#but no. akari only asks the guy for a battle and that's it

[nell0-0]

@open-to-the-sky​ here is your reply! The Akari in Unova looking for Ingo is related to this post

How that happened, tho? 

...Ingo arrived a tad behind schedule, pfpfpf

[davepetacreates]

lady vespiquen and warden akari of the pearl clan, from my gay chicken trainwreck au, more context under the cut (warning: long post). there are two versions here because one is overly denoised and i thought it looked cool.

so, i decided to keep vespiquen as akaris lady in the pearl clan, because a) i think it's really interesting, the implications that akari is a little traveler around all of hisui with her dad ingo at what. age eleven when she meets this little combee.

there are whispers, at first, and the pearl clan is appalled at how the combee takes to her. it's not even a noble yet (when the old lady vespiquen's warden died in a run in with the alpha snorlax, it literally died of grief, leaving this little combee behind.) and it's already making warden like connections? and not only that, but to a girl who literally fell from the sky as a toddler and was found by sheer luck when ingo noticed her in the snow he was trying to clear with Flamethrower (honestly a miracle she didn't die).

and then it got even more controversial when an outsider, volo, came through to help evolve the combee. with *candies*. which akari hadn't known would be a problem, she was just sharing them with combee when it suddenly evolved, but that caused some to doubt that she was really destined to be lady vespiquen's warden?

in addition, this meant the numbers were off, and the pearl clan had one more warden than the diamond clan. this would have been a problem, but...

cue emmet. falls from the sky, discovered when sabi is doing her monthly check in with the shunned noble, zoroark (who ostracized himself when one of the diamond clan turned on him and killed his warden) to make sure their line is doing okay, and she realizes she should do it early. she doesn't know who this man she sees in the vision is but she knows he needs help.

so she does her check in early and lo and behold that's. that's a nearly dead guy isn't it. she asks lord zoroark if she can have braviary take him to the diamond clan for healing. zoroark grants it out of an understanding that they will be the best creatures to help him and he really can't do much.

he then decides to follow emmet to the diamond clans camp. almost gets killed but hey, he's strong and fearful. he can scare any pokemon off easy if he doesn't want to battle. and then he gets there and he sees a lot of himself in emmets lostness, his fear, his grief. he adopts emmet as his warden right then and there and so now emmet is a member of the diamond clan.

and now there are three faller wardens. there's those who take it to be a gift from sinnoh and those who take it as malintent, but no matter what, they're treated *differently*. that is, until the fourth faller arrives, the nobles start going into frenzies, and elesa reminds emmet and ingo of their pasts - and volo tries to ask arceus to reset it all, they fucked up (even though isn't this how it was supposed to go?)

and arceus denies them. once elesa finishes the Pokedex the rest of the fallers will be sent back. but for now, volo and elesa are the only ones who remember where they came from, and volo is the only one who can go back.

[cutekittenlady]

Eelektross in Hisui AU idea, I know we are still in the "events prior to Ingo showing up as the plot solution" but the idea of Ingo's and his beloved but Horrible Wet Guard Dog, that is almost overpowered for the setting (modern professional fighting pokemon have access to all the food, training and potions/ healthcare they need and research has figured better training methods like IV and EV, their only weakness is they follow Stardard Battle Rules like No cutting turn order or no mob Vs one guy) Anyways Ingo only somewhat remembers Eelektross (You have to have Ingo remember eelektross's train pun nickname, I recommend Catenary which is the wires that power electric trains/trolleys) So we have this Legendary Monster that terrorized and chased people for Weeks sitting in Ingo lap being scratched behind the ear(?) fins, wiggling in happiness, while Meille in the background is recovering from being electricuted (Ingo Did Not want to be Touched and eelektross Will make sure that is Respected)

Oh Ingo definitely doesn't remember Eelektross. Though, as you said, he finds him to be verrry familiar and is way more understanding of his behavior than others. I think it'd take even Akari and Laventon some time to stop seeing Eelektross as a wildly territorial pokemon. Ingo, meanwhile, picks up on the fact that his playful and friendly demeanor and behavior are being mistaken for aggression almost right away.

Ingo himself struggles to explain WHY he's able to make this connection beyond just stating that he somehow KNOWS and chalking it up to some kind of intuition. Regardless Eelektross is thrilled to finally find someone he now only knows, but who doesnt treat him either as a beast or some subject of research. So their relationship is relatively good. Whether or not Eelektross tries to help with Ingo's memory loss or is content with just watching over him is still up in the air atm tho he'd definitely grow verrrrry protective of Ingo after everything he's been through.

Eelektross is also definitely OP. Not just due to all the training, but because his species is a complete unknown in Hisui. I mean there aren't that many species in Hisui who can boast having no natural weaknesses in legends arceus especially if one considers Eelektross has a hand on his natural abilities (levitate) in a way that trainers and pokemon in the past dont quite have gives him a unique advantage.

As you say though, this is a double edged sword. Eelektross does NOT do well alone in the wild. Despite being well trained, in prime condition, and very powerful hes been raised taking direction from a trainer and while he does draw on certain memories of strategies Emmet came up with and used in the past, he doesnt have the skill to come up with any strategies of his own. Beyond that he has always been entirely reliant on humans for food, shelter, etc. and so fails in the wild because of that as well.

In fact, its that reliance on humans that more or less causes him to be mistaken as an aggressive creature in the first place.

I don't know about nicknames as I rarely ever give Ingo and Emmets pokemon nicknames (one exception being Ingos Excadrill eventually earning the nicname "Nana" in his absence but thats from a whole other concept) but calling him "Catenary" will certainly make things easier.

Feel free to send an Ask

[muffin-gods]

Behold, My Pokemon Legends Arceus Mc!!

So I will preface this by saying 3 things. 1) There are PLA spoilers, so if you haven't played the game all the way through yet, be wary. You were warned. 2) Do not tag this as Volo×Akari/Rei. This is my character, and don't count as the default protags. 3) Please don't comment with assumptions if you don't read the full thing. Thank you. Anywayss☆:

Before i explain his personality, i just wanna say that i did experiment with my art style a bit with this. And i am so in love with it!! This took forever to draw and i am just so happy with it. Anyway, here's about him>

For starters: I named all my Mcs Kai, which is a bit of a problem lol. However i don't necessarily regret it, because i just love the name, and it makes me very happy(which may sound dumb but idfc). Pronouns are he/him, and has a very feminine appearance. A couple times he's been approached by straight guys, thinking that he's female, only to be shocked by his surprisingly deep voice. Every single character assumed he was a girl at first, with varying reactions when they realized he wasn't. His personality is quiet, but extremely flirty. This personality came about cuz i thought everyone in the game was fucking hot, so in battle scenes i would walk up to them and say 'muah' as a joke. While he flirts with practically everyone (not literal children or old people, calm down), and even kissed multiple people, Volo was the only one he actually loved. Now before you assume I'm shipping Volo with a child... My mc is in fact older than 15(the age you are meant to be in the game), though the scene where Cyllene says you look about 15 is still accurate because Kai is considerably small. Kai confessed to Volo not too long before his betrayal. And Volo still accepted his confession, despite knowing what he was about to do. Volo's betrayal was so heartbreaking for him and Akari did her best to comfort him. After getting over the original heartbreak, he claimed- in a strangely calm demeanor- that he'd kill Volo if he ever saw him again. Akari finds that worrisome but thinks it's best to just let Kai cope. More facts about his personality is that he can't swim and is absolutely terrified of the water in the beginning, though he eventually gets more comfortable around water. He also occasionally references things from the future finding people's confusion funny.

This is the only pokemon game so far that i didn't nickname my pokemon. But here's the team:

Decidueye♂️,Lucario♂️,Mismagius♂️, Murkrow♀️,Torterra♀️,Tentacruel♂️

Decidueye and Lucario are best friends. And i loved when my Decidueye was a Dartrix cuz he kinda matched the outfit, lol.

Anyway, if you have any questions about this, do not be afraid to ask. In fact, it's very encouraged, because i would love to be able to talk to someone about my art and headcanons. If you read all the way through, tysm!!☆

That is all

[salsa-di-pomodoro]

About the Ingo + Arceus road trip: waitwaitwait, what do you mean by consequences in a trip to the future of his own timeline? 👀

Well, as i said it's nothing actually too concerning, just a setback. You see, since the last world he traveled long enough that he would take at least a week to fully recover from the strain of it that's what he should have done. But because of the knowledge that he is so very close to going home and finding Emmet and finally getting his answers, along with the added stress of trying not to see anything about the future (cause yeah that's going to be. Stressful. What if it's not something he wants to know?), he decided to leave earlier. He does not tell the future people of how long he should have rested. (They'll figure it out either way, looking at records of Ingo's many future (past?) Interviews 🥲. They're not going too upset over it though. They understand, they're just worried. They decide to keep a closer eye on any future fallers or interdimensional travelers they find.)

Either way, Arceus is understandably concerned over this fyi like they do care, they've spent the last few months with this guy and are pretty aware of his limits, but Ingo is really just... Tired. He insists over this, and they cave. They make sure to go particularly fast and be even more careful than usual this time, but of course they can't do everything.

Ingo gets only to see the shoreline of the forest underneath the entralink area and realize he made it before he gives in to his body and he passes out. He tells Arceus he's going to sleep, and they, not really knowing any better still (they're horrible at social interactions outside of divine intervention ಥ⁠‿⁠ಥ but hey what else was it going to be. They spend all their time doing who knows what managing the universe. This is just one arm after all.), trust him in that. They hang around in the faint way you'd imagine they were looking over Akari in the game, sort of looking over him and waiting for him to wake up and making sure he doesn't die. If he were to die now they would feel so upset over it. They became friends with Ingo over time (i don't think they will completely leave once he is settled in his life either; they're probably going to be a metaphorical call away :)), which is probably the closest they're ever going to get to being a Pokémon companion, something i believe they wished to experience if the battle with them at the end of the game tells me anything.

He is found by a family of zorua and zoroarks. They aren't used to seeing humans so far into the forest and got curious. Ingo's Pokémon, who were starting to get really worried (it has been a while since he went to 'sleep' by now), sense them and they decide someone should come out. The first one to do so is Ingo's alpha zoroark (the others are happy to know someone is out there helping Ingo and calm down for the moment. They do listen in though). It was particularly excited about getting to Unova, knowing it was the land its ancestors came from that was spoken of so longingly by the oldest zoroarks in the packs, the ones that still remembered when they were kits, leaving that place with their parents, following humans. It is immediatly blindsided by the sight of ALIVE zoruas and zoroarks, and for a moment it only revels in the knowledge they they are There, finally, before remembering why it was so impatient to get out. It finds it cannot wake up Ingo. And immediatly asks for help from the zoroark's family. The poor guys are incredibly confused and maybe a little afraid and or disturbed to see such a visibly scarred (i mean like. The red things) zoroark (also it's huge, cause its an alpha) and would really like to ask a few questions, but they accept either way. Why would they not, after all? (They do not know that in Hisui asking for help on behalf of a human to any Pokémon would be So dangerous)

So with a bit of help from some of Ingo's Pokémon they bring him back to their den. Arceus, whose full attention has been attracted by now, comes back in the right plane of existence, and once informed Ingo isn't waking up, promptly freaks out a little and wakes him themself, by using divine powers or something.

Ingo wakes up with a terrible, terrible sense of déjà vu and no idea of where he is or how he got there. He is terrified to realize he doesn't remember nearly anything.

-

-

-

Lmao SIKE i would never do that to him. He thinks he doesn't remember anything, but really he's just in that state where you wake up and don't even know who you are for a hot second, except he's exausted enough that he doesn't even realize he hasn't quite woken up completely and therefore will be in that state for a while, along with the added effect of the harsh travel causing a more serious version of the confusion effect Pokémon can get. Except he's a human so even that's different. So he's basically just tired and confused and panicking and the void travel temporarily blocked his memories. This time fr temporarily. He isn't thinking straight enough to realize he recognizes all the Pokémon in the room by name, but to be fair to him at this point he can barely move still, so.

Arceus, who is also internally panicking by now, decides that if Ingo truly once again doesn't remember anything they'll help him, this time not just out of duty, but because he is a friend and really, this is te first time they truly realize how much they've come to care for him, but if anything happened to him they'd truly grieve. They've only felt grief such as the one they re afraid of now, years and years ago, with the original hero. Ingo may not be the here but that doesn't matter.

So despite having no idea of how to do that, they decide to take a page out of Ingo's book, and decide that no matter what, they're going to fix this, just like he resolved to fix his situation, no matter what it took.

So they tell Ingo not to worry. They tell him to not try to force himself to remember, and they reassure him that he is going to be fine, they'll make sure of that. He has nothing to worry about. They tell him to go back to sleep.

