Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

There had been some hurdles to cross when Emmet returned home from Hisui with his family. Ingo’s suddenly reappearance needed explaining as did the child that they brought back with them. Then there was actually figuring out how to go about actually adopting Akari. Add in the fact that Emmet had to figure out getting a bigger house for them all, and Emmet found himself quickly being overwhelmed. Ingo tried his best to help, but the man had his own struggles to deal with. While Ingo was regaining more and more of his memories with each passing day it only somewhat helped when it came to adjusting to living in their time again. Ingo had spent most of his time living in the mountains with only Akari and the Pokémon for company, and a small village like Jubilife Village had been considered rather large back then. Going from that rather quiet life to living in the loud and lively Nimbasa City was a rather major change.

Watching Ingo when he was outside made it clear that all of the noise of the city combined with the large crowds was overwhelming for the man at times. Usually after any sort of major outing into the city Ingo needed good couple hours to decompress. It probably didn’t help that Elesa dressed him up in enough makeup, wigs, and clothing that he wouldn’t be recognized during his few rare outings in the city. They had yet to revel his return, and having him recognized when they were still trying to figure out how to reintroduce him back to society at large was the last thing that they needed.

Akari was adjusting slightly better than Ingo was. “Kids are pretty resilient,” Elesa had said when Emmet stated that observation out loud.

There was probably a bit of truth to that although the fact that Akari remembered a lot more about the future then Ingo did probably also help. It also helped that Akari could just go out without any disguise since she didn’t have to worry about being recognized at all. Whenever they went out Akari spent most of her time staring at everything in the city with wide eyed wonder. Elesa had laughed a bit the first time she saw the girl staring out at Nimabasa’s famous locations like the Musical Theater and the theme park with starry eyes as they walked along.

“First time in a city this big?” Elesa had asked.

Akari could only nod, and Emmet didn’t miss the absolute wonder in her tone as she said “I’ve never been in a city this big before.”

That comment ended up being true for both Akari’s life in Hisui and for when she had lived in Sinnoh. They hadn’t done a whole lot of sight seeing in Sinnoh, but what Emmet did see showed him that a majority of the cities from that region didn’t hold a candle to the sheer size of Unova’s biggest cities. The day after they had returned home from Hisui Emmet had asked Akari to share anything about her life from before Hisui that she could remember. Since they were going to try and make Akari’s adoption official Emmet wanted to know what, if any, sort of challenges that they might have to deal with to achieve that. Thankfully, Akari made it rather clear rather quickly that there wouldn’t be anyone coming out of the woodworks to claim custody of her.

“I’m an orphan,” Akari had answered. “Or I was one till Dad took me in. My mom died when I was like one. No one really wanted me, so I went into the foster system. The family that was taking care of me before I went to Hisui were nice enough, but I don’t think they ever had any plans to officially adopt me. They never mentioned it to me anyway.”

“And your biological father?” Emmet asked.

Akari had only shrugged. “Don’t know anything about him. He was never a part of life. From what I have been told he ran off the second he found out that my mom was pregnant with me.”

Emmet supposed he should have felt relief that there wasn’t anyone that they were going to fight in order to keep Akari with them. Still, he had no idea how to even start the process of adopting her.

It wasn’t like they could march up into an adoption agency, and say “Hey, can we adopt this random kid? Yeah, they are a missing child that disappeared from Sinnoh a couple of years ago. That isn’t a problem is it?”

That would earn him a one-way ticket into a police station for questioning. Emmet stressed out quite a bit over how to approach the whole adoption thing for a few hours. Thankfully, Elesa was around to offer advice and stop him from giving himself a stress induced migraine.

“You have that number from the international police don’t you?” She had asked as she watched Emmet pace around his living room after Ingo and Akari had turned in for the night. “Why not just call them, and explain everything? They could probably help us figure out how to explain Ingo’s reappearance while they are at it.”

Emmet couldn’t help but stare at Elesa for a long time upon hearing that. Admittedly it was actually a rather good idea. The international police dealt with taking on various major villain groups, and they dealt with Pokémon related mishaps that were too big for the regular police to deal with. In fact, they were the ones who usually dealt with the whole Ultra Wormhole issue that started in Alola. A few days after Ingo had vanished the International Police had actually come to Gear Station to do some investigating of their own. Emmet could remember that the investigation was led by some man in a trench coat. His name was Looker, or Seeker, or something along those lines. Truthfully, Emmet couldn’t really remember the man’s name. Emmet had been a wreck at the time, and he had barely been keeping his head above water as he scrambled to take care of everything in Ingo’s absence.

They had interviewed everyone that had been on the train that Ingo vanished off of, and they ran a few tests at the station. Emmet had answered all of their questions about Ingo, Gear Station, and how the Battle Lines worked. He remembered the idea that maybe Ingo had been spirited away by an Ultra Beast being tossed his way once, but the suggestion was said in such a way that it seemed like they were just tossing out suggestions rather than making any sort of serious theories.

When they had finished their investigation the agent with the name he couldn’t remember had given him his number, and said “We’ll keep in touch if we find anything. Please call us if you see or hear anything that you think could help with the case.”

Emmet had been hopeful at first after his interaction with the International Police. If anyone could find Ingo surely it would be the people who dealt with weird cases like this all the time. Yet, as weeks turned into months with no news at all on their investigation Emmet’s hope had slowly started to shrivel up like a beached Tentacool under the sun. By the time the second anniversary of Ingo’s disappearance had passed by Emmet’s hope in the International Police being able to actually help had died completely. Once he had mentally given up on them he had honestly forgotten all about them.

Thinking of them now didn’t really bring Emmet any positive feelings. To some extant he knew he had to be understanding. The International Police were an international force. They dealt with cases all around the world. They were probably flooded with cases, and while they probably did work on Ingo’s case as much as they could they were probably stretched a bit then dealing with all of the other cases that they had. It was also with a bitter understanding that Emmet knew that dealing with pop up cases of villain groups trying to capture legendries so they could rule the world, or dealing with Ultra Beasts causing chaos in other places probably ranked a bit higher on their list of priorities. The case of a missing Subway Boss probably didn’t rank horribly high on their list of priorities.

Still, Emmet felt rather bitter about the whole thing anyway. After seeing Ingo on the ghost hunting show Emmet and Elesa had been able to do in a few weeks what the International Police didn’t even with years to do so. Did no one there see the ghost at Sinnoh and think that maybe the ghost looked a lot like Ingo? Then again who would have thought a ghost that had been hanging around for 150 years would have a connection to a recent missing person’s case? Honestly, Emmet didn’t try to dedicate any sort of brain power to his complicated situation with the International Police.

Ingo was alive. Akari was alive. They were both back home with him and Elesa.

It was over. It was done.

Yet, even with all of that Emmet still felt a bit of bitterness.

Bitter feelings or not the International Police was their only hope in getting any sort of help with their situation.

“What will we tell them though?” Emmet had asked. “They will want to know why we went to Sinnoh to look for Ingo. I…I don’t want to talk about the curse in front of Ingo or Akari. Everything about the curse is best left in the past.”

“I’ll come up with something,” Elesa said. “We got some wiggle room here. Since we are the only ones who can remember the curse no one can exactly say that we are lying if we choose to not mention it. Whatever we come up with will be accepted as truth because they can’t refute it.”

Elesa had gently patted Emmet’s arm as she said “Give me a day to figure something out.”

Emmet had only been able to nod. He trusted her to come up with something, and sure enough after a day had passed Elesa called him with a single thing needed to answer their problem.

“Documentaries,” Elesa had stated over the phone one bright and early morning.

“Documentaries?” Emmet repeated in confusion.

“Documentaries,” Elesa said in excitement.

“Explain,” Emmet demanded.

“There are a ton of documentaries on the Hisuian age of Sinnoh,” Elesa said. “Some are about the early days of the Galaxy Team, and how they established the villages that would eventually become the towns that exist today. Some are about the Pearl and Diamond Clans. Some are about the Hisuian variants that used to exist in Sinnoh.”

Elesa paused for a moment, and Emmet could easily envision the grin on Elesa’s face when she said “And there is one documentary that goes over the story of the girl who fell from the rift, and how she saved all of Hisui.”

Emmet perked up a bit upon hearing that. “So that documentary would be all about Akari.”

“All about Akari and Ingo. It goes over her life as best as it can, so it covers Ingo pretty extensively too. It’s a documentary trying to go over what is probably true in the legend, and what is probably made up to make the story sound more fantastical. Anyway, the documentary shows off a couple of photos that people like Rei, Laventon, and that photography studio had of Akari and Ingo.”

“And we could easily say that seeing those pictures and seeing the documentary made us come to Sinnoh,” Emmet said.

“Exactly,” Elesa said. “A documentary shows up talking about a man named Ingo who looks exactly like Ingo, has Ingo’s coat and hat, and has the symbol of the Gear Station on said hat? Of course that would grab our attention. You guys have no ancestral connection to Sinnoh, and neither does Gear Station. Makes no sense for an exact carbon copy of Ingo to be there unless it actually is Ingo, and hey the god of time is right there in Sinnoh. So is the god of space, and I mean yeah we have Giratina with us now but Giratina does originate from Sinnoh. And then there is freaking Arceus. Every single one of them would have the ability to fling Ingo into the past.”

It honestly wasn’t a bad answer. It was a good way to explain why they were in Sinnoh. There really was no connection between Gear Station and Hisui. Heck, the Gear Station logo was one made up by a Depot Agent for a contest to choose what the symbol for Gear Station should be. As for Ingo and Emmet the only ancestral connections that they had outside of the ones from Unova itself was to the Galar region, and a set of great grandparents on their mother’s side that had immigrated to Unova from Kalos. They really had no connection to Sinnoh at all. As such there really wasn’t a reason why a carbon copy of Ingo in a Subway Boss uniform should have been running around in Hisui.

“What’s the name of the documentary?” Emmet asked.

“Hisui’s hero from the sky: Separating fact from fiction,” Elesa answered. “It’s going to be on tonight at like seven. Same channel as the one that ghost show is on.”

It figured that was the channel that the documentary was on. Emmet thanked Elesa, and that night he sat down to watch the thing. Of course Akari and Ingo had been curious about what Emmet was watching, and their curiosity only grew when they saw that it was something about Hisui. They were eager to watch it, and Emmet was honestly glad for the company. If anything it could be fun to hear what parts of the documentary were right, and what was very verrrry wrong. Ingo and Akari’s commentary during the documentary was mostly lighthearted. They commented on what the documentary got right, and what it got very very wrong. It got things right most of the time though so Emmet was rather impressed by the research efforts of the people who worked on the film.

Heck, it even went out of its way to mention how a few journals mentioned Ingo’s habit of yelling all aboard, and his habit of using train related things in his lingo. The historians in the documentary seemed stumped by why Ingo did this. There were some vague guesses that maybe Ingo had somehow worked on the early railways that began there before he came to Hisui. Both Emmet and Akari were rather amused by the fact that Ingo’s habits that confused the inhabitants of Hisui went on to confuse people in the modern day due to lack of context.

Said amusement died though when Volo became the topic of the film. When that started Emmet had changed the channel to some channel that was broadcasting the coverage of some Pokémon battle tournament being held in some stadium in Johto. Neither Ingo nor Akari had made any comments. All they did was look at him in silence. Emmet didn’t look back.

He kept his gaze glued onto the TV as he said “I don’t want to know anything about him. He’s gone. He’s long dead. He can’t hurt us anymore. That’s all I care about.”

Mercifully neither one of them forced him to talk about it. They accepted the answer, and watched the tournament with him without complaint. Emmet made sure to keep the Lunar Feather that Nyx had gifted him tucked under his pillow that night. The last thing that he needed was to have nightmares of Volo that night. The feather did its job well, and Emmet woke up feeling somewhat hopeful that maybe things would go well that day. Breakfast was a quick affair, and it was only once all the dishes were cleaned and put away did Emmet finally stop pushing off the inevitable. He called Elesa, and she was invited over. When Elesa had arrived at his apartment Emmet finally called the number that the International Police had given him so long ago. After letting them know that Ingo was back the International Police were quick to send an agent their way to interview them and help.

Emmet felt some relief in the fact that the agent that they sent to talk to them had been some woman named Anabel, and not the man that he had dealt with the first time around. When Anabel saw Ingo she only gave Ingo a brief glance at most. She did do a double take at Lady Sneasler lounging on their living room couch, and at the Hisuian Zoroark that was clinging to Akari while giving the girl his best puppy dog eye look in hopes that she would give him another frosted sweet Poke Puff. Her eyes grew even bigger at seeing Akari’s Alpha Sylveon chasing Marigold down the hall while her Hisuian Electrode rolled past them only to pause in front of Anabel.

“Trode,” The orb said in the most deadpan way Emmet had ever heard from an Electrode.

Clearly it wasn’t too horribly impressed by Anabel’s staring. It let out a little huff, and then rolled over to Akari. It started gently bumping into her as its own way of begging for some Poke Puffs from her. Anabel stared at the Hisuian Pokémon for a while before she slowly moved her gaze over to Emmet.

“Those are Hisuian Pokémon,” She said slowly.

“Yep,” Emmet confirmed. “There’s a Hisuian Typhlosion currently fast asleep on Ingo’s bed along with a Cherubi and Ingo’s Gliscor if you want to see even more Hisuian Pokémon.”

Anabel only blinked a few times upon hearing that. After a few seconds of silence had passed she said “And the massive Sylveon?”

“That’s an Alpha Pokémon,” Akari answered as she dropped a Citrus flavored Poke Puff down onto the ground for her Electrode only to hand Hermes a Poke Puff right after that. “I have a couple of Alpha Pokémon. You should see my Alpha Mantyne! He’s big enough to carry me, Aunt Elesa, Uncle Emmet, and Dad around!”

Anabel stared at the girl for a few minutes as if she was trying to process the idea of a Mantyne that massively big.

“Alpha Pokémon haven’t been seen since Hisuian times,” Anabel said slowly.

