Young Ingo tries his hand at catching a Teddiursa, Melli gets mad, there’s some drama cats, and a new character shows up
—-
It had been an honest accident.
He’d swear to the dragons that it was.
Yet Warden Melli refused to believe him, as the man chased him across the Coronet highlands; hurling unfinished threats towards him.
Ingo could see a large red Pokeball shaped mark on the Warden’s face as he looked back over his shoulder; making sure the man wasn’t gaining on him.
He hadn’t been trying to hit Warden Melli, in fact he was aiming for the Teddiursa he’d been tracking for most of the day. It had been the first time he’d gotten to see one outside of books and he’d wanted to try his hand at raising one.
Catching pokemon was so much different here than it was back home, he’d been tracking it slowly through the mountains; moving slowly crouched through tall grass. Normally he could have engaged it in battle, but with its normal typing Litwick’s ghost moves would have no effect and he didn’t want to overwhelm it with fire type moves and risk it fainting. With the risk of it running away or attacking him, his only choice had been to be patients and wait for the perfect moment.
That moment came, but unfortunately the pokeballs here in Hisui were fairly different then the ones he was used to. Smaller, and slightly heavier then the ones back in Unova. Causing him to over shoot his mark and Warden Melli’s face had gotten hit with the pokeball instead.
Warden Melli didn’t really like them that much, something about them pretending to be ghosts in Wayward cave (which was something Ingo didn’t remember ever doing), combined with the fact that they lit the torches back up much quicker then he could put them out.
Ingo honestly wondered if he could have thrown a leaf and ended up with the same result.
So not only had he accidentally hit the Diamond clan Warden causing the man to relentlessly chase him but he was pretty sure that the pokeball broke when it hit the ground, and the Teddiursa had fled.
He just hoped Emmet was having a better time helping his dad with Lady Sneasler’s eggs.
“You little ball throwing Pearl clan freak! When I get my hands on you!” Another open ended threat was thrown his way as the man continued to give chase. Ingo wasn’t about to slow down and give the man the chance to fill in those gaps.
“I’m Sorry! I’m Sorry!” The boy chanted, trying to project his voice as much as possible as he ran; a failed hope that the man would finally believe him and stop trailing him. Sadly it worked about as well as all the other times.
Ingo quickly rounded a corner, an attempt to buy himself a few extra feet so he could try and remember the path to Lady Sneasler’s den. If he could just get there then the diamond clan warden would have to stop.
Once more he dared another look behind him.
Melli had fallen back quite a ways, a few more turns and Ingo was sure he’d be able to shake off the Warden if it wasn’t for his Skunky who was right on his heels. He pushed himself harder trying to make himself just a little bit fast, closing his eyes as he put all his focus on pushing his engines to full speed.
He saw stars first, before pain quickly spread throughout his entire face as the ground seemed to fall away from under his feet; only for his back to collide with the dirt.
“Ah!” Ingo hissed, his hands quickly going up to his, as he opened his eyes which were quickly filling up with tears of pain. His whole face hurt at this point. “Wha-” he blinked a few times, staring up at the blue sky now above him.
There was a moment of vertigo as he sat back, feeling gravity suddenly pull at all the blood in his face, and he winced at the pain it brought. Slowly he pulled his hands away from his face, feeling them come back wet and slightly sticky. He was having a hard time breathing through his nose and there was a taste of copper on his tongue.
Ingo was getting really tired of that taste.
Blinking a few more times to try and clear the blur from his eyes, Ingo looked up at the thing he had run into. A large piece of chiseled white stone standing just slightly taller than himself, a pedestal of a statue maybe? There were lots of different Statues of Pokemon within the Coronet highlands that he had seen while traveling with his father, but what this one could have been he couldn’t tell with the way it had been clearly destroyed; leaving only the legs behind.
“Child!”
Ingo looked around quickly as he just barely made out the sound of a voice hissing somewhat loudly, ignoring the pound in his head the movement was causing him.
Oh Dragons! Warden Melli must have caught up to him after he ran into the Statue.
“Child!” the voice hissed once more and Ingo quickly flipped himself around to face the source, the movement making him slightly dizzy.
Warden Melli stood on the other side of the clearing, his index finger pressed to his mouth, while his other hand motioned for the boy to come towards him; a look of panic written on his face. And Ingo could see the reason for that…
All around him was a large pride of Luxray and Luxio all snoozing in the arm midday sun, with the biggest Luxray Ingo had ever seen a good ten feet from him off to the side. An Alpha as his Dad and Akari liked to call them.
Quickly Ingo slapped his own hand over his mouth, suddenly hyper aware of just how loud he could be as he stared at the sleeping electric types.
