"So I'll have my birds fly off to the north and you can have Pitch fly to the south," Skyla said as they stood outside in the pouring rain. He nodded but as he began to speak with Pitch, the Pokeball holding Ducklett bounced around in his pocket.

"Hold that thought, I think Ducklett wants my attention."

She laughed. "All of your Pokemon seem to be such characters, I've never seen anything like it. Well maybe I have but not to this extent!"

"It's what I do best," he said as he brought out Ducklett. He quacked at him and Ethan smiled. "You want to help? You aren't tired from your battle with Pitch?"

Pitch let out an annoyed chirp. "Oh hush Pitch. He's your new teammate so you're gonna have to get along. Though I guess I can't call you Ducklett…how about Dodger?"

Pitch seemed pretty amused by it but the duck didn't seem to mind. He flew up to Ethan's shoulder and sat on the one opposite Pitch. He explained the situation to the both of them. "So if you find one of the Kami trio, get back here. Don't even try to take them on, they are legendary Pokemon and too strong for the both of you right now."

Pitch didn't like the sound of that but Ethan had to reassure him it was for the best. He really was pretty competitive. On one hand he liked it but that could come back to bite him later on. Dodger let out a quack and he laughed. "Oh good, I'm glad you won't try to bite off more than you can—"

Pitch interrupted him with a snappy chirp of his own and Ethan sighed. "All right that's enough, both of you! Now get out there!"

He watched them take to the skies and wiped his forehead. "Looks like you have your hands full."

"Tell me about it. Pitch thinks he's stronger than he probably is and wants to take on any sort of challenge while Dodger seems happy with disagreeing with him on everything. I'm afraid what it's going to be like when they evolve."

She leaned on him and laughed. "I think they'll be just fine. They'll mellow out eventually. Even though both seem pretty strong willed, they still obey you. They recognize you as a strong trainer."

"Yea well sometimes it doesn't seem like they respect me."

"They do. Don't you notice how both of them seem to be fighting for your attention? As soon as Dodger came out of its ball, Pitch took exception to it at once. He likes being your primary Pokemon, the one who spends the most time with you and any interlopers won't be tolerated."

He looked over at smiled. "You seem to know Pokemon pretty well."

"Hey, remember I'm a gym leader who specializes in fliers. Of course I'd know them pretty well, they're the only Pokemon I train! Come on, let's get out of this rain.

Back inside, Homika had a thought. "You know…do you think Team Rocket is controlling the Kami trio? I mean, if Ethan's crack theory is true. How would you even control a legendary Pokemon? They're freakin' legendaries for a reason!"

Skyla laughed. "Crack theory? Hehe, you seemed pretty convinced about it—"

"Maybe they aren't controlling them," he said. They looked at him and he shrugged. "From what you guys told me, the Kami are like genies. If they are like genies, perhaps Team Rocket wished for them to help them in their goals. Maybe they just struck a deal with them that was mutually beneficial for the both of them."

Homika's mouth fell open. "What?"

"Just because they're legendary Pokemon, doesn't mean they're good. Or evil for that matter. They can be neutral for all we know. I'm just reminded of that in my dealings with legendary Pokemon before."

"Stop trying to make f***ing sense. I just want to know they're mind controlling Pokemon so it'll give me even more of an incentive to stop them."

He felt like asking why she needed an extra incentive when it came to Team Rocket but he decided against it. "That's an interesting theory but I see your point. I don't really think legendary Pokemon lean one way or the other. I guess we like to believe that they are inherently on our side but that doesn't always seem to be the case."

"That makes it even tougher."

"Maybe, or maybe not. We still have to see if the Kami trio is behind it. For all we know, it could be just a really bad storm."

Homika grumbled and rested her head on the table. "Ugh, I'm just tired of all this waiting!"

He couldn't help but agree. He heard a tap on the glass and turned to see Pitch and Dodger at the door outside. "Wow, that was quick."

He walked over to the door and let them in. Pitch shook himself off at once but he was still soaking wet and Dodger liked being wet so no one raised a fuss. He bent down and Pitch reported back to him. "So…you saw one of the Kami trio to the south of town, floating down one of the beaches? Well that's good news!"

"So they were involved. Darn them! I can't wait to bash their skulls in! I won't even give my Pokemon the honor of it! Those sneaky bas—"

"Homika, calm down."

