Chapter 25: Moonlight Walk
It was now the afternoon and the group was currently in their hotel room, thinking about the information that they learned with their pokemon eating food. "That is a decent theory, but you do realize that being a failed Shade experiment can mean several things." Echo said as she typed away on her computer.
"Oh obviously, it can mean so many different things. Still, something about my theories feels right to me." Hibiki said as she sat her Pokemon. Echo was silent as she mulled over the information and looked at Cherry and Sigma, both of whom were comparing notes to how Cypher operated.
"Ok, so let's say that you are right in that they are able to give Shadow Pokemon aspects to regular Pokemon. Two things that bother me, why would they go through with that for something that will naturally degrade and how would they go about applying the aspects." Echo told Hibiki.
"You… make excellent points on both of those." Hibiki responded as she put a hand to her chin.
"There are probably answers to those points, but we don't have enough information right now. The theories definitely do have water, we just need to learn more." Sigma commented. Hibiki and Echo were silent for a moment before they both nodded, conceding to that statement.
"That being said, there is one thing I do want Sigma to answer. With there being no resealing process and all, how do you keep your Shadow Pokemon in the Shadow state aside from using Shades?" Cherry asked.
"Honestly, we don't really need to. Regular Shadow Pokemon don't seem to open their hearts as they're used repeatedly." Sigma responded. Cherry paused for a moment when she heard that before a concerned look creeped its way on as she recalled something. "Did you remember something?" Sigma questioned.
"I did, and I don't know if I like the implications. Tell me, have any of you heard of Perfected Shadow Pokemon?" Cherry asked. Sigma and Hibiki nodded no, while Echo thought for a moment before remembering something.
"I think I might know what you're referring to… but at the same time I hope that I'm wrong. Would it have to do with that Shadow Lugia I have read about?" Echo responded.
"That is exactly what I'm referring to." Cherry said. Echo simply sighed as she tapped on the desk nervously while SIgma, now realizing what Cherry was referring to, looked a little surprised.
"Sorry, I'm a little lost as I don't really keep up with this stuff. What are you all talking about? I know I've heard Sigma mention Perfected Shadow Pokemon before, but other than that…" Hibiki said, in an innocent tone.
"Remember how I said that Lovrina was my older sister? Well… her magnum opus when she was at Cypher was a single thing, the culmination of all her Shadow Pokemon research. That would be Shadow Lugia, or the codename that was given to it XD001, a Shadow Pokemon that had its heart completely sealed, unable to be purified, and was thought to be the Perfect Shadow Pokemon." Cherry explained.
"Ok… and judging by that, you think that it's possible that Neo Cypher might have somehow dug up that research and actually made it the standard?" Hibiki inquired.
"I doubt they made it the standard. From what I remember my sister telling me, it's not the easiest process to do and I doubt that they could mass produce Perfected Shadows only like 10 years after having reformed." Cherry told Hibiki.
"That being said, if Strong's Lucario is anything to go by, they definitely do have a few up and running. But how could they have gotten access to the info?" Echo commented.
"If I had to take a guess, they might have found Lovrina's old research in a file somewhere. Which then leaves the question of who knew about it and suggested looking for it, but that could leave any number of answers." Sigma said.
"I wouldn't worry about that too much, as the only people that really knew about the project were the higher ups and 20 select grunts like myself. While Shadow Lugia was a pretty public thing, most people in Cypher never knew its true nature." Cherry explained.
"Then that would mean… one of the people who knew about Perfect Shadows is a part of Neo Cypher." Hibiki said. As the group mulled over the potential new info, Cherry heard her phone ring as she picked it up and saw who it was.
"Looker's calling." Cherry said as she picked up her phone and walked out of the room. The others all looked at each other with nervousness and some excitement as they waited for Cherry to finish the call. After a few minutes of waiting, Cherry came back into the room with an excited look on her face. "Ok, so we have some updates from the IPP on their investigation of Strong's base." Cherry told the group.
"Really? Anything of note that was discovered?" Echo asked curiously.
"A few things, one of which is currently being sent to you, Echo. They managed to decrypt the text document and found a bit of stuff in the base that they are going to look through. Also, apparently there was a bit more hidden there, but it's encrypted really well so they'll give us. Along with that, they've got most Pokemon that have escaped, both regular and Shadow, collected and stored safely til we can figure out what to do with them. Well, as safely as they can be given that Shadows are very aggressive." Cherry explained. Echo quickly turned back to her computer and saw that the file was there before opening it and beginning to read it.
