"Piiiiiiikaaaaaa—" I had started, but I was cut off by Pika-pi's mother. Surprised, I looked up at her. She was back already?

I was in control of my senses enough to put a guilty-looking face on, but she didn't seem to notice what I was about to do.

Togepi stopped crying instantly when it heard Delia, and it looked curiously at her.

"Guess what I have?" the woman said, smiling. She was carrying two bags of groceries. "I got home sooner than I thought I would, Pikachu, and I brought you...a bottle of ketchup." She set the bottle down in front of me with a wide grin, and I stared at it with wide eyes. "That old bottle of yours has been in the fridge for a while, and somehow it got a hole in it—maybe the glass got too cold or something—, so I washed most of the ketchup out and gave it to Togepi to play with after Mimey let him in. I figured you would enjoy a new bottle so much more than your old, leaky one. So, there you are, Pikachu." She left with her perpetual smile, leaving me and the other Pokémon to stand in stunned silence.

I stood staring at the bottle for a long time afterwards.


The name is Chu. Pika Chu.

A few months ago, I headed a very serious investigation for a bottle of ruby-colored condiment. I helped solve the mystery of the missing ketchup bottle. The case has now been laid to rest.

It wasn't easy, but the case was solved. That's all that matters in the end...Not how it was solved, but that it was solved. Even the best of investigators can be thrown off the scent...

Pika Chu out.