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“I am the warden Ingo. I understand you’ll need a hand from Sneasler in order to meet Electrode. Whether she’ll see fit to help you, however, we can only find out by making the journey…”
Akari looks up at the man before her with a sense of bafflement, easily recognising how different this individual is from what she’s seen of this region. She only caught a glimpse of him in the morning through sleepy eyes, and now that they’re properly greeting each other it’s obvious that he’s not from this time, sticking out like a sore thumb with his unique demeanour and attire. He’s ragged and aged, much like the state of his black coat, yet he still stands straight and tall with certainty in his silver gaze. It’s almost jarring to see Irida standing next to him with the training grounds as their backdrop.
“…Now, let’s have a safe journey to Mount Coronet!” The warden snaps into a peculiar pose with his arms at straight right angles and his fingers pointing with precision as he loudly shouts, “All aboard!"
As far as first impressions are concerned, Akari isn’t sure what she feels. It’s certainly something new compared to the other overly wary or stuck-up wardens she’s met so far, and even though she’s never met or known this man, the energy he gives off is somewhat familiar. The way of speech, the way he carries himself, this sense of eccentricity despite him only saying a few sentences… it reminds her of home. Indirectly, at least. And when Irida informs Akari about Ingo’s situation being similar to hers, it piques her curiosity. A sudden, mysterious arrival and memory loss? Maybe they really are from the same place!
But Akari isn’t given much time to dwell on that anyway since there’s a frenzied noble pokemon she needs to deal with. Even worse, it’s an Electrode, and she’s never done well with those kinds of explosive electric-types…
Warden Ingo does his guiding job as he’s meant to, not saying much during the journey to the Coronet Highlands, which is just fine with Akari since her mind is occupied with other pokemon-related matters. Unfortunately, when they arrive, the situation just had to become more difficult with Lord Electrode’s warden throwing a hissy fit and being a general nuisance about this whole thing. At least Akari isn't alone in being annoyed by the guy, since Ingo’s perpetual frown seems to get even darker with every obstacle Melli cooks up, especially when it threatens the safety of others.
As much as Akari wants to get this task over and done with, fortune is clearly not on her side today, and since the mission is taking longer than usual, it does give her time to think. Waiting outside Wayward Cave for the warden to finish replacing all the sabotaged torches, she stares at her feet, kicking the snow around while her thoughts wander.
It’s odd. What are the chances that someone would be in a situation like her’s? Sure, it could’ve been a coincidence, like Ingo being randomly transported by one of those space-time distortions… but she’s never seen or heard of people being displaced by those warped things, just pokemon or items.
On the other hand, maybe he was also sent by Arceus? With a different task? Which would mean he could also be faking his amnesia! But he’s definitely been in Hisui for a while going by the ragged state of his clothes, so that’s a long time to be faking it.
…Yeah. There’s no way any of that speculation would ever be true. If Arceus could send more than one person, this “seeking out all pokemon” thing would’ve been done ages ago.
As soon as Warden Ingo is done with ensuring the illuminated state of the cave, he proceeds to guide Akari through the highlands at a slightly faster pace. He checks over his shoulder now and again to ensure that the girl is keeping up, and she’s certainly thankful for it due to her shorter stride. It’s the kind of consideration she doesn’t often receive around these parts, with exception of maybe one or two people.
When the warden comes to a stop all of a sudden, Akari almost stumbles into him but quickly steadies herself, glad for the chance to catch her breath. The air up in the highlands is cold and thin, and she can definitely feel the exhaustion catching up faster than usual.
Hands neatly held behind his back, Ingo turns to the girl. "Professor Laventon told me how you fell to this land from the sky, holding no recollection of times before. I’m sure you’ve heard that I’m suffering from such memory loss as well… yet I have the strangest feeling…” as he trails off, he stares at Akari with an unreadable gaze, his eyes seemingly glowing from under the shade of his hat.
