Code Lyoko: Revolutions and Evolutions

Chapter 51

AN: This chapter came after consideration of what had been written, my feedback, and want to have a touch of levity and progress at the same time. This chapter was admittedly not easy to write. It came after a while of just wrestling with a few things and eventually getting out of my own way and doing what God provided me with regarding overall plot material. I'm happy how this turned out in many ways, and I thank all of you for your support and viewership. You all mean very much to me, and I thank you for your steadfast reading. As always, read, review, and enjoy. See you next time—Pagliacci-11

The storm had broken. Massive peals of thunder resounded throughout the sky, accompanied by blinding flashes of lightning. The rain poured solidly, even one who traditionally would enjoy a rainy day would hurriedly find a place to keep dry until the storm had passed. Within his office, a middle-aged man sat in his chair, looking out over the city. As he watched the people scurrying into buildings to stay dry, the cabs moving in a very expedient fashion, he saw not people or cars, he saw money. Raw income moving in an orderly line, a bit expedited due to the weather, but he assuredly wasn't complaining. The man was raised to view life in no more than a systematic aspect of revenue income and loss, investments, and, hopefully, reconcilable accounts in most cases.

It was no different than when he was a child. When he was fourteen, he remembered when a lot of the community was cleared out by an initiative to instate the racetrack north of the city. Now, understandably, when he was younger, he heard and indeed agreed with the pain of the displaced who didn't want to sell. But it was as his father showed him, "Never buy that someone won't budge. Every being born has their price. All it boils down to is raw patience, the patience to find out what that price is."

The sad truth, as he grew, the man knew very well how true these words of wisdom genuinely applied. Every person had their price. Some prices were so meager that he knew that those people just wanted a form of a ship to come in. A tawdry lump-sum would easily hold those people over. Typically, those in said situation wanted out of the circumstances they were in, which helped to serve as a collective, almost default method. Then there were those who saw themselves as "smooth, hard ballers" as they were known in the industry. The smooth, hard ballers deemed themselves getting a better deal due to driving a hard bargain. But, they were no more intelligent than the shippers. They just wanted a bit more of an incentive, and that was manageable.

The actual dangerous water came in the form of was termed the barnacles. These were some stubborn sellers, usually farmers, who were the real hard ballers. In such cases, many ventures would be forced to negotiate a disproportionate price for the land requested to genuinely own the full percentage of their enterprise. This was often seen as a "necessary mild to medium pain" in most situations. However, in most aspects, the barnacle could be dealt with in the form of a lease of the apportioned land if a hard sell wouldn't be reasoned. Usually, this lease served only as a temporary pain. But knowing that ventures such as the racetrack would be raking in a lot of money, the barnacles thought they could be slick and get a considerable return on the lease by asking for their portion to consist of a percentage of the earnings from the seats sold.

The owners and investors behind the track agreed to this only because they knew the money coming in would be vastly disproportionate to what was requested. Additionally, they used what they termed assurance funds to bolster support of a rival farmer in the area. These funds went towards the purchasing of high-quality high-yield seeds for crops, and so distorting a picture that the rival was getting a higher return for his investment. As a result, because the competitor had so much, he could sell for cheaper and vilify the farmer whose land the track shared a portion of as he had to jack his prices to stay afloat. As was the goal of a lot of investors, typically over a long enough period, this resulted in the leasing farmer selling tiny portions piecemeal to slowly make ends meet. It was here that the investors would repurchase their track land using desperation as their vehicle. Whatever the former leaser was selling off additionally would be acquired through the "outside investor," an off-the-books portion of the company to turn those parcels into "community gardens." These were industrial sub-farms specializing in crops particular to each farm, and from this, they would sell the produce to more local stores to buy good faith with the community.