Started thinking of an AU for Emmet because having his brother isekai’d to Ancient Sinnoh isn’t enough of a hardship.
When Ingo disappears, Emmet is a wreck with a faux smile, wearing himself thin between running the subway and searching for his twin. He becomes fixated on winning every battle, believing that any losses will only disappoint Ingo upon his return. He strives to make everything perfect, even if it ends up hurting himself. One night, thanks to Volo messing with space time, a rift opens in the subway, allowing a Nihilego to drift in. Emmet, staying late as he works himself to the bone, notices an alarm has been set off in one of the tunnels. He goes alone and Nihilego, upon witnessing a vulnerable but strong host, attacks him.
Emmet is found the next morning unconscious in the tunnels. He is taken to the hospital and given a clean bill of health. Unbeknownst to everyone, the Nihilego has attached itself to him (in my AU, Nihilego have the ability to camouflage and are able to keep control over their host by maintaining some form of contact. They only latch onto the head/upper torso in order to battle or if they feel their control on their host slipping).
Emmet’s personality begins changing. He’s battling even more intensely than before, his excitement intense to the point of terrifying. He beats challenger after challenger, only craving more. He is reckless, often injuring himself as he works chaotically through the day. At night, he wanders the tunnels, the Nihilego forcing him to search for more rifts in order to gain more territory. His mind is steadily dissolving the longer he is injected with Nihilego’s neurotoxins, psychologically ravaging him.
Eventually, another rift does open and the Nihilego takes itself and its host through.
Emmet is forced through the portal and comes face to face with the wild wilderness of Hisui.
(I’m not saying I encourage Akari catching Nihilego!Emmet, but if she did, I included the little sprite that would show up in your party :))
After returning Galaxy Team’s headquarters, Laventon goes to report what happened to the commander and captain. Ingo and Akari are left to wait as Pesselle is tasked with treating the…thing. Akari isn’t having a great time dealing with the fact she’s hurt and captured a person, but she can’t let Kamado see her cry. (She still doesn’t feel entirely safe around him after the whole banishment debacle…)
Kamado gives Akari strict instructions to not allow the creature out of the Pokeball. In addition, Ingo is not allowed to have possession of nor be alone with the creature since his reactions to the being and their striking resemblance is raising more and more red flags.
I don’t know if this has been pointed out (it probably has because I’m abhorrently late to talking about this game) but–
Am I truly going to be looked in the eye and told that THIS
Didn’t descend from THIS??????
The matching overwhelming smugness that does nothing to hide insecurity? The matching absolute need to butt into everything the protag does simply because they feel their already fragile sense of significance is being threatened every time they are left out of important affairs? THE MATCHING DISGUSTED SNEERS???
PLA has forcibly dragged me back into an obsession with the dorky train twins that I haven’t had since high school, so thanks for that. Ingo and Emmet used to have almost no content (at least in the American fandom) and now it’s being flooded with angst because of this game and I’m HERE FOR IT. I LOVE MY MUPPET MEN SO MUCH.
Unfortunately for Emmet, he is my favorite character, and I’ve seen multiple AUs of him being thrown into the Distorted World while Ingo was sent to Hisui, of him befriending/getting possessed by Giratina, etc. that I’ve started thinking up my own sort of Emmet and Giratina twist.
While the headcanon of Ingo landing in Hisui and not knowing their language is both interesting story-wise and kind of funny because of the utter Bafflement™ this man would experience, I actually really like the idea of both Ingo and Emmet being multilingual.
I mean, they run a huge transportation hub in the center of a large city that tourists probably flock to like moths to a flame. Plus, since Unova is based on the U.S. and Nimbasa (from what I know) is based on New York City, the subway is in the center of a large cultural melting pot. They have probably had to help plenty of passengers unable to speak even a lick of Unovan. Communication is key in ensuring all safety checks have been completed!
In order to be able to help and efficiently serve as many passengers as possible, I can imagine these two staying up late into the night during their early subway days (before they were even close to being subway bosses) to learn as much as they can of the most commonly spoken languages in the Pokemon world. Hisui’s language is likely the same as Sinnoh’s, perhaps with some changes to grammar and certain pronunciation.
Also imagine Ingo, forcibly isekai’d into Hisui, sometimes forgetting certain words and cycling through multiple languages before finally finding the right one. When everyone’s like, “What language were you just speaking???” Ingo just, “…I too would love to know.”
I’m not very good at comics, but hopefully this isn’t completely disappointing. Nihilego!Emmet’s story continues to unfold.
I love feral protective Emmet with all of my heart, but I hardly ever see much of protective Ingo. He’s so polite and considerate, but I feel like that would switch on a dime if something was going on with his brother.
Also, I love the thought of him always being verrrrrry loud, but when he’s really truly angry, he gets reallyquiet.
So you’re telling me that Emmet has gone AT LEAST 10 years if not MORE without Ingo? That is the information that GameFreak is going to slap me with like a Kraft Singles Cheese Slice on Ingo’s bald head? How am I supposed to Live Laugh Love in these conditions?????
