Chapter 21: Exporting Waves
Morning came and the group exited the Opera House, stretching as they absorbed the clear morning sky. "Ah, that was a really good night's sleep." Sigma said as he cracked his neck.
"Yeah, for being home to a lot of ghost type pokemon, it was honestly a really good night's sleep." Echo said. Hibiki nodded as she returned Melody to her Pokeball, looking chipper than usual.
"You look like you had a pleasant night of sleep." Cherry said, commenting on Hibiki's mood.
"Yeah, I don't know why, but I feel like I've had the best sleep I've had in a while." Hibiki responded, happily sighing.
"Good to see that you're doing good sis. Now come on, we don't have far to walk til Export Harbor." Echo said as she began to walk forward. The group nodded and they all proceeded to continue along the route, talking about various things on the way.
"So we probably went over this already and I can probably guess by the name alone, but Export Harbor is a shipping center right?" Sigma asked.
"Correct, it's not only the gateway for people to come into the Alaria Region via boat, but it's also the main trading hub for the region. As you can imagine, a lot of the world likes Alarian technology, so we ship out a lot to the rest of the world. The Harbor is also home to a lot of shops that people come around to visit." Echo explained.
"I'm curious why I've not seen much tech from Alaria in my lifetime." Sigma commented.
"Let's leave it at the techonogy is expensive if people are importing from Alaria because of how advanced the technology is." Cherry said. Sigma nodded at that, knowing the feeling of expensive luxuries, as they continued on the road. After about half an hour of walking, they arrived at Export Harbor. The city itself was a big port city, with stalls selling various items, various types of shops and restaurants, two lighthouses, several boats unloading and loading stuff, and a lot of warehouses.
"Wow, this place is huge. Is it usually this busy?" Sigma said as he noticed the large amount of people walking around.
"Yep, being the main trading hub, you have dock workers doing their jobs, natives who live in the area, and tourists visiting from other regions. Alaria City might be the biggest city in the region, but Export Harbor is definitely the busiest city in the region." Hibiki told Sigma. The group walked through the busy streets and they arrived at the boat house.
"Wait here, I'm going to check if there are any tickets available for Verdant Isle." Cherry said as she entered the building.
"You need a ticket to get to Verdant Isle? That makes sense, but do trainers need to pay for tickets?" Sigma asked.
"Yes they do have to pay. I get that they have to keep their ships afloat, but they really should just let trainers travel to Verdant Isle for free. Then again, I also am speaking as a trainer, so what do I know?" Hibiki said. Sigma simply nodded in response as the three waited for Cherry to come out. About an hour later, Cherry walked out of the building with four bags and a bit of a confused look on her face. "Did something happen while you were in there?" Hibiki asked.
"... Kind of. Apparently someone had already purchased tickets for us with these gift bags. I don't know who it was, but I think I have an idea." Cherry responded, holding the bags out. The three each grabbed a bag and looked through them to find various souvenirs from Export Harbor and their round-trip tickets.
"Well at least we have our tickets. Who do you think bought these for us?" Echo asked. Cherry was about to answer that question when someone walked up to the group.
"Ah see you all got here right on time." the person said. The group turned and saw a man wearing a white male with blue hair and red eyes in a gray jacket, dark green shirt, light blue jeans, and black shoes. "Yo, Hibi-chan, Echo-chan. I see you got my gifts." the man greeted. Hibiki smiled and walked up to the man before paving him a light punch on the arm.
"It's been a while, Lan-san." Hibiki said.
"I'm going to take a wild guess and say that's the local gym leader." Sigma commented.
"Right you are Sigma, that is Lan, Gym Leader of Export Harbor. He's also the harbor master and is the one who says what goes on in the shipping business." Cherry said. Sigma nodded as Echo walked up and gave Lan a high five.
"They seem really friendly with each other." Sigma said.
"Lan is basically like an Uncle to them, he's very nice with them since he also lives in Melodic Town, though you wouldn't know that with how much time he spends in his gym/office." Cherry explained.
