Chapter 17: Report and Reflection
After they all got back to the room, Hibiki was sitting on the bed across from Echo, who was currently typing at her computer and staying completely silent. "... How much of a lecture am I going to get from you?" Hibiki asked, a bit intimidated by her sister. Echo simply sighed before she stopped typing and looked at her sister.
"A bit of one, but I feel like that can wait til the next time you do something stupid." Echo told Hibiki. Hibiki looked a bit relieved, but also confused as Echo got up from her desk and walked over to Hibiki before sitting next to her. "I know that I probably should give you one, but I don't think it's needed this time." Echo said.
"Any reason why?" Hibiki questioned.
"Well… I do have to admit that the plan of setting the Pokemon free was brilliant. A very obvious one, but I did like how fast you thought of it. It also led you to the Snag Gear, which will definitely be of use to us." Echo explained.
"It wasn't the best plan, but given that Strong was sending grunts after me, it was all I could come up with." Hibiki responded.
"Speaking of, you are quite crazy to actually challenge Strong to a Pokemon Battle and actually win." Echo said, shooting Hibiki a judging look.
"You're not wrong, but let's be honest, we were at more risk if I didn't stay because it's entirely hinged on Strong not just ordering his Shadow Lucario to destroy the truck." Hibiki explained. Echo opened her mouth to say something, but was quickly interrupted by a knock at the door.
"Are you two done there yet?" Cherry called from outside. Echo turned to Hibiki before sighing and getting up off the bed.
"We'll talk later tonight." Echo said, a bit of a serious look on her face. Hibiki simply nodded as Echo walked over and opened the door, letting Cherry, Sigma, and Melody into the room. Melody immediately floated over to Hibiki, who quickly breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing her partner fine aside from a scar on her face.
"Melody is fine all things considered, just has to rest really." Cherry told Hibiki.
"Thank you Cherry, I really appreciate you looking after her." Hibiki said with a smile.
"No problem, got to keep you two up and running if we ever run into more commanders. I'm still impressed that you managed to beat Strong." Cherry responded.
"Impressive, but don't let it get to your head, he was using a weaker team than what I've seen him use. I know for sure that he has a Shadow Hydreigon in his normal team." Sigma commented.
"A Hydreigon?! That… is actually terrifying after seeing how ferocious his Shadow Lucario was. Speaking of, what should we do about it?" Hibiki said, getting out the Pokeball in question. Sigma walked up and grabbed the ball before pausing and turning to Cherry.
"I think we should ask the former Cypher person for anything she's able to remember about the topic." Sigma said.
"Well… I don't remember much about the process as I've blocked that from my memory… but what I do remember is that it's not pleasant at all. That being said, there's not much we can do as the Alaria Region has no access to a magical stone that can purify their hearts nor access to the purification machine in Oree at the moment. I'll talk with Looker to see if we can potentially bring it over, but it will be a while." Cherry was a silence that permeated the room for a moment before Cherry spoke up again
"There's something that's been bothering me Sigma and that's the fact that your Houndoom actually came back to you during the mission. Usually Shadow Pokemon just leave their trainers and roam the wild when they're defeated." Cherry commented.
"That's because my Houndoom isn't a normal shadow Pokemon, it's known as a Shade." Sigma responded.
"A Shade?" Cherry asked, her curiosity peaked.
"A new type of Shadow Pokemon that is being made by Neo Cypher. While I don't know the exact process behind their creation, I do know that they're meant to get around that issue and stay loyal to their trainer." Sigma continued.
"Huh, so they have been up to new things over the years." Cherry said to herself. Hibiki paused for a moment before remembering something and calling out her Ralts, putting the Pokemon on her lap.
"Strong called my Ralts here a "failed Shade experiment". Any idea what that means?" Hibiki questioned.
"The only reason I could think your Ralts was deemed a failure is more than likely that it had too strong of a heart to close. That's as much as I can tell you without knowing other things about the exact experiment, I wish I could be of more help." Sigma told Hibiki. Hibiki simply looked at her Ralts and smiled before looking at Echo, who seemed to be thinking about something.
