"So Candice…I've already explained the situation to you two but I'm curious, did Homika really do a lot of that stuff on stage? I know she was a little—"

"Little? She was soo outlandish. Candice was utterly shocked with the stuff she would do. Like I said, she would burn her guitars on stage and pretend she was summoning spirits from it. She would even cackle and laugh like a mad villain! It was scary. And then when she would really get into the music, she would start humping and grinding against her guitar! Well actually I thought it was kind of hot—"

"Hey, I don't want to hear that!" Maylene yelled.

"Candice thinks she's just frustrated or something. I don't understand it; she's a mega rock star. They can get all the—"

"Candice!"

"Sorry May but I was just curious."

"Why are you curious about the crazy antics of a rock star?"

Candice laughed. "Come on May-May, it's only right that her boyfriend would ask about it! I mean if my girlfriend was a rock star known for her crazy antics, I'd might want to know—"

"Well I think I've heard enough," he said with a laugh.

"Are you sure? Because—"

"Candice, have you ever heard of corrupting a minor?"

"But, who's the minor?"

"I am!" Maylene said. She shook her head.

Pitch let out a chirp and he narrowed his eyes. "Huh, I don't see anything. You said you could see some buildings?"

Pitch let out another chirp and he nodded. "Well he says he sees something in the near distance. I'll take his word for it."

"It's snowing worse than a frustrated Articuno chasing after a female Dodrio!"

"Please don't explain that."

He walked ahead of Maylene and struggled to see through the falling snow. "It really is a bit bad. When might it let up?"

"Doubt it will. Maybe for a short time but it'll start up again."

"Yea, I remember that. I guess that's why northern Sinnoh is always covered in snow."

They looked at him. "You remember? I thought you said you were just a trainer challenging all the gym leaders. That kind of detail isn't something I'd expect a passerby to remember," Maylene said. "Unless you like to learn everything you can about the regions you travel to? Most trainers don't if—"

"Well ahh you know…oh never mind, you two wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Believe what? That we had to run around and try to find out how to return the world back to normal after Team Galactic changed it with the help of Arceus?" Candice asked. She put a hand on her hip. "Please don't tell me you forgot."

"Ahhh well…I guess you got me," he said. "I just played dumb because—"

"Because people would think you're crazy? I mean who would believe that? That the world was changed and you had to make sure it was changed to normal? That's super crazy talk! That like a super mega awful comic book plot where the writer is on crack, sipping rum and—"

"We get it," Maylene said. She folded her arms. "That's cool. I really thought we were the only two who remembered. Even Volkner and Flint don't seem to remember it. Only me and Candice."

"People thought I was sipping the happy juice so I figured…maybe I was!"

"Don't tell me…that you were acting all crazy because it was your way of coping."

"Ha…well something like that I suppose. I mean you've got to admit, it has to be super mega frustrating to have all these adventures, to go through all that hard work and because of what you did, basically hitting the reset button on a video game system, no one will ever remember. You only have your memories of it and that's it!"

He and Maylene nodded. "Yea, exactly. It is pretty annoying but it's cool that you two forgot. I thought only me and my Pokemon remembered."

"Well then I can be even more silly now! Woo-hoo!"

"Glad to hear," Maylene said.

After about a half hour, they reached what looked like a bunch of labs. All three buildings resembled large domes, grouped around a large and empty parking lot. Or at least that's what he thought, he couldn't really tell thanks to all the snow. "Good job Pitch."

Pitch let out an annoyed chirp and he laughed. "Yea, it is getting a bit too cold for me too."

He felt Candice slap him on the shoulder. "Too cold? Too cold? Look at me! If I can walk around in a shirt and miniskirt, you can too!"

"I don't want to see him wearing a skirt."

"Huh? But you hardly ever see any trainers wearing kilts! I think he has the—"

"Candice!"

He ignored the two of them and walked over to one of the buildings. He tried to open the door but when he tried to turn the icy cold knob, it refused to turn. He tried it a few times more but to no avail. "Let me handle it," Maylene said. He stepped aside as she summoned her Lucario. "Hey Luc, could you open that door for us?"

