A True Slacker

"Um, Onion says he's curious why the man we met this morning was so muscular. He wants to know whether being muscular would help him." Zorua dutifully translated, while Farfetch'd nodded, clutching his leek.

Heath gave Farfetch'd a curious look. Onion-what a nice nickname. He had no idea how these two little guys communicated. Did that mean Zorua was called...

"Lolo, would you explain it for me?" Heath asked Zorua with a smile. She rolled her eyes at him.

Still, seeing the curiosity in Farfetch'd's eyes, Heath decided to give his Pokémon a proper explanation. After all, wasn't answering his Pokémon's questions part of being a Trainer? Especially when the question was about getting stronger.

"Well... Farfetch'd, muscles certainly help you get stronger. Think about it: if two Charmander were fighting each other, the one with more muscle would have a better chance of winning." Heath rubbed Farfetch'd's head as he explained earnestly.

Farfetch'd looked at Heath with only a vague understanding, but Heath didn't mind. He knew this sort of thing was awkward to explain with words alone, and getting a Pokémon to grasp the principle wasn't easy.

Heath looked up and spotted an office worker. He remembered that the man worked in a nearby office building as a designer for an advertising agency-a truly miserable job.

"Look, Uncle Fujiyama could probably take on five... no, ten of him." Heath pointed at the office worker and spoke quietly. Farfetch'd immediately nodded.

Then he started calling out, "Farfetch'd! Farfetch'd!" and waving his wings excitedly, but Heath still couldn't understand what he meant.

"Lolo," Heath called. Zorua didn't react at all, as though she had fallen asleep. She even had drool trickling from her mouth.

Heath's mouth twitched. Good grief, this little rascal really held a grudge!

"My adorable little Zorua, what would you like to eat?" Heath smiled at her, regretting how quickly that nickname had slipped out. Now he had to pay for it.

But Zorua remained utterly unresponsive. Her expression didn't change in the slightest, like an emotionless killing machine.

"See, I wasn't actually calling you Lolo. I was saying Luoluo. Doesn't that sound pretty nice?" Heath came up with another solution.

Zorua stirred, and Heath perked up. Was it working?

But a second later, Heath heard Zorua snoring. He helplessly covered his face. This little rascal really had no shame, taking her fake sleep this far.

No wonder people said you could never wake someone who was pretending to sleep. After all, they were doing it deliberately to avoid talking to you.

"Well, I suppose I'll give the Chongqing Spicy Chicken to Farfetch'd instead." Heath sighed, and Zorua instantly leaped out of the chair.

"You cheat! That's mine!" Seeing how worked up she was, Heath smiled and scooped her into his arms. Zorua squirmed in alarm.

"You! What are you trying to do?!" Zorua stared at Heath in panic, but he noticed that she also seemed a little expectant. What was she expecting?

"If you translate for me, I'll make you a bowl of egg soup. How does that sound?" Heath shook his head. He couldn't be bothered to figure out what Zorua was expecting. Dealing with her little sulk was the priority.

Zorua hesitated, but eventually nodded.

"Um, Onion says he wants to build muscle and become the strongest Farfetch'd." Zorua quickly finished translating. Heath looked at Farfetch'd. As far as he was concerned, Farfetch'd was already the strongest.

"Hmph, Trainer, don't forget what you promised me. If you don't keep your word, I'll bite you!" Zorua threatened him indignantly. Heath smiled and nodded.

Then Heath turned to Farfetch'd. So he wanted to work out...

That suddenly reminded Heath that he seemed to have received a fitness equipment set earlier. He rummaged through his cabinet and took out the box.

It was a toolbox, but when Heath opened it, he discovered that it was absurdly spacious inside, packed with miniature exercise equipment.

Heath tentatively took out a dumbbell. The moment it left the box, it suddenly grew larger, and its weight shot up too.

"Now that's some futuristic tech." Heath clicked his tongue. This Fitness Equipment Module was downright unbeatable.

"Farfetch'd, give this a try." Heath handed him the dumbbell. It weighed five kilograms, which was very light for a dumbbell.

Farfetch'd nodded and started working out with it, huffing and puffing. Since there weren't any customers at the moment, Heath sat in his chair and watched him exercise.

"Fifteen... twenty..." Heath was counting Farfetch'd's repetitions when Farfetch'd put down the dumbbell and collapsed onto the floor, utterly drained.

"Onion says he's too tired. He'll work out again tomorrow." Zorua translated again, then made sure to remind Heath that she wanted large chunks of chicken.

Heath didn't know whether to laugh or cry as he looked at Farfetch'd. Good grief. Other people worked for three days and slacked off for two, but Farfetch'd worked for three minutes and slacked off for a day or two.

Heath shook his head helplessly. Still, he wasn't sure whether building muscle actually helped Pokémon. It wasn't a big deal if Farfetch'd didn't work out. After all, his Farfetch'd was already very strong.

Just as Heath was about to get back to serving customers, Zorua suddenly sprang up and stared warily in one direction. Heath looked down in confusion and saw that she was watching a cabinet.

"What's wrong?" Heath asked Zorua.

"The cabinet door just moved," Zorua said seriously.

"You mean the 'I'm done playing, my cabinet just moved' kind of moved?" Heath chuckled as he referenced a meme, apparently forgetting that people in this world wouldn't know it. All he got was a disdainful look from Zorua.

Heath pursed his lips. No fun at all. Then he reached out and opened the cabinet door. Inside, where he had put the fitness equipment set, a Charmander was struggling to open the box without much success.

Charmander was earnestly trying to pry the toolbox lid open, but it was locked so securely that he couldn't open it at all.

"So focused." Heath watched Charmander with a strange expression. Even with Heath crouching right beside him, the little guy kept trying to open the box, completely oblivious to his presence.

I went to help with housework today! I was busy until evening and only then had time to write, so the update was a little late.

Also, I actually made up the name Ma Zhide based on Lt. Surge's Chinese name. I didn't expect it to overlap with an existing name. He's not the one from Pokémon Sword and Shield!