The Mysterious Scene on the Pearl

After chatting for a while with Johanna and Dawn, the three of them gradually became more comfortable with each other. Yuga then asked Johanna, "Aunt Johanna, you just arrived in Verdanturf Town. Have you arranged your accommodation? If you haven't found a place to stay yet, you can stay here at the daycare."

Johanna smiled and replied, "We've already taken care of our accommodation, so no need to worry." The official organizers of the Pokémon Contest had arranged for them to stay at the best hotel in Verdanturf Town, and Johanna had brought Dawn to settle in at the hotel before coming to visit the YoYo Day Care.

"That's good," Yuga said with relief. "Aunt Johanna, why don't you and Dawn stay here for dinner tonight? Let me properly play host."

Although the two families hadn't had contact for years, since they had come all this way, Yuga felt it was only right to host them warmly.

"I'm afraid we can't stay for dinner tonight. I still have work to do, and I might not have time later," Johanna said apologetically. They had just arrived in Verdanturf Town, and after meeting with the Hoenn Contest organizers, there were still many work-related matters to discuss.

"I see, then let's save the dinner for another day," Yuga said with some regret. Then he had another thought. "Why don't you leave Dawn here with me? You'll be busy working, and she'd be bored staying in the hotel by herself."

"Wouldn't that be too much trouble for you?" Johanna hesitated, but she was tempted by Yuga's suggestion.

She was worried about leaving Dawn alone in the hotel while she worked.

"It's no trouble at all," Yuga said with a smile. Then he turned around to Dawn and asked, "Dawn, would you prefer to stay at the hotel or stay here?"

Dawn wasn't a shy child. Rather than being bored alone at the hotel, she would obviously prefer to stay at the YoYo Day Care.

"Mom…" Dawn looked at Johanna hopefully.

"Alright then," Johanna finally agreed, though a bit reluctantly. "You be good and don't trouble your big brother."

"No problem, no problem!" Dawn exclaimed, excitedly using her favorite phrase.

After chatting a bit more with Yuga, Johanna noticed the time and said her goodbyes. "I'll be heading out now, Yuga. Please take good care of Dawn." Now more familiar with Yuga, she had started addressing him more casually.

Yuga led Dawn to see Johanna off at the door. "Don't worry, I'll look after her."

"Mom, I'm not a little kid anymore, I'll be fine!" Dawn waved to her mother as she left, her favorite phrase slipping out again.

Hearing Dawn's repeated assurances of "no problem," Johanna suddenly felt less assured.

After Johanna left, Yuga gave Dawn a quick tour of the daycare, introducing her to Ayaka and Suzuki Koen, who were working, and also to the Pokémon helping out around the shop: Audino, Wigglytuff, and Gothitelle.

Dawn was fascinated by everything in the shop—the Flygon sleeping on the roof, the Linoone and Mightyena patrolling at the door, the Persian and his three cucubines who are strutting by, and the Sneasel whose eyes were following her every move. She had never seen so many interesting Pokémon.

After a brief tour of the daycare, Yuga called out to Cleffa and Mime Jr., who were clowning around in front of the customers. "You two, come over here!"

Mime Jr. was in the middle of showing off a new dance it had learned to the customers at the entrance. Hearing Yuga call, it quickly grabbed Cleffa, and the two of them ran over eagerly.

"Mama-na-na!"

You called for us?

Mime Jr. chirped

Yuga pointed to Dawn and said, "This is our little guest. Could I ask you two to help me look after her?"

Cleffa immediately felt a surge of responsibility. It patted its round belly with its tiny hands.

"Pii, Pii!"

You can count on us.

Seeing Cleffa's confident attitude, Yuga smiled and said, "Then I'll leave Dawn in your care."

Then Yuga turned around to Dawn and asked, "Dawn, are you okay playing with Cleffa and the others?"

Dawn adored the cute Cleffa and hugged it affectionately. "No problem, no problem!"

Seeing this, Yuga nodded and secretly instructed the Xatu hidden in the shadows to keep an eye on Dawn before leaving to attend to his own business.

After Yuga left, Mime Jr. was about to show Dawn its talent when suddenly a voice sounded beside them.

"Hey, little girl over there, do you want to have your fortune told?"