Lucario nodded and with a few karate chops, knocked the door down for them. She flashed him a thumbs up and he smiled at him as well. "Thanks. I don't think any of my Pokemon could have done it."

"You need a Fighting Pokemon."

He laughed. "Everyone has a suggestion for my last Pokemon but I promised Homika I would add a poison type."

"Poison? Well I guess that's a decent type…"

"Oh come on May-May, poison is a good type! Sure it has plenty of weaknesses but if you can poison a Pokemon, you can get somewhere! Even I fear them once in awhile!"

Maylene shrugged. "Well…whatever."

He stepped inside the building and switched on the lights. Inside were a bunch of desks with computers, including several large super computers in the middle. Pitch took the skies and flew around the room a few times before returning to him with a report. "Well it looks like these are just the offices."

"Wow, and they look like they've been used recently."

"Yep! Looks like they were pretty sure about not being detected by anyone. Maybe we can really get some stuff. Hey Pitch, did you notice any cameras around?"

"I wonder if all of these labs are like all of the ones in the movies? Where somewhere and somehow, they have a special big red button, the one spoke about in hushed tones. And when the good guys stumble across their secret lab and start to discover their utterly secret and mega awesome plans, then BOOM! They blow up the lab and send everyone to kingdom come!" Candice said.

"Are you trying to—"

"Yea I see your point Candice but this is Team Rocket and Giovanni. His ego won't let me die in a self-destructing lab. The only suitable result for him is beating me in a battle."

Candice leaned over and smiled. "Oh, really? So he sees you as his worth opponent then? Well you know what happens to those bad guys! They're so obsessed with beating the hero that they refuse to take the smarter route and just shoot them when they have the chance!"

"Candice…what—"

"Well I'm so glad he isn't that smart. If I were in his position, I would shoot me dead as well. Or just crush me before my Pokemon get too strong."

"Hey you two! We're supposed to be investigating here, not debating crack theories!"

He laughed. "Sorry. Well let's split up, I'll look over here on the left side."

He walked over to some of the computers and pecked at the keys, causing the startup screen to come up, asking for a password. He ignored those ones, figuring he'd have no hope of figuring the password out. Pitch let out a suggestion and he shook his head. "No, I think these computers have the latest software or else I could just skip the password screen with the cancel button."

He grabbed one of the keyboards and turned it over. Pitch let out a chirp and he laughed. "Well I was just thinking…everyone is supposed to have memorized their passwords but I bet there was someone short sighted enough to tape it on the bottom. Even I've done it once or twice!"

That keyboard didn't have it but after he checked a few more, he came across one that had the password carved into the bottom. He memorized it and put it into the computer. He smiled as the computer went pass the startup screen and suddenly several windows popped up. He leaned forward to get a better look and noticed they appeared to be designs for Pokemon. "Huh, interesting."

"Did you find something?"

"I…think I did," he said, while still looking at the screen. Maylene and Candice walked over and the three studied the designs of the Pokemon on screen. For some reason, they all looked real familiar but he couldn't imagine where.

"You know…maybe it's just me but…doesn't one of those look like it could have been a Steelix?"

Maylene leaned forward, putting her hand on his back to steady herself. "A Steelix? Yea, I guess I can see it."

"And that one looks like it could be a…Tauros?"

He nodded. "I can see that…wait. What?"

"Huh, and that appears to be a Raichu. I think. What do you think Candice?"

"Looks like a chubby electric mouse thingy to me!"

"A chubby what?"

Candice laughed as she leaned on him. "It's a mouse, can't you see it?"

"Well it's a bit big to be a mouse."

"Well of course. If I saw a mouse that big in my house, I'd grab a chair and beat it senseless! Candice might even get a bat and…batter up! Pow, and you'll finally get a chance to watch a mouse fly!"

"All of these Pokemon…don't you two see?"

"The chubby mouse?"

"No. I mean all of these Pokemon are from my old team, the ones that were stolen from me! Well, I did get Rai back eventually but that's it."

"Wait…are you saying Team Rocket is experimenting on your Pokemon, like how you said they were doing with other Pokemon?" Maylene asked. He looked up at her and nodded.