He’d been attacked by Pokemon before, both here and back home in Unova. Anyone who would call themselves a trainer had been attacked at some point. But back home it was less of a life or death situation unless you managed to really tick off a grumpy Hydreigon. Here though? Sometimes it felt like some of these pokemon were honestly out for blood.
Once more Warden Melli motioned for Ingo to make his way towards him.
Boy glanced once more at the sleeping Luxray all around him, before carefully taking a step towards the Warden. Whatever the man had planned to do to him it could not be worse than what the sleeping Pokemon would do to him if he woke them.
He moved at a slow crawl, crouched down to the ground and using one hand to help push himself along; while the other remained over his mouth. His eyes darted about quickly, looking around for any signs of anything waking up as he moved towards the Warden in blue.
His face hurt, it was hard to breath through his nose and his eyes were still blurry but still he pushed on. He was so close, he just had to sneak past the Alpha now.
His eyes shifted over to the large black and blue pokemon, noticing the large round objects that leaned against its side; causing dread to creep into his veins. Even with his eyes still blurry he knew what those were.
That was great, as if this day couldn’t get any worse.
The Giant Luxray had eggs. Even back home disturbing a wild pokemon with eggs was a bad idea; here he had a feeling it would be so much worse.
He glanced at Warden Melli and then back at the Luxray and her eggs, trying to decide if he should just start booking it now; maybe putting a good few feet and the Warden between himself and the Alpha.
There was a quiet clacking sound, causing Ingo to halt his movements completely as his breath caught in his chest; watching as one of the eggs rolled out into his path.
It didn’t look quite right.
“Child. Why. Are. You. Stopping?” Warden Melli hissed once more, causing several of the sleeping Luxio to stir.
But Ingo ignored him as he watched the egg roll around on the ground before suddenly sitting up, revealing a checked shell and a crown of cream coloured spikes unfolding on its head.
“Brrrie!”
A Togepi?
What was a Togepi doing all the way out here? With a bunch of Luxray eggs no less?
“Brrie! Brrrie!” The little fairy chanted loudly as it seemed to dance around in place, and Ingo watched in horror as he could see the eyes of several very sleepy looking Luxio start to open.
He quickly pulled his hand from his face only to replace it with a finger to try and signal the little pokemon to be quiet, his eyes darting towards the still sleeping alpha.
Please for the Love of Arcues be quiet.
But know if anything the little Spike ball pokemon just got louder, causing the Luxio now awake to start looking around for what awoke them. It spun in place and snatched a stick from the ground holding it out between its stumpy arms.
Ingo quickly shook his head, praying to the dragons that the little pokemon wasn’t about to do what he thought it was about to do.
The thing looked him in the eyes, that smile etched onto its face.
SNAP!
There was a moment of silence as all heads snapped in his direction, the little pokemon looking very pleased with itself.
His eyes darted from the pokemon to the Warden…who was gone.
Great.
He looked back towards the Togepi only to find it gone as well.
As strange as that was, Ingo didn’t really have much time to think about it; as the pride of Luxio was now very much awake and had seemed to all decide that he was to blame for that.
He took a slow step backwards, and another one. A hand reaching out for Litwick’s pokeball. There was no way his little ghost type would be able to fight off all of these electric types but she might be able to take out enough for them to get away.
His back suddenly connected with something solid. His mind first went to the broken statue, but it was quickly tossed away as he realized that there was a curtain softness to it.
The Luxio stopped approaching and there was a deep growling coming from behind him.
Slowly Ingo looked behind him, already feeling the hot breath of the alpha on his neck as he turned to meet its glowing red eyes.
—
He wasn’t running away!
That was not what he was doing!
He was not leaving that Pearl Clan brat behind to be ripped apart by an Alpha Luxray.
He was simply trying to lure the Luxio away to give the boy a better chance of escape.
That’s what he was doing.
Totally not trying to save his own hide.
He came to a stop a fair distance away, back at his Lords domain; and looked back, taking a shuddering breath.
There was no pack of Luxio behind him.
And the Kid wasn’t behind him either.
He’d left the boy behind.
But that was fine.
He was Ingo’s kid after all so the brat had to have some kind of fight in him. Plus he had those cursed little pokeballs right, the ones team Galaxy used. And if the Bruise on his face was anything to go by, the kid had a good arm. He just had to toss a few of those and it should be enough to buy him time to escape.
Right.
Once more Melli tried to push down the doubt in his heart, that threatened to boil over.
He was not a coward.
He looked around the area he was in, the galaxy camp not too far away from his normal posting. A pokeball laying on the ground where it had landed after it hit his face.
