And So It Is Finally Here !! First Chapter Of Split Tracks !!

and so it is finally here !! first chapter of split tracks !!

check it out on ao3 if you prefer that!

or read below the cut!

general summary :

recently, emmet has been seeing a reoccurring passenger; one who never talks, who always hands him messages on crumpled slips of paper that are always more cryptic then the last.

slips of paper that have managed to apparently save his brother, made him think, and made him realize something is inevitably wrong.

word count :

2,429.

emmet sat up with a hum that morning, checking the time on the alarm clock.

5:26 am.

..that stranger yesterday had said whatever ‘tragedy’ would strike would hit in.

four minutes from now.

..he didn’t exactly believe strangers; this one was no exception.

the stranger with blonde hair and eyes, yesterday, who seemed like they knew things he could not comprehend. the stranger, who looked almost shellshocked, seeing him at the end of the doubles line; the one who battled diligently, yes, but had something on his mind, just by the way his eyes kept flickering to him and not his pokemon the entire time.

a look of concern. worry. as if he expected him to fall through the floor or something.

but somehow he felt compelled to believe this time. just a bit.

“ just don’t let your brother go into his office at 5:30. trust me. ”

the little crumpled paper slip was still in his jacket, stashed safely in his pocket, but the handwriting was neat enough to remember without having to grab it.

legs dangling off the bed, the sound of the bathroom sink already confirmed ingo was up before him; something he regularly expected. getting up with a huff, emmet trodded across the hall, peeking into the bathroom doorway.

“ mmmmorning ingo. i think we may have mixed up our paperwork last night. can i check your office for mine? ”

while half muffled by a toothbrush, ingo’s nod of a ‘yes’ was a clear enough indication. emmet nodded back with his ever-so-present smile, ducking his head back out of the doorframe, discreetly heading back to his room to beckon for his pokemon to follow, before striding to ingo’s office.

( while ingo could tell emmet was certainly not looking for paperwork, based on the sight of a familiar electric eel following him across the hall, it was still morning. he was rather tired, and trusted his brother enough to not question his antics. )

emmet had made up that cover-up story on a whim. he hated lying, he really did, but that stranger’s warning made him nervous. just a bit.

closing the door behind him, his eyes shifted towards the clock resting on his brother’s desk, watching the time intently.

5:28.

5:29.

..nothing so far.

emmet heaved a sigh of relief; so whatever he had been told yesterday was nothing to worry about, as most things were. the sound of the door handle caught his attention, and ingo soon poked his head through the door, craning his head.

“ did you find what you needed? ”

( ingo would play along with said lie for a bit, just to save whatever sparse amount of dignity emmet was skewing out here. he was aware his brother despised lying, probably more than he hated losing, therefore whatever reason he was doing it for must be a good one. )

while emmet’s mouth did part as he fumbled for a response, the sound of crackling glass caught both of their attention. frankly, emmet was a bit afraid to turn around at the noise. the window behind emmet was breaking, breaking, collapsing in on itself, with some sort of malformed energy spilling out of it in waves.

dread seemed to lock in on emmet’s chest, ( in a similar fashion to the bits and spokes of glass now digging into his back, ) as he quickly moved to make a run for the door, rather missing the narrow gap ingo had created by opening it and ramming in shut instead. eelektross practically sauntered after and curled around the man’s torso, clearly attempting to shield him further from whatever was forming in the jaggedly broken window. silver eyes quickly darted to the clock, still sitting almost like an omen on ingo’s desk.

5:30.

shit.

attempting to put as much space between him and the other wall, emmet pressed himself against the door, gritting his teeth and grabbing for the doorknob.

