Doubled
The first thing Ingo noticed when he woke up was his own face staring down at him.
“Do you know him?” an unfamiliar voice above him asked.
His mirror frowned harshly. That’s not right, Ingo thought, but didn’t quite know why.
“No, I can’t say I do,” his mirror said, a considering look on his face. He turned away. “Emmet?” He likely said more, but Ingo couldn’t hear him over the pounding of his head. He knew that name. Where did he...
Listening wasn’t helping. He surveyed his surroundings.
He was in- a metal room, with an open area in the center. A battlefield of some kind? There was a familiar-unfamiliar rhythm under his back. Talking to his mirror was- another mirror, this one dressed in white with a concerned smile. That seemed... more right, somehow, despite the first man resembling Ingo more. The man in white was gesturing to the doors, the man in black nodding along. A young woman who couldn’t be much older than Lady Irida, if that, was speaking into a device attached to her wrist. The person closest to him was sorting through a grey case, silent. There were two eeveelutions laying beside them, an Umbreon and an Espeon. When he tried to sit up, the person waved at him to stay down. He sat up anyway.
“Where am I?”
The young woman glanced at him. The close person frowned. The two mirrors didn’t seem to notice him, but they did. He knew better.
How did he know better?
“Unova,” said the close person, rough. His heart ached at the name. He decided to focus on the person’s accent instead. They sounded nothing like anyone he’d heard in Hisui. “You fell through a rift. It closed right after.”
Ingo closed his eyes. “Not again,” he sighed. Why, why was it always him. At least he wasn’t in the snow, this time.
“We’re almost to the station. I already called for medical personnel, and the platform is clear of onlookers,” his dark mirror said.
“He was very lucky. The rift opened in the car. It didn’t open on the tracks,” his white mirror said.
“Emmet,” his dark shadow said, horrified. So his white mirror was Emmet. That... yes, that made sense.
“He’s got a point, Ingo,” the woman said. Ingo jolted. The person watching him noticed, and frowned.
“You alright?”
“I’m operational,” Ingo said, before lolling to one side. The person caught him easily.
“Doesn’t look operational,” they said. “Will you let me help?”
He didn't want to accept, but he knew when he needed help. Ingo managed a nod, though that made him more dizzy. The rhythm of the room slowed to a stop. A light changed. Someone swept into the room with a gurney. The stranger helped him onto it, and then he was swept away.
⁂
Ingo and Emmet and Hilda were at the hospital. After they had reported what happened, the police force had gone a bit off the rails. It seemed like they had to report the case up the tracks, to a station that Unova just didn’t have. That meant contacting the International Police. That meant paperwork.
Luckily, Hilda was with them. Ingo didn’t like paperwork, but he would do it if he had to; for Emmet, it depended greatly on what kind of paperwork it was: some he liked doing, others he absolutely despised. But Hilda enjoyed most forms of paperwork, for some reason.
She was hard for Ingo and Emmet to understand sometimes, but a good friend. And an excellent trainer.
When she was doing paperwork and Ingo was looking over what she did to make sure she didn’t miss anything, the nurse came into the room with a considering look on her face.
“Nurse Saisune,” Ingo greeted. Emmet and Hilda nodded in greeting. Saisune sometimes worked on the Battle Subway on her days off. She had a slightly terrifying Serperior.
“Subway Boss Ingo, Subway Boss Emmet, Ace Trainer Hilda,” Saisune returned, “The patient you brought in is stable, but currently asleep. He doesn’t have any major injuries, though it looks like he had some in the past. They’re all mostly healed, and healed well. He seems to have some memory issues, likely due to an old head injury, but is probably in his early 20s.” She hesitated. “He said his name is Warden Ingo of the Pearl Clan. Do you...”
Ingo grimaced. “I don’t know. He does look like me, but he fell out of a wormhole. He could be anyone.” he said, then after a pause, “...Though, he was wearing my coat.”
Hilda looked between the twin bosses. “Nobody else has those coats, right?”
Emmet shook his head. “They’re custom. Our designs.”
“So this guy,” Hilda started, “has your name, your coat, what seems to be a high ranking title, no memories, and is around a decade younger than you.”
Ingo and Emmet nodded.
"He does have memories," Saisune said, "just not before a certain point. And they don't really make sense."
Hilda groaned. “I’m calling my brother. This is something they would know about.”
Saisune sighed. “Is Former Champion Hilbert even in Unova right now?”
“No, they’re in Kalos. They’d better pick up, though.”
Emmet wiggled uncertainty. “It’s 1AM in Kalos?”
