The Puko Scouts

"Puko," Jamanen cursed to herself, "even you wouldn't be so stupid, would you?" On second thought, one would have to be very stupid indeed to steal her children. Only an idiot would think they could ever get away with it! And Puko was as dim as they came, and impulsive as well -- just the sort of youma who might hatch such a careless and harebrained scheme.

As she teleported through the galaxy, Jamanen tormented herself with thoughts of what her Slime Slaves might look like now, if Puko had managed to... pervert them. Oh, what if she's managed to turn them into silly, useless airheads like herself? She imagined her beloved Jelly, Drippy, Gooey, Slimey, and Muck transformed into garish, hollow creatures like Puko. Their beautiful red slime turned to blue rubber, their lips pink and their heads purple -- too many clashing colors! Would they spend their days like Puko, giggling over nothing and inflating themselves into giant balloons for kicks? This was intolerable!

At last, Jamanen found her quarry floating high above a desolate region of the Negaverse. "Puko!" she screamed, "give them back now?"

"Give who a back now?" Puko asked in her sugary, high-pitched voice.

"My family!"

"Awww, that's so sweeeet!" the balloon woman cooed, "you miss your widdle babies! But... I wasn't the one who took them... I don't think?"

"Who then?" Jamanen demanded.

"Umm, I guess I'm not sure. The last time there was a meeting of youma, I think... err, yes, I think I remember Akumuda mentioning them. You know her, the one with the glowy knife in her forehead? Do you think having a knife in your forehead hurts? I think it probably does!"

Akumuda. Of course. The blue-skinned youma was a master of hypnotism and was an expert at possessing lesser beings... it must have been her! Jamanen turned away from Puko in disgust, as she had inflated herself into her idiotic balloon form and was floating about, still rambling.She would find Akumuda, and get back what she had lost...