(XXIII) Hugh's Ranch

Isaac looked around at the dilapidated ranch. Most of the pens were damaged beyond repair and needed replacements. Dozens of acres of overgrown tall grass had overrun nearly every inch of the massive ranch.

Down the central path beyond all the destroyed pens were two gigantic barns and an even larger two-story plantation house. Most of the paint had been stripped away and most of the paint that remained was chipped.

"Does anyone even live here..?" Isaac muttered to himself as he walked down the dusty road approaching the worn-down ranch. Sitting in a rocking chair on the front porch of the ranch was an old man wearing a straw hat and overalls over a plaid shirt.

"Hello!" Isaac said loudly as he raised his hand and waved, "I'm looking for Hugh, is he around?"

The man puffed on his corn cob pipe and hoarsely replied, "Which one? We're all Hugh!" He began cackling as he puffed on his pipe once more rocking.

"Um... The Hugh who runs this ranch..?" Isaac asked once more as the old man pointed to one of the barns with his shaking arm.

"Thank you, sir!" Isaac said and bowed before he jogged past some beat-up and inoperable vehicles and tractors as he approached the barn.

Inside a loud ringing sound banged continuously. Isaac stepped into the barn as his eyes adjusted looking around at the rapidly declining condition of the barn.

"Excuse me!" Isaac said loudly. Immediately the banging stopped as a burly and hairy shirtless man stepped out from behind one of the stalls rubbing his hands with a cloth.

"Hello there! I'm Hugh, how can I help ya?" The farmhand said as he extended his haphazardly cleaned hand.

"Hi, I'm Isaac! Nice to meet ya!" He replied and firmly shook his hand, "I'm a Cobalt Trainer and I'm looking for a... nice... place to partner with! I asked down at the Pokémon Association and they recommended you!"

Hugh gripped his hand tightly as he shook it, "Ah well, none nicer than Hugh's Ranch! What we lack in curb appeal, we make up for with hand-crafted care and attention!" He laughed as he said the well-rehearsed script.

Isaac chuckled and rolled his eyes, "How about we discuss the terms and come to an agreement?"

Hugh was taken aback, "Wait, you actually want to sign a contract with us? Why not go to Laramie's or hell, even Oak's new lab in Pallet has a better ranch than us..." He stopped when Isaac raised his hand.

"I know a lot of people like the Pokémon from Laramie's and Oak's is great but he's never around always running around and I'd prefer a place like this and people like you and Grandpa Hugh out front to help take care of my Pokémon." Isaac explained.

Hugh grunted and nodded his head, "Alright, let's head inside and talk details." The two walked past Grandpa Hugh and entered the large residence. Hugh's pregnant wife Mallory poured them both a glass of iced tea as they sat in the parlor.

"I'll be honest with ya, with just me and the boy working now, we can't handle too many at once. At most I'd say 4 for the time being, how many are you looking to leave with us?" Hugh asked as he sipped on the tea.

"Currently? None, but I will soon. At this moment, I'm looking to form a partnership with Hugh's Ranch to supply the Pokéfood for my team. Of course, any tournaments or competitions I'd enter would include a promotion about what their diet is." Isaac explained his deal to Hugh.

"Well, that certainly does seem like a rather straightforward deal, unfortunately, I don't have the means to pay you for your work." Hugh said with a stone-faced expression.

"Well, how about you pay me by supplying the food? A quid pro quo ya know? You help take this expense off my hands and I help advertise your ranch for you." Isaac countered before taking a swig of the sweet tea and grimaced at how sweet it was, carefully placing it back down on the coffee table.

"Sounds like a fair deal, I can honor it while I am still running this place, since all the business has run away to other competitors we can't afford to keep the doors open for much longer. Between all the debt collectors coming around for what's owed to them and all the companies wanting to buy the ranch... I don't know, it might be time to shut up shop and sell." Hugh said looking at his half-full glass with glazed eyes.

"Well, how much do you guys need to stop the collectors?" Isaac asked leaning forward in his chair.

"Ah, that's none of your business young man!" Hugh laughed and slapped his knee as Mallory came in behind him and draped her arm over his shoulder and placed the other on his bicep.

"I want to help! I think this is a nice place and wouldn't mind investing." Isaac interjected.

"Oh, Hugh! This is great news! Our prayers have been answered!" Mallory said as she bent over gushing next to her husband.

"Now, now, Mallory! Go on back to the kitchen and bring Grandpa Hugh a snack." Hugh said patting her rear as he shooed her away. She smirked and rolled her eyes swatting her husband's hand away as she left the room.

"I'm not sure Isaac, you come riding in here on a white horse and you expect me to believe you care about us and want to help me keep my family's legacy? That's a rather large pill to swallow I reckon!" Hugh said as he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

"I understand your skepticism Hugh, believe me, I would too!" Isaac said as he placed his hand on his chest, "I honestly do want to help this place. I don't want to see it sold to some corporation that will suck out all the love a place like this has. It'll turn into a machine that runs everything and everyone it touches into the ground."

Hugh leaned back and slumped in his chair. He stroked his beard as he stared out the window behind Isaac.

"Fine!" He said after a long pause and sighed heavily, "In return for investing ₽10,000, you'll get a 10% stake in Hugh Ranch. In addition, you'll get free Pokéfood for life."

"That's a start, how about ₽20,000 and 33% and the free Pokéfood. In addition, I'll be competing in all tournaments leading up to and competing in the Pokémon League Challenge and promoting the ranch, hopefully, all the way to the Elite Four and Champion." Isaac countered. Hugh exclaimed and exhaled sharply as he shook his head.

"25% is as high as I'll go." He said staring into Isaac's eyes.

"30%." Isaac said extending his hand as he stared intently into Hugh's eyes.

"You're bleeding me dry boy, 27.5%." Hugh said and extended his hand. Isaac pulled his hand back slightly for a moment before grasping Hugh's hand and shaking it firmly.

"I'm not, but you're going to be getting a lot busier here soon!" Isaac said with a laugh, "So what are you going to do with the ₽20,000?" He asked sitting back in the chair with a smile.

"Get the tractors fixed and get all the grass mowed, buy some materials to fix the pens, hire a farmhand to help out around here, buy some materials for your Pokéfood, and use the rest to pay off as much of the debt as possible." Hugh sighed as he exhaled, "Thankfully we won't need to spend much on materials for the food. Speaking of which, who is on your team right now? I'll need to know so I can tailor the food to meet the growing demands of your Pokémon."

Isaac nodded as they walked out of the house onto the porch and Isaac threw all four pokéballs into the air and released Ava, Artorious, Elisabeth, and Hanzō.

"I see... I see..." Hugh said as he reached under his overalls and pulled out a tiny pad of paper with a pencil through the binding, flipping it open to an empty page. He pulled out his glasses, placed them on his face, and began scribbling notes into the pad.

He approached Isaac's Pokémon and began inspecting each one. He grabbed different parts of their bodies, their ears, hands paws, fingers, toes, legs, and arms, and wrote nearly a dozen pages of notes before he finished and approached Isaac.

He closed his eyes as he rubbed the bridge of his nose before he took his glasses off and placed them back into his overalls, "Isaac, I don't want to be mean, but I really don't want to sugarcoat it when it comes to my new business partner, so I'll be frank with you, what kind of garbage have you been feeding your Pokémon?"

———

Bonus Chapter 2 of 2!

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