Chapter 43: Serene Awakening
Rooftop, a few hours ago...
Hibiki felt herself get blasted back by Luna's attack, the feeling of pain jolting through her body as the barrier broke. "Yeah, I should have expected that to not work." Hibiki thought to herself, her eyes closed from pain.
"HIBIKI, GRAB THE LEDGE!" Melody yelled out, her mental voice ringing clearly now. Hibiki's eyes snapped open as she felt herself hit the rooftop and tumble off the ledge of the building. Thinking quickly, she reached out both hands and grabbed the ledge, holding on for dear life as she got her bearings.
"Safe… for how long I don't know, but I'm safe." HIbiki said to herself.
"Thank you for managing to catch the ledge." Melody said in a relieved voice.
"What can I say? I'm a tough girl." Hibiki responded. Melody simply nodded as she made sure Hibiki was hanging on tightly enough.
"Apologies for asking, but we need to make a change to the plan." Melody told Hibiki urgently.
"Are you getting cold feet?" Hibiki questioned.
"Look down." Melody said as she pretended to look panicked. Hibiki rolled her eyes and played along only to be shocked at seeing a Meloetta purple and blue hair tied into a ponytail, light green eyes, a red mask shaped like a wing, and a different dress staring back at her with a shocked and scared look on her face.
"...Hello there, sorry for the scare. I take it you must be Viola, Melody has told me about you." Hibiki asked in a quiet and strained voice. Viola simply nodded silently as Hibiki smiled before hearing Shika shout something at Melody that made her blood freeze.
"All right little one, I'm going to give you and your trainer an offer. Either you drop your trainer off the side of the building and come with me or I take her with me." Shika yelled out.
"Get Hibiki up Melody! I can take care of myself." Echo screamed out.
"Ahhhh fuck." Hibiki cursed to herself.
"What should we do?" Melody asked, looking back and forth. Hibiki was silent before she looked down at Viola, who was getting a bit close so she could hear what was going on.
"...Viola, has Melody told you about the plan?" Hibiki asked quietly. Viola paused before she nodded, an incredibly sad look in her eyes that Hibiki understood the pain of. "Then apologies for asking this of you, do you mind sticking with me for a bit?" Hibiki questioned. Viola was about to cry out but stopped as she saw Melody look down at her and the two shared a look before Viola nodded in confirmation. Hibiki nodded as she looked at Melody and Viola before taking a deep breath.
"Melody do it!" Hibiki screamed in a strained voice.
"Hibiki…" Echo said, making Hibiki's heart cry in guilt.
"I don't want to be optimistic here, but I can feel my grip slipping and I don't know how I would handle you getting taken Echo." Hibiki told Echo, Melody noting the slight anguish in Hibiki's voice.
"Quiet you idiot, how do you think I would feel!?" Echo called out.
"And how do you think I feel about this!" HIbiki yelled out. She immediately let out a squeal as she pretended to let one of her hands slip. "Please… just let me be selfish this one time." Hibiki squeaked out, getting out a Pokeball from her pocket.
"At least you know how to act…" Melody told Hibiki. Hibiki gave a big smile as she activated the Pokeball and held it out to Viola.
"We'll talk properly after this. If you want to hit me then, I'm more than happy to oblige." Hibiki whispered to viola. Viola hesitated for a moment before taking a deep breath and nodding to herself before pressing the button, being absorbed into the Pokeball. It shook for a moment, Hibiki being careful to not let it fall, before she heard a faintly audible click, confirming the capture was a success. As Hibiki put Viola's Pokeball away, she faintly heard Echo's response and saw Melody hesitate before nodding and walking to where Hibiki's hand was.
"Looks like this is where we part ways for now…" Melody said in a somber voice.
"Yep, stay as safe as you can be with them." Hibiki told Melody.
"And if they manage to corrupt me into a Shadow Pokemon?" Melody asked. Hibiki gave a confident smile as she closed her eyes before speaking.
