Thread #6391511
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The Dragonair lunges and the crowd roars. "Thunder Wave!" you shout, and your partner executes the move with singular grace, electricity crackling across the arena floor. The opposing Machamp staggers, muscles seizing, and for one bright moment the match is yours.
A kid next to you turns up the volume on his PokéGear, snapping you out of the memory.
You're on a bench in Goldenrod Station with your bag between your feet and a promotional "Moocha" going cold in your hand -- MooMoo Milk and a single shot of espresso, Whitney's smiling face on the cup. The kid next to you, ten or eleven with a Sentret perched on his backpack, is watching Pokémon League reruns on a PokéGear screen no bigger than a playing card. It's not one of your matches, nor your Dragonair, from two years ago. You look away, slightly relieved.
Goldenrod at rush hour is an intolerable racket of voices, horns, and traffic. Commuters crowd into the Magnet Train platform while a group of young trainers clusters around a map kiosk, backpacks stuffed with Potions and dried Oran Berry trail mix. A recruitment poster for the Goldenrod Gym hangs on the nearest pillar -- Whitney's Miltank grinning beside bold text: THINK YOU'RE TOUGH ENOUGH? You've walked past it three times in three separate locations today.
Your PokéGear buzzes in your pocket. The caller ID reads BLACKTHORN GYM and a name that makes you immediately swipe left to dismiss. You slide the PokéGear back into your pocket. Dragonair's Pokéball brushes your wrist as you do so, faintly warm the way it always is. You couldn't bring yourself to box her or trade her away like you did the others. You've been through too much together.
The departures board above the main concourse clicks through its rotations, white letters on black tiles shuffling into place. You hitch your bag onto your shoulder and walk toward the board.
>You're here for the Magnet Train to Saffron City, then to Lavender Town, to take over the local PokéMart for your sick uncle.
>You're here for the ferry to Olivine City. An old friend is in over their head with the PokéMart they bought recently and has asked (begged) for your help.
>You're here for the bus to Azalea Town, where the grandma who raised you has kept the local PokéMart running since before you were born.
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>>6391511
The Magnet Train pulls out of Goldenrod three minutes late. You slump into a window seat and watch the city shrink into hills and farmland. The whole trip is less than thirty minutes--it used to take hours. You'll be in Saffron before you finish the cold Moocha still in your hand.
A young woman sits across the aisle in the high-collared tunic that Psychic trainers like to wear, her long dark hair clipped with a Gastly pin. A Natu perches on the seatback beside her, scanning the car with fixed, unblinking eyes -- until they lock with yours.
The Natu hops off its perch, walks along the top of the seats in dainty little steps, and stops on the armrest beside you.
"Oh no," the woman says, already half out of her seat. "Sage, come back here."
The Natu does not move.
"I'm so sorry." She crosses the aisle and reaches for the bird, which hops sideways to avoid her (very pale) hand without breaking eye contact with you. "He does this sometimes. Picks someone and fixates. Sage. Please."
"It's fine," you say. The Natu's eyes are enormous for its body. His owner's eyes are bagged, slightly hidden beneath a curtain of bangs.
"He can sense your Pokémon," she says. "Psychic types pick up on Pokéball energy. He's harmless, just rude."
"I know how Psychic types work."
She scoops up the Natu with both hands. "I'm Becky -- Rebecca, but everyone calls me Becky," she says, as if the bird has obligated her to introduce herself.
"Mike."
"Are you heading to Saffron too?"
"Lavender Town. Family business."
She nods. "I'm applying at the Gym." She adjusts her grip on Sage. "Sabrina's looking for new Gym Trainers this season."
"That's a tough posting."
"Yeah..." She strokes the Natu's head with one finger. "Sage here is my strongest, which probably isn't a very good sign."
You almost smile at that. She returns to her seat and tucks Sage into the crook of her arm. Neither of you says anything. Outside, the farmland has given way to suburbs thickening toward Saffron.
Becky pulls out a battered copy of "Diary of a Young Psychic", Sabrina's best-selling autobiography, with about forty sticky notes poking out of the pages. She doesn't open it. Her eyes flick toward you once, then quickly back to the book when she sees you looking back. The Natu, however, has moved on.
>Offer some unprompted advice and encouragement.
>Ask her why she wants to be a Gym trainer of all things.
