Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

There is no warning. Ingo simply closes his eyes while walking in the Highlands and reopens them in an unfamiliar place. He can’t help the surprised yelp that escapes him and he stumbles as the ground lurches beneath him. As he regains his balance, he casts his eyes around, taking in the strange place he finds himself in.

It’s a small room constructed mostly of metal with glass windows on either side. He can indistinctly see something flashing by outside and he realizes that this room is moving. How peculiar. The sensation of motion isn’t entirely unpleasant, but the sharp brightness of the lamps that line the ceiling is.

He pulls his hat lower to shield his eyes and notices another strange thing. His coat sleeve, previously tattered and worn, is in perfect condition. It even has the cuff which had been torn off so long ago. He inspects himself further. Sure enough, his black coat is once again in pristine condition, as is his cap. His Pearl Clan uniform has been replaced with a soft black shirt, much like the one he distantly remembers wearing all those years ago, when he first arrived in Hisui.

He finds this quite alarming. Even more alarming is the loss of his Warden bracelet and Celestica flute. He will be entirely unidentifiable as a Warden of the Pearl Clan and he won’t even be able to call Lady Sneasler. He’s breathing faster now and he distantly realizes that he needs to calm down. He rubs his thumb on the palm of his other hand in an effort to ground himself. Instead, he discovers that the familiar scars that run across his hands are missing.

How can that even be possible? Clothes are one thing, but what could take away scars as if they never existed in the first place? This has to be a dream, he concludes. Although, he’s never had a dream quite so vivid.

He flinches when a voice seems to emanate from somewhere above him. It’s his own voice, he is certain, but the words are wrong. He understands the meaning in spite of the oddness.

‘The train is arriving, please stand clear of the doors.’

He does stand clear of the panels in the walls which he only now understands to be doors. The train slows, and although he still doesn’t know what a train is, he subconsciously shifts his weight to account for it.

When the movement finally stops and the doors open, he doesn’t hesitate to step through them. On the other side is a large open space, crowded with more people than he’s ever seen before. He briefly blanches before steadying himself.

This is a dream.

He strides through the crowd. On instinct he climbs a nearby staircase, which leads him to an even larger and more crowded area. He does his best to shut out the overwhelming sound and makes for the daylight he can see at the other end of his room.

A man wearing green steps in front of him. “Boss Ingo are you-”

Ingo pushes past him. It’s rude, but he doesn’t care.

This is a dream.

He hears someone shout his name. He ignores them and keeps walking. He’s near the massive glass entrance when he hears someone running up behind him. He turns on his heel and readies himself for an attack. Instead, the person skids to a stop, their long white coat flaring out around them.

White coat. Red stripes. White hat. Gray hair. Silver eyes. Smile.

The man in white. The man from his dreams, although they have never contained this much detail before. His smile is faltering as Ingo continues to stare at him.

This is a dream. A far more vivid dream than ever before. Maybe a memory?

“Ingo? Are you ok? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

He tilts his head. He understands the words, despite their strangeness, but he doesn't know how to respond. He shakes his head and answers in the only language he knows. “Who are you?”

The man’s eyebrows knit together and his face takes on a look of alarm. “I don’t understand. What language was that?”

“Celestica. Who are you? Why do I know you?” He’s beginning to get rather annoyed at this dream.

“Ingo, did something happen? You just took off, are you ok?” 

He growls in frustration, and the man takes a shocked step back. 

“Ingo?”

He shakes his head, and turns back to the doors. He isn’t getting any answers here, and dreams don’t last forever. He should see if he can find anything else useful out there. Except… he doesn’t want to leave the man in white. He doesn’t know who he is, but the sense of rightness he feels just seeing him this clearly is almost enough to convince him to stay.

Almost.

He takes a step toward the doors but a hand catches his arm. He flinches and pulls away from the contact. He looks back and now there’s hurt on the man’s face along with concern.

Seeing that hurt, and knowing he caused it fills him with a powerful guilt. “I’m sorry.” He knows that he won't understand but he has to say it. He steps back toward the man and tries again. “Who are you?” The confusion doesn’t change so he lifts a hand to his own chest. “I am Warden Ingo.” He points to the man. “Who are you?”

The man’s brows knit together and the look of alarm comes back, but he answers slowly, like he still isn’t sure what’s being asked. “You are Ingo.” Ingo nods, so he continues. “I am Emmet.”

“...Emmet.”

Emmet. He knows Emmet. Emmet is his brother. His twin. He remembers. The joy he feels is overshadowed by the look on Emmet’s face.

“You didn’t know me…” He says quietly. “And you’re scared. And the weird language. What’s going on?”

“I’m so sorry, Emmet. I’ve been trying to remember for a long time. I don’t know what’s going on. I’m sorry.”

His brother shakes his head. “I still don’t understand. Why can’t you speak Galarian?”

“Galarian?” He repeats the unfamiliar word.

“Yes!” Emmet seems slightly exasperated. “Your native language. I didn’t even know you spoke any others.”

Ingo shakes his head. “I’m afraid I don’t remember.”

“Did you hit your head or something?”

Ingo considers. No, he hasn’t hit his head recently, but a head wound was the cause of his memory issues all those years ago, so he nods.

“Oh! We need to get you to a doctor then!” His brother grabs his arm and starts to drag him toward the doors. Ingo fights the urge to pull his arm away again and follows. He doesn’t want to leave Emmet.

This is a dream, but he’s going to spend what time he has with his brother.

Chapter Text

The world outside the doors is even louder and more crowded than the building Ingo had been in. He flinches at the noise and crush of people, getting a concerned look from Emmet.

“Are you ok?”

“I’m fine. Please don’t worry.”

Emmet stares at him and sighs. “I don’t know what you said. Are you ok to get to the hospital?”

Ingo just nods in response.

“Ok. Good. Let’s go, I’m verrry worried about you.”

His brother leads again and in another few minutes they reach a large building and walk up to the doors. Like the ones on the train, they open on their own. Emmet walks right up to the counter and talks to the person on the other side while Ingo studies his surroundings. There’s an incredible amount of detail for a dream, especially since he doesn’t remember seeing anything like this before. He’s lost in thought when Emmet appears at his side again and he jumps.

“Easy, it’s ok. Just me.” Emmet looks worried. Ingo feels bad for making him worry, even if this isn’t real.

“I’m sorry.”

Emmet stares at him. “You’re apologizing, aren’t you?”

Ingo blinks at him and nods.

“Quit that. You don’t have to apologize.”

“But I’m making you worry. You shouldn’t have to worry about me.”

“I don’t even need to know what argument you’re making. Quit apologizing. Whatever this is, it’s happening to you. You’re not causing it. It’s not your fault.”

Ingo takes a deep breath. “Fine.”

Emmet laughs, obviously understanding his meaning.

A woman enters the room from a wide door and looks around until her eyes light on them. She strides forward, a flat board with paper attached to it held in one hand. “Good afternoon, Subway Boss Ingo. If you follow me, the doctor will be able to see you in a few minutes. Would you like your brother to come back with you or wait here?”

“I do not want to be separated from him.”

Her brow furrows. “Pardon?”

Ingo sighs and closes his eyes, taking a deep breath and trying not to let the frustration boil over. After a moment, he opens his eyes again and nods, gesturing to Emmet.

She seems uncertain, but smiles. “Ok, well then if you will both follow me.” She turns and heads back through the door.

This is a very strange dream.

Ingo mentally shrugs and follows her, with Emmet walking in step beside him. He keeps track of the turns they take instinctively so he’ll be able to find his way back out. This isn’t a cave system, but it might as well be for how complex the hallways are. The woman leads them to a small room containing a few chairs, a raised thing that looks sort of like a bed, and a device he has no idea what to make of.

They sit and the woman taps on the device, then starts asking him questions. Most of them he can answer with a nod or a shake of the head, though Emmet has to answer some of them for him.

When she asks about what brings him in today, things get more complicated. Emmet explains what he can. “Ingo suddenly rushed off his train when it came into the station. He seemed really distressed and when I finally caught up with him it was like… like he didn’t recognize me straight away.”

The woman looks at Ingo and he nods in confirmation. He hadn’t recognized Emmet.

“And he doesn’t seem to be able to speak Galarian even though he can clearly understand it. And he said he hit his head.”

“You hit your head? Where?”

Ingo furrows his brow. They think the head injury was recent. He shakes his head. “No. It happened a long time ago. I’m fine now.”

“You… didn’t hit your head?” Emmet asks slowly.

Ingo looks at his twin and shrugs helplessly.

The woman takes a deep breath. “Ok. I think I should just get the doctor.”

She leaves and Emmet gives Ingo a confused look. “I don’t understand. What happened?”

Ingo shakes his head in frustration. “I don’t know. I don’t like this dream.”

There’s a knock at the door and a different woman enters. She looks them both over, then holds her hand out. “Good afternoon. I’m Dr. Lori.”

Ingo stares blankly at the outstretched hand and she slowly retracts it. Emmet raises an eyebrow at him.

After an awkward moment, Dr. Lori continues. “I understand that you’re experiencing some strange psychological symptoms. Am I correct that you can understand me just fine?”

Ingo nods.

“Good. Your brother mentioned possible head trauma so we would like to do some scans as well as have you checked by a psychic type for possible Pokémon interference.”

Ingo nods again. “That sounds fine.” He doesn’t really understand, but he’s willing to just go along with this dream for now.

Ingo doesn’t like the scans, but Emmet stays as nearby as they’ll let him and keeps reassuring him that it’s fine. He’s glad when it’s over and the doctor declares the scans to be totally normal.

Next comes the check by a Pokémon he recognizes as a Duosion despite never having seen one before. Those results are… less conclusive. The Duosion reaches into his mind, then recoils back both psychically and physically. It looks terrified for the brief moment he can see its face before it returns to its pokeball voluntarily.

Dr. Lori tells them honestly that she doesn’t know what that means. Ultimately, he’s sent away with instructions to rest for a few days and see if anything changes. Not the most helpful advice, but he’s not sure what he expected from a dream.

So, Emmet leads them back out of that building and down the busy, too crowded, too loud street until they reach a different one. He studies the tall, stone building as they head inside and he can feel Emmet studying him at the same time.

Emmet says nothing and leads on, pressing a button that apparently causes doors to open into a tiny room. Ingo tilts his head and hesitantly follows, watching the doors close with some dismay. And then the floor moves. Or the whole room moves? Either way, it’s an unexpected and distressing sensation. Emmet looks fine, though, so he makes himself stay calm and wait to see where this is going.

After a moment, the doors open and Emmet steps out. They’re in a totally different location now. A long hallway stretches in either direction, lined with doors. Emmet seems unfazed by this and leads down the right hand hallway.

They reach a door that looks like all the rest and Emmet takes out a key and unlocks it. They enter and Emmet removes his coat, hat, and shoes, so Ingo follows suit. The room they enter is simultaneously completely foreign and vaguely familiar. It’s also far too bright, with artificial light coming from several places on the ceiling.

Emmet gestures to a soft looking chair. “You should rest.”

Ingo just nods and does as he’s asked, trying not to stare too much at the surroundings. He sinks into the chair and leans his head back. He’s exhausted. Is it normal to feel tired in a dream? That doesn’t seem right. It also feels like this has been going on for an unusually long time.

He closes his eyes. Maybe if he falls asleep here, he’ll wake up. Does he want to wake up? Will he remember his brother if he does? He supposes eventually he won’t have a choice, but for now he wants to keep dreaming, so he opens his eyes again and stares up at the ceiling. Even that looks odd.

There’s a click at the door and he turns towards it. A woman enters, then stops suddenly when she sees them both staring at her. Emmet recovers first. “Elesa. I forgot you were coming.”

The woman, Elesa apparently, glances between the two of them. “Is… everything ok?”

Emmet looks at Ingo. “No?”

“What’s going on?”

Ingo sighs. “I can’t speak Galarian, and everyone is very worried about it. Also, I’m guessing I should know who you are, but I don’t.”

Elesa stares at him. “Ok. Not what I was expecting. Was that Sino?”

Ingo shakes his head. “Celestica.”

“What?”

“The language. I think it’s called Celestica.” Emmet explains.

“Ok, so what did you say?” Elesa asks, looking at Ingo.

“I can’t translate for you.”

She furrows her brow and looks to Emmet for explanation. He does his best. “Ingo can’t speak Galarian. The doctor has no idea why. He maybe hit his head? Also, he didn’t recognize me at first, and I’m guessing he doesn’t recognize you, either.”

Ingo nods in confirmation.

“Wait, seriously? H-how does that even happen?” She comes closer and looks Ingo in the eye. “You don’t know who I am?”

He shakes his head. “I’m sorry.”

Emmet smacks the back of his head. “I told you to quit apologizing.”

Ingo could almost laugh that that’s the first phrase he’s learned of Celestica. Maybe he does apologize too much.

Elesa takes a deep breath. “Ok, so you can understand Galarian.” Ingo nods. “But when you try to respond, it comes out as… Celestica?”

Ingo furrows his brow and tilts his head in thought. Slowly, he shakes his head.

“Are you… trying to speak Galarian? Or Celestica?”

“Celestica.”

“Can you try to speak Galarian?”

“I… don’t know how.”

She looks at Emmet. “Is Celestica even a real language? I’ve never heard of it.”

He tilts his head, then taps the device on his wrist for a minute. His face twists in confusion. “Well… It was a real language. Spoken in… Hisui? Ancient Sinnoh, apparently. It doesn’t exist anymore.”

“Hisui doesn’t exist?”

Emmet’s head snaps towards him. “Does the word Hisui mean something to you?”

Ingo nods. “Yes. It’s where I live.”

“I don’t know what that means. Is… is there some other way we can communicate?”

“Have you tried writing?” Elesa asks.

“No. That’s a great idea. Hold on.” Emmet disappears for a moment, returning with a sheet of blindingly white paper which he lays on the low table and a small blue stick which he hands to Ingo. “Can you write something?”

He tilts his head and gives Emmet a confused look. He lifts the small stick and inspects it, noticing the small amount of ink on the end. He doesn’t see how that’s going to help much. It will just run out immediately, and Emmet didn’t give him any more ink.

They’re both staring at him. It’s Emmet who asks, “do you not… know what a pen is?”

He shakes his head.

“Well, that’s… what else don’t you recognize?”

Ingo looks around, then gestures to a rectangular object on the table.

“The laptop?”

Ingo shrugs. “Sure.”

“What else?”

He taps the paper on the table, which is far too thin and white to be normal, then gestures to an object on the wall, another on the bookshelf, and the kitchen in general. Finally, he taps the device attached to his own wrist in place of his Warden Bracelet.

Emmet looks horrified. Elesa does, too, but she hides it better. Emmet opens and closes his mouth a few times before stuttering out, “w-what else- how much don’t you know?”

Ingo wants to answer, to explain. But he knows Emmet won’t understand. He’s starting to get a headache. He looks at the pen still in his hand and puts it to the paper. It feels strange, and the characters come out wobbly and too thin, but he writes his answer.

‘I could not remember anything. You. Where I came from. Nothing.’

He shows them, but they just stare in confusion at the writing.

“That’s not Galarian, either.”

He sighs. “No. I only know how to write in Celestica.”

After a long moment, Elesa collects herself. “Ok, why don’t we try to establish what you do know. You know the name of the language you’re speaking. Do you know how you learned it?”

Ingo shrugs. He had never thought to question how he knew the language. Mostly, he had just been grateful to be able to communicate with people when he struggled with so many other things.

“Ok... I’ve known you for years. You don’t speak any other languages. So, this must have just happened?” She doesn't sound very sure of that assessment.

Ingo shakes his head. “No, I've been speaking Celestica for a very long time. It's most certainly not new.” His mind catches on something Elesa said. He gestures at her. “ You said you’ve known me for years, but I don’t know you at all. And I have lived in Hisui for many years.” He sighs. “I suppose it doesn’t have to make sense. It is a dream after all.”

Emmet stares at him for a long moment. “I really wish I could understand what you’re saying. So… you didn’t recognize me at first, but you know who I am now, right?”

He nods. “You are Emmet. My twin brother.”

“Why did I even ask? I’m getting a headache. Ok. I am Emmet. We are twin brothers. We are the Subway Bosses of Nimbasa City- what?”

Ingo cuts Emmet off with a wave of his hand. “Subway Bosses?” He doesn’t know the meaning of the words, nor does he have a translation for them, so he just mimics the way Emmet says it.

Elesa laughs a little, but her expression is sad. “You don’t know what a Subway Boss is?”

He shakes his head.

“Fuck.” Emmet stares at him. “You were on the subway. Did you not know what it was? Is that why you just took off?”

He nods in confirmation.

“I’m derailing this conversation right now to teach you about trains.”

“No the fuck you aren’t, Emmet. You can do that later.”

Loathe as he is to pass up the opportunity to learn about trains, which excites him for reasons he can’t fully comprehend, he gestures to Elesa and nods. “I agree. There are more important things to discuss.”

Emmet huffs. “Fine.”

Ingo laughs and pats his arm. “We can do it later.” He hopes that’s true.

“That being said,” Elesa begins, “I’m not exactly sure how much more we can figure out with yes or no questions.”

“Hmm. You have a point, but I don’t know what else to do. I have already checked, there is no translation service available for Celestica.”

Ingo hums as an idea strikes him. He picks the pen back up. It’s still clumsy with the unfamiliar instrument, but he begins to sketch. He learned the skill during his excess of free time during the winters in the Highlands. Though his abilities were poor to begin with, years of practice have rendered him a decent artist. At the very least, one can typically tell what he’s trying to portray.

He draws the Highlands. Mount Coronet rises sharply on one side, while a crude depiction of the lower parts of the region stretch out on the other. It takes a few minutes, during which Elesa and Emmet fall completely silent.

Once he’s finished, he looks up at them. They’re staring at him with shocked expressions. He furrows his brow. “What’s wrong?”

“When did you learn to draw?” Emmet’s exaggerated expression remains in place as he carefully takes the paper and studies it. “This is really good.”

Ingo tilts his head. “Not really. Akari could do much better.”

Elesa looks at him. “No, seriously. When did you learn to draw? I know you couldn’t do that before.”

It makes sense. He had been spectacularly bad when he started practicing. He shrugs. “I have practiced the skill for years. I was bound to improve eventually.”

She shakes her head. “Right. Umm…. did you learn to do this recently?”

He shakes his head and she and Emmet share a look. Emmet asks, “are you sure? Because, I’m with Elesa. I’ve seen your doodling. Recently. It’s not good.”

He laughs and shrugs again. He doesn’t know how to answer that, since he himself can’t remember what Emmet is referencing. But it’s growing more and more clear that the people in his dream are stuck in the past. That makes some sense, since any memory he would have, however buried it may be, would have been from before he left this place.

Emmet looks back at the drawing. “Ok. But, what is this? Where is this place?”

“Home.” Emmet clearly doesn’t understand. He tries again. “Hisui.”

His brow furrows. “Hisui again. What does this have to do with ancient Sinnoh?”

Ingo sighs, doing his best to push away the ever building frustration again, and leans forward. He makes eye contact while he points at the drawing and speaks slowly. “This. is. Hisui.”

Emmet and Elesa share another look. Elesa taps the device on her wrist a few times, then turns the screen around. “It certainly looks like Sinnoh.” The image displayed on the screen is fairly similar to the one he had drawn, although at a different angle.

He shakes his head. “Not Sinnoh. Hisui.”

“I don’t understand. Aren’t they the same?”

“No. I live in Hisui, not Sinnoh.”

“I still don’t understand.”

Ingo finally loses his patience. He just wants to be able to communicate clearly. He’s never had such a frustrating dream. With a growl, he stands, surprising the other two, and stalks off. He needs a moment to calm down or he’s going to start snapping at them. Not that they would understand even if he did.

He walks down a hall and into a room at random, closing the door behind him and sinking to the ground with his back against it. He rubs the heels of his palms against his eyes. He’s so tired.

The door shifts, pushing against him as someone tries to follow him into the room. He leans back, keeping it closed. He hears someone moving around on the other side, then from the same level he’s sitting at, he hears Emmet’s voice. “Ingo, are you ok? What’s wrong?”

He sighs. He’s still annoyed, but it's not Emmet’s fault. He’s just worried about him. “I am fine. I just need some time to calm down.” Of course, his brother doesn’t understand what he’s saying, so he doesn’t know why he bothers.

To his surprise, though, he hears Emmet let out a long breath. “You’re overstimulated, aren’t you?”

Overstimulated. The term is unfamiliar, but he understands it. It doesn’t happen often, but sometimes he’ll find himself in a state where every little thing feels like too much. It’s good to know it’s not something wrong with him. Or at the very least, not something new.

He leans his head back against the door. “Yes.”

“I’m… pretty sure that was a yes. It’s alright, just come out when you’re ready.”

He hears shuffling cloth and the sound of footsteps retreating down the hall. Even though his brother can’t hear him, he whispers, “thank you.”

He should get up. He should pull himself together and go back to talk to them. Even as tired and irritable he is, he doesn’t want this dream to end yet. His body has other ideas, though, and his eyelids droop heavily. His head falls forward and he falls asleep where he sits.

Chapter Text

When Ingo wakes up, he’s in an unfamiliar room. It takes a few moments before he remembers the events of yesterday. He’s in the room he retreated to when everything became too much.

He’s still here.

That… doesn’t make sense. Shouldn’t he have woken up by now? He’s sure he’s never had a dream this long or complex before.

Maybe it isn’t a dream.

He shakes the thought away. Of course it is. If it were real…

He shakes his head again and stands, surprised to find himself only a little stiff from the awkward sleeping position. He stretches and his back doesn’t crack. Odd.

He’s still not fully awake, so he just acts on instinct and opens the door, heading to a different room. This one is tiled and almost painfully bright. He figures out the functions of the objects inside surprisingly quickly, also largely on instinct. Halfway out the door, he catches his reflection in the large mirror. He stops in his tracks and stares.

That’s not right.

His hair, though slightly disheveled, is much shorter and neater cut than it should be. His sideburns are also neater and his beard is gone entirely.

Ingo is probably more familiar with his reflection than most people in Hisui, due to his habit of staring at it in the hopes of remembering something about the man who shares his face. Which means he’s quite certain that this is wrong. His skin is smooth, unblemished and unscarred. His eyes aren’t sunken the way he has grown accustomed to, and there are no dark circles beneath them.

He looks so young. It’s very disorienting.

The door is still half open, and Emmet appears in it. Ingo watches him in the mirror. They look the same. Perfect reflections, aside from the upturned mouth on Emmet and his own downturned one. He thought Emmet looked young in this dream because he didn’t have any memory of him looking any other way, but he doesn’t remember himself ever looking like this. Young, sure, but even in his earliest memories he has scars from the Pokémon attack that took his memory.

When he remains still, just staring, Emmet gives him an odd look.“Are you ok?”

He looks back at his own reflection. “No. My face is wrong. Why am I so young?”

Emmet shakes his head. “I’m sorry. I don’t understand.”

Ingo points at his reflection and shakes his head.

Emmet’s brow furrows. “Something’s wrong with… the way you look?”

He nods.

Emmet moves closer, inspecting him. “You look fine to me.”

He shakes his head and leaves the bathroom, leaving Emmet to his own morning necessities. He goes back to the living room and picks up the pen and a fresh piece of paper, beginning to draw.

He’s never drawn his own portrait, but he’s done enough of other people that he thinks he can manage well enough. Emmet comes out and gives him another odd look, then heads to the kitchen. He comes back a few minutes later with a bowl of… some kind of food.

Ingo nods politely as he sets it on the table, finishing off his drawing. He looks it over one last time. Not a bad depiction, if he says so himself. He turns it, pushing the paper across the table and beginning to eat his strange food.

Emmet stares at it for a long moment, before looking up at him. “What is this?”

Ingo gestures to himself. “Me. It’s what I’m supposed to look like.”

He stares for another few seconds, like he’s trying to figure something out. “Why did you draw yourself looking so… old? And messed up.”

He shrugs. “It’s accurate.”

“You thought your reflection looked weird earlier. Is this… what you were expecting?”

He nods.

Emmet gives him a baffled look. “Why?”

He doesn’t know how to answer that.

His brother stares back down at the drawing. He carefully runs a finger over it, taking in the details. “I don’t get it. You don’t look anything like this.”

