Disclaimer: I own not Pokemon. Or Ace. Or Kim. …Feh.

Author's Note: Uh, ja, I decided to turn this into a two-shot instead. Since it explained very little of poor Pocky's past with the other hybrids.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HOPPY.

I'm in serious shit, I feel totally lost
If I'm asking for help it's only because
Being with you has opened my eyes
Could I ever believe such a perfect surprise?
All The Things She Said by T.A.T.U

Saying she didn't see anyone in that time span was a bit of a lie. She didn't see any people, but she saw 'anyones'. Pokemorphs, to be exact.

It happened while Nicole was still tailing Rena, while the brat was around seven or so. The family wanted to go on vacation, so, of course, they did. So Nicole got to experience the joy of hiking all through the woods on some island, camping out and generally staying away from civilization.

"Stupid trees…stupid branches…stupid kid…stupid family…STUPID, STUPID, STUPID!" she screamed, shoving a branch out of the way. She had gotten hit in the head, face and stomach more times than she could count, and she didn't even want to know how many times she had tripped.

"It'll all be worth it." Woop replied soothingly.

"Of course." she replied through gritted teeth. "Then again, you're not getting smacked in the face every five seconds." The Wooper didn't reply. It couldn't; she was right. The water pokemon was simply riding on her shoulder, dodging any and all branches that came close. Its trainer wasn't so lucky, as it seemed. "Ugh…we're lost. We've lost the brat, and we're just plain lost in this stupid forest."

Nicole stomped into a clearing, throwing a branch she had found into a tree. She was surprised when a Quilava and Houndoom fell out. Besides the fact that canines can't climb trees, there weren't any wild fire types for a good hundred miles. Nicole stared at the pair of pokemon, and they stared back. Surprisingly, they looked slightly alarmed, and the Houndoom was standing in front of the Quilava protectively.

"I didn't know there were cross-species packs…" Nicole mused, setting Woop gently on the ground. "Okay, Woop, when I say go, use an Earthquake."

Another surprise: the Houndoom seemed to be nudging the Quilava away, as if to safety. The dark dog leaned over and whispered something into the other's ear, eyes glued on Woop. Nicole wondered just how smart these pokemon were. Sure, most have the IQ of a standard human, but they usually didn't cooperate with other species in the wild, let alone whisper plans to each other.

"One…" she started counting, watching the dogs warily. "Two…"

Quilava visibly braced itself for a jump. Houndoom did as well, also looking like it was preparing for some sort of fire attack.

"Thr-" At that moment, another pokemon joined the scene. It was another Wooper, and crashed into Woop's head in what looked like a very strong kick. "Woop!"

"What do you think you're doing?" The seemingly wild Wooper hissed at the fire dogs. "Get out of here!"

"Not-uh, no way, Brendan." The Quilava replied stubbornly. "We can take on a pathetic girl and a pathetic little Wooper." 'Brendan' looked like he was about to make a comment on that 'pathetic' thing, but Nicole beat him to it.

"Pathetic? Oh, you did not just say that!" She growled, taking Venomoth's pokeball from her belt. It just now dawned on the three that she could understand Pokespeech. The Quilava, a female judging on her voice, gulped visibly.

"You…understood us?" she asked, shrinking back.

"Of course I did, you stupid dog." she spat, picking a dazed Woop back up.

"Don't say anything more!" The Houndoom barked suddenly. "Run, now!" His look said the rest: 'we can't trust her'.

"Woop, Earthquake!" Nicole dropped the Wooper again, who slammed into the ground with its attack. Everyone was knocked off balance, including Nicole, and fell on their backsides. "Alright, I want some answers. Normal wild pokemon don't cooperate like you do. Heck, dogs can't even climb trees."

"You guys were climbing trees?" The Wooper rounded on the dogs, speaking in the human tongue. Nicole was now thoroughly confused.

"You…spoke?"

"Ah, nice going, Brendan!" The Quilava sighed, taking the human language as well. "Now she's bound to know something's up!"

