Chapter Text
Emmet stood silently on a cliffside that overlooked the settlement. The people were out and about, busily enjoying their own lives. A few children could even be seen playing, all blissfully unaware of what was to come. His cape was wrapped against his frame while a strong wind flew across the tundra. It seemed, almost, like some weak attempt at repelling him. One last reminder from maybe the world itself perhaps, telling him that he didn't need to do this. Emmet took a breath. What did the world ever know about love?
"Fox, use Bitter Malice. Agile style."
A long smile stretched across the Zoroark's face. Screaming filled the air as the dark wave of grief flooded across the settlement. The two of them watched while the people scattered around in chaos. Panic stricken parents reached out for their sobbing kids, elders stumbled off the the edges of the crowds in order to avoid being trampled, while only a couple of people made attempts to control the situation. Emmet felt a confused sneer cross his face. Where was Ingo? Emmet pulled his mask down into place. It appeared that he would need to get more creative in order to draw his brother out.
"Time for us to go stoke the flames of this engine."
Emmet had expected to be confronted when he made his presence known. However, it still wasn't Ingo who had come to face him.
"Where is he?" Emmet shouted at the blue haired man. "I want to see Ingo!"
Emmet noticed a spark of recognition in the other man's eyes. Two white colored Pokémon floated on either side of him. The large round one gave Emmet a snarl, while the more slender one hid coyly behind its claw. He didn't recognize these Pokémon, but he wasn't worried. He knew that Fox was lurking nearby. Ready to strike the moment that Emmet gave him the chance.
"You must be the Zoroark that Warden Ingo failed to dispatch of," the man surmised. He slowly shifted himself into a different stance. A battle stance, Emmet instantly realized. "Unlike my fellow warden, I'm as tough as an iceberg!"
Immediately, the two Pokémon rushed at Emmet. He dove to the side, just barely being clipped by the slender one's Powder Snow.
"Good work, Froslass! Remember to flex your muscles, Glalie!"
Emmet shook off the rush of cold brought on by the attack. Froslass and Glalie, huh? The names didn't ring any bells for Emmet, but that didn't matter. They were still going to lose.
"I like Double Battles," Emmet told the warden while he brushed away the snow that had clung onto his clothes, "but I like winning more than anything else."
He brought his hand to his mouth and let out a shrill whistle. His opponent looked a bit startled by the noise, while his Pokémon appeared just as uncomfortable. The ghost of a smile crept out from underneath Emmet's mask as the shadow of Froslass darkened rapidly. Suddenly, it towered over the Pokémon, before morphing to reveal Fox.
"Aim for victory!" Emmet pointed at Froslass. "Use Shadow Sneak, strong style!"
Emmet greeted the buzz brought on by the swift win like an addict who finally caught ahold of their elusive high. Fox, equally, seemed to be enjoying their success. He threw back his head and howled at the sky. The warden, meanwhile, appeared to have had his original confidence shaken up with the defeat of one of his Pokémon. However, that didn't mean that he was ready to forfeit just yet.
"Glalie, use Crunch now!"
"Dodge it!"
Glalie was fast, but Fox proved to be faster. A good thing too, as Emmet knew that the Dark type move would have super effective against Fox's Ghost typing. Something that he was sure that this warden must know as well. The corner of Emmet's lip twitched. This was getting interesting.
"Shadow Claw!"
"Ice Shard!"
"Shadow Sneak, strong style!"
"Dodge it, Glalie!"
The two Pokémon kept on exchanging moves at their partners' behest, occasionally forcing their humans to evade alongside them whenever an attack extended too far. With each passing moment that their reckless battle continued, Emmet found the smile on his face growing more intense. More real. However, as tempted as he was to extend the fight even further (maybe even forever), he was there on a mission. Not even the thrill of a battle could distract him from finding his brother.
"You certainly are a verrrrry strong opponent," Emmet commented as he rolled out of the way of a stray icicle. "What is your name?"
