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allaboardsubmas · 7 hours

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Truth Rewritten, Ideals Realized

A/N: Wrote this for my Patreon a while ago and finally finding time to post it here! I hope you guys enjoy!

Fandom: Pokemon (Black & White, All Media Types, Legends: Arceus)

Characters: Kudari | Emmet, Nobori | Ingo

Rating: General

Summary: Emmet steps off his train alone to find an empty Gear Station, no one answering his calls, and he is not amused. Coming across his brother’s pokeballs and dozens of copies of his missing posters that claim he went missing in a maintenance tunnel makes a lot more sense when said brother wakes him up, though. He feels only a little guilty that he latches onto Ingo when he goes to inspect a maintenance tunnel with reports of strange pokemon interference. Somehow, though, he feels like he did something right.

AO3 Link: Truth Rewritten, Ideals Realized

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Truth Rewritten, Ideals Realized

Emmet would like it on record that while he was bad at what Ingo liked to call ‘reading the room,’ he was actually aware of when something was wrong. Reading people was difficult, yes, but even he could tell something was wrong in the way he stepped off the Doubles Line train and saw nothing except an empty station.

Instead of the usual clustered groups of people and scurrying Depot Agents that did their best to keep things in order, instead Emmet saw an empty, cavernous room that vaguely reminded him of Chargestone Cave. The always filled benches were absolutely empty, the usual sound of footsteps and pokemon cries couldn’t be heard no matter how hard he strained his ears, and even the train he had just stepped off of appeared to be completely empty with no one stepping off or on.

“This is Emmet,” Emmet said, speaking into his Gear Station standard radio and proud of himself for how his voice stayed calm and even. “To whoever managed to pull this off, good job, well done, it was verrry funny. Now where is everyone?”

There was nothing except the low hum of buzzing static, a sound that always meant no one was on the line and no one was responding. He tried again, speaking a little louder, “To whatever Depot Agent is on the line, can you explain why the atrium and my train are completely empty?”

This time Emmet let the silence only last a couple of seconds before he was activating his radio in the pattern that was meant to send out an emergency alert across all lines and active channels. There was no immediate response and Emmet found himself moving without thought, heading into one of the tunnels and out of view of the large, empty station where there was no movement or sound.

At the same time, he was fumbling with his x-trans, finally getting it open and dialing Ingo's number. While the two played the occasional prank on each other, Emmet knew that Ingo would never approve of something like this against anyone, but especially against Emmet.

“Greetings! This is the number of Subway Boss Ingo! I regret to inform you that I am unable to attend to your call, but please leave your message and I will schedule a return call as soon as possible! Safe travels!”

“Brother-” Emmet paused to swallow a couple of times as the word caught in his throat, unable to get out through the rasp of his suddenly dry throat. “Please call me when you receive this message.”

Ending the call, Emmet tried a re-dial even though he knew it wouldn’t work. Ingo never failed to answer his phone — especially for Emmet. If he couldn’t answer, then something was wrong.

Quickening his pace and walking further into the tunnel, just to be safe, he looked around the edges before finding what he was looking for and ducking down into a maintenance tunnel.

It was less maintained than their main lines, but it was quiet and out of the way and there was no risk of a rogue train coming through and snatching him up if this was some mass kidnapping attempt by Team Plasma. That didn’t explain where all his passengers had gone, though.

Shaking his head, Emmet walked further down the tunnel as he tried to contact someone — anyone — through both his radio and his x-trans. There was no response on his radio and his x-trans refused to connect to anyone, Emmet getting nothing but automatic messages attempt after attempt.

“I am Emmet and I am fine,” Emmet said firmly to himself. While the situation was horrifying on so many levels, he was still a Subway Boss. If something was wrong with Gear Station then it was his duty to fix it. Especially if it involved why he couldn’t contact Ingo.

Reaching for his belt to throw out one of his partners, he froze in his tracks completely as he saw a grouping of pokeballs on the ground in front of him. They weren’t his — he could feel all of his still on his belt — but they were still familiar.

