Emilia stared at the five pokeballs in front of her. Well, four pokeballs and a Beast Ball.

“That’s not something I could catch in a Master Ball,” she said, pointing at the Beast Ball.

Elise smiled, “No, but it’s in the same vein as something you could. I wouldn’t recommend choosing that one though. Ultra Beasts are nearly impossible to train for people like you.”

Emilia frowned, “People like me?”

“Weak people.” Elise said. Her voice held no venom or malice, it was a simple statement of fact. Emilia couldn’t even be mad about the words - in Elise’s world, it was true.

“What are in the other pokeballs?” Emilia said, frowning at the other four.

“Rare and powerful pokemon of all types,” Elise grinned. She tapped the balls one after another, “Munchlax, Mimikyu, Feebas, Jangmo-o, and Kartana. All bred for battling, all eager for a trainer. Except for Kartana, of course.”

“I wouldn’t use a Master Ball on Munchlax or Feebas,” Emilia said, frowning further.

“You wouldn’t find a Munchlax or a Feebas,” Elise smirked, “They are as rare as a Master Ball themselves. I considered it a worthwhile trade.”

“A Master Ball can be used to catch legendaries,” Emilia pointed out.

“And an Ultra Beast is as close as you will get to a legendary on these islands. Unless you know something I don’t?” Elise smirked.

Emilia pursed her lips, leaning back in the warm sun. She did know something Elise did not. Several somethings, thanks to Cashe. She watched Annie play with Charmeleon for a minute in the park.

“I think I’ll pass,” she finally said.

“What?” Elise gave her sister a look of pure disbelief, “Are you really complaining about getting a free pokemon?”

Emilia pushed the pokeballs back to her sister and turned away, “I’m not complaining. I just don’t need a leg up.”

“Emi, the True Rookie Tournament is over, you can take a free pokemon,” Elise said, “No one is watching out for it anymore. It’s allowed. Encouraged even.”

“I get that,” Emilia said crossing her arms, “But I don’t want a free pokemon. I want to earn it.”

“You did earn this,” Elise said, exasperated, “This is a reward for winning the True Rookie Tournament.”

“My reward for winning the True Rookie Tournament was stolen,” Emilia said, “These are just pokemon you caught or traded for. I don’t need your handouts.”

Elise frowned, putting the pokeballs back in her bag. “You said you were fine after what happened at the tournament. Are you sure you’re fine?”

“Yes!” Emilia said, “I’m not saying no because some weirdos decided to steal my prize! I’m saying no because you are still treating me like your little sister!”

“You are my little sister,” Elise said, “How else am I supposed to treat you?”

“Of course you don’t understand.” Emilia stood, “Come on Charmeleon, Omanyte. We’re leaving.”

“Charm?” Charmeleon looked up from where he sat. Annie was currently serving pretend tea to him.

Emilia sighed. She marched over to Annie and gave her a quick hug goodbye. “Sorry, Annie. I’ve got to go now. You’ll have to finish your tea party with Charmeleon another time.”

“Okay,” Annie said, disappointed.

Emilia swallowed her guilt at her niece’s reaction and waved to her pokemon, “Come on guys. Let’s go.” She turned around to find Elise standing in her way. “Move.”

“I’m holding onto these,” Elise said, patting her bag, “For when you realize you’re being a stubborn idiot. I’m also not letting you leave angry.” She leaned forward, pulling her sister into a hug, “I expect you and Apollo and Lindon for dinner before you leave the city,” she whispered into Emilia’s ear, “And I’m telling Annie you promised to show up, so if you leave it’s not just me and Mom you’re disappointing.”

Emilia squirmed in her sister’s arms, “Let me go.”

“I told you I’m not letting you leave angry.” Elise said, ignoring the looks she was getting from others as they watched her hold her sister in place, “I don’t know what’s got you so upset, but I’m here for you. You’ll always be my little sister, and I love you.”

Emilia stopped struggling but did not hug her sister back. “Thanks,” she muttered, “I love you, too.” Her words were almost begrudging.

Elise released her, smiling. She patted her on the arm and shooed her away, stepping over to her daughter to play with her imaginary tea set.

Emilia walked off, ignoring the curious glances of strangers as they looked between her and her sister.

***

“My sister is infuriating,” Emilia announced as she kicked open the bungalow door, nearly causing Cashe to drop the food he was cooking on the floor.

He did drop it, but in the pan, not the floor. The sound of sizzling vegetables filled the room, followed quickly by their scent.

