After their discovery, David and Terry took a break from Sand Attack training.

To thank Sarah for her and Rattata’s help, Pidgey and Sandshrew were volunteered to join a training game of catch. The goal was for Rattata to practice evasion and diverting Quick Attack away from a target.

Sarah explained that Quick Attack was less a speed boost and more of a pounce or leap at prey. Pokemon could learn to use the Move to escape or for a quick repositioning, but it required a lot of practice fighting their natural instinct.

Pidgey was irritated at not being allowed to fly, but she forgot that quickly in favor of chasing the other two around. Rattata was getting a workout but Pidgey and Sandshrew were just having fun. They raced after the rat Pokemon, creating enough noise that he was sure someone was going to come looking for an injured Pokemon.

When Rattata grew too tired, David and Terry herded their Pokemon back to the dirt piles for another round of Sand Attack work.

Terry didn’t have any concrete plan for Pidgey to master the move. It hadn’t been a challenge for Sandshrew to learn. He had a natural affinity with the Move and was of the same type while Pidgey had a near opposite typing. Instead, the two of them spitballed ideas while Sandshrew showed off the Move to Pidgey in the dirt.

By the time the group called it a day, Pidgey had gotten no closer to a full Sand Attack. David and Terry had a few ideas about how she could get there though.

The group agreed to meet up a little later the next day and said their goodbyes.

 

-.-

 

On the way back to Nature’s Scent, David considered his next steps.

For Pidgey’s training, he seemed to have three options.

- Figuring out the Move she did with her eyes.

- Mastering the damaging lavender twists.

- Continuing with Sand Attack.

Ideally she would learn them all, but he needed to prioritize.

Next steps not related to Pidgey were more hazy. A lot would depend on how this meeting with Oliver was going to go. He was down 20P and completely out of food.

If Oliver was in a good mood he would ask him for an advance on whatever pay he was going to get. If he was in a bad mood, 20P should cover two of the most basic Normal type food sachets. He could eat salad or whatever non berry but still edible food he could find in the grove of trees.

His stomach rumbled, and he sped up his steps. Arriving a little early couldn’t hurt his case.

 

David slowed as he rounded the corner and came within view of the house. Oliver was sitting at the long table on the patio. But he wasn’t alone.

A younger man sat with his back to David and on Oliver’s other side... David blinked as he recognized the young boy from the orchard yesterday. Oliver must know the child, or he had been caught today and this was the scolding.

The boy spotted him first and stared with the open curiosity that all children shared. It was definitely the same child. The curly black hair was distinctive.

David continued forward, hoping to get a feel for the situation before Oliver and the other man noticed him. Should he have told Oliver about the boy yesterday? Would the boy be happy he hadn’t chased after him or use this as an opportunity to spread the blame. ‘That man didn’t say anything! I thought I was fine!’ The unknown man was deep in discussion with Oliver.

“-was last on the agenda for some reason. It was lucky that the Anise representative hadn’t left yet.”

Oliver scoffed.

The man with his back to David sighed at the response and continued. “The proposal was simple enough. Reduce our prices while Cerulean, Vermilion and Fuchsia sort out their agreement.”

Oliver’s face scrunched up in distaste. He shifted to the side as if to spit before remembering he was on his patio and thinking better of it. As he shifted he caught sight of David. Oliver straightened and waved David forward onto the patio.

The man began to turn to see who the gesture was for but Oliver pulled the man’s attention back with a question. "It was defeated with a large majority again, of course. Why do they keep proposing something like this?"

As David stepped onto the patio, the boy turned his attention back to the man opposite him.

“Well,” The man hedged. “It was actually quite close. The Hibiscus representative voted in favor of the proposal.”

“What!” Oliver snapped, leaning forward. “That old coot supports this?”

Before the man could answer, Oliver shook his head and continued. “No, it’s not possible. He’ll never change. There's another reason for it.”

The man shrugged.

Oliver scrunched his face up in thought, contorting his mustache. He placed his right hand on the table and spread his fingers out as if to steady himself. Before he came up with an answer he caught sight of David standing on the edge of the patio. He waved David forward again at one of the table’s seats, a little more violently this time.

The man turned towards David at the gesture again and Oliver didn’t distract him this time. As their eyes met, it clicked for David. Some puzzles couldn’t be put together until you had all the pieces.

The boy shared his dad’s eyes. It was clear that as the boy grew his sockets would deepen until he and his dad shared the same hooded look. The man on the other hand had his father’s complexion. His cheek bones stood out a lot more than Oliver’s, but maybe that was the lack of a mustache. All three of them shared the same sharp jawline. Oliver’s was just blunted with age and sun lines compared to the young boy’s. The man between them made the inheritance clear.

David gave a quick thanks that he hadn’t chased after the boy yesterday.

“Don’t mind him for now. Tell me how everyone else voted,” Oliver said, waving at David dismissively with his left hand.

Oliver’s son gave David a short nod before turning back to Oliver and raising an eyebrow.

Oliver ignored the eyebrow and stared at his son expectantly.

Oliver’s son started to rattle off names as David awkwardly took a seat. Oliver’s grandson watched him for a second while he settled before turning back towards his dad.

“Why does it matter?” The young boy asked, interrupting the list.

The man paused to look at David as he considered his answer.

“Don’t mind him.” Oliver instructed again.

Oliver’s son sighed and raised his eyes to the sky with a little shake of his head before he faced his son. “Everyone gets the same treatment. Every city, the same price. If we make Fuchsia a special case, the first since the... The first in a long time then everyone else will want the same deal.”

