Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was a nice, casual evening when Emmet watched the literal space be torn behind his brother.

It was not nearly so nice when Ingo fell in.

“INGO!” Emmet screamed, turning too slowly to grab onto him.

“EMMET!” Ingo screamed, the sheer volume being the only reason Emmet could hear it over the ringing in his ears. He had never heard that level of terror in his twin before.

And just like that, Ingo was gone.

Emmet just stared at the space his brother had been standing. He had just been there. And now he wasn’t. His first thought was that this couldn’t possibly be real.

His second was to wonder why Ingo, standing just a little bit in front of him, was looking as he had just seen a ghost.

Wait.

Ingo had been besides him, not in front of him. No nevermind that, Ingo had just fallen into a rift? And popped out a few feet away from Emmet?

“I am Emmet,” he said, “And this is verrrrry strange.”

Ingo jumped, turning to stare at his brother. “…Emmet?” His voice was quiet. Well, it wasn’t, but it was quiet for Ingo. He seemed to look his brother over, and when he spoke again, it was back to full volume, “Emmet, this may sound odd, but did you not just fall into a rift?”

Emmet blinked, his smile twitching. “I am Emmet. You, Ingo, were the one that fell into the rift.”

The two just stared at each other. There was nothing to read; they were just as confused as each other.

“Perhaps we should consult our pokemon,” Ingo suggested, his voice booming, “and see if they too have been derailed.” The twins reached for the belts only to realize… that neither of them had their pokemon. Slowly, they raised their eyes to meet again.

Then they sprinted to the office.

Emmet slammed the door open, and sure enough, their ten pokeballs were resting comfortably on the desk. “I am Emmet,” he said again. “And this is getting verrrrry strange.”

They opened the pokeballs, and ten healthy pokemon popped out. They were a little confused to be released like that; and then were a little concerned when they saw the looks on their trainer’s faces.

“Do not worry, Emmet and I were merely performing safety checks,” Ingo reassured and returned them. Emmet, however, could only stare at his brother’s new expression. Was that a smile?

Ingo had never, ever smiled before.

Emmet had learned to read his brother’s face verrrrry well. He had been with his brother his whole life, and he knew that face better than his own. He knew what an Ingo smile looked like and prided himself in his ability to spot it.

But an Ingo smile was not even close to that smile. That smile that actually stretched across his face. Like Emmet’s.

Only a small piece of Emmet was calmed when his brother noticed him staring and dropped the smile. He was frowning again. “…Emmet? Are you alright?” He then made gestures with his hands. Was that sign language? They didn’t know—

No, that doesn’t matter. “I am Emmet. You are Ingo. You smiled.” Emmet said simply. He had no more words to explain what was so verrrrry wrong with that. But Ingo would understand.

Ingo did not understand.

Emmet could read that frown, he was even more confused. And yet, even that confusion was far more expressive than Emmet was used to. “…Yes?” Ingo said uncertainly.

Emmet needed to try again. Make his brother understand. “You do not know how to smile,” he said urgently.

Ingo now turned to fully face his brother. He looked… expectant. Was he waiting for Emmet to say something? He opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again, at a loss for words. Emmet could understand. Words were hard. But not for Ingo. Ingo was good with his words.

Ingo also didn’t know how to smile. And he had done that. Did he no longer understand how to be good with words? And what was he expecting?

“Apologies Emmet, but I believe my train of thought has been derailed. I have always been able to smile.” Emmet could only stare at him in horror. Cautiously, Ingo continued, “When we were children, you had been mocked for your smile. The other children did not understand that it was comfortable for you, that you did not like to frown. I hated to see you force yourself to change for them,” he spat.

“So I frowned for you. From that point on, we decided we would mirror each other. I would frown, you would smile.”

Emmet would have been moved by his kind, wonderful brother if it wasn’t for the fact that every word he just said was false. He felt his smile drop into a frown, and did not miss Ingo’s flinch at the motion. This was wrong, all wrong. “I am Emmet,” he said urgently. “And that is not true. Frowning is not…” What did Ingo say? “Uncomfortable. It was you who could not smile. I mirrored you. That was how it began.”

The two held each other’s gaze, both frowning, for a long moment. Had the rift messed with Ingo’s memories? No, not even confused memories could allow Ingo to smile. Ingo had struggled with that so much. So verrrrry much.

It had been strange before this, but now it was personal. This was directly about Ingo and Emmet. Something was verrrrry wrong.

Emmet pulled on his smile, mirroring his brother’s frown. Ingo seemed to relax ever so slightly at the sight, though he was still clearly off the tracks. “Something happened with those rifts,” Emmet declared.

Ingo nodded. “That does seem to be the only logical conclusion. We had conflicting memories on who fell into the rift as well.”

“I am Emmet. That is true. I hope none of our other memories are derailed.” Even as he said it, he knew it was wrong. It was not memories that had been derailed. But what was it?

A glance at his brother told him he understood, but there was nothing to be said. Emmet checked the monitors. Maybe the cameras caught something.

They didn’t.

Emmet reached to grab his brother’s arm, if only to ground himself. But instead, his hand collided midair with Ingo’s as his brother made an identical gesture.

For not the first time, they slowly raised their eyes to meet. “I am Emmet. What was that?”

“I… am not quite certain,” Ingo began, “but I must admit, your action has derailed me as well. Why did you reach for my arm?”

Emmet twitched. What was that supposed to mean? “Oh, I do not mean that you did anything wrong!” Ingo hurriedly assured him, his volume raising as he spoke. “Only that I had not expected you to do that. You had not done so before.”

Emmet took a deep breath. He thought this might happen again. This derailment. But not so soon. “I am Emmet. And that is wrong. I have reached for your arm many times. Verrrry many times.”

Ingo paused, still waiting for something. Emmet felt anxiety at the idea, what was he missing? But when Emmet did not deliver, he said, “You… at least, you in my memories, are touch-adverse,” Ingo began slowly. Emmet stiffened, but he did not interrupt his brother. “But even so, having my hand on your arm would ground you. Or it would ground me. I reached out because I know that you need it; even though you will not reach yourself.”

“I am Emmet,” he repeated again. He was saying that even more than usual right now. He could not help it, the phrase made him just a little bit calmer every time he said it. It could not be wrong. It was always right. “And I am verrrrry confused. You are the touch adverse one. But I am different. I grab your arm to steady myself. Or to steady you. That is true.”

“It does not seem as though we are reaching any answers,” Ingo said. “Should we compare our memories?”

“I am Emmet. I do not want to do that.” Emmet hated the thought of it. The thought that he and his brother may no longer share their memories. That they would not be the same. That they would be different. “It is late. We should go home,” he declared. Maybe, if they went to bed, they would wake up and everything would be the same again.

Ingo made a wry smile. Emmet was not sure how he felt about it. “I would not have expected you to have been the one to suggest that we go home. You usually—” he cut himself off, realizing what he was saying.

“No! That is the same! I am Emmet, and I like working verrrrry late,” Emmet immediately assured his brother. He could not bear to see Ingo look like that. He looked heartbroken, like he just shattered his brother. Emmet was certain that it was not that serious, but with this new expressiveness, it was just so much more than Emmet was used to. “I just want to sleep. Perhaps this will be alright in the morning.”

Ingo looked doubtful. Emmet couldn’t hold his gaze. But there was nothing to be said.

They latched their pokemon onto their belts and went home.

Chapter Text

The morning began inconspicuously. Ingo and Emmet were in perfect sync as they prepared for the day, just like any other. Emmet did not act as though anything strange had happened the previous evening, and Ingo was just about ready to write it off as a strange dream himself. Perhaps Emmet would find it amusing when he told him of it.

And then the normalcy shattered when Emmet frowned at his Xtrans.

Ingo practically fell out of his chair. So it hadn’t been a dream. And he had not been imagining things when their apartment looked off in the corner of his eye. He hadn’t been able to define it, but it had to be connected.

Emmet instantly jumped into action, bolting around the table. “Ingo! What is wrong?!”

Ingo stared at his brother’s face. He knew this would hurt Emmet, but he knew it was the only way he would understand. He gave his brother a weak smile.

Emmet, to his credit, did not collapse. His knees seemed locked, however, and his smile tightened. His eyes were a little too wide, Ingo knew this expression. Despite the obvious discomfort that radiated from it, Ingo couldn’t help but feel a sort of relief at the familiar expression. Over the years, Ingo had become a master at reading his brothers smiles. The minute details of his cheeks, the shape of his eyes, and a thousand other things that were simply intrinsic.

“It seems this is inescapable,” Ingo concluded, trying to take make sense of the situation. He should have known better than to assume everything was the same, especially when Emmet came out of the bathroom without his hearing aids. He hadn’t been wearing them last night, either. Had the rift just taken them? Or…?

Ingo didn’t want to consider what else it could have meant. He continued at full volume, just in case, “Shall we continue the day with risk of more unknown differences on our tracks? Or should we call off and talk this through?” He offered the choice to Emmet, unwilling to make the decision himself. Even so, he had a feeling he knew how his brother would respond.

“I am Emmet. I want to go to work.”

Ingo let out a breath of relief. Frowning or not, it was still Emmet. A part of him raised the concern with safety, especially since Emmet would not be able to hear today. But Emmet had already agreed to it without complaint. As a conductor, there were times were there were unavoidable delays and unpredictable stops. This was just one of those, there was little they could do to prepare.

In the end, what were they to do, compare their entire memories with each other?

Ingo did not want to find any more differences. And besides, while some things were obvious, he knew his brother so well that it was instinct. Even taking time to talk it out would not include everything.

They were still Emmet and Ingo. It would be fine.

Unfortunately, Ingo quickly learned, it would not be fine.

Today, he and Emmet were to run the Multi lines. There were a pair of challengers that had taken a break and were returning as the station opened, so they were to battle almost immediately. They were on the super line, no less. Ingo was a little disconcerted by the fact that he could not recognize them, certainly he would have remembered challengers who had gotten this far.

But nothing seemed to be quite right, so he let it be. He latched Excadrill and Haxorus to his belt and watched as Emmet retrieved Eelektross and Archeops.

Ingo said his line first, “Let me introduce myself again. I am a Subway Boss, Ingo! Well, there is nothing else to say for the person who comes all the way here. Let’s have the greatest battle, better than ever before!”

Emmet gave his characteristic grin. His excitement fanned the flames of Ingo’s anticipation, this was certain to be an incredible battle. Ingo almost forgot that anything was amiss. “What I do. What I say. Always the same. Follow the rules. Safe driving! Follow the schedules. Everyone smile! Check safety. Everything’s ready! Aim for victory! All aboard!”

The battle begun. Ingo and Emmet let out Excadrill and Archeops, while their opponents released Conkuldurr and Emolga. Ingo immediately knew that these challengers knew what they were doing: the types and choice of partners could not be a coincidence. Ingo was uncertain what was to come, but no matter the outcome, he was thrilled to take part in such an invigorating battle.

Ingo hadn’t expected Emmet to call out his move, but perhaps he wished to match other battle stations? They had trained their pokemon to respond to hand gestures, but calling out would work, too. Some locations did not allow trainers to use hand motions because not everyone could read them; and the moment a trainer spoke before the pokemon executed can be crucial.

Ingo and Emmet argued that not everyone could hear commands, either, thus they allowed hand motions as well. This was Gear Station. The twins literally built it from the remains of a barely functional subway. They made the rules, so why would Emmet choose to direct his pokemon with his voice?

He ignored his discomfort and continued the battle, verbally commanding his pokemon as well.

It was a high energy battle. As it continued, both sides were in sync—Nothing more seemed to derail between Ingo and Emmet. They knew what they were doing, and they put their everything into every action.

And there they stood. Ingo just sent out Haxorus, the last pokemon on the field. Eelektross had taken a hit, and now they were facing off against Vanilluxe and Gigalith.

Ingo read the scene. Gigalith had not created a sandstorm upon entry, so he must be sturdy. He would not be finished off with a single move, but that would be fine. Thanks to Haxorus’ rivalry, he would make quick work of the Vanilluxe. Ingo shared a glance with Emmet, and he knew exactly what would come next.

With only the utmost confidence, he declared, “Haxorus, use Earthquake!”

Emmet shot him a look of utter betrayal. Wait, what? Why?

Ingo barely had time to consider it as he watched Eelektross fall. Vanilluxe faltered, but it was still up and ready for battle. And he was completely shocked to watch Gigalith go as well. His brain completely derailed. How did that happen? Why did levitate and sturdy not work—

He had no time to react as Vanilluxe leapt back into action with a powerful ice beam. Thanks to Haxorus’ yache berry, he was able to survive it, but only just. “E-earthquake!” Ingo called again, his voice shaking.

The Vanilluxe fainted, and the battle was over.

A heavy silence fell over the train car.

Emmet broke it with a smile and his speech, “I am Emmet. We won, but I am not really satisfied. I can tell that you won’t give up. Because you will be much, much stronger. That’s why we are waiting for you to come back!” Ingo did not miss the undercurrent in his brother’s voice.

Ingo’s ears were ringing. They were not in sync. They weren’t—wait, it was his turn to speak. “We, Ingo and Emmet, are a two-car train,” he said in a rush. Thank goodness there was a script, otherwise he would have just stood there. “This time, we were able to work towards a victory. Well, will you stop here? Or will you challenge us again? It’s up to you. But let me say one thing. There is no terminal called End in your life!”

The challengers left, and it was just Ingo and his brother.

Chapter Text

It was deathly silent in the multi-line car. Well, there was a low rumbling in the distance, as well as voices from outside, but between Ingo and Emmet, it was silent. Ingo knew Emmet would not be able to hear those, anyways.

Or would he?

Then Emmet spoke. “Ingo what the fuck.”

“I must admit,” he began, “I have been completely derailed. I am completely clueless as to what happened at the end of that battle. I had not expected—”

Wait. Haxorus used earthquake. Rivalry failed to finish Vanilluxe and—

The blood drained from Ingo’s face as he turned to face his brother. “…Haxorus had mold breaker?”

Emmet’s smile was closer to a feral grin. He wasn’t quite snarling; he wasn’t angry. But he was very, very disturbed. “Yes. Did you think he did not?”

“Haxorus has always had rivalry,” Ingo said.

