Chapter Text
It was a normal summer day in Sinnoh. The air was humid despite the bright sun, and Akari woke up to the familiar chirping of the Starly outside her window.
She stretched and yawned, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes before going downstairs. Her mothers Clefairy rubbed against her leg, begging to be picked up.
It was still too young to understand where it's trainer had gone.
Akari pet it on the head, but didn't pick it up. Instead she left the house, leaving the door unlocked behind her.
She walked into the woods near her home and vanished with a flash of light, seen by none.
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It was a regular day in Unova. Ingo had woken up and gotten ready for work as usual, making his coffee despite still being half-asleep and mentally cursing Emmet for being a morning person. It was 6am, why was he so chipper?
Then again, he went to sleep early every day unlike Ingo.
He grimaced as he sipped his too-bitter coffee, longing for something much sweeter, but he didn't have enough time as he would've liked. This would just have to do for now.
Him and Emmet could always stop at Staryubucks later anyways.
Ingo continued with his normal morning routine, taking a quick shower to wake up further and putting on his uniform.
Emmet was already waiting by the door once he was finished, smile bright as always.
Ingo ruffled his hair under his hat and they walked to work.
All in all, their shift was normal. A few unruly passengers were dealt with quickly as usual and the early-morning challengers unfortunately didn't pose much of a challenge.
Elesa did stop by with coffee at around 9am, but had to leave only 20 minutes later.
At precisely 9:20am, May 27th 20XX, Subway Boss Ingo disappeared in a flash of light.
Then 40 minutes later an orphaned girl from Sinnoh disappeared as well.
Only Ingo's disappearance was witnessed, but only by his brother Emmet.
Nobody else saw him, nor heard him screaming for his brother.
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Akari (Ingo) woke up in darkness. In front of her (him) was a bright, glowing golden light. It stared them down, scrutinizing it's chosen.
One girl, well versed with pokemon and their behavior.
One man, well versed with pokemon and their power.
Arceus bestowed upon the girl a gift, an item to communicate, an ability to call upon the power of #####, and the return of a lost one.
Arceus bestowed upon the man a gift, the ability to call upon the powers of ##### and ######, as well as the eventual reunion with a lost one.
Neither of their minds could handle the influx of information and power being given, so memories were removed for space.
Arceus cradled their chosen with care, and turned back the clock.
100, 200, 300 years. The time when Earth needed the heroes the most.
Akari and Ingo were placed into Hisui's time, a shadow following them through.
-------------#---#-#-#-#--#-##-#####-
"Ah. I hath fucked up."
Arceus watched as the shadow of ######## followed their chosen through the portal they had opened, claws glinting in the light emanated from them.
The portal closed.
Oh well.
It was just one more task. They'd be fine.
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Akari was having a very, very bad day. First of all she woke up in midair, presumably falling from THE SKY and knocking her head on at least 4 tree branches on the way down. Secondly, she landed face-first into very cold, very thick snow. Thirdly, she was absolutely not dressed for this kind of weather.
She didn't really know anything except for her name and some vague sad feelings, but she had a feeling there shouldn't be snow on the ground right now.
She heard a loud noise above her.
There was someone else falling from the sky. About to fall on top of her.
She quickly moved out of the way, scrambling to the side not unlike a frightened Glameow.
The man hit even more branches on the way down, making pained noises as he fell onto a pile of snow just a hairs breadth away from where she had just been standing.
He didn't get up.
Akari grabbed a stick and poked him. He didn't stir.
She poked him again.
And again.
She was about to poke him a fourth time when he bolted up, speaking quickly in a language she didn't understand.
Their eyes met, and he looked just as confused as she felt. He then saw her pajamas, looked at the snow around them, and proceeded to freak out.
He was presumably warning her about wearing clothes appropriate for the weather, but he could also have been yelling at her. Akari couldn't really tell.
"Sorry, but I don't speak..Whatever language that is." She said, as politely as humanly possible.
His eyes flashed with recognition.
"Ah, will this work? I apologize, I am..Fairly rusty with this language. Unfortunately I cannot seem to remember the name right now."
His words were slightly accented, like some sort of dialect she didn't recognize. Akari thankfully understood him anyways.
"Ranseigo. I think? That's the first thing that came to my mind."
"That sounds correct. Anyways, why are you wearing shorts in the snow?!"
"I fell from the sky like 5 minutes before you did. You almost fell on me, by the way."
"I apologize for that. I guess we're in the same boat then?"
Akari just shrugged. She was really, really cold. It was getting hard to think.
The man started to fret again, hastily pulling off his coat and wrapping it around her.
It was warm and soft, and was big enough to be a blanket even if the man wasn't actually that much taller than her.
"Oh by the way, who are you?"
"My name is Ingo. I don't remember anything else, I'm afraid."
"Same hat."
"What?"
"I mean, me too. I'm Akari by the way."
"Pleasure to meet you. I feel like we should probably look for other people."
Akari nodded. "Yeah, I don't really feel like freezing to death right now. I'm probably too young to die."
With that, they set off.
Arceus internally beat themself up for not giving Akari more weather appropriate clothing.
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Back in Unova, Emmet was understandably freaking out. Ingo had just vanished! Right in front of him!
His first instinct was to call Elesa, so he did.
"Emmet? It's only been 20 minutes since we last spoke, why are you calling?"
His hands shook.
"Emergency. I am Emmet, there is an emergency. Ingo is gone."
"What? What do you mean 'gone'?"
"He-" He took a deep breath, panic clogging his throat and making it harder and harder to speak. "He's gone. Vanished. Something- Something took him, Elesa. He was screaming."
Elesa went pale. "Close the gym for the day! Family emergency."
Emmet walked onto a nearby platform, the darkness of the train tunnels oppressive despite the impression of light still under his eyelids. He heaved, stomach threatening to expel his breakfast. Nausea and panic gripped him tight as he curled into a ball, tears pricking at his eyes.
Ingo was gone. Stolen right in front of him.
He was gone.