Chapter-11
It was dusk by the time the bus stopped at the Azalea town Pokémon Center, we got off the bus only to be greeted by our over excited family members. Everyone that got off at our stop said our goodbyes to the others on the bus and left for their respective houses.
We had a sumptuous dinner waiting for us at home as Mom and Dad had gone all out to welcome us back. We eagerly shared our experiences in camp with them and they also told us stories of their younger days as trainers. I let it slip that Soul was a great artist and they were very eager to see his work, so while Soul was showing our Parents his sketch book I excused myself and took a walk around the house. As I've said before it was quite a big house constructed in the traditional Japanese style, back in the day there used to be many more members of the family in the charcoal making business and the place was quite bustling but now the entire rear courtyard and nearly half the rooms were deserted and just used as store rooms at most. My plans for what to do over summer slowly started taking form.
The next day instead of going to the forest with Dad, Soul and Heart, I went to the library early to look up on information I needed to set up a small shop or cafe, in this world some kids do a few chores like gardening, a little cleaning or even helping others find lost things to earn a little extra pocket money and of course there was the ever popular lemonade stand. I wanted to set up a proper shop and cafe in our rear courtyard and put the skills I learnt in camp to good use as well as to polish them further. There were a few permits that I needed if I wanted to make this project as grand as the one in my head and not just a small stand. I recorded everything down and then went for a walk around town to check out all the specialities available locally while at the same time occasionally identifying potential suppliers. I bought a few ingredients to try out the recipes I'd obtained in camp and the library which included those for Poke Puffs, Poffins and Poke Blocks to name a few.
Once I got home with my arms laden with my loot, I head straight for the kitchen while Mom stares on with a confused expression. She follows me into the kitchen to see what I was up to. I neatly set up everything and wash my hands as well as some of the ingredients that need washing and soon get to work, not too long after the aroma of many delicious delicacies starts to spread. Mom who was initially just watching quietly by the sidelines comes up to ask me what exactly I was doing.
"Just want to try something I learnt at camp Mom."- I reply back. Seeing me being busy in the kitchen she decides to lend a hand and we get started on preparing lunch as well considering Dad and Soul would be back soon.
When the two returned from the forest and after dropping Heart off at her place, they were greeted with a special spread on the table; "What's this about, is there anything special, it can't be our anniversary can it?"- Dad wonders. Mom elbows him "No its not, Sage just wanted to try out a few new recipes from camp it seems. Anyway you wouldn't forget our anniversary ever again would you?"-she replies back and the last sentence makes Dad shiver a little as he recalls what happened that one time he did forget.
We all settle down for lunch eventually after washing up a bit. On the menu for us is rice with a special curry I made from some medicinal herbs and spices along with some diced Berries as well as an assorted basket of different kinds of buns and breads, a pitcher of iced Berry Juice for refreshments and for desert my own recipe Syrup glazed Berry Pie. For the Pokémon I prepared some special Poke Puffs, Poffins, Poke Blocks and customized Pokémon food.
I watched on expectantly as everyone dug in, there was a pause and just as I was expecting the worst they started eating at great speed afraid the food might suddenly grow feet and run away. I tried to get a response from them but they were too busy eating even the Pokémon had their heads stuck to the dishes swallowing everything down , so I had no option but wait for everyone to finish. All the dishes were soon cleaned out completely and I finally got a review for my food. I already had a hunch seeing the way they were eating and the empty vessels but it was still very pleasing to hear the endless praise for my cooking.
"Haaa... that was great, Sage my boy with such great cooking skill you could open a restaurant."- Dad exclaims while rubbing his belly.
"Thanks Dad that was sort of the plan any way."- I reply back, there is a moment of awkward silence as Mom, Dad and Soul digest what I just said.
"Sage honey... what.. what do you mean exactly?"- Mom questions me. I slowly explain my plans to open a shop and cafe while at the same time ask for permission to use the rear courtyard and some of the rooms in the back.
Mom and Dad considered it a bit and decided to first check further with me if I had all the details down and I understood what I was getting myself into. I slowly explained everything and assured them I wouldn't make too much of a fuss and only use stuff easily available to set up the cafe and shop. They finally relented and even agreed to help in the initial setup.
So the following week although Dad would still go collect wood from the forest, he would occasionally help out in cleaning up the rear portion of the house. Heart after hearing about our plan was only too eager to help out. So the first week since we started work was mostly spent in cleaning up the area and looking through all the rooms for furniture. Thankfully we found dozens of different types of chairs and stools all over the abandoned portions of the house and there were quite a number of tables as well. The most amazing discovery was the battlefield in the canter of the courtyard which was previously hidden under a layer of fallen leaves, dust and dirt.
