Cashe rolled to his feet and adjusted his suit and tie. Thankfully nobody saw his ‘James Bond’ moment. The ballroom was in chaos. People were grouped around an area across the ballroom, watching something closely. Pokemon were shoving and intimidating people, pushing them back and crowding the room further. Cashe saw the air shake around a group of people. Behind him, he heard the woman at the door swear.

“What the hell?” Cashe said, peering across the ballroom and locking gazes with a man in green. It was Mr Maple, standing behind a Gardevoir, bloody hand held high in the air. Blue and Silver petals were raining from flowers that lined the walls. The air shimmered one last time and Mr Maple disappeared. So did every one of his employees and the pokemon pushing at the crowd.

Cashe pushed his way through the crowd, searching for someone ‘official looking’. It was not easy with everyone in tuxes and dresses, especially now when everyone was so closely grouped like this. He shoved his way into a cleared out area of the dance floor. There were a pair of large displays flanking him, mirroring each other. One was the point of the commotion, with broken glass strewn across the floor and blood stained on a small satin pillow. Cashe didn’t need to guess what once sat there.

The opposite display was covered in cloth and was completely ignored - by both Maple and the surrounding crowd. Cashe scanned the people nearest the broken display pedestal, looking for someone who he might talk to about what was happening.

“Cashe!” Cashe turned to see Emilia running at him in her beautiful dress. He smiled, despite the situation. Sasha Firesong and Ashley followed after her. Emilia stepped up to him, straightening his jacket and brushing dust off his lapels. She bit her lip, brow wrinkling, “You look exhausted! What happened?”

“That’s what I was going to ask you,” Cashe said. He let Emilia continue to clean up his appearance and returned the favor, pulling dust from her hair and tidying strands that were getting away.

“We witnessed a robbery,” Sasha said. She eyed Cashe and Emilia with a small smile, “It was very exciting.”

“It was scary!” Ashley said, “I’ve never seen pokemon attack people like that before.”

Having finished cleaning Cashe, Emilia grabbed the lapels of his jacket and didn’t let go. Her hands were shaking, “Cashe, Lindon is missing.”

A surge of adrenaline jolted through his system and Cashe felt his stomach drop. He held Emilia by her arms, squeezing them, “I’m sure he’s fine,” Cashe’s response was automatic. He pulled Emilia into a hug, gaze losing focus. How could he be missing? Did Maple teleport away with him? Was this some ploy to lure Cashe into that horrific machine? “He’s a good kid. He probably just got lost in the crowd or-” Cashe frowned.

“Or?” Emilia looked up at him, eyes desperate.

“He’s right there,” Cashe broke out in a grin, laughing in relief.

“What?” Emilia turned in Cashe’s arms and craned her neck around to look over her shoulder. Lindon was pushing through the crowd of people, his little tuxedo stained with sweat and dirt. His hair was a mess and his bow tie was completely undone, hanging loose around his neck. He had a pokeball in his hand and he was looking around, obviously lost and confused.

“Lindon!” Emilia shouted, pulling herself from Cashe’s arms and marching over to him. She had to hike up her dress to march properly, but she did it, heels and all. “What did you think you were doing, running off like that? That was dangerous! We didn’t know what might have happened to you!”

Lindon’s head shot up at the sound of his name, but it fell right after from Emilia’s scolding. He held his pokeball out for her to see, “I was getting Magnemite,” he said, voice meek.

“So you could battle a new Team?” Emilia’s voice was a mix of incredulity and anger, “There was a Gardevoir here! I couldn’t have even fought that! It takes the best trainers in the world to take down Teams! Are you the best trainer in the world?”

“No,” Lindon flushed, looking away.

“No, you are not!” Emilia said, raising a finger right in the young man’s face.

“Easy,” Cashe said, pulling Emilia away from Lindon with a gentle hand on her shoulder. Lindon looked on the verge of tears. “What Emilia is trying to say is she was very worried about you.”

“I just wanted to help,” Lindon sniffed, rubbing his nose with the sleeve of his tux.