"Looks like it to me. And they all seem to be wearing the same strange collar. I wonder what's up with that?"

"Why would Team Rocket do this?"

"I don't know. Seems a bit petty if you ask me. Maybe they want to force me to have to fight my old team. That would be a pretty jerkish move if you ask me."

"Wow, this Team Rocket is pretty crazy! I mean they're so angry with you beating them that they would experiment on your Pokemon and force them to fight against you? What did you do? Did you eat all their lunches in the fridge? Cut them in line at the store? Maybe—"

"So…well at least I know where they went. I hope they survived, I know not all of the test subjects have survived their twisted experiments."

He sat up and sighed. "Hey, it's okay! I bet they're still alive and when you free them, you can give Team Rocket a knockout straight to the kisser! Pow! Biff! Bopp and all that—"

"Let's just keep looking around for any more," Maylene said.

After a little more, they came across something about those strange collars he had noticed. "Well I guess they are mind control devices. I guess they need them because your Pokemon wouldn't fight you anyway. Looks like they could be used to wipe someone's memory too."

"Wow, Team Rocket is crazy," Candice, said. He nodded, still bugged a bit that Team Rocket would force him to fight his old team. She looked at him. "Everything okay?"

"Yea, yea…no. I guess I just didn't expect them to be that determined to get revenge on me. I know Giovanni wanted it but this seems a bit much to do all of this. What do they hope to do?"

"Well…the way Candice—I mean I see it, they hope you fight against your old team but become emotional because of it. You get emotional, and then you get depressed because you can't fight them. And when you're depressed, you push away your friends. And when you push away your friends, you become more depressed. And when you're more depressed, you don't think straight. And when you don't think straight, you become mentally damaged. And when you're mentally damaged, you don't think straight. And E-E, when you don't think straight, you make stupid decisions like joining Team Rocket!"

Pitch, Maylene and he looked at her with dumbfounded looks all across the board. No one spoke up for awhile until Maylene said something. "Well…that's one way of looking at it but did you have to map it out step by step?"

"Well I wanted to illustrate every step he could take on that slippery, slick and steep slope from being a good and nice guy and to an evil, bitter and horribly insane Team Rocket mega villain!"

"O…kay, well I'm just gonna print out this page then."

"Did it say anything else about the collar on there?" He asked. Maylene looked over at him and nodded.

"Yep. From what it says, there isn't a way of breaking a Pokemon out of its control unless you can get it off. And getting it off is another problem altogether, as it's made of pure diamond. Well…actually they said if one uses the enhanced Hypno, you could free it from mind control. An enhanced Hypno?"

He chuckled. "I think I know someone who could help us out with that one."

Maylene shrugged. "Well, I'm just gonna print this out. Any luck on your end Candice?"

"Nope! No luck!"

"That's okay, I think we're good here. We should check out the other buildings just in case there is something there."

The next building had a lot less desks and resembled more of a lab. A horrific lab though. Everywhere he turned, he saw a table with a poor Pokemon sprawled out on it, with tons of tubes sticking out of it, and tables littered with medical tools that gave you chills just looking at them, wondering just where they would use such a thing. Pitch let out a sickened chirp and he pat his head. In the middle of the lab sat a large circular pool of water, though it was dark and poorly lit so he couldn't even see into it much. "This is like a terrible and horrible horror movie."

"I'm with you…why are they doing this?" Maylene asked. He and Pitch exchanged a look.

"Man, they really didn't take that last defeat very well."

"Poor losers I say. If you got beat before by some kid and his pocket sized party of trained killers, I think it's time to pack up shop, sell the farm and retire to sunny Hoehn! Maybe buy a nice piece of property and play lots of bingo and shuffleboard! Swim with the—"

"Okay, we get it," Maylene said but he smiled.

"Yea, it is pretty silly. So what will they do if they get beat this time? How low can they go?"

"You know what I think?" Candice asked. Maylene shot her a look saying she didn't want to know what she thought but with him egging her on, she wasn't about to stop. "I think if this evil mob boss Gio losses to Ethan again, he's going to snap and he'll become a mess. He'll become an alcoholic, a drug addict and maybe even a veggie! He'll be such a slobbering mess that Team Rocket will be done forever!"