“Yep,” Was Emmet’s only response to that.

The woman let out a long sigh as she placed her head in her hands. “Clearly Ultra Beasts don’t have anything to do with this,” She said. “Is Dialga related?”

“Technically Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina are involved,” Emmet answered.

“Arceus too,” Elesa added in.

“Arceus too,” Emmet repeated as he nodded.

Anabel stared at Emmet for a moment as if trying to see if he was actually telling the truth. Akari stared at the woman silently for a moment before she added in “I can show you Giratina if that helps any.”

That only earned a longer louder sigh out of the woman. “I knew Looker should have come with me for this assignment,” She mumbled.

Without another word she strolled forward, and parked herself onto Emmet’s armchair. She placed the bad she had been holding next to the chair, and Emmet watched as she quickly pulled out a recording device from the bag. After turning it on she placed the device down on the coffee table.

She placed her hands on her lap, and stared them down as she said “Tell me everything. Leave nothing out.”

Emmet wasn’t even sure where they should even start, but Ingo ended up beating them to the punch.

“I’ll go first,” He said.

Then without any hesitation at all Ingo started sharing his story. He talked about his first day upon arriving in Hisui, and how the Pearl Clan had been the one to find him and bring him in. He spoke of his life there, and how he eventually became a Pearl Clan Warden. When it came time for Akari to make an appearance in Ingo’s retelling of his life in Hisui the girl joined the conversation. She spoke of her own experience of being tossed into Hisui by Arceus of all things. How she had to constantly prove her usefulness to Commander Kamado in order to stay on the Galaxy Team. She spoke of having to calm enraged Nobles, and together the two spoke of how they finally met. Through the whole speech Anabel was quiet. She asked a few clarifying questions, but for the most part she was silent as they told their stories.

When they finally reached the part where Volo was supposed to kill them Emmet and Elesa took over. They were a bit more cautious about how they explained their side of things. They used the documentary angle as their reason to go to Sinnoh, and they talked about their museum trips and research done at the libraries and such. Not once did they bring up ghosts or curses. Emmet was nervous the entire time they were talking, but nothing about him give him away. His tone was its usual monotone as he spoke, and the usual smile on his face never wavered. Elesa was also the perfect picture of calm as she spoke. Emmet felt a bit bad about lying about the whole thing to both Akari and Ingo, but he honestly didn’t want the curse to haunt either one of them. The curse was something better left forgotten.

Anabel had no real reaction to any of this although when the whole ‘Akari has a piece of Arceus with her’ bit came up Anabel pulled the breaks, and quickly asked “You…have Arceus with you?”

“It’s only a small piece of Arceus,” Akari answered. “But yes.”

“And you said you have Giratina as well?”

Akari nodded.

Anabel sighed as she rubbed her forehead. “What legendries do you have?”

“Do you a list of mythical Pokémon as well, or just the legendary ones?” Was Akari’s response to that question.

“Just list them all,” Anabel had replied.

Akari had done so, and then Anabel had asked for proof by seeing one of the smaller mythical Pokémon. Akari had quickly ran off to her room only to return with her Shaymin in her arms. Anabel had stared at the Pokémon for a moment before she looked over at Ingo and said “You may continue.”

There really hadn’t been much more to say after that. Ingo wrapped everything up, and when he was done Anabel waited for a moment for anyone to chime in with anything else. When no one said anything she reached out and turned her recording device off. A sigh escaped from the woman’s mouth as she rubbed her forehead. She honestly looked like she had a migraine coming in.

“Alright,” She said. “That is a lot of information that I will need to process. I’m going to need to check my resources, and make sure that everything you said checks out.”

“And if it does check out?” Elesa asked.

“Then we will help you integrate Ingo back into the world,” Anabel answered. “And I’m assuming you want to make Akari’s adoption official?”

“Of course,” Ingo said.

The woman nodded as she reached into her bag, and pulled out a small notebook and a pen. “Akari I need your full name.”

“Akari Yukimura,” Akari answered.

“What town were you living in with your foster family?”

“Solaceon Town,” She answered.

“Foster family’s name?”

Akari quickly answered the question, and she answered a few more of Anabel’s questions about her foster family. When she was done Anabel slipped her notebook and recording device back into her bag.

As she closed her bag she said “I will be spending the rest of the day on your case. If everything checks out, I’ll give you a call through the number you used to contact us. Hopefully I’ll be done by ten tomorrow, and I’ll be able to meet back up with you then.”

As she picked her bag up she gave everyone a stern look as she said “Please stay in Nimbasa City while we do our investigation. We will know if you try to leave town.”

With the vague threat given the woman gave them all a clam smile as she said “Good bye. Hopefully we will have a pleasant meeting tomorrow where we can work together to get this all settled.”

And with that said Anabel left without saying another word. Akari frowned as the door closed behind her, and the second she was gone the girl blurted out “Did that last bit sound kind of threatening?”

“Just a bit,” Elesa agreed. “Honestly, I’m a bit surprised she didn’t ask to see Giratina before she left. I mean I know a Shaymin isn’t exactly common, but still…”

“I assume the Alpha Pokémon, the Shaymin, and the Hisuian Pokémon we have running around was enough proof to her that we were being at least somewhat truthful,” Ingo theorized.

Emmet could only let out a small hum of agreement. “Well, for now all we can do is wait. Should we start cooking lunch?”

“Ah, it is close to lunchtime isn’t it?” Ingo said as he stood up. “Is it alright if I make it? I’ve mostly remembered how a modern stove works, and I think I can handle making something easy.”

“Sure,” Emmet said with a nod. “But I’ll be monitoring you. We must perform our safety checks, and make sure you have the support you need in case you don’t remember as much as you think you do.”

Ingo had accepted the help easily enough with a laugh and a nod of his head. “True, it would be rather bad if my overconfidence caused a kitchen fire.”

All thoughts about Anabel were forgotten as everyone turned back to the mundane comfort of everyday living. Ingo actually did a good job at cooking that day. He only needed Emmet to give him an occasional reminder on how certain settings on the stove worked. The meal he made was delicious as always although there was something funny about the fact that the first meal Ingo cooked on his return was the curry that Emmet had planned to make the day he found out that Ingo was dead. That was something that Emmet didn’t share with Ingo. Time moved on as always, and before Emmet knew it the next day was there. Upon waking up that day he wondered how long it would take for Anabel to call him back. He wasn’t left wondering for long. At around nine in the morning Emmet got a call, and the second he answered he heard Anabel’s voice.

“Everything checks out. I’ll be at your home at ten.”

Without waiting for any response from Emmet she hung up. Emmet could only stand there for a moment as he processed what just happened. While abrupt it sounded like they were believed, so that was good? All Emmet could really do was call Elesa over, and wait for Anabel to show up. Elesa was quick to come over, and about half an hour after Elesa got there Anabel was there banging on their door. When Emmet opened the door Anabel looked utterly exhausted. One look at the dark circles under her eyes gave him the impression that she had pulled an all-nighter.

Still, tired or not she stood tall and proud in front of Emmet as she smiled at him. She held a briefcase in her hands, and after giving some quick greetings everyone gathered in the kitchen at the kitchen table. Without a word Anabel placed the suitcase down on the table, and looked at them all gathered around the table. She was silent as she stared at them all, and Emmet got the impression that she was thinking carefully about what to say. After a few seconds had passed she finally started to speak.

“I’ll be honest with you right now. We would rather keep your whole time travel thing under wraps. Honestly, we want to keep everything you did under wraps.” Anabel looked over at Akari as she said “You…you have a lot of Legendary and Mythical Pokémon with you. A whole lot, and a few of those are thought to have gone somewhere humanity can’t follow. The last time anyone reported seeing Giratina was back in the Hisuian age. They ‘vanished’ because they went with Akari. If people knew it was here….”

“We could have people with less than good intentions try to take them,” Ingo finished for her.

She nodded, and said “And to be honest the last thing we need is for more people to do what Emmet did and go back to that point of history to mess around more with Hisui.”

Emmet smile grew to become rather harsh looking, and he felt an angry retort coming to the forefront of his mind. If she was about to say it was bad that he went back in time to rescue his family she was going to be in for a very bad time. As if reading his mind Anabel raised her hand up as if silently asking him to pause for a moment.

She gave him a soft smile as she said “Do not misunderstand. We have no issues with you rescuing Akari or Ingo. From what you have told me Ingo was taken by mistake, and Arceus always intended for Akari to return back to her own time. They belonged in their own time. All you did was make sure that they returned home safely.”

She smiled a bit as she said “Besides Arceus themselves gave you a pass, and we can’t exactly argue against Arceus can we?”

It was said as a joke, but no one really laughed. They all stared at her, and Anabel sighed as she ran a hand through her long hair. “Our fear is if people knew exactly what you did they may try to copy you. They may try to go back in time to ‘help’ you only to screw things up. Maybe someone would try to stop you so they could get ahold of Akari’s Pokémon. Maybe they will go back to try and help Volo make that ‘perfect world’ of his.”

A grim frown showed up on her face as she said “We…. have had a group try to use Dialga to make a perfect world before. They failed, but if someone learned about how Volo hoped to achieve it they may wish to help him or go back to hijack the plan for themselves. There’s no telling what some people would do, so it would be easier to just keep it under wraps.”

“So what will we do then?” Emmet asked. “Half of Akari and Ingo’s Pokémon are Hisuian or Alpha Pokémon. A majority of Akari’s Pokémon are considered extinct. Will we have to hide them like we will have to with Giratina and the rest?”

Anabel shook her head as she said “No, we actually have a way around that. It was originally thought that Ingo was taken by Ultra Wormholes. So we are sticking to that.”

“Ultra Wormholes?” Elesa said. “Really? We are using that?”

Anabel nodded as she said “To be honest if it was up to us Ultra Wormholes and the like would be more heavily under wraps. However, Ultra Beasts have been popping up in more and more places. There’s a place called a Max Lair over in Galar that’s a major tourist destination. It’s a place where people go to catch hard to find Pokémon, or even Mythical Pokémon for those lucky few. Ultra Beasts have been found and caught there.”

The woman rubbed her forehead as she said “Not helping matters is the fact that Ultra Wormhholes have been reported appearing in regions outside of Alola. It isn’t a common thing by any means, but the few sightings of such things became quickly talked about. The truth is out there and there is no hiding it. All we can do is help keep people informed so we can live in peace with the Ultra Beasts who have trainers, and to make sure people report sightings of Ultra Wormholes to us so that we may deal with it before it causes any problems for the people and Pokémon living in that area.”

Anabel looked over at Ingo as she said “We truly did think you had ended up sucked into an Ultra Wormhole. All signs pointed to that being the case. Your disappearance matched up very closely to how many others fell into an Ultra Wormhole.”

“Ultra Wormholes take people that quickly?” Elesa asked.

“Yes,” Anabel answered. “And they vanish just as quickly as they appeared. Many were taken or vanished when their loved ones were just in the other room.”

A chill went down Emmet’s spine upon hearing that. The time when Ingo was gone with no answers as to what happened to him was an agonizing time for Emmet. Emmet could empathize all too easily with the people who had lost loved ones to the Ultra Wormholes.

Emmet was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Anabel say “Anyway, Ultra Wormholes are a convenient excuse to use for Ingo. No one will really question it if we say Ingo was one of the unfortunate few to end up caught up in such a thing. He wouldn’t be the first, and he won’t be the last.”

Anabel looked a little sad as she said that. A distant look was on her face like she was recalling some less then pleasant memories. Anabel was quick to cut that memory off, and replace her somber look with her typical look of cool composed confidence. Emmet could not help but wonder just what Anabel had gone through in her life. The way she was acting made it seem she had some personal experience with Ultra Wormholes. Emmet almost wanted to ask, but he knew better then to do that. Anabel wouldn’t share such things with them.

He also knew that there were some things that people didn’t want to share.

Ever.

The whole ghost curse thing was something that he planned to take to his grave after all, so he couldn’t exactly judge someone for not wanting to share something personal.

She shifted her gaze onto Akari, and said “It can work for Akari as well. Reports say you vanished from your room late at night. Your foster mother reported hearing something roar, and then she heard you scream. When she went to investigate you were gone. We honestly did think it was an Ultra Wormhole that took you since the reports matched up with other people who were taken by the wormholes as well.”

“Since it happened twice already how many of those Ultra Wormhole reports might actually be people tossed back in time like Akari and Ingo were?” Emmet asked.

Anabel cringed a bit at the question. Emmet could honestly see a headache start to hit her in real time as she rubbed her forehead. “Trust me it’s a question that has been asked already back at base. We have a team going over past reports now to see if any match up with what happened with Ingo and Akari. I’m honestly hoping you two are the only ones, but I know better than to hold my breath. Even if we ignore the whole Hisui mess and time related Pokémon in Sinnoh we have Pokémon like Celebi who can jump through time, and Arceus knows we have enough shady organizations trying to catch Celebi for less than stellar reasons. We don’t need anyone getting any bright ideas of messing with time or space like how Volo did.”

Anabel sighed, and suddenly Emmet felt a bit of sympathy for her. Her job sounded stressful to say the least. He still wasn’t thrilled with International Police, but he could at least empathize with having to deal with high stress situations. He supposed he couldn’t blame the police of this timeline anyway. Since they stopped the whole ghost thing from ever becoming a thing it wasn’t like they had two infamous ghosts to look into. Logically who would think to look back in the past for missing people when you had Ultra Wormholes happening, and more down to earth possible answers as to how a person could vanish like a Pokémon using teleport or something along those lines. The sound of Anabel clapping her hands together drew Emmet out of his thoughts.

“At any rate that headache is one for the International Police to worry about. It isn’t anything for you to worry over. Still, if you both are alright with it would it be alright if we contact you if we should find anyone else suffering from your situation? We would not ask you to get involved, but advice in how to help such people to readjust or even to compare your experiences to help us figure out if we are dealing with another situation like yours.”