“I’ve heard you show a natural affinity for taming pokemon, much like myself. Perhaps this is a wild assumption, but do you think we could’ve originated from the same station?”
It seems Akari wasn’t the only one with such speculations, and she takes a moment before responding, “Maybe? I mean, how many others in Hisui came out of nowhere and have amnesia like we do?”
“Indeed. It makes you wonder if there’s some purpose to all this…” the warden thoughtfully utters, but then he suddenly straightens up in realisation. “Ah, but now I've sidetracked us with this talk. Let's hurry onward!” No time wasted, he simply whirls around and continues on his way with Akari picking up the pace so as to not fall behind.
It’s not like Akari didn’t anticipate a pokemon battle against the warden, though it turned out quite differently than how she thought it would. Since Ingo uses pokeballs, unlike his fellow clan members who seem to abhor such contraptions, the young girl was ready for a tougher, full-on challenge. A real pokemon battle. Trainer against trainer, like how it would be back home.
And it was challenging, in a sense… but the victory doesn’t mean much when it feels like the opponent is holding back. It’s not as though Ingo wasn’t taking the battle seriously, but it seemed like he wasn’t giving his all. Then again, that might just be because they’d settled on three pokemon each for their battle…? Even though the warden may have his reasons, Akari can’t deny that her competitive side feels a little cheated.
"Bravo! Excellent!" Ingo claps enthusiastically, the hints of a smile coming to his eyes. “An enlightening pokemon battle that was!”
Ah. Too swept up by the battle itself, Akari may have momentarily forgotten that the reason for this battle was to help jog the warden’s memory. “So, did you remember anything?” she asks while putting away the pokeballs of her partners.
Ingo nods and he strokes his goatee in contemplation. “I believe it was moments before I arrived in this region. It was… dark. As if I was held within some void, helpless and at the mercy of something much greater. Perhaps it was the almighty Sinnoh the people always speak of… Does this sound familiar to you in any way?”
“Yes!!” Akari surprises herself with her own volume, a little too excited by the warden describing almost exactly what she experienced before her arrival in Hisui. “Uh, yeah, it does sound familiar,” she repeats, dialling down her tone. “Like, I’ve had dreams of being suspended in the dark and then Ar– the almighty is there…”
“How peculiar…” Ingo murmurs, momentarily staring off into the distance. “Ah, my apologies, we should get back on track. Allow me to call Sneasler…”
With Lord Electrode calmed from his frenzy, an exhausted Akari makes her prompt return to Jubilife Village with Sneasler’s assistance. Even though it was pretty much inevitable, she’s not very pleased with the messed up state of her hair thanks to Electrode as well as the high altitude winds of Mount Coronet.
Perhaps one of the only good things that’s come out of this is that she now knows there’s someone in the same boat as her. Sort of. Although it’s unlikely she would ever meet Ingo on a daily basis due to his responsibilities as a warden of the Pearl Clan, it’s still nice to have at least one person who shares a certain perspective on things.
…And what a surprise it is to Akari when she encounters Ingo again only a day after Electrode’s quelling. Stationing himself at Jubilife Village’s training grounds, the warden speaks of his newfound ambition to train, battle, and teach others of the potential of pokemon as dear partners and not feared foes, which Akari can certainly agree with! Many of the villagers are still way too nervous around pokemon, some even going as far as to avoid the eastern side of the village in fear of the pastures and the many pokemon that reside there.
When Akari takes on the challenge of yet another pokemon battle against the warden, she confirms first-hand that he was indeed not showing his full prowess the first time. And she’s definitely not salty about it! Not at all! In fact, it’s good because now she can figure out all the weaknesses in her ace team!
And that’s another thing that Akari finds curious about Ingo. He gives really good advice about battling strategies, along with reading and predicting the movements of pokemon. It makes her curious about who he was before the memory loss… or if he even has memory loss. Sure, being knowledgeable about pokemon can be partly instinctual for some, like professors, but knowing something so specific like the heat profile of Typhlosion’s ghostly fire, which areas are safe to touch, and even being able to draw a diagram of it… is certainly not general knowledge. Or perhaps Ingo was previously a professor and that sort of information is just ingrained into his brain.
