"Who's on Iono Zone? It's me, Iono! Hello, good morning, afternoon, and evening~"
On the phone screen, the adorable girl with two floating Magnemite decorations atop her head waved her long yellow sleeves in greeting to everyone.
"Didn't expect it, did you? I'm hosting again this weekend, hehe~ If you like Iono, you can subscribe to Iono Zone's livestream too. All kinds of perks are waiting for you—watch me use ○○ to capture your attention~"
Iono bent slightly at the waist, laughing as she lightly touched her cheek with a finger. The camera happened to catch the impressive curve of her chest from above, completely out of proportion with her height.
Watching from in front of the screen, Xingye cursed, "If you don't know how to dress, then don't wear anything! Did I get up this early to watch you confidently show off your balls? Hurry up with the Sunday 8 a.m. lottery segment!"
Every weekend morning, he waited for this live TV show's lottery draw. The prizes were pretty good—the grand prize was a travel voucher to Levincia in the Paldea Region, with all normal expenses covered for a week.
But he had never expected to win that. What he wanted were the expensive ingredient gift sets from the third prize tier, but unfortunately, he had never won one.
Now that the kitchen at home was up and running, he had learned a bunch of things from Nae-chan and needed to put them to use. Nae-chan was away again these past couple of days, so he had nowhere to mooch free food and could only cook for himself at home...
Gengar sat on the living room coffee table, holding a bowl and blissfully slurping noodles. Since adapting to its body last night, it could finally feel hunger and was no longer just a simple doll.
It also possessed the abilities of a normal Gengar. Eating and drinking were no problem, but it could not soak its body in water. Its belly could store things too, just nothing too large.
"Gengar~"
Gengar raised its empty bowl, asking for more. Cyclizar, sitting on the floor beside it, simply lifted two bowls at once, demanding another serving.
"Cyclizar~"
"Alright, alright, there's plenty more."
Xingye put down his phone, took their bowls, and headed into the kitchen. As for why he did not make Pokémon food? Who ate that stuff in Kabukicho? It was dog food even dogs would not eat, and there was nowhere to buy it anyway.
He could already feel his expenses steadily rising. The pressure was here, but pressure meant motivation—as long as he was not completely crushed by it!
The large Odd Jobs sign hanging over the entrance had already been made. After breakfast, he just needed Cyclizar to lend a hand and hang it up.
He had even made a website for Odd Jobs, posting its link on several popular Trainer forums. Pokémon could click the link and book commissions online... Yeah, as if. Pure fantasy.
The website's real purpose was to let other Trainers pay for advice. Making money required two approaches, after all. The knowledge he possessed as a self-proclaimed Pokémon scholar had to have somewhere useful to go.
Only after getting the internet did he realize just how useful the Rotom Phone was.
It was ridiculously smooth. When arguing with people on forums, it could open a floating window and keep debating for him in the background. When he saw lewd pictures online while waiting for a hero to arrive, it could automatically scan them and make him become that hero.
In short, it had a ton of support functions. The most important was its private browsing mode. As long as you were not stupid enough to expose yourself, no one could find your browsing history, keeping you safe from doxxing weapons!
After bringing the pot over for Gengar and Cyclizar, Xingye returned to the sofa and continued watching his phone.
After listening to Iono ramble through a bunch of funny stories about rookie Trainers, the show was finally about to end.
Then Iono casually waved a hand, and a red treasure chest with gold trim suddenly appeared in the lower-right corner of the screen!
Without hesitation, Xingye immediately reached out to grab it. The chest full of gold coins opened!
A Gimmighoul that looked like a gingerbread man emerged from inside and tossed out a gold coin with a laurel wreath pattern on its back. It flipped over to reveal the front—first prize!
"???"
"!!!"
The surprise came far too suddenly. Xingye froze for a moment, but quickly snapped back to his senses. What he wanted was the third prize!
"What was the first prize again?"
He blanked out for a second, then hurriedly tapped the prize pool to check. The grand prize was the travel voucher, so first prize could not possibly be bad.
"Today's first prize is... precious ingredients obtained from a Titan Pokémon in the Paldea Region?! First prize is ingredients too!"
The moment he saw that, Xingye became excited. He had never eaten this stuff before, but it had to be far more precious than ordinary ingredients!