The warden scoffed, "Not that it's of any concern to a shifty fox as yourself, but I'm Warden Gaeric. Be warned, I won't fall victim to any of your illusions, so don't even bother to try and use it against me!"
Emmet rolled his eyes behind his mask, "You are not Ingo, so I am already unconcerned with you."
"Ah yes," Gaeric noted. "It was my fellow warden who defended our people from your last attack. With the accounts given from that day, I can understand why you would be so eager to take your revenge against him. Word around the settlement is that Lady Sneasler managed to strike you rather viciously with her claws."
"Only rumors, I am afraid."
With his mask, as well as the distance between the two of them, shielding his face from Gaeric's view, Emmet could only hope that the warden wouldn't call out his bluff. He could not appear vulnerable in front of the man who was determined to take him down. Luckily for Emmet, while Gaeric might tout his strength of body, his mind wasn't quite up to the same level.
"I see. That's too bad." He sounded rather disappointed.
Emmet watched as Fox suddenly took a direct hit from Ice Shard, though he quickly countered with his own successful use of Shadow Claw. Both Pokémon were looking rather worse for wear in Emmet's opinion. If this were the battle subway, he would already be making his final strategic preparations to end the battle with a decisive victory. If Gaeric was going to beat him, then he would have done it by now. Emmet always liked to give a suitable chance for his challengers to win, in the form of a predetermined amount of time to assess their skills. The more serious that he decided they were about the battle, the more time he gave them to try and take him down. The more serious the battle was would lead to more fun for Emmet, which would cause him to want to deliberately extend the battle further, and thus, this would award more opportunities for the challenger to possibly seize victory. On the flip side, if the challenger seemed rather blasé or uninterested with the fight, then Emmet could easily end it all with a swift defeat. With all the grumbles and hearsay regarding the way that the outcomes of his battles tend to sway in his favor, Emmet could at least take pride that he was always fair. He felt that he had been more than fair to Gaeric.
"Prepare for the end of the line!" Emmet shouted as he pointed directly at Glalie. "Will-O-Wisp, agile style!"
A ring of ghostly flames instantly engulfed Glalie, inflicting a Burn onto the Pokémon. While the move's effect was still fresh, Emmet sharply pointed down.
"Now, Bitter Malice!"
Due to the status condition of Glalie, Emmet knew that the power of Bitter Malice would be doubled. One didn't become the equivalent of a Frontier Brain without doing their homework. While awaiting the creation of his mask, Emmet was left with almost three weeks to refine his battle training with Fox. They hadn't bonded nearly as close as he had with Poppy, (Though, Emmet had never expected that type of connection between the two of them.) but Fox respected his authority. Fox trusted him to take the lead, and that was all Emmet could ever ask of his Pokémon. They both watched as Glalie fell to the ground, unable to battle. Gaeric, too, soon dropped to his knees. Emmet reached into his bag, and he tossed Fox an Oran Berry. He then returned Fox back to his Pokéball as he passed by. Emmet walked up to Gaeric, the sound of the snow crunching underneath his sandals practically echoing across the abandoned settlement. He smiled.
"That was a verrrrry fun battle," Emmet told him. "I won against you-"
Gaeric's fist tightened as he clutched at the snow. Suddenly, a handful of snow was thrown at eyes of Emmet's mask. He luckily managed to block most of it with his arm. Emmet dropped his smile. This wasn't the first time that he had encountered such dirty tactics while in a fight. Without a second thought, Emmet retaliated. Gaeric cried out in pain as he yanked back his outstretched hand. Blood now dripped from the blade of Emmet's knife.
"For your safety, all passengers are required to stay behind the yellow line."
"Passenger-what?" Gaeric sputtered out as he clutched his hand close to his chest.
More blood continued to trail down his arm, and Emmet idly wondered if anyone in the Pearl Clan knew how to apply stitches. He found himself slightly hoping that the wound would at least leave behind a scar. Let someone else be on the receiving end for a change!