"Anything else of note?" Sigma asked.
"If you're asking about the briefcase that Strong gave you, they're still shifting through what is in there. What they have found so far seems to be documents related to the founding of Neo Cypher and mentions of their current plans." Cherry told Sigma. Sigma nodded as Hibiki got up and walked over to Echo before leaning next to her.
"So, they got a plan somewhere in that?" HIbiki asked as she read the report with Echo.
"From what I've read so far, it just looks like some general details along with photos, nothing really interesting of note." Echo responded as she continued scrolling. As she kept scrolling, she stopped on a specific section with images of Melody and a few notes.
"... Hey Melody, you might want to come read this." Hibiki called. Melody floated over to the twins and looked at Echo computer before starting to read what was on screen.
"Special Notice: After some research and debating, we are sending a team to the nearby Meloetta Village to collect the Shiny Meloetta that is located there. While this may seem like an odd move, Brain has determined that this Meloetta is one of the keys to purifying Shadow Pokemon in this region. We cannot have another incident like the original Cypher had, so we are taking precautions. From- S"
After reading that, Melody was a little confused and very concerned about what she just read. "That's… not good." Melody told Hibiki.
"Yeah, that's really not good to hear. Is your family safe?" Hibiki asked, a hint of concern in her voice.
"They should be, when I rushed back to the village, I told them to move to the abandoned dome." Melody said. Hibiiki nodded as she pondered part of what she just read.
"Still, I do wonder what they mean when they say that she is a key to purifying Shadow Pokemon in this region." Hibiki pondered.
"From what I remember, there was a natural monument in Oree called the Relic Stone that helped with Purifying the Shadow Pokemon. The Relic Stone also helped the scientists in the region develop the Purification Chamber." Cherry said.
"Then if they're worried about purification, then that means one of two things. Either they've done their homework or someone from the old Cypher is working for them and possibly leading Neo Cypher. Given the two scenarios, I would put more in the second one." Echo suggested.
"That does make the most sense… but who would that person be? With the information that Cherry has given us, it's more than likely an admin given the fact that they know about Perfected Shadow Pokemon, but that doesn't leave a lot of options to my knowledge." Sigma said.
"Yeah, but that also leaves not many candidates. As far as I know; the original admins, Dakim, Venus, and Ein have disappeared off the map while Miror. B is off doing his own thing from what I last heard. As for when their second set of admins, si- Lovrina is off in another region busy being a Pokemon Professor, Gorigan is in prison, with Snattle, Ardos, and Eldes all also being unknown. THere is also the possibility of the old leaders being back, but Evice is also in prison, and Grevil… well he's probably not alive with how old he was when he was leader." Cherry listed.
As the group pondered, Hibiki sighed as she scratched her head, having a bit of a hard time comprehending this stuff. "Ok, so I think I'm going to take a walk while you all talk about this. I mean no offense to any of you, but this is confusing me a bit." Hibiki said as she got up.
"Got it, we'll hopefully get somewhere by the time you get back." Echo told Hibiki. Hibiki nodded and walked out of the room, with her Pokemon looking a bit worried. "... Melody, do you mind following her? I just have a feeling she might be in one of her moods." Echo said.
"Moods?" Sigma asked, a bit confused.
"She's gotten better about going into them, but there are times when Hibiki gets into an anxious mood. These moments usually happen when she's feeling really nervous about something or thinking too much about a topic." Cherry explained.
"Yeah… sad to say that they started after our grandmother's death. If it wasn't obvious, she was very distraught with her death and she is still dealing with those anxiety attacks today, though she has gotten them under control over the years." Echo told Sigma.
"Will she be all right?" Sigma questioned.
"She probably will be, but I can't help but be worried for her." Echo said, rubbing her temple a bit. Melody, upon seeing this, put a hand on Echo's shoulder before giving a smile and floating to the door to follow Hibiki. Before she got to the door, she got a little woozy and almost fell to the ground, but was caught by Kirlia.
