"No matter what you say, I won't even blink," Caleb said as he rubbed the Luxury Ball in his hand.
"Whew, hearing that puts me at ease," Mario let out a long sigh, as if a heavy burden had finally been lifted. He took a deep breath, steadied himself, and solemnly declared, "Alright, here goes… Actually, our family's gone bankrupt."
"Pfft, I thought it was something serious. It's just ban—bankrupt?!"
Caleb's voice cracked into a shout as the realization hit him!
His eyes widened in disbelief as he stared at the humanoid creature in front of him. That face that was calm just moments ago was now completely twisted in horror.
Mario instinctively shrank back and muttered, "Geez, no need to yell like that… scared me to death…"
"All because of this shiny Gholdengo, our family's broke?!" Caleb pointed at the Luxury Ball in his hand, his face full of disbelief, his voice shooting up several octaves.
To him, it was absurd — not something any human should be capable of.
Mario quickly waved his hands and denied it. "No, no, Gholdengo was bought with my personal savings."
Not Gholdengo?
Caleb looked even more confused now. What else could have possibly wiped out their entire fortune?
After a moment of thought, a cold sweat ran down his back.
"You… you started a business?"
Mario chuckled awkwardly. "Close."
"I invested in a project."
Caleb: "..."
He still remembered Grandma's countless warnings before she passed: let Mario do whatever he wants — just don't let him start a business or invest in anything. Best-case scenario, he should just stay home and be a harmless good-for-nothing.
And now… here they were. Misfortune had befallen the family.
Caleb clenched his teeth and asked tiredly, "What kind of project?"
Mario hesitated a bit, then finally mustered the courage to speak. "It was… uh, a rocket launch and space exploration project…"
Caleb: "???"
Seriously?! He picked the deepest money pit of all!
Projects like that show no results in the short term, and in the long term — well, most investors don't live long enough to see a profit.
"Do you even understand rockets? Do you know anything about space? Why the hell are you blindly throwing money at it?!" Caleb roared.
"You're still young, you don't understand — a man's true romance lies among the stars!" Mario's eyes sparkled with conviction.
Then he added, "And I wasn't the only one investing! Companies like Silph Co., Devon Corporation, Grand Mauville Holdings, MalocoMon Group, and the Aether Foundation — all the top global players were in on it!"
"So… they all went bankrupt too?" Caleb asked.
"Oh, no. Just us," Mario replied. "I might've invested just a tiny bit more than they did."
As he spoke, Mario held up his thumb and index finger to indicate "just a little."
World-famous painting: Galaxy Between the Fingers.jpg
Caleb: "..."
Seeing the look on his son's face, Mario hurried to explain, "The rocket was already taking off! Who knew a huge green Caterpie would show up in the ozone layer and knock down all 100 rockets?!"
Green Caterpie?
If Caleb had to guess, the "Caterpie" Mario was talking about was probably Rayquaza.
Rayquaza lived in the ozone layer and was fiercely territorial. Caleb remembered that in the anime, Ash and Team Rocket once rode a rocket to the ozone layer.
Unsurprisingly, Rayquaza blasted them with a Hyper Beam.
As long as Rayquaza exists, humanity's attempts to explore space in the Pokémon world are basically doomed.
Caleb looked at Mario, sighed, and said, "You… just take care of yourself."
With that, he turned and resolutely walked toward the house.
Behind him, Mario shouted, "Don't just leave me out here! I'm your father! Blood is thicker than water!"
To which Caleb replied coolly, "Step."
His stride didn't falter for even a second as he headed inside.
At the doorstep, Caleb stopped but didn't turn around. He coldly tossed out one last line: "You racked up the debt, you pay it off. Don't drag me into it."
BANG—
The door slammed shut.
Outside, Mario stood in the wind, utterly dumbfounded.
Inside, Green asked hesitantly, "So… you're really not going to help your dad?"
Caleb clutched his head, brows furrowed in deep frustration. He rubbed his temples and muttered weakly:
"Let him cool off outside for a while before we let him back in."
With a dad like this… was I a world-destroying villain in a past life?
Back in his room, Caleb took out a notebook and began planning his future.
Now that the old man's financial support was gone, keeping the gym running was going to be tough.
Thankfully, the gym still got a monthly subsidy of five million.
Plus his own modest savings — it should be enough to keep the backyard project going.
Oh right, he'd have to cut back on Pachirisu's food expenses too. No more eating like a king.
At that very moment, Pachirisu was lying in the warehouse fruit pile in the backyard.
It chomped on a Sitrus Berry while glancing around.
"Chipa?"
Why does it feel like something bad's about to happen?
It felt like someone was plotting against it from the shadows…
Nah, probably just imagining things.
With that, Pachirisu buried itself happily back into the fruit pile.
After tallying up the remaining funds, Caleb figured they could last another three months with current expenses. After that, they might be stuck eating air.
Truly, even heroes are powerless without money. Who'd have thought Caleb would one day be troubled by finances?
Wasn't there any quick way to make cash?
Wait a sec… actually, there might be.
Caleb remembered Green saying the Expert Tournament prize money was around five million — perfect for solving his urgent problem.