#pokemon mesprit | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

archersxartxblog · 1 year

Text

master post

first new chapter on my new keyboard.

and here I was worry about the lake trials not having enough content for their own chapters.

Chapter 24

Kamado groaned loudly as he slowly started to open his eyes, squinting against the bright light coming from the lamp hung over his head.

Where was he?

He blinked a few times, trying to get his eyes to adjust to the light as he looked around.

He could tell right away, that he was lying on a bed, the mattress far softer than the hard ground of the underground jail he recalled standing in before. The walls around him were white with pink curtains pulled shut over the window, and there was a privacy wall next to his bed.

So he was in the medical wing.

But how…

Suddenly memories of the highland Warden flashed before his eyes.

Those cold yellow eyes.

The way he laughed as the fire roared around them, unfazed as the commander loomed above him.

The icy cold feel seeped into his arm where he held the man at arm's length as the limb slowly started to go numb.

“Commander!” Pesselle’s voice snapped him back to reality as the captain of the medical crops rushed to his bedside. “Thank goodness you’re awake. How are you feeling?”

Quickly the man shook his head, rubbing at his eyes as he forced himself to sit up. “Mnh, stiff but I have been through worse,” he answered gruffly looking over at Pesselle. “What happened? And the prisoners? Are they still being detained?” Kamado vaguely recalled seeing the children outside of the cell they had been locked in, though how they managed that the commander had no idea.

But the doctor simply shook her head. “We’re not sure exactly what happened. You were found on the floor of one of the jail cells unconscious and your right hand was severely frostbitten.” she paused, looking away from him she continued. “As for the prisoners…I was told they escaped.”

“What?!” Kamado roared causing Pesselle to jump and stumble back as he suddenly get to his feet. “Get me, Captain Cyllene! Now!”

“Ye-yes! Sir!” the doctor stuttered giving a quick salute before she quickly ran off.

Kamado sighed, a hand coming up to rest against his forehead. A headache slowly started to form under his fingers.

They escaped.

How could that possibly have happened? They had been building full of trained guards, men and women he had trained and worked with for years. Yet somehow Warden and his sons just…escaped.

What, did they just walk out the front door?

Then again, should he be surprised? Those boys had just seemed to slip through the bars like nothing and the Warden…well if he was correct, and clearly he was, then he was a fool to think he was able to hold them at all.

A part of him was thankful that they had somehow broke free, the guilt of having imprisoned a possible innocent family lifting ever so slightly from his shoulders. He could only hope they had hidden away in the icelands where his reach was next to none.

But the rest of him was drenched in dread at this news.

Clearly, the Warden was a dangerous man, with strange powers over the minds of humans while his children, as innocent as they may seem, were more or less just as minacious. And now they were loose, free to wreak havoc on the lands of Hisui.

No doubt they had fled back to the Icelands to seek shelter from the Pearl clan once more, all the while telling Irida of how they had been detained. Bringing war to Jubilife Village.

Kamado just hoped that the Diamond clan could take their side.

Or maybe…

Maybe the three had returned to the highlands to continue to carry out whatever plan they had. Furthering their strange goals.

Finally, Cyllene stood in front of him, her head held high as she stood at attention. “Sir” she gave a sharp salute.

“Captain.” he greeted, pulling his hand away from his face. “I’ve been told the prisoners escaped.”

“Indeed,” the blue-haired woman nodded, “I’ve already launched a full investigation into how they were able to do so. Apparently, someone left a window open and the three were able to jump through before anyone was able to stop them.”

“A window?”

“I have sent word out to our base camps in both the highlands and the Icelands, and had search parties sent out to watch out for any sign of the Warden or either of the twins.” she continued without so much as missing a beat. “So far there has been no sign of them in either area, but those stationed at the Moutain Camp in the Coronet Highlands have been reporting strange activity as of late.”

The commander perked up at this. “Strange activity? How so?”

“The Rift, sir,” she answered promptly, looking down at the report she had in her hand. “It seems to be…getting bigger sir.” she looked back up at him. “This may be simply a trick of the light caused by the red sky, the pokemon that normally live atop the mountain have been migrating to the lower plains.”

“Hm.” the commander brought a hand up to his cheek in thought. This was worrying.

It could very well be an illusion just like the captain had said, but the Pokemon moving away from it told him otherwise.

So far the only thing to come from the rift was lightning that had caused the Nobles to frenzy, Akari and possibly three strange Unovans. If it was getting big then who knows what else could slip through that unstable crack in the sky.

Even so, the Pokemon moving locations could be problematic for them in the long run and soon these mountain-dwelling pokemon could be sitting on their front doorstep.

They needed more eyes in the highlands.

But at the same time, there was still the Warden and his kin.

