Prompt 4: Sound

Emmet always preferred taking the purely underground subway routes. Some may have called it an odd choice to prefer spending half a day's shift purely underground watching the beams of the train scatter along the rails in the darkness of the tunnels. Emmet found it peaceful. Soothing, almost.

Walking along the commuter cars was loud. Too loud. Too many boisterous conversations. Too many limbs sticking haphazardly out of the seats. Too little space to fit through. The air would sometimes reek of sweat. The concentrated light would burn into his eyes and give him throbbing headaches. The announcements of the PA system- ones switching between his and Ingo's voice- would sound too loud in his ears, often breaking his concentration. Too many inputs. Too much of a charge. So much energy and nowhere for it to go.

And Emmet found that remaining in the driver's compartment negated all of that. It was always just him after all. Another depot agent- usually Cloud or Ramses- one of the quiet, no-nonsense agents- would take up checking tickets or keeping a watchful eye on the passengers, only radioing in if Emmet was absolutely needed. It let Emmet just focus on making sure that everything was running smoothly. And it also served as a nice getaway from his passengers.

While Emmet prided himself on escorting his passengers to-and-from their destinations safely, the sheer stress of being a train conductor alongside managing his depot agents and acting as a Subway Boss sometimes wore down on him like rust on old tracks. He had days off. He had vacation time. But the Battle Subway was his hobby. He enjoyed being there. He would lament time away from the subway and would spend his days away from the station doing research on how to best throttle potential challengers. And that brought him into the head cab after recognizing the oncome of a migraine.

He sat down heavily in his chair, using one ungloved hand to wipe the bead of sweat from his brow as he took off his hat, set it in his lap, loosened his jacket, and focused on the rails. He took a drink of water from his bottle beneath the seat, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

Beside him, Cloud whistled, a snarky grin appearing on his face. "Commuters getting' to you that fast, eh boss?"

Emmet glared, too overstimulated to form coherent words.

"Ah. Yep. You were out there for too long, huh." Cloud then set the train's controls to automatic, allowing Emmet ample time to slide into the control seat and switch out of the auto driving mode. "Fine. You can take over. I'll go and check tickets once we reach Flocessy. Not due to be a lot of folks getting' on, that's for sure." Cloud then grabbed his own dark green jacket off of the seat and slid open the door. "Good luck."

Emmet grumbled in return. The moment the door slid closed, Emmet set the system back into automatic driving mode. Flocessy Station wasn't due to prepare for for another five minutes. Instead, Emmet leaned back in his chair and shut his eyes, reaching absently for his own personal gear stored away in the holding compartment behind the co-conductor chair. This headache is not helping. He prayed that it wouldn't turn into a migraine. That the aura he had been having had been wrong. He had gotten a lot of migraines after Ingo's initial disappearance- almost two per week- and while things were getting better, having to manage all seven lines did not cut down on his stress level; neither did constantly having to deal with the press after the weeks of reintroducing Ingo back to the subway.

He could feel the telltale symptoms. The vision in his left eye flickered, slowly likening to static, fuzzy and indiscernible and hard to concentrate on. His eyes stung, flinching every time one of the lights on his dash would flicker. His mouth felt dry. His throat began to tighten and no matter how much he let his eyes rest, the steady woozy feeling of a building migraine began to set in. Prematurely, Emmet picked up his end of the radio.

"Come in Gear Station Central. This is Boss Emmet. Radio check. Over."

The PA took a second to chime back in, the distorted feedback noises causing Emmet to wince and recoil away from the small microphone. "Boss Emmet, this is Gear Station Central. Read you loud and clear. Go Ahead. Over."

"Gear Station Central, this is Boss Emmet." His words felt heavy on his tongue, slow and dumb and bumbling. Ingo always has better diction, even when sick, Emmet simmered inwardly. "Switch-out is needed at Aspertia Station. Repeat. Switch-out is needed at Aspertia Station. Over."

The line was silent for a long moment. So long that Emmet was afraid he had lost Gear Station's signal. "…Boss Emmet, this is Gear Station Central. Copy. Wilco. Will track and report a slight delay to the schedule. Please relay to Aspertia Station. Acknowledge. Over."

"Gear Station Central, this is Boss Emmet. Copy. Wilco. Over and out." He then switched over to Aspertia Station's radio controllers and repeated the information, being informed that a depot agent would take his position on the way back to Nimbasa. After quickly finishing up his relays, Emmet had just enough time to take some headache medication before switching off the ATO and pulling gently into Aspertia Station.

After a minute or two of sitting with his head buried in his hands, the door to the controller's cabin was slid open. "Needed a switch-out?" came a stern feminine voice. "I'm here to replace you. Go on and collect your stuff. I'll take over."

Emmet recognized the woman as one of his former depot agents that had switched stations due to family issues. He wordlessly nodded, grabbed his things, and fixed himself. There were still passengers in the cabins. He couldn't appear out of sorts. Not after so vehemently watching his posture and appearance the entire time his brother had gone missing. Not after making it perfectly clear to the public that the regular trains would remain running smoothly. Not after he had promised Ingo that the extra work wasn't taking its toll on him.

Emmet didn't have to go far, nor did he have to disembark from the train. He simply walked into a first-class cabin- into a booth in the quiet section- set down his things, drank some water, and tried his best to ease his headache as the train began to reverse back toward Nimbasa.

His migraine had finally reared its ugly head somewhere between Virbank and Driftveil, his Joltik- Sparky- trying its best to cheer up Emmet as it rested on the knot of his tie. The lack of peripheral vision in Emmet's left eye had fizzled out and his entire head felt as though it were being sat on by his Boldore. Nausea roiled in his gut and though Emmet wanted to vomit, his limbs felt as heavy as though they had been casted in concrete. He flinched as the train finally rolled into Nimbasa- he could tell by the number of stops- and he shakily got to his feet, his migraine only worsening at the sheer volume that filled into the cabin the moment the doors slid open. Commuters. And their pokémon. All of them loud. Too loud. Too noisy.

Emmet was slow to grab his things. His mind was still stuck on controlling his breathing when a sturdy hand set itself on his shoulder. A pair of gloved hands swatted his hands away from the handle of his traveling bag, instead picking up his items for him.

"…sick?" came a loud and concerned voice. "Aspertia… radioed in some time… your status." The firm hand on his shoulder moved to hug him from the side as the passenger- as Ingo- carefully guided Emmet off of the train and across the station into their shared office. "Here… you'll be alright…Watch your step, Emmet."

Ingo's voice was loud- just as Emmet remembered it being- the one missing piece that Emmet could focus on clearly. Emmet had missed it.