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The Trouble with Joltiks
Despite the best efforts of local officials and pokemon care professionals, keeping strays and wild urban pokemon off the streets was an almost impossible task in Nimbasa. Ingo knew a few patrat who rode the subways from time to time, and was aware of the purrloin that populated the alleys near his and Emmet's apartment. When the tiny joltik scuttled out of the ornamental bushes as he opened the front door, Ingo did not think much of it.
"Greetings." He said to it. "I'm afraid it would be better if you did not accompany me inside. Though I will put some kibble out on the porch if you return later." It was a friendly little thing, snapping its mandibles playfully and scuttling back into the brush.
Ingo frowned after it and went inside, pondering if he'd ever seen wild joltiks in this part of the city before. He couldn't recall.
"Brother!" Emmet greeted from the doorway to the kitchen as Ingo shut the door behind him. "Was your late battle exciting? I have made veerrrry spicy curry!"
"The challenger was quite talented," Ingo told the other conductor. Emmet was in his dress shirt with an apron tied over top. A splatter of red sauce rested innocently on the white fabric, proving the apron a poor defense mechanism against Emmet’s somewhat chaotic cooking style. "They beat me using an ingenious combination of strong offensive moves and type based defenses. I hope our routes intersect again at some point." Ingo sheds his coat and hat and starts to loosen his tie, coming into the kitchen to find a heaping plate of rice and a pan full of simmering chili on the stove. "Did you face a delay today?" He checks the clock. "Usually you eat without me on Friday nights." The doubles train got moderate traffic on Friday nights, couples on dates and college friend groups giving the subway their best shot of aggression after a week of tough classes. The singles train always ran late on Fridays though. The most determined trainers always put in the extra hours they could afford at the tail end of the work week.
"No delay!" Emmet said cheerfully. "It was a verrry exciting day! Good battles! I won a lot. I took a walk after work."
"A detour then." Ingo nodded stiffly. He found his apron on its hook and tied it around himself, searching for some way to help finish the meal. Emmet fidgeted happily around the kitchen. He seemed to have a lot of extra energy today.
They had a brilliant discussion about the metrics of attack power and the best cooperative attacks made on the doubles train that day. The neighbor only knocked and asked them to keep it down once!
After dinner, while Ingo was washing dishes and Emmet was at the bathroom sink applying stain remover to his shirt, there was a scratching at the sliding door to the balcony.
Ingo went to it and peered into the washed out dark of Nimbasa at night. The joltik from before sparked excitedly to get his attention and then raised its legs in a grasping motion.
"Ah yes, I did say to return for a meal. Good scheduling!" Ingo went to the fridge and found a half can of pokefood from where chandelure hadn't finished breakfast that morning. When he returned to set the container within joltik's reach... there were two of them.
Ingo paused. Feeding a wild pokemon once while being strict was one thing. Every pokemon needed a break every now and then- but being too generous could bring a whole herd of strays to your door.
"This is a two passenger car only." Ingo told the two bug types sternly. "And a one way route! No leftovers tomorrow."
"Jol-tic tic!" The bigger of the two pokemon chirped and dug in, the smaller close behind. Ingo frowned at them and shut the door.
If they came again tomorrow he would have to deny them fuel or he’d be absolutely overrun.
They did not come again the next night, nor the one after that. Ingo had nearly forgotten about them entirely by the time Wednesday rolled around. He was the one cooking this time. Emmet had claimed to have had a 'veerrrrry busy day!' and chosen to take a quick nap after work. Ingo was hoping to have dinner ready when he came out of his room.
There was a slight scratching at the door and Ingo glanced towards the porch. The two joltiks waited there, seeming almost patient. Ingo's frown deepened.
"Do you two have another station to reach?" He asked when he opened the door. "There are better ways to find food on a cold city night than endeavoring to board a train without a ticket."
The static pokemon stared up at him and then, unceremoniously, both scuttled past him through the slightly open door and into the apartment. Ingo sighed.