“I am Emmet. You used earthquake on Eelektross. If things were different, I would be verrrry angry with you. But now I am scared. This is getting verrrry serious. What else is different?”

“I know of one thing,” Ingo said gravely. “But we should at least confirm the abilities of our pokemon before conducting any more battles.” He moved to the pc, both to heal his pokemon and to check the status of the rest.

To his horror, not a single ability was as he remembered. Chandelure had flame body? And Crustle sturdy? But they had not reacted oddly to him, yesterday evening. Were they the same pokemon…?

Emmet took his place in front of the pc, and after a moment, confirmed: “They are the same for me.”

Ingo looked over his shoulder. “Not a single ability is as I remember,” he said quietly.

The two stared at each other for a long moment, only to jump as the train doors opened. An agent popped their head in, “Bosses? Everything alright in there?”

“We were merely conducting an extra set of safety checks,” Ingo reassured them. The twins had already finished restoring their pokemon, so they may as well leave the car. The agent nodded, and they were out.

Wordlessly, they went to their office. They sat down across from each other.

“I am Emmet. And I think that rift did something,” his brother declared.

“I agree,” Ingo said. “For not a single pokemon to retain the ability I remember is concerning. And they were all the same for you?”

Emmet nodded. “Yes.”

Ingo took a deep breath. He would ask. He would ask, it was already clear things were off, it was not like this was any different. “Emmet,” he said, his voice at a regular speaking volume. Emmet looked at him sharply. “How is your hearing?”

Emmet tilted his head slightly. “I am Emmet. You are speaking quiet.”

Ingo felt a rush of relief. “So, you cannot hear me right now?”

“I can hear you just fine,” Emmet countered. “My hearing is good. But you are quiet. How are you quiet?”

Ingo paused, trying to make sense of what his brother just said before jumping into talking again. Continuing at a conversational volume, he said, “You… or, the you of my memories, were hard of hearing.”

Emmet’s eyes widened. “What.”

“I take it… The Ingo of your memories cannot control his volume then?” It sounded odd to say, but why else would Emmet be so comfortable with his grand volume if not because he couldn’t hear?

“I am Emmet. That is correct. You—Ingo—have never been quiet. You are still quiet. This is verrrry strange.”

Ingo laughed sadly, and then remembered the smiling issue halfway through. “Apologies Emmet, I do not mean to make you uncomfortable—”

“No!” Emmet stood. “If you—if you are comfortable smiling and being quiet, then smile and be quiet!” He froze. “That came out wrong.”

Ingo laughed again, but this time he was actually amused. Emmet continued, “You frowned and were loud because they were comfortable. If that is no longer the case, do not pretend. Never pretend. Pretending is…” Emmet hesitated, a small amount of anguish on his face.

“I understand,” Ingo said. And he did. He would never, ever tell Emmet to stop smiling, or to mask in any way.

But Emmet was frowning right now. Was it even the same Emmet?

Ingo closed his eyes to calm himself. He needed proof. If this was a different Emmet, he did not want to confuse the Emmet he had known with him. That would not be fair to either of them. “Perhaps we should call someone we know. Ask them if they have ever seen me smile. And if so, about your hearing.”

Emmet’s smile returned. “That is a verrrry good idea. I will call Elesa right away.” He sat back down, pulling up her contact. Elesa answered immediately.

“Hey Emmet, what’s up? I’ve got a challenger in the gym right now, but I figured for you to call it had to be important. Aren’t you at work? Is something wrong?”

He got straight to the point. “Have you ever seen Ingo smile?”

There was a moment of silence. “…Is that a trick question?”

“Good morning, Elesa,” Ingo interjected, moving to stand behind Emmet. “It is not a trick question. Emmet and I have run into an unexpected blockage, and were hoping that your memories could direct us to our proper tracks. Have you ever seen me smile? I don’t mean a frown that can be read as a smile. I mean a smile as wide as Emmet’s.”

The moment he finished speaking, Elesa turned on her camera. Emmet did the same, and now she was staring at Ingo. She didn’t say anything, so Ingo took his que. He took a deep breath and smiled as if he had been asked for a picture.

Elesa froze. “Ingo what the fuck—”

“Okay thank you Elesa!” Emmet hung up.

Ingo blinked. That was a little abrupt. He got over it quickly as Emmet had turned to look at him expectantly. For not the first time, not the second, and certainly not the last, a strange silence ran between the two of them.

“It seems,” Ingo began, “that your set of memories align more closely with reality than mine.”

“You really did fall through the rift!” Emmet confirmed.

Ingo frowned. Even if that was the case, he was absolutely certain that he watched Emmet fall through the rift. But Emmet. His brother didn’t frown, the abilities of the pokemon were different, and Emmet was hard of hearing.

“I do not think your memories were changed,” Emmet said. Ingo glanced back at him in surprise. “You never knew how to smile. No matter how hard you tried. Memories are not enough to change that. Of that I am certain.”

“What are you suggesting…?” Ingo began, but he already knew the answer. Emmet’s hands began to shake as he spoke.

“I am Emmet. You are Ingo. But you are a different Ingo from the Ingo I know.” Ingo registered his brother’s tone before the words. He raised his hand to hold Emmet’s shoulder, but hesitated, remembering last evening. As he suspected, Emmet stopped mid reach as well.

Then he registered what Emmet said. A different Ingo.

He dropped his arm.

That made sense. It was terrifying, horrifying really, but it made sense. He felt Emmet’s hand on his arm and gasped in surprise. But he wasn’t this Emmet’s Ingo, why would he…? Wait, does that even matter? He took deep breaths. Emmet’s hand on his arm, no matter which Emmet, grounded him.

Then the implications of this all began to settle.

If he was here, then where was this Emmet’s Ingo?

And was his Emmet alone?

He leapt to his feet. “Emmet,” he said breathlessly.

“What is it?”

He glanced to his brother in surprise. “No, I mean—If I’m here, then where is Emmet?” He said urgently.

“I am Emmet,” he responded, not to deny what Ingo said, but because that was what Emmet did. In the end, he was still Emmet, after all. Just a different Emmet. This was getting confusing. “If you are here, then my Ingo must be with your Emmet, right?”

“But I never fell into a rift,” Ingo said. “And Emmet…” He shuddered. “He screamed as he fell. He was terrified.”

Emmet became still. “…So did Ingo.”

They had no proof. No reason to believe that their brothers were not safe and conversing with each other much the same as they were. Given their presence together, they easily could be safe with each other.

And yet, Ingo could not shake the feeling of utter horror that ran through him. Emmet was terrified when he fell into that rift. He was not safe. Ingo shared a glance with this Emmet. They may be… different, but they were still Ingo and Emmet. They could still read each other. And right now, they thought as one:

“We need to find our brothers,” they said in unison.

Chapter Text

Elesa was not happy.

First, she felt a spike of panic to see Emmet calling her in the middle of a challenger’s run. Then, in the minute that followed, it was revealed that Ingo could smile. Then of course, in classic Emmet style, he hung up before she had the chance to get another word in elsewise.

She was almost glad the challenger came unprepared and lost quickly because she did not think she would have been able to provide a good battle under the circumstances.

And as if that was not enough, two hours later, Emmet shared an untitled Google doc with meticulous details on how to care for the joltiks in the subway. Apparently, he had also moved them out of the apartment, so she knew he had to be either serious or completely messing with her. That was a long-standing argument with Ingo and Emmet for years; he would not have simply done that.

Then, to top it off, she read from Twitter that the twins were going on leave as Subway Masters. From Twitter. In the middle of a random Tuesday.

Angrily, she pulled up her contacts and called the closer twin. E came before I in the alphabet, so Emmet was first. His number rang once, twice, and nope. He did not answer. She then rang Ingo’s.

Immediately, rotom’s voice began, “Sorry, the number you have called is—” She punched the end call button.

Elesa let out a sound of frustration. So they were going to play this game, huh? Ingo never left his Xtrans uncharged, so this had to be on purpose. She called Emmet once more for good measure, then stormed out of the gym in the middle day in order to bang down the twin’s doors.

Honestly, they could be so random sometimes! They literally had been to work in the morning, she knew that much. And then, without warning, in the middle of the day, they decided to go on leave?

She knew that she should probably be grateful. They refused to take any vacation days for the last five years, as Emmet claimed, “Work is verrrrry fun. I do not need to take a break from fun.”

Ingo said similarly, his voice loud enough to rattle windows, “I could not imagine spending any measure of time away from battles so exhilarating!”

She really wanted to chock it up to the twins doing twin things, but under there was the call. She could not deny that Ingo’s smile had shaken her up. And the document. They made Elesa nervous; there had to be something more to this.

The elevator was going shockingly slow, and it was all she could do not to call out one of her Emolga to zap the damn thing into going faster. Unsurprisingly, she could hear energetic voices the moment she landed on the floor. Surprisingly, they were mingled, and she could not pick out Ingo’s. Something was definitely wrong.

But at least they were both present for her to wring answers out of.

She slammed the door open (she had been given the key when Emmet collapsed at work awhile back). “EMMET AND INGO WHAT THE FUCK!” She shouted, interrupting whatever the hell they may have been doing.

Two startled faces turned to stare at her, one a smile, one a frown. They were wearing their coats, but in their laps were garment bags and the floor was strewn with clothes. Two matching suitcases sat wide open in the center of the room. “Elesa! I was unaware you were coming; did you not call?” Ingo asked, the fucker.

Her eye twitched. “I did, your Xtrans is off.”

His frowned deepened, and he glanced to it. “It seems perfectly functi….” He trailed off. “I have no notifications.”

“Ah, it is because your Xtrans is not connected here,” Emmet said simply.

“I feel as though this is something we should have realized long ago. I simply assumed my emails were glitching and failed to notify me,” Ingo said, scrolling through the small screen. “But I have not received a single text nor notification since last night. More than that, the device is disconnected from service, data, and is not automatically connecting to the internet.”

Elesa shook her head. Leave it to Ingo to not realize his Xtrans was broken for almost an entire day. She supposed it made sense, the Gear Station account for the Subway Masters was linked to both of their devices, so Emmet could easily have kept track of things. In any case, she had questions, “Are you two packing? Where the hell are you going?”

They shared a glance, and then in sync, a shit-eating grin rose to both their faces. Both of them, meaning Ingo was included. Elesa was unable to recover from the whiplash before they hit her with the wreck of their response, “We are preparing to look for our brothers,” Emmet said.

Elesa had known the twins since they were children. The two of them had been raised by their Uncle Drayden after their parents died, and he had been the only family to take them in. There was their sister, Iris, but other than that they had no siblings. She was absolutely, 100% certain that they had no other brothers, blood or adopted.

“Wh—the—" she sputtered. “What the fuck?” Was all she could manage.

“It is true,” Ingo confirmed, his face returning to a neutral frown. He continued casually folding clothes, as if this was completely normal. “Last night, our brothers fell into a rift, and then we met. We quickly realized that it was likely our respective twins were in danger. As such, we are packing in preparation for the journey to find them.”

“Do not worry!” Emmet popped in. “We are still going to research. We are not walking into the unknown. We are packing now because if we do not, we will not.”

Elesa had not even digested Ingo’s explanation well enough to raise the concern Emmet meant to dismiss. “Your…brothers… fell into a rift? And then you—” she parroted then paused. “You met? Like, meet? You got split up, or—”

“Nope.” Emmet interrupted. The shit eating grins were back. On both faces. “We met for the first time.”

Elesa was now officially completely lost. Whatever game they were playing, she’d been gone the moment Ingo smiled, but nothing made sense anymore. “You and Ingo.” Maybe Emmet was reverting back into his pranking days. Ingo wasn’t the kind to make pranks, but he also wasn’t the kind to make shit-eating grins, so.

“Emmet is speaking the truth,” Ingo confirmed. “We met for the first time yesterday. It was quite disconcerting. Were you aware that Emmet does not feel discomfort from frowning?”

Elesa realized she hadn’t remembered to close the door in the commotion. Slowly, she did so, and quietly took a seat. She tried to make sense of what Ingo just said and was surprised to realize she had no idea whether or not Emmet liked to frown. She didn’t think he was uncomfortable, he just smiled to counter Ingo. Was there more to it?

“Clothes. Check! Food for pokemon. Check! Food for people. Check! Everything’s ready!” Emmet exclaimed, moving to zip his bag, but Ingo grabbed his hand mid-action.

“Emmet, you have not even packed toothpaste,” Ingo scolded, “Let alone anything else we could need. We are likely to be hiking at some point, and who knows what else.”

“I am Emmet. I do not like hiking.”

“All the more reason to be prepared. The answers we are looking for could be anywhere,” Ingo closed his suitcase without zipping it. He gathered the remaining clothes and disappeared into his room.

Elesa just stared down the hallway he went. “So apparently Ingo can smile now. And you guys have another set of twin brothers?” That’s not quite how they worded it, but she was being generous. She came here to get answers, and she would get her answers goddamnit. “What are their names?”

As Emmet cackled, she realized that was the wrong question to ask. “Ingo and Emmet.” Elesa was just about ready to punch the grin off his face.

Ingo returned, looking as though he was trying very hard not to laugh. He was, however, unable to keep the smile off his face. “We really should tell her,” he said, seemingly having pity on her.

She wasn’t sure she believed it with that expression.

“Awww, but this is verrrrry fun! C’mon Ingo!” Emmet made baby-doll eyes at his brother. And if looks could kill, Elesa was certain hers would. Next time she was asked to make a withering glare for modelling, she would remember this moment. No, this entire experience. It would make the photographers roar with approval.

Ingo laughed, smiling while he did so. Elesa refused to let her expression falter.

“Elesa is unlikely to care for the joltiks if we keep this up,” Ingo said, instantly shutting down Emmet’s pleading. “I am still astounded at the number you kept in the house. Did they not cause problems? How were you even able to feed them all?”

Emmet snickered. “I am Emmet. Joltiks cannot cause problems. They are too fluffy.”

Ingo narrowed his eyes. “Emmet, that had nothing to do with caring for living creatures.”

At a loss, Elesa just stared between them as this conversation went on. She had heard it a thousand times, but why did it sound like Ingo did not know they were in the house? And apparently, she really was getting saddled with taking care of the bugs in Emmet’s absence.

