#Ingo as Noble 6
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Emmet wasn’t an optimist. He never had been, really. When one grew up as a weapons experiment there was no room for optimism. There was only room for growth, for training, for getting stronger and faster and becoming better than everyone else. There was only room for survival. Survival, and Ingo.
Twins. They’d been together from the start. When the military had come to their planet too late they had found few survivors. Towns had been destroyed, cities had been leveled, and Emmet had Ingo and they both had a feral, ferocious instinct to survive. They had been taken in, kicking and screaming all the way, Ingo’s bellows extraordinarily loud even at the tender age of seven. Emmet bit and Ingo yelled and the scientists had poked them with fingers and pens and needles and said, twins? Incredible! Not a common find, not at all. We can do baseline tests, see how similar they are, we can see how they take to the program, if there are any physical differences… amazing! and then Emmet had kicked one of their expensive-looking screens and Ingo had screamed until someone’s ears bled and they stopped poking the boys.
Ingo was his priority. Emmet was Ingo’s. They went together or not at all. Their teamwork was extraordinary, able to communicate in looks and minor movements. Other Spartan-IIIs were strong and fast and capable, but none were the twins. None were the Twins. They were not just Ingo and Emmet but IngoAndEmmet. Where one went, so did the other. The top of the class, relying on each other to keep themselves safe and in one piece. When the other candidates made friends and cliques and then argued and fought, Ingo and Emmet watched them with solemn eyes.
Everyone was traumatized. Very few had been traumatized together.
They met Elesa in Camp Currahee. They played war. Not war games, because they all knew better than to pretend it was a game, but these battles were not life or death and so they were play. Elesa had been assigned to their team with two other candidates, her head high and her eyes fierce. Her hair had been cut short back then but her eyes remained electric. She listened as the twins laid out their plan of attack and then cut them down, pointing out the flaws and openings they’d left. When Emmet began to argue that some gaps meant the other team would be drawn into an ambush Elesa argued back that it would only be an ambush if they planned for it. Ingo watched them from Emmet’s side, his gaze darting between them as their voices raised. Arguing was not uncommon, not among children who had each been torn from their families by war. The twins had been in their fair share of fist fights and scraps over food, over sleeping arrangements, over who was right in an exercise, over who had drawn blood first. Ingo didn’t remember seeing anyone go toe-to-toe with his twin over a plan he made.
She helped them win that simulation. Ingo could go with the flow, could read Emmet’s movements and adjust, but she acted as determined translator. She demanded Emmet explain, give her a reason, give her backup information in case the first plan went to shit. When the simulation ended she approached them with a wry smile.
“You’re not too bad,” she said, “you know. For boys.”
They never managed to lose her.
They lost many others after Alpha Company was established. Not on their first missions, no. The Alpha Company was the most capable the Spartans had ever been, the most vicious and determined they could get. Each of them was a child of loss, of remembrance, of vengeance. They ran into battle silent and screaming, cutting down rows of Covenant soldiers without a backwards glance. They fought alongside each other, kept backs safe, made sure no one was left behind. Friendships grew between the Alpha Company. Ingo and Emmet found themselves extending their hands with guarded hearts. They met Iris and Dawn, younger than them, recruited after them, more exuberant in their down time when they could hide haunted and tired eyes behind games and laughter. The twins and Elesa found themselves drawn to the girls' youth, to their determination to still live lives instead of only being soldiers. They met Flannery, with red hair and a fiery temper who would haul anyone over her shoulder with ease despite her slight frame, and Cilan, who cooked in his spare time and asked for their opinions; they found friends to spar with and find relaxation with. Their little family grew.
And then it was almost destroyed in one fell swoop.
Ingo and Emmet had protested when they had been told they would not be joining their crew on Operation: PROMETHEUS. Elesa had argued as well, that the rest of their team was going, that they should also be joining them. They were ignored. They were not an official team, only a semi-familial unit calling themselves a team. The trio watched as Iris and Dawn suited up, joking about how they were taller than the twins in their armor. They joined Cilan and Flannery, the girls at their side, on the way to the ships. They chatted about the mission. Everything was normal. They just weren’t going this time. They waved goodbye, said give ‘em hell kids, said bring us back a souvenir.
The 300 Spartan-IIIs landed on K7-49 with no issue. Reactors were destroyed with ease. Each one sent a cheer up through the ship Ingo, Emmet, and Elesa were on. They smiled but did not join in, not while the rest of their family was away. Two days later things grew somber, began to grow tense. The Covenant would not take the destruction of their shipyard laying down. No Spartans were lost but there were injuries. They relax when the Covenant's counterforce is destroyed, begin to cheer when once again reactor after reactor is rendered obsolete. And then there was the call. Not a distress call, because Spartans were never distressed, but a call to say no one would be coming home. Their evacuation route had been cut off, overrun. They would fight for their lives but there was no guarantee anyone would escape.
And no one did.
It wasn’t their first loss. Others had died in the beginning, when they had first begun to receive augmentations. Someone would go to the lab and they would not return. Ever. It was a fact of life. People died and did not come back. Every Spartan-III knew this. It was why they were Spartan-IIIs, after all, because loss had driven them to fight. But this was not the beginning, and these were not strange bunkmates who side-eyed you after dinner, wondering if you’d hidden food down your shirt for later. These were their companions, their cohorts, their friends. These were the people they had trained with for years, had built a report with, had built a relationship and something resembling the family they’d all lost so long ago.
They didn’t cry. They couldn’t. This was the job. This was the life.
What a victory.
What a defeat.
What a waste.
And yet life continued.
Ingo and Emmet and Elesa did not stop. They could not. They were, quite literally, built to not stop. They drifted apart and fell together again. Elesa would be removed from their crew, because the Twins were never, not ever, separated. She would go and be a lone wolf and then she would come back. Emmet and Ingo would fight alongside the ODST and the marines when needed, charging at the Covenant with no tears in their eyes but the echoes of their friends in their heads.
For years it was so. So many years. They had forgotten, eventually, what it was like to kick and scream and fight a separation. Nobody tried and so they let their frantic determination dull. They began to find ways to entertain themselves without the other. Their cooperation in battle remained solid, sturdy, unbreakable and unshakeable. But in their off time they began to drift. Ingo would go and stare out at space, at the stars, lost in thought and silent. Emmet would go and spar, training, letting out his emotions against others. They had to do better or else they would all die.
And then Ingo got sent out alone. He came to Emmet one day, pale and shaken. Confessed that he was being given an assignment. Being given an assignment by himself. They sat together until he had to leave. Emmet paced until he returned, three days later. Emmet was given his own assignment a week later. His own. By Himself. He waited until last minute to tell Ingo, and when he was dropped planet-side he went in with a vengeance. He went in guns-a-blazing. He went in hard because he wanted to get back to his twin as quickly as possible. He returned to Ingo the next day, grinning ferociously because nothing would keep them apart. They might get sent on different missions but they would never get separated. Never for good.
Or so he’d thought.
Because it turned out the single missions were the start. They grew longer. Ingo was gone for days, then weeks, then months. Emmet would be dispatched while Ingo was gone, would come back to the ship to find Ingo in their room as if he’d never left. Sometimes it was Emmet who was gone for long periods of time, wishing he had Ingo at his side when a Grunt would come up screaming with a sticky bomb strapped to its chest.
Maybe they should have fought like they were children again.
Eventually the unthinkable happened.
Ingo was assigned to Noble team on Reach after their sixth had been KIA'd.
Only Ingo.
“How long is it?” He asked his twin. “Six months?”
Ingo had looked at him. Had said nothing. Ingo never said nothing, not to Emmet.
“Eight months? A year?” Emmet continued. He began to feel frantic, flighty. This wasn’t right. This couldn’t be happening. Not to him. Not to them . They were IngoAndEmmet, they were the Twins, they worked best together.
“It’s a permanent assignment.”
And Ingo was gone. Down on Reach, by himself. Not quite by himself. There was Noble team. There was Carter and Cat and Jorge and Emile and Jun. But there was not Emmet. There was not even Elesa.
It was okay, barely. Just for a little while. Because Ingo would still contact him, would send messages, would describe his team. Jorge was very large but very gentle, like an elephant. Cat was sharp-witted and sharp-tongued, protecting herself by keeping others at bay. Carter was stern and kept them all together, kept them from fighting between themselves, because he had lost enough of his team and he wouldn’t allow dissension to break it down when death was on the line. It was okay because Reach was safe. There were no Covenant on Reach. Noble team existed to keep the inner colonies safe, to keep order. Never mind that they were replaced when one died.
Ingo wouldn’t die.
Except then the Covenant were on Reach. Ingo did not send him a message immediately. He found out after everyone else, after messaging Ingo, demanding to know why he had been quiet, why Emmet was being looked at with pity. Ingo admitted that the colonies, that Reach, was no longer free of their enemies. That they were engaged in battle with the Covenant. But it was small forces, Ingo reassured him, scouts. Easy to take out.
But then there were more. Ingo didn’t respond to messages as often. He didn’t have the time. Emmet heard it second, third, fourth, sixteenth hand that Jorge had sacrificed himself for the mission, had destroyed the cruiser only for so many more to show up. He hears that communications on Reach are down. He watches as the ship fills with refugees, people with glassy eyes that are lost, scratches on their faces. They whisper of the Elite, of the snipers, of hunters.
There is a small group of people, members of a militia, that had been saved by two Spartans against all odds. There are whispers that go through the ship of a Spartan in black armor who raced through New Alexandria to save civilians, ushering them to safety. There are tales of a Spartan with a sliver of silver on his helmet taking down three hunters on his own, saving the lives of the six marines who had been caught in the building with them. One refugee finds him, a book in their hands. They look nervous to be around Emmet. He understands though. Since there are more and more people around he had taken to wearing his armor at all times. They hand him the book silently, almost solemnly.
“He said,” they whisper, “that he wanted to apologize for not being able to contact you more.”
Emmet went still. He held the book carefully, gently.
“Where did you get this?” He asks in a trembling voice.
“It has been a journey. I was not the only carrier. We all knew it needed to make it to you.” The book is pushed closer to him. “Noble team is doing what they can… we offered to help carry their burdens, and Six requested this journal reach his twin. I hope whatever is inside brings you solace.”
They vanish in the crowd before he can ask anything more. Hours later Emmet stands in his room, door locked, staring at the book in his hands.
Miles and lives apart, Ingo still thinks of him, still communicates.
Emmet has not cried since their parents were shot down before them while he and Ingo hid in the house. He did not shed tears while his body was used as an experiment, as a toy, as augmentation after graft was placed upon him, in him. When he broke his leg in two places he was as stoic as a stone, his smile ever-present and vicious as he sent his fist through the skull the Elite that had driven into him and broken the limb. But this little book, a journal that Ingo had found the time to write in because he could not directly communicate with his brother so easily, was making emotions he hadn't felt in years, decades, rise up. There are little tidbits in the book. Notes on Reach, on the flora and fauna and people he has seen. There are sketches of Noble team, of the Gúta , even of the Covenant. Ingo had always found inspiration in all places.
What finally breaks Emmet is the mention of their old family. Ingo has hesitantly - Emmet can tell by the gaps between pen lines, the heaviness and depression of it left on the paper sheets - sketched their old friends. It’s clear he was uncertain in some way. Could he not remember their faces? Was he unsure if he should be sketching them at all? But there they are, anyway. Dawn and Iris, leaning against each other with smiles and such a joy in their eyes; expressions they'd never truly had, that he'd never been able to see. Cilan has a pan in hand and his tongue half stuck out of his mouth in determination. Flannery is standing on a cliff-side, watching the sun before her, shadows cast out behind her like flame, a content smile on her face. On the next page is a man Emmet doesn’t recognize, a face that is wide and kind. There are heavyset brows and a gentle grin that is almost hidden, his mouth almost stern. Underneath it is Ingo’s hurried chicken scratch. He said to make it count. We did. We tried. We will keep trying. There are dark drops on the next few pages- blood, because Ingo wouldn't let an injury stop him when he was determined. Emmet can tell these next sketches were made in a hurry, almost in desperation. A woman’s face with a scar across her eye, expression stern but there's a certain sharpness to her gaze. Another man’s face, looking into the distance pensively, posture relaxed though his hand is held in a fist. A helmet with a skull carved into it, the person it’s attached to looking at ease as they lean to one side, obscenely large knife resting across their knees. One more person, a rifle in their hand as they peer down the scope. Words are interspersed and infrequent. Names are not given- likely in case the book came into wrong hands.
On the last page are two faces that Emmet knows as well as he knows his own, because one of them is his own. Beside his face is Elesa’s. Both of them wear easy smiles in an expression that he has never truly felt.
Is this the future? Ingo has written. I feel compelled to follow these tracks. I hope to see these smiles one day, once the battle is over. Maybe then we can be at ease and let the past lie peacefully in its grave.
Emmet collapses, falling in on himself as tears well in his eyes like blood from a fresh wound. This is its own injury.
Ingo, despite not drawing himself, is all over these pages. His brother has left notes, has left their family, for Emmet to see once again. Because now he is all alone and memory is all he has left.
He holds the journal tightly to his chest and hopes desperately that this will all end soon.
And it does, but not as he had thought. Not as he had hoped.
All communication is quickly lost with Noble team. Everyone who can be evacuated has been, including Jun and Dr Halsey. Neither of them are on his ship, and neither of them send message about his brother. Emmet wants to track them down and demand to know what has happened on Reach, wants to know if Ingo is still alive. Elesa finally arrives, having finished her mission, and is immediately always with Emmet.
“Your brother won’t die,” she reassured him, “you two are a set.”
“He left me.” Emmet replies.
“And so have I. I’ve always returned, and so will he.”
And then they hear the final news of Reach.
It has been glassed.
Noble team sacrificed everything they had, including themselves, to ensure a package escaped the planet. His brother has died for an item.
The pair of them stand at the window that used to be Ingo’s comfort zone, silent.
Still.
Both of them grieve for their lost brother. Elesa reaches out to take Emmet’s hand, her grip tight and shaky.
“He can’t have…” she doesn’t finish.
He can’t have what? Died? Survived? She doesn’t say. Emmet is too tired, too broken, to say anything.
He has never been optimistic. Now there is no reason to even try.
Those in charge come and find him eventually.
The war is not over. Ingo may be gone but the Covenant is not. Emmet is sent planet-side, is sent ship-side, is sent all over. He does not go in guns-a-blazing anymore. There is no one for him to hurry back to. Elesa gets her own missions as she always has. There is no reason for him to rush. He doesn’t think he’s ready to die even though he wants to see his brother again. Instead he feels anger; that the Covenant have glassed a planet, that the Covenant still exist while his brother doesn’t, that Ingo gave his life to hand a package over instead of getting on the ship with it.
He could have gotten on the ship. He could be with Emmet right now.
Emmet fights and shoots and runs until he doesn’t have to think. Until he doesn’t have to think about how he is no longer EmmetAndIngo, that there is no Emmet and Ingo, and that he is now just Emmet.
Simply. Emmet.
Alone.
He soaks in his vengeance, wears it like a second armor, infuses it into every bullet that he fires. This is for Ingo. This is for Dawn. This is for Flannery. This is for my mother. This is for Ingo.
He runs on little sleep and less food unless Elesa is with him, shoving rations into his mouth with a fiery determination he remembers from Before. From before they were really Spartans. Back when they were just playing war. It is difficult because sometimes, when she is scolding him or arguing with him over a tray of food, he thinks he feels a warmth against his side even when he wears his armor.
When the war ends he feels… conflicted.
Relieved, that it is over.
Angered, because what does he do now?
Sad, because Ingo has not lived to see it.
Enraged, because the Covenant was not wiped out . The Sangheili have deserted their posts and are being welcomed into the navy. Perhaps not with open arms, but John-117 and the Arbiter have claimed that they are allies.
Allies? After the planets they have glassed? After all the lives they have taken, the homes they have destroyed?
Emmet does not take his armor off around them. He watches them suspiciously, waiting for any of them to make one wrong move.
The years pass again. With less battles to fight, skirmishes against the few remaining Covenant holdouts only, Elesa is frequently by his side. They have been allowed to make a new crew. Emmet is second-in-command and Elesa is Emmet’s-second. There is Skyla, who was-and-remains ODST, and Rei, who is barely old enough to be called a man but a decent marine. They are joined by a young Spartan-III, Barry, whose AI is called Lucas, who has decided to take a form that resembles Rei. Emmet had no idea Spartan-IIIs were still being developed. Barry looks like Rei, barely old enough to be an adult, but he’s sweet despite the training he went through. Determined and competitive, incredibly clever, and Emmet thinks Ingo would have liked him.
They are a ragtag bunch of people, a mess of emotional issues and traumas, but they have each other. They take care of each other. They are a family above all else. They leave the position of leadership open, a sign of respect towards their missing family member.
They volunteer to do a recon mission on Reach. Elesa doesn’t think they should but Emmet is determined. He needs to. He has to. He watched his parents die. He watched his old community starve and turn on each other. He has always gotten closure, until Ingo. Ingo’s body was never recovered, his armor never found, and Emmet needs something besides the journal. He needs to know that, despite how many years have passed, Ingo is truly gone.
Reach has been glassed but Emmet will still look.
On the way down they receive a distress signal. It shocks them all- Reach has been glassed, has been uninhabited for years, so why-? They prepare for a fight. No one should have survived. No one should be alive on Reach.
They disembark from the shuttle and trudge off in the direction of the signal. Emmet and Elesa lead the way, Skyla and Rei in the middle, and Barry keeping watch on their six. The ground is solid and blackened beneath their feet, and yet despite it… Emmet thinks he sees something hidden underneath. It sounds poetic, and stupid, to say it looks like hope resides beneath the destroyed ground. It crunches and cracks below their boots, footprints being left with every step.
They find the distress signal where they least expect it.
A helmet. Blackened. Visor cracked. There is a sliver of silver around the rim when Emmet wipes the ash away. He grips it tighter- this is Ingo’s.
This was Ingo’s.
“He’s gone.” Emmet finds himself saying flatly.
Here it was. His proof.
His closure.
Somehow, he had hoped. He had dreamt that Ingo would have made it, somehow.
“Emmet,” Elesa says, “get up.”
He runs his hand over the cracked visor and turns the helmet over. He delicately presses the latch in the back, a chip popping out. He takes it with a gloved hand and holds it reverently.
