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allaboardsubmas · 22 days ago

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A Spark of Something New - Chapter 8 (Title Formerly: Bound by Choice)

A/N: Enjoy!

Fandom: Pokemon (Black & White, All Media Types, Legends: Arceus)

Characters: Original Character, Kudari | Emmet, Nobori | Ingo

Rating: Teen Audiences

Summary: Andy has always been afraid of pokemon and what it is that they’re able to do, which makes their life rather hard considering they’re twenty-two, live in Unova, and work in Nimbasa City; which is known as the battle capital of their region. Their closest friend and semi-adopted mother being a former gym battle leader also didn’t tend to help matters.

A panic attack on a subway car they thought was empty, however, leads to them meeting the infamous Subway Bosses and learning that pokemon, while terrifying, weren’t the monsters they had grown up believing them to be. Getting sucked up into the lives of the two Subway Bosses and their best friend Gym Leader Elesa might be even more terrifying than the pokemon, however.

AO3 Link: A Spark of Something New

Next Chapter Immediately Available on Patreon

—

If you enjoy this story then check out my Writing Commissions.

…or, if you prefer, you can just buy me a ko-fi! ☕ …or, if you have a nice allowance, support me on Patreon! 🪶

—

Chapter 8 - Emmet (Without Ingo) Makes A Friend

“I am Emmet. Today has been the worst.” Normally, that was the point Ingo would tell him he was being dramatic. Instead, over his xtrans, Emmet heard a little huff of agreement. It was definitely bad. “How are the Lines?”

“Once again up and running optimally,” Ingo replied swiftly, sounding as exhausted as Emmet felt. “The Drilbur infestation has been soundly and swiftly dealt with and all Drilbur have been caught and transferred to Professor Juniper’s lab for re-release! Time of arrival to the Pokecenter?”

“Almost there,” Emmet said instead of taking the time to calculate how long it would take him at his current walking pace. That involved math. He was too tired for math. He was pretty sure he heard Ingo make a noise that was either sympathetic or frustrated.

“You should have let me go since I’ll be the one using the team next.” Ah. An Ingo lecture. Emmet was good at tuning those out.

“No. My Doubles matches were this morning. It is my responsibility to see that they are healed before their Singles matches.” On a normal day Emmet would have let the healing staff at the station take care of their pokemon, but with the Drilbur infestation there had been a lot of injured pokemon to deal with. It was easier to use his limited time to visit the Pokecenter. “You also skipped breakfast to work early and assist with maintenance. Keep eating.”

Emmet brought up his wrist to glare at the screen, pleased to see that Ingo made a disgruntled scoff before munching bitterly on a forkful of salad. Emmet would have complained more, normally, but that could wait until he was sure Ingo was well-fed and not at risk of derailing himself. He was verrry bad at being selfish, after all.

“Ah. Entering the center now,” Emmet informed him, stepping into the Nimbasa Pokecenter and looking around to see it wasn’t too busy as he approached the front desk, only one other person there and waiting and the Nurse Joy most likely doing something in the back. It was the off-season for the Gym Challenge, he supposed. Winter would only be a few weeks away, perhaps a month at most. Most Challengers were back at home or had returned to school.

“Please be sure to eat yourself once you return to the station,” Ingo lectured, Emmet nodding along because Emmet, at least, was selfish enough to eat at least a few bites before rushing off to the next task. “A full meal, Emmet, not simply a granola bar!” Damn. His brother knew him too well.

“I will- Hm.” Emmet paused, staring down at the shiny Joltik that was staring back up at him from the counter. The Joltik gave a few taps to the counter with his claws before throwing off a few sparks, Emmet beaming. “I will call you back.” Hanging up on his brother and not listening to his response, Emmet reached out a finger to gently pet the Joltik’s back. “Hello, Spark.”

Looking back up at the other person on the counter, Emmet was highly amused to see that while it was Andy, they were wearing a lab coat and a tie. Verrry unlike their last few outfits Emmet had seen them in. Curiously, he watched Andy yawn, tilting their head towards their right shoulder before snapping up and looking around frantically. It was delightful to watch them look at Emmet before groaning loudly in what seemed to be disbelief. “Seriously, are you following me? This city is huge!”

