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catboybiologist · 8 months ago

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Y'all ready for a certified neurodivergent moment?

I had to sit through a thing I absolutely did not need any info from, and typed up a massive outline of the soulsborne pokemon game I just talked about. Massively cringe, yes, but hey it's not just living in my head anymore.

I've had this idea brewing in my head for a while now, pretty much ever since PLA came out (and I found it kinda disappointing tbh). Even though Hoenn has lots of love, it still feels like the most "grand" region in terms of the scale and themes of its lore, so I liked the idea of using it for a legends game that focused on the initial clash of Kyogre and Groudon. I had so many ideas brew in my head, and I guess now I sloppily typed them out.

Obviously this isn't actual game design. This is just me being cringey and detailing my dream pokemon game. At 26 years old. Anyways.

Pokemon Legends: Jirachi

In the times when Hoenn was young, the earth and seas shook. Titans roam the land- powerful individual pokemon that shape their environment to their liking. Humans and pokemon work together to keep them under control, but the earth and sea themselves shake, and Titans only grow more numerous. One day, a human wishes on a shooting star to become a hero and save their land, and something from up there answered.

In this game, Jirachi would be a kind of invisible "questmaster", giving an in-game reason for path markers, quest markers, and points of interest marked in stardust and sparkles. Once the main plot is completed, Jirachi would be able to join your party.

Core combat

The gameplay would be souls-like or Monster Hunter like, but with direct parallels to mainline pokemon mechanics. The six stats would be the same, and the four moves your pokemon can learn would be equivalent to the attack interface of a soulslike game- four trigger buttons. You would take direct control of one "primary" pokemon at a time, and use it as a souls-like character.

HP, Def, and SpDef would be largely the same, with the added benefit that less damage taken means more resistance to trips and staggers.

Atk and SpAtk are also pretty clear cut, scales your damage output per move.

Speed would be analogous to stamina or endurance. Dodging would work as in soulsborne games, and consume stamina. Most pokemon walking, running, attack speed, and dodging speed would be largely equivalent, but high speed pokemon would be able to sustain rapidfire attacking, frequent dodging, and continuous sprinting for longer.

Accuracy would be reworked into lock-on or charge up time- eg, a low accuracy move requires you to stay in one place for a longer amount of time before releasing, to charge up or lock on (imagine how swag ass this would look with focus blast).

PP would correspond to cooldown time. Each move would be infinite use, but have a cool-down after its used. So a move with high accuracy, but low PP, could be used instantly, but not spammed. High PP, weaker moves would then see an increased niche as a "default" light attack that can be spammed.

Attacks could also be ranged, up close, AoE, and have other features that would need to be tweaked and balanced in implementation. They wouldn't one to one map onto their in game counterparts, but this would at least provide a vague guide for how these moves work that builds on players assumed existing knowledge of pokemon games.

Special attributes, like never-miss moves and priority moves, would have features that play into this- eg, priority moves could be spammed with no cooldown, and never-miss moves would be immune to inhibiting effects.

Stat changes could be temporary effects applied to yourself when using the move, like a buffing spell in soulsborne games.

Nonvolatile status effects (paralysis, burn, sleep, etc) would work similar to monster hunter- invisibly accumulating triggers that occur as a side effect to to moves, or in the case of moves that directly trigger status like Spore or Thunder Wave, they would not do direct damage, but instead add massive amounts to the accumulated status trigger.

Field effects (weather, terrain, and special effects like wind, gravity, etc) could be set by regular pokemon moves in small areas, but would also be frequently encountered in the overworld.

Examples: the vibes of potential starter pokemon.

This is all just for the purpose of giving examples of how I envision some of this stuff working. Assume each pokemon would have regional variants that scaled their stats appropriately. This is just to show how different playstyles from the mainline games would translate to this format.

Lucario: example mixed offensive pokemon

Moves like aura sphere could be used with no lock on time, and little to no cooldown, forming the basis of a normal, light, ranged attack.

Moves like Close Combat would have no lock on, but give a temporary debuff and have a long cooldown time before they could be initiated again, making for a quick to use but infrequent heavy attack.

