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a-land-lacking-sleep · 6 months

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PLA/Submas Fic Electric Trains are the Future Chapter 17: A Two Car Train

Previous Chapter (16) - Current Chapter - Next Chapter I... Was going to have this out last week but didn't realize that my commissioned art was ready. But now we're here with the long awaited reunion! There is art in this chapter, drawn by the wonderful @alubearsworld! Currently working on Chapter 18 and a half dozen side projects, as well as possible stuff for Novembmas. For now, enjoy the chapter! Chapter Summary: Ingo wakes up and reconnects. Chapter Word Count: 4702 Chapter Note: There is a panic attack at the beginning, between two different dream sequences.

As always, read it below or over on AO3 with additional notes! Reblogs and comments are always enjoyed, but never feel pressured.

“Do you think that if I jump from here, I’ll clear the third rail?”

Ingo’s eyes refuse to open as Emmet asks his question, so he instead opts to give a verbal response. “We’re not like Uncle, Emmet, so I don’t think either of us could actually clear that leap.” He tries to lift his arm to gesture for emphasis, but his arm wouldn’t lift. Odd. “Even with rubber boots and a resistance built up by Fluffy and Tiny, you’d be fried.”

“Sigh. I am Emmet, and you are right. Let me go get a ramp.”

“Thank you for thinking of safety,” Ingo says, trying not to sound too smug as he hears Emmet walk away. “Oh, and can you grab food on the way back?

“Burger Kingler, got it. I’ll be back in a minute.”

…

It’s been nearly a day now, and Ingo has heard nothing from Emmet. He still cannot open his eyes, he still cannot move his arm. No matter what he does, he can’t get any movement, and he’s trapped here. Blind to it all.

He hears voices nearby. Elesa. Laventon? Maybe they know where Emmet has gone. If only he could get their attention, he needs to know what happened to his brother, and why he hasn’t returned yet. As Laventon’s voice gets further away, Elesa’s gets closer, and Ingo gathers together his strength to open his eyes and move.

“Emmet. Emmet, where is he?” He says, too fast and low to be properly heard as he latches onto Elesa’s hand, causing her to startle. “He said he was here, where is he?” He tugs her hand closer to his chest, squeezing it tight. “I heard him. Emmet’s here, where did he go?” His grip loosens and he starts looking around the room frantically. This isn’t the Subway. “He said he would be right back, and he hasn’t returned yet.”

This isn’t the Subway. Emmet is lost. I have to find him! Ingo lets go of Elesa’s hand and tries to move his legs off of the bed to stand, when Elesa grabs him by the waist and then pushes him down by the chest, avoiding the broken ribs. “No you don’t, you trainiac!” Heh. Trainiac. Good one.

“Emmet’s not here, Ingo.” No. No no no. Fear begins to take over Ingo’s mind as he tries to push against his girlfriend, to escape this bed, to escape the Medical Wing and find the Subway. And Elesa, to her credit, keeps him in place as she puts almost her entire weight on his chest. “Listen!” He can almost hear the worry in her voice. Why isn’t she worried about Emmet?! “Emmet’s not here, but it’s ok. You’re safe, we’re taking care of you.”

“Stop lying to me!” Ingo could feel the tears begin to form in his eyes, but with how Elesa was not caring about the situation, it was all that he could do to hold them back. “I know he’s here! He told me that he was going to grab a bite to eat and he would be right back.” Ingo’s breath catches as the tears begin falling down his cheeks. “Where is he, Elesa?”

As he begins to sob, Elesa pulls him into her for a hug, his head cradled against her neck. She was ice cold, like a ghost, pulling the heat from him like a ravenous fire-type. She holds him there for several moments, rubbing his back as he cries into her, his own arm wrapping around her the best it can. Finally, he pushes away from the hug, and looks at her with tear-filled eyes. “When will he be back?”

Elesa herself looks like she is about to break into tears, and gently places a hand on his cheek. “I don’t know, Ingy. But I’ll wake you up when I find out, ok?” It takes a moment for Ingo to process the words before he nods and leans back, wincing at the pain of his shoulder. Oh right, I broke that. “Get some rest. I’ll talk to Pesselle about getting you some medicine.”

