"Well Wiggler, I guess you've really been out of the loop but Pitch has been sort of filling your place while you were gone."

Wiggler let out an annoyed squeak but Pitch ignored him. "Hey, he doesn't mean any harm. There's room for both of you to be out. He can ride on my shoulder, while you get to bounce along. You don't expect me to carry you, do you?"

Wiggler got a mischievous look on his face and Ethan shook his head. "Don't even think about it."

He walked up the streets of Tachikawi City, eager to be back in Unova, even though his little adventure in Sinnoh was kinda fun. "Well Mika said to meet her at her gym, I wonder if that's where they've all gathered? She didn't say either way."

Wiggler let out a squeak. "The others? I mean the other gym leaders. Jasmine, Marlon, Skyla and Iris the Champion. Then there is still the Elite Four but I haven't gotten the chance to meet them yet."

Wiggler looked at him a bit confused and let out another squeak. Pitch fired back with a chirp of his own, only causing more confusion on the part of Wiggler. "Why am I not with Jasmine? Uh, that's a long story. You've really been out of the loop."

Wiggler looked annoyed but that passed. "Well the only other one I've found was Rai and I gave him to Jasmine. I think Team Rocket has the rest of the team and I know we can get them back."

He walked up to the entrance to Homika's gym and stepped inside. He could see the large neon sign with her name on but all the other lights were off. "Huh, I wonder what's the—"

Suddenly all the lights turned on and music began to pump into the area. He heard a large amount of cheers all around and saw that the gym now had seats all around, each one filled with screaming fans. Really loud fans at that. As he strode toward the stage arena, large spotlights shone on the floor in front of the neon sign. A door opened and rising from the hole in the floor was Homika, her back turned to him and her guitar around her shoulders. She held up a hand and someone, from somewhere tossed her a mic. "All right, are you guys ready to rock?"

The crowd roared in approval but of course it was enough for her. She stomped her foot. "I said…are you ready to rock? I know you guys didn't come all this way for a classical concert, now did you? Did you?" She yelled. The crowd roared even louder for her and she laughed.

"That's right, that's right…that's what I wanted to hear! And rock we shall!"

So why was he here again? He, Pitch and Wiggler all exchanged confused looks. Was she really holding a mini concert here? "I mean it's cool to see she's still performing but—"

"Oh…and what's this? Who has wandered into the rock arena here? Who is brave enough to take on the Queen of Rock and Roll and Queen of all that is Poison? Huh, who is it?" She asked as she turned around. Suddenly he noticed several more spotlights turn on and focus on him. "Well…look who has decided to make a return appearance!"

He could hear some laughter in the crowd but Homika didn't seem to like it. "Hey goobers, show some respect! It's not everyday you get a legendary trainer from another region before. But does he have what it takes to take the gym from my hands…well does he?"

From the sounds of it, the crowd didn't think so. So this is what it was, a battle? Well if he was gonna help take down Team Rocket, more training was always helpful. He walked up onto the stage while she beamed with pride. She pointed a finger in his direction. "All right E, you've stepped into the ring so that means you've got the guts to take on me, the Queen of Poison!" She yelled as she jumped into the air and slashed her fingers across the strings on her guitar. Suddenly loud music began to pump in and he looked up and noticed her band playing on a platform behind and above them in the back. Homika took off her guitar and handed it to an assistant. She pulled out a Pokeball from her dress. "All right, let's go Koffing!"

He stepped back as she summoned her Koffing and glanced over at Wiggler and Pitch. "Well we don't have a ground or a psychic—"

Wiggler interrupted him with a squeak and he laughed. "Yea I forgot you know a couple of psychic attacks. Well you haven't gotten the chance to battle it out so I guess you get to go up first."

Wiggler bounced forward and her eyes grew wide. She probably didn't expect to see Wiggler of all Pokemon but he couldn't blame her. "That balloon thing? Well fine, Koffing use Toxic!"

