The next few days were much like the last, albeit with less hangovers and more awkward silences. They were somehow worse because of it. Despite seeing Emilia and Lindon every day, he barely spoke. Emilia, too, said nothing at their meals, and after a few silent responses to his questions, Lindon stopped trying to engage them together. Cashe spent most of his free time in his room, returning to it immediately after meals and battles. He was missing out on the vast majority of what the cruise had to offer, but he was not in the mood for tourist crap.

Lindon was, however, and invited him out of his cabin daily. The attention and earnestness of the boy was simultaneously irritating and endearing. Cashe appreciated the strangeness and irony of a child having to tell him to go outside and enjoy himself, but Cashe did not particularly care. He was perfectly happy being miserable in his room all day.

Occasionally, Cashe would hear Emilia visiting Lindon’s room during the boy’s frequent comings and goings. He could hear them chatting through the walls, but not what they were saying. Cashe’s anxiety spiked every time it happened, and he soon found himself flinching whenever he heard Lindon’s cabin door open.

The only time he left his room apart from meals and battles was to quietly observe Lindon’s or Emilia’s battles when they did not coincide with his own. As the pool of trainers lessened, it became harder to do, however.

Battling was picking up in intensity, though Cashe was not having too hard a time with his matches. From the looks of things, neither was Emilia. Lindon, however, was beginning to struggle. It wasn’t surprising, considering Lindon only had a single pokemon. It was actually more surprising that he had made it so far in the tournament. Still, each of Lindon's battles wracked Cashe with anxiety in the buildup and flooded him with guilt in the end. Lindon waved and cheered after each victorious battle, but he did so alone.

That would end today.

It had to happen eventually, and with Lindon’s relatively low ranking and single pokemon, it probably should have happened sooner, but Lindon finally got matched up against a trainer with a ground type pokemon. It was not any ground type either, and it was not any trainer. Lindon was to be knocked out by Marcus Daye and his Gligar. Cashe couldn’t watch the match as his own was happening at the same time, but he guessed it would be quick.

His own match, a battle against a trainer with a Growlithe and an Oshawott, was relatively straightforward. It went on much longer than he had anticipated, however, as both pokemon were extremely well trained and did their best to keep away from him.

Oshawott used Aqua Jet to evade and attack at the same time, while the Growlithe knew Agility. The Oshawott’s attacks were thankfully low impact, but Mankey was at a complete loss, only ever managing to get in glancing blows, and Cashe was forced to resort to his Bulbasaur getting a speed boost in the hot sun in order to finish the fight. The upside was that with so much focus on evasion, neither of his opponent’s pokemon had much chance to attack, leaving both Mankey and Bulbasaur exhausted, but largely unharmed.

Cashe left the stadium as soon as his fight was finished, heading straight back to Lindon's cabin. He only stopped to drop off his pokemon off at the Pokemon Center so they could get healed up before he made it back to their rooms.

Cashe opened the door to Lindon’s room, unsurprised to find Emilia already there, patting the distraught Lindon on the back as he buried his head in his pillow. Like Cashe, she was still in the clothes she wore when battling. She gave Cashe an apprehensive look as he entered the room, but said nothing as he sat down on the bed on the other side of Lindon.

“Hey, Lindon,” Cashe said, giving Lindon’s shoulder a little shake, “I take it the battle didn’t go well?”

“No,” Lindon’s voice was muffled by the pillow.

“You shouldn’t feel bad,” Cashe said, “It was a terrible type matchup, and you only had one pokemon. It was an impossible fight.”

“I already tried that,” Emilia whispered.

“You said great trainers can overcome type disadvantage.” Lindon’s voice was miserable.

“It’s a lot harder when you are facing a great trainer, too,” Cashe said, “Marcus Daye is a great trainer.”

“He’s one of the tournament favorites,” Emilia nodded, “But getting in the top thirty-two is a really big accomplishment. You should be proud.”

“He could beat either of us,” Cashe said, echoing the sentiment.

