Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It has been quite the interesting year for the region of Unova.

The fringe Pokémon activist group Team Plasma started to ramp up their efforts from what could be considered peaceful protesting and campaigning, to outright attacks on innocent civilians and battle facilities like gyms. Cases of Pokémon kidnapping were on the rise and rumored to be because of Team Plasma. Their ideals were starting to blur the more the attacks went on, some members went onto the news to state their goal of freeing Pokémon from the cruelty of battling and Pokeballs. When asked why they are carrying this out by attacking Pokémon trainers and taking Pokémon instead of setting them free. The member being interviewed blanked and then hand waved it aside, stating that the extremeness of their methods was ultimately for the greater good.

Some of the members of Team Plasma obviously disagreed with kidnapping Pokémon though. An anonymous member usually called into the Subway and other gyms to tip them off to any kind of attack.

Her voice on the payphones she would use sounded young, young enough to be first starting out on a Pokémon journey. It tore at Ingo to have to hear such concerning information from a child, he tried to ask her how she became involved with Team Plasma and that she wouldn’t get in trouble if she talked to the authorities about it. She paused, told him she was sorry and then hung up.

Ingo didn’t sleep well that night…

Emmet had managed to reign in any Plasma protests before they turned confrontational. The members often held protests outside Gear Station but since they technically weren’t in the station, he couldn’t do much more than post a few members of his security staff at the door. Less people rode his battle trains and when they did, they weren’t having as much fun as he would like them to. When he asked them why they were upset, his challengers told him about how Plasma members would berate them for abusing their Pokémon. Some of the younger challengers asked him if Team Plasma was right.

He immediately told them that it wasn’t if their Pokémon want to battle and travel with them. If he saw any actual signs of that, he would report it. He’s banned and reported trainers for it before.

Emmet found himself having far less fun on his battle trains now…

As the days went on and Team Plasma started to splinter into two different factions, calls to warn Gear Station started coming in less and less. Ingo had hoped the girl kind enough to alert them to the threats simply disavowed the Team and left it behind her. As thankful as he and Emmet were, she shouldn’t have to be the one to call in week after week.

One day, Team Plasma decided to become a little braver.

The day so far had been far too uneventful for either boss, they mostly waited for challengers on their trains, but since less people rode their battle trains due to Team Plasma. They were often left to their own thoughts and devices in an empty car. Ingo had taken the extra time to run admin work remotely while Emmet reviewed past battle footage from the year prior. It was their last ride of the Super Multiline for the day, both twins ruminated on the idea of maybe closing down the super lines. They barely had any challengers on their normal lines, and the super ones saw a few trainers that never make it to their battle cars.

“Maybe we can just battle each other while waiting for challengers? It would be way less borrring than just waiting here.” Emmet asked.

“If we go all out here then we will not have any healing items for our Pokémon left for when a set of challengers arrive.” Ingo glanced away from his laptop. “That is if any challengers ever arrive again.” He quietly added.

“Don’t think like that. I’m sure we’ll have more challengers to fight whenever the Team Plasma stuff dies down…” Emmet tried to reassure him, but he didn’t sound convincing.

Ingo watched the tunnel walls pass by them and closed his laptop to set it aside. “I think I’m going to buy a soda from the vending machine when the stop comes up, do you want anything?” he asked.

“Lemonade, please.” Emmet said, not looking up from his battle footage.

“Noted.” Ingo acknowledged.

The train had reached its final stop for the night before returning to Gear Station, Ingo stood up and waited by the doors as the train slowed to a halt. The doors to their battle car swished open and Ingo was met with a rough shove to the floor by a Plasma member. A group of five of them forced themselves into the battle car. Emmet stood up but was rushed by three people trying to reach for his Pokeballs.

“Get away from me!” Ingo shouted from the floor, he managed to wedge his leg between himself and his attacker.

“Let go!” Emmet said and tried to wrench his arms away from the grunts holding onto him.

A ball on Emmet’s belt and on Ingo’s belt shook and popped open to release Eelektross and Chandelure. They cried out and flared their claws and flames. The Plasma members were driven to the other side of the battle car as the doors swished shut again and the train took off to Gear Station. Chandelure and Eelektross angrily kept their attackers from getting any closer. Ingo stood up from the floor to shakily brush his hands against his coat. Emmet already had his X-Trans out and was calling the police.

“I am Emmet, Ingo and I have just been attacked on our Super Multitrain by Team Plasma members.” Emmet began to say, the Plasma members started shouting from across the car trying to drown him out.

“Using Pokémon to intimidate us won’t work ‘Bosses’! You’d be nothing without them!” One of them cried out. Another one tried to get closer but Chandelure spun her arms to drive him back, her flames were orange and burning hot. “We will free those Pokémon from your cruelty! Making them fight like you have for so long is just evil!”

Emmet shielded his X-Trans and kept talking. “We will be arriving to the station in 15 minutes, we will be stopping in the Super Multiline terminal. Our Pokémon have them cornered against the wall. I don’t know if they have any Pokémon on them or not. I am not injured.” He reported, he glanced over to see Ingo staring at the grunts ahead of him in shock. Emmet waved a hand in his vision and he turned to acknowledge him.

“The police are asking if you’re injured, are you?” Emmet asked him, Ingo shook his head.

“I may have a bruise or two from falling, but that’s all.” He said and flinched back when more vitriol was thrown at them.

“You hurt your Pokémon each time you throw them into battle!” Another Plasma member sneered at him, Ingo quieted himself and looked to the floor in heavy thought. Chandelure’s flames climbed higher and Eelektross slammed his palms on the floor to pulse a Thunderwave at the Plasma members to shut them up.

When the Pokémon turned around to check on their trainers, Emmet gave Eelektross a disapproving look. Eelektross lidded his eyes and huffed, crossing his arms back at his trainer. Chandelure stared at Ingo with concern in her eyes, she zipped over to hover by his side while Eelektross turned back around to glare at the Plasma members.

Emmet walked forward until he was standing beside his partner.

“Is there any more of you in Gear Station right now?” he asked, the Plasma members didn’t look at him or answer.

“I am Emmet, I am being nicer to you than you were to me and Ingo. If I have to waste my security staff’s time searching the station for more of you, I will not be happy.” He said, Eelekross threw off a few sparks from his hands.

One of the members finally moved to glare up at him. “It’s just us.” he said curtly.

Emmet nodded and walked away from them, he typed a message out on his X-Trans to send to all employees at Gear Station to be on the lookout for anyone in a Plasma uniform. He received a couple of quick messages back in confirmation and turned off the screen to stand beside his brother.

