#anyway ingo would throw hands

[starsshiningabyss]

I know other people have done this but. 'that weirdo form Hisui' jumpscare.

[bellafragolina]

Congrats on emptying your inbox!! If I may request, we've seen the s/o with Hanahaki, but what about Emmet and Ingo, separate please. It's another case of miscommunication, Emmet says nothing because you're in a relationship, a bad one that you're about to end, and Ingo says nothing because he thinks you're in a relationship, you aren't. With a happy ending please ;-;

so it's the boys spitting flowers?? i gotcha!

🍓🍓🍓

Emmet:

White hyacinth. Emmet twirls the flower between his fingers, scowling at the soft petals, speckled in blood. Of course, symbols of regret, that would be the flower chosen to encase his lungs and strangle him. Guess he is regretful, since he's let you run off into the arms of his worst enemy.

Sure, Emmet had no clue your boyfriend even existed before he became your boyfriend, but that didn't mean Emmet couldn't absolutely despise the guy. He does, very much so, and doesn't really try to hide it either. Emmet isn't good at lying, especially to you, so sadly. . . he's pushed you away a bit with his rivalry (one-sided rivalry at that).

And thus the flowers.

Emmet crushes the hyacinth in his palm, throwing it off into the living room. Not being able to breathe that well prevents him from going to work. He can't breathe because he can't confess his love to you. He can't do that because you're in a relationship. With a guy he hates. One he knows doesn't treat you half as good as Emmet would, if you were together.

The whole situation is a circle jerk of frustrating. And devastating. The white hyacinths make more sense now, because if there is one thing Emmet's feeling right now, it's a whole lot of regret.

A buzz gently knocks Emmet from his head. Begrudgingly, he checks the message, only to shockingly find your name displayed.

Coming over.

Plain and simple, a cut to the chase, but nerve-wracking all the same. Emmet rushes to tidy up and not look like he's dying, hands shaking as he paces and wonders what's happening. Did you want to hang out? Or was this some sort of intervention? Were you going to tell him you didn't want to be friends anymore?

That would kill him before any damn flower.

Emmet frets and worries, but still rushes to hug you when you throw open his front door. Your arms easily slide around his waist, soothing the worries and the flowers that make his chest feel so tight. Everything almost feels normal again, but then you pull away.

There are bags under you eyes, lines on your face that make you look far older than you are. The sight of them crushes Emmet's heart, but before he can even say anything, ask if you're alright, what's going on-

"I'm breaking up with him."

There's a self-assuredness to your voice that makes it seem so final, so simple. You're breaking up with your boyfriend, plain and simple. It's everything Emmet's been hoping to hear and then some, but he can't find it in him to be happy. Not when you look so tired.

"I. . ." Emmet swallows, struggling for the words to say. Would anything make this better? "I'm sorry."

You just shrug, and give him a sad little smile that cracks his already crushed heart. "Eh. It's whatever. He's a real son of a bitch, anyway." Your smile grows into more of a wry smirk. "But you already knew that, huh?"

Emmet ducks his head, almost ashamed, if not for the amusement that dances through your tired eyes.

"I need to listen to you more often." You say, chuckling. Emmet chuckles too, then it's quiet. Too quiet. You clear your throat to break it. "Do you. . . wanna hang out?"

"Yes." Emmet says immediately. He does. So badly. He missed you a lot. "I missed you. A lot."

That has you laughing, louder now. "Yeah?" Your smile is warm, as warm as the hand you curl around his. "I missed you too, big guy." You tug on his arm, so Emmet leans down, giddily accept the kiss to his cheek. "Come on. I've got a lot to make up to you."

"You do not have to." Emmet says, already dragging you out the door. He feels like he can breathe again. "But since you are offering, you will date me, and we will call it even."

You laugh, and the sound is perfect, especially when his own laughter, free and unhindered, joins in.

Ingo:

Ingo decides if there's one flower he doesn't like, it's tulips. Damned, horrid tulips. They fall out of his mouth, bell-shaped and yellow, stained with his sin of loving someone he can not have. He knows their meaning, knows how the spell out how hopeless he is, hopelessly in love, unrequited love.

But why is he to blame for that? How could he not fall in love? Everything he ever wanted fell into his lap, a perfect gift from those above, and what? Ingo wasn't supposed to see it? Wasn't supposed to grow close, to finally feel understood and like he could have the future he always dreamed of?

What did he do to deserve it all being snatched away from beneath his very feet, leaving him to stumble along where he thought he had a solid foundation.

Well, it isn't your fault either. You are everything, everything he ever wanted in a partner and then some. Days are lighter, easier, something to look forward to just because you're a part of it. Even a simple text from you could make his day amazing.

But you don't feel the same. No, instead there's another person, someone bolder, with less hang ups, someone not as hopeless as Ingo, who was able to ask you out. They didn't worry about anything, not like Ingo.

And now he has to bask in the consequences of being a hopeless, cowardly romantic.

At least you still hang out with him. At least Ingo still gets your presence in his life, not at all hindered by this partner of yours. You don't talk about them at all, perhaps to be kind to a man you know is drowning in a love you don't return.

But that's okay. Ingo will drown for you, if it means this simple happiness will stay.

Still, his body doesn't enjoy it. His lungs swell like they're going to burst, making it hard to breathe, hard to still be a Subway Boss to the people. He stays home some days, when the pain is at its worst, and just lies in bed, dreaming of a life he can't have.

And he wakes up to your hands in his hair, your tearful eyes peering at him from over the edge of the bed. It's a heartbreaking sight.

Ingo can barely croak out your name in concern.

You sniffle. "Emmet says you're dying." Ingo presses his lips into a thin line. He was sure Emmet didn't know, but maybe he did. He needs to apologize; this isn't something he should have to watch his twin go through. "Ingo. . ."

"I'll be okay." Ingo says, the quietest you've ever heard him. It doesn't help your tears, springing forth into full sobs that not even Ingo can soothe. "Shh, shh. . . It's alright."

"It's not!" You protest, shaking your head from the ghost of his clammy hands. "I love you and you're dying! In what world is that alright??"

Ingo just blinks up at you owlishly. ". . . what?"

"I love you." You tell him sternly. "I love you. I love you. I love you. Can you hear me now?" You press your mouth against his sweaty forehead, practically shouting it out to all of Nimbasa. "I LOVE YOU! So no, this is not alright-"

You're cut off by a hand on the back of your neck, bringing you down into the sloppy kiss of one ecstatic and delirious Ingo Trevithick.

You'll laugh about it later, Ingo is sure. You'll all laugh about how silly this all was, how silly you all were. But until then, Ingo will take the first full, deep breath he's had in ages, and sob into your mouth in utter relief.

Seems he isn't so hopeless after all.

🍓🍓🍓

ta-da! i did my best to follow your guidelines, so i hope you like them!

ciao!

~Renee

[smilesrobotlover]

Whumptober day 25- alternate prompt- betrayal and also drugging lol

Ok guys this is where whumptober begins to have a plot, so buckle up cuz these last few days are gonna be a lot (except for day 26 that has no connection to this lol). Anyways I had so much fun writing this, I hope you have fun reading it. Talon is a joy to write.

Warnings: drugging and kidnapping

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The men searching for the heroes were in a busy town one second, then plopped in the middle of an open field the next second. Talon was dizzy and tried to reorient himself while Ammon placed a steady hand on his shoulder.

“Don’t throw up Talon,” he said, and Talon only gave a thumbs up. The other men chuckled as they recovered from the sudden change in scenery, and Leon looked around the field.

“Where are we?”

The others looked around, none of them recognizing the area. Talon expected the same thing for him, but he actually recognized some of the scenery. The fence along the edge, the trail that leads to the castle, and most importantly, Lon Lon Ranch. It stood proudly in the distance, practically begging for Talon to come home. He almost started crying right then and there, and the others looked at him in confusion.

“Talon? Is everything alright?” Leon asked, eyeing where he was looking.

“That over there is Lon Lon Ranch! That’s my home! It’s just over there!” Talon exclaimed, unable to mask his excitement and relief.

“Well what are we waitin’ for?” Rusl ran to Talon’s side. “Let’s get you home!”

Talon started running to Lon Lon Ranch, with the others closely behind him. Talon was practically bursting with joy as he got closer to his home. The smell of hay and horses already hit his nostrils. His daughter’s beautiful singing already filled his ears. Oh Malon…

I’m almost home, sweetie.

Talon ran through the entrance and glanced at the sign above the horse pen.

“Some place ya got,” Rusl muttered, looking at the house and barn. Talon frowned. Something wasn’t right. He looked at the sign again and gasped.

“‘Ingo’s Ranch?’” He read. “What the heck?”

The others looked at Talon in confusion, and he simply pointed at the sign, a baffled look on his face.

“What’s wrong?” Benji asked. “Is this not your ranch?”

“No! I mean, yes, it is! But it’s supposed to be called Lon Lon Ranch, not Ingo’s Ranch!”

“Who’s Ingo?”

Talon turned and glared at the house. “He’s my colleague. He’s helped around the ranch for years. I don’t know why his name is suddenly plastered all over now.”

The men all gave each other worried looks, and Ammon stepped up.

“Maybe it’s because you went missing, and so the ranch’s ownership went to him?” He suggested, but Talon shook his head.

“That still ain’t right! Even if somethin’ were to happen to me, the ownership of the ranch would go to my daughter Malon! Not Ingo! I—“ fury built up inside Talon and he balled his fists, marching to the house. “I have some questions I need to ask him!”

The others followed Talon as he burst through the door, and he saw that Ingo wasn’t there. He frowned and marched over to his office, where Ingo sat, counting rupees.

“INGO!” Talon shouted, a little too loud, and the man jumped ten feet in the air, spilling rupees everywhere.

“T-Talon? You’re alive? I-I mean,” Ingo stood up and smoothed out his fancy looking clothes, the look of surprise still on his face, “you’re alive and well! Oh what a relief—“

“Why do you look so surprised to see me?”

“Oh! Uh, well,” Ingo sat back down and relaxed his posture, “you went missing, we all assumed you were dead.”

“So you stole my ranch and changed the name?”

“You were gone! What was I supposed to do?”

“Give it to my daughter!” Talon got close to Ingo, “where is she?”

“Where is who?”

“Malon!”

“Oh! Malon! Uh… she’s uh…” Ingo looked around, sweat pouring down his face, but he took a deep breath and gave Talon a smile. “She’s in her home.”

Talon stepped back and let out a breath. Of course that was where she would be. Talon had a new home built within the ranch, a home where Malon and Link would’ve had room to raise their baby on the way (and where they could play their music without disturbing Talon). The farmer turned around and left the office.

“Wait! Let me take you to her!” Ingo called out to him.

“Good idea, that way we can deal with the property of the ranch, and give its ownership back to me!”

Ingo scoffed. “This ranch shouldn’t belong to you.”

“It’s been passed down the family for generations Ingo, of course it belongs to me!”

“Well you never did anything with it! All those years, while I worked my butt off you just sat there sleepin’ the day away! This ranch would’ve failed if not for me!”

Talon glared at him for a moment, but he didn’t defend himself. “Well then, it sounds like it’s time to give the ranch to Malon then,” he said, and turned around and kept walking. Ingo growled and caught up to Talon.

“Now you listen here, I— WAH!” Ingo jumped at the six men standing awkwardly in the dining room. Talon had almost forgotten that they were there, waiting for him. “Who are these people? What is that?” Ingo pointed at Kass who made an offended expression. Talon sighed and put his hand on Ingo’s shoulder.

“They’re my friends, Ingo. Now come on.”

Ingo huffed and spun around, marching out the door. Talon looked at his friends who all had varying expressions of confusion and worry.

“Y’all can just stay here, I’ll be right back,” Talon assured.

“Are you gonna be ok?” Ammon asked.

“Yeah, yeah I’ll be fine. Just wait right here.”

