Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Dawn sputtered for a moment in pure confusion. Did Arceus send her and Ingo through the wrong distortion portal? Did Adaman find a way through his own distortion? Did she have to stop a third guy who wanted to recreate the world?

“I– what– you–”

“I would feel much more comfortable if you respected our space.” Ingo said abruptly, staring down the zoroark that had nearly barreled the pair over. 

Dawn immediately stiffened at the reminder that the pokemon was so close to her and cast it a wary glance. Her hand drifted towards her pokeball belt, just in case.

The zoroark blinked before seeming to come to a realization and scrambling back a pace with a yip. Dawn was sure she even saw it dip its head in apology, but it was such a rapid motion that she couldn’t tell if it was simply a purely animal movement. 

Adaman walked forward so that he was standing next to the zoroark, body twisted around so he could dig through a backpack he was wearing. In fact, aside from his face and hair being exactly the same as she remembered, Dawn was suddenly aware of the distinctly modern clothes that he was wearing.

“Here,” Adaman pulled out a pair of sneakers and held them out to Dawn, “You’ll want to put these on. You two have terrible footwear that I’m impressed aren’t in shreds yet.”

Refraining from pointing out that her current footwear came from his time, Dawn took the shoes, and Adaman casually turned to Ingo to hand him a similar pair. Dawn glanced down at the sneakers. They were her exact size.

“Ok, I’m sure you two have many questions, but we,” Adaman gestured between himself and the zoroark, “ Also have questions, so how about you guys come with us to our camp before park rangers try to arrest us for trespassing on a historical site?”

Ingo nodded and walked over to sit on a random chunk of rubble (was that from Dawn’s fight with Volo or Cyrus?) so he could swap his footwear.

Dawn squinted at Adaman for having the gall to have everything under control and be so unfazed, but knelt down to switch out her shoes as well. The sooner she got them on the sooner she would hopefully figure out what was happening.

“Do your shoes fit?” Adaman asked Ingo. “We had to guess you and Akari’s sizes.”

Ingo stood up and experimentally kicked a foot before nodding with a hand on his hat brim. “Although perhaps a half size larger than needed, they pass safety checks, thank you.”

“No problem. Ready to go?”

Adaman turned and waited for the zoroark, which was apparently his companion, to walk ahead of him before gesturing for Ingo and Dawn to follow. The group walked down the steps of Spear Pillar before the zoroark abruptly led them off the path. Adaman followed it without complaint, so Dawn figured he’d mapped a path earlier to avoid the tourists.

Eventually, after stumbling (Ingo moved without any difficulty) around foliage and over loose rocks, a cave came into view with camping gear visible from the entrance. The zoroark was pushing some large rocks into place to be used as seats by the time Dawn finally stumbled inside. It laid down next to the furthest rock, allowing Ingo and Dawn to have easy access to their own seats without having to pass it.

Ingo stood in the entrance and looked around the cavern walls with the same expression he’d had back in Hisui when remembering something but not understanding it. As Dawn hesitantly sat down at the zoroark’s welcoming rumble, she saw the faintest part of Ingo’s conductor symbol poking out from beneath some vines on the wall.

“This is Lady Sneasler’s old cave,” Adaman explained absentmindedly as he knelt down to dig through a much larger hiking backpack, “It’s a pretty convenient place to set up camp and stay out of sight, don’t you think? Saves us the time of having to trek all the way down before asking questions.”

“Lady Sneasler?” Ingo asked with his eyes flicking around as he began scouring the cave for familiar areas. “Was she well after my departure?”

Adaman chuckled as he stood up with a can and a medium foldable pot. “Well, she basically told us that nobody would ever be as good as you. Even made sure nobody could surpass her success in lordship by never declaring an heir.” 

Ingo turned to look at Adaman. “She was the last?” He hesitated for a moment. “... What became of her in the end?”

“Oh, you don’t need to worry about anything bad happening to her, she was strong till the very end, and Gaeric was with her when she passed. He said it was quite peaceful.” 

“I see.” Ingo nodded in thanks and fiddled with his warden bracelet.

“Now then,” Adaman finally joined them in the loose stone circle and began to set up a campfire in the middle, “It’s gonna be 5 hours until tourist hours end, and another 2 for the rangers to do a sweep of the area. My plan is to avoid as much attention as possible, so we’d get out of here once everyone else has gone home. Does that work for you two?”

Ingo and Dawn both nodded. 

“Great. Do you two think you can handle canned soup?” Adaman asked, holding up the can he’d brought to reveal a generic store brand of tomato soup.

Dawn frowned. “Why would you think we wouldn’t be ok with soup?”

“You’ve been living on Hisuian food for two years– five, in Ingo’s case.” Adaman pointed out, “Love my people’s food, but turns out potato mochi isn’t that nutritious, and I read somewhere that eating processed food too soon after eating poor quality food could make you feel sick.”

“Oh. I think I’ll be ok?” Dawn said.

The zoroark made a rumble, startling Dawn, who had foolishly forgotten it was there. It stood up and padded over to Adaman’s side before sitting down and turning to dig its snout through its mane. After a moment it pulled out a notebook and pencil which had a large foam grip aid attached to it. It took a moment for Dawn to realize that the zoroark was not storing items in its mane, but was wearing a pokemon bag hidden beneath its fur.

Dawn watched in surprise as the zoroark opened its notebook and started to write something inside. She exchanged a look of mild bewilderment with Ingo as the pokemon handed the book to Adaman who casually read whatever message it had written for him.

Adaman raised a brow at the zoroark before turning to Dawn and Ingo. “She offered to go out and hunt if you two would prefer something more familiar to Hisuian food for lunch.”

“No, that's ok!” Dawn balked. 

“There is no need! I am sure we will be satisfied by the soup.” Ingo added hurredly.

“Works for me. Saves me having to clean the kill.” Adaman said with a shrug before opening the can and dumping its contents into the pot on the fire. He returned the notebook to the zoroark and added, “You can still go hunt if you want. It’s been a while since we were out in the wilderness.”

The zoroark took the book and shook its head with a rumble, much to Dawn’s relief. She didn’t think that a zoroark who was apparently Adaman’s pokemon companion would do the same things as the zoroarks back in Hisui, but she couldn’t be sure. She still didn’t even know how the man even had a Hisuian zoroark to begin with.

There was a moment of quiet as Adaman got up to dig out some mugs to pour the soup into, handing the spoon he’d been using to stir the soup to the zoroark until he returned. Dawn and Ingo looked between each other and the zoroark as it began to stir the soup in Adaman’s place.

Ingo cleared his throat. “I must admit, your appearance here in the modern day, while not unappreciated, is entirely unexpected.”

“I could say the same! I didn’t even realize you guys were from the future until several years ago.” Adaman said brightly as he set the mugs down and took back the spoon. 

“Wh– years ?” Dawn asked incredulously. 

“Oh, yeah, that.” Adaman said as if he’d only just remembered that his very existence in the modern world made absolutely no sense. “Dialga cursed me so that time doesn’t work on me.”

The zoroark made a sharp rrrrr and poked Adaman’s foot as if admonishing him. He responded by making an exasperated sigh. “Fine. Dialga blessed me so that time doesn’t work on me. My feelings towards it fluctuate.”

