Chapter XXXVII: Trash talking jerks!

Apparently I was in need to split the chapter. Don't we all hate when that happens?

Upon reaching her shack of a home, Flash sighed. She couldn't delay it anymore; she'd have to tell Loopy of what she was intending to do. Her anger fit had cooled down during the silent walk, and she wondered if Loopy would take her suggestion the wrong way. She looked down at Francis and saw his expecting look. She took a deep breath to speak up.

"Flash try fire again?" Loopy assumed as he backed away.

A small grin curled up on Flash's lips. "Heh, no, no," she quickly assured him. "There was this thing I wanted to talk to you about." Her grin faded away to a concerned look. The feeling she had in her stomach felt as she had swallowed a bucket of ice blocks made her feel uncomfortable. She knew Francis was watching and expecting her to tell Loopy.

Loopy put his hands on his hips and smiled. "Flash show kiss?" he asked hopefully as his eyes brightened with curiosity.

"No, not yet, not yet!" Flash quickly returned with a bright blush. "It's something else…" she then said with a lower voice, looking away. She took another breath to regain the little confidence she had left. "…You know Kangaskhan and Persian got paid and all that?" Loopy responded with a goofy nod. Flash fidgeted with her paws. "And… you know… they wanted us to do this Rescue Team… to… you know, get money."

"Yes, it be much fun," Loopy replied with his smile still present. "And much good Kangy money pay."

Flash let out a weak chuckle. "Y-yeah, and now that they're paid… well… there's not really much point in the rescue team." The end of that sentence barely came out from her mouth; it was like a whisper. But Loopy heard it; Flash could see his eyes widen ever so slightly. She quickly looked down at Francis, and could see that he was heading inside. "Gee, thanks for the support…"

"But it very exciting!" he argued, "Help other be fun and good."

Flash clenched her paws. "Loopy, I know it's been kinda exciting... but it's been way too dangerous." When she saw him tilt his head, she continued. "Yes, I know it came with the job. But think about it."

"Flash be scared?" Loopy asked with a slight concern. "Or… Flash no like rescue team?"

Flash looked away briefly. "No, I'm not scared…" She gulped. "Fine, a little. There have been a few times we've been close to die. I think that's a few times too many." She paused to see if Loopy understood what she was getting at. "I mean, you could join Team Juvens. You and Dieter seem to get along great." She forced a hopeful smile.

Loopy looked straight into her eyes. Where it sadness or anger, Flash didn't know. "Sound… maybe," he mumbled with a shrug. "What Francis say?"

"Well… he seems fine with it, but he wonders if you're okay with it." Loopy raised an eyescale. "But maybe someone will recognize you at that fighting tournament."

"Flash no want me live here?" was Loopy's response to that. Flash winced; she saw he was actually catching on quite fast.

"I didn't mean it like that!" she quickly retorted. "I mean that someone might've been missing you all this time."

Loopy put his hand on his lower jaw and thought for a few seconds. "Zilea be nice," he said quietly with a bit of hesitation; he knew Flash would just get angry at the mention of her name. And she did.

"I told you not to talk about her! I don't like her!" She was clenching her paws so hard she though they'd start bleeding of the pressure.

Loopy just tilted his head. "…Sorry. But if Flash want, okay," he then said with a slight sigh. "Maybe have one mission before done?"

Flash did a double take at the sudden change Loopy got. "That was awfully quick of him to agree," she thought as she tried to find the words to reply to him. "Well, we could have one last mission after the tournament. I mean… you've really been helpful to me since I met you. I suppose we could do that."

Loopy smiled a little and gave a weak nod. "Mhm, Flash nice too, give home." Flash returned the smile. "But no more steal?"

Her smile faded as she looked away nervously. She couldn't guarantee that she wouldn't accidentally steal other Pokémon's stuff, but at least she had paid back for the lost merchandise Kangaskhan had stored. "I… I'm going to try," she promised him. She already regretted it; she knew she'd eventually break that promise. And whenever that'd happen, she hoped he wouldn't know.

