Chapter Text
>Hey
>Hey
>What is your opinion on the legal status of Hydreigon!
>I fought a trainer today. They were terrrrrible
>they should not be legal in competitive use
>I beat them though. They cried
>What is the best way to break a stall when one’s partner pokemon provides team defense!!
>Without moves that remove hazards!
>I already know how but I want ideas
>Stall takes forever! I do not have forever!
>I am upset
>EdgeQuake
Evelyn’s Holo Caster buzzes. And buzzes. And buzzes.
From under the very nice comforters of her hotel bed, groggy blue eyes open and peek out towards the end table where her Holo sits. Each vibration rattles against the table in a very bothersome way, and Evelyn reaches out to grab it if only so the noise will stop. At least 12 messages, and still going up.
She looks at the time and lets out a huff. Surely he's not already on the Battle lines this early in the morning...?
Hydreigon are very powerful but they are not Legendaries.<
Obtain a Pokémon that breaks a stall. Defeat the opponent before they have a chance. High powered moves are good but speed works too if you can use them right.<
Status moves<
EdgeQuake?<
“Yannow, it’s a good thing you met them! We’d have had to spend all day fighting on their Métro! Wow, that guy hasn't shut up since last night, huh?”
The noise is loud and proud and makes Evelyn jerk half a foot in the air, Holo halfway out of her hand. She turns her head quickly and there across the room stands Nita, wide-awake and dressed in jogging gear with a grin that brightens her face. Her eyes are mirthful and excited, but when are they not.
“You’re up early!” She tweets like a Starly, and Evelyn’s face falls back to the pillow with a groan.
“Didn’t want to be…”
“Yeah, I can tell! Surprised it didn't wake you up earlier. Sure did me!" Nita cackles. Easy for her to say, Evelyn thinks; Nita's always been an earlybird. She was probably already up when it started.
"Well, up and at ‘em, then! We have a biiig day ahead of us and a train to catch and Morgan’s gonna be maaaad if she finds out you didn’t pack last night!”
As Nita struts off, Evelyn can't help wondering if there's some way she couldn't convince Morgan to maybe delay their ride.
Her Holo is still going off.
>What if you have neither power nor speed nor status effects
Healing? Flying as well<
>What if you can’t heal or fly
Be creative and dodge<
At a point I think one needs to learn to rely on their pokemon as strategists and partners more than simply their abilities<
>Even the weak ones?
Yes? Especially the weaker ones. It does not make them incompetent if their opponent is professionally trained<
>Haha you have some interesting ideas!!!
It isn’t an idea. I’ve seen a Rattata battle a Goodra and win, if you can believe it<
>I cannot but I want to verrry badly
“Everything is packed?”
“Yes, sister Morgan.”
“You’ve eaten breakfast?”
“Yes, sister Morgan.”
“And neither of you, Nita, could have forgotten anything?”
“Nope!”
Morgan smiles kindly, easily, and Evelyn again swallows a sigh at just how spritely Nita looks under the gaze. Not the favorite, mhm...
“Then, we are ready! Ladies, to the Subway! We shouldn’t keep miss Elesa waiting any longer than we have to, we’ve wound up wasting enough time as it is—”
Evelyn tunes her out. Her sisters, off to the side, are trading glances. Nita is ready to go, of course; Dana looks irritated to even be up this early, and Evelyn can relate. She would have slept later had her Holo not—
A buzz, subtle in her pocket. Another, and another, and she resists the urge to grab it. Morgan has already gotten onto her twice about it.
She’s not sure why monsieur Emmet keeps talking to her. Her ideas about Pokémon battles aren’t special at all. He had asked about her strategies, and that was easy enough to explain once she got his number and managed to sit through his badgering about her status in Kalos.
After he’d gotten it out of his system, that should have been the end of it. She’d even recommended him to her sisters, Triple Battle and Rotation Battle experts, outright fished their numbers out of her contacts list so he wouldn't need to go to the trouble. That would satisfy him.
But apparently getting it out of his system was something that just. Never seemed to happen. He got something into his system, and it never left! He barely even knew her, and didn't even bother to try and know her very talented and smart sisters surely much more interesting thank you.