"Sonata told me you two were coming after stopping at Fairy Tale Grove, so I figured I would get you two something to help you all out." Lan said with a smile.
"Thanks Lan, we honestly couldn't get here yesterday because of the storm. It was rougher than expected though, so are the ships ok?" Echo asked.
"For the most part, they all seem to be ok, but we've closed some of the ships to make sure there wasn't any significant damage on them." Lan said.
"That's good, I imagine you wouldn't want to harm the ships or people." Hibiki said.
"Exactly, being the harbor master is a tough job, but someone has to do it." Lan said with a smile. Hibiki smiled before looking at the bag and getting a familiar suspicion.
"Hey Lan, mind if I ask you something?" Hibiki questioned.
"Sure, go ahead Hibi-chan." Lan said.
"Do you need us for something?" Hibiki asked. Lan looked a bit flustered at that question, awkwardly rubbing the back of his head as Echo put two and two together.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Lan responded awkwardly.
"Lan, you've lived in the same town as us and bothered us for favors for years. You've also bought stuff for us whenever you've had a favor. I'm really just guessing that you have something for us to take care of, but I also have a gut feeling with you." Hibiki explained. Lan sighed as Echo patted him on the back, knowing how it felt to hear a small rant from her sister.
"Ok fair enough, yeah I do need something from the four of you. As it turns out, some of my workers got injured in the storm and I'm kind of short on people for a delivery I need to make today." Lan explained.
"What do you need to deliver?" Echo asked.
"Nothing too big, just need to load some boxes on the boat you all will be taking to Verdant Isle. I'll be there as well just to make sure everything gets there ok." Lan said.
"That seems simple, but I imagine that the cargo is heavy." Cherry said.
"Correct you are, Cherry. Don't worry, I'm not going to ask anything too taxing of you, just help direcing people and do some lifting here and there." Lan said.
"Why us if you don't mind me asking?" Sigma questioned.
"Honestly, I had other people in mind, but someone specifically recommended giving you all a shot and who am I to say no to a chance to help you two." Lan said. Hibiki was a bit curious about the person Lan mentioned, but she pushed it aside for now before looking at Lan with a smile.
"If it gets us to Verdant Isle, who are we to say no? That is if we're all in agreement on the matter." Hibiki said. The group looked at each other before shrugging and nodding in agreement, making Lan smile.
"Sweet, stop by the shipyard in about an hour and I'll get you set up." Lan said before he walked away. As he walked away, Cherry and Sigma walked up to the sisters.
"Well that was an encounter." Sigma said.
"Yeah, Lan is cool and this is nothing new for him, he's always like this with us. That being said, don't get too comfortable with that happy demeanor as he's a harsh but kind boss." Echo told Sigma. Sigma nodded, taking a mental note at that, before hearing his stomach rumble. "Ok we should probably get something to eat. We didn't eat breakfast and we'll need it for the work ahead." Echo said. The group nodded as they walked to one of the nearby restaurants and sat down.
"So, who do we think told Lan that we would be a good idea?" Cherry asked.
"If I had to take a guess, either Sonata, our mom, or someone from the IPP. They're the most likely options in my eyes." Hibiki said.
"Aria and Sonata make sense as they're both gym leaders, but why would someone from the IPP contact him?" Sigma questioned.
"It's just a gut feeling that I have, but maybe they contacted him to let him know of the Neo Cypher situation and we came up." Hibiki said.
"They contact the Gym Leaders here?" Sigma asked as Echo and Cherry arrived with their food.
"Mainly because we don't want to have mass panic whenever a big team like Magna appears or an event like The Surge happens." Echo explained.
"That does make sense and even more so when I remember that the IPP headquarters is located here. Though that does make me wonder if there's any reason why the headquarters is here aside from the technology." Sigma commented.
"That I could not tell you, though I hear it's mainly to keep internal spies from sending stuff to their superiors." Cherry said. Sigma nodded as the group ate and chatted about various topics.
"So do you think we're going to be asked to do a lot of work?" Echo asked Hibiki.