She suddenly found herself caught in one of Loopy's hugs while she had been feeling guilty. "Hey!" she cried as she was lifted up. With her arms trapped, she kicked with her feet to make him let go.

"Flash calm. Is fun know Flash better be!" Loopy exclaimed as he pressed the side of his head to her chest. "Me try with Dieter talk next day!"

Flash struggled to break free from Loopy's tight hug. But she couldn't really deny that despite him giving her these sudden, clingy hugs, she kind of liked the affection Loopy was showing to her. "Loopy, please, can you let me go?" she asked him, trying not to yell at him this time. "It kinda tickles."

As if on cue, Loopy gently put her on the ground and let go. "Flash no angry of hug?" he asked her, feeling a little confused.

She smirked. "Nah, I can let you have that one."

"So THIS is the place you live at, Charmander girl!"

Both Flash and Loopy looked over their shoulders to see the two Tyrogue from the Makuhita Dojo. Flash frowned, recognizing Tyke from that encounter she had had with him and his cronies, although he was only having one of them with him. In the corner of her eye she saw Loopy raising his fists, frowning at the pair as well.

"Oh, what do you want?" Flash asked through gritted teeth, "I'm not in the mood for your crap!"

Tyke held his hands up, giving off a smug smirk. "Easy there, or your friend might get himself poisoned again." He put a hand on his hip, still smirking. "You wouldn't want that, would ya?"

Flash took a step forward, raising her clenched paw. "Wipe that grin off your face before I give you a face full of flames!" She snorted out a puff of smoke. But Tyke and his fellow Tyrogue's smirks didn't fade. "May I remind you he alone beat the crap out of FIVE of you? And you then took off like a crying little hatchling!" That caused the two Tyrogue's smirks to fade.

"Shut up!" he snapped back, "You're gonna eat those words after I kick his ass on the tournament!"

"But Tyrogue run when heal of poison," Loopy said as he raised an eyescale.

Flash chuckled at that. "Yeah, you weren't so damn tough when he was back in shape."

Tyke clenched his fist and shook it towards Flash. "We were out of shape too!" he shot back. "Lack of food does that!"

Now it was Flash's turn to smirk as she put a paw on her hip. "Sounds like an excuse to me. You know, I'm pretty sure you'll go down in one hit from Loopy." She turned and looked at Loopy, who seemed to look a little thoughtful at the Tyrogue pair.

"Hope Tyke eat well before fight. Be little fun if fight over fast.

Tyke's jaw dropped slightly as he shot a glare towards Loopy. "You can bet your ass it'll be over quickly. You'll lie face down on the mat before you know what hit you!"

"Yeah, he's been training lots, you know," the other Tyrogue said. "He's gonna win us some cash so we can buy some food to store, you know."

Flash's shoulders slumped down, almost unable to comprehend the stupidity. "That is just… If you had money to enter the tournament, why not save yourself the trouble and just go buy the food right away?"

"Because common sense is something that seems to be amiss among certain Pokémon." Flash looked over her shoulder to see Francis coming out from the house. He looked annoyed as he walked up to her and Loopy, keeping his focus at the two Tyrogue.

"Hey, dumbass," Tyke spat, pointing at Francis, "I win a few rounds and we're gonna have at least double the entry fee. And that means more food."

Francis frown stayed as he looked straight at the two Tyrogue. "What a well thought out plan," came his sarcastic reply, "now that you are finished with that, would you please vacate our premises?" he finished with a dismissing wave of his paw.

"You just came to trash talk, didn't you?" Flash interjected, smirking at them. "You're probably really scared your first match's against Loopy." Francis put his paw on his forehead at Flash's attempt at dragging this on even further.

Tyke bit his lower lip. "That's a really stupid name, yanno!"

Flash shrugged and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, Tyke is truly a name to fear."

"It's just a nick around my buddies!" he shot back, "you'd best hope nothing bad happens to you in your sleep. All of you. We know where you live!"

Loopy raised his fists when Tyke was having the fit, and didn't like the threats he was throwing out at them. "Tyke no hurt Flash. Want fight, fight after tourney."