“Emmet, seriously.”
“Hold on. I need to see if this works.” Emmet says flatly and he places the chip in his own helmet. Elesa sighs in aggravation; he hears her telling the others to make a perimeter, to keep their eyes peeled, but he is distracted. The chip sinks into his helmet and clicks into place. Static fills his screen for a moment before it projects as it should. The image is faded, torn in places like an old film, but it is still there.
And so is Ingo.
Emmet can’t see his face but he can see his brother’s armor. There are Elites everywhere . On the ground are already two bodies, and then one kicks the helmet as it lunges towards his twin. Two more appear from what looks like nowhere. Ingo kicks one off of him, stabs it with an energy sword before picking up a gun. He manages to fire off a few rounds before he is tackled by another Elite, sent to the ground. Emmet wants to scream as he sees the alien raise another energy sword, aiming to slam it into Ingo’s chest, when the video cuts off.
It’s damaged and degraded. The fact that it has survived this long on a glassed planet is impressive.
It is damning evidence for Ingo.
Emmet remains still a while longer, eyes shut behind his visor.
Ingo is gone.
“Emmet, c’mon hon. You’re ruining the mission.” Elesa chides him gently, nudging him with a knee. “You also need to see this.”
Emmet opens his eyes and stands, holding Ingo’s helmet like he’s holding a delicate, priceless artifact. To him, it is. It is what remains.
“What is it?” He asks.
“Look.” Elesa points at the ground. Emmet does, frowning in mild confusion.
“It’s been glassed.” He states the obvious.
“Emmet, it’s been years. Why did the distress signal turn on now? And, look- closer. See that, in front of where you picked the helmet up?”
He looks closer.
A bootprint.
Not very deep; the owner of said bootprint must be lightweight, but it is there. It is real and solid. Though it is obviously a boot the weight is odd, focused on the toes instead of all the way to the heel. How...?
“There’s more. There’s a trail. Someone turned the distress beacon on, Emmet.”
“We need to find them.”
New hope burns in his chest.
Emmet has never been an optimist, but he thinks he’s willing to give it a shot.
#Submas#subway boss Emmet#subway boss Ingo#gym leader Elesa#halo submas#I needed a release and my brain compelled me to write 4k of halo submas#Spoilers for Halo reach#(its a 13 year old game. Can it be spoiled?)#Ingo as Noble 6#This fic has an open ending but any looking at my halo submas and Spartan Ingo stuff#obv there's an after to this fic lol
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You know, it never sat right with me that Kamado was able to get away with everything he did during the red sky. So let’s just break it down. He banished a kid for doing exactly what he was told, threatened war to the two native clans should they help her, went back on his word that the child would just be banished and sent a ninja to finish her off. Trespassed on sacred grounds to fight something coming out of the rift in the sky. Fought said child who had the solution to the problem just like he ordered and then...gets away with it with just an apology? No.
No way that’s not how that works. At the bare minimum he threatened to go to war with the diamond and pearl clans. That has to be taken seriously. Relations would be very tense following the red sky. And in this he also tried to kill a child the clans basically adopted as one of theirs and got one of the wardens mortally wounded. Yeaaa it would be way past square one that Kamado would have to build back up from.
As for those involved in the fighting and everything, the wardens they are all recovering. Several of them stay with one another and neither of the clans will let Akari return to Jublife villiage. So since Gaeric is already looking after Lian and Ingo he takes her in too despite the fact that he also needs to take it easier.
#pokemon!aspects#submas#irida#adaman#ingo#akari#lian#gaeric#kamado#palina and calaba are staying together while recovering#iscan and melli are staying together#mai sabi and arezu are living together while they recover#sabi winds up being the only warden with next to no injuries but several of the others took hits for her since she's just 6#it was not a good time folowing the red sky#everyone was so tense especially with all the wardens and nobles out of commission for a while.
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Transiting Sun enters Pisces
Monday, February 19 - Wednesday, March 20, 2024
Pisces the Fish*:
Water (emotional and soul - feeling, nurturing, hidden, sensitive)
Yin (security - ingoing, receptive, intuitive, right-brained)
Mutable (adapting to learning - distributing, connecting, adaptable, flexible, scattered)
Transpersonal (universal - focused on ideals and abstractions
“I imagine"
Rulers - Jupiter (traditional), Neptune (modern); exalted - Venus
Colors - blue-greens where you’re never sure if it’s more blue or more green
(* Gleaned almost completely from the book Astrology for Yourself by Bloch and George; the color is my own theory/belief.)
Dreamy season, during which we learn the difference between “going with the flow” and “drifting.” As Neptune nears the end of its travel through Pisces (it begins to transition to Aries next year), we should be more aware of how these “enhanced” Pisces transits have gone - what lessons have we learned? And where do we need to finish up or let go?
Friday, February 23 - Sun/Pisces square Pallas Athene/Sagittarius, 4°26’. Some indecision. Wanting to do the right, noble thing, without knowing how.
Saturday, February 24 - Full Moon, 5°23’ Virgo. We’re still torn about our direction - feelings of guilt only complicate the matters. If we can figure out our real responsibilites, life flows more easily.
Sunday, February 25 - Sun/Pisces sextile Ceres/Capricorn, 6°21’. A practical outlet for all that heavily guilty Full Moon energy. Kind of like the end of Candide, we look toward our own (figurative) gardens.
Wednesday, February 28:
Sun/Pisces conjunct Mercury/Pisces, 9°14’
Sun/Pisces conjunct Saturn/Pisces, 9°46’
This is the Superior Conjunction between Mercury and the Sun, marking the halfway point between the little planet’s retrograde zones. Add Saturn to the mix, and we go into much more conservative ways of thought, possibly/probably more fear-based. That happens when Saturn lets its imagination run away with it - and when the Sun is too passive to resist (or caught up in the drama of it all).
Friday, March 1 - Sun/Pisces sextile Jupiter/Taurus, 11°24’. Generous, sharing what we have. We feel materially blessed. Can get a little too comfortable and complacent.
Sunday, March 3 - Sun/Pisces opposite Juno Rx/Virgo, 13°38’. A nagging partner? Make sure it isn’t you! Make sure everyone agrees about what constructive criticism is.
Saturday, March 9 - Sun/Pisces sextile Uranus/Taurus, 19°51’. A time to bask gently in our uniqueness, at the same time we celebrate our common humanity.
Sunday, March 10 - New Moon, 20°17’ Pisces. Good for setting Pisces-type intentions, such as making time every day for meditation or prayer. We look for (or run screaming from) the spaciousness within.
Saturday, March 16 - Sun/Pisces square Vesta/Gemini, 26°09’. More indecision; if we don’t feel very confident in our identities, this could find us flailing around a bit.
Sunday, March 17 - Sun/Pisces conjunct Neptune/Pisces, 27°21’. “What a day for a daydream,” as the Lovin’ Spoonful sang. Perfect for meditation and prayer (we may not have much choice about it), visualization, and flowing.
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Some things I'm curious about with Legends Z-A (or ZA? How are we supposed to call this?)
Since Mega Evolution's making a return, do you think we'll see new Megas? I know there was a scrapped Mega Jinx so maybe that could happen.
Who will the starters be? Since the first Legends had Oshawott, Rowlett and Cyndaquill as starters rather than the Sinnoh trio. They could do it again, along with giving it a special Kalos regional variant.
Oh! And if they make new Megas, they could give us Megas for the new starter trio! Or maybe give Megas to the og Kalos trio.
Will we be getting Kalos forms of other Pokemon? Would be cool if we did.
Or new Pokemon. Arceus added new Pokemon (Not many, and they were mainly evolutions with the exception of Enamorus)
Will Kalos still be named Kalos? Or will it have a new name entirely?
Is it set in the past? Sure it's Legends but the trailer looked a lot more... futuristic? So who knows.
Will the game start with the MC getting Isekaid again? If so, will it be by Hoopa? It's the only Gen 6 Pokemon that can send people to other places, though idk if it can send characters across time tho.
If the MC gets Isekaid, will someone else be isekaid too? Like Ingo was? Can we play spot the time traveler?
Gameplay wise, how similar will Legends Z-A be to Arceus? Will there be Alphas? Something similar to Nobles? Can we just yeet a Pokeball at a mon without catching it?
Will you need to complete the dex? If that's the case then PLEASE keep the link cable item.
Will Xerneas and Yvetal get new forms?
What role will Zygarde have in this game?
Could we see new Ancestors (or maybe descendants) of previous characters? What roles will they play?
Could Diantha's ancestor be this game's villain? Hope not, the twist worked with Volo but people would expect it if every champion's ancestor wound up being evil.
Will we be kicked out again?
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I’m trying to reign in my excitement for the Pokemon legends Z-A game since it’s coming out next year
So INSTEAD
I made a bingo prediction sheet. A large chunk of these are just things people have been speculating/hoping for, some are things I want, a few are things I do not want, and a few of them purposefully contradict each other
With some long winded, too detailed explanations for most of them under the read more :]
[These are just for fun, and purely speculation/hopes]
Mega Charizard Z: [/hj] For the love of fucking god GF I do not want to see this lizard anymore. I know you’re obsessed with him. I wish to be free.
Kalos Starters/Random Mix of Starters: I feel like even though we had a random mix in the first Legends game, it’s not a guarantee that they’ll be doing the same for this one; I think it’d be cooler to finally give the main three Megas instead, but I wouldn’t complain if it did end up being a random selection
Tera Raids of the box legendaries in SV: They were skipped over when they brought the older legendaries in the dlc; please, I would like to see my children again
[Fade to Black, SFX, Fade back in]: Since you’re giving the game an extra year and not forcing the Devs to spew out the game as fast as possible, that means we’re getting a little bit better animations, right?
…Right?
Set in the Future/Past: I’ve seen a lot of people go back and forth over this because of the crumbs we were given, so I figured I’d put both on here so I could win either way 💅💅
Megas are the next Nobles: I’m just going on a whim since this is only our second Legends game, so who actually knows what the plot points are going to be
Slightly Cleaner Art Style/Exact Same Art Style: This is another one I’m personally hoping for, I did really like the way the last one looked, but some things were a bit weird to me, like the light purple shadows on everything. When the trailer comes out I’ll be changing this card once I have my answer
AZ. In general.: I just wanna know more about him. Crumbs, even. Gimme info on that weird ass tall fucker.
New Megas: This is gonna be a free space, and immmm really hoping it is a guaranteed free space
Ultimate Weapon Plot Point: The emotions I felt coursing through my pre-teen body when the weapon fucking rose from the ground and knocked over several houses? Gimme that but multiply it.
More Lore of the War: Kind of a filler space, but also I thought it sounded funny when I typed it out
Emmet in Paris/Ingo: A lot of people immediately jumped to the conclusion that it would be Emmet becoming French for this game, but I’ve seen a few arguments[jokingly] for Ingo, so I’m covering my bases and putting both on here. I’m not getting my own hopes up, I’m going to assume neither are in the game juuust in case
New forms for the legendaries: I am a Gen 6-er who’s starving for crumbs. I never see my legendaries anywhere. I think Megas would be fuckin badass but honestly I’ll take a singular grain of anything
Xerneas and Yveltal fighting: God of Peace vs God of Destruction, fighting? Unheard of. Revolutionary story idea. I’d eat it up.
Diantha’s Ancestor: We got to see one champions ancestor, let’s see another’s :D However. They must be fashionable. This is non-negotiable.
Mega Mewtwo Z: Exact same as Charizard, I feel like if you give one a mega you’re obligated to give the other one as well, or else people will complain or question it too much. I put them in the same column because I feel confident that you can’t have one without the other
Volo: A lot of people are speculating this because he says some stuff after you fight him, and while I would definitely prefer to have a different antagonist for this game I wouldn’t really complain about it either
New Legendary/Returning Mythicals: Maybe a new one kinda like how we got Enamorous, but im mostly hoping that the mythicals come back for this game because I’m trying to have a living Dex in Pokemon Home and I have NONE of the mythicals. Like at all. I am not selling my soul to get them
#I’m not going to really tag this because having a large chunk of the internet aware of my existence is mortifying#fun thing about tumblr is when you just have the word in the post it’ll show up in those tags. so if this shows up from any of the words: HI#ANYWAYS#My very smooth brained bingo prediction sheet is finished and I shall check in with it after the first trailer#I’m going to tag this as something special so I can find it on my blog when that time comes:#‘IWasVeryWrong-FoolishEven’
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Heart Full, Bowl Empty
Chapter 6 - Late Night Thoughts
Ingo returns to his noble and her kits. Akari considers reaching out for answers. Irida has an important discussion with Gaeric.
FINALLY chapter 6 is here!! I apologize for it taking so long, life has been busy! But it is here, and on Pokémon Legends Arceus' first anniversary!! Happy first anniversary PLA! What a wonderful game that has given me so much joy, a fun community to be a part of, and amazing friends!
Huge thanks to @monsoon-of-art and @ingo-ingoing-ingone for beta reading this, the help and contributions are very much appreciated!!
OR read here on AO3!
Enjoy!
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Keeping his head down so the brim of his hat would keep the recently-started snowfall out of his eyes, Ingo carefully trudged his way up Mount Coronet, holding his insulating coat closed around himself.
The sun had since slipped under the horizon, leaving the highlands in a frigid, muted darkness. He had to be careful traversing the terrain with his limited vision.
Proceed with speed, but not haste.
As Ingo made his way up the familiar path, his thoughts drifted to what the Pearl Clan was possibly serving for dinner. Tonight it was Lian and Calaba’s turn to bring in gathered supplies, so he was guessing a sootfoot-rich apricorn soup was on the menu. Deeper roots were the most typical spoils of their gathering efforts, due to Ursaluna’s knack for digging.
He always hoped dinner would go well for the Pearl Clan on nights he didn’t attend. Irida didn’t entirely approve of him skipping every other night, knowing he was doing it just to conserve their food supplies. But she had eventually settled on this compromise after Ingo had insisted his duties as warden required him to stay with Lady Sneasler, to ensure the safety of her newborn kits.
“Lady Sneasler’s litter is rather large, with nine kits to keep track of,” He had explained. “And she requires assistance in protecting them at night, until they develop enough to fend for themselves.”
And she couldn’t deny him of his obligations to his noble, even more so now with what was starting to occur in the highlands.
Though, that was not to say Ingo didn’t miss the dinners; the only thing that brought him solace was knowing that even if it was only by one meal, skipping nights at the mess hall was lessening the clan’s consumption. His efforts would not save much in the moment, but over time, Ingo knew it would add up. He was aware he still made a dent in their stock.
Despite it being all the way back when he was only an injured stranger to the clan, Ingo still remembered how Calaba would not-so-quietly mutter to Irida outside of her medicinal tent, about how he was such a bothersome extra mouth for the clan to feed. How he must have been from one of the Ginkgo merchant ships or the developing fieldlands village, seeing as how the clan’s two daily meals didn’t quite sate him in comparison to the aforementioned groups’ usual three.
But Ingo was not doing this because of Calaba’s old comments (and he knew her opinions of him had long since changed anyways, even if she didn’t outwardly voice it), he was doing it to help the clan. If he had his way, he would have chosen to attend only on the two nights a week he was assigned to gather. But, with Palina already doing that (albeit against Irida’s wishes), he considered himself lucky he was allowed to skip any days at all.
Ingo knew Palina’s reasons were more out of hurt than a desire to help; the clan’s scathing comments questioning her eligibility as warden had only recently stopped, with Lord Arcanine’s seat having finally been filled barely two months back. Having caught wind of some of the comments himself, he at least understood her desire to keep her distance, deny Irida’s pleas to join them for dinners more often, and give the Pearl Clan Leader no choice but to allow her to continue in her seclusion.
But Palina had the advantage of being stationed out in the coastlands, as far from the barren wastelands as one could get in Hisui. Judging by how many berries, mushrooms, and meats she always brought back to the clan, Ingo was aware of how abundant the food was down along the shoreline, even going into the winter months.
He was also aware, like Irida, that Basculegion’s warden from the Diamond Clan was likely helping her with gathering materials and fishing, both for herself and for the settlement. Iscan was an exemplary fisherman, and the amount of basculin, remoraid, finneon, and octillery that were often brought back spoke more to his skills than Palina’s.
These were the reasons why Irida ultimately let Palina continue staying out in the coastlands, Ingo suspected. The Pearl Clan leader knew that she would be fine with Iscan, and that his help usually ensured the biggest dinners for the clan, providing an abundance of much needed, protein-packed seafood.
Ingo swallowed as his mouth reflexively watered, recalling the tasty white-striped basculin that Palina would often bring back. In his opinion, the finned Pokémon of the coastlands - mild and perfectly saturated with healthy fat - were much more appetizing than their rubbery, bland icelands counterparts. At least, the ones Gaeric always returned with always seemed so scrawny in comparison. And he had never tasted a highlands basculin for reference, not quite able to go through with the hunting process by himself.
Ingo wondered if at some point, his inability to go through with hunting Pokémon himself would become a serious detriment. Tracking for the Pearl Clan’s hunting parties was one thing, easy to do when Gaeric and the others would take over and finish things after he had helped. But when he was by himself and responsible for every part of the process, he found he could not bring himself to do it.
However, with his new job at the training grounds, he wouldn’t have to. His income was small, but it allowed him the option to purchase meat from Choy’s general store rather than face the ultimatum of hunting Pokémon, or letting Lady Sneasler’s kits go hungry.
Reaching the particular landmark of a split tree jutting out of the ground at an angle, Ingo looked around briefly but observantly. Making sure he was not being watched, he took several steps forward into the nearby shallow stream, before backtracking over his steps to turn right and push through some thin underbrush. He dragged his feet all the while, making his tracks appear more like an unappetizing belly-crawler, such as a paras, or a hard-shelled roller like voltorb, rather than a human’s shoe prints.
Something was out here tonight that should not be here, and Ingo would not have it following him. Something that had crept in from the icelands.
He had already waded through shallow spots of rivers and crossed over his own path a few times once he had noticed quiet whispering that was always the same distance away from him, no matter how far up the mountain he went.
Something was trying to track him.
Attempts to spot it were avoided (and if by some chance he did see it, he knew it would not appear as itself - the fact he had not seen it yet was a good sign. That meant it had not locked onto his location, instead only aware he was something of interest somewhere on the mountain), but Ingo could sense it out there, somewhere. With the way the mountainside was eerily void of any surrounding sounds from the wild Pokémon, and how the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, prickly and uncomfortable, the suspense was too heavy to be anything else.