(You are an expert in conducting Double Battles. You are a stationmaster of the Battle Maison. You have funny ideas. You answer my questions. I do not think they would do that. And also I have your number! Willingly! So.)
Her mind wanders back a ways, to harried arguments and strange discussions and crumpled sticky notes with numbers written in glitter ink. Her face grows warm with familiar mortification.
Dana, who is ahead of her, turns her head and barks. “Oye, Evelyn, come on! Don’t stand there like a confused Pidove, you’re gonna get left behind!”
She’d barely noticed they had started moving. “Y-Yes…!”
>You are coming to Nimbasa City today yes!!
>Please board for the Doubles line when you arrive!
>Is what I would say
>But Elesa says if I do anything she is going to ‘eggxecute’ me
>Not her best pun!
>You are all staying longer than the weekend?? :o
We might move around, but my sisters think that staying in Nimbasa would be easiest for travel. Gear Station connects to the entire Unova region, yes?<
>Yes!! Each line connects different towns in the region and the region is verrry big
>Ingo and I are very tired
>:))))
Evelyn is being stared at. She doesn’t need to look up to see who it is.
Across from her, seated primly like a statue in the train’s car, Morgan is holding a pamphlet which goes ignored in her grip. Green eyes size Evelyn up where she sits, from her face to the Holo cradled in both hands. Dana has dozed off on Morgan’s shoulder, and Nita is playing a game on her own Holo that keeps her distracted from bouncing off the walls.
Not for the first time, Evelyn curses at her easy way of caving to her sister’s questions. She wished she’d never told her anything.
How do you handle an entire region? I do not understand.<
The Kalos métro operates mostly through Lumiose, with one or two smaller city routes. I think…<
If you wished to go to the coast, you would need a bus, or another train above the ground.<
“Evelyn.”
“Yes?”
“Perhaps you should get some rest. We have been moving around very much and things will be quite hectic soon. It would do you some good.”
There is a floating bubble at the bottom of her messages where Emmet is typing. Evelyn very pointedly does not look up.
>We are government employees!!! We oversee maintenance, functionality, and repair of the entire transit system according to the budget given to us by the regional government!
Like administrators?<
>No
>Subway Bosses!!
"Evelyn..."
>You will be arriving at 3:45, from the departure bound for Undella Town.
>This is not a question! Because I knew this already.
Yes<
>Then we shall be there to see you to your destination!
>Elesa will be at a photoshoot when you all arrive so she will not be here
There’s a kind of comfort to texting. Had she heard that in person, she might have panicked. Don’t ask why. As it is now, the information just gives her pause. Elesa won’t be picking them up right away…
>She says she is verrrry sorry and that something came up but she will be there soon as she can thank you
You don’t have to. We don’t want to cause trouble.<
She should probably tell Morgan this.
>You are not! We are both excited to meet you.
>It is also in our planner which means it is on schedule so there are no derailments
>Ingo’s planner. That I never look at
>Because I know the schedule verrry well
> :)
Evelyn looks up. Morgan’s stare is pointed.
Thank you very much.<
Evelyn says not a word.
Gear Station is immense, as it had been when they had all seen it last. Every inch is spotless, and everywhere there are people and Pokémon alike making their way across the expanse of the facility. In some ways, it reminds her of Lumiose, or the stations back home. Evelyn can see trainers gathering by ticket stations off in the distance, and she knows this to the preparation for when the Battle Lines open a little later in the day. The sun gleams bright through glass windows arching high overhead, larger than life and all-encompassing. Warm.
She hangs back just a little bit as their little group all step out, Dana arguing with Morgan about something while Nita is just barely held back from hauling off into the open expanse of the station proper. Not for the first time, the whole thing makes Evelyn feel homesick.
“Welcome to Gear Station, ladies!”
Evelyn is lucky her shriek goes mostly unnoticed in the din of the yell. It is loud.
The brothers are there to greet them, as agreed on and promised. They stand stark amidst the crowd, black and white greatcoats pristine with spotless caps on their hats, walking in tandem through a sea of people like like ships cutting through water. They must have literally just showed up.
“It is wonderful to see you all! On behalf of the Battle Subway, we are eager to welcome you to the region of Unova, however late that arrival might be! I trust your travels went smoothly?”