It had been a bit of an over reaction to chase the poor boy across the highlands the way he did.
Slowly he walked over and picked up the ball that had started all of this, and looked it over. He didn’t know much about Pokeballs but he was pretty sure they broke on impact with the ground if they didn’t have anything in them. It was why that Galaxy team noodle was always crafting them.
There was another tug at his heart.
He could have faced those Luxio no problem, in fact that Luxray would have been trembling in fear if he had approached. Clearly it had been for the benefit of those Pokemon he left.
He had tried to get the boy out, but the kid had just stopped moving and stared at something.
And the kid didn’t look scared. So maybe he was fine after all.
Then again the boy hadn’t looked scared of him and yet he still ran.
“Warden Melli!”
Melli nearly jumped a foot in the air as someone loudly called out to him.
He only knew one person who was that loud.
“Warden Ingo.” Melli turned quickly to see the Pearl clan warden making his way towards him, Lady Sneasler, the Galaxy team Noodle and his other son following behind him. “Wha-um-” he cleared his throat. “What brings you up here?” it was probably a bit more pleasant then he’d ever been to the man but all things considered he was the least he could do.
“Pfffff- What happened to your face?” the Galaxy team brat laughed, clearly spotting the large mark on his face. “And since when do you use pokeballs?”
“Since None of your business.” he snapped back not wanting to take anymore lip from the girl.
“Really cause it looks like you got beamed in the face by a pokeball!”
He quickly turned his attention back to Ingo. “What do you want?” the words came out much harsher then he meant them too. Was the old man’s nose always that crooked?
“Apologies, Warden. But I’m searching for my other son.” Ingo explained, not seeming the least bit bothered by the other man’s tone. “He had been insistent on trying to catch one of the pokemon in the highlands, that was some time ago though. Have you seen him?”
“He looks like me.” the other boy spoke up, that mocking smile seeming to never leave his face. “You know. Like a ghost kid.”
“I um…”
Lady Sneasler was very quickly starting to approach him, towering over rather easily.
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”
The scream echoed throughout the highlands, and all heads turned towards the ruins.
—
If a person or Pokemon has ever has you cornered or pinned down, Scream.
That’s what his Uncle had told them, though he had looked at Ingo the whole time when sawing it.
It could shock your attacker enough to give you a fighting chance to escape. It could also alert someone to your distress.
The Large Luxray pulled back slightly, reeling from getting an earful of the boy’s full volume. Shaking its head slightly as its large sensitive ears rung. Ingo used this to his advantage to back up as far as he could away from the Alpha, but the large beast recovered faster than he expected and pounced on him; knocking him back to the ground.
The Alpha growled, teeth bared with bolts of electricity dancing around its fangs mere inches from his face.
Once more Ingo tried to reach for Litwick’s pokeball, but he had no room to throw it.
He was trapped.
No one was coming.
He could feel the hot breath of the Luxray on his face. The cat’s maw is more than big enough to take his whole head off.
He wanted his dad, Akari, his brother, his uncle. Anyone really.
“Dad.” he pleaded, his voice barely more than a squeak after he strange his voice mere moments ago.
The Luxray reared back with one last roar, before lunging its open maw towards him.
Ingo squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the pain to come.
But it didn’t.
“Now this seems like a bit of an overreaction.”
Everything stopped for a moment, and the Luxray suddenly pulled its head back as Ingo heard footsteps slowly approaching.
“Common now. Get off the poor boy. Go on.” the voice loud but not nearly as loud as his father’s with an almost amused tone.
Ingo could feel the large cat slowly get off of him, giving a slight growl as the boy heard it walking away.
“Heh, yeah yeah.” whoever was speaking was now right next to him and Ingo dared to open his eyes. The person who seemed able to call off the Alpha, was bent down looking down at him with a slightly confused smile on their face. “You’re not supposed to be here.” there was no score or malice in their voice, in fact the person almost seemed to laugh a bit as they brushed a strand of long white hair out of their face. “What brings you all the way out here?”
They kind of reminded Ingo of his Uncle just a little bit, or even the Unova Champion.
“S-s-sorry. I didn’t mean to intrude.” Ingo quickly sat up, making himself slightly dizzy in the process. His voice sounded scratchy and cloggy from both projecting his voice, and the fact that he was pretty sure he broke his own nose when he ran into the statue.
The stranger placed a hand on his head and smiled at him, the green marks on their cheeks meeting their red eyes. “Hey now, I’m not mad. I’m just curious as to how you got here.”
“I-I was running from Warden Melli.”
“Why were you running from Warden Melli?”
“Cause he was mad that I hit him in the face with a pokeball.” the boy admitted but quickly tried to explain himself. “It wasn’t aiming for him, honest, I was trying to catch a Teddiursa.”
