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"A Poké Ball?" Ash looked at the Poké Ball in his hand, slightly surprised.
Misty and Brock were also shocked. Why would a Poké Ball suddenly come flying out of nowhere?
"Where did this Poké Ball come from?" Misty asked in confusion, staring at the Poké Ball in Ash's hand.
"Sorry!" At that moment, the voice from before called out again, and a young woman around eighteen or nineteen years old with long blue hair came running over.
"I'm so sorry for startling you! That Poké Ball belongs to me!"
The young woman approached with an apologetic expression. Brock's eyes immediately lit up at the sight of her, and his heart began racing.
"It's no problem at all! Just a small matter! My dear lady, since the Poké Ball is yours, allow me to return it to you!"
Before Ash could say anything, Brock snatched the Poké Ball from Ash's hand and returned it to the young woman with a flattering smile.
Misty and Ash were both speechless seeing this. He wasn't the one who almost got hit, after all.
"Thank you!" The young woman accepted the Poké Ball, though she still looked troubled.
"Dear lady, my name is Brock. Seeing that sad expression on your face, have you run into some kind of difficulty? If you need help with anything, I would be more than happy to assist you!"
Seeing the young woman's distressed look, Brock thought this was the perfect opportunity to impress her and spoke eagerly.
"Don't go making decisions for everyone without asking first!" Misty couldn't help shouting at Brock, but he wasn't listening at all.
Ash stood to the side and couldn't help but sigh, spreading his hands in resignation. Pikachu and Jigglypuff mimicked him, spreading their paws and sighing in the same way. They were clearly used to this behavior by now.
"My name is Stella. Actually... it's actually because of that!" Hearing his question, the young woman pointed toward something not far away.
Beside the road, they spotted a strange figure that looked somewhat like a human child, but dressed bizarrely, like a circus clown.
Its limbs were jointed like a doll's, with white palms that looked like gloves and pink suction cups on the fingertips.
At that moment, its hands seemed to be pressed against thin air, as if it could support its body on the air itself. It tilted its head and looked at Stella with a playful, mocking smile.
"A Mr. Mime?" Ash said instinctively.
"That's right! I was actually trying to catch that Mr. Mime, but..."
Stella looked at the Mr. Mime with a troubled expression. The Mr. Mime seemed to wear a teasing smile, as if amused that Stella hadn't been able to capture it.
"Where are your Pokémon?" Ash looked around and noticed that besides the Mr. Mime, there were no other Pokémon in sight.
"Well... actually, I didn't bring any Pokémon with me!" Seeing their expressions, Stella said somewhat embarrassed.
"Uh..." Ash felt a bit helpless after hearing this. If you didn't even bring Pokémon with you, how did you expect to catch anything?
"I see! Well, leave it to me! I'll definitely help you catch that Mr. Mime, Miss Stella!"
Brock immediately perked up after hearing this, thinking to himself that this was the perfect opportunity to show off.
"Really? Thank you so much, Mr. Brock! I really appreciate it!" Stella looked at Brock gratefully.
"Don't worry! I'll defeat the Mr. Mime, and then you can catch it!" Brock became even more excited hearing Stella's thanks.
"Um... your Mr. Mime is getting away!" Ash couldn't help but point in that direction.
"Ah!" Hearing this, both Brock and Stella were startled. They quickly looked up and saw that the Mr. Mime had turned around and was running away.
"Wait, Mr. Mime! I'm going to catch you!" Brock shouted upon seeing this and charged forward.
"Wait, Mr. Brock!" Stella called out as she saw Brock rushing ahead.
BANG!
However, by the time she opened her mouth, it was already too late. Soon there was a loud impact. Stella couldn't help but close her eyes, while Misty looked startled.
At that moment, Brock's body seemed to collide with thin air and slowly slid down to the ground.
"I'm sorry! I was trying to warn you..." Stella said with a guilty expression. It really wasn't her fault—Brock had just been running too fast.
"What happened?" Misty walked up curiously.
Tap tap!
"Is this... Light Screen?" Ash stepped forward and gently tapped the thing Brock had crashed into. It was actually a transparent barrier created by the Mr. Mime's Light Screen move.
"That's how the Poké Ball bounced back just now, right?" Obviously, the Poké Ball had ricocheted off this invisible wall.
"Yes, that's right!" Stella nodded slightly. At that moment, Brock stood up, rubbing his head.
"How careless of me! Miss Stella, I apologize—I couldn't catch the Mr. Mime."
"It's alright! This is my problem to solve." Stella responded, though she still looked somewhat disappointed. Seeing this, Misty couldn't help but ask.
"Why do you need to catch that Mr. Mime so badly, Miss Stella?"
"Because our circus needs a Mr. Mime." Stella didn't hide the reason.
"A circus?"
"Yes! Our circus is nearby. If you'd like, you're welcome to come take a look!" Stella extended an invitation to the three of them. Now that the Mr. Mime had escaped, there was nothing else to do but head back.
"Of course! Thank you so much for the invitation, Miss Stella! We'd love to check it out!" Brock responded immediately.
Ash felt somewhat unenthusiastic. To be honest, he wasn't particularly interested in circuses. Compared to getting back home to check on his Pokémon, this held no appeal whatsoever.
Misty also wanted to see the circus, so Ash had no choice. In the end, he could only change his plans temporarily and followed Stella to the location of their circus.
As soon as they arrived, several young women came up to them asking questions.
"Captain, how did it go? Did you manage to catch the Mr. Mime?"
"No, I didn't. How is the child doing?" Stella shook her head dejectedly after hearing this, then asked in return.
"Still the same!" After hearing Stella's question, several troupe members responded with troubled expressions.
"Oh no..." Hearing this, Stella couldn't help but sigh heavily.
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