The two intruders wandered around the apartment with soft chirps of curiosity and a spattering of sparks. Ingo focused on dinner and let them tire each other out before digging some poke kibble out of the fridge and pouring a heaping bowl. He set it on the ground just outside and both bug type pokemon raced out after it without hesitation. Ingo shut the door behind them and pulled the curtain across the glass. (There was no sense in exposing himself to their pleading faces. That was enough kibble for one day! And joltiks survived wild in Nimbasa all the time. Plenty of electricity and other things to feed off of).
In doing so, he didn't notice two other joltiks crawl up onto the porch, greeted by the first two with exuberant chirps.
Ingo fully expected to find them waiting on the porch within the next few days, and he fully expected to wave them on towards their next station. Once was charity, twice was a favor, three times was a bad habit for both conductor and passenger.
Before that day could even come, though, he was thoroughly distracted by Emmet's decreased energy and increased time spent away from Gear Station and their shared apartment. When he pursued questioning he was mostly brushed off and his brother’s answers were vague and evasive. He doubted that Emmet was doing it on purpose, but the fact remained that Ingo was growing concerned.
He asked Elesa for help.
"You want me to stalk Emmet?" She asked, flabbergasted. "I thought you two did everything together already?"
"Our work hours do not align to the same schedule every day." Ingo says, "and he has taken to eating lunch separately as he is in a distant part of the tracks. I have asked but he seems unwilling to divulge his route or destination. Normally I would not mind, though it would confuse me, but he does not seem to be taking care of himself."
"Well, I guess I can lend you a hand." Elesa sighs. "Do I have to be sneaky? Maybe it's a surprise for you- he might not be so evasive for me."
"As long as you can make sure he isn't doing anything concerning." Ingo tells her and she agrees.
That night, while Elesa accompanies Emmet on one of his outings, Ingo attacks the laundry and the fridge for a cleaning. He and Emmet share the chores of the apartment but sometimes work can distract them both and Ingo (with a slow night on the trains and a pressing concern for his brother) is grateful for something to direct his energy into.
For that matter, a full cleaning day might be in order. Ingo has noticed some cobwebs in the corners of the rooms.
For some reason the dryer seems to have charged the clothes with a great deal of static electricity. Every time Ingo picks up a new article of clothing he receives a light shock to his fingertips. He is reading the back of the dryer sheet box for a use-by date when something yellow catches his eye.
Ingo sets the box aside and leans down into the space behind the stacked laundry machines. A tuft of yellow hairs glistens between his fingertips. With purpose in his step, Ingo turns about face and strides to the kitchen, throwing back the curtain on the sliding glass door. There are no joltiks there.
Could his visitors from earlier in the week have created the static in the laundry when they forced entry to the car? It had been a few days but the laundry had mostly just been sitting there… Just to be safe, Ingo takes the duster and looks into all the best small hiding places that an electric spider might find cozy. He doesn’t turn up any interlopers.
For a moment he pauses outside Emmet’s room. When they clean together they open all the doors and move through the entire apartment like a well-oiled if slightly unenthusiastic machine. But Emmet’s door has been kept closed more often than usual for at least three weeks now. In hindsight, it was the first signal that something strange was going on with his brother.
Ingo turns on his heel once more and sets his attention upon cleaning the fridge with gusto. His brother’s privacy is not a right so frequently utilized and he intends to stand clear of the closing doors! Even as it chafes uncomfortably against his sense of responsibility.
“ Breeding joltiks?” Elesa repeats, mouth forming a perfectly round ‘o’ of astonishment. “But Emmet… since when have you been a breeder?”
Emmet pauses, smiling, and mentally counts it out.
“One and a half weeks!” he informs her cheerily. “Three and a half if you want to count when I started collecting and caring for eggs.”
Elesa takes a long sip from her drink, nodding occasionally as Emmet explains his long-time appreciation for the small electric types and his sudden realization a few months prior that he really really must have one on his team.
“Wow,” she says as he gives her the cliff-notes of his extremely specific criteria for a joltik that he could successfully implement into the rest of his team. “How did you keep this from Ingo?”
