CHAPTER 888: MONEY TALK

The room was silent. After fighting in multiple battles, Axel had become a reasonable observer. He could tell that Sujan, Violet, Guru, and Gary knew something about it, but they were acting as if they didn’t.

"Mr. Axel, as I have said before and will say again, this is a secret that every mayor of Lavender town has to keep, and I cannot forgo the long tradition.

I assure you that you will not face any problems in the tide because of this secret, and if it does, then I am willing to take full responsibility."

Since the mayor had declared such a thing, Axel could also not do anything about it. He had to agree with the mayor.

"I realized that the southern border is the most risky one. We are facing more than double the number of Pokemon that others are facing and more king rank Pokemon. We also have to deal with pseudo-champion rank Pokemon.", said Axel.

"What are you implying, Mr. Axel?", asked the mayor.

The mayor did not like Axel’s tone right now.

"I think it is high time we discuss how much you will pay us. We are a mercenary team. We are doing all this because we believe we will receive a lot of money from you."

The royal family had selected a town for him and his team to defend. All the other things were on Axel’s responsibility.

The mayor clicked his tongue as he said, "I believe we can discuss this after the tide battle. It is not like I will cheat on you or I am running anywhere."

"No, we need to discuss this now. I need motivation, and my team needs motivation in this tide battle," said Axel.

He had faced many tide battles and heard many stories about how this negotiation went.

Usually, a mayor would try to discuss the fees after the tide battle because everyone would be busy at the start of the war. But after the battle had been won, the mayor would do everything to take the price down and give the mercenary team as little as possible.

The mayor also had to run his city, so this was natural.

Axel knew that his importance was very high right now. He could tell that Violet, Sujan, and Guru were incompetent. Even Hector and Krishna were better than they were in leadership. So, he would talk about money when his importance was high.

"I am willing to give you 300 million Poke dollars for the tide battle," the mayor said.

"What about the carcasses of dead Pokemon?", asked Axel.

They were one of the significant sources of income. The dead bodies of Pokémon could be used in many things, and the price was very high on the black market for higher-ranking Pokémon.

"50-50 of those that you and your team had killed.", said the mayor.

Axel stared at the mayor with an icy look. He saw the mayor tapping his fingers on the table, waiting for Axel’s response.

Axel stood up and said to Krishna, "Krishna, pack our bags, we are leaving."

The mayor could not understand what had happened and hurriedly asked, "Mr. Axel, what is the problem? If you want anything, we can discuss it."

Axel turned towards the mayor and said, "Discuss? Discuss!!! Mr. Mayor, I understand the concept of negotiation, but if you lower the price so much, you are not even giving me the proper respect.

You also know the average price for defending a high-class grade B tide battle. Do you not? The high-class grade B battle price starts from 1 billion Poke dollars and could go up to 8 billion Poke dollars. And you are giving us only 300 million? Isn’t that a joke?"

"Then please, state your price?", asked the mayor with a pleasing note. He could not lose Axel and his team right now. Even though the royal family had given Axel the mission to protect the town, Axel reserved the right to decline it for sufficient reasons.

"Five Billion Poke dollars. That is my price and the carcasses will be split 70-30.", said Axel confidently. He really believed the price was justified. A lot of money was needed to train 100k soldiers. Five billion might not last them long if Axel decides to expand their training methods.

The mayor sighed and said, "Sorry, Mr. Axel, even if you force, I cannot give us that much money. I don’t even have that much money with me. I can only give you 2 billion Poke dollars. That is my final offer."

"Then I will tell you my final offer, too. You will give me 3 billion Poke dollars, and the carcasses will now be split into a 90-10 ratio. If you don’t have that much money, just give me the 2 billion first, and the rest could be paid in installments."

Looking at Axel’s fierce eyes, the mayor could not do anything. He knew that even 3 billion was a very low price if Axel could defend such a force. So, he had to give up the carcasses. Normally, the split would be 50-50, but since he could not pay the required amount, he must agree to it."

"Ok, I agree, Mr. Axel."

"Thank you. Also, do remember that I am only responsible for the southern border. If you want my help in other borders, I will charge extra. Let’s go, Krishna."

Krishna took the documents from the mayor, and they went out. The mayor could not say anything since the whole tide battle depended on Axel and Fairy Tail.

###

"Krishna, make a list of ghost-type Pokémon that we will face, and other Pokémon. I also want a list of flying-type Pokémon and a list of king-rank Pokémon we will face.