“You two are really lucky I love you,” she snapped, interrupting. “Because I could strangle you right now. Especially you, Emmet, you better have a good reason for me having to watch over the joltiks.”

Emmet froze, while Ingo watched her with an unreadable expression. It sent a shiver down her back, why was he unreadable? She really had no clue what he was thinking. “I’ll take care of the damn bugs, just tell me what’s going on,” she sighed.

Ingo nodded curtly. “Elesa, Emmet and I have gathered that I am from an alternate dimension.” This time, she was able to read him. He was being completely serious. There was no joke, no lie in that statement.

And wasn’t that something.

Ingo took a minute to explain, and Elesa took another five to wrap her head around it. So, apparently, the brothers were off to find… themselves. But not quite themselves, as this Ingo was not quite the Ingo she knew.

She hated the idea of it. He looked like Ingo, he was comfortable with her, and he complimented Emmet. But he wasn’t the wasn’t the same. And he wasn’t necessarily someone else, either.

“Okay,” she said, taking a deep breath. “Okay. So, when will you be coming back?” They were her best friends. Angry or not, she had no idea when she would see them again after today. She was scared.

“When we find our brothers,” Emmet said firmly. Elesa startled from his tone; that was the most serious she had heard him all day.

If what they were saying was true, then… Ingo could be in danger. The other Emmet, too, though it was still hard to wrap her mind around his existence. Any and all anger inside of her drained. Yeah. That made sense. They had to find their brothers

“You said you were going to research, right? Let me help.”

Chapter Text

Clack clack clack.

Emmet loved the sound of clacking keys on his chunky keyboard, usually accompanied by his and his brother’s excited shouts. He loved the feeling of the large letters sinking beneath his fingers. Watching the screen react was fun. The lights of the PC swirled around. They were distracting sometimes. Emmet did not mind. Unless they got in the way of victory, but that was rare.

Elesa sat next to them on Emmet’s side at her makeshift desk. It was the coffee table and some cushions they pushed together as they had many times before so she could play with them. Her laptop was only strong enough for Pixelmon. But that was okay. It was verrry fun.

But today, no shouts accompanied the keys. No games were being played. No big structures were being crafted. Ingo say next to Emmet, but his fingers hovered over the keys nervously, as if he was not used to a clunky gaming keyboard.

And yet, Emmet did not feel strange about it. That was okay; this Ingo did not know how to game. Maybe Emmet would teach him. He wondered if he would help Emmet prank Elesa. The other Ingo never would let Emmet do that, but this one seemed like he would join in. That would be verrrry fun. But that would be later. Right now, it was time to research.

On Elesa’s coffee table was a notebook with three sets of handwriting. She had been the last to write in it. She was looking into missing person’s cases. Ingo was researching legends and myths with a focus on the disappearances of people or pokemon.

Emmet was researching powerful organizations. Criminals. He wanted to see if anything had gone spectacularly wrong and could be connected. Something to connect to the rift he had seen.

They had all found some things but nothing huge. They were not making much progress.

Emmet clacked another search. And another. It was somewhat concerning how many criminal organizations had cropped up recently. It started seemingly simple with slowpoke tails in Kanto. Bad, for sure, but then he read about Hoenn. Apparently, the teams there caused a mixture of Noah’s Ark typhoons and literal sun laser times. And as if that was not bad enough, Sinnoh had some randoms trying to recreate the world?

He did not even bother looking at Unovan history. Unovan history was the reason he was researching criminal organizations in the first place.

And Alola had literal wormholes? Verrry strange. There were these beasts coming from different realities—

Wait. Different realities?

“I am Emmet and I have found something!” he exclaimed.

The sound of awkward clacking ceased. “What did you find?” Ingo asked, his expression perked with hope and his voice at a regular volume.

“In Alola, there are beast holes. Look!”

Elesa stood and moved behind him to read. “Beast holes?” she asked dubiously.

And looked they did. Apparently, in addition to creating their first ever pokemon league, the Alolan region was also dealing with a two-faced organization. This organization was seeking to—well. It did not say what they were trying to do. Or what they did. It was verrrry hush-hush. But apparently the beast-wormhole part had landed the previous leader in jail. Good times.

“The holes do not seem to match what I remember seeing,” Ingo said, considering the singular image of the wormholes. “It was more like a tear in reality than this gridded blanket shift.”

Elesa hummed. “They are covering a lot up. This is the only picture; maybe there were other kinds of rifts?”

“This is verrry interesting,” Emmet said. “But it looks like there is more to research. We do not know anything for sure. I will keep looking. You two go back.”

Emmet kept the notebook, but had little more to notate than ‘Beast Hole? Other Dimension?’ There really was nothing else to find. Whatever had happened was being covered up. Why?

Actually, he did not care why. Emmet only cared if it connected to his brothers. But knowing why seemed like it would help him figure out if it was connected.

“Okay, I’m seriously not finding a thing,” Elesa groaned and stretched. “Most missing cases have to do with pokemon or kidnappings. Nothing sounds even close to ‘reality shifting,’ and even if it did happen, how would we know? It’s not like you guys were able to report that anyone went missing.”

“I am Emmet. That is a fair point.” A concerning point. Emmet did not like it.

Ingo nodded. “My tracks are running along a similar issue. Most folklore is grounded in ghost stories and superstition. Even if they have a grain of truth, it is impossible to tell if that truth will have anything to do with our situation. I have discovered two stories that may be of interest, however I doubt they will be of use.”

“Just put ‘em in the notebook,” Elesa sighed. She picked it up from Emmet’s desk and reached over Ingo’s shoulder. Ingo, however, looked slightly uncomfortable and inched away from her as she did so. She dropped it, and he jumped as it hit the desk.

Unnoticing, Elesa sat down. Emmet, however, waited for Ingo to glance at him. As expected, Ingo turned to look at him and their eyes locked. Emmet asked with his expression: are you okay? He seemed put off by her actions. Emmet knew his reactions well enough to know that. But he did not know Ingo well enough to know why.

Ingo blinked and shook his head. “It is nothing.”

“It is not nothing,” Emmet countered. “I do not know what it is. Will you tell me?”

Ingo hesitated while Elesa stared at the pair in utter confusion. “…I will tell you later. We are currently running along the tracks of research. We may ride the rails of my differences later.”

Emmet watched a moment longer as Ingo purposefully turned away from him. Ingo opened the notebook to start writing. But he said no more.

Emmet would hold his brother to tell him after this. But in the meantime, he sighed and stared at the computer. “Elesa, you know people. You have connections. Can you ask the Alolans what happened?”

“Wh—are you fucking kidding me? ‘Elesa, you know people—‘ Emmet, why would I know anything about Alola? You’re the one who’s a battle faculty head! Why don’t you have connections with someone in Alola? I deal with fashion and Gym Leader things!”

“You can speak to people,” Emmet explained with a small grin. “Email someone.”

She rolled her eyes. “Unbelievable. You’re unbelievable and I am going to kill you someday.” She started typing furiously.

“You better take care of the joltiks in my absence,” Emmet replied, making Ingo snort. He grinned as he clacked another search with yet another keyboard, not letting the results take the joy away from having amused Ingo. He did not see the pointed glare Elesa sent them. But he did not miss much.

Ingo closed the notebook. “I can search for more, but I am not sure I will be able to find anything without the assistance of an expert. Perhaps we could consult a library?”

“Consider it later bidoofuses, I sent the email. Urgent and everything, you guys are dealing with the Alolan lead now.” She glanced at the clock. It was getting verrry late. “Should be within business hours for them, so we’re in luck.”

“That was incredibly fast!” Ingo exclaimed in awe. “Who did you even email? How were you able to word it so quickly? And click the send button so easily?”

Elesa laughed. “I actually had been looking at some sources after looking at Emmet’s screen, so I already knew who to email: The Aether Foundation. Apparently, it’s still running, just under new management.”

She did not explain the wizardry behind clicking send easily. But it would not make sense even if she did. Even so, it was nice to have proof that she had only been bitching and was planning on emailing anyway. She was a verrrry good friend. “It is late! No libraries are open. And there is no more research to do now but wait.”

Ingo whipped his gaze to him. “Are you suggesting we go to sleep?”

Oh the horror! As if Emmet could ever suggest such a thing. No, he was interested in something (debatably) far more important. Dramatically, he swiveled his chair to face his brother. He crossed his arms and put on his best Ingo Glare.

“The tracks of research have come to a stop. I am suggesting a track switch where you explain yourself.”

Chapter Text

Ingo was now facing Emmet with a startlingly accurate rendition of his own glare. He really could mimic the expression perfectly.

Ingo laughed nervously. “It is not that serious. You are treating it as a far bigger concern than it truly is.”

“I am literally so confused. What are you two talking about?” Elesa asked. Ingo felt his stomach jump anxiously from her question. His concern stemmed from her knowing the truth. Would she be offended?

“You are the one acting as though it is a bigger concern,” Emmet huffed. “Ingo reacted to you dropping the notebook,” he told Elesa before Ingo could find the words.

Her eyes widened in horror. “Oh, I’m so sorry I forgot about the touch thing—”

Ingo cut her off, “No, unlike the Ingo you know, I am not touch adverse. I was merely startled by the familiarity of the action, that is all.” To her confused frown, he found himself adding, “Emmet and I were not close to the Elesa of our world.”

“Wait, you were not?” Emmet looked shocked. “But you messed with Elesa earlier just fine.”

“She was the first name that came to your mind when I suggested we call someone we knew. From there, it was not hard to see that she was close to you, and I trust your judgment,” Ingo explained. “Besides, it did seem like good fun,” he added with a mischievous smile.

Elesa stared at him, flabbergasted. Emmet was just as shocked. Ingo had to admit, it was pretty exciting planning a prank on someone with Emmet. He had never had any close friends outside of his twin before. He had never realized the potential for messing with people.

Well, he had considered it, but usually twin pranks involved one pretending to be the other. That could never be an enjoyable experience for him or Emmet, so he never considered it further. But with this Elesa, it was different.

“I do apologize for reacting so strongly,” Ingo apologized to Elesa. “You have proven yourself to be an incredible friend in your actions and interaction with Emmet.”

Elesa waved him off with a reddening face. “You—you don’t have to apologize.”

“Elesa is right,” Emmet agreed. “Take things at your own time. Do not force yourself to get used to new things.” Ingo could not but smile warmly at the two of them. He was not yet comfortable with a third person. Watching her interact with Emmet was… strange. In a good way.

“S-speaking of people you know,” Elesa cut in, “are you two planning on telling anyone else about this? Like, say, I dunno, your sister? Your uncle?”

Ingo whipped his gaze to her, his shock at the question overriding calling her out on her poor attempt at changing the subject. “Uncle? Sister?"

“I had not thought that far,” Emmet replied simply. “Ingo, what is that reaction.”

“Though I have never heard of having an uncle, I suppose it could be possible. However, I am absolutely certain we do not have a sister,” Ingo explained with a deepening frown.

“This is getting weirder and weirder,” Elesa breathed in quiet awe.

Emmet watched him expressionless for a moment. Then, he took a breath. “I am Emmet. My brother is Ingo. We were adopted by our Uncle Drayden when we were six years old because our parents died. Our little sister is Iris. She is actually Drayden’s granddaughter. But her parents are verrry strict. So she spent more time with us than them. She was more like a little sister than a niece. So, we call her out sister!”

Ingo felt his breath catch in his throat. He barely heard a word after ‘our parents died.’

They…. Died. In this universe, his parents were dead. And had been since Emmet and the other Ingo were six.

He could barely wrap his mind around it. How could that be possible? No, he knew it was possible, tragedy struck all the time. There were car crashes, illness, and many more things that could take lives while they were yet young. But such tragedy had never been so close to Ingo. To his parents.

He had to confirm it. He spoke quietly, afraid to cut a silence that he alone felt. “Your parents. They’re dead?”

Emmet’s gaze sharpened. A moment. And then, “…Yours are not?”

“I… we… We called them last week. We told them about one of our exciting battles on the subway. They asked if we were going to visit for the holidays.” Ingo shook his head. They were not planning on visiting. They could be dead, and they had not been planning on seeing them. “…We had a lot of work backed up. We were not sure if we were going to be able to make it…”

Emmet leapt from his seat. “What are they like?”

Ingo glanced up sharply. They were still alive, back home. Back in… his world. It was this world that they were dead, not his.

But Emmet. This Emmet, he never knew them. No, he did know them—they died when he was six. That was what he said. He never knew them, but he wanted to. “I…” he began. But what could he say? “I am not quite sure how to describe them,” he said breathlessly. How does one describe a person’s life? Two people’s life?

How could he describe them to his brother who had grown up without them? His brother who was so similar to the brother he had been raised alongside under their guardianship. “What do you remember about them?”

“Mom was a conductor,” Emmet said. “And Dad was a competitive battler. Apparently, he was verrry bad at it. That is what I was told. But that is not what I remember. I remember a fire in his eyes as he commanded his pokemon. He lost a lot. But that did not mean he was bad. I do not think so.” His eyes became misty, “He cherished every victory he got.”

Ingo was not sure what to say. That… had nothing to do with the parents he remembered. And where would their mother even be conducting? Before he and his brother reconstructed the subway system, it had been falling apart. It was a miracle that the few trains that had been running got anywhere.

“I remember Mom’s smile,” Emmet continued. “And her frown. It was just like ours. She would say ‘everybody smile!’ but Ingo did not know how. I smiled for him. So, we were a pair. Now I say it too. She was also the one who instilled our sense of safety.

“I…” Ingo swallowed. Emmet had a distant look on his face. A bittersweet look. Ingo would like to try and interpret what his brother was feeling, but to be honest, his and Emmet’s experiences were vastly different. He could not know that his interpretation would be accurate. Ingo did, however, know that Emmet would not appreciate empty sympathies.

So, he answered Emmet’s question instead. “Mom does…. Construction. I admit, I am not certain of the current particulars of her work. She has been a designer, a builder, and at another point she was involved with management. I do not recall what exactly she does now. She is particular about proper protocol and holds her workers to high standards. Her projects are completed swiftly with quality.