He turned away from the dinner as Emilia shut the door behind her. She looked refreshed, if irritated. Her shoulders were slouched in a relaxed posture and the dark circles had disappeared from under her eyes, but her face was screwed up in an annoyed frown.

She marched across the kitchen and dropped down in one of the three chairs, tossing her backpack below the table.

“Things didn’t go well at home?” Cashe said, turning back to the cooking and pushing the veggies around with a plastic spatula.

“No, things were fine,” Emilia sighed and leaned forward on the table, splaying over it like a tired cat, “My sister just decided to treat me like a little kid and I got frustrated. Then she made me feel all bad for getting frustrated, which only made it worse. You know how family is.”

“So she treated you like you treat Lindon?” Cashe said, smirking at her.

“She treated me like you treated Lindon,” Emilia scoffed, “Before you changed, at least.”

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Ah, I get it,” Cashe said, stirring his veggies again, “Like a concerned older sibling. It’s tough to know your family loves you.”

Emilia scowled, “You think she’s right to baby me.”

Cashe said nothing, stirring the veggies and adding more veggies, causing a bit of oil to spray up.

“Smells good,” Emilia said, “What is it?”

“Just vegetable stir fry,” Cashe said.

Emilia stood up, walking across the small kitchen to peer over Cashe’s arm at the cooking, “Making enough for me?”

“And Lindon,” Cashe said.

“Where is he, anyway?” Emilia said, returning to the table.

“He’s out training with his new pokemon.” Cashe said, “I was earlier today, too, but I left before he did to make it to my appointment.”

Emilia nodded, “Did he catch a Slowpoke? Does he know he has to look for a smart one?”

“He does and he did,” Cashe nodded, “We actually had a pretty close call doing it, too.”

“Liar,” Emilia scoffed, “There’s no such thing as an exciting Slowpoke.”

Cashe grinned, “Didn’t say anything about Slowpoke causing the excitement. Lindon managed to get two pretty strong pokemon to attack us at once.”

Emilia laughed, “Kids are more trouble than they are worth. My niece caught a stray Grimer and brought it into the house.”

Cashe made a face, imagining the garbage eating pokemon inside a house. “Was it an Alolan Grimer or Kantonian?”

“Alolan, or course,” Emilia said, “Bruce had to rub down the entire house before my sister would set foot in it, apparently. Then they discovered it was malnourished and probably escaped from the local garbage processing facility, so he decided to nurse it back to health before returning it.”

“I bet Elise loved that,” Cashe smiled at the thought of the World Champion of pokemon refusing to go into a house because a Grimer had been in there, “Your family was well, then?”

“Yeah. My mom is visiting, too,” Emilia said, “She says, ‘hi’ by the way.”

Cashe nodded, adding the sauce to the stir fry and giving it a good mix. Heavily scented steam billowed up into his face. “She here to congratulate you? Your dad didn’t come?”

“Yes and no. Dad is off in Galar learning about Mega Evolutions some more.” Emilia said with a shrug. She looked down at her hands, “I doubt he even knows the tournament is over.”

“I’m sure he knows,” Cashe said, turning off the stove and heaping the stir fry onto a pair of plates. He walked across the kitchen and passed one to Emilia, sitting down across from her.

“Thanks,” Emilia took the plate and dug into the food, “It’s good.”

“Thanks.”

“I promised my niece we would visit for dinner before we left,” Emilia said, “If you don’t want to go, I can-”

“I want to go,” Cashe interrupted, “I definitely want to meet a World Champion. That doesn’t happen every day for most people.”

Emilia bit her lip, “You don’t have to.”

“I want to, though.”

“Okay,” Emilia turned back to her meal and took another bite. Swallowing, she said, “Don’t act all weird when you meet her.”

“Do I ever act weird?”

“The last famous person you met, you punched in the face and knocked him out cold.”

“Yeah, well, he had it coming.”

Emilia smirked, “My mom got revenge for me, too.”

Cashe looked up. Emilia was grinning at him with a devilish look in her eye. “What did she do?”

“My sister is Alola’s Champion and World Champion, another is a previous Kanto and Johto Champion and a Gym Leader, the last is - she’s influential. Plus my parents are my parents. My mom tried to get his Trainer ID revoked.”

Cashe’s eyes bulged, “Did she?”

“No. Apparently you need to do something horrific for that. But she did get him banned from a bunch of professional circuits. Alola, Kanto, Johto, Kalos, and Unova. Plus he is banned from the World Tournament. Mom wanted to get Hoenn too, but his uncle is the Champion there, so it was a no go.”

