Despite the huge type advantage, Bulbasaur was not able to pull off a win, falling to an effective combination of Bind, Sand Attack, and Rollout. Two battles in a row were still too much for the little guy, and Bulbasaur returned to his ball to rest.
“I see there’s no evasion clause here,” Cashe grumbled as he and Emilia regrouped, “Sand Attack is a cheap strategy.”
“You’re one to talk,” Emilia scoffed, “You’re training a defensive Bulbasaur. You’re going to be sitting back and whittling down opponents with Leech Seed and poison strats. That is just as bad, not to mention absolutely brutal. At least with my tactics, pokemon are still able to walk around after. Fighting you will send every trainer to a Pokemon Center immediately, even if they win.”
“Bulbasaur is a good boy,” Cashe sniffed. It wasn’t much of a counter argument, but it was all he had in his defense.
“Try saying that once you see what a Toxic does to a pokemon,” Emilia scoffed, “You’ll need a Pokemon Center just to settle your stomach.”
“It’s that bad?” Cashe said. He bit his lip. He was planning on using Toxic once Bulbasaur learned it. A lot.
“Yeah. Speaking of Pokemon Centers, we should actually head to ours. Charmander didn’t like being tossed around so much and Bulbasaur looked like he could use some healing as well.”
“Sure,” Cashe said. He shrunk the pokeball down to its miniature form with a click of the button on the front, slipping it into his pocket.
They came around the front of the lab and found Annie standing with her arms crossed. She had a fierce scowl on her face and was in the middle of an argument with a flustered looking delivery man. He was sitting on top of a towering Mudsdale who was dragging a cart full of goods for the lab. In the delivery man’s hands was a small package.
“I’m sorry, Annie, I can’t give this one to you, it’s not for your grandparents,” the delivery man said, “I have to drop it off with Apollo Cashe and Apollo Cashe only.”
“I saved Cashe!” Annie screamed in frustration, “You can give it to me!”
“Easy there, Annie,” Emilia said, jogging forward to calm down her niece. She swept Annie up into a hug, but the small girl was having none of it, continuing to scowl at the delivery man even in her aunt’s arms.
The delivery man gave Emilia a relieved look, “Thank you, Ms Oak, I wasn’t sure what to do.”
“Don’t worry about it, I know how she can get,” Emilia said as she rocked Annie back and forth, “Did you say you were looking for Cashe?”
“Apollo Cashe, yes, Ms Oak.”
“I’m Cashe,” Cashe said, giving the man a wave, “You have something for me?”
“Yes, sir,” the delivery man slid off his Mudsdale and walked a few steps to meet Cashe. He handed him a clipboard and pen for signature, “Looks like something from the Pokemon League.”
“Oh! Your IDs!” Emilia dropped Annie in a rough heap and ran back over to Cashe, snatching the package out of the delivery man’s hands.
“Ms Oak, I really can’t give you those…”
“It’s fine,” Cashe said, signing the delivery slip and handing the clipboard back.
“If you say so, Mr Cashe,” the delivery man waved an arm at Mudsdale, “Come on girl, let’s bring those to the back. And by 'let’s' I mean you.”
Mudsdale whinnied, but obediently followed the man behind the lab, the huge horse dragging the heavy cart easily. Meanwhile, Emilia had opened up his package and was holding his IDs up to compare with his face.
“You’re thirty?” She said, giving him a questioning look.
“Yeah, why?” Cashe said, “Is that too old to be a pokemon trainer?”
“No. Well yeah, kind of,” Emilia teased, “I just thought you were younger.”
“The benefits of a stress free life,” Cashe said sarcastically, taking the IDs from her. Each had his picture, name, age and a separate identification number, as well as a little chip like the ones found on credit cards, “Hey, can I pay for things with these?”
“That’s their main function,” Emilia said, “I’ll show you when we head to the Center.”
“Can I come?” Annie pulled at her aunt’s shirt, eyes hopeful.
“After you just yelled at the mailman?” Emilia said, “Have you even done your chores?”
“Yes?”
“You’d better do your chores first,” Cashe said, causing Annie to pout, “You don’t want your grandparents to be mad at you, do you?”
“No,” Annie groaned as she sulked away, dragging her feet as she headed towards the house.
Emilia gave Cashe a grateful smile, “Ready to go?” Cashe nodded and they headed out.