"Knowing Lan, we probably are. It might not be, but be prepared for the worst." Hibiki said. The group nodded and finished eating before heading off to where Lan told them to meet. When they arrived at the loading yard, they saw a huge cruise ship called the Holy Symphia with an open loading bay and people moving things in with vehicles. As they approached, Lan drove up in a big truck that was towing some
"Ah, there you four are. Come on, I'll show you where to start." Lan said as he waved to them. The group nodded and got in the truck, heading to the main work area.
A few hours later, after helping Lan with his work and getting on the boat…
The group was currently in the room, a fairly large one with a fridge and 4 beds, in various states of fatigue. "You know, I'm kind of glad that I had a lot of training at Neo Cypher. Holy shit, that was exhausting." Sigma said, resting against the wall, not really that tired.
"How do you think we feel?" Cherry and Hibiki said, panting as they sat down in chairs.
"Not the physical labor types I take?" Sigma asked, a small smile on his face.
"I'm mostly researching and helping out with pokemon from time to time, so I'm not that out of shape." Cherry responded.
"I workout a little bit, but I've been slacking recently. Still, at least we're better off than Echo." Hibiki said before looking at the bed. On the bed was Echo, currently under the sheets and unconscious, snoring softly with a few ice packs on her arms and head. "I should have told her to take it easy, she did a lot." Hibiki said, sighing in a somewhat defeated tone.
"Don't beat yourself up about it, she looked like she was having a good time. Still, I do feel partially responsible myself cause I feel like I was pushing her to do too much." Sigma told the two.
"Honestly, you weren't even pushing her that much. She loves to do more than she can and she mostly does alright, but physical labor is her weak point." Hibiki responded.
"I can attest to that, I remember one time where she was helping me move some heavy boxes, she nearly fainted." Cherry said. Sigma nodded and was going to say something before they heard the announcement come on.
"Attention passengers, the Holy Symphia will now be leaving the Export Harbor for Verdant Isle. We would like to thank you all for joining us on this impromptu trip and enjoy the cruise."
After this was said, they heard the horn and the ship began to slowly move out of the harbor. "Looks like we're going. …Oh yeah, did Lan ever say what all the cargo was for?" Sigma asked.
"Well, most of it headed for Verdant Isle, an island about 2 days away that someone decided to inhabit and help integrate the locals. Due to the lack of resources on the island, regular cargo runs are made so that stuff can be built there. However, some of the stuff on board is for the annual celebration that happens every year and it just so happens that it occurs tomorrow." Cherry explained.
"It's tomorrow? God, where does the time go?" Hibiki said, a bit shocked.
"What is this celebration about if you don't mind me asking?" Sigma questioned.
"The Verdant Festival, it's an island tradition to party and celebrate for the island god pokemon. From what I've heard, there's a lot of dances, games, traditional Pokemon battles, all in celebration of a pokemon the local people worship like a god. That being said, neither of us have actually gone to this celebration, so we're probably as blind as you when it comes to participating in it." Cherry said.
"Interesting, I'm excited to participate in this." Sigma said. The group nodded and spent the next hour or so talking amongst each other as they waited for Echo to wake up. Eventually, they heard a soft groan as Echo opened her eyes and looked around the room.
"He, sorry about that." Echo told the three with a tired voice and a smile.
"It's fine, I really should have been watching you more." HIbiki said.
"Don't worry about it too much sis, what's done is done." Echo responded.
"Can you feel or move your limbs comfortably?" Cherry questioned. Echo tried to move her arm but winced in pain. "That answers that, should one of us stay here with you?" Cherry asked.
"I mean… some help would be appreciated so I'm not bored out of my mind in bed." Echo said.
"That is a good point, so who wants to stay? As much as I want to stay with Echo, I also do want to have some fun exploring the ship." Hibiki asked.
"I'm willing to stay." Sigma said. Echo smiled at that while Hibiki raised an eyebrow, which Sigma noted. "What? You don't trust me alone wit- oh." Sigma said, blushing a bit as he realized.
