A Deal

Finally, it was Friday. And not just any Friday, but the first Friday of the month. “Pay Day,” so to say. The one day every month that Chill gave Mike an allowance. Mike was definitely sure to use this money today for what he always would use it for: an ice cream sundae at the Spinda Cafe. However, ordering ice cream during a perpetual winter seemed off-key; hot cocoa and coffee was all the rage at the moment in the cafe, and it was usually packed to the brim with all sorts of Tao Village residents. Who knew that an underground cafe would be an ideal spot during the bitter cold?

“Wa-wa-wa-hey Mike! I didn’t realize it was already another month!” Vertigo was busily dancing around with a coffeepot, quickly filling up mugs at his own rhythm.

“Oh! Hi Vertigo... yeah, I’m here for the usual.” Mike appreciated that someone remembered him in this village, it was not that common for him to get recognition.

“The usual, eh? Okay, I’ll have them cook up a burger with eg--” Before Vertigo could continue, Mike had to interrupt him.

“Oh no, I want the Ice Cream Sundae. It’s been too long since I had one!”

It was true, ever since Ovaltine left Tao Ranch, the shortage of Milk caused some cutbacks in dairy products, such as ice cream. But now that Ovaltine returned to Tao Ranch, the milk was back in stock for everyone to enjoy.

“Um... well... fine, okay. I’ll bring it to you once I’m done with everyone here.” Vertigo momentarily slipped out of his rhythm, almost spilling coffee, but he regained his composure and continued to dance in his own silly way.

Mike went to a booth by the wall to sit at by himself, even though he had no one accompanying him, it was his night and he intended to have a good time; it was Mike time!!... or so he thought.

“Ta-dah!! I’m here with your coffee!!” Vertigo was dancing in his eagerness in front of Mike. “...well, I asked for a sundae, remember?” Mike was a little disdained by the mistake. “........OH! Oops, sorry I missed a beat in my own writing!! I’ll get back to you on that!!” Vertigo sped off toward the kitchen.

...OKAY. So that was just one mistake, at least. It’ll be fine, this day is still fine!!

---

Plonk... plonk... plonk...

“Hey Shroomy, tell me again WHY are we here instead of our home? Y’know... the one with a fireplace?”

Agh, Mike knew that voice, and the owner decided to place her colored rear right in the booth right next to him. “Shroomy, c’mon, I’m still freezing my butt off in here!! Why’d we have to come here?!”

“Hush now, you know how much I like hearing the commute during evening teatime, and this cafe is quite... what is it the kids say... ‘hip.’”

“Oh yeah?! Well you better move that giant hip of yours over, ‘cuz I wanna sit!!”

Yes, it was definitely Shroomsworth and PK. Mike was puzzled by their appearance... it was only two days ago when the news was abuzz with Slasher’s attempt on Shroomsworth’s life, followed by his own demise. It was a sad story, and it’s exactly why the both of them were currently the village’s treasured citizens... well, perhaps because of their ownership of Sorbet. But when it came to the popularity vote, it definitely belonged to those two.

“Madam... that-- very well.” Shroomsworth wanted to quickly get to his tea, so he handled PK as if he was tactically retreating. Shroomsworth set aside his cane as he began to carefully sit down without bumping his bandaged leg into the table. “...yes, sorry about that, now come sit!” Shroomsworth tapped the seat, expecting the Kecleon to sit right next to him and his bandaged leg. “

Um... that’s okay, I’ll just sit over here. No big deal!” PK jumped right to the other side of the booth, which was right next to Mike’s booth. “Okay!! I’m starved! Hey Vertigo!!!”

“Yyyyyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeessssssssssssssss?” Vertigo appeared right before them. “What-what-what can I do for you twooie-two?”

“Yeah um, can we have tea here, please?? Earl grey and temple of heaven gunpo--”

Shroomsworth had to interrupt PK with her order. “Now now...” Shroomsworth pulled out a small notepad and opened it up to read from it. “Ah... I knew it, today’s Vanilla Jasmine. My good man, please bring her Vanilla Jasmine instead.”

