Overall rating is M (future sexual situations) however this chapter is totally G-rated (Shelly doesn't even show up yet. What's up with that, huh?)

Please understand that Courtney is not actually a robot in this story (I know that head-canon upsets some people). There are reasons why she feels the way she does that will be revealed later on. Thanks for your understanding :)

"I am…a robot. My programming does not allow me to return your feelings… Conversation terminated. Hah."

Her internal memory systems must be malfunctioning. It was the only explanation as to why her earlier conversation with the Team Aqua girl had continued to loop through her head for the past few days. It would have been maddening, had robots been capable of feeling such frustration.

There had been a brief time in her life during which Courtney had mistakenly thought herself to be a flesh-and-blood human being, but that was a long time ago.

She would need to consult with Tabitha in morning, she decided, as she wriggled into her pajamas and climbed into bed. He always seemed to have a way of helping her to debug.

The girl pulled the hood of her pajamas up over her ears as she settled down. The plush Houndoom ears adorning either side of the black hood made it somewhat difficult to get comfortable when lying on one's side, but the sensation of being bundled in such a way was something she usually found quite comforting. Tonight, however, it offered little help. She tossed and turned as she tried attempted to mentally crunch the numbers for how much land mass they could be expected to create upon completion of the Plan. However, each time that she reached the part concerning the percentages of remaining ocean, a certain pirate woman would always come crashing into her thoughts, resting the numbers away from her like a rip tide.

Eventually, even her wakefulness washed adrift as well.

"Big brother...play catch?" she heard a tiny voice ask

The terrible odor of salt assailed her senses. One look at the all too familiar surroundings told her that they were on a finishing boat.

"I can't right now, Court," the purple-haired young man replied with a laugh. "I'm kinda busy. The magikarp we're out here to catch are harmless, but I still have to keep an eye out. There are other things down there, Court. The ocean isn't a place where you can let your guard down." He gave his fishing rod a twitch.

She could feel her tiny mouth form into a pout as her little fingers gave the ball a petulant toss in the teenager's direction.

Missing the target, the ball began to sail over the side of the boat, stopped only by a quick action from the boy, dropping his pole to lean far over the rail.

Suddenly, pandemonium broke out as heavy fishing boot pounded the deck on all sides, voices shouting the same thing: "Tentacruel!"

There came a gigantic brown serpentine appendage, a scream, a splash…

It took three fumbling swats before her fingers finally succeeded in hitting home on the alarm clock's 'off' button.

Up until one week ago, or rather six days seven hours, forty-minutes ago, Courtney had had no need for an alarm, having perfectly programed herself to wake for work at the precise time each morning. Recently, however, these memory malfunctions had been causing her sleep mode to last unacceptably long. As it was so unlike her to ever sleep in, the first time it had occurred, Maxie and Tabitha had concluded that she must have been ill, and agreed not to wake her. It had been quite difficult for her to catch up on the built-up paper work and training the following day, so alarm clock it was.

She scooted up in bed, tossing back her hood, in order to better rest her face in her hands.

It was imperative that whatever bug had been introduced to her memory banks be deleted. If her sleep mode were to continue malfunctioning so, how could she expect to be an efficient asset to Team Magma? Being forced to leave would not be a desirable outcome.

The young admin was startled out of her introspection by the bed-side intercom clicking on with a shush of static.

"Admin Courtney? Do you copy?" It was one of the grunts.

"I am…here."

"Leader Maxie wants you in his office. There seems to be some thing of an emergency."

"Right away…"

"It is…a box."

"It has your name on it."

"It's ticking. Very irritating, might I add."

A large box addressed simply to 'Courtney' (the customary 'Magma Admin' title nowhere to be found in the bold, blue hand-writing) had shown up on the doorstep of Magma HQ early that morning. It bore no return-address, and even more troubling, was prone to ticking quite loudly, with a little beep thrown into the mix, just to shake things up now and then. The grunt who had retrieved it made a judgment call and brought it straight to Maxie.