Ingo is the one who speaks. Beside him, his brother smiles and looks at them with an expression she can’t quite read, and she wonders with embarrassment if he must have heard her scream.
“Oh? I didn’t expect a welcome party! Thank you for the well wishes! We are very glad to be here, monsieur…?” Morgan is polite, of course, but Evelyn knows better. She is confused. A bit suspicious. Evelyn…doesn’t blame her.
She gives Ingo a wary once-over. She’s heard tidbits about him, mostly from her sisters, a few bits from Emmet himself. His countenance is stern and his voice threatens to crack the walls. He commands the Singles line and Nita has been desperate to face him for his fearsome reputation on the field.
He looks as angry as he and his reputation sound. It’s a wonder her heart doesn’t jump out of her throat when his eyes land on her briefly after taking a second to scan her sisters over.
“Subway Boss Ingo, at your service! And this fellow beside me here is the Subway Boss Emmet. It’s a pleasure to meet you!” He tips the brim of his conductor’s cap genially. Emmet follows like a dutiful mirror.
Nita, expression starting to turn giddy with recognition, opens her mouth.
“Oh?”
Dana is not having it.
“Oh! If it isn’t you again! Just what are you doing here?” She snorts like an Emboar and glares just as fiercely. “You know, hat’s some nerve, showing up like this after that stunt you pulled. I should knock you over the head for harassment.”
She’s pointing. It isn’t at Ingo.
Evelyn feels her heartrate start to pick up, her breath running shallow.
Dana is all flame and fury. She knows just as well as the others what happened, angry at Evelyn and Emmet both, and she is not someone who lets things go without confronting them. Dana would sooner burn her bridges than avoid them.
Emmet, silent, does not look at Evelyn. His smile is wide and thin, and there is something about it she can’t quite place.
Ingo doesn’t flinch. “I must apologize. On behalf of both my impudent brother and Gear Station at large.” His eyes scan each of them in turn again, pointedly, one after the other, and when they land on Evelyn she resists the impulse to duck behind her hair.
“What Emmet did that day was inexcusable and each of you have every right to admonish him. It was abhorrant and unworthy of a Subway Boss in every form, and we both humbly ask your forgiveness. If there is anything we might do to correct our course with you, please do not hesitate to ask.”
Ingo grabs Emmet by the back of the neck and pushes him into a bow, harsh and low. Emmet goes with a grimace and says nothing.
There is a kind of silence that befalls their group that tells of a pregnant pause. They are waiting for something, Evelyn knows, and the longer their silence stretches, the worse the tension gets.
Her sisters look at her. Morgan does not.
They’re waiting on her. They are waiting for her judgement despite that they already had it. Because they don’t trust her attitude away from the conflict against coming up face-to-face with it.
Tears gather. Breath hitches. Something in her shudders, familiar and forever unexplainable.
People are staring.
“It’s okay…” Evelyn says, quiet as to be inaudible, and she sees Emmet twitch just so. “I-It’s okay. I…I promise. It was a misunderstanding. Please. P-Please, stop, I…”
Emmet had gotten angry. It was her fault for making him angry in the first place, and yet still he had apologized when he hadn’t needed to. Couldn’t that be enough? For everyone?
The tension threatens to crack, and Evelyn’s composure along with it. Dana stares at her with hard red eyes for a very long moment. Evelyn can’t look anywhere but the floor.
And then, Dana huffs. “…Well, if she says it’s alright with her, then I guess it’s alright with me! You two are strange sorts, aintcha?”
And the tension is gone. Melted away as if it had never been.
Evelyn feels it sag in her shoulders and takes a minute to just breathe, careful lungfuls that anchor her down from that pinpoint spot on the floor. When she looks up, Nita’s vow of silence is already broken, Ingo her unfortunate target, and the Subway Bosses are standing straight, perfect and uniform.
Emmet is looking at her.
They all take a bit of time introducing themselves properly. As it turns out, where his brother refuses to speak in any real capacity beyond clipped words, Ingo has a remarkable propensity for talking. As much as Nita talks about battling and Unova and whatever else has caught her fancy that day, Ingo is able to return it with equal vigor for all that his expression might scream otherwise. Evelyn can see them being friends.