Ingo simply nods again, his eyes already closing from the exhaustion of his outburst. As he drifts off, he tries to ignore the sound of Elesa quietly sobbing.

—

“Come on Ingo, it’s not that bad!” Emmet says as he slides down the slope of Twist Mountain. “Uncle Clay says they haven’t started mining!” Ingo hesitates as he watches his younger twin descend towards the center of the mountain’s pit, the dust and gravel being kicked up behind him and staining his white t-shirt and shorts.

Since starting their Pokémon journey through the Gyms, the two had separated on their paths from Elesa, who went south as they went north. And as such, the person holding Emmet’s impulse control was currently in Nacrene, while Ingo was stuck wanting to join his brother… but terrified of the height. “Surely there is a simpler way, Emmet!” Ingo’s voice easily carries down the pit to his brother, who simply laughs as he makes it to the bottom and turns to wave at him. “That is quite the distance, I think I’ll find another way down!”

Down below, Emmet cups his hands to his mouth, managing to get just enough projection to be audible from Ingo’s position. “Scaredy Skit!” Though Ingo couldn’t see it, he was sure that Emmet was smiling like an Electrode. “There’s stairs across the pit! You might make it before I finish talking to Clay!”

Ingo squares his jaw and snorts, his frown deepening as he approaches the edge of the walkway. Looking down, the actual slope was clear, though it was a long 40 foot trip to take, with maybe a 75° angle? Not the smartest safety check from his brother, but he made the journey without derailing, so there is some merit to the tracks.

He just has to avoid the hole behind Emmet, which should be easy, considering he stopped with almost 5 feet to spare.

With a deep breath, Ingo steps to the edge of the walkway and steps off, letting gravity take him down. He crouches low, holding an arm behind him as he leans back to help balance on the descent. While the pit walls are clear of major debris, that doesn’t mean that they are sheer or completely clean, as Ingo can feel small rocks or bumps under his feet threatening to throw him off the tracks. But he was rapidly approaching Emmet, who… Wasn’t moving from his cheering spot, directly in Ingo’s path.

“MIND THE RAILS!” Ingo shouts, startling not only Emmet, but Clay as the latter leaves his office across the hole, who nearly leaps from his boots. But even with the warning, Emmet can only frantically look around for a place to move to before the inevitable high speed collision.

“Danger!” Emmet shouts as Ingo barrels into his legs.

—

Ingo wakes up much softer than he had expected, softly coming to a stop in the station rather than the hard brake the last few times he had awoken. His eyes still closed, he gently reaches his right hand out and finds Elesa’s hand, squeezing it and sighing. He could also feel someone laid on his other side, an arm laying across his stomach – Likely Akari, though he’s never known the girl to wear a hat, especially while she was asleep.

It takes a few more minutes of relaxing there, idly running a thumb over the back of Elesa’s hand, for Ingo to turn his head and open his eyes. As expected, Elesa was leaning over to her left in her chair, her left hand having just been resting on his bed while she slept sitting up. Ingo squints his eyes and laughs as soft as he can, to both not wake her, but also not aggravate what he could feel was perhaps a floating rib from the fall. Looking past her, he notes that the sun has begun to rise. Early morning, then.

He starts to scan across the room, more on instinct from the last few years than anything, and stops when he sees a young Trainer that he has never seen before curled up in a chair in the corner of the room, a Decidueye, a proper Alolan Decidueye unlike Akari’s Lekki, perched up on top of the chair. At first Ingo thought the Decidueye was asleep like its Trainer, but after a moment, it raised its head and stared back at Ingo with yellow eyes. Ingo slowly raises his left hand and waves at it, and the Decidueye shakes itself, and begins to preen the feathers under its wings, apparently deeming him uninteresting. Ingo had to disagree, but unfortunately, his cab was in no condition to go inspect the Pokemon up close.

With a huff, Ingo shakes his head and looks over to Akari to ruffle her ha-

Emmet?

The hand that was going to gently ruffle hair instead shoves Emmet’s hat to the side and roughly pushes his twin’s head around. “Emmet!” Ingo hisses, keeping his voice low through his teeth. “Emmet, wake up!”