But even when asked about it, the warden doesn’t have much to say when it comes to his unknown past. Perhaps he’s disinterested in it, perhaps he fears it, but young Akari doesn’t quite pick up on such notions, not actually being an amnesiac herself. So, it takes a while for her to notice how Ingo gets this depressed air around him whenever she brings up the past. Really makes his neutral frown much sadder looking…
She stops digging into it too much after that.
Any time Akari sees Ingo in Jubilife Village, he’s always localised around the training grounds and doesn’t seem to go anywhere else. Or perhaps that’s just how it appears from her perspective as someone who’s always coming and going from the village due to all the tasks she undertakes. (In her opinion, she’d say she’s probably one of the most well-travelled people in all of Hisui! Aside from possibly those of the Ginkgo Guild.)
Thus, the girl is pleasantly surprised when one day she sees Ingo standing by the pasture fence, quietly watching the pokemon inside the field. “Oh, hey, Ingo!” she calls out. “I didn’t expect to bump into you here.”
“Good afternoon, Miss Akari!” Ingo responds, his louder volume drawing some of the pokemon’s attention. “Back from your surveying work, I presume?”
“Yep! I just wanted to check the pastures before heading out again. What are you doing here?”
Turning his silver gaze back to the fields, the warden replies, “Out of the many pokemon of this region, there are some that are more familiar to me than others, so I thought I’d take the time to observe the pastures. And I heard you caught all of them yourself! Most impressive!”
The earnest praise is something that Akari isn’t very used to, and she can’t help but look down at her worn down shoes as she lets out an awkward laugh. “It’s not such a big deal. It’s part of my mission anyways.”
“To seek out all pokemon?”
The girl perks up in surprise, certain that she never mentioned to Ingo about the special message on her Arc phone. “How did you– Oh, the professor told you, didn’t he?”
The warden nods. “With how passionate he is when it comes to pokemon, he’s very lucky to have your talented assistance,” he says to her, though his eyes never seem to leave the pastures as if he’s fixated on something.
“Hahah, yeah…” Curious about what he could be looking at, Akari tries to follow his line of sight and soon notices a particular pokemon staring at them from across the field. Hunched over and surrounded by red wisps of fur, a ghost-type watches keenly with a single sharp eye, seemingly focused only on the human dressed in black.
“That’s a Zoroark, isn’t it?” Ingo says while holding the pokemon’s gaze, not even needing to gesture at it to make his point.
“Uh-huh! He’s the only one I could catch successfully,” Akari answers, recalling how many pokeballs she had to go through only to catch just one of these feisty fluffy ones. “He’s kind of a loner but he’s recently been warming up to the other pokemon.”
“That’s fortunate.” The warden hums with approval. “There are some rather nasty folk tales involving the Zoroark in this region, so I’m surprised that the one you’ve caught has been allowed to stay within the village premises like this. It’s good that he’s being given a chance.”
Akari pauses in consideration. It’s not like Marie or anyone else who manages the pastures ever asserted any rules of what pokemon could be kept here. And it’s evident that no one other than Akari ever gets close to the Zoroark or any other ‘dangerous’ pokemon she’s caught.
“Folk tales, huh? I’m sure there’s some kind of misunderstanding in those…” she murmurs.
“But you cannot discount the possibility of some truth in them. It’s a common trend with dark or ghost-types,” Ingo responds before turning away from the pastures, both Akari and the Zoroark watching him as he leaves.
On a bright afternoon, a warden in black silently waits by the front gate of Jubilife Village for a certain someone’s arrival, only for a blonde merchant to approach him with a friendly smile.
“Hello there, Ingo! Have you perhaps remembered anything of your past since the last time we’ve met?”
“Nothing at all, unfortunately. My memories remain as blank as always.”
