Team Plasma?

Heath felt as though he had discovered a path to riches: mukbang. After all, mukbang didn't exist in the Pokémon world.

Cord the Alakazam eating at his stall had worked out very well, bringing Heath plenty of customers and keeping him busy until the workday began. By then, most office workers who needed to get to work had already reached their companies.

The flow of customers at Heath's stall slowed a little. He wiped the sweat from his forehead, then lifted the pot lid and looked inside. There wasn't much braised pork left.

Heath made a rough estimate. There should be enough for about two more servings.

"Whew, this new dish really is popular. It's almost sold out already." Heath counted the bills in his hands with a happy smile.

Mr. Cord had left after finishing his braised pork and rice, but judging by how reluctant he had seemed to stop eating, Heath had a feeling he would see him again tomorrow. He thought he could probably add braised pork to his regular menu.

"Far~" Just as Heath was considering how much pork to buy in the future, he felt a tug on his sleeve.

Heath looked down in confusion and saw Farfetch'd gazing up at him pitifully. He paused, then gave Farfetch'd a peculiar look.

"Do you want to make braised pork?" Heath recalled the earlier task. Farfetch'd seemed very interested in braised pork.

"Far!" Farfetch'd excitedly waved the leek in its grasp and cried out happily.

Heath sucked in a breath. Braised pork was nothing like Jianbing Guozi. If the ingredients wasted on Jianbing Guozi had only made his wallet ache a little, then wasting braised pork...

Heath felt that would be like getting stabbed with a knife. The losses would be enormous. Even though he could now make a decent profit on each serving of braised pork, he couldn't afford to let Farfetch'd burn through his ingredients like that.

But looking at the longing in Farfetch'd's eyes and considering the special reward he could earn for completing the task, Heath admitted he was a little tempted. After all, if he got something amazing this time, wouldn't that make up for all the wasted braised pork?

Still, Heath felt he needed to be extremely careful about this. To be safe, he decided that once he bought the ingredients, he would first guide Farfetch'd through making a batch of braised pork with fried tofu, step by step, to prevent waste.

"Dad! I want that!" A child's voice rang out. Heath looked up and saw a well-dressed boy tugging at his father's hand, pointing insistently in his direction.

"Today's the day you get your Pokémon. Don't you want to pick up your starter Pokémon first?" The man smiled and ruffled his son's hair.

"I'm hungry!" Smelling the delicious aroma in the air, the little boy's stomach couldn't help rumbling. Unable to win against his son, the man could only bring him over to Heath's stall.

After asking the price, the man bought both remaining servings.

Watching the boy and his father walk away, Heath scratched his head. It looked like the child was from a wealthy family that had reserved a Pokémon, though judging by his face, he didn't seem to be anyone important.

Heath figured there were only a handful of relatively famous people he might get to serve in Kanto. He wondered whether he could run into the Elite Four, but they probably wouldn't come to eat at his stall, would they?

As the time to collect Pokémon approached, cars drove past Heath one after another. He had already started packing up his stall. At this hour, hardly anyone would stop to buy food.

"Mom, when can I get my Squirtle?" At the familiar voice, Heath looked up in confusion, then froze.

The car in front of him was waiting at a red light. Through its window, Heath spotted a little girl-a little girl he had only just seen yesterday.

Heath rubbed his eyes. The car had already driven away, but he had seen her clearly. It really was the little girl he had seen in Viridian Forest yesterday. The discovery left him rather dazed.

"Was she a Pokémon in disguise?" Heath frowned. Yesterday, that little girl had been blown away by the wind like sand. He felt certain a Pokémon was behind it. Humans...

Just as Heath was thinking that humans couldn't possibly have that kind of technology, another possibility suddenly occurred to him: in the Pokémon world, it wasn't necessarily impossible for humans to possess some futuristic technology.

Heath touched the ball hanging at his waist. He had kept this ball, called the GS, on him ever since obtaining it, but so far it hadn't been of any use.

"Let's go, Farfetch'd. We're going grocery shopping." Heath stretched. Since there were no customers, he planned to take Farfetch'd to buy ingredients first, then teach it how to cook, step by step.

As he walked, Heath sorted through the messages he had been too busy to check while serving customers earlier.

Most customers had left him some candies after being served, which could raise the corresponding Effort Values.

[You served Asura of Team Plasma's Seven Sages and obtained a random clue.]

Heath paused. The names before this had been things like Todd and Sir Aaron, but now Team Plasma had suddenly appeared. That immediately caught his attention, and he read on.

[Team Plasma has brought something to the Kanto region, seeking cooperation with Team Rocket.]

The random clue appeared as well. Heath had been too busy earlier to read these notifications. He hadn't expected to find such a surprise when he finally checked them.

"Team Plasma? I remember them being the villainous organization in the Unova Region..." Heath scratched his head. He recalled that they were the villains in Black and White. On the surface, they preached that Pokémon should return to nature, but in reality, they wanted to monopolize Pokémon's power.

Anyone who opposed Team Plasma would even have their own Pokémon taken away. They were a villainous organization through and through.

Heath truly hadn't expected to end up serving villains like these. Still, he was a little curious. What exactly had Team Plasma brought with them to Kanto?

Heath shook his head. He couldn't remember Asura's face. After all, he had served so many customers today that he didn't even know who they all were.

He could only wait until he ran into him again, though he did keep the matter in mind. Then Heath took Farfetch'd to the market and bought several pieces of pork to bring back. He planned to cut them into small pieces first and use those to teach Farfetch'd how to make braised pork.

That was also to keep his losses down.