“Cashe!” Emilia greeted him with a wave as Hampton led him out of the police station. Emilia was smiling, but she looked harried, her hair out of place and a mess, even in a ponytail.
“Apollo!” Lindon was less subtle, as usual, running across the street and wrapping Cashe in a tight hug, “I thought they were never going to let you out!”
“Relax, it was only a few hours,” Cashe said, patting Lindon on the head. In truth, it had been most of the day. The sun had set and the sky was dyed deep orange and purple from the last remnants of light disappearing over the horizon. Stars twinkled in the sky and a crescent moon shone down upon them.
“Mr Cashe,” Hampton said with a sharp nod, once he had untangled himself from Lindon.
“Thank you for your help today, Hampton.” Cashe offered his hand to shake, “I appreciate it a lot.”
Hampton stared at the hand for a long moment before gripping it in a quick, firm handshake, “It is my job.” He nodded to Cashe again and walked briskly away.
“Huh,” Cashe frowned, watching him go, “That was odd.”
“That’s just Mr Hampton,” Emilia said, “I’m surprised he even shook your hand. He must really like you.”
“He seemed dedicated to his professionalism,” Cashe said generously. He turned to Emilia, “I’m surprised you have a lawyer here in Alola.”
“Oh, I don’t,” Emilia said, “Mr Hampton teleported in from Viridian City. That’s actually why it took so long for him to get to you. You got detained way after business hours in Kanto.”
“He doesn’t work after hours?” Cashe said,
“Of course not,” Emilia frowned, “Why would anyone do that?”
“No idea,” Cashe said with a slightly pained smile, feeling a pang for all the hours he worked overtime when he was coming up at the bank. He shook his head, “Thanks for calling him for me, it helped a lot. I don’t exactly know how the legal system works here. Or anywhere.”
“No worries,” Emilia smiled, “They didn’t do anything to you, right?”
“Just took my pokemon,” Cashe said, putting a hand over his returned pokeballs. It had been galling, handing them over to uncaring strangers. He understood the obvious safety concerns, but still.
“What did they even want?” Lindon said, gazing up at Cashe with worried eyes, “Mr Hampton said it was about what you told the captain?”
“They somehow got the idea that I was involved in the robbery and with the new Team more than I was,” Cashe said, “They had a lot of questions about Max Maple and what he wanted.”
“Why didn’t they just read the captain’s report?” Lindon said.
Emilia shared a look with Cashe, “Why don’t we find somewhere to stay for the night?” Emilia said, “We don’t want to end up stuck out on a beach somewhere, right?”
***
Cashe woke up the next day to Emilia making breakfast for the three of them. Both he and Emilia were official Third Circuit trainers for the Alola region, having finished in the top eight of the True Rookie Tournament. As such, they had access to the city’s temporary trainer residences, for the official trainers who were participating in the region’s circuit. They were staying in a small bungalow, with only two bedrooms and a tiny kitchen for them to use while they were there. Lindon made do by sleeping on his travel mattress on the floor, arguing that he didn’t make the top eight, so it was only fair that he didn’t get a bed.
“Thanks,” Cashe yawned as he sat down at the small room’s only table. Emilia was just setting the plates down and gave him a small smile of acknowledgement, “I’ve been so used to getting food from the cafeteria on the cruise that I forgot we had to decide who was cooking today.”
“I figured I’d do it today since I didn’t get arrested,” Emilia said.
Cashe grunted in agreement. It hadn’t been a pleasant experience.
“And I won’t be able to for the next few days.”
Cashe paused in the middle of taking a bite out of the meal, glancing up at her. “You won’t?”
She gave him an apologetic smile, “Sorry.”
“Why not?” Lindon was still on the floor, halfway out of his sleeping bag, shirtless, and with his eyes shut.
“Don’t talk to us from the floor,” Cashe chided, “Come eat breakfast.”
Lindon groaned, but slithered out of his sleeping bag and slipped on an old shirt before sitting down beside Emilia at the small table. “Why not?” He asked again.
“I have family in the city,” Emilia said, looking away slightly, “I am going to see them.”
“”We’re not invited?” Lindon frowned, “My parents invited you!”
“And what did you say?” Emilia asked.
Lindon blushed, “Oh. Right.”
“You are invited, of course,” Emilia said, biting her lips and glancing at Cashe, “But-”
“I get it,” Cashe said. A few days apart might be good. There was still a tension between them after the kiss. One that was not helped by Lindon looking at them every few minutes as if asking why they weren’t walking around arm in arm. Or when he loudly asked if they wanted to share a room by themselves in front of the receptionist.
