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 me 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 meeting 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 times.”

“I know… but I thought he’d come back to tell us about his meeting,” she said in a defeated tone. “All he sent was a text. A message is kind of lousy, don’t you think?!” She screamed.

“I’m going,” Justin said, standing up.

“What? Where?” Pauline asked.

“Somewhere where I can get some 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 me.”

“Comfort…?” She awkwardly said. “Uh, maybe he’s with that girl that he told us about. What was her name?”

“Caitlyn?” Cecilia asked.

“Yeah, that was her name,” I said, remembering that Denzel had occasionally texted her. “He said she was coming here at some point. Wouldn’t surprise me if they met.”

Pauline froze. “I didn’t know about any girl. And what do you mean, here?”

“In Hearthome?” I frowned. “Where else could I mean?”

The redhead got up and grabbed her phone.

“You’re being weird right now,” I said.

She just ignored me and called someone who I assumed was Denzel. There was no answer.

“Pauline?” Emilia said worriedly. “Erm, is something wrong?”

She had to call her name two more times 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 me,” 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 time to come up with lies.

“I’ll… I’ll tell you more later,” she sighed. “But seriously, we need to find him— I mean, what if he’s getting tracked or something? Don’t you think it’s weird that he’s not answering his phone?”

“He doesn’t answer his phone half the time,” 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 me,” 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 somewhere? 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 met 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 immediately.

“Put it on speaker,” Cecilia asked.

“Denzel, where are you? We’ve been calling you for a while,” she said.

“I was… training. Is something 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 some extra training. Plus, you trained with Togetic still at the Center! Do you— do you need me for something? 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 me 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 meeting 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 argument about to start, and it probably wasn’t my place to hear it, especially when I felt so confused about everything. Cecilia dragged me 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 me with disappointment. “Do you… do you not even have a clue?”

“Why are you looking at me like that? Denzel looked at me like that too.”

“Listen, Grace. Pauline was jealous about Denzel potentially being on a date with another girl,” she started.

“I mean, I guessed that much. I’m not that dense… what? Don’t look at me 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 seemed 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 me not even five minutes ago. But it’s true that Emilia seemed 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 mess,” 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 me prepare for my meeting 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 time, 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. “Something’s going on between you two, but Pauline won’t budge! Denzel, tell me what it is.”

Denzel felt like folding up a thousand times and hiding in a corner somewhere. 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 something. Here’s what happened. I asked Pauline out at the party in Eterna and got rejected after she told me 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. “Medicine?”

Emilia heaved as Pauline held her hair back. “No medicine… water’s fine.”

He hurriedly grabbed a glass and poured her some 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 mean, 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 me. Can we just forget it?”

Emi’s face softened. “Okay… okay. It’s not like I thought you were actually cheating on me. 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 me 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 me 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 me 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 Hearthome was no exception. Since it had been renovated relatively recently in downtown Hearthome, the building was blocky and modern, made out of sleek, silver-colored metal 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 apartment that I had met the Retani Industries representatives in. This felt official. I walked up to the receptionist, who I hoped would be able to point me in the right direction, because as it stood, I had no idea of where to go.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“Welcome 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 meeting for a sponsorship at nine-thirty?”

“Sponsorships are up the elevator on the fifth floor, Ms. Pastel,” she explained. “Someone should be there to meet 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 some kind of keycard to be accessed. It was probably some 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 me with a sign with my name on it.

“Ah, Ms. Pastel! You sure are early,” she smiled.

I hesitantly stepped toward her. “Thirty minutes early seemed appropriate for a meeting with the Poketch Company,” I awkwardly said. “Um, what’s your name?”

“Call me Melody,” 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 some people off. It’s just how they call the people that’ll be in the meeting room with you.”

“Oh, okay,” I said, hiding my suspicion. Maybe it was just a name, but I sure didn’t like the sound of it.

“Follow me,” she said.

Melody led me to a small, empty waiting room, which I supposed I’d have to wait in until they were ready to meet me. She offered me drinks and snacks, but I only took a bottle of water. I felt too nervous to eat anything at the moment, 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 me yesterday. I needed to stand my ground if anything was too egregious. They contacted me, which meant that they wanted me, so they’d probably be willing to be flexible with whatever they were going to try to make me sign. If they didn’t, that meant that they were trying to trap me into some scummy deal. Melody tried to get me 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 me up.