“So, where’s Madame Elesa, huh!” She says as Ingo begins to lead them off, scuffing at an invisible rock on the way. “She was supposed to be here, weren’t she? Shame she isn’t!”
“Quite so!” Ingo makes a sound not unlike a chuff. “Her schedule is, unfortunately, demanding; she has been experiencing some delays regarding work-related matters of publicity as of recently. Miss Evelyn had thought it would be best to keep you all in ‘like-minded’ company until her arrival, at least for what little free time we have on the timetables. I do hope we are not being a bother!”
Evelyn, then, is pinned by three different sets of eyes as the men lead the way. Her head ducks.
“Is that so…” It is Morgan who speaks, stepping up further to keep level with the rest. “Well, I thank you for your kindness, taking time out of your day as you have. Was Madame Elesa made aware?”
“Certainly! There is little that we might not communicate to her; she was quite pleased, in fact.”
“She’s a model, inn’t she? Life and Death, I feel for the lady! All them photoshoots and designers and clothes…!”
“You sound as though you have experience on those tracks, miss Nita!”
Evelyn is thankful for Nita’s ability to never shut up. Where two sisters look at her with varying degrees of suspicion and irritation, Nita distracts them from saying anything by quite literally dragging them into the conversation, and Evelyn could not count her blessings enough.
In the back, here, she can observe and let her mind wander. To the hotel they’re staying at, to the balcony of her room back home and the tiny fountain she bought that one summer, to her Pokémon who still need to be let out for more than just a quick morning jog…
Her Holo vibrates in her pocket.
>Hello!
>I am Emmet!
>Safety check! All systems are functioning normally?
Evelyn looks up. Ahead, Emmet is moving in tandem beside his brother, one hand folded behind his back. She can’t see his expression.
Hello.<
I am so sorry for earlier, Monsieur Boss Emmet. I did not think Dana would confront you like that.<
They made me tell them. I already told them it was unnecessary, but she did not listen. I’m very sorry, it is my fault<
>I do not think they like me!
>also I am Emmet
>Just Emmet!
I’m very very sorry I’m so sorry<
>Did you know you apologize verrry much?
>Also I do not care
>That your sisters do not like me I mean
>I apologized! You accepted. That is all that matters!
Evelyn lets out a slow breath.
If only.
I wish it worked like that.<
>Yes same!! The trains would run much smoother
>Ingo banned me from speaking upon your arrival until they also gave me proper clearance!! And Elesa yelled at me! They do not get it!! :)
>That is a pout. I am pouting
I’m sorry, it’s my fault. I’ll try to apologize to them when I can<
>Again: did you know you apologize VERRRRY much!
>Stop that
>It does not matter now! Ingo apologized! Your sister(s?) accepted it! The tracks are smooth!
>Elesa will be happy!
Evelyn stares at the back of Emmet’s head, silver hair half-hidden by his cap. She can see Ingo’s head turned just so, Emmet tilting his own head in turn in what she guesses to be a stare-down.
She should apologize. She’s distracting him. She’s doing this all wrong. She’s messed their entire day up and it’s all her fault.
(It’s always her fault.)
She’s not sure how long they walk, just talking and getting to know each other. The Subway Bosses are on extremely tight schedules, as Emmet tells her, but they had planned in advance for this enough to manage some wiggle room.
He’s not letting her apologize no matter how much she tries, and it irks her. He either waves it off, points out the frequency of such apologies, or just ignores them all together. It’s frustrating, but of course she wouldn’t say that.
At least her sisters are having fun. Nita and Ingo seem engaged in three different conversations at once somehow, and Dana has taken to bouncing around between them and Morgan with her own commentary, engaged but on her own terms as always.
Of course, Emmet’s quiet doesn’t go unnoticed. “What about you, monsieur-in-white? You haven’t hardly said a thing since we got here!”
“I am Emmet! I have nothing to say.”
Evelyn’s Holo begs to differ.
“No? I heard one of the bosses was an absolute maniac on the Doubles lines! I’d love to see what you battle like!!”
