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teamconductors · 2 years

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Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Lost Tracks of Time, Chapter 29

Summary: Ingo and Emmet return to Unova.

Author’s note: I intended this chapter to kinda-sorta follow Ingo’s perspective (to contrast with last chapter sorta-following Emmet), but that did not pan out.

I once again feel the need to apologize to the Nimbasa Trio. And apologize in general. I’m sorry.

Mild/implied body horror ahead! I thought I was done with needing the content warnings. I was not.

Thank you @furiouskettle!

(Shippers DNI)

Emmet woke up at Lady Sneasler’s Seat. He slept on a pile of hay and leaves across the cave from the nest of Lady Sneasler’s kits. Though Emmet got accustomed to a Sneasel’s toxins thanks to Ingo, he still got poisoned from handling them. He wanted to avoid waking up sick again because a baby Sneasel cuddled up to the weird new human.

Next to Emmet were the first two pokemon he caught in Hisui: Shinx and Porygon. He caught Shinx immediately after Ingo taught him the back-strike technique for catching pokemon. He found Porygon when he saw a space-time distortion and charged in full speed ahead. The only reason Emmet exited with a Porygon without fainting was because Ingo literally pulled him out.

Emmet sat up and stretched his arms. Based on the faint lighting past the Seat entrance, the sun just began rising over Mt. Coronet. He put on his coat, which he used as a blanket. Ingo was gone, but Emmet used the time to see if his determination stayed with his through the night. Was it time to depart from Hisui?

“Good morning, Emmet,” Ingo said. He kept his voice as low as he could, but a couple Sneasels stirred from his greeting. He carried handfuls of twice-spiced radishes and sitrus berries. “I apologize for the lackluster sleeping arrangements, but I hope you got enough rest to begin our morning checks?”

Emmet nodded.

“Is something the matter? Did you hurt your back?” Ingo asked. “I suppose sleeping on hay is not comfortable for us as humans – human-shaped, rather.”

“…I am Emmet. I am… ready to take the new route,” Emmet said.

“A new route?”

Emmet looked serious. “…I want to go to our origin. I want to go to Unova.”

Ingo almost smiled. “Very well! According to Dialga and Palkia, we should be able to leave this station and return with no time difference. After we refuel, let us go test if that is the case!”

“Thanks, Ingo.”

Once they finished breakfast, the two left the cave and pondered over what the nearest reflective surface could be. Lady Sneasler’s Seat was in Primeval Grotto, so they determined that the bay of Fabled Spring River would be closest. Since it was early morning, the Gyradoses were not awake to stir up trouble, and the wild Nosepasses and Probopasses would not witness them defying the rules of time and space.

Ingo crouched to look at the water’s surface. “The river is running… Will this be reflective enough for our purposes?”

“We can find out.” Emmet took out the Rail Spike of Time. He crouched next to Ingo and placed the pointed end of the spike in the water.

“This does not feel like a good idea, but alright. Full speed ahead!” Ingo stood up and stepped back. He took out the Spike Maul of Space, waited for the handle to change to the right size, and swung down on the spike.

Against all common sense, when the hammer struck the spike, the spike remained in place as though it stood on a solid surface. A single ripple spread out from the spike, calming the surface of the bay into one large reflective body. The gems on the tools glowed bright. The reflection faded from the pink and orange sky to the dark swirling Distortion World, specifically showing the same island Ingo and Emmet entered Hisui from.

“Excellent! Bravo! That exceeded my expectations!” Ingo said. “Shall we depart?”

“Follow the rules and drive safely! We are headed for victory!” Emmet said.

“ALL ABOARD!” Ingo and Emmet, with their tools in hand, jumped into the bay.

***

Ingo and Emmet jumped out of the same waterfall. Because they jumped into the portal, they flew a fair distance and skidded on the island ground, getting pinkish-red dirt on their clothes.

“Welcome back,” Giratina said, having watched from above them. “How long were you there?”

“Four days and 15 hours,” Emmet said.

“Wow. For me, you two were only gone for a few seconds!” Giratina said. “Alright, where do you wanna go now?”

“If I may ask, we would like to travel along the route to Unova,” Ingo said.

“I can do just that.” Giratina started to fly down to grab the twins, but they stopped. “Oh, hold on. I can just do this.”

From out of the corners of the twins’ visions came two shadow hands. One arm wrapped around one twin and placed them onto Giratina’s back.

“Bravo! Thank you, Giratina!” Ingo said.

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s get you to where you need to be.” Knowing that Ingo and Emmet held on, Giratina flew off through the Distortion World once more.

“Giratina, may we ask you to return our appearances to our younger selves?” Ingo asked.

The Almighty pokemon nodded. “Yeah, close your eyes and hold on.” They knew that the twins listened to their command, so they began the process. “This reminds me, you two saw each other transform into Sneasels back when I was forced to attack you, right? I cannot believe Arceus let you remember that – no, wait, I’m not surprised at all. Arceus is an idiot.”

Ingo tried to respond, but to his surprise and horror, he literally could not speak. His heartbeat sped to the pace of a locomotive as he tried to rationalize the change. By the time Ingo realized it was likely intentional on Giratina’s part, the nausea associated with the transformation faded. Ingo and Emmet opened their eyes, satisfied with being shaped like Subway Masters once more.

“Done,” Giratina said. “Once you’re done doing your first visits, we need to start teaching you how to do this.”

Ingo hummed, partially to help him think and partially to check that his voice returned. “Giratina, I apologize in advance for derailing the conversation, but if the difference in time between us departing and returning is mere seconds, and we ask you to journey between each stop like a train, wouldn’t you be constantly flying around your world?”

“Yeah, you’re right. But I do owe my life to you two,” Giratina said.

While Emmet was listening to the conversation his brother had with Giratina, he continued to mull over his words for Elesa. Saying sorry wouldn’t be enough. Even if his train of thought wasn’t on the right track back at Spear Pillar, he still didn’t act like a proper conductor. He had to tell Elesa. He needed to say that he really did care. She might never forgive him, but at least the weight would be off his soul.

“Okay, have it your way,” Giratina said in response to something Ingo said. “I’ll figure out something later. We’re here!”

The group arrived at their destination. The island itself was smaller compared to the island with the window into Hisui. The island’s waterfall was likewise thinner, appearing more like a curtain than a roaring tower of water, but the top of the falls faded into the black void.

Once Ingo and Emmet stepped off Giratina’s back, they got a better view of the glimpse into time the waterfall had.

“I am Emmet. I am verrrry surprised!” Emmet’s voice almost matched the excitement he felt. His hands shook strongly enough to turn into flapping from joy.

“Giratina, you found a direct line to Gear Station! Bravo!” Ingo clapped for Giratina’s achievement.

“Oh, is that where it is? I just found the most obvious portal,” Giratina said.

“It’s been…” Ingo’s eyes widened. “Emmet, I haven’t stepped foot in Gear Station in years!”

“We can fix that.” Emmet pointed to the waterfall. “Next stop: Gear Station. All aboard!”

“All aboard!” Ingo took off to the water. Emmet caught up to him, and the twins jumped through the portal in unison.

***

The reason that they knew the portal was at Gear Station was because of the aerial eye view of the main entrance. Neither twin thought about why the portal showed that image. Ingo and Emmet jumped out of one of the glass planes that made up the large window above the entrance of Gear Station.

The smell hit Ingo all at once. Gear Station was a well-used hub for travelers and smelled like it, but to him, it was a sign of how much work they do to transport passengers to their destinations. Tears welled in his eyes, not only from the smell of home but also him realizing he and Emmet were falling.

Several onlookers and passersby, many of whom just wanted to go home after a long day, witnessed the disappeared Ingo and Emmet emerge from a window. No glass shards followed them. It was as though they came from the light itself bouncing off the window. There were gasps and screams as they fell, as their height should have resulted in a couple broken limbs at best. Instead, the two Subway Masters flipped and landed on their feet, no worse for wear.

“I am Emmet. That was… interesting…” Emmet’s sentence trailed off as he and Ingo realized several people and pokemon began surrounding them.

Ingo had to think. Their plan for this era was to feign ignorance and act as though they didn’t remember anything from where they went. Any other claim could be cross-referenced and likely expose their cover. He and Emmet would need to lie more blatantly than either desired, but it was all they could think of.

Ingo saluted the people. “Good day, everyone! Are we at Gear Station? I’m not sure how we arrived here, but I am glad we are here!”

Chaos ensured. Amongst the cacophony of noise were concerns of safety, camera snaps from Rotom phones, and prying questions. Gear Station’s architecture emphasized the noise into near-unbearable levels. The two of them coming from the quieter, less populated Hisui region made the sounds feel louder. Ingo suppressed his instinct to cover his ears out of politeness.

Before Ingo could even begin to answer questions as some of the Gear Station employees arrived, a pokemon with a familiar aura approached the station entrance.

“My Ch-!” Ingo could not finish his exclamation before his own pokemon ran into him.

Chandelure wrapped their arms around Ingo’s torso, trapping him in a ring of metal. They buried their head in Ingo’s chest. The flames billowed directly in Ingo’s face, but he was unharmed. Chandelure cried tears of fire onto his coat, but they did not burn the material, thanks to Anthe’s modifications.

“I am glad to be back at this station as well,” Ingo said. He petted Chandelure’s head as he tried to find any visual different between this Chandelure and the Chandelure that lived for hundreds of years in the future. The clearest different was this Chandelure’s flames possessing a sharper hue.

With Ingo and Chandelure drawing the crowd’s attention, Emmet looked up at the window they came from. The image of the Distortion World, still visible past the Nimbasa City night sky, faded until it was gone. He heard no comments from others about the image, so hopefully no one else noticed that.

Ingo and Emmet eventually got to the terminal for the Super Multi line for some peace. The area was blocked off with barriers to prevent entry while the Battle Subways were shut down.

“And now we have a moment to rest,” Ingo said. He sat down on a bench, and Emmet joined him. “I cannot remember the last time talking with guests and Gear Stations team members have been that exhausting! Usually, I take pride in hosting guests…”

“That was not as bad as I thought,” Emmet said. “But there is a major delay in our operations.”

“You are referring to the window to the Di-“ Ingo interrupted his own sentence when he remembered that Chandelure still hugged his torso. “My Chandelure, will you please release me and allow Emmet and I to talk in private?”

Chandelure shook their head, still clinging tightly to their trainer’s chest. He had been gone for two months. They didn’t want to let go yet.

“I know what you are talking about, Ingo. Yes. It should still be there. We can use Quick Attack to climb up the wall and strike the rail spike, but it is not that easy.”

“Hm… How can we do that without arising suspicions? Even if we carry out the mission at a time where Gear Station is mostly empty, the odd guest or security personnel could see us! And that is to say nothing of the security cameras…”

“This is not going to be easy.”

“Not this first time, but after we complete the journey, we will be able to depart from any location of our choosing! But yes, this is a troubling conundrum…”

“We should return to our origin,” Emmet said. His hands shook as soon as he finished saying that. He wanted to see his pokemon so badly, and his brother already got a head start.

“Yes! We can find a solution after we reunite with our teams. Let us depart with haste! All aboard!” Ingo said, pointing to the direction of the Gear Station entrance and the ground.

***

Ingo and Emmet walked to the outskirts of Nimbasa City to get to their house. They tried to minimize the amount of attention they could gather by going through lesser populated paths. The walk also allowed them to refamiliarize themselves with Nimbasa City and the world where pokemon and humans lived together.

“I don’t see outward any signs of disrepair,” Ingo said once they got to their house. Chandelure still hugged Ingo’s torso. “Are you ready, Emmet?”

Emmet nodded. “I am Emmet. I am ready.”

Ingo approached the front door and knocked. “Hello? Is there anyone present at this station?”

After a moment with no response, the front door opened. Eelektross’ eyes were wide as he stared at Ingo and Emmet. Unlike his future self, he was of normal size and barely had to hunch over to meet Emmet’s eye level.

“Is it… really you? Are you… real?” Eelektross asked. The twins barely heard his voice.

“I am Emmet. You are my Eelektross.” Emmet held his hand out, expecting his pokemon to hold it like his future version did.

Instead, Eelektross dove forward to wrap around Emmet. Because Eelektross was of normal length and Emmet was not a small Sneasel, Eelektross only had to wrap around his trainer a couple times to engulf him. Eelektross further wrapped his arms around him, mirroring how Chandelure hugged Ingo.

“You’re back…!” Eelektross spoke next to his trainer’s ear.

“You are clingier than I remember,” Emmet said. He did return the hug with some back rubbing.

A dozen Joltiks crawled out from crevices in the living room shadows. “It’s them?” “It’s Emmet!” “Ingo is back!” “Tickets please!” The Joltiks scattered in the direction of the backyard training grounds.

“Perhaps we should go inside before we have a pileup outside our house,” Ingo said.

Ingo recalled how Emmet described their living room. When he and Elesa lived together to keep up with Emmet’s health, there were letters and flowers and gifts scattered about with no regard to organization. Now, the letters sat on a side table in neat stacks. Vases were either empty or housing old but living flowers. The table was cleared of most items, save for a few special letters and a mug once filled with coffee. The clean areas were only undermined by some cardboard boxes filled with used tissues and remnants of pokemon food.

“Elesa did this,” Emmet said. There were significantly more letters and flowers than when he was last there. Why did she take the time to clean up the living room?

Ingo and Emmet both heard the voices of their pokemon outside.

“We are about to enter a rush hour! My Chandelure, while I am quite pleased to see you once more, may I ask you to clear the station for the others?” Ingo asked.

Chandelure shook their head.

“Chandelure, please make some room…” Eelektross said as he let go of Emmet.

Ingo petted his pokemon’s head one last time before they slowly let go of him and floated to the side.

Several pokemon stampeded into the living room from the backyard. Ingo found himself tackled by Haxorus, Garbodor, Durant, and Crustle. A small sea of Joltiks piled onto Emmet, followed by Galvantula, Archeops, and Durant. The only reason the Klinklang twins didn’t join in was because they could literally crush their trainers.

“You’re back! You’re back!” Haxorus said. The rage nestled in her body had melted away.

“I was wondering why Chandelure ran so fast,” Crustle said.

“What a pleasant welcome!” Ingo said.

“Where have you been?! And what happened at Spear Pillar?” Archeops asked.

Excadrill wanted to join in on the pile, but he sniffed the air and halted. “…Are we sure that’s them, guys? They don’t smell right.”

Ingo’s heart twinged. This was what Emmet was afraid of, right?

“Excadrill, I get being scared, but it’s them! They’re back!” Garbodor said.

“No! I don’t think it is!” Excadrill showed off his claws.

“Haxorus, what happened to your horns?” Ingo asked. He brought his hand up to feel Haxorus’ broken horn.

“Well, you know…” Haxorus laughed with nervousness as she felt the edge of her horn. “That’s what happens when you’re not strong enough to carry your trainers…”

“Do you feel bad for what happened the day I left?” Ingo asked. Emmet said that Haxorus kept training herself nonstop when Arceus took him. “I always say to move to greater heights and to improve yourself! But please do not be harsh on yourself for your previous state. You did what you could, am I correct?”

Haxorus smiled. “You’re right, Ingo. Thank you.”

Excadrill fiddled with his claws. “Haxorus, I know you can smell them. Durant, you too! This has to be a trick! It has to be!”

Ingo kneeled to see Excadrill at eyelevel. “You did your best as well, my Excadrill. Please do not punish yourself too harshly.” He scratched under Excadrill’s chin and around his neck.

Excadrill’s adamance about the twins’ identities wavered. Ingo knew exactly where he liked to be scratched.

“Hey, what happened at Mt. Coronet? I don’t remember a thing since Emmet went up the stairs…” Galvantula asked.

“I wanna know, too, but do you think they know what we’re asking?” Archeops asked.

“Sorry for our delay in return,” Emmet said, addressing all their pokemon. “We have no clue as to what station we visited. But it feels like we have been gone for a while. Now we are back!”

“After a few days of rest, we can reopen the Battle Subway and resume our schedule!” Ingo said.

“I am… so happy…!” Eelektross said.

“I’m here…” a voice said from the other side of the closed front door. The door opened.

The pokemon got off Ingo and Emmet and cleared the living room. Emmet’s hands shook. Their most anticipated terminal was here.

The guest was Elesa. Normally, she wore some amount of color in her outfits – she liked to be an electrifying presence, she said in the past. She now wore a black longcoat and black boots. Apart from her signature headphones, no color was present in her outfit.

She stopped walking in when she saw Ingo and Emmet.

“Good day, Elesa! I am so happy to see you!” Ingo said.

“Hi… I am Emmet.” He only took nervous glances at Elesa.

Elesa’s hands tightened into fists. “It’s as I thought. I heard people say that Ingo and Emmet were back. I wanted to believe them, so I came back to their place. But you… You’re not them.”

“Elesa, what are you talking about?” Ingo’s frown expressed his concern along with his words for once.

She put her foot down. “Stop pretending! I know what my friends look like. What are you, a couple of Zoroarks?!”

“Why does everyone think we are Zoroarks?” Emmet asked Ingo.

“...Fine. If you won’t drop the disguises…” Elesa pulled out a pokeball from her pocket. “Then my shining pokemon and I will make you!” She threw the pokeball and sent out Zebstrika.

Zebstrika took one look at Ingo and Emmet and gasped. “You’re back?!”

“My Zebstrika, use Volt Tackle!” Elesa held her arm out and swept it for emphasis.

Ingo held out his arm in front of Emmet. “Elesa, Zebstrika, please halt! We are not Zoroarks!”

Zebstrika sniffed the two. “They… kinda smell like them. Are you really Ingo and Emmet?”

“My Zebstrika, why are you hesitating? Isn’t it obvious?” Elesa asked. “There is no way this is Ingo and Emmet! Ingo vanished off the face of the earth, and Emmet is dead!”

Ingo turned to look at Emmet. Emmet froze. He could barely see his brother breathe.

“I don’t know, Elesa…” Zebstrika backed away from the twins but kept her eyes on them.

“Zebstrika, we saw Emmet die! He walked into the sky and never came back down! Not even his pokemon knew what happened! He’s… gone.” Elesa’s hands shook. “And now there’s some pokemon here wearing their faces and giving people false hope!”

“Elesa, please…” Ingo stepped forward. “You are an important passenger for us. I apologize for disappearing, and I know Emmet is, too… No, wait. I shouldn’t speak for him here. Emmet, what would you like to say to Elesa?”