“AAAUGH Shroomy that’s sooooooooooooooo mean.” PK was lamenting over it so much that she started to turn to a darker purple, vanilla jasmine clearly wasn’t her cup of tea.

“Righty-tighty on it!!” Vertigo spun around and headed straight for the kitchen.

---

. . .

“Ahahahaha~!! I’m ba-ba-back!” Vertigo spun and hopped around with the trays in both his hands, maintaining their contents with his own tempo. “Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaah!” Vertigo posed right in front of two with great effort.

“Good show!” Shroomsworth was delighted.

“Yeah uh-huh... I think I asked for cake, not ice cream, screw brain!!” PK was annoyed.

“Madam, that was rude, you didn’t order any cake.”

“Oh, I’m sorry! That ice cream’s for the young man sitting right next to you two!” Vertigo leapt from one tiptoe to another towards Mike’s booth to drop off the sundae. “Here you go, Mike!!”

Ah, great. Like I wanted their attention... I’m pretty sure PK’s about to say something about me... Mike thought to himself.

“Wow, what the heck is the lizard boy doing here??” PK exclaimed as she quickly climbed over her booth’s seat.

“I... well, today’s my only day for the month where I can relax... so could I have time and eat my Ice--” Mike couldn’t finish his sentence. The ice cream he had in front of him was now dangling over him, carried by a very long tongue.

Ssssssssssssslurp! "Whath iceth cream-- Ahhh my head!!” PK recoiled back down to her seat grabbing her head in pain. Gulping down an entire sundae like that was bound to have repercussions.

“W-- My allowance!! What the heck?!” Mike’s anger started to boil over... this day started to turn pretty ugly for him.

“Good heavens, PK that was very, VERY rude of you to do that!! Please, apologize to the young man!” Shroomsworth tapped the table, expecting the pain-riddled Kecleon to apologize.

“Agh... yeah... okay, GEEZE I’m sorry Mike. Owwie...” PK doubled over from her headache.

“...what? O-ok...” Mike took those words as a sign to cool down. The last thing he wanted to do was to cause a fight with the village’s most favored citizens.

“Ah... sorry about that, come join us in tea... would you? Vertigo, could you please bring us one Snowsprout Tea?? Oh, and I suppose some biscotti would do well for us too!” Shroomsworth was eager to make amends when it came down to tea.

“Ugh... double barf. Thanks Shroomy, I’m having SUCH a good time over here.” PK didn’t like biscotti, they weren’t the kind of confection that you could easily swallow whole... well, no confection should be swallowed whole, but for a Pokemon that lacked lips, one would improvise.

---

As Mike was going over to their booth to sit down, he was hoping to just sit next to Shroomsworth, drink whatever tea they had, and that they would pay for the ice cream that was taken from him. “Uh... hey Mike, why don’t sit next to me? Shroomy’s got kind of a tender leg, y’know?” PK scooted over towards the wall in her booth, and signaled for Mike to come to her side.

Agh... not her... ugh, okay, you can swallow it down this time. Just like everyday, right? Mike scooted into PK’s seat, trying to avoid any eye contact with her. “Ahhh... yeah, that’s nice...” PK closed her eyes and began to relax, and slowly the hue of her purple was brightening.

“What’s nice?? Oh...” Mike knew why PK wanted him to sit next to her: His tail-flame would provide the warmth she so desperately wanted. Oh well, at least he would have a less-agitated Kecleon to deal with.

A minute had only passed until Vertigo returned with Mike’s tea and some biscotti. “Here you go, and heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere’s...” Vertigo had to do one spin before... “...THE BILL!” ...slamming the paper right down on the table, startling its occupants.

“HEY HEY, careful, you almost spilled our tea!!” PK started to take her tea very seriously. “Oops, sorry... the last beat comes out a little strong, y’know?” Vertigo recomposed himself and bowed in front of the booth.

“Oh, it’s quite alright. Now you must be busy, I’ll handle this bill!” Shroomsworth was already preparing his tea by mixing it with the essentials.

“Okay, thank you sir!!” And with that, Vertigo hopped away. “Now now, you all should prepare your tea before it chills in this cold, eh?”

“Yeah, like it’d do anything...” PK dropped seven cubes of sugar into her tea, and mixed her concoction while taking a deep sigh.

