Authors Note: Hey there all, so sorry about the wait for this chapter, I've been busy taking care of a few things. One of those things is actually another story I'm working on along side this one to keep my mind from going insane from too much Pokemon. But another, more important thing, that I'm working on is getting ready for school. I would say to maybe expect one or two more chapters for the year, but any more than that will be pushing it at least for this story. Anyway, enjoy the chapter.
Chapter 16: Strongman
A little after the alarm went off…
"Gardevoir, Psychic now!" Myth ordered as he ran around a corner. His Gardevoir did that and tossed a Ivysaur at a Neo Cypher Grunt, knocking them out.
"Stoutland, Hyper Voice!" As Wind's Stoutland let out a loud roar, all the grunts chasing them and their Pokemon were blown back. The two continued running as the alarm continued to blare.
"So why exactly did Hibiki think that this was a good idea?!" Wind questioned as he saw a Tyranatar knockout a few grunts.
"No idea, but let's be honest, stealth was only going to last so long. This is not what I had in mind for going loud however." Myth responded. The two kept running as they ran from more grunts and eventually saw an Aron down the hall followed by Sigma. "Well there's one of them, hey Sigma!" Myth called out.
"Hey there you two." Sigma said as he called back his Aron.
"How did your part of the plan go?" Wind asked as the three ran amidst the comotion.
"Went alright everything considered, ended up getting this." Sigma responded.
"Really, what's in it?" Myth questioned.
"No clue, we'll find out when we get back. Also, what the hell is Hibiki thinking?!" Sigma responded as they stopped and let a group of grunts running from a Charazard go past.
"From what Echo said, it was to help get her out of a situation. Speaking of, let's get out of here, knowing she might be doing something risky." Myth said. The two nodded and they all continued to run to the loading bay. When they arrived, they saw sever Pokemon trying to climb in the back of the truck they came in and a few others keeping grunts away from the now open bay doors. "...Okay, I can't leave these Pokemon here." Myth said as he and his Gardevoir went over to help some of the Pokemon.
"... Well the plan is out the window at this point and we do have Hibiki to wait for, so I think we should probably help him out. What do you think Wind?" Sigma asked.
"I don't feel like waiting for your friend to be perfectly honest, but I also know that going out there right now wouldn't be the smartest move." Wind said as he went to the open doors.
"I respect that, I'm mainly staying with this group cause my freedom and safety is with them." Sigma said. Wind nodded in understanding as his Stoutland went to help out some of the guarding Pokemon.
"Speaking of protecting, have you got anything better than your current Pokemon?" Wind asked.
"I…used to." Sigma said as he remembered his Houndoom. Wind looked at Sigma with a quizzical look when he heard the sound of a Pokemon approaching. He got ready to say something when a Houndoom leaped in front of Sigma and stared at him.
"Houndoom? Is that you?" Sigma asked, a bit of shock in his voice. The Houndoom simply nodded before looking around and giving him a knowing smile. "Yeah, looks like we're kind of out of Neo Cypher with this thing. But it ain't all bad, we got some good people to hang out with in the meantime if you're willing to stay." Sigma said.
"If you two are done making up, think you could focus up and see about thinning out this wave?" Wind asked as more grunts ran to the bay doors. Sigma's Houndoom growled as Sigma sighed and petted his Houndoom's head before they joined Wind on repellant duty.
As Sigma was meeting Strong…
Hibiki had just finished explaining her plan to Echo as she and Melody stood by one of the cages. "So let me get this straight, you want to set the Pokemon in those cages free so they can run around and cause a ruckus. You also want Cherry to call Looker and tell them to be on the lookout for any Pokemon that manage to escape the facility." Echo repeated to her sister.
"That's pretty much what the plan is unless you can come up with something better." Hibiki responded as she tapped her foot. Echo was silent for a moment before Hibiki heard her talking with Cherry.
"Go ahead, at this point we don't have much… what the heck?" Echo said before interrupting herself.
"Something wrong?" Hibiki inquired.
"It's nothing you have to worry about at the moment, just do your plan and get out of there." Echo responded before cutting communications. Hibiki simply nodded before she looked at Melody, who was floating over the lock to one of the cages.
