Disclaimer: Lol guys, it's been since 2007, we all know who owns what and who belongs to whom

Recap: "I don't want to talk Rei." "I was just going to say that Tala called and wanted to know if you could meet him later…he said you could call him back whenever, he was planning to keep his phone on him for the rest of the day." "Oh…"

Quick! Find the Pokémon reference!

The former couple stared at each other for a few moments, before awkwardly look around for any type of distraction. Rei, after hesitating, tried to break the awkward silence.

"So…how are you and…Tala doing?" Cole winced.

"Um, okay…I guess…we haven't really gotten to hang out. Since the tournament and all…"

"Oh, ok."

"…"

"…"

"How are you and…Mariah doing?" Rei shook his head.

"There isn't and 'me and Mariah'…she's just a girl who never got the hint that it was over when we were still on the same team years ago…" Cole scowled.

"It didn't look like she ever received a hint." Rei threw his hands up, exasperated.

"I don't know what else I have to do! I told her, wrote her a letter, had her brother tell her; our coach even gave her a weird lecture that no one understands! She just refuses to listen!" Cole shrugged.

"Maybe you weren't clear enough. You do have a tendency to contradict yourself when you're trying to be serious, but at the same time, try not to hurt any feelings." The Chinese boy was confused.

"I do?" She nodded.

"Yeah, you stutter, and have a trend to use the line 'but maybe someday that'll change.' You really are a bleeding heart sometimes."

"Really?" Cole smiled.

"Yeah…it's really cute." Rei grinned.

"Really, so I'm cute?" Cole blinked, before looking away.

"Sorry…I shouldn't have said that…" Rei stepped towards her.

"But you did…you think I'm cute."

"It doesn't matter." She snapped at him, making the boy stop his advance. They kept eye contact with each other for a moment, before Cole looked away, embarrassed. "It doesn't matter what I think…" Rei frowned.

"It's always mattered."

"It shouldn't…not anymore." They looked at each other again, both clearly wanting to say more. Suddenly, a wild Daichi appeared, running into the wall. He shot back up, scrambling past the two, before jumping through the window and hid in a rose bush.

"…"

"…" Rei sighed.

"I should probably go check on him. He hasn't had a good start with puberty…his emotions are getting the best of him. See you later Cole." He started to walk away, making Cole open her mouth.

"Rei!" The boy stopped, turning to look at her.

"Yeah?" His eyes were so hopeful, it made her heart hurt, so she looked down at her feet.

"Um…thanks again…for letting me know about Tala…" She kept looking down; not wanting to see the disappointment that she knew existed in his eyes.

"No problem Cole." Her heart sunk; she loved the way he usually said her name, but this time, he made it sound so broken. "Later."

"Bye…" She whispered. "Bye." She stayed there for a while, still looking at the ground, until the Granger brothers nearly knocked her over, Hiro only pausing a moment to apologize, before taking off again. Cole went over to the couch, plopping down and reached over to grab the phone. She just laid there for a while and toyed with the device until a voice broke her train of thought.

"Everything chill Dudette?" Cole sighed.

"No Gramps, most def not chill." The older man walked around, and with a sigh, sat down next to the girl.

"Now let me tell you something, there ain't a problem in the world ol' Gramps here can't make sense to. Lay it on me." She chewed on the inside of her cheek as she thought, before speaking up.

"What do you do when you love someone who hurt you, but you're with someone else who probably is going to hurt you later? And the person you loved, you hurt, but they've already forgiven you?" Gramps sat there in thought for a moment.

"Have you forgiven yourself?" Cole blinked.

"What?"

"It sounds like you're madder at yourself than at him. That's why you're with someone who'll hurt you later. You're punishing yourself." He waited for a couple of moments before adding. "Maybe that's the reason why you've hurt him in the first place. Not because you're mad at him, but because you're hurting yourself because of him."

"So what do I need to do? I don't think I can forgive myself that easily. And even if I do, I don't deserve to have another chance with him; he can do so much better than me."

"Isn't that his decision to make?"

"But I don't-"

"That's up to Rei, not you." Gramps said firmly, looking directly in her eyes. "You just need to get yourself together before you try to talk to him about it. Figure out what to do about that Russian boy. No offense to Kai, but that whole team is filled with a bunch of nut jobs. And he's probably the most screwed up out of all of them. He's not safe to be around. Not without Kai there to keep him in line. And the way he treated your cousin was horrible; don't get me wrong, the way you reacted to it wasn't any better." He gave her a stern look. "You probably need to apologize to her too. She's only looking out for you." Cole nodded.

"I know…I already apologized."

"Do it again. She'll probably appreciate it."

"Okay." Gramps nodded.