Ingo nods. “I know. That is the problem.” He finishes his food, pushing the bowl aside. He leans back so he can look up at the ceiling. “I am very confused by this dream.”

Again he wonders if there’s any way it isn’t a dream. But if it’s not, how would he have changed so much? It doesn’t make any sense.

Across from him, Emmet sighs and lays his head on his arms. “I am verrry confused.”

Ingo laughs. “That’s what I said.”

He flicks his eyes up to meet Ingo’s. “You are, too, huh?”

He nods.

“Ok. So, you’re speaking a dead language. You drew an image of Sinnoh, which you insist is Hisui. You think you should look… older? How does that relate?” He shakes his head, expression growing more confused. “Did you fucking time travel?”

Ingo goes still. Is that a possibility?

Emmet notices his reaction and sits up. “No way. That was a joke.”

Ingo tilts his head in consideration. Emmet said that Hisui was ancient Sinnoh, but he definitely lives in Hisui. So time travel is a real possibility. Except he doesn’t remember anything between being there and being here. Nothing happened, he just sort of appeared here.

He hesitates a moment longer before deciding on, “maybe?”

“How could you have time traveled? You didn’t go anywhere. You were still on the Singles train.”

He hums. “Perhaps I simply returned to where I came from? As though I had lost no time at all. It would explain why I’m so much younger.”

“Wait, but if,” he makes an exaggerated expression, “IF, you traveled through time, then… How long were you gone? And why do you seem so confused by everything?”

In answer to the first question, Ingo gestures to the drawing again. 

Emmet looks again and this time, he seems far more affected. “Did you really look like this?”

He nods.

Emmet looks like he might cry. “You look so much older. That’s… years, isn’t it?”

Ingo looks down and nods again. Time travel would explain what’s happening. But if that’s the case, then… maybe this really isn’t a dream.

And if this isn’t a dream, then he’s really here. In the future. In his home. With his brother. He’s not going to wake up back in his tent in the Highlands, and go about his daily patrols. He’s not going to greet Lady Sneasler and her kits, or argue with Warden Melli, or battle against Akari.

If this is the future, then they are all gone. He will never see them again.

A hand touches his own and he flinches violently back, sending his chair clattering to the floor as he stumbles to his feet. Emmet pulls away, wearing a surprised expression. “Ingo, are you ok? You kinda… zoned out for a second.”

Ingo doesn’t answer. He pulls his arms together in front of himself and runs the thumb of one hand across the palm of the other. Just like last time, the lack of familiar scars derails the grounding exercise before it can be useful to him. His body is buzzing with energy, and he’s only distantly aware of Emmet standing and cautiously approaching him.

He turns away, the action sharp and sudden, and begins to pace. He focuses on his footsteps and on his breathing. He does not focus on the horrible revelation that everyone he knows is dead. He does not.

He shakes his head and increases his pace. He turns on his heel and runs straight into Emmet. He lifts his arms, intending to shove his brother away, but he stops. He wants to push him away, to run out the door and find someplace where his twin won’t find him. But he doesn’t.

He remains perfectly still and allows Emmet to take his hands and pull him closer. He clenches his jaw and closes his eyes and lets himself be wrapped in a tight embrace. Emmet rubs his back in slow circles, clearly trying to calm him down, but if anything, it’s just winding him up more.

The trembling begins small, working from the center of his chest outwards, slowly becoming stronger. He holds himself even more stiffly, trying to force it to stop. It doesn’t work. When his hands are visibly shaking, he finally shoves Emmet away.

He’s too rough, knocking him off balance and sending him to the ground with a small yelp and a thump. A twinge of shame briefly clouds his mind, but he can’t focus on it. He needs to move. He feels like there’s an Alpha Steelix bearing down on him and he’s just standing dumbly in its path.

He steps past his brother, ignoring the hurt look on his face, and paces through the living room. Back and forth. It’s the best he can do without leaving the apartment, which he’s sure is a bad idea. He shakes his hands out, then shakes his head again. He rolls his shoulders, and turns his neck side to side. He stretches his arms out and opens his mouth, stretching his tense jaw muscles. All while continuing to pace and ignoring his brother, who hasn’t bothered to get up off the floor.

Slowly, the tremors that run through his body become less and less frequent, until they fade away entirely. The anxiety is still there, running just below the surface, as is the deep well of sadness he’s not ready to face. But he has his body and mind mostly under control again. He takes a deep breath in, then slowly lets it out, forcing the last of his tension away, then turns to face Emmet. He’s turned in place, and is sitting cross-legged where he fell, watching with open concern.

“Are you alright?”

Emmet furrows his brow. “You’re asking if I’m ok, right?”

Ingo nods.

“Yeah. Probably gonna bruise, but it won’t kill me.”

Ingo sighs. “That’s not really what I meant.” He meets Emmet’s eyes and his expression makes it clear that he knows that. “I’m sorry.”

Emmet gives him a sad smile. “I know. It’s ok, I’m not mad, I just… Why?”

Ingo takes another deep breath and approaches, sitting in front of his brother and mirroring his position. “I didn’t want to be touched. I overreacted. I’m sorry.”

“I already told you it’s fine, don’t apologize. I don’t understand what you’re saying. Can you… try again?”

He sighs, but nods. He gestures to his head and narrows his eyes, then waves his hands around. It feels a little silly, but understanding seems to dawn in Emmet’s eyes.

“Overstimulated again?”

Ingo makes a noncommittal noise. While everything around them is still a lot, that wasn’t what set off his anxiety.

“Maybe just overwhelmed, then?”

He nods.

“Ok, but why did you push me away? I was trying to- I thought you would be comforted. By touch.”

He shakes his head.

“It has always worked before.”

Ingo shrugs. The Pearl Clan aren’t particularly touchy people, due to their high regard for personal space, and living so long among them has surely impacted him. Of course, Akari is quite affectionate, and he’s always welcomed that, but even with her, touch was never something he sought out for his own comfort. He’s been fine with touching Emmet up until now, but it only added to his anxiety in his overwhelmed state.

He can’t explain all that through gestures alone though, so he tries something simpler. “I had too much energy. I needed to let it out.” Along with his words, he waves his hands about again, then crudely mimes his pacing.

Emmet furrows his brow. “You needed to burn off energy?”

“Yes!”

He’s very excited to be communicating a little better, but Emmet still looks upset. “You’ve never needed that before.”

He shrugs again. “Things have changed. I suppose I have simply learned new ways to handle these things.”

Seeing that his words aren't coming across, Ingo reaches out. Now that he’s calmed down, he has no problem taking Emmet’s hands in his own. “ I have changed, but I am still Ingo and you are still Emmet.” When his brother leans forward, seemingly subconsciously, he obliges and pulls him into a hug. Emmet’s tension melts away, a complete inverse of his own reaction a few minutes ago. “I love you, Emmet.”

After a minute, Emmet sits back and rubs his eyes. Ingo leans forward again, meeting his eyes. If there’s any phrase he desperately wants his brother to understand, it’s this one. So he repeats himself. “I love you.”

It takes a moment for understanding to reach Emmet’s features, but when it does, his twin smiles brilliantly, despite the tears still in his eyes. “I love you too, Ingo.”

Ingo does his best to smile back. He's so lucky to have found his brother after so long, to be back here with him as though nothing happened at all. After so many years of dreaming of some unknown person beside him, he's finally here. And yet, the corners of his mouth fall back down into a frown as the pain of what this means comes back, creeping at the edges of his mind.

Emmet clearly sees the change of expression, despite how minute it must be. He reaches out and gently cups the side of Ingo's face. The touch doesn't set off that buzzing energy beneath his skin again, so he leans into it. “You... you hadn't realized you traveled through time, had you?”

Ingo shakes his head.

“That's what got you worked up, then? Because...” His eyes widen as he clearly puts together what's upsetting him. “Oh. If you were there for years, then you must have had friends there.” His eyes grow a little wet. “I'm so sorry, Ingo.”

At the words and the sight of his twin's tears, Ingo can't hold back his own any longer. He shakes his head and frustratedly dashes them away, but they're only replaced by more. Giving up on that, he lets his head fall forward to rest on Emmet's shoulder and tries to suppress the worst of the sobs that want to escape his chest. Emmet cautiously wraps his arms around him and this time he doesn't run away.

He knows his brother won't understand, but he needs to get it out or he feels like he's going to burst so, quietly, he begins to speak. “I have-” he falters immediately and has to take a deep breath before he can continue. “I had friends there, yes. Irida was very kind and though she never hid the fact she thought I was strange, she also made sure I was safe and cared for in the Highlands. She took on the position of clan leader far too young, but she was kind at heart and very capable. Calaba helped me when I first arrived and was so disoriented from my injuries I could barely function. People think she's just a grumpy old woman, but she's seen me at my worst and even so has never failed to treat me with the same respect she offers everyone. She would visit my tent sometimes and demand that I make her dinner. She would catch me up on everything going on in the clan while we ate, knowing I had no other way to stay in the loop.”

He takes another shaky breath before continuing. “I was one of very few people Palina confided in about her affections for Iscan, and the two would occasionally insist I visit them in the Coastlands because, as Palina put it, I needed to get out more. I- I hope that things worked out for them. They deserved to be happy. Melli... I've never met anyone quite like Melli. We argued more than anything, but I also spent more time with him than almost anyone else. I often helped him when he was first appointed as a Warden, though he would never admit that to anyone. He was difficult, often intentionally so, but there was more to him than that. He was also kind and very dedicated. He enjoyed embroidery and Pecha berry jam, which I would make for him. I was supposed to meet him for lunch this week. He wanted me to taste a new recipe he was trying out.” A sob escapes Ingo's chest and he presses his head down harder. Emmet makes a gentle hum and rubs his back. “I will never see him again. I will never see any of them again.”

He shakes his head. He's avoiding the most important, and most painful, thing. “Akari.” Just saying her name overwhelms him. “Akari was like me. She couldn't remember her own home and family, and neither could I, but we found a family in each other. I thought of her as my own daughter and I loved her more than anything in the world. I- She was like me. Maybe she didn't get left behind. I have to believe that she didn't. I have to believe that she made it back to her home like I did. If Akari is-” He shakes his head again. “She isn't gone. I won't believe it. She is home and safe. She has to be.” He knows that he's just denying what is likely reality, but he can't do anything else. He can't handle the thought that she was left behind in the distant past. That she's long dead. So for now, he will simply choose to believe that she's fine. Home and happy.

Ingo finally falls silent. He's not crying anymore and more than anything, he just feels exhausted. Emmet continues patting his back for another minute or so, then leans back to look him in the eye. “I really wish I could understand what you said, but... I'm glad you talked anyway. You clearly needed to.”

Ingo gives a tired laugh. Emmet put into words so simply something he's never been able to explain. The way that sometimes he just needs to talk in order to work through something in his mind. It's a habit that others have often told him is strange.

His brother smiles. “You look verrry tired. You didn't sleep well last night, did you?”

Ingo shakes his head. While he had slept through the night, he doesn't think it was particularly restful.

“You should sleep, then.”

He nods and Emmet stands, pulling him up as well. But when his brother starts to step away, he grabs onto one of his arms. Where before he had felt the need to escape from him, filled with restless energy, now he's suddenly anxious at the thought of being separated from Emmet. He doesn’t want to lose anyone else.

Emmet gives him a confused look. “What's wrong?”

“I...” He feels a little embarrassed. He’s too old to be acting like he's a scared kid. He keeps his eyes down and pulls his brother a little closer. “I don't want to leave you.”

It's a testament to how well his brother knows him that he understands after only a moment of confusion. “Oh.” He steps forward and wraps his arms around Ingo. “Ok, I'll stay with you. Come here.”

Emmet leads him to the couch, where he sits at one end. Ingo lays next to him. The couch isn't really long enough for this, so he ends up partially laying on Emmet, but his brother only smiles and pats his shoulder.

“Comfortable?”

Ingo closes his eyes, the exhaustion fully catching up to him now. “Yes. Thank you, Emmet.”

If his brother responds, he doesn't hear it. He's lost to the world in an instant.

Chapter Text

When Ingo wakes up, he finds that his head is laid on Emmet's chest, which is rising and falling steadily. He glances up and sees that his brother is asleep. He moved at some point so that he's laying down as well, using the arm of the couch as a pillow, and his arms are wrapped loosely around Ingo. He must have moved Ingo as well to get to this position and he's surprised that he didn't wake up when he did. He must have been more tired than he thought.

Not wanting to wake Emmet, Ingo only shuffles a bit and lays his head back down, content to stay in place and listen to the sound of breathing. It soothes him in an unexpected way and he finds himself drifting off again. Not into full sleep, but a pleasant sort of half-asleep state.

He stays there, floating thoughtlessly until the sound of the front door opening startles him back to alertness. He sits up enough to look over the back of the couch and finds himself meeting Elesa's eyes. She raises an eyebrow, but turns away to shut the door. Ingo returns to his comfortable position. He's pretty confident she won't mind.

“Ingo?” A moment later, she comes around the couch and snorts when she sees that he's using his brother as a pillow. More quietly, she says, “I see. Well, now I don't have to ask where Emmet is.”

Ingo huffs a small laugh and follows her with his eyes as she makes herself comfortable in the large chair nearby.

“Are you feeling better than yesterday?”

He considers for a moment before shaking his head. “No. Much worse, actually.”

Emmet shifts at the sound of his voice. After a moment, he mumbles incoherently and opens his eyes, meeting Ingo's. His neutral smile widens into something more genuine and his arms tighten slightly. His voice is thick with sleep when he says, “good morning.”

Ingo laughs. “I don't know what time it is, but I'm pretty sure it's not morning.” He shifts his eyes to the side. “Also, we have company.”

Emmet follows the direction of his gaze and his eyes widen. He sits up suddenly and Ingo grabs tighter so he's not thrown to the ground. “Elesa! When did you get here?”

She laughs. “Just a few minutes ago. Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you. You looked very cute there, all cuddled up with Ingo. Reminds me of when we were kids.”

Emmet's ears turn red. “Ingo was distressed! I had to help!”

It takes Ingo a moment to catch on to the fact that his twin is apparently fairly easy to embarrass and Elesa is taking advantage of it. When he figures that out, he does the only appropriate thing for a brother to do and joins in. He throws his arms around his brother and nuzzles the side of his face affectionately. “You did help! You're the best brother I could ever ask for.” While he is teasing, he means every word. Unfortunately, Emmet doesn't understand, so he grabs the sides of his face and looks him in the eyes. “I love you, Emmet.”

His brother goes even redder at the words he does understand. He looks down and mumbles. “Love you too, Ingo.”

Elesa laughs at his awkwardness and he pulls a face and sticks his tongue out at her. Ingo laughs too, enjoying the familiar way they interact. That draws Elesa's attention back to him again though, and her expression morphs to one of concern. “Emmet said you were distressed? You good, buddy?” Her tone is purposefully light, but doesn't completely hide the worry he can still hear in it.

Ingo snorts and shakes his head. Good is not a word he would use to describe anything about how he's feeling.

Emmet's smile falls, becoming small and sad. He looks down, refusing to make eye contact with either of them. “We figured out what happened.”

“You did?” Elesa seems surprised. When he doesn't elaborate, she cautiously asks, “and that was...?”

Emmet sighs. “Ingo time traveled to ancient Sinnoh, and then got sent back to where he was taken from like nothing happened. Except it did happen.”

There's a long moment of silence, then, “you're not joking, are you?”

“I'm not.”

“Fuuuuuuuuck.” She runs a hand through her hair and turns to look at Ingo. “That's so fucked up, dude. Wh- how?”

Emmet looks at him for an answer and he shrugs. He has no idea. It's not as though he intended to travel through time, it just sort of happened.

“Ohhhh-kay. You were in ancient Sinnoh?”

Ingo nods.

“And then you just showed back up here? At the same time you left?”

He nods again. Technically, he doesn't remember leaving, but it seems pretty clear that no time passed.

“How long were you gone? And why don't you look any different?”

Ingo tilts his head, considering how to answer. Emmet stands up and goes to the table. He picks up the drawing he had made that morning and hands it to Elesa. “Like I said, he was brought back like nothing happened. Ingo drew this earlier. It's what he thinks he should look like.”

She stares at the self portrait, not even trying to hide her shock. She opens her mouth to speak, but it takes several tries before actual words come out. “Th-this is you?” She looks up with horror written on her face.

Ingo nods. A small part of him is offended by the strong reaction they've both had to his appearance. It's not like he could help getting older.

“You look so old in this. How long were you there?”

This he can answer, more or less. He gets up and picks up the pen from the table, marking a sheet of paper with tick marks.

When he shows them, they both look sick. Emmet's voice is deathly quiet as he asks, “twenty five years?”

He nods, then waves his hand up and down. “More or less. I'm not precisely sure.”

“That's...” His brother trails off, staring into space.

Ingo crosses back to him and takes his hands, squeezing them gently. He learned this morning that Emmet is comforted by touch, so he hopes that it will help.

It seems to, as he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. When he opens them again, he smiles sadly. “No wonder you're so upset. I'm so sorry, Ingo.”

He shakes his head, having no desire to repeat his breakdown from this morning.

His brother clearly understands because he nods and asks, “can you tell us more? Maybe by drawing?”

Elesa speaks up, forcing a cheerful tone. “Yeah! That's a good idea.”

Ingo nods in agreement. It sounds a lot better than continuing to talk about this, so he heads back to the table and sits down, setting the pen to paper and beginning to draw. It doesn't take long before the table is covered in drawings. Most are quick sketches, enough to show his subject clearly, but without a lot of detail. Several are more complex.

Emmet picks up one of the latter kind. “Who is this?”

Ingo glances at it and his mouth turns up slightly. “Akari.”

He drew her alongside her trusty Decidueye, standing in the pointing pose that she picked up from him. For some reason, the pose had been very entertaining to her and she began to do it almost as often as he did.

“She’s doing your battle pose.”

Ingo laughs. “It’s good to know that’s something I actually did before.”

Emmet, of course, doesn’t understand this, so he takes a fresh piece of paper and begins another sketch. He doesn’t bother with much detail in this one, so it only takes a few minutes. This one shows Akari, much younger, facing off against him in battle. Between the two of them, he draws Dartrix and Gliscor. This took place the day they met, which was nearly five years ago now.

Elesa looks at it. “This is the same girl?”

He nods.

“Did you battle a lot?”

“Yes.”

Emmet laughs. “That shouldn’t surprise me, I guess. She must have liked you a lot if she was copying your pose.”

Ingo tilts his head. How would he even go about explaining that he adopted Akari only a few months after their first meeting. That they have been each other's only family for years. He doesn’t think he can, so he just nods one more time.

His brother accepts that and moves on to another drawing. “What about this one?”

“Lady Sneasler.”

“Sneas…ler?” Emmet looks more closely. “It does look kind of like a Sneasel. An evolution?”

“Yes.”

“Why is it carrying a basket?”

Ingo takes the paper back, drawing a quick sketch next to the first one of Akari riding in the basket. He draws her laughing since she always enjoyed riding that way.

Emmet smiles at the drawing. “I see. It carried people. Did it carry you too?”

Ingo shakes his head and before Emmet can ask why, he stands. He holds his hand out flat about halfway down his chest. He says simply, “Akari.”

Emmet gives a small laugh. “You were too big?”

“Yes.” He inclines his head as he sits back down, letting his eyes crinkle to show his pleasure at being understood.

Emmet hums. “Oh, speaking of Pokemon. Ours would probably appreciate being let out so they can eat. Is that alright with you?”

Ingo hadn't considered their Pokemon. Of course they have them. In fact, several pokeballs are still clipped to his belt, but it hadn't occurred to him yet that those aren't the partners he knows. He nods slowly, unclipping them from his belt and turning them over in his hands in consideration, before releasing them all at once.

Five Pokemon fill the space, and Emmet releases five more. They're all quite familiar to him, even though he knows he hasn't seen any of the species before. Most of them don't pay him much attention, focused on his brother as he walks to the closet where the food for them must be stored. The only one who doesn't go with them is the ghost type he identifies as Chandelure. Instead, she approaches him, chiming inquisitively.

Ingo reaches out to pet her. “Hello, Chandelure.”

She floats closer, her eyes narrowed in confusion, and circles him several times. When she chimes again, she sounds worried.

“You can tell I'm different, can't you? It's alright, I promise. I don't remember you very well, but I'm very happy for the chance to get to know you again.”

She bobs back and forth, clearly disturbed. After a moment, her eyes glow softly and he feels the strangest sensation, much like how the Duosion back at the hospital had felt. And just like the Duosion, Chandelure recoils back almost instantly. She makes a noise akin to shattering glass, which gets the attention of everyone in the room, but unlike the Duosion, she doesn't run away. She tries again.

This attempt to see into his mind is much more forceful, causing him to cry out in pain. Still, she doesn't stop. He feels his knees buckle and hears Emmet and Elesa shout. His vision goes white except for a symbol of pure gold burning itself into his mind. The last thing he hears before he falls is Chandelure being recalled to her pokeball.

Chapter Text

Ingo wakes up in an unfamiliar bed. It's far too soft, seeming to sink under him and pull him down. In a way, it's comforting, like he could just sink into it and sleep forever, but it's also somewhat alarming. His instincts win out and he sits up far too quickly, nearly falling back again when that makes him lightheaded. The room he's in is dark, but as his eyes adjust, he realizes it's the same one he slept in the night before. It's night again now, but it had been early afternoon last he remembered. He shakes his head, trying to clear the spots that remain in his vision, but they won't go away. Not spots, he realizes. They're too uniform for that. It's a symbol that seems to be burned into his eyes, and one he's seen before.

He swings his legs over the edge of the bed and stands, moving slowly because of his persistent lightheadedness. He opens the door and silently pads down the hallway to the living room. It's empty, unsurprisingly, and he makes his way over to the table. His drawings from earlier are still there, moved to one side and stacked neatly. Chandelure's pokeball is sitting next to them. He takes a fresh piece of paper and quickly sketches the symbol which is slowly fading from his eyes.

Once he's finished, he shuffles through the stack of drawings until he finds the one of Lady Sneasler. Sure enough, there on her basket is that same symbol. As it's always been. He never bothered to wonder what it meant, but now he wishes he had asked someone. Why is he seeing it, and what does it have to do with whatever is wrong with his mind? He has no idea how to even begin to find out.

Ingo lets his head fall to the table with a soft thump. He still has a terrible headache and although he's apparently been sleeping since the middle of the day, he's exhausted. He should probably go back to the bed, but he's quite comfortable enough here, so he closes his eyes and lets himself slowly drift off.

Ingo wakes again to the sound of a door opening in the hallway. He jumps up too fast and knocks his chair over, and the sound in turn summons Emmet, who stares at him with wide eyes. He stares back, only half awake, before shaking his head lightly and turning away to pick up the chair.

“...Were you asleep out here?”

Ingo nods. “Yes. Probably not the best idea.”

“When did you wake up?”

“I'm not sure.” Realizing Emmet can't understand him, he turns to face him and shrugs.

“Do you... remember what happened?”

He looks away again. “Yes. Chandelure tried to get into my mind, but there's something wrong with it.”  When Emmet just gives him a confused look, he picks up his sketch from last night and hands it to him. He leaves his brother to study it, while he goes to the kitchen and searches for something to eat. He quickly decides not to brave the very odd looking stove and picks up some berries from the counter.

When he turns back, Emmet is holding up the drawing with a confused expression. “What does Arceus have to do with anything?”

“Arceus?”

“This is the Sign of Arceus.”

Ingo furrows his brow. The name Arceus sounds familiar, but he doesn't understand what it has to do with anything. He goes back to the table and picks up the other drawing. He takes it to Emmet and points to the same symbol on Lady Sneasler's basket, then gestures to his own head.

“I don't understand.”

Ingo doesn't either, really. Still, he tries again. He gestures to the pokeball on the table, then back to his own head.

“It has to do with what happened yesterday? With Chandelure?”

Ingo makes a noncommittal noise and shrugs. He's not sure.

“With the time travel, then?”

He nods. He's pretty sure it's related to that, though how exactly is unclear.

“Huh. I suppose Arceus would be capable of sending you through time, but... why would it?”

Ingo just shrugs again.