"Are we good to go?" Melody questioned.
"Yep, you explain the process to the Pokemon as they're probably a bit curious." Hibiki said as she went to another cage and bashed off the lock.
"Ok all of you Pokemon present here, as you no doubt heard from my Trainer here you all are going to be free. The one thing we ask of you is to go nuts if you are able to and cause as much of a distraction as possible. Try not to kill these people even though I know most of you probably want to, other than that though, give it your all." Melody told the Pokemon. As several different Pokemon left their cages, from baby pokemon to Magby and Pichu to strong pokemon like Tyranatar and Flygon, they all looked at Melody for a moment before several cheers of excitement.
"All right… what's going on-?" A grunt said as the door opened only to get stomped by a horde of Pokemon. There was some screaming on the other side of the door as the 8 grunts that were outside panicked at the whore of Pokemon escaping their room. While this was going on, Hibiki was laughing like a crazy person as the chaos started, slightly disturbing Melody at her behavior.
"...Are you ok?" Melody asked, a bit of concern in her thoughts.
"Huh? Oh, I'm fine. Just letting out stress by having a good time like I normally do when I get incredibly stressed out." Hibiki responded, no concern in her voice at all. After a few minutes, most of the Pokemon had left the room and Hibiki had calmed down. "Sorry about that, that part of me just comes out every now and then. It's something I need to reign in." Hibiki said as she breathed in deep.
"As long as I can hold you to that, I'll trust you. …That was a pretty good showing though." Melody said. As Hibiki was about to respond, the two heard soft footsteps behind them and the two turned around to see a figure of a Ralts walking behind them.
"Huh, looks like one stayed behind. Come on little one, let's get you sa-" Hibiki began before leaping back as a small sword slash appeared where she was standing. Taking a closer look at the Ralts, Hibiki noted that this one was different from the Alarian variant, noting the shiny hemet with winglets on the sides and the small wooden sword it was carrying. "Woah there, easy there friend, I'm not your enemy." Hibiki said as the Ralts came closer.
"Think that might be a bit useless here Hibiki, this one is a Shadow Pokemon…I think." Melody said, slightly unsure of himself.
"What do you mean you think?" Hibiki questioned as she backed away from the approaching Ralts.
"From what I can tell, the aura of a Shadow Pokemon is there, yet it feels weaker than what we felt on Sigma's Houndoom." Melody explained. Hibiki concentrated as she backed away and saw what Melody had told her was indeed correct. As Hibiki felt her back reach the wall of the room, Melody floated between them and looked at the Ralts.
"Move." the Ralts told Melody.
"Well at least you have some semblance of self in you unlike the last Shadow I met." Melody responded. The Ralts, more than a bit angry, tried to slash at Melody, but she backed away from the slash fairly easily. " You defiantly look like you're not from around here. Is there any way we can talk? Anything you might want as help from us?" Melody questioned. The Ralts paused for a moment before looking down at the ground, seemingly out of sadness.
"...I want a home." the Ralts responded with sadness in her voice.
"Like home as in where you come from or somewhere to belong?" Melody asked.
"Somewhere to belong… these people told me they would give me a home, they told that to a lot of lost Pokemon. Then they just take us and just put us in these cages for weeks, sometimes months until we're chosen. I was chosen, but then I was thrown back due to being 'unworthy' as they said." the Ralts explained. Melody simply nodded as Hibiki watched with bated breath for a response.
"She says she wants someplace to call home. Says they took her in and just left her here after they did something to her. …What should we do because I'm not leaving her like this?" Melody said, a good amount of anger in her voice.
"Hits you a bit too close to home?" Hibiki asked. Melody stayed quiet for a moment before Hibiki smiled and pat Melody on the head as she walked up to the Ralts. "You don't need to tell me more, let me take it from here." Hibiki told Melody. The Ralts looked up at Hibiki when she heard her getting close and got ready to defend herself as Hibiki sat down and took off the armor to show she was no threat.
"So from what my partner told me, you're looking for a place to call your own. I am more than willing to help you on one one condition. You stick with me til we at least get out of here and get you safe, then we can work something out, sound good?" Hibiki told the Ralts. The Ralts remained defensive for a moment before it relaxed and put the sword back in it's sheath. "Good, now are you by chance owned by one of the people who caught you?" Hibiki questioned. The Ralts thought about it for a moment before she nodded and pointed at the door across the way.
