Emmet knew a Thunder Wave when he saw it. Elesa did too and she reacted to it on instinct. She moved mere moments faster than Emmet but those moments were priceless. Her twin Emolga were on the field in an instant, skimming the ground to pick up the electricity before it could hit their intended targets.

Humans. Magnezone and Probopass had intended to hit humans. Ingo's Pokémon, specifically, had attacked humans. Emmet couldn't wrap his mind around it and he didn't have the chance to try. There were still people in and out of the subway, completely disregarding the safety checks Emmet painstakingly tried so hard to enforce, and now there was a haze of panic over them. They got what was coming to them, Emmet thought, but they were still in the Gear Station and it was Emmet's duty to protect them.

"Eelektross!" Emmet sent out his ace, uncertain if someone else would be a better matchup here. "Get me out here!"

Eelekross offered both Emmet and Elesa a hand and lifted them off their feet with just enough force to get them past the wall of reporters and out of the train. Behind them, Emmet knew Drayden was protecting Rei and trying to calm the reporters. That left the battle to Emmet and Elesa.

Probopass grunted, sounding frustrated. He glanced back at the direction he'd come from, the direction Machamp was running off with Ingo, and looked conflicted. He wanted to go after his trainer but he'd been pulled into a battle before he could escape. Or at least Emmet thought it was a battle. He hoped it wasn't.

"Why are you attacking them?" Elesa asked but Magnezone merely buzzed angrily in response. Its magnets were whirring as it prepared an attack. Emmet couldn't tell what it was. Recognizing Electric moves was Elesa's job though. "Zap Canon incoming!"

Zap Canon? Emmet didn't see that much. "Eelektross! Hit it before it can fire!"

The instructions weren't all that specific or probably helpful but Eelektross knew what Emmet wanted. He snaked forward and smacked Magnezone over the head with one paw, throwing the other Pokémon off and forcing it to cancel the attack or risk hitting its teammate. Ingo had taught his Pokémon that in his absence, it seemed. Emmet was only a little salty.

"Emolga, get their Pokéballs!" Elesa ordered and Emmet realized she was right. Machamp had been the one to throw the Pokéballs. He hadn't retrieved them, or maybe he didn't know how. Machamp was no trainer and there were now two Pokéballs loose on the ground. They didn't need to knock out Ingo's Pokémon to win.

Elesa's Emolga's Motor Drive had already been activated so Emmet knew he didn't need to buy them much time. "Discharge! Be sure to get them both. Crunch on Magnezone when you can!"

Eelektross followed his orders perfectly and the field was soon lit up with yellow power. Probopass and Magnezone made noises as they were hit but seemed largely unbothered, especially Magnezone. Still, it gave Eelektross to get another hit in and for the Emolga twins to do what they needed to do. "Emol!"

A wooden Pokéball was dropped into Emmet's hand and he knew what to do with it immediately. "Magnezone, return! Or Probopass! Whoever goes in this one!"

"Um, yeah! Get back in your ball!" Elesa echoed as she activated the other Pokéball. Twin beams of light shot across the field, hitting the Pokémon, and recalled the pair to their Pokéballs. Emmet released a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding but he knew the real battle hadn't finished. Elesa straightened her back and glanced over at Emmet. He knew she was thinking the same thing. "Is everyone okay?"

"I am Emmet. I am fine."

"The Pokémon attacked us!" one of the reporters cried out. Emmet was not empathetic.

"You attacked us," Emmet pointed out even though it wasn't really the same. They all knew it.

"You're all fine. It was just a Thunder Wave and it didn't even hit you. You and you," Drayden barked, pointing at two of the reporters. "Make sure this one gets to the ER. We're leaving. Do not bother us again or you'll get more than a few scratches."

"Someone was hurt?" Emmet asked as Drayden ushered them out.

"One of them has these big scratches on their face. Says Ingo did it but they're too big for human hands. Too big for Zorua and too deep for Machamp," Drayden explained, sounding uninterested in getting into it. "I think Ingo did actually punch one of them but Machamp did hit several of them so I think it's hard to tell."