“Oh, don’t do that,” Cashe knelt in front of him, pulling his arm away from his face. Too late, the sleeve was already stained. Cashe took Lindon’s head and lifted it, “Don’t get upset, we were only worried about you,” Cashe took Lindon’s bow tie and adjusted it, bringing one end down and preparing to tie it. “It’s good that you want to help, but it’s also good to know when to help,” Cashe said, loping the ends around each other. He tossed the longer end over one of Lindon’s shoulders, “This was a robbery. Where I come from, do you know how we help in robberies?”

Lindon rubbed his eyes and sniffed, “How?”

“By letting them happen,” Cashe said, looping one end into a bow shape and bringin the longer end down from his shoulder, “Robberies are bad, but they can happen without anyone getting hurt. If you try to fight back, the chances of someone getting hurt go way up.”

“But they were going to steal the Master Ball!” Lindon protested.

“They did steal the Master Ball,” Cashe said, looping the longer end of the tie and pulling it through to tie the tie tight, “But it's just a thing. Is some random item worth as much as someone’s life? Is it worth someone getting hurt over it?”

“No.”

“I don’t think so either,” Cashe gave the bow tie one last adjustment and stood up, “Some things are worth putting yourself in danger for, but not something like this. Helping people is always good, Lindon, you just have to learn the right way to do it.”

Lindon nodded and hugged Cashe around the waist, “I’m sorry.”

Cashe rubbed Lindon’s head, smiling at him. Emilia took him by the arm and leaned against his shoulder, “You’re pretty good at that.”

“When I got married, all the groomsmen wore tuxes,” Cashe smiled at the memory, “My best man had no idea how to keep a bow tie on his neck, so I ended up having to tie it for him five or six times before the ceremony even started. It came undone in the middle of the vows. Everyone noticed.”

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Emilia matched his smile, “You’re good at tying bow ties, too, but that’s not what I meant.”

“You’re married?” Ashley said, looking between Cashe and Emilia in confusion.

“Ah, no,” Cashe said, clearing his throat, “I was, before I came here.”

Ashley’s eyes went wide in realization, “I’m sorry,” she stuttered, “I didn’t mean to-”

“It’s fine,” Cashe said, waving off her apology, “I know you didn’t mean anything by it.”

“You never said why you looked like you just came from a workout,” Emilia said, “Going by what happened here, I take it Maple didn’t want anything good?”

“You could say that,” Cashe said, “Actually, do you know where I could find someone in charge of something?”

***

Cashe, Emilia, and Lindon were sitting in the Captain’s office. It was a room directly connected with the bridge of the ship, spacious, with a single desk running through the middle of it. They sat on one side while the captain sat on the other. She was an older woman, with a short crop of white hair and a face that looked like it was used to smiling.

It wasn’t smiling now, however. Captain Robinson was leaning forward, elbows on her desk, hands clasped in front of her. She had a stern frown on her face and was staring at Cashe, looking like she wished he didn’t exist. A small notebook sat under her hands, filled with notes from Cashe’s telling of the incident.

“And the machine was supposed to do what exactly,” she said, squinting at Cashe, “send your essence across the world?”

“Amplify the radiation coming from me,” Cashe corrected. ‘Sending his essence’ did not sound right, “The purpose being to attract Jirachi to the cruise ship and capture it with the Master Ball.”

“And now we have no machine, no suspects, and no Master Ball,” Captain Robinson said, “And you are the only one who seems to know anything about what’s going on.”

Cashe frowned, “There should be at least two engineers who can verify at least part of what happened.”

“Their accounts of the incident are hazy at best,” Captain Robinson said with an air of dismissal, “Tell me again how you managed to, ahem,” she glanced at her notes, “‘escape’ from half a dozen trainers and their pokemon.”

“Ivysaur used Sleep Powder,” Cashe said, “You can go down to the engine room and see for yourself. I doubt any of it has been cleaned up yet.”

“I’m sure,” the captain said, “Of course, there is no way to know when that Sleep Powder got there. Your Ivysaur could have easily used Sleep Powder after the fact.”

“Of course there is,” Cashe said, “The powder fell on everything there, including the machines and pokemon! There will be obvious outlines on the ground in the places where they disappeared!”

“What are you trying to say?” Emilia interrupted, speaking up for the first time.

“Miss Oak,” Captain Robinson gave Emilia a patronizing smile, ignoring Cashe, “I understand he is your lover, but putting your poor taste in men aside, I am having a hard time believing that the least reliable and most troublesome of the trainers on board just happened upon the ongoing activities of a new Team and managed to thwart their plan, single handed.”

