#uncle drayden

Warden’s Twins - Chapter 5 - Archerthewarlock - Multifandom [Archive of Our Own]

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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.