The men nodded and Talon turned around to follow Ingo. As they walked to Malon’s house, Talon’s emotions kept running rampant. He was furious, worried, irritated, but most of all, he felt betrayed. Talon had worked with Ingo for years now, and for him to turn around and do something like this? It hurt. Link’s warnings echoed through Talon’s head. Link never liked Ingo. He always said that he was a selfish and greedy man, and that someday he was going to betray him and try to steal the ranch. Link had always said bizarre things, but this in particular made Talon upset. Ingo was his friend. He would never do something like that. But in the end, Link was right, and Talon felt hurt by it.

They entered the home and Ingo marched right in, heading straight for a door in the kitchen.

“Malon?” Talon called out, excitement to see his little girl practically eating him up inside. Ingo hovered near the door, then shrugged.

“She’s probably down in the basement,” Ingo muttered, looking around nervously, “she uh, she tends to go down there a lot.”

Ingo opened the door and went down the stairs, and Talon followed. He observed the small set of stairs as they went down. He rarely went into their home, let alone their basement, so this was all new to him. Ingo opened another door at the bottom and gestured for Talon to go in. The farmer narrowed his eyes at the dark room, only lit up by the setting sun. He went inside and looked at the tidy room.

“Malon?” He called out, seeing no signs of life in the room. Suddenly, something pushed him harshly into the room, and Talon fell to the ground. He looked up and saw Ingo shut the door, and Talon’s heart dropped at the sound of a click. “INGO!” Talon shouted and tried to open the door, but it was locked. He heard Ingo’s maniacal laughter from the other side, and Talon banged on the door. “Ingo! Let me out!”

“No! I’m never gonna let you out! I fought hard to get this ranch, and you are not going to ruin it!”

“Ingo… I… I trusted you! My whole life I trusted you! How could you do this?”

“Because I deserved the ranch! Not you, not your stupid daughter, and not that twat of a husband!”

Talon felt his blood boil at the insults thrown and he banged on the door some more.

“You’re gonna regret this! My friends will know what will happen and they will get me out!”

Talon heard Ingo swear on the other side of the door. He must’ve forgotten about them, which was good, there’s no way Ingo could win against any of them. They were all so much stronger than Talon could ever be.

“You should’ve stayed on the other side of that portal thing, Talon, it would’ve made everyone’s lives easier,” Ingo said, in a dark tone.

“Portal? What—“ Talon gasped when he remembered the portal. The portal that led him to the others, the portal that took him from his home, the portal that he was shoved into… “Ingo, you pushed me in that portal? Were you— were you trying to kill me?”

Ingo didn’t respond, and Talon banged on the door. He heard footsteps going up the stairs, and Talon knew that he was alone.

“INGO! Get back here! Where’s my daughter? Ingo!” Talon banged on the door but it was in vain. He was trapped here, his ranch gone, his daughter missing, and his friend… no longer a friend. Talon stepped back, feeling weary from all that’s happened. He slid to the floor, despair creeping up as he curled up. He prayed that the others would find him, they were his only hope now.

~~~~~~~~~~~

“They’ve been gone for a while,” Linebeck commented, looking out the window as the sun began to hide behind the horizon.

“They’re probably arguing some more, that got pretty heated back there,” Rusl glanced at the door where the two men stormed out. “I don’t like leaving him alone with him.”

“Talon will be fine, that Ingo guy sounds like a wimp,” Ammon assured, tapping the table with his finger. Rusl sighed.

“A wimp that took control of his beloved ranch.”

The room grew silent, and the men continued to wait, until the door opened, and Ingo walked through, looking angry.

“Oy, where’s Talon?” Ammon asked, and Ingo tensed up.

“Uh, he’s… dealing with paperwork. To give the ownership to his daughter,” he said in an unsure tone. The men all glanced at each other, confused at his nervous stance. “In fact, he’s gonna be a while, would any of you like some milk?”

Rusl hummed. “Milk wouldn’t hurt.” The others only grunted in response.

“Splendid! I’ll bring out some milk! And uh,” Ingo stared at Kass, “do you… do you need a bowl or—“

“A regular cup will do,” Kass huffed, and Ingo nodded, disappearing into the kitchen.

“Uh, no offense Kass but how will you drink out of a regular cup?” Linebeck asked. Kass glared at him and the sailor quickly looked away. “Never mind.”

It was silent until Ingo came in with drinks. The others slowly drank the milk while Rusl chugged his.

“Mm, fresh milk, there’s nothin’ better,” he muttered to himself, but frowned. “Though, this tastes a little strange.”

“What? You’ve never had cow’s milk before?” Ingo asked, looking more nervous.

“Oh, no, I haven’t.” Rusl stared at his milk. “I’ve only had goat milk.”

Ammon leaned forward. “I have had cow’s milk, and I do think that this tastes a little weird. You sure it’s not spoiled?”

Ingo’s nervousness melted into offense. “Of course it’s not spoiled! I always keep track of that stuff! How dare you assume that I don’t!”

Ammon raised his hands defensively and leaned back into his chair. “I never liked milk that much anyways,” he mumbled, going back to sipping the milk.

“Well I think it’s delightful,” Kass said, setting down his empty drink with Linebeck staring at him in shock. “Thank you for the milk, Ingo.”

“Er, you’re welcome.”

Leon set his half empty cup and crossed his arms, glaring at Ingo. “How long is Talon supposed to be?”

Ingo looked at all the men, chuckling darkly as they all took sips of the milk. “Oh, not long, do not worry.”

The others glanced at each other again, weirded out by his attitude, but they returned to the drinks, hoping that Talon would be back soon.

~~~~~~~~~~

The room got darker as the sun disappeared behind the horizon, leaving Talon feeling even more hopeless. Surely the others would’ve noticed his disappearance, right? Surely they would’ve come for him now, right? Ingo wasn’t tough enough to go toe-to-toe with the men in there, even Linebeck could easily win against Ingo if it came to it. But still, it all worried Talon too much. Ingo was desperate to keep the ranch to himself, and that made him dangerous.

Talon sighed and rested his head in his hands. Nothing worried him more than Malon though. Malon was tougher than Talon could ever be, but with her pregnancy, Talon knew that she couldn’t do as much as she used to. Where she was concerned Talon, since he had no idea where she could possibly be. Was she somewhere on the ranch? Locked up in a hidden place just like Talon? Was she kicked out? Alone and homeless while trying to deal with her pregnancy on her own? And what worried him the most, did Ingo do anything to her? Surely with Malon here, she would be a threat to Ingo, and if Ingo went so far to try to kill Talon, would he…?

Talon whimpered at the thought. He couldn’t live with himself if anything happened to Malon or the baby. He was so excited to be a grandfather, and was so excited to see Malon and Link being parents. If Ingo ruined that… Goddesses, Talon wouldn’t be able to control himself. Anger bubbled inside his chest as he thought about everything that happened. He wanted to beat Ingo senseless for what he did, but with him locked up in the basement, there was nothing he could do.

The anger went away and Talon slumped. If he was only a little bit like the others, he’d probably be strong enough to get out on his own. They were all so strong, capable, and smart. Even the ones that didn’t fight were cunning in their own ways, using the skills they were good at to their advantage. But Talon had nothing. He was slow, scared, and lazy, just like what Ingo said. Adventuring wasn’t meant for him, he only slowed the others down.

Talon laid down and sighed. He could sleep, that’s what he always did when he was stressed. But for some reason, since being on this adventure, sleep didn’t come to him so easily anymore. Talon tossed and turned, thoughts churning in his head that was driving him mad. The thought of Ingo betraying him, the thought of him ignoring Link’s warnings about him, the thought of Malon, alone and scared, thinking that he was dead…

Talon shot up. He couldn’t take this anymore. His baby girl needed his help and he had to stop feeling sorry for himself. If he wanted to be like the others, then he needed to act like it! Talon stood in the middle of the room and hummed.

“How am I gonna get outta here?” He mumbled. Everything was neatly put away and shoved against the walls, so Talon didn’t see anything he could use. The windows in the room were too tiny for Talon to fit through, so that was out of the question. He looked at the locked door and observed it. It was just a regular door, but maybe… he could bust it open?

Talon started to tear through the boxes, trying to find something that he could use to break it down. He eventually found a big hammer and figured that it would do the job. He marched up to the door and slammed the hammer against it. It didn’t break, but it definitely left a mark. Talon huffed and continued hitting the door, finally breaking it off its hinges. Talon let out a huff, set the hammer down, and grabbed a pitchfork.

“I’m comin’ Malon!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rusl groaned as consciousness began to return to him, along with pain. He lifted his head and hissed as his neck ached something awful. He didn’t realize he was sleeping with his head hunched forward, but now that he thought about it, why was he sleeping with his head hunched over? Rusl reached up to rub his neck, but found his movement limited, and he was wide awake when he realized what was happening. His hands were tied together in front of him, and a rope was wrapped tightly around his chest, pinning him to a column. He looked around frantically, noticing his tied legs as well. Oh no…

“Hey look, Rusl’s awake.”

Rusl looked to his left where Ammon and Linebeck sat at the same column, tied up the same way he was. He looked to his right and saw Benji and Kass in the same predicament.

“Wha— Leon?” Rusl called out, and he heard a grunt behind him.

“I’m right behind you,” he heard the first knight murmur. Rusl was slightly relieved, but he looked down at himself again, worry creeping up again.

“What happened?”

“That lunatic drugged us,” Linebeck explained.

“Tied us up in the barn, he did a really good job at it too,” Ammon added on, wiggling his wrists slightly.

“Wh— but—- why? What purpose will that do?” Rusl still couldn’t wrap his head around this. Was this Ingo guy stupid or crazy?

“You missed his whole evil speech,” Benji started, his hands gesturing dramatically, “he wants the ranch to himself and said that Talon was a danger to that. Apparently with us here, we could help Talon steal his farm from him or something like that.”

“So… he’s holding Talon somewhere?”

“Unfortunately, that seems to be the case.”

Rusl groaned and bumped his head against the column he was tied to. “What can we do? We have to save Talon!”

Ammon shrugged. “There’s not much we can do right now. Unless someone is somehow able to slip these ropes, we might just have to trust that Talon can save himself.”

“But Talon… he’s not a fighter.”

“I mean, neither is Ingo,” Linebeck commented, “I’m sure if Talon had to face him, he’ll be fine.”

Rusl groaned again. He hated sitting here doing nothing while his friend was in danger, and he was sure the others felt the same way, but there really was nothing he could do. The ropes were too tight for him to just slip out of, and Ingo seemed to have stripped everyone of their weapons. He supposed that the only thing they could do was to trust Talon, and hope that he could at least save himself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Talon grumbled as he left his own home. Malon was nowhere to be seen, and even stranger, his friends were no longer waiting in the kitchen. It seemed that everyone was gone from his ranch. Except Ingo. Talon had seen him rushing from one place to the next, grabbing things left and right, before disappearing into the home where he probably went to sleep. Luckily, he seemed to be distracted so much to the point where he never noticed Talon, even when the farmer was right in the open. With Ingo resting in his home, it gave Talon the freedom to investigate the ranch. He checked every building, finding nothing of Malon and his friends. Malon missing worried Talon, but his missing friends worried him even more. They wouldn’t just abandon him, he knew that much, but he didn’t know why he didn’t see any of them. It was impossible for Ingo to have done something to all six of them, but then again, Ingo somehow took over Lon Lon Ranch, so Talon supposed there was more to Ingo than he realized. When Talon finished investigating Malon’s house again, he realized that he never checked the barn, and before he could run to it, he heard grumbling.

“Stupid… what do I do? What do I do?”

Talon ducked to cover and saw Ingo mumbling to himself as he walked to the barn. Talon waited until he went inside before he followed, being as quiet as he could. He slowly opened the door and saw Ingo babbling to himself. Rage took over Talon and he swung the door open, charging at the man who stole his home. Ingo yelped as he was knocked to the ground, and Talon pulled him up and slammed him against the wall, surprised at how light he was.

“Why, I oughta beat you senseless, Ingo!” Talon yelled out, threatening to punch him in the face.

