Cashe walked into the Pokemon Center five minutes before his allotted time. The Center was similar to the others he had seen, with a Nurse Joy sitting at a central desk and a Mart tucked away in the corner in order to keep out of the way in case there were any emergencies. A set of stairs beside the desk led up to a second floor where Cashe could see a few people moving around. The only difference was there was a second desk in the opposite corner of the Mart, which appeared to be selling tourist gifts like chocolate and coffee.
Cashe approached the front desk.
“Hello,” Cashe said. The Nurse Joy looked up from her work, eyes taking a second to focus from behind her reading glasses.
“Oh! Mr Cashe! How can I help you?” She smiled at him, pushing a strand of pink hair behind her ear.
“Do I know you?” Cashe frowned. He was pretty sure he had never seen this Nurse Joy before, but they all came from the same family, so maybe…
“Oh, no,” the Nurse Joy laughed, “My son is a big fan. He’ll never believe me when I tell him I saw you at work today!”
“Oh!” Cashe blinked in surprise, “I’ve never been recognized in public before.”
“You’ll have to get used to it,” Nurse Joy winked, “Especially if you are going to be running around with Miss Oak.”
“Ah. Of course.” Cashe said.
“Are you here for an appointment or are you healing your pokemon?” Nurse Joy said again after a second of silence.
“I have an appointment. Sorry.” Cashe said.
“It’s no trouble, Mr Cashe,” Nurse Joy said, turning to her computer, “We see the trainers from the True Rookie Tournament every year. You aren’t the first to be surprised that I recognized them.”
“That’s going to be a little odd,” Cashe said, “Not knowing someone’s name with them knowing yours.”
“Not that odd,” Nurse Joy laughed, tapping her name tag which, of course, read ‘Nurse Joy’.
Cashe smiled, “I forgot who I’m speaking with, that’s probably an everyday occurrence with you, even outside of work, what, with the hair and everything.”
“Indeed it is,” Nurse Joy smiled, “I’ve got the day’s appointments up now, Mr Cashe. Is yours under Cashe, or Money?” She tittered at her own joke.
“Cashe,” Cashe said, smiling again.
“You have a nice smile, Mr Cashe. It’s too bad your persona is frowning all the time,” Nurse Joy said with a little sigh. She pointed up the stairs beside her, “Head on up, your room is all set up. Number 206.”
Cashe thank her and followed her directions, heading up the stairs of the Pokemon Center. The second floor was an open lounge area, much like a waiting room, with a hall leading deeping into the Center. He followed it, stepping inside room 206.
“Hello, Cashe,” Dr Atwood said as he entered. She was sitting in a comfortable chair - the same comfortable chair from Vermillion city, by the looks of it. She had set it up across from a old sofa, where she gestured for Cashe to sit down, “Congratulations on your placing in the True Rookie Tournament,” she continued as Cashe stood in the door, “You did very well.”
“Hello,” Cashe said, taking a hesitant step inside the room, “I didn’t expect you to be actually here.” He sat down on the couch, “I thought it would be a video conference call or something.”
“Oh, I have a Mr. Mime.” Dr Atwood explained, patting her bag, presumably where she kept his pokeball, “We have been to Alola several times together, so teleporting here is not much trouble for us.”
“I see.” Cashe said, folding his hands in his lap.
Dr Atwood waited for him to continue, but when he didn’t she smiled, “I was happy to hear from you after the tournament, Cashe. It’s hard to check up when you’re stuck on a cruise ship for four or five weeks.”
“It did get a little busy,” Cashe admitted.
“The tournament must have been very stressful.”
“Must?” Cashe said, “Why do you say that?”
Dr Atwood took out her leather notebook, flipping it open and jotting something down, “You’re a smart man, Cashe, surely you can tell me.”
Cashe crossed his arms, “I guess being cooped up with all those trainers wasn’t the best,” Cashe said, “Once the tournament started, there was a lot of tension on board.”
“Was it difficult for you because of it?”
Cashe shook his head, “Not really. I trained most of the time I was there, so there wasn’t a lot of interaction with the other trainers.”
Dr Atwood jotted down another note, “Is that it?”
“I guess going far in the tournament made things stressful,” Cashe said, leaning back in his seat, “The schedule was brutal. Having to plan for the next day's battle meant researching, training, strategizing, and battling all day every day. There wasn’t really much off time once the tournament started.”
“I hear there are parties in the evenings,” Dr Atwood said casually, taking another note.
“I only went to three of them,” Cashe said, looking away from Dr Atwood, “They didn’t do much to help me relax.”