The train was nearing its final stop, Ingo finally spoke up again. “I will be heading to our office when we reach the station.” He said in a quiet voice. Usually that was code for “I’m going to have a breakdown if I have to talk to anyone else right now.”, Emmet nodded in understanding.

“Okay, you can go take a break. I will talk to the police when we get back.” Emmet told him, Chandelure leaned herself against the side of her trainer’s head.

The train stopped at Gear Station, the doors opened to three police officers that walked into the car to detain the Plasma members. One of them stopped to talk to Emmet while Ingo hid his eyes and stepped out of the car. Chandelure and Eelektross kept close to him as he made his way to their office. He let himself and the Pokémon in, closing the door and locking it behind him. He dropped himself onto their office couch and stared at the floor. Chandelure laid herself on his back and shoulders and sadly chimed out to him.

The door unlocked and opened ten minutes later. Ingo didn’t look up when his brother sat next to him. Eelektross sighed and laid his head on Emmet’s lap, Emmet ran a hand along his head fin. Chandelure’s fires crackled with barely contained anger. Ingo glanced up when his brother hadn’t said a word for five minutes. Emmet’s angry expression really said all it needed to.

“Are you okay?” Emmet asked, the flat tone of his voice heavily mismatched the emotions on his face.

“Not really…Their words were genuinely disturbing and hostile. I’m trying to understand why someone would say that to anyone.” Ingo quietly said.

“You don’t believe the things they said, do you?” Emmet asked, Ingo remained silent and turned his eyes back to the floor.

“Ingo, they are wrong, we aren’t abusing our Pokémon.” Emmet asserted, Eelektross reached a palm over to pat Ingo’s leg.

Ingo’s face twisted slightly in guilt, Emmet looked to Chandelure for help.

“Chandelure tell him.” he said, Chandelure floated from Ingo’s back to nuzzle his face.

“Don’t worry Go-Go, I’ll burn their spirits up if they ever yell at you again!” She swayed and her purple fires danced in the dark office. Ingo’s eyes widened and he turned to give her a scolding look.

Emmet sighed and put a hand to his forehead. “No not that, Chandelure. Tell Ingo that all of you want to battle alongside us. Don’t you?” he asked, Eelektross huffed a few breaths in a laugh and patted Ingo’s leg again.

“Go-Go, we love battling with you and Em-Em! Don’t listen to those mean people!” Chandelure chimed, her fires shifted to a pinker hue, Ingo reached a hand up to pet her glass but he still looked conflicted.

“But that’s not true for all of you, my Klinklang is afraid whenever I send it into battle. Haven’t I done it wrong by making it battle when it’s so anxious to do so?” he asked, his shoulders tiredly dropped.

Emmet figured that was the crux of Ingo’s problem. Ingo’s Klinklang, like a majority of Emmet’s bred Joltiks, didn’t prefer battling most of the time. Ingo’s Klinklang often ran away from the field to hide behind its trainer whenever an attack was headed for it. This has resulted in a few hospital visits since the attacks would end up accidentally hitting Ingo instead. Ingo then decided to bench his Klinklang except on very special occasions, namely when it was in a double battle with its sibling Klinklang.

“No, your Klinklang only likes battling in doubles sets with my Klinklang. It still joins the battle when it wants to and leaves when it doesn’t. How are you abusing it if it has the choice to battle or not?” Emmet challenged, Ingo kept petting Chandelure.

“But I-” He tried to say but Emmet cut him off.

“Our Pokémon are verrrry strong Ingo, strong enough to refuse to battle if they want to. Klinklang is not scared of you. Klinklang loves you. Chandelure would’ve told you if it was actually upset with you.” Emmet looked really upset that he had to even say that, Chandelure nodded at her trainer.

“I suppose that you’re correct…” he relented, Chandelure smiled and drifted down to sit in his lap.

“I am Emmet, I am corrrect.” he stated, he kept glaring at nothing while petting Eelektross.

“Emmet, are you feeling alright?” Ingo asked.

“I’m verrry mad. I’ve let Team Plasma get away with these stunts for too long. If they are getting brave enough to board our battle car, then they’re brave enough to start attacking and stealing Pokémon from our passengers too. I’ve assigned more security staff to each running train, anyone dressed in a Plasma uniform is going to receive an automatic temporary ban from the battle trains.” he ground out, his foot began absently tapping on the hard floor.

“That very well could spur on their slander campaign against us if we target their members specifically. I’m not certain the public will agree with this course of action either.” Ingo told him after a minute of thinking about it.

“And I will gladly explain why Team Plasma is banned to anyone that wants to ask. It’s a crime to steal Pokémon from their trainers. They don’t get to call other people cruel when they are acting this way.” Emmet said, Eelektross lifted himself up to wrap his arms around his trainer’s shoulders.

Ingo nodded and leaned back to rest against the back of the couch, Chandelure’s flames grew a little warmer.

“The police want to talk to you too, I told them to come here after an hour.” Emmet said to the room and looked at the clock on the wall. “They’ll be here in 20 minutes.”

Ingo nodded and stood up, “I think I will try go get drinks before I have to talk to them.” Chandelure followed him out the door.

“Drive safely Ingo.” Emmet called after him, “I will!” Ingo shouted in return, Emmet smiled and relaxed on the couch.

Ingo came back with a soda, a lemonade and a pair of officers trailing behind him. He answered the questions the police had for him while Emmet went down to the security control room to send the footage from their battle recorder camera to the main investigator.

The rest of their shift was uneventful, but Emmet had a strange feeling that this wouldn’t be the end of Team Plasma for now.

Chapter Text

A day later, something incredibly strange happened at the beginning of their shifts.

Ingo was leading a short meeting with the Depot Agents to discuss the new protocols surrounding Team Plasma members.

“If any sign of Team Plasma is reported to any of you, please report it to either myself or Subway Master Emmet-” Ingo stalled in the middle of his sentence as a massive and painful tremor raced all throughout his body.

It felt like he was directly struck by a Thunder from Eelektross, his muscles stiffened and his limbs went numb as his Depot Agents surrounded him in concern. Jackie and Cloud were talking to him, but he couldn’t hear what they were saying. He shakily took a step back to try and lean a hand against the wall, only to miss it and fall to the floor. He heavily blinked and could barely make out Furze and Jackie hovering over him. Their hands were shaking his shoulders.

Isadore was talking into his communicator, likely trying to radio Emmet. Cloud stood next to him and called for help on their X-Trans. “Boss Emmet? Can you hear me Boss Emmet?! Stay here with him, I’m going to go find Boss Emmet! I think he’s in trouble too!” Isadore shouted and rushed out the door. Ingo’s vision rapidly darkened in the chaos around him and he fell under.

