/We’re the same, aren’t we./
    I like to think so.
    /But do you truly think we are?/
    I dunno. You -are- a Pokémon… but then, the physical form really has nothing to do with anything.
    /…Do you truly think so?/
    Well, the body -is- just a plaything of the soul.
    /The quote goes, “The -mind- is just a plaything of the -body-.”/
    Mind, soul… the Japanese character “kokoro” can refer to the heart, the mind or the spirit. No matter what word you’re using, it ends up being the same thing. In either case, it shouldn’t matter what form your body takes, as long as your souls speak the same language. Soulmates aren’t called soulmates because they share the same form.
    /…I’m glad./
    ......?
    /Because…I was a little afraid./
    You? Afraid? It seems a little outrageous.
    /I could face any enemy and not bat an eyelash…but you’re different. You are…my equal./
    But I’m a human.
    /We are equals. I am convinced of that. As you said, soulmates aren’t called soulmates because they share the same form. Our hearts are the same. I think…no, I believe…that you and I…/
    Are soulmates?
    /..................../
    Perhaps you’re assuming too much too soon.
    /....Perhaps I am......./
    In any case, what are you doing in my dream?
    /...................................../
    Mewtwo? Mewtwo! Where did you go? Mewtwo, I asked you a question! Mewtwo! MEWTWO!!

   Starr coasts back up the driveway of Martina’s house. The front door is still open, surprisingly. Starr thought for sure it’d be locked and she’d end up having to sneak in a window. Being in Team Rocket, she does know how to do so without tripping an alarm, but breaking into your best friend’s mom’s house is just demented.
    “Starr?”
    The door opens and Starr is bathed in a warm light. James is standing at the door, looking both relieved and a little disappointed.
    “Oh, nice to see you too.” She pretends to pout.
    This elicits a smile from James, but it soon fades. “Starr, do you know where Faris went?” he implores. “I haven’t seen her in so long…I couldn’t get to sleep, I was so worried. I think she might still be mad at me for what my idiot parents did.”
    “She won’t be mad at you,” Starr assures him. “Faris is reasonable. She wouldn’t be pissed off without a reason. True, she’s really furious with her mom, and probably with your parents—heck, so am I—but you’re not guilty. Breathe, James. Everything will turn out all right.”
    At this James gives her so hopeful and cute a look that she can’t help but giggle. “Really?” he says.
    Starr nods. “Yes, really.”
    James lets out a long sigh of relief. “Do you want any hot chocolate? I found a mix in the kitchen.”
    Starr makes a face. “That stuff tastes like instant liquid packing peanuts. If you value your health, don’t drink Martina’s diet hot chocolate mix.”
    James nods. “It’s that bad?”
    “Worse. Trust me.”
    “I always trust you. Does Martina have real chocolate?”
    “Are you kidding, James, look at the woman.”
    “I guess not.” James’s lower lip sticks out cutely. “Rats. I really wanted some cocoa. I’m good at making it, too. It was the one thing Jezebel never complained about.”
    “Speaking of the Shrill One, where’d she go?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “Do you know where Jessie is?”
    “Last time I saw her, she was with Orion.”
    WHAP.
    “OUCH!”
    “You shouldn’t hit yourself in the forehead like that, Starr, it could hurt.”
    “It DID!”
    “Are you all right?”
    “Fine now…dammit. Jessie is such an airhead. Orion is possibly the horniest guy on earth. If my guess is correct, they’re probably playing Shag Tag on the white leather couch by now.” Starr rolls her eyes, then shakes her head. “Geez. My friends and my enemies are disappearing left, right and center. I’m glad you’re still here.”
    James grins and gives Starr a little hug to try and banish the worried look from her face. He prefers seeing Starr happy. It cheers him up, too.
    His effort has the desired effect. Starr grins. “I guess I shouldn’t really worry. Faris can take care of herself....”
    James watches, interested. Starr trails off, looks at the ceiling, hums a few bars of a bizarre little song, paces a few tiny circles on the floor, checks the expensive-looking grandfather clock (it shows the time is 4:32 AM, although whether or not it’s an accurate clock, she doesn’t know), then…
    “AUAUAAAUGH! This is going to drive me insane! James, will you come help me look for Faris? I have a very nice Friday-the-Thirteenth feeling about her just leaving like this.”
