CHAPTER 125
Pauline angrily paced around her room. “Where is he, damn it?!”
My training session had been very productive, and I was more confident than ever about my battle against Fantina, as if the drain from losing yesterday’s battle had completely disappeared. Dad had just dropped off after lunch, and we were all hanging out in Pauline’s room, which Emilia now shared. Justin groaned as he placed his hand on his ears.
“Maybe he’s busy,” I shrugged. “He said his business eting went well, so what’s the problem? He could be training.”
“Don’t be so naive, Grace,” Pauline said. “We all like training, but not everyone’s as crazy about it as you are.”
“Denzel’s pretty crazy about it, though,” I muttered.
“You’re making a fuss about this for no reason,” Cecilia said. “He doesn’t have to tell you where he is at all tis.”
“I know… but I thought he’d co back to tell us about his eting,” she said in a defeated tone. “All he sent was a text. A ssage is kind of lousy, don’t you think?!” She scread.
“I’m going,” Justin said, standing up.
“What? Where?” Pauline asked.
“Sowhere where I can get so peace and quiet.”
The boy hurriedly left Pauline’s room, causing us to laugh. Well, all of us except her. He was getting more assertive now that he had proved that he was a good trainer against Fantina, and I personally was all for it.
“Whatever,” Pauline sighed as she fell onto her bed. “Emi, comfort .”
“Comfort…?” She awkwardly said. “Uh, maybe he’s with that girl that he told us about. What was her na?”
“Caitlyn?” Cecilia asked.
“Yeah, that was her na,” I said, rembering that Denzel had occasionally texted her. “He said she was coming here at so point. Wouldn’t surprise if they t.”
Pauline froze. “I didn’t know about any girl. And what do you an, here?”
“In Heartho?” I frowned. “Where else could I an?”
The redhead got up and grabbed her phone.
“You’re being weird right now,” I said.
She just ignored and called soone who I assud was Denzel. There was no answer.
“Pauline?” Emilia said worriedly. “Erm, is sothing wrong?”
She had to call her na two more tis for her to answer. “No, I’m just worried,” she finally said. “Mommy’s coming soon, and I’m worried about spies and the like.”
“That sounds like a half-truth to ,” Emilia said.
It did. I didn’t know if it was because she hated ‘fake’ people, or if was because she was just blunt, but Pauline was a terrible liar. She was terrible in a different manner than Cece, because she just took a long ti to co up with lies.
“I’ll… I’ll tell you more later,” she sighed. “But seriously, we need to find him— I an, what if he’s getting tracked or sothing? Don’t you think it’s weird that he’s not answering his phone?”
“He doesn’t answer his phone half the ti,” I said. “Send him a text, and he’ll answer soon.”
“I’d… I’d like to think everything is fine, but I’ve been worried about Harvey and Clarence,” Cecilia said. “It’s been too quiet.”
“At least one of you’s agreeing with ,” she said. “Grace, where would Denzel take a girl?”
“I don’t know, Amity Square? Wait, no, that’s mostly for Pokemon stuff. Maybe a restaurant sowhere? If I had to guess, he’d take a girl to a familiar place for a date, so maybe that cafe Emilia showed us when we t Vincent.”
“It’s not a date if she’s tricking him,” she hurriedly said. “We’re going— oh. My phone— it’s Denzel.”
Pauline answered imdiately.
“Put it on speaker,” Cecilia asked.
“Denzel, where are you? We’ve been calling you for a while,” she said.
“I was… training. Is sothing wrong?”
“Training, when half of your team’s still at the Center?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
I heard him sigh. In retrospect, maybe I shouldn’t have said anything. “Grace is here? Yeah, Sylveon and Lopunny needed so extra training. Plus, you trained with Togetic still at the Center! Do you— do you need for sothing? I’m on my way back right now, so—”
“Pauline wants to know if you were with that Caitlyn girl or not,” Emilia said. Pauline stared daggers at her, but the girl didn’t budge. In fact, she looked kind of mad. “What? Might as well tell him everything, because you apparently didn’t tell a whole lot.”
