Chapter Text
“He adopted a role called being a father so that his child would have something mythical and infinitely important: a protector.” —Tom Wolfe
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There was something wrong with the rift in the sky.
That sentence alone was a little ridicules sounding honestly. A giant space time rift in the sky was a major problem all on its own. Its very existence was wrong in every way possible. Still, it had been hanging in the sky above Hisui for so long that everyone that lived in Hisui had grudgingly gotten used to its presence. It wasn’t growing any bigger, and as far as anyone could tell other than just looming over everything from its spot above Mount Cornet it didn’t really do anything.
Well, it didn’t do anything other than drop Ingo into Hisui with no memories, but that was something no one really talked about.
Honestly, it spitting out the occasional confused person was pretty tame compared to what it could possibly do. Not that anyone had a very strong idea on exactly what it could do. When Ingo had first arrived in Hisui he had tried to find out as much as he could about the rift in some vain hope that maybe doing so would help him learn something about himself like why he was in Hisui, or where he might have come from. That rail of investigation came to a screeching halt before it even left the station.
No one really knew anything about it, and the only running theory that existed consisted of a vague not entirely confident answer of “Perhaps the Great Sinnoh created it? Perhaps it leads to the great Sinnoh’s realm?”
As for people who didn’t think it was the work of the Great Sinnoh their answer to what they thought the rift was usually boiled down to “I don’t know what it is, but I wish it would go away.”
At any rate no one knew what the rift was, and no one knew how to find out what the deal with it was so Ingo could only abandon his short investigation on the thing. He usually tried to ignore the thing while doing his best to attend to his duties. However, lately he couldn’t help but find his eyes drifting up to the rift in the sky rather often. He didn’t know why, but every time he looked at it he felt his skin crawl. Something in his very core told him that something was going to happen with the rift. He didn’t know why he felt like this. The rift didn’t look any different from any other day.
Yet, when he looked up at it he got this vague feeling that kept telling him that something was going to happen with the rift. He wasn’t the only one. He had noticed that lately Lady Sneasler had been staring up at the rift in the sky with a frown on her face rather often as well. She never looked worried per say, but whenever she looked at it she always seemed to be studying it as if trying to find some sign that something was going to happen with it.
When he had noticed he had been quick to ask “My dear Lady have you noticed something about the rift?”
Lady Sneasler seemed to think about that question for a few seconds before she shrugged, and looked back up at the sky. It was clear that there was something about the rift that was bothering her, but she either had no idea how to explain what the problem was or she wasn’t completely sure about what to expect. Ingo of course was quick to mention Lady Sneasler’s strange behavior toward the rift to Lady Irida. As a warden it was his duty to let his clan leader know if there was anything wrong with the Noble in his care. When he told Irida she hadn’t seemed surprised by what she heard, but she was definitely concerned.
“Lady Sneasler is acting that way too?” Irida had asked.
“Are some of the other Nobles acting the same?” Ingo asked.
Irida had only nodded as she said “Calaba said that Lord Ursaluna has been staring up at the rift a lot too. Lian and Gaeric have told me that Lord Kleavor and Lord Avalugg have been doing the same thing. They are all acting like they are expecting something to happen with the rift.”
Ingo could only hum in thought. Ingo could not help but wonder if the Diamond Clan’s nobles were acting strange as well. Much as he wished he could ask he knew he couldn’t. The only Diamond Clan Warden that he knew was Melli, and Melli was one of those people that Ingo could only tolerate in small doses. He doubted Melli would have told Ingo anything anyway. Maybe Ingo could ask Lady Sneasler if she could check on Lord Electrode? The Noble Pokémon were not held back by the strained relations of the Pearl and Diamond clan. They were free to visit each other if they wished to do so.
He allowed those thoughts to fall to the wayside when he heard Irida say “For now there isn’t much we can do other than keep an eye on the rift on the sky, and keep an eye on our Nobles.”
The young leader sighed as her shoulders slumped. In that one brief moment his Clan leader let her exhaustion show as she said “I hope this isn’t a sign that something bad is going to happen.”
“As do I Lady Irida,” Ingo said. “As do I.”
After that meeting Ingo found himself staring up at the rift even more. Honestly, he probably spent at least an hour or so just studying the thing waiting for something to happen. Often Lady Sneasler joined him in staring up at the rift. It honestly felt like the both of them were waiting for something, but what? Just what exactly where they waiting for?
It was only after three weeks had passed since he mentioned his concerns to Lady Irida did he finally get his answer.
The day had started normally enough. There was a bit more rumbling of thunder coming from the rift, but it hadn’t really caused Ingo to worry too much. While it wasn’t a common occurrence hearing the sound of rumbling thunder come from the rift wasn’t totally unheard of. It happened every now and then. He kept an eye on it, but he didn’t allow it to distract him from his morning patrol of Coronet Highlands. His patrol of Coronet Highlands had been rather calm for the most part.