"If you don't have any more to say on the matter and don't mind me changing the subject, what exactly happened between you and Strong?" Echo asked Sigma. Sigma stayed silent for a moment before telling her the details of what happened. "I see… do we have any reason to believe that he was just acting at that moment?" Echo questioned.
"I've been with the guy for the past three years, the man is terrible at deceiving others." Sigma responded.
"Even if he was, why would he let me go after I captured his Lucario and not just capture Melody?" Hibiki commented.
"... Fair enough. Any idea if what he gave you was any use to us?" Echo asked. In response to that, Sigma brought out the case and opened it.
"Honestly I haven't looked through it thoroughly, but it looks like just general plans and other information from what I could tell. Not sure if it's stuff the IPP already knows, but it's what I got." Sigma responded.
"My thanks for taking part in this plan Sigma, you truly have no idea how much it means to us. Hibiki and Echo, both of you head out to take a break, I'll make a report with Sigma that we can send to the IPP." Cherry said as she walked over to the case.
"Are you sure you don't need help?" Hibiki asked.
"Quite sure, plus you are in no position to be asking that considering what you told us. Go on and rest, we'll be fine here." Cherry told Hibiki with a smile. Hibiki was quiet for a moment before she recalled Melody and her Ralts, got up off the bed, and left the room with her sister to explore the city.
Hibiki and Echo both silently walked through the city, Hibiki occasionally rubbing her throat and coughing a bit. "You ok sis?" Echo asked.
"I'm fine, just that Strong's Shadow Lucario didn't hold back at all." Hibiki said, a bit of strain in her voice.
"Still can't believe that you actually decided to challenge Strong, that was really reckless." Echo told Hibiki, making a pouty face.
"Again, not my best plan and I'm sorry for worrying you." Hibiki responded.
"... At least tell me next time." Echo said in a quiet voice. Hibiki simply smiled as they both continued to walk down the street, chatting about various things. Eventually, they both ended up at a cafe and decided to have tea. "It's nice to actually relax for a bit and not worry about anything for the moment." Echo said with a relieved sigh.
"For the love of god Echo, why do you jinx it?" Hibiki said as she pinched her nose. Almost as if on cue, a man walked up to their table.
"Hey there you two, mind if I take a seat?" a familiar voice said. Echo was about to brush the man off before Hibiki stopped her and looked at the man.
"What are you even doing here, Beat?" Hibiki asked as she gestured for him to sit down. Beat accepted the offer and sat down, Hibiki earning an unsure look from Echo.
"Well… I might have heard some things through the rumor mill about some people taking down a Neo Cypher Base." Beat said.
"Cherry told you, didn't she?" Echo questioned.
"She did, so I hope you two don't mind me checking up on you two. Now then, I'm open to questions from the both of you so feel free to ask away, though there is only so much I can tell you at the moment." Beat told the two of them. There was a moment of silence as the two let that sink in and thought of some questions.
"To start, is there any reason that you're helping us aside from personal gain?" Echo asked.
"That's simple, I want to see Neo Cypher taken down." Beat said, a smile pleasant on his face.
"Really? I mean no offense when I say this, but you look like someone who would be all for them succeeding." Hibiki commented.
"None taken, and you aren't far off the mark with that assumption. I was originally an admin of Team Snagem back in the days." Beat told the two.
"Snagem… I remember reading up about them on my research in Cypher. They were a team of Pokemon Catchers that were helped by Cypher before they came into the light." Echo said.
"Ah, you must be Echo, Cherry has told me about you. You are correct, so can you tell me who you think I am?" Beat asked. Echo tilted her head in thought before she put the pieces together.
"Miror B, I remember reading about you now." Echo said.
"I think I've heard about you. Weren't you a big deal in the music world 5 years ago before suddenly disappearing?" Hibiki asked, keeping her voice low.
"Correct and correct, I'm surprised that you've heard of that time of my life." Beat said.
"Truth be told, I still listen to your music even today." HIbiki said a bit of blush on her face. This caused Beat to give a small smile as he nodded, before Echo gave a small cough.