“There was that incident with the new Team. That happened at a party, did it not?” Dr Atwood.
“Yeah. Mr Maple and his group of freaks,” Cashe snorted, “I may have accidentally stolen one of their pokemon.”
“Accidently stolen?” Dr Atwood looked up from her notes.
“I confiscated a pokeball so I couldn’t be attacked from behind,” Cashe said, tapping Hatenna’s ball on his waist, “Her trainer got teleported away with everyone else before I had the chance to return her.”
“And you plan to do so?”
“No.” Cashe said, his voice flat and hard. Hatenna was a sweetheart. He wouldn’t hand her over to those deranged freaks.
Dr Atwood didn’t judge, she simply nodded at his response and moved on, only making a small note in her book. “I also noticed your cute little Bulbasaur evolved into a quite impressive Ivysaur,” Dr Atwood noted.
“That wasn’t stressful,” Cashe said, smiling, “That was great. He was so proud of himself. And he should be, he worked so hard to get there.”
“Yes,” Dr Atwood smiled, “Evolution is a joyous event. It is no wonder why so many cultures revere it to such an extent.”
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“I did feel a little bad for him,” Cashe said after the fact, “He put all that work in, but I still wasn’t able to get him the win. I let him down.”
“I doubt he sees it that way. Have you asked him?” Dr Atwood said.
Cashe shook his head, “It never occurred to me.”
“Well,” Dr Atwood smiled and snapped her notebook closed with a small bang, “Now that we have some future sessions figured out, let’s talk about why you booked this session, shall we?”
Cashe swallowed and turned away, “I wanted to check in. I thought it might be a good idea.”
Dr Atwood sighed, “I thought we went over this, Cashe,” she said, “You’ve been talking around the issue the entire conversation.”
Cashe gripped the sofa in his hands.
“Who were you cooped up with on that boat?”
Cashe bit his lip.
“Who were you training with every day? Who were you strategizing with?”
He took a deep breath, clenching his jaw.
“Did you attend these parties by yourself?”
“No.”
Dr Atwood raised her eyebrows, “No?”
“I don’t want to talk about it. Let’s talk about something else.”
“Cashe, some people need to be gently led to addressing their problems. Others need to be pushed. We have had eight or nine previous sessions. Which do you think you are?”
Cashe scowled at her, crossing his legs as well as his arms, “Fine. Emilia kissed me. Happy?”
Dr Atwood sat back in her chair and splayed her arms in an open gesture, “Is that all?”
Cashe looked away again, “Yes.”
“I saw the finals.”
“I might have kissed her back.”
Cashe sighed and rubbed his hands over his face. He stood up and paced back and forth in the small room. Dr Awood let him, sitting patiently and waiting for him to continue.
“It felt good!” Cashe shouted, “I cheated on my wife and it felt good!”
He hunched over, breathing hard and sat back on the sofa with a violent thud.
“This is the wife you told me you will never see again?” Dr Atwood said after letting Cashe calm down for a minute, “I noticed you stopped wearing your wedding ring.”
“I don’t deserve to be married to her,” Cashe said, his voice hollow, “I’m a terrible person. I’m worse than her piece of shit ex. At least he was drunk. I actually knew what I was doing and I did it anyway.”
“You hold her in very high regard,” Dr Atwood said, “In our last session, you spoke at length about her. From What I know, she was a kind, caring, and compassionate woman.”
Cashe snorted, “She was more than that.”
“What do you think she would say about your situation if she could see you right now?”
“She would hate me,” Cashe said, pounding his fist into his leg, “She would call me a miserable pig and kick me out on the street. And I would deserve it.”
“Come on, Cashe,” Dr Atwood gave him a dubious look, “Either you have been lying to me, or we have very different interpretations of who your wife was as a person. What would she really say?”
Cashe rubbed his face, hot tears streaming down his cheeks, “She would be hurt that I said she would hate me.” He took a deep breath, “She would probably tease me for finding someone I like so soon.”
Dr Atwood smiled, “What else?”
***
“Oh, Emilia!” Emilia didn’t look away from the television to greet her mother. Bruce had not changed the looping video of her kiss with Cashe. Watching it made her feel happy. And terrible.
Misty followed her gaze to the television and chuckled, “Cashe didn’t mind too much, did he?” She entered the family room and sat down beside her daughter.
“He minded a lot.” Emilia said miserably.
“I told them not to put it on,” Misty sighed, “Is that why he’s not here?”
Emilia looked at her mother and shook her head.
Misty’s mouth popped open in realization, “You meant the kiss.”
Emilia nodded.
Misty wrapped her in a warm hug, “Ah, my poor baby girl. Is that why he’s not here?”