The local wild Pokémon population was acting normal, the Alpha Pokémon the dwelled in the mountains were sticking to their territories thankfully, and while they were patrolling they didn’t run into any poor traveler stuck in the mountains. The most notable thing that happened that morning was that they had passed by a small group of Survey Corps people from the Galaxy Expedition Team at Wayward Woods while on patrol. The small group had given Ingo some small murmurs of greeting while giving Lady Sneasler weary glances. Ingo had greeted them as well all while mentally making a note to swing back around this area to check on them later.
The Galaxy Expedition team had sent a few Survey Corps members to the Highlands to map out the area, but they hadn’t made much progress. Ingo had lost count of how many lost Galaxy Expedition team members he has had to guide back to their base camp. There was one Security Corps member that he had to guide back to her camp at least ten times now. Some young lady named Wendy? Or maybe it was Wanda? It was something that started with W. At any rate he had rescued enough lost Galaxy Expedition members that the Galaxy Expedition team seemed to like him and were not quite as on edge around Lady Sneasler which was really saying something considering their general weary nature toward wild Pokémon or toward Pokémon that they themselves hadn’t captured. Apparently rescuing a few of their members on a somewhat regular basses was enough to make a few of them warm up to her.
At any rate the run in with the Galaxy Expedition team had been the only highlight of his patrol. Ingo figured that would be the only interesting thing to happen on his patrol.
Of course he ended up being wrong.
When he had gotten to the Lonely Springs the sound of rumbling thunder coming from the rift caused Ingo to pause and look up. Sneasler stopped to look at it too, and as they both stared up at the rift they both felt a strange sense of discomfort as the thunder grew in volume. The thunder also didn't seem to ever stop. It was a continuous never ending rumble that felt like it would go on forever. It honestly made Ingo’s discomfort and concern grow with every passing second. A quick glance at Sneasler showed that she looked just as concerned as Ingo felt. Ingo had no idea how long the rumbling went on for, but just as quickly as it started it suddenly stopped. Everything was eerily silent once the thunder stopped. It honestly felt like the whole world was holding its breath as it waited for the rift to do something. The rift didn’t make them wait for long. A minute after the thunder stopped something fell out of the rift. It didn’t take long for Ingo to see that the something that fell from the rift wasn’t just some random item.
No, the thing that had fallen from the rift was a girl. A girl who was quickly falling toward the Lonely Spring.
It didn’t take long for the girl to reach the ground. The second she hit the ground Ingo was rushing to the child’s side with Sneasler following close behind him.
“Miss?” Ingo called out as he dropped down onto his knees next to her. “Miss are you alright?”
The girl gave no reply. Her eyes remained closed, and she didn’t react at all to Ingo’s call. Thankfully, the slight rise and fall of her chest meant that she was still breathing and hadn’t been killed by the fall. In fact, she was breathing a bit heavily, and even in her passed out state Ingo could see that she was shivering slightly. The highlands tended to be a bit colder than most other areas of Hisui, and the girl’s clothing clearly wasn’t built for cold weather. Still, even with that in mind she should not have been shivering so badly. He placed a hand on her forehead only to feel a small jolt of concern hit him when he felt just how warm she was.
“She has a fever,” Ingo said out loud. “We need to bring her back to our home station quickly, and then call for some medical assistance from the clan.”
Sneasler nodded as she knelt down so that Ingo could access that basket that she wore. Ingo was gentle as he picked the girl up, but as he lifted her up he noticed that she was tightly gripping something in her hand. It was a strange little gadget that had some strange gold arches around that bore some slight resemblance to the symbols on Sneasler’s basket. Said symbol was said to be a symbol sacred to the mighty Sinnoh, so the fact that this girl had an item with a similar symbol on it was rather interesting. Strangely, the device looked vaguely familiar somehow. He felt like he had seen something like it before, but he could not recall where. Ingo didn’t dwell on it for long. The girl’s need for medical attention was a much more pressing issue at the moment. Ingo was able to shove away his thoughts about the strange gadget away for now as he gently picked the girl up and climbed into Sneasler’s basket.
Before closing the lid of the basket he said “Proceed with speed, but not haste my lady. I don’t think our passenger could handle a rough trip up the mountains.”