"Huh? Oh."

"Well since we know where one of them is, I guess we should go meet him."

Skyla laughed. "Well I'm still waiting on my Pokemon. You two should go on ahead and I'll meet up with you later. I think all of us are going to be needed to deal with a legendary."

"What? I can handle a legendary Pokemon by myself!"

He ignored her. "Okay, Homika and me will go find it and you can join us later. I don't expect us to do much but maybe we can reason—"

"Reason?"

He ignored Homika again. "If we can avoid fighting it, that would be cool. As long as we can get it to leave so we can try looking for Team Rocket."

Skyla winked at him. "Okay, sounds like a deal!"

Thunder rumbled over their heads as they walked down the white sandy beach in the direction of the kami. According to Pitch, the Kami was several miles to the south but didn't seem to be moving much so if they didn't waste much time, they would get there pretty shortly. Thanks to the constant rain, Homika opted to wear a bikini matching her famous colored dress, while he just kept his soaking wet clothes on. "Why are you still wearing those?"

"Well I'm already super wet, what's the difference?"

"You could like…let them dry!"

He shrugged as he watched Dodger waddle in front of them. He seemed as pleased as a duck could be in the pouring rain. Pitch had tired of being a sponge and opted to stay in his ball this time around. "I'll be fine."

She didn't respond and he turned his attention back to Dodger, who happily quacked as they went along. He seemed like a generally cheery duck, reminding him a bit of Juan who always seemed to be in a good mood, especially in the rain. He chuckled a bit and Homika shot him a look. "What are you laughing about?"

"Oh, just thinking about one of my Pokemon. He was a Ludicolo named Juan and he always enjoyed being out in the rain. Whenever I had him out of his ball during a storm, he would jump and hop around, singing and dancing. It was a sight to see."

"Oh."

"I hope he's doing okay—"

"You're such a worrywart. You got to the top three of a Pokemon League championship with them, they'll be fine! I swear…"

"Maybe you're right—"

"No, I'm not right. Why do you keep saying that? I'm not right! I'm just a cold and heartless b—"

"You told me that already," he said.

"Yea…so why are you trying to be so nice to me? Why don't you get some stones and tell me what you really think about me?"

Dodger looked at him, wondering what in the world was going on. He waved him off and Dodger went back to doing what he enjoyed most. "Well if you want me to be perfectly honest, I don't know what to think about you. I don't think you're really as much of a jerk as you act. I don't even think I've met the real Homika because everything seems like an act."

"You have met the real Homika! I'm nothing more than a colossal jerk!"

"Okay so you're a jerk. Happy?"

Homika looked down at the ground. "No. I want you to hate me, to push me away—"

"Why are you so eager to push people away? You seem like you want friends and then you do your best to alienate everyone. Doesn't make any sense to me."

Homika didn't answer and he smiled. She didn't say anything for awhile and they just walked in relative silence. "Well we should be getting pretty close to that—"

"Ethan, I hate you."

Dodger let out a surprised quack but he didn't share his sentiment. He was getting used to it by now. "Yea, I know—"

She suddenly shoved him, causing him to fall into the sand face first. Okay, now she was really starting to push it. He began to sit up but felt her grab him by the back of the neck and turn him over. She was a lot stronger than she let on. She pulled him up by the collar and pulled her first back like she was about to slug him. All of a sudden, Dodger came flying in, plopping himself on Ethan's chest and quacking in anger at her. She let go of his collar and looked at him. "You know Homika, this is getting really old now."

She shoved Dodger away and pulled him up by the collar again. "I hate you. I hate your face, I hate your smile, I hate how friendly you are, I hate how many friends you have, I hate how everyone defends you, I hate everything about you! And most of all, I hate how you make me feel about you! You're the worst!"

She let him go and his head fell back to the sand. She stared at him for a few moments and then sighed. "Are you done?"

"I'm sorry."

Dodger let out a shocked quack and he had to sit up for that one. "You're sorry? Is this a real apology or—"

"I really am you…no, I really am sorry. You're right, there is nothing to me. I'm a phony. This act…it's all manufactured. I'm a mega rock star, all I see are angry artists who rage against the world so I thought that is what I had to become. And I did, I became the symbol for the angry rock star and yet I often hated myself for it. I was nowhere near as mean or angry like that when I was younger. But if I acted like the reclusive artist I was, no one would give me the time of day."