He was standing inside a museum, in front of an exhibit showcasing a smooth black stone on a stand inside a glass cage. He glanced around in confusion and recognized the basic badge themed emblems on the main signs for the exhibits. This is Lenora’s fossil museum in Nacrene City.

But why was he here?

His attention was pulled back to the stone as it began throwing blue sparks from its edges, the room grew darker around him as the stone’s edge ringed it in bright neon blue. The sparks surged outward into crackling bolts that encapsulated the somehow still pitch black stone in the center. Alarms rang in the back of his mind to turn and flee from the oncoming danger, but he couldn’t help but be drawn in closer to the scene.

The electricity surrounding the stone blasted outwards in a giant shockwave. All the glass displays in the room shattered, sending melting shards of glass and metal rocketing towards the walls and bookshelves nearby. Ingo held his arm up to shield his face but found that the pieces of glass had phased through him. Red flashes of light above him pulled his attention back to the deep black Pokémon towering above him. The leftover electricity from the Fusion Bolt that awakened the Dragon of Ideals clung to his skin and clothes.

The air between them was heavy and smelled of burning metal, the scent was choking him.

“I summon thee to witness my power.” Zekrom’s voice overshadowed any other thoughts in his mind.

Ingo couldn’t move, couldn’t look away from its intense red eyes. The Dragon then raised its wings, tail lighting the dark room in a neon cyan. It roared and the room violently shook from the intensity of its cry, the energy in the air crackled and stray sparks jumped from the melted pieces of glass and metal littering the floor.

Then it suddenly vanished in a flash of blue, the stone it emerged from somehow sitting unaffected in its destroyed case. Ingo was left in the silence to stare down at the black rock. He heard someone running into the destruction, he distantly recognized Lenora’s voice echoing out in the wrecked museum before fading back to consciousness.

He opened his eyes to see a paramedic and her Audino staring down at him in relief. He tried to sit up but she put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

“Nuh uh! Stay down for now Ingo. Just until you answer a couple questions and Audino makes sure you don’t have a concussion, okay?” Ingo blearily nodded to her. The paramedic took a small penlight out from her case beside her and waved it in front of his eyes. He reflexively blinked and shook his head. He looked around from where he was laying and could make out some of his Depot Agents beside him, but someone was missing.

“Where’s Emmet?” He asked, the Audio softly called out to him and put a feeler onto his chest.

“Isadore found him unconscious on the floor in the lobby just a few minutes ago.” Jackie calmly said, she was kneeling off to the side.

“What!? Is he okay?” he shouted, trying to sit up again but was stopped by both Jackie and the paramedic. The Audino gently patted his chest to try and calm him.

“Stay still. My partner is checking him over now.” The paramedic warned, Audino then pressed one of his curled feelers to his forehead. Ingo tried to remain still so the Audino could do his job properly.

“Do you remember what happened in the last ten minutes, Ingo?” The paramedic carefully asked, Audino removed his hat and pressed his feeler to the back of his head. It buzzed in the same way Eelektross’s hands do.

“I was standing up, discussing Team Plasma’s recent incidents at the station…Then everything went black and I woke up on the floor.” he recounted, deciding that the strange dream involving Zekrom wasn’t relevant enough to mention. The Audino smiled kindly at him and turned to say something to his trainer.

“That’s good, he seems to remember everything and his eyes contracted properly as well. Alright Ingo, you can try sitting up now.” She and Jackie took their hands off of his shoulders so he could push himself up. After a small wave of dizziness, he was able to fully look around and saw Agents Jackie, Cloud, and Furze. He quickly got to his feet and the room lurched a bit under his heels. Audino took one of his hands in both of his to help balance him. Jackie, Furze, Cloud, and the paramedic looked at him in disapproval while he re-oriented himself.

“I’m going to go check on Emmet...” he said, the paramedic and his Depot Agents went to follow him out the door while keeping a close eye on him.

The lobby was partially cleared to give some space to the emergency going on near the center of it. The other paramedic, his Chansey, and Agents Isadore, Ramses, and Josh were in a tight group likely surrounding Emmet. Agent Ramses leaned over into the group to say something and Emmet’s hand shot up from the circle of people to wave at Ingo and the others. The rest of Ingo’s group quickly made their way across the lobby to greet them.

Emmet was sitting up and smiling with a water bottle in his hand, Galvantula clung onto his back in worry.

“Hi Ingo, are you okay? Isadore told me you blacked out too.” Emmet rasped out to him, taking a sip of water afterwards.

“I’m functional, are you okay? Galvantula appears to be extremely concerned.” Ingo said. The rest of the Depot Agents gave them some space and talked amongst themselves about the situation.

“I am Emmet, I’m okay. Galvantula is just being a scaredy spider.” he teased, threading his fingers through her yellow fuzz. “Yes you arrrre.” She squeaked and pressed her face into his hair, Emmet laughed. “Stop it Galvantula, I can’t drink my water if you charge it with electricity. Go to Ingo if you want hugs.”

Ingo kneeled down so she could climb up onto his chest, he patted her thorax. Emmet chugged the rest of his water as the paramedics talked in the background. They then turned to talk to the twins with confused looks on their faces.

“Is there anything you two can think of that could’ve caused this? It’s really strange that you both fell unconscious at the same time.” Ingo’s paramedic asked, Audino and Chansey also looked puzzled while they chattered to one another.

“Perhaps it was something the Plasma Grunts did to us while we were in the Super Multiline yesterday? That’s the only thing I can think of.” Ingo said, Emmet smiled tiredly and shrugged. “No idea, we’ve done the same things we do every day.” he said, Galvantula hopped down from Ingo back into his lap.

“Galvantula, you are not a tiny baby Joltik anymore. Do not jump on people please.” Emmet wheezed out, he patted her as she tried to bury herself in his coat. “I know you’re scared but I am okay now, prrromise.” He unclipped her ball from his belt and held it out to her. “Here, you can rest in your ball for now. Return Galvantula.” She was recalled back into her ball, he stretched and went to stand up. Ingo grabbed his elbow to steady him when he swayed for a second.

Their Depot Agents walked back over to them. Isadore and Jackie stared at them and then went to talk to the paramedics as they packed up to leave. They nodded to Isadore and Jackie and turned to Emmet and Ingo.

“It looks like you two are fine, but you should probably take it easy for the rest of the day. It’s not safe for you to be around any running trains if you’re suddenly blacking out for any reason.” Emmet’s paramedic told them, his Chansey patted Emmet’s knee when his smile wavered. Jackie and Isadore were staring at them threateningly from behind the paramedics.