Emmet winced. He'd forgotten Machamp had done that. At least it was just Machamp's regular strength and not a move. That would be a lot worse. "I can't believe Ingo's Pokémon were about to attack people like that."

"I know it's unusual here in the future but Machamp and the rest are from Hisui. They don't know any better," Rei piped up as he hurried after the group up the stairs and out of the Gear Station. Emmet wanted to tell him he didn't have to defend Ingo's Pokémon but Rei was already moving on. "Can you give me Probopass and Magnezone's Pokéballs? I think they'll listen to me more than you guys."

"I don't know if letting them out is the best idea right now," Elesa started but Rei shook his head.

"Probopass is a living compass and Magnezone can fly. They'll be able to find Ingo, Machamp, and Tiny no matter where they went."

That was a good point. The battle hadn't been long but that Machamp was quick. Emmet had no idea where to find Ingo and he wasn't about to lose his brother just after finding him. Wordlessly, he passed the Pokéball over to Rei, Elesa doing the same, and watched as Rei released the pair.

"Hey guys," Rei greeted, taking a step forward. Emmet's instincts screamed to pull the boy away from them but the Pokémon seemed to preen under Rei's gaze. Rei grinned and rubbed both of them on the head. "I'm sure you two want to be getting back to Ingo. Think you can show us?"

Magnezone buzzed, sounding hesitant, and eyed Elesa and Emmet but Probopass was already off, using its magnetism to hover down the street with a sense of urgency. Emmet hadn't seen this particular Pokémon of Ingo's before and he was surprised by how determined he was to find his trainer. Probopass weren't particularly known for their loyalty. Then again, Probopass weren't all that common in Unova and it wasn't like Emmet spent much time around hikers. What did he know?

Probopass navigated the Nimbasa streets like a native, turning and weaving without even looking where it was going. Emmet was a bit nervous the Pokémon was going to run into the street but Magnezone hovered by its side, humming warnings when Probopass needed them. After a couple blocks, Emmet realized where they were leading them. "There is a park ahead."

They moved quicker now that they knew where they were going and spotted Machamp's hulking figure in the far end of the field. Emmet didn't see Ingo immediately but as they neared, Emmet realized Machamp was just sitting on him. Zorua too, just less visibly. It was an odd sight to see but it wasn't like Eelekross never wrapped around him or Elesa had Zebstrika lean on her after a particularly rough day. Pokémon were better than any weighted blanket.

Magnezone and Probopass made alarmed noises and broke away from the group to hurry to their trainer's side. Ingo raised his head and Emmet saw a flash of red in his eyes but when he blinked, they were back to their usual silver.

"What happened?" Ingo groaned as Machamp and Zorua got off him.

"I am Emmet. I think you were panicking. Machamp got you out of there." Emmet paused uncertain how to proceed other than to just spit it out. "He threw two of your Pokéballs and your Pokémon attacked the reporters."

Ingo sat up, expression shifting but not in the way Emmet expected. "Well done, Machamp."

Elesa spluttered. "No, not well done. Didn't you hear what Emmet said? Magnezone and Probopass attacked people!"

"Yes?" Ingo tilted his head, looking confused. "They're my only Pokémon explicitly trained for combat with humans."

Emmet felt his stomach twist. Ingo had trained his Pokémon to attack people?

"It's not what it sounds like!" Rei jumped in quickly. "Things were different in Hisui! Pokémon attack people and people attack Pokémon. You had to be ready for it to survive."

"But explicitly training Pokémon to fight people?"

"That…" Rei hesitated. "That is less common."

"Not people," Ingo amended. He turned to Rei. "Before you arrived in Hisui, the clans had some trouble with invaders from the North. They had- um, I don't know the word in Galarian. Those 'reporters' had them. The flashing metal? Probopass and Magnezone's magnetism is quite useful for redirecting the metal shards they shoot and disarming attackers so other people and Pokémon can move in."

