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pokeexehasstoppedworking · 2 years ago

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Diamond In The Rough Ch6 Settling Down In Circhester

(Thank you to everyone for the name suggestions for the houndoom. The one most voted/commented was Cerberus so that shall now be the name for it. Don't forget to comment what other 3 pokemon you all as reader would like to catch! Can be native to Galar or not. I will pick just three others randomly.)

Well..that was that you guessed.

There really wasn't anything more to do than to just wait and see what would happen. Hopefully everything would sort itself out. In the meantime you had to figure out what the heck you were going to do until August when the school year started back up again. You knew the scholarship you got from the Chairwoman would cover all the next year's school expenses as well as you'd get free housing in the dorms and food from the cafeteria, but there was about seven more months until the next school year and you'd have to pay for room and board at the hotel until it reopened. But you were PRETTY sure you wouldn't be able to last seven months on just your savings alone. Why? Well there was a few good reasons-

1. The hotel charged sixty five dollars a night, you remembered that from the last two times you were there. There was NO WAY, you could afford that amount of money every night for seven months straight.

2. Basic food and other necessities would also cost you money. Plus you had pokemon to take care of.

3. This houndoom's food was EXPENSIVE! Seriously! This specific brand of fire type food was working to help the houndoom get better, but BOY was this brand expensive. No way you could afford to keep affording it for another seven months or however long it took for you to take care of this stuff!

Which only left one option for you. After many hours of sitting there, thinking about it and trying to decide what to do next, you only came up with one thing that would help your situation- You had to get a job. At least until the next school year started which was still seven months away, not your most ideal situation but for this hotel room and that houndoom food-...Yeah. You were going to need a job before your savings ran out. The problem was you didn't know where to get one. You tried the hotel first. No open positions. Well you just needed to expand your search for the moment. Local barber shop? Nope. Clothes store? Nah. Antique shop? Not a chance. Pokemon Center? You already know the answer to that. On your fourth day of searching you FINALLY found one. An opening at Bob's Your Uncle! It was right beside the Hero's Bath so you walked past it like every other day when you did, and in the window was a 'Help Wanted' sign as clear as day! You lit up and immediately walked right in to the small cafe letting the small door's bell go off. The entire place looked the same. Same small booths and chairs. Same old black and white pictures hung on the wall. Same portrait of the cafe's mascot 'Uncle Bob'. And the same two chefs handling the front counter-...Wait. No. Now there was only one chef and a young lady in front of the cash register. Strange but you didn't comment on that instead you walked right up to the counter where the girl smiled at you.

"Good morning! Welcome to Bob's Your Uncle! How can we help you today?", she asked nicely.

"Hey,'' you greeted back before motioning towards the window, "I'm actually here about the job opening? I saw you guys have a sign up."

At this the girl beamed in an instant. "OH! Yes we were hoping someone would notice it!" With that she turned to one of the chef's. "Hey, Bobby!" Immediately the dark blue haired man looked over at her. "We finally got someone interested in taking up the job!"

"Oh thank goodness!," his sigh of relief was immediate as well as his smile. "We've been short staffed for a while."

You blinked. "Short staffed?"

'Bobby' you guessed, nodded. "We've had a hard time for a few reasons. Since last year, Circhester has seen a boom in population, and a lot more tourists have been coming through so more people are coming into the business. Especially with the college back opening up and all the newcomers coming in it's been really busy. Two people aren't going to cut it anymore. That's why we've had to hire more help."

Ah. So that was it. "Oh..Well what kind of job are you looking for?"

"To be blunt, someone who can help man the register and clean. Maybe even wait tables," Bobby bluntly stated. "My brother and I are chefs so anything food related would be taken cared of by us." Oh. So just a front desk job kinda deal? "Do you have any experience in that sorta deal?"

"Kinda? I had a part time job in a bakery as a kid," you answered with a shrug, "I made food, cleaned, did dishes- Things like that."