“W-wait! Talon! Calm down, let's talk about this!” Ingo begged, and Talon grumbled, gathering his shirt in his hands.

“Where’s my daughter? What did you do to her?”

“Nothing! I swear!”

“You better not be lyin’!”

“I’m not! I promise! Malon wanted to stay in the ranch! She wanted to take care of the horses, but I didn’t let her! I kicked her out!”

“You kicked her out? Why?”

“Because she’s pregnant! Come on now, I couldn’t let a pregnant woman do the hard work of a farmer! I’m not that cruel.”

Talon rolled his eyes. “Oh yeah, you’re not cruel at all. Except for the fact that you pushed me in that portal hoping that it would kill me, you kicked my pregnant daughter out of her home, you betrayed my trust, and you stole–” Talon gestured to the barn but gasped when he saw all six of his friends tied to columns, all watching him surprised. Talon tightened his hold on Ingo and started shaking him aggressively. “YOU KIDNAPPED MY FRIENDS? What is WRONG WITH YOU?”

“Mercy! MERCY!” Ingo yelled out as he was shaken. Talon stopped and glared at Ingo.

“You’re insane, Ingo, I can’t believe I trusted you! I can’t believe I never trusted Link when he warned me about you! I… agh…” Talon looked down, ashamed. He had so much to apologize to Link for. Talon shoved Ingo into the wall and grabbed his pitchfork, slamming it into his loose clothes against the wall. Ingo let out a shout when it went in, and looked surprised when there was no pain. “Don’t move,” Talon said, and grabbed one of his friend’s swords. He walked over to Linebeck and Ammon, who were smiling at him.

“Talon, I’m so relieved you’re alright,” Ammon said.

“Yeah, we were worried about you,” Linebeck added as Talon cut the ropes around them. “That was awesome. I almost wished you punched the guy.” Talon waved it off and focused on cutting the ropes. “Are you alright?”

Talon sighed. “I don’t know, I’m sorry y’all had to get roped up in this. Literally.”

Linebeck snorted slightly, then let out a sigh of relief when the ropes were cut. “Thank goodness, those were starting to cut off my circulation.”

Talon didn’t comment on it as he cut the ropes around their hands, and the two men went over to Ingo. Linebeck lingered near him while Ammon grabbed his own sword to help Talon untie the others. Once they were all freed, Talon went to send for a town guard. Ingo didn’t belong here anymore, and Talon just wanted this to be over.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The town guard arrived a lot sooner than Talon expected. It was early in the morning, with the sun just barely peeking over the horizon. The guard was writing down all the information about Ingo, while the others stayed back.

“Oh come on, the things I did weren’t that serious!” Ingo whined.

“I dunno how to tell you this sir, but kidnapping, attempted murder, and stealing are pretty serious crimes.” The guard deadpanned. He grabbed Ingo and gave Talon a slight bow. “Thank you sir, I’ll make sure he’s taken care of.”

Talon gave him a nod, and watched as the two started to head to castle town. Rusl and Leon came up behind Talon, both resting a hand on each shoulder.

“Are you alright?” Rusl asked, and Talon only sighed.

“I don’t know, I’m really tired and… I just… Ingo was my friend.”

“I get that,” Leon patted his shoulder. “It’s not easy to have someone you care about betray you like that.”

Talon shrugged and rubbed his eyes. “I think I’m gonna get some sleep before I go out lookin’ for Malon.” Talon turned to his home, with the other two following him.

“Do you know where she is?” Rusl asked.

“I’m not sure. She could be in Kakariko, or castle town, or even Gerudo for all I know.”

“Gerudo?” Leon frowned. “Why would she be in Gerudo?”

“Well… her mother was half Gerudo, so I’d imagine that they’ll be her only support right now.”

Rusl and Leon looked at each other in surprise.

“I didn’t know you married a Gerudo,Talon.”

“Half Gerudo, but yeah, she was a wonderful person, Malon is so much like her in more ways than she’ll know.” Talon smiled at the memory of his daughter. Her beautiful singing voice, her inhuman strength, her strong will and love for horses, those were all traits her mother bore.

“It sounds like you really love your daughter Talon,” Rusl said softly with a smile. “I hope you can find her, safe and sound.”

“Me too…” Talon paused before the door and turned around. “Um… would y’all mind comin’ with me? I don’t really wanna be alone.”

Leon and Rusl looked surprised, but they quickly smiled and nodded their heads.

“Of course Talon.”

Talon smiled and entered his home, ready to rest his weary mind.

[kharmii]

It is so true that the entire fandom has a massive obsession with furries.

And are also converting normies into furries. Sometimes when I see fanart of Sneasler and it’s drawn in a furry-ish way a big part of me wonders if this artist has a sideblog containing furry nsfw with Ingo.

Or those weird hybrid designs. (When I‘m able to look past the furry implications I can appreciate a creative design but I also can’t unsee potential nsfw stuff for a lot of these.) What icks me the most about this is that furry stuff is accepted and even embraced as to blankshipping is taboo and "the worst"…

Personally I’m rather someone who wishes to engage a lot more with the Japanese community since they are still very much have the old fandom culture intact.

(Also when I‘m leaning more towards blankshipper over here it’s because they’re less to throw hissy fits at everyone who doesn’t bend over backwards to their beliefs. They can be just as nasty on some topics)

And so much yes for your annoyance for the celebration of politics in fandom. I don’t know when this has become such an issue (especially when I remember that back in the day in a previous fandom called Hetalia [a series that was based on the idea that each country was represented by a human and being a bit stereotypical (in a way that was funny or made you feel called out)] people were constantly reminding everyone not to include current day politics in their stuff, that was no biggie back when but nowadays it’s normal to use fandom and fiction to push their political agenda on people… Be it characters waving certain flags of countries or beliefs and all those surgery scars everywhere… I don’t wanna see this kind of content. Though I’m at least somewhat happy that so far I didn’t have to see artificial "assets" down below in art.

The only way to interact with the fandom is to mute and block each political movement and only interact with certain content that doesn’t deal with all this nonsense.

I have said it before but I really enjoy sharing opinions with you. While a lot comes off as probably harsher than it’s meant to but I appreciate your opinion and your perspective.

That was absolutely meant to come off harsh because Submas fandom (Volo too) is a nasty little mean girl clique gone wild. That's how social contagion works. You'll have a handful of aggressive vocal petty little twats who will convince everybody that 'this stupid thing is acceptable and yet this other stupid thing that's equally as stupid and harmless as the other thing is not acceptable'.

Next thing you know, the few bad apples who draw top surgery scarred fat furries have the whole fandom thinking that's what everybody is into. Normies might be like, "Well, I actually don't like any of that because it forces me to have a wastebasket I puke in when browsing this fandom, but I don't want anyone to call me a bigot.."

Most fans might be drawn to beauty and good things, but the whole theme seems to be centered around dreck and wallowing in misery (the shipping end anyway. General is more upbeat). Since everybody has blocked me at this point, I'm one of the few who isn't afraid to say what a lot of people might be thinking (like most of you, don't lie. Nobody likes a fat furry chili fart in the face).

Side note: I had to unfollow someone last week because they put up a post about Submas celebrating Pride Month...and yet they had to put the dig in about 'Proshippers DNI'. Hey, Emmet's pronouns list is a mile long! -So what aspect of Pride do they celebrate? Is it okay for weirdos to wear dog masks around kids? Is it okay to give minors puberty blockers? -And yet shipping brother-on-brother action with fictional characters (that doesn't hurt anybody) is taboo? Would you be okay with a grown-ass man exposing himself to a minor at a Pride Parade, and yet a 20/15 year old ship between Volo and Akari is taboo?

Anyway, how about some good old Submas Angst?

Art credit: こんぶ。@konbu_0915_ Twitter.

[nemesis-is-my-middle-name]

The magic talk is very interesting! and I would love to hear more ideas if you got em.

If pokemon still exist there/ mage fights replace pokemon battles then I imagine being a mailman in a world where meeting eyes can lead to a throw down then you have to at LEAST be decent at battling lol (maybe it isnt but I like the weird culture Pokemon got going on)

oh man TIMING, i was actually just thinking about whether pokemon exist in this world... on the one hand it feels a little? odd? to have them and the whole snarl of types & etc just be present on the side and then magic is the main focus of the thing, but on the other hand... yeah i do really love the pokemon culture and i feel like you can't really replicate it without, yknow, the pokemon.

would it be weird to have them just be there in the background while the magic shit is happening? OR, maybe pokemon still exist or "exist" but rather than having types in the traditional sense they're more like, magical animals. i was thinking abt the counterpart's pikachu specifically, and if they still had an analogue to it in this world. and them still having some sort of electrically charged rodent but it isn't exactly a pikachu as we know it might be fun. and that also opens up the opportunity to potentially invent some fakemon based on the new magic system... hmm...

and YEAH LOL that's the thing right, is if ingo is this world-class healer but also an adept at like, interrogation and scrying and etc, and emmet is an incredible battlemage alongside him, they can't exactly have like. a safe boring job can they. they are Doing Something to necessitate that extreme offensive/supportive power. but what! hmmm mmm.

anyway entirely unrelated thought. the marks on mage's hands that i vaguely referenced i think are called ley lines. that's not the traditional use of the term, but w/e. ley lines are widely considered to be sort of like metaphysical grooves worn into your spirit and body by repetitive use of magic, like how a river carves out a canyon or repeated footfalls create a packed-earth path. hence why they take on an appearance reflective of your typical school, and appear mostly on your dominant hand (although most people are not 100% exclusively sinister or dexter mages, and so most people will have like, a lot on one hand/arm and a little on the other.) it's unclear and probably a subject of debate if the development of ley lines is what makes a mage more powerful over time, or vice versa.

wearing gloves doesn't always signify you're a mage with someone to hide—y'know, gloves are practical and there are plenty of people who don't use magic and just like, do regular work that necessitates them—but there's definitely a cultural connotation there. cyllene wears a glove on her right hand to disguise the fact that she was a swordguard since her ley lines make it very obvious. otoh, adaman wears gloves to hide the fact that he doesn't have any ley lines, really at all. ingo wears gloves probably as a literal way to block his ley lines since he's forbidden from using magic. the protagonist is probably encouraged to hide their really intense lines whenever they have to go into a town for some reason, bc it draws attention, potentially of the negative sort, but they find doing so really uncomfortable.

e cause i forgot: also thank you!! i think universes like this are really fun to play around with hehe

[fourphoenixfeathers]

Submas AU Masterpost

Feel free to use/do anything with my ideas (as long as you credit me for the au or inspiration or whatevs. I'm not stressed about it.)

These are my babies. My asks are always open!

Mirror AU:

Even separated by time and space, Emmet and Ingo somehow manage to match each other in more ways than just their appearances. It's entirely accidental... Until half a year after Ingo's disappearance when they realize that they can see each other in mirrors. From then on, they are a lot more hopeful about their futures. Nimbasa City, however, is not hopeful as the Subway Boss speedruns a transformation from a poor little meow meow to a full blown cryptid.

Prophet and Heretic AU:

Before he can join the Pearl Clan, Ingo goes to the rift on Mount Coronet for answers. Palkia and Dialga are too busy throwing hands to hear. Arceus does, though, and oh geez he should have thought things through before appearing before a mortal. By the time Ingo recovers from his holy fainting spell, he has all his memories back, spooky god powers, and a new headmate. At least Arceus promised to return him home in return for completing some quest to save the world...

Centuries in the future, a very lonely and remorseful Giratina approaches Emmet with a deal.

Paper Lantern AU:

When Ingo gets torn from his own time, he gets torn from his body as well. With nothing but his human soul, he possesses a paper lantern and invents a regional variant of Chandelure. His ace would be so proud. Meanwhile, Emmet is left with Ingo's alive but verrry much comatose body.