"I don't know about that…"

"You don't? If he can't beat Ethan's inexperienced team of Pokemon with his game genie hacked God, uber Pokemon of awesomeness…then how will he beat him? Begging?"

Maylene folded her arms. "Well…I guess I see your over emphasized point. Hopefully he will give it up after this."

Candice walked over to the pool. "I wonder what is in here?"

Pitch let out a terrified chirp and he looked over at him. "You saw something in there?"

"I wonder if this is where they dump people into?"

"What?" Maylene asked while he continued to poke around the lab for anything useful.

"Well you know how in all those spy movies where the mad super villains capture the heroes and put them into one of their death traps? Well one of them is dipping the poor heroes into a tank full of shark-infested waters! How much do you want to bet there are some Sharpedo in there?"

He took out the Pokeball with Bolt and summoned the little mite. He whispered a command to him and he bounced away toward some wiring, though neither of the girls noticed him. "Sharpedo, are you serious?"

"Yes!"

"That's your worst crack theory yet. Where do you get all of these crazy ideas? What are you smoking?" Maylene asked.

"Well I'm just saying…why else would they have this pool here?"

"I don't know but I doubt they would store Sharpedo in there, it's too small! And why would they dump people in here anyway—"

Before she could finish, Pitch let out another chirp, just as a Red Gyrados rose out of the water with a loud roar. Maylene and Candice jumped away as it turned to face them. Pitch let out a terrified chirp but he didn't even move a muscle. He winked at Pitch as the Gyrados turned his attention to him. It roared at him, just as they heard a spark. Suddenly a large bolt of lightning appeared out of nowhere, zapping the water serpent. In fact, it was so strong that it knocked out the power to a few nearby computers, causing them to smoke. He stepped back as it let out a loud cry and slumped to the ground with a loud thud. "What was that? Where did that electric attack come from?"

He laughed. "That would be my little mite, Bolt. He's actually a Joltik and they come from Unova."

"A mite? Well that's new. I didn't even see you summon him, is he that small?" Maylene asked with a smile. He nodded.

"Little mite, little mite, does whatever a little mite can do. Spins a web, any size. Catches things just like flies—"

"Are you singing?" Maylene asked in horror. He waved her off.

"No, no…I like where this is going. Do you know the rest of the lyrics Candice?"

She beamed with pride. "Oh you bet! I can make up a whole song for your…little…" she began to say but started to stutter when Bolt made his appearance. Except he wasn't little anymore. He had transformed into a 2 feet big yellow tarantula, with four small eyes between his two main ones and blue fur sticking out from its abdomen. Pitch let out a surprised chirp. "Wow…so you said he evolved into a what?"

"What is it?"

"A Gallantly. It's what he evolves into. I just didn't expect him to get so big, he used to be the size of a penny."

Candice crawled over to Bolt and reached over to pet it but he cleared his throat. "Huh?"

"He's part electric. If you touch him, you might get quite the shock. I wouldn't be surprised to see that he can generate his own electricity now. When he was a Joltik, he had to absorb it off other sources so he could attack."

She drew back her hand. "Oh…wow. May-May, I think we need to take a trip to Unova soon! We can check out all the new Pokemon and I can meet Homika!"

Maylene folded her arms while Bolt returned to him. He didn't bother petting the spider but he smiled at him. "Good job Bolt," he said. Sparks formed around Bolt's body but he seemed pleased to help.

"I don't get it, why do you want to meet her? I thought you said she was too crazy?"

"But she's so cute! I just want to hug her! And squeeze her! And…hey E-E, you think you could arrange a meeting between the two of us? You could be my wingman!"

He summoned Bolt back to his ball. "W-what?"

She winked at him. "My wingman! You know like how if you're in a bar and you see a super mega awesome cutie but you don't know how to approach her? Well you're wingman is the one who helps you speak with her so the two of you can talk! Except you're gonna be trying to hook me up with Homika!"

Pitch let out a chirp with a phrase only Homika would say and he shook his head. "Well…I guess though she isn't fond of super dedicated fans. I guess I could put in a good word for you."