“Hm?” Emmet’s hands slow and he tilts his head to one side. “How do you mean?”
“Well, you’re clearly pretty deep into this hyperfixation.” she explains. “I’m surprised that you haven’t let it slip to Ingo with how much enthusiasm you have for it.”
“Ah.” Emmet’s head tilts a little farther with confusion. “Does Ingo not know?”
Elesa nearly spits out her drink laughing.
It turns out that two brothers with somewhat limited communication skills (one of whom is prone to bouts of nonverbalness) who for the most part only trade conversation about trains, battles, and who is responsible for the dishes, can somewhat easily keep things from each other. Emmet, for his part, had had the logistics (and an endless well of anticipation) for his project running on loop in his brain for the better part of two months. So much so that he couldn’t believe it had never come up in conversation with his brother.
“I’ve been sleeping verrrrry lightly,” he tells Elesa. “At first I was too excited to sleep! Now, some of the babies keep me up. It is verrrry possible it slipped my mind to mention it out loud.”
“He’s been worried about you,” Elesa tells him sternly. “You should clue him in! Clearly this is too big for just one person! Especially with the subway to run…”
“No! Delay that!” Emmet crosses his hands in an ‘x’ motion.
“Why!”
“I’ve got it quite under control!” Emmet lurches to his feet, the cafe chair’s metal legs scraping harshly against the floor. “Joltiks grow verrrry fast! The youngest will be old enough to battle in just another week! I have homes arranged for all of them already! It is true, I have been absent from time with Ingo and the low priority duties at the station. There is no need to have him take on this extra burden as well!”
Elesa raises an eyebrow.
“Ingo and I are verrrry close. We do everything together!” Emmet says. “I have no desire to depart from separate stations! But this is my route! Not Ingo’s! I can handle the bumpy ride on rarely traveled tracks.”
Elesa sighs.
“So you didn’t mean to not tell him but now that he doesn’t know you want to keep it that way?”
Emmet nods firmly.
“Jeules, I love you two but I can’t begin to understand you sometimes! Fine!” She spreads her hands. “Ingo said it was fine if I didn’t bring back news about your preoccupation as long as you weren’t in trouble. So, how about I take on some of your babies for a few days to give you a break. I know my way around electric types! That way they’ll have extra attention and Ingo won’t have to worry about you as much.”
“Hmmmm, that is satisfactory!” Emmet announces and sits back down. “You may take my youngest. Mostly they sleep and siphon electricity off the lamp in my room.”
“... With all your number crunching have you considered the blow to your electric bill?”
“I have decided not to look at it!”
Ingo knows they're here. He can hear them crawling, their little legs scuttling about behind the couch, under the fridge, in the walls.
But he can’t find them.
It’s been two days since the all too staticky laundry and the sneaking suspicion that had struck Ingo. Due in part to an extra day at home when the singles train was closed for maintenance for a day, matters have only worsened.
He is certain now that the joltiks he fed on the porch have found a way into their apartment. He finds tufts of yellow hairs stuck in all manner of places and can hear them, on occasion. He’s found them, never less than four now, waiting on the porch as though he will happily grant more of them access to his home.
Overall, Ingo has no issue with joltiks. They are a delightful electric type bug with personality and are overall low maintenance! Emmet has always been fond of them also. But if he made their apartment available to every passing purrloin then where would they be? Street joltiks belong huddled around street lamps, not nesting behind his dryer.
At least he didn’t have to worry about Emmet so much. Elesa had called to let him know that Emmet did want to keep his preoccupations a secret but that she had taken on some of his responsibilities, which would help him sleep better.
“He promises it’ll all blow over in another week or two.” She says distractedly. “He was surprised to realize you didn’t know wha was going on! He’s been spending too much time in his own head, lately. He’ll tell you eventually, I’m sure of it!”
“Thank you Elesa,” Ingo says gratefully. “It is a weight off my shoulders.”
“Yeah! So stop being so tense! You both need to relax. Plan a vacation.”