Bobby lit up. "Oh good! That's good enough experience for me. When are you able to start?"

"Well I can come back tomorrow if it's a good time."

"That sounds perfect! Come back tomorrow morning and we can show you the ropes."

"Sounds good."

Well this was good. You got a job opportunity and it would be a great way to pay for everything you needed! Fast forward to the next day you left off to your new job first thing in the morning after feeding your pokemon and telling Zen to keep things handled until you returned and absolutely under NO circumstances fight! The last thing you needed was to pay for repairs on top of everything else. You arrived back at Bob's Your Uncle and was again greeted by the young lady who introduced herself as Sapphire and handed you a white apron with the cafe's logo on the front.

"Here. Put this on and I'll walk you through what we're doing today." After it was securely tied around you she guided you to behind the counter and pointed out to where a few things were. Napkins, spices, salt and pepper, extra cups- "And the beverages are in the glass bottles behind you, but any adult beverages needs only goes to those with an I.D. proving they're over twenty one. You'll be helping me waiting tables, bringing customers there food, helping me behind the counter, and cleaning up the front of the store. Bobby and Billy Bob take care of the real heavy work in the back kitchen, but I handle the register for now. We're also aloud to keep any tips we get."

"Sweet. So when do we start?"

"Now. All we do is wait for customers and do what I just explained."

Well...It was exactly like she said. Customers come in, you took their orders, gave them their food, helped Sapphire clean up, and then return home for the day around five or six. Wash rinse and repeat day after day until February ended and March began. Maybe not the most ideal option for you but it paid the bills and it gave you what you needed to help care for the houndoom. He seemed to be doing a lot better than he did just two weeks ago. On your first opportunity you had taken him to the local pokemon center to have Nurse Joy look over him, and it turned out he went from sixty two to sixty eight pounds. He gained six pounds! That was good! He was almost back to his normal weight which was good. He also seemed to be getting along just fine. He still wouldn't let you touch him, and he still glared at you and your pokemon, Silver was still keeping his distance from the houndoom and Zen was still keeping a close eye on him as if any moment ready to tackle the dog pokemon to the ground again. But he seemed..calmer. He didn't make any moves to harm you or your pokemon, and he came when he was called whenever you gave him food or water, so you guessed he trusted you a bit in that regard. About another two weeks passed uneventfully and peacefully, you still went to work and paid your dues and made sure that houndoom was getting in better shape than before. It's been nearly a month since you had him in your custody now and he didn't look that skinny anymore. In fact..during the last two weeks it seemed like he gained more weight around the waist and stomach too! Which was good. He was getting there! You again brought him to Nurse Joy by the end of the next two weeks to discover he was now at seventy four pounds! He was making great progress! You still did what Nurse Joy advised to do however until he was able to regain his full weight. In the meantime you were fine with just still doing your own thing until one day things changed for a bit. A third week went by and it was Friday afternoon, nothing really out of the ordinary other than you having your back to the cafe busy restocking some glasses and other things on the shelf before you got that weekend off, you already planned to take your pokemon out that weekend and get them some exercise and do a few more things but what you weren't expecting was a VERY familiar face walking into the cafe.

"Hey You! I was expectin' your cute face back sometime! Been a while since I last saw ya!," you heard Sapphire's voice greet someone familiar. Must've been one of the regulars. "Ya'll here for the usual?"

"*sigh* Yeah. It's been a pretty busy time for me lately. And..no. I wanna place a large order? My Ma asked me to pick up some fast food for dinner tonight."

"Oh! She just called in a little while ago! The chefs are workin' as we speak. Why don't you sit down and have a drink while you wait? I can put the charge on your tab."

"That sounds great! Uh..Hey how long until they get done?"

"I can run to the back and check for ya. Go ahead and have a seat. Ok?"

"Sure. Thanks!"