"I'm more playing with that look than anything, but just don't make her sad or upset and we're good." Hibiki said. Echo rolled her eyes at that, blushing a little at her sister's statement.
"In that case, I will accompany you through the ship as I've been on this one before for research purposes." Cherry said.
"Ok, then do you want us to stay for a bit and talk before?" Hibiki asked.
"I would appreciate that, but I want you to have fun on this journey." Echo said. Hibiki smiled and nodded before she and Cherry left the room, leaving Sigma and Echo together.
"Your body doesn't actually hurt that much does it?" Sigma asked as soon as the door closed. Echo slowly took off the blanket and ice packs before sitting up in bed.
"Surprised you were able to see through that, thought I played a pretty good act." Echo said as she moved her arms.
"It was, but you do realize that I've been in Neo Cypher right? One of the things all field operatives are trained in is seeing through acts." Sigma told her.
"Really? Then if you don't mind me prying a little bit, can I ask you about what kind of work you did while at Neo Cypher?" Echo questioned.
"I don't see any reason why not. When I started out, I was doing the usual grunt work, going on missions, taking pokemon, office work, you know how it is. After about a year of doing that, Strong actually picked me to be part of his field operative squad." Sigma began.
"Strong chose you?" Echo said, a bit of surprise in her voice.
"Yeah, I was incredibly surprised myself as I had only really done fairly average up til that point. I of course accepted because at least field operative work is more exciting than grunt work most of the time. The work entailed blending into communities and finding potential pokemon to catch as well as making deals with any local teams. That's basically all the work I did aside from private training sessions with Strong." Sigma finished. Echo nodded as she slowly stood up and slowly walked over to the desk with her stuff.
"That sounds about what I expected to hear. I'm curious as to how you came to know Team Noise though and if they started escalating in crimes due to Neo Cypher." Echo asked.
"See, I don't know much about the specifics about Team Noise as I didn't really question it aside from the fact that they approached us two years ago. Who are they anyway?" Sigma responded.
"Team Noise… god where do I even start. They formed about 15 years ago in Noise Town, where my mom's gym is located, as basically a rebellious group that lives there due to being disgruntled about technology and all that. Not that they don't use some of that tech themselves, but they say it's 'corrupting our way of life', which I don't exactly disagree with." Echo began.
"Are they a bunch of old grannies or something?" Sigma asked with an extremely befuddled look on his face. That made Echo laugh a bit, causing her to wince a bit in pain.
"When I say it like that, it really does sound like it, but they aren't. They were formed by the previous Gym Leader, Nel, due to, and I'm pretty sure I'm paraphrasing some of this, 'being unhappy with how we rely too much on technology'. I'm pretty sure she's making some of that up, but I can't exactly disagree with her considering the Surge was a thing that happened." Echo said. Sigma was silent as he processed the information, a hand going to his ching as he thought about stuff.
"That reasoning does make sense… but I can tell it's also probably a load of bullshit and she's doing it for petty reasons." Sigma said confidently.
"I know right?" Echo responded.
"Ok, well in that case, why did you ask if they started escalating in crimes? Were they not the type to do something like blowing up a plant producing computer parts?" Sigma questioned.
"Not in the slightest. Overall, they were more just an annoyance than anything, doing things like casual troublemakers would at first, spray painting their Logo on place, silly pranks, you know the deal. After the Surge, they started going… a bit bigger, things like shorting power boxes, breaking some minor tech that can easily be replaced, just more troublesome. In the past two years though, they've been getting a lot more bold, breaking into stores, assaulting people for their Pokemon, just generally more criminal stuff and I didn't know what caused it until…" Echo explained, trailing off on purpose.
"...until you guys saw me having that deal with them." Sigma finished.
"Exactly. Of course, it's just a theory for now, but it makes so much sense to me. Speaking of theories though, who did approach Neo Cypher?" Echo said.
"It was the leader, so it was probably Nel." Sigma told Echo. Echo nodded as she put her hands to her lips.
"What could she be planning with a power play like that?" Echo questioned, mostly to herself.
