More Ginkgo Guild AU stuff:
So Volo and Akari grow up mostly raised by the Ginkgo Guild but with some co-parenting help from Cogita and the alpha Luxray
Ginter eventually becomes the leader of the Guild due to the previous leader getting removed from the picture (there was an incident with the Luxray. Asshole deserved it. Also no Volo was not responsible in this timeline)
Volo and Akari continue having adventures where they explore ruins and befriend wild pokémon and soon they're getting really into pokémon battling
They also both receive merchant training and start working for the Guild in their early teens
Cogita also brings them up in a few important Celestica customs and gives them a proper Celestica religious education (she's more or less adopted Akari as a Proper Celestica at this point)
Throughout all of this the two keep growing closer and closer and by the time they're 15-16 they start sleeping together
Ginter walks in on them one time, walks out, then promptly walks back in to chuck a pouch of contraceptive herbs at Volo's head like "IF YOU KNOCK HER UP I'M KILLING BOTH OF YOU"
(He also goes to Cogita later like "I think it's time we gave them the talk" "oh I already did" "okay well let's do it AGAIN just to make sure we didn't miss any important details")
At some point in their late teens they meet and befriend Adaman and Irida (it's mostly Akari befriending both of them and Volo reluctantly agreeing to play nice for the sake of his girlfriend. He does learn to get along with them tho)
Despite being "outsiders" who use pokéballs Volo and Akari manage to win the respect of both clans because they're just THAT good with pokémon (and also Akari's a cinnamon roll)
They even get given Celestica Flutes because they managed to befriend the Nobles/Ride pokémon
By the time they're adults they're both scarily good battlers with full teams (and several befriended alphas) and are widely regarded as the two most powerful pokémon wielders in Hisui (which makes Kamado a little bit On Edge when the Galaxy Team finally shows up and he learns that these two random merchants hold that much power)
Ginter is considered the third most powerful wielder in Hisui through sheer virtue of having to wrangle the "friends" his kids kept bringing home throughout the years
He somehow wound up with a full team of alphas (mostly electric types) on accident. He's still very tired but damn if they're not good for helping with the heavy jobs.
Volo and Akari are also notorious across Hisui for being just. DISGUSTINGLY in love. To the point that the other merchants tease them about being married
It takes a bit for the Galaxy Team to find out they're NOT married because everyone in the guild acts like they are
Akari has largely written off the childhood promise she and Volo made like "haha yeah it was just a silly thing from when we were kids, if Volo was serious about it he'd have proposed by now"
Volo is in fact VERY SERIOUS about it but he's determined not to propose until he has another Celestica pendant he can propose with, as is tradition
Unfortunately the method/materials to make them has been lost to time so his only hope is to unearth an existing one somewhere
He's been digging up archaeological sites for years and he still can't find one
Cogita has been helping him look but she also can't find one
Man is starting to reach his wit's end about it
