case." Hibiki commented. As the two approached, Myth noted something and signaled to hold as he crouched and got closer to what Hibiki assumed was the entrance to the cave. As Hibiki approached, she saw two Cypher Grunts standing outside the entrance to a cave with Myth hiding a bit ahead of her.
"What's the hold up with them in there? I thought they said it would be a quick clean up." one of the grunts said.
"I don't know man, they told me that they were making it look like we weren't here. Did we really make that much of a mess in there?" the other grunt said. As the two grunts idly talked, Myth had a look of worry on his face.
"Hibiki, apologies for asking this of you, but this cave means a lot to me. If you don't mind, I would appreciate it if you help me get in there." Myth requested. Hibiki was a bit taken aback by Myth's request before she gave a smile and got out Venemy's Pokeball. Myth gave a smile as he got out a Pokeball of his own and the two called out their Pokemon. After about a minute of waiting, one of the grunts noticed some movement in the bushes and saw Venemy come out of the bushes appearing confused.
"Hey, there's a Vinepede there. You want to catch it?" the first grunt asked. The second grunt simply sighed and went to grab a Pokeball from his belt when a Hattrem picked up Venemy with Psychic and threw him towards the face of the grunt, hitting him and knocking him unconscious. When the man looked down, he saw a Hattrem staring at him as Venemy crawled back and glared at Hattrem. "... What just-" is all the man could say before Hibiki hit him in the back of the head with a tree branch, knocking him out.
"I'm surprised that plan actually worked. Apologies to your Venipede by the way, Hattrem can be rough when it comes to executing plans." Myth said as he came out of the woods and dragged one of the grunts to a tree. Hibiki quickly walked over to Venemy and checked on him, causing him to give a nuzzle to her.
"He'll be fine considering he usually does train with Melody." Hibiki said as she proceeded to help drag the other grunt over. The two eventually tied them both to a tree and set their equipment to the side so they couldn't use it. "OK, we should be good to go, you ready?" Hibiki asked. Myth simply nodded and the two entered the cave to see what exactly had happened in there. At first, there was little evidence of anything being disturbed, but as the two traveled deeper into the cave, they began to see signs of smashed stone murals, broken bits of stone, and an eerie sense of silence due to a lack of Pokemon.
"My god, I knew they would be rough with this place, but I didn't think they would disrespect it as much as they have." MYth said aloud.
"I understand where you're coming from, how old is this cave anyway?" Hibiki responded.
"My family's been it's guardian for at least four generations, don't know about further back than that. It's a nice life and honestly I quite enjoy the quiet life out here." Myth said, a sad smile on his face. The two stayed silent as they continued on, eventually hearing another grunt further in the cave in a conversation with someone.
"You want me to do what?! I just finished setting up these things. ...Well then why are we pulling out? …Fine, what do you want me to do with these explosives? Got it, I'll finish up here and head back to base." the grunt said. As the grunt finished talking, they turned around and were met with a fist to the head from Myth.
"That is what you get for threatening my cave." Myth said as he kneeled down.
"... Remind me to never get you mad." Hibiki said as she looked around. She saw that they were in the deepest part of the cave and noted the big hole in the central mural along with the small alcove revealed by it. "Looks like they got whatever they were looking for. Do you have any idea what it could be?" Hibiki questioned.
"Nope, while I've known of the alcove, I've never seen what was inside of it." Myth told Hibiki as he gathered up a few bombs. Hibiki simply nodded as she heard some shuffling behind her. She quickly turned around ready to fight, but quickly calmed down when she saw a Solrock and Lunatone floating in a corner. "Helios, Selene, you two are ok!" Myth said as the two pokemon circled him.
"Friends of yours?" Hibiki asked.
"They're the fortune tellers of the shrine and actually pokemon my father raised. He said that they had potential for something great, but I never caught them for myself because it doesn't feel right." Myth said.
"I'm glad they're alright, but we really should be going before anyone else comes." Hibiki told Myth. He nodded and they went out of the cave, seeing nothing else as they exited, but stopped and hid as they approached the entrance due to sounds of talking on the outside of the cave.
"So you think the others headed back to base already?" a voice asked someone.
"They probably did, probably took a different route back." a familiar voice said. Hibiki's eyes widened as she recognized Wind's voice and clenched her hand into a fist. There was a moment of silence as the two heard movement outside and the sound of grass crunching.
"Something wrong Wind?" the grunt questioned.
"It's nothing, thought I heard someone coming." Wind said.
"Who would even come out here?" the grunt asked.
"If I had to guess, PPI Agents sticking their nose where they don't belong." Wind told the grunt.
"All right then, let's head back to base so we can-" the grun said before he grunted and a thud was heard. There was silence for a good minute before Wind spoke up.
"Ok, whoever is in the cave, you can come out now." Wind called out. Hibiki cursed to herself as Myth stepped out of the cave. "Ah, Myth, I figured it would have been you." Wind told Myth.
"Suppose I should say the same to you, you're with that Neo Cypher group." Myth responded, a bit of venom in his voice.
"Ah you've heard of this group. Well while I am working with them at the moment, I am by no means the biggest fan of theirs." Wind responded.
"I can tell given how you have… knocked out this grunt. What do you seek to gain from going against Neo Cypher though?" Myth asked. Wind was silent for a moment, before staring to the sky out of a sort of nostalgia.
"... Let's leave it as it's something I have to take care of, along with my friends." Wind told Myth.
"Fair enough. Is there anything I can do to help? I kind of want to hit them a bit hard after what that did with the cave." Myth said. Wind put a hand to his head for a moment before he thought of something.
