Into the Unown (Pokemon Fanfiction OC)
Chapter 148

Noburo Yamaguchi came from humble beginnings. Starting from a lowly janitor, the man went on to establish his own cleaning company. A ploy that inadvertently turned out to be a genius move as cleaners were largely ignored by the people around them and had a lot of access to areas that were otherwise restricted.

From corporate espionage to racketeering, the fledgling Yamaguchi Group slowly devoured their client companies from within like ravenous parasites. However, the scope of their expansion remained limited. Logistical and managerial challenges of running so many different companies aside, most larger companies knew better than to hire some shady yakuza to clean their offices. Not to mention, they had quickly gained a lot of notoriety thanks to their rapid expansion.

This all changed when Red took down the Rocket Game Center, an incident which soon spiraled into an event of monumental proportions in Kantonian history, involving the exposure of a region wide terrorist conspiracy network, and the subsequent ousting of a formerly esteemed Gym Leader and war hero.

The sudden and abrupt abdication of Champion Red before the end of his tenure was also what allowed Lance Blackthorn, Johto’s Champion at the time, to swoop in and become the world’s first dual Regional Champion. Thereby paving the way for the formation of the Indigo League and long-awaited peace between Kanto and Johto.

In the aftermath of all this, all known assets pertaining to Team Rocket and Giovanni were seized and put up to auction, including the old Rocket Game Center. And while most people shied away from the disgraced Game Corner, the Yamaguchi Group bid furiously to obtain ownership of it, ultimately becoming the cornerstone on which their conglomerate was based.

Then came the end of the brief but blissful bubble era of Celadon City. While the Yamaguchi Group’s competitors fell one by one, Noboru Yamaguchi not only managed to navigate his company through the turbulent waves, but even came out on top via underhanded dealings and ruthless pragmatism.

Today, the Yamaguchi Group was not only the wealthiest conglomerate in Celadon City, but was also deeply intertwined with its political scene, wielding influence greater than even Erika, the local Gym Leader. And according to evidence gathered by Purple Shadow, was also the shadowy master behind the headless Team Rocket, or at least whatever’s left of the most organized faction.

“This Nobita fellow…” Lilian mused. “Either he or his mother must be greatly favored by Noboru Yamaguchi — the man has more bastards than your average Rattata, most of them left in abandon with merely a sum of money in appeasement.”

Nina just hummed in consideration as she shifted her feet a little in her seat, feeling uncomfortable in the heels she was wearing. 

“Thank you.” Lilian continued. “For doing this with me.” She said as she reached out hesitantly to squeeze Nina’s hand, while also muttering something about how Nina looked good in her dress.

“You’re welcome, Lilian.” Nina responded with a warm and reassuring smile. “Like you said, I owe you one. I just hope that this is all worth it.”

“It will be.” Lilian returned Nina’s gaze with eyes full of conviction. “The elders wish for me to demonstrate my mettle, and so I shall. I will prove to them that Red isn’t the only one capable of vanquishing the evil that plagues our home.”

Nina sighed, but chose not to comment any further. She had already agreed to the endeavor, might as well commit fully and make sure that they actually succeed. Whether or not things will proceed smoothly was a whole other matter.

Not long after, their car rolled up to the VIP entrance of the Yamaguchi Game Corner located in the basement. Contrary to the gaudy Meowth head adorning the main entrance, the entrance for the VIPs were decorated in a much more tasteful, if equally lavish, manner; lots of gold, marble and glass.

“Welcome! Lady Blackthorn, Miss Jones, and Councilman Abe!”

A handsome young boy in a bespoke suit, rimless glasses and slicked back hair came out to greet Lilian and her entourage with a radiant smile. Another car had pulled up behind Lilian’s as well, to reveal a middle aged man in a suit — the City Council representative who was guiding Lilian for today.

“Either my looks changed that much, or he really did forget me.” Nina mused. He had changed a lot, both in looks and demeanor, but there were no doubts that the boy in front of her was Nobita, her and Charlie’s childhood friend. And yet despite that, the boy’s gaze was completely void of recognition.

“Or maybe he’s just that good of an actor. And speaking of Charlie…” Nina subtly shifted her gaze to look at the ‘servant boy’ who opened the car door for her. She could tell that Charlie was trying his best to hold back and not rush at his friend to demand an explanation as he shuffled anxiously on his feet. “Patience, C. Haste makes waste…” Nina whispered as she passed him by and joined Lilian by her side.

“Nobita, my boy! Have you grown again?” Councilman Abe exclaimed as he grasped the boy’s arm and gave him a firm pat on the shoulder. He then turned towards Lilian with a genial smile. “Allow me to introduce you. This is Nobita Yamaguchi, successor to the Yamaguchi Group. And honestly, if I didn’t know any better I would have thought that you were a clone of your father.”

Nobita chuckled. “Please Mr Abe, you’re too kind. I’m still very lacking in many ways.” The boy then formally greeted Lilian and Nina once more as he ushered his guests into the premises.

***

Rhythmic chimes, loud music, flashing lights and the crashing of metal beads, suffused by a heated atmosphere laced with desperate hope, bitter disappointment and body odour. That was what Nina felt when they passed through the main floor containing most of the Game Corner’s general guests.

There was an almost psychedelic quality to the space; utterly lacking in windows and perpetually steeped in radiant incandescent lighting — a deliberate choice to remove the Game Corner’s occupants from Dialga’s influence. One could easily lose an entire day here without even realizing it, almost like a time machine that only goes one way.

“Oh come on! This machine’s gotta be broken!” exclaimed a familiar voice, followed by the sound of feet against metal.