Before they can speculate any further, the door opens and Elesa practically flies inside. She smiles when she sees them. “Oh good, you're awake.” She pulls a device out of her pocket and turns it to show them. “I found more information about Hisui.” She points at Ingo. “About you.”

On the screen is the image of a sketch that he recognizes as having been done by Akari. It looks fairly similar to his own self portrait, which still lays on the table nearby, except far more detailed. She's a much better artist than he is.

Elesa turns the device back towards herself and reads aloud what's written there. “Warden Ingo of the Pearl Clan. Considered one of the most mysterious Wardens of Hisui, he appeared near the Pearl Clan settlement in 1636, seemingly from nowhere. He had sustained heavy injury, including a severe concussion, which robbed him of his memory, meaning even the man himself was unable to explain his provenance. Warden Ingo served as the Warden to the Noble Sneasler from 1638 until 1662, when he vanished under circumstances as mysterious as his appearance. Warden Ingo was known for his unusual skill at taming Pokemon and was credited with the creation of the first Battle Facility in Sinnoh, which was later used as the basis for the Battle Frontier, which still exists today.”

Emmet stares at him, a wide smile breaking out on his face. “You created a Battle Facility?”

While that's not what he had called it, that term does seem appropriate so Ingo nods.

Both of them laugh. Elesa is still chuckling as she says, “of course you did.”

Emmet's happy expression falls. “But it also said you didn't remember where you came from. Is that true?”

“Yes.”

“And you didn't know me when you got here. 1636 to 1662 is twenty six years. You didn't remember in all that time?”

Ingo shakes his head. “I didn't. I'm sorry. I never meant to forget you.”

Emmet swats him half-heartedly. “I told you to quit apologizing. It said you had a concussion, that's not your fault.”

He supposes that's true, but he still feels like he failed by never remembering Emmet until he met him again.

Elesa waves her hand to get their attention, a slightly mischievous smile on her face. “There's more.” When she's sure they're both paying attention, she continues reading. “He was also known to share a close bond with Akari, the girl known as the Hero of Hisui, whose origin is just as unclear as his own. There is some speculation the two may have shared a blood relation due to Akari being referred to as 'Warden Ingo's child' in the journal of Warden Melli. This is the subject of some debate due to the lack of records of her existence before 1657 and the uncertainty of the translation, with some arguing that the correct translation should be 'Warden Ingo's ward'.”

Now, Emmet is staring at him open mouthed. “Answer me honestly, Ingo. Did you father a child in the distant past?”

Ingo laughs and shakes his head. Emmet looks relieved, but he's not finished. “I did adopt one, though.”

His brother narrows his eyes. “I didn't understand that, but I have a feeling it's important. Or you're messing with me.”

“Or both.” Elesa helpfully supplies.

“Yes. Or both.”

Ingo laughs again, considering how to explain. He honestly has no idea where to begin.

Thankfully, Elesa seems to realize his problem. “Ok, so was part of that correct, then?”

“Yes.”

“Not the part about you being her father, so... is the 'ward' translation right?”

He crinkles his eyes and nods.

Emmet narrows his eyes. “What does that mean? What's a ward?”

“Kinda an old fashioned way to say adopted child.” Elesa explains casually, clearly enjoying the way Emmet's eyes widen in shock.

“So you did have a kid?!”

Ingo snorts and nods.

Emmet reaches across the table, digging through the stack of drawings until he finds the one of Akari doing his pose. He points at her with an exaggerated expression. “This is my niece?”

Ingo nods. “Yes. She couldn't remember her home and family, and neither could I, but we found a family in each other. I love her more than anything in the world.” He can hear the sadness tinging his tone and stops before he can be overwhelmed by it. 

Emmet obviously hears his tone as well and reaches across the table to squeeze his hand. “I'm sorry.” He looks down at the drawing again. “You said her name was Akari?”

“Is Akari.” Emmet doesn’t understand the correction, but he needs to make it anyway.

“You must have cared about her a lot if you adopted her. And she’s still…” Tears start to fill his eyes and he shakes his head. “I’m so sorry, brother.”

Elesa sits next to him and lays a hand on his shoulder. “I can’t imagine how you’re feeling. I’m sorry, I should have been more tactful.”

He shakes his head, fighting back tears of his own. “No. It’s ok. I just… I can’t do this right now.” All he can do right now is hope that she made it home like he did. He has to believe that she did. He can't bear to think that she's gone along with everyone else.

“I can… look up what happened to her? It seemed like she was pretty important. There may be more information.”

“No!” Ingo slams both hands down on the table, startling them. He can feel himself beginning to panic. Nothing good can come of looking into that. The best case scenario is that she vanished like he did, but that doesn’t even prove anything definitively. And if that’s not the case, if he finds out she was left behind there, he’ll break. He won’t be able to handle it. “Please, no.”

Emmet looks worried. He clearly wants to say more, but doesn't know how.

Ingo shakes his head again. He doesn't want to think about it. Reaching for a way to change the subject, he goes back to their topic of conversation from before Elesa arrived. Keeping it simple, he just asks, “Arceus?”

Emmet's teary, worried expression remains, but he doesn't contest the subject change. Filling Elesa in, he explains, “Ingo thinks Arceus had something to do with him time traveling. And with what happened with Chandelure last night?” He glances at Ingo for confirmation of the last part and he nods.

She nods. “Ok, I could see that. It's certainly capable. The question is, why would it do that?”

Ingo shrugs. He gestures to his head, then Chandelure's pokeball, then picks up his sketch of the Sign of Arceus and points to it.

Elesa shakes her head. “I don't understand.”

Ingo sighs. He tries again, pointing specifically to his eyes this time.

Emmet tries. “You... saw the Sign of Arceus?”

He nods.

“When Chandelure tried to look into your mind?”

“Yes!”

His brother looks disturbed. “I guess that would explain what happened with the Duosion at the hospital. That would probably freak out most Pokemon.”

“Yeah...” Elesa agrees hesitantly. “But why would it be trying to keep Pokemon from looking into your mind?”

Ingo shakes his head. “I don't think that's what its purpose is. I've been thinking. I don't remember ever speaking a language besides Celestica, even when I first arrived in Hisui. But there's no way I should know it if it's a dead language here. I think Arceus messed with my mind when it sent me back in time.”

They both look lost and he huffs in frustration. This is so annoying. If he's right, did it really have to replace his native language? Why couldn't it just give him a new one? Before he can get too frustrated, though, Emmet says, “you said Celestica. That's the language you've been speaking, right?”

He nods.

“You think Arceus has something to do with why you can't speak Galarian?”

“What, like it sent you back in time and just installed a new language in your brain so you wouldn't be confused?” Elesa asks.

Ingo laughs and nods. If he's being honest, it probably was helpful. Would have been more helpful if he hadn't managed to get injured and lose his memory immediately. And also if he could remember his original language now that he's back home. Did Arceus send him home? Did it just forget to fix whatever it did to him?

“Ok, but why did it send you back in time in the first place?”

Ingo shrugs. Again, maybe if he hadn't lost his memory, he would know, but as it is, he's as lost as he's always been. He sighs. It really doesn't matter, he supposes. He's back here now, so he ought to make the most of that. It's better than thinking about everything he's lost, anyway. He looks at Emmet. “Will you help me learn to speak Galarian again?”

His brother furrows his brow, trying to puzzle out what he means.

Ingo sighs again, unable to contain the frustration that still runs just beneath the surface. He points to himself. “Galarian?”

“Oh! You want to practice?”

“Yes.”

Elesa tilts her head. “How do you teach someone a language they already understand?”

Ingo shrugs. He doesn't really know. He understands the words they're speaking, and he could probably replicate the way they sound, but that's not what comes to him when he wants to speak. He supposes the best they can do is try.

Chapter Text

Emmet and Elesa spend most of the afternoon trying to teach Ingo how to speak his native language. It's frustratingly difficult. If he doesn't focus on making himself speak the unfamiliar syllables, the words come out in Celestica against his will. It's Elesa who suggests that he teach them some Celestica at the same time, so they can at least communicate better.

Since they don't have some kind of divine barrier in their minds, it's a little easier going for them, but the language is completely foreign, so honestly, they're all pretty evenly matched. By the time the sunlight coming through the window turns orange, he's able to give simple answers to questions, as well as identify the words for many of the things around the apartment. Similarly, they can understand when he says simple things in Celestica like, 'thank you' and 'I don't know.'

Emmet's stomach grumbling loudly is what eventually gets them to stop and go to the kitchen. Once again, Ingo has no desire to try to figure out how to use the odd stove, or any of the other appliances, really, but he locates fresh vegetables in the large metallic box Emmet calls a fridge and a set of sharp knives in a block on the counter. While his brother watches in confusion, he quickly puts together a simple, but reasonably nutritious, salad.

“When did you learn to do that?”

He turns and raises an eyebrow.

Emmet waves his hand. “Right. I guess you've probably learned some new things in the last twenty-six years. But cooking has never been an interest of yours.”

Ingo hums. He certainly wasn't good at it when he arrived in Hisui. He focuses on trying to speak the right language. “I was...” He furrows his brow and steps back away from them, gesturing to the space between.

“Alone?”

He nods, then tries out the word for himself. “Alone. Yes. Until Akari arrived, anyway.”

Emmet tilts his head, parsing his meaning from context. “You were alone until you adopted Akari?”

“Yes.”

“I suppose it makes sense you would have learned to cook, then.”

He knows that it would be too complicated to explain that, while he had been passable at cooking before he met Akari, he only really got good at it when he was regularly cooking for someone else. He didn't mind eating the same simple bread and stew most of the time, but it would have felt wrong not to branch out a bit for his daughter. He supposes it doesn't matter if Emmet knows all the details, but more than anything, he just wants to be able to have a proper conversation.

He does his best to push back the ever present frustration with this situation and just nods. While they've been talking, Elesa has successfully cooked some potatoes in the odd box shaped device, so they dish it out onto plates and take the food to the table to eat.

Ingo takes one bite of the potatoes, just to try it. The taste isn't bad. If anything, it's actually quite good. Even so, he can't force himself to eat another bite, so he just eats the salad instead. When his brother looks over and sees the potatoes still sitting on his plate, he tilts his head. “What's wrong? Don't you like those?”

He shakes his head. “It's... good.”

“So why aren't you eating it?” Elesa asks, seeming more confused than anything.

Ingo gestures to himself. “Bad...”

“Not taste, so…  Association?” Emmet guesses.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

He shrugs. “One batch of poisoned potato mochi will put you off potatoes forever, it turns out.” Obviously, they don't understand and it's a bit too complicated to try to explain through mime, so he doesn't bother to try.

Elesa still guesses, though. “Hmm. I guess it's not as simple as your tastes having changed. Someone you don't like really liked potatoes?”

Ingo tilts his head and gives a noncommittal wave. That's not wrong, but not really right either.

“Ok... Well, my next guess was going to be food poisoning. I know that put me off eating sushi for a long time.”

“Yes!” They both give him a confused look, but he just repeats the words slowly. “Food... Poison.”

“Poisoning,” Elesa tries to help him out.

He shakes his head. “No. Poison.”

Emmet's expression slowly shifts into one of understanding and then horror. “Your food was poisoned?” He nods and his brother looks slightly ill. He whispers, “why?”

“It would be hard to explain if we spoke the same language.” When Emmet just stares at him blankly, he tries again. “I can't. Too...”

“Difficult?”

“No.”

There's a moment of silence while they both try to figure out what he's trying to say. Eventually, Elesa guesses, “too complicated?”

“Yes.”

Emmet holds eye contact for a minute, before he lets out a sharp breath. “We are going to talk about this later. When you are more able to. For now... I'm guessing you don’t want to eat potatoes?”

“Yes.”

“Ok. I will not make them again.”

Elesa nods, “neither will I.”

“Thank you.”

Ingo sleeps fitfully the following night, unable to escape thinking about Hisui. About all the people he left behind. He's happy to be home, to finally know who the man in white is after all these years, but he wishes he'd been given the chance to say goodbye. The people who took him in and gave him a home are all gone and for all they knew, he just vanished one day.

During the day, with his brother, he can ignore it, but at night, when he's alone, he can't. Eventually, he gets up and wanders around the apartment, refamiliarizing himself with it. He scans the books and photos on the shelves, and greets the Pokemon who wander out to see what he's doing. They're very friendly, and he wishes he could remember them. They don't seem to mind, or perhaps they don't notice.

One of them, a large dragon he identifies as Haxorus, leads him over to the table and nudges the pokeball still sitting there. Ingo scratches her under the blades attached to her jaw. “Chandelure has to stay in there.”

Haxorus nudges him with her nose and whines softly. She clearly doesn't understand.

“She hurt me.”

The dragon's eyes widen and she huffs.

“I don't think she meant to.” He keeps his eyes fixed on the ball, considering. “She probably wouldn't do it again. I-if she tried, would you stop her?” He glances back at Haxorus.

She snorts unhappily, but nods.

Ingo nods as well, but doesn't move right away. The memory of pain in his mind is still quite fresh. He shakes himself, steeling his nerves, and reaches out to pick up the ball. Before he can second guess himself, he presses the button in the center.

There's a flash of light and Chandelure appears. When she sees him, she chimes excitedly, then a little quieter. She sinks in the air until she's barely hovering over the table, looking about as remorseful as a ghostly chandelier can.

“Please don't try to get into my mind again. I know I'm different. I will explain, just don't do that again.”

She bobs up and down in agreement.

He lets his eyes soften. “Thank you.”

Chandelure chimes and floats closer. When he doesn't move away, she comes right up and leans against his chest. Her glass is cool to the touch and her flames lick gently against his skin.

“You know, when I first met Akari, she helped me remember some things. One of them was you.” He shakes his head lightly. “I'm sorry. I'm getting ahead of myself. I... somehow ended up in Hisui. Ancient Sinnoh. I was there for a very long time. I lost my memory. I couldn't remember you, or any of the others,” he gestures to Haxorus and the other Pokemon. “Or Emmet.”

She makes a soft noise and wraps her metallic limbs around him. He gladly accepts the comfort, melting into her somewhat.

After a minute or so, he asks softly, “do I look like him to you? The Ingo you knew, I mean.”

She floats back away from him, making a confused chime.

He sighs and turns away, going to the soft chair in the living room, where he sits down. She follows, floating after him silently. When he looks up, she meets his eyes with her own, ghostly yellow ones. “Am I the same person? I don’t feel like I am. I feel like a stranger in this body.” He closes his eyes and leans his head back against the soft cushion. “I’m old, Chandelure. I’ve lived a long life. A good one, even. I wasn’t prepared to be… like this. I shouldn’t complain. A lot of people would do anything for a chance like this, but…” He shakes his head. “I don’t know. I wonder what he was like, the Ingo who lived here. I don’t really know anything about him. Emmet probably wouldn’t be happy if I asked.”

Chandelure makes an unhappy noise and settles against his chest again.

He sighs again. “I suppose you aren’t happy about it either, are you? I’m sorry.” He wraps his arms around her. “I’m sorry I’m not your Ingo anymore.”

She hums quietly and he tries to relax, to ignore the knot in his chest. He can’t quite get his mind off the subject, though. He knows that in many ways, he is the same person as the one who lived here and now, but in so many other ways, he isn’t. The Ingo who lived here had a whole lifetime of memories. He had a brother. He had friends. From what he can tell, he must have been happy. And now he’s gone.

Ingo has been replaced by Warden Ingo. Warden Ingo was also happy. He had a duty that he took pride in, and Lady Sneasler, who he loved like family. He had a daughter, and many good friends. Although he often wondered about the man he was before, he never really thought that he would find out. And he certainly never thought that he would return here to take that man’s place. In an odd way, it feels like he killed him.

He wishes selfishly that he had either stayed there, or been returned without his memory of being there. This in-between fate feels far too cruel. Before he realizes, there are tears making tracks down his face. He cradles Chandelure a little closer and doesn’t try to stop them. He cries until he’s too exhausted to continue and falls into a restless sleep.

Ingo wakes up suddenly, to the feeling of a hand on his shoulder. He’s unable to completely suppress his instinctive response to the unexpected touch and leaps to his feet. After so many years living on guard, he could never completely stop responding in such a way even to Akari. He shakes his head in an attempt to focus. “Emmet. Good morning.”

Emmet gives him a worried smile. “Are you alright?”

“Yes.”

“You slept out here again. Are you not sleeping well?”

Ingo shakes his head. “No. Bad… dreams.”

Emmet’s brow furrows. “Nightmares?”

“Nightmares.” He repeats the word, committing it to memory. “Yes.”

His brother gives him a sad look. “Is there… anything I can do?”

“No.” Ingo steps closer and wraps his arms around him. “But, thank you. I love you.”

Emmet melts a bit in his embrace. “I love you too, Ingo.” After a minute or so, he hesitantly draws back. “Do you want breakfast?”

Ingo nods, and the two of them break apart and head to the kitchen. Emmet takes out a pan and a carton of eggs while Ingo searches the cupboards a little more thoroughly than before. He’s pleased to find a variety of herbs and spices, as well as staples like rice and flour. He takes some of these ingredients and a large bowl, laying them out of the counter. Emmet raises an eyebrow, but just continues to work on his task while Ingo quickly creates a dough. He splits it into relatively even portions, which he forms into the shape of the pastries he’s trying to make.

His brother offers him a flat pan before he can think to ask for something and presses a few buttons on the odd stove. He glances back. “Do you know how long they need to bake for?”

Ingo shrugs. It usually takes quite some time, but the stove he’s used to is very different. “I don’t know. We will just have to keep an eye on them.” Impulsively, he asks, “Emmet, how many years… are you?”

His brother gives him an amused look. “How old am I?”

“Yes.” That does sound more right in this language.

“We are thirty five.” A pained look crosses his face. “Oh. I, um. I am thirty five. I suppose you are…” He pulls a face as he apparently does the math. “Sixty one.”

“Mmm.” That’s actually younger than he thought by nearly a decade. It would seem the healers in the Pearl Clan did not accurately guess his age when he arrived there.

“But physically, you are also thirty five.”

Ingo nods. “Right.”

Emmet nods sharply, his features pinched. “Alright, well, the eggs are done so why don’t we eat and we can have your… biscuits,” he raises an eyebrow in question, “later.”

Ingo laughs. “Not biscuits.” 

“What are they, then?”

“Pastries. They’re Akari’s favorite.” Instead of trying to translate that, he gestures to the table. “Breakfast.”

Emmet nods and takes their plates to the table, but when he sits, he says, “you mentioned Akari.” He hesitates, apparently trying to figure out how to phrase his question. “Did you cook for her a lot?”

Ingo crinkles his eyes. “Yes. It… made me happy.” He shakes his head. “Happy.”

“Cooking for her made you happy?”

“Yes.” He looks down, trying not to let too much sadness color his tone. “I love being able to… bring her joy. In any way. I miss her.”

Emmet clearly hears the sadness despite his best efforts. His voice has an annoying habit of betraying him that way. He gives a sad smile. “You really loved her didn’t you?”

Ingo flinches involuntarily. “I love her.” He shakes his head again. He has to translate if he wants to be sure his brother will understand. “I love her. Not loved.”

“Oh.” Despite his flat tone, Emmet’s expression shows surprise, and then sadness and guilt. “I’m sorry.” He seems at a loss for words for nearly a minute, during which an awkward silence falls. Eventually, he says, “it's… kind of strange. I know it was like, twenty years later or something for you. But it’s strange to think you ha- have a daughter. I never would have expected you to… want that.”

Ingo hums, tilting his head slowly in consideration. “I… I did not… try to have… a daughter.” It’s frustrating how difficult it is to string together a sentence. Even though he succeeds, it’s not exactly what he wanted to say. “But I did want…” He gestures to Emmet frustratedly.

Emmet guesses the word he’s looking for. “A brother?”

Ingo shakes his head.

“Family?”

Ingo crinkles his eyes. “Yes. I did want family. More than I realized at the time. She… made me happy. I liked… watching her grow. I am very…”

“Proud?”

He looks up at his brother in surprise.

He laughs, a fond smile on his face. “You’re predictable, Brother.”

Ingo laughs too. “I see.” He takes a slow breath. It’s nice to be able to talk about Akari with his brother, but it still hurts in a way he really doesn’t want to address. He reaches across the table and takes his hand, squeezing it gently. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” He still seems to be bothered by something, so Ingo stays where he is, holding his hand while he thinks it through. After another minute, he sighs softly. “I don’t… know how to say this. Without sounding… rude.”

Ingo squeezes his hand. “It’s ok.”

Emmet gives him a grateful smile, though it falls almost immediately into something close to a frown. “It’s just. You are Ingo. But you have changed. I am not surprised that you are so proud of your daughter, but that you adopted her in the first place. It is…” He hesitates, then shakes his head. “It is strange. Not bad. Just strange. I want to know about what happened to you. But it is a lot to wrap my mind around.”

When he falls silent, Ingo does his best to smile back. “It’s ok. You don’t have to… force yourself to understand. I am…” He hesitates, trying to remember the word his brother used. “Changed. Different. I am Ingo. But I’m not really the Ingo you knew.” He looks down, trying not to sound too upset. “I’m sorry I took his place.”

Emmet’s brows come together. “I don’t know what you just said, but I don’t like the way you said it.” He stands, stepping around the table and taking Ingo’s forearms in his hands. He meets his eyes with a serious expression. “You are Ingo. You are changed, yes, but you are Ingo. That is enough for me.”

Ingo feels his eyes filling with tears at the earnestness he sees in his brother’s eyes. He stands cautiously. “It… is?”

“Yes. It really is. It will take some time to get used to, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that you are Ingo. I love you.”

Now, the tears actually begin to spill over. “I love you, Emmet.”

His brother starts to wrap him into a hug, but he pulls back. Instantly, he lets go. It’s only been a short time and Emmet has already learned some of his new quirks. “Are you alright?”

He shakes his head. “No. I don’t think so. I’m sorry, I…”

Emmet smiles at him. “It’s alright. Why don’t you rest a while? Elesa will be here soon, but we can talk more later.”

Ingo nods, crinkling his eyes. “Thank you.” He steps away, throwing one last grateful look back before heading to his own room.

He sits on his bed, but he’s not tired. Chandelure settles herself against his chest and he wraps his arms around her. After a few minutes, he hears the front door of the apartment open, then close, and he can hear Elesa and Emmet speaking in the kitchen. It sounds like normal conversation at first, but after a minute, there’s a lull which is broken by a different sound.

It takes a moment for him to identify, but when he does, a heavy guilt settles in his chest. It’s the sound of crying. He stands and goes to the door, hovering his hand over the handle. He should go out there, but what would that achieve? Now slightly closer, he can vaguely hear Elesa saying something comforting and Emmet as he continues to cry. 

Ingo wouldn’t be able to do anything useful. It’s his fault his brother is upset. He may have said that he was enough as he is, but that doesn’t change the fact that he must be mourning the loss of who he was. Slowly, silently, he cracks the door open.

He hears Emmet, in a tone still flat, but broken by occasional sobs, say, “t-twenty six years, Elesa.”

“I know.” Her own tone is gentle and comforting, but tinged with sadness.

“And h-he doesn’t even remember anything. S-so much has changed. How has so much changed so fast?”

“I don’t know, Em. Blame it on Arceus, I guess.”

That makes him laugh, although the sound is a little pathetic. Quietly enough that Ingo barely hears it, Emmet whispers, “he had a daughter.” A little stronger, “I had a niece. Ingo loved her and she’s gone. He won’t think about it. He’s different, but I know him well enough to know when he’s avoiding something.”

“Can you blame him?”

Ingo suddenly regrets listening in on this.

“No. Of course not. It’s just… I don’t know how to deal with this. She was family and I never even met her. Ingo was in the ancient past for decades. He had a whole life there and… I think he was happy. He misses it.” A sob breaks his voice.

“Easy, Emmet. It’s ok. We’re going to figure this out.”

His brother doesn’t respond verbally and Ingo retreats, closing the door silently. He sits down again, cradling Chandelure closer. He can feel tears stinging his eyes, but he fights to hold them back. It feels too selfish to cry over making his brother cry.

Chandelure chimes and he feels her psychic presence pressing gently against his mind. It’s cautious enough to not cause pain like it did before, instead exuding a gentle feeling of calm.

