Gotta Catch The Pretty Ones
© 2011-2014 by Mr. David R. Dorrycott
Chapter Forty-Three
Sara’s next day wasn’t a busy one, simply a constant one. Mr. Winston had finally come in and liberated the last of her type nines, much to the dismay of a pair of hunters that came in later. It was, the older man explained, simply too good of a deal to let pass even if it had taken him some time to come up with the full price in cash. He had tried to buy them on credit but Sara had to say no, there were specific Guild rules against a Poketech selling anything on credit or payment plans. ‘Credit is the fastest way to go out of business’ was the official written explanation.
Now that she had no more type nines Sara was in the market to buy used ones. If she could get them cheap enough she could refurbish them and make a little extra money. Of course every P spent on that project would come out of her own pocket, the Guild had no problem with such side income projects as long as Guild money wasn’t used and it wasn’t done on Guild time. Sara was certain that they would add ‘no Guild Equipment’ if they could but all the equipment needed for such projects was carefully controlled, only the Guild could legally own it. Sara couldn’t even legally own her own tester for example.
So she put a sign on her window stating that she was buying old Type Nines, working or not and the first person to come in the door grumbled. “We were hoping to buy a few nines” a middle aged man admitted when he came up to the counter, his much younger female companion popping him in the arm at his attitude.
“I’m sorry” Sara answered gently. “Mr. Watson bought the last ones just before lunch. He owns the local Pokehall so you might talk to him about buying some. His badge is a really pretty dark and light blue triple diamond if you’d like to challenge.”
“We already did and won but the nines are for new students only” the customer answered. “I’m Sal Wilson, this is my temporary partner Louise Henderson. Her mother asked me to look after her.”
“A year ago” the young girl added. “I’m fourteen you know, a lot of girls my age are hunting Pokemon alone.”
“My wife hunts” Sara explained, “But never alone. Not only is she a really bad Pokemon hunter, women have vanished on hunts alone.” She told the girl about Waterman and how they still hadn’t found Patricia’s body. “Stay with someone you feel safe with, run as fast as you can if you don’t feel safe.”
Louise looked up at Sal. “You wouldn’t do that to me would you?” she asked.
“Your mother would shove me into a pokeball and bury it in concrete if I even thought to do something like that Louise. Not to mention what my own family would do and your sister? Oh that would be really painful. Well we better get your Pokeball fixed since we are here.”
“Oh yeah.” The young teen dug into her bag and came up with of all things a type seven. “I was capturing a Pika-Chu and something went wrong” she explained.
Sara accepted the charred ball, afraid to open it from her last experence. “Ah, what was that?” she asked gently.
“I caught the Pika” Louise explained, “and everything looked okay, then there was a bang and the Pika was running away, this is what’s left.”
Laying the ball on her counter Sara reached down and pulled out a thick stainless steel bowl. Setting it on a heat resistant mica pad she picked up the ball and triggered it, dropping the charred ball as she did so. “Why are you using only one hand” the young girl asked, curiosity heavy in her voice.
“Because I only have one hand” Sara explained, still hiding her leather covered stump. “I lost the other in a Pokeball accident, a runaway battery discharge.”
“Oh..OH you’re HER!” Louise gasped. “Did it hurt?”
“A lot” Sara admitted, “A very very lot. I almost went mad from the pain, they had to air-evac me and I was in the hospital for a really long time. So I’m very careful now when something like your ball comes in. I wouldn’t want to be a drag on my wife, having no hands.”
“What’s it like, being married to a woman?” Louise continued almost without a pause.
It was obvious that the girl was nothing but questions Sara realized. At her age though that was normal. She looked at Sal who smiled and winked at Sara, he was used to it.
“Just like being married to a man, except you can’t have babies unless you invite a man over for coffee once or twice” Sara explained. “And I’m not going to get into any further detail until your eighteen.”
“Aww... That’s what Sal says too” Louise moaned. “May I please see your hand?” she asked. “I mean, your arm where your hand is missing?” she continued when Sara wiggled her left hand in front of her.
Lifting her stump into view Sara laid her right arm on the counter. “Please don’t touch the leather, it’s really sensitive right now” Sara explained. “The wound is still healing, they are making a prostatic hand for me but I can’t have it until next Spring, my wound has to heal completely and the last swelling go away first.”
Louise carefully examined Sara’s stump without touching it. “Thank you” she finally said. “Everyone’s heard about it and the crazy group that caused it. I’m sorry it was you, your very pretty.”
“Penny says the same thing” Sara explained, laughter in her voice. “That I am very pretty I mean.” She turned back to the ancient Pokeball and turned it over, finding the case quite cold. Not a single indicator lamp showed. “I think this thing is fried, where did you find it?”