Though the initial work was hard there was also some plus points, for instance in order to set a menu I started going all out in gathering recipes and cooking various dishes for each meal even going so far as to incorporating some of the dishes that only existed in my previous world. So thanks to that every meal's menu was different with dishes ranging from salads, soups, sandwiches, burgers, pizzas, pastas, dumplings, takoyaki, ramen, rice cakes, etc. I know some of these dishes might require meat but meat in this world it was not quite the same, the meat and other such products like fur were obtained from the large volume of trainers. Remember how I said that defeating Pokémon in the wild has 5% chance to drop some cash or Items, well that was only the most useful Items you saw in the game, the rest of the times they dropped furs or meat which they had to sell in bulk to make some decent cash (again it wasn't their skin and flesh but more like a bundle of neatly folded fur piece or blocks of manga meat which could astonishingly be kept fresh as is for way longer than any meat had a right to be kept for. Honestly even the meats in my previous life with the best preservation methods couldn't be kept for so long; really some aspects could not be explained any other way but as game elements). Anyway as they were so common and did not have any special set function other than to serve as food materials and in this world that had a relatively low human population and a higher ratio of natural green ecosystems to urbanised human dwellings as compared to my previous world food was one thing there was no shortage of the world over. So end result was that the raw ingredients were inexpensive in this world.
We still had a few days to go before all the permits were produced so we got busy in setting a layout and decorating the place up. We set up chairs and tables in a big hall next to the courtyard as well as a few outside right next to the battlefield so that customers could enjoy a battle as they ate. We got frames for the sketches Soul made of scenes around town and the Ilex forest and arranged them around the place. When we were done the whole place looked quite nice although some would call it odd-
"I don't know, although it feels nice and is definitely unique but come on the fact that all the furniture and even the crockery are miss-matched is very odd."- Heart states. It was kind of true as we'd pulled in different furniture from all over the house resulting in this and the rush we were in to get everything done resulted in us buying crockery sets of different designs as the stores around us didn't have stock of large quantities in a single design.
"Really that's what you find odd; not the fact that this place is going to be run by a bunch of kids."- Soul responds with a teasing smile.
"The only odd one here is you. Why can't you do anything more productive instead of just muttering so much?"- Heart starts flaring up.
"Ohhh... productive like what missy?"- Soul continues to egg her on.
"Guys give it a rest; we still need to pick a name for this place before we open in three days time."- I try to divert their attention into more pressing issues as our establishment was still nameless.
"I can't believe you planned so many details for this but neglected to pick a name for it."- Heart starts to admonish me now.
"Yeah now that is really odd."- Soul teams up with her and they both gang up on me.
"Guys.. wait... come on..."- I protest weakly as I furiously work my brain for a name until it finally hits me-"I got it, its just like you guys said this place is odd down to its very essence, so why not call it 'Odd Shop & Cafe'. What do you think?"
They mull over the name then take a look around the shop and then mull over it some more before agreeing to the name. So everything was set, the Odd Shop & Cafe would open for business in three days time. We did some last minute preparations like making the store sign and stocking up on supplies, Soul even drew some fantastic posters that we could distribute and we even gathered some medicinal herb and other knick-knacks we had gathered in the Ilex forest to put on sale, I even put some of the Apricorn Poke balls I made for sale. Of course none of the fusion ones just the normal ones, the fusion balls were quite special and I couldn't sell the fusions of factory made ones bought from the store even if I wanted to as that would violate their marketing policy; those were only the product of my hobby and for self use only and not to make a profit from sales.
Anyway we put up our posters at all the main town entries and exits, in the Pokémon center, the Police station and other common areas like the town square and parks. All that was left to do was wait for the day of the grand opening of the Odd Shop & Cafe. On the first day, business was slow as only a handful of trainers showed up and a couple of them were just lost and only came to ask for directions, one even turned up just to have his Pokémon learn Cut from Dad. Heart was pretty dejected by the whole thing and even Soul was feeling down though he tried his best to hide it. I still didn't give up despite all this as I knew that we were a new establishment and had no reputation so far, I made sure to serve the few that did come to the shop some of our best dishes at special grand opening discounts and I even managed to rope in those two lost trainers in with the promise to guide them in exploring the Ilex forest later.