"So nice of him to decide our leader is the one most deserving of a chance of being blown to bits…" Tabitha grumbled.

The two admins stood on other side of their leader, eyes fixed on the rather noisy box sitting upon his desk.

Courtney leaned in closer for a better look, her eyebrows perking up in recognition. "This handwriting...It is familiar."

Without hesitation, the girl grabbed a near-by letter opener off the desk and jabbed into the package.

"Courtney, wait!" Their leader demanded, but it was too late. The two men braced for impact, arms held up comically in front of their grimacing faces.

"…Flareon. Hah."

"Huh?" The two men lowered their arms, hesitantly approaching the box once more.

Indeed, an adorable Pokémon was waving it's flickering tail at them. However, the troublesome ticking noise persisted.

Courtney reached into the box, pulling the creature out.

"Cold," she remarked, her bemusement shifting into a frown as she cradled it.

"What? Let me see that," Tabitha took the creature from her, dangling it at arm's length. "She's right," he confirmed, looking to Maxie for help.

"Admin Courtney, can you tell us anything about this?"

"Why don't you go change out of your pajamas, while I go call up your girlfriend and find out what she was thinking. I think I still have her number somewhere from when we used to work together over at Devon…" Tabitha continued on his way toward his own room, while shoo-ing Courtney in the direction of her own, robotic Flareon trotting and ticking at her feet.

"'Girlfriend'…incorrect term…" she murmured before shutting her door with a neat little click. Her internal temperature regulation must also be adding to the growing list of things on the fritz, as she could feel her face becoming slightly warmer.

A moment later, a loud pounding prompted her to open the door once more. The small robot trotted into the room as if it belonged there. The volume of racket it had caused was quite surprising, Courtney thought as the Flareon surveyed the room, beeping and humming all the while. Typical Flareon behavior would have been to simply scratch and whine when it wanted in, but this one sounded quite like it had been bashing it's metallic head against the door.

What could be the purpose of this strange little robot? She mused on this the entire time she spent changing into her uniform, but she could come to no conclusion as to why Shelly would send such an illogical item.

Once she was fully dressed, Courtney allowed herself into Tabitha's room.

"I do think that's a good idea, actually… Yeah, I won't tell her… Matt says what? No, I don't need to talk to him! No, no, do not put him on! …Just tell him I said 'hi'. Yeah, okay. …Bye." Tabitha hung up the phone was exasperated sigh, before turning around to see his fellow admin seated pertly on the edge of his couch. "Gah! Courtney! I've told you not to sneak up like that! You're a Ninjask, I swear…"

Taking in her still tousled bed-head, he sighed once more before turning back to his desk and sliding open a drawer. Fishing out a comb, he gave it a toss in her direction.

She snatched it from the air without flinching.

"Comb your hair. This isn't Team Aqua, thank god…"

Courtney complied, methodically smoothing out her purple locks. She had had longer hair as a child, but found it too cumbersome upon entering the Team. The heat from the volcanos had always made it frizz up terribly. The Magma Admin often marveled at how Shelly was able to manage it so well, especially considering all the work she did in water.

"You know, if you just dated Shelly, she'd keel over from glee if she got the chance to help you out with stuff like that. She'd braid your hair and do all that girly crap."

Courtney ceased her grooming, instead fixing her attention on Tabitha's desk. "The phone call…" she questioned.

"Hmm. Well, she let me in on the reasoning behind the present, but I'm in agreement with her that I should let you figure it out on your own for now."

"…I see," the girl replied simply.

However, Tabitha continued to look at her expectantly. Ever since Courtney had gone on that first date with Shelly, it was clear to him that she seemed a little more off than usual. Years of practice made it obvious when his friend needed to talk.

"My memory banks…they are stuck…repeating."

"This is about Shelly still, isn't it? Listen, spend some time with that robot she made for you, and the next time she asks you out, go with her, hear her out, and then decide if you need to reconsider or not."

"…Course of action…acceptable."

Notes: If you get a chance, please watch the film by the same title as this story :3