As soon as Lucas made it back to camp with the boy, there had been a flurry of action. A child that young left alone in the wilds…it was practically a death sentence! He needed to be brought to safety immediately. Lucas, still holding the boy, watched as the Security Corps members quickly packed up the wagon for the trip back to Jubilife. His lips twitched upward slightly as he saw Dewott racing around in an attempt to help, which wasn't incredibly effective thanks to the Pokemon's shorter stature. It was, however, a good cover for how Dewott was discreetly hiding a bundle of white and brown clothing in with the supplies.
"Who would do such a thing?" Professor Laventon stood next to Lucas, wringing his hands together and fretfully looking over the sleeping child. The man was careful to keep his voice low so as not to disturb him. "It would be disturbing enough if he was unconscious and alone at even an older age, but this young? Why isn't he with his parents?"
"I don't know," Lucas muttered, not turning to look at the professor.
Lucas found himself repeating those words a lot over the next hour, his heart sinking more and more with every white lie.
"Is that a kid?" Akari had asked when they reached Jubilife, not noticing Dewott retrieving the articles of clothing from the wagon and quickly running them to Lucas's house. "Where did he come from?"
"I don't know. Found him in the Fieldlands." He had come from the rift.
"Do you have any guess as to how he got there?" Captain Cyllene questioned minutes later as the young boy was whisked away by Pesselle for a medical examination.
"I don't know." He fell from the sky, just like Lucas.
"The make of his clothing seems unfamiliar," Commander Kamado observed as he questioned , "though it does bear some similarities to the ones you were found in. Could he perhaps be from the same place as you?"
Yes! Lucas's mind screamed at him. The boy is like him! They were from the same place. Or rather, the same time. He had to be!
But there was a reason Lucas had instructed Dewott to hide the majority of the clothes the boy had been found in, so Lucas kept his expression largely neutral and replied, "I don't know, sir."
Lucas saw the way the citizens of Jubilife looked at him. He remembered the suspicious words and glances that, while fewer than when he first arrived, continued to follow him whenever he walked through the marketplace. He knew that the only reason he was permitted to stay in the village was because of his unusual skill with training Pokemon. Akari could hardly get her Pikachu to listen to her, and yet Lucas had been required to complete what she and Laventon had thought to be a nearly insurmountable task just to not be thrown to the wilds. And then he, alone, had been sent to quell the Nobles' frenzies.
Kamado didn't trust him. A sizable portion of the village didn't trust him. He was only good enough to complete tasks they were unequipped or too afraid to do themselves, and while he knew the townspeople were warming up to him somewhat, that didn't change the amount of work he'd had to put in to get to this point. He knew that all it would take was one mistake, and his standing in the village would be immediately thrown into question once again. He was expendable. He was a tool.
He would not let the boy suffer the same way he had.
"Well, the boy is not of Jubilife, and his clothing doesn't attribute to him being of one of the Clans' either," Kamado continued after a moment. "Unless we can find someone willing to take him in, we may be forced to send him away once he has recovered."
Lucas's mouth dropped open. "What? You would…He's just a kid! And you would just kick him out like that."
"Of course not!" the Commander waved one hand dismissively, though he raised an eyebrow at the outburst. "Every effort would be made to find a family willing to take the boy in, but we can't force anyone to take him. Food, shelter, suitable clothing, and many other things would be needed to take care of a child. If we are unable to find someone willing to provide those things, he will have to be sent elsewhere. The Diamond and Pearl Clans may be able to take him in."
With that, the hand gripping Lucas's heart eased somewhat, only for him to be more conscious of the extra weight in his satchel. Six Poke Balls, clearly modern in make, sat tucked amongst the berries and herbs. Lucas had found them in one of the coat's inside pockets. There was little doubt they belonged to the boy they'd arrived with, and Lucas intended to return them once he woke up.
Unfortunately, while the Clan Leaders had been warming up to the Galaxy Team's usage of Poke Balls somewhat, the distrust of the capsules was still clearly there. It would be wrong for Lucas to keep them, but if he did return the balls and the boy was sent to live with one of the clans, there was no guarantee that he wouldn't be turned away by them as well.
But what was Lucas supposed to do about it?
"My apologies, sir." Lucas dipped his head. "I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions."
"Given the circumstances, I understand your stress." Kamado nodded. "In the future, you should refrain from making such assumptions. However, I do recognize you have been working hard since your arrival, and that you are worried for the boy's condition. As such, you are relieved of your duties for the rest of the day. Dismissed."
Lucas blinked. Did Kamado just give him a break? "Oh! Thank you, Commander."
Kamado nodded again, face stern as ever, and turned back to his desk. Lucas turned as well and quickly strode out the door, giving a brief greeting to the other Galaxy Team members as he made his way to the medical wing of the building. It still felt so weird to him to be a member of what he knew would eventually become an evil team trying to rip the world to pieces, but that wasn't the primary focus of his thoughts at the moment.