“They’d better pick up,” Hilda said more forcefully.
Hilda’s Xtransceiver rang.
It clicked.
“Hilda?” a groggy voice asked. It did not sound much like Hilbert, in Ingo’s opinion.
“Calem!” Hilda said to someone who was definitely not Hilbert, “c’est parfait, actuellement, j'allais demander à Hilbert mais tu es mieux.”
“I did not know you knew Kalosian,” Ingo said.
Hilda winked at them, turning away to continue her conversation.
Saisune looked tired. “Never meet your heroes’ siblings,” she said, and left to continue her rounds.
An hour later, all the paperwork was completed and sent to its destination. Hilda chose the very moment the last file was sent to return.
“Ok,” she said, “So Calem- Kalos Champion Calem, I mean- told me that space-time rifts and wormholes are a known issue, and the Alolan and Sinnohan champion and their leagues are working on it, but also the Alolan league is still in its infancy and Alola Champion Hau is literally a child, and Sinnoh Champion Dawn is... not doing great, her cousin went missing recently or something. So what’s actually happening is Interpol is working on it, but according to one of Champion Hau’s friends they’re really just focused on the monsters coming out of the wormholes and not the people coming out of the wormholes, except for like, two people. Luckily, Calem’s friend Grand Duchess Serena apparently helped one of those two people with like... a brainwashing incident regarding his ward, I think? So she asked Detective Emma, said formerly brainwashed ward, because they’re apparently friends, and-”
“Hilda,” interrupted Emmet, “That’s too much.”
“Sorry. A specialist team from Interpol is coming to help, basically. They’ll be here soon.”
That didn’t seem right. “They’re coming now?” Ingo asked. It was 9PM. Yes, they didn’t have to run the battle lines tomorrow, but detouring too far from a set schedule was unwise!
“Sure,” Hilda said, “It’s only like, 3PM in Alola, and apparently they have an Alakazam that can teleport,” she made a popping noise with her mouth, “right to Castelia.”
“They what? That’s terribly unsafe- the sheer amount of energy required, the choosing of the space to occupy, not to mention that there would, presumably, be more than one trainer being teleported!” There was a reason most regions restricted Teleport use to a designated area outside of Pokécenters.
Emmet agreed. "They are very strong or very stupid. Probably both."
Hilda shrugged. “Yell at them when they get here.”
He would, but this was a hospital. Ingo would have to settle for a lecture. Too much noise could wake up the passengers, which could be unsafe.
⁂
Ingo could hear hushed conversation outside his room. It was dark, with a safety light low on the wall near the door. The doctors were very understanding of his wariness, and compromised with him easily. He wasn't used to that. He didn’t think he was used to that before, either. His coat and hat lay over him, folded neatly. He rose and put them on. He checked his cargo - he had various tools, some now-bruised berries, a small amount of money, a couple empty pokéballs, and, most importantly, all 12 of his pokémon.
He didn’t have his flute, but that was fine. There were extras back at camp whenever he returned, and something told him it wouldn’t have worked here anyway.
The door opened. One of the nurses came in quietly. "You're looking better," he said, "Did you sleep well?"
"Yes, thank you."
"Good." The nurse paused. "There's a few people here to see you, the people who brought you here. They said two others are coming in about half an hour. Should I tell them to come in?"
Ingo considered this. "Yes, show them in," he decided after a moment. After all, they helped him. The least he could do was thank them.
The nurse nodded and checked him over. "You should stay another night for observation, but after that you should be free to go," he said after he was done. Ingo nodded.
The nurse left his room with a wave. Shortly after, three people filed in– his two mirrors and the young woman. The fourth person wasn't there. His mirrors looked restless. He couldn’t read the woman.
“I’m glad you’re alright,” she said. She sounded sincere, at least. “Uh...” She turned to his mirrors.
His white mirror stood to attention. “I am Emmet,” he said.
“Introductions, right. I’m Hilda.” She gave a little wave.
Hilda and Emmet looked at his dark mirror. Ingo decided to cut to the chase.
“And you’re me,” Ingo said.
“As far as we can tell,” his dark mirror said, “Though you’re younger than I am, and this didn’t happen to me.”
What.
“We’re 38,” Emmet chirped.
If they’re only 38 then how old is he???
“I think things like this have been happening lately,” Hilda said, “People falling out of rifts and ending up in the wrong dimension, that sort of thing. I called some people who are experts, they’ll be here soon.” She checked the device on her wrist. “Like in less than 5 minutes, oops.”