“Ah, is that so? Then perhaps observing some of my wares could jog something loose!”
“A curious idea. However, I’m not too–” As Ingo glances to the side, he sees the one he’s waiting for approaching the village’s entrance. “Oh, Miss Akari! Welcome back! I have a matter I wish to discuss with you regarding the training grounds.”
“Why, if it isn’t Akari!” The merchant follows, his smile growing wider upon the girl’s arrival. “I also have something I need to tell you. About our quest, of course.”
“Well, uhh…” Having just dealt with a mass outbreak of pokemon, Akari was kind of hoping to just get her report over and done with, but clearly her attention is needed elsewhere first. Between the two in front of her right now, Volo’s definitely more prone to starting long tangents so the decision isn’t that hard to make. “How about I hear what Ingo has to say first, then I’ll come back here and we can…”
The excitement in Volo’s expression drops a little, but he nods in understanding. “Very well. I’ll be waiting here until you’re ready.”
With an apologetic glance, Akari moves past the merchant to follow Ingo’s lead as they head towards the training grounds. Just before they get there, however, the warden looks over his shoulder to say, “An inquisitive one, isn’t he?”
“Huh? You mean Volo?”
“He seems to have quite the interest in unearthing unknown tracks.”
Akari nods along. “Like all history nerds do,” she remarks while smiling to herself, remembering someone else back home who’s exactly like the merchant. If time would ever allow the two of them to meet, they would be discussing history and myths for days on end!
“…I’m glad he was able to support you in your time of need,” the warden seriously says, and Akari’s smile immediately disappears.
It wasn’t too long ago that Akari was left without a place to stay, banished from the village and having nowhere else to go because of suspicions and baseless accusations. Of course, everything should be better now that she’s fixed the root of the problem and closed that ominous rift in the sky. She saved the day, accepted the sincere apologies, and there was even a fun festival to commemorate the event!
…But in truth, she’s still not over that feeling of helplessness, of being lost. It’s still too fresh in her memory.
So she can only offer a half-hearted response with her eyes downcast. “Yeah… I’m glad too.”
“I can only offer my deepest apologies for not being able to do much to help during such a stressful time…”
“Hey, it’s fine,” the girl assures, offering a little smile. “You had your hands full with clan stuff anyway.”
The warden’s frown is one of concern and he lets out a sigh. “Young ones like yourself shouldn’t have to shoulder the responsibilities of adults, let alone deal with such dire matters and consequences, yet the commander still treats you so…” He doesn’t finish the thought and just shakes his head with disapproval. “I know you’re very capable, but at least keep in mind that there are others around you who are able and willing to help. You don’t have to handle everything yourself.”
“Yeah, I know,” Akari simply replies. “Anyway, you had something to say about the training grounds?”
Ingo’s expression doesn’t lighten up one bit with how the matter was just dismissed, but he doesn’t push it any further. “Right. About the training grounds…”
"Huhuhuh… HAHAHAHAHA! I can feel it… We are getting closer to uncovering the secrets of this world!”
After that point, she had started to feel uneasy. Her knowledgeable and reliable friend was behaving a little strangely… But maybe she was thinking too much about it. He’s just excited! Wouldn’t anyone be at this moment when all the plates are almost gathered, when everything is about to come together…?
"It was in an attempt to answer this question that I originally sought out Giratina and had it tear open that rift in space and time…"
"Now hand over the plates you gathered! I will be the one to bring them all together!"
She’s shocked from his betrayal, yet also not as much as when she was suddenly banished from the village. Perhaps she was subconsciously anticipating this, or perhaps Arceus was already warning her from the beginning.
"My desire to meet Arceus cannot be contained any longer! I need to know what it is! I MUST know what it is!"
It only makes sense that there would be a mastermind behind this world-distorting phenomena. From what she’s known, pokemon are hardly the only ones responsible for such terrible deeds. There just always has to be someone pulling the strings, giving the orders, planting that seed of destruction for their own benefit.