Circulate this to other commanders too.", said Axel.

For some odd reason, he didn’t feel confident about this tide battle related to the tall tower. The mayor was keeping this secret, and he could tell that it would come back to bite him at his most desperate times. He could not let that happen.

Suddenly, he heard a voice.

"You have changed a lot. I can feel it."

He turned around and smiled and said, "And you have too. You have finally reached pseudo-champion rank. Did Gengar start the real training?"

"Yes, and I am learning a lot of new things."

The one Axel was speaking to was Shedinja. It had finally arrived. Seeing Shedinja made him feel relieved. Even though he trusted all of his Pokemon, there were some Pokemon like Shedinja whom he trusted more. With Shedinja, he could surely tell that he would not die in this battle. This confidence came from all the journeys they had faced together.

"It is nice to see you back, Shedinja.", said Axel with a smile and hugged it.

"It is nice to be back, too. So, what is keeping you so nervous?"

Axel then proceeded to describe the tower and its connection with ghost-type Pokémon. He also told Shedinja about the peculiarity of the tide battle and how they had to face many ghost-type Pokémon.

"The pseudo-champion rank Pokemon that we will face is a ghost-type Pokemon?", asked Shedinja

"No, it is not. It is a grass-type Pokemon, a Serperior."

Shedinja gave a long sigh and said, "Axel, when I started to learn under Gengar, I came to realize that ghost-type Pokemon are far stronger than what we have imagined. Of course, elemental rank or pseudo-champion rank ghost-type Pokemon are not so good or dominating, but the story changes when they are in the later stages of king rank or pseudo-champion rank.

So, if you think we are facing multiple ghost-type Pokemon in tier 3 king rank, we need to withdraw from this tide battle.

"Is the situation that serious?", asked Axel hardly believing Shedinja.

"Yes, the situation is that serious."

"But why?"

"Ghost-type Pokemon ranks up very slowly. It is not that we could not rank up fast, but we are very lazy. We are lazy because we have an extremely high-life span. So, if we are facing a tier three king rank ghost type Pokémon, it must be at least 1000 years old.

Fighting a Pokémon who has 1000 years of experience is not something we can do right now."

Axel had never thought of the issue in that way. He knew about this. The tide battle was also about experience. If he were to face a Pokemon with 1000 years of experience, he and his team were doomed.

"I need to talk to my team about this. Thanks, Marcus. Your help has been valuable. I was thinking about revisiting the tower with you."

"From what you have told me, we can only find the tower’s secrets on the last five floors. We cannot go there during the day; we have to go there at night," suggested Shedinja.

"Okay, let’s do it that way."

###

Everyone welcomed Shedinja. It was not called the boss for nothing. They respected Shedinja, and now, it was here, all of their confidence had been boosted.

"How many powerful ghost-type Pokemon are we going to face?", asked Axel.

"Around 3 tier 3 king rank ghost-type Pokemon. 2 of them are Gengar and one is Drifblim."

"Alon, I want you to be ready for it. Tier 3 king-rank ghost-type Pokemon are not a joke. They must be at least 1000 years old and have a lot of experience.

Marcus has returned. If you want to make plans with it, I don’t have any problem. I don’t want to lose any team members to ghost-type Pokemon."

They discussed how to organize the battle. A meeting regarding this was scheduled for tomorrow. As of now, the commanders were making their own plans.

###

Finally, it was night. It was around 1 a.m., and the town looked deserted. Except for the street lights, there was no one, and none of the shops were open.

Axel had come near the tower. He could see the tower was lit, and there were some guards. He looked down at his shadow and said, "Marcus, go and use ’Hypnosis’."

Suddenly, his shadow started to move, and with a speed that surprised Axel, Shedinja went near those three guards and used ’Hypnosis’. They didn’t even have the time to look at the intruder. They felt as if their minds were sleepy; they had been standing here for a long time, and then they fell asleep.

"Good job, Marcus."

After that, Axel called out Slowemperor and told it to use illusions to extend the time of their sleep.

"Axel, they will be sleeping for hours now. You don’t need to worry about them.", said Slowemperor.

"Thank you, Magnus. Now, Marcus, let’s go inside. Magnus, stay here as a guard. If you see anyone coming here, just use teleport to come near us, and we will walk out.

Then he looked at Shedinja and said, "Marcus, let’s go inside."

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