“Dad is a coordinator. He is…” Ingo hesitated. He had been so quick to say that their parents were nothing like each other. And yet… “We would often consider moving because, well, Unova does not have any contest halls. But Dad would never let Mom complete the decision. She loved construction, she could have found work in Sinnoh or Hoenn, but her job in Unova was far more stable than his.

“Dad ended up traveling to contests via a family friend’s personal jet. He rarely won. He even claimed that he did it with fun, but it was still his full-time job. He put everything into raising his pokemon. There was a point I had been frustrated with him, I even stopped speaking to him because I disagreed with the way he led his life…

“But now? I think he’s quite admirable.”

They let the silence sit for a moment, Ingo reminiscing while Emmet digested the information.

“He sounds verrry similar to the Dad I remember. Mom too,” Emmet said quietly. “Can you tell me anything else?”

“Of course,” Ingo said. Emmet’s voice was so delicate. Ingo felt tears spring to his eyes, he had never imagined that he would be able to do something like this with him. Despite the similarities, having parents was something they did not share. Their experiences were different. And yet they were the same, the parents Emmet remembered were so similar to Ingo’s. They were different because he had lost them.

No, not lost. Emmet had said it himself: he and Ingo had been inspired by their parents. A conductor and a competitive battler. They lived on in their legacy.

But Ingo had a feeling there was more to their legacy than just that.

“They were both incredibly hard workers. But at the end of the day, they always, always had time for Emmet and me. Even now, well,” he hesitated. “Back when I was in my own world, I suppose, they still answered our every call." The moment he got home, he would be calling them more. Mom and Dad.

“Mom and Dad never quite understood mine and Emmet’s obsession with trains,” Ingo continued. “But while the world asked why the twin battlers who took Unova by storm opened the abandoned subway system, our parents were nothing but supportive. In both word and action. We never would have been able to get it running without their financial support—in our education and our business.”

Emmet nodded, his eyes sparkling with tears and emotion. “I would like to hear more about you opening the subway. It was not abandoned for us. But that can wait.” He took a shuddering breath. “I am Emmet. I do not remember them well. But I still miss them. Verrry much.”

Ingo stood and embraced his brother. He had no words to give. Were it the other Emmet, he would have watched for his hand signal; he would have signed instead of spoken.

But this Emmet’s breaking voice was signal enough. Their communication was different.

Emmet gripped Ingo’s coat tightly, choking on a sob. It was infectious; Ingo was unable to stop tears from falling down his face as well. He could not imagine losing his parents. Yes, he was separated from them now, but he knew they were alive. He knew he would see them again.

…He had to believe that. He got to this world somehow, he should be able to leave it too. Right?

He wondered, in all of this mess, if this Emmet would have a chance to meet Ingo’s parents. The ones back home. Maybe, maybe if they were able to discover the tracks that lead them to each other, they would board that train together. It would not have to be a one-way ticket. Maybe Emmet could meet them.

Ingo resolved here and now to find a way for that to happen.

Chapter Text

Elesa had no words.

Ingo had been so, so different from the moment she met him. She had been convinced he was different before. He smiled, he spoke at an indoor volume, he even actively pranked her, and in the end, he just… felt different. She was not as attuned to the exact differences as Emmet was, but she felt that something was off.

And yet, part of her still believed he was the same person. Things were messy, universe changing rifts were involved, and when he did not smile, he looked the same. He was very obviously Emmet’s twin brother. They were so close, and if he was a different person, surely that could not be possible.

Elesa did not doubt that he was from a different universe now.

She wondered what the other Elesa’s family life looked like. Was it just her and her mom too? Or was her dad in the picture?

Whatever it was, she hoped her mom was happy. Elesa should call her mom.

The twins pulled apart from each other, each wiping their own tears away. They took shuddering breaths, Ingo looking away from Emmet for a moment. He froze as he spotted Elesa.

“M-my apo—”

“Don’t even,” she snapped, cutting him off. No apologies for him. “You guys needed that. I wasn’t about to go and interrupt. Besides, I got an email back.”

Emmet came up behind her as she turned back to her laptop. “What did they say?” Ingo asked her.

“Absolute garbage,” she snorted. “The same bs as we found on the site. They didn’t write ‘confidential,’ but they may as well have. That said, I did push a bit more now that I was talking to a human. I told them about ‘a unique situation to do with other worlds or universes that we could use some expertise on.’ Astonishingly, they agreed to a meeting.” She glanced up from the screen with a small grimace just in time to watch Ingo and Emmet’s identical smiles fall.

“The catch?” Emmet asked. He and Ingo were both frowning. Were they aware they were mimicking each other?

“The meeting will have to be in person,” she concluded. Emmet looked over her shoulder to read the emails. Then he glanced at Ingo.

Ingo took a breath, “You would not happen to have a friend in this world with a private jet, would you?”

A slow grin spread over Elesa’s face. “As it would happen, we do.”

Emmet grimaced. “I do not like this plan.”

Ingo looked confused, but he shook his head. “It is quite late,” he said. “Perhaps we can settle this in the morning when a date has been set.”

Elesa slammed her laptop shut. “Sounds good to me! You two go to sleep. Arceus knows you need it. Go, get,” she shooed them.

“Just one moment,” Ingo halted her as he pulled up his hand. “Do you intend to return home by yourself at this hour?”

Elesa barked a laugh. It had been a long time since he had asked her that… “I don’t know why I didn’t expect to hear that from you. I have my pokemon, I can handle myself.”

He shifted uncomfortably, and Emmet put his hand on his brother’s shoulder. “She tried to bite me last time we offered to bring her home. That was five years ago. We have not offered since.”

“Even so—” Ingo protested, fortunately not seeming to linger on the biting part.

“I’ll be fine, I have my driver picking me up,” she assured him.

“If you are certain,” he conceded.

Her watched dinged. She almost didn’t read the email, not wanting to deal with it, but it could be important. It was. “Looks like the foundation has an opening in two days. Much sooner than I thought. Do you want me to ask Skyla to fly you out tomorrow actually?”

“I am Emmet. I do not want to fly at all,” Emmet pouted.

Ingo however, made a small smile, “We will be ready tomorrow. Get home safe.”

“Of course—” she hesitated as she opened the door. If they were flying out tomorrow, then she probably would not see them again before they left. But…

Something told her that they were not coming straight back, whether the meeting worked out or not. They were dealing with dimensional shit, after all. “…This could be the last time I see you two for a long time, couldn’t it?”

Emmet only smiled with determination. “We will not return till we find our brothers. Or run out of leads. But less flights are better.”

It was just as she thought. She let the door close behind her as she rushed to pull Ingo and Emmet into a double hug. Don’t cry, don’t cry—

Emmet wrapped his arms around her immediately, though Ingo took a minute to follow him. She shivered at the awkward feeling but did not let it keep her from hugging both of them with ferocity. She stayed that way, fighting back tears, unwilling to let herself think this was the last time.

At last, she pulled away. “Take care, okay? I’m going to miss you two.”

Ingo looked away. “I mean you too, got it? You may not be the Ingo I know, but…” Was it just because of the Ingo she knew? Was she just projecting her feelings on him?

Maybe she was. She could not really say. But, someday, Emmet would be back with the Ingo she had known. And this Ingo would be off in his own world. She would never see him again, then. The thought of that… it made her feel a little bit lonely. She would miss him. She was certain of that much. “I care about you too,” she said softly.

She glanced up at him and oh Arceus was that a soft smile oh she was not used to that yet. Was it weird that she cared about him so quickly? It was probably weird. She could feel heat rising to her face as she stuttered out the best justification she could, “If—if nothing else, I’ll miss the pranks you never pulled!” subject shift, subject shift—“Arceus, I can’t imagine the chaos you and your Emmet must cause!” She laughed nervously.

Ingo laughed in response. “You would be surprised, then. Emmet and I never pranked others.”

“You-you didn’t? Oh.” Maybe she should just leave now. She opened again and took a deep breath to clear her mind. “Okay. Well then. Good-bye.” She shot the twins one last smile before leaving.

She started texting Skyla before she made it to the stairs. Oh, would she have to warn the poor girl…

Elesa’s life was about to get a lot lonelier. She hoped that the twins would keep her updated. She hoped that they would find their brothers. She hoped that she would be able to see them all again. She continued thinking and hoping all through the night and would continue to do so as she missed her best friends

--

Setting up the meeting; booking a hotel; forcing Emmet to pack toothpaste; everything was complete. Elesa’s driver was waiting outside their apartment to drive Emmet and him to Skyla so that they could take off at 1pm.

Skyla, who he knew nothing about.

Elesa had been different. Emmet clearly trusted her. He saw her for a few moments in a call as well, and he even had a sort of idea of who she was from his own world. They were the most authoritative battlers of Nimbasa after all, they had interacted once or twice.

But with Skyla? He had no reference for her character. She was the flying gym leader. And apparently, she was close enough friends with Elesa at least for them to use her private jet. But that was all he knew.

Did she even know he… existed? That he was a different Ingo than the one she knew? If she even knew that Ingo at all? Was Elesa calling in a favor for her to help or were they close friends? How did Emmet feel about her?

Unfortunately, the driver was not in on the fact that he was a different Ingo, and he could not ask. Emmet was too busy staring out the window to notice anything else.

In Emmet’s defense, he was also bouncing his knee fast enough to wear a hole through the car floor.

The silence stretched on what felt like an hour later, but was most certainly only minutes, but he could not take it anymore. Emmet was antsy and Ingo wanted answers, whether it be on Skyla or whatever was on Emmet’s mind. He tapped his brother’s shoulder.

If Emmet had not been wearing a seatbelt, he may have jumped through the roof he had been so thoroughly startled. “I am Emmet,” he said tensely, “and I am annoyed. What is it?” Ingo did not realize it was possible for Emmet’s knee to bounce any faster. He had been wrong.

Ingo realized he had made a mistake as Emmet stared sharply at him. He had no idea what to say. If it were the other Emmet, he would sign their little secret message that meant they were checking up on each other. But with Emmet, he had no such message. He would rather fly the plane than use the phrase ‘are you alright.’ It felt dusty and impersonal on his tongue.

“I am Emmet,” he repeated, “and I am going to assume your silence is worry. I am fine.” And with that, he stared back out the window.

“No you are not!” Ingo found his voice at last. “Your maintenance is stripping the screw!” He gestured to Emmet’s knee. He was not about to ask that his brother to stop, merely to draw awareness to the action to inform him of the concerning behavior.

Emmet huffed. “I will be fine.”

“Emmet, I cannot read your mind,” Ingo said irritably. In the other world, many thought the brothers could read each other’s minds. He had to admit, he and Emmet had always had a level of communication that was cleaner than others—they were fully familiar with body language and specific gestures as well as their own mix of knowing when to speak and when to sign.

But even then, gestures and reading each other could only get so far. Sometimes, lingual communication was a necessary evil.

Emmet sighed. “Fine. I do not like planes,” he grumbled.

In another context, Ingo would have assumed it was in comparison to trains. The two modes of transportation were often compared despite their completely different roles in the world. But along with everything else: the moodiness since last night, the bouncing knee, the evasive answers and the strained expression—Ingo knew that this was different.

But how? Did Emmet feel ill on planes? Was it the feeling of idleness that came with a long journey? Did he have an experience that turned him away from planes? Was he simply afraid of heights?

Ingo, of course, did not voice any of these thoughts. Instead, he kind of stared at his brother as though the action would make answers materialize in front of him. He could not ask because they were not alone, because it felt pushy, because of the feeling that he should already know the answer, because of a thousand reasons he did not even bother thinking of.

Eventually, the car came to a stop. They arrived. Emmet and Ingo hopped out to see a house along an empty road surrounded by corn fields. Ingo almost thought they were lost till he saw the girl in blue with pink hair.

Ingo’s stomach shifted nervously with an anxiety he could not define. Well, nothing left but to ride this new set of rails to his next destination.

Chapter Text

Skyla had been warned of course. Barely thirteen hours ago, yes, but she had been warned.

She had been dumb enough to think that she was prepared. She was not.

“Emmet! Ingo!” She called out to the two of them as they left the car. The doors closed and the driver fumbled with the trunk. She should be good. “Good to see you again,” she nodded to Emmet. But to Ingo, she grinned, “And nice to meet you.”

He froze like a deerling in headlights. But in a moment, his expression cleared to an even line. Unreadable.

Emmet caught the conversation before it could crash to the ground. “Skyla,” he sneered. Ingo glanced between the two of them, his expression flat. It was somewhat disconcerting without the frown, but she could adapt.

Besides, she knew how to respond to Emmet. She made a smug smile. “Looks like I win, Smile-man. Planes before trains.”

“Trains will always be superior to planes,” he sniffed. “This is only out of necessity.”

She rolled her eyes. “You keep telling yourself that.” Ingo continued to stare at the two of them. Skyla actually… felt kind of scrutinized under his intense gaze. That was not something she had felt subject to for years, and even then, it had been accompanied by a frown. He really did not know her. Probably not even the… other her, with him being from another world and all that.

“Come on in,” she waved them into her house. It may look like just a little thing in the middle of nowhere, but that was just how she liked it. There were more skies than anything else, with the corn fields taking up the land.

Skyla motioned to her fridge. “It’s gonna be a long flight. Go ahead and get some food to fuel up before we go.”

Emmet paled at the mention of food. He had vomited no less than six times on the last flight she took him on, so she was not surprised. She did not bother forcing him to eat anything. Ingo, however, was another matter. She turned to him, meaning to offer something specifically to him, but his distant posture threw her off. He seemed to be considering something as he was watching Emmet.

Technically, this was the first time they were meeting. Suddenly, she felt much less comfortable with offering cold leftover pizza. Should she have cooked something? She was shit at cooking. He probably liked the same things as the Ingo she knew, right? Wait, what does Ingo even like?

Screw it. “Uhhh you want some leftover pizza?” she offered. He snapped his gaze from his twin she could call him that right? to her. “…Ingo?”

“Ah, yes.” He said. It was the first time she heard his voice. It was so quiet. Well, not really, but it was strange to see Ingo’s face and hear a regular human volume come from it. “Pizza is fine. Actually….”

And there it was. Skyla had been warned. She had been warned, but oh Arceus, she was not prepared. Ingo smiled.

More than that, it was a mischievous smile. “Could I get it microwaved?”

