25: Minccino’s Cafe (III)

Ichi – Pikachu

 

I zipped past the crowded tables with light steps, keeping my tray steady with both paws. I arrived at the correct table with a smile, not even breaking a sweat. “Here you go!” I presented the order to the Vulpix and Sentret sitting eagerly at the table. “Two chocolate mochas, a breakfast sandwich, and a slice of Mago cake!” 

Thank Mew for the receipt on the side. Wouldn’t be able to remember otherwise, all these items are starting to look the same to me. I mentally sighed, but I still kept up a pretty look as I darted back to the counter like lightning. 

My team’s been working at the cafe for… what, two or three days now? I’ve been having a lot of fun so far, running back and forth! It’s been a while since I’ve done work like this—back when I was scrounging up cash, some of the jobs I’d end up taking were simply serving tables at restaurants.

 

“Ichi!” Aiden exclaimed from the serving hatch. “Got three different orders here!” The Audino set down several dishes and beverages on the ledge. 

“Alright, what do we got this time?”

“Er… an iced tea, hot chocolate, and Grepa flan for the table with the ‘Vulpix with a cool outfit…’ A… quote-unquote ‘salad with everything on it’ and a bowl of water for the ‘two-headed dragon dude…’ And a black coffee with a dash of cocoa powder for the ‘emo-looking Buizel.’” As he read each receipt, Aiden squinted even harder than he normally does. “Will you be able to remember all that?”

“Which table with the Vulpix, there’s like five of them here!” I’ve been seeing this cafe attract a lot of Vulpixes. And Eevees. And Riolus. It’s kinda funny.

“Rei?” Aiden peeked through the window, looking at the Snivy.

“Wha? Uh… the white one, pretty sure. Had a crown and a cape. Think he’s a cosplayer or something. There was also a… uh… forgot the name, but a yellow reptile with pink scales. Had a big one shaped like a heart on his head. Look I was more focused on the cosplayer, he looked adorable, okay?”

“Rei, next time, could you please be more specific with writing down who the orders go to?” Aiden asked politely.

“…sorry.”

“I like the funny descriptions, though!” I scanned the room. “Ohh, you mean the shiny Jangmo-o, right?” I gave my business partner a smile—he looked really gloomy again. 

Rei shrugged. 

“Got it.” I whipped out a second tray underneath the one I was using, and carefully loaded every plate onto them. “This’ll be a challenge~” I held both above my head, one tray on either paw. 

Lifting every plate at once was no problem for me—it was balancing them that was a struggle. 

I shuffled a little bit to get my balance steady, but once I got a proper pace going I briskly dropped off each order with ease. Eyes from every table around me must have been locked onto my little performance, staring in awe, and I couldn’t help but grin.

I think I can say I’m pretty good at this~

 

---

 

The hustle around the cafe died down around 10 AM or so—the calm before the storm that was the lunch rush. I did one last sweep through all the tables before taking five, stacking up empty plates and pocketing tips (tips I was, of course, going to split among my team, rest assured~).

The pile of dirty dishes grew almost comically tall as I giggled under my breath, looking around at all the happy customers. 

At one table, a Dewott and a Blaziken stared at each other with both matching grins and matching cups of cinnamon-scented coffee—they looked like they were out on a date.

Another table sat a Liepard—the one from the HAPPI office, surprisingly!—snacking on tiramisu. We made eye contact, and she gave me a little wink.

One table in particular caught my eye: Gurdurr was unexpectedly sitting quietly near the corner of the room, observing me.

The muscular ‘mon sat alone, and I don’t think he ordered anything—I would’ve known, of course, as the only one serving tables! Hell, I don’t think I even saw him come in…

I gulped, trying to swallow my fear. I straightened myself as I continued to collect plates. 

Swerving through tables, I eventually landed near his, and I could hear him grumble. “…hmph. Can’t say I expected this, Ichi Pikachu.”

My fur stood on end, but I kept a brave face. “Haha… what do you think, Mr. Gurdurr? Minccino’s Café has been a huge hit!”

Gurdurr nodded. “This joint snatched up a bunch of Swanna House’s customers… I caught a glimpse of the signora’s reaction while I was there the other day.” 

He glared at me with a smirk. “…you and your friends better watch out for her, kid. And not only her—you’ll probably be riling up a bunch of Post Town’s storeowners with this ‘plan.’”

