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manchasama · 2 years

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So the other thing I was thinking about as I was rolling sushi was a Your Name spin on the Arceus situation. Ingo and Emmet swapping bodies didn’t jive with me for the Your Name setting, but I couldn’t think of anything better. Until! I had a thought of Emmet and Akari swapping bodies, minus the romance.

So you have this swap start happening shortly after Akari arrives in Hisui. In this AU, she really is brand new to the world and doesn’t know anything about Pokemon. Still, she does have a knack for dealing with pokemon, and managed joined the survey corps. Knack or not though, she’s still inexperienced. Actual field work? Difficult.

Maybe it’s less that she doesn’t know, and more that she is too afraid? Not quite sure how to characterize it yet, maybe it will come to me as I write it out.

So the first time the swap happens, it’s as chaotic as you’d imagine. Akari is shocked and horrified to be in a guy’s body, in a strange place, with all these strange pokemon around. People are telling her she’s supposed to be at a job, and she has no idea how to run a train! Or how to run a station! The Depot agents are confused at how oddly their boss is acting, but just chalk it up to an weird mood and work around “him”.

She is stressed out and running around like a mad woman, but the shining moment is when she’s put on the doubles train and gets to battle. Sure, they’re not her pokemon, and they don’t sync that well, but at least she knows how to do this much! Probably loses more than she wins (they are well trained enough to be able to fight somewhat on their own), but she is much more comfortable with this duty than anything else.

(Some of Emmet and Ingo’s pokemon probably realize that this is not Emmet, but part of the charm of Your Name is that no one cottons on. Even if they do, they can tell when they battle with her that her intentions aren’t bad.)

Meanwhile Emmet is having a Time Of It. He has no idea why he woke up in this extremely rural town, full off suspicious people, in the wrong body, without a single pokemon trainer in sight. But people tell him what he’s supposed to be doing, and lacking literally anything else to go on, he heads out to do as tasked. Starts researching the local pokemon, training his(??) team, etc. These things at least are familiar and comforting, even if they are not his. He’s probably the one who thinks this is a dream for most of the first swap.

They swap back, those around them express their confusion at how oddly they acted, but nothing comes of it. Then the next swap happens, and they start to cotton on what is going on.

Cue rising irritation as Emmet tries to order Akari to not ruin his reputation you can’t go to work in sweatpants and a t-shirt!! While Akari argues back that she doesn’t want to look at his gross old man body any more than she has to! (“I am not old!!” “Your hair is white!” “It’s natural!” “Whatever you say old man.”). Really this is an excuse for Akari to not look in mirrors, other than that first swap. (Originally thought she’d meet Ingo but not recognize him. Sorta dropped that but leaving this here anyway.) She does NOT like being in another body. Emmet cares less, it’s just a body he’s using until he can get back to his own.

Also cue Emmet trying to teach this accident prone girl how to deal with wild feral pokemon, because she has zero sense of self preservation otherwise. Honestly, this would be more of an Emmet mentoring Akari through copious notes, while she tries to meddle in his life a bit.

I did have a thought she tries to hook him up with Elesa, with disastrous (for her) results. She honestly likes Elesa, loves hanging out with her, but it’s soured a bit by having to pretend to be Emmet. Elesa isn’t actually fooled, also Emmet had confided in her what was going on, so she’s happy enough to allow the ruse. But then Akari tries to “hit” on Elesa for Emmet, to set up a date, and Elesa just. She just laughs, covering her face. She can’t do it any more.

“If you want to pretend to be Emmet, at least try not to hit on family members, hm?”

Akari’s horror at being caught out is only surpassed by her horror that she was hitting on Emmet’s sister. It doesn’t really help to find out it’s not a blood relationship either lol. The fact that he is aro/ace probably comes up too. Emmet writes a verrrrrrry long rant at her for that stunt, and forbids her from ever doing anything with his love life ever again. It’s the one rule of his that Akari follows without protest.

Still, as the plot of Arceus unfolds, Akari is forced to confront the frenzied nobles. Emmet is aware of the problem, but he isn’t around when she is set to fight them, and only knows the before and aftermath. It worries him, and he realizes there’s something big going on here. He guides her as best he can, leaving her tips and tricks and knowledge she wouldn't have otherwise, smoothing the way for her.

One day, Akari swaps with Emmet, and is surprised when a very somber looking Elesa comes to his apartment. As soon as she realizes it’s not Emmet, Elesa looks even worse. She wishes Akari hadn’t swapped on this day, of all others. When Akari asks why, Elesa explains it’s the anniversary of Emmet’s brother’s disappearance. She always keeps him company, and now he has to deal with it alone, somewhere else.

Akari feels bad, but she hadn’t realized that Emmet even had a brother. (He has perhaps taken down the photos, maybe even the mirrors, to stop reminding himself.) She asks a bit about it, and Elesa tells her about the Subway Masters, how close they were, how long it’s been. How much they all miss Ingo.