    James nods. “All right. But how will we look?”
    Starr holds up a keychain liberated from somewhere. “Martina won’t care if we borrow a vehicle or two.”
    “But where do we start looking?”
    *beep beep* *beep beep*
    The two of them jump and look around before James spots a pager lying on the couch. “Weird. Faris left it.”
    Starr picks it up. As she does, she loses her grip and almost drops it.
    Whilst catching it, her finger hits the MESSAGE button.
    She looks at the screen.
    Her eyes grow huge.
    “James, we are going and we are going now.”
 

    “Why didn’t we take a car!?”
    “WHAT?”
    “I SAID, WHY DIDN’T WE TAKE A CAR?”
    Starr looks back at James, who’s hanging on for dear life behind her. “Because I don’t have a license for one! I only have a motorcycle license!”
    “Why?”
    “BECAUSE!” Starr says.
    “Okay!” James gives her the thumbs-up. He’s no slouch with a motorbike himself, and had there been a second motorcycle he would have taken his own. Rockets are trained in using different modes of transportation, in case they need to make a quick getaway and swipe a vehicle.
    “But what would Faris want over on that part of Cinnabar?” Starr wonders out loud. “It’s closed to the public! There’s nothing over there but a deserted beach!”
    “Yeah, and a few research facilitiEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE....”
    Starr screeches to a halt, causing Raichu to bump his nose on the front of the sidecar.
    “CHU! Rai rai churai??!” he demands.
    Starr shushes him. “James! Do you know what’s at those facilities?”
    “No, why?”
    “I heard that a place down there cloned an Aerodactyl from DNA in an old piece of amber! James, Faris must have been sent there to get something like that.”
    “Alone?!? That’s dangerous!!!” James yowls.
    “I know, that’s what bothers me! Why didn’t we all get sent together—oh, don’t tell me that one screw-up with Pikachu—”
    “Faris is there ALONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” James is having a first-class, professional spazz.
    “I KNOW!!!! I HEARD!” Starr hollers. “But the question is, why? Even if the Boss thinks I’m a screw-up, he would have at least sent me as backup!”
    “Maybe he didn’t want us to know!”
    “But why would he want that?” Starr feels as though she has just inhaled a popsicle straight from Kenji and Jason’s mutated psycho freezer.
    This bizarrity is very sinister.
    Starr isn’t going to let it slide.
    She turns to her fellow Rocket. “James, this has become very X-Filean. I for one want to know what’s going on. I am going to that frickin’ restricted area. Agent Mulder, eat your heart out.”
    “RAI RAI!” Raichu proclaims. This translates roughly as ‘Trust No One’. Neither James nor Starr is aware of this since Batts isn’t around, so unfortunately the joke is lost.
    With that Starr guns the motor and tears off down the road.
    “WAAHHHHHH!” James screams, once again hanging on for dear life. He doesn’t want to lose his best friend as well as his girlfriend. That would really be too much.

    Faris blinks a couple of times, her eyes adjusting to the early morning sunlight. “Mmmhhmphh…” she murmurs, rolling onto her side.
    And faces the legendary Pokémon Mewtwo. “You’re awake,” he states. “I was wondering when you would.”
    She makes a face at him. “You’re impatient; this is the first time I’ve woken up so early and stayed up,” Faris grumbles as she pulls away from him. “I had a dream with you in it.”
    “…” He glances away.
    “We weren’t really doing much of anything,” she continues, rubbing at her eyes and yawning. “Just talking. But you seemed convinced that we’re connected in some way.” She yawns and stretches, hair fluffing up a little in the breeze. “That… let’s see, what did you say? You said we were equals, and that you believed we were soulmates. I disagreed, saying it’s too soon to say anything on that subject, and then I asked you what you were doing in my dream. You didn’t say anything, and you disappeared.” Faris stands, and Mewtwo follows suit. “I called out for you, but you didn’t come back.”
    “……” He coughs a little.
    Faris eyes him a little. “Were you meddling in my dreams?”
    “No, not exactly… I apologize. I should have requested your permission beforehand. I set up a psychic link between the two of us,” Mewtwo explains, not looking her in the face.