I was beginning to feel like I was missing a lot of context here.
Denzel groaned through the phone. “Emi’s here too? No, I wasn’t eting her. I was genuinely training. Look, let’s talk when I get back, alright? We should probably have an adult conversation about things like boundaries.”
“Fine. I’m hanging up,” Pauline huffed.
“Grace and I are going to hang out together,” Cecilia said before Pauline even finished hanging up the call.
I wanted to protest, but I knew that there was an argunt about to start, and it probably wasn’t my place to hear it, especially when I felt so confused about everything. Cecilia dragged by the arm, and we left the room. She was practically running through the Center’s hall.
“Grace,” she breathed out as she closed her door. “I figured it out.”
“Okay, because they were acting really weird.”
She looked at with disappointnt. “Do you… do you not even have a clue?”
“Why are you looking at like that? Denzel looked at like that too.”
“Listen, Grace. Pauline was jealous about Denzel potentially being on a date with another girl,” she started.
“I an, I guessed that much. I’m not that dense… what? Don’t look at like that! You’re dense too!”
“Less dense than you, apparently. Emilia was jealous that Pauline was jealous. It was so obvious.”
I gasped. “Wait… so it’s like a big, like, love triangle? Emilia likes Pauline, and Pauline likes Denzel? No… for it to be a love triangle, Denzel would have to like Emilia, it doesn’t work. A love line? Is that a thing?”
“I don’t know,” Cece sighed as she crossed her arms. “Emilia seed quite possessive of Pauline.”
“So you think they’re dating already? Pauline was possessive of Denzel too, we shouldn’t jump the gun.”
“That’s just how Pauline functions,” Cece said, sitting down on the bed. “With how blind you are in matters of love, I’m glad I made the first move, or we probably would have never started dating.”
“I’m not blind,” I rolled my eyes. “And if I am, you were just as blind as not even five minutes ago. But it’s true that Emilia seed really angry, which is unusual for her. I’ve… I’ve actually only seen her angry once. Back on route 206.”
“This is looking like a ss,” Cece complained, pinching her nose.
“Drama is never good,” I nodded, sitting next to her. “I hope they don’t have a big fight… I wish I could be a Cutiefly on the wall right now and listen in.”
“Well, what do you say we distract ourselves and go out?” She smiled.
“Sure! You can help prepare for my eting with the Poketch Company too, ‘cause I’m really nervous.”
——
Denzel exhaled in exasperation as he stepped inside of Pauline’s room. How had this even happened? All he had done was train Louis and his friends in secret— although Mira was actually as good as he was— and now he was getting sucked into this unnecessary drama. Today had started off so well, too. He had negotiated a contract, and he was now sponsored by a water brand called Ovean for a pretty decent amount of cash, and his obligations were relatively relaxed. But now, he had to deal with two irritated girls.
“So, what’s up?” He said. Obviously, he knew what was up. Pauline had been possessive of him again in front of Emilia this ti, and that had made her angry. Still, he figured that it’d be better to start the conversation like this. No one could go wrong with a classic ‘what’s up?’
Pauline looked angry as always, but what scared Denzel was that Emilia also looked mad. She was never mad. Sad, yes, but angry? The boy leaned against a wall.
“Look,” Emilia said. “Sothing’s going on between you two, but Pauline won’t budge! Denzel, tell what it is.”
Denzel felt like folding up a thousand tis and hiding in a corner sowhere. Arceus, this was awkward. Mira’s annoying antics were a blessing compared to this, and she had kept pestering him with questions.
“Nothing’s going on,” he said, discreetly looking at Pauline, who was unusually silent. At this point, he figured that coming clean was the best option, so he decided to go for it. “You know what, never mind. Look, I can tell you guys had a fight or sothing. Here’s what happened. I asked Pauline out at the party in Eterna and got rejected after she told you two were kind of not, but totally dating.”
“Denzel—” Pauline protested.
“Pauline! You told him?!” Emilia said, her face wrought with panic. “Oh, no, oh no—”
“Calm down, alright? I haven’t told anybody. Look, the point is, nothing is going on, okay? Your relationship’s safe.”