"That mega awesome! I can't wait to meet her!"

"Wait, but you said you wanted to hook up with her," Maylene said. Candice laughed.

"Don't worry May-May! I'm sure Ethan won't mind if we swap partners for a short time!"

"W-what?" He asked. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well—"

"Candice, don't even finish that!" Maylene said. She shook her head. "Jasmine is gonna kill me if she found out you corrupted his poor mind."

He shook his head. "Well I haven't found anything useful here so—"

"Why are you so embarrassed May-May? You wouldn't want to spend a day or two with Ethan? He can bring your girly side out, you're too much of a tomboy, you know? I mean I know you like being the dom but—"

"Candice, come here," Maylene said. She walked over to Candice and dragged her out of the room. He and Pitch exchange a look.

"Should I ask? Or am I better off not knowing?"

Pitch let him know that he'd be better off not knowing so he walked around the lab some more. He came across a folder lying atop a cabinet and opened it up. Inside were some designs for other Pokemon, more forced evolutions from Team Rocket including a new evolution for Garchomp, Metagross and Salamence. "It looks like they're focusing on making traditionally strong Pokemon, even tougher. A lot of these Pokemon were pretty tough to beat already; I can only imagine how they'll be now. Ugh, it's so disgusting they would do this, you know?"

Pitch let out a chirp of agreement. "You know, it's pretty funny but in a way, Lyra did us a favor. Now we know even more what to expect and we can be better prepared!"

He put some of the other papers they had collected into the folder. "You know Pitch, I really think we're gonna have to go back to Lyra and get that Hypno from her. If we can use it to break Pokemon free from those mind control thingies, that will make our lives much more easier, you know?"

Pitch let out a terrified chirp. "I'm not going there alone mind you. I'll ask Maylene and Candice to tag along. I'm not going there alone."

He looked over at the Gyrados, who began to stir. "Oh I guess he has begun to recover."

The Gyrados sat up and gave a weak roar in his direction before slipping back underwater again. He heard the door open and saw Maylene walk in. "Back…where did that Gyrados go?"

"He went back inside the pool. He doesn't seem eager to fight again. I guess he remembered that shock pretty good. Where is Candice?"

"She's sitting outside. I've banished her there."

Something told me that wasn't all she did to Candice but he wasn't about to push the issue further. "Well, unless there is anything in that last building, I was hoping if you two could accompany to one more place."

"Sure but what is it?"

"Well the reports said that the collars can be overruled by an enhanced Hypno and I know someone who has one. I just…don't want to try confronting her by myself. She's a wee bit on the dangerous side."

"Oh sure! Why is she so dangerous though?"

"It's a long story."

The last building didn't really have anything important or useful so they began to make the trek back north. Along the way he told them about Lyra. "Wow, she sounds as sane as a Mr. Mimi on a bender!"

"I saw it coming," Maylene said as she put her hands behind her head.

"Huh, what do you mean by that?"

She sighed. "You have to ask Mr. Playboy?"

"But I'm not a Playboy. I didn't even know her! She had a crush on me for the longest but because she never spoke up to me, I never even knew about her."

"You know, maybe this is my crack theory—"

"Aren't the only theories you have, crack theories?"

"Ignoring that, uhhh you think that maybe when we got Arceus to change the world back to normal, there were some unintended consequences? How does she go from having an innocent crush to becoming a dangerous stalker who is willing to kidnap the object of her crush and plan to wipe his mind?"

"It could happen. Especially if she constantly tried to talk to him but something came up to prevent her. Perhaps it just built up over time."

"Ahhh well…oh well. I see why Ethan doesn't want to meet her alone. I bet she would just tie him up again. Maybe drug him so he won't resist and then she'll—"

"What if she isn't there?"

"I think she will be."

When they arrived at the building where Lyra had held him, they found her sitting outside, plucking at the petals of a large flower. Actually as they got closer, he saw it was a Sunkern doll. Yet that didn't stop her from ripping off each petal and tossing it aside. "He loves me, he loves me not, he loves me, he loves me—"

"You have got to be kidding me," Maylene said. Lyra turned her head and her eyes lit up.

