Chapter Text
Emmet hated silence.
He absolutely despised it.
Having lived basically his whole life with Ingo he was used to hearing his loud brother in the background chattering to Emmet about some splendid Pokémon battle that he had on the Single Line that day, or he would hear Ingo lovingly lavishing attention and praise onto his own Pokémon. He was used to hearing Ingo and Elesa happily chattering on the phone about the day’s events while laughing over incredibly awful Pokémon puns. With Ingo there the twins’ home was always filled with chatter and the happy cries of their Pokémon as the Pokémon ran around their home playing. It was loud, but the noises made their home feel full of love. The noises were a reminder that their family was there happy and together. To Emmet he associated the noise to family and joy.
So of course when Ingo disappeared the usual noise of their home went with him. It was like all of the joy that used to be in their home had vanished right along with Ingo.
Whenever Emmet came home the near dead silence of the house almost drove him insane. He was used to hearing his brothers booming voice filling the home. To somehow keep the home from being totally silent Emmet had taken to turning the TV on, and turning the volume up high. He didn’t really care what was playing he just needed the background noise to keep himself from spiraling completely into some rather dark thoughts. He had no real intention of paying any attention to what was playing anyway. The noise from the TV honestly helped. It was a poor replacement for Ingo, but it kept the silence away. Since it worked Emmet was quick to work turning the TV on into part of his returning home routine. When he got home from work the routine was always the same. Get the mail, lock the door once he was inside, hang his coat up on the coatrack, let his and his brother’s Pokémon out of their Poke Balls, turn on the TV, and then set about making dinner for both himself and the Pokémon.
And the whole time he did this he tried his best to not think about how Ingo wasn’t there.
This had been his routine for the past three long years. During those long years of Ingo being gone Emmet had found no sign of Ingo anywhere. No one knew where he was. The police had yet to find any clues about what could have possibly happened to Ingo. When Ingo had vanished it was like he had fallen off the planet itself. Emmet kept ahold of his hope that Ingo was alive somewhere out there. He refused to lose that hope that Ingo was alive even when more and more people lost hope themselves as the years went by. With that said Emmet’s hope that they would find answers was slowly dwindling with each passing year. The police were of no help. His contacts within the Pokémon League itself had promised to keep an eye out for any signs of Ingo, but they had yet to find anything. Ingo’s missing person’s case had gone cold, and Emmet didn’t know where to turn to find any answers.
It was only after three long years had passed did the answers finally come to him through his mindless routine of turning on the TV every time he came home.
The day had been a rather regular dreary day. Most of the morning had been dedicated to finishing off the last bit of paperwork that needed to be completed for that week, and the afternoon had been spent running the single lines of the Battle Subway. He hadn’t gotten many challengers that day, and the few he did get he was able to beat. Still, the battles had been fun and he was grateful for the battles even if it was only a few. These days battling was one of the very few things that could get his mind off of Ingo’s disappearance for a few minutes.
When the day ended he had trudged home, and upon getting home he went about doing his routine. He checked the mail. There were only a few bills. No letters about Ingo. He locked the door, and hung up his jacket. Upon reaching the living room he turned on the TV, and once that was done he let all of his and his brother’s Pokémon out of their Poke Balls. They all let out their own little cries of greeting as they crowded around Emmet demanding attention. Emmet of course gave them all a bit of love and attention, but he gave Ingo’s Chandelure a bit of extra attention.
“Safety check,” He said softly as he gently caressed the glass of the ghost Pokémon. “How are you feeling today?”
A soft sad hum was the answer that Emmet got, but the cry was accompanied by the Pokémon nuzzling up as best as she could against Emmet’s hand. It was her own way of saying “I’m as good as I can be without Ingo here.”
He gave the ghost a small genuine smile as he said “I got some poffins yesterday. Would you like that for dessert tonight?”
The ghost Pokémon let out a small hum to indicate that she would like that while the other Pokémon let out louder cries that meant that they also wanted poffins.
A week chuckle escaped from Emmet as he said “Alright, I hear you. Let me make dinner first.”
A few of the Pokémon grumbled about not getting treats now, but they went off to do their own thing while they waited for the food to be ready. Emmet left them to it pausing only for a moment to turn the TV up a bit more before he continued on his way to the kitchen. As he moved along he only took a quick glance at the TV. The only thing playing right now was a bunch of commercials, so it wasn't anything worth sticking around for. He just kept moving along his tracks to his destination.
Upon reaching the kitchen he stared at the small bookcase that was stuffed to the brim with cookbooks that Ingo had collected over the years. Ingo loved to cook. He found cooking to be a relaxing activity. Emmet loved to eat, but found cooking to be a rather boring activity himself. Ingo had done most of the cooking, but with him gone Emmet was the only one who could do it now. He could have probably just ordered take out most of the time, but Emmet tended to look toward Ingo’s cookbooks for cooking help most of the time. Following the recipes from Ingo’s favorite cookbooks was some small way to keep Ingo’s memory alive. It was just too bad that Emmet’s cooking was never as good as Ingo’s even when he was following the cookbooks.