"Well, it is your fault for wanting to go outside for a walk to begin with." Brendan replied, snorting.

"At least I had the foresight to make sure you were a Quilava." The Houndoom muttered, curling his tail around his paws. "And there's no more point in hiding. She's bound to know what we are by now-"

"You guys are all pokemorphs too!" Nicole squealed, fascinated. There weren't too many others she had the chance to talk with in the Rockets.

"Too?" The trio chorused, staring at her.

"Uh…" she realized the blunder she just made. Undercover, Rockets weren't supposed to say anything about themselves. Name, age, species, anything.

"Haha! I found another!" The Quilava cried happily.

"She found us, Kim." The Houndoom replied boredly. He turned to Nicole, "Alright, girl, listen up. Why have you tracked us down, and are you Rocket, rogue or other team member?"

"I didn't track you down. I was tracking down another pokemorph." Nicole caught herself in time to avoid the Rocket issue.

"There aren't any more around here that we don't know of." scoffed the Wooper.

"Yes there is, idiot." Woop replied, narrowing its eyes slightly. "Name is Rena Thompson, and we called dibs on her first."

"Rena Thompson? Doesn't ring a bell." Kim, the Quilava, replied, tilting her head in thought. "Oooh, a new pokemorph! Yay!"

The Houndoom sighed, shaking his head. "So there are now at least two pokemorphs we don't know of, and they're both on this island. We're losing our touch."

"How could you three keep track of an entire island anyway?"

"Oh, it's not just us-"

"Kim, shut up!" The Houndoom hissed, glaring at Nicole. "I think someone else should hear about this. Brendan, you stay here and guard her. Kim and I will go fetch one of the adults." Both canines bounded off into the woods, leaving the two Wooper and the girl alone.

Adults? Nicole thought suspiciously. That means that they're not much older than I am…and they can already speak Pokespeech and transform into pokemon! Now she was jealous, suspicious and still lost. Not a good combination for a teenage girl to be in.

"So…" The Wooper said, trying to make conversation. "I'm Brendan…what's your name?"

"Nicole." She replied crossly.

"Pretty name." It just dawned on her that this was a male Wooper, thus a boy pokemorph. Did that mean he was just flirting with her?

"Uh, thanks. Hey, what do you look like as a human…?"

"I'll show you if you show me what kind of pokemorph you are." He replied, grinning.

"I can't turn into a pokemon yet…" she muttered in reply.

"I meant with tail, ears, wings, fur, whatever it is you have in your natural form." Brendan pointed out pleasantly.

"Oh. I can do that." She closed her eyes, letting her guard down and willing her body to relax. Reopening them, she felt the now-familiar Alakazam horns. "See? That's all. No tail, wings, fur, whatever else you listed, either."

"That's all I listed, except for 'ears'. But those cool horns are close enough." The Wooper yawned, tail flicking, then closed his own eyes. And, before her eyes, the Wooper morphed into a human. A cute human at that.

He had dark blue hair, not too long but still falling almost constantly into his ebony eyes. He didn't have a tail or anything, but those small, violet-colored antennae that Wooper come with were poking just barely out of his shaggy hair. He was wearing a simple enough outfit, a grey t-shirt and black drawstring pants, and strangely enough, no shoes. But that was okay. Other than her boots, Nicole didn't like wearing shoes either. Another thing they had in common.

"Toshi will probably kill me for showing you what I look like. Oh well." Brendan said pleasantly. "He was that grouchy Houndoom. And Kim was the Quilava. They're brother and sister, and I think they're both fire trainers."

"Ah." Nicole replied.

"How many other pokemorphs are in your little group?" Woop asked, just a tad jealous at its trainer's interest in the boy.

"Oh…I'm guessing there are around a hundred of us total." he replied, thinking.

