To the pulsing rhythm of the music, the crowd in front of the stage raised all kinds of cheering boards with "Meow Meow Meow" written on them and erupted into cheers.
The stage lights swept across the audience, then converged on a single point!
A charming heart flashed into existence, bursting like fireworks into specks of starlight before being carried into the sea of people by a cool breeze.
Then, three figures descended from above, their soft paw pads gently touching the stage floor!
The hugely popular Meow Family trio—Persian, Liepard, and Purugly—made their official appearance!
After a brief pause, the crowd exploded into thunderous cheers, mixed with all sorts of shouts about wanting these Pokémon to take them away...
But behind Lumiere, an out-of-place voice whispered quietly.
"See that? That's Fat Eevee. Eat too much and you'll end up like that, so stop following Rowlet to beg Cynthia for snacks all the time, got it?"
"Eevee!"
Eevee looked horrified. It was genuinely scared—so eating too much would make it grow into that? It absolutely had to keep its figure!
Seeing that his words had the intended effect, Lumiere smiled with satisfaction.
At the moment, he was inside the Ginkgo Guild. Though it was called a guild, it was actually a massive plaza!
Besides shops, there were snack stalls, a cinema, a breeding house, an aquarium… basically everything you could imagine.
After spending 400 Pokédollars on two Poké Balls, he'd originally planned to leave and head back to the neighborhood to start Eevee's special training.
But while riding the elevator, he overheard passersby saying that Jubilife City's famous Meow Family trio was holding an event here.
In this world, Pokémon debuting as idols was perfectly normal—especially those that participated in Contests. Sometimes Pokémon even had more fans than their Trainers.
Out of curiosity, Lumiere carried Eevee over to take a look. As for Rowlet—after tearing open snack packaging on store shelves and forcing Lumiere to buy everything—it had already been recalled into its Poké Ball...
The Pokémon idol event itself was quite interesting. Without any Trainer directing them, these Pokémon could perform solo or in sync, and even interact with the audience.
But Lumiere wasn't a star-chaser or a furry fanatic. Watching the spectacle was enough—he had no intention of getting absorbed into it, so he turned to leave.
However, just as he turned around, a hand suddenly landed on his shoulder, followed by a voice thick with anger.
"You! Didn't you just say Little Purugly-chan was fat and ugly?!"
"???"
Looking at the chubby man wearing a T-shirt printed with the three cats, Lumiere's face went blank for a moment.
Realizing this was trouble, he replied sarcastically, "I said Fat Eevee. Why are you taking it personally? In such a hurry to claim it?"
"Fat Eevee is Purugly! You fake fan—this kind of forbidden nickname can never be said to Little Purugly-chan!"
"Oh, my bad. Guess I didn't understand the situation—sorry." Once he realized it was a misunderstanding, Lumiere still responded politely.
The chubby man was quite satisfied with that attitude. "Knowing your mistake and correcting it makes you a good kid. Then, friend—may I take just a bit more of your time?"
"For what?"
The man suddenly pulled out an event poster and said with a smile, "I'd like to introduce you to our idol and big sister—Little Purugly-chan~"
"???"
Damn it—he'd run into a missionary.
Suppressing the urge to grab an octopus from the aquarium next door and slap it on the guy's head, Lumiere replied flatly, "But I'm a Rowlet fan."
The chubby man was instantly shocked. "What?! That thing that boosted itself to first place by vote-brushing actually has fans?!"
"What did you say?!"
Lumiere exploded. He immediately pulled out his phone, searched the rankings, and said with a faint smile, "Ranked 656, huh? No wonder you're so anxious."
The chubby man got furious too. "A bunch of bots! What's the point of looking at those rankings? They have zero reference value!"
"Brush your Purugly's votes a thousand times over and you still won't reach a fraction of Rowlet's count. If we don't follow the masses, should we follow you instead?"
"You—!" The fat on the man's face trembled. He was speechless. Seeing Lumiere sneer and prepare to leave, he shouted, "Purugly can totally one-shot Rowlet!"
"One-shot my ass!" Lumiere spun around instantly!
"Totally one-shot!"
"Rowlet can take on ten Purugly!"
"Purugly can flatten twenty Rowlet with one sit!"
"Rowlet doesn't even need its wings to beat Purugly!"
"Rowlet kneels the moment it sees Purugly!"
"Rowlet can eat Purugly in one bite!"
...
The two of them started yelling at each other like elementary school kids right there in the plaza.
More and more people gathered, drawn in by the argument. After hearing what they were fighting about, they got angry too—and joined the war of words.
Since the Meow Family event was right next door and Purugly had way more fans, Lumiere was outnumbered by far.
So he shouted, "Where are Rowlet's fans?!"
After a brief silence, echoes rang out from all around the plaza—and even from the upper floors.
"We're here!"
"Rowlet can totally one-shot Purugly!"
"Rowlet is the cutest!"
...
What had started as a small argument instantly escalated into a massive fan war, with over thirty thousand people involved—and still growing!
The Meow Family event was completely disrupted. Standing on stage, the three cats glanced toward Lumiere and Eevee with a flash of ferocity in their eyes—
Before immediately switching back to pitiful expressions, retreating behind the stage, meowing nonstop and begging everyone to stop fighting.
Half an hour later, the farce finally ended. People dispersed—some went back to having fun, others went home.
Only the leading chubby man and Lumiere were taken away by Officer Jenny, charged with disturbing public order and inciting chaos...
That evening, Cynthia arrived at the police station with an indescribable expression to pay the fine and bail him out.
Since no one was injured and it was his first offense, Lumiere wasn't detained. The chubby man, however, was apparently a repeat offender—this time he got fifteen days.
On the way home, Cynthia hesitated, then said, "I waited at home for a long time and no one made dinner. It wasn't until Officer Jenny messaged me that I found out you'd been taken in."
"My phone ran out of battery. I had to ask her to send it…"
Lumiere didn't even know what to say. Truly—youthful mistakes. Next time he'd control his emotions better… at least wait until after leaving before throwing hands!
Just as they reached home—
Bang!
Rowlet popped out of its Poké Ball, flapping its wings and calling out—it was hungry.
"Alright, alright, I'll cook right away…"
Lumiere sighed deeply. Such a good weekend, and the entire plan had been thrown into chaos.
There was no helping it—training in the neighborhood tonight was impossible. Making noise would disturb people's sleep.
That left only one option: the abandoned construction site where he'd first met Pikachu. No people around, wide open space.
Borrow a shared bike, ride for half an hour, train until midnight, then ride back. A bit tiring, but doable.
But seeing Eevee already asleep in his arms, he decided to go tomorrow night instead. He was exhausted today.
Wandering around the Ginkgo Guild, arguing with people, then getting hauled off to the police station—everything felt stretched to the limit.
As they entered the house, Cynthia suddenly put on a bright smile, turned around, and pointed at him.
"One thousand Pokédollars in fines. You know what that means, right? One week~"
"I get it…"
Just cooking for her, right? Lumiere already looked resigned as he followed her inside. But just then, not far behind them—
Rustle, rustle—
"Hm?"
Lumiere turned around suspiciously and just caught sight of a pale-yellow tail disappearing into the flowerbed, vanishing without a trace.
"Strange…"
"Lumiere, come help me see what dishes we can make today."
"Coming."
He shook off the thought for now, walked inside, and closed the door.
And the moment the door shut—
From within the flowerbed, a pair of eyes filled with killing intent suddenly lit up…