“Mhm. Yup. It is verrry big. This is also the closest Pokecenter to Gear Station.” Emmet grinned as Andy scoffed and rolled his eyes. “I was not aware you worked in a lab.”

“A- Oh.” Andy looked down at their coat, shaking their head. “No. I don’t. They just make us wear these stupid- Hang on.” Nurse Joy had returned, carrying a small box that Andy sighed in relief at seeing. Interesting. “Thank you.”

“Of course! Thank you for bringing our own supplies back,” Nurse Joy laughed, patting at a box that rested on the desk behind the counter. “Was there anything else you needed?”

“No, thank you, that should be all.” Leaving Andy to check over whatever was in the package, which Emmet found himself curious about, he instead focused on Nurse Joy as she turned to him.

“Oh! Hello, Emmet. Healing the team here today?” Ah, the joys of having someone who knew their routines and was already preparing a tray for all the pokeballs.

“Yup!” Emmet set them all in carefully, delighted as always that Nurse Joy didn’t chain him down with small talk and instead went to work at once at healing the team. He did notice Andy’s curious look over to him. “Ingo and I will use the Pokecenter over the healing staff at Gear Station depending on supply level and time. Nurse Joy is verrry familiar with us here!”

“Guess you’re working yourself today seeing as you’re wearing your own white coat,” Andy said, tone making it seem like they were joking. They were very obviously not good at it. “The, uh, place I work for, they were expecting a delivery for some hard copy data, but it got switched with a supply of items for the Pokecenter, so someone needed to come collect it. I’m getting paid no matter what, so at least there’s that, and no one else wanted to go, since we were doing this group bonding morale hour thing after lunch.” Ah… Emmet was seeing the full picture.

Andy was still rambling, making no move to head for the door. They obviously were not fond of forced social obligations. Emmet could relate. It seemed they were looking for an excuse to not go back to work quite yet. Emmet could help with that. First things first, however. “Is it an Andrew or Andrea day?”

Andy, who had set the box back down and had been in the middle of talking, paused, stumbled, and blinked up at him. Emmet almost expected to get huffed at for interrupting, but instead they beamed, hands doing a few light flaps at their side that was wonderfully familiar. “Andrew. It’s an Andrew day.” Mm. They- He didn’t get asked that often, then.

“You were telling me why your work makes you wear lab coats.” Because Emmet was actually a little curious about that. It also seemed like something Andy was happy to rant about. He was very much like Ingo in that way. Once he found something to talk about, he was able to simply talk.

In the time it took Nurse Joy to return Emmet learned that Andy worked in data entry for the National Pokedex after Lenora recommended it, which made the surprise he felt less surprising, and the fact that Andy thought he would be working not in Nimbasa, which made much more sense for someone afraid of pokemon and battling.

“So,” Andy finished with a sigh, trailing after him with his box once the team had been returned fully healed. “I take it the Station is low on supplies if you’re here?”

“Ah. Drilbur infestation. Ingo needs the team fully healed for the Singles Line so I came here. He wanted to, but he needed to eat lunch.” Emmet paused at Andy’s laugh, bright and sudden. “Hm?”

“Sorry, just- Looks like we’re both using our lunch breaks to get some extra work in.” Lunch break? Hadn’t he said it was some morale hour thing he was avoiding? Andy must have been decent at reading facial expressions, because he gave a shrug. “Morale hour takes place after lunch, so I just got an early start on this and hoped it would take long enough I would miss most of it when I got back.”

Emmet nodded. “Which means you already ate lunch. Good.” Spark had jumped from Andy’s shoulder to the box, chirping in the tone Nugget always used on him when ratting him out to Ingo for not eating. “Ah. You did not eat.”

“I did,” Andy lied, Emmet staring him down. “This morning… Why do you know how to understand Joltiks so well, anyway! Can you just speak to pokemon?”

“No,” Emmet said, laughing in Andy’s face and delighting in the annoyed glare it earned him. So easy to tease. “And all safety checks must be performed!”

