Chapter 49: Worrying Echoes
IPP HQ, a few minutes after Hibiki left Crescent Isle…
Echo sighed as she walked up and down through the halls of the IPP Headquarters, her mind running a couple of miles a minute. Aria sighed as she sat in one of the nearby rooms, drinking some tea as she waited for Echo to calm down a bit. "I hate this, I hate waiting for an update much. Please be ok sis, don't let all this be for nothing." Echo thought frantically.
"Still a bit on the high strung side I see." Aria commented, closing her eyes.
"How can I not be after what you just told me? It's been a few hours and we've received nothing from Hibiki." Echo said, not stopping her pacing.
"True, I am admittedly a bit worried myself, but there's not much we can do. She'll contact us when she's able to." Aria told Echo in a reassuring voice.
"But what if that is when she's already at Neo Cypher's HQ? What if they find her and send a signal to lure us into a trap? What if-" Echo began to ramble on.
"Echo Eversong!" Aria exclaimed in a stern voice. Echo immediately stopped in her tracks and just froze as she recognized her mother's scolding voice. "I understand where you're coming from, I get it, but why keep worrying about it?" Aria asked.
"I… I don't…" Echo began to stutter out. Aria paused for a moment after hearing the response before sighing and getting up from her chair.
"Sorry, it's just… so exhausting having to worry about you two." Aria sighed as she put her hands on the table.
"You're just tired of all this too?" Echo questioned.
"A little bit. I get why you two are doing this, but it doesn't mean that I like it." Aria responded. Echo was a bit taken aback by the response, but simply smiled and walked into the room with her mother, taking a seat across from her.
"Do you want to get some things off your chest?" Echo inquired. Aria was silent for a moment, taking a look at her tea before nodding and sitting down.
"Might as well, I do admittedly have a few pointed things to say about… everything that has happened since you two left on your journey." Aria admitted, letting out a small sigh of relief. Echo nodded as Aria sat back down and took a sip of her tea, thinking about how to start this conversation.
"To start, I actually am overall ok with the choice for Hibiki to keep Melody when starting her journey." Aria began.
"Really? I thought you would have disagreed with that more." Echo commented, taking out a water bottle she had to keep herself hydrated.
"Initially I was, but I figured it would be a dangerous prospect to leave a shiny mythical wandering alone given how much people would want to go after her. Plus, even if I didn't, I figured that you two would somehow get into trouble on your own." Aria responded.
"Hey… you're probably right, but it's not a good assumption to make." Echo told Aria.
"I just call it like I see it and I know my daughter's way too well." Aria said. Echo simply nodded as Aria thought about what to say next, wanting to be careful with her voice of words. "I will say though, on the topic of trouble, I actually am very proud of you two beginning IPP agents." Aria commented.
"Honestly, that part is still wild to me. Like I'm happy that I am one, it's something that I've thought about for a while, but it's still so… bizarre." Echo said.
"I would have put in a good word for you two after your journey regardless to see if Looker would have accepted either of you two." Aria mentioned.
"That is nice to know. Though speaking of the IPP, how do you feel about us going up against Neo Cypher?" Echo questioned. Aria let that sit for a moment as she thought about all the events she had been told about, staying quiet as she just thought about things.
"In all honesty, I have a mixed bag of emotions for all of this. On the one hand, my motherly instincts are telling me that all of this is not the best for you all. On the other hand though, I can't help but be proud of what you two are doing." Aria told Echo.
"So something like my perspective on this whole thing." Echo said with a sigh.
"Oh, you feel like that too?" Aria questioned.
"At least a bit because god, I just wanted a normal Pokemon Journey. Well… as normal as possible, because knowing Hibiki, we would have been fighting some organization anyway." Echo responded. Aria was going to comment on that, but paused as she thought about that for a second.
"Yeah, yeah you probably would have been." Aria said, taking a long sip of her tea.