"Are you quite finished?" Francis asked as he tugged his whisker. "Or does your strategy happen to consist of boring us with constant banter?" Before Tyke could respond, Francis continued, "Perhaps you should be more concerned about your backs instead?"

The two Tyrogue looked over their shoulders. Both their eyebrows rose when they saw what Francis had been referring to. It was Zilea, and she was walking at a steady pace towards them. The two quickly glanced at each other, then at Team Brawl, and then at the approaching Machop.

"Heh, I knew you two were up to something when you suddenly left the dojo like that," she told them with a chuckle.

Tyke raised his hands and took a step back from her, wanting to keep the distance. This closed the distance between him and Flash. "Wh-what do you want? Why don't you mind your own business?"

"Oh no, not you too!" Flash growled at the sight of her. She already had enough trouble with those two Tyrogue and their kind of payback or whatever they wanted.

Ignoring Flash, Zilea kept her attention to the two Tyrogue. "I kinda think it is a little bit of my business. You two seem like trouble makers on your spare time." She looked past them and smirked at Loopy. "I dunno what past you have with each other, but don't think I'm gonna let you rub anyone out of the tournament."

"Hey, lady, we weren't planning any of that," Tyke replied, still intent on keeping his distance from Zilea. He and his buddy took another step away from her. "Why don't you worry about that Meditite guy you're up against?"

Flash stepped forward and gave Tyke a good shove at his unprotected back. She knew it was a dumb revenge action from what had happened at Mt Steel, but she couldn't pass up that chance. She chuckled as Tyke hit the ground face first right in front of Zilea. "Hey, looks like someone just fell for you!" she quipped. Francis just put his paw on his forehead as a disapproving gesture of the bad pun.

Tyke's comrade spun around and snarled slightly at Flash. "Hey, you wanna start someth-" He stopped when he saw Loopy raising his fists. He quickly responded by backing away from the Machop, also sending Flash a glare.

"You little witch!" Tyke spat as he scrambled to his feet. He looked over his shoulder to send a piercing glare towards Flash with an urge to punch her face in. But just as he had fully turned around to lash out at her, an arm fully wrapped around his neck and pulled him back. He held onto the strong arm of Zilea's as he was hoisted up by her in the air. He flailed with his legs to try make her let go of him, but to no avail.

Zilea, while restraining Tyke with one arm, quickly stepped forward to seize the brief opportunity where Tyke's buddy wasn't paying attention to her. Before he knew it, he found himself having Zilea's other arm wrapped around his neck.

"Alright," Zilea started, looking at the two Tyrogue she held in their respective headlocks. They tried hitting her with their elbows, but she didn't seem to be much fazed by their blows. "How about you buzz off and mind your business instead?" She hugged both of them tighter to herself. "Or you two might face some unforeseen consequences after the tournament. Would you want that?"

Tyke kept struggling against Zilea's iron grip. "Hrrng, I'm gonna tell Spathi about this!" he managed to choke out.

Flash, Loopy and Francis were all looking at the spectacle. Flash was still grinning at the sight of those two Tyrogue being restrained like that, despite her not being too happy about Zilea being there. Francis had a thoughtful and disapproving look as he watched them, and Loopy just had a wide smile on his face, looking awed by Zilea.

"Zilea strong!" he cheered with a snicker. "Or maybe Tyke and Tyrogue weak?"

"Shut up!" Tyke spat back before he and his buddy were pressed closer to Zilea's chest.

Keeping her smirk at the two Tyrogue, she loosened the temporary squeeze to avoid injuring them. "Hey now, boys, I don't think Spathi would care much of what I'm doing now. Though I wonder what you two were gonna do with Loopy, hmm?"

The other Tyrogue struggled against Zilea's arm, trying to push it away. "Hey, lady, we'll be outta here if you let us go!" he offered. When she turned to stare directly at him, he felt a lump in his throat forming. "Uh, p-please?" he then piped up, looking past her piercing stare to give Tyke a hinting look. He quickly looked back at Zilea, afraid that breaking eye contact would cause her to get offended. While he knew she'd get in trouble for hurting other contestants before the tournament, it'd still hurt him right now if she decided to put on a strong squeeze.