Swords dance and/or nasty plot could be used to provide a temporary buff for a period of time.

Focus blast would take a long time to charge and lock on, making you a sitting duck.

Reuniclus: example tanky pokemon

Light Screen and Barrier could lay down static areas on the ground. When an ally pokemon is located within them, they provide their corresponding defensive buffs. Cooldown for reusing them starts when these floor areas disappear.

Recover could be used to heal, but would have a long cooldown.

Liepard: example technical pokemon

Yawn would inflict direct sleep "buildup", but over time as opposed to instantly.

Fake out would instantly proc a stagger from the enemy, but could only be used in a certain time range upon being sent out.

Moves like taunt and torment function as usual.

The trainer and overworld traversal

Even though the player has direct control over pokemon, the MC is still a trainer, and pokemon are still capture in balls.

The trainer would be on the sidelines, with idle animations ordering the pokemon to do stuff.

Only one "controllable" pokemon could be outside of a pokeball at a time, or all of them could be stowed in pokeballs to directly control the trainer. The trainer can interact with NPCs, gather items, etc.

The trainer would also order "helper" pokemon. One or two "helpers" could be added independent of the party that would follow the trainer around constantly. Each pokemon has a list of field "helper" abilities they're capable of doing, independent of what moves they know. By targeting something that a helper pokemon can interact with in the world, the trainer would order that pokemon to zip out and interact with it. Think Republic commando. This takes the role of HMs and other field moves. For areas that require things like Surf of dive, the helper pokemon would exert a field of influence that essentially allowed the primary pokemon to act normally- eg, a surf helper would cause an area of surging upwards surface chop that lets the primary pokemon walk on water, or a dive helper would create small air bubbles centered around wherever the primary pokemon breathes from.

The trainer can also provide small support in the form of items, but this would be limited to encourage sensible use of stat boosting moves.

Pokemon would still be captured in pokeballs, but after they are fainted by the primary pokemon. Fainted pokemon could either be captured in a pokeball, or "relieved" of unique held items and resources before releasing them.

Pokemon would not gain experience by defeating opponents. Instead, each one would have material requirements to both level up and "customize" them. Like upgrading a weapon in Monster Hunter, every pokemon would have unique material requirements to level up, change nature, upgrade IVs, allocate EVs, or learn and relearn certain moves. This incentivizes a postgame loop, but could be curved to make the main game give you adequate materials to avoid excessive grinding.

The gameplay and story structure

The gameplay loop is basically monster hunter.

There would be a large number of normal-sized pokemon out in the world, that could be easily defeated and either captured and looted. But, frequently, a "Titan" would appear- a large, boss variant of a particular pokemon. Some pokemon can only be captured from their defeated titan forms, even if they appear in their regular forms.

These titan forms would appear semi-randomly, and requests to "quiet" them by defeating them would take the form of quests posted in the hub regions. These quests would then essentially be a monster hunter hunt- going out and fighting a particular titan.

Titan forms could be unique, or vaguely modeled after existing megas.

The world is divided into 8 main regions, and at least one "bonus" region. There would be 4 ocean regions, and 4 land regions. Each region would be seperate, but open to explore within that region (damn you can really see how much I've played MH:W)

Each region would have a drop table of pokemon that could potentially appear as titans.

Each region would also have one, single titan pokemon that gives the region its character. These 9 titans would be new, unique regional variants.

Each region, and by extension, each boss titan, would be directly associated with a different regional effect. So essentially, the boss titan and the field effect of a region would be reflective of its character.

The plot, like monster hunter, would be a gameplay loop of increasingly powerful titans within a region, building to the boss titans of each region. Once the 8 primary titans are defeated, it triggers the endgame main plotline.

The world

As mentioned previously, the bulk of the gameplay loop and storyline would be defeating increasingly more powerful "titan" pokemon, until you encounter a particular individual pokemon that is actively shaping that region and has ultimately caused the other titans along the way to be empowered.

Each region would have a dominant type, several field effects that come and go within certain parts of the area, and a unique boss titan. Each boss titan is about equivalent difficulty, and the player is encouraged to spread their efforts around to proceed through the "tiers" of titans evenly across the world before making it to the boss.

