"And a one and a two and a three—" Homika said before her band began to bang out another tune, this one to one of her more familiar songs, perhaps the most famous one of all.

However just like the other times today, the song started out good but would soon descend into clash between the drummer, the bassist and electronic keyboard. Unfortunately for Dogars, that didn't turn into a musical sensation but just a lot of noise. A whole lot of noise at that. Thankfully the awfulness didn't continue for long as she spoke up. "Wait, wait…hold the f*** up! What is going on guys? We sound like one of those freaking garage bands that just started up a few hours ago. Except we aren't! What's wrong?"

The bald drummer known simply as Chuck, looked up from his weapons and sighed. "Homika, aren't you being a bit of a spaz here?"

"Yea girl. We always start out slow, even on our signature songs. It's nothing to worry about. I think you're just nervous about our next concert."

Homika slashed the strings on her guitar. "F*** no! I'm not nervous at all; I just want everything to be right! I don't want us to go on stage and sound like a bunch of amateurs."

"Uh, except we aren't?" Chuck said. He drummed out a short riff. "It's okay to admit you're a tad nervous. We'll be debuting several new songs for the upcoming release, we'll be playing before the largest crowd ever and even the Champion of Unova will be in attendance."

"I am not nervous! I don't ever get nervous…ever! Never ever! Augh…f*** it, take two guys. We'll start up in a hour or so," she said as she set down the guitar and walked off. Well more like stomped off. She hopped off the stage and made her way to the nearby trailer.

Ethan sat up as she slammed the door open, roused from his midday nap. Wiggler let out an annoyed squeak at having his nap interrupted as well but Homika just shot him a look. She closed the door and leaned against it. "F***!"

"What else is new?"

She removed the hair ornaments in her hair and let it fall down as she walked over and sat down on the bed. "I don't know…f***! I'm a wreck."

"It's okay to admit you're nervous you know. Everyone gets nervous. I'm nervous every time a challenger comes in with a new team to challenge me."

"You aren't nervous. You secretly hope someone will dethrone you because you're bored with it."

He turned on his side and chuckled. She was right about that. He thought he would be overjoyed to finally be the Champion but so far, sooo boring. Maybe he would have appreciated it more if he had finally beaten Crystal instead? "Yea, I guess so."

"But…what am I going to do? I'm afraid I'm going to screw up in front of everyone?"

He smiled. "Why not say why you are so nervous? You've performed before huge crowds before. You've debuted new songs at concerts before. You've performed before Champions before? There has to be a reason."

He turned over to look at her and she buried her face in her hands. "Oh…I've performed before Champions before but this time is different."

"Because the Champion is your boyfriend?"

She chuckled. "F*** man, stop selling yourself short. You're more important than that. And yes…it's one thing to perform before Champions…"

"Then don't think of me as the Champion. I don't even introduce myself as the Champion to people. Everyone just calls me the Champion but I don't really see myself as one."

"I know but…ugh! I just need to blow off some steam."

He looked toward the windows. "Well you have some of those prop guitars right? Smack something with them."

She laughed as she got up and walked over to the door. For a moment he thought she was going to go and do just that but she just locked the door instead. He kind of knew where this was going. "I've got a better idea."

He sighed. "Again?"

"Again? You're a guy! You're supposed to be seducing me!"

"You're the rock star—"

"Yes but just once I would love for you to come on to me, make me blush, make me weak in the knees—"

"Roxie, for that to happen…I'm really afraid what I would have to do for that to happen. I'll pass!"

She giggled as she reached behind her back. "Well…I'm gonna teach you…more than a few things so you better pay atten—"

They heard a loud crash that sounded like it came from the stage. She walked over the window and pulled down the blinds. "What happened?"

"What…there is some freaking clown dressed like a f****** power ranger or…hey, he's smashing up the stage! What the f***?" She yelled. She rushed out of the trailer and he looked over at Wiggler.

"Dressed like a power ranger? Let's go check it out Wiggler!"

He let out a squeak as he rolled out of bed and slipped on his shoes. They hurried out of the trailer and he could see a guy dressed like a black power ranger, complete with fancy gold plated shoulder blades and a snazzy helmet to boot. In his hands was a large black axe, which he used to smash up the large speakers and electronic equipment. Homika chased after him with one of her prop guitars and he wasn't sure whether to help or laugh. "Who dresses up like a power ranger and does this? It's like some sort of joke."

