Emilia wrapped him in a tight hug as soon as he stepped into the main foyer of the Pokemon Center, squeezing herself to his chest and leaning her head over his shoulder.
“Hey,” Cashe grunted, in mild pain. Most of his minor injuries were gone after a week in the Pokemon Center, but there were still a few sore points that made themselves known from Emilia’s hug. Cashe returned the hug, his own embrace made awkward by the cast wrapping around his forearm.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t see you more,” Emilia said. She pulled away and looked up at him, “They wouldn’t let me visit after you woke up.”
“They were worried about overstimulation and rest or something. You know, with traumatic head injuries and all that.” Cashe said. He looked around the Pokemon Center. It was fairly busy with trainers, most of whom were picking up or dropping off pokemon from their journey. There were a few strange figures though, one of them was a man wearing a full length leather jacket, despite the heat. He had on an old fashioned, felt hat of some kind, a trilby or a fedora, and was talking to a trainer while jotting down notes in a small black book. It looked like someone had pulled him out of a 1930’s noir film.
Emilia followed his gaze, “That’s an inspector from the International Police. He’s investigating Team Starlight.” She wrapped her arms around one of Cashe’s, pulling him away from the man, “You don’t want to talk to him.”
“How is he wearing that jacket in this weather?” Cashe whispered, craning his neck to watch him as he let Emilia lead him out of the Pokemon Center. The man stopped mid-note, and turned to look directly as Cashe. The inspector was perhaps forty years old and clean shaven, except for a thick, dark mustache resting under his nose. He had a square face that looked like someone had hit it with a shovel at least once - his features were flat and wide without much definition or sharpness to them. His dark eyes glinted with some unknown emotion as he met Cashe’s gaze and gave him a small nod before turning back to the trainer he was interviewing.
“That’s their uniform,” Emilia said, unaware of the strange interaction that occurred, giving Cashe another little tug to get him moving again.
“That sucks,” Cashe paused with a frown, “Wait, Team Starlight?”
“It’s what the Grunts called it,” Emilia said, pulling him around the corner of the Pokemon Center and into the field that surrounded it, “You missed a lot in the past week.”
“I bet.” Cashe said, closing his eyes and enjoying the sun and his face and the wind in his hair for the first time in a week. He took a deep, content breath.
“Feel good to be out of bed?” Emilia said.
“You have no idea,” Cashe sighed as they walked back to their camp. His things were all there, meaning someone, probably Emilia, had gathered them up from the Totem Pokemon’s den.
“Thanks for grabbing my stuff,” Cashe said, sitting himself down at the camp and digging through his things until he pulled out three pokeballs. He felt a wave of unexpected relief roll through him. Nurse Joy had told him Emilia had his pokemon, but he still held an inkling of worry that something might go wrong.
“It was Lindon, actually,” Emilia said, “He grabbed all of our things before we even woke.”
“Where is he anyway?” Cashe said, looking around the field. It was even busier than the Pokemon Center. There were dozens, if not hundreds of trainers moving around the field, setting up for lunch or departing from camp to explore the surrounding area, “And what’s with all the trainers?”
“Lindon’s training. And it has to do with what you missed in the last week.”
“And what was that exactly?” Cashe said.
Emilia bit her lip at the question and sat down beside him. Her head dipped to her chest and she cast a guilty glance towards him out of the corner of her eye. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?” Cashe said.
Emilia's face screwed up in a mix of emotions Cashe could not identify. She gestured at him, “For that. It was my fault. I made another mistake and you got hurt. First the camp, and now this.”
“It’s not like you did it on purpose. You obviously didn’t know that would happen.”
“I did know. Who doesn’t know that powder in the air and fire don’t mix. I wasn’t thinking.”
“It still wasn’t purposeful. Everyone is fine now, right?”
“You’re not.”
“I’m recovering.”
“But you’re hurt. Again. And it’s my fault. Again.” Emilia took a deep breath and clenched her hands together. They were shaking.
Cashe lay a hand on her shoulder as she took several breaths to calm down.
“Have you talked to anyone?” Cashe said.
“Of course. I called my mom and sister as soon as-”
“You know what I meant.”
Emilia nodded, “I did, after…”
Cashe nodded as well. “So the world blew up and then what happened?”
Emilia gave Cashe a grateful look as he changed the subject back to the previous topic of conversation.
“Well, Lindon showed up because Ivysaur went and found him. He ran off to the Pokemon Center to get help. A bunch of nurses and police showed up right as I was waking back up and you were being carried off, and rounded up the Grunts we were fighting.”