“Alright, if that’s what you think is for the best.” Ingo’s voice sounded disappointed and his shoulders sank.

“It is, stay safe Subway Masters. If this happens again, go to the hospital immediately. Got it?” Ingo’s paramedic told them, the twins nodded in agreement. “Good! We’ll take our leave now.” the paramedics and their Pokémon waved to everyone and turned to walk out of the station.

Isadore and Jackie were still staring them down, their other agents gathered behind them.

“You heard them, go home. You both look wrung out.” Jackie bluntly said, Isadore jumped a little from it.

Emmet sighed loudly, “We did hear them, we are going home. Stop being mean.”

Ingo started typing a message out on his X-Tans. “If there’s anything you need assistance with, just call one of us. I should probably take some of the paperwork I need to complete for the quarterlies deadline. Emmet, you need to update the training regimes for our battle trains too. We should-” Ingo was cut off by a groan from Ramses, the older man put a hand to his head.

“I swear you two will end up haunting these trains someday. Don’t worry about us and go relax before you black out on the floor again. You really scared all of us by doing that y’know?” Ramses and the rest of the staff did look rather concerned for them. Ingo relented and pulled his hat over his eyes.

“We apologize for causing you all this distress. We’ll be taking the next train back to Anville Town, Josh and Isadore, please mind the station while we’re away.” he said, both agents saluted him.

“Let me know if any Team Plasma members show up, or if the police do. They told me they might come back today to ask more questions.” Emmet added.

“We will redirect them to your house Boss Emmet. Ah, well Isadore can, I think he knows your address…” Josh said, he put a hand up to his chin in thought.

Ingo checked the time on his X-Trans and turned to Emmet, “Emmet! We must depart for our home station now or else we’ll miss our train!” He shouted, he and Emmet waved their staff goodbye and took off towards the Anville Town terminal to board the train home.

Some of the workers for Anville were surprised to see them again so soon but chose to politely refrain from asking them about it. Ingo was sending messages on his X-Trans, he then abruptly switched it off. Turning around to look at the scenery outside the window instead, while Emmet responded to a text he got earlier that morning from Chili. He had sent Emmet a video of him trying to stop his Simisear from eating the Fire Gem he wants to use for the Pokémon World Tournament.

It was followed up by a text: EMMET HELP!!! HOW DO I MAKE HIM UNDERSTAND THAT IT’S NOT FOR EATING??? D:

Emmet snickered and moved his X-Trans up to show his brother.

“Ingo you need to see this, it so funny- Ingo? Is something wrong?” He asked when he looked up and saw the distant look on his twin’s face. Ingo hunched over in his chair in contemplation for a minute and finally looked back at his brother.

“Emmet, I had a rather unsettling dream when I blacked out.” he said carefully.

Emmet turned off his X-Trans, “Me too. I felt really hot before I went down too. It was like Chandelure decided to use Overheat on me. The paramedic thought I came down with a sudden fever at first.” Emmet softly told him, not wanting the passengers around him to hear it.

The train stopped at Anville Town before Ingo could continue the conversation. Probably for the best, he wasn’t great at being quiet, especially in distressing situations. The last thing Gear Station’s reputation needs is a rumor floating around that the Subway Masters were either sick or losing it.

Ingo waited to continue the conversation until they returned to their home and sat down on the couch with lunch and their Pokemon all released and laying around the house.

“What was your dream about? If you can remember it that is.” He asked Emmet, Galvantula and Eelektross hovered near their trainer in worry. Chandelure and Ingo’s Kilnklang floated beside Ingo’s shoulders to watch him.

“I remember it verrry clearly…” Emmet stated and began to recount the dream he had.

He was somehow transported to the top of Dragonspiral tower, decrepit stone carvings and ripped tapestries of the Tao Dragon and the twin princes littered the destroyed walls that opened up to the clear night sky. A white stone that Emmet was immediately drawn to in the center of the room began glowing a burning white, heating the eroded brick underneath it to a molten orange. A sigil of super hot energy carved itself into a 10 ft circle around the stone. Flames flickered and then shot upwards from the lines to form a blazing sphere of energy around the bright stone.

“Awaken noble Dragon! Help me fulfill my destiny and bring the truth to all people and Pokémon!” Someone shouted out, he turned around to see a person with long green hair walking towards the near supernova of fire. Emmet raced over to try and stop him from being burned. “Wait passenger! It’s unsafe to get too close to that!” He said, but to his shock they walked right through him without acknowledging him. He reached for his Pokeballs but they weren’t with him either.

“What is your truth, hero?” A voice boomed out from the fires that only continued to grow both in size and temperature. The air around them warped and tore from the heat.

“People have abused their Pokémon for far too long! I will do whatever it takes to liberate all Pokémon from their cruelty! I ask for your help to show everyone the truth, Reshiram!” He called out. Emmet couldn’t take his eyes off of the white shape of a dragon starting to form, its eyes flashed blue and the room was filled with bright white.

When his vision finally cleared, Emmet looked up to see the Legendary Reshiram looming over him and the young adult next to him. He subconsciously stepped in front of the person beside him to try in vain to shield them. Reshiram’s eyes seemed to pierce through his to stare at the green-haired person behind him.

“I summon thee to witness my power.” Reshiram’s thoughts echoed in Emmet’s mind, consuming his thoughts. The person phased through him to talk to the Dragon of Truth before him.

Emmet could only stare wide-eyed as he was ripped away from the vision.

Ingo looked at him in horror. “My dream was a lot like that as well! Except it was about Zekrom emerging from its stone in a flurry of glass and electricity. It told me the same thing, to witness its power… I sent a message to Lenora while we were on the train back home and she confirmed that her museum was indeed destroyed! She asked me how I knew that, I lied and said someone from Nacrene City was on the train earlier talking about it!” Ingo was starting to panic the more he talked. Chandelure pushed herself against his chest and chimed for him to calm down. Emmet shakily took a drink of his lemonade and let the cold can ground him.

“Perhaps we should’ve told the paramedics about this. It all sounds very concerning.” Ingo said, he sounded distant.

“I don’t know what they could’ve done. If we really have joined cars with the dragons...Then this is farrr beyond all of us.” Emmet stated, Eelektross held onto him tightly but it wasn’t hiding his trainer’s anxious shaking very well.

“More importantly, what should we do now? I don’t have any idea where Reshiram or Zekrom are at this moment. I also haven’t seen someone with long green hair recently either.” Ingo said, he laid a hand on Chandelure’s glass.

“If they reached out to us before, then they’ll probably do it again when they want to. I don’t think we have a choice.” Emmet grimaced, Galvantula pushed her fuzzy head under his hand, he absently gave her a couple scritches.