The other Ingo sighed. Emmet shook his head. Hilda snorted. “Like I said, you can shout at them when they get here.”
Ingo was confused. “Why would you shout at them?” If they were coming to help, surely that was a good thing?
The other Ingo shrugged one shoulder. “It will be good to have assistance, but the way they are getting here is terribly unsafe. Really, I know there’s no way to get a train to Alola but they could have at least flown.”
“They teleported,” Emmet said, wry. It made Ingo’s heart ache for Akari, as well as someone more unknown to Ingo. Perhaps, if this other Ingo really was him, he also had an Emmet back where he came from? Emmet continued. “With an alakazam. From over 4000 miles away.”
“WHAT?”
Even said so bluntly, that was shocking.
His two mirrors grimly nodded. Hilda shrank back a bit at his volume. “Yup, that’s definitely Ingo,” she said, waving off his attempts at an apology. “It’s fine, I’m used to it.”
“How did they get the power for that?”
Hilda threw her hands in the air with a grin. “I have no idea!”
Ingo mulled that over for a moment. It just didn't make sense.
"Do you have any other questions for us before they arrive?" the other Ingo asked.
"Just one ready for departure," Ingo said, "Where is your fourth member?"
His mirrors blinked blankly at him. Did they… not remember?
"Oh!" Hilda said brightly, before Ingo got too worried, "That was Wes, they had to leave. They were in the region briefly on their way to Ferrum, but I dragged them to the Battle Subway before they left. They're a friend of a friend so I wanted them to have fun."
"They like double battles," said Emmet, swinging his arms happily. “They are very strong.”
"They seemed to be unfazed by…" Ingo trailed off, gesturing.
"Not much derails them," said the other Ingo.
Hilda snickered. “That’s putting it lightly.”
There was a knock on the door. Hilda checked it.
“It's the experts I called. Should I let them in, or do you want more time?”
“There is no need for delay,” Ingo said.
Hilda nodded, and opened the door.
⁂
To say Ingo was surprised by who entered would be an understatement.
"Anabel? What are you doing here?" he asked.
Anabel rarely left Hoenn, and even more rarely the Eastern regions. The Subway Bosses knew her fairly well, though. As one of the first two Tower Tycoons, she was the co-president of the International Towers Union, of which Ingo and Emmet were members (They weren't the only ones that weren't actually in towers, but the founding members were in towers, so the Towers Union it stayed. At least the twins got on well with the Chatelaines, who were similarly not in a tower). ITU meetings were some of the only times the twins left Unova, so tended to be memorable.
Anabel looked at him uncomprehendingly, then sighed. The man beside her huffed a laugh.
"I'm sorry, we don't know each other," said the woman who looked like Anabel.
"You look like Anabel," Emmet said.
"I bet I do," the woman said, "I'm Agent Anabel of the International Police."
There was a pause. "Let’s just say there is a reason that Anabel is the leader of this team," the man beside her said. "I am called Agent Looker of the International Police."
Hilda smiled. "Hilbert told me about you. Your Unovan isn't that bad." She winked. "I'm Ace Trainer Hilda, but you probably knew that. These two are Subway Bosses Emmet and Ingo." Ingo politely tipped his hat, while his brother gave a cheerful wave.
“Oh, that’s why you know Anabel,” muttered the woman whose name was also Anabel.
Hilda continued. “And this is Warden Ingo of the Pearl Clan, who is the one who fell from the rift.”
The two agents gave the other Ingo polite nods, which he returned.
“Well, if you know who you are, you have better memories than most Fallers, at least,” Anabel said. Ingo looked at her, startled. This was a good case? She continued. “Many cannot even remember their names at first.”
Ingo glanced at his brother, whose smile had gone tight, then back to the Agents.
“Sometimes memories return, generally in some months,” Looker said, “Though sometimes the memories are just gone.”
The Warden shook his head wryly. "I remember Hisui quite clearly, though it was not my first home. I cannot remember from where I departed, only scraps."
"Hm," said Looker, “It’s interesting. Is being with the Subway Bosses here aiding your memory?”
“There is familiarity, but I have no specifics.”
“Good, good. That’s a good sign, at least...”
Ingo had no idea what was going on. Neither, by the looks of it, did Emmet. “Pardon,” Ingo started, but his brother beat him to it.
“Why are you here?” Emmet asked bluntly.