"I think she's saying that there's something in there that can help with the issue." Melody told her. Hibiki simply nodded as she offered to pick up the Ralts, which she kindly accepted and they walked over to the door. They tried to manually open the door, but couldn't as it needed a code.
"Well… how do we get in?" Hibiki said as she turned to Melody. As she did, she felt the Ralts in her arms wiggle a bit, seeming like she wanted to help. "I mean, no offense, but what can you do that can help?" Hibiki asked. In response, the Ralts hopped out of her hands, took out it's sword, and managed to slice the door in half. "... Oh, that's so cool." Hibiki said in awe as the Ralts sheathed her sword.
"Yeah, you're going to have a nice home here. Speaking of, what Region do you hail from?" Melody asked, a bit in awe herself.
"Valguard." the Ralts responded. Melody nodded, making a mental note of that for later, as Hibiki entered the room. Upon entering the room, they saw various computers and lab equipment, but the main thing that caught Hibiki's attention was two items behind glass cases at the far end of the room. The first was a black harp with a blood red moon on the tip of it. The second was a machine that looked like a pair of goggles and a set of two shoulder pads and concave arm guards, both of which were wired into a small, circle shaped device that looks like it goes on the back of the person wearing it.
"That looks like something important, think we can break this?" Hibiki asked her two Pokemon. Melody nodded and floated in front of Hibiki before touching the glass and singing a single note. As she did so, she raised the pitch of her note as she felt the glass vibrate harder and harder, eventually backing away as the glass vibrated so much that it broke. "Remind me never to get you angry enough to yell that loudly at me." Hibiki said, her ears ringing a bit. Melody smiled as Hibiki walked forward, careful of the broken glass and walked towards the device.
"Ok, that looks like a form of Snag Machine. Those arm pieces look similar to the version that was stolen by a guy named Wes." Cherry said over Hibiki's comms.
"That's what it's supposed to be?" Hibiki asked Cherry.
"It's my best guess, though I'm curious how this will be different. See if you can get it on, it should help to get this one out of their hands." Cherry instructed. Hibiki nodded and grabbed the Snag Machine from it's holder, struggling a bit to put it on at first, but eventually managed to get it on. As she finished putting it on, she heard a hum as the device powered on as the strips of light on the sides of the two gauntlets powered on.
"Ok… so now what do I do?" Hibiki asked.
"If I'm remembering right, any Pokeball you hold in that now should just have an option to become a Snag Ball. See if you can find a Shadow Pokemon to use that on as you get out of there." Cherry said.
"Roger, what do I do about the harp?" Hibiki asked.
"Normally I would say ignore it, but seeing as this was behind a lock door with a Snag Machine, it's probably important enough to take in this case." Cherry said. Hibiki nodded and walked over to pick up the harp, but as she touched it, she felt a sensation as she picked it up.
"Woah." Hibiki said.
"Everything alright?" Cherry asked.
"Yep, just felt a wave of… something come from the harp as I touched it." Hibiki responded.
"That's… interesting. We'll worry about it later, for now focus on getting out of there." Cherry told Hibiki. Hibiki simply nodded and started to walk when she remembered something. She got out a Pokeball and saw, through her goggles, that there was an option to change it to a Snag Ball when she looked at the Ralts. Hibiki simply smiled and showed the Pokeball to Ralts, who happily hopped in the air before Hibiki threw the ball at them. Unlike the normal beam of light that normally emerged from a Pokeball when it made contact with a Pokeball, a hand emerged from the Snag Ball and captured the Ralts.
"Ok that's different." Hibiki commented out of surprise as the ball shook. Eventually, the ball let out a beep and the capture was confirmed, which made Hibiki smile.
"Good, at least she'll be safe… we should go now." Melody said. Hibiki nodded as the two of them ran out of the room and headed for their escape point.
Back in Fairy Tale Grove, a few minutes later…
"Ok… well the plan has gone well so far, what now they've tripped the alarm?" Echo asked Cherry.
"Now we wait for them to get back and tell us what they found." Cherry responded.
