4: A Roof Over Our Heads (I)

Ichi – Pikachu

Back at Swanna House, my new business partner and I were grabbing a bite to eat.

“No way, they got actual food here?” Rei eyed the menu on the table. “Pizza… sandwiches… hell, even steak! I was expecting you guys would all only eat, like, berries and stuff. But where do you guys get the meat from…?”

“Ferals,” I simply answered as I took a gulp of water.

“…what are ferals?” the Snivy asked.

“Feral Pokémon. They’re wild and unintelligent beings.”

“Oh. So…” He pointed out a random item from the list. “This smoked Magikarp, they kill a feral one and not one that can talk like you?”

“Uh, of course? Who in their right mind would kill a sentient ‘mon?”

“I dunno, why are there both Pokémon that can talk and Pokémon that act like dumb animals?”

“Why are you asking me?” I scoffed. “How am I supposed to know?”

“Well, you live in this world, and I just woke up here today! You should know…”

Rei’s been asking me these kinds of questions ever since we started walking to the restaurant. It’s like having to teach a hatchling…

Why did I take him in, you may ask? Well, it’s more like I hired him, really. He’s like my associate! Even though he seems like he’s gonna be a lousy worker, at least it’s something. Besides, the guy’s got literally nothing. He’s homeless, he’s broke, and he’s apparently from another freaking world. Still baffles me.

“Sounds like quite a tall order, mm-hmm. Are you sure you’ll be able to do this all by yourself?” I recalled Quagsire’s words. Maybe he had a point… this might be hard if I go in alone. I may be a businessmon now, but I feel like a rookie at it compared to a guy like him…

I doubt Rei could be much help, though. I have a feeling he’s just gonna be leeching off of my success…

“You two ready to order?” Our waiter, a Ducklett, approached our table.

“Oh, uh, yeah sure. Can I get a…” Rei scanned the menu for, like, the 8th time. “…actually dunno what I want, haha… Tomato—er, Tamato berry soup?”

The Flying-type nodded. “And you?” He looked at me.

“I’ll have a grilled cheese sandwich.”

“Anything else? Drinks?”

“Yeah, can—”

“We’re good, thanks.” I cut the Snivy off.

Ducklett nodded again before waddling away to the kitchen.

“…what the hell, man? I wanted some soda…”

I held my cup of water in his face. “They already gave us water.”

“Bruh.” He pouted.

“Hey, if you were paying, I’d let ya buy whatever you want.” He shrugged. “But it’s my money, so I get to decide how much I’m spendin’. Did you see the prices?! Do you know how expensive drinks are here?”

He stared at the laminated paper again. “…25 ‘P’. Is that high?”

“For a glass of soda, yes, 25 Poké is very high. Highway robbery, I tell ya…”

“…not gonna lie, I thought you had a lot of money.” He sheepishly grinned.

“Oh, I do. A hundred thousand Poké!” I boasted. “All saved in the bank!”

Rei’s mouth was wide open. “Then- then why don’t you use it?!”

“No way! It’s reserved for Paradise!” Another sip of water. “I worked my ass off for years to save up that much!”

“…what’s the big deal with this Paradise thing you’ve got going on, anyway…? What made you suddenly want to own a shopping district? Literally never met anyone who dreamt of being a business mogul as a kid.” The Snivy laid back in his chair, raising his eyebrow.

I smirked. “It’s actually kinda funny—in the village I grew up in, my family ran a bank. I was exposed to the idea of money at a pretty young age, haha… Poké just always fascinated me, and so did commerce in general.” 

Rei chortled as he sipped on his water. “That’s… interesting.”

I kept smiling. “Yeah, it is!” I know he’s probably making fun of me… but I’ll take that with pride! “I caught a glimpse of the Poké being stored in the bank’s vault… just seeing all that Poké in there… it was astonishing, to say the least. I wanna have a ton of money like that!”

“…I mean, yeah, having cash is nice,” Rei mumbled, “But isn’t having too much of a good thing bad?”

I shrugged. “I just think it’d be cool, y’know?”

“What’re you gonna do with all that cash?”

“Invest it,” I answered. “Invest it into renovating Paradise so I can make more.”