Hubs: Slateport, Lilycove.

Self explanatory, these would be the hub towns. Like in PLA, no other cities would be founded yet. Mt. Pyre would be integrated as part of Lilycove, and important characters and exposition could happen there. It would be an active cathedral. Kyogre and Groudon wouldn't be "known", but vague, amorphous titans of earth, sea, and sky would be referenced.

Land Regions

Meteor Cliffs and the Tranquil Plain

A gentle, grassy plain south of Mt. Chimney gives way to its southern slope. The slope, pockmarked with craters, has not been extensively explored, but is thought to hold deep caverns.

Regional effect: Pyschic Terrain

Regional Titan boss: Metagross (Steel/Pyschic)

Main game route equivalents: Meteor Falls, Rustboro City, Petalburg Woods, Petalburg City, Oldale Town, Littleroot town, 101, 102, 103, 104, 116, 115

Towering Forest

A deep, lush forest, sometimes so dense that you can't see the sky, fed by the crystal clear river cutting through it. The tangle of the canopy shudders under the weight of unseen pokemon above.

Regional effect: Grassy Terrain

Regional Titan boss: Tropius (Grass/Steel)

Main game route equivalents: Fortree city, Safari Zone, 119, 120, 121, 123

Jagged Stones

Deep, rugged canyons hide a basin-like desert, where a raging sandstorm elicits mirage-like visions.

Regional effect: sandstorm

Regional Titan boss: Tyranitar (Rock/Dragon)

Main game route equivalents: Verdanturf town, 117, 111, 112, all desert subregions

Volcanic Slopes

The peaks, caverns, and North slope of Mt. Chimney know no peace from the continuous onslaught of lava.

Regional effect: harsh sunlight

Regional Titan boss: Camerupt (Fire/Ground)

Main game route equivalents: Mt. Chimney, Jagged Pass, Fiery Path, Lavaridge, Fallarbor, 113, 114

Oceanic regions

Thunder Bay

An unrelenting, static haze hovers over the inlets of of Thunder Bay, impeding exploration of its deep subterranean caverns.

Regional effect: electric terrain

Regional Titan boss: Manectric (Electric/Dark)

Main game route equivalents: Mauville, New Mauville (replaced by a cave entrance), Cycling Road, 118, 110, 134, 133

Shifting Floes

A chill falls over the NorthEast seas of Hoenn, a climatic anomaly. Scattered islands and shifting ice platforms are continually coated with a snowstorm.

Regional effect: snowstorm

Regional Titan boss: Froslass (ice/ghost)

Main game region equivalents: Mossdeep, Shoal cave, 124, 125, parts of 126 and 127

Misted islands

A mysterious area of the ocean in which islands seem to shift locations as they phase in and out of sight.

Primary Area effect: Misty Terrain

Regional Titan Boss: Altaria (Dragon/fairy)

Main game route equivalents: Dewford Town, Granite Cave, Southern Island, Mirage Island (location changed), 105, 106, 107, 108, 109

Deep Blue

The open expanse of the ocean, and the islands within it, hold secrets beyond comprehension in their depths and constant storms. It is said that there is as much below as there is above.

Primary Area effect: rain/underwater (same effects as rain)

Regional Titan Boss: Wailord (water)

Main game route equivalents: Sootopolis city, Cave of Origin, Sky Pillar, Ever Grande City, Pacifidlog, Seafloor cavern, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, parts of 126 and 127

Special Area: the Delta Stream

Ripping across Hoenn's skies is an air current known as the Delta Stream, which powerful pokemon use as a causeway between regions and across the world.

Only accessible in the postgame, and with a "helper" pokemon that can fly. This entire region is above the clouds, and the only points that poke up are the peak of Mt. Chimney, Sky Pillar, and an updraft over Mt. Pyre.

Primary area effect: tailwind

Regional Titan Boss: Salamence (Flying/Dragon)

The Endgame Plot: after the titans are quieted

Once every boss has been defeated, the endgame storyline starts. Despite every titan being quieted, the land still quakes, and the seas still swell. The elders of Mt. Pyre urge you to investigate these at their source: the inner lava chamber of Mt. Chimney (subregion of Volcanic Slopes), and the depths of the seafloor (subregion of Deep Blue).