Ditto Emmet AU:

I just wanted to hit one of the boys with a shape shifter beam and Emmet is my favorite. A lot fun shape shifter things here. Like family fluff and body horror! And also Emmet copying the incarnation of time itself, hehehe-

Ghost Train AU (Danny Phantom Crossover):

The Distortion World is really just the Pokemon world's name for their version of the Ghost Zone. Ingo and Dawn get eaten up by a couple of natural portals, and two newly formed halfas arrive in Hisui a year apart. Arceus won't touch ghost child Akari with a ten-foot pole, but it all works out in the end anyways because Akari can't not help the nobles, and the Distortion World/Ghost Zone is a great medium for traversing time and space.

Submas Fusion AU:

Ingo and Emmet went to hisui together, but the distortion world said they can't have nice things. A man with no idea who or what he is woke up in a black and white coat in the coronet highlands, with only a handful of Joltik to protect him. He couldn't remember his name, but E and I came to mind. So, he guesses his name is Ei now...

Gear Session:

Homestuck au!

Arceus found a copy of Sburb in the Pokemon world and thought "that's not good" and sent the Nimbasa trio plus Akari on a mission to destroy the incipisphere from the inside out. No reckoning destroying the earth or frog breeding here, but there is a lot of temporary death. You know. Prototyping dream selves and questbeds and all that.

Fluff and Scales AU:

Hybrid au, but Ingo and Emmet are legendary hybrids.

Ingo and Emmet were born with black and white dragon wings. No one recognized them, so it was chalked up to a couple undiscovered species of pokemon and life continued as normal. But Drayden always suspected there was something more to them than that.

His suspicions were confirmed during the Team Plasma invasion, after which everyone and their mother knew what the dragons of legend looked like. And anyone who had ever been to Nimbasa could recognize the white fluff and black scales.

Also featuring Arceus hybrid Jackie and Absol hybrid Beni.

Tron AU:

Ingo got eebied to the grid instead of Hisui! He runs around the computer systems of Unova for about a month thinking he's a program, until he finds Gear station. The train autopilot programs, called ATOs, help their poor amnesiac User remember who he is, while someone unexpected brings Emmet into the digital world to help.

Thrice is a Pattern:

There were three skyfallers in Hisui. The first was an accident. The second was a failed rescue attempt. The third was the one who saved them all. Trainer Dawn never makes it back home after entering the distortion world, ending up in Hisui instead. Ingo is sent to the past to make it right, but he forgets his mission before he can even start. It's up to Lucas, now.

Kabaneri au:

Crossover with Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress! Instead of frenzies, Giratina unleashes a corruption on Hisui that turns people and pokemon into mindless zombies called Kabane. Arceus sends Dawn to cleanse the region, and promises she will be immune to the curse. He fails to mention that to do so, he will have to take away her humanity first.

[legendarceus]

volo is cynthia / cyllene is cyrus au: family trees

and also me talking about them :)

put below keep reading bc its gonna be a lot lmfao

cynthia (volo) family tree

cynthia is cogita's grandkid! her parents weren't present so cogita raised her until, of course, she got disowned for the whole trying to destroy the world thing. cogita sadly passed away before they could truly reconcile.

while there is no canon ancestor to iris, i think its fun to say that cynthia met iris' ancestor and they had kids and 200 years or something later, iris exists and cynthia gets to meet her great great great great grandchild or something. we'll come back to iris in a minute :)

i also think that lusamine also decended from cynthia, which means gladion and lillie also are related to cynthia! not that its important but you know. giant family.

i do ship cynthia and diantha. i think diantha is one of the few who know that cynthia is immortal but was most definitely the most recent to find out. iris is not aware of this. but these three are found family anyway <3

speaking of found family, prof. carolina and cynthia's younger sister are purely adoptive of sorts. but they're still found family. love them. wow cynthia 2 found families thats crazy.

cyrus (cyllene) family tree

yes this looks odd without context but we do have context so it doesnt matter. cyllene x laventon is canon and you can pry it from my cold dead hands. too bad cyllene got widowed and then found out they were immortal AND trans after laventon died.

anyway, cy and lav were married and akari + rei were their adoptive kids. ingo was akari and rei's adoptive uncle too but that isnt relavent to the family tree. also laventon is a distant relative to leon and hop :) maybe he had siblings or cousins who are great (x?) grandparents to them. who knows.

anyway damn cyrus why do you got 2 found families. but yeah team galactic is naturally cyrus' found family of course. he is his commanders exhausted adoptive father since all of their families suck lmao

mars family tree

i think mars and cynthia have the biggest family trees. anyway mars' was the first one that i did incase that wasn't obvious lmfao, but anyway, lets get into it!!!

arezu is ariana's great (x?) grandmother. ariana had a spouse that she had mars (maria at the time) with, but then she left them once she was like 'oh shoot im having silver!!!', so mars is vaguely aware that silver exists somewhere out there but she has no clue who he is otherwise. and then ariana and giovanni are married and had silver, who has no idea who mars is (he'd probably go through a crisis if he looked at sinnoh news, so lets keep it that way). silv and mars have a 9 year age gap btw just throwing that out there

silver found a new dad (lance) and some really weird teenagers about his age who he got stuck with. he's dating one of them. you have to guess. (i already know which one but im leaving it up to the mind bc silver isnt the focus in this au so imagine whatever you want).

mars and her silly little astronaut friends are her found family! i think arezu would flip her shit if she found out her great (x?) granddaughter was adoptive siblings with that one criminal lady (coin). but hey its fine!!! mars has her weird spaceman father and her weird astronaut siblings and life is good (mostly)

arezu deadass just has a bunch of decendants who commit various crimes

saturn / jupiter family tree

i grouped these two together since they've got the smallest family trees.

saturn is (obviously) a decendant of coin, but he has no contact with his family and hasn't spoken to them in years by the time pokemon platinum takes place.

jupiter and fantina are siblings (fantina is older by a few solid years) but they really don't like eachother. they have little contact with eachother and dont exactly speak often. but they do wish eachother happy birthday sometimes so thats a plusside i guess.

and of course saturn and jupiter both have found family with team galactic. awww how sweet :)

[leggerefiore]

You want some fluff ideas? Okay! How would Ingo and Emmet react to thier kids' first words, first steps, first Pokemon they caught on their own, ect? Also, funny thought, what if, instead of something like 'mama' 'dada' or anything like that, their kids' first words were something related to trains or the twins themselves? (Like 'choo choo' 'aboard!' 'bravo!' ect)

▲Ingo▼

● Erin was sitting on the floor while playing a plush pokeball. His big, silver eyes observed the area around him curiously when they landed on the man. He sat nearby with his own eyes glued to the boy. His usual scowl twisted up into a soft smile. Erin felt his heart warm. He crawled over to the man, who gently picked him up and sat him in his lap. A tiny hand grabbed at the strange hair of his face, and Ingo tilted his head at his son. Erin mimicked him before babbling “ab-ahd”. The older man gasped. “Dear! He's talking, come here!!” Ingo's volume increased. Aboard was his first word… Ingo could cry. (He was crying.)

● You were watching Ingo scoot back from the boy as they played games with each other. Erin seemed distressed by the distance his father provided. The boy was ever so clingy, so having one of his parents so far away (in his mind) was upsetting. He whined out a “da-da”, but Ingo kept his distance. What was he doing? You watched as he motioned Erin over, much like he did when coupling train cars together. The boy tilted his head. Both of you watch his astonishment as he got up on his legs properly and wobbled over to Ingo. He tripped on his last step, but Ingo caught him. The older twin looked completely identical to the younger as he beamed. You knew he had been working on this for a while.

● Ingo was nervous. Yes, Erin was older now. The boy was already seven, but, in Ingo's heart, he was still the infant that cried until he was cuddled; he was still the toddler who clung to his parents' legs. He was so vocal and loud when he was a baby, but so slow to actually talk and communicate. Ingo viewed him a bit like Emmet in that way, but only if Emmet was passive and meek. (Which he was not, unfortunately.) The Litwick that Ingo had gifted Erin stood fiercely in front of him, having taken on a role of protector for the boy. (His Chandelure was more than happy to provide a child for his child… There was something so endearing about it.)

● The Solosis across from him watched interestingly. A few careful Astonishes and Embers lowered the psychic type enough for Erin to throw a pokeball. His throw was admittedly lacking, but he did well for his first proper attempt. The boy watched in anticipation as the ball shook once… twice… thrice, and click! The Solosis was caught. Erin rushed over to pick the ball up excitedly. He stared up at Ingo with big, enthusiastic eyes. Ingo knew what he wanted. Kneeling down, he stared his son in the eyes, “You did excellent! Bravo!!” Erin smiled bashfully and repeated, “Bravo!”

▽Emmet△

○ Emmet stared at his twins as they babbled secretly between each other. He was envious. Ingo hadn't talked to him like that in years. His older brother was so verrrry mean. Hopefully, Emma wasn't as cruel as Ingo. She seemed to be nicer anyway, even if her frown was the same. Inka stared at him momentarily before Emma joined her. They shared a look before the older girl wandered to him. Emmet knelt down to her level and smiled kindly. “Ma-ma!” she announced and pointed at him. He shook his head and pointed at himself. Inka hopped up and shouted, “da-da!” Emmet's grin widened, and he nodded. “Yep! Da-da!” He scooped both of them up and giggled. They were so cute!

○ Inka struggled in Emmet's grasp, and he freed the girl. Emma remained while watching her sister curiously. The girl was wobbling as she rose to her feet. Emmet gasped as Inka stood up and slowly took careful steps. She toddled away from him and towards the bedroom door, where you were taking a nap. Envy stung Emmet's pride, but what could he do. Inka soon tumbled, however, and Emma had to be placed on the floor while he rushed over to check on her. A cry of “da-da” happened, and Emmet turned to see Emma coming after him on her feet as well. “Darling! You're missing something important!” he called out, partially to show you and to get your help.

○ Emmet was panicked. Inka had run off with Emma to do something, while he decided to take his family out for a picnic on Route 16. He had looked away for a moment while you went off to chat with a friend, and suddenly, his children were gone. They were only eight! He was frantically running around trying to find them. Poor Emma must have been so scared! Inka likely convinced her to run off in one of her attempts at being 'free' (which meant away from Emmet's hugs). He called their names out and asked any passersby about them. He was in tears as he returned to the picnic blanket to inform you of his failure as a dad.

○ The twins sat on the blanket, with Emma talking to a Gothita that she hadn't had before while Inka admired a Swadloon. The Joltiks he had gifted them were sitting near his Galvantula being recharged by them. Emma picked up her Gothita and ran up to Emmet. “Papa! Papa! Look, look! She's cute!” The older twin was filled with giddy, betraying the frown on her face. “Yeah, papa! Look at my new Swadloon! I caught them myself!” Inka picked up the bug-type and held them out to her father. Emmet sighed. Had they really? “Verrrry cute and good, you two! Now! If you run off like that again, I'll have Galvantula cocoon you,” he both praised and threatened. The girls froze.

[bellafragolina]

Attached

gonna start by thanking @peachsodama for having such a big brain. i have not stopped thinking about this for a second, and if i have it's to think about things that tie into this, so thank you peach. i love you <3

none of this is canon by the way. i'm throwing my own spin on the hivemind au. it's up to peach if she wants anything to be canon or whatnot

🍓🍓🍓

Those before never treated their puppets nicely. They drained them, forced them to work themselves to death, then threw them aside when they were no long useful. Ingo and Emmet both were horrified by this treatment of puppets, things that should be cherished instead of abused, so when they set off on their own, they knew they would do things different, better.

Ingo is the first on to acquire a "guest," as he likes to call them. He attaches himself to you, feels your thoughts in his head, and your energy like a soft red wine (or whatever humans say). You cry, and you scream, and you rage within your own mind, but Ingo knows you're better this way. You're healthy, taken care of, and protected by him and Emmet too, as he searches out his own puppet while learning from Ingo how to take care of one.

There are battles, as Ingo struggles to understand what your body needs and how to accommodate it, but he's happy to do it. To feel your mind slowly calm, accept him, stop fighting him at every turn, and instead just be within its own thoughts and daydreams. He grows to enjoy the times where he lets you dictate yourself, no longer clawing or shouting at him, but instead lying with him to "cuddle" or something similarly calm.

