Hi hi, most if not all of these will be written via Ingo’s pov EXCEPT for a smidge of this one bc we all know the player’s feelings about the entire game. I also need practice with him and limited 3rd person so
Akari was having a bad day. Or well more like several bad days.
She was essentially evicted from her home dimension just four days ago and was now forced into what was basically child labor. Her inner Unovan rattles violently against its cage at the thought. Not like she wasn’t used to doing things for high risk and little to no reward, she saved Sinnoh from the clashing of realms when she was only twelve! Twelve!! All just for some fancy title and a little too much money no child should have.
And now, at the oh so tender age of fifteen, she was risking her life once more.
“Stupid fucking all knowing god..” she muttered to herself, feeling incredibly free knowing she could curse somewhat aloud without risk of being hounded by a slipper.
“Come on bud, we have to go.”
“Oshawott.” Akari frowned. Her newest starter was definitely more difficult than her lovely torterra. The fat fucker was clearly overfed and had way too much mass for something so small. Akari didn’t know if it was because he was treated lavishly by Laventon or other or he was simply a glutton who got way too many treats.
When the overweight water-type didn’t budge from his napping position she sighed and simply picked him up into her arms. She silently thanked the clefable and torterra from her original team for preparing her muscles for such heavy pokemon. She was definitely going to fix this oshawott’s diet if its the last thing she does.
Oshawott growled agitatedly when he was lifted, tail lifting to lightly tap her arm and cracked open his bleary eyes. She ignored her friend’s protests and reached for her phone. Her fingers flinched at the strangely fleshy feeling of her Arc Phone. Akari took a moment to stare at her phone screen.
It was the same model as other roto-phones issued by the League of the future to gym challengers. It was the same screen protector. It was the same… everything. She looked at her reflection, looking at her new and unbearably itchy clothes, the thick scarf wrapped around her neck and handkerchief on her head. An uncomfortable feeling of isolation overcame her and the terrible, god awful dread came with it. She doesn’t belong here..
She was quick to pull herself away from the bunnelby hole of dark thoughts and shoved her phone into her inner breast pocket of the Survey Corps uniform. One thing she liked about this uniform was its multitude of pockets.
“Shwo?” Oshawott questioned, now fully awake and sitting comfortably on the crook of her elbow, gripping the thick fabric with his small claws. Akari smiled and ran her hands through Oshawott’s thick white fur on his head,”I’m fine. We can save existential crises for later. Preferably when we’re not being called by Kamado.” Oshawott nodded sagely.
“Akari! Come on, Kamado can’t wait all day!” Rei called from outside her quarters. Akari let out a long suffering sigh as she placed her pudgy oshawott on her shoulder,”We’re coming! Jeez!”
She stepped outside, blinking away the sunlight. She gave a little wave to the older Galaxy member. Wow that was weird to think when Team Galactic exists in the future.
“Finally! I’ve been waiting here since sunrise!” Rei frowned, eyes flicking from the pokemon on her shoulders with quickly hidden surprise before returning to her face. Akari rolled her eyes,”No one in there right mind would be up at sunrise except maybe the guardsmen. Especially not you since you adore your sleep don’t you?” She smirked triumphantly when Rei narrowed his eyes at her, god he was bad at this,”You don’t know that.”
“Yes, actually I do. Laventon always talks fondly about how he has to wake you up like some father with his kid. It’s actually really cute how he gets so smiley about it.” Rei sputtered flusteredly and huffed, pulling his shredded scarf to cover his red cheeks,”… shut up.”
Akari snickered and elbowed her peer’s ribs gently,”Didn’t you say we were late to a meeting?” Rei groaned, sucking in a breath to regain his composure and shoved playfully at Akari’s shoulder,”You are the one who’s late and I—“
“Look who’s being punctual! Finally realized you’re waisting almighty Sinnoh’s precious time by bowing to a sham?”
“There you go again, insisting on your false image of almighty Sinnoh as a ruler of time! My people follow the true almighty Sinnoh—the font of all creation and ruler of space!”
Akari and Oshawott tilted their heads. Are… they fighting over which “Sinnoh” is real? Oh is that how future Sinnoh got its name? Like how Unova was renamed from Alleos? Rei groaned as he recognized the voices, Akari gave him a look.