"There are a hundred other pokemorphs?" Nicole asked incredulously. In the Rockets, there might've been a dozen she had seen. She hadn't known that that many hybrids existed…

"Yeah. We recruit everyone we can. So it's sorta a bit deal when two unknown pokemorphs are wandering around on the island. Speaking of such, this 'Rena' kid, where is she?"

"I was just tracking her in that direction." she pointed to her left. "But they could've moved by now."

"How about we go try to find her?" Brendan suggested, standing up. He offered his hand to help her up as well.

"I don't know where she is. And don't the others expect you back here?"

"They'll find us." He grinned, helping her to her feet as she took his hand. "Now, this kid, what kind of hybrid is she?"

"Drakai."

"Holy-are you serious?" Brendan nearly fell over from shock. Nicole raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms over her chest.

"It's not that big of a deal."

"Drakai is freakin' evil! And you're tracking this chick down? How the heck did someone get Drakai DNA, anyway?"

"I'm tracking this chick down for the boss, and I don't know how they got Drakai DNA. I don't really care, either. I only do what I'm told."

Something clicked in Brendan's head. "You…you're a Rocket…" He whispered, staring at her. She realized another mistake she made. The silver-haired Rocket bit her lip nervously, tucking a stray lock of hair behind an ear. "Dear Mew, you're a Rocket…"

Nicole opened her mouth to explain, but, something must have messed up her karma, for the two canine pokemorphs had come back just to hear that last part. Kim, the Quilava, was staring blankly, while her brother immediately bristled.

"You witch! You Rocket witch!" Toshi barked, morphing smoothly into a human again. He had jet-black hair, just a bit too shaggy, and piercing blue eyes. He was rather cute, too, in his own cold way, but he seemed a few years too many older than Nicole.

In a flash, Toshi had her pinned, glaring down at her coldly. She figured he had an anger management problem, but thanks to Raven, Nicole had plenty of practice with such an attitude. "Look, Toshi, I mean you no-"

"Shut it! Kim, where is that Xatu?" Toshi turned to glance at the Quilava. She gave a half-hearted shrug in response.

"Toshi, get off of her. I think we'll be able to keep an eye on one girl without you sitting on her." Brendan said quietly. Kim snorted, trying to hold back a laugh, and promptly covered her navy muzzle with a paw. Toshi let Nicole go, not without a snap or two at her and Brendan, of course, and went over to sit by the Quilava again.

"I was not sitting on her. Aside, it's not my fault she's a siren and you're already fallen for her song."

"Oh, shush." Kim giggled. "Just because you haven't fallen in love yet, doesn't mean it's a bad thing. And she is not a siren."

Both boys looked reasonably flustered. Brendan muttered something about not falling in love with a Rocket, while Toshi was still sore at the previous comments. It seemed to Nicole that Kim liked to make fun of her brother.

"How do you know I'm not a siren?" Nicole asked, a serious look on her face. If she could keep Kim giggling and the boys flustered, she wouldn't be looked upon as an enemy. Until their reinforcements arrived, but by then, she'd be high-tailing it out of here.

"I'm sorry, but you're not pretty enough. And I haven't heard any singing." Kim replied, smiling. Nicole decided that it was Kim's pastime to poke fun at others.

"What d'you mean, I'm not pretty enough?" she asked, although the flustered look on her face ruined the previous air of seriousness.

"Haha, I'm sorry. That was good, though. The look on your face was awesome!" she laughed, rolling over onto her back. "No, seriously, I'm kidding. You're pretty enough, although your fashion sense is a bit…strange." Nicole looked down at herself. Some camouflage-themed pants, since she was trying to blend in with the surroundings, and a dark orange tank top underneath another camouflage-themed jacket. "Sweetie, you couldn't have picked a worse color combination if you wore a hot pink top."

Her eyebrow twitched in annoyance as she crossed her arms. "Oh really? And I assume you can travel through this stupid island's forests in a better outfit? Hon, this outfit is what we wear now-a-days. I dunno how long you've been trapped in solitary confinement on this island, but-"

"You two cut it out." Brendan intervened sternly. "Zoe and RS are here." Nicole looked Around for whoever he was referring to, but she didn't see anyone. Toshi and Kim, however, were looking straight up at the tree they had previously fallen from. She squinted up at the tree, but the branches were too dense to discern anything-wait, she spotted some movement among the leaves.

