Event 6 suckers
| ||||||||||||||||
It was hot.
It was also noisy. The Guild Leaders had decided it would be a good idea to organize a planting day of sorts in an effort to restore the greenery that once surrounded Tao Village. Normally such a thing would not be needed; however, these were not normal times. Not too long ago a feisty dragon by the name of Sorbet had himself quite the romp through the area and ended up trashing most of the vegetation, and what he didn't destroy personally, his blizzards did. Yes, blizzards. You wouldn't guess that from how hot it was now, but there you go.
The sounds of Pokemon running to and fro could be heard for upwards of a mile. You had the smaller ones dragging the lighter things along: seeds, shovels (for the Pokemon that lacked digging claws, provided by PK for a nominal fee) and various other gardening tools, once again provided by PK. The larger Pokemon carried the more important items: saplings, shrubs, boxes full of rocks (not the big useless ones, the small pretty ones you might see one filling the empty spots in their yard with) and anything else the vertically-challenged had trouble lifting.
Yes, it was exciting, it was busy, it was noisy, but most of all, it was hot. There was no chance of rain, and the sky was as blue as blue can be, which also meant no shade from clouds. There was also no tree shade, as all the previous shade-providers had been sold off to a construction company to offset the costs of rebuilding Tao Village, and even then the bill was slightly astronomical. Poppy, the Happiny-Nurse-In-Training, was busy making sure every Pokemon was informed about the dangers of heat stroke, which could be quite serious indeed. She led a small group of Pokemon that doled out water to the thirsty planters, who never failed to express their gratitude. The sense of unity all of them seemed to share on this day was heartwarming, and not to mention a welcome change from the tension that was building up not just a few weeks ago, before the rampaging dragon and his blizzards.
Well, most of them shared that sense of unity. There was one vagabond who was quite content with not helping at all, even going so far as seeming to enjoy heckling various Pokemon as they passed his office.
“You there!” Callahan shouted at a particularly scrawny looking Pichu, who was attempting to drag a bag of seeds about three times its weight and height. It looked back and forth, not certain if the Ninetales was addressing him.
“Yes! You there! Flower seed rat! May I ask how much you're being paid to carry that bag?”
“Um, nothing.. We're all volunteering today to help the village out, haven't you heard?”
Callahan laughed and shook his head. “I knew what the guild leaders wanted to do, I was just unaware that they'd be able to wrangle so many suckers into working for free! You seemed rather bright, so I thought for sure you had talked them into some form of payment. Can't judge a book by its cover, I guess.”
The Pichu may have been small, but he was not timid. He immediately sent out a wave of electricity which was fairly impressive, given his size. Callahan was too quick, though, and closed the door before it reached him. He felt the door creak and groan as it bent underneath the force of the blow, but it ultimately held strong. That move would have probably left him feeling tingly for hours.
“HEY! Callahan! Open up!” The voice outside made him grin. It was his employer, PK. She was fun to badger, as she was always so fiery. He never had to worry about being fired, as his employment contract was written up long ago by her great-great-grandfather, who had included clauses which pretty much rendered him unmovable (much to PK's chagrin). That's not to say he didn't do his job, it was quite the opposite. No one was as talented as he was with filling out and organizing paperwork, which was probably the sole reason anyone decided to put up with him.
The door to the registrar's office opened a bit, and Callahan poked his head around the corner, appearing surprised to see her.
“Ah! Hello, PK! What a wonderful day it is, isn't it? I was busy admiring the efforts of the working class, they look so industrious!”
“Cut the crap, Callahan. I just paid to get your office rebuilt, and I see you're already attempting to break down the door. I'm not paying for it a second time.”
“Madam, would you have preferred I take the blunt of that wild Pichu's assault personally? We can replace doors, but there's only one me in the entire world.”
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, and I wake up every day thankful for how unique you are. And how there's nobody else like you. Thank god.” He started to close the door as she talked, but she wasn't about to let him get out of his share of the chores today.
“HEY! Where do you think you're going!? You work for me, and I say we don't need any paperwork done today. We need all the help we can get in planting this crap. Don't tell me you're too sick or too frail to get out there.”
Drat. He'd get out of this somehow. He wasn't a sucker. He sighed and opened the door again, this time all the way.
“You know, Miss PK, I would absolutely love to help.. perform manual labor.. for free.. but you know, I overheard that little nurse, what was her name, Poppy? You see, she told me about this terrifying ailment called heat stroke, and well, the symptoms seem to match up with what I'm feeling right now. At this very moment.”
“Callahan, who would believe YOU of all Pokemon could get heatstroke? I want to see you out there planting with them in five minutes, or I'll.. I'll..” She couldn't think of a good threat to use on him. Did he even use the money she paid him with? He actually enjoyed paperwork, too, so there was no use in threatening him with that. She thought of something.
“I'll have all of your personal books removed from that office and sent back to your home, as you have no need for personal items while you're on the job.”
He thought about that for a moment, then smiled. “I am afraid that will not be necessary, as you will find me out there in under five minutes with the rest of the peons, happily planting away. Should you change your mind and decide my skills would be best utilized back in my office, please feel free to contact me again.”
As he happily strolled out of the building in the direction of the gardening fields, she felt a sense of dread. He seemed too happy to fulfill her request, even if she did threaten to take away his precious books. What was he going to do? Whatever. She'd deal with his antics as they came up, as she had better things to take care of right now. She wished it wasn't so damned hot.
It was hot, and it was getting even hotter. The temperature may have been around ninety degrees beforehand, but within a few minutes it felt as if it was in the triple digits. Pokemon started slowing down, and many of them started to become agitated. Poppy and her squad weren't enough to supply water to everyone in this kind of heat. They just weren't prepared for it. Arguments started to break out about what tree should go where, how many seeds to use per row of dirt, where the rocks should go. Trivial stuff that would normally be worked out rationally in regular conditions. Even PK started to feel annoyed, and while she generally enjoyed the warmth, this was just too much.
“WHY IS IT SO HOT? I HATE IT!” Her outburst startled a few Pokemon that were resting by the fountain in the middle of the village, and it dawned on her.
Callahan. She had forgotten what happened the last time he was allowed outside, and why he was generally considered a hermit. She ran over to where he was working (which was no small task, given the heat).
“CALLAHAN! Get your ass back inside!”
He dropped his small potted plant in shock. “But, boss! I was just instructing the Pokemon here on the best way to plant these.. what are they? Berry bushes?” He gestured to the Pokemon he was supposedly teaching, who didn't seem to be paying much attention to him. Or to anything, really. They were simply laying down in grass, attempting to cool themselves off by whatever means they had, be they makeshift fans made out of their tails or by pouring water over their heads. It wasn't working.
“Yeah, yeah, WHATEVER, just get back inside your office! I don't care what you do today, just STAY INSIDE!”
“Whatever you say, boss! I do think my way of planting bushes would have turned out best for the village, though.” He grinned and, before PK could even get a chance to respond, ran at full speed into his office, slamming the door behind him.