Emmet sighed sadly as he ran his fingertips over the spines of the books. He wasn’t in the mood for any Kanto noodle dishes, and while the food in the Kalos cookbook were good they also tended to be long and complicated and Emmet didn’t have the energy or desire to mess with that. His hand stopped once he landed on a book filled to the brim with popular curry recipes from the Galar region. The curry recipes from this book were always good, and rather easy to make. The recipes from the book were safe for Pokémon to eat as well.
‘Two Pidoves with one stone,’ Emmet thought as he pulled the book off the shelf.
If he made this he wouldn’t have to make a separate meal for the Pokémon. As he flipped the book open Haxorus poked his head in to see what Emmet was making.
“Want to choose what curry we have tonight?” Emmet asked the dragon type.
The dragon wasted no time in racing over to Emmet to look at the book. Emmet chuckled as he slowly flipped through the pages letting the Pokémon look at the food that was displayed on each page. When he reached the page showing how to make sweet mushroom medley curry the dragon stopped him and started gently tapping the picture as if to say “This one! I want this one!”
“Leave it to you to choose a sweet dish,” Emmet joked. “Very well. If that is what you want that is what we will have.”
The dragon let out a small pleased rumbling noise upon hearing that. Emmet placed the cookbook down on the counter. As he did so he could hear the commercials end and the scheduled TV program come on.
And we are back with Unearth the Paranormal!
‘Unearth the Paranormal?’ Emmet could not help but think.
Not a show he recognized. Maybe it was new. If it was on this channel it was probably a ghost hunting show. Usually the channel focused on history related things like documentaries, or shows that talking about interesting museum pieces and the history behind said pieces. However, there were one or two ghost hunting shows on the channel for some reason. Maybe they added yet another ghost hunting show to their program? Ghost hunting shows were rather popular. Emmet mentally shrugged it off as he looked at the recipe’s list of needed ingredients, and slowly started to get everything out. As he did so the TV continued to play in the background.
By the time we got to Mount Coronet it was late into the afternoon, so we would not be able to hunt for the ghost of the child that haunted the mountainside during the early morning hours. However, we did have enough time to set up camp and wait for night to arrive. The ghost of the father was said to come out the second night has fallen.
“Got the rice,” Emmet muttered. “Says I need some sweet berries to add to the dish.”
The fridge door was opened as Emmet pulled out a bag of pecha berries and mindlessly tossed them onto the counter.
We didn’t think we would have any success in spotting anything on the first night, but around midnight exactly we had a run in with the father we were looking for. While both ghosts can be found wandering all areas of Mount Coronet the ghost of the father is said to frequent an area known as the Fabled Spring. Since artifacts proving that the ghosts once lived here where found in this area it only makes sense that one of the ghosts would hunt this area. It was this reason why we chose to station people here all night. Still, we were shocked by how quickly we got results. See here the filmed results of our very first run in with the ghosts of Mount Coronet.
“Max, you see that guy walking toward us?”
“It’s not another hiker is it? There’s like a ton of them out here.”
“Max, this guy is glowing! Like even his freaking eyes are glowing!”
“What are you…. Oh… Oh!”
Emmet reached out and pulled the package of mushrooms out while he was at it since he knew he had to grab those. However, as he pulled the mushrooms out he froze when he heard something hauntingly familiar come from the TV in the other room.
“Akari!”
“Ingo?” The name tumbled out of Emmet’s mouth before he could stop himself.
That voice! That voice sounded just like Ingo! It had the same accent. It had the same volume. Everything about it sounded just like Ingo. The only difference was that there was a strange echoing sort of quality to it.
“Akari?! Where are you?! Please answer me!”
That was Ingo’s voice…
That was Ingo’s voice!
As if to confirm this Emmet could hear Ingo’s Chandelure start wailing at full volume. When Ingo had disappeared the ghost Pokémon’s volume had fallen to soft murmurs and broken sad songs. Not once has she ever raised her voice above a soft murmur. Yet, right now she was wailing her heart out at full volume. She was screaming, and that scream was one of pure heartbreak. Joining her cries where the wails of Ingo’s other Pokémon. Every single one of them sounded distressed. The package of mushrooms was dropped to the floor as Emmet raced into the living room with Haxorus following close behind him.