“I’m…not opposed to it,” Ingo answered slowly. “If I can help anyone else who is in the same situation as me with advice, or so I can lend a sympathetic ear I’m more than willing to help. However, I do not have any wish to get more involved than that. I have a child to care for, and after being away from my family for so long I don’t want to spend too much time away from them.”

“I understand,” Anabel said as she smiled. “You would be a consultant at most. Not an agent. We have no wishes to drag you away from your life.”

Ingo nodded, and Anabel’s smile softened a bit as she said “Now I think we should return back to what we plan to use for Ingo and Akari. For your backstory we are going to be saying that we found you both in Kitakami.”

“Kitakami?” Elesa said as she frowned slightly.

“Yes,” Anabel said. “Kitakami.”

“I know that place!" Elesa said with a bit of excitement. "One of the trainers that works at my Gym is from a small village there. It's like the only village there. It’s mostly wildlands."

After saying that Elesa gave Anabel a puzzled look as she asked "Why there? Bit of a random place isn’t it?”

“We are using Kitakami for a couple of reasons,” Anabel said. “First, it’s lack of people. The only one real settlement there is called Mossui Town. The rest of the area is pure wilderness. Nothing but the Oni Mountain looming over everything, open fields, and forests as far as the eye can see. People tend to stick close to the town and not venture too far into the wilderness. So if a Ultra Wormhole was said to have dropped some people in the middle of the forest…”

“No one would debate it,” Elesa finished for her. “It would be easy to say that the two had been lost in the woods for years. No one could disprove it.”

Anabel nodded as she said “We do have agents who go to Kitakami on occasion for various reasons. Would not be too hard to say one of our agents found Ingo and Akari stumbling around in the woods.”

Anabel held up two fingers as she said “Reason number two is that in Kitakami Hisuian Pokémon have been discovered.”

Ingo and Akari immediately perked up upon hearing that and upon seeing that Anabel was quick to say “Don’t get too excited. The only Pokémon we know of for sure that is there is white stripped Basculin, and even then they can only be found in a place called the Timeless Woods. Still, it’s a major discovery. For the longest time it was believed that white stripped Basculin were extinct. Research is still being done there. More specifically there are hopes that perhaps more Hisuian age Pokémon can be found in the woods.”

“How likely are those hopes to come true?” Ingo asked.

“Depends on the Pokémon,” Anabel answered. “There have been reports of sightings of a strange looking Ursaluna out there somewhere in the woods. It is only one Ursaluna apparently, and sightings of it have been seen for years now. Like for at least 120 years now.”

Ingo frowned as he said “Ursaluna can live to be quite old, but not that old. I remember Lady Calaba saying the oldest Noble Ursaluna lived to be about 97 years old.”

Anabel shrugged as she said “Not sure what to tell you. This one apparently looks very different from a normal Ursaluna. People have been calling it the Bloodmoon Ursaluna. Perhaps this change has affected how it has aged? Or it might be the woods itself. There are so many rumors about those woods. They say that there is something about the woods that extend the lifespan of the Pokémon living there although why that might be varies from story to story. Whatever the reason the Ursaluna is the only one that I’m sure is true. We have a few very fuzzy pictures that are hard to make out, but what can be seen fits in with the reported sightings.”

“Are those really the only Hisuian Pokémon out there?” Akari asked. “There aren’t any others?”

“There are rumors,” Anabel answered. “Rumors of people seeing a Hisuian Zoroark lurking in the woods, but I doubt there is any truth to it. Those rumors only popped up once the Basculin were discovered. Unlike the Ursaluna there hasn’t even been any fuzzy pictures of it or anything like that. All stories have been one of those my brother’s friend said his uncle saw it once sort of thing. Not exactly reliable info.”

Anabel sighed as she leaned back in her chair as she said “Still, the possibility is there. It’s why we are keeping an eye on the situation out there. Partially its due to helping some of the professors who are out there doing research at the moment. We want to keep them safe while they do their research. We wouldn’t put it past some unsavory groups to try and…take advantage of their research so to speak. If said research turns up more Hisuian Pokémon we also want to make sure that poachers don’t try to take the place over, and catch every single Hisuian Pokémon in the area just so that they can sell them to the highest bidder. We have been keeping an eye on the Basculin population, but so far they haven’t drawn any unwanted attention. Basculin aren’t exactly Pokémon that draw any sort of attention on the best of days which probably helps. It also helps that no one really knows how to evolve one into a Basculegion yet.”

As Anabel spoke about poachers Emmet couldn’t help but think of the situation that the old Pearl Clan graveyard had before Ingo and Akari had been saved. He remembered how Candice said some people had pulled off some truly cruel things in order to get their hands on the rare Hisuian Pokémon. Upon thinking of that Emmet suddenly understood why the International Police were keeping an eye on the place.

“If anyone asks we can say that you got your Hisuian Pokémon from there,” The woman said as she shrugged. “Also, depending on how Akari answers my next question some Hisuian aged Pokémon might not be lost for much longer.”

Anabel moved her attention onto Akari as she asked “As the person who put together the Hisuian Pokédex you know how to evolve Pokémon into their Hisuian evolutions. Like Kleavor and Ursaluna for example. We know they are evolutions of Pokémon that still exist, but we don’t know how said Pokémon evolved into them. I hate to say it but a lot of notes from both the Galactic Team as a whole, and your notes as well, have been lost over the years. A lot of historical records were lost over the years, and the Galaxy Hall burning down back in the 80’s didn’t help matters. A lot of the notes talking about how to evolve current Pokémon into their Hisuian evolutions was lost.”

“But if I can fill out the blanks for you guys then you would find some way to get that info out into the world, and Hisuian evolutions won’t be considered rare anymore,” Akari said.

Anabel nodded, and upon seeing that Akari asked “Got a notepad and pen?”

Anabelle was quick to give Akari what she asked for. "Write down how every Hisuian Pokémon evolved. Even the ones that seem completely extinct. If anymore pop out of the woodwork like the White Striped Basculin it will be good info to have on hand."

Akari nodded, and quickly started writing what Anabelle requested.

As she worked Anabelle said “Anyway, we can release a public statement from our end saying that Ingo was found, and how he was found. A little press conference where we will answer some questions about Ingo’s return. Interest in your ‘return’ will spike up a bit especially since you two are celebrities in Unova. Still, stick to the story we come up with and we should be good. Eventually interest will die down once some other story catches everyone’s’ attention. You’ll be able to move on with your lives then.”

“Would people truly move on so quickly from such a thing?” Ingo asked. “I imagine such a thing would be talked about for quite a long time.”

“It will pass quicker than you expect,” Anabel said with a wave of her hand.

She paused for a moment when Akari tore the paper off the notepad, and held it out to Anabel.

Anabel murmured a quick thanks as she stuffed the note in her pocket only to continue speaking again. “Team Rocket’s near return back in Johto took over the news for a few weeks till Team Aqua and Team Magma started up drama in Hoenn, and with that Team Rocket was old news. Interest in your case will pass. It always does.”

With those words said Anabel reached into her bag and pulled out two folders. She shoved the folders toward Ingo and Akari as she said “These folders have some basic info about Kitakami. Maps, basic info on what Pokémon can be found out there, and pretty much everything else we could think of that you would need to know about the place. Study up on it so that you can answer any basic questions about the place if asked. I’m not worried about anyone doubting that you lived in the wilderness for a long while. To be blunt the both of you have the scars to prove it.”

Both Akari and Ingo flinched a bit upon hearing that, and Emmet couldn’t help but feel his heart ache at it. There was no denying that the two were rather scared up. Ingo had a bunch of tiny scars all over his hands.

“From learning how to rock climb,” Ingo had answered. “Lady Sneasler could not always be around to carry me where I needed to go.”

Hearing that only made Emmet wonder how many close calls Ingo had when rock climbing by hand, but he could never bring himself to ask. He also had a few jagged scars on his arms, and one rather nasty looking one on his left shoulder. One look at said scars made it clear that they were all from Pokémon. Ingo hadn’t really talked about those other than making vague references to angry Alpha Pokémon. Honestly Emmet wasn’t sure if he wanted to know the stories. It was terrifying enough to know that Ingo had been attacked by massive wild Pokémon more than once. It was a grim reminder that there were so many ways that Ingo could have been killed out in the wild. Akari wasn’t untouched either. She had one long scar going down her left arm like something sharp had sliced into her flesh. Emmet had never seen it before due to Akari always wearing long sleeves usually, but as Elesa helped her build up a more modern wardrobe she got more short sleeved shirts.

When he spotted it Akari had weakly smiled at him as she said “From Lord Kleavor. It looks worse then what it was. My Vaporeon was able to stop him before it got real bad.”

He must have looked horrified because Akari had been quick to say “It was when Lord Kleavor had been driven mad by what Volo had done. He always felt bad about it. Every time I visited his woods he would go out of his way to dump a bunch of rare berries on me. I think that was his way of trying to make up for what he did.”

Emmet struggled to think of what to say, so in the end he didn’t say anything about it. Instead, he just asked Akari what she wanted to eat for breakfast that day. Akari seemed relieved that Emmet didn’t make her talk about it anymore. After that Emmet never asked about any of their scars unless they bought it up themselves. He also spoiled Akari’s Vaporeon that day with a ton of Pokémon treats. If it wasn’t for the Water Type Pokémon Emmet was sure Akari wouldn’t have survived long enough to meet Ingo. It hurt to see the scars. Neither Ingo or Akari deserved to be put through so much pain. They shouldn’t have been left with reminders of how close they came to death.

Emmet was snapped out of his thoughts when he felt Ingo nudge his arm. He glanced over at his brother only to see the worried look on his face. Emmet only shook his head, and gave the man a weak smile before he turned his attention back onto Anabel.

The woman had clearly moved on from the Kitakami talk, and was now speaking about letting the world know Ingo was back. “We can have a press conference this Friday if that works for you all. I’d suggest waiting at least a week before you really bring Ingo out into the public though.”

No one argued against her suggestion so it was agreed that her Friday press conference was for the best.

“Are we going to have to attend?” Emmet had asked.

“We can say Ingo is recovering at home, and the family is staying with him while he recovers. You will not have attend.”

“What about adopting Akari?” Ingo asked.

“Normally the process for that would be kind of long, but I can help speed it up a bit.” She reached into her briefcase, and pulled out a bunch of papers as she said “I need you to fill out some paperwork first. There will also be a scheduled in-home check, and…”

Emmet listened as she explained the whole adoption process. For the most part it was mostly Ingo asking questions although Emmet tossed in a few of his own. As he listened he couldn’t help but think that it felt like they were actually getting close to finally reaching the end of his huge mess that Volo caused. Emmet honestly could not wait until they could finally move on from this. Once everything had been hammered out Anabel left, but promised to keep in touch in order to help them settle in. After that last meeting with Anabel everything sort of became a blur.

Emmet found himself busy trying to juggle a lot of things really. Before the big conference on Friday he made sure to contact friends, family, and co-workers so they could get a heads up that Ingo was back before the conference happened. Of course there was a lot of excitement about that. People happy that Ingo had finally returned home, some shocked that Ingo was adopting a child, and a lot of questions over where Ingo had been and how he went about getting a daughter of all things. Emmet felt a bit bad about lying to them all over exactly what happened, but honestly it was for the best. Co-workers were thrilled that Ingo would be returning back to Gear Station once he ‘recovered’. A lot of family promised to come and visit once things settled down. Ingo and Emmet’s father had been the most excited to visit. He had been thrilled to hear that his eldest child had finally returned home. He was even more thrilled to hear that he now had a granddaughter. His excitement grew when Emmet told him about some of her Pokémon.

“She has a lot of ghost types,” Emmet had told him over the phone. “Her starter is a fire-ghost type Pokémon.”

Their father had only laughed upon hearing that. “She’s a chip off of the ol’ block isn’t she?” He joked. “Sounds like she takes after her father, grandfather, and great grandfather when it comes to starter preference. She a battler too?”

“A verrrry good battler,” Emmet said. “I could see her becoming a Subway Boss herself in the future.”

His father had only laughed, and said “Well, tell Akari her grandfather can’t wait to battle her. My Cofagrigus is looking forward to the showdown.”

In the background Emmet could hear said Cofagrigus let out an excited cry at the thought of battling. Emmet couldn’t help but smile a bit softly at that. Their father wasn’t wrong. Akari was a chip off the ol’ block, and she really was the perfect fit for their battle loving family. Just as the chaos with their family and friends started to die down chaos with the public blew up once Friday rolled in. As Anabel promised the international police held the press conference. It went about as well as it possibly could have, and the international police informed the public that Ingo was recovering from his experience, and that the family asked for privacy while he recovered. The second the press conference was over Gear Station was flooded with requests from more news channels, gossip websites, and celebrity gossip magazines then Emmet really cared to count. Elesa was a blessing during that time. The twins were celebrities in Unova of course, but Emmet and Ingo tended to keep their nose to the grindstone and didn’t really bother to pay much attention to celebrity gossip about them.

At most they would have a few interviews with magazines dedicated to the battling scene, or with websites or channels dedicated to Battle Facilities or Pokémon tournaments. Elesa was honestly a godsend during this time. As a famous model she had a lot of experience with the paparazzi, and with the media in general. She helped coach them in what to expect, and how to handle it. Honestly, they needed the coaching. Emmet never liked being swarmed by paparazzi or the media. Ingo had been better at handling such things, but that had been back before he got a one-way ticket to Hisui. Living in the mountains mostly on his own with only Pokémon for company did not exactly do wonders for his public skills. He was used to the peace of the mountains, and while more and more of his memories were coming back with each day those memories didn’t help much with having a bunch of cameras and microphones shoved into his face whenever he tried to enter Gear Station.