"You call us a joke? The jokes on you!" A loud, booming voice said from behind. He began to turn around but felt something hit him in the back of his head, sending him to the ground. Wiggler squeaked as the guy landed on his back. "Pathetic! You're supposed to be the great Champion and yet you have already fallen to Axem Red!"

Axem Red…wait, hold on just a minute! Axem Red?! Was this some sort of joke? "Axem…what?"

"Axem Red and get it right!"

Ethan began to sit up and the guy hopped off his back but as he stood up, he felt cold metal against his neck. Wiggler let out a worried squeak. "I take it you came here for a reason? You guys got your butts whooped before, don't you think it's time to retire?"

Axem Red laughed. "Retire? Just a minor little setback! We may have been defeated before but like a phoenix from the ashes, we will rise again!"

"And you intend to do that by stealing some Pokemon—"

He felt him press the axe harder against his neck, not enough to draw blood but if he wanted to, he could probably do some real damage. "You catch on fast, real fast. Now how about you turn over some Pokemon? I figure the Champion of Unova would be loaded with some powerful Pokemon."

"So just how did you get here?"

"I got an axe at your neck. You hand over the Pokemon now! I don't think I have to answer your questions!"

Whatever explanation he did give would probably make no sense so he reached into his pockets, remembering he had a few empty Pokeballs on him. If anything, he wouldn't realize it was empty until later. "Okay, here you go."

Axem Red pulled his axe away as he took the Pokeballs. He looked them over a bit before he slammed the bottom of his axe into the ground. "Axem Black, c'mon and let's meet up with the others! We have what we want!"

Axem Black stopped attacking the stage and kicked one of the smashed up drums in Homika's direction, causing her to jump out of the way, sending a stream of curses his way. "Oh, is that so? Took you long enough Red—"

"That's Axem Red soldier and stop wasting time! I let you have your fun but it's now time to get to work!"

Axem Black sighed and hurried off the stage while the two made their escape. Homika quickly scrambled off the stage and hurried over to them. "Hey, why are you letting them just getting away like that? That goon smashed up my stage and some of our equipment and you just let him go free and clear?!"

He put his hand on her shoulder. "I didn't actually give them some Pokemon, just some empty Pokeballs."

"That still doesn't explain why you let them go!"

"They had actual weapons for one and Axem Red was close enough to me that I didn't trust my reflexes enough if he decided to swing it."

She frowned. "Well…I guess. Ugh but that f***** did so much damage to the stage…and the instruments! We're lucky the concert is still a week or…f***!" She yelled to the sky. He reached over and put his arm around her shoulders. She seemed pretty shocked at first but chuckled. "Ugh…thanks. I'm just a freaking mess. I just want to…put on a really great show."

"You always put on a great show. When has that changed?"

She laughed. "I know but this is the first time I get to do a big concert in front of the Champion and the guy I love. I want to make it really special…and now…f***! Those stupid Axem…"

"Rangers."

She looked up at him with a confused look. "They're called the Axem Rangers. There are five members, Red, Black, Green, Pink and Yellow. Except they were a bunch of characters from a videogame."

"Please don't tell me you think they stepped out of the—"

"Don't be silly Roxie. It's obviously a group of kids who are just interested in causing some trouble."

She sighed. "Or a bunch of sad sack adults with nothing better to do with their lives than f*** with Roxie! And Ethan for that matter!"

He rubbed his chin. "Yea, I mean if I were a gang of troublemakers, altering some of the strongest trainers in the region to your presence would be super dumb. You're asking to lose."

She pulled away. "Well…I need to get in contact with some people so we can get some stuff in and I figure—"

Before she could finish, his phone rang. He sighed but she gave him a quick kiss on the lips before hurrying off. That warm and fuzzy feeling he had went away pretty quick when he remembered he still had a job to do. "Hello."

"Ethan! What is going on here?"

"Iris, what are you talking about?"

Iris sighed. "Well you see, I was training up north here when I was attacked by some clown dressed like a yellow power ranger and he had a large axe! I swear the guy had a serious gut problem…I've never seen so much—"

"Did he call himself Axem Yellow?"

There was a bit of silence on the line. "B-but…aren't they from a videogame? I know that's where they came from."