Emmet groans, the arm that was draped across Ingo raising and moving slightly, gently slapping against the blanket a few times before landing on Ingo’s and Elesa’s hands. “5 more minutes, brother. I am verrrry tired…” As Emmet buries his face deeper into Ingo’s side, Ingo does not take that for an answer and jostles his twin’s head even more.

“Wake up, Emmet,” Ingo says, his voice slow and deliberate. “Wake up, or I’m telling Mother you overfed Skrunchie the day we had to take her to the vet.”

The reaction was admittedly faster than Ingo had intended, with Emmet only lying there for a few seconds before shooting up straight in his seat and pointing at him with bleary eyes. “I didn’t overfeed her on purpose! You gave her too many treats and didn’t tell me!”

The silence hangs for a brief moment as Ingo frowns at Emmet like a Skitty trying to not show the feathers in its mouth and Emmet staring at him like a Hoothoot at the midday sun. After a moment, though, Emmet breaks into manic motion as he first points at Ingo with a wide open mouth, then flailing wildly before grabbing his hat and slapping it against the bed a few times,, then finally leaning against his brother and giving him a very gentle hug. “I am Emmet, and I forgive you for bringing up Skrunchie, because you are Ingo and you are here!”

Ingo laughs, and pulls his good arm out from under his brother to hug him back. “We, Ingo and Emmet, are a two-car train,” Ingo says softly into his brother’s hat, his own eyes screwed shut as he feels his brother begin to softly sob into his chest, tears beginning to form in his own eyes. “I did not mean to uncouple our cars, Emmet, and I am so glad you were able to find me. Are you ok? You sound ragged.”

“You won’t like the answer. Not at all,” Emmet says with a laugh, finally pulling away with misty eyes. “I am Emmet, and I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in 3 months!”

“No, I don’t like that answer at all!” Ingo shouts, causing the Decidueye in the corner to angrily flap its wings and Elesa to stir in her chair. “You should be in bed, asleep! Actually asleep, and not just passing out on me like in middle school!” Ingo gently pushes himself up, laughing under his breath as he nods over at the other bed. “It’s not too late in the morning, go lay down and sleep.”

“I am Emmet, and I am staying up now,” his brother says as he sits back up in his chair, raising his arms above his head and popping his back. “Besides, we got here around midnight, so I got some sleep, yup.” Despite that, Emmet yawns as he reaches down to pick up his hat, and tosses it over onto Elesa’s head, jolting her awake.

“Skitters, get out of the candy, it’s mine!” Elesa flails for a moment, causing the hat to fall down her face as the Decidueye glares at her, its trainer still sleeping (un)comfortably in their chair. After a moment, she is able to refocus, and sees Ingo looking at her with a barely contained frown, and leaps up from her chair. “You’re finally awake, Deerling!” She quickly and gently fills the void Emmet had just left on Ingo’s bed, wrapping her arms around him and putting her face against his chest.

“I am!” Ingo says, planting a kiss on the top of Elesa’s head. “And I woke up to quite a surprise.”

“I am Emmet,” Emmet says smugly, nodding as he instinctively reaches out for some non-existent coffee, sighing when he grabs the empty air. “I miss coffee, though. Even while traveling, I at least had that routine.”

“Well, the stuff Zisu has isn’t the best, but it’s coffee,” Ingo says, looking back to his brother as he begins stroking Elesa’s head as she begins to doze back off. “Though I could kill for some Third Rail Coffee, I’ve come to miss that since Elesa returned.”

“I am Emmet, and I have bad news, brother,” Emmet says, sighing heavily as he leans forward. “They closed the one on our route to the station. Now only the one in Blueberry Academy Nimbasa is open.” Ingo stops stroking Elesa’s hair and stares at Emmet with a wide mouth, causing Emmet to chuckle morosely. “Yup! It has ruined my commute and I cry daily.”

“Now he goes to Staryubucks, like a plebeian,” Elesa sleepily says, staying snuggled to Ingo’s chest. “And he complains about how sweet it is.”

“I am Emmet, and their coffee sucks!” Emmet cries out, throwing his hands into the air in unison with the main door of the building slamming shut. “They’re the only ones open at 5am on my early days, which is every day now! And they have bad bagels! Frozen, and then thrown in a microwave to pretend to be hot!”