With that Emmet was easily swiping the box from Andy’s hands, turning and marching opposite the way towards Gear Station. Spark, delightfully, remained on the box. “Wha- Hey! Don’t just- Don’t just take my stuff and my pokemon and- Emmet!”

“There is a food stall this way that provides good, cheap food,” Emmet explained once Andy caught up, the other still grumbling and fussing as Emmet refused to return the box. It was likely Andy would just run in the opposite direction to escape. That’s what Emmet would do. Hm. Maybe he should distract the other with small talk? Ah, how did small talk work again…

Emmet managed to at least discuss the weather for a minute or two, and even comment on something he had heard Elesa complaining about the previous week. That was enough conversation to get to the stall, and then they were able to talk about what to order. Emmet got his food in a bag to eat once he returned to the station, waiting for Andy to catch up to him as he checked his xtrans.

“So. You don’t really do small talk, huh?” Ah. So it was noticeable. Emmet made sure to not look away from his xtrans as he answered. Less embarrassing that way.

“There is not much I find interesting. What I am interested in tends to be what others aren’t interested in.” Pokemon battling was one thing, but in-depth discussions on IV and moveset breeding was another.

The two of them were quiet as Emmet skimmed through his messages. Ingo was asking where he was and why he had hung up. He couldn’t exactly text back while holding the box and Spark with one hand, but Andy was finally eating, even if it was a food stall pastry. Emmet had a feeling Andy did not eat while working very often. Maybe-

“You could talk about trains.” Snapped out of his thoughts, Emmet shot his gaze to Andy, who was watching him quietly. “You and your brother like trains, right? I, um, I’d be interested in learning about that a little. I mean, I don’t know much, but, uh, that- That first night? The one we met? You and Ingo were talking about- About bullet trains, right? How they were more popular in Kanto than in Johto?”

Oh. Someone had listened to them. Andy had been coming out of a panic attack. He had been overwhelmed. Scared. Surrounded by two strange men and a pokemon he feared. He had still listened to them. He had even remembered. Emmet wasn’t sure what his expression was, but Andy smiled. “My office building is a couple blocks north of Gear Station, so, uh… I’ll be walking with you a bit, if you don’t mind.”

That was all Emmet needed before he started talking. It wasn’t as good as it was with Ingo, who could keep up with him and happily engage in the technical details, but Andy was actively listening. He even asked a few questions that let him go more in-depth. He had an opinion on the bullet train versus magnet train debate! It was nice!

Before he knew it they were at Gear Station, Emmet finally handing the box, and Spark, back over to Andy, who had finished eating. “Thanks,” Andy said, snorting when Spark hopped up to sit back on his shoulder. “Alright, you little traitor.”

“Please remember your safety checks in the future!” Emmet decided to settle on saying, grinning as Andy rolled their eyes. With the coat that looked a size too big and the fact Andy only came up to his shoulder he looked so small. Like a stray pokemon, truly.

“Yeah, yeah.” Andy fell silent, staying in place before looking at him properly. “You know, I don’t have anything that I’m really interested in, not like you and Ingo are with your trains and with battling. So, you know, it’s- It’s nice. I liked hearing about how excited you were about what you love.” Andy lingered a second more before turning to leave, shuffling the box around before giving a little wave. “See you later!”

Emmet waved back, quiet as he followed the familiar path to the Singles Line, boarding about to begin in two minutes and twenty-seven seconds and Ingo waiting near his battling car and scanning the crowd for him. When he made it to his side, Ingo was fussing at once. “There you are. You could have at least answered one of my texts- Ah, you have food!” Ingo paused, staring at him. “You bought actual food?”

“Yup!” Emmet shuffled the bag to his other wrist, handing Ingo the team members he would need for his battles. “Sorry for the delay, I was…” Emmet paused, feeling Ingo’s gaze on him as he stared down at his bag of food before smiling at his brother. “I was speaking with a friend.”

#Pokemon #submas #my writing #original #bound by choice #a spark of something new

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allaboardsubmas · 1 month ago

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A Spark of Something New - Chapter 7 (Title Formerly: Bound by Choice)

A/N: So to those curious "Bound by Choice" was a title I came up with at 3am just to name the Google Document. I decided to put in a little more effort! (Also, the chapters now have titles of their own!)