"Well anyway, the reason why I want to see Neo Cypher go down is just cause I have never really liked them. While it's true they may have been my former employers, I never really agreed with how they operated." Beat exposited. This response earned a questionable look from both Hibiki and Echo, which made Beat sigh. "Yeah I know it's not the most poignant response, given who I am, but even I have some moral code that I follow to an extent." Beat told the two.
"That makes sense… at least to a degree. Why did you end up leaving Team Snagem anyway?" Hibiki asked.
"Mainly just because our plan 20 years ago didn't work out and we went our separate ways." Beat said.
"Ok, well with the reason made clear, I have another question that I just remembered. Why did you give us those items?" Echo asked.
"Just some stuff your grandmother left behind with me." Beat said. Echo quickly looked at Hibiki, who looked berry surprised and was gripping the table as Beat got out a picture from his fucket pocket. The picture in question was one of Symphia, Aria, and Beat along with baby Hibiki and Echo in front of the Pokemon League. "This picture looks familiar to you two?" Beat asked.
"I remember this picture, grandma had it in her room at all times. I asked who that man was once when I was a kid and she told me that it was an old friend." Hibiki said, a tear forming in her eye.
"... Point made." Echo said.
"Apologies, but I did want to drive it home. As for your question, I'm not entirely sure myself. She left that with me a few months before she passed away and told me to entrust her grandchildren with it when the time came. Seeing as Neo Cypher is on the move, I figured that I would do so as well." Beat explained.
"Do you think Neo Cypher is behind our grandmother's death?" Echo asked, her voice a bit shaky.
"I do think they are, or at the very least they had a hand in it. I don't know any specifics, but there's just this feeling I have that they're involved in some way." Beat said. Echo nodded while Hibiki simply gave a small grin, Echo noting that the grin was a bit more devilish than she was used to.
"Are you alright sis?" Echo asked, snapping Hibiki immediately out of whatever she was thinking.
"Huh, yeah I'm… just thinking about things. Speaking of, any idea what these might be about?" Hibiki responded, getting out the picture and letter that Anabel had given them. Beat took the two items and examined them closely, looking for details in both.
"Well I can tell you this much, these are definitely from before Symphia died. For the picture, I do remember her taking a trip to Eastern Alaria about a year before she died, she didn't say much about the trip though other than that it was enlightening. As for the letter, it's definitely encoded and I can't figure out what method she used." Beat told the two.
"Is there any way we can decode the letter or track down the picture?" Echo questioned.
"I can probably do the letter, but the picture will be very difficult to track down. It's been a year so more than likely the inscription has faded away and that's even considering we can find the location it was taken at. Let me take a picture of the letter and see what I can do." Beat responded. Echo simply nodded and let Beat take a picture of the letter and picture before putting both away. "Well then, if you don't have any more questions, I must be off." Beat said as he stood up.
"I have one that I'm curious to hear your answer to. Do you ever think about your past and just let the mistakes you've made sit in your mind?" Hibiki asked, a tad more serious look on her face. Beat was taken a bit by surprise, but simply smiled in response before speaking.
"If I didn't think about the past, then I wouldn't be the man you're talking to now. I can tell you're thinking about a lot right now, so I'll just say this, talk with your sister and speak your mind." Beat told Hibiki, putting a hand on her shoulder. Hibiki simply nodded before Beat walked off, leaving the two sisters alone.
"... You have a lot on your mind don't you sis?" Echo asked when she got the chance.
"Yep." Hibiki replied before she put her head down on the table. There was a moment of silence between the two as they thought of what to say, the silence being broken with Hibiki. "... Do you think we can talk outside of town?" Hibiki asked.
"Of course, is there any reason why outside of town though?" Echo told Hibiki.
"I just want to be somewhere where there aren't a lot of people." Hibiki responded. Echo simply nodded before the two finished their business at the cafe and headed to the edge of town.
As they got to the edge of town and arrived at a clearing of trees, Hibiki sighed as she looked at Echo. "Do you think I should get Melody out? I want her opinion on this, but I also don't want to interuper her while she's healing." Hibiki asked.
"I don't see why not, it's not like she's going to be moving much." Echo told Hibiki. Hibiki nodded and got out Melody's Music Ball before calling her out.
"Ok… why exactly did you call me out?" Melody said, a tad annoyed that her rest was disturbed.