Of course she would lead with that. Wiggler took the blast of poison sludge in slide and even shrugged it off. Seeing all the musical instruments must have inspired him because he suddenly belted out a tune. Unfortunately for everyone else, it wasn't the calm and soothing tune that would put anyone to sleep or the deep soulful voice he used to charm anyone. No, he would have preferred those but instead what came out was a horrible screeching sound, Wiggler's off key voice. Pitch let out a cry of pain while he took out some ear buds he always kept under his hat and put them in. All around, he could see people crying out in pain, begging to be released from their pain. Homika was forced to plug her ears too and her poor Koffing looked utterly dazed from the awful tune. Wiggler let up after a few minutes and pointed his little arms toward his head. He took out the earplugs, as he knew what was coming next. Soon, Wiggler used Psychic to pick up Koffing and bounce him around the gym like a pinball.

By the time he had released him, Koffing looked pretty worse for wear and Homika was forced to call him back. She shook her fist. "That f***ing balloon."

Wiggler let out an amused squeak and bounced over to him. She took out a second Pokeball. "Well…you haven't seen this one before! Let's go Scolipede!"

She summoned a large centipede like Pokemon to the arena. It was reddish purple with bright purple stripes along its back and purple rings along each segmented part of its body. It towered over her and him but if she was thinking summoning a new Pokemon to him was gonna surprise him…boy was she in for a shock. He already could see it was part bug and he knew just the guy for the job. He took out the Pokeball and summoned Chase. The crowd laughed as the puny ghost candle stood in the shadow of the large centipede.

"A candle? Is this some sort of joke? Scolipede, body slam this candle into a puddle of wax!"

His eyes grew as wide as saucers. He wanted to say something…anything as to why she would use a normal move on a ghost of all things. He, Wiggler and Pitch could only share confused looks as the centipede jumped into the air and true to form, passed right through Chase and crashed onto the ground. Chase's flame grew from a small flame into a huge ball of fire and he looked over at the crowd, noticing quite a few people looking tired or even ready to pass out. If he wasn't doing that to feed, he was probably doing it to get more power. It cast a stream of fire down at the bug, enveloping Scolipede in a large flame. It even left it with a few burns. The bug got to its feet and Homika shook her fist. "How could I forget it's a stupid ghost? All right, how about we pay that ghost back in full?"

"Pay back with…uh-oh, watch out Chase!" He yelled but before Chase could move, Scolipede jumped at it and smacked the ghost multiple times with its limps. "Darn it, I didn't know he could learn Payback," he said. Chase began to fall toward the ground but he summoned him back before that could happen. Homika laughed as the crowd roared in approval.

"You weren't expecting that, were you? Well, shows you need to be prepared at all times!"

Pitch suddenly took off his shoulder like a rocket but he looked mad. Furious even. The bug Pokemon didn't have time to move as Pitch increased his speed, becoming so fast that you could see multiple images of him. Ethan wiped his eyes as Pitch seemed to vanish entirely and you could see the large centipede winced as he was slashed with the wind, causing a small line to appear across its body. Pitch continued his furious attack, unleashing a whole slew of Air Slash attacks on the bug until it could take no more and began to slump over. Homika summoned it back. "D*** bird. E, I hate your team! Fine, I guess it's time for the last one. Let's go Weezing!"

Just as he came out, Pitch finished with a final Air Slash but when he appeared again, he wasn't the small and mouthy eagle chick he was known for but as a Braviary. He had been shown a picture of it by Homika but he was still impressed with how tough he looked. It was obvious though, he wasn't gonna be able to perch on his shoulder anymore. He turned to face Weezing and let out a loud cry. "Oh so you think just because you grew up that you can get the drop on me? Ha, think again! Weezing, use Explosion!"

"What?" He said before he noticed Weezing create a smaller duplicate of it which it sent flying toward Pitch. Pitch didn't seem fazed as he flew into the air and began to use its wings to cause a powerful gust, sending the duplicate right back into Weezing. Weezing didn't have time to get out of the way and took the attack straight to the face. The explosion knocked it straight to the ground and pushed Homika back. She looked up as the dust cleared and realized she had lost her last Pokemon. "H-huh?"