They remained on the couch to process what they discovered for about an hour, their Pokémon gathered around them in concern. Chandelure was relayed Galvantula’s part of the story and her fires started puffing out smoke in anger.

“How dare they! No one is allowed to hurt my trainers!” She cried out and spun her arms, Ingo’s Pokémon, even his Klinklang, looked near ready to locate and battle the Dragons themselves. Emmet’s Pokémon on the other hand...They just looked at both of them with sad eyes and piled themselves around the twins. Emmet’s Klinklang joined its mirror’s side and rapidly spun its gears to charge up electricity.

Ingo grabbed one of Chandelure’s arms to pull her closer to him before she could run off on a rampage. “As you can see, Emmet and I are fully recovered from the incidents today. No need to be so hostile at the moment.” He reassured them but they remained angry. Emmet’s smile and eyes sharpened, “If we meet them, then we’ll all battle them and win.” He promised, Ingo lidded his eyes in disapproval but it worked to quell his Pokémon's anger. Chandelure and Haxorus came closer to hug their trainer.

Eelektross huffed at them from Emmet’s shoulders, Emmet pushed his head against his partner’s. “Don’t act like you’re better, you want to get revenge on them for hurting us too. You’re not a big baby like everyone else is Eelektross.” He teased, Eelektross covered his face with a giant palm. “Hey!” he laughed and pushed it off his face. It seemed to diffuse most of the previous tension in the room, Chandelure picked up the remote to their TV and dropped it in Ingo’s hand.

“Can we watch some battles? We were really hoping we would get to battle today…” She and the other Pokémon excitedly looked to the TV, Ingo switched it on and saw that the challenger they battled a few months ago had somehow gotten to the Elite Four. Emmet leaned forward in interest, “I remember him, he made it all the way to my final car on the Doubles train. He’s got to be really strong if he’s fighting the Elite Four now.” he said and smiled, “I hope he comes back to battle again soon! It would be fun!” The Pokémon around them cried out along with him.

Ingo shushed all of them and turned up the TV, “Be quiet please! I want to focus on the battles!” Single battles were his specialty and he doesn’t want to be distracted from the best one he’s seen all year.

Nate ended up defeating the Elite Four with his battle for the Champion’s title scheduled for the next day. Ingo and Emmet offered their congratulations to Nate online. Emmet eagerly asked for him to come back to ride the Super Multiline soon.

Of course the posts were met with a ton of libel from Team Plasma directed at both them and Nate. The kid didn’t seem to care about it though and responded with a “I’ll try to soon!”. Chandelure slapped the laptop closed when the twins sat and read the negative comments for a few minutes too long.

“Don’t listen to them! We love you! Also can we have dinner? We’re hungry!” She spun her arms and the Pokémon around her nodded in agreement.

They ate dinner and went to bed afterwards, neither twin dreamt of the Dragons again for the night.

Chapter Text

Ingo and Emmet woke up the next morning and were met with messages from Josh and Isadore asking if they were alright and that if they needed to take the day off they could. Emmet had already sent a message back saying that they were fine to go back to work. Jackie sent a message to them stating that they were to take this day off as well or she would tell the higher ups about yesterday’s incident.

That would keep them out of their jobs further because they would then have to get medical evaluations to return. Ingo would actually agree with the sentiment if he wasn’t fully aware of what caused the incidents yesterday. He sent a message agreeing to their terms. Emmet sent one last text about how blackmailing people is against the rules and to not do it again or she will be in big trouble.

Jackie passive aggressively sent a final message back telling them to have a good day with a thumbs up emoji.

Ingo went right back to sleep while Emmet left his room to make everyone breakfast. When called to come eat, Ingo ate his breakfast slower than he usually did. He was secretly relieved his staff made them take today off as well. He still felt incredibly tired from the emotional turmoil he’s went through this week. At least that’s what he assumes is causing it.

Emmet opened up his laptop and started searching up something while eating his omelet. Durant crawled into the kitchen and Emmet let him sit on his lap. Durant soon peered over the edge of the table and snatched a berry slice off of Emmet’s plate to eat. Garbodor was leaning against the wall, munching on the empty egg carton Emmet gave her earlier. He glanced over to see his brother nearly face-planting into his Oran berry pancakes. Emmet snapped his fingers to grab his attention, Ingo drowsily looked up at him and hummed an acknowledgement.

“Go sleep on the couch or in your bed if you’re tirrred, Ingo. Your back will hurt if you fall asleep at the table and I don’t want to drag you back to your room.” he said and pointed his fork to the living room. Ingo laid his face on his hand, “Haxorus will carry me if I fall ‘sleep.” he told him and took another drink of his coffee, the caffeine was not working for him at the moment.

“What are you typing? Our staff forbade us from doing any work while we’re not at the station.” Ingo asked, Emmet turned his laptop to show him the screen. He had a website pulled up about various myths and legends from around the world.

“I’m trying to find more about what’s going on with us and the Dragons. We can’t be the only ones that are witnesses or had strange dreams about legendary Pokémon.” He turned the screen back to him and typed away at it.

“Have you found anything yet?” Ingo asked, trying to think of other places his brother could check.

“Not much, the word only comes up a couple of times. People seem to be more interrrested in the trainers and friends of legendary Pokémon. I’m thinking of asking Professor Juniper if she knows anything about it. As soon as I can figure out how word my message without her knowing that it’s about us.” Emmet stopped to take a drink of his coffee before turning back to the computer. Durant snuck a tiny bite of his omelet, Emmet pushed the plate away from him.

“I see, I wish I could help you, but I’m not feeling very well right now.” Ingo said, his eyes were heavy.

“It’s fine Ingo. Go take a nap, and take Durant with you. He keeps stealing my food.” Emmet stood up to pass Durant to Ingo. Durant pressed his head against Ingo’s face. He smiled and reached a hand up to pet the steel ant, “You’re adorable! It’s not your fault that you’re still hungry, is it?” Ingo cooed and let out a yawn, Durant snuggled closer to him.

“He’s a big baby. Now get out before I call Haxorus to come get you.” Emmet dismissed them in mock annoyance and went back to the computer. Ingo nodded and got up to walk to the living room.

Emmet did end up sending Professor Juniper an email asking if she’s come across witnesses in her research into legendary Pokémon. She replied quickly, curious as to when he became so interested in a very niche part of Pokémon history. He replied with a small lie that someone told him about the concept recently and wanted to know more.

She was delighted to share her studies with him and sent him a few articles that she and some of her colleagues had published about ancient texts from Unova, Sinnoh, Kalos, and Hoenn.