“Uh...” Mike looked down to his tea cup, this was the first time he had tea. He had absolutely no idea what he should do to it.

Sugar? No... wait, milk? I thought that was only for coffee... wait wait, is that honey??? Man I don’t know what to use... Lemon? But we didn’t order fish... hm, maybe...

Mike started to mix in a little of everything into his tea cup while looking at both PK and Shroomsworth. Shroomsworth was already drinking his tea slowly, while PK kept stirring her tea more and more... like she didn’t want it to stop for her to drink it.

Oh good, they’re not looking at me. Okay okay, I guess this is how you make tea. This isn’t so bad-- Mike took a small swig of his own mixture... and gagged. The unusual taste followed by it’s strong combination of bitter and sweet was... well, something.

“Haha!! You don’t add everything to one cup of tea, you suck at this!!” PK giggled at Mike’s unfortunate mistake.

“...mmn, now now, there are quite a few people who do drink their tea with sugar... milk, and uh... honey... and lemon as well.” Shroomsworth tried his best to cheer Mike up, but the deed was done, Mike didn’t want to drink anymore tea at the moment.

“Ugh... hey, could I have that... uh, chocolate stick?” Mike pointed at the ‘chocolate stick,’ expecting Shroomsworth to pass him one. Shroomsworth picked one up, but he didn’t give it to Mike just yet.

“You mean this biscotto? And I think you meant to say please...” He was slightly annoyed at Mike’s lack of manners.

“...uh, yeah. That biscotto, please?” Mike was equally beginning to get annoyed.

“...yes, here you are.” Shroomsworth handed Mike the biscotto, and Mike quickly began to munch on it. Another unusual taste, but it wasn’t as harsh as the tea that he made.

PK quickly drank her own tea, shuddered a bit from its taste, and then proceeded to break the silence. “So... Mikey-boy, who’s that Stunky that follows you around? Your girlfriend or something??”

“Girlfriend?! No, that’s my sister, Maple!!” Mike stopped crunching on his biscotto just to emphasize that fact. Yes, a Stunky sister for a Charmander, how odd.

---

“Whoa, it’s Mike! Yo yo, we met your mom, Syrup!!”” A Lopunny shouted to Mike a few feet

“...what the heck, who are you guys?” PK was slightly annoyed at the two Pokemon who sat at the table a few feet across from the booth. “Mike, you know these two bozos?” PK poked at Mike’s shoulder, expecting to blame him for this interruption.

“Uh... well, no I don’t know them either.” Mike had never met these two, so how could he know?.

“Oh, you two must be those ‘Bandit Brothers’ that Master Foo informed me of.” Shroomsworth seemed to be on top of things.

“Geck-- hey, how’d you know about us?” The Lopunny, Buddy, was startled by Shroomsworth’s knowledge of them. “It’s quite simple, Master Foo is a dear friend of mine, and he recently told me of two exceptional students of his that passed his training. You should be proud of yourselves.”

“Yeah yeah, well, you two were eavesdropping in on us while not dropping coins into my purse... so you know what? We’re out! C’mon Shroomy, let’s blow this stand.” PK hopped onto the spine of the booth and then leapt over Mike in an impressive display of acrobatics.

“W-what? Madam! What about your--”

“Forget it!! Let’s go!” PK was just absolutely eager to abandon the Vanilla Jasmine tea she found so vile.

“...really now. She leaves me at the edge of the rope and expects me to climb it?” Shroomsworth muttered under his breath.

“I’m gonna leave you behind!” PK yelled at Shroomsworth from the entrance near the roof. Shroomsworth slowly got up from his seat after picking up his cane and hobbled toward the ladder... another strenuous activity made harder from his broken leg.

---

“...dude, what is UP with those two? He forgot about us?” Buddy exclaimed with a little disappointment. “Typical merchants, and look, they dined and dashed on Mike too!”

Wait... what? Oh geez, they did! What the hell? Agh... that’s not cool, PK didn’t even finish her own tea! ...okay, calm down Mike, maybe the bill isn’t that much. Mike took the bill from the table, flipped it over and saw... spirals, hundreds of spirals. Mike expected some logical writing to be somewhere in this bill, but within a few seconds of observing the scrawling, he began to feel very dizzy, and... “W-woah!!” Mike lost his composure and fell flat on his rear.