When Emmet emerged into the living room he froze when he spotted the TV screen. There on the large screen of the TV was Ingo. The man on the screen was rough looking, and he was glowing softly like every single ghost that Emmet had ever seen in cheesy horror movies. Yet, it was Ingo. The jacket he was wearing was shredded, but even in its rough shape Emmet could see that it was Ingo’s Subway Boss coat. The hat on his head had rips and tears in the fabric, but it still had the Gear Station symbol firmly attached to the cap. The strange tunic he was wearing was unrecognizable, but the dress pants and shoes were all a part of Ingo’s Subway Boss uniform. His hair was still the same, and the shinning silver eyes that stared at Emmet through the screen where an exact copy of Emmet’s own silver eyes.
Ingo looked tired. Instead of standing tall and proud he was slouched slightly as if weighed down by worries. Ingo had a goatee of all things on his face which was something Emmet could never picture Ingo having. Ingo tended to prefer to be clean shaven. Still, even with a goatee Emmet recognized him. The frown on his face looked as serious as ever, but his wide eyed silver gaze was filled with fear and worry. He stared at whoever was holding the camera in pure desperation as he walked toward them. The shredded remains of his jacket fluttered behind him on an invisible breeze while Ingo’s whole body glowed with a faint purple glow. When he reached the camera man and his companion Ingo stopped. Over the wailing of Ingo and Emmet’s Pokémon Ingo’s loud voice boomed out from the TV speakers.
“Please, have you seen my daughter? I can’t find her!”
“Your daughter…” The camera man started to say only for Ingo to cut him off.
“Her name is Akari! She has gray eyes and black hair! She’s wearing an indigo colored flatcap, and a Galaxy Team survey uniform! Please tell me you have seen her! She’s in great danger!”
“Galaxy Team?” Emmet heard the camera man say in confusion. “That like a Galactic Team thing?”
“No, its old team that first built Jubilife Village, remember? Don’t you pay attention in history class?!” The camera man’s friend quickly explained. “Never mind that! Sir, can you tell us your name? Can you communicate with us at all?”
Ingo didn’t seem to register anything of what was being said to him. Over the worry and fear shinning in the man’s eyes there was a sort of glazed over look to them as well. It was almost like Ingo couldn’t really hear what they were saying. His only response to anything said to him was the same line that he said over and over again.
“Please, have you seen my daughter?”
After asking a few more pointless questions that got them nowhere the camera man finally said something that got a reaction from Ingo.
“No, we haven’t seen her.”
Ingo’s shoulders slumped upon hearing that as a look of pure anguish appeared on his face. Ingo didn’t bother to say anything else to them. He just turned right around, and continued walking down the rocky path all while crying out for his supposed missing daughter.
“Akari!? Akari, please where are you?!”
Slowly Ingo fades from view as he walks along the trail, and once he was gone from view Emmet fell to his knees. Tears fell from his eyes as he stared at the TV screen. The people on the TV were talking, but Emmet wasn’t really hearing what was being said. Chandelure was still screaming, but Emmet was too rooted in place to do anything. Emmet’s own Pokémon were pressing up against him crying in concern as he struggled to take in breaths of air as he sobbed his heart out, but he could barely hear their worried calls. All he could focus on was Ingo.
That had been Ingo on the screen. Emmet had finally found him, and for once Emmet almost wished he hadn’t.
Ingo was dead...
Ingo was dead!
Ingo was a ghost haunting some mountain in a distant region that none of them had ever been to before looking for a daughter that Emmet had never heard of. None of it made sense. None of this should be real. Yet, for as insane as all of this was there was no doubt about it. That had been Ingo on the screen.
And Ingo was dead...
Emmet ended up spending most of that night wailing his heart out along with Chandelure.
Emmet had no idea how long he spent just sitting there on the floor crying his heart out. Minutes, hours? It didn’t matter. All he did know was that once he got ahold of himself only one desire hit Emmet.
He needed answers.
He needed answers now.
But first he needed to comfort his brother’s first Pokémon partner.
It took a while to detangle himself out of Eelektross’ hug. The Pokémon had wrapped himself around Emmet in his attempt to hug his trainer. He was reluctant to let go, but ultimately he allowed Emmet to untangle him. Emmet’s Galvantula chittered sadly as she backed away just enough to give Emmet some room. Garbodor and Klinklang had stayed back their gazes periodically jumping from Emmet to the TV only to look back at Emmet. They looked like they didn’t know if they should go to Emmet for comfort, or if they should keep their eyes glued to the TV screen in some vain hope that they might see Ingo again. Crustle had his eyes glued to the television as he whimpered and cried while Durant pressed up against him gently as he clicked sadly at the crying rock-bug type. Excadrill wasn’t doing a whole lot better. He seemed frozen at his spot on the couch. His eyes were glued to the TV while tears silently fell from his eyes. Archeops just sat next to him letting out sad sounding chirps. From behind him Emmet could hear Haxorus was letting out his own sad mournful cries.
The sight of all of their Pokémon being absolutely devastated at seeing the ghost of Ingo was enough to make the Emmet’s broken heart shatter even more. Emmet slowly approached the crying Chandelure.