Ingo supposed his larger size compared to the wild psyduck and zubat, or his softer flesh contrasting the hardened armor of bronzor and nosepass, already made him a big enough target - there were only so many species up here suitable as prey. The bundle of cake lure base in his coat pocket must not have helped either.
But he could easily hold his own with his Pokémon. It was where he was going that made it so important that he ensured he was not being followed. And he’d rather it not be aware of his tracks on this mountain at night at all, or else it would only make the following nights harder.
Faint jingling that was reminiscent of a chingling or chimecho was discerned far off in the distance, but it still tipped Ingo off - the sound was familiar, but the tone and frequency were completely bizarre.
It did not know the communication patterns.
Ingo suspected the predator had taken to wearing the skin of one of these calming Pokémon to appear pacifying, hiding its wispy fur and keen claws.
His mind drifted back to the observational sketches he had seen earlier in Akari’s Pokédex, of the stantler she had studied. While it was just a sketch recreating the injury, the gashes had indeed seemed wide.
…But certainly not wide enough to come from a wyrdeer’s thick, blunt horns. They fit something more like claws.
It had been bothering him ever since he saw it. While he earnestly wondered if it was the work of Lady Sneasler and her kits, Ingo felt his noble might think her kits were still too inexperienced to take on a stantler. And she had started confining her hunts closer to her den high up on the mountainside, to make it easier for her kits. Stantler did indeed reside higher up on the mountain, and his Lady had brought one back to the den more than once, but more often than not, the antlered Pokémon spent their time grazing out of reach at the base of Mount Coronet.
He was beginning to suspect Akari had witnessed the aftermath of a failed ambush from one of these predators that was now trying to track him. He hadn’t been sure enough of it at the time (Akari’s sketches were very good, but still not as exact as a primary account), but even if he did feel confident in it, he wasn’t sure if he would have wanted to share that with Akari.
He knew she would connect the dots with that. Maybe it wouldn’t be immediate, but with how suspicious she already was, it would only be a matter of time.
Again, Ingo wondered why Irida was so insistent that no one outside the clan know anything about what was going on. Akari said she wanted to help. And if anyone could help, surely it would be her-
The eerie jingling in the distance was closer. It was catching up, whether it knew it or not.
Making his way further into the underbrush, Ingo reached out and pushed away the overhanging fronds of snow-nettle that clung around the approaching ridge. The sharp scent the plant released when damp did a good job of hiding the scents of other Pokémon (and himself) from curious predators. And with frequent snowfall saturating it, the aroma was cutting enough for Ingo’s nose; he could only imagine how overpowering it would be for a more sensitive muzzle.
Pulling himself up over a ridge obscured by the canopy of overgrowth, Ingo brushed himself off and gazed into the cavernous opening that stretched before him. He took a moment to catch his breath, moving to lean against the cave wall and rest there briefly, sheltered from the snowfall.
That was, until a sudden bout of intense, low growling interrupted the stretch of silence and reverberated from the dark mouth of the cave.
A clear warning for the lingering, potentially curious intruder to stay away and keep moving on, lest they prefer to be sliced to ribbons.
Of course. One of the drawbacks of pushing through saturated snow-nettle. His noble could not identify his scent through the sharp veil, but she could hear his movements, and could tell he was something large remaining in the opening of the cavern. Though to some degree, Ingo felt a sense of relief that she concluded him to be a predator rather than prey for her kits - otherwise, she might have preemptively snatched him up in her hooked claws without warning.
“Lady Sneasler?” Ingo called out to the warm darkness in response, peering the best he could into the dim cavern as he sloughed off the snowfall that had accumulated on his frame. “It is just me. I apologize, I know I am a bit ahead of my usual scheduled arrival. It is too risky to go foraging tonight, so I departed straight here.”
Silence muzzled the growling, before an apologetic yowl of greeting resounded from the back of the cavern. Several smaller, sleepy chirps followed soon after - barely audible, but excited now that it was deemed safe to be vocal.
“Ah!” Ingo lit up, relieved to hear no sign of stress from his noble or her kits. He made his way into the cave, a hand tracing the wall as the tunnel angled downward into her warm den, so he could get his bearings until his eyes adjusted. “I will be right in, my Lady.”
The walls tapered from a wide opening into a tighter squeeze the further he went in - a cinch for Lady Sneasler and her little kits to maneuver through with their flexible bodies and limber bones, but a deterrent to more bulky, less lithe predators.
And while this extra barrier of protection and insulation discouraged these large and dangerous Pokémon, it also made for quite a snug fit for people, her own warden included. Ingo tucked his hat under his arm, sucked in his chest, and carefully pushed himself sideways through the narrow cavern tunnel, ducking as the rocky ceiling dipped down. A good few feet of tight squeezing rewarded Ingo with a chance to take a deeper breath again as the rock walls opened back up around him into a warm, dark cavity.
“My Lady, I take it you returned back to your station with the kits in time, last night?” Ingo brushed the dirt, dust, and any remaining snow off of himself, talking into the darkness as he situated his hat back upon his head. The tight opening of the cave only allowed a sliver of weak moonlight into the cavity, barely useful for vision.
“Snnnr,” a growl of affirmation followed, though it sounded incredibly remorseful as well. Ingo could see the soft glint of light reflecting off of Lady Sneasler’s sharp claws in the back of the cave as she clicked them together apologetically.
“It is alright, you acted accordingly to ensure the safety of your young. I am proud of your decision-making! Your kits are safe because you were with them. And… likewise, Miss Akari was taken care of with me.” Ingo reassured his noble of her actions as he made his way further into the den. The scuffle of his shoes against rocks and hardened earth in the darkness ceased, the rough ground giving way to the copious layers of soft nesting materials that enveloped the entire floor of the den.
Ingo blinked as he slowly began to make out the inside of the cavern. The shapes of his minimal supplies were seen piled against the wall, a few extra clothes and blankets he had brought up for himself, for colder nights - thankfully, tonight was not one of them. Next to the supplies, he could discern the obscure forms of Lady Sneasler and a few of her mewling kits in the unlit cavity, but he was still careful when moving; he did not want to discover the location of a sleepy sneaslet snuggled under the nesting material by accidentally stepping on them.
However, the choir of excited chirping thankfully made the kits’ locations known as their smaller forms shifted away from their mother. Making their way through the layers of bedding, they shuffled over to the warden’s shoes and collected around him.
They sounded hungry, as he suspected they would be.
Thank Sinnoh he had stopped by the general store earlier, and didn’t assume the mountain would be safe to forage on tonight.
It hadn’t been, for several nights now. Ingo suspected most nights onwards would be the same.
“…You didn’t happen to take the kits out and practice hunting stantler today, did you?” Ingo questioned hesitantly, stepping around the mass of sneaslets with great care as tiny claws hooked onto his pant legs and attempted to cling.
The stantler’s gashes Akari had sketched were prevalent in his mind, but he also worried over the additional observation she had made regarding tufts of fur stuck in the antlers. He was concerned he’d have to check on the sneaslets or Lady Sneasler herself for scrapes or puncture wounds.
A confused but disagreeable snarl answered Ingo’s question and relieved him. No, they’re way too young for that.
“I thought so… in that case, have the kits eaten enough? I have brought extra provisions for them.” Ingo reached into the pocket of his coat for the pouch, before pulling out chunks of the plain cake lure base he had bought. “Assuming that… certain events repeated themselves once again, and that a final round of evening hunting wasn’t an option. I am sure they are growing tired of it, but I could only secure more cake lure base tonight. Though I can assure you, I will provide them with meat soon.”
The kits mewled excitedly at the mention (and scent) of another meal, clearly not as ‘tired of it’ as Ingo assumed. They crowded tighter around his legs, pawing at his pants as he held the food out.
Meanwhile, Lady Sneasler seemed incredibly distraught at her warden’s question, sniffing as she clicked the blades of her paw together apprehensively. Her behavior, along with the kits’ enthusiasm, gave Ingo the answer he had been hoping he wouldn’t get.
The warden’s heart ached for his noble. She was trying so hard to be a good mother.
She was a good mother.
She was doing her best, just like every other beast out there was trying to do for their young, but the current circumstances were out of her control. And with the kits being at an age where daily meals had to be small but numerous, it was hard - even with Ingo’s assistance. They were wild, just like his noble; Ingo could not simply tuck them away in Poké balls like the rest of his Pokémon, in a stasis that suppressed needs such as hunger and thirst.
It had been a terribly inopportune time for her to have kits, especially with a litter as large as nine, and the reasons why were growing with time. But how could anyone have known it would get this difficult?
“I… know it’s becoming harder to hunt up here.” Ingo tried to reassure his noble as he handed cake lure to the kits one at a time. Well, as best he could, anyways; the second he held out a chunk, multiple sets of tiny claws started competitively swiping to snatch it, and Ingo had to be careful not to get his bare skin nicked; he currently had no pecha berries on him. “But we will make do.”
A disheartened, animalistic huff and quiet shifting of nesting material was Lady Sneasler’s only delayed response to Ingo’s words, silently watching her kits eat from her warden’s hands.
The sneaslets’ eagerness to scarf down the food as he kept handing out more relieved some of the grief that gripped Ingo, previously pestering him for not being able to afford enough meat for them all. Perhaps he could have, if he had gotten the full day’s pay today. But no matter, he would probably have enough with one additional day of saving. He did not make enough money at the training grounds to just purchase ten sizable cuts of meat on a whim… not unless he sacrificed buying lunch at The Wallflower during the following shift.
Ingo looked forward to the night he could put together a nice hearty stew for himself, rather than make due with cake lure base. But with meager pay and nine wild sneaslets to feed, Ingo suspected that night would not come for a while.
Once every kit had gotten their fill of cake lure, now sated as they situated themselves within the nest and licked at the sweet sticky rice that stuck to their claws, Ingo carefully stepped around them and made his way to his noble. Rooting through his pockets, he handed another handful of cake lure base to her.
It was not meat, but it would do.
“There is nothing to be ashamed of. It is not your fault, my Lady; the zoroark should not be traveling this far inland.” Ingo offered words of support along with the gift.
Was it not enough that they were already stealing from the clan’s traps? Catching anything in those was already enough of a feat, with rarely any extra provisions available that were enticing enough to be used as bait. Resorting to placing non-baited traps on the sides of hills, based on hopes that Pokémon would accidentally stumble into them instead, had not proven successful either.
“Snnnr,” A discouraged huff rumbled in the thick-furred Pokémon’s chest, but after a moment, she sat up from her slumped position, and with her claws, cleanly skewered the offering in Ingo’s waiting fingers.
Hands now free, Ingo rubbed at his sore neck as he backed up and watched her eat, her sturdy teeth slicing through the rice dough easily, but slowly with small bites.
He told her this was not her fault, and he knew this realistically was not his fault either, but something still nagged at him. Even though he had absolutely no control over Hisui’s ecosystems and how they adapted to certain changes, he was Lady Sneasler’s warden. Her caretaker. He was appointed to a very important position by the Pearl Clan, a group of people he owed so much to, and was expected to do a good job dedicating himself to providing for her. And now by extension, her kits.
Lady Sneasler was doing her best.
And likewise, he was doing his best.
With a sigh, Ingo preemptively cracked his aching back to loosen it before he moved to sit down in the soft, insulating nesting materials. Dropping into the layers with bone-deep tiredness from the events of the last two days, Ingo rested against the cavern wall. The warmth of the soft fur, feathers, and foliage immediately welcomed him as he made himself comfortable, thawing any lingering cold that had managed to burrow its way through his protective layers.
This would be his last stop for the night, sleeping here in the nest amongst Lady Sneasler and her kits until the sun rose. And he was glad to finally rest - everything ached.
Satisfied with his position, Ingo retrieved the last bit of cake lure base from his pocket for himself, and took a bite. Perfect for absorbing the flavor of whatever it was mixed with, the rice itself was disappointingly bland and tasteless, the only faint flavor being provided by the barely-sweet syrup that held it together.
Normally, a handful of cake lure base would not satiate him at all, but tonight it was easier - breakfast and lunch with Akari today had given him the boost he needed to make up for it. And while it was not hot apricorn soup, or steaming savory soba, it would do. He may not be eating in a warm hall with the Pearl Clan, or enjoying his time with close friends at the Wallflower, but he was still with beloved company in an insulated den, and that was just as good of a situation to him.
“...My Lady, might I suggest foraging further down the mountain?” Ingo verbalized his thoughts on the situation following a moment of comfortable silence, wiping rice from his mouth. “I have noticed the magikarp traveling down south, to warmer waters by the Fabled Spring. I am not aware of the zoroark traveling down that far, or pursuing magikarp at all while hunting - it should be safe for the kits. Though, the alpha golem blocking the tracks down to the spring may pose an issue…”
Lady Sneasler clacked her claws together with a soft clinking sound. She knew just as well as Ingo did that magikarp were bony, cartilaginous creatures - the pathetic amount of meat they carried under their crunchy hides was tough and stringy. The highlands population would practically need to be over-hunted in order to yield enough meat for a single meal - likely the reason why the zoroark left them alone. And her growing kits needed good meat. They were developing into the age where beans and berries alone would no longer sustain them and their omnivorous diets.
It was no longer enough as is, and both Ingo and Lady Sneasler knew it.
Lady Sneasler would not give up so easily though. Not after trying so hard to have kits. So many despondent nights, and heartfelt but worried reassurances from her warden, before she finally produced a healthy litter which she deeply loved. After all that, she would not just watch them get weak, and sick, and…
But what else could she do? The zoroark, bleeding out of the icelands and sneaking their way into the edges of the highlands, encroaching on her territory and hunting her meat, were leaving little other option.
They were mothers too, Lady Sneasler assumed, also having to feed their young. Why else would they be desperate enough to intrude on a noble’s territory? And hunt in such a cowardly fashion, stalking from the shadows and disguising themselves as disarming prey Pokémon in the middle of the night?
But of course, Pokémon who had already succumbed to cold and starvation once would be more desperate than anyone to prevent it from happening again, both to themselves and their kits.
This invasive method of hunting was damaging Lady Sneasler’s own hunting routine, as well as the routine of every other predator Pokémon this high up on the mountain. It was simultaneously thinning the population in the area, and teaching what prey Pokémon were left to hide away. And on the cusp of winter no less, which was already driving many of the more floral Pokémon of the area into a sluggish, withered state. They now carried even less nutrients in them than before winter.
And if prey Pokémon were being over-hunted, the top of the food chain would start reconsidering weaker predator Pokémon as prey before long.
Lady Sneasler’s eyes lingered on her beloved kits, still focused on licking the sticky rice from their fur.
And to think, she once thought having a den this high up on the mountain, close to the Icelands, would be a safer choice for her young.
She might be a noble, a blessed Pokémon that other beasts avoided challenging out of regard for this, but this same protection did not extend to her kits. Not from the native Pokémon in the area, and certainly not from the invasive, desperate phantoms inching further in.
Her kits were growing stronger, faster, and smarter every day, but they were still much too young to defend themselves in an environment that was growing hungrier. She had to be quick to return to them at night or during bad weather, and slow to let them hunt independently. They were still learning to hunt after all, and that limited their options already. On top of winter approaching, and now this new problem-
But little was better than nothing.
So… magikarp it would be.
Ingo finished his dinner of cake lure just as a tiny mewl was heard, and even tinier claws carefully gripped the edge of his coat, a stunted feathered ear poking up over his side.
“Ah, Powder! Hello, little lady,” Ingo greeted the tiny sneasel. Powder (affectionately nicknamed by Akari) was the runt of the litter and the youngest out of Lady Sneasler’s kits, having been very late to hatching. Ingo let her climb up onto him and sniff around curiously into the fabric of his coat, where the scent of cake lure still lingered.
“I have no more food, I’m afraid.” Ingo let her know her search was for naught, shifting his position to accommodate her better in his lap. He presented his hands to her to prove they were empty, but she only took it as an offer to enthusiastically lick the sticky rice from his fingers. “Likewise, if I granted you seconds, I’d have to be fair and grant more to all of your siblings as well.”
The thought of possibly not providing enough dampened Ingo’s spirits slightly, but he had to remember they were at the age where they would always want more regardless.
“Snea!” Powder pouted as she sat back on his lap, giving up searching about, but her disposition quickly changed as Ingo gently pet her, ears going back as he scratched at the sweet spot behind them.
“You’re never satisfied, are you?” Ingo huffed a laugh as the tiny kit leaned into his hand. The smallest one always seemed to be the most insatiable with anything, whether it be food or attention. But as the runt who was often left behind by her siblings in many aspects, Ingo was inclined to give her the extra attention.
…He remembered that (Emmet) often relented the (same)(way) with the small yellow (joltik), letting the runts (cling) to (his) white (coat) and hide, and sneak extra (batteries) to them. Ingo would tell (Emmet) he was spoiling the (tiny)(joltik), but the runts’ love for the (attention) was (irrefutable).
…
He remembered that the other often relented with the small yellow ones, letting the runts hide with the white, and sneak extras to them. Ingo would tell him it spoiled them, but the runts’ love for it was…
…Ingo was inclined to do the same.
Noticing that their baby sister was getting pets from the big man who helped take care of them, all of Powder’s siblings halted the licking of their rice-covered paws, and scrambled over to the larger warden.
Ingo sat up as eight more small bodies crawled onto his lap, chirping demands for pets of their own. They impatiently tried to shove their siblings out of the way, while simultaneously pushing their own tiny heads into his hands.
The petty antics and the quarreling taking place on his lap caused Ingo to laugh, and he lifted poor Powder out of the sudden squabble so her larger siblings wouldn’t accidentally hurt her in their rough-housing. She gripped onto his sleeves with her tiny claws, thankful for the save, and Ingo supported her body by holding her up against his chest.
Lady Sneasler chuffed at the sight of her warden and her kits together.
It was clear; he loved them just as she loved them.
“They will be taken care of, my Lady,” Ingo turned to his noble as Powder latched onto his shoulder, retreating under the wide flap of his coat’s tattered collar. “Tomorrow, I will ask Tangrowth if she would like to accompany you, should you and your kits venture down the mountain to hunt. I am sure she would be pleased to offer her assistance; you know how much she loves the kits. With a capable grass-type like her escorting you, that alpha golem will keep to their own tracks. And, I suspect she would enjoy soaking up the last of the sun’s warmer rays, before winter settles… and please keep in mind that I am always open to assisting with the search of a possible new den further down the mountain, even if it is temporary.”