"Then I'm willing to dive into the depths of hell to get you back." Hibiki responded in a cocky yet confident tone. Melody gave a smile and nodded before she took a deep breath and pretended to release Hibiki's hand from the edge. Hibiki waved one last goodbye before turning around and letting herself free fall, guiding herself towards the water. She took a deep breath before concentrating on putting up a strong enough barrier around her so that she would be safe. After that, she gave a silent prayer and took a deep breath as she impacted the water, the force of the impact causing her to immediately black out.
?...
Hibiki kept her eyes closed as she felt herself falling… and falling… endlessly with seeming no end coming. "Did I do a good thing? Was this the right thing?" Hibiki thought to herself wistfully. As she kept falling, she played the scene on the roof over and over again in her mind, eternally playing out different scenarios. "Could I have stopped Reika? Could I have protected Echo? Would I be alive if it wasn't for Melody?" Hibiki said to herself.
"Maybe if you would be faster, none of this would have happened." a voice commented sharply, a hint of venom in the voice.
"Be quiet." Hibiki said, wincing a bit.
"An idealist with empty dreams, that's all you are." a second voice said.
"Talentless princess." a third voice joined.
"Shut up…" Hibiki said, putting her hands over her ears. That did nothing as she kept heard the voices, as more popped up and kept insulting her.
"Spoiled brat. Crybaby. Loser. Fraud." the sea of voices.
"Shut up! SHUT UP!" Hibiki yelled out.
"Oh, and you always would say the same to anyone, wouldn't you?" a familiar voice said right in front of Hibiki. Hibiki's eyes snapped open as she saw Melody falling along with her, her eyes a brilliant red as Hibiki looked around and saw an endless void of blue around them. "Face it, the stuff you said to me was just for show, you know that you actually wouldn't be able to do it." Melody said, her voice dripping with cynicism.
"Of course I can and you know that!" Hibiki exclaimed.
"Then why are you wasting time with this convoluted plan? Everything would have been fine if we just marched to our own beat, but no, you just had to make a complex plan to get this done as fast as possible." Melody responded.
"I was just trying to-" Hibiki began to say.
"-trying to protect me. And where did that lead you? Down a path that you think is right?" Melody finished.
"This is something we both agreed on, something we both had a hand in." Hibiki pointed out.
"More like you forced it on me, I didn't even get a say in the plan." Melody said.
"You didn't even speak up!" Hibiki responded sharply, anger filling her voice.
"You didn't let me!" Melody yelled back. Hibiki was about to say something else but mentally snapped out of it as she calmed down and took control of her fall before taking a deep breath and gently landing in the middle of the air, Melody stopping behind her as the two stood back to back.
"Why are we fighting?" Hibiki said quietly, looking down into the bottomless abyss.
"Because I have a lot to say." Melody responded in a harsh tone.
"You can drop the act, I know you're not actually Melody." Hibiki told the voice. There was silence for a moment before Hibiki felt another presence behind her, one that was very familiar to her.
"Well, I at least had to try something to get you to listen." a voice exactly like Hibiki's responded.
"I appreciate the push Mental Me, but that one did sting a bit." Hibiki told 'herself'.
"Sorry." Mental Hibiki apologized in a sad tone.
"It's fine, not like I don't feel like I deserve the argument now that I'm unconscious and thinking about it." Hibiki responded, rubbing the back of her head.
"Why are you thinking about that now? We can't exactly do anything to change it." Mental Hibiki questioned.
"You know how I… we are, always thinking about the what-ifs and how it could have gone to an unhealthy degree." Hibiki answered.
"Heh, I guess you are right in that regard." Mental Hibiki responded with a chuckle. Hibiki nodded as they both stood in silence for a moment, HIbiki wanting to turn around to face her mental self, but stopped herself from doing so. "So, what now?" Mental Hibiki asked.
"I guess I'll wake up and see about finding out where they took Melody." Hibiki said, a tad unsure of herself.
"Are you sure that's what you want to do?" Mental Hibiki questioned. Hibiki stayed silent as she looked down into the abyss before taking a deep breath and letting out a heavy sigh.
"If I'm being honest with myself, I'm not entirely sure. I was so confident in this plan and I just feel like things could have gone differently if I just stuck to a safer option. Still, I have to live with my choices and see this through. Besides, I did boast a bit to Melody, it would hurt my pride a tad if I didn't at least attempt to live up to them." Hibiki responded sadly. Mental Hibiki simply smiled before snapping her fingers, causing a doorway to appear in front of Hibiki.