“So you have been unchanged despite the many years difference between now and Hisui.” Ingo nodded in thought. “I suppose it was likely a gift for aiding in the ending of the Red Sky.”

“Yeah, that’s what I figured.”

“Did Irida get blessed too?” Dawn blurted. 

The barest hints of a grimace flashed through Adaman’s eyes as his zoroark suddenly snapped to a higher level of attention. Ingo straightened up completely and sat stiff as a board, looking around as if Irida was simply hiding somewhere.

“Yeah she was blessed too,” Adaman said, exchanging a look with the zoroark, “What was it again?”

The zoroark moved its head as if it were rolling its eyes before pulling out another, rather battered and string-bound notebook and opened it to one of the first pages, giving it to Adaman. “ Rrh. ”

“Thanks,” Adaman quickly skimmed the pages before reciting aloud, “She was blessed to never have her space in Hisui taken from her.” 

“Pardon, but what exactly would such a blessing entail?” Ingo asked.

“Ah. It basically meant she could go almost anywhere she wanted. One time she actually climbed inside the Firespit volcano to retrieve Palina’s bracelet and was perfectly fine.” Adaman grinned, “She even snuck around without anyone noticing. She could have stolen the bandana off of Beni and he’d have never noticed.”

The zoroark swatted his leg with a grumbling noise and attempted to take the worn out notebook from his hands. Clearly it seemed displeased with certain aspects of his explanation, and Dawn couldn’t help wondering if it had once been a friend of Irida’s as well. It was a ghost type, so its lifespan could explain why Adaman had one despite the 400 some year difference between the modern day and Hisui.

Honestly, given the many warnings and personal mishaps involving the zoroark in Hisui, it was a bit… unnerving seeing Adaman act so casually around this one. Dawn could only imagine that her discomfort with it was something that she and Ingo inflicted on everyone else whenever they interacted with their own pokemon.

“So, my plan is that you two take a few weeks before announcing your return to give yourselves some time to re-adjust to the modern world,” Adaman started explaining, completely unaware of the turmoil in Dawn’s mind. “Ingo, you especially might want to take a bit of extra time. I did some basic research on Unova missing persons laws and I’m pretty sure you’ve been declared dead.”

The zoroark made a sharp bark of admonishment at Adaman’s lack of tact and whacked his knee. Dawn flinched minutely at the attack, but the man just yelped indignantly in response. The two stared at each other for a moment.

“Notebook privileges revoked for that.” Adaman boldly teased the zoroark, holding the book away from it. 

It made an affronted noise in response and lunged for the book, getting held back by Adaman’s legs. It was… certainly a sight, seeing the (former?) leader of the Diamond Clan squabble with one of the scariest pokemon Dawn had ever met. How did Adaman even befriend a zoroark in the first place? 

Fortunately, Ingo seemed to have a similar question, because he cleared his throat to get the pair’s attention. “Apologies for the interruption, but I don’t believe you ever introduced us to your companion.”

Adaman blinked from where he was beginning a game of keep away with the zoroark, the notebook held partially aloft. It was both charming and disconcerting to Dawn that the man seemed completely unaware of how strange it was to see him play-fight with a pokemon. 

“I didn’t?” Adaman asked genuinely, finally returning the notebook to the zoroark. 

Dawn shook her head in answer. 

“Oh, well, I guess she couldn’t say anything herself.” Adaman mumbled to himself before raising his voice and gesturing to the zoroark, “This is Irida! She’s stuck with me ever since Hisui.”

Dawn couldn’t help the bare wince from crossing her features. If what Adaman had said about his curse was true, then he had around 400 years to come to terms with slowly leaving Hisui behind. To Dawn and Ingo though, who had just been there some ambiguous hours ago, learning that a zoroark had been named after Irida felt in bad taste.

The zoroark– Irida happily waved with a mmrh in greeting. 

“... I see.” Ingo said almost curtly, giving the pokemon a stiff nod.

Dawn waved weakly back. She wasn’t so sure she was hungry enough to eat the soup anymore, but she’d have to unless she wanted the zor– Irida to go out and hunt something down instead. The idea made her feel sick and she hadn’t even tried eating anything yet.

Adaman started to fill the mugs and have one-sided banter with the zoroark in a way that was painfully reminiscent of his spats with Irida. The zoroark moved its head in a circle as if rolling its eyes and the action was so much like something Irida would have done when talking to Adaman that Dawn had to look away before she started crying. 

Dawn suddenly realized with a pang how similar a Hisuian zoroark’s fur was to the colors of the Pearl Clan.

Chapter Text

By the time they’d returned back to the apartment, Irida had taken it upon herself to help keep Akari and Ingo on track. She’d forgotten how the modern world might be particularly distracting to people who had just been living in ancient times less than a day ago. To mitigate, she’d placed herself behind them so she could keep an eye for potential wandering.

Fortunately it seemed that Akari and Ingo still respected their memory of her long dead leadership, because they quickly fell back into step behind Adaman every time Irida gave a quick bark to remind them not to stray. It was a good thing she and Adaman had planned out a good week or so of down time before approaching the topic of declaring two missing persons cases as solved.

“Here we are!” Adaman said as he pushed open the door to their shared apartment and turned on the lights with a flourish.

Irida couldn’t help the small rumble of dismay upon noticing the mess they’d left the place in. All things considered, it was actually pretty decent, but she was still mindful of how one’s space was a reflection of themself. The living room in particular still had the clutter from Adaman’s initial packing laying around.

Akari startled at the rumble that Irida made and hurried inside from where she’d been looking around from the doorway.

“Sorry ‘bout the mess here. We hurried out without putting all this away.” Adaman said, likely not actually caring about the mess as he dumped his backpack into the pile, “But hey, this’ll save me having to get the storage back out to put everything away!”

Irida growled in pure exasperation as she walked inside, shut the door, and pointedly started putting some of the mess back into the large box. 

Adaman chuckled and waved Akari and Ingo to join him over on the kitchen stools so as not to get in Irida’s way. “Well, while she’s doing that, is there anything you two want for dinner? That one can of soup from earlier wasn’t much.”

There was a long enough beat of silence that Irida looked up to see why Ingo or Akari hadn’t answered. Adaman had stepped into the kitchen and had the fridge door held open, displaying the food options available. 

“...What is that calendar for?” Ingo finally asked.

Irida made a noise of realization and started to amble over towards everyone else to help Adaman give explanations. The 5-year calendar had taken up the entirety of the fridge, starting at the top where the freezer half was, and ending at the very bottom of the fridge door. While the fridge part wasn’t seeable because of Adaman, the freezer half was completely visible for Ingo and Dawn to see.

Adaman glanced at the calendar and quickly put the pieces together. “Oh! I set these up after Unova announced that you went missing, Ingo. Since I know how long you were in Hisui, I knew when you’d come back.” 

Irida walked up and nudged Adaman out of the way to close the fridge door, pointing at the day marked with a green X rather than a red one that signified the day that Akari’s disappearance had been announced. 

“ This is your day .” Irida said in a rumble, pointing at Akari to get her message across.

“...Is that the day I disappeared?” Akari asked.

