Chapter Text
“Ingooo!!! Oh, Warden Ingooo!” a voice calls out for his attention, failing to grab it as the warden walks off, interrupted.
A scoff escapes from the other’s lips as he watches him disappear outside of Jubilife Village’s gates.
“Ugh, just where is that man going?” the attention seeker asks incredulously “And to think I stayed in this village away from my dear Lord Electrode to try and reconcile with such a person.”
“Give him a break, Melli,” a familiar voice chimes in, causing the man to jump in surprise.
He turned around to be greeted by none other than his clan leader.
“But Adaman!!!” Melli cried out “He just completely and utterly ignored me! He didn’t even glance in my direction! Where in the world could he be going that’s more important than talking with me , the great Melli?!”
“Well- I dunno but he’s bound to have a lot on his mind.”
“I know where he’s going,” another person chimed in.
“Where is it that he’s going then?” Adaman asked, wasting no time.
Irida furrowed her brows “You know, a hello would be nice,” she pauses, looking out at the gate in the distance.
“He’s going to reflect.”
“Reflect?” the warden questioned, impatient.
“Yes…” Irida casted her gaze downward “I’ve caught him a few times doing it. At least once a month on the 18th… he goes up to mount Coronet, and sits at the fabled spring to…think… I don’t know what significance that date holds… I don’t even know if he knows himself… But…” the Pearl Clan leader looked up at the mountains off in the distance. “...He seems to be plagued by something…”
A lost man, atop a mountain.
He sits, legs folded, at the foot of a spring, surrounded by wildflowers.
Letting his eyelids fall to a close, he inhales the fresh air, and tries to clear his mind…
However, a certain memory blocks his path…
…As to be expected, of course…
There’s always something eating away at him, whether he realizes it or not…
That’s why he comes up here.
To reflect, and then release.
However, this memory… is a bit more recent than he’d like to admit…
Once more, he takes a deep breath, before recalling the events of that night…
“Ingo, look!”
“Hm?” the warden hums, lightly being tugged from his daze.
The girl next to him, his clan leader, pulls him close by the arm whilst pointing to the sky.
“A shooting star!!!” she exclaims, glancing at the warden, hoping this sight will bring even the slightest smile to his face before looking back up at the sky with him.
“Oh, and another!”
“...”
“Isn’t it beautiful, Ingo?”
“Yes, quite.” he says, his eyes following the short bursts of light that flew across the sky.
“You know what this means, don’t you?” Irida asked, her enthusiasm never wavering.
“Hm?”
“Legend has it, if you see a shooting star, almighty Sinnoh will smile upon you, and grant you one wish…!”
. . .
One wish, eh…?
Ingo closed his eyes and drowned out the noise of the ongoing festival.
He wanted a lot of things…
He wanted to remember where he came from… He wanted to know why he was brought here… He wanted to know… if he’d ever truly be happy…
With so many pieces of him missing, he felt… incomplete…
…However.
Above all else, he wanted…
He wanted to know… who that man was.
The man who looked like him…
He could…
He could remember him… always smiling.
And though he couldn’t remember who he was, he could remember always feeling complete in his presence.
Whether he was actually another person, or simply a memory of a happier version of himself, he didn’t know…
But what he did know was…
Above all else… he wanted to know… who he was.
…His mirror image.
After a bit of contemplating, he decided officially.
…That was his wish.
Opening his eyes, he looked down to be met by the worried gaze of his clan leader.
“...Is something the matter, miss Irida…?”
“...It’s just… Are you enjoying yourself, Ingo?”
“Yes, of course,” he replied quite plainly.
Irida’s eyes scanned his face before letting go of his arm with a sigh.
“I was just—” she frowned a bit herself “hoping to see you see you smile…” she grumbled as he walked away with haste.
Slightly taken aback, Ingo gasped to himself quietly, before reaching out towards his clan leader.
“Miss Irida, wait…!” he called out. But she only quickened her pace and disappeared into the crowd.
Ingo remained frozen before slumping his shoulders in defeat.