Oliver scoffed as his son adjusted what he said but nodded along. “Your father’s right. It’s not that we don’t care about Fuchsia, we always have to think of how we can help others, but this isn’t the right way. The problem lies in Vermilion failing to keep up with its promises. They want the Cerulean Electric specialists to help patrol Route 17, but don’t want to lower their own pay. If we step in, the conflict will just drag on.”

Oliver’s son shot David another look but decided that educating his son was more important than his wariness over a stranger. “Vermilion is responsible for protecting large portions of the Kanto coastline and sea routes. After Haz-. Recently they’ve been struggling.”

It was Oliver’s turn to roll his eyes to the sky now.

The young boy still seemed a bit unsure, but he nodded to his dad.

His father's face softened. “Let’s talk about it later with the region map. Maybe you’ll have some ideas.”

Oliver let out a grumble, but he had a smile on his face.

Discussion on the issue complete, the man turned to David. “So who is this? I’m Jacob. Nice to meet you.”

“David, Nice to-”

“He’ll be helping out over the next month or so.” Oliver interrupted, facing away to look out at the orchards. “With the grove duties and the like.”

“I didn’t think you needed the help with that?” Jacob said, arching his brow as Oliver studiously focused on the rows of berries.

“I thought I might take over some of the harvesting work from you. Give you and Ann a holiday.”

“Uh huh,” Jacob said dryly, eyebrow still high. He turned back to David. “I don’t think I recognize you. You aren’t local are you?”

“No, I’m from near Saffron.” David responded. “A friend sent me this way.”

Jacob leaned back. “Ah. Benny then.” He fixed his father with a scowl. “That explains things. Well, you might as well grab a plate then. We’ve already eaten, but there’s plenty left.”

He turned towards his son. “Michael, will you grab your grandad’s berry pouch?”

“What?” Oliver spluttered.

Michael got up from the table and disappeared into the house.

“I’m sorry about my dad. My uncle and he tend to become children when the other is involved.” Jacob said with a shake of his head. "What pokemon do you have?"

David looked at Oliver whose eyes had widened in offense at being called a child before answering. “A Pidgey.”

Jacob hummed and placed his hand on the table as he thought. “Not enough to scare anything off, but you should be fine to fight the pests and let Dad know of any bigger issues.” His hand relaxed, and he lifted it to push a bowl of some sort of grain towards David. “Please eat.”

David looked at Oliver again ,but it seemed the man had decided the better move was to scoff and ignore his son's comments.

David took the bowl and began to fill a spare plate. Sarah’s pastries had been tasty, but he hadn’t eaten a lot in the last few days.

As he started to dig in, Michael arrived back carrying a large satchel in both hands. Jacob stood up and rounded the table to take it off of him.

“Release your Pidgey would you?”

Michael’s eyes shot towards David, clear interest in his eyes.

David took one last bite before standing up and moving away from the table to release Pidgey. He closed his eyes for the flash and stepped forward to pick her up before she got her bearings. Pidgey hadn’t been around young kids before, and he didn’t want to risk anything.

Pidgey let out a low questioning squawk but didn’t struggle against his grip. Instead, she took in the three generations of family before her. One staring eagerly, One examining carefully, one watching grumpily.

Jacob undid a latch on the large backpack and held it open. Michael hovered at his side, unable to take his eyes off Pidgey. The bag unfurled to reveal row after row of different kinds of berries in small individually sized pockets. He placed the bag on the ground and beckoned David forward. “It’s okay you can set your Pidgey down. Tell them they can have one of these, and just one.”

David relayed the message to Pidgey and set her down. He wasn’t quite sure why he needed to, but maybe it was a Trainer-Pokemon etiquette thing.

Pidgey hopped forwards towards the berries eagerly. She started at the top and right and examined the berries one by one.

“No eating Pidgey.” David called as she brought her beak dangerously close to a few.

They all watched her until she began to repeat her inspections on three berries over and over. David recognized the Touga berry and the spiky red berry from the grove that Pidgey had been fixated on last night.

“Spicy taste anyway with how she’s fixated on the Liechi, Spelon and Touga. Possible dislike for Bitter and Sour?” Jacob questioned.

Oliver let out an unhappy grunt behind him.

“Sour.” David confirmed.

“Yes,” Jacob answered, eyeing David closely.

It was a test David realized.

“You need to choose one little Pidgey.” Jacob called down to the Pokemon.

Pidgey didn’t stop her back and forth between the three berries.

“Pidgey,” David called reproachingly.

Hesitantly taking one last look at the Touga, Pidgey hopped forward and took the spiky red berry.

“Spelon then,” Jacob said.

Oliver let out a tut.

Jacob smiled widely at the sound. “Your Pidgey’s meals will be provided along with your own of course.” His grin grew even more at Oliver’s answering splutter. “It won’t be all Spelons of course, but I’m sure my dad can spare a few to throw in every now and again.”

Jacob continued to ignore Oliver’s protests behind him and turned to his son who was still fixated on Pidgey. “It’s very important that we feed our pokemon and don’t let them graze on the orchards or go hungry. Your mom and I will tell you the story about why later.”

Jacob began to close up the berry pouch. David stepped forward to hover over Pidgey as the barrier between her and Michael disappeared. A cool breeze wafted from the berry pouch before it was closed. He didn't see any cables or ice packs, but the pouch seemed to be for persevering as much as holding.

Jacob handed the berry pouch to Michael who sagged under the weight for a second. Michael cast one quick glance at Pidgey and disappeared back into the house.

Jacob turned back to David. He was a tall man, and it was clear Oliver had once been too. “So has my dad told you what the job will entail?”