Emmet wakes up one morning as Akari, the heavy feeling in his chest no different than it would have been if he'd been in his own body. This at least was a distraction. He wouldn't have to face the sympathetic words and grief of others. Here he can just focus on pokemon, on cataloging them, on training them, on the next steps Akari needs to overcome. He steps outside Akari's house, ready to head into the wilderness. Only to be greeted by the sight of his lost brother, who bids “her” a good morning. Before he can do more than mouth Ingo’s name, he's jerking forward in his own body, gasping for breaths that will not come.

Hands are supporting him, a voice is in his ears, but he can't understand anything over the roaring in his head. That had been Ingo, it had. It had! He was there, in that strange land!

He become aware of Elesa's voice, trying to walk him through breathing exercises as if he's having a panic attack. He probably is. But this news was too important!

He does manage to get across to her that a) he is Emmet and b) he saw Ingo. Once the elation winds down, they are so so hopeful that the next time Emmet and Akari swap, Emmet will be able to talk to his brother. That they can find out what happened, why he hasn't tries to contact them, if he's okay. They wait.

And wait.

But Emmet never swaps with Akari again.

It's devastating. Something that had been happening fairly regularly just stopped as abruptly as it started. That wouldn't stop them, however. Together they put their heads together to research what they can cobble together from Emmets shameful lack of details. He hadn't bothered trying to find out more about where Akari was. It hadn't mattered at the time. Now all they had was a few key names, and Emmet's knowledge of the geography of the area.

They do eventually narrow it down to Sinnoh, but they still don't quite realize that it's the past. Perhaps it was poorly recorded, or perhaps Emmet never bothered to learn the name of the land. Emmet sets out immediately for the area, trying to find anything familiar. (He does, but it's wrong. There's too many people, too many buildings. Even if the geography sparks memories, he can't believe it's the same place. So he keeps looking.)

I think eventually they run across proof that Hisui is the past, and maybe even that Ingo was there, or even died there. (In Your Name, the past was changed, so why not!) It's devastating all over again.

On Akari's side, she is abruptly back in her own body, staring at the retreating back of a man with a mildly familiar coat. It probably takes to the second meeting for her to put the pieces together that this is Ingo. Maybe she thinks it's an ancestor at first, until he starts talking about the man in white etc. Either way, she decides to do one selfless thing for Emmet, who's helped her so much up until now, and help jog Ingo's memory.

He is surprised by her news of course. The body swap thing is odd, but not the strangest thing to come across. He is more interested in her stories about Emmet, about life in Nimbasa, in all the people she met over there. They spark recognition, memories bubbling to the surface, only to submerge again shortly after. It helps, but he still can't really remember. It's fine, she assures him. The next time she swaps with Emmet, they can talk face to face. Well, sort of.

Only she never swaps. She's forced to confront Electrode on her own, and she hadn't quite realized just how much of an edge Emmet's guidance had been giving her. She manages it, but is shaken (and probably injured). It's a blow to her confidence. Ingo steps up and takes on the role to guide and help her, which she appreciates. It buoys her through quelling the rest of the nobles. He's there for her when she is banished, taking a more hands on approach than in canon. Still, part of her believes she can't manage this on her own. She needs their help, she needs the red chain, the origin ball, all these crutches are the reason why she won, not her.

The climax would take place around the fight with Volo. As things stand, Akari would die against Volo, and Ingo as well (he would be there because of his closer involvement with mentoring Akari). Akari doesn't believe in herself, and that lack of confidence is what allows Volo to get the killing blow.

On the other side, Emmet and Elesa have unearthed some old tradition or fairy tale, about meeting your loved ones at the Temple of Sinnoh.

I've lost a bit of what I was thinking at this point, so the ending will have to be filled in later. What i did have was a scene of them at the temple at that twilight moment. Where Emmet and Ingo get to see each other, where Ingo remembers. Where Emmet and Akari get to meet properly. What they discuss, what happens? Unknown. But as the twilight moment ends, as the memories burn so bright they could never be lost, Akari has a duty to fulfill. Ingo is full of a deep happiness, how could he ever have forgotten—

Forgotten…

The memories are slipping away again, as if in a dream. Even Akari can't remember, as she rushes to confront Volo, exactly who she's doing this for. On the other side, Emmet is baffled as to why he's in Sinnoh of all places. What was he doing there?

The full conclusion is Akari and Ingo fight tooth and nail to get back, probably by Arceus' grace and all. Also the memories return when they reunite for real, because that was one thing I think was sad about Your Name. They should have gotten those precious memories back.

Anywho I'm tired and also I've lost the thread of this idea. I will just…put it here for now lol.

#fun times ahead #pokemon #submas #pokemon writing #a take on the your name genre lol #i have forgotten how to tag anything #petered off a the end apologies but #running on mental fumes #maybe i will come back to this #and try to flesh it out a bit more #i need to do things that occupy my hands and let my mind wander #to come up with ideas and scenes #hilariously what sparked it was another song that just reminded me of a song from Your Name #go figure #there are a few different ways this could go so maybe ill change things up #we shall see where the daydreaming gets us

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