"Again, not like I hate this whole situation, but Neo Cypher definitely feels like a lot more than we bargained for." Echo told Aria.
"That is putting it lightly. Still, I am glad that all this did eventually lead to weeding out one of the admins and hopefully the whole thing if this plan works." Aria commented.
"Honestly, given Hibiki's knack for coming up with insane plans that end up working out, I can give it a fair shot. That being said, I'm just worried that she won't be the same after this." Echo said, just staring at the table with a sad smile.
"Yeah… I can understand that worry. She's been through so much and even though she is acting like her usual self, I can't help but worry that she's pushing herself too hard." Aria responded, not sure what else to say. Echo nodded as they both went silent for a moment, an air of awkwardness filling the room before Aria gave a quick clap to dispel the air. "No matter what, all we can do is be there to support her." Aria told Echo.
"Right, though, are you sure you can be away from the gym for this long?" Echo questioned.
"Ah, I told the others that I was taking the day off after what happened. I already took the challengers that were there earlier." Aria responded. Echo paused as she let that sink in before growing a bit concerned.
"How much sleep are you working on?" Echo asked.
"A good four hours, why do you ask?" Aria responded, a hint of exhaustion in her voice. Echo opened her mouth to say something, but quickly closed it as she remembered that her mother had always been like this.
"Just making sure you're ok is all." Echo said with a smile. Aria nodded as was going to go back to drinking her tea when she remembered something.
"Oh by the way Echo, when were you going to tell me that you had a crush recently?" Aria asked. Echo immediately did a double take and looked around as she tried to find a way out of the current situation, failing to do so as she let out a long sigh.
"Did Hibiki let you know?" Echo inquired, getting ready for a talk.
"No, I kind of heard it straight from Sigma unintentionally." Aria responded.
"Of course you did, he can't keep quiet about his personal life." Echo commented, a small smile on her face.
"Agreed, though he does seem like a nice kid. Nice enough to get my blessing at the very least." Aria said, a cheeky smile forming on her face.
"Yeah he is very niiiiiiiii- what did you just say?" Echo started before realizing what Aria had said.
"You heard me, I told him that I was fine with him dating you." Aria responded. Echo stayed silent for a moment, not exactly sure what to feel before getting up and hugging her mother.
"Not sure if I was waiting to hear that, but suddenly I feel a lot less stressed wanting to talk to Sigma about this." Echo said.
"That's what a mother is here for." Aria told Echo, a somewhat satisfied smile on her face.
"...Question that I just thought of, is Sigma doing ok?" Echo asked.
"Probably panicking a bit, but Cherry is probably talking to him right now. He should be doing fine." Aria answered.
"Good to know, probably going to confess to him after we take down Neo Cypher." Echo commented. Aria nodded as the two broke the hug and proceeded to chat as they waited for the eventual signal from Hibiki.
Elsewhere in the facility, Sigma was pacing up and down in a storage room as he was still reeling from a talk he had with Aria a bit earlier. "Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit…" Sigma quietly repeated to himself. He only stopped when he heard a knock at the door and saw the shadow of someone outside.
"Sigma, are you in there?" Cherry called out. Sigma took a big sigh of relief as he walked over to the door and unlocked it, letting Cherry walk in with a few boxes. "Thought I saw you come in here earlier, are you doing ok?" Cherry said as she set down the boxes on a shelf.
"Yes… No… It's complicated." Sigma responded, rubbing the back of his head.
"Oh? Some personal stuff I take?" Cherry asked.
"Yeah. If you don't mind hearing me yap about my personal life more than I already do, I do feel like talking about it." Sigma siad. Cherry thought about that for a moment, playfully tilting her head as she considered doing a playful joke, but decided against it as she nodded.
"Sure, don't have much to do as we wait for the signal. Let's move out of the storage room though, I don't want people to get any ideas." Cherry told Sigma.