"I believe in them getting back… it's just whether they run into Strong or not that is the problem." Echo said, putting her hands to her mouth.
"That is a fair point, even should they get out of there, if they run into Strong they're probably going to be in a lot of trouble." Cherry said. Echo simply nodded and sat in silence as they waited for an update on the other's end. Eventually, that silence was broken when their feed flared to life and they heard a car on the other end.
"Echo, are you there? We've got a situation that you might want to know about." Myth said over the coms.
"Oh boy, what did my sister do this time?" Echo responded, a hit of anxiety in her voice.
"Well… she is currently staying behind to distract Strong… alone." Myth said. Echo simply sighed before she put her hands to her mouth and screamed into them. "I figured that would be the reaction. Right now, we're heading out with as much of the captured Pokemon as we can hold, what do we do about Hibiki?" Myth asked.
"Don't worry about her for now, she can probably get out on her own. Even then, we'll think of a back up plan, you all just focus on getting to safety." Echo ordered. Myth nodded on his end and cut communications before Echo just looked at Cherry.
"I'll go help her out." Cherry said as she put her laptop aside and got up.
"No no. Sigh. Just… give me a second to think of something that doesn't involve us getting involved. I mean you no offense by the way, I just think there's a better solution." Echo told Cherry.
"You're probably right on that front, but there is also very little time to think about it. I have an Altaria that I can use to hopefully get the both of us out of there with a quick flight." Cherry responded.
"That… is not where I thought you were going to go with that, go ahead and go." Echo said. Cherry nodded and began to leave before turning around to look at Echo.
"Out of curiosity, what did you think I was going to say?" Cherry asked.
"Oh, just something along the lines of charging in there yourself and helping Hibiki." Echo responded, rubbing the back of her head with an embarrassed blush on her face.
"I'm flattered that you think I would be that bold, but I am more reasonable than that. Do you want me to give Hibiki any words from you?" Cherry said.
"Just that I want to talk with her when she gets back." Echo told Cherry. Cherry simply nodded and left the room, leaving Echo alone with Helios and Selene. Echo was silent as she tapped away at her keyboard before feeling a nudge and turned to see Helios next to her. "Are you worried for me?" Echo asked. The Solrock did nothing as it just floated there, earning a sigh from Echo before she pet it. "...Thanks." Echo said before she got back to focusing on her job.
A few minutes ago…
A good ten minutes had passed since the group had arrived at the hanger bay and they were busy fighting off every grunt that came. "That's the fortieth one, where the hell is Hibiki?!" Wind exclaimed as he tended to his Pokemon.
"I don't know, but we kind of have to be on the move like now." Myth said.
"Think we should leave without her?" Sigma suggested.
"Like hell you are!" Hibiki yelled as she ran into the room, Melody knocking out a grunt behind her.
"There you are." Wind said.
"Apologies, we had some things to take care of. Also, god they have a lot of bodies to throw at us." Hibiki responded.
"Agreed, let's get out of here." Myth responded. Everyone nodded as they all hopped into the truck and recalled their Pokemon, except for Sigma.
"Wait… something's not right." Sigma said as he looked around. Wind was about to ask what he meant when he saw a hulking figure approaching the hangar bay.
"Oh boy, there's Strong. What the hell do we even do?" Wind asked. The response he got was Hibiki getting out from the back of the truck and walking next to Sigma.
"Go." Hibiki said, a serious look in her eyes.
"You know he's probably too strong for you right?" Sigma told Hibiki.
"I know that fully well, but I also know that your Pokemon are all exhausted and aren't in the shape to keep this up. Now go, I'll catch up with you in a bit." Hibiki responded, a confident tone in her voice. Sigma looked at Hibiki for a moment before nodding, calling back his Houndoom, and returning to the truck.
"She is crazy, you realize this right?" Myth questioned as Sigma got in the back.
"I know she is, but this is the best chance we got. " Sigma responded.
"Hope she knows what she's doing, hold on tight everyone!" Wind said as he started the truck. Wind slammed down on the gas and the truck zoomed forward past Strong, who simply continued to walk towards Hibiki.