She had no idea what the deal with the microwave was, but she was too dumbstruck by his smile to care. At least he was not staring so intensely at her anymore, but oh Arceus. Did she mention that she wasn’t prepared? “Oh, uh, yeah! Microwaved pizza. From the fridge. Got it!” Her voice was robotic.

She rushed to the fridge, ignoring her burning ears. Why had she reacted like that? She could have made him uncomfortable. Arceus, she was making a terrible first impression. The least she could do was get the pizza to him.

Oh no. All she had remembered was leftover pizza. She forgot which kind—pineapple. Would he think it was weird? Or maybe quirky? Who even genuinely cared about the pizza topping argument? Surely such a thing couldn’t damage his opinion of her? Why the hell did it even matter—

She microwaved the shit without letting herself think about it anymore. He and Emmet had sat at the table. Emmet was staring at it, Ingo was frowning as he stared out the window.

This was so, so awkward.

“Aaaand here you go! Two slices of delicious, microwaved pineapple pizza as ordered! Leave a good review if you like it!”

To her surprise, his eyes lit up. “Pineapple? You have good taste,” he said, taking a bite. She let out a breath of relief. “Emmet, do you have any pizza preferences?”

Emmet did not look up from the table. “I am Emmet. I do not want things on my pizza. They feel weird in my mouth.”

“Hm,” Ingo nodded slowly. He watched Emmet for a moment longer but said nothing more. Then, he returned to the pizza.

Oh. Oh. So this was why it was so awkward. It was actually—Skyla was sure about it this time!—not completely her fault. The two were awkward with each other. It made sense, if this was her first meeting with Ingo, then technically, the two had only known each other for… she was not sure how long. They posted to twitter that they were going on leave yesterday.

…Yesterday. Had it only been a day? Had they only known each other a day?

No wonder they had no idea how to talk to each other. If she was this thrown off, she could not imagine how Emmet felt. Or Ingo.

Then again, it could be partly her fault. Emmet genuinely hated plane rides, for one. Not even her joking could lift his mood. But whether it was her fault or not, the truth was that she had no idea what to do about it.

Ingo finished his second piece quickly, and at last they were off to her jet. She settled into the pilot seat and took a deep breath. A sort of calm rushed through her, the anxieties from moments before washing away. She was going to fly. This, she had control over, and she was going to do it well. She performed pre-flight safety checks before the brothers arrived such that the take-off would be as swift as possible.

And thank Arceus for that. Emmet squeezed his eyes shut as the engines kicked into gear. Though Skyla focused her attention on the take-off, she could not help but keep a smidge of her attention on her passengers. Emmet would usually grab Ingo’s arm by this point. Was he going to…?

Oh, they were holding hands. Well, that was new.

“You’re going to be okay,” Ingo said quietly. Like, actually quietly. If she had not been listening closely, she would not have heard him.

“I am Emmet. I am going to be sick.” Ingo chuckled softly in response, both worried but trying to sound better for his brother. Or so Skyla assumed.

And at last, they were in the air.

--

Emmet was having a time.

A wonderful time, an excellent time, a time where every feeling that he could possibly feel in his stomach he felt. His insides were having a party, and all of his muscle aches were invited. Because of course they had to join in the train.

Unfortunately, his sanity had not been on the invitation cards.

Distantly, he heard Ingo ask Skyla, “Do you have any medicine for flight sickness?”

“Uh,” she said. “Lemme check.”

Emmet vomited into the bag in front of his seat as she looked. Did his insides have to clench so violently? Why does it hurt so much? He felt no better when it was done. Ingo looked even more worried. Skyla’s search only became more panicked. He did not notice when she found what she was looking for.

Emmet did not appreciate the bottle and punch card pills thrust in his face. Okay, they were only placed gently on the table in front of him. But that was not how it felt.

“I am Emmet. I do not need medicine,” he said stubbornly. He would rather just curl in a ball and never come out. He would rather cease to be. He did not want to open his mouth and put stuff inside.

Ingo’s eyes flashed angrily. “You are not feeling well. You are taking the medicine. Unless there are harmful side effects or allergies you have that you have not told me of?”

“…No.”

“Then you are taking it. There is no shame in receiving aid for that which ails you,” Ingo said, freeing two of the pills from their crinkly prisons.

Emmet felt a little sheepish as he took the pills from Ingo. He sounded verrrry serious about that. Had other Emmet been stubborn about medication? Or maybe he had to take more? Emmet was not sure, but he did not complain as he thrust the pills down his throat.

He did not complain audibly, that is.

Watching Emmet’s face, Ingo asked, “…How do you usually handle flights?”

“I do not,” Emmet replied stiffly. “Time passes. The hours go by and I do not die. Eventually, it will be over.”

Ingo blinked. “That. That does not sound comfortable.” Understatement of the century.

“No.”

A silence followed. Would the medicine actually work? Emmet did not know. He had vomited already, so surely he would not vomit them out again. The airplane rumbled and his insides shifted. Nope, nope, nope, Emmet was done with this. His hand clenched on Ingo’s.

The sound of the plane bruised around Emmet’s ears. It was loud loud loud. He may be used to his Ingo’s volume but this was different. There was no joy in the endless rumbling. There was no voice, no life to it, just rattling and rumbling on invisible bumps on the sky’s track.

He needed something over it. “I do not like the rumble of the plane,” he announced. “Could you… talk about something?”

Ingo jumped. “Oh! Yes, I can do that.” He cleared his throat. “Would it help if I increased my volume?”

Oh no. That booming voice. Skyla was saying something, but Emmet did not hear. Emmet was wincing, not because of the volume, but the familiarity. That was Ingo’s voice. Other Ingo. Not this Ingo. It was loud, it was perfect, but it was not right. If Ingo talked like that, Emmet might forget himself. He did not want to mix them up.

“No,” Emmet told Ingo. “You—you do not have to raise your volume for me.”

Ingo’s frown deepened. “If it helps, I am more than happy to accommodate. This is no masking on my part—”

“I explained that bad,” Emmet cut him off. “You are Ingo. That is true. Yup. I am verrry uncomfortable in this plane. My thoughts are mixed up. The other Ingo is loud. You have not been. I do not want to mix you up.”

“Ahh, I understand,” Ingo’s volume normalized.

“I am sorry,” Emmet choked out as he tried to stop rising bile from the continuously shuddering plane.

“Why are you apologizing?” Ingo asked softly, but it did not seem he expected an answer. “What do you want me to talk about?”

“I do not care.” There were a thousand things he wanted to talk about. But with his bruised mind, he was not sure he would be able to remember any of it. “I want to learn more about you. But I cannot think hard right now.”

“Hmm,” Ingo considered. “Shall I tell you how Emmet and I built Gear Station? Yesterday, you mentioned that you and Ingo only took over Gear Station that had already been in place. For my world, we had to build it from the shambles of an abandoned mess. I believe the topic is captivating while not complicated enough to be challenging to grasp.”

Ingo and other Emmet built Gear Station from nothing? Emmet lit up at the thought of it. Vague, half-formed ideas about abandoned tracks and Ingo yelling at them formed in his mind. “That would be verrrry interesting. Please tell.”

--

Perhaps Skyla should have expected that Ingo would be able to talk about the same subject for 10 hours straight. He was, after all, still Ingo.

It was interesting for the first hour.

But the pilot in Skyla could not handle the constant talk of trains. Yes, it was interesting to hear about the other form of transportation from experts, and it was kind of like listening to a podcast. That said, half of it sounded like glorified paperwork. Skyla knew way more about the legal process of instating a subway system than she ever would have liked to know.

At some point, they drifted from the creation of the station to the differences between Gear Station. In very, very close detail. Apparently, Ingo’s gear station was ten square feet smaller in the super singles line. How did they even manage to remember such a tiny thing? Where did the space even go?

When at last the jet touched down, they were still mid-conversation about the different regulars they met. Skyla realized they had not even come close to covering all the differences. The idea of it scared her.

In the end, she was happy for them, even if she did not join any of the conversation. Both twin’s eyes were glowing the entire time, and their expressions were mimicked for the most part. Emmet still grimaced every so often, but that was it. It was almost as if he was on the ground, and at a later date she would tease him for actually enjoying a flight.

But as she said her good-byes, she was just glad that they were able to connect to each other. That Emmet was able to enjoy his time because of his brother, and that Ingo was comfortable despite being in another world.

Chapter Text

Emmet thinks that Alola is severely lacking in trains.

Apparently, the people here use boats to travel everywhere. There is also some sort of pokemon surfing. Maybe he could try that. He may not like boats (a boat is not a train after all) but he does like pokemon.

Unfortunately, now is not the time for Mantine surfing. Now is almost the time for taking a boat to the Aether foundation.

“They are clearly capable of making floating architecture,” Emmet huffed. “It could not be that hard to add a water railroad. It would be incredible. Yup! And fast.”

Ingo sighed, or maybe he was stifling a yawn. Probably both. “Emmet, I understand your enthusiasm, however boats are unfortunately a part of Alolan culture. It does not matter how incredible trains would be, other people can have other interests.”

Well, if that was not a party pooping response. Emmet sniffed disdainfully, “Alolans are wrong.”

Ingo did not respond. Instead, he stared into the distance with blurry eyes. Emmet followed his gaze, trying to see what had caught his brother’s interest. There are a lot of people in Aether Foundation uniforms. They were staring at their phones. They were tired. It was 6:30am, and apparently people get tired at that kind of time.

Ingo rubbed his eyes. Again. Was he tired too?

“The boat does not leave for a half hour. There is a coffee shop. Do you want coffee?” Emmet asked him. Apparently, coffee was good for energizing people. Emmet was not one of those people, but maybe Ingo was.

Ingo startled as Emmet asked. “Ah. There was no coffee maker in your apartment. I assumed you did not like coffee.”

“I am Emmet. Do you like coffee?” Ingo’s eyes perked up. That was answer enough for Emmet!

“…Yes? Ah, Emmet what are you doing?! Unhand me this—“ Emmet ignored his brother. It was for his own good.

The employee behind the counter stared through them with dead eyes. Emmet flashed them his brightest smile. He would only be as annoying as necessary. He dropped Ingo’s arm and said, “Order something then.”

Ingo glanced between him and the barista. Said barista could possibly be sleeping with their eyes open. They were verrrry unresponsive. Nervously, Ingo glanced back at Emmet, “Do you want anything?”

“I am Emmet. I do not drink coffee. But you can order me something if you want.”

Ingo hesitated, then took a deep breath. The action alone was enough for him to look more awake. This was verrry good. Or, so Emmet thought, till Ingo opened his mouth to order. “Good morning, could I get a large iced coffee with 12 creams and 14 sugars?”

Ingo had not so much as stuttered as he ordered. Nor did the barista give any indication that this order may be strange. Emmet may not know anything about coffee. But he sure can count. And something told him that 12 and 14 may or may not be overkill.

“Could I also get…” Ingo glanced at Emmet. “As you do not usually drink coffee, I will not order for you what my brother got. Do you want me to specialize your order or give you a normal drink?”

Emmet was verrrry scared. He had never distrusted Ingo so much. If 12 creams and 14 sugars was Ingo’s normal, then what would a ‘normal’ drink be? What would a special order be? “I am Emmet. Maybe I do not want coffee anymore.”

A slow mischievous smile spread over Ingo’s face. “You promised you would drink something with me. Hot or cold?”

“I promised no such—”

“Cold it is.” It was too late. Ingo was already ordering. “Could I also get a medium cold latte with extra sugar?” Why? Why was there extra sugar?

After a few nerve-wracking minutes, the drinks arrived. Emmet’s drink did not look anything out of the norm. It looked like, well, an iced coffee. Muted tan with ice sheens against the plastic cup. It looked like the kind of coffee you would buy from a vending machine.

In Ingo’s hands, however, was nothing short of an abomination. For a moment, it almost looked beautiful. White and creamy brown swirled about in the clear cup as a darker brown swam and dispersed from the top of the drink down.

Then Emmet realized that the reason it swirled so much was that the cream was literally fat. The swirls were like oil in a muddy puddle.

“I am Emmet. And that is disgusting.”

Ingo only laughed as they returned to a bench. “Would you like to try it?”

“No.”

“Your loss,” Ingo shrugged and downed the drink. Just like that. He did not even take his time to enjoy it. Then again, it made sense because it could not be possible to enjoy a drink like that.

With nothing left to do, Emmet sipped his coffee incredulously. It was…. Actually not that terrible. The bitterness of the coffee spiked the back of his throat. It probably would not be that bitter by other coffee drinker’s standards. Emmet, however, was not others.

Strangely enough, he did not mind the extra sugar. It was not sickly sweet, but enough to be like a treat. Emmet could accept that.

Drink and abomination consumed; it was time for them to board the boat at last.

(Ingo's Drink:

--

Gladion’s knuckles were white from gripping the cold, white desk the woman who once called herself his mother once used. He refused to let go because he knew they would start shaking again.

That, or he would start pulling out his own hair. It was a habit he was in the years of breaking, but every so often the urge would come again. Not even Silvally’s soft nudges were enough to calm him.

Selene, Alola’s Champion, refused to cover the truth. She said that what had happened happened, and that keeping information about the ultra beasts locked tight for only a few eyes was exactly what Lusamine had been doing the entire time. It was why the scientists had the freedom to do as they pleased with Type:Null. That it was ‘secrecy’ that was the reason for their cruelty.

Gladion knew better.

Humans are, at their core, cruel. He had seen enough of the world to know that. He had learned enough from Lusamine to know that. In his better times, he told himself that it was because of their missing father that she turned into what she became. Lillie, for one, was convinced of the kindness in her mother.

But what is kindness if it can be twisted at a moment’s notice? What is a good person if temptation can ruin them? It is not secrecy that allowed the scientists to do what they did, it was knowledge of the ultra beasts and a drive to fight them. Without that knowledge, there would have been no opportunity to be cruel.

If his father had never learned of the ultra beasts, Lusamine would never have changed.

Gladion refused to spread information about the ultra beasts. What if someone else became enraptured? What if someone else became obsessed?

He and Selene had to come to a compromise. There were already images of the wormholes throughout the sky, Lusamine stepped down from the chair, and people needed answers. So, while Lillie hid Lusamine away, they claimed that the woman had been sent to jail for her crimes. They gave a short description of ultra beasts that were spotted and moved on to Gladion’s statements on becoming president of the Aether Foundation.