Dawn looked up and saw a Chatot flapping its wings, looking at her with a mysterious air. Below it was an "unknown creature" dressed in a wizard's robe.

"Whoa! This Chatot can talk!" Dawn exclaimed in surprise.

Chatot was a common Pokémon in Sinnoh, and Dawn often saw them, but it was her first time encountering one that could speak so fluently.

Hearing Dawn's amazement, Chatot felt quite proud but maintained its mysterious demeanor as it gazed at her.

"Little girl, would you like to try a fortune telling? It's really accurate!" Chatot added.

Mime Jr., upset that its performance was interrupted, became even more angry when it saw that the interrupters were Spoink and Chatot! Mime Jr. and Spoink had a deep-seated rivalry.

Mime Jr.'s favorite activity was dancing, so it often looked up dance videos to imitate. Meanwhile, Spoink had become obsessed with fortune-telling and enjoyed watching fortune-telling tutorials online.

Both of these activities required Windy's tablet.

Windy's tablet was bought by Yuga for Windy's work, but since Windy mostly used his laptop, the tablet was often left idle, available for anyone to use.

Naturally, the conflict between Mime Jr. and Spoink arose from this.

Of course, they never let Yuga know about their quarrels, always keeping their arguments hidden.

Hearing Chatot's words, Dawn became very interested.

"Really? You guys can really do fortune-telling?"

"Of course!" Chatot said confidently.

In the past few days, Chatot and Spoink had earned quite a bit of pocket money through fortune-telling. If Yuga hadn't found out and ordered them to stop this "scamming" activity, they might still be running a fortune-telling booth at the entrance of the Pokémon Paradise.

Since they couldn't set up shop outside anymore, Chatot and Spoink had resorted to "plaguing" the Pokémon in the daycare. Whether it was MooMoo Milk, Sweet Honey, or even the treasured Pokéblocks that others were reluctant to eat, they accepted it all as payment for their fortune-telling services.

Spoink used to be such a well-behaved Pokémon, but after spending only a few days with Chatot, it had become quite mischievous.

However, since Chatot and Spoink usually had enough food and entertainment, the fun of scamming quickly lost its appeal. So now, they had set their sights on the new arrival—Dawn.

Upon hearing this, Spoink removed the hood of its wizard's robe, and Dawn immediately recognized its outfit.

"This is from <<Magical Girl and Spoinkp>>!" Dawn excitedly shouted. It turned out she was a fan of the show just like Spoink. Earlier, with its head covered, Spoink's appearance and demeanor were so different from the magical Spoink that Dawn hadn't recognized its cosplay.

Dawn's words made Spoink's eyes light up. The two exchanged a look and, without missing a beat, struck a pose and simultaneously exclaimed, "Magical Girl Lily will uphold justice today!"

What a perfect connection!

Lily was the main character of <<Magical Girl and Spoink>>, and the line Dawn shouted was one of Lily's signature lines. She always said it after defeating the villains.

However, as soon as Dawn shouted the line, she regretted it. The customers in the shop, including Ayaka and Suzuki Koen , were all staring at her with strange looks. Her shout had been so loud, and combined with her pose, the embarrassment was overwhelming.

It was a social death moment!

Dawn's face turned bright red in an instant, and she hurriedly lifted Cleffa to cover her face.

Only after everyone had turned their attention away did Dawn slowly lower Cleffa, then she, Chatot, Spoink, and Mime Jr. ran out of the shop together.

They ran all the way to the alley between the YoYo Daycare and Verdanturf Gym, where Dawn finally let out a long sigh of relief. "Ugh... That was so embarrassing."

Aside from Chatot, the clueless Spoink, the still-young Cleffa, and Mime Jr. couldn't understand why Dawn felt embarrassed. Seeing Dawn's thoroughly flustered expression, the little ones couldn't help but laugh mischievously.

"Heave-ho!"

Just as the group was laughing uncontrollably, someone suddenly jumped down from the nearby wall. Upon closer inspection, this person looked exactly like Dawn, even wearing the same clothes.

The kids' laughter came to an abrupt halt.

Did they just see a ghost in broad daylight? The little ones, including Dawn, all had the same thought.

The "new Dawn" twirled around on the spot, showing off her long flowing hair and swaying skirt, looking youthful and adorable.

It was Chatot who first realized what was going on: "You must be a Zoroark!"