As for Akari she was in the same boat as Ingo. Heck, if anything it was worse for her. Hisui was not a highly populated place. Jubilife Village was the most populated place in Hisui, and even then the village was small. Once she started living with Ingo she got used to living in the peaceful mountains pretty quickly. Even before she got sent to Hisui Akari had lived in a quiet village where nothing really happened. So suddenly getting thrust into the spotlight was not a pleasant experience. Every time they got swarmed by paparazzi she would cling to Ingo. Ingo would keep her close while shooting harsh glares at anyone who got too close to her. Ingo’s Pokémon were quick to help out. Atlas would stick close to Akari, and block most people’s view of her with his giant shell of sediment. When Atlas wasn’t acting as her bodyguard Blade usually was. He would let the girl hide behind him while he shot harsh glares at anyone that was bothering Akari. Blade was a threatening enough looking dragon Pokémon that one glare from him was enough to make even the bravest person less than willing to approach.

The public’s sudden interest in them was less then pleasant, but they made the best of it. They thankfully had enough going on to keep them busy. One of those things was getting a new house. Much as Emmet loved their apartment it simply wasn’t big enough for them, and for all of their Pokémon. Thankfully, after hunting around for a while they did find a house on the outskirts of Nimbasa City that was big enough for them. It also had an absolutely massive backyard that was big enough for their Pokémon to run around, and for them to make an outdoor battling ring to have battles on. It was also within walking distance of a train station, so commuting to Gear Station wasn’t any issue.

The best news was from there house it was easy to walk to Lostlorn Forest. They had to walk pretty deep into the forest to get true undisturbed privacy, but finding a clearing where no one would bother them was possible. It was here in these clearings that Akari let her legendary Pokémon out to get some energy out and battle. Back at home the smaller Legendries could only come out inside the house. Emmet got used to having a rather large number of Pokémon wandering around their homes rather quickly. He was still getting used to seeing Legendary and Mythical Pokémon wandering the halls of his home. It still felt wild to see one of Forces of Nature floating down the hallway, or see a Shaymin waddling into the kitchen to see if she would get a snack.

He was pretty sure he would never completely get used to seeing Giratina around the house. Turns out Giratina had the ability to control how big or small they were. That probably wasn’t something he should have been surprised by really considering what Giratina was. Still, seeing Giratina shrunk down to the size of a Purrloin and lounging on Ingo’s shoulder as Ingo did some work on a laptop was a rather bizarre sight. He was also getting used to the sight of seeing Giratina shrunk down to the size of a Stoutland just so he could snuggle up with Akari while she watched a movie, and so that they could have Akari feed it some popcorn. However, while he could get used to Giratina’s ability to change size at will he was pretty sure he would never get used to the sight of a Buneary sized Giratina giving Emmet its best impression of the Baby Doll eye look in order to beg Emmet to give it some treats. If Emmet could go back in time and tell himself that one day the God of Dimensions itself would regularly give him the Lillipup eye look in order to get some extra strawberries at breakfast he knew his past self would have laughed in his face in disbelief.

Besides settling into their new home with their army of Pokémon they also had to contend with the whole adoption process. Anabel said she could speed the process up a bit, but even with her help the process was rather slow. Emmet had honestly lost count of how many in home visits they had to have. He also lost count of how many interviews he, Ingo, and Akari had to go through. He didn’t even try to keep count of the humongous amount of paperwork that needed to be done, or gathered up for the adoption agency to go through. Still, after months and months of work they were finally cleared to officially adopt Akari. Ingo was pretty much crying in joy as he signed the last of the papers, and Akari was crying right along with him. They were officially and legally a family. Emmet felt like he could truly relax once that had happened. Akari was legally their family now. She was truly there to stay. Life felt so much better once they had that reassurance.

Life got even better when Ingo’s return finally became old news to the public at large. Just as Anabel said interest in them started to die down once enough time had passed. Granted it took a few months, but it did die down. News crews stopped showing up a few weeks after Ingo’s integration back into Gear Station, and the amount of paparazzi that had been lurking around also died down once Ingo and Akari were no longer the topic of interest in Unova. However, what really helped to get people to lose interest in them was the drama going down over in the Galar region. Apparently some CEO over there got super obsessive about making sure that the world had enough power, so therefore he almost caused a 2nd Darkest Day for Galar or something like that.

Honestly, Emmet’s interest in that died when he learned that the day had been saved by some girl and boy who had some legendary dog Pokémon or something along those lines. Soon after that said undefeated champion was defeated by the girl, and Galar had a new champion in the form of some girl named Gloria. After that the defeat of some champion that people thought was undefeatable was pretty much the only thing that people were talking about as far as news stories go. Seeing how relatively quickly everyone moved on caused Anabel’s words to echo in Emmet’s head.

Interest in your case will pass. It always does.

Anabel really knew what she had been talking about. It was honestly a bit shocking by how quickly people seemed to just move on, but honestly Emmet wasn’t going to look a gift Rapidash in the mouth. People moving on meant that they could finally move on. The Battle Subway was as popular as ever. If anything Ingo’s return caused it to become even more popular. Trainers flooded the Battle Subway wanting to challenge Ingo, or the legendary team of Ingo and Emmet battling together. Some came to battle against Ingo’s new Pokémon. Quite a lot of people liked the new challenge that Ingo’s new Pokémon brought. They also loved it when Ingo brought his Alpha Pokémon out to battle. It was something new, and something new was always exciting. Having so many Pokémon to use to constantly change things up also meant that even veterans of the Battle Subway would usually always have a new experience each time they took on the Battle Subway.

Thankfully Ingo’s Hisuian took to Emmet rather easily, and they were more than fine with having Emmet use them for Double Battles on his lines. Even more interest was drummed up when Akari became a part of the challenge. Akari was too young to take on an actual job as at the Battle Subway, or to become a Subway Boss or anything like that. However, she could have a sort of apprenticeship at the Battle Subway.

“A Subway Boss in training,” Was what Akari called herself.

“The mini boss before the final boss,” Was what most of the Depot Agents called her.

Calling her a mini boss was honestly rather fitting. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday after school if she didn’t have too much homework that day Akari would come and participate in the Battle Subway. She was always the last opponent that people had to go through before they were able to fight the Subway Bosses. She tended to beat most people who went up against her. However, if they were able to beat her Emmet knew he was in for a good battle. Very few people were able to stand up against her, so anyone who could manage to defeat Akari had to be a very skilled trainer indeed. Akari’s inclusion as a mini boss of sorts ended up being a popular one. She gave people a challenge, and due to just how many Pokémon she had fighting against her proved to be a new experience almost every time.

As for Akari she absolutely loved everything about it. She was almost vibrating in excitement on her first day at the Battle Subway. Said excitement only grew as the day drew to an end, and the small family started to make their way home.

“I saw so many different Pokémon!” She had gushed as she skipped along beside them. “And there were so many touch trainers that I got to battle against! I mean no offense to the Security Force they were good battlers, but the people who challenge the Battle Subway are on another level!”

Her Espeon and Vaporeon were out and almost seemed to be skipping along with her. They were clearly thrilled to have had a day filled to the brim with battling.

“It’s why I like our job so much,” Emmet told her. “We get to work on trains, and we get to fight verrrrry tough trainers. Only strong trainers take on battle facilities.”

Akari’s eyes were practically sparkling as she said “That’s it. I’ve decided. I’m definitely becoming a Subway Boss when I grow up.”

Emmet almost felt like crying in joy upon hearing that. Hearing that his niece wanted to follow in their footsteps made him so happy. He didn’t hide his sniffling as he looked at Ingo with a wide smile on his face.

“Ingo, I’m so proud of my niece. I’m so verrry proud.”

Ingo had only laughed as he shook his head at his brother’s dramatics. Life went on. The family settled into their routine. The pain that Volo had caused them grew more and more distant with each passing day. Before Emmet knew it a year had passed. Emmet hadn’t thought about Hisui or Volo for months at that point. However, one warm spring day during his lunch break Elesa took Emmet out to one of their favorite cafés. Ingo had some paperwork he needed to finish, so he had sent them off with a wave of his hand to enjoy themselves.

“Just make sure to bring me back some lunch and a coffee,” Ingo had said as they left.

“You mean a cup of sugar and cream with a tiny bit of coffee in it?” Emmet asked.

Emmet quickly ran out of the room laughing as Ingo flung a paper ball at him. As for Akari she was in school at the moment, so they didn’t have to worry about her. Emmet still made sure to get her some Eevee shaped macaroons at the café anyway. It was while they were eating at the café that Elesa brought up something that Emmet had honestly forgotten all about.

“Hey Emmet?”

“Hmm?”

“Do you remember what we talked about at the inn back in Jubilife City after we had visited the Trainer’s School?”

Emmet only gave her a blank look which caused Elesa to smile a little.

“About one day taking a real vacation to Sinnoh with Ingo and Akari?” She gently reminded him.

“I remember,” Emmet murmured.

“Well, I know Akari’s spring break is coming up soon and I don’t have any gigs lined up for that week. Plus the gym will be closed for some renovation work, so I don’t have any Gym leader duties that week either.” She smiled as she said “I know you and Ingo have some vacation time to burn, so how about it? Why don’t we make that plan of ours into reality?”

Emmet thought about it for a moment. To be honest after they had returned from Sinnoh Emmet wasn’t sure if he wanted to go back there. He didn’t exactly have too many happy memories in Sinnoh. He was sure Mt. Coronet would forever be tainted as the place that his family had been chained to for so many years. With that said the rest of Sinnoh had the chance to be more to him. He had a chance to make happy memories there in Sinnoh. Memories that could hopefully overshadow the less then pleasant memories.

“I’m up for it,” Emmet finally said. “But I need to run it past Ingo and Akari first.”

“Of course,” Elesa said with a soft smile. “If they don’t want to go there we can always find somewhere else to vacation. Maybe Undella Town? Or Alola if they feel okay with leaving Unova.”

“I think you are just gunning for a beach trip,” Emmet joked as he went to take a drink of his coffee.

“You can never go wrong with a beach vacation,” Elesa argued back. “For real though ask the two what they would like to do if Sinnoh isn’t a place they want to go. We deserve to all go on a vacation. A real vacation.”

Emmet couldn’t argue against that. After their lunch Emmet returned to Ingo with his lunch, and his cup of coffee although Emmet felt like it was more sugar then coffee. Ingo’s sweet tooth was something else sometimes, and clearly his stay in Hisui did nothing to weaken his brother’s love of sweet things. Later on that day when they were back home from work, and Akari was back from school, Emmet gifted his niece the Eevee macaroons that he had bought at the café for her. The girl had been thrilled with her treat, and since they were Pokémon safe she was quick to share them with her Espeon and Typhlosion.

Ingo was sitting on the couch eyes closed in contentment as he scratched his Gliscor behind the ears while Lavender happily humming some nameless song as she drifted above her trainer. Akari was sitting on the floor leaning up against Scout as the Typhlosion nibbled on the treat that he held within his hands. Her Espeon was curled up on her lap a soft happy purr escaping from him as a dozed in his trainer’s lap after having devoured his own treat. They were both the perfect picture of peace. It was during this moment of peace that Emmet chose to tell them about the idea of taking a vacation in Sinnoh. Ingo looked thoughtful at the idea. He paused petting his Gliscor as he thought over the vacation only to continue scratching the Gliscor when Em let out a loud whine as he gently bumped his head against Ingo’s hand.

“I admit it is an intriguing idea,” Ingo said slowly. “It would be interesting to see how Hisui has changed to become the Sinnoh that it is today.”

Akari let out a hum of thought as she pet her Espeon.

“I want to go,” She said. “I always wanted to watch some of the contests in Hearthome City.”

Emmet was just barely able to contain his amusement upon hearing that. His and Elesa’s comments about Ingo probably wanting to enter a contest once he saw echoed in his head as he saw Ingo perk up slightly in interest at the mention of contests. “Contests?” Ingo echoed.

“You don’t know about contests?” Akari asked.

“I know of them, but I’m afraid I have never really watched one. Contests aren’t really a thing in Unova, so they don’t really get much coverage here. People are much more interested in Pokémon musicals.”

“You need to watch one!” Akari said. “Contests are amazing. There’s this one Pokémon coordinator I watch named May that I follow online. Her shows are amazing! She like specializes in water, dark, and ghost type Pokémon! You need to see her stuff!”

As Akari babbled about contests she even went as far as pulling her phone out to show Ingo some videos of May’s contests. As Emmet watched Akari babble on about contests to a captivated Ingo Emmet silently pulled his phone out to text Elesa that the Sinnoh vacation was on. It didn’t take long for Elesa to make a group chat for everyone to enter in any places that they wished to visit. Ingo and Akari both requested to visit Jubilife City just to see how much the place had changed. Much to Emmet’s displeasure they also asked to be able to visit Mt. Coronet as well. As much as Emmet didn’t really want to visit the mountain he kept his mouth shut about it. Akari and Ingo both had lived on Mt. Coronet so it was an important place to them. Emmet was willing to grit his teeth, and go through it for him. Emmet’s one request was that they visit Snowpoint City.

“I want to battle the Gym leader there,” Emmet had told Ingo as he texted his request in the group chat.

“The Gym Leader there…she helped you to save us didn’t she?” Ingo asked slowly.

While Emmet had given both Ingo and Akari a very edited version of how they were rescued Emmet had mentioned Candice. He wasn’t surprised that one of the few people that had helped them stuck out in Ingo’s mind.

“Yes,” Emmet said. “She does not remember me, or Elesa. She never will. Still, I want to see her and battle against her once more.”

Ingo had only given him a sad understanding look, and asked no more questions. Akari’s request was to visit the lakes so that she could see the lake guardians again.

“I want to see Dialga and Palkia too, but I have no idea where to go to do that,” Akari said. Emmet honestly wasn’t sure either.

“Maybe if you ask the lake guardians they can help out?” Emmet suggested.

“We can try,” Akari had said. “I hope they can help.”

Emmet could only hope they could help too. As for the rest of the trip they sort of left the planning up to Elesa. It was clear that most of their time would be spent at Herthome City. It was where the Pokémon Contests, and the Pokémon park were which was what they were most interested in seeing. Emmet, Ingo, and Akari didn’t even have to make a request to visit the Battle Frontier. That was like the first thing Elesa added to the list of places to visit the second she got the go ahead to plan the vacation. Emmet was both dreading and looking forward to the Sinnoh region. He was looking forward to visiting the fun places with his family, but he wasn’t looking forward to the what less than happy memories that some of places that they would visit might bring. Emmet already planned to keep the lunar feather that he got from Nyx so long ago on hand.