"You mean guns?" Rei asked, voicing what Emmet could not. "There were guns in Hisui?"

"Not while you were there. We drove out any groups that did," Ingo told him waaay too calmly for Emmet's liking. "The clans were more welcoming to the Galaxy Team because they didn't have them, I think."

"The reporters didn't either," Elesa interjected. "Those were cameras."

Ingo stared at her. "Cameras?"

Rei said some word in Hisuian that Emmet couldn't understand. "There was one in Jubilife. Remember when we took photos?"

Ingo shook his head. "No, but I trust your memory more than mine."

That was verrry sad, in Emmet's opinion, but they had other priorities at the moment. "Your Pokémon can't attack people here!"

Ingo stared at him. "What?"

Drayden stepped forward and crouched down in front of Ingo. "Son, I want you to listen to me very closely. Is it okay if I touch you?"

Ingo hesitated. "Yes?"

"It's okay if you say no."

"Not my hands. Or face."

Drayden put a hand gently on Ingo's shoulder like he did before. This time, Ingo didn't flinch and Emmet considered that a win. "When you and Emmet were boys, you got into fights sometimes with other kids. You were usually the ones to throw the first punch and, well, you usually lost. Your teachers asked me to talk to you two a lot and I didn't always tell you what they wanted me to.

"In modern day, especially in Unova, fighting outside of regulated Pokémon battles is discouraged. Attacking other people is very frowned upon. Pokémon attacking people and people attacking Pokémon is practically taboo. It's not unheard of but people react pretty negatively to it and you could get into a lot of trouble if you get caught.

"Now, as your father, I'm not going to tell you not to fight back. You and Emmet got picked on a lot as kids. I'd never punish you for defending yourself and I'm not going to start now. I'm also not going to say you're never going to run into trouble again. I know you don't remember the paparazzi but as aggressive as they seem, they are not trying to attack you. What they did today wasn't okay and if you were taken to a court of law, your actions were justifiable. But, I need you to understand that there are consequences to actions like these.

"There are rules in Unova and if you don't follow them, there are people that will enforce them. If your Pokémon attack humans, they may be deemed a hazard to the public and someone may take them away from you. A lot of your Pokémon are fully evolved and a lot of people find them scary so they would be reviewed more harshly. Again, there are times where they may need to attack people to protect you or themselves but you need to be careful and know what might happen."

Ingo stared at Drayden for a long while before speaking. "People just take each other's Pokémon?"

"Not just anyone but yes. It's not common but it happens." Drayden retracted his hand to rest on one knee. "You're a Battle Facility Head so you get some leeway but we're not above the rules. You need to make sure your Pokémon know what they can and cannot do in the city."

Ingo nodded quickly and reached out to Probopass. Machamp scooted so he was sitting closer and Zorua clambered into Ingo's lap, whining unhappily. "You hear that? We'll learn what the rules are later. I want you four to make sure everyone else understands too, okay?"

Probopass, Magnezone, Machamp, and Zorua all nodded but none of them relaxed. Emmet felt the need to say something. "The rules are not unreasonable. We never had a problem with them before."

Ingo shook his head. "Modern humans catch Pokémon because they want to and keep them in their balls until they want them to battle. Hisui wasn't like that. The Pokémon on my team are on my team because we made sure we all survived. They're more than just my Pokémon. I'd never let someone take them from me."

Emmet wanted to say he understood that but he knew he really didn't. Ingo and Emmet had always been close with their Pokémon but they'd never lived a particularly dangerous life, not in the sense Ingo was describing. They'd lived in the city their whole life and Unova was relatively safe for traveling trainers on their Pokémon journey. Public transport hadn't been all that advanced back then but Unova didn't have aggressive swarms of Beedrill or Ariados and it lacked the criminal presence of other regions. They'd relied on their Pokémon to get them out of trouble but Emmet wouldn't call it survival. Ingo had just told them he and his Pokémon had fought armed soldiers. If that wasn't survival, Emmet didn't know what was.

"It doesn't happen often," Elesa told him gently. "Only if something really bad happens."