Irida nodded and clapped her paws, congratulating Akari for figuring out what she was trying to say. Normally, she’d have just used her illusions and started talking in her human form, but given how Ingo and Akari had startled back at Spear Pillar, Adaman had recommended she hold off on using her abilities to try and keep them as comfortable as possible.

“Sure is!” Adaman declared brightly. “Irida’s not very good at keeping track of time, so I made this so she could keep up without having to ask me every day.”

Akari made eye contact with Irida for a beat before looking away. Irida didn’t blame her for it, despite how it hurt a little. She knew that her zoroark eyes looked rather unnerving, not to mention that the last time Akari and Ingo had seen her, she’d been fully human and alive. It would take them a bit to get used to her again.

“I must say, I’m impressed with your passenger’s intelligence.” Ingo commented. He kept his gaze on Adaman as he spoke. “Is it a product of having lived for so many decades?”

Irida tilted her head in confusion. Did Ingo think she may have lost some of her human awareness after becoming a zoroark? It wasn’t too much of a jump given all the ghost pokemon who had become just that; pokemon. The idea had never really occurred to her, seeing as she’d kept her human mind in its entirety. 

Taking her newest notebook out of her bag, Irida wrote, “No, I’ve always been like this. It’s probably thanks to me that Adaman hasn’t gone crazy yet.”

Ingo blinked in surprise as Irida stood up and pushed her message across the counter for him and Akari to read. To be fair, the sight of a pokemon writing fully legible sentences was probably a rather unorthodox idea. Irida was aware she was an outlier in terms of standard pokemon intelligence. 

“Ah, yes, reasonable safety checks!” Ingo nodded at Adaman after he’d read the book. “I assume being trapped in time as you are and watching the world change around you would be very difficult to comprehend without a companion.”

“Believe me, the first time I saw a Unovan zoroark, I thought I was finally losing it.” Adaman agreed as he reopened the fridge and pulled out several pre-prepped meals. “You two ok with a stirfry?”

“Mhmm.” Akari nodded absently as she squinted at the little notes Irida had added to various days on the calendar.

They were mostly things that Irida thought were important. Ingo and Akari’s birthdays for example, were marked for each year alongside various other such dates. Irida had even made Adaman color code it! Everything related to Ingo was pink in homage to his relations with the Pearl Clan, and as a result, Adaman had made sure all of Akari’s notes were blue.

“... You ok, Akari?” Adaman asked after getting such an unenthusiastic response.

“I go by Dawn actually.” She said instantly, like it was second nature.

Everyone in the apartment turned to look at Dawn. Ingo looked confused, but Irida didn’t need to see Adaman’s face to know he had a mischievous expression. To be fair, having a name where your first and last name rhymed was admittedly rather silly sounding.

“What’s wrong with your first name, Akari Hikari?” Adaman asked teasingly. “I think your name has a wonderful rhyme. Really rolls off the tongue.”

Dawn made a scandalized gasp upon realizing that Adaman and Irida knew her full name. Irida made the zoroark version of an eyeroll and chucked a spoon from the sink at Adaman. He yelped as the item nearly knocked the onion he was peeling out of his hands, but she ignored him in favor of walking towards Dawn so that the two were separated by the counter.

“You remember your nickname?” Irida wrote down and pushed her notebook across the counter.

Dawn caught the book and gave her a strange look before looking down to read it. She briefly looked confused before realizing why Irida was asking about her nickname. 

“Oh, right!” Dawn leaned forward eagerly and looked up at Adaman, “Adaman, Ingo and I got our memories back!”

Adaman turned around from where he was moving the stirfry around in a pan with a pair of chopsticks and grinned happily. “Really? That’s great!” He glanced at Irida, “Guess we won’t need those boxes after all, huh?”

Irida nodded as he returned to his cooking. Dawn and Ingo both looked confused though, so she decided to take it upon herself to explain. After making a grabbing motion with her paw, creating a clack sound with her claws, Dawn hesitantly slid the notebook back.

“We collected things about you two in case you didn’t remember when you got here.” Irida wrote, “Stuff like newspaper clippings or yearbook pictures.”

Ingo caught the book this time when Irida pushed it back, and he nodded with an impressed look as he read. “How thoughtful! I admire your efforts to develop proper safety protocols. Would it be possible to see these collections regardless? I’m interested to see what was gathered.”

“ Sure! ” Irida said with a ruff before heading out of the kitchen on all fours, leaving her notebook in Ingo’s care.

A shoebox each was all that had been needed to hold Ingo and Dawn’s “in case of amnesia” kits. Most of the items were digital, such as a picture of Ingo’s conductor certificate from the Gear Station social media account, so a flashdrive each held the majority of information. Any physical items were small things like a collector’s set of Gear Station themed postage stamps and took up the majority space in each box.

Grabbing both boxes and tucking them under her arms, Irida walked back to the kitchen on her hind legs. 

“–Changed the name to match,” Adaman was saying to Ingo and Dawn as he leaned against the kitchen counter.

Dawn and Ingo both had their heads bent, looking at something on the counter with utmost seriousness. Adaman perked up when he saw Irida approaching, looking almost relieved that she’d returned.

“Welcome back.” He said with the barest traces of stress in his eye.

Irida tilted her head in question and walked to the end of the counter, setting the shoeboxes down. Dawn and Ingo both quickly looked up and stared at her upon hearing Adaman’s greeting.

“ What’s wrong? ” Irida rumbled, making a similar motion with her paws.

Adaman gestured at what Dawn and Ingo had been looking at. Irida’s notebook was opened to one of the previous pages. It seemed to be from a particularly conversational day, because there were several lines between Adaman’s responses, indicated by leaving a blank space.

Irida made a noise and tilted her head again. She didn’t mind that the two were reading her side of old conversations, but it didn’t explain why the tension in the kitchen was noticeably higher than when she’d left.

Adaman coughed awkwardly. “They, uh. They thought you were just a normal zoroark that I’d decided to name Irida.”

“ Oh. ” Irida said, before glancing at Dawn and Ingo who were still staring, “ That explains some of your reactions. ”

Of course, to the humans, all that came out of Irida’s mouth was a series of pokemon noises, which wasn’t very helpful. Irida made a grabby motion at Ingo, asking for her notebook back. He did so with a mildly dazed expression. 

“I already told them about the attack and unifying the clans,” Adaman explained as Irida flipped to a fresh page and grabbed her discarded pen. “I was just about to get to your part.”

Irida nodded. She could easily explain the next part of the story.

“Nobody ever found my body, so Adaman kept going to the Icelands to look for me. I was in the zoroark woods. Glaceon brought him to my den when I was nearly done getting rid of the others.”

Dawn looked distraught as she read Irida’s response. “Hisuian zoroarks are ghost types. That means you…”

Irida’s ears twisted back at the girl’s quiet voice, but she nodded regardless, taking back her book. “I held off the hoard so the Pearl Clan could escape.”

“Lady Irida, did nobody aid you?” Ingo asked with an appalled look.

“Lord Avalugg and Braviary were both killed while fighting back.” Adaman cut in firmly before Irida could start writing anything. “Irida ordered everyone else to run after that.”