>Leave her to her book. You'll be at Saffron soon.
>Write-in
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>>6391933
Good shit so far, anon. Consider me interested.
>Ask her why she wants to be a Gym trainer of all things.
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>>6391933
"So why a Gym Trainer?" you ask.
Becky looks up from the autobiography.
"I mean you could train on your own. Enter tournaments. The League."
She opens the book to a page near the middle, where three sticky notes overlap in different colors. "Have you read this?"
"No."
"Sabrina started manifesting at age six. Telekinesis, psychic projection, involuntary telepathy. She couldn't eat dinner with her family without hearing every thought at the table." Becky sits up straighter, both hands flat on the open pages. "By twelve she'd driven away every friend she had. Her father built her a training room in the Gym basement because it was the only place she could focus without other people's emotions flooding in. And she turned that into the Saffron Gym. The ability that isolated her -- became her career."
Sage hops from Becky's arm to the windowsill. His round eyes track between you and her.
"She's proof that it works," Becky says. "That you can learn to control it."
"Control what?"
Becky's fingers press into the page. "I'm an empath. I pick up on what people around me are feeling whether I want to or not." She drops her eyes to the book. "Crowds are hard. Hospitals are worse. I spent most of school eating lunch in the bathroom because the cafeteria made me nauseous."
"And you think Sabrina is going to fix that for you."
"I think she figured it out for herself, yes."
You lean back in your seat. Sage's head swivels toward you. "FYI. Gym Leaders don't mentor their Trainers. You'll run drills, stand in a room, battle challengers who are deliberately under-leveled, and collect a paycheck. She won't teach you psychic control because that's not her job. And your job is to lose in the right order."
Becky stares at you. "You sound experienced."
The train's braking system engages with a low hum beneath the floor. Outside the window, the Saffron skyline fills the glass -- the Silph Co. tower, the Gym's angular roof beyond the commercial district.
"I did two years at Blackthorn," you say, like you were admitting to a stint in Team Rocket.
"You were a Gym Trainer."
You nod. "Cooltrainer."
Becky closes the book. Sage flutters back to her shoulder, and she steadies him with one hand. "You're angry about your own experience," she says. "Not mine."
"I'm telling you how it actually works."
"No." She holds your gaze. "You're upset because you wasted your time. You're worried I'll waste mine. You're... trying to protect me?"
The train lurches into the platform. The PA crackles: "Saffron City. All passengers, please prepare to disembark."
Becky stands and tucks the book under her arm. Sage grips her collar not to fall off from the sudden movement. The other passengers are already reaching for their bags.
>Apologize. Invite her to visit you at your Pokémart.
>Tell her you hope Sabrina is everything she thinks she is.
>Say nothing. Let her walk off the train and out of your afternoon.
>Write-in
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>>6392372
"I hope Sabrina is everything you think she is," you say.
Becky stops with one hand on her bag. Her eyebrows lift slightly, as do the corners of her mouth.
"Thank you," she says.
She heads west toward the Gym district while you go east.
The sun is still high when you step off at the last bus stop. The town seems smaller than you remember it. The Radio Tower is new of course, standing where the Pokémon Tower used to be, red antenna blinking against the sky. The air along the main road still smells of incense from the tourist shops, sandalwood and old wet stone.
The "Spokémart" (as your uncle calls it) is at the far end, a narrow storefront between a souvenir shop and a shuttered candy store. Your uncle hand-painted the sign in green and purple, a crude Gastly face where the O should be. The paint is peeling at the edges.
Inside, the shelves are half-full and a fluorescent light flickers near the door. Herb is behind the counter wrapped in two blankets, thinner than the last time you saw him, pale and drawn. When he sees you he grins wide and grabs the register to pull himself up.
"Mikey!" He opens his arms. "Get over here."
You start to lift your hand for a handshake, but he grabs hold of you and pulls you to his chest. His frame feels thin and brittle under the blankets.
"What took you so long?" he says into your shoulder. "I've been dying to see you." He pulls back and grins at your expression. "...Not even a smile? Tough crowd."
"Uncle Herb--"
"OK, OK." He lets go and eases back into his chair. The shelf behind him has a hand-lettered label taped above the Antidotes that reads "Just What the Doctor Ordered."