Sneasler nodded, and upon seeing that nod Ingo closed the lid of the basket. Once the lid was closed Sneasler quickly made her way to the nearest cliff wall and started climbing. Luckily, the journey would not be a long one. Lady Sneasler’s den and his home were located in the Clamberclaw Cliffs which was rather close to the Lonely Spring. It just took quite a climb to get there, but thankfully when one had Lady Sneasler helping climbing the cliffs was a quick and easy process. With that said sometimes it wasn’t the gentlest process. Sneasler was trying to be both quick yet slow enough that they were not shaken up too badly in the basket. It was a valiant effort, but even with her trying it was proving to be a bit of a bumpy ride. Ingo tried his best to make sure their passenger wasn’t shaken too much. When he had picked the girl up he had seen some bruises decorating her skin already. The last thing the child needed was to get even more bruises added to her already large collection of bruises.
As they climbed Ingo peaked out of the basket through the hole in the basket that was made to allow passengers to see out of the basket. To his surprise he could see a few Galaxy Expedition team running toward the Lonely Spring. The group consisted of two Security Corps members, and a single Survey Corps member. None of them had been in the traveling party that Ingo had passed by earlier, so they must have been a separate group doing a separate job there in the highlands. They were racing toward the Lonely Spring like they were being chased by an Alpha Pokémon. He was too far away to really hear anything other than a single order that was shouted loudly enough Ingo was sure that even the Great Sinnoh itself could hear it.
“Just find her! She came from the rift so she has to know something about it!”
The order was so aggressive sounding that Ingo thought that it was probably a good thing that he found the girl first before them. That tone that was used seemed to imply that they would treat the girl like someone to be interrogated and not a child who needed help. One glance at the girl was enough to know she was no condition to be questioned about anything. Honestly, she might not even know anything. Ingo fell out of the rift as well, and unfortunately falling from the rift didn’t give him any sort of understanding about the rift. In fact, there was a very good chance that going through the rift may have been the cause of his memory loss. He hoped the child had an easier journey through the rift then he did, and that she was able to keep her memories. However, one look at her beaten up feverish state made him think she probably didn’t fare much better than he did.
He tried to push that thought from his mind as he watched the men down in the Lonely Springs. Lady Sneasler was high enough up the cliffs that none of them spotted her thankfully. With how fast she was climbing she quickly made it to the top and the Lonely Springs disappeared from view meaning that they disappeared from view before any of the Galaxy Expedition Team thought to look up for their missing girl from the rift.
The second Sneasler’s feet hit the ground she started running toward home. Sneasler was no Lord Wydeer, but considering the fact that she was carrying two people her speed was sill rather impressive. By how quickly she was running it was clear that she was worried for their young passenger. The second she reached Ingo’s yurt Ingo was popping the lid off the basket. Ingo was careful as he climbed out of the basket. Ingo raced toward his door and flung it open. Lady Sneasler followed him in which Ingo didn’t mind. Ingo’s yurt was a bigger then the yurts that people of the Pearl Clan had. Part of this was due to making sure that there was enough room for the Noble Pokémon to be able to come in if she so wished. Another reason for all of the room was to make sure Ingo had enough room to care for Lady Sneasler’s offspring if they were ever sick, injured, or simply just needed a bit of extra care after being born.
In fact, Ingo had two of Lady Sneasler’s children in his yurt right now. Upon slamming the door open he could hear the squeaks and chirps of the two sneasels now. Chances were high that he had woken them up when he slammed the door open, but he would have to apologize for that later. He rushed over to the bunkbed, and carefully placed the girl down on the bottom bunk. Once she was one the bed he ran over to his small desk, and grabbed his journal. After ripping a page out of the journal he quickly started writing a message.
While Ingo was rather competent in creating potions, revives, and other needed healing items for Pokémon he wasn’t nearly as skilled at treating a human. He knew a few basics to take care of himself, but for this he needed a healer from the clan to check over the girl. He needed someone to make sure that the fall hadn’t broken any bones or something like that. A healer from the clan would also know any herbal remedies that could be used to help with the girl’s illness. As he wrote he could hear Lady Sneasler and her children talking back and forth to each other. Most likely the Sneasels were wondering why Ingo had brought a stranger to his abode. When the message was written Ingo quickly placed it in Lady Sneasler’s basket.
“My Lady please take this message to the Pearl Clan settlement,” He said as he closed the lid. “I believe Lady Calaba should be at the settlement today instead of at her usual station. She should be able to help.”
Even as he said this Ingo worried that he might be wrong about Calaba being in the village that week. On the first day of the week Calaba would stop by the Pearl Clan settlement to drop off herbs and other necessities that she had been able to dig up with the help of Lord Ursaluna. She tended to stay in the village overnight only to return to the Crimson Mirelands the next day. From what little he knew of Calaba he knew she was one to stick to a schedule. The only thing that would delay her visit to the village was if something was going on in the Crimson Mirelands, or something happened to Lord Ursaluna. As far as he knew both places were fine, so Calaba should be on her normal schedule. Still, that didn’t mean something couldn’t have come up.