Lady Sneasler’s features brightened some in the darkness, an expression akin to a small smile driving out some of the stress she wore as she propped herself up on her elbows.
“Snea!” She exclaimed as she moved closer to him, having risen from her spot in the back of the den for the first time since he had entered.
Ingo knew what was coming, but with nine kits piled on him, he couldn't do much to escape it. Instead, he scrunched his shoulders, and braced for impact.
A set of gnarled claws tipped Ingo’s cap back as a rough, sandpaper tongue licked the side of his face; an act of affection and gratitude to the noble, but a ticklish sensation to the warden.
“Lady Snealser!” Ingo snorted out a laugh, scrunching his neck further against his shoulder as his noble continued to express her appreciation. Moving to lick his scruffy hair, each comb through it with her prickled tongue left tufts of it to jut up at awkward angles. “Alright, Alright! You’re welcome!”
Seeing Lady Sneasler expressing affection, and their caretaker making various sounds they recognized as happiness, the other sneaslets stopped squabbling. Instead, they collectively started trying to lick Ingo’s face as well, eager to copy their mother. Even Powder joined in, peaking over the side of his coat collar to enthusiastically lick his cheek.
Ingo slumped back into the nesting material, using his hands to gently defend his face from the onslaught of rough tongues and tiny muzzles, but he was laughing, feeling loved as they showered him in well-deserved affection.
Outside the cozy den, the lighter snowfall still rushed down, and a solitary white specter prowled about through the mountainous underbrush, having shed its illusionary skin of a chimecho. Its sharp nose attempted to find a new trail to follow, searching for an easy meal to snatch up after failing to stay on the scent of the lone human it had detected traversing up the mountain.
————
The rain came down, pattering against the sloped roof of Akari’s unit and sliding down the awning to splash against the saturated ground and collect in puddles.
Akari listened to the muffled sounds against the roof as she stared up at the ceiling of her dark room from under her covers, Ember pressed up against her side under the blankets to provide warmth.
If it was raining in Jubilife, it was most likely snowing in the highlands, and maybe even the icelands too.
Ingo was surely in one of those places, she figured - she only knew he hadn’t gone to the Pearl Clan’s mess hall tonight.
She hoped the snowfall wasn’t coming down too hard for him, wherever he was.
The insulating blankets rose and fell as Ember heaved a tired sigh from under them. Akari copied her soon after with a sigh of her own, hand moving under the covers to pet her warm companion reassuringly.
For the second night in a row, Akari was finding it hard to get to sleep.
Hypotheticals disturbed her, and kept her brain running through scenarios and situations - this time on what could possibly be wrong.
Akari replayed what she knew in her head, revisiting all of the questions she had thought about over the previous twenty-four hours, and updating them with new information she had learned over the course of the day.
Volo had said that the icelands seemed to be suspiciously empty of berries and the like. She had noticed that herself, when searching for breakfast. But why?
And his more direct hints that the Pearl Clan had been struggling with food lately lined up sickeningly well with the morning’s subtle observation that Ingo had been… distracted, for at least a week. She had subconsciously noticed it, and Rei had inadvertently commented on it unprompted.
It also lined up with a lot of other things that had happened over the last two days, upsettingly so.
Like why Irida hadn’t wanted her at dinner last night, and why Ingo hadn’t initially invited her either. And why he had mentioned they were so against the thought of wasting food.
Why the Pearl Clan was prepping their fields for farming on the cusp of winter, and maybe even why they had all of those traps set out.
Why the clan’s kids were trading away their beloved toys and trinkets in exchange for less valuable food.
Why Ingo had tried to hide how hungry he was instead of simply just admitting it, and why he had been gathering with Lady Sneasler yesterday, even though she hadn’t remembered him or the other wardens doing anything like that before.
It was probably even why Lian had seemed so stiff when she asked him about the wardens gathering. And now that she thought back on it, had Calaba brushed off that conversation as well?
And Ingo’s constant reassurance refuting this and affirming that everything was alright only made her more apprehensive about the whole thing; he always did that, regardless of whether things were really alright or not. To a point, it had now become more indicative that something was wrong than anything.
The only assurance she had that he was truly alright - or that this hadn’t been going on under her radar for too long - was confirming that he hadn’t lost any noticeable weight when she had hugged him earlier.
But that didn’t mean he would stay alright forever. Or anyone else, for that matter. Something was wrong. That much felt obvious to her now.
Just… what was it? Why was it happening?
Akari shifted under the covers, agitated as her thoughts circled back to Volo. He was the one who had openly said something about the Pearl Clan struggling with food. He seemed to be the only one who was being truthful with her about all of this, and the only one who could possibly give her the answers she was looking for.
She wanted to get dressed and go out looking for Volo at one of the Ginkgo Guild camps so that they could resume their morning conversation, but she didn’t know if he would appreciate sudden, late-night drop-ins like that.
Ingo never seemed to mind them, and he always welcomed her company with a reassuring genuineness, but she had to remind herself that not everyone was like Ingo. Not even close friends like Volo.
Plus, the rain was coming down a little too hard for her liking anyways; with a quick glance out one of her windows, Akari could see the cascading raindrops rushing down against the clouded dark glass. She knew Lord Wyrdeer would faithfully come if she summoned him, but she was sure he wouldn’t appreciate her doing so in this weather.
With a sigh, Akari threw the covers off of herself and stood up out of bed. It spurred a drowsy Ember into attentively peeking out from under the blankets, and the cold chill of the room immediately embraced her in a rather unpleasant manner, but Akari couldn’t help it. She felt like she had to move, opting to pace just to try and dissipate some of the building nervous energy. She let herself fall into the cycle of treading about her room by her bed, the cold wooden floorboards creaking gently beneath her feet, arms crossed close and hands tucked away into her pits for warmth.
Ok, think… she may not be able to go talk to Volo, but she could try and work through things the way he would.
So, what would Volo possibly say if she was with him right now, sharing what she had observed? Her conversation with the merchant had effectively ended with him asking if she knew anything; he would probably try and connect anything she knew with one of his prior hypotheses.
…And one of those hypotheses was that everything that was happening was ‘another trial from the almighty Sinnoh’, as he put it.
Akari kept pacing, eyes on the floorboards. At the time, she had discarded the thought after some initial contemplation, not finding much sense in it - this was uncharacteristic of all the trials she had endured before, and it seemed especially punishing to a group of people who hadn’t done anything to deserve it.
Volo had also asked her if she had received any information about what was going on from her ‘perplexing device’, her Arc Phone.
Again, she had also disregarded this thought at the time, perhaps even faster than the first one.
Ever since she had quelled the last frenzied noble and reported her success to Lord Kamado several weeks back, the device had fallen disturbingly silent. She had expected it to tell her what to do next like it always did, a new set of instructions filling her screen.
But nothing had happened. And weeks later, the rift was still hanging over Mount Coronet, a gash in the sky now often obscured by the rolling winter clouds.
And the device was still as silent as the day she had quelled Lord Avalugg.
It no longer talked to her.
In her repetitive pacing down these beaten mental roads, Akari’s apparent dead end revealed a secretive and small, but hopeful side path.
It was not talking to her - They were not talking to her. But she knew that somehow, sometimes, They listened. What if she talked to Them?
More floorboards creaked as Akari made her way across her dark room, back to her bedside. Crouching over her belongings, she fumbled through her satchel in the darkness until she felt the cold, smooth screen of the strange device.
The teenager held her breath for reasons not quite known to her as she slipped the Arc Phone out of her satchel, standing back up. The screen dimly lit up the dark room, the artificial light bright against her eyes as she turned the device on. Akari herself couldn’t directly send messages through it - she had looked for a way to do so several times - but They had sent messages through it to her before. And They had guided her when she needed it, and sent information at just the right moments, seemingly aware of what she was doing.
They knew what was going on, surely.
“...Hello?” Akari half-whispered into the silence.
Soft rustling was heard as Ember once again perked up under the blankets at her voice, but aside from that, there was no direct, audible answer. And why would there be? The Arc Phone didn’t work like that, and Akari knew it.
“I, um… look, if you’re listening, or watching, it’s been a while since I’ve heard anything… about what I’m supposed to do.”
The teenager reached up to bite on her thumbnail out of habit, the silence feeling heavy and awkward. It was difficult directly speaking to someone that didn’t respond back, even when she expected They were listening.
“It’s been several weeks now, close to a month since I’ve quelled Lord Avalugg. That was the last frenzied noble, wasn’t it?”
The floorboards creaked quietly as Akari shifted her weight from one leg to the other.
“...Did I do something wrong? I’ve continued doing research, but nothing’s happened. What am I supposed to do next? Or was that all I had to do?”
Is this all there is? Am I done? Am I stuck here? Will you not send me back home?
Ember huffed as she laid her head back down, snuggling under the blankets.
The device was unresponsive, its dim screen still unresponsive as ever in the darkness. Akari’s features tightened.
“I… ok, something’s going on, I’m sure you know about it. With the Pearl Clan. My friend, um, Volo… he says that something is happening in the icelands, and that things aren’t growing. That food is running low. He says he doesn’t know why though, and that the Pearl Clan won’t say anything about it. But… I’m starting to wonder if the Pearl Clan even knows why either? I don’t know. It just sounds bad. Worse than people will admit to me. Do you know why this is happening?”
The rain pattered down against the roof gently yet incessantly.
“Do I… is this something for me to fix? Is this what I’m supposed to do next? Am I supposed to figure out what’s happening in the icelands, and fix it?”
The screen remained dim. The device stayed silent, heavy in her hands.
“How do I help them?”
Akari stood there in the dark, waiting for something to happen. For the device to light up with a new message, telling her what to do now that she’d fallen silent, hoping it had just been patiently waiting for her to finish.
But as the minutes went by, and she began to shiver from the cold temperature in the room, the unresponsive Arc Phone tightened in her fingers. It was becoming obvious that no message would ever come. The dim screen darkened as the Arc Phone powered back down, inactive.
Of course.
Akari’s frown tightened as she swallowed, and sighed through her nose, defeated. She leaned back down next to her bed and tucked the Arc Phone back into her satchel, before tugging the blankets back with heavy hands. Ember shuffled to the side from under the stacked layers to accommodate Akari as she wiggled back under them, and settled into her warm bed.
“I don’t know, Ember,” The disappointment thickly coated Akari’s throat, saturating her words as she felt her heated companion snuggle back up against her side. “I don’t know what’s going on. But something’s really wrong.”
She didn’t know what the exact problem was that was causing such a shortage, or why it was happening - why it was so hard to find good berries, why it was only affecting the icelands, or why the Pearl Clan was not saying anything about it - but something was definitely wrong, and no one would admit it to her. Not even Ingo.
If Ingo was downplaying a problem, she figured it was because he was trying to protect something. This was not the first time he had done this, and it was always done to protect something, almost always at his expense, no matter how large or small the problem was.
Whenever one of Lady Sneasler’s kits accidentally nicked any bare skin of his, he would always do his best to bear through and hide the numbing effects the venom inflicted on the effected nerves (usually the hands, which led to a useless grip many times…very hard to hide that). He always tried to protect the sneaslets from unfavorable opinions that the Jubilife villagers, who were still warming up to Pokémon, might form about them.
Whenever he would get sick, he wouldn’t tell her because he knew she would come around to help him if she found out. And he wanted to protect her from getting sick as well, instead hoping he’d recover at least most of the way before she started looking for him - Hisuian illnesses were not merciful on their modern-day immune systems.
Whenever the deep pain from that scathing back injury of his would flare up, he wouldn’t say anything about it to anyone until someone (usually herself) would inevitably notice his discomfort and send him to Pesselle or Calaba, in order to protect his own… dignity, she supposed?
Akari blinked as she realized she had been staring rather intently at one of the Pokeshi dolls she had carved, sitting on her window ledge. As an attempt at carving Professor Laventon’s rowlet, the unassuming, non-judgemental eyes stared back at her.
Akari sighed as she realized how worked up she had made herself. She turned onto her side and slid her arms around Ember to embrace them like a warm, oversized teddy bear. The side of her face sunk into her soft pillow as she burrowed further under her covers, staring at the rainfall through the window by the door from the back of the room.
…So who or what was Ingo trying to protect this time?
————
“Hey… Gaeric?” Irida asked with audible trepidation as she stacked a wooden plate, one of several from tonight’s clan dinner. With the meal finished and everyone having gone back to their warm homes (even the meal prep team, Irida urging them to go home and rest as soon as they finished cleaning, and to let her at least pack everything away), it was just the Pearl Clan leader and her former mentor in the kitchen. Cleaning didn’t take long anymore; there was never much left on the plates and bowls to scrub away.
“Yeah?” From across the kitchen, Gaeric was packing away various herbs and spices onto shelves and into cupboards. His back was to her, but he was listening attentively.
He had been waiting for her to speak up since dinner had ended. In fact, he would have asked her himself if she was alright, if she had gone on much longer without saying anything - he could see how stressed she was tonight, no matter how hard she had tried to hide it from her clan.
“Do you think I should be handling things differently?”
“With...?” Gaeric resumed packing away the supplies. He knew very well what this was about; it was all his mind had been focused on lately. But he wanted to give Irida a chance to get her thoughts out first. He knew her well enough to know she needed to talk before she could listen, and she had a lot to talk about.
Becoming the leader of the Pearl clan had delegated a leader persona of sorts to her that never wanted to show uncertainty or weakness. And to him, part of the blame for its creation fell on the more traditional, strict elders of the community.
Gaeric still thought the expectations they all set on poor Irida at such a formative age had been much too demanding after the passing of their beloved Pearl Clan leader. The community may have lost an irreplaceable authority figure, but Irida had lost a mother, her last parent.
Irida was young. She was doing well for her age, he thought, but she was still learning. She didn’t know everything, even if she felt like she had to act like she did. And as her former mentor, Gaeric acknowledged this young, uncertain part of her that still had a lot of questions, just as much as he acknowledged her position as the respectable Pearl Clan leader.
“With, just…”
The words always came slow at first, and Gaeric knew this was a hard topic for Irida to be direct with.
“...Everything, I guess. I don’t know-”
Almost there.
“-Should I have opened the fields back up? Was I too hasty?” The words, previously stopped up, flowed freely now. “Because now we have to plant and manage crops in those fields, and that’s going to take a lot of work away from our foraging - work that might not even pay off! And even if anything somehow does grow - what if the zoroark steal those too? Is it not enough already that… that they follow our hunting parties and take from our traps?”
Gaeric closed the full cupboards, avoiding laying his gaze on the stressed clan leader. She continued to stack the clean bowls together in an effort to keep herself busy as she kept talking.
Let her keep talking, she’s not done yet. Don’t stop the flow.
“The traps obviously need guarding. But I already feel like I had them set out too many, I can’t ask people to start guarding them now too! That’s too risky, for several reasons!” Irida’s voice wavered a moment with emotion as she set the stacked bowls aside. “And… if the traps need guarding, then the crop fields will too, and we’re only a group of just under forty people, half of them children or elders! With so many already assigned to hunting, we either patrol the traps, or we grow crops… we can’t do both! And our wardens are already doing so much with their gathering, but it feels like it’s still not enough! I mean, look at what happened last night with Ingo and Akari! We didn’t have enough-!”
Her voice cracked, and Gaeric could already tell her eyes were getting misty without even looking at her. Stop the flow.
“Irida,” Gaeric’s voice picked up from across the kitchen, where he had moved on to hanging cooking tools back up on the wall. “It will work out! Everything will work out.”
Irida sniffed as she turned her head to face him with blurry eyes, searching for some form of reassurance in his. He could see the tightness in her shoulders, forcing the emotion down in order to listen to him.
“We’ll plant the sand radishes,” Gaeric rationalized, hanging up a chopping cleaver. “In every row! Those grow strong and fine all year round! I picked up extra radish starts just for this, along with my swordcaps from Volo this morning. We have enough to fill the fields now! As soon as the rows are ready, we’ll get the starts in the ground. And we’ll make sure the zoroark know to keep away from them.”
He didn’t know how they’d do that last part yet, but he’d figure it out with Irida. Their answers were usually found with Ingo, and Gaeric suspected that would be the case once again with this issue. Perhaps he could help guard the fields? But the highlands warden could only do so much, and he already seemed very occupied with the recent, ill-timed arrival of his noble’s kits. He wasn’t sure how much more they could ask of him…
Irida sniffed again as she picked up the stack of bowls, taking her time with moving them to an empty cabinet. While still despondent, she seemed somewhat soothed by Gaeric’s words of assurance. At least her voice was somewhat stable again.
“That’s still almost…three weeks of waiting, at the very least.” Irida moved on to another concern, beginning to stack the scrubbed mugs. “What will we do while we wait for them to grow?”
Fortunately, radishes were one of the fastest growing vegetables available in Hisui, able to be harvested within a timeframe of three to four weeks. But what could they depend on during that month of waiting time, as winter’s hold on the region grew stronger, and their stock depleted?
“We had even less meat in the soup tonight than we did last night,” Irida went on, staring into one of the mugs, her mind somewhere else. “and our apricorn stock won’t last forever. Do you think we should ask Volo about trading for actual ingredients rather than crop starts now?”
Gaeric held in a sigh. He had already asked the merchant that very same thing this morning when meeting with him to receive his delivery of swordcaps and sand radish starts. After briefly trying - and failing - to pry for more information, Volo had told Gaeric even if the Guild allowed him to make trades like that (he had made Gaeric well aware that the Guild was rapidly de-valuing their ice with the winter months approaching), he couldn’t possibly make ends meet with the restrictions Irida had given him. He could only bring so much up here at a time by himself, if he was unable to involve other Ginkgo merchants.
“And besides, the Guild cannot supply the amount it seems you need.” Volo had added with a concerned look that seemed almost surface-level, seemingly already focused on solutions. “We’re not farmers. We’re traders, and with the harvest season coming to a close, food is not a terribly common thing that people are trading right now.”
