March 17th, First Year
"I'm fine! Really!"
"Not according to the other scouts, you're not! Attacked by a Luxray and paralyzed too- you and that other fellow you came with. You need adequate rest, ma'am."
"Not as much as he does!"
Ingo rapped on the doorframe to the medical office once and entered. He had been there numerous times before during his less than fortunate journeys to Jubilife Village in the past. He was more than accustomed to the dreary room and the equipment within. The heavily chipped, desaturated pink-and-white wallpaper. The stuffiness. The creaking floorboards and echoing screech of metal carts and file cabinets. The walls and walls of long, cheap cotton screens that cordoned off each cot. It was the busiest Ingo had ever seen it.
A few smaller corpsmen scurried around him carrying bags of supplies and rope, giving him curious stares as they passed. Eventually, one of the other nurses noticed him, gave him a polite nod, and disappeared into the back. She came out with a clipboard and a pen. "Back again so soon? You certainly don't look injured."
"No, my engine is well-oiled, though thank you for asking. I am looking for my fellow warden, Lian."
The nurse nodded. "I figured as much. A bunch of Pearl Clan folks showed up over a week ago with the poor boy but none of them stuck around to keep an eye on him." She flipped over a page. "That lord of his certainly did a number on him, but he's young. Kids are robust. He'll heal up quickly. Won't be as good as new but he'll be okay."
"I see... May I speak with him?"
"You may, though I'm not sure whether he's awake right now. Follow me. I suppose we can check together, and you can send some sort of note to your leader or this boy's guardians." The nurse led him along the corridor of white curtains, little glimpses and snippets of conversations piping up here and there.
He passed a section where a young man lay, his body wrapped in bandages and covered in blankets. Messy blond hair spilled down his face and over his scrunched-up eyes. Two other passengers sat at the sides of the bed, their eyes filled with worry. Ingo averted his eyes to spare them some privacy.
"What happened to my pokémon?" came a tired voice. "That strange one? The one that keeps making me dizzy whenever it comes near me? I thought I had the pokéball on me?"
"The captain wants that thing to be contained. Not a big fan of ghost-types, her. Not a big fan myself, either. What kind of pokémon naturally looks like that?"
Ingo ducked behind the farthest screen and- as he had suspected- Warden Lian was unconscious, half-wrapped in bandages and far paler than Ingo had ever seen him before. There were numerous items at his bedside guarded carefully by a large Goomy. It blinked sleepily at him, a damp spot spreading from where it was sitting.
"Guess he's asleep," came the quiet murmurs of a nurse behind him. She shrugged, giving him an apologetic smile. "He might be awake in an hour or two. I'll tell him you plan on visiting if he wakes earlier than that. If he's not in the proper shape, I'll ask if there's anything he wants to pass on to you."
"Thank you very much," Ingo responded, trying his best to level out his volume. "Your skill with your trade is very much appreciated by myself and the Pearl Clan. You have our utmost gratitude."
"Oh please! There's no need to-"
"Tamiyo, who are you talking to?" came a sharp voice. Another lady, short and slim with dark hair, rounded a section of the curtain walls, an old clipboard in her arms. She pauses, giving Ingo a brief up-and-down before frowning. "We don't have any new patients, do we?"
The nurse before Ingo perked up. "Warden Ingo of the Pearl Clan is here," she replied curtly. "He's just visiting Warden Lian but the young man is asleep. Please, pay us no mind."
"Of course." Nurse Tamiyo had briefly left him to collect a document of information about Warden Lian's wounds, presumably for him to send to Leader Irida.
"Did somebody say 'Ingo'?" came the tired voice from before. "Could've sworn I've heard that name before. He's still here, isn't he?"
"He could very well be-" the nurse from behind the curtain gave him an exasperated glance before turning back to the owner of the voice- "but you'll just have to wait until you're all taken care of."
"Fine, fine. Do you think you could give this to him, then?"
Ingo looked back. He could spare a few moments if needed. He carefully made his way to the curtain. "Give me what?"