Emmet’s smile stretched from one ear to another. He held his hands together much like when he talked to guests. He was completely frozen. His plan to talk to Elesa had completely broken apart. He knew that leaving her at Spear Pillar was not a wise decision as a conductor, but she believed he died. She believed he died.

Ingo placed a hand on Emmet’s shoulder. “Emmet, I’m here for you.”

Elesa stared down Ingo and Emmet. Despite her intense gut feeling that something was wrong with these apparitions of her friends, another part of her said it was them. Ingo and Emmet said that they always return to their station at the end, so why not now? Elesa was a person who made people’s dreams into reality. What if, this time, her dream became the reality?

But she didn’t want hope. She and Emmet had hope that they would find Ingo, and Emmet marched straight into heaven instead. She reported that Emmet went missing and that she was the last person to see him. The detectives and international police reassured her to finding her friends, but days upon days passed. She understood why Emmet turned to his own devices about finding his brother. She heard some people suspect her of Emmet’s disappearance. That hurt.

But her spark was gone. She tried to throw herself into her roles as a gym leader and model, but her battles and words and poses felt hollow. The gym leaders, especially Skyla, tried to comfort her and get her electrifying self back, but the attempts bore no fruit. Her pokemon tried the same, and they were the closest to succeeding. But her best friends were gone.

“Stop this nonsense! My darling Zebstrika, if you can't do it...” Elesa had to prove if her instinct was right. She recalled Zebstrika into her pokeball. She then grabbed the nearest thing she could find – an empty mug from the table – and brandished it as a weapon. “I’ll destroy the Prankster illusion myself!”

“Elesa, please stop!” Ingo completely stood in front of Emmet. Either of them wouldn’t suffer lasting damage from the attack, but he still didn’t want his brother to get hurt by their friend.

“I.. I am…!” Emmet’s entire body shook. He covered his mouth with both hands. He wanted to throw up. He wanted to vomit out the words he had been practicing for days. His legs gave out, and he hunched forward while still holding his mouth. Despite the obvious sorrow consuming him, his face still smiled beneath his hands.

“Emmet!” Ingo dropped to the floor. He placed an arm around Emmet’s shoulders. “It’s going to be okay. This is not an express train ride. Take your time.”

Elesa stared at the twins and realized what she was doing. She placed the mug back on the table and crouched down. She watched tears squeeze through his closed eyes. “…Emmet?” she asked softly.

Emmet nodded.

“And Ingo?” Elesa’s voice got quieter.

“I truly apologize for our delay of our return,” Ingo said.

“No, please don’t give me hope.” She rubbed her eye with a single finger and flicked off the tears. “Just end this cruel prank!”

“This is not a prank!” Emmet finally said. Before he knew it, he sprung forward to hug Elesa. His hands dug into her back.

That was it. Elesa finally allowed herself to shed tears. She hugged Emmet back so hard that he might snap like a twig. Then again, he hugged back with almost the same force.

Ingo placed a hand on Elesa’s shoulder. He wanted to join them, but he knew how this was important for Emmet. “I am truly glad to see you again, Elesa. Both of us are.”

“You guys can be real jerks sometimes. People thought I went crazy. I thought I was crazy!” Elesa said. “…I’m sorry for almost hitting you.”

“I am… sorry, too…” Emmet couldn’t speak above a whisper.

“I believe you. Emmet… listen. I can’t forgive you for what happened at Spear Pillar. I can’t forgive all the stuff that happened… But I don’t think I can stay mad at you forever,” Elesa said.

Emmet nodded. He understood not being forgiven. He wasn’t sure it was deserved anyway. He just needed to tell Elesa he was sorry and that she was a great friend, even if he couldn’t outright say it.

Ingo, satisfied with what happened, stood back up. “Elesa, Emmet, why don’t we-?”

Ingo’s train of thought derailed when he looked down at Emmet and Elesa again. He covered his mouth to supress his gasp.

“Ingo? Is something wrong?” Elesa asked as she turned to face him.

Emmet tried to ask the same question, but no words came out of his mouth. His voice was gone.

Ingo’s mind raced to find a way to isolate himself and Emmet. “Elesa, unfortunately it appears that Emmet and I must make an immediate departure!” He grabbed Emmet by his forearm and dragged him to standing position.

Elesa stood and turned toward the twins, who were running up the stairway to the second floor. “Where do you think you’re going?!”

“I apologize, Elesa, but this is an urgent situation, and we will return once it is resolved!” Ingo ran to Emmet’s bedroom with his brother in tow. He slammed the door behind them.

Ingo looked around his brother’s room. Between the unkempt bedsheets, full trashcan of wrappers, and scattered books and papers of several nights of research, he finally saw the results of Emmet’s time in emotional solitude.

“Emmet, please remain calm. Look at your hands,” Ingo said.

Emmet nodded and held up his hands – or rather, he held up his arms to look at where his hands should be. His hands were gone. Emmet raised his arm to shake his coat sleeve up and see if anything was there. When he got his answer, he let his sleeves hang like when he wore the coat as a Sneasel.

Ingo took a deep breath. “Are you able to talk?”

Emmet gave his brother an awkward smile and shook his head.

Ingo frowned harder. “It’s as I feared. I noticed during our transformations that we become unable to speak. Emmet, I have no idea as to the cause, but I think you’re transforming!”

Emmet couldn’t hide his fear even if he wanted to. Familiar nausea crept up on him. He silently pleaded to Ingo for help, but when he looked at his brother, he saw something bad. Emmet’s eyes widened. Emmet pointed to Ingo’s head with his arm.

“Is something wrong with me?” Ingo asked. He then noticed that his vision darkened in one eye.

Emmet nodded. The dizziness associated with the transformation was worse than in the past. With his legs straight, he fell forward, and the process overtook him.

Ingo darted to Emmet’s closet. He knew his brother had a full-length mirror to properly inspect his uniform everyday before they travelled to work. Ingo’s cap had slid down his head and covered his eye and part of his face. He took off the cap. He didn’t like what he saw.

“Am I…” Ingo lost his voice in the middle of his sentence. The dizziness made him fall, and the transformation overcame Ingo as well.

***

Several pokemon stormed up the stairs and gathered outside Emmet’s bedroom. Chandelure and Eelektross led Haxorus, Excadrill, Archeops, Garbodor, Durant, Galvantula, and Crustle up the started. Several Joltiks hanged out on the walls and ceilings. Ingo was never a quiet person, but the walls muffled his exact words. He sounded in distress.

Elesa followed the pokemon and knocked on Emmet’s door. “Emmet! Ingo!” After waiting a moment for a response, she knocked hard enough to jiggle the door. “Guys!”

“They’re not answering?” Garbodor asked.

“Something has to be really wrong. At the very least, Ingo would respond instead of ignoring us,” Crustle said.

“Ingo! Emmet!” Elesa knocked on the door. “If you don’t open up, I’m coming in! Your pokemon are here, too. If something is wrong, you can’t keep us all in the dark!”

“Does anyone else have a bad feeling?” Galvantula asked.

“You mean the one I had the entire time?” Excadrill asked.

“They have to be okay…” Eelektross said. “…Right?”

“THAT’S IT!” Elesa turned the doorknob and swung the door open.

Elesa and the twins’ pokemon saw what was inside Emmet’s room. Eelektross gasped and embraced Archeops and Durant. Excadrill jumped into drill formation to shield his eyes. Haxorus, Garbodor, Crustle, and Galvantula backed up to the wall opposite of the hall, trying to get away from the sight.

Elesa closed the door at a Slowpoke’s pace out fear of getting the… beings’ attention. She laid her back against the door and slowly slid down as her knees buckled. Chandelure floated above her and stared at the door like they could still observe what happened inside.

“I was right… It really wasn’t them…” Elesa curled her legs up to her chest. Those weren’t Ingo and Emmet, but they weren’t Zoroarks either. She had no idea what she saw. Was she sleeping? Was she having another nightmare?

“What did we just see?!” Durant asked.

“I can’t believe Excadrill was right,” Crustle said.

“I really wish I wasn’t,” Excadrill said, his voice slightly muffled from his drill formation covering his head.

“I… should’ve known…” Eelektross began to crush Archeops and Durant from his hug. “Emmet is my best friend… I should have known this was a fake!”

Garbodor rubbed Eelektross’ back as a sort-of gesture of comfort. “It’s okay, please don’t be hard on yourself.”

“So… what do we do with the pretenders?” Galvantula asked.

“Let’s battle them! I can finally test my sharpened horns!” Haxorus said.

“Okay, but what type are they? Dark? Maybe poison?” Galvantula asked.

“Assuming they’re pokemon…” Archeops said.

Tears dripped onto Elesa’s knees. “Why is this happening? I just want my friends back.”

Galvantula crawled over to Elesa and grazed her leg with her conical feet. Elesa interpreted the gesture as a beg for pets, which she obliged with. Galvantula’s fur sparked and tingled her fingers, but she was accustomed to the sensation from raising electric-type pokemon and loved it. Galvantula knew this, thus why she approached Elesa.

“Why do I feel like we’re missing something?” Archeops asked.

“…Chandelure, why are you so… calm?” Eelektross asked. After he asked the question, the rest of the pokemon present turned to Chandelure, who still stared and floated less than an inch away from the door.

“Why are we Sneasels again?!” “Ingo” said from the room.

All the pokemon turned their attention toward the voice. Excadrill loosened up back to standing position, and Eelektross dropped Archeops and Durant. The voice sounded like Ingo, but he spoke their language. He spoke like a pokemon.

“This is a trainwreck,” “Emmet” said.

Elesa lifted her head and slowly turned behind her. Those were the noises of pokemon – Sneasels, based on what the word they kept repeating – but their voices were uncanny. If she asked Ingo and Emmet to imitate a Sneasel, they would sound like that.

“No, perhaps this is salvageable. If the portal is still present at Gear Station, we can contact Giratina to get our human shapes back!” Despite the optimistic claim, “Ingo” did not sound confident. “This is… quite a delay for us, but once we get our bodies back to human-shape, we can resume our duties as Subway Masters. Though I must admit, it might be difficult to explain our impromptu departure to our friends…”

“They saw us, Ingo,” Emmet said.

There was a pause.

“Please tell me you are making a bad joke,” Ingo said in a lower tone than normal for him.

“I am Emmet. I am serious. You didn’t hear the knocking and the door open and close?”

“…They actually saw the transformation process… Your assessment of this being a trainwreck is correct. We drastically broke the rules. Our friends are never going to trust us again!” Ingo’s voice began to break. “This is all because of my insistence of making this journey! I apologize deeply, Emmet! This is all my fault.”

“Please brake. I wanted us to come here, just like you.”

Something strange sparked in Elesa’s heart. If the pretenders wanted to keep tricking her into thinking they’re Ingo and Emmet, why would they sound like Sneasels? Why did they sound so heartbroken?

“While that is true, Emmet, it was my desire to return that led us here. I take full responsibility… for hurting our loved ones. I apologize, Emmet. I don’t know how we can fix… any of this.”

Chandelure couldn’t take it anymore. They did not know Psychic, but they turned the door handle with their available powers and blasted the door open with Shadow Ball. Since Elesa still sat and leaned on the door, she fell backwards to the floor.

Elesa recovered from the fall and looked up. There were no remnants of the horror show that Elesa and the pokemon saw. Two Sneasels stood inside Emmet’s bedroom. One was an ordinary Sneasel while the other possessed an unfamiliar color scheme (possibly a shiny Sneasel?). The first Sneasel wore Emmet’s coat and cap – in fact, the same one “Emmet” wore, based on the dirt and scuffs at the tailcoat. The purple and white Sneasel wore “Ingo’s” excessively damaged coat and cap.

Chandelure scooped Ingo into a hug. It was like the one they gave to him back when they first reunited.

“Chandelure?! What are you doing…?” Eelektross asked as he ran into the room after his partner. Galvantula, Archeops, Haxorus and Garbodor followed. Durant, Crustle, and Excadrill kept their distance.

Ingo was swung around like a rag doll as the realization washed over him. “Did you all hear that?!”

“Pretty much,” Garbodor said.

“So… are you Ingo?” Archeops asked, looking at the white Sneasel.

Ingo’s heartrate skyrocketed as he fully processed that their pokemon and Elesa were seeing them in their Sneasel shapes. His hands began to tremble as he brought them up to cover his face. “Everyone, please… There is… There is…” He couldn’t immediately piece together any semblance of an explanation for their condition without mentioning time travel or Arceus or them almost dying twice (thrice, in Ingo’s case). It was bad enough they heard him mention Giratina.

Elesa still sat on her knees. She stared at the normal-colored Sneasel. As a model, Elesa developed a good eye for clothes and appearances. It was likely why she felt so strongly that Ingo and Emmet looked wrong, even if she could not place exactly why she felt that. But now, something about the way these Sneasels moved – how the normal-colored one’s hands shook and kept on a wide smile, how the shiny one barely made expressions but spoke with intense emotion in his voice – was eerily familiar.

“I am Emmet. I am Emmet.” Emmet’s smile was so wide that his face cramped from trying to keep it up. The fur around his eyes dampened as he cried once more. In the entire weeks that Emmet spent to prepare for meeting their pokemon and Elesa, he tried to imagine the worst-case scenario. This was not close to what he imagined. Emmet wrung his shaking hands. He had no plan. He had no script or spiel. He just fell back on a comfortable phrase, secretly begging that Elesa could understand him through the pokemon speech. “I am Emmet. I am Emmet, Elesa… I am…”

Elesa fully stood up to get a closer look at the Sneasel Chandelure held.

Ingo looked into Elesa’s eyes. He was still being cuddled by Chandelure. “Elesa, we know how strange this all appears, especially if you did witness part of the transformation. I apologize for keeping this information from you.” He turned his head. “I say the same to you, our pokemon. I am truly sorry.”

Eelektross approached Emmet and held him up with both hands like a stuffed toy. The Sneasel continued muttering Emmet’s favorite phrase. “…Why do I want to believe you?”

“…Oh, now I know why." He looked over to Chandelure and Ingo. That Sneasel was having a crisis, and Eelektross could tell from the way his gaze is drawn to his friend’s flames that they wanted to use their hypnotic power to calm down the Sneasel. "Chandelure, you knew the truth the whole time… right?”

Chandelure nodded.

“Knew the truth?!” Crustle asked as he entered the room to get a closer look at the Sneasels.

“So… this is Ingo and Emmet?!” Archeops asked.

“How are they so sure?” Durant asked.

“…Oh! Chandelure ran away earlier to meet with “Ingo” and came back here with him,” Garbodor said. “But if these two were imposters…”

“…Then Chandelure wouldn’t be acting this friendly!” Haxorus said. “I get it now! It really is you!”

“You believe us?” Emmet asked.

“…Yeah. I really wish Chandelure would talk to us sometimes. Could have saved us a lot of trouble!” Excadrill said. “…Sorry for doubting you.”

“No, it is completely understandable, Excadrill,” Ingo said. His heart couldn’t slow down, despite the complete turnaround in attitude of this pokemon. After all, there was still their dear friend Elesa.

Though Elesa could not hear the exact words the pokemon said, Elesa closed her eyes to better think. After a few moments of silence, Elesa started to giggle. She tried to stop, but she only laughed harder and harder until her stomach cramped.

“What’s so funny?” Emmet asked, pointing to Elesa and the ground. The familiar pose was not lost on the rest of the group.

“I think I’m in shock! The entire time we were talking, Ingo and Emmet, it felt like you two were hiding something,” Elesa said. She put held her chin in her hand as she talked. “Now I see why. You two…”

Ingo and Emmet waited for Elesa to complete her thought.

“…are super cute as Sneasels!” Elesa said with a big grin.

“What,” Emmet said at the same time Ingo asked, “Excuse me?”

Elesa started laughing again. “This is so weird in the best way possible! Well, seeing the horror show wasn’t fun. I don’t know what was up with all the… goo, but that was involved in you two looking like this now, right?”

“That is correct,” Ingo said. Emmet nodded to better communicate their answer.

“That’s electrifying! I’ve heard of some models who get their clothes sewn onto them, but this is a whole new level!” Elesa put up Emmet similar to how Eelektross did. “Look at you, Emmet! You’re so small! I wanna put you in a little outfit and show you on stage!”

“Please stop trying to recruit us as models,” Ingo said.

Elesa placed Emmet down to pick up Ingo. “And you, too!”

“What Elesa said! They are really cute!” Haxorus pinched Ingo’s cheeks. “You’re so fluffy!”

“Please exercise some caution, Haxorus,” Ingo said. The way she pinched his cheek hurt.

“...Sorry, I just realized this is probably weird for you guys…” Elesa set down Ingo next to Emmet. “I just… wanted my dream of us reuniting to come true, but I could never have imagined this.”

Emmet found a couple of tears running down his face. “I am happy, Elesa.”

Ingo smiled. “As am I.”

“Are we really going to not talk about the things we saw…?” Durant asked.

“…Looks like it. It might be better to just… pretend we didn’t see… any of that…” Eelektross said.

“I am fine with that plan,” Crustle said.

“Okay, but why are you Sneasels?” Archeops asked.

“And why Sneasels? Of all pokemon?” Galvantula asked.

“Was… there a particular species of pokemon you would expect us to turn into?” Ingo asked.

Several Joltiks, who watched from the ceiling both in the hallway and in the bedroom, provided some answers. “Zoroarks!” “Reshiram and Zekrom!” “Kecleons!” “Plusle and Minun!”

“…Those are weird suggestions,” Emmet said.

“No weirder than you being Sneasels!”Garbodor laughed.

“Hey, so you looked like your human selves a moment ago, but now you’re Sneasels for some reason. Can you turn back to being humans?” Elesa asked. Her question caught the attention of the other pokemon as well.

Emmet shrugged. “Yes, but there is an extended delay.”

“There is a route we can take to contact to the pokemon that helped us-“ Ingo’s explanation was cut off.

“Giratina, right?” Excadrill asked.

“…Perhaps,” Ingo said. “But we cannot contact them at this precise moment. Our tracks are disconnected right now, but we will try to resolve the delay as soon as we can. Emmet and I did get sidetracked by talking to everyone here, but that was time well-spent.”

“…Wait! Ingo, I have an idea,” Emmet said, flapping his coat sleeves about. He gestured Ingo over and whispered in his ear, holding one hand up to shield his mouth.