He spent the rest of the afternoon reading through the ones regarding Unova and the Tao dragons.

Zekrom and Reshiram did have people that could be called witnesses but there was nothing about strange dreams or the dragons talking to them. He found the sigil he saw in his dream as well, there was one for Zekrom and Reshiram, they looked near identical

There were also articles about religious clans that worshiped Dialga, Palkia, and Arceus in the past. One about Giratina having a follower that managed to contact it peaked his interest, he bookmarked it for later.

“Afternoon Emmet! I am feeling quite refreshed now after sleeping for a bit!” Ingo’s voice rang out in the kitchen, causing Emmet to jolt in his chair from surprise.

Ingo, still in his pajamas, had somehow walked into the kitchen and poured a glass of Mago Berry juice without Emmet noticing. He checked the clock on his computer and discovered that he had been reading articles for 4 hours. Ingo hovered over his shoulder and looked at the article he was currently sifting through.

“How goes your research Emmet? Anything interesting?” he asked, Emmet rubbed one of his eyes with the back of his hand.

“Juniper sent me a lot of stuff to read. It looks like witnesses are people chosen by legendary Pokémon to witness them battle or help settle differences between other legendaries. Most of the old writings she sent me about the legendary Pokémon were written by their witnesses. A lot of them were verrry strong trainers that were able to battle and win against the legendaries they were witnesses of.” Emmet explained.

“But why would they choose us though? We’ve never had any direct contact with either Reshiram or Zekrom previously.” Ingo questioned, Emmet went to another tab to show Ingo an old picture of the twin princes of Unova alongside their patron dragons.

“Witnesses tend to have something in common with the legendary that chooses them. Reshiram and Zekrom’s last witnesses were the twin princes of Unova. I guess the Dragons thought that we were close enough to them and chose us as new ones.” Emmet said.

Ingo anxiously fidgeted with the collar of his pajama shirt, “If I remember correctly, the twin princes also started a war over the future of Unova and almost destroyed it in the process. You don’t think Reshiram and Zekrom intend on continuing that, do you?” he asked.

“I hope not. I will be verrry mad if they destroy my trains with their fighting.” Emmet huffed.

“I wholeheartedly second that. Do you plan on taking a break soon? I was thinking of going out to eat tonight, do you want to come with?” he offered, drinking the last of his juice and putting the glass in the sink.

Emmet closed the laptop and stretched his arms out, “Surrre, we could go bother Cilan, Chili, and Cress at their restaurant, maybe they’ll have time for a battle too!” Emmet actually wanted to see if Simisear would actually eat his Fire Gem in battle because it would be hilarious if he did. He’d help Chili out after laughing about it.

Ingo considered it. “Come to think of it, we haven’t been to Castelia City for a while either… I am really craving a Castelia Cone right now.”

“Of courrrse you are. I want to eat actual food though, and desserts do not count.” Emmet told him.

“Maybe we will come to an agreement at the Station or part ways to travel separately! Either way we should leave soon so we won’t miss the last train home!” Ingo ended the conversation for now, walking out of the kitchen to get dressed.

Emmet returned his Pokémon to their Pokeballs and clipped them back to his belt. He went to grab one of his track jackets and a hat from the closet. Ingo reappeared from the hallway and pulled out a longer dark coat from the closet and a hat that sorta made him look like a veteran trainer.

He looked at Emmet curiously. “It’s autumn outside, shouldn’t you wear a warmer coat?”

“I’ll be fine, I don’t feel cold.” Emmet stated, he hadn’t really felt the autumn chill since Reshiram first contacted him the day prior.

“Alright then, destination set for Gear Station! All aboard!” Ingo loudly said and locked the door behind them.

They walked a block down the road from their house to the Anville Town stop, the train arrived a few minutes later. Emmet began to feel strange when they sat down, the train took off towards Gear Station. He felt less aware of himself and distant from his surroundings to the point of feeling lightheaded. The closest cause of it he could think of was possession. But Chandelure didn’t possess them often and she would be out her ball and absolutely livid if any other ghost tried it. He glanced at his brother from the corner of his eye, Ingo had the same far away stare he had yesterday.

The strange feeling grew into an urgent pull in his being to go somewhere that wasn’t Castelia or Striaton City.

The feeling seemed to become stronger the closer they got to Gear Station.

Their train arrived and they got off to enter Gear Station proper.

“Train 5 will take me to Castelia City, do you want anything from the city?” Ingo asked, Emmet shook his head and smiled.

“Nope, Cress won’t let me or my Pokémon leave the restaurant hungry. He might even make me take home something for you and your Pokémon too.” Emmet deadpanned, the triplets would send him home with food for a week. Cilan usually wanted Emmet's blunt criticism on the food so he could add better dishes to the menu. Emmet usually gave the desserts to Ingo to try since he liked sweets much more than his brother. 

“Sounds great! Tell Chili, Cilan, and Cress I said hello!” Ingo said and slightly smiled.

Emmet waved and they parted ways, Emmet heading to Train 6 and Ingo to Train 5.

As Emmet approached the terminal for Train 6, the strange pull in his chest was becoming overwhelming with each step he took. The lightheaded feeling he had on the Anville Train settled over his awareness like a thick fog clouding his focus. His vision faded for what felt like a second but when it returned, he had somehow turned around and found himself at the entrance of the Super Singles line, not Train 5 or 6. He glanced around in confusion and tried to remember how he got there but found nothing but a haze.

He saw Ingo robotically walking towards him and seemingly lost in a daze. His brother came to a stop beside him and shook his head to rid himself of the fog he probably had as well. He caught a glimpse of his brother next to him and jolted, looking around them to see the sign for the Super Singles line in shock.

“Emmet, why are you here? This isn’t the direction I was planning to travel in.” Ingo raised a hand to try and muffle his loud voice that was climbing in panic.

“I know. I didn’t want to come to this train either. But I don’t think we have a choice but to ride these trrrracks.” he replied, the corners of his mouth ticked down in fear

Ingo put a hand to his head and sighed, “The train will be departing soon, we should probably board it.”

Emmet nodded in agreement and they began walking to the train terminal. Agent Cloud saw them from across the floor and waved to get their attention, but the twins walked past them without even turning to look. Ingo tipped his hat down in an apology to them, his eyes were overtaken by a red shine in his pupils. Emmet knew his eyes were likely glowing blue.

“I suppose this is what the Dragons must have meant by summoning us to witness them...I admittedly have a very uneasy feeling about where our new destination is, and that we can’t turn back from it.” Ingo said as they were nearing the open doors of the train.

