Author's Note: I've seen a good number of fics where immortal Volo finds Emmet after Ingo's disappearance and a few where he finds them after Ingo's return but never one where they meet before Ingo's disappearance. Very entertained by the thought of them being friends and I wanted to try a different writing style than I normally go. My last multi chapter was an 80K word plot-heavy monster so for this one I wanted to have fun and write a few scenes that follow a loose plot but it turned into a fat 50K that's somehow three fics in one.

I didn't realize until I was almost finished writing this but this fic is heavily inspired by a number of things. The Volo in this fic was crafted with the Volo from Unova Re-Education (fic on ao3) in mind. The general vibe of the first half of the fic is based on New Girl (the TV show). It is also basically a combination of two fics I outlined and did not write yet. One is titled Rei, Ingo, And Their 106 Unhappy Roommates (explores Spiritomb's wisps) and the other is called Anachronism (PLA immortality stuff where Rye is Riley). I'll add something here if and when I write them.

Summer 2010

Volo was fairly certain he'd never seen a train before the turn of the century. There was just something about them that made them utterly unforgettable. The convenience of being able to travel long distances without walking or finding a Pokémon to ride was one thing but it was so much more than that. They were a sign of changing times. They were a reflection of human innovation. They were the most exciting thing Volo had seen in a long time.

Yet, the first time he found himself at Goldenrod Station, Volo was flooded with familiarity. He couldn't fathom why. He'd never boarded one of these wondrous machines before. He fell over the first time he did and that pretty much confirmed it. They sparked the ghosts of memories though and that was enough reason for Volo to ride the maglev all over Johto. And, when the time felt right, buy a plane ticket to Unova. Magnet trains were cool but Volo still wanted to see a subway.

"Choose your next destination," Volo murmured aloud, elated by the buzzing in the back of his mind as he read those words off the pamphlet. They were familiar. He was getting somewhere. More than he ever did in Johto. He was pretty sure he'd never been to Unova though, and if he had it was definitely long before the station was built. Station…

"Tomb," Spiritomb told him, bumping his hand. Volo snapped out of his thoughts and opened up the map to start looking over the map. Unova was bigger than Johto and far more urban. He was going to need a map if he was going to get anywhere here.

The map was so confusing and there were so many pages too. Axew Line? Volo had no idea what an Axew was. Purrloin Line? Liepard Line? He knew Purrlion evolved into Liepard so he expected those lines to run opposite from each other but they weren't even remotely similar. There were a bunch of Simi-somethings and Pan-things and everytime Volo flipped to one of their pages, they got all jumbled up in his head. There was a system here but not a very good one. Volo was half-tempted to just hop on the next train and see where it'd take him.

"Tomb!" Spiritomb bellowed and Volo looked up from his map only to find Spiritomb wasn't there. They must've wandered off. That wasn't too alarming. Spiritomb probably just got bored. They weren't native here though and Volo didn't want to risk anything when it came to Spiritomb.

"Spiritomb?" Volo called, looking around. Had they slipped into the shadows or had they just wandered off? Both were equally real possibilities.

"Spiritomb!" Spiritomb bellowed again and Volo hurried to follow his voice. Thankfully, he didn't sound to be that far. Unfortunately, he was pretty sure he heard the voice come from behind the employees-only door.

"Spiritomb?" Volo hissed, trying to be quiet as he stuck his head into the door. He hoped it'd be empty but instead he found himself face to face with -

"Come on, Warden Ingo," Volo said, tone light and fond even if his words were impatient. "We don't have all day."

"Apologies!" Warden Ingo boomed, straightening as he looked up from Volo's wares. "You have many fine Thunderstones! Magneton is just having a hard time deciding which one he'd like to evolve with."

Volo blinked at him. He opened his mouth to tell him he didn't need a Thunderstone. He practically lived on Mount Coronet, afterall. The magnetic fields had been enough to evolve his Probopass. Magneton would be fine without a Thunderstone. Then, he closed his mouth and decided otherwise. Ingo was an odd one. If he was letting his Magneton pick his own Thunderstone, knowing Magneton didn't need one probably wouldn't deter him.