So very calm.

You've become so calm.

Too calm.

Ingo doesn't know why he doesn't notice it. The lack of brain activity should be a red alarm, yet it doesn't strike him. The busy days at the Gear Station, guiding you and coaxing trust out of the other Depot Agents lead him to being distracted. Until he suddenly realizes he hasn't heard you think anything for quite some time.

Pains gnaw at him as he takes you to an empty break room. He checks you over for any injury he could've somehow missed, but there are none. Your eyes are hollow, your frown hard set into your face to match his own.

The pain makes itself known as hunger once he pulls away control from you, and you collapse to the floor.

You're not moving.

Ingo shakes you, prods at your mind, does anything he can think of to rouse anything out of you. But you don't respond, lying on the floor with gentle breaths and unseeing eyes.

Vegetative, the paramedics that come for you call it. Ingo watches them reel you away, communicator clutched in his hand, and by the looks of it, they're not coming back.

Emmet presses close to his brother as he sobs of the loss of his first guest, one he treasured so dearly. He already feels alone in his head, your daydreams of dancing Cutieflies in colorful meadows missing, leaving his world in sad monochrome.

"Don't get attached." The words echo in his ears. He connects to another human, hands shaking as he recognizes that soon this one will die like all the ones before it. "They are not worth it. Don't get attached."

He attaches anyway.

🍓🍓🍓

ta-da!

i'm embarrassed so that's all from me folks!

~Renee

[mass-piplup-outbreak]

End of the Line - Chapter 9

[first] - [previous] - [next] read it on ao3! if you like the fic, please relog it!

Chapter 9: Sick Day Emmet catches a cold, and a friend comes by to help out. (content warning for a panic attack)

The next day Emmet takes off is the day he wakes up with a fever. He feels a little embarrassed to have to call out of work just a week after returning from his leave, but Galvantula hisses and screeches if he even steps near the front door. Chandelure gently guides him back to bed, probably at Ingo’s request.

Emmet drifts off again as soon as his head hits the pillow, but he barely spends any time asleep before he’s woken up by a loud Crash! from the kitchen. Forgetting that he’s sick enough to cough his lungs up, Emmet jumps out of bed and darts for the scene of the crime.

Noodles and broth are splattered everywhere, from the cabinets, to the floor, to even the ceiling! The mess seems to originate from a single can on the counter, which looks like it’s been run over by a train. Durant seems happy enough to clean up on its own, happily lapping the nasty remains of the soup.

One of the stove burners is on, but there isn’t anything placed on top of it. That was probably Chandelure’s job, given the fact that it drops the pot it was lifting to hover over a seemingly empty spot in the middle of the room.

Emmet has to stop for a moment to take it all in. Right. Spooky ghost brother shit. He can handle this.

“Stop that,” Emmet nudges Durant with his foot. His voice sounds rough, like Ingo used to at the end of a long day. “Go get Garbodor to clean up.”

Durant chitters in disappointment before sulking out of the kitchen.

Well, Emmet just put out the smallest fire first. Now for the literal inferno.

Careful not to step in any of the bits of soup, Emmet crouches down next to the spot where he thinks his brother is sitting. If the state of the kitchen is any indication, he is not in a good mood.

“Ingo?” Emmet coughs into his elbow. “Are you alright?”

Despite Emmet’s good intentions, his words offer no comfort to his brother. In fact, they have the exact opposite effect. The lights in the kitchen suddenly start flickering on and off, the cabinets swing open and Slam! shut, and Emmet realizes that he’s way out of his depth.

His first reaction is to squeeze his eyes shut, block out the lights and the sounds. This has got to be the craziest situation he’s ever found himself in. It’s straight out of a horror movie! Since when could he even do this, anyway?! Emmet did not sign up for a haunting, even if it’s-!

Even if it’s Ingo.

However, the fact that it is Ingo certainly changes things, doesn’t it?

“Ingo, it’s- it is okay!” Emmet stammers out. It’s all he can do, but damn it, it’s practically useless! How is he supposed to take care of Ingo like this?!

Maybe it’s just his imagination, but between the flashing of the lights, Emmet swears he sees a figure sitting in front of him. His knees are drawn to his chest, the same way Ingo used to hold himself and cry when he was a kid after throwing a tantrum. Man, the way he would scream when they tried to make him wear a dress…

Emmet would sit right by his side, holding his hand until he inevitably calmed down.

So that’s what he does again. Emmet reaches out and grabs Ingo’s hand, and his heart almost stops when his brother squeezes it back.

Ingo’s hand is cold.

As quickly as it started, the chaos stops. The lights finally go out, and the cabinets stop flailing open and shut. The pressure on Emmet’s hand disappears, mere seconds after he finally found it again.

“Ingo?” Emmet croaks out. Between his cold and whatever just happened, his throat feels even more raw than it did before.

The kitchen is silent, which is a cruel irony. “Ingo” and “quiet” are two words that never went together, at least not until recently. He filled all of the emptiness in their lives, talked and talked for hours when Emmet couldn’t even get a word out. And now…

Even though he’s back, Emmet still hasn’t heard his brother’s voice since he left all those years ago. He’s starting to forget it.

Chandelure gently pats the empty space before floating off. Emmet almost thinks that Ingo just abandoned him, until the Pokémon returns with the journal and pen they received from Shauntal.

It’s really only been a week since she came onto the Battle Subway, hasn’t it?

Emmet takes the journal from Chandelure, only because if he didn’t, it would place it directly into the splattered soup. He carefully leaves it open on the floor in front of Ingo. After a moment, the pen moves from Chandelure’s telekinesis.

Sorry. I’m OK.

“Don’t apologize,” Emmet insists. “What was that?”

Wanted to take care. Couldn’t pick up. Got mad, can went everywhere. Panic attack?

Ingo writes it like a question, and Emmet can almost remember the way his brother sounded when he was uncertain.

“Well, uh-” Emmet finds himself faltering yet again. He’s not good at comforting people with his words, and just wishes that he could hug Ingo so he’d know everything he’s trying to say. “You’re feeling better?”

Yes.

Emmet nods. Ugh, he can already feel a headache coming on, he definitely needs to lay back down soon. “So. It appears you have powers beyond breaking our TV.”

It seems so.

“However, you are having difficulty conducting your abilities,” Emmet reasons. “We will work on that, too.”

Not mad?

“You exploded a can of soup,” Emmet grins, just the tiniest bit excited by the prospect. “That is verrrrry cool! I want to know what else you can do.”

Thank you. Ingo’s handwriting is shakier than usual, which means it’s time to give him a break. With everything that’s happened this morning, he deserves some time to decompress.

“Let’s watch another movie?” Emmet suggests. They’ve been slowly making their way through their own personal collection after work, when Emmet is tired and Ingo is bored. It’s actually been interesting to reunite Ingo with his favorite films, if only to see him freak out afterwards about how they’re the best things he’s ever watched.

Before Ingo has a chance to respond, the front door slams open.

“EMMET!” Elesa’s voice easily travels from the front door to the kitchen. Emmet swears internally. What’s she doing here?!

Galvantula, the traitor that it is, leads Elesa into the kitchen. She gasps in horror, and Emmet remembers that usually people don’t cause this much of a mess when they try to cook.

“Emmet, what did you do?!”

Oh. Oh no.

‥

Ingo is very—or as Emmet would say, verrrrrry—uncomfortable with the situation in their apartment right now. Elesa has managed to wrangle Emmet to the couch, despite his protests that he feels fine. He ends up pouting on the couch, tucked into the blanket that Elesa stole from his bed. In the back of his mind, Ingo can remember making the remark that there’s no way to say no to Elesa.

Emmet at least managed to keep the journal away from her, clutching it to his chest even now. Neither of them are prepared for her to find out just yet.

As of late, Ingo has been trying to figure out how to sit on furniture. He doesn’t pass through the floor, and he can handle stairs and elevators just fine. There’s got to be some secret to tangibility that he’s missing. Of course, he can’t really practice with Emmet hogging the couch, so he sits on the floor beside him.

Emmet fiddles with his Xtransceiver, which Ingo has given up on trying to figure out for now. Movies are one thing, but this ArcPhone-like device is something else. He places it on the coffee table, eyes trained on the open screen.

He seems to have some sort of writing app open, with the message Are you still there? typed out.

Chandelure nuzzles into Ingo’s side, a bit of that cold energy settling in his chest. It’s a strange feeling, especially since he hates the cold, but it at least causes that numb buzz to fade away.

Ingo pokes at the Xtransceiver, and the screen glitches the tiniest bit.

“Good.” Emmet pulls the blanket up, finally resigning himself to staying on the couch. It looks comfortable, even if Eelektross and Archeops are currently pinning him down. “I like knowing you’re here.”

Well, there goes Ingo’s plan to hole himself up in his room until Elesa leaves. At least there’s something he can do to help Emmet feel better.

Ingo stares at his right hand, flexing his fingers in an attempt to find that warm feeling again. Did he imagine it, or did Emmet actually manage to hold his hand? It was brief, gone as soon as it came, but its familiarity yanked Ingo out of his spiral. The gesture is rooted deep in his mind, but he’s not exactly sure when the seed was planted.

“Luckily, that wasn’t your last can of soup.” Elesa enters from the kitchen, holding a steaming bowl in her hands. “Sit up, you need to eat today.”

“Elesa braved the kitchen just for me.” Emmet grins as she hands him the soup. He tries to lean his head on her shoulder when she sits down next to him, only to be forcibly shrugged off.

“You look like a Cubchoo right now,” Elesa complains. “I do not want to catch anything from you.”

“Then why did you come here?”

“Now Emmet, Elesa took time out of her day to take care of you,” Ingo launches into a lecture. “The least you could do-”

“Because you’re sick, you Bidoof!” Elesa pokes Emmet’s forehead, cutting off Ingo’s speech on the importance of appreciating your friends.

Ingo closes his mouth, letting the words die on his tongue. Being ignored in this context is logical, at the very least. Elesa wouldn’t know he was speaking; she doesn’t even know he’s here right now! She probably hasn’t even thought about him for a while. It’s not like he’s been around to remind her.

“How did you know I was sick?” Emmet asks, slumping away from Elesa after being so coldly rejected.

Elesa's smile turns devious. “I have an inside source, darling. Now, do you need anything else? You haven’t had a sick day since you collapsed at the station last year.”

Sorry, Emmet did what? Ingo immediately abandons his wallowing, because what the hell, Emmet?

“Elesa!” Emmet shouts, his face flushing even more than it had been before. “There are people here who did not need to know that!”

“Oh, please,” Elesa rolls her eyes. “We all know.”

Emmet mutters something under his breath that sounds a lot like, “Not all of us.” Ingo stifles a laugh at his poor, idiot brother.

The two of them continue their bantering, and so Ingo leans his head against Chandelure and closes his eyes. Strangely enough, this is… nice. Nostalgic, even.

He might as well make the most of it.

‥

Emmet eventually ends up falling asleep again, but only after he took some cold medicine that seemed disgusting. The TV is currently playing an overdramatized nature show, something about giant river Pokémon, and Ingo is simultaneously unable to look away and bored out of his mind. Since when did he care so much about fishing?

Elesa is sitting on the floor beside Ingo, only because Emmet is sprawled out over the entire couch. Out of curiosity, he peers over her shoulder, only to see she’s searching for methods to reduce fevers on her Xtransceiver.

Oh! Oh right! Fevers! Ingo forgot that was a part of being sick. Darn, he really would have been useless if he’d tried to take care of Emmet on his own, wouldn’t he? It’s probably for the best that Elesa came over.

It’s frustrating, to say the least. On one hand, Ingo is glad that someone who’s capable is here to shoulder the burden. It’s not like he could force Emmet to take his medicine the way Elesa had, after all. But on the other hand, he wishes he could do more. Emmet is his brother, and he would do the most to make sure Ingo recovered if he was the one who was sick. Some part of Ingo’s memory reminds him that he has done the most, several times in fact.