"She is a Rocket." A voice commented. Nicole guessed it was this 'RS' guy; it was male and she would die laughing if 'Zoe' was a guy. She bit back a snicker at the mere thought of it.

Two forms jumped down from the tree, and she noticed that Toshi pointedly looked away (incidentally, at her, in a rather icy glare). Nicole blinked, and turned from their staring contest to examine the newcomers. One was a man, with long, dark hair that was pale green at the tips. He had dark eyes as well, currently lidded and staring at Nicole uninterestedly. His hands were folded in front of him, hidden in the long sleeves of his cream-colored shirt, and Nicole made sure to watch him carefully; she didn't know if he was concealing a weapon.

The second figure disarmed Nicole somewhat. She was about her own age, maybe a bit older, and the girl obviously wanted to be anywhere by there. She had long, black hair (Nicole was forcibly reminded of Kara), held back in braided pigtails that fell limply down her back. She had dark blue eyes as well (Nicole was, again, forcibly reminded of her other friend, Raven), and there was a faint pink tinge to her pale face. She was clad in a dark kimono with a navy sash, making her light skin stand out all that much more. Nicole blinked, noticing that she had Umbreon ears for the first time. They were hanging down with her hair, blending in nearly perfectly (save for the golden rings). She also seemed to have something sticking out from her shoulder blades-with a jolt, Nicole realized that she had wings as well.

"What kind of a freak are you?" the silver-haired Rocket blurted out without thinking. Zoe blushed, squeaked and hid behind the man accompanying her. Toshi's glare also seemed to intensify, while his sister (still a Quilava) trotted over to console her.

"No more of one than you." The man said gravely, turning his head. Nicole noticed some kind of red things hanging down in his hair, and she nearly fell over trying to see more. "What is your business here?"

"I-I'm tracking someone." She replied haltingly, still trying to figure out several things.

"It's a Drakai pokemorph. Here on the island, in that general direction." Brendan informed, pointing over his shoulder. Nicole glared at him, but he pointedly ignored her.

"…" The man stayed silent (Nicole remembered he was called RS, and tried to figure out what that stood for), although his eyes narrowed imperceptibly.

"Um…didn't you say-" Zoe spoke, for the first time, but RS laid a hand on her shoulder and silenced her. Nicole blinked; why had he cut her off? Things were just getting more and more confusing…

"…Toshi." RS said suddenly, turning to the boy. He grinned in response, and turned to glare evilly at Nicole again. He morphed back into a Houndoom again, and she felt a hard shove behind her before blacking out.

"Hn. She was rather weak, just to faint after one Faint Attack. Pathetic, if you ask me."

"No one asked you, Brother."

"And no one asked you, either."

"You two, calm down. We're supposed to be guarding her, not waking her up."

Nicole opened her eyes to three faces staring into her own. Blinking sleepily, she promptly remember what had happened and bolted up, barely missing hitting them. "YOU JERK YOU KNOCKED ME OUT AND YOU'RE SUCH A BIG JERK AND-Who are you?" She hadn't even had a chance to get rolling on her rant. Toshi and Brendan she both recognized, but there was a girl with them as well.

She was pretty, with dark auburn hair to her shoulders. She was staring at Nicole with pale silver eyes, although they glinted hazel in the dim light. She was wearing a white tank top underneath a grey mesh top, and dark pants. Nicole noticed that she had navy Quilava ears poking out of her hair-"Kim?"

"Oh yeah! You haven't seen me other than as a Quilava…YAY! See, aren't I prettiful?" It was undeniably Kim's voice, and Nicole couldn't help but smile as she twirled around. Toshi snorted loudly, although innocently looked away, and Brendan carefully kept silent.