And sending more troops out into the highlands would risk spreading them too thin, leaving Jubilife open to possible attacks from pokemon, one of the clans, or even Akari and the Warden should they feel so bold.

He needed to make a choice.

“Cyllene, send word to the search parties and have them regroup at the highlands. I want all eyes on that rift.” Kamado order.

“Sir!” the captain nodded, giving a quick salute before quickly heading back towards her office to put in the orders.

The rift felt like the more immediate threat at present. Let the Warden and his children before now, with any luck he would be able to collect better evidence while observing the rift.

And should Irida come at him for the slight against her clan then he might be able to at the very least point her at the real threat that loomed above, maybe even convince her to hand the man over to him.

“Let the Warden continue to run. His and Akari’s guilt will be proven in the end.”

—-

Gyarados carefully lowered her head down toward the shoreline, allowing her trainer and his twin to slip her neck and one to the stony island in the middle of the lake.

Ingo was the first one off, turning around to help his twin down. “Thank you so much for your help Gyarados.” the boy thanked his pokemon, digging in his bag and retrieving her pokemon. “Why don’t you take a rest for now? I’ll call you when we need to get back across the lake.”

The large red beast rumbled happily leaning in towards the little ball and allowing herself to be drawn into its confines.

“Well look at you! I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone tame a Gyarados like that, let alone one so young.” Ingo whipped around quickly, almost knocking himself off his feet, to see Akari and Volo approaching them with Irida close behind, the two of them having arrived before them thanks to Lord Basculegion’s speed. The blonde man looked down at them with a smile plastered over his face. “But maybe that should be expected, hm. Keep taming dangerous Pokemon like that and you just might give Akari a run for her money.”

Ingo shifted slightly in place, as he felt his brother inch closer to him, unsure what to make of the praise or the man’s knowing tone.

What did he mean by that?

“Such a dangerous Pokemon to be allowed around children,” Irida sighed as she approached, shaking her head. “I don’t think I’ll ever truly understand Warden Ingo’s way of thinking sometimes, but I guess having something so fearsome on our side is quite useful.”

“Oh please, anyone willing to give a Magikarp the love and attention it needs has a protector for life.” Akari laughed as she stepped toward the large dome-like rock formation in the center, Ingo and Emmet quickly running up to follow her. “Same goes for any pokemon. Now let's find the entrance to this place, it should be around here somewhere.”

The twins looked over at the large clump of rocks, then back at Akari, it was an odd shape to be such and there might have been space underneath the rocks. But the structure hardly looked big enough to hold that big of a cavern. Though maybe it led further down like Wayward cave.

“If you want, me and Emmet could split up and run around both sides of it and see if we can find the opening,” Ingo suggested, looking up at Akari. It would be easier and quicker than the whole group just wandering around the island looking for an opening.

The teen hummed in thought for a moment, before nodding. “Yeah, that’s a good idea. Just be careful. I may be your dad’s favourite niece but I’m pretty sure he’d still kill me if anything happened to the two of you.”

“I’ll yell if we find anything,” Ingo called out as he and Emmet ran off in either direction.

Ingo ran off to the right while his brother ran to the left, running his hand along the surface of the wall with the hope of maybe finding some kind of dip in the rocks that the group could squeeze into. He wasn’t quite sure how Akari knew that there was an opening but he was willing to trust her on this.

“They say this lake actually used to be a volcano. Then it erupted, leaving a huge crater that filled with water. And so Lake Vertiy was born.” he heard Volo talking on the other side of the mound, either trying to enlighten those present or just trying to fill the silence. “It is protected by a Pokemon called Mesprit. It was when Mesprit first took flight that people first learned the joys and sorrows of living. Or that’s how the old tales go, anyway.”

To this Ingo slowed to a stop, his hand still resting against the stone structure.

Mesprit.

They had learned about that Pokemon in school. It was one of the three pokemon said to embody the aspects of the mind, that lived in Sinnoh. They had learned about all the legendaries from Sinnoh as some of them had a habit of visiting the Unova region, and Mesprit just so happened to be one of them.

Mesprit was said to be the aspect of emotion and normally dwelled in the lakeside cave of Lake…

The realization hit him fast, causing his mind to slightly derail as he down toward the grass-covered ground.

“That can’t be right…”

Lake Verity was just on the outskirts of Jubilife city in the Sinnoh region, and Ingo had heard of no other region to have a lake to go by that name let alone one that was also said to house Mesprit.

But that would mean that Hisui was Sinnoh…

But if that was the case then…where were the cities? And all the people? And why would people call it Hisui then? Ingo wasn’t that familiar with the region, he’d never been outside Unova before, so he could only go off of what he’s learned in school. But he did know that there were several large cities within the Sinnoh region that housed tens of thousands of people, and yet so far the largest settlement he’d seen so far was Jubilife village, and even then there were only a handful of people there.