He pulls the blankets up, still grinning. After the usual pleasantries (delicate avoidance of the topic of your mom, sterile updates on your dad, bald-faced lies about how you're "holding up") you get down to business. "So here's where we're at." He slides a handwritten ledger across the counter.
He's been running eight item slots and losing money every month. Too many discounts, too much credit extended, slow items kept on the shelf "just in case".
"I already cut Max Repel," he says. "People come to Lavender Town to meet Pokémon, not to avoid them."
That leaves seven, but the budget only covers six.
"Route 10 gets Voltorb and Electabuzz all day, so Parlyz Heal moves steady. Rock Tunnel hikers buy Awakening because Haunter hits them with Hypnosis at night." He taps a line near the bottom. "Route 8 has Vulpix and Growlithe, so Burn Heal actually sells -- not fast, but it sells. Antidote is cheap to stock and every trainer carries one."
He looks up. "Great Ball is the big expense, 7,200 wholesale, but trainers need 'em. Super Potion runs 8,400 and it's our best margin item." He pushes the ledger toward you. "So what do ya think? Which one do we cut?"
>Great Ball (7,200)
>Potion (3,600)
>Super Potion (8,400)
>Antidote (1,200)
>Parlyz Heal (2,400)
>Awakening (3,000)
>Burn Heal (3,000)
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>>6392740
>Burn Heal
Checking Google seems to indicate that burn capable pokemon are rare so that's less of a guarantee for sales. This is gen1 area and presuming that other regional pokemon are actually around that still makes it rare. Paralyze is everywhere in contrast.
Keep the balls, potions, awakening especially since Sabrina absolutely has hypnosis capable pokemon and antidotes are something very necessary because poison in gen1 is disgusting
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>>6392740
"Burn Heal," you say.
Herb runs his finger down the ledger. "What about route 8?"
"They have burn heal in Celadon. It's not that far. Besides burns don't hurt in stasis."
He nods, reaches under the counter, and slides a ring of keys across to you. "Your shop now, Mikey."
Of course, it isn't. Even so, you can't help but feel a creeping excitement as you take the keys.
The first week is register codes, wholesale catalogs, and trying to fix that flickering fluorescent near the door (which frustrates all your attempts). Herb hovers for two days reorganizing shelves, but by Wednesday the dizziness and the fact that you haven't burned the store down, drives him upstairs to rest. By Thursday he comes down from the apartment just once in the morning -- also once in the afternoon to eat lunch with you.
You start your day before dawn with a hard run on Route 8. It is an old routine. Your Dragonair is out beside you, long body slithering fast over the grass. Your dad won her as a Dratini at the Celadon Game Corner when you were nine and handed her to you without ceremony as a belated birthday present. She is the one gift from your father you've kept over the years. You are slower and heavier than you used to be, and she matches your pace with ease.
On the way back she stops twice near the Radio Tower. She is not alarmed. The small blue orbs beneath her neck pulse faintly in the pre-dawn dark, and her whole body angles toward the tower. She won't go back in her ball until you're both inside the shop. You don't know what she's picking up.
On Thursday the Goldenrod wholesaler calls to say Battle items are delayed regionwide. It doesn't affect you because you don't stock Battle items, but you write it down anyway.
On Friday a woman in white robes walks in with a Gastly drifting at her shoulder. The Gastly floats toward the Awakening shelf and phases partway through a bottle before the woman clicks her tongue. It pulls back and trails a wisp of purple gas across the shelf.
"Six Awakening," she says. "The Tower rate."
"I don't know what that is."
She folds her hands. "Herb gives us thirty percent off. Ever since the Radio Tower." She glances toward the shelf where her Gastly is now circling a display of Antidotes. "About a dozen of us left in town. We tended the Tower for generations."
You do the math: six Awakening at full price is 1,500, and at thirty percent off the total drops to 1,050. The 450 difference multiplied across a dozen Mediums buying each month represents a significant chunk on a budget that barely covers rent.
The Gastly has drifted back to the Status shelf and is pressing its face against a bottle of Parlyz Heal with evident curiosity. The Medium waits across the counter with her hands folded.
Herb made this promise. Not you.
>Honor the discount. It's Herb's store, not yours.
>Offer 15% instead. Respect the history, but 30 is too steep.
>Full price. The shop can't afford charity right now.
>Write-in
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>>6393083
>Offer 15% instead. Respect the history, but 30 is too steep.
