Ten minutes earlier.

“I’m sorry, Jen,” Cashe whispered, “It doesn’t look like I will be coming home after all.” Cashe tossed Ivysaurs’s ball into the cramped space. His exhausted pokemon appeared in a flash of light, startling everyone.

The assistant’s brow furrowed, “What are you doing?”

“Ivy,” Ivysaur complained. He barely fit in the small room.

“Take them both out, Ivysaur!” Cashe shouted, pointing to the Espurr and Gothita, “Vine Whip!”

“What are you doing?” The assistant screamed. She reached into her jacket and tore out two pokeballs tossing them out at Ivysaur.

Ivysaur was already moving, however, and both Gothita and Espurr stood, stunned as he charged them.

Four vines whipped out from his back, twisting through the air and slamming into Gothita and Espurr. The small pokemon were sent flying, crashing into the metal piping of the engine room with an enormous clang.

The assistant’s pokeballs opened as Ivysaur attacked Espurr and Gothita, revealing her pokemon to be Chingling and Inkay.

Cashe grimaced and tossed out Mankey’s ball as well. Ivysaur was exhausted and would be hard pressed to fight multiple sets of pokemon. Mankey was not in better shape, however. She entered the tiny area hunched over and breathing hard, the spot where Gligar stabbed her red and puffy. Fortunately, she was quite insane, and screeched in rage and frustration the moment she saw Inkay and Chingling.

“Mankey, use Lash Out on the Chingling,” Cashe ordered, “Ivysaur, Vine Whip Inkay!”

Mankey screamed in rage and dashed across the small space, her natural agility letting her use the pipes as branches to swing from, giving her an erratic approach.

“Confusion!” The assistant screamed at her pokemon. It was too late for Chingling, however. Mankey was too fast, already across the tiny space, slamming into the chime-like pokemon with a fist covered in dark energy. Chingling was sent flying, crashing into Espurr as it managed to get to its feet, sending both pokemon bowling into the walls of the engine room.

Ivysaur’s Vine Whip was dodged by the Inkay, however, the little pokemon managed to slip to the side using its squid-like body to move in the cramped corridor where other pokemon could not reach. It flexed the muscles in its neck and Ivysaur stumbled, the Confusion hitting him and leaving him temporarily disoriented.

Mr Maple’s employees were now recovering from the initial shock of Cashe’s attack, also drawing pokeballs from the pockets of their suits. They tossed them into the small area and soon there was no room for even Mankey to maneuver. Another Drowzee appeared, as well as another Chingling. Cashe saw a Solosis and a pair of Slowpoke, one Kantonian and one Galarian. There were even an Elgyem and a Spoink.

Out of the corner of his eye, Cashe saw the two new ‘engineers’ in the engine control room also notice something was wrong through the window. He saw limbs flashing and the engines began to whir ominously. That was not good.

Cashe bit his lip, scanning the pokemon surrounding Ivysaur and Mankey. Mankey was heaving after her attack, about to pass out, and Ivysaur was still disoriented from Inkay’s super effective attack.

“Give up, Cashe,” the assistant said, fury marring her features, “Recall your pokemon and get in the machine. Your pokemon are exhausted. You can’t beat us all. Don’t make this more difficult than it has to be.”

Cashe grit his teeth. She was right. He stood no chance here. The whirring of the engines grew louder, making orders almost impossible to hear over the sound. It was a no win situation.

“FUCK!” Cashe shouted. He held up his pokeball, pointing it at Mankey, “Mankey, come on back. You’ve done enough.” Mankey returned to her ball in a stream of red light.

“Good. See how easy that is?” the assistant said, “Now do the same for Ivysaur.”

Cashe bit his lip, holding up his pokeball.

“Ivysaur,” Ivysaur looked at him with a stern gaze as if to say, ‘I can take them all on.’

“I know buddy,” Cashe whispered.

“What was that?” the assistant narrowed her eyes.

“Ivysaur,” Cashe spoke up, his voice calm and even, “use Sleep Powder. Make it big.”

“STOP HIM!” the assistant screamed. Seven people shouted at the same time, their words impossible to make out with the ever increasing sounds of the engine.

Cashe turned and sprinted away, holding his breath as he shot up the narrow steps and into the engine control room. Behind him, Ivysaur erupted in a plume of white powder, bigger than anything Cashe had ever seen him produce before.

Cashe slammed the door shut behind him, just before the wave of sleep powder slammed into the door.

The engineers turned to look at him, shouting as Cashe tossed out Mankey’s pokeball again, “Mankey!” He yelled, "Lash Out on Drowzee!”