Though, to Gaeric’s surprise, Volo had offered to set up a trading agreement for them between either the Diamond Clan, or Jubilife Village, and act as the middleman - while it still was not a lot, the Diamond Clan was the main trader of food supplies and ingredients with the Ginkgo Guild right now, and Jubilife had fields capable of yielding a multitude of crops. Surely, they could help out for the winter.
Gaeric had known what Irida would say about this - no, of course not. And even then, Volo’s prices for being involved were becoming a little too steep for his liking. It felt like it was becoming advantageous at this point.
“We’ll discuss it,” was the only answer Gaeric had given. “I cannot make a decision like this without our leader Irida’s input.”
“Of course, of course! By the next delivery then, I’d love an answer from her!” Volo had responded without missing a beat, having turned around to trudge back through the snow, towards the nearest Ginkgo encampment. “She needs to make a decision soon.These things take time to set up, you know, and I’d hate for your settlement to run out of time… you’ve been valuable customers!”
That conversation had left Gaeric with a sour taste in his mouth; his supplier had seemed to be treating their plight like a simple game of strategy. He appeared eager to offer suggestions, but not too motivated to actually help unless he got something out of it, and this had only become more apparent with each delivery he’d made.
“I already asked about that this morning with him.” Gaeric finally answered - he was not motivated to share his recount with Irida, but he knew stalling it would only hurt them in the long run. “He said, all he could do was help us establish trade with the Diamond Clan or Jubilife Village, and he would work as the middle man-“
“-No!” Irida turned away from him again, stacking the remaining bowls before putting them into the cupboard. The task of stacking was needless, as she ended up putting them away one by one - she just needed something to busy her hands with. “He knows we can’t do that! And let me guess, he asked for steeper trading prices in return? Did he say the value of ice dropped again? Gaeric, we can’t keep doing this-”
“-I know! I was thinking about it today,” Gaeric cut her off in an attempt to keep her grounded. “And I agree, I don’t think we can afford his help. But…”
The Icelands warden paused on this last word as he gave her a sharp look, emphasizing he needed her to hear him out.
“...the idea of setting up a trade agreement with the Diamond Clan is… not a bad one. Why don’t we cut out the middle man, and try to strike a deal with them ourselves? We don’t have to explain everything that's going on, we can just frame it as a gesture of growing relations, and trust. Which in a way, it is.”
“I just said we can’t do that!” Irida’s voice swelled with emotion, but frustrated sadness was more prevalent than the anger Gaeric had expected. “Cutting Volo out of it doesn’t change what we’d be doing!”
Gaeric crossed his arms, posture stiff. “Irida. The elders are not the Pearl Clan’s leader. You are. Things are changing. They need to respect your decisions, even if it means they don’t agree.”
That was easier said than done when Irida respected them so much. They helped take care of her when her mother had tried to fight off her sickness, and did their best to raise her after the sickness had won. They checked in on her when she needed it, and gave her advice that she still found useful to this day.
She had grown up with their guidance just as much as she had with Gaeric’s.
So it was hard to hear them voice their poignant disapproval over her gradual efforts to tolerate the Diamond Clan and better relations, and Gaeric knew it influenced Irida’s behavior towards Adaman’s people somewhat, acting more standoffish than she wanted to be. If the elders found out Irida was considering going to them for help, expressing vulnerability and inadvertently showing weakness to the people who constantly disrespect their Almighty Sinnoh, they would… Well, Gaeric wouldn’t be surprised if they tried to strip her of her authority, deeming her unfit to lead by disregard of their traditions and ancestors.
But this wasn’t the time to be prejudiced, or to place the elders’ complaints above properly providing for the people. Gaeric himself still held some of his own reservations about the Diamond Clan, but he could clearly see the issue at hand was much bigger than their differences.
“I hear the things they whisper between each other at our meetings, Gaeric,” Irida relented to her complacent side anyways. “This would make things worse.”
“Have Calaba go with you, then,” Gaeric advised. “They respect her.”
Irida knew Calaba would gladly go with her to discuss trading if she asked - despite being the oldest elder of the clan, she was actually the most open-minded of that group. Her developing friendship with Lady Lilligant’s warden had softened her outlook towards the Diamond Clan considerably, and while this friendship was not exactly public knowledge to the settlement, she was respected enough that her willing involvement might lessen the backlash from the elders.
Irida seemed to consider this extensively. The dark, taut look in her blue eyes lessened, the storm clouds behind them parting with a few clarifying blinks. She finally tucked the last bowl away, having gripped it in her hands for the last minute.
“Yeah. Maybe I should.”
A few more blinks. The dark clouds returned.
“But… It’ll take time to set up trading negotiations, and that’s even if they agree to them! How do we manage ourselves until then?”
She was beginning to drown again.
“Well then!” Having finished with his previous chore, Gaeric moved across the kitchen to stand next to her and help her finish up her own tasks. He started sorting through the untouched pile of utensils, categorizing them together. “This is what I think! And listen, I know how you feel about it. But, it might be a good idea if instead of putting more people on the traps, we start considering bulking up the hunting parties for bigger targets. I’ve been watching Draugr’s herd out by Avalugg’s Legacy, and a few of the older piloswine should be easy to take down. We really should-”
Irida interrupted Gaeric with a distressed heave. Even the mention of that alpha mamoswine - that living mountain that terrorized the white wastelands - was too much for her to think about on top of everything else. Gaeric’s words died as he noticed more options were only putting more stress on her. He needed to stop piling things onto her plate, and instead take a few things off of it. She needed time to digest it all.
“You are Pearl Clan’s leader,” Gaeric reiterated as he tried to ease the situation, studying her expression carefully. “And I can only make suggestions; it’s up to you whether you want to listen to them or not. But, I say we should start considering bigger options ahead of time, while we still have the energy, supplies, and people for them. Don’t you think so?”
Irida wiped at the corner of her eye, silent.
“Yeah,” she brushed it off. “It’s just… a lot. To consider, I mean. These are really important decisions. And everyone’s telling me different things.”
Gaeric placed a hand on her shoulder, and she leaned into his arm, searching for comfort in the gesture. Just like she did as a child, when the new burden of leading the clan felt like too much for her.
Both of them knew very well that with the way things were going, they were not improving, and Irida would have to start making hard choices that she didn’t want to make. But if she didn’t make the hard choices now, she’d have to face even more grievous consequences later.
Irida took a shaky breath. Gaeric hated having to watch her relive a situation so similar to her mother’s.
“You’re handling things the best you can.” The Icelands warden finally answered Irida’s initial question. “The avalugg will be ending their sleep soon. Once mighty Lord Avalugg arises, the zoroark will not dare steal from our traps! And our radishes can grow in peace! But until then, we still have food stocked up. The elders and the children are still getting full meals. Everyone is still eating every day. And that is because of the choices you have made as our leader.”
Irida said nothing, but Gaeric knew she appreciated his words. Though he could tell something was still on her mind, nagging at her and telling her she wasn’t doing good enough. And he knew exactly what it was.
“What happened last night with Ingo and the kid was just an honest accident, and it was taken care of.” Gaeric attempted to pull the thorn out of her side.
“Ugh, let’s not talk about that.” Irida sighed into Gaeric’s shoulder, another release of pent-up pressure from recalling the massively stressful event that was last night’s dinner. She lifted a heavy hand to massage her eyes. “I’m still waiting to have a proper conversation about that with him, and I’m not looking forward to it.”
Last night, Akari's sudden appearance made her realize just how conscious she had to be of possible surprises like that. They couldn’t afford to have the situation strained even more. And Irida knew just how close Akari was to the warden, but Ingo could not bring her around so carelessly anymore. Not around to see the settlement trying to make up for its struggles, and especially not around mealtimes.
And Ingo… she already felt like he was stretching himself far too thin.
And things hadn’t even gotten hard yet.
Having come to their clan at the tail end of last winter, he had no idea how difficult things could get. And Irida had to admit that Ingo was a man of selflessness to a fault; with his habit of overextending hospitality, she worried he was going to burn himself out in his efforts to help. But when she insisted he not forget himself whenever he expressed the importance of helping the clan, he always assured her he was taking care of himself too.
…Just like he did last night, at their headache of a dinner, where he obviously didn’t eat after an extensive day of hard work. Irida knew enough about Ingo to surmise that this could possibly become a pattern, and she was sure at some level, he was aware she suspected as much.
The creaking of the back door slowly opening initially went unnoticed by Irida and Gaeric, but the sudden temperature drop and flurry rushing into the room caught their attention.
Gnarled, withered fingers gripped the side of the door as it was cautiously pushed open, so as not to let too much snow inside. A moment later, Gaeric’s froslass poked her head around the corner. A crackly, yet gentle hiss of breath slipped through her human-like teeth to announce her arrival.
Irida’s glaceon and her two eevee slipped through the door a second later, the pair of brown, furry Pokémon much more eager to enter the warmer room than their evolved equivalent. Gaeric’s glalie hung behind his froslass, comfortable in the cold and content with waiting outside by the door.
“Eevee, Glaceon!” A genuine smile made its way to the corners of Irida’s mouth as she turned, kneeling down to greet her Pokémon as they rushed over to her. She pet their heads as they yipped, the three of them leaning into her warm hands.
“Were you all able to find something to eat?” Gaeric asked his froslass as she drifted through the door, letting it close behind her.
“Frss,” The icy Pokémon slowly nodded her head in affirmation, her cold breath failing to make any clouded puffs herself, but only making Gaeric’s more prevalent. She held one of her hands out to Gaeric, her fingers curled around something. When he held out his own in response, she placed a handful of pep-up plant roots into his palm.
Ah. The only part of the plant that was often considered too spicy to eat raw, even with ice-types. They worked wonders when included in medicinals, though.
“Pep-up roots! Thank you, Froslass. I’m sure Calaba will appreciate these; I’ll let her know you all found them yourselves.” Gaeric tucked the roots into one of his satchels for later. Froslass seemed appreciative of his gratitude, tucking her face into her hands in a rather bashful manner.
“Now… did you have any encounters?” The warden’s voice lowered some as he took a glance at Irida and her own Pokémon, still receiving pets.
“Frrrrssl,” froslass hummed, before turning her head back at the exit, out where Glalie was still waiting. She drifted over the floor back to the wooden door, and opened it with a creak to return to her icy companion.
Even between the small sliver of the frame and the door, Gaeric could see some of his Pokémon’s frozen coating had been harshly scraped off - claws desperate to break through and reach the vulnerable black core. Yet despite the damage, Glalie visibly perked up and presented an affirming smile when it spotted him through the crack.
Curse those hungry zoroark.
“Irida, are your Pokémon alright?” Gaeric called from the door.
A pause as Irida quickly inspected her Pokémon, checking them over and combing through their fur for any hidden injuries.
“They’re fine!”
Another pause as she realized why he was asking.
“Are yours?”
“Nothing that can’t be helped with an ice bath. Those zoroark can’t get through Glalie’s ice armor that easily!” Gaeric reassured her. It felt weird to admit he preferred it was one of his own Pokémon that was attacked, but he was relieved that it was Glalie, and not one of Irida’s more vulnerable Pokémon. It’s why the two of them always asked their Pokémon to hunt and forage together; it was safer with the zoroark prowling about, and Glalie was essentially their de facto protector.
Glalie would get lots of pets and affection from him later, as thanks for their efforts.
Irida stood up as she brushed stray fur off herself, her Pokémon still close by her legs, and looked around at the tidied kitchen in the chance they missed something.
“Well, it seems we’ve cleaned up everything. Thanks for your help Gaeric, I know you didn’t have to stick around and do this. You should go home now, and tend to Glalie.”
“You’re talking like you’re staying here. You have more work to do, or something?” A chuckle was heard in Gaeric’s voice. “You know, you can tell me if I did a bad job cleaning the dishes.”
“No, no!” Irida brushed it off with a small laugh of her own, the unexpected joke catching her off guard. “I just… I’d like to double check the storage before going back. Just making sure, you know? With the zoroark around, and everything.”
Gaeric normally would have told her it’s fine, or that she’d be checking for no reason. But after tonight’s conversation, seeing her so stressed and worried… she was doing it just for reassurance, and he knew better than to downplay that.
“Well that’s just down the hill! Here, I’ll go with you.” Gaeric opened the door wide for her as an invitation to step outside, and a flurry of cold rushed into the room. “And don’t argue, it’ll only take a few minutes.”
Irida took the stance of someone who seemed ready to indeed argue for about two seconds. But she appeared to quickly think better of it, and instead moved to blow out the few candles that still illuminated the room.
“Fine,” She blew out the last candle, leaving the empty kitchen in a cold, dark blue that matched the frigidity of the night outside. Finally, she moved to slip past him through the door, her Pokémon trailing behind. “...Thank you.”
The snowfall that drifted down instantly began to collect in her hair and accumulate on her frame in an attempt to freeze her, but Irida seemed indifferent to it as she waited for Gaeric to shut and secure the mess hall’s door behind him. The icelands around them were dark and silent, the settlement barely illuminated by what dim moonlight could find its way through the thick winter clouds.
Gaeric passed by Irida and took the lead down the hill as she followed close behind, their Pokémon sticking close by. He wondered if Irida would choose to be silent the whole way down to their storage, essentially ending their earlier conversation, and leaving him in the dark about her plans moving forward. But halfway down the hill, he heard her voice piercing the heavy winter atmosphere.
“About our conversation tonight… Thank you, Gaeric.” Irida kept her eyes on the snow before her, making her way through the heavy blanket of white as she kept behind Gaeric. “I will try and plan out a trade proposal for the Diamond Clan with Calaba tomorrow, as well as discuss moving focus off of our traps, and the possibility of forming a few hunting parties at our next meeting.”
Gaeric hummed a sound of approval. He was the one who organized the hunting parties. He knew she’d want his help discussing that with the rest of the clan.
“Just… not for Draugr,” Irida urged, her weariness audible in her voice. “I won’t have anyone going after Draugr. I don’t think we could even take him down with Ingo’s help, and… we’re just not at that point to take risks like that yet. He’s too dangerous.”
#submas#ingo#warden ingo#akari#Pokemon akari#lady sneasler#irida#pokemon irida#gaeric#pokemon gaeric#Pokémon legends arceus#pokemon legends arceus#pokemon legends#Pokémon legends#pokemon#pokemon fanfic#pokemon fanfiction#illustrated fic#waywardstationfanfic
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Old Art October! From around Sep '22, the Tokyo Ghoul au I toyed with.
Ingo wakes up in a back alley, memories gone and one eye kakugan red-and-black. The ghoul woman codenamed Sneasler finds him and whisks him off the street. Despite his amnesia, Ingo's still certain that he's a human - but the eye means he must be a ghoul.
Transcript below the cut.
Image 1
Ingo: Thank you for your hospitality.
Image 2
Sneasler: You were clearly starving, and there's no way I'd let a starving ghoul just wander around in my territory.
Image 3
Ingo: ...what?
Image 4
Sneasler: I'm one of the 10 Nobles. I oversee a portion of the city. Part of that is keeping the peace and preventing ghouls from doing anything stupid.
Image 5
Ingo: No, I... I'm human. I am certain...
Image 6
Sneasler: ...
Sneasler: Your kakugan is active right now.
Image 7
Sneasler, offscreen: Look.
Image 8
Ingo, internally: Is that... me? No... this is... wrong--
Image 9
WRONG WRONG WRONG
#ingo#submas au#tokyo ghoul au#qed's art#q's old art october#self harm#tagging just to be safe since Ingo's scratching his face in the last one#I came up with this idea by going 'let's make Ingo suffer' and Tokyo Ghoul came to mind#but then I started thinking aboht the worldbuilding/setting and got interested in the au for those reasons#like. Emmet's having an interesting time of his own volition#(no he doesn't join the ccg this isn't hv au lol)#maybe I'll return to this idea someday. maybe I'll just explain my thoughts in a tumblr post#time will tell
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It Changes, like Water (CH. 6)
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Summary: Akari has just met Gaeric for the first time and is still a little rattled by the experience. Ingo tries to reassure her by telling her a story.
Content Warning: Blood, bodily injury, and wild animal attack
Notes: I've made this in honor of Monsoon-of-Art and their PLA mer au (and just a touch from a different au where Gaeric acts as Irida's guardian). Many of the scenes in this fic are directly inspired by their work, there mer stuff more specifically. I've been a big fan of them since I started playing PLA and I've only grown to love all their characterizations of some of my favorite characters in all of Pokemon.
The last one! Woo~
If you've made it this far, thanks so much for the read. I had excellent inspiration and the power of Lexapro and ginseng giving me strength to write the first new fanfic I've done in months. Between school, work, and trying to sort out my depression and anxiety with medications, its been rough. Writing is one of my favorite outlets, as is Pokemon - not having the motivation or time to do much of either… well, I'm just glad to have them back.
Thank you so much to the community of writers and artists in the PLA and Pokemon fandom at large for inspiring me everyday to make more of the content I love. You keep doing you, guys.
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy! Don't like to read on Tumblr? Read it here on AO3.
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Ingo finished his story and Akari did not look remotely convinced, the mer grimaced.
“I know Gaeric has a – ah, reputation, but from what I gather, he has come a long way since he was a young man. He can still have a poor attitude regarding strangers, I know that firsthand. His devotion to Pearl clan can be a little misguided, but it is just that, devotion.”
Ingo realized that, again, he was making it sound as though he was excusing Gaeric’s destructive behavior. He didn’t condone it, although he knew some others did. The Galaxy Team’s presence and the mystery of the frenzied nobles seemed very closely linked in the eyes of many, even Melli had gone so far as to begrudgingly praise Gaeric for his grit. When Melli was saying something nice about the Pearl clan, that was when you knew something was wrong.
“What I am trying to say, Miss Akari, is that Gaeric has had his own identity crises in the past. He is not a stranger to misrepresenting himself or acting untrue to his ideals. He no longer permits himself to be that way. He was young once, he raised Lady Irida for a few years and continues to be her mentor – I don’t think he has it in him to harm a young, inexperienced pup like you in the way you’re thinking. So please, Akari, do not think so poorly of Gaeric.”
This plea gave her pause, absently scratching the rough coral exterior of the flute with her nail, its blue color matching the darkening color of the sea as dusk turned into evening. Ingo was asking for her understanding, but more importantly to put faith in him and his clan. In her heart of hearts, Akari knew that what she was doing was wrong. She was lying to a lot of people just to satisfy her own curiosities and desires. Now she had dragged Ingo into her brew of lies. He was asking for her trust, and she trusted Ingo just as much as she trusted her captains or Professor Laventon.
