Chapter Summaries

Heath prepared eel rice for a delivery order, then listened as Saya complained that browsing Aila’s trending topics had made the world seem dark. He served her yellow-braised chicken and rice and explained his made-up term, “Trash Can Syndrome,” for letting online negativity distort one’s view of the world.

• Heath prepared Morty’s eel rice delivery while serving customers, then packed the completed orders for a Golbat delivery worker.
• Saya arrived at Heath’s food truck, ordered food, and admitted she was upset by what she saw on Aila.
• Heath identified Saya’s mood as “Trash Can Syndrome,” which he described as the effect of reading so much online garbage that the world itself starts to seem like garbage.
• Heath cited criticism of Lady Agatha’s granddaughter as an example and told Saya not to judge Agatha as a bad person because of it.

Heath served Saya soup while searching for a way to cook Edible Quartz, then chatted with Jessie about his lack of hobbies as he prepared her meal. The conversation ended abruptly when Sabrina appeared before him, visibly embarrassed and murderous.

• Heath recognized Saya as the runaway girl from Viridian City who had concealed her identity, then searched the Indigo League's history for a way to cook Edible Quartz.
• Jessie arrived and ordered Yellow-Braised Chicken with rice and milk tea, while Saya remained distracted.
• Jessie asked Heath about his hobbies and suggested he visit the Indigo League's haunted house, but Heath said he was not interested.
• Jessie and Saya teased Heath for living like an old man, and Heath insisted that cooking counted as a hobby.
• Sabrina suddenly appeared before Heath with an embarrassed, murderous expression, and he asked whether she wanted something to eat.

Heath served lunch to Giovanni, Sabrina, and Mr. Brock at Indigo League headquarters while the Gym Leaders gathered for a meeting. Saya then excitedly challenged Mr. Brock to a battle, leaving the story poised for their match.

• Giovanni explained that the League had summoned the Gym Leaders to discuss badge reforms and flexible battles.
• Heath recognized Mr. Brock as Brock's father, and Mr. Brock said Brock had praised Heath's cooking.
• Giovanni and Mr. Brock ordered yellow-braised chicken, while Sabrina silently chose the same meal as Giovanni.
• Jessie grew tense eating across from Giovanni and planned to rely on takeout while he remained in town.
• Saya eagerly asked Mr. Brock to battle.

Heath served Yellow-Braised Chicken to Brock, Giovanni, and Sabrina while they discussed Viridian City and the League’s upcoming Qingming Festival. Giovanni revealed that Sinnoh Champion Cynthia would visit Kanto the next day, leaving Heath curious about the League gathering.

• Brock explained that challengers had to register in Pewter City and pass a mineral identification test before challenging his Gym, prompting Saya to flee in embarrassment.
• Heath served Yellow-Braised Chicken, and Brock and Giovanni praised the meal as they ate.
• Heath told Giovanni that Cord had bought takeaway food, then received Morty’s message about an order for eel rice and replied to clarify the details.
• Giovanni reflected on Team Rocket’s need for an opportunity and considered Mew’s Genetic Clone Project its path to challenging the League.
• Giovanni said the Indigo League’s gathering the next day would be interesting, and Brock explained that newly crowned Sinnoh Champion Cynthia was coming to Kanto as part of a League tradition.

Heath reflected on his predecessor’s painful memories of being ignored by Aunt Xiluo’s wealthy relatives. When Xiluo approached him, she revealed she wanted to know where he got his Giant Purple Crab, and Heath brushed her off with an absurd answer.

• Giovanni discussed Cynthia’s strength and the pressure she placed on Lance, while Heath thought of other rising talents and returned to serving customers.
• After Giovanni, Sabrina, and Brock left, Heath’s food truck became exceptionally busy.
• Aunt Xiluo introduced herself to Heath, and he remembered diary entries describing how she had excluded his family from his eldest uncle’s funeral.
• Heath asked whether Xiluo wanted something to eat, and she admitted she wanted to know where he had gotten the Giant Purple Crab.
• Heath claimed the crab came from a friend named Dagu from the M78 Nebula, leaving Xiluo bewildered.