“What happened to the Grunt that Lindon was fighting?”
“He got away.”
“What? How?”
Emilia smirked, “You’ll have to ask Lindon that. He let him go after he beat him.”
“Weird kid.”
Emilia smiled fully at that, “Anyway, after the police rounded up the Grunts and the nurses determined they were more or less okay, the Jennys started interrogating them right there.”
“In the cavern?” Cashe said, incredulous, “They weren’t even going to wait until they got them back to Hau’oli or something?”
“That’s one of the things you missed,” Emilia explained, “In the day or two after we left Hau’oli, the League declared Team Starlight an actual Team, which means they are the jurisdiction of the International Police exclusively. So the local Jennys would have orders to leave them alone if they actually brought them back.”
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“So they interrogated them right after they were knocked out by an explosion. Seems legitimate.”
“You’re not going to find many people who care for members of a Team,” Emilia shrugged, “The Grunts didn’t know much, obviously, they’re Grunts, but they did let their Team name slip, which is how I know they are called Team Starlight. It’s probably how everyone knows about it, since I don’t think the International Police have made an actual announcement. One of the nurses or Jennys must have blabbed.”
“Is that why there are so many people here? They all want to fight Team Starlight or something?”
“No,” Emilia shook her head, “They’re not here for that.”
“Then what?”
“Well,” she drew out the word, “while the interrogation was going on, a Poke Ranger showed up. They usually do after incidents like this, to make sure the environment is not too disturbed.”
“I thought they were all dealing with the crazy tree on Akala?”
“Most, not all. Someone still has to maintain the routes.” Emilia said, “Anyway, he started rooting around the den, making sure no pokemon were hurt.”
“And?”
“He found a hurt pokemon.”
“Is it okay?”
Emilia touched her delicate jaw and turned away, slightly guilty, “Do you remember that sign from before we entered Verdant Caverns. The one with the big warning?”
“Yes, I-” Cashe blanched, “He found an injured Pheromosa?”
Emilia cringed, “It turns out Pheromosa are very powerful, but also very frail. It was either hiding from the battle in the den or attacking right at the moment the explosion went off, but either way it caught the blast, just like you did. It was only waking up when the Poke Ranger found it.”
“Oh my god,” Cashe gaped, “What happened?”
“We ran for it,” Emilia said, “Luckily the Pheromosa was so out of it that it couldn’t even begin to attack. The Poke Ranger ran too. He didn’t want to risk killing it in a battle and he didn’t have any Beast Balls with him. Apparently he works an area where they never need them, but with the tree…”
“Things must be hectic,” Cashe nodded, “So all these trainers are here with Beast Balls, hoping to get lucky with a powerful, injured, pokemon?”
Emilia nodded.
“Are they idiots?”
Emilia grunted in amusement, “Word got out about Pheromosa at the same time the Team Starlight news broke, so it was probably from the same source. The news was issuing a million warnings, of course, but the only thing people heard was ‘You might be able to catch a powerful pokemon’.”
“So the Pheromosa is missing, half the trainers in the region are hunting it, and what else?” Cashe said.
“Oh, that reminds me,” Emilia said, looking over at Cashe, “Don’t challenge any of the trainers here to a battle.”
“I wasn’t planning on challenging anyone until I had the chance to recover,” Cashe said, “But why not?”
“Most aren’t Third Circuit,” Emilia said, pointing to a group of older trainers who moved through the field with confidence. They were well equipped, as far as Cashe could tell, and he could see a variety of pokeball types hanging from their various belts and clips, “That group is from the Gym Circuit. If you challenge them, you won’t win.”
Cashe whistled, “People are excited about there being a Pheromosa, I guess. Maybe you should have taken that Kartana. If you weren’t so stubborn….”
Emilia wrinkled her face at him in distaste, “I don’t like handouts.”
“Not even after seeing how Gym Circuit trainers are clamoring for an Ultra Beast?” Cashe teased.
“No,” Emilia scowled at him.
“You still only have two pokemon,” Cashe said, shaking his head in faux shame, “It’s too bad, maybe if you had a grass type we wouldn’t be in this mess.”
Emilia's face slackened and her eyes widened, “Oh, you asshole!”
Cashe grinned, “You know, fire types might be a little too advanced for an inexperienced girl like you. If you want I can talk to your sister about getting you something a bit safer. Maybe something like a Ledyba or Pineco?”
Emilia gaped at him in disbelief at his shamelessness.
Cashe snapped his fingers, “You know what would be better? An Azurill!”