"You really don't know that—"

"Would you have given me the time of day if I was like the recluse I had become? Holed up in my room, writing songs and playing my guitar."

He smiled. "How could I? You would have been holed up in your room."

She raised her fist toward him again but it only lasted for a moment. "Heh, you're right. We never would have met. You like to get out and experience life and look what it's done for you."

"Look what your hard work has done for you!"

Her mouth fell open and he nodded. "What it's done for me—yea I guess you're right. I've got all the talent in the world but what good is it when you don't have anyone to share it with? Look at you, even though you've gone through all the heartache of coming close to the crown but falling short. You had your friends to console you and reassure you. Who do I have when the lights go off and the adrenaline rush dies off?"

"Is that why you turned to alcohol?"

"Of course! But ever since I met you…I don't know, I just…feel more at ease, more relaxed…I know it doesn't seem that way because I've still been a jerk but I thought if I acted differently, that you wouldn't want to be around me."

Why would anyone want to be around someone who acted like that? Other than him obviously but he only had bothered because he felt she was just putting up an act. "Well, I only stuck with you because I thought it was an act. If I knew you were really like that…I probably would have ditched you."

"Good, you deserve better than that. I really should have treated you better but maybe we could start over?"

"What do you mean by that?"

Dodger hopped back onto his chest and quacked a warning at her. She reached over and patted it on the head, causing Dodger to look at him, very confused. He smiled at him. "Well I mean…remember how you were pretending to be my boyfriend? I've forgotten the reason why we did it but this time…maybe for real? You can get to learn more about the real Homika and not the Homika that everyone else gets to see?"

"That's a real funny question to ask after you tried to slug me."

She closed her eyes and nodded. "I know! It really is but I don't know what I would do without you. I'd probably just…go back to being a mega bi—"

"Well…to be honest, I think I might be interested in learning about the real Homika and not the manufactured one."

She looked like she was almost about to cry but again, that lasted if only for a moment. Instead she grabbed him by the collar again and pulled his face close to hers. "Thank you."

Just before she could move any closer, a cheery voice interrupted them. "Oh, sorry! I think I came at a bad time—"

Homika released him at once and his head fell back to the sand. "Nope! You were interrupting anything! I was just about to slug him in the face for saying something silly!"

Skyla laughed. "It sure didn't look like it to me. More like a lover's quarrel."

Homika got to her feet and dusted herself off. "Well maybe it was but we'll have to continue it another time. I think we're getting real close to that stupid Pokemon."

Skyla sighed. "I sure hope so. It'd be a drag if it got away."

"I don't think it'll get away. The storm has intensified, in fact another one of the trio may have shown up if that's the case."

"Huh, the storm worsened?" Homika asked. She looked around, and so did he. To his surprised, the wind had picked up quite a bit and even the lightning had returned. "Wow, didn't notice."

Skyla laughed. "You two must have really been distracted—"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence! I swear if you do—"

"Maybe we should just get going," he said while Dodger quacked in agreement. Homika nodded.

"Yea, I really need to smash something and if it's Team Rocket, that's the perfect target!"

After awhile, they came across a humanoid looking Pokemon that resembled one of those genies you'd see in the movies. He had blue skin, with dark purple spots on his body, thick white hair and beard along with a pretty muscular looking body. He floated on a large white cloud which he looked down on them, laughing.

"So it was Thundurus."

"Who cares what he is? Hey bozo, why don't you—"

"Well well, isn't this a surprise. Not only did I attract the attention of two Unova gym leaders but the number one troublemaker himself."

Ethan's mouth fell open. He knew that voice, only too well but…why was he here? Last he remembered, the guy had sworn Team Rocket was disbanded for good. "Archer? I thought you retired?"

The teal haired Rocket Executive stepped out, holding a large black umbrella over his head. "Giovanni is a very convincing man. I had retired but when he came to me personally with his plans to put Team Rocket back on top, I couldn't help but support him."

"Peachy."

Homika glared at him. "So what did you do to this legendary Pokemon? Why is it helping you? Don't tell me you twisted crooks are using mind control!"

Archer shrugged. "What's it to you?"

"I'll show you what's it to me—" Homika said but he held out his hand in front of her. He returned his gaze to Archer.

