Poke Fun PlayMimikyu at the Costume Parade
Mimikyu wants to join the lantern parade, but its traditional final reveal makes belonging feel risky. A sudden shower gives the neighbors a reason to rethink the tradition.
The part after the parade
Mimikyu had repaired the hem three times before sunset. The first patch was crooked. The second was too neat beside the old cloth. The third used a scrap from the original edge, so the seam nearly disappeared. It inspected its work in the costume maker's low mirror, turning just enough to see the back. The familiar disguise looked ready. The parade outside sounded ready too. Mimikyu remained in the dressing tent and adjusted a seam that no longer needed adjusting.
Ivo, the costume maker, passed through carrying a bundle of cardboard wings. He wore a red scarf and had a pencil behind each ear because he kept losing the first one. Seeing Mimikyu by the mirror, he offered a paper star for its costume. Mimikyu accepted and held the star against its patched hem. Ivo said there would be a lovely portrait at the finish, once everyone removed their costumes and showed who they were beneath. Then he hurried out before noticing Mimikyu lower the star.
That was the part Mimikyu had been trying not to think about. Every year, the parade ended with a reveal. Children pulled off cardboard crowns. Pokémon shook out ribbons and bright cloth. Neighbors cheered each familiar face as though meeting it for the first time. Mimikyu could imagine walking under the lanterns. It could imagine helping carry a banner or standing beside the music cart. It could not imagine the moment everyone looked toward it and waited for the cloth to come off.
Shuppet floated into the tent wearing a tiny paper cape. It made the cape flutter, evidently delighted that it added a second kind of floating to an activity already based on floating. Mimikyu lifted the paper star in greeting. Shuppet tapped its own cape, then the star, suggesting a useful exchange of costume ideas. Mimikyu shook its head and pointed toward the finish line outside. Shuppet followed the gesture, but the music began before it could understand the worry behind it.
Pumpkaboo waited at the tent entrance with a ribbon looped loosely around its stem. Its soft glow fell across the floor. It bobbed toward the street, then back toward Mimikyu, refusing to leave the invitation unfinished. Mimikyu looked once more in the mirror. The patched hem stayed closed. The little star rested neatly above it. It took one step toward the entrance, another toward the warm glow, and reached the place where the parade was beginning to move.
The first lantern passed overhead like a small orange sun. Mimikyu followed it. Nobody asked about the patch or the cloth underneath. A neighbor admired the star. Someone made space beside the banner. Shuppet hovered on one side and Pumpkaboo on the other. For a few streets, Mimikyu forgot the finish line. There was only music, light, and the wonderful ordinary experience of being part of a group that had somewhere cheerful to go together.
A question under the music
At the fountain, the parade paused for a dance. Pumpkaboo's glow mingled with the lantern reflections in the water. Shuppet circled above the banner, cape lifting behind it. Mimikyu swayed carefully, keeping the repaired hem from catching on the cobbles. The rhythm was easy enough to follow without knowing the steps. Every time it moved in the wrong direction, someone else did too, and the small collisions became part of the dance rather than reasons to stop.
Then Ivo announced that the next street would lead to the portrait square. The dancers cheered. Mimikyu went still. Shuppet noticed first and descended beside it. Mimikyu pointed at Ivo's scarf, then at its own cloth, then shook its head. Shuppet looked toward the portrait square. Its paper cape could come off without changing anything important. Mimikyu's disguise was different. Shuppet touched the cape once, thoughtfully, and stayed close instead of rising back above the banner.
Mimikyu considered leaving by the side alley. It knew the way home, and the lanterns would remain visible from its window. There would be no unpleasant moment if it slipped away before anyone expected a reveal. Yet it had enjoyed being beside the banner. The star on its hem had been admired by someone who had never spoken to it before. Leaving would mean keeping those moments but missing the rest. It wished there were a way to stay without becoming a question everyone thought they deserved to answer.
A drop struck the paper star. Another landed on the fountain rim. The first rain was so light that people laughed and continued dancing. Then a gust pushed through the street, bending the banner and turning the paper lanterns sideways. Ivo looked at the sky and called for the parade to move toward the covered market. The nearest lantern had already darkened. Its paper shade sagged against the small protected light inside. The next one began to sag too.
The long line could not turn quickly between the fountain and the narrow street. People carried the lantern poles toward shelter, but a low rope caught on the edge of a stall. The banner pressed against it, trapping three smaller lanterns beneath the cloth. Mimikyu saw the knot before Ivo did. It stepped beneath the stall awning, reached through a gap in the draped banner, and loosened the rope. The lantern holders moved forward as the cloth lifted clear.
Rain struck Mimikyu's repaired hem. The paper star softened. Shuppet took one corner of the banner and Pumpkaboo lit the dark gap beneath the awning. Together, they guided the last lantern pole around the fountain. Mimikyu stayed under cover where it could, guarding the seam without abandoning the job. There was no grand moment in which it forgot its own needs. It simply found a way to help while keeping them in mind, one knot and one step at a time.