"If you're feeling sentimental," Volo told him, eyes skimming the collection for a particular stone, "Warden Lian gave traded me this one for-"

"We'll take it!" Ingo interrupted, passing over a Razor Claw and taking the Thunderstone off Volo's hands. He turned to his Pokémon and -

"Is this your Spiritomb, sir?" a deep voice asked just a little too loud for the enclosed space. It was an office room, Volo abruptly realized. Volo tried to shake himself out of the memory and focus on the people before him. Zoning out like that probably wasn't a very good image for him.

"Yes. Sorry. They- I don't know what they were doing. Sorry."

Volo was met with a bright smile. It was friendly and genuine but something about it made Volo's mind scream wrong. "Don't worry, sir. We like Pokémon verrrry much! Yup! Spiritomb is a verrrry cool Pokémon."

"I would recommend keeping a closer eye on your Pokémon at the station though," another man said and Volo swore it was the man from his memory. He stood straighter, his face was younger, and he wore a green uniform instead of the black coat burned into Volo's mind but his voice was the same and he looked just like him. Then again, the guy next to him looked just like him too, only smiling. This was the guy though. "It is not uncommon for wandering Pokémon to board a car without their trainer and end up at an unwanted destination."

"I- right." Volo shook his head. The familiarity rang in his bones but he was in the middle of a conversation, one getting Spiritomb out of trouble to boot. He needed to focus on the present. "Sorry again. I was having a hard time reading the schedule and I guess he just slipped away."

"The schedule is verrrry hard to read," the smiling man agreed sympathetically. "One of the other Depot Agents proposed a redesign last week but the Station Master rejected it. Idiot."

"Emmet!" the frowning man admonished.

"I am Emmet. And you know it's true, Ingo!"

"Yes but not in front of the customer," Ingo responded, crossing his arms. "We haven't been here long enough to get away with that sort of thing."

Emmet sighed dramatically and turned back to Volo. "My apologies. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the schedule. Come, follow me to the terminal and I will assist you."

His voice was completely and utterly flat yet absolutely dripping in sarcasm. Volo loved it. "Thank you. Really. Come on, Spiritomb. You know how to read. You're not supposed to be back here."

"Spiritomb," Spiritomb complained and opened his mouth to give Ingo a big lick upside the head, surprising Volo more than Ingo. Before either of them could react, Spiritomb turned and licked Emmet for good measure. "Tomb!"

"Spiritomb!" Volo cried out and was half tempted to pull out his Pokéball right then and there. "You can't just lick random people."

"It's fine," Ingo told him and it really wasn't. A lick from a Ghost-type was almost always more than just a lick.

"I̛NG͝O̴!" Spiritomb said as they stepped out of the office. "D̷͡I̛F̷͟͏F͜E͘Ŗ̛ENT͠.̷͢͠ ̛͜Ǹ͝O̷ ̕L̀O͏̶͡S͡E͟ ̨͡A͏G̷͘͏A͜͝I͞͡N̢̢."

"I don't know what that means," Volo told them, frown tugging at his lips. Really, he had no idea what that could possibly mean. Something to do with the memories dancing just under the surface of Volo's consciousness, probably. Spiritomb could always remember what Volo couldn't. "Leave the poor Depot Agents alone though."

Emmet snickered. "Are you trying to take him to Celestial Tower?"

"Where?" Volo's attention was back on the two men. Twins, he assumed. Crazy coincidence they were working together. "Sorry. I'm new to Unova. I've never heard of a Celestial Tower."

"Oh. Um, Celestial Tower is a burial ground for Pokémon. A lot of people take their Ghost-types there to feed on the souls there instead of people. Like Ingo's Chandelure!"

"Oh. We have one of those in Sinnoh. We call it the Lost Tower."

"You're from Sinnoh?" Ingo asked and Volo nodded. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been there but he knew he'd been there somewhat recently. It was a good enough answer as any. "What brings you to Unova?"

"The Gear Station, actually," Volo told them as they finally reached the terminal. "I just came from Johto, see. We don't have any trains in Sinnoh-"

"No trains?" Emmet gasped and Volo sensed this time it wasn't sarcastic. "The horror."

"-and I really loved the magnet train so I wanted to see what Unova had to offer. I'm not really trying to get anywhere," Volo explained. "I just want to see the train system. Do you have a line you'd recommend?"