"But how did you get them to work with you?"

Archer chuckled. "Now why would I show my hand to you?"

"Well I just thought it would be nice. Let's go."

"G-go? We didn't come here for small talk! We came here to bash his skull in and I'm—"

"This is just wasting time. All he's doing is just being a distraction now that I think about it. We'd just be doing what they—"

Before he could finish, a large lightning bolt hit the ground in front of them. They all jumped back and he could hear Archer chuckle. "You're kind of right there but what good is a distraction if it doesn't distract?"

"You think you'll defeat us that easily?"

"I like my chances," he said as he tossed a Pokeball forward. If it was who he thought it was, they were in for a fight. As expected, Houndoom appeared from the ball and stood near Thundurus. Homika pulled out a Pokeball of her own, summoning Weezing to the fight.

"One on three? How is that fair? I say, all you evily type people are so confident," Skyla said as she summoned a Pokemon of her own. To him it looked like a bat with a large snout, it must have been native to Unova. He tapped a Pokeball against his chin. He knew about Houndoom's type and judging by its name, Thundurus was part electric and flying. How would he do this? Both Pitch and Dodger were at a horrible disadvantage against Thundurus, even though he knew Pitch would still fight. Then again, Bolt was at a disadvantage too against Houndoom. Times like this, he wished he had his old team.

"What's wrong Ethan? Not confident about your chances? That's not like you."

Ethan laughed. "Oh, I was just thinking of a plan, that's all," he said as he summoned Pitch and Bolt to the fight. By now, Homika and Skyla had directed their attention to the others but he wasn't ready, just yet. He motioned his Pokemon over in a mini huddle. "Okay you three, we're kind of at a disadvantage here but we're gonna try this plan I have. Dodger, I want you to help deal with Houndoom. He's part fire so you got an advantage there. Pitch, I want you to distract Thundurus, don't try and attack him."

Pitch didn't like the sound of it but Ethan reassured him. "No, trust me. It's for the best, he's pretty strong and could zap you with lightning. I think we could weaken him though…Bolt, I want you to latch onto Thundurus and start draining it of its electrical power. Hopefully that will weaken it enough for the others to defeat it."

The three Pokemon hurried off as he took out the last Pokeball, holding Rai. "You are really going all out, I like it," Archer said with a chuckle. Ethan summoned Rai, who popped out, looking in quite a bit of pain. Archer frowned, probably aware of how this would play out. "Houndoom, move it!"

Rai let out a cry as he released all the stored up electricity into a huge bolt of lightning which sent everyone scattering in different directions. The distraction worked as he noticed Bolt hop onto Thundurus, no one the wiser. "Ethan, what was that?"

"Oh, Rai just had to let off some steam. Rai, show Houndoom who's boss!"

Rai charged at the fiery dog but it met him head on. The headbutt stunned both of them but Houndoom recovered first and lunged at Rai. He latched onto him with his teeth but he soon realized that was a pretty bad idea.

While Houndoom and Rai fought it out, Dodger flew in every so often like a little bomber, spitting water at him. Maybe not enough to do serious damage but all those water attacks began to add up, causing Houndoom to slow down a bit as he continued to get soaked. It didn't help that it was raining as well. Looking over at Thundurus, it was fighting with ease against Weezing and the bat Pokemon, something he expected. Homika didn't seem happy at all about it, was she about to do something crazy. "Weezing, use Toxic! We'll just poison him to death!"

"W-w-wait Homika," he said but it was too late as the Weezing emit a large cloud of poisonous smog. Too bad it hit their Pokemon, as well as Archer's. Soon as the cloud dissipated, he noticed almost every Pokemon on the field was suffering the effects of Toxic, except for Weezing and Bolt, who was pretty strong against Poison. He felt like yelling at her but decided against it. That was how she battled and he'd just have to plan for it.

"Nice going, now your allies' Pokemon are poisoned as well."

"Shut up! I'll do whatever I can to put you down!"

"Homika, wait!"

Archer laughed. "You know, you're darn lucky Ethan is on your team or I would have put you down already. For a gym leader, you have a terrible strategy."

Homika shook her fist at him. "Shows what you know! My record as a gym leader is pretty good! People come in thinking they can take advantage of my strategy and then wear themselves out thanks to all the status effects I put them under! And it'll be the same for you!"