"Are you ok Melody?" Cherry asked, a little concerned at the sight. Melody gestured that she was fine before she attempted to leave again, but was stopped by Kirlia. The two looked at each other for a moment before Venemy rolled up to them and they all laughed before heading out together.
"She has a nice team looking out for her, doesn't she?" Echo thought to herself before giving a quick smile. The three remaining members continued to talk about possibilities and go over the information they had.
Hibiki was walking a bit far from the hotel, needing to get some night air as she felt herself panicking a little. "It's ok Hibiki, it's just information. Don't get overwhelmed and panic, it's just stuff about a very evil organization and something that your region might deal with." HIbiki told herself metally. She shook her head before stopping at the beach and sitting down in the sand. "Just breathe like grandma taught you too… just breathe…" Hibiki said softly. Taking a few moments to collect herself, she closed her eyes and listened to the sounds of the sea. As she felt herself getting calmer, she opened her eyes and looked around before getting stunned at the sight of a familiar spirit looking out at the ocean, Symphia's Spirit.
"...Grandma?" Hibiki quietly called out. The spirit looked over, as if hearing her words, before giving Hibiki a smile that made her feel a little relieved. Hibiki began to reach out to the spirit before she heard someone approaching and turned to see who it was.
"Yo, Biki. What are you doing out so late?" Lan said as he walked up to her.
"Um… nothing much, just take the time to see this view of the ocean." Hibiki said, kind of collecting herself. Lan simply nodded as he took a seat next to Hibiki, the two looking at the ocean at night.
"I heard you beat Skyle and came up with a new move in the process, nice job." Lan told Hibiki. Hibiki simply nodded and quickly glanced over to see that the spirit had vanished. "Something wrong?" Lan asked.
"It's nothing just… thinking about Symphia." Hibiki said while bringing her knees up to her head.
"YEah… I always get that feeling around this time. 10 years… 10 years since the Surge." LAn said aloud. Hibiki nodded as the two sat in silence for a moment, both of them just taking in the night breese before they both started to laugh a bit. "Man, that awkward silence is something that always gets a bit weird." Lan said with a smile.
"My god, you don't even know how it is. We're trying to find out this mystery for the IPP and it's actually kind of hurting my head putting the info together because there's so much of it." Hibiki explained.
"Really? I had heard you and your sister were made agents, but I had no idea you were working on a case already. Is this about that Neo Cypher thing I've been hearing rumors about?" Lan asked.
"Is that really the only big thing going on?" Hibiki asked.
"Basically, there are some cases in other regions that are being looked into, but yeah it's really the only big one going on." Lan said. Hibiki nodded as the two heard cries behind them, the two turning to see Venemy, Kirlia, and Melody approaching them.
"You three, what are you doing out here?" Hibiki asked her team. They all immediately looked at Hibiki before going up and hugging her, Venemy rubbing against her legs due to his lack of arms. "Oh ok, I take it you all were worried about me." Hibiki said as she kneeled down and began to pat all of their heads.
"You got a good team there." Lan told Hibiki.
"I wouldn't say that they're just good, they're like a second family to me." HIbiki admitted, a smile on her face. The three Pokemon all smiled when they heard that and cheered happily as Lan gave a sly smile.
"She really is like you, Symphia. Both in her kindness to others and her ability to make a family from her pokemon." Lan thought to himself. Lan thought about what to do before coughing and putting his hands in his pockets. "I think I'm going to head back to the hotel, have to make sure I'm ready for tomorrow." Lan said.
"Oh yeah, we're going back to the mainland tomorrow." Hibiki said, remembering that part of her ticket.
"I would recommend you head back as well, you're going to need the rest." Lan told Hibiki.
"We're going to be on a ship for 2 days, how much rest do I really need to get?" HIbiki responded, a bit of sass in her voice.
"Fair enough. You're going to stay out for a bit, yeah?" Lan asked.
"Probably, if anything just to calm my nerves a bit. That and I think these three deserve a bit of a break after all the hard fights recently." Hibiki said.
"In that case, there is something I would like you to see. It's a bit further into the island and a bit into the jungle, but I think it's something that might interest you." Lan commented, a small smile appearing on his face.
"Oh?" Hibiki questioned, tilting her head as she stood up.
"You see, your grandmother was always fond of the Twin Moons, so she had a statue built in their honor on this island." Lan explained.