"Yes. The Patrat Line will take you to the airport. There, you can buy a ticket to Galar and look at some good trains."

"Emmet!"

"I am Emmet! I am right!"

Volo tried and failed to hide a snicker. "Why stay in Unova then? Why not go work in Galar?"

Come with me, he wanted to say. Let's go to Galar. We'll show each other the world and all the trains it has to offer. He didn't though. He just met these people. Even if he remembered one of them, he barely knew who they were. Spiritomb had marked them though… It meant something if he did it right off the bat. Volo wanted to see Ingo and Emmet again.

Ingo shook his head at the question. "We're starting class at Nimbasa University in the fall. We're hoping to become engineers and improve Unova's public transit system. I know it's kind of naive to think the two of can-"

"Stop that," Emmet told him, elbowing Ingo gently. "I am Emmet. You are Ingo. We are verrrry determined. We can do whatever we put our minds to."

"I have full faith in you two," Volo told them and he meant it. Emmet beamed at him and Volo let himself get immersed in the moment. Ingo's reaction wasn't as genuine but Volo didn't mind. He probably thought he was just saying things to be nice and Volo didn't blame him.

"If you want to get a good look at Unova's subway system, I would recommend the Unfeasent Line," Ingo told him, pointing to the map Volo forgot he had open. "Ironically, it's the one that spends the most time underground."

"They're all underground! He should try the Foongus Line. It goes right through the Sawsbuck fields!"

"I'm sure there are fields in Johto," Ingo told Emmet and he was right. Volo had stared at so many Miltank pastures that he could probably name every farm in Johto. Unova would be a nice change of scenery, he hoped. "It doesn't go underground though."

"He'll see plenty of underground while he's here. He should start with the best one!"

"I'm probably going to ride every line eventually. I bought the year pass at the Pokémon Center before I came here," Volo told them before a real argument could break out. "I'm probably going to get lost again whenever I hit the end of the line so if you want…"

Volo trailed off, unsure what to think of the sudden manic look that appeared in Ingo's eyes and all across Emmet's face. Ingo had a pen in hand in a heartbeat, already scribbling something on Volo's train schedule. "So you're probably going to want to start going across-"

"Wait! Should he loop around Nimbasa or go straight into a cross-region trip?"

"Good point. If he takes shorter trips shifting forward, he can familiarize with each city before moving on but if he starts with a longer ride-"

"-he could get a real feel for the whole subway. The full loop might be a bit much though. He could just start with-"

"-a half loop to Opelucid? Then he's totally missing-"

"-Castelia and the Skyarrow Bridge. Oh, but he'd have to walk there so maybe save that for the end."

Ingo and Emmet were completely ignoring Volo by this point, fully lost in their planning, and Volo couldn't complain. He wasn't doing anything but this was gold. He thought he liked trains but these two were a whole different level. He had to see them again. He didn't even have to look at Spiritomb to know he felt the same.

Volo thought he knew trains by now but Ingo and Emmet had him totally outclassed. Their schedule for him was perfect. The first day of his train-filled travels were more than Volo could ask for, if only he could concentrate on the subway and the sights outside. He had other things on his mind.

"Anabel," Volo said aloud when his clumsy fingers were finally able to punch the numbers into his flip phone, "I think I want to go to college."

Silence came from the other end.

"Anabel?"

"Sorry," came the voice from the other end of the line. "Can you repeat that? I thought you said you wanted to go to college."

Volo tried to ignore the disappointment welling up inside him. Maybe he shouldn't have called but it was too late and he was doubling down. "What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing! Just, college isn't really- Actually, where are you? I'll just Teleport to you."

"You don't need to have Alakazam Tele-"

"I'm Teleporting to you, Volo. What's your twenty?"

Where was he? He probably should've been paying more attention. "Um, Driftveil."

"Driftveil?"

"It's in-"

"Unova. I know. Are you in the Pokémon Center?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, I'll be there in a minute."

Volo started counting the seconds. Anabel's Alakazam was quite skilled. He didn't doubt it would actually take a minute. Before he knew it, Psychic powers were tugging on the door and a poised, purple-haired woman in a black uniform was barging into the room.