News must have spread as on the second day a few more trainers showed up to grace our establishment, there were even a few to request for a guide to explore the Ilex forest as the two I had accompanied before had a safe and pleasant experience, this gave me an idea to start up a new service. Pretty soon our Odd Shop & Cafe became quite the popular location for travellers, I mean honestly we had great food, good service, a nice ambiance, Heart would occasionally put up dance and musical performances and Soul would even offer to make amazing sketches and caricatures for the customers. But still we had no idea just how popular our cafe would get, I mean sure the profits were great but there was just too much work load for the three of us even though we only opened for 6 hours a day- 2 hour periods for breakfast lunch and dinner. At the end of our first three weeks of operation we were bummed.
"See its too much work for just you kids, this is why I said you need to consider carefully before you set off on this project."- Mom gives us some advice offhandedly while going over her research papers one evening. I'm pretty sure that the problem we're facing right was not the one she previously expected though, it was more like she expected our business to not pickup and us to be upset over the lack of business and not the overflow of it. Can't really blame her though, normally three 7-8 year old kids wouldn't be able to run a business as well as us. The most important thing was talent, both Soul and Heart had plenty of it and they had exceptional drive too, all that coupled with my careful planning and research into the local market potential in doing business with trainers lead to a very successful venture.
"Well if you really insist on continuing I'd advise you to start hiring new recruits and expanding your work force."- She tells us after putting aside her papers and looking at the three of us sprawled out on the sofa. It takes a while for what she said to sink into our tired brains, we think it over slowly.
"But Mom, even if we wanted to hire new people who do we ask? Who'd be willing? Its just as you said, we're just kids."- Soul asks.
"That's right you are kids, now tell me the whole reason you first started to do this in the first place was to do something interesting over the summer and also earn a little extra pocket money while you're at it wasn't it? Can't you think of other people who might share similar opinions?"- Mom hints at us.
"Our class mates from school, of course. Betty and Mark who live on the same street as me were very jealous when they found out we were running this place, it wouldn't be too hard to recruit from our own school friends."- Heart responds as a light bulb goes on in her head.
We soon start discussing about inviting our friends from school to give us a hand and later quickly rush out to hire anyone of them if they are willing to help. "Thanks Mom (Mrs. Peirce)."- We hurriedly thank her on our way out as she looks on with a knowing smile.
Mom's idea turned out to be brilliant; all our classmates were more than willing to help out and business started to pick up even more. Heart and Soul got a little more free time and got busy designing and crafting cute little accessories like bracelets, hair clips, bandanas, etc for both Pokémon and trainers alike and other souvenirs like small wood carvings which sold like hot cakes and though I couldn't completely abandon the kitchen there were quite a few of my friends among the new employees who had put in a little more effort to learn to cook in anticipation of going on their own journey so I had help too. Over time with my expert advice and more practice they got the hang of it so I decided to expand a bit as well and opened one of the empty adjacent rooms to use as a Pokémon grooming and massage parlour, the other kids were very excited by the new expansion and only too happy to work with Pokémon.
Soon the Odd Shop & Cafe became a landmark of Azalea town and many of the adults would occasionally help out too especially Mrs. Mathews who owned the only inn in town, she nearly completely abandoned her own small cafe to help us out, I kind of felt bad for stealing some of her business as she was such a nice lady. Eventually after a talk with my parents we partnered up with her cafe as she had some great infrastructure for cooking in greater quantities as well as a considerably sized cold storage unit, we decide to also help out at her cafe so it was almost like we had two branches. We learnt a great deal from her experience and she also had some great recipes as well which is why she still had some loyal customers even now; working together both of us saw a boom in business especially in the dessert department as Mrs. Mathews made some great ice cream and pastries (with a little tweaking of the recipe our new Syrup glazed Berry Pie with a scope of Ice cream became our signature dish).
By the end of the summer everyone had made quite a large sum and we marked the event off by organising a Pokémon Battle tournament for our customers with the top prizes being some rare Items we'd found in the forest like a Fire stone and Moon stone, I even put up some of my custom made Fusion Apricorn Poke balls. It was a big hit but when some of our customers found out that we would close when school started again there was much grumbling with some even wailing over not being able to eat our tasty food or experience the other fine services we offer, in the end due to popular demand we decided to continue to operate over the weekends with a promise to come back in full swing next summer again. I could see this as becoming a sort of a regular thing for generations in this town as school kids still too young to start off as trainers could come gain experience here, the townsfolk would be more than happy to see something like that come about one day.