Odd Jobs A-Xing Is Founded and Its First Commission (Please Keep Reading)

"Who's on Iono Zone? It's me, Iono! Hello, good morning, afternoon, and evening~"

On the phone screen, a cute girl with two floating Magnemite ornaments on her head waved her long yellow sleeves as she greeted everyone.

"Bet you didn't expect it, but I'm hosting again this weekend, hehe~ Friends who like Iono can subscribe to Iono Zone's livestream too. All kinds of perks are waiting for you—watch me use ○○ to capture your eyes~"

Iono bent over slightly, touched her cheek with a finger, and laughed. The camera happened to catch the impressive cleavage that was utterly disproportionate to her height from above.

Watching this, Xingye cursed at the screen. "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 boobs? Hurry up with the Sunday 8 a.m. lottery segment!"

Every weekend morning, he waited for this live TV show's lottery drawing. The prizes were pretty good—the grand prize was a travel voucher for Levincia in the Paldea Region, with all normal expenses covered for a week.

He had never expected to win something like that, though. What he wanted were the expensive ingredient gift sets from the third prize tier. Unfortunately, he had never won one.

Now that the kitchen at home was up and running, and he had learned a bunch of things from Nae-chan, he had to put them to use somehow. Nae-chan wasn't around these past couple of days either, so he had nowhere to mooch free food from and could only cook at home...

Gengar sat on the living room coffee table, hugging 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 couldn't soak its body in water. It could hide things inside its belly too, just nothing too large.

"Gengar~"

Gengar raised its empty bowl, asking for more. Cyclizar, sitting on the floor beside it, directly raised two bowls for 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 didn't make some Pokémon food? Who ate that stuff in Kabukicho? Even dogs wouldn't eat that dog food, and there was nowhere to buy it even if he wanted to.

He could already feel his expenses constantly rising. The pressure was here, but pressure meant motivation—as long as he wasn't completely crushed by it!

The big Odd Jobs sign hanging over the entrance was already finished. Once breakfast was over, he would have Cyclizar lend a hand and hang it up.

He had also made a website for Odd Jobs and posted its link on several popular Trainer forums. Pokémon could click the link to book commissions online... Yeah right, wishful thinking.

The site's actual purpose was to let other Trainers pay to consult him about their problems. Making money meant taking a two-pronged approach, after all. The knowledge he possessed as a self-proclaimed Poké-scholar needed somewhere to be put to use.

Only after getting internet access did he realize just how useful a Rotom Phone was.

It was smooth as silk. When arguing with people on forums, it could open a floating window and keep fighting for him. When he saw spicy pictures online while waiting for a hero to arrive, it could automatically scan them and make him be that hero.

In short, it had a ton of assistive functions. Most importantly, it had private browsing. As long as you weren't dumb enough to expose yourself, nobody could find your browsing history. A defense against doxxing weapons!

After bringing the pot over for Gengar and Cyclizar, Xingye returned to the sofa and continued looking at his phone.

After listening to Iono ramble through a bunch of funny stories about rookie Trainers, the program was finally about to end.

Then Iono casually waved her hand, and a red treasure chest with golden trim suddenly appeared in the bottom-right corner of the screen!

Without hesitation, Xingye reached out to grab it. The chest full of gold coins opened!

A Gimmighoul that looked like a gingerbread man emerged from it and tossed out a coin with a laurel wreath on the back. It flipped over to reveal the front—first prize!

"???"

"!!!"

The surprise came so suddenly that Xingye froze. But he quickly came back to his senses. What he wanted was the third prize!

"What was first prize again?"

He paused, then hurriedly tapped the prize pool to check. The grand prize was the travel voucher, so first prize naturally couldn't be bad either.

"Today's first prize is... precious ingredients obtained from Titan Pokémon in the Paldea Region?! First prize is ingredients too?!"

The instant Xingye saw that, he got 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 block next to Drifter District... What about the shipping date? Can it arrive by the end of the year... Huh? Shipping within six months?"

His excitement instantly vanished upon seeing that message. Shipping within half a year? Did they not have any stock at all? 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 something like Lake Toya for Gengar to play with."

Deeply disappointed, Xingye filled in the delivery address and stopped caring. He would just wait for those ingredients to slowly arrive. By then, he might have forgotten all about them.

But his disappointment soon faded, because he still had something very important to do today...

"Don't smash my sign!"

Noble Pokémon stood downstairs and shouted at the group on the second floor. Xingye had Cyclizar hold the sign while he hammered nails in one by one. Delphox had come upstairs to help as well.

The several-meter-long sign was secured outside the railing. Gengar sat atop the railing, watching curiously.

After quite a while, they finally got it fixed in place. But they did not pull off the cloth covering its surface yet. There had to be 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 off 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 thinking before finally writing them down. Naturally, the small sign in the living room bore the same words.

This Odd Jobs shop, which might become incredibly famous in the future, was established simply amid the excitement of Xingye and Cyclizar. There was not even a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Looking at the words on the sign, Slowking said disdainfully, "Odd Jobs A-Xing? Your naming sense is completely hopeless. It reeks of a knockoff."

"It's a tribute! You understand, a tribute! Besides, 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~"

Noble Pokémon could not be bothered to argue. He glanced around, and it was simply pitiful. A new shop opening, yet there were only a few people here watching the excitement. It was a total flop.

"You really dared to open this place. Don't get yourself killed someday. There are many things on this street that you can't touch. You've only seen the surface."

"..."

That was true. Within Kabukicho, Xingye currently only operated around Slowking's territory, where the surrounding shops were fairly normal.

But as a red-light district, there were naturally things that were not so nice. They were hidden deeper within the neighborhood, and there were surely figures there far more terrifying than Slowking!

"Kabukicho of the Elite Four... No rush. I'll take it slow and develop Odd Jobs!"

Xingye had not even met the four people who managed this place yet, so it was still early. But attracting attention was only a matter of time.

Seeing his answer, Slowking clasped his hands behind his back, shook his head, and slowly asked, "As it happens, I have something you might want to do."

"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 out to sea and catch fish, but I ignored them."

Hearing that, Xingye thought for a moment. Since this was an Odd Jobs shop, he could do anything for payment, so he asked, "So who is this person?"

"The owner of One Fish Barbecue Restaurant. It's an Octillery, and its specialty is octopus teppanyaki."

"???"

"The weather has gotten colder recently, so the Octillery around Melemele Coast like to float up to the surface and bask in the sun. Lots of them have been caught by humans, greatly reducing its supply. And business is busy on weekends, so it doesn't have time to catch them itself."

"Got it..."

Xingye immediately understood. He just had to pick up Octillery from the sea surface. The weather had cleared up again today, so it would not be too difficult. He could take this commission. What Odd Jobs needed most right now was to get its name out there!

"So where is that Octillery guy's barbecue restaurant?"

"Near Smile Restaurant. But it should be catching Octillery at Casseroya Lake right now. You can find it there. Tell it I introduced you, and it won't make things difficult for you."

After saying that, Slowking and Delphox left directly. It was only right to help out a little for a new shop's opening, but they could not keep helping forever.

Xingye naturally understood that. From here on out, he would have to rely on his own efforts to make the name of 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 flash seemed to streak across the sky alongside lightning before vanishing...