"Spiritomb!" Spiritomb cried, happy to see her. Anabel blinked out of whatever fury she was in and stopped to greet him, her Alakzam grunting in jealousy at her affections.

"Hey, Spiritomb," Anabel greeted, rubbing a hand over their keystone. "You on my side or his?"

"Tomb!"

"There are no sides. Why are there sides?" Volo complained, sitting up in the stiff Pokémon Center bed. It was always a hit or a miss with the mattresses at these places, usually a miss. This one definitely was. "Seriously, you didn't have to come all the way here."

"I'm a Psychic-type trainer. Distance is no trouble," Anabel told him good naturedly, taking the chair at the desk. She paused for a moment, shifting in the seat with a look on his face. Volo figured she was having the same problem he was having with the mattress. Nothing here was all that comfortable. She decided to ignore it though and turn her attention back to Volo. "This really seems like something we should talk about in person. And with Looker and Nanu."

"You're my Interpol representative, not them."

"That's not what I meant and you know it."

Volo ignored her. "You don't think me going to college is a good idea?"

"It's not a bad idea. It just seems kind of…" She trailed off, taking a moment to collect her thoughts. "You spent the last few years in Johto and now out of nowhere you're moving to Unova? I thought you liked your life in Johto."

"I did. I thought it was time to change."

"You don't just 'change,' Volo. You lived in Alola for over six decades."

He had? He didn't remember. Volo shook the thought away. "And I left."

"Only because-" Anabel cut her off, forcing herself to calm down. "Did something happen in Johto? I thought you had an apprenticeship with that Pokéball guy."

"Kurt." Volo paused, pointedly not looking at Spiritomb. "He died."

"Oh, Volo…"

"It's fine." It was. It really was. "He became a wisp. He's in Spiritomb. He even talked to me today."

Volo had been too lost in thought wondering what to say to Anabel to appreciate the train ride but Spiritomb wasn't burdened by such problems. They'd explored every inch of the train and when he was done, Kurt shoved his way to the front of the collective to voice his thoughts. He thought Emmet was right. They should've gone to Galar. Volo thought he might just be saying that to get a laugh out of Volo but it worked.

"You can't just start a new life every time something bad happens, Volo," Anabel told him softly and Volo really wished he hadn't called her. She knew him better than he knew her and that was pretty annoying right now. He had to though. She was with Interpol and he needed Interpol's resources if he was going to pull this off.

"That's not entirely why I came to Unova," Volo told her, pushing thoughts of Johto away and instead focusing on the two men he met earlier today. "I met someone from my past today."

"What? Like- no, wait. There's no like. I have nothing. What?"

That was exactly how Volo felt. "The magnet train in Johto felt sort of familiar but I got a full memory at the Gear Station today. I don't know how long ago it was from but I saw someone I'd met before. Spiritomb recognized him too."

"I̛NG͝O̴!" Spiritomb cried at the sound of his name. "D̷͡I̛F̷͟͏F͜E͘Ŗ̛ENT͠!"

"Yeah. That." Volo still had no clue what Spiritomb meant but his support was fueling the roll he was on. "He's not immortal though, at least I don't think. He has a twin brother. They're working as Depot Agents at the Gear Station and they're starting college at Nimbasa University in the fall."

"And you want to join them?"

Volo nodded, trying not to look too nervous. He couldn't find the words to express how badly he wanted this. "I know Alakazam could just root around in my head and pull out the memories but-"

"That would be bad."

"Right. This guy feels important though. I want to know why. And- and it's not just me. Spiritomb already imprinted on both of them so it'd be kind of cruel to just leave them hanging."

"F͝RI͞E͞ND͢!"

"Right." Really, Volo didn't know what Spiritomb was on. Had they been friends with Ingo before? Or did they want to be friends with him? Volo knew Spiritomb could be clearer if they wanted to. Why did they have to be so vague? "I haven't seen that much of the modern world either though. Most of the friends I've had in the past century are, well, old."

"You have me!" Anabel countered and Volo knew she was making fun but it wasn't really helping. She seemed to sense that though and sobered up. "You do have a point though. College would be a good chance to meet other people your age. Or, uh, your non-immortal age, whatever that is. Figure stuff out for yourself."