He could even argue to Selene that they were not lying, after all he was serious about changing the Aether Foundation for the better. About focusing on its true goal to help endangered pokemon species.

But it had not been enough. It was not enough, and someone latched onto the very image and description he had been loath to release. Someone across the world no less, someone from Unova.

She spun some story about ‘a unique situation to do with other worlds or universes that she could use some expertise on,’ but Gladion knew better than to trust that. Unfortunately, she was a gym leader, so he had to take her seriously. He hoped to dissuade her by requesting that they meet in person. She was across the world, and it was, quite frankly, an absurd request.

….Yet, she agreed.

And it got worse. She was not even asking for herself. She was asking for the Subways Masters, the true culprits of interest in the wormhole. He thought of Lillie, the golden child, and how she would do anything for the approval of her mother.

Gladion did not know if this gym leader was in on it. He did not know if they had forced her hand. He did not know which was worse.

He took a deep breath. They should be here within a half hour. He was terrified, he could admit that much.

He really should have known better than to think a measly 10 hour flight was enough to stop obsession.

…But at least this way he would be able to see them in person. He would judge them for obsession. Desperation. He had done his research; they had agreed to meet the same day they chose to go on leave. There were no other immediate signs that anything was off. And now, they were willing to fly across the world at a moment’s notice.

Something happened. Something must have happened, and Gladion feared the worst.

Silvally whined softly, and he allowed his hand to unclench from the desk. He stroked the pokemon’s head in an attempt to calm himself. He was only mostly successful by the time the knock sounded. He took a breath, and called out, “Come in.”

Right on schedule, two identical men stood in his doorway. One was in a red polo, the other green, with matching brown khakis. From the neck up, they could have been mistaken for the same person—they both wore the same frown.

“Good afternoon,” Gladion said as cordially as he could allow himself. “Have a seat. I hope your travels went well?”

The twins watched him with equal intensity, but Gladion did not look away. The man in green spoke, “I am Emmet and I would rather stand.” His voice was tense.

Beside him, the man in red sighed. Ingo, presumably, seemed to have spotted his brother’s faux pas, and accepted the seat offered to him.

First, Gladion would see if they had their stories straight with Gym Leader Elesa. “So, what are you looking for from this meeting?”

“Information,” Emmet said.

Ingo continued, “Emmet, Elesa, and I were researching potential leads on alternate realities and missing person’s cases. Emmet happened upon an article on the Aether Foundation’s website that described some sort of wormhole that connected one world to another. To tell the truth, we never expected to happen upon something nearly so relevant. To most, the idea of alternate worlds is the stuff of fiction. Hardly any myths have anything on the subject. That said, the information provided by the Aether Foundation was rather sparse.”

Gladion leaned forward on the desk and clasped his hands together. Assuming he had not been lied to, they had gotten an interest in alternate reality before having heard of the Aether Foundation. And something about missing person’s cases…?

He would not speculate. Gladion cut to the chase, “Why were you researching alternate realities?”

“I do not trust you with that information,” Emmet said shortly.

“Emmet—” Ingo hissed.

“You have covered a lot of the truth. That is verrry suspicious.” His voice was cold, emotionless, but in his eyes something blazed. Gladion did not know him well enough to say what. “The website did not even say what Lusamine did wrong. It said she was sent to jail. If it was clickbait, there would be a huge story. But it was not.”

Gladion could feel blood rushing to his face, but Emmet continued, “Something was covered up. Something verrrry bad. How do we know you are not still doing bad things? Switching leaders seems to be an easy cover.”

The moment the man stopped speaking, Gladion leapt from his seat in a moment of anger, justification burning against his tongue—He was nothing like Lusamine. He would never approve of any Foundation project with even a hint of an obsessive goal. At messing with the ultra beasts. He had already shot down multiple proposals. The days of a hidden, cruel Aether Foundation were gone.

Silvally barked, and the words died in his throat. All of that, and yet… Emmet had a point, didn’t he? Humans can be cruel. Bringing things to light is what allows the little good to shine on it. It was when he brought Hau and Selene in that they were able to take Lusamine down.

…Even if he still told them nothing, not even when he took them to the labs. They did not even know that he shared blood with that monster.

Gladion refused to react in anger. He took a deep breath and sat down. Emmet and Ingo were staring at him with that unreadable, unsettling gaze.

“…I applaud your honesty,” Gladion said at last. Emmet’s eyes flashed, but he said nothing. “But I am afraid that I cannot tell you anything without fully understanding your motivation. You are correct. Something was covered up, something I want to never happen again. I promise you the world is better for never having learned of the ending that almost befell it. That said…. The information you are asking for is the very information that could potentially allow her ‘project,’” he spat the word, “to continue.”

The brothers sat in silence. Ingo opened his mouth, but Emmet started speaking before he had the chance to say anything. “I am Emmet. Will a battle convince you of our conviction?”

Gladion hesitated. Seeing the way a person treated their pokemon was an excellent way of seeing their character. And yet…. Lusamine herself adored her pokemon. More than anything else, until she had seen Nihilgo with her own eyes.

It was not conviction Gladion cared about. The fact that they were here was explanation enough for their conviction, but not even their good character would be enough to convince him. People can change. Even the best of people can twist into something unrecognizable.

“No,” Gladion responded coldly. “I need your exact motivation.” He said nothing more.

“If I may,” Ingo began, “It appears as though we have reached an impasse of sorts. We do not trust you with our information. You do not trust us with your information. Is there any way we could build that trust? I would like to caution that our journey is an urgent one, though we are willing to spend a little longer at this stop if it may bring us to our destination sooner.”

“Nothing will convince me of your character but your explanation of why you need the information,” Gladion replied harshly.

Ingo stood from his seat. “Then we will be taking our leave. Good day, Sir Gladion.”

And they were gone.

Gladion let out the breath he’d been holding. “Well, that could have gone better,” he murmured to Silvally, who whined in response. That went absolutely awful. “But what was I supposed to do?”

Maybe he should have proven to them that the Aether Foundation was good. They had learned from another source about other realities, after all. And with that conviction… Perhaps it would be better for them to be on his side than against him.

The reason they did not trust him was valid, however. Maybe it was for a good cause. Maybe someone went missing and they were looking for them. Maybe it would be fine… But what if they went too far looking for answers? What if they lost sight of the goodness?

“Damn it,” Gladion muttered as he took out his phone. He seriously fucked up. It was far too late to call them back in to prove his innocence to them. He said he would not react in anger, but he had forgotten that there was more to angry responses than physical…

He pulled up Selene’s contact. She had given him her phone number, but they weren’t exactly ‘friends’ were they?

No, that doesn’t matter. He needs help. He learned that much, at least, from last time. He pressed call.

Her cheery but somewhat incredulous voice sounded from the other end, “Gladion? That you?”

He closed his eyes, and said what he should have done the moment he got that email. “Hey Selene. I need your help.”

Chapter Text

“I am Emmet. I am curious. Where do you think the archives would be in the Aether Foundation?”

Ingo startled, glancing up from his Xtrans. They had just arrived back at the hotel after a long day of disappointment. After their unsuccessful conversation with Gladion, they opted to explore the building as most of it was open to the public. They were able to see the conservatory that had been advertised on the website and talk with employees.

All of them said the same things about the foundation. No sign that anything was amiss.

Emmet had not said very much on the trip back. Ingo did not blame him, talking to that many people must have been tiring. He stroked his chin, thinking about Emmet’s question. “Likely under the water level? As we were sailing here on the ferry, I could not help but notice that it looked as though there was a considerable amount of mass below the water. However, when reading about the foundation, it apparently floats using ‘VLFS,’ or ‘very large floating structure. The description was admittedly rather poor, ‘It’s all made of huge blocks stuck together,’ but the focus of the article was that the foundation was made as an island in honor of Alola’s tradition.

“I admit, I know little about floating structures as our work is underground, however it seemed odd for there to be so much space below the surface when it is to float. If we were to find, perhaps, labs or anything else where projects take place, I presume it would be there. Why do you ask?

A slow grin spread to Emmet’s face. “Do you think we could find a blueprint for the building?”

Ingo blinked slowly. “Emmet. Why do you want a blueprint for the building.”

“To break in, of course?”

Why? Why was Ingo surprised? “Emmet, we cannot simply break into the archives.”

“Ingo, we need this information. Besides, what if they are doing something verrrry bad? I do not feel good about leaving that alone.”

Ingo did not let him have the point. “Even if you are correct, it will be rather challenging for us to explain to anyone, let alone the authorities, why we decided to go on leave and break into the Aether Foundation 3 days later. If we were lucky enough to avoid jail, it would result in a permanent mark upon yours and other Ingo’s records. That is not even considering whether or not we would be able to find the information we need. Perhaps we could look into other options?”

Emmet pouted. “It would not be a permanent record if we were not caught.”

Ingo stared at his brother. Was he serious? “Emmet—”

“Chandelure can go invisible and phase through things. She could easily clear the path for us,” Emmet urged, smile wide on his face.

Ingo should have known that Emmet was being too quiet on the boat. He asked as if he did not already know the answer, “Please tell me you have not already thought this through.”

“I thought you were the enabling Ingo,” Emmet sniffed snootily. “You pranked Elesa with me.”

“EMMET!” Ingo could not resist shouting at the insinuation.

Neither had the chance to say anything else as Emmet’s Xtrans buzzed. As if saying her name was enough to summon her, Elesa’s face appeared above the little red and green phone icons.

“Hey boys! How’s Alola treating you?” They immediately swapped to video call. It was dark outside, and Elesa was sitting in her room wearing a yellow, comfy looking crop top and sweatpants.

“Hello Elesa! Alola is stupid.”

Ingo sighed because of his brother for probably the twentieth time today alone. “We have not had the best of luck, I am afraid. Is it…” Ingo checked the time. 3:23pm. There was a six hour difference, if he recalled correctly. “9:23pm over there?”

“That sucks. Tell me more?” Elesa asked sympathetically. “And yeah, it’s already night over here.”

“They do not trust us. We do not trust them. Nothing happened,” Emmet grumbled.

Ingo nodded. “We went into the meeting today with the current leader of the Aether Foundation, Gladion. Given the secrecy and refusal to tell the truth, we did not think it would be safe to share our current condition at a research institute that may or may not be doing dubious projects on matters of different realities. That said, he was understandably unwilling to share sensitive information with a few random men who refuse to back their claims of a strange situation.”

Elesa rolled her eyes. “You’re not some ‘random men.’ You’re the literal Subway Bosses, I think that speaks for your character.”

“And if what little information on the website is to be believed, the previous leader Lusamine would have been assumed to have far more character given her position over a not-for-profit organization designed to help pokemon. Even so, she committed some sort of unspeakable mystery crime. Though I do not like it, I am afraid his hesitance is with merit.”

Elesa hummed in concern. “What are you gonna do then? I can keep looking for more leads on my end?”

Emmet piped up, “We’re going to bre—”

Ingo slapped his hand over his brother’s mouth. “That would be appreciated Elesa, thank you. For now, we are going to review our options and not make any rash decisions,” Ingo said tersely, looking directly at Emmet.

Emmet only grinned wider.

“Got it!” Elesa laughed. “Emmet, don’t do anything stupid. And Ingo, don’t let yourself get convinced to do anything stupid, alright?”

“No promises!” Emmet exclaimed cheerily.

“AND how was your day?” Ingo changed the subject.

Elesa laughed. “Are you sure you want to ask that? You guys are off adventuring in another country, I’m just doing boring gym leader stuff. Surely more interesting things happened than being thrown out of the foundation?”

“We were not thrown out—” Ingo began.

“Something far worse than being thrown out of the foundation happened this morning,” Emmet cut Ingo off ominously. Ingo whipped his gaze to him in confusion, what was he talking about?

Emmet’s face was the image of grief, his posture hung over. “I cannot trust my brother. He is a strange amalgamation of another world; a world where sugar and cream are consumed in double digit quantities.”

Ingo was unable to see Elesa’s reaction as he experienced his brother’s betrayal in full. “My Emmet understood me for who I am! I am a man who enjoys sugar and cream!”

“Your Emmet probably drinks an abomination as bad as you do!”

Ingo put his hand upon his chest in woe. “My Emmet and I are one with our hatred of coffee yet desire for energy. We understand each other on a deeper level.”

“As willing as I am to hear you two bicker, I have to know. What in Arceus’ name does Emmet drink,” Elesa interjected, her voice deadly. “and what the fuck does double digits mean. You don’t seriously mean that you have more than 10 sugars and creams, do you?”

Ingo ignored her second question. “He drinks shots of espresso straight.”

“AND YOU SAY HE HATES COFFEE?!” Emmet shouted with incredulous horror.

“YES HE DOES!” Ingo defended him. “Emmet and I hate the taste of coffee. The bitterness burns in the back of my throat no matter how little there may be… Unless there are 12 creams and 14 sugars over it. And Emmet—”

“—and Emmet,” Ingo repeated himself with mock annoyance as if she had not spoken. “Would rather down it all in a gulp and have the energy he needs without suffering through an entire drink.”

Emmet put his hands together and rested his nose on his fingertips. “Have you two ever considered. Red Bull.”

Ingo frowned, genuinely confused. “Red Bull?”

Elesa stared at him. Emmet stared at him. Ingo was no longer sure if they were joking around. They probably were. But one could never be certain.

“Tomorrow, I am introducing you to Red Bull,” Emmet said.

Ingo was not so unaware that he thought his drink choice was normal. He felt somewhat afraid of what Emmet was going to subject him to in revenge. “I am not interested in—”

“Nope!” Emmet cut him off with a grin. “You do not get a choice.”

“…You know what?” Elesa said tiredly with a hand on her forehead. “I think I’m ready to tell you two about my day.”

Ingo and Emmet whipped their heads to her in sync. Ingo asked, “Hold. What is your preferred method of fueling your engine?”

“What did you drink this morning?” Emmet added.

“SO THIS AFTERNOON I was challenged by the same kid as a few days ago!” Elesa laughed as she changed the subject.

Emmet bounced his knees. “Noooo you have to tell us—"

--

She did not tell them.