"Yep."

"What, don't tell me you're saying they came from the videogame! That they literally stepped out of the TV—"

"I didn't say they came directly from the videogame, just that they are characters from a videogame. It's probably just a bunch of troublemakers dressed up like them. If they actually bring out a decked out airship that looks just like the Blade…I'm gonna get worried."

Iris grumbled. "What's worse is that he took some of my Pokemon! He didn't take them all thankfully but I didn't really have a choice because he had a big axe on him!"

"Did he also grumble about being—"

"Hungry? Yea he did! It was so weird…maybe that's why he got the drop on me, I couldn't believe what I just heard."

He laughed. "Well Axem Red got the drop on me too but I don't think they know how Pokeballs work much because I was able to fool him with some empty Pokeballs."

"I wish I thought of that. Dumbo Axem Rangers, this is like a bad dream. Like when I lost to your Hydregion."

"Sam is pretty tough—"

"I lost half of my team to him! And I still had Aries, Pitch and finally Wiggler to deal with. Oh…well if you were attacked by the Red Ranger then—"

"Homika was attacked by the black one, though it seemed he just wanted to cause trouble rather than steal something."

She sighed. "Then I guess…that still leaves the Pink and Green ones. Who would they attack though?"

"Well let's think about it. Well I remember the pink one was the girly girl of the group and into fashion so…."

"Well isn't that pretty obvious? It would have to be Elesa, she's the girly one…she's a model for crying out loud!" Iris said.

"Yea yea, you're right about that. Well that is pretty obvious but the green one will be tough."

She sighed. "I really don't remember anything about the green one, other than he was tall and skinny. He just kind of blended in with everyone else."

Ethan sat down on the cool grass next to Wiggler. "Well…maybe Skyla?"

"Since when does Skyla blend in?!"

"Looks aside, how does she stand out? Homika is a rock star, you're a former Champion and Dragon Tamer and Elesa is a famous model. And there's the whole laundry list of things I've accomplished, the least of which is being the current Champion of Unova."

"I'm not sure how you would call being the Champion the least of your accomplishments—"

He rolled his eyes. "Being the Champion is one thing but being called the scourge of Pokemon criminals is quite another. Besides, some Champion. He had to leave his own region to become the Champion, being too weak to take it on his home turf."

"You're just being dumb. You know how hard it is to become Champion? Some people never get the chance and look at you!"

He laughed. "I was just kind of poking fun at myself there. I am happy to be the Champion but it's annoying when people just gush over you so much. I'm used to having people ignore my accomplishments altogether so now having people gush…well you know."

Iris sighed. "I guess…I just want to be Champion again!"

"Stop losing to Sam! You're supposed to be the princess of all Dragon Tamers and yet you keep losing to a guy with a Wigglytuff," he said as he looked over at Wiggler, who beamed with pride.

"I told you, I never even get to him! I still think it's wrong you get to use two teams!"

"It's because Marshal decided to leave to do some more training…or whatever he wished to do. Since you didn't want to be part of the Elite Four, I asked if I could just use two teams to make up for it."

"Whatever! Well…like I said, we should get in contact with those two. Hopefully we can capture one of those Axem Ranger clowns."

"Well I'll try to get in contact with Skyla and you can talk to Elesa," he said. He heard Iris giggle and he frowned. "Now what?"

"Of course you would want to get in contact with—"

He hung up before she could finish and looked over at Wiggler. "She is such a pest."

Wiggler squeaked in agreement as he got to his feet. He saw Homika approach and he walked over to her. "Well thankfully we have back up instruments but it'll take about a couple of hours for them to bring it in."

"Well I think we may have figured out where the last two members of this little gang will strike."

"Oh?"

"Elesa and Skyla. I think. At least that's the conclusion Iris and me came to. Hopefully it's the right one."

She folded her arms and looked away. "Huh, you think? Well I hope you do catch those clowns. I really want to give that black one a piece of my mind!"

"You don't want to tag along?"

She looked at him with a smile. "Well thanks for inviting me along but I've got a concert to practice for! And I want it to be super good so you can go on without me."

Once upon a time, Homika would have tried to choke him for meeting with Skyla. Well maybe not choke but she was super paranoid that he was just gonna slobber all over her or something. Perhaps being stuck in exile on Hoehn for a few months, doing absolutely nothing except that awesome little trip to Dino Island had to calm down…or something. Speaking of Hoehn…

"Ethan!"