"About what?" Sigma questioned innocently. Cherry gave a deadpan expression before Sigma looked around and started to blush profusely. "Oh, sorry. Didn't even think about that implication." Sigma stammered out.
"It's fine, just follow me." Cherry told Sigma. Sigma nodded as they both walked out of the room and headed to a side room that had a few tables and benches with glass windows looking over the city. "Ok, this should be a good place to chat." Cherry said as she closed the door.
"Nice little break room." Sigma commented, taking a look at the city.
"Yeah this one of a few located throughout the whole building, just places where we can relax. Anyway, what exactly is eating away at you?" Cherry questioned as she took a seat on one of the couches. Sigma let out a long sigh as he tapped his food for a moment before taking a seat next to Cherry.
"It's probably me just being worried about nothing, but it's about Echo." Sigma started to say.
"Oh, is it girl troubles?" Cherry asked.
"I guess you could say that, it's more that I talked with Echo's mom earlier and she… well…" Sigma said, struggling to say the words.
"Did she get after you about wanting to date her daughter?" Cherry sighed.
"No, not all, she actually encouraged it and I don't exactly know how to feel about that." Siga explained.
"That's wonderful Sigma, but I imagine that isn't what's eating you." Cherry noted.
"Yeah, you're correct on that assumption. I just don't know if I'm really the one for her or if she even feels the same way about me. Hell, I don't even know if I deserve her love." Sigma said, spiraling into a depressive state for a moment.
"Ok back it up a bit casanova, no need to get that depressed." Cherry told Sigma. Sigma took a moment to collect himself, taking deep breaths as he pulled himself out of the mental spiral.
"Thank you, I needed that." Sigma told Cherry.
"No problem, now if you don't mind me asking, why do you think that Echo doesn't accept you as a boyfriend?" Cherry inquired, leaning back as she knew this was going to be a long talk.
"Where do I begin? …First off, I'm just not confident in myself, that is something that I need to work on." SIgma began to list.
"See, that is very fair and I do wish you the best on that journey." Cherry responded.
"Thank you. The one I'm more concerned about, which does stem from my low confidence, is that I feel like I would be a bad pick for her." Sigma sighed.
"Is this because of what you've done?" Cherry questioned.
"Yeah, it is. While yes, it does matter that I did end up calling it quits, I still did a lot of fucked up stuff." Sigma started.
"Sigma…" Cherry said.
"I know I should just let it go, leave the past in the past, but I just can't. It's something I have to bear with me for all my life and I don't know if I even deserve love." Sigma said, his voice getting a tad louder as he brought his legs up to chest. Cherry was silent, not exactly sure what to say, before just hugging SIgma as he started to sob.
"How long have you been feeling like this?" Cherry asked.
"A while, I just… didn't know how to express it. I'm sorry that I'm letting this all out on you." Sigma responded, his voice cracking through the tears.
"It's ok, this kind of stuff is hard to talk about if you're not sure how to work it or what you want to say." Cherry told Sigma in a kind and soft voice.
"Thank you for listening to me." Sigma blubbered out.
"It's what I'm here for." Cherry responded, a small smile on her face. The two sat in the room, Sigma letting out his tears for a few minutes before he eventually managed to calm himself down.
"I think I'm ok for now." Sigma said, his voice a tad strained from the sobbing.
"That's good." Cherry told Sigma, giving him a reassuring pat on the head. The two sat in silence for a moment as Cherry got up and got some tissues from a shelf to clean the both of them.
"You know, I thought you would be a tad more critical of how I'm acting." Sigma said, using some of the tissues to clean his face.
"I could be, but honestly after hearing what you're going through, I do sympathize with it having gone through it myself." Cherry commented.
"You too?" Sigma asked.
"Yeah, it's been a while since that happened, but I still remember the feeling from back then. It was terrible, smothering, and it felt like I wasn't going to go anywhere after I left Cypher." Cherry responded, staring forward as she got lost in thought.