But that was okay. Elesa was verrry fun to talk to. It was nice to laugh after a verrrry annoying day. But now. Now Emmet had to become serious.

Emmet liked to have fun. He liked to be serious. And he liked to win. Usually, these things all went hand in hand. But right now, that was not the case. Sometimes, the most serious battles are not fun. Because it is not the challenge that makes them serious—it is the stakes.

“Ingo,” he said. “We need to learn more about rifts. We need to find our brothers. The Aether Foundation knows something. I realize breaking in is a verrry questionable solution. But what else can we do?”

Ingo sighed heavily, leaning back into the sofa. “…I wish I knew.” His irises were darting as he stared at the ceiling. Emmet let him think.

Eventually, he said, “Even if our brothers are in this world, Emmet and I will eventually have to get home. To our Gear Station, to our family. Unless we find ourselves in contact with legendaries, the Aether Foundation would be our only way of uncovering knowledge on other realities. We need the information that only they can provide, there is no way to deny it.”

Ingo met Emmet’s gaze. “However. If we are caught, we could lose everything. First, we could land in jail and be unable to search for our brothers any further. Second, you and your Ingo could end up with a permanent mark on your records that would hinder your ability to be subway bosses. Third, we would sever even the slimmest hope of a relationship with the Aether Foundation.”

He closed his eyes. “This is all assuming they are unaware my station lies in another reality. We both know the dangers of a research institute like this learning of something like that.”

Emmet knows his history. Emmet has read about fictional science institutes. Emmet is aware that many things are done in the name of science. Unethical things.

He will not let his brother be a part of it.

“We will not go back to Gladion,” Emmet said firmly.

“Perhaps there are others that know something? Wormholes were spotted across the region from the sounds of it,” Ingo reasoned.

Emmet shook his head. “But they only saw them. They would not know how they work. We need to travel through them.”

“Emmet, we are just looking for leads. It will not serve us well if we learn how to travel through rifts only to discover that we left our brothers behind in this reality. We do not even know where they are.”

Emmet flopped onto the bed. “I do not know what to do! We cannot sit here! We cannot tell them things!” Angry tears jumped to his eyes. Somewhere out there, Ingo could be suffering. Other Emmet could be suffering. They might not even be together.

“…I know Emmet.” Ingo stood from the couch to sit on the bed beside him. “But it has only been a few days. Breaking in will be our last resort.”

Emmet grumbled. “If we do not find anything, we are going to break in.”

“…Fine,” Ingo conceded. “However, I do have a plan. The Ultra Beasts were happening at the same time as the first Alolan Championship was being formed. I cannot help but believe that the powerful trainers that started the league would have some sort of insight on the situation.”

“I am Emmet. Are you suggesting we do the ‘Island Challenge?’”

Ingo smiled. “That I am.”

Emmet did not want to do the Island Challenge. The Island Challenge was something he would want to experience for fun. For serious battles. Because he wanted to win. This would not be fun. This would be serious, but it would be because of the stakes.

But there was nothing else to do. And it would be fun. There were Z-moves, trials, and all sorts of verrry interesting things.

Emmet smiled too. “Okay.”

Chapter Text

Selene is about ready to pull her hair out.

Two weeks. For two weeks, she has actively scoured the region in search of the Subway Bosses. Two weeks of following their tracks; two weeks of asking the Kahuna’s where they were going next; two weeks of utter failure.

First of all, she had no idea where they started. She knew they had been to the Aether Foundation, but that told her literally nothing because every island has a port that can go there. When she heard that they were taking on the island challenge, she figured it would be easier. She was the champion here, she knew everything there was to know about the island challenge, after all.

She had been wrong.

They started at Ula’ula, then moved to Akala. She figured she would meet them at Melemele, but according to Samuel Oak who had somehow run into them, they decided to Mantine surf to Poni Island instead!

This was seriously starting to get impossible. At this point, she may as well sit at her champion seat and wait for them. They’re bound to show up there eventually, right?

But for now, she was sitting in the Malasada shop in Melemele, resting her head on her arms. She was still waiting for Hau to show up, but he had gotten caught up with something. It had to be either serious or social for him to be late to malasadas.

The door jingled, but Selene did not look up to see who walked in. First mistake. She braced herself for Hau’s telltale shouting, only to be smacked in the ears with a completely unfamiliar voice, “—a waste of time. We should be—”

“We should be eating properly,” a second voice cut off the first, “and this place was recommended by the Kahuna of Alolan Sumo Wrestling. We promised that we would try it, and we will not break our word.” Hold up. Kahuna of Alolan Sumo Wrestling? That literally doesn’t exist.

“We did not have to try it less than an hour after the recommendation,” the first grumbled. Less than an hour? Wait, Hau wrestled, didn’t he? Huh, these must be the guys that held him up then. Small world.

One of them started to order, so she was surprised when the other addressed her. “Excuse me ma’am,” the voice sounded from behind her. “Are you alright?”

Still not looking up, she sighed dramatically. “Just wallowing in my failure. Don’t mind me.”

“Hm. I am afraid I too have ridden the tracks of failure recently. Would you like to talk about it?”

She finally glanced up to look at him. He was a tall man with an Alolan print reddish pink shirt and shorts. His sideburns looked as sharp as a knife, but what she noticed more than anything else was just how sunburnt he was. Despite all that, he had a strangely respectable aura about him.

Selene just groaned. “Ah, you know. Just that I’ve been looking for someone for two weeks and have had no luck. It’s not like it was a favor for the guy I've been trying to be friends with for a literal year or anything.” God had she messed up. She had already been wallowing it, but saying it aloud… She really wanted to help Gladion out and the fact that she was failing so badly was frustrating.

“…I am sorry to hear that. Do you mind if I take a seat beside you?” Oh. Oh wow, his voice was deadly serious. Yet at the same time, it was so much softer….

“Yeah sure, go ahead. I am waiting for someone, but he’s late anyways,” she said easily, not even considering the fact that turning him down was an option. Not when he responded like that.

He took his seat and nodded to the other man across the shop. “My brother and I have been traveling around Alola quite a bit in the past few weeks ourselves. Perhaps you could describe who you are looking for to us? Assuming they are to be found in Alola.”

Quietly, his brother took a seat beside him. She noticed aimlessly that they matched; the only difference was that his Alolan shirt was blue. That’s kind of cute.

She waved his offer off. “No, it’s fine. I can find them. They should actually be showing up on my doorstep pretty soon from the sound of it!” She laughed. Then sighed again, muttering under her breath, “I literally have the power to travel through literal reality, for Arceus’ sake, it really should not be this hard to find people in the same country as me.”

The two of them froze. Like, completely, eerily still. Did she say something weird? Wait, the alolan shirts. Bad sunburns. “Ohh, you guys are foreigners, you probably didn’t know. Yeah, like half a year ago these crazy ultra beasts from another world showed up. I’m kind of the person that dealt with them.”

“That is verrrry impressive,” the man in the blue shirt said. Now that she was looking, it was more than just their outfits that matched. They had practically the same face, too, along with those shard sideburns. An identical expression of intense interest was on both of their faces. It was somewhat off putting, to be honest.

Selene laughed nervously. “It’s nothing, really. I was just in the right place at the right time.”

“In the right world as well, from the sound of it,” the first man in red added. “Are you affiliated with the Aether Foundation? I hear they forged the tracks of reality travel though I admit I do not know all that much.”

She waved her hand. “Oh no, I’m not a part of the foundation! Er, I think that’s what affiliated means? I mean, I work with them sometimes?” She hesitated to try to explain, but then shook her head. “Here, I’ll just introduce myself: I’m Selene, Alola’s first champion.” She ended it with the Alolan gesture of hello.

The two mirrored her gesture, though slightly stilted. “I am Emmet. This is my brother, Ingo. We hear you are looking for someone? We are looking for someone, too. Maybe we can help. And then you can help us.”

Wait. Ingo? Emmet? Wait, wait—“You’re the Subwa—”

“Hau is in the house!” The door slammed open as her friend finally arrived. The two jumped to stare at the door before she was able to finish her statement. “The usual please! Hey Selene, sorry to keep you waiting I was just—” He stopped at the sight of the twins. “I was just talking to these guys! Hey you two, didn’t expect to see you here so quickly!” He laughed.

“Ah, greetings Kahuna of Alolan Wrestling. I suppose it should not be surprising to meet you at your favorite stop,” Ingo nodded to him.

Hau’s face became bright red. “Kahuna of—I was joking! There aren’t Kahunas for wrestling.”

“I am Emmet. Kahunas are like gym leaders. They are skilled people that train those who wish to be skilled. This seems to fit your position?” His voice was completely monotone.

As fascinating as this conversation might have been at another time, Selene, right now, had enough. “Hau, wait a second. I’m trying to talk to these guys. You’re the—”

“Hey Selene, you doing alright? You’re looking awfully pale and…” Hau hesitated. She was about ready to murder him for interrupting her for a second time. “Serious. Usually, you have this vacant smile.”

“Vacant—” Selene exclaimed.

“I am Emmet. And that is verrrry rude. Selene can make whatever expression she wants,” he sniffed in annoyance. Ingo nodded with the same expression.

“I didn’t say it was bad!” Hau waved with wide arms. “Just noticing it's different! I’ve only seen her this serious like, twice, and that was when the world was literally about to end! This is the girl that smiles as she crushes your team with a literal Solgaleo!”

Ingo and Emmet exchanged a knowing glance. Selene was concerned.

“Excuse me, that Solgaleo has a name, and that name is Nebby. Besides, this is serious!” She shouted hotly. “I was actually meaning to tell you about this today Hau, but I guess now it doesn’t really matter. Gladion asked me to find them—the Subway Bosses.”

Said Subway Bosses stiffened. “Gladion?” Oh Arceus, now Ingo’s voice sounded dangerous. How did it sound so dangerous? “What does he want with us?”

Selene did not let his intensity scare her. She rolled her eyes, “Depends what you mean by ‘want.’ He realizes that he messed up your conversation and really should apologize but instead sent me on your trail. Which is really, really hard to follow, by the way.”

“…He wants to apologize?” Emmet asked.

Hau leaned forward in his seat. “Gladion, apologizing? Now I’m interested too. What even happened?”

Selene glanced at them. “From what I hear, these guys have an interdimensional issue they want information on and Gladion denied them.”

Hau frowned. “Why?”

Selene rolled her eyes. “Because he’s paranoid?” Then she sighed and folded her hands. “Okay, that’s a little rude. He’s afraid that they could be like Lusamine; nice on the outside but with dangerous motives.”

“That sounds easy to me.” Hau turned to them and asked directly, “What’s your motives?” Selene burst into coughing. He really has no tact.

“I am Emmet. Aether Foundation has said verrrry little about the ‘Lusamine’ thing. We are dealing with other realities. We do not want to be taken advantage of by a dangerous research foundation.” Selene was amazed that he actually explained.

Hau, however, was two steps behind. “I don’t understand…”

“Hau, do you remember Type:Null?” Selene asked quietly. “The documents we found on them?”

He immediately became much, much more serious. “Yeah. Yeah I do.”

She jabbed a thumb at Ingo and Emmet. “They’re looking for someone who got caught up in other realities. They could have like, alternate reality vibes or something. What reason would they have to think that their friend would not be experimented on like Type:Null?”

His face paled. “Oh.”

“Yeah. Oh. Anyways,” Selene turned to them, who said nothing at the exchange; only watching with that same, unreadable expression. “You said you had a friend missing, right? I won’t ask for any more details that I need but I promise you that the Aether Foundation has changed. Gladion is a good guy, and he would never let… that… happen. Not under his watch. I am not afraid of telling you what happened with Lusamine, though I can’t really provide you with anything scientific.”

“I am Emmet. That would be verrrry appreciated.”

Chapter Text

Ingo was ready for answers.

Though he would never act against Emmet’s wishes, he would have dropped the information before Gladion weeks ago. It was only his safety in question, after all, and then Emmet would have been able to find their brothers. Maybe he was a bit of a hypocrite, refusing to allow Emmet to take drastic measures while being willing to take them himself.

That said, he never did take them. He could not bear the horror that would surely be on Emmet’s face.

But now, despite being so adamant against telling Gladion, it seemed Emmet trusted Selena and Hau. Part of it had to be the pureness of the young man, part of it could be the fact that they were no longer directly dealing with a questionable research facility, but in the end, Ingo was just ready for answers.

Selene just shared the story. The story of Lusamine’s twisted view of love and an obsession that drove her to madness, and of the suffering her children went through. Of beasts that threatened destruction of the world, perhaps even reality. Gladion’s caution made sense before hearing his story, but now even more so.

Emmet and Ingo were taking a minute to think about what they were told. About trust, about what they would do, but only a glance between them was enough to know their decision was made.

They turned their attention back to the teenagers to hear the tail end of their conversation. Hau shook his head in awe, “…I thought it had been crazy with the Ultra Beasts the first time. Now there’s this. Selene, are you a dimensional trouble magnet?”

“…I mean, people literally came to me because I have information, so from now on that’s probably going to be a yes.”

Hau scoffed. “That’s not what I meant!”

“I am Emmet,” Emmet addressed the two of them, cutting Hau’s poor attempt at conversation off. “We trust you. But if you break that trust…”

Ingo put a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “We mentioned before that we are looking for someone. It is… somewhat more complicated than that.” He glanced at Emmet once more, just to make sure they were on the same tracks. They were. “My name is Ingo. I have been Ingo my whole life and have made a life for myself alongside my brother, however I am not the same Ingo that has lived in this world.”

The teenagers stilled but said nothing. Ingo took that as his cue to continue, “A few weeks ago, I watched other Emmet fall into a rift. At the same time, this Emmet watched the Ingo of this world fall into a rift. And when I turned around, I was in another world. There was no wormhole, no sensation, I did not even realize it had happened until the next day.”

His eyes squeezed shut at the thought. Of Emmet, who had screamed. He reached for Emmet’s arm to steady himself.

“Our brothers are in danger. We are convinced,” Emmet ended.

Hau’s jaw dropped, but Selene only had a vacant smile on her face. Apparently, Hau had been neither exaggerating nor joking about that. She tilted her head in thought. “The wormholes I have seen are the kind you have to walk into instead of falling. And you would definitely know you were in one, it’s like a whole ‘nother world in there. But I wouldn’t call it sustainable, if your brothers fell in several weeks ago…” her voice trailed off.