Ingo lays back, pulling her with him. He stares blankly up at the ceiling and whispers, “I’m sorry.”

Chapter Text

Ingo doesn’t sleep, but he does rest. Chandelure hovers just above him, providing a comforting warmth that sinks deep into his chest. He appreciates her so much. Eventually, he works up the courage to go back out into the main part of the apartment.

When he sees Elesa, he pinches his eyes and ducks his head in an informal bow. “Elesa. Hello.”

She gives him a bright smile. “Hello, Ingo. Did you have a good nap?”

He laughs. “Yes.” There’s no point in trying to explain that he wasn’t napping. It will just be confusing. So he just nods and asks, “are you… ok?”

Her smile dims ever so slightly. “I’m alright.” She gestures to the table, where several white containers sit. “I got lunch. I thought maybe you’d like Sinnohan.”

He blinks at her in surprise, then pinches his eyes. “That is good! I wonder if it’s similar now to how the Pearl Clan made it.”

“I’m glad you’re excited.” 

She gestures to the table again and they both sit down as Emmet emerges from the kitchen. He sets out a plate with the pastries he made earlier and cups of tea for each of them. As he sits next to Ingo, he explains, “I read that tea is important in Sinnohan culture. I… hope I made it right.”

Ingo crinkles his eyes at his brother fondly. It’s so sweet of him to make such an effort. Both of them. He takes a sip of the tea and his eyes pinch even further. The flavor is distinctly Pecha Berry. There’s no way Emmet could have known, but it touches him all that much more. “Thank you. It’s good.”

Elesa dishes out the food for all of them, and even thinks to give him some chopsticks to eat with. It’s certainly different than what he’s used to, but many of the flavors are similar. They chat over the meal, the two of them teaching Ingo new words and phrases and learning a few of their own. It’s fun in a way he’s desperately needed these last few days.

After dinner, they continue to sit around the table companionably for a long time. The peaceful atmosphere is eventually broken by the device on Elesa’s wrist making a repeated, oddly cheerful chime. She looks at it, then turns a confused look on Emmet. “Gear Station is calling me.”

He glances at the device on his wrist. “They haven’t called me.” He grabs Ingo’s wrist and inspects that device, too. “Or Ingo.”

“Hmm.” She taps the screen and raises her wrist so she can look at it. “This is Elesa.”

Another voice comes from the device, small and distant sounding. “Gym Leader Elesa, I’m so sorry to bother you. This is Agent Barnes from Gear Station. We have a… situation here in the subway. Normally, we’d just ask the Subway Bosses to handle it, but they’re out on sick leave.”

“Yes, I know. I’m actually with them right now.”

“Oh! How are they?”

Emmet steps around Ingo to lean in near Elesa and smile. “The answer to that is verrry complicated. What is the situation?”

“Boss Emmet! Well… Agent Sven was doing routine maintenance in the tunnels out east of here and he ran into someone. He wasn’t able to get a good look because it was dark and they ran away. He chased after them, obviously, no one is supposed to be down there, and managed to follow them to the old tunnel we’re using for holding right now. They holed up in the car that was parked there.”

“Remind me, which car was that?”

“One of the Multi Line cars. It’s scheduled for maintenance next week.”

Emmet nods. “Ok. So, what is the problem?”

“We can’t get them out of the train.”

“What? Why not?”

“They’ve got some really strong Pokémon, and the healing station on the train is still working.”

There’s a long pause. “We employ dozens of people specifically to battle strong trainers and no one can get them out of there?”

There’s another, nearly as long pause. “Yes.”

Instead of being annoyed or disappointed, Emmet looks excited. “They must be verrry strong. We will come to handle this.”

“But, Boss, aren’t you guys sick?”

Emmet glances over at Ingo. He shrugs in response to the unasked question. He wouldn’t mind battling someone very strong, although he doesn’t remember much about his Pokémon. Emmet turns back to the device. “We are not sick. It was simply easier to say that than to explain what is going on.”

“What is going on?”

“That is none of your business.”

“Emmet,” Ingo admonishes. “Be polite.”

Apparently, he speaks loud enough that the person on the device can hear him. “It’s alright Boss Ingo. He’s right, it isn’t any of my business. Are you guys really alright with coming out here?”

Again, Emmet glances at Ingo and when he nods, says, “yes. We will be there as soon as possible.”

“Ok. I’ll send you the exact location.”

“Thank you.”

Elesa taps the screen again, then drops her hand. “I guess we’re going to Gear Station.” She heads for the door, grabbing her puffy, yellow jacket.

Emmet follows and grabs his uniform coat, so Ingo does the same. His brother hands him four pokeballs. “Do you remember enough to battle with them?”

Ingo shakes his head as he goes back to the table to retrieve Chandelure's ball and recalls her. “No. Please explain.”

Emmet nods. “Chandelure is your ace. She is fire and ghost type. What?”

Ingo gives his brother what he can only hope comes across as a fond look and gestures to the door. “While we go, please.”

While he's sure he doesn't understand the words, Emmet gives a sheepish smile and heads for the door, grabbing a ring of keys on the way out. “Right. Sorry. Now...”

By the time they reach the station, Ingo has been caught up on his Pokemon's types, movesets, abilities, typical strategies, and personalities. While it's no substitute for actually experiencing battle alongside them, the information is certainly appreciated.

The building is much quieter this late at night, but there are still more people rushing from place to place than he expected. Even in Jubilife Village, people are never this busy. They pass through a door which Emmet has to enter a numerical code into, which leads into an empty hallway. From there, they take several turns, which Ingo keeps track of in his mind, then pass through another door and down a flight of stairs.

This area is much different. Not as well lit, with only small lights near the ground illuminating the path, and with a sort of oppressive air that reminds him of the caves of the Highlands. The tunnel they're in is perfectly straight, with uniform stone walls that have a variety of pipes and wires running along the sides and ceiling. Emmet leads them confidently onward, not hesitating when they reach junctions and crossroads. Again, Ingo mentally tracks their route, making sure he could find his way back out if need be. It occurs to him that this exact situation may be why that was always second nature to him.

It's several long minutes before they reach their destination. There are several people there, wearing matching green uniforms and looking fairly stressed. They relax a bit and smile when they see the three of them approaching. One of them steps forward and Ingo recognizes his voice from the call earlier, which means he must be Agent Barnes.

“Bosses! You have no idea how good it is to see you.” He inclines his head in Elesa's direction. “And Gym Leader Elesa, thank you for coming.”

She gives an easy smile in return. “Just consider me honored that you thought of me as a good backup for these two battle nuts.”

He waves a hand dismissively. “Everyone knows you're one of the strongest Gym Leaders in the region. You were the natural choice.”

“Yes, yes. She's verrry formidable. Now where is this fierce opponent you have been struggling with?”

Ingo huffs a laugh at his brother's impatience, but says nothing. He's not keen on sharing the details of his extremely weird situation with these people who clearly see him as an authority figure.

Agent Barnes just laughs too, apparently quite used to Emmet's personality. “This way, Boss.” He leads them down the tunnel a little farther and around a corner. Now, Ingo can hear the sounds of battle, getting louder as they approach. They turn another corner and he can see it properly. There's an agent in green, who looks very uncertain. Their Boldore is facing down an absolutely massive Lucario.

Ingo hears Emmet give a small gasp and as he steps forward and passes by, he can see the excitement written in his features. But Ingo grabs the back of his collar, dragging him to a stop. He looks back with an expression somewhere between annoyance and confusion. “Is something wrong?” He looks more closely at Ingo's face and his expression shifts to one of concern. “What is it?”

Ingo just shakes his head and says, “stay,” as he steps around his brother. He steps around the agent and their Boldore as well, walking straight towards the Lucario. Because he knows him. He knows his incredible size, and the way he bears more weight on his left leg than his right because of an old injury. He knows the look of fierce protectiveness on his face. And he knows the person he's protecting.

There’s chaos behind him. There are people shouting at him to stop, but he doesn’t. Lucario does stop, straightening up and tilting his head in confusion. Ingo walks right up to him and reaches a hand up, leaving it there with his palm facing upwards. “Lucario. It's alright. I know I look different, but I promise I'm still me.”

Lucario regards him for another couple seconds, then leans forward, rubbing his face against Ingo's hand and whining softly.

He lets his eyes soften. “There. Good boy.” He moves his hand up and scratches the base of his ear. “You have no idea how happy I am to see you.”

Lucario stays there for another moment, then suddenly turns. He jumps through the open doors of what must be a train car and barks.

Ingo nods and follows, but a voice from behind him briefly gives him pause. “Ingo, what's going on? Do you know that Pokemon?”

He looks back at his brother and just repeats the command, “stay,” before climbing up into the train car.

It's dark inside, the only illumination coming from a few lights on the machine at the other end. That's more than enough because there, sitting next to that machine with her back against the wall and knees drawn up to her chest, is Akari. Her head is down, buried in the arm resting across her knees and a pokeball is clutched tightly in her hand. Lucario gives Ingo a meaningful look, then returns to the ball.

That gets Akari to look up, just enough to check on the device in her hand. When her eyes no doubt catch on the figure suddenly in the train with her, her head snaps up. Her face is streaked with tears and her eyes are wide and frightened. “Wh- who-”

“Akari.” Ingo does his best to keep his tone level, without any of the fear he feels for her coloring it. He needs her to believe that he's calm so she doesn't panic any worse. “Are you alright?”

She freezes in place the moment she hears his voice. After a painfully long time, her voice comes out, small and full of uncertainty and fear. “...Dad?”

He takes a step towards her and she doesn't immediately try to run, which he takes as a win with how scared she seems. “Yes, Akari. It's me. Are you alright?”

His daughter scrambles to her feet, her eyes roving wildly over him, no doubt trying to take in every detail despite the dim lighting inside the train car. “A-are you really...? You look-” She shakes her head harshly, sending her hair flying.

“Different. I know.” Ingo takes off his hat and sets it aside in the hopes it will let her see his face a little more clearly. He reaches out slowly with one hand. She flinches when his fingertips touch her cheek, but doesn't try to stop him. He cups her cheek and runs a thumb along it, causing her to shudder almost imperceptibly. “It's really me, Akari. How long have you been here?”

Her eyes continue to study his face, but she leans just slightly into his hand. “I- I don't know. I was l-lost. It was dark, but there were these huge, horrible machines. This is the only one that wasn't moving, b-but people keep trying to make me leave.”

“That's because it's not safe to be down here. Do you want to come with me? I'll take you somewhere safe.”

“Your old home?”

“Yes.”

She gives a tiny nod. “Are there still people out there?”

“Yes. Do you want me to ask them to leave?”

She ducks her head and nods again silently.

“Alright. I'll be right back.”

He swipes his thumb over her cheek one more time before turning away. He grabs his hat and resettles it on his head, but before he can leave, she suddenly surges forward and leaps at him, throwing her arms around him. He catches her reflexively, holding her close while she buries her face in his shirt. 

She sniffles. “I’m so happy you’re here.”

He squeezes his arms around her. “I know. I was so scared I would never see you again.”

“Yeah… me too.”

He sets her gently back on her feet. “Will you be alright for a minute while I go tell everyone they can go?”

Akari nods and rubs at her eyes with her sleeve. “Yeah. Thanks, Dad.”

He turns and leaves the train car, doing his best to act like leaving his daughter’s side for even a moment doesn’t tear him apart inside. Emmet, Elesa, and the others are still waiting and they all give him looks of confusion as he calmly crosses the space between them.

His brother is the first to speak. “Did you see the person in there?”

“Yes.” He glances around at the others, trying to figure out how to communicate that he needs them to leave.

Emmet notices his struggle and asks, “are they someone you know?”

“Yes.”

He sees the agents share a confused look. He assumes they're wondering who they are and how he knows them. And possibly why he's not talking very much.

His brother just nods and turns to them. “In that case, I think this is taken care of! We can handle it from here.”

Although they still look uncertain, they nod. Agent Barnes says, “alright, Boss Emmet. We'll head back to the station. Good luck with your… friend, Boss Ingo.”

He nods politely and watches as they head back down the tunnel. Once he can't see their lights anymore, he turns to look at Emmet. “Thank you.”

“You're welcome. Now, what's going on?”

“Hold on a moment.” He holds up a hand to accentuate his words and heads back into the train car. “Alright, Akari, it's just my family here now.”

She hesitates a moment, but comes forward and takes his hand when he offers it, allowing him to lead her slowly out the door. When she steps into the slightly better lit tunnel and sees Emmet, she freezes. At the same time, Emmet gasps.

“A- A man in white!” For the first time, she looks a little bit excited.

Ingo laughs. “Yes.”

At the same time, Emmet comes unfrozen. “Akari!”

She jumps at the sound of her name and stares at him in surprise. “H-how- Who is he, Dad?”

“He's my twin brother. Next to him is Elesa, our friend. I told them about you.”

She looks up at him in surprise. “You did?”

He rests a hand on her shoulder. “Of course I did.”

She begins to tear up, but shakes her head and turns to face them, bowing politely. “It's very nice to meet you both.”

They share a lost look and Akari deflates a little. Before she can completely lose her confidence, Ingo explains, “they don't speak Celestica.” He does his best to translate. “Akari is happy...”

After a moment, Emmet suggests, “happy to meet us?”

“Yes.”

Akari gives him a confused look. “Do you not speak their language, either?”

“Not well.”

“But isn't it also your language?”

He gives a soft sigh. “It should be, but it seems to be lost along with the rest of my memory.”

Her brow furrows. “Wait, you still don't remember? But...” She gestures vaguely to Emmet and Elesa.

“I arrived back here quite suddenly. We've been able to piece together enough communication to get across what happened and who they are, but I don't actually remember them.”

She blinks in surprise. “O-oh. Is that why..” She shakes her head. “Um... so, what now?”

“To begin with, we go home. Ah. Well, to the home Emmet and I share here, anyway.”

His daughter just nods, her expression distracted. “Alright.”

Ingo turns back to Emmet, who asks, “should we take her to a hospital?”

He shakes his head. “Home.”

“Are you sure? She's been down here for a while, hasn't she?”

“Please, Emmet.”

Although his face shows hesitation, he agrees, “ok. Let's go, then.”

Ingo keeps his arm around Akari, gently leading her through the shadowy passages. When his brother reaches a branch in the tunnel and turns left, he calls out, “Emmet?”

He turns to look at him and raises an eyebrow. “What is it?”

In answer, he just points down the right hand tunnel, the one they had passed through to get here, and tilts his head.

“Oh. That way will take us back to Gear Station. Technically, we should go that way, but I'm assuming you don't want to make Akari walk all the way through the station. There's an exit this way that comes out closer to the apartment.”

“Oh.” Ingo feels his eyes crinkle with fondness. “Thank you.”

Emmet's smile softens. “You're welcome.”

They continue down the new route in silence for a few minutes, before Emmet locates a staircase. At the top is a door, which Emmet unlocks with a key he pulls out of his pocket. They pass through, ending up at the bottom of another staircase, and he locks the door behind them. He leads again, up the stairs and into a small alley. They take a fairly quiet route back to the building they live in.

When they step into the tiny room that Elesa explained to him before was an elevator, Akari looks around in confusion. When the doors close, she looks up at him, opening her mouth to ask a question that's cut off by the elevator moving. She stumbles and Ingo squeezes his arm around her reassuringly. He murmurs, “it's alright.”

“O-ok.” She remains calm, but still practically drags him out of the elevator the moment the door opens.

He lets her pull him along, but makes her slow down enough to let Emmet lead the way back to the apartment. Once they're inside, he releases his arm from around her. “You can make yourself comfortable here. It's my home, which means it's yours, too.”

She ducks her head, still seeming distracted. “Thanks, Dad.”

“Of course.”

She wanders off, looking around the place with curiosity. Now, in the light and without her tucked so close to him, he can actually get a good look at her. Unlike him, she looks exactly like she did when last he saw her. Where she had been a young, scared kid when they met, now she's an older, more confident teen. She's wearing her Pearl Clan kimono with her Galaxy Team scarf and bandana exactly as he would expect, if not for the fact that he had been relieved of all of his possessions upon his return. And his age. Was their method of travel through time and space not the same?

He wants to ask, but there are other things that need to be done first. Speaking of one of those, Emmet calls from behind him, “Ingo?”

He turns to look at his brother and Elesa, who are both watching Akari. “Yes?”

“Can you... explain?”

He tilts his head. “This is Akari.”

Emmet shakes his head. “I know that. But how is she here?”

“I don't know.”

Elesa adds, “wasn't she in Hisui? In the past? How can she be here?”

“I don't know.”

“But-”

“I don't know!”

They both freeze at his sudden shout, and out of the corner of his eye, he sees Akari turn her attention on him. Emmet opens his mouth, then just closes it.

Confident he has their attention, he looks each of them in the eye. “I don't know. But... I am... happy.” That doesn't begin to describe the breadth of his feelings, but he doesn't have the words, at least in this language, to even begin to do so.

While he'd managed to convince himself that she wasn't dead, his daughter was gone. Spirited away like he had been to somewhere he would never find her, where he could only hope that she would be happy. Except she wasn't. She was right there in the tunnels beneath their feet the whole time he's been here. All he had to do was find her. The relief he feels is unmatched by anything he's ever felt before.

If the expression on Emmet's face is any measure, he can understand at least the surface level reasoning behind his words. His eyes flick past Ingo to Akari, then back again. “Ok. That's... understandable. What do you want to do now?”

He shakes his head. “I don't know.”

“How about dinner?”

They both look at Elesa, surprised by the suggestion. Emmet glances over at the clock on the wall and shrugs. “I guess it's about time for it.”

“Good.” She takes his arm and drags him toward the kitchen. “Then let's cook and we can let Ingo talk to Akari.”

Ingo crinkles his eyes at Elesa. “Thank you.”

She smiles back. “You're welcome.”

Chapter Text

Ingo sits on the soft couch. Akari is still watching him, so he meets her eyes and gestures to the spot next to him. “Sit with me?”

She nods and comes to sit beside him. Stiffly, she leans against his side, tucking the lower half of her face into her scarf to obscure it. 

He lays an arm loosely around her shoulders. “You seem very tense. Are you alright?”

She hesitates. “I’m just… nervous. And still kinda freaked out.”

He focuses on the last part first. “You’re freaked out because of the tunnels still, right?”

“Yeah.” She burrows her face a little deeper into her scarf.

“It’s alright to be scared. I don’t think I could have done much better.”

“But you did do better,” she argues. “You got out of there. You found your family.”

“It helped that I was on a train, not just in the tunnels. Actually, why weren’t you?” When she looks up and gives him a confused look, he explains, “I thought this was a dream at first, so I didn’t question why you weren’t there, but if we both moved through time and space, shouldn’t we have been in the same place? Although… Perhaps we shouldn’t have been. I was returned to the precise moment I was taken from, but you clearly weren’t.”

She looks away again, ducking her head and raising her shoulders defensively.

“Akari?”

“Y-yeah?” Her voice is quiet and trembles slightly.

“Can you tell me what happened?”

She shrinks even further and remains silent.

Ingo squeezes his arm just a little tighter around her. “You don’t have to. It’s alright if you can’t.”

At that, she shakes her head, squeezing her eyes shut. “I- I have to. I-if I don’t tell you now, I w-won’t ever have the courage to do it.”

“And that’s alright too, Akari.”

She looks up at him again, eyes a little wet and filled with a heartbreaking mixture of fear and hope.

He pinches his own eyes, trying to convey a certainty that he very much doesn’t feel. “It’s alright, I promise. You don’t have to be scared.”

Her face twists with emotion and the tears in her eyes begin to spill over. She winds her arms around him and buries her face in his shirt. “I- I love you, Dad. I… You deserve to know.” She sounds miserable, but before he can reassure her that she really doesn’t have to tell him, she continues. “I went to the temple that morning.”

He runs a hand through her hair. “I remember.” She told him where she was going before they parted for the day.

“It had been telling me to for weeks, but I was afraid of what I would find there, so I kept ignoring it. But I couldn’t keep ignoring it forever, so that morning when you went out to patrol, I went to the temple.”

“What do you mean, ‘it was telling you to’?”

She hunches her shoulders defensively, but doesn’t look up. “Arceus told me to. It spoke to me in my mind.” If she notices the way he tenses, she ignores it. “It was what sent me to Hisui in the first place. It was what told me to complete the Pokédex, and stop the Red Sky, and fight Volo.”

If she has more to say on that, he doesn’t let her get it out. He moves her back enough that he can look her in the eye. “Arceus put you through all that? It’s the reason you insisted on putting yourself in danger?”

Her eyes widen at his furious tone. “Y-yeah. B-but it needed to be d-done. I don’t m-mind.”

“I mind.” He growls the words, but it’s clear his anger is only worrying her more, so he takes a deep breath and slowly lets it out. In a much more level tone, he says, “you shouldn’t have had to do all that. Arceus used you.”

“But that’s the-” She cuts herself off with a sob and covers her mouth. After a moment to collect herself, she starts again. “I went to the temple that morning. I met Arceus there and battled it. It said that the task was finally complete. When I-” She takes a shaky breath. “When I asked what that meant, it told me that you were gone. That you were only bound to Hisui until the task it sent you there for was completed. I completed it, so you were sent home.”

Ingo stares at her for several long seconds before he gets his wits about him enough to ask a question. “The task it sent me for? But if it was my task… I saw the sign of Arceus. In my mind, when Chandelure tried to get into it. Is that why? Because it sent me to Hisui to fix things there? Why don’t I remember, then? Why can’t I remember?”

“Dad.” He jumps when Akari’s hand touches his face. When he meets her eyes, he sees they’re filled with worry. “It’s alright. Don’t panic.”

Only then does he realize that he’s breathing way too fast. He closes his eyes and focuses on steadying his breathing. He folds his hands, rubbing his thumb against his palm, but that exercise once again fails when he feels nothing but smooth, unbroken skin. It only reminds him how unfamiliar his own body feels. He clenches his hands into fists instead. After a minute or so, he opens his eyes again to see Akari is still watching him worriedly. He unclenches his jaw and tries to speak calmly. “I apologize. It has been… a very stressful few days.”

She gives a dry laugh. “Tell me about it.” She slowly leans forward and rests her head against him again. “Are you alright now?”

“More or less,” he answers truthfully, which makes her laugh again. He takes a deep breath that’s still a little shaky. “Ok. So, you’re saying that Arceus sent me there. For the same reason it sent you. But I… forgot. When I lost the rest of my memory, presumably. If it spoke to you in your mind, why would it not do the same for me?”

She shakes her head. “I don’t know.”

“And then when you completed that task, whatever was binding me there was released and I came back here.”

“That’s right.”

“So, why did the same not happen to you?”

Her shoulders hunch again. “I asked Arceus the same thing. It said that after you failed, it thought about where things went wrong. It decided that pulling someone out of space and time was too complicated. So instead, it…” She takes a very shaky breath and curls in on herself even more so all he can see is the top of her head. “It created its own hero. It… made me. From nothing. So that I could fix the distortions in Hisui and set things straight. When I asked, it told me that it never even considered what would happen to me after that, so it agreed to send me here pretty easily.”

Ingo freezes. That’s not at all what he expected. It never even crossed his mind as a possibility. He assumed that because she was like him, an outsider with no memories, she must have been displaced like him too. But she wasn’t. She wasn’t anyone before she was dropped in Hisui with nothing. “That's…” Akari actually flinches when he speaks, so afraid of what his reaction will be. He wraps his arms around her and pulls her closer, into a tight, protective embrace. He hears her breath catch in her throat in surprise and her hands tremble against him. Quietly, in an effort not to scare her worse than she ahead is, he says, “that is unbelievably cruel. People aren’t tools. You aren’t a tool, to be used and then cast aside. You deserve so much better than that.”

Judging by the way her shoulders are jumping, she’s crying again. Her voice is unsteady as well. “B-but I’m not r-really a p-person, am I? I am a t-tool.”

“No.” His tone is firm enough to make her pause, though she doesn’t look up. “You may have been created for that purpose, but you’re still a person. You deserve respect and love just like anyone else. I believed that when you were cast out by the Galaxy Team and I still do. I love you. Nothing could ever change that.”

She doesn’t answer this time, only starts to cry again, but that’s ok. He rubs her back soothingly with one hand and pets her hair with the other until she exhausts herself of tears.

