“The correct response is thank you,” Cashe teased.

Emilia reached over the couch and picked up the egg, holding it in one hand. She ran the other over its smooth surface, inspecting the blotted pattern of green splotches that covered the off-white surface of the shell.

“It’s warmer than I thought it would be,” Emilia said. Her face was wrinkled in mild conflict, but had relaxed from the hesitant mask seen only a few seconds prior. She pulled her eyes from the egg and looked up at Cashe, “I told my sister I don’t want handouts.” However, even as she spoke the words, she held the egg closer to her body, wrapping an arm around it almost unconsciously.

“It’s a good thing this is not that, then,” Cashe said.

“How is a pokemon from you any different than a pokemon from my sister?” Emilia’s expression was flat.

“It’s not a pokemon, it’s a pokemon egg.”

“Cashe…”

“Will you get out of your head for a second and think about it?” Cashe said, walking back over to the couch and flopping down beside Emilia, “Raising a pokemon from an egg is not the same as raising a pokemon. It’s going to be way more work, and the pokemon isn’t going to be battle ready until months after it hatches. And you still have to get it to hatch! I’m told it’s a lot harder than walking around with it for a while.”

Emilia snorted, “Is that how it worked in those games of yours?”

“Basically, yeah.”

Emilia shook her head, “Here we have entire games dedicated to just raising a pokemon from an egg. Your world lacks imagination.”

“Our world likes fun, you mean,” Cashe smirked, “Egg Raising Simulator 3 sounds like a terrible game.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about, I used to love those games,” Emilia smiled and put the egg in her lap, running her hands again over the surface. As she watched it, a little frown formed on her mouth, “It’s going to be tricky integrating a new pokemon with my current team. Vullaby and Bagon are both new and still figuring things out…”

“But they won’t be by the time this egg hatches,” Cashe pointed out, “Plenty of time to get things sorted.”

Emilia nodded, “You really thought this all out, huh?”

“I can’t take all the credit,” Cashe looked over to Lindon, who was still fast asleep beside them, “It was Lindon’s idea. He figured that an egg would work better than anything else.”

Emilia turned to smile at the sleeping child, “I’ll have to thank him then. And you,” She met Cashe’s eyes with sincerity, “Thank you, Cashe.”

“Happy birthday,” Cashe smiled and relaxed into the couch, leaning back and letting out a breath of deep relief, “You’re not as resistant to accepting this than I thought you would be,” Cashe waved his hands quickly, “Not that that’s a problem, I’m just surprised is all.”

“You’re not the only one who has been seeing a therapist,” Emilia said, “Besides, accepting an egg from your training partners is a lot different than accepting a super rare pokemon from your sister who happens to be a Champion. I’d probably still be a little upset if she gave me one.”

“Uh, really?” Cashe swallowed.

“Really.” She smiled and met his eye again, “So where did you get the egg?”

“What do you mean? Where does anyone get an egg? A breeder of course.”

“Obviously from a breeder,” Emilia said, fixing Cashe under her gaze, “I mean where did you, specifically, get the egg? Because we have been together every day for the last few weeks, and I know you didn’t go anywhere near a breeder or a trading post since you got Sneasel.”

“Well, I think it’s a good time to say goodnight,” Cashe said, glancing over at the time. It was still before dinner. He slapped his legs and stood, “I should be heading to be-”

“Cashe.” Emilia said, “Was it from my sister?”

“Don’t be mad,” Cashe held up his hands, “She did give it to me, yes-”

“I knew it!” Emilia was clearly trying to keep the irritation from her voice but failed miserably. She jumped to her feet and began to pace, “You know how I feel about getting help from my family, Cashe, why did you-”

“Let me finish!” Cashe said, “You can’t get mad until you hear the whole story, promise?”

Emilia frowned at him, but settled back down on the couch, glaring at him over her egg, “Fine.”

“Elise is the one who gave it to me, but she was only an intermediary.” Cashe said in a steady tone, “She had nothing to do with the actual procurement of the pokemon.”

“She didn’t.”

“She did get you a nice carrying harness for the egg. Looks comfy. She couldn’t give it to you at lunch without giving away the surprise, obviously.”

Emilia relaxed a little and shuffled over to the edge of the couch, leaning against the armrest and the back, gazing up at the ceiling as she thought, “You went to Lindon’s parents then?”