“Antique shop” Sal answered, “In Cogtown. It was in a box of old toys that Louise liked. We shipped the toys back to her home and she had the local poketech look at it. He cleaned it up, replaced the bent capture screen, charged the battery and did a software update. This was the third try at capturing a Pokemon with it, they all got away.”
“I see” Sara said softly while studying the device carefully. “Look here at this coppery color, your capture screen is fried, Pika’s are really notorious for doing that if they have the chance.” She picked up the ash dusted bowl and sat it next to her diagnostic system. It took a bit to find the right adaptor still Sara finally had it hooked up and started the diagnostic program while she dealt with another costumer who had come in. When she was finished with him she checked the test.
“Battery is dead” she reported, “More than likely just age, they do go bad like all other batteries. You should change them out every ten years. He should have replaced that in the first place. These type sevens are old and no matter the pokeball, if the battery stays discharged too long there is a chance it will break, a circuit probably opened inside. That battery is worthless for anything but a recycle box now.”
She read the rest of the diagnostic and shook her head. “I can repair it but it would cost more than a new type eleven. My suggestion is to recycle this one and replace it.”
“But I like it” Louise whimpered. Behind her Sal made a sign that he wanted to talk to Sara alone, she nodded back, wondering what was up.
“Louise” Sal said holding out two one P coins. “Go over to the restaurant and get a soda, I’ll haggle with the Poketech, maybe we can come up with a deal okay?”
“Will you?” Louise asked, a smile on her face.
“I’ll try, but anyone who has survived having her hand burned off is going to be a really tough haggler.”
Taking the coins she looked up at Sara, “He just wants to talk to a pretty lady” she said in a stage whisper, then she was off.
Sal shook his head, “Normally Louise has it right Sara” he admitted. “In your case though I’m certain I would be wasting your and my time. My thought was this, can you put another Pokeballs innards into that type seven case and still make it look like a type seven?”
“I can do better than that” Sara admitted. “I have a box of unused type seven parts in the storage area. Give Penny and I a few working days and we can make it brand new, I might even be able to replace the shell. But the work, it would still cost more than a new pokeball.”
“Ah yeah. There is that but this is Louise’s first pokeball that she bought with her own money, money she earned helping clean up that antique shop. She payed that poketech to fix it herself and he did tell her it needed a new battery. She just didn’t have the money and wouldn’t let me pay for it. So I’d like her to think that you just repaired it. Besides, she scratched her name on the outside.”
Sara had to ask. “Are you in love with her?”
“Her sister yes” Sal admitted. “Tanya agreed to marry me the day Louise and I get back, that means keeping Louise safe and happy. Louise’s parents had already made the deal that I protect her on her first Pokehunt before I asked Tanya and this is my last Pokehunt. It was fun sat first but I want to settle down, have a family and a good job. Maybe as a shop owner. Besides, she’s like my own little sister and I took Maggy out hunting two years ago. So this means a lot to me, please.”
Sara gave the poor young man a smile. “How long, the standard two years?” she asked.
“Two years total, another seven months to go” Sal agreed. “So, can you do it, can you fix her pokeball?”
Sara named a price and a time line that Sal agreed to. “Full payment now” she warned him, “I’ve had too many people leave old equipment to be repaired and never came back. I’m stuck with it, most I can’t even give away.”
“I don’t mind” Sal agreed, taking out a well filled wallet. “Louise’s parents and mine are happy to keep us out of the poorhouse. Say, can you point me to a place that has rooms for rent? The forest floor gets old after a while.”
Sara took the money, wrote out a receipt with the projected work completion time then pointed him in the direction of Stonehome’s only hotel. “It isn’t fancy” she warned, “I don’t think they have changed the decor style in fifty years but it is clean and the food is good. I stayed there when Penny and I married, just to get away from this place a while.” She watched as Sal walked out, headed to the restaurant. Most Pokehunters were like Sal and Louise, making it as best that they could. They would hunt for two, four maybe even six years, burn the polish off and see what they were looking at then retire with their pets. Only the rare few teams became famous, capturing the rare, dangerous to hunt Pokemon. Yet even they eventually quite the game, it was a youngster hobby after all. That Sal had seen the light and was calling it quits made Sara feel good, she wasn’t going to see him come in the door in rags, desperately in need of a good meal yet spending his, or her last P on repairs.
Turning back to the fried type seven she removed her testing cables, packing them away. By the time that the next customer arrived she had placed in it a wooden box with a paper saying what had to be done and who owned it. Also that the work was paid in full. Dismantling it she could do alone, rebuilding it required two hands.
Penny’s hands.