    She lets her arms drop to her sides. “Why?”
    “I…” An almost unnoticeable blush tinges his cheeks. “I… like you.” He coughs again. “I assure you, though, I did not enter your dreams. That dream must have been a side effect of the new connection.”
    Faris smiles gently. “Well, I don’t mind,” she says, scratching her head. “You and I are alike, after all.”
    Sephiroth smiles lightly. “Do you know what I like about you? ...Your mind. It’s filled with music.”
    “Music?”
    He nods. “Yes. Like an orchestra, all creating the most magnificent sounds possible all at the same time, to form a work of art. It’s beautiful....”
    She turns to him and blushes slightly. Silence falls between them for a few seconds; then, she bows slightly. “Well, I guess this is where we say good-bye.”
    Mewtwo stares at her. “What?”
    She rises and states seriously, “I was sincere in my intentions to free you. If you follow me, you’ll just become a pawn of Team Rocket. You’ve been subjected to human control for too long. Fulfill your dream, Mewtwo, and fly away. Live life the way you want it. Don’t worry about me; I can just quit the team. I’ve been meaning to for a while, anyhow.”
    The great Pokémon remains silent for a long moment, his head bowed. When he finally raises it, he is smiling. “Please… Faris. Call me Sephiroth. If it were from anyone else, I would not accept it, but…”
    Faris’ eyes soften, and she wraps her arms as far as she can around him in a great hug. Mewtwo, now dubbed Sephiroth, starts in surprise; his own eyes soften as well, and he returns the embrace.
    When they separate, they are both smiling. “Then… this is good-bye…” Faris says softly, looking up at him.
    Sephiroth shakes his head once. “No; I’m sure we shall meet again,” he replies. “It’s a promise.”
    Faris’ smile grows, and she wipes some tears from her face. “It’s a promise,” she agrees, nodding. “Then, I’ll see you later…Sephiroth.” Waving, she turns and walks away. Every few steps, she turns her head to look back at him.
    Sephiroth gazes after her for several long moments, even after she’s out of sight. With a heaving sigh, he flops back down on the sand and closes his eyes.

    Starr flops down on a bench, exhausted, and James joins her. The two of them have been searching with Raichu for over three hours for Faris, and have come up with nothing. Raichu had gotten cranky early and returned to the motorcycle to nap in the sidecar and recharge. Worry and lack of sleep have both drained their energy, and now there’s nothing they can do but take a nap and resume their search.
    “Starr, you don’t think…” James starts, then bites his lip.
    “Don’t I think what?”
    “You don’t think… whatever Faris was sent to capture… killed her…”
    Starr presses a finger to his lips. “No,” she says firmly. “That’s NOT an option. There’s no way Faris is dead. I mean, she’s FARIS! Even if whatever it was went wild, she can handle herself. So don’t even think she might be dead. Injured, possibly, but NOT dead. If we start to think that, we’ll never stop, and if Faris is injured, that’s the last thing she needs—for us to be too busy worrying to look for her!” She heaves a sigh, then sits back down into her old position.
    James stares down into his lap at his clenched fists. “I… I just can’t stop thinking about her,” he squeaks. “I don’t know what I’d do if…”
    “You’d be able to figure something out. You’re a clever boy,” a familiar, teasing voice sounds from behind them.
    Starr and James whip around to see a smiling Faris, wearing a Rocket uniform, leaning against the fence a few yards away from them. “Hi,” she says casually. “Didja guys miss me?”
    “FARIS! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN????” the two of them scream together.
    “You had me worried to DEATH!!” Starr snaps.
    “I was afraid you might have been killed!!” James follows up.
    Faris blinks rapidly, put off guard for a moment. Then she laughs into her hand. “You two are really morbid, you know that? Here, I’ll be right over.”
    After several minutes, Faris manages to climb up the fence, balance on the slanting-upwards bend in the fence, evade the barbed wire on the underside of the curve as she swings down and starts climbing down on the other side, climb down partway and then jump the remaining 15 feet.
    As soon as she lands, Starr and James crush her in the hugest hug she’s ever experienced.
    “ACK,” Faris gasps until they clue in that they’re crushing her and let go.