Once its disguise was revealed, the Zoroark flickered and returned to her original form. Then, in another flash, she transformed into a Liepard.

As soon as the Zoroark finished her transformation, three more Liepards jumped down from the wall—Liepard father, Liepard sister, and Zoroark mother.

The whole family had been patrolling along the wall when they spotted the little ones and Dawn laughing, and the Zoroark decided to play a prank, leading to the scene they had just witnessed.

"Amazing!" Dawn exclaimed in awe at Zoroark's transformation. "What kind of Pokémon is this?"

Chatot explained Zoroark's identity to Dawn, though Spoink, Cleffa, and Mime Jr. didn't seem too fond of the Zoroark family.

While Dawn was intrigued by Zoroark, the four Liepards had already nimbly leaped back onto the wall, walking away without a second glance.

After the Zoroark family left, Dawn turned around to Chatot and Spoink and said, "Didn't you say you'd do a fortune-telling for me? Let's get started!"

Chatot replied, "Sure, we can do that. But you need to give us a little something in return."

"In return? What kind of something?" Dawn asked, confused.

"Anything will do. Let's see what you've got," Chatot said, eyeing Dawn for a moment before finally speaking.

Dawn rummaged through her belongings and eventually found only a lollipop, which she handed to Chatot, saying, "Here, this is all I've got."

"Tsk!" Chatot clicked its tongue in dissatisfaction. "You're lucky this time!"

Chatot took the lollipop with its claws, unwrapped it, and popped it into Spoink's mouth before telling Spoink to start the fortune-telling.

Spoink, happy with the lollipop, happily licked it twice before getting down to business.

Spoink took out its pearl and began muttering incantations to the pearl in a strange, gibberish language. Whether or not this incantation was necessary, no one knew—except Spoink.

Then, a faint purple glow appeared around Spoink, which amazed Dawn as it really did give off the vibe of a fortune-telling session.

The pink pearl also started to glow with a similar purple light. Suddenly, the pearl changed color, turning from pink to transparent, and a few blurry shadows flashed across it. The shadows moved too quickly for either Chatot or Dawn to make out clearly.

This was the first time something like this had happened, leaving Chatot utterly dumbfounded.

Chatot had always assumed that Spoink's fortune-telling was just a bullshit, and that the reason people believed in it was all thanks to Chatot's smooth-talking. But now…

Could it all have been real?

It wasn't just Chatot who was shocked—Cleffa and Mime Jr., who didn't usually get along with Spoink, also stared wide-eyed at Spoink's pearl, thinking that Spoink was actually quite amazing.

"Quick, tell us what that meant just now!" Dawn said excitedly.

But as soon as she finished speaking, Spoink collapsed flat on the ground.

"Hey, what's wrong with you?"

"Spoink!"

…

For a moment, Dawn and the Pokémon were in a flurry of panic.

However, Spoink didn't stay unconscious for long; two or three minutes later, it regained consciousness.

Spoink rubbed its beloved pearl and said, "Ah, I accidentally overdid it."

"You still haven't explained what just happened!" Chatot asked eagerly, completely shaken by Spoink's fortune-telling, which had upended its understanding of reality.

To be honest, Spoink hadn't clearly seen the image in the pearl either. It simply patted its pearl, and an image began to surface on it.

"This is all I can see," Spoink said (with Chatot translating).

The image on the pearl showed a short stretch of road, with a manhole cover at the center of the scene.

"Aren't you supposed to be doing a fortune-telling for me? What does this have to do with me?" Dawn asked, pointing to the image on the pearl.

"I… I don't… I don't really know," Spoink stammered. It wasn't sure if it had done the fortune-telling for Dawn, for someone else present, or perhaps for everyone there.

"Does anyone know where this is?" Chatot asked.

Mime Jr. looked closely at the image, then raised its hand and shouted, "I know! I know!"

After a few glances, Cleffa also chimed in, "I know too! I know too!"

As it turned out, the road in the image wasn't far from the YoYo Day Care, and both Cleffa and Mime Jr. had played there before.

So, under the guidance of Mime Jr. and Cleffa, Dawn and the group arrived at the road shown on the pearl.

Looking at the manhole cover in front of her, Dawn hesitated and asked, "Are we supposed to go down there?"