"But you still managed to turn out ok?" Sigma questioned.
"It's because I had the friends that I turned out the way I did." Cherry told Sigma, hoping that he would get the hint. Sigma paused as he let that information sink in and process for a good minute or so before it clicked in his head.
"Wait, you all have considered me friends?" Sigma asked, a tad surprised.
"Have you just realized this?" Cherry responded, pinching the bridge of her nose.
"Not exactly, but my low confidence thought you three were just trying to make me feel good." Sigma admitted.
"Ok, we really need to get you to a proper therapist when this is all over." Cherry told Sigma with a sigh.
"I… can't help but agree a little bit." Sigma said, looking down out of embarrassment.
"That being said, if you do want to feel more comfortable around others, I might have an assistant position open if you're interested." Cherry offered with a big smile on her face. Sigma looked at Cherry, trying to see if there was a hint dishonestly in her voice, but instead saw a look of kindness and sincerity in her voice.
"I don't know if I would be the best helper you could find." Sigma told Cherry.
"You'll be better than no helper at all and that is what counts." Cherry responded. The two went silent as they were anticipating an answer from the other before they both started to laugh at the situation.
"God, we are being so weird." Sigma said, a lot more energy in his voice.
"Well we don't really have much to do at the moment, so joking around and talking is a good way to pass the time. Plus, I think we had a good chance to talk through your troubles." Cherry commented.
"Yeah, thank you for sitting down and listening to me bitch for a good bit." Sigma told Cherry.
"No problem, I'm just happy that you could finally get that off of your chest. Oh, and before I forget, that offer was a serious one." Cherry responded.
"Really? Huh." Sigma said. Cherry nodded and got up from her seat, ready to leave the room when she got a text on her phone. Taking a look at it, her eyes went wide and she quickly turned to look at Sigma.
"Hibiki has just sent a message that she's on the way, we've got to get ready." Cherry told Sigma. Sigma silently nodded as the two rushed to the command room to get a briefing and update.
In the command room, several agents were running around and double checking things as Looker barked orders from his chair and Wind right behind him just staring at his phone. The others all slowly filed in as fast as they could with Echo and Aria arriving last, seeing a map being displayed with a ping over the ocean to the west. "We got the message, what's the situation like at the moment?" Echo asked in a serious voice.
"We've got an update on Hibiki's location and status. Good news, she is ok at the moment, exhaustion aside." Looker responded.
"Thank god, how did she get in contact with us?" Aria said as she and Echo took a seat at the table. Looker gave a glance Wind, who nodded as he held up his phone with a smile on his face.
"That would be thanks to Krystals, a friend of mine that is apparently still in Neo Cypher's Ranks. She was apparently about to head to Neo Cypher's HQ herself to take care of some things before leaving the region when she ran into Hibiki." Wind responded.
"Huh, I thought your friend would have left a long time ago." Sigma noted.
"Exactly my thought, but I also can't complain at the same time. Currently she and another grunt that she had convinced to her are on a boat with Hibiki heading towards the location of Neo Cypher's regional hideout." Wind explained.
"I suppose since this plan is actually working now, we're going to go through with it?" Cherry questioned. Looker nodded and motioned at one of the agents to change the image on the big screen, which changed to an image of the island that the hideout was located at.
"This is the island that we assume Neo Cypher is using as their base of operations. All things considered, it makes sense that we weren't able to find this place because this is just outside the regional borders." Looker began to elaborate.
"And since they've been in the region for a while, it's entirely possible they learned how we go about our daily life. It would explain why they had Team Noise working for them, they needed a way to get stuff that could actually work in the region." Aria theorized.
"That is a good guess as to why they were even needed in the first place. Either way, what we have to focus on right now is getting to the island." Looker said.
"Any good way of doing that which won't immediately set off alarms at their base or make it obvious that we're coming?" Sigma asked.