"If you three will persist on acting like a bunch of jabbering troglodytes, would you please oust yourselves from here and continue with your argument elsewhere?" Francis spoke up, keeping a firm, annoyed stare at the three fighting types.

Zilea turned slightly and tossed the two Tyrogue away as she let go. "You heard the rat. Beat it, you two!" she snapped at them, raising her fists. The two Tyrogue scrambled to their feet and scurried off, but not before sending Flash one more glare.

After the two smaller fighting types had ran out of sight, Zilea turned to face Team Brawl again. "Well, that takes care of that!" she said proudly, smirking.

"Well? Why are you still here?" Flash asked, clenching her paws. Even though the Tyrogue were gone, just the sight of Zilea was grinding her temper.

Zilea gave an offended look at Flash and put her hands on her hips. "Gee, nice way to say thanks for ridding you those punks."

"As if that's a feat at all!" Flash spat back.

"Miss Zilea, if you do mind," Francis interjected before Flash could say anything more. "If you have no other business here other than getting those two rascals off our base, then would you please leave as well?"

Zilea looked down at Francis, and rolled her eyes. "Well, I was kinda about to tag along, you know. But Spathi was pretty uptight about showering and stuff," she explained, "made sure to shower enough to keep that tubby blubby's mouth shut."

"You still smell!" Flash snapped.

One of Zilea's hands slipped down from her hip as she tilted her head. She eyed Flash neutrally at first before her eye scales turned into a slight frown. "Alright, that's enough out of you!" she then said as she began advancing towards the Charmander, fists clenched.

Flash's frown quickly turned into a wide eyed fright. Seeing Zilea's eyes show anger towards her, she knew she had gone a bit too far. "Hey, wait I just-" she tried to defend herself before cutting herself off. That only made her speed up her advance significantly. In a quick rush of panic, she backed away from the approaching Machop.

Loopy also saw Zilea's change of demeanour and stepped in her path in front of Flash. "Zilea no be angr-" he said, trying to stop her. But Zilea quickly raised her hand to put it on his chest and shoved him aside with a swift push. Losing balance, Loopy tumbled backwards and fell down on the ground.

Before Flash could yell at Zilea at what she did, the Machop quickly dashed towards her and grabbed her by her neck with both hands. She quickly tried pulling Zilea's hands off her neck by grabbing her wrists, forgetting that she was easily overpowered by the Machop as she was hoisted up. In a desperate move, she tried kicking Zilea's stomach with her feet, but the fighting type didn't show any signs of being harmed at all.

"Miss Zilea, this is hardly necessary!" Francis exclaimed as Loopy got up.

Flash quickly realized that while being held by her neck, she could breathe without any trouble at all. At least that Machop wasn't trying to choke the life out of her, yet. "Let me go, damn it!" she cried at her, trying to kick at her chest.

While keeping the Charmander incapacitated, Zilea carried her towards the entrance of the shack. "Now you listen here, ya little fire breathing newt," she growled, keeping a stern stare into Flash's eyes, "I've had it up to here with your cute little remarks. And you know what? None of us are in the dojo, and you know what that means?" She pressed the Charmander to the rocky wall. "It means there'll be absolutely no consequences in me beating you to a useless, wimpy pulp!" She dodged a swipe from Flash's claw.

"No hurt Flash, stop!" Loopy cried as he approached Zilea.

Francis darted in front of Loopy to halt his advance. "No, Loopy, do not initiate a fight!"

Flash inhaled to spew flames at the Machop, but was once again slammed against the rocky wall. "Go ahead, try it again! Try breathe fire at me one more time!" Zilea dared.

"Let me down!" Flash cried, going back to trying to pry Zilea's hands off her neck.

"Zilea, please no hurt Flash. Have fight other day! Flash say she show kiss!" he cried at her as he walked around the Rattata.