The day that the vacation happened was strangely bittersweet. It was bitter due to just how familiar it was to the day when Elesa and Emmet had started their trip to find the ghosts of Akari and Ingo. Elesa was coming to pick them up, and once again Skyla was flying them over to Sinnoh. It was easy to remember that feeling of despair that he had felt as he waited for Elesa to arrive. The fact that his brother and niece had been dead had been something that circled in his head again and again during that morning. However, when he felt that gloomy feeling starting to creep up on him all he had to do was look at the residents of the house to make those feelings vanish. It was easy to hear Lavender’s happy singing all throughout the house as she used her powers to help Ingo gather up any last minute things that they needed for their trip. He could hear Ingo softly humming along with Lavender as he worked with the sound of Lady Sneasler’s clawed feet clicking against the hardwood floors as she followed the man from room to room.

He could see Akari zipping around the house with her Pokémon Box Link that Ingo had bought her awhile back in hand as she made sure all of her Pokémon were present and accounted for. Hermes was close at her heel a lazy smile on his face as he followed his trainer about. Waddling around behind them was a small Giratina with a cheerful look their face. Seeing them and hearing them around the house helped Emmet to relax a bit. It was a nice reminder that things were truly alright. When Elesa had picked them up the trip to the airport had been normal. Even the trip on the airplane had been generally peaceful. They were going to land in Jubilife City, and whatever worries Emmet had about being reminded of less than happy memories was quickly forgotten when he saw the look of wonder on both of their faces.

“Is this your first time visiting Jubilife City Akari?” Elesa had asked when she saw the look of wonder on the girl's face.

Akari shook her head, and said “I visited the city once when I was like really little, but that was so long ago that I don’t remember it very well. It’s a lot bigger then I remember.”

“It is rather big isn’t it?” Ingo said as he looked at the buildings that towered over them. “It’s hard to believe that this place was once our humble little Jubilife Village.”

“It’s nice though isn’t it?” Akari asked. “Seeing Jubilife like this is….I don’t know. Comforting somehow? Like it’s proof that Jubilife did alright even after we left. They were able to grow, and become a place for Pokémon and people alike.”

Ingo smiled a little as he ruffled the girl’s hair affectionately. “That is a wonderful way to view it. Seeing the city like this is proof that the people of the village were able to truly make the home that they wanted.”

The walk to the inn was pretty slow due to how Akari and Ingo were just staring at everything. They tried their best to guess what different place might have once been back during the Hisuian age. When they passed the Trainer School Ingo could not help but stop to stare at it. He stared at it for the moment. His eyes glued onto a school battlefield that was currently being used by some students.

As he watched a Combee battle against a Glameow Emmet could not help but say “That’s the dojo you know.”

Ingo stared at Emmet with wide eyes as he said “T-that’s the dojo?”

“Yep,” Emmet replied. “The trainer school you helped start up blossomed into this. You should be proud. You should be verrrry proud. They say a lot of Gym Leaders and even Pokémon champions have graduated from here.”

“I…It wasn’t just me who made the trainer school into what it is,” Ingo said. “Zisu had a major hand in its creation. I’m not sure if I would have started the school up if it had just been me.”

A soft fond smile showed up on his face as he said “I’m glad that our little school was able to grow into this, and that it has been able to help so many generations of new trainers.”

That small smile on Ingo’s face remained on the rest of their trip to the inn. He was so thrilled to see that his little trainer school had flourished that he seemed completely unaware of the looks that both he and Emmet were getting. A few of the people going in and out of the Trainer School gave Ingo and Emmet a double take when they spotted them. Even if they weren’t in uniform the people who went to the school or worked there obviously noticed how they looked just like one of the founders of the school. The looks were not as intense as the one that Emmet had gotten when they thought he looked like one of the ghosts haunting the mountain, but it still made him uncomfortable.

Emmet was quick to hurry them along by saying “We should continue on. We have a schedule to keep, and do not want to be late.”

“Quite right Emmet!” Ingo easily agreed. “The sooner we drop off our bags the sooner we can do some actual sightseeing.”

Ingo and Akari went along without a second thought, but Elesa shot Emmet a worried look. She knew the true reason why Emmet was hurrying them along. Emmet only shook his head upon seeing that look. There was no reason to worry about it, and honestly as long as they didn’t actually go into the school Emmet would be fine. Elesa didn’t say anything, but the occasional look that Elesa gave him made it clear that he wasn’t completely convinced that he was okay. Thankfully, Elesa never commented on it. After dropping their bags off they went to visit the museum that Emmet and Elesa had visited back during their first to Sinnoh. This visit was much more pleasant this time. The museum wasn’t all that much different from how it had been when Elesa and Emmet had visited it. The difference here was that they had Akari and Ingo with them. Having someone who actually lived and experienced the Hisuian age made the museum visit a very strange yet interesting one.

It felt downright odd to read about the Supply Corps of the Galaxy Team, and how some man named Tao Hua was the first captain for this corps only for Akari to suddenly say “Oh, I knew him! He was a really grumpy guy! He made me jump through so many hoops just so he would finally supply the General Store. Turns out the guy who owned the General Store married his granddaughter, and he wasn’t happy about it. They usually ignored Tao Hua when he ranted about that.”

Meanwhile Ingo was in the background commenting on the accuracy of the museum descriptions for various items. “I’m surprised that most of these descriptions are rather arcuate,” Ingo said. “I was afraid that quite a few details would have been lost over time, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.”

With that said there was one thing that made Ingo stop in his tracks. Tucked away between the display case filled with masks of the Noble Pokémon, and some Warden Bracelets was a few statues and carvings of various Pokémon. Each statue had some sort of description attached that talked about what the statue or carving was for. Mixed in with the statues was some clay colored figure with four legs, a long neck, and red circles for eyes. The description card for the item suggested that this figure could have been of Arceus, and it might have been how the people of early Hisui thought the God had looked. It went on to theorize that maybe it was used in religious rituals. Emmet stared at the figure in confusion. He supposed it might have looked like Arceus a little if you tilted your head, and squinted your eyes.

When Ingo joined him to look at it the man took one look at the figure, and then he looked at the description card. Upon reading the card Ingo started laughing. He started laughing really hard. Quite a few people were shooting them strange looks, but Ingo seemed completely unaware of it or perhaps he was uncaring of it. Emmet could only stare at his brother in confusion. Elesa was just as confused. She kept tilting her head side to side as she tried to examine the strange little figure from every angle.

“What’s so funny?” She asked. “I mean the figure is a little funny looking, but Ingo sounds like he is dying of laughter.”

“I have no idea,” Emmet answered honestly.

When Ingo was able to get his laughter under control he quickly called out “Akari! Come look at this!”

Akari had been looking at a case filled with jewelry made and commonly worn by people in the Diamond Clan. Upon hearing Ingo calling for her she quickly scurried over only to freeze when she saw the figure in the case. Like Ingo Akari also burst into giggles although her laughter was much more controlled then Ingo’s laughter had been.

When the girl was finally able to get her laughter under control she was able to ask between giggles “I-is that the clay figure Liam made?”

“It is!” Ingo said cheerfully. “I’m surprised he kept it. He was always saying he tossed it.”

“Guess he was more attached to his first attempt then we realized,” Akari said.

“You guys want to explain what’s going on for the rest of us here?” Elesa asked.

“I’m sorry,” Ingo said as he looked back at the statue. “We did not mean to leave you out of the loop. It’s just the idea of this figure being a highly religious figure of Arceus is…laughable really.”

“If it isn’t Arceus what is it?” Emmet asked.

“It’s supposed to be a Ponyta,” Akari answered as another giggled escaped from his lips.

Emmet stared at the figure again. He supposed he spikes on its head could sort of be seen as the fire mane of a Ponyta, and the body did give it a vague horse Pokémon like shape.

When Akari was able to get her giggle fit back under control she said “When I started carving Pokémon dolls I also tried my hand at making Pokémon figures with clay. It’s a pretty popular pastime in the Pearl Clan.”

“Making figures of a person’s favorite Pokémon was a popular gift idea for both clans,” Ingo explained. “To the Diamond clan time is precious so spending time to make something for someone was considered a way to show someone that they were special to you. As for the Pearl Clan making a statue of someone’s favorite Pokémon was a way to show that you cared. The statues were pretty popular decorations.”

“Warden Palina was teaching me how to make stuff with clay,” Akari continued. “She was like really good at it. She asked Liam to dig some up for us to use, and he did. When he delivered it he decided to stick around for the class. He’d never made stuff with clay before. We were using Daisy for a model. She had hadn’t evolved yet then.”

“And this was his first attempt?” Elesa asked.

“Yep!” Akari said. “It…didn’t turn out well. Mine wasn’t much better honestly, but Palina kept insisting that our figures were cute. I gave my first attempt to Palina as a thanks for the class.”

“Liam swore he would toss his out,” Ingo continued for Akari. “He said it wasn’t worth keeping, and that he could make something much better than this. With practice he did get quite good at making clay figures. I suppose he was a bit more attached to the first figure that encouraged him to improve his craft.”

Emmet couldn’t help but look at the figure in a new light now. Suddenly he understood why Ingo and Akari were so amused by the description attached to the figure. Something as mundane as a child’s first attempt at an art form was mislabeled as some sort of sacred object by future generations who didn’t know. It made Emmet wonder how many other mundane things of the past had been mislabeled as sacred objects by archaeologist, but Emmet supposed that was a question he would never really have an answer to. The real differences with the museum started to show up when they got close to the end of the Hisuian exhibit. On their first visit to the museum the end of the exhibit really hammered in how Ingo and Akari were doomed to die. It was honestly depressing. However, since Ingo and Akari had been saved the tone of the exhibit was much different. There was some suspense with the Blood Sky Disaster, but when it spoke of how Akari worked to save the day they framed it like a hero overcoming great odds.

For both Ingo and Akari their ‘story’ in the exhibit ended at the festival that had been held once the disaster had ended. A picture of Ingo and Akari sitting together with Rei and Professor Laventon smiling happily at the picture taker while fireworks went off in the background. Akari mumbled something about Captain Cyllene taking the picture with Laventon’s camera upon seeing the picture. There was a card that mentioned that once the disaster was over Akari finished the Pokédex, and that both Ingo and Akari returned home. Emmet couldn’t help but let out a small huff of amusement when the note mentioned that historians were frustrated by the fact that they still had no idea where exactly Ingo and Akari were from and that details of how they returned home were very vague. Emmet supposed he should be thankful that the details of how Emmet and Akari returned home hadn’t survived long enough to make it to their time.

The rest of the end of the exhibit was dedicated to showing pictures and small models that showed off how Jubilife Village grew into the city it was today. It showed some display sets going over what some of the notable figures of the village did with their lives. Akari smiled in both a bit of sadness and pride when she saw a picture of a grown Rei surrounded by regional variant Pokémon, and by shiny Pokémon. It seemed even in this new timelines where Ingo and Akari didn’t die Rei still went on to become a notable figure in Pokémon research for his research on shiny Pokémon and regional variants. Much like in the other timeline he dedicated his work to Akari as thinks for her inspiring him to do so.

Laventon eventually went back to the Galar region where he used what he learned in Hisui to teach future Pokémon researchers at a university there. Ingo had smiled a bit at the pictures that showed the Pearl Clan and the Diamond Clan intermingling after finally putting their age old feud to an end. Honestly, the vibe at the end of the exhibit was completely different from how it had been in the previous timeline. In the previous timeline the exhibit had been sorrowful, and filled with despair. It seemed to go out of its way to show that for all of Akari and Ingo’s heroics they had still been horrifically murdered. However, now the exhibit ended on a happy note. It showed how Hisui flourished into the Sinnoh that it was today, and how the people of Jubilife and the clans had gone on to do some pretty incredible things. It was honestly a wonderful change.

After they left the museum Elesa and Emmet had taken Akari and Ingo to the Wallflower to eat. Both had been amazed that the restaurant was still around. They were even more amazed when they ate some of the potatoes mochi there.

“It tastes exactly the same as what Beni made,” Akari had mumbled in pure amazement.

“Indeed it does,” Ingo said. “I’m surprised. I assumed there would have been some change in the taste, but this honestly tastes like it was made by Beni himself.”

The mystified reaction from the both of them was rather funny. It became a lot less funny when Akari mentioned the mochi was made up by a ninja cook. Said comment was then followed up by an explanation that Beni had apparently been a ninja. A ninja who tried to kill Akari once, but gave up after she beat him in a Pokémon battle. Emmet suddenly found himself wishing he could have given said ninja cook a beat down in a Pokémon battle for daring to do that to his niece, but that train had long left the station. Honestly, the more Emmet heard of the things that tried to kill Akari alone while she was there the happier he was that they had been able to bring her home into the present.

After spending a few days in Jubilife City they went on to Lake Verity to do their three lake tour as Elesa jokingly called it. Lake Verity was actually rather peaceful. It was surrounded by a thick forest. There wasn’t anyone out there, and the nearest town was rather small. All in all, not a bad place for a Legendary Pokémon to call home. Akari and Ingo had looked around at the thick forest that surrounded the lake.

“This place has changed quite a bit,” Ingo commented.

“Yeah,” Akari agreed. “The trees that used to surround the lake used to be pretty small, and there were not a lot of them. It’s amazing to see how much they grew to become this.”

Ingo only let out a small hum of agreement as Akari slowly walked over to the edge of the lake. She stared out at the small cave that was in the middle of the lake.

“Mesprit?! Are you there?! It’s Akari! I came back to see you again like I promised!” She called out.

Her voice was loud, and even caused a couple of Starly to fly off in a panic.

“Definitely Ingo’s child,” Elesa had whispered into Emmet’s ear causing him to have to try his best to choke back his laughter.