People in Hisui were also scared of pokemon, while Sinnoh was known for their contests and even known for letting people walk around with their pokemon out.

And what about pokemon like Sneasler, and Kleavor? Why had he not heard of them being a variant found in Sinnoh?

And at the same time, it made sense. The three lakes, the familiar-sounding places…

his family had been living on the side of mount Coronet for dragon's sake. It was one of the major landmarks within the region.

It made sense, and yet it also didn't.

Unless…

"Oof!"

Suppose the realization of possibly being in Sinnoh had slightly derailed his mind. In that case, Emmet smacking into him like an out-of-control bullet train completely knocked him off the rails…literally.

"Ow." Emmet groaned as he pushed himself off of his brother, rubbing at his now sore head. "Ingo, why did you stop? Did you find something?"

Ingo let out a low whimper, his whole body throbbing from the impact with both his brother and the ground, and yet his mind was no longer spiralling. Slowly he pushed himself up and shook his head. "No, nothing." He sighed looking back at Emmet. "What about you? Did you find anything?"

"Nope." His twin answered. "No openings, not even a loose rock." Emmet huffed a little in frustration, then frowned as he looked his brother over. "Are you okay?"

No, he wasn't.

But Emmet didn't need to know that, nor did he need to needlessly worry his twin with theories of time travel. Not until he had more proof that was the case.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He lied, flinching slightly when Emmet gave him a look. It was impossible to keep anything from his twin. "Look, can I tell you later? Like, maybe after we're done helping Akari?"

Emmet opened his mouth, looking about ready to argue.

"Ingo! Emmet! Are you two okay?! Did you find anything!" They heard Akari shout from the other side of the mound, and Emmet's mouth snapped shut, his frustration clear on his face.

"We’re fine and No! Doesn't look like there are any visible entrances back here either!" Ingo called back, grunting slightly at the end when his brother punched him hard in the shoulder.

"Then come on back! We'll find another way inside!"

“Okay!” the boy replied rubbing at his now sore arm, glaring are the younger twin.

“This better not be super important.” Emmet hissed getting back to his feet and pulling his brother up with him.

“It is, just not right now, okay.” Ingo attempted to whisper back, doing his best to keep his voice as low as possible, choosing to elaborate when his twin crossed his arms. “Look, I’m still kind of processing all this, and I’m probably wrong and I hope I’m wrong. but I think I know where we are.” he sighed in defeat. “I just need…I don’t know…more proof? And things are already crazy enough right now. I wanna focus on the task at hand.”

Emmet was silent for a few moments before letting out an exasperated sigh. “Fine. but you have to tell me what it is if it starts to derail you again, yep, we are a two-car train after all.”

He guessed that was fair.

“Okay, deal.” Ingo nodded. “Now let's get back to Akari before she or…” he shivered a bit at the thought. “...Volo, come looking for us.”

Quickly the two brothers ran back around the mound along Emmet’s side, Ingo double-checking the wall in case his brother had missed anything. But sadly, there is still no opening.

“There you two are.” Akari greeted them on the other side, her hands on her hips. “I was starting to worry the two of you got snatched up by something.”

“Sorry, we had a head-on collision, the damage was minimal but it took a little bit to right our rails.” Ingo apologized, though was slightly annoyed by the fact that Akari started laughing at them. Normally he would have snapped back at her for this, but after everything she had gone through with Kamado, she could probably use the laugh, so he would let her have this. at least for now.

“I’m sorry, What?” Lady Irida asked, tilting her head slightly in confusion.

“They ran into each other.” Akari translated as she shook her head.

Slowly, she took a few calming breaths, her smile soon falling away as approached the mound of rocks. “But, if the opening isn’t on the other side, then how do we get in?” she mused, reaching out and carefully touching the large boulder in front of her.

Suddenly, there was a loud buzzing coming from her satchel, like a Combee had burst out its Pokeball and was trying to find a way out. Akari quickly reached inside and pulled out that odd phone of hers and stared at the screen.

Ingo had only seen Akari’s phone a few times. It honestly looked more like the Pokedex they had been given by the professor back in Unova, if only a little more Arceus themed, than the flip phone that Eleas’s parents had given her. He knew it had a few different functions on it, like a camera that would have made Eleas envious, a map of Hisui and was even able to play music. Whatever else it could he honestly wasn’t sure.

He knew it wasn’t able to call out, as Akari had told him as much the first time he had seen it, dashing his hopes at the time of being able to contact his Uncle. But Every so often it would buzz loudly, Akari would look at the screen and would then know what to do next. It was strange but with everything else going on, Ingo had chosen not to question it, maybe there was some kind of oneway messenger on its something.