“You don’t mind?” Emilia said, tension visibly easing from her shoulders, “I mean they will probably insist on meeting you before we leave on our journey anyway, so you aren’t going to miss out, but-”
“I get it,” Cashe said again, “There are things I should do anyway.” Like contacting his therapist for several long talks. “Plus Lindon needs to catch a Slowpoke before we head out, so we can do that as well.”
“Yeah,” Lindon said, bobbing his head in excitement, “We can meet your sister whenever. There are only so many places to catch Slowpoke.”
“Her sister?” Cashe said, raising an eyebrow, “How do you know she’s going to meet her sister?”
Lindon swallowed a bite of his breakfast, giving Cashe a confused look, “What do you mean? Everybody knows Elise Oak lives here. She's probably the most famous trainer in the world.”
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“Annie's mom?” Cashe said, “The one who married a poison type specialist?”
Emilia cringed slightly and nodded, “She invited us over to her place. Mom’s there too, for some reason. I’m going to stay a few days to relax and make sure they don’t do anything weird when you come over. Is that okay?”
“I feel like I keep saying I get it,” Cashe frowned, “Lindon, am I saying it aloud or just in my head?”
“You said it aloud.” Lindon replied helpfully.
“Sorry,” Emilia said again, giving both Lindon and Cashe a guilty look, “I guess I feel kind of selfish.”
“You are going to see the world’s most famous trainer,” Cashe said, grinning as Emilia cringed again, “You know there’s only one person who could possibly fit that title, right?”
Emilia shut her eyes and nodded, mouth pinched together as if bracing for the inevitable.
“So what’s it like, being the sister of the World Champion?” Cashe said.
Emilia sighed, slouching in her seat. “It sucks.”
***
“Just be careful,” Cashe said again, watching Lindon closely as he stepped over the rocks on the beach.
“Why?” Lindon glanced over, unperturbed by the closeness of the wild pokemon just on the other side of the rock.
“Wild pokemon are dangerous,” Cashe said, remembering Emilia’s fear at his casual nonchalance when catching Mankey.
Lindon looked at him like he was an idiot and pointed over the rock. Cashe crept forward and poked his head over.
Two or three dozen Slowpoke were gathered together in a large heap, groaning and making noises as they basked in the Alolan sun. As he watched, several children, no older than four or five, ran past in swimsuits, playing with a ball on the sandy beach. One, a little boy with sun bleached hair was bouncing the inflatable ball off of the nearby Slowpoke, one after another. He tossed the ball poorly and it took a bad bounce, rolling away from him and into the pile of Slowpoke.
“Oops,” Cashe heard him say. He walked right into the pile of Slowpoke, stepping directly on some of them to retrieve his ball. None of the pokemon gave any indication that they knew he was there.
“I feel like I should have expected this,” Cashe muttered to himself. Didn’t Team Rocket harvest Slowpoke tails in one of the games, largely to the indifference of the Slowpoke?
“I don’t think anyone has ever called Slowpoke dangerous before you,” Lindon said, walking up beside Cashe, “It’s like calling a stuffed animal dangerous.”
“I see that now,” Cashe said, watching one Slowpoke drift in the water as a Wingull pecked at its tail. He gave Lindon a glance, “Are you sure you want to catch one of these for battling? They don’t seem…motivated.”
“That’s the trick with Slowpoke,” Lindon said, “Anyone can catch one. Catching a good one is really tough.”
With that, he stood up from behind the rocks and hopped over them, walking straight up to the Slowpoke. He approached the closest to him, sitting down directly in front of its face. The dopey pokemon stared at him, mouth hanging open gormlessly. Lindon slapped it. Hard.
“Lindon!” Cashe jumped up as well, hand going to his pokeballs, ready to act.
“Wait!” Lindon called out. The slowpoke in front of him did not respond at all. Several seconds later, it moved its head back slightly, like it was responding to the slap in the laggiest video game of all time.
Lindon shook his head, “This one’s no good.”
‘What? How can you tell?” Cashe said, walking up beside Lindon. The Slowpoke had seemingly already forgotten the boy was there, closing its eyes and returning to whatever it had previously been doing.
“He took too long to respond to the pain,” Lindon said, “A good Slowpoke will respond in under five seconds. Anything longer than that and the Slowpoke is only good for being a pet.”
“Five seconds seems like a long time for a pain response,” Cashe said, giving Lindon a hesitant look, “Are you sure you want this for your Mega Evolution?”
“Yes,” Lindon said with a determined nod, “And you have to remember, Slowpoke are very stupid. Five seconds might seem like a lot of time for you, but for a Slowpoke, it is nearly instantaneous.”