"Really? This is the first I've heard of this." Hibiki commented.
"Well… considering you were locked in your room when it was built, it's not surprising." Lan told Hibiki. Hibiki blushed out of embarrassment before sighing and nodding sadly. "Hey don't beat yourself up about that, it was a hard time for all of us." Lan said as he put a hand on her shoulder.
"I still feel like a fool for it." Hibiki said.
"Don't beat yourself up too much about it, you got out of that slump eventually." Lan reminded Hibiki. Hibiki smiled when she heard that before remembering two things that had slipped her mind
"Oh yeah, I just remembered two things that I wanted to ask you about." Hibiki told Lan.
"Ok, shoot and ask." Lan said.
"First, did my grandmother ever visit Easter Alaria after me and my sister were born?" Hibiki inquired.
"To Eastern Alaria? I want to say she did, but I'm not 100% sure. Symphia wasn't exactly the most talkative when she left on adventures. Not to say that she didn't tell us where she was going most of the time, but she did often disappear for a few weeks at a time every now and then. Any reason why you're asking?" Lan recalled.
"Well we got a picture from her in Eastern Alaria with a message on a rock behind her." Hibiki told Lan.
"Huh… That's very interesting and I can't say that I remember if she ever took a camera with her. That being said, she did make a lot of unannounced trips to Eastern Alaria, so I wouldn't be surprised if she did take the picture you're talking about at some point." Lan said.
"Ok, just wanted to make sure cause we were a bit surprised when I first got it. The other thing I wanted to ask you about is this: do you know of anyone who might have broken into the Opera House?" Hibiki asked.
"No, why do you ask?" Lan questioned, tilting his head in curiosity
"You see, we had to stay there recently because of a storm that had passed by and I went to see my grandmother's old office. I found that it had been ransacked within the past week." Hibiki told Lan. Lan thought about that for a moment before a look of concern passed his face. "Oh, judging by that look, that's probably a bad thing." Hibiki said, getting a bit concerned herself.
"It definitely might be that's for sure. I for sure need to go now so I can send Yami to look at this." Lan responded.
"Is there anything you can tell me about why you're concerned?" Hibiki asked.
"I'll give you a better explanation with the others tomorrow, but what I can tell you is that this might be connected to her death." Lan told Hibiki. Hibiki was a bit shocked when she heard that, but before she could ask anymore, Lan took off.
"Ok… didn't expect that answer." Hibiki said to herself. She heard movement behind her and saw her team looking at her with some concern in their eyes. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Come on, I'm curious about this statue he talked about." Hibiki told them. The three Pokemon nodded and the group all went into the forest to look for the statue that Lan had talked about.
After walking through the forest for a bit, Hibiki and her team stopped and looked around, realizing that she was a bit lost. "Maybe I should have asked for directions." Hibiki said aloud, rubbing the back of her head.
"You think so? At least you've caught a few Pokemon on the way." Melody told her.
"Yeah, but that won't mean much if I'm lost in the jungle." Hibiki responded. As she thought about what to do, she saw her grandmother's spirit walking deeper into the forest. Out of instinct, she started to move after the spirit, her team following suit.
"Did you find something or are you just walking in a random direction again?" Melody asked in a sassy tone.
"A bit of both." Hibiki said, continuing to walk on. Chasing after the spirit, the group eventually came to a clearing next to a cliff face with a statue in the center. The statue was made of half polished obsidian and half light pink marble that glistened in the moonlight, the statue being in the image of the Darkrai and Cresselia standing in front of a new moon and a full moon respectively. "Wow, this is beautiful." Hibiki said to herself, looking up at the statue.
"Yeah, but how did you know that the statue was this way?" Melody asked. Hibiki was going to say something when she looked up and saw her grandmother's spirit standing on the edge of the cliff before pointing up at the spirit. Melody looked up and immediately nodded in understanding when she saw the spirit. "Ok, that makes sense. You want to go and say hi to her?" Melody questioned.
"Um… a bit nervous to climb the cliff, but yes I wouldn't mind." Hibiki said as she rubbed the back of her head. Almost as if sensing her nervousness, Symphia's spirit disappeared from the cliff before reappearing in front of the statue. "That works too." Hibiki said to herself as she walked forward. When she got in front of the spirit, she stopped and looked at Symphia, who responded by making eye contact with her. Upon making eye contact, Hibiki felt a slight pain in her head before it faded and she felt a connection of Symphia. "Is it… you?" Hibiki asked tentatively.