But when Akari looked at the phone and then turned the screen out to face the mound of rocks, only for a bright light to flash causing one of the boulders to just suddenly disappear before their eyes; Ingo suddenly had a lot more questions about her ‘phone’ and yet he couldn’t find the words to ask them.

Volo didn’t seem to have such a problem.

“Th-that cave-it just…appeared from nowhere!” the Merchant stuttered just as surprised as the twins, if not slightly more so as he quickly ran up to Akari to get a better look at the device in her hands. “Is that the Arc Phone the Professor was going on about?”

“Ye-yeah.” The teen chuckled awkwardly. as Ingo and Emmet slowly walked up to join her, they could see her staring at the phone in her hands, looking just a little freaked out. “G-guess I have an app for that. Huh,” she said, forcing a smile as she looked over at them. “Looks like we can get inside now.”

“What surprises wait within, I wonder…” Irida commented as she joined the rest of the group.

“Let’s head in,” Akari muttered, taking a careful step forward, into the mouth of the cave and down the sloping path.

“Well ‘nothing ventured, Nothing gained’ as Uncle Drayden often says.” Ingo agreed, looking back at this brother and taking his hand as he started to follow the teen into the darkness, pulling his twin along.

The path led down fairly deep into the underground, and the air started to become cold, and damp, it was dark from the lack of sunlight filtering through the open passageway and yet there was still enough light that they were able to see. Soon the path evened out into a wide cavern, with what looked like four man-made pillars adorning the walls, and water dripped down from the ceiling, filling in the deep grooves in the stone floor.

“The air feels somehow tense in here…” Lady Irida commented, breaking the silence as she rubbed at her shoulders, even her ability to withstand the cold failing to protect her from the unnatural chill in the air.

Ingo opened his mouth to agree, as he looked around at the large open area, but quickly shut his mouth when he heard a deep growl echo off the walls of the cavern. Wide-eyed he looked around quickly, his grip tightening around his brother’s hand as he tried desperately to find the source.

Two glowing red eyes appeared out of the darkness, towering high above them, a long purple neck extended down towards the creature's two hind legs. Its tail curled up behind it covered in what looked like a hard iron shell, and a thick slime dripped from the creature's body.

“Groo”

The dragon’s growl echoed from off all the walls, causing everyone within the cave to flinch away from its gaze.

“Is that an alpha Goodra?!” Emmet cried out in shock at the sight of it, as the beast glared down at Akari.

“I think so…” Ingo replied, trying to look up at the dragon type, he wasn’t overly familiar with Goodra, though he had seen at least one or two while exploring the highlands. “But, how could it have possibly gotten in here? The entryway was sealed up until a few minutes ago.”

The Pokemon charged at the teen, and Akari was quick to send out a pokemon to defend herself. Akari’s Decidueye appeared in front of her and delivered a hard kick to the dragon’s chest before firing three like feathers at it.

“You and your Pokemon quelled Hisui’s Nobles. You can handle any battle, Akari!” Irida called out.

Ingo and Emmet looked at each other, nodding before separating and going to stand on either side of Akari. Sending Lampent and Eelektrik out into the fray.

“Ingo?…Emmet?”

“Don’t worry, Akari, we have your back,” Emmet spoke first.

“I know you can handle this on your own, but just because you can doesn’t mean you should have to,” Ingo added. “And with the three of us together we’re sure to reach victory faster than a bullet train.”

The girl’s worried frown quickly turned into a determined smile. “Thanks, guys.” She then turned back to face the alpha in front of them. “Now let’s show this Alpha who’s boss!”

The battle against the alpha was difficult, yet not impossible. The large Pokemon hit hard and used attacks with a wide range to try and hit everything within its sight.

Emmet’s Eelektrik struggled to get any real damage done, having to fall back on status effect moves just to keep the alpha as still as possible. On the other hand, Ingo’s Lampant was able to do some damage at the very least, but the Goodra’s use of water-type moves hit back much harder, forcing Ingo to remain on his toes.

In the end, it was Akari’s Decidueye that was able to do some real damage, with its hard-hitting fighting moves, while the twin’s pokemon chipped slowly away at it.

It wasn’t long until the dragon-type realized it was being overwhelmed, and started looking for a way out. Its body battered and bruised as it struggled to maintain conciseness, it started throwing out attacks at random, with the fading hope of downing one of its opponents and making an opening for itself.

Ingo watched from the corner of his eye as Akari reached into her satchel and pulled out a Pokeball, painted like one of the Ultra Balls he had seen in the stores back in Unova. With a powerful and practiced throw, the teen lobbed it at the tired dragon, drawing the creature into its confines.

The ball hit the ground, shaking once, and twice, and then there was a click as a small firework shot from the top of the ball, announcing a successful catch.

