#girafic

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"My brother wants to buy these," Ingo said loudly, barely tall enough to see over the counter. Emmet dumped his handfuls of quarters and dimes on the counter. They were only slightly damp from being fished out of fountains.

The pokemart employee raised an eyebrow as Emmet offered him the pair of Donphan-Skin Brand Reinforced Gardening Gloves (Insulated With Rubber!)

"You kids like gardening?" he said doubtfully, scanning the gloves as he began to count the quarters.

"Yes," Ingo lied. Emmet kicked him lightly. They weren't supposed to lie! They were already going to be in trouble if their mom found out what they were buying the gloves for. He didn't want to know what would happen if she also found out they lied.

"We love gardening," Ingo continued. Emmet scowled at him and snatched the gloves off the counter.

"You have fifty cents extra," the employee said. "You can get a lollipop if you want."

Emmet bought himself a sour Cherri lollipop. Ingo complained the whole way across the parking lot.

"I helped you get all those quarters! Half of that lollipop belongs to me."

"Nope," Emmet said, and stuck the entire thing in his mouth. Ingo stuck out his tongue in disgust.

Technically, they hadn't been told to not go in Chargestone Cave. They'd only been specifically told not to go in the abandoned house at the end of the street ever again, or else. Neither of them planned on returning now that Ingo had his Litwick from there. But their mother had never sat them down and said you cannot go in Chargestone Cave ever, even one time, or else, so this was probably fine as long as she didn't find out.

She had said not to go into any dangerous places, but Emmet was being very safe. Even if he had to haul the garbage bag of safety equipment all by himself, because Ingo wouldn't help him.

"They had a different brand of lollipops for twenty-five cents each! You could have got us each one of those!"

"I hate that brand," Emmet retorted. He slurped on his lollipop loudly and grinned when Ingo huffed. "Mmm. Yup. This is delicious."

Ingo grumbled under his breath as he followed Emmet into the cave.

"We will review the plan so we know what tracks to take," Emmet declared, dragging the bag over his shoulder. "I will wear insulated armor to defend myself against electric attacks. You will keep watch for dangerous pokemon. When you see a Joltik, I will grab it, and then I will have a partner pokemon and you won't be able to brag about having a pokemon while I don't anymore."

"And what if they swarm you?" Ingo asked, which he had been asking repeatedly for the three days since Emmet had shared his plan with him.

"They will not do that."

Emmet was so distracted by hauling the bag that he barely noticed they'd made it into the main cavern until Ingo gasped.

"Ingo? Do you see a Joltik?" He turned around and the bag clattered to the ground as he stared up into the glittering, floating crystals of Chargestone Cave. "Oh."

The air was thick with static. Energy buzzed beneath their rubber boots and made their hair stand up. The twins circled each other slowly, drinking in the sight. A thousand mirror images of themselves reflected in the crystals. The walls glistened with shimmering rock. Emmet was so entranced that he stumbled back into Ingo, sending them both crashing to the floor in a heap.

Instantly, the background hum of the cave sharpened. Glowing eyes peered from dark corners. Emmet grabbed for Ingo's hand and held on as tight as possible, terror metallic in his mouth, whispering frantic apologies until his big brother pulled him into a tight hug. Emmet could hear both of their hearts pounding.

"It's okay, it's okay. We will get you your Joltik and then we never have to come back here ever again, okay?" He gave Emmet a little smile, even though his pupils were wide with fear.

Emmet squared his shoulders and put on his bravest face. His voice only shook a little. "Okay. Help me put on my armor."

The garbage bag was emptied out. Emmet put on a rubber raincoat as Ingo began to duct-tape rubber hoses (the only rubber items they could find in the basement) around his arms and legs to insulate them. They'd tried it at home, and found that he couldn't run very fast because he looked like a marshmallow man. Since he was only hunting Joltiks, this hadn't seemed that bad.

Emmet was having second thoughts now that the eyes in the corners were watching him hungrily. Still, he put the gardening gloves on- they were a little too big- and stood there in the centre of the cave with a pokeball clutched in one hand and his lollipop in the other.