What the costumes were for
The covered market filled with damp costumes and careful laughter. Cardboard wings drooped. Painted hats left little colored marks on their wearers' paws. Ivo found towels for whoever needed them and hung the rescued banner between two pillars. Pumpkaboo stood near the center, offering enough light that nobody stumbled over the stacked baskets. Shuppet shook its paper cape once, discovered it had become a much smaller cape, and regarded the change with forgiving curiosity.
Mimikyu settled near a dry crate. It tucked the softened paper star against the crate's edge, trying to preserve its shape. Ivo knelt nearby with a towel, then stopped when Mimikyu drew back. He placed the towel within reach instead. For a moment he studied the repaired hem. Mimikyu expected an offer to replace its disguise with something brighter. Instead, he said the stitching was careful work. The compliment reached it much more gently than the earlier promise of a reveal.
Shuppet floated beside Ivo and tugged its tiny cape. Then it pointed toward Mimikyu, copied the movement of lifting cloth, and firmly shook its head. Ivo looked from one to the other. Outside, rain drummed on the market roof. Inside, the lanterns glowed behind damp paper. He finally understood why Mimikyu had hesitated at the tent. The parade had invited everyone to dress as they wished, then treated the last choice as something they were obliged to undo.
Ivo stood and called for attention. The portrait could still happen under the market roof, he explained. Anyone who wanted to remove a costume could do so. Anyone who preferred to keep it should keep it. The reveal was supposed to be fun, not an examination. A child wearing enormous cardboard wings immediately announced that the wings were staying. Their parent laughed. Several Pokémon kept ribbons on. The change was accepted so easily that Ivo looked embarrassed it had taken a storm to suggest it.
Mimikyu watched the group rearrange itself. Nobody turned to ask whether it approved. Nobody announced the new rule had been made for it. Ivo simply found a broad dry bench, moved a basket that blocked the view, and invited everyone into the picture. Shuppet hovered at Mimikyu's shoulder. Pumpkaboo's glow warmed the cloth from below. There was still space to leave if Mimikyu wanted. There was also a place to stay, and the two possibilities finally belonged to it rather than the tradition.
Before stepping toward the bench, Mimikyu lifted the paper star. One edge had curled, and the points no longer matched. It fixed the star back above its repaired hem anyway. Shuppet offered a corner of its shortened cape as a little ribbon, then accepted Mimikyu's gentle refusal. They were learning something about invitations. A good one could be generous without requiring acceptance. Mimikyu moved into the space beside Pumpkaboo and looked toward the camera with the face it had chosen to wear.
The picture on the wall
The first portrait included an elbow at the edge, two overlapping wings, and Pumpkaboo glowing so brightly that Ivo asked for a second attempt. The second included Shuppet drifting higher than intended and a child laughing at the wrong moment. Ivo declared it perfect. The laugh showed how the evening felt. Mimikyu remained beside Pumpkaboo through both pictures, cloth undisturbed. The curled star caught the lantern light more prettily than the flat one had in the mirror.
When the rain eased, the parade continued for one final block beneath the market's long awnings. The music cart rolled slowly enough for everyone to keep up. People who had taken their costumes off walked beside people who had kept them on. Nobody bothered separating the two. Mimikyu carried one end of a light ribbon between Shuppet and the banner. Its repaired seam had held. It would need drying, and perhaps another small stitch tomorrow, but those were manageable problems.
Ivo delivered a copy of the portrait the following week. He did not arrive with a new disguise or a speech about bravery. He brought the picture wrapped in plain paper and asked where Mimikyu would like it placed. Mimikyu pointed to the low wall beside its mirror. Ivo hung it carefully, making sure the height was right. In the picture, the lanterns were a little blurred and the paper star was plainly crooked. Mimikyu could recognize exactly where it stood.
The costume maker changed the parade notice for the next year. The finishing portrait was still promised. The reveal was described as optional. He also added a covered route in case of rain, having learned two useful things from one evening. Shuppet made a new cape from fabric instead of paper. Pumpkaboo chose no ribbon at all. Their preparations were different, and none looked like a rule everyone else should follow.
Mimikyu kept the softened star in a small box. It planned to make another for the next parade, perhaps with a blue edge to match the rain. Sometimes it stopped by the portrait before going out. The image did not reveal anything hidden beneath its disguise. It revealed the way Shuppet hovered close, the way Pumpkaboo made a warm place beside the bench, and the small space the neighbors had left for Mimikyu to enter when it was ready.
On the next lantern evening, Mimikyu arrived at the dressing tent early. Ivo had set the low mirror in its usual place, along with scraps, ribbons, and a basket of paper stars. Mimikyu inspected the hem, chose its own decoration, and joined its friends outside. The finish line was still part of the route. This time it did not feel like the end of belonging. It was simply the place where the neighbors would stop, make room for one another, and take another picture.
An original fan-created story by the Poke Fun Play editorial team. Illustrations generated for this adventure.
Featured Pokémon
Mimikyu
Shuppet
PumpkabooKeep exploring
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