"How is he?" Lucas whispered to Pesselle as he slowly stepped into the room.
The nurse was kneeling next to one of the cots in the room. Lucas could see the boy's silver hair peeking out of the blankets piled on top of him as Pesselle tested his temperature with one hand. She turned her head to Lucas with a smile and stood up.
"He's fine, just asleep," she said just as softly, clasping her hands in front of her. "He seems to be rather cold though. It's not much of a surprise with the clothes you found him. A thin long sleeve shirt and shorts…" Pesselle shook her head. "It's no wonder the boy is freezing. He should warm up quickly though, and other than that he seems to be in perfect health. It's a good thing you found him when you did, before any wild Pokemon got to him."
Lucas raised his eyebrows. "Huh. Yeah, that's good."
"Yes, that's good," Pesselle nodded, though her eyes didn't remain focused on Lucas, instead drifting to elsewhere in the room. She pursed her lips slightly. "Hm. It appears Owen is trying to get out of bed again."
Following the direction she was looking, Lucas turned his head to see a young man in a Security Corps uniform with one leg halfway off his cot, the other wrapped tightly in bandages, staring at Pesselle like a Deerling in headlights.
"If you want, I could stay here with him while you take care of your other patients?" Lucas told the nurse, sparing a glance at the boy under the covers.
"That would be great, if you wouldn't mind," Pesselle brightened.
Lucas felt a previously unknown tension release from his shoulders. "Yeah, no problem."
Pesselle smiled again and walked past Lucas to assist a Security Corps member on the other side of the room. As the nurse walked away, Lucas knelt by the cot just as Pesselle had moments ago and nudged one of the blankets away from the boy's face to get a better look.
Once again, Lucas's heart clenched seeing just how young the boy was as he watched the boy's steady breathing. He was absolutely tiny in comparison to the clothes Lucas found him in, and with cheeks rounded by baby fat that he likely wouldn't grow out of for another few years at least, the boy couldn't be much older than five or six. Seven at the most, but even that would be a stretch.
It really was astounding that someone so young had fallen through the rift. It seemed unlikely to Lucas that he had been sent by Arceus as well. The deity would not have done something so careless. Sure, Lucas was technically a child, but he was still well past the age of being able to leave home, have a job, and take care of himself if he so chose. Not to mention that dark energy that had surrounded the kid as he fell…it seemed familiar to Lucas, and not from his encounter with Arceus.
Almost in time with the thought, the soft smile on the boy's lips twisted slightly with a whimper of pain. Lucas leaned closer, eyebrows furrowing in concern. Pesselle had said the boy was healthy, but was he in pain anyway?
Not quite aware of what he was doing, Lucas lifted one of his hands and gently brushed them through the boy's soft silver hair, using his other hand to find the child's own cold hand from within the pile of blankets and give it a soft squeeze of reassurance. The gesture of comfort was an instinctive one that Lucas would often provide for his younger sister whenever she came to him after her own nightmares. She usually wouldn't go back to her own bed after that, instead preferring to stay curled up against Lucas's side the rest of the night.
Lucas closed his eyes as a pang of loss pierced through him. Of all the things he didn't have access to in Hisui, being unable to see his family was the one that hurt the most. He'd been spending more and more time away from home as he got older, but he had always known he could return home and see them again at any time. Now he didn't have that option and it hurt more than he would have expected it to.
With his eyes closed in reminiscence, Lucas didn't see when the boy began to glow.
Something was wrong. The cold and sense of wrongness had not left, even though the feeling of pressing and squeezing had. Emmet blinked his eyes open to see nothing but a dark void. He felt something intangible stab through his heart and he felt himself begin to tear up. It hadn't worked. He had been so close, and it hadn't worked. He was still here, he was still in…
Still in…
He couldn't remember.
He couldn't remember anything.
And that was the horrifying realization that unleashed the waterworks. Emmet curled in on himself with a sob. What was wrong with him? Why couldn't he remember? And why was he crying so easily? He hadn't cried this much since…he didn't know. Something wasn't right, but he couldn't remember what right was supposed to be! His head hurt, his body hurt, and he felt like something had been ripped away from him but he couldn't remember what and-
"Oh, little one," a voice echoed throughout the void. "What hast the Renegade done to thee?"
Emmet sniffled and glanced behind him. Nothing was there. He felt himself begin to tear up again as he wrapped his arms more tightly around himself in a mock imitation of a hug.
"I cannot fully reverse the alterations placed upon thee at this time," the voice continued. "To do so would further serve to destabilize this world due to their origin. However, there is something I can do to aid thee in thy plight."
The light started small. A faint speck of gold and white that appeared in front of Emmet's face. His eyes widened in wonder as the speck grew and grew, miraculously not hurting his eyes at all as it filled the void, striking the cold and the hurt from his body. In its place, a pleasant warmth settled in and around his heart. For the first time in what felt like an eternity, Emmet felt…safe.