“If Lady Calaba isn’t in just take the message to Lady Irida. She needs to be told about our new passenger anyway, and if Lady Calaba isn’t in surely Lady Irida will know of a healer who is sufficient enough to help.”
Lady Sneasler nodded, and in a matter of seconds she was out the door off to fulfill the request that her warden had given her. Once she was gone Ingo couldn’t help but let out a soft sigh. For now, he did all he could. The only thing he could do was wait, and try to make sure the girl was comfortable.
“Snee?”
The confused call of a Sneasel drew Ingo’s attention up to the top bunk of the bunk bed. The two sneasels were staring down at the girl in curiosity.
“I imagine your mother has already explained things to the two of you already,” Ingo said. “Our young guest is hurt and sick. A medic from the Pearl Clan should be here soon to tell us what her condition is.”
The girl Sneasel nodded upon hearing that, and upon having her curiosity fulfilled she promptly flopped back onto the bed to go to sleep. She was out cold in a matter of seconds, and that fact drew a soft chuckle out of Ingo. Strangely, the other Sneasel did not join his sister in the land of dreams. He kept starting down at the girl with a look of concern on his face.
“Worried for our young guest?” Ingo asked.
The Sneasel nodded slowly as he stared down at the young girl on the bunk below him. Ingo was honestly surprised by the gesture. This particular Sneasel was the most timid Sneasel that Ingo had ever interacted with. Most Sneasels tended to be rather independent, and highly curious and brave little Pokémon. This was all especially true for Lady Sneasler’s children. Lady Sneasler was always calm Pokémon who loved to explore the world around her, and was always eager to meet new people. Her children were much like her. They always so excited to go out into the world to explore. They always seemed so excited to be able to get big enough so that they could explore the world around them on their own. Sometimes they were a bit too eager to go off to explore the world, Ingo had long since lost count of how many times he and Lady Sneasler had to go and round up the Sneasels that had left their mother’s den on their own in order to explore the world only to get stuck in a place they were still too little or young to deal with.
The little male Sneasel was the only one Ingo never had to worry about running off and getting into trouble. This little Sneasel stuck to his mother like glue always too afraid to stray far from her. When Lady Sneasler wasn’t there the Sneasel would cling to the shredded ends of Ingo’s coat, and follow behind Ingo like a second shadow. Every time he did that Ingo felt the urge to call him a caboose although he wasn’t sure why. Ingo had no idea what a caboose was, but for some reason something in him thought the name fit the Sneasel when he saw the Pokémon following close behind him all while clinging to the fabric of Ingo's coat. Lady Sneasler, Ingo, and the Sneasel’s own siblings were the only ones he was comfortable with. Around anyone else the Sneasel would hide behind Ingo or Lady Sneasler. He even hid from Lady Irida even though the clan leader had visited many times to see her clan’s Noble, and to see her Noble’s latest brood of children. Even when Lady Irida brought offerings of food that the Sneasels couldn’t resist he would shy away from her only coming out of hiding to grab food when Irida had left.
With how shy he normally was Ingo figured the sudden intrusion of a stranger would cause the Sneasel to cling to his sibling for comfort. Instead he sat at the edge of the bed starting down at the girl with a look that was rather similar to the worried look that Lady Sneasler would sometimes give him if Ingo was overworking himself. Although, honestly now that Ingo was getting a real good look at the child he could see that she was honestly in a rough safe. Her raspy breathing and flushed complexion made it clear that she had a fever, and getting a good look at her now showed that she had more bruises on her arms and legs then he had originally thought which was rather worrying because he thought she had a lot to begin with. She honestly looked like she had gotten into a fist fight with a Machop only to lose. Maybe her condition was enough to override Sneasel’s shy nature and take him straight to the station of worry for the girl’s heath. Ingo reached and gave the Sneasel a comforting pat on the head which was enough to make the Pokémon glance up at him.
“Do not worry,” Ingo reassured the Pokémon. “The healers from the Pearl Clan will know how to help her, and we will do what we can to help her recover as well. I’m sure with our help and the Pearl Clan’s help the child will be back to perfect working order in no time.”
That brought a smile to the Sneasel’s face, and caused the little poison type to let out a small cry of agreement at the idea of helping to make the child better.
“Good,” Ingo said. “Now I think you should get some rest yourself. While the cold you and your sister have has almost reached the end of its rails we don’t want to do anything that could add any power to the cold’s engine. You need to get some sleep if you wish to recover.”
The Sneasel sighed, but flopped down onto his back to get some sleep. Ingo noticed that he didn’t roll away from the edge though. It seemed he planned to stay there just to make sure that he could check on the child every once in a while. Ingo was content to let him be. There was a wooden railing up there so the Sneasel wouldn’t be able to roll right off the ledge. Also, the boy was capable of falling asleep just as quickly as his sister. Sure enough after a minute or so had passed the Sneasel quickly drifted off to sleep. Once he was sure both sneasels were asleep he turned his attention back to the child.