"Right," Volo said, a bit relieved. "Ever since Interpol found me, I've been hanging out with Nanu's family. Kurt was- Well, Kurt doesn't count. Kurt knew. I think I want to try being on my own for a bit."

"I can respect that," Anabel told him and Volo felt a weight lifted off him. "What do you need from Interpol?"

"Um, everything?" Volo had no idea how to enroll in college. Anabel probably didn't either, unfortunately. She could find him someone who did though. "And, um, I could use a reset."

"You don't need a reset," Anabel responded without missing a beat. "It's been seven years since your last one. And you don't want to start college without any memories."

"Memory maintenance then," Volo amended, glancing at Alakazam. "Just tell me what I need to remember and have Alakazam comb out the rest. You know, to prevent any problems later on."

"That's reasonable," Anabel agreed. "Are you ready?"

"What? Now?"

"I'm here aren't I?"

Volo sat up a bit straighter. "Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I'm ready."

"Good," Anabel said as Alakazam moved forward, coming closer and closer until his spoon was nearly touching Volo's head. "Your name is Volo Ginko. You were found by an Interpol team in the Ransei region in the year 1940. You were taken by an Alolan family and worked with Interpol until your last memory reset in 2003."

Volo let Anabel's voice and the details of the past seventy years of his life wash over him, hardly aware of Alakzam's power rooting through his mind as relaxation seized his body. Forgetting, as much as it later plagued him, was always such bliss.

Fall 2010

Volo was nervous. So nervous he let his newly-caught Sewaddle ride on his shoulder. The school told him he couldn't keep Spiritomb out of their ball all day on campus. How rude of them. Spiritomb wasn't that scary.

It was the first day of class. Or, well, the second day of class but Volo's first day of this class. HIS017: Introduction to Railways was only on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Volo already had his first day of running all over campus trying to read the university map on his tiny cross-transceiver screen. Seriously, what was wrong with print out maps? Volo still vaguely recalled the first time he held one. What a game changer that was. Digital maps were so hard to use.

Volo knew he was only getting caught up on his annoying new xtrans because he needed a distraction before he sweat through his hoodie from sheer anxiety. He'd signed up for this class hoping Ingo and Emmet would too. It was kind of a shot in the dark. Volo was pretty sure Ingo and Emmet said they were studying engineering but Volo was a history major and this was the only train-related class that was even remotely in his wheelhouse. He supposed he could've tried something more techy but Volo had the feeling that may not be his strong suit. But even if he had, there were so many students here that there was no way Volo would run into-

"Hey! You're the train guy!"

There was suddenly someone sitting in the seat next to him, startling Volo out of his thoughts. He turned and was met with white. "Emmet?"

"Hey! You got it in one!" Emmet cheered, ignoring his brother's admonishments for sitting down next to someone without asking first. "We didn't even need to explain our color code!"

Color code? Volo glanced behind him on instinct and came face to face with Ingo's frowning mug. He was wearing a black button down in contrast to Emmet's white one. Something about that felt right. "Black and white. Good system."

Emmet beamed and Ingo took over the conversation. "My apologies on behalf of my brother. He can be quite forward. We understand if you don't want to talk to two people you-"

"No!" Volo practically shouted, nearly knocking Sewaddle off his shoulder. He cleared his throat and quickly tried to compose himself. "Sorry. I mean, I don't know anyone here. I'm really glad I ran into you two."

"Verrrrry luck," Emmet agreed as Ingo relaxed and sat down next to him. "Hey, are you doing humanities by chance? Ingo and I know a lot about trains but we're more stem people. Feeling kind of nervous."

"I think Emmet is asking if you would be interested in exchanging contact information," Ingo told him before Emmet could get any further, "so we could form a study group later."

"Nope! Fully trying to adopt him into our friend group," Emmet said, blowing right past Ingo's attempts to be subtle. "He likes trains and Pokémon! Look, he's got a Sewaddle! The only thing that would make him better would be if he was good at the things we're not!"

"We don't even know his name!"

Volo realized he'd never introduced himself. "I'm Volo. Volo Ginko. And yeah, I'd like to be friends. Do you have cross-transceivers? I just learned how to add contacts to them."