"I will show you the guide new trainers get. I think we have a copy at home," Emmet promised. "Speaking of which, are you ready to go?"

Ingo hesitated but nodded, getting to his feet quickly. He was still holding Zorua closely. Drayden's speech had frightened him, it seemed. "I don't have…"

"Oh!" Elesa dug the Pokéball out of her pocket and passed it back to Ingo, Emmet mirroring the action and doing the same. "I forgot I had that. You should probably recall your Pokémon."

Ingo seemed relieved to have his Pokéballs back. "Thank you. Are you guys okay with that?"

"Machamp!"

"Magnezone!"

"Pro…"

Machamp and Magnezone both nodded but Probopass looked concerned, making Ingo's frown deepen. "Can Probopass come with us? He wants to know where we live now. He's very afraid of getting lost."

"One Pokémon should be fine," Drayden told him. "It's normal to walk around with a Pokémon but a whole team might draw some attention."

"Zorua should be fine too," Elesa added. "Zorua are pretty common shoulder buddies and people don't mind friendlier Pokémon as much."

"Zorua? Friendly?" Rei looked and sounded shocked. "Everyone in Hisui's terrified of Zorua."

"Really? I mean, they're pranksters but nothing scary."

Rei began talking about the Hisuian variant of Zorua as they walked. Emmet took the lead, knowing the path home well. Drayden and Elesa hovered, listening intently to what Rei was saying. Ingo hung back a bit and Emmet didn't fail to notice how closely he was holding his Pokémon.

"We used to have an apartment," Emmet explained as he fumbled with his keys, "but I felt bad keeping half our teams cooped up in the apartment so I moved here so they had more space."

Actually, Haxorus had taken out a wall in her pacing within a couple weeks of Ingo's disappearance but his brother didn't need to know that. Emmet already felt guilty about leaving their home even though Ingo didn't remember it and he didn't want Ingo to start feeling guilty about his disappearance either.

Rei reacted to the house about how Emmet expected he would but Ingo gaped at the house like Magikarp that hopped out of the river. "This is bigger than any of the tents I've seen."

Emmet wanted to point out this wasn't a tent and that shouldn't be where Ingo's standard was but that felt mean so he withheld. "We needed space for the both of us, our teams, and if Elesa and her team came over. Now you have two teams and we have Rei now. I think it's an appropriate amount of space."

"Er, I have two teams now too," Rei said, pulling a handful of modern Pokéballs from his pocket. "I kind of took my Sinnoh team from Professor Rowan when we stopped by. Is that okay?"

Emmet nodded, not sure why it wouldn't be. "We have a yard and the house is reinforced for battling Pokémon. I have no issue with this. Would you like to let them out now?"

" It would be good for them to familiarize themselves with the house before they meet Emmet's team and Ingo's old team," Drayden agreed. Rei and Ingo nodded, both looking excited, before tossing out their Pokéballs. In hindsight, maybe they should've done this outside. Releasing so many Pokémon at once was verrry loud.

"This is our new home!" Ingo told his Pokémon, voice ringing out over all the Pokémon cries. "We're- Wyrdeer! Could you at least wait until- There is a yard. Kleavor, keep an eye on him. Basculegion, keep an eye on both of them. Tangrowth, that isn't-"

It was chaos. Rei, similarly, seemed to be struggling with his Pokémon. At least he'd only released his Hisui team, or at least Emmet thought. "The door Walrein! Watch the door!"

Elesa laughed into her hand, trying and failing not to look like she was relishing in this. "Introduce us?"

"You've met most of my Pokémon. This is Gliscor," Ingo introduced as the aforementioned Pokémon clambered up onto Ingo's back. He was far too large to be doing so but Ingo didn't seem upset about it. "He was the first Pokémon I caught in Hisui. This is Machamp. He likes picking me up and wrestling with people but if he tries to with you, you can say no and he'll listen. I don't know where Probopass is. I think he went upstairs. Magnezone is from this era too but it got confused by the appliances at the clangrounds so we may need to keep it out of the kitchen. Alakazam's over there. She's very good at keeping my other Pokémon in line. Tangrowth just went out the back door with the Alphas. They're not part of my main team so they're pretty self-sustaining. They just stick around because they like battling. And you've met Runt plenty!"