“WHat?!” Dawn cried, with wide eyes. “They were– there was that many ?!” She looked clearly distressed and mumbled to herself, “If I had stayed, maybe…”

Irida slammed her paws on the counter before Dawn could spiral any further, making a loud clack sound with her claws. Everyone jumped in alarm, and Dawn and Ingo stared with wide eyes as Irida decided to forgo her previous caution about using her illusions around them too soon.

“Don’t you dare! You and Ingo were far from happy in Hisui!” Irida scolded Dawn in human form, “What’s done is done. The clans did what they could, and I will not let my sacrifice to The Pearl be regretted.”

“Wh–”

“I’m relieved the two of you went home when you did. You two have been missing for years, you know!”

“Irida–”

 “And a lot of people here have been affected by your disappearances too! Do you know how hard Cynthia worked trying to find you during the first few months?! I’m pretty sure the league went on strike to get her to rest! And don’t even get me started on how Emmet took it–”

“ Irida !” Adaman yelled, promptly recalling her into her pokeball and re-releasing her to force her to stop her rant.

Irida, her illusion broken by the pokeball, made a growl of annoyance at his action.

Adaman simply gave her an unimpressed quirk of his brow and gestured across the counter. “Give them a second, will you? You just used your illusions– earlier than planned, may I add – and should probably explain rather than waste your time by yelling.”

Turning to see the flabbergast expressions on Ingo and Dawn’s faces, Irida deflated and made a growling sigh. Making a “go ahead” motion with her paw, she waited for the two to finally break out of their shock and ask questions.

“You can use illusions?!” Ingo asked, his voice reaching teeth chattering levels with his excitement.

Irida instantly responded by wincing and covering her ears with her paws. She quickly used said illusions to appear human again. “Yes. Please watch your volume, Ingo, I have better hearing than humans do.”

“Ah. My apologies. I will try to moderate myself.” Ingo tilted his head in apology. “But, I must commend your skills! I recall that zoroarks in Unova are not capable of human speech even when in a human form!”

Dawn nodded in agreement, eyes still wide as they flicked up and down, taking in Irida’s human form. “You’re older.”

There were few differences between Irida’s human form and how it had once looked back when she was alive. She was taller and looked more mature thanks to the 7 years she’d lived since the Red Sky, but that was the most of her differences. Since it was an illusion, she still appeared in the same apparel that she’d worn in Hisui unlike Adaman who owned a completely modern wardrobe.

Irida grinned. “I had some troubles with talking at first, but I figured it out pretty quick. I think it’s because I still have my human mind,” She tapped a fist to her head, “Lets me figure out more complex stuff like speaking and writing.”

“You didn’t know how to write?” Dawn frowned and glanced at the still open notebook for a beat. “Your writing looks fine though?”

“Ah, hold on a second.” Irida pulled her first ever notebook out of her harness bag. Thanks to her human illusion, it looked like she’d simply puleld it out from behind her back. “This is the first notebook Adaman got for me! I didn’t learn how to use illusions until way after the industrial revolution, so writing was the only way I could talk to him.”

“The industrial revolution?” Ingo’s mumble was ignored.

Irida carefully opened the book to show the wobbly and sloppy characters written over and over in the first several pages. It had taken her several weeks of practice before Adaman could even begin to find any legibility in her hand (paw?) writing. 

“Becoming a zoroark changed my coordination skills, and writing is really precise,” Irida explained, “Plus, my claws don’t really help. Adaman had to whittle notches into my pencils for a while so my claws would fit.”

After casting a questioning look and getting a nod of permission, Ingo carefully turned the pages until he was past Irida’s poorly written sentences and into a more legible text. The top right corner of each page had the date written in by Adaman, the clean lettering sharply contrasting Irida’s writing at the time.

“Your writing seems to have improved quickly!” Ingo congratulated.

“Thanks! I had a lot of time to practice.” Irida said. “After becoming a zoroark I stayed in the Icelands to deal with the others, and once I was done, I couldn’t just show up outside the clan gates without causing mass panic.”

“Wait, you were just… alone?” Dawn asked.

Irida made a so-so motion with her hand. “Eh, sometimes. Glaceon stayed with me for a good while before he started staying out for longer.” She shrugged, “He kinda just stopped visiting one day. I think he found a partner or something.”

“What am I, chopped liver?” Adaman asked dryly.

Irida rolled her eyes while making the same zoroark motion out of habit despite her current human form. “Yes, Adaman, I’m grateful for your company as well.”

“Glad to hear it.” Adaman said brightly before stacking the two shoeboxes with Ingo and Dawn’s collections in them and pushing them at Irida. “Now, you three go talk more at the table and stop hogging the kitchen counter. I’m trying to make dinner, and you all are slowing me down.”

Irida laughed and took the boxes, leading the way to the dining table. “Alright, alright, we’ll get out of your space. C’mon you two.”

“You guys still do that thing.” Dawn observed with a grin as she stood up to follow.

“Hm?” Irida tilted her head in question– possibly a bit further than was normal on a human.

“I believe Dawn is referring to your respective core values.” Ingo explained. “Adaman complained about us wasting his time, and you commented on the space we took up.”

Irida blinked. “Huh. It’s been so long that we kinda just got used to each other.” She took the lids off the shoeboxes and pushed them towards their respective owners. “Guess you guys can help us see what’s stayed the same.”

Chapter Text

It’s time to figure out what to do next

Everyone else was already awake and out in the main area when Irida ambled in the next morning. Ingo was drinking coffee at the dining table, and Adaman was sitting on the couch with Dawn, showing her something on his laptop. 

Dawn and Ingo were both wearing some of the clothes that Adaman had bought ahead of time (in several sizes, just in case.) and both looked freshly cleaned up. Having hot water on command as well as indoor plumbing must have been great for them to be reintroduced to. 

With a hrmmf Irida flopped down at the foot of the table, getting a sympathetic look from Ingo. Coffee hadn’t been brought to Hisui before becoming a zoroark so she’d never had it, but she still envied the ability of humans to eat virtually anything without getting sick. Sure, as a ghost type she could eat the foods poisonous to zoroark, but the consequences were usually not worth it.

“The other night,” Ingo said suddenly, “You mentioned Emmet did not react well to my departure.”

Irida grimaced and nodded. This was not something she wanted to talk about so soon after waking up, but it was only fair. Adaman was already catching Dawn up on current Sinnoh affairs, so it fell on her to catch Ingo up.

“ Wait here.” Irida rumbled before getting up and wandering to the couch, grabbing her notebook, and returning to the table. She was too exhausted from being in human form from last night to even entertain the idea of doing it again so early in the morning. She climbed up into the chair next to Ingo and placed her paws on the surface before writing, 

Writing her words in shorthand so that Ingo wouldn’t have to wait, Irida handed over her book. “Watched Unova news & social media. A lot of bad rumors.”

Ingo gave her a deeper frown than usual. “What kind of rumors, Irida?”

After a moment of hesitation, Irida decided to simply be as blunt as possible. Ingo always hated how people beat around the bush with him in Hisui. “Theories he murdered you. Had to close Battle Lines for year.”

It was a good thing Ingo hadn’t been drinking from his mug when he read Irida’s book. He did end up gripping the handle so hard that it made a little cracking sound, however. 

“Reopened later. Elesa leading Singles Line. To keep eye on Emmet?” Irida quickly continued. “Closes each year on disappearance day.”