And really, is anyone going to look in the face of a god, with the subconscious knowledge they they are your friend, telling you that you are going to be fine and NOT believe them?

Ingo goes back to sleep. When he wakes up next, a day later, he is still extremely tired, but he can move and think properly (courtesy of his Pokémon feeding him persim and lum berries ground into paste, also courtesy of the zoroark family's berry stash. They did not sign up for Arceus showing up in their den but there doesn't seem to be any danger and MAN are they curious by now), and finds that he can remember everything just fine. He finds by checking his (somewhat recently repaired) xtransreceiver that all the pictures and videos he took of the worlds he has been in match with what he remembers. He isn't missing any time. (Arceus is secretly SO relieved when he tells everyone this. They had been getting dirty looks by everyone when they refused to explain how exactly they were going to fix this, and they are glad he doesn't actually need their help. Also he's just their friend and they're glad he's fine.)

Ingo promptly starts trying to get up and leave to go home and has to be forcefully kept in the den so he doesn't overexert himself again. He has not learned anything from this experience. He needs so much therapy poor boy <3

(they can't keep him there for long though. The next day they depart, with a promise to go back to visit (Ingo's zoroark is so happy to have made a few friends already :) the zoruas love their weirdass new family member as well. They're so cool and weird :) they will not stop asking questions, as kids do.) and manage to get on the other side of lostlorn forest by the time it's night. It's not long to Nimbasa from there. The roads feel so familiar already, even this far from the city itself.)

(Chandelure has been feeling a disturbance in the force, but she knows not to leave. Ingo will get here soon. Emmet has noticed how chipper she has gotten in the last few days. He has also noticed how she tends to stare towards the wall, in one particular direction. He will not need to wait for much longer, he knows.)

Extras in the tags! Reblogs are very appreciated.

[kirbolove]

Cruel Illusions - Submas Comic AU

Firstly, here’s a few drawings of the boys that I made beforehand! (2nd pic is Emmet clutching Ingo’s Pokéball with Chandelure in it, and wearing Ingo’s hat.)

…And here’s the sketchy comic AU I made a while back; “Cruel Illusions,” about a manipulative “Emmet” 🦊:

I hope to remake this one day, as this is really sketchy..! Here’s a written version of this story, below- as I get how my comic may be difficult to understand:

.

.

.

In the battle subway, Ingo stands frozen in fear- looking tidy in his regular gear station uniform- nervously sweating as his twin in white whispers something into his ear…

“GO! CHANDELURE!” He immediately fires at his opponent, penchant in striking his signature pose, before his vision defogs enough to make him stop on his tracks.

“H-huh?”

“W-what are you doing?” Akari nervously lets out as she clutches her uniform, as a readied Irida stands behind her, her pokéball clutched in her hand.

Distraught after realizing what he was about to do and overwhelmed in utter confusion, Ingo looks into her eyes, then straight down, and can only utter, “I… I-”

“I’M SORRY!” He exclaims loudly, “-But I must depart!”

“H-hold on!!” Akari calls out, “That’s-!” but it was too late, for Ingo was long gone for when she says, “…the wrong way…”

Quite the time passes, as Ingo is found determinedly climbing mountains riddled in snow; in the Alabaster Icelands, in a blizzard with his head down, as to not be blinded. “If I just go further..!!” the voices in his head desperately repeat, with tears in his eyes, “Will I be able to find hi-” He spots something. Someone. A white figure, standing in the snow. He turns his head and cap up, to see the seemingly relieved; satisfied expression of the man covering his eyes with an identical white cap. “Heh.” He turns his head over to the side- “the man… in white?” “No, wait-” The figure lowers his head down in a tilt which reveal his bright, monstrously-shaped yellow eyes- “Not quite-”

“Did you miss me, Ingo?”

( A confounded) Ingo’s breath is cut short, before the white figure asserts mockingly, “Yet… how you just… forget?” Ingo’s eyes fill up to the brim with tears, a pained expression on his face, “I-”

“I’m sorry…”

Ingo firmly grasps the white figure’s shoulders,- which surprises him- in a way as if it seemed like he wouldn’t ever want to let go.

“But- what was your name?” He asks in desperation, as his eyes spiral violently- a mix of disappointment and disgust.

Feeling guilty and taken aback, the figure clasps his cap, “Sheesh, man.-” he transforms into a zoroark before Ingo’s eyes- before pointing at him just to say, “I was only looking for some fun.” “!!” The zoroark is taken back yet again, as Ingo only stares into his eyes, a single tear streaming silently down his exhausted face, “…” “… Of course.” He turns his head away to cover his tears along with his hand, before stumbling and losing his vision, “Ah-”

He collapses onto the zoroark, to which it does not dodge. Seeing as how Ingo has fainted, the zoroark takes a moment to ponder, before coming to a swift decision. Poof! It transforms back into Emmet, and continues to hold Ingo over his still body. Its expression remains neutrally quiet, before letting out a big, disgruntled sigh. “Seriously…” Ingo’s face is now shown, as tears pour down his icy cheeks, his guise now weak, and bittersweet.

“This guy…”

(Fin.)

[greentrickster]

(kicks down door) GUESS WHO’S BACK WITH MORE RED, BLUE, AND CYRUS TOO CONTENT?!?

(Spoilers: it’s me, it’s always me, and this is apparently the AU that never dies, it only enters periods of dormancy until I am once again feeling creative but unmotivated in regards to working on any of my formally written stories.)

Anyways, we’re still in Alola at the moment (though don’t think I’m not starting to look speculatively at the three-and-a-few-month time gap between these events and the DPP kids + Akari meeting Cyrus again, because I’m looking and also remembering that Emmet wants a rematch with Red), and I’ve been thinking about some of the stuff that’s been going on other than Rainbow Rocket.

And it occurs to me, Cyrus does basically no battling while he’s here? Like, he probably has a few battles, but outside that one with Rainbow Rocket, I think they’re either just friendlies or the usual ‘young trainer challengers random bystander and gets some pocket money if they win.’ Like, Cyrus only goes in the Battle Tree to take pictures for Red and Blue of them battling during after-hours battles with other tree members. When asked who he is he just holds up his phone and claims to be Blue’s personal photographer.

Which is all kind of wild, because not only is he (technically) a pokemon master, he’s a gym trainer for one of the Battle Tree guest trainers. One would expect him to be testing himself against other trainers of his skill level, but that was absolutely not in his plans at any point in time, even before alternate universe Giovanni decided to cause hijinks. The only reasons he has his team with him with him at all are 1) it’s just kind of socially expected if you’re a trainer and 2) so they can come and have some fun as well. Let Gyarados swim in a nice warm ocean, Houndoom, Weavile, and Sylveon get to play on the beach, and Honchkrow and Crobat can take a spin on those ocean breezes, while Cyrus himself just chills outside for a bit. Reads a book, texts with Giratina, enjoys being somewhere new. Honestly, getting semi-adopted by Sun, Moon, and their crew works out just about perfectly for him.

It also leads to at least a few people going, “Wait, isn’t that that Team Boss from Sinnoh...?” (watches him get dragged into playing in the surf with the kids) “Nah, can’t be.” (snaps a surreptitious picture anyway, because it’s a cute scene)

Which naturally leads to at least a few holiday-goers retroactively discovering, wait, nope, that was in fact the guy they thought it was after the fact. Oh. O_O

[spacefinch]

Pokemon characters as Vines because I'm bored

Clay: I wanna be a cowboy, baby!

Alder: Hell yeah!

Clay:  I wanna be a cowboy, baby!

Chili: Hi, welcome to Chili’s.

Bad guy: Get your fricking cat away from me!

Anabel: It don’t bite

Raikou: *growling*

Bad guy: YES, IT DO

Ethan: Kris! Is that a weed?

Kris: No, this is a crayon—

Ethan: I’m calling the police!

9-1-1, what’s your emergency?

Blue: 🎶 If your name is Red, and you’re really handsome, come on, raise your hand 🎶

Red: *raises his hand*

Hilda: 🎶 ANNIE ARE YOU OKAY, ANNIE ARE YOU OKAY, ANNIE 🎶

Hilbert: *banging pots and pans*

Hilda: 🎶 ANNIE ARE YOU OKAY, WILL YOU TELL US THAT YOU’RE OKAY 🎶

Serena: *filming*

Emma: *jumps out and startles Calem*

Calem: Ahh! Stop! I could’ve dropped my croissant!

Ingo: *filming in selfie mode*

Emmet: (in background) Bop it! Twist it! Pull it!

Chili: Oh sorry, I fell asleep while I was waiting on you to make me a sandwich.

Cress: Go back to sleep and starve.

Emmet: *banging on pots and pans* I DON’T GET NO SLEEP ‘CAUSE OF YOU! Y’ALL NOT GONNA GET NO SLEEP ‘CAUSE OF ME!

Chili: I’m JOHN CENA!

🎶 Doo doo doo doo 🎶

Elio: See this man? He’s a magic man. He’s gonna touch this hot fire.

Kukui: *touches electric fireplace*

Elio: Oh man, he’s a magic man.

(Reading lessons)

Emma: *reading “who”* Wh.. ha? Wha?

Looker: What does that say, Emma?

Emma: Wha?

Looker: No!

Drayden: Let me see what you have!

Iris: A knife!

Drayden: NO!

Volo: I have the power of God and anime on my side! AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!

Cilan: I’m gonna munch. I’m gonna crunch.

*tuba music plays*

Colress: There is only one thing worse than dying *uncovers a poster that says “a child dying.”

Ghetsis: A child.

Colress: NO.

Emma: I am old!

Anabel: *holding back laughter* “How old are you?

Emma: SIXTEEN! *holds up newly hatched Espurr* I’m a grandmother!

“Hi, I’m Serena and I’m your freestyle dance teacher.”

“I am the sand guardian, guardian of the sand!”

“Kyogre quivers before him!”

“F**K OFF”

🎵You are my dad🎵

YOU’RE MY DAD!

🎵Boogie woogie woogie🎵

--Emma to Looker (or Akari to Ingo in PLA)

Ingo and Emmet: *in the middle of an intense Pokemon battle*

Hilbert: Can I get a waffle? Can I PLEASE get a waffle?

After said battle:

Hilbert, pointing at the losing Pokemon: He need some milk

Hugh: (holding a bunch of smiley balloons) I have no soul. Have a nice day!

Grimsley: I don't have one either.

Elesa: Hey, I’m lesbian.

Emmet: I thought you were Unovan.

“Growlithe, did you eat my Tater Tots?”

*spits out a mouthful of Tater Tots*

“Oh. Keep ‘em.”

Teacher Uh, Cheren, can you read number 23 for the class, please?

Cheren: No, I cannot. What up, I’m Cheren, I’m 19, and I never fricking learned how to read.

Narrator: Cheren did, in fact, learn how to read.

Looker: Where’s the best place to buy fireworks?

Hugh: Wouldn’t you like to know, weather boy?

Looker: Where are your parents?

Colress: Welcome to physics!

*science project explodes*

*screaming*

May: Brendan, ask me what kind of tree I have.

Brendan: No.

May: Ask me what kind of tree I have.

Brendan: No.

May: Ask me what kind of tree I have. It’s a Chris Pine.

Volo: I am disgusted, I am revolted, I’ve dedicated my entire life to our lord Arceus and this is the thanks I get?

Looker: I may just be a citizen by day, but by night, I am… NIGHT CITIZEN

Elesa: And they were roommates.

Emmet: Oh my god, they were roommates.

[mxstball]

Heidi wasn't playing a video game while streaming, but instead was leaning back in her chair with her chat. It was an AMA-focused day, but Lati wasn't here to join her this time.

body_slamma_jamma: Can you tell us a scary story? :3

"Do I have any scary stories for you this year? Why, because it's Pokéween season? No, not this time. Not for now. Well, I have some, but I'd have to possibly give a content warning and let people leave and stuff." She chuckled.

orangoron: We miss Lati! <3

"Aww. I miss her too. Don't worry. She's with her father for the rest of the week. He's going to take her to see some family in Johto. She'll be back before you know it."

prof_cherry_blossom: What happened at Spear Pillar last month? You said that you'd tell us!

"Oh! Right! So, the reason of the Judgment wasn't because of me -- not directly at least. A battle occurred there between Sapphire and Andromeda, but after Sapphire captured--"

"..."

"....? Huh? Yeah, I'm talking about that girl on the news that was handling Team Galactic."

"..."

"No, that wasn't May! May's back home. She's-- hold on. Let me see if she want to join the stream. ONE SEC!"

Heidi ran out of the room, leaving it silently for a while. Eventually, she returned with someone.

"Oh, so this is what you use this room for." Sapphire nodded and sat in the side chair. "This looks so nice now when everything's set up."