Now that he actually had the time to do so Ingo could see that she was rather young. While he couldn’t pin an exact age he was sure he could come up with a pretty good guess. Honestly, she looked like she was about the same age as Pearl Clan’s young Warden Lian. Warden Lian was only twelve years old, and the girl looked like she was either the same age as him or possibly a year younger then him. For a brief moment Ingo had to wonder if the girl had a family out there desperately looking for her right now. If she maybe had a worried mother, a father, or maybe a sister somewhere out there searching for her…
Or maybe she had a worried brother frantically searching everywhere for his missing sibling…
For some reason the thought of a brother worriedly searching for their missing sibling caused his heart to ache a bit, but that feeling came and went so fast Ingo was able to brush it off as him feeling sympathy for a child clearly displaced from her home and probably taken away from the people who loved her. He didn’t know where she came from, but one look at her clothing made it clear that she certainly wasn’t from Hisui. The bright yellow hair clips in her black hair didn’t look anything like the hair accessories that the woman in Hisui typically wore.
Heck, her clothing could be considered almost otherworldly when compared to the clothing typically seen in Hisui. Her short sleeved shirt was decorated with the image of what looked like a Poké Ball, but it didn’t look like any of the Poke Balls made there in Hisui. Maybe that was what Poke Balls looks like wherever the girl was from? Surrounding the Poké Ball were images of tropical flowers, water waves, and a few other things Ingo would associate with a more tropical region. Along with the strange shirt she had on a pair of short pants, and a pair of strange looking sandals.
Honestly, her whole outfit was out of place in Hisui. It also wasn’t suitable for the environment of Hisui. She would need something better suited for the colder climate of Hisui. Ingo would have let her borrow some his Pearl Clan tunics, but honestly she was small enough that his clothing wouldn’t fit at all. Maybe he could request some clothing from the Pearl Clan? If it came down to it Ingo could make the track to Jubilife Village, and buy some clothing at the little store that was in the village.
‘We’ll divert our track when we get to it,’ Ingo thought.
After making a mental note to worry about that later Ingo moved his gaze down to the gadget that the girl had somehow been able to keep a grip on it. While he didn’t know what the device was it was funny that she had fell through the rift with a strange gadget on hand. Ingo had also fallen through the rift with a strange gadget of his own. His gadget could be worn around the wrist much like a bracelet. With that said Ingo had no idea what it did. His fall from the rift had caused the glass on the device to get smashed in. There were buttons on the device, but pushing them did nothing. It was clearly broken, and since Ingo had no idea how to repair it there wasn’t much he could do with it. No one in the Pearl Clan could even figure out what it was, so trying to find someone who could fix it was not an option either. He ultimately ended up dumping it in his chest along with the few other items that he had been found with. He honestly didn’t think the girl’s gadget would do anything either. It didn’t look broken, but he didn’t know enough about the device to be sure if it truly was in working order. Ingo gently pried the object out of her hands to place it on his desk, but the second he touched the gadget the object lit up. Ingo paused slightly when he saw that, and he couldn’t help but be surprised when he saw what looked like a message on it.
Seek out all Pokémon.
It was a rather simple message, but that message consisted of a rather large order. Seek out all Pokémon? Why? Ingo wasn’t completely sure how many different Pokémon were in Hisui, but he knew it was a lot. Seeking them all out was a rather tall order that would take a long time to accomplish. The message quickly vanished, and Ingo felt a small wave of panic hit him upon seeing that. He pressed the small button on the device only to feel a small bit of relief when the message popped back up. He was grateful that he hadn’t accidently erased the message. While he felt an urge to see if the device could do anything other than show that message he refrained from messing with it anymore. It wasn’t his, and he didn’t want to break it somehow or do something that would make the message go away. He would just have to ask the girl about it once she woke up.
For now, he carefully placed the object down on his desk. He would give it back to the girl once she was awake. Once the object was out of the way he pulled his blankets up to cover the girl, and then he went about building up a fire in the wood stove to help warm up the rather chilly yurt. It was rather quiet in the yurt with the only sound heard being the occasional cough or sniffle from the Sneasels. It was only when Ingo had finished getting a good fire going in the stove did he finally hear a sound come from the girl. The second he heard the girl let out a soft groan Ingo quickly turned to see the girl shifting around on the bed.
