Chapter Summaries

Heath and his Pokémon visited Celadon City's enormous department store, where they explored its many attractions and bought rare ingredients. He learned that a key local specialty, the Rainbow Jade Bird, was extinct, complicating his plans to complete Celadon City's City Achievement Mission.

• Heath, Cynthia, and the Pokémon admired the department store's size and discussed its many floors, shops, and security measures.
• Zoroark excitedly described the gaming floors, while Charizard and Kirlia showed interest in training equipment and clothing.
• Cynthia took Heath by the hand and led him into the store, lifting his spirits as he reflected on the family he had found in this world.
• Heath bought specialty foods, including Ho-Oh Fruit from Johto and rare black vegetables from Unova.
• Heath discovered that the Rainbow Jade Bird, a Celadon City specialty, was extinct and realized his City Achievement Mission would be difficult to complete.

After shopping and securing a prime vending spot, Heath reopened his food truck and met a strange customer who asked about medicinal cuisine. The man’s complicated emotions and fixed stare at Cynthia left Heath and Kirlia puzzled.

• Heath bought supplies at the department store, then applied for a vending permit with Cynthia and received a prime location.
• Cynthia asked whether Heath grew tired of serving customers, and Heath said he had grown used to the work.
• As Heath reopened the food truck, a vacant-looking man stared at him from outside before entering and fixing his gaze on Cynthia.
• Heath asked what the man wanted, and the man asked whether the food truck served medicinal cuisine.
• Kirlia sensed destruction, sadness, sorrow, indifference, and other conflicting emotions in the man as Heath confirmed that medicinal cuisine was on the menu.

Heath learned that Leon had sought medicinal cuisine made with arsenic, while a girl warned him not to sell Leon anything poisonous. Leon returned to his struggling home, where his neighbors discussed his financial hardship and the burdens of his family’s illness.

• Leon asked Heath for medicinal cuisine made with arsenic, but Heath said he had none, and Leon left.
• A girl ordered beer and fried chicken, then warned Heath not to sell Leon anything poisonous.
• Leon hurried back to his residential complex as he heard someone inside crying out in pain and cursing.
• Four neighbors discussed Leon’s low wages, mounting expenses, and the high cost of medicine.

Heath closed his food truck after helping the drunken Minai get home, then watched a report about a suspicious wildfire in Xiawei with Cynthia. The League was investigating why poor residents’ homes had burned while wealthy estates remained largely untouched.

• Heath found Minai dancing alone as if she had an invisible partner, then called her father to take her home.
• Heath returned to the Lounge and watched Cynthia defeat Zoroark repeatedly in a game.
• Heath turned on the television and saw a report about a devastating wildfire in Xiawei.
• Cynthia pointed out that wealthy residents’ homes had escaped the fires while ordinary people’s homes were destroyed, suggesting possible land-grabbing motives.
• Heath said that if the wealthy had caused the fires, the incident could become one of the League’s biggest scandals.

Heath opened his food truck early and served Miss Minai, who returned to thank him for helping her while she was drunk. After ordering Crab Roe Noodles, she asked what she had said the previous night, and Heath reassured her while mentioning her worries about Leon.

• Heath decided not to visit the vegetable market and opened his food truck for the day.
• Miss Minai arrived early, thanked Heath for helping her the night before, and ordered Crab Roe Noodles.
• Heath prepared and served Miss Minai a steaming bowl of Crab Roe Noodles.
• Miss Minai asked whether she had said anything strange while drunk, and Heath told her she had spoken about how hard things had been for Leon.
• Miss Minai relaxed at Heath's answer, but her expression turned troubled when she thought about Leon.

Leon struggled to care for his chronically ill mother, whose pain and insults left him emotionally exhausted and financially strained. He left for work hoping a medicine might restore her health, and decided to visit Heath’s food truck during his lunch break.

• Miss Minai asked Heath whether her words the day before had caused trouble, then began explaining herself as Leon cared for his mother.
• Leon helped his mother soak her feet, dried her legs, and rubbed Honghua Oil on them before leaving for work.
• Leon recalled his mother’s worsening unexplained illness, the money spent on hospital visits, and the painful things she said during her suffering.
• Leon rode to work, worrying about his finances and future while wishing his mother could be cured.
• Leon spotted Heath’s food truck from the bus and decided to visit it during his lunch break.

Heath learned that Leon’s mother suffered from Restless Legs Syndrome, a condition with few effective treatments, and considered whether his rare items could help her. After asking Cynthia about the illness, he discovered the League was developing a promising experimental medication and thought of recommending it to Leon.

• Heath asked Minai what illness Leon’s mother had, and Minai explained that Restless Legs Syndrome had no reliable cure and disrupted sleep.
• Heath researched the illness and learned that symptoms often worsened at night and eased with movement, while available care mainly treated symptoms.
• Heath considered using Ho-Oh’s feather or his weakened Life Flame to help Leon’s mother, but worried about the risks or wasting a powerful remedy.
• Heath asked Cynthia about Restless Legs Syndrome, and she told him that the League’s experimental medication had shown promising results for her archaeologist friend.
• Heath decided he might recommend that Leon’s mother try the medication, though he would need to discuss it with her first.

