Chapter 275: TM Royalties

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[ POV Change ]

[ Saffron City - Silph Co. ]

[ Silph Co. Presidential Office ]

At the top of the Silph Cooperation building was a spacious and opulent room, with floor-to-ceiling windows offering a stunning view of Saffron City's skyline. The decor was a blend of modern and traditional elements, with sleek, black leather furnishings and plush, cream-colored carpets. A massive mahogany desk took center stage, it's surface a jumble of papers, files, and sleek electronic devices. Behind it sat the CEO himself, a man in his mid-sixties with piercing blue eyes and a no-nonsense demeanor. 

Samuel sat at his desk, surrounded by stacks of documents and flickering screens. He was deep in thought, his brow furrowed as he pored over the details of the shipment deal with politician Lionel Giovanni. It was a complex and delicate matter, and he knew that one wrong move could have serious consequences both for the company and himself if this shipment deal was found.

Just as he was about to initiate the final page of the contract, his phone rang, the sound jolting him out of his concentration. He sighed, resisting the urge to throw the phone across the room. He knew that this was part of the job, but sometimes the constant interruptions were overwhelming.

Samuel looked at the phone before his frown vanished as he realized that the Executive phone was ringing meaning an executive was currently in the building.

To be an executive of Silph Cooperation meant that one had to contribute something revolutionary for the company like Bill Monterey who was the creator of the TMs.

" Secretary Wang, Is Executive Monterey in the building ?"

Secretary Wang replied," No Sir, but there is someone with a black badge in the lobby. He seems to be a trainer under Executive Bill."

The president's eyes lit up as he ordered," Call Mister Aarons and tell him that Executive Bill's assistant is here."

" Yes, Sir."

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[ Silph Co. Lobby ]

The young woman suddenly looked up, "Sir, your meeting with Mister Henson…" She returned her eyes to her computer and quickly typed in a string of words, she painted nails, and the large ring on her left hand flashed in the sunlight. She pauses, then typed something else. "Alex Aarons will be seeing you in just a moment, Mister Ketchum."

"Thank you," Austin responded kindly.

She nodded and smiled back unsurely.

It took only a moment of waiting for one of the elevators near the back of the lobby to chime and open, letting out a smiling man in a black suit who beelined for Austin and Pikachu. "Mister Ketchum! Alex Aarons is the name, and thank you for coming out here today!"

Austin scanned the approaching businessman with an appraising eye.

Aarons was a handsome man in that difficult-to-place age range of the late twenties to mid-thirties. The skin of his angular face was flawless, and his platinum blond hair was slicked back and shiny in the bright fluorescent lights of the office. There wasn't a single wrinkle on his three-piece suit, and his perfectly white teeth almost glinted through the narrow gap in his lips made by his easy-going smile. There's an aura about the man, one that would charm almost anyone with his smooth voice and attractive face.

In the back of his mind, Austin can't help but draw a comparison to Patrick Bateman from the old movie American Psycho that his brother loved to brag is the greatest movie of all time. He called his brother, an idiot for thinking that the greatest movie in his opinion is .... obviously Forest Gump.

"And thank you for taking the time to talk to me, Mister Aarons," Austin reached out and clasped the man's hand with his own in a brisk shake. "I know you must be busy around here."

Aarons lets out a single short laugh and lets his smile widen just a smidgen. "Please, call me Alex, and for one of Kanto's rising stars? I can make time." He withdraw his hand and gestured to Pikachu before letting it fall to his side. "Congrats to you and Mister Pikachu on your superb journey, your win record speaks volumes about you." 

Pikachu blushed in embarrassment but Austin saw through the man's act. He knew that the only reason he was here was that Bill pulling some strings.

" Let's take this to my office, shall we?"

Austin and Pikachu followed Aarons back to the elevator, where the businessman took them up to the 3rd floor and to a wooden door labeled "Tech Machine Dept" guarded by a keypad lock, one that Aarons swiftly entered the code for. As they enter and make the trip to Aarons' office, Austin glanced at the open-floor office and glass dividers taking up much of the floor space, each desk occupied by a well-dressed worker, many of whom looked up to see himself, Pikachu, and Aarons. The air was filled with the sounds of shuffling paper, the ringing of desk phones, and muffled conversation.

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Austin narrowed his eyes at Aaron and thought.

' Why did this man bring someone up here? He should have taken them to the demo site, not to show off his new client. Is it because I have a connection with Bill that he breaking the no pokemon rule? Seems like Aarons is quite the opportunist, to say the least.'

Along the outer perimeter of the large room are several private offices behind closed doors, several of which pass, then they come to a stop by one labeled "A. Aarons - Sr Licensing Rep."

The four people and single shoulder-riding fox step inside, finding a tidy, modern office with little in the way of personal effects, though Austin was surprised to find three guest chairs before the desk. He seats himself in the middle one with Pikachu flanking him.

Aarons sat lightly behind his desk and folded his hands over one another. "Can I get you all anything? Water? Coffee?"

"Thank you, Alex, but I think we're fine," Austin spoke up while he rubbed Pikachu's ears who wasn't going to ask for Ketchup "I understand there is a demo process before any ink touches paper, so forgive me if this comes off as a little rude, but why bring us up here?"

Aarons smiles once more. "Mister Ketchum, I think we both know that for a trainer of your caliber, the demo is just a formality. TMs are especially in vogue right now due to the difficulty of their manufacturing process, so your takes on Pokemon moves will most assuredly sell out quickly."

