Pokémon Massage and Familiar Faces

"There are no buts. How old are you this year? You've got a long road ahead of you!" Heiduo cut him off again, saying sternly, "Besides, becoming a Gym Leader is inevitable for you. There's no point thinking about this. Don't tell me you want to give your family's Gym to someone else?"

If Falkner did that, now that would be truly embarrassing!

"No, no! I wouldn't! Never!" Falkner hurriedly explained. Violet Gym was the foundation passed down through his family for generations. There was no way he would hand it over to an outsider, unless that outsider married into the family.

"Then that settles it!" Heiduo picked up the teapot and poured Falkner a cup of tea. "Stop worrying about all that nonsense. Focus on dealing with the Gym Leader qualification exam first!"

In Pokémon Adventures, because Gyms were managed by the Pokémon Association, the core organization of the Pokémon League, an incoming Gym Leader had to undergo a qualification exam.

At the mention of the qualification exam, tension and confusion surfaced on Falkner's stern face.

Those were negative emotions he had never shown, not even during the police officer exam.

Heiduo sighed, closed his backpack, stood up, and walked over to pat Falkner on the shoulder. "Don't panic. You can do it. Believe in yourself more. The road ahead is still long!"

Look at this big guy. He was practically being driven insane.

Crystal jogged in with an exquisitely wrapped wooden box in her hands. Seeing that Heiduo had not left, she sighed in relief.

"Your red bean tea cake." She handed it to Heiduo respectfully.

So this thing was called a red bean tea cake?

Heiduo accepted it and glanced at Falkner, noticing that his expression had returned to normal. The emotions he had shown Heiduo earlier had all been tucked away.

He really cared about saving face.

"Bzz! Bzz! Bzz!" Elekid raised its hands, wanting Heiduo to give it the red bean tea cake.

Heiduo glared at it. "Get lost! Remember to share good things! And are you even going to eat lunch?"

Elekid was still young. Proper meals were one of the most important factors in helping it grow quickly. Snacks were fine, but it could not skip regular meals.

"Bzz..." Elekid lowered its head dejectedly. It was still very obedient around Heiduo, after all. Life had been good at his side.

Heiduo said helplessly, "All right, what's yours is yours. No one's taking it from you!"

This little fellow became so fussy whenever sweets were involved that it was irritating.

"We'll be going first." Heiduo said goodbye to Falkner, recalled Elekid, and prepared to look for a private bookstore that afternoon to see whether they had any books related to Pokémon massage.

Crystal reached out, wanting to ask Heiduo to stay for a simple lunch, but he declined.

There was no need to take so much advantage of someone else. Repaying kindness with demands had never been a good thing.

Before leaving, Heiduo gave Falkner a subtle gesture that said, "I believe in you." To him, sixteen-year-old Falkner was no different from a child.

Encouraging someone with words cost him nothing. It was just a matter of moving his lips, and more friends meant more paths.

Heiduo walked into the Pokémon Center and immediately ran into Shangzhu, who had challenged Violet Gym earlier.

Shangzhu was beaming with delight. He had most likely obtained Violet Gym's Badge.

"Hey! You're..." Seeing Heiduo, Shangzhu's jubilant expression faded slightly. "Hello, I'm the challenger who was ahead of you in line this morning. My name is Shangzhu!"

He thought that, because he had made an appointment in advance, he had taken Heiduo's upcoming challenge slot, so he felt a little apologetic.

But in truth, Heiduo had only gone there to scout the place out.

"Hello, I'm Heiduo." Heiduo nodded slightly in greeting. It was close to mealtime, and he had no intention of continuing to chat with Shangzhu, so he said goodbye and returned to his room to cook.

Watching Heiduo's departing back, Shangzhu shook his head. He rarely encountered such a cold and distant Trainer. Among the young Trainers in his social circle, passionate and outgoing types made up the majority.

Inside the room.

Heiduo took out the ingredients he had bought at the supermarket yesterday afternoon and started by preparing food for the four little ones.

Only by doing it himself did he understand how difficult it was for Brock to feed such a large family. Every Pokémon had different needs, and making them eat comfortably took real effort.

Take Ekans, for example. Most Poison-type ingredients tasted bitter, but it happened to prefer sour flavors. Heiduo had to find other ingredients to balance out the bitterness of the Poison-type food.

After nearly an hour of work, Heiduo finally finished four different portions of Pokémon food as well as his own meal, setting them before the four little ones.

Once he was done, he handed the kitchen over to Shuangye. That girl had money. She always bought exclusive custom-made food flown in for her Pokémon, and all she needed to do at mealtime was heat it up.

It would definitely be a lie to say he was not envious. Who would not want to be rich? With Heiduo's current finances, raising these four was temporarily his limit. Any more, and he truly could not afford them.

Fortunately, every Badge earned came with a one-time thousand-yuan bonus from the Pokémon Center, which could solve quite a few urgent problems.

The Pokémon League truly spared no effort in supporting and cultivating new Trainers.

"Yoo—!"

A deer-like Pokémon with a huge leaf on its head shared its food with Ekans.