***
A short walk later and they were out of the Pokemon Center. Both Charmander and Bulbasaur were injured enough that they would require a few hours at the Center, so Emilia and Cashe had some free time.
“Now that you’ve got your ID, let's get us some clothes fit for new trainers,” Emilia said, giving Cashe a significant once over.
“What, is there something wrong with what I have now?” Cashe joked. He had only a few outfits. One was his tattered suit, which he hadn’t worn in weeks, and the others were all loaned from Blue They were too small, and way out of fashion.
Emilia laughed, “We may be a small town, but I think we can do better than that.”
Pallet Town had two clothing stores, one focused on men's apparel and the other focused on women’s. They headed for the woman’s first.
It was a surprisingly modern boutique with an equally surprising array of clothing from all over the world. A teenage girl stood at the register. She welcomed them as they entered and did a double take when she saw Emilia, her eyes going wide. A second later she pulled out her phone and began texting. Emilia either didn’t notice or didn’t care, so Cashe decided not to bring it up.
“You weren’t kidding about being able to do better,” Cashe said, looking through a rack of dresses from Paldea. He didn’t see any prices, which was more than a little worrying. In Vancouver, if no price was listed it was a message: If you have to ask, you can’t afford it.
“Do you think we’ll be going to Alola?” Emilia called, holding a floral bikini top up to her chest.
“You tell me, you’ve refused to help me plan my team, except for rejecting all my preferred pokemon.”
“Rejecting them for now,” Emilia emphasized, “And you’re right. We haven’t made any decisions so I may as well treat myself. Plus a bikini would work for Hoenn as well.”
“Sure,” Cashe said, rolling his eyes, “Don’t forget we need to get clothing actually fit for travel as well, not just fit for the beach.”
“Good point, I’ll need a bit of everything then,” Emilia grinned, grabbing a series of items and dropping them into a big pile. “I’m going to go try these on.”
As Emilia disappeared into the back, the girl at the register peered over at Cashe, “Do you mind if I ask you a question?”
Cashe saw no problem with it, and the teenage girl looked like she was about to burst if she didn’t get to say anything. “Sure, go ahead.”
The girl’s eyes sparkled, “Is that Emilia Oak? I heard she already has a super rare pokemon. Do you think she’d mind if I ask for her autograph?” She gasped, “Are you going to be her journey partner? That means you’re a pretty big deal, right? Are you going to join the circuits with her? Do you think you can win any badges? Oh! What region are you guys starting in?”
“That’s a lot more than one question,” Cashe chuckled. Was Emilia a big deal or something? Oak was a famous last name, with Blue, Gary, and the original pokemon professor himself, but this seemed a little much.
“Ohmygodimsosorry,” the cashier’s faced flushed a deep red as she spoke rapidly, “ImjustareallybigfanofhersisterandIthoughtthatmaybeshewouldbelikeherandshesjustsoniceandprettytoosoIthoughtthatmaybeshewouldntmindifiaskedafewquestionsbutthenithoughtnoMarciedontbeafreakbutthenshewentintothechangeroomandyourelikeherboyfriendorsomethingsoIthought-”
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“Whoa, slow down, breathe,” Cashe held up his hands, fighting to keep an amused grin from his face. The girl was speaking so quickly he could barely make out a word of what she said, “It’s fine. I thought I heard you say Marcie there, is that your name?” A nod. “You’re a fan of Emilia’s sister?”
Marciel nodded eagerly, “She’s really cool.”
“Well I can answer some of your questions I think,” Cashe said. He scratched his chin as he tried to remember them all, “Yes, that is Emilia Oak and if you ask for her autograph I’m pretty sure she’ll give it to you.”
“Really?” Marcie's eyes went wide.
“Really. Just ask her, she’s really nice,” Cashe said.
The girl bit her lip and nodded, staring at the hall to the changing rooms. The flush that had slowly begun to drain from her face came back in full force, and by the time Emilia returned from trying on her outfits, poor Marcie was the color of a tomato.
Emilia grinned and made her way over, a pile of clothes in her hands. She gave Cashe a quizzical look when she noticed the girl's deep red face. Cashe just shrugged and gave Marcie a nudge.
Emilia turned to face her, “Can I help you?”
Marcie’s eyes bulged even wider and she shook her head in panic.