“You tried to catch a Teddiursa?!” The stranger seemed very excited about this. “Did you catch it?”
That was another blow. “No, I think it broke when it hit the ground.” He’d have to make a new pokeball.
“Aw.“ The stranger’s smile fell away slightly as if he was just as disappointed in the failed catch as Ingo was, but his smile returned soon after. “well between you and me, accidentally hitting Warden Meeli in the face is…as one of my two favorite trainers would say…Verrrry funny. Besides, I’m sure you’ll be able to find another one.” The stranger’s smile got a bit brighter as he noticed the boy seemed to laugh slightly at that. “So Warden Melli chased you here. But what about your face? Don’t tell me that was Melli too, cause I don’t think the Luxray did that; unless they somehow learned thunder punch.”
“No, it wasn’t them.” Ingo sighed, this was embarrassing and just seemed to sum up the whole day. “I did.”
“You did?”
“Yeah, I overclocked my engines trying to get away and may have…crashed my cab into that statue at full speed.” Ingo pointed awkwardly at what was left of the statue behind him, not sure if his face was burning from the swelling or from the fact he was sure his face was beat red from embarrassment.
To Ingo’s surprise the Stranger didn’t laugh, but their smile fell as they turned to look at the statue; their gaze lingering on it for several minutes before they looked back at him with a smile.” Well we can’t have that. Can we?”
The Stranger placed their large hand over his nose, causing Ingo to hiss in pain slightly. “This is going to hurt a little.” was the only warning he got before there was a ‘click’ and pain flashed before his eyes; but he could breathe through his nose once more. “Sorry but we can’t have you going around with a broken nose.”
“I…guess not.”
The Stranger gave a nod, letting go of his face and standing up. “Now let’s get you back to…your family. Where are you staying In…ah, Little guy?”
“Normally, Opelucid City with my Uncle but me and my brother have been staying with our dad since we came to Hisui. He goes by Warden Ingo here, I think.” Ingo explained, rubbing at his still watering eyes and completely missing the look of confusion, concern and surprise on the stranger’s face.
“Your dad…Warden Ingo…right…” Ingo glanced up, when he heard the slight hesitation in the stranger’s voice, but it was quickly replaced with a grin. “I think I can point you in the right direction.”
—
The Warden as fast as his legs could carry him towards the ruins, towards that scream. Emmet right on his heels and Akari not too far behind. Even Warden Melli was with them, though the other man lagged behind himself and Akari.
Lady Sneasler had tore off ahead.
The Ruins were full of Luxio and Luxray all itching for a fight, and worse it was the time of year they were normally nesting as well. They would not hesitate to rip a child apart if he was caught. He just hoped it didn’t come to that.
There was no doubt in Ingo’s mind that it had belonged to his eldest, causing panic to rise up in his chest. Emmet seemed to react much in the same way.
Why would young Ingo have even gone to the ruins in the first place? The boy had claimed to be searchers for Teddieursa, which were nowhere near the ruins.
So why was he there? Had something chased him?
Perhaps he should have kept both boys back at Lady Sneasler’s den, then let them both go out after they were done.
He shook his head. Doubts wouldn’t help any of them now.
Quickly the ruins came into view, and Ingo was able spot Lady Sneasler crouched down in front of something, seeming to frantically look over it.
Ingo slowed his run down to a light jog as he came up next to his Noble, prompting the others to do the same.
He placed a hand over his chest as he breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing his son in Lady Sneasler’s grasp, a hand coming to rest on his chest.
The boy was safe.
"Ingo.” He called out and the boy quickly looked up and over to him.
Breaking free of Sneasler’s grasp, young Ingo bolted towards him. “Dad!”
Now that the boy was closer, and not blocked by light gray fur, Ingo was able to see a bit of bruising around the boy’s eyes, and slight swelling around his nose, as if it had been broken. Dried blood clung to the boy’s face and there was a clear slit in his lip.
The Warden’s hand reached up to his own nose, a vague memory of his own nose being broken at one point. But feeling nothing but smooth cartilage under fingers.
“We heard you yell, What happened?” He asked as gently as he could, feeling Emmet next to him starting to fidget.
“I ran head first into one of the Statues running away from an Alpha Luxray.” His son explained, there was very little emotion in the boy’s scratchy voice as he spoke. This seemed to earn a laugh out of his brother.But Ingo was very aware of the fact his son was not looking at him as he spoke, but rather the man behind him.
Young Ingo was a horrible liar. Not that he was much better himself.
Warden Melli had looked rather winded when he’d seen the man.