Tell her that we can consider the full discount in future, but right now things are tight, our uncle's not doing well, and we have to get our footing first. She has our sincerest apology, of course.
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>>6393083
>Offer 15% instead. Respect the history, but 30 is too steep.
He asked us for help, so we do need to make positive changes here for the business in order to make good on OUR promise to give that help.
>"I see, thank you for explaining, and thank you for the service you did for this community. I'm afraid our shop is under financial strain while Herb's health has deteriorated, and we're making adjustments to regain stability. I don't believe we can afford to continue to honor a discount of that size, but out of respect for you as my elder and your history in Lavender Town, I'd like to extend a 15% discount to you and all the other former Tower attendants going forward. My sincerest apologies for the inconvenience, of course."
We should be very transparent and very polite. It's unfortunate that Herb put us and her in this position, but if we proceed with respect and dignity I believe it will be alright. We should politely introduce ourselves to the woman as well, it's a small town. Perhaps soon we could invite the former Tower attendants to a dinner or something as a show of our appreciation since we won't be doing so with the discount to the same degree.
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>>6393083
>Offer 15% instead. Respect the history, but 30 is too steep.
Backing: >"I see, thank you for explaining, and thank you for the service you did for this community. I'm afraid our shop is under financial strain while Herb's health has deteriorated, and we're making adjustments to regain stability. I don't believe we can afford to continue to honor a discount of that size, but out of respect for you as my elder and your history in Lavender Town, I'd like to extend a 15% discount to you and all the other former Tower attendants going forward. My sincerest apologies for the inconvenience, of course."
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>>6393083
"I'm Mike. I took over while my uncle recovers."
The Medium inclines her head. "Martha."
"We're a bit strapped right now. I can offer fifteen, out of respect for you and the others from the Tower."
Her Gastly drifts the length of the counter and back. "I'll let them know," she says, pays in exact change, and leaves. The Gastly exits through the wall.
Potions and Super Potions are sold out by week three. Antidotes barely move. Other than Martha, you get a visit from only one other Medium. Looks like she was true to her word.
Parlyz Heal makes up for it though -- Route 10 hikers keep coming back for more, and you sell out a full week early.
You're dusting the empty shelf when a picnicker walks in with a Teddiursa cradled in her arms.
"Oh thank god," she says, then sees the shelf. "You're kidding."
"Sold out a week ago."
"When do you restock?"
"First of the month."
"Put me down for fifteen. Or just all of them." Three thousand Pokédollars without the slightest hesitation.
"What do you need fifteen Parlyz Heal for?"
"Voltorb Surge, duh." The Teddiursa hops down and begins wandering around with his hand in his mouth. "Route 10 swarms with them about two months from now. Lt. Surge in Vermilion trades for them." She taps the empty shelf. "But it's annoying if you don't have these."
"If he's your only pokémon, I'd say you have bigger problems than paralysis."
"Like what?"
"Like self-destruct. You should take a ghost type with you." You nod at the Teddiursa. "Or teach him Dig."
The fluorescent near the door shuts off suddenly, sparking. The picnicker flinches back (even though the light was nowhere near her), her hand going tight on the pack strap. Then she recovers.
"It's not just me. I'm going with three other trainers. A two-day expedition." She looks at you. "You should come. You seem like you know what you're talking about."
>Agree to go. Herb can handle the register for two days.
>Counter-offer: bulk Parlyz Heal at a discount. She catches, you stock, you get a cut.
>Tell her you'll think about it. She can come back next month.
>Write-in
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>>6393612
We can't just drop the store and go do whatever. We came to take over for Herb and we should stick with it.
>Tell her you'll think about it. She can come back next month.
What do we do if some rockets break into the store and it's just Herb?
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>>6393612
"Count me in," you tell her. You'll just need to discuss with Herb first, but you're certain he'll let you go.
"Sweet! I'm Josie by the way," she says.
"Mike."
She slides a deposit across the counter -- fifteen hundred in cash. "For the Parlyz Heal." The Teddiursa waves at you with one paw. "I'll text you the details--what's your number?"
She enters it into her Pokégear (the latest model). Then she's gone before you can ask a follow-up.
That evening you close out the month.