Dropping to the ground to check, Emmet had half the thought that they were dropped or hidden pokeballs from some theft attempt and they would maybe be able to tell him what had happened, or at least give him an idea of what was going on.

He then went still at the first pokeball he picked up, his fear a physical force that almost had him collapsing because there, on the front of the pokeball, slightly off-center, was a small sticker of a train, worn and aged and half-falling off. It was the same sticker that Emmet had on the ball of his Eelektross. It wasn’t his pokeball, though.

It was Ingo’s.

“Ingo?!” Emmet’s scream bounced off the walls and earned him absolutely no response, his fear now crawling up to settle in his throat and make him gasp for breath as he fumbled for the button on the pokeball he was holding, missing the mark again and again as his hands shook. “Ingo, where are you?!”

Nothing but silence answered him and Emmet choked out something that was between a swear and a sob. He didn’t bother to mumble reassurances to himself, instead gathering up the rest of the fallen pokeballs and gently clipping them onto his belt with the others.

The one with the train sticker he kept in his hand. The one with his brother’s Chandelure he held tightly to his chest with enough force for his fingers to ache. He didn’t loosen his grip.

For as much as they shared their pokemon and saw them all as their family, their starters were still theirs. Emmet had a bond with his Eelektross that Ingo never would, and similarly Ingo had a bond with his Chandelure that Emmet would never quite understand.

Chandelure was also a ghost pokemon. Ghost pokemon formed bonds with their trainers — strong ones. If something happened to Ingo, then something would have happened to her.

Emmet told himself, very firmly, that she was still inside her pokeball and that he had just been too panicked to open it properly. It wasn’t empty. It wasn’t because if it was empty — if she was gone just like Ingo — then- Well, then-

“Ingo?” Emmet knew his call was weaker this time, but it didn’t stop him from stumbling further down the tunnel, looking around in the dim lighting as if his brother would suddenly reappear and tell him that everything was alright and it was simply a practical joke by the Depot Agents that had gotten out of hand before he could put a stop to it.

The sound of crunching paper broke the silence in the tunnel like an Explode, Emmet feeling his heart damn near stop as he stumbled back and looked around wildly only to see that it had come from him stepping on a piece of paper.

“Dirty,” Emmet mumbled, staring down at the paper and feeling his smile finally drop completely. “The maintenance tunnels should not have debris.” If he said it firmly enough, he could make it all seem like a normal problem that could easily be solved.

Shifting his grip on the pokeball, Emmet bent down to quickly swipe the paper off the ground before standing back up and trying to uncrumple it with one hand. He was a little surprised to see it was a Missing Person poster — and one that looked very recent, at that. Did this maybe have something to do with why Gear Station was empty and abandoned?

His eyes flicked to the date, first, confirming his suspicions of it being new when he saw it was marked for today’s date. Walking a few steps closer to one of the emergency lights, Emmet tilted the paper so he could see the face of the person on the poster even as everything in him screamed for him to not.

Missing: Subway Boss Emmet Trevithick

Last Known Location: Subway Boss Emmet was doing an inspection of Maintenance Tunnel 3B when he failed to report in and answer any calls from both the Depot Agents and his brother Subway Boss Ingo Trevithick. Upon investigation of his last known location within the tunnel, all of his pokemon were found in their pokeballs with no trace of the Subway Boss near them.

Physical Appearance: Subway Boss Emmet is known to wear-

Ripping his eyes away Emmet threw the poster away from him, stumbling as he tried to walk backwards as quickly as he could, as if the paper was an angry Serviper ready to snap.

“Ingo! Brother! Where are you?!” Fumbling to try and open Chandelure’s pokeball again, Emmet felt sick when he looked down and saw that the train sticker was now perfectly set in the exact center, the key difference to show that this was Eelektross’ pokeball. “Ingo?!”

His haste caused him to step on something that ripped his balance out from under him, Emmet grunting as he hit the ground and landed on what felt and sounded like a pile of papers. He wasn’t surprised when he managed to get to his knees and saw they were more missing posters, but this time instead of a smiling face it was a frowning one and where there had once been white there was now black.