It’s unfortunate that it was someone she’d trusted. Someone who was familiar to her, who reached out with kindness, who was genuinely interested in what she was doing…
And beyond anything else, she feels frustrated that she played right into his hands.
"If I can meet Arceus myself, then I may also be able to subjugate its power… And using that, I will attempt to create a new, better world!"
‘Better world’, my ass.
Rather than making things ‘better’, he just wants to be the one in control.
"If you want to keep this world from disappearing, then face me in battle!"
…So be it.
With hardened determination, she grits her teeth, tightens her grip on a pokeball, and lifts her head to face the challenge before her.
Calling for help doesn’t even cross her mind. What he is asking for is a one-on-one fight, and this matter is personal.
Even if the fight is unfair, even if it hurts, she’ll get through it. She can do this… she can do this.
“I can do this.”
When Volo is finally defeated, he seethes with furious disbelief and shouts curses to the sky, none of which Akari really cares about. With him gone from the area and the Azure Flute in her hands, her legs simply give out under her as she falls to the ground from exhaustion – both physically and mentally.
A full team of well-trained pokemon, then Giratina, followed by the legendary pokemon’s Origin Forme. Possibly the most unfair battle ever to occur in the Hisui region, but Akari overcame it nonetheless through sheer will and the efforts of her precious team.
Lying flat on the temple’s stone floor, ruined remains of pillars and statues strewn about, the girl doesn’t move at all from this spot. Not because she wants to stay here, but rather because she simply can’t move. Every breath of the thin cold air is fire in her lungs, and as much as she tries to get her arms and legs to move, they just feel like useless leaden appendages.
Akari doesn’t know what length of time passes as she merely stares up at the flawlessly blue sky, but then the sounds of crunching snow soon reach her ears. Someone’s coming and she can’t even turn or lift herself to see who it is, whether it’s friend or foe. All her pokemon are deeply resting in their balls after the long battle and she’s all out of items too, so the situation isn’t looking very good…
But as a long purple feather and a furry face come into view, looking down at Akari’s prone form, relief immediately fills her chest.
“Sneasler…” she manages to say despite the dry state of her throat.
“Sneas!” the noble pokemon chirps.
“Did… did you see the fight? Is that why you’re here?”
In response, the pokemon snaps into a specific pose, one of her long-clawed paws pointing forwards and the other to the side as she yowls, “Sneas-LERRR!”
Clearly, she’s mimicking a certain someone, and Akari can’t help the raspy chuckle that bubbles out of her. “Your warden sent you, huh?”
“Mrrp.” The pokemon shrugs off its carrier basket and kneels down by the young girl, being careful with her claws as she lifts the other up and deposits her in the basket. The lid comes down and after a few adjustments, Sneasler takes off with her passenger down the mountain and to the village.
“What a mess.”
In the Coronet Highlands, a warden in black paces back and forth within the limited space of a dark cave.
“A seemingly good man so obsessed with finding the truth… that he’s consumed by ambition to create the ideal world and resorts to such drastic methods. Not only using a child, but doing the same to a legendary pokemon as well.”
His voice is level and calm as it echoes throughout the space, making it difficult to tell what he may be feeling, much like the neutral frown that’s permanently etched into his face.
“You’ve threatened the safety of so many, just for your own ideals…”
Putting a halt to his slow pacing, he stands tall between the entrance of the cave and what lies within. The light filtering in from the outside world obscures his features, making him appear as a dark silhouette while his eyes glow unnaturally. He looks down upon the tangled vines of his pokemon wrapped around a struggling man, confining the captive to the far end of the cave.
Through grit teeth, Volo curses under his breath. No matter how much he thrashes and writhes, there is little he can do to escape the secure hold of a Tangrowth whose thick vines are meant to ensnare its prey. He has no pokemon to help him, all his fainted partners stolen from him by the very man he’s glaring holes into right now. “I wouldn’t expect an old amnesiac to understand my motives anyway,” the captive scoffs, not at all apologetic of what he’s done to achieve his desires.