"That we can think immediately? None at the moment. That being said, we might have some help with Hibiki on that part." Looker said. Echo and Aria both immediately sighed as they knew what Looker was about to say. "Yes, she is actually being that crazy." Looker told the two, a heavy sigh of exhaustion escaping his mouth.
"To be honest, we did kind of expect that she would do that. It's still worrying, mind you, but we kind of have to deal with it." Echo commented.
"Plus any attention she can divert to herself is better for us. If we can drive Neo Cypher out of the region, it would at least make sure we can at least make sure they aren't a threat anymore." Aria mentioned.
"About that… Krystal did some snooping while she was still there and it looks like Neo Cypher does have bases in other regions." Wind mentioned looking at his phone. Everyone at the table immediately let out a frustrated groan as they heard that, Michael and Jovi specifically just grabbing their heads. "Sadly it does look like we were a good bit too late to stop that, by like a year. I haven't heard about some of these regions though, which does show how far they have decided to expand." Wind added
"We'll worry about the other branches later. That being said though, is this the main base?" Michael questioned.
"That is something I can confirm, we are going to be assaulting the main base." Looker told the group.
"Which means if we can crush this base, we won't have to worry about Neo Cypher aside from the off branches that have been made." Jovi concluded.
"Exactly and we'll have to move fast, so they can't respond in time." Looker said.
"What do you want us to do?" Cherry questioned.
"Knowing you all, you're more than likely going to ask if you can go to help out Hibiki. Normally I would try to stop you, but something tells me that at the very least Echo would find a way to get there." Looker commented.
"That would be correct." Echo responded, a serious look on her face.
"Precisely why I'm letting you all join in on the raid. In about 30 minutes, we will have a Helicopter that will be going behind the initial raid. I would like all of you to go on that and meet up with Hibiki to take down Shika." Looker ordered. Everyone nodded as they all stood up and headed out of the room to go do their preparations when Michael gave a brief cough in the hallway, catching everyone's attention as they stopped.
"We only have so much time to get ready so listen carefully. I need your Pokemon so I can make sure that they can't be captured by Snag Machines." Michael told the others.
"You finished the Anti-Snag Coating?" Jovi questioned enthusiastically.
"Yeah, if I did the calculations right, this coating should prevent any Pokemon that are sent out from being Snagged when applied to your Pokeballs." Michael explained. Cherry, Sigma, Aria, and Echo all nodded as they got out their Pokeballs and handed them to both Michael and Jovi, who went off to go prepare the coating.
"Are you sure you want to come with us mom? Don't you have Gym Leader duties to take care of?" Echo asked.
"Oh I already took care of all the challengers and made sure that any more would be turned away for the rest of the day." Aria responded.
"If you're sure about this, then we won't even bother trying to stop you. I swear, you're just like your kids at times, kind and stubborn to let go of an idea once it's in your head." Cherry sighed, shaking her head.
"What can I say, they get it from somewhere." Aria responded, a small smile on her face. Echo giggled at that as she looked over at Sigma, a thought crossing her mind as he saw that he looked a bit nervous.
"Are you going to be ok actually going into the base?" Echo questioned, a hint of concern in her voice.
"What? Uh, yeah, I'll be fine." Sigma responded, getting broken out of his trance.
"Well obviously there is something eating at you, so why not tell me?" Echo asked. As the two were talking, Aria smiled slightly as she ushered the others to all go on ahead, leaving Echo and Sigma alone.
"It would probably be better if I wait till after all of this to explain." Sigma commented, rubbing the back of his head. Echo paused as she thought about what Simga said before feeling ti click in her head as Sigma turned to leave. She remained silent for a moment before walking forward, grabbing Sigma's arm, and giving him a quick kiss on his cheek, the two teens blushing profusely as Sigma froze in place.
"You bet we do, idiot." Echo softly said before walking away. Sigma was still as he moved a hand to his face before a giant grin crossed his face and he gave himself a mental pat on the back, following Echo to go prepare for the raid.