“Lavender!” Emmet called out.
Hearing the old nickname that Ingo had given her when she was only a small Litwick was enough to snap her out of her crying fit. Her loud wailing died down to low whimpers as she quickly drifted over to Emmet. She pretty much glued herself to Emmet’s side, and Emmet did his best to wrap his arms around her. As he held her Emmet struggled to think of what to say. The age old ‘it will be okay’ had no place here. Nothing about this situation was okay. The typical words of comfort felt empty and pointless here. No words of comfort would fix this situation. No sweet words could change what they saw on the TV. Maybe if Ingo was here and alive he would know what to say. Ingo always had a way with words. That was a gift that Emmet did not have. Ultimately, all Emmet could do was tell the sad ghost type the only thing he could do.
“We will find answers,” He told the ghost. “We will find out why Ingo is in Sinnoh. We will find out what happened to him. I promise you.”
A small sad whisper of a cry was the only answer that Emmet got. It was clear that what he said did very little to comfort her, but it was enough to stop her from completely flying off into the pit of despair. Emmet let her go and she drifted up a bit, but she stayed close to him. He made no comment about it as he walked over to the couch and picked up the still crying Excadrill. Excadrill just buried his face into Emmet’s chest as he soaked the man’s shirt in tears. Emmet made no comment about it as he held the mole Pokémon close to himself as he made his way to the office where the home computer was. As he walked the rest of his and Ingo’s Pokémon followed closely behind him. They stuck incredibly close to him. They only stood just far enough away from him to keep from tripping him up. It was like they were scared that if they didn’t keep Emmet in sight he would somehow disappear and die like Ingo apparently had. Emmet could not help but wince a bit at that thought, but he didn’t stop moving.
Upon reaching the office he flopped down on the office room chair, and placed Excadrill on his lap. The Pokémon didn’t move his head away from Emmet’s chest as Emmet turned the computer on. The second the computer was on Emmet hoped onto the internet and started looking. The first thing he did was look up the show that started this whole mess. He had clearly missed the first half of the episode and he had some vain hope that maybe the first part of the episode would have some much needed information.
Unfortunately, what he was able to find on the show left much to be desired. As he thought the show was a new one that had only started up a few months ago. Most of the reviews left for the show were rather bad ones urging people to not waste their time watching it. The show seemed more interested in frights and scares rather than really delving into the history of the places they were exploring or the stories of the ghosts that they were trying to find. It was a pretty low budget affair that was just cashing in on popular ghost stories. With as many ghost hunting shows that were out there already this rather bad one probably wouldn’t last very long, but Emmet didn’t really care about the show’s likely short fate. All he needed was the episode that Ingo showed up in.
Luckily, he did find clips of it already posted online. It was a rather new episode that had only come out last weekend, so there weren’t a lot of comments on the clips that he was able to find. Most of the comments made on the clips were ones expressing sympathy for the ghostly Ingo, or people asking if clips were faked. Emmet really wished it was fake. The videos from the show that Emmet found didn’t answer any questions as to why Ingo was possibly out there. All they really said was that the ghost father and daughter duo had been haunting Mount Coronet for about 150 years, and they had apparently been searching for each other this whole time. How they died was a mystery, and the only suggestions that the show made was some vague ‘some people think they were murdered by someone who hated the family’. They also mentioned that for whatever reason Ingo only came out at night when the sun had set, and he would vanish when the sun would start to rise. The ghost of the daughter would then come out, and haunt the mountain during the early hours of the day. That was the only info that the show really gave. After that they quickly flung themselves into the thrill of actually finding these ghosts. What little info that the show gave only brought up more questions.
Why was Ingo at Mount Coronet in Sinnoh? How did he die there? How could Ingo have ‘died’ there 150 years ago? Had Ingo really been there on that mountain for 150 years haunting that place every night looking for the spirit of a child that only came out during the early hours of dawn? Who was Akari? Ingo called her his daughter in that clip, so clearly her being his child had some truth to it. Yet, how did Ingo end up adopting a child? How had she died? Why were they even separated in death cursed to look for each other only to never find one another?
How could Emmet possibly help the spirit of his brother and his apparent niece?
These questions swirled about in Emmet’s mind, and with every passing second that they lingered in his mind Emmet could feel the desire to start screaming swell up inside him. He still couldn’t believe it. He didn’t want to believe it. He kept wanting to just wake up and find out that this was all some strange nightmare, or he wanted someone to send him an email saying that the whole show was some sick joke. If it was a sick joke or a nightmare Emmet could keep clinging to the hope that Ingo would one day return home alive and well. He could happily go on with life not being haunted with the knowledge that Ingo had been haunting a mountain for possibly 150 years in complete agony as he searched for someone he could never find.