When she finally sits back and rubs her eyes, he speaks again. “You look exhausted. You should sleep, but first, have you eaten anything recently?”

She shakes her head. “Mismagius found me berries from somewhere, but that was yesterday. I think. It was hard to tell down there.”

“Alright.” He finally lets go of her entirely and stands up. “Wait here.”

He heads to the kitchen, where he finds Emmet and Elesa waiting worriedly. Emmet steps forward. “She seems verrry upset. Is everything alright?”

Ingo shakes his head. It’s very much not alright. But right now, his priority is to take care of her, so he grabs one of the plates set on the table and takes it back to the living room. Akari takes it and barely wastes a second, cleaning the plate in record time. 

He takes it back and sets it on the nearby table, taking her hands and tugging her upright. “Come on. You can sleep in my bed.”

She follows without protest, with eyes drooping and a jaw-popping yawn. She lays on the bed and pulls the comforter over her head, a familiar habit. Ingo is pretty sure she’s asleep before he even closes the door.

When he returns to the kitchen, Emmet and Elesa still look worried. The three of them sit around the table and eat in melancholy silence. It’s only broken after everyone has finished, by Emmet. “Do you want to talk?”

Ingo sighs. “Yes. But I can’t.”

“It’s alright. We’re happy to listen.”

Ingo crinkles his eyes fondly at his brother. “Not that. It is… complicated. I don’t have the words.”

“Oh. Right. That makes more sense.”

“Can you draw it?”

Ingo tilts his head at Elesa’s question. Maybe he can. He grabs the papers and pen from where they’ve been stacked at the side of the table and starts immediately. The first thing he draws is the Sign of Arceus. Following that is a very quick sketch of Mount Coronet.

Emmet looks at those and furrows his brow. “Ok, so Arceus and… is that Hisui?”

“Yes!”

“What does that mean?”

“Arceus sent me , ” he gestures to himself, “to Hisui.”

“Arceus put you in Hisui. Ok, we had already pretty much figured that out.”

Ingo nods. “Yes, but…” He gestures for Emmet to continue.

“Yes, but… why?”

“Yes! Why?” He tries out the word for himself. 

“Oh! So Akari knew why?”

“Yes!”

“Ok, so what’s the reason?” Elesa asks.

Ingo hums, then sets back to drawing. This time he draws Akari’s Pokédex.

This one seems to stump them. “A journal?”

“It wanted you to record something?”

He waves his hand. That’s close, but not quite right. He tries again, drawing the book open this time, with a crude sketch of a Starly on one page.

That gets the point across. “It wanted you to record Pokémon? Like a Pokédex?”

“Yes.”

“Why?” Elesa sounds completely baffled.

He shrugs and tries to draw a space time distortion. It comes out as an indistinct black shape. He huffs in irritation. They’ve probably never seen one before anyway, so it doesn’t really matter if he can’t capture it. After a moment’s hesitation, he draws Giratina instead.

They clearly recognize it, though judging by the general lack of fear, they’ve probably never encountered it. Emmet says, “Giratina. The god of Distortion. Considered to be pretty dangerous, albeit nearly impossible to encounter. Banned from the Battle Subway.” He gives Ingo a perplexed look. “So, Giratina… messed with something and Arceus needed a Pokédex? So it sent you there to… deal with it?”

Ingo waves his hand and nods. “Close enough.” He sets pen to paper again, drawing himself with just enough detail to be recognizable, and a bleeding wound on his head.

“But you were hurt.” It’s not a question this time. “You were hurt and you lost your memory.”

Ingo nods.

Emmet's brows come together. “Which means you forgot why you were there.”

“Yes.” Now, for the really difficult part. He draws Akari, and around her, he draws the Sign of Arceus.

“So, Arceus chose Akari to do it instead.”

Ingo shakes his head. “Not chose.”

“Not chose?” Elesa tilts her head and looks at the drawing again. Both of them seem lost.

Ingo takes the paper back and returns to the drawing of himself. He adds the Sign of Arceus to his eyes, then gestures between the two drawings.

Elesa stares at it for a moment, eyes slowly widening. “You saw the Sign of Arceus before. It chose you and did something to your mind, but Akari… You drew it around her, so she didn’t just see it. She wasn’t chosen, she was… created?”

Ingo nods.

“What?” Emmet looks at him in shocked confusion. “Is that even possible?”

Ingo shrugs. “Apparently.”

“I thought it could only create Pokémon.”

“But aren’t humans basically Pokémon anyway?”

Ingo looks at Elesa in surprise, but sees that she’s wearing a mischievous look. Emmet glares at her. “I am not getting pulled into an existential debate right now.”

“Come oooooonnn. You know you want to.” She’s clearly enjoying messing with him a little too much.

Emmet does look like he’s itching to argue the point, but instead he holds out a hand in a stop signal. “No. Nope. Not doing it.” He looks back at Ingo. “So, Arceus created Akari to make a Pokédex and deal with Giratina. And she did, which is verrry impressive, so it sent you home. Is that correct?”

“Yes.”

“But Akari didn’t have anywhere to return to, so she came here too? But ended up lost in the tunnels somehow?”

“Yes.”

“Ohhhhh-kay.” He draws out the word with an exaggerated expression. “That’s a lot.”

“Yes. It is.”

“What do you want to do now?”

“I want to fight Arceus and make it regret hurting my daughter.”

Emmet gives him a curious look. “You want to… find Arceus? Why? Do you think it can fix your memory?”

He laughs. “No. I want to…” At a loss for how else to convey his intentions, he pats the pokeballs attached to his belt.

Emmet blinks in surprise, then laughs. “You want to battle it?” He looks a little too excited about that prospect.

He nods, serious as he can be. “I want it to… pay.” The last word comes out in a growl.

Emmet's excitement becomes a little muted. “You are angry at it. That’s fair, I think. It did all this to you, and to Akari. You have suffered a lot. It… used you.” He seems to reach a decision. “If you really want to battle it, I will help you.”

Ingo smiles at his brother as best he can. “Thank you.”

Elesa sighs. “You two… That’s a really bad idea.”

“Yes. You will help, won’t you?”

“Obviously.”

Emmet beams at her. “Excellent. Then it seems we need to go to Sinnoh.”

Ingo laughs at his brother's enthusiasm. “Not now.”

He nods sagely. “You’re right. Now it’s time for bed.”

Elesa snorts. “I’ll come by tomorrow after work and we can discuss plans, ok?”

“Sounds perfect!”

She shakes her head, but goes toward the door. Ingo follows her and when her eye catches on him, she stops and raises an eyebrow.

He tries to smile. “Thank you.”

She smiles softly back and reaches up to ruffle his hair, which makes him laugh. “You’re welcome, Ingo. I’m… sorry you’re having such a hard time. But I’m glad we found Akari. I hope we can get to know her better soon.”

“I hope so, too. Good night.”

“Good night.”

Once the door is closed, he turns and heads back to the kitchen. He helps Emmet clean up from dinner, then bids him a good night as well. When he opens the door to his room, he smiles at the sight of Akari still sleeping soundly on his bed. He takes the extra blanket which has mostly fallen off anyway and curls up on the floor nearby. The sound of her deep breathing soothes him more than he expected it to and he drifts off easily.

Chapter Text

Ingo wakes up to the sound of breathing much closer than he expected, and the feeling of arms around him. He opens his eyes slowly, finding his vision mostly obscured by dark hair. He pinches his eyes, then allows them to drift closed. If Akari sought out his company like this, she must have been pretty upset. The least he can do is offer her comfort until she wakes up. With that justification, he drifts back off to sleep.

He wakes up sometime later and this time when he opens his eyes, he finds a pair of black eyes looking back at him. Akari smiles. “Good morning, Dad.” She sits up and he begrudgingly lets his arms fall away from her. “You were sleeping really heavily.”

He laughs and sits up, too. “Much more than you were, apparently. When did you move?”

She shrugs. “I don’t know. It was still dark.”

He hums. “Well, did it help?”

She ducks her head in embarrassment. “Yeah.”

He pinches his eyes and ruffles her hair. “I’m glad, then.” He stands and stretches, surprised to find himself not particularly stiff from sleeping on the floor. “Come on, let’s go get some breakfast.”

When they enter the kitchen, Emmet is already there, sitting quietly at the table and drinking from a steaming cup. He smiles at them. “Good morning.”

“Good morning.”

“Good morning.”

There are two plates with eggs laid out on the counter. They each take one and sit at the table. Akari gives Emmet a shy smile and bows her head. “Thank you for breakfast.”

He clearly gets the first part at least and smiles back. “You’re welcome.”

“He said you’re welcome,” Ingo translates.

Akari tilts her head. “Can you teach me?”

“Teach you Galarian?”

“Is that what your language is called?”

“Yes.”

“Then, yes. I want to learn.”

Ingo pinches his eyes. “Ok. I’m still learning myself, but I’ll do my best.”

Emmet is watching them with a politely confused expression. When he catches Ingo’s eye, he says, “Akari, would your Pokémon like breakfast, too?”

Ingo relays the question and she nods enthusiastically. “I’m sure they would! Can I let them out?”

“It should be fine, just make sure they know the same rules apply here as in our tent.”

She nods and starts releasing her Pokémon. “Good morning everyone! Look who I found!”

Upon seeing him, the Pokémon, except for Lucario who already saw him last night, get very excited. In moments, he’s surrounded. Decidueye and Mismagius lean against him from either side while Sylveon rubs his head against his leg and Walrein bumps against his hand in demand of attention. Crobat floats above them all and grins widely at him.

Emmet stands back and watches with a smile on his face. “The look verrry strong.”

Ingo nods in agreement. “Akari is a very strong trainer.”

Akari giggles, clearly amused by her Pokemon’s excitement. “Come on guys. Do you want breakfast?”

That gets their attention and they crowd around her. Emmet laughs and waves a hand. “Food for the Pokemon is over here.” He shows her to the pantry.

While they’re busy, Chandelure floats over and bumps against his head. He pets her fondly and she sways side to side, making a happy chime. Her eyes are focused on the new Pokemon. “You can go meet them if you’d like. They’re quite friendly.”

Akari looks up and freezes. After a moment, a smile breaks out on her face. “Is that one of your Pokemon here?”

“Yes. She is my first partner, Chandelure. Chandelure, this is my daughter, Akari.”

Chandelure makes a sound like tinkling glass and floats forward, visibly excited. Akari looks equally excited and darts forward. She gives a small bow. “It’s very nice to meet you, Chandelure.” She glances up at Ingo. “She’s beautiful. What type is she?”

“Fire and Ghost. Her species are known for feeding off human souls, but that’s mostly a myth.”

“Mostly?” Akari doesn’t stop reaching out to pet her, so obviously she’s not too worried.

“They’re capable of doing so, but typically they only take enough energy to make someone tired. They’re not evil.”

“No Pokemon is evil.” She smiles up at him as she quotes something he’s said so many times. She continues petting Chandelure, who seems to have taken to her very quickly. “She’s why you were so convinced of that, isn’t she?”

“I think so. Would you like to meet the rest?”

She nods enthusiastically, so he glances at Emmet, who is standing awkwardly among Akari’s Pokemon, who are investigating him curiously. “Can the Pokemon come…”

“Out?”

“Yes.”

“Sure. It might get a little chaotic.”

“That’s ok.”

His brother nods and goes to let the Pokemon out of the room at the back of the apartment. A moment later, they come crashing down the hall. There’s a moment of pure chaos as they meet Akari’s Pokemon, but they’re all well behaved, so no fights break out. Once they’re all done introducing themselves, Ingo and Emmet’s Pokemon take notice of Akari. She giggles as they crowd around.

“Hello. It’s very nice to meet you all.”

Ingo smiles with his eyes. “Emmet. Can you introduce them?”

“Of course!”

He’s nearly as excited as Akari is as he tells her all their names. He even manages to convey their types without needing any assistance. Akari seems less nervous around him than before, but he assumes that has more to do with the topic of conversation than anything. It warms his heart to see the two of them happy.

Once introductions are finished, they all sit in the living room, surrounded by various creatures. Akari’s anxiety seems to come back a bit once there’s nothing else to distract her. Ingo bumps her gently with his shoulder, getting her to look up. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, Dad.”

Emmet looks between them, seeming to pick up on the tension. “Do you want to… talk?”

Ingo hums. There’s plenty they need to talk about, but he’s not sure he’s capable.

His brother seems to realize this because he sighs. “Right. Well, there’s a lot of things we need to figure out. More, now that Akari is here.”

Ingo tilts his head. “What things?”

Emmet lists things out on his fingers. “We’re out on sick leave right now, but eventually people are going to expect us to return to work. You do not remember anything about trains, so you cannot return to work. You will have to decide if you want to tell people that you don’t remember, and why. The issue of Akari is more complicated. She does not have a legal identity. I do not know what to do about that. I assume you want for her to stay, but that means there are many things we need to figure out.” He takes a deep breath. “And, then there’s Arceus. If you really want to fight it, we have to figure out how to get to Sinnoh. And how to find it.”

“Arceus first.”

Emmet gives him a surprised look. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” When he opens his mouth to protest, he holds up a hand. “I understand. You have verrry good reason to want to battle it, but you have to be patient. Ugh. That felt weird. You are usually the voice of reason.”

Ingo laughs, but he shakes his head. “Arceus first. Maybe it can… help me.”

“Help you?” Emmet tilts his head, but after a moment, a look of understanding crosses his face. “Oh. With your memory?”

“Yes.”

He hums. “That would be good.” His foot taps a couple times then shakes his head. “It still can’t be first though. We won’t be able to travel to another region until we figure out Akari’s situation. Unless you want to leave her behind, but I don’t think you do.”

Ingo shakes his head. “I don’t.” He huffs. “Ok. I will wait until we figure out what we need for Akari.”

“Figure out what for me?” Akari pats his arm as she asks the question. “Is it a problem that I’m here?”

Right. She didn’t understand any of that. He pinches his eyes at her as he shakes his head. “You being here is the opposite of a problem. You just don’t have a legal identity here.” He’s surprised he actually knows what that means. “We will figure it out.”

She visibly relaxes with the reassurance, but there’s still an undercurrent of tension in her posture. “Oh. Ok.”

He sighs and wraps an arm around her, pulling her close and resting his head on top of hers. She melts into his embrace almost immediately. “I know what Arceus said is still bothering you, but I hope you know I don’t care about that. I love you.”

“I-I know, Dad.” Her voice is muffled by the way she has her face hidden, but he can still hear the forced tone.

“I missed you.” He lets out a long, slow breath, trying to keep his voice from shaking. “‘Missed’ doesn’t really cover it, but I don’t know how else to say it. When I thought you had been left behind in Hisui, I… I couldn’t bear it. Even thinking about the idea of never seeing you again felt like a knife in my heart. It was only a few days, but it was so, so incredibly painful to have lost you. I don’t think words can convey how happy I was to see you down in the tunnels. So please. Don’t worry about what Arceus told you. Don’t think of yourself as any less than you are; my wonderful, perfect daughter.”

Her arms squeeze tight enough around him to be uncomfortable and her hands grip the back of his shirt, causing the fabric to strain. “B-but I’m not!” Her voice is strained, as though she’s barely keeping herself from crying. “I’m just some… thing, Arceus created.”

“Why would that matter?”

Akari stills. After a moment, she looks up. Her eyes are red rimmed and her mouth pulled tight. “What do you mean?”

He holds eye contact. “I mean, why would it matter? It never mattered to me that we aren’t related by blood, so why would it matter that you were created by Arceus? You’re still you. You’re not a thing, you’re a person, and an amazing one at that. You deserve more credit than you give yourself. Do you trust me?”

“Yes.” Despite everything, she doesn’t hesitate.

He gives her what he hopes is an encouraging look. “Then trust me on this. Where you came from doesn’t change anything about you.”

She ducks her head again, letting it rest gently against his chest. It takes her a long time to speak again and when she does her voice is very small. “Do you promise?”

“I promise.”

She stays there for a moment, then gives a sharp nod. “So, I need a ‘legal identity’? What does that mean?”

Ingo overlooks the obvious change in subject, willing to trust that she believes him. “I don’t quite remember the specifics, but we need to tell people that you’re here.”

“Why, so they can put me to work?”

He knows the dry sarcasm isn’t directed at him, but he shakes his head anyway. “No, so you can participate in society. And things like official Pokémon battles.”

“Official Pokémon battles?” That gets her to look up, which makes him laugh.

“Yes, I think battling is much more common here.”

“I want to battle more people. We should get this ‘legal identity’ thing!”

That makes him laugh harder. “Ok. I’m not really sure how to do that, but we’ll figure it out.” He sighs, hesitant to ruin her good mood when she just got it back. She deserves to know, though. “After that, we’re going to find Arceus?”

As expected, her expression falls. “Why?”

“I want to talk to it.” She looks dubious, so he sighs and explains, “it hurt you. I won’t just ignore that.”

“It created me.”

“That doesn’t mean it’s allowed to hurt you.”

She ducks her head, but doesn’t argue. After a moment, she asks, “you want to fight it, don’t you.”

“I do.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

He shrugs. “No, but I want to do it anyway.”

There’s a moment of hesitation, but she nods and leans over to rest her head against him again. “Ok. How do we find it?”

“I don’t know. You may be more of an expert on that than I am.”

She hums. “We might find it at the Temple of Sinnoh.”

“Ok. Then that’s where we’ll start.”

“So we have to go back to Hisui?”

Ingo shakes his head. “Not Hisui. It’s called Sinnoh now.”

“Oh. Is it far from here?”

“I think so, but transportation has improved dramatically. It shouldn’t be a big issue to get there.”

She nods again, simply agreeing, “ok.”

Ingo turns his attention on his brother, who is watching with an openly concerned expression. “Identity first. Then Arceus.”

“Ok. I’ll see if I can figure out how to get an identity for someone who doesn’t have one.” He hesitates a moment before asking, “is she alright?”

“She is…” he tries to remember a word Emmet used days ago, “overwhelmed.”

He gives a sympathetic smile. “I’m sure she is. Can I do anything?”

“No. But, thank you.”

“Sure. Let me know if that changes.” With that, he gets up and heads to the table where he opens the book-sized device that sits there. 

Ingo isn’t totally sure what he’s doing, but he’s sure it’s helpful. He stands as well and tugs Akari up by her hand. She follows along as he takes her to the room in the back of the apartment where most of the Pokémon are gathered.

Although she remains quiet, she smiles and walks into the middle of the room, petting the Pokémon affectionately and speaking quietly to them. Ingo sits off to one side and watches contentedly with Chandelure hovering at his side.

Chapter Text

By the time Elesa comes over, Akari has fallen asleep on the large Pokémon bed. Ingo left her there under the watch of half a dozen creatures and he’s sitting next to Emmet while he continues to work on the device he calls a ‘laptop’. They’ve been sitting in silence for a while, but simply sharing space with his brother feels nice. 

The sound of the door clicking open draws both of their attention and a moment later, Elesa enters. She’s carrying several small containers, which she sets on the table. “How’s it going, boys?”

Ingo hums noncommittally. If he’s honest, it’s been a fairly stressful day.

Emmet answers with a sigh. “Fine. I’ve been trying to figure out how to get a new identity for Akari.”

“Oh? Any progress?”

“Not really. Everything I can find is for people who’ve had their identity stolen. Which isn’t helpful.”

“Mmm. Have you tried contacting Interpol?”

He tilts his head. “No. It’s not like a crime has been committed?” After a moment, he revises that. “Well, not by a human, anyway.”

Ingo leans his head over to bump it against his brother’s shoulder affectionately, which earns him a smile.

Elesa laughs. “Yes, but they handle other things, too. Like the wormholes that were popping up in Alola. I’m sure the people displaced by those needed help settling in just like Akari does. At the very least, they might be able to point you in the right direction.”

Emmet considers that for a moment, then nods. “That is a good point. I will contact them.” He lifts his arm and types something into his XTrans. He taps it a few times then nods to himself and stands, wandering away to make a call.

Elesa turns her attention on Ingo. “How are you doing?”

He shrugs. “I’m fine.”

“Where’s Akari?”

“Sleeping.” He points down the hall. “With the Pokémon.”

She smiles softly. “I’m sure she could use the rest. How is she doing?”

He hesitates. “Not good.”

Her expression turns serious and she sits down across from him. “Is there anything we can do?”

He gives her a grateful look, but shakes his head. “I don’t know. She is… very shaken, um, sad?” He shakes his head in frustration.

“Upset?”

He nods. “She is upset. Arceus was very cruel. She doesn’t feel like a real person. I don’t know how to fix that.”

She sighs, apparently gleaning enough of his meaning. “I can’t imagine the kind of identity crisis she’s going through right now.”

“Identity crisis.” He tries the phrase out. “Yes. It is bad.”

“Maaaannn, I don’t know what to do about that. I don’t know anything about parenting. What are you even supposed to do about something like this?”

“I don’t know.”

That gets him a false laugh. “Guess that doesn’t really fall under the usual parental duties.” She sighs. “Don’t blame yourself for that. I’m honestly surprised you’re as good at this as you are.”

He tilts his head. “Emmet said the same?” Not quite, but close enough.

She shrugs. “You’ve never wanted kids. We’ve talked about it a few times. Neither of you did, which is partly why you decided to live together. Not to mention how many times you’ve accidentally scared kids at the station. Last I checked, you had taken to calling Emmet for assistance if you found a lost kid. It’s just a big change, is all.”

He takes a moment to absorb that information. It’s true he’s scared more than a reasonable number of the clan kids by being too loud and having a harsh face. It’s also true that in the twenty years before he met Akari, he never had any interest in either a relationship or children, much to the clan leader’s disappointment. Yet, when he met her, something about her frightened demeanor and the way she was being used by the only people she could rely on for basic care, instantly set off some kind of protective instinct in him. He never so much as questioned his choice to aid her, nor his choice to shelter her when she was thrown out.

Ultimately, he shrugs. “I don’t know why. She needed help. I wanted to help. I don’t know… what to do. Often. I try. I love her. I love her so much.”

She smiles. “That’s sweet. Still kinda strange, but sweet. She seems like a good kid. I hope she feels better soon.”

“I hope so. She may need… time.”

Speaking of Akari, he hears the door at the end of the hall open and the sound of her quietly padding down the hall. When she emerges and sees the two of them looking at her, she freezes, ducking her head reflexively.

“It’s alright, Akari. Did you sleep well?”

“Yeah.” She gives a small bow. “Hello, Elesa.”

Elesa seems a little surprised by the formality, which he’s pretty sure is not normal here, but she smiles. “Hi, Akari. Would you like to sit with us?” She gestures along with her words.

She nods and sits beside Ingo.

There’s only a brief awkward silence before Elesa asks, “did you want to do something today besides hanging around here? It’s not the most interesting pastime.”

Ingo hums. “I don’t know.” He glances over at his daughter. “What do you want to do now?”

She shrugs. “I don’t know. I’d… like to see more of your home. If that’s possible.”

“I haven’t seen much of it either. Elesa, can we go…” he gestures vaguely toward the door, “out?”

“Sure?” She looks briefly confused. “Oh, right. You don’t remember the city. I can show you around, I guess.”

“Elesa says she can show us around.”

“Thank you.” She gives another small bow. “How do I say that in Galarian?”

“Thank you.”

She repeats the phrase and Elesa gives her a bright smile.

“You’re welcome!”

She looks surprised. “I thought you didn’t speak Celestica?”

Elesa gives her a blank look.

Ingo laughs. “She and Emmet have been trying to learn, but they don't understand much yet.”

“Oh. That makes more sense.” She laughs.

Ingo laughs too and ruffles her hair. “Why don’t you get ready?”

She nods and heads off down the hall towards his room. Elesa stands as well, saying, “I’ll go let Emmet know what we’re doing.”

“Thank you.”

He gets up and heads to the entryway, where he grabs his boots and pulls them on. Elesa returns as he’s grabbing his coat and she asks, “are you going to wear your uniform?”

“Oh. Um…”

She laughs. “You can if you want, but people are a lot more likely to recognize you if you do.”