"I am only going to ask you once." Emmet loomed over the downed warden. "Where is Ingo?"
Instead of an answer, Gaeric let out a pained huff. "You must be so disappointed...all this effort for someone who isn't even here..."
Emmet's eyes grew wide behind his mask. Ingo isn't-
"You are lying!" Emmet snapped as his grip on the knife tightened. "He was here-"
"Exactly," Gaeric interrupted. "Was here. Not anymore."
Emmet grew more incensed as Gaeric's words began to sink in. Ingo wasn't at the settlement. Emmet's only lead to his brother had become yet another dead end. Just like all the other ones had. And, just like with all the other false leads, Emmet had dared to let himself have hope. Why did he always fall victim to the cruel trappings of hope? Was it so wrong to want to believe that he would have his brother back by his side? Were their train cars fated to forever be uncoupled? He held the knife back up to Gaeric.
"Tell me where he went, or I-"
The ground suddenly began to tremble beneath Emmet's feet. An earthquake? He thought in a slight panic. However, this felt different from whenever one of his Pokémon used the move. This was more akin to intermittent tremors...and they were definitely getting stronger. A large grin suddenly spread across Gaeric's face. Not a good sign.
"You're in for it now, you shifty fox!"
Whatever this was had seemed to breathe new life into the defeated warden. Emmet, meanwhile, felt his fight or flight instincts beginning to activate. However, fight was immediately negated as an option when he caught sight of it. The massive Pokémon looked like a walking glacier, and it lumbered ever closer to the settlement.
"My Lord Avalugg!" Gaeric shouted up to the sky. "I thank you for heeding my call!"
Emmet's blood ran colder than the snow. This behemoth was Warden Gaeric's Noble?! He shook his head, forcing himself to refocus. He could panic later, preferably once he was verrrrry far away.
"Safety check!" Emmet shouted as he called forth Fox. "We must proceed to the emergency exit!"
He let out a sharp growl as the light snowfall instantly became a blizzard. Emmet watched as both Gaeric and Lord Avalugg disappeared from sight as the illusion took hold. He then wasted no time as he activated the Gira-trans, and a teleportation portal swallowed them up to what he could only hope was somewhere safe.
Emmet immediately ripped off his mask and began hyperventilating the moment that he landed face first into the snow bank. Unfortunately, deep breaths were a lot less comforting when he was doing about twenty of them per second.
I could have...I was GOING to...
Beside him, Fox wasn't looking much better. A long, painful, whine escaped from the Pokémon as he laid close to the ground. Emmet worried that he might have been injured, before realizing the obvious.
"I...I am sorry," he managed to get out between breaths.
It wasn't much of an apology. However, Emmet did feel some guilt for forcing Fox to experience the sudden sensation of falling like that. He still remembered the near (second?) death event that had occurred when Fox was just a Zorua. Emmet looked over at his Pokémon. It was an interesting thought that had Fox never tripped, then Emmet wouldn't have ever had to save him, and then Fox wouldn't have had any reason to rescue him either. He could be dead right now, by Ingo's hand. Instead, he was back to risking his life trying desperately to reconnect with his potential murderer. Emmet could almost laugh at the irony.
"Excuse me?"
Both Emmet and Fox jumped to their feet at sound of the voice. Though, this reaction was proven a bit over the top when they realized who had been speaking to them.
"Hello," the little girl grinned, "my name is Sabi."
Great, Emmet thought to himself, another child...
"I am-"
He suddenly stopped himself mid-introduction. Emmet stared down at Sabi. He didn't recognize her from Jubilife Village, and her clothes didn't seem to match the colors of the Pearl clan. However, he was still hesitant to give her his name. Just because he hadn't met her, doesn't mean that she wasn't already acquainted with somebody who he does know. He had lucked out when Gaeric didn't care enough to learn his name, and the last thing Emmet needed was for some random kid to blab about him being in Hisui to the wrong people.