The door to the medical bay opens as Akari backs into the room with several plates of potato mochi, picking up on the conversation. “Wait, are you all talking about St. Marc’s? Cause their ChocoCros kinda su-” She stops when she notices Ingo sitting up, politely waving at her, and her eyes immediately widen and fill with tears. “Uncle Ingo!!”

The Decidueye trills loudly (How the young trainer hasn’t woken up, Ingo is unsure) as Akari drops the plates onto the table and rushes Ingo’s bed. Elesa, unfortunately, doesn’t move in time and is whacked by the teenager as she throws her arms around Ingo. “Foul!” Elesa whines, sitting up reluctantly. “10 yard penalty, Akari.”

“I brought you food, foul overturned,” Akari quickly says, holding onto Ingo tight, a few inches below the broken ribs thankfully. As Ingo begins to pat her on the back, he can feel her shaking slightly as she holds back tears. “I’m sorry, Uncle… It’s all my fault we went up there.”

“Not necessarily,” Ingo says quietly, his voice only filling their half of the room rather than the entirety. “I could’ve told you no, but I trusted you, because you’ve given me every reason to trust you.”

“But I knew where to go!” She counters into his stomach. “And I could’ve just gone to Arceus and He would’ve been able to get us home!”

“After you did a test, right?” Ingo says sternly. “And you might have been taken home right then. Would that have been the track you desired?” He feels her shake her head, and pats the back of her head. “I didn’t think so.”

The conversation halted, though, as Pesselle cleared her throat for the doorway of the Medical Hall. “I’m glad you’re awake, Ingo! Mayhaps we can work on redressing your wounds soon?”

Ingo clears his throat, and looks over at Elesa. “Perhaps you and Akari can go grab some coffee for yourselves and Emmet? I’m sure Zisu wouldn’t mind sharing?” To his credit, when both of them gave him glares, he didn’t flinch at all. “Emmet hasn’t seen me in years, he can stay.”

“Yes! I am Emmet, and I get to stay. And watch my brother’s bandages get chan-” Emmet’s smug smile falters for a second, quickly looking at the bit of dried blood on the bandages on Ingo’s head. “Bandages get changed. With wounds underneath. Elesa, can I come with?”

Elesa snickers as she rounds the bed, and kisses Emmet’s forehead. “No dice, Dar-klink. You make sure he’s good to Miss. Pesselle, and I’ll get Elio some coffee so they don’t complain. Deal?” Emmet sighs and nods, and Elesa lifts his chin up to give him a proper kiss. “I’ll bring you some honey as well. Love you.”

“Love you too, Ellie,” Emmet says with a soft smile as the two girls leave. With a sigh, he looks back at Ingo, noticeably looking at his nose as Pesselle begins unwrapping the bandages around Ingo’s forehead. “What did we ever do to deserve her?”

“Make her classrooms more interesting?” Ingo says with a quirk of his lips. “The both of us always goofing off or having seemingly inane conversations helped keep her awake for class.” He winces slightly as Pesselle begins cleaning the wound on his forehead.

Emmet chuckles softly, then picks Ingo’s hat up from the table behind him. “Here, let me introduce you to Elio.” He holds the hat by the brim, lines up the shot, and tosses it like a Frisbee at Elio’s head, like he had with Elesa a little bit before. And with an unerring aim, the hat lands directly on the young teen’s face, getting a delayed reaction from them as they shake their head and then jolt up, disturbing the Decidueye above them.

“Auē!” Ingo has to suppress a chuckle as Elio flails briefly in their chair while Pesselle reaches across him and swats at Emmet. “Uncle Emmet, what was that for?!” The Decidueye above them leaps from the top of their chair, flapping once to keep in the air before landing next to Emmet, giving him a dead, yet pointed, glare.

“I am Emmet. Ingo wanted to meet you,” Emmet says without a hint of remorse as he reaches over to gently stroke the Decidueye’s cowl. “Besides, Sorel was mother henning you. That perch wasn’t good for him.”

“You also have coffee coming your way,” Ingo says as he leans forward to let Pesselle undo the sling around his shoulder. His eyes crinkle slightly as sparks enter Elio’s eyes at the prospect of coffee. “But nice to meet you, young Elio.”