“Uh, sure~” I didn’t think too much of it—if anything, it just confirmed that this place was a success!

The Fighting-type crossed his arms. “In any case, don’t mind me. I was curious about what you were scheming after the cafe was built, but I wasn’t expecting you’d be a part of their staff.”

“Well, Mr. Minccino couldn’t get anybody to work for him in such short notice… so me and my team are filling in until he gets proper employees!” I explained, the dish stack shifting in my paws. “I want my very first business in Paradise to thrive, after all!”

“…hm.” All I got out of the carpenter was a grunt. I prayed it was a grunt of approval—it was really hard to tell.

“A-anyway! I’ll be getting back to work now~” Not wanting to make it awkward, I speedran combing through the rest of the tables before rushing into to the kitchen, dropping them all off at the sink.

Dusting off my paws, I glanced through the serving hatch at Rei. I wanted to talk to him, but I didn’t think I should bother him. 

At first he was stressing out about being a cashier, but I think he’s been getting used to it. Looked like he was in the zone… or zoning out. He’s staring off like he’s thinking hard and deeply about something, like always.  Either way, I didn’t want to disturb him. 

 

 The kitchen smelled like crisp, freshly baked bread. The oven had been burning all day, and walking into the room felt like a warm, fluffy hug. 

I let out a satisfied breath as I turned to our resident chef. “How’re ya holding up, Aiden?”

At first, despite being the only one working in the kitchen (Mr. Minccino was up at the front counter with Rei preparing drinks) he seemed to me like he was having a good time. But then again, Aiden always seemed to look like that. 

The Audino didn’t look up from his cutting board. “Hold on a minute, Ichi…” He was chopping up Tamato berries, preparing another order of salad.

“Mr. Minccino should be brewing the macchiato… erm… what else was a part of this order…” he mumbled to himself. “Oh, right! A chocolate croissant, I believe?” Aiden carefully placed the chopped Tamato into the bowl. “Wait, why am I questioning it, the order’s written down right here!” He looked at the receipt next to him, laughing to himself.

“Uh, Aiden?” I scratched the back of my neck.

His fur stood on end. “Ah! R-right, forgot you were here, ehe… Sorry! I’ve been in here all day, so I’ve ended up… t-talking to myself often, haha.”

“So… you doing good?” I started to pace around the room, staring at all the near-pristine kitchenware. A part of me wondered where Gurdurr’s crew managed to get all this stuff.

“Mhm! It’s a little tough, doing this all by myself, though. But I’m having a lot of fun! It feels great, preparing delicious food for ‘mon… not something I expected I’d end up doing, working for you, hehe…” He nodded. “Even so… it still doesn’t feel… right , for some reason?” 

“Eh? Whaddya mean by that?”

“Well… uh…” He wiped his forehead with his hand… before exclaiming. “Ah! Wait, no, I shouldn’t be doing that!” Dropping his knife on the table, he rushed to the sink, vigorously scrubbing his paws. “Need to keep my hands clean~”

“Oh. Uh, alright… need any help in the kitchen, dude?” 

“No, no, no, I think I can handle everything…!” He hastily dried his paws with a towel. The room was growing… warmer?

 

Fwoosh.

A horribly-timed flame burst out from the oven. 

“Uh-oh!” Startled, I frantically looked for a bucket or something. You use water to put out kitchen fires, right?!

Aiden shrieked. “Nope nope nope…!” His voice cracked as he scrambled to put it out.

The Audino lunged towards one of the cabinets! 

Flinging it open, he grabbed a bag of baking powder and riiiiipped it open!

He then flung a big pile of powder onto the flame, snuffing it out!

 

…it was kinda anti-climatic, in retrospect.

“…phew. W-well, uh, that’s that, I guess??” I sheepishly chuckled, relaxing my shoulders.

“I’m… not sure how that happened. G-genuinely, I’m stumped.” He turned his back to me, hiding his shame. “I just k-kept it running because the heat felt nice…”

Rei and Lowell were staring at us through the serving hatch. “Everything good in here?” the Snivy asked.

“Yes yes yes nothing to worry about very sorry for the trouble I’ll fix everything quickly…!” Aiden waved his paws in front of himself. 

Rei narrowed his eyes at the Audino, then glanced at me. “…Ich’, is everything good?”

“…yyyyup!” I gave my partner a wide smile. 