“Emmet, that’s brilliant!” Ingo said after his brother finished saying his idea. He and Emmet both threw of identical bronze bracelets, and only Ingo threw off a white watch.

“All aboard!” Emmet picked up the Rail Spike of Time and threw off his coat and cap. He marched out of his bedroom with his arms and legs swinging straight.

“Everyone, please remain at this station! Emmet and I will return momentarily!” Ingo grabbed the Spike Maul of Space, threw off his own uniform, and followed Emmet.

“Hey! Do you really think I’ll let you go on your own again?!” Elesa grabbed the coats and caps, carrying them with one arm. She then ran after the two Sneasels.

***

After the end of the night, a lone man sat outside Gear Station. He heard that the Subway Masters came back and caused a large commotion at their station, but by the time he arrived, the station was closed, and no one was around, save for some straggling employees.

He took off his backpack and sat on a bench, observing the view of the main street traffic. Spotlights from the nearby amusement park stretched and dissipated into the dark sky. Humans screamed in terror mingled with delight.

Two Sneasels – one teal and red, the other white and purple – ran to the station. The former carried a large nail while the latter carried a hammer. The man turned to see what they were going to do with such destructive tools.

The Sneaslers climbed up on the outside of the station to the center of the giant window piece. They prepared the tools to seemingly break the window, but when they swung, nothing happened. He may be far away observing the scene, but the man figured he should have seen and heard glass shatter.

With their apparent prank failing, the two Sneasels jumped off the building and ran away into the shadows of the city.

A minute later, a pretty woman ran toward Gear Station. The coats she held looked familiar. She yelled for an unknown friend and ran in the direction the Sneasels went, possibly chasing them.

The man smiled and let out a chuckle. If he was younger, he would’ve chased after them, too. Instead, the man just said, “Huh. Interesting.”

***

Ingo and Emmet ran in the direction of their house, but they kept running and entered Route 16. The route lacked the trainers that hanged about during the day, and the only pokemon roaming at that time of night would be Liepards, who kept to themselves. The brisk early-winter air kept them full of energy.

They ran into the trees while avoiding Lostlorn Forest. Once comfortable that no humans or pokemon were nearby, the twins’ run slowed to a walk.

“Do you see anything reflective?” Ingo asked.

“Not yet,” Emmet said.

Elesa caught up to her Sneasel friends. Moonlight reflected off the sweat on her skin. “Listen, I love a late-night jog, but I would’ve appreciated it if you kept pace with me!”

“Please forgive us, Elesa,” Ingo said with a bow. “But Emmet and I wanted to go a place where others are extremely unlikely to cross paths with us during our rendezvous.”

“There is a puddle,” Emmet said. He pointed to a nearly puddle, which froze over from the inescapable chill.

“Excellent! That should work for our purposes.” Ingo turned to Elesa and held out a hand. Emmet copied him. “Pardon us, Elesa. May we have our uniforms?”

“…Oh, you want the clothes?” Elesa handed the twins their respective coats and hats. “You’re lucky I remembered to grab them after you left!”

“Yes! Thank you, Elesa!” Ingo said.

Elesa smiled. She still couldn’t understand exactly what her friends were saying, but she knew that they appreciated the gesture.

Ingo and Emmet, with their uniforms once again on, stood in front of the puddle. Indeed, it had a thin layer of ice that could barely reflect the moonlight and depict the leaves.

“That’s a rail spike and spike hammer, right? Wanna show me what they do?” Elesa asked. She surprised herself with remembering the proper terms for those tools. She retained more information from Ingo’s infodumps than she expected!

“…Can we show her what they do?” Ingo asked Emmet.

“We already broke several rules. Let’s not break anymore,” Emmet said.

Ingo and Emmet nodded to each other. They tried to push Elesa away – but because they were Sneasel-shaped, they only succeeded with nudging her legs a little.

“What, you want me to go away?” Elesa asked.

“Just for a moment! We cannot have guests in the station for this operation!” Ingo said.

“Please trust us,” Emmet said. He had to admit, though, they didn’t really give her a reason to trust them.

“Okay, okay… I’ll go.” Elesa begrudgingly took a short walk away from her friends, hiding behind one of the trees.

“Very well!” Ingo turned around the Spike Maul of Space in his hands. He changed his stance to prepare for the strike. Likewise, Emmet placed the tip of the Rail Spike of Time on the ice. Without a word, Ingo struck the spike. The gems on the spike and hammer shined, beaming pink, yellow, and blue lights onto the tree trunks. The faint reflection on the puddle was replaced with the clear image of the Distortion World.

“Whoa! That was dazzling!” Elesa said.

“She saw it,” Emmet said.

“Elesa, your curiosity is often appreciated, but not today.” Ingo turned to the portal “Giratina, please report to the station!”

“Please report to the portal,” Emmet said.

After a second, Giratina flew toward the connecting waterfall. They noted that the twins’ voices only had slight differences between their human-shaped and Sneasel-shaped selves, and they noted they sounded more like the latter. This was immediately explained upon reaching the waterfall. The first thing they noticed was Ingo and Emmet not being shaped like humans.

“Whoa! That’s Giratina, right?” Elesa asked. “How did you two meet Giratina?”

Giratina’s gaze darted between the two Not Sneasels and the human, unsure of which to mention first. Instead, they settled for a third option: a simple “…What the fuck?”

“Huh, didn’t expect a legendary pokemon to cuss,” Elesa said.

“Greetings, Giratina…” Ingo tipped his cap to the Almighty pokemon. “You probably have a number of questions!”

“She can hear you?” Emmet asked.

“Telepathy. Ingo and Emmet, I have a couple of questions. One: why are you two Sneasel-shaped? Two: who is this human?” Giratina asked. Ingo expected Giratina to be angry, but they did not sound angry at all. On second thought, though, that might be worse.

“I’m Elesa. I’m a gym leader and a model, and most importantly these two’s friends. Are you the reason my friends are Sneasels, Giratina?” Elesa asked.

Ingo wanted to bow to Giratina, but because they were talking through a puddle, he was already hunched over. “Please forgive us, Giratina! When we met with our pokemon and Elesa, whom we deeply wanted to meet again, we transformed back into Sneasels in front of them! It was completely unexpected, and even when we tried to hide ourselves, they still saw it.”

Giratina looked to Elesa. “You SAW it? That’s unfortunate. Also, can you understand what Ingo and Emmet are saying?”

“No. I mean, I get the feeling that I know what they’re saying because we’ve been friends for long enough,” Elesa said.

“...Alright. Let me fix the language barrier,” Giratina said.

Ingo and Emmet both felt tickles in their throats. Emmet held his hands to his throat, while Ingo tried to cough. It faded as soon as it started.

“Done. You two, say something,” Giratina said.

“That was unpleasant,” Emmet said.

“Oh! Emmet, I heard that!” Elesa said.

“Elesa can understand what we say now?” Ingo asked.

“Sort of. I changed your vocal cords into the ones from your human-shape,” Giratina said. “Don’t worry, I’ll get you back to your full human shape after I get an explanation as to… Okay, how the hell did you two transform back into Sneasels involuntarily?!”

“I have no idea!” Emmet said.

“Let me retrace our route. We arrived at Gear Station, Chandelure found us, we travelled to our house, we reunited with our pokemon, we met with Elesa…” Ingo hummed. “And I noticed Emmet beginning to transform while he and Elesa hugged.”

“Ingo did start to transform after I did…” Emmet said. Ingo covered Emmet’s mouth.

“I need to think about this.” Giratina chuckled. “What is with you two and doing impossible things?”

“Is it that impossible?” Ingo asked.

“I didn’t think it was possible to transform without intending to! Well, I know my transformation is tied to which realm I’m in, but that’s not the case for you two!” Giratina laughed.

“Um.” Elesa figured that Ingo and Emmet went on some wild adventures since they were able to become… unspeakable horrors and also Sneasels, but hearing a legendary pokemon talk about it was surreal to witness. “When you’re back to being human, can you explain to me where the heck you guys have been?”

“…Are we allowed to talk about it?” Ingo said.

“You brought Elesa to our little meeting and you’re asking me for permission?” Giratina asked.

“Yes,” Emmet said.

“…Listen. The stuff about your bodies should be kept a secret only because I don’t want you two to end up on a dissection table – or worse, shunned for being different,” Giratina said, their gaze turned to the side away from the Nimbasa Trio.

“Been there, done that,” Emmet said.

“So, hiding the Not Human or Sneasel thing isn’t as critical as hiding… the other things. Unless they know about it, too?” Giratina glared at Ingo and Emmet.

“There’s other secret things?” Elesa asked, raising her eyebrow at Giratina. “What can be worse than whatever is going on with all this?” She gestured to Ingo and Emmet vaguely, referring to their bodies.

“…We will arrive at that station if we are permitted to,” Ingo said. “For now, do we need to fully reenter your station for you to transform us back?”

“Yep. Also, once we finish this business, I need to start teaching you how to control the transformations. This can’t happen again!” Giratina’s wings twitched with their audible frustration.

“Agreed!” Ingo and Emmet said.

“We will be a short round-trip, Elesa! We will return,” Ingo said.

“You better,” Elesa said.

“All aboard!” Ingo and Emmet said together.

Emmet jumped into the puddle, and to Elesa’s surprise, he was fully submerged. Ingo followed suit and disappeared into a body of water that should have only come up to their feet. She had no idea why she was surprised. She looked back into the puddle.

“Don’t look,” Giratina said with a strange smile. A set of shadowy hands blocked the image of the pokemon as though they didn’t trust Elesa to follow the command.

Elesa closed to eyes to help her think. When Emmet showed her the book with the picture of Ingo, he stood next to a pokemon that somewhat resembled what he looked like now. Was that related? And those cracks… She had never seen a Sneasel with a damaged gemstone like they had. What happened?

“Done,” Giratina said. The shadows that hid the human’s view of their realm were gone.

“That was lightning fast!” Elesa said.

“Yeah. The transformation is faster when it’s controlled,” Giratina said.

“All aboard again!” Ingo and Emmet said together from the other side of the portal.

First Ingo was launched out of the puddle portal. Emmet quickly followed suit. They flew high enough to graze some tree branches, but they landed safely on two feet. Elesa gasped from the sight; they both looked human again.

“Hey! You’re back!” Elesa hugged both her friends.

“I am Emmet. We have returned,” Emmet said.

“Thank you for your patience, Elesa,” Ingo said. “I must admit, I didn’t expect you to identify us when you saw us as Sneasels.”

“I surprised myself, too. Maybe I just know you two too well… Or it’s something from my years of modeling and paying attention to appearances. One of those two,” Elesa said.

“I think I figured out why this all happened,” Giratina said. “You two managed to crack your gems from sheer stress, right? Which I don’t know how you did that when you’re not psychic pokemon.”

“Where are you conducting us?” Ingo asked.

“My point is: you two were both really stressed for this meeting, right? Emmet, I think the stress you had was so extreme that, when you relaxed after they accepted you, you body relaxed with you and caused the transformation,” Giratina said.

“…Oh” was all Emmet could say to that.

“As for you, Ingo… Well, besides the stress and relief, you saw Emmet start to transform. I guess that was enough stress for you to meltdown.” Giratina shrugged – or did a movement with their wings that resembled a shrug.

“Oh, so it’s my fault…” Though Elesa intended the statement to be a joke, her sentence came out gloomier than she expected.

“Elesa! You are not at fault for what happened to us,” Ingo said. “You are our valued friend and passenger. I would take this trainline again if it meant being with you again.”

“Ideally without revealing our inner workings, but yes. Without a doubt, I agree,” Emmet said.

Elesa smiled brightly. “Thanks, guys. You know how to bring my spark back.”

***

Though Ingo and Emmet quickly got their human-shaped bodies back, they could not return to their routine as Subway Masters straight away. The detectives in charge of finding the twins wanted to know where they went, if they were kidnapped, if they were harmed, and if a pokemon was responsible. As per their plan, Ingo and Emmet claimed complete memory loss of the events. The detectives also suggested to get them checked by a doctor, but they declined.

At Gear Station, the mechanics needed to check that all the trains specially designed for battles were still in good condition. The pokemon trainers needed time to prepare their teams once more. Ingo wanted to return to work as soon as possible, but Emmet had to get him to take their time. After months of being on high alert, they had a chance to relax – not even being in Hisui was relaxing due to the constant barrage of hostile pokemon.

And, of course, Ingo and Emmet wanted to spend more time with their pokemon and Elesa. They still needed to decide how to explain the Sneasel transformation and connection to Giratina without mentioning time travel. At least the others were willing to be patient with the explanation.

As for Giratina, they followed through on their promise. They began teaching Ingo and Emmet how to voluntarily transform their bodies. The twins had to start small – changing their hands, for example. It would take a while to learn, but Giratina had more than enough confidence in the impossible twins.

The day before the Battle Subway would open again, a doorbell rang through the twins’ house.

“Approaching the front door!” Emmet said as he marched with straight arms and legs.

Emmet opened the front door. Standing in front of him was an unfamiliar man. His long blond hair was tied back yet still covered his left eye. The man looked no different than anyone who would visit Gear Station to travel to their destination, yet something about the man felt… wrong. In fact, something had to be very wrong if Emmet got this feeling from someone.

Emmet saluted to the guest. “I am Emmet. How can I help you?”

“Hi, Emmet! I lent you a book a while ago, and I would like it back please.” The stranger spoke with a tone that reminded Emmet of his own, in terms of formality and courtesy.

“A book? I don’t recall borrowing a book from you.”

“Like I said, I lent it to you. It was called Land of the Sinnoh: The Hisui Region.”

Emmet’s smile nearly slipped off his face, but he forced it to grow wider instead. “You gave me the book?” His mind took off and began building steam. The strange book came from nowhere, providing proof of where Ingo was. It drove Emmet to climb Mt. Coronet and challenge Arceus. The book led to reuniting with Ingo, going to the future to meet Sneasler and Eelektross and Chandelure, and saving a legendary pokemon, allowing him and Ingo to return to their primary origin. Elesa said it neither came from Lenora nor Cheren, so she did not want to trust it. They never found out who sent it – until now, that was.

“I am Emmet. Who are you?” He tried to remain calm, but he could not hide how his hands shook, even when he held them together.

“Emmet, is everything well?” Ingo said from upstairs, overhearing his brother’s tone. He walked into the hallway above the living room but stopped at the top of the stairs when he saw the guest’s face. Ingo audibly gasped. "Emmet, that's Volo!"

#pmd lost tracks of time #pokemon legends arceus #pokemon legends arceus spoilers #pokemon mystery dungeon #submas #pokemon ingo #pokemon emmet #pmd au #mild body horror #implied body horror #enjoy the mega chapter o(*￣▽￣*)o

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leggerefiore · 2 years

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You know, you said that stuff about human Emmet and Ingo and their sneasle/sneasler and galvantula s/os respectively - so now we all have to explore it.

Emmet out and about, maybe in Chargestone Cave, coming across a beautiful galvantula hybrid and instantly becoming smitten. They're so pretty - and he tells them that right away, which confuses and intrigues them because someone that's not afraid of them? Someone finds them interesting and beautiful? Oh. Well now they're smitten, too. Emmet keeps coming back to visit them, and they spin him pretty things from their silk. Emmet comes home one night after being gone for the weekend, covered in the remnants of spider webbing, grinning ear to ear. "Brother! Brother, I got married!"

"You what?!"

And then he proceed to tell Ingo all about how he's now the mate of the world's most amazing spider hybrid (much to Ingo's chagrin l. Seriously, Emmet, he's very happy for you but he doesn't need all the details.)

Then there's Ingo. Possibly fresh back from Hisui and already missing his noble bestie. He's got a couple sneasle with him, maybe, and he takes them on a hike to feel closer to nature again. Suddenly the babies run off! He goes after them, of course, and finds they've led him to the den of a sneasle hybrid. Maybe the hybrid is even actually a descendant of Lady Sneasler? Maybe the sneasle mistook them for their noble mother? Or recognized the familiar- albeit somewhat diluted - scent of another of their kind? Either way, here's Ingo, face to face with an absolutely enchanting sneasle hybrid cooing over his sneasle babies, giving them treats and doting on them like they were the hybrid's own kits.

Ingo's familial instincts are going HAYWIRE. Oh. Oh no. This beautiful hybrid person is already acting like a parent to his sneasles and he is weak. He's spent so much time around nothing but big purple cats that he's kind of perfectly fine with this - it almost feels more natural than looking for a human spouse. He bonds with them over so, so many things, and by the end of the day he's already planning out ways to court them. He remembers a little from watching Hisuian sneasle trying to court Lady Sneasler, so he has some idea of what to maybe do. It works eventually, and hoooooboy there's gonna be a whole-ass week where Ingo is MIA because his new mate went through their cycle. He comes home all scratched up and Emmet freaks out - only to pull the annoying little brother card when he finds out Ingo-nii was off in the woods getting laid with a cat person.

Alternatively! All this happens before Hisui, and Ingo subconsciously remembers his lovely sneasle hybrid spouse, and that's why he's so good with Lady Sneasler and her kits. It reminds him of the family he can't remember, so please, giant cat mom, just let him hold your babies and cry into your fur. This man needs a hug from his surrogate cat mom.

(And on that note, if Lady Sneasler comes to the future with him, she is now his children's godmother. No arguments. She takes one look at Ingo's cat spouse and kids and goes, "These are my godkits. I am now your mother in law. Fight me.")

my friend and I have been talking about spiderwife in particular bc she loves it and I think it's cute.

The Galvantula instinct to still eat their mate is there, but Emmet knows how to handle it from his breeding ventures. So, this poor hybrid gets flipped on their back like a turtle while he Dashes away until they calm down. He also can work on it from a trainer perspective so they stop trying to eat him.

He also knows how to make them comfortable and is sadly a bit mean while trying to figure out their 'nature'. Also, he adores his Joltik children.

Ingo is really between giving him the ghost of his dreams or the cat partner for Ultimate Erin. Sweet man just deserves a cat to curl around him and purr until he falls asleep. He's a simple man with simple dreams...

#interna fi #ingo.ima #emmet.ima #pokehybrid au #the reason i asked if joltiks could loaf is so joltik erin could loaf on ingo and Drstroy Him

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splattermouth · 1 year

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You said you wanted to talk about valvolo so I reread Val's story and I came up with some questions (although the first is like... indirectly valvolo?): How did Vim feel about Volo when they first met and how did said pokemon feel about Volo's interactions with Val?