"Come now Biki, you know I would appear to you if you wanted me to." Symphia told her granddaughter. As soon as she heard that, Hibiki simply started to shake a bit as she heard her grandmother's voice in her head.
"It's been so long. I honestly never thought I would see you again or even sense you at all." Hibiki said with a bit of excitement in her voice.
"Ah, I see you figured that part of your powers out." Symphia said.
"It was more an accident of me seeing Hikari's spirit at one point and being scared out of my mind. Mom had to calm me down and explain to me what I was seeing. It was nice seeing Hikari around the house to be honest, it made me comfortable knowing she was watching over us." HIbiki recalled, a small smile on her face.
"Sorry I couldn't be there to see you, but I had some things to take care of and look into." Symphia commented.
"Really? Catching up with old friends and looking up things." Hibiki said innocently. Symphia kind of gave an awkward smile before nodding her head in response.
"Something like that." Symphia told Hibiki.
"Ok, then if you don't mind me asking, why haven't you moved on yet? I get that you want to keep an eye on us for our journey." Hibiki asked. Symphia immediately went quiet and kind of shifted in place out of nervousness. "...Does this have to do with your office in the opera house being ransacked or Neo Cypher?" Hibiki inquired. Symphia, upon hearing that, sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance. "Oh that sounds bad." Hibiki said in response.
"Oh you don't even know the half of it. Actually, how much do you know about what I was looking into?" Symphia responded.
"To my knowledge, nothing at all." Hibiki told Symphia.
"Ok, so I can tell you everything I know, but do you want that?" Symphia offered. Hibiki thought about it for a moment before nodding her head no. "Ah, going the hard route, I respect it." Symphi said with a small smile. HIbiki was going to say something, but she was a bit distracted by Melody lightly hitting her stomach.
"Hey stop that, it's more fun this way." Hibiki told Melody. Melody looked out at her before giving her a pouty face. Hibiki simply gave a small smile before she noticed Kirlia and Venemy looking at Symphia with confusion and curiosity.
"I take it that this is your team at the moment." Symphia said with a small laugh.
"Yes they are. Everyone, this is the spirit of my dead grandmother. Grandma, this is my team, Melody, Venemy, and KIrlia." Hibiki said.
"You haven't given a name to Kirlia yet?" Symphia asked, raising an eyebrow.
"...Ok, you know how shit I am when it comes to making names." Hibiki retorted.
"Oh, like the time you named your doll Skelly even thought it was a regular Gardevoir doll." Symphia told Hibiki, a somewhat smug smile on her face. Hibiki blushed out of embarrassment as her team laughed at that. "I kid, but how does Skuld sound for a name? After all, I do remember reading that Valgardian Kirlia are supposed to evolve into Valkenshi." Symphia suggested.
"Skuld, I like it but I want to leave it up to her." Hibiki said before. Kirlia immediately nodded, loving how the name sounded. "All right, that sounds like it's what you're going to be called from now on." Hibiki said. Kirala cheered as Venemy and Melody both smiled at her excitement while Symphia did the same before looking at Hibiki.
"There is one more matter that I want to talk with you about." Symphia said, her tone becoming a tad more serious .
"Judging by that tone, I can only guess that it's not a good thing." Hibiki said, bracing herself for a lecture.
"Before that, could you go ahead and assume that form you have?" Symphia asked. Hibiki tilted her head for a moment before her eyes widened as she realized what she was talking about and she quickly assumed her Shade form. "Yes I've known about it and don't worry, you're not getting a lecture from me. All I want is to warn you about something." Symphia said.
"What is it?" HIbiki asked, figuring it was important.
"As you have no doubt realized, your powers come from both sides of the Twin Moons. The one you're using right now is Darkrai's power and there's a form for Cresselia that you haven't unlocked yet. What I have to warn you about is using either side too much and keeping a balance between the two." Symphia told Hibiki.
"What happens if I don't keep a balance between the two?" Hibiki questioned.
"Well… depending on how severe, the effects can range from mood swings to some more permanent changes." Symphia responded.