While this circle jerk went on, he noticed that Thundurus seemed to be slowing down. He was tiny but he could take in quite a bit of electricity. Archer noticed as well and frowned. "Huh, what is going on?"

"Ha, see what my poison did to it?"

"That isn't poison," Archer said, waving her off. He looked over at Ethan, who smiled at him. Rai unleashed a Thunderbolt which knocked out Houndoom but Archer seemed more concerned about Thundurus. "What did you do?"

"Now why would I show my hand?"

"Ha, now we can turn the tide!" Skyla said. Her bat Pokemon's eyes glowed as it lifted several large rocks with Psychic, before lobbing them at Thundurus. That brought it to its knees, so to speak. Before Homika could come in, the Thundurus vanished into thin air, leaving only Bolt behind. Archer looked over at Bolt and chuckled.

"So that's how you did it. And it seems our partnership has ended," he said as he summoned Houndoom to its ball. Homika laughed but Archer was unaffected. "Well I've lost, that was a good match but I did what I needed to do."

A sick feeling grew in his stomach as he realized they had fallen into the very trap they were trying to avoid. Archer noticed his disgusted look and smiled. "We'll let you have this one."

"I'm sure you will. I like the new team but the outcome will be different next time," he said as he summoned an Alakazam, who teleported the two of them away. Homika stomped her foot in the sand.

"Ugh, he got away! The coward!"

"Yea but he did succeed in distracting us. Now they probably got away again," Skyla said. Homika shrugged.

"I don't care. I got to bash in some Team Rocket head and that's all that matters!"

"Homika, that was really risky unleashing Toxic. I had a plan in mind but you…" He began to say before looking away. Skyla winked at him.

"If you'll excuse me, I'm going ahead back to Undella."

When she was gone, he looked over at Homika again. "I'm not trying to be tough on you but—"

"W-w-why are you trying to sugarcoat it?"

"Sugarcoat it?"

She folded her arms. "Ethan, you know what your problem is? You're too nice. Why don't you tell me I was an idiot? It's okay, I can take it! Just don't try to be all nice about it."

"I can't say that—"

"Yes you can! It's the only way it'll have any impact with me," she said, arms folded. He looked away for a moment and gathered himself.

"Okay but I warned you. Homika, that was a really idiotic thing you did. You could have caused us to lose the entire match because you went off and tried to do your own thing and we were fortunate my plan worked. Otherwise, we would have been in big trouble. Happy?"

She shrugged. "Eh, you can work on it but…" she began to say before looking away. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize you had a plan," she said. She shot a glare at him. "Look at you, you're turning me into a sap! That's why I want to hate you so much!"

"Want to?"

She nodded. "Want to but can't. That's why it's so maddening."

He shook his head and looked over at his Pokemon. "Good job guys, you did a great job! The plan worked perfectly, even though he got away."

He looked over at Homika. "And your poison attack did help in a way. It weakened both of his Pokemon and let us defeat them much quicker."

"Stop trying to make me feel better—"

"I'm being honest! I know I was annoyed when you did it but it did help. Just be more careful next time."

She walked up to him and he thought she would fire off a sarcastic remark but instead she patted him on the back. "Yea well…thanks regardless. So now what?"

He summoned the other Pokemon back to their balls except for Pitch, who was happy the rain had ended. "What do you mean? You heard Archer, the plan worked. It probably means they got away, again."

"I'm talking about my concert!"

"Oh! But what can I do about it?"

She shrugged. "I want to debut a new song at my next concert. Not this one but the next one and I want you to help me!"

"Oh, okay," he said before it dawned on him what she had just asked. "Wait, what? I can't write a song! I've never even done it before!"

"There's a first time for everything. I'm not asking you to write the whole thing, just help me out. I'll bounce ideas off you and stuff."

He and Pitch shared a look. "Do you usually have someone to help you out?"

"No but I'm not like some sort of dunce when it comes to these relationship thingies. Isn't that what couples do?"

"I guess? I'm not really an expert on stuff like that."

She shrugged. "Oh well, I think they do. Whatever, let's just get back to Undella."

Back in Undella, they found Skyla waiting for them. She put her hands on her hips and smiled as she took in the warm sun. "Now this, I tell ya, is more like it! I can't stand all that rain and stuff, it gets so boring and depressing!"