"While I appreciate the thought, I feel like this might be too much for you. That being said, I do respect your dedication, so here's what I will ask of you. Take the armor of this grunt, give it to a girl named Hibiki, and tell her to come to the base." Wind requested. Myth's eyes went wide as Hibiki stayed completely still in the cave, completely tuning out everything else.
"Why?" Myth asked.
"There's something about her that I want to check, something I want to be sure of." Wind responded. Myth stayed silent for a moment before nodding and earning a smile from Wind. "Thank you, though I also won't complain if you decide to put on the armor instead. Any help for what I have planned will help immensely. I'll be seeing you or Hibiki at the base." Wind said before he began to walk off. After making sure that Wind was completely gone, Myth whistled and Hibiki, Helios, and Selene exited the cave.
"So, what do you do?" Hibiki questioned. Before Hibiki could respond, there was a shaking in the bushes and Melody flew up to Hibiki.
"Ok good, caught up to you… I missed a lot didn't I?" Melody asked.
"Yeah you did miss a bit, the others are on the way right?" Hibiki responded, a hint of annoyance in her voice. Melody simply nodded as Myth stared in a bit of wonder. "Oh by the way Melody, this is the gym leader of Fairy Tale Grove, Myth." Hibiki introduced. Melody simply bowed as Myth did the same.
"A pleasure to meet you. Now then, since your friends are on the way, might I suggest we get their opinions on this?" Myth said. Hibiki and Melody nodded as they proceeded to wait and plan.
A few minutes after explaining the plan to Sigma, Cherry, and Echo, there was a collective sigh as they thought about what to do. "So I feel like asking the very obvious question, how do we know if we can even trust Wind?" Echo asked.
"That is a fair point to bring up. Considering he is part of the group that was chasing Melody originally and we don't even know if he is telling the truth about his situation." Hibiki responded.
"Well, I can tell you right now that those guys have been under a careful watch ever since we employed them." Sigma responded.
"You know about them?" Myth questioned.
"I told you a bit about them before, but I can elaborate a bit better now because I kind of forgot the details when you were rightfully interrogating me. Wind and his two friends, Wolf and Krystal, are a part of a group known as the Babylon Mercenaries." Sigma explained.
"I've heard about that group, aren't they the ones that go around a dig in various places looking for the lost ruins of Babylon?" Cherry commented.
"Right you are, though they have also been known to deal in some… not so legal measures of getting their goal done, but usually never to a point of actual crime, at least from what I've found." Sigma responded.
"Which brings up two questions that have been bothering me for a bit. Why are they chasing after Melody for Neo Cypher and why work for them when they are apparently trying to take Neo Cypher down from the inside?" Hibiki questioned.
"I already told you the reason for the first question earlier, the thing with Melody being connected to the purification process. As for the second question, I honestly have no idea." Sigma said.
"I do remember you saying something like that as well as the legend, but what does that mean?" Echo said. As the group was lost in thought, Myth seemed to be thinking about something very deeply, which Cherry noted.
"Thinking about something Myth?" Cherry asked the gym leader.
"Hm? Oh, it's nothing, just remembering a legend that my father told me about and wondering if it's the same one you all are talking about." Myth said.
"Does it have to do with a 'shining songstress' or something along those lines?" Hibiki asked.
"It does actually, let me tell you the full thing. 'When the shadows rise, light will cease. When the moon becomes eclipsed by darkness, the world will fall into chaos. When all hope seems lost, the child of light and shadows will appear. When the shining songstress and the child of legend sing in unison, the shadows will fade and light will shine on.' " Myth responded.
"That… is a mouthful of a legend. That last part sounds similar to what was told to us, but slightly different." Sigma commented.
"The last two parts of this legend often interchange the legend with either the child of light or psychic of shadows, but the meaning is still the same." Myth explained.
"Interesting, we'll have to talk more about that later, but for now, what do we want to do about WInd's offer?" Echo asked.
"If I may offer my opinion on the matter, I believe we should go through with it. Not because I trust Wind in any way and it may very well be a trap, but purely for the fact that this might be our chance to at least see what they're planning." Cherry responded.
"That… is actually a very reasonable response. I do agree that we should take Wind up on his offer, but this also seems too good to be true." Hibiki said, earning a sigh from Echo.
"I expected you to say something like that sis, but I definitely didn't expect Cherry to agree with that. That being said, I am also all for helping this go smoothly, but there is going to need to be a bit of planning for this one." Echo responded.
"Ok, so we don't keep Wind waiting too long, how about we just set the plan as this. Myth puts on the grunt's armor and goes to meet with Wind, I go into the base on my own with Hibiki sneaking in behind me, and we all do what we can to see about taking the base down. Meanwhile, back in town, Echo and Cherry basically act as our tech people, being our eyes and ears by maybe hacking into their network or the tech on the suits." Sigma suggested. The group was silent as they all let the plan sink in and mulled it over.
"How tough is their security?" Echo questioned.
"Pretty tough, but seeing as I can probably patch you into their network fairly easily, probably not the best. You will need to stay on the down low though." Sigma responded.
"What exactly do we do once we're in there?" Myth asked.
"Aside from taking care of a few grunts and finding out what they're up to, we set any Pokemon they have captured there free, catch any Shadow Pokemon we find, and maybe see if we can take out the commander." Hibiki said, confidence very prevalent in her voice.
"That… actually doesn't sound half bad. Maybe we avoid the commander, but I also don't see us not getting into a confrontation with him." Sigma said.
"... We really are about to go into one of the bases of an underground organization and try to thwart it with what can be best as a paper napkin plan aren't we?" Cherry said aloud. Everyone in the group nodded as she sighed and they proceeded to head off to do their parts of the plan.