“...I see.” Ingo grit out. “I have missed far too much, it seems.”

Irida tapped her claw on the table for a moment, trying to figure out something to say to sooth her friend. It was probably a significant blessing in disguise that Ingo had lost his memories in Hisui, because otherwise those 5 years would have been torture. After a moment’s thought she perked up and leapt off the chair, hurrying to grab the things she needed. 

“ Here! Look! ” Irida rumbled when she returned, pushing the medium box she’d brought to Ingo.

Ingo obligingly opened the box and his eyes instantly widened as he pulled out a completely pristine copy of his conductor’s hat. A matching coat, various Gear Station trinkets and memorabilia, and even things from Elesa’s gym and Nimbasa City in general soon followed. The dining table was soon filled with the tightly packed contents of the box.

“This is stuff that’s happened since you left.” Irida wrote, taking the time to do full sentences this time, “Dawn has a box too. I think that’s what Adaman is showing her right now.”

Ingo glanced over to the couch where Adaman was showing Dawn what looked like trinkets from last year’s Red Festival before looking back at the table. “...And my uniform?”

“Released for a short time to the public by Nimbasa in your memory. It’s banned at Gear Station.” 

“Ah. I see.” Ingo took off his old, worn hat and held it next to the pristine one. After a moment he set down the new one and looked at Irida. “I appreciate the lengths you and Adaman went to for Dawn and I.”

Irida made a zoroark grin that was all teeth and nodded her head. She didn’t say anything when Ingo put his old hat back on and returned the fresh one to the box. The next several hours were spent catching Ingo up on what he’d missed, and at some point Dawn and Adaman moved their conversation to the dining table as well.

Adaman started showing Ingo and Dawn various recordings of newscasts, trends, and even the (relatively) latest memes on his laptop. Every now and then, Irida used her illusions to make little facsimiles of things for clarification. Once or twice, Dawn or Ingo were even able to cut in and explain certain things based on inside experience, such as why the Battle Subway banned legendaries despite the outlandish possibilities of such a thing happening.

“Now I can’t wait to visit!” Dawn exclaimed as she watched an old video of Ingo and Emmet challenging Iris and Drayden in a double battle. “Oh, maybe I can come with you when you go back, Ingo!”

Adaman waved a finger at her. “Nuh uh, little miss, you are gonna have to stay here and deal with your own reappearance. The two of you are in for the long haul, you know. You’re both really prominent figures, so the presses and stuff are gonna be crazy for a while.”

Dawn visibly looked like she wanted to go to Unova even more, if only to prolong the inevitable paparazzi she’d have to deal with. Irida patted her shoulder in sympathy. 

“Ah, that does beg the question, how do we plan to ‘reappear’ into the public?” Ingo wondered aloud. “Our explanation is far from believable to the masses.”

“Actually, it should work fine enough for Dawn.” Adaman pointed out. “She already got famous for fighting Giratina in the Distortion world, not to mention having to catch Dialga and Palkia again .”

“I see. But Unova is across the ocean and the people are likely unaware that such an event ever occurred in Sinnoh.” Ingo reasoned. 

Adaman nodded in agreement. “Yep, so that’s why we have two main options for you,” He held up a finger, “The first is that you make your reappearance here and use the real story as your explanation,” A second finger went up, “Or, you could reappear in Unova with a new story that your region may accept more quickly.”

Ingo frowned in thought. “How would you get me to Unova, should we take the second option? I do not have any identification on me that would be needed for international travel.”

“That's something Irida can cover for you.” Adaman said matter of factly, waving off Ingo’s concern.

Two pairs of eyes looked at Irida and in response her eyes flashes and the illusion of Adaman was layered over Ingo. Dawn instantly startled and looked between Ingo and Adaman in bewilderment. Her reaction clued Ingo in to look down at himself as well and a look of surprise crossed his eyes

“Oh, that is really weird to see. Your face is still frowning even though you look like Adaman now.” Dawn observed.

Adaman nodded. “Irida’s illusion will work with your subconscious. Even though you look like me, your mind still affects how it looks, which is why your facial expressions are less extreme than mine usually are.”

“I’m unsure how to feel about this.” Ingo declared.

“Don’t worry about it. You have my permission to practice identity theft.” Adaman said with a shrug. “Besides, it’s only to get you past customs. You can still be Ingo once you’re in Unova.”

Irida dispersed the illusion as Ingo gave a nod in thought. “In that case, I would prefer to return home a soon as possible. You mentioned a schedule before, however, and I cede conductorship to you for these rails. What is next on the itinerary?”

Adaman brightened and got up to fetch a journal from his room and quickly returned, opening it to show that he had, in fact, written out a schedule. Irida rolled her eyes and layed back down at the foot of the table as he started to talk. This was out of her expertise.

“Well, since you two have your memories back, we can skip all of the stuff to acclimate you to the modern world. For Dawn, you can basically ‘reappear’ whenever you want, but I’d recommend calling Cynthia directly to do it so that the presses don’t go too crazy too soon.” Adaman explained before glancing up. “Do you two still have your Hisuian teams?”

Ingo and Dawn both shook their heads.

“Arceus said it would unbalance things if we took them.” Dawn explained. “I would have felt bad making them live in the future anyways. They were too wild compared to ‘mons nowadays and wouldn’t have fit in.”

“That’s too bad. You two got along with your partners remarkably, but I suppose that saves us having to acclimate them to modern times.” Adaman turned to Ingo. “Anyways, you, Ingo, should probably get on a plane sooner rather than later. You’re getting my passport as soon as we’ve figured out a workable cover story for your disappearance.”

Ingo nodded in understanding. “I assume then, that you will not be joining me?”

“No, but you’ll have Irida. She’ll have to stay near you to keep up the illusions anyways. We have a service pokemon vest for her to wear, so you won’t need to recall her either.” 

“Very well. Let us begin creating a story. I would prefer we stick to honesty as much as possible to mitigate the risk of slipping up.” Ingo nodded in finality. “Ah, but I will, at the very least, be telling Emmet and Elesa the whole truth. It is only right.”

Adaman waved him off. “Tell the truth to whoever you want. The cover story’s just for the public, so as long as the people you tell won’t spill then it doesn’t matter.”

It took the rest of the day with off and on brainstorming sessions before they had finally figured out a workable story. Essentially, Ingo had been kidnapped via pokemon teleportation by malicious people. (Team Plasma, Ingo said, would be the perfect scapegoat.) The story was simple, letting the public theorize what happened without Ingo needing to explain more, and if ever asked, he could cite trauma as his reason for staying silent.

The group was finished with dinner by the time they’d finally ironed out all the possible ways someone could nitpick certain details. Dawn’s experience as a highly public figure to her entire region was quite helpful, practically giving the story a grocery list of public fallacies. While Ingo was a similar public figure in Unova, his status was much less contested than a champion’s, so the worst he tended to deal with was difficult customers.

  -   -   -   -   -

A week later, Adaman was dropping Ingo and Irida off at the local airport at 5 in the morning. 