"Then get out there and find out if you're ready to help." Mental Hibiki urged. Hibiki hesitated for a moment before nodding with confidence as she walked towards the portal.
"Thanks for the pep-talk mental me, I'll see you soon." Hibiki said as she walked through the portal. As the portal closed, Mental Hibiki sighed as she took her own steps away from where the portal was before she began to turn to shadows, revealing the form of Darkrai.
"It was my pleasure, Granddaughter of Symphia. May our real meeting be swift and one that we can both remember." Darkrai spoke to himself. Darkrai sighed, thinking of Luna for a moment, before entering a portal of shadows and leaving Hibiki's dreams behind.
Hibiki slowly opened her eyes, squinting for a bit as her eyes readjusted for the light of the room she was in as she felt a bed under her. "Ugh… where am I?" Hibiki murmured. She attempted to sit up, but quickly stopped as she groaned in pain, her whole body feeling like it was on fire. As she laid back down, she heard a cry of surprise and slowly turned her head over to see a Prekari looking at her with shock and relief.
"Nika, did she wake up?!" a voice called out.
"Nika…" HIbiki said slowly. As she thought some more, she kept looking at the Prekari before realizing it was her grandmother's. There was the sound of footsteps coming up a set of stairs before Aria popped up in the stairwell with a look of relief in her voice.
"Oh thank god you're ok, I was so worried." Aria said in a cracked voice as she ran to the side of the bed, faint tears in her eyes.
"How did you find me?" HIbiki asked, slowly extending a hand to her mother.
"I was visiting Nika here in Serenity Village because it is close to the anniversary of the Surge and I found you by the bank floating down the river." Aria told Hibiki. Hibiki nodded and paused for a moment before sighing as she looked straight at the ceiling.
"OK, just let me have it." Hibiki said suddenly.
"What?" Aria asked.
"I know that you've taken a guess that I made some convoluted plan that got me in this situation, just let me have the speech." Hibiki responded. Aria paused for a moment before looking at Nika and motioning for her to leave the room for a moment, which she gladly did as she knew how Aria got when she was angry.
"While I could berate you off of that, something tells me Echo told you to just take this." Aria told Hibiki with a sigh.
"Yep." Hibiki responded.
"Ok, then at least tell me what you did to end up in the river so I can give a proper speech." Aria said.
"...Purposefully let myself get thrown off of a building, specifically the biggest hotel at the Tranquil Resort." Hibiki answered.
"Got it. ….Are you crazy!? Letting yourself get thrown off of that building to the lake below could have killed you! What made you even think about doing that and that it was a good idea?! I swear that you and your sister take too much from your grandmother with your crazy ideas and plans. Did anything good even come out of this?!" Aria yelled at Hibiki. Hibiki winced at the yelling, but simply laid there and took it as Aria continued to yell and rant. After about another minute, Aria stopped as she took a few deep breaths before coughing and walking over to grab a glass of water she had.
"Ok, you're good to speak now." Aria said in a cracked voice.
"Thank you, first off I would like to say that I can't even begin to apologize to you for making you worry. This is something I figured would happen, but I still don't feel good about making about it." Hibiki began to say.
"Worry is putting it lightly." Aria commented with a small chuckle before drinking more water.
"Fair, but continuing what I was saying, this was something that me, Echo, and Melody all agreed on doing, even if it was very stupid." Hibiki explained.
"Melody? Where does she fit into all of this?" Aria asked. Hibiki paused before taking a deep breath and explaining the whole plan to her mother as well as the events on the roof save for the part with Viola. After Hibiki finished her explanation, Aria was silent for a moment as she absorbed the information and formulated her thoughts.
"Ok, with that information, I do have to admit that the plan was good, especially with how things ended up going." Aria admitted with a heavy sigh.
"Yeah, Shika having Luna was something that threw a wrench into the works and turned the act into a scenario." Hibiki explained.
"I still can't believe that it was Shika that's the leader, guess the killing and exposure hurt her more than I thought." Aria commented casually.