“…aight, not my problem.” Rei backed out as quickly as he peeked in.

“Keep up the good work, you two!” The unassuming Minccino gave us a thumbs up before also leaving us be.

The kitchen was filled with silence and the smell of burnt bread after that. 

Then Aiden clapped his paws. “Well! No use crying over spilt milk. I’ll clean this up quickly.” He’d gone back to his usual, cheery self. Damn, he bounces back almost as quick as I do.  

 

He pointed to the bowl of salad. “Ichi, please take this salad, and a chocolate croissant and the macchiato Mr. Lowell is brewing from up front, and bring it to… um…” 

Aiden grabbed the receipt, furrowing his brow. “…’the table with the armored bug and plant with roses for hands.’ Rei’s descriptions are always so cryptic…”

“I’m starting to think of it like a fun guessing game,” I said. “Roses for hands has gotta be a Roserade.”

“What if it’s a Roselia instead?”

“Meh, close enough, I’d say. I’d still get points.”

“Points?” Aiden tilted his head.

“I said this was a guessing game, didn’t I~?”

“A game… hm. Would I receive more points than you if I was more accurate?”

“Sure. Bring it on.”

Aiden nodded. “Then I’ll keep my guess as Roselia. If you think about it… Roserades have a generally more extravagant look, with their leaf masks and capes and whatnot. Rei would have most likely written down ‘the plant with the snazzy outfit’ or something like that if it were a Roserade. So by that logic, he must have meant a Roselia instead.”

I was caught off guard by his detailed explanation, but I kept on a confident smirk. “I like your logic… but I’m still sticking with Roserade. I’m like ninety-nine percent sure I saw a Roserade walk in earlier with somebody.”

“Hold on, you have the advantage of being outside the kitchen! That’s not fair!”

“Who said I was playing fair?” I actually have no idea! All these Pokemon walking into the cafe eventually blur together after a while.

“Hmph.” Aiden pouted, crossing his arms. “In that case… I too have an advantage over you, Ichi. ”

“Oh? What’s that?” I scoffed.

He dramatically pointed at me, gazing at me with a determined look. “I know EVERY single Pokemon that lives in Post Town! Narrowing a myriad of possibilities down to one path! And that cryptic note fits the EXACT description of one ‘mon… Mr. Durant! ”

I was stunned by Aiden’s abrupt performance.

The Audino dropped his paw, chuckling. “…P-picked that one up from a book I read! I, uh, always wanted to say something flashy like that, like I’m some protagonist in a novel. What did you think, Ichi?”

 

“…”

“I-Ichi…?”

“Well, well…” I slowly clapped my paws, choosing to play along. “Clever thinking, my dear Audino friend.” My cheeks began to crackle with excitement. “You’ve grown cocky. The answer is quite obvious, and you don’t seem to see it at all!”

I wagged a finger at him in retaliation! “The Pokemon is Shelmet! My fellow business partner specified one thing—the bug was armored! Durant may be metal, but it doesn’t resemble armor, does it?” I snapped my fingers. “And don’t forget—Post Town attracts travelers all the time! This Shelmet might not be a resident, but you can’t rule them out by that logic!”

“Wha–!!” Aiden stumbled back, pretending to be wounded. “No… I’ve been outsmarted… this can’t be possible…”

“Looks like I win the game.”

“Nooooo…” Putting a paw over his forehead, he pretended to collapse, before straightening himself, reverting to normal. “Well, not yet. We still don’t know who’s right or wrong yet. And the only way to do that is, well, by bringing them the food.”

“…oh. Right. I’m supposed to do that. Oops~” I whipped out my trusty tray and picked up the bowl. “I got really invested in the game.”

“Me too… it was really fun! I wanna try something like that again.”

“Well, I’ll be back in a bit to reveal the winner~” Without wasting any more time, I strode out the kitchen door… 

 

And practically got smacked in the face by a pair of smug-looking ‘mon kicking the entrance open, causing a scene.

They were a Patrat and a Ducklett, both sporting snazzy ties that were patterned like a Wooper’s belly. 

The Patrat paraded in like he owned the place, with a suitcase in tow. The Ducklett sternly marched in with a professional gait, fixing his tie.

Whispers spilled from the tables around the room—all eyes were on these businessmon.

“Agh—assholes made me spill my coffee!”