They waited there for a moment for something to happen, but nothing happened. Akari’s hopeful look started to fade.

“Maybe if we try calling for them in the cave they will answer,” Ingo suggested.

Akari nodded as Elesa asked “So what Pokémon should we take to get over there?”

“Akari’s Alpha Mantine should easily be able to ferry us over to the cave,” Ingo answered.

Akari nodded as she went to get her Box Link out of her bag so that she could switch around the Pokémon in her party. However, before she could slide the backpack off of her back a loud cry of a Pokémon filled the air. Emmet blinked a few times in confusion, but before he could even ask what Pokémon had let that cry out a pink blur came tearing out of the cave. It was flying so fast Emmet couldn’t even get a good look at it. A cry of surprise escaped from him when the pink blur slammed into Akari. Akari was knocked off of her feet, and fell onto the grass. Akari let out a loud laugh that caused Emmet to calm down a bit. Once he got a good look at Akari he understood why she had laughed. There curled up in her arms was Mesprit.

The Lake Guardian was cuddled up against Akari with a bright smile on their face. Akari hugged the Pokémon close to herself as she mumbled “Hey Mesprit. I missed you.”

The Pokémon let out a soft cry as if to say that they missed her too. After spending a few minutes just snuggling Mesprit the Pokémon finally drifted out of Akari’s arms. The girl sat up and happily said “The others will be happy to see you too! Give me a sec.”

She was quick to let the Pokémon that she had on hand out to see Mesprit. The second Scout saw the Pokémon he let out a happy cry as he gave Mesprit a lazy wave. Most of Akari’s other Pokémon also let out happy greetings of their own. Hermes had the strongest reaction. Upon seeing Mesprit the ghost Pokémon pretty much yanked it into a huge hug which Mesprit seemed to enjoy. Once all of the hugging was out of the way Mesprit started a game of tag with Akari’s Pokémon. Emmet, Elesa, and Ingo let their own Pokémon out so that they could also play. Akari was quick to join in on the games while Ingo, Emmet, and Elesa would jump in on occasion. For the most part the adults were content to sit back and watch Akari have fun with the Pokémon.

Eventually they set up a picnic, and as they ate Elesa commented “This is nice.”

“It is,” Emmet agreed although there was one thing that was keeping him from completely enjoying it.

The fact that they would be visiting Mt. Coronet after this loomed over him like a dark shadow. He tried his best to ignore it though. Worrying would do nothing. All he could do was enjoy this peaceful moment while it lasted. When the sun started to set it was finally time to go. Akari hugged Mesprit for a long time, and Mesprit did the same. The two clearly didn’t want to part, but eventually they did.

Akari gave the Emotions Pokémon a soft smile as she asked “Can you get in contact with the other Lake Guardians for me, and let them know that I’ll be visiting them too?”

Mesprit nodded as they gave out a soft coo. It leaned forward to give her one last hug before it zipped off into the sky, and vanished. Akari watched them go with teary eyes, and when Mesprit was gone out of view Akari let out a soft sad sigh.

“Mesprit is really fond of you, huh?” Elesa said softly.

“I love all of the Lake Guardians,” Akari said. “But out of the three I have a soft spot for Mesprit.”

The girl paused for a moment, and then slowly said “When I was gathering up materials to make the Red Chain to deal with the whole Blood Sky thing I had to visit Mesprit. To get what they had I had to answer some questions about how I felt about different things like my first arrival here, and stuff like that. One of the questions they asked was how I felt when I was kicked out of the village.”

A bitter smile appeared on the girl’s face as she said “I answered honestly. I felt bitter. After everything I did to help the village I still got kicked out, and they even threatened dad just to make sure I left. I was so mad, but mostly I was hurt. It was like no matter what I did I was an outsider, and I could never be anything else. I was kind of scared that I would get reprimanded for not understanding their fear, or that I had to be strong and had to just get over it. Mesprit never said that. They accepted my answer, and told me that it was okay to feel how I felt. I guess I just appreciated that they were so understanding.”

“Akari…” Elesa said softly.

She clearly didn’t know what to say to that. Ingo had pulled his hat down low enough to cover most of his face, but Emmet could still see the fierce scowl on his face. It was clear that the reminder of how badly his child had been treated over something out of her control made Ingo incredibly angry even after all of this time. Honestly it burned Emmet up too, so they were both on the same train when it came to how they felt about the whole thing.

A soft sigh escaped from Akari as she turned to look at them all. She smiled brightly as she said “Sorry, didn’t mean to bring the mood down.”

“Don’t apologize,” Elesa said softly. “If you ever want to talk about that stuff you can always share with us. We will always be happy to listen. Right boys?”

The twins nodded, and Akari’s smile softened a bit upon seeing that. “I know I can always talk to you guys about it, but… I really don’t want to dwell on it right now if that’s okay.”

“Of course it is,” Elesa reassure her.

The subject was dropped right then and there, and they walked to Sandgem Town to spend the night there. The feelings that night was happy, but a tiny bit bittersweet as well. After visiting Lake Verity they finally made their way to Mt. Coronet. They made a quick stop at Oreburgh City to visit the Oreburgh Mining Museum. The visit to the museum had been fine, and Akari had mentioned during the trip that Liam would have loved to visit it. It had been sweet to hear her speak so fondly of her friend. Still, it did little to get rid of Emmet’s growing dread about visiting Mt. Coronet. After their quick visit to Oreburgh City they finally went to the mountains.

Emmet was tense as they walked to mountain. Elesa wasn’t doing much better. The two stuck close to each other, and they made sure to keep Akari and Ingo close and in sight at all times. If Ingo or Akari rushed ahead a bit or even got close to getting out of sight the two would run to make sure that they were all close together once more. Ingo and Akari were safe. They were alive. They would not vanish into thin air here. Yet, even with that knowledge it was way too easy to be reminded of what they had been like when they had been ghosts haunting the mountain. It was all too easy to remember how Akari would fade away right in front of them as the early morning hours drew to an end. Logically, they knew they wouldn’t fade away. However, that didn’t stop that moment of panic from showing up every time Akari was out of sight for even a moment.

Ingo and Akari had obviously notice how frantic the two got whenever they got too far ahead. They tried to hide it, but honestly they weren’t doing a good job at that. The way Elesa’s shoulders slumped in relief whenever Akari would pop back into view after going around a bend in a road, or how Emmet would rush forward to grab hold of Ingo’s hand whenever his brother started to get too far ahead were just one of their many giveaways. Of course Ingo asked what had been wrong, and Emmet floundered as he tried to think of how to answer.

Elesa ended up saving him from answering by answering herself. “We know you guys died out here. It’s…hard to be out here without always remembering that.”

Of course Akari had gotten sad upon hearing that, and she was quick to say “We can leave the mountain if it’s too much for you guys.”

Elesa seemed to think for a moment before she said “How about you guys show us the places here that have happy memories for the two of you? Like help us replace the bad memories with some good ones.”

After she said that she quickly looked over at Emmet, and said “But only if Emmet is okay with that idea.”

Emmet thought about it for a moment before he slowly nodded.

“I like that idea,” He said. “I like that idea a lot. Help us replace the bad with the good.”

Akari was quiet for a moment before she said “We are close to where the Clefairy, Clefable, and Cleffa danced aren’t we?”

Ingo smiled upon hearing that, and said “Yes, I think we are.”

From that moment on Ingo and Akari dedicated most of the time to showing off the places that were important to them. They showed them the flower fields near the river where the Clefairy evolution line would dance under the moonlight. Akari even let her Clefable out of her Poke Ball to show them. The second the Clefable was out she seemed to instantly recognize the area. There was no moon out, but the fairy Pokémon didn’t seem to mind dancing under the light of the sun. The Clefable gracefully twirled and danced around the flowers while humming some song to herself. Akari let her Alpha Roserade out, and when he saw where they were he joined the Clefable in dancing about. Akari’s Clefable wasn’t fazed at all by having the Roserade join her. She happily accepted him to her dance, and together they danced among the flowers like this was something that they did often.

“I captured both of them here,” Akari had said. “Although, I captured them when they were a Cleffa and Budew. Sometimes the Roserade, Budew, and Roselia would dance too although they usually danced during the day. Sometimes though they would dance together with the Clefairy when they were in a really good mood.”

“I always liked watching them dance,” Ingo added as he watched the two Pokémon dance. “They were pretty timid, so you couldn’t get too close. They were more willing to stay when Lady Sneasler was with me. They trusted her enough to tolerate my presence. It was always magical to be able to watch them dance up so close like that.”

When the dance was over Ingo and Akari continued to show them around. They showed them hidden groves of berry trees that they had found with Lady Sneasler’s children. They showed them what was left of the seat of Lord Electrode’s area. A massive tree grew there, and Akari let her own Electrode out so that he could roll around and play in the area that was so familiar to them. As for Ingo he had Lady Sneasler help him guide everyone around. Ingo and Lady Sneasler showed off the places where they were take the young sneasels to play or practice battling. Ingo showed off the place where he captured his Gliscor, and where he found the Nosepass that would eventually evolve into his Probopass. Some of the places Emmet and Elesa had passed by during their own travels through Mt. Coronet. However, a lot of the places were new places that they had never seen before.

With Ingo and Akari happily chattering on about happy memories that they had out there it was easy to sort of forget the more negative memories that Emmet had that was associated with that place. When his brother and niece looked so happy it was easy to just get lost in the moment, and be happy right along with them. The only moment that the happiness sort of faded a bit was when they visited the ruins on the peak of the mountain. The ruins honestly looked the same as they had the last time Emmet had seen them. Akari had looked around at the place with a sort of sad look on her face. Ingo didn’t seem as affected by the ruins, but the concerned look he kept shooting Akari made it clear that he knew all too well how much this place affected her.

“These ruins used to look different you know,” Akari had said rather suddenly. “There used to be statues of the first Noble Pokémon set up all over the place. They were the Pokémon of the old Hisuian hero who helped Hisui a long time ago. Arceus symbol was all over the place, and I think there was even a statue of Arceus on the roof. Or at least a statue of their head at any rate.”

“What happened to the temple?” Emmet asked.

“It got blown up when Palkia turned into their Origin form," Akari answered. "They had been driven completely mad by Volo messing everything up, so its his fault that the Temple of Sinnoh ended up like this.”

“So much history lost in a single day,” Ingo said as he looked at the broken pillars that stretched out toward the sky. “Volo always went on about his interest in history and mythology, and how we can learn from them. Yet, his acts lead to the destruction of so much history.”

“Do you think any of his interest in history and mythology was genuine?” Emmet asked. “Or did he only care about it due to thinking it would lead him to Arceus?”

Ingo just pulled the brim of his hat down a bit as he said “I honestly don’t know. I think maybe once upon a time said interest was a genuine love for such things, but if there was a genuine love for it I wonder when and why that love got corrupted.”

“It does make you wonder doesn’t it?” Elesa commented as she stared up at the blue sky overhead. “Although, at this point maybe it doesn’t matter. Volo is gone now, so we will never really know. Doubt the man would have explained even if he was here.”

“That is very true,” Ingo said as he nodded slightly. “I suppose it will forever remain a mystery.”

It was quiet for a moment before Akari asked “Is it okay if we go? I think…I think I’ve seen everything that I want to see here.”

The look on her face was a sad one, and the second Ingo saw it he quickly said “Of course. I think we got everything he could from this place anyway.” As he carefully guided his daughter back over to the exit Emmet took one last look at the broken remains of the temple before he silently followed after his family. Emmet was sure that he wouldn’t willingly be coming back to the Spear Pillar ever again. There were too many bad memories connected to the place for them all for him to ever want to come back here again. After visiting Spear Pillar there time at Mt. Coronet came to an end. They ended up camping on the mountain although Emmet and Elesa insisted on staying in the flower fields where the Clefairy used to dance at for the night. That specific location was far enough from there previous camping locations that it didn’t bring back too many bad memories.

They were able to remain in a mostly good mood that night, but when they retired for the night they made sure Akari and Ingo’s sleeping bags were in the middle between Elesa and Emmet. Having the two in the center close by where they could easily be seen and heard helped to keep them calm. Akari let Scout out to snooze by her feet and Ingo had his Gliscor out and sleeping on top of him like a huge winged weighted blanket. Elesa had her Emolga out, and Emmet had Taser curled up on top of him snoozing away. While they had made sure to get a family sized tent all of the people and Pokémon together like that made the tent a bit cramped. Still, Emmet was sort of grateful for that. Emmet found comfort in having them all together like this. It was enough of a difference from the last time they camped out here that Emmet was able to easily drift off. Still, he made sure to keep his Lunar Feather close as he slept that night just in case.

After waking up they left Mt. Coronet to go to Snowpoint City next. The cold chill and deep snow of the area was just as much of a pain as it had been when Elesa and Emmet had first gone through it. While it was a miserable time for the two of them both Akari and Ingo seemed to be perfectly fine in it. Ingo happily chattered about how the Pearl Clan dealt with heavy snowfall and harsh winters while Akari happily played in the snow with her ice Pokémon. Her Alola Ninetales was dashing around in the snow with the enthusiasm of a hyper Herdier that had been let lose to run around on a beach. Emmet was glad that they were having fun because he and Elesa were not.

“The way they can avoid sinking into the snow is annoying,” Elesa had grumbled, and Emmet couldn’t help but agree with her.

At least Akari’s Ninetales was good as digging them out when they got stuck. Upon reaching Snowpoint City Elesa and Emmet both were way too exhausted to do anything else. Akari was pretty enthusiastic at the idea of challenging the gym herself, but she was at least willing to wait till her uncle was well enough to go with her. The very next morning they went straight to the gym. Since they were regular challengers they had to go through the gym’s puzzle, and they had to battle the gym trainers. Emmet didn’t mind. He had fun battling against the trainers. Akari enjoyed the battles too, and she dealt with the puzzle with such ease that Emmet just followed her lead on it. When they reached Candice she did a double take upon seeing Ingo, Emmet, and Akari, but she recovered quickly at seeing what looked like carbon copies of people from the past.