"Um…" Nicole, for lack of anything better to do, returned to her rant-mode. She noticed she still was in her hybrid form, and promptly summoned a slightly bent, metal spoon from thin air and threw it at Toshi. It hit him in the head with a satisfying thunk. Brendan looked like he was about to laugh, until he received a spoon to the head as well. "YOU'RE ALL JERKS!" Nicole shouted, jumping to her feet. Kim wisely backed over to the door, when suddenly Nicole blanched and realized where she was. "HOLY MEW, WHERE AM I? Where did you take me to? Why did you kidnap me? LET ME OUT BEFORE I KILL YOU ALL!"

"Holy shit, is she insane?" Toshi snarled, covering his head to prevent more injuries. "Hey, do you have the Psychic Syndrome or something? Leave me the hell alone! I was just following orders!"

"QUIT SWEARING AND ANSWER MY QUESTION!" Nicole howled, glaring around the room she was stuck in. It was dimly lit, and she had previously been on a small bed-which looked like nothing more than a bunch of grass and leaves. The walls seemed to be made of stone, as did the floor and ceiling. "OMIGOSH, I'M UNDERGROUND. Lemme out, or I'll kill you all!"

After a few more dodged spoons and much more swearing, Toshi gave up and morphed into an Abra, Teleporting out of the room. Kim and Brendan both looked shocked; her main target had been Toshi, so they were both potentially her next victim. Nicole froze, staring at the spot where he had been, however. "He-he just…But he was a Houndoom…he…what?"

"D-Ditto 'morph." Kim breathed, pressed up against the door. "He and I both."

Nicole sat down, her gold eyes fading back to aqua. The Alakazam hybrid fiddled with the last of her weapons, glowering at both Kim and Brendan. "Where am I?"

"Cave of Miracles. It's where we live." Brendan replied clearly, although he was still watching the spoon in her hands warily.

"Why am I here?"

"We'll need to…well, talk to you."

"Why?"

"It's not every day we meet another pokemorph." The Wooper hybrid replied blandly, gesturing vaguely. "And…well, they'll need to ask you about the Rockets."

"I'm not telling them anything!" Nicole replied heatedly.

"…Why not?" Kim asked, raising an eyebrow. "Don't you hate the Rockets?"

"Of course not!"

"…Why? Um…didn't they kidnap you, experiment on you-"

"Not another word." Pocky had blocked out all those memories from her mind. She closed her eyes in frustration, trying not to remember her family, or that day in the village. "Team Rocket helped me. I would've died on my own without them."

"…They killed your parents, didn't they?" Kim asked softly.

"Yes. Why do you care? I'm just a Rocket, and you apparently hate them. So just kill me and be done with it." Nicole snorted moodily as she crossed her arms.

"We won't do that."

"…Why not? I'm a Rocket. You should kill me on principle alone."

"Because you hate the Rockets, don't you?" Nicole narrowed her eyes; Kim was unusually perceptive. Either that or she was Psychic… "You hate them for what they did to you, don't you?"

"Shut up."

Brendan spoke up next, taking the lead from Kim. "Why don't you just leave them, Nicole? Come with us. We'll understand you, we'll teach you more than the Rockets ever did."

"Shut up, what do you know?"

"We know that you hate the Rockets. That's good enough for me." Brendan said loudly, then sat down next to her. He glanced at her, then, pretending to be indifferent, commented, "Let me guess. You're staying in because you have 'friends' in there, don't you? And it's no easy task getting out of Team Rocket, right?"

"And, let me guess," Nicole shot back. "Same thing happened to you, right?"

"Yup."

"…Well, you're right, you jerk."

Kim giggled as Brendan grinned at her. "Yup."

Life with the pokemorphs (or 'others', as Nicole called them) was interesting. Brendan had become her own personal guide, while she stayed moodily quiet and usually stayed either alone in her room or following him around. There were a surprising amount of others her age-apparently the Rockets created pokemorphs in generations, and aside from the girl that she was supposed to be tailing, they were the youngest generation.