You paid no attention to Sapphire as she went through the door leading into the kitchen and just continued to stock the shelf with instant noodle cups for anyone wanting a quick instant noodle curry. You still had your back to the man who came in and heard him after a moment slowly walk over and take a seat in the stool seat behind you.

"Uh hey. Can I have a mug of ginger ale on ice?"

That's when you turned to look at him, and nearly dropped the instant noodle cup in your hands when you saw none other than Gordie sitting there arms leaning against the counter. The blonde gym leader also seemed shocked to see you because he froze and you saw the way his blue eyes widened in shock behind his sunglasses as you both just stared at one another. Ten seconds of silence passed between you two before you finally broke it by asking-

"Gordie!?"

"Y-Y/n!?," he sputtered practically dazed, "I-..You-..I mean-...W-Wot are you doin' here?!''

"I'm..working?" You held up the instant ramen cup as proof of that. "I had to get a job if I want to be able to afford the hotel and everything else I need. What are you doing here?"

"I-I-I-...*AHEM*" In an attempt to regain some composure, he turned away and reached a hand to fiddle with his glasses. "I-I'm here to pick up an order my Ma called in. My lil brothers wouldn't stop pesterin' her for take out tonight."

"Oh. That's really nice of you. ...Did you still want that drink?"

"Um..Yeah. I'd like that. Thanks."

He sat there and watched as you grabbed a glass mug, waiting patiently before a mug of ginger soda and ice was placed down in front of him. "Here you go!"

"Thanks!" He smiled softly and took it from you with a sigh. "Been a while since I had this. A-Anyways, how have you been?" He questioned raising a brow and head tilting at you in interest. "Been a while since I've seen you around town too."

"I've been good. Got a job, paying the bills, taking care of my babies-...Y'know how it goes."

"Oh! Since you brought that up-" He took a moment to just take a gulp of that drink, ice tinking against the glass before he placed it back down, the glass making a 'thud' noise against the wooden countertop. "Ah...As I was sayin'. I looked into that matter of yours concerning the pokemon ya found."

You stopped staring at him. He got info concerning the houndoom? "I-..Yeah. And what did you find out?"

"Well I ran it past someone I knew who works in laws-," he explained pointing a finger from the hand holding the mug at you, "-and by Galarian law, any lost or abandoned pokemon still bound to a pokeball is free game for anyone unless the original owner claims it within a month's time with proof of ownership. Then the pokemon by default either goes to the one who found it or into the rotomi system to be eventually reclaimed or released into the wild."

You...blinked for a moment. "I-...R-Really?"

He nodded. "Has this..'roommate' of yours tried at all to come get 'em?"

He hummed as you shook your head no. "No. Not at all. I don't even know where she went." You had no idea whether or not Emerald had come back at all or not since you last saw her to look for her houndoom, but if she did..wouldn't she have found you by now? A lot of people already stared at you for openly walking around with two non-native pokemon. You were sure if she just asked around, she'd have found you. "I haven't seen her since school let out months ago."

Gordie hummed again seeming to think a moment..before sighing. "Well then, since it's already been months, by law that houndoom's yours now unless you surrender it to the Pokemon Center or gave it away." He finished that sentence by taking another deep gulp of his drink.

"Mine? I didn't think Cerberus would be abandoned like this-"

Thud- He gave you a puzzled look from behind those glasses. "...Cerberus? Who's that?"

"Wha- Oh. That's what I call him." he rose his brow more. "The houndoom."

Now this caught him by surprise because Gordie's face gained an expression like you'd grown another head. "You named it?"

"It's a him actually. And no I didn't 'name' him exactly. I just gave him a nickname since I got tired of calling him 'Houndoom' all the time...But I guess now it is his name if he's stuck with me."

"You name your pokemon?", Gordie asked more to himself than you but you rose a brow back.

"Yes. I named all my pokemon...Why do you ask? Is it weird to you?"

In an instant he held up his free hand. "W-Wha- N-NO! I-I ain't findin' it weird! I-I just-...I don't know many people who d-do that. It makes you look...c-compassionate."