"Then if it's so important to keep a balance, then why ask me to go into my Shade form?" Hibiki questioned, more than a little annoyed.
"Because, I want you to concentrate on the happier emotions. It might seem risky, but you might be able to force out the Cresselia side." Symphia explained. Hibiki looked at her dark hand before taking a deep breath and closing her eyes. As she did, Hibiki felt her negative emotion swelling around her, to the point where she found it hard to breathe.
"Focus Hibiki, tune out the negative emotions and find your happy place." Symphia told her. Hibiki nodded as she breathed in and out, dispelling the negative emotions from her mind and focused on her happy thoughts. When she found them, she focused in on them and felt a warm sensation spread across her body before opening her eyes and seeing both the smile of pride from her grandmother as well as the looks of surprise from her team.
"Did I do it?" Hibiki asked, a bit exhausted from the experience.
"Yes you did, take a look." Symphia told her as she motioned to Creselia's side of the statue. Hibiki walked to the Cresselia side of the statue to see her reflection in the marble and was stunned with what she saw. Compared to how she looked in her Shade form, this new form had white lines across her body emanating from her back with her hair having white streaks and her right arm being encompassed in a white glow.
"Woah, this looks incredible and I didn't know I could do this. But at the same time, I'm also a little lost on how what I did worked." Hibiki said.
"I won't get too deep into it, but it basically has to do with focusing on your emotions to induce the respective form. The form you're in now is Cresselia's side of your powers." Symphia asked.
"And how exactly do you know all of this?" Hibiki asked, raising an eyebrow. In response to that, Symphia closed her eyes and took the Shade form herself. "Oh…" Hibiki said.
"Yeah, kind of comes with the territory." Symphia told Hibiki before dispersing the form. The two were silent for a moment as they decided what to do before Hibiki noticed the time on her watch.
"I should probably head back to the others before they start getting worried. What will you be doing in the meantime?" Hibiki questioned.
"I will look into some other things around the region when I can but aside from watching you all, probably not much." Symphia said.
"Ok then, will I be able to speak with you again?" Hibiki asked with a bit of hope in her voice.
"Yes you will, but it's best if we do it alone so you don't seem like a crazy person to others." Symphioa said.
"Got it, I'll see you later then. I love you." Hibiki said, not really sure how else to end the conversation.
"Love you too Biki." Symphia said before fading away. After she faded away, Hibiki let out a breath that she didn't know that she was holding before feeling her legs give out on her and going to her knees.
"Are you ok?" Melody asked as he and the others floated next to Hibiki.
"I'm fine, just… didn't expect the end of the day to be such an emotional roller coaster." Hibiki said, her voice shaking as she spoke. After taking a few moments to collect herself, before standing up. "Come on, let's head back." Hibiki told her team. They all nodded and the four walked away from the statue and back into the forest.
As the group walked through the forest, Hibiki was strangely quiet, more so than usual. "Is everything alright Hibiki?" Melody asked. After getting no response, Melody quickly floated over and sat on Hibiki's shoulder, breaking her out of her trance.
"Huh? What? Oh… sorry Melody, I've just been thinking a bit about what just happened." Hibiki responded in a somewhat exhausted voice.
"Still can't believe that you were able to talk with her again?" Melody questioned.
"There's that, but also the fact that I feel like she was hiding something." Hibiki said.
"Oh you could tell that as well." Melody told Hibiki.
"Yeah, something about the whole thing just felt awkward to me. LIke it's definitely my grandmother, I would be more than likely able to tell she was fake, but there was just something about the way she spoke that felt secretive." Hibiki commented.
"To be completely fair to her, imagine if you had died and choose to stay in this world as a wandering spirit with all the knowledge from your past life. What would you do if you managed to find someone to talk with?" Melody inquired.
"When you put it like that… yeah I can see where she's coming from to an extent. I get that I said that I didn't want her to tell me everything she knew, but at least a little hit would have been nice." Hibiki said, making a pouty face.
"Something would have been nice, but you did choose to go the hard route. That being said, given how both Lan and Symphia reacted to the news that her office in the Opera house was turned over, there is definitely something important there." Melody commented.