As you can probably guess, this is the introduction to Kyogre and Groudon.

The first fight with each of them uses your own pokemon, and gives you a "false" win- after you "faint" them in a suspiciously easy battle, they each revive into their primal forms, and head to the mountain island that would become Sootopolis. Hear, they battle on a kaiju-like scale. The MC watches the destruction from Mt. Pyre.

For the second time in the game's story, the MC makes a wish: this is beyond me. I wish a savior would come. Jirachi directly unveils itself for the first time to answer the call, touches the MC, and speeds off into the distance. A cutscene follows Jirachi to Sky Pillar (only a raw, uncarved spike of rock at this point), where Rayquaza is seen coiled around the top. Jirachi leads Rayquaza into the upper atmosphere, where it undergoes a primal/mega evolution. It pivots, shooting down towards earth, building speed.

The player takes control of M-Rayquaza as it slams down to earth, staggering Kyogre and Groudon away from each other, and engages in a special fight where they have to defeat both of them.

After this, Kyogre, Groudon, and Rayquaza may each be found at Seafloor cavern, Mt. Chimney, and sky pillar respectively, and may be defeated and captured. But its highly implied that they only go along with this willingly, and will freely resume their duties as the lords of the land once the MC passes on.

After the plot is completed, steps and murals start being carved into Sky Pillar, allowing access to the Delta Stream.

The post game would allow for infinitely generating Titans, rematches with previously captured Boss Titans as "enrichment" for them, and general gameplay loop grinding for items to train pokemon.

Yay, okay, no ones gonna read this far but uh. Yeah. That's the general idea I had. Hope it made at least some sense LOL

#pokemon #pokemon idea #theorymon

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madd-nix · 10 months ago

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Battling on the Train to Reunion

Ingo and Emmet finally reunite after Ingo has come home from Hisui. But before Ingo reveals himself to his brother, he decides that it would be more fun to challenge him to a battle first. My first time writing out pokemon battling!

Also, I didn't intend to post this on the 2nd anniversary of Legends Arceus' release, but hey! It worked out well! I just wanna say again how much I love this game cuz it brought back my love for Pokemon and it gave me more blorbos to love and get attached to. Amazing game, and I hope we get to see more games like it in the future!

Words: 3,592

Rating: PG (maybe like one or two swear words)

The battle continued for a while. Emmet's opponent had thrown out an Alakazam, which hit Garbodor pretty hard with Psychic. Luckily, she stayed standing, but the man's Magnezone finally managed to take out Archeops with Thunder. Emmet then sent out Galvantula, who made sure to quickly take out the Alakazam. The man sent out a Tangrowth, but he soon had to recall Magnezone when Garbodor took it out with a Focus Blast. He sent out a Probopass, then together with Tangrowth, they took out Garbodor after a few good hits. Emmet finally sent out Eelektross, his trusty partner. Now he had two pokemon out on the field and just one still waiting to be released.

Ingo healed up his pokemon one last time after defeating the last 20 depot agents. He knew the next car was the last one, where the lone Subway Boss was waiting for him.

Emmet, his twin brother. He was a little anxious about seeing him again, feeling a mix of nerves and excitement after having been gone for over five years. But now, here he was, back in modern Unova after being stuck in Hisui for so long.

With a sigh, he pocketed his pokeballs and adjusted the face mask he was wearing. He hadn't wanted to get recognized just yet, so he decided on wearing a mask to conceal the lower half of his face, a plain black squirtleneck shirt, black pants, brown boots, and a light gray trench coat. Meanwhile, his Subway Boss hat and coat were packed away safely, waiting to be worn again and probably repaired later. But for now, he just wanted to challenge the Doubles Line on the Battle Subway to surprise his brother.

After taking another moment to compose himself, Ingo stepped through the doorway to the final car. Emmet stood there, waiting patiently for him. His brother studied his appearance, but there was no sense of recognition in his eyes. Instead, he simply stood tall with a smile on his face and tipped his hat politely.