SOLD OUT: Potion (4,500P), Super Potion (10,500P), Parlyz Heal (3,000P)
GOOD: Great Ball (6,600P)
SLOW: Antidote (300P), Awakening (750P)
Revenue: 25,650P. Rent: 2,000P. End of month: 31,650P.
Best the Spokémart has done in a year. But the wholesale catalog has bad news on the first page. Herb's supplier account is flagged -- months of late payments knocked him down to basic access. Super Potion and Great Ball are both locked under "Tier 2 -- reinstated upon consistent order history." You'll need to prove the shop can pay on time before the wholesaler trusts you with the good stock again.
You keep flipping. Two listings stand out.
The first is a bundled wholesale product: the Trainer's Starter Kit. Potion, Antidote, Poké Ball, pre-packed for new trainers. The kit is fifty percent wholesale instead of the standard sixty for each individual item. You've been getting this discount already without knowing it. Herb would just open the packaging and separate the items to put in the displays.
The second is a flyer from a specialty wholesaler in Fuchsia City. "Ranger Remedies" partners exclusively with shops stocking four or more Status item types. Their cures move at a hundred-Pokédollar premium per unit -- a little niche, but on cheap Status items that markup adds up fast.
Three shelves sold out and need restocking: Potion, Super Potion, Parlyz Heal. Antidote and Awakening carried over at nine bottles each after spoilage. Three Great Balls sit unsold -- you can clear them at half retail but you can't order more.
Potion and Parlyz Heal are obvious restocks. That leaves one open shelf plus a choice about what stays and what goes.
Your six shelves right now:
1. Potion [EMPTY]
2. Super Potion [EMPTY, locked]
3. Antidote [9]
4. Parlyz Heal [EMPTY]
5. Awakening [9]
6. Great Ball [3, locked]
>Starter Kit: Potion, Parlyz Heal, Poké Ball in. Clear Great Ball. Kit rate on three categories.
>Go wide: Clear Antidote and Great Ball too. Add Poké Ball, Escape Rope, Repel. Five restocks instead of three.
>Apothecary: Potion, Parlyz Heal, Burn Heal in. Clear Great Ball. Four Status types for the Fuchsia premium.
>Write-in (any six items from the Tier 1 catalog -- items mentioned in above choices)
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>>6394044
You clear the last three Great Balls into a bargain basket by the register. Half price gets them out of your hair and puts 900 Pokédollars back in the till. Then you place the Apothecary order: fifteen Potions, fifteen Parlyz Heal, fifteen Burn Heal. Antidote and Awakening stay on the wall. Four Status lines earns you the Fuchsia premium. One shelf stays empty for the moment.
The shipment arrives in two brown cases stamped RANGER REMEDIES. Burn Heal slides into place beside the other cures, and for the first time since you got here the medicine wall looks halfway coherent.
By closing time the shop smells of medicine, incense, and fresh cardboard. Your PokéGear starts buzzing while you're counting the drawer.
LAVENDER WHOLESALE DEPOT.
You answer expecting another lecture about Herb's account. Instead a bored dispatcher says, "Starter overstock from Saffron. One cardboard Poké Ball floor stand, fifteen balls, full wholesale, eighteen hundred. Truck's outside. You want it?"
You look at the empty shelf. "Can I take the stand and add Ice Heal to the order too?"
"Sorry. Driver's got one extra crate and paperwork already filled out. One change or none."
So much for doing both.
The Poké Ball stand would catch beginner traffic from the Route 8 side and brighten up the front of the shop. Ice Heal would turn the place into a proper status cure specialist. Passing keeps cash in hand (25,800P) and leaves room for purchasing some shop upgrades you've been eyeing in the catalogue.
>Take the Poké Ball floor stand for 1,800P and leave the last shelf empty.
>Use the last shelf for Ice Heal at 2,250P and decline the stand.
>Decline both and keep the cash buffer till next month.
>Write-in
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>>6396031
You pay the driver and set the Poké Ball stand by the front window. By noon a Bug Catcher has bought two balls without checking the shelf price, and three schoolkids have stopped just to spin the display.
Herb comes downstairs wrapped in his usual Golbat blanket with lunch in a faded picnic basket. He has tomato soup in a dented thermos and a grilled-cheese sandwich cut into neat triangles. You have two plain rice balls from the station kiosk and a black coffee with no sugar.
"That all?" he says.
"I'm not that hungry."