Heath reunited with Brock in Celadon City, where Brock explained that Heath’s fame had inspired other chefs to travel in food trucks. Heath invited Brock to eat, and Brock ordered Red-Braised Pork with Fried Tofu over rice and a Lemonade.

• Heath left Cynthia to reopen his food truck and serve customers while waiting for Leon and a chance to trigger his quest.
• Heath found Brock waiting at the counter and asked why he had come to Celadon City.
• Brock said he had recognized Heath’s food truck and nearly mistook it for one of Heath’s imitators.
• Brock told Heath that his fame had inspired many chefs to travel in food trucks.
• Heath offered Brock a meal, and Brock ordered Red-Braised Pork with Fried Tofu over rice and a Lemonade.

Heath learned that Brock’s father had run away, leaving Brock to care for his younger siblings and take over as Pewter City’s Gym Leader for beginner trainers. When Brock planned to surrender Larvitar to the League because he was out of money, Heath offered him an interest-free loan, and Brock chose to keep his partner.

• Heath asked Brock why he had come to Celadon City, and Brock said his father had run off without warning.
• Brock explained that the League had assigned him to inherit his father’s position as Pewter City’s Gym Leader and assess beginner trainers.
• Brock told Heath he planned to give Larvitar to the League as collateral because he had run out of money.
• Heath offered Brock an interest-free loan to support Larvitar and his younger siblings, and reminded him how hard it would be to part with Larvitar.
• Brock accepted Heath’s help and gratefully held Larvitar’s Poké Ball.

Heath helped Brock with a two-million bank card and cooked him a meal, easing the financial worries that had held Brock back. After Brock tearfully accepted the meal, Heath received a Cooking God's Heart Fragment and learned what the completed item could do.

• Heath told Brock he could repay the money later and said he looked forward to Brock becoming one of the Elite Four.
• Heath cooked Brock a heavily seasoned Red-Braised Pork with Fried Tofu and gave him a bank card containing two million.
• Brock thanked Heath, then said the dish was a little salty but delicious as he ate with tears on his face.
• Heath gave Brock space and received a hidden-quest reward: one Cooking God's Heart Fragment.
• Heath read that collecting all the fragments would let him master ingredient preparation and develop new dishes.

Brock left to address the League’s collateral agreement, while Heath considered the League’s cautious support for Brock and the mystery of Ash’s absent father. Heath then served lunch at his food truck, including a celebrity and a customer who discreetly ordered fourteen servings of Miltank milk and egg pudding.

• Brock hurried off, likely to cancel the League’s collateral agreement after the League had offered him only limited support.
• Heath reflected on why the League hesitated to help Brock and complained that Ash’s father had never appeared despite Ash’s many adventures.
• Heath began serving the arriving lunch crowd at his busy food truck, but no quest for extinct ingredients appeared.
• Heath recognized a relaxed customer as a celebrity who had starred in The Search for Yamper's Way Home.
• A man quietly ordered fourteen servings of Miltank milk and egg pudding and asked Heath to package them discreetly.

Heath prepared a discreet milk pudding for a middle-aged customer, then heard a woman ask whether his food truck could cater a company team-building event. The woman requested 540 boxed meals at 15 per meal, and Heath was left considering the unusually large order.

• Heath made a milk and egg pudding, concealed it in a paper bag, and handed it to a middle-aged man who hurried away while using his phone.
• Heath suspected the man might be a streamer but returned to serving his customers.
• Heath reflected on smartphone habits and criticized intrusive shake-to-view advertisements.
• A formally dressed woman asked Heath whether he accepted group meal bookings, and he agreed.
• The woman requested about 540 boxed meals, each with two meat dishes and two vegetable dishes, at a budget of 15 per meal, and Heath was surprised by the quantity.

Heath received an order for 540 boxed meals, but recognized the customer’s request to buy ingredients from a designated supplier as a scam. After the woman left, he reflected on similar fake orders and was left amused that scammers had tried their luck with him.

• Heath welcomed a woman’s offer to order 540 boxed meals for her company and asked when and where she needed them.
• The woman said the meals should be delivered to the entrance of Celadon City Natural Forest Park and claimed her employees’ dietary rules required special canned ingredients from a supplier chosen by the company.
• Heath recognized the demand as a restaurant scam, told the woman to leave or he would call the police, and she quickly departed.
• Heath explained how scammers used fake bulk orders to trick restaurants into buying overpriced ingredients or preparing meals for nonexistent customers.
• Heath laughed at the failed scam and noted that such criminals were difficult to catch.

Officer Chou asked Heath to supply three thousand boxed lunches for Celadon City’s annual fire safety and security drill, and he agreed to provide them at cost. While heading to the Super Department Store to buy supplies, Heath triggered a mission requiring all three thousand meals to meet an excellent standard for a reward of twenty live Celadon City Birds.