Mankey came out of her ball, already spinning through the air and coated in dark energy, even before she fully solidified into her shape. She slammed into Drowzee, who looked up in surprise at the incoming attack, unable to react in time as Mankey crashed into it. Drowzee was tossed across the small room, slamming into the long, pale green machine hard enough to dent the paneling. It flopped forward, bouncing off comically and crashing to the ground.

Cashe continued to run across the room, punching the closest engineer in the jaw as he was standing up, not giving him a chance to reach for his pokeball. He collapsed to the ground in a heap at Cashe’s feet. The second engineer froze, hand halfway to his jacket, staring up at Cashe with an uncertain look in his eye.

Cashe loomed over the man, shaking his hand from the pain of striking the first engineer, “It turns out I’m pretty good at punching people,” Cashe said, kicking the man on the ground lightly. The man didn’t even groan. He was out cold. “Do you want to find out how good?”

The second engineer shook his head and slowly lowered his hand to his lap.

Cashe grunted in amusement, “Good. Wait here. Do not move.” Cashe glanced over to his weary pokemon, “Mankey, if he moves, tear his arms off.”

“Man-key.” Mankey said with an exhausted huff.

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The man went perfectly still, straightening his back and staring at Cashe with a pleading look in his eye.

“You think that’s going to work on me?” Cashe snarled, “Do you have any idea who I am? I’m Blood Fucking Money.”

Cashe twisted around cracking open the control room door and peeking out. Ivysaur was waiting at the bottom of the stairs, looking up at the door like the good boy he was. He was too wide to actually climb the stairs, so Cashe returned him to his pokeball. Behind where he stood, all of Mr Maple’s employees were fast asleep on the ground, along with their pokemon. Only a single Drowzee was still awake, but it was rolling around in the dust, happily drawing shapes in it with its trunk. Cashe shut the door.

He returned to the engineers, kneeling beside the two that Drowzee had put to sleep and slapping them gently on the face until they woke up. He continued slapping past that until they were lucid enough to realize what was happening.

“These guys did something to the engine,” Cashe said as the pair of engineers sat up groggily, “You need to fix it.”

One of the engineers got to his feet and blinked blearily at the control panels, “What did they do? Fixing this will - shit, everyone is going to feel this.” He turned to Cashe, but Cashe was already in the process of leaving.

He recalled Mankey to her pokeball again, dashing out the door and leaving the confused pair of engineers behind with the last conscious employee of Mr Maple.

“Who was that?” One said.

“I dunno,” said the other.

“It was Blood Fucking Money.” Maple’s employee said.

***

Cashe ran out of the main engine room, desperately trying to remember how to get out of the twisting corridors. Luckily he didn’t have to, following a series of emergency exit signs. They weren’t the overhead glowing sighs one saw in buildings, but faded white and red signs on printed vinyl, stuck to a series of doors.

Cashe ran through the doors, soon finding himself at a set of stairs. He bolted up them, silently thanking the last few months of exercise he got while on the road with Emilia.

Before too long, he was on the ninth deck - the floor of the ballroom and where the Master Ball was being held. If he was fast enough, he might be able to stop it from being stolen. The silk tux clung to his body, his sweat making it hard to move properly. James Bond always made it look so easy.

Cashe took a moment in his mad dash to consider that he was sprinting through a luxury cruise liner in a tux to save the day from an evil organization. He was kind of James Bond now.

He finished the thought just in time to just avoid crashing into a pair of Maple’s employees. They were standing at the edge of the hallway leading to the ballroom. Two pokemon stood in front of them, a Meditite and a Pikachu.

The pair noticed Cashe at the same time he noticed them. They stared at each other in a moment of tension ratcheting silence.

“Um, sir?” The Pikachu trainer said, “You have to turn back. There’s something going on in the ballroom and we can’t let anyone through.”

“That’s right,” the second employee said, nodding in obvious relief that the first trainer came up with a plausible lie, “We’re sorry, but the area is off limits for now.”

Cashe wheezed from his run, stumbling against the wall to catch his breath. His lungs burned and his legs felt like they were lead, the stop in his charge letting the strain from it hit him all at once. He flicked both his pokeballs out, releasing Mankey and Ivysaur.

“Um, sir?” The Pikachu trainer said again, looking confused at the equally exhausted trainer and pokemon, “Are you alright? We can’t let you through, but I think there’s a first aid station down that hall. They will probably have something for your pokemon, too,” the employee pointed down a hall leading away from the ballroom, “I can escort you if you need help.”

“No, you can’t!” the second employee cried out. She looked distraught at the idea, “If you leave I’ll be alone. What if someone comes?”