She was making just enough noise that the male Sneasel woke from his nap to gaze down at the girl. Upon seeing that she was moving around the Sneasel shot up to his feet. His little claws clacked loudly against the wooden ladder as he climbed down. The second his feet hit the floor the Sneasel let out a questioning chirp as he watched the girl. Ingo quickly made his way over to the bed fully intending to gently move the Sneasel away from her, and remind him that they needed to let her rest. Upon reaching the bed he reached out to pick the Sneasel up only to freeze when he saw the girl open her eyes.
Dazed gray eyes looked up at him for a moment before the girl slowly sat up. Upon sitting up she swayed slightly like she was about to collapse back onto the bed, but somehow she was able to remain in the sitting position. Her eyes drifted around the room in clear confusion, but upon spotting Ingo and Sneasel she started to focus solely on them. Her gaze kept shifting between him and the Sneasel. She showed no fear at all at having a Sneasel hanging out by her bedside which was both relieving and rather impressive. Most people were scared of Pokémon. However, the girl had no real reaction to him. If anything she just looked more confused when she spotted the Pokémon. Eventually she settled on keeping her gaze on Ingo.
“W-Where am I?” She asked in a raspy voice. As soon as those words left her mouth she started to cough.
“You are at my yurt at the Coronet Highlands,” Ingo answered. “Would you like some water? It might help sooth your throat.”
The girl nodded as she rasped out “Yes, please.”
As Ingo set about getting her some water he didn’t fail to notice Sneasel and the girl staring at each other. Sneasel let out a curious little chirp to her. Upon hearing that a small smile slowly formed on the girl’s face. Her hand twitched slightly as if she wanted to pet the Sneasel, but she was keeping herself from doing so.
“You may pet him if you wish,” Ingo said as he walked back to the bed with the water. “I think he would like the attention.”
The girl hesitated for a moment, but eventually she reached out to scratch the top of his head. A soft gentle purr escaped from the Sneasel as he leaned into the touch. That caused the girl’s smile to grow a bit bigger, and she seemed to be a bit more relaxed now. Sneasel pouted a bit when she stopped scratching him in order to take the cup of water from Ingo, but that quickly faded when he saw how quickly she drank the water. She drank the water like someone who hadn’t had water in days.
When she was done she handed the cup back over with grateful “Thank you.”
“Not a problem,” Ingo said. “Would you like some more water?”
The girl shook her head as she said “I’m okay for now thanks.”
She stared at him in confusion as she asked “Um, who are you?”
“Ah, my apologies. I haven’t introduced myself yet have I? I am Warden Ingo of the Pearl Clan. I am the warden for the Noble Lady Sneasler.”
A soft cry from the Sneasel by her bedside made Ingo say “And this is Sneasel. One of Lady Sneasler’s children. There is another Sneasel sleeping in the bunk above yours, but she is still recovering from a cold so I wish to leave her alone for now so that she can get some much needed rest. When she wakes I can introduce you to her.”
The girl glanced up at the bunk above her for a few seconds only to look back at Ingo. The confusion in her gaze seemed to have only grown after hearing what Ingo said. “Pearl Clan? Noble? Sneasler? I, uh, I don’t know what any of that stuff is.”
“We are in the Hisui region,” Ingo said. “Does the name of that station sound familiar at all?”
The child only shook her head as a look of worry slowly showed on her face.
“Do you remember where your home is?” Ingo asked.
The girl shook her head as she said “I-I don’t know? I keep thinking about it, but I can’t remember! I-I’m pretty sure Hisui isn’t my home, but I can’t remember a town name, a region name, or anything like that.”
The more she talked the more worried she sounded. Sneasel let out a small sad chirp as he climbed up onto the bunk, and sat beside her all while continuing to let out a bunch of sad sounding chirps. Ingo didn’t bother to try and stop him. The Sneasel was old enough to control the poison in his claws, so he had no worries about him accidently poisoning her. The Pokémon’s presence seems to sooth her a bit which was a bit of a relief. The Pokémon leaned up against her side, and she was quick to start petting him again. It was clear that she was doing that more to give herself something to do. It was an attempt to calm herself which seemed to be working somewhat. She hadn’t burst into tears yet, but she still looked like she was close to bursting into tears. Ingo couldn’t help but feel a stab of empathy for her. He had been in her shoes once. He could still remember clear as day sitting on a bed in the Peal Clan settlement being asked questions by Lady Irida and Lady Calaba.
Who are you? Where are you from? Why did you fall from the rift?
“My name…? I-I’m pretty sure that it is Ingo. Where am I from? I-I cannot remember the name of my home station. I know it is not Hisui, but other than that I can’t remember. I don’t know why I fell from that rift in the sky. All I remember is falling through darkness for a very long time…”
Ingo quickly shakes his head to rid himself of that memory. Thinking of his first few weeks in Hisui was never pleasant. Somehow that memory was made worse now by the fact that he was now seeing a child go through the very same thing that he had.