And how did the meeting with Giratina go? Like the decision for Volo to introduce Val and Irida to her and how it went down?

GOD Vim's funny, she does NOOOT like Volo at all, at least not at first. She warms up to them enough and Tolerates Volo (stops threatening them as much) after seeing how much Val trusts them, but I think from Vim's perspective it's more like. I'm only being nice because my dearest bestest friend in the whole wide world likes you, and I don't want him to be mad.

Putting everything under a read-more bc it gets looong

I remember reading a lil fic where like the main character's pkmn Also didn't like Volo and like tried to fucking poison him, and it was so funny. I think Vim is on the cusp of that at all times like *miette voice* You USE Val? Manipulate him like the puppet? Oh! Oh! Coma for Volo! Coma for Volo for One Thousand Years!!!!

THAT SAID Volo is definitely wary about Vim at first and makes jokes about it. Even for someone like him that adores pokemon, it's understandable! While not native to Hisui, I'm sure there's enough travelers from Kanto and Johto with stories about near tragic encounters with roving Hypno, that most people have at least a passing knowledge of what they're capable of. While in modern times, the idea of Hypno taking people away forever is probs a big exaggeration, like myths about sharks eating humans, they're still absolutely Not pokemon you wanna test your luck with. And in the past? Especially with alpha pokemon roaming around? I'm more than sure that plenty of the rumors about Hypno stealing people away into the woods are not rumors at all.

He does get more comfortable around her, though, the closer he gets to Val! If Val's so close with her, she must be fine, after all. He ends up teasing Vim a bit for being so so serious and no-fun-allowed all the time. Vim is not enjoying it.

As for Volo trying to introduce Val and Irida to Giratina, it does not. Go well. This might change a bit as I further develop the story BUT. By the time Volo decides to let their other two buddies meet their Third 'buddy' from hell, they're already well into their downward spiral. The three's previous attempt at trying to get Val's (and Ingo's) memories back with Uxie's help went absolutely nowhere. Both Val and Irida accepted nothing could be done, but Irida appreciated the concern the two had for one of her clan members regardless. Has maybe even grown to like Volo's company a bit. Val's kind of upset about it, but he supposes being left in the dark is maybe better than being told a truth he doesn't want to hear at the moment: that his arrival in Hisui was a punishment and not an accident.

Volo, meanwhile, does Not take yet another failed attempt at meeting the gods well. In a bit of an unwell state, they take a hesitant Irida and Val to Turnback Cave to meet another friend of theirs that can help the three on their quest to achieve Volo's dreams return Val and Ingo's memories.

They hardly actually see Giratina it's so dark, but she crawls and seeps from the shadows snarling and screaming and all the while, Volo's trying to settle her down all 'oh these are my friends, this is Val, you know him, I've told you about him, he's here to help us :)' and she just keeps screaming and screaming and spitting up ichor everywhere and eventually recedes back into the shadows and disappears. I imagine without the union of the rest of the plates, she can't escape the distortion world Just yet. That she can only seep out in small bursts and has little affect on the normal world otherwise. That's my excuse.

I also like to interpret Giratina as still very much a violent and Raging god. A lot of people write Giratina as more subtle and coercive, having a hold over Volo and that's fine, its a fun idea! I like the idea of her naturally having an affect on Volo's mind myself, by merit of her being this powerful, essentially miniature cosmic horror. But I also like the idea of her still being in this near inconsolable, wildly irrational state, with Volo being one of the few people able to reach through to her a little. (And Volo is still very much afraid of her as well, of course. It'd be kinda of disrespectful of her power if he wasn't. But he's sure he understands her like no other, sees himself in her blind rage. He trusts her to be good and well intentioned like Val trusts him and he wants the other two to see that.)

And don't get me wrong. While Volo still Very much has his own goals at the forefront of his mind, but he does genuinely want to help Val and Ingo with their respective issues as well. He hates seeing them (Well. Val anyway) suffering for no reason. But he's also just at the point where it's like. Well I guess killing god really IS the only way. By this point, with two people displaced from their own timelines against their will, left to flounder, while a couple no life kids get to run around with god's blessings just like that? Arceus is just a parasite-in-chief with Its idiot halo to Volo.

Anyway, Irida nopes tf out of there after that. She wants to trust Val's judgement because she Does appreciate everything he's done for her and her family, but she has her limits, and witnessing the shadow of Pokemon Satan Itself is It.

Val, meanwhile, still cant break his friendship w Volo. Irida practically pleads with Val to rethink taking Volo's side, but this is his buddy after all!! Volo means the world to him, and they know what they're doing he's sure this is all for good reason!!

...Albeit. Things are gonna be. A little strained now. I think Volo probably understands this, and realizes maybe it was a little too early into their qpr to add a third (the literal devil), and tries to overcorrect. But ultimately, even after the meeting w Giratina fucking flopped, Volo still misses all the red flags with Missingno fusing with Val until it's too late, too absorbed in their own goals to notice until Val is no longer alone in his body and Jacred's wide grin is practically splitting their old lover's face in two.

Both Val and Volo have to get a LOT worse before they can get better.

ANYWAY WOW THAT WAS A LOT AND KINDA GRIM AFTER A WHILE, have a silly scribble for reading everything <3

#THANK YOUUU FOR THE ASK im reeling myself in here and not trying to go off on all the lil lore bits and headcanons and worldbuilding facts #like hoe hypno as a species operate and ingos perspective on his lost memories and spoilery stuff w giratina and volo its a Lot #again some stuff is subject to change im still not sure how i want giratina to fit into the plot but like #its kind of a required thing #giratina plays a massive role in legends arceus i cant Not include her (nor do i want to ignore her lol. shes cool <3)#snap snips #valvolo #the horror that came to hisui

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squidthesquidd · 1 year

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I just saw some of ur Masked AU art and even went back to read how Emmet ended up in Hisui and I love it. It's such a cool idea and the Hisuian joltiks + galvantula look so damn cool!! <3 I'm curious tho :0 how did Emmet find Ingo? Like did he hear about him from Melli or ? :0c

oaoqog okokok so it takes a very long time for Emmet to even find out that Ingo is there. cus i love dragging things out longer than they have to be

so anyway, Emmet is wearing a mask, so no one could know that hes Ingos twin. All everyone knew was that he was looking for someone, but with Emmet being extremely closed off at this time, no one really knew much.

ingo and Emmet were kind of on other sides of the whole island, so they werent gonna just see eachother out in the wild, and they wouldnt even meet at jubilife, since Emmet rarely leaves the caves

and for extra pain, they keep just barely missing each other.like, Ingo leaves an area just before Emmet arrives there, and no one bothers to mentions Lady sneaslers wardens name. "two ships passing in the night" type beat

Emmet does finally find out about Ingo because of Melli! Eventually, Emmet is comfortable enough around Melli that he takes his mask off, and Melli freaks out cus this guy looks exactly like that annoying pearl warden

Emmet freaks out cus Melli freaks out, and finally both calm down enough for Melli to explain that he looks like the Pearl clan warden Ingo. Emmet cries and Melli is confused

Eventually Melli takes Emmet to jubilife to see if Ingo is there at the training grounds, and of course hes not. then they go to the pearl clan to see if hes there or ask about where he might be. Irida is very cautious about these two diamond clan wardens asking about her skrunkly warden, so she refuses to tell them where he is

Emmet takes his mask off to show her that he is in-fact Ingos brother, and Iridas like "oh shit thats the guy from Ingos memories" so she finally takes them to where he is

Ingo sees Emmet and finally remembers him and Emmet literally tackles him to the ground :D i will only allow happy endings on this blog

Im currently working on my mer!submas au, but Ill be working on this one aswell!

(Also sorry about the blue text. Tumblr wont let me see what im typing unless its colored)

#submas #emmet #ingo #melli #irida #pla #pokemon #warden ingo #warden emmet #masked au #asky

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smallestapplin · 2 years

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Oi, which of the submas twins kissed their s/o first, and how did they react? (I know this is similar to an ask you've already done, but it was so damn cute I can't help myself!) -chandelure anon

Soft sweet babes is what they are.

🔲Ingo🔲

- you kissed first!

- When you two started dating you knew he’d be nothing but a loving gentleman. And that he was! Also sweet, attentive, and willing to give you the clothes off his back if that’s all he had.

- Dating went above and beyond your expectations, he’d always ask if it was okay to do anything, and you loved it! You thought it was so cute to see this stoic faced professional subway boss, look away bashfully with his face dusted a light pink just asking to hold your hand.

- You truly felt something special with him.

- But he refused to kiss you.

- Not verbally saying so, but every time he’d walk you back to your home, you two standing by the door saying goodnight to the other, he’d lean in just a bit, hesitating before straightening back up, face red and officially saying goodnight and leaving.

- Endearing? Yes, frustrating? Also yes!

- One night, like many other dates, you two are walking hand in hand, talking and laughing about whatever.

- By the time you get to your door step he takes both of your hands in his. He looks so nervous, his face slowly going pink.

- “I’ve had so much fun with you tonight, being with you truly makes me happy.”

- You giggle softly “I could say the same to you, you’re always a delight to be around.”

- The subway boss stares at you, his silver eyes moving, looking for something in your smile.

- “May….may I kiss you?”

- You feel his hands tense as he awaits your answer.

- “You absolutely may.” You’ve been waiting for this.

- “A-are you absolutely sure?”

- “Yes Ingo, I’ve been waiting for you to be comfortable.”

- “Truly though? I do not wish to-“

- You rolled your eyes before letting go of his hands, gripping the collar of his shirt and pulled him into a kiss.

- His startled squeak is so cute.

- His hands hover over your waist, not knowing what to do or if you’d be comfortable.

- You let go of his collar and put his hands on your waist.

- Humming into the impassioned kiss before pulling away.

- You chuckle at Ingo’s dazed face.

- “Wow….” He spoke so breathless, gazing at you with such a loving look.

- “Thank you for the kiss, it was perfect, just like you.”

- You now fully laugh as he chokes on air, his face bright red, almost glowing like his eyes.

- “I-I- thank you! You’re very sweet-I mean you’re wonderful! I…goodnight!”

- “Goodnight, Ingo.”

- You lean against you door watching him speed walk away, snorting as you watch him place the tips of his fingers to his lips before he’s out of sight.

- You love that man.

🔳Emmet🔳

- of course Emmet gives the first kiss! He’s so full of affection not to.

- The younger twin made sure it was far enough along that it didn’t feel too soon. But you two spend almost everyday together, so time blurred for both of you.

- Every time he saw you, you knew just how much he loves you. His voice may not carry his emotions, but his actions and expressions give it all away.

- You jokingly called him an excited lillipup or Arcanine every time he saw you, as he’d run towards you and practically tackle you as if he was a ‘lap’ dog.

- He got very pouty about that, mainly cause you weren’t wrong.

- You didn’t mind though! His affection is always nice. He likes touching you at least in one way or another.

- Shoulders touching, hand holding, elbows locked, hugs, arm around your waist, anything! He just wants to be near you!

- Emmet never fails in making you feel wanted.

- And he listens to you so attentively, always looks so genuinely happy just to hear you talk.

- The day he finally caved and kissed you, which it’s a miracle he hasn’t yet.

- You two were at a café you two frequent a lot. You two sat in the back to be away from everyone else.

- Sitting in your respective chairs, it didn’t surprise you when the happy twin immediately moves his chair right next to yours.

- You were telling him about a movie that was coming out soon and you wanted to see if it would be up his alley.

- “It’s a horror movie! Not like ‘jump scare’ horror, but ‘makes you think’ kind of horror.” You paused to take a bite of the cake he was offering you.

- You didn’t grab the fork or anything, you just let him feed you.

- Emmet felt his heart start racing. You’re so cute it’s unfair! You even have icing on the corner of your lips.

- “Man that’s some good cake, anyways, so the story is about this girl who does little things to have a moment of peace from her mom, and she ends up helping a wounded animal and…Em? Hey are you listening?”

- You look at the zoned out subway boss with, what he could only call, the most adorable confused face.

- You can see his leg bouncing off the corner of your eye.

- “You okay?”

- “Can I kiss you?”

- You look shocked at how rushed he said it. He looks on the verge of breaking out into a sprint.

- You feel your face flush a little “yeah-“

- He didn’t mean to cut you off, but your lips look so kissable!

- His lips mold perfectly against you in a sweet but passionate kiss. One hand moves to cup your cheek while the other holds your hand.

- You can feel him lick your lips, causing you to squeak but he pulls away, licking his own lips.

- “The cake tastes much better with your sweetness added to it! Verrrry delicious!”

- Your heart is pounding. He looks so content and so truthfully happy, his smile a soft joyful one.

- “I could kiss you all the time!”

- You giggle at all the ticklish kisses he loves all over your face, not leaving an inch of your face unkissed.

- He wants so many more kisses! He just loves you!

#long post #pokemon #pokemon imagines #pokemon x reader #pokémon #pokemon ingo #pokemon fluff #pokemon ingo x reader #pokemon emmet #pokemon emmet x reader #pokemon submas #pokemon submas x reader #pokemon headcanons

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animalstamp · 1 year

Text

It finally has happened. It's something that comes to everyone that lives. Melli knew this. But just because Melli knew something didn’t mean that he had to like it. After all, just because Ingo was stronger than him didn’t mean that he liked it. Just because Galaxy Team was part of these lands now didn't mean that he had to like it. Knowing things and liking them are two very different thoughts.

Melli had been attacked by a Pokémon. He wasn’t mad about it. That would be pointless to do so. It was Melli after all, that was where he wasn’t supposed to be. It was him that ran into the Crobat and startled it. Normally the deep resonance of its cries would be enough to guide Melli away from it but this time it had been quiet. Sleeping most likely. He was the one that made what should have been a short trip to the Mirelands into a long one and he was the one that left his sick little Skuntank to be guarded by the other two Pokémon. Not that they would have done any good against the alpha.

Melli let in a shaky breath. It hurt. He was surprised the Pokémon didn’t stay and finish the job. Guess it wasn’t hungry. Another wet cough made Melli wish that it would come back and finish what it started.

It was so cold in the caves at this time of night. The pain that had griped Melli was steadily replaced with the bitter cold. He hopes that his Pokémon will do okay…And Adaman. Melli knows that they weren’t as close as they used to be, but he still wishes him well. His heart hurts at the thought. It was the only thing left that he could feel.

His thoughts wandered to the rest of his clan and what warmth that he had felt at thinking about Adaman fled from him. The rest of the Diamond Clan would probably be happy. Melli was never good enough for them. He had tried so hard to feel like he was worth something to them but even as a warden they would withhold any praise. They used to pity him, then they forgot about him and then they hated him. And now he was dying, and he still wouldn’t be great in their eyes.

There was a saying that a man should think of home in death, Melli knows that the point is that the thought of home would bring the dying man comfort…

It only made Melli feel bitter.

Chapter 1

Who You Are

Melli opens his eyes in the darkness of the cave. His ears catch the gentle melody of water flowing and the haunting cries of Pokémon near and far. The warden runs his hands along the cold earthen floor. He was confused. Why? Where?

His mind was slow and sluggish in giving him any answers but where he was now was safe. How was he so sure? No telling but he didn’t need to rush to any answers right now.

A deep breath in brings with it a scent of something coppery. It made him a bit hungry. Meat? His stomach agreed but some part of his mind seemed to jump in alarm. Melli takes a deeper breath to try and pin down the smell.

Blood.

Frowning Melli was a little more awake now. He forces himself onto his forearms and blinked thru the darkness. Not that he should expect to see anything. The torches had gone out and for once Melli didn’t have anything to do with it. Ingo just hadn’t been around to light them in the first place. Despite the apparent darkness Melli’s eyes started to come into focus.

Hm yes…That was blood. Had he thought he was safe earlier? He definitely didn’t anymore. Disoriented Melli wobbles to his feet. He had to get out of here.

Melli manages to take a step before tripping over something and crashing back to the ground. His nose smacks into the fall and Melli yowls in pain.

“Fuck!”

Getting back up Melli glared down at the object that dared trip the Great Melli. His blood went cold as ice at the sight of his own mangled body. The navy blue of his clothes couldn’t even disguise the stains of blood and gashes.

Melli couldn’t even manage a scream. He could only gap at what he knew was his own dead body laying cold and still on the ground. But how could that be so when Melli is also standing right here to look at said dead body?

With shaking hands, the warden reaches down to his body but before he could touch the torn fabric of his clothes he notices his hands. Or what should be his hands. A tremor shook his body as he lefts his other hand in front of himself or claws more like.

His breaths started to come out in harsh bursts that fogged up his own vision. His heart pumped ice thru his veins. He was alive surely? His chest wouldn’t hurt so much if that wasn’t the case. But just as surely, he was dead. His body left broken right in front of him.

Ignoring his claws for now Melli rolls his corpse onto his back. Dialga above there was so much blood. Bile tried to rile in his mouth at the sight. He could remember the pain of the first strike when the Alpha Crobat recovered from being run into and slashed him with its attack. It had hit him square in the chest. The flash of red from his chest matched the red of the Alpha’s eyes and Melli knew that he wasn’t going to make it, but he had ran anyway. What else was he to do?

Die. That answer was very obvious to him now.

Melli stared as his mind tried to come up with something useful to do. He…Should probably leave…

Melli frowned at his own thoughts, and do what? Go where? Home? At that moment he remembered why he was down here in the first place. His Skuntank was sick, and he came down to get some medicine! His Pokémon were still expecting him, and the warden didn’t know how long he had been…lying here.

Refocused on his goal Melli looks back down at his old body. He ignored the bloody mess and looked for the bag of medicine that he needed to hopefully cure his closest companion’s ailment. Somehow, even while being murdered he had managed to keep the medicine in his grip. Melli cringed as he had to pry the bag out of his corpse’s cold and stiff hands. Now Melli was understanding why they called it a death grip.

He had what he needed now. He didn’t have any reason to stay in the cave that killed him but the thought of leaving his body there kept his feet planted in the spot. He didn’t want to leave his corpse to either traumatize some poor traveler or worst, be eaten by some other Pokémon.