“Not those thugs from the shopkeepers’ union…”

“Told ‘ya SOUP would bust this place wide open.”

“That Ducklett’s kinda hot.”

“Girl, what?”

 

I looked over at the front counter, immediately making eye contact with Rei. “Psst- Who are these guys?” he hissed, gesturing for me to come over.

I quickly walked over. “I-I dunno. Where’s Lowell?” I whispered back.

The Snivy pointed down. I glanced under the counter, and the Minccino was cowering in fear. “L-Lowell?” I asked.

“…t-that’s who I was worried about. They’re the reason why we can’t open new businesses in Post Town,” Lowell explained.

“Who?” 

“They’re from SOUP.”

“What do you mean, they’re from SOUP,” Rei scoffed, stifling a laugh.

“It means they’re from SOUP! The Shopkeepers’ Organized Union of Post Town!” Lowell cried.

“…what kind of acronym is that.” Rei narrowed his eyes.

 

The two unfriendly-looking Pokémon were strolling on up to the counter, but one ‘mon stood in their way.

“And just what do you think you’re doin’, eh? Bursting through the door like a pair of thugs, starting a scene?” Stella growled, going in for the intimidation tactic… which was crippled pretty badly by the cute cafe uniform she wore.

The Patrat scoffed. “Oi, Arlo, you see this? They got security this time, that’s new.” 

He held his briefcase over his shoulder, leaning into Stella’s face. “Well, don’t you worry, lil miss guard ‘mon, we ain’t here to stir up trouble.”

The Ducklett gave Stella a glare, speaking coldly. “Me and my colleague Kalo Patrat represent the Shopkeepers’ Organized Union of Post Town, and we suspect this establishment does not possess the vendor’s permits necessary for it to be open.”

He cleared his throat. “Section 4, article 1 of Post Town business code states that it is unlawful for any Pokemon to operate or manage a business without the necessary permits or licenses,” he recited as if he read off a book in his wings.

Stella’s face scrunched up, leaning away from the Patrat and giving the Ducklett the stink-eye. “…h-hey. What’s with all the big words, huh?”

“In simple terms, we’re shuttin’ this joint down!” the Normal-type rodent grinned. “Ya hear that?! You lot better scram!” He yelled. 

Pokemon started to jump out of their seats, backing away from the tense confrontation.

“Aight, that’s enough!” Stella’s tail glowed bright. 

She swiped with her tail, and a flurry of sharp rocks flung out, aimed right at Patrat’s face!

BAM! Patrat used his suitcase as a shield, blocking her pebbles! Dust was sent flying!

Stella scoffed. “Nice reflexes. I ain’t fucking around. We can take this outside, y’know,” she huffed with a low voice.

 

“Wait, wait!!” I butted in. “Stella, let me handle this!” Everybody had frozen, and their eyes were now on me.

Stella’s jaw dropped. “Ehh? Come on, boss-mon…” She turned her head at me, completely dropping her tough guy act. “This is, like, the ONE time somethin’ actually interesting happens! This is where I shine!”

“This can be resolved without fighting and making a big mess, Stella! Let me clear everything up for them!”

“I was gonna take it outside, y’know! I-I literally just said that!” she whined.

“To be fair, she hasn’t done much in this chapter or the last…” Out of nowhere, Aiden peeks out from the kitchen to comment.

“Yeah! What he said—wait what?”

 

“Gimme a sec…!” Before doing anything, I hastily picked up the drink on the counter and brought the tray over to the right table. (A Shelmet and a Roselia—both me and Aiden were half-right!) “Enjoy your meal~ Sorry for the trouble~”

Scurrying back, I stepped in between Stella and the Patrat. “Well then… it’s a pleasure to meet you two!” Extending a paw, I went into business mode. “The name’s Ichi Pikachu, and I own the land you’re standing on~ As for the one running this cafe in particular…”

I looked behind me and saw Lowell peeking over the counter. He tried to duck once he locked eyes with Patrat and Ducklett, but he couldn’t hide. Especially not with those big Minccino ears.

I gave him a reassuring wink before looking back at the Patrat. “That’d be Lowell Minccino. And I can assure you, Mr. Minccino has the proper permits~ Mind showing them the papers?”

“Eh?!” His ears sprung up, twitching, before coming out of hiding, stepping into full view. “T-the vendor’s permit, right?” Lowell rustled through a drawer under the cash register, revealing a fancy document, one much more professional than the contract Aiden and I drafted for him. 