( clearly ingo was having the same idea, twisting the doorknob on the other side and attempting to shove it open with all his weight. seeing as the two of them were pushing opposite ways with equal force, the door hardly budged, proving both of their attempts futile. perhaps the panic had not given either of them the idea to loosen their holds. )

“ emmet!? emmet, what is going on in there!? ”

( he couldn’t see anything; he could hear the noise of glass shattering and things violently being shoved and thrown around as if a windstorm had been let loose in his office, but the lack of response other than emmet’s hisses of pain and worried chirping from eelektross making their way through the crack in the door was nothing reassuring. )

it was a…like looking at a huge hole in the wall, swirling in the gap of the window frame. devoid of hue; a small void practically eating its way into the room, other than little flecks of color blurring past his vision. reds, blues, greens; he dug the heels of his slippers into the floor, praying he did not slip any closer.

thankfully the door was sturdy, and was capable of taking the force of emmet practically squishing himself against the frame like a startled wild animal, elektross carefully coiled around him to avoid the small specks of blood and glass dug into his back, while the swirling void only seemed to beckon them in, tearing through the room, knocking over papers and shelves, and only inching closer than comfortable.

eventually, it abruptly stopped.

just..like that.

while the broken window and the mess of furniture and papers remained, the cracks that dug their way into the walls disappeared. the swirling entity was gone in a fraction of a second. emmet did not even see it gradually disappear. he had simply blinked, and it had disappeared faster than it had ever been there.

eventually leaning off the door, he quickly staggered back as it practically flew open, a near horrified ingo flying through the doorway with his xtransceiver clutched in one hand, clearly milliseconds away from calling some sort of authorities, at best.

( ingo had backed up as far as he could down the hall before charging forward with his shoulder at the forefront, practically slamming into the door like a crazed tauros. with emmet relinquishing his end of the door stalemate, it had practically knocked off the hinge, swinging open fast enough it crashed into the adjacent wall. )

emmet was later getting ready than ingo that morning. having to sidetrack his usual routine to clean and patch the entire back of his upper torso, quickly shrugging off the whole scenario with a strained grin. he practically shooed ingo off to work, assuring him he would be fine and to just take the commute alone that morning. he’d catch up.

despite the scrunched-up face ingo made; the one he always made when he was concerned, the one where the corners of his lips would somehow turn even further down, he eventually complied, leaving with a sigh and a light flick on emmet’s forehead. a very clear “you should stay home for today” sort of gesture.

that, and a “we’re going to eventually talk about this” face. that, emmet dreaded, just a bit. mainly because his explanation would sound more like a messy cover-up than the truth, despite it being so.

but emmet was alright. fine, really, just a few scrapes and cuts to clean up and he would be all good. good as new!

( going through the work day with gauze and bandaids layered on and scraping against the fabric of his shirt was agony. never again. )

he did see the stranger, later in the day, on the doubles line again.

perhaps he was still distracted, by the morning happenings, as emmet surprisingly lost to the man, his hands resting behind his back, ( very lightly so, ) as he congratulated the other. the blonde haired man’s response was a light nod with a dip of his hat, and eventually, he fished in his pocket, seemingly holding another piece of paper in his hand, just as crumpled as the last.

emmet stared, quietly so, for a few moments, brows furrowed.

“ i am emmet. how did you know what was going to happen this morning? ”

the man shook his head, a refute of a response, before holding out the paper, an expectant stare resting on emmet’s hands. he wanted him to take it again, presumably.

tentatively, he accepted the note with a cautious gloved hand, attempting to smooth it out, refold it, then pocket it for later. looking back at the stranger, emmet could only stare for a few moments, nothing but the sound of the train itself moving on its way echoing through the cart.

as the stranger moved to walk past, presumably to move onto the next cart, emmet could not help but reach out, lightly grabbing the other man’s sleeve. while not angry, he certainly seemed startled, his head craning over his shoulder to stare back at the man in white.

“ i am emmet. please. at least inform me of your name before you leave, sir. ”

as much as he was supposed to stay stoic, professional; there was an edge of desperation to his tone.

people just don’t. show up and warn you of things like that. he wanted- no, needed, an explanation.

the stranger blinks; once, twice. emmet released his faint grip on the other’s arm, resting his hands behind his back once again in a nervous manner, almost apologetically. eventually, the man did speak up, pulling the worn red scarf down from around his mouth with a sigh.