Fandom: Pokemon (Black & White, All Media Types, Legends: Arceus)

Characters: Original Character, Kudari | Emmet, Nobori | Ingo

Rating: Teen Audiences

AO3 Link: Bound by Choice

Chapters 8 Immediately Available on Patreon

—

If you enjoy this story then check out my Writing Commissions.

…or, if you prefer, you can just buy me a ko-fi! ☕ …or, if you have a nice allowance, support me on Patreon! 🪶

—

Chapter 7 - Andy Runs Into The Brothers (Again)

Letting out a massive breath as she slumped back into her chair, Andy looked away from her work computer and instead to where her not quite so new friend was charging her xtrans for her. “Well, little buddy, we did it. We survived the work week.” Andy reached down to give Joltik a few pets, laughing at how he arched into them. “Maybe I should just call you my little outlet at this point.”

Already within the week Andy had found her life changing drastically since accepting the Joltik as her own. First, her xtrans had yet to die, not with her new ‘outlet’ always keeping it fully charged with the stores of electricity he siphoned from batteries and the outlets at work when Andy ‘wasn’t looking.’ Second, she was certainly never lonely.

The little guy refused to go into his pokeball, to the point the last time Andy had tried to put him in there he had broken out to the amusement of everyone on the train. She had given up after that. It ended up being helpful since her Joltik knew like clockwork when it was time for her to stand up, take a break, or even eat. He was probably the only reason she had eaten today, nipping and playing with her fingers when she tried to ignore her alarms and sparking up a storm until she agreed to eat something for herself rather than just feeding him to distract him. It was… Well. It was the opposite of everything her mother had ever told her when it came to pokemon and what it was they could do.

“Andy! It seems every Friday I find you here late enough to be part of the night shift!” Ah. Anthony. Her own eternal torment in human form. And here she thought she would need to fear pokemon as her final end. “That energy you have is just something else. Wish I had it!” Oh, here they went again.

Andy nodded along and feigned interest as Anthony kept talking, not seeming to notice Andy shutting down her computer, gathering up all her cords and USBs, and nudging Joltik onto her shoulders- Actually, that one he noticed. “-pokemon of all things! We didn’t think you’d ever get one.”

“Ah. Yeah. He was a little bit of a surprise.” That was another thing that had changed with the addition of her Joltik. It seemed everyone was curious about him, especially since Andy had always been the only one in the office to not have a pokemon. The cons of working at a place that dealt with nonstop information about pokemon. “Well, Anthony, I should probably-”

“Oh, that reminds me!” Damn. She had been so close. “A few of us are making plans to get together over the weekend and visit a couple bars around Nimbasa. Now, I know you’re pretty young and all, but we wanted to extend the invitation…” Oh. Oh, no. Social obligations.

“Oh- Oh! That’s, uh, that’s really sweet, Anthony, but…” Excuse. She needed an excuse. She needed to find an excuse right that second- Her Joltik whined loudly, shivering sharply on her shoulders and making a weak wheezing noise. “Joltik is sick! He’s been feeling under the weather all day and I really need to take him to the Pokecenter and if it’s something too bad I don’t want to leave him on his own all weekend, you know?”

“Of course! Pokemon health comes first,” Anthony nodded seriously, Joltik wheezing again and Andy gathering up the rest of her things. “Maybe another time?”

“Definitely, but for now I should get this little guy seen. Bye, Anthony!” Quickly rushing to the locker rooms, and feeling a spark of fear, Andy looked over to see that her Joltik was bouncing and chirping and no longer shivering and oh- Oh! “Did you just feign being sick so I could escape?”

Andy dropped her cords onto a bench, scooped up Joltik into her hands, and placed a loud kiss on top of his head. “I love you. You are the best pokemon to ever exist in this world.” The squeaking reached levels loud enough to echo off the walls, Andy not even caring and giving him another kiss to the top of his head because he had even reigned in his sparks to make sure not to hurt her and he was so delightfully soft and fuzzy. “You are getting so many batteries when we get home little buddy.”