"I am Emmet. I am the Subway Boss. I like double battles. I like combinations of two pokemon. I like a challenge. You have come here verrry quickly. I am eager to see whether you will leave victorious or defeated. But I will not go easy on you. I like winning more than anything else. So, let's start a great battle in which every pokemon uses various moves."

Ingo nodded slowly, recognizing his brother's usual script. He had added in a few details, since apparently Ingo's battling proficiency had impressed Emmet enough to comment on it.

With that, Emmet threw out Archeops and Klinklang. Ingo took note, then took two pokeballs out of his pocket. He threw them and released Machamp and Magnezone. As soon as he caught and pocketed the now empty pokeballs, he positioned himself, ready to move.

"Archeops, use Aerial Ace on Machamp! Klinklang, Giga Impact on Magnezone!" Emmet called out.

"Both of you, dodge!" Ingo exclaimed.

Archeops flew up and then dove down towards Machamp, who luckily dodged the attack. Klinklang's Giga Impact was much harder to avoid, resulting in Magnezone taking the hit and forcing Ingo to dodge and roll out of the way.

"Sir, I must advise you to stay behind the yellow line," Emmet said as he watched Ingo.

"Ah, my apologies! I must have just grown used to battling more closely with my pokemon," Ingo replied. "I promise I am following the proper safety procedures." Emmet looked at him for a moment, but said nothing. Ingo had initially wondered if his voice would give him away, but his volume and vocal control had certainly changed while in Hisui. He could now keep better control of how loud he was, a skill that became necessary when needing to be quiet and hide from wild pokemon. This change must be what was preventing Emmet or any of the depot agents from recognizing him. That, and his change of appearance.

Finally, with a nod from Emmet, the former warden took his opportunity to attack.

"Machamp, Fire Punch agile style on Klinklang, followed by Close Combat! Magnezone, Flash Cannon on Archeops!" Ingo commanded.

Emmet opened his mouth, presumably to question what agile style was, or maybe to ask why he was giving Machamp two moves to use in one turn, but before he could, Machamp was already moving. Machamp swiftly punched Klinklang with a flaming fist, then immediately started using Close Combat and rapidly punched her opponent. Klinklang floated back, its gears rotating irritably.

As Machamp pulled back, Magnezone finally released the power it had been building up on Archeops. The poor fossil pokemon squawked as it took the hit, not fast enough to dodge.

"Verrrry interesting battle technique. I would like to know more about that later. But first," Emmet smirked as he pointed at his opponent, "Archeops, Rock Slide on Magnezone! Klinklang, Gear Grind on Machamp!"

Before Ingo could say anything, Emmet's pokemon flew in to attack. Archeops sent an avalanche of rocks at Magnezone, coming close enough to force Ingo to again dodge out of the way, and Klinklang sent two gears out to hit and grind against Machamp. Both of his pokemon took the hits, but they weren't down yet.

"Magnezone, Tri Attack strong style on Archeops!" Ingo exclaimed. "Machamp, another Fire Punch on Klinklang, strong style!"

Both pokemon prepared their attacks. Magnezone sent out three blasts of energy at Archeops while Machamp sent out another Fire Punch, now stronger than the last attack. Archeops managed to survive the hit, but unfortunately for Emmet, Klinklang fainted. He recalled his pokemon.

"Verrry good job, Klinklang. You did well," he said to the steel type in the pokeball. Emmet then pocketed Klinklang's pokeball and took out a new one. He released Garbodor, which Ingo recognized after a moment.

Garbodor had been one of his pokemon. She was incredibly sweet and could be shy at times, but she always gave it her all in battle. It was good to see that his brother was taking good care of his pokemon in his absence.

As much as he wanted to hug his old pokemon, Ingo had a battle to finish. And with his pokemon still recovering their energy from the last two strong style moves, Emmet was able to take his turn again.

"Archeops, use Protect! Garbodor, use Psychic on Machamp!"

Archeops put up an invisible barrier to protect himself, while Garbodor focused her energy on blasting Machamp. Machamp took the hit even as Ingo called out to dodge the attack. This ended up causing Machamp to faint. Ingo recalled her to her pokeball.

"Bravo, Machamp! You did wonderfully," he told her. He then pocketed the pokeball and got ready to toss out his next pokemon.

