Author's Note: Oops, sorry about the thing with the names. I fixed it. :D


~*~*~*~

What bird could it have come from? The thought echoed in my mind.

What did all this mean?

The sludge....It had to be Muk.

The red hairs....Vulpix!

And the feather? Where did the feather come in?

Suddenly, I remembered Mimey's feather duster, and I gasped.

Were they all in cahoots together? If so, the suspects I'd exed out could be involved!

I could feel my temper rising, and my cheeks started to spark.

I marched over to Muk, who was beside Bulbasaur and Vulpix. I gasped at what I saw.

Bulbasaur was tickling Vulpix with his vines, and the foxlike Pokémon was giggling, but that's not what made me gasp. On Bulbasaur's vines I saw a few little droplets of red. Not blood, but ketchup.

[Stop!] I cried out, and Bulbasaur froze.

I stomped up to the Grass-type and pointed with a short arm at his vines. [What is that?]

Bulbasaur looked quizzically at his vines, seeing what I was talking about. [Uh, I dunno.] He looked a little scared.

[You all stole my ketchup bottle, didn't you?] My cheeks were really sparking now. [You thought it'd be funny to take poor Pikachu's favorite treat, now didn't you?]

Bulbasaur shook his head fiercely. [That's not true, I don't know how that got th---]

I interrupted him. [So you helped eat it, Bulbasaur. And you!] I turned to the Fire-type and the Poison-type. [You two helped steal it, didn't you? But not without Mimey's help.]

They stared at me with wide unblinking eyes.

[I know what happened, and you can't deny it. Mimey levitated the ketchup bottle out of the fridge. That's why I couldn't smell any Pokémon. Then the bottle was passed off to Muk and Vulpix, who gave it to Bulbasaur to eat. Who else enjoyed my ketchup? Who else?] Before they could reply, I began thinking out loud. [The only thing I don't get is the mud. How did the mud get on the bottle....] It was then that my eyes landed on Squirtle.

Squirtle was wallowing in a mud-hole of his own design.

[Squirtle helped you,] I breathed. Eyes flaring, I shouted, [He's just as guilty as you!!!]