"Thanks." Heidi sat down at her desk. "Chat? This is my daughter, Sapphire. She was runner-up in the recent Champion tournament in the Sinnoh Region, only losing to Akari. Not only that, but she was the champion of Hoenn in her own world~"

Sapphire waved. "Hiiii."

typhlosion96xoxo: Her own world? orangoron: AU May Pog? plustle75: Why is she here? body_slamma_jamma: !!!!! :sceptile_dance:

Her stream chat started getting a little crazy, though not before a large group joined.

"Damn, Sapph. Looks like chat likes you more than I thought." Heidi chuckled. "Even got a raid, too."

"Hehe. Uh, thanks, mom." She chuckled a little. It was weird getting this much attention from strangers after avoiding it for so long.

xukizubatree41: MOM!? typhlosion96xoxo: SHE SAID MOM, CHAT! red_hot_cherry_peppers: Another daughter! <3

"Hehe." Heidi chuckled. "Yeah, yeah. Hid another daughter from ya, didn't I~? Oh, and thanks for the raid, Iono! Good to see you around. Mods, do a shout out for me, please? And, in the meantime, Sapphire? Wanna introduce yourself and tell us about why you're here?"

"Do... I have to go into detail?"

"Just the overall stuff. Nothing graphic, please."

"Uh... sure." Sapphire bowed. "Hi, everyone. My name is Sapphire. I'm from another world, yeah! I'm actually from the world that Mom and Aunt Lauren were in before this one. Was the former champion of Hoenn, but, well... my world's gone. My Arceus destroyed it, so I'm taking refuge here with mom for now while we try to take it back! It's nice to meet all of you."

nurse_joy4156: :latias_wave: pikablubliss: So this isn't May in disguise? prof_cherry_blossom: Glad you're okay, Sapphire!

"Anyway, feel free to stay if you want, Sapph. If you wanna head back to Andromeda, you can. Just wanted to introduce you while I tell this story."

"Uh, I can stay. Andromeda's spending time with its sister anyway."

"You sure? It's an AMA today so chat'll probably ask more questions about you."

Sapphire nodded.

"Alrighty then. I won't stop you. Here, let me move it to the bigger screen so we both can see." Heidi clicked and dragged so the screen on the wall featured the chat and increased the magnification. "That's better."

"Wow, that is convenient." She blinked. Technology was incredible! "Anyway, your story?"

"Oh! Right."

"Like I was saying, Sapphire caught Andromeda at Spear Pillar after Andromeda attacked her. You guys remember Andromeda, right? The Palkia from another world? Yeah, that's the same world. Well, we thought everything was done, but apparently another Arceus decided to show up and attack out of nowhere."

"Well, it wasn't 'out of nowhere,' mom. Arceus wanted to kill you and Lauren and Daiyu."

"And you. You're the human, remember?"

"Right."

"Anyway, yeah. It was Morrigan. Lauren's Morrigan. You know how much she pisses me off, right chat?"

prof_cherry_blossom: !!! typhlosion96xoxo: Morrigan lore time!

"Hehe. Nah. Not yet. You get Morrigan lore when we take back that world from her, but more on that in a second." Heidi shook her head. "Tell me how she had the nerve to use some spirit powers to summon a puppet of my brother's spirit! The audacity!" She scoffed.

"...Wow. You talk a lot differently here, mom." To Sapphire, Heidi sounded like a royal and detached royal queen. it was so different than usual.

"Thanks. Gotta play up a little bit for the camera, y'know~?" Heidi chuckled. "Been balancing that relaxed stance with a bit of royalty aesthetic ever since I told everyone that I'm Acting-Arceus. It's kinda fun, really." She turned back to the chat. "Anyway, back to the tale. Morrigan pulled out Lati on us and tried to use him as leverage to take us as one of her servants. At first, I was planning to simply let her go. I gave my honor to this world as a dragon to protect you all. Not even my dead blood will stop that--" Heidi shook her head. "Didn't have to, though. Lauren stepped up and challenged him to get him back."

xukizubatree41: Lauren!?

"... I see chat confused at that, huh. Like, right? I was at a loss too. Thought she finally lost it after seeing him but-- honestly? I should have had more faith in her. Not only did she catch him by surprise and catch him, but she also kicked Morrigan's ass and sent her packing! Completely outplayed her and everything! Like, what!? Anyway, that's what happened. So, no worries. That Judgment wasn't me, and no one was hurt from it."

"Other than Arceus's pride!"

"Which is even better!" The two girls high-fived. Looks like they were starting to synergize on stream.

[psycho-pomp]

brendan tsuyosa

perpetual sufferer of Beautiful Princess Disorder. protag of the first half of rse, starter is torchic. absolutely desperate for his father's approval, finds a replacement for it in a toxic hero relationship with groudon. almost destroyed the world but it's fine don't worry about it. briefly joined team magma.

may birch

professor birch's daughter. brendan's rival, starter is mudkip. actually has a healthy relationship with her father, which is why brendan fucking hates her. just wanted to have a normal pokemon journey but brendan was too mentally ill. briefly joined team aqua to try to stop him from destroying the world.

wally kasetaka

canonically the strongest character in jackverse. protag of the second half of rse, starter is ralts. ran away from home to have his pokemon journey, was traveling buddies with brendan until he went off the deep end. teamed up with zinnia to awaken rayquaza and stop team aqua and magma from destroying the world.

dawn/akari matsuro

doomed by the narrative. protag of dppt and pla, starter is piplup and cyndaquil respectively. was sent back to pla era because she was the only trainer in sinnoh strong enough to stop volo from destroying the universe. is her own grandma. got pulled into the distortion world at the end of dppt. bottles everything up, has difficulty standing up for herself. my poor little laika girl. arceus' favorite (bad thing).

barry shinjuku

excuse me she asked for no pickles. dawn's rival, starter is turtwig. very intense and commanding to make up for dawn's complete lack of a spine. also desperate for fatherly approval, but not nearly as mentally ill about it. protag of the post-game arc with looker, travels to the battle zone to get stronger and makes friends with all the stat trainers.

lucas matsuro

little guy. dawn's younger cousin, starter is chimchar. not great with battling, mostly helps professor rowan at his lab. rescues dawn from the distortion world, searches for her for years after she disappears the second time. weird friends with mars and jupiter post-game- handshake meme our loved ones have gone missing forever.

will do gen 5 later tonight- gen 6 won't come until tomorrow cuz there's a lot of them

quick breakdown of some jackverse protags, will reblog with more when im off work:

red akayama

the man the myth the legend. protag of rbg, starter is charmander. singlehandedly took down team rocket and became the youngest champion in the kanto league's history, only to infamously run away after only a year to live on a mountain. autism warrior.

blue oak

professor oak's cringe ass naenae grandson. red's rival, starter is squirtle. had the world's worst inferiority complex as a kid but she got better. survivor of the teen divorced to married in your 30s pipeline. frontier brain with red in alola's battle tree. has boygirl swag.

ethan zelkova

ho-oh's sweetest soldier. one of the protags of gsc, starter is chikorita. professor's pet, likes helping elm with his research. theme song is pollyanna (i believe in you). incredibly kind and compassionate and also Knows Things. hero of ho-oh.

kris okimoto

ethan defender number one. the other protag of gsc, starter is totodile. obsessed with being The Best to make her dead father proud. sees ethan as her little brother despite him being a few months older than her. helps blue bring red home after the events of gsc. has mommy issues. one of my favorites of the protags.

silver sakaki

feral child that eats out of the garbage and bites you. kris' rival, starter is cyndaquil. was largely raised by the rocket admins before it's fall, which is why they're Like That. in a qpr with ethan after gsc. canonically an accident. hero of lugia.

[autumn-sweet-fae]

So I just thought, like, wouldn’t it be funny if there were like even bigger misunderstandings happening on what’s up with ingo and akari? Like if a trainer they fought started asking em questions and they were live streaming or something, and they’re like, “so what’s your guys story” and akari’s just like “oh I woke up on a beach with no memories and the galaxy team took me in as long as I proved my worth to them” and it’s like WTF. And then they’re like “so why’re you hanging out with ingo” and she’s like “well on one of my assignments I met ingo from another group and I found out he didn’t have his memories either, and since then we’ve been pretty cool with each other and I adopted him, so he’s my uncle now, and we both left to try to find out who we are” like omg, what would happened if that video got out, if it would even happen?

See, this would be the closest to any press interview Ingo and Akari would ever get when on the run. Something like this would happen like just before the eggs are snatched. Because with this out there suddenly they are both much more sympathetic so the researchers need to act NOW to save face.

This live streamer would be like a Jr reporter who’s been following the story for weeks and thinks that he has what it takes the crack the case!! Then he lucks out on his third camping trip and runs into them. He’s nervous and awkward because he’s never interviewed anyone before but his Elekid is getting along great with the Akari’s weird Voltorb. Inspired by his pokemon he finally starts asking them questions! Like.., really irrelevant random questions. What’s your favorite food? What’s your favorite season? How old are you?* How old are your Pokémon? Your mask is so cool! Where did you get it?**

And then finally, Why are your poke balls so weird?

At that last one Akari tell him how they made their ball themselves. Same for their potions. The Jr reporter is so wowed by that, he thought only master artisans could make poke balls anymore. It’s after that question that he finally asks what Akari story is, and she tells him the basic rundown, but purposely lease out all the time travel because she knows how crazy that must sound to modern folks.

(Ingo and Akari have already picked up on that people think they’re scary and strange, they are trying to minimize that when they can.)

The Jr intervenor finally has so many more substantial questions to ask them, but it’s right then that Sneaseler gets tired of this and Ingo’s attempts to sooth her growing paranoia and just up and walks away. They know she expects them to follow so they apologize to the interviewer and thank him for the food and the battle before calling back their pokemon and chasing after her.

* when he asked their ages, Akari answered confidently with 15, unawear that she’s actually 14, and Ingo didn’t answer at all because the question wasn’t directed at him. This makes the folks suspecting that she’s the missing champion start to rethink their theory, until she says she has amnesia. Now it’s a heated debate in the forums.

**her answer on where she got her mask is that it was an anonymous gift she received. She does not tell him how excited she was to get the gift, only to later learned that it was most likely meant as an insult. To give the village outsider a mask depicting the likeness of a feared exiled pokemon.

After learning the Pokémon story she wore her mask proudly. It became a comfort item for her. And when she finally met the Zorua/Zoroark couldn’t help but love them and want to help.

[waywardstation]

Onwards He Guides Her

Continuation of ‘In the Darkness, It was not Detected’. Ingo leads Akari onwards through the highlands to Lady Sneasler. Melli does his best to avoid them, and someone seems a little too interested in Akari’s connection to the rift for Ingo’s liking.

By ‘popular’ demand (two whole requests guys!!), I present part two to In The Darkness, It Was Not Detected, where Ingo and Akari run into the Alpha Crobat in Wayward Cave. If you haven’t read that one yet, I suggest you do!

This is a huge fic, longer than I thought, but it was fun writing it. No beta reading and I struggle with large stories so apologies if it seems jumbled!

OR, read it on AO3 here!

Enjoy!

————

As Ingo continued on with Akari, guiding her away from Wayward Cave and through the highlands, his mind drifted on Melli. What would he even say to Electrode’s warden about what he caused? Thinking through the situation in order to find words only made the warden agitated.

Did Melli even think through the possible consequences of his actions?

The warm burning sensation from the Alpha Crobat’s cross poison was only one of them, gently but repeatedly nagging the warden away from his thoughts. Washing it with the cavern’s water had dulled the sensation, but it was still there. Ingo felt at it occasionally through the gash in his tunic, but didn’t spare a glance at it.

Akari had been talking with him as the two walked through the grasses while the sun began to set, moving higher and higher up in altitude - Ingo was used to the thinning air, but Akari had to take deeper breaths to keep up. The conversation was actually unlocking some memories for Ingo. It was no key to the vault of his memories, still locked away tight, but Akari had given him a lock pick, and he was doing his best with it. Perhaps Irida was right, Akari was helping him remember a little.

Exiting the cave, it had started with a man that Ingo remembered looked like him. An interaction and a quote came to mind, and while it wasn’t much, and emotional value was not yet there, it was more than Ingo had properly remembered in a while, and it brought him excitable comfort. He remembered this man liked to battle, and that Ingo would discuss Pokémon with him a lot. However, he quickly hit another roadblock, and that was all he could remember of this man (for now), so Akari switched to asking him about his life in Hisui; how he got here, and what he had been through with the Pearl Clan.

“…I showed a natural affinity for taming Pokémon, which is why I eventually became a warden.” Ingo explained as Akari walked a little ways behind him - she kept stopping to pick berries or plants from the ground along their trail. “But still, I wonder what my true purpose is here…”

“Well,” Akari interjected as she packed a handful of Bugworts into her satchel, “I have one, I think! It’s…how did it go… ‘seek out all Pokémon��. Maybe you have the same purpose?”