"So do you know what you're going to do now?" Cole smiled.

"I'm going to call Tala to meet up with him. And then I'm going to break up with him. Then I'm going to give myself a couple of days to get my head together, so I can talk to Rei." Gramps patted her on the head.

"Good. Meet him in a public place. Not a park, people don't pay attention in a park. Sit next to a camera. That way he has to keep his head together." She perked up, jumping to her feet.

"Thanks Gramps, I really appreciate this." After launching herself at Gramps for a hug, she ran to the kitchen to call Tala.

Town Square

Tala stared at the girl, who was calmly sipping on her iced coffee.

"That's it? You're just going to break up with me?" She nodded.

"Yep. We're both in the wrong Tala; neither one of us really like the other, we just wanted to hurt some feelings."

"Tch. You wanted to hurt some feelings. I wanted to at least get some." Cole scowled.

"Sorry to disappoint, but I'm not putting out." The redhead gave her a look.

"Not sure if I want you to now…you clearly are messed up in the head. You'd probably think we were in some type of committed relationship or something like that."

"So we're in an agreement?" Tala waved his hand dismissively.

"Yeah, we're cool. At least now I don't have to keep juggling birds now."

"Juggling birds?"

"Yeah, you're great snog and all, but I'm a two girl kind of guy." Cole raised a brow.

"Oh? Who's the other bird?" He scoffed.

"Like I'm gonna let you tell her."

"I really couldn't care less Tala. I'm not interested in anymore drama."

"Fine…it's the bird you were fighting at the event. Mariah." Before she could catch herself, Cole let out a snort that turned into a loud guffaw.

"Seriously? Mariah?" Tala shrugged.

"Yeah, she's an easy lay." The girl giggled.

"Oh my gosh Tala, you just made my day." She gave him a bright smile, who after a moment warily returned one.

"You're welcome…I guess. But I'll admit you're probably the first bird that had no problem with me being with two people at once." Cole rolled her eyes.

"I don't consider her to be a person, so it doesn't bother me at all." Tala shrugged.

"As long as you don't start shrieking at me like some type of banshee, I'm fine." They laughed for a few moments, before the girl stood up.

"Well I got to go, I'm glad we straightened this out, Tala." The boy nodded.

"Yeah. Oh, and Cole?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't keep Kon waiting. If you date someone else I may have to step in and take matters in my own hands. And when I say my own hands, I mean getting Hiwatari ticked off enough for him to start yelling at you." She laughed.

"I'm surprised he hasn't started yelling at me because of my cousin." She paused. "Why did you act like that to my cousin anyways Tala?" He smirked.

"Kai never introduced us to each other. I had to form my own opinion; girls show their real personality when they're ticked off, so I did."

"So now you approve and she wants to kill you. You thought that out well." Tala gave her a look.

"Do you seriously think that Hiwatari would let us be mad at each other? We met up a couple weeks after the fight and talked things out. We're cool now." Cole was confused.

"But she always acts like she wants you dead." Tala shrugged.

"We're cool…that doesn't mean she liked the idea of us being together. She likes Kon more."

"Oh…"

"Yeah. It's all good though. Now maybe I will stop getting bad looks from her. She's too much like Hiwatari for it to be healthy."

"Yeah. See you later Tala."

"Bye Cole."

Sorry it's short...it's pretty much the continuation of the previoius chapter

So...I didn't want to write a big dramatic break up scene. It really wasn't necessary. Tala doesn't seem like he would be too attached to Cole to care, and since he knows he's all smexy and stuffs (according to a anon. PM from reader lol) he probably is more of a player who rolls with any blows. Hope everyone found the Pokémon reference. I didn't realize it until I was proof reading lol

Good news! I was able to retrieve my map of the story (with the tournament info and attack details) so I can start up the tournament again. I had a question though…did you like how I typed Tyson and Daichi's battle? You guys know I'm horrible at battle scenes, so I tried to avoid it while still giving enough information for the story. Was that good enough? Let me know! Also, when do you guys want Rei and Cole to sit down? I'd ask Angel, but since her phone's off, I haven't been able to get a hold of her (I want pictures of Lonnie! Aunt Pickle wants to fill up her wallet with oodles and oodles of pictures!)

Let me know what you guys think of how the story is progressing; I think the next chapter will be kind of like a girls day in, with Ren, Cole, Hillary, Teressa, and Ming-Ming at Ren's place for a sleepover. Just for some fluffy stories (debating to make it interesting with like an alternative dimension flashback of a BLADER sleepover too) Of course, Chamilabeetle also lovingly known as The Goop will make an appearance or two per request of WolFang1011 who was curious about what happened to our favorite mutant ladybug.

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