“We have our Pokémon and we are verrry strong. Besides, they told us to witness them. I think this has to do with the green haired person and someone else that has the Black Stone, you said it was in Lenora’s museum. Maybe it’s her that will awaken it?” Emmet really hoped so, at least Lenora was reasonable and had no chance of wanting to destroy the region. All of her fossil dig sites would be ruined after all.

Ingo turned away in thought as they entered the first car of Super Singles line. Ingo instinctively twitched a hand to his belt but then decided to scroll on his X-Transceiver instead. The first car had a group of 10 passengers, some of them immediately went through the connecting door to begin the battle circuit. Emmet passed the time on his X-Trans as well, he saw online that Nate had won the Champion’s title a few minutes ago through a very closely fought battle with Champion Alder. Emmet made another post congratulating Nate on his accomplishments and challenged him to a double battle when they meet again. This one had a surprisingly less amount of hate from Team Plasma that the posts he and Ingo had made over the last few months.

After passing by two stops Ingo suddenly stilled and looked at the screen below him in shock. Emmet looked up at him from his texting.

“What’s wrong, Ingo?” he asked, Ingo gave him an unreadable look and tapped the screen on his X-Trans to play a video.

“I believe I’ve found the green-haired person you saw in your dream yesterday...” Ingo trailed off and shakily held up the device to show footage being livestreamed from the stop they were quickly approaching.

It was indeed the person from Emmet’s vision of Reshiram.

He was in the process of being crowned as a king.

The King of Team Plasma.

Chapter Text

Emmet paled in his chair, the footage suddenly began to fill with static as an oddly dressed older man approached King N from the shadows. The video cut out and the train started quaking violently under them. They stood up as the car they were in started to rock and grabbed the hanging stability handles attached to the car's ceiling. The train rapidly slowed and began to stop, their car lurched on its wheels from the force of the quick stop. Ingo lost his footing and Emmet shot a hand out to grab the back of Ingo’s coat before he fell into the car’s seats. The train finally stabilized and stopped swaying, another round of vibrations pulsed out from the ground underneath the car. The normal overhead lights turned off and the emergency lights flashed red.

“Attention passengers! Please travel to the nearest open set of doors and exit the train immediately!” Agent Furze’s voice came out through the speakers in the corner of the car.

“I am Emmet, we need to leave now before this train is derrrailed.” Emmet stated, his and Ingo’s X-Trans buzzed with notifications and calls from their agents to report the mass earthquakes damaging the trains. “You’re correct, let’s keep an eye out for any stray passengers in the other cars as well!” Ingo said, Emmet nodded and they took off towards the front of the train.

The 20 train cars they passed through were empty, Ingo tapped his X-Trans to type out a message to the station stating that he and Emmet were on the only stalled train. He ordered the Depot Agents to close all running lines until the source of the underground activity was found. The largest quake so far rattled the train as they departed from it and ran to the stairs, one of the vending machines at the stop fell to the ground with a loud crash. The glass that shattered outwards from it kept spreading out onto the ground further from the continuous earthquakes.

When they climbed the stairs, the train’s passengers, including Agents Isadore and Furze were frozen in place watching something through the windows. “Everyone! It is unsafe to stand so closely to the windows during a disaster!” Ingo warned them, all of the bystanders in the room ignored them.

“Just what are you looking at?” Emmet asked as they carefully approached the windows and stalled at what they saw.

The temple that housed the elite four and the champion was being overtaken by a massive nine story building rising from the ground through a freshly split open rocky chasm. Around 20 metal support beams shot out from the castle and stabbed through the temple's walls. Rocks and earth crashed down onto the mountain pathways below and in front of the train stop. The normally powerful Pokémon that occupied the area along with the top trainers that were stationed to test potential challengers ran from the landslides and chaos. One of them rushed through the doors of the train stop, his Sawk running in after him. Ingo recognized him as Trainer Grant, a regular on the Super Singles train, he was coughing up dirt while his Sawk tiredly sat on the ground in a loose lotus position.

The silent spell of shock had finally broken in the room and everyone was beginning to crowd around the trainer in concern. Isadore and Furze also noticed that their bosses were in the room. “Boss Ingo and Emmet? When did you get here?” Isadore asked, Emmet went to talk to him while Ingo approached the trainer still coughing into his arm. Emmet sent Furze off to get the man some water while he and Isadore kept the crowd of 10 people at a safe distance away from the disaster outside.

“Excuse me sir, are you alright?” Ingo asked, the young man turned to Ingo and tried to scrub the dirt from his face.

“Subway Master Ingo? Why are you here?” His voice came out painfully scratchy, Sawk glanced up at him.

“It’s a rather complicated story, that doesn’t need to be told at this moment. What happened to you, are you okay?” He asked again, and knelt down to Grant’s eye-level.

“I was at my post waiting for more trainers in the cave system, then the ground started to shake like every ground type in there used magnitude at the same time. The ceiling was coming down, rocks and dirt were everywhere. We and the other trainers in the tunnels ran for the exit but it had been blocked off by a brick wall somehow cutting through the whole cave. Honestly, if it wasn’t for Sawk smashing through the huge boulders that were blocking the other exit then everyone would’ve been trapped in there or worse.” Grant’s voice was rough from coughing, Sawk slumped onto his trainer’s shoulder.

“Bravo Sawk, you’ve become much stronger since our last battle!” Ingo said, Sawk’s face reddened slightly, he bashfully hid his face behind Grant’s shoulder.

“Now you’ve embarrassed him, he never does that when I praise him.” Grant laughed a little when Sawk lightly tapped his head with his fist in annoyance.

Ingo gave a small smile, “I tend to have that kind of effect on others.”

The constant seismic activity finally petered out as the landslides outside the building ended. Just as it did, Ingo felt another powerful spike of urgency to get up and leave the area in his chest. It was so powerful that he needed to take a moment to try and reorient himself.

“Boss Emmet, stop! It’s too dangerous to leave! What if another landslide happens? We need to stay here!” Isadore’s shouting had him looking over to see a struggle between him and Emmet. Furze had returned from the broken vending machine and handed Grant a water bottle while watching the scene in concern.

“What’s going on?” Furze asked.

“I will find out, stay with Grant and Sawk.” Ingo carefully stood up and walked across the room to Emmet and Isadore. Isadore had grabbed Emmet by the forearm to keep him from walking out of the train stop. Emmet kept one hand around the door handle and tried to yank himself out of Isadore's grip with the other.

“Emmet! What are you doing?” Ingo asked, Emmet glared at him and Isadore, the blue glow was beginning to overtake his irises.

“Tell Isadore to let go. Emmet has been summoned, he must leave. Now.”  Emmet flatly said, Ingo held back to urge to flinch away from him.

