Author's Note: This was the first draft of Masking's epilogue that I didn't end up using. Vibes didn't feel right but I'm posting anyway. It's titled Whoops, We Forgot To Tell Iris.

Iris loved her father. She really did. But Drayden was a terrible texter.

"'Have you seen Ingo's dad?'" Iris read aloud off her xtransceiver. "'Nevermind. I found him.' What does that even mean?"

Haxorus, ever-loyal, merely shrugged. He didn't understand Drayden any better than his trainer did. The difference was that he was okay with it. Iris was not.

"He texted me nine times in the past six months. Nine!" Iris exclaimed, pacing around the gym. It was a slow part of the season and she hadn't gotten any challenges in days. How rude of Drayden to dump the gym on her just when new trainers were beginning to get their starter Pokémon. It'd be months before she got to battle anyone worthwhile. "Like half of them were just saying he was going to be gone for awhile. And then he texts me that?"

"Haxorus," Haxorus responded evenly, unbothered. Iris huffed and plopped herself on the ground next to him.

"Honestly," Iris groaned, closing the messaging app on her xtrans. Really, she had no clue what Drayden was trying to tell her. "It's not that hard. I know he knows how to use voice to text. It's like he's trying to be vague."

Haxorus grunted but it was toneless. Iris knew he wasn't listening. That was fine. She wasn't really expecting him to have the answers.

"Is this a bad time?" a soft voice called out and Iris was on her feet in an instant. A challenger! Finally! It'd been so long.

"Nope!" Iris said, pulling herself off the ground to dart over to the challenger. She tried her best not to look overeager but she knew she was practically skipping. "Are you here for a gym battle?"

"I guess?" The guy didn't seem so sure but he kind of had that look about him. The Pokémon on his shoulder did too. It wasn't nervous, she knew, but its face looked perpetually worried, even if the rest of its body language said it was fine. It was an odd Pokémon, a little white thing that looked sort of like a Zorua. Iris had never seen anything like it. This was a foreign trainer probably, or so she hoped. A visitor from another region would put up a better fight than whatever ten year old was trying to evolve their Tepig right now. "My grandpa had a doctor's appointment and they said it was going to take awhile so my uncle said I should try challenging the gym."

Iris felt herself deflate a bit. That was disappointing. She tried not to let it deter her. A battle was still a battle. "You're from Opelucid?"

The boy shook his head. "Nimbasa. Or, well, Sinnoh. I got adopted a few months ago. My dad lives in Nimbasa but his uncle live here in Opelucid City. We're just visiting."

Nimbasa, huh? There were a lot of strong trainers in Nimbasa, hardened from challenging the Battle Subway on their daily commute. Hopefully this guy held up to her hopes. "Well, I'm Iris, the Opelucid City gym leader! It's been awhile since I've had a good battle. What do you say three on three?"

The boy nodded excitedly, his uncertain demeanor fading at the prospect of battle, and the pair moved to either end of the battlefield. Iris left Haxorus out of his Pokéball, making sure he stayed back. Haxorus would be a bit overkill. Still, Iris had the feeling this would be a good battle.

"Fraxure, let's go!"

"Come on out Lucario!"

A Lucario, huh? Iris was pretty sure those were hard to evolve but the training paid off. This challenger was stronger than she thought. Luckily, Fraxure wasn't half bad either. "Fraxure, Earthquake!"
"Get off the ground and counter with Aura Sphere!"

As the battle progressed, Iris realized she made the huge mistake of underestimating him. His Lucario took Fraxure out without taking too many hits, forcing Iris to up her game and send out Druddigon. Druddigon's Earthquake was a lot better than Fraxure's and Lucario was taken down, though Iris didn't feel all that good about it. The challenger sent Staraptor out next and that battle was a bit closer. Again, Iris felt kind of lucky her Druddigon knew a couple Rock-type moves. In the end, Staraptor prevailed but was still too tired to continue. Both were down to their last Pokémon.

"Haxorus, I'm going to let you have this one," Iris called, her starter perking up excitedly. It'd been awhile since he'd gotten the chance to battle but she thought this kid could handle it. And judging by the look on his face, he thought so too.

"Let's go Walrein!" the boy cried, hurling a Pokéball forward and releasing an absolute unit of a Walrein. Really, it was the biggest Walrein Iris had ever seen. Haxorus was going to have a hard time with this one.

The challenger didn't immediately go for the Ice Beam which gave Haxorus the chance to get off a couple Dragon Dances. It was rougher after that. Haxorus did better at a close range while Walrein was a master of not only distance but also taking hits. Iris didn't think they were winning this one but boy was it a battle to remember.