"I challenge you!" he shouted at the glowing eyes.

"Bravo!" Ingo called, and Emmet felt a warm rush of pride. He pointed at the eyes again, buoyed up by his big brother's encouragement. "I am Emmet and I want to catch a partner. So come out and battle me!"

The eyes disappeared.

Emmet's pointing finger slowly lowered to the ground in disappointment.

"That was very rude of them," Ingo said. Emmet huffed and stomped his feet in frustration, which was all he could do when he had rubber hoses taped to him. They made it verrry hard to move. He looked down at his pointing hand and noticed that he was missing his lollipop.

"Ew! Ingo, you stole my lollipop! I had that in my mouth!" Emmet exclaimed.

"I did not!" Ingo shouted. "I don't even like sour Cherri flavour!"

"Did too! Unless you expect me to believe that the Joltik stole it?" Emmet rolled his eyes. "They are too slow. You owe me a lollipop now."

Ingo didn't respond for a moment as he stared at him with a horrified expression. Emmet felt like that was a little extreme. Sure, Ingo should be a little grossed out that he was eating a lollipop that had been in Emmet's mouth, but it's not like they hadn't shared ice cream before. He didn't think his mouth was that gross.

"Run!" Ingo screamed, just as a bolt of electricity zapped the ground beside Emmet.

He yelped, primal fear streaking through him, and ran, but the stupid rubber tube armor was slowing him down and he pitched forward across the ground, scraping his lip.

"Ingo!" he screamed, and his brother was already there, grabbing his pokeball off his hip and throwing it as hard as he could.

"Ember! Confuse Ray! Anything! Get it away from Emmet!" His voice cracked with fear as he hauled him off the ground. Litwick began to glow as Emmet threw his arms around Ingo and buried his face in his neck.

"What- what is it?" Emmet almost didn't want to hear the answer.

"An Eelektrik." Ingo was pale. His grip tightened around him.

They had nowhere to run. The eel pokemon undulated in front of them, eyeing Litwick as she stood between it and the twins, her fire flaring bright. The beautiful glitter of Chargestone Cave was even more brilliant when it reflected the lightning gathering on the eel's sides. With a spark, a jolt of electricity leaped for them. Emmet shut his eyes and held his hands out.

The jolt didn't make it through the rubber gardening gloves. Emmet blinked in surprise. The gloves were definitely worth the twenty-seven dollars plus tax they had cost.

The eel sparked again, eyes narrow. Emmet pressed his lips together.

"I'm sorry for not buying you a lollipop," he said quietly. Ingo spared him a bewildered glance.

"What?"

"I don't want you to be angry at me when we-" Emmet waved at the eel. "When that gets us."

"Oh, Emmet." His face twisted. "I'm not angry at you, I promise. In fact, I should be sorry. I haven't been very helpful. I should have seen the Eelektrik earlier."

Emmet leaned into his side. "It's okay." He hated fighting with Ingo. Litwick threw another Confuse Ray at the eel, distracting it, but she was starting to look tired. "Don't let go of my hand. Please."

Ingo squeezed him tighter. "I won't. I promise."

They held on and waited for whatever came next. The minutes stretched like hours.

The worst part was that Eelektrik were not even supposed to live here. He had not planned for them. Very rarely, Tynamo would appear, but Eelektrik didn't. Not only was Emmet possibly going to die, but he was going to die while wearing stupid rubber-tube armor, to a pokemon that he had not planned for, and now Ingo was paying the price for his stupid plan.

He stomped his feet again, frustrated almost to tears, and heard an irritated squeak. He lifted his foot and saw a tiny, pale white fish circling his legs, nibbling on the half-eaten lollipop stuck to his boots. Oh. He must have dropped it on the ground because the gardening gloves were too big.

Now he really felt bad for blaming Ingo.

The Eelektrik lifted its head when the Tynamo squeaked, fins flaring. Emmet thought he recognized something about the way it glared at the tiny fish. It felt a lot like the way their mom had glared at them when she'd caught them sneaking out, the kind of look that said get back here or you will be grounded until you are fifty, may the dragons have mercy on your soul. The mother Eelektrik hissed, and the Tynamo deliberately turned its back and continued wrestling with the lollipop that was almost larger than it was. The wave of relief almost knocked him off his feet.