Emilia raised an eyebrow, “Can you help me check out?”
A vigorous nod.
They followed her as she scampered back to the register. Her hands were shaking so much that she was having trouble scanning the clothes. Cashe decided to throw her a bone.
“You know Emilia, Marcie here is a fan of your sister.”
Marcie froze.
“Is that right?” Emilia grinned, “I’m not surprised. She’s a pretty big deal.”
“But I bet Marcie could be convinced to cheer for you if you gave her an autograph,” Cashe continued, “I mean, you’re obviously so much cooler than her, after all.”
“Damn right,” Emilia laughed, “Would you like that, Marcie?”
Marcie gave a shaky nod and Emilia grinned. She reached across the counter and grabbed a pen and a small slip of paper, jotting down a quick message and a signature. She slid it across the counter to Marcie who just stared at it.
“Thank you for cheering me on,” Emilia said. Marcie nodded, coming back to herself a bit and pocketing the paper. She finished scanning the clothes and Emilia handed her her citizenship ID. With a quick scan, the transaction was complete and they were headed out the door.
“So your sister is a big deal,” Cashe said as they walked across the street to the men’s apparel store. It was similarly sized, but didn’t appear to have as broad of a selection. Another bored teenage girl was at the register. She barely looked up from her phone as they entered.
“You don’t know?” Emilia said, surprised. She grinned, “Well I’m not telling.”
“I can just ask someone if she is such a big deal,” Cashe said, “I could go back and ask Marcie.”
“Where’s the fun in that?” Emilia pouted.
Cashe rolled his eyes. But he didn’t push further. Emilia began to browse the store, pulling clothes from the racks and shelves and making a small pile. Cashe began to do the same, but Emilia stopped him.
“What are you doing?” She said.
“What are you doing?” Cashe said, “I’m picking out my clothes.”
“No, I’m picking out your clothes,” Emilia said, “If we’re going to travel together, you have to look the part.” She grinned, “And it’s obvious you have no sense of style, I mean, look at what you’re wearing.”
“She’s right,” the cashier said without looking up from her phone.
“These are your father’s clothes!”
“And you chose to wear them,” Emilia said, “Now hurry up and try these on, we don’t have all day.” She stuffed a small stack of clothes into Cashe’s arms and pushed him towards the changing room, before turning back to start another pile.
What the hell? Why did this always happen? It was ridiculous. She was just like Jen. Whenever they went shopping together she always-
Cashe slumped into the changing room, sagging down onto the small bench inside. He hadn’t thought of Jen all day. It felt like a betrayal. He had been having fun. How could he be having fun when she was probably worried sick. How could he justify doing anything besides working to get back to her? How could-
A second, much larger, pile of clothes hit him in the head.
“Look out!” Emilia called.
Cashe blinked. He took a deep breath and stood up. It was fine. It was fine. He was fine. He was trying on clothes.
“So, how do they look? Going to give us a preview?” Emilia said.
“Uh, yeah. Hold on.” Cashe began to change, throwing on a random pair of pants, a shirt and a jacket. Emilia had a pretty good eye, they all fit.
He stepped outside the changing room. Emilia took one look at him and frowned.
“You know what?” She said, “I’ve had enough of shopping. Cashe, why don’t you gather up those clothes and we can scan and get out of here? Don’t bother changing, you can wear those out.”
“Uh, sure.” Cashe returned to the changing room and gathered up the clothes into a messy pile and dropped them in front of the cashier. She took one look at the pile and sighed, but began sorting through them and scanning the clothes. Cashe frowned.
The little price display didn’t show anything. With each new item scanned, nothing happened, the small green zero remained unchanged.
“Card,” the cashier said in a bored tone.
“Um, how much-”
The girl sighed and jabbed the price display with her finger, not even looking at it, she held out her hand, “Card.”
Cashe handed her his card. She scanned it and handed it back, along with his bags of clothes. “Have a nice day.”
“Did everything-”
“Have a nice day!” She rolled her eyes and sat back down, returning to her phone.
Cashe left the store, confused.
“Damn, teenagers, am I right?” Emilia smirked, “I want to say I was never like that but there are some pretty embarrassing photos that say otherwise.”
Cashe looked at her. “What just happened there?”