"Good job Walrein!" the boy cheered when Haxorus finally went down, running onto the battlefield to throw his arms around his partner. Walrein bellowed as the boy plastered himself onto his side. Really, it was a big Walrein. The kid had to jump to wrap his arms around his neck. "You're getting so many treats when we get home!"

"Congratulations!" Iris told him, falling into her gym leader persona for a moment. She didn't have a script like Emmet but she knew the routine that came after a battle. "You just won yourself a Legend Badge."

"Alright!" the boy exclaimed, accepting the badge before showing it off to Walrein and the little white Pokémon that clung to his shoulder for the whole battle. "Look, buddy! Your first badge!"

"Waaal!"

"This is your first gym battle?" Iris asked, surprised. The little white Zorua-like Pokémon didn't look all that trained but Lucario, Staraptor, and Walrein certainly were.

The boy shook his head. "I did a gym run in Sinnoh. Got on the Hall of Fame too. I haven't done any in Unova yet though. I'm thinking maybe I should."

"You totally should!" Iris agreed excitedly. "Just maybe mention you're not a new trainer next time, yeah? If I'd known you were all the Hall of Fame, I would've lead with Hydreigon instead of Fraxure."

"Whoops. Sorry?"

"It's fine. It was my fault for assuming you were a newbie," Iris responded, grinning teasingly. The boy scoffed at her which only made her grin harder. Iris knew she probably wouldn't get another challenger for a bit but she got the idea she could have some fun with this one.

It was a while since Rei had interacted with someone his own age, he realized. The last person had probably been Akari and that was somewhere between months and centuries ago. Tiny was fun but he was simultaneously practically a baby and also his uncle, not to mention a Pokémon. Iris was a wake up call that Rei needed more human friends it seemed.

Iris tagged along on his way to the Pokémon Center and, as exciting as it was to spend more time with his new potential-friend, Rei found himself getting nervous. He'd been telling the truth when he said his grandpa had a doctor's appointment in Opelucid. He just hadn't mentioned his grandpa was a Pokémon.

Rei spotted Alpha immediately upon entering the lobby. He was hard to miss with his thick, white mane and his massive size. Drayden had tried getting him to disguise himself as a Unovan Zoroark or even a human like Ziru had taken to recently but Alpha refused. He was a proud Pokémon, onlookers be damned. He wasn't casting an illusion over himself unless he had to. It made him easy to spot, at least.

"Gramps! Grunkle Drayden! Uncle Emmet! Dad!" Rei called, waving to his family as he entered the Pokémon Center. Gliscor and Eelektross were out too, clinging to Ingo and Emmet's backs respectfully. They both chirped in greeting. Lady Sneasler and Ziru were there too, Lady Sneasler looking as elegant as ever and Ziru hiding behind his human illusion. Lady Sneasler offered a wave. "I got the Legends badge!"

"Bravo!" Ingo congratulated, eyes glowing as Rei held up the badge to show him. It wasn't a huge accomplishment. Rei had won plenty of badges and had far greater achievements but something about winning a badge in Unova felt special and Ingo knew it too. "Which Pokémon did you use?"

"Lucario, Staraptor, and Walrein," Rei told him, glancing back at Iris. "Iris's Druddigon took out Staraptor all on its own! I was really surprised. I've had Staraptor for a long time."

"Bravo to you too!" Ingo said, turning to Iris. Iris was gaping at him but Ingo didn't seem to notice. "I understand that Staraptor took out nearly all of Aaron's Pokémon on his own. It's quite a feat your Druddigon was able to so easily!"

"What the fuck?" Iris shouted abruptly, catching Rei off guard. His mind scrambled, skimming over the conversion so far to see what could've prompted such a reaction, but her attention was quickly on Drayden and Emmet. "You didn't tell me Ingo was back?"

"You didn't tell Iris Ingo was back?" Emmet practically shouted, whipping around to face Drayden. That made so much more sense than all the possibilities Rei's brain was cooking up in those brief moments before anyone said anything. Drayden was a former gym leader and Ingo and Emmet were well-connected to the league. Of course the gym leaders would want to know Ingo was safe and healthy.

Drayden looked mildly panicked. "I thought I did. I thought I texted you?"

"You're a terrible texter," Iris responded, voice still loud but getting quieter. "This morning you texted me that you couldn't find Ingo's dad and I had no idea what that meant. I still don't."

Rei buried his face in his hands. This was embarrassing. Drayden was more mortified than embarrassed but it was still more than Rei could handle. At least Alpha seemed to be getting a good laugh out of it. He could use all the laughs he could get these days.