"...The what now?" Hibiki asked, a bit surprised to hear the word. Aria paused for a moment, looking like a deer in headlights as Nika came back up to check on the two.
"Uh, what I meant to say was… ummm… yeah I really got no way out of this one. Yes, I did actually mean what I said." Aria stuttered out, ending in a defeated sigh.
"Oh my, that's not what I was hoping to hear. How much of that incident did you keep from us?" Hibiki questioned.
"A fair bit… and I guess since you are in the deep end, I do owe you some answers." Aria said with a heavy sigh.
"While I'm still lying down?" Hibiki asked.
"You can get up, nothing is broken after all. Just take care when you're getting up and I'll talk to you downstairs." Aria told Hibiki. Hibiki nodded as Aria headed downstairs, slowly getting up as she felt her body on fire and nearly fell forward before Nika caught her.
'Thank you Nika, sorry for making the first time you've seen me in three months be this." HIbiki told her friend. Nika simply gave her a reassuring pat on the back as she helped Hibiki downstairs into a living room. The living room was spacious, having a few couches in the center with a TV against the far wall relative to the stairs, a few tables scattered about with chairs for seating, a chandelier hanging from the ceiling that lit the room, windows on the wall to the left of the stairs that showed the nighttime and a Serenity Village outside, and two doors on the same wall, one for humans and the other for larger pokemon, that lead outside.
"Are you ok?" Aria asked in a concerned voice as she walked up to Hibiki. Aria helped Nika walk Hibiki to one of the couches, setting her down there as Nika smiled.
"Yeah, just in a lot of pain. Turns out the barrier only prevents damage and not pain." Hibiki answered in a reassuring voice.
"That sounds about right, now do you need anything before I start the explanation?" Aria commented as she took a seat. Hibiki paused for a moment, before looking around for her bag and Pokeballs. "Oh right, you probably should let your team know that you're safe." Aria said as Nika brought over Hibiki's things.
"I am going to do that, but I need to talk with my current new member first." Hibiki responded, getting out Viola's Pokeball.
"New member?" Aria questioned.
"...Oh right, I did skim over that when I recounted the events to you. Well when I was hanging off of the ledge, there was another Pokemon there and Melody asked for me to take care of them while this whole thing was going on." Hibiki explained.
"Ah, and I take it that they're not exactly the most sociable." Aria said.
"Probably not, but I just don't immediately want to scare her with my team." Hibiki commented. Aria nodded in understanding before Hibiki took a deep breath and she tossed the Pokeball up, calling out Viola. As she appeared and looked around the room, she quickly panicked before dashed behind the couch to hide from the eyes, earning a giggle from Hibiki. "Sorry about the surprise, I just figured I would check in on you after I settled down. Don't worry about them by the way, they're my family." Hibiki told Viola. Viola slowly popped her head from behind the couch
"Hello." Aria introduced, giving a small wave with Nika doing the same. Viola gave a small wave back before taking a deep breath and emerging from behind the couch, floating beside Hibiki as she took a seat on the couch.
"Now, I'm going to bring my team out and I'm going to explain what happened to them. Are you good to introduce yourself to them?" Hibiki asked in a kind tone. Viola paused for a moment before nodding, earning a pat on the head by Hibiki as she got out all her Pokeballs.
"Apologies for asking this of you, but could you make some food for us and her team? Something tells me this is going to be a long day." Aria asked Nika. Nika waved the concerns away as she smiled and nodded, walking over to the kitchen with a determined look on her face.
"She took up cooking?" HIbiki questioned.
"Hey, you do need something to keep you occupied." Aria responded. Hibiki simply nodded in understanding as she tossed four Pokeballs into the air and called out Venemy, Ahsha, Eclipse and Skuld. As they all appeared, they looked around and smiled as they realized the plan worked before noticing Viola on the couch, who had a look of nervousness on her face as she saw her team.
"Yeah, Melody insisted on a change to the plan, so we have a temporary team member for now." Hibiki told her team. They all sighed and nodded before introducing themselves to Viola, who took a gulp as she introduced herself. Aria smiled as Hibiki's team looked around the Nika's home, all of them introducing themselves except for Eclipse who was nervously shuffling near her and looking a tad scared.
