21: Deals and Business Time!

Ichi – Pikachu

 

With my money sack spilled out on one of the tables at Swanna House, I counted my coins once more. I was probably getting strange looks—perhaps even envious ones—from other customers, but that’s not what was on my mind.

Ding. I flicked a coin in the air—an anxious tick. Anxious in a good way, of course! That’s what I was telling myself, as always… 

I was waiting for Mr. Gurdurr to show up—I knew he always hung out around here, so I thought I’d talk business with him here (not like I had a choice since I never got his address). 

I caught the coin in the air. “One hundred fifty,” I mumbled to myself. “That makes fifteen grand.” No, I haven’t learned my lesson—I still carry as much Poke as I like with me at all times! Well, a little less than before, but still a lot.

I stuffed them all back into my sack, my tail wagging as I heard them jingle. That sound is music to my ears…

Man, I just wanna run in circles today! I’ve got so much energy lately. I put a paw to my cheek and felt a tingle as electricity jumped to my fingertips. Yep, definitely need to let out all that energy later. I opened up my sack and zapped some of the coins with my paw, discharging.

I should ask Rei again if he wants to race! I bet it’d really cheer him up. He’s been so closed-off ever since he met Cole—nah, actually, he’s always been moody. The way his eyes pierced me last night still stung. Just what did the Riolu say to him?

Humans are so strange…

 

I saw the door swing open, and my mind jumped from dwelling on my business partner and back to business itself. The big, grey, burly ‘mon I was waiting for walked through, metal beam over his shoulder.

Hm, I always wonder why a ‘mon would constantly lug around something so impractical everywhere they go, I thought as I stared at Mr. Gurdurr’s shiny red beam. Oh, wait. I do the same with my Poke sack. Well, the key difference is that my sack is practical, duh! Shilled out a nice sum for the sack itself too—

WAIT WAIT WAIT I’M GETTING SIDETRACKED, HE’S HERE! I squeaked as I hastily prepped myself. My next associate-to-be got himself settled at a table on the other side of the bar with his two Timburr followers. I put on my businessmon persona—I gathered my composure, straightened up my posture, and donned a bright smile.

 

“Hi there, Mr. Gurdurr! Long time no see, eh? Thanks again for the house, by the way—me and my partner love it!”

Gurdurr side-eyed me with a smirk. “You again, huh Pikachu?”

“Oi, boss, this guy giving you trouble?” one of the Timburr piped up. He was across from Gurdurr, sitting on his right. 

“Nah, let him cook.”

“You always assume every guy that walks our way’s gonna give the boss trouble, Lenny…” the Timburr sitting on Gurdurr’s left sighed. “He’s just some kid.”

You don’t look any older than me, Timburr… Don’t call me “just some kid.” I thought.

“So what, got any business with me or something, kid?” Gurdurr crossed his arms. Now he can call me kid, sure.

“Oh, you bet I do~ Mind if I sit with you three?” I asked.

“Fine.”

 

I plopped my Poke sack down on the floor beside the remaining chair at the table as I sat down right across from Gurdurr. My bag made a very audible clink, and I smiled. “So, Mr. Gurdurr, what’ve you and your boys been up to lately?”

“Been trying to find some new work,” he grumbled. “Hard to do so when you got a rep as bad as ours, though. Even after turnin’ a new leaf, the ‘mon here still don’t trust us yet. Can’t blame ‘em.”

“What about the other day? You were real chummy with the Verdant Sword~”

Gurdurr avoided eye contact with me. “…Don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Boss, there’s nothing to be ashamed of!” the right Timburr—who I’m guessing is Lenny—laughed. “Nearly everybody in town adores her. if anything, ya should be proud!”

Gurdurr gave his employee a death glare for a moment, before letting it go, shaking his head again. “In any case, she doesn’t count—she doesn’t live here.”

“What were you doing with her, anyway?” I had a sly grin.

“She sat with us, first off. Not the other way around. You know how she loves being ‘round strong ‘mon. The whole damn place was crowded thanks to her doting fans that she herself couldn’t find a suitable spot.”

“Oh come on boss… Lenny and I both know you were eating up all that attention from her!” the other Timburr snickered.

“Pete.” Gurdurr’s gaze struck him.

“…s-sorry, boss!” 

 

Now this is how Gurdurr’s crew is naturally… hm. I watched the trio with my grin getting bigger. I liked these guys already—a stark difference from how they originally came off to me and Rei, but a welcome change nonetheless. 

My ears twitched—I could hear the waiter waddling up to our table. Seeing that Gurdurr was focused on keeping his two apprentices in check, I waited for the right opportunity.