“Hmm,” Ingo thought on it, completely brushing off the importance of the words in Akari’s statement as he helped her up a small rocky slope. Assuming she was quoting one of her Galaxy Team requirements for the Pokédex, he had no idea Akari was trying to recall what a specific, transcendental entity had communicated with her - she did not elaborate on that. “All Pokémon are certainly worth seeking out, however-“

“What’s the big idea, putting back all the torches I spent ages tidying away?”

The thought of Melli, along with all of his frustration towards him, had somehow managed to have been packed away out of Ingo’s consciousness, replaced by more pleasant thoughts during his conversation with Akari. But the second Ingo heard Melli speak, his tone along with his choice of words brought all of the hardened frustration back. There he was, standing at the entrance of the Ancient Quarry - a massive, carved out passage - as if waiting for them.

“Do you get some sort of amusement stomping around and ruining people’s noble deeds?” Melli spoke up again, putting his hand on his chest as if he was appalled. His continued prodding only sparked Ingo’s frustrated disposition, but it made Akari’s flare up. Helping the young girl up one more rocky slope, Ingo could feel the new tension in her hands as she used his arm for support.

Having gotten passed the last obstacle of the terrain, Ingo and Akari approached, and Ingo’s current state became apparent to Melli; he seemed a little surprised - and was that the tiniest hint of guilt?

“Melli!” Akari accused with clenched fists as she stepped out from behind her protective wall that was Ingo, to Melli’s further surprise. “You-!”

“Miss Akari,” Ingo stopped the young girl in her tracks, putting a hand on her shoulder to keep her from advancing. At his softer tone, reminding her he’d handle discussing the situation, Akari’s furrowed brows softened and her hands unclenched.

“Rendering a cave impassable to people who venture inside hardly seems noble to me,” Ingo disputed as he stepped forward, tipping the brim of his cap down as his voice regained its louder volume to address Melli. While stern, he took care not to let the annoyance in his voice show. So instead, he stayed the obvious, in reference to his own condition. “Someone could get hurt.”

Ingo’s frown and his steeled eyes focusing on Melli from under his cap’s brim unnerved him than the warden probably meant to.

However, not one to admit to being wrong, the uncertainty on Melli’s face at the sight of Ingo lessened when his morality was questioned. He crossed his arms in a defensive stance. “Hmph. Well, this just goes to show that even we wardens don’t always see eye to eye. I extinguished those lights for the sake of the Pokémon in that cave who prefer the dark!”

Ingo didn’t know if Akari was picking up on it or not, but Melli seemed extra defensive now. The warden suspected once Melli got a view of his current state, and Akari’s anger, the man knew something had gone very wrong, and was now trying to save himself instead of apologize.

“Warden Melli, about that, we must discuss-“ Ingo started.

“-But now you louts have put my efforts to waste! If you think I’ll just let you saunter ahead to meet Lord Electrode, you’re sorely mistaken!” Electrode’s warden deliberately intervened, clearly trying to avoid the confrontation he knew was coming. “The only way you’re getting past me…is if you defeat my partner pokemon!”

Melli missed the sudden glint of excitement (or revenge?) in Akari’s eyes, or else he would have thought through his decision again. She was already searching for her pokeballs in her satchel. Akari looked at Ingo for a moment, and he could see that this was what she was waiting for - this was her way of getting back at Melli for what he did. But her eyes told Ingo she was searching for his approval.

He wanted to say she didn’t need it, of course. But to humor her, he’d leave it up to her, even though he already knew the answer.

Normally, Ingo would not allow Melli to avoid an important discussion in such a manner, but he would allow this for Akari.

He would talk to Melli after the battle.

“How will you proceed, Miss?” Ingo questioned as he gazed down at Akari, already knowing the answer.

“I’ll beat him!” She immediately answered, finally whipping out one of her pokeballs into full view, taking on a battle stance.

Ingo felt something not unlike pride move in his chest.

Witnessing Akari’s confidence, Melli lost some of his own, but regardless, he grabbed one of his pokeballs and tossed it into the air.

“Go, Skuntank! Show these louts the true meaning of silent but deadly!”

A short-legged but fierce mass of purple and beige fur emerged from Melli’s pokeball with a hiss. The long strands of fur sprouting from its tail stood up stark, giving the illusion of back fur standing on end.

Akari threw her own pokeball, releasing her Hippopotas, Dune, who threw out its own battle cry to Melli’s Skuntank in retaliation.

The battle ended just as swiftly as it started. Several well-timed mud bombs and dodges brought down Melli’s Skuntank in only a few turns, who seemed to miss dodging queues that should have been given by Melli a few times.

Perhaps Melli was wrestling with his conscience on the situation? Or maybe he was just so unnerved by Ingo’s glare. Standing off to the side of the battlefield, Melli would see Ingo’s eyes boring into him from under the brim of his cap.

Was he meaning to be that intimidating?

Melli absolutely knew a conversation was coming that involved him, Akari, Ingo and his injuries, and the torches. And he did not want to be around for that.

As his Skuntank crumpled to the ground, knocked out cold, Melli hurriedly collected it back in its pokeball while Akari cheered, congratulating Dune.

“Listen here! Neither I nor Skuntank admit defeat just yet - our challenge to you still stands!”

While Akari got a look of confusion on her face, - you can’t just declare a battle void if you lost! - Ingo finally moved from his spot to the side, approaching Melli.

“Now Warden Melli-“ Ingo started again, clearing his throat. “We must discuss the-“

“However! I will withdraw to afford Skunktank time to recover.” Melli ignored Ingo as he called out loudly to Akari, backing up as the warden approached him. “There’s no shame in a tactical retreat. It’s more of an advance, if you think about it!”

And with that, Melli hurriedly turned and fled into the foggy Ancient Quarry.

“He knows he did something wrong!” Akari exclaimed, recalling Dune to their pokeball and putting it back in her satchel. “He’s trying to avoid getting into trouble!”

“Melli is…a lively character.” Ingo did his best to put his thoughts into words, gazing into the Ancient Quarry that dipped underground. “I will spur the conversation when we next reach a crossroads with him up ahead. Provided we don’t intersect with Adaman’s route first.”

Breaking his gaze with the quarry, Ingo turned to finally face Akari, who was already looking at him.

“But to change tracks,” the warden addressed her, “you did excellent with your battle! Bravo, Miss Akari!”

Akari beamed at Ingo’s compliment, accompanied by a small smile from him- he always smiled when on the topic of battles.

“I’d been waiting for a chance to battle him since we entered the cave!” She confessed. “After what he did, It felt good to beat him!”

“I could see it provided…closure.” Ingo commented. His hand subconsciously going back to itch at the gash under his tunic did not go unnoticed by Akari.

The bubbling sensation had started to creep a little further from the gash, making his lungs feel a bit fluttery, and upsetting his stomach a little.

“I know I said I wouldn’t tell anyone about what he did, but I’m still mad!” The young girl exclaimed, crossing her arms; her voice was giving away that she was becoming more and more worked up. “And then he ignored you trying to talk to him! Does he want the clans to not get along? Because he’s doing a good job with that!”

“I cannot fathom Warden Melli’s intentions…” Ingo admitted, shaking his head at the mere thought of trying to decipher the man. “but for now, let us press on! We can catch up to Melli if we depart immediately. We will discuss what happened regardless, and I know Melli would rather it be with himself than Adaman.”

Falling into his signature pose, Ingo pointed forward into the gaping entrance of the Ancient Quarry. The opening into the mountain seemed to be a man-made passage of sorts, with carved out walls, square-like structures, and a steady stream of mist seeping out of it.

Ingo noticed Akari’s demeanor change.

Surely what happened at the cave would stick with her for longer than Ingo would have liked.

“We will not have a repeat incident of the events that occurred in Wayward Cave, Miss,” Ingo explained to her, attempting to comfort her in his own way. “It is not as dark inside, and the trip through is quite short.”

Once again, a hand grasped his, but this time it was much more relaxed.

Akari said nothing, but her expression told Ingo it was for comfort.

“Let us proceed onward!” The warden exclaimed, starting for the entrance of the quarry, Akari by his side. The two descended down the sloping floor further into the darkness.

Ingo was right, this passage was dark, but nowhere as hopelessly blinding as Wayward Cave had been. Even with the mist obscuring her view, Akari could still see where she was going, and could even spot the exit at the end of the carved out cavity. She could also see silhouettes of Pokémon floating through the heavy mist, seemingly unbothered by the presence of two new people within the quarry…for now.

“This is the Ancient Quarry.” Ingo began as the two of them reached the bottom of the slope. His voice carried a certain echo to it within the passage. “The stones used to build the temple atop this mountain were all cut from this place. Whether by humans and Pokémon working as one, or by the labor or Pokémon alone, I cannot say.”

Ingo paused, pointing at one of the large, square-cut structures jutting from the floor.

“The stones that were left behind should serve to cover us from the gazes of wild Pokémon. If we-“

“Ah! There you are, Ingo!”

That was not Akari’s voice that cut through the mist.

Looking back over his shoulder quickly, Ingo could see a figure reach the bottom of the quarry’s slope right behind them. Akari still held fast to his hand, but her grip did not tighten.

It took a moment for Ingo’s train of thought to catch up, and match a name to the person’s face.

He barely knew this person.

“Volo, was it?” Ingo cleared his throat. “What is the matter, sir?”

Volo’s eyes went between Akari and Ingo for a moment, before settling on the warden.

“I wanted to ask about that memory loss of yours.” The traveling merchant started, to Ingo’s surprise.

Volo did not give Ingo much time to consider the subject, or ask why he wanted to know about something like that.

“Have you considered that it could have somehow been caused by the space-time rift?” The merchant added on quickly.

Ingo felt that the circumstances were a little odd.

Did Volo come all the way out here just to ask him something like that? Had he been following them? For how long?

Ingo felt Akari’s eyes on him, but he still felt no added tension from her grip.

If she was relaxed, maybe he should be too.

“…I have no cause to think the rift is to blame,” Ingo answered honestly, after taking another quick moment to consider. “…but then again, I hardly remember a thing, so it’s difficult to say with certainty. I can’t remember my own home, nor my family, if I had any...”

Ingo took his free hand and rubbed the side of his head under his cap as he thought on the subject more.

The memories (or maybe it was the poison…) returned a dull throbbing to his skull.

He didn’t like talking about this much, at least not with someone he hardly knew.

With Akari, it had been easier. It hurt less to think about when the memories slowly flowed back, instead of trying to rip them out of his vault.

Volo was trying to rip them out.

“…so you might do better to pose your questions to Akari, I think, if it’s to do with that rift.” Ingo let out a deep breath he didn’t know he was holding in.

“Indeed…Well, I do hope your memories return, Warden Ingo.” Volo empathized, at least…seemingly. Ingo felt the wishes were genuine, but he couldn’t help but feel like the man was looking for a different answer.

The merchant turned his gaze to Akari, and started to question her, but Ingo’s mind began to drift as Volo began to discuss the rift with Akari, as well as his theories on the lightning that frenzied Hisui’s nobles.

Akari had come from the rift. Irida had told him this.

Ingo initially doubted it, but had he come from the rift too, perhaps?

Akari didn’t seem to struggle so much with her memory, like he did.

Ingo’s mind had so many holes in it…

“…but then that begs the question: why has the space-time rift reopened, when it closed once so long ago? And why would Akari have fallen through to us? There’s just so much we don’t know…”

Whether Volo was now addressing him directly, or just thinking out loud at this point, Ingo didn’t know, but his train of thought returned to the station, and he snapped back to reality.

“I fervently hope you unravel this mystery, Volo. I’m sure it would ease people’s fears over the frenzies of our nobles,” Ingo commented, working with the last topic he remembered Volo discussing. “And while you investigate, sir, I’ll continue to prioritize the safety of the people living in this world.”

Ingo was not aware of how much admiration Akari felt for him at that comment - after Wayward Cave, she knew how seriously he prioritized safety.

“Oh, I am a mere admirer of ruins and little more!” Volo brushed off Ingo’s comment on him with an expression (was that slight trepidation?) that caught Ingo a little off guard, “if something needs investigating, then I would entrust that task to Akari!”

Akari lit up at this compliment, but Ingo felt perplexed, still hung up on the subtle mood change.

“Well, its about time I get going.” Volo crossed his arms, ending the conversation before it could go any further. “But before I go…a present, Akari! For your hard work. I’m sure these can help with your journey.”

The merchant reached into his bag and pulled out a handful of max revives, handing them to the young girl. Akari let go of Ingo’s hand and extended her own hands to receive the gift.

