Janine entered the ice cream parlor still disguised as an elderly woman and looked around as she headed for the line to order. She spotted Uncle Surge and Bill-san sitting near the window of the shop and noted that the seat across of them was free. Janine smiled and went up to order.
"One red bean scoop please."
The employee stared at Janine with amazement as he gave her the order. Janine gave the worker a confused look in return.
"It's an honor for you to come her Miss!" the employee said.
"Um...thank you...I guess?" Janine responded and with that went to take her seat near the table Uncle Surge was sitting at. She didn't however noticed that the employee took his cell out and started texting madly.
"So what's this scarf on your arm about Surge?" Janine heard Bill ask. She listened as closely as possible without being caught by them.
"Well it's Koga's old scarf! I kinda took it after he got a new one." Surge answered as he rubbed on the scarf in a loving way. "It reminds me of how close we are to each other, whether we're together or apart. I sometimes call it the Red Scarf of Fate, ha!"
Bill continued to stare at the scarf with an unreadable expression that caused Surge to give a worried look.
"What's wrong?" Surge asked.
"It's nothing." Bill sighed. "Well...it's about the thing I wanted to tell you today."
"The thing you mentioned back at Koga's..."
Janine piped up at that moment, moving closer to hear what they were saying while not noticing the group of people behind her. She noticed the pained look Bill gave to Surge, like he was debating over what to say.
"Well...I'm jealous of your relationship with Koga." Bill blurted out while blushing.
Surge coughed in response and said, "Wait, what? You're jealous of Koga?"
"Well actually..." Bill started.
"I mean, if you have feelings for me.." Surge started
"Wait, what? No! I didn't mean it that way!" Bill yelled, spazzing out causing people to stare at them. "I meant I want a relationship like yours with someone I like..."
"Who?"
Bill flushed more and said. "It's Lanette. Though we only talked during our work sessions, I felt that I had a connection to her."
Surge stared at Bill in silence waiting for him to tell him more about Lanette.
"I mean I don't know," said Bill, "How can you be sure you found the one?"
Surge crossed his arms and pondered for a moment. Bill was on pins and needles, waiting for Surge's answer.
"Not to sound corny but, what does your heart say?" Surge finally answered.
"My...heart?" Bill responded.
"Yeah your heart. It may sound sappy as hell but only your heart can tell you that." Surge continued. "I had to find out myself about my feelings for Koga the same way."
"When did you realize you loved Koga?" Bill asked as Surge pondered more to find the right answer to his question.
"It was around the time he become part of the Elite Four." Surge answered. "You see, our relationship was pretty weird back then. We knew each other since we were in the war, always together fightin' and stuff. Before the war ended, something happened between the two of us that changed our relationship
forever."
"You known Koga for that long?" Bill asked. Surge nodded as he continued his story.
"It was the night before I was to be sent home after the war ended. I decided to have a little party with the rest of the soldiers. I've also invited Koga along thought he didn't come til later. The party was fun! Full of drinking and music but, I couldn't get over a feeling that I won't be seeing something ever again. So I went to Koga to talk and I found him drunk and crying about something. I asked what's wrong and he was nearly too hard to understand since he was both drunk and crying."
"I always imagined Koga to be more stoic and level-headed or something", Bill said, taking all that in.
"Well war affects everyone in some way Bill. I still have nightmares about it time after time..." Surge responded. "But let me continue. After all his outburst of emotions, I figured out he was crying over his wife who died the previous year. He felt alone and very conflicted with his current situation. I don't know what was going on in my head at the time, but now I know that it was my first sign of my attraction to him. I told him that he wouldn't be alone because I'll be there for him, just like when we fought several days ago. He seems to hear me because, he kissed me and passed out."
"What? Really?"
"Yeah! He was really drunk though so he didn't remember it the next day." Surge said. "I did however. That was all I thought about ever since the war ended and I was sent back home to Unova."
"So that's how you knew you loved him?" Bill asked
"Sorta. It was around the time I moved to Kanto when I realized I did love him but the only thing that I had going what that night that kept replaying over and over in my head."
"The kiss right?"
"Yeah. When I did find him, I was the one who made the first step." Surge said. "And you should to. If you want to explore your feelings for Lanette, you have to make the first move."
Bill blushed after what Surge said. He gave a sigh and said, "Thanks, Surge."
"Anytime Bill! If you need any advice, you can come to me!"
"Since when you became so worldly?" Bill joked
"Didn't you know? They call me the Advice Guru around these parts!" Surge exclaimed
"I thought it was the 'Lightning American'," Bill responded. "I bet people only come to you when they're desperate!"
"Like you?"
"Hey! I'm not desperate!" Bill cried as Surge laughed.
As this conversation continued, Janine was still eavesdropping on the duo. She smiled to herself, as she knew nothing was going on between Uncle Surge and Bill-san and it was her Father being uncharacteristically paranoid. With that "problem" solved, she decided to finish her ice cream and leave the shop. She rose up and suddenly saw the large group of people surrounding her table.