Lindon looked up from his pillow. His big, blue eyes were wet and his pillow was splotched with tears, “Really?”

“Yes,” Cashe said.

“No.” Emilia shook her head.

Cashe shot her a look.

“What? He couldn’t beat me.” Emilia crossed her arms.

Cashe let out an exasperated sigh, but contrary to expectations, Lindon giggled. “That’s because no one here can beat you,” he said.

Cashe smiled at him, “Maybe. But I would have a really hard time. That Gligar is seriously scary.” It was a small lie, Cashe hadn’t seen Gligar do anything but train, but he felt it was probably true.

“Yeah,” Lindon agreed with a solemn nod, “He beat me with just one move.”

“In one hit?” Emilia said, “I’m sorry Lindon. That’s awful.” She brushed a strand of hair out of his eyes and stroked his head to comfort him.

“No,” Lindon shuffled in place and sat up, letting his feet hang over the edge of his bed, “He only used Bulldoze. Magnemite couldn’t dodge well after the first one hit.”

“Oh,” Cashe felt a wince of sympathy for Lindon. That was pretty rough, “Look on the bright side, now you don’t have to worry about the tournament so much. You can just enjoy the rest of the cruise.”

“It’s not fun all by myself,” Lindon said.

Cashe winced again, this time with guilt. The look on Lindon’s face was dejected and lonely. He hadn’t gone out with him a single time when he asked.

“I can go with you next time,” Cashe said, “I haven’t been feeling up to it, but I can go now.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

Lindon turned his head to Emilia, eyes wide with expectation.

“Um,” she swallowed and glanced at Cashe, “I can go too, I guess.”

Lindon’s face split into a big grin, “That’s great!” He bounced in his seat on the bed, “How did you guys do in your matches?”

Cashe blinked at the quick change of mood but set it aside, “I won. It was a little tricky, but I got there in the end.”

“I won as well, but,” Emilia gave him a little smile, full of pride, “Something else happened.”

“What?” Lindon leaned forward, eyes sparkling.

Emilia’s smile widened and she reached for her pokeball on her hip and tossed it out. Red light filled the room as it took the shape of Charmander.

No, not Charmander. Charmeleon.

“No way!” Lindon was on his feet now, grinning at the pokemon. Charmeleon was a lot bigger than Charmander, standing at almost twice his previous height. His skin was a much darker orange than it was before, almost red, and the flame on his tail bright and hot. His small paws had transformed into strong hands with sharp claws and his round head was now pointed and draconic in appearance.

Charmeleon had not lost his shy personality, however, bowing his head and bringing his hands together in an endearing display of timid bashfulness under their surprised gazes.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“You evolved! Congratulations!” Cashe said, “I can’t believe I missed it!”

“You couldn’t have caught it,” Emilia said, smiling at Charmeleon with pride, “It happened right after my battle today.”

“He’s so cool!” Lindon shouted, hopping off his bed and standing right next to Charmeleon, oblivious to the heat pouring off his tail. Lindon grabbed one of Charmeleon’s arms, examining his sharp claws with bright eyes.

“Char.” Charmeleon shuffled uncomfortably under all the attention, taking a step away from Lindon.

“Okay, that’s enough,” Emilia said, returning Charmeleon to his pokeball.

“Aww,” Lindon moaned.

“It was getting too hot in here.” Emilia said, tactfully not mentioning that Charmander was uncomfortable.

“That’s true,” Lindon brightened, “We should go to the casino to celebrate! I’m going to go shower!” He darted into the small bathroom that adjoined the cabin and slammed the door shut. A moment later the sound of water streaming could be heard coming through the door.

“He’s been going to the casino a lot,” Emilia said.

“Do you think it’s going to be a problem?” Cashe frowned.

“With what?” Emilia looked at him, confused.

Right. Gambling addiction probably looked very different with non-transferable funds. Cashe shook his head. “Never mind.”

The room fell into an awkward silence.

Cashe bit his lip, focusing his eyes on his hands and playing with the blanket on Lindon’s bed.

