Chapter 37: Celadon Game Corner
~Game Corner Attendant POV~
[Kanto Region, Celadon City – Game Corner]
I'm a Game Corner Attendant. And that means I know how to keep my eyes open and my mouth shut. An ignorant person might think this seemed like a rather odd job description for what she was hired to do.
After all, if you're an Attendant at the Celadon City Game Corner, don't you need to be able to talk to be capable of delivering good customer service? And don't get me wrong, I was good at that, too.
I was a hard worker, and if anyone needed my help with anything relating to my job, they would get it… But the Game Corner had a secret, you see.
A secret that every employee of Gamer Corner knew about. They weren't all part of Team Rocket, mind you. Most Game Corner employees weren't.
There needed to be a separation after all. They couldn't have attendants with warrants out for their arrest, or who had committed crimes and were being hunted by the police, now could they?
No, they couldn't unless they wanted Lady Erika to come knocking. This was why I wasn't a proper member of Team Rocket, and why my record as it stood was squeaky clean. Still, I would have to be a blind idiot not to know about the Team Rocket's Hideout beneath the Game Corner.
After all, it wasn't like the Rockets were particularly subtle about it. They had a uniformed Rocket Grunt guarding the secret switch behind the poster next to the hidden entrance… and they were constantly coming in and out in full uniform as well as at all hours of the day.
But that was none of my business, now, was it? I was just an attendant, and so my job was to keep my eyes open and my mouth shut, at least where it pertained to the Rockets. Still, that didn't mean I was unobservant.
Being observant, I see an 11-year-old brat along with a brown-haired boy named Blue. They seem to be friends because of how close they are discussing some things, but it wasn't my business.
I didn't take notice, but when I saw the boy with the cap called Sky or Azure, whatever, started scrounging around on the floor for Game Corner Coins with his adorable Pikachu over his shoulder. It happened, after all.
Coins got dropped all the time, whether from loose Coin Cases or Jackpots. If you didn't get your Coin Case in position in time, then some of the coins were doomed to roll away as the Jackpot went crazy and all that.
But here was the thing… You couldn't play in the Game Corner without a Coin Case. It was the one hard and fast rule. No Coin Case, no slots.
That was the rule even for the Rocket, and especially for the Grunts. Orders from on high, as my direct superior had told me.
So, when I saw the newbie start to scrounge for coins, I was ready to call out to him, to call him out and take him to task. But when I noticed the Coin Case on his person shut my mouth up, catching the words in my mouth before they could leave.
Sure, he's scrounging for coins off the floor, but if he's got a Coin Case, then he's allowed to do what he's doing. A kid like him wouldn't have the money to buy coins legitimately anyway, and I briefly wonder where he even got the Coin Case from… but it's not my problem now, isn't it?
I watch him a little bit longer, but once he's scrounged up enough coins for a few dozen plays, he stops and moves to one of the slot machines. The top machine on the fourth row, specifically.
He locks in on it as if in a trance, and I furrowed my brows at him, before ultimately dismissing him from my mind. It surprises me that a kid like him could develop a gambling habit, but it's not my problem.
The Blue kid follows his lead with a raised eyebrow, following his curious gaze. Turning my attention to other matters, with him out of my head, I can focus –
"JACKPOT!"
That was when I heard the familiar sound of a Jackpot ring through the Game Corner, signifying that someone had just won 300 coins in one go. It's the largest single amount that one can win at the slots, not counting doubling up by getting both Jackpots and one or more of the other combinations on top of it.
Still, it's not that rare… There are probably a dozen or so Jackpots every day. Nevertheless, it's enough of an interesting event that I lift my head, just to see who managed it. Would it be one of the regulars or…?
The boy from earlier with the Pikachu holds his Coin Cain under the slot machine rather calmly, collecting the 300-coin Jackpot that he just won. It takes about 10 seconds for the machine to stop dispensing coins, at which point he stands up.
A couple of the other patrons glanced over at the sound of the Jackpot, but upon seeing the kid, they all looked away with envy. As such, I kept observing the kid instead of simply taking his jackpot and leaving moves… one machine over to the second slot machine from the top on the fourth row.
My lips thin out as he sits down again and starts playing once more, like it's no one's business but his own, talking to his friend Blue with wide eyes, grinning. And maybe it's no one's business that he has his own Coin Case.
I had no reason to get involved, right? A glance to my left shows my fellow Attendant studiously ignoring the kid. So, I suppose I should do –
"JACKPOT!"
But then it happens again. The second Jackpot is just as loud and disruptive as the first. Ringing out through the Game Corner, the kid gets lucky AGAIN on the second machine, collecting another 300 coins, right there in front of them all.
There's another round of glances and another round of ducked heads from the Game Corner's Patrons in envy. He switches back to the other machine. He keeps playing and then –
"JACKPOT!"
He gets another jackpot in less than five minutes. I'm aware that my jaw is open at this point. What the fuck is happening?