“I will make an effort,” Ingo tells her. “But I’m afraid I have troubles beyond Emmet’s mood.”
“Oh?”
“I fed some stray pokemon the other day and some of them got into the apartment and keep asking for more. Luckily, they are not very loud.” He tips the brim of his hat low to hide his face. He feels rather ashamed of his inability to rid their house of joltiks. But he’s a Subway Boss! He does not need to call any sort of professional help! “If this trouble put more weight on Emmet’s shoulders at this time I would be a poor conductor of safe passage!”
“Don’t be so dramatic Ingo,” Elesa giggles. “And don’t be afraid to ask for help!” In the background there is a low buzzz and the lights flicker, Elesa blanches. “Sorry, gotta go. Good luck with your intruders!” The screen of the xtrans flashes blank.
Ingo looks back to the apartment just in time to see two tiny joltik scurry out of sight around the corner of the hall. By the time Ingo is there with his pokeball at the ready, they’re gone, the carpet sparking with static electricity to show they were recently there.
Ingo is going to lose his mind.
Emmet hums quietly to himself as he fiddles with the keys to the apartment. They spark in his hands, the joltiks nestled into the folds of his coat and buried under his hat (all asleep like good babies) idly charging and discharging against the metal.
“Joltik!” One says suddenly and Emmet glances down to find one of the elder hatchlings emerging from the ornamental bushes by the door to the building.
“Hello!” He kneels down and holds out a hand for the low level bug type. Right away he recognizes it as one his more promising children. He was verrrry proud of all of them, of course! But seeing as he set out on this track in search of a joltik with helpful nature that was capable of learning cross poison, and this one had been performing very successfully in his training sessions, he had taken a certain shining to it. “Are you looking for me? I was just out taking your younger siblings for a walk before bed time.”
“Joltik-tik!” The pokemon buzzes and gestures upwards.
“Hm! It is a very long way up to climb! I will bring you up in the elevator!” Emmet assures it and carries his tiny passengers into the lobby.
He’d started leaving his window open so his joltiks could venture out and explore as soon as they were old enough to defend themselves. Most of them were perfectly content to nest in his room but with the time he spent away at work each day it was simply irresponsible to leave them trapped! It was also verrrrry bad for newborn pokemon to be locked inside pokeballs all day. He took the eggs and the youngest for walks every day and visited the joltiks in the daycare, which he had already promised to young trainers in other parts of the region, every day. It was a lot of work! But those at the daycare would be ready to take to the trading depot for shipping in just a few days now and the pool of children he would be choosing to keep aboard his regular train was shrinking gradually. All in all, the breeding program had thus far been a huge success!
Emmet opens the door and receives a pokeball to the forehead for his trouble.
“Emmet!” Ingo shouts, still in a perfect stance for throwing the offending object, “I apologize! I acted before completing safety checks.”
“That was a very strong throw.” Emmet lifts a hand to rub at the bruise already forming. The empty pokeball rests innocently on the carpeted floor and Emmet bends down to pick it up. “What are you trying to catch, brother?”
Ingo groans and collapses onto the couch. Emmet looks around and notices the state of slight disarray that has befallen their apartment. Ingo is in a similar looking state, having shed his heavy coat, a plastic bag of empty pokeballs sitting on the couch next to him, and… no shoes?
“I apologize,” Ingo says again. He keeps one arm draped over his face but gesticulates freely with his other hand. “I have been trying to get the situation under control without paging for your assistance. But I am unable!” he removes his arm and gazes miserably at his brother. “I cannot catch the pokemon that have snuck into our home!”
“What pokemon?” Emmet asks. Ingo must have been doing a very good job if Emmet had not even noticed any of these supposed intruders. Perhaps Elesa was right and he should have assuaged Ingo’s concerns earlier. Surely his brother did not hallucinate another problem in his own worry? Suddenly, Emmet notices that Ingo has gone very still.
“Emmet. Do not move.”
“Joltik-tik!” The joltik that Emmet had brought upstairs raises its legs and almost seems to wave. It had been clinging to the back of Emmet’s coat but has now climbed up into a visible place on his shoulder. Ingo’s grip on the pokeball in his hand is white-knuckled.