Now it was your turn to be surprised as you blinked at him. "...Compassionate?"

He nodded and all of a sudden his face seemed a bit pinker as his eyes looked to the side. "Y-Yeah..I don't know of m-many people who name their pokemon unless they're real attached to 'em. A-And they care about them enough to give 'em a name in the first place, like-..They see 'em more than just tools ta battle with..With how you're takin' care of the poor hound- Uh..'Cerberus'. I can help know a person's character better with those lil facts."

Again you remained silent and Gordie feeling awkward used the silence to continue drinking his ginger ale as an excuse to keep busy. But he thought you were...Compassionate? He judged you as so based on one little detail you shared?

"That's...awfully nice of you to say so," you settled on after getting your thoughts together, "But how could you deduce that about me? We barely know one another."

"Hm?" He finally glanced at you and blinked, taking a moment to process what you said- "Oh. Well I just listen to what you have to say." He shrugged leaning back against the countertop. "When you're around so many people who wanna talk to ya, and being a big brother, you pick up on a person's words and their meanings pretty quickly."

"Really? Can you always tell what someone's personality is by just talking with them?"

"A bit-...But not all the time and I obviously don't know someone's full person unless I spend time with them a whole lot or knew them a long time. But a lot of the time I can at least get a good feel for why they're talking to me. Whether it be cuz they're a fan or looking for attention..." His eyes narrowed. "Or something more selfish...*sigh* It's sorta like a gut feeling? Sixth sense? Whatever you wanna call it, I get after hearing people talk to me. ..Sorry. I must sound crazy."

"No. I don't think you do. I guess everyone has a sixth sense about things. That just makes you really unique!''

He was about to open his mouth to thank you when the door the kitchen opened back up and Sapphire came back out. "Ok. They're almost done but it'll be another ten minute til it's done." She paused blinking at the sight of you two before smiling. "I see you met our newest worker. Y/n's just joined us for around three weeks now!"

"Yeah! We know each other actually!," you happily said smiling and looking back to him. "Which reminds me, your mom said she'd call some other gym leaders. How'd that go?"

"Oh. Well Piers honestly doesn't know a whole bunch about houndooms, but Kabu originally coming from Hoenn knows a bit more about other regional fire types than anyone. He said if you're unable to handle it, he'd gladly take it in and train it up."

"Oh..Actually I haven't made up my mind about that yet. But I will let you know if it ever comes to that. I have to finish restocking the shelves now, but it was really good seeing you again! Say hello to your mother for me."

"Uh..Y-Yeah. I'll do that for ya."

Ten minutes passed. You finished restocking the shelves, Sapphire brought out Gordie's food, and Gordie finished his pint before paying and giving a small hand salute before taking his food and walking out the door, bell jingling as he departed. You smiled and waved after him but paused when Sapphire held up a twenty dollar bill to your face making you blink.

"..Oh. Is that from him paying for the drink?"

"No. He says this is your tip."

Your mind blanked for a moment. "...What!? No way!"

"Yes way. He asked me to hand it to you after he paid. You two must be real good pals, eh?"

You slowly took the twenty from here, "I-...I guess so, b-b-but I wasn't expecting THIS!!" You stared at the twenty in your hands in amazement. Before shaking your head. No. Gordie was obviously very well off being not only a gym leader but a very popular one, he could probably afford to spare a big tip when he wanted. "It was nice of him tho. I bet he always does this."

"Well..yeah he does leave a generous tip whenever he eats here, but that's the first time I've ever seen him give out that big o' a bill! He must really like you then!"

"More like probably feels sorry for me." Or he gave this to you by accident which wouldn't be too far a stretch, but you were grateful to him either way. Again, Gordie was a really nice guy.