"Ingo, it's not after us," he whispered. "It's looking for this Tynamo."

The Tynamo that had caused all this trouble seemed entirely untroubled by anything other than the logistics of consuming a piece of candy larger than its head. Emmet leaned down and grabbed the lollipop, wrinkling his nose at the fact it was now covered in dirt, and threw it across the cave. The Tynamo darted off after it, and the mother Eelektrik hissed softly and turned to follow.

Shaky and giggling with relief, Ingo returned Litwick and the twins snuck out of the cave to collapse in the grass outside.

"That was verrry stupid of us," Emmet declared. He was still shivering with adrenaline. Ingo, panting hard, nodded.

"I'm sorry we didn't get you a partner."

Emmet laughed out loud and dragged him into a hug. The sun was warm and sweet on his skin.

"I am glad we did not die!" He held Ingo close, drinking in the sensation of being alive with his twin. "Getting a partner can wait. I am done with Chargestone Cave."

Ingo relaxed into his arms and chuckled a little. "I do not think Chargestone Cave is done with you."

Emmet rolled over- Ingo grunted when Emmet ended up on top of him- and gaped at the tiny white fish in front of him. Its face was smeared with red sugar.

"You! Do you know how much trouble you could have got us in?" he exclaimed. "Our mother would have killed us if we had ended up dead!"

"That Tynamo is a troublemaker just like you," Ingo said from beneath him. "You would make a fitting team."

"I do not want any comments from you, big brother." Emmet stuck out his tongue.

"You both have sugar all over your face." Ingo poked his cheeks. "And you are both brats who don't listen to others. I think you should be partners."

Emmet rolled his eyes. Somehow, he'd held onto the pokeball the whole time, so he held it out towards the Tynamo.

"I am Emmet. This is my brother Ingo. Do you want to be my pokemon?" he asked. The Tynamo squeaked and somersaulted in the air, butting against the button. The ball shook twice before settling with a faint glow.

Emmet picked it up reverently. He was sweaty and had rubber tubing duct-taped all over him and he had been scared half to death, but he had a partner now. His plan had been perfect.

He leaped up and crowed his joy at the sky, pokeball glinting in the sunshine, just as Ingo grabbed him and spun him around, smiling just as wide.

"You did it, Emmet!"

"I did!" He held Tynamo high, and they laughed and danced together, warm with sunshine and pride.

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"Did you kids have a good time..." The pokemart employee's eyebrows climbed towards his hairline. "Gardening?"

△▽

Emmet's boots crunch into the snow. It's the only sound in the silent winter stillness. Far above, a branch trembles, and the lightest dusting of snow drifts down.

Age thirteen. The creek behind their home in Anville Town. It was the kind of spring day that was so clear and glassy and bright that it hurt your eyes and stung your skin and scraped you raw and fresh and new.

"It will be fine," Emmet had laughed as he danced across the rotten pine branches laid across the creek. "It's almost spring, Ingo!"

The shrine looms grey and ancient before him like the timeless eyes of a shark, watching from just below the surface. His boots come to a stop outside the entrance. His breath hisses out into the air, sparkling, silent.

"You are going to fall," Ingo had called from across the bank, a worried black shape in the sea of snow, pacing and wringing his hands.

"I am Emmet and I will not," he said. Another step, then another. The snow-soaked pine had creaked and sang under his boots, white on white, invisible in the frost.

His coat drifts around him. He lifts his face to the dark sky. The snow blankets his coat until it's impossible to know what colour it was underneath. With his face drawn into sharp, unsmiling lines, Emmet sees himself in the polished bronze of the temple doors and thinks, momentarily, that he has seen his brother.

He has not had that thought for a long time. All the mirrors in their Nimbasa apartment have long since been smashed or removed. All the reflective surfaces taped over. All the glass replaced with frosted plastic. Like the world freezing over in winter, their apartment has become a shell of itself, full of the ghosts of a better time.