"No idea, but you should probably tell your mom to keep tabs on her." Sigma said. Echo nodded as she got out her laptop to send her mom her thought. "Last thing on Team Noise so we're not just talking about bad things this whole time, do they have commanders/admins and should we worry about them?" Sigma asked.
"From what I remember, they have two commanders: a man named Discord and a woman named Break. As for worrying about them, they should only be a problem if they directly get in our way, but that doesn't mean we should ignore them at every opportunity." Echo responded. Sigma nodded as Echo began to quickly type out an email to their mom, her hand moving swiftly on the keyboard.
"Wow those are some fast typing hands." Sigma commented, more than impressed with what he saw.
"Hey as someone who prides herself as a coder and story writer, I learn to type fast." Echo said, a smug smile on her face.
"And you can spell correctly?" Sigma responded. Echo immediately stopped and read what wrote before sheepishly looking down and rubbing the back of her head.
"Getting better at that part, but still working on it." Echo said. Sigma gave a chuckle as Echo worked on the message and they talked about various topics.
Meanwhile, with Hibiki and Cherry…
The two had been walking around the ship, visiting various places like the deck and indoor lounge, before currently staying in the gaming lounge where Hibiki insisted they stop at. "You really are a kid at heart, you know that right?" Cherry said as she watched Hibiki play an arcade game.
"Of course I do and I hope I never lose it." Hibiki responded. Cherry smiled as she looked at Hibiki beaming with joy while playing the game. Eventually the two moved onto the viewing platform, where people were having Pokémon battles in arenas. "I'm happy that I decided to go on this journey after all." Hibiki said as she felt the wind on her face.
"You were having second thoughts?" Cherry asked, a bit surprised by that statement.
"Just a little, mainly from the gnawing doubts that I wouldn't be able to see this journey through to the end." Hibiki said. Cherry was about to say something, but turned when she heard someone approaching them. "At this point, I've kind of accepted that I'm content with making it as far as I can." Hibiki continued.
"Well, good to see someone is being optimistic." a familiar male voice said sarcastically. Hibiki sighed before she turned around and saw Allegro standing there.
"Why are you on this boat and what do you want?" Hibiki asked, very obviously annoyed.
"Come on, is that anyway to treat a coworker?" Allegro responded. Hibiki sighed and turned back to staring at the waves as Allegro put a hand to the back of his head. "Look, sorry if I come off as a gigantic, snotty asshole, I am trying to better myself. I also do apologize for my behavior when I first saw you, like I said, not exactly the nicest person in the world." Allegro said in a genuine tone.
"...At least you admit it. Sorry if I seem testy, just that you kind of interrupted a moment." Hibiki said, blushing out of embarrassment. Allegro smiled at that and walked up to the railing where Hibiki and Cherry were.
"Then to start off on the right foot, let me introduce myself properly. My name is Allegro Starwind, currently a Junior agent at the IPP." Allegro said as he extended a hand for a handshake.
"Hibiki Eversong, currently in-training agent for the IPP." Hibiki said with a soft smile. Cherry gave a look to Alegro, noting that Hibiki didn't say the obvious yet, but he just responded with a wait motion. "If you don't mind me asking, why are you on this ship?" Hibiki asked, a bit oblivious to the interaction that just happened.
"I suppose the answer should be obvious enough." Allegro said as he got out his badge case and showed that he had 4 badges.
"Ah looking to become Champion are we? I wish you the best on that, but I…" Hibiki began to say before she realizes something.
"Did you just get it?" Allegro asked in a bit of a condescending tone.
'Ok look, I'm not the brightest bulb… but man I really did just ignore your last name didn't I? Adagio is your sister?" Hibiki responded.
"Yep, we're not exactly the closest pair, but we do spend the time we have together. She's spoken about you with a lot of high expectations." Allegro said.
"That's good to know, though I figured she would root for you." Hibiki noted.
"She is, don't get me wrong, but seems like she's itching to give you a champion battle that you both would be proud of. " Allegro said with a smile.
"... Are you a bit salty at that fact?" Hibiki asked.