Emilia gaped at her, “Poor taste in men?”

“Cashe isn’t really like that!” Lindon objected, “It’s just his persona for TV!”

“I am well aware of his persona, little boy,” the captain said with a thin smile, “But Mr Cashe has demonstrated that he is a liar and a violent firebrand even outside of battle by both attacking trainers and dragging their good names through the mud for some sort of personal grudge.” She reached across the desk and patted Lindon on the head, “Once you get a little older, I think you will be able to understand the difference between people who only act like villains, and those who are one.”

“What good trainer did I drag through the mud?” Cashe demanded, “Steven Stone III? He assaulted Emilia!”

“According to you,” Captain Robinson scoffed, “The poisoner.”

“According to me!” Emilia shouted, “That piece of shit assaulted me!”

“Miss Oak, please do not descend into hysterics in my office, or I will have to ask you to leave,” the captain said, “I have already shown enough patience putting up with your boyfriend’s ridiculous claims, I do not need your overwrought emotions involved as well.”

Emilia made a strangled noise of offended rage, staring open mouthed at the captain.

“Listen,” Cashe said through a clenched jaw, “We came here because you are the civic authority on the ship. We are reporting what we know. All we want is for that report to make it into the hands of the authority outside of this ship.”

“Of course you do,” Captain Robinson said with a smile, her tone dripping with condescension.

“You have a duty to pass on our reports to the International Police!” Lindon said.

Captain Robinson raised an eyebrow at Lindon, as if surprised he was still there, “Do not worry, little boy. Once a proper investigation is complete I will pass along all relevant information to the global authorities.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Emilia challenged, slamming her hand on the captain’s desk.

Captain Robinson glanced at Emilia with an unimpressed face, “It is my duty to report only the facts, Miss Oak. Any misleading information designed to deliberately sabotage the efforts of the authorities will, of course, be left out.”

“You bitch,” Emilia whispered, her voice scathing, “You absolute bitch.”

Cashe stood, gabbing Emilia by the arm and dragging her away from the desk before she could do anything that would get her thrown in the brig.

“We’re leaving,” Cashe growled, “Lindon, come on.”

Lindon hopped out of his chair, eyes wide at the interaction, hurrying behind Cashe.

“Thank you for your report,” Captain Robinson chimed as they left the office.

***

“She’s a despicable woman,” Emilia said, “A vile, arrogant, disgusting woman.” Cashe was still holding onto her arm, half an hour and several drinks later. Lindon wanted to return to the party so he could see what the prizes were for the betting tournament and Cashe agreed. He was worried if he let Emilia out of his sight she would charge the captain’s office or her quarters in an attempt to vent her anger.

“She’s a regular Aunt Lydia,” Cashe said, handing Emilia another drink. She snatched it out of his hand and down it in a single gulp.

“I don’t know who that is,” Emilia said, “But your tone is supportive, so thank you.”

“When are they going to show the prizes for the betting tournament?” Lindon complained, turning his head to eye the covered display cases once again.

“They might not do it at all,” Cashe said to him, “Look around. Lots of people left the party after the incident and not very many have come back.” Cashe gestured to the people around them. There were few in comparison to what there had been when they had left to report to the captain. Most of the remaining were trainers, who had a much higher tolerance for excitement and drama. The betting prizes could be won by anyone, so it would make a certain amount of sense for the organizers to hold off on the announcement until more of the non-trainer guests were present.

“I’m surprised they continued the party at all,” Emilia grumbled, “They didn’t even block off the area where the attack happened.”

Cashe glanced over to the broken display case. The glass had been cleaned up from the floor and the shattered case taken away, but the empty satin pillow still sat on the pedestal and people milled around it. Cashe even saw one trainer poke the pillow with his finger.

“I guess they decided they didn’t need to investigate that area since everyone already knows who did it.” Cashe said.

“Hey, Apollo?” Lindon said, tugging at his jacket, “I have a question.”

“Yeah? What is it?” Cashe glanced down at Lindon.

He pointed at Cashe’s waist, where he kept his pokeballs, “Why do you have three pokeballs all of a sudden?”

*****