Emmet trades one quick glance with his brother before turning his head to look at Nita over the edge of his coat collar, eye narrowed. “I like Double Battles and combinations of two Pokémon! You only fight Singles.”
Someone else, Evelyn thinks, might’ve been intimidated. Nita just grins like a child during the holidays. “Nuh-uh, I fight multis too! And even if I did, that doesn’t mean I can’t whoop your--”
“Vie et Mort, Nita!”
Emmet breaks into a laugh, all monotone and flat beats, and what little tension there might be between the brothers finally whimpers out as Ingo’s mouth twitches. Evelyn finds herself smiling too.
As Nita coaxes Emmet into something like conversation, Evelyn glances over at Morgan. Morgan, who has said only just enough to be polite, who is wearing a smile that barely qualifies as such. Evelyn knows she is not happy.
Their conversation from some time ago comes back to her in snippets. Distrust, questions rapid-fire in a train car that Evelyn could not find the proper answers to that would keep her allayed. Righteous anger.
Morgan has always protected them. Evelyn just wishes she would know when to stop sometimes.
When they eventually decide that it’s time to make their way to the station entrance, Elesa is there waiting for them.
She is, to Evelyn, a woman right out of a pretty picture and she feels cowed immediately in her presence. Jet hair gleams, cradled by red-blue headphones, and her striped dress hugs her like a second skin, itself cradled by a yellow jacket made of soft faux fur.
She is beautiful. She also goes just a little bit mad when she sees them.
“It’s you! Oh Dragons, it really is--!”
Elesa struts forward in a way that reminds Evelyn of—Emmet, actually, at least until she seems to have mind enough to try and regain some composure. Morgan, here, is much more open, coming in with her hands outstretched for the traditional Kalosian greeting of cheek on cheek.
“You have no idea how excited I’ve been to meet you all—” Comes tumbling out of Elesa’s mouth, and even as she stands calmly, her voice buzzes like electricity. “The-The darlings of Kalos themselves, right? Performers on the front page of Kalos Monthly seven times out? I’ve read a lot of your magazines—”
Morgan takes it all in stride, so very used to fans and challengers alike. “Oh, it’s nothing so special! It is our job to keep the Battle Maison fresh and attractive for the up-coming professionals, after all.”
“I know, I know, I just—wow, I’m so sorry, I promised myself I wasn’t going to fangirl, you ladies need all the breaks you can get, I just—”
She seems to notice, then, the lingering presence of the Bosses hanging behind towards the stairs. “Hey guys! Thanks so much for entertaining them for me! Really sorry about all this!”
“Nonsense, they were excellent passengers and a pleasure to conduct! You should thank Miss Evelyn for the itinerary, for she was the one who engineered the idea.” He tilts the brim of his hat. His frown is hard but his eyes are bright when he looks over at her. “Shame we could not speak longer. Perhaps later at a different station?”
“Y-Yes, perhaps…” Evelyn is still feeling a mite intimidated to really think.
“Okay, okay, you two are busy, you have to board the Multis in like ten minutes, get out! Leave me to the cool Skitties!”
“A very bad pun!”
“Shut up Emmet I’m not thinking right now!”
Dana and Nita trade knowing looks. Morgan chuckles quietly to herself.
“It was a pleasure to meet you all then! May we see you soon back at Gear Station! Farewell and safe driving!” Ingo’s sentiment is echoed by his brother, and as they turn and start to traipse off, Emmet waves a hand – a whole arm, actually, hard and stiff.
Evelyn waves back awkwardly, even if he can’t see it now. It’s only polite.
They’re good people, Evelyn thinks quietly as she’s dragged off with the others into the city proper. Ingo is…a lot, very much so. He is loud, and talkative, and scary with his face. But he isn’t so bad.
Emmet is…also a lot, in a different way. Blunt and steadfast. Forward. He doesn’t care about things. But he isn’t bad either. He isn’t a bad person, and he knows it.
They’re different, she thinks. But they’re still good people. And they don’t need approval to know that for themselves.
She thinks she envies that.
Now, the sooner they get to their hotel, the sooner she can sleep it off and forget most of the day happened…
9:38 PM
>Battle the Doubles Line verrry soon!
>You owe me
>Also Elesa is forcing us to have dinner with you tomorrow