“Nope,” Cashe shook his head, “It was all me. I called in a favor. ”

“You?” Emilia said, “Who even owes you a favor? And when did you call it in? I haven't seen you call in any favors.”

“When you left to challenge the gym,” Cashe said, “And I’m not telling who, that would give it away.”

“Give what away?” Emilia frowned and looked down at her egg, her eyes widening, “You’re not telling me what pokemon is in this egg.”

“I was told that all you need to know is that it is in the Field egg group.”

Emilia narrowed her eyes at Cashe, “This is revenge for not telling you about my sisters, isn’t it?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“It’s not like it matters,” Emilia smirked, “I'll just ask Lindon. He can’t lie to save his life.”

“Which is why I didn’t tell him. He doesn’t know. Neither does your sister, for that matter. Or anyone else. Just me.”

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Emilia’s smirk fell from her face, “What happens if I catch this pokemon on my own before it hatches?”

“Then it will have a friend,” Cashe shrugged, “I’ll tell if you’re going to get the same one in a deal with a breeder or something like that, don’t worry. I’m not going to let you waste a bunch of pokedollars or anything.”

“Good, because I was thinking about seeing a breeder about getting a Glimmet.” She narrowed her eyes at Cashe as she spoke.

“That’s an interesting choice,” Cashe said, keeping a neutral expression, “I hope that works out for you.”

Emilia wrinkled her face into a scowl, “You’re going to be insufferable, aren’t you?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

***

“How long do you think it will take to find a Vul-”

“Apollo!” Lindon cut him off with a harsh whisper, “You can’t just say its name out loud like that!”

“Sorry,” Cashe looked around. No one seemed to be paying them any attention, but it was better to be safe than sorry. They were on the top deck of the Ula Ula Renaissance. The passenger ferry was relatively small, at least by Cashe’s standards, with only three decks and a capacity of around 500 people. Like in many places on their journey, circuit trainers were all around them and easy to spot by their worn clothing and abundance of backpacks.

They were on the Ula Ula Renaissance to travel to the ship’s namesake island. They had spent a few extra days after Emilia’s birthday in Hau’oli city before heading out, relaxing and lazing around their comfortable suite, taking the time to recover from their trip and even watch most of the movies that Lindon rented. It was a pleasant stretch for Cashe, but he was glad to be on the move again. Something about staying in one place didn’t feel right in the pokemon world.

“Just be careful,” Lindon intoned, glancing at an older trainer walking past them, making his way towards the lower decks, “If people find out what we are doing, they will try and get there first.”

“Relax,” Emilia said with a long breath of air. She shut her eyes and basked in the late morning sun, leaning over the edge of the railing to let the wind of the ferry whip through her hair. Around her chest was a child’s harness, much like one might find a mother using to carry around her baby. Emilia’s, however, did not carry a baby, but her egg, tucked close against her body to keep it warm. She smiled and gestured out to the pristine ocean water, “Everyone is distracted by the big tree on Akala Island, no one is going to steal your pokemon.”

Lindon scowled at the sparkling ocean as if it had done him some great offense. In the distance a Wailmer breached, blowing up a great plume of water and air as it did so, “We should have taken Mantine across. It would be way faster.”

“It takes most of a day just to get to Big Wave Beach,” Cashe said.

“Unless we use a Corviknight taxi.”

“We could have used a taxi to get to Malie City in the first place,” Cashe said.

“No to both of you,” Emilia, not looking away from the ocean to shut the argument down, “Trainers do not fly or teleport to get to the next city. It goes against everything we stand for.”

“Trainers don’t stand for being slow!” Lindon pouted.

“No,” Cashe said, shaking his head. He placed a heavy hand on Lindon’s shoulder, looking him dead in the eye and speaking in a grave voice, “We stand for sore feet.”

“My dad hates sore feet,” Lindon grumbled.

“He’s a gym leader.”

“Enough,” Emilia said, but she was grinning, “We’re doing things the right way for our first circuit. Once we go off to Paldea or wherever for our second time through, we can fly and ride Mantine all you want.”

“Paldea?” Cashe said.

“Or wherever,” Emilia shrugged, “As long as it’s sunny.”

“I think you guys are on the wrong boat if you’re looking for Paldea,” a friendly voice joked from behind them.