Maybe…

Ingo rests his hand on Emmet’s forehead, doing his best not to phase through him. He knows he gives people the chills by now, but surely this is enough to cool him down. Right?

In his sleep, Emmet’s smile grows just the slightest bit wider. Ingo thinks that means he’s doing a good job.

For a brief moment, everything is peaceful. Ingo is actually helping Emmet, not the other way around! It feels amazing to be able to make a difference like this again, even if it’s something small. Maybe he could figure out what happened in the kitchen and use those powers? It’d take a lot of work, but if it’s for Emmet, then-

Elesa stands and as she passes by Emmet, she gently takes the journal from his hands.

Oh no no no, that’s not good at all! Ingo trails after her, panic seeping into each step that he takes. What is she doing?! Hasn’t she ever heard of privacy before?!

Archeops quietly squawks in protest, though he’s currently trapped in between Emmet and the back of the couch.

“Sssh.” Elesa holds a finger up to her mouth. “I’m just putting this on the coffee table. It can’t be comfortable to hold like that.”

Oh. Ingo sighs in relief, his shoulders dropping. Archeops grumbles something as well, settling back in next to Emmet. Okay, yeah, that makes sense. Elesa is a good friend, after all, she wouldn’t blatantly disrespect Emmet like that.

“But this can’t be Emmet’s journal, right?” Elesa reasons, and Ingo’s stomach drops again. She turns the book over in her hands. “He’s never been one to write down his feelings. So what is this, exactly?”

And then, without even waiting for an answer, Elesa opens the journal. Her face drops the second she does.

She must recognize the handwriting. She has to. Emmet says they’ve been friends for years, there’s no way she doesn’t know.

What Ingo does next is not something he thinks too heavily about. He grabs the pen from the coffee table and throws it right at Elesa. It makes contact right on the bridge of her nose.

“Ow! You-!” The pen clatters to the ground beneath Elesa, and brings a hand to the stinging red spot on her face. Her angry scowl is replaced by wide-eyed confusion the second that she notices that the spot the pen came from is empty. Not that Ingo would call it empty, but he gets how it looks to her.

“What is going on here? Is this place haunted?!” Elesa wonders aloud. Thankfully, Emmet is capable of sleeping through a train crash, and so he remains blissfully unaware of the chaos unfolding around him.

Elesa looks back at the journal, still cracked open in her hands. It’s obvious what she’s thinking, flipping through the pages faster than she could be reading them. Besides, with the tears welling up in her eyes, she probably isn’t seeing much anyway.

Know. Remember.

I missed you.

I didn’t mean to.

I never thought it would happen like this.

I won’t leave you again.

-Ingo

“What is this?” Elesa swallows back a sob, her mascara already beginning to smear. “You can’t- you can’t be…”

Ingo decides that he might as well. He’s already blown his cover. He picks the pen up off the ground and reaches past Elesa to the next empty page. She gasps as he does so.

Hi Elesa.

“Ingo?” Elesa tentatively asks, her voice shaking as if the word itself is sacrilege.

Yes.

And even though she’s crying, mascara running down her cheeks like rain on a window, Elesa laughs. For some reason, though, it feels like she doesn’t find this situation very funny. “You have got to be ele-kidding me right now.”

‥

Emmet wakes up to the sound of excited chattering, which is confusing enough on its own. Blearily, he sits up on the couch, which immediately launches him into another coughing fit. When he finally manages to calm his breathing, he sees Elesa sitting beside the coffee table, with the journal open in front of her.

“Uh, Elesa!” Emmet panics. Shit, how much did she read?! “What are you-”

“Emmet, did you know your brother is really good at drawing Tangelas?” Elesa asks, as if that’s a normal question to ask about a dead guy. “He’s seriously talented.”

Emmet blinks. His eyes finally land on the pen, moving on its own in swirling patterns. It takes a moment for his mouth to catch up with his brain.

“What?”

[unovanhunny]

how about a small snippet of what INgo says/does while high on catnip?

When he found Ingo, it was more than obvious that someone had found catnip. Emmet was pretty sure they hadn't had any on the ship for a while, so that meant Ingo got this from somewhere. His money was on Elesa since they had just stopped by to visit her the previous day.

The leisurely and possibly bad-for-his-back posture was the first hint, he spine twisting in a way that may have been okay for a cat, but would probably cause more pain in the long run. The second was the very steady rumbling purr Emmet could hear eminating from Ingo's chest as he wiggled slowly. The third was the way that Ingo's pupils were blown so wide, the usual silver color was almost lost entirely. And lastly, the scattered green remnants on the ground were unmistakable.

"Ingo-"

"Emmet! You're back! I missed you!" Ingo excitedly called out, cutting his brother off before he could say anything.

"I was not gone long."

Ingo squirmed until he was upright again and moved over to Emmet, throwing his arms around his brother's shoulders and pressing their chests together so Emmet could feel the purr. And then he started rubbing his face against Emmet's face with enthusiasm.

"It wasn't long? It felt like forever." The pout in his voice was obvious and Emmet could only let out a sigh through his nose and wrap his arms around Ingo's waist.

"It was maybe 40 minutes, I was just getting groceries." He would be lying if he said he didn't like this attention though, and Emmet didn't lie. Even if he could, his tail was making it far too obvious with the way it wagged excitedly at the affection.

"Well the groceries have been gotten, so now I have you all to myself, right?" The big eyed gaze that Emmet had gotten used to seeing when Ingo wanted something was somehow even more effective than usual. With an overdramatic sigh, Emmet had to admit defeat. Which wasn't exactly anything he was fighting against anyway.

"Yes, I am all yours. What will you do with me now?"

"Lay down with me. I require cuddles and you're the only one who can provide them." As he spoke, Ingo reluctantly pulled away from the hug to take Emmet's hand in his own and pull him along towards their bed. Emmet went along without question, his smile widening as they went.

Ingo pulled Emmet down and before he knew it, Ingo was curled against him, head on his chest, arms and legs tangled around him and tails entwined. That purr wasn't stopping anytime soon and Emmet could feel it resonate through his whole body. He had to press a kiss to the top of Ingo's head, causing the other's ear to flick.

"I'm glad you're home. I love you."

[autumn-sweet-fae]

You know you tend to get emotional when stressed? Well, Akari has been under massive amounts of stress since she made it to Hisui. I think it’d get an awful lot of people on her side if, during one of the post battle live streamed interviews, she started crying because the lab is trying to take away her partners. Especially Dusk, who she raised from the time all she knew was Tackle and Growl. Everyone knows how you that is in the life of a Pokémon and suddenly it’s less a girl stealing from a (fine and upstanding) research lab and more a girl on the run trying to hold onto a Pokémon she has raised and loved for what has to be literal years. (I forget how long your au has her in Hisui)

In my Au, by the time Akari and Ingo return to the future, Akari would have been missing a year and Ingo would been missing for three years.

Also, in case no one has picked up on it, I write Akari as also being autistic, largely because it makes her easier for me to write. So crying in front of other people is something she absolutely never wants to do, especially with some stranger. So the moment she feels her throat tightening and her eyes start to burn she would immediately remove herself from the situation. And she would be wearing the mask at the time too so it would look less like someone stepping away to gather themself and more like her harshly brushing the kid off.

Early on in Hisui, Akari’s method of managing her emotions and stress when interacting with human people was to bottle it up and smile and be as polite and present as possible. She would wear a metaphorical mask and always dress and behave appropriately when interacting with authority. She did not want to be alone in this strange world and wanted to be trusted, which is why Commander Kamado’s repeated reminders that she is not trusted hurt so much.

When Akari finds the ‘gift’ containing theZoroark mask left outside her door one morning, she loves it. She likes to keep it on her person and even wears it when interacting with others outside the village. It gives her the comfort of not always having to stress over how others would react to her expression not being perfectly pleasant. She honestly feels like she can only be herself when she’s out in the wilds with her pokemon because out here there’s not really anything to remind her that she’s suck somewhere that she does not belong.

When Rei pulls her aside and gently informs her that the mask was most likely ment as an insult, Akari is honestly heart broken. She stops wearing her in, shoving it away into her trunk. Volo later asks what happened to her favorite spooky accessory and she shrugs, telling him it was childish anyway.

And then she meets Ingo and the two find that they share so much in common. Not just their mysterious origins and love/talent of handling Pokémon, but also in numerous small ways. The fact that Ingo also keeps an empty pokeball in his pocket to play with when his hands need something to do. How he has difficulty controlling his expression, though he struggles to emote much at all while Akari knows she can emote too much. He can talk with her for hours about pokemon and battle strategies and they both have the best time throwing ideas back and fourth. She has this urge to apologize for how much she’s taking about pokemon, but Ingo is so genuinely interested in invested in what she say and makes sure to tell her so. They can both get very loud in they’re excitement but Ingo is significantly Louder.

It’s when Akari is sent to the Icelands that she sees an actual Zorua for the first time while exploring the caves. She caught the little guy with a back shot for a closer look but, he was so very distressed and defensive at her presence that she released him shortly after getting the notes she needed. She tells Ingo about them to get his perspective on it as every other person she’s spoken immediately shuttered and bulked at the idea of a Zorua. Even Professor Laventon seemed scared of them.

As she had hoped, his thoughts on the pokemon and its evolution did not come from a place of fear, but of understanding it to be another pokemon. He even tells her how the Zorua and Zoroark are of those pokemon he remembers differently then they appear in Hisui. He recalls their fur bring black, not white, and that they were known to be tricksters. He believes the didn’t have the best reputation where he was from as well, which was not deserved.

He shares what he had learn of the Hisui Zoroark from the Pearl clan and from what he has observed in the wilds. Their history of exile by cruel humans, the mutual distrust and hostility, how protective they are if their young. That last fact he can’t recall learning, he simply knew it.

After hearing all of this, Akari goes back to her trunk and retrieves her mask, choosing to keep it on her person yet again. This Pokémon deserves to  exist as much as any other and she won’t shove it away as the people of Hisui had done.

Later, after the trauma of Akari’s exile, she starts to wear the mask more and more, no longer caring what the people thought of her. She devotes time to not just studying the pokemon but helping them integrate with humans an learn they don’t need to be hostile. She also will no longer hesitate to call out people on their ignorance of pokemon and how damaging their behavior can be for both the pokemon and themselves.

And this has gotten totally off topic 😅

But yeah, Does Not want to cry in front of anyone that’s not her pokemon or Ingo. Ingo is great and will either give her space if that’s what she wants, or give her a hug while wrapping his coat around her to help her feel safe and hidden.

[nemesis-is-my-middle-name]

Not to make light of how much your situation must fucking suck, because I have lung problems and be almost literally dying in your place, but that's actually a good prompt idea! So, something either to do with exhaust/exhausted/exhausting or smoke-inhalation/pollution/trouble breathing, can be any one of those words

(it's fine mostly i just have a sore throat now. this also may or may not be related to my ongoing several day headache streak come to think of it. BUT ANYWAY they're done now so it's fine)

(aaah fuck this prompt... fighting so hard not to do a rain world or dishonored thing... there are Too Many good options i'm indecisive. uh hm. ive been toying with the idea of doing a regular non crossover postapoc style au so maybe...? also maybe throw in a rei bc feel like i've been neglecting my failboy in aus, lol.)

You don't go out without a filter. This is one of the most basic facts the people of the aftermath learn. You learn it quickly, or you die. Ingo knows this.

Unfortuantely, he also knows he didn't have much of a choice. His own mask is long gone, a trophy decorating some creature's den most likely, and Rei's already injured and weak, and their last shelter had been compromised. And they were close. So close to their destination—the home Rei was fighting his way back to, a place that promised safety.

He keeps repeating all this to himself, with every forced step, every it can't be far now—but he wonders, too, if he's made a mistake. If there wasn't some other option he overlooked. If he's doomed both of them.