“Ptfff. you ran head first into a statue?” Emmet laughed, finally seeming to calm down a bit and finding humor in his twin’s situation. “This is why you need me, Big Brother. You are verrrrry clumsy.”
“Shut up!”
“Alright.” Ingo quickly stepped in, keeping a flight from breaking out between two. Though he had to take Emmet’s side on this, as young Ingo tended to get distracted enough to forget his safety checks.
Carefully Ingo ran his fingers along the boy’s face as he searched for any signs of anything being broken, earning a pained groan as he touched the darkened skin. Checking his eyes for a sign of a concussion. “Nothing seems broken, so no harm done I suppose.” He smiled down at the boy. “But Emmet does have a point. this is the second time this week you’ve gotten distracted and failed your safety checks, getting yourself hurt yourself." Ingo decided to give Emmet the win, the bit of teasing the boy got from this might just be enough to correct himself. not that the younger twin wasn’t just as bad. "Please, always remember to conduct your safety checks.”
The boy nodded, and Ingo released both of the brothers back into the care of his Lady, so she could fuse over them; before turning around.
There was one last thing he needed to deal with.
Warden Melli stood with his back to Ingo, the path back to Lord Electrode’s area blocked by Akari, who had seemed to pick up on the same thing Ingo had as well.
While he had no proof as to what exactly went down, it wasn’t too hard to fit pieces together.
“Warden Melli.” He watched the man jump at the sound of his voice. “I’m sure my son didn’t mean to hit you with that pokeball. Accidents happen.”
“I-I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Melli replied, holding his head up high as if he didn’t have a large pokeball shaped black eye. This earned a mocking laugh from Akari.
“Hm. Well either way, I would like to request the return of that pokeball. They are a bit of a hassle to make.” Ingo held out his hand expectantly. The ball hadn’t broken on impact with the ground, which meant that there was possible a pokemon inside. He had a feeling Melli knew this too, possibly planning to release it back into the wild.
His son deserved to know he at least got something for his trouble.
Melli held the ball tightly in his hand, pulling away from the pearl clan warden as he insulted him. “And if I don’t?"
Akari let out growl, looking like she was ready to make a grab for the ball herself but Ingo spoke up before she could.
"My son is lying not for his own benefit.” Ingo kept his volume as even as he could, but made the warning in his tone ring clear. “ While I would hate to encourage lying in my children, it would do you no good if the truth got out. I’d hate to have to take this to Lord Adaman, and tell him one of his Warden put a member of the Pearl clan In danger.”
Without another word the ball was thrust into his hand rather rough.
“Fine! I didn’t want the cursed thing anyway.” The Warden turned swiftly on his heels and marched away, only stopping to look back at Ingo’s eldest when he thought no one was looking.
With a sigh, Ingo looked back at the group, just happy everyone was okay. “Common, let us make tracks back towards camp. To get something to eat. It’s been a busy day for everyone it seems.”
hey remember when I said chapter 5 was giving me trouble. well after that it got a away from me and ended up nearly 8 pages long. I’m so sorry.
Anyway, Akari meets the twins, and battles them. also they’re Uncle be worried sick. enjoy.
—
Akari had just returned from another expedition out in the Obsidian Fieldlands, trying to catch up a bit on some research; when spotted the two and had to do a double take.
At first glance she had simply thought they were nothing more than some kids from the Pearl clan, a very odd sight indeed seeing as most of the Pearl clan seemed to keep to themselves in their settlement; but she had hoped that this meant the clan was finally starting to open up a bit more.
It was only on her second glance that she noticed something even stranger that caused her to stop in her tracks.
Pokeballs.
They had Pokeballs.
Which was odd to see one anyone in one of the Clan outfits aside from Warden Ingo. but that wasn’t what caught her eye.
They weren’t just the handcrafted pokeballs she had since grown used to since Arcues had dropped her in Hisui. No, these were Modern Pokeballs. They were smooth and completely round, unlike the uneven surface of the ones here in Hisui; with bright Reds and Whites that weren’t so easily made here in the past.
Not even Ingo had modern pokeballs on him.
Even the belts they had tied around their waist were of a more modern make, with small indents made specifically for holding the balls in place without the need of a bag.
“Akari?” She heard the professor behind her call out as she started to make a combee-line towards the kids, her mind going a mile a minute.
Could these two have possibly gotten them from one of the space-time distortions? Why were there two kids running around in space-time distortions? Was this the reason Ingo had been called back to the settlement?
She watched the two closely, as if she were watching a pair of Shinx out in the field trying to learn more about them.