"Quick, quick, fill in the address... the street next to Drifter District... What about the shipping date? Can it arrive before the end of the year... Huh? Ships within six months?"
His excitement vanished the instant he saw that information. Shipping within six months? Did they have absolutely no stock? Or were they going to slaughter it fresh?
"Fine, I'll never trust these TV lotteries again. They're all the same. Next time I'll try some other lottery. Maybe I'll win a Lake Toya or something for Gengar to play with."
Greatly disappointed, Xingye filled in the delivery address and stopped caring. He would just wait for those ingredients to arrive someday. By then, he might have forgotten all about them.
But his disappointment quickly faded, because he still had something very important to do today...
"Don't smash my sign!"
Slowking stood downstairs, shouting at the group on the second floor. Xingye had Cyclizar hold the sign while he hammered nails in bit by bit. Delphox had come upstairs to help as well.
The several-meter-long sign was secured outside the railing. Gengar sat on the railing, watching curiously.
After quite a while, they finally fixed the thing in place. However, they did not pull off the cloth covering the sign yet. There had to be at least a little sense of ceremony.
They all came down to the street and looked up at the second floor. Then Slowking directly used Psychic to yank down the cloth, revealing its true name: several wildly written characters painted in black.
Xingye had gotten up early that morning and spent half an hour pondering before finally writing them. Naturally, the small sign in the living room had the same words on it.
This Odd Jobs business, which might become incredibly famous in the future, was established in the simplest possible way amid the joy of Xingye, Cyclizar, and the others. There was not even a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Looking at the words on the sign, Slowking said with some disdain, "Odd Jobs A-Xing? Your naming sense is completely awful. It reeks of a knockoff."
"It's a tribute! A tribute, get it? And I know my own limits, but I don't want to hear that from someone who came up with a name like Slowking Izakaya."
"Slowking~"
Slowking could not be bothered to argue. He looked around, and it was simply pitiful. A new business opening, and there were only this few people watching. It was beyond dead.
"You really dared to open this place. Don't go and get yourself killed someday. There are many untouchable things on this street. You've only seen the surface so far."
"..."
That was true. Right now, Xingye only operated within Slowking's area of Kabukicho, where the surrounding shops were relatively normal.
But as a red-light district, there were naturally some unsavory things lurking around, hidden deeper within the neighborhood. And there were definitely people there far more terrifying than Slowking!
"Kabukicho of the Elite Four... No rush. I'll take it slow and build up Odd Jobs!"
Xingye had not even met the four managers of this place yet, so it was still too early. But drawing attention was only a matter of time.
Seeing his response, Slowking clasped his hands behind his back and shook his head. Then he slowly asked, "As it happens, I have something. Do you want to do it?"
"Hm? You have something you need done?"
"It's for someone else. They're short-handed these past couple of days and can't keep up. They even asked to borrow Delphox from me to go catch fish in the sea, but I ignored them."
Hearing that, Xingye thought for a moment. Since this was Odd Jobs, he could do anything as long as there was payment, so he asked, "So who is this person?"
"The owner of One Fish Barbecue Restaurant. It's an Octillery. Its specialty is octopus teppanyaki."
"???"
"The weather has gotten colder lately, and the octopuses at Melemele Coast like to float to the surface to bask in the sun. Lots of them have been caught by humans, so its supply has dropped drastically. And business is busy on weekends, so it has no time to catch them itself."
"Got it..."
Xingye understood immediately. So he just had to pick up octopuses from the sea surface. The weather had cleared up again today, so it would not be too difficult. He could take this commission. Right now, the most important thing was to spread the name of Odd Jobs!
"So where is Octopus Bro's barbecue restaurant?"
"Near Smile Restaurant. But it should be at Casseroya Lake catching octopuses right now. You can find it there. Tell it I sent you, and it won't make things difficult for you."
After saying that, Slowking and Delphox left. Since the new shop had opened, it was only natural for them to help a little, but they could not keep helping forever.
Xingye naturally understood that. From here on, he would have to rely on his own efforts to make Odd Jobs known throughout Kabukicho!
"Let's go. We're heading to Casseroya Lake!"
"Cyclizar!"
"Gengar~"
Just as they set off and left Drifter District, a golden streak of light seemed to flash across the sky alongside lightning before vanishing...
Before you continue