He waddled over with the paper in his paws, presenting it to the Patrat and Ducklett. Still struck with fear, it was hard for Lowell to make eye contact. “This is it, right…? A vendor’s permit for the Mist Continent, signed by the Mist’s commerce minister.”

Patrat handed it over to his business partner. “Verify it for me, will ya?”

Ducklett squinted at it for a hot minute, scanning it robotically—maybe he was a Magnemite in a past life. 

“…it’s legitimate… but this is simply for businesses in the Mist Continent as a whole. Where is your permit from Post Town’s Domestic Liasion of Commerce? Section 4, article 2 specifies that a vendor must obtain permits from both aforementioned parties.”

“Domestic lazy- what? The hell kinda title is that—” Stella commented, scratching her head.

I answered quickly, like lightning. “No need for that. This cafe is outside Post Town’s borders, y’see!” I flashed a grin, thinking I’d cornered them. “This land is part of Pokemon Paradise Shopping District~ And so this store doesn’t follow their local business laws.”

…at least, I’m pretty sure that’s what it all meant when Aiden explained it to me! 

Ducklett frowned, looking away with calculating eyes.

“Tsk.” Patrat’s grip on his briefcase tightened. “Well, don’t you seem like a know-it-all, Mr. Ichi Pikachu?”

I continued to smile. “As you can see, there’s no problems here! We’d like it if you made your way out, sirs~”

 

Patrat met eyes with Ducklett, their knowing gazes reminding me of mine and my partner’s.

“You really gotta make this hard on us, Pikachu…” Patrat growled before opening his case, revealing another document with a LOT of words on it. 

Words I felt a screaming amount of deja vu from glossing over and ignoring to read.

“Did you ever read the contract you signed when you purchased this land from Quagsire Realtors?”

My smile dropped. “…I’m sorry?”

“Oh Mew…” Lowell muttered, hiding behind me. “…impossible to win against these guys, I tell you…”

“I’ll take that as a no, so I’ll put it nice an’ simple.” Patrat narrowed his dark red eyes. 

“Since Quagsire Realtors works under Post Town to sell its neighborin’ properties… any land it sells is partially owned by Post Town’s government.” 

He stole my grin. “An’ that makes this land Post Town property!!”

 

My heart sank as I shakily stared at the contract Patrat flaunted in front of my face. “Wh.. huh? He- he didn’t tell me that…”

Mr… Quagsire? What… what does any of this mean…?

Once again, my plans started crashing down. I started crashing down. 

I couldn’t think of a good comeback, a good rebuttal, a good anything to come out of my mouth to defend my Paradise.

“Oi! So what does any of that mean, huh?! Y’all are just spittin’ words as if they got any weight! What’re you gonna do ‘bout it, if we don’t got the right permits or we don’t own this land or whatever the fuck?!” Stella snapped.

“Section 1, article 1 grants officers of the Shopkeeper’s Organized Union of Post Town—I.E. officers Kalo Patrat and myself, Arlo Ducklett—to shut down operation of any businesses that violate Post Town business code. Failure to comply is a punishable offense,” Ducklett stated.

“Miss Rockruff, I don’t think you understand how serious this is.” Patrat looked at Stella mockingly. “ Can you understand it, even? Looks like it’s hard for you to keep up. Do you keep rocks in your head, too? Not just your tail?”

A couple customers started walking out of the store, leaving us in the dust, not wanting to see these businessmon incur their wrath on this cafe. Others were watching the show, too invested to get out of their seats. I can’t blame them…

“…I guess we… flew too close to the sun, heh?” Lowell tried to laugh, but his voice died down quickly. He shook his head, defeated. “It can’t be helped, I guess…”

Why… it… it’s just a cafe! You’re… crushing the dreams of this poor Minccino!

All I could do was stare at these two… monsters. I couldn’t believe these two are bona-fide businessmon, they were ruthless .

…well, more like I didn’t want to believe it.

You’re crushing Lowell’s dreams… you’re crushing my dreams, dammit…

I looked behind me. Aiden was hiding behind the kitchen door, looking conflicted.

 

“…hold on…” I thought I heard Rei mumble, but his voice was masked by the Patrat’s laughter.