Roughly one hour later, south of Neo Cypher HQ…
Hibiki let out a loud groan as she rubbed her eyes, the exhaustion setting in from everything that she's done so far. "Are you sure you're going to be ok?" Nika asked in a slightly concerned voice.
"Admittedly not that ok, especially with everything that I've done in the past 12 hours. I can deal with it though." Hibiki responded.
"If you're sure about this, then I can't stop you. Just remember to change into the armor." Nika told Hibiki, nodding towards the cabinet in the corner. Hibiki nodded as she walked over to the cabinet, opening it to find a few spare Neo Cypher suits hanging there.
"Why are these even here?" Hibiki asked, grabbing one that was about her size.
"Do you know how much it sucks to accidentally fall into the ocean with one of these things on?" Nika responded. Hibiki simply nodded as she proceeded to put on the suit, feeling a bit uncomfortable as she got encased in the latex suit. Once fully on, she got the gloves and boots before finally grabbing the helmet and putting it on as the door to the outside opened, Krystal walking in as Hibiki finished getting dressed.
"Oh, you look nice in that. Maybe you would have been good as a grunt." Krystal teases, a small smile on her face..
"Oh ha ha, really funny. Wow this really does just have a built-in voice changer doesn't it?" Hibiki responded, hearing a distorted sound to her voice.
"Yeah, but it honestly is 50/50 on if the voice changer works. It's very much an in-progress feature that they're field testing, but it works to our advantage." Krystal explained.
"Good to know. By the way, any updates on the others?" Hibiki asked.
"The first wave of agents has already left the IPP HQ. They will be on standby when we give the signal." Krystal responded.
"All right, guess it's finally time." Hibiki sighed as she walked out onto the main deck. Krystal accompanied her as they both looked in the distance at the fast approaching island that Neo Cypher called their home base. The island was fairly unassuming, just looking like a barren piece of land and rocks with a large mountain that jutted out close to the southern edge of the island.
"Remember, this is a very dangerous place at the best of times from what I understand. I've never actually been in here myself, just heard stories from those that have actually been there." Krystal told Hibiki.
"Yep, that much I know. Even though it is way too late to back out now, I do wonder if this is the right play." Hibiki said, leaning on the railing.
"Honestly, it's not the smartest move, but I don't think it's one they'll expect from someone they assume is dead." Krystal assured. Hibiki nodded as she looked on towards the island, a feeling of nervousness and excitement coursing through her. "I'll leave you to your thoughts and don't worry, your plan will work, just believe in yourself." Krystal said before going back into the cabin. As Krytsal walked back in, Hibiki breathed a sigh of relief as Darkrai popped out of the shadows, out of sight from the cabin.
" You know, you could have told them about me. " Darkrai told Hibiki.
" Maybe, but something tells me that I can't entirely trust all of Wind's little group." Hibiki responded mentally. Darkrai paused as he gave an approving nod, taking a moment to glance at the island himself.
" Looks like it's finally time to do this, no more waiting around." Darkrai thought to himself.
"Hey, thanks again for accepting my offer." Hibiki told Darkrai, rubbing the back of her.
" It's no problem, I'm more than happy to help someone earnest and brave enough to come seek me out. " Darkrai said. Hibiki nodded as she opened the visor on her helmet to take a deep breath of fresh air, marveling at the sea. " Hey, about that plan you told me about, are you sure it's a good idea?" Darkrai asked.
"No, however I want to use it as a last resort if I can't get through to her. It's a large risk especially with you around, no offense, but I'm confident in the idea." Hibiki responded, a fiery determination in her voice.
"...Ok, I understand. I'll be in your shadow if you need me." Darkrai told Hibiki. Hibiki nodded as Darkrai returned to her shadow, leaving Hibiki with her thoughts as the boat drew closer to the hideout.