However, while he wished with all his might this wasn’t real the logical part of his brain that couldn’t forget the image of a sad ghostly Ingo staring right at him with a look of despair. That part of his brain kept repeating that this was real over and over again. The sobbing Pokémon on his lap and the whimpering Chandelure floating above him made it clear that what he had seen was real. Emmet bit the inside of his cheek lightly as he tried to keep himself from just clinging to the Pokémon sitting on his lap and start crying again.
Crying right now would not help Ingo any. It would not help him find any answers. It was also clear that this awful ghost show wouldn’t give him any answers either. Apparently the ghosts of Mount Coronet was a popular ghost story in Sinnoh if the show was being truthful about that. Hopefully he could find something on the internet that would give him more information. However, before he moved on he took the clips staring the ghostly Ingo and sent them to the only person he could trust that could possibly help him. He sent them to Elesa. Elesa was Ingo and Emmet’s oldest friend. They had known each other since they were young children growing up in Anville Town. They had pretty much grown up together, and Elesa was like a sister to the twins. Besides Emmet Elesa was the only other person in Unova who still believed that Ingo would come home. She was always quick to shut down anyone who tried to even hint at the idea of Emmet giving up on Ingo coming home. If anyone could help him to find answers it would be her. Along with the clip Emmet had also sent a quick text.
Watch this. Now.
Maybe a bit pushy sounding and clearly lacking details, but if Emmet was being this demanding over text Elesa would know that whatever he sent her was urgent. When he was done with that he immediately hoped onto the internet and started searching. Looking up ‘ghosts of Mount Coronet’ actually brought up a whole lot of results. Emmet quickly brought up every single one that he could click on. Any website that only briefly covered the Mount Coronet ghosts was quickly disregarded while websites that actually went into detail about them Emmet kept. By the time he had ten tabs up Elesa had sent him a text.
I’m coming over. Right now.
Exactly the response that Emmet expected and wanted. Since Elesa was probably racing over right now Emmet quickly started to read through the ten tabs he already had open before he would continue bringing up more websites. Some of the websites were dedicated to the stories of human ghost sightings around the world. Quite a few haunted places popped up more than once. Stories about a ghost girl haunting the Marvelous Bridge in Unova showed up often, and sightings of a ghost girl haunting an office building in Lumiose City in Kalos seemed to be rather popular and appeared on every ghost site that he went on. Some place called the Old Chateau popped up quite a bit as well.
Emmet skimmed those parts just to make sure they had no connection to Ingo. They didn't seem to have any connection to Ingo at all, but Emmet didn't regret reading them just to make sure. He refused to leave any stone unturned in his search for answers. Emmet was rather disappointed to find that the websites that covered hauntings all over the world didn't go into any great detail on the ghosts of Mount Coronet. They mostly mentioned the same things that the ghost hunting show had. That Ingo and his apparent daughter had been haunting the mountain for about 150 years, and that Ingo’s ghost came out at night while the child’s ghost only came out during the early morning hours of the day. It also seemed to be a popular theory that Ingo and the child were killed by someone since Ingo apparently had a habit of saying that his child was ‘in danger’ although no one seemed to really know who could have killed them or why. While the info on these sites were lacking they did offer up something else.
Videos and pictures.
A lot of the videos and pictures were collected by the people running the sites, or they were things submitted by users of the sites. Every single picture and video that Emmet saw just further proved that it was indeed Ingo haunting that mountain. There were pictures of Ingo’s faintly glowing ghost walking down the mountains, or staring right at the picture taker his silver eyes glowing faintly in the dark of the night. In the videos Ingo’s strong loud voice could be heard echoing through the mountains calling out for the girl named Akari. His glowing ghost running down the mountain paths only to fade from view.
There were even a few pictures and videos of Akari although pictures and videos of her were less frequent. Ingo stayed out all night long, so there was plenty of time to get video and pictures of him. Meanwhile, Akari only came out during the early hours of the day so she wasn’t out nearly as long as Ingo was. Still, there were images of her that allowed Emmet to finally get a look at his so called niece. In all her pictures she was wearing some old fashioned clothing that seemed to be a uniform, and she had a long red scarf that always seemed to be fluttering about around her on a never ending breeze. As Ingo had said in that clip on that ghost hunting show she was also wearing a flatcap. She had long black hair, and gray eyes that was a shade or two darker then Emmet and Ingo’s silver eyes.
She was also incredibly young looking. Emmet would pin her at twelve at the oldest. Way too young to take on the Unova Pokémon League challenge. Emmet didn’t miss the fact that in the few pictures that people were able to snap of her fading ghost she always had a sad mournful look on her face that was rather similar to Ingo’s own sad looks. In the few recordings that existed of her one could hear her heartbreaking cries as she called out for her father. She sounded so sad.
She also sounded scared.