“Are you folks ready to order?” the Ducklett piped up, holding a notepad in his wings.

“Ah, uh,” Gurdurr fumbled, caught off guard.

“Get whatever you want, sir. It’ll be on me.” I winked.

“…yeah, get us the usual.”

“Sir, I’ve never seen you before. I don’t know what your ‘usual’ is,” said the waiter.

“Oh come on, we’re regulars here!” Gurdurr made a tsk. “Eh, no matter. Get me and my boys three club sandwiches and Leppa ciders.”

“And I’ll order the grilled Feebas sandwich and a glass of Sitrus juice,” I added. A nice little flex, to show these guys who they’re talking to~

I saw Gurdurr give me another side-eye, raising his brow. 

As the Ducklett left, Pete scoffed. “Huh. Didn’t expect a rodent like you to like fish.”

“My dad’s a Persian, so naturally I ate a lot of fish back home.” I shrugged with a smile. “Man, Swanna House sure has a big menu… must be nice for them, being the only eatery in town.” 

“Gets borin’ after a while, eating the same overpriced grub,” Lenny admitted.

“Post Town in general is pretty barren for a town that’s right down the highway. I could count the number of businesses here with just my paws!” I laughed. “Makes me wonder… do you guys have any place of your own for your business?”

“‘Course not. We moved out here after our carpentry business went under. An’ that’s when we started scamming people,” Gurdurr said. “And it’s not like now that we’re back to honest work we can simply find a place in town to set up shop, besides our own home.”

“Well in that case, how about I give you some work then, hm? I have this plan that I think you three will love.” 

“I could already guess from the beginning you’re here ‘cause you got a job from us. I doubted you were just here for small talk.”

“Well I like small talk any other day!” I grinned.

“Aight,” Gurdurr huffed. “Go ahead. Spill it. What’s your lil ‘plan,’ kid.”

 

Now’s my chance~ I took a coin from my sack and stylishly tossed it in the air. I had to provide some kind of flair with my business pitch, after all! “Here’s what I’m thinking: Post Town’s got a lot to improve on when it comes to variety, wouldn’t you agree? We’re sitting in the only place you can grab a bite to eat in this town! And besides your standard Keck’s, there’s not much that caters to the people.”

“For somebody who’s been here for less than a month, you sure seem to talk as if you’ve lived and breathed the place for ages.” Gurdurr raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, don’t think we haven’t noticed, either!” Lenny blurted, puffing up his chest. “This town blows! There’s, like, nothing to do ‘round here besides get an overpriced meal from this joint.”

“Oi, oi, pipe down, Lenny!” Pete lightly bopped the other Timburr on the head. “The signora could hear, y’know? Don’t wanna upset her.”

“The signora?” I asked.

“Her.” Gurdurr pointed a thumb over at the beautiful Swanna at the front counter, once again doing the iconic bartender-wiping-glass pose. (How she holds it with her wings, I have no clue.) 

“Ohh, that’s what they call her around here? Didn’t know. She’s pretty.”

“Mhm.” Gurdurr downed about a third of his drink in a single gulp. “The only reason ‘mon don’t lust over her instead of the Verdant Sword is ‘cause she’s already taken.”

 

“…So does that mean the Ducklett waiters are her kids?”

“Uh, yeah, of course. Where else did you think she found so many Ducklett?” Lenny scoffed.

“Hey, I didn’t wanna assume~ I know some ‘mon still think all Pikachu are related, even though there’s so many of us out there…” I chuckled. 

“Did you think we were brothers when you first met us?” Pete asked with a smirk.

“Well, are you?” I avoided answering.

“We ain’t blood-related, but we sure as hell are brothers.” The two Timburr bumped each other’s fists. “And we’ve been following our boss through thick and thin ever since we were little.”

“Huh. You know, I was never able to see this more relaxed side of you guys…”

“Yeah, ‘cause we were tryna scam you, obviously. An’ now that we’ve stopped, we can go back to being chummy with our customers!” Lenny cheered.

“Or at least, we can. Our boss, ehh…” Pete side-eyed the big ‘mon.

“Alright, think that’s enough chatter for now.” Gurdurr halted our small talk, much to my disappointment. Then I remembered, oh right, this is still supposed to be a business deal, so I had to get back on track. Dammit, I got distracted!

 

“So here’s my plan: remember my big plot of land you three built my house on? I want to use that land to give people the business opportunity Post Town won’t provide. I want to build a shopping district! And that’s where you three come in—I’d like to hire you three to prepare my plot of land for businesses to set up shop! I’d pay you generously, of course~ Plus, a small share of the real estate income~”

The three stared at me, dumbfounded, as I gave my little speech.