“What is the last thing that you remember?” Ingo asks.
“U-um, I remember floating in darkness for a while and then I saw this big shining light. It took on this shape of some big Pokémon I think? It then told me that I needed to seek out all Pokémon in order to see it again.”
“Please pull the breaks for a moment,” Ingo said upon hearing the ‘seek out all Pokémon’ bit.
He quickly walked over to where he placed the gadget that had the same orders on it. Once he had the object in hand he quickly returned to the girl, and held it out to her.
“You were holding this when I found you,” Ingo said as the girl took the object from him. “It had the exact same message for you to seek out all Pokémon on it.”
The girl turned the object on only to see the message right there just as Ingo said. Ingo hesitated for a moment before he asked “Do you know what that thing is?”
“I know it’s mine,” The girl said automatically, and without a hint of doubt in her voice.
However, after saying that her voice took on a hint of uncertainty as she said “And I think it is called a phone?”
The word phone sounded familiar, but Ingo could not recall what the thing did. “Do you know this ‘phone’ does?”
The girl only blinked a few times upon hearing that question, and gave the honest answer of “I have no idea.”
Somehow that answer didn’t surprise him.
“I just know that it didn’t look like this at first,” The girl said as she looked down at the phone in her hand. “That glowing Pokémon made it look like this I guess?”
As she stared at the phone Ingo could not help but wonder about the Pokémon that she saw. What was that Pokémon? Why did it want this child to seek out Pokémon in Hisui? Why would it send a child to do such a monumental task all by herself, and if it sent her here…
Did that mean it sent him here as well?
Those questions drifted about in his mind, but he didn’t bother to ask any of them. The girl wouldn’t know the answers to any of those questions. She was just as clueless as him.
“That Pokémon started to glow brighter, and then it disappeared. Then I was just falling through darkness. It was gentle at first. Like maybe calling it falling isn’t right. It was like I was gently drifting downward,” Ingo heard the girl say. “But then I heard like this loud sound? It sounded like thunder, or something like that. After I heard that sound I stopped drifting and started being tossed around like a ragdoll. It felt like I kept bumping into stuff? It really hurt.”
Well, that explained some of her bruises.
“It felt like it went on forever. I kept getting tossed around in the dark slamming into who knows what, but then everything lit up. I could see the sky all around me, and some weird hole in the sky above me. I think I passed out after that?” The girl shrugged. “That’s all I can remember.”
“I can at least fill in some of your missing tracks for you. You fell out of the rift in the sky that is above Hisui, and crash landed at the Lonely Springs area of Coronet Highlands. Lady Sneasler and I saw you falling from the rift when we were doing our patrol of the area. You were unconscious when we found you, and we noticed that you were covered in bruises.”
The girl broke into a small coughing fit, and Ingo paused to give her time to get her coughing under control. Once she was okay again he continued talking.
“And we quickly noticed that you seemed to be running a fever. We brought you to my yurt, and Lady Sneasler left to fetch a healer from my clan. They should be here soon. Once the healer has arrived they can hopefully tell us your condition, and tell us what we will need to do to help you recover.”
The girl nodded, but then she asked “Mister Ingo? What is the rift thing that I fell out of? Did that glowing Pokémon make it?”
“I wish I had an answer for you,” Ingo told her. “But no one really knows why the rift is in the sky, or what made it. It appeared a few years ago out of the blue, and although a few years have passed since its appearance no one has been able to learn anything about it.”
Ingo paused for a moment as he looked at the girl. “I wish I knew what the rift was, and I wish I knew why it dropped us both here in Hisui.”
The girl blinked a few times in surprise as she quietly whispered out “You fell from the rift too?”
“Yes,” Ingo answered. “And like you I also do not remember anything of my life before I came here. All I could remember was my own name. Lady Sneasler was the one who found me, and guided me to the Pearl Clan settlement. Pearl Clan was kind enough to take me in when I had nowhere to go.”
Saying that now Ingo realized he had yet to ask the girl her name. “I’m sorry young miss I just realized that through all this talk I have yet to ask for your name. Would it be alright for me to ask for you name before I continue with my story?”
“My name?” The girl said slowly. “My name is… it’s…”
Ingo could almost see the gears in her head turning as she tried to remember what her name was. As the seconds ticked by Ingo’s heart slowly started to sink as a look of pure distress slowly started to appear on her face.
Tears slowly started to fall from her eyes as she said “I..I can’t remember. I keep trying to remember, but nothing is coming to mind.”
Ingo’s heart broke for the child when she weakly sobbed out “Why did I have to forget my name along with everything else? Why couldn’t I at least keep that?”
The Sneasel let out a small sad cry as he leaned up against her arm in some vain hope that doing so would give the girl comfort. The girl just buried her face into the fur of the Sneasel ’s head as she sobbed.