“I’ll… try. He’s not nearly as nice as you.”
“You caught him at a bad moment. Gaeric is nocturnal.”
Oh, so she woke him abruptly. That explained his grumpiness at the very least, she would also be pretty upset to be woken up abruptly by some stranger. Akari also knew for a fact that she looked terrifying before taming her hair and washing her face in the morning. His actions… She couldn’t condone his actions, but there were things that the commander did in the name of the team and Jubilife that she found questionable. There was a lot more grayness to the world, Akari was coming to realize. She hopped off the rock she had seated herself on and asked Ingo to run her across the cavern, where a narrow path between the boulders led out to the forest about a mile from Jubilife.
Ingo knew her fears were at least temporarily assuaged but knew more moments like this would crop up with more interaction with the clans. He would do his best to keep Akari at a distance, but between his clans’ own concerns for him and his mental/physical wellbeing and both clans insatiable nosiness to know more about the small pup that followed him around occasionally, he knew it was practically hopeless. His goal now was to soften the blow as best he could for all parties. It was a precarious position, but Ingo had been treading fine lines for many years now. Who knows, there was the remote possibility that this could be a unique experience for positive change in the clans and humans.
Only time would tell and that was just as unpredictable as the ever-changing sea.
<<Last Chapter || First ||
#pokemon#legends of arceus#pla#pl:a#p:la#pokemon legends arceus#pokemon: legends arceus#pokemon legends: arceus#pkmn#fanfic#fan fic#fanfciton#fan fiction
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Arceus's mark
[the title changed! Good news.]
<chap 2
Tw; throwing up, something in the throat like a bug.
"...oh" Ash lets out in amusement, he remembered what the plates he had gotten was for, he remembered why he was so uneasy to Volo, oh Arceus, he shouldn't have sent him into the past head first (literally), he was glad he didn't end up like Subway master ingo.
"Who?" Ash asked,
"Warden ingo," irida said, "i think you can help him with his amnesia." She looks worried.
Ash rubbed his chin for a second in an attempt to remember something."Ingo...why does that name sounds familiar- OH—"
Maybe he should request Arceus to send the man, Ingo, back to Unova, that poor man, his twin is probably ripping his own hair out.
Step step
He can hear someone walking towards his tent, he groaned, who is it this time?
"Hello? Sir ketchum, Are you there?" It was Cyllene, oh boy how glad was he when he realized it wasn't Kamado, he almost thanked Arceus but then remembered what the God of all had done.
Ash stood up and approached Cyllene, "What is the leader of the galaxy's team's survey doing here?" Ash softens, even though this is the ancestor of Cyrus, she wasn't as bad as he is.
"Ah, I'm just delivering a message from sir Kamado." She said,
Ash's soft demeanor quickly fell to ruins as he groaned in irritation, "ah, that man." Ash clicked his tongue and Cyllene raised an eyebrow before she gave Ash a letter.
"Oh, a quick message from Kamado." Cyllene cleared her throat, her face seemingly displeased and is saying; 'this is unnecessary'
"Please do not interact much with the galaxy team members any further."
Ash was sure some of those words were simplified and watered down to a polite one by Cyllene, he can hear Kamado rambling about how much this random kid is affecting the galaxy team in his head, Ash thanked Cyllene and she bowed before leaving.
Right after that lightning strikes down and it starts to rain, he sees Cyllene panicking and running back to the Jubilife village, he quietly chuckles before frowning again, looking at the letter in his hand.
"Motherfucker." Ash cursed quietly before throwing the letter to the side of the tent, Kamado should really mind his own business, he has favored the galaxy team members for like 6-5 or even 10 Times and most of it was to collect some stuff in the obsidian land, if at this point Kamado is STILL not satisfied by him he would burn the whole Jubilife village out of pure spite if it weren't for his three favorite people in the village, Lavender, Rei and Akari.
And right when he's finally able to rest for a few second, he can hear screaming in the distance, and a pokemon's good stomping on the ground while rapidly approaching his tent, Ash gets up, opens his tent and;
"SHUT THE FUCK U— oh hey Akari, Rei, and..deer," he's guessing it's a noble pokemon deer,
Akari was at the front and Rei was at the back, they looked like they're about to cry, "Why are you guys out in the rain??"
Akari took a deep breath, "So we were in a hurry and wanted your help in calming the frenzied Electrode down!" She explains, oh that's why they were in such a hurry, well, At Least he'll have something to do.
"Alright alright." Ash sighed and whistled, soon a Rapidash zoomed towards them and slowly stopped near Ash, on Rapidash's back was Pikachu.
"pika!" Pikachu shouted.
While Rei and Dawn were still shocked at the fact that the fire didn't burn Ash.
Ash quickly got on Rapidash's back, and all of them started to travel towards the destination, "By the way where are we going and who are we meeting?"
"Coronet Highland then, we're probably gonna meet Warden Ingo first so we can Ask the Noble pokemon lady Sneasler to help us reach Electrode" Akari tells him and Ash can't help but almost be confused by all these titles.
"I just don't want to see Melli's face there." Rei frowns.
"Ah yes, Melli, he's interesting." Ash chuckled while scratching the back of his neck, before telling Rapidash to go faster, "come on, we have no time to lose!" He laughs.
"WHY ARE YOU ACTING LIKE THIS IS A FLIMSY MATTER!?" Dawn shouted in disbelief as Ash sped off from them, "ASHHH!" she called.
The rain slowed down, and turned into snow as they approached the Coronet Highland.
The change didn't bother Ash, rather it was inconvenient for his clothes, it's starting to get cold now, well at Least he's grateful that Arceus gave him a lot of clothes for the trip in Hisui, Although most of it comes in his color aka white colors and decorated with gold, he hid the ones with gold because of course it'll be suspicious for a newly arrived outsider to have fancy clothing like those.
He gets off Rapidash, Along with Dawn (Akari) and Rei who guides him to Ingo, and Ash can't help but think, 'what happened to this guy while I was gone???'
They talk for a while before Melli comes up, causing Rei to lose all his energy in a second, whining about why exactly he's here, and then Melli goes on and try to convince them that the frenzied Electrode was … a blessing from the almighty sinnoh.
It took Ash's whole willpower to not pull up his newspaper and slap Melli with it, don't ask why he has a newspaper he just does, Ash cursed in Unovan under his breath and Ingo can't help but snap his head towards Ash when he said it.
"Listen, Melli, you either let people die from that frenzied Noble pokemon of yours or let it and all of us have a peaceful life." It took another hour to argue with Melli to convince him to let them calm the frenzied Noble down, He scoffs and lets them enter the cave.
If he wanted to he would have fisted Melli right then and there and give him a lesson if it weren't for his reputation, "Pikachu, light up the room." And Pikachu obliged.
"Pika pika..chupi." Pikachu whispered as electricity lit up the cave.
"Soon, Pikachu, soon." Ash grunts.
Akari and Rei were amazed by Pikachu's ability and started to ask Ash how he did it, "It's a passive ability in most pokemon that can create light out of electricity or other types, come on let's go." Ash explains briefly before speeding up his pace.
Although they slowed down after a few minutes, Ingo started to talk to Ash and they had a very interesting talk, Ash mimicking the way he talks in an attempt to make him remember something and then explaining the words he doesn't remember the meaning of, unfortunately they arrived at the other side of the cave.
They end up meeting Melli again and the twin groans in irritation, Ash however steps up to battle with Melli, Melli was so prideful that Ash was probably really motivated to sweep out his whole team with one Pikachu.
Well he did.
And seeing Melli's face redden from embarrassment was so satisfying for the whole group, "THAT'S FOR UNCLE INGO!" Rei yelled and all the head snapped towards him before he realized what he just said, Akari patted him on the back while he covered his face with his palm from shame as they continued to walk towards the destination.
Ingo, who can't smile however, seemed happy when Rei called him that, Ash guess he's also feeling a sense of familiarity because Rosa called him uncle once in Unova and it embarrassed her so much if Ash remembered correctly.
When they were in the ruins Ingo started to give a history lesson to all of them, Ash nodded while he was listening even if he knew about it, patting his white kimono and pants off of the snow before abruptly stopping at the familiar step noises.
Ash slowly turned his head around to see who it was, and the dreaded feeling was confirmed, and his hand instinctively reached the base of his own neck.
Volo, GODDAMMIT TROUBLE MAGNET GENES.
Ingo asked him what he's doing here, but Volo then starts to trail off from the topic and explains that he's wondering on what's the other side of the rift.
"Why? It's not like you're gonna go and sell your products there." Ash said to Volo,
"If I could, I would." Volo crosses his arms,
Ash was definitely holding the urge to slap him with one of Arceus's plates right then and there.
After a while they had to depart and they finally arrived but they had to wait for lady Sneasler, Ingo explained about her hidden move to climb but Ash didn't pay attention to his explanation, and only explained the words the twins didn't understand that was said by Ingo.
But the experience after the explanation was what caught Ash's attention, Ingo offering a battle to the three of them, Ash however has another idea.
Telling him that they can do a double battle because there are enough people there, he was confused at first but caught on quickly, and then Ash had to explain it to the twin before they got in the battle.
It was easy to say the least, but however Ingo seemed very pleased about it, subconsciously saying bravo as a congratulations and then calling for Emmet, Ash felt pity at that moment.
He was..searching for Emmet, he doesn't even remember who he is still but he knows how important Emmet is and knows he's a family and—all the memories still haven't recovered, but..most of them did, not in great detail although, but enough for Ingo to understand the basic but not explain in full detail.
He knows most of the meaning of the modern word he said now, Ash impulsively makes a pulling movement with one of his hands and Ingo whistles something like a train noise, Akari perked up a little bit but Rei...was still confused but amused.
And then Lady Sneasler arrived, with a basket on her back, eager to put one of the teenagers in it.
Her attention was stolen by Ash who forgot about something, the mark on his neck, it's visible to all of the pokemons, it shines like Arceus's golden thing on Arceus's waist...just that it's like a prickling light surrounding around his neck, but unable to be seen by regular humans who haven't encountered Arceus.
She grabs him despite his attempt at running away from her and carries him first up the mountain before catching Akari and Rei who was dumbfounded because Lady Sneasler was running to Ash while he tried to escape like he owed her thousands of money, when Ingo asked her why she wanted to carry Ash first she only replied a voice, Ingo had a feeling it was...supposed to be: "it is my duty to serve him."
They meet Melli again who wants a rematch and Ash kicks Rei into the battlefield, Rei looks back at Ash in betrayal before absolutely wiping Melli's pokemons off the battle ground, Ash grinned at (his student's) Rei's strength.
And then Melli drops the bomb that he won't tell Electrode's favorite food and now they can't fucking calm the frenzied pokemon down, Ash was about to jump on Melli but then Adaman appeared and told them their favorite food, BLESS THE LORDS AND ARCEUS, only for this time, come to think of it, he doesn't interact much with Adaman.
Melli whines to Adaman while Ash has a smug face from victory, but it is short lived because Adaman kept staring at Ash with a strange look and Ash can only act like usual, he had to guide Rei and Akari in how to move constantly without getting hit too many times, well Akari and Rei are used to it because they catch pokemons for Professor Lavender.
"MOVE!" Ash screamed as Akari barely dodged an electric ball, Ash grabbed Rei's whole body and threw him to the side with sheer strength before jumping to the side, he hit his left leg but it's okay, he's alive, Rei was a bit flabbergasted at how easily Ash carried him in those few seconds.
All of them were on the ground when the frenzied noble was calmed down, Ash was however hovering down while still standing, breathing heavily and coughing a lot, he got hit by the electricity a lot of times but it was worth it in the end. (Besides, he was immune to Electric types if he must say.)
Nope, it wasn't.
Anyways, Ingo came back and started explaining about his memory returning, about trainers and humans living comfortable with pokemons.
After that they all head back to their respective ways and home, Adaman although followed Ash because he piqued his interest so he offers to accompany Ash back to his camp, and Ingo who noticed this also offered to do it, and then the twins decided to follow him too, Ash wanted to refuse it at first but he was too tired to refuse and argue so he just lets them do whatever they want.
Ash can't help but breathe heavily, he was tired, he was exhausted, and the Mark on his neck was fading dim.
Adaman tried to have a conversation with Ash but Ash can only tell him briefly about any topic, he doesn't like to linger long on one topic,
Unexpectedly, Ash was starting to wheeze, his friends already in front of the path and Adaman was asking if he was okay, but he couldn't hear it, and then he felt something sickening.
He tensed before leaning off his Rapidash, ending up with him falling down to the ground with a loud 'thud', he was trying to get something to get out of his throat, something was in there- something- it was crawling all over until he couldn't breathe, he scratched his neck intensely before he started gagging.
The noises calling his name were a blur, everything was a blur, and something reached the top, and he opened his mouth.
A bunch of mixed liquid came out of his mouth, but most of it wasn't liquid, it was a sizzlipede, a pokemon from the Galar region, he doesn't know why it came out and how it even got there.
What he does know is that Centipede pokemons are a hint of Giratina, a mark of Giratina.
Ash can feel the consciousness drain for him rapidly as his eyesight faded in and his body gave up as he fell to the side of the ground.
One last thought before he was fully unconscious was that he wanted Arceus to strengthen his protection on him so that this doesn't happen again.
Or maybe curse Volo because this was probably his doings.
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thinking about dinomas instead of the many other things i need to do
previous post about it:
so. more about pre eeby:
Akari the T-rex, and her three Pteranodon siblings, Dawn, Barry, and Lucas, love going on the Dinosaur train pretty much every day.
Ingo and Emmet basically run a sort of... Sociology/physiology class, where the kiddos observe different dinosaurs and try to figure out why/how they do things ("i have a hypothesis!" as Buddy says in the show)
Ingo and Emmet have friends! like Skyla the microraptor, or Elesa the Dromiceiomimus!
pretty much everyone knows about Ingo and Emmet and thier love for battles. there are specific cars on the train to house small ones, but mostly its just done near the Train station. many dinosaurs try to test their strength against the twins.
Troodons are verrry smart! so once Ingo and Emmet meet a species they've never met before, and battle them, they immediately try to figure out an effective way to take them down (again, these are all friendly battles. its enrichment, if you will)
basically Ingo and Emmet can tag team pretty much anyone. if they've met the same species before.
this is getting long so more post eeby under the cut
so, the Dino train can travel thorough time, but there are some places, if the gate is not big enough, the the train cannot go through
that, however, does not mean a dinosaur cant go through =]
so basically Ingo doesn't remember how to leave the timezone he fell in (somewhere in the Pleistocene period) and Emmet cant get there bc the time tunnels (apparently that's what they are called in the show) are too small.
pearl clan, a group of Scimitar Cat (kinda like the saber tooth/Smilodon but their teeth are Much smaller.) take Ingo in after their Lady Sneasler carries him over
no one really knows what the heck ingo is, but they let him be warden of Sneasler. both clans are actually mammals in this one, with diamond clan being Beringian lions, (who, fun fact, might have been completely maneless! which is confusing considering the cold climate, but they might have been completely covered in thick fur...)
ingo chills there for a long while, until suddenly, out of the tiny time Tunnels (or space time distortions, as the Clans call them) a T-Rex appears. the group of Tigers called the Galaxy Team take her in and they occasionally meet up with the other clans.
a few days after Akari lands in the future (ha!) a bolt hits the nobles and they go into a frenzy. Akari is sent to take care of it.
the nobles are!
Kleavor- giant beaver (cut down trees) (they were the size of bears today!)
Lilligant- Scrophulariaceae (its a flower. its kinda sentient. don't ask.)
Arcanine- Dire wolf (but a big one. for context- Dire wolves are around the same size as a yukon wolf, which is 85 cm (~2.8 ft) tall.)
Electrode- a rock. (it'd be funny)
Avalugg- the ever approaching glacial movements. (melts and gives fresh water- that's why its a noble)
and the ride pokemon just to cover all basses:
Wyrdeer- caribou
Ursaluna- giant short-faced bear (VERY big. one and a half times the size of a grizzly bear. which is. Big.)
Basculegion- Quinkana (a crocodylian! big guys!! in the time period they are in, around 6 m (20 ft) long!! there is even some debate of them being 9 m long!!)
Sneasler- giant ground sloth (up to 3 meters long!)
Braviary- Haast's eagle (one of the larges known true raptors- but with a strangle small wingspan for its size- possibly up to 3 m)
i am well aware these guys would not live in the same area btw- but im talking about a universe with dinosaurs that built a time traveling train and magic- so...
anyway, eventually Akari and Ingo meet, and both are like "i have seen you before!!" but other than that vague feeling they don't really remember. she and Ingo talk a lot, and eventually come to the realization that the space time distortions (time tunnels) could lead them home.