The two agents glanced at each other. “The Chief and I have primary experience with wormholes,” Looker said, gesturing to his companion. “I am from here, but was somewhere else for at least six months. I do not remember the other dimension, and though my memories of before my fall are still vague they are getting clearer with time. At first I could not even remember my name. Anabel - Tower Tycoon Anabel, that is to say, though she was not Tower Tycoon at the time - was the one who found me. When I eventually returned to my home region, having friends who knew me as I was nearby helped my memory.”
“I, on the other hand, am not from this dimension,” Agent Anabel said, “I have spent twelve years here, and have no memories of my previous dimension at all. The only reason I know my name is I had my trainer card on me.”
“Twelve years...” the Warden was stunned. Ingo was too, frankly.
“You would have found out eventually, right?” Hilda asked, “Tower Tycoon Anabel is a public figure, after all.”
The Agent shook her head. “Possibly. She’s reclusive, and unlike Looker I didn’t land in Hoenn. We are friends, though being around her and her associates does not reveal anything to me.”
“This is why it’s good that things seem familiar!” Looker said with good cheer, “There is a correlation between regaining memories and returning home.”
“You keep saying home, but there are multiple stops on that line. Is there a way to send me directly back to Hisui?” the Warden asked.
Agent Anabel grimaced. “Well... He’s not popular in Unova, but we could try the machine Colress-”
“No,” the three native Unovans (not counting the Warden, if he counted in the first place) said firmly, in unison. Emmet shook his head furiously.
“I figured you’d say that,” the Agent sighed. “We don't know. There’s no precedent for someone Falling twice, at least that we know of.”
There was a bit of a lull, while the Agents thought of another way to get the Warden back to Hisui.
"One of our Fallers… He has traveled to multiple dimensions, and even returned to a specific dimension several times, but he's a bit of a special case," Agent Anabel said.
"Ah, him," Looker said, "Elio has made a habit of traveling to different dimensions with little planning."
Agent Anabel nodded. "We could ask him if he's seen your Hisui, if you'd like. We cannot guarantee anything, but he could at least look."
"That would be much appreciated, no matter the outcome," the Warden said.
"What will you do now?" Emmet asked the Warden.
"You are of course welcome to stay with us, but…" Ingo said, trailing off.
"Indeed," said the Warden, "I would prefer to go somewhere else. While this place is vaguely familiar, it's mostly... painful."
"We can of course move you," said Looker, "Tell us just where."
The Warden paused, lost in thought. After a while he asked, "Could I have a day to think about it?"
"Of course."
“Hey, Ingo! Are you ready?” Palmer said with a grin. Ingo had been working in the Sinnoh Battle Tower for a few months, since he had experience with the Tower format (even if he didn’t quite remember the specifics). He was just another rung on the ladder for challengers, so he didn’t get to go all-out often, but that was fine by him. It was a good job, and he didn’t have to live in the middle of a city to do it.
Palmer and the rest of the Sinnoh Battle Tower staff was hosting this year’s International Tower Union Conference, which according to Palmer was less a conference and more a sort of loose social tournament. The Conference was to be held that day, and the three following. Members of the ITU from all over the world would be coming to Sinnoh.
Sinnoh... It wasn’t the same, of course, but it felt like home. Like Hisui. Apparently, it was Hisui centuries ago. It made sense, to be in the future, given the technology and attitudes around pokémon. It was still jarring.
Ingo nodded to Palmer. “I am.”
“Glad to hear it!” Palmer gave him a thumbs-up, which Ingo returned as the started toward the atrium.
Just before they got there, Palmer stopped. “If things get too much for you, you can duck into this room here for a bit.” He gestured to a room labeled QUIET SPACE. “It doesn’t go anywhere, so we set it aside as a quiet room whenever we host.”
That was smart. “It’s good you’re taking safety precautions seriously,” Ingo said warmly.
Palmer laughed. “It was my kid’s idea, a couple of his friends were talking about why they never came to events like this and he came up with a whole bunch of things to help.”
“Excellent.”
“I’m going to be in the main room basically all day since I need to greet at least one person from each party, but you feel free to go wherever. There’s a couple fields set up that people can use, there’s usually at least one battle going on at any given time so feel free to watch some matches, too.” Palmer nodded to himself. “Yeah, I think that’s everything. Talk to Regina or Garett if you need something and can’t find me.”
“I will,” Ingo said.
“Great! Have fun,” Palmer said, then dashed off to greet people.
Ingo sighed. This was his first big event since he started working under Palmer, and even though he didn’t have to do anything he was nervous.
There were… A lot of new people here. Ingo idly hoped that none of them thought they recognized him.
“Oh! Ingo! Hello there!”
Ah. He should have known better. When he turned around, a person just a bit shorter than him wearing a lot of green was looking at him.