"A bit nervous?" Aria asked Eclipse. Eclipse simply nodded as Aria gave a comforting glance before motioning for her to go up to Nika, Eclipse giving a pause before heading over to Nika.
"Did something happen with Eclipse?" Hibiki asked, a tad concerned. As if in response, she heard an ecstatic gasp from Nika and turned around just in time to see Nika happily hugging Eclipse with some tears in her eyes, Eclipse returning the hug and doing the same. "...Oh my god, I didn't put that together." Hibiki commented, her mind getting a bit blown.
"Just figured out that your Curoine is one of Nika's kids?" Aria questioned, a small smile on her face.
"I hadn't seen her for a bit so I didn't realize that she had some." Hibiki said.
"She did only have them recently and last I had heard, there was some tension between her and one of them. It seems that Eclipse was that kid, though I am happy that everything managed to work out in the end." Aria commented. Hibiki simply smiled and looked at the gesture before Nika put Eclipse down, Eclipse walking back to Hibiki with tears in her eyes.
"Happy for you Eclipse." Hibiki told her friend, patting her on the head. Eclipse simply nodded before looking at Viola and giving her a reassuring smile with a confident nod. Viola, who had been silent this whole time, smiled as she let out a heavy sigh before nodding back to Eclipse with a look of relaxation.
"Looks like someone got the reassurance they needed." Aria said with a smile.
"Good to hear that Viola and I don't think I need to say this again, but we will get her back… we will." Hibiki told Viola. Viola nodded enthusiastically as Nika brough over some food for everyone and they all began to eat as Aria gave a quick cough.
"Anyway, with all the pleasantries done with, let's get to that story I mentioned earlier." Aria spoke up in between bites of her food.
"Oh yeah, that is originally why I came down here." Hibiki commented.
"Now, before I start, I'm going to tell you this now. What I am going to tell you is purely my side of the story, so take everything I'm saying with a grain of salt. The only reason I'm saying this to you is because I know you too well Hibiki, with you wanting to hear the whole story." Aria explained.
"Something tells me that your side is all I need to hear for this one." Hibiki responded, a hint of venom in her voice. Aria was slightly thrown off and a tad concerned at that tone of voice, but simply nodded as she thought back.
"So as I told you all when we last met, there was an incident with Shika 15 years ago that caused her to leave. Yes, I originally said that it was an investigation into the IPP that caused her to ditch, but I did leave something out of that. That would be the reason that the investigation was conducted in the first place." Aria began. Hibiki nodded as she listened before she paused and put two and two together, immediately freezing in place and going wide-eyed.
"Oh…" Hibiki said.
"Yeah, it's exactly what you think, Shika did kill someone. Admittedly, the details are foggy to me as time wears away at my mind, but this is what I do remember. It was shortly after Adigo had finished up her league challenge, Shika and Symphia were investigating a case of an apparent rogue agent of the IPP. They found him with a conspirator and they split up with Shika chasing the conspirator while Symphia chased the rogue agent. While Symphia did find them, she found out that the whole mission was a fraud because she recognized the rough agent." Aria began to explain.
"A false report, I wonder who gave that." Hibiki said in a coy tone.
"She was going to find out real soon because when Symphia caught up to Shika and asked where the conspirator was, she was told that he was already on the way to the IPP for questioning. Of course, she was a bit suspicious and after they parted, she did some searching and eventually found the poor sap in an alleyway brutally murdered. I don't believe she ever told me specifics, but I probably wouldn't tell you anyway." Aria continued.
"It's probably in the IPP database, but I'm going to trust your judgment here. SO, what happened after that?" Hibiki questioned
"Details are lost on me, but it was basically your grandmother deciding to tell Adagio about an investigation she was doing in secret. That of course leadinto the events we told you about, several IPP agents and high-ranking members of the board were all found to be corrupt. More specifically, they were abusing the power of the IPP to basically make a hit list of people that they didn't like, with the agents acting as hitmen." Aria elaborated.
"I'm sorry for the language, but the actual fuck?!" Hibiki exclaimed, sheer anger in her voice.
