While it was a normal battle format in Hisui, and one Ingo had made a point to become proficient in, he didn’t particularly relish three on one challenge matches-- not as the person commanding three Pokemon at once, that was.

He could do it, and was quite skilled in it, but it felt… wrong. Before he’d agreed to run Galaxy Team’s Path of Solitude, he’d thought it was simply because it stripped the battle of any challenge, but as Rei challenged him with the very pillars of existence, he began to narrow it down. While he could split his focus effectively, he didn’t like the distance from his Pokemon that it fostered; he preferred to dedicate his [focus] to a singular combatant, to hone in on the minutiae that effected a battle. Other people may have preferred more participants and a broader scope, and that was perfectly fine for them, but it wasn’t what he favored.

The spontaneity was engaging, though, and he couldn’t deny that. He’d had no prior experience battling titans, which meant that he had to rely on that information he could glean in the moment. It was a thrilling [challenge], and Rei loudly bemoaned the fact that, even with such an edge, he hadn’t been able to eke out a victory on the first try; he’d known that it would only get harder from there on out, once Ingo had a better idea what he was working against.

Even so, there had been some semblance of [familiarity] when Rei had called out the names of the Pokemon he’d intended to battle with. When he decided to pit “Arceus” against the Path of Solitude, Ingo hadn’t had a scrap of information to fall back upon-- with Palkia and Dialga, he’d at least recognized them from his work in the Celestica Ruins, and word of the shadow cast by Giratina had reached him.

When the hooved creature took form, he could do little more than stare.

He didn’t know anything about Arceus, but he knew it. He had no idea how he knew it, but it was terribly familiar to him.

He was so caught up in his thoughts that he failed to send his trio of Pokemon out onto the field, and without anything to battle, the Pokemon’s attention caught upon him. A voice hummed, and it wasn’t something that could be heard on a physical level, but neither was it the telepathic speech that psychic types relied on-- it was as though it pierced directly into the core of his being.

“One had wondered what became of thou, when thine summons went unanswered.”

All he could do was stare at it numbly, scarcely processing that the words were directed at him. Somewhere in the background, he heard Rei ask a question, but in comparison, the words were fuzzy and indecipherable. It was covered up the rest of the way by a [?] sigh.

“It is within Dialga’s domain, now: the past. One must [concoct] a new mission to relieve thee of thine [outdated] duty, mustn’t one?” Its face didn’t move at all, and on one level, Ingo could sympathize with it, but his conscious thoughts were too consumed with the ambiguous memory attached to the being, followed by the words it wasn’t-quite-speaking.

Fortunately, he was the only one so [consumed] with such introspection.

“What… what are you talking about?” Rei asked, stepping forward to stand boldly at Arceus’s shoulder.

Finally, it looked away from Ingo-- allowing a desperate rush of air to fill his lungs, as he began to breathe again-- to favor the young man with its attention.

“Before thou were appointed one’s champion, one had selected another. He stands across from thou.”

“Oh,” / “Then we’re the same? You brought us both here?”

It inclined its head, and the dam of incredulity burst, allowing the flood of [thoughts] to rush forth.[elaborate] Among them all, one emerged above the deluge:

His voice was shockingly rough to begin with, made coarse by the tide of emotions lapping at the edges of his being. “If you were the one to chart our courses… you must know where our home stations lie.”

Rei stopped in the middle of mumbling something, and, belatedly, Ingo realized he might have interrupted. In the midst of [idk], he’d lost track of the conversation’s progress, and it had taken more effort to speak up than he might have expected, so his social awareness was somewhat lacking at the moment. It didn’t seem to bother Rei, who immediately turned his head to Arceus, so sharply it might have given him whiplash.

“Yes.”