The air reeks of chemical fumes and smoke. The cloth he's pressing over his face is more of a joke than anything useful; his nose and throat feel like something's been raking its claws down them; his eyes are stinging and blurry and now it's getting hard to see anything at all. His thoughtless animal hindbrain begs him to take deeper breaths, to salvage whatever oxygen they can get as fuel, but he fights that because he knows it'll only make everything worse. Occasionally he's overwhelmed by hacking coughs that burn, that force more poisoned air to cycle through. Rei is dead weight against his shoulder, completely reliant on him to keep moving, which is the only reason he is moving.

And then Rei swats his shoulder, weakly trying to get his attention, and points insistently in the direction of something. It might be a door, although he's not sure he would have noticed it, if not for the label tacked up over it in letters that are too blurred to read.

He drags them both towards it, fights it open—gives up on shallow breaths in this home stretch, just focused on getting through—and somehow manages to pull both himself and Rei up the ledge and inside. He's vaguely aware that the shouts and clicking sounds are alarm and suspicion and something that should make him jump and raise his hands in surrender—but, no longer faced with a critical task to complete, his body decides now is an excellent time to shut down. So it does.

[nagichi-boop]

I stole borrowed this idea from @sningo-prompts - that’s the intro for today’s post cuz my brain is really empty rn. Also don’t worry, this post is pretty wholesome.

- x -

“Ugh, I can’t believe this,” Elesa huffed, walking through the front door behind Emmet. Ingo, who was previously asleep on the couch, perked his ear up and began to slowly wake up, listening to the conversation between his friend and brother. “Who hands someone Pokénip as a joke in the middle of a train station anyway?” Elesa scowled then looked at Emmet, who was patiently smiling. “Sorry, I don’t mean to get so worked up about this. Thank you for letting me get rid of it here.”

“You were coming over anyway, so it is no problem!” Emmet said as Elesa passed the tube of Pokénip to him. They walked into the kitchen and Emmet hovered over the trash can for a minute, hesitating for some reason. “I’m sorry, I am verrry curious.” Emmet screwed the lid off of the tube, then took a whiff of the Pokénip. He then scoffed. “Why would a Pokémon go crazy over this? It smells horrible.” All of a sudden he felt a gentle clawing at his legs. He looked down and saw Ingo, who had quietly wandered into the room, wide eyed staring up at him. Emmet chuckled. “Brother, don’t tell me you are after this?” Emmet teasingly shook the tube a little which seemed to set something off in Ingo. The older brother suddenly pounced up, causing Emmet to fall back and topple over, dropping the Pokénip in the process, it spilling everywhere.

“Emmet, are you okay?” Elesa asked almost yelling. She offered her hand out, pulling Emmet into a sitting position. They both looked in disbelief as Ingo held the tube of Pokénip and was licking the inside contents out. Emmet suddenly panicked, lunging at Ingo and grabbing him.

“Ingo, stop!” he shouting, trying to pry the Pokénip away from him. It took all his strength, but he managed to do so, though his brother was desperately trying to get it back. “Elesa, take it!” Elesa rushed over, grabbing the tube and throwing it away. Emmet then held Ingo back, to which Elesa ran to grab a mop and cleaned up the rest of the Pokénip on the floor.

“Okay, it’s gone. You can let go of him now.” Emmet let go of Ingo, who immediately sprinted away on all fours. Both remained motionless in bewilderment. Elesa then shook her head and offered her hand to Emmet, helping him to his feet. “Well that was unexpected,” Elesa commented, still in shock.

Emmet then grew pale. “Do you think he will be okay? I’ve never seen him act like that. Is that stuff safe?”

Elesa sighed. “Yeah, it’s safe. But I never let my Pokémon have it ‘cause it makes them act a bit…wild?” Emmet speedily walked into the lounge and could barely believe his eyes when he Ingo curled on the floor, tossing and turning all the while being very vocal. Emmet then began to bite down on his thumb anxiously.

“How long until this stops?” he asked nervously.

“I think he should calm down after about 10 minutes or so?” Elesa replied. She then looked at Emmet, observing his worry. “Hey, don’t worry! It’s not harmful or anything!” She then thought for a second. “I know! If we give Ingo some toys to play with, maybe he will wear himself out and calm down faster?”

Emmet furrowed his eyebrows. “So you want me to treat my own brother like he’s a Pokémon?”

“No no, not like that!” Elesa responded, placing a hand on Emmet’s shoulder. “But right now Ingo isn’t really in control of his instincts, I think. So if he give him a healthy way to let his energy out, maybe he will return to normal more quickly?” Emmet thought about it for a second, then reluctantly nodded. He hated the idea, but if it would help bring Ingo back to his senses, he’d do it. Elesa walked across the room, then crouched over their box of Pokémon toys. She pulled one out that was shaped like a Basculin. She walked over to Ingo, then dangled the toy above him, catching his attention . Ingo’s eyes narrowed as he stared at the toy before he pounced up, snatching the toy from Elesa while almost scratching her hand in the process.

He held the toy close to his torso, biting it. He then suddenly began to violently kick at the toy with his back legs. Elesa was holding back laughter and resisting the urge to pull out her phone and start recording, but she could feel an ominous aura emanating from Emmet, so she didn’t. The toy suddenly flung across the room near the entrance to the hallway. Ingo stood on all fours, staring intently at the toy. He wiggled a little before running full speed at the toy, though he ran so fast that he tripped over the toy as he approached it, almost causing him to do a cartwheel. A laugh managed to escape Elesa’s mouth, to which she promptly covered it and looked up at a disapproving Emmet. His serious expression did not make it any easier for her not to laugh.

Ingo continued to play with the toy, flinging it around the room, fighting with it on the floor and running at it whenever it escaped from his grip. After about 10 minutes, his movements began to slow. He was less aggressive towards the toy and eventually lost interest in it entirely, simply flopping over and panting.

Emmet crouched next to his exhausted brother, looking concerned. “Ingo, are you okay? Do you feel better?” Ingo slowly opened his eyes and met eyes with Emmet. His eyes were still sharp but gradually widened to their usual state. He sat up, then looked over towards the toy. All of a sudden he was overcome with extreme embarrassment. He looked at Elesa, who promptly covered up her smirking face with a cushion.

Ingo panicked, then hid under Emmet’s jacket and used it to cover his face. Emmet lifted his arm and looked to his side. He could barely see his brother as he had almost completely hidden himself. Elesa couldn’t hold it back anymore and began to burst out laughing.

“I’m sorry, but that was hilarious!” Elesa spoke between fits of laughter. Emmet scowled at her, to which she tried to catch her breath, wiping her tears away. “I know, I know - you were worried about Ingo. But seeing him act so aloof was hilarious!”

Emmet felt a pull on the fabric of his coat. He glanced over at Ingo, who was now covering his face even more. Emmet then mentally reviewed the events of the past 15 minutes or so compared to what was happening now and stifled a laugh.

“Oh, come on Emmet, let it out!” She said before bouncing off of the couch. She then began tickling Emmet, trying to provoke him, to which he fell back laughing. The two of them continued to laugh for a bit, both now on their backs losing their minds. Ingo, who was now fully exposed, stared at them in embarrassment. He then thought back to what had happened and although he was embarrassed, he began to see the humour in the situation. He too tried not to laugh, but eventually was caught up in the mood of the room and burst into laughter as well.

This was an experience that, while they didn’t want to be repeated, was one that they’d look back on fondly, much to Ingo’s dismay (though secretly he recognised the hilarity of the situation, even if he still felt flustered whenever he remembered it).

[art-blogge]

Track A-5

"No, Jirachi is not an Ultra Beast. It comes from space, not Ultra Space. There is a difference."

Emmet gave up understanding the difference between space and Ultra Space at least half an hour ago. Space was space. What was next? Mega space? Great space? Premiere space? Luxury space? Oh, he liked the sound of that one!

Cameron lightly nudged his boss, trying to make him focus. He was also having some trouble absorbing all of the new information they were being given, but at least Cameron was trying. Someone in this room had to be listening to all of this. Cameron knew it must be relevant to the current case, and did his best.

Cloud raised his hand for the fourth time in the last ten minutes.

"Hoopa?"

"Hoopa cannot travel through time," responded one of the international police agents, "If he were only spatially relocated, then Hoopa could have been a possibility." These poor officers were instructed to explain the circumstances to the Gear Station agents, so that they'd understand what possibly happened to their unfortunate boss.

Only Jackie realized it would be smart to take notes, and for the exact wrong reason- The best scary stories are the ones that are accurate and thus feasible! But at least someone was writing this down.

Cloud continued suggesting various legendary and mythical Pokemon, and continued being shot down. Very few of them are able to interact with Ultra Space, and even less actively do so. But he was getting info about legendaries, so he still won in the end. Even if he was still starving, he'd definitely won this interaction.

"So far we got Celebi and Hoopa being jerks together, the Sinnoh dragons, a real big Girafarig, the Unown, and now space beasts?" Jackie asked, checking over his notes.

"Ultra Beasts," an officer yet again corrected. "Pokemon from space like Deoxys are incapable of such a feat. Unown are not legendary, but are still unlikely. They very rarely leave their own dimensions." After a moment of thinking, they added "Most Ultra Beasts are also not capable of causing this by themselves. We are still working with the Aether Foundation to decide if Necrozma or Cosmog are or aren't Ultra Beasts."

Yuuuuuuuuuup. Emmet was still verrrrrrrrrry lost.

The Depot Agents weren't fairing well with the sudden influx of unknown information, either. Ramses and Josh were both horrified by it all, and had mutually decided that clinging to Furze was a valid idea. Isadore had given up in the first ten minutes and left to take a nap. Hank was still trying to process the idea that Pokemon could come from space. Only Jackie and Cloud survived the infodumping.

"New question!" Jackie shouted, raising his hand, "Do we have any idea where or when Ingo could've ended up?"

Finally someone asked it.

"Not yet," replied an officer, "But it's entirely possible that he's already been ki-"

"SO ANYWAY!" Furze suddenly interrupted, throwing his hand up, "There were no Ultra Wormhole traces in the Gear Station, right?"

Emmet's smile faltered. What was the officer going to say? Furze never interrupted people unless it was an emergency, he knew that. So was something wrong? Already been what? The gears in his head weren't turning as fast as he'd like them to be.

He was so deep in thought that he missed the following explanation. Emmet would need to be told later about the lack of Ultra Wormhole traces anywhere in the city, and how odd the situation was as a whole. Emmet only tuned back in because he felt someone staring at him, that being Cameron doing a concern. Emmet gave him a blank smile in response, not sure what Cameron was worried about. What'd he miss? Damn. Maybe he should have taken notes like Jackie. Oh, but then they'd be covered in little Joltiks and Archens instead of actual notes. Speaking of Joltik, he could feel a few of them traversing the inside of his coat sleeves. He had to resist the urge to immediately pull them out and place them on the Agents, this definitely not being the time nor place for that.

"I've got something important to add," said an officer, their voice piercing straight through the off-track thoughts Emmet was having. Emmet immediately looked up at the officers expectantly, maybe staring a little too hard.

"Most missing persons cases of this caliber get solved, so please do not fret. We're on it, and we already have ideas of where to start."

The Subway Boss and all of his Agents exchanged looks before Emmet's smile returned in full force. What a relief! They were going to find Ingo! How verrrrrrrrrrry exciting! So exciting that he'd started bouncing and stimming with an excessive amount of force. A spare Joltik got flung out of his sleeve at Mach 4.

Cloud shifted forward to lean around Furze so he could look at Emmet. "Well, you know! Unlike what Jackie likes to think, Time always gets fixed in the end!"

[waywardstation]

“...I should really stop stalling,” she said. “We need to figure out the memory situation.”

Irida grimaced, but did not argue. They really did have to. If there was nothing else to be relieved of in this situation, at lease they had time to pause and plan this go around.

Turning to the front window, Akari frowned. “I don’t know if Mr. Ingo ever mentioned this to you—maybe you already know part of it. When we were going through Wayward Cave the first time, he talked a bit about what little remembered. When I brought out Firecracker to help see because the lights were out, he said he once knew a Pokémon with mastery over flames…”

“You believe that means his memory of that Pokémon is in this car, then?” It made a certain sort of sense to Irida.