"Well looks like he is intent on at least meeting me at least." Hibiki said as she walked forward to meet him, Melody staying behind her. When the two were about 15 feet apart, they stopped in their tracks, studied each other for a moment before getting out their Pokeballs and calling out their Pokemon, Strong calling out a Machoke and Hibiki calling out Venemy. "You know I'm impressed that you're not just charging me down instantly for this thing or Melody." Hibiki commented, gesturing to the Snag Machine she was wearing.
"Wouldn't want to damage the equipment. Machoke, use Bulk Up and follow it up with Low Sweep!" As Strong spoke, Machop simply puffed out his chest and ran up to Venemy.
"Dodge it and use Bug Bite!" Venemy did as he was told, rolling out of the way of the incoming attack and biting Machoke's leg, causing him to wince a bit.
"Toss it away and use Brick Break!" The Machoke reached down, grabbed Venemy from off it's leg, and threw it into the air before giving it a Brick Break, sending Venemy a good few feet away, a bit in pain. A few moments after, the Machoke keeled over as it felt a little sick from what appears to be Poison Point.
"Defense Curl and Rollout now!" Venemy shook off his pain before rolling into a ball and revving up for a Rollout.
"Don't let that finish! Body Slam now!" The Machoke went to follow it's command but it was a little slow due to the poison coursing through its body and couldn't get to Venemy fast enough before it took off. It quickly rolled under the Machoke before turning around and hitting it in the back and continuing to roll around.
"Hit him again, Venemy!" Venemy did as he was told, hitting Macoke in the back.
"Catch him and stop him in his tracks!" Machoke, reeling from pain and more than a bit angry, managed to catch Venemy as he was coming towards him for another hit, though Venemy was still spinning to struggle against Machoke.
"Don't let him stop you! You're stronger than that!" Hibiki called out. As she called that out, Venemy mentally nodded and spun faster against Machoke, eventually becoming enveloped in a blue blight as he broke through Machoke's grip, hitting him and knocking him out.
"Venemy!" Hibiki exclaimed. Venemy's shape changed into more of a wheel with horns as the glow faded and he cried out.
"Evolving in the middle of combat… suppose I should have expected that, but that is a tough bug." Strong said to himself as he recalled his Machoke. Strong quickly got out another Pokeball and tossed it, calling out a Hariama. "Still, it'll take more than that to take me out." Strong said as his Hariyama got ready.
"Are you ok to keep fighting Venemy?" Hibiki asked her newly evolved Whirlpede. Venemy simply nodded, though it did wobble a bit. "The second you go down, I'm calling you back." Hibiki said as Venemy whirled up.
"Hariyama, use Force Palm!" Hariyama nodded before walking up to Venemy and attempted to hit it but was met with Venemy curling into a tight ball that blocked the attack. "Iron Defense huh? Well then, Hariyama use Belly Drum!" Hariyama nodded as it slapped it's belly rapidly, causing a drum beat each time it hit, obviously hurting itself, but also invigorating it's muscles.
"Oh that's not good, keep dodging and get in hits with Rollout when you can." Venemy simply nodded as he revved up and continued on his attack.
"Close your eyes and listen." Strong ordered. Hariama obliged and closed his eyes as he stood ready. Hibiki tilted her head in confusion before she realized what was going on and saw Hariyama get an attack ready as Venemy went in for a hit.
"Dodge or use Iron Defense!" Hibiki quickly called out. Venemy quickly noticed the action and curled tight, using Iron Defense as Hariyama hit it hard with a Force Palm, sinding Venemy flying into a wall next to Hibiki. "Venemy!" Hibiki exclaimed as Melody floated over to Venemy.
"Well… looks like you've just got your Meloetta left. I would recommend you surrender now and maybe I'll just let you go." Strong told her, a small smirk on her face. HIbiki glared at Strong before Venemy slowly rolled up in front of her, still up but very hurt. She looked down at her Pokemon, who looked determined to keep fighting and simply smiled.
"Sorry, but I doubt that's going to happen. Venemy, as much as I appreciate you wanting to continue, I need you to rest." Hibiki said as she got out his Pokeball. Venemy looked at Hibiki for a moment before nodding as he returned to his Pokeball. HIbiki nodded as she threw out another Pokeball and called out the Shadow Ralts she caught, surprising Strong as she appeared.