Slinging off her lab coat and clip-on tie into her locker, Andy grabbed her fluffy yellow shawl and wiggled it on, snorting when Joltik jumped up to latch onto it. “At least I have the colors needed to go for an electric theme on my fem days, huh?” Joltik gave a little spark of agreement, Andy thanking her sister once again for sending her a shawl made of treated Wooloo wool that didn’t collect static electricity. It was the only thing saving her at that moment.

“Alright, little buddy, let’s get out of here.” Slinging her bag around her shoulders, Andy made for the gauntlet of elevators once again, feeling much less dizzy and exhausted than she had last time she had stayed hours late to get a batch of work done. Who knew that eating throughout the day really helped? Now if only she could learn to say no when her co-workers asked her to finish up their portion of work… Maybe-

Houndoom. Barking. Andy sucked in a breath and then watched as Joltik jumped off of her and onto the floor, chittering loudly and giving off an array of sparks that had the Houndoom slinking away, a few grumbling noises leaving as he laid down and tucked his head across his paws. The guard — and Andy was right, his name was Rupert — laughed.

“Wow. That’s the quickest I’ve ever seen him settle! You know, if you ever want a battle…” Ah. Shit. That was another thing that had changed. Everyone wanted to battle now.

“Maybe not this late at night,” Andy joked, making sure Joltik had scuttled back up onto her shawl — she really was getting way too used to him climbing her — before heading for the door. “Good night!”

Getting out into the street, Andy immediately bathed Joltik in scritches and scratches, cooing at him, “Good job, buddy, you terrified that big mean Houndoom in there.” And had made Andy feel foolishly better at seeing such a little bug stand up to the giant thing. “Ahh… maybe I should register you as an emotional support pokemon. Make everyone stop asking for battles in the battle capital of the region!”

Clamping her mouth shut at realizing she was yelling randomly in public, Andy looked around quickly, pleased that no one was staring at her for her outburst, but, well. It was Nimbasa. They had seen weirder. Putting Joltik back onto her shoulder, Andy sighed and started walking the familiar path towards Gear Station.

“Tell you what, buddy, I wish I had gone to Castelia City like I thought this job was based in. But no. That’s where headquarters is. Instead we’re here in Nimbasa because it allows for quicker data dump transfers between regions with the way the network is set up!” Andy was pretty certain her Joltik understood nothing of what she was saying, but he was a good listener and engaging with his little chirps and squeaks so it didn’t feel like she was alone in a huge city at night. She really needed to start saying no to her co-workers on Fridays.

“Next time we say no,” Andy said firmly, breathing in time with the way her Joltik moved from shoulder to shoulder methodically, scuttling around like a metronome that was keeping her sane and distracted from everything else rushing by around her. “Especially with it starting to get so close to winter and it getting dark so late.” Andy was terrified of pokemon, but she was scared of a lot of other things in general. Walking alone in a huge city at night when she grew up in a small little town was one of them.

At least she had company, now. It made it easier to focus on her breathing to try and keep it even as she rushed down the stairs into Gear Station, eyes trained for the signs and departing times because she was not boarding the wrong train this time. If she did then she had a feeling those twins would find her again and that white one, Emmet, would be a bastard about it.

Unfortunately, focusing all of her attention on the signs meant she didn’t focus on what, or who, was in front of her. It was definitely her fault when she ran into someone hard enough to almost send them both to the ground, the two scrambling to catch themselves and Andy already spitting out apologies before she felt a hand fist around her shawl and jerk her forward hard enough for her to lose her breath, “Hey! What’s the big fucking idea!” Oh. Oh no. “The fuck I do to you, huh?!”

“N- No-” Andy tried to explain, because she definitely hadn’t meant to start anything, and now someone was holding her in place by her shawl, which was really more of a cardigan type of jacket thing that wasn’t really easy to slip out of since it went over her head instead of buttoning up, and that was definitely the wrong thing to be focusing on when she still hadn’t said anything, and she heard the guy still yelling as she was pushed backwards and her back hit a wall.

“Nothing, right! So you’re just going to be like everyone fucking else and start some shit just because you can, huh?!” The man was yelling loud enough for her ears to ring, but no one else seemed to hear. It was just them. It was just her crouched up against a wall with her mother’s voice ringing out I told you so as she tried to explain and couldn’t even form a single word-

Sparking.

