"Are you sure you don't need anything?" Courtney asked.
Shelley turned towards her. It hardly seemed like much time had passed, and yet the room was almost clean. Other than bags filled with items, the room was almost completely empty.
Shelley shook her head. "I told you, nothing here matters any more."
"Are you sure?" Courtney repeated.
Shelley sighed. "Look, Courtney-"
"I just think that you need to see this!"
Shelley turned. "What's so important?"
Courtney leaned a hand forward. It was only when she pulled her hand off the item that Shelley could see just what she had been holding.
"How could I have forgotten about this?" Shelley turned the picture over in her hands. The children inside looked so happy, as if they had just gone on the greatest adventure of their life or discovered a great treasure.
"Is that the legendary Pokemon Jirachi?" Courtney's eyes were wide.
Shelley nodded. "Yes, it certainly is."
"If you could have anything, what would it be?" Jirachi had asked. "What would you wish for?"
"I thought that it was just a myth," Courtney said, "just a Pokemon that existed in childrens stories."
The same could have been said about Kyogre, Shelley thought.
"That's you and Archie, isn't it?" Her tone, usually monotone and bare, rose the longer that she spoke. She had leaned even closer to Shelley, her fingers hovering inches over the picture frame.
Shelley handed it over to her. "Here, you can look again."
Courtney took it from her in an instant and then held the picture close to her eyes.
"And yes," Shelley continued, "that was me and Archie. We were about eight or nine when that picture was taken. I can't remember the exact time it happened, but I can remember all the rest."
She really could. The air had smelled sweet, mixed with the scent of both flowers and sand. All around her had been new Pokemon that she had never seen before, Pokemon that she could only have imagined about back in Pacifidog Town. Like always, Archie was there with her, grinning and wide eyed.
"That must have been amazing." Courtney handed the photo frame back slowly, her eyes never leaving it until it was safely in the other woman's hands. "I heard that the Pokemon only awakens after a thousand years of sleep. Is that true?"
"I've heard that too," Shelley replied. She shrugged. "We were just kids amazed by Pokemon. Back then we didn't care about facts like that." Shelley looked down to her feet. "I do remember that on another trip to Lillycove a few years later we went looking for Jirachi again, taking Matt with us this time. We never did find Jirachi."
"I'm sorry."
Shelley turned away from her. "You don't have any control over it. Looking back, it was probably just pure luck and coincidence that we even got to meet Jirachi. For all I know, it really had just woken up from its thousand year sleep."
"So, what did you wish for?"
"Huh?" Shelley raised an eyebrow. Her grip tightened on the photo frame.
"Oh, don't tell me that you didn't wish for something. That's what the Pokemon does after all."
Shelley closed her eyes. She could still the Pokemon, looking at both her and Archie. Back then, before the two had hit their growth spurts, the Pokemon had seemed humungous. Now, she doubted it would be quite the same.
"You do have a wish, don't you?" Jirachi had asked. Its voice had been sweet, having an almost whismical and musical tone to it.
Archie had certainly had a wish, a pure one that he had made with all his heart.
"I did make a wish," Shelley admitted. "Archie did too. They both came true."
"What were they?"
Shelley opened her eyes, forcing the image of the legendary Pokemon away. "Isn't it taboo to reveal what you wished for? Won't that make it not come true?"
"You said before that your wishes already came true."
"I don't want that to change."
Shelley had been digging through the bags for a little while. She hadn't pulled much out, and all of the items that she had were small (mostly photos, though there were a few other knicknacks that she pulled out and looked at fondly).
"Should we get going soon?" Shelley asked.
"Oh no," Courtney replied. She straightened her back and quickly looked away. It was hard to believe that she had been staring at the other woman for so long. "Take your time. You said that after this we were leaving, and I wouldn't want anything important getting left behind."
"Alright," Shelley replied.
A few moments later, a wide smile spread across her face as she found another trinket.
It's hard to believe that she almost gave those up, Courtney thought.
"Do you need me to get you a bag for those?"
Shelley looked up to her. "Oh, yes. Just a small one though. I think I'm close to getting everything that truly matters."
Things would have been a lot easier if Archie would just see reason, Maxie realized. Whether he needed a bath or not, the ocean was hardly the place to take it. Who knew just what was in those waters? He'd probably just end up stinking of fish.
But then again, when did Archie ever listen to reason? He had decided to not only wake one of the ancient creators of Hoenn, but he had also forced it to revert to its original, nearly uncontrollable state. Before that had happened, he'd had time to reform himself and his team, to make things right before putting thousands, no millions, of people in danger. Not only had Maxie tried to stop him, but Shelley had as well.
And yet, Maxie thought, here you are, still with him.
It was hard to abandon him. Archie may have technically been in more trouble than he was, but Maxie was hardly a saint. Team Magma hardly had a clean record.
Maxie sighed. Archie wasn't the only one to make mistakes.
I can only hope that Tabitha and Courtney are doing well, he thought.