“Good catch, Akari. Yep, Verrrry Good.” Emmet cheered, as he recalled his pokemon.

And Ingo couldn’t help but agreed. “YES! BRAVO! I sure that Goodra will make an excellent member of your team!” he added, his face turning slightly red when he realized just how loud he sounded in this cave. he recalled his poor Lampent back into her Pokeball, he’d have to make sure to spoil her just a little bit more after this was all over, and quickly rushed over to join Lady Irida and…Volo… near the exit.

With any luck, Mesprit will appear, and Akari would be able to complete the legendary trial, given that the battle with the Goodra wasn’t the trial itself.

“Of course not. That was simply…a warm-up you could say.”

Ingo stopped in his tracks at the sound of the voice, looking around for its source only to find that he could no longer see anyone around. Not Lady Irida, not Akari, not Emmet, not even Volo.

“Don’t panic.” the voice spoke up as his heart started to race. “You will be returned to your friends soon enough. I simply want you to answer a few questions for me while Arceus’s champion completes her trial.”

“Questions?” he repeated, eyes still darting around, looking for something, anything to focus on. “Arceus’s champion? Do you mean Akari?”

“Yes.” The voice answered, sounding like it was coming from all sides. “I promise these questions will not be hard. I simply wish to know how you feel about certain events. Though I do require a completely honest answer.”

Ingo chewed on his lip a bit in worry.

Was this Mesprit?

Why would Mesprit want to ask him anything?

Would answering the guardian's questions help Akari? Wasn’t like he could just say no, anyway.

“Ah…sure, I’ll answer your questions, so long as it helps Akari out,” he answered, looking towards the ceiling.

“Thank you. Let us begin, shall we.”

There was a bright light, and Ingo found himself forced to shut his eyes to try and block it out, raising his arms in an attempt to shield himself further.

—

“Ingo. Ingo!” his brother’s voice called out to him, causing his eyes to snap open in response. “I am Emmet, and I can’t believe you fell asleep against that wall. Your back is going to be very sore tomorrow, verrrry sore. Yep!” his brother laughed at him as he stood up, brushing the blue dust off his light gray jeans.

Slowly, Ingo blinked as looked around, trying to get his bearings. The walls around him were no longer a dull brown colour but a deep blue and rather than pillars, there were glowing crystals embedded into the walls. But the walls were supposed to look like this, this was Chargestone cave after all. Why would he think differently?

He then looked down at himself, seeing his favourite black hoodie, purple squirtle neck sweater, and a pair of gray jeans that matched his brother’s. It was the outfit he had changed into before they left the pokemon center that morning. Why did he think he was wearing something different?

“S-sorry, guess I didn’t sleep that well last night.” Ingo yawned, stretching his arms over his head, before standing up.

That's right, their last gym battle had been a rough one, with Elesa and Emmet using up their stockpile of potions and revives. Eleas, being the last one to go up against Clay, had been the one chosen to go restock their supplies, while the twins waited for her at charge stone cave. During their wait, the skies opened up, and it started to pour, causing the brothers to seek shelter inside the cave. Once inside the two had decided to wander deep in, with the hopes of maybe catching a pokemon or two, while trying to keep an eye out for their friend.

"Any sign of Elesa?" He asked as he brushed the blue dust from his clothes.

"Nope, not yet," Emmet answered, bending down to gently pat the fuzzy body of a Joltik. "A few of the trainers nearby said that it's still raining verrrry hard. She might be waiting for it to stop."

"Makes sense I guess." Ingo shrugged. "Wouldn't be good if she got sick while we headed through the cave."

"Mmhum"

An easy silence fell between them as his twin occupied himself with the little bug types that crawled around the cave. Ingo knelt next to his bag, ideally going through it as he tried to shake the Odd feeling of dèjà vu.

It had to have been a dream, right?

"Hey!"

Ingo nearly jumped a foot in the sudden new voice. He hadn't even heard someone approach.

Slowly he looked up, seeing a tall blonde man standing over him, tossing a Pokeball in the air.

It was just a Pokemon trainer, and yet for some reason, his skin started to crawl.

"Um… hi?" He greeted, leaving his bag as he stood back up. "Can I help you with something?"

"Sorry, I thought I was being obvious." The man chuckled, tilting his head slightly with a smirk. "Could have sworn all you needed to do to challenge someone to a Pokémon battle was to look them in the eyes."

Oh, he just wanted a pokemon battle. But why was he standing over him like that?

"W-well that is normally the case, my brother and I are a two-car-train, and often battle using multi-battle rules outside of gym battles," Ingo explained, his voice stuttering slightly as he spoke, so he tried to distract himself by dusting off his pants once more. "N-not everyone is prepared for such a rule set, s-so we try to give people the option to walk away."