Cashe whistled, “That’s serious.”

“It is,” Emilia said, taking a big, satisfied bite of her stir fry, “But he’s a pig. He deserves it.”

“He did.” Cashe agreed.

“So did anything exciting happen when I was away?” Emilia said, “Besides almost being ripped apart by two angry pokemon?”

“Yeah,” Cashe said, leaning back in his chair, “Lindon got his new pokemon, obviously, but he also got another.”

“He caught another one?” Emilia raised an eyebrow, “Which?”

“He didn’t catch one, his Magnemite evolved,” Cashe said, “It was nice to learn that Magneton isn’t actually three Magnemite fused together, even if it does look like that.”

“Hey! Good for him. Magneton is a strong pokemon. Now he has three solid options.”

“His Goomy isn’t much of a fighter right now,” Cashe said, “But she does like to be held, so that’s something, I guess.”

“Eww, aren't Goomy gross?”

“The mucus doesn’t actually stick to you, it sticks to her. Your hand just gets covered in it if you pick her up.”

"That’s not so bad,” Emilia said, finishing up her plate, “What else?”

“Well, let’s see.” Cashe glanced at her and hesitated, “Did you hear about the giant tree on Akala?”

Emilia nodded, “My sister said it was Jirachi.”

“Yeah,” Cashe said, “Her third wish.”

Emilia’s mouth popped open, her face reflecting deep empathy, “Oh, Cashe, I'm sorry.”

“I’m alright,” Cashe said, looking down at his plate, “Or I will be. I’ve been speaking with my therapist again. She’s helping me through it.”

“I’m sorry,” Emilia said again, “How did you find out?”

“The scientists who have been looking for me for several months finally caught up with me,” Cashe sighed, rubbing his eyes with an arm, “Turns out I was brought here by Jirachi and they were able to use me to figure out that all three wishes have already been made.”

“There could be other-”

“I asked,” Cashe said, “There aren’t.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Thanks,” Cashe took a deep breath and offered her a halfhearted smile, “It could be worse, right? At least I’m stuck with people I like.” He pinched his hands over his eyes, “Sorry. Not stuck. At least I’m here with people I like. At least I get to be with people I like.”

Emilia gave him a gentle smile, “Therapy going well?”

Cashe laughed in a burst of emotion, “It has its ups and downs.”

***

Lindon waited outside the front door of the bungalow until the sounds of talking stopped. Several of his neighbor trainers sent questioning looks at him as he sat on the small home’s front step with Goomy in his lap, but they left him alone when he smiled and waved. Most people left you alone if you smiled and waved.

Apollo was sad, which would normally send him straight inside to talk to him. Apollo was very easy to make happy with only a few questions. It was like he was just waiting for the excuse to be happy again, but didn’t let himself get there. Lindon didn’t know why he didn’t just let himself be happy, but he also didn’t care. If all he had to do was ask about Hatenna or something to make Apollo forget to be sad, then he would.

His mother said it was because Apollo was angsty like his father. Lindon didn’t know what that meant, but when he asked his mom, she just said it meant that he and Emilia needed to get a room already and get it over with. He did know what that meant though, and so he stopped asking about Apollo’s angstyness.

Emilia was back, however, which was why Lindon didn’t need to go inside and cheer Apollo up. He was much happier when he thought he was alone with Emilia. Lindon had pointed it out once, but for some reason, that had just made Apollo sad again. So Lindon stopped pointing it out.

Instead, he just let it happen. Like he was letting it happen now.

He thought he wouldn’t have to let it happen anymore, not after the kiss. It was how his dad kissed his mom before they ‘got a room’. Lindon wrinkled his face at the thought and squeezed Goomy to his chest. He didn’t like thinking about that. He didn’t know why anyone would want to do that with anyone. Well, he wouldn’t mind kissing Sasha Lovesong, maybe. That wouldn’t be so bad.

The kiss didn’t fix things though. It only made them more broken. Apollo was even sadder than before, and Emilia was angrier than she was when she had that big fight with Apollo. Or she had been before she left. He hadn’t seen her for a week, so he didn’t know if she was still like that. At least Cashe was a bit better after going to the Pokemon Center so many times.

Lindon heard the scraping of plates and a door shut, meaning Apollo and Emilia had probably finished talking. He squeezed Goomy to his chest again, making her chirp with delight, and hopped to his feet.

“Apollo! I’m back!” Lindon shouted as he opened the door, “Did you make dinner? Guess who I saw at the training grounds after you left? Damian Dart! He was so mad. It was crazy!”

*****