"Well…I think that's my win, don't you?"

Homika summoned her Weezing back and laughed. "Well…it looks like Johto boy showed he still has the chops!"

Wiggler let out an angry squeak and he could only agree. He really hated that nickname. Only Gary had used it on him and he was quick to show the former Champion that he wasn't to be slept on. She grabbed her guitar and began to play a tune on it. "Well then, let's give it up to the new owner of the Toxic Badge!"

The crowd roared in approval as he stepped forward. She took out the badge and handed it to him with a smile. "Thanks—"

"Glad to have made you work for it. Now, let's continue on! That match was just the prelude, now it's time for the main event!"

After the mini concert, they sat together on the edge of the stage, a large towel around her neck. "Well, I haven't had that much fun in a long time!"

"So this is why you wanted to meet me here, to challenge me? Seems like a great idea."

"Yea…kinda. Well yea I guess I wanted to give you some training since we can't be dragging dead weight around."

Wiggler let out a surprised squeak but he tapped him on the head. "She's joking."

"Is it wrong that I just want to spend some time with you alone?"

"No."

"Good. So how was it in Sinnoh?"

"Cold."

"Other than that!"

"Well…I already told you that Lyra kidnapped me and planned to mind wipe me—"

"She…what?"

He laughed and waved her off. "Don't worry. I was able to talk her out of it and—"

She grabbed him by the collar and pulled his face close to her. "Don't worry? Don't worry? I was about ready to fly over there myself and tear her apart! I don't care if she's just a girl, she had you captured and could have done horrible things to you!"

"S-sorry Mika, I guess I should have called you a bit earlier to let you know what happened to me."

She loosened her grip. "Y-yea. Well you're here now so that's all that matters," she said as she inched closer to him. "Still, you should have dragged her back over here so I could have really given her a piece of my mind. And if you thought I was bad, you should have seen Jasmine!"

"I didn't want to be around her anymore after she did that."

"Yea, I guess you're right. I'll get my revenge later. Well…we were able to chase them out of Nimbasa City. I hope you weren't expecting us to hide in a corner and cry until you came back."

"I didn't to be honest."

She jabbed him. "I'm kidding. It's just not as fun without you around. Iris is a brat and Jasmine is just…Jasmine."

He looked at her. "Huh, what's wrong with her?"

"She's an introvert! She's quiet. The only time she likes to talk is when you're around, even if you're in the next room or something."

"Hey, not everyone can be a loud mouth—"

"Are you talking about me?"

"Well I meant myself but if you think that fits you—"

"I agree, it's just you," she said, brushing back her hair. She kicked off her boots and sighed. "So is Pitch the first one of your new team that evolved?"

He shook his head. "Nope, Bolt—"

"That's all I need to know."

"Don't you want to see him?"

"What do you think?" She said in a grave voice. He took out the Pokeball holding Bolt and she suddenly grabbed for it. She pushed him over and landed atop him as the Pokeball fell on its button, summoning Bolt. She grabbed his shirt with her fists as Bolt crawled over. "Get away, get away, get away! Get it away from me!" She yelled as she bounced his head up and down on the stage. He looked over at Bolt through the pain. He must have got the message as he crawled away and returned to his Pokeball. Homika released him and rested her face in his chest, laughing. "Th-th-that wasn't very funny!"

"But you have a Pokemon that's a centipede! What's the difference? Bolt only has eight."

She looked up at him. "He's a spider and that's all that matters. It was okay when he was a Joltik; he was even a little cute. Now? He's not cute, he's terrifying."

"He means no harm though."

She let out a sigh and stared into his face. "How about we not talk about that and about us?"

"Huh? I thought we talked it out? I already forgave you for that silly little argument and you were even more right about—"

"What, please don't tell me you're that clueless!"