He once more looked up at the challenger, noting his strange way of dressing, this guy had to be a tourist. Who wears sandals while walking through a cave? And he was sure Elesa would have something to say about this guy's hair.

"That's fine. I'll take you both on then."

Cocky? But that was fine, it was good to be confident in one's abilities.

Why was he nervous?

He wasn't. He just hoped this guy didn't eat up the last of the healing items before Elesa got back.

"Emmet! We have a challenger!" He called into the tunnel, and it wasn't long until his twin came running to his side, Tynamo's pokeball already in hand.

With a quick movement, the twins stood side by side and in sync, tossed their pokemon out into battle.

"Too easy " To their surprise, the challenger put away his pokeball and simply smiled.

Ingo opened his mouth, wanting an explanation for all this, only for his words to be stolen from him but crushing pressure that seemed to be pressing down on his shoulders.

Litwick uttered a cry of alarm, drawing her trainer’s eye towards the ground underneath her, the colour slowly draining away, leaving only a dull stone in its wake.

That was when he noticed it was starting to get darker. Chargestone cave was not known for being overly well-lit, but there was always a light glow from the crystals that gave it its name. And now, one by one those same crystals were slowly going out, like someone or something was stealing its charge.

It wasn’t long before the only light source was Litwick’s light flame.

Ingo's eyes trailed around the darkened cave, his hand blindly feeling around for his twin and pulling him closer. His chest was tight, and his heart raced in his ear.

He could just make out the face of their opponent in Litwick's dim light… could they even call him that anymore.

Suddenly a cry rang out, breaking the silence and he could just make out Tynamo's form falling to the floor of the cave.

He didn't even see what had hit the Pokémon.

"Tynamo!" His brother cried out in distress, a red beam of light shooting out of his brother’s pokeball, pulling the injured Pokémon back to safety.

A laugh echoed off the walls of the cave, drawing attention to the blonde made once more, that smile of his looking more and more wicked by the second.

"Are you really trying to hold a candle to the might of Giratina?" The man cackled.

"Gira-Giratina?" He stuttered out, barely able to make out his voice against the sound of his own heart pounding in his ears. He knew that name, but dragons he couldn't begin to wonder why, he could hardly think.

But he was right, Litwick didn’t stand a chance against that thing.

Another cry snapped out of it, as something hit Litwick hard. Once again he hadn't seen what did it. she was hanging on but there was no way she could take another hit like that.

"Litwick!"

He wanted to withdraw her from the battle, and call her back into her pokeball where she would be safe. This wasn't a pokemon battle, at least not one by league standards, there was no need for his partner to needlessly suffer.

But if he recalled her into her pokeball then they would be in complete darkness, with no clue as to which way to flee.

"Lit,"

"Just hold on, Litwick! I'm coming!" He shouted dashing forwards, dragging his brother behind him.

It was a dumb idea, but it was the only one he had.

If he ran up and grabbed Litwick, then she would be safe and they would have light.

And if he held her close, then her flame would get brighter. That was fine! sure Emmet would half to drag him out of the cave, but at least they would be able to see the way out.

Besides, this guy wouldn’t attack a trainer, would he?

"Litwick Lit!" But Litwick just shook her little head, waving her arms trying to get him to stop.

Something suddenly shot from the ground in front of him. A large black mass passed in front of his face, missing him only because his brother had pulled him back at the last second.

Litwick had not been so lucky, her little body hit the ground hard once the thing had passed.

"Litwick!"

"Ingo" He heard his brother's voice pleading with him, pulling at his hand and pointing towards the man, or more accurately the looming shadow high over his shoulder.

Yeah, it was time to go.

“Litwick! Return!” he called, returning his Pokemon to her ball, before Emmet started dragging them away, Ingo practically tripped over himself trying to keep up.

“Giratina! Get rid of these pests! And with any luck, we’ll have fixed our last mistake!”

It was like one of those horror movies their uncle didn’t like them watching before bed, with them running for their lives as the creature lurched toward them with a serpent-like movement. Its red eyes glowed brightly in the dark, as the golden crown around its face opened up to reveal a large mouth.

And it was gaining on them.

There was no getting away, they were running blind.

There was only one thing they could do, that he could do.

He took in a sharp inhale and started to shout. “Someone! Please Hel-”

A thick liquid choked out his words and quickly started to fill his mouth, leaving behind a horrible irony taste.

He felt weightless like he was somehow spinning in the air. And yet there was a pressure on his chest, and something pulling him back by his arms.

He was pretty sure his eyes were losing focus as the inky blackness of the cave was suddenly overwhelmed by a blinding white.

Everything was suddenly freezing, and he felt himself finally hit the ground with a heavy thump.