Ingo instinctively knows that they should Not just. walk in one, and instead they chip away the the surrounding rock of one until ingo feels its Just the right size. for what, he isn't sure. he does think that there should be some shiny metal things coming out of it... but he doesn't know where to get that kind of material, so he doesn't bother with it.
one night, they are woken up by a sheer whistle, and then a horrible crash. Ingo rushes out to the Time tunnel to see a train completely derailed in front of it, tipped over onto its side.
a white Troodon stumbles out of it.
anyway thanks for reading this far! here is some art of ingo i did =]
#no shading today#sorry#dinomas#submas au#submas#you guys have no idea how much research i did for this#it feels kinda silly but also remembering my old dino hyper fixation...#could be worse!#also- how everyone interacts is decidedly inaccurate#in that they would all live on different ends of the globe#also where they live in game is nothing like the animals actual habitat...#sloths do Not live in the mountains#but. eh.#there is. more i want to dig into and explain#but ill. do that later#ah... im so sorry my other WIPs... this has completely derailed me...#oh yeah#if anyone wonders anything about this ever#or like#wants clarification#i will answer happily#thanks for reading *this* far#i hope you have a very nice day =]#ray's art
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For the ask game, ingo and melli, 6&12?
oooh yesyesyes (character dynamics ask game)
6. what does A think B thinks of them? or, if asked to describe their relationship, how would they do it? are they right?
ingo is under the impression that melli thinks he's incompetent and annoying. ingo is also under the impression that melli thinks this about everyone. this is because melli tells everyone this every chance he gets. he also thinks this is kind of a fair assessment in his case, because, like, most wardens get training in how to Be A Warden. he very much did not. he's just kind of. guessing his way through it. so like. yeah! melli objectively knows more than him and while he can be kind of a jerk about it, it's not entirely unwarranted for melli to regard him as unskilled.
jokes on him though bc melli didn't fucking go through any training either he just followed in his big sister's tradition of showing up at the noble's seat and not leaving. i'm still on the fence abt how... idk, self aware melli is, but i think in general he does like/respect ingo more than he will ever actually admit. he may not know specifically the ins and outs of being sneasler's warden, but he knows pokemon in general very well and is adept at handling them, and he does also clearly take the responsibility of the position very seriously, which is one of the things that's most important in melli's opinion. also i don't think melli's ever... known a highlands warden before ingo. like, the one point of comparison he has is the guy who fucked off and abandoned everyone almost two decades ago. so between that, and No Warden At All, and ingo, there's kind of no competition. having the extra pair of hands is REALLY helpful even if melli will staunchly deny that he ever had any trouble doing everything by himself.
on the flipside, i think melli. kind of thinks ingo is a little obsessed with him because the dude will Not leave him alone. in reality ingo just goes stir crazy if he doesn't get his required amount of human interaction per week and melli is the closest available person to fill that quota. like i said though, ingo DOES think melli is a very capable and knowledgeable warden who also happens to be kind of an asshole (maybe unconsciously?? he's not sure about this one) but generally puts up with his habit of not knowing basic things about hisui, or sinnoh, or being a warden, and wandering off or zoning out staring at a lake for hours, or forgetting conversations they had Yesterday, pretty well, which is appreciated.
12. if B asked A for help, how likely would they be to give it?
oooh this is a fun one. in the very very rare case that melli asks (or, more likely, demands) ingo's help with something, i mean ingo is like. physically incapable of NOT agreeing to help when he is directly asked. it's really more a question of how far into asking melli can get before he cuts him off. it also helps that if melli's asking, this is probably something that's either really important or needs more than one person to deal with, or both.
on the flipside though. i already mentioned that i think melli runs into a lot of ingo Not Knowing Things, and while he might roll his eyes about it, melli loves to fucking talk, and he LOVES getting to be an authority on things. so that's one of the cases where melli's almost definitely going to help, but less so out of the goodness of his heart or anything than that he just enjoys it.
in other cases than that one, though... i think ultimately if ingo asks for help with like, general warden duties, aiding a traveler, etc, melli will help him, because while it's a terrible imposition you jerk, sinnoh forbid he is caught slacking, or suggesting anything is outside of his power, or disrespecting his fellow wardens and nobles in any way. he is the epitome of "it's rotten work, i'll fucking do it but christ alive." also he will never admit it but melli DOES care about ingo on a personal level, and is pretty fucking angry abt what he sees as someone intentionally attacking a warden (even tho ingo wasn't a warden yet shh) and permanently scarring him re: amnesia, so if it's anything personal or related to that melli WOULD also go to bat for him. not bc he cares tho. this is a Principles thing.
#the nemesis speaks#the nemesis answers#jidem#pla analysis#ask game#rotating them in my mind...#i guess i should also say that some dynamics that are going hc for me are a little different than those in oop/other specific fics#for narrative or ''i came up with this after i wrote that'' reasons#but see also: melli fully ready to beat the shit out of irida for turning ingo in no hesitation whatsoever
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So quick question, seeing as you had a mini timeskip between chapters 5 and 6 to jump past the moment. What exactly was Melli’s reaction both properly meeting the young twins for the first time, to finding out the “ghosts” he encountered were Ingo’s kids? I imagine he had a mini freak-out upon seeing them following Ingo thinking he got haunted/possessed, followed by a moment of bewilderment upon being introduced. (Ask part 1/2)
yeah that character limit will sneak up on yeah, wish there was something I could do to make it longer for people.
also IngoYawnAndHeSuddenlyGone, don't know why that just makes me smile, maybe I'm still tired. ^^ rolls off the tongue nicely.
so I did write what happened afterwards, it was just in a scrapped chapter.
basically after the whole meeting in the cave, like you said saw the two following Warden Ingo around and had a mini-freak out thinking that Ingo was basically Haunted/ Possessed/ Curse what have you. so he races off to the Diamond Clan Settlement with "News" that the Pearl Clan were allowing a Cursed/Haunted/Possessed Warden to tend to one of their Nobles and something needed to be done about it.
but by the time he got their and started telling everyone, the twins had already been to Jubilife Village and met Mai (who had stopped into the village to pick up a few things) and Arezu (who works there).
so Melli is there just openly talking about the two ghost kids he saw with their creepy candle in Wayward Cave, and how they were now following the old Warden and that the area needed to be cleansed to remove the ghosts; and that the Great Melli would pick up the slack until a new Warden could be found.
until Arezu and Mai roll up and are like. "were they two ten years old's with silver hair and eyes, look exactly alike?"
"Yes."
"Those aren't ghost their Warden Ingo's kids."
so Melli suffered a little bit of a blow to the ego. finally get back to the Highlands and Ingo is able to take him down to meet the boys. (he'd been trying for a while but Melli had avoiding him)
it is a controlled but strained conversation of pleasantries, as Poor Melli tries to play it cool. luckily Ingo is none the wise to the tales he's been telling and has no idea that the Great Melli got scared of two kids standing in the dark.
Young Ingo was very Polite (as always) he didn't really get a good look at Melli in the first place, poor kid was basically asleep on his feet.
Young Emmet on the other hand very Bluntly says "Your the guy from the cave. Who ran off screaming."
Ingo looks at Emmet to ask what he means, looks back at Melli and the other Warden has stormed off.
#thanks for the ask!#warden's twins#submas#pokemon au#au#subway bosses as kids#warden ingo#subway boss ingo#subway boss emmet#warden melli#pokemon ledgends arceus
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Listening to the halo reach soundtrack at work and thinking of spartan Ingo again 🥰🥰🥰
Either he and Emmet separated for Ingo to join the Noble team OR they were both recruited, with Ingo becoming Noble 6 and Emmet Noble 7.
But gaaahhhhh Noble 6 Ingo nervous because he and Emmet have been a team for so long, and he's assigned to noble team alone because they only need one member and he fits what they're looking for.
Ingo is uncertain about where he stands with Noble team, with Carter telling him he can't rely on his brother to have his back only, that he can't go hunting down Emmet when he's in trouble. He has to stay with the team now, and Ingo isn't sure he can. But he stays and gradually begins to fit in. He and Emile grate on each other, but he gets along well with Kat and Jorge. He doesn't see Jun much but when they do interact it's polite. Carter is pleased with how he's fitting in, even if he's talking to Emmet almost every day. There are things he has to dance around, missions they can no longer share, and it's hard because they've never had to keep secrets from each other.
And then the Covenant land on Reach, and all Ingo can tell Emmet at first is that something's gone wrong. And then he's storming a beach with the team, trying to remember when the last time he spoke to Emmet was, promising himself he'll do it as soon as he's back to base. Except then he's in space with Jorge, breaching a Covenant cruiser, and then Jorge is pushing him out of an airlock and everything is happening so fast.
He's creeping through the night with Jun, trying to save civilians, desperately firing at Hunters to try and keep them safe. He goes through all of Reach, seeing his team die and sacrifice themselves so that one, just one, of them might make it. Might pass on what needs to get to the right hands.
And he gets to the ship, and he thinks that maybe, just maybe, he and Emile - bonded slightly after watching Carter take out the scarab for them - might make it. Might be able to reuine with Emmet, with Jun, to mourn the losses of their team, their family, might be able to allow his grief an outlet- and then Emile is stabbed from behind, he's down, and there is no one else that can protect the ship. There is only Ingo. He swallows his nerves and turns around, heads for where Emile was just slain. He takes out the Elites - not without heavy injury - and clears the skies.
And then he is alone.
He's never been alone in his life. There was always Emmet or Elesa, and then there was Noble team. Even when Jorge sacrificed himself he wasn't alone because his team was waiting for him. But now there is no one but Ingo.
And the Elites are coming for him, and there is no escape.
#PLA#Ingo#Subway boss Ingo#Halo AU#Spartan Ingo au#Do you think that for someone who's never been alone in his entire life (despite and in spite of the spartan program)#The knowledge that your only blood family thinks you're dead and the family you developed has all died around you (in front of you)#How hard that must be. Ingo doesn't mind the quiet but this is silence. This is emptiness. He can't change the past.#Also this is re-uploaded yes bc I needed it in one post.#How does Ingo survive the glassing of reach? Yeah still brainstorming that.#But he does. And finds young sangheili Akari by herself.
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PLA/Submas Fic: Electric Trains are the Future Ch. 7: Like a Big Pecha Pie
Previous Chapter (6) - Current Chapter - Next Chapter (8)
The next chapter is here, with Pizza, Domestic Vibes, and talk about Unova! I actually had to go and adjust dialogue after making the timeline post because they didn’t line up haha
Chapter Summary: Ingo and Elesa celebrate Ingo’s memories with a homemade pizza.
Chapter Word Count: 4096
Read it below the cut, or on AO3 with additional notes! Reblogs and comments are always appreciated. I’ll be taking a break from the fic after Chapter 8, since I’ve hit some writer’s block, but I should have a side-story for you then.
Like any born and bred Nimbasan, Elesa was always down to destroy a good pizza. So seeing Ingo there, standing straight up and tossing a pizza was like she’d been hit by Attract and become infatuated with him. Not to say that she didn’t love him before, but having your man make you a pizza just hits different.
“Yes! I’ve had a craving every few weeks for years now, and it hit when I woke up,” Ingo says as he drops the crust back onto the counter and picks up a bowl of crushed Tamato Berry that she could see he had added sugar to sweeten it. “And this time, when I woke up, I remembered what it was!” He takes a serving spoon and scoops some onto the crust, spreads it in a circle.
“You remember pizza before anything else, huh?” Elesa asks with a laugh as she checks the ingredients. Oh, Petilil leaves, she likes those! “Wait, are you making a Margherita pizza?” She could always go for an Emboar sausage and onion pizza, but a solid Margherita might be what the doctor called for.
“Wasn’t my first choice, but this is what my station is stocked with, and it’s what I will use,” Ingo says, reaching past her to grab the small wheel of cheese that was on a chilled cloth. It was a notably different color, a little more yellowed than she expected. “Unfortunately, there isn’t any solid trade with Unova, so we don’t have Bouffalant mozzarella, nor Paldea for the Tauros mozzarella that they make. So I had to improvise a little.” He pulls up a thin, sharp knife, and gently cuts a thin sliver off the end and lays it on the sauce.
“Don’t they have Tauros down in Kanto?” Elesa asks as she picks up a knife and pulls the Petilil leaves over to a clean part of the counter. She looks for a cutting board, and snatches it over, dicing the leaves quickly. “Couldn’t you order some from there?”
“They do, but my memories just returned to their station, and I believe that Kanto doesn’t use them for cheese,” Ingo says with a loud laugh. “So, I’m trying some of the cheese that Laventon and I devised.” He cuts his last slice, putting the slice in the center of the other five. “Most people in the Clans are apprehensive of making food from other’s of the Noble Pokemons’ stock, but we made some Wyrdeer cheese that isn’t too bad.”
“Wyrdeer?” Elesa asks off-handedly as she takes her knife and cuts a small sliver off for herself and pops it into her mouth. It’s soft, surprisingly creamy and rich, and instantly begins to melt on her tongue! Maybe not the best for a pizza, but not a bad substitution, and definitely good for snacking. “You know, nevermind,” she quickly says, gently putting a finger on Ingo’s nose to stop him. “I don’t want you to tell me it’s gross and ruin this cheese.”
Her heart warms as Ingo’s expression softly sinks into the little Skitty mouth she finds so adorable, where the corners of his mouth turn up from his frown. “Fine then, I won’t tell you the beauty of Stantler’s evolution here in Hisui.” He reaches over and grabs the diced leaves, bumping up against Elesa with purpose before sprinkling them over the pizza. The brief contact made Elesa’s entire body feel fuzzy, like she was snuggling up to Emmet’s Galvantula. “Though it’s a Psychic-type, much more up Caitlin’s alley than yours.”
“You really are remembering things, Ingy,” Elesa says with a huge smile, bumping Ingo back before giving him some space to move the pizza from the counter.
“Seeing your Slim and Specs actually reminded me of Emmet,” Ingo says, his decibel rating dropping slightly. He lifts the pizza and turns towards the center of the room, where he has a pot of coals hanging from the ceiling. “Seeing the combination of Eelektross and Galvantula knocked the rust from the engine, and allowed the train to finally kick into gear.” He sets the pizza down onto the metal grate above the coals, and then covers it with a lid to properly cook it.
“I’m glad,” Elesa says, sitting down next to the pot, and leaning against Ingo once he joins her. “So, I talked with Irida a bit, and she told me about how you were found.” She gently kisses the side of his head. “I’m glad you were in the company of good people, Deerling.”
Ingo softly claps. “And I’m glad you think so well of them. Lady Irida has done so much for me here, and allowed me to work with my Lady Sneasler in the Highlands, which helped me feel so much more complete.”
“Complete?” Elesa asks before gently poking his side with a finger. “What, because you had another sassy tall girl ordering you around? Trying to replace me, even when you couldn’t remember?” She kept her tone light and teasing, so that she didn’t upset Ingo.
Thankfully he wasn’t, as he let out another one of his thunderous laughs. “I wouldn’t go that far!” He continues to chuckle softly before he continues. “Being with Lady Sneasler not only allowed me to have a proper companion here in Hisui, someone to live for other than myself, but it gave me a way to help others.”
“Irida didn’t mention what you do as a Warden,” Elesa says, closing her eyes on Ingo’s shoulder. “Would you mind telling me?”
If Ingo could smile, Elesa imagined he was; and in fact, he was! The one time she wasn’t looking since she got here, elation etched itself on his face as he got the opportunity to share his life in Hisui with the woman he loved.
“So, my duties specifically for Lady Sneasler herself are two-fold,” he began, his face quickly dropping from the large smile he had to a more neutral frown. “I’m to ensure her health and safety, whether that means I help her with her hunting and foraging, or I concoct medicines when her engines need maintenance. She very much loves Plump Beans and Springy Mushrooms, though she also enjoys Hearty Grains, which isn’t native to the Highlands the two of us normally keep to. I tend to gather some in the Mirelands when I have the time to run different tracks, and it’s what I used as the base for tonight’s pizza crust.”
He pauses only for a brief moment to hold his hands in front of him like he’s holding a Sneasel. “Honestly, she never likes it when I fret over her, as she considers herself to be the Highlands Boss, and sees me as one of her kits. She acts young, but from what Irida has told me, she’s been the Ride Noble for a little over 15 years, and fully grown for over three decades. Her cab is durable, and her paint has yet to fade, so at times she has to remind me that she is indeed in charge of our partnership. Especially when it comes to her actual kits.”
“Oh, those kits need a good smacking every once in a while to remember their manners,” Elesa mutters from Ingo’s shoulder, and feels him shift as he puts his hand to his chest in faux outrage.
“Elesa! They are beautiful little babies, and absolute paragons of virtue! They are tiny little cars that would never act as trains of chaos!” Elesa sits up and gives him a dead look before Ingo drops his arm. “Yes, I know that’s Bouffalantshit. Those kits of my Lady’s are Hell-Sunnans on a good day. Their favorite pastime is seeing if they can beat their record climbing atop me, like I was some derelict train in the scrapyard.”
“Yeah, they were climbing me too,” Elesa says before leaning back onto his shoulder. “So, other than working with her, what else are you doing as a Warden?”
“Ah yes, of course, allow me to get my car back on the rails,” Ingo says with a huff, taking a moment to get his thoughts together. “So, in a fitting bend on the tracks, I am in charge of safety checks and proper guidance in the Coronet Highlands. If someone needs to be guided to the summit of the mountain, or the safest paths through to the Coastlands, the job falls to me.”
“Head of Transportation wherever you go,” Elesa says with a giggle.
“Indeed, yes!” Ingo shouts in glee. “Bravo to Lady Irida for assigning the right job to the right person. The one consistent problem I have with that unfortunately is my fellow Warden in the Highlands, young Melli of the Diamond Clan. Though he cares for Pokemon deeply, he places his own thoughts and desires above the needs, and often the safety, of others.” He sighs heavily before continuing. “There have been many times where I was required to delay my passengers' travels through the Wayward Caves due to his worry that the torches would disrupt the Pokemon in the cavern. He would often extinguish the torches that I put up.”
Elesa lets out a soft gasp at that, knowing just how dangerous it is to go through caves in the darkness. When the three of them had gone on their Pokemon journey, they had nearly gotten lost in Twist Mountain during the night, when the sun was no longer lighting the cave through the various holes and cracks to the surface. Chargestone Cave had a few issues with darkness at night as well, but the natural luminescence of the electricity in that cave system meant that one could usually see what was around them.
“Don’t worry,” Ingo says, patting her head. “I eventually caught his Leader, Adaman, coming out of the cave in a bad mood, as he had nearly gotten lost due to the lack of torches. Once he found out that it was Melli’s call, my fellow Warden stopped taking the torches down!” Both of them laugh as Ingo lifts the lid to check on the pizza. There was a bubble forming on the edge of the crust that Ingo pokes with the knife that he had used for the cheese, letting the air leak out with a soft hiss. It will take some more time for the low heat of the coals to fully cook the dough of the pizza.
Sitting back down, it was Ingo’s turn to lean on Elesa’s shoulder, though he kept talking. “After Akari quelled the Lord Electrode, I decided to come work part-time with the Galaxy Team, which is what you found me doing yesterday. My job is to mostly train the Security Corp in battling, so that they can work in better sync with their partners, as well as any villagers that wish to learn battling for self-defense.” He breathes in deep and lets out a happy sigh. “I’ve gotten quite the reputation of being a monster of a trainer. To better challenge Miss Akari, I devised the Path of Solitude, where we are both limited to one Pokemon, with my Pokemon specifically chosen based on what she challenges me with.”
Elesa lets out a low whistle. No matter where Ingo went, he was a battle fiend. Take him through the Gym Challenge, and he’s the only one to face Alder of the three. Take him on the Subway, and he not only gains a reputation, but such popularity that it was a minor scandal among trainers that he was in a relationship. And now take him to the past, and he starts teaching random villagers how to battle and then creates a challenge for both himself and his opponent under heavy restrictions. She wasn’t surprised, and would’ve been shocked if he hadn’t done so.
