Let's Find the Little Mouse a Partner

Even surrounded by these Meowth and trembling in fear as they toyed with it, the white little mouse still wore a fierce expression.

It raised its tiny paws, opened its mouth, and bared its little front teeth, seemingly trying to scare the Meowth away. Clearly, though, it only made it look cuter.

"A Tandemaus... no, a Maushold? I can't tell. But this is a mouse, right?"

Xingye glanced over in confusion, but he did not dwell on it for now. These Meowth had caused trouble all afternoon, making him fail his course, and now they were bullying an adorable little Mousy. They truly never behaved themselves.

"Cyclizar, go!"

"Cyclizar!"

Cyclizar shot forward like a launched bullet and charged straight at them. Gengar wanted to join in too, ready to give those annoying jerks a couple of solid punches, but Xingye held it back.

"Don't. Shadow Punch won't do much against them."

"Gengar..."

Gengar drooped dejectedly. By then, Cyclizar had already closed in. Hearing the commotion, the Meowth turned around and, upon seeing it, were immediately startled and prepared to flee. But they were too slow.

With one sweeping tail strike, more than half the Meowth were sent flying. The rest fled in panic. They only dared to sneak attack Xingye and bully him; they had no ability whatsoever to resist Cyclizar.

Seeing its bullies run away, Mousy dropped its fierce-cute pose and prepared to flee as well, only for Xingye to walk over and block its path.

"Rawr!"

Mousy raised both paws again and let out a babyish roar, but it was completely useless. Xingye simply picked it up.

"You're hurt pretty badly. Let's get you treated. I'm a Meowth victim too, after all..."

Though he said that, Mousy kept up its threatening pose. It was clearly terrified and could only make itself feel safe this way.

"Gengar?"

Gengar floated over and landed on Xingye's arm, then reached out and touched Mousy. It was startled when the other suddenly whipped its head around.

Watching this, as well as the glowing marker on his panel, Xingye had no idea why Mousy had come to a place like this alone.

Tandemaus were Pokémon that were often born in pairs, one male and one female.

Sometimes they were born alone, but they would quickly find their other half. Neither would ever leave the other; they were childhood sweethearts and champions of pure love!

They would grow up together, then somehow have children, changing from Tandemaus into Maushold.

But for a Tandemaus to become a single mouse was extremely rare, unless something had happened to its other half.

And in such cases, the one left behind would soon choose to follow its partner in death. It would not let its other half travel alone...

"Cyclizar?"

Cyclizar looked at the adorable little Mousy and instinctively reached out to touch it. It liked cute things too, but the moment it touched Mousy's ear, it was frightened by another little "Rawr!"

"Don't tease it. The little guy's having a stress reaction. Let's take it back and treat it first. We can ask later if there's anything it needs help with."

"Cyclizar~"

Holding Mousy in his hand, Xingye put on his goggles, climbed onto Cyclizar, and continued home. Gengar floated beside them, still extremely curious about Mousy.

The rest of the trip passed without incident. The Meowth did not show up again, and when they returned to the Drifter District, Kabukicho was just beginning to liven up.

Mousy kept up its threatening pose in Xingye's hand the entire way. It neither resisted nor tried to escape, and was brought back to Odd Jobs.

"Finally home. Home really is more comfortable. What a lousy day, and I've still got a group practical exam tomorrow..."

Xingye turned on the lights, casually set the groceries aside, and walked into the living room, grumbling all the while.

He then placed Mousy on the sofa and returned to his usual expression. "It's dangerous out on the streets here, so don't run around. I'll get some medicine and treat your wounds."

The moment he left, Mousy finally lowered its paws. It jumped off the sofa, ran down the hallway toward the exit, then crashed into Gengar as it emerged from the floor. It bounced away and rolled several times.

"Gengar?"

Gengar rubbed its belly and floated over. Seeing it approach, Mousy immediately struck that threatening pose again and let out a fierce-cute cry. But Xingye suddenly appeared behind it and picked it up.