"Yea, well at least we chased away that stupid legendary. Now we just need to catch up with that stupid Team Rocket. I'm sick of them getting away like that!

Skyla laughed. "Hey, at least we're keeping them on their toes, right? Hard to scheme and stuff when you have to stay on the run, right?"

He smiled. "That's the idea but I'm sure they're ready for that. We just have to keep on them, don't let them get any room to breathe. If we keep at it, I'm sure we can root them out. I hope."

"So now what?" Skyla asked.

"Well I have my concert to get ready for but once that's over with, we can continue on with the hunt!"

It still seemed a bit odd for them to have to worry about a concert when Team Rocket was running around free, up to no good but then again, what did he know about having to balance responsibilities like that and fighting crime? It was easy for him to swing but for others like Homika and Skyla, it probably wasn't so easy.

Homika unlocked the door to her room and he walked into the biggest mess of a hotel room he had seen yet. First off he noticed how big the main room was, at least the size of his own home and well furnished. The carpet felt as if he walked on pillows but he had to be careful to avoid stepping on one of the glass bottles. Besides the bottles, there was trash all over the place and he could smell the faint hint of alcohol. Pitch let out a shocked chirp. "Yea, I'm with you. What's going on here Homika?"

She picked up a couple bottles. "I was frustrated so I decided to take it out on the room—"

"But it's such a mess—"

"What are you, my mom?" She asked with a scowl and then a wink. "I'm a rockstar, rock stars are supposed to trash their rooms, be destructive and be overall divas. It's what they do best. It's all about them and screw the rest of the world!"

"Yea but is that who you are?"

She shot a glare at him, probably unable to answer that. Then she looked away and sighed. "Heh, I don't…think so. To be honest, I don't really like it. It seems d*** stupid to make such a mess, what's the point?"

Pitch chirped and he couldn't agree more. "So why do it?"

She looked over at him. "Because…well…oh be quiet," she said in defeat. She picked up some of the bottles and he began to notice that a lot of the bottles were empty. In fact, all of them were and there were quite a few. "Did you…drink all of these? You didn't smell like it."

She dumped some of them in the trash. "No. I felt like it but it seemed really stupid so I just dumped them down the sink."

She kicked aside the other bottles and grumbled. "That's a lot of—"

"I'm tired of this, come with me into the bedroom. We're gonna work on that song!"

She grabbed him by the hand and pulled him into the spacious bedroom, which was a bit cleaner than the main area. It had a bed that appeared to be two king sized beds put together, covered with teal colored sheets and a mountain of pillows. Next to the bed lay a small nightstand and off to the side, he could see a walk in bathroom and tub. "Just how much was this room?"

She grabbed a large white tee shirt from a drawer and put it on over her bikini. She grabbed a notepad and hopped onto the bed before looking over at him. "If you have to ask, it's better off not to know."

"I'm still wet from the rain, I can't hop on there. Let me get a chair."

"Do you see how big this bed is? It won't matter."

Pitch flew off his shoulder and took roost in the windowsill while he joined her on the bed. She tapped the pen against her head and frowned. "I think I got the title for it, Hate. Yea, that's what I'll call it!"

"Hate? Why do you want to call it that?"

She looked over at him with a mischievous look on her face. "You want to know why? It's because of you."

Pitch let out an amused chirp and got a look from her. She looked back over at him and smirked. "Well you have told me how much you hate me but I can't help you write a song where you tell the world how much you hate me!"

She shook her head. "You don't get it, do you?"

"No, I think I'm missing something here."

She rolled her eyes. "Well it's kinda simple. I want to write a song about how much I hate you. Not because I really really hate your guts but because of what I'm turning into because of you."

"You say it like it's a bad thing."

"That's not how I want it to come off though!"

He folded his arms. "So you really don't hate what you're becoming but a part of you does hate it?"

She pointed a finger at him. "I think you're seeing it. See, I always thought that really liking someone was so dumb. You can't talk straight, your head is in the clouds and you—ugh, look at me! I'm going soft!"

"You think you are?"

She nodded. "Yes and it's because of you! If I hadn't met you, I would still have my edge, my hardness…my whatever! Now that you're around, I don't feel so edgy. My anger at the world is dying and I can't even look at a bottle of rum the same way. Watch, I'm going to become one of those pop stars who sings bubbling lyrics and how everything is rainbows and sunshine—"

"And I don't see that happening. Why don't you stop complaining about it? You don't have to become a pop star."