They were standing much closer to the fence than anyone else, in fact they were leaning against it, well everyone else kept back by at least a few feet. They lacked any kind of fear of the Pokémon just past the wooden beams, even going as far to reach out and pet any Pokémon that showed interest in the touch. Even in the clans such openness with Pokémon aside your partners was uncommon.
Which made her think…What if these two didn’t just find two pokeballs in a space-time distortion? What if…they were like her and Ingo?
Two trainers taken from their time and sent back to Hisui?
The professor walked up beside her, trying to get a good view at what had caught her interest. “Ah! Those must be Warden Ingo’s boys.” the Galarain man spoke, bringing Akari back to reality. “I heard some of the security corps mention seeing them during their posting in the highlands base camps.”
Akari looked back at the professor and then back towards the boys. “Ingo’s boys?” she repeated in a questioning tone, Ingo had never mentioned having children; in fact he had said that he didn’t know if he even had any family let alone kids of his own. But that didn’t mean it was impossible, it wasn’t even improvable. And now that she was really looking at them she could see their likeness to the Warden, the Silver hair with those dagger like sideburns, silver eyes, and sharp noses.
This information only proved in her mind that these two were like her and the Warden. Ingo’s kids, snatched up by space and time just like their dad.
“Would you like to go over and introduce yourself?” the Professor asked, looking at her with a raised eyebrow and a knowing smile; like he had caught her doing something she shouldn’t. “Or would you rather continue staring at them and making them feel awkward?”
Right. Maybe she shouldn’t be staring at them like this, less they notice her and think her rude. Last thing she wanted to do was upset Ingo by staring at his kids like they were strange new Pokémon.
“Y-yeah, let’s go say hi. Shall we?” she smiled, running the back of her head as she started to once more move towards the boys.
How the hell should she greet them? ‘Hi, I’m Akari, I know your dad.’ or ‘Hey, aren’t you Ingo’s Kids? I’m Akari.’ Why were greetings so awkward when you first meet someone?
Professor Laventon cleared his throat loudly as the two came up behind the boys, catching the attention of both of them. “Apologies for the interruption lads, me and my young assistant just came over to introduce ourselves.”
Akari watched as they turned slowly to face the two of them, their movements completely in sync. It was then that she realized that not only were their similarities to Ingo nearly spot on, but they were completely identical to each other. They were twins Identical twins. Separated only by facial expression it seemed.
“I-I am…I am” The realization seemed to hit the professor as well as it left him tripping over his words for a moment. “I am Professor Laventon, and this is Akari who is assisting me in completing the Pokedex for this region.” the Professor smiled at the two, placing one hand on Akari’s shoulder and the other behind his head as he laughed nervously.
Well couldn’t get more awkward than that, so she gave them both her most winning smile. “It’s a pleasure to meet you both, I’m also a friend of your dad.”
She watched the twins glancing at each other before looking back at them, one of them stepping forward while the other moved back to stand slightly behind his brother.
“I am Emmet.” the smiling one said in a quiet leveled voice, his sentences clipped. “This is my big Brother. He is Ingo. He is verrrrry shy.”
“Emmet.” the other boy hissed, his embarrassment seeming to leak out more through his voice than it did on his face; refusing to look up at the two strangers standing before them.
So Ingo’s eldest was named after, but it looked like he didn’t take after his father at all in the personality department; as she was sure the Warden didn’t have a shy bone in his whole body. Maybe a little distance at times, but not shy.
The two made to turn back around, clearly believing the conversation was done, when Laventon spoke up again.
“Oh, I thought you two were twins, you look so much alike.”
To this, Emmet’s smile seemed to drop slightly at this, looking very confused by the question. “Ingo was born an hour before me. Meaning he is older. We are still twins”
“Oh..um…yes, I suppose that is true.” the Professor coughed, slightly embarrassed by the question. “Well, Akari, we should..ah…Go and submit our findings to the …um…Captain…” Clearly he was looking for a way out of the conversation he had started.
Akari on the other hand simply shook her head. “I think I’ll stay behind for a little bit, professor. If that’s alright.” she smiled at the man, giving him the out he needed, but she wanted to get to know these two a little better.
“Oh, well then Jolly good!” The professor gave the three of them a nod and a smile. “I’ll go give our report and return to my lab if you need anything.” With that he quickly walked away from the scene, leaving Akari and the boys alone by the pastures.
Once the professor was gone, Akari walked up to the pasture’s fence, leaning against it and staring out over all the pokemon she had caught. The twins turned back to look at the Pokémon as well.
A silence fell between the three of them as Akari struggled to figure out how to really break the ice.