“…and what will you do with that cash?”

“…hmm…” What can I buy with that much cash, I wonder…

A luxurious house with servants? One of those new Connection Orb thingies that they’re developing in the Water Continent? Ooh, I could try one of those wagyu Miltank steaks! I’ve heard so many good things about those, but their prices are through the roof…

“…I actually don’t know.” So many things, so many options! My tail wagged as I pondered upon the seemingly limitless possibilities.

“If you don’t know… then why bother?” He tilted his head. “What’s motivating you to earn all that cash? Why bother working so hard if you don’t got anything to work for?”

“…I like earning money just for the satisfaction of earning it!” I smiled. “Every paycheck I earn, I feel like I accomplished something that day.”

“But… besides living expenses, what’s that money gonna be put towards? Just making more money? Sounds like a waste for it all to pile up and not go anywhere…”

I narrowed my eyes. “…Kiiinda sounds like you want some of my cash.”

He sighed. “Dude, was it not obvious? I’m dirt poor, okay?” He leaned towards me and whispered. “You saw me fall from the sky, you know that I don’t belong here. I have nothing here.”

“…really transparent with your goals, huh?”

“Says you, Mr. ‘Number one businessman’. Look, as a profound anime fan, I have no shame,” he declared.

“…what the heck is ‘anime’?”

“Oh, it’s great .” He smirked. “I would show it to ya, but… can’t really do that. It’s a human thing, y’know?” This guy is delusional.

“…I don’t think I wanna know what this ‘anime’ thing is.” 

“Suit yourself.”

The Ducklett returned with a tray in his wings, carrying a bowl of warm soup and a crispy grilled cheese. “Enjoy!”

“Ah, thanks!” I could already taste the buttery, savory crunch of the sandwich.

“…again, I have no idea why I ordered just soup,” Rei admitted. “So many options, I just couldn’t decide.”

“Not used to this world’s food?” I asked, taking a bite. “Mmm…”

“Uh, no, I am… all the food here is eerily similar to what’s back home. The menu’s just big, okay?” Rei took a slurp of his soup and immediately recoiled. “Ack- it’s spicy!”

“Yeah, Tamato berries are spicy. Did you not know?” I chuckled.

“W-where I’m from, they’re just called tomatoes…” He chugged down his glass of water. “Ah… and no, they’re not supposed to be spicy!” He sighed. “Ugh… I guess I’ll keep eating it… might as well.” He grimaced as he continued to take spoonfuls of it.

“Sheesh… all the Grass-types I’ve ever met just can’t handle spice at all…”

After paying the bill and heading out the door, the sun was already beginning to set.

“Welp, thanks for the meal, Ichi…” He coughed. “Uh, where’re we heading now?”

“Gonna inspect my new plot of land a little further,” I answered, my tail wagging with each step. “There’s so many things I can do with it… I need to see just how big it is, so I can plan around that.” Quagsire wasn’t kidding when he said it was huge, but how huge is it really? All the stuff past the rubble, I own too! I really got my money’s worth.

Even though it might cost just as much to spruce everything up, though. Still, what a steal!

“You sure you can do something with that wasteland…?” Rei asked as we strolled through Post Town’s plaza again.

“…I’ll come up with something! I’m sure of it!” Even without clearing out the dead trees and other crap blocking the way, the space I already have is a pretty respectable size.

But what could we have on that space? I wondered. Maybe we could grow stuff in the soil… berries are always somewhat profitable, people use ‘em all the time! But I don’t want all of it to just be farmland… I wanna own a business! We need stores! Goods! Services! Supply and demand! Profits! I’m just listing random shit I think is related to economics!

“I have a plan,” I assured him (and myself). “I’ve got a plan!”

“…and that plan is…?”

“…well… um…” I stared at the ground as we walked down the path to my plot.

“Come on, man. At least some goal in mind.” He looked at me expectantly.

“A goal… hmm…”

“Ichi…?”

“…I’ll get back to you on that!”

He groaned.

“Remind me again, how much did this cost?” Rei said as he gazed around the arid land.

“Uh, a lot of Poké.”

