Chapter Text
Emmet had arrived in Lumiose City. It was wonderful! It was very big and very busy, but there were quiet moments as well. One night cruising the battle zones and he was happy to stay for a while! The very nice (and pretty) business man at the Rust Syndicate was also another reason to stay! He was a very good battler. But he knew he wouldn’t be able to stay forever, the aching gap at his side made that abundantly clear.
The thrill of battle zones helped that ache a lot, it was hard to focus on your own sadness when you were busy beating other trainers' teams to a pulp. Express, his Eelektross, in particular was having a lot of fun! That is, until she caught wind of something, which sent her racing off down alleys with himself in hot pursuit.
When they finally pulled to a stop in front of a stinky dumpster and a pile of moldy boxes, he was completely out of breath. Just as he was regaining it through large gasps of the alleyway air, it was knocked right back out of him at the sight of two quivering lumps of dirty white and bright, bright red.
“W-warden Ingo?”
That whispered cry broke him out of his morbid reverie of that name. ‘Warden… INGO?? How do they, when, why, where??? No! No, the bigger issue, that's blood. That. Is. Blood. Oh, there's a lot. Oh No.’ Shaking his head to snap out of his thoughts, he crouched down to the level of the two shivering shapes, which he could now see was a pair of… twins. ‘Ah yes, because that didn’t bring back any memories at all. Wait, not important, help them first.’
“Hello there! I am not Warden Ingo, though I believe I may know him. I am Emmet! I am a Subway Boss. Who are you?”
The twin on the right uncurled from their ball and bared their teeth, showing off a surprisingly sharp set of canines, “We’re no one you wanna mess with, mister! Even if you do look strangely like Warden Ingo!” The twin on the left looked up, then quickly copied their sibling's pose, “Yeah, we’re no one you wanna mess with! Though you do look strangely similar to Warden Ingo. Weird.”
He chuckled, more out of an attempt to ease the tension rather than at the twins' antics, though if this were any other situation he would’ve giggled at them copying each other. “Well, I do not want to mess with you. Nope! I want to help you! Eeeeyup. It is my duty as a Subway Boss to help. What are your names?”
They glanced at each other, then back at him, then each other again before leaning in to frantically whisper. Finally, the twin on the left answered, “I’m Rika and this is my brother Riko. How are ya’ gonna help us, huh?”
Emmet was about to reply when the other twin jumped in, “Yeah! I’m Riko and that’s my sister Rika! How are ya’ gonna help us, huh?” He grinned at that, privately thinking that ‘if they continued doing the ‘repeating each other’ schtick, it could get real old, real fast. That’s actually why he and Ingo stopped doing it! Wait, no time for reminiscing, gotta help the kids!’
“Well then, nice to meet you two. I plan to help you by finding you some food, shelter, and first aid, and maybe a bath.” The twins glanced at each other again before nodding and going to stand up. Emmet stood up as well, realizing how short they were.
“Alright then! Follow me and stay behind the yellow line, I don’t want any passengers going off track! ALL ABOARD!!” At his words they both grabbed one of his hands, ‘Surprising, but not unwelcome!’ he thought to himself as they headed off.