There was a quiet moment after Loopy had said the last sentence. Francis put his paw over his head again. Flash's pupils shrunk as she could feel her heart skip a few beats. Her scales on her cheek turned bright red as she felt the embarrassment wash over her once again. And Zilea's anger seemed to completely fade to a blank stare. The Machop, still keeping a firm grip around Flash's neck, slowly looked over her shoulder, and then back at Flash. She smirked.

Zilea looked past Flash's now angry glare and saw a small, convenient piece of rock that protruded out of the wall. Keeping her sly smirk, she grabbed Flash's sides and hung her on the wall by her scarf. "How about you hang around to see this," she quipped, causing Francis to clutch his forehead with his paw even harder at the obvious pun.

Flash flailed to find a way to unhook herself from the small rock ledge. "GRAAH! WHEN I GET DOWN FROM HERE I'LL-"

"Shut it," Zilea simply shot back, snapping her fingers to emphasize her point. She leaned against the wall Flash hung on and gave Loopy a side glance. "So, your little Flash here's gonna show ya a kiss?" she asked him, her smirk returning. Knowing that Flash was getting angrier and angrier was real entertainment for her.

Loopy got a bright smile on his face as he clasped his hands together. "Yes, but she little slow. Always say later," he told her. He then looked at Flash and raised an eyescale. "Flash okay?"

"NO I'M NOT OKAY! GET ME DOWN FROM HERE NOW!" Flash screamed, still flailing wildly to find any hope of getting down. Fortunately for her, hanging by the scarf wasn't interfering her breathing.

Loopy was about to walk up to Flash when Zilea quickly stepped up to him. "No hug now, Flash angry."

"Hey, Loopy, since your friend seems a bit busy, how about I show you what a kiss is right now?" she suggested with a smile. She quickly looked over her shoulder to see Flash's turn red with utter rage. "It won't take long, she can wait," she assured.

Flash's eyes widened at the realization. "FRANCIIIS!" she screeched as steam shot out from her nostrils, "STOP STARING LIKE A SLACK JAWED IDIOT AND HELP ME DOWN NOW!" The Rattata shot her an offended glare before scurrying towards her.

Zilea rolled her eyes. "Yeah, don't mind her." She approached Loopy and before he could react, gave him a big enough hug to trap his arms to his sides. Feeling his struggle against the sudden hug, she neared her head to his. "Hey, it won't hurt."

With a nervous smile, Loopy looked into her eyes. "Kiss just big hug?" he asked her curiously. He felt a little uncomfortable with the female Machop's face that close to him, and with his arms being unable to move didn't help the matter really.

"My goodness, Miss Flash, you are heavy," Francis complained as he tried to give Flash leverage by standing on his hind legs and using his forepaws to push up her feet. Flash's response was to accidentally kick him in his face as she flailed. The kick sent him rolling away from her. "If you cannot refrain from kicking, you might as well stay where you are," he grumbled as he lay on his back.

Zilea adjusted her firm hug so that Loopy's arms embraced her slightly around her back. Still, feeling him struggle, she made sure to keep him restrained. "What? You think I'm too close?" she asked him quietly. "You know, you can break free if you want, unless you like it," she then said loud enough for Flash to hear.

Loopy blinked, keeping his nervous smile. "Kiss done? Flash very anger now and-" Zilea pressed her mouth against Loopy's, muffling the rest of his sentence in a big smooch. Loopy's eyes widened at the instant. He tried to pull his head away from Zilea's, but she just followed his movement.

Flash was at a loss for words. Even though she could breathe, she could get any words out except from gagging stutters. She felt Francis's paws pushing her feet to try unhooking her from the protruding rock. Mustering all her willpower to remain as collected as she could, she waited until Francis managed to provide enough leverage for her to get her scarf off.

Upon getting herself free, she fell onto Francis who was completely unable to hold her weight. "Ouch…" Francis uttered in pain as Flash scrambled to her feet.

Zilea spotted in the corner of her eye that Flash had gotten down and finished the kiss she was giving Loopy. She quickly proceeded to reaffirm her grip, loosening up the hug to quickly wrap her arm around Loopy's neck in a soft headlock. "And that, Loopy, is a kiss!" she cheerfully told him as she wiped her mouth with her free hand, keeping a sly look at Flash as well.

