#in the months before this comic ingo and melli had never really interacted

[thelemonsnek]

The two legendary dragons, despite how long they've been alive and how much they've been through, have never been apart in any meaningful way. Zekrom!Ingo is not having a good time (neither is Reshiram!Emmet, but that's neither here nor there :) ) More on this under the cut!

[image id: a two page comic featuring Ingo and Melli from Pokemon Legends Arceus. The entire comic is a sketch, with guidelines still visible, and is done in black and white, aside from cyan lightning. The entire comic is set on a mountaintop cliffside, in the middle of a huge thunderstorm. Everything is very dark, and rain is visible throughout.

Ingo stands at the edge of a cliff, facing away from the viewer and looking into an intense storm. Lightning strikes off in the distance, and harsh winds are ripping at his clothes. The second panel is a closeup profile view of his face. He is leaning into the wind, eyes shut, seeming to be either looking for something within himself or trying to lose himself in the storm. The third panel is a closeup of Melli's face, shadowed.

Melli comes up behind Ingo, and asks him, "Why are you chasing storms, Ingo?" Then, gaining momentum, he seems to yell louder above the storm, "you have a life, so live it. the time before now is long gone." Ingo, still facing away from Melli and staring out at the storm, says nothing for a beat, then without turning around, asks, "Do you think that I do not know that, Warden Melli?"

The next panel looks out over the stormswept mountain. Multiple lightning strikes are visible as Ingo says, "I am well aware that my tracks are without destination. But I cannot switch over to new tracks, lest I risk derailment."

The next panel switches back to showing Ingo and Melli. Ingo has turned around now to face Melli. He has placed a hand to his chest, teeth bared as he shouts, "I know that this could be my home station, if I let it." His eyes now have lightning branching off from them, and his teeth are sharper. Black scales are visible, creeping up his hand. Melli is braced against both the storm and Ingo's sudden anger.

In the final panel, Ingo has somewhat collapsed in on himself, and half turns away. His hands are now twisted into claws, with more obvious scaling, and his teeth are sharper. "But I cannot," he says quietly, visibly defeated. Melli seems less ready for a fight now, and has drawn back, possibly out of sympathy or fear (and maybe both). End id]

Ingo and Emmet are Zekrom and Reshiram!

the gods are real and they're autistic about trains

they can "shift" in and out of their draconic forms, and have several stages in between (human, partial, mid, etc) basically it's a sliding scale of traits! Here we can see Ingo's "partial" state, where he has fangs, claws, and scales but not much else

the two of them have never really been apart. Oh sure they've been on differing sides of the continent, and sometimes one of them will work a differing shift than the other, but not in any meaningful way

not til Ingo gets eebied :)

separated for the first time with no way to reunite, they find themselves completely unable to shift fully, only barely able to get to a partial form. For Ingo this is pretty convenient! Not as much to try and hide/explain away :) for Emmet this is terrifying

there's another side effect to them being apart, and it's that their roles...don't switch, but Emmet finds himself endlessly driven by the ideal to find his brother, while Ingo is constantly seeking the truth of who he was and what he left behind. We get to see a little bit of the conflict this causes within Ingo here!

they do eventually reunite and it's cool as hell, I'd love to draw it out someday