Melli tried not to look too closely at his corpse as he starts to pick it up. It was stiff as a rock and cold as ice. There was no warmth to be found anywhere here. He only had a minute moment of wonder at how light his old body felt in his arms. It might be because of all the blood that he lost.

Melli left the cave without encountering another Pokémon. He knew that they were there, he could hear them quite clearly, but it seemed they were going out of their way to avoid him. He shouldn’t be surprised really. He was already dead. There was nothing else the world could take from him now.

The bitter feeling flooded his chest again like the bile that threatened him earlier. Even in death, Melli wasn’t good enough to be noticed. How long has he been out here to grow cold and for no one and nothing to find him?

Melli’s grip tensed before he forced himself to relax when he realized that his claws were digging into his corpse. It was already in such bad shape. There was no vanity left to save but his body was still in one piece, and he would like to keep it that way.

The moon hung heavy in the sky. The fullness made even the night seem bright to his eyes. The dead man tried to remember what moon phase it was when he came down the mountain. The moon looked full to him. Either he had lost a whole month, or it had only been a day. There was no way that his body would still be this fresh if it has been that long. It was a strange relief. If he moved fast, he could at least cure his Pokémon. That might be why he still lingered here.

The journey didn’t take long, and fatigue didn’t cling to his limps like it usually would when he would walk this far. Let alone with a whole dead weight that he was carrying. It was beautiful out. Melli could almost trick himself into thinking that he was out for a stroll to enjoy the night.

In a trance, he walked up the Highlands. Oh, what is his poor Lord to do without his warden? Could he still maybe keep his responsibilities even like this? He could touch physical things so there might still be some things he could still do for his Lord.

He wondered how long he might be able to do that before anyone came up here and realized that Melli was missing. A growl rumbled out of his chest as he knew that answer would be longer than it should be. No one came up to visit him unless they wanted something, and people would avoid him if they could help it. Since Ingo became warden here even his own clan members would defer to the outsider before him.

It only made it worst that the man he despised would probably be the only one that would notice his absence.

Melli set his corpse on the ground. His bad mood made him less gentle than he would have liked but truly what did it matter? He couldn’t feel it anyway.

Melli didn’t quite reach Moonview when he stopped. The thought of burying his body where others are expected to work didn’t feel right. Here would have to be good enough. Out of the way so others might not find what was left. Having claws made digging child’s play. He had a deep enough hole before the sun could start cutting the darkness of the night. The dead man places his corpse into the dirt only pausing long enough to remove his jewelry. The necklace was a gift from Adaman, Melli wasn’t ready to leave it and the bracelet would be given to whichever new warden that would take Melli’s place. It belonged to Lord Electrode and was one of the few bracelets that hasn’t been lost yet. It was still the original.

Melli suddenly overcame with a wave of grief covered his face with his dirty claws. The dead were supposed to be free from pain, but Melli couldn’t even have that. He couldn’t even enjoy oblivion; he had to stay here and lie witness to the pain that his death will cause the people he loved. The agony of knowing how little others will care. He was being punished. For what? Melli couldn’t begin to know. It seemed like he was being punished his whole life and now his death it seemed too.

His anguish made him scream. He howled to the moon that wasn’t there anymore. He prayed to the god that never gave him any mind. He cried for his mother that had passed so long ago that he couldn’t even remember her face. He wailed until his insides felt numb again. Then he buried his old self.

#pokemon #read on ao3 #fanfic #warden melli #legends arceus #h zoroark

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archersxartxblog · 2 years

Text

Start master post

I have a deal for YOU! And for you alone. Here's your chance. I will sell you the secret Pokémon Magikarp... For an unbelievable 500! How about it? Interested?

Chapter 15 is finally done, not as long as the others but hey, there's a Magikarp and some brotherly shenanigans.

---

Chapter 15

“They’re verrry noisy,” Emmet commented as he and his brother looked over the side of the bridge to wayward cave, and down at the orange fish pokemon swimming below. There were so many of them swimming about, each one of them making a loud and obnoxious ‘Karp’ noise as they jumped uselessly at the waterfall.

“Should I try to weaken one first? I do not have any Pokemon that are super strong against water types right now.” His brother fretted, and Emmet noticed that he was staring more at the water than he was at the pokemon.

“How many Pokeballs did you make?” Emmet asked as he laid down on his stomach, trying to get more comfortable as he watched the pokemon swim about. They didn’t seem very hostile, a few of them even swimming up to the twins and poking their heads out of the water to get a better look at the two trainers before swimming off. “I can lend out Eelektrik if you only have a few.”

Ingo seemed to hum at that before shaking his head. “No, if I use Eelektrik we’ll probably end up eating Magikarp rather than catching one, but thanks for the offer.” his brother pulled his satchel off of his belt, quickly checking his inventory. “I have four, no, Five Pokeballs left, which isn’t a lot but I guess I could always try to make more if I run out.” Ingo sighed pulling the empty pokeballs out and placing them on the flat surface of the bridge. “Better than just throwing my Pokemon out into the river.”

“Just aim for that huge one. It’ll be easier to hit.” the younger twin urged as he pointed at the largest Magikarp he could see, fin sticking up high above the water as it pushed its way towards the waterfall.

“I think I can hit that one.”

Emmet watched as his brother bend down and pick up a Pokeball, before taking up a spot as close to the edge as he could, carefully taking aim.

“Don’t Miss!” Emmet shouted just as the Pokeball was about to leave his brother’s hand.

Crack!

Emmet’s hands flew up to cover the lower part of his face, as he stared wide-eyed at the shattered remains of the Pokeball fall into the river after hitting the side of the cliff. A quiet giggle and a guilty smile crossed his face as his brother glared daggers at him. It had been too tempting to resist.

“You still have four more.” he tried to reassure his twin, while also giving Ingo an apologetic smile. There was no way his brother would allow him to get away with that twice in a row, not without throwing him in the river next.

He honestly wanted his brother to catch one of these pokemon or at the very least a water type. There was only a month left of summer and their dad had promised to take them to the coast next week to visit one of the other wardens, and Emmet wanted to be able to go swimming in the ocean with this twin. So maybe if Ingo had a water type he could hold on to then he wouldn’t have to worry about drowning and he could enjoy the beach with his brother for once.

Ingo let out a harsh sigh, bending down once more as he picked up a Pokeball and took aim once more, only pausing to look down at this brother. Emmet was quick to place a hand over his mouth, trying to prove that he wouldn’t try and mess his brother up again.

“What in Lord Electrod's name are you two doing?!”

Crack!

Emmet quickly lurched forward and grabbed his brother by the waist, pulling his twin back just as he was about to fall off the bridge. Sadly, there was nothing he could do for the shattered Pokeball that fell into the water.

Slowly both brothers looked behind them, spotting the source of the distraction as a tall figure wearing a blue tunic walking out of Wayward cave and toward them, and Emmet couldn’t help but roll his eyes.

This guy.

“As much as I the great Melli appreciate you two coming to your senses and destroying those little balls you have, I would prefer it if you didn’t do it by disturbing the pokemon that reside in my lord's rivers.” Warden Melli sneered at the two, looking down his nose at them. “Even if they're just Magikarp.”

“We were not destroying Pokeballs, at least not on purpose. And we are not trying to disturb the pokemon, I just wanted to try and catch a Magikarp.” Ingo tried to explain, shrinking in on himself the moment he mentioned that he was ‘catching’ a pokemon.

Slowly Emmet started to get to his feet. He still hadn’t forgiven Melli for chasing his brother into a statue and then leaving him there to be eaten by an Alpha Luxray. He wasn’t about to let history repeat, not without giving the blue-clad warden a piece of his mind.

“You were trying to…catch a Magikarp…with one of those balls?” The Warden question raised a brow at them as if he was confused by the notion.

“Yeah, And?” Emmet finally spots up, reminding the member of the diamond clan of his presents.

To Emmet’s surprise, Melli let out an amused snort and gave them a slight smile.

“I suppose those little balls have a use after all. Would make fishing all the easier.” the man chuckled as he walked fully onto the bridge with them. “I’m guessing your father sent you to grab dinner for tonight while he tended to Lady Sneasler’s needs. How nice it must be to be able to have extra hands around to help run errands while you can focus your full attention on your beloved noble.” Melli let out a dramatic sigh, as he took a step back to add to the theatrics, his foot knocking into the Pokeballs that rested there. “Luckily, I The Great Melli am in no such need of such help, as I am a master of multitasking.”

Whatever Warden Melli was talking about was verrry quickly drowned out by the gentle plopping sounds of two Pokeballs falling into the water, followed by the deafening silence of Ingo’s rage as he was suddenly reduced to one Pokeball.

Emmet quickly reached up and took a tight hold of the back of Ingo’s tunic, as he watched two Pokeballs start to float downstream, keeping his brother from lunging at the blue-haired man.

“Hmm?” Melli hummed seeming to realize that neither brother was looking at him and finally turned his attention to the river, watching as the two balls floated away. “Oh, well that is unfortunate. Well, at least Almighty Sinnoh, ruler of Time was kind enough to leave you with one of those little balls.”

Emmet tightened his hold on Ingo’s shirt just a bit more, pulling his brother back just a bit. Just as Ingo had done for him many times.

“Now aim carefully. Make sure to catch one of those big ones and The Great Melli while grace your Father’s tent and show you all how to properly grill Magikarp.” the Warden leaned down to that he was at about their height.

Emmet watched closely as his brother took a few deep breaths trying to calm himself down, and once he was sure the Diamon clan Warden wasn’t about to end up in the river he let go of his brother’s tunic and they both turned to face the waterfall.

There was now a large gathering of Magikarp around the falls, their orange bodies pushing against each other as they all seemed to be trying to make their way up, every so often jumping back to try and get some momentum.

Ingo carefully rotated the last ball around in his hand, trying to pick a clear target. The large Magikarp Emmet had pointed out earlier was still there, its large body standing out in the sea of orange, yellow and gold.

Once more Ingo took his position near the edge of the bridge, eyes locked on his target as he raised the ball and prepared to throw it. Emmet bit down hard on his lip, doing his best to not make another peep and risk being the one to mess his brother up.

Whether it was pure desire or pent-up frustration, Ingo ended up throwing the ball hard enough that it caused his whole body to shift forward. And as the ball left his brother’s hand, so to did Ingo start to fall off the bridge.

Everything seemed to happen so quickly and there were so many different noises that Emmet honestly wasn’t sure what happened first, his eyes unable to keep track of it all. by the time his mind finally caught up to everything that was happening, Warden Melli was pushing his brother onto the shoreline, both of them soaking wet and his twin was coughing up water.

It was only when he heard a slight popping sound followed by a small firework shooting up in the air that reality seemed to come back into focus.

“Ingo! I think you got one!” Emmet called out, finally able to find his words as he sported the Pokeball in one piece as it started floating down the river, drifting on the current caused by the waterfall.

Emmet looked towards his twin, watching as Ingo threw his arms in the air in a weak celebration, coughing slightly as he lay on his back. “Bra-*cough cough*vo! We got one!” his voice was slightly strained but still held a note of excitement.

“Oh good, it worked then. All thanks to my presence.” even Warden’s Melli was smiling as he swam out and retrieved the ball from the water and returned to shore with it. “Now let's see if it was worth getting all wet for, hm.”

Ingo slowly started to pick himself up off the ground and Emmet raced over to help his brother up. His brother’s clothes were soaking wet, and he could see a few grass and mud stains on the light pink fabric from where he’s been lying on the grass after being pushed from the water.

“Dad will be verrry upset that he has to wash your tunic again.” Emmet couldn’t help but giggle looking at all the stains his brother was covered in, their dad had just washed their tunics last week.

Ingo gave no reaction just giving his brother a dead-panned look which just made the younger twin laugh harder. Then without warning, he pulled Emmet into a tight Beware hug, trapping his twin's arms by his sides. Emmet let a startled shout, feeling Ingo’s wet hair stick to his face and the water starting to seep into his shirt from his overly wet twin.

“Ingo! Why?!” Emmet shouted trying to squirm his way out of his brother’s grasp, with no luck.

Then just as suddenly as it happened Ingo let go, looking far too pleased with himself for Emmet’s liking. “Now yours needs to be washed too.”

Emmet quickly looked down at his shirt, noticing that while it wasn’t nearly as wet as Ingo’s some of the stains had come off on the fabric. “Ingo!”

“If you two are quite done wasting time.” Warden Melli interrupted, looming over the two and holding out the Pokeball out to his brother. “Let us see the bounty Almighty Sinnoh has granted you, thanks to my presence”

“Oh-Um right.” Ingo quickly reached out and took the ball in hand, flipping the latch open and releasing the pokemon inside.

“Karp!”

The Pokemon flopped onto the ground uselessly, every so often it was able to launch itself a few feet off the ground, allowing the sun’s light to glint off its shiny golden scales for just a moment.

“Is it…suppose to be that colour?” Ingo asked, glancing back at the river behind them, Emmet following his brother’s gaze and seeing the Orange fish still swimming about the current. “The other ones are orange. Is this normal?”

“Hm?” the Warden bent down looking closely at the fish pokemon, with a rather flat expression. “Pulling on the vast knowledge of the Pokemon of my lord’s domain, I can honestly tell you that this Pokemon is quite clearly sick. See how much smaller it is than some of the other ones and its colour.” Melli stood back up, placing his hands on his hips. “I would recommend throwing it back and trying to catch something a bit more healthy looking.”

“But that was my last Pokeball,” Ingo answered, kneeling next to the Magikarp as the pokemon’s flopping started to die down.

“Can you not just reuse that one after you release this pokemon back into the river?”

Emmet shook his head, keeping his eyes on the pokemon and trying to make his own judgement on its health while answering the Warden’s question. “Nope. you have to destroy the Pokeball to release a pokemon.” The Magikarp seemed to be healthy enough, its flailing before had seemed pretty strong and it looked like it was breathing just fine; maybe it wasn’t as sick as Melli was making it seem. But it would probably be best to ask their dad.

“Really? Well, I suppose those little contraptions are not as useful after all. A shame.” Melli sighed, yet at the same time seemed oddly satisfied by the fact. “Well, then I guess it truly is a blessing of Almighty Sinnoh that I stumbled upon you two after all, for The Great and Generous Warden Melli isn’t about to allow three poor members of the pearl clan to starve because of the failings of both their Clan and the silly devices of the foolish team Galaxy.” the Warden smiled down at them, his head held so high that he was almost leaning backwards. “It just so happens that I have recently received a gift of Octillery from the coast and I would be more than happy to bring some over and treat you three with my superior cooking skills.”

Emmet visible struggled not to roll his eyes at the fact that the diamond clan Warden had just invited himself over to their place for dinner, he honestly wondered how his brother managed to keep a straight face. At least he was offering to cook.

“As for the Magikarp…” the warden’s smile slipped away as he looked down at the pokemon, before shrugging. “Keep it.”

That caught the two of them completely off guard.

“As much as I dislike those little contraptions you use, this Magikarp is clearly unfit to go back to the wild. Its colouration would make it too easy a target for predators. Seeing as it won’t survive in the wild and it would simply make another pokemon ill from whatever sickness has befallen it, I see no reason why it shouldn’t remain with you, even if it's in one of those horrible little Pokeballs. It may even get another chance at life if you put the Time and care into it.” the Warden explained, smiling proudly as he looked down at the pokemon.

How the Warden managed to say all that without going as blue as his tunic was a mystery. but if twins hadn’t simply been going along with his whole ‘we’re catching dinner’ line just to get Melli to leave them alone, Emmet might have been inclined to inform him that ‘taking care of the Magikarp’ had been their plan all along.

“Besides, it is a rather pretty golden colour. It would be a shame to let something that lovely die.”

“Oh! Of course, we’ll make sure to take good care of this Magikarp” Ingo gave a slightly salute, recalling the Magikarp back into its Pokeball as he stood up to look up at the warden. the forced enthusiasm in his voice just barely masking the annoyance in his tone.

“Good, I’m sure even Pearl clan children can handle a Magikarp.” Melli dusted off his still-wet tunic before turning on his heel and walking off. “Now remember to tell your father that I will be stopping by his tent around sunset and to be prepared for the best grilled Octillery in all of Hisui.”

The twins watched him walk back up the mountain, sighing in relief when the man was finally out of sight.

“Guess we should go and tell dad that Warden Melli invited himself over for dinner.” Ingo sighed breaking the silence between them.

“At least he offered to cook,” Emmet added as they started to turn back towards the cave, eager to take the shorter route through Wayward cave.

Except the cave entrance was oddly dark.

“Emmet.”

“I am Emmet, yes?”

“When Melli approached us a while ago, did you see him come out of Wayward cave?”

“Yep!”

Emmet heard his brother take a deep breath in, and his own shoulders sagged with the realization that they were not going to just be able to go back home.

“I’ll get Lampent.” Ingo sighed harshly, adding his new Pokemon to his belt before grabbing Lampent’s ball and releasing her into the air.

“Hopefully he didn't hide the torches far this time.” Emmet pulled out Eelektrik’s ball so that he could help aid in the search.

“His cooking better be as good as he is hyping it up to be if we’re about risk getting attacked by an Alpha Crobat, or I just might have to shove him off a cliff this time.” his brother ranted as he marched into the darkness of the cave, his trusted partner by his side.

“I am Emmet, I will not be stopping you.” the younger twin quickly followed him inside.

—

“You girls see that?”

“Yeah, that Magikarp’s scales were the same colour as a nugget.”

“I’ve never seen one like that before. Only heard tales from other regions about Golden Magikarp, they say they lay golden eggs as well.”

“A single Nugget sells for a pretty penny, we get our hands on that little gold mine we’ll never have to worry about roughing it ever again.”

“And it's currently in the hands of two Pearl clan brats. How Luck are we?”

“Hey, Coin. those two brats look a lot like that outsider the Pearl clan made a warden. Think they could be related?”

“Hm, that would make sense. We’ll have to be careful of him if we’re going to nab that pokemon from them.”

“Shouldn’t be too hard… after all, ‘Miss Fortune’ happens to everyone.”

—

Ingo dipped his hands in the waters of the lake, carefully running his fingers over the golden scales of the Magikarp, doing so gently so as not to stress the pokemon out, searching for any signs of damage or illness but could find none.

He could feel the strong muscles move under its scales as it moved its tail to keep its place in the water, and there was no tearing in the membrane of the fins.

Aside from the colour and being slightly smaller than a normal Magikarp, the fish pokemon was in perfect health as far as Ingo could help.

