This was written for the June Star Speckled Study One-Shot Collection using the prompt "I don't get paid enough for this". The collection can be found in my profile on AO3.
Baz the breloom has worked at a restaurant called "Devil's Delight" for one full day so far, and he can already say that he's experienced pretty much every emotion on the spectrum. The workplace is… a bit chaotic, definitely.
Then again, the pay seems reasonable, and his fellow co-workers are all nice enough. He hasn't chatted much with the boss yet though, and from what he's been informed of, they're quite the character.
Despite how short of a tenure he's had here, Baz can't help but already feel comfortable. The smells are nice (he's always enjoyed spicier foods, even with his typing), nothing's too hard to find, and small talk with some of the regulars has been very insightful for the breloom.
As he sits on a poorly made stool in the corner of the kitchen area, watching steam rise from a sizzling piece of meat, he hums a soft tune to himself.
His little moment of peace, however, is swiftly interrupted by his boss – a manectric who hasn't yet told him his name.
"Hey Baz. Should get tags for that… We're nearly out of spelon berries."
"Yeah…?"
"I've hired an exploration team to help pick some up from the nearby dungeon, but would you be able to go with them?"
Baz tilts his head, "…Sure, I guess. May I ask why?"
The manectric shrugs, "You should know what a spelon berry looks like – now that you've been working here for a day n' all – so you'd be a good eye for whatever team we recruited. Plus, you don't look too scrawny, and I can see you fending for yourself if need be."
"…I guess."
"Great! The guild reported that the team would be getting here-"
He's interrupted by the restaurant's door chime ringing. "-…Right now, I guess."
Motioning for him to follow, the manectric leads Baz out to the main room, where two pokémon with scarves and a guild bag greet them cheerily.
They seem a bit… young to Baz.
He looks to see what level of guild badges they have, but can't find any on them (though he wouldn't be surprised if they just have them stashed in their bag), so he concedes that his boss knows what he's doing.
His boss goes to grab a berry sack as the two introduce themselves as Dash the pikachu and Dave the riolu of 'Team Poképals'.
He finds the riolu's name unique, if anything.
Then again, he doesn't have much room to judge.
His boss quickly comes back with the sack, and Baz takes it, draping it over his shoulder.
Before he can wander over to the team, however, the manectric pulls him close, and whispers, "Remember, Baz – we need these berries yesterday. If ya don't come back with one, I might just dock some of your pay."
Baz gapes at the statement, "…Wha- what?"
The manectric nods, "I'll have nothing against you if you can't do it necessarily, but it's the berry we primarily use, so a lot of business would go down for a while if we don't have any stocked up. You get it?"
"Y-yeah…"
"Great! I wish you luck, then." They then give Baz a comforting pat on the back.
Baz can see why his co-workers spoke of the boss like that.
-0-
Baz leads the team in the direction of the dungeon, though keeps quiet. They do whisper amongst themselves, but he doesn't give it too much of his attention.
That is until, with the dungeon in sight, the pikachu whispers, "Are ya ready to explore our first official dungeon as guild members, Dave? Cause I-"
Baz whips his head around, hissing, "What?"
The two flinch back in surprise, eyes wide.
"W-well… we have been in one before… just not as guild members…" Dave tries to reassure Baz. Then again, he doesn't know why Baz is so confused in the first place.
"That's not… Can I see the guild mission request… thing?"
They look at one another, confused. Dave shrugs, however, and gives Baz the flyer.
Baz grabs it. "He wrote it down as an… E… rank…"
He stands there, staring at the paper for a good minute in a mix between confusion and awe, the duo in front of him looking progressively more confused by the second.
Eventually, he looks up from the paper slowly, giving them a pained smile, "…Look, you two. I'm sorry for… getting mad at you. I've been in this dungeon before, and arceus is it not an E-rank."
The riolu fidgets with his team's bag, speaking up. "W-what rank is it…?"
"B."
The duo's eyes widen to a comical degree.
"W- what does that mean for us?" The riolu asks. Baz flinches, taking a deep breath.
"…Well, I guess that leaves you with two options – We could go in regardless, or I could go in by myself."
The team nods, before excusing themselves and walking over to the side, beginning to whisper and debate with one another.
As they have their little debate, Baz settles himself against a rock on the other side of the path, staring at the mission paper again.
"Did the boss… do this on purpose…? I don't see any reason for him to hate me yet – it's only been one day…"
At the sound of someone clearing their throat, he looks up to see the duo in front of him again.
"W-we want to go into the dungeon with you!" The riolu exclaims with a stutter, the pikachu next to him nodding quickly.
Baz sighs, "Suit yourselves. You two know what spelon berries look like?"
They shake their heads.
"Basically, it's a red capsule-like berry with spikes. That's what we'll be searching for – I'll show you guys one when we come across it. We don't need to keep count either really; just grab all the ones you find. Don't stray too far behind, and you'll be fine. Probably."
They nervously nod. Baz shrugs, and leads the way into the dungeon.
-0-
…And immediately, they come across something that Baz'd been dreading – an arceus-damned slaking.
"Nope. I'm not protecting you against this. You two, take your guild badges, and use them. Now. I don't have enough awareness to protect myself and take this monster on. One step, and that thing wakes up. When it wakes up, it'll pummel us. Me included."
The two gulp as Baz motions uselessly at their bag, pretty much panicking.
"Do- do you two know how to use the badges?"
"N-no…"
"Mmh. Push the center part once – it'll teleport both of you back to your guild."
"W-what about-"
"Doesn't matter, I'll be fine enough. Probably. Tell the guild there was a mistake on the mission flyer – I'm keeping it to show to my boss though."
They quickly nod, and teleport out of there.
…Unfortunately, the resulting flash was more than enough to wake up the now-furious slaking.
"…Welp. That sucks."
-0-
After hours of limping through the dungeon with a sprained ankle and now very sore joints, dragging a sack full of spelon berries the whole way, he can't help but feel a hint of joy at the sight of the restaurant again.
He also feels a hint of malice.
Pushing the doors open, his boss is there to immediately greet him. "Welcome back! Are you… alright?"
Baz just glares, shoving the guild mission paper at the manectric.
To Baz's disbelief, he sees a little smirk form on the manectric's face, but it's quickly wiped off.
"Oh. My apologies, looks like I messed-"
"You did this on purpose, didn't you."
The smirk comes back, growing to a look of glee.
"…Yup! Glad we've gotten that over with then – This was more or less a test for you."
"…What?"
He nods. "I'm doing my best to save money, you see. That includes possibly filtering out guild assistance. Did the same thing to another worker here a month or so ago, and it looks like I've finally found them a partner – you! They're still pretty pissed at me-"
"And they have every right to be, as am I."
"-But you two could work together to help gather materials!"
"…Even though I encountered an arceus-damn slaking?"
"Eh, you two could probably come up with a strategy. I'll set up a meeting between you two tomorrow."
"…And what if I quit?" Baz growls.
The manectric pouts. It wasn't very effective.
"…Whatever. At the very least, don't spring things on me like this. I'm going home to fix up my leg."
"Be back tomorrow?"
"…Fine."
-0-
Baz the breloom has worked at a restaurant called "Devil's Delight" for two full days so far, and he can already say that he wants a raise.
This one has a pretty simple idea, but regardless I hope you enjoyed!
I will be posting another one-shot on September 1st for the August Star Speckled Study One-Shot Collection. This may or may not turn into a pattern.