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

As the battle went on, Emmet couldn't help but study his opponent. His actions, his pokemon, even his voice and appearance. He was using some strange battle technique involving "strong" and "agile" style moves. From what Emmet could see, that meant that his pokemon either attacked with all their strength, forcing them to take a turn to regain their energy, or they were able to attack quickly with little strength to allow them to attack again right after. It was an interesting strategy, and Emmet hoped to ask him more about it after the battle.

He had also noticed that while the man appeared to be older - only based on his slouch, the bags under his eyes, and the receding hairline since he couldn't see the rest of his face - he was quite fit and agile. He kept close to his pokemon, which was something Emmet got tired of reminding him not to do, but every time an attack came his way, he was able to dodge it. It was pretty impressive and fascinating to watch.

However, even though he was incredibly different and a complete stranger, Emmet couldn't help but feel something familiar about the man. His voice wasn't terribly loud, except to call out attacks for his pokemon. But even then, he wasn't a booming loud like someone Emmet knew. His eyes were a bright gray, reminding Emmet of his own gray eyes, and even though the man's hair was pulled back into a long ponytail, the gray color was also familiar. Little details about the man's vocabulary and way of speaking also tipped Emmet off, but he had to remind himself that these could all be coincidences. He wouldn't get his hopes up now, especially after nothing had been found for over five years.

Eventually, Eelektross managed to take down Tangrowth, leaving the man to release his final pokemon. He tossed out his last pokeball - which Emmet had already noticed that all of his pokeballs looked old and handmade - releasing a Gliscor. A ground and flying dual type. Emmet nodded as he waited for the man to attack.

"Alright, that Galvantula should only take a few more hits," the man thought aloud. "Probopass, use Power Gem, and Gliscor, use Aerial Ace!"

Probopass powered up a sparkling blast, then shot it at Galvantula. Gliscor then followed by dive bombing the bug type from the air, hitting her and sending her flying back. Emmet turned as his pokemon hit the wall behind him. Galvantula was out. He recalled her to her pokeball.

"You did verrrry well, Galvantula. Get some rest," he told her. He pocketed her pokeball and took out the last pokemon he had.

"I see we are both down to our final two pokemon," Emmet said to his opponent. "You are putting up a verrrrry good fight. But like I said, I like winning more than anything else. We are not done yet."

He tossed out the pokeball and released Chandelure. She trilled excitedly, then looked at the man across the train car. She froze, her flames flared, and then she immediately moved to fly over to him. Emmet reached out to try and stop her, but she was too quick. She flew right into the man's chest, nuzzling her face against him. Now, normally, most people would be surprised or shocked or even startled by this. But once the man had seen what she was doing, he had welcomed her and wrapped his arms around her glass bowl. Emmet could faintly hear the man's voice, but he was speaking quietly to her, and with the distance between them and the clacking sound of the train moving, Emmet couldn't make out what he was saying. Chandelure just trilled happily, and after he pat her glass once more, she floated back to Emmet.

"I am verrry sorry for Chandelure," Emmet apologized with a tip of his hat. "She is not normally like this."

"It's alright, she meant no harm," the man said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "She is a very sweet pokemon, and I'm excited to see how she does in battle!"

Emmet nodded, adjusted his hat, then pointed towards his opponent.

"Chandelure, Will-O-Wisp on Probopass! Eelektross, Thunderbolt on Gliscor!"

Both pokemon sent out their attacks, with purple flames and electricity shooting across the train car. The man rolled back to avoid the hit, but his pokemon weren't so lucky. Probopass and Gliscor both took the hits, but they still stayed floating in the air. They were hurt, but ready to attack.

"Probopass, Earth Power on Eelektross, agile style! Then go for Flash Cannon! Gliscor, Stone Edge on Chandelure, strong style!" The man commanded as he pointed towards Emmet's team.

Probopass glowed as it created a crack in the flooring. Luckily, the cars of the Battle Subway were built to be reinforced, able to take attacks of any type without sustaining damage. This crack would simply need welded down later at best. The crack continued on towards Eelektross, then dirt and ground formed and shot up from the floor, hitting the eel pokemon. It didn't do much damage, but Probopass quickly changed tracks to shoot a powerful beam at Eelektross, sending Emmet's partner back a bit. He still stayed up though, and Emmet flashed a proud smile to his pokemon.

