In his four years of wandering, Heath summed up that Viridian City was the liveliest and the best time for business was during the morning rush and lunchtime. Although dinner time was also good, Heath had to return home to take care of Officer Jenny in the evenings, so he didn't operate his business at night.
After the busy morning rush subsided, Heath found himself relatively free. Occasionally, passersby were mostly in a hurry, some even nibbling on biscuits while running fast, likely afraid of being late for work.
"Growl~" Heath paused upon hearing the sound, leaned out of his food truck to take a look, and then saw an Arcanine less than two meters tall sticking out its tongue happily at him.
This Arcanine was a bit different from ordinary ones. It looked a bit older and was dressed in a green vest with the words "Pokémon Post Office" printed on it. Heath chuckled upon recognizing it—a familiar old friend.
"Arcanine, coming to buy something to eat again?" Heath smiled at the Arcanine in front of him. The Arcanine wagged its tail joyfully, reminiscent of a healing smile like that of a cute Shiba Inu from a previous life.
Heath wasn't surprised but took out a chicken leg from his cabinet, placed it on a cutting board, made a few cuts, added cooking wine for marination, kneaded it to infuse flavors quickly, then coated it with breadcrumbs and fried it in oil.
While Heath was frying the chicken leg, Arcanine sat obediently outside his food truck, occasionally casting vigilant glances at the pedestrians. When it encountered pedestrians carrying large bags and suitcases, it even felt an urge to sniff around.
Heath remained unperturbed by Arcanine's behavior. He and Old Wind had known each other for over two years now, developing a tacit understanding. Whenever Heath saw Old Wind, he knew what it wanted to eat.
Heath placed the fried chicken leg aside, then stir-fried a dish of vegetable egg fried rice. Placing the chicken leg on top, he then carried it out in a disposable plastic container and handed it to Arcanine.
"Growl~" Arcanine smiled happily. Heath had given it a generous portion, considering Arcanine's size.
Arcanine rubbed against Heath, leaving him amused. He felt like he was holding a giant plush toy. However, Arcanine was exceptionally clean, lacking the typical odor of larger dogs.
"Yes yes, you pay yourself," Heath said, looking at the small bag hanging around Arcanine's neck, then opened it, counted the money inside, collected it, and then closed the bag.
"Isn't this big guy supposed to be in the dormitory? Huh? Why doesn't he recognize me?" Zorua jumped off the chair, curious about the Arcanine in front of him.
Arcanine stuck out its tongue at Zorua, friendly wagging its tail.
"This isn't Maple's Arcanine, this is Arcanine, our retired old buddy from Viridian City," Heath chuckled, patting Arcanine's head. Arcanine closed its eyes, enjoying the attention.
Seeing Heath put away his hand, Arcanine couldn't wait to move forward, then lowered its head and approached Heath, who could only smile and continue rubbing Arcanine's head.
Perhaps this was a common hobby among dogs. Although Arcanine was a Pokémon, it behaved much like an ordinary dog in this respect, enjoying being petted on the head by people it felt close to.
"Retired? Does retirement still require working? It's tough," Zorua leaned on the table, looking at the Arcanine in front of him. He didn't quite understand what that meant, but Arcanine seemed to be working hard.
"Arcanine wanted to find something to do, so Officer Mei, the current head of the Police Force, found it a job as a postal carrier at the post office," Heath said, rubbing Arcanine's head again. Rubbing Arcanine's head was very comfortable, like touching a large plush toy.
After playing with Heath for a while, Arcanine happily carried its lunch box and left. It still had to return to the post office later to see if there were any letters that needed delivering.
Heath smiled as he watched Arcanine's departing figure. Arcanine was a five-star postal carrier in Viridian City, never late or negligent in delivering letters, and quite capable. Occasionally, it even assisted in its old line of work on the streets, successfully catching a few petty criminals.
Well, compared to the trafficking of Pokémon and kidnapping of scientists prevalent in other cities, petty theft in Viridian City was already considered a serious crime. That explosion at the chemical plant had even attracted a lot of attention.
Heath had even heard some customers coming to buy breakfast talk about it. Some even suspected that Team Rocket wanted to establish their own secret base in Viridian City, thus inciting such incidents to announce their arrival.
Heath almost couldn't help but laugh at their words. Would Mr. Giovanni agree with what you said?
Thinking of Mr. Giovanni, Heath couldn't help but glance in the direction of the Viridian City Gym. Mr. Giovanni should have already started teaching and enlightening people, right? After all, it was already time for the Gym to open.
"Sabrina? Why are you here again?" Giovanni sat on a chair in his own living room, looking blankly at Sabrina in front of him. Didn't he ask Sabrina to go back and handle the gym properly?
"There's something to report." Sabrina looked expressionlessly at Giovanni, then took out a letter from her pocket.
Seeing that it was serious, Giovanni immediately became serious. He put down the breakfast in his hand and looked at Sabrina sternly, while his left hand continued to stroke the head of Persian.
However, Sabrina's eyes became strange, but she still dutifully reported her work, occasionally stealing glances at Giovanni.
There was a red mark on the corner of Giovanni's mouth, probably tomato sauce, but Giovanni didn't notice the problem.
After finishing the work report, Giovanni gave Sabrina some instructions on the next work arrangement, then waved his hand to let Sabrina go back.
However, Sabrina didn't rush back. Instead, she walked up to Giovanni, who looked at her in confusion, holding breakfast in his hand, ready to continue eating.
Just as Giovanni was about to say something, he suddenly felt as if his stomach had been seized by something, a pain spreading through.
"Sigh, Sabrina, what are you doing?" Giovanni didn't need to guess who did it.
Sabrina looked at Giovanni in confusion. Wasn't this a way to catch a man's heart?
(End of Chapter)