“You were staring at us.” Akari was startled for a moment as she looked over to see Ingo…no, Little Ingo looking up at her, his eyes quickly darting away. “I, um, saw you. It’s okay, a lot of people stare at us.” it was probably the most she had heard him speak, his voice strained slightly as if it was a conscious effort to keep his volume in check. Although Little Ingo’s words suggested that it was okay, his tone made it clear that it was something they weren’t fond of but had sadly grown used to.
The teen let out a sigh, guess she’d been caught. “Yeah, that was rude of me. Sorry.“ She apologized, wanting to correct their idea that it was okay for people to just stare at them despite how it made them feel. "But I couldn’t help but notice the pokeballs you guys have. They’re not from around here. I missed seeing them.” Akari let a smile stretch across her face. “I’m like you guys, I’m not from around here either.” She explained. “ But I have to ask, You two wouldn’t happen to be Pokémon trainers, would you?”
That seemed to catch both of their attention, as their heads snapped towards her.
Pokémon Trainer wasn’t a word commonly used in Hisui, as there were very few who could even classify as such. Pokémon wielder was much more common. She honestly missed hearing the word, and from the looks of it the twins did too.
"So that’s why you were staring at us?“ Little Ingo stood a little straighter, seeming to have shed just a little bit of shyness.
"You know what happens when you stare at another trainer?” Emmet was practically bouncing in place, though his voice lacked any of his excitement. “We battle.”
Akari nodded, and pulled out two pokeballs of her own as she smiled at the two. “What do you say we get to know each other a little better?”
—-
"That was so embarrassing.“ Akari complained, her face in her hands as she completely ignored her potato mochi. "What are you teaching those two? Teach it to me, please.”
"To be fair, miss Akari" Ingo spoke as he continued to eat his provided meal. “I haven’t had the chance to teach them anything yet. I was about to teach them Strong and Agile style today, but you seemed to beat me to it.” He glanced away from his meal, watching as Emmet was over by the training ground practicing the new style of fighting, while young Ingo was watching close by; having taken an interest in crafting his own pokeballs.
His meeting with Commander Kamado had run rather late. The man had dragged him a little over his late report and the sudden appearance of his children, demanding information on the two of them as if they were some kind of threat. By the time he had gotten out Akari had already bumped into the twins and the three had been engaged in battle.
“Though if there was anything advice I could give you Akari, it would be not to underestimate your opponents.”
It hadn’t been hard to tell that his young friend had been pulling her punches as he knew that she could have easily overwhelmed them with much stronger moves and Pokémon. The twins had always noticed her charity and rewarded it by…well pulling no punches. That poor Piplup and Dartrix hadn’t really stood a chance.
At least she managed to show them what Strong and Agile style was, even if it hadn’t helped her in the long run.
“I know.” Akari whined looking up at him with her head on the table. “But I thought they were like ‘just turned ten and got my starter’ new trainers. Not four badges deep into their gym challenge.” she sank back in her seat. “I mean they only had one Pokémon each, how was I supposed to know? I had at least five at that point in my own challenge. I didn’t want to discourage them.”
“I’m sure they would have gotten over the loss.” if anything they probably would have learned much more from it, just as Akari had. “As for any training they may have had prior, I’m afraid that credit belongs to my brother.”
Akari was silent for a moment, slowly processing that information. “You have a brother?” she questioned, gaze shifted towards him; then without warning her face was inches away from his own. “You remembered you have a brother?!” the girl cheered, a wide smile plastered across his face. “Is it the man it White you told me about? Did you remember his name?!”
It took a moment for the Warden to compose himself, leaning away from the teen who had launched herself onto the table. Ingo slowly shook his head “I’m afraid it’s not quite like that. I managed to recall having a sibling by watching the twins the other day, recalling similar antics the man in white and I would get up too. But the memory is still nothing more than a recollection.”
“Oh” the Akari’s face fell slightly as she slowly slid herself back off the table. “But you just said your brother taught them to battle.”
“Ah, that is sadly an assumption on my part.” Ingo let out a sigh, once more glancing over at the boys trying to keep an eye on them as well as give Akari his attention as well. “The boys often mention an Uncle who has taught them much, and is…was raising them in my stead.” He explained.
He liked to believe that it was his brother that the boys spoke of, but at the same time that brought about its own set of questions. Like why their uncle never mentioned him. The idea of there being bad blood between him and his brother seemed…wrong. More Wrong than anything else that comes to pass.
Which left the idea that his disappearance had been painful for his family, thus his brother had refrained from speaking of him. The thought that he had possibly caused the man in white so much pain was…distressing to say the least.
“And their mother?” Akari brought him out of his thoughts. Clearly picking up on the fact that there seemed to be a lack of a motherly figure in the twins’ lives.
It was something Ingo had picked up on as well.
