Pokemon: With Title System

Chapter 45: Call Me the Slot Machine Sage

"That's amazing!" Green exclaimed, stunned that Asahi had hit the jackpot on his first try.

Even Asahi stared at the pile of tokens spilling out of the machine, dumbfounded.

Was his luck turning around? Or was this because of his earlier commotion? Could Team Rocket have adjusted the odds, giving him a taste of victory to keep him quiet?

He wasn't sure.

But there was a simple way to find out.

He pulled the lever again, repeatedly hitting the buttons.

The reels spun and stopped.

Ding ding ding!

7, 7, 7.

Another jackpot. More tokens poured out of the machine.

Asahi had barely begun, and he had already hit two jackpots in a row. The other patrons playing nearby stopped what they were doing, turning to stare at him in amazement.

Asahi ignored their looks, though inwardly, he was just as bewildered. While he'd always considered himself somewhat lucky, he'd never thought of himself as a jackpot-hitting legend.

The only plausible explanation was that Team Rocket had indeed adjusted the odds, hoping to pacify him.

But honestly, Asahi found their approach annoying.

His original plan had been to lose all his tokens quickly, giving him a reason to visit the front desk and investigate. Now, with all these winnings, losing it all had become far more difficult.

"Well, let's see if they'll keep letting me win," Asahi muttered, pulling the lever again.

Ding ding ding!

Ten minutes later...

A crowd had formed around Asahi's machine.

"This is insane!"

"I've been coming here for a year and never seen anything like this!"

"A year? Try ten years—I've never seen this happen!"

"Hey, do you have a secret trick or something?"

Amid the whispers, Asahi glanced at the overflowing box of tokens beside him, deep in thought.

Something was definitely off.

In just ten minutes, he had hit 777 thirty times in a row at a pace of one pull every twenty seconds. This wasn't a coincidence.

"Could the machine be broken?"

Asahi wasn't the only one entertaining that idea. Back in the surveillance room, the Team Rocket security chief watching him had the same thought.

In fact, they had noticed Asahi the moment he hit three jackpots in a row. Initially, they chalked it up to luck and adjusted the machine's settings to lower his odds of winning.

But to their shock, even with the odds lowered, Asahi kept hitting jackpots—30 in a row.

No one had ever done this in the game corner's history.

Some staff members suspected Asahi of cheating with psychic abilities. However, the slot machines were equipped with alarms to detect tampering, and their psychic inspector, Slowbro, reported no abnormal psychic activity.

Their suspicions were unfounded.

"Can't we just set his odds to zero?" the security chief asked one of the technicians.

The technician shook his head. "We can't... To pass the League's routine inspections, the lowest we can set the odds is one in 4,096."

"Professionally speaking, my suggestion is to make him switch machines."

If not for the earlier commotion, they might have simply kicked Asahi out.

But after publicly declaring that winnings would always be honored, ejecting him now would destroy the game corner's reputation.

The security chief nodded. It wasn't a perfect solution, but it would have to do.

He pulled out his walkie-talkie and issued an order. "Keep an eye on Machine 13. Find a way to get him to switch."

---

Back at the game corner, Asahi hit the jackpot once again. Just as the tokens began pouring out, a staff member approached, accompanied by a technician.

"Apologies, sir, but we need to perform maintenance on this machine. Would you mind moving to another one?"

The announcement caused the onlookers to exchange knowing looks.

"So that's why! The machine must be broken!"

"Everything makes sense now."

Their faces were filled with jealousy. Why couldn't they have discovered the bugged machine instead?

Green opened her mouth to say something, but Asahi stopped her, signaling her to hold back.

He turned to the staff member. "So you're saying the machine is faulty? What happens to the tokens I've won?"

"Everything you've won is yours to keep. And we'll also return any credits you've stored in the machine," the staff member assured him.

This generous response mollified the surrounding patrons. From their perspective, the game corner was handling the situation responsibly. If Asahi continued to argue, he'd seem unreasonable.

"Fair enough," Asahi said, standing up without further fuss.

The staff member looked surprised. He had braced himself for a heated argument and didn't expect Asahi to be so cooperative.

"Alright, show's over!"

With Asahi leaving the machine, the crowd began dispersing. The faulty slot machine was temporarily taken offline. Still, the spectacle would no doubt become the talk of the town for weeks.

Green followed Asahi to another machine, her expression puzzled.

"Why didn't you let me say something? That was a great chance to push them!" she asked.

Asahi smiled. "I stopped you because I have a better plan. Do you really think the machine was faulty?"

Green tilted her head. "It wasn't?"

"Of course not!"

Initially, Asahi had thought it might be a malfunction. But then, he'd accidentally touched the Lucky Coin hanging around his neck and realized the truth.

His incredible luck was entirely thanks to the Lucky Coin!

Seeing Green's confusion, Asahi chuckled. "You know, I have a nickname—'The Slot Machine Sage.'"

He pulled the lever on the new machine.

The reels spun, and Asahi casually tapped the buttons.

The reels stopped.

Ding ding ding!

7, 7, 7.

The familiar sound rang out once more. Green's jaw dropped, and the surrounding patrons turned to stare.

In the surveillance room, the security chief's heart sank as he watched.

"This can't be happening..."