“Just tell them they can’t get through,” the first trainer said. He was frowning at his partner, “They won’t make a fuss and if they do I’ll be right around the corner.”

“Pika,” the Pikachu nodded in agreement.

“No! Mr Maple said we need to guard the hallway together!”

“These are extenuating circumstances,” the Pikachu trainer said, “Look at him, there's obviously something wrong. He might be having a heart attack or something.”

Cashe righted himself, holding up a hand to pause the argument, “I’m fine,” Cashe gasped.

“See? He’s fine. Now get back here!”

“Are you sure?” the Pikachu trainer frowned, “You don’t look fine.”

“I’m fine,” Cashe confirmed between breaths, “Thank you for your concern.”

Cashe took another deep breath and the employee of Maple smiled, “No problem. Why are you so out of breath, anyway?”

“Just ran up from the engine room, Cashe let a small smile part his lips, “You wouldn’t believe what’s going on down there.” The trainer’s eyes went wide and his face paled. Cashe grinned. “Ivysaur, Razor Leaf.”

“Ivysaur!” Ivysaur cried out, kicking up a flurry of leaves from his back. The leaves were golden now, shimmering in the light, shining the same color as the petals on his back. The leaves caught in the air, propelled by a mysterious wind and shot straight at Pikachu and Meditite.

“Look out!” the Meditite trainer shouted, too late. The leaves, powered up by Bulbasar’s evolution into Ivysaur, crashed into Pikachu and Meditite with a thunderous noise. The leaves exploded into gold and green vapor on impact, sending the pokemon flying across the hall. Neither pokemon got up.

Both of Maple’s employees stared, aghast that their pokemon were taken out in a single hit.

Cashe took another deep breath, coughing as the air stung lungs, “Thanks for taking it easy on me,” he said, resuming his run down the hallway.

Ivysaur and Mankey followed him, both able to keep up despite their obvious exhaustion. Cashe picked up his pace as he ran. The halls were deserted, likely cleared by the employees of Mr Maple before everything even began.

Cashe rounded the final corner that led to the ballroom. A woman in a green suit stood guard outside of the ballroom door. Cashe could hear shouts and yelling coming from the ballroom, the noise of a disturbed crowd. He was too late. Maple had already made his move and the theft of the Master Ball was already underway.

“God dammit,” Cashe swore as he ran towards the door. The woman guarding it looked over at the noise, noticing him for the first time.

Unlike the previous two sentries, she did not hesitate. She reached for a pokeball on her waist and tossed it into the air.

“Mankey!” Cashe managed to shout, “Catch the ball!”

“Mank!” Mankey darted forward, suddenly moving much faster than Cashe and caught the pokeball before it had a chance to open. She landed from her leap, staggering over to Cashe and handing him the pokeball.

“Hey!” The woman guarding the door shouted, an affronted look on her face, “You’re not allowed to do that!”

Cashe opened his mouth to respond but the entire world shook around him. The ship felt like it was passing over an earthquake, Screams rose up from the ballroom door and Cashe collapsed onto the ground in his exhaustion. Mankey also staggered, but managed to catch him as he fell, her tiny body holding him up easily.

Cashe took the pokeball and placed it on his belt, “And you’re allowed to attack me with pokemon?” Cashe gasped. He stood up from the ground, giving Mankey an affectionate pat as he did so. Cries again rose up from the ballroom behind the woman, causing them both to glance over, “Or do whatever is going on in there?”

“You can’t just steal someone else’s pokemon!” She said, “You’re a monster!”

“I’ll give it back to you when it's all over,” Cashe coughed again, his heart pounding in his chest so hard he thought he was going to pass out.

“No! Give her back now, asshole! Mr Maple just gave her to me! We haven’t even met properly yet!” The woman yelled at him, “She needs special care! Don’t you know anything about raising psychic types? Who do you think you are?”

“James Bond,” Cashe coughed again, “And I don’t care. I can’t leave you here with a pokemon. Now, move out of my way.”

Ivysaur stepped in front of Cashe, emphasizing the unspoken ‘or else’. The woman crossed her arms and harrumphed, stepping to the side and leaning on the wall beside the large pair of doors.

“Thank you.” Cashe, nodded at his pokemon and pushed at the doors. They didn’t open. The woman snickered. Cashe sighed and got a running start, slamming into the ballroom ballroom doors and crashing through them, flopping over in an uncoordinated mess that sent him sprawling across the floor.

He hopped to his feet and adjusted his suit and bow tie. Just like James Bond.

Across the ballroom a man in an emerald green suit locked eyes with him and disappeared.

*****