They squinted. “Oh. Sorry, I thought you were Boss Ingo, but that isn't the case, is it?”
“No, it's not. I’m Warden Ingo of the- Of Sinnoh. I currently work under Palmer.”
“Hm. Well, if we’ve not met, I’m Chatelaine Morgan of Kalos. I’m the eldest of the four Battle Chatelaines. Between you and me, I’m the strongest of us four, but don’t go telling that around, aye? It’s not part of our usual script,” they said with a wink.
“Of course not,” Ingo said, wry, “I can understand the smoke and mirrors needed to keep a train such as yours rolling.”
“Hee! Say, care for a battle? I don’t usually do singles, I’m a rotation battle specialist, but we could do whatever format you’d like!”
Ingo thought for a moment. The term sounded vaguely familiar, but... “...what’s a rotation battle?”
Morgan’s eyes sparkled. “Why don't I show you? Are you up for learning something new?”
⁂
“Do you see him?” Emmet asked.
“No, not yet,” Ingo replied, “We’ve hardly arrived, Emmet.”
Palmer spotted them before they got further in. “Hey, you two!”
“Hello Palmer,” Ingo replied, “who’s this?”
The unknown figure gave them a slight bow. “I’m Sawyer of Johto. I’m one of the people representing the Johto Battle Tower Cooperative this year,” xe said politely.
“I am Emmet.”
“And I am Ingo. We’re the Subway Bosses of Unova.”
“Ingo?” Sawyer tilted xir head. “Like the new guy who works for Palmer?”
“Just like!” Emmet chirped.
“He’s an alternate version of me,” Ingo explained.
Sawyer squinted at him.
Palmer laughed. “Weird that that’s happened twice, isn’t it? I think both Anabels are here this year, too.”
“It will be good to see them again. Both of them,” Ingo said.
“My fellow Tower Tycoon is somewhere around here but sticking to the sidelines, as usual. Miss Secret Agent is with another person representing the Alolan Battle Tree, I think they've been watching the fights.”
“Do you know where the Warden is?” Emmet asked.
“The Warden?” Sawyer asked.
“Yes,” said Emmet.
“The other Ingo,” Ingo clarified.
“Oh,” Sawyer said, “I think I saw him talking to Morgan?”
Emmet brightened. “Morgan’s here! Did they bring their sisters?”
Palmer hummed. “I think Dana’s here? I haven’t seen the other two around.”
“Aww. Evelyn is fun to tease.”
“You shouldn’t,” Sawyer said.
“We have an agreement,” Emmet said.
“And older siblings to keep them in line,” Ingo said, dry.
“The Chatelaines have been doing this for longer than almost anyone,” Palmer pointed out, “Their weaknesses are mostly an act.”
“Only mostly,” Emmet said, “But I’m not cruel. They are still younger than us.”
“Morgan’s not,” Ingo said.
“Morgan’s Morgan.”
Ingo accepted this with a nod.
“Hello, Subway Bosses,” said Anabel from behind the group. Sawyer and Palmer both jumped. Anbel laughed at them for that. (So did Emmet, but he hid it better.)
“Hello, Tycoon Anabel,” said Ingo.
“Hi,” said Emmet.
“Ingo... ... The other one is going to fight Morgan. Do you want to see?”
Ingo nodded. “But of course!”
Emmet hummed. “What format?”
“Well, it’s Morgan...”
“Rotation, then. Gross.”
“You’re coming anyway,” Ingo stated.
Emmet nodded. “But of course!”
“Emmet, are you mocking me?”
“Never, brother.”
Anabel laughed at them as she led them away.
When they got to the arena, Morgan was still explaining the rules of rotation battles. The Agent waved them over to the stands when they came in. The person with her opened one eye and then returned to laying over a few seats.
“Hello, Anabel,” Anabel said.
“Good to see you, Anabel,” the Agent returned, “And it's good to see you two, as well,” she said to the Subway Bosses.
“Agent,” Ingo returned politely.
Emmet grinned. “How long have they been explaining?”
The Agent grimaced.
“ ‘Bout 20 minutes,” the person with her said, “Rotation battles seem overcomplicated.” He sat up with a grunt, sticking out his hand to shake. “I'm Guzma, by the way.”
Emmet shook his hand. “I am Emmet.”
“And I am his brother, Ingo. We are the Subway Bosses of Unova.”
“Huh,” Guzma said, looking between Ingo and the Warden. Then he looked over at Anabel and the Agent. “So you're in the same boat as Anabel, or somethin'?”