He looked over at Pitch and Wiggler but they had scurried off somewhere else. Grand time to leave him alone like this, he could have asked them what she was talking about. "Well I guess you'll have to spell it out to me."

"Remember back when we first met, on the concert stage? I dragged you on stage?"

"Well kinda. It's been awhile and then Team Rocket crashed the concert so I guess my mind focused on them."

She laughed as she sat up, still sitting atop him. "Man, you don't remember what happened on stage?"

"I'm sorry…no."

She giggled. "You really are as clueless as they said," she said as she leaned over and pressed her forehead against his. "How can someone as smart as you be so clueless when it comes to girls? Especially someone who has nothing but girls as friends."

"Ahhh well," he said, reaching up to wipe his forehead. She sat up again and sighed.

"Well I did ask you to come here so I could take you on in a battle and test your skills out but…well," she said as she reached up toward her shoulders. She reached behind her back and he heard a zipper. "I had another reason."

"Ahhh Mika…what's that weird look on your—"

"Hey quiet, I'm trying to have a moment with you! When your girlfriend is with you, alone, in a darkened gym, half dressed…I'm not here to discuss plans for global domination! Or Team Rocket. Or anything else."

"You mean a kiss?"

"Is that a serious question?"

"W-w-well it's the only thing I can think of."

She smiled. "Your mom must have missed out on that talk before you bolted out the house to go on your journey," she said as she winked at him. "Don't worry, I'm about to give you an abrupt crash course."

"H-huh…ahhh…"

Suddenly he heard the door opening. "Ahh…hello? Is anyone here?"

Homika dragged him over to the other edge of the arena and pointed a finger at him. "Stay right here," she said as she zipped up her zipper and walked away. He shook his head as he realized who the voice was. "Jasmine, what are you doing here?"

"Huh? Ahh oh well…you said Ethan was back in Unova and you two were supposed to meet up with us in Nimbasa…"

"So you had to come down here and check? Nimbasa isn't exactly a hop and a skip you know…besides, he was a bit tired from his trip and wanted to relax a bit before we got back to business."

"Oh, I'm sorry…you're right. I was just being overly worried again."

"Ugh, don't worry about it. He's okay, just a bit tired."

He wasn't tired! He felt like sitting up and greeting Jasmine but something told him that Mika would show her ugly side again if that happened. "Yes, you're right. Well please tell I said hi and we'll see him when you two return to Nimbasa."

"Of course I will. We should be over there shortly. A few hours at least."

He let out a sigh and sat up. He felt Homika rest her feet on his shoulders. "Well that was close."

"Close but—"

"Ugh…that's not gonna happen a second time, come with me!"

"Huh but where are we going now? Shouldn't we be getting ready to meet up with them in Nimbasa?"

She looked back at him with a sly smile. "Oh uh, well there's a back room with a couch there. You can lie down there."

"But I'm not even all that tired."

She spun to face him and stroked his cheek with her hand as she cocked her head to the side. "Do you want to go to Nimbasa and get yelled at by that bratty Iris or do you want to spend some time with your lovely girlfriend?"

"Ahh well…I guess the second option but what are you going to do to me?"

She looked away and shrugged as her dress slumped a bit on her shoulders. "I don't know…things, I guess."

"Hey, what took you guys so long? Jasmine said it was only a few hours!" Iris yelled. She looked over at her watch. "When did a few hours become—"

"Oh hush," Homika said as she reached down and messed up Iris' hair. "We still got here in time, right?"

"Yea but that still doesn't answer my question."

Homika shrugged. "Remember, I relayed to you guys that he had been captured by Lyra and help captive. That would shake anyone up. I think he's still a bit shaken up by it so leave him be."

Iris glanced over at him but he could only rub the back of his head and look away. "What?"

"Ethan, are you sure you're okay?" Jasmine asked.

"Uh…yea…just uhh…fine, peachy even."

She frowned. "Then why do you look so disheveled? You look like you lost a twelve round fight with a Hitmochan."

"Since when did you make jokes Jazz?" Homika said. Jasmine looked over at her and then at him. "I told you, just leave him be. Where are the others?"