"Yeah, we'll talk with the others about it tomorrow. Right now, I want to get some sleep." Hibiki told Melody, cracking her neck as she did so. Melody nodded as the group continued walking down the path to the town. As they walked along, Hibiki stopped when she heard some rustling behind them, turning to see what it was. When she did, she noticed a Floette that had a brown hat, was wearing a light green dress, and was holding a ranunculus flower following them. "Huh, how long have you been following us little one?" Hibiki asked. In response the Floette quickly hid behind a tree before peeking out behind it.
"Didn't think a wild Pokemon would be following us, let alone an Alarian Floette. What do you think we should do?" Melody said.
"I'm not actually sure." Hibiki told Melody.
"Well, do you want to add her to my team?" Melody suggested.
"Ok look, I know that I am a Pokemon Trainer and I like to catch Pokemon, but I also don't just want to take a Pokemon from its home just cause it was following us." Hibiki responded, a bit tired. Melody nodded before noticing the Floette slowly getting closer to them, a look of intent in its eyes. Curious, Melody floated over and started talking to the Floette. After about a minute of conversation, Melody nodded and turned back to Hibiki. "What did she say?" Hibiki questioned.
"She is actually totally fine with the idea of being on your team. When she saw you at the statue earlier, she thought you were cool." Melody responded.
"Really?" Hibiki said, a bit of surprise in her voice. Melody nodded before she stepped out of the way and let the Floette approach Hibiki, who kneeled down to talk with her. "Like I said before, I would mind having you on the team, but there is something I need to let you know. See, I am kind of wrapped up in a big mystery involving an evil organization right now and they are pretty dangerous. Are you still up to join after hearing that?" Hibiki questioned. The Floette thought about it for a moment before giving a big nod of conformation.
"Had a feeling that would be the answer." Melody said with a slight smile. Hibiki took out a Great Ball from her bag and activated it before tossing it at Floette, who hit it with her flower and was absorbed into it. She quickly picked up the ball and called out Floette who happily floated to Melody.
"I think you could use a name… how does Ahsha sound?" Hibiki questioned. The Floette cheered, liking the new name that she got. "Ok, welcome to the team Ahsha." Hibiki said with a welcoming smile. Ahsha nodded before floating over to Skuld and Venmy, who warmly welcomed her.
"You know, I think you're the one of the few trainers I've observed who likes to catch Pokemon by talking with them." Meloetta told Hibiki.
"Hey, each trainer has their own way of doing things and I'm proud of mine." Hibiki responded.
"True, just that a good chunk of trainers I've seen can be… well…" Melody began to say.
"They can be dicks, trust me when I say I know what kinds of trainers you're talking about." HIbiki said.
"Yeah, they're not the best. Not to say they aren't good ones, but I'm just lucky to have gotten you as a trainer that I'm stuck with." Melody said, not wanting to think about who else she could be stuck with. Hibiki gave Melody a smile before coughing and getting her team's attention.
"Come on, we should get going." Hibiki told her team. They all nodded and walked on, heading back to the town to rest.
Elsewhere...
In a dark room, there was a person in a chair facing four screens, each of them dimmed except for one that displayed Strong sitting in a room. "Strong, status report." the person asked.
"Well, me and a few others have managed to evade capture and am hiding out at Safe Rooms Gamma and Epsilon like ordered. Still can't believe I let my guard down like that." Strong responded, sounding a bit pained.
"That's good and your low guard can be forgiven. Had I known that someone like the girl you described to me was present and that Sigma was with them, I would have halted the plan for a bit." the person reassured, their voice having a humble tone to it.
"Your kindness is appreciated, leader S." Strong said, bowing his head. S thought for a moment before Strong coughed and looked up. "What are your orders for me now?" Strong asked.
"For now, have your remaining grunts continue to evade capture and return to base." S told Strong.
"Are you sure I can't go after that girl, her friends, and the traitor?" Strong questioned, a bit of anger in his voice.
"No need, they are on Verdant Isle right now if the information that Team Noise is accurate. I've already sent Sly to do something about them, hopefully anyway." S said.
"Hopefully?" Strong responded.
"All I will say Strong is that if the information I have is right, you were right to run when you did." S explained. Strong simply nodded before S started to stand up from his chair. "That will be all for now, dismissed." S said. Strong saluted before the screen turned off and S walked away from the chair to exit the room.