Emilia folded her hands in her lap.

Cashe coughed and stood up, “Well, I should-”

“I’ve been watching your matches,” Emilia said. She didn’t stand but looked up at him, forcing Cashe to meet her eyes, “Trainers who are still in the tournament actually get really good seats. They're right up against the stadium. You can walk right onto the stage if you hop the fence.”

Cashe looked away. “I know.”

He had spotted Emilia at his previous match. She was cheering him on the entire time. Somehow he could hear her voice through the thousands of people shouting at the same time.

“You’re doing really well.” Emilia said.

“Thanks.” Cashe sat back down on the bed, head bowed. He looked at his hands and placed them on his legs, grabbing his knees. “I owe you an apology. Several apologies.”

The room went quiet, the only sound the drum of water falling in the shower.

“I’m sorry I haven’t been more open with you.” Cashe swallowed. His throat was so tight it itched. He was having trouble speaking, “I’m sorry I made you feel unappreciated. You do so much for me, and I don’t always show that I appreciate it well.”

“Apollo-”

“I’m not done." Cashe said, raising a hand in a stop motion, "I’m sorry for yelling at you in the lounge. That was small of me. I should have waited until we got back to our rooms to bring anything up.”

“I did the same thing.”

“That doesn't make it right for me to do it to you."

Emilia nodded, watching Cashe with her big brown eyes.

"I’m sorry for avoiding you for the last few days and for taking so long with this apology,” Cashe continued, “And for the rudeness and pettiness since our argument.”

“I avoided you too,” Emilia said, biting her lip, “I could have come talk to you sooner. I’m sorry I didn’t. And that I treated you like you had done something wrong with that poor reporter.”

“She’s not going to be kind to us when she finds someone to publish her story.”

“No. She’s not.” Emilia pressed her hands together in her lap, "I should apologize, too."

"I'm still not done," Cashe said, smiling softly at Emilia's annoyed look, “I’m sorry I thought less of you. I thought you were fighting with me because you were jealous of my success.”

“You thought that?”

“I was really drunk.”

Emilia snorted and waited a beat, making sure Cashe had finished speaking.

“I shouldn’t be trying to police your behavior,” Emilia said, reaching over to Cashe. She took his hand from his lap, squeezing it, “It’s not my place to do that. I-I haven’t been acting like a friend should. I haven’t been treating you fairly.”

Cashe squeezed back, “I forgive you.”

“I forgive you.” Emilia said. She took a deep breath, letting the weight of the past few days leave her. She glanced at Cashe briefly. “Lindon won’t tell me why he slapped you.”

Cashe felt a small smile stretch his lips. “He was mad about something I said. It was very rude.”

“Can you tell me?”

“Well, I was really drunk, and I told him why we were arguing.”

Emilia smiled, full, true, and beautiful. “He’s a good kid.”

The door of the bathroom swung open, revealing Lindon, a towel wrapped around his head and another around his waist. His arms were crossed over his bare chest and his face was set in a severe frown, “I’m not a kid!”

***

The walk to the casino was quiet, but it was a comfortable silence. Cashe’s talk with Emilia had lifted an enormous weight off his shoulders and he felt that he was finally able to relax again. He was exhausted, at least emotionally, but the trip with Lindon did not seem like one that would require significant investment on his part. Besides, he had made a promise.

Despite his newfound relief, not everything was fixed between him and Emilia. He had not said everything on his mind, and he had a feeling the same was true for Emilia. There was still an air of awkwardness between them, the tension of unspoken words that had not been brought up or acknowledged. He could see it in the way Emilia walked, the way she set her shoulders. He could feel it in the churn of his stomach and in the pounding of his heart.

Cashe was happy to ignore it, however. At least for now, he was just glad just to have the ability to relax again.

Cashe followed Lindon, a little disconcerted that the one place he knew how to get to on his own was a casino. Cashe could see it from a distance. The entrance displayed just as much glitz and glam as any casino in Vegas, just with a pokemon theme to it. Two giant statues of Togekiss stood outside the main entrance, with giant letters reading “CASINO” above them in flashing neon lights.