    James and Starr immediately switch from Pissed Mode to Worried Mode. “Are you okay, Faris? That thing you were after didn’t hurt you, did it? Did you get that thing, anyhow? And what WERE you after? And why didn’t the Boss send us too?? It must have been incredibly dangerous without backup!!” the two of them badger her in unison.
    Faris holds up two gloved hands. “Hold on,” she replies. “I can’t answer several questions at once, you know. Anyway, let’s get back to Martina’s house. I’ll answer questions then, okay?”
    The two Rockets seem satisfied with this, and nod yes.
    “Let’s just get out of here before anything else happens, okay?” James pleads. His girlfriend smiles at him and nods.
    As they walk back to the bike, Starr queries, “What were you after anyway, Faris?”
    “I already said I’d tell you later. Come on, let’s go already; this uniform is too damn hot, and I want into change into something cooler.”
    Feeling a little suspicious, Starr nods warily, deciding to chase the subject later.

    Faris emerges from the shower, feeling refreshed and filled with energy. She’s gone through sleepless nights plenty of times over without complaint; going without a shower after a night of sweaty work, however, is one thing she can’t stand. She wraps a soft white towel around her body and another towel around her hair; after drying herself off a bit, she exits the bathroom and heads for her room.
    Where Starr, James, and Misty, along with Raichu and Togepi, are all waiting, sitting on her bed. (Ash didn’t want to come because he was too embarrassed to see Faris wearing nothing but a towel; Brock would have come, except everyone else insisted he not be there. Pikachu decided to keep them company and shock Brock into submission should he try to peek (as requested by Faris).)
    The lavender-haired girl is somewhat annoyed to see them. “This isn’t a peep show.”
    James blushes at the thought of it.
    “We want to know what you were doing last night!” Misty demands, undaunted by her words. “Why were you going around in a Rocket uniform?”
    She removes the towel from her hair and tosses it onto James. He’s about to pull it off when she says dryly, “You may want to keep that there—I’m going to change.” She raises an eyebrow at the other girls and continues, “I want the two of you to turn around too.”
    Misty and Starr glance at each other, shrug, and turn around; James does so as well, still blushing underneath the towel. Raichu remains in his current position until Faris picks him up and bodily turns him around.
    Discarding the towel onto the floor, Faris pulls out a pair of white shorts and a tie-dye tank top along with panties and a bra. After pulling all the various articles of clothing onto her body, she flops backwards onto her bed. “You can look now.”
    James pulls the towel off his head as Starr and Misty look down at her, crossing their arms. “You said you’d explain, so explain,” Starr says seriously (as serious as she ever gets). “What were you doing over at the western beach?”
    “Well, you ask me to explain, but…” Faris looks thoughtful. “It’s not easy for me to say.”
    “Because you were busy betraying our trust?” Misty demands.
    Togepi tears up a little at his mother’s harsh tone, so far staying quiet because of his sleepiness. “Brrriiiiii…” he cries a little, and Misty turns her attention to him immediately, soothing him.
    She flashes her an annoyed look. “Might I remind you, Misty, that I invited you to come along, and you accepted. I never once said that I might be on a mission. And you knew already that I’m a member of Team Rocket, as were all the other people accompanying me, so you knew there was a risk!”
    “YOU said you were going on vacation!”
    “I was telling the truth!” Faris argues. “We were going on a vacation; it just so happens I had to do a bit of work while I was here!”
    Now that Togepi’s been subdued, Misty opens her mouth to further continue the argument. However, Starr cuts her off. “Look, let’s not dispute the fact that we’re all here to steal Pokémon. Yes, Misty, that’s what we were sent here for, but I wasn’t told anything about going to the western beach. If I wasn’t told, I severely doubt James and Jessie were told either. Isn’t that right, James?”
    He nods. “Yeah…I was just as worried as you, Starr.”
    “That’s right,” Starr nods. “So let’s not worry about the details just yet. Faris, just tell us what you were doing.”
    Three young faces wait (im)patiently for an answer.
    Faris looks at Misty, then Starr, then James, then to Starr and Misty again. There is a pause; then her face changes as if something had dawned on her. “Hey, where’s Jessie? I haven’t seen her all day.”
    “Orion took her away,” James informs her. “None of us have seen her since the duels yesterday.”