Every missing poster around him looked out at him with Ingo’s face, all of them proclaiming that his big brother was missing. The pokeball in his hand rattled, as if the pokemon was trying to get out, and Emmet forced his frozen body to look down just enough to see that it was once again Chandelure’s pokeball.

Emmet dropped the ball as if it had burned his hand, knowing he was screaming for his brother and yet unable to tell what he was even saying anymore as he just screamed-

“Emmet!”

Jolting and reeling, it was only Ingo holding him by his shoulders that kept him in his chair from where… he had fallen asleep at his desk? No. That couldn’t have all just been a dream. Right?

A sharp shake of his shoulders had him snapping his attention to his brother, who was looking at him as if he was two seconds from calling for an ambulance. “Fine,” Emmet blurted out. “I’m fine. I’m- I’m okay.”

Ingo quietly watched him for a few seconds longer before pointedly looking at where Emmet’s hands were latched onto Ingo’s arms, forcing his brother to be unable to move away. Emmet hated how he couldn’t bring himself to let go. “Forgive me, but I don’t think that’s the truth. It’s also not like you to fall asleep at your desk of all places.”

Well, that was true. Emmet hadn’t even remembered dozing off! The last thing he remembered before that twisted, confusing nightmare had been him working on some paperwork.

Emmet felt Ingo tap his shoulder twice, a quick little check-in that Emmet couldn’t help but relax into. “I am okay. Just… bad dream.” Ingo’s expression made it clear he wasn’t going to let that be the end of it.

Emmet hesitated, chewing over what he wanted to say before starting to speak, the sound of the door opening cutting him off. “Bosses! There you are!” One of their agents was sweeping in and looking rushed, Emmet firmly reminding himself that they were at work and they were Subway Bosses. He could panic and worry over abandonment issues later. “White Boss you’re due on the Doubles line in a couple of minutes. Black Boss, we need your help with a… problem?”

Finally letting go of Ingo, Emmet stood up and grabbed his coat to put on, hating how a part of him just wanted to walk back over and cling to Ingo like they were children and he believed Ingo could protect him from everything. If he was honest, he still believed that some days. “What sort of problem needs my attention?”

“We’re not sure. We’re getting reports of some sort of pokemon interference that’s causing electrical problems, but they can’t see anything on the cameras so far. No other high level battlers are available right now and we didn’t want to rush into anything.”

“Of course.” Ingo grabbed his own coat from where it was slung over his chair, slipping it on and giving Emmet a quick look that meant they would be talking more about his dream later. “Where is the interference coming from?”

“Maintenance tunnel 3B.”

“...was doing an inspection of Maintenance Tunnel 3B when he failed to report in and answer any calls from both the Depot Agents and his brother…”

“I will come with,” Emmet blurted out, startling both his brother and the agent, moreso when he latched onto Ingo’s sleeve and refused to let go. “I- I will join the Doubles Train once we’re certain the interference is dealt with. It is a fresh run. It will take time for any trainers to reach me. Ramses can cover train operations and I will switch with his train to Anville tonight.”

Emmet knew he was only making Ingo worry more about him, but everything in him screamed that he could not let Ingo go without him. Thankfully, his brother knew him as well as he knew himself, and Emmet felt some of his tension ease out of him when Ingo linked their arms together. “Yes! Emmet and I will go together to ensure this isn’t a ploy by remnants of Team Plasma or anything similar. Please inform Ramses of the change in schedule and we will depart momentarily.”

The agent nodded before giving both of them one last look and leaving the room. Ingo, the amazing and wonderful person he was, shifted to clasp their hands together before pulling him along. Emmet gripped his hand tightly and managed to whisper out a quiet, “Thank you.”

“We are a two-car train,” Ingo said firmly, pulling Emmet up to walk beside him. “Whatever problem arises we will solve together. Yes?”

Emmet couldn’t help his laugh, nor his teasing, “Well said. Bravo!” It earned him a light shove from Ingo’s shoulder, their hands still intertwined as they went forward together.

Somehow, Emmet felt like he had won at something.

#pokemon #submas #ingo #emmet #my writing #original

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