Ingo hesitates, his hand hovering over the collar of the coat. The idea of wearing anything else after all these years feels so wrong. His coat had been so worn and so oft repaired that it was hardly the same garment, but even so it was important to him. He never went a day without wearing it if it was avoidable. Now, though, things are different. The coat isn’t an inseparable part of his identity here. For so long, it was his sole connection to everything he lost, but now all of those things are here. Now, it’s just a uniform. He sighs and reaches past it, grabbing the dark blue coat that hangs next to it instead.

“Are you alright?”

When he turns, Elesa is giving him a concerned look. He gives her what he knows isn’t a convincing reassuring look. “I’m fine.”

Akari returns, now wearing her haori and belt, as he’s clipping his pokeballs to his own belt. She tilts her head at the sight of him wearing a different coat, but to his relief doesn’t comment. Instead she asks, “are we ready to go?”

“Yes. Let’s go see Nimbasa City.”

Elesa takes the lead, taking them down the hallway and into the elevator again. It clearly still freaks Akari out a bit and she takes his hand and squeezes it tightly. He sees Elesa notice, but she doesn’t comment.

The street is just as busy as it was the first time Ingo experienced it. The crowds are less than pleasant and he finds himself glad for Akari’s hand in his. It gives him something else to focus on. He can’t be scared. Akari needs him to be strong or she will be scared.

They walk for a few minutes, the crowds never really dispersing at any point. Ingo is impressed at the number of people in this city. He thought Jubilife was getting big, but it’s nothing like this. It’s almost unbelievable that there are so many people crowded into one area. How are there enough resources? How complicated must it be to keep people fed, let alone everything else that’s required for such a population?

“Ingo?”

He turns his head to look at Elesa. “Yes?”

“You alright? You look kind of overwhelmed.”

He nods. “Yes.”

“Yes, you’re alright or yes, you’re overwhelmed?”

“Overwhelmed.” He holds up his free hand with his fingers pinched together in what he hopes is a universal sign for, “a little.” She seems to understand, but still looks worried, so he adds, “I’m fine. It is…” He waves his hand generally at the people surrounding them. “A lot.”

At this, she nods. “Ok. Do you want to go home, or do you want me to take you somewhere quieter?”

He glances down at Akari, who is watching them with an unreadable expression. “How are you doing?”

She shrugs. “I’m ok. It’s just… loud.”

He nods and looks back at Elesa. “Somewhere quieter. Please.”

“You got it.”

She takes the lead again and after another few minutes, they step off the road and onto a dirt path which leads through a surprisingly large, open space. Various grass and bug types wander about and flying types call from the tops of the trees that dot the area. Akari finally steps away from him, much more comfortable in the open space. A smile brightens her face when she spots a Sewaddle sunning itself nearby. 

Ingo watches her fondly as she approaches to study it, then turns to ask Elesa, “What is this…” He doesn’t have the word for it. It’s like a small piece of the wilds in the middle of the city. It’s beautiful.

“It’s a park. This is the biggest one in the city.”

“It’s good.”

She laughs, but a sadness he’s growing all too used to colors it.

“What’s wrong?”

She shakes her head. “It’s stupid. Don’t worry about it.”

He lays a hand gently on her shoulder. “Please.”

She sighs and sets her hand over his, her gaze dropping to the ground. “It’s just. It’s not like you disliked parks before, but you were so in love with this city it was funny. And now you seem… scared of it. You’re so much more comfortable here than you are even in your own apartment.”

Now he’s the one who’s uncomfortable with this conversation. He draws his hand back and sits on the ground, which gets a raised eyebrow from her. Still, she sits daintily in front of him. He picks several long strands of grass and starts weaving them together, just for something to do with his hands. “I’m different.”

“You’re-”

He holds up a hand, cutting her off. “I am. I am… Warden Ingo. I don’t know Subway Boss Ingo.” He’s pretty sure he didn’t even pronounce the title right. “I don't know…” He takes a shaky breath. “He is… gone.” He doesn’t know how to say it in Galarian. “I don’t know how to… be him. I am different. I don’t know… who I am. I’m sorry.”

She flinches slightly and he immediately feels guilty for dumping this on her. He’s glad that Akari has wandered off far enough that she can’t hear even though she wouldn’t understand the words. He really doesn’t want to worry her any more. 

Elesa takes a slow, deep breath. Her eyes are bright with unshed tears, but when she speaks, her tone is level. “Yeah. You’re different. If I’m being honest, sometimes you feel like a completely different person, and it's hard. Because it feels like the Ingo I knew is just… suddenly gone. But that’s not fair to you. You are the Ingo I knew. You’re just older. You’ve been through things I can hardly imagine, and you did it without your memory. In a way, it’s impressive how much you’re still you. It wouldn’t be all that surprising if you were completely different, but you aren’t.”

“I'm… not?”

She laughs a little wetly. “No, you’re not. Warden Ingo, Subway Boss Ingo, it doesn’t really matter does it? You’re the same responsible, overthinking, too-honest dork you’ve always been. You still love your brother even though I’m pretty sure you barely remember him. You still look so serious you could scare away a child- except that one, apparently.” She gestures vaguely behind him. “But underneath, you’re too kind for your own good. You’re apologizing for not knowing who you are like you’re not the person most hurt by that.”

He looks down, feeling his eyes stinging and his frown deepening. He doesn’t know if he agrees. He’s pretty sure the people who are suddenly grieving the loss of their friend and brother have it worse. At least he’s had time to get used to not knowing himself. Still, knowing that she doesn’t think of him as an entirely separate person is surprisingly comforting. He doesn’t want to address either of those things though, so instead he asks, “how do you… know? I don’t remember Emmet?”

She gives him a look that tells him she is well aware that he’s changing the subject, but she lets him off the hook. “You didn’t think to tell him we were leaving. Emmet always likes to know what’s happening. You usually update him about everything, even when he’s not around.”

“That is… good to know.” He knows how to say that in Galarian, but his head is starting to hurt from constantly trying to translate. Seeking a distraction, he looks around. “Where did Akari go?”

Elesa understands enough of the question to answer, “I saw her go that direction. She was following the Deerling herd.”

He nods. That’s not at all surprising, though he’s a little surprised Elesa didn’t mention when she got out of sight. She may be quite capable, but she’s still a child in an unfamiliar place. He stands up and dusts himself off. Elesa surprises him by taking the little woven grass band he created while they were talking. She doesn’t say anything, but slips it over her wrist. He shrugs and straightens his spine in a way he’s been unable to in years, then lets out a long, piercing whistle.

Elesa yelps and covers her ears. “Hey! A little warning, next time?”

He ducks his head. “ Sorry.”

As she waves it off, an answering whistle, this one two short bursts, sounds from the stand of trees in the distance. Ingo nods to himself and sets off toward his daughter’s location. Elesa follows half a step behind. “I’m guessing you taught her that?”

He laughs. “Yes.”

“Does it come in handy very often? I guess if you’re used to open spaces, it probably does.”

“It does.”

They walk in silence for a few minutes. Once they reach the trees, Ingo gestures for Elesa to cover her ears and whistles again. The answer is much closer this time and once again it’s just two short bursts. That’s good. It means all is well.

He had long been using various whistles to communicate with his Pokémon over long distances when he met Akari, so it was natural enough to teach the code to her. It’s easier and faster than trying to shout, though what can be expressed is limited. His own long whistle was a request for her location, and her answer was both a means to tell him where she was, and also confirmation that she’s not hurt or in danger. He’s only heard the whistles for those a few times outside of their initial practice, but each time has sent him instantly into a sprint to her side, safety checks be damned.

Now, in the present, here in a park in Nimbasa, he finds her sitting in a small clearing, surrounded by wild, but very friendly, Pokémon. She grins up at him. “Hey, Dad. I made new friends.”

He laughs. “I see that.” He kneels and reaches a hand out. “Would you like to introduce me?”

She giggles. “I don’t know what they’re called. That one with the little horns is very friendly, though.”

“That’s a Deerling. The one beside him is an Emolga.”

“Oh! It makes sense that you would know! What about this one?” She holds up a soft, white Pokémon.

“That’s a Cottonee.”

“It’s very soft.” She cradles it gently to her chest. After a moment though, she sets it down on the ground and gets to her feet. She gives a little bow to the Pokémon. “It was very nice to meet you all.”

They give various cries, each telling her goodbye in their own way.

She tucks herself against his side and looks up at him. “Are we going back home?”

“If you’d like.”

She nods. “The city is… too loud. Right now. I want to see more later.”

“Ok.” He looks at Elesa. “Can we go home?”

“Yeah.” Her gaze lingers on Akari for a moment longer, a smile on her face. “That’s fine. Let’s go.”

Chapter Text

When they enter the apartment, Emmet is back at the table, typing on his laptop. He looks a bit surprised to see them, saying, “you’re back? That didn’t take long.”

Ingo’s head is really starting to hurt from thinking too hard about translating, so he just sits next to his brother and leans against him with a small grumble.

Emmet laughs and wraps an arm loosely around his shoulders. “What does that mean?”

Elesa sits across from them and Akari cautiously sits next to her. They both look amused. “I think the city was overwhelming for him.”

Ingo nods, silently glad she’s blaming it on that and not the talk they had. He doesn’t want to think about it right now.

Emmet runs his hand through his hair idly, gently scratching his scalp with his fingernails. “That… makes sense.”

His voice gives nothing away and Ingo lets his eyes drift closed, not particularly wanting to see whatever conflict is surely on his face. He instead allows himself to relax into the gentle, seemingly subconscious affection.

After a moment, he feels his brother shift to look at him and hears him laugh again. He ruffles his hair with more purpose this time. “You’re going to fall asleep there, aren’t you?”

Ingo just hums in response, already feeling the pull of sleep tugging at him just from relaxing a bit.

Emmet gently pushes him up and he grumbles again and opens his eyes. His brother is giving him an apologetic look. “If you’re that tired, you should go sleep somewhere more comfortable.”

He huffs. “Fine.” He lightly headbutts his brother’s shoulder, which gets him a surprised look. Ah, right. That’s a habit he picked up from Lady Sneasler. Oh well. 

He sleepily makes his way down the hall to his bedroom. He’s unsurprised to hear Akari quietly following him and holds the door for her. He grabs a pillow and starts straightening the blanket on the floor.

Akari bats at his hands. “Stop. You can sleep in the bed.”

“I don’t mind the floor.”

She shakes her head. “Your back will hurt if you keep sleeping on the floor.”

He gives her a fond look. She’s always so considerate. “You’re forgetting that I’m nearly thirty years younger than I was before. I’ll be fine.”

She pulls a face. “It’s still your bed.” She shoves him gently. “Just take it.”

“Alright, alright.” He relents, sitting on the soft bed. “I’ll talk to Emmet later about getting you your own. And your own room. I think we have the space for it.”

Akari ducks her head as she sits on the floor, wrapping herself in the blanket. “Thanks, Dad.”

“You’re welcome.” He lays back and he’s asleep the second his head hits the pillow.

Ingo is awoken sometime later to the feeling of a hand touching his arm. He flinches and jerks upright, quickly scanning the area for any threat. Chandelure has joined them at some point and she’s floating calmly in the corner, providing a soft, purple light for him to see by. Nothing else is amiss, except for Akari, waiting patiently for him to calm down.

When he meets her eyes, she folds her hands and ducks her head, looking anxious. “Sorry for waking you up.”

He shakes his head. “It’s ok. Is something wrong?”

“I, umm…” She hesitates. “I had a nightmare.”

“Oh.” It’s hardly the first time, not after everything she’s been through, but he’s somehow still surprised. He reaches out and takes one of her hands in his own, squeezing it gently. “It’s ok. I’m right here. What can I do?”

She shakes her head. “I don’t know.”

He knows that’s not true. She wouldn’t have woken him up if she didn’t want some kind of reassurance. He tugs lightly on her hand and she immediately gives a relieved sigh and sits next to him. When he wraps his arms around her, she buries her face in his shirt and begins to softly cry. He brushes his fingers through her hair with one hand and pats her back with the other, murmuring, “easy. It’s ok. I’m here.”

She tries to say something, but instead just sobs. She shakes her head and gives up, just continuing to cry. 

He keeps comforting her until she exhausts her tears. Once she’s a little bit more calm, he asks, “do you want to talk about it?”

She hesitates for a long time before answering. “I had a nightmare.” She sits back and rubs her red-rimmed eyes. Her face is wet and blotchy from crying.

He brushes a stand of hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ear. “What was it about?”

“You.”

That gives him pause. He would be surprised if she meant that she had a dream about him doing something bad, if for no other reason than she came to him for comfort, which means it was probably about something bad happening to him. Unsure what else to say, he asks again, “do you want to talk about it?”

Indecision is written across her expression, but she answers slowly. “It, um. It told me that you wouldn’t remember.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Arceus.”

“Oh.”

Her expression grows pained. “That part wasn’t a dream. It really told me that. B-but I dreamed that it was right. You didn’t remember me.” Her hands grip tightly at the fabric of his shirt. “I didn’t know what to do. I was s-so scared.”

“I’m here, Akari. I do remember you, and I love you so much. I… I wish I could promise I would never forget you, but considering I was robbed of the memory of my own brother for so long, that isn’t so easy.” He feels her tense, but he continues. “But, I can promise that I’ll always love you. I barely remember Emmet, but I still love him. Even if I forgot everything again, it would simply be a chance to learn how much I love you all over again.”

A choked sob escapes her and she squeezes her hands even tighter. “Do you mean it?”

“Of course I do.”

She sniffles for a minute before looking up at him. “I love you too, Dad.”

He cups her cheek. “I know. I do have a question, though.”

She tilts her head.

“What did you mean when you said Arceus told you I would forget?”

He sees her eyes widen. “Oh. Um. Yeah. When I asked to be sent here, it said you wouldn’t remember. That when your task was completed, you were supposed to be returned home like nothing happened. With all memory of Hisui taken from you.”

“But… I do remember. And I don’t remember Unova.”

“Maybe it got it backwards.”

That doesn’t feel quite right to him, but he nods. “I suppose we can ask when we find it.”

She looks down, her brow furrowing and mouth pinching into a frown.

“What is it?”

“What if when we find it, it fixes its mistake?”

He furrows his brow. “You mean, what if it makes me forget you?” He doesn’t wait for an answer. “That would be quite cruel at this point, I think, but given how it's acted until now, it’s not out of the question.”

She ducks her head, her frown deepening enough to match his own.

“You don’t think we should confront it?”

“Of course not. Shouldn’t we be… happy? I mean, we’re both here. Things could be worse.”

“I don’t want to find it so it can change anything. I want it to know that what it did was wrong.” The debate feels oddly familiar. Not the exact subject matter of course, but the way he feels so strongly that he needs to defend the principle of the matter. The Ideal that Arceus must be made to pay for what it has done to them, even though the Truth is that Akari is right. They’re here, together, and that should be enough.

As expected, she argues, “does that really matter?”

“It matters to me. And… Arceus is a god. If it never learns that it's wrong to act so cruelly, what’s to stop it from hurting others?”

That gives her pause. “I hadn’t thought of that.”

Ingo feels his frown deepen. “Being transparent, that isn’t why I care. I care because it hurt you.”

“I know, Dad.” She seems to think for a moment. “We still don’t know if it will try to make it so you don’t remember Hisui.”

“We will just have to ask it not to.”

“You think it will listen?”

“It listened when you asked to come here. But, no. I think we will probably have to fight it in order to get it to listen to anything.”

“Do you think that’s a good idea?”

“I don’t know. But you’ve already beaten it once, and now you’re not alone. You and I were the strongest battlers in Hisui by far. And here, my brother, Elesa, and I are all considered strong. I think we can handle it.”

Akari snorts. “Ok, I guess you’re probably right.”

Ingo ruffles her hair, happy to see a smile breaking through her sour mood. “Now all we have to do is figure out how to get to Sinnoh. And how to get you an identity. We should probably check in with Emmet about that.” He stretches and stands. He can hear vague sounds outside the door, so he assumes his brother will be out there at least.

“Don’t you want to go back to sleep?”

He shakes his head. “No, I’m alright.”

“Sorry for waking you up.”

He shakes his head. “I’m glad you did. Do you want to come with me to talk to Emmet?”

“Yeah.” 

She trails behind him as he heads out into the hall. As he expected, Emmet is in the kitchen. He’s cooking something on the stove and he smiles when he sees them. “Did you sleep well?”

“Yes.” 

He gestures to the table. “Why don’t you sit down? Dinner will be ready soon.”

Ingo obliges, translating for Akari. “Did you…”

Emmet glances over his shoulder. “I spoke with Interpol, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

“I didn’t go into a lot of detail about the situation, but they want to talk to you and Akari. Someone is coming by tomorrow.”

“Oh.” He’s a little surprised. He expected this to be more difficult.

Emmet seems to notice. He sets several plates of some kind of noodles on the table and sits across from them. “It seems to be the sort of thing they take very seriously. Particularly since Akari is a minor.”

Huh. That’s a welcome change of pace. This might be the first time someone in a position of authority has ever taken his daughter’s situation as seriously as he does. He nods. “Good.” Turning to Akari, he explains, “someone will be here to help us figure out your identification tomorrow.”

She nods, her mouth full of food. Slightly muffled, she responds, “great. This is really good.”

Ingo laughs. “Slow down or you’re going to choke.”

Akari says something completely unintelligible. Her face turns red and she ducks her head in embarrassment. Emmet laughs, and an embarrassed look crosses his face too, like he didn’t mean to let that slip out. Ingo gives each of them a fond look.

Once her mouth is no longer full, Akari smiles at Emmet. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. I’m glad you like it.”

Ingo translates the second part of that for her and starts to eat his own dinner. He’s glad that the two of them are getting along relatively well, despite the language barrier and all the strangeness of the situation.

Chapter Text

Ingo wakes up early the next morning. Akari is still fast asleep, curled up in blankets on the floor with her arms wrapped around Sylveon. Her face isn’t visible, hidden beneath a mass of pink fur. He quietly makes his way out of the room with Chandelure floating silently after him.

Looking out the window, he can see the first light of dawn peeking through the nearby buildings. Feeling more at ease than he has in some time, he spends some time simply admiring the sight. It’s so very different from anything he’s ever known.

Once the sun is fully over the horizon, he turns away and walks into the kitchen. It takes him a moment to figure out how to start the stove, but he eventually manages to get a kettle started. Once that’s going, he starts on the process of making pastries just like he did the other day. He’s glad he figured out how to do this already. It will be a nice surprise for Akari.

Once those are cooking, he rummages around in the pantry until he finds food for the Pokemon. He feeds his team, then makes a cup of tea for himself. When he sits down, the Pokemon crowd around him, eager for attention. He’s happy to give it to them. He still wants to get to know them better. 

He’s still there, petting Garbodor with one hand and Crustle with the other, when Emmet emerges from his room. He smiles sleepily at Ingo as he heads to the kitchen. Ingo watches with curiosity as he goes through the motions of activating a device on the counter seemingly on auto. In a minute, a wonderful aroma drifts out of it.

His brother feeds his own Pokemon, then grabs a mug and fills it with a dark liquid from the device. “Do you want any coffee?”

Ingo tilts his head. “I don’t know.”

Emmet gives a small laugh as he pours milk into his cup and stirs it. He pulls out another mug and half-fills it with coffee. He brings it with him and sets it on the table in front of Ingo. With his now free hand, he gently pushes Excadrill out of the way so he can sit beside him. He lays his head on his shoulder. “You should try it.”

Ingo grabs the mug and cautiously takes a sip. He wonders why his brother didn’t add milk to his, but he trusts him enough to give it a shot. He’s glad he does. The coffee is incredible. He likes tea, but this is so much better. If it weren’t boiling hot, he would probably down the entire cup at once.

Emmet snorts, obviously seeing something in his reaction. “Out of curiosity, did they not have coffee at all in Hisui or did you just never try it?”

Ingo takes another sip, closing his eyes and savoring it. “I don’t think… we had it.”

“Hmm.” Emmet sips his own coffee. “That is terrible.”

They stay there, sharing space contentedly until the door to his bedroom opens and Akari wanders out. She’s rubbing her eyes sleepily, but stops and smiles when she sees them. “Good morning.”

“Good morning.” He gently moves Emmet off his shoulder, which earns him a grumble. “There’s food for your Pokemon in there. I’ll get breakfast for us while you feed them.”

She nods and heads to the pantry, letting all her Pokemon out to feed them. Ingo takes the pastries out of the oven and dishes them out onto several plates.

“Don’t forget to turn the oven off,” Emmet calls out from the couch.

“Thank you!” Ingo looks at the device, trying to remember how to do that. After a moment, he finds the button labeled ‘Off’.

Akari appears at his side. “Ooh. Those look good!”

He laughs and hands her a plate. “Do you want some tea with that?”

“Yes, please!” She moves to the table while he starts the kettle boiling again.

While he’s waiting for that, he takes his cup from the table and refills it with more coffee. Emmet laughs. “That’s the level of caffeine addiction I expect from you.” When he looks over, he sees his brother is watching Akari with a soft smile. “You are verrry good with her.” 

“She is my daughter. I try.”

“I know it shouldn’t be surprising, I’m sorry.”

“It’s ok, Emmet. I understand.”

He’s setting the cup of tea next to Akari when a knock rings out from the door. All the Pokemon turn towards the door, his and Emmet’s looking curious and Akari’s looking suspicious. Emmet stands and goes to see who it is. He opens the door and speaks to someone for a moment before stepping aside, allowing them to enter.

There are two people, a man and a woman. They’re both dressed sharply and wear serious expressions. The woman introduces them. “Good morning. I’m Agent Tiff with Interpol. This is my partner, Agent Jace.”

Emmet nods politely. “I am Subway Boss Emmet. This is my brother, Subway Boss Ingo, and Akari.”

“Pleasure to meet you.” Agent Tiff turns her attention on Ingo. “Your brother informed us briefly about the situation, but I understand you know more than he does. Would you mind giving us a statement about what happened?”

Ingo inclines his head. “I will try. But I cannot speak Galarian… very well.”

She shares a glance with her partner. “You… can’t speak Galarian?”

Emmet steps closer. “It might be easier if I explain what we’ve been able to figure out so far.”

Agent Tiff gives the go ahead, so he explains about Ingo suddenly not being able to speak Galarian and the subsequent discovery of his travel through time. He explains that they confirmed his story by looking up Hisuian history. And he explains about how they found Akari, her relationship to Ingo, and her provenance.

By the end of it, both agents are sitting at the table, looking overwhelmed. Agent Jace recovers first. He looks at Akari. “Miss, can you confirm that what Subway Boss Emmet says is true?”

She looks at him blankly.

Ingo explains, “Akari does not speak Galarian.”

“Oh? Sino?”

He shakes his head. “No. We speak Celestica.”

“That complicates things.”

Akari glances back and forth between the two of them. “Is something wrong, Dad?”

“They want to hear your story, but no one here speaks Celestica.”

“Oh. That’s a problem.”

The two agents share a look. Agent Tiff takes back over. “Well, that’s certainly no language I’ve heard. We’ll look into those historical documents, but we don’t have any reason not to believe you. As for exactly what we can do about this, that’s a more complicated matter. Creating a new identity for someone is never easy, but in this case, we don’t even have an original identity to work with. We will need more information, and then we’ll need to fabricate a history so she doesn’t simply sprout from nowhere.”

Ingo tilts his head. “Why?”

“Because If anyone ever had reason to scrutinize it, that would make her look highly suspicious.”

“Oh.” He doesn’t ask why anyone would have cause to scrutinize her identity.

Agent Jace pulls a device out of his bag and opens it. It looks a lot like Emmet’s laptop and seems to serve the same purpose. He spends a minute fiddling with it before looking at Akari. He keeps his eyes on her, but addresses Ingo. “Ok, so name: Akari. Date of birth?”

“I… don’t know.” He supposes that would be the day she arrived in Hisui, but he doesn’t know exactly when that was.

The man seems to realize his mistake as well. Emmet did explain about Arceus creating her, but it’s not the easiest thing to wrap one’s mind around. A slightly embarrassed look crosses his face. “Right. Sorry. Um… Age?”

“Seventeen.” Technically, he supposes that’s not correct, either, but seeing as that’s the birthday they celebrated a few months ago, he’s going to go with it. It was always a guess, anyway. Realizing they don’t understand, he grabs a piece of paper and a pen, making seventeen tick marks.