There was Kim, who Nicole had an awkward friendship with, and Brendan, who Nicole liked a bit more, of course. Toshi, she still hated with a passion, although Zoe became one of her closer friends as time went on. Zoe's best friend, however, was a girl named Cat. Or at least she forced others to call her that. Nicole liked Cat, but hated her attitude. She was sexist, forceful and rather spiteful at times, although she could also be painfully cheerful at others. Cat (Nicole made a note to always call her Catie) also hung around with a boy about her age named Ace.

Life was interesting, until Kim got bored.

"TOSHI, GET BACK HERE!" Kim screeched, chasing after her brother. She hadn't had that much control of her powers, and could only transform into a Quilava currently. Toshi, however, was deemed a prodigy; as long as he had enough time to study something, he could transform nearly perfectly into it. And Kim had fallen in love with her brother as a Dragonite. "I WANT A PIGGY BACK RIDE!"

Nicole, Brendan, Zoe, Cat and Ace were all sitting on the floor, watching this. It happened frequently now, although each time Toshi got more arrogant and Kim got more desperate, thus trying different ways of trapping him.

"This is pointless." Nicole deadpanned, glancing at Brendan. "Why do we have to watch this exchange?"

"Because sometimes, Toshi decides to make a comment, and usually Cat is on him in a flash." The Wooper pokemorph drawled in reply. He turned to grin at her lazily, too. "Zoe usually needs to restrain her, although sometimes Ace gets dragged in."

"So why do we need to be here?" Nicole never got her answer. At that point, Kim, swearing off chasing her brother for all eternity, stomped over to the observers. Grabbing Zoe by the ear and Nicole by the horn, she dragged them both off. "…Are we getting shanghaied?"

"Yes." Kim replied shortly. "I'm bored, so I'm playing matchmaker." Both girls in her charge meeped and blushed, fearful for their dignity. "Not for you two…for Kitty and Ace. …Although…"

"No, let's just stick with them." Zoe said quickly, waving her arms frantically. Nicole nodded in agreement. "Besides…don't they both like each other?"

"Of course. But they're too dense to realize it."

A mere half hour later, Kim was staggering around drunkenly, Cat and Ace had kissed and were officially a couple, and Zoe and Nicole both made a note never to let Kim get bored again; the same could happen to them. Zoe was half dragging, half leading a still dazed Kim (she had gotten hit by one too many Confusion attacks from a ticked Ace) to her room. "I'ma gonna get Brother a girlfriend." Kim slurred, blinking owlishly. Nicole snorted, while Zoe merely smiled. The smile was swept off her face by Kim's next comment, however. "You. He likes you…I think. You like him, too…I think. Yesh, I'll get you two together…"

"I do not like him. He's arrogant and mean." Zoe said clearly, although she was blushing. Nicole honestly couldn't tell whether the blush was from the truth of the comment or the fact that Kim had made it, though. Zoe wasn't all niceness, however, "I think Nicole has a crush on him, though."

"I DO NOT!" The pair argued back and forth, claiming the other was in love with Toshi, Brendan, and other assorted 'victims' loudly, and Nicole even went far enough to yank Zoe's pigtail. Kim was happily listening to the whole exchange, storing it all for blackmail later.

"You like Brendan, you are just too stubborn to admit it." Zoe snorted delicately, although the glare she sent Nicole could stop a Tauros in its tracks.

"And you like Toshi, you're just too…um…shy! Yeah, you're too shy to admit it!" The silver-haired teen declared.

"At least shyness can be overcome. Your pigheadedness is…impossible. Simply impossible."

"And yet, neither of you deny the charges against you." Both girls froze and nearly had a heart attack when they heard Toshi's voice behind them. Blushing furiously, they turned to see not only the black-haired teen, but Brendan, who looked like he was about to burst out laughing. Toshi was just grinning.