“You okay?" Buddy extended an arm out in order to assist Mike up from the floor. "Yeah... Don’t read that, dude. Just take that up to Hops and he'll get that all sorted for you." Robin pointed to Hops who was busy juggling assorted berries into his shell for his own personal entertainment.

"...nuh... okay. Thanks, guys." Mike slowly walked towards Hops' counter, but he was still a little shaken up from the fall.

"Yeah, take care!!" Buddy & Robin both waved at Mike as he left them alone to their own table.

"Man, I'm never going to read anything of Vertigo's handwriting again..." As much as Mike came to this cafe, he would regularly be checked out by Hops, instead of Vertigo. This was just another new experience the day brought upon Mike.

"La da dee~ La dee da~~" Hops was busily humming to his own work, which consisted of juggling berries around into his shell. It hardly seemed like work, but it was Hops' way of having fun during the hours.

"Uhhh... hey, Hops... can you read this for me?" Mike walked up to Hops and showed him the spiral-filled bill.

"A hoi hoi hoi... well sure, Mike! Let's see... Oh-ho! This comes out to... two and a half thousand poke. Boy, you really liked that tea!"

"Tuh... two and a half THOUSAND?!" Mike suddenly felt like he had a stone in his throat. That amount was more than his spare savings and already cut into his reserve for monthly expenses. "That can't be right, I mean, my sundae was just two hundred!!" Mike raised his voice at Hops.

"Gu-hey! That's the price for importedededed tea!"

Ugh... so it was THEM again. Fine. I'll finally fix this, because I've had it!

"Okay. Here you go Hops..." Mike began to write hastily on a sort of check, only adding in a tip as if he was just paying for the sundae. "...there! Sorry, but I have to go!" Mike slammed the quill on the table and ran for the exit.

"...wa wa wa... this is my tip?" Hops was a little disheartened, but Mike couldn't hear that line, he was already out of the Spinda Cafe and running towards the Kecleon Stand.

---

. . .

Knock knock knock...

In only a few minutes, Mike was inside the Merchant hut, but outside the door to the inner level where PK’s quarters lie, knocking at the wooden door.

Knock knock knock...

"Yeah yeah yeah, hold on!!"

It sounded like PK was disgruntled at the notion of a potential visitor... but, there was something... in the air, a familiar odor. "Hel-- Oh, it's you. C'mon, your sister's here. Pick her up and get out before--”

"No WAY, I have something to discuss with you." Mike put his foot on PK's door, literally.

"...boy, are you trying to figh--"

"Oh! Big bro! You're here! You're here! Come here, I have to show you my new friend, she's this really cool dragon! Come onnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn~!!!" A Stunky with a peculiar flower on her head hopped in between the two reptiles, and without hesitation, grabbed Mike's claw and began to drag him away from PK's glare.

"W- Maple?! Woah woah woah, you're here?!" Mike suddenly snapped from his very brief train of thought and put his weight down to hold back from Maple dragging him.

"Miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiikey... c'mon! I really want to show you this cool dragon! C’monc’monc’monc’mon!!" Maple was begging for Mike's attention to show him this 'dragon.'

"Maple, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in the treehouse?"

"Treehouse this, treehouse that! Plbbbtt!" Maple stuck her tongue out and blew on it, a rudimentary raspberry. "This is much better than ANYTHING right now! C'mon!" Maple kept tugging on Mike's claw, and Mike finally admitted defeat by walking with her.

"Woah, hey! Why the hell are you two going to my room for?!" PK shouted at both Mike and Maple, but they seemed to not care at the time being.

---

Mike and Maple entered through the door to PK's room, and then Maple let go of Mike's hand to skip towards a lone Deino sitting atop a bed. "Mike! This is Sandy! Isn't she sooooo cool?"

Maple was quick to make introductions, and Sandy had only one word to utter, "Hello."