Jasmine blushed. "Oh ah, they're at the gym. One of the Elite Four was able to make it out here too."

"Sweet, well we really shouldn't keep them waiting any longer, right?"

"Ahhh but what about Ethan?"

"Oh uh…huh, good question. You can try talking him out of his funk, I don't think I was able to get to him."

Homika hurried off with Iris close behind but Jasmine didn't leave just yet. He gathered himself and began to follow after Homika and Iris but Jasmine tugged on his sleeve. He couldn't bring himself to look at her. "What is it?"

"Hey, are you okay?"

"I'm fine…really fine. Just peachy even."

Jasmine turned to face him. "But you look as nervous as I've ever seen you before—hey, why aren't you looking at me?"

"No reason."

She stomped her foot. "I'm your best friend. I think I know when something is bugging you! So what is it? I'm not leaving until I get an answer."

He looked away and then up at the sky and then at her. He laughed nervously. "Ahhh oh…uh…well Mika…well we had a pretty awesome Pokemon battle. She suggested that my team needed a bit more training so we had several training sessions."

Jasmine leaned forward and sniffed him. He jumped back and she folded her arms. "Why do you have Homika's perfume on you?"

He rubbed the back of his head. "Well she was real happy to see me after that ordeal so she hugged me. I think she had…other plans but I didn't know what she was going to do to me so…uh we just trained some more."

Her eyes grew wide. "H-huh? She did what?"

Wiggler let out an amused squeak and he shot a glare at him. "Hey, how about you keep quiet!"

"I think I'm gonna have a word with Homika."

"Ugh, please don't do that. I was just getting used to the two of you getting along…somewhat. I don't want to see you two arguing again."

"I won't fuss too much. I just think she jumped the gun a bit. I can't believe she did that to you!"

"Huh, do what? I didn't say any—"

"You didn't have to say a thing," she said as she walked off. He shot a glare at Wiggler who looked at him with an amused look.

"Hey, stop giving Jasmine ideas. You know what happens when she gets ideas?"

Wiggler tried to play dumb and he tapped him on the head. "I swear, you've been hanging out too much with Erika, haven't you? Well let's go to the gym."

By the time he arrived at the gym, Jasmine and Homika were nowhere to be found but Skyla, Iris, Marlon and Marshal were there. While he hadn't met them before, he had seen pictures of them but both were a bit more muscular than he imagined. He glanced around. "Uh…where did Homika and Jasmine go?"

Skyla giggled. "Oh, Jasmine came in her looking pretty mad and dragged poor Homika away."

"Ahhh well…I guess I'll worry about them later."

"You have the stupidest look on your face," Iris said.

"So Ethan man, Homika said you found some information in Sinnoh."

Ethan nodded and took out the folder. He opened it and handed some papers to all of them. "Yep, after I freed myself from Lyra's control with Pitch's help, me and two old friends from Sinnoh ran across some Team Rocket labs—"

"Old friends?"

He nodded at Iris. "Maylene and Candice, two gym leaders from Sinnoh. Anyways while we were there, we came across these papers. It looks like Team Rocket had plans for my old team."

Skyla tapped the piece of paper against her head. "That seems a bit…you know…what's the word I'm thinking of?"

"Petty?" Iris asked.

Skyla's eyes lit up. "Yep, yep! Petty that's it!"

"Ugh, you're such a—"

"Iris, be nice. You don't have to treat her like that," he said. "So…yea I agree with Skyla, it does seem a bit petty but what can you do? At least they can't use the element of surprise on us, right? I guess—"

"And it looks like they've been forcing evolution on even more Pokemon than we expected," Marshal said with a grumble. He made a fist and Ethan feared he would smash the nearby table but he seemed to control his anger.

"Uh…how are things at the League?"

He folded his arms. "Not much has changed. They've been camping out there, content to just take on any trainers foolhardy enough to challenge them but so far no one has made it past the first member of the Elite—"

"More like the Wicked Four," Ethan said. Marshal's eyes grew wide at being interrupted but he laughed instead.

