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[Ingo doesn't even know why he's crying in the first place. He's just - overwhelmed.

First the coat. He's never let anyone try to fix it. Whether from sentiment or superstition, he was just too anxious about altering what few remnants of the past he still had. That was why he always wore the coat and hat. It felt like if he didn't keep them always, just as they were, something would break. But since coming to Bavan, he grew so worried about ruining it entirely that he stopped wearing it at all. It was safe...but being without it felt awful.

And then, Emmet himself. Ingo's held back out of fear there too. He'd been afraid to ruin everything, so he did nothing. He shouldn't have. He thinks - especially here and now - he thinks he's starting to realize:]

I missed you.

[He hadn't known what he was missing. But he missed him.]

[Emmet blinked. Missed him? When? Was it back when everything was weird between them? Emmet knows he really wasn't himself then- but was he that bad?]

[He tightens his own grip on Ingo though, digging his fingers into the fabric of the coat. Emmet is trying to ignore the tears building up in his own eyes. This was one of those moments where his tongue would refuse to operate and his mouth would clamp itself up. So all he does is hold on to Ingo.]

[Ingo stays there, clinging to Emmet, until his breathing begins to even out and everything clanging around in his mind starts to settle down. Out of the noise, something begins to resolve. His grip loosens, and he suddenly pulls back enough to look Emmet in the face.]

You... [His gaze is a bit odd, like he's not really seeing Emmet at all. Focused somewhere else.] You did that...before. When we were much younger. We had - won some important battle, I think, and you jumped on me. You knocked me over!

[Probably Emmet has done that Many Many Times, but this instance is what comes to mind right now. Something about...they beat someone important? Ah, but how important can the person have been if they were only children? He thinks they were quite young.]

[Emmet can think of many times when he has done that, to be honest. The first gym battle they won, as they got further along in the Gym Challenge and were able to make it up to the champion.]

[Emmet brought a hand up to his face as he pondered this.]

I've done that a lot, but I will tell you about all the times I can remember, yup.

Hm.

[Ingo blinks his way back to the here and now, pressing the heel of his palm against one eye for a second. It doesn't exactly hurt - the headaches are really when he's straining to remember, not when things just happen. But it's always sort of disorienting.

Still. He wants to know.]

Yes, yes! Come, let us sit!

[He's gonna try and get into that blanket fort Emmet just came from, tucking his wings very close against his back! Once safely inside, he takes a candy bar (white chocolate, not real chocolate!) from one of his pockets and automatically snaps it in half to offer Emmet a piece.]

[Emmet automatically accepts the bit of white chocolate and takes a bite.]

When we were younger, we did the Gym Challenge as part of our Pokemon Journey. A Pokemon Gym is where someone specializes in a type of Pokemon and the one in charge of the Gym is a true specialist in that particular type.

[Ingo’s first thought is, It would be very easy to battle someone who uses only one type. His second is that it would be equally easy to formulate counters for a challenger who tried to rely solely on type advantage, and his third is that these journeys are usually undertaken by children anyway, right? Maybe it is meant to teach them! Serious battles are the best, but beginner trainers must learn first!]

And children on their journeys go there to train?

[Emmet nods.] Yup. You learn how that type works, the skills it has, and its defenses and weaknesses. And when you beat the leader, you get a gym badge which usually comes with perks such as traded Pokemon listening to you if they were too strong before and maybe a TM.

Bravo! What a useful teaching tool!

[He's definitely picturing there being eighteen gyms, one for each type - but that is a neat way to teach children how type matchups work, as well as providing a deeper look into each type itself! These are the foundations for battling!

Ingo has no idea what a TM is, or what gym badges have to do with a Pokemon respecting you, but he decides to shelve both these questions. They're practical, not personal. That halfway-memory wasn't about how the gym system operated.]

What was the first gym we trained at? Our first Pokemon were not the same types.

Well, we were going to try and do our Uncle's gym. But he is verrrrry strong and pretty much told us to go to another gym. So we went to a Normal-Type Gym.

[Ingo blinks in surprise. Not that their uncle would send them away - even as a child, he thinks he'd have been upset if someone went unfairly easy on him. But - ]

We have an uncle?

[IMMEDIATELY DISTRACTED! He supposes that, logically, they probably do have other relations. It's just never really occurred to him to ask.]

Yup. He trains Dragon-Types. He wrestles them sometimes.

I did something like that once.

[Ingo looks faintly haunted at the recollection, and does not elaborate further!]

What is his name?

{Emmet will not prod on that one, simply because of the look Ingo is giving.]