Dragon? Oh... that's right, we always called Sandy a 'dog,'... oops. Mike took off his hat to scratch at his head while having that brief thought. "Oh, um... hi Sandy..." Mike offered a claw to Sandy, but she began to slowly growl at the offer. "Umm..." This was actually Mike's very first meeting with the silent Deino.

"Oh! Sandy, this is my brother!" Maple had forgotten one vital part to the introduction, and after hearing that, Sandy stopped growling.

"Oh. Hello, Maple's brother."

...not much for words, huh? Mike just nodded and put his hat back on. "Um, so... how have you been, Sandy?"

Sandy had this much to say in response: Okay.

Mike felt like she knew what he was trying to imply there. After all, he was looking at the one who slain Slasher, the notorious Weavile that was plaguing PK & Shroomsworth. "Well... that's good."

"Mikeymikeymikey, lookit! Sandy's fur is so slick!" Maple hopped onto PK's bed to hug Sandy tight and nuzzle along her fur.

"T-thanks..."

"Agh! You! You're gonna stink up Sandy and my bed! Getoff getoff getoff!!" PK yelled right behind Mike and leapt forward closer to her own bed.

"C'mon Sandy, get that smelly kid off you!" PK ordered her faithful companion, but for once, it was not followed.

"I don't mind. She smells nice." Sandy blushed after saying such a thing.

"Buwagh! That's NG! No good!! C'mon!" PK yelled once more at Sandy with haste.

"B-but..." Sandy started to feel somewhat threatened by her master.

"Okay, settle down madam." Shroomsworth slowly walked in, step by step, with the assistance of his cane. "I do believe you're being unjust here. Why not let these two young girls have some time together?" Shroomsworth laid a claw on PK's shoulder.

"...fine. C'mon Mike, we have business to talk about!" PK turned and grabbed Mike's claw to drag him out to the living room.

"Wah!" Mike was surprised by PK's haste. "Business..?"

Shroomsworth turned around to look at PK dragging Mike off with worry. "Oh dear..." Just as Shroomsworth took one step out to the hallway, he turned his head slightly to look at Maple and Sandy. "You two girls behave and have fun, I'll go look after young Mike, okay?" The two of them simply smiled and nodded. "Good." Shroomsworth left and closed the door to the room.

---

. . .

"A what?!" Mike couldn't believe what he heard from PK's lips. "A citizenship fee?! I never had to pay for that!!" Mike yelled at PK.

"Yeah, well that was then, this is now! Times change!" PK's tail started to tense and curl up. "There's just NO way you could afford it."

"Oh bother..." Shroomsworth heard these scant lines, and knew that PK was up to her usual tricks. It's always like this when PK receives a certain letter every month.

"C'mon! I could probably pay it off! How about a loan?" Mike was starting to get nervous.

"Hah! Looks like you get an F. F for VERY BAD. No one's gonna loan you half a million to cover your sister's fee." PK scoffed at Mike's poor attempt for a compromise.

"...a half a million?" Mike's facial expression changed into a neutral expression. "What?"

"Heh. You actually thought you could pay it off? As if! Not only would you have to pay for your sister's fee, but your debt to us for the gold trophy, on which Devonshire defaulted. And then that thing with the Rogues HQ..." As PK kept listing each 'debt,' she would close her eyes, and her tail would tense and coil up further and further "There's just NO way. Might as well tell your sister to leave!"

As Shroomsworth finally got to the living room, he noticed a frightful monster. "...madam."

"Not now Shroomy, I'm busy here...” PK opened up her eyes to see something she did not expect entirely. ”Oh..." Instead of breaking Mike, she had done the complete opposite. Mike's tail flame roared loudly, and Mike himself had an awful look in his face.

---

"Aah.. ah.." PK was slowly walking back, step by step... but Mike was clenching his claws into a fist-like shape. He was about to strike at PK... here came the swing and--!

"Mike, this is not what gentlemen do!" Shroomsworth loudly tapped his cane onto the wooden floor, startling Mike and stopping him from connecting the fist to PK's face.

"A..aa... a...ahahaha. That was REALLY STUPID OF YOU! You have any idea what would happen if you hit me, the town's favorite? Chuck and Kathy would be all over this and then everyone would hate you, idiot!" PK was laughing, but this was the best she could to try to hide her apparent fear. In fact, half of her body was camouflaged, out of instinct that gave way to Mike's attack.