“I think I’m gonna be sick,” Emilia lurched as she ran to the bathroom.
Denzel winced. Did she have that much internalized homophobia? Her parents must have been horrible to her. Pauline followed her girlfriend to the bathroom, and he considered slipping out, but that probably would have been rude.
“Damn it,” he said, scratching his head.
This was getting complicated.
“Do you need water?” He asked as he made his way to the bathroom’s entrance. “dicine?”
Emilia heaved as Pauline held her hair back. “No dicine… water’s fine.”
He hurriedly grabbed a glass and poured her so cold, refrigerated water.
“It’s… it’s my fault,” Pauline said. “I shouldn’t have told him. I broke your trust, Emilia, I’m sorry.”
Emilia drank the whole glass in a single second. “No, I don’t… I an, I do mind, but I know it shouldn’t— it shouldn’t be that big of a deal. I don’t understand why I’m so anxious about hiding when we literally have two gay friends that are dating.”
“Look, we can forget everything that happened today,” Denzel said. “Again, I’m not going to tell anyone—”
“No,” she said. “Fuck it.”
Had… had Emilia just sworn?
“We’re telling them tomorrow. I’m… I’m scared, but I’m done with hiding. I feel like I’m being choked out. If I can at least keep the relationship to our circle, then my parents don’t have to find out,” she continued. “By the way, I’m not done. All of this still doesn’t explain why Pauline was acting like a jealous, possessive girlfriend toward you earlier.”
Denzel disappointedly stared at Pauline, who averted her eyes. She was acting very subdued, which wasn’t like her at all.
“Look, I’m… I’m not even sure myself, okay? I don’t know what’s wrong with . Can we just forget it?”
Emi’s face softened. “Okay… okay. It’s not like I thought you were actually cheating on . I trust you.”
Well, they might not have known, but Denzel was pretty sure that he had already figured it out by now, and it opened a whole can of worms that he didn’t particularly want to have to deal with.
Alas, he did not exactly have a choice.
——
A day had passed since the revelation about Pauline and Emilia’s relationship. Well, it wasn’t exactly a revelation, more like a theory, but Cecilia was sure of herself. She warned not to tell anyone until they told us themselves, though, which I agreed with. If they hadn’t told us yet, there must have been a reason, especially when I and Cece had been out for so long. I stepped in front of the building my father had dropped off at and opened my Poketch, triple checking that this was the right address.
“Well, I can’t exactly be wrong,” I chuckled nervously.
In front of stood the massive Poketch Company Headquarters in all of its glory. They were based in Jubilife, but they had one in every major city in Sinnoh, and Heartho was no exception. Since it had been renovated relatively recently in downtown Heartho, the building was blocky and modern, made out of sleek, silver-colored tal and glass, and it stood at least fifteen stories tall. The entrance was marked by a bright, ‘Poketch Company’ sign in bold letters, along with their logo, which was a simple, stylized drawing of the phone they were the most known for.
I took a deep breath and stepped inside of the busy building. The lobby was filled with white walls and tiles, and was built with a minimalist design in mind. This was nothing like the small, shoddy apartnt that I had t the Retani Industries representatives in. This felt official. I walked up to the receptionist, who I hoped would be able to point in the right direction, because as it stood, I had no idea of where to go.
“Welco to the Poketch Company, how may I help you?” The woman said with a bright smile.
“I’m Grace Pastel,” I quietly said. “I have a eting for a sponsorship at nine-thirty?”
“Sponsorships are up the elevator on the fifth floor, Ms. Pastel,” she explained. “Soone should be there to et you.”
“Oh, really?” I said, raising an eyebrow. “Thank you.”
I stepped inside of the elevator along with a dozen people and noticed that the last two floors needed so kind of keycard to be accessed. It was probably so employee-only area that was permanently closed to the public. I squeezed past the full elevator and noticed that a woman that looked to be in her forties was waiting for with a sign with my na on it.
“Ah, Ms. Pastel! You sure are early,” she smiled.