Once more Ingo shook his head. “They haven’t mentioned her, which leads me to believe she is…no longer around."
“Oh, Ingo.” Akari stretched out a hand and touched his own. “I’m sorry.”
That should have triggered some kind of emotion from him, he had admitted his wife was dead, and yet all he could feel was sadness for the boys growing up without either of their parents. It was just another thing that felt wrong about all this.
Helping that small little train of doubt that seemed to continue to chug away at his mind.
Ingo let out a heavy sigh and glanced over at Akari. “Ever since all of this started happening, since the twins got here. It has been a bit of a whirlwind of thoughts and feelings.” he explained, feeling like he could be more open with Akari then he could anyone in the pearl clan.
“There is so much I am unsure of now, without my memories I have way to prove or disprove anything.” his eyes traveled back over towards the twins, smiling a little. “I was sure that I was not a father and yet the twins are here. They help fix the broken tracks in my mind that I did not realize could be fixed, explain things that I thought long lost. It has been a long time since I have felt such a sense of home.”
Slowly his trademark frown returned and his eyes turned away from the boys down to his own hand, running his thumb over the long scar that ran across the palm of his hand. He could never remember where the scar had come from. “I am very fond of those two, but I worry sometimes if I would call that train of thought… fatherly. I worry if what I am feeling simply isn’t enough…that I’m simply not enough.”
Akari gave his other hand a squeeze, smiling at him. "My mom used to say something similar. I think all parents feel like that sometimes.” She gave his hand another tight squeeze “You’re already an awesome Uncle. So you’ll probably be a great dad.”
Ingo opened his mouth to comment but before he could he was interrupted by a sound of pain and a flurry of movement, drawing his attention back to the twins.
"Ow!“
Before he even realized it, Ingo was at his eldest side kneeling down next to him. pulling Emmet, who had been slightly faster than him, away from his brother; passing him off to Akari who held him in a tight hug trying to calm the boy down.
Young Ingo held one hand in the other, his frown pulled tight and his eyes screwed shut from pain. The knife he had been using to carve the pokeball lay at his feet covered in blood.
"Let me see.” The Warden gently took the boy’s wrist, guiding it closer so he could inspect the damage. There was a deep cut across the boy’s palm, blood quickly pooling out of the open wound. He had no doubt that it would leave a nasty scar.
There was a rising panic in his chest as Ingo looked over the wound, his mind a temporary out of control train as he couldn’t help but wonder if he could have stopped this. If he’d been paying more attention then he might have been able to spot the dangers sooner. Should he have trusted the boy with the knife at all?
He shook his head and pushed those thoughts down. Panicking would do them no good. It had been an accident and nothing more. Slowly he pulled the boy to his chest, wrapping his other arm around him. “You’re fine.” He all but whispered as felt the boy shutter slightly as his emotions seemed to get the best of him. “It’s just a cut. Accidents happen, you’ll just need to be more careful next time."
Carefully he wrapped his own hand over young Ingo’s hand, easily covering the wound with his much larger palm and applied pressure to the wound. His hands were fair from the cleanest but stopping the flow of blood was more important, for now at least. He let go of the boy for only a moment, just long enough to snatched the bloody knife from the ground; and shoved it into his coat pocket. Not wanting Emmet to see it as he motioned for him to come join.
He held both boys in his arms for a moment longer before finally standing up. "Let’s go see if the repair crews at this station can do anything for this.” He gave the two a slight smile.
The boys nodded and he led them towards Galaxy hall, Akari bringing up the rear with a snicker. “And to think you were worried if you’d be a good Dad.”
—
“INGO! EMMET!” Drayden’s voice echoed loudly throughout Chargestone, he continued his search for his missing Nephews.
It had been well over a week since they disappeared into the cave and never came back out. At first he had managed to fool himself into believing that they had just been using the cave to train for the next gym battle.
But as the days went by and no one had seen them, he felt worry creep up his spine. This wasn’t like them.
It had been when young Elesa came running to him with the twins bag, bypassing all other gym leaders to find him; that his fears were solidified.
She had claimed to have seen them swallowed by a large black mass, controlled by some kind of Pokémon. By the time it cleared up…they were gone.
“Ingo! Emmet!” he called once more, sending out his Haxorus to search every inch of the cave.
He needed to keep calm.
His boys were strong.
They were more than capable of taking care of themselves.
But should he find one scratch on them when he found them…then whoever or whatever took them would know what a dragon master could really do.
A commission I did before the release of PL:A and looking back this really reminds me of the gameplay and how the game feels. An Edo-period inspired trainer discovering a huge Mega Swampert, just living cozily in his marshland home.