He spotted a pebble on the ground and kicked it, sending it flying a couple of steps ahead of us. “Ack- fuck, my foot! I just kicked a stupid rock, why does that hurt?!” He scowled. “Fuck these stubby feet. Anyway, how much Poké? Give me a number.”

“50 grand.”

“…that sounds like a big number… You sure you didn’t get scammed by that Quagmire guy?”

“Quagsire,” I corrected him. “And no, I don’t think I did. Probably. He seemed like a nice guy, okay? What kind of nice guy would cheat a ‘mon out of his cash? And it was super cheap relative to the actual square footage of this entire place. 16 square acres, Rei! You know how big 16 acres is?! And for only 50 thousand?!”

“…dude I know nothing about owning land, or how much this shit is supposed to cost,” he said bluntly. 

“Just… just take my word on it, okay?”

“Never said I doubted you, but alright.” He shrugged.

“…night sure does come by fast around here, huh?” I stared at the sky, teetering between a bright violet and deep blue hue.

“Probably because we’ve been standing here for the past hour doing literally nothing, but yeah, it does.” Rei was sitting on a tree stump, staring at his hands. “…this is so fucking surreal, you don’t even know, dude…”

“Eh?”

“Nothing, nothing.” He waved his paw dismissively. “Now, are we heading back into town so we can sleep? That Swanna House doubles as an inn, doesn’t it?”

“Uh, no way. You know how expensive those rooms are? I saw a sign next to the stairs—500 a night, and that’s just for one ‘mon! I’m not paying a grand just for the two of us to get a good night’s sleep.” I crossed my arms.

“Oh come on, a thousand can’t be that expensive.” Rei rolled his eyes. 

“A Reviver Seed’s 800.”

“…I’m guessing from the name it’s one of those revival items.”

“Right on the money,” I said. “Can resuscitate a Pokémon if they faint and are in critical condition.”

“…so you’re telling me that a night in a hotel costs more than a literal life-saving seed?” The Grass-type raised an eyebrow.

“Well, if ya put it that way…”

“What a scam.” He frowned. “Yeah, screw that. But where are we gonna sleep for the night, then?”

“…what do you think?” I grinned, gesturing to the giant, dry plain in front of us. “Camping!”

“Camping?”

“Camping!” I said again gleefully.

“…camping.” He nodded his head with hesitance.

After we gathered a bunch of leaves and sticks for makeshift nests and I sparked a fire using my electricity, the two of us sat down and watched as the moon slowly showed itself.

“If only we had marshmallows… I could go for some s’mores right now,” I laughed as I huddled by the fire.

Rei stared at the flames, but kept his distance, curling up in his “bed”. “This sucks…”

“Hey, could be worse. Could be raining,” I pointed out.

“Not complaining about camping, just… y’know.” He gestured at his body. “Got turned into a Snivy.”

“…ah. Right.”

He kept looking at the campfire with caution. “Why am I scared of a little fire now? And why do I have the urge to… curl up into a coil like a snake…?”

“Sounds like instinct, I guess.” He shrugged. “What’s a snake, though?”

“Uh, you know, those reptiles that slither around without limbs.”

“Ah, like a serpent Pokémon! Yeah, definitely makes sense—you’re a Snivy, after all.”

“…how do you not know what a snake is, yet… ah, never mind. No animals in this world, I’m assuming,” he muttered. “Still surreal that I’m now a Pokémon, though…”

I nodded. “Yeah…uh, I don’t got much to say on that, but sounds pretty tough.”

“No shit, Sherlock…” he grumbled as he laid down on his nest.

“You hitting the hay?”

“Yep. Night, Ichi.” He curled his body into a crescent shape on the pile of leaves.

“…thanks, by the way,” he whispered.

I smiled. “Don’t mention it, Rei.”

I made a friend today. Neat.

A friend that might honestly take advantage of me sooner or later, but a friend nonetheless.

“…holy shit, it’s freezing!” the Snivy exclaimed as he shuddered. “Even with the campfire, it’s frigid…”

I wrap my hands around my arms, the breeze rustling my fur.. “…yeah, camping out here every night is not gonna be the best solution.” I stare up at the stars in the sky. “Think I got my first goal in mind. We need a house.”