“–The flight is 7 hours and you’ll land by 3 in the afternoon, Unovan time.” Adaman was repeating again, “I already booked a hotel room for you if you want to take some time adjusting to jetlag, and there’s an envelope of cash–”

Irida rumbled an exasperated huff and lightly cuffed his hand. Ingo was covered in his Adaman illusion and had a well packed carry-on bag while Irida was wearing a service vest over her similarly stuffed harness bag. The pair was as prepared for sneaking into Unova as they could be.

“Alright, alright, fine, let’s go.” Adaman held up his hands in surrender and walked the pair over to the check-in desk. When the worker looked between Adaman and what looked like a carbon copy of him, the man just gave her an easy going smile and said, “We’re twins.”

Irida gave a snort at the irony of the simple lie and the worker’s eyes landed on her instead. 

“We dyed her fur. She’s a service pokemon and the white makes it easier for people to see her.” Adaman smoothly explained.

The worker stared for a beat longer before shrugging and scanning Ingo’s plane ticket. Adaman waved goodbye from the bag-check line before disappearing from view as the pair headed off to wait for their boarding call.

The plane ride itself was incredibly lackluster. The pair boarded, and, because Irida was posing as a rather large service pokemon, the two got a row of seats to themselves. Neither had a particularly fun time cooped up on the plane, but it was far from the most uncomfortable thing Irida had experienced, and she doubted it rivaled how Ingo had felt when he first appeared in Hisui.

Finally, after Irida was just starting to go stir-crazy, the intercoms chirped. “ Welcome to the Mistralton City airport! Please wait for the seatbelt icons to turn off before standing, and follow your flight attendant’s instructions for exiting the plane. We hope you enjoy your stay in Unova!”  

With a huff, Irida stood up, stretched, made a yawn that was all teeth, and with a flash of her eyes she reinforced Ingo’s illusion. Ingo nodded and dutifully followed the line of people all slowly walking off the plane in a line.

“I suppose the simplest way to reach Nimbasa would be to take the subway as I am so familiar with it.” Ingo mused as the pair walked out of the airport. “Do you believe that would be a wise course of action?”

Irida shook her head with a rrrf . She would have used her notebook, but the pair were currently in a highly populated area and it would attract too much attention.

“Understood. Safety checks first, after all! I will see about hailing a Braviary cab for us.”

Another hour later the two were checked into the hotel room right across from Gear Station. It would have been a rather pricey room to get if Adaman hadn’t booked it three years in advance, and the room was theirs for an entire month since he didn't know how soon Ingo would be back in Unova when he'd initially gotten the room.

In the safety of their room, Irida dropped her illusion on Ingo and pulled out her notebook. She was far too tired from keeping his active to cast her human one on herself. “How are you planning to meet everyone?”

Ingo sighed as he read the question and closed his eyes for a moment. “No matter how I approach it, my appearance will cause significant disruptions. Do you think it too tactless to simply go to my apartment after Emmet has finished work?”

Irida made an ‘I don’t know’ rumbling sound and wrote, “You know him better than me. What if you tried to organize a meeting? You could invite Elesa and anyone else that way and only need to explain everything once.”

“A superb idea!” Ingo exclaimed. 

Sitting up, Ingo quickly turned on his incredibly beaten up Xtransciever and started typing out a message to what seemed to be a brand new group chat. He clicked send and the hologram screen flashed red with a error code.

“Ah.” Ingo frowned. “It says that several of the numbers in this chat are no longer in service.”

Irida grumbled. “Makes sense. Emmet and others probably had to change them because of the bad publicity.”

Ingo grimaced at her writing and nodded. “I suppose I will simply have to find another way.”

Chapter Text

Honestly, Irida was having the time of her life and she was only blaming her zoroark instincts a little bit. The plan she and Ingo had come up with was simple:

Ingo took a picture of himself in his full post-Hisui attire looking like he’d rolled down the side of a rocky mountain, printed several out, and wrote messages on the back of each image. Then, Irida simply waited nearby each recipient’s most traversed areas and, after the sight of a white zoroark got their attention, she gave them the picture and promptly escaped using her illusions.

It was a little mean, disappearing with the wind after delivering such bombshell messages, but Ingo was adamant about telling everyone at once, so the more questions they had the better. 

“Ah. I should have expected that they would have all arrived early.” Ingo commented when he looked out the hotel door’s peephole. “I suppose I should get properly dressed then. Please let them in. It would be rude to make them wait outside.”

Irida gave a zoroark eye roll as the man hurried into the bathroom to change out of his pajamas. With a huff she got up, scrawled a quick explanation into her notebook, and went over to let everyone in. 

“ YOU! ” Elesa exclaimed as soon as she caught sight of the infamous delivery zoroark opening the door.

Irida yelped when, in a flash of red light, an emolga was suddenly leaping at her with electricity buzzing at its claws.

“ Elesa doesn’t like you! ” The emolga growled, unleashing a discharge attack.

Before Irida could consider the chances of ruining first impressions by freezing the emolga in place with bitter malice, the bathroom door burst open and Ingo quickly stepped in.

“Please refrain from battling outside of permitted cars!” Ingo exclaimed, quickly pulling out Irida’s pokeball and recalling her.

Being inside a pokeball was always something Irida failed to properly explain to Adaman whenever he asked. She could see and hear the outside world, but everything was muffled and blurry. It was like she was listening from underneath a pile of blankets and watching through a foggy block of ice. 

“INGO?!”

It seemed Emmet, although not quite reaching his brother’s volume, was still loud enough that Irida could clearly hear his yell from the pokeball despite all the muted sensations. Fortunately, Ingo was thoughtful enough to let Irida back out before trying to deal with the whirlwind of confusion he was about to enter.

Irida let out an indignant bark as soon as she was released and stubbornly planted herself between the man and the others. Elesa, Emmet, Drayden, and Iris were all staring with wide eyes. 

“Safety checks, please!” Ingo insisted, looking minorly frazzled from the burst of excitement Irida had accidentally caused. “Irida is a friend of mine, so refrain from attacking her!”

“Ingo, what the hell!” Elesa yelled, her emolga glowering at Irida from the woman’s shoulder.

“Kindly enter the car in an orderly fashion. I don’t wish to disrupt the other patrons.” Ingo pressed, eyes already flicking down the hallway in case any curious neighbors had decided to open their doors.

When everyone took a beat too long to comply, Irida quickly melted into the floor with shadow sneak and popped back up behind the group. With a growl, she began pushing everyone inside and they finally stumbled in. She made an annoyed grrrh as she clicked the door shut and picked up her slightly stepped on notebook from where she’d dropped it.

“Thank you, Irida. Next time please refrain from manhandling–” 

Ingo got abruptly cut off as Emmet quite literally tackled him in a hug and the two fell backwards onto the hotel bed.

“Ah. Hello, Emmet.” Ingo closed his eyes and hugged back, ducking his face into Emmet’s coat collar. “I apologize for taking so long to recouple with you.”

“I am Emmet, and I am verrry mad that you disappeared and verrry happy that you are back.” 

Elesa started moving closer and although Irida knew she already wasn’t in great favor with the gym leader, she gave a warning growl and planted herself between the bed and everyone else. It was better to let Ingo and Emmet have some space to themselves for a moment, plus, it would be very difficult to explain things if everyone was dogpiled on the bed in a mess of limbs.

“Give them space. They need it.” Irida wrote in her book and sat back on her hind legs to show the page.