With precise, clear steps, the warden in black comes closer. “On the contrary, I understand your kind of ambition verrry well,” he softly admits with a certain edge to his tone. The heels of his shoes snap together neatly as he comes to a stop, not too close but close enough for Volo to see the other’s face clearly.
The captive lets out an airy laugh at what he sees. “So that’s what you really look like under that mask…”
“Oh? So you noticed?”
“I had my suspicions. After all, the mask of deceit is easy to recognise when you wear one yourself.”
“In that case, I’ll get straight to the point…” The warden looms over the entangled one as he asks,
“Where is he?”
…
“…Who?” Volo asks, clearly not having anticipated such a question.
The warden’s silver eyes narrow. “Don’t you know? You messing with space-time affected both myself and my other half. The fact that I ended up at this destination, alone, must mean you did something to him.” With a firmer tone, he repeats, “Where is he?”
Tangrowth’s vines constrict tighter around Volo, as if responding to its trainer’s intensity. The captive finds himself wheezing for air, his body not yet damaged but feeling the strain of being crushed, and his breaths soon transition into crazed laughter. The predicament he is now in merely adds to the fresh despair from his failure moments ago, his life’s dream reduced to nothing but spite and bitterness.
“Hahah… I have no clue what you’re talking about,” Volo answers with a smirk twisting his face. “I don’t give a damn about you or whatever ‘other half’ you’re missing, you were just an insignificant mishap in the midst of my greater plan!”
The warden continues looking down on Volo, his expression unchanging. With a flash of light, an Alakazam is summoned out of its pokeball and it floats calmly by his side. “So you really don’t know where he is?” the warden simply asks once more.
“I know nothing! He could be dead for all I care!” Volo angrily shouts, overcome by annoyance and anger towards everything. But the warden raises his hand before any more can be said and Tangrowth’s vine securely wraps over Volo’s mouth, effectively shutting him up.
With an unreadable expression, the warden turns to the psychic pokemon floating next to him. “Does he speak the truth, Alakazam?”
Whatever answer he gets, it has him releasing a deep sigh and turning his back to the man he’s holding captive. “Please neutralise him… and ensure he cannot speak of this,” he tells his pokemon before leaving the cave.
Having fallen asleep in Sneasler’s basket, Akari is very disoriented when she next wakes and finds herself someplace completely different. Her surroundings are dark so it takes her a moment to realise she’s in the Galaxy Hall’s medical wing, and she’s presumably the only patient in this room going by the other unoccupied beds adjacent to her.
Shuffling off of the bed, she approaches one of the closed windows and peeks through the curtains, noting that the entire village is enshrouded in the dark of night. It’s an hour when everyone is asleep, with exception of a guard or two on patrol holding lit lanterns in hand, and Akari supposes she should perhaps return to sleep as well. Even after apparently resting for the better half of the day, she’s still tired… and the next day is definitely going to be a pain with the reports and all the explaining she needs to do.
So maybe it’s best to leave it all for future Akari to deal with.
Yeah. That sounds nice.
“…Please.”
“You’re my last lead. Of all beings, you must know where he is.”
“Please, take me to him.”
“We are a two-car train. I am but half of who I am without him, and I have lived through these years… missing him every single day.”
“I know he’s out there. I am certain of it.”
“I need to find him.”
“You’ve been hurt from battle… and it may be disgraceful of me but I won’t hesitate to take you down if I must.”
Volo being imprisoned by the Galaxy Team was not something Akari thought she would be told about within moments of waking up the next day.
According to Cyllene, it was hours after the girl had been returned to the village in an unconscious state that Ingo showed up to the Galaxy Hall, bringing along with him a tied up Volo and a very alarming report.
In all honesty, Akari doesn’t know what to think of such a development. On one hand, it’s good that the man who betrayed her has been captured, so he certainly won’t be cooking up any schemes any time soon. But on the other hand… knowing that Volo is somewhere in the Galaxy Hall isn’t a great feeling for her. She just hopes she won’t have to confront him too soon after yesterday’s events.
