Chapter Thirty-Two: Mr. Fujiyama, the Muscle Monster

“But you can’t just show up like this. You’ll definitely be the most eye-catching guy in all of Evergreen City.” Heath looked at Zorua and admitted to himself that Zorua wasn’t a Pokémon from the Kanto region. Whenever a Pokémon from another region appeared, it was bound to attract the attention of other trainers.

“Hmm… then I’ll take this form.” Zorua thought about it seriously for a moment, then gave a sudden shake, and in the blink of an eye, a green caterpillar appeared where Zorua had just been. Then Zorua hopped onto Heath’s shoulder and settled down comfortably.

Heath glanced at the Zorua on his shoulder. He remembered Zorua had a bit of weight to her, but he barely felt anything. Heath guessed it must be a quirk of human constitution in the Pokémon world—after all, Ash the Super Rookie was always picking up Pokémon weighing dozens of kilograms and playing with them as if they were nothing.

Still, Heath was satisfied with Zorua’s transformation. At least she didn’t stand out anymore. At most, she just made Heath look like another Bug Catcher.

And Bug Catchers were the most common type of Pokémon trainer in all of Kanto. Bug-type Pokémon evolved quickly and could become battle-ready in no time. The key point, though, was that it saved money. Wherever there were forests, there were Bug-types, and they weren’t hard to catch.

Heath had once considered capturing a Bug-type Pokémon to fulfill his dream of becoming a trainer, but back then, debt had kept him too busy to think about it.

“Hey! Heath! You’re up early today!” After Heath had bought his groceries at the market and pushed his cart to his usual vending spot, he saw two figures running toward him from afar. The taller of the two greeted him enthusiastically.

“Good morning, Mr. Fujiwara. Out for your morning exercise as always?” Heath smiled at Mr. Fujiwara. Although it was still dark, Mr. Fujiwara had already begun his daily training routine.

Mr. Fujiwara was the head of a small association in Evergreen City. Unlike those big organizations like the Cute Pokémon Club, Mr. Fujiwara’s association had very few members. Not everyone could meet his standards for joining.

“You know what they say: life is in the movement and the training. If you weren’t busy with your business, I’d have dragged you into the club already.” Mr. Fujiwara chuckled, standing before Heath. Bathed in the warm glow of the streetlamp, his exaggerated muscles gave the impression that a Machoke was standing in front of Heath.

But in fact, a Machamp was indeed standing by his side—a female Machamp, with an absurdly developed chest and bulging muscles. Heath figured she could probably punch with hundreds of kilograms of force.

Heath still remembered the first time he’d learned Mr. Fujiwara’s Machamp was female. He’d been stunned. Machamp’s build made it hard to tell any difference in gender, but Mr. Fujiwara was certain, so Heath had simply accepted it.

“No, no, Mr. Fujiwara, you know I’m not interested in training… Are you sticking to your usual routine today?” Heath waved his hands quickly, not wanting to endure Mr. Fujiwara’s “torture.”

Mr. Fujiwara had founded the Muscle Club, whose only motto was: “Life is in motion, and muscles make man beautiful.” His membership requirements were strict: up at five every morning for training until seven, then training again at noon and in the evening—a total of six hours a day.

Because of these harsh standards, the Muscle Club only had four members so far.

“Yep, same as always! I’ll leave it to you!” Mr. Fujiwara said energetically, grabbing a stone bench nearby and starting to do weighted squats.

“My goodness, are you sure that guy’s human? Are you positive he’s not a Machamp in disguise? What kind of strength is that?” Zorua stared at Mr. Fujiwara in shock. That stone must have weighed at least several dozen kilograms—a hundred, even!

Heath nodded. He’d been just as shocked the first time he saw it. But after giving it a try himself, he found it wasn’t quite as astonishing as he’d thought.

“Is it that scary? I thought that stone was pretty light,” Heath remarked to the Zorua on his shoulder. He’d tried it and found it easy to lift.

Zorua gave her trainer a strange look. She suddenly remembered how hard Heath had knocked her on the head the night before. That strength really was impressive.

Heath didn’t notice his Pokémon’s look. He was busy preparing breakfast. Mr. Fujiwara’s breakfast order was always the same—large portions, to be precise. Every time, he wanted three pancakes each with five eggs, a big slab of grilled chicken breast, and a vegetable salad.

If it were Heath, that would be enough food for an entire day, but for Mr. Fujiwara, it was just a single meal. Heath began to suspect this might be the secret behind Mr. Fujiwara’s incredible physique.

Meanwhile, Farfetch’d was helping Heath slice the chicken breast. As Heath requested, Farfetch’d used its leek stalk to cut the meat into strips for easier handling.

After spending some time together, Heath had grown quite familiar with Farfetch’d’s knife skills—they were excellent, even capable of the most delicate tofu cuts. The only issue was that anything sliced with the leek always picked up a strong onion flavor, so Heath had to be careful about what ingredients and recipes he chose for it.

“Mr. Fujiwara, your breakfast is ready.” Heath wiped the sweat from his brow. Serving Mr. Fujiwara so early in the morning was always a unique blend of joy and pain.

“Great—thank you, Heath! Your breakfasts are truly the source of life.” Mr. Fujiwara dropped the stone bench with a thud, sending up a cloud of dust, then took the bag Heath handed him.

He handed over a hundred League coins, the price of his breakfast. Unless Heath raised his prices, a meal here was always a hundred coins.

Heath accepted the payment with a cheerful smile. Even though his debts were already paid off, the sight of money never failed to lift his spirits.

“What a beautiful day,” Heath said, stretching. He was already looking forward to his customers today.