Heath served a shy boy named Kailunya, who admired Charmander, and received a book called Detailed Psychology. After hearing a troubling rumor about an incident in the Johto League, Heath spotted Mimikyu hiding by the dormitory parking lot drainpipe.

• Xiluo asked Heath for Dagu's contact information, but Heath teased her and moved on to serving customers.
• Heath served Kailunya ten large grilled meat skewers and learned the boy had saved enough money to get a Charmander as his starter Pokémon.
• Heath received the book Detailed Psychology after serving Kailunya and dismissed it as uninteresting.
• Heath overheard two Officer Jennys mention a frightening Johto League incident that had caused a second call center operator to develop psychological problems.
• Heath noticed Mimikyu's yellow ears sticking out from a drainpipe and thought of a way to have fun with it.

Heath encountered a filthy stray Mimikyu and later heard about eerie emergency calls that had frightened call-center operators, but he chose not to investigate. He left the mystery unresolved and planned to buy more eels the next day to practice deboning for Morty's order.

• Heath spotted Mimikyu hiding in a sewer, but it fled before he could approach it.
• While serving dinner to the Officer Jennys, Heath heard that eerie emergency calls had frightened operators and could only be traced to Johto League territory.
• Zorua asked Heath about the calls, and he searched online as rumors blamed everything from ghosts to Darkrai.
• Heath decided not to investigate the calls and planned to buy more eels tomorrow to practice deboning for Morty's order.

Heath woke to find Mew lifting weights beside Charmander, then prepared a new breakfast and discovered it had triggered a quest. After buying ingredients, including spring bamboo shoots, he continued his daily routine while waiting for Jing to confirm the Exploud assignment.

• Heath woke with Zorua asleep on his chest and found Mew secretly lifting a dumbbell beside Charmander.
• Heath learned from Zorua that Mew had arrived that morning while Charmander worked out.
• Heath made vegetable and lean pork congee, triggering the Variety Breakfast quest, which required a different breakfast each day.
• Heath ate breakfast, then took Zorua and Farfetch'd out to buy groceries while Charmander trained and Snorlax practiced mountain folk songs.
• Heath restocked ingredients and bought spring bamboo shoots while waiting for Jing to give him the exact time for the Exploud assignment.

Heath prepared sour bamboo shoots while serving breakfast at his food truck, where he stepped in when Kailunya was bullied by three boys. After driving them off and giving Kailunya advice, Heath received a book on criminal psychology for serving him.

• Heath began preparing sour bamboo shoots, but Farfetch'd had not finished the Crab Roe Soup Dumplings when Kailunya arrived for breakfast.
• Kailunya ordered a Jianbing Guozi with an egg because his class was about to start.
• Three boys surrounded Kailunya and demanded food, so Heath intervened and lifted two of them by their clothes.
• The leader drew a fake butterfly knife, but Heath disarmed him and punched a crater into the pavement beside his face, frightening the boys into leaving.
• Heath gave Kailunya his Jianbing Guozi and told him to stand up for himself, then Kailunya left.
• Heath received the book "Criminal Psychology" as a reward for serving Kailunya.

Heath practiced preparing Lava Eel and let Farfetch'd try, but Farfetch'd mangled the eel, so Heath turned it into curry fish balls. Giovanni visited and ordered noodles with gravy, which Heath prepared and served.

• Heath timed his Lava Eel preparation at one minute and two seconds and resolved to improve his speed.
• Farfetch'd tried to remove an eel's skeleton but chopped the meat into paste, so Heath comforted him and decided to use it for fish balls.
• Giovanni arrived and discussed curry with Heath before ordering noodles with gravy.
• Heath served Giovanni noodles topped with diced braised tofu and chicken, and Giovanni began mixing them.