It went like this for the rest of March and the first few days of April. Gordie would sometimes come in and stop for a drink or something to eat, smiling and making small talk with you and sometimes Sapphire while you worked and left tips that ranged anywhere between ten to twenty dollars each. Which was-...Strange, but you weren't complaining or ungrateful in the slightest. It just seemed strange as Sapphire and the chefs didn't seem to get the same amount in tips, the most you saw them each get was ten dollars in one go, which again was a pretty good tip. Other things were working out in your favor too. You managed to call Sonia that weekend and asked her to send you a couple copies of her two books and the research she did on the discoveries of the true heroes of Galar, you managed to save up some money, and when checking back in with Nurse Joy, you found Cerberus had gained back his weight fully and was making his way back to being stronger, and you had planned on getting a few things you needed for your school project next year. Thanks to Emerald talking (complaining loudly and annoyedly-) in detail about most of the projects all second year Standard Course students had to do. If you did some of the hard projects earlier then you'd be able to just turn it in without having to worry about stressing over it later with deadlines looming over your head. At the moment you were just in Circhester's local grocery store just going through and picking up a few items on your list.

"Goose?" Zen tilted his head at your form, his arms full of items you had him and Silver help you carry. And he sniffed at the array of objects and gave a grunt sound when you placed a couple of microave TV dinners in his arms adding to what he was already carrying, making Silver chirp.

"Sorry, Sil. But you'd just try to eat everything I handed you." Silver scowled with another noise. "Hey! Last time we were here, you drank two bottles of milk and then I had to get more plus pay for the ones you drank! So you can just carry the non edible stuff!" Silver still frowned but you were distracted by a muffled bark and you turned around noticing Cerberus had somehow gotten ahold of a decently sized bag of the specialized fire type food you had to buy him. He sat there proudly tail wagging and a bag of food so big it halfway dragged on the ground by his feet. How did he-...Oh yeah. Pokemon. They were pretty strong. Duh! "Uh...*sigh* Good boy, Cerby." You rewarded with a tired smile and sigh. "That's a big bag of dog-..Uh. Food. That should last us for a while." Never mind it was WAY bigger than the bags you usually get. "All we need is Silver and Zen's foods and we can leave-"

"*BARK!!*"

The bag of food was dropped with a thud sound and you watched him paddle off with a sigh, leaning down to pick up the bag. Guess you were buying a bigger bag this time around to avoid hurting Cerberus's feelings, he had just been warming up to you after all after he noticed you weren't going to treat him badly- THUMP!! Both you and your other two pokemon looked up as a thump sound followed by a dragging sound was heard and you found out the reason why when an equally big bag of water type pokemon food was dragged over to you by Cerberus and then dropped it in front of you. It was the kind you usually got for Silver.

"I- You-...*sigh* Thank you, Cerb. But I can-"

"BARK!!"

You only watched deadpanned as he did it yet again and watched as he dragged the expensive normal type food bag (Zen needed it being a none native pokemon too-) over to you and dropped it on top of the first two bags with another thump. You deadpanned stared at the three very expensive food bags before looking up at Cerberus who panted and wagged his pointed tail happily.

"...Zen. Hand Silver the basket. I'm gonna need your help carrying these back."

Whelp. Thanks how it went. You had Silver (drag-) carry the groceries, with Zen carrying the other half plus one of the giant bags, while you struggled to carry the other two bags with you. It must've looked funny to anyone else watching a woman stumble down the street with heavy bags blocking half her view being followed by three pokemon, two carrying groceries, and two being none native Galarian pokemon as well. Well it wasn't funny to you who couldn't tell if you were heading back to the hospital or not because the bags blocked half your view while your noodle arms struggled to hold onto the weight of the giant bags. Each step feeling as if you would lose your grip on them any moment- Until you did. One of the bags leaned too far to the left and you gave a yell as you slipped from the weight. Both giant bags tumbling to the ground with a loud sound and you faceplanted right on top of them with a loud thud. Snowflakes were thrown up from the collapse and there you laid stunned for a long moment-...Until Cerberus nudged your head with a paw in question. You groaned and looked up with a frown on your face, shaking the stray snow from your head before staring at the bags on the ground. Great. At least none of the bags busted open.