“Well I may not have grown up in this land like Warden Melli, and I’m not completely familiar with the biology of Magikarp. I think I can honestly say that this Magikarp is in perfect help.” He announced looking over at his two boys, giving them a soft smile to try and ease their worries. He held out a berry to the Magikarp as thanks for allowing him to examine it.

“What about its colour?” Young Ingo asked as he leaned in and gently pet the newest member of his team.

To this, the Father could only give a slight shrug. “It happens sometimes, it’s more of a genetic mutation than a sign of illness or anything like that.” he explained, unsure of how he knew all this or why the word ‘Shiny’ came to mind when he looked at the Magikarp. “It’s more of a rarity than anything else. Though I could understand the misunderstanding of thinking the pokemon to be ill.”

“So it's not sick, just rare?” Emmet questioned.

“Yes, that is correct.” Ingo nodded, watching his boys relax with the knowledge the pokemon was not at all sick. But his smile soon fell away into his usual frown as he took in both other appearances. “Though I do not see why you both had to roll around in the mud just to catch it.” the two of them were covered head to toe in mud and grass stains and young Ingo was completely soaked through, it was enough to make him wonder if catching a Magikarp was all they were doing.

he’d just washed those tunics last week and at this rate, he was tempted to ask Lord Adaman if he could get two diamond clan shirts to stick them in, just so the stains weren’t nearly as noticeable.

“Ingo fell into the river.” Emmet was quick to through his brother onto the tracks, leaving the elder twin stuttering as he tried to explain himself.

“I-I did not mean to! My foot slipped off the bridge! I wouldn’t have slipped at all if Emmet hadn’t been trying to make me mess up.”

“I did that one time!”

“Okay, Okay.” Ingo waved his hands in a calming manner, trying to break up the argument before it could any worse. At least he knew why young Ingo was soaking wet. “That explains your brother, but Emmet why are you covered in mud? Certainly, you didn’t fall in the water as well.”

“Ingo hugged me.” came the answer, and the Warden did his best to keep a straight fast. The words and the action they described were so innocent that it was almost hard not to laugh when seeing the completely annoyed look on Emmet’s face. Clearly, this had been far more malicious than some brotherly hug, but Ingo highly doubted that his youngest was completely innocent himself in all this.

“That’s a lot of mud for a single hug.” Ingo pointed out, doing his best to keep his voice even.

He wasn’t laughing at his son being overly dramatic, of course not.

“I…tripped on the way back through Wayward cave.”

“You tripped?” that caught his full attention. There was no way either of his boys should have tripped through Wayward, the cave was too well lit and both of them knew that running around through the cave risked drawing the attention of a large Alpha Crobat. So unless pokemon had been digging into the ground around the main path he had marked out, there shouldn’t have been a way for either of them to trip.

“Warden Melli put out all the torches and hid them again. We found them and put them back up but it was pretty even with Lampant’s help.” His eldest cleared up quickly, and Ingo let out a sigh of relief.

so it had just been Melli again and not a pokemon. It wasn’t good that one of his boys had fallen but at least he didn’t have to go searching through Wayward cave searching for any holes or scare off any wild pokemon from the main path. And as much as he wanted to talk to the other warden about the dangers of removing the touches from the path, Ingo knew that conversation would simply go in one ear and out the other.

Besides, no one had been hurt as of yet. So there was no point in contacting Melli’s station master over it. Emmet was dirty not injured.

“Oh, by the way, Warden Melli said that he’ll be coming over around sunset and he’s bringing Octillery for dinner.”

“Oh, is Melli joining us tonight?” it had been some time since the Diamond clan Warden had joined him for dinner, often inviting himself over, and Ingo had started to wonder if the other warden had been frightened off after the Luxray incident, clearly that wasn’t the case and he was bringing Octillery this time and offering to cook it; so Ingo welcomed the day off of cooking.

And seeing as they had company coming over…

“Well, since we’re at the lake as it is. We should probably wash up since we have a guest coming over tonight.” Ingo smiled at his two boys standing as he ushered them both towards the water. “Wouldn’t want the diamond clan thinking we don’t take care of our cabs Unless you would like Lady Sneasler to bathe you like one of her kits.”

“Aw, okay.” Emmet sighed, easily headed towards the water to start washing the dirt off of himself without much fuss.

As usual, his brother dug his heels in just a little when it came to getting wet. “But it’s just Melli.”

“No buts on this train. Go on, Magikarp will help keep you afloat. Isn’t that right?” Ingo gave no quarter as he continued to push his son towards the water’s edge, looking down at the pokemon in question and receiving a Loud ‘KARP KARP!’ in return. “Think of it as a bonding moment, you’ll have a hard time training a water-type pokemon if you don’t go into the water with it at some point.”

“Okay.” his eldest finally conceded, entering the water on his own for once and taking hold of Magikarp to help himself swim.

That taken care of Ingo moved to dry his hands off on his tunic, stopping the moment he noticed a stain starting to form on the off-white fabric where his hand had just touched.

He looked at his hands, spotting the splotches of dirt and mud across his skin, no doubt picked up from the twins.

“Guess they are not the only ones who need to get cleaned up. Would not want Lady Sneasler to see me like this after all.”

#Warden's twins #submas #pokemon au #pokemon fanfic #fanfic #ao3 fanfic #subway bosses as kids #magikarp

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waywardstation · 2 years

Text

It’s Just a Cold

Ingo is entrusted one of Lady Sneasler’s late-hatching eggs to help it hatch, but he quickly falls sick. While the Warden believes it’s a passing cold, Pearl Clan’s medicinal woman Calaba believes it’s a curse tied to a superstition about eggs. Akari does her best to help Ingo get better so he can help Lady Sneasler’s egg hatch.

Giant fic!! Biggest one yet. Started as a 4K fic off of a sick fic request, but I decided to rewrite the beginning, which had been a short summary, and it grew into like the first 5-6K words there. But either way, it’s done!

OR read it on AO3 here!

Enjoy!

————

As the early morning sun rose on the cloudy Coronet Highlands, turning the dark purple sky a more mellow shade, wild Pokémon slowly began to stir. light snow drifted about in the air as Ingo trudged his way up the mountainside, rubbing at his nose as he sniffed and pulled his coat closer against himself.

The warden had woken up this morning not feeling too well.

Despite the crisp weather and the thick Mamoswine-fur blankets across his bed, Ingo had lugged himself out from under the blankets feeling a little cold.

The warden had found that a little peculiar; but he had not dwelled on the subject for long. Today was an important day!

About a month ago, Lady Sneasler had presented Ingo with a clutch of eggs. Sneasel and Sneasler numbers were already scarce, so Ingo had been very proud of his noble at the sight!

This week they were supposed to hatch, and after three days of continually checking, no egg had cracked yet. But every day, Ingo went regardless - he wanted to witness a rare event such as this, but he wanted to be there for his noble when it happened! She had expressed she wanted him there when they hatched, and Ingo could not let her down.

So ignoring the shallow chill settling into his skin, Ingo had gotten ready and headed out towards Lady Sneasler’s nest for the fourth day this week, hoping today would be the day. He had already let Jubilife Village know he would not be at the training grounds for a few days, but the time off was running out, and he was supposed to be back with Zisu again tomorrow.

He really hope the eggs hatched today.

Making his way further up the mountainside, Ingo sniffed again, rubbing at his nose - it was a little runny. Perhaps it was the altitude…

He didn’t remember the trip up the mountain being this exhausting.

Finally, Ingo pulled himself up the last rocky incline, and found himself outside Lady Sneasler’s den, a warm cavern that the noble had filled with various soft foliages.

“Lady?” Ingo whispered into the cave as he adjusted his coat and hat, a little more out of breath than he liked.

A short chirp from inside the cave called out to him, inviting him in; it seemed indifferent.

“Good morning, Lady Sneasler,” Ingo greeted his noble as he stepped into the dim cavern; the warmth inside was noticeable, but not enough to drive the light chill from him. “I take it none of the eggs have yet hatched?”

Lady Sneasler, who was sitting amongst the soft flooring of the cavern, frowned dejectedly and shook her head. She pulled back a layer of the bedding to reveal her clutch of eggs, none of which had yet hatched.

The sight pulled at Ingo’s heart. Lady Sneasler had been trying so hard. His noble preferred a less…fluffy living area, feeling quite comfortable amongst the rocks with nothing but a small area set aside for sleep, which consisted of a few layers of leaves. But once she presented her eggs to Ingo, the man had seen her completely reinvent her cave just for her kits. He had watched her prepare several new layers of bedding for her nest, now covering the entire floor with types of foliage, spare feathers, and tufts of fur she had gathered, both tufts left behind by wild Pokémon, and shed from her own body. Ingo had even brought some additional soft materials to help her.

Lady Sneasler was looking forward to welcoming her kits into the world (as was Ingo), but after three days of nothing…

“The little ones are a little behind schedule, yes,” Ingo reassured Lady Sneasler, “But I know they will arrive shortly. Today will be the day!”

Lady Sneasler let the layers of bedding fall back over the eggs, and glanced back at her warden, appreciation for the reassurance clear in her eyes.

Ingo sniffed again, and went to sit down on the cave flooring, back propped against the rocky wall. He was never one to really sit on the rocks like this, as it hurt his back, but the trip up had made him tired. He pulled his coat over himself tighter, and settled in.

“They will hatch soon my Lady. I will wait with you a while.”

Lady Sneasler hummed, sounding disappointed but grateful.

————

Ingo Must have dozed off, because he woke up with a start (and an awful crick in his back), to Lady Sneasler shaking him and chirping with an urgency.

“Lady?” Ingo jolted up, still half asleep as he readjusted his cap and stretched the knot out of his shoulders. What happened? Did something happen to the eggs? Did a wild Pokémon get into the nest?

Lady Sneasler tugged on his coat and dragged him over to her nest, where…there was movement under the bedding!

Ingo immediately understood the situation now, and what grogginess had still clung to his brain was immediately chased away, replaced by excitement.

“They’re hatching!” Ingo exclaimed with excitement, now matching Lady Sneasler’s anticipation.

The two watched as the bedding of leaves and fur continued to rustle, before a cracking sound was heard, then silence.

In a stretch of a few seconds that felt like hours, the noble and her warden were frozen, waiting for something.

And then, with a stretch of tiny claws and a little squeak, a perfect little Sneaslet pushed through the warm bedding, and was welcomed into the world.

With an exclamation of “bravo!” from Ingo (Not too loud though, Ingo didn’t want to startle the baby!) and a cry of happiness from Lady Sneasler, the little sneaslet was lovingly scooped up into the nobles claws, and she began to lick her kit clean as it mewed quietly, nestling into Lady Sneasler’s warm fur.

More cracks were heard, and soon, Ingo witnessed more tiny little heads and claws break the surface of the bedding, pushing through the soft materials as they cried out in search of their mother, not yet able to open their eyes.

Lady Sneasler carefully scooped them up as they mewed to her, and collected them in her claws, licking them clean and holding them close to warm them, eight kits in all. Her joy was apparent as she answered their mews with her own chirps, overjoyed.

“Excellent job, my Lady,” Ingo sniffed again as his noble took care of her kits. “I knew they would arrive soon!”

Lady Sneasler looked beyond happy as she placed the kits back in an area of the nest as she finished cleaning them. The ones placed back in the nest were already starting to wiggle around a bit, slitting their eyes open slowly as they adjusted to the light.

The sight moved Ingo’s heart, he was so proud of Lady Sneasler, and so relieved that the worry was over.

…that was, until Lady Sneasler froze having noticed something, and with a sound of surprise, started pulling back the bedding again, to reveal another egg.

To Ingo’s dismay, it remained unhatched. It wasn’t even wiggling!

Lady Sneasler placed the last of her kits, all cleaned, back in the nest, and pulled the egg out of the bedding carefully.

Ingo was alarmed at the sight, but given Lady Sneasler’s immediate distress, he did not want to make anything worse.

“I am sure it is running a little more behind schedule than the others,” Ingo tried to reassure his noble. “It too will hatch, we will wait a little longer.”

So time passed. Ingo stayed in the cavern as time went on, waiting with Lady Sneasler. The Sneaslets quickly had become accustomed to their environment, and had begun moving about on their own - all over the soft, childproofed cavern, Lady Sneasler, and Ingo (though he took care not to let their claws touch his skin). Lady Sneasler was clearly enjoying the company of her kits, and Ingo had to admit, as he played with the little sneaslets himself, he found himself smiling multiple times.

But when the kits got too rough and started play-fighting a little too close to the egg, or whenever Lady Sneasler glanced back at it concerned, Ingo began to worry more and more.

With all of the kits now in this space running around, Ingo was worried for the safety of the egg. And it didn’t even show signs of hatching yet.

Ingo looked out to see that the sun had long since reached its highest point in the sky, and was now beginning to dip lower.

“Lady Sneasler,” Ingo began. He was surprised at the sound of his voice - it sounded a little stuffy. “I should now depart if I am to reach my destination at the Pearl Clan settlement on time. I am afraid I must now leave.”

Lady Sneasler didn’t have to utter a sound for Ingo to see she wanted to know what he thought about the unhatched egg.

Watching most of the sneaslets running around, and Lady Sneasler constantly trying to keep them in one area while feeding others, Ingo realized that this would not be the safest place for an egg to be when it should have already hatched. Eight energetic kits were a lot to keep watch over.

Ingo glanced at the egg uneasily. He would have decided to just stay here with Sneasler overnight, but with how cold he was feeling now, Ingo was worried he’d freeze in this cave if he stayed. And he had to be back at the training grounds tomorrow.

“My Lady…it does not seem like the kits are being mindful of safety precautions towards their unhatched sibling.” Ingo started cautiously; Lady Sneasler was his noble and the two trusted each other, but how would she take this proposal? “Perhaps…I should take the egg back with me. You will not have to worry about the safety of the egg, and can focus on attending to your kits. I promise, with the egg under my supervision, it will receive the best quality care I can offer.”

Lady Sneasler did not seem happy with the proposition at first. She glared down a moment as her kits ran around her, mewing playfully. Ingo stood there awaiting her response, surprised to find himself shivering slightly - the cave felt colder than it had earlier.

“I will take good care of it,” the warden reiterated. “So you can focus on taking care of your kits.”

Another moment of pondering, before Lady Sneasler made a sound similar to sighing. Ingo watched her move her large claws to gently pick the egg up out of its warm spot, and hold it out to her warden.

“Thank you, my Lady,” Ingo expressed gratitude over the fact she took his proposition well. He carefully took the egg out of her hands, feeling the light weight of it as he brushed the bedding’s feathers and fur off of it. The shell was lightweight but thick, meant to withstand colder temperatures and hold in heat as long as it was insulated in some fashion.

“I will see to it that it hatches.”

Sneasler hummed, obviously still a little hesitant as she watched the warden wrap it in his coat to keep it (and himself) warm, firmly securing it.

“I will return as soon as the kit arrives!” Ingo announced, shuffling through the thick bedding of the cavern floor carefully so as not to step on any of the sneaslets running about. “Take care of your young, their unhatched sibling will join them soon!”

With a wave, Lady Sneasler chirped a goodbye amongst the choir of quiet mews, and Ingo exited the warm nesting cave, stepping into the colder crisp air. Snow still drifted down, but it was picking up. If there was going to be a snowstorm, Ingo definitely couldn’t stay here overnight.

He wiped at his nose again, annoyed with the incessant switch between being runny and stuffy, and readjusted the position of the egg within his coat, holding it close against his stomach to keep it warm.

He made sure to firmly grip it; Ingo didn’t even want to think about accidentally dropping it on the way down the mountain.

“We should hurry back,” Ingo conversed with the egg, starting down the mountainside carefully and taking note of the setting sun.

His body ached without reason.

Ingo reached the alabaster icelands, the Pearl Clan settlement in view just as the sun went down below the mountain line, and the falling snow picked up to the beginnings of a snowstorm. Within half an hour, it would be coming down full force.

Holding the egg close to him to keep it warm, Ingo trudged through the ankle-deep snow. Using his free hand to keep his cap on his head, his tattered coat moved with the flurry.

“It’s a good thing we departed when we did,” Ingo talked to the egg. “Or we would be getting caught in this at its worst.”

The egg said nothing, as expected.

It was hard to make out much of anything though, still. Ingo almost didn’t notice something large dart across the path in front of him.

Pausing, Ingo followed the blur to see a pair of piercing yellow eyes staring at him through the flurry, off to the side of the path.

Ingo recognized those eyes, and he had heard the stories about them, but he saw no danger in them. No threat. He saw only caution, and curiosity.

So Ingo turned, egg held tight, and continued on his path back towards the Pearl clan settlement.

The Zoroark watched him through the snowstorm.

If it hadn’t detected the precious egg nestled close against the man, it would have attacked.

————

Waking up the next morning, the first thing Ingo noticed was the pounding headache.

Well, that, and the pounding on the door of his accommodation.

Putting his hands over his eyes to block out the sunlight coming in through his window, Ingo groaned-

Wait, sunlight?

Ingo never slept in, he was always up before dawn broke!

Sitting up straight quickly, Ingo took a breath only to find his nose was completely clogged, and taking an open-mouthed breath instead, he coughed as something wet dislodged itself in his throat.

Slouched over, Ingo realizes he felt absolutely terrible.

“One moment!” Ingo called out to whoever was outside his door, stiffening at how stuffy he sounded.

He pulled himself out of bed and did his best to quickly get himself dressed, aching the entire time. Finishing the process by putting his cap on his head, Ingo turned back to his bed. Situated between the bed frame and the wall was Lady Sneasler’s egg, protected by all sides with layers of pillows and spare clothes that Ingo had set up last night, both as a barrier to protect it from cracking, and to keep it warm. He had tried to emulate what Lady Sneasler had put together in the floor of her cave.

Ingo picked it up carefully, holding it close to him within his coat once again, and then proceeded to answer his door.

“Apologies for the delay!” Ingo announced as he opened the door with the hand not holding the egg - he didn’t even know who he was addressing yet, but wanted to apologize for keeping someone waiting.

That someone was Lady Irida, who had been standing in the cold morning atmosphere in clothes that were suited much better for hot weather. As always, it never seemed to bother her though.

“Warden Ingo!” The Pearl Clan leader exclaimed, a bit more animated now that he had finally answered the door. “So you are home!”