Ingo watched her take the items and pack them away into her satchel, before taking his empty hand in hers again. The girl still showed no signs of distrust or discomfort around Volo, but Ingo couldn’t help but feel something…

“And Warden Ingo,” Volo caught the warden’s attention. “I suggest you take care of that before it becomes a problem. Cross poison? Those can get nasty.”

Gesturing to the wound under the torn fabric of his tunic, Volo brought Ingo’s wound back to his attention. Now the current topic, Ingo instinctively put a hand over it to feel it again, but he still refused to take a glance at it.

Taking a look at Akari’s face however, upon seeing the wound, told him it wasn’t getting better.

“Maintenance will be performed when I ensure Akari reaches her destination.” Ingo explained to the merchant, wiping away some sweat that had begun to form above his brow.

Unlike with Akari, Volo offered Ingo no items to help tend to his wound.

“Well, good luck to the both of you,” Volo ended the conversation, readjusting his big pack on his back. “Until next time, then!”

And with a smile and a wave to the both of them, Volo turned to traverse back the way he came, up the quarry’s slope again.

Watching his disappear from view, Ingo realized he had several thoughts about that merchant.

He had done nothing to warrant distrust, and was by no means…bad…but Ingo found him a little…cryptic.

The man had been following them for who-knows-how-long out into seclusion in order to ask questions about obscure topics. And he completely deflected when Ingo pegged him as someone involving himself in the mystery of the rifts, denying he was included and instead expressing he was only curious.

Volo’s knowledge on the topics were vast, and he seemed to know more than anyone else Ingo could think of here in Hisui.

Despite denying it, it felt like Volo was involved deeper than anyone else.

Ingo felt there was more to the merchant than he let on.

Akari seemed perfectly relaxed around him though, even happy to see him.

Why?

“Miss Akari, have you had previous encounters with Volo, besides this one?” Ingo asked after a moment to make sure Volo had made it out of earshot.

“Of course!” The girl smiled at him. “I’ve run into Volo a lot! He always asks a lot of questions like he did a second ago, but he’s nice about it, and he always gives me things, like the max repels he just gave to me!”

This concerned Ingo a little bit, regardless of Akari’s demeanor.

What kinds of questions was he asking? The way he talked about the rift with Akari, it seemed like that was a topic he had previously discussed with her a lot. Was “running into Volo” just him following her like what he had done here?

He talked so much about the rift and his theories, but why did he push away when a simple comment was made about his involvement and interest?

Ingo could not understand the motives, but he seemed very adamant to connect Akari and the rift together, and was on the down-low about it.

Ingo had found no reason to deliberately distrust Volo yet…curiosities themselves were not a crime, but Ingo had found no reason to trust him yet either.

Akari clearly trusted him, though. However, Ingo did not want to worry Akari.

“He seems like a very…inquisitive man.” The warden commented as he adjusted his hat, pausing for a moment to find a neutral enough word for the situation.

With his free hand, Ingo turned his back to the quarry’s entrance, and pointed into the mist. “Let us get back on track though! Once we’re through here, it will be just a little further! Let us move with speed…but not haste!”

Akari nodded as she followed close behind Ingo through the thick mist; he was already headed for a large cut of stone jutting from the floor.

The two moved quietly, avoiding the Bronzor and Bronzong that floated aimlessly through the mist-shrouded quarry. Their foreign sounds intrigued Akari, and while she wanted to peek around their hiding places, going from stone to stone, she knew better than to try and sneak a peek - she would probably get them spotted. So Akari stuck close to Ingo as he safely conducted their route.

Within a short period of time, Akari could see the exit slope leading out of the quarry.

Waiting for a particularly large Bronzong to float by.

“Just after this last Bronzong, Miss.” Ingo explained, keeping his eyes on the large Pokémon. Akari’s hand pulling away from his grabbed his attention, and he looked back to see the young girl rubbing her hand off on her clothes.

“Your hand is really sweaty,” Akari made an exaggerated gross face. “Are you ok? That cut from earlier looked really bad-“

Ingo became aware of how uncomfortably warm he was. In fact, he felt a bead of sweat or two on his forehead as he pulled his cap back. The warmth was barely noticeable, but in a cold quarry such as this, it was mildly concerning.

But he would not bother Akari with concerns for him.

“Apologies, Miss,” Ingo quickly offered, wiping his hand against his coat. “Cross poison wounds always appear worse than it is. We are almost there anyways.”

Ingo silently urged Akari with him as soon as the Bronzong rounded the corner of a stone block.

The two then headed up the slope leading out of the cold stone quarry, leading up to the waning sunlight of the Coronet Highlands.

“That was a lot easier than Wayward Cave!” Akari exclaimed as she ran to the top of the slope, reaching it before Ingo.

“Indeed it was,” Ingo agreed, following soon after as he emerged into the light. “The quarry is much less dangerous of a journey than the cave.”

Ingo noticed Akari had wandered from the path to pick more plants. As she bent down to pluck a Bugwort amongst the tall grass by the edge of a slope, she paused.

“Ingo!” She whispered to the warden, frantically motioning for him to come. “Look!”

Ingo started over, and Akari tugged on his coat before he got to close.

“Down!” She whispered again. “Crouch!”

Ingo did as she said, and crouched down in the tall grass.

What were they looking at?

Was it a Pokémon?

Looking out across a river in an area encircled by a hill, Ingo finally noticed what Akari had spotted.

“It’s Melli!” the young girl whispered to Ingo, nudging his side. “Now’s your chance!”

————

“What awful Pokémon, those Carnivine!” Melli grumbled to himself. He was at the edge of the river, trying to wash several grass stains out of his clothes. Working on a particular stain on his sleeve, he watched as the dirt and plant matter slowly washed out, replaced by damp spots from the scrubbing.

In his hurry to get away from Ingo and Akari, Melli had ran right out of the Ancient Quarry into a pack of Carnivine.

Even with Skuntank still recovering, Melli had been able to evade the group of Carnivine easily enough, but not without his tunic getting dirtied with all the razor leaf attacks that had been thrown at him.

These tunics were comfortable, but they were hard to clean!

As Melli kept trying to scrub away the green, he thought back on his interaction with Ingo and Akari.

Just what had happened back there in that cave? Akari looked angry, and Ingo looked like he’d been mauled by an Ursaring!

Melli hadn’t intended for anyone to get hurt.

He had hoped to possibly discourage them from continuing, perhaps, and turn back. But knowing Ingo, Melli suspected they would still press on.

He didn’t expect them to get hurt! He certainly didn’t mean for that to happen either.

And to be honest, he didn’t want to get berated for what he had done. He didn’t want someone telling him he was wrong, especially not someone from the Pearl Clan-

Marinating in his guilt as he continued to think about it, Melli scrubbed away the last stain on his left sleeve, and moved onto his right.

Or he would have, if a stern shout from across the stream didn’t scare the living daylights out of him.

————

“Warden Melli!” Ingo announced loudly as he stood up tall in the grass, pointing directly at Electrode’s warden. Akari jumped up a moment later, mirroring Ingo’s pose with a “Melli!”

“Warden Ingo! Galaxy Team brat!” Melli shouted in surprise and scrambled to his feet in alarm, stumbling away from the river.

“I-I’m still withdrawing! Skuntank is still recovering!” He shouted out an excuse as he backed away, immediately looking for a way out of the situation. He knew exactly what was coming to him-

Melli backed up against the steep wall of rock encircling the little grove.

Trapped.

“Warden Melli, I must discuss what occurred in the caves with you,” Ingo reiterated firmly as he waded through the shallow, ankle-deep river, towards Melli. “It is important.”

“Adaman would be very unhappy to hear a Pearl clan warden and a Galaxy team grunt are ganging up on an esteemed Diamond clan warden such as myself!” Melli argued.

He was pressed against the rock wall as Ingo reached him, shaking the water off his boots. Akari stopped next to him, her expression one of anger.

“I’m sure Adaman would understand after hearing this Diamond clan warden almost got the two of them seriously injured,” Ingo retorted, gesturing to himself. “Removing the torches? That was dangerous, warden Melli.”

“Oh,” Melli grimaced, getting a good look at Ingo now that the two were within speaking distance. Was Ingo normally that sweaty? He looked a little green. “You look…not good! Are you feeling alright? Maybe you should sit down, and I can go off and-“

“-I’m fine, please stop derailing the subject,” Ingo cut him off, seeing right through Melli’s trick to going off track from the current situation and escaping again. But Electrode’s warden was half-right. Ingo did not feel too great. “If I don’t discuss this with you, I will discuss this with Adaman myself. What will it be, Warden Melli?”

At Ingo’s threat, Melli stiffened. He knew he was cornered.

“Oh! Fine!” Melli huffed, crossing his arms and looking off to the side. “I’ll…talk with you.”

Ingo’s firm features softened a little at Melli’s acceptance, and he finally broke eye contact, turning his head to address Akari.

“Miss Akari, Melli and I need to discuss some things. When we meet Lady Sneasler, it would be best if we bring her a gift.”

Ingo pointed at a steeper rocky wall across from the shallow river they just crossed.

“Do you see the pink deposits in the rock? That is crunchy salt - Lady Sneasler appreciates it as a food. Would you be so kind as to collect some, so we can present it to Lady Sneasler when we summon her?”

Akari recognized this as a tactic to give her something to do, so that Ingo could have his conversation alone with Melli.

Part of Akari wanted to stay and see Ingo chew Melli out. Beating Melli in battle had brought a form of satisfaction, but she had been waiting for this! If she couldn’t snitch on Melli to any authority figures, this was about the only form of punishment she’d see him get.

But after everything Ingo had done for her, she couldn’t imagine going against something he had asked her to do.

“Oh…yes, I’ll go get some!” Akari replied, already heading in the direction Ingo had pointed, back across the river. “I’ll be right back!”

Ingo waited until Akari was out of earshot until he turned back towards Melli.

“Please come with me,” Ingo instructed as he turned away from Melli, heading for some of the trees that grew near the river.

With Akari gone, he dropped the ‘I’m fine’ act. His voice expressed a weaker demeanor.

Melli stood there, frozen until Ingo looked back to check if he was following.

“Warden Melli.”

Ingo’s words were no more emotionally charged than usual, but Melli mentally cringed, before slowly following after Ingo.

What was he going to do?

Looking at all of the fresh cuts and scrapes on the warden as Melli followed behind him, Melli couldn’t help but feel Ingo was going to enact something similar to him.

An eye for an eye, right?

Was this “talk” just a coverup?

Was Ingo just taking Melli to a remote area so he could unleash all his Pokémon on him, mauling him?

Or worse, would Ingo personally beat him up himself?

Melli had always suspected the man was unhinged - his torn clothes, foreign and unkept. His vacant eyes, and his cryptic expressions. His tendency to stay away from others and spend his time in the highlands…he was clearly crazy!

That’s why Ingo sent that Galaxy Team brat away!

Oh Arceus, this was the end, wasn’t it!

Melli should have warned people about this crazy mountain man sooner!

Melli was working himself up into a panic, already imagining how Adaman was going to tell the rest of the clan how his body had been discovered in the Coronet Highlands, when he bumped into the back of Ingo, who had paused.

“Warden Melli, if I may-“ Ingo began, turning towards Melli to address him, but Electrode’s warden didn’t give him much of a chance to speak.

“I didn’t know anyone would actually get hurt!” Melli blurred out. “I just made the caves a little darker! And I’m sure the wild Pokémon appreciated it; they stay away from the light you know!”

“I do know.” Ingo replied, his expression, nauseous as it was, was starting to show some of his frustration over the situation. “That’s exactly why the torches are set up in there.”

Ingo pulled back the tears of his tunic to show Melli the cross poison gash he had sustained earlier, and having taken a proper look at it himself for the first time in hours, Ingo grimaced a little himself at the sight, while Melli made a sound, clearly disgusted.

The gash looked much worse than it had earlier; Ingo’s pale skin was bruised deep, with a contrasting purple bleeding into the area around the wound. The burning sensation was irritable at this point.

“Because the torches were taken down, the Alpha Crobat that resides in the cavern had situated itself right in our tracks, and we had a…violent altercation.” Ingo explained, letting the fabric of his torn tunic fall back over the gash. “I am very familiar with the tunnels, and even I did not detect the Crobat until it was too late. The torches you haphazardly stacked against the wall tripped Miss Akari and caused her to fall onto the Crobat.”

At this information, Melli’s face reminded Ingo of a Stantler in the headlights (what were headlights? Why did that term pop into his head?) Ingo paused to give Melli a chance to say something while he observed one of the fruit trees, taking note of the fruit hanging from the branches.