---

Mike held his position like a statue for a good ten seconds, he was trying his best to not slam PK. Finally, with what seemed like an eternity, Mike snorted and calmed down. "...okay, I'll just take my business elsewhere."

PK was puzzled. "What? Business elsewhere? Who else do you have to see? No one's got the money to loan to you!"

"Well. There's always a good story to sell to Chuck and Kathy." Mike exhaled after saying that, tensing up.

"What? Story? What the heck are you talking about?" PK was still puzzled.

"Oh, just informing them about your brand new citizenship fee of half a million poke... and not just that..." Mike reached into his scarf and pulled out a familiar slip, with one side covered with nothing but spirals. "But I bet Chuck would just love to hear how you ran off without paying for very expensive tea?"

"Grrkkkt!!" If only PK had any teeth, she would be gnashing at them now. PK knew exactly that Chuck would eat up such a simple story like that and turn it so that it would be printed that the Merchant head was no better than a thief.

There was a good long silence for a minute. Mike was the first to be impatient, and turned around, ready to leave. "Well, I best be on my way..."

"WAIT!!" PK gasped out.

"W..w-w-w--w-w-w--w-w..." PK was stuttering like mad. Every utterance of the letter signaled for her body colors to slowly shift to many hues. Red, blue, black, green, teal, violet... plaid... all until she finally transfixed her colors back to its regular purple. "What do you want for that?"

Shroomsworth couldn't help but slightly smile, as he knew Mike was attempting to solve this problem in a non-violent way.

"Let Maple stay with me in Tao Village, and let her be friends with Sandy! Deal?!" Mike turned around to look at PK straight in her face, clenching to the bill as hard as he could.

"...deal." PK collapsed to the floor in defeat. And with that utterance, the paper in Mike's claws suddenly burst into flames, burning whatever proof of a 'theft' PK had done.

"Okay... well, I guess I'll see you when the sun's about to set to pick up Maple. Bye!" Mike turned around towards the door, opened it, and left. Even if he ended paying for the tea, he didn't mind. A price to pay for this victory.

---

"Um... is everything alright?" Maple's voice came from the hallway to PK's room, her head poking out from the door.

"Yes, yes, everything's fine. Your brother had to leave for the moment, but when he comes back at sunset to pick you up, I'll treat the both of you to a hearty dinner and some ice cream! So just go back to playing with Sandy."

"Oh, okay!" Maple sneaked back into the room and shut the door, and a faint stream of giggling from both Sandy and Maple could be heard.

"...Shroomy..." PK gurgled from her lying posture of 'defeat' on the floor. Shroomsworth lifted PK up from the floor into his arms.

"Yes, my dear?"

"What the hell was that?" PK said this as if she expected any kind of answer from Shroomsworth.

"Well... I'd say you took a good dose of strong medicine. Jealousy did get the better of you... Do you ever take a look at yourself after you read one of your sister's monthly letters?" Shroomsworth expected an answer from PK.

"Nope."

"Well, before you would have a response written for her, you'd waste about three papers' worth of replies... all ripped to pieces by your very fountain pen." Shroomsworth cradled PK into his arms.

"So?" PK was very fussy.

"Well, what I am saying is that you almost denied our dear Sandy a friend just now! That wouldn't be very nice of you, would it?" Shroomsworth started walking towards a pair of chairs, and sat down on one. He set his cane to rest upon a coffee table, and continued to cradle PK in his arms.

"I guess not... I'm..." PK was trying her best to say one specific word. "...sorry."

"Good! Now then, if you would apologize to Mike and Maple, then I'll treat you to cake night after dinner!" Shroomsworth slowly poked and tickled PK's tummy with a single claw.

"Hey now, that's not a very good deal... how about..." PK started to whisper into Shroomsworth's ear... his expression slowly changed from understanding to disagreement.

"No deal." Shroomsworth flatly stated and put PK down to her own chair.

"Aw c'mon, your deals always suck... how about...." PK continued to bargain with Shroomsworth for hours and hours...