Emilia’s grin faded. “Sorry. You came out of the change room and you didn’t look so well, I thought-”
“No,” Cashe shook his head. He didn’t want to talk about that. “When I paid, what happened there?”
“When you checked out?” Emilia said, “The girl was rude, but you know how it is with teenagers sometimes.”
“No, I mean what did I actually pay? The screen said zero. I had no idea I had any money or how much and I have no idea how much I just spent.”
“The screen said zero,” Emilia said, tilting her head to the side, “That makes sense. There’s no way you used your yearly allotment in a single purchase.”
“My yearly allotment?”
“Yeah?” Emilia said, “I don’t get what’s so confusing here.”
“Who paid for this?” Cashe held up his bag laden arms, “What’s a yearly allotment? What’s going on?”
“The League paid for it,” Emilia said slowly, like she was explaining something to a toddler, “Just like they paid for everything.”
“The League? As in the Pokemon League? They’re paying for everything because I’m a trainer now?”
“No?” Emilia said, “You use your citizen ID for anything that’s not directly pokemon related.”
“So if I weren’t a citizen I couldn’t buy anything?” Cashe said. That made no sense.
“You could, it’s just a lot of paperwork,” Emilia said, “How do you not know this?”
“In case you forgot, I’m not from around here!” Cashe shouted.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t forget,” Emilia said, stopping their walk and sitting down at a bench along the sidewalk, “I just assumed things were the same everywhere.”
“They're definitely not,” Cashe said, joining her on the bench, “How does paying for things work?”
“You only pay for things if you go over your allotment,” Emilia said.
“Okay, and what is the allotment?” Cashe said, “And if I did go over, how would I pay?”
“Everyone gets an allotment for the essentials,” Emilia explained, “So, like, food and housing and clothes and transit and stuff. You get a set amount every year, and it’s the same amount for everybody.”
“So everyone gets enough for an entire year?” Cashe clarified.
“That’s the idea,” Emilia said, “But some things don’t get renewed, like your housing allotment. Once you have a house, you don’t get a new one every year. You only get that back if you move.”
“Okay, so what if I went into that store and bought enough to burn through my entire allotment for the year and I still wanted more?” Cashe asked.
“Then you would pay for it with your credits.” Emilia took out her citizenship ID, “That’s what this is for, it tracks your allotment and your credits.”
“Okay,” Cashe said. Now they were getting somewhere, “So how do I get credits?”
“You already have them,” Emilia said, “The amount you get changes a little every year, but everyone gets the same amount.”
“And if I run out of credits?”
“Then you’re out,” Emilia shrugged, “It just means you can go over your allotment anywhere.”
“But if I did? If I spent my entire allotment on clothes and then all my credits, what would happen if I wanted more? Could I use my trainer ID, could I get more credits?”
“Trainer ID is only for pokedollars. You can only use those on pokemon stuff,” Emilia said, “And you only get the credits from the League, I think they only give extra in emergencies.”
“Why? Why can’t I get more credits and buy more clothes?” Cashe said.
“Because then there wouldn’t be enough?” Emilia looked the most confused by the final question.
“Oh my god,” Cashe breathed, “It’s a planned economy.” He leaned back into the bench and began to laugh. It built up slowly, but soon he was wheezing, barely able to breathe.
Emilia looked at him with a bemused smile on her face, “Cashe,” she was half laughing herself, “What’s going on, what’s so funny?”
“No-nothing,” Cashe hiccupped, “I just realized I’m the most useless person in the entire world” He erupted into laughter again, doubling over in his spot.
“I don’t think you’re useless,” Emilia frowned, “I don’t think you’re useless at all.”
“You don’t understand,” Cashe wheezed, “I have no idea how anything here works, the culture is completely foreign to me, and I know nothing about pokemon.” He hiccuped, “But that’s not even the worst part. Do you know what I was before I came here?”
“No?” Emilia said, “What?”
“An investment banker!” Cashe erupted in laughter again.
Emilia's frown deepened, "What's that?"
"It doesn't matter," Cashe coughed, "It would never exist here."
Emilia nodded, "I don't think you're useless, Cashe. And even if you were, you wouldn't stay that way."
Cashe calmed himself and looked at Emilia. She was completely serious.
"Thanks," he said, "And Emilia?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks for earlier, at the store, I mean. I really appreciate it."
*****