"When thou wakest, thou wilt find thyself in an unfamiliar place," the voice said softly. "But do not fear. Mine Chosen shall be there. He will help thee on thy quest."
"My quest?" Emmet whispered, though he quickly flinched at the sound. Was that his voice? Was it supposed to sound like that? It seemed too high. It felt wrong, just like everything else.
"Yes. If thou wilt follow my Chosen, thou shalt find what thy heart seekest. Thou shalt find thy brother."
Emmet's heart clenched at the voice's words. His brother. He had a brother…Ingo! Emmet's eyes widened in realization. He had been looking for Ingo! His twin brother. His best friend and closest companion since the day the two of them had been born. Emmet felt more tears rise to his eyes. How could he forget about his own twin? What kind of brother was he if he could forget him so easily?
"Thou hast done no wrong, little one," the voice reassured. "The fault is not thine. Now go forth, and seek out what thou hast lost."
The golden light turned a brilliant white. A wave of bliss flowed through Emmet's mind as his eyes slipped shut. For a moment, there was a peaceful silence as he faded into unconsciousness once more.
Lucas opened his eyes at a series of dings from his Arc Phone, softer than the usual volume. He lifted his hand from the boy's hair, still gently gripping the boy's now-warm hand with the other, and fished the device out of his bag. His eyes widened. This situation was more serious than he'd thought. There was a message from Arceus on the screen.
This child has been cursed by the Renegade's power. If thou wisheth to break his curse, thou must help him find what he has lost before the completion of thine own quest.
Lucas felt his heart stutter as his eyes darted between the message on Arc Phone's screen and the boy sleeping on the cot, a soft expression of serene peace having replaced the pained smile from before. Despite the vague nature of the message, there was way more information Lucas knew what to do with. The boy was cursed? That was a thing that could happen? What kind of curse? And cursed by what? The term Renegade sounded familiar, but Lucas couldn't quite remember where he knew it from…
As for the curse itself, Lucas only had so much to go off of to guess what it was. The boy had fallen from the rift, so maybe that had something to do with it? And he was from Lucas's time based on his clothes…
Lucas's eyes widened. The clothes. The clothes had been much too big for a child of the boy's size. The sleeves of the coat had reached well past the boy's hands and the belt and done absolutely nothing to keep the white dress pants on the boy's body. Thank goodness he had boxers on underneath to act as shorts.
But what if they weren't always too big? His gaze fell back on the boy on the bed. It shouldn't be possible. The boy looked like a child. Arceus had called him a child. But what if before falling through the rift, he hadn't been a child?
While the boy's hand was no longer cold, Lucas felt a chill run down his spine. Everything told Lucas that it shouldn't be possible. People don't just turn back into kids. But there were plenty of things that shouldn't have been possible that had happened. Heck, Lucas himself had been sent back in time by the Creator of the entire world. There was a rift in space-time over Hisui… and maybe that was how the boy had aged backwards. Maybe when he was sent back in time, time went back for his body as well.
But did he know? What if the boy had mentally regressed as well. Would he act like a child or would he keep his adult maturity in spite of his smaller form? Would he know that he had been an adult before falling from the Rift? Or would he only remember his childhood? Either option was equally horrible. Either he was a grown adult stuck in the body of a child or someone who had the majority of his life torn away from him. And if the second option was the case, would it even be right to tell him? To let him know what he lost?
"'Hmm? Wha…"
Lucas snapped out of his thoughts at the quiet mumble, turning his attention back to the boy who was now gripping his hand right back as he squirmed slightly under the pile of blankets. With a disgruntled huff, the boy sat up, pushing aside the layers of cloth that formerly covered his upper body. With one small hand, he rubbed at his eyes as they slowly blinked open. Then he turned to Lucas and his eyes widened fully, their bright silver staring directly into Lucas's own dark gray.
A bit taken aback by the intensity of the boy's gaze, Lucas cleared his throat. "Um, hello. My name is Lucas. How are you feeling?"
"I am Emmet," the boy said with a smile, though it did nothing to take away from the seriousness of his voice. "And I need to find my brother as soon as possible."
AN:
Lucas: I've only had Emmet for an hour and a half but if anything happened to him I'd kill everyone in this room and then myself.
As for Emmet, well. You got a taste of how he's dealing with things in this chapter, but you'll see more of how he's doing in the next :)
If you want to talk to me about this AU or honestly anything submas or Pokemon in general, I have Guilded server! (Guilded is like Discord but has some fancy features I like) Make sure to pick up the Pokemon and Fic Reader roles to have access to those parts of the server :D Guilded .gg/i/Ewb0JYjp (remove the space)
As always, reviews are appreciated. Hope you have a nice day/night :D