I hesitantly stepped toward her. “Thirty minutes early seed appropriate for a eting with the Poketch Company,” I awkwardly said. “Um, what’s your na?”
“Call lody,” she said. “Your handlers will be pleased with your punctuality.”
“Handlers?” I frowned.
“Oh, I’ve been hoping that they’d change the term for years now,” she chuckled. “It scares so people off. It’s just how they call the people that’ll be in the eting room with you.”
“Oh, okay,” I said, hiding my suspicion. Maybe it was just a na, but I sure didn’t like the sound of it.
“Follow ,” she said.
lody led to a small, empty waiting room, which I supposed I’d have to wait in until they were ready to et . She offered drinks and snacks, but I only took a bottle of water. I felt too nervous to eat anything at the mont, and I was starting to sweat. If only I could have gotten stomachaches like Denzel instead of this stupid constant sweating, Arceus. I closed my eyes and carefully went over everything Cecilia had told yesterday. I needed to stand my ground if anything was too egregious. They contacted , which ant that they wanted , so they’d probably be willing to be flexible with whatever they were going to try to make sign. If they didn’t, that ant that they were trying to trap into so scummy deal. lody tried to get to open up and make small talk, but I wasn’t really in the mood. I appreciated that they were at least a lot more accommodating than Retani Industries had been, although this was probably their way of buttering up.
“They’ll be with you now,” lody said. I almost jumped. It was now or never.
I shot up like an arrow and stepped into the room. I was surprised to see that there were a lot fewer people than I expected. My eting with Retani Industries had been with twelve people, but there were only five here, and the room looked less like a business eting room and more like a break room. There were couches, a televisions, a minifridge… but obviously, they were all seated at a table.
“Ms. Pastel,” A woman said, standing up to greet . She offered a handshake, which I obliged. “I’m Ms. Greene, the lead negotiator here. Feel free to sit anywhere you like.”
“The couches are fine?” I asked.
“Yes, of course,” she smiled. “We’re a part of the Poketch Company’s sponsorship departnt, and we’re the ones who scouted you. Here, from the left, you have Mr. Chambers, Mr. Vaughn, Mr. Wilkerson, and Ms. Reilly— Ms. Reilly’s a lawyer. She won’t be talking, but she’ll be taking notes and recording the eting’s audio, okay?”
I nodded, studying each of them as Ms. Greene told their nas, and the expressions on their faces seed warm enough. None of them exhibited any nervousness, malice or impatience. Their bodies were perfectly behaving like people who had no nefarious intent, but people like this were probably good at masking their true intentions.
You could never be too paranoid.
“Well, gentlen, let’s begin,” she said. “Mr. Vaughn?”
The older man flipped through a small booklet for a few seconds. “Ms. Pastel, we’ve seen you make incredible strides in your Pokemon training career. We started looking at you after your… let’s just say, unfortunate eting with Retani Industries, but it wasn’t until your battle with Candice that we decided to work with you.”
So they wanted to work with after I almost died, made it through Mount Coronet, and beca a first-year celebrity. It kind of felt objectifying, but for a company, that was normal enough. It wasn’t like I expected anything else anyway, but to hear it spoken to my face was an… experience, to say the least.
“You’ve shown your skill as a trainer, especially with that battle yesterday with your colleagues. And there are recent rumors that you’ve caught a Turtonator?” He continued.
“I did,” I nodded. They asked to verify my ownership with the sa device that the rangers used— only a portable version. I placed the Pokeball inside of it, and an image of Turtonator ca up.
“Simply incredible,” he continued.
“So you want to sponsor because I show promise?” I said, asking the obvious.
“That is a part of it,” Ms. Greene nodded. I noticed a subtle look to her colleagues. It was too early to say if sothing was afoot yet, but they clearly had sothing cooked up. “But we’ll get to that later. Oh, by the way, do you want anything to eat? Any water? Our research team has heard that you’re quite fond of milkshakes. We can provide one for you if you’d like. Any flavor.”
“I’ve got my bottle right there,” I said, patting my backpack. “I’m okay.”
“Well, let’s start going over the contract, then,” Mr. Chambers said as he adjusted his glasses. “Ms. Greene?”