"Oh unbelievably so, but I know I shouldn't take my anger out on you for it." Allegro said. Hibiki was about to speak up when Allegro's phone began to ring. As he checked out who it was, he sighed as he saw Adagio's name. "Well, looks like I have to take this, I'll probably see you two later." Allegro said before he left to take the call.
"He is chill once you get to know him." Hibiki told Cherry.
"He's definitely calmer now than when he started." Cherry responded.
"Oh, you were at the IPP before he started?" Hibiki asked.
"I was and man was he an insufferable little brat then. Always asking for stuff and thinking he could get away with a lot just because he was the champion's brother." Cherry said with a huff.
"Man that sounds like hell to go through." Hibiki responded, imagining the scenario of working there at that time.
"Yeah it was, thankfully Adagio came by and metaphorically slapped a lot of sense into him. I had never seen him that scared before, but I would be lying if it wasn't a little cathartic to see that reaction." Cherry said. Hibiki nodded as the two went quiet and took in the sea air, as they reflected a bit.
"What were you doing before you came to Alaria?" HIbiki asked, breaking the silence.
"Like before I became the regional professor or just in general?" Cherry responded.
"In general, mainly because for as long as I've known you, you haven't really talked about your past a lot." Hibiki said.
"Fair enough. As for where to start, as you can probably tell, I'm not from this region. I originally came to the Kanto Region and even studied under Professor Oak." Cherry began.
"Professor Oak?!" Hibiki said, more than a bit surprised.
"Yeah I got lucky with a chance meeting. Anyway, our time there was fairly good, our family lived a good life and we all studied Pokemon in one way or another. My sister left when I was about 20 due to some argument about the ethics of the research she was doing at the time and I followed soon after due to a falling out. You know what happened from there, the two of us being part of Cypher and all, but after that all ended, I moved back with my parents and made up with them. Eventually, I moved to Alaria to study the effect of the EM field on the region and what effect it had on the local Pokemon. As for my sister… she's been doing good since the last time I talked with her." Cherry responded. Hibiki nodded as she absorbed all that information before she slapped her head. "Did you just remember something?" Cherry asked.
"The book Beat gave us, we forgot to ask Myth if he could help us." Hibiki told Cherry. Cherry pinched her nose and sighed before she realized something.
"I could let Myth know about the book and see if he could give us some info, but it would take a bit to get the info." Cherry said.
"That would help so we're not guessing on everything. How did I forget that?" Hibiki said.
"Well, a lot of stuff did happen basically as soon as we got there." Cherry told her.
"True." Hibiki said as she went over past details in my mind. As she did, Hibiki furrowed her brows as a detail stood out to her. "Actually, if Beat wanted us to see it, why not just make the hint simple and something we could figure out?" HIbiki thought aloud.
"Beat has always been the one for riddles, even if it always hasn't been the best ideas." Cherry responded. Hibiki nodded, sort of understanding the sentamate, before she sighed and cricked her neck.
"Hey Cherry? Does this sort of weird stuff where a starting trainer or group of trainers happens to start their journey at the same time a big push from a local enemy team is going on occur a lot?" HIbiki asked.
"You know… I would say it's a coincidence, but it's literally happened so often that I am surprised that mout precautions haven't been taken." Cherry responded. Hibiki sighed as Cherry giggled, the two of them continuing to talk about various things.
Later that Night…
Hibiki and Cherry return to the room, exhausted from their time on the ship, and found Sigma asleep in one of the beds with Echo on her computer. "Oh, you two are back." Echo said as she turned to the door.
"Sorry we spent all day out, we just had a lot of fun. You're looking better yourself." Cherry said, a bit of an exhausted look on her face.
"Yeah, Sigma took care of me and I'm able to move a bit." Echo said with a smile.
"That's good… oh yeah, we brought you some food just in case you hadn't eaten." Hibiki said as she held out a bag. Echo quickly grabbed the bag and got out one of the containers before opening it.
"Thanks, I haven't had a chance to eat dinner yet." Echo said as she began to eat the food.