“Well, she has her big strong Pokémon, doesn’t she? That’s all I hear about anymore, how that Galaxy Team grunt has such a powerful team-“ Melli crossed his arms defensively, immediately trying to excuse himself to Ingo’s dismay.

“They came uncoupled from her when she tripped over the torches you put aside so haphazardly,” Ingo affirmed with a sigh of disappointment towards Melli’s attitude, turning to observe the fruit of another tree.

“Well just pick them up-!”

“Without the torches, it was too dark to simply locate them…Warden Melli-“

“I didn’t see a single scrape on her! She was clearly fine!”

“Why do you think I’m in such disrepair then?” Ingo threw his hands out, letting Melli get a full view of the damage his clothes and body had sustained. Ingo had been careful to keep a relatively monotonous voice, but frustrations were beginning to shine though. “I was expected to keep her safe while we traveled onward to Lady Sneasler, and I did what I had to in order to uphold that.”

Another stretch of silence.

“She’s still just a child.” Ingo moved to yet another tree, looking through the leaves above - Melli was perplexed on why he kept looking through the trees. “Lost in a world foreign to her. Surrounded by adults who treat her like one too, she surely feels alone. Miss Akari requires encouragement, Warden Melli. Compassion. Traveling through Wayward Cave with her, it was quite apparent she is not getting a lot of that here.”

Melli, arms still crossed, remained silent, but Ingo saw the rigidness in his shoulders had softened; his defensiveness had been replaced with something akin to understanding.

“With all due respect, I know you are not especially fond of her.” Ingo kept going as he looking up into yet another tree’s branches. “But just what were you trying to do by taking those torches down?”

“I hadn’t meant for anyone to get hurt!” Melli explained again, some of his rigid defensiveness momentarily returning. “I just thought maybe…she’d turn back, and stop pursuing this nonsense of quelling mighty Lord Electrode. He’s perfectly happy as he is you know, and stronger! So lordly!”

Ingo did not agree, and the look on his face expressed that better than any words could have.

“Warden Melli,” Ingo stopped searching through the trees momentarily to make eye contact with Electrode’s warden, “What you did deliberately put both a galaxy team member and a Pearl clan member in danger. If word spread about this, regardless of your reasons, it would set clan relations back significantly and maybe even irreparably, and blame would be upon you. You do understand this, right?”

At least with this statement, Melli had the decency to look guilty.

“Pearl clan and the Galaxy Team will never hear about this from me, but if I have to address this with Adaman instead, whoever learns of this will be out of my control.”

“Please don’t tell Adaman!” Melli immediately resorted to begging, getting in Ingo’s personal space.

“I can assure you I won’t!” Ingo hastily reassured Melli, gently pushing him back for the sake of regaining some space. “And Miss Akari will not either.”

Melli was already starting up a string of astronomically relieved “thank you”s, but Ingo wasn’t quite finished.

“If,” the warden’s voice rose above Melli’s, “you will no longer tamper with the torches of Wayward Cave, or any other structure meant to prevent Pokémon from harming passengers. And, you will at least try to express a friendlier disposition towards Miss Akari.”

These were not requests, these were orders.

Ingo looked at it as a favor, but if the term ‘blackmail’ was a commonplace term in Hisui, Melli would have been yelling it.

Instead, Electrode’s warden huffed, kicking at a spoiled apricorn as he fiddled with a lock of his hair.

“Oh…” Melli groaned. “Fine. I suppose I could be nicer to that Galaxy Team brat.”

“You could start with not calling her that anymore.”

“Baby steps! But, the Great Melli will try.”

At the acceptance of his conditions, Ingo softened completely, letting out a sigh of relief.

“Thank you, Warden Melli.” Ingo thanked him as he wiped more sweat off of his forehead, before turning to a tree behind him. “Now, if you could assist in one more way before Miss Akari returns, I would be grateful.”

Pointing up into the tree he was standing under, Melli followed Ingo’s finger to see he had located some pecha berries.

“If you could be so kind as to retrieve a few pecha berries from the branches for me? This cross poison is really starting to cause some disrepair, and at this point I find I can’t even stand up straight anymore.”

————

Akari fell back onto one of the two tent beds with an audible sigh - it was so soft! - while Ingo stirred soup in a pot that was set above a campfire.

The sun had gone down about an hour ago, and Ingo and Akari had hastily set up a rest stop only minutes before it had set. Situated between a stream and some rocky crags, it was a relatively safe and secure place to stop for the night. Akari was put in charge of packing all the equipment up and arranging everything while Ingo got started on a dinner for the both of them.

After traversing across rough rocky terrain all day, Akari felt like the thin bedding was the softest thing in the world.

“You gathered quite a bit of crunchy salt, Miss Akari.” Ingo commented, still observing the stew. “Lady Sneasler will be most pleased tomorrow!”

“There was a lot around to get!” Akari explained.

There had been so much, in fact, that Akari finished gathering several handfuls within a few minutes, and not wanting to miss Melli’s whooping of the century, snuck off towards the two wardens to eavesdrop.

She had heard mostly the tail end of the conversation, about how Ingo urged Melli to be kinder to her, about how he recognized she needed encouragement and compassion… it was not what she had expected to hear, but it touched her.

Ingo was always doing his best to look out for her, and Ingo was right, not a lot of people here had really extended that to her.

As Ingo and Melli worked to get pecha berries from one of the trees, Akari snuck back off, wiping a few grateful tears from her eyes.

“Soup will be ready in a few more minutes,” Ingo observed, before sitting back on a rock and wiping his hands clean in a rag.

Pulling out a bottle half-full of pinkish-purple salve, Ingo screwed the top off. After Melli had been generous enough to retrieve him his pecha berries, Ingo had put together the salve. Eating a few of the berries had neutralized the poison coursing through his system, but the salve was to calm the wound and nullify any chemicals still settling into the gash. He would be fine, as long as he applied it every fifteen minutes until the bottle was empty.

Ingo poured some of it onto his hand and put the bottle down to pull back the tear on his tunic and expose the cross poison gash.

Rubbing the salve into the wound, the soothing, cool sensation immediately calmed the burning itch, which had already been waning.

“It looks much better than it did earlier,” Akari commented as Ingo put the bottle away.

“It feels better too,” Ingo added, his features relaxing. Akari knew he had put on a steely face for her, downplaying the effects of the poison all day, so it felt good to see the warden finally feeling better.

Ingo got back to his feet to check on the soup one more time, before picking up two bowls from the side and pouring the contents into them.

“Here you go,” Ingo handed Akari a warm bowl as she came over to him to receive the food. Taking his own bowl, Ingo sat back down on his rock, and Akari plopped down next to him.

Ingo had given Akari a spoon, but she opted to sip from the bowl instead, taking cautious sips after blowing on the contents to cool it down.

Ingo had used several different items Akari had collected from the highlands throughout the course of the day to make the soup, and it was good!

It wasn’t like Beni’s potato mochi (and Akari would never say that to Ingo), but it was still amazing, and it was a nice change of pace from the repetitive dinner she had at The Wallflower every night.

“This is very good!” Akari complemented the warden after several big sips, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

“I’m glad you appreciate it,” Ingo replied, in between spoonfuls. “It is one of the few recipes I know, but I find it’s hard to get tired of.”

The two finished their soup quickly enough, and Ingo stood up, taking the two bowls to the river nearby to wash and put them away.

“Ingo?” Akari asked, watching him rinse the bowls from where she sat on the rock.

Ingo glanced back to signify she had his attention.

“Tomorrow, after we meet Lady Sneasler…will you go back?” The young girl questioned, looking down at the ground.

Akari had quite liked traveling with Ingo. She was fine enough traveling by herself - she had her Pokémon with her! - but being by Ingo’s side provided her with a sense of comfort she didn’t entirely want to let go of yet. She knew he would have to go back, and split off from her at some point. His job was to get her to Lady Sneasler, and that was it…surely he had other things to do too! But she wished he could keep going with her.

Drying off the bowls and putting them away, Ingo sighed and readjusted his cap.

He could see she clearly wanted him to keep going with her. Half of him swelled with fulfillment at this - it meant his service was satisfactory! But the other half felt sorry for having to split away.

He knew Akari had latched onto him, and in truth he found it hard to come to the fact that he’d have to leave her out here too.

“I’m afraid so, Miss.” Ingo told her. “Once we arrive at our destination and Lady Sneasler joins us, I will have fulfilled my duty.”

Putting the clean bowls away, Ingo took the empty stew pot, and began scrubbing that out in the river. “But we still have a ways to go tomorrow before that.”

Akari watched him scrub, his back turned to her. If he could see her, he would immediately notice the dejected look in her eyes.

But he did notice the silence, save for a few sounds of wild Pokémon in the distant night.

“Lady Sneasler is a very kind and strong Pokémon,” Ingo pressed on, wiping the pot dry. “And Melli promised he would be more mindful of his actions. With Lady Sneasler by your side, and a more sensible Melli around, you will not need me to travel with you.”

Putting the pot down with the bowls, Ingo packed them up. He decided he’d leave the campfire going a little longer, though. It provided warmth.

“But, it has been a pleasure traveling with you, Miss Akari.” Ingo reassured her, as he returned to the rock to sit beside her.

Arms wrapped around his middle in a side hug. Akari had not been careful of the gash under his clothes, but Ingo did not mind.

“You too, Ingo,” the young girl admitted as she hugged him, face buried in his tattered coat.

Tomorrow would come, bringing with it a new companionship with Lady Sneasler, and the parting of ways between the warden and the survey corps member, but for now, Akari embraced the man who had cared for her and protected her through this trip, hugging him tight.

He returned her hug.

[imfluentinfangirlandgay]

Surprise Adoption - Ch 9

Ingo held the crying Dawn in his arms, considering his options. He decided right then and there. She would stay with him and Emmet for the time being.

Word Count: ~2700

Dawn skipped ahead of the brothers, Axew waddling behind her as she looked around at Gear Station. “Are you guys sure? I wouldn’t want to be in the way.” 

“Yup! Completely sure.” Emmet laid a hand on her shoulder. “I run the Doubles and Ingo runs Singles. You can pick which to start with. After lunch, we meet up and run Multi until evening. Come watch if you want.” 

“You may battle the lines as many times as you like,” Ingo added, placing his hand on her other shoulder. Axew looked up at them with wide eyes, its thicker legs able to carry it more easily. “The Lines are purposefully designed for challengers to come back again and again. Or if you’d like, feel free to go back home and relax for the evening until we arrive. Tell us what you’d like for dinner and we can pick something up on the way.” 

Dawn nodded, squaring her shoulders. “Okay, Uncle Ingo. Which one do most challengers start with?” 

“Singles,” Emmet answered immediately. “Easier to strategize, yup.” 

“Then I can start there,” she said. “Which way is it?” 

“Once we get everything checked and prepared, I can lead you to the front of the Singles Line. I wait at the back of the train. If you can beat twenty other battlers on the train in a row without any losses, then you get to battle me.” 

“Do I get to heal between battles?”

“Yes,” Emmet said, striding into the control room. “Your Pokemon are automatically healed between battles. It would be unfair otherwise. Verrry unfair. A battle that is unfair is not fun. Yup.” He immediately began looking over the monitors and greeting the staff, leaving Ingo with Dawn. 

“There is a cafe in the station if you require anything. Do you have pocket money?”

Dawn giggled. “You’ve asked me about six times already.” 

“I only want to ensure-”

“I’ll be alright. I promise. I’m excited to beat you today.” Ingo looked down at her. She was grinning. 

“If I recall, I beat you a number of times in Hisui.” 

“On the Paths of Solitude. Which were totally unfair, by the way.” 

“I informed you of the rules every single time you challenged me. It is not my fault that the first time you came to me with a level 23 Bidoof and I happened to have a level 50 Eevee.” 

“You just spammed Baby-Doll Eyes until my moves were so ineffective that they might as well have been a toddler smacking a Rillaboom.” 

“Strategy, young Akari,” Ingo teased as he joined his brother, who was now frantically clicking buttons and ensuring the trains were being kept well. 

“Mornin’, Boss!” one of the Depot Agents called. Ingo turned and greeted her warmly. 

“Ah, good morning! Is there anything special on the schedule today?”

She clicked her pen and brought forward a clipboard with schedules and names on it. “Not particularly, just a few newer Trainers. Who’s this, by the way? I don’t think I’ve seen her before.” 

“Ah,” Ingo laid his hand on her shoulder again, even as she froze up slightly at being acknowledged. “This is our niece, Akari. Due to unforeseen circumstances, she has been staying with Emmet and I for some time. We convinced her to challenge the Battle Lines today, as she is quite an adept Trainer.” He could almost feel her glowing red face from his praise. 

“Aw, that’s so cute. What’s it like living with the Bosses?” the agent asked Dawn thoughtfully. 

