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It was 10:00 p.m. at the Pokémon Center.
On the third floor, inside the boys' dormitory, Kai, Ash, Brock, and Max were sitting together on the lower bunk beds. Misty had also snuck in without anyone noticing. A pile of snacks was stacked between them as they ate and chatted late into the night.
Max glanced up at the wall clock, worry creeping into his voice. "It's already this late… why hasn't my sister come back yet?"
"Should we go look for her?" Ash suggested, his eyes lighting up at the thought of sneaking out at night.
"I don't think that's necessary," Kai said calmly, glancing out the window into the darkness. "May knows what she's doing. She's got a good head on her shoulders—if she felt it was time to come back, she would've already."
When Kai put it that way, Ash and the others nodded. After traveling together for a while, they knew May well enough to understand she wasn't the kind of person who made others worry.
Just then, Ash suddenly remembered something. "Oh, right! Kai—about that Pokémon you caught earlier. What is it, anyway? Don't keep us hanging!"
Brock perked up too, clearly just as curious.
Kai smiled and finally dropped the mystery, pulling out a Poké Ball. "Guess it's time to show you."
Under the watchful eyes of Ash, Brock, Max, and Pikachu, Kai released the Pokémon. As the blue light faded, a round, pink figure appeared in front of them.
"J-J-Jigglypuff?!"
Ash recognized it instantly the very same Jigglypuff they'd crossed paths with countless times before.
He jumped to his feet in terror, stumbling backward and pointing at it, too shocked to form a proper sentence. Brock and Pikachu weren't doing much better, retreating as well as old memories resurfaced memories of sleepless nights, forced naps, and marker-drawn faces.
Only Max looked confused, glancing between them. "What's wrong with it? It looks… kinda cute."
Misty covered her mouth, stifling a laugh. She remembered her own first encounter with Jigglypuff she hadn't handled it much better back then.
"Relax," Kai said, gesturing for them to calm down. "Take a closer look. No microphone."
That immediately got Ash and Brock's attention. They leaned forward and sure enough, Jigglypuff's hands were empty.
They both let out a huge sigh of relief.
No microphone meant no unstoppable lullaby.
With their nerves settled, Ash and Brock finally sat back down, eyeing Jigglypuff with renewed curiosity.
"That's incredible," Ash murmured. "Kai, I still can't believe you actually caught it."
Kai nodded proudly. "You could say I did the world a favor. No more random singing from nowhere putting people to sleep."
The group burst into laughter, reminiscing about all the chaos Jigglypuff had caused them before. Painful memories, sure but hilarious in hindsight.
From their conversation, Max pieced things together.
So this was the infamous "Pink Menace."
Fascinated, he kept watching Jigglypuff only to notice it casually waddle over to the corner, unzip Kai's backpack, and start rummaging through it.
And judging by how smooth the motion was, this clearly wasn't its first time.
"What's it looking for?" Max asked.
"Its microphone," Kai replied without even turning around. "Don't worry I hid it. No way it's finding that."
That was all Ash and Brock needed to hear. Reassured, they turned back to chatting with Kai and Misty.
Jigglypuff, meanwhile, refused to give up. It dug deeper and deeper into the backpack, dumping everything onto the floor Potions, empty Poké Balls, spare clothes…
One item landed right next to Misty.
She glanced down, froze, and instantly blushed.
Without a word and making absolutely sure Ash and Brock didn't notice she discreetly slid the underwear behind her back. Once she confirmed no one had seen it, she quietly exhaled in relief.
She considered stopping Jigglypuff, but seeing that Kai didn't seem bothered at all, she stayed silent.
After tearing through most of the bag and still failing to find the microphone, Jigglypuff finally plopped down beside it, sulking.
That's when it noticed something at the very bottom a dull, unremarkable stone.
Huh?
"Jiggly?"
Could the microphone be under that?
Full of hope, Jigglypuff picked it up.
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
Furious now, it hurled the stone at the wall.
Bang!
The stone struck the wall and bounced straight back.
Jigglypuff didn't even notice still fuming until something hard and slick flew straight into its mouth.
Gulp.
Before it could react, it swallowed the stone whole.
"—?!"
Jigglypuff instantly grabbed its throat and began rolling on the floor, coughing and choking. The sudden panic, combined with the stone lodged in its throat, made it impossible to breathe.
The noise immediately caught everyone's attention.
They had already turned around at the sound of the impact just in time to see the stone rebound straight into Jigglypuff's mouth.
"Hey—HEY!" Kai rushed over, completely dumbfounded. "What did you eat now?!"
A quick glance at the backpack told him everything.
Everything was still there… except the Everstone he'd picked up during their travels.
This was bad.
Kai rushed to Jigglypuff's side, patting its back, then lifting it upside down and shaking it gently but no matter what he tried, the Everstone wouldn't come out.
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~Support with 200 PowerStones = 1 Bonus Chapter
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For early access to advanced chapters on P-atreon:
P-atreon/iamxeno
(Just remove the - hyphen to access normally)
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