“Welp, our work here is done~ Oi, Arlo, how ‘bout we hit up Swanna’s after this—”

“ HOLD ON, DAMMIT! ”

Everybody froze. 

Gazes now landed on Rei, and he began to fumble with his words. 

“I- er- sorry.” He fiddled with his hat.

“The hell’s this now?” Patrat sauntered on up to the counter. “And what do you gotta say for yourself, lil Snivy?”

He inhaled… and exhaled. “…you’re saying the land it sells is owned by Post Town’s government… right?”

“Well, don’t you have ears! Wow!” Patrat scoffed in Rei’s face, and my partner flinched a little.

“But that doesn’t matter anyway. Because… Ichi owns the land. He- he has the deed. That’s proof of ownership..!” Rei gathered the courage to explain. “Right, Ich?!”

“Rei… y-yeah!” I felt a bulb light in my head, as if my business partner flipped the switch I was trying to find. I pulled out the land deed from my bag. “This proves it! I… I bought this land off of Mr. Quagsire, fair and square!”

“It’s signed by Quagsire himself, isn’t it?! He gave up ownership to Ichi with this deed!” Rei yelled. “And that means Post Town had to have given up ownership, too! If they didn’t, then… T-the transaction couldn’t have been made, right?! Both parties would’ve had to agree in order for ownership to be given to him!”

Lowell’s ears perked up again, looking at the Snivy in awe.

“You’re trying to make us believe that any land you sell is still owned by Post Town… but all the contract really means is that any land for sale owned by Quagsire Realtors is co-owned by Post Town.”

“But now I own this land! Not Mr. Quagsire! So it doesn’t matter!” I realized, repeating Rei’s words.

Ducklett’s eyes widened. “He… figured that out?”

Patrat glared at Rei, seething with anger. “Why, you little…!”

Gripping his briefcase, he went to swing it toward Rei’s face!

BANG!

Stella pounced on the Patrat with a Tackle, pinning him to the ground!

“Guh-!”

The Rockruff flipped her hair, trying to show off. “…I’m no rulebook, but what I do know is that attempted assault— especially against a rescuer—is a crime~ How ‘bout them apples, eh?”

“…I knew it. You were trying to trick us into giving up, weren’t you?” Rei huffed. “Intimidating us with legal junk…”

Ducklett began to backpedal toward the door. “…The boss is not going to be happy.”

“Dammit… he told us the Pikachu wasn’t that witty, but… he didn’t tell us that he had backup…” Patrat huffed.

Stella raised an eyebrow, looking down at him. “Are you a businessmon or are you a mafioso? The hell are you on about—oof!” 

Patrat pushed her off of his body, before trudging toward the door. “…you better watch out from now on, Ichi Pikachu . SOUP’s coming to get your ass for this.” He spat on the floor. “Come on, Arlo. Let’s beat it.”

I watched the two defeated businessmon leave the building in a huff, finally able to stand up straight again. “… pleasure doing business with you.”

 

Applause slowly followed.

“Yeah, you tell ‘em, Snivy!”

“No way… they managed to drive out SOUP’s goons?”

“Wait, the waiter… Owns the land? I’m not followin’.”

“Ducklett’s still hot to me.”

“Girl, shut up.”

I waved my paws in the air to get every customer’s attention. “S-sorry about that, everybody! Um… please continue to enjoy your food, and, uh… thank you for coming to Minccino’s Cafe!”

Aiden finally came out of the kitchen with a big smile. “I-Ichi, that… I don’t even know what I just witnessed… quite honestly, that was the first time I’ve ever seen those two before. But that felt straight out of a novel, that was… aaaaah!” he squealed.

“You… actually drove them off…” Lowell gasped. “My cafe… my cafe still stands…!”

“Hey, don’t thank me.” I chuckled, looking back at my trusty partner.

Rei looked away, crossing his arms. “…I just wanted to be useful, is all. Said what needed to be said.”

“Get over here, dude!” I laughed, running over to hug him. “Useful? You’re more than that, Rei, much more! You saved my ass again, man… Without you I couldn’t have come up with a good defense against those guys!”

“They were just guesses… especially at the end, I had to improvise…” Rei sighed, blushing a little bit. “What he said just felt really off to me.”

“Well, I sure bought it!” Stella laughed. “Then again, not like I knew what they were on about. Ducklett kept yappin’ about business code and articles and whatever. You on the other hand actually made some sense!”