"Ethan! You came back!" She said as she got to her feet and hurried over. Maylene stepped forward and put out her hand, stopping Lyra in her tracks.

"Hey, what's going on Ethan? Who is this?"

"We aren't here for you go gush over him. We need something from you?"

"From me?"

"We need that Hypno you have," he said. Lyra's mouth fell open before she folded her arms.

"But I need that to wipe—I mean, you can't have it! I still need it!"

"But I would really appreciate it," he said. Lyra shook her head.

"Never. Even if I love you E, I can't let you have it. No can do. I'm sorry, I really am!" She said before hurrying back inside the building. He and Pitch exchanged a look.

"Well that went well."

"You know, I think I know how we can get that Pokemon!" Candice said.

"What?"

She walked forward with a mischievous look on her face. "Well, we just have to bargain with her! And lucky for us, we have the perfect bargaining chip! It's so perfect that if we put it up, she can't refuse!"

"We do?" Ethan and Maylene asked in unison. Candice nodded and pointed at him.

"You! We have you!"

"I…don't like that plan."

Candice laughed. "We just promise her something, like you go on a date with her or something and she can't help to refuse!"

"I don't want to do that!"

"Well you could always seduce her."

Maylene slapped her forehead. "You have got to be kidding me."

Candice walked over to him and pulled him closer. "Trust me, it's easy! Here is what you do, you walk up to the door and call her out and then you emphasize how much you need the Hypno and how much you would appreciate it. Tease her a bit, touch her…maybe even kiss her. I bet she won't be able to resist! I bet she would even appreciate it! I mean it's probably better than promising her something you really don't want to do."

"Well…"

"Just give it a shot!" Candice said as she walked away. Maylene shot her a look.

"What did you tell me?"

"Just seduce her. I gave him all the pointers he needs! Give it your best shot Ethan!"

"Ethan couldn't seduce anyone if he tried! He gets girls to fall in love with him by being a dork!"

"Now wait just a minute…I bet I could do it! I don't know how…but I could!"

Maylene folded her arms and laughed. "Okay, I got to see this!"

He gathered in a big breath and let it out. "Okay, watch me!"

He walked over to the door and knocked on it. "Yes?"

"Lyra, can you come out? We need to talk."

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"All right, fine. If that's what you want," he said as he turned his back. The door opened a minute or two later and he spun around. She stood in the doorway, arms behind her back. "Ahh nice to see you decided to open it up, I would have hated to have Maylene have her Pokemon knock the door down."

She sighed. "I'm sorry E but—"

"I know you want to use that Hypno for other purposes but we could really use it. Team Rocket has my old team and is using the collars to keep them under mind control. And one of the ways to break them out of it, is with that Hypno."

"I'm sorry."

"You know how important those Pokemon were to me, don't you want to—"

"No."

He sighed. They weren't getting anywhere. She had made up her mind and that was that. Was he really gonna have to go through with it? "Lyra."

"Huh?"

"What would it take for you to give us that Hypno?"

She thought about it and shook her head. "Nothing. There is nothing you could give me. Even if you promised to be with me forever, I wouldn't let it go."

"Why?"

She gave him a faint smile. "Because I still need it."

"You know, I might give you a chance to redeem your—"

"I don't care about redeeming myself. I'm a crazy lunatic but I'll eventually have you. You will be mine—"

"Oh forget this. We're just gonna take it. Try and stop us," Maylene said.

"You do that and I'm blowing the lab up! I have a way of doing it!"

He leaned forward and tickled her chin. "You won't do it. Then you'll kill me and do you want that? Then what will you do?"

"I'll…get over it!" She said.

He sighed and turned away. "Hey Maylene, why don't you hold her while me and Candice go inside and fetch that Hypno?"

"N-no! I won't let you!" Lyra said as she slammed the door shut. They heard the door lock. Maylene walked up to the door and tapped it with her bare foot.

"She's an annoying little bugger. Where do you pick up these characters Ethan?"

"I…don't know. You think she's interesting, you should have met Homika before she mellowed out."