"Great. At this rate it'll take me until tomorrow morning to get home." You looked about ready to start lifting those bags again when a tall shadow fell over you making you blink, and then you looked up-

"Y/n?" A man in a coat lifted his sunglasses and you saw a head of blonde hair poke out from under his hood.

"Gordie!?," you asked back equally surprised. "...What are you doing here?"

"I was on my way to my Ma's for Friday dinner and I saw your lot." He then kneeled down to one knee eye level with you. "You 'lright? Ya fell with a splat on those things."

"*sigh* Yeah. I'm fine." You waved him off. "Just not used to carrying something this heavy. It'll take me til tomorrow morning to get all of this back to the hotel."

Gordie didn't say anything for a moment before he just held out his hand to you and you blinked for a moment, before registering that he was offering to help you up, so slowly you took his hand and with one strong pull you were on your feet wobbling a bit but didn't fall over before he let go of your hand as you went to dust yourself off. You opened your mouth to thank him, but paused when he kneeled back down and you stared stunned when he picked UP your giant food bags with ease and with a grunt, easily lifted them up, one on his shoulder and the other held under his arm with ease with a smile on his face.

"Right. Which hotel room should I drop these o' at?"

You stared faw dropped for a moment before shaking your head. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Wait a minute. You can't just carry those for me!"

"Well considerin' ya can't carry 'em, I'll have to help ya as my duty as gym leader." With a smile he then turned and began walking towards the hotel and you naturally followed him.

"Hey wait! What about dinner with your family?"

"Their house ain't that far away and I can afford to be late one time. No worries!"

"Yeah but-...UGH! At least slow down!" He chuckled and you frowned. "It's NOT funny!"

Well Gordie did NOT listen to you. In fact he just carried on all the way to the hotel making everyone stare at his chuckling form followed by your red face and three pokemon, but he only continued not putting the bags down until you showed him to your room but stopped him at the door.

"Ok. You can put them down here."

"Are ya sure?"

"Y-Yeah. I can have Zen bring them in from here. It's not a problem."

"Hm...Well if you're sure." He took a moment to place down the bags against the wall. "There ya go. That atta tide you over."

"Thanks for the help! You've been a real big help lately actually."

"Uh.." He coughed and turned away cheeks tinting a light pink. "W-W-Well i-it's my duty as gym leader. Y'know? A-And I'd feel bad just leavin' a friend like that when you needed a hand!"

You smiled. "Well it was still really nice of you to do so. Guess I was lucky a strong and handsome man was around to save me," you joked with a chuckle but Gordie gawked at you for a moment before you turned towards the door. "Well I better get inside and put everything away. Thanks again for the help! Tell your Mom I said hi!" You opened the door-

"WAIT!!" You jumped from the sudden yell and blinked at Gordie who held out a hand....before he coughed and looked away again. "I-I mean-...I-I'm hostin' a party for Circhester's Foundation Day next Wednesday...I'd be really cool i-if you'd come. I m-mean-...You're gonna be in Circhester for a while right? Haha! It'd b-be a good way f-for you to meet some of the people who l-live here-"

"That sounds great, but I can't. I have to work that day. I'm sorry."

"Huh?...Oh. Yeah. R-Right. *ahem* That's cool! I c-can dig it! I-If you change your mind however-..You're free to come without a doubt! Ya can't miss it since it'll be in the town square."

"I'll think about it. Shouldn't be hard to spot you anyways. You'll the tall, strong, and hansdome center piece of it all!," you again joked with a chuckle not noticing how frozen and red he had gotten. "Well I'll see you later. Thanks again for the help! You're a life saver!"

You then disappeared into your hotel room followed by your pokemon, and the door soon after closed with Gordie just standing there for a long moment...before he gulped feeling like a melting snowman under the heat his red face put out.

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