Wiggler let out a squeak and he turned to see Lyra hurrying toward him. He winced as she ran up to him with a hug, almost fainting from her strong perfume. "Oh…hi Lyra."

She pulled away from him and winked at him. "Hey, what do you think of my outfit? I designed it myself!"

She pulled on her white strapless dress, which had several Pokeballs on the front, each made up of sparkly…uhh something. Every time she turned around, he thought would get blinded from the sun reflecting off the parts of her dress. "I…I'm not the right person to ask."

She pointed her finger at his chest. "Of course you are. You're a guy, aren't you?"

"Yes I'm a guy but what do I know about fashion? Go ask Elesa!"

She grasped his hands. "I'm just asking if you think it looks pretty!"

He pulled his hands away. "Well…it's a bit shiny."

She sighed. "You think so? That's what Crystal said, she said it was way too shiny and distracting."

"Well it is a bit distracting and…blinding."

Lyra sighed. "Drat, drat drat. Oh well, I have so many other ideas! Will you let me model for you?"

He rolled his eyes. "Why don't you model for someone else? Why does it have to be me?"

"Because…it has to be you. You're the one who will give me the opinions I need. You're honest—"

"Elesa will be able to help you out more. She's a model, she's into fashion—"

"I need the opinion of a boy!"

He looked away. "But there are so many guys out there—"

"I meant I need your opinion. You're the one who encouraged me to chase my dream of becoming a clothes designer, the least you could do is support me!"

He sighed. "Look I understand encouraging you to become a clothes designer but people are going to take it the wrong way—"

She wrapped her arm around his shoulder. "Huh, no one has to know Ethan. It'll be just between the two of us. I could…really use your help. Like I said, you're a guy and you know me pretty well…and you'll be willing to give me the honest answers I need."

Suddenly he felt a hand slip in between the two of them. With a deal of force, May suddenly slipped in between the two of them, separating the ever-clingy Lyra from his shoulders. She put her hands on her hips. "Hey…Homika won't like that very much!"

Lyra stumbled back a few. "H-huh?"

He sighed. What a waste of time. "I already said Homika won't like you being so close to him!"

Lyra dusted herself off. "Umm okay? Who are you supposed to be?"

"May! I'm…May, aren't I?" She asked as she looked at him.

"Uh yea?"

"See, I'm May!"

Lyra rubbed the back of her head. "Ethan…why is it every time I turn around, there are more girls coming out of the woodwork? At first I thought I was competing with just my cousin and then it was Jasmine, and then Candice and then—"

"I think you're just blowing things out of proportion Lyra. And competing with Crystal? She never had a crush—"

Lyra leaned forward. "Oh yes she did, I just had the bigger one!"

May looked at him and then at Lyra. "What?"

"So where did you pick her up from?"

May held up her hand with the bracelet made of leaves and vines. "Dino Island! And E didn't pick me up, he chose me!"

Lyra looked at him with a confused look. "What?"

May intertwined her fingers. "Umm how does it go? Two become one or…uhh…"

As May tried to explain it to poor Lyra, a shadow grew over them. He and Wiggler looked up in time to see the…Pink Axem Ranger? He rushed forward and shoved the two of them out of the way as she landed on the ground with her axe. He tumbled to the ground but was back to his feet in an instant. Axem Pink spun her axe around like a cheerleader would with a baton and blew a kiss in his direction.

"Get in line lady, you aren't the first," he said.

"At least you're nice enough to call me that."

"Who is this? Why is her outfit so horrible? Lyra asked.

Axem Ping slammed her axe down on the ground. "Horrible? Look at it, it's sleek, well designed and leaves me with just the right amount of protection. Plus it's super flexible, which is important—"

"The colors are all wrong, the pink is too bright, the gold plating on the shoulders looks gaudy and doesn't match and the helmet is so…so…last decade."

"Says the girl with a dress that would blind a blind man!"

"Huh? Is that possible?" May asked him. He shook his head.

"It's just an exaggeration."

Lyra stuck out her finger. "Hey hey, this dress has gotten rave reviews. Ethan even said so himself."

"I didn't say—ow!" He said as she elbowed him in the side. That hurt!