“I also have a special team for Akari to face, composed of three Alphas that I have made a pact with.” Ok, that one sounded odd.
“Ingy, Bounsweetie?” Ingo hums slightly in acknowledgement. “What the Shellder is an Alpha?”
“Oh, that’s simple,” Ingo says, though Elesa feels that there is nothing simple about it. “They are extremely large and violent Pokemon that tend to claim territories of land for themselves, often pushing others of their packs away. Their eyes glow red when they aren’t tamed and they will attack most things on sight.”
“And you caught and tamed three of them to use in a challenge?” Elesa really hoped that was the case.
“No, I convinced them to couple with me in a battle with Akari,” Ingo says with a content hum. “They’re still quite wild, and I don’t think I’d be able to convince them to go another round after the loss they suffered to Akari’s team.”
Elesa stays silent for a few moments before swatting the bald spot on his forehead. “You brought dangerous Pokemon into the village?! You never change, Ingo, oh my goodness! You act like the responsible one around Emmet, but I swear you’re more impulsive than he is!”
Ingo sits up straight, frowning deeply in an effort to save face. “I am quite responsible, Elesa! I was the Head of Transportation, I know how to keep responsibility! Safety checks were conducted, and no one was harmed!” He pauses briefly to lift the lid and check the pizza, then moves it from the grill now that he’s deemed it cooked, using the time to change tracks of conversation. “Additionally, I often couple with Akari and Rei to do some research with them. Not only are they studying Pokemon, but also the local plantlife and the best places for new settlements for incoming immigrants.”
Ingo slides the pizza onto the cutting board Elesa had used earlier, and Elesa stands to admire the work. The cheese has browned somewhat, but thankfully didn’t burn, though the dough looks a little undercooked. Perhaps the coals didn’t generate enough heat, but when Ingo presses a finger against the crust, it is solid enough to not deform, and does crunch satisfyingly when he takes the knife to cut it into pieces.
“This is going to be the best thing I’ve eaten since arriving at this station,” Ingo says with a smile in his voice as the pair sit down to eat. “I enjoy the cuisine here, quite a lot, but this is what my bones have needed.” Without a further wait, he brings the pizza up to his mouth, takes a bite, and sinks into a puddle of Nimbasan bliss.
Elesa doesn’t wait to take her own bite, and lets out a happy sigh. She liked the potato mochi earlier, and the rice from the night before, but this? This spoke to her, told her how much care Ingo put into it, and also how poor the cooking method was. The outside of the crust was cooked through, but the center was still somewhat doughy, where the sauce was thicker. The crust had also risen slightly more than either of them had wanted, with Ingo having aimed and missed a much thinner crust.
But it was pizza. The both of them were just happy to have it.
“3 years, 5 months, 21 days, and 17 hours since my last pizza,” Ingo says after his first slice, rattling it off like a computer listing its last update time. Elesa notes that he still didn’t have Emmet’s accuracy, as the younger twin would often trail off by counting the seconds when he did similar. He pauses a moment before speaking up again. “And it’s been 3 years, 5 months, 17 days, 22 hours, and 12 minutes since I arrived in Hisui. I’ve missed a lot at home since I’ve changed tracks.” He picks up his second slice of pizza. “Would you be able to fill me in on any of the changes to our home station?”
Elesa chews on her bite for a few moments before swallowing and starting. “So, on a personal level, Emmet and I got married last year. Had our anniversary last month.”
“Bravo!” Ingo shouts, clapping quickly with stars in his eyes. “I’m so proud of the both of you! Though…” He pauses, and goes to grab the brim of his hat before realizing he wasn’t wearing it, and moving to stroke his beard. “If my memories aren’t still foggy, hadn’t you and Skyla married a year before I left? Is everything well with that two-car train?” Ingo and Emmet felt out of place putting themselves into the relationship Skyla and Elesa had. They were good friends with the Flying-type Gym Leader, but nowhere near close enough to intrude on them.
“Oh, we’re doing fine, still flying high,” Elesa says with a wide smile, leaning onto a hand. “Unova actually legalized polygamy recently, allowing people to have multiple marriage partners! It’s still not common, and I doubt it ever will be, but Dragons, is it nice.” She sighs, looking over Ingo’s shoulder while in thought.
“They legalized it while Emmet, Skyla, and I were still in our private grieving stages. We never had you declared dead, on the in case you would reappear one day, so we were just going to let it happen after seven years, when the police normally call in absentia deaths.” She sighs lightly as she takes another bite and chews it, then swallows the delicious pizza. “Once we had all moved through it though, Emmet surprised me after a modeling show by proposing onstage.” She laughs, remembering the moment dearly. “He was stuttering worse than he did in school, he was so nervous. But it was so sweet, and I just can’t say no to him, you know this.” It was Ingo’s turn to laugh now, imagining his brother red as a Tamato and stumbling over his words.
“That was also the last time most of us have seen Grimsley,” Elesa mentions offhand, which she sees Ingo zero in on.
“Did he disappear as well?” That was worrying to Ingo. He himself had a back up to his positions as Subway Boss (he had offered an internship to Hilda years before he’d disappeared) and to Head of Transportation (Emmet was basically co-Head by the time he’d disappeared), but Grimsley was an Elite Four member. That was an important position, and for one of them to suddenly disappear could cause issues.
Elesa pulls a bit of a face now that they’re on this topic, though. “I wouldn’t say disappeared,” she starts, before quickly correcting herself, “well no, that is a good way to put it.” She taps her nails against the table for a moment, thinking about how to put it. “So, Grimsley suddenly announced his retirement last year, a few months before the wedding. There were rumors that he had been embezzling money from the League, or that he had accrued a large enough gambling debt that he had to escape before they came to collect.”
Ingo nods, knowing that these would be the kind of rumors to circulate. Grimsley was an gambling addict, even if he wasn’t always putting money up on the bets. He wanted the rush of chance, to see if he would win or lose, chasing the high of repeated victory through grace of luck. But he also wasn’t the kind of man to embezzle money from his job to do so. He was impulsive, but smart with the money he had. “There is something else, isn’t there?”
Elesa nods softly, putting her slice of pizza down. “Grimsley was diagnosed with bone cancer.” They seemed to hit Ingo in the chest, considering how she could see his eyes go wide and pupils shrink, and all Elesa can do is nod softly. “I know. It wasn’t too late, it was Stage 2, but it scared him, just like the others at the League. He’s been taking medicine and doing treatments, but the whole situation made him want to leave. See the world. That whole ronin schtick that Shauntal kept assigning to him whenever she used metaphors for everyone, y’know?”
“And so he walks the earth, no home station, allowing his cab to see as many sights as possible,” Ingo says, his expression softened in what Elesa can read as a sad smile, even though it was still a frown. The twins weren’t officially a part of the Pokemon League, but often worked with them, and had been going to events with Elesa for the better part of a decade since she was a Gym Leader, so between that and Drayden being their dear uncle, they knew the Elite Four members well.
The pair sat quietly for a moment before Elesa picks her slice of pizza back up and begins eating again. Ingo follows suit, then begins back onto the topic. “So, who is in there now as the Elite Four member?” He seems like he was trying to piece it together before he speaks back up. “I remember now that Hilbert had returned some time ago from his travels, finally stopping back at his home station.”
“Yeah, he is back, but he’s not actually in the Elite Four,” Elesa says with a shrug. “Kid decided to fight against Iris for the Championship, and is the Champion again, which I’m sure you remember. Iris stepped down to be Opelucid’s Gym Leader like Drayden had originally planned, so he’s officially retired from being a League member outside of administrative work.”
Ingo chuckles as he starts on his third slice of pizza. “That will do wonders for him. He’s over 70 now, he needs to cool his engines before any structural damage happens.”
Elesa pulls a face and laughs. “You say that, but he is the one who pulled the stress test on Grimsley’s replacement, though I’m not sure you’ll like it.” That got Ingo’s attention, as he stopped thinking back to the past and looked right at her. “N kicked him in the Nosepass with a Dark-type team.”
Elesa was glad there wasn’t an explosion of noise, because she knows that Team Plasma, under both iterations Ingo was there for, had tried to rob the Subway of their Pokemon several times. Even then, the Driftveil Plasma’s were on a short list for a while until Rood began mending the bridge. Ingo opened his mouth wide, his brow furrowed, but he paused before saying anything. “He better be following Rood’s safety checks.” Good, he remembered.
“What about the rumors I was hearing? About Ghetsis returning?” Geez, he remembered.
“Ghetsis didn’t return,” Elesa says with a sigh as she grabs her last slice of pizza. “Neo Plasma returned with one of the no-names running it, not even a Sage. They didn’t get all that far, because Rosa, N, and Hilbert came together to Rock Wrecker them. That’s what let the League even think to ask N for the Elite Four. Emmet was just glad they didn’t bomb the Subwa-”
“BOMB THE WHAT?!” Ingo yells at full force, and they both hear their neighbor pound on the wall. “Oh, sorry!” he calls out to them, looking sheepish before turning back to Elesa. “They tried to bomb the Subway?!” His volume was much lower, but he still sounded pissed.
“As I said, they didn’t.” She makes sure to stress that with a finger point. “Your trains are fine, Deerling. They had put the bombs near Emmet’s Joltik nests, which apparently distracted the little things and they ate the bombs’ wirings before they were even primed. They even chased out the Grunts when they started trying to stop them.”
“Maybe he had a point about Joltiks being good for the abandoned tunnels,” Ingo says, rubbing his temples before standing. After taking a few breaths, he grabs a cloth and wraps it around the last slice of pizza. “I think after hearing about my Subway almost blowing up, that will be all the updates for now. My head is beginning to hurt, and I have to work with Lady Sneasler in the morning. I’ll save this for her to try. She keeps begging me for my food.”
“Yes, spoil yet another Pokemon with people food, Ingy,” Elesa says, sticking her tongue out before she goes and grabs the mattresses for the futon. “I should get some sleep, I have to check with Zisu what I’m doing for them.” She drops the mattresses and goes to grab the covers.
When she turns back around, she sees Ingo carrying the mattresses to his room. “I’m not going to make you sleep alone, Elesa,” he says, looking over his shoulder. “It’s cold tonight.”
They were both going to sleep so well.
#submas#submas fic#pokemon legends arceus#pokemon legends arceus fic#pokemon ingo#ingo#pokemon elesa#elesa#pizza#mentioned characters ->#pokemon emmet#emmet#pokemon skyla#skyla#just a calm chapter with pizza#domestic y'know?#I definitely thought of how my girlfriend and I talk while being relaxed with each other#my writing#Electric Trains fic#this was the chapter I edited the most before posting lul
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In order of where the f/o is on the other list
name || universe || f/o(s) || tag || lore || au lore (if applicable)
Italicized ones have lore that can be expanded on, bolded ones can be asked in-character questions.
Please note that some images are placeholders for self-inserts who currently lack designs. The placeholder images are part of the aesthetic or lore the character has.
Avalon || Ocarina of Time || Link (romantic), Malon (platonic) || none || Malon's twin brother who left the ranch to sell masks and support the family and didn't return until he heard from Link that Ingo had taken over, falls for Link on the journey back and invites him to help around the ranch post-game. || 80s romcom: A country hick who lives miles out of town with his dad and sister, hoping Link will ask him to prom.
Oliver || Xenoblade Chronicles || Reyn (romantic) || s/i: berry farmer ollie || A victim of the FACE mechon who survived under the same operation Fiora was given, met Reyn back at Colony 6 and started a berry farm just outside Colony 9 post-game.
Click || Mega Man franchise || X (romantic) || s/i: click the mechanic || A human reploidologist hired on as a medic/mechanic to the 17 elite unit, has a reploid fox of his own design named Patches.
Indigo || A Link Between Worlds || Osfala (romantic) || s/i: lorule runaway indigo || A traumatizted Lorulean lost in Hyrule, taken in by Osfala upon stumbling into Kakariko village and shown kindness for the first time in ages.
Art by @/asrielmerrymoon
Echo || Genshin Impact || Arataki Itto (romantic) || s/i: mystic jeweler echo || A jeweler taking over his mother's shop (whom he has a very strained relationship with) after moving to Inazuma from Teyvat, pines after Itto from a distance before said oni literally breaks his storefront down by mistake.
Crown || Deltarune || Rouxls Kaard (romantic) || s/i: prince crown of the backstage || The darkner ruler of a theater prop closet dark world approached by a self-proclaimed henchman far too eager to serve, not used to the attention but revelling in it nonetheless.
Hoshiko "Starchaser" Hotaru || Sk8 the Infinity || Kojiro Nanjo (romantic) || none || An overworked ballet dancer by day and rebellious rockstar by night encounters an old summer flame he never thought he'd see again.
picrew
Enzo || Pokemon || Jack Walker (romantic) || none || A former Rocket grunt escapes with the help of a compassionate Pokemon ranger.
picrew || picrew
Keisuke || Touken Ranbu || Tonbokiri (romantic) || s/i: purring kudagitsune || A local shapeshifting pipe fox becomes infatuated with a powerful timetravelling warrior.
art by @/asrielmerrymoon
Lark || Tears of the Kingdom || Tauro (romantic) || none || A humble Shiekah becomes infatuated with a visiting archaeologist.
Phantom Spider (name pending) || Spiderverse || none || Hobie Brown (romantic) || A spider from a universe that's one giant stage production.
Akatsuki || Way of the Househusband || Masa (romantic) || s/i: noble grocery clerk || The boy next door and a hardworking grocery clerk who dreams of hitting it big in the theater industry.
art by @/asrielmerrymoon
Prince || Street Fighter series || Luke Sullivan (romantic), Jamie Siu (romantic) || s/i: blue hair and princecore || A high-school dropout who moved in with an online friend now has a bright future ahead and lots of (chaotic) love around him.
art by @/asrielmerrymoon
Toni Nook || Animal Crossing || Tom Nook (familial), Timmy and Tommy (familial), Kicks (romantic) || s/i: happy home decorator || The nephew of a successful salesman who has worked with the Happy Home Academy from the beginning.
Nocturne "Nell" || Batman: Wayne Family Adventures || Jason Todd (romantic), Batfam (in-laws) || s/i: nocturne of gotham || Backstory currently under development.
Adrian || Street Fighter series || Ed (romantic) || none || A playful catboy who was saved from the experiments in a Shadaloo lab and got hopelessly attached to his rescuer.
Meztli || Street Fighter V || Necalli (romantic) || s/i: tamer of darkness || An angel created to reign in the hunger of a soul-consuming demon, now bonded closely with him after centuries of life together.
Cori || The Legend of Zelda, Hyrule Warriors || Volga (romantic) || s/i: fairy prince coriander || A loving and playful Great Fairy with a unique presentation and a habit of stubborn affection.
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So more Ainu stuff.
I kinda get the impression that the Ainu people saw the fact that they were able to hunt bears and the like at all (but especially bears) in of itself to be a blessing. That the bears were specifically sent by their god of bears and mountains to be a gift. So honestly, I can see it being the case that the worshiped Pokemon aren't seen as especially special and therefore are off the menu per se, but are rather the specific avatars that they give thanks to for their bounties.
Also there is an Ainu practice called 'Iomante' that makes me think that if we really do have the Diamond and Pearl Clans take after the Ainu... They might eat those 10 worshiped Pokemon specifically in some circumstances? But I imagine it would be more like how it's practiced in the modern day where they would only actually eat them if they died of an accident or of old age. I'll leave out the specifics because some people reading it might find it upsetting (feel free to look it up for yourself though! There's not a whole lot of information about it on Wikipedia, but it is enough to upset some people, I think), but basically, some Ainu villages would take a bear cub, raise it as one of their own, treating it very well and feeding it the best food they can, and when that bear is 1-2 years old kill it in ritual fashion and eat it. It seems that this was done to show their devotion to Kim-un-kamuy and to the bears? But because the Noble and Ride Pokemon serve specific purposes within their societies, I can't imagine that they would be killing these sacred Pokemon every 2 years or something. But eating them if they die of natural causes? Maybe? I can see it. Doesn't have to be your interpretation of it, of course. There are TONS of Ainu traditions that are very clearly not being practiced at all in PLA.
But to get away from that and to other information that might interest you, apparently the Ainu would hunt using poisoned arrows and spears. So I can imagine them using some of Lady Sneasler's poison for this exact purpose! Or maybe they can use her poison for traps! And they did indeed use traps to hunt bears! (Spring traps loaded with an arrow, so kids better be careful going near those!)
Also apparently when they needed a public meeting place, they would use the house of the village head. So for those first two chapters of HFBE, it is entirely plausible that it took place in Irida's actual house lol. "Ingo! You brought this girl into MY house to eat OUR food which we don't have enough to go around and-!" Also looking at these pictures of traditional Ainu homes, I was very much struck by how they look almost exactly like some of the houses in Jubilife Village inside! Just a possibly interesting note.
I think that's about all that I have to share. Even if all of this isn't useful, I hope that you at least interesting find it interesting. >.<
OP thank you for this information!!
First off, that translation with them seeing the blessed Pokémon as who they thank for their bounties is a really nice viewpoint! That seems really great
And second, lomante is an interesting practice, but I could definitely see Hisui deviating from this with their blessed Pokémon; as you said, they serve a purpose (and the blessed Pokémon do appear to be much more intelligent and connected to the clans than animals could most likely achieve, so I could see it being a little morally questionable). I’d say at least with my interpretation of worldbuilding, this isn’t practiced.
The poisoned spears and arrows translating to using Lady Sneasler’s poison to help hunt is actually a fantastic point to bring up though, because it will help a lot with an upcoming event somewhere in chapter 5-6!! That is great information to hear!
And oh darn! If I knew about that detail with public meeting places being held in the leader’s house, I would have totally implemented that! I didn’t like breaking canon to insert a big central building into the settlement, but I didn’t know what else to do ^^ that would have been a nice alternative to consider! (And Irida would have been even more within her right to be upset with Ingo for bringing Akari last-minute!) It’s good possible information to know for the future though, so thanks!!
All of this information is very helpful to know, especially the parts with traps and poison relating to Lady Sneasler; that will come in handy!! Thank you very much for sharing all of this with me OP, it really helps me and the fic!!
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