"Well, there's something that I want to get off my chest that I need to talk to you two about. If you want to go back and rest, all you need to do is tell me." Hibiki said as she rubbed her face. Melody simply sighed before she floated over to Echo and sat on her shoulder, motioning for Hibiki to go on. "Thank you, now I think I should start with something that's been bugging me ever since we got back from the mission." Hibiki said.
"Does it have to do with the fact that you've been very fidgety this whole time and that last question that you asked Beat?" Echo asked.
"Yep, truth be told, I… haven't exactly been thinking the most pleasant of thoughts after that last mission, mainly because of what happened at the end." Hibiki began.
"That freaky state where you managed to use Shadow Claw, right?" Melody questioned.
"Exactly and I think I know why I actually went like that. Let me ask you this, what do you think emotions are?" HIbiki responded.
"They're what we feel and range from anger to joy… oh." Echo said, realizing what Hibiki was getting at.
"Yeah, I think that state is triggered by emotions. Well… not just emotions, I also think my Esper powers have something to do with it." HIbiki elaborated. Echo was about to say something when Hibiki stopped her and turned to a nearby tree. "Ever since we first met Sigma, I've been feeling… a bit more snappy." Hibiki told the two.
"In what way?" Melody asked.
"I guess I could describe it as more of a need to just get angry and generally feeling more negative overall." HIbiki responded.
"Don't you always have times like that though?" Echo questioned.
"Yes, but this it's different. Before you say anything, just… watch." Hibiki said. Hibiki closed her eyes and breathed in a rhythm, before her back glowed a dark red and a claw of shadows formed on her right hand. She turned around to show that while her face was mostly normal, her eyes became this "Whenever I've felt incredibly angry or impatient in the past, I've felt this urge wash over me, but I've always been able to keep myself calm. After what happened with Sigma though, something inside just snapped and this manifested." Hibiki said, her voice sounding a bit distorted.
"What is… this?" Echo asked, a bit caught off guard.
"From what I can tell, it's derived from my Esper powers, specifically what I assume to be my Darkrai side coming through. If I had to give it a name, and so we don't have to keep referring to it ambiguously, I would call it Shade Form." Hibiki said.
"Any reason why you thought to keep this Shade Form from us aside from not knowing much about it?" Melody questioned.
"Honestly, I just needed to know what triggered it before I told you, I didn't want to risk anything happening. That being said, I do have the answer to that and it's not exactly a good one. Want to take a guess even though it should be fairly obvious?" Hibiki responded. Echo put her hand to her chin before remembering what their conversation had been about.
"An abundance of negative emotions… I suppose that makes sense given what you've been talking about." Echo responded. HIbiki simply nodded as she sighed as walked next to a tree. "Is there anything that we can do so you don't go into Shade Form whenever you're anxious or is it something that you have some control over?" Echo questioned. In response to that, Hibiki closed her eyes and the form dissipated,
"I'm pretty sure I can control it… for now at least. When Strong's Lucario was choking me, I could feel all of its rage, its anger, all of its negative emotions… and I could feel my powers resonate with it." Hibiki said.
"Wait, you mean to say that being near Shadow Pokemon will cause you to go out of control?" Melody questioned, a hint of urgency in her voice.
"From what I can tell, not immediately, it takes some time for the powers to recognize the emotions. Still, this is all just going off of what I know at the moment." Hibiki told the two.
"So for all you know, the emotions could react quicker than you expect and cause you to go berserk?" Echo asked.
"Exactly, which brings me to something that I've been wanting to talk about." Hibiki said, a forlorn look on her face. Echo tilted her head in curiosity as Hibiki walked up to a nearby tree.
"Ever since we got back from the mission, I've been thinking about my Shade form and obviously the worst case scenarios. If the worst comes to pass and I end up going berserk, I want you two to subdue me if you can. If you can't… then I want you two to promise me to do whatever it takes to stop me." Hibiki told the two of them.
"... WHAT?!" Echo and Melody said in unison after a moment of processing.
"You heard me, trust me, I don't like the thought either." Hibiki said as she rubbed the back of her head. Hibiki was immediately grabbed by Echo, who looked incredibly heartbroken.