The woman handed the sa booklet that Mr. Vaughn had in his hands, and Mr. Chamber continued.
“Feel free to read along,” he said. “We’re trying to be as transparent as possible. First, you’ll obviously be forced into using Poketch products. We know you currently have a phone, but you don’t have the Poketch Watch, which is a device we’ve been trying to promote in recent years. Call it a return to our roots. You’ll have to wear it during any gym battle or tournant you participate in.”
I knew the Poketch Company had gotten its start by creating digital watches, but I wasn’t exactly interested in them trying to bring them back. I didn’t even know what I’d use it for, but it certainly wasn’t a deal breaker. Ms. Greene unlatched her own watch, and showed it to .
“That’s our latest model, the Poketch Watch Plus,” she declared. She explained the new features to , but I wasn’t exactly interested and mostly tuned out until she was done.
“Okay, that’s fine with ,” I said, and my eyes returned to the contract.
Mr. Chambers continued. “In your case, Ms. Pastel, we’ve noticed a severe lack of… social dia use, which is a problem. Now, we want to be flexible, so you have two choices. You can start promoting our products online through the… forums, you call it, since we’ve been trying to better our younger outreach. Or, you can participate in television interviews and other dia appearances instead, like advertisents.”
My throat tightened. “Uh, is that necessary?”
“I’m afraid it is,” Ms. Greene said softly. She was so obvious about trying to manipulate it was kind of funny, but I wasn’t going to leave. I needed money, so I needed to at least try to work with these people. “The latter would benefit us a lot more, since our target audience tends not to use the Circuit Forums, but we figured we’d let you stay inside of your comfort zone.”
“I’ll take the online promotion instead,” I sighed. I should have paid attention to those Arceus damned new features, then.
No, wait. It was actually fine. They’d probably give pointers on what to say. There was no way they’d let so teenager decide on how to promote their brand. I took a deep breath. Sohow, I already felt tired.
“Thank you for being malleable,” Mr. Chambers said. “There is a caveat to this, though. A lot of journalists often stand around tournants to interview trainers participating in them—”
“These are a lot more low-key than what you’d have to deal with on television,” Ms. Greene stepped in. “But it’ll go on television and reach our core custor base, so that part is non-negotiable, I’m afraid.”
“Sothing’s been bothering . Target audience? Core custors? Everyone owns a Poketch,” I said, holding back a scoff. “You basically have a monopoly. That doesn’t really add up.”
“You’re correct, but adults with steady jobs tend to buy more of our products, whereas most trainers struggle with money, so they’re content with a single Poketch. They don’t buy the new models when they co out either. But non-trainer teenagers are targetable, and they put a lot of stock in what trainers say. Especially young rising stars such as yourself.”
I nodded, relaxing slightly. That made sense.
Mr. Chambers tapped his finger against the table, possibly angry that she had cut him off. “And you’ll have to participate in a minimum of five tournants for the remainder of this year. Five tournants ans a minimum of five interviews, but we’d appreciate if you went above and beyond. We’ll renegotiate the number during the sumr if you sign, since by then, your Togetic will probably have evolved and you’ll be able to fly around the region.”
Five tournants? How was I even going to join that many? I knew about the Solaceon one, but what else was there? I rembered that Craig had told that he often participated in tournants he was way too good for just to fulfill his contract, so I knew they had asked him the sa thing. At least I knew that it seed to be a standard demand from them, so I agreed. I didn’t mind the tournant part. In fact, I welcod it, but the interviews annoyed .
“We recognize that these terms might scare you off, so we’ve thrown in a bonus. Depending on how you do in those tournants, you’ll get an extra paynt for that month. Of course, the amount of money will be determined by the company, and it’ll depend on a lot of factors, like how many people participated, how many eyes were on the tournant, how tough the competition was, how far you placed…” Ms. Greene specified.
Okay, that made the whole thing a lot more palatable. More money was good. I’d be willing to agree with that.