"Pfooh! Bleck! Yuck!" Loopy sputtered and spat. He didn't like what he had been through at all. He blew a raspberry towards the ground while he tried breaking free from Zilea's playful headlock.

Flash clenched both her paws and grit her teeth. She almost feared that she was gritting them so hard she'd risk cracking her own teeth. Seeing that smug grin she had on her face as she tugged Loopy closer to her side made her want to claw her scales off. She was willing to do anything to just wipe that grin off. Her rage was slightly quenched when she became aware of Loopy's reaction, But not much.

"What's the matter? You want another one?" Zilea gave Loopy a light noogie on his forehead, "I'm sure the Weakmander won't mind."

Flash could feel herself exploding with rage as she let out a trembling roar, smoke billowing out from her maw. "I AM GOING TO KILL YOUUU!" She made a dash towards the two Machop, aiming to give her a well-placed Scratch. Zilea rolled her eyes and let go of Loopy, shoving him away so she could endure the hit from the incoming Charmander.

When Flash was in range she swung her arm with all her might at the Machop's mid area; aiming for her head was more likely to end up in her dodging. The moment she felt her claws strike the scaled stomach, a blunt pain flared up in her paw as her attack bounced off Zilea's chest. She clutched her injured paw and hunched over, muttering something about stupid fighting types and other gibberish. Before she could recover, she felt a pair of hands picking her up by her sides, flipping her upside down.

Zilea giggled. "Was that an attack or were you just trying to tickle me?" She held Flash above her. "But it's my turn now!" She got ready to slam the Charmander into the ground.

Loopy ran up to her and grabbed Zilea's upper arms to pull her back. "No!" he yelled. The jerk caused the female Machop to drop Flash in surprise. "No fight! Zilea too strong!"

Right after Flash had hit the ground, she scrambled to her feet to lash out at her again, but Loopy was quick to get in between the two girls. "MOVE OUTTA THE WAY!" she yelled, trying to shove him aside. Loopy didn't let her push him out of the way, and remained impeding her path. He held her back so she wouldn't try attacking Zilea again.

"Enough fight!" He frowned at her briefly; he was no longer in the mood for Flash's yelling.

Zilea shrugged and smirked. "Well, it is getting kinda late," she admitted, "I'll beat you up some other day."

"GRAH! Run while you CAN!" flash spat as she was held back by her team mate. "Just get out of my sight!"

Zilea ignored Flash, but let out a brief chuckle as she looked at Loopy. "Seeya tomorrow, Loopy. Don't let that li'l Tyrogue rough ya up too bad." She waved goodbye to him, winking. Loopy didn't say anything back to her. "What? You want another kiss to get a little more talky?"

"No, no. No like kiss. Icky!" he promptly replied to her while still holding Flash back.

"I have a looming suspicion you are attempting to convince Loopy to forfeit his match against you," Francis assumed, having recovered slightly after Flash had fallen on top of him.

Zilea rolled her eyes. "Whatever floats your boat," she said dismissively as she began to walk away, aware of Flash glaring daggers at her back.

When the female Machop had left the base, Loopy finally let go of Flash. She flailed her arms as she got some distance from him, still seething with rage. Gritting her teeth, she spun around to look at both Loopy and Francis. "What are you waiting for?" she growled through her clenched teeth. "Get inside the house so I can cook up some damn dinner!"

Francis gestured Loopy to head inside. "As long as you refrain from turning said dinner into charcoal," he muttered.

"Shut up! I don't want to hear a single word! I CANNOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE!" Flash yelled as her veins got more and more visible for every second. "Or else you can all sleep outside…" she then finished, growling through her clenched teeth.

After an uncomfortably silent dinner that had consisted of the fear of making even the slightest of noise that'd upset Flash, they had all gone to their respective beds. Loopy had given looks to flash, but Francis had been observant and nudged him every time to gesture him to be silent. Even Flash noticed that Loopy had been surprisingly quiet.