• Officer Chou asked Heath to prepare around three thousand boxed lunches for the next day’s drill, and Heath accepted the order.
• Heath decided to use the League’s twenty-per-person meal allowance to cover the lunches without making a profit.
• Heath calculated that he needed more lunch boxes and supplies, closed his food truck, and drove to Celadon City’s Super Department Store.
• Heath triggered a special mission requiring three thousand excellent boxed lunches, with twenty live Celadon City Birds as the reward.

Heath returned to the Super Department Store to buy ingredients for an order of three thousand meals, using Cynthia’s Champion discount to stock up. After the deliveries arrived, Mew quickly moved and organized everything in the Food Truck’s storage room, while Heath considered handing the mission’s extinct birds to the Jenny Family’s research institutions.

• Heath decided that if he obtained the Celadon City Birds, he could ask the Jenny Family to help research their revival.
• Cynthia learned that Heath had accepted an order for three thousand meals and realized how much preparation it would require.
• Heath bought large quantities of ingredients, rice, and seasonings at the Super Department Store, and Cynthia’s identity earned him a twenty percent discount.
• Heath and his Pokémon moved the deliveries into the Food Truck, with Mew using its Psychic powers to sort everything rapidly into storage.
• Heath praised Mew and petted it, and Mew suspiciously asked whether he was thinking something rude.
• Heath turned away from Mew and saw Cynthia watching a television drama starring Diantha.

Heath worked through the night preparing three thousand boxed meals for the Officer Jennys, using the Storage Room to keep them fresh until delivery. Cynthia helped pack the meals, and Heath planned to find a way to help May recover after she was hospitalized.

• Heath assigned Snorlax and Farfetch'd to prepare rice and steamed pork while he planned three meal varieties and checked the Officer Jennys' food allergies with Miss Chou.
• Heath prepared the first thousand boxed meals, then discovered a severe rainstorm warning and worried about May, who remained hospitalized after the shelter incident.
• Cynthia brought Heath pomelo water and rice porridge, then offered to help; Heath asked her to pack the meals instead.
• Cynthia and her Pokémon helped Heath finish packing the second thousand meals by two in the morning.
• Heath and Cynthia compared the difficulties of running a business and being a Champion as they continued working.

Heath recounted how his former classmate lost money trying to run a sausage stall, then reassured Cynthia that she could pursue archaeology. Cynthia made her feelings clear, and Heath affirmed he intended to marry her; their Pokémon quietly planned presents for the next day.

• Heath explained how his former classmate invested thousands in a sausage stall, failed to compete, and returned to work at a loss.
• Heath joked that his classmate might have been better off spending the money on his Onmyoji game, but the classmate regretted buying Dark Seimei too.
• Cynthia asked Heath whether she should become an archaeologist, and he encouraged her to follow her interests.
• Cynthia pulled Heath back onto the bed and warned him not to let her down after she had worked up the courage to act.
• Heath told Cynthia he had always dated her with the intention of marrying her, while their Pokémon planned presents together in the living room.

Heath discovered that his and Cynthia’s Pokémon had secretly prepared all thousand boxed meals overnight, leaving them exhausted, and he made extra meals before preparing a light breakfast. Kirlia woke and greeted him as the morning began.

• Heath found the Pokémon asleep throughout the living room and decided not to wake them.
• Heath discovered a note explaining that Farfetch'd and the other Pokémon had made and stored the thousand boxed meals overnight.
• Heath prepared extra boxed meals of roast duck and roast chicken with vegetables to cover possible losses.
• Heath made century egg and lean pork congee for breakfast, keeping the meal light because the Pokémon had stayed up late.
• Kirlia bounded into the kitchen and cheerfully greeted Heath.

Heath learned from Kirlia that it was Kanto’s Valentine’s Day, a holiday he had forgotten while sharing breakfast with her. Remembering that he now had a girlfriend, he realized he would have to celebrate it.

• Heath found Kirlia awake and offered to share his century egg and lean pork congee with her.
• Heath learned from Kirlia that she and the other Pokémon had helped Senior Farfetch'd prepare his boxed meals.
• Heath felt embarrassed remembering that his Pokémon might have witnessed what happened between him and Cynthia.
• Kirlia told Heath that Senior Zoroark had said it was Valentine's Day.
• Heath realized it was Kanto’s Valentine’s Day and that, now that he had a girlfriend, he would have to celebrate it.

Heath planned a Valentine’s Day surprise for Cynthia, but his preparations were interrupted by Leon, a man he had met before and wanted to help. The chapter ended with Heath offering Leon mango sticky rice after learning he wanted soft, sticky food.

• Heath ordered sixty-six roses and decided to cook Cynthia a special Valentine’s Day lunch.
• Leon arrived at Heath’s food truck instead of the expected errand runner.
• Heath remembered Leon’s difficult circumstances and considered how he might help him without risking trouble involving Ho-Oh.
• Leon politely asked whether Heath served soft, sticky foods.
• Heath offered Leon mango sticky rice.