Dawn blinked. “I hope you like trains and Joltik,” she said awkwardly. The agent laughed heartily. 

“I like you already, kid. Maybe sometime you could be the third little Boss, with your hair like that. I guess it must run in the family. Well, I’m off to go make sure Ricky hasn’t accidentally mixed up fuel with motor oil again. It didn’t end well last time. Later, Boss!”

“Goodbye, Miss!” Ingo called as she left with a pep in her step. 

“She was nice,” Dawn said. 

“Many of the Agents are. We hire them all ourselves and we make sure to respect them, and in return, they respect us.” Ingo looked back over at what Emmet was doing. Before long, it was almost time for the twins to board their lines. 

The three of them left the control room and made their way down to the main platform, which branched off into several littler passageways, each of which would run a line. They exited down one larger tunnel, which split off into other hallways. They paused at this junction. 

“I will meet you at exactly 13:18 to get lunch,” Emmet said. He grinned at Dawn. “Let me know how it goes.” 

“Have fun, Uncle Emmet! Good luck with the challengers!” 

“Let us know if you require anything.”

“Yup yup! Have fun, Akari.” He patted the Axew on the head as he waved to them, striding down a specific corridor. 

“Our destination is over here,” Ingo motioned to her as he went down the corridor on the opposite side of the one Emmet had gone down. “You will enter at the head of the train, with other Trainers who wish to challenge the Line today. There are twenty cars on the Line, each of which contains a Depot Agent or other opponent. They will heal your team if you beat them, before you move onto the next car. I am in the last car. If you make it all the way to the back, you can fight me. If you lose at any point, the train will deposit you wherever it happens to be. Use Staraptor to fly back to Nimbasa. Do you still have your map?” 

“Right here!” She produced a map of Unova. 

“Bravo! Here is my stop. You will enter down there,” he pointed down the Line, past the gleaming white cars, all the way to the front. “We depart in exactly 16 minutes. I have some announcements to make before we go, but feel free to mingle. Many of the Trainers here become close friends on the Battle Subway.” 

She wrapped her arms around his middle in a tight hug. “Have fun today, Uncle Ingo. I’m making it to you whether you like it or not.” 

“I have utmost confidence you will,” he said, patting her back. “Now, off with you, go show the Agents what you showed me in Hisui!” She scurried off, Axew lumbering after her with excited chirps. Ingo looked at his wristwatch and stood stoically at the door to his cabin. “Fourteen minutes until departure! Trainers, please prepare your teams and enter at Car Number One!” There was a flurry of activity as the minutes dripped by. Ingo kept an eye on the time and a voice in the crowd as they slowly diminished. The train gave off a whistle and Ingo stepped just into his door, leaving it open long enough for him to scream, “ALL ABOARD!” before he shut it, prepping his own team for the day ahead. 

—----

“So?” Emmet looked over his sandwich at the other two with him. Akari bit into her own sandwich and watched him. “How was it?” 

She swallowed her bite of food as she let off a stream of words. “It was so cool! I’ve never seen a battling facility run like this before! Usually most regions have a battle tower of some kind or even the Battle Frontier in Hoenn but never on a Subway! Everything moves and trying to use that to your advantage and the way all the teams are so well-balanced and oh, it was so much fun! I can see why you guys like working here so much, I’d wanna work here, too!” 

Emmet and Ingo shared a glance that went unnoticed by the girl as she took another bite. Ingo swallowed his and added, “She beat me today. I am incredibly proud of her.” He reached over and ruffled her hair, earning a scolding for potentially getting breadcrumbs in her hair. He chuckled and returned to his food. 

Lunch ended rather quickly, as the brothers needed to return to work. Dawn wanted to join them on the Multi Line as a spectator, so they happily let her ride along. She was intrigued by the amount of people, Pokemon, and determination that she saw along the ride. 

By the time night fell, all three were pleasantly tired and ready for the new day. Dawn and Axew were practically hopping with excitement, trying to discuss the battle tactics that the competitors had used that day. Emmet was more than happy to join her. Ingo was a little more tired, though still enamored as he listened to every word they said. 

He hoped they’d do this again in the future. 

—------

As it turned out, he didn’t have to hope. Dawn returned with them almost every single morning, wanting to beat more Trainers and balance her team even more. Axew evolved into Fraxure within two weeks of Subway battles, growing steadily. The twins had a celebration for it, inviting Drayden and Iris over to show off how the infant they’d bred was doing. They both provided outstanding praise for Dawn. 

She became more and more used to the Battle Subway and even began to learn how it worked. She would talk to the Depot Agents regularly and began making friends, Ingo noted. 

He’d also noted a certain individual. It was a boy, with bright hair and sharp eyes. He had been hanging around the station for some time and Ingo was quite sure he’d never seen the boy before. Emmet had noticed him, too, but as he was not doing anything, neither of them said anything. The boy only ever appeared during rush hour and never stayed for long, but always openly stared at the Bosses for a good ten minutes or so, watching them. Then he’d disappear. Ingo intended to keep an eye on him. 

He was about to exit his Line now to meet up with Dawn and Emmet for lunch. Dawn had convinced them that they should go out for lunch today, as the sun was out and it was not too hot in Nimbasa. He was about to take his last challenger of the day. The light above the opposite door dinged and Ingo stood from his seat, moving to stand in his spot as the challenger came into view. 

It was the boy. He was wearing a striped shirt with swooping blonde hair. He looked at Ingo with a piercing gaze, his hand already on his waist, where his Pokeballs were kept.

"Thank you for riding the Battle Subway today. I am the Subway Boss Ingo. I will choose the next destination based on your talent. Do you understand Pokémon well? Can you hold on to your principle? Will you go on to victory or defeat? All aboard!" He decided to do his normal monologue and gauge the boy’s tactics as he tossed out Crustle. The child tossed out a Torterra. Interesting! He was from Sinnoh it seemed. 

The battle continued and the boy said nothing, other than commands to his Pokemon. 

The child was victorious. 

"Bravo!! Your talent has brought you to the destination called Victory! However, your journey has just started. When you choose your next destination, go full speed ahead!" Ingo clapped for the boy as Garbodor fainted to a final strike from Lucario. The train they were on was beginning to slow. They were back at Nimbasa Station. Ingo healed the boy’s team as he prepared to step off. “I do hope you challenge the Battle Subway again!” He went to take a step-

“Wait!” There was a tug on his coat, forcing him to look back around. The boy was watching him with wide eyes. Ingo paused, unsure about what to do. He decided to cross his arms behind his back and lead the boy off the train so it could properly depart before giving him his full attention. 

“Yes?”

“You know where Dawn is.” The boy did not phrase it as a question. Alarm bells went off in Ingo’s head. This child had Sinnohan Pokemon and seemed keen on finding Dawn… 

“I am afraid I do not know what you are referring to.” 

“I’ve seen you with her!” the boy yelled. “She’s been around you guys all the time! Cynthia said some Gym Leader from Unova said he knew where she was but he wouldn’t say anything!” 

“I believe you are referring to my niece, Akari.” 

“Her name isn’t Akari!” The boy was growing rather upset. “Her name is Dawn and she’s my best friend! She left me behind! We need her back because she’s the Champion!” People were beginning to stare now. Ingo needed to divert the situation. 

“Passenger, I believe-”

“Uncle Ingo? What’s taking so long?” Ingo’s eyes widened, but the boy had already heard the voice, too. He looked up wildly, trying to find it. Ingo spotted Emmet over the crowd. They met eyes and Emmet looked concerned immediately. He could tell something was up. Ingo jerked his head and Emmet reached down and patted Dawn on the shoulder, trying to get her away, but she kept moving forward-

“Uncle Ingo-” She was cut off by a blonde bullet hitting her in the chest at top speed. Emmet barely managed to keep her upright as the boy tackled her in a hug. 

“Dawn! Dawn, you’re okay! Dawn, we were all so worried about you and Cynthia said to leave you alone but I wanted to find you again because I already lost you once-”

“B-Barry?” Dawn managed to extract herself from the hug and glanced at the boy’s face with wide, fearful eyes. “What are you doing here?” 

“Cynthia said that some guy from Unova knew where you were but he wouldn’t say where, just that you were safe and needed some time.” His grin was almost as bright as Emmet’s as he kept a hold on her upper arms, nearly bouncing on his feet. “And I wanted to see you again so I decided to look around Unova! You can come home now-”

She ripped herself away and shrank behind Emmet immediately. “N-no, not yet, I don’t want to.” She hid her face in his coat. Emmet patted her back. The boy - Barry - watched on, stunned. 

“Wh… what do you mean you don’t want to? Dawn, you’re my best friend, and you’re just going to leave everything behind-”

“You don’t get it, Barry, there’s just too much-”

“But Dawn, please,-”

Ingo stepped in between them, cutting off whatever the boy was about to say. “I believe there may be some misunderstandings here.” He looked to the boy. “It is our lunch break now and Akari will be joining us for it. If you would like to speak more privately, come after our shift is over. The platform is hardly a place to have a conversation like this.” He looked over to Dawn, kneeling down and setting a hand on her shoulder. “If you do not wish to leave, Dawn, we will ensure you are not taken. As I told you before, you have a safe place with us. We will let nothing happen to you.” Emmet was nodding in agreement above their heads, patting Dawn’s back soothingly. He stood again, using his body as a shield from the boy. “Now,” he said more loudly, “Shall we go? We can try that restaurant by the bakery you like. To my recollection, we have never been there before.” 

“Your recollection has been faulty since you reappeared,” Emmet said with a grin. Ingo gave him a stink-eye. 

“So has your attitude, dear brother, yet here we are still. Tell me then, have we ever been there?”

“Nnope!” Emmet popped the ‘p’ dramatically. Dawn giggled as they led her away, the boy staying lost in the crowd, still completely floored.

[Start] - [Previous] - [Next]

[quicksilverlightning]

Rei is chatting with Professor Laventon when Volo walks through the gates carrying –

“Akari!”

He trips on his own feet in his rush to reach Volo, the professor not far behind, asking a thousand questions a minute.

“What happened?! Are you guys alright? Do I need to get Pesselle?” Volo has a split lip and streaks of red staining his apron, but Akari seems unharmed save for being unconscious. Her head rests peacefully on his chest.

“Was it an Alpha? Or was it the bandit sisters again?” Rei clenches his fists. “Who did I need to - “

“Rei!” Professor Laventon shushes him. “Calm down, my boy, let the man speak.” He nods to Volo. “Can you tell us what happened?”

“Peace, both of you. Akari is fine – there was a little incident with a bit of sleep powder.” Both Rei and the professor let the tension loose in their shoulders when Akari shifts in his arms.

“But… but what about your lip? What happened there?” Volo laughs at Rei’s query.

“Akari recently caught a Cherubi and asked to battle with me, but Growlithe scared the little guy. Their game of chase ended with me biting my own lip and Akari getting a face full of sleep powder.”

“A Cherubi, you say,” Professor Laventon rubs his chin. “Quite a rare find, that. I can’t wait to have a look later!” Rei looks at him, aghast.

“Uh, Professor, shouldn’t we get her to Pesselle or something first?” Laventon shakes himself.

“Of course, of course,” he motions to Volo. “Rei, why don’t you hold the door for the good merchant?” Rei hastens to obey and Volo adjusts his hold on Akari, who mumbles sleepily.

“Five more minutes…”

“Afraid not, my dear,” Volo nods to Rei as he enters the hall. “It’s time to get up!” Akari nuzzles at the fur of his collar.

“Warm…”

Pesselle is absent from the medical room, but her Toxicroak chitters at the four of them in concern.

“Oh dear,” Laventon crosses his arms. “Wherever has our favorite nurse gone?”

“I’ll go look for her, Professor,” Rei is out the door like a shot, already calling for the wayward nurse. Laventon shakes his head fondly.

“All you young people… so full of energy.”

Volo moves to lay Akari on the lounge-chair, but despite her sleep, her arms are firmly encircled around his neck. He gives up after only a moment with a sigh, seating himself on the chair to wait for Pesselle, Akari on his lap. Laventon huffs a gentle chuckle, turning when he hears Cyllene’s footsteps coming down the hall to see what all the ruckus is about.

Volo shifts further into the chair, leaning back and nudging his cap over his eyes, Akari snug in the crook of his arm, still hugging tight.

“Mhh…”

Volo grunts something caught between amusement and annoyance.

“You’re a real pain some days, starlight.”

Laventon has just finished explaining the situation to the captain when Akari exhales a drowsy, barely-audible sigh.

“Love you, Volo...”

[theleanbean]

Fragmented Ideas from my TMA pokemon au that I'll never write

The entities after traveling somewhere else end up possessing legendary pokemon

Arceus fuses a fragment of itself with Jon to purify the legendaries and defeat the entities

Jon's eyes look like Arceus's eyes

Jon and Martin team up with the professors on Alola to research the corrupted legendaries.