… “I didn’t mean to disappoint,” he grumbled to himself.
Taken aback by the vividness of such an embarrassing memory, the warden gasps, opening his eyes in shock.
He squeezes his eyes shut, letting out a groan of frustration as he facepalms, cringing at himself.
Embarrassing…
How completely and utterly embarrassing…!
Finally, he had an opportunity to truly make friends with someone— to not be considered so much of an outsider—
And he messed it up…!
Too lost in thought to properly see the efforts his clan leader was putting in to try and get through to him.
Embarrassing…
Embarrassing…!
He groans once more before shaking his head and leaning forward towards the spring. Hands cupped together, he scoops the cool water into his hands and prompt splashes it on his face. He does this a few times, repeating the motion until the lingering feeling of humiliation looming over him has finally dissipated.
Once done, he sighs, and opens his eyes…
…However, his reflection is not what meets his gaze…
Rippling at the surface of the glistening spring water was…
The side profile of a man who looks just like him...dress in white.
He blinks a few times, but the image doesn’t go away.
No, it’s-... more than an image…
The man in the reflection was… moving .
Not copying his movements, no…
Moving, completely independently….
Tilting his head, the warden watched the man closely.
Faintly, he began hearing the words of another echo in the back of his mind… Upon closer inspection, the words he were hearing matched up perfectly with the movements of the man’s mouth… He tried to focus, and bring clarity to his words, though it didn’t stop the audibility from waning…
“...m…. Em….”
“I am a su…….ss.”
“I li…. doub…. batt…..”
“I like comb…ations of …. pokemon.”
“....And I like winning more than anything else.”
The last phrase reverberated in his mind…
“I like winning more than anything else.”
…He remembers that.
He remembers him saying that…!
Him..
His…
His brother…
!!!
His brother!!!
Gasping at this revelation, he leaned forward towards the image as the name escaped his lips…
The name he was aching to remember…
The name that was locked away, deep down in his brain, just out of reach…
The name of a man that… he felt incomplete without.
“...Emmet…?”
The man in the reflection froze, as if reacting to his voice.
He looked around frantically before turning to face the warden, to which he froze once more.
The smile on his face slowly transformed into a much more melancholic grin as tears formed in his eyes.
“I-Ingo?!” he called out, his cry clear as day in his mind.
Taken aback, Ingo became paralysed as he watched the man in the spring…completely unravel.
He rushed over, his hands pressed against the surface of the water as if it were glass. It looked as if the surface tension could give way any moment, releasing Emmet from his watery prison.
“I’ve finally lost it, haven’t I…?” the reflection muttered.
“Ingo,” the man began to sob “Ingo, where are you?!” he cried out “What is happening?! I- I can hear you, but I can not reach you, I-” his breathing hastened as he tore off his gloves with his teeth and pressed his palms against a surface “I ca-… I can’t touch you…” the man in white seemed to lose himself a bit, his breath escaping him as his smile grew manic in desperation.
“N-...No…”
“Th-...That’s not fair…!” his volume increased.
He banged on the surface.
“DAMMIT, THAT’S NOT FAIR!!! ” he screamed.
A flood of murmurs began to fill Ingo’s mind behind the reflection’s voice.
“No-... No, I’ll get yo-” the man gulped, his words getting caught in his throat for a moment “ I will get you out of there!” he said, his words trembling.
Before he knew it, he balled up his fists, and began striking the surface with a loud “BANG” .
Every punch making the water ripple in reaction.
“I.”
BANG .
“ Will”
BANG.
“Get.”
BANG .
“You.”
A crackling sound made itself present in Ingo’s mind, as he sat frozen, watching in terror.
“OUT!!!”
The sound of shattering glass boomed in his ears, so loud he feared he might go deaf. The water jumped at the force of the punch, before settling down in a large ripple.
Instinctively, Ingo gasped and jumped back in fear, his heart pounding out of his chest.
Unsure of what happened, but too afraid to find out, the man quickly fled the mountains, quickly seeking comfort in the populated area of Jubilife village.
…Just what the hell was that…?