“There’s a conference in Jubilife during the sumr where we present the progress the Poketch Company’s done throughout the year. Attendance will be mandatory if you sign, but there’ll be plenty of other trainers with you there, so you shouldn’t be out of your depth,” Mr. Chambers said.
“That seems fine,” I nodded. Trainers were always free during the sumr, after all. “What do I do there?”
“Just smile and shake so hands,” Mr. Wilkerson spoke up for the first ti. “It’s more about showing that we have connections in the Pokemon training industry and less about what you have to do. So long as you show up and you behave normally, the Poketch Company will be fine with that.”
“Okay. Next?”
Mr. Chambers nodded, seemingly pleased with how the eting was going so far. He continued explaining the ins and outs of the contract to , but there was nothing as demanding as he had stated previously. It was mostly small-scale stuff like not being caught with another phone, not bad-mouthing their products or more discreet clauses like asking trainers what features they thought should be added to Poketches.
“Now, let’s get to the benefits,” Mr. Wilkerson said. “First, what you’re here for, I presu, your monthly salary. Two hundred and fifty thousand Pokedollars, renegotiable every three months, depending on how you’re doing.”
My eyes bulged, and I swallowed my saliva the wrong way, causing to go into a rough coughing fit. That was so much fucking money. More than I thought I’d ever get. I knew I was good, but that was a lot. Still, I couldn’t get too excited. Renegotiable ant that the number could go down if I didn’t progress as fast as they wanted, and even though that was more money than I thought they’d offer , it wasn’t enough to actually buy every TM under the sun, especially when I had vitamins to buy.
But it also ant that the number could go up. A lot.
“What’s the catch?” I asked in between coughs. “Sorry.”
“That isn’t it. All of your travels during the sumr will be paid in full,” he continued. “You will obviously get new models of every Poketch product as soon as it cos out.”
Right. Since there was a lapse in the Circuit during the sumr months, traveling by plane wasn’t frowned upon during the break. That’d be useful, since I’d been planning on going back ho for a bit. Even when I beca the Champion, there’d be a transitional period that would take months to sort through, so I’d have a bit of ti to go see dad.
Plus, I wasn’t about to fly across the region on my future Togekiss’ back. That would take weeks, and the sumr months were fleeting. I’d rather take a plane and be where I needed to be in a few hours if that ant I could spend more ti with dad.
“Can I get a laptop?” I asked.
“Of course. That was one of the products we wanted you to promote, after all. We can have one ready for you in… thirty minutes, maybe? Ms. Greene will make the call if you sign.”
Aweso, I thought.
“What if I break it? What if I break any of your products?”
“You’ll get another one free of charge,” Ms. Greene clarified.
“Next, we’ll be offering you a free stay at a hotel in each city you visit. Everything will be paid for, including the food, if you decide to eat there.”
Why were they giving so much? There had to be a catch here.
“I don’t think I’ll stay at hotels that much,” I said.
“Well, feel free to take advantage of the perk anyway,” Mr. Wilkerson smiled. We finally reached the end of the booklet. “Your current contract would be locked for the remainder of the year, along with the next— except your salary, of course, as we clarified earlier.”
I nodded and retreated into my thoughts. This was an Arceus damned treasure trove, but there was still a lot more under the surface. I’d be associated with the brand, which was positively seen across Sinnoh, aning that my reputation would improve even further, which, even though I didn’t bother that much with public appearances, would be a nice boost. I’d get networking opportunities with other trainers— powerful trainers like Craig that the Poketch Company sponsored, and there was the opportunity of getting an even better deal down the line.
“So? Now’s the ti where you pull the rug from under ,” I told the negotiators.
Ms. Greene’s lips twitched upward. “You’re very perceptive, Ms. Pastel. We’ve taken notice that a few other companies have contacted you for a eting, and that you’ve accepted to et a few. Fitstride, Bloom & Breeze, and RefreshCo,” she listed. I chose to ignore the fact that they had sohow figured that out. “In exchange for these very generous terms, the Poketch Company would like to make this partnership exclusive.”
There it was. They didn’t want to get sponsored by anybody else. They wanted for themselves, because they knew I’d grow even stronger in the future and that a lot of companies would try to get a slice of .