“I do not think it was a wormhole,” Emmet said. “It was similar. But it was different. It looked different. And that does not explain how Ingo is here without one.”

Ingo nodded. “I turned around and was in another world. That was all there was to it.”

Selene’s eyes widened and she jumped to her feet. “Wait. Wait, of course it’s a different rift—but I just heard about one of those from someone else! What did it look like? The one your brothers fell into?”

“It was… It was like a twisting vortex of thundering energy with an eerie light emanating from the center. It looked almost astronomical,” Ingo did his best to describe it.

Selene slammed her fist on the table, making Hau jump. “That’s it! Over in Sinnoh, Cynthia was telling me about it! She asked if it was a wormhole, but I had to tell her no. I figured it was just some pokemon teleporting thing or whatever, it couldn’t be related to other dimensions, but with you guys in the picture that changes everything.”

“Cynthia? Do you mean the former Sinnoh Champion?” Ingo asked.

She nodded. “Unfortunately, she’s the acting champion at the moment. The current champion was the one to fall into a rift just as you two described. But here’s the thing—she said it looked somewhat like…like… some other legendary’s thing. I don’t quite remember, sorry. But it had something to do with the past I think and she was—"

She hesitated to take a breath, her smile somehow looking both thoughtless and thrilled at once. “Actually, I only remember half of the conversation, I don’t want to give you misinformation on accident. Here, I’ll send you her contact information and tell her about you—you need to talk!”

“I am Emmet. If she has seen the same rift, I agree. She has not met any alternate people though?”

Selene tapped her chin. “Not that I know of? Unless she didn’t tell me something.”

“Bravo!” Ingo exclaimed, his bright smile matching Emmet’s. “We cannot thank you enough. We will contact her at once.”

“Thank you verrry much,” Emmet added.

“Of course! I’m just so glad I finally caught you guys. You’re seriously impossible to follow, you know that?” Selene shook her head.

Ingo and Emmet only exchanged a glance. She had said that before, but they refrained from commenting. As it was a champion’s role to keep peace in the region, they intended on either becoming the champion or to convince the champion to help them such that they could break into the Aether Foundation with a warrant of sorts. It had been a compromise. But telling her as much would likely not end well.

Not to mention that he would really rather not think of the utter frustration with the fact that they could have had this conversation two weeks ago. Oh, he would think of it. Just, not now.

Selene scribbled away on a scrap of paper; her expression unchanged. In any case, they had the information they needed. For now. Ingo could feel another Bravo welling up in his throat from the mere excitement of it, but Selene was sliding the paper over.

“Here’s mine and Cynthia’s contacts. If you two ever need dimensional travel, just give me a call. Or email, either works. Good luck out there.”

Ingo and Emmet stood at once with a synchronized nod and left to board the next train of their journey.

--

“She said she had been searching for two weeks. Ever since we had our conversation with Gladion. She had been searching and we were just…taking a detour all across Alola! We could have—”

“Ingo.”

“—had this number long ago! But no, we were—we were aimlessly following the tracks of the island challenge and, and enjoying ourselves when we could have been setting up this meeting weeks ago! When we first arrived! What point was there in making a relationship with the Kahunas? What a waste—”

“…Ingo.”

“—of time. And we were going to the champion’s doorstep only to inform her of the dangerous state of the Aether foundation as if she was not among the founders of its current state! Ah, it would have been—”

“Ingo, your maintenance is stripping the screw,” Emmet interrupted dryly for the fifth time.

At last, Ingo froze in his tracks, whipping his gaze to stare at Emmet. “Did you just Chatot my phrase?”

Something about that statement felt… weird. Chatoting phrases… Emmet did not understand right now. He would think about that later. “I am Emmet and I have your attention. If you wear a hole through the floor, I do not want to pay for it. We have our numbers. Can we contact Cynthia now?”

Ingo’s face flushed. “As. Yes, yes of course. One moment. What time is it in Sinnoh currently?”

Emmet made a quick search. “It is 3:22pm right now. In Sinnoh, it is 8:22pm. It is 2:22am in Unova. We cannot ask Elesa for help.”

“Ah, that is unfortunate. But we can still contact Cynthia. Let’s draft the email.” He rummaged in his suitcase for a moment to draw out his laptop.

Typing, thinking, considering, editing, and it was done.

“…I am Emmet. This would look a lot better if Elesa wrote it.”

Ingo sighed. “I agree, but it will have to do. Send?”

“Send.”

Chapter Text

Cynthia was the only one who knew Dawn had gods in her pocket. Dawn told her not to tell anyone else.

She could respect that. It was a terrifying responsibility, even if Dawn and the gods were together only as friends. Dawn had the power of time and space itself at her fingertips. Even the slightest wish to change reality could easily be brought into reality. Cynthia trusted her, but swore that if Dawn ever needed a break, that she would take care of the gods.

It was a casual hangout. Dawn looked happy. She looked so much happier than she had in a long time, and she was truly befriending the legendaries. She was just leaning against Palkia as she said that, who had snorted in response. It was awe inspiring.

Dawn had been telling Cynthia how dumb Palkia looked eating pecha berries when she disappeared.

The gods did nothing as a distorted rift enveloped her and took her away.

Cynthia cried to them again and again, but they said nothing. They looked away. They refused to help her, but why? She could not understand pokemon; gods or otherwise.

She ignored the whispering voice that told her to go to those logs. To the records of a madman who wished to destroy the world, a man with the dreams of Cyrus yet a love of a history. But she knew a certain ancestor of hers had let a growing resentment of gods twist him. She did not want to follow his footsteps.

She went to the Alolan Champion. Maybe, maybe she would know something of dimensional travel at the very least. She knew before she had even reached out that it was unrelated, she knew that.

Selene did not know anything.

Cynthia read Volo’s logs.

Most of the pages were missing. The research was enough for her to trace the rift to Arceus, but the part about Volo obtaining the plates was torn from the records. Only a page remained, with the vague ramblings of a madman who swore to ruin Arceus if it took him a millennium to do so.

Keeping a love of history in his family was part of that plan.

Cynthia had the gods in her pocket. And Arceus had taken Dawn away.

Today, she filled out paperwork. She busied herself with Champion work. She had done so for the past week. She could not bear to research, not now. Not when she felt like this.

And then, a little email popped up. From the Unovan Subway Masters, no less. She was about to file it away to check later when she saw the title: “An Urgent Matter of Dimensional Rifts.”

About two minutes later, Cynthia was fixing her hair in the pre-meeting camera. She was in her office which was absolutely spotless (she had to do something with the time she was not researching, after all), and behind her was the lovely shelf of history books. She put a pleasant smile on her face and mentally congratulated herself for looking so put together.

They were already on the call when she entered. They were… Very sunburnt. She felt kind of bad that it was the first thing she noticed, but they were far redder than she remembered, and it was rather challenging to ignore. They were both smiling, if not nervously, and the only difference between them was the color of their matching Alolan shirts.

“I am Emmet. I did not expect to meet so soon.”

Cynthia laughed. “From the sounds of it, the two of you are as anxious for answers as I am. Trust me,” she allowed the smile to drop as her tone became serious, “there is nothing more important to me than figuring out what happened to Dawn. Ah, she was the one who fell into the rift for me.”

The twin in the red shirt, Ingo, she reminded herself, nodded. “We understand. We are looking for our brothers, actually.”

Cynthia tilted her head. “Hm. I didn’t know you had brothers.” She recalled that they had an adoptive younger sister Iris, but perhaps that was only because of her fame that she was known?

“It is verrrry complicated.”

Cynthia found herself chuckling, “When rifts are involved, it would be stranger if it wasn’t. So, I’ll tell my story first then, if that’s alright?” The twins nodded in response, their smiles both turning to serious frowns. “Perfect. It happened several weeks ago, but in the email, you mentioned it was several weeks ago as well, so I will give the date: February 4th.”

“That—that is the same as us,” Ingo breathed in awe. “That cannot be a coincidence.”

Cynthia felt her hands begin to shake in excitement and tried to push down a thrilled smile. “It really is connected…” She shook her head. Now is not the time to jump to conclusions. “Dawn and I have been friends for a while, so we had actually just been meeting to chat. And out of nowhere, the rift swallowed her whole.

“Ever since, I have been researching what happened. Like you two, I reached out to Champion Selene first, however she informed me that the rift was nothing like a wormhole, and we had no way of knowing that it had anything to do with alternate worlds or realities. I have found a few leads in Sinnohan legends and myths; however, they were only raising more questions than answers.”

She hesitated, unsure of how much to say. “The rift we saw has actually been spotted before in Hisui, or Ancient Sinnoh. It was known as the space-time rift and given the presence of Dialga and Palkia in Sinnoh, I hypothesize that it is some sort of time traveling rift.”

Dialga and Palkia refused to tell her anything. They knew that Dawn was sent somewhere. It burned in her. “...That said, I had no idea when in history she may have fallen. I was beginning to fear that I would have to comb through time period after time period to find her, but with the connection to you two… I believe that we may have found a far better lead.”

She sincerely hoped so. Perhaps she had been misinterpreting the gods' silence. Perhaps, perhaps they knew nothing and were blaming themselves. Perhaps, with help, it would be fine. It wasn’t like she was forcing them to change history or anything, she was just asking for her friend to come home.

Ingo sighed. “It would have been better had we first contacted Champion Selene. We actually went directly to the Aether foundation, and it was only today that we were able to meet with her; we have spent the last two weeks traveling though Alola in an attempt to gather information outside the Aether Foundation.”

“But that does not matter,” Emmet all but interrupted his brother. “What matters is that we have our leads. On February 4th, Ingo and I were conducting our nightly inspection. Then, Ingo fell into a rift. But Ingo was also right in front of me. It was verrrry strange.”

“...It was far stranger when we realized that I am a different Ingo than the one Emmet knows,” Ingo added. Cynthia perked up. What could that mean…? “I was also conducting those nightly inspections with Emmet, but I was the one to watch him fall into a rift. When I turned around, though I may not have realized it till the following day, I was in a different reality.”

“Huh…” Cynthia rested her chin on her folded hands. “So, you two are involved in different realities. Then the brothers you are looking for are… another version of Ingo and Emmet, am I getting that right?”

They nodded. “Yes.”

“Another version of Ingo and Emmet… twins…” She froze. Volo’s records were not the only ones she researched for Hisui. “Twins!” No, she had seen more. She knew everything there was to know about Hisui like the back of her hand—at the very least, everything that had been recorded.

She leapt from her seat to rustle through her bookshelves. “Where is it, where is it… Ah!” She pulled out a sizable tome, worn from a thousand reads.

She landed heavily back into her seat once more, rifling through the pages. She knew the entry she was searching for well; it was one that brought questions to many historians before her. “Found it. ‘The twin heroes of Hisui were first known as ‘Sky-Fallers.’ Their origin was never known, especially as Professor Laventon’s diary mentions that they suffered from amnesia. Given their unprecedented ease with pokemon as well as recordings of odd phrases in their vocabulary, some historians hypothesize that they may have been pulled from the future.”

Cynthia looked up; eyes glowing. “I dismissed this time period because they were twins! But with you two in the picture, it makes perfect sense! Your brothers have to be in the past.”

Ingo became still, eyes wide, but Emmet leapt to his feet. “I am Emmet. How do we get to the past?

“Well,” Cynthia took a breath, “Funnily enough, Dawn managed to befriend a certain pair of space and time legendaries a year and a half back. It should be easy enough to send you both back, but…”

They refused to help with Dawn. She could not understand their language, she did not know that they could give her the answers she wanted. But she would not be asking for answers this time: only help. Besides, it was not about Dawn this time—it was with these two.

“What is the problem?” Ingo asked.

She was only trying to bring people home. She was not rewriting history. Besides, Dawn may not even be there.

“...I really wanted to come with, but no written records speak of Dawn. This might be perfect for you two, but… I should probably stay and keep researching.” She let a small fib in.

Besides, there was not a chance she was going to let herself meet her ancestor. There was not a chance history would be untouched then. She refused to rewrite anything.

“There is always the possibility she may not be in this reality,” Ingo said gravely.

Cynthia shuddered. “I truly hope that is not the case. If it is…” A moment of thought whispered that she would never see Dawn again. That she had failed to save her, that she would never see her life again because of a responsibility she never asked for.

A responsibility that should have been Cynthia’s.

Emmet spoke before she could spiral. “We will watch for her. Promise.” Ingo nodded in agreement.

“...Okay then. I already have the legendaries. You two will have to come to Sinnoh, and in the meantime I will pinpoint the best time to send you both. There are no records of a second set of twins….” she winced. “...Assuming that I am not sending you both back to become the Hisuian Heroes.”

A stiff silence sat as the implication of her phrase sank in. “...Then they may not be in the past?” Emmet asked.

Cynthia sighed. “This is all guesswork. I would like to say that it is highly educated guesswork, however I could always be wrong. Sending you two back could change history. Perhaps this time is a result of that changed history and we are only starting the cycle. It is nigh impossible to know anything for certain.”

“I am Emmet. I do not want to save Hisui; I want to save my brothers. Did you mention amnesia too?”

“I mean, amnesia would be easier to explain than ‘I’m a time traveler.’ Besides… Hisui had to have been saved for us to be here, right…?” Cynthia shook her head. “Time is a touchy subject. There are a thousand theories, but with so few time traveling legendaries, nothing can be said for certain. That said,” she took a breath. “I believe this is worth the risk. I am certain that some of our answers lie in Hisui, even if it is merely another step on the path. Whether it is to meet the Hisuian Heroes or to become them.”

“I think that is our best course of action,” Ingo agreed. “I dislike the idea of taking longer to find our brothers, however I trust your judgment. Emmet and I will go back in time while you continue to research.”

“Excellent,” Cynthia closed the book. “Do you want me to book a flight for you two?”

Emmet paled ever so slightly. “Oh no.”

“No, we can do that,” Ingo glanced at his brother, who was staring fixedly at the camera.

“Then I will see you soon!” Cynthia injected cheerily. “Keep me updated, and in the meantime, you can trust that I will find the perfect time and place to send you two.”