Chapter 53: Experimenting with New Dishes

Heath played the ring-toss game once more. This time, however, the Teddiursa was not swayed by the suggestive chewing gum. Amidst the ragged-looking man's nervous intake of breath, it toppled onto a pack of tissues. Heath could hear the sound of the disheveled man exhaling in relief from beside him, which annoyed Heath slightly. Had he known, he would have tried for the Dragonite laptop first.

After all, the suggestive chewing gum only made people more inclined to believe what Heath said, rather than guaranteeing absolute compliance. The fact that he had successfully made the Teddiursa believe him the first time was already quite a rarity, in Heath's view, so today's failure was more or less within his expectations.

"Packing up, packing up! I forgot to turn off my gas stove at home!" The disheveled man had no intention of listening to whatever Heath had to say; he immediately started gathering his belongings. The very first thing he packed was the Dragonite laptop, even though his excuse for closing up shop was far too perfunctory.

"Trainer, you're amazing!" Zorua said, holding Heath's hand with a beaming smile. However, she transmitted her voice directly into Heath's mind using telepathic waves.

"It's all right, but what a shame. This entire set of One Piece is pirated." Heath sighed. Just moments before, he had overheard the swindler's true thoughts: as it turned out, only the Dragonite laptop in his stall was genuine, while everything else consisted of pirated or knockoff goods. That was why the man had deliberately tried to bluff Heath, failing to anticipate that Heath wouldn't bite.

"Even so, it's not a bad deal at all! After all, these are over eight hundred volumes of manga!" Zorua said happily. Such a massive stash of manga would keep her entertained for a very long time. Heath scratched his head helplessly; since there was no need to visit the bookstore now, he could just head back to sleep.

After bringing Zorua back into the food truck, Heath lay down on his bed. He had to admit that the Growlithe brand suited him perfectly; sleeping on it felt nearly identical to his bed back in Viridian City. Meanwhile, Zorua stayed in the lounge area reading her manga. Only Farfetch'd and Charmander had settled down peacefully to sleep beside Heath, while the Snorlax had already been fast asleep for a while.

The moment Heath stepped inside, he could hear Snorlax's deafening snores. Fortunately, the room's soundproofing was exceptional, so sleeping in the bedroom remained undisturbed. Heath figured that Zorua would likely be coming in to sleep before long, as trying to read manga against the backdrop of Snorlax's snoring was truly an agonizing experience.

Half-asleep and half-awake, Heath felt something soft and fluffy flop down onto his chest. He initially wanted to open his eyes to take a look, but exhaustion weighed him down so heavily that he simply drifted back into deep slumber.

...

The next morning, Heath woke up very early. As soon as he opened his eyes, he discovered Zorua sound asleep on top of his blanket, with a tiny bubble actually forming at the tip of her nose. This left Heath somewhat amazed. He had always assumed that characters getting nose bubbles while sleeping only happened in anime, and had no idea such a phenomenon could actually occur in the real world.

"Time to wake up, Zorua." Heath glanced at the young Pokémon, then helplessly hoisted her up by the scruff of her neck. Ignoring Zorua's flailing and protests in his hands, Heath took the yawning Farfetch'd—which had just climbed out of bed—and stepped outside.

Charmander had already finished its workout and was currently regulating its breathing, while Snorlax was still fast asleep. Heath called out to it, but Snorlax didn't even twitch until Heath mentioned breakfast, at which point it instantly bolted upright with a start.

"I'm so sleepy... Trainer, don't you ever plan on taking a break?" Zorua let out a yawn, then spat her toothpaste into the sink.

"Didn't we just take a few days off?" Heath looked at Zorua with a helpless expression. As far as Zorua was concerned, the only job that truly suited her preferences would probably be playing Santa Claus—the kind of gig where you only have to work once a year.

"Hmph! Back then, I used to sleep naturally until I woke up on my own every single day, and then I'd go into the forest to brawl with that big guy before heading home to sleep," Zorua grumbled with a pout, making it quite clear that she was in a rather sour mood.

Heath scratched his head. Waking up naturally every single day—what kind of divine lifestyle was that? Aside from holidays, Heath never had the luxury of sleeping in, especially back in his school days when he was forced to crawl out of bed at six o'clock sharp, an utterly agonizing routine.

"Stop complaining and let's go buy groceries. Anyway, until you evolve, your job is basically just being cute and acting as my translator." Heath looked at Zorua and ruffled her little head. There really wasn't much the little critter could do to help him out right now.

Although Zorua's illusions were formidable, the problem was that she was still far too young to handle tasks like waiting tables. Heath planned to look into how Zorua evolved into Zoroark sometime soon; once Zorua evolved, she should be able to lend him a much bigger hand.

Driving the food truck to the produce market where he had shopped the day before, Heath purchased a generous amount of chicken along with the ingredients and seasonings needed to make braised chicken in brown sauce. These were absolute necessities since Heath intended to make the braised chicken his signature dish. Along the way, he also restocked the items required for making milk tea.

"With food and drinks covered, what else is missing?" Heath stood in the middle of the market, pondering the question.

While having a main course and a beverage already made for a solid combination, Heath figured that if he wanted to boost his earnings and recoup the furniture costs as quickly as possible, he needed to consider adding another food item to the menu.

Convenient, portable, delicious, and capable of filling the remaining gaps—Heath paused for a moment as he recalled some of the small snacks he used to eat in his past life. Among all kinds of casual snacks, potato chips were undeniably a timeless staple. However, while potato chips were delicious, the Pokémon world had those too, and since Heath lacked an assembly line, producing potato chips individually would be quite troublesome.

In the end, Heath's gaze returned to chicken. In his view, fried chicken nuggets also made for fantastic recreational food. Officer Jenny had very kindly hooked Heath up with a prime location, and there were shoppers strolling around that area everywhere. Heath felt that introducing something people could eat on the go while shopping would undoubtedly be a brilliant choice.

With that thought in mind, Heath purchased an extra quantity of chicken, along with a few other necessary seasonings. Next on the agenda was heading to his assigned vending spot, while simultaneously figuring out how to research fried chicken—a food that was simple yet possessed a certain degree of challenge.