"Haha, I think I like that term much better!"

"I remember seeing some of these Pokemon with Team Rocket but I didn't know their types. It's nice to know now, we have a better chance of finding a weakness rather than making random guesses," Marlon said. He shook his head.

"So well we know about the Pokemon they have and the Pokemon they could have…so now what? Should we go to the League and kick them out?"

"Well there's another issue. I just got word of it from Caitlin that Team Rocket has taken control of another city…this time Castelia."

"Ugh, really? We just got done, wasting several days chasing them out of Nimbasa; only to find out they took over the city just to the south? This is stupid, why are we wasting the time?" Iris asked. "We should just go take them out at the League right now!"

"And let them come from behind and take us out?"

Iris folded her arms like a pouting child. "Yea…I think we should chase them out of Castelia. Besides, it'll give me time for more training—"

"Why do we need to wait for you to get your team of baby Pokemon trained up? Most of the Pokemon you have need a lot of training before they can evolve, especially Deino…or whatever you call him. We can do just fine even if you don't help out all that much."

She was really starting to get on his nerves. Skyla laughed. "Yea but it's not like you had that much success either."

"Element of surprise. If I knew they were coming, I would have been better prepared—"

"Isn't it the job of the Champion to always be prepared?" Ethan asked. He sighed. "Anyway…with all of us working together, we should be able to chase them out in no time."

"Again…wait, why are you in charge anyways?"

"Ugh Iris can you just shut up? When was the last time you dealt with a villainous gang? Did you hear about what they tried to do in Johto? I helped Lance put them away in one town while me and Crystal helped defeat Giovanni and chased them out of Goldenrod. The two of us, chased out an entire gang controlling a whole city. And then in Sinnoh, I had to help defeat the nefarious plans of Team Galactic as well and that was after Charon had succeeded in his own plans in using Arceus to mold the world into his wish. I'm so much of a threat that Team Rocket's main goal seems to be destroying me first before they can go forward with their goals. Why else do you think they're willing to just toe the line? As soon as I'm done, they'll go forward with their plans but because their own boss respects my prowess, they will tread carefully. They even captured my own Pokemon and experimented on them to make them stronger because they respect their strength that much. I recognize you're the Champion but guess what? I've held my own against Cynthia, Crystal, Gary and Lance. So please stop acting like you're all that, it's really irritating me!"

They all exchanged looks and Wiggler let out a relieved squeak. Iris' face was bright red. "Ahh…ummm…"

"Whoo…sorry about that. I just had to get that off my chest. So…any questions?" He asked with a smile. Skyla smiled back at him and winked.

"Nope, everything is stellar! So we'll go to Castelia and kick them out? I'm up for that, I always enjoy giving them the boot!"

Marshal nodded. "I think you guys should be okay here so I'll return to the Elite Four and key them in. We'll continue to keep an eye on Team Rocket at the League but they don't seem in that much of a mood to do anything. Looks like they're waiting for the special guest of the hour."

"All right Ethan, we'll meet you over in Castelia then! Try not to waste too much time or else me and Marlon will kick them all out before you guys get there!" Skyla said with a laugh. The three of them left, leaving only him and Iris. She was still red in the face from the verbal spanking he had given her. He turned to leave and she cleared her throat.

"Huh, what is it?"

"Umm…err…sorry."

Wiggler let out a squeak and Pitch was just as surprised. "Huh? Oh that's okay."

"I guess…you're a bit tougher of a trainer than I thought. I just thought you were some no name trainer who was just friends with a bunch of gym leaders but I guess what Lance and the others have said about you was true."

He shrugged. "Whatever, don't worry about it."

"I guess…or well…ah never mind."

He smiled and folded his arms. "Can we at least try to get along?"

She smirked just a tad. "I guess we can try. It'd help if you had some official title to let people know about your skill."

"Yea…well…sometimes you just don't get those."