"You managed to catch the Valgardian Ralts… impressive that you managed to actually do so despite being a failed Shade experiment." Strong said, a bit of surprise in his voice.
"That's because it decided to come with me on its own accord. I don't know what you did to her, but I'm giving her a chance to let out some of her anger out on you." Hibiki responded, a fierce anger in her voice. Strong was a bit surprised by HIbiki's response and gave a small smile as Hariyama walked forward as Ralts drew her sword. "I don't mean to be a selfish trainer to you Ralts, but do you mind showing me what you can do on your own? I want to get an idea for how we can work together." Hibiki said as she closed her eyes.
Ralts simply nodded and smiled as Hariyama attempted to hit her, but she dodged with surprising speed. Ralts dashed forward and used Slash, leaping up in the air and slashing at the Pokemon. Hariyama flinched a bit from the attack before it shook it off and turned to hit the Ralts, before it dodged at the last second. Just as she dodge, the Ralts' Shadow Aura flared up and it slashed at Hariyama with a sword of shadow, striking the pokemon and knocking it out.
"Ok… I'm finding a way to purify you." Hibiki said, a big goofy smile on her face. Ralts simply walked over to Hibiki happily and bowed before her as Strong looked on in utter shock.
"Good luck with that, did you just catch that thing?" Strong said as he got out his Hariyama's Pokeball. Hibiki simply nodded as Strong recalled his Hariyama and put his hand to his chin in thought. "... Well then, I guess I'll just have to break out the big guns." Strong said as he got out a Great Ball. He threw it and called out a Lucario, which made the goggles that Hibiki was wearing blink and scan the Lucario, showing her that it was a shadow Pokemon.
"... Oh no. Ralts, get back here now!" Hibiki ordered, a hint of panic in her voice. Ralts quickly nodded and began to head back to Hibiki when Lucario leaped forward towards Hibiki with a punch for her. Melody, thinking quickly, jumped in front of Hibiki and parried the punch before delivering a Focus Blast to his chest. The blast caused Lucario to step back a bit, but it seemed to recover very fast and glared at Melody.
"Well… I thought that would have done a bit more." Melody said to Hibiki. Hibiki simply looked on in fear as she returned Ralts to her Pokeball.
"Looks like this is what it took to get your Meloetta active. Now then, about that offer from earlier… it's still up." Strong said.
"Ok, what is your goal here? You know that I'm a high priority target, what with me having the Meloetta you're looking for and having basically wrecked your base, yet you treat me like I'm some friend or something." Hibiki questioned. Strong stayed quiet as Lucario cracked his knuckles, waiting for the order to attack.
"Lucario… take care of them." Strong ordered. His Lucario simply nodded with a dull look in it's eyes before he walked forward.
"Melody, weaken him. I need to see if I can catch him." Hibiki said. Melody looked back at Hibiki for a moment before sighing and preparing for a fight. Lucario responded by sashing forward to meet Melody and attempted to punch her, which she dodged gracefully. Melody quickly responded with a Low Kick, but that was dodged quickly, causing Melody to hop away. Lucario, seeming intent on causing some form of pain, charged up an Aura Sphere and launched it, which caused Melody to put up a Protect around her. As the Aura Sphere struggled against the Protect, Melody thought for a moment before coming up with an idea.
Lucario, wasting no time at all, rushed forward as soon as the Protect fell and used Metal Claw to hit what appeared to be Melody. As the attack hit, there was a puff of smoke as the Substitute that Melody created disappeared, leaving Lucario to look around before hearing a song. Melody, now in her Pirouette form, quickly hit Lucario with a Brick Break before changing back into Aria form and using another point blank Focus Blast. Lucario, taken by surprise, took the hit and was tossed a good ways away from Melody, landing on the ground.
"That should do Melody." Hibiki called as got out a Pokeball and kept an eye on Strong. As she did, she noted that Strong didn't seem to be doing anything aside from watching them, almost like he was waiting for something to happen. When she turned to throw the Pokeball, she saw that Lucario had stood up with it's Shadow Aura flaring, it's eyes a pure red, causing Melody to take a defensive stance. Thinking quickly, she tossed the Snag Ball at Lucario, but it dodged and charged at Hibiki with it's hand enveloped in a claw of darkness.