“Hah! You could have the space there is and still not know what to do with it.” The man in a long blue kimono sneered, leaning down the glare at the shorter blonde in way-too-big shoes. The woman bristled, not backing down and returning the other’ glare with just as much ferocity as a feraligatr,”Excuse me? Are you really suggesting that make better use of you time than we make of vast Hisui’s space?!” The man scoffed, crossing his arms,”Better than some! It’s a miracle you showed up on, oh mighty leader of the Pearl Clan. I worried you’d get lost in the pointlessly vast space you’re so fond of and never show up.” He teased, merciless.
The woman laughed mirthlessly and waved him away dismissively,”Me, get lost? In almighty Sinnoh’s great gift to the Pear Clan—in our world’s very basis?” She then snapped her eyes to him, leveling him with a stare icy enough to freeze water,”You wish!” The man flinched under the glare before putting his palm to his head with a suffering sigh,”I wish that hadn’t let myself get dragged into arguing with you. Almighty Sinnoh forgive me—what a waste of time! I’m off to Commander Kamado’s office!”
The woman clad in pink huffed, turning to the office in almost perfect tandem with the man,”I believe it was you who started this!” They shared a long look of animosity before walking to the large double doors of the Galaxy Team building.
Rei sighed with a shake of his head,”Just another day with those two, I see. The man’s name is Adaman. The the leader of the Diamond Clan, they put a lot of importance on time, as you could probably tell. And the girl is Irida, leader of the Pearl Clan. They’re all about space—you heard what she called it right? ‘Our world’s very basis.’ Whenever they run into each other, those same arguments flare up.” He mindlessly scratched at his arm with a quite frankly exhausted look,”Seems like they’ve inherited some bad blood from their predecessors’ strife.”
“But then shouldn’t we help them sort it out?” Akari questioned, her water-type companion nodded in agreement. Rei shrugged,”Yeah well, as much as it would lessen tensions between the village and the clans it’s not really our problem. But you’ll have problems if you don’t get yourself to the commander’s office, Akari! I have to go to the Mirelands for an investigation. Anyway, good luck you two!” He said as he headed for the gates that lead to the Fieldlands.
At the mention of mirelands, Akari imagined he meant the marsh around Pastoria City and shivered at the memory of her several near-heatstrokes in the humid and sweaty marsh. She called her goodbyes after him and skipped to the building next door. Beauregard and her exchanged familiar nods as she entered.
As she ascended the steps she heard the raised voices of Kamado’s guests. Are they still screaming at each other? Oshawott grumbled, deigning to crawl into Akari’s arms and buried his face into her armpit holding his ears down. She chuckled, stroking Oshawott’s fur.
“What do you intend to do about that Kleavor, Commander Kamado?!” Adaman hissed, leaning on his hands against Kamado’ desk basically all up in the Galaxy Team’s unflappable leader’s face,”He may be descended from a warrior of almighty Sinnoh’s, but look at the mess he causing. We can’t sit back and let him rage on!” Kamado let out a long sigh,”You do get right to the point, Adaman…” he grumbled from behind his desk. Adaman frowned and stood back up straight and crossed his arms,”Time wasted is lost.”
“Well, tell me—what would you have us do? Kleavor is a precious lord of the Pearl Clan, is he not?” Kamado said, leisurely cleaning his desk of papers and other documents to put into proper piles. Adaman growled with quickly declining patience,”That’s the point. My clan can’t intervene directly where a lord of the Pearl Clan’s concerned. If my people were to do something, our two clans might end up back at each other’s throats—just like we used to be.”
Adaman shook his head, genuine concern dancing in his eyes,”But even folk of the Galaxy Team have been wounded, haven’t they? Seems someone’s got to something here…” he pressed, glancing discreetly at his opposite clan leader. The glance was not as discreet as he thought it as Irida shot an affronted look to Adaman,”Who, then? Would the Diamond Clan have the Pearl Clan bring down one of its own honored nobles?” She asked with an air of offense, clenching her fists as if ready to fist fight the taller man. He scoffed and turned to face his opposite, as if daring her to raise a hand,”I don’t believe I said it. Thought it, maybe.”