Lindon ran ahead, leaving Cashe and Emilia to enter behind him. The casino was sprawling, taking up a large section of the deck. Cashe spotted card tables and slot machines, people playing with dice and others with puzzle pieces. Staff rotated around the casino floor, serving drinks and keeping an eye on guests. There was a small cafe near the entrance and a small bar nestled in a far corner. It had a few giant screens hanging on the wall behind it showing highlights from the day’s battles.

Cashe saw clips of Emilia’s Charmander evolving, Lindon’s quick loss to Marcus, and even a few seconds of his own drawn out battle. Across from the bar, and the place Lindon was running to, was a large betting table. Several members of staff stood behind it, though the area around it was currently devoid of people. They greeted Lindon with wide smiles, several calling him out by name.

“They like him here.” Cashe commented.

“Of course they do. He’s adorable.” Emilia said.

They made their way over to the table, nodding as the people behind the counter greeted them.

“What do you bet on here?” Cashe said.

“This is where the betting tournament is taking place, Trainer Apollo,” a man behind the desk said. He was dressed in a fitted vest and a white shirt, the same outfit as both of his companions. Unlike them, however, he wore a small name tag that read ‘Dan’. His companions had ones that read ‘Danica’ and ‘Suki’.

“Show him!” Lindon said before Cashe had a chance to stop being surprised by the employee knowing his name.

“Patience, Lindon,” Suki chided, she had a kind face and thick, black hair tied behind her head in a tight bun, “Trainer Apollo may have questions.”

“It’s fine,” Cashe said, “I’m sure I can figure some things out from context.”

“Very well,” Suki shrugged, pressing a few buttons on a screen behind the counter. The wall behind her lit as another screen turned on, its picture solidifying into a large table of names and numbers. The left column of the table was labeled ‘Name’, while the right was labeled ‘Points’. At the very top was a familiar name: Lindon Stroute. He was leading in points over every other name on the list, and it wasn’t close.

“What’s this?” Cashe said, staring at the screen.

“Lindon is adept at picking his matchups,” Emilia said, “I don’t think he has placed a single bad bet.”

“People are free to bet on the outcome of the tournament matches, Trainer Apollo,” Danica said with a bright smile, “Points are rewarded based on the odds given to each bet. You can earn more points by placing additional conditions on your bet.”

“Lindon got most of his lead betting on you,” Emilia said, “The odds were very much in Stonehead’s favor, and he got a lot of extra because he said you would win in under five minutes.”

“Really?” Cashe glanced over at Lindon.

Lindon grinned, “If you had taken another eight seconds, I would have lost everything. I was really nervous when you decided not to attack with Bulbasaur.”

"He also did quite well predicting when Emilia's Charmander would evolve." Suki said.

"What? You brat! You knew and didn't tell me?" Emilia said.

Lindon looked away. "I forgot."

Cashe smiled. Lindon really was a good kid. “So you’re in the lead, what does that mean?”

“Nothing right now,” Dan said, “However, if young Master Stroute continues his lucky streak, he will win quite a nice prize.”

“That’s a little vague,” Cashe said.

“That is because I do not know the prize myself. It has not yet been revealed.” Dan said with a small smile, “I can say that last year’s prize was a breeding Ditto.”

Emilia whistled, “That’s a big deal.”

“Indeed,” Dan agreed, “Given this year’s tournament prize is so extravagant, I have suspicions that the betting prizes will be similarly desirable.”

“Okay, i’m in,” Cashe said, stepping forward and leaning on the desk, “What are my odds for betting Emilia to win the whole tournament?”

“Ah, unfortunately you cannot place that bet,” Suki said with an apologetic smile, “You can only bet on something like that if you have no chance of influencing the outcome. Since you are still in the tournament, and could plausibly face Trainer Emilia…”

“I get it. Have to avoid compromising the integrity of the sport.” Cashe nodded, “Let’s see what else I can bet on.”

*****