“Excuse you, I’ve missed Ingo too!” Elesa exclaimed, clearly so unhappy with being stopped that she didn’t even question a pokemon communication with her through writing.

Irida huffed a sigh and shut her book. She turned and leapt up onto the bed, mindful of her claws on the sheets and gently nudged Ingo’s head with her snout. “ Ingo. They’re getting impatient. ”

Of course, Ingo couldn’t understand the grumbling Irida was making, but he at least picked up on the intent and looked up to see the others. His eyes widened slightly upon remembering that explanations had been promised and were far overdue, so he gently pushed Emmet so that the two were sitting upright on the edge of the bed. Emmet didn’t seem to mind so long as he was allowed to keep hugging his brother.

“Apologies. My messages promised an explanation and I have stalled them further.” Ingo briefly dipped his head. 

“So you did write those letters!” Iris exclaimed before turning to Drayden. “I told you it was him!”

Ingo nodded again. “Yes. After returning, I realized I could not meaningfully contact everyone as your numbers are not the same anymore. I asked Irida to deliver those pictures so that I could explain everything at once. No need to put multiple trains on the same schedule after all!”

Elesa sat down so that she was on Ingo’s over side and leaned against him while casting Irida a look that was torn between annoyance and gratitude now that she knew the reason behind Irida’s actions. “She certainly didn’t give us any time to ask questions.”

Irida just made a rrrh with a tone equivalent to a shrug. 

“Mm. Yes, she seemed to enjoy evading you.” Ingo stated unhelpfully. 

Drayden stepped forward before the conversation could stray too far. “Ingo, please, where did you go? We were beginning to think you were gone for good.”

Emmet flinched and Elesa stiffened at the blunt statement and Iris glared at the man for his lack of tact. 

Ingo shook his head. “I do not even know what to begin with. Would you prefer to know how my train jumped the rails or how they were realigned?”

There was a pause as everyone caught up to what Ingo was asking. He’d been gone for over 5 years; it was only reasonable that they had only been wondering where he went and not how he came back.

“Your disappearance.” Drayden settled on.

“Very well.” Ingo turned to Irida. “Would you help me should I miss a track change?”

Irida nodded and stood up, ambled into the bathroom, and returned with Ingo’s tattered conductor’s hat held gently in her jaws. He’d left it behind in the scuffle of everyone coming in, but it was a good starting point and helped give some clues about what happened without the man even saying anything.

Iris gasped, Emmet flinched, Elesa stiffened and everyone’s eyes widened when they saw the terrible state the hat was in. From what Irida knew, the Ingo from before Hisui had always taken great pains to keep his items in top condition, so the hat’s appearance was quite startling.

“Ah, thank you. I must have left it behind while everyone was boarding.” Ingo said, taking the hat and seemingly not noticing the distress its state was causing everyone. “Now then. I must request patience until I have reached my final destination.”

Elesa opened her mouth to try and argue against being silent for the entire explanation, but a growl from Irida and a pointed look from Drayden made her shut her mouth with a frustrated expression. Everyone shuffled around to get settled for the story and Ingo finally began.

“To begin, I’ve been told that I left no traces upon my disappearance, yes? That is because I was teleported. I was taken to a place known as Hisui, and unfortunately due to the distance of my destination and lack of safety protocols, my memories were lost.”

Emmet’s grip on Ingo’s arm instantly tightened.

“Fortunately I was found by Irida who took me in and let me live with her people. I do not believe I would have survived otherwise. The pokemon in Hisui were highly aggressive; even rowlets posed a safety risk, and the people tended to assume the worst of strangers.”

Wide eyes turned to Irida as if asking her to back up the terrible things Ingo had just admitted to experiencing. She growled and nodded in agreement. She loved her people and Hisui, but society had progressed a long way from then. 

“I was an established inhabitant of Hisui when a young girl was brought in the same way as I was. She was taken in by a different group living in Hisui– there were three– and was tasked with exploring the area and surveying the pokemon.” Ingo frowned heavily and shook his head gravely. 

“It was far too dangerous a task to have her complete alone, but I was without memories and did not know better to speak against her treatment. Eventually she crossed my path and we bonded over our shared circumstances. It’s thanks to her that I returned. Somehow, our proximities helped recover certain memories and she went to great lengths for the both of us. Only days ago did she come to me and reveal that she had found a way for us to return home.”

There was a pause when Ingo finished his incredibly condensed explanation. It was honestly impressive how he managed to summarize 5 years into a 3 minute story.

“... So you were kidnapped, lost your memories, met someone who went through the same thing, and somehow that was enough for the two of you to figure out how to come back?” Elesa asked.

Irida made an impressed huff and nodded. She didn’t think the story could get shaved down into an entire sentence. 

Iris tilted her head. “And you were taken in by a zoroark pack?”

Ingo gave her a confused look before exchanging a glance with Irida and realizing why the girl had asked such a question. 

“Ah, no, Irida was human at the time. The zoroark in Hisui were a unique species. They are ghost types.” Ingo waved a hand at Irida. “Would you be willing to show them how you appeared in life?”

Irida nodded as everyone else suddenly exchanged tense glances. With a flash of her eyes, she was sitting criss-cross in human form at the foot of the bed. She smiled and waved at the aghast expressions slowly forming around her.

“... How old were you?” Elesa asked her in a hushed tone.

Irida tilted her head. “When I died?”

Everyone except for Ingo startled at her voice. They weren’t expecting her to be capable of speech, nor be so skilled at it that she could hold conversation. It probably didn’t help that Irida had very bluntly asked about her death.

Irida continued speaking before they could react any further. “I was 25, why?”

“That’s so young.” Elesa murmured to herself with a horrified expression. 

Irida shrugged. “Actually, 25 was around middle aged for us. It’s not like we had modern medicines and whatnot to live longer, and the pokemon didn’t help. 

“Irida became a zoroark after a pokemon horde attacked the settlement. She stayed to stall so that everyone else could escape.” Ingo explained with a mildly regretful look in his eyes.

Drayden turned to Ingo with a haunted look. “This place you were taken too was that dangerous? And, no modern medicine at all? What happened if someone got hurt?”

“If you were not well prepared, yes, Hisui was quite perilous. I was at a unique advantage though, as I was unconsciously much more experienced with handling pokemon. Very few had the skill or courage to tame and train a pokemon of their own, but I amassed a full team to aid me.” 

“I am verrry concerned and confused. You said you lost your memories, but do not seem that different.” Emmet finally spoke up. “You know who I am.”

Ingo nodded. “Yes. For many years I was plagued by dreams of who I called ‘the man in white’ without realizing who you were. It is thanks to Dawn that I both returned and regained my memories.”

“Dawn?” Iris parroted.

“The girl who Ingo was talking about earlier.” Irida explained. “Don’t worry, she got home too.”

“Do you know why you were taken?” Iris asked, leaning forward and bracing her arms on her knees. “What’d you even do in Hisui?”

“Iris.” Drayden warned. “Getting kidnapped and forced to live under dangerous situations must have been dreadful for Ingo. If he doesn’t want to say anything, he doesn’t have to.”