Then came a pause. A very long pause. Ingo was almost afraid that he had unconsciously let his volume take over before noticing the spooked look on the nurse's face. Then came the sound of a pokéball breaking open.
"Subway Master Ingo? He's here? I've been looking all over for him!"
Ingo did not recognize that voice. He did not recognize why the fervor behind it disturbed him so deeply and why the moniker of 'Subway Master' made his heart start pounding in his throat. A ghostly heat filled the screened-off section like a well-lit hearth and Ingo could have almost collapsed in the heat if not for his mind rapidly switching tracks. His legs pulled him toward the screen despite the chill in the room and he hastily pulled it back.
"I am so sorry, Warden Ingo." The nurse from before barred his way before he could continue in, a look of sheer horror and panic in her eyes as her eyelids began to droop. "The pokémon within got loose and it keeps putting people to sleep when it's out." Then, she yawned. "No need to come in-"
"Everything is fine," the voice corrected smoothly. "I want- I need to speak with him. Where is he? Where's Subway Master Ingo? Where is he?!" The voice escalated in volume until the nurses were covering their ears.
"Get back in your ball, please. You're scaring the nurses." came the tired voice, now agitated.
"You are not Ingo. Where is he?"
"I am Ingo." He pushed past the nurse and stared- stared at the patient in the bed beside the window who stared unblinkingly back at him with a look of recognition and confusion. Their bandaged arms were locked around the pitch-black metal frame of what looked to be a lamp. The 'lamp' then proceeded to whip around, two golden pools of light focusing on him.
"There you are!" the pokémon cried, struggling to free itself. "I've been looking for you! Searching for you! I thought I would never find you again! It's you! It's really you!"
Time seemed to stand still. The pinks and whites of the medical wing blurred and lost their color. All of the warmth in the room had quickly drained away. Ingo was left facing the lamp-pokémon and the patient wrangling them. The nurse that had attempted to keep him out stumbled to the window sill, Ingo failing to catch them as the nurse slid down the wall and slumped over and fell unconscious. Behind him, he heard something else fall. He turned, sighting Nurse Tamiyo also slumped onto the floor having dropped a roll of gauze.
Ingo's gaze was involuntarily snapped away from the fainted nurse and back to the cot where the aforementioned pokémon had been waiting. The creature shook itself free of the limb arms encircling its frame, its crystalline face seeming to stretch upwards as it swung side-to-side. It floated closer, its ethereal flames cloaking the room in a soothing violet light. The pokémon emitted a haunting hum, swaying and turning and dancing around him in a cacophony of bell-like laughter. It then wrapped its metallic arms around Into, squeezing him but not rough enough to actually hurt him.
"It's you! It's really you!" the voice sobbed. "I'm so happy to see you! We're finally back together again! I was so worried about you! But you're here! You're okay!" A thick static poured into Ingo's head, his mouth drying out and his hands tingling. The pokémon clung to Ingo even tighter. "Now we can go home!"
Then, without any warning, the pokémon was hoisted back by its frame. "Again with this? How many times are you going to put me to sleep so you can escape?"
A pair of arms restrained it from floating any closer again and the pokémon flailed about looking quite agitated. The young lady from before gave him a worried frown before forcing the glowing pokémon into a wooden pokéball; it immediately broke free and tried to float back over to Ingo with an accusing cry, surrounding itself in the same strange violet light. "Could you not? I'm trying to help you!" the young lady complained. She then apologetically eyed Ingo in turn. "Give me a hand here, will you? I think she's yours, but she's kinda putting everybody to sleep when she does… that."
"I- Chandelure?" Ingo rasped.
The lamp-pokémon gave Ingo a happy trill at the sound of its name and tried to float closer. The feeling of dizziness flooded Ingo's mind again. In an instant, the young lady was hauling the luring pokémon back with the assistance of an Eevee.
Ingo started back to attention. "Please mind yourself around the passengers, Chandelure." His supposed pokémon gave him a wilting look before reluctantly calming down, floating behind him as if hiding behind his back.