Heath focused on serving customers instead of going to see Cynthia, the newly crowned Sinnoh Champion, even after Giovanni told him she planned to battle a randomly chosen trainer. As Cynthia’s car approached, Heath’s food truck grew busy amid the excited crowds.

• Heath spotted a bald man running past his food truck, then practiced deboning eels until he reached fifty-five seconds and ran out of eels.
• Giovanni told Heath that Cynthia was arriving and planned to choose a trainer from the crowd for a battle, but Heath declined to go watch.
• Giovanni considered challenging Cynthia, recalling her strength and Lance’s efforts to prepare for battling her, then left in a cheerful mood.
• Heath served the crowds that had gathered for Cynthia’s arrival and realized her car was about to pass along the street.

Heath served customers while Cynthia’s motorcade passed, then listened as Saya complained about the unusual requirements for Gym challenges and spoke of her ambition to become Champion. Morty arrived exhausted from overtime and accidentally revealed that his Machoke was his maid, leaving Heath stunned.

• Heath watched Cynthia’s motorcade pass on its way toward Victory Road and expected her exhibition match with Lance to follow.
• Saya told Heath she wanted to become League Champion but was frustrated by the extra tests required to earn Gym Badges.
• Heath prepared eel rice for Saya and encouraged her to keep working toward her goal.
• Morty arrived looking exhausted and ordered crab roe soup dumplings.
• Morty said his company kept him awake with Wake-Up Slap and mentioned that his Machoke maid helped wake him at home, shocking Heath.

Heath served Mr. Morty, who rhapsodized about his adorable Machoke maid and bought her Crab Roe Soup Dumplings. After Zorua transformed into a Machoke maid, Miss Saya mistakenly judged Heath’s tastes, and he received a Machoke Maid Enthusiast title.

• Heath asked Mr. Morty whether the Machoke maid at his company was really female.
• Mr. Morty described the Machoke maid as gentle and adorable, especially when she gave him a lap pillow and woke him with Wake-Up Slap.
• Mr. Morty ordered another serving of Crab Roe Soup Dumplings to take to the Machoke maid.
• Heath caught Zorua sneaking a dumpling, and Zorua transformed into a Machoke wearing a black maid outfit.
• Miss Saya misunderstood the scene and fled, while Heath received the Machoke Maid Enthusiast Honorary Title.

Heath noticed that his honorary title might attract maids, then turned away a religious missionary and considered a sales pitch for shared power banks. As business slowed during the tournament, he watched Cynthia face Lance’s Dragonite on a livestream.

• Heath read that his honorary title made him more likely to attract maids and worried about what kind might appear.
• A girl in a nun’s habit tried to recruit Heath to her faith, but he dismissed her and she approached another passerby.
• A salesman offered Heath payment to install Pikachu Street Power shared power banks on his food truck, but Heath declined after learning how they were charged.
• Heath served fewer customers while the Indigo League tournament drew crowds, and customers told him Lance had lost two Pokémon while Cynthia’s Togekiss had defeated two.
• Heath watched Cynthia send out Garchomp against Lance’s Dragonite, then put his phone away and returned his attention to his customers.

Zorua convinced Farfetch'd and Charmander that Snowman Snorlax wanted to become an idol and proposed a singer development plan based on Heath’s old song drafts. Meanwhile, Heath prepared grilled pig’s trotters as a new snack for his business, unaware of the Pokémon’s plan.

• Zorua secretly gathered Farfetch'd and Charmander in the lounge to discuss Snowman Snorlax listening to songs.
• Zorua found Heath’s old handwritten song drafts and declared that Heath intended to train Snowman Snorlax as a singer.
• Zorua revealed her Singer Development Plan, and Farfetch'd enthusiastically agreed while Charmander remained doubtful.
• Heath packed Morty and the others’ takeout, then began preparing braised pig’s trotters for grilling as a snack.
• Heath noticed that Farfetch'd had disappeared.

