Chapter Eighteen: Rock-Paper-Scissors—From Novice to Master

The beautiful girl with golden hair left with the little girl after their battle, and Heath had no intention of going up to ask questions. After all, considering yesterday's scene, there was simply no way an ordinary person could have done something like that. Unless, when that little girl appeared yesterday, some purple-skinned being happened to snap their fingers and turned her to dust, that scene could only have been the work of a Pokémon.

Heath stayed to watch several more battles at the arena, chalking up some extra combat experience for himself. Most of them were clumsy skirmishes between novices, but there were still some truly spectacular matches. The one that caught Heath’s eye the most was between two young trainers: Charizard versus Blastoise. In the end, Charizard overcame the type disadvantage and defeated Blastoise, claiming victory. Heath glanced curiously at Charizard’s trainer. A stranger’s face—probably not an important figure in the storyline.

“There really are hidden talents everywhere,” Heath said as he stretched lazily, then thanked the security guard for looking after him before wheeling his cart away from the battle hall.

It was nearly time to finish work. As usual, Heath planned to set up his stall for one last round of business to earn today’s final bit of money before returning to his dorm to rest. Although Heath already had his future path in mind, he’d still need to save up a small sum if he wanted to move to another city. Besides, he felt a pang of reluctance at the thought of saying goodbye to Sister Maple.

“Heath, one egg—hmm? Did you add something new to the menu? Is there still any of that braised pork?” A pleasant voice reached him, and Heath knew without looking who had arrived.

“Mrs. Lorie, of course there is. Would you like a serving?” Heath smiled at the elegant, striking woman before him. She looked to be in her forties, but her appearance was so youthful she could easily have passed for a twenty-three-year-old girl.

Heath had once tried to ask her age, but received nothing but a deathly glare in return. Her beautiful eyes made him break out in a cold sweat in the summer heat, and then she delivered her signature line: “Oh, I’m forever eighteen!” The words sounded familiar to Heath; he remembered some ancient lady thousands of years old who said the same...

Well, with things like transmigration happening, Heath decided it was better not to comment further.

Who knew what that eternally eighteen, youthful beauty might do otherwise?

“Of course I’ll take some! My daughter is finally coming home today, I’m so happy! Please give me two more to take away,” Mrs. Lorie said with a bright, stunning smile; her eyes seemed to hold a starry sky within them, captivating all who saw.

Heath, however, had no particular thoughts about Mrs. Lorie. He knew very well that this beautiful woman was a formidable figure. Mrs. Lorie was the strongest investigator in the Quartz League, once defeating a team of dozens of Pokémon hunters with just her six Pokémon. From that day, her name became famous throughout the Kanto region.

Many believed that Viridian City’s exceptionally low crime rate was closely linked to her residency there, though Heath suspected Giovanni had something to do with it as well.

“All right, just a moment,” Heath nodded. He’d heard Mrs. Lorie talk about her daughter before—a formidable Electric-type Pokémon expert in her twenties, apparently planning to challenge Lt. Surge for the position of Electric-type gym leader. Heath wasn’t too optimistic about her daughter’s chances, though. After all, even after Ash and Red set out on their journeys, wasn’t Lt. Surge still the gym leader?

Still, that wasn’t his business; Heath simply smiled as he prepared Mrs. Lorie’s braised pork rice, packed two extra servings, and handed them over. Mrs. Lorie didn’t reach out her hand, but a purple-black hand stretched out from behind her, taking the boxes.

Heath was hardly surprised; he took the payment from the hand and played a quick game of rock-paper-scissors with it, beating it once again.

“Gengar!” A Gengar emerged from behind Mrs. Lorie, cheeks puffed out in indignation.

“That’s hardly my fault,” Heath shrugged. Mrs. Lorie’s Gengar loved to play rock-paper-scissors with him. Though it lost frequently, that never stopped Gengar from challenging Heath every time they met.

“Counting this round, Gengar, it’s one hundred twenty-seven to three hundred forty-five between us,” Heath said, pulling out a small notebook and jotting down the score with a grin.

Gengar floated out, dissatisfied and ready for another round, but noticed Mrs. Lorie’s “kind” smile and quickly retreated, looking as dejected as a forty-kilogram chubby child.

“Heath, honestly, can’t you just let Gengar win for once? Last time we were on a mission, it complained to me about always losing to you,” Mrs. Lorie said, pinching the bridge of her nose in exasperation.

She now seriously regretted ever allowing Heath and Gengar to play rock-paper-scissors. Now, Gengar spent every day secretly studying the secrets to winning. It even had three hand-written booklets: “Beginner’s Guide to Rock-Paper-Scissors,” “Advanced Rock-Paper-Scissors,” and “Rock-Paper-Scissors: The Path to Mastery.” Together, they’d cost Gengar a total of three thousand league coins, and Gengar had paid willingly.

This greatly displeased Mrs. Lorie, but seeing Gengar’s “I got a bargain” expression, she could hardly find it in herself to protest.

And no matter how she looked at it, the handwriting in those three guides was not just similar to Heath’s—it was identical.

“Heh, I just did it at random... But this kind of unintentional winning technique, I found it in a book called ‘Rock-Paper-Scissors: The Master’s Secret Art,’” Heath said solemnly.

Immediately, Gengar’s big eyes glimmered with longing as it peeked out from behind Mrs. Lorie.

Mrs. Lorie took a deep breath. This little trickster! If she didn’t know Gengar was a willing victim—and that Heath had made it up to Gengar in other ways—she would have sworn to investigate exactly how much Heath had managed to fleece from her Gengar!