"I am...Kudari."
That was a vaguely Kanto sounding name. Well, it was less of a name and more of a term for the down-train, but Emmet doubted that would be a problem in a region where trains don't even exist. Still, maybe he should have put a little more thought into his fake name, as he watched Sabi scrunch up her face. Was it really that bad?
"Oh, but my clairvoyance...Are you sure your name isn't Emmet?"
Emmet was sure that he could hear Fox letting out a quiet laugh at his expense. He shook his head.
"No. I am not Emmet."
The lie rolled off his tongue about as well as the sticky caramel that topped his favorite macchiato, all while the word hypocrite echoed in his mind. Emmet supposed that this meant he couldn't exactly shame Volo the next time he was dishonest. Sabi, meanwhile, deflated as she bought into his deceit.
"Okay then. I'm sorry to have bothered you Kudari, but I really must go and find Emmet now."
Emmet lifted an eyebrow. He definitely didn't know this girl, so how was it possible that she could be looking for him? This whole thing was honestly weirding him out.
"Why do you need to see Emmet?" He asked. "I heard that he left Hisui."
"Really?"
Sabi sounded almost defeated by the news, and Emmet was starting to feel bad for duping her like this. Not bad enough to break his cover, but it still wasn't a good feeling.
"Is it possible that my clairvoyance was wrong?" Emmet's heart suddenly began to race as he watched Sabi pull forth what looked to be a divine plate. "I was supposed to give him this. I saw us standing right here when I did, too."
Now Emmet felt bad about lying for a whole other reason, and rather stupid. He bit the inside of his cheek. Damage control was never his strong suit. However, he needed to get that plate.
"I could take it to him," Emmet offered.
Sabi shook her head, "I couldn't trouble you with something that was my fault. I should have known better, and now I learn that Emmet isn't even in Hisui anymore."
"Well, I know where he went," Emmet told her, "I wouldn't mind bringing it to him, honest."
He tried to ignore the irony of that last word. Emmet just hoped that Sabi would buy his show of sincerity. And, for the first time today, luck seemed to be on his side.
"You would do that for me?"
Sabi's green eyes seemed to sparkle as Emmet nodded yes.
"Thank you so much, Kudari!" She held the light blue plate out for Emmet to grab. "I wonder why my clairvoyance showed me giving the plate to Emmet instead of you? Or, maybe it did show you? Who knows, hmm?"
Sabi then pulled out some sort of flute, and she played a tune similar to the one that the Gira-trans made whenever Emmet collected a plate. However, it seemed that hers had a much different purpose. Fox let out a low growl as a large bird Pokémon (It looked like a Braviary, but with clear differences to the Unova kind that Emmet was used to seeing.) swooped down and collected Sabi. The pair were then out of sight faster than Emmet could realize what had happened. He looked down at his hands, just to confirm that he was indeed holding a plate.
Obtained the Sky Plate. Fifteen divine plates remain.
Yep. That was real.
Recognized: Sky Plate. Translation: "The being poured the remains of its power into stone and buried it deep."
Emmet didn't understand this engraving any better than the ones etched into the other three plates in his collection. Still, he had gotten another plate. Even if he doesn't know where Ingo went, this was at least one step closer to achieving his wish. He would have his brother back regardless. It just wouldn't be as quickly as he had hoped, is all. He pulled up the map on the Gira-trans, zooming it out so that it depicted the entire region.
"I will find you, big bro."
This was a promise. However, before Emmet could continue his brooding session, a message popped up on the screen:
Emmet, thou hast been summoned to the top of Mt. Coronet by Volo.
Emmet rolled his eyes as he returned Fox to his Pokéball. Of course, right now was when Volo finally decided to do whatever it was that he had planned. He watched as the "new mission" took affect, and Emmet summoned a teleportation portal. Again, as he felt the ground disappear, he thought about how convenient this feature would have been when he first arrived in Hisui.