"Really?" Austin raised an eyebrow and leaned back in his chair as Pikachu jumped onto his lap. "Why do you say that?"

The businessman's eyes seemingly twinkle. "Ah, that's a little secret of mine, but I can give a bit away I suppose. A great way to tell how well a TM run will do is to look at the Gym Leaders of the region, and the usual route aspiring challengers take between them. Grass is so popular right now because of the average starting and ending point of most trainers taking the circuit."

" The order of the gyms from weakest to strongest is normally Pewter than Cerulean…" Austin's eyes widen when heard the words. "Both of which are weak to Grass!"

Aarons' smile turned into a small grin. "Right on the money! The data doesn't lie, and trainers want everything they can get when they first begin and are about to end a journey. In the middle, there is quite a bit of drop-off since everyone has a good idea of their power in relation to the Gyms, but the last Gym is always intimidating. There are other factors at play of course, such as TM rarity, the cost per unit, who the TM is being copied from, and media attention given to specialists of the same type." The blonde man laced his fingers and sets his elbows on the desk. "With Grass being the answer to starting gyms, and the unexpected defeat of  Erika to the rising Grass specialist Valorie Forrest, Grass is hot. A limited run of brand new Grass moves will sell out from preorders alone."

'Huh, I never thought about it like that,' Austin silently mused. 'With the price tags on TMs, it must be a lucrative business.' Aarons' enthusiasm makes more sense. 'Ah, if he's the one doing all the behind-the-scenes work, then he probably gets a nice cut.'

"Understandable," Austin nodded along. "So, how does the process work here?"

"First," Aarons held up a finger. "We'd establish an outline of the technique you intend to propose to Silph Co. I've already done so here if you'd like to review it," he said, opening a drawer on his desk and taking out a packet of paper. He dropped it to his desk and slide it over. "Pending the demo, Silph Co can then choose to move forward with the process or decide to not take the proposal, and if denied you won't be able to submit your move again for a full year. No need to worry about that one I think with your status as an assistant to  Executive Bill," he smiled. "Upon choosing to move forward, Silph Co will have you sign some forms giving us exclusive rights to be your TM manufacturer and distributor, along with a few more giving us the right to use your name and likeness as marketing material. Once complete, we'll have the boys in the lab copy the move from your pokemon and send it off for TM transcribing. When the disks hit the shelves, you can start collecting your royalties."

"Name and likeness, huh?" Austin crossed his arms and tapped his foot. "And how long do you get to use it afterward?"

Austin focused on Aarons for an answer.

"Just for the TM run," he cooly replies. "Once the last batch of disks leaves the warehouse, the contract is over. Typically a standard limited run is two-hundred and fifty units."

"Does Silph retain the rights to the move itself at all?" Austin asked as Aarons's answer wasn't enough for him.

"As in, can Silph Co just decide to make more copies of the TM after the contract is over and cut us out of the equation entirely?" Austin amended, watching carefully for Aarons's reaction.

If Aarons is perturbed by the line of questioning, he hides it masterfully. "We do reserve the right to create copies of unpatented moves without the input of the trainer who submitted the move for copying." He admitted. He opened another drawer on his desk and took out another packet of paper, setting it before Austin. "Silph Co can submit the move for patenting on your behalf for a fee which will be deducted from your royalties until paid in full. If you'd like to read over the forms for yourself, then please go ahead. Now, your royalty rate does drop two percent if you decide to patent, keep that in mind."

With the beginnings of a frown, Austin took the paper offered to him and held it so Pikachu can read along with him.

'Fee of 11,500 for the patent app, followed by losing fifty percent of my four percent of the royalties until paid back. If a basic TM is roughly 2000 pokedollars, and assuming my specialty TM would be worth a bit more at 3000 pokedollars… ' Austin crunched the numbers in his head. 'That's 37,000 pokedollars for both runs after the fees. Holy shit…' He blinks in surprise. 'That's a lot of money even with Silph chunking me for not giving up the rights to it… Or I could get 90,000 pokedollars from the six percent and no fees just by letting them have the moves. Hell, they might price the TM even higher than 3000 and push that payment into six figures…'

Austin looked away from the form in his hands, feeling slightly lightheaded. It might take weeks for the TMs to sell, but that's still a dizzying amount of money. If these are the sort of figures high-level trainers play with, then Austin suddenly understood how they afford to care for their rare and powerful pokemon. 'Pay to win? No. It's just free to lose.' He shook his head and looked down at Pikachu.

" Pika." 

Making up his mind Austin sets the form back on Aaron's desk. "I'm going to patent them. Now, any other details?

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[ Omake Paragraph ]

In a way, it is Exeggcute and not Wailord which are the largest of pokemon, for Exeggcute possess a unique ability to separate into their component eggs and spread out over vast distances while still functioning (through telepathy) as a single pokemon.

It was once believed that the reason for these searches was to find food, but Exeggcute possesses more than enough food in their shells to last until even the last of them evolve. When trained, they are occasionally used in this manner for eavesdropping and espionage, albeit less for espionage than in the old days; a lone Exeggcute is typically mistaken for an egg, but those with sensitive information have learned to be suspicious of eggs.

Most say what they are seeking are leaf stones. Only a few realize that what they are truly searching for is a way to hatch like real eggs and become something other than Exeggutor. Although Exeggutor is a tolerable or enjoyable form for the heads, all fear that they will instead die to form the body, and none can know until evolution which will be their fate.

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