"I'm pretty sure I texted you," Drayden said weakly and no one was buying it. Iris held out a hand and Drayden handed over his xtrans without argument. Iris opened it up easily and began scrolling through Drayden's messages, completely ignoring the confused amnesiac trying to make sense of why exactly a stranger was yelling at his father. Rei was pretty sure he was the only one who noticed, Emmet leaning to read over Iris's shoulder, but he had no explanation to offer.

"'Hey Iris, we found Ingo. I'll text you the details as soon as I can,'" Iris read aloud. She lowered the xtrans and looked up at Drayden. "And then there's a wall of text."

"So I did text you!"

"No."

"No?"

Emmet looked up, grinning. "You wrong numbered."

"I texted the wrong number?"

Ingo blinked a couple times. "Oh. I remember this. I think you texted me by mistake."

At this point, Alpha was howling with laughter. Ziru and Tiny looked close to joining him. Eelektross and Gliscor looked exasperated. Oh how Rei longed to be a Pokémon free from second-hand embarrassment. He texted the guy who disappeared about his own disappearance. Rei couldn't fathom how he managed to do that. It was so funny it was painful.

"I've been on the subway. I've seen Emmet!" Iris exclaimed, turning her attention back on Ingo. "How haven't I seen you?"

"I haven't been on the subway…?"

"Ingo needs to get recertified," Emmet explained and that got even more of a reaction out of Iris.

"He's been back for how long and you're still depriving him of trains?"

"I'm not totally train deprived," Ingo told her and Rei really hoped he didn't start talking about the Ghost Train. As glad as Rei was that his dad found a way to pass his time while waiting to get his job at the subway back, Rei didn't love that he, a ghost, kept hopping on the vehicle that took ghosts to the place they didn't come back from. Even if Allister was nice and the Ghost Train was really cool. "I do wish I could go back to the subway though…"

"Zoro zoroark," Alpha spoke up. He hobbled forward, leaning heavily on his forepaws to swing his now only leg forward. "Zoroark!"

"Snea!" Lady Sneasler argued, shooting the larger Pokémon a glare.

"Ark!" Ziru barked and boy did that look weird behind an illusion. "Zoroark."

"We are not having the train argument in front of a stranger," Ingo told them and Rei suddenly realized something.

"Ingo had no idea who Iris is and Iris has no idea Ingo has no idea who she is," Rei said abruptly and bluntly, drawing everyone's eyes to him. Rei winced. There were definitely better ways to say that but blurting it out had always worked so far.

"What?"

"Ingo has amnesia," Rei explained, glancing between Drayden and Emmet in hopes that one of them would take over. They clearly knew Iris. Rei had only known Iris for maybe an hour. They'd be able to explain much better than him.

"Ingo, this is our sister Iris. She's also the Opelucid City gym leader. Drayden adopted her a couple years before you disappeared," Emmet explained, putting a hand on Ingo's shoulder. Ingo's eyes were wide, clearly surprised. Rei was too. Drayden texting the wrong number was one thing but completely failing to mention he had another kid? "Iris, you know Ingo. And you met Rei?"

Emmet was losing whatever ball he had rolling. Or losing momentum on the tracks or something. Rei hadn't really picked up the train metaphors all that well even if the twins used them all the time. "Ingo's my dad. He adopted me."

Iris's eyes were wide. "You disappear for seven years and come back with a kid?"

"And a dad. And a mom. And a brother. And a new team of Pokémon."

"Zoroark!"

"And whatever Ziru is," Emmet added, shooting the Zoroark a look Rei couldn't read. He could never tell if their jabs were in good fun or if they actually didn't like each other.

Iris looked dazed. "Sorry, what?"

"I'm also confused," Ingo jumped in, looking lost as ever. Lady Sneasler patted his head in what Rei could only assume was an attempt to be comforting but she nearly ended up knocking Ingo's cap off his head. Gliscor hooked his claw around it before it could fall.

"We should probably get out of the Pokémon Center," Drayden said slowly. The center wasn't busy but a couple people were staring. Rei wasn't sure if it was because of the giant, three-legged white Zoroark or the assembly of high-profile battlers. That was a question he asked himself near daily and he doubted he'd ever find an answer. Drayden was right though.

Iris turned and waved for everyone to follow with a commanding spirit the rest of the family utterly lacked. "We're going back to the gym. Come on. Walk and talk. I don't care if you don't remember me, Ingo. You've got some explaining to do."

Ingo made a noise that sounded like a mix between fond and amused. He started after her, Pokémon friends close behind. "Well, it all started when Arceus decided to send me to a region called Hisui…"

Author's Note: Alpha got his leg amputated if that wasn't clear.