“Pretty much,” Ingo and the Agent said. Emmet and Anabel laughed a bit at that.
“Alright!” They heard Morgan say, so they turned to watch the field. “Do you understand everything now? Need me to go over things again?”
“Please be ready,” Anabel muttered.
The Warden still looked a little lost, but to be fair he usually did. “I'm on-track.”
Morgan smiled. “Then let us begin!”
The Warden nodded. “All Aboard!”
Morgan sent out their Swalot, Sawsbuck, and Klefki. The Warden sent out his Gliscor, Magnezone, and Tangrowth.
Ingo should really ask if the Warden named his pokémon. Just because he didn't didn't mean he didn't.
...Anyway.
“Woah,” said Guzma, “What's that?”
“Which one?” the Agent asked.
“The bug, duh.” So Guzma was a bug specialist, then.
“That’s Gliscor!” Emmet said brightly. “They’re ground-flying. One of verrry few bugs that are not bug-type!”
Guzma watched as the Warden cycled in Magnezone. “Huh.”
The Agent hummed. “You haven’t left Alola before, right Guzma? You’ll have to tell us if you don’t recognize any of the others. I think there won’t be any calling attacks, since it’s a rotation battle.”
“Correct,” said Emmet.
“Uh...” Guzma squinted. “I recognize the magnezone. And that one that Morgan has is Steel-Fairy, right? Klefki or something, Molayne has one. I don’t recognize the others.”
“That is indeed Klefki. Morgan also has Swalot and Sawsbuck. Their fourth with this team will likely be Mantine unless they’ve changed their team composition,” Ingo said, “But they haven’t since I’ve known them.”
“Well, I’ll know the mantine when I see it,” Guzma said, “I’m from an island.”
“The Warden is doing bring-six-pick-four active. Harder to guess what four he’s using,” Emmet said, “His third out right now is Tangrowth.”
“In all honesty, I have never watched a rotation battle before,” said Anabel.
“Me either. And I wasn’t really paying attention when Morgan explained,” the Agent concurred.
“They suck,” said Emmet.
“They’re basically mind games,” Ingo explained, “It’s a rigid turn-based format, with Trainers telling their team what to do in secret, often on a time limit. Each Trainer sends out three pokémon, and can switch between them each turn in addition to attacking, so if you think that your opponent will use, say, a ground-type move, you could change to a flying-type pokémon and still use a move. But if they think you’re going to switch to a flying-type, they could use an electric-type move. They started out in the simulated battling community, like most hidden turn formats, then a couple of Bikers from Unova figured out how to actually use the format in live fights. Eventually it fell out of favor in the sims, so now the only people who actually use it are about thirty people total in Unova, maybe six or seven in Hoenn, three of the Battle Restaurants in Kalos, which only use rigid turn-based formats anyway, and Morgan.”
“What the hell,” said Guzma.
“They’re hard to watch,” said Emmet, watching intently.
“Who do you think Warden Ingo will send out?” asked the Agent.
“Hm.” Ingo glanced across the field. The stands were far enough away from Morgan that he didn’t think talking about the fight would disrupt it, even at his volume. “The way things are looking, Magnezone will be the first to fall. That means Mantine will have a better time of things, not having to avoid its electric-type attacks. So he could send out Probopass, who knows Thunderbolt. However, Probopass shares Magnezone’s weakness to ground and is additionally weak to water. Since Klefki has been taken care of and Mantine is not particularly bulky physically, I would go with Machamp for its varied physical moveset.”
“Not Alakazam? That Swalot could cause problems.” Emmet pointed out.
Ingo disagreed. “Morgan’s Swalot is support, and Gliscor can take care of it if it needs to. It’s bulky, but its only directly damaging move is Earthquake, to which Gliscor is immune.”
Anabel tilted her head. “Is it a poison heal gliscor? That would be an excellent counter.”
“I don’t know,” said Ingo, because he didn’t. “The Warden hasn’t said much about his pokémons’ abilities.”
Emmet squinted at the Warden’s Gliscor.
“There goes Magnezone,” Guzma said.
“Hm,” said the Agent, watching the Warden send out Machamp.
“You called it, Ingo,” said Anabel. Ingo nodded.
Guzma glanced at Ingo. “Who do you think is gonna win?”
“Hard to say. The two of them are pretty evenly matched, though neither is going all out.”
“Morgan is going to let him win,” Emmet claimed.
Ingo considered this. “Probably.”
⁂
Ingo considered the field, and his opponent.
This was tricky.