“You might as well have said it, you fool!” She hissed, taking a threatening step forward. Akari finally took notice of the short girl’s musculature, limbs tensing like torracat readying to pounce on an unsuspecting pidgey. Adaman flinched slightly,”Look—we don’t even know what drove Lord Kleavor into such a violent frenzy.” She said, relaxing upon seeing Adaman take a step back. Kamado, the ever quiet man, simply stood by watching like a braviary.
“I’d like to know that myself. This is a first as far as my clan knows, too. Do your folk know anything of this phenomenon, Commander?” Kamado shook his head with a disappointed grunt. Oshawott sneezed loudly, breaking the brief lapse of silence and causing all eyes to dart to Akari. Kamado quietly let out a sigh of relief,”Hrrm. I see you’ve arrived.”
Akari tensed under the scrutinizing gazes of all three leaders. Even Cynthia had never looked at her so harshly and judgemental. Cynthia’s eyes were kind and soft, like a nurturing mother. Her pokemon yawned as Kamado spoke,”This is Akari, the newest member of our Survey Corps.”
At the mention of her name, Adaman brightened and flashed her a charismatic and warm smile,”Aha! I hear from Mai you earned Wyrdeer’s favor. Good to finally meet you, stranger from the rift! I’m ‘Adaman, leader of the Diamond Clan,’ if you want to be formal! But that’s a mouthful. Just call me Adaman.” He said and stuck out his hand for a shake. Akari didn’t return the favor and simply bowed slightly at the hip,”A pleasure, Mr. Adaman.” Adaman hummed lightly and bowed to her as well with smile.
Irida spoke up, a tone of distrust in her words,”If you came from beyond the space-time rift… could you be from the space where almighty Sinnoh is said to reside?” She shook her head and leveled Akari with a cautious look,”I’m Irida of the Pearl Clan! Caution and foresight are my watchwords. Which is why I have trouble believing in such tale. Could you really have passed through that rift?”
Akari couldn’t help but notice a glint of familiarity in Irida’s blue eyes. It was oddly reminiscent of something like deja vu. What for? For some reason, Akari couldn’t stop her mouth from moving,”Mrs. Irida, do you… have someone from the rift as well? You look like you’re having déjà vu…” Irida paused, blinking. Adaman looked at the new Galaxy girl with interest and Kamado furrowed his brows, he hurried to alleviate tension,”Akari, that is inappropriate—”
“We do. He is currently a warden up in Mt. Coronet.” Irida responded over him. The men in the room shared a surprised look. Akari nodded, a spark of hope for some semblance of familiarity in her heart,”Can I ask his name?” Irida nodded slowly, as if trying to figure out why she was telling the youth this at all,”His name is Ingo. He is an peculiar man, speaking in odd terms; his charge, Lady Sneasler, is quite fond of him. Unfortunately, he suffers from amnesia and cannot remember much outside of his name. Is he important to you?” Irida questioned softly, allowing herself to feel a little bit hopeful for her amnesiac warden, perhaps this child could assist in finding his scattered memories.
Akari, however, felt a waterfall of horror befall her. She tried to keep her voice even as she spoke,”Does… does he wear a long black coat..?” Irida sucked in a breath and excitedly exclaimed,”Yes! Do you know him?” Akari took in a deep, deep breath and nodded,”Yeah, I know him…” ‘How could I not know Ingo Whitlock?! He’s a famous battle facility head from Unova with his brother!’ Akari shrieked inside her head. Irida, now suddenly on cloud nine and hopelessly overjoyed, clapped her hands together,”After we quell our Woodland Lord’s frenzy, I will happily introduce him to you.” Akari smiled crookedly, cold sweat running down the back of her neck,”Me too..!”
The Diamond head laughed and Kamado grumbled and cleared his throat,”I have a proposition.” He stated with a purpose,”Why not send this one to study Kleavor before deciding what must be done?” Both leaders’ smiles faltered,”You’d send this child, who recently fell from the rift, to study Kleavor? A greenhorn with no experience? That’s—”
The Diamond scoffed at Irida’s irony,”Says the leader with almost no experience.” The earlier air of frustration radiated off of the Pearl again,”Being a good leader isn’t a matter of time—it’s a matter of embracing Hisui’s vastness without fear!” Adaman smirked before slinging a slim bandaged arm around Akari’s shoulders, turning to Kamado,”Well then, there you have it. If how new you are doesn’t matter, then let’s give the girl her chance. I’m sold, Commander. Let’s try this your way!”