How is he doing this? 900 coins collected, and the kid goes back to the second machine and just keeps playing until his next Jackpot.
"JACKPOT!"
And he does it, like clockwork. It's not every few minutes that I realize. No, watching him closely, the Attendant can equate it more in terms of how many coins he puts in. It's about 100 coins.
Every 100 coins or so, he usually pulls another jackpot, gaining 300 more coins, before moving to the other machine to repeat the feat. Over and repeatedly. He plays like a machine.
No one in the Game Corner, except for me, is willing to look at him anymore. They're all keeping their heads down, or their eyes fixed straight ahead on their slots. And yet… besides his playing, besides his jackpots, the Game Corner is eerily quiet.
They're all listening, even if they're too afraid to look over. No one is playing anymore… no, they're all surreptitiously watching him without watching him.
A couple leaves. Perhaps because they're angry that a kid is getting consistent Jackpots than our patrons. And another Jackpot is just adding insult to injury, and at this point, I'm ready to go over there and finally say something to the kid.
"JACKPOT!"
This can't be allowed, right? The big shots in Team Rocket can't possibly want something like this to happen, right?
Not only is this kid destroying the integrity of the Game Corner, but he's also upsetting their patrons, frightening our regulars, and driving off actual paying customers, who bought their Coin Cases instead of likely 'finding' them somewhere on the floor, and who bought coins to play with from my colleague, rather than scrounging them off the ground.
We could only wait till the kid managed to fucking fill his Coin Case. A Coin Case that has 50,000 Coins as he grinned happily, saying to Blue in an excited tone, "And that's how you do it, Blue. I'm gonna exchange my Coins, hope you get your prize at the end, friend."
Blue merely scoffed but slyly grinned as he nodded, agreeing with his words. The place is silent for a beat longer before the whole building almost seems to breathe a collective sigh of relief as the kid leaves the Game Corner behind.
There's another beat, as everyone looks around, trying to gauge if anyone else is going to acknowledge what the fuck just happened, or if they're pretending like it's all perfectly fine. When no one speaks up, some actual play starts again, with patrons returning to their slot machines and putting coins in once more, trying their luck and having fun.
As was the Game Corner's promise. I sighed a breath of relief as –
"JACKPOT!"
My eyes shot open as another jackpot sounded out, startling everyone in the building. All eyes zip back over to the two machines the kid had been abusing, to see the other kid, Blue, who had been with the other kid, Sky, something had moved and taken his place…
And managed to recreate whatever fucking magic the kid had seemingly been working on those two machines at the top of the fourth row. I exchange a glance with my colleague, able to see her own concern reflected in the panic growing in her eyes. Not good. Not good at all…
We're so gonna get fired for this. Bloody hell…
/////
~Third POV~
[Kanto Region, Celadon City – Game Corner]
The prize corner is a separate building from the Game Corner, situated right next to it, in fact, but split off. As such, the workers inside have no idea what's just happened next door as Azure and his Pikachu came.
The Prize Corner attendant smiled seeing him hold the Coin Case as he gave the kid a nod and said in a friendly tone, "Ho there! We exchange coins for prizes. What are you looking for, exactly?"
Setting his Coin Case on the counter, the Prize Corner attendant opens up to reveal 50,000 Coins. He froze in place as Azure said confidentially with a grin on his face, "I'd like to cash these in!
The staff member behind the counter stared wide-eyed at the small mountain of tokens in front of them as they stammered, "S-Sure!"
With trembling hands, they handed Azure a prize catalog. Glancing through the selection of prizes, Azure raised an eyebrow as he thought in a surprised tone, 'What? There are a lot of items from the same category in the games. I was expecting them to be cheaper… but most importantly… they don't have it!'
In the catalog, there wasn't a Larvitar shown available, along with a few other interesting items from Johto. He saw TM, held items, and other Rare Pokémon shown in the catalog from the Kanto games, shown in the games, much to his disappointment.
Azure assumed that they were lower in the games because Team Rocket probably rigged most of the game slots. He grinned as he began to get the items and Pokémon he wanted in his team, but obtaining a Larvitar failed.
/////
[Kanto Region, Celadon City – Game Corner's Security Room]
In the game corner's surveillance room, the security chief watched this unfold through the monitors, feeling as though he might vomit blood. All the prizes that belonged to Team Rocket were being swindled away by some kid.
He clutched a Poke Ball tightly, itching to unleash its contents on Azure. But with so many witnesses around, he had no choice but to endure not to incur the wrath of Lady Erika, the Gym Leader of Celadon City.
His eyes gleamed with envy and malice as he whispered instructions to his subordinates in a cold tone, "Let him take his rewards! The moment he steps out of this game corner, I'll show him what happens to people who mess with Team Rocket's money!"
Team Rocket wouldn't let anyone leave Celadon City unscathed after a stunt that Azure did, taking the Coins by cheating his way. If they did, the name Team Rocket wouldn't be worth writing anymore on their pride.