“ ..volo. ”

“ volo? ”

“ my name is volo. goodbye for now, emmet treyne. ”

and with that, he left.

brows still furrowed, emmet glanced towards the overhead clock, fashioned at the front of the cart.

1:26 pm.

his lunch break was..

…four minutes from now.

he strongly doubted there would be any passengers making it this far in the next four minutes.

so, sitting down on one of the cart seats, he carefully removed the paper note from his pocket, delicately unfolding it to read the contents as the hums and clicks of the train gliding across the tracks filled the silence volo had left.

( not like the man made much noise that mechanical whirs would need to fill, anyways. )

by the time one thirty hit, he had finished reading, the note now stashed with the other in his pocket. he brushed past depot agent cameron perhaps a little too harshly, quickly wrenching around with a sputtered apology before continuing on his way to his office, each stride seeming longer and more rushed than the last.

the door practically swung open, ironically, and he quickly settled down, propping his head up with his elbows resting on his desk. a headache was already building up; a sparking, electrical pain at his temples, and he could not help but rest his head on the desk, hat sliding down and covering his face.

this was too much to palette for one day.

rubbing a thumb against the side of his temple in hopes to alleviate the pain, emmet sat there for a few moments in disoriented silence, occasionally pushing his hat upward to keep an eye on the door in case someone came knocking.

perhaps he should’ve taken ingo’s advice to stay home.

..no, that wouldn’t have been a good idea either. he wouldn’t have gotten the second paper tucked away in his pocket, and that was far too much a clue.

( that, and he was far too stubborn to admit he needed to rest, despite the quite obvious fact his body was not happy with him today. )

pain fires off in his head like fireworks, and he clenched a hand in a fistful of hair, shifting his hat to the side.

there was a rumble now reverberating through the office as if it was shaking it; definitely not from the trains, none ran that close to his office. he quickly sat up in alarm, rather roughly so, gritting his teeth at the movement.

an all too recently familiar sound of crackling glass echoed through the room, and emmet felt as if his heart had sunk into his chest like a frozen brick of ice, sending chills down his spine.

quickly sourcing the noise as above and not behind him, he half rolled, half fell off his chair, scrambling and scuttling to somewhat crawl underneath his desk, holding his arms over his head as if it was an earthquake.

a “space time distortion,” or whatever the paper had called it. emmet kept himself grounded by holding onto the legs of the desk, which, while slightly scooted around by the swirling winds created by the warp fixated on the ceiling of his office, did not leave the ground.

smaller things and papers were being thrown around wildly, though; he could see them, blurring past his vision alongside the little speckles of color in the brief moments he could catch from his small spot of safety.

there was the sound of something falling on his desk with a thump, then silence.

seeing as the racket had died down, emmet slowly inched his way out from under the desk, surveying the damage with a rattled exhale. grasping the armrests of his desk chair, he gradually hoisted himself up with a few grunts and huffs of effort, slumping into the chair with another deep sigh.

as it slowly spun around from his weight, seeing as he was clearly sitting the wrong way, eventually emmet noticed what had fallen on his desk, and his response was only another deep huff.

( though, now it was merely annoyance of anything. this was just making a mess. )

a scrap or two of black fabric, half buried in a clump of snow now scattered on his desk. and soaking his paperwork! no good at all!

..admittedly he was too tired to be particularly fuming. there were still pops and sparks building behind his eyes, the ones that made his vision blurry and his head feel heavy, so he quickly moved to brush most of the snow off his desk, stashing away the fabric scraps, ( out of mere curiosity, really, ) and slumping down further in his chair.

he was going to hate calling out early, but the further the break went on, the more the idea was entertained. the shallow wounds along his back were still sore, only agitated by all the rolling out of his chair and movement, and his headache was no better.

..arceus, he hated today already.

If we forgot anything or you have multiple put it in the tags, ours is eye contact and loving trains lmao

Watched The Bad Guys last night and wanted to try out an artstyle similar to the movie's so. Emma

“ an all too recently familiar sound of crackling glass echoed through the room, and emmet felt as if his heart had sunk into his chest like a frozen brick of ice, sending chills down his spine. ”

a piece for the first chapter of split tracks, which i’ll be posting later today!

