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The apartment is dark, desolate and empty. Although the rooms are filled with furniture, there is an empty sensation that permeates the space that says no one has truly lived there for quite some time.
A fine layer of dust has collected over the couch, the tables, and a single bed… piles of garbage bags piling near the entrance of the apartment, next to a stack of mail that has been unceremoniously slid under the door. Some are long overdue bills and others are kind words and condolences from friends and coworkers.
Still, nothing mattered. Even when he hears knocking at the door, desperate pleas for him to come out, he refuses to leave his station.
Curled up in a space between the bed and the closet, a blanket is the only thing that separates the man from the rest of the once happy home. It is just Emmet in this lonely home. No one else. He gave all of his and his brother’s beloved pokemon away once he realized he was barely taking care of himself.
When he gave the pokemon to Elesa it was under the pretense that he was trying to get out again. That was a verrry bad lie to tell her; Elesa even said as such. She yelled, got in his face, begged for him to remain, to reach out but it fell upon deaf ears and a stoney smile.
He understands why she acted out and it matters little. His brother is gone and nothing else matters. He tried his best at the gear station but he just kept losing. Always, he would feel like his brother was watching, that Ingo was there and not gone, then he would turn and no one was there.
Taking a leave of absence from the Gear Station Emmet had decided that it was best to look for his brother. Perhaps his brother had derailed and gotten lost? Perhaps he wasn’t a good brother and Ingo decided that he could no longer put up with his antics. Was all of this his fault?
That last thought haunts him even after weeks of searching for a brother that disappeared without a trace left a chill down his spine. Icy and prickly, making his body feel hollow, like an engine with no fuel to keep pressing on.
Eventually he started distancing himself, scouring the internet from home to possibly find traces of his brother beyond his reach. Even that brought up little and repeatedly his face would be introduced to historical articles with a man who shared his brother’s name. Over and over again, every search brought up articles of a strange man instead of his brother.
His eyes and head hurt after further weeks of trying to find his brother virtually but still to no avail.
Through his frantic searching, the wake of his brother’s funeral comes and passes after close to a year of his brother never returning. Elesa insisted on it hoping that he could move on after it. He could not. It would be like abandoning his brother. He couldn’t do that, even if that is what his brother did to him. Maybe he will come back if his brother notices how hard he is working to get him back!
With that, there was a brief time where he went back to the Gear Station his and his brothers pokemon rightfully by his side. He worked hard in the mornings getting to pay money for a private investigator to search for his brother while in the evenings he continued his search in case he or the investigator missed something previously.
Emmet kept strong for 6 more months as an active but disconnected member of society. The only break apart from his rigid schedule was when Elesa and sometimes Skyla, would invite themselves over to spend time with him. He would admittedly feel better after these get togethers but his feelings soon change about this.
One day, he accidently clicks on one of the pesky historical pages then there he was. His brother staring straight back at him.
And he broke .
Had his brother abandoned him? Had he truly gotten lost or was he stolen from him? Who would hate him so terribly that they would steal his brother from him?
Further and further, Emmet would scour the internet to get everything he can about Ingo in ancient Sinnoh. Appearing without any memories, a stranger in a strange and ancient world clinging onto what he could of his old life.
He had cried seeing Ingo’s uniform and cap, torn but still proudly worn. The first photo ever of ancient Sinnoh’s wardens shows all of his smiling peers and still, Ingo wore his not smile. Emmet wonders if anyone ever figured out his brother’s smiles, his beautiful beautiful smile. Despite the grainy and faded image, he can also see just how exhausted his brother looks. Appearing so much older than he should.
Then, the information on his brother ran out. There was nothing. Just as suddenly as his brother appeared he was gone. The historians suggested and detailed so many ways his brother could have died. An avalanche that could crush him, catching the attention of an alpha pokemon that would dismember and eat him, a fellow clans man that had had enough of the outsider’s presence and finished him off, and so many more cruel things that killed him.
Quickly regressing just like when Ingo first went missing, Emmet now finds himself in his self imposed exile on the floor as his brother would not have gotten the comforts of a bed. The fridge is caked in a layer of dust as his brother would not have had easy access to food or water. He does not let anyone inside or interact with him because he couldn’t even begin to think about how lonely his brother must have been. The pokemon long since returned to Elesa because although Ingo had pokemon, Emmet did not want to drag them down with him. He did not deserve them anyways.
With a pounding headache due to lack of food, water and too much sleep. Emmet waits on the floor for who knows what. His only comfort is a single sheet on his body. Laying on the cold floor.
Nothing but a ghost of himself.