The agent counts, then nods. “Seventeen. Ok.” His eyes flick across the screen. “And… We don’t have any of the other necessary information.” He looks at his partner. “We’re going to have to fabricate a lot of this.”

“This is a lot, isn’t it?”

Ingo looks down at Akari, taking in the way she’s chewing her lip nervously. “They will figure it out.”

“They shouldn’t have to. Because I shouldn’t be here.”

“No.” His tone is firm enough to draw the attention of everyone in the room. Akari ducks her head, refusing to look at him. “Don’t say that. There’s nowhere else you should be.”

He can see tears welling in her eyes and doesn’t miss the way the agents look at each other with concerned expressions. Akari continues to stare down at the floor pointedly. “But I shouldn’t be. You were supposed to be able to go back home like nothing happened and I… should have gone back to being no one. You shouldn’t have to worry about me. No one should. I’m not real.”

“You are real, Akari.” He reaches out and tucks her hair behind her ear so he can see her face better. “I’m glad you’re here. I’m glad I remember you.”

A tear slides down her cheek and she stifles a sob. “I’m sorry. I’m being ridiculous.”

“No, you aren’t. It’s ok to not know how to handle this. Do you want to go somewhere else?” He hopes that she’ll say yes. Having this breakdown in front of strangers can’t be helping anything, even if they don’t understand.

To his relief, she nods vigorously.

“Ok. Emmet, can you do this?” He gestures vaguely at the laptop.

“I will do my best.” 

His brother doesn’t look confident, and the agents still look worried, but that’s good enough for him. “Thank you.”

Akari gets to her feet and the two of them go down the hall. She doesn’t protest being led to the back room, and once he closes the door, she releases all of her Pokémon. Ingo sits on the large bed, leaving the option of what she wants to do up to her. 

For the moment, she lets her Pokémon crowd around her. She smiles wetly when Crobat hangs off her shoulders. Ingo can’t make it what she’s saying, but she speaks softly to her Pokémon for a few minutes before eventually approaching him.

He pats the spot next to him and she sits there, wrapping an arm around him and leaning into his side. He offers her a hand and she takes it, squeezing gently. “You know, I’m not the only one who’s happy you’re here.”

“Hmm?”

He gestures to her Pokémon. “They love you just as much as I do. They don’t care where you came from, you’re their trainer and they’re just happy you’re here.”

“I’m causing you so much trouble, though.”

“You’re my daughter. I’m supposed to take care of you, no matter how much trouble it is.”

“But… I’m not…”

“Yes, you are.”

She shakes her head. “But I’m not really human, am I?”

Ingo can’t help but take a sharp breath. “Of course you are.”

“Arceus doesn’t create humans. It creates Pokémon.”

“It… does. But we don’t know that it can’t create humans, too.” She opens her mouth to say something else, but he continues, “besides, I love plenty of things that aren’t human. It wouldn’t matter to me.”

Her mouth snaps shut. After a moment, she whispers emphatically, “why are you so nice?”

“What reason would I have not to be?” He wraps an arm around her shoulders, holding her close. “I will always love you, no matter how hard you try to convince me not to.”

She stiffens for just a second, then bursts into tears. She lets go of his hand so she can use both of hers to cover her face.

He lets her have the time she needs to break down, but when her breathing begins to steady, he speaks as softly as he’s able to. “It’s going to be ok, Akari. We will figure things out. We’ll move forward together. And you know what?”

“What?” Her voice is small.

“One day you’ll look back on this and it will all feel so far away. You will be happy. You will live your life for yourself and you’ll wonder why you ever let Arceus put so much doubt in your mind. I know right now it feels like the end of the world, and it may be hard to believe me, but one day you’ll feel better. You’ll be as proud of yourself as I am of you.”

She takes several very shaky breaths. “I love you, Dad.”

“And I love you, Akari.”

“We should go back. They’re probably worried.”

“I’m more worried about you. Will you be alright?”

“Y-yeah. I’ll be fine, Dad.”

“If you’re sure.”

She nods and stands in lieu of answering. When she opens the door, she freezes at the sight of Emmet on the other side. His eyes widen in surprise as well, his hand hovering in the air, just short of knocking on where the door was.

“Ah. Good. I was just um, coming to check on you. Are you ok, Akari?”

She looks just as surprised to hear him speaking Celestica as she did last time. “I’m ok, Uncle Emmet.” She doesn’t completely sell that, but Ingo doesn’t think his brother understands well enough to realize. She bows her head. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” He looks past her to Ingo. “We have figured out a cover story.”

He raises an eyebrow. “You have?”

His brother’s smile takes on a slightly mischievous edge. “To start with, we can explain your language issue as an unexpected side effect of getting hit by a stray psychic type attack. It would explain why we suddenly went on sick leave. And then, while we were on leave, you got a call from Sinnoh!”

Ingo tilts his head. “I did?”

“Not really. It’s part of the cover story.”

“Oh.”

He grins. “This is the good part. So, you got a call from child services in Sinnoh informing you that Akari recently lost her mother and, as her father, you were asked to take over guardianship of her.”

He blinks in surprise. “That is… There are problems. With that.”

Emmet snorts. He asks, a cheeky look on his face, “why? I thought this would make you verrry happy. It means the government recognizes her as your daughter and no one can question where she came from.”

Ingo begrudgingly nods in agreement to that. “But I am not… that implies… What about her…”

“Mother?”

“Yes.”

“Well, obviously she’s not real, but for the purposes of this story, she did tragically have to die.”

Ingo glares at his brother. “Not what I mean.”

“You mean that it implies you’re a scoundrel?”

He knows the bite of his continued glare is lessened by his reddening cheeks.

As expected, Emmet laughs. “You’re terrible. Leaving the poor woman all alone with a child.”

“I would not!”

His laughter dissolves into a fit of giggles. He’s enjoying Ingo’s embarrassment a little too much. Suddenly his mind catches on another problem. He continues to glare at Emmet. “Also. You said, we are thirty-five. Akari is seventeen.”

His newest protest does not help the giggling. Emmet answers, “don’t you remember the fling you had with that Sinnohan girl in college?”

“That did not happen.”

“You don’t remember. It could have.”

“It did not.”

“If you want to establish that Akari is your daughter, it did now.”

“I hate you.”

Akari giggles. She may not understand their argument, but she clearly recognizes that he’s being teased. 

“Well, brother? Do you have a better way to get Akari an identity as your daughter?”

He huffs, trying to school his features into a serious expression. “Why not a ward?” He’s glad he learned the word from Elesa the other day.

Irritatingly, Emmet has a quick answer. “Because for the Ingo everyone here knows, that would be verrry out of character.”

Considering both he and Elesa have been consistently surprised by his relationship to Akari, he supposes that’s probably true.

Emmet waves a hand. “Technically, having had a fling in college will also seem out of character, but we can play it off as a mistake you made when you were young and stupid.”

“You’re young and stupid,” Ingo grumbles.

Emmet laughs and ignores his jab. “But you do have a reputation for being responsible, so no one will be shocked to hear you decided to take care of her.”

Another, unrelated problem rises in his mind and Ingo jumps on the opportunity to change the subject. “She was underground.”

Emmet’s brows come together. “Oh, yeah.” He considers for a moment, then turns on his heel and heads back to the living area. The agents are at the table still, now both working on laptops. They look up when Emmet says, “Ingo is on board with the cover story-”

“I did not agree.”

His brother ignores him. “But there is a problem. We found Akari in the tunnels. The Depot Agents didn’t see her, but they saw her Pokemon and we said she was a friend of Ingo’s.”

Akari leans against Ingo’s side. “What’s going on?”

He sighs. “They can forge identification paperwork that would make you legally my daughter.” He doesn’t mention his hesitation, not wanting to give her the wrong impression. He’s honestly happy to have their relationship officially recognized, it’s just the implications of the story they fabricated that bother him. “The story is that you’ve lived in Sinnoh with your mother, but something happened to her, so I was contacted to take care of you.”

She tilts her head. “So, like, you didn’t know about me, then?”

“Yes.”

He’s a little concerned she’s going to be upset about that, but she just nods. “That makes sense since I kinda came out of nowhere.”

“Right. But it doesn’t explain how you were in the tunnels.”

“Oh.” She hums. “Well, I came looking for you.” Her tone is matter of fact. “I mean, I actually did. But it makes sense, right? You didn’t know about me, but I could know about you.”

“Hmm. That could work, but people saw me recognize your Pokemon.”

“It was Lucario, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Maybe I got him from my mom?”

“That… would work. I hate asking you to lie for me, though.”

She giggles. “You’re lying for me first. I don’t mind.”

Ingo ruffles her hair fondly. “Thank you.” 

He looks up, realizing everyone else is watching them. Emmet gives him a soft smile. “Did you figure something out?”

He nods. “Yes. Akari… found me. I knew Lucario because of…” He hesitates not because of any difficulty with language this time. Defeated, he finishes, “because of her mother.”

Emmet grins brilliantly. “I told you it was a good story.”

Agent Tiff speaks up before he can start bickering with his brother again. “So, you’re suggesting that Akari came here looking for you rather than you being contacted to take care of her? We can work with that.”

Ingo bows his head politely. “Thank you.”

She nods sharply and closes her laptop. “Very well. The paperwork will take some time to complete. We’ll be in touch.”

Both agents ready themselves to leave, but Ingo stops them before they do. “When can we go to Sinnoh?”

Agent Jace gives him a perplexed look. “You don’t have to go to Sinnoh. Akari didn’t actually come from there.”

“I know. That is not…”

They share a confused look. Agent Tiff says, “I wouldn’t recommend international travel at least until Akari’s identification is finished. Even then, considering what’s going on, it may not be the best idea.”

Well, it’s definitely going to happen, but he can wait until the paperwork is done, he supposes. To pacify the worried look on her face, he nods. “Ok.”

She doesn’t look convinced, but she and her partner leave the apartment.

There’s a moment of silence which is broken by a chime from Emmet’s wrist. He looks at it and his smile widens. “Perfect timing! Elesa would like to meet us for lunch. Do you think you and Akari are up for that?”

He tilts his head and looks down at his daughter. “Do you feel up to going out in town?”

She considers for a moment. “Yeah. As long as it’s nowhere too loud.”

“Will lunch be loud?”

Emmet laughs. “No, I don’t think so.”

“Good! Then we will go.”

Chapter Text

Ingo keeps an arm around Akari as they walk down the street. It’s just as busy as it always is, people and Pokemon bustling to and fro and vehicles moving far too quickly. Thankfully, they’re not going too far and the cafe they enter is quiet. There are only a few people at the tables so it’s easy to pick out Elesa sitting in the back.

They sit at the table, upon which is a steaming teapot. She smiles when they sit and pours a cup of tea for each of them.

Ingo bows his head as he takes it. “Thank you.”

“Of course! I thought you might like this place. Burgh recommended it to me.”

Emmet glances around, eyes lingering on the eccentric paintings on the walls. “That seems right.”

Elesa laughs, though Ingo doesn’t understand what was funny. “So, how did it go with Interpol?”

“Good. They can make Akari legally Ingo’s daughter.”

“Really?” She looks surprised. “That’s great news!”

Ingo pinches his eyes. “Yes. I’m very happy.”

She smiles. “I’m glad to hear it.” She gestures to the menu. “Can you read that?”

“Yes.” 

He takes a few minutes to translate it for Akari and by the time the server arrives, they’ve passed the information on to Emmet so he can order for them.

While they wait, Elesa asks, “how are you doing, Akari?”

Ingo translates and coaches Akari through how to answer in Galarian. They hold a short conversation to practice basic pleasantries, which Ingo benefits from as well. His brain still wants to default to Celestica, but at least he’s starting to remember the words more easily.

Their food arrives and, though he didn’t doubt Elesa’s taste, he’s impressed by how good it is. It’s truly wonderful to have access to such a variety of cuisine. Not that it mattered much to him, but he’s grown very accustomed to a simple diet. They continue to chat about nothing of importance long after they’ve all finished eating. Some piece of his mind, a piece he feels that he’s been missing for a long time, settles. Sharing a meal with family, more than just he and Akari, but his brother and best friend as well, feels like a soothing balm to his very soul.

They’re still chatting well over an hour later, when they’re interrupted by someone approaching their table. Elesa and Emmet both clearly recognize him, and his brother smiles. “Burgh. Hello. Elesa told us you recommended this place.”

The man grins. “I did. I’m glad you tried it!” 

“Would you like to join us?” Elesa offers.

“Certainly!” He slides into the seat next to her with an easy smile. It would seem that they must be friends. He looks between Emmet and Ingo, momentarily raising his eyebrow at Akari. “Hey, I heard the Battle Subway was closed. Is something going on?”

His brother answers easily with the lie they fabricated earlier. “Ingo got hit with a psychic attack and it scrambled his brain. I will probably reopen the Double Line soon, but it may be some time before the Single and Multi Lines can start up again.”

Burgh throws him a worried look. “You got your brain scrambled? That doesn’t sound good.”

Ingo shrugs. “I’m fine.”

The man raises an eyebrow. “Are you… sure?”

Apparently that wasn’t very convincing. If he had to guess, it’s because of how little he said. It’s not like he’s known for being concise. He doesn’t know how well he’s supposed to know Burgh, though, so he just gives Emmet a questioning look.

Emmet explains, “it messed up his ability to speak Galarian. We’re working on it.” 

Burgh gives a sympathetic grimace. “That’s terrible. I’m sorry.”

Ingo crinkles his eyes at him. “It’s ok. Thank you.”

He raises an eyebrow. “Did it give you an accent, too?”

“I…” He tilts his head. “Don’t know. I wouldn’t be surprised, since I can only remember how to speak Celestica.”

Burgh’s eyes widen. “Woah. Was that Sino?”

“Kind of.” Emmet explains, “it’s a dialect of Sino.”

Akari taps his arm and Ingo looks down at her. She asks, “who is this?”

“His name is Burgh. I’m not really sure who he is, but I think we’re friends.”

“Oh.” She nods, accepting his answer.

When Ingo looks back, Burgh has his head tilted. With polite confusion, he asks, “who’s the young lady?”

Looking altogether too thrilled, Emmet tells him, “oh, that’s Akari. She’s Ingo’s daughter.”

Burgh sputters in shock. He covers his mouth with a hand and coughs. “Oh.” He takes a second to gather himself. “I um, I didn’t know you had a daughter, Ingo.”

“He didn’t know, either.”

Ingo smacks the back of his brother’s head, but that just gets him a cheeky grin.

“Is this… related to the psychic attack?”

Ingo shakes his head. “No.”

“Nope, just unfortunate timing. We found out about her recently. Her mother, um…” He grimaces. “Died. So now, Ingo has custody of Akari.”

“Oh. That’s terrible. I’m so sorry, Ingo.”

He shakes his head, but does his best to sound sad about the loss of someone who doesn’t exist. “It’s… alright. Thank you.”

Burgh’s expression shifts from sympathetic to something like amusement. “Ok, but are you telling me- wait, does Akari speak Galarian?”

“No.”

“Oh, good.” He reaches out and lays a hand on Ingo’s forearm. “Are you telling me that you had a kid, what, when you were a teenager? You? Responsible, serious, Ingo?”

Ingo feels his face heat up. He mutters something unintelligible, which is apparently answer enough because Burgh, Emmet, and Elesa all start laughing. 

To his credit, though, Burgh collects himself and faces Akari. He holds out a hand and smiles. “It’s nice to meet you Akari. I’m Burgh.”

She stares blankly at the offered hand and Ingo translates, “he says it’s nice to meet you. I… think you’re supposed to shake his hand.” He’s not exactly sure of the custom, but that feels right.

She gingerly reaches out and takes his hand. “It’s nice to meet you too, Mister Burgh. How do I say that?” She glances over at him with that last part and carefully repeats after him when he tells her. “It’s nice to meet you, too.”

Burgh smiles at her. “Well, if you take after your dad at all, maybe I’ll see you at my Gym sometime.”

Ingo translates that for her and quickly explains what a Gym is, thankful that Elesa explained her job to him already so he has enough context to understand. When he’s finished, Akari grins at Burgh and just says, “yes!”

That makes him laugh. “I think I see the resemblance. I look forward to a good battle.” He glances at Elesa and Emmet. “I should probably let you guys get back to your lunch, but it was nice to see you.” He stands and gives an informal wave with two fingers and then he’s gone, just as quickly as he appeared.

There’s silence at the table for a moment, which is broken by Akari. “He seems nice. I’m excited to battle him.” She looks up at Ingo. “You said I could participate in official battles once I have a legal identity, right? Are battles at Gyms official battles?”

“Yes. You should be able to do them soon, if you’d like.”

“How many are there?”

“I don’t know.” He looks at Elesa. “How many Gyms are there?”

“In Unova, eleven. All regions except for Alola have at least eight, since that’s the traditional number required to beat for a Gym Challenge, but most have a few extra so people can choose which ones they want to challenge. Anyone who defeats eight Gym Leaders has the right to challenge the Elite Four as well.”

“Is the subway… related?”

Emmet answers. “The Battle Subway is not part of the Pokemon League. Anyone can challenge it at any time, although they have to win twenty battles in a row in order to battle us.”

“Hmm.” He turns back to Akari. “There are a lot of official battles here.” He explains the whole organization to her, feeling his eyes pinch happily and enjoying the way her face lights up at the prospect of so many strong opponents to battle.

Emmet smiles too, clearly seeing the same thing. “If you are that excited to battle, there are arenas here in town that are open to the public. We could go use one of those.”

Elesa laughs. “You just want an excuse to find out how good she is, don’t you?”

He waves a hand, blowing out a breath in mock offense. “No. Definitely not.”

Ingo laughs. “Definitely.” He looks down at Akari with pinched eyes. “Do you want to battle Emmet?”

“Yes!” She jumps up in excitement. “Can we do it now?”

“Not here in this restaurant.” He stands and pats her on the shoulder. “But, yes.” He turns to Emmet. “Where?”

Elesa is the one who answers. “A public battle arena is probably not the best idea unless you want to answer a bunch of questions from the general public. Why don’t we go to my Gym? No one should be there right now.”

“Great idea!” Emmet stands and excitedly pulls Elesa to her feet as well. “Let’s go!”

Despite her teasing, Elesa looks excited as she leads the way out of the restaurant and down the street. Akari tucks herself closely against Ingo’s side as they walk and he in turns walks more closely to his brother than is strictly necessary. Emmet is quite understanding of his anxiety and even takes his hand, squeezing it gently. Ingo tries to focus on that instead of the overwhelming sights and sounds of the city.

The building Elesa takes them to is covered in brilliant, flashing lights, which isn’t encouraging, but the inside is empty of people. Most of the building is taken up by a huge room with a large raised platform in the middle. While it’s certainly large enough to have a Pokémon battle on, it’s several times longer than it needs to be and Ingo tilts his head, trying to work out the reasoning behind the design.

Elesa sees his confusion and explains, “I do both Gym battles and fashion shows here. The catwalk in the middle is where models walk to show off their look.”

He hums, a little confused about why that might be necessary. It’s clear that it means a lot to Elesa, though, so he doesn’t ask out of fear of being offensive.. The two of them take seats near the catwalk while Akari and Emmet climb up onto it and face off.

Emmet asks, “Single or Double Battle?”

Ingo tilts his head in confusion. “Double Battle?”

His brother turns to him with a mortified look. “You don’t remember what a Double Battle is?”

“No. What is it?”

“They are my specialty! Each participant battles with two Pokémon at once. Every combination is different!”

“Oh.” That sounds like a lot to think about at once. “Akari, would you prefer a standard Single Battle or to try a Double Battle, using two Pokémon at once?”

She considers for a moment. “I’d like to try Double!”

He attempts to smile at her enthusiasm. “Akari wants to try a Double Battle.”

“Yes! I will show her it is the superior battle style.”

Ingo snorts. “Sure.”

Emmet ignores his sarcasm and faces Akari with a blinding smile. “I am Emmet. I am a Subway Boss. I like Double Battles. I like combinations of two Pokémon. And I like winning more than anything else. So let's start a great battle in which every Pokémon uses various moves."

Akari gives him a confused look, but takes two pokeballs and throws them out when he does. Crobat and Sylveon face off against Archeops and Durant. She narrows her eyes, no doubt trying to determine what type the two might be. She clearly realizes quickly that she’s at a disadvantage, because she calls out, “Sylveon, Baby-Doll Eyes. Crobat, Cross Poison.”

Emmet calls out at the same time, “Iron Head. Rock Slide.”

Akari winces at the damage done by the two attacks, but responds with, “Sylveon, Mystical Fire, Crobat X-Scissor!”

Sylveon deals quite a bit of damage to Durant, while Crobat does significantly less to Archeops. The poison does chip away at him a bit, but not enough to knock him out. Emmet calls out the same two moves as before and both of Akari’s Pokemon fall. 

She takes a moment to think before sending out Walrein and Lucario. “Icy Wind! Aura Sphere!”

The two attacks knock out both of Emmet’s Pokemon before they can follow his directions. He smiles a bit wider and sends out Galvantula and Eelektross. “Thunder Wave. Discharge.”

“Icy Wind! Flash Cannon!”

The two pairs of Pokemon trade blows once more before Walrein falls to the powerful electric attacks from the two opposing Pokemon. Akari grimaces but calls out for Lucario to attack again. The Alpha manages to knock out Galvantula, but falls to Eelektross’s next attack. 

Akari takes a deep breath as she recalls him, taking the moment to compose herself. Ingo knows that losing the battle probably affected her more than it ought to, given the risks that come with losing a battle in the wilds of Hisui. It’s been a problem ever since they started training together.  But she still smiles genuinely at Emmet and bows politely. “Thank you. That was a very good battle. I enjoyed the challenge of the Double Battle, too.”

Emmet smiles back. “You’re welcome. It was verrry fun, and you did verrry well for your first try at a Double Battle. You have trained your Pokemon well.”

Ingo translates that for her and she ducks her head shyly. “Thanks.”

“Do you want to battle any more or head home? I’m sure Elesa would be willing to battle you if you wanted.”

She thinks about it for a moment. “Probably head home. My Pokemon could use some rest.”

“Alright.” He glances at Elesa and Emmet. “Let’s go back home.”

Emmet nods. “Ok. Let’s go, then.”

Elesa hesitates. “I’ll stay here, actually, if that’s alright. I need to get caught up on some things.”

Ingo gives his best impression of a smile. “Of course.”

Emmet nods in agreement. “Yeah! That’s fine. I am ignoring all the work that I’ve been getting behind on, but that is a bad idea. You should not do that.”

Elesa laughs. “Yeah, you’re gonna regret that later.”

“Probably.” Emmet doesn’t seem particularly bothered. He takes Ingo’s hand and pulls him towards the door. He calls back over his shoulder, “thanks for letting us use your Gym. See you later.”

She calls back. “See you tomorrow!”

Akari jogs after them and is quick to tuck herself against Ingo’s side again as they leave the building. The walk through the city is uneventful. Ingo thinks he’s getting better at handling the crowds and noise, but he’s still glad to be back inside when they reach the apartment. 

Emmet checks his laptop right away and happily reports, “I got word back from Interpol. We should get Akari’s new documents tomorrow.”

“Good. Sinnoh next, yes?”

“Yes. I’ll start figuring out how we’re going to get there.”

“Thank you.” Emmet hums in acknowledgment, seemingly distracted, so Ingo pats him on the arm to draw his attention and repeats, “thank you. For… everything. Helping me, and Akari. Helping with Interpol. Everything.”

“Oh.” He looks surprised, then a little emotional. “It’s… the least I can do.”

“It is not.”

Emmet laughs lightly. “I guess not. But you’re my brother and I love you, so there’s nothing I would rather do.”

Now Ingo is feeling just as emotional. He pulls his brother into a hug and holds tight. “I love you, too.”

Chapter Text

Ingo squeezes Akari’s hand gently as they approach the flying machine. He thinks he’s more nervous about this than she is, honestly. The prospect of flying on the back of a Pokémon- or in a sling carried by one, like Akari would do with Lord Braviary- is frightening enough, but the idea of trusting a machine to carry them through the open air is much worse.

Emmet spent much of the train ride to the airfield explaining how safe it apparently is, and also telling him about Skyla, the woman who will be their pilot. She’s apparently also a Gym Leader and good friends with Elesa. They’re not as close with her, but would consider her a friend, and apparently that’s enough for her to be willing to fly them to Sinnoh personally.