Ah. Perhaps Emmet should aim to engage some breaks in this situation!
“Ingo! This joltik is mine! Do not be alarmed!”
“Yours?” Ingo repeats, astonished. “When did you get a joltik?” He narrows his eyes. “Does it have friends?”
“I am not sure,” Emmet admits. “I have mostly been spending time with its siblings in the past few days. I hope it has made some friends in that time!”
“Siblings.”
“Yes! Elesa thought this was very surprising but! I have been breeding joltiks!”
“Breeding joltiks.”
“Yes! They are very cute, are they not?”
Ingo stands swiftly and turns toward the hall. In just a few strides he has come to Emmet’s room, which he pauses in front of. Confused, Emmet nods his permission to enter.
The door swings inward and nearly twenty joltik scurry out, startled by the light from the hallway and the unexpected intrusion. Ingo lets them crawl over his socked feet as they spread into the hallway. Some make a beeline toward Emmet, recognizing their trainer (and the one who always carried treats) but a few paused and stared up at Ingo.
“They are confused by our matching carriages!” Emmet laughs. “I apologize joltiks! I have not introduced you to my brother yet! Ingo, these are my joltiks.”
Ingo is peering into his room. Emmet will admit it has gotten into a somewhat messy state, seeing as it is the playground for so many young bug types, but he does not think it warrants such careful assessment. Ingo’s gaze seems to linger on the open window, the webs where joltiks huddle in yellow fuzzy clumps in the upper reaches of the room, and the sealed tupperware full of labeled kibble types and treats for encouraging different stats.
“Emmet.” Ingo says finally. “Is this why you have been so busy lately?”
“Yes!” Emmet steps closer and holds out the larger joltik that had seemed so friendly with Ingo earlier. Ingo stays still as it climbs onto his shoulder and then up into his hair. “They are very rewarding work.”
“I see.” Ingo closes the door to Emmet’s room and puts a hand on his shoulder. “I believe that our obstacles have been one and the same! A week or so ago I fed a joltik on the balcony and ever since I have seen more and more of them inside! I had feared I had attracted a herd!”
“Oh!” Emmet gasps. “I have been bringing more and more home!”
“I have tried to catch them, but my pokeballs do not work!”
“They are already caught because I hatched them!”
“I have been unable to understand where they might be entering our apartment!”
“I have been keeping my window open!”
Both brothers stand in the hallway, silent except for the skittering of joltik legs catching in their pant legs and along the wall.
“Elesa was right,” Emmet says finally. “I should have told you about this sooner.”
“Yes, you should have.” Ingo says. “Elesa was also right when she suggested I ask for your help with my dilemma, but I did not want to burden you unnecessarily.”
“I am sorry to have caused you undue rough travel, Ingo.” Emmet says. “I got verrry excited and forgot to clear the tracks with you!”
Ingo sighs and removes the joltik in his hair with a gentle hand. He places it on Emmet’s shoulder and stretches his arms overhead.
“It is alright, Emmet. I am glad you have been having fun. In fact, I believe I must get the apartment back in order!” he looks over the shifted furniture and scattered cleaning supplies with a grumpier than normal expression. “If you have been training these joltiks, could you herd them into your room? And then you could explain your breeding program to me while I get this sorted.”
“That sounds very fun!” Emmet tells him honestly. “I will help you clean as well!”
“Very well,” Ingo props one hand on his hip and points to the messy apartment with the other. Emmet pockets the joltik that had crawled into his hand and mirrors the pose happily. Already, things feel a little more back to normal.
“All Aboard!”
“Emmet… How much longer will our apartment be overrun with joltiks?”
“Hmm,” Emmet taps his chin. He will miss these babies when he sends them to their new homes. Perhaps he should engage in this sort of project more often, just for the excitement of spending time with such young cute pokemon! “Verrrry soon I will send them to their new homes with other trainers! Do not worry, Ingo.”
“Good, I am glad to hear it.”