It was cold… so very, very cold.

And then everything was dark again.

“Ingo!”

—

Ingo gasped, his hands flying to his chest only to find the soft fabric of his Pearl clan tunic, still in one piece, and then up to his face where the only liquid he could feel were the tears leaking out of his eyes.

What in Zwekrom’s name, was that?

A memory?

“In a way, yes.” that voice.

Once more Ingo looked around, seeing that he was once more in the cave under the lake, with no one but himself and the voice.

“I required an honest answer, but your memories of the event were…foggy at best. And no wonder. Emotions are powerful and feeling them with such intensity can unfortunately lead to…feeling nothing. Apologies for making you live through that once more.” the speaker hummed in dismay. “Do not worry, the others will not be quite as long.”

“Wha-”

—

“It’s curious, but when I watch you and your Pokemon battle, it feels like there’s no obstacle that can’t be overcome in people and Pokemon work together.” Irida mused as she walked toward her, the twins quickly falling back toward the exit now that the battle was over. “Now let's see about the Pokemon of the lake…”

Akari almost laughed as Irida cut to the chase, hardly letting her get a word in…Adaman would have been impressed.

The teen turned her attention towards the center of the cave where the Goodra once stood and watched a pink and blue pokemon with two long tails twirled into existence with a soft “Kyauun”.

It was good to see Mesprit again.

Even if this was the first time for the Pokemon.

Calmly, Akari walked towards the master of emotions as the Pokemon greeted her with a soft smile and glowed a soft pink as she approached.

“Your emotions…share them with me..” Mesprit’s voice echoed inside her head.

“Of course, they’re yours,” Akari answered, with a nod. She was here to complete a trial from each pokemon, so there was no point in arguing.

“I can only imagine how it must feel to speak directly with a pokemon like that.” she could Irida comment quietly from a little ways back.

It was kind of tingly if Akari was being honest.

“When you fell to this Land, what stirred your heart?” the pokemon asked calmly with a slight tilt of its head.

Wow, just getting right to it.

Akari took a moment to think about her answer, it felt like it had been a lift time ago since Arceus pulled her from her bed and dumped her into the past. She knew it had only been about five or six months, but still.

“Bewilderment,” she answered, not going into detail as she didn’t want Irida or Volo to overhear her as she still very much wanted to try to preserve the past as much as she could.

But Surprised and panicked also came to mind, but when she woke up on that beach in nothing but her PJs with the Professor standing over her, Bewilderment had been the only thing she could feel at that moment.

And Mesprit seemed to accept this answer with a small twirl in the air.

“How did it feel to bond with Pokemon and Work together?” the next question came, and Akari almost laughed, Mesprit might as well have been asking how it felt to breathe.

“The same way it always does, Exciting!” she didn’t even have to think about the answer for this one. Every time she caught a new Pokemon she was always excited to bond with it and make a new friend.

Once more the lake pokemon chirped and twirled in the air as her answer was accepted.

“What did you feel when you mingled with Hisui’s clans?”

If the last question had made her want to laugh then this one made her feel like she was being held at gunpoint.

Irida was right there, after all. Only a few feet away.

“We’re all so different.” it felt like a non-answer really, but at the same time, it was true. Every member of each clan she had met had been so different from each other, it had swayed her opinion of the clans greatly.

Luckily, Mesprit accepted this answer with a simple nod.

“What did you feel when you were cast out of the Galaxy team?”

And then they punched her in the gut.

And here she thought she was just getting over the fact, only to be remained once more.

After everything, everything she had done, and Kamado just tossed her out for doing exactly as he asked, and then learn that he had tried to arrest her uncle and the twins…luckily failing. You could say…

“I felt bitter about it…and I still am,” she admitted, her hands shaking at her sides as she clenched them into fists.

“INGO!”

Akari snapped out of her bitter thoughts of betrayal and swung around at the sound of Emmet’s panicked voice. completely forgetting about the trial and rushing towards the group that had formed around the ten-year-old.

“What’s wrong?” she asked as she approached, Lil Ingo stood completely still with his back still facing her, not reacting to her voice in any way.

“I-I don’t know” Volo stuttered looking up from where he was knelt by the boy, looking worriedly up at Akari. “He started running back with this his brother and then he just…Stopped. We didn’t notice until just a few seconds ago.”

“I’ve seen this before, not on the twins but their father,” Irida explained, quietly waving a hand in front of the boy’s face. Akari quickly made her way around and saw what they were talking about.

Lil Ingo stood completely still, eyes dull and focused on something distant, his mouth hanging open only slightly. She’d seen this only a few times on her uncle. A lost kind of look on his face, like he was lost within his thoughts. Her eyes drifted from Ingo’s face down to his brother, the younger twin was no longer smiling as he hugged his brother tightly, telling Akari that this was not a common occurrence.