“Let’s give the people of Post Town what they need! It’s a win-win-win: the citizens can get access to more goods and services, fellow aspiring businessmon can grow their own stores, and we can profit off of them renting our space!” I pumped my fist in the air dramatically. “So… what do you say? You three want in?”

I waited patiently as the three of them stayed silent, looking like they were deep in thought. Maybe I wowed them a little too hard, ehe~ I tapped my foot, anxiously waiting for their response. It was tense, having to sit through this pause.

“That was a lotta words… but hell yeah! I’m loving this idea,” Lenny cheered, breaking the silence. “You ain’t half bad, Pikachu, thinkin’ about the, uh, common ‘mon or whatever.”

“Yeah, this is perfect for a town like this! Can’t wait to get started—” Pete said, but he was cut off by his boss.

 

“Hold it.” Gurdurr glared at me. “Do you have any idea how much that’d cost?”

I flinched a bit as he stared daggers my way, but luckily I had an ace up my fur. “Oh, I don’t think that’d be a problem~” I whipped out my trusty Poke sack, filled with money. The biggest flex of them all.

Gurdurr paused, staring at my moneybag.

“See, boss? He ain’t gonna shortchange us for this one, even if it goes under,” Pete told him.

“Give Pikachu a chance! We’ve had zero luck with finding work… even a crazy scheme like this could pay off!” Lenny pleaded too.

“But that’s what this is. Just a crazy scheme,” Gurdurr grumbled. “What ‘aspiring businessmon’ are you even on about, eh? What, that Snivy you got following you around? Where even is that ‘partner’ of yours?”

“Well, not Rei, but surely Post Town is bound to have like-minded businessmon who also want to improve this place!”

“Kid, I’ve been here much longer than you, everybody wants to improve this empty hole of a town. There’s a reason nothing’s changed. Because we can’t.” Gurdurr leaned in closer. “You don’t even have any actual connections, you’re just betting you can make some, and then betting that they’re crazy enough to join you.”

“…to be honest I was hoping you’d have some people you could hit up, like from your previous history as a carpenter.” I shrank a little, my ears drooping. I took my Poke sack off the table.

“And that plot of land you want us to build on. Who the hell’s gonna go out there to do some shopping? No foot traffic, it’s a damn wasteland.”

“But—”

 

“Here you are—three club sandwiches, a grilled Feebas sandwich, three Leppa ciders and a glass of Sitrus juice.” I was unfortunately interrupted by the Ducklett waiter as he presented our food to us. “Enjoy~” And just like that he swooped over to the next table needing his attention.

 

Gurdurr sipped his drink, staring me down. “I’ll wait for a good answer.”

“But that’s why I wanna hire you guys, to make it a nice place to go to… a Pokemon Paradise, was what I was gonna call it…”

“It sounds like it’s bound to fall apart, and I don’t want our first job to end up being a waste.” 

Dammit, I can’t take back the lead! He’s… he’s bringing up too many good points… I thought I won when I showed off my Poke sack… isn’t that what people usually want? I don’t get it!

“How’re you so sure you’ll make money off of this scheme?”

“C-charging rent,” I answered.

“Hmph. It’d have to be exorbitant if you’re actually planning on making a buck off of these hypothetical businesses,” Gurdurr growled. “And how’re you gonna get people interested in such a high-risk investment like this? I doubt everybody’s carrying around wallets as big as yours. Even if we build vacant stores for them, they probably don’t have the funds to actually start them up.” Gurdurr crossed his arms. His apprentices looked at me with a pout, anticipating a good answer out of me.

“Well… they could take out a loan from me?” I suggested, my confidence breaking. “Maybe?”

“A loan. A loan, like that’s easy to get. What, you a certified bank?”

“My… parents were bankers, ehe…”

 

Gurdurr stared at me, unamused. He looked me dead in the eyes. “…carpenters put passion into their work. It ain’t just about the money, Pikachu. The reason we had turned to scamming people is ‘cause we lost that passion for a while. If I’m gonna be building stores for you, I’d want those stores to stay.”

“I—”

“Lemme finish, kid. I don’t think you understand the real struggle of running a business. Back where we worked, we built the homes for almost all the ‘mon in the village. Everybody loved our work. But along came this big construction company that snatched up all our customers with their fast, cheap, soulless work. Me and my boys, we couldn’t keep up. We tried to keep up, an’…” Gurdurr huffed, turning around, revealing the big, faint scar on his back. “Think you can put together the rest.” 