He slides one triangle onto your napkin. "Eat."
The sandwich is buttery and a little too rich. Herb watches until you take a bite.
"Your mom used to steal the corners," he says. "Said the middle got soggy."
"I wouldn't know."
His smile drops. "Right. Sorry."
You eat in silence for a minute, with the cooler humming and the new Poké Ball stand clicking near the door.
"Your dad used to love grilled cheese too," Herb says. "And street noodles. Bad coffee. And he was funny. He could make your mom laugh for hours." He's looking somewhere past you.
You chew. "Must've been a long time ago."
Herb nods. "I wish you knew him then. Before..."
"Before my mom died."
He looks down, as if ashamed. "Yeah."
The office phone rings.
You answer. The voice on the other end is brisk and bored. "Calling for Herb. Tell him Celadon Game Corner needs this month's four thousand by tonight. No more extensions."
You turn. Herb is fully concentrated on blowing on his soup.
"What four thousand?"
The man repeats an account number and hangs up.
Herb keeps his eyes on the thermos. The spoon in his hand taps once against the rim.
>Ask him outright if he's been gambling at the Game Corner.
>Pay the four thousand from the till first. You can fight about it after closing.
>Call Celadon back and get the story from them instead of him.
>Write-in
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>>6396477
>"This month's four thousand"...
Herb, what is it? A lifelong debt, or so-called "protection" money?
You ask for us because we're a strong trainer that might handle the threat? WELL I'M OUT OF THE FIGHTING SCENE!
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>>6396477
>Call Celadon back and get the story from them instead of him.
If it's a gambling debt, we should tell him we won't continue this job unless he joins a recovery group for his gambling addiction.
If it's a protection racket/extortion... Then maybe we should call that girl with the teddiursa and fight back?
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>>6396477
"Why is Celadon Game Corner asking us for money?"
Herb looks up then, more tired than startled. "Mike --"
"Are you in trouble?"
"They were not supposed to call the house line." He speaks through gritted teeth. "I told them that several times."
"So you do owe money?"
He sets the spoon down carefully. "It's nothing. I'll take care of it. Eat your lunch."
"Four thousand a month isn't nothing, uncle Herb." You sit back down, but don't touch the food. "If this is a gambling problem, just say tell me."
Herb frowns. "No," he says, an edge creeping into his voice. "It is not a gambling problem."
"What then?"
Before he can answer, the bell over the door rings.
A Youngster in a school cap hurries in with a Pidgey cradled in his arms and points at the shelf of antidotes. "Can I get a few of these, mister?"
By the time you've finished ringing the kid up, Herb has finished his soup and is gone.
You try twice more that week.
Both times Herb gives you the same answer: he'll handle it, it isn't what you think, and you are not to spend your time worrying about his paperwork. Then he changes the subject to stock, or Route 10 hikers, or whether the Burn Heal shelf should be moved half a foot to the left.
No more calls come from Celadon for the rest of the month.
>Take a peek at Herb's private payment book.
>Call Celadon from somewhere else and ask about the account.
>Let it drop for now and trust Herb to handle his own business.
>Write-in
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>>6396662
>Write-in
>"Look, I'm glad this isn't a gambling problem, and I would support you if you needed help recovering from that. But this is serious money they were asking you for, and I can't abide by how opaque you are being when I came all this way to have your back... If you can't rope me in on whatever this is, I'm gonna have to go to the Game Corner myself, in person, to get some answers directly from them."
If we call them, they may obfuscate. Looking through his ledger might help, but I don't want us to be sneaky when we can just communicate directly and set healthy boundaries. If they are shaking him down, this approach will get him to open up.
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>>6396662
You make the call from the pay phone outside Lavender Station while Dragonair curls in the shade by the vending machines. The Game Corner passes you through two clerks before an older voice comes on, crisp enough to straighten your back.
"Floor manager Watanabe speaking. I understand you've been asking after Herb."
"I'm his nephew. Running his shop right now. One of your people called the house line."
"Then accept my apology first. That employee has been corrected."
"What's this about?"
"Your uncle didn't tell you?"
"No."
"You should ask him."
"Can you at least tell me if he has a gambling problem?"
A short pause. Then Watanabe laughs so hard you have to hold the receiver away from your ear.
"Herb? If he started gambling again, the problem would belong to the casino. Hopefully not ours."