"Why do you even bring up the possibility then?!" Echo asked, her voice cracking a bit.
"Because I just want you all to be safe." Hibiki responded, physically shaking in Echo's grasp.
"Look, I know that you want that you're a great partner and I can tell you've thought about this for a while, but why are you even bringing up this topic?" Melody questioned. Hibiki paused and calmed herself down as Echo let her go.
"Truth be told, I never even wanted to consider this or talk about it so soon. But then I started to reconsider when I took into account that we're going to be encountering Shadow Pokemon quite a bit on our journey and decided that I should tell you now. Be mad with me if you want, I've made my decision." Hibiki said. Echo sighed in frustration before taking a moment to calm herself down and think for a bit.
"...I just want to make sure that you're absolutely sure with this decision." Echo told Hibiki. Hibiki simply stayed silent and nodded in response. "Ok then, I promise that I'll do it if it gets to that point." Echo told HIbiki.
"Really? I thought you would have been more resistant on the matter." Hibiki said.
"True I normally would, but I also know that when you set your mind to something, you make sure it goes in your way most of the time. Plus I can't deny that there's some truth to your promise." Echo told Hibikii.
"I swear you two are something else… and I see no reason to not make the promise as well. All I ask is that you keep us in mind that we worry for you and you should keep us updated on your emotions." Melody said. Hibiki immediately started to tear up, but pushed the tears as she simply smiled and hugged her sister before carefully doing the same with Melody.
"Thank you two, I appreciate you listening to what I had to say and actually going along with it." Hibiki said, her voice cracking a bit.
"No problem, just try not to be secretive about serious stuff like this." Echo said.
"Speaking of, there is one more thing that I wanted to talk with you two about." Hibiki said.
"Would this have to do with that harp we found?" Melody questioned.
"Are you reading my mind?" Hibiki responded.
"Maybe just a little bit." Melody said with a small smile. Hibiki sighed and pinched her nose, mentally slapping herself for not seeing it coming, as Echo giggled at Hibiki's reaction.
"Yeah it's about that harp, specifically what I heard when I touched it. While I told Cherry that I felt something when I touched it, that wasn't entirely true as I also heard a deep voice. I don't know who it belonged to, but felt a bit unnerved after hearing it." Hibiki told the two.
"What did the voice say?" Echo asked.
"Let the song of Nightmares sunder the darkness." Hibiki recalled. Echo felt a chill run down her spine as she heard that while Melody felt a weird familiarity with the phrase.
"I can see what you mean by getting unnerved, I can only imagine what it was like hearing that, but what does it mean?" Echo questioned.
"Truth be told, I don't know, but I would put my money on it having something to do with Shadow Pokemon. Still, best to keep our minds open for now." Hibiki said. Melody was about to say something when she winced in pain, Hibiki feeling that. "Ok, I think this would be a good place to stop for now." HIbiki said as she got out Melody's Pokeball.
"Sorry, I would have liked to talk more, but Doctor's orders." Melody responded with a sad smile.
"It's fine, I'm sorry for dragging this out longer than necessary. Get some rest, we're going to need it for the coming days." Hibiki responded kindly, before returning Melody to her Pokeball.
"You really care about her a lot." Echo told Hibiki. Hibiki simply sighed as she put away her Pokeball.
"Of course I do, she's one of my Pokemon. That and I feel a little bad for what happened in the mission." Hibiki responded.
"Hey don't beat yourself up about it, there was very little you could do once Strong sent out his Shadow Lucario." Echo told her sis.
"Still…" HIbiki said as she trailed off. Echo paused for a moment to think, before remembering something and putting her arm around Hibiki.
"Say, isn't there something in this town that we still need to do?" Echo told Hibiki.
"... Oh right, the Gym!" Hibiki exclaimed. Echo simply laughed at her sister's reaction before remembering something that she had skipped over.
"I do think we should wait for tomorrow though, we did just get back from the mission today. I say we take the rest of the day to relax." Echo said.
"I'm fine with that, this has been an eventful day." Hibiki said as she stretched. Echo nodded and the two walked back into town, talking about various things on the way.