"I take it you've been on the computer?" Hibiki asked.
"Yep, I've been taking care of some things." Echo said.
"I'll leave you two to talk alone, I'm heading to bed. Night." Cherry said as she walked over to the bed. The two sisters wished her a good night as they continued to chat between the two of them. Eventually, Hibiki sighed happily as she laid down in bed.
"I'm happy this is happening." Hibiki said with a smile.
"Same, I've been looking forward to this journey for a while." Echo told Hibiki.
"Yeah… sorry for making you wait 2 years for me to be ready to do this." Hibiki said.
"Don't worry about it, I completely understand your skittishness about all this. Pokemon journeys are long and sometimes not the kindest for those not ready for them." Echo responded. Hibiki then sighed before sitting and looking at her sister.
"Hey… what are you going to do if you don't become a champion?" Hibiki asked.
"Well I have been studying to be a programmer, but this chance with the IPP made me possibly consider being a tech person or an agent for them. What about you?" Echo said.
"Honestly… I still haven't put that much thought into it. Maybe I could be an idol or a wandering adventurer." Hibiki told Echo.
"Those definitely sound like very you things." Echo commented, smiling as she did. Hibiki nodded and sighed as she felt some stress leave you. "Stressed about everything going on so far?" Echo asked, noticing the stress in question.
"Was it that obvious?" Hibiki questioned, a shy smile on her face.
"Sis, I don't mean to be mean by saying this, but you really can't hide your feelings that well." Echo responded.
"From you or in general? … Actually, don't answer that. You're right on the money about me stressing out over all that's happened, but can you exactly blame me?" Hibiki said, a bit of exhaustion entering her voice.
"Not in the slightest." Echo responded. Hibiki sighed before rubbing her head as she thought of what to say to express her feelings.
"I think the best way to explain how I feel is simply just overwhelmed by all the goings on that we're caught up in." Hibiki said.
"That makes sense, especially given our encounters with Neo Cypher so far have been pretty brutal." Echo said.
"I mean no offense, but you weren't exactly in the compound." Hibiki noted.
"Very fair and that's also… honestly have no comeback for that, it's just a very good point." Echo responded.
"You think I'm stressing too much about this stuff?" Hibiki asked. Echo paused for a moment as she thought about what to say.
"That is a tough question to answer, but I would say that you probably shouldn't. More than likely, we'll have to deal with them down the line." Echo told Hibiki.
"... True. Sorry about starting this talk, it's just been on my mind for a while." Hibiki said.
"It's fine, just know that we're all here for you if you need to talk." Echo told her.
"Enough about me though, I'm actually curious what you've been doing all day. I take it that you were on the computer doing stuff?" Hibiki asked.
"Yes I was, and actually, I was doing a bit more than that. You see, I actually have a tech buddy from Oree who I've been talking to for a few weeks." Echo explained.
"From Oree you say? Have they been able to tell you anything interesting?" Hibiki inquired, excited to see where this was going.
"More than that, this buddy of mine is the sister to one of the lead scientists at the Shadow Pokemon Research Lab." Echo told her.
"The Shadow Pokemon Research Lab?" HIbiki questioned.
"It was set up relatively recently to study how Shadow Pokemon are made and new ways to cure them." Echo exposited. Hibiki let that information sit for a few moments before the light bulb in her head clicked.
"Have they been sending you information about Shadow Pokemon?" Hibiki inquired.
"No, but they've been doing me one better. She is going to see if she can convince her brother to come visit us to tell us what they know or at least get him to send us data we can use." Echo told Hibiki.
"If she can help, that would be phenomenal." Hibiki said. Echo nodded and gave a thumbs up before Hibiki began to yawn. "I take it you had a good day if you're that tired." Echo said.
"Yeah, I think I'm going to head to bed, have a good night Echo." Hibiki said. Echo waved her sister a good night as she got a notification on her computer. As she saw the notification, she smiled as she saw that it was for an email from her tech buddy with an attachment. Echo gave one last look at Hibiki before smiling and going back to typing on her computer.