Eyes snapping to the side to see her shoulder, she saw her Joltik was starting to spark and Andy felt her heart plummet down to her stomach fast enough to make her sick as she hissed out a frantic, “No-!” The man didn’t seem to hear her, still yelling in her face, but Andy could only focus on one thing at a time, and pokemon weren’t allowed to attack humans. If her Joltik attacked him then he could be taken from her, and she couldn’t- Enough people had already left her.

Andy grunted in surprise as she felt the fist holding her shawl give a rough shake, her attention snapping back to the man. “What? You too good to talk to someone like me? That’s it, huh? Just because I look a certain way it’s okay to just push me around, huh?!” The man, who looked like an absolute wreck and was wearing a very cliche leather jacket, sounded like he was as close to crying as Andy felt. He also didn’t notice Andy’s Joltik jumping to the floor and running off and okay- Okay. That was good. Maybe he would find Emmet and at least be taken care of. That was something. “Just like everyone else!”

Oh. Oh, for- Andy was being accosted by someone with self-worth issues because she bumped into him too hard? Opening her mouth to try and at least explain, and maybe not throw up from stress because she wasn’t all that tall and this guy was and she was having a heart attack- “Well, if it’s a battle you want, I’ll be happy to give you one!”

Whatever amusement or sympathy Andy had fled. Instead she froze, head swimming and feeling disconnected from her body as she watched the man grab a pokeball from his belt, raising his hand into the air. His other hand still had her pinned. She could barely even think, let alone try to break his grip, and if a pokemon was released right here in front of her she couldn’t do anything not even run and-

She froze.

So did the man.

They both froze because directly above them was the sound of a large creature screeching. Andy barely even realized she was let go, the man stumbling away from her and allowing her to look up even as she tried to stop herself.

Above her head was a large, angry Galvantula, clinging to the wall and not even a foot away from touching the top of her head. Andy was almost certain she would be screaming if she had the breath for it, listening to it hiss and spit as hairs rose along it’s body, sparks arcing across it and poison seeming to coat it’s pedipalps. A wild thought flew through her head that she at least knew the anatomy of what was about to kill her.

Before she could even collapse or scream or whatever else her fear response told her to do, she looked at the Galvantula’s head. There, nestled in the fur, was an angrily sparking Joltik. A shiny Joltik- Her shiny Joltik. Apparently he hadn’t been leaving her. He had been getting reinforcements.

Andy couldn’t stop her weak, choked wheeze of a laugh, whispering a soft, “Good job, buddy.” up towards the little guy. Her amusement quickly fled when her attention snapped to movement in front of her, the guy now looking even angrier as he raised his pokeball.

“Fucking bugs. I’ll squash all of ya-!” Slamming her eyes shut, Andy hunched over and hugged herself tightly, mentally apologizing to Lenora for no doubt being put in charge of her funeral.

Before she could get too far in planning on her ghostly hijinks, however, she heard a much louder, angrier voicer. “That is quite enough.”

Her eyes snapping open, Andy saw an enraged frown and a hand gripping the man’s wrist tightly to prevent him from throwing his pokeball. Her vision was then blocked by a white coat, Andy slumping against the wall and closing her eyes again and okay. Okay. No ghostly hijinks yet, then. It didn’t seem likely she’d die when the Subway Bosses were between her and any and all possible danger.

That didn’t mean she couldn’t just… mentally shut down for a few moments. Maybe minutes. She just needed a little bit of time to remember how to breathe- Someone was gently nudging her back. Light enough to barely feel it, but enough to get her to take a step forward. The sensation repeated and walking. The sensation wanted her to walk. She could do that. Walking was something she had experience in.

She really must have had a full mental shutdown because the next thing she was really aware of she was sitting on a train, Ingo and Emmet on either side of her, and her Joltik in her hands and looking up at her while squeaking before giving one of those loud chirps that definitely should not come from a body that small.

Unable to help herself, Andy echoed it back quietly, smiling a little at the answering chirp before jumping at the quiet laugh from one of the boys.