It is his brother’s voice, but he was not the one talking right now.

“Boss Emmet, what’s wrong with you?” Isadore asked, he was so stunned from horror and confusion that Emmet was able to rip his arm out of Isadore’s grip. He spun on his heel and rushed out the doors before anyone could stop him. Isadore are Furze immediately looked at Ingo for an explanation for what just happened.

Ingo pushed the doorsopen, “I will go after Emmet! Everyone remain here and wait for rescue services to arrive!” He called out to them as he left.

Victory Road only had one path to go down to reach the Pokémon League of Unova, the mountain side’s caves were mostly flooded with dirt and rocks from landslides. He quickly scanned the terrain and thankfully didn’t see anyone stranded or buried on the mountain. He was starting to become angry that Emmet was forced out into this mess alone. He spotted a dot of white at the entrance to the Victory Road cave system, the entity controlling him seemed to be waiting for Ingo to catch up. He stopped just before reaching him. Emmet’s sharp eyes were burning with cyan light.

“What are you doing? Even though the landslides have stopped for the moment, it’s still highly unsafe to be outside! You could’ve gotten Emmet seriously injured with such a reckless stunt!” Ingo shouted.

“My Witness has been summoned, you both have been summoned.” Reshiram told him.

“Can it not wait until these tracks have been deemed safe to travel?!” He angrily retorted.

“You must witness the battle between Reshiram and Zekrom. You will witness it.” Reshiram commanded and bristled from indignation, the “whether you wish to or not.” part went unsaid. The wave of dread that ran through Ingo instantly smothered the rage he felt seconds ago.

Ingo tipped his hat down in surrender, “We will make our way to the castle safely...I request that you release Emmet from your control and then we will depart.” he said, Reshiram nodded and relaxed Emmet’s shoulders.

“Very well. Make haste, Witness of Zekrom. Our battle draws near.” Reshiram warned him, the blue light in Emmet’s eyes then died down to become pinpricks in his pupils. He lurched forward and held his head in his hands.

Ingo came closer and put a hand on Emmet’s shoulder to steady him. “Emmet! Are you alright?” he asked.

“My head aches a little bit. How did I get here?” Emmet looked around the banks of dirt and rocks in confusion and straightened up.

“What do you remember?” Ingo asked.

“It felt verrry much like a dream. I-I was Reshiram, I was following N and Ghetsis through hallways and up staircases to a throne room filled with water. Then I came back here, and now I am Emmet again.” Emmet explained, he shook out his hands to rid himself of the detached feeling.

“It appears that you and Reshiram were able to switch cars. Reshiram was here and talking through you...It was quite unsettling to experience. I convinced it to stop possessing you before you got too far away. We must leave for the castle, I fear the consequences of delaying our summons any longer.” Ingo said.

He released Excadrill and pointed to the rocks and dirt of the sealed off cave. She happily chattered and began digging a pathway for them, they slowly made their walked through the cave. Excadrill sprayed dirt and pebbles with her excited digging, Ingo and Emmet crouched down to dodge the larger chunks of stone being thrown over her shoulders. Emmet had gone quiet for a minute or two, lost in thought.

“Did I say something bad?” He eventually asked.

“No, but you heavily frightened Isadore and Furze. I don’t know how we’ll be able to explain all of this to them later.” Ingo fidgeted with his gloves from anxiety.

“We can cross those tracks after we're done here.” Emmet said.

The orange light of the setting sun shined through holes in the ceiling of the cavern from landslides. After 20 more minutes of walking in the tunnels Excadrill made her way to last set of boulders blocking off the exit of the cave. She readied a final Metal Claw and broke through the wall of earth and stone. Light from the outside poured into the cave as they exited. Excadrill happily waved her claws in the air and the dust off of her fur. Ingo gave her a scratch under the chin, “Fantastic job! Bravo Excadrill!” Ingo praised. “Thank you for helping us Excadrill!” Emmet said and patted her head. She happily beamed up at them, Ingo reached a hand up to his belt to return her.

The only entrance to the Battle League was through the main set of doors, which was corded off with yellow caution tape. Two police officers were stationed beside the doors, they looked surprised to see them.

“Subway masters! I almost didn’t recognize you at first! Are you here to help the Gym Leaders fight off Team Plasma?” The officer asked, his Growlite companion barked up at them.

“Yes we are. Can you let us pass? It’s verrry important.” Emmet stated, Ingo nodded in agreement.

The officers and their Growlithes stepped aside to let them through. “Of course, go in! Be careful though, I saw a huge Pokemon in there earlier!” The one to their right said, the one to their left gave him an irritated look. “Don’t act scared in front of battle facility leaders! They might say something to our boss-” Ingo and Emmet ignored them and continued inside.

The main room was dark and quiet, only the small auxiliary lights on the floors and the blue glow around the statue in the center of room remained lit. The elevator was recently used, making it easy for them to step on the platform and activate the pressure switch at the base of the bronze statue. The elevator gave a small hitch and then started to smoothly take them down to the Champion's chamber of the League. Due to the size of the circular platform and the largeness of the statue, the twins had to somewhat awkwardly hang off the sides of the platform as it descended.

“Although I appreciate the dramatic effect this elevator provides for challengers…It could benefit from some structural modifications.” Ingo hesitantly said, he made the mistake of looking down and tightened his hold on the statue's base.

“There’s no space on the platform because of the statue. It likely had to take one Gym Leader down at a time, verrry inefficient and unsafe.” Emmet complained, wisely keeping his eyes aimed at the ceiling.

“It is! The League is lucky most of their challengers are young children! Can you imagine someone like Mayor Drayden trying to ride this elevator all the way to the bottom?!” Ingo asked, Emmet quickly turned away to hide a growing smile. “I can, it’s funny.” He stifled a laugh, Ingo gave him a disapproving look.

The Champion’s hall and battle arena looked mostly normal, except for the giant hole in the far wall. A metal staircase extended from the gold tiles of Alder's Chamber into the sky, it connected the space from the newly risen brick castle to Pokémon League. After climbing what felt like four flights of stairs, the twins crossed through an ornate doorway into the castle proper. The ceilings stretched high and the hall before them was vast, lined with intricately carved marble columns. Faint echoes of the battles between the Plasma Sages and Gym Leaders reverberated through the gold and blue tiled floors.

“This castle is quite expansive, how are we going to navigate it to Reshiram and Zekrom’s location?” Ingo's loud voice bounced off the walls and the ceiling.

“I know where they are. Follow me.” Emmet said, and began to stride down the hallway. Ingo cautiously trailed behind him.