Zoe and Nicole turned to look at each other, then nodded. The black-haired girl dropped Kim, and turned and ran, while the silver-haired girl chucked spoons at either boy's head (hitting them both), and fled with her. Rubbing his head, Toshi bent down and picked up his dazed sister, giving her a piggy-back ride. He turned and headed back in the direction of her room, Brendan following with a sigh. "You're never going to let them live that one down, are you?"

"Hell no." Toshi and Kim replied in unison.

Years later, Nicole had learned a great deal. She could now shift into her pokemon side-an Alakazam. She also occasionally had dreams using Future Sight, but she stored those in the part of her memory bank she never revisited.

Her hair had grown out, slightly, and her personality had practically back-flipped. She was much happier, as was Woop, although they were still unsure about the Rockets. They were to leave the Cave of Miracles soon, to go back to tracking that Rena-brat, though she was reluctant to leave.

She had a crush on Brendan, that much was for sure. Nicole was furious, however, when it turned out that Zoe was right in saying she didn't have a crush on Toshi. The black-haired girl hated him, at least after he betrayed them and struck out on his own. Kim had run out after him, although with half the experience and none of the planning. Nicole and Zoe were both staying carefully together as friends, wary of anyone else leaving their clique.

"You're bipolar," Nicole remarked, fiddling with her necklace. "You know this?"

"I'm really not. I think you are, though," replied Zoe. This was a standard conversation for them; not only Nicole's personality had changed.

"No I'm not. I just changed once. You alternate-shy, cheerful, shy, cheerful…"

"It's called mood swings, and aren't I allowed to have the occasional one? Your behavior has changed completely, going from rude, moody and angry to happy, hyper and…um…"

"Random."

"Yes. Random."

"But…what do you think bipolar is?"

"It's irrelevant; I'm really not. Dark Pokemorphs have depression issues, not that kind of personality disorder. In fact…I think Psychic Pokemorphs would have bipolar-ness," Zoe chirped, flicking her Umbreon ears casually. Neither girl really acknowledged the fact that bipolar disorder wasn't either of the things they were describing.

"Not really. We only have the Psychic Syndrome, sometimes schizophrenia. Only sometimes. And I have NEITHER!" Nicole sang. She took out a small box of chocolate candy-pocky. The aqua-eyed girl shoved a stick in her mouth, offering one to Zoe, who declined.

"Hmm…I hereby declare that your happiness has come from pocky. Ever since you started eating that, you've been happier."

"Pocky makes the world go 'round. It's delicious, and the ultimate source of joy. I LOVE THIS STUFF. And I have Kim and T-I have you all to thank for it!" She cut herself off, and stood up. "Hey…Zoe?" Her voice lowered to only a bit more than a whisper, suddenly more serious as well.

"Hm? What?" Zoe got up as well, dusting off the back of her kimono.

"I…I think I'm going to leave. I mean, don't get all mad at me, but I really need to get back to-back to my old life. I really miss my other friends, I have to get back to the Team…I'm sorry, but I think I'm going to have to leave. I've learned all I can, and you've all been great. But I think now would be the best time…my departure would be less of a mess, because of-"

"Because of Toshi and Kim," Zoe finished. "Would you have left anyway? If it wasn't for them?"

"…Yeah,"

"Fine."

"Huh?" Nicole turned to look at her, eyebrow raised. "You're not mad? Or worried? You're not gonna try to stop me? …Sweet."

"No, I'll just tell RS and Jackary."

Both girls turned to face each other. Nicole was glaring at Zoe, Zoe was only watching her uninterestedly. It would now be a race, if they were both going to stay true to their statements.

And race they did; they turned in unison, took a few steps. Then the walk turned into a flat sprint down opposite halls.

Nicole ended up winning, because when Zoe (RS in tow) had arrived at Nicole's room, it was emptied except for a box of unopened pocky and a note on the back of a photo. The photo was of three girls, two black-haired ones and a silver-haired girl with aqua eyes.

The note merely said, 'Haha, I beat you. I'll be back, love and hugs, Nicole.'