"You mean he was actually good?"
"He was a professional headache. The old staff still talk about him." His tone settles. "If Herb wanted four thousand, he could make it in one evening. He does not play now."
"Then whose debt is it?"
"Herb chose not to tell you. I will respect that. But I can tell you this is Herb being Herb. He has always carried burdens that belonged to weaker men."
You look through the glass at Dragonair. Her head is lifted toward the Radio Tower again.
"Anything else?" you ask.
One last pause. "If a young woman named Miki reaches Lavender, tell Herb we did all we could. Leaving was her choice."
Then the line clicks dead.
The month closes busy. Potion moves steadily. Burn Heal does better than expected off Route 8 traffic. The Mediums slowly drift back. The Poké Ball stand mostly attracts children.
SOLD OUT: Antidote (1,800P), Awakening (3,150P)
GOOD: Potion (3,300P), Parlyz Heal (3,300P), Burn Heal (3,850P)
SLOW: Poké Ball floor stand (600P)
Revenue: 16,000P. Rent: 2,000P. End of month: 38,000P.
The red stamp disappears from Herb's supplier file. You are back in good standing. Super Potion, Great Ball, Full Heal, and Super Repel go live in the catalog on the first. Route 10's Voltorb rush is due too.
After spoilage the shop sits at: Potion 3/15 (top-up 1,800), Antidote empty (750), Parlyz Heal 3/15 (1,200), Awakening empty (1,875), Burn Heal 3/15 (1,500), one shelf empty, Poké Ball stand 9/15 (top-up 600). Cash: 38,000P.
Synergies now available: Starter Kit (Med + Ball + Status = 50% wholesale), Route Ready (Ball + Status + Field = 50% wholesale + free carry-over), Apothecary (4 Status = +100P per Status unit sold).
>Route 10 push -- top up Potion, Parlyz Heal, Burn Heal, and the stand; use the empty shelves for Super Potion, Great Ball, and Super Repel. Starter Kit + Route Ready. Cost: 18,600P.
>Stay Apothecary -- top up Potion, Parlyz Heal, Burn Heal, and the stand; refill Antidote and Awakening; use the last shelf for Full Heal. Starter Kit + Apothecary. Cost: 12,225P.
>Play cautious -- refill only Antidote and Awakening, buy Loyalty Cards, and leave the partial shelves alone. Cost: 10,625P.
>Write-in
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>>6397029
>Route 10 push -- top up Potion, Parlyz Heal, Burn Heal, and the stand; use the empty shelves for Super Potion, Great Ball, and Super Repel. Starter Kit + Route Ready. Cost: 18,600P.
I knew they wouldn't spill the beans, but I suppose we'll learn more in time...
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Now that the thing with Herb and the Game Corner is settled for the moment, let's talk about the Route 10 hike. More specifically, what Pokemon we should be looking out for. Voltorb are a given and I think we should pick one up (you never know when the power is gonna go out and I'd hate for our perishables to rot). Beyond that, I'd also suggest looking for some wild Spearow.
I think a Spearow could be trained to work as a delivery pokemon. They're known for their speed even if their stamina is lacking, but I digress. Being able to deliver small orders within Lavender Town might open us to more business than we would otherwise receive. Obviously we'd charge more for this, but I imagine some of our regular customers would find some value in the convenience offered.
Also on the topic of new additions to the staff, we should definitely consider catching a Ghastly from Pokemon Tower at some point. The shop's got one on the sign out front, so we might as well get one as a mascot and shop pet.
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>>6397029
>Route 10 push -- top up Potion, Parlyz Heal, Burn Heal, and the stand; use the empty shelves for Super Potion, Great Ball, and Super Repel. Starter Kit + Route Ready. Cost: 18,600P.
>>6397449
Is our main character willing to buikd a team? He banked or released his others besides Dragonair... For that matter, if we are willing to keep other Pokemon, maybe we should look into the Pokemon we still have in our PC?
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>>6397459
>Is our main character willing to build a team?
At this point, probably not. That said, Pokemon are essentially free labor so long as they're fed, and we could definitely use some of that if we want to minimize expenses in the future.
>maybe we should look into the Pokemon we still have in our PC?