Meanwhile, Gliscor stabbed both of his claws into the floor, creating huge rocks. The rocks shot up all the way towards Chandelure, hitting her and sending her spinning. She quickly steadied herself, but it was clear that she had been badly hurt. She was still determined though.

"Okay, Chandelure, use Overheat on Probopass! Eelektross, use Discharge!"

Chandelure and Eelektross did as they were told. Chandelure sent a fiery blast at Probopass, dealing a good bit of damage. Eelektross then sent out an electric wave, hitting every pokemon in the car, and also causing the hairs on Emmet's neck and arms to stand up, as well as the man's ponytail to frizz out a bit. Gliscor and Probopass both took the hit, and while Chandelure was hit too, she at least shook it off fairly well.

"Gliscor, Aerial Ace on Eelektross! Probopass, Power Gem strong style on Chandelure!"

"Dodge it!"

Chandelure managed to dodge the blast from Probopass, but Gliscor's Aerial Ace unfortunately hit Eelektross. He was still able to fight, but Emmet knew it wouldn't be for too long. He had to end this.

"Eelektross, Thunderbolt again on Gliscor! Chandelure, another Will-O-Wisp on Probopass!"

"Dodge!"

Probopass was able to dodge the attack, but Gliscor wasn't so lucky. It seemed like all of their pokemon were getting close to fainting. This was going to be a close battle.

"Let's finish this!" The man exclaimed. "Gliscor, Earth Power strong style on Eelektross! Probopass, another Power Gem strong style on Chandelure!"

Both pokemon readied their attacks.

"Dodge it!"

But it was too late. The ground came up and hit Eelektross, and the sparkling blast flew across the train car to hit Chandelure. Emmet had to shield his eyes from the bright blast, but once he opened them, he saw both of his pokemon were fainted on the floor. He had lost.

He recalled Eelektross and Chandelure, then held their pokeballs close to himself.

"You both did great. We came verrrry close. You and the rest of the team have earned some treats tonight."

Emmet pocketed the pokeballs and turned to look at his opponent. The man had recalled his pokemon and was quietly talking to them, presumably to congratulate them on their win. Emmet walked across the car to face him.

"I am Emmet. I lost against you. Because you are the strongest trainer I've fought lately. Yup! You put up a verrrrry fun challenge. I hope you will ride the trains some more."

Emmet then stuck out his hand to properly congratulate his opponent. The man shook his hand, then chuckled a little.

"That was a great battle, Emmet! I forgot how fun it was to battle you! Now, remind me, how many wins is that for me now?"

Before Emmet could even think of a response, the man pulled down his face mask. Emmet's eyes widened as he looked back at a face that almost exactly mirrored his own. Ingo. His brother Ingo. His twin brother Ingo had just beaten him in a doubles battle and was now smiling back at him and shaking his hand.

"Ingo?!" Emmet immediately let go of his hand and pulled his brother into a hug. Ingo just laughed and hugged him back, harder than Emmet had ever thought was possible from his twin. There was a mix of laughing and crying from both of them as Emmet tried to make sense of what was happening.

"Ingo, i-is it... is it really you?" Emmet pulled away just enough to look at his brother.

He looked older, but that was mostly just around the eyes. Ingo had some wrinkles and eye bags, but it wasn't like Emmet could say that he himself didn't have the same wrinkles and heavy eye bags. After many sleepless nights and years spent worrying over his brother's whereabouts, he knew he had aged quite a bit. Along with that, Ingo's normal frown was pulled up a bit into a smile. It was a small, warm smile, but coming from Ingo, that was the biggest smile he had ever seen. His brother also had a short pointed goatee, which Emmet had to laugh at. It almost matched his own goatee, which was shorter and pointed more up towards his mouth. Even while separated, they still found ways to match. However, the receding hairline had certainly caught Emmet off guard, along with how long his brother's hair had grown. Sure, Emmet's hair was starting to thin, but not that drastically, and he still managed to keep his hair cut short. Where had his brother been, and what had he been up to?