"I don't think your boyfriend is exactly a great judge of talent. He's supposed to say the nice things."

"He's not her boyfr—"

"Hey, you're just trying to change the subject!" Lyra yelled.

"I thought you were going to attack Elesa," he said. Axem Pink winked at him and he grumbled.

"Attack Elesa? What gave you that idea?"

"Well you're into fashion and stuff so I thought—"

"Ethan…why was Elesa the first one you thought when it came to fashion?" Lyra asked in a whiny voice.

"Uh oh, looks like I've interrupted a domestic argument—"

"H-hey, he's not my…umm…well…well he is that but we aren't having a domestic argument—"

"Domestic what?" May asked as Lyra and Axem Pink continued to argue amongst themselves.

"She means an argument between couples or husband and wife. Except me and Lyra aren't a couple…at all," he said with emphasis on the not a couple part.

"Either way, you're a horrible fashion designer but I'm not here to critique your horrible, terrible, no good sense of fashion but I'm here for your Pokemon!"

He sighed. "Thank you, at least you got to the point. Too bad you don't have chance of getting away, you're surrounded."

"Surrounded you say? Oh what do I do? Oh I know!" Axem Pink said before tossing out a small pink ball. It suddenly blew up in a bright flash of light and…sparkles? It took several minutes for the light to dissipate and his vision to return to somewhat normal but by the time it did, she was gone. The area was covered in a bunch of sparkles even and he had to spit some out of his mouth as he chuckled.

"Well I have to give her that. That was a pretty slick move."

"Ewww, I'm covered in sparkles," Lyra said.

"Aren't you…already sparkly?" May asked. Lyra shrugged.

"Though…that does give me an idea for a new perfume I could come up with!"

She suddenly gasped and began to search her dress. "What's wrong?"

"My…Pokeball is gone? What happened to Meganium?"

He folded his arms. "My guess is that she stole it while we were recovering from her attack. Again, it was kind of a slick move."

"Why are you complimenting her? She just stole my beloved Pokemon; the one Professor Elm gave me! The only Pokemon—"

He held up his hands for her to stop. "Okay, we get it. I know Meganium is precious to you and we'll get her back…eventually."

Lyra folded her arms. "This stinks. What are they trying to pull?"

"Your guess is as good as mine but there's still one more Ranger."

May frowned. "How do you know that?"

"I think these Axem Rangers are a bunch of kids, or adults dressed up as a gang of characters from a videogame. So far they have attacked people who seemed to be similar to their personalities, the leader Axem Red attacked me while Axem Black went after Homika. Axem Yellow got to Iris and now we have the pink one with Lyra. The only ranger left is the green one."

Lyra's eyes grew wide. "You mean they all wear such tacky outfits? Do you think they'll let redesign their outfits while they cool their heels in jail? I bet I could—"

"What's with you and clothes?" May asked. Lyra shot her a look.

"Because it seems everyone around here has such terrible taste in clothes. I mean, what are you wearing? A skullcap? A bright red outfit…and why aren't you wearing anything underneath it?! Do you know how bad that looks? Ethan…why haven't you said anything?"

He shrugged. "May…lived in a jungle with Pokemon for most of her life. She's just now getting used to wearing clothes—"

"Ethan, I thought you were better than this."

"Huh?"

Lyra folded her arms. "You never struck me as the type who would enjoy ogling a girl—"

"Ethan is used to me! He doesn't have to stare!"

"Used to?"

"Besides all those…things you have to wear underneath are so itchy and…tight…I hate them."

"Can we forget about May's clothing? Or lack of clothes? We need to find that last Ranger."

Lyra put a hand on her hip. "Okay so what is the green Ranger like?"

"Well he's tall…and green. That's all I got really. I was thinking maybe it was Skyla but the Green Axem Ranger sort of blended into the background—"

"Yea and Skyla doesn't blend in anywhere."

He sighed. "And I thought the Pink Ranger would attack Elesa so I was wrong about that. So there's a chance I might be wrong about who the Green Ranger will attack and I'll have to come up with some new guesses."

Lyra snapped her fingers. "Oh right! I forgot that someone from Johto wanted to meet the new Champion!"

"Who?"

"Silver! He was pretty shocked that you actually became the Champion of some region. He thought it was impossible."