Before she could say anything, it was Emmet to speak, stating a blunt, “You are causing a lot of trouble.” Andy saw Ingo frown directly at Emmet, but all she could do was stare at Emmet for a long moment before giving a weak, startled laugh.

“I’m not sure if you’d believe me that I usually try to stay out of trouble,” Andy managed to reply, feeling her heart finally start to resume a normal rhythm now that she was safe on a train between two of some of the most powerful pokemon trainers in the whole region. It was hard to be afraid after seeing what it was they could do and then watching them make dumb jokes. “Are we…?”

“We are on our way to Nacrene City,” Ingo answered promptly, voice as loud and enthusiastic as always. It was starting to be comforting, oddly enough. “Forgive us for our assumptions, but we presumed you were on your way home?”

“You presumed correctly,” Andy smiled, blowing out a shaking breath. “Thank you- Thank you both, for- For that. You’re really good at the whole saving me in the nick of time thing, you know. Ever consider-”

“Why did you not have your Joltik use an attack to buy you time to escape?” Ah. A man with self-worth issues would not be her downfall. Instead it would be the Subway Boss that had no concept of letting a matter drop and instead rubbing her mistakes into her face. “You are no longer scared of him.”

“It wasn’t- I wasn’t going to- I mean-” Andy stumbled over her words, trying to find the right ones and failing. Ingo, blessed wonderful person he was, tried to direct his bastard brother’s attention elsewhere.

“Emmet, I’m not certain now is the time to inquire about this.” The tone was the warning one all older siblings used when their little siblings were pushing their luck. Andy was very familiar with hearing it.

Emmet, however, did not seem to have the same sense of fear that Andy did, instead just tilting his head. “You are not dumb.” Ah. A compliment. How flattering. “Surely you are aware of what moves that Joltik knows. Even a simple String Shot-”

“Pokemon who attack humans get taken away,” Andy blurted, almost as loud as Ingo as she brought her hands — brought her Joltik — closer to her chest. “If they attack humans then they’re- They’re dangerous. It proves they can’t be trusted and they get taken and- I only just got him and I don’t-” Some sparks against her fingers, gentle and more like the surprise of static shock, had her looking down to where her Joltik was looking up at her. Once he was sure she was looking, he moved to gently nuzzle against her palm.

The train car was silent, Andy using the gracious seconds to get her breath back and screw her head on straight before looking up at the two. Ingo was frowning, but seemed worried more than anything. Emmet was smiling, but the smile was tense at the corners, like he wanted to say something and was only just holding himself back. Andy appreciated it.

“Thank you, both of you, for helping. And… sorry. I keep causing you two a lot of trouble, I feel like.” First with having a panic attack on one of their trains and making them accompany her all the way to Nacrene, and now with all this.

Emmet was the one to respond first, unsurprisingly, sighing loudly and dramatically. “You are a lot of trouble-”

“Emmet!”

“-but luckily for you we are verrry good at dealing with troublesome situations!” Emmet beamed even as Ingo scoffed and Andy tried to fight back a laugh. The two were so… well. Andy wasn’t sure she had the right words, but they were very hard to feel uneasy or afraid around.

“It is our job to see all passengers safely to their destinations,” Ingo added on, sounding firm and wonderfully reliable. Definitely Andy’s favorite. “Whether that’s giving them directions or dealing with more… unsavory situations, we would never let a lost passenger stay lost.” Ingo’s lips twitched, a little lopsided sort of smile that was still somehow a frown. “Besides, our friend Elesa has been in much more troublesome situations that we’ve had to deal with.”

“Her trouble is the worrrst,” Emmet groaned, rolling and dragging out the ‘r’ in the word in a way that was vaguely familiar in the way he did it so often. Vocal stim? Hm. Not her business. But interesting- Hang on, Elesa? Why did that name sound familiar- “More importantly. What is your Joltik’s name?” Shit.

Andy hesitantly looked at Ingo. Frown was there, but something about him seemed amused. No help was coming from there. “Right. Name. Because I’ve had him for a week and I’ve definitely given him a name by this point.”

“Exactly!” Emmet chirped, sounding scarily like a Joltik himself even as his grin looked like something from a horror movie. “So what is it?”