Unlike Ingo she didn’t approach people often, or at all for that matter. There were no videos of her approaching people asking them if they saw Ingo. In the few videos that did exist of her she always looked so worried and fearful as she raced along the hiking paths yelling for her father. She was scared, but the way she yelled for her father made it sound like she was scared for him more than anything else. That just made Emmet think there was some truth to the theory that they were killed by someone. He could think of no other answer as to why the child seemed so frightened and worried over Ingo. Sadly, nothing in the videos gave any hint as to what could have doomed them both.
Eventually after watching about ten videos Emmet couldn't bring himself to watch another video of the crying ghosts of Mount Coronet. Emmet could only listen to Ingo’s ghostly heartbreaking sobs for so long before it started to break him, and right now Emmet was barely holding on as it was. The desire to help his brother and figure out what happened was the only thing keeping him from crawling into bed to scream his lungs out and never get up again. While the videos offered no answers they did show that this haunting stuff did indeed go pretty far back. Emmet kept the tabs of the pictures and videos up. While they offered no info it was at least proof that he could show to Elesa. It was something that showed that the TV show wasn’t just one big messed up prank at the very least.
Moving on from those websites to websites that focused more on Sinnoh’s ghosts specifically actually brought him some information. All the websites that covered Sinnoh ghost seemed to focus mostly on Mount Coronet and the Old Chateau place that Emmet had seen pop up a few times already on a few other websites. Apparently both places were considered ‘the most haunted places on the planet’, but out of the two Mount Coronet was more noteworthy due to the ghost sightings being more consistent. Emmet ignored the articles on the Old Chateau and focused only on the articles on Mount Coronet. The second he came across real actual information Emmet was scrambling to rip a notebook and pen out of the desk to write down what he saw. Years of doing paperwork came in handy as he hastily wrote down everything that he read on the screen.
While we do not know the full story of exactly how the father and daughter duo died we have at least been able to figure out their identities. Interestingly both father and daughter are notable figures of Sinnoh history. More specifically the two are important historical figures from the Hisuian age of Sinnoh. Each also have an important place in the history of Pokémon battling, and in Pokémon research. The father is believed to be Warden Ingo of the Pearl Clan. He acted as the Warden for a Noble Pokémon that went by the name of Lady Sneasler. Sneasler being an evolution of an extinct variant of Sneasel. While being chosen as Warden is rather significant his greatest claim to fame is his contribution to the Pokémon battling scene. He was the one who helped create Trainers' School in Jubilife Village (now Jubilife City) along with Zisu Bushida. Said school is still running to this day, and has helped to train many students who have gone on to become notable trainers. Sinnoh’s infamous Champion Cynthia was a student here as were many of Sinnoh’s current gym leaders.
Warden Ingo is also credited as inspiring the Battle Frontier in Sinnoh. At the location that would eventually become the Trainers’ School he held battle challenges that were called The Path of Tenacity which was a battle gauntlet where challengers went against one trainer after another without any rest between each battle. Another challenge was called The Path of Solitude, and in The Path of Solitude battles just one Pokémon would battle against a set team made specially to give that Pokémon a challenge. Even once the Warden had passed the challenges remained with new battle masters taking on the task of running the challenges. It was not long till people chose to build on these challenges, and eventually this desire to build upon what the Warden started had transformed into the Battle Frontier that we have today.
For as significant as Ingo’s contributions to the battling scene in Sinnoh is the man himself is a bit of an enigma. While part of the Pearl Clan he was not originally from the clan. Records show that he was actually adopted into the clan. In fact, he sticks out among the Wardens as being the only outsider to be made Warden. His history before being adopted by the clan is unknown.
'Pearl Clan?' Emmet thought with a bit of confusion.
It wasn't something he had ever heard of before although that was not a surprise. Emmet was not exactly super knowledgeable on all of Sinnoh's history or customs. Did the clan still exist in this day and age? If they did maybe they had some records on Ingo since they apparently took him in and made him a Warden. Not that Emmet really knew what a Warden was although the article seemed to imply that being a Warden was a big deal. If the clan wasn't around hopefully records from the clan still remained in a museum or library somewhere, and hopefully those records could be accessed by the public. For now Emmet just scribbled down the names of the clan and the Warden thing before he went back to reading the article.
Where he is from originally is unknown. The only family that Warden Ingo has that we know about is his adopted daughter Akari. Akari is also an enigma much like her father. Where she came from is also unknown. All that is known is that she was first taken in by the Galaxy Expedition Team before she was adopted by Warden Ingo. She is mostly known for helping to create and complete the Hisui Pokédex which is famous for being the first Pokédex created for the Sinnoh region, and said Pokédex is still a highly valuable resource of information since it is one of the few complete records that we have on many ancient Pokémon that have long gone extinct. She is also known as the ‘Hero of Hisui’ for saving Sinnoh during a time that has been labeled as ‘The Rift Nightmare’, and she is credited for ending something that has been labeled as ‘The Blood Sky Disaster’. The exact details of these events aren’t known, but some claim that the Blood Sky Disaster may have had some similarities to the infamous Darkest Day of Galer. Theories have been made that the rifts may be like the Ultra Wormholes phenomenon that was first recorded appearing in the Alola region although records from those times made a point of calling these rifts Space-Time rifts which seem to imply that they may work slightly differently from Ultra Wormholes.