"I bet if you become Champion—"

"Ahhh I kind of think I'm passed that phase. It was cool at the time to strive for that but the longer it goes on, the less interested I am in doing that. It takes so much work and effort…do I really want to go through with that again? I thought if I became the Champion that people would respect me but it doesn't bother me so much anymore."

"Unless it's someone like me, right?"

He laughed and rubbed the back of his head. "Ahh well…I usually don't do that. I don't know what happened to me back there."

Iris folded her arms. "What happened to you?"

He sighed. "Nothing really."

"So do we need to find Homika and Jasmine to fill them in?"

He nodded. "Yea, I guess we should."

They left the gym and didn't have to go far before they ran into Homika and Jasmine, having a very spirited discussion outside the entrance to the amusement park. Actually it looked more like a full-blown argument. The two of them were so involved that they didn't notice the two of them walk up. Iris looked over at him and groaned. "What is this about? And they've been at it all this time?"

"Looks like it," he said with a sigh. He cleared his throat. "Hey you two!"

Neither girl paid him any mind as they continued their argument. As he expected, they were arguing about him but what about? He looked over at Wiggler. Wiggler let out a happy squeak and bounced over. He let out another of his glass shattering awful tunes…a song that would cause babies to cry, men to weep and even kill hardy plants. Homika and Jasmine finally stopped their arguing and noticed the four of them.

"Oh hey, glad to see you two join us again!"

"Ethan…"

"Ugh, while you two were arguing, we were discussing what to do next! What were the two of you arguing about again?"

Jasmine blushed. "N-nothing."

"She's being unreasonable!"

"Ugh stop acting like kids! And you two are being all vague and stuff! How about you come out and tell us what had you two up in arms so we can get to the important stuff!" Iris yelled.

"Iris, you're too young for this talk!"

"What, but I'm the Champion! If I'm good enough to be a Champion, I'm—"

"Oh…Iris could you just leave us alone for a bit."

"Oh come on? Why can't I stay?"

He smiled at her. "Because I need to yell at both of them."

"And I can't stay? Ahhh, fine…can I just plug my ears instead?"

"Yea…you can do that. And you better keep them plugged!"

"Okay, okay! You don't have to yell at me again," she said.

"Again?" Jasmine asked.

He looked at her and laughed. "Ahh…uhh Iris and me just had to have a little talk. Nothing serious that's all. So what are you two arguing about?"

"Ohh umm…nothing," Jasmine said.

"Just stuff," Homika said with a shrug. He looked at the two of them with a glare. He looked over at Wiggler. "Do you got a really awful tune in you? Something even worse then you've ever sung before?"

By the look on his face, he did. "Ahhh Ethan, please don't do that."

"Then what's the problem? I was hoping you two had made peace with each other but now you two are…what's the problem?"

Jasmine's faced turned bright red. "E…Ethan, what did she do to you last night?"

"Th-that's what you two were arguing about?"

"Yes! I don't know what's the big deal. We only ended up cuddling and kissing. What's the big deal?"

"That's not the truth and you know it!"

"Oh? What's it matter to you? You're not even dating him, you're just his friend!"

"Yea but—how do you know he was ready for that. He thinks the pinnacle is kissing a girl. And to just go from kissing to…umm…you should have considered his feelings."

He let out a sigh. "She did consider my feelings Jasmine."

"Oh…she did?"

Homika sighed. "See? We didn't need to have this stupid argument; there are other things to worry about. You two said something about Castelia?"

"Yea like it's been taken over by Team Rocket. Skyla and Marlon are already on their way there and we should join them," he said. Iris unplugged her ears.

"Are you three done? Can we get going?"

"I…guess we can. I'm sorry Ethan, I was just too concerned…as usual."

"Can you really smell like her when you're just cuddling?" Iris asked. He looked over at her and shot her a look. "What? I couldn't help myself!"

"It's a strong perfume. Even if you hug for just a short time, it's pretty easy to pick it up."

"But he reeks of it almost! It's…kinda funny when he smells so fruity," she said with a laugh.