"Miss Bertha, Miss Bertha! Can you please tell me why you're in the Kanto region?"
"Also is Red Bean Ice Cream your favorite favor of Ice cream?"
"Can you tell us what happened to your sister Agatha?"
"Can I have your autograph!"
"CAN I HAVE A LOCK OF YOUR HAIR!"
Janine was surrounded by a bunch of crazy fans of this "Bertha" person. She cursed herself for choosing a poor disguise. She cursed under her breath again when she saw that Bill-san and Uncle Surge noticed her presence. Bill is clueless about her family ninja techs but Surge is no fool...
I got only one chance! Janine thought. "Hey! Isn't that Lance from the Elite Four outside?"
Everyone's attention changed to outside the shop and Janine quickly slipped a kunai with a piece of paper attached and a smoke ball and threw them both at different directions. The kunai hit Bill's and Surge's table before the whole shop when in smoke.
"Hey that was a distraction for Bertha to escape! She can't be too far! Everyone find her!"
Everyone except Bill and Surge ran outside to search for "Bertha" as the duo just stare at the mayhem with dumbfounded looks.
"So does this happen all the time here Surge?"
"...Uh..."
Koga looked at the chaos from the side alleyway where he was. All he was was smoke and various people running in different directions yelling about and Elite Four member. He decided to hide since he's part of the Elite Four and really doesn't want to be involve in whatever happened in the shop. He looked up and saw Janine jump from the roof for the shop to him.
"What happened in there?" Koga demanded.
"Well...hehehe my transformation choice wasn't a good idea..." Janine laughed. "Anyway there is nothing to worry about between Uncle Surge and Bill-san. You're just being paranoid!"
"This isn't paranoia. I just wanted to know what the Maniac wanted to tell Matis."
"How about you talk to Uncle Surge instead of using me for your twisted logic!" Janine sigh as she started to walk way.
"Hey! Where are you going?"Koga yelled "We're not done yet!"
"I'm going home and yes we're done with this!" Janine yelled back. "Let me have some time to rest Father."
"If you're leaving, I'm going in!" Koga started to walk towards the shop but was pulled by his scarf back towards Janine.
"Instead, it's time for both of us to go home!" Janine said as she made some handsigns. "I was practicing this at home but I think I can do it."
Suddenly both Koga and Janine were engulfed in smoke and disappeared.
Koga found himself in the branches of the trees around his home. Seems like Janine didn't quite master the teleport tech since they weren't inside the house.
"Ugh...At least we're home?" Janine laughed as she jumped down from the trees. She dusted the leaves from her head as she went inside the dojo.
"Well this isn't good." Koga sighed as he followed suit. Suddenly he heard a knock on the front door.
"It's Uncle Surge, Father!" Koga heard Janine yell. He instantly went to the front door to answer.
"Hey Koga!" Surge greeted. "Sorry I took so long! There was a big commotion at the shop earlier."
Koga flinched when he heard that but he decided to play dumb.
"Hmph! You seem to attract trouble everywhere Matis."
"Well I'm pretty sure this was caused by you Koga." Surge dug in his pocket and pulled a kunai with a paper attached to it. "This is one of Janine's kunai. I should know since you used them to get rid of my hiccups.."
Koga gulped as Surge read the message on the paper. "It says, 'Talk to Father ASAP!'. I wonder why Janine disguised herself as Bertha and went into the same shop that Bill and I was in?"
Surge smirked at Koga as Koga scoffed at the sarcastic tone Surge was giving. "I-it was part of her training!"
"No it was not!" a voice heard from the back of the dojo called out.
"HA! I knew it! You were jealous of me and Bill then, Koga!" Surge accurately accused Koga.
"...So what! I'm human you know." Koga argued as he blushed.
"'Ninja are supposed to show no emotions.' Isn't that what you tell us all the time Koga?" Surge laughed. "Or you suddenly forgot? Hm?"
"Oh shut up!" Koga crossed his arms. He felt an arm go around his waist and was pulled closer to the American.
"Koga, you know I only have eyes for you." Surge said as he hugged the ninja. Koga looked up and had his lips meet Surge's. At a moment's pause they parted.
"Well...I do too Matis." Koga sighed. "Plus the dojo is boring without your insane antics around here. Please repair you gym before my E4 vacation is over."
"Haha yeah I should get to that...tomorrow. I plan to stay the night here!" Surge exclaimed happily. "But first I gotta meet Bill back at town. I kinda left him alone back there hehe..."
"You know where the spare bedroom is Matis." Koga said as he left the dojo. Now that Koga didn't have anything to worry about, he left Surge to his own devices.
As Surge walked down the road towards the town he smirked said, "I'm so sleeping in Koga's room tonight instead."
"Must you have all that on your ice cream, Matis?"
"Yes Koga! I love ice cream! Let's dig in!"
It was the next day and Koga was dragged to the same shop from yesterday. He stared at Matis just inhaling his large ice cream sundae with all these toppings and extra stuff Koga didn't want on his ice cream. He smiled at the the scene because he couldn't have it any other way.