“I do.” Akari’s frown deepened. Her gaze flickered to the blueish torches. “I brought Firecracker out in the Cave, to help light the torches again, and when he saw Firecracker Mr. Ingo said that he had the closest flame color to the Pokémon he remembered that he’d ever seen, and even then it wasn’t the exact same purple.

“Plus,“ she added, “we’ve only seen one memory screen, so maybe it’s nothing, but the fact that this one is cracked makes me think something’s going on with the memory inside.”

“I see.” Irida frowned. It seemed that there would be no avoiding it. “Then we simply must see what memory lies in this car, no matter our reservations.”

“Glad we’re on the same page.”

“However, our reservations are well-reasoned: how should we manage the Conductor?”

Akari sighed and uncrossed her arms, send her hands on her hips. “That’s a difficult question. Irida, do you remember what the Conductor’s pokemon looked like? Can you describe it to me?”

Irida opened her mouth to begin, but closed it again with a furrowed brow. There was its large, gaping mouth, its thin body—but that was it. That was all Irida could recall. The color, the shape, the form its attack was taking, all of it was unidentifiable. 

“Exactly.” Akari looked at each of the Pokémon in the car. “You three are our best hope for dealing with his Pokémon, but we don’t even know what it is or what typing it has. It’s gonna be strong, too. Mr. Ingo is super good at battling, so the Conductor probably has access to that knowledge.”

She clapped her hands together. “That doesn’t mean we know nothing, though. I remember feeling my hair raise up when the attack started, so it’s got an electric attack. It could be an electric type, or it could just have that move, but it’s something.”

The Dewott at her legs huffed. 

“Yeah, that means you can’t fight it. I had other plans for you anyway, so that’s not too bad.”

Irida bit her lip, frustrated. She wished she could argue against trying to fight the Conductor, but there seemed no other option. They needed to examine what might be a distorted memory in order to understand their next actions, and doing so required holding the Conductor off from throwing them out. But, to send a Noble to fight against the strange Pokemon, even with other Pokemon aiding her…it sat wrong, to ask for such assistance yet have no actions to return for it. To be a Noble was to be a protector, but Irida could not help but feel uneasy nonetheless.

A thought struck her. It was ridiculous, and reckless, but— it could work. In most circumstances, she would never act so brashly, but in this realm, distanced from reality and full of new possibilities and consequences, perhaps a more daring method was needed.

“Battling Pokemon rely on the person’s commands during a fight, yes?” she said, slowly. “What if the Conductor was too… indisposed to issue orders?”

“Indisposed, huh? What, are you thinking of putting him in a chokehold or something?” Akari said, quirking a brow.

Irida said nothing.

“Oh sweet Spirits, you’re gonna put him in a chokehold.”

“I don’t want to choke him,” she defended; the man really did remind her of Ingo too much for her to do that. “I’d be clapping a hand over his mouth at most. It’s just that keeping him quiet might make this more manageable.”

“Oh, it definitely would. Feel free to try it, I won’t stop you.” Akari said, giggling. She looked at the window again. “So, that’s our plan, then? I see what’s going on with the memory while you guys hold the Conductor back?”

“It’s not much of a plan, said like that…” Irida muttered.

All Akari could give to that was a shrug. “We barely have any information. That’s all the planning we can do until we have more.”

With no counterargument to present, Irida instead swept her gaze through the car. Where had the Conductor begun to approach from? Almost the middle of the thin room, far in the back; standing in a corner would have to do for a hiding spot. She would need the element of surprise and the hope that keeping the Conductor between her and his Pokémon would leave it hesitating.

“I’ll stand to the back and wait for an opportune moment, while you three,” Irida indicated Akari, Firecracker, and Lady Sneasler, “initiate the memory and thus the battle?”

“Sounds good to me,” Akari affirmed with a shrug. “Well— I want to plan out the moves Firecracker’s going to use first.”

Firecracker sat up attentively at that, looking to Akari with keen eyes. Almost immediately, Akari drew the Dewott and Typhlosion to her and began instructing them both. Irida, has no real advice to give; Palkia surrounding knew Akari was leaps and bounds past her in battling together with Pokémon. Instead, she pressed closer to Lady Sneasler for a moment.

“I know you cannot be truly hurt, not in a way that matters here, but please do exercise cation, my lady,” she muttered. “Neither us nor Warden Ingo would enjoy putting you in a position of sacrifice.”

Lady Sneasler regarded her with sharp eyes, and after a moment of consideration, snorted. Still, she nodded in some form of acceptance of Irida’s plea, and Irida knew to take what she could get.

With that matter settled for the time, Irida turned to the back corners of the car. They were dark and craggy, which was unnerving in the dim light but certainly useful when she wanted to hide within one of them. Most days, Irida found herself wishing she was taller—she sometimes suspected her assertions of will and leadership would fair better if she could just tower properly instead of scowling upwards like a child— but her slight frame worked in this situation. 

She turned around so that she faced the rest of the car and crouched. With her eyes fixed approximately where she remembered the Conductor being—yes, this should do well. Attacking with the enemy distracted would ensure her ease of restraining him, and if he possessed the same strength as Warden Ingo when he first arrived, the Conductor would be no trouble to hold down at all.

She stood up as Akari finished her instructions. No time like the present, Irida supposed.

A few more words exchanged between the two humans in the car, and positions to enact the plan were taken up. Irida crouched once more, watching as Akari, backed by Firecracker and Lady Sneasler, approached the memory-window. 

The window flickered with purple light. Irida jolted slightly as the form of the Conductor strode forward towards the cluster, simply appearing in the car as though he had always been there, coat flaring.

“You know the rules,” was his only clipped warning.

Then, his monstrous Pokémon flashed into being and the fight was on. The lithe Pokémon rose up just as before, the Conductor raising a pointing arm in tandem—

Irida struck. Springing up, she hurled herself forward and collided with the man, leaving him sputtering around his command. Before either him or his Pokémon could react, she slammed a hand over his mouth and an arm around his chest, twisting her body so they both hit the ground, with the Conductor taking the brunt of the impact. 

Above them, the Pokémon shrieked with rage, and then with alarm as Akari’s shouted command of “Flame Wheel!” had a blast of fire connecting with its back as Lady Sneasler followed the move with a poisoned strike to the tender skin. While the Pokémon jerked between paying attention to its trainer and the foes attacking it, Firecracker struck again with another Flame Wheel.

The Conductor thrashed in her hold, attempting to bite her hand, but Irida held firm with little effort. He was as weak as she suspected, much to her advantage. All she needed to keep hold of him was Akari driving the Conductor’s Pokémon away from freeing him, which Akari was managing quite handily.

Irida immediately regretted that confidence—just as she thought it, the purple-blue lighting of the room roared to a blinding crescendo, heat swiftly following after—she couldn’t help the gasp that left her at the shock of such burning air. She wrenched her head up to see Akari reeling her body back from the other end of the car, and watched with horror as a spindly, many-limbed something burst out of the memory-window. It was oil-black and twitching, flinging itself forward into the middle of the car as the Conductor struggled in her arms with renewed vigor.

Her shock was almost tremendous enough to let him succeed. Gritting her teeth, Irida redoubled her efforts to still him and prayed to Sinnoh, to Arceus, to whatever it desired to be called to give Akari knowledge and speed enough to deal with the unwanted complication. 

Already she could hear Akari’s voice shouting above everything, delivering whipcrack-fast commands. More flames spewed from Firecracker’s mouth towards the snake-like Pokémon as Akari’s Dewott lept into the fray to spit a vicious funnel of water at the black monster, while it produced bluish flames of its own to add to the rising temperatures. 

Everything was pandemonium.

Irida could barely pay attention to anything, her head growing more fevered and dizzied by the second. All she could do was narrow her perception to the man in her grasp, retaliating to his attempt to strike her head with a knee driven into his back. Fire and water and lightning raged around them, joined by Akari’s shrill, furious voice and the howls and snarling of the Pokémon. The car rocked and swayed from side to side, but still clung to the rails. The Conductor was yelling, scrabbling at her hand, but it was too muffled to discern. 

A flash of surveyor blue rushed past her limited view, and Irida desperately tracked it, horror filling her as Akari flung herself bodily at the monstrous form, catching on the bulbous middle of it. The monster let out a haunting cry, burning red eyes flashing as its flames grew, but nothing deterred Akari as she tore at its inky skin—

But it wasn’t skin, Irida realized as Akari’s hands came away with globs of black something clinging to them. It was a substance, a coating, swallowing whatever laid beneath nearly whole. 

One of the monster’s thrashing limbs finally struck true, and it wrenched Akari off itself and threw her to the ground, lurching down to follow her and strike once more. As Akari gasped at the impact and heaved, her Dewott rushed in, dousing as many burning limbs as he could to distract it, Firecracker and Lady Sneasler still tangling with the Conductor’s Pokémon.

Enraged on Akari’s behalf, however, the duo grew even more unrelenting in their attacks, hurling fire and poison at the Pokémon for every lonely attack it managed, until it was struggling under their punishing attentions. The Lady cut, Firecracker lunged to bite; it was a perfect barrage of a dance, as though they had run it a thousand times.

Finally, Lady Sneasler struck it across its gaping face, and it slammed to the ground with finality. 

The pair whirled to face Akari and the monster, surging forward as the monster continued to bear down on the girl. It swung one of its doused limbs to hit Akari; Akari, pinned, could seemingly do nothing but fling her arms over her head—

—”FIRECRACKER, NOW,” Akari roared, hurling the monster off of her. “BURN IT OUT!”

Firecracker let out an earsplitting cry, flames whirling and reaching the ceiling as he reared up. Before the monster could scramble away, a holy reckoning of fire poured out of the Typhlosion’s mouth, coating it in violet flame. A horrific scream filled the whole car. Irida’s head felt like it was cracking open at the volume as the Conductor convulsed in her hold, shouting something—

And then, with a final shriek, the monster was silenced. There was only quiet. Light filled the car properly once more. The Conductor tore himself from Irida’s stunned hold, gasping, “Chandelure?”

Floating where the mass of oily limbs once hunched was a Pokémon with brilliant blue flames and a glassy exterior. 

—-

In a small tent, Warden Ingo suddenly doubled over, clutching at his head with a pained groan. Knowledge-bearing Uxie clung on to him, their unseen eyes darting frantically underneath ever-shut eyelids. Shuddering, Ingo clenched his jaw and tried to sit up again as his head pounded like it had been cracked in half by a hammer. Lady Snealser leapt up, but was not the first to reach him.

Rei rushed to his side. “Sir! Sir, are you alright?”

“I remember,” he rasped. “I remember. Its name is Chandelure!”

---------

Huzzah! The second half! With a round of Pokémon battle in this Pokémon fanfic, who could have ever imagined? I had a lot of fun describing the fight as complete chaos through Irida's eyes--I decided to discard the turn-based combat for a free-for-all and having the one person not in the fight just dealing with it happening, haha.

I hope I sold the action well enough--combat scenes aren't really my forte! If I didn't, it's just because Irida didn't have a good view, naturally.

And, of course, a little bit of Ingo in this fic about Ingo. Wild.

--cw

(Part of a collection of writings CW had been making about the Train of Thought AU. First part of this segment can be read here, and all the previous segments can be read here on AO3!)

CW WOW!! This was just as fun to read as the first part!!! So many good parts!!

Irida wanting to put the Conductor in a chokehold, The description of Eelektross, Pre-restored Chandelure’s appearance, Ingo regaining his memory of Chandelure…it’s all SO GOOD! You did great with the action scenes, don’t worry! Absolutely loved reading this!!

Again I am very sorry for how late I got to this, but I really enjoyed reading this and had so much fun visualizing everything in my head; bravo!!!

Lovely writing as always, I hope other people enjoy reading this as much as I have! Your writing skills really are fantastic and I very much enjoy this narrative you’ve made!!