"Yeah, it was despicable and absolutely horrid. I don't why they weren't caught sooner to be frank, but with the literal global police as personal hitmen, I guess discovery wasn't really a worry til someone started looking. Anyway, Adagio went about cleaning up the mess, even defeating Shika and causing her to retreat in a similar manner… that… you used." Aria said, slowing down at the end.
"Oh…" Hibiki responded. The two were silent as they let that information sink in before Aria shook it off.
"It's probably fine, she was alone when she did that. Who knows if she even remembers it?" Aria reassured Hibiki.
"You might be right, but that info at least lets me plan. By the way, what exactly happened after Adagio cleaned up the trash?" Hibiki said.
"Well, a lot of chaos for one. As you can imagine, most of the IPP board and a good chunk of their top agents being outed as being the members of a private hitman squad was not good for their look. Several agents quit as well as the remaining board members in the hopes of keeping the good will of the population and it did work, though there needed to be some major restructuring." Aria explained.
"I take it that led to the IPP of today?" Hibiki asked.
"Yep, don't bore you with specifics and I can tell you're getting more than a bit antsy." Aria told her daughter with a smile. Hibiki simply nodded as she looked at Viola, who was a bit aghast at the story.
"Hey, do you mind if I talk with Viola outside for a bit? I just want to talk with her about some things." Hibiki said.
"Sure, go ahead." Aria responded, keeping an eye on her daughter. Hibiki nodded as she and Viola got up, headed for the door, and opened it, walking out of the house. "Hmm…" Aria said to herself. Nika walked up to Aira, putting a hand on her back as she looked at Hibiki through the window. "I know I'm probably worrying about nothing, but I'm just scared she might do something that she will regret." Aria told Nika.
"Cur!" Eclipse cried out. The two adults looked down to see Eclipse motioning to Nika while flexing her arms.
"Do you want to get stronger?" Aria questioned. Eclipse simply nodded as Nika smiled before walking over to a closet and opening it, Aria looking over to see Nika grabbing a Shiny stone and a Dusk stone from a shelf. "You want her to evolve? Shouldn't that be something that Hibiki decides?" Aria asked.
Nika nodded in confirmation before holding out the stones to Aria, who paused for a moment before giving a big smile. "Well at least you know how to get on my good side Nika." Aria said as she took the stones. Nika gave a knowing smile as she looked at the rest of Hibiki's team and motioned for them to follow her. "Come on, I got to give my daughter a message and I want you to support her." Aria told Hibiki's team. They nodded enthusiastically as they all left Nika's house and went to go look for Hibiki.
Hibiki took a deep breath of fresh night air as she and Viola walked through Serenity Village. The village itself was fairly small compared to the rest of the hustle and bustle of the region, only having a few basic houses with doors similar to Nika's, a few lamp posts, a fountain in the center of town, and a Pokemon Center. As they walked, Viola eventually decided to float to keep up with Hibiki, the two were occasionally waved at by a few people walking throughout the town. "This village has always been a nice place to visit. Relatively quiet compared to the rest of the region and it's one of the few places in the world where humans and Pokemon run a town together." Hibiki told Viola. Viola nodded as she noticed a few families of both human and Pokemon just relaxing and chilling, not having a care in the world.
"Always a nice place to visit… and a good place to just think." HIbiki said with a sigh. Viola looked over and saw that Hibiki had a tired look on her face, not saying anything as they approached a bench near the edge of town. "Viola, can I be 100% honest with you about this whole situation right now?" Hibiki asked, taking a seat at the bench. Viola nodded in agreement as Hibiki rubbed her face before letting out a sigh of frustration. "I feel like a fucking idiot for this plan." Hibiki commented in frustration, slumping back in her chair.
Viola was a bit taken aback by the sudden turn in mood as she wondered what to do before giving awkward pats on the shoulder, earning a chuckle from Hibiki. "Sorry about worrying you, but I just need to talk about this. Appreciate the attempt at making me feel better though." Hibiki said. Viola let out a small smile as Hibiki sat up straight, getting out Viola's Pokeball and just looking at it. "If anything, I'm just worried that I might have handed Neo Cypher the keys to their plan. What if I am just someone who isn't as good as they say?" Hibiki continued. Viola, quickly understanding the situation, floated in front of Hibiki and slapped her before patting her on the head, blushing out of embarrassment.