"So you do know this pokémon." The young lady kept one hand on the Eevee, moving to shift her blankets as she reclined back against the headrest. "I thought as much. You might want to sit down, by the way- you look paler than I did when I got here." She then turned, her eyes widening. "Nurse? Nurse, are you okay?" She moved to rise out of her cot, wincing. "Hold on. Let me just-"
"Stay in your cot." Nurse Tamiyo shakily got to her feet, using one of the nearby metal carts as leverage. "I'm fine. Don't injure yourself and for heaven's sake, stay in your cot." The older lady dusted off her apron and with a pensive look, moved to flee from the room. "I'll check on you in a moment."
Ingo was slow to begin the looming conversation. He was never one for small idle chat. "I suppose an explanation is in order," he began, taking a seat in a small wooden chair by the window. "Are you quite alright? My apologies if Chandelure has caused you any stress or disorder."
The young woman before him waved him off, reclining back against the headrest. "Don't sweat it too much. Though, thank you for corralling that one. She's a little escape artist, her. You called it 'Chandelure'? That's her name?"
Ingo forced himself to look away from the hypnotizing flames. Once again, his mind had become derailed again. And he had been faring so much better for the past year, too. He looked toward the young lady again. "My apologies. It must have been my mind playing tricks on me; it seems I am prone to this disposition."
"Oh, that's ok," she responded curtly. "Anyways, I think I know you from somewhere- you do seem familiar. Or maybe I'm thinking of somebody else." The young lady then gave him a polite smile. "I'm Jaku. I'm with the Diamond Clan. Your name's Ingo, right? Wait." She paused. "Weren't you the first faller? I think I've heard your name mentioned several times since I got here."
So this is one of them, Ingo supposed. Right. She certainly asked a lot of questions. One of his letters had mentioned two new strangers falling from the rift. Perhaps she was one of them. He offered a hand in kind. "Yes, that I am. I am Warden Ingo of the Pearl Clan. A pleasure to make your acquaintance." As he shook her hand, he found himself surprised when the young lady nearly crushed his hand with her own.
"Same here." Jaku paused and then grinned. "So you are Subway Master Ingo. I thought that name rang a few bells when I first heard it. I'm not sure what 'Subway Master' means but that's what comes to mind. Maybe my own mind might be playing tricks on me too," she joked casually.
Warden Lian did not wake up for the rest of the evening, so Ingo retreated to his assigned lodging back at the rowhouse. Even though Jaku had insisted that Chandelure wanted to come with him, Head Nurse Peselle had forbidden it- part of him wished that the pokémon were there with him, as well.
He tossed and turned, his mind only going back toward the luring pokémon and the calming heat that had ebbed from it. It had hugged him. It had been overjoyed to see him. He hadn't been truly alone in his fall after all, then. If Chandelure was there then- Ingo immediately braked hard on those rails and drew his blankets over his face in frustration. No. The man in white did not fall with him and Chandelure. He couldn't have. But… could he have?
Not being able to sleep, Ingo departed from his lodgings and switched his tracks toward the hills by Prelude Beach. The Galaxy Headquarters were silent and so too was Jubilife Village. The main road was utterly deserted. Boxcar the Tangrowth had insisted on following him and so they passed through the guarded gate into a grassy clearing where they could hear the sounds of the ocean waves striking the sands of the beach.
To his surprise, something was already there: a Luxray. A ragged-looking Luxray with a large scar across its muzzle. It was hunched across the boulder in the middle of the clearing, its glowing eyes watching the gates of the village as if scanning for something. When it spotted Ingo, it hardly looked him over before its eyes roamed back to the torch light. Boxcar did not react, either.
Ingo, sensing something was greatly amiss but not dire enough to be in straits, went back to his lodgings and waited for daybreak.
March 18th, First Year
When the morning finally came and the village started to move about, Captain Zisu arrived and gave him his signal to be off: a friendly clap on the back, a large complementary bag of rations, and an extra supply bag with medical equipment stamped with the Galaxy Team's official logo. "Be vigilant and be quick!" she had warned him. "And stay clear of Verity Bank!"
To his surprise, he saw the young lady from the day before- Jaku- amongst the extra Galaxy Scouts, still bandaged and weary-looking but relatively fine. When she had noticed him, she waved and made a slapping motion toward a pokéball on her belt.