He turned back to face me. “It’s not just about the money. It’s about the passion we have, turning our craft into a living. It’s about the pride and joy. You… you expect to win people over with some idealistic kiddie dream? You’re just some swindler, aren’t you? Trying to take advantage of those at their lowest points to fill your already deep moneybags.”

“T-that’s not true!! I… I’m not doing this just for the money! I just tell everybody that because, well, isn’t that what everybody’s interested in, anyway?” I yelled back. “I’ve always dreamed of running my own business, making my own money, b-because I’ve seen that kind of struggle too! My parents’ bank, they… they’d be the ones lending money to big-name businesses like Keck’s. I’d always see more and more small shops getting taken down and replaced by the same corporate stores you’d see everywhere else. H-hell, even while I was scrounging up enough cash to fund this dream, I’d be stuck hopping from one odd job to the next… Other stores just couldn’t compete with places like Keck’s.”

I gripped my sack of cash tightly. “I wanna build Paradise Shopping District so smaller businesses actually have a chance! I want everyone to get the money they deserve for doing the stuff they love… That’s what passion is, after all… Right? Something you can profit off of?”

 

“You completely missed my point, didn’t you?” Gurdurr said. “Like I said. It’s not solely about the money. For somebody who apparently grew up around cash, you sure are obsessed with it.”

Even the Timburr brothers weren’t very impressed with me, looking away from me with disappointment.

“My boys and I won’t be joining your little scheme unless you can genuinely prove to me that you understand and care about the passion needed to run a business.”

“I…” I couldn’t argue back. Gurdurr was right. Money’s what’s been driving me to start Paradise this whole time. I don’t understand, what does he mean by passion? I thought I had passion! I have the motivation! I’m motivated to help everybody else succeed with me—that’s how I believe I’ll become the number one businessmon in the Mist!

 

“Sorry, kid, but it’s clear you don’t know what you’re even talking about. You got big words and big cash, but nothing to back ’em up.” Gurdurr shrugged.

“Man… you really had us hyped up, y’know, Pikachu?” Lenny sighed, scratching the back of his neck.

“H-hey, come on, boss, can’t we at least humor the kid a little?” Pete asked, giving me a pitiful glance.

“Well, he could try to give us as much cash as he likes, sure. That’d be nice. I ain’t gonna budge though.”

“Boss…”

Gurdurr stayed silent, eyes menacingly locked on me. His lackeys stared at him pleadingly, forcing the big ‘mon to avert his gaze.

A long silence followed, until Gurdurr grumbled.

“Ugh, fine.” He pounded the table with his fist. “How about this, eh? If you could find one, just one Pokemon in Post Town that you can persuade to sign up for this plan of yours, then maybe I’ll consider it.”

My ears perked up. “R-really? You’re giving me a chance?”

“No, I’m not, kid. Barely even a chance, ‘cause I doubt it’ll ever happen. But if you actually knew about passion, you’d be able to figure out how to sway someone without slidin’ some gold under the table. Not everybody’s sole interest is money, Pikachu,” Gurdurr said again.

I saw it as a chance. A sliver of hope, just enough to get me back up. New plan. There’s gotta be somebody in Post Town with dreams like mine… Somebody I can convince! I’d probably have to get Rei’s help on this one…

I bounced back, feeling optimistic. This is some kinda challenge, isn’t it?! Oh, you had me there, Mr. Gurdurr! I put back on my smile. “It’s a deal then.” I extended my paw.

“Confident, are we?” His grip was tight—my paw felt crushed.

“You’ll see. I’ll find a way. Ichi Pikachu always finds a way.”

“Ichi, eh?”

“That’s my name~ And yours?”

“…just Gurdurr.” He looked down on me with a smirk.

“Still not on a personal-name basis, that’s fine~” I looked back up at him, trying to regain my pride. We’ll see who has the last laugh in the end. I’ll show you my passion!

 

“A pleasure doing business with you three.” Determination masking my uncertainty, I sat up and marched away from their table, with my chin up.

 

 

…I then walked back. “Riiight. Still haven’t eaten yet.”

“You said you’d be paying, too.” Lenny raised an eyebrow.

“Of course! I don’t break promises.” I sat back down and started munching on my fish sandwich. “Imma just eat this, hand you guys the cash, and be on my merry way~”

The air around the table was pretty awkward as I tried to eat my way through my meal as quickly as I could so I could make my dramatic exit.

“…oh right, uh, another thing. I do have actual work for you guys right now. It’s a lot simpler,” I said in-between bites. “I need two more nests, one small and one big. Got a pair of new roommates.”

Gurdurr glared at me silently.

“I’ll- I’ll pay for that too, obviously.”

The Timburr stared, too.

“I’m starting to regret causing a scene and trying to make a dramatic exit.”