She crossed her arms as if upset, but her eyes showed concern. “You missed the community meeting today, you’ve never been late to one ever, much less missed one entirely! We were beginning to worry that you got stranded out in the highlands snowstorm last night, we were about to send out a search party! Are you alright?…you look terrible!”

“Again with the apologies Lady Irida, I did not mean to miss the meeting!” Ingo began as he tried to rub the aching from his eyes. “I am…not feeling well this morning. I suppose I slept in longer than I meant to, that is all. I am ready to attend to my duties now.”

Ingo brushed it off as a minor issue. The training grounds were expecting him today and he felt obligated to go, but he really felt terrible. Irida could see it was worse than he let on from the terrible sound he made, sneezing loudly into his coat sleeve, and sniffing wetly with a thick cough.

“You sound like you’re coming down with something!” Irida fretted at the sight of him as he learned against the doorframe, already getting tired from standing up. “I’m sorry Ingo, but you need rest. I relieve you of your duties for now; go see Calaba at her medical tent.”

“But Lady Irida,” Ingo argued. “Who will be stationed at the training grounds today?”

“I’m sure Zisu can take care of things herself,” Irida told him. “Now come on, let’s get you to Calaba.”

Helping him stand away from the doorframe to head over to the medical tent, much to Ingo’s disagreement, she could feel him shivering. Pearl Clan Settlement was stationed in the Alabaster Icelands, but Irida had never seen Ingo shivering in the cold before. How sick was he?

Looking over at him, it was then that Irida noticed Ingo was holding his arm around something that rounded out under his coat, pressed against his side.

“What is…?” Irida started to ask, pointing to the lump in his coat, but Ingo already saw what she was talking about, and with a quiet “oh!”, Ingo pulled the egg out from under his coat, and presented it to Irida, holding it firmly in both hands.

“It’s one of Lady Sneasler’s eggs.” Ingo explained, a sense of pride in his voice. “Every egg of hers hatched yesterday, except for this one. It is behind schedule, so I am taking care of it for Lady Sneasler until it hatches, so she can properly care for her kits.” He sniffed. Curse his runny nose…

Ingo noticed a change in Irida’s steps as they continued to head across the settlement together.

“You took it back with you?” She asked, concern apparent in her voice. “You’re not supposed to take late hatchers! We really have to get you to Calaba now!”

“…what?” Ingo asked, feeling like he missed something important. Suddenly not liking the way Irida was glancing at the egg, he concealed it back into his coat, back where it was warm. “Please Elaborate.”

Irida’s eyes darted around a bit, as if trying to figure out where to start first. “Late hatchers, well…hmm, we don’t touch eggs or try to help them if they don’t hatch with the others. Those are for the Zoroark.”

“I don’t understand,” Ingo furrowed his brow, a look of concern on his face. In truth, he understood perfectly well the implications. And he did not like them at all. What he didn’t understand, was why?

“It’s a rule,” Irida explained, finding the topic a hard one to discuss (or did she just think this was common knowledge, and find it surprising Ingo didn’t know?) “If a Pokémon egg doesn’t hatch, it’s to be left for the Zoroark. If someone takes their egg, person or Pokémon, they will be afflicted with a Zoroark’s curse. It’s sad, about leaving the eggs, but it has to be done.”

Ingo internally rejected this thought immediately. This wasn’t a rule, this was a superstition!

During his time in Hisui, Ingo had come to notice similarities and differences between the Diamond and Pearl clans. Tradition was one of those differences. The warden had observed Pearl Clan was a lot more mindful of superstitions than Diamond clan, and as an outsider, he hadn’t grown up with any of them, and had come to know only a few.

Don’t look a Froslass in the eyes, or you’ll be cursed.

Don’t eat food cooked with a Typhlosion’s flames, or you’ll be cursed.

Don’t touch a Basculegion’s tail, or you’ll be cursed.

And now, don’t take late hatchers from a Zoroark, or you’ll be cursed.

Most of them involved being cursed, and this “Zoroark” myth was just another variation of the same superstition. Not like Ingo had believed these anyways.

Ingo had always felt the people of Hisui viewed the Zoroark unfairly to a degree as well, as if they were invasive, bloodthirsty demons from another realm.

“I see,” Ingo cleared his throat, even though he did not see at all. “And, how did you learn this? Has anyone else gotten sick like this after taking care of an egg that was behind schedule?”

“No, not for as long as I can remember,” Irida told him as she helped him start up a hill. With Calaba’s medicinal tent at the top, they were almost there. “But that’s because we have always tried not to touch late hatchers!”

Ingo thought that sounded baseless. How would they know if no one had ever done it-?

“But now that you took that late hatcher back with you, you’re sick!”

Ingo, who’s eyes had been half-lidded in a tired haze, opened in alert. Was Irida trying to tell him he was cursed? Surely she didn’t think-

“But don’t worry,” Irida reassured him as they reached the top of the hill, arriving outside of the medicinal tent. “Calaba has been a part of this clan for longer than any of us! She knows how to take care of things like this!”

“Lady Irida, I believe it’s just a little ill-timed sickness is all. Yesterday, I also wasn’t-“

Ingo was cut off, unable to finish his sentence as the tent flap opened, and a Bibarel stuck its head out, curious of the two voices it had been hearing. Calaba looked out a moment later, to see what had caught the Pokémon’s attention.

“Calaba!” Irida greeted her. “Good afternoon! Warden Ingo and I would like some assistance with something!”

“Oh yes?” The medicine woman asked, eyes shifting between the two of them from inside her tent. “With what?”

“Well, Warden Ingo has come down with something, and after he brought home a late hatcher last night, I’m a little concerned-“ the Pearl Clan leader began, gesturing towards the sick warden.

“-a curse!” Calaba cut them off, eyes wide. “I haven’t had to deal with one of those in ages!”

Her tone suggested to Ingo she was judging him, almost as if he broke a streak that the Pearl clan had worked so hard to maintain. As the clan’s only outsider, she often seemed to judge him a little more harshly than others.

She squinted at Ingo momentarily, looking him up and down and shaking her head at the sick sight. “And unless he’s always looks this disheveled, this one’s bad.”

“I can assure you, it’s just a common case of feeling under the weather,” Putting aside his indignant shock at her comment, Ingo tried to reassert his view on the situation, putting his free hand up as if to halt this spiraling conversation. However, it only made Calaba notice Ingo’s other hand was holding an egg-shaped lump sturdy inside his coat.

“You brought the egg with you?” Calaba gasped, apparently amazed he would do such a thing. She peeked around outside of the tent to see if anyone was around, before urging the two of them inside her tent.

“Come inside, quickly!” The medicine woman urged, opening the tent flap wide. “I don’t need anyone knowing we have a cursed warden walking around here!”

Irida must have noticed Ingo’s hesitance.

“She’ll help,” she whispered to him. Ingo sighed, and took a step inside the tent, Irida following after.

Ingo just wanted to feel better.

————

Ingo had previously thought Irida was the one who went a little overboard with the superstitions, but that was before he learned what Calaba thought about them.

“With all due respect, I firmly do not suspect it is a curse,” Ingo coughed, lying down on one of Calaba’s med beds while Irida stood close by, and Calaba searched through her shelves. Ingo still held onto Lady Sneasler’s egg. If he was being honest, he was worried Calaba might try and take it away.

“Who’s the medicine woman here?” Calaba reminded the warden as she pulled a collection of pages tied together from the shelves of ingredients, and began thumbing through the pages. “I think I know what I’m talking about.”

Approaching the med bed, Calaba’s eyes scanned the writings of a particular page. “Now, Zoroark’s curse in regards to taking a late hatcher…if you take an egg that was supposed to be left for it, it will harm your soul, corrupting it with a curse. This will leave you drained of energy, and feeling cold while also burning up. Have you been experiencing this?”

“Well, yes,” Ingo started, being quite the contrast to Calaba’s dramatic reading. “But a common ailment will also do that.”

“Hmm…” Calaba wasn’t convinced, and read on. “It fills the body with foreign gunk, a physical manifestation of the cursed soul. Now I know you’ve been coughing and experiencing congestion.”

“That can also be attributed to a common ailment,” Ingo tried his best to offer counterpoints, but felt that they were falling on deaf ears.

“Alright,” Calaba closed the notes back up like a book. “If you want to skip the symptoms, answer me this. If it’s a no, we can try your way and treat you for a physical ailment. But if it’s a yes, we must treat this as a curse. After you picked up the late hatcher, did you encounter a Zoroark on the way back to the settlement yesterday?”

Irida looked over at Ingo in concern.

Ingo’s mind drifted back to the yellow eyes he had seen in the snowstorm last night.

“Well-“ was all Ingo was able to get out.

“It’s a curse!” She asserted, cutting him off. Irida gasped at the news, and Ingo sat up, supporting himself on his elbows.

Surely not-

“Luckily, this is an easy fix,” Calaba reassured them. She pointed at the egg in Ingo’s arms.

“Come nightfall, all you have to do is leave that egg outside the settlement grounds, doing what you should have done before, and tomorrow morning, once it has been taken, you will be better.”

“I will not abandon Lady Sneasler’s Egg!” Ingo reinforced his grip on it. “I promised her I would take care of it, and she is counting on me to see to it that her egg hatches. I intend to keep my promise.”

“As long as you hold onto it, you will not get better!” the medicine woman warned, lightly bopping Ingo on the shoulder with her notes, “you have to put it outside the settlement and let the Zoroark take it.”

“I will not abandon Lady Sneasler’s egg.” Ingo coughed again as he repeated himself, and sighed as he laid back down, holding the egg against his chest. The sight worried Irida. As someone who believed in Calaba’s methods regarding curses, but also understood Ingo’s desire to keep his promise and nurture the egg, she wondered is there was a way to compromise.

“Calaba?” Irida spoke up. “Is there a way for you to remove the curse yourself?”

Calaba’s features expressed surprise for a moment, as if the thought hadn’t occurred to her, and opened her collection of notes again.

“Hmmm…there are methods.” She said thoughtfully after a moment. “We can try them and go through this list of treatments, and you better hope one works. Because if they don’t…that egg is going outside the settlement. We will not lose a warden.”

The cautious relief on Ingo’s face brought Irida her own sense of relief.

————

It had been two days.

Two days of outlandish treatments for a curse Ingo was doubting more and more as time went on. He was being treated strictly for curses, but Ingo felt he needed help for a more physical type of affliction. Surely, what he was dealing with was an illness.

But despite wanting to sleep all day and stay in bed, Ingo was doing everything Calaba had asked of him…not like he had much of a choice though. Every time he brought up concerns on her methods to Irida when she came over to check on him, she opposed him.

“Calaba compromised for you, please try them,” Irida told him. “She will make you abandon that egg if you don’t.”

So he did anything she had listed out of her collection of notes. Luckily nothing seemed too strenuous on him, but he found them to be bizarre.

Sleeping under a blanket with tufts of shed zorua fur sewn in, with notes of good fortune stuffed into his pillow. It didn’t work, and Ingo had woken up, feverish and soaked in sweat in the middle of the night, it was so thick. It was a good incubator for Lady Sneasler’s egg, though.

Drinking a cold tea filled with (way too much) crunchy salt and infused with leaves from a wormadam. It didn’t work, and Ingo found it tasted awful. He gagged on it several times forcing it down, and all it did was further bother his already-upset stomach.

Rubbing a chalky salve made with powder from a ground up wyrdeer antler across his chest to apparently protect his soul, as he sat in moonlight. It didn’t work, and Ingo thought sitting in the cold night air like that only agitated his sick cough even more.

These treatments had all made the last few days miserable for Ingo, but the only saving grace in this situation was Lady Sneasler’s egg.

It had not yet hatched, but it had begun wiggling from time to time. And if it was moving, it was still trying. Ingo was determined to see to it that the egg hatched, and over the last two days he had grown quite attached to it, talking to it frequently. As his condition worsened, he did his best to keep the egg warm and incubated, but it was becoming more difficult.

As nothing provided immediate relief and Ingo regressed instead of improved - Calaba grew more and more perplexed. Ingo however, wasn’t too surprised.

The warden remembered next to nothing about where he came from before Hisui, but he didn’t think sickness had ever been linked to curses, and as such had never been dealt with like this.

Today, Calaba had ordered Ingo to go soak in the hot springs near the settlement.

Ingo had actually tried to stay in bed this morning, feeling too weak to get up to go to Calaba’s tent. Irida had barged in when Calaba reported he had not shown up yet - the Pearl clan leader half feared the curse had overtaken him. Instead finding him sweating under his covers with Lady Sneasle’s Egg on a pillow next to him, wrapped in several thick blankets, Irida had gotten him to get up and helped him to the medicine woman’s tent.

“If you’re still not feeling well, perhaps the accumulated gunk in your body from Zoroark’s curse is what’s keeping you from improving. A soak in the springs, with its medicinal effects, should loosen it.” Calaba explained as she read out of her collection of papers on ailments and how to treat them, more baseless hypotheses than proven treatments. “You’d better hope this works, we don’t have many other options left before that egg gets left outside the settlement.”

Calaba handed Ingo a folded thick garment, meant to dry him off and keep him warm after leaving the hot spring. On top of the folded clothing was a handful of dried blue fronds.

“Soak in the pool for an hour with this snow-nettle. Zoroark dislike the scent it gives off when wet - it should help the hot spring loosen the gunk afflicting you. After an hour, come back to me and we will try to expel it.”

Ingo had a hard time paying attention at this point, now three days into his sickness. But he agreed, and with Irida’s help, he trudged to the hot springs, Lady Sneasler’s egg in hand.

After Irida made sure he was alright on his own, she left, and even though Ingo’s fever had left him irritably cold the last few days, he began shedding his extra layers of clothes, leaving himself only in the clan’s black insulation underlayer. Immediately shivering as he tightly wrapped Lady Sneasler’s egg in his thick tunic, tattered coat, worn hat, and the thick garment Calaba gave him, the warden lowered himself into the pools.

The few Swinub that liked to regularly soak in the hot spring waded closer to the warden out of curiosity, but he barely noticed.

Ingo closed his eyes, feeling the pressure of stuffed sinuses under his eyelids as he submerged himself up to his nose within the steaming waters of the hot spring. He had to admit, even if he felt Calaba was treating him for the wrong thing, this felt pretty relaxing. He wasn’t sure about the “medicinal properties” Calaba went on about, but it did help ease his weary body.

The incessant aches that had been afflicting Ingo’s body over the last several days eased up slightly in the hot waters of the pool. They didn’t melt away like he hoped they would, but the hot spring helped relax the aches to a bearable amount. And washing off the fever-induced sweat he was constantly subjected to felt so nice.

Ingo sniffed and wiped at his stuffy nose, his breath visible amongst the steam lifting from the hot waters as he turned to Lady Sneasler’s egg. The snow-nettle Calaba had given him had been placed next to the egg. Ingo grabbed a handful of them and dropped them in the hot water around him.

With his stuffy nose, Ingo couldn’t tell what sort of scent the snow-nettle gave off, but by the way the Swinub lazily drifted away, he could tell it was working.

Releasing the last of the leaves, Ingo glanced to the side at Lady Sneasler’s egg, wrapped up snuggly.

Was it warm enough?

Ingo reached out of the pool, pulling his coat around it a little tighter. It wiggled once again, and Ingo steadied it, feeling it jostle. It was still trying.

Ingo thought back on Calaba’s words. He already felt the thought of choosing to leave late hatchers out in the cold, instead of helping them, was morbid enough. How many eggs had been lost because of this rule? Hopefully not too many, considering Pearl Clan wasn’t as well-acquainted with working with Pokémon as he was.

But Ingo could never imagine leaving this egg out, alone to most likely be snatched up by anything, not just a Zoroark. Not after it had been trying so hard. He couldn’t imagine showing back up to Lady Sneasler alone.

But if none of Calaba’s methods were working, and they ran out of treatments, would she force him to leave it if it hadn’t hatched yet? The woman seemed to be convinced it was a curse.

Not that he would give up on this egg, and maybe it was the fever-induced cloudiness in his brain, but Ingo was starting to wonder himself. He wasn’t sold on the idea, but…

…No, it wasn’t a curse.

Taking a shallow breath, as Ingo feared taking a deep one would earn him a fit of coughs, he allowed himself to slip further under the surface of the hot water. His throat felt thick, lined with the same gunk that contested his nose and clogged his heavy lungs. His eyes felt heavy, the heat in his brain pushing against the back of them. His arms and legs ached like he’d been overworking them, despite doing the opposite.

He wasn’t getting better. But for now, the hot water comforted him and numbed the aches. He let his consciousness start to drift.

Almost.

A shout calling his name broke the silence, and yanked Ingo out of his state of murky relaxation, and back into his achy, sick reality.

Did Ingo hear that right? Fever-induced delirium had set in last night, and Ingo had found that already twice this morning, he had turned his head to a sound, to see nothing was there.

But then he heard it again, a little louder and clearer. This wasn’t delirium, surely.

Ingo recognized the voice. Why was she all the way up here, looking for him?

“Miss Akari, I’m up here!” Ingo called out, not at all pleased with how hoarse his voice sounded when he raised it.

Loud footsteps approached as they followed his voice, and Ingo saw Akari come into view as she approached the hot springs, kicking snow up. She was breathing heavy as if she’s been running around the whole settlement; her breaths came out as big clouds that hung in the frozen air, the colder temperatures making her face red.

She was clearly not as used to this weather as the rest of Pearl clan was.

“There you are!” The young girl huffed as she caught her breath, slumping forward as she put her hands on her knees. “Where have you been? I’ve been looking for you! You were supposed to show up again at the training grounds, like, three days ago! It’s been only Zisu there! I was worried something happened!”

The worry in Akari’s voice tugged at Ingo’s chest, and he rubbed at the back of his neck with a dripping hand.

“Apologies, Miss Akari. I have not been feeling well, and lady Irida has relieved me of my duties until I recover. I did not mean to be out of commission this long; I had assumed someone would cover my duties at the training grounds at this point.”

“You’ve been sick? For three days?” Akari asked as she came and sat down on a rock near the pool, feeling the heat from the steam that rose off the waters. She could see now up close how sick he looked; the man was even paler than usual, his red stuffy nose being the exception, and had dark circles under his eyes.

“Shouldn’t you be better by now?”