"Silver is a jerk."

She winked. "Of course he's a jerk, that's what he is! Though, I don't know where he wandered off. I think he went to the airport here. Maybe he wants to meet with Skyla! Imagine that, Silver with a girl!"

"Silver?" May asked.

"He's a trainer from Johto. He used to be a giant jerk that mistreated Pokemon and even stole his first Pokemon from Professor Elm. He eventually mellowed out and often fills in for Jasmine when she's away from her gym."

May nodded. "Oh, really?"

"I guess you could say he was like my rival…even though my real rival was Crystal—"

"Can it be called a rivalry when she beat you most of the time?" Lyra asked. He shot her a wounded look and she sighed. "Okay, I'm sorry. That was a low blow E."

"So he's here in town?"

Lyra nodded. "Yep! He came here with me…well I guess I dragged him here. He didn't believe me when I told him that you not only were cleared of those absolutely stupid charges but you took on the Champion and won! So I dragged him out here so he could see for himself!"

"Well let's go see him then."

By the time they got over to the airport, they found Skyla toiling away in the engine of a red biplane with a Braviary painted on the tail. The wings were painted with the matching feathers and he could only imagine how proud Pitch would be. Too bad much of the red paint was chipped or faded, like Skyla had dragged it out of a dump an hour ago. He knocked on the side of it and she looked up from the engine, some oil on her face. "Oh hey Ethan! What do you think of her? I bought her off of an old pilot. He said he flew it in the war."

"What war? The war of terrible, horrible, no good designs? I mean…look at that paint job! I mean who would want to paint an airplane with such a bright color?"

"Lyra, what do you know about machines?"

She put her hands on her hips. "I know about colors and what goes with what."

"That may apply to clothes but—"

"Ethan man…is there anyway for you to shut her up?"

Silver walked around from the other side and Lyra grumbled. "About time you showed your ugly face Silver."

He shrugged. "Whatever."

Ethan reached into his pocket and pulled out the badge signifying his position as Champion. "So now do you believe it?"

He took it and looked it over. "I guess I have to. I figure you would just be forever known as Mr. Runner up or Eternal Second Place."

He snatched it back. "If it wasn't for Crystal, I'm sure I would have already been the Champion."

Silver shrugged. "Probably. Crystal is a piece of work. Never have I met anyone so obsessed with staying on top and becoming the toughest trainer around. No one can topple her."

"She's leveled out but…she is still very competitive."

"That's just you being nice…again," he said. What was with him and her? Anytime he brought up Silver to her, Crystal got angry and annoyed while Silver seemed to be the same way. Lyra giggled.

"Oh Silver. You should just ask her out. I'm sure she would love it."

"No."

"Maybe I should tell Ethan about what happened between the two of you at the Radio Tower?"

Silver turned pale and pointed a finger at her. "Don't you dare mention that!"

"What happened?"

"Never mind that!" Silver yelled. He adjusted his collar. "Besides, what happened to you and Jasmine? I thought you two were like close and now the two of you don't seem to talk that much anymore."

"Homika happened," Lyra said with great annoyance. "She's so bossy. She doesn't let him do anything."

"That isn't true—"

"I knew you would end up henpecked," Silver said and he shot him a look.

"I'm not henpecked. We just don't talk much because…Homika still isn't the biggest fan of Jasmine. Even after spending more time with her…"

"So you are henpecked—"

"I'm not henpecked!"

Lyra giggled. "He kind of is. He might be the greatest enemy to Pokemon criminals everywhere but he's putty to girls. Why do you think your little relationship with Homika has been so rocky?"

He wanted to counter that but was finding it pretty hard to point out where she was wrong. "I figured."

"Oh well…rock stars never stick with one partner for very long. The relationship will die out, she'll move on and I'll finally have my chance!"

May shook her head and Silver could only do the same. "I see delusion is still a big hobby of yours—"

"Watch me! I'll mellow out…it just takes time!"

Skyla finally spoke up. "You three are hilarious."

A shadow formed over the plane and he remembered the last time that happened. He rushed past the others and pulled Skyla away. Just in time too because the Green Axem Ranger dove out of nowhere and smashed his axe through the plane's engine. Just what kind of axe did this guy have? He spun the axe around several times and pounded his chest. "Axem Green, reporting for duty!"