After a negotiated draw with Lance, Cynthia asked him to show her strong Trainers and was introduced to Giovanni, whom she wanted to battle. Giovanni brought her to meet Heath over lunch, leaving her identity concealed as a League friend.

• Cynthia and Lance’s exhibition battle ended in a draw arranged to satisfy both the Indigo and Sinnoh Leagues.
• Lance praised Cynthia’s strength and offered to show her around the Indigo League, and she asked to see strong Trainers.
• Lance named Giovanni as an outstanding Gym Leader with strength he considered comparable to the Elite Four.
• Lance brought Cynthia to Giovanni, who agreed to host her and heard that she wanted to battle him.
• Giovanni suggested they have lunch first, then introduced Cynthia to Heath as a friend from the League.

Heath served Giovanni and Cynthia, whose enthusiastic reactions to his cooking earned him a Special Lottery Ticket. He used it to obtain the Magic Conch, which might answer one question a day, and Cynthia asked him to make more pig trotters.

• Giovanni ordered his usual Yellow-Braised Chicken with rice and milk tea, then added a grilled pig trotter, while Cynthia ordered the same meal.
• Heath added extra chilies to Cynthia’s food after noticing her taste preferences, and she and Giovanni were delighted by his cooking.
• Serving Cynthia earned Heath a Special Lottery Ticket, which he used to obtain the Magic Conch.
• Heath put the conch away, and Giovanni praised his cooking while finishing a pig trotter.
• Cynthia asked Heath to make a few more pig trotters for her.

Heath served Cynthia grilled pig trotters while discussing Farfetch'd, then received more food orders and considered his Magic Conch. The chapter ended with Heath overhearing rumors of another dangerous incident at Silver High School and a bizarre accusation against Team Rocket.

• Cynthia asked Heath about Farfetch'd, and Heath explained that Farfetch'd was his first Pokémon and wanted to become a chef.
• Heath sold Cynthia grilled pig trotters, and she left with Giovanni.
• Heath received Morty's message about new food orders and saw that he was close to earning enough satisfaction points for the Giant Purple Crab.
• Heath asked the Magic Conch for the recipe for Edible Quartz, but it gave no answer.
• Two students told Heath that another dangerous incident had occurred at Silver High School and repeated a rumor that Team Rocket sacrificed students for Giovanni to eat.

Heath closed his food truck after serving Kailunya, who thanked him for defending him and somehow knew Heath’s name. Back at home, Kailunya hid three document envelopes inside his shadow and settled down in his book-filled room.

• Zorua asked Heath to take him to buy books, but Heath refused because Zorua had not yet been paid.
• Kailunya arrived at Heath’s food truck after school and bought an iced milk tea.
• Kailunya thanked Heath for standing up for him and addressed him by name, leaving Heath wondering how he knew it.
• Heath closed the food truck and headed toward the Officer Jennys’ dormitory while Kailunya returned home.
• Kailunya entered his room, put the milk tea aside, and used a hand emerging from his shadow to pull three document envelopes into it.

Heath cooked for the Officer Jennys and decided to unwind by visiting a Pokémon-world movie theater, while Zorua hoped to come along. The chapter ended with Heath unsure whether the theater allowed Pokémon inside.

• Heath used the Ingredient Identifier on Mew, whose description warned that eating it could cause atavism and mad cow disease, and Mew vanished after noticing him.
• Heath caught Zorua reading a suspicious manga and warned that possessing or viewing pornography could lead to prison under League regulations.
• While cooking in the Officer Jennys' cafeteria, Heath saw news about the three children who had bullied Kailunya getting into a fight.
• After serving dinner, Heath decided to see the upcoming fantasy movie The Day the Planet Lost Pokémon and told Zorua he would ask whether Pokémon could enter the theater.