Maylene turned and with a few powerful kicks, knocked the door open. Lyra stumbled backwards and fell to the ground as Maylene strode forward and grabbed her in a headlock. "H-h-hey, let me go!"

"May-May will let you go after we get what we want!" Candice said. He chuckled.

"Sorry Lyra but it's for the best."

He turned on the lights and saw that the place was pretty empty except for a few chairs lying around a large table in the back, with a bunch of Pokeballs atop it. As he picked them up, he noticed many of them were empty. "Hey, why are all these empty?"

"Ummm…I forgot."

"Yea, right."

"Well look here, I think I found one that isn't empty!" Candice said. She held it out but instead of a Hypno, summoned a Bayleaf instead. "Opps, wrong Pokemon!" She said as she summoned it back. She put it back but he took it. He looked at it and Pitch chirped.

"Good idea Pitch. Lyra, is the Pokemon on this table? If you have it hiding somewhere else, you better tell us or I'm taking your Pokemon away."

"N-no! Please don't take her away! It's on the table there, really!"

He set it down as Candice picked up another one. "Maybe this one?" She asked. She held it out and summoned a Wigglytuff instead. It let out a very familiar squeak and his eyes grew wide. "Opps, not that one either—"

"Don't summon it back!" He yelled, causing Candice to drop the Pokeball on the ground. He looked over at the Wigglytuff and it suddenly bounced forward and tackled him to the ground. He bounced atop Ethan several times, letting out a happy squeak as he did. "Ow, hey stop that Wiggler! You're gonna kill me here!"

Pitch let out an annoyed chirp and he looked up at the little bird. "Oh, Pitch. This is Wiggler. Wiggler, this is Pitch. Wow Wiggler, I'm really glad you're okay! I thought I had lost you for good!"

Wiggler hopped off him and let out another happy squeak. He pat him on the head and smiled. "Man do I have a lot to tell you! You—"

"So Lyra, care to fill us in why you were holding his beloved Pokemon hostage? I hope you have a real good reason!"

"Ow, ow please stop! Stop hurting me!"

Maylene didn't abide but he looked over at her and shook his head. "Let up on her. Just a little."

"Ethan, please tell her to stop! I'm sorry, I only meant to—"

He got to his feet. "If you had just given him to me earlier, you would have done a lot to improve your rep with me. Now…oh forget it."

Maylene shook her head. "We really should take her in. Kidnapping is a pretty big charge. They could lock her away for awhile."

He shrugged. "You can do what you want. Once we get that Hypno, we're done here as far as I'm concerned."

"Eh…I guess. You're taking this very well for someone who was being held captive by her."

He laughed. "I guess you're right but you know, I got one of my old Pokemon back and we're about to get what we wanted, I'm satisfied. If it wasn't for her, we would have never gotten all this information and I still wouldn't have Wiggler."

"Oh, I think we have it!" Candice said. She held out a Pokemon, summoning a different colored Hypno. She summoned it back and Lyra grumbled.

"That's the Hypno. You…can take him. Just…take him."

Maylene let Lyra go and she slumped to the ground. Candice tossed it to him and he caught it. "Well…I think that's that. Now it's time for me to get back to Unova!"

They left Lyra and the building and began to make their way back to Snowpoint. Candice walked ahead a few feet and jumped into the air.

"Whoo that was so much fun! I haven't had so much fun in such a long time. You need to come back and visit Ethan!"

Maylene got to her feet. "Ha, yea I guess it was a bit fun."

"Stop being such a downer May-May! Oh and bring Homika with you next time! I want to meet her!"

"Meet her is all you're gonna do," Maylene said. "You are not gonna hook up with her."

"But—"

"No."

"I got to ask…what do you mean by hooking up with her?"

Maylene shot him a horrified look. "Why are you asking—"

"Oh it's nothing big, trust me! It's nothing me and May May haven't done!"

"Huh?" He asked and noticed Maylene turning redder than he had ever seen. She began to stomp over toward Candice, who took off as she noticed Maylene approaching. Maylene gave chase and he watched it all with a confused look. "I…I think I'm missing something here. Should I ask what she meant?"

Pitch and Wiggler shot him looks suggesting otherwise. "Yea, I guess I'll just let it go."