    She makes a face. “So Jessie’s gone to visit the No-Tell Motel. Likely, Orion and she have been shagging all night and are just now enjoying a post-coital cigarette.”
    Misty blinks and looks to Starr. “‘Shagging’?” she repeats. “Is that what I think it is?”
    Starr makes a face. “Don’t ask.”
    Faris sits up, ignoring the two. “I suppose it’s my responsibility to go get her. I was the one who beat her up, after all. James, you’re coming along too, right?”
    “Huh?” he says, completely caught off guard. “Why me?”
    She smirks lightly. “’Cause Jessie won’t abandon Akio’s lap to come with me; she hates me. With you there, however, I could possibly persuade her off his lap.”
    “Hey! You still haven’t answered our question!” Misty protests.
    “Later,” Faris replies with a slight wave of the hand. “C’mon, James, let’s go before things get worse.”
    Starr and James glance at each other, and the looks on their faces both clearly state they think Faris is stalling, but they nod in agreement without dispute.
 
 

    *FZZT*
    “Infomercial...”
    *FZZT*
    “Infomercial...”
    *FZZT*
    “Now, you too can achieve a healthier, shinier—”
    “INFOMERCIAL....”
    *FZZT*
    “Oh, John....”
    “Oh, Marcia....”
    “Oh, give me a break!!!”
    *FZZT*
    “Someday, somehow, I know there’s a better way! I’ll find a—”
    “—Satellite receiver company that’ll actually PICK UP GOOD PROGRAMS!”
    *click*
    *click*
    “NOOOO! AUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH! IT ISN’T WORKING!!!!!!!”
    “KILL IT!!!”
    “—you’ll see! Tomorrow is another day, and—”
    *FZZZT*
    “That was too close.”
    “I don’t know what’s worse...the quality of the batteries in this remote, or these people’s acting skills!”
    “What skills?”
    “Right, I forgot. They HAVE no skills! I MOCK their skills! I point and laugh at their lack of skill!”
    “What the heck are you doing?!” Ash yells from the kitchen.
    “NOTHING...” Misty and Starr call.
    “I wish Faris’d let me come along with her and James to go get Jessie,” Starr sighs. “Even if Jessie’s decided she despises me again, Faris and James have their work cut out for them to get Jessie away from Orion. Besides which, I want to be able to kill Orion if he hits on Faris...or James for that matter.”
    “EWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!” Misty yells. “He’d hit on JAMES????”
    “Please. He’s hit on Thomas and Kevin.”
    “EEEEEEEEEEEEEW!!!” Misty yells even louder.
    Ash comes back in laughing. “And Misty liked Thomas, too!”
    Misty turns to Ash. “Shut up, you little dweeb!”
    “What?” Ash grins from ear to ear. “You were talking about how dreamy he wa—OWW! MISTY!!!!”
    “Guys, chill!!!” Starr yells, separating them. Whilst she does so, she hits the channel up button on the remote, which she’s still holding. Then she happens to get a look at the TV set.
    “…We interrupt our regular programming for an important bulletin. An unidentified, large Pokémon has been sighted around West Cinnabar beach. Trainers are warned by authorities not to approach, as—”
    “West Cinnabar beach?” Starr lets go of Misty and Ash, dropping the remote.
    Then, everything comes crashing together violently.
    “Rai chu?” Raichu waves a paw in front of his trainer’s eyes.
    “Chuuuuuuuuuu...rai raichu, chuuu....”
    Starr blinks.
    Raichu still isn’t totally satisfied. He jumps on her head.
    “NGAAA—URF!” Starr yowls, falling flat on her face. She gets up, spitting out carpet lint.
    “What happened?” Ash asks, leaning over so he can look at Starr.
    “Faris was at the western Cinnabar beach,” Starr replies.
    “Yeah? So?”
    “Think about it,” Starr tells the trainer of Pikachu as she gets up off the floor. She heads for the door.
    “HEY! Where are you going?” Ash demands.
    “Ends of the World,” Starr replies. “Hrm. I seem to be spending a lot of my time tailing Faris these days. It’s weird.”
    With that said, she dashes out the door. Raichu hops into the sidecar of the motorcycle (which Starr left out just in case Faris and James needed her help dragging Jessie out of No-Tell Motel), Starr plunks onto the seat, and seconds later Team Rocket—or one of its members, anyway—is speeding off again.