“You’re a rising star, Ms. Pastel,” the woman continued. “One of the few this year. The Poketch Company has always been hesitant to sponsor first-year trainers because they tend to be a bigger brand risk, and we never know if they’re just a fad that’ll burn out quickly, but with you, we chose to change our approach. We want to make you the brand new face of our company.”
I froze. I couldn’t believe the words I was hearing. ? The face of this whole multi-billion dollar company?
“Isn’t that Craig?” I asked, keeping my voice from shaking. “When people think of the Poketch Company, they think of him.”
“Mr. Goodwill’s in his last year,” Mr. Chambers said. “Win or lose at the Conference, he’ll be taking a job with the League, either as the Champion or as a League trainer. That ans his contract is void as soon as the year finishes and we’re parting ways. Needless to say, there’ll be a transitional period where we ease you in and ease him out of the position, but by the sumr, you’ll have replaced his role.”
“But why and not so other big shot?” I asked.
“We’re choosing to take a risk,” Ms. Greene said. “And we believe that people will like it if we change it up for once and pick a young, fresh face instead of the usual older trainers. And let’s just say that Mr. Goodwill put in a good word for you after his sister brushed us off. He’s been helping us with finding a replacent for him, but she’s even more reclusive than you are.”
The people around the table nodded. So Craig had recomnded ? It was after his sister, of course, but Arceus, I owed him so much. If he hadn’t, I doubted that they’d be offering all of this. Still, I didn’t believe I could ever fill his shoes. He was a damn legend that everyone knew in the region. He talked to the dia all the ti and he sold fucking rchandise. I saw people walking in the streets with his shirts all the ti!
“O—okay,” I said.
“Plus, you’d be the first girl that’d be filling the role. Not only that, but you’re a lesbian. Or bisexual— pardon for assuming. Either way, that’s good for representation,” she continued.
“L—lesbian,” I breathed out.
Representation was nice and all— genuinely nice, even though the tone of the words themselves was kind of shallow— but right now, I was still trying to wrap my head around this whole situation.
“Wait,” I frowned. There was one thing wrong with all of this. “Craig’s contract isn’t exclusive. He works with a lot of companies. I know he’s a lot better than , so you were willing to let him spread his wings. I’m not there yet, but I’ll get there eventually. When the ti cos, I want you to let negotiate with other companies too.”
I saw Mr. Vaughn wince. That had been the trap. I knew it was too good to be true, but I had caught them. They had wanted to keep under them for my entire career.
After a brief pause, Mr. Chambers nodded. “Very well. The Poketch Company can work with that. Ms. Reilly will draft a new contract. It’ll only take a few minutes to add that clause. You’ll be exclusive with us until you at least reach the top sixteen in the Conference. Is that enough for you?”
Top sixteen… that was a lot, especially for a first year, but hell, if I wanted to be the best trainer in the world, I couldn’t doubt myself about at least reaching that high. I bit my lip and looked around the room. Had I caught everything? I flipped through the booklet and I didn’t notice anything else out of line.
“You don’t have to make a decision now,” the woman added. “We’re willing to negotiate until you leave the city.”
. The face of the Poketch Company. Two hundred and fifty thousand Pokedollars per month, and a free laptop. Not only that, but the salary was renegotiable every three months. Arceus, this was good. I read over the entire contract again to make sure I wasn’t getting tricked sohow. I triple, quadruple, and quintuple checked, but everything appeared legit.
“If I sign, when do I get paid?” I asked.
“Well, normally, it’d be on the last Friday of every month, but we might be willing to make an exception and get you the money for this month transferred today since we’re redrafting the contract either way,” Mr. Vaughn said.
Damn it, they had , and they knew it. They were treating like an Arceus damned queen. I exhaled and closed the booklet.
“Well, I’m in,” I said.
Ms. Greene smiled, and Ms. Reilly exited the room. Thirty minutes later, she re-entered with a fresh new booklet and my brand new laptop. After reading through the entire thing again for good asure, I finally agreed, and Ms. Greene handed a pen.
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