Both of them are a bit freaked out about pokemon, but they give Jon a rowlett

Because Jon is fused with Arceus he can understand pokemon.

Martin gets a Mimikyu that joins up with him after he repairs its cloak.

J: she's afraid that you'll die if you see her true form

M: does that really happen?!

J: well it is only a legend but they are quite frightening under their cloak

J: Here mimikyu you can hide under my coat while Martin fixes you up

Martin dresses up his mimikyu in little hats and bows

Jon actually has Arceus powers like end of game Legend Arceus battle style stuff

After they fix the legendaries in Alola they travel from region to region purifying them

Jon's Rowlet fully evolves

Alola > Galar > Kalos > Unova > Sinnoh > Hisui

Martin gets a Sinistea from Galar

J: for being done with the supernatural its pretty funny that we ended up with a bunch of ghost pokemon

M: they're literally a cup of tea, how could I say no

Jon gets a Espurr from Kalos

Martin gets an Eevee from Kalos that eventually evolves into a Sylveon

Jon gets a Munna from Unova and Martin gets an Axew

N asks Jon if he's a pokemon, Jon has a crisis

Jon calls the Subway a Tube to Emmets face

Jon gets a Snorunt Martin gets a Riolu

When they get to Sinnoh Corrupted Dialga sends Jon gets sent to post game Hisui

Jon's eyes freak out the locals and they band together to kick out Jon thinking he's a pokemon Akari's Arceus shields Jon and they chat. Jon meets Ingo and is like its the missing brother of the guy who laughed at me for calling his subway a tube

Akari's Arceus fuses with Jon, and the three of them go to present Sinnoh using Akari's Dialga

Trigger submas reunion

Jon gets a Beldum from Steven in Hoenn

Jon gets a Natu in Johto Martin gets a Mareep

[pickabetterusername]

Stupid Games, Stupid Prizes

pairing: female!villain X Katuski Bakugo

word Count: 2K

summary: an all too familiar villain shows up during Bakugo and Midoriya's fight after Kamino.

warnings: mature content, it got kinda dark idk, characters aged up for soon-to-be obvious reasons, lewd speech, pregnancy mention, angsty as fuck, villain X Katsuki have a past

a/n: i decided i needed to practice in the third person POV and this idea hit me like a ton of bricks. literally couldn't stop writing til i finished this. it's a snippet in the middle of a story not yet constructed. i won't give much background in case i decide to do something more with it, so feel free to speculate, but it's a hero-gone-bad type beat. ENJOY

٩(˘◡˘)۶ (◑́_◑᷅ ) ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

***********

"Wait. Wait, wait, wait," she stuttered before her eyebrows furrowed. "You were quirkless?"

Her hand slowly raised, lazily pointing at Midoriya.

"Akari? No, I—you misheard!" His eyes were wide, seeing her walk out from the alley. It was dark, and she wasn't supposed to be there, and now she knew too much. Once upon a time, he supposed it wouldn't have mattered much, but too much had changed.

Bakugo was a little wide-eyed as well, though not in a panicked way. He only looked the way he always did, angry with a hint of something in the eyes. Akari liked that about him. She always knew what he was feeling. Right now, those red eyes reflected fear.

She wasn't supposed to know about One For All. Bakugo wasn't supposed to know, but he had figured it out. Now Akari got to walk in on that information bombshell out of nowhere? After all the stunts she pulled? No.

Well, Bakugo thought, she wouldn't know for long.

The hothead stepped forward, hands tingling with heat. With a snarl on his face, he growled, "What are you doin' here."

"Funny," Akari nonchalantly cocked her head. "One minute you're causing poor Midoriya harm, the next you’re protecting him from it. Never took you for a switch, Katsuki."

Bakugo growled, shaking his head in distaste. "You seemed pretty confident I would switch sides and team up with you."

"Yeah, so there was some misjudgment in our plan, at least I can admit it." She clicked her tongue and shook her head, getting right back to the harassment, "So which one gets you off? You always were kind of rough."

It was much too easy to make the blowtorch cause a scene.

With a yell, he ran at her. She dodged the first blow, smacking his arm to the side. Swing after swing, she effortlessly dodged them all, not bothering to hit back. Finally, Bakugo backed off.

"How the hell are you doing that!?" he roared.

The edge of her lip pulled into a smirk. She shrugged, tilting her head to one shoulder.  "So I may have picked up a few more skills," she responded simply. "His name was Nightwatch, I think- no, that's from Game of Thrones. Nightseek? No- you know—" she shrugged in dismissal, waving a hand, "—I'm not sure! He was dying anyway. He didn't need the quirk."

Bakugo's brows furrowed, red eyes narrowing. He'd heard about the battle against the Yakuza. The one that killed Nighteye, the one he wasn't a part of. Maybe if he'd just picked a different agency...

The heat from his palms crackled now, letting off little explosions. Had she planned that from the start? How could she have? He was being paranoid, but Akari would do anything presented an opportunity.

Before he could attack again she looked past him.

"Oh hey, Midoriya,” she spoke casually. “I don’t really care about your quirk thing in case you were wondering. Just means we’re more alike than I thought.”

Bakugo glanced back to see Midoriya frozen in place. The idiot. He squinted, seeing only the whites of his eyes. It looked...familiar.

The Sports Festival.

So she’s got multiple new quirks? How many can she hold? Surely her body can't handle that. Bakugo found himself worrying more than he should have, more than he wanted

“Oh.” Akari bit her lip, leaning in to get a better look. “We doin’ okay over there, little guy?" she asked, feigning concern. “You’re a bit of a trial run.”

Turning over his shoulder to glare at Akari, he let out a hot breath. "How'd you get the extra's quirk?"

She smiled, clapping her hands once, lacing them together. "You're a quick one, Bakugo. People should really give you more credit. They think you're all brawn and mouthy, but you sure are full of brains, aren't you? Ugh, I just know you so well...don't I?"

Bakugo was grinding his teeth. His brain ran in circles, trying to think if he answered one of her questions.

Just keep her talking, Midoriya will snap out of it. "You don't know me at all, you bitch. Now answer the question," he snarled.

Akari let out a laugh. "Oh, but I do know you so well. Every single inch of you if I can recall."

She did know him, better than he'd ever admit. More than well enough to taunt him. He'd throw the first punch if she wanted it, if she lured him into it.

Heat simmered too close to the surface of Bakugo's skin and she could see it. His jaw was clenched, fists held tight at his sides. If Akari wanted to freeze him, she would've done it by now. It was a fight she wanted.

Bakugo's lip curled up, baring his teeth. "Is this a game to you!" It wasn't a question. He already knew the answer.

Her hands laced together and pressed against the spot just below her naval. His eyes dropped to them, a weird feeling swirling in his gut. Bakugo ignored it, blasting toward her at full force. As soon as he landed, his body went heavy, locking in place.

What?

He could still see her, but everything was foggy. Straining, he tried to throw a punch, but his body wouldn't listen, wouldn't activate. Racking his brain he—

You don't know me at all.

Goddamnit! He answered her fucking question. Stupid! Stupid! She made him into a moron.

"It's a game I think I'm winning, actually," she spoke, a forced smile on her face. "I'll bet you hate that."

He watched her through blurry vision, unable to respond or yell or scream. It was like floating in a void within his own body, caged yet intangible, fuzzy at the edges.

"I wonder if our child will like winning too," she spoke a little lower as if shy.

Bakugo's eyes fell to her hands still resting on her lower stomach.

No.

"That's all I came to tell you," she sighed out, stepping forward and swiping the back of her fingers across his temple.

Her touch made him shiver. He wanted to lean into it. Closing his eyes, he leaned into his anger instead. No, what he wanted was to grab her by the throat and squeeze until she admitted she was a liar.

"Awe," she pouted, only guessing at the turmoil sloshing around Bakugo's skull. "It's the truth, I promise." Akari just barely patted her lower belly.

Liar.

The hand against Bakugo's face fell to his wrist. She squeezed it gently as her free hand pulled up her shirt.

Bakugo wanted to puke.

"I've got your little girl in here," she spoke softly, in the voice he remembered so well.

Then Akari moved his hand to lay flat against her skin, his thumb slipping beneath her waistband. She was so warm to the touch he wanted to flinch away, as if her skin could burn his palm.

"Can't you feel her?" Akari's voice was so small, so frail. Bakugo focused on her eyes, swore he could see the way they glossed over. His own tears collected but none would fall. The pressure was almost too much, his vision getting blurrier and blurrier.

If he wasn't locked in place, he would've been trembling. Not the kind where his hands would shake and he'd hide it with clenched fists, but the whole body kind. The kind where he's scared shitless and his heart pumps so hard he can hear the blood rushing in his ears.

That's when Bakugo felt it. Just a tiny thing, but with so much force.

A little kick.

Emotions flooded his body like a tsunami. Head to toe, feelings leaked out everywhere. It was like his muscles ripped apart and reformed just to do it all over again. His shattered bones dusted the floor. Bakugo wanted to scream, level buildings until he short-circuited his arms and passed out and became part of the rubble. He wanted to pick Akari up and spin her around and kiss her face and, and—

He couldn't do any of that.

The glossy, frightened eyes looking up at him weren't the ones he remembered. They weren't hers, not Akari's.

He hated the way that made him want to cry. No, not cry. That wasn't the right word for it. Bakugo hated the way it made him want to sob. The way it tightened his chest and squeezed until there was nothing left. There was a hole in him, the shape of her, and nothing else quite fit.

A tear ran down her cheek, but she wiped it away quickly, taking a step back. His hand unwillingly fell back to his side, cold.

Her eyes rolled back, looking at the sky in an attempt to rid herself of the emotions betraying her cool demeanor. "Tch," she scoffed.

All Bakugo wanted was to scream for her to come back, to stop playing stupid games. Stupid games win stupid prizes and he couldn't bear to think of what that could mean. They could work things out. She wasn't too far gone. Not yet. He could still see her.

"Kacchan!" a shrill voice called from behind.

Akari's eyes trailed off to the side where Midoriya was breaking out of her hold. Then they trained on Bakugo. She stepped closer, raising her hands to cup each side of his face, looking him in the eye.

"Well," her voice was still soft, still familiar. "Now you know, sweet boy."

Reaching up on her toes, she pressed a soft kiss to his lips, dragging a thumb across them as she pulled away. A tear finally broke through, running down his frozen cheek. Akari wiped it away, lightly kissing where the trail stopped.

Just as Bakugo heard Midoriya running at them, full cowling, she stepped away.

"I'll see you again," she said, a small frown on her face as her body melted into brown sludge.

As soon as she was gone, Bakugo's body lurched forward. Nausea slit open the pit of his stomach and he fell to his hands and knees, retching out whatever was left of dinner.

"Kacchan..." Midoriya started, moving a gentle hand to Bakugo's shoulder.

He was quick to shrug it off, his hair falling in front of his eyes. "Get off me! And shut up! Just...shut up!” his broken voice barked.

Midoriya backed off, staring wide-eyed at his friend.

The tears fell freely now, watering the soil Bakugo clenched in his fists.

"Dammnit!" he cried, banging his fists against the ground.

"Dammnit!" He left small craters behind.

"Agh!" his growl was high-pitched, like an animal being skinned alive. He punched into the earth with every word. "Dammnit! Dammnit! God-dammnit! Aghh! I don’t know what to do!”

Midoriya didn't dare say a thing, didn't dare move a muscle. After everything he just heard...

For a moment Bakugo stilled, his chest heaving. Silence filled the air until he flung himself off the ground, turning to Midoriya. He stalked toward the green-haired hero, using a blast to blow them against the building, hand around his throat. With a finger in Midoriya's face, he growled out, "You're not gonna tell a single soul about this. Do you understand me, Deku!? This night never happened."

Midoriya shrunk back against the wall. Tears streaked Bakugo's face and his eyes were wild in a way Midoriya had never seen before, red-rimmed and puffy. He'd been the victim of Bakugo's temper one too many times, but this was nothing of the sort. He wasn't mad or losing control, he was terrified.

"Do you understand me, Izuku!?" Bakugo yelled again, his voice breaking. He pulled the poor hero away from the wall and weakly slammed him back into it.

"Yes!" Midoriya squeaked out, "yes, I won't tell anyone, Kacchan! You can let me go now!"

Bakugo followed suit and released Midoriya, turning away.

"Kacchan, we should talk about this," Midoriya spoke softly, wishing he could make this better for his friend in any way possible.

"Don't follow me," Bakugo huffed out low and gravely, whatever gruffness necessary to conceal the tremble in his voice. He shoved his hands in his pockets, clenched them into fists, and walked off.

Nothing could make this better.