"It's really me, Emmet, I promise," Ingo said, answering his earlier question. He sniffled, and even though he was crying with tears staining his cheeks, Ingo instead wiped at his brother's eyes. The affectionate gesture just brought more tears for Emmet.

"You... you're really home," Emmet cried. "You're alive and back home."

"Yeah, I'm alive and here," Ingo said. When had his voice become so quiet? "And I'm so incredibly happy to see you."

Emmet pulled Ingo into another tight squeeze. After a moment, he realized something and pulled away again.

"I am Emmet. You battled me before telling me you were here!" he exclaimed. "And what's with the mask and the disguise?"

Ingo laughed and patted his brother's shoulder.

"Haha, I wanted to see how you'd react!" Ingo said between laughs. "I thought it would be fun to surprise you!"

"You are so mean!" Emmet punched Ingo in the shoulder, but he wasn't actually mad. Sure, he was a little pissed off that Ingo had made him go through a whole battle without telling him who he was, but he also had to admit that it was a little funny. "You are so mean to me! My own brother! Battling me and beating me before telling me you are back! The worst brother ever!"

Ingo just laughed more, then raised a hand to his chest in mock hurt and shock as he gasped dramatically.

"Emmet! How could you say such a thing! My own brother!" His voice played up the mock hurt, but his eyes were upturned in the way that let Emmet know he was really smiling.

"Yup! I am deeply hurt, Ingo. Verrrry hurt! Disguising yourself from me."

"It was just a joke, brother! I meant no harm!"

"Verrrry mean to your poor, sweet twin brother. I am Emmet. I will never recover."

"Nooo!" Ingo lifted his arms dramatically, which just caused Emmet to laugh. They both fell into another laughing fit and hugged each other.

"...I am Emmet. I have missed this. I missed you verrrrrry much, Ingo. I am so glad you are back," Emmet said once they were calmed down. He rested his head on his brother's shoulder, and Ingo responded by gently rubbing Emmet's back.

"I missed you too, Emmet," Ingo said, his voice once again uncharacteristically soft. "Although, I must admit that my amnesia prevented me from fully remembering you for quite a while."

Emmet pulled away a little at that.

"Amnesia?"

"I'm okay, I promise," Ingo assured him. "But it's a long story. The short version is that I had sustained a head injury, resulting in amnesia. I couldn't remember much aside from my name. But I could eventually vaguely remember a man that looked like me. That was all I knew for a while, other than the fact that I knew he was someone close to me that I missed deeply. But I had some help, and I've been able to remember you and our home here in Unova, and our pokemon. I will need assistance remembering more, so, I hope you'll help conduct me back onto the right tracks."

"Of course," Emmet held his twin close. "Of course I will help you. I am Emmet. You are Ingo. We are a two car train again. I will help you in any way I can."

"Thank you, Emmet," Ingo said as he buried his face in Emmet's shoulder again. Emmet hugged him close for a while longer. If he could, he would just stay like this forever.

However, the train eventually had to pull back into Gear Station. Ingo pulled his mask back up, saying how he didn't want to cause a huge fuss with his reappearance just yet. Emmet understood that, and together, they stepped off of the train. Emmet then made a call over his radio to the depot agents, saying he would be taking the rest of the day off, citing that something with his family had come up. As they walked out of the station, Ingo suddenly perked up.

"Oh! There are two people that I'd like you to meet," he said excitedly as he pulled out a phone. He eagerly began sending a text to a group chat. Emmet peeked over at his brother's phone and saw the names Dawn and Johanna.

"Who are Dawn and Johanna?" he asked.

"The people I'd like you to meet!" Ingo explained excitedly. "Dawn is a wonderful young girl with incredible battling skills! She is actually the one who helped me get home. As for Johanna, she is Dawn's mother. She's an incredibly kind and strong woman, and she's actually a talented contest coordinator from Sinnoh! She is, um, also my girlfriend."

Even with the mask on, Emmet could tell that his brother was blushing. Emmet's jaw hung open slightly.

"You have a girlfriend?!"

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