And even if they weren't, it was hard to figure out what to do then. Maxie was probably miles away from them. They surely had gone to the Team Aqua hideout and then just as quickly gotten out.
As if they'd ever stay there, Maxie thought.
They might not have even gone. He had lost contact with them since he had told them to head to the Aqua base, and even if he did call them they could always tell a lie.
What would Courtney and Tabitha want there, anyway?
Maxie was torn from his thoughts by Archie rising from the water. The sun reflected off of his deep brown skin, and for a moment he seemed to glow with a deep light. Then, he moved, the sun moving away from him, and Maxie had to close his eyes.
"Haven't you ever heard of a towel?"
Maxie had enough problems at the moment to deal with. The last thing he needed was to add "Archie is showing off his naked butt to the entire island" to his list of concerns.
They may have been on an island away from most people, but that didn't mean that modesty could be ignored.
"This is a deserted island, Maxie," Archie replied. "They don't have towels here!"
Maxie turned away, his eyes still closed tight. "Stop showing yourself off to the entire island!"
"You're the only other person here!"
Maxie's cheeks flushed red. He could only hope that Archie would take a hint and put his clothes from the previous night back on.
"That doesn't matter!" Maxie replied, voice loud and firm.
Of all the (countless) fights that he'd had with Archie over the years, this was the one fight he had never expected having.
"And you know exactly where you're going?" Tabitha asked.
"Yes," Courtney said, voice firm. Her eyes were sharp, and she looked as if she were going to race out of the Team Aqua base at any moment. "Shelley and I already discussed our plan."
"We know what we're doing." Shelley shifted the bag that she was carrying.
"Do you have everything that you need? Are you one hundred percent sure that everything is fine?"
Courtney sighed. "Tabitha, we'll be fine."
"I'm just making sure." Tabitha looked to the ground.
"He's just worried about you bros," Matt added. For once, Tabitha was glad that he had chimed in.
"And do you two know what you're doing?" Shelley asked, raising an eyebrow.
"What do you mean?"
"You haven't noticed? Everyone is breaking apart from each other but still staying in a group. Maxie went with Archie, I'm going with Courtney, and Matt has been all but glued to your hip ever since you showed up." Courtney looked up towards Matt and winked.
Tabitha crinkled his nose. "I never said that I was teaming up with him."
"Well you never said that you weren't, either." Shelley snickered. "You got yourself a good one, Matt."
The two both started laughing, a sound that filled the room. Tabitha looked over to Courtney, who simply shrugged.
"Just make sure to keep in contact with us through your communicators, okay?" Shelley said, her tone suddenly dead serious. "If any of you guys need help, don't be afraid to ask."
"Of course," Matt suddenly said, his tone just as serious. He placed a hand on Tabitha's shoulder. "We'll be sure to."
"And one more thing," Courtney said.
All three turned towards her. "Whatever you do with this base, be careful. There's still a chance that evidence could be left behind of what happened. We all agreed that it would open a bit longer for the people who need it, but even they will need help getting out. Once law authorities come around, they'll look for anything that can get both of us in trouble."
From the corner of his eye, Tabitha watched Matt nod.
"Good," Courtney said.
Right before the two left, Shelley ran up and pulled Matt into a fierce hug. He quickly returned it, pulling himself away from Tabitha.
"Be careful, okay, buddy?"
"You better be careful too, bro!"
Courtney locked eyes with Tabitha. There was no similar form of affection. The two were certainly more than mere acquaintances, but they were hardly the friends that the two Aqua admins were.
"Just don't do anything that you might regret." Courtney said. Her voice lowered. "We've already done enough of that."
Tabitha nodded. "Stay safe."
"You as well."
Once the hug ended, Shelley grabbed her bag and the two turned away. Courtney gave him a small wave and an even smaller smile, one that he just barely saw. It was so strange, seeing it instead of her usual frown.
It was the first time in a long time when Tabitha didn't know when he would see his purple haired co-admin again.
Shelley and Courtney may have been dressed like normal citizens, but she hardly felt like one.
"Are you sure that no one's staring at us?" she asked.
"Positive," Courtney replied.
Shelley glanced around. "Are you sure?"
"Keep acting like this and they will."
Shelley turned silent. She certainly had a point.
Just act normal, she thought. Soon enough we'll get to Courtney's parents' house and things will be alright.
Courtney moved closer and spoke to her, her voice just barely above a whisper. "I hope that you're ready for a walk."
"Your Pokemon can't just fly us there?" Already, the two had traveled by sky. Judging by how much easier it was to stay anonymous in the mostly empty sky compared to the crowded land, it seemed like a much better idea to just stay in the air.
"They flew us as far as we could." Courtney sighed. "My parents... Let's just say that they like being away from cities. They've always been that way, and they always will. Still, there's no better place I'd rather be hiding. They aren't even in any address books."
Shelley nodded.
"You just need to trust me on this one, Shelley."