"Oh no you don't!" Melody said as she got in front of Hibiki. Lucario simply charged faster as Melody put upf another Protect around the two of them. As Lucario's attack hit the barrier, Melody felt a force much greater than what she was accustomed to normal attacks hitting. Eventually, cracks started to form in the barrier, which prompted Hibiki to get ready to run and Melody to get ready to counter ordodge. Lucario let out a howl as it's aura flared up even more before the barrier shattered and it dashed straight for Hibiki, who was thrown to the ground when the barrier broke. Melody, out of compulsion, jumped in front of Hibiki and took the attack, the force flinging her back into the hanger.
"MELODY!" Hibiki yelled as she ran to check on Melody. As she reached Melody's body, She saw that Melody was still conscious, but had a fresh wound over her left eye. "Are you ok?" Hibiki asked.
"Other than the extreme pain and wound over my eye, I'm fine. Standing is probably out of the question at the moment though." Melody told HIbiki. Quickly remembering the situation, Hibiki quickly turned around just in time to get pinned and choked by the Shadow Lucario. Struggling against Lucario, Hibiki attempted to kick it, but it seemed like it had no effect.
"Well now, I told you to take the deal and now look at where you are. Last chance I'm giving you to take it." Strong said from the entrance.
"Go… fuck yourself." Hibiki struggled to say.
"So be it… Lucario, end her." Strong ordered. Lucario simply nodded as his aura appeared and another dark claw appeared, causing Hibiki to panic. As Lucario swung and Hibiki felt her life flash before her eyes, she felt something click as she brought up her fist. Lucario was surprised when Hibiki had blocked it's attack with a Shadow Claw, followed immediately by him getting knocked back by said attack. Melody, surprised by the action, turned and saw Hibiki stand up with a look of anger on her face and a red glow in her eyes.
"Hibiki?" Melody called, a bit of fear in her voice. Hibiki slowly looked at Melody before shaking her head as the glow from her eyes faded.
"Huh? What just…?" HIbiki said as she put a hand to her head.
"No time, Snag Ball now!" Melody said. Hibiki shook her head before she nodded and threw another Snag Ball at Lucario, this time hitting and capturing it. Hibiki smiled and went to go pick it up before Strong grabbed it and looked at it. He was silent before he turned around, gave a sly smile, and tossed the ball to Hibiki, which she caught, but was confused at the gesture.
"Don't get anything wrong, it's my job to catch you Meloetta, but I can recognize a talented trainer when I see one. I'm only letting you go because you're still new and I like where path is leading you." Strong said.
"...Ok? How do I know you're telling the truth on this and won't just tackle me to the ground the moment I get to the exit?" Hibiki responded.
"If I really wanted to catch you right now, I wouldn't have let Sigma get away." Strong responded. Hibiki opened her mouth to say something, but quickly closed it as she realized that he was right. "Go before I change my mind." Strong said as he walked past Hibiki, heading back into the base. Hibiki simply nodded before walking over, picking up Melody, and heading out of the hangar.
"Are you sure it's safe to just trust him like this?" Melody asked.
"Let's be completely real here Melody, neither of us are in good enough shape to argue against this offer of peace." Hibiki responded as she looked around. As she did, she heard a Pokemon cry from above and looked up to see an Altaria descending.
"HIbiki, are you there?" Cherry called out.
"I'm right below you!" Hibiki responded. Cherry looked down at Hibiki and quickly hurried her Altaria to get down on the ground. As she touched down, Hibiki walked up to her and managed to get on Altaria. "Thanks for coming to get me." Hibiki said.
"No problem, but what happened and why is Melody so hurt?" Cherry asked, taking Melody into her arms. Hibiki attempted to respond but quickly felt dizzy and almost fell off Altaria, but was grabbed by Cherry. "Ok, let's get back cause apparently you're not in the best shape yourself." Cherry said.
"Yeah…" Hibiki said, putting a hand on Altaria's back to steady herself. With Cherry giving the order, Altaria lifted off and flew back to Fairy Tale Grove with the three in tow.