It was Shuangye's Sawsbuck. Despite its enormous stag antlers, it was actually a girl. For some reason, she got along very well with Ekans, and they often shared food with each other.

Unlike their two Trainers, who ignored each other, most of Shuangye's Pokémon were very friendly. Neither Dragonair nor Espeon showed any rejection or hostility toward Heiduo's Pokémon.

It was rather ironic.

Shuangye only carried these three Pokémon, but they covered every form of travel. Dragonair could fly and cross the sea, while Sawsbuck could travel over land. From Sawsbuck, Heiduo could tell that Shuangye was probably from Unova. Her temperament also suited Unova's style.

Of course, it was possible that Heiduo was overthinking it.

After eating, Heiduo forcibly woke up Ekans, which wanted to Rest after filling its belly, and dragged it outside. This guy slept after eating and ate after sleeping. That was becoming a real problem!

Green Leaf Bookstore.

Heiduo took a book titled "A Detailed Guide to Comfortable Pokémon Massage" from the shelf. It was priced at fifty-five yuan, within his budget.

After giving it a quick read, Heiduo found that the book was extremely basic. It devoted far too little space to massage methods and techniques, making it of very little value.

"Ugh..." Heiduo put the book back. It was not worth fifty-five yuan, and buying it would only waste space.

But it was the only book in this store that he considered remotely useful.

I really want to see the library at Sprout Tower.

Heiduo looked at the tall tower in the distance. He had asked before whether he could visit it, but he had naturally been refused without mercy. The monks there said the books in the archive were too precious. If an outsider damaged them, no one could bear the responsibility.

"Don't tell me I can only go to a salon?" Heiduo left the bookstore and stared at the street full of appliance stores, his brow furrowed.

In this era of constantly advancing technology, people placed more and more importance on household appliances. Virtual game consoles had gradually taken hold of young people's hearts, and more and more children gave up on becoming Trainers, immersing themselves in virtual worlds from which they could not pull away.

Watching this happen, the Pokémon League could only raise Trainers' social standing and increase their benefits.

But it was an indisputable fact that children preferred the Pokémon in games. The Pokémon in games grew quickly, could learn moves freely, and as long as one spent enough time, they could become a Champion in two or three days at most.

"Heiduo!"

A shout pulled the absentminded Heiduo back to his senses.

Heiduo turned around and discovered Mina and Kenzaki, whom he had met last night.

Violet City was not much smaller than the third-tier cities from his previous life. What a coincidence.

"Miss Mina, Mr. Kenzaki." Heiduo nodded at them.

Mina stepped forward and said openly, "Don't be so formal. We're all Trainers traveling around, so just call us by our names."

Kenzaki smiled and agreed.

Heiduo did not object and accepted. Then he looked beside Mina and Kenzaki.

Standing there was a large black dog with black fur, black paws, a silver mane, and an incredibly thick coat along its back. Its eyes were crimson, but it had its tongue out and looked adorably simple-minded.

Beside the large dog was a little cat with purple ears, yellow fur, and a purple scarf around its neck.

Mightyena and Purugly!

Heiduo withdrew his gaze. He remembered those two Pokémon vividly because they belonged to the warmhearted Ruby.

He had not expected to see them even in Johto.

Right! Pokémon Adventures' Ruby and Sapphire arc only happened after Ruby moved from Johto to Hoenn!

"You seem rather troubled?" Seeing Heiduo frown with a completely helpless expression, Mina asked curiously.

Heiduo remembered that Mina was a Breeder, so he asked, "I want to learn about Pokémon massage, but I don't know where I can study it, so..."

He had meant for Mina to tell him where he could learn Pokémon massage, but Mina smiled and said, "Pokémon massage? I can teach you!"

...Huh?

"...I can pay you up to two hundred yuan." Heiduo calculated the thickness of his wallet. Two hundred yuan was his limit.

Mina froze slightly when she heard that, then smiled. "No need, no need. I'll teach you for free!"

For free!

Heiduo was not delighted. Instead, he became wary. There was no such thing as a free lunch. If an outsider treated you well, then either you had something they wanted, or someone in your family had something they wanted.

It was like Lan, the Team Rocket squad captain who had given him Elekid. Lan's goal had been to cultivate Heiduo into a capable subordinate. He wanted to buy out Heiduo's future with a single Elekid.

Heiduo's wary expression made Mina and Kenzaki exchange smiles.

Kenzaki said, "You must think we have some hidden secret? Or that we have some ulterior motive toward you? That's not it."

"Mina and I were students of your parents, though we were the two most disappointing ones." Kenzaki's gaze was extremely serious as he took out a photograph.

The photograph showed a middle-aged man who looked seventy or eighty percent like Heiduo, with one arm around Kenzaki and the other around Mina.

"We've been looking for you for nearly two years. We only recently got news of you from the Johto Association and rushed over right away." Mina interjected. "Yesterday, we couldn't confirm your identity immediately, so we had to wait until today."

The two of them spoke in perfect coordination, leaving Heiduo utterly dumbfounded.