Cashe, Lindon, and Emilia all turned to see a trio of young adults smiling at them, a man and two women. The speaker, a handsome young man of around twenty-four, ran a hand through his dark, thick, curly hair, and offered a hand towards Cashe to shake. He was wearing a sleeveless shirt that showed off tanned arms, taut with corded muscle. Cashe recognized a Silph Co backpack resting on his back.

“I’m Dee,” the man said.

“Cashe,” Cashe shook the man’s hand. It was rough and heavily calloused, “And this is Emilia and Lindon.”

“I am aware,” Dee said, hand tightening a fraction, “It’s why I came over, actually.”

Cashe tensed. Getting recognized did not normally go well for him.

Dee sensed the tension and pulled back from the handshake, holding his arms up defensively, “Relax, we fans!”

“Trainers aren’t usually fans of the competition,” Emilia said. She went to cross her arms but was prevented from doing so by the egg harness around her chest. She frowned down at it as it ruined her attempt to be intimidating.

“That might be true, but we wouldn’t know.” One of Dee’s companions said, “We’re not trainers.”

“We’re in acquisitions,” the other said.

Both women were older than Dee by a few years, by Cashe’s guess. One of the women was blonde, while the other had hair so dark it was almost black. Both were pretty, though the first speaker, the blonde, had on a sleeveless shirt and swarthy tan that matched Dee’s, while the other looked like she was getting sunburnt during the few seconds they had been spent talking, and was hiding in the shade of a cloth umbrella. She was pale and tinged red from the sun, and Cashe could smell the copious amounts of sunscreen on her from where he stood.

“Acquisitions?” Cashe said, glancing at Emilia.

“For breeders,” she explained, relaxing, “Specialists at finding and catching rare pokemon. They usually have permission to explore most areas of a region.”

“Exactly,” the pale woman said, “I’m Yu, by the way.”

“You’re me?” Lindon said.

Yu gave him a flat look, “Yu is my name. Y-U.”

“I think she’s heard that one before,” Cashe said, giving Lindon a comforting pat on the shoulder.

“From old men, mostly,” the blonde said, giving Lindon a funny look, “I’m Maeve.”

“Nice to meet you,” Cashe said, “What are you doing heading to Ula Ula Island? I thought most of the action would be on Akala?”

“There has been a lot of strange pokemon activity, even overseas, from the tree in Akala,” Dee acknowledged, “But that’s actually why we are going to Ula Ula.”

Yu nodded, “With so many eyes on Akala, people aren’t looking at the other islands, and there are many pokemon that cannot fly or swim.”

“We figured it might be a good time to check out the other islands and to see if any come out of hiding,” Maeve finished.

Beside him, Cashe saw Lindon pale.

***

“Why won’t it come out!” Connie snarled.

Daryl suppressed a sigh and tried to pull Connie away from the gacha machine. Connie snarled and shook his hand off her shoulder, however, wrapping her arms around the head of the machine. She jostled the entire thing like she was trying to wrestle it to the ground, shaking it in her grip in an attempt to get out one of the small toys held inside.

“Connie,” Daryl said, “this is someone’s shop. You’re going to break something and get us both in trouble.”

“It shouldn’t be on display if it’s broken!” Connie said, indignant, “What kind of shop is this, anyway?”

Daryl looked around the store. It was a good question. The sign outside just said Holston and Son and the interior didn’t help much. It was littered with various things, ranging from the apparently broken gacha machine, to clocks, vending machines, kitchen appliances, and even a few computers. The space was cluttered, but not disorganized, the entire store giving the atmosphere of barely restrained chaos.

“It could be a repair shop,” Daryl said, picking up a nearby clock. It was made from a dark, heavy wood and intricately carved, but the hands on the clock face were not moving. He shook it gently and something rattled around inside.

“What?” Connie released the machine and squinted at the shop, ears turning pink as she realized Daryl was probably correct.

A scraping sound came from the far side of the shop, and a door behind a workbench opened up, revealing a bespectacled man.

He was old, or at least aged, with thin white hair dusting the top of his head. He was clean shaven and wearing half-moon spectacles that had slipped down the length of his nose as he stared over them at Daryl and Connie. He was wearing a tailored shirt and vest that had the goldchain of a pocket watch dangling from it. His shirt sleeves were rolled up, revealing hands and forearms stained with ink or oil.

“Hello,” the man said, “Can I help you?”

*****