Irida frowned worriedly,”Now hold on—“
“Hey, shouldn’t I get a say in this?” Akari piped up, gently clutching Oshawott in her arms,”Afterall, it’s me you’re sending. I think I should—“
“Child. Do not speak out of turn.” The Galaxy commander growled coldly, his eyes like a barren prairie in Orre. His hard stare sent a shiver of fear down Akari’s back and Oshawott’s bristled, lips drawn back protective of his trainer. Both clan leaders tensed at the sudden change of atmosphere before Adaman attempted to alleviate it,”This should be fun. I’ll get to see how good you Galaxy folk really are, with all your weird ways—putting pokémon in those strange balls and what have you.”
Irida jumped on the bandwagon with a genuine spark of annoyance,”That whole practice bothers me! Almoghty Sinnoh made Hisui vast so pokémon could live freely throughout. We’re meant to stand alongside pokémon, not count ourselves above them!”
Kamado let out a long sigh as he explained to the Pearl leader,”We do not use poké-balls from a desire to control our pokémon. Only so that we can live together,” he took a single step forward, hand placed across his chest sincerely,”Allow us to show you what we can do!”
She looked between the rift-summoned girl with a pokémon in her arms, her fellow clan head and the commander, weighing her options and possible consequences. After a beat, her stiff shoulders lowered a little and she nodded hesitantly,”… Alright. We will assist Akari in her investigations.”
The tall foreigner nodded his thanks and turned to the greenhorn Survey Corp member,”This is your mission, Akari. I order you to study Kleavor and help us find the truth of this situation.” He boomed, Galarian accent rolling off his tongue and command no doubt heard through the building. Akari bit her inner lip and nodded with defeat. It not like she could deny it, she was ordered to do this,”.. Okay. I’ll do it.” Adaman snuck an empathetic glance at the young girl who was basically being shoved into danger without any real preparation. It was almost as if Commander Kamado wanted to rid his unsteady village of an unseen danger.
“Remember that you are a stranger who appeared one day put the very sky above us. People are naturally suspicious of your presence here. If you wish to be fully accepted and trusted, you must work hard. Work yourself to the very bone.” Kamado’s speech was supposed to cheer her up but Akari couldn’t help but feel like he meant something else. She sighed, she’ll think on it more later, when she isn’t dealing with a pokemon gone mad.
“Well, that’s settled. And there’s not time like the present!” Adaman grinned encouragingly at the young Galaxy member. Irida spoke up, informing Akari of the subject of her new mission,”The Lord of the Woods—Kleavor—is descended from a pokemon that was blessed with almighty Sinnoh’s own power. No other pokemon you’ve yet encountered can compare to his strength. Be warned.” She cautioned. She placed a hand on Akari’s shoulder,”Do take care of yourself. I’m sure Ingo would love to speak with you.”
Both leaders nodded to her and Kammado before leaving. Which left Akari and commander Kamado alone in the latter’s office. She sucked in a deep breath, not liking the stiff air between them both,”Welp! I guess I better go get read—”
“Listen to me.” He commanded with a hard tone,”The Galaxy Expedition Team has come to the Hisui region as a group of outsiders. Some might even call us interlopers. We mustn’t do anything to threaten our relations with the Diamond and Pearl Clans. Understand?” Another dreadful shiver raked up Akari’s spine and she meekly nodded, Oshawott was quietly growling in her arms, paw on the pale scalchop shell on his stomach.
The novice Survey Corp turned with a sigh and was greeted by Cyllene’s unwavering stare,”Join me downstairs, Akari. We’ll cover the details of this new mission.”
She grumbled, shifting Oshawott’s weight in her arms and followed after her new boss. Its been almost a week since she fell here and she was already being told to help the people once again.
Ingo could not sleep. His schedule had been thrown off since that odd dream he had a week prior. Lady Sneasler has no doubt noticed his lack of proper maintenance and has forcibly laid him to rest many times. His overtime is slowly catching up to him.