“No,” Emilia hugged her mother back, “I asked him not to come. He agreed right away.”
“I see,” Misty rubbed her daughter’s back, “I guess it’s too much to be expecting more grandchildren anytime soon, then.”
“Mom!” Emilia pulled away from her mother, giving her a horrified stare.
Misty chuckled, “Come on sweetie, that was a very involved kiss - and in front of so many people. What did you think I would say?”
“Maybe congratulations on winning the tournament?” Emilia said, crossing her arms.
Misty grinned, “Feeling better now?”
Emilia’s eyes widened and she frowned, crossing her arms and looking stubbornly to the side, “No.”
“Congratulations on winning the True Rookie Tournament, Emilia,” Misty said, “I knew you would do it, but that doesn’t mean I am any less proud of you.”
Emilia did not uncross her arms or look back at her mother, but her mouth twitched into the crook of a smile, “It wasn’t even that hard.”
“No? You pulled off a perfect victory against the second strongest trainer there. That was easy?”
Emilia scoffed, “Marcus wasn’t the second strongest trainer there, Cashe was. The only reason that he wasn’t in the finals was because he made a stupid mistake.”
“He should have used Razor Leaf against Gligar when it Roosted instead of Acid Spray,” Elise said, entering the family room from the kitchen. She greeted her mother with a smile, “It would have done more damage, especially with Gligar’s flying type going away when it Roosts.”
“I didn’t even notice,” Misty said, “Did that happen?”
Emilia nodded, “I didn’t tell him because he was pretty bummed out about it, but yeah. It was a dumb mistake.”
“Good to see you out of your funk,” Elise said, sitting down beside Emilia, “Was that mom’s doing?”
“No,” Emilia pouted.
“All I needed to do was congratulate her on winning the tournament. That didn’t work for you?” Misty said.
Elise’s eyes went wide, “I, uh-” she wrapped Emilia in a big hug, “Sorry Emi. I kind of forgot.”
Misty rolled her eyes, “Some sister you are.”
“It’s not my fault! Emi stomped in on me while I was having a bath and demanded I divorce Bruce!”
“You still haven’t congratulated me,” Emilia grumbled, wriggling in her sister’s grip.
Elise squeezed tighter to stop her sister’s squirming. “Congratulations Emilia.”
***
“Are you sure this is it?” Daryl said, checking his watch. Seven-thirty in the morning. The sun was just peeking over the Alolan horizon and the streets around the trainer residences were barren. He and Connie were the only people up.
“I followed the kid back to this exact spot,” Connie said with a harrumph, crossing her arms, “They are staying together. He’s in there, just knock again.”
Daryl knocked, banging on the door of the small bungalow with significant strength.
“You don’t think it’s too early, do you?” Connie frowned.
“That’s what I said!” Daryl complained.
“That’s what you said when I got you up at six!” Connie corrected, “This is an hour and a half later. You didn’t say anything about that.”
“It was implied,” Daryl grumbled, “That’s why I made you wait. That’s why I wanted to stay in bed for another hour.”
“We would have missed him for sure,” Connie argued, “Who stays in bed until eight-thirty?”
“Lots of people! Me, if I have the option!”
“That’s ridiculous! You love getting up early. You’re up with me before sunrise every single day.”
“That’s because you crawl over me to get to the washroom instead of getting out of your side of the bed!” Daryl complained, “It wakes me up! You have tiny knees. They’re like needles!”
“If you weren’t up it would be so boring!” Connie complained, flicking her silver hair out of her face, “I can't just watch you sleep-” Connie paused and frowned, “I guess I could watch you sleep.” A small grin spread across her lips, “You sleep pretty deeply, right?”
Daryl blinked at the ominous implication of the question and sighed. He was going to have to set his alarm every morning now to stop her from messing with him while he slept. She was like a teenager, sometimes.
He took his frustrations out on the bungalow door, banging on it with another series of loud knocks.
To his surprise, the door swung open in the middle of the third knock. Daryl stopped his arm before he accidentally punched the man in the face.
The man was tall and half naked, standing in the doorway in only his underwear. He was trim and toned, like most trainers, but looked like he had been through the ringer recently, his handsome face covered in stubble, his dark hair a complete mess. His eyes were bloodshot and he was glowering at the pair of them, living up to his less than savory reputation.
“Apollo, who is it?” Through the door, Daryl spotted the head of a blond child poking out of a room.
“I don’t know. Some giant and his-“ Apollo Cashe paused, his eyes widening slightly with recognition, “Lindon, get back in your room. The Vermillion Creeps are back!”
*****