She gave them a very bright smile as she said “It’s rare I get two challengers at once.”

“Will that be a problem?” Emmet asked.

“Not at all!” The girl cheerfully chirped out. “I’ve been waiting for a challenge, and I got a good feeling that you two will give me just that!”

Emmet smiled as he said “I’m looking forward to our battle. I promise to give you a verrrry good battle!”

Candice had only smiled upon hearing that. His battle against her was just as challenging as his first fight against her although this time strong and agile styles were not used. After beating her Akari was quick to jump at her chance to battle. Akari was able to beat her as well, and the girl was almost vibrating in excitement at winning her very first gym battle.

As Candice handed them their badges Emmet couldn’t help but say “Thank you.”

Candice had only smiled as she said “You are welcome. I should be thanking the two of you for the fun battles!”

Emmet only smiled back. Candice thought he was thanking her for the badge, but he was thanking her for so much more than that. He was thanking her for taking care of Akari’s Pokémon when they lived in the graveyard. He was thanking her for helping both him and Elesa figure out a way to save both Ingo and Akari. She did not remember any of this. Everything from the old timeline was gone with only Emmet and Elesa’s memories of the event being the only proof that it happened at all. Candice would never remember, but Emmet would forever be grateful to the ice type gym leader for everything that she did to help his family.

After leaving the gym they set up a time to visit the Pearl Clan graveyard. The rules for the Pearl Clan grave were relaxed a bit in this timeline since Akari’s Pokémon were not there in need of protection. Still, there were rules that needed to be followed to visit the graves. Battling wasn’t allowed inside of the graveyard, and catching the wild Pokémon in there also wasn’t allowed. Appointments to visit the graveyard had to be set up in advance, but Emmet had made sure to do that a few days before they went to Snowpoint City. The graveyard looked about the same as it had during Emmet and Elesa’s first visit there. The only difference was that Akari and Ingo didn’t have a gravestone there. It was a bit of a somber visit. Akari and Ingo made sure to visit the graves of the Wardens they knew, the Pearl Clan Nobles that they knew, and to visit the graves of a few of the Pearl Clan members that they had been friends with.

Lady Sneasler had joined them. She had been part of the Pearl Clan as well, and she missed the people of the clan just as much as Ingo and Akari did. They made sure to leave flowers on their graves, and to tell them all about how their life was going. They lingered at Irida’s grave the longest. Their updates about their life were interspliced with murmured thanks to her for welcoming them into her clan, and making them Pearl Clan members. Elesa and Emmet hung back to allow the three to have all of the time that they needed to greet old friends, and greave over the fact that said friends were no longer here with them.

From Snowpoint City they made their way to Lake Acuity where Uxie was waiting for them. Uxie had been excited to see Akari once again, and much like Mesprit Uxie had pretty much tackled Akari in order to hug her. Akari had hugged them back, and the two stood there snuggled up close to each other as they just enjoyed the moment of being reunited. Once the two had been satisfied by how long they had hugged Uxie turned its attention onto the rest of them. It turned out that the Knowledge Pokémon was rather playful. Uxie was quick to drag the three of them and their Pokémon into creating snow angels and snow Pokémon. Playing with the Uxie was a nice break from the more bittersweet feeling that they had gotten from Snowpoint City. It was also on that day that Emmet learned that Uxie was surprisingly fond of snowball fights. Emmet was sure he was one of the only people on the planet who could say he lost a snowball fight to Uxie. Uxie had also given them some good news about Palkia and Dialga. "Just bring Giratina out when you visit the last lake," Uxie had been able to tell them with their psychic powers. "Palkia and Dialga will be able to sense their power, and come running. I know they will be happy to see you all."

After a day with Uxie they made their way to Eterna City, and from there they made their way to Hearthome City. After they had gotten checked into their hotel the very first thing they did at Hearthome City was to go to the contest hall to watch a few contests in person. The very first contest that they watched was a labeled as a Cool contest. Seeing the contests on TV honestly didn’t do Pokémon contests any sort of justice. Watching the contests in person allowed him to truly feel the energy of the crowed. The enthusiasm that the crowd showed at the really show stopping moves was energizing, and downright infectious. Emmet found himself sitting on the edge of his seat when a trainer combined a bunch of moves in order to create a real spectacle. He cheered when it went off without a hitch, and gasped along with everyone else when a move combination didn’t go off the way the trainer wanted. He was suddenly very understanding of just why people were so into contests now, and he didn’t understand how contests hadn’t really gotten a foothold in Unova yet.

If Emmet was enthusiastic about the contests Ingo was downright enthralled by them. Much like how Emmet and Elesa had predicated Ingo really got into it. He probably cheered the loudest out of everyone in the crowd which honestly caused a few people around them to jump a bit in surprise at Ingo’s loud volume. Emmet was sure Ingo’s gasps of surprise when something unexpected happened could be heard by half of the stadium. The most notable example of Ingo’s enthusiasm came about during a Flygon’s act. The Flygon had used Dragon Breath to light up the stage around it, and with the flapping of its wings the purple, yellow, and blue flames grew in size to raging infernos. Using Dragon Dance the Flygon danced among the fire. Sparks of fire seemed to sparkle around the Pokémon beautifully as it gracefully flew and danced around the flames. The little show got the crowd cheering their heads off, but no one could match Ingo’s volume.

Ingo had stood up and clapped as loud as he could as he shouted “BRAVO! A most excellent display!”

Yelling that has certainly drawn a lot of attention to them, and both the Flygon and their trainer had been a bit startled to get such a loud cheer. However, they recovered quickly and they smiled at Ingo as they both bowed to the man in gratitude for his cheers. They saw plenty of other amazing acts after that, but the Flygon’s Dragon Dance and Dragon Breath combo was something that Ingo would talk about with starry eyed wonder whenever they would talk about what their favorite moment in the contests had been. As predicted after watching one show in person Ingo wanted to enter a contest himself. He ended up expressing such a desire after they returned to their hotel room after having spent the day watching all sorts of different contests.

“I-I wish to enter a contest if that is alright," Ingo had managed to stutter out. "I know we have plenty to do on our schedule, and that we must stay on track to do everything we planned. Still, if it is at all possible to take a slight detour-“

Before Ingo could continue his rambling Elesa started to laugh. Ingo only stared at her in confusion while Elesa could only grin at him in response. “Oh Ingo I already prepared for this.”

Without saying another word Elesa pulled a small canvas bag out of her suitcase, and held it out to Ingo. Ingo slowly took hold of the bag that she had, and slowly he slowly pulled out the clothing that was inside of the bag. Inside was a coat that looked a lot like his Subway Boss coat, but it had been altered. This coat’s stripes were the same purple color as Lavender’s flames. Following that was a black suit vest, and a vivid purple tie that matched the stripes of the suit. A small tie clip made to look like a Chandelure had even been included with the tie. Black dress pants, and dress shoes that looked like they had been recently shined. There was even a hat with a purple hat band although the hat didn’t have a badge on it like their work hats did. It was a simple yet elegant looking outfit that was similar to their work uniform, but different enough to stick out.

“Emmet and I figured you would want to participate in a contest yourself, so I had this made for you so you could participate in contests in style. I know it’s not as fancy as some of the outfits that people usually wear at contests, but it’s the best I could do on such a short notice.”

“It’s lovely Elesa,” Ingo said as a look of pure fondness appeared on his face.

The man was quick to try his new contest uniform on, and when he stepped out of the bathroom decked out in his new outfit Emmet could not help but smile at how pleased his brother looked.

“You look great Dad!” Akari chirped out.

A small smile appeared on Ingo’s face upon hearing that although the man might as well have been beaming in joy.

“Do you know what contest you want to try out first?” Elesa asked.

Ingo thought it over for a moment before he slowly nodded. “I think Lavender and I will enter the beauty contest. I…have a rough idea of what sort of spectacle that we could create.”

“What were you thinking of doing?” Emmet asked.

Ingo only shook his head as he gave Emmet an amused look.

“Where is the fun in just telling you?” Ingo asked. “You can see it along with the audience. The surprise at seeing what happens is half the fun in contests isn’t it?”

Emmet supposed he couldn’t argue against that although he had to admit that he didn’t relish the idea of waiting. Still, he respected his brother’s wishes and didn’t push for an answer. The very next morning Ingo got up early, and left for the contest hall so that he could sign himself up for a Normal Rank Beauty Contest. He got in with ease, and was given a spot in a contest that would start at eleven that day. They came to the contest hall at ten to help Ingo prepare, and luckily they were allowed to come into the dressing room to help Ingo get ready. Of course Elesa was quick to jump in to help Ingo and Lavender get ready for the contest with Akari being her assistant. Emmet stuck to just helping them gather up whatever they needed to get ready. Apparently Elesa had made sure to get some ruffled purple ribbons that matched Lavender’s fire for her to wear on her metal arms.

By the time Ingo was dressed and ready to go they left to find some seats to watch the contest from. They were lucky to find good seats, and while the contest was only a normal rank one there was a decent amount of people in the audience. Emmet was excited to see his brother’s performance, but his enthusiasm didn’t hold a candle to Akari’s excitement. The girl was at the edge of her seat pretty much counting down the minutes till Ingo would finally step out onto the stage. When the show finally started the contests came out one by one with their Pokémon, and were introduced by the announcer.

Since this was a beginner’s contest most of the Pokémon were baby Pokémon, or ones that were early in their evolution line. There were a few fully evolved Pokémon like one woman that had a Flareon, and a young man with a Mothim. Everyone was dressed up, and even the Pokémon had a few accessories on. Most were wearing ribbons, flowers, or bowties. One rather excited Buizel was wearing a top hat of all things. Eventually they reached the last contestant who happened to be Ingo. There was a bit of a murmur that went through the crowed as Ingo stepped forward with Lavender. Some people seemed to recognize Ingo. From nearby he could hear some people talking about him.

“I recognize him! He’s Subway Boss Ingo!”

“Who?”

“He’s a Battle Facility head in Unvoa! I fought him once when I took a vacation to Unova a while back. He kicked my butt. Never thought I would see him doing contests.”

As the chattering went on Emmet focused his attention back onto Ingo. Ingo stood stall and proud as he stared out at the crowed. If he noticed the slight commotion that his entrance onto the stage caused, he didn’t show it. He looked stern and serious as ever as Lavender floated beside him. The ruffled purple ribbons tied to her metal arms fluttering about as she slowly swung her body side to side. As they took their place with the rest of the contestants the announcer called for the start of the contest. This contest was for beginners just starting their carrier in contests so the performances put on were not quite as big and in your face as the more advance contests were.

Still, they were entertaining to watch and some of the contestants already showed great promise. Still, great as they were Emmet was most looking forward to see Ingo’s act. Ingo being so secretive about it had put Emmet on the edge of his seat just to see what his brother had come up with. Eventually Ingo’s turn came up, and he stepped forward. At first he stood there with his hands held behind his back as he stared out at the crowed. Lavender drifted above him as she gracefully spun and twirled in the air as her ribbons fluttered around her.

Ingo tilted his head slightly to the side as he said “Lavender, Will-o-wisp.”

Lavender’s response sounded like chiming bells as she spun around. Purple flames appeared around him in a circle flickering brightly with an eerie light.

“Flamethrower,” Ingo ordered.

With another bell like call the Chandelure spun about as flames escaped from the fire burning at the end of her metal arms. The flames swirled around her for a moment twirling elegantly around her. Ingo snapped his fingers, and Lavender spun about as she used her ghost abilities to take control of the flames. Such an ability wasn’t something that could done in battle, or at least not done easily. Controlling the direction of the flame with such procession required great concentration, and no enemy would willingly allow a foe to have the time or focus to do such a thing. However, in a contest like this Lavender had no foe to fight against. She was free to take control in ways she couldn’t in battle. The flames of the Flamethrower move swirled around her for a moment before they dove forward to consume the small purple flames of the Will-o-wisp attack that were still circling around Ingo. A few gasps of surprise escaped from the audience as the fire swirled around Ingo. The flames of the Flamethrower attack were much larger than that of the Will-o-wisp after all.

However, Ingo was unconcerned by it all. He trusted Lavender with his life, and he knew she would not allow her fire to ever harm him. The flames of the Flamethrower attack took on the purple hue of the Will-O-wisp as it consumed the small purple flames. Ingo watched it all with a calm look on his face, and it was only when the flames now looked like the purple ghostly fire that Lavender had did he finally give his next order.

“Make it dance.”

With a happy hum Lavender did as ordered. The flames swirled away from Ingo, and moved around her for a moment before the fire suddenly started to fly around them. Without a second thought Lavender let off another Flamethrower attack. The flames of red, yellow, and orange quickly seemed to twirl around the purple flames. Emmet watched in amazement as the flames stayed together yet separate enough that they didn’t combine. The flames swirled around Ingo and Lavender almost like the fires were dancing through the air. The flames moved creating loops and hoops that Lavender gracefully moved through. Hearts were drawn with flames interspliced with the hoops that Lavender made for herself to fly through. It was beautiful spectacle, but it wasn’t an affect that Lavender could keep going for long.

Before the flames could sputter out on their own Lavender had the flames swirl around Ingo and her one last time before she allowed the flames to slowly fade away like campfire slowly dying down to barely glowing embers. When the fires were gone Lavender drifted over to Ingo as she let out a soft hum of satisfaction. Ingo gave her a gentle pat on her glass body before he looked out at the audience to see what their response would be. He wasn’t left waiting long. The audience quickly exploded into cheers and clapping, and Emmet was cheering louder than he ever had.

Akari had jumped up from her seat as she clapped loudly, and loudly said in a volume that would make Ingo proud “Bravo!”

Elesa couldn’t help but start laughing when Akari’s loud yell caused a few people around them to jump in surprise at just how loud such a small young girl had gotten. From his space on the stage Ingo was blushing slightly, but as he looked at his family in the audience Emmet could also see that the man looked very pleased by his and Lavender’s performance. There were a few acts left after Ingo, but in Emmet’s honest opinion none of those acts held a candle to Ingo and Lavender’s performance. By the end of the contest Emmet was sure he knew who the winner was, and he was proven correct when the announcer started to speak.