Morgan probably wouldn’t use Swalot again unless they had to. That meant they would use either Mantine or Sawsbuck. Probably Mantine, since Air Slash would land a supereffective hit against both Billy and Invicta. Neutral on Comet, though he was weak to water. Probably the best pick anyway, a Stone Edge might do it.
He glanced across the field. Unless...
No, no second guessing himself. He would get nowhere if he started on that track. He signaled Comet to rotate in and use Stone Edge. As he thought, Morgan sent in Mantine. It was faster than Comet, which was a bit surprising, and used- Wide Guard.
...Why would they use Wide Guard? Though that did explain the unexpected speed. Did any of Ingo’s team even have moves affected by Wide Guard? He quickly thought through his team- Perseverance had Dazzling Gleam, though he didn’t have a ticket to this battle. That was it. Not that Morgan knew that, but why would they- Ah, Earthquake? Gliscor could learn Earthquake, and it was a powerful move. But Mantine was a flying-type. It was already immune to Earthquake.
What sort of mind games was Morgan playing?
The mind games that Morgan was playing turned out to be called ‘letting my opponent win so they don’t hate my favorite format.’
A few of the spectators cheered, which was polite of them. He honestly hadn’t noticed them come in. Ingo and Morgan went over to chat.
The instant they get within comfortable earshot, Emmet grinned. “Did they let you win,” he asked.
Ingo sighed. “Yes.”
Morgan squawked. “I did not!”
“Wide Guard,” Ingo stated.
“Don’t start,” the other Ingo said, “you were both holding back.”
“I wouldn’t use Mastered moves in a turn-based format,” Ingo said with humor.
“It’s impolite to use legendary aspects in a first fight,” Morgan huffed.
The two Anabels - at least, he assumed the person in purple was the other Anabel - nodded. Emmet rolled his eyes.
“Legendary aspects,” the last spectator said, pulling a hand through his hair.
“Some powerful trainers, including many of the people here, have a strong enough bond with lesser legendaries to use an aspect of their power in battle,” Anabel said.
“We both have bonds with Raikou, Entei, and Latios,” said the other Anabel.
Well. That was a bit startling.
“Oh, you too? Evelyn also has a bond with them, as well as with Suicune,” said Morgan.
“Is this like Elio and Selene’s whole thing?” the last spectator asked. Ingo would have to get his name.
“No,” said Anabel. She did not elaborate.
“Do... you guys also have legendary aspects?”
“No, we do not,” said the other Ingo, at the same time Emmet said “Nope!”
“I also do not,” said Ingo. “I don’t believe we’ve been introduced? I am Warden Ingo.”
“Ah, right! I’m Guzma.” He did not clarify, though to be fair Guzma was not a name Ingo expected to find much otherwise.
“It’s nice to meet you.”
Anabel muttered something that Ingo couldn’t hear, and Guzma straightened.
“Right, could I see you Gliscor? I’ve never seen one before.”
Ingo blinked. “Of course! Comet, come on out!”
The other Ingo hummed. “So you do name your pokémon.”
“I do. I assume you don’t?”
“No.”
“Since I have two of each, it makes it easier to keep track of them. Comet, this is Guzma. He wanted to meet you!”
Comet buzzed. Ingo reached up and scritched his ears.
“He likes being pet on the ears,” Ingo said, showing Guzma, “Don’t touch his hands unless you want to get pinched.”
Guzma nodded. “It seems like most pokémon don’t like getting their hands touched. My golisopod’s the same way.”
The other Anabel tilted her head. “Golisopod?”
It seemed like the other Ingo didn’t know either. “I haven’t heard of golisopod before.”
“Oh yeah, you wouldn’t know since they’re pretty much only in Alola. Bug-water, they like rocky shores,” Guzma said, “Here, I’ll bring Jimbo out.”
“They’re in Galar, too,” said Morgan.
“Huh. Maybe I should visit at some point. Gladion says there’s a bunch of interesting bug-types there.”
Morgan looked towards Guzma and tilted their head. “You’re a bug-type specialist, are you?”
“Yeah, I am”
“Would you, by any chance at all, want a baby durant?”
Guzma blinked. “A what?”
“A durant. Steel-bug, most plentiful in Unova?”
“You have baby durant?” Emmet asked.
“Yes! My husband is studying them, and since they moved in with me is trying to find better homes for most them. Would you like one, Emmet?”
“I will take a durant if you take a joltik.” Ingo had met some of Emmet’s joltik. All of them, every single one, was adamant. They were terrifying for such cute things.