“Hold up, let me help you!” Elio says really quickly, leaping from their chair and dashing to Pesselle’s side. “If I’m gonna chat with Uncle’s brother, then I should probably help.”

As Elio reaches for Ingo’s arm, however, they are held back by Pesselle. “I can handle this, child. I think the best way for you to help would be to keep Ingo awake.”

Elio blinks for a moment, before a smile hits their face and they nod enthusiastically. “Of course!”

As Elio resituates themself onto the foot of the bed, Ingo nods and gives them a point. “I am the Highlands Warden, Ingo. And who am I having the pleasure of speaking to?”

Elio’s smile widens, and they slap a hand against their chest. “I’m Elio Nozawa, the first Champion of the Alola League!” As they proclaim this, their Decidueye trots around the bed and gives a squawk as it leans past its trainer. “And this is my trusted partner, Sorel!”

“The first Champion, at such a young age?” Ingo says in shock as he looks over to Emmet, who’s nod is mirrored in the teen. “Bravo!” Ingo nearly shouts as he turns back towards the trainer, then winces a little at the pain from his ribs. “Yes, yes, I know I overdid it,” he says, raising his good hand to hold off the scolding from Pesselle.

Elio and Emmet share a laugh at Ingo’s expense before the teenager picks back up. “You have almost as much energy as Uncle Professor,” Elio wheezes out between their laughter. “He was so excited when I whooped him at Lanakila!” They throw their hands into the air and lean back before putting on an exaggerated tone. “‘Woooo! You did it kid! You’re the first Champion, woooo!’”

Now it was Ingo and Pesselle’s turn to laugh, both trying to hold it in as the doctor worked on cleaning the wounds on Ingo’s back. “Sounds like a shoe-in for the Security Corp, knowing Zisu,” Pesselle says, her smile widening.

“Assuredly,” Ingo responds, his hand over his mouth to stifle his laughter. As the four of them calm their laughter down, Ingo sighs and looks over at Emmet. “So, now that you’re here, what is the plan?”

Emmet hums slightly as he brings his hand up and taps his chin in thought. “Well, we don’t plan on staying. I am Emmet. I am a Subway Boss, and there are no trains here.” Both brothers chuckle in unison before Emmet shakes his head. “I came to get Elesa. Cynthia came for Hi- for Akari.”

“And me?” Ingo asks out of curiosity, quirking an eyebrow.

Emmet purses his lips for a moment and sighs. “It’s up to you. We… We had begun moving on.” He presses his hand up against his mouth for a moment before continuing. “If you chose to stay behind, that’s fine. But… I am Emmet. I want you home. Mom wants you home.”

“And I want to go home, if I’m able,” Ingo says softly, looking away from Emmet out the window as Pesselle goes to throw away the only bandages. “I would desperately miss my life here, but…” He sighs heavily before leaning back against his pillow. “Ever since Elesa arrived, I’ve been wanting to return home more than ever. Before, it was a longing for an unknown, and now…”

“Now it’s staring you in the face?” Elio says as Ingo drops off, causing the older trainer to nod silently. “I guess I get that,” they continue as they reach over and stroke Sorel’s cowl as the Pokemon stands vigil at the end of Ingo’s bed. “When my friend Lillie left for Kanto after my League Championship, it was terrifying for my friend Hau. He was so sure that she would be in danger in a place so different from Alola.”

Elio coaxes their Decidueye to the side of the bed and begins pruning it as they continue to speak. “But then Lillie called us on our Rotom Phones, and we saw that she was perfectly fine.” They smile, and look up at Ingo. “When it’s all in your head, it feels fake and surreal. But when it’s in your face, you see it for what it is, and it changes what you feel.” Elio finishes up on Sorel’s hood before letting it wander back to its place. “Of course, Hau still went to Kanto on the next boat. He told me just before I left for Unova that they were camping out by Cerulean.”

Emmet was beaming at the young Trainer, and Ingo’s eyes were closed in contentment as Elio talks. After Elio becomes absorbed in their own story and Ingo finds the chance, he beckons his brother over to continue their conversation. “I want to go home, but I can’t just disappear without warning. I need to speak to Lady Irida.”