Emmet opens the doors.

"Don't go any further," Ingo had cried. Staring down into the frozen creek, he edged out onto the pine branches after him. "It's not worth it, Emmet. Come back."

"I have to," Emmet had insisted, eyes fixed on the black shape of the hat on the other side of the creek.

It had been his fault. While they'd wrestled in the snow, he'd managed to fling the hat across the banks. It stood out like an inkblot on flawless white parchment. He had to get it back. He only had to reach a little further.

Ingo crept out onto the makeshift bridge after him, white with cold and fear. He reached out his hand.

Inside the shrine, a tiny, curled figure floats high above the puddled floor. It's twin tails undulate calmly behind it. The light of Emmet's lantern catches on its golden head. A powerful presence, an awareness, surrounds it. Emmet grits his teeth and moves forward.

"Come back," Ingo pleaded. The branches creaked, Emmet yelped, and Ingo stretched out his hand. For a second, on that trembling snowy bridge, Emmet thought about taking it and retreating back to the solid ground.

"Not yet," he had said, and turned away. The hat was just out of reach of his grasping fingers, catching on the woolen surface before slipping again. He squints against the sun sparkling off the snow. "I just need to reach a little further-"

(There was a terrible snapping noise.)

"Uxie," Emmet says, in his awful, hoarse voice. He kneels. The fragile ice skin of the frozen puddles breaks beneath his weight, and the cold water seeps through his calves. "I am Emmet and I need something from you."

The god's voice resonates in his head. What do you have that is worth a bargain?

"Nothing," Emmet says, because that is the truth. Ingo's disappearance has taken everything he has to give and more. "Except my own knowledge."

Your memories, the god intones. It's expression does not change. They are precious things. You would sacrifice them in exchange for my boon?

Emmet knows that if he does this, he will have lost. Ingo will not have the Emmet he remembered to come home to. Is it selfish, then, to drag him back from wherever he has gone, only to have nothing waiting for him?

The pine branches snapped and Emmet fell. The water rushed up to meet him faster than thought. The cold slammed into him and ripped his breath away, sinking into his body like claws. He heard Ingo scream.

"My memories," Emmet says, feeling the weight of truth and promise on his tongue. "In exchange for the knowledge of how to find my brother and bring him back."

Uxie floats silently. The cold runs patient fingers up Emmet's back and down his aching legs. If this fails, he has nothing left to turn to.

I accept your deal, Uxie says finally. Look at me.

Emmet sunk, staring up at snow and sunlight. Silvery bubbles drifted up through the water. The cold numbed everything, even shock. His mouth was open around Ingo's name.

A hand closed around his wrist and dragged him up. A black shape rippled across the surface, the truth Emmet had known since before he could talk- Ingo was with him, Ingo kept him safe, Ingo would always drag him back from the edge.

He broke the surface and clung desperately to his brother, shaking, gasping, tears running down both their cheeks. They held on and didn't let go.

Emmet looks at Uxie. He thinks of Ingo one last time.

The god opens their eyes. Everything inside his head goes bright, then dark, and then there is nothing at all.

"Ingo," Emmet sobbed, clutching him tight. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have reached out-"

"I'm here," Ingo promised, even as he choked on tears. He gripped his hands tight, he held him against the terror of the river and the cold and the sinking. "I'm here, Emmet. I have you."

Emmet held on. The sun sparkled across the snow, golden in the late afternoon, the same way it always had in all his memories. He will have dreams about cold rivers for months and wake up thinking of snow and sun that glitters like this, the same way it will on the snow outside a temple hidden deep in Sinnoh, where a man lays on the floor and dreams of nothing at all.

Ergo Sum

"The savior of Hisui never wanted to be a savior. They never asked to end up in Hisui alone, weighed down by a duty they don't want, in the service of a God who won't answer them. If it was up to them, they'd much rather write their own destiny.

Volo knows something about speaking to God and not getting a response. He knows even more about loneliness. Most of all, he knows what it's like to want something so badly that it burns you.

They might have more in common than they think."

(A character study and alternate plot for Legends Arceus, exploring the world where the hero joins Volo.)