Looking for a partner

Finding someone to go drone-fishing with was easier said than done. Basically, everyone seemed to have already partnered up.

On the left Laila and Melinda were doing something with lemons. On the right Kalen and Na'Sar were hauling hand-carts loaded with boxes. There on the other side were Oren and Kenneth trying to fix a water filter. Here, there, all across the village, Cody saw people already paired up or even moving in trios.

Nobody, except for him, was alone.

Well, there was Specs, but she wasn't going anywhere. She was just sitting there minding her store.

"What do I do?" Cody wondered. "Who do I ask…?"

But wait. Wasn't he supposed to consult someone if he needed help teaming up? Crystal, wasn't it? Elder T said to go find Crystal, his Student Rep, if he needed a partner and didn't have anyone. Maybe she could help him.

He found her with a dark skinned, visored guy who appeared to be arguing a court case with himself.

"A partner?" Crystal frowned. She thought for a bit. "What about Melinda? She's a hard-worker."

"She's partnered up with Laila."

"Then Specs, maybe? She's always by herself."

"She's minding her store and isn't going anywhere anytime soon."

"Then…" Crystal grimaced. "If worse comes to worst, there is one guy that nobody seems to want to partner with. You could try and see if he's free."

"Who's that?" Cody asked.

"Riki. Riki Fyres, from Volcanus."

***

"5kg of edible berries! Mission completed AT LAST!!" Riki crowed as he danced a jig over at the village warehouse.

"Sir, please be careful…" the warehouse staff at the entrance pleaded. "We already had to issue bonus credits for missions cleaning up the warehouse five times since you started…"

"Are you blaming ME for all those accidents?" Riki flared. He jutted his chin out and rounded on the poor staff man. "It's not my fault! Your stuff was…"

Riki's shoulder bumped into a helmet stand as he passed by, and he instinctively freed his arm aggressively.

CRASH! The whole stand went down in a heap, helmets scattering everywhere.

"Not again!" The warehouse staff groaned.

"Um… bye!" Riki fled before they could charge him for anything.

On the mission postings for Initial Village, new bonus credits for doing warehouse cleanup and helmet repair missions appeared.

Also, after a remote investigation, an additional fine would be imposed on Riki's credit account. It would not be the first, or the largest.

But Riki didn't know any of that, of course. He was still running away, thinking he could escape the dreaded 'responsibility' by simply not being around. After all, didn't the great martial arts masters say, 'the best defense is to not be there'?

While running, he looked about frantically for a hiding spot. Seeing no new spots in his immediate vicinity, he scrambled toward the Personal Space Entrance, rounded the corner and…

BAM! Riki saw stars and saw black before he saw what he'd run into.

***

At the time Cody was in exactly the same condition. Literally.

"W… what just happened…?" Pain lanced through his forehead, and it was only after a few aching seconds that his vision and his head cleared enough that he realized he was actually in a sitting position. How did he end up sitting down? Wasn't he running around the corner…?

Across from him, likewise holding his head, Riki groaned.

"Hi, Riki…" Cody said, still half in a daze. "Wanna go fishing for a mission outside the village?"

"Outside the village? I'd love to go outside. But I can't. We're not allowed to travel alone." Riki clutched his head in pain.

"I can't go out alone either. That's why I need you to come along. You can do the mission too."

"Really? What level is it?"

"Level 3."

"Can't. I'm still only at level 1. Sorry. You should try someone else."

"There IS no one else. I'm the last one left."

"Oh. Does that mean I have no choice but to partner with you?"

"I think so."

"Oh well. Okay, then. But I have to level up first."

"How long would that take…? Actually, never mind. I'll help you."

"Really?"

"Yes, really." Cody had a hunch it would go a lot quicker that way. "How many credits do you have?"

"Me? Negative one hundred something." Riki waved vaguely.

"What?!" Cody stared. "How did that happen?"

"I had to borrow ten credits from Na'Sar to pass the entrance exam. I need to pay him back double. Then there are the clean-up fees for a whole bunch of mistakes made by the warehouse; for some reason, they blame me for it. Also there were a few things that broke and they insist I pay for those…"

"You're never going to be able to do anything with negative credits! You can't even level up and get better paying missions!"

"We can get better paying missions if we level up?!" Riki gasped.

"But if you can borrow credits from Na'Sar… then you should be able to borrow credits from me too, right?" Cody pondered. "So what if I paid the rental fees for the cooking set for you?"

"Rental fees for the what…?"

It took a bit of explaining, but as it turned out, it was in fact possible for Cody to pay Riki's rental fees for the cooking set. Riki set about cooking sausages and almost set the whole kitchen on fire three times, but despite the near-accidents, the end result of his cooking came out quite nicely. Apparently scorched sausages were still quite tasty with the help of some ketchup.

"Three credits!" Riki was jubilant. "Transfer them all to pay Cody back, please! Before it sinks into the negative numbers and just end up doing nothing!"

"Three credits transferred to Cody Rivers. Three credits remaining." Orb said helpfully.

"Wait. I still have three credits?" Riki blinked. "How did that happen?"

"You were awarded three credits for the earlier mission today."

"But I thought I was at least a hundred credits in debt…?"

"That is in a separate account payable at the end of the month."

"I have cash!" Riki realized, eyes wide. "I'm in debt, but until the end of the month, I actually have cash!"

"Credits, not cash, but yes, you can spend." Orb responded.

"You still need to take a loan from me to do the next level-up mission, though." Cody warned. "Come on. Let's get you through the stimulant drink mission."