Sitting on her bed of hay, Flash looked towards Loopy to see if he was already sleeping. When she met his solemn look, she sighed. "Can't believe he's been so quiet… maybe he took my threat too seriously?" She looked towards Francis, and saw that he was mostly pondering to himself. She figured he was probably planning how to set up whatever he was planning to do tomorrow.

"F-Flash?" Loopy finally spoke up. It was jarring how suddenly the silence was broken after it had been uncomfortably quiet for a lengthy time. Both Flash and Francis flinched before they looked at the Machop. Flash could see Loopy's slightly wary eyes as he looked at her, knowing that he suspected she'd yell at him again.

"…Yeah?" she replied sincerely, walking towards him. She tried to keep her approach slow so he wouldn't think she'd run up and hit him. "What is it?"

Loopy fidgeted a little. "Know Flash anger…" he mumbled, breaking eye contact with her to look away. "After Zilea do kiss… uhm.. .I want Flash know…"

"Okay, fine, so you like her because 'she was nicer to you'. Look, she acted like a jerk towards me and Francis!" Flash spat back.

"It is 'Francis and I', Miss Flash."

Flash looked over her shoulder and snarled. "Oh, shut up and don't butt in!" she snapped at him. She turned back to Loopy and saw that he had edged away from her after her outburst. She inhaled deeply. "…Look, she made a fool out of me, and I didn't like when she just kissed you like that. She is going to use that to her advantage, no doubt."

"Zilea be nice," Loopy replied as Flash rolled her eyes, "but no like kiss. Kiss icky," he then said as he blew a short raspberry to emphasize his point. Flash's frown lightened up a little upon hearing that. "Sorry bother Flash for kiss. Just curious."

Flash sighed, and sat down on Loopy's bed. She beckoned him to come closer to her when she saw him edge away more. "She didn't just kiss you. She outright smooched you. I wanted to claw her eyes out." Loopy tilted his head slightly. "It's just that you kept asking about kissing at the worst moments. It's supposed to be a bit more private, you know?"

"Smooch… sound silly," Loopy mused, causing Flash to put her paw on her forehead in exasperation. "But no know ask make Flash feel silly…"

Flash reached out with her arm and rested it around Loopy's shoulder when he was in range. "…It's fine. You didn't know," she told him softly. "A kiss is much shorter in case you wonder. It's kinda quick, if you know what I mean." She then frowned. "But don't do it on me ever, because if you do, I will get very angry. Hugging is enough."

Loopy nodded. "Okay," he said, "but Zilea no let me st-EEH!" He was interrupted by flash's other paw pressing into his side, tickling him.

"Enough about that! I'm angry at her, not at you." She could still keep her arm over his shoulder, and realized he had humoured her brief tickle. "Kissing is what you do to someone you really like. That's all. Sure, we still like each other, but there are different ways you can like someone. The way you and I like each other is more of a friendship."

Loopy looked confused again.

"Agh… Francis, can you help me out?" Flash begged.

Francis looked up from his bed. "What Miss Flash is trying to explain is love."

"What is love?" Loopy asked him.

Francis paused for a while. "It is something complicated. When you grow older you will understand. I will give you this tip; do not talk too much about it in public. It is, as Miss Flash said, something better kept private."

"Understand," Loopy said.

"Good. Now you two get some sleep. Tomorrow is a big day for all of us," he then advised before curling up to sleep.

Flash lowered her arm away from Loopy's shoulder and stood up. "Yeah, it's gonna be fun for you to fight tomorrow, right?"

Loopy smiled as he nodded. "Fun and exciting!" he exclaimed, yawning afterwards.

"Yeah," Flash agreed, cracking a smile, "Just… be careful around Zilea. Some can be nice, but when someone's too nice, they might be up to something."

"Enough, Miss Flash!" Francis uttered from his bed.

Flash rolled her eyes. She supposed Francis was right about her getting too tied to the subject of Zilea. "Meh… sure," she muttered before giving Loopy one more smile. "Night, Loopy," she said to him before going to her bed.