She sat up straight. "What, of course I will! How am I supposed to be a rock star when I'm no longer depressed and angry at the world? You know how easy it is to write songs of rage when you aren't angry?"

He shook his head. "I know I don't know a lot about rock and roll but I'm sure they sing about all kinds of stuff. You seem so obsessed with trying to fit into the rock star image that you don't seem interested in becoming your own person."

She looked away. "Become my own person? How am I supposed to do that?"

He rubbed the back of his head. "I'm not sure but I know we can figure it out."

She frowned and began to write on her notepad. "I think I got a better idea for a song. I'm not in the right…thinking mode for something angry so I'll just write about…rock and roll."

He smirked. "Well that works I guess—"

"If you were gonna write a song, what would you write about?"

He rubbed his chin. "Well I don't know but probably about Pokemon."

"You're so boring. Aren't there any other topics you would sing about?"

"Now that I think about it, me and Wiggler once wrote up a rap about—"

She slammed her fist on the bed. "No, no, no, stop right there! No self respecting boy of mine is gonna write a rap song. No way, no how!" She said, shaking her fist at him.

He laughed. "Oh come on, it's pretty great. In fact I think I still remember some of the lyrics! I can sing them to—"

He didn't get to finish as he got nothing but a pillow in his face. He rolled backwards from the force but he did it mainly for dramatic effect. He even rolled off the edge of the bed and fell onto the floor. He looked up to see her poke her head over the edge, looking a bit concerned. "A-a-are you okay?"

He smiled at her. "I'm a-okay."

Her look went from concerned to annoyed in a flash. "W-what? You jerk, you were just playing around! That's not funny at all!"

He began to get up but she suddenly hopped on top of him and grabbed his collar, shaking him several times. "Homika, Homika…come on, did you really think you hit me that hard?"

"I'm stronger than you think," she said. She suddenly rested her forehead in his chest. "I am going soft—"

They heard a crash coming from the main area and she looked up in that direction. "Did I hear something break or—"

"I heard it too. Did some jerk try to break in? One of those stalkers? If I catch them, it's all over!" She said as she stood up and walked into the main room. He got to his feet and followed after her. Several of the bottles that had been on the table were now lying in a heap on the floor. Homika began to look around the room and he joined her. "Just, look for something that is missing."

He looked over at her and she began to realize how bad that sounded. "Well—"

"Forget I asked that. Just help me clean up after I take a look around."

He stepped back and sat down in a nearby chair. "What did you have here in this room? Other than all the alcohol bottles?"

"There were a few magazines around, I think a couple of trays with food and…and…oh…f***!" She said before letting off a long string of curses. She slammed her fist on the table and he jumped in surprise. She looked ready to flip the table but instead grabbed a chair and rested her head on the table. "Idiot! I can't believe—"

"What's wrong? What's missing?"

"That Pokemon I stole from Team Rocket. I had it here resting on the desk and now it's gone. They must have come here just to get it and get out—"

"Well we should go ask the hotel staff. Pitch, fly out the window and see if you see anyone suspicious!"

Pitch took off for an open window and he began to leave. He looked over at her and walked over to pat her on the shoulder. "Hey, I know it's frustrating but we'll get them. I'm surprised they didn't ransack the place while we were too busy fighting Archer."

She didn't answer and he decided to leave her alone for now. He hurried out of the room and almost bowled over a cleaning lady and her Chansey but stopped himself short. "Oh, hey, did you see anyone come out of this room? Like in the past few minutes?"

The lady shook her head. "I saw the door open but no one came out of the room. I peeked in and saw how messy it was so I was preparing to clean it next."

He frowned. How could the door open but no one came out? Well unless it was a Ghost Pokemon. He smiled at her. "Thanks anyway."

He walked down into the main lobby and continued out through the front door. He looked up in the sky for Pitch and could see him circling the hotel, keeping a sharp eye out for anyone. He soon flew back down to him and gave the disappointing report. Ethan petted his head and smiled. "It's okay Pitch. I think Team Rocket used a ghost to snatch it right under our noses. That was pretty sneaky of them, I got to admit."

Pitch let out a chirp and he laughed. "Nah, I think we'll be ready for them next time. Whenever that is."