Chapter 35 Heath: Let's play Fight the Landlord~

Heath sat bored on the floor. Although the scenery outside was truly magnificent, after watching it for a while, he gradually began to feel restless. It would still take another day to reach the headquarters of the Indigo League from his current location, so Heath decided to find a game to pass the time.

After a moment of thought, he dug a deck of playing cards out of his backpack.

"Trainer, why don't you have a Switch, a PS5, or any other game consoles? I honestly didn't expect us to be playing cards," Zorua said with a melancholy look. The resentful expression in her eyes made Heath rub his nose in embarrassment.

How should he explain it? Back in the day, in order to pay off his debts, he had saved every penny he could. Now, with very little savings, those game consoles from his past life were naturally out of the question.

"Next time. Once we earn some money at the Indigo headquarters, we'll buy one." Heath glanced around his living room. The Snorlax was still asleep, which left Heath feeling both amused and helpless; this big guy was truly a world-class sleeper. He recalled that Snorlax slept to slow down its metabolic rate, making it less prone to hunger.

That was likely why the Snorlax remained fast asleep. After all, sleeping was the easiest way to conserve energy, and Snorlax were notorious gluttons. When Heath had first decided to capture the Snorlax, his only worry was whether he could actually afford to feed it.

"Farfetch'd, come over and play cards." Heath shuffled the deck and set aside the Ho-Oh and Lugia cards, which served as the Big Joker and Little Joker in the Kanto region.

"Far?" Farfetch'd looked at Heath curiously, not quite understanding what he intended to do with these slips of paper.

"Today we're playing 'Fight the Landlord.' The rules are simple: it's two against one..." Heath explained patiently. There was no 'Fight the Landlord' in the Pokémon world; people here usually preferred 'Old Maid' or a version of Monopoly, though Heath didn't quite understand how one played Monopoly with a standard deck of cards—yet they always seemed to have fun.

Fortunately, the rules of 'Fight the Landlord' were quite straightforward. After a brief explanation, Zorua and Farfetch'd were ready to play, while Charmander watched from the side, lifting dumbbells.

"De-de-de-de-de~" Heath hummed a little tune as he shuffled. He had some confidence in his card skills; playing this game back then had been a high-stakes affair. Winning was fine, but losing could be genuinely life-threatening.

Back then, the penalty for losing was drinking beer—glass after glass. That night, Heath and his roommates had polished off two cases of beer, and the state of the bathroom afterward was simply too horrific to behold.

"So, what's the penalty?" Zorua asked, looking at him with curiosity.

Heath paused. He hadn't actually thought of a penalty. His food truck didn't have beer, and as for sticking paper notes on their faces, both Zorua and Farfetch'd were furry, making that quite difficult.

"How about this? If you lose, Trainer, you have to take off a piece of clothing!" Zorua suggested, looking at him with excitement. Farfetch'd shot Zorua a strange look, then glanced at Heath, its eyes widening in horror as it instinctively scooted backward.

"Absolutely not. I only have a few pieces of clothing as it is. Besides, where did you learn such a perverted game?" Heath rolled his eyes. There was something wrong with Zorua; he shouldn't have bought her that book.

Zorua had used her weekly allowance to buy a few books, including one titled, *The Alakazam Cheater Was Exposed by Me, and He Actually Spread His Legs on My Bed.*

Heaven only knew why the title was so long, but it seemed to be the current trend. Names had become simplified; as long as you made the title long enough and added book brackets, it could become any kind of clickbait headline.

"Hmph, boring," Zorua pouted.

"Let's just do this: the loser drinks a cup of water." Heath brought out a small cup—it had to be small, otherwise, after losing once or twice, they wouldn't be able to drink anymore.

Farfetch'd tapped its chest with great confidence. Watching them, Heath couldn't help but smile, then began to deal the cards.

...

"Three of a kind with a kicker!" Zorua tossed her cards onto the floor confidently. Heath took a look—three threes with a four. It seemed Zorua’s hand was decent, but Heath was the Landlord, so he wasn't worried.

"Far!" Farfetch'd also slapped its cards down triumphantly: three twos and the Ho-Oh Joker. Heath wore a satisfied smile.

"Bomb! Clear the hand! Anyone want to beat that?" Heath tossed his bomb onto the pile. Zorua looked at Farfetch'd with utter frustration, grinding her teeth as if she wanted to have roast duck for dinner.

Charmander watched Zorua with sympathy. Zorua’s belly was already noticeably rounder. Although the penalty Heath had set was small—almost negligible—Zorua kept losing.

Watching Zorua drink her second cup of water with a look of grief and indignation, Heath laughed even harder. After playing for a while, he realized the key to this game wasn't the other players, but Farfetch'd. If Farfetch'd ended up as a "Peasant," it was twice as difficult to play.

Farfetch'd always came up with bizarre moves, like using three twos to beat a Joker, or using a Joker to trump its own teammate's two, only to follow up with a three.

Heath quickly caught on, and the game became simple. He aggressively snatched the Landlord position every time and, relying on Farfetch'd’s habit of sabotaging its own teammate, secured victory after victory.

"I protest! You're cheating! Why are you the Landlord every single time?" Zorua glared at him with pure resentment.

"How would I know? Maybe it's just fate," Heath shrugged with a smile. He wouldn't admit that he had used a tiny bit of sleight of hand. After all, neither Zorua nor Farfetch'd could shuffle the cards; that was simply too difficult for them.

Seeing Zorua with her bloated belly and a look of desperate urgency, Heath rubbed his nose. He decided he should probably let her win a few, or she might actually start crying.

With a sudden "Boom," Heath instinctively covered his ears. Turning his head, he saw the Snorlax had woken up and was stretching comfortably. However, the Snorlax immediately realized it had made a mistake and lowered its head in embarrassment.

"Snorlax, want to play a game?" Heath asked, looking at the giant Pokémon.