Why was he avoiding sleep? He didn’t really know himself and was too afraid to look at why. Maybe it was the sheer oddity of that dream that has thrown off track, or perhaps the man in white. Upon looking back, Ingo couldn’t even describe the man’s face anymore and his voice was becoming distorted. A feeling of foreboding crawling into the back of his mind, feeling like someone or something was tampering with his memories now.
But the words spoken were seemingly seared into his mind, unable to leave like a permanent scar; “Accompany the child and ensure their safety.”
He hissed, jerking away when his knife cut into his skin. He dropped his newest woodcarving. He wasn’t very skilled and had only recently just picked it up, so he was far from dexterous with a carving blade. He looked at his thumb, blood trickling slowly down the pad of his finger. He groaned, setting down the crude pine wood imitation of a nosepass and picked up the smooth black handkerchief on his thigh. Ingo pressed his thumb into it, he’ll clean it properly later.
His frown deepened as he stared at the wooden figurine laying abandoned on the floor, compared to the ones Melli had shown him, it looked disfigured and uneven, splintered and immaturely cut as if by a toddler. It hurt his pride in all honesty but he was a stubborn man.
“Skarrrr!” Ingo looked beside him in time to see a purple dart crash into his chest with a purr. He coughed at the impact but felt his lips quiver upward,”Ah. Gligar, where is your companion?” At the question, Ingo heard the familiar buzz above his head and he raised his uninjured hand to lower the mangeton to eye level,”Hello to you too, Magenton.” They twirled one of their magnets as their way of waving while giving a low metallic hum. All three eyes creased upward happily and returned to floating around Ingo’s head.
He smiled, a small almost shy expression and picked up his shoddy attempt at carving. Gligar had taken it upon herself to bury her little body between Ingo’s tall coat collar and his neck, chirping happily with Magneton hovering leisurely beside them. He put his carving knife inside one of his inner coat pockets along with the figurine.
The skin around his right eye started to itch again. He twitched and ignored the urge to scratch at it. That too has been frequent since the dream. He had been ignoring the feeling and only scratching when it became unbearable, it was annoying to deal with and seemingly had no cure.
Whatever the case he began his trek back to his mountain cabin. He picked up local herbs and checked the traps he had set around as he did, Gligar coming out of her favorite hiding place to assist in carrying his week’s food. The sky was a scenic twilight, the rising sun blanketing the cold mountainside in a fiery orange like a charmander’s scales. The long shadows from the pines seemed to almost be reaching for Coronet’s peak, like greedy adventurers in search of gold-plated treasure.
Reaching his home, Gligar and Magneton let themselves in. The glider leapt off Ingo’s shoulder and soared into the kitchenette, holding a couple of dead magikarp by the tailfins the little beast managed to catch on the way by the stinger and landing gracefully on the counter edge. Magneton trilled happily as they hovered around the little old copper statuette of Lady Sneasler, little electric shocks bouncing off of metal. Ingo, after setting down the buneary from a nearby trap next to the magikarp, bent down to the abra who had immediately clung to his leg upon his entry,”Hello, Houdini. You been alright? I hope my temporary departure wasn’t too sudden.” He apologized.
The abra chittered reassuringly, tail wagging happily. Ingo chuckled and lifted the psychic-type to rest atop his hat, Houdini’s preferred spot. Gligar, who saw such action, clicked possessively, crawling up Ingo’s arm to try to shove Houdini off of Ingo. The warden was quick to pull Gligar off and cradle her in his arms,”No pushing others over the yellow line.” He reprimanded with a scowl.
Gligar pouted and stuck her tongue out in an attempt to placate her human friend. Ingo was unfazed however,”I mean it, Gligar. You cannot allow your jealousy to push you off track.” Gligar deflated and belatedly curled up in Ingo’s arms, settling for that if she can’t have his hat. He sighed and went to sit on the single chair of his abode’s small table. A table that should be bigger, his heart tells him, bigger to accommodate at least two other people. He taps the old worn wood with his finger, feeling Gligar shift sleepily into the crook of his elbow and Houdini lay all his weight on Ingo’s hat that squealed quietly like a wheeze.
Eventually he, too, found himself drifting off in the chair despite knowing this was the improper station for such. He didn’t bother to move though, conscious of Gligar’s pincers that would undoubtedly nip painfully at his sides for disturbing her rest. Perhaps today he won’t have dreams.
