Outsourced Maintenance

   “Why are we doing this again?”

   “Reputation takes effort to maintain.”

   “Right… But I don’t need to do that shit.”

“Well, this isn’t about you, is it? And I can hardly work on a beacon.” Viggo scoffed down to the young pup following his lead with quickened steps. “Money doesn’t get you everything, there is always some work involved.” The man waggled his finger in explanation.
  “Yeah, outsourced work.” Sparks muttered, just quiet enough so that Viggo couldn’t quite hear. He couldn’t complain too much - after all, Viggo was his employer, and one that paid quite handsomely for exclusives. A callout for beacon maintenance wasn’t something the Yamper man was expecting though. 

   “Y’know I don’t like it up here on the surface, Mr De Jager. What if the cops get me? What if there’s– I dunno’, some psychic cop? And he knows that your system’s–”

Viggo promptly slapped a hand over Sparks’ mouth like a huge, silencing band aid. After he was sure Sparks had stopped talking, he removed his gloved palm, raising a finger to his lips in a quieting gesture.

   “Well, if you learned to shut up - that might keep you much more safe. No, the police cannot use psychic powers to learn of your special system workings.” The man rolled his eyes. “The only thing they’d notice is that thing that you’ve fastened to yourself. Is it necessary?” Viggo pointed accusingly to the rotund, purple orb Pokemon that Sparks has strapped to his chest. Grape wasn’t the fastest walker and Sparks needed his hands to work on the beacons - so naturally she was strapped into a baby carrier. Grape scowled up at Viggo, blowing a loud and rude raspberry at him in return. 

   “Grape needs a lot of… Uhh.. Enrichment! So I thought she might as well see the world.” Sparks explained as Viggo raised his lip in disgust before he turned his head forward again.

  It was getting quite late and the sky was filled with pink and orange hues as the evening descended upon Wintervale. Things were quietening down, though Wintervale was hardly a loud city anyway. Sparks was wrapped up in layers of coats, scarfs and the thickest mittens he could find. He’d have worn ear muffs but his canine ears popped right out - so a hat it was. Viggo was thoroughly underdressed in comparison, but maybe he was just used to the icy cold of the region.

   At last Viggo and Sparks reached the first beacon. Viggo took up a spot like he was keeping vigil, arms crossing and looking back where they had come from. Sparks began to unstrap Grape, settling her down like a delicate vase in the snow and shuffling to sit so that he could organise himself a little better.

   “Y’know I’m not an expert on these, right, Mr De Jager?”

   “How different could it be?”

   “... From what? A limb? A system? A computer???”

   “It’s all technology, I’m sure it all starts from the same place.”

Sparks felt his lip curl and his eyes widen at Viggo’s naivety, but cleared his throat. Better than to incur his wrath for any comments. He’d taught the man how to maintain his system and the ins-and-outs of what he needed to know, but Viggo still wasn’t the most tech-savvy person. After all, he preferred his handheld mobile over the use of his TD. Whether that was just to make Watt, his Rotom, feel better or a choice he made based on his experience with tech and cybernetics? Sparks couldn’t say. 

   He began basic maintenance once he swapped his fat mittens over to something he could use more intricately. Grape began rolling around making noises akin to “weeee, weeee!” in the snow.

   “So… Whatcha’ been up to anyway? You hear about Ethermoor, that weird shit with the ha-yuge Rayquaza goin’ on? Fuckin’ crazy shit.”

   “I’d have to have lived in a hole in the ground to not know about it.”

   “I thought you’d jump right on it. With you being all, like, obsessed with the fog and everything in it.”

   “The initial aftermath is the worst time to act. Too much limelight, but people have reached out to me.”

   “Was it the nurse girl?” Sparks snorted a short laugh. Of course he’d heard of Leilani, Viggo didn’t have enough complaints in the world for her. “It’s always the nurse girl.”
  “It’s hardly your business.”
  “It’s actually, like, my entire business, since I’m supposed to be tracking you.”

Viggo gave a loud, clearly annoyed sigh. Sparks looked up momentarily as the man stood over him. “You could.. Help, y’know? Just… If you’re bored, I dunno’.”

   “I am. I’m keeping you undisturbed.”

   “Oh, right, yeah. Silly me - that’s so obvious. Sorry Mr De Jager.” Sparks pulled a face into the beacon to express his feelings, one that Viggo certainly couldn’t see. It was short work though, and Sparks finished up and closed off the beacon once again.

   “Right! All good. We’re good, yeah?”

   “And onto the next.”

   “Wait, how many are there?”

   “We’ll have to circle the city perimeter, so I imagine a few.” Viggo smirked, patting young Sparks on the head to try and reduce his little gobsmacked expression. Sparks sighed, reaching down to insert Grape back into her carrier.
  “Great, just how I wanted to spend the night. Wasn’t, like, I had plans anyway…”