An Important Clue?

The Gym in Viridian City was arguably the first Gym people encountered after leaving Pallet Town, and Giovanni of the Earth was renowned throughout the League.

Precisely because of that, trainers often gathered outside the Viridian Gym in large numbers. Most were collecting Pokémon Badges in preparation for challenging the Indigo League.

Aside from this place, Heath figured the Pokémon Center would probably have the next-largest gathering of trainers. But since the Pokémon Center was farther from his location, he decided to come to the Gym instead.

As soon as Heath arrived at the Viridian City Gym, he saw plenty of trainers. Some had Pidgey, others had Oddish, and one or two even had Vileplume.

A peculiar smell wafted through the area, making Heath cover his mouth.

How had he forgotten that, with the Viridian Gym being such a famous Ground-type Gym, most people would choose to bring Grass-type and Water-type Pokémon?

There were bound to be trainers with Gloom among them. Come to think of it, Gloom had it pretty rough as a Pokémon. Its unmistakable smell had earned it a spot on the list of Pokémon that could not be let out in cities.

Then there were Pokémon like Grimer and Koffing. Overly heavy Pokémon such as Snorlax and Onix were not allowed either.

"I should've brought a mask... this is killing me." Heath touched the Poké Ball at his waist, but to complete his task, he had no choice but to set up his food cart here.

Perhaps because Gloom's smell was just so wonderful, not many people felt like eating. Heath only got his first customer after the trainer with Gloom went inside to challenge the Gym.

These trainers looked much the same as ordinary customers, and there was nothing particularly special about serving them. After keeping busy for a while, Heath had served nine customers.

Some customers earned Heath a piece of Candy, while others earned him nothing. He did not really understand how his cheat ability decided whether to give him a reward.

"Hi, can you make food for Pokémon here?" At the unfamiliar voice, Heath looked up. It was a little boy who looked rather full of himself, with a necklace around his neck.

"I can, but would your Pokémon like it?" Heath nodded hesitantly. The boy in front of him looked about Ash's age.

Still, Heath did not confidently promise that he could cater to the boy's Pokémon. When he had served Charizard earlier, he had discovered that different Pokémon had different tastes. Besides, even among humans, some liked fried rice and Jianbing Guozi while others did not, let alone Pokémon.

Heath was no Superman. He could not make everyone like his food.

"All the trainers who bought your food looked pretty happy with it, so it should be fine, right?" The boy nodded confidently.

The corner of Heath's mouth twitched. What exactly was this boy thinking? Still, since the customer had said that, Heath did not mind making him a portion. First, though, he needed to find out what Pokémon the boy had.

"Then what Pokémon do you have?" Heath asked the boy. Pokémon had different preferences when it came to flavor, and those differences showed in their tastes in Berries.

Of course, not every Pokémon liked the same kind of Berry. Some were unusual, like the Charizard Heath had just served, who liked sweet food.

"I-I don't have a Pokémon yet! But with Pokémon food, I'm sure I can catch one!" The boy looked very confident. Heath pursed his lips. He had no Pokémon, yet he was here buying food?

"If you don't have a Pokémon, I can't guarantee the food will work. You should think it over." Heath shook his head and did not agree to the boy's request.

"I just want a serving of that, uh... egg fried rice!" The boy pulled fifteen League dollars from his pocket and handed them to Heath, leaving him rather helpless.

But now that the customer had paid, refusing did not seem appropriate. Heath could only make a serving of egg fried rice the same way he would for a human, pack it into a box, and hand it to the boy. The boy took the fried rice and ran off excitedly.

Heath shook his head. The boy probably did not count as a trainer, and Heath had not received a task completion notification, so he continued waiting quietly outside the Viridian City Gym.

There were still plenty of people at the Viridian City Gym, but many who came out looked dejected. Only some looked happy. Their expressions told Heath how their challenges had gone.

"Could Giovanni have gotten so fed up with the hassle that he went off to focus on running Team Rocket?" Heath watched the stream of people before him with a strange expression. There were far too many of them.

[You served Blue and received one Farfetch'd Candy.]

The text box popped up without warning. Heath's hand jerked, and he nearly flung his spatula into his customer's face. He glanced at the trainer before him, an older man.

No matter how he looked at him, this man did not look like Blue. And Heath had only handed fried rice to one boy just now, so that boy had been Blue?

Heath was a little bewildered, but that did not stop him from quickly finishing the fried rice for the trainer in front of him, taking the money, and putting it in his pocket.

[You served ten trainers and received one random important clue.]

[Rumor has it that someone saw a white figure running extremely fast in Viridian Forest.]

The two text boxes popped up, leaving Heath momentarily stunned. Before he could give them much thought, other starving trainers followed the aroma over. To serve his customers, Heath had to put the notification out of his mind for the time being.

It was still afternoon when Heath sold out of food. He hurriedly packed up his food cart, then headed toward the place where he lived.

"A white figure running extremely fast? What the heck is that?" Heath was rather puzzled. Since this important clue had come from his cheat ability, it surely had some special significance. He just could not work out what it meant.

But at least he had a location: Viridian Forest.

"Farfetch'd! Farfetch'd!" Farfetch'd flew beside Heath, circling him and calling nonstop.

Heath felt a headache coming on. Farfetch'd still refused to give up and kept wanting to learn how to make Jianbing Guozi. Heath figured that if he had Farfetch'd's perseverance in trying again after every failure, his graduate school entrance exams would have been a breeze.

"Yes, yes, I'll buy it for you in a bit!" Heath felt rather helpless. He had to pacify Farfetch'd first before he could think about the clue.