“…that’s probably because I said it like a normal person and not either like I’m reading off a textbook or mansplaining like an ass.” A smile slowly formed on his face.

“Yup!” the Rockruff grinned. “And you’re welcome, by the way~ For saving your snout from bein’ caved in~”

“…right, thanks, Stella.”

“Come on, be a lil more grateful, y’know?” she joked. “I was pretty cool there, wasn’t I?”

 

The door flung open again, and customers started flooding back in. The clock struck 11. Lunch rush.

“…ah shit, here we go again.” Rei’s short-lived smile faded.

“Oh come on, no break? I swear to Jirachi…” Stella huffed.

“It’s a lot more than yesterday, that’s for sure… can we really handle all of this?” Aiden asked. 

 

“Nope, you can’t.” A familiar, deep voice grumbled. “And that’s why I brought you some support.”

Gurdurr walked up to us, with three Pokemon behind him—an Alcremie, Simisear, and Ralts.

“Consider yourselves lucky. Managed to get in touch with some of the ‘mon from my old line of work. Conveniently, they’re all looking for work too. So I brought ‘em here.”

“R-really?!” Lowell’s eyes widened, his tail wagging.

“After all, you got work to do if you’re gonna beat the shopkeeper’s union with this Paradise, Ichi. Can’t work in this joint forever.” For the first time, Gurdurr glared at me with a friendly smirk.

“Mr. Gurdurr…?” I tilted my head.

“The name’s Sledge. Congratulations—you earned a bit of respect from me.” He extended a paw. “I’ll admit it. You’ve shown me that you have real passion. You’d do whatever it takes to make a ‘mon’s dream come true. And you have a team that’s really got your back. That ain’t something an ordinary money-grubber has.”

I put out my paw, and he shook it firmly. Thankfully, he wasn’t trying to break it this time. “T-thank you for this opportunity, Mr. Gurdurr—er, Sledge! Mr. Sledge?”

“It don’t matter to me, kid. Just don’t disappoint me, now. I’m expecting a lot outta you.”

I flashed another grin. “Then I’ll take that challenge with pride.”

 

---

 

As the work day came to a close, we celebrated with a raise of our mugs and a clink. “Cheers!”

Lowell had brewed coffee for everybody, a smile brighter than ever on his face. 

“I think I can officially say Paradise’s first shop has been a big success!” I pumped my fist in the air. 

“After this cafe, I have very high hopes in this project, Ichi!” Aiden beamed. “Let’s all do our best with our stores in the future!”

“You’re payin’ us for our work too, right Lowell?” Stella smirked.

“Of course! For everything you’ve done for me, of course I’ll repay you!” He brought another mug of coffee to the table, chugging it down. “Ahh, I’m just… I’m so excited!” He was shaking in his seat. 

“Isn’t that… your sixth cup?” Rei stared at Lowell and the stack of empty cups in front of him.

“I-I can’t help myself I’m so excited!!”

“I think the kid’s overcaffeinated.” Sledge scoffed, sipping on his mug.

I smiled, before chugging down my glass of milk (I got sick of coffee). Things were looking up for us!

“…I’m still kind of worried,” Rei mumbled. “About that threat those shopkeeper’s union guys gave us. Who the hell were they? Is starting a business in Post Town really that dangerous…?”

“Aw, come on, buddy, let’s not think about that~!” I patted him on the back.

“Dude, this is serious! Those guys weren’t afraid to use force. And we don’t even know who they are! And… now we’re on their bad side.”

“…C-come on! Let’s not think about it,” I repeated. “They can’t touch us—like we said, I own this land! We’re outside their borders, they can’t do nothing!”

“…sorry for bringing the mood down,” Rei muttered, sinking in his seat.

“Hey.” I gave Rei another friendly grin. “You don’t gotta apologize, you know? You’re looking out for us, I get that. You’ve always been looking out for me, I know you got my back, Rei.”

I wrapped my arm around his shoulders, raising my glass. “But come on! Lighten up a little! Enjoy it while it lasts, you know? We beat those guys, and if they ever come marching back here, we’ll beat them again!”

“…fine.” Rei chewed on the cinnamon roll in his paw. 

“Like I always say, it’ll be fiiiine!”

 

I always knew this venture would be a gamble, but… the stakes just got higher, it seemed.

Bring it on.