‘This poor child,' Ingo could not help but sadly think.
While Ingo had lost all of his memories he was at least able to keep ahold of his name. The poor girl had not been so lucky.
“It…” Ingo started to say only to stop himself.
It what? It will be okay? Nothing about this situation was okay, and saying something like that just felt like he would be giving her empty comfort that would amount to nothing. Instead of giving her empty comfort he chose to change tracks and ask her another question.
“Do you remember if you name had a connection to anything? Like do you remember if you had a flower related name, or maybe something along those lines?”
The girl’s voice was slightly muffled since she still had it buried in the short fur of the Sneasel’s head, but he could hear her say “I think… I think my name had something to do with light? Or the sun? Or something like that?”
She didn’t sound sure of herself at all. If anything she sounded like she was guessing more than pulling from any real memory. Still, it gave Ingo something to work with.
“Would you like a name related to one of those things then?” Ingo asked. “It would give you something to go by until you hopefully remember your real name.”
The girl looked up just enough that Ingo could see her sad gray eyes that were a bit red now from crying. “What sort of name did you have in mind?”
“Ah, well are you sure you want me to come up with a name?” He asked. “I have been told my naming skills leave much to be desired.”
To be more specific he had been told that the names he came up with for his own Pokémon were either too simple, or rather strange. Ingo had only shrugged those comments off. His Pokémon were perfectly happy with the names he had given them, and honestly their opinion was the only one that mattered. At any rate the girl deserved to know that his naming skills were not considered the best.
The girl seemed unbothered by this fact as she said “Yeah, I don’t think I could come up with a good name for myself anyway.”
“As long as you are sure about it,” Ingo said slowly. “You said you thought your real name might have had some connection to light, correct? If that is the case then how about…. Akari?”
“Akari?”
“Yes, it has a connection to light and I think it would be a satisfactory name.”
The girl lifted her head up now to look at him thoughtfully. “Akari,” The girl said softly. “Akari, Akari, Akari.”
She said it over and over again as if she were testing it out. A small week smile appeared on her face as she said “Yeah, I think I like it. I’ll use it as my name.”
“Good,” Ingo said. “I am happy to hear that you are satisfied with the name. I am happy to know that I was able to help you even if it was in a small way like this.”
The girl’s smile brightened a bit only to dim slightly when there was a knock at his door. The Sneasel that was leaning up against the now named Akari sat up straight upon hearing that as a worried look showed on his face. Akari looked at the Sneasel in concern. She looked like she was debating over if she should ask if the Sneasel would be alright, but as soon as she opened her mouth the sound of muffled voices outside stopped her.
“Warden Ingo?” The muffled voice called out. “It’s Irida! I have Lady Calaba and Lady Sneasler with me. Lord Ursaluna is with us as well. Can we come in?”
The familiar noise of his Noble Pokémon’s call could be faintly heard outside letting him know that it was indeed them.
“That is my clan leader and our clan’s best healer,” Ingo quickly explained. “They are the help that I told you that my Lady went to find. Are you alright with them checking your injuries.”
Akari nodded only to pause for a second. “Will he be alright if they come in?” Akari asked as she motioned toward the worried looking Sneasel sitting beside her.
“He will be fine,” Ingo assured her. “He’s just very shy when it comes to people he isn’t used to.”
The girl nodded only to pause, and quickly ask “So why is he so comfortable with me then? I’m pretty new.”
“While shy he is a kind Pokémon,” Ingo said. “I think when he saw how hurt and sick you were his desire to make sure you were okay ended up being stronger then his fear of strangers.”
The girl looked rather happy to hear that Sneasel cared so much about her even though she was a stranger. Ever so gently she picked the Sneasel up and pulled him onto her lap. She laid her head on top of his as she wrapped her arms around him in a loose hug. That seemed to help make Sneasel relax a bit. Seeing it made Ingo happy. So many people in Hisui were terrified of Pokémon yet this child showed no fear. Instead she tried to comfort the Pokémon even though she was in such a terrible situation. It was a bit refreshing to see someone who didn’t flinch away from a Pokémon when they saw them. It was also nice to see that the Sneasel had found someone else that he was comfortable around. Ingo shook his head as if to rid himself of those thoughts. He had more important things to deal with at the moment. Irida and Calaba were here, and they were waiting for him to let them in.
Hopefully, Calaba would know how to treat the child’s illness and hopefully she could confirm that the bruises were the only injuries that Akari had. After that they could figure out what could be done to help Akari. The Pearl Clan had been kind enough to take him in when he was lost and without memories. If they could help him then surely they could help Akari as well. At the very least he was sure that his clan could give a home to a child that was just as lost and confused as he had been when he had first arrived in Hisui…