"I don't quite understand your gesture," Ingo pardoned himself as he drew closer.
"Oh. Sorry about that. Force of habit." She unlatched the pokéball from her belt and held it out to him. "It's ranger lingo. It means 'caught and contained': the Chandelure. It's been talking about you nonstop since yesterday. It even came into my dreams to try to persuade me to sneak it out to you," she chuckled. "Says you're her trainer so here's her ball. Have fun."
Ingo hesitantly took the pokéball. The word 'trainer' scratched just the tiniest itch in the back of his head. "Thank you very much. I do hope her dream meddling hasn't stolen your sleep from you."
"Not at all."
Ingo held the pokéball aloft in his hands. A pleasant familiar warmth surged against his palm and the ball broke open. Chandelure immediately wrapped its metal tendrils around him, laughing and singing and chiming, but that time, the dizziness wasn't as heavy and the static was much quieter. It wouldn't stop laughing; wouldn't stop smiling. Its violet flames burned so brightly, Ingo thought that perhaps it was a second sun.
"It must really like you if it's that happy to see you," Jaku commented. "Ghost-type pokémon are really hard to befriend. That also might just be a fragment from my own amnesia, but still."
"I suppose it could be." He smiled at the ghostly pokémon. A flicker of memory came to him. One of wandering through a dark tunnel along train tracks. Chandelure floated silently behind him, making a chime once or twice as he inspected a detailed map. He would point at a different section of the tunnel and Chandelure would follow dutifully at his heels as he progressed. Another memory came of himself standing atop a large white tower, the luring-pokémon floating curiously around a bell. Somebody else was with him, too: the man in white.
When he snapped back to the present, Jaku was staring worriedly at him. "You alright there? We're setting off already. Didn't want you to pass out or anything." True to her word, the group of scouts mixed with Gingko Guild merchants was already filtering out of the gates, snow crunching underfoot.
He hurried to keep pace and fell in at the back, Chandelure effortlessly keeping pace with him. Miss Jaku was not far behind. "I am quite fine," he spoke after a while. "Their appearance seemed to knock loose a few memories." He then cleared his throat; to him, it felt awkward being around another faller. Years of being the only one of his kind and dealing quietly with his amnesia and then, suddenly, there's another. "Did you lose your memories as well?" he asked quietly.
"As a matter of fact, I did- both myself and Akari. We both washed up on Prelude Beach without knowing our own names," she laughed. "'Jaku' is just a placeholder until I can figure out what my actual name is. I don't think you've met Akari yet. She's out in the fieldlands again; you missed her by about two days but you might run into her at some point since we're heading in the same direction." After a moment, she asked quietly, "How long have you been here?"
"Two years or at least, that is what I've been told by the Pearl Clan. It is difficult to keep track of time here with only the seasons to count as a timekeeper." Ingo struggled to find the words he was searching for. "You said that you could have seen me from somewhere? Do I look familiar to you?"
"I can't be too sure. You definitely look familiar like I've seen you before. If I'm being honest, I think I may or may not be confusing you for somebody else. Maybe it's the beard? When Chandelure talked to me in my dreams, she kept showing me images of you." Jaku made quick work of backtracking, avoiding eye contact with him. "I mean, your jacket and hat looked shinier, and you looked sort of different? And I could've sworn your name started with an 'E' instead of an 'I'. Or maybe I'm just confused. I don't know exactly what that pokémon of yours was doing in my head, but I know it was messing around with my memories. I think it pulled me into some sort of dream I had a few days ago. I remember seeing a video of you on some contraption somewhere, but I forgot the context."
"A contraption?"
"I can't even begin to describe it," Jaku chuckled. "I think I was supposed to be looking for you way back when. And for some reason, I specifically remember that you were there too. But no, that wouldn't make any sense. But then again, it was only a dream; finding Chandelure probably just intensified that idea."
"Where did you find her? Perhaps if she is here, then maybe there are more- more of my pokémon, I mean."
"Oh, I didn't find her. That Luxray did."