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“Lilligant, use sleep powder!”
“Chandelure, dodge it!”
“Braviary, use tailwind!”
Emmet’s eyes widened. “Wait-!”
And sleeping powder went everywhere. Emmet hacked and coughed, waving his hand in front of his face. Archeops and Chandelure were fast asleep. Emmet could already feel drowsiness tugging at him.
He grimaced and made a mental note to air out the car later. He recalled Archeops and sent out Eelektross. “Use discharge!”
Eelektross crackled with electricity and all the other Pokémon took damage, including Chandelure who still didn’t wake up. Braviary fainted with a cry.
His trainer sighed and recalled Braviary to his ball, lifting it to his lips to whisper condolences to his Pokemon. The remaining challenger stood firm. “Leech seed on Eelektross!”
“Thunder wave,” Emmet ordered. Chandelure was still asleep and Ingo wasn’t doing anything, just standing there with a dazed look. Emmet shook his brother and he startled.
“Right, sorry-“ Ingo used an Awakening on Chandelure.
“Sleep powder again!”
Emmet’s head felt foggy, like a ballon at risk of drifting away. He needed to paralyse Lilligant before she could put them to sleep again. “Thunder wave-“
“Overheat.” Ingo’s booming voice effortlessly carried over all the chaos.
The super effective move hit first and Lilligant keeled over, returning to her pokeball in a flash of light.
The battle was over.
Ingo cleared his throat. “We, Ingo and Emmet, are a two-car train. This time, we were able to work toward 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!”
Ingo nudged Emmet. Oh, right, he was supposed to say something now, wasn’t he? "I am Emmet. We won against you. But I think we just got lucky. In a Double Battle, if you misread one thing, the rest will be totally different. You know.” Ingo was side-eyeing him. Wait! That was the wrong script! This was the multi line, not doubles! “Because I am a Subway Boss. I am Emmet.” No, shoot, that was still the wrong script. “Yup! It was fun! Ride the trains some more!"
Embarrassing. Nothing he just said was correct. Hopefully no one besides Ingo noticed.
The train pulled into the station and Emmet waved as the two disappointed trainers stepped onto the platform. He rubbed his eyes and turned to his brother, who was swaying on the spot.
“Ingo. Did that sleep powder hit you?”
Ingo stared blankly at him, slowly processing the question. “…Did it hit you?”
Emmet’s eyelids felt heavy. Every time he blinked he had to force them back open again. “Yes.”
“Me too.”
“That’s bad,” Emmet said. Ingo hummed and nodded sluggishly.
Bad. This was bad. What if more challengers came? They shouldn’t be sleeping on the job. It’d set a bad example. He should do something. There was something he was supposed to do in situations like this but he couldn’t quite put his finger on what. Emmet hated it when he got hit by sleep inducing moves. This was why he always refused Chandelure’s offers to use hypnosis on him. It made him stupid and slow and he’d feel icky when he woke up.
Ingo nodded off, beginning to tip over. With a burst of adrenaline Emmet caught him before he could hit the floor.
Ingo made a sleepy and confused noise, his arms instinctively coming up over Emmet’s shoulders. He looked around blearily, seemingly baffled to find that they were still in the subway. Emmet’s heart clenched as he experienced a brief but intense surge of protectiveness. “Safety first. Let’s lie down before we fall.”
“…‘kay.” In a display of perhaps too much trust, Ingo leaned most of his weight onto Emmet, who wasn’t feeling much steadier. Regardless, he supported Ingo as they shuffled to the side of the car and transferred him to the bench.
The train turned when he wasn’t expecting it and Emmet yelped as he toppled on top of his brother. Emmet accidentally jabbed his elbow into Ingo’s diaphragm and he grunted in pain. “Sorry, Sorry!” He tried to push himself off but his limbs wouldn’t cooperate and there wasn’t much room on the bench, so all of his attempts to move away just wound up further crushing Ingo.
Ingo’s arm snaked over his back and pulled him down, in a clear attempt to get Emmet to stop moving. “It’s quite alright. I’m awake now.”
“Sorry,” Emmet muttered, readjusting to a more comfortable position.
Ingo rummaged through his pockets. “Do you have any Awakenings?”
Emmet mulled that over, willing his remaining brain cells floating around his empty head to collide. “No, sorry. Ran out last week. Meant to buy more. But-“ he yawned. “Kept forgetting.”
“Oh, yes, that’s right.” Ingo covered his mouth as he yawned. “I kept telling you to write that down. Add it to the shopping list.”
“Meant to. Forgot.” Resting his head on Ingo’s chest, he rose and fell with his breathing. Emmet timed it so they breathed in sync, exhaling on Ingo’s inhale. He could hear Ingo’s heartbeat too, slow and steady.
“Apologies for the delay, but it seems I’m out too. I used my last one on Chandelure during the battle.”
Ingo paused thoughtfully. “I do have some full heals?”
“Not verrrry effective on humans. I wouldn’t bother.”
“Verrrrrrry,” Ingo echoed.
“Verrrrrrrrrrrrrry,” Emmet agreed. The train rumbled soothingly in the background. It was peaceful. He felt safe here, wrapped in his brother’s warm embrace. It would be so easy to close his eyes and drift off. “You could try… hmmm… Wake up slap, maybe?”
“…I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You won’t,” Emmet said confidently. Ingo hesitated anyway. “It’s fiiine. I’ll be fiiine. Don’t even worrrry about it.”
Ingo sighed. “If you insist.” There was another brief pause and then he lightly patted Emmet twice on the cheek.
“What was that?” Emmet demanded. “That was nothing! I barely felt that! What are you, a Magikarp?”
“My apologies,” Ingo said, not sounding terribly apologetic. “Well, we have tried this line and it has not gotten us to our destination. Perhaps we should come up with a new idea.”
Emmet snorted. “You did not try.”
Ingo did not confirm or deny this accusation. Emmet drifted as the train continued to sway ever so lightly.
“I’m afraid I can’t think of anything else,” Ingo admitted. “What about you, Emmet?”
Emmet snored.
“Emmet!”
He grumbled and cracked open an eye. “For a pillow. You are verrry noisy.”
“A pillow? Is that all I am to you?” Ingo inquired. One of his legs was hanging off the bench so he kicked it up and over Emmet’s, which was much more comfortable.
Emmet nuzzled closer. “Yes.”
“Reduced to furniture,” Ingo lamented. “Alas, all my years of service and I have amounted to nothing more than a cushion. Woe! I am unloved! Brother cares not for me-“
Emmet wrinkled his nose and pulled Ingo’s hat over his eyes.
It was much nicer like that. Ingo hadn’t realised how much the bright lights had been bothering him until they were gone. He rested his chin on Emmet’s cap.
“Maybe we should just take…” Emmet trailed off, and Ingo worried that he had fallen asleep again.
“…the L?” Ingo prompted.
He huffed. “A nap. Slow day today. Sleep status condition only lasts… one-to-three turns.”
“That seems… unprofessional.”
“Maybe. Not much we can do about it. So don’t worry.”
The subway car continued to quietly rattle, moving ever forwards. Ingo couldn’t even imagine getting up in this state, not with the heavy weight of exhaustion pinning him to the bench. Not to mention the more literal weight of Emmet curled around him. Even though he knew that forcing wakefulness was the correct corse of action, it felt like a cruelty to disturb him.
“Alright,” Ingo conceded but Emmet was already asleep. His breathing had evened out and his heart rate had slowed. “Sweet dreams, Emmet. I love you.”