“It’s, uh, it’s…” Andy looked around the train car, down at the floor, and then to her Joltik. She might have been projecting, but it also seemed like he was saying I’ll be alright with whatever you give me. It was devastatingly effective. She just- She hadn’t meant to put off naming him! She had just been waiting for the right moment! For some kind of- Some kind of… “Spark.”

The train car was silent again, Andy somehow feeling that Ingo and Emmet both were giving her a chance to change it, because alright, yes, it sounded very childish and like a child’s first pokemon but- But it was. It was her first pokemon and he had brought her life just the spark she had needed, so- Yeah. Yes.

“His name is Spark,” Andy said firmly, looking up to see Emmet beaming and Ingo lightly clapping.

“Bravo! An excellent name for such a stalwart companion!” Ingo sounded so excited and Emmet gave a delighted laugh and for a few moments Andy felt like everything was so good. Emmet, as usual, had to go and ruin it.

“Does this mean you are going to be looking into battling, then?” Forget Anthony being her eternal torment in human form. That honor belonged to Emmet. “It would help you bond to Spark more, and give you more confidence should you ever derail like you did tonight or find yourself in a difficult situation. I would also love to battle you on the Doubles Line one day-!”

It was the most Emmet had ever spoken to her at once and Andy only felt mildly bad about interrupting him. “Absolutely not.” The pout made her feel less bad. “I am not a battler, not in any way, shape, form, or anything.”

“While normally I encourage passengers to try new things in their life, I find I must agree with Miss Andrea,” Ingo offered, Andy taken aback for a moment because- Hold on. ‘Miss Andrea.’ That was cute. “While as unbelievable to some as it may be, battling is not for everyone, Emmet.”

“Boo,” Emmet pouted, Andy wondering how such a respected and feared trainer could act so… normal. “Brother you are so good with people and yet so bad.” The offended scoff Ingo gave had Andy fighting to turn her snort into a cough. Before she could try to offer any help, Emmet was leaning in, smile sly and eyes gleaming. “Here’s a secret for you, Andy.

“I can always tell when someone will make a good, strong trainer or when they would give the best battles.” Battle obsessed as everyone else in the world, honestly. Andy was ready to say as much, pausing when a finger tapped her nose, Emmet continuing, “You have that same look in your eye. That look that would make you a great trainer. That look of wanting to see just how far you can go. Just how far you can push yourself to go. Don’t you want to see?”

Something about the way he asked, about the way he grinned, had Andy feeling a rush of- Of something. Something that was telling her — screaming at her — that she should just let loose, to go wild and fight and scream and yell back at the world that had yelled at her. To take Spark and train them to be stronger than anything that could come their way and fight-

Thankfully, her recent panic attack had made her tired enough that she was able to push it back, instead scoffing, “Ingo is the only reason you haven’t been punched yet, isn’t he?”

On her other side, Ingo snorted, voice still loud even as he ‘muttered,’ “That hasn’t stopped some people before.” It was the dry tone that had Andy laughing, Emmet loudly whining and pouting and trying to defend himself.

Luckily, before he could, the train was pulling to a stop, Andy looking up to see Nacrene station and a familiar Herdier and Watchog waiting at the station for her. Andy laughed again, setting Spark on her shoulder and getting to her feet to rush for the door, stopping just in the doorway.

With Ingo at her back and Emmet grinning at her like that, telling her that she would make a great trainer, for a moment she had felt… confident. She had felt like someone had believed in her and it had been- It had been like lightning.

Turning on her heel, Andy looked back to the two boys, who were watching her curiously. Andy took a breath and put on her best smile, “Thank you. For both times now and for Spark, here. I’m not exactly a trainer or battler or anything, but-” She heard the announcements to mind the gap. She heard Watchog’s loud call of her ‘name.’ She saw Ingo’s shoulders relax like a worry had been erased. She saw Emmet beam, excitement swirling around him.

“But maybe I’ll see you two on the Battle Subway one day.” After all, the kid terrified of pokemon having her own that she loved?

Anything was possible after that.

#Pokemon #submas #my writing #original #bound by choice #a Spark of something new

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