“A winner has been decided! The winner of the Normal Rank Beauty contest is… Ingo and Lavender!”

A loud cheer escaped from the crowed upon hearing that announcement. Ingo only stared out at the crowd with wide eyes. He honestly looked surprised that he had won. As for Lavender she was happily crying her heart out as she danced around Ingo. She could barely keep still as the announcer tied Lavender’s Beauty Ribbon onto one of her metal arms. When they walked off of the stage Ingo still had a look of wide eyed wonder on his face. When they later met up with Ingo outside the dressing room he still had that look on his face.

“Dad!” Akari happily called out as she ran to him to hug him. “You and Lavender won!”

Without really even thinking Ingo returned the hug as he slowly said “We did didn’t we?” The girl nodded as she broke the hug only to immediately hug Lavender. The ghost Pokémon let out a happy hum as she nuzzled up against the girl. “You did such a great job Lavender! You looked so beautiful up there on the stage!”

Lavender let out a happy cry upon hearing that. She was clearly pleased with her performance, and was enjoying all of the praise that she was getting.

“You look surprised brother,” Emmet commented. “Did you think you wouldn’t do well?”

Ingo seemed to recover a bit from his shock upon hearing that. “I was sure that we would do well, and I knew Lavender and I would put on the very best show that we could. Still, since it was our first contest I was a bit nervous about how well we would do against the competition. Our act was a rather last minute thing that we came up with on the fly as well, so I was a bit worried if we would be able to pull it off the way I envisioned.”

“Well, you both did great,” Elesa said. “What did you think of your very first contest?”

Ingo grew excited as he said “It was wonderful! Hearing the crowed cheer for us like that was invigorating, and knowing that we were the ones to make the audience so excited made me happy. I was happy knowing that we were able to bring such joy to the audience with our act.”

Lavender let out a happy cry as if to say that she felt the same as Ingo. Emmet could only smile at the two as he quietly wondered if contests would become a major hobby for Ingo.

“Do you want to do more contests?” Akari asked as she finally released Lavender from her hug.

“I-I would like to enter the Normal Ranks for the other categories with my other Pokémon. However, I know that would take a lot of time to do. We would need to stay for at least four more days so I could enter each contest, and have enough time to do some research and prepare a good act for each category. That is a lot of time to spend on such things though, and we would be going off schedule quite a bit if we did. We still need to visit Lake Valor so we can see Azelf, and we need to go to Pastoria City so we can check out the Safari Zone and-“

“Ingo,” Elesa said softly before he could continue rambling. “We have time for you to do the contests. Spending four days to do some more contests won’t cause us to go off track.”

“I…Are you sure?” Ingo slowly asked. “I know that there are so many things you all want to see and do, and I do not wish to postpone that just to indulge more in my interests.”

“It’s fine with me,” Akari chirped out. “Azelf probably won’t mind waiting a bit longer, and the Safari Zone isn’t going anywhere.”

“That goes for the Battle Frontier as well,” Emmet added. “This vacation is for all of us to enjoy, and it is verrrry clear to us that you like being in contests. It makes you happy, so it makes us happy. Besides watching the creative combination of moves in contests are verrrry fun. I’m seeing moves used in ways I would never see in battle.”

“I love watching the contests too!” Akari chirped out. “It’s fun to see all of the Pokémon, and how they work together with their trainer.”

“What they said applies to me as well,” Elesa said. “I like watching contests. I like seeing the fashion that people wear during the contests, and how they dress their Pokémon up. If anything I could see myself coming up with some ideas for more contest outfits for you if you want to keep doing contests after this. I know they aren’t a major thing in Unova, but I’ve heard some rumbling that they are thinking of trying to start up some official contest halls in Unova. I’d support you one hundred percent if you chose to keep doing contests, and I know Emmet and Akari feel the same.”

Ingo seemed to light up with joy upon hearing that, but he still ended up asking “If you are sure...”

“We are sure Ingo,” Emmet confirmed. “Then yes. I wish to participate in the other contests as well.”

“Great!” Elesa said. “Now that we have that figured out lets go out and celebrate Lavender and Ingo’s win! Ingo gets to choose our lunch location.”

“And after that we will go to Amity Square, right?” Akari asked.

“Of course,” Elesa said with a nod of her head. “That was our plan for the day after all.”

She looked over at Ingo, and asked “So where did you want to go?”

“There was a hotpot place near our hotel that looked rather interesting,” Ingo said. “Would that place work for everyone?”

Of course no one had any issue with that, and Emmet was quick to say “Now that it has been decided let’s go. I’m verrry hungry.”

Ingo rolled his eyes upon hearing that, but the fond look he gave his brother told Emmet that Ingo was more amused then anything. Lunch at the hotpot place went well, and thankfully it wasn’t too far from Amity Square. When they reached Amity Square they were given a quick rundown of the rules. Visitors were asked to stay with having only two Pokémon out at once, and they sure to empathize the fact that all Pokémon were welcomed to play at the park.

“At first the park was limited to only a very limited amount of Pokémon,” The front desk woman admitted with a bit of embarrassment. “However, we got many complaints about this, so the rules are changed so all Pokémon are welcome.”

Elesa grumbled a bit in the background that all Pokémon should have been welcome from the very start, but they didn’t linger at the front desk for long.

There was a question about what Pokémon they should take out for the park trip, but Akari cut down the worry about that by saying “Well, we could visit the park every day after Dad’s contests that way everyone, or at least most of everyone, can see the park. If we stay here long enough we can alternate who is out in the park.”

“A wonderful idea Akari,” Ingo had said as he smiled slightly at her. “Do you know who you are going to have visit the park first?”

“Hermes and Scout!” Akari chirped out as she pulled their Poke Balls off of her belt.
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She let the two out, and upon being let out of their Poke Balls they looked around the park in great interest. Hermes seemed to take a special interest in the rock huts that had been set around the park for the trainers and Pokémon to play in. Elesa choose to let her two Emolga play in the park, and the two of them instantly started letting out little excited chirps when they saw that they were at the park. Emmet chose to have Taser and Marigold out. The two electric types seemed highly pleased to have a giant park to run around in. Ingo of course already had Lavender out, and the ghost type was still riding high on her victory at the contest. Ingo also let his Gliscor out of his ball, and the Gliscor started chittering in excitement when he saw the large park that they were in.

“Ready to explore the park?” Ingo asked.

“Yes!” Akari said in excitement as Hermes yipped in excitement next to her.

The group basically let Akari take charge of where they would go, and the girl made a Combee line to the stone huts with the group’s Pokémon close at her heels. Akari started playing hide and seek with the Pokémon there for a while with the adults monitoring, and occasionally joining in on the fun. There was other playground equipment set up in the park like slides, swings, and other things like that although some of the equipment had been adjusted to be safe for Pokémon to use as well. Akari and the Pokémon jumped from one playground equipment to another pretty much are going to whatever caught their interest.

Akari’s laughter rang out through the air as she played on a playground merry-go-round with their Pokémon, and with a few kids her age that were already there at the playground merry-go-round. Akari was clinging to the bars as one of Elesa’s Emolga clung to her shoulder. Scout was lying next to her holding the bar with one hand while he had a lazy smile on his face. He seemed to be completely unfazed by being spun around and around which could not be said for Elesa’s other Emolga who was also clinging onto the bar like his life depended on it. Em was sitting in the very middle grinning away as he spun around and around. A boy and a girl that Akari had met up with there were laughing and happily chatting away with her as they sat on the merry-go-round spinning with her. The girl’s Jigglypuff was sitting on her lap looking a little dizzy while the boy’s Monferno pushed the merry-go-round around along with Hermes and Taser.

Emmet could not help but smile a bit at the scene. Ingo was watching them play as well with a peaceful expression on his face. It was probably the most at peace that Emmet had ever seen Ingo in a long while.

“This is a gift,” Ingo said softly.

“What is?” Emmet asked.

“Being able to see Akari play like this,” Ingo answered. “It’s a gift. One I sometimes worried I would never be able to see.”

Elesa shot Ingo a confused look, and Ingo looked a little sad as he said “Akari was always working hard as a Survey Member. For the longest time she worked so hard just so that she would have a roof over her head, and food in her belly. Kamado….Kamado was always quick to remind her that she had to work hard for people to trust her, but he really made sure to make it clear that she had to work for her keep. I know Cyllene wouldn’t have allowed Kamado to kick her out for not working by whatever insane standards he expected, but he never said such things around her. Akari was a child in a strange place where most people treated her with distrust at best, and barley held contempt at worst. She had been told over and over again during her test to join the Galaxy Team that if she failed her test she would be tossed out into the wild where she could very well die. Of course she was afraid to lose what little she had. Of course she would work hard to not lose it.”

Upon hearing that Emmet could feel his blood start to boil a bit. He knew Ingo already punched Kamado, but hearing things like this really made Emmet wish that he had punched Kamado as well.

“There were not a lot of children her age at the village, and what few there were tended to avoid her due to being someone who fell from the rift. She had Rei, but Rei was busy with his own duties. Things improved a bit once she got close to people in both of the clans, but Kamado kept putting pressure on her so she never felt like she could truly relax.” Ingo sighed a bit as he said “Things only improved a bit once she started living with me. By then Kamado had been…. let’s say humbled. Since Akari was with me she could relax a bit since she had no worries about someone taking her home away. Still at that time she was so close to finishing the Pokédex that it was pretty much the only thing that she could focus on most of the time. I knew how important it was to her to finally finish it, so I didn’t stand in her way. Still, I worried. I wondered if the day would ever come when she could finally shed all of the responsibility that had been thrusted upon her so that she could finally be able to be the child she is, and play like other children her age.”

A soft smile appeared on Ingo’s face as he glanced over at Emmet and Elesa, and said “I have so much to thank the two of you for. You saved us from Volo, you helped Akari to finally finish the Pokédex, and you helped to make it so that Akari can finally have a carefree life where she can be the child that she is.”

“There’s no need to thank us,” Emmet was quick to say. “We are family, and we love you. Of course we would do all of that for you. We know you would do the same for us.”

“I know,” Ingo said as he continued to smile. “But I’m grateful anyway. I’ll always be grateful for everything you all have done for us.”

Emmet nor Elesa could not think of anything to say to that. Not too long after Ingo’s comment the kids that Akari was playing with had to go. Akari wished them farewell, and happily returned to their side with a grin on her face and a bunch of happy Pokémon at her heels. “Where are going to go next?”

“Apparently there’s a huge field of flowers that they planted here at the park,” Elesa commented. “It was planted more for the grass Pokémon to play at, but most Pokémon like it there. It’s a pretty popular picnic location too. We all good on going there next?”

Everyone was quick to agree with that idea, so they didn’t waste time on making their way to that section of the park. As they walked Emmet found himself getting lost in thought. As he thought he started to slow down a bit. The rest of his family were so engrossed in conversation that they didn’t notice that Emmet had fallen behind, but Emmet didn’t mind. It gave him time to think. Honestly, after Ingo’s thankful comment Emmet couldn’t help but think. It was thanks to what Ingo said that Emmet realized that he hadn’t really thought about all of the negative things that had happened in Hisui in a very long time. Mt. Coronet had brought up some bad feelings, but Ingo and Akari had been quick to wash those feelings away by sharing their more positive memories about the mountains.

Honestly, Mt. Coronet was the only place that really brought negative memories to the forefront of his mind. The rest of their visit to Sinnoh had been surprisingly pleasant, and not as tainted by negative emotions as Emmet had expected. The visit to the museum had been fun especially when Akari and Ingo could point out what was accurate and what wasn’t. The trip to Snowpoint City was a bit bittersweet, but battling Candice again had been fun. Honestly, a majority of the trip had been fun. Emmet had been enjoying himself for a majority of the trip, and the few times a few darkener memories surfaced they were quickly washed away.

Emmet could not help be grateful that the darker memories didn’t really seem to haunt him much anymore. The memories of what happened to Ingo and Akari still lingered in the back of his mind. He would never be able to forget the curse they suffered under, or how they had been cruelly murdered. It was something that would stay with him all his life. However, it didn’t loom over him as much as it had when he first started his journey to save Ingo and Akari. As time passed he was able to look at Akari and Ingo and not think of how he had almost lost them both for good. Instead, he only thought of how happy he was that they were a part of his life.

“Uncle Emmet come on!”

“Brother, are you alright?" Ingo questioned. "You are starting to fall behind.”

Emmet shook his head and smiled as he moved forward so that he was once again walking by his brother’s side.

“I’m fine,” Emmet said. “Just lost in thought.”

“What were you thinking about?” Elesa asked.

“Just thinking about how verrrry happy I am,” He answered.

He gave Elesa a bright smile, and upon seeing that she smiled back at him. Something about the soft look on her face made him think that perhaps she knew exactly what he had been thinking. As they walked Emmet couldn’t help but think that this moment looked a lot like that dream he had after their visit to the trainer school. Akari and Ingo were there with Emmet and Elesa. The Typhlosion with the lazy smile walked by Akari’s side. Hermes was walking next to Scout a happy grin on the Zoroark’s face as he looked at all of the places that he could play at. Ingo’s Gliscor flew overhead a giant grin on his face. Elesa’s Emolga clung to her shoulders happily chattering at each other was they pointed at the various places in the park that captured their interest. Marigold was happy chittering by Emmet’s feet while Taser floated in front of them happy as can be. Floating by Ingo’s side Lavender was happily singing. The ribbon she and Ingo had won was still tied to her metal arm.

They were all the perfect picture of happiness, and Emmet felt at peace. While he could never forget what had happened and what he had almost lost he could move on. It was time to lay those ghosts of the past to rest. Emmet was ready to enjoy living in the present with his family, and as they walked along together in that peaceful park he couldn’t help but look forward to the bright future that he would have with them…