Nina held back a sigh as she followed everyone's gaze to check on the commotion, to find a gaudily dressed Matsuri making a fuss in front of one of the slot machines and an anxious looking Thomas by her side, trying to appease her.

“Excuse me for a moment.” Nobita said, with a genial smile. He then snapped his fingers to summon a nearby attendant to take his place by Lilian and her entourage.

As the boy approached Matsuri with a smile, two security Machokes in specially tailored suits converged on his flank and loomed menacingly over Matsuri as Nobita confronted the troublemaker.

Even from a distance, Nina could see the pearl sized droplets of sweat flowing down Thomas’s brow as he bowed repeatedly in apology towards Nobita. To his side, the older teen had a hand planted on the back of Matsuri’s head, forcing the stubborn girl to bow alongside him.

After a series of back and forth, mostly involving Thomas grovelling at a boy almost half his height, the two security Machokes proceeded to escort their disgraced guests out of the premises.

“Welp, there goes our backup.” Nina mused as she shot a look towards Lilian that screamed; “I told you so.” And because Mash felt uncomfortable in a building so heavily shielded by Dark Types, and Nina refused to involve Kerry and the twins, they were all outside monitoring the proceedings with Alfred’s equipment. 

So now, Nina and Lilian were completely on their own, aside from Alfred and Charlie who were acting as their servants. Purple Shadow, as always, was in Nina’s shadow. The ronin was probably itching to run off and do a bit of espionage, but with so many Houndours and Poochyenas patrolling the space, any errant Ghost Types would be sniffed out in an instant.

Not that they were at risk of any danger to begin with, their pretense was legitimate and no one would be audacious enough to harm Lilian Blackthorn in such a public setting. At worst, they would just end the day having accomplished nothing. In which case, it was just back to the drawing board to come up with a new plan.

“My apologies about that interruption.” Nobita said when he eventually returned to their side. “Our customers are very passionate as you can see. And sometimes that passion overwhelms them.”

“Why exactly are your customers so… passionate?” Nina asked. “There’s any number of Game Corners all over Celadon City, and yet the Yamaguchi Game Corner is by far the most popular of the lot. Surely there must be a reason for that?”

“Ah, but of course.” Nobita replied, his words accompanied by a brilliant smile and fanciful flourish as he continued to lead them towards the elevator. “The reason has to do with the fairness of our machines and the generosity of our prizes. In fact, allow me to show you what we have on offer to better illustrate. Mere words do not do justice to our lavish prize pool.”

Nina followed along silently with a wry smile on her face. “Matsuri might have something to say about your ‘fairness’, but oh well…”

Nobita was not wrong about their generous prize pool though, because it took up an entire floor of the building with offerings that did not pale in comparison to the likes of Wiseman’s Gifts which Nina and her friends went to just a few days ago.

Low valued items like Potions and Pokeballs adorned several rows of metal shelves, while high valued items like TMs and Evolution stones were put on display in glass cases and ostentatious pedestals, with the value of each item gradually increasing the deeper they went as the displays became sparser and more gaudy in their presentation as well.

Security personnel and Pokemon were present in each and every corner, carefully monitoring every movement within the space to prevent any foul play. All of it made for a very sombre atmosphere as various guests nervously went about perusing the items on offer, shuffling anxiously in front of each display and mumbling to themselves while they considered how best to spend their precious winnings. Some even had their Pokegear in hand to check on real time market prices of certain items on the grey market, all to maximize their potential profit.

Out of curiosity, Nina peeked at the points required for some of the more mundane high valued items. For example, a Max Potion which would normally cost around 2,500 Pokedollars in the store would cost about 25,000 points in the Game Corner. “So it’s ten points for every Pokedollar, seems pretty straightforward.”

“And this here is our grand prize!” Nobita exclaimed, when they reached a display located right in the center of the floor, on an excessively eye-catching platform. “A Rotom!” 

Lilian turned sharply towards Councilman Abe with a raised eyebrow, causing the man to flinch and reel back slightly with a stiff smile. 

“I think…” said Abe, in an awkward tone. “What young Nobita is trying to say is that the grand prize is a Rotom phone.” The councilman let out a sheepish laugh while he straightened his posture. 

“As you well know, some inventions are intricately tied to the use of certain Pokemon, and the Rotom Phone is the greatest example of such devices. It is not the same as trading Pokemon, I can assure you. In fact, we at the Celadon City Council perform regular inspections to ensure that the city’s Game Corners are compliant with League regulations.”

Nina held back a laugh. “So basically a legal grey area then?” The audacity of these bureaucratic sorts knows no bounds. “A bureaucrat’s greatest pastime is playing jump rope with the rules,” as Patrick, Nina’s dad, was prone to saying.

“So does that mean there’s also Porygon on offer then?” The girl continued to ask. But before Abe even had a chance to respond, Nobita spoke up.

“Why of course! Porygons are this way!” The boy exclaimed as he casually sauntered off towards the direction he indicated. There was no remorse in his eyes from the obvious blunder. In fact, there wasn’t much of anything in his gaze at all, completely blank and void of emotion.

“Charlie’s right, somethings wrong with Nobita. It’s like he’s trying to sabotage the business.”

**

Author's note:

By the time that this chapter is out. I should have the beta of an original story that I wrote up on Patreon called "Apocalypse Gourmand". The story is completely free to access. In return, I just want some feedback on it. And feel free to go ham, since I want to ascertain if its worth continuing to spend time on it or not.

But to give some context. The story is a slice of life food adventure. So think something along the lines of Dungeon Meshi a.k.a Delicious in Dungeon.

I'll update the link here once the post goes live. And again, it's totally free to access. I'm just choosing to post it on Patreon to limit the optics to well established readers for now.

Edit: Here's the link to Apocalypse Gourmand.

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