Ingo waved Drayden off. “My departure was actually an accident. Although I do not know the full explanation for the mixup, it was Dawn who was the intended target.” He frowned for a beat. “You may be displeased to hear, but a part of me is relieved I was taken.”

“ What? ” Emmet asked with a fearful look in his eyes.

Ingo shook his head. “My arrival stalled Dawn’s by several years. If she was successfully delivered on the first attempt then she would have been around 12 years old.”

Elesa exhaled sharply and looked away with a conflicted expression. 

“As for your other question regarding what I did,” Ingo easily continued and pulled back his sleeve to reveal his warden bracelet, “I was appointed as a Warden. My charge was known as Lady Seasler, and she was incredibly skilled at scaling cliffsides.”

Everyone took a moment to look at the bracelet and think over the waves of information they had just received. Irida glanced around and instantly noticed something off. Maybe it was because she didn’t know Ingo’s friends and family as well, but something in their expressions reminded her of something…

“Oh! Ingo, you’re as bad as Adaman and I were!” Irida exclaimed as something clicked in her mind.

“Pardon?”

“Context, Ingo. They’re missing important context.” Irida turned to point at Elesa. “You looked devastated when I told you how old I was when I died.”

Elesa made a justified expression. “Of course I did! Getting killed at 25? You should be graduating college, not living in some– some sort of traditionalist cult and sacrificing yourself so that others can escape a horde of pokemon!”

“Ah. I see now.” Ingo stated. “Yes, it seems important information has been glossed over.”

Everyone turned to him and Elesa almost looked offended. “You left stuff out?”

“Not on purpose, I assure you!” Ingo quickly insisted. “It was a rather unorthodox situation!”

“Hisui existed over 400 years ago.” Irida said bluntly before any more turmoil could begin. “Ingo got snatched by the gods of time and space.”

There was a beat where everyone in the room seemed to freeze.

Drayden broke the scene by leaning forward to run a hand over his face and give the most tired sigh Irida had ever heard, and she was centuries old. The poor man closed his eyes and seemed to mentally count to five before finally looking at Ingo again. “That would have been very nice to know ahead of time.”

“Would it?” Ingo asked with genuine curiosity. “Aside from lack of electricity and plumbing, I doubt the setting would have changed much.”

Irida slowly turned to give Ingo a look. “Ingo. I am a centuries old ghost who was born and raised in Hisui. Everything was different compared to now. Trying to make someone under 18 years old go off fighting feral alphas without any training would get you thrown in prison nowadays.”

“... I suppose I have not yet experienced any culture shocks thanks to your and Adaman’s safety protocols.” Ingo admitted. 

“Also, you do realize that electricity is, like, 90% of daily life nowadays, right?” Iris added. “Compared to 400 years ago, the coolest thing was, what, the invention of the wheel?”

“We already had the wheel.” Irida helpfully pointed out. “But the pokeball was invented just before I was born if that helps. They were made from apricorn shells and rocks.”

Iris gestured pointedly at Irida for helping prove her point before pausing and looked at Irida. “Wait, how did they even work then?”

Irida shrugged. “Magic, probably.”

“Being over 400 still doesn’t change my feelings about how old you were when you died.” Elesa sternly told Irida. “I don’t care if the average lifespan back then was 50 years old.”

“To be fair, I wasn’t happy about it either.”

“Please re-explain what happened without leaving things out this time.” Drayden cut in, sighing again. To himself, he muttered. “I’m going to need to pick up some history books.”

Ingo nodded. “Of course! For the full picture, it would be best for me to mention that Hisui is not the name of ancient Unova, but is in fact ancient Sinnoh.”

Drayden looked like he’d lived the same amount of years as Irida without the benefit of ghostly immortality. Internally, Irida wondered if Dawn’s explanation was going similarly. Given how similarly passionate about history Cynthia was to Volo, it was probably more harrowing for Adaman.

“I am Emmet, and I can tell that this is going to be a verrry long day! I would like to fight the time and space gods for this.” Emmet said with the widest, most sinister grin on his face.

Irida (literally) barked a laugh. “Please don’t. They’re the only reason Ingo and Dawn came back home.”

“Hm. In that case I would like to greatly harm them.” Emmet amended.

“Just. Start from the beginning, please?” Drayden pushed before Emmet could distract the conversation further.

So Ingo did. He told them about his confusion when he first appeared, and his difficulties learning how to live with the Pearl Clan. Everyone frowned or grimaced when he pulled up his sleeves and pointed out scars from miscellaneous pokemon scuffles, but he didn’t seem to notice. His stories about pokemon battles and befriending alphas got grins, exasperated sighs, and eager demands for future battles.

Irida found herself joining in to give brief accounts of her own, including Dawn’s arrival, and throughout it all she created small illusions in her hands to provide visuals. She showed the group what the wardens and their charges looked like, and tried her best to explain certain cultural ways of life that were questionable in the modern day. There was even a brief moment where Irida even tried to explain Hisuian pokeballs but failed miserably.

“No, they were actually like that,” Irida was telling Elesa and Drayden. The bulk of information had finally been shared, so now everyone was split between Irida and Ingo for any extra details. “If you saw anything just a bit too outside of the norm, you were better off running for your life because it was likely a zoroark trying to lure you in and kill you.”

Drayden raised a brow. “Considering you’re the only Hisuian zoroark I’ll ever meet, I’ll just take your word for it.”

“Have you already forgotten what happened after I gave you Ingo’s letter?” Irida asked incredulously. “Hisuian zoroarks literally exist through hate of humans.” She pointed at Elesa, “I almost tricked you into falling down a flight of stairs.”

“But you didn't,” Elesa pointed out with a grin. “Doesn’t matter if you have some deep seated killer's instinct to me! You literally flew across the ocean to help Ingo get back home even though you’ve never left Sinnoh before. That doesn’t seem very malicious to you now does it?”

“I do have to wonder, why did you go instead of this Adaman?” Drayden asked, running a hand through his beard. “You’ve done stupendously, but surely there are some things that only humans would be able to do, right?”

“For starters, we’d have to give Ingo a physical disguise which would be harder to maintain than my illusions,” Irida pointed out. “And the other reason is because Adaman has a terrible concept of things happening around him and would probably look too suspicious while trying to sneak Ingo across the border.”

As if to prove her point, Irida suddenly whirled around to stare Ingo down with narrowed eyes. “Where are you three going?”

“We were gonna take Ingo to see the Nimbasa fairgrounds. It’s expanded since he’s been gone!” Iris explained.

Emmet nodded. “The ride operators end their shift in a few hours! We’ll need to hurry if we want to show Ingo everything while it’s all running.”

“You’re still legally dead, Ingo, you can’t leave without an illusion!” Irida reminded him in exasperation. 

Before Ingo could sheepishly apologize, Irida huffed and dropped her human form in favor of casting her Adaman disguise over the man instead. No longer capable of making human speech, she kept talking regardless. “ Honestly, do you want to get mobbed by some random passerby?! ”

Elesa and Drayden exchanged a glance as Irida kept scolding the others before both smiling and standing up to follow. Sure, getting Ingo officially reinstated as a living man was important, but that didn’t matter as Ingo laughed good naturedly at Iris’s insistent tugging to hurry out the door. 

There had been a space missing in Unova for over 5 years. It could wait a few more days before Ingo took it back.