“Right,” Cashe said, frowning further, “Are you sure you want a stupid pokemon?”
“Of course not,” Lindon said, exasperated, “I just told you I’m looking for Slowpoke that responds to pain in less than five seconds.”
“I feel like we are having two separate conversations,” Cashe said, looking at the herd of oblivious pokemon.
“No, you're just not listening,” Lindon frowned. He pointed to a Slowpoke, “Go help me find a good Slowpoke. Slap that one.”
“Sure,” Cashe walked up to the Slowpoke and sat down in front of it, slapping it as hard has he could across the face. Its skin was thick and slightly damp, and it was surprisingly heavy. Cashe’s slap barely moved the thing’s head. He counted several seconds in his head before the Slowpoke began to recoil from the pain of being slapped.
“Seven seconds,” Cashe reported, moving onto the next pokemon.
“This one was twelve,” Lindon complained, glancing over at the small herd of pokemon, “Do you think we have enough to find a smart one?”
***
“Auntie Emi!” Annie squealed in delight as she opened the door. Emilia grinned down at her little niece. She was covered in grit and grime and had stunk of garbage. Of course the first thing she did was jump into Emilia’s arms and give her a tight hug.
“Uhg,” Emilia complained, hugging her niece back as she entered her sister’s home, “You stink!”
“We are rehabilitating a Grimer that moved into our backyard,” Bruce said, coming around the corner of the home and stepping into the front hall. He did not offer Emilia a hug or even a handshake. He was covered in dirt and grime, just like his daughter, though his grime was mostly concentrated on his hands instead of evenly layered over his body “Annie caught one last week. Poor little guy must have escaped the waste disposal site and got lost trying to get back in there. He was nearly starving by the time we found him.”
Emilia smiled, “Hey Bruce. How are you doing? And how does Ellie feel about your ‘rehabilitation’ efforts?”
Bruce grinned, “We came to a compromise.”
“Daddy spanked mommy!” Annie announced happily from Emilia’s arms.
Bruce burst out laughing and Emilia felt herself blush. She really didn’t need to hear about that. “She’s just repeating a joke I said a few nights ago,” Bruce said with a placating gesture, “Don’t put too much faith in her words there.”
Emilia smiled and put Annie down, kicking off her shoes in the front hall, “Don’t worry. I know all about it.”
“You’re alone?” Bruce said as Emilia shut the door behind her, “I thought you would at least bring your boyfriend. Or are you worried about him meeting us so soon?”
“Where is Ellie, anyway?” Emilia said, stepping into her sister’s modest home and past Bruce. The home was entirely wooden, but well maintained, giving the feeling of a much loved cabin or vacation bungalow. The front hall led directly into a living room that had a couch, a couple of loveseats, and a large television resting on the wall. The television was set on a loop to her kiss with Cashe, moving through all the available camera angles. She stared at it, mouth dropping open slightly.
“Ah, we really thought Apollo would be with you,” Bruce said awkwardly, seeing the expression on Emilia’s face, “We thought it might be fun to tease him a little bit. Misty said she didn’t know him too well, but that he should be fine with it.”
“Where’s Ellie?” Emilia said again, “And where’s Mom? I thought she was staying with you.”
“Misty is in the city, meeting with some scientists or something,” Bruce shrugged, “I wasn’t really paying attention. You know how I am with all that science stuff. Elise is in the bath. Part of the compromise. She has to be as far away as possible when we are feeding Grimer.”
“Upstairs, got it,” Emilia said, dropping her backpack in the family room and marching up the stairs. The stairs creaked slightly under her footsteps as she made her way. She marched into her sister’s bedroom and knocked on the door of the attached bath.
“You are not coming in here if you stink like garbage, Bruce,” Elise’s voice said through the door, “Go take a shower, then you can join me.”
Emilia ignored her, opening the door and marching inside.
“Emi!” Elise said, starting slightly where she lay in the bath. There were candles lining the edge of the bath and the whole room smelled of gentle floral scents. The light was off, the only illumination coming from the glow of the candles.
“Hi, Ellie, good to see you again,” Emilia said, closing the bathroom door behind her, “You need to divorce Bruce.”
“Did he do the kissing thing? I told him not to,” Elise said, though the twitching corners of her mouth revealed the lie, “Is Apollo really upset?”
Emilia bit her lip, her heart rising to her throat. She collapsed on top of the toilet beside the bath, “Cashe isn’t here,” she said, her voice tight.
Elise’s expression fell, “Oh. Oh Emi, I’m sorry. Do you want to talk about it?”
*****