“The girl in pink?” Emmet asks, holding his hands above his head in an approximation of Irida’s head piece. Ingo nods, and Emmet nods in response. “Yup! I met her this morning. She had to go back to the Settlement. Starly came in with a message for her about a Sneasel.”

“Sneasel?” Ingo asks, his brows furrowing into a true frown for a moment. “I hope nothing is wrong with Sneasler. My Lady just had a litter several months ago, so I doubt she would be having another so soon.” Before he could continue the thought, Ingo has to pause and let out a loud and drawn out yawn.

“Looks like my big brother won’t be getting coffee,” Emmet snickers as he leans back into his chair. “Yup! He’ll have to miss out.”

“He wouldn't be able to have any stimulants anyway,” Pesselle says as she comes back into the room. “I have him on a few medications right now, and I don’t want them diluted by coffee.”

“The curse of injuries,” Emmet muses with a shrug and a shake of his head. “Guess I’ll just have to enjoy it for you, yup!”

“You don’t like Arabica,” Ingo shoots back with a glare. “You always want Robusta. So suffer, Emmet.” As Emmet’s face falls into a look of abject fear, Ingo’s own curls into a mischievous frown, his eyes crinkling almost shut.

“It’s still coffee,” Elio says innocently as they look between the twins before standing up from Ingo’s bed. As both twins turn to fix them with a glare, though, the Trainer quickly throws their hands up and backs away. “But I guess it matters! I guess it matters.”

“It does, yup!” Emmet says as he shakes his head and gets up to retrieve his hat that was still by Elio’s chair. “And I guess I’ll have to deal with it. Arabica was always Ingo and Volo’s deal.” As Emmet swats his hat to get the dirt from the floor off of there, he turns to face Ingo and pauses, seeing the glare that his twin had. “I am Emmet. Did I say something wrong?”

“I don’t remember a Volo in Nimbasa before I left,” Ingo says softly, a slow burning anger beginning to form behind his eyes. “And the only Volo I know attempted to kill our niece on top of a mountain.”

“The only one I know regrets that,” Emmet starts, putting his hat back on with a huff. “He made a promise.”

“I don’t care if he made a promise, Emmet,” Ingo says, his tone getting sharper. “That man tried to kill our niece. If you think I’m going to be ok with him being he-”

“Giratina threatened to eat him,” Emmet shoots back, his eyes briefly leaving Ingo’s to shoot a glare at Elio to stop them from correcting him, then back at Ingo. “I broke his nose. I think.” He swivels his head towards Elio in full, tilting slightly in confusion. “I am Emmet. Did I break Volo’s nose?”

Elio stands there for a second, their head swiveling between the two twins who both held very intense expressions respectively. After a moment, Elio swallows and speaks up, “If I say yes, will that calm you both, Uncle?”

“I am the Warden Boss Ingo,” Ingo interjects before Emmet can jump in, “and I say no. That man shouldn’t be here. In fact!” With a small grunt, Ingo moves to the side of the bed and tries to swing his legs off, only for Pesselle to grab his leg and push it back onto the bed, giving him a silent, threatening glare.

As Ingo crosses his arms and hmphs in annoyance, Emmet puts a hand over his mouth to hide his giggle before his brother could see it. “I think that may be a good place to end this. You are getting feisty, yup!”

Ingo whips his head back toward Emmet, about to shoot something back before being cut off by Rei entering from Cyllene’s room. “Hey, the Commander wants to talk to the travelers upstairs,” he says quickly, looking at Emmet and then Elio. “Elesa and Akari took the coffee upstairs already, and Cynthia and Volo are waiting there.”

It took all of Ingo’s willpower, bolstered by Pesselle’s fiery gaze, to stay in place. Coughing into his fist, he says “I believe I’m going to sleep.” He pauses for a moment, then looks up at Emmet with a crinkle at the corner of his eyes. “And I’ll see you later, little brother.”

#submas #submas fic #pokemon legends arceus #pokemon legends arceus fic #electric trains fic #my writing #pokemon ingo #subway boss ingo #warden ingo #pokemon emmet #subway boss emmet #pokemon akari #trainer akari #pokemon elesa #gym leader elesa #pokemon elio #trainer elio #this was a fun chapter but boy did my writing mood come in fucking waves #still is

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