 

    Starr pulls up in front of Ends and looks around. “There doesn’t seem to be any kind of lodgings around here, let alone a motel.”
    “Chu?” Raichu asks.
    “Auauauauaaaaugh.” Starr groans, flopping forwards over the handlebars. “Dead end AGAIN!!!”
    About that time fate decides to step in and help her out.
    Several loud screams and crashes begin emanating from somewhere. Starr’s head pops back up.
    “Gee. Do you suppose that might be Jessie?” she asks, overly serious.
    “Chu, rai rai?” Raichu shrugs, playing along with the joke.
    Of course it’s Jessie. Starr recognizes the sound of THAT Rocket spazzing anywhere. She parks the motorcycle and runs off in the direction of the chaos.
 

    “COMING THROUGH!”
    Michael jumps and hits all the piano keys at once.
    “Huh?” he wonders, going to the door in search of the person causing the ruckus.
    He looks down the hall to the left—
    ***CRASH***
    “WATCH WHERE YOU’RE GOING.”
    Kevin, and he sounds very annoyed. Michael looks down the hall to the right and sees Kevin fighting with an equally annoyed—and VERY sarcastic—Starr.
    “I was watching where I was going, Saionji-sempai. I watched you coming down the hall, I watched you look around and see me, and I watched you step right out into my way on purpose so I would crash into you,” Starr says calmly. “Speaking of which, you’re still in my way. Can I go, or do I have to smack you upside the head again.”
    Kevin looks as though he’s about to yell at her, but he moves. Starr packs a hell of a punch, and he doesn’t want to experience being slapped again.
    Starr turns and sees Michael.
    “Oh, hey...” she says, smiling. “I was here to inquire if you’d seen Faris, James or Jessie here.”
    Suddenly another screech echoes down the hall.
    “BITCH!”
    “Never mind,” Starr sweatdrops. “I think I can guess where they are.”
    “Here, I’ll show you where they are,” Michael offers, indicating a hall branching off to the left. “Orion’s apartment is this way.”
    “No-Tell Motel...” Starr mumbles.
    Michael hides a grin.
    When Michael and Starr arrive at the door, they see Faris looking largely unimpressed at Jessie’s ranting and screaming act. James is inching away from the door gradually, and Orion looks rather amused.
    “...and if you think for FIVE seconds that you’re going to steal Orion from me too, you little—”
    “*a-HEM.*” Starr makes a loud throat-clearing noise.
    Everyone jumps.
    Starr waves.
    Jessie, seeing the cherry-haired Rocket there, assumes that Starr is her ally. “Starr, don’t you agree that ANYONE would do what I did if she had her best friend stolen and then got beaten up when she tried to get him back from some prissy little—”
    “Jessie—”
    “—who acts like she HATES him?”
    “Jessie...”
    “Well?”
    “Well, what?”
    “WELL? Wouldn’t you have done what I did!?!?”
    “Actually no.”
    “See, Faris, Starr is—WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATT???”
    “I said no.”
    Jessie blinks. “Wh- wh—What do you mean no?”
    “I mean no. If I’m depressed, I go for chocolate and a bubble bath, not Shag Tag and the No-Tell Motel,” Starr shrugs.
    James is turning redder and redder.
    Starr notices and turns to him. “If you want to go, you can.”
    Faris nods. “It’s not like you’re obligated to stay and listen to Jessie ranting.”
    “RANTING???” Jessie demands.
    “Ranting,” Faris repeats.
    “YOU LITTLE—”
    Starr tunes the fighting out and peeks past Jessie into the apartment. White leather couches of course...rose patterns on various things...a nice star chart tacked up on one wall...
    ...And a bed with very, VERY messed up blankets.
    “Heeeh...” Starr squeaks, looking away when Orion glances at her curiously.
    She turns her attention back to Faris and Jessie; the latter has just finished her latest rant.
    Faris makes an unimpressed face. “Well, if that’s the way you feel, stay here.”
    Everyone blinks. “Huh?”