“Ah, I would imagine so.” Ingo sniffed. “Calaba’s treatments have been a little outlandish though. I feel they are setting me back.”

Ingo left it at that, and did not elaborate. Akari shot him a look of confusion, and it took Ingo a moment to understand.

“She suspects I am suffering from a curse.”

“A curse!” Akari gasped, standing up off the rock. “From what! What did you do to get cursed?”

Ingo couldn’t tell if she was indulging in him, or actually believed in curses. But he decided to humor her in case she was genuine.

“From taking home this egg from Lady Sneasler,” Ingo grunted as he turned, reaching out behind him to grasp the egg and present it to Akari, which had been previously concealed in his clothes. “It’s behind schedule for hatching, so I took it back with me to provide additional care. Calaba believes taking home, hmm…’late hatchers’…places one under a Zoroark’s curse.”

At the sight of the egg in Ingo’s hands, Akari make a squealing sound, her eyes big and sparkly.

“A baby!!” The young girl jumped up and down in excitement, exploding into a list of questions as she forgot all about Ingo’s sick condition. “Lady Sneasler’s babies finally hatched!! How many are there? Can I see them? Can you take me? When can we go? Is the baby in the egg a boy or a girl? Can I hold the egg??”

“Eight at the moment, yes, yes, when I am back in commission, I’m not sure yet, and…yes, if you’re careful,” Ingo said weakly, interrupting his list of answers with a cough.

“Hold it carefully,” the warden held the egg out to Akari, his arms slightly shaking with the sickness having sapped his strength, and Akari grabbed it up with a type of energy Ingo wished he had.

“It’s so cute!!” The young girl squealed as she took in the sight of it, hugging it close. It wiggled in her arms, and she gasped. “And it’s moving! Is it close to hatching?”

Ingo still felt horrible, but the company of Akari had him quietly laughing for the first time in days; she had an infectious happiness that Ingo wished more people expressed.

“I hope it’s close to hatching. Lady Sneasler and the egg’s siblings are waiting for it.” Ingo sniffed again as he sunk back down into the hot water of the spring, the rising steam beginning to loosen the congestion and making his nose run. Maybe this is what Calaba meant by “loosening the gunk”.

Akari’s doting over the egg dwindled at Ingo’s sorry sight, her thoughts returning to his condition.

“So, how do you know it’s a curse?” She asked, holding the egg against her to conserve warmth for it.

“I have my doubts.” Ingo corrected her assumption, closing his eyes as he took in the warmth from the hot spring. “But because of my symptoms, and seeing a Zoroark on my path back to the settlement with the egg the night before I fell ill, Calaba is convinced I am under a curse, saying I should have left the egg for the Zoroark.”

“Seeing a Zoroark while holding an egg? That doesn’t curse you!” Akari burst out as if it was laughable. She pulled out her field notes she had written in her Pokédex, trying her best to page through it with one free hand. “Zoroark don’t even seem to do anything with eggs, unless it’s one of their own! I’ve never recorded them ever seeking out eggs, and I’ve seen them pass right by Pokémon’s nests before without a care!”

Akari shut her book and put it back away as she looked back at the egg in her hands. “I would say this isn’t a curse, you’re just sick! You seem like it to me, anyways. How has Calaba been treating this?”

“Rituals with items that seem to contain medicinal properties, and wards.” The man answered, realizing how silly these methods seemed now that Akari was starting to talk some sense into him.

“No wonder you’ve been so sick for three days!” The girl gasped, readjusting the egg in her arms. “You need rest, and medicine, and soup! Not rituals and wards!”

The thought of those three things certainly sounded much nicer to Ingo than the latter two.

“I admit I would prefer the former,” Ingo sighed, imagining how nice it would be to be sleeping back in his bed right now.

“Well then, come on!” Akari went over to Ingo’s things, collecting his extra clothes in her free arm. “You need to go back home!”

“Calaba requested I return to her after I finish soaking in the hot spring to finish this treatment,” Ingo stated, not budging from the hot spring. In truth, he knew the cold was going to bite him the second he left the warm waters.

“You won’t get better until you start taking care of yourself the way you should be,” the girl told him as she approached the edge of the spring, holding the thick garment out to Ingo so he could dry off and stay warm.

“Please do not come too close, Miss,” Ingo warned her, moving away from her as she approached him. “If I am just sick, I do not want to spread it to you.”

“Pshh,” Akari brushed it off. “If I get sick, I get sick! But you need to get back home and rest!”

Ingo hesitated a moment, before moving to the edge of the hot spring and pulling himself out - arguing with Akari on this would not amount to anything, and he knew it. Immediately shivering, he struggled to his feet and grasped at the garment Akari held out, pulling it around himself tightly to try and dry off and warm up.

Akari held the egg out to him so he could take it next, but Ingo waved it off.

“I am soaking right now- it would be better if you hold it and keep it warm,” Ingo sniffed, shaking as he slumped forward.

So Akari bundled the egg in Ingo’s coat and tunic, while putting his hat on her own head, and helped lead him down the hill, back to his house.

————

Placing Lady Sneasler’s Egg back into its spot on the bed, surrounded by pillows and blankets, Ingo eased himself back into his bed. sighing as he repositioned himself into it and pulled the thick covers back over himself, Ingo noted how good it felt to finally be off of his feet.

As soon as they had gotten back to Ingo’s home, Akari told him to go change into something comfortable and to get to bed.

“I’ll be right back!” She said, heading back for his door. “I just need to get some things from my storage box really quick!”

So she left, and Ingo was alone. He slipped back into a fresh tunic, and crawled back under the covers.

Calaba would not be happy with this, but Ingo found himself not caring too much. He felt so out of sorts at this point, and still did not remember much of how sicknesses were dealt with in his time, but Akari’s methods seemed to feel much more accurate compared to Calaba’s.

And Ingo trusted Akari; she had come from a time similar to him, hadn’t she? Surely she would know the right way to take care of this…

The door to Ingo’s home opened again, and Akari walked through, her satchel stuffed.

“I’m back!” She announced, closing the door quickly so as not to let too much cold air in. With the Pearl Clan’s homes seemingly being a combination between the wooden units like Akari’s back at Jubilife village, and tents, the whole living area was one large room.

Ingo made a noise to acknowledge and welcome her back, but he was too relaxed, now back in his bed, to say anything.

Ingo heard sloshing noises, and opened his eyes to see Akari bringing a bowl of water with small chunks of ice in it, setting it in her lap as she sat on his bedside.

“My mom always did this for me when I got sick,” Akari explained, feeling his (rather sweaty) forehead with her hand. He was absolutely burning up!

He’d been left like this for three days?

Akari fished out the rag and squeezed the excess water out of it, before folding it up. Ingo flinched when she placed it across his forehead; it was colder than he expected.

“Now, um, keep that there, and tell me when it gets warm. I’m going to try and make some soup now,” Akari said as she looked around the room, trying to remember everything one should do when someone was sick. “Where is your kitchen?”

“Cooking pots are in the corner by the coal pit,” Ingo told her, pointing to his “kitchen”, which was nothing more than a few shelves, containing the bare minimum of cooking instruments, and barely any ingredients to cook with.

“Hmm,” Akari browsed the shelves. He didn’t have much to work with at all; some potatoes and apricorns, and a few pecha berries. “Good thing I brought some of my own stuff!”

Taking her satchel off from around her, Akari dumped out everything she had retrieved from her storage box and brought with her.

Bugwort and medicinal leeks for their nutrients, kings leaves to boost the efficacy, various mushrooms and sootfoot roots for taste, and pep-up plants to add some spice. Mixed with Ingo’s potatoes, it shouldn’t be too bad!

Pulling out a soup recipe she had brought with her, she double checked all of the ingredients she had on the table were the right ones. Making soup was something Akari hadn’t done many times before, but she could do this!

The girl put the recipe down with the ingredients, before grabbing one of Ingo’s cooking pots and running out the door.

Ingo, who had succumbed to the comfiness of his bed, looked up from his pillow for a moment at hearing the door open and close. Where did she go?

Akari came back in a second later holding the pot, which had been filled with snow.

“I needed more water,” she explained as she hung the pot over the firepit, noticing she had caught Ingo’s attention. Ingo went back to his previous position, sinking back into his pillow as Akari poked at the coals, starting a small heat to cook the pot.

As Akari waited for the snow in the pot to melt, she sat there in silence, the room quiet, except for the sound of Ingo’s heavy breathing, ragged through congested lungs.

She went over to check the cool rag she had put across his forehead, and she found it was warm. He didn’t tell her it had warmed up!

“Ingo, I said to tell me when it warmed up,” Akari took the rag and soaked it back in the iced water again, squeezing it out and folding it back to place against his forehead again.

“Apologies, did not notice it change,”

This fever definitely needed to be broken…

Akari looked back over at her satchel, and went to root through it. Perhaps she had some…

————

“Ingo? Soup is done!”

Ingo, awoken from a murky sleep, opened his eyes at Akari’s words. He moved the rag off of his forehead, somehow still cool, (unaware Akari had kept changing it) and looked out over the covers of his bed. He saw Akari was pouring soup out of a pot into a bowl, steam rising from the hot liquid.

“Can you sit up?” Akari asked as she brought the bowl over.

Ingo did his best to sit up, before taking the bowl into his hands. “Thank you for preparing this, Miss Akari,”

“I hope it tastes ok!” The girl commented as Ingo took a sip from it. “I never really made soup before.”

The soup was hot, as soup should be - Ingo would give her that. It felt good on his sore throat, at least. But the taste and the texture was…not what he expected from a soup, to say the least.

“You did good with it,” Ingo lied, swallowing thickly. How did she undercook the mushrooms, but overcook the potatoes?

“I have more in the pot if you’d like seconds!” Akari gestured to the cooking pot hanging over the coal pit, to Ingo’s dismay.

“I’ll see how I do with this first,” Ingo looked back down at the bowl he already had to avoid eye contact.

“Oh! I also made this while the soup was cooking,” Akari left his bedside to grab something at his table, coming back to present it.

“I used some of the empty bottles I found on your shelves, I hope that was ok,” the young girl held out a bottle filled with a viscous light blue liquid of sorts. Several others were clutched in her other hand. Ingo took the bottle and looked it over as Akari kept explaining.

“It should help with your fever. I mixed some of my rawst berries and candy truffles, so it brings down your temperature and gives you some strength back. Try some.”

Ingo unscrewed the bottle, and sipped from it. Akari did a much better job preparing this than she had with the soup; mixing berries with candy truffles had left it tasting very sweet.

“Bravo, excellent job preparing this!” Ingo wiped at his mouth as Akari took the empty bottle back. “It tastes very good for a medicine.”

“My mom used to make them a lot for me too when I got sick! So I know how to make them too; it’s a lot more simple than making soup.” Akari explained, proud of her handiwork.

“Your mother sounds very caring,” Ingo commented. But perhaps he said something wrong, as some of the brightness in Akari’s face dimmed.

“Yeah,” she replied as she sat down on Ingo’s bedside, her smile more melancholy now. “She is. She would always take care of me when I got sick. No one was taking care of you, so I thought I’d try and do what my mom would do.”

Ingo knew she was recalling her family. He could not say the same for himself, being unable to recall explicit memories like she could, but he could recall fragments, and understood the feeling of missing someone.

“Well you did a good job,” Ingo cleared his throat, gently trying to pull her from the bittersweet memories, “As I am already feeling better!”

“Really?” Akari perked up at the apparent good news.

“Maintenance is still required before I am at my best, but I am on track to recovery.” Ingo replied, before taking another sip from his bowl of soup.

The fever was still here. The cough, and the stuffy nose was still here. The chills were still here. But Ingo’s mind was clearer, and his aches were diminishing. “Your methods are most helpful! This is the best I have felt in days.”

“Yes! I knew it wasn’t a curse!” Akari cheered. As if cheering with her, Lady Sneasler’s egg jostled around from its mountain of pillows and blankets on Ingo’s bed.

“See! Baby is happy too!” Akari reached over to pick up the egg and hold it, talking to it. “You definitely didn’t curse Ingo!”

Ingo huffed with a weak smile as he slouched against his bed frame. So he had suspected right, this really did seem to just be an ill-timed sickness!

A swift pounding at Ingo’s door caught everyone’s attention; even the egg stopped wiggling. The pounding sounded angry.

Akari looked at Ingo in silence, gesturing to the door and asking if she should open it. Ingo nodded slowly, and Akari went over, cautiously opening it.

Immediately, Calaba burst in, Bibarel following closely behind, and her sights locked onto Ingo immediately.

“There you are!” She shouted, shooting daggers into him as she marched over to his bedside. “What are you doing in bed? I’ve been waiting for you for three hours! You were supposed to come back to my tent after soaking in the hot spring!”

“Calaba, if you allow me to explain-“ Ingo shrunk into his blankets as if to escape her.

“Lucky for you, I brought what we need to complete the expulsion treatment! You’d better hope the gunk is still loose from soaking in the springs!”

Ingo shrunk even further into his covers to see Calaba pull out a braviary feather.

“Now lean your head back so I can stick this up your nose! The hot spring loosened the gunk, now you just need to sneeze it out and expel the curse! It’s going to be harder doing this three hours after you soaked, but with this blessed feather, if we do this now, maybe we can-“

“-he’s not cursed Calaba!” Akari grabbed the feather away from the medicine woman before she could do anything drastic with it. “He’s just been sick!”

————

Ingo was eternally grateful to Akari for convincing Calaba that indeed, he was getting better.

“He certainly looks better than he did this morning,” Calaba had commented when she noticed a little bit of color had seeped back into his skin.

She wasn’t entirely convinced he wasn’t cursed though. She felt that one of her previous treatments had worked, and had taken some time to really kick in.

“As long as you’re improving, that’s what matters,” Calaba had said, taking her braviary feather back from Akari. “But, keep doing what you’ve been doing, for good measure.”

There had been a pause, before another sentence.

“And if that egg hatches, congratulate your noble for me, warden! That’s a lucky kit!”

And with that, Calaba and her Bibarel had left.

Akari stayed with Ingo as the day went on and the sun set lower. She mostly wanted to be there to make sure Ingo stayed stable on his road to recovery, but she also wanted to see if Lady Sneasler’s egg would hatch.

“It might not hatch today,” Ingo told the girl as she talked to it, trying to keep her from getting her hopes up too high. From his bed, he watched her hold it as she sat at his table, swaddling it in a blanket.

“But it could!” She retorted, before turning back to the egg. “I know you want to hatch! I really want to see you!”

But as the hours went by, and the sun went down, nothing significant had happened.

The bowl of water Akari used to soak the rag had long since had all the ice melted.

The pot that held the questionable soup was now empty, Ingo somehow being able to endure seconds.

The rawst berry medicine had been finished off as well, working to break the fever that still burned in Ingo’s body.

But the egg still had not hatched. It still jostled around, but no cracks broke the surface yet.

“Miss Akari, it is getting late,” Ingo commented, observing Akari still staring at the egg from its blanket nest. “I suggest you get some sleep.”

“But what if the egg hatches during the night?” She asked sleepily, trying to cover a yawn with her hand. The only light still visible in the room was a single lanturn that Akari had placed at the table, and it illuminated both her and the egg.

“I will inform you if the egg begins the process,” Ingo reassured her as he pulled back the covers to get out of bed. “But you need your rest.”

Walking over to the table, Ingo picked up the egg, still in its blanket, and patted Akari on the shoulder, who made a face.

“You’re the one who’s sick though! You need rest too!”

“I will get some rest, don’t worry,” Ingo trudged back to his bed and placed the egg back amongst the mountain of pillows and blankets he had piled against the bed frame. “But I will notice if it begins to hatch, and I will be sure to tell you.”

“…ok,” Akari gave in after some hesitation. As Ingo went to extinguish the flame in the lantern, Akari began to put down layers of blankets and pillows down on the floor, making a bed for herself. “I’m trusting you!”

————

It was still dark outside, the early hours of the morning when Ingo’s fever broke.

His eyes shot open to stare at the dark ceiling, the room being illuminated by the moonlight seeping through the window, with the shadow of snowfall drifting against the light.

Then he noticed that he was absolutely drenched in sweat.

Disgusting.

The warden peeled his hot blankets off of him, stumbling cautiously through the dark to find that bowl of water Akari had brought for the rag.

Locating it on his table, he cupped his hands in the cool water and splashed his face, washing the sweat from it.

As gross as it felt, Ingo was relieved; the fever had finally broken. He’d still be tired the next day, but he would be feeling much better.

He dipped his hands in the water again, but froze as he heard a subtle cracking sound.

————

“Miss Akari!”

A harsh, urgent (excited?) whisper cut through the silence.

Akari’s eyes fluttered open, still heavy with sleep.

Everything was dark. It was still early morning.

Five more minutes…

“Miss!”

“What..?”

“Lady Sneasler’s egg is hatching!”

Akari was up in seconds.

“It’s hatching! It’s hatching!” She whispered excitedly as she rushed to Ingo’s bedside to see the egg, still in the mountain of blankets, while Ingo lit the lantern.

In the soft light that now illuminated the room, Akari could see the egg jostling about, but this time, there were cracks in the shell.

Another jostle, and a crack deepened.

Akari could hardly contain herself, and she latched onto Ingo in a side hug as she tried to contain her excitement, making all sorts of excited noises.

With another crack, a section of the egg’s shell broke off, and a tiny claw could be seen reaching out.

With a final crack, the egg opened, and a tiny white and purple face poked out, softly mewing, calling out to a mother that wasn’t there.

Akari gasped, and Ingo smiled a tired smile. He reached out and carefully scooped up the tiny sneaslet, holding it in his hands. He took a warm rag he had prepared, and gently started cleaning the little kit. It mewed quietly with its eyes still shut tight, leaning into the warmness of the rag.

“It’s a girl!” Akari pointed out the stunted ear feather as she watched from over Ingo’s shoulder, overjoyed, “she’s so cute!”

“Welcome aboard, little miss,” Ingo greeted the sneaslet.

#submas #ingo #subway boss ingo #pokémon legends arceus #warden ingo #pokémon #pla akari #pokémon fanfiction #Pokémon fanfic #Irida #lady sneasler #Calaba #sick fic #Pearl clan is outdated with their superstitions #Akari has to come in and fix what Calaba made worse #Zoroarks are really misunderstood #Ingo just wants to help an egg hatch #is that so bad #waywardstationfanfic

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