“They’ll be with you now,” Melody 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 meeting with Retani Industries had been with twelve people, but there were only five here, and the room looked less like a business meeting 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 me. She offered me 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 department, 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 meeting’s audio, okay?”

I nodded, studying each of them as Ms. Greene told me their names, and the expressions on their faces seemed 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, gentlemen, 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 meeting 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 me after I almost died, made it through Mount Coronet, and became 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 me to verify my ownership with the same device that the rangers used— only a portable version. I placed the Pokeball inside of it, and an image of Turtonator came up.

“Simply incredible,” he continued.

“So you want to sponsor me 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 something was afoot yet, but they clearly had something 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 me the same 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 tournament 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 me.

“That’s our latest model, the Poketch Watch Plus,” she declared. She explained the new features to me, but I wasn’t exactly interested and mostly tuned out until she was done.

“Okay, that’s fine with me,” 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 media 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 media appearances instead, like advertisements.”

My throat tightened. “Uh, is that necessary?”

“I’m afraid it is,” Ms. Greene said softly. She was so obvious about trying to manipulate me 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 me pointers on what to say. There was no way they’d let some teenager decide on how to promote their brand. I took a deep breath. Somehow, 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 tournaments 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 customer base, so that part is non-negotiable, I’m afraid.”

“Something’s been bothering me. Target audience? Core customers? 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 come 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 tournaments for the remainder of this year. Five tournaments means a minimum of five interviews, but we’d appreciate if you went above and beyond. We’ll renegotiate the number during the summer if you sign, since by then, your Togetic will probably have evolved and you’ll be able to fly around the region.”

Five tournaments? How was I even going to join that many? I knew about the Solaceon one, but what else was there? I remembered that Craig had told me that he often participated in tournaments he was way too good for just to fulfill his contract, so I knew they had asked him the same thing. At least I knew that it seemed to be a standard demand from them, so I agreed. I didn’t mind the tournament part. In fact, I welcomed it, but the interviews annoyed me.

“We recognize that these terms might scare you off, so we’ve thrown in a bonus. Depending on how you do in those tournaments, you’ll get an extra payment 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 tournament, 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 summer 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 summer, after all. “What do I do there?”

“Just smile and shake some hands,” Mr. Wilkerson spoke up for the first time. “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 meeting was going so far. He continued explaining the ins and outs of the contract to me, 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 presume, 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 me 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 meant 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 me, it wasn’t enough to actually buy every TM under the sun, especially when I had vitamins to buy.

But it also meant 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 summer will be paid in full,” he continued. “You will obviously get new models of every Poketch product as soon as it comes out.”

Right. Since there was a lapse in the Circuit during the summer months, traveling by plane wasn’t frowned upon during the break. That’d be useful, since I’d been planning on going back home for a bit. Even when I became the Champion, there’d be a transitional period that would take months to sort through, so I’d have a bit of time 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 summer months were fleeting. I’d rather take a plane and be where I needed to be in a few hours if that meant I could spend more time 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.”

Awesome, 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 me 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, meaning 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 time where you pull the rug from under me,” 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 meeting, and that you’ve accepted to meet a few. Fitstride, Bloom & Breeze, and RefreshCo,” she listed. I chose to ignore the fact that they had somehow 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 me to get sponsored by anybody else. They wanted me 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 me.

“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. Me? 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 means 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 summer, you’ll have replaced his role.”

“But why me and not some 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 replacement for him, but she’s even more reclusive than you are.”

The people around the table nodded. So Craig had recommended me? 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 me 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 media all the time and he sold fucking merchandise. I saw people walking in the streets with his shirts all the time!

“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 me 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 me, so you were willing to let him spread his wings. I’m not there yet, but I’ll get there eventually. When the time comes, I want you to let me 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 me 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.”

Me. 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 somehow. 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 me, and they knew it. They were treating me 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 measure, I finally agreed, and Ms. Greene handed me a pen.