Maybe, but in-character I think we'd need a pretty good reason to do that. Our Dragonair is already more than a match for almost any wild Pokemon or trainer we'd find out here, so it'd have to be something pretty strong to justify building a proper team again.
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>>6397463
The part with the call from the Blackthorn Gym.
He was a Gym Trainer there and Claire would probably be the boss from hell.
The break-up is probably a stretch, but if he was a Cool Trainer and getting calls from Blackthorn he was ignoring, then he used to be one of Claire's Gym Trainers.
And his talk with Becky tells me that his experience was definitely not a positive one. Especially if he quit being a trainer because of it.
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>>6397466
>He was a Gym Trainer there and Claire would probably be the boss from hell.
I guess it makes sense since she's one of the main gatekeepers of the Johto league. Being somebody who worked under her probably invited some pretty lofty expectations.
>And his talk with Becky tells me that his experience was definitely not a positive one. Especially if he quit being a trainer because of it.
I can only speculate, but if we're Cooltrainer Mike from Blackthorne Gym, he was probably getting rolled by anybody strong enough to actually challenge the gym (pic related).
Claire more than likely gave Mike shit about it, and I can see him getting pretty resentful about it, leading to him becoming disillusioned with training as a whole.
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>>6397662
Lack of confidence? Lost a bet with Claire? With my original reach - he was sweet on her?
Could be any reason. Could've been prepping to take on the League and got fucked by a contract, could've washed out in the first round of the League tourney after busting his balls under her, for all we know.
Hopefully, OP gets into that at some point. And if we're going a-catching next, maybe we'll find out, one way or another.
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>>6397029
You spend the morning turning the shop into a route stop. Potions up front. Parlyz Heal where tired trainers can see them. Super Potion is back on the wall for the first time in months. Great Balls go behind the counter. Super Repel takes the end shelf.
Halfway through hanging a price card, you hear Herb in the office.
"No. Not at the shop. Call me when you get into town."
By the time you look in, he's smiling over an invoice.
"Tent packed?" he asks. "Route 10 waits for no man."
"I'm leaving tomorrow."
"Good. Be gone all day. Springtime can't be spent indoors. It's practically against the law."
You stop at the Pokémon Center that evening. If you're taking Josie and her group into Voltorb country, Dragonair should be more than enough. Still, an ounce of preparation...
There is just one name in Bill's PC. HORSEA -- Lv. 5
You caught it in the Whirl Islands after a training expedition went off course. A storm split the group, and for one wet night you and Clair were alone together, drying out in a small cave. You found the Horsea in a calm pool the next morning.
You log off. Dragonair should be all you need.
Josie is waiting outside with the group. She introduces Aaron, a Pokémaniac in a striped vest. He immediately launches into a lecture on the nuances of Slowpoke evolution. Josie is hanging on every word.
Nina, another Picnicker, stands beside them quietly. Her bag is neatly packed. Her eyes flick to Dragonair's ball at your wristband before she introduces herself. She checks a small empty envelope and tucks it deep into an inner pocket. When one of Aaron's straps slips on the road, she fixes it without a word. He thanks her a little too fast. She goes pink.
Aaron grins at you. "Josie says with you here we're guaranteed a good haul!"
You don't answer. Once upon a time every trip you took had a specific purpose: build the team, serve the Gym, get stronger, get better. When you were trying for the league before that, it was the same. The routine, the drive behind it, was your anchor. Now...
"So, what are you hoping to get out of this trip?" Nina asks, mirroring your own thoughts.
>Guide the group, keep them safe.
>Catch a Pokémon the shop can use.
>See if you still have it.
>Write-in
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>>6398441
>>See if you still have it.
>Catch a Pokemon the store can use
I'll go for Venonat.
>Cover Fairy Weakness
>Not weak to Ice
>Can open eyes wide to spot shoplifters
>Venomoth can Paraspore/confuseray/Hypnose thiefs
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>>6398505
On the topic of electric type Pokémon in the surrounding area, the Power Plant is just on the other side of Rock Tunnel. No real reason to go there now given the surge on Route 10, but maybe later on.And who's to say Red didn't pass up the big catch at the station way back when?
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>>6398518
We'd probably get thirty seconds of screentime on the local news if all we did was tell people about it.
Not really worth thinking about right now, mostly because we don't have the team or supplies to tackle a big catch like that, nor do we actually know about it in-character (I think?)
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