"...Well you're certainly the brasher of the two Meloetta I currently own. Appreciate the slap by the way and sorry for the gloomy personality, I just worry a lot over this stuff. I know I'm still a team, but being thrust into a situation like this definitely takes a toll on my mental health." Hibiki responded in a happier tone.
"Had a feeling you would be worried about this whole thing." a voice called out to Hibiki. Hibiki looked up and saw Aria and her team walking up to her, smiles on their faces.
"Was I out for that long?" HIbiki asked, rubbing the back of her head out of embarrassment.
"No, we actually came because Nika asked us to give you something." Aria told her daughter. Hibiki was about to ask what it was when Aria walked up and sat down on the bench next to Hibiki.
"You already figured something was up, didn't you?" Hibiki sighed out, her head hanging for a moment.
"Look, you're not exactly the most conspicuous person. Plus I am your mother, I know your ticks and how you look when you're nervous." Aria responded.
"Fair enough." Hibiki said.
"So what is it, worrying about the plan and wondering if you made the right decision?" Aria guessed.
"How are you so good at doing that?" Hibiki questioned, a little freaked out. Aria simply smiled as she pointed to her head, making Hibiki facepalm as she realized what she meant.
"You know, I don't know how I keep forgetting you're part psychic." Hibiki said.
"Hey, given what you've told me about your past experiences with your dark side, I don't blame you." Aria told Hibiki. Viola tilted her head at that mention, making Hibiki sigh and close her eyes before concentrating for a moment. "Are you sure that's a good idea to do here?" Aria questioned, looking around cautiously.
"Maybe not, but I also don't want to hide anything from Viola." HIbiki responded. Aria simply sighed and nodded as Hibiki shifted into her Shade form, the left half of her body being covered in wispy shadows. As Hibiki was about to explain what this was to Viola, she looked and saw Viola looking at her with stars in her eyes. "Ah I see we have someone who gets excited by this kind of stuff." Hibiki said with a smile. Viola blushed out of embarrassment, the others all giggling as Hibiki patted Viola on the head.
"Looks like you had nothing to worry about." Aria commented.
"Yeah, guess I did." Hibiki said with a relieved sigh. Hibiki paused for a moment before she began to explain what the form was, how it was focused on her negative emotions, and roughly what it did. As she finished explaining, Viola paused as she thought about the explanation before pointing to the shadows. "What about the shadows? You worried I might become a 'Shadow Human'?" Hibiki questioned. Viola nodded no before making a motion of her sleeping, tossing and turning in the air.
"...Darkrai?" Aria deduced. Viola nodded before pointing to one of HIbiki's Pokeballs, making Hibiki put the pieces together herself.
"You want me to go catch Darkrai? Really?" Hibiki asked, a bit shocked at the suggestion. Viola nodded confidently, leaving Hibiki and her team a bit speechless at the bold claim.
"I personally think that it's a good idea." Aria told Hibiki, catching her daughter off guard.
"Who are you and what have you done with my mother?" Hibiki said in a half-playful tone. Aria giggled at that and gave Hibiki a light punch on the shoulder, Hibiki taking a moment to laugh as well. "I mean, it's not like I don't get where this is coming from, having the other half of the Dream Duo would probably help with catching Cresellia. Still, my thing is how would I know where Darkrai is? As far as I know, he hasn't been sighted in Alaria at all." Hibiki admitted, disabling her Shade form.
"Actually, I might know a place where he might be, but it's not a guarantee." Aria told Hibiki.
"Really?" Hibiki questioned.
"Yes, but I'm only going to tell you if you help me with something first." Aria responded. Hibiki was going to argue, but stopped herself as she realized that her mother would only ask for her help if it was something big.
"All right, but first let's get back to Nika's house. Don't want to be out in the open too long for now." Hibiki answered. Aria simply nodded as the group headed back to Nika's house, Viola looking at the other members of her current team, who looked back and gave her affirming nods. Viola simply smiled at the gesture before floating forward next to HIbiki, ready to follow her no matter what happens.