( the real deal this time; it’s gone through a few rewrites, and i’m finally satisfied enough to start posting :] )

wip friday for yet another au that’s possessed my brain. how fun :D

( this au takes place abt 3~4 months after the events of the scarvio post game! i have a few hcs about the timeline of events so this takes place roughly in july while the main game events are in march~april )

all was quiet.

well, not quiet, but calm enough that penny didn’t mind the walk to her dorm room door, the ring for her keys looped over her finger.

…yea, keys. for a while, it had just been the key to her own dorm, but now there were at least nine.

florian, juliana, nemona, arven; giacomo, mela, atticus, ortega, and eri.

ten, counting her own key.

trading spare dorm room keys with friends was a common act among academy students. kids always crashed over each other’s rooms like it was a sleepover; mostly during the summer, for the kids who didn’t go home and stayed on campus.

she wasn’t exactly used to so many keys, now, but it wasn’t a bad thing.

nor was actually getting outside. as much as a bummer most kids would find community service for the league of all things over the summer, it gave her something to do. she got to be in her element and fix things, which was a win-win.

fiddling with the ring to find her own key once she got to the door and twisting the doorknob, penny was only mildly surprised to find juliana and nemona attempting to sprawl across the rather small rug on her floor, clearly chattering back and forth.

both attempted to crane their heads to the door, quickly chiming out greetings from their spot on the floor. penny’s response was that of an amused hum as she closed the door behind her, putting her bag and zip-over jacket on her desk chair.

“ i’m assuming your ‘paradox sweeping’ has gone well today? ”

right. paradox sweeps, as they liked to call them.

unfortunately, just because the time machine had been shut down didn’t mean all the paradox pokemon disappeared. they were still active in area zero; restless, at that.

the league didn’t seem too keen on letting the public in on what lurked in the crater in the center of the region; fortunately for them, juliana and nemona always seemed to be itching for a battle challenge, and didn’t seem to mind wrangling in any stragglers that got too close to any cities to be dangerous.

there were probably better ways to deal with passive crises like this other than dishing out teenagers to solve their problems, but hey, the league wasn’t exactly the most effective running system.

but juli and nemona were having fun, so penny found no point in trying to nip at them just yet.

nemona rolled off the rug with an exaggerated inhale, as if she had been waiting for someone to ask her that question since noon. juliana seemed to echo that thought with a quiet giggle, though the girl made no effort to cut nemona off until the point was right.

“ dios mío; penny, you should’ve seen what happened today! ”

“ well it already happened, so just tell me about it. ”

despite the almost snarky response, the two girls could tell penny’s interest was still present regardless, seeing as while she was already looking to make a quick evening snack, ( likely something microwaved, ) she still kept glancing over her shoulder, awaiting a continuation.

juliana squinted for a few moments, a smile slowly crossing the brunette’s face. turning to nemona, the two nodded with silent laughter, before turning to penny.

“ we’ll tell you if you come down to the lunch hall with us. ”

“ it’s seven at night! nobody’s out there until at least eight or nine during summer hours, it’ll be nice and quiet, just how you like it. ”

seeing as the two were both sharing that dopey, mischievous grin they constantly wore, penny eventually complied with a huff. it was like their secret little version of baby doll eyes- hell, she’d seen them get it to work on arven more than once. ..then again, arven wasn’t exactly the toughest out there, so maybe she shouldn’t have been surprised by that.

“ alright, alright. just let me get my pajamas on first. ”

waving in dismissal with a sigh in defeat, penny picked up the half folded porygon themed t-shirt and shorts, retreating to the bathroom for a few moments to switch her clothes, while nemona and juliana finally got up from their tangle of limbs and rug.

when the blue-and-red-haired girl did finally reappear, tossing her outfit from before into a hamper, nemona was quick to gently, yet enthusiastically, grab the other’s wrist, tugging her to the door with a grin.

“ c’mon! i think they have grilled cheese and soup today! ”

..grilled cheese didn’t sound awful.