“Space-Time rift?” Emmet muttered in confusion.
The heck was a space-time rift? Ultra Wormholes he had heard of. There had been a lot of drama sounding that a few years back. It had happened back before Ingo had vanished. Emmet had never paid much attention to the news about it. It seemed to be a problem that existed only in Alola, and the problem had been resolved rather quickly, or at least the Pokémon Professor from that region had claimed that it was at least under control now. Most news channels had moved on pretty quick from the wormhole story just to quickly latch onto the story of Alola starting up a Pokémon League. All talks about the Ultra Wormholes vanished from the news in favor of gushing on about Alola’s first ever Champion. Since the world wasn't ending and Alola was apparently still peaceful and doing fine the brothers figured there was nothing to worry about. The Ultra Wormholes was yet another strange and most likely dangerous event that the world had to go through. It got lumped together with other events that happened in other regions that almost caused catastrophe like the time some guy in Hoenn tried to flood the region by using Kyogre, or the time when Team Plasma tried to take control of all of Unova by using the Legendary Dragon Pokémon of the Unova region. It was yet another case where tragedy had been avoided, and people ultimately moved on with their lives.
Emmet had honestly forgotten all about it. Not once had he ever thought about it when Ingo vanished. Why would he? There had never been any reports of Ultra Wormholes in Unova. Why would Emmet even think of assuming Ingo fell into an Ultra Wormhole when there were hundreds of mundane ways for Ingo to vanish. Why turn to Ultra Wormholes when there were hundreds of normal Pokémon out there who could spirit someone away? Emmet was certainly considering it now, but the article mentioned that these rift things seemed to be different from Ultra Wormholes. They were specifically called Space-Time Rifts so that meant they could send someone through time? It was the only explanation as to how Ingo could get sent 150 years into the past. Still, that didn’t answer why one of these rifts would snatch someone from Unova to send them back in time and to a whole new region. It also didn’t answer the question as to what made these rift things. With that said Emmet had a guess. Emmet knew that there were legendries in charge of space and time in Sinnoh.
Palkia and Dialga.
Were they the ones to blame for Ingo’s kidnapping? Emmet’s grip on his pen tightened a bit at that thought. If they were the ones to blame well…
Emmet would be more than happy to make them regret taking Ingo.
If they weren’t to blame they were probably still worth looking into. Other then maybe an extremely rude Celebi who thought flinging Ingo into the past would be funny Emmet could think of no other Pokémon who would have the ability to send Ingo into the past. Emmet quickly wrote the names of the two legendries down before he continued to read.
For as famous as these two were as trainers their deaths are a bit of a mystery. It is known they died on the same day, and that they were both murdered although how they were killed or why is still debated to this day by historians. Both Warden Ingo and Akari were buried in old Pearl Clan burial grounds which can still be found near Snowpoint City to this day. However, while their bodies were laid to rest their spirts are still not at peace. To this day they still walk the mountain paths forever seeking each other out. We can only hope that one day they might find each other, and finally find peace.
The air was knocked out of Emmet when at the end of the written article was an old photo of Akari and Ingo when they were alive. The picture was yellowed with age and a bit damaged, but the image on it was clear. Standing there doing his ever so familiar pose was Ingo. Akari was standing next to him copying his pose. The girl was smiling brightly at the camera. Ingo still looked tired, but on his face was a faint ghost of a smile. For Ingo that faint smile was one of true happiness. Emmet quickly turned his chair away from the computer as he buried his face into the short fur of the Excadrill sitting on his lap. The picture hurt to see. Looking at their smiling faces hurt when he knew their ultimate fate. It hurt to know Ingo was currently haunting a mountain screaming his heart out. It hurt to know that Emmet’s niece had died long before he got the chance to meet her. Everything about the picture hurt.
The sound of his doorbell ringing drags Emmet out of his slowly spiraling thoughts. He hauled himself up out of his seat all while keeping a tight grip on the Excadrill in his arms. As he walked the rest of the Pokémon followed behind him. Most of them were crying, whimpering, or trying their best to comfort the other devastated Pokémon. They honestly looked more like a funeral procession making their way to a graveyard rather than just a trainer and his Pokémon going off to answer the door. Upon reaching the door Emmet opened it only to spot Elesa standing there. She’s trembling slightly as she stands there before him. She looked agitated at first, but upon seeing Emmet her shoulders slumped as she gave him a sad look. Emmet was sure that he looked like a mess. His eyes red from crying, bags under his eyes from lack of sleep, and a group of crying Pokémon surrounding him.