Emilia snapped out of her stupor and let out a low, foreboding chuckle, “You absolute-”
“With an Everstone, of course,” Cashe continued, “We wouldn’t want you to accidentally hurt anyo- Ow! Hey! Ow! I’m injured!”
“Ass!” Emilia laughed as she slapped Cashe on the shoulder a third time, “You complete ass!”
“Those weren’t even accidents!” Cashe complained with a good natured grin, “You do need more pokemon though. Didn’t you tell me most trainers have full teams of eighteen or so? You’re still on two.”
Emilia gave him one last gentle slap before she settled down beside him, “I know. There’s a pokemon I want to try and find at the end of Route 3. I’ll get my third pokemon then.”
“If you say so,” Cashe said, rubbing his arm and pretending he was more hurt than he actually was, “It’s a Wishiwashi, right? I think you might be too temperamental for anything else.”
Emilia shook her head, unable to contain her smile, “If you didn’t already look like you just took a Tauros charge, I would be fixing that right now.”
“That’s fine,” Cashe shrugged, “As long as you don’t choose where we camp again.”
***
The next few days Cashe spent training with his pokemon. He found Lindon on the nearby beach the first day out of the Pokemon Center and the boy greeted him with a hug that was even tighter than the one Emilia gave him. Lindon had somehow decided that the entire situation was actually his fault and spent the first few minutes apologizing profusely for ‘wanting to go into the Totem Pokemon’s den’. Both Cashe and Emilia waved off his apologies and he quickly moved past the incident. The only other mention of the entire thing with Lindon came from Cashe.
“Hey, Lindon,” he said, “Why did you let that Grunt go?”
“What was I supposed to do?”
“Tie him up or something?”
“And kidnap him?” Lindon said with a frown, “That’s illegal. He promised not to be part of Team Starlight anymore so I let him go.”
Cashe shook his head at Lindon and got to training.
The beach was a wonderful palace for it. On Earth, Hawaii’s beaches were naturally rocky and the state had to import sand every year to keep them pristine for tourists. He didn’t know if it were the same for the beaches of Alola, but they were covered in fine, white sand. It provided good resistance for his pokemon, though Hatenna struggled mightily with it, complaining constantly as Cashe pushed her as much as possible so she could catch up with his other pokemon. The poor pokemon could barely stand in the sand, her feet sinking into it until she was all but resting on the ground.
Ivysaur was the complete opposite. His wide feet provided him great support and the burning sun and crashing waves provided him with both the energy to activate his Chlorophyll ability and a place to cool off whenever he started to get tired.
Primeape was a mix of the two. The hot beach was tough on her with her thick fur coat and the sandy beach made it difficult for her to move. However, the situation made her grow more and more frustrated, to the point where she was actually able to use another instance of Rage Fist. Getting there took two full days of irritation, however, and when she finally used the move it exhausted her to the point where she had to lie down and rest. Still, it was good progress, and it at least partially answered the question of how the attack was activated.
After the first few days, Cashe started pairing his pokemon off against Lindon and Emilia’s pokemon to spar. Hatenna was still weak in comparison to many of their pokemon, so she paired off against Slowpoke and Goomy.
Slowpoke was the easiest match for her. The poor pokemon was so slow and so dopey that she would often only have to dodge a few attacks the entire battle as the pokemon was constantly reacting to things that had happened several seconds prior.
Many trainers would become frustrated by the constant losses, but Lindon was a saint with Slowpoke, encouraging him steadily and getting him used to the tempo of a battle. The good news was there was definite progress. As the days passed, Slowpoke reacted faster and faster to Lindon’s orders and even made attempts to dodge incoming attacks from Hatenna on occasion. He was still miserably slow, but Cashe could see the day was not too far off where the pink pokemon would start to be a threat.
Goomy was another story. With Hatenna’s Disarming Voice, she had too much of an advantage over Goomy, so Cashe limited her use of it. As a result, the two pokemon were a close match. Both were slow and neither were natural fighters. Most of their clashes ended in a draw, with the two exhausted pokemon collapsing against each other at the edge of the beach, letting the waves lap over them as they recovered.
Primeape and Ivysaur were matched up against Charmeleon, Omanyte, and Magneton on rotation. The battles between them were often short and fast as they stopped each time a pokemon got a good hit in to discuss and analyze the move and tactics around it.
By his fifth day of rest, Cashe was feeling confident about his team’s fundamentals and approached Emilia with a request.
“Can you help me teach my pokemon a few moves?”
*****