"Stop scratching, stop scratching—wait until we get back."
Lumiere was honestly at his wit's end. Rowlet kept clawing at his backpack, trying to dig the egg out.
And judging by how it was acting, it clearly wanted to eat it. It probably sensed that the egg could no longer hatch, so in its mind, that meant it was food.
Seeing Rowlet about to pry open the zipper and crawl inside, Lumiere quickly pulled it into his arms to keep it from running off. Only then did it finally calm down a bit and fall asleep.
After buying a ticket at Sandgem Station and waiting for a short while, they boarded the train back to Jubilife City. As for Volo—he could find his own way back.
They were delayed a bit on the road after running into a migrating group of Bibarel, so it took nearly two hours before they arrived at Jubilife South Station.
Checking the time, it was already close to four o'clock. Cabbage got out of school at four-thirty.
He'd originally planned to take Rowlet out for a good meal since he'd earned some money today, but now it seemed they'd have to eat at home instead—otherwise, Cabbage would definitely be stuck with instant noodles again.
After buying some tasty ingredients at the convenience store, Lumiere headed straight home. Just as he reached the door, Rowlet finally woke up and immediately started making a fuss again.
"Stop it. I bought eggs for you. Once I'm done cooking and Cabbage gets back, we'll eat right away."
"Rowlet."
Seeing Rowlet's dejected expression, Lumiere really didn't know what to do with it.
He set Rowlet down on the sofa, took out his phone, and opened a video app to kill some time. Coincidentally, the homepage refreshed to a live runway show in Castelia City featuring Elesa.
He tapped into it casually, handed the phone to Rowlet, and headed to the kitchen to start cooking.
As he passed by the pickle jar, he waved at the Spiritomb perched on top like usual. "Yo, Angelo."
Spiritomb: "..."
Lumiere cooked in the kitchen while Rowlet sat blankly on the sofa watching the phone.
On-screen, Elesa was wearing an extremely fashionable and boldly revealing outfit, strutting down the runway amid the passionate cheers of fans on both sides.
Yet Rowlet seemed completely uninterested. Its head tilted to one side, looking like it was about to fall asleep.
So boring. The little princess wanted bloodshed!
It exited the fashion livestream and started scrolling, searching for a food stream—something it actually liked, preferably something it could later demand Lumiere cook for it.
Before long, it spotted a stream with rapidly rising popularity, titled "Extra Rice-Worthy", and tapped in…
The livestream showed a group of people standing before a tall tower shrouded in gloom, creating an inexplicably oppressive atmosphere. Clearly, this wasn't a food stream at all.
Soon after, a woman dressed rather outrageously stepped forward. After gathering her thoughts, she spoke with visible excitement.
"This is the 'Extra Rice-Worthy' paranormal exploration livestream! Today's destination is Lavender Town in the Kanto region!"
"Anyone who follows urban legends has surely heard the story of the Pokémon Tower—white ghostly hands that suddenly appear on your shoulders… and the mysterious buried humanoid lurking at the top of the tower!"
"This time, we've invited two special guests to join us on this adventure and uncover the truth behind these legends!"
"They are Miss Phoebe, a paranormal expert from Mt. Pyre in the Hoenn region, and a hugely popular paranormal streamer from the Alola seas—also a Ghost-type Gym Leader—Acerola!"
"Hi everyone~"
"Alola~"
Rowlet watched the stream absentmindedly. Realizing it had been clickbaited, it was about to exit—
But somehow, the stream actually seemed kind of interesting. It sent chills down its spine. Even though it didn't want to watch, it couldn't help continuing.
"Rowlet."
At this point, it still hadn't realized how serious things were. Once the exploration team successfully reached the top of Pokémon Tower, the tense atmosphere in the stream instantly intensified.
Rowlet's eyes widened, staring fixedly at the screen. In that dim environment, it felt like something was about to appear!
Just as Phoebe and Acerola were talking and the mood felt off, something suddenly flickered in the distance.