“Emmet,” Elesa murmurs as she steps forward and pulls him and the Excadrill into a hug.
It’s a bit of an awkward hug with the Pokémon squished between them, but Emmet melts into the hug anyway. The ground-steel type doesn’t seem to mind being between them in the hug. He only whimpers a bit as he clings to Emmet and nuzzles Elesa’s chin.
“Emmet what the hell did you send me?” Elesa mumbles. “If anyone else had sent me that I would have thought it was a cruel tasteless joke, but since it was you…”
Emmet is unsure of how to even begin answering that question. There were so many things that he could say. Ultimately, he ended up settling on just saying the cold hard truths.
“Ingo is dead. He died 150 years ago. His ghost is haunting a mountain in a far off region that we have never been to. He adopted a child. She died before I could ever meet her. She is haunting that same cursed mountain. I am Emmet, and I have been sitting here wasting my time waiting for my brother to return all while my brother and niece have been suffering on a mountain for 150 years.”
With each thing that Emmet said Elesa’s hug got a bit tighter.
“Are you sure it isn’t a prank?” Elesa asked softly.
“The second he appeared on the screen Lavender started wailing,” Emmet said. “She knows Ingo’s very soul. She can’t be fooled by any fake. Not even through video.”
Elesa’s breath hitches a bit upon hearing that. She knows this fact just as well as he does. It was silent for a moment before Elesa said “I know you. You probably already did some research. What have you found?”
Emmet broke the hug only to silently lead her to his office. The second they got to the office Emmet silently motioned for Elesa to go to her desk and go through what Emmet had already dug up. As Elesa plopped down at the desk to go through what Emmet had already dug up Emmet just leaned back against the wall and slowly slid down to the floor. Once he was seated the Pokémon gathered around him. He kept his gaze focused on the Pokémon in his arms. He didn’t dare look up even when he heard Elesa let out an occasional noise of distress. Emmet only looked up when he heard his office chair let out a loud squeak of protest as Elesa sat up. Elesa slowly walked over to Emmet, and the Pokémon moved to give her enough room to sit down next to Emmet. Once she was seated next to him she leaned up against him. Feeling her lean against him was grounding in a way. It was a reminder that he was no longer the only person who was cursed with the knowledge of where Ingo was.
She was silent for a moment before she said “You think Palkia and Dialga have something to do with Ingo getting a one-way ticket to ancient Sinnoh?”
“Other than a Celebi I can’t think of any other Pokémon that could send Ingo to the past.”
Elesa let out a small hum of agreement upon hearing that.
It was silent for a moment before Elesa asked “So what are we going to do?”
Emmet felt a small bit of relief upon hearing the ‘we’ in her sentence. It was a sign that he wasn’t alone. He wouldn’t have to deal with this all by himself. Elesa would be with him.
“The plan?” Emmet said. “The plan is verrrry simple. We go to Sinnoh. We figure out what killed Ingo and my niece. We find them both, and reunite them so they can move on. We find Palkia and Dialga and demand answers. If they are to blame for Ingo’s disappearance, we beat them into the ground. Then we make them help us go back into the past to prevent the deaths from happing. And we bring Ingo and my niece home.”
Emmet would not blame Elesa at all if she said something along the lines of “There is nothing simple about that plan.”
Elesa didn’t say that though. Instead she let out a thoughtful hum as she asked “You think us going back in time to prevent two murders will screw up time real bad?”
“Don’t know,” Emmet said as he shrugged a bit. “Don’t care. Ingo never should have been in the past in the first place. And I will not stand aside and let my brother’s child be killed.”
Elesa let out another hum of thought as she asked only one question.
“When do we leave?”
“How soon could Skyla fly us over?” Emmet asked.
Elesa pulled her phone, and said “She should still be up right now. If I call her now I’m sure she can get a flight set up and ready to take us out either tomorrow or the day after.”
“Can you get time off on such short notice?”
Elesa nodded as she said “I got a lot of vacation days saved up, and my agent has been heavily hinting that I should take some time off. The gym can handle being closed for a bit. If this ends up running a bit longer than expected I know a few people that can substitute for me.”
“I have enough saved vacation days to burn through as well," Emmet said.
Emmet placed Excadrill down on the ground next to Elesa, and stood up. He pointed at Elesa as he gave her a serious look.
“Call Skyla. We are setting tracks for Sinnoh, and nothing will stop us from reaching our destination. We will find answers. We will save Ingo and Akari.”
Elesa nodded, and Emmet nodded back. Emmet would save Ingo and his niece. He would find answers, and no legendary Pokémon were going to stop him…