Emmet wanted to ask why Ingo kept calling him that. Neither brother was much one for nicknames but Rei was already talking. "Typhlosion is my starter. He's a Fire/Ghost-type, which is pretty different from modern Typhlosions I think. Walrein and Braviary went out back with Tangrowth and this is Lucario and Roserade. I have a Spiritomb too but they disappeared. They're around but they like spooking people so just keep an eye out."

"I am Emmet. It's nice to meet you all," Emmet said as Lucario and Typhlosion came sniffing over. "I guess I'll wait a bit before releasing my Pokémon. Would you like to see your rooms?"

"Rooms?" Rei blinked a couple times. "Plural?"

"Emmet set up a guest room for me when I came over. I imagine that's going to be your room," Elesa explained, the corners of her eyes curling up in amusement at Rei's shock. Emmet nodded in acknowledgement. That was what he planned, unless someone wanted to switch. "I've got an apartment not too far from here so I don't really need it."

"What about Drayden?" Rei asked, glancing at the man.

"I don't spend the night all that often," Drayden explained. "Tonight, I can just take the couch."

Ingo shook his head. "You can have my room tonight."

"Ingo, I can't-"

"I've slept in a cave with my Pokémon nearly every night for six years. It's going to take some time for us all to adjust. They'll want to be close tonight and I don't think we're all fitting in a bed."

Drayden blinked and dipped his head. "I'm giving you the pillows and comforter though."

"That is acceptable."

Emmet snorted at their antics and waved them upstairs where the bedrooms were. They did, in fact, find Probopass up there having some trouble with a door. He'd tried to turn a doorknob with his magnetic powers and accidentally ripped the whole thing off. Emmet sensed this was going to be happening a lot. Emmet didn't mind much. There was probably some sort of Probopass-friendly doorknobs out there he could buy. Oh the perks of having a Battle Facility Head-sized salary. He could spoil Pokémon rotten if he wanted to.

Showing Rei and Ingo around, while important, really was just killing time. Their Pokémon had dispersed plenty by the time they returned downstairs and Emmet thought they'd been given enough time. "Are you ready to remeet your old Pokémon?"

Ingo hesitated. "Chandelure?"

"Maybe we should wait on Chandelure," Emmet said as much as it pained him, "but the rest will be excited to see you."

Ingo nodded quickly and Emmet dipped into his pockets to draw out all the Pokéballs he had on him. He handed a few to Ingo before heading to a nearby drawer to grab the rest. Stupid League and their six Pokémon rule. It was a pain to have to leave some of them at home. At least Ingo's old Pokéballs didn't seem affected by the automatic locking mechanism. He could carry around both of his teams if he wanted to.

"Come on out everyone! Be gentle though!"

Crustle, Garbodor, Excadrill, Haxorus, Durant, Eelektross, Archeops, and Klinklang burst into the room. The reaction was instant.

"Haxorus!" Ingo cried out as the Dragon Pokémon scooped Ingo off his feet just like Machamp did. She hugged him close, crying out in joy, as the rest of his Pokémon got as close as they could. Crustle got under him, Garbodor and Excadrill reached out to grab the tattered corners of his coat, Eelektross coiled around him as tight as he could without crushing him, Archeops climbed up Haxorus's back to steal Ingo's hat in her beak, Durant climbed up onto Crustle to poke Ingo as if to check it was really him, and Klinklang circled the whole group with such energy that Emmet was afraid they'd start sparking.

Emmet was a bit worried Ingo would get overwhelmed by all the attention but he didn't. Ingo looked absolutely overjoyed to see all his and his brother's Pokémon, prattling off hellos and excited yells whenever he remembered something about one of them. Truly, it was amazing to see. Emmet only hoped his reunion with Chandelure went just as well.