Then what caused this? He had been fine before the battle.

“Apologies, I was asked to speak with him while you were doing your trial.”

Akari looked up only to be met by the Lake guardian floating a foot away from her face, the pokemon giving her a soft smile. “What?”

Suddenly, Ingo’s dull eyes rolled back and his knees gave out under him, and Emmet let out a shriek. Akari was forced to act quickly to keep the boy from falling on top of his brother.

“It was perhaps a little rougher than I intended. But he will recover soon enough.” Mesprit continued holding out its paws, where a feather rested. “Please take this piece of the spirit to bind the world once more.”

Volo reached out to grab the boy's shoulders only for Irida to beat him to the punch, freeing up her hands and allowing her to take the Plume.

"T-thank you." She picked up the small feather, holding the pokemon faze as the rest of the group slowly started to make their way from the cave. Slowly, Akari turned around to join them, her mind buzzing with questions.

Why did Mesprit need to speak with Ingo?

Why had it caused such a reaction?

Who had asked Mesprit to do this?

"Wait…"

Akari stopped just in front of the exit, looking back at the lake guardian, with confusion.

"I have one last question… you need not answer it now. It is simply food for thought."

One more question.

She guessed there was no harm in that.

"Okay, what is it?"

Slowly, Mesprit floated forward, like the pokemon was going to whisper it in her ear.

"How would you feel if I told you that the one you call Lil Ingo and the one you call Uncle Ingo….

…Are one and the same?"

"What?!" Akari's voice echoed off the stone walls as pulled herself away.

But when she turned to face the lake guardian, Mesprit was gone.

___

Akari was shaking slightly as she walked out of the cave and out into the fresh air of the fieldlands where the rest of the group waited for her.

“Looks like that worked out well, Akari.” Volo smiled at her and he watched her finally exit. “Well, all except one of the Warden’s boys passing out. But I imagine these trials aren’t for the faint of heart.”

Irida on the other hand shook her head. “I have to disagree, that looked exhausting…and we still have two more challenges to go.” the clan leader then looked over the teen with a worried expression, seeming to notice the shakiness in Akari’s shoulders. “Are you all right Akari? You seem pale? Did you want to head back to the retreat to rest?”

Quickly Akari shook her head attempting to clear her thoughts. “Y-yeah, I mean no I’m fine. Besides we have to pass through the Mirelands to get retreat anyway, so might as well knock another lake off our list.” she turned to look toward Emmet who was sitting on the ground next to his twin. “How’s Lil Ingo holding up?”

It couldn’t be true…

Mesprit was just trying to get a reaction out of her.

They only shared a name. They didn’t look that much alike.

“He still hasn’t woken up yet,” Emmet muttered sadly with a shake of his head, and Akari was slightly torn between heading to the next lake right away or waiting until the elder twin woke up.

“How about I take the kid back to the retreat and meet up with you all at Lake Valor,” Volo suggested stepping up next to Akari. “That way he can be safe and rest with Mistress Cogita.” Despite his kind smile, Akari couldn’t help but notice as Emmet flinched slightly, scooting closer to his twin and holding him tighter. No doubt, not wanting to be separated from his brother, and Volo was still a stranger to them after all.

But before she could agree and assure the younger twin his brother would be in safe hands, Irida stepped up.

“I am Sorry Volo, but their father is a member of my clan and for their safety is my responsibility,” Irida stated, kneeling next to the boy as she started to remove his belt. “If he has not awakened by the time we reach the Mirelands then I will take him to see Warden Calaba.”

Surprisingly, Volo seemed to be slightly offended by this, but maybe Akari was miss reading it or the Merchant felt like he wasn’t being trusted. “Didn’t we talk about this before? No disrespect Kamado wants these kids behind bars, it wouldn’t look very good for you to be seen with one of them.”

“Lady Irida, are you sure?” Akari added.

But the clan leader just shook her head, and reached up and pulled the boy’s hood up, hiding most of his face. “These Hoods are made for more than just decoration. So long as no one looks too close, then he just looks like any other member of the Pearl clan.” she pulled the belt free and handed it to Emmet, with a soft smile, taking only Lampent’s Pokeball. “Emmet, I want you to stay with Akari. You can command your brother’s pokemon, correct?”

“Y-yeah” Emmet nodded, carefully taking his brother’s belt.

“Good, then your brother and I will meet you all at Lake Valor.”

#warden's twins #submas #subway bosses as kids #AU #submas au #Pokemon #Pokemon Mesprit #Pokemon Akari #pokemon Volo #Ingo and Emmet #Pokemon fanfic #fanfic writing #recommend reading on a03 #is long

20 notes · View notes