"Don't run around. I'm going to treat your wounds. You don't want to collapse from your injuries before you find your companion, do you?"

Hearing that, Mousy suddenly froze. After a brief pause, it finally lowered its paws, though its eyes remained wary.

Seeing that, Xingye knew he had guessed correctly. Mousy had indeed been separated from its companion because it had gone missing or something had happened to it.

Pokémon that were naturally so devoted to each other surely had some kind of special connection between them, allowing them to sense the other's condition.

If the other little mouse had met with misfortune, this one would definitely have felt it, then fallen into grief and depression before finding somewhere to end its own life.

Taking Mousy back to the living room, Xingye took out a can of medicinal spray and said softly, "This might hurt a little. Bear with it."

As he spoke, he sprayed some onto the wounds Meowth had scratched, then wrapped them simply with bandages. Mousy made no sound throughout, remaining on guard.

Gengar sat quietly on the sofa and watched. At that moment, Cyclizar came in from outside carrying half a case of Moomoo Milk. It had just brought it up from the izakaya downstairs. Gengar was still a child, so it needed to drink more of it.

"Cyclizar?"

"Just put it in the kitchen. I'll heat some up when I cook later."

"Cyclizar~"

After treating Mousy's injuries, Xingye let it stay on the sofa before heading into the kitchen to prepare dinner.

Once he left, Gengar and Cyclizar moved closer again and greeted Mousy.

After everything that had happened, the little guy was doing much better. At least it did not immediately raise its paws and take an attacking stance.

Gengar sat directly beside it. The two Pokémon were about the same height, and from a distance, they looked like two plush toys neatly arranged together.

"Gengar~"

"..."

"Gengar~"

Seeing that Mousy did not respond, Gengar kept greeting it enthusiastically. It had often played at the izakaya downstairs over the past few days and occasionally interacted with other Pokémon, gradually becoming more outgoing.

Finally, under its repeated enthusiastic greetings, Mousy moved and responded, "Eep..."

This was different from the sound it made while intimidating others. This was its real cry, and just like its appearance, it was soft and fluffy.

"Gengar~"

Gengar instantly perked up. It then reached into its belly and pulled out a little dress. It was used to hiding things it liked inside its stomach, where it could take them out whenever it wanted.

Without hesitation, it handed the dress over, wanting Mousy to put it on, while criticizing it for being adorably naked and improperly dressed.

"???"

"Gengar!"

"Eep!!!"

Mousy hurriedly ran away, then jumped onto Cyclizar's head. It was a boy! How could it wear something like that? Besides, this was not the time for that. It needed to escape!

Realizing it was trying to run again, Cyclizar grabbed it with one hand and put it back on the sofa, then crouched beside it with a friendly expression.

"Cyclizar~"

"..."

Seeing that Mousy seemed frightened, Gengar set the dress aside and stepped forward to comfort it, while also making Cyclizar apologize.

"Cyclizar..."

After all that commotion, Mousy was still extremely anxious, but it knew it could not escape. Finally unable to hold it in any longer, it began to cry.

Gengar had been about to put the dress on it to make it even cuter, but upon seeing this, it was immediately at a loss and hurried over to comfort it.

In the end, it was only a child less than a month old, innocent in every respect.

Under Gengar's comfort, Mousy finally revealed the truth. Its companion had been captured, which was why it was so anxious and wanted to rescue them.

"Cyclizar?!"

"Gengar?!"

Hearing that, Gengar and Cyclizar instantly knew they had a job! Wasn't Odd Jobs A-Xing meant to help Pokémon solve the troubles in their lives?

They exchanged a look and, without hesitation, declared that they would help find Mousy’s other half, accepting this request on Xingye’s behalf while he cooked in the kitchen!

Gengar patted its belly, smiled, and gave Mousy, which had finally stopped crying, a thumbs-up to show that they would handle everything!

"Gengar!"