He spots her right away as they approach. Between her bright red hair and her flashy blue outfit, she would be hard to miss. When she sees them, she waves excitedly, but finishes what she’s working on. She gives a satisfied smile and wipes her hands on a rag just as they reach her, turning to face them.

“Hey there! You’re right on time, as usual.”

“Of course. The trains always run on time.”

She snorts. “Yeah, yeah.” Turning her attention on Ingo, she asks, “how are you feeling?”

Elesa already told her their cover story, so he can simply answer with, “I’m alright.”

Skyla’s expression turns sympathetic at the short response, but she moves on. “And you must be Akari. It’s very nice to meet you!”

Akari bows her head. “It’s nice to meet you, Ma’am.”

She looks a bit surprised. “I thought you didn’t speak Galarian?”

Ingo answers, “she’s been practicing. We both have.”

“That’s good! She’s doing well already.” She claps her hands, getting back to business. “Alright, well, why don’t you get on board. I can have us in the air in twenty minutes or so.”

Ingo nods and heads toward the door in the side of the plane, but Emmet pauses and asks, “what about Elesa?”

“She got here early. She’s already in the plane.”

“Oh. Perfect.” With no further protest, Emmet follows Ingo and Akari as they climb the stairs and enter the vehicle. 

Sure enough, Elesa is there, lounging in one of the seats. She smiles when they enter. “You made it! Welcome aboard the Sinnoh Express!”

Emmet laughs and sits next to her. “If only. I would much prefer a train.”

Ingo sits across from them and Akari sits next to him, looking out the window curiously. He asks, “I thought you said it was safe?”

His brother waves a hand. “It is. That does not mean I like it.”

Ingo hums in response. That’s fair, he supposes. He wonders if he held the same opinion before, but he refrains from asking. He can make up his mind about it without being influenced by his past self.

He jumps when the vehicle comes to life. The noise starts loud, but settles quickly to a low whine. The whole machine continues to very slightly vibrate, though, which is mildly disturbing. This is worsened when the whole thing starts to move backwards. His stomach turns as it glides to a stop and starts moving the other direction. They continue that way for a few minutes before the plane suddenly accelerates. Akari seems delighted by this, but Ingo grips the armrest of his seat like a lifeline as he feels them lift off the ground. He squeezes his eyes shut and doesn’t open them again until they seem to level off a bit and the movement of the plane eases to an only slightly sickening level.

When he opens his eyes, he sees Akari with her face glued to the window, staring out at the clouds below them in awe. Across from him, Emmet is wearing an amused expression. He asks, “you still don’t like flying, huh?”

Ingo shakes his head. “I do not.”

“You should have seen your face.”

Ingo glares at his brother while Elesa smacks him on the arm. “You weren’t doing much better and you knew what was coming.”

“Thank you, Elesa.” Ingo doesn’t fully stifle the laugh in his tone.

“You’re welcome, Ingo.”

Emmet sticks his tongue out at her. “Traitor.”

Before she can respond with something likely equally childish, another voice joins the conversation. “Well, this is exactly the kind of mature conversation I expected to walk into.”

Ingo whips his head around to see Skyla approaching. She sits across from them with an easy smile and he looks back toward the front of the plane with alarm. The door leading to the… control room? Is that what it’s called? Regardless, the door is open and no one is manning the controls. He looks back at her. “Aren’t you flying?”

She gives him a mildly confused look. “Autopilot is set. We’ll be good for a few hours.”

“Oh.” He has no idea what autopilot is, but he can guess from the name. He doesn’t like the idea that the machine is flying itself, but he also doesn’t want to make a big deal out of something it’s clear he’s supposed to already know, so he drops the issue.

Skyla looks at him in confusion for another few seconds, but thankfully turns her attention on Akari. “You like the view, huh?”

Ingo translates that and Akari nods vigorously. “Yes! It is… pretty? How do I say that?”

Ingo coaches here through that, and the rest of a simple conversation with Skyla.

Eventually, she turns back to him. “Pretty convenient that your brain got messed up so you speak the same language as your daughter, isn’t it?”

He laughs lightly. “Yes. Very convenient.”

“I’m still just shocked that you have a daughter.”

He shrugs. “Everyone is, apparently.”

“I mean, yeah. You’re pretty much the last person I would have expected that kind of surprise from. You’re good with her, though. Why didn’t you have any part in raising her?”

Ingo responds with their lie. “I didn’t know.”

“You didn’t know about her? Man, that sucks! You would have been such a good dad!”

He blinks at her in surprise. “You think?”

“Yeah! You’re like, well known for being super supportive. There’s a reason trainers who are learning keep coming back for you to kick their ass again and again. You give good advice.”

He continues to stare at her. Did he give her good advice at some point or does she just have that much faith in him? He will have to ask Emmet later. Unsure what else to say, he defaults to, “thank you.” After a moment, he adds, “I can't… change anything. But I can be good now.”

She smiles at that, becoming a bit less heated. “Yeah. That’s a good way to look at it.” She glances at Emmet. “What about you? How do you feel about suddenly being an uncle?”

His brother shrugs. “It is a surprise, but it’s fine. Akari is a good battler.”

Skyla laughs. “That’s great, but I’m not sure it’s the most important thing.”

Emmet scoffs. “Of course it is. I do not speak Sino, so a battle is the truest communication we can have.”

No one responds to that. For Ingo’s part, he has no idea what to say. Emmet may say he’s not good with words, but that might be the simplest, most correct way he’s ever heard someone phrase that feeling- that a battle is more than just a fight. It’s a connection, with both the Pokemon and the humans involved.

When the silence continues for longer than is comfortable, Emmet says defensively, “what? I’m right.”

At this, Ingo laughs. “You are.”

“Alright, yeah. I’ll concede that one.” Skyla laughs, too. “But, I mean, how are you getting along? Is there enough room in your apartment for a teenager? Come on, man, I want details and Ingo’s only able to be talkative in a language I don’t know.”

Emmet shrugs. “There’s not a lot of details to give. We have a spare room, but we still need to turn it into a bedroom, and I think we’re getting along fine.”

Skyla groans and Elesa laughs. “Hate to break it to you, but that’s the best you’re gonna get.”

“Fine. Keep your secrets-”

“There are no secrets.”

Skyla ignores him. “I’m gonna keep an eye on the controls. It’ll be a few hours before we get to Sinnoh, so rest if you want to.”

She gets up and heads back to the front of the plane, which does ease Ingo’s mind, though he’s sorry they can’t be better conversation when she’s doing them such a big favor. He puts it out of his mind and does as she suggested, leaning back into the seat and closing his eyes. Akari shifts until she’s leaning against him, but still facing the window, and he wraps an arm around her.

Surprisingly, he actually manages to fall asleep, only waking when the plane suddenly starts shaking much harder. His eyes fly open and he sits up straight. Next to him, Akari flails and barely manages not to fall off her chair. Instinctively, he grabs her shoulder and helps to steady her, but the rest of his focus is on trying to figure out what’s going on. Across from him, Elesa and Emmet are both asleep and leaning against each other, although they seem to be waking up.

When Emmet opens his eyes and sees the panicked expression on his face, he reaches out. Ingo hesitates, but takes his hand. He doesn’t really want the offered comfort, not when his instincts tell him to take action, but he takes it anyway. Emmet knows more about this situation than he does and he’s not panicking, so he lets his brother squeeze his hand and forces himself to focus on what he’s saying. “It’s ok, Ingo. It’s just the plane landing. You don’t need to be scared.”

He stares at his brother, trying to settle his panicking mind. Akari pats his arm. “Dad, what’s going on? Are we ok?”

That draws his attention immediately, flipping a switch in his mind from terrified to protective. “Everything is fine. We’re just landing.”

“Are you-” She doesn’t finish her question, instead cutting off with a yelp as the plane hits the ground with a disturbing bounce and suddenly slows. Akari grabs his arm, her fingernails digging into the skin through his shirt sleeve. He reaches across with his other arm to hold her close until the plane slows to a reasonable speed. When he lets go, she looks up at him with wide eyes and says shakily, “I guess we’re back on the ground now.”

“I guess so.”

“Are you alright?” Emmet and Elesa are both watching them with concern.

“Yes. Just wasn’t expecting that. It’s ok.” He should translate that. He could. But he’s rattled and he’s pretty sure they get the gist anyway, so he continues in Celestica. “We’re in Sinnoh now, so it’s fine. I’m not looking forward to when we have to go back, though.”

Emmet nods, seeming to understand at least part of his meaning, and sits back. They remain seated while the plane moves to wherever it’s going to be parked. Only when it stops and Skyla comes back to them do they get up and disembark. She smiles at the fact that Akari is still holding his arm when they step onto the open, flat ground of the airfield.

She gestures broadly. “Welcome to Sinnoh! This will be our final stop!”

Emmet laughs. “Thank Arceus for that.”

She lightly shoves his arm. “Shush, you. The exit to the airfield is over there. You can follow the signs to Jubilife City. It’s not far.”

“Thank you.” Elesa smiles at her friend. “What are you going to be doing while you wait for us?”

“I heard there’s great shopping in Veilstone City, so I’ll probably fly over there and check it out. Maybe get some good Sinnohan food while I’m at it.” She waves a hand. “Don’t worry about me. I can keep myself busy. Just let me know when you’re ready to head back.”

“We will. And really, thank you.”

“It’s no problem.” She releases a Braviary and slings herself up onto its back with ease. “See you later!”

The Braviary takes off and in a moment, she’s gone. Akari watches excitedly and pats his arm with her hands, not taking her eyes off the creature even as it becomes a tiny dot in the sky. “Dad! That Braviary looks different! And- and did you see the way she rode it?! That’s so cool! I wanna learn how to do that!”

Ingo laughs fondly at her enthusiasm. “Perhaps we can see if Skyla will teach you.”

“Yes!”

“As for the Braviary… Are Braviary different here?”

Emmet and Elesa share a look. His brother answers. “There are no Braviary in Sinnoh. They’re native to Unova. And Skyla’s is… pretty normal, I guess. Why?”

Ingo furrows his brow in confusion. “They are native to Hisui. But different. Psychic and Flying type.”

“Really? They are Normal and Flying here.” Emmet looks suddenly interested. “That would change how they battle considerably.”

Ingo shrugs. “Yes, I think so.” He hasn’t seen a Braviary here battle, so he has no frame of reference, but Emmet is probably right. He turns back to Akari. “Braviary from Unova are different. They’re Normal type instead of Psychic type.”

“Oh! I wonder how that changes the way they battle? I would love to see it.”

Ingo laughs and when she looks at him with confusion, he explains, “Emmet said the same thing. You two are very similar.”

She glances over at Emmet, then shrugs. “That’s good! I like Uncle Emmet.”

Ingo smiles and ruffles her hair fondly. “I’m glad to hear that. Are you ready to go?”

“Yep!” In Galarian, she says, “let’s go!”

Emmet and Elesa smile at her, and his brother holds out a hand. “Yes. Let’s go.”

Akari grins and takes his hand and the two set off excitedly. Ingo laughs again and shares a look with Elesa, who also looks like she’s holding back a laugh. He holds out his hand and she gives an amused huff as she takes it. The two of them set off together after Emmet and Akari.

As Skyla said, the signs point them quite clearly to Jubilife City, and it isn't long before it comes into view. Akari stops there and lets go of Emmet’s hand to gesture to it with wonder in her eyes. “Uncle Emmet! Look! It’s… gigantic. It got so much bigger.” She remains still for a long moment, just staring, before adding in a much quieter, more somber tone, “I can’t even tell where the Galaxy Hall used to be. It’s so different.”

Ingo steps forward and lays a hand on her shoulder. “Perhaps it’s still there, somewhere.”

“Maybe…” She shakes her head and forces a smile back on her face. “But we’re not here for that, right? Let’s keep going.”

She doesn’t wait for an answer, simply taking off toward the city again.

Emmet gives him a worried look. “Is everything alright?”

“It is… hard, seeing it so changed.”

His brother doesn’t quite manage to suppress a grimace. “I understand.

Ingo looks away. Of course he understands. He doesn’t know what to say, so he just follows his daughter into the city that, not so long ago, was a small village. Elesa takes them to a store, where they purchase camping supplies and healing items for their Pokemon, but they don’t stay in the city long. They continue on, heading toward Mount Coronet. Ingo is surprised when they come across a smaller city nestled at the base of it

Ingo pauses there, and Emmet steps up beside him, bumping him with his shoulder lightly. “Is this also different?”

“Yes. There was a camp here. The Galaxy Team used it. I helped build it.”

His brother looks at him in surprise, then back at the city. “You built the foundation for this? That is… verrry cool, Brother.”

Ingo laughs. “I guess so.”

They continue into the city and Elesa directs them to a tall building, where they rent a room for the night. He’s quickly discovering that she planned for this trip far more than he expected, especially considering he himself barely planned at all. Once they get into the large room, he gives her a small bow. “Thank you.”

She tilts her head, confusion written on her features. “What for?”

“Helping with all this.”

“Oh, is that all?” She waves a hand. “It’s no problem. I know this is important to you.”

“Still, thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Now, why don’t we see if we can get some food delivered? I don’t feel like going out again.”

“That sounds good.”

“Any preferences?”

“Hmm… Not really. Akari, do you have a preference for dinner?”

She looks up from the other side of the room, where she’s inspecting the large, soft beds. “I don’t know. Something they didn’t have in Hisui, I guess.” She turns around and makes eye contact with him, before falling backwards onto the bed with a thump and dissolving into a fit of giggles.

Ingo shakes his head with a laugh. “Anything is fine.” Chances are high whatever they choose will meet her criteria.

He releases his Pokemon and starts preparing food for them, as well as everyone else’s, while Elesa and Emmet discuss options for dinner for the humans. While the Pokemon eat, Ingo sits at the table and looks out the window, which has a nice view of Mount Coronet. From here, he can’t see the Temple of Sinnoh, but tomorrow, they will climb up there and try to confront the being that has caused them so much pain.

He looks over as Akari slides into the seat next to him. She leans over to rest her head against him. “This city is interesting. It looked like they were mining in the mountain. I bet Lian would love it.”

Ingo pinches his eyes at the thought. “I bet he would.”

Quietly, she says, “I miss him.”

He wraps an arm around her shoulders and hugs her close, resting his chin atop her head. “I know. I do too.” 

The youngest of the Pearl Clan Wardens has always held a soft spot in his heart. As one of the eldest Wardens, he always took it upon himself to try to help the younger Wardens, not wanting them to feel as lost as he did when he was first appointed, but that went double for Lian since he was so very young when he took on the job. Lian would often visit him in the Highlands and they would talk about his responsibilities as a Warden while they scoured the area for rare stones. It’s hard to think about the fact that he’s lived his whole life now. Ingo can only hope that he lived well.

He shakes his head lightly and wipes his eyes with his free hand. “I miss all of them.”

She nods and he can see tears glistening in her eyes, but they don’t fall. She just nuzzles a little closer and keeps her eyes focused out the window. They stay there in silence until the dinner that Elesa and Emmet ordered arrives. Ingo does his best to shake off the melancholy that has settled over him and focus on what lies ahead of them.

Chapter Text

The trails that have been built across Mount Coronet since Ingo’s time as Warden are truly impressive. It would have made his job much, much easier if there had been infrastructure like this when he lived there. He spent a long time trying to make his territory safer and more accessible, but he’s only one man and it’s a very large mountain. He wonders how many people’s dedicated work it took to reach where it’s at now.

The mountain itself remains largely unchanged at least. The woods have grown quite a bit, but the same caves and rock formations are still there, right where he knows they should be. There are fewer Pokemon, to Akari’s disappointment, but far more people than he’s ever seen in the area. Many of them appear to be seeking out wild Pokemon or training their own by challenging passersby.

Elesa politely turns most of them down, but Akari beats her to the punch and accepts several challenges. She beats every single one of them mercilessly, but instead of being upset, they just congratulate her on her victory.

It doesn’t take as long to climb as it used to, and soon enough, they’re passing through the Celestica Ruins. There are signs posted that he guesses are detailing the history of the area, though he can barely read them. He and Akari are standing side by side, trying to puzzle out the meaning of one such sign when a voice calls out from behind them.

“- are you - here, Dawn?”

There are less people around this high on the mountain, so Ingo looks around to see who’s speaking. The last thing he’s expecting when he does so is to see a woman who looks disturbingly similar to Volo, so he’s not able to suppress his instinctive reaction to push Akari behind him and release Chandelure. His partner seems confused, but clearly senses that he’s on edge, so she floats between them and makes a sound like shattering glass.

The woman’s eyes widen, but she doesn’t seem at all intimidated, and in fact, her expression is growing quite angry. “- are you? - are you - with Dawn?”

Ingo can only understand some of what she’s saying. Celestica is, as it turns out, similar to modern Sino, but not enough that he’s fluent. He has no idea what has this woman so agitated. He keeps an arm out, blocking Akari from her. She may not be Volo, but the similarity and the way she’s acting is still worrying. “Who are you? What do you want?”

Her expression shifts again, confusion warring with the anger still there. He’s guessing she can understand him about as well as he can her.

Before things can escalate any further, Elesa steps between them, putting her back to Chandelure, who has been glaring at the strange woman. She holds up her hands and flashes a brilliant smile. “Hey, I think we got off on the wrong foot here. You’re Cynthia, right? The champion of Sinnoh?”

Surprisingly, the woman nods and responds in accented Galarian. “Former champion, but yes. Who are you, and what are you doing with Dawn?”

“I’m Elesa. I’m a Gym Leader from Unova, and these two are Ingo and Emmet, the Subway Bosses, who run the Battle Subway in Unova.” She hesitates. “Who… um, who is Dawn?”

Cynthia gestures past her and Ingo. “Dawn. She’s right there. - - you - so quiet, Dawn? Is - wrong?”

Akari steps out from behind Ingo, though she wraps her arms around his as though she expects Cynthia to try to steal her away from him. “What are you talking about? Do I know you?”

Cynthia looks her over, confusion growing more and more clear on her features. “You… aren’t Dawn. - are you?”

Akari hesitates. “My name is Akari.”

Elesa jumps in again. “Akari is Ingo’s daughter. Does she, um… look like someone you know?”

“Yes.” Cynthia finally tears her gaze away from Akari and shakes herself. “I’m sorry. I’ve been quite rude. She has a strong resemblance to Dawn, the new champion.” She looks between them with a whole different kind of confusion. “What brings three professional battlers from Unova to Sinnoh. There aren’t any battle conventions going on that I’m aware of.”

“We are here on vacation,” Emmet explains. His face contorts as he continues, “we have, um. Family history here. So we are checking out the historical sites.”

Ingo turns his head to stare at his brother. That may be the worst lie he’s ever heard. He lied just fine before about the cover story they created. Is he just bad at improvising?

Thankfully, Cynthia doesn’t call him out on it. It’s hard to tell whether or not she buys it either, but ultimately, it doesn’t matter. It’s not really any of her business why they’re here. She just nods. “Enjoy your visit, then. There’s no shortage of historical sites to visit here in Sinnoh. I apologize again for the misunderstanding. It was nice to meet you all.” With one last lingering look at Akari, she turns away and starts down the trail that leads down the mountain.

They watch until she’s out of sight, at which point, Emmet turns to Ingo with a worried look. “Why did you react like that? Do you know her?”

Ingo shakes his head. “No. She looks like Volo.”

At the mention of his name, Akari squeezes his arm a little tighter. Emmet's expression gets even more worried. “Who is Volo?”

He looks away. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“...Ok.” Emmet looks upwards. “Are you ready to keep going?”

“Yes.” 

Though both he and Elesa look worried, they set off up the trail again.

Ingo follows, keeping his arm around Akari. Quietly, she asks, “are you alright, Dad?”

He takes a deep breath and exhales slowly. “I’m fine. Are you?”

“Yeah. Cynthia seemed pretty nice, actually.”

“So did Volo, once,” Ingo can’t help but mutter darkly.

Akari ducks her head. “Yeah. That’s true. But it doesn’t mean she’ll be horrible like him. We shouldn’t assume just because she looks like him.”

Ingo sighs. “That’s a very mature way to look at it. I could learn some things from you.”

She giggles. “You think?”

“Of course.” He ruffles her hair. “I’m so proud of you.”

“Thanks, Dad.” She reddens slightly  in embarrassment, but he can tell that it makes her happy to hear that.

They fall back into silence as they turn onto the path that leads to the peak. The cave that leads to it has been widened, but the route through still isn’t too complicated and it doesn’t take them much longer to reach the exit. If there’s one place here that really hasn’t changed at all, it’s the Temple of Sinnoh. There’s more moss growing on the destroyed remnants of the temple, but otherwise, everything is right where it was when he last saw it.

Emmet and Elesa stop and look back at them. “What now?”

Ingo looks to Akari, deferring to her expertise. She’s the one with a connection to Arceus after all. She squares her shoulders and walks into the temple, past the broken pedestals and up onto the dias. From her bag, she takes out her Celestica Flute and sets it to her lips. The melody she plays sounds oddly familiar, though he’s sure he’s never heard it before, and echoes hollowly across the mountainside.

No one moves for a full minute and this high up, the only sound is the faint howling of the wind. Eventually, though, Emmet asks, “is… something supposed to happen?”

Akari, despite probably not understanding the question, gives a frustrated huff. “This is exactly what I did last time. Why isn’t it working?”

“Are you sure it’s exactly the same?”

“Well…” She sighs. “No. Last time, it changed my flute. Made it a weird shape. But it’s back to normal now and I don’t know how to change it back.”

Ingo hums. He would guess the only way to alter a sacred instrument so drastically is divine intervention, so there’s no real chance they can do it themselves. He wonders if there’s any other way to acquire the flute they apparently need.

“What’s the problem?”

Ingo looks over at his brother. “Akari’s…” He mimes playing a flute and raises an eyebrow.

“Flute?”

“Yes. Akari’s flute is wrong. Arceus changed it before.”

“So we can’t summon it without the right flute?”

“Apparently.”

“Where can we get the right one?”

“I don’t know.”

Emmet hums in thought and falls silent. Eventually, Elesa breaks the silence. “Well, I don’t think we’re going to figure it out by standing around here. Why don’t we head back down to Oreburgh and we can try researching if there are any myths that mention a flute. We might be able to find another one.”

Ingo nods. “That is a good idea.” Turning to Akari, he says, “we’re going to go back and do more research before we try again.”

She nods. “Ok…”

“What is it?”

“It’s just. We tried, right? We could go home.”

He feels the corners of his mouth pull downward. “If that’s what you really want, then we can, but I want to try to see this through.”

She looks away, chewing on her lip anxiously. Eventually, she nods. “Ok. It… It’s important to you. So, ok.”

“Thank you.” He tries his best to inject as much sincerity as he can into the statement. He knows she would rather not be here, and he really does appreciate that she is anyway. He would leave if she asked him to, but he knows he would be disappointed if he didn’t at least try to confront Arceus about what it did to them.

Akari just nods again silently, but she also takes his hand in her own, which he takes as her understanding, if not approval.

Emmet and Elesa look to him for confirmation of the plan and he nods and gestures toward the path leading back down the mountain. They can clearly tell that neither Ingo nor Akari are in the mood for talking, so the group travels in silence back through the mountain cave. They’re just passing back out into the daylight when they’re met by another person going the other direction. It takes Ingo a moment to recognize her as the woman they met just a few hours ago, and when he does, he does his best to suppress his instincts telling him that running into her twice is suspicious. Akari was right that they should give her the benefit of the doubt.

Elesa smiles and takes the lead. “Hello again, Cynthia. It seems we keep running into you.”

Cynthia gives a small, tight smile in return, but addresses Emmet. “Why did you lie earlier?”

His brother’s eyes widen and he blinks in surprise, looking altogether too guilty. “W-what are talking about?”

“I’m an expert in Sinnohan history, so I was surprised to hear that you had family ties here. I looked into it after we parted ways. It’s not hard to find information about you two, you know. As far as I can tell, you have no connection to this region at all. So,” she pins them both with a severe look, which causes Ingo to subconsciously step in front of Akari. “What were you doing at Spear Pillar?”