    “James and I will go on a date into the Festival, and you can… enjoy yourself… for the rest of your life here. We’re not coming back for you again, Jess. As far as we’re concerned, you deserted the team,” she explains in a clipped tone. “C’mon, James, I’m sick of her BS. If she likes her coffin so much, she can stay there for the rest of eternity. You coming too, Starr?”
    “WHAT!?!?” Jessie fumes. Starr gives her a strange look.
    “Uh… I guess so…” she falters, walking to her side. She gives the infuriated Jessie a quick glance before the three of them leave the room.
    “Grrrrrrrr…….” Jessie snarls, clenching a fist. “You think you’re gonna be rid of me THAT easily!?! I bet that’s what you were planning all along!!!”
    She’s about to chase after them when Orion gently places his hands on her shoulders and coos into her ear, “Now, now… she’s not worth a second of your thought, and you know that.”
    At the sound of his voice, Jessie melts into a happy little puddle. “Well…of course not! I’m way better than she is…”
    “Of course, Jessie,” he purrs. “But even so, you can’t let a snit like that talk to you in such disrespectful tones. I’ll tell you what. Jessie, you bring her back here and I’ll teach her a lesson.” He kisses her on the base of her neck, leaving a hickey behind.
    Jessie sighs blissfully, a pile of vanilla pudding in his arms. “Sure…I’ll get her,” she smiles dreamily. “I’ll teach her not to mess with me again…”
    Orion’s catty grin, which is unseen by Jessie, grows considerably. “I’m sure you’ll succeed. Now. Go. You don’t want to lose them, do you?” He pushes her gently, to get her started.
    She almost falls to the floor, but he catches her just in time. “Hurry up,” he admonishes her lightly. Eager to please, she scrambles off after Faris-tachi.
    Orion watches her leave, smiling slightly. With a low chuckle, he strolls back to his Italian imported white leather couch, sits down, and picks up a random iced drink from the coffee table in front of him. Almost ceremoniously, he takes a sip.

    “Hee hee heee…”
    “What’s so funny?”
    “Heee heee heee heee…..”
    “James, you are starting to freak me out. Tell me what’s so funny!”
    James giggles a little more and smiles over at Starr. “I just find this whole date highly ironic. About a month ago, I would have given my right arm for Faris to accept an invitation to go out with me. Now she’s the one who’s asking me!”
    “Well, don’t let your ego get too big,” Faris teases, glomping him lightly. “We are engaged after all.”
    “That reminds me, are you okay with that, Faris?” Starr queries, looking to the younger girl. “I mean, at the duel arena, you were pretty upset and all…”
    “Oh, that?” Faris waves it off with a flick of her hand. “It’s not a problem; that was just reaction. I mean, there are worse people I could be engaged to. And at least I’m engaged to someone I love.” With that, she kisses a lightly blushing James on the cheek.
    Starr grins. “You’re finally admitting you love him?” she teases lightly.
    “Yes; I love James,” Faris replies matter-of-factly, arms still wrapped around his neck. “I’m happy about our engagement.”
    James’ blush grows a little deeper. “Well, I don’t want to get married just yet,” he confesses.
    This evokes a laugh from his fiancée. “I don’t either,” she smiles. “I’m just saying that when we eventually get married, I’ll be happy about it.”
    James smiles, still blushing. Faris laughs and kisses him, then whispers into his ear, “And I bet you’ll be happy when the wedding night comes, hmmm???”
    His response is to turn beet red. “Um, uh, well, uhhmmm……. Er…… welll…………..” he stammers.
    Starr laughs too. “I bet I can guess what you said,” she grins. “You are EVIL, Faris!!”
    Faris grins back at her. “I couldn’t help myself,” she winks. She un-latches herself from James’ neck and grabs his arm. “C’mon, James, let’s go on some rides, okay?” she smiles.
    “I’ll leave you two lovebirds alone,” Starr smiles. “I’ll see you later, okay?”
    James and Faris smile. “Sure,” the two reply in unison. They wave good-bye as the cherry-haired Rocket runs off.
 

    Jessie glares at her two teammates as they walk about the festival, talking and laughing and generally enjoying themselves. She’s been stalking them for quite some time now, and it severely pisses her off that they’re so happy together. The thought that maybe the two of them are right for each other doesn’t cross her mind; she’s too used to thinking of things the way she wants them to be.