"Ahh yea…I think I might have to take a shower to get it off. Otherwise people might get the wrong idea."

"Yea…it's too bad we didn't have any time to shower after that," Homika said.

"You…what?"

Ethan sighed and looked at Iris but she shook her head. "Forget it! I'm not plugging my ears this time. It looks like they just started up again!"

"Skyla and Marlon really are gonna clear out Castelia before we get there…are they?"

"Yep!" Iris said, beaming with a smile.

"I thought you said you two cuddled!"

"Ugh, you really think you can handle the truth?" Homika said with a grin.

"Yes, I can handle the—"

"Enough, both of you! Ugh this is so stupid. Can we go now?"

Jasmine shook her head. "No."

"Fine…I don't know why you're being so stubborn about this Jasmine. And Homika, you don't have to taunt her about it. That's pretty cruel considering you know what me and Jasmine feel or felt—"

"Feel—"

"Okay feels about each other. You don't need to rub it in her face. Just be grown up about it. Man I got Iris' case but she seems tame compared to how you two are acting. Okay? Are we done here?"

Jasmine folded her arms. "I…guess so. Fine, fine…I'm sorry for being so silly."

Homika smirked. "Yea well…it was pretty immature of me to taunt her like that. Sorry as well."

He sighed. "Well good. Glad to see we came to an agreement. So again, are we done here?"

"Well…I guess I'm just still…curious."

"Are you sure you want to ask?"

"Jasmine, I was dry humping my guitar on stage in front of thousands of screaming fans to get his attention. Do you really need to ask what I did to him, alone and in a darkened gym?"

"I…I'm just gonna plug my ears again," Iris said, which she did. He was glad she did because he had a feeling what was coming next.

"Ummm…cuddle?"

"Of course. I already said I respected his feelings."

Wiggler let out a squeak and Homika looked over at him. "She's…what Wiggler?"

He looked away and began to whistle. Homika licked her fingers and giggled. "Oh fine fine. Wiggler's right. I'll stop being a jerk to her. I'm sorry Jasmine—"

His phone rang and he took it out and notice Skyla was calling him. It might have been important so he decided to answer it. "Uh, hello?"

"Hey, what's taking you guys so long? Are they still arguing?"

"No, I think we're past that. I'm just trying to get the message across that we need to—"

"I can't believe you did that. Couldn't you have…waited?"

"Sorry Jasmine but I'm a horny little rock star. I guess we could have waited until I dragged him to bed but I was tired of waiting—"

"Hey, what are they talking about?" Skyla asked in a singsong voice.

"Don't tell me you were in on this?"

"Oh about what Homika really planned to do? Well…yea. Marlon and me knew, we just decided against telling Jasmine. We didn't think she would take it well."

"No…she won't. Well she'll live. We'll…ummm be there shortly. Don't clear out the city before we get there."

"No promises!"

He hung up and noticed Jasmine was super red in the face. He looked over at Iris but she still had her ears plugged. "I told you that you were better off not knowing."

"You went with the brutal honest approach, didn't you?"

"If you mean telling her I f***ed you several times on the stage floor…no."

"You didn't tell me that!"

"I said it in simpler terms. You just didn't believe me. I thought he would faint dead away but…well I'm beginning to wonder if he's had a little practice before…with a certain someone even," she said with a smile. Again with the teasing? He was really thinking about ditching them and just taking Iris with him to Castelia instead. He even looked over at Iris and walked over to her. He rubbed her head.

"Okay, time to go Iris."

She unplugged her ears. "Oh are they finally done? When can we just get back to kicking Team Rocket butt?"

"I like the way you think—"

"M-maybe he has had a little practice before…I don't think we would have remembered afterwards," Jasmine said, an evil smile forming on her face.

Wiggler and Pitch let out surprised noises. "You know what, I'm just gonna go now. Bye," he said as he hurried off. He wasn't sure he wanted to know if Jasmine was just screwing around or not. Best not to ask.