Morgan clearly had no such fear. “I’ll take that offer. There aren’t any joltik in Kalos, did you know that?”
“Then you will have to be verrry careful.”
“I want to see these bugs that I’ve never heard of,” Guzma said from under Jimbo and Comet.
Ingo looked at him. “Do you need help getting unstuck, Guzma?”
“Nah, I’m great.”
⁂
While his brother, Morgan, the Warden, and Guzma were talking about bugs (he had let Crustle out when Emmet asked), Ingo was talking to Anabel and the Agent.
“And how is the subway, Ingo?” Anabel asked.
“It’s running smoothly,” Ingo said, “We’re in the process of updating our passenger lines, which is very exciting! They’re faster, so we can have the trains run more often. They also have higher capacity than the trains we’re using currently. It will be better for everyone!”
“Very nice... I’m glad things are going well,” said Anabel with a small smile.
“Have you had any other wormhole issues?” asked the Agent.
“No. We did a more thorough study, and it seems that it was a one-off. We put in more sensors for that sort of thing, too, but they’ve only been picking up Former Champion Hilbert.”
The Agent nodded. “I’ve been looking into your case, since it was our first case and so far only in Unova... According to one of our agents who used to live there, the Entree maintains Unova’s connections to other worlds.”
“It’s been said,” said Ingo. He had never been to the Entralink himself, but Hilbert, Nate, and Rosa went often enough that he’d heard of it. “It did have to regrow a few years back, I think. That’s what Hilbert’s said.”
“... The Entree sounds interesting,” Anabel said.
“I’ve never seen it, myself,” said Ingo, “Perhaps we could make that a destination when Unova hosts the conference next. It’s a public area, but not the most popular destination.”
“Perhaps...”
Ingo nodded. He would have to make sure that happened. He turned to the Agent. “You were looking into the Warden’s case, you said?”
“Ah, yes. I think the key was having both you, as the target, and Wes of Orre, as an energy source, in an artificial environment where the Entree has less power,” the Agent said.
“I understand my being there planning the route, but what does Wes have to do with it?”
The Agent looked at Ingo for a moment. “How much do you actually know about them?”
“Not a lot,” Ingo admitted, “They were on their way to a job, just passing through. I recognized their name from the news about 18 years ago, but I didn’t ask.”
“You might want to look them up... But the relevant part is, they have a bond with a Celebi.”
Ingo blinked. He kept track of lesser legendaries, since so many people from the International Tower Union used them, but he hadn’t heard of Celebi before. “Celebi?”
Anabel grinned. “Tiny forest deities. They’re cute...”
The Agent nodded. “The most well-known is from Ilex Forest in Johto, but there’s a few of them around. I’ve never met one... They’re minor legendaries of forests, growth, healing, and especially time travel.”
“Ah, minor legendaries,” Ingo said. That explained why he didn’t know what they were. Major and minor legendaries were typically banned at towers, for various reasons, so he didn’t know many of them.
Wait-- “What?”
Both Anabels laughed.
“Time travel?”
“Ingo! You ok?” Emmet called.
Ingo turned to his brother. “I should be asking you that,” he said. Emmet was laying, covered by Galvantula and an ariados, probably Guzma’s. Guzma was similarly covered in pokémon. Morgan was sitting with some sort of bug pokémon in their lap Ingo didn’t recognize, also probably Guzma’s.The Warden was standing, but had a durant on each arm- quite impressive, given their weight. One was Emmet’s, so the other, smaller one must be one of Morgan’s.
Emmet’s arm waved from under the spiders. “I’m fiiiine. You sounded distressed.”
“Just heard something unexpected,” Ingo said, “Did you know Wes has a bond with Celebi?”
“Yep!” Emmet chirped, pushing Galvantula (gently) off his face and sitting up. “Ho-oh too.”
Ingo stared at Emmet, who laughed brightly at him.
“Your face!”
Guzma glanced up. “He looks exactly the same.”
The Warden snorted. “His face is just like that, I’ve heard.” Then a pause. “Our face?”
“We don’t have the same face,” Ingo said sensibly, “You have a beard.”
“Fair.”
it's tradition for me to list the pokémon who get mentioned in a work at the end, so: this is that!
Warden Ingo names all his pokémon after early steam locomotives (not that he knows that)
>Billy - Machamp m
>Invicta - Tangrowth f
>Comet - Gliscor m
>Perseverance - Alakazam mGuzma also names all his pokémon. they have dog names.
>Jimbo - Golisopod
>Bailey - Ariados
>Max - Vikavolt (the pokémon Ingo doesn't recognize)