Of course, she’s thankful that Ingo managed to do what she couldn’t and deal with the remaining issue so swiftly. Perhaps it goes to show how she should rely on others more… is probably something the warden would say in light of this incident. Seeing all the concerned faces of the people going out of their way to visit her really makes her realise this special feeling.
They really do care.
Maybe she isn’t just an outsider anymore.
And as the girl smiles to herself, having found something she didn’t know she was searching for, somewhere else far away… in a distorted realm, a warden finds what he’s looking for too.
It's a quiet night when Akari walks along the Cobalt Coastlands in search of something, yet also enjoying the rare tranquillity of the waters. Normally the waves are a bit more dynamic with the rise of the moon, but tonight the ocean is still and calm.
It’s been days since Warden Ingo had last appeared in Jubilife Village… or the Pearl Settlement, or the highlands, or just anywhere in Hisui it seems. After he gave his report and handed over Volo to the Galaxy Team, he promptly left and had never been seen since. Any other would assume that he’d gone off to attend to his warden responsibilities, but not even the Pearl Clan knew of his whereabouts when inquired, leading to this strange mystery.
Just as abruptly as Ingo appeared in the region of Hisui, he disappeared. And those of the Pearl Clan seemed to be able to accept it relatively easily, perhaps because of their beliefs in the sacred vast space that Palkia oversees.
But while they may accept it, Akari can’t. It’s too odd for the warden to just vanish like that without a word, meaning that there’s possibly something else going on here… And she’ll definitely get to the bottom of it!
Thus, the girl ends up searching the Cobalt Coastlands, purely because Iscan had mentioned something that happened recently which piqued her interest. Not necessarily the part about ghost-sightings along the coast, but more about how the alleged ‘ghost’ has a silhouette similar to the missing warden’s, which is awfully suspicious…
Now, Akari wouldn’t say she’s deathly afraid of ghosts like Iscan is, and she’s not really afraid of ghost-type pokemon, but she can’t deny that she can get pretty spooked. Especially when inexplicable ghostly phenomena happens right before her eyes… like right now.
True to how Iscan described it, there really is a pale apparition standing along the coastline with a wispy form, a strange glow, and everything else that would surely classify it as a ghost. At least, that’s how it looks from far away. But Akari has a Typhlosion with her and she musters up the courage to advance forward, slowly inching closer to the ghost with every step.
It’s only when she can make out the details of the apparition’s features that she comes to a stop in surprise. The coat, the hat, the hair, and all else are exactly like the warden she knows, the only difference being the fact that the clothes are white, not black. The implications give the girl a sinking feeling, and before she can stop herself she softly calls out to the ghost,
“...Ingo?”
The silver eyes that land on her are just as she remembers, but the wide smile that follows is definitely not.
“Ah! Hello!” The ghost’s pale form flickers as its distorted voice crackles strangely in her ears. “Is that you, Miss Akari?”
“Uhh… yes?”
“Excellent!” the ghost happily exclaims as it turns its head to the side, as if speaking to someone the girl cannot see. “This must be our destination!”
Without warning, the ghost reaches forwards and Akari warily stumbles back, watching as the ghost’s hand changes from a translucent, distorted state to a more solid one. Like phasing through some kind of barrier between realities, the man in white becomes more and more real – his white shoes making impressions in the sand and his ragged coat reflecting the natural light of the moon.
But that’s not all, for the man is not alone.
He holds hands with another who he carefully guides into reality through whatever unusual rift he’s created in the air. And it turns out to be none other than Ingo who phases through, joining his white-dressed double as they both stand on the coast side by side.
Akari is practically gawking at this point, absolutely baffled at what she sees, while both men simply dip their heads in polite greeting.
“Good evening, Miss Akari!” they both say in sync.
“…Huuuh?!”