Out of nowhere, a pale, decaying human face filled the screen! Its mouth stretched to an impossible length before opening wide and lunging straight toward the camera—
"Rowlet!!!"
Rowlet was so scared that feathers flew everywhere. It flung the phone away, then bolted straight into the kitchen, burrowing into Lumiere's clothes and trembling violently.
"What are you doing?!"
Lumiere was in the middle of stir-frying and was completely caught off guard—he nearly flipped the pan.
Left with no choice, he pulled Rowlet out of his clothes.
Seeing the little princess on the verge of tears, he asked, "Hungry?"
"Rowlet."
Smelling the aroma from the food nearby, Rowlet instantly forgot about being scared. It nodded eagerly and tried to take a bite.
"Only a little. Cabbage will be back any minute."
"Rowlet."
Soon after, a thoroughly satisfied Rowlet flew back to the living room and picked up the phone again to continue scrolling through videos.
The earlier livestream had already been cut off for unknown reasons, with viewers flooding the chat asking what happened.
Rowlet casually exited the stream and was about to look for food content again when the message tab suddenly flashed—someone had messaged Lumiere.
Tilting its head, it curiously tapped it open. It knew how to use the phone, and Lumiere even taught it how to read before bed every night.
Inside the chat app, it saw that the message was from Dawn. They had already added each other on the way back.
Dawn: "Heading out on my journey tomorrow! (happy) /pic (a photo of her and Piplup on the bed)"
"Rowlet?"
Rowlet scratched its head, wondering how to reply, when another message suddenly came in.
This one was from Volo. He didn't say anything—just sent a GIF.
Staring at the dark preview image, Rowlet felt an inexplicable sense of dread. It didn't tap to load it, instead directly forwarding the GIF to Dawn…
Far away in her home in Twinleaf Town, Dawn was sprawled on her bed upstairs, playing on her phone, with Piplup sitting beside her watching blankly.
Seeing Lumiere reply so quickly made her smile unconsciously.
But when she opened the message, she found it was just a strange image. Confused, she tapped it.
It was a GIF, taking about half a second to load. Seeing her focused expression, Piplup curiously leaned closer.
The image finished loading. In the dim scene, two girls were nervously talking when a shadow suddenly flashed in the distance…
"Ahhh!!!"
"Piplup!!!"
Two sudden screams rang out, shattering the calm of Twinleaf Town's evening. The Starly perched under the eaves preparing to roost all fled in fright.
No one knew what they had seen to scream like that—only that from that day on, Dawn never dared to open a GIF again…
"Rowlet?"
Rowlet was still puzzled as to why Dawn hadn't replied. After thinking for a long time, it typed "haha" and sent it.
Half a minute passed. No response.
It sent another "haha."
Then—
You have been blocked…
"Rowlet?"
Rowlet tilted its head, staring at the screen in utter confusion. What did "blocked" mean?
Just as it was about to search it online, the front door suddenly opened. Startled, Rowlet flapped its wings and accidentally deleted Dawn's chat.
"I'm back."
Cynthia walked in, carrying a backpack with Gible's egg inside.
Seeing Rowlet on the sofa, dressed in its red Gyarados outfit and staring blankly at the phone, she smiled and walked over, gently rubbing its head.
Lumiere stuck his head out from the kitchen. "Give me two more minutes—the food's almost done."
"Mm."
Cynthia nodded, sat down on the sofa, and took the Pokémon egg out of her backpack.
She could already feel it moving lately. It would probably hatch in the next couple of days. Somehow, she felt excited.
Soon, Lumiere brought the dishes over. Smelling the food, the two who had clearly been waiting a long time couldn't hide their eagerness.
While eating, Lumiere picked up his phone from beside Rowlet, wanting to check if anyone had messaged him.
"What kind of garbage did Volo send me this time?" Lumiere muttered, chopsticks hanging from his mouth as he opened the image—his expression unchanged the entire time.
He set the phone back on the table and muttered to himself, "Boring. I wanna look at spicy pics…"