Drayden. He is also a Mayor. He is verrry busy, he is our mom's big brother.

[Which was why people would be so surprised to find out the close relationship between the twins and Drayden, people would assume the same surname at least!]

[It's a bit odd, to hear this information and not...really feel much about it. That's probably because they aren't here. Family was always an idle hypothetical notion before. He'd been a little bit sad to think he might not have had any, but then he'd be a little bit sad to think he might have, and he'd abandoned them, and then he'd always set the whole matter aside as useless theorizing anyway.

It never seemed real enough to really worry about until he met Emmet. Even now, these other figures are distant. If he ever does meet them, though, Ingo knows he'll feel awful.]

Tell me about our parents?

Mom runs a preschool outside of town and Dad works in a Pokemon center in the back assisting Nurse Joy.

[Emmet, that's like four concepts he doesn't really recognize? But Ingo thinks he can glean what a "preschool" is, so...]

That is...somewhere for Pokemon care?

[He nods.] Yup, trainers and Pokemon hang out there a lot. You go there to get your Pokemon healed after battles.

[Emmet forgets things that are just so common place to him are now alien concepts to Ingo.]

Like the Galaxy medical wing! Though I do not know that many people hang out there.

[The nurses are nice enough, but Ingo's never felt much need to loiter about the place! He often tends to his own Pokemon in any case. He's used to doing that when he is on the mountain, just as Akari and the rest of the Survey Corps do at their base camps.

His ears shift further back for a quiet moment. But he must be more forthright with Emmet! Even if he worries that his thoughts and feelings on these matters might be painful for his brother to hear, it is worse to hide them. Emmet does seem to know when he isn't saying things.]

It is strange. I never felt certain whether or not I had any family, before. I feel...guilty, that I do not remember any of them.

[The fault isn't in Emmet's descriptions. Ironically, words alone have never seemed to trigger much for him.]

Don't feel guilty. [Emmet said easily, breaking off another bit of the white chocolate and eating it.] Because that means you did something wrong.

[Emmet appreciates how honest Ingo is being. But, it is a bit sad to think about, being forgotten.]

Besides, you had many irons in the fire, yup. And it is not like there was any proof of us being there to help you.

I suppose it is better to know for sure. I never did care for the option where I didn't have any.

[Sure, it would mean he left no one behind to worry for him! In a lot of ways, that might have been best for everyone, or at least it had seemed that way at the time. But it had always left him feeling rather lonely all the same.

Emmet always makes these things sound so simple. He has a point, though. Whatever did happen, Ingo's sure he didn't choose it, and tying himself up in knots over it never helps anyone. He idly takes a bite of his own white chocolate. At any rate, he did just remember something, even if it wasn't much. Maybe he should focus on that.]

The Normal-type gym leader...were they a woman?

I wouldn't like to think about that option either. [Family was important to Emmet. He couldn't imagine not being without one, it sounded...so lonely.] After all, where family is, you have a home, right? [Be it biological or found. Family is family.]

[Emmet nodded.]

Yup, so is the current one, Lenora.

Well...yes. I just never liked the idea of having left anyone behind, either! But there were no truly good options.

[No matter which was true, it meant that someone was alone where they shouldn't have been. Ingo often tried to convince himself that he'd rather it were him, but alone at night on the mountain, it grows difficult to be quite that selfless.

Though...when Ingo pauses for a second this time, what he's really thinking about is Gladion. Who has made his home with them, and not with his mother. Does Lusamine know that? What might she do if she ever finds out? She already knew Gladion was around, but she didn't breathe a word of it when Ingo met her. He can't imagine knowing a family member was in Ryslig and not dropping everything to find them. But that only makes him more resolute in his decision not to say a word to her about any of it. He and Emmet are looking out for Gladion now.]

I remember a woman laughing at us, after we won that battle and you tackled me. Not in an unkind way! Looking back, she must have been amused by our youthful antics!

[In the moment, Ingo's pretty sure he was embarrassed, if only briefly amid the joy of victory. But he's got a different perspective looking back now. He thinks he would probably get bored if his job were only teaching, but he has enjoyed seeing the people of Hisui build their battling skills!]

She was proud of us too, I bet! We learned a lot and we got our Basic Badge. Our first step as professionals!

There must be a great many professional battlers, if there are so many gyms!

[Of course he'd known professional battlers were a thing! That was their job! Or half of it, at least! But the potential scale of it is hitting him now. Anything beyond a handful seems like a lot to him!]

It must have been an important moment to me!

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