Long time no see


"This is so stupid." Leighton crossed her arms as they trudged through the darkness of Petelburg Forest. It was tricky to navigate through the darkness, and none of them had flashlights in fear of standing out too much.

There were relics found of Kyogre and Groudon, so of course they were sent out immediately. Shelly led the group, as she usually did. It was far too late at night for Leighton's liking.

"Welcome to Team Aqua." Cassius told her, eying her. "Seriously, though, Leighton, this team is a lot of work. We're not some play group you join when you're bored."

"I'm starting to realize this now…" She mumbled, wondering what she got herself stuck into. "But I can't back out now, can I?"

Cassius thought this over. "Well….ya could….but you'd have to flee the region and never return." He said casually. "Plus Shelly might try and track you down."

"Nevermind." Leighton gulped, keeping her eyes to the ground.


Natalie pushed through the dense forest with ease. Tabitha was right in front of her, so she stayed close by his side, smiling at him every time he looked to make sure she was still behind him.

She was dead tired though. Lily had kept her up, telling her stories from her childhood. Nate assumed it was because the girl was lonely and didn't have someone to talk to when she traveled. Nate understood that feeling of not having anyone to talk to, so she let the girl talk well into the morning. Nate ended up sleeping all day, causing Tabitha to call her when she was an hour late for work.

She blamed her tardiness on her mother while she rushed to get ready. She ran out the door, yelling to her mother that her dad had found some meteorite and she was going to check it out. Lily had tried to call her multiple times, but Natalie ignored the calls. She was already having to put in extra hours for being late earlier, she didn't want to get in anymore trouble.

Of course, it was going to be difficult for Natalie to hide her job from Lily now. The girl had grown attached to Nate in a very short amount of time, despite Nate grumbling and not being extremely friendly.

Look, she was letting the girl stay with her, did she want her to be nice to her as well?

"Commander, are we almost there?" Nate asked, tone slightly whiny. She really didn't want to be on this mission. She loved being with Tabitha, but she would've been okay he if told her she didn't have to be here.

"Stop whining." He ordered, making her sigh. He was probably still mad about her being tardy. She was sure that if she told him the real reason she was late, he'd laugh at her. Natalie being nice to a stranger? Impossible.

Natalie wasn't all mean. She was just more or less guarded. She had to make sure she was careful. This was a tricky business and one small mistake could land her in jail. She was skillful, no doubt about that, but she tend to let her emotions get to her sometimes and she had to learn to keep them under control.

"Natalie." Tabitha murmured, stopping suddenly. She almost ran into him, snapping out of her thoughts. She looked past him and saw a blue bandana moving along the shrubs. Of course, Team Aqua. She moved past him quietly, already knowing what he wanted her to do.

She crept along and froze just as something yanked her back. A hand was over her mouth and she struggled, thrashing about wildly against her captor.

"Woah woah, relax, Natalie." A male voice said in her ear and she recognized it as Cassius. She looked and saw a girl with long brunette hair and purple eyes looking at her.

"What are you doing Cassius?" She whispered harshly, looking at Natalie. "This isn't what Shelly told us to do!"

"I'm improvising. This is my best mate, Nate." He grinned, letting go of Natalie. She jumped back, hand on her pokeball. She was so angry he caught her off guard and was able to grab her and carry her away from her mission. "I saw you sneaking along so I figured I'd snatch you right up."

"What the hell is wrong with you? Why are you joking about this?!" Natalie spat, confused about his carefree demeanor. This wasn't some joke!

"Relax relax. I don't feel like battling." He told her, shaking his head. "Ya know, Nate, I've seen you for the past three years but we've never really spoken."

"That's because we're on opposing sides, you idiot." She clenched her teeth, feeling her blood boil. She wanted to be back with Tabitha and helping him with the mission. "If you won't fight me, I'll take you two out! I have no problem taking down idiots."

"Cassius, come on!" Leighton whined, grabbing onto his arm. The blonde in front of her was terrifying. She wanted to be back with the others. She was starting to get the creeps from the woods and she could see wrumples everywhere. She shivered as she thought of the bug types lurking in the dark.

"She won't hurt us. She's harmless without her commander ordering her around." Cassius muttered to Leighton, starting to lose feeling in the arm she was gripping onto. He looked over the blonde girl, who was glaring at them. She didn't look that scary, she looked scared. If she was serious about hurting them, she would've already called out her pokemon. "Nate, I'm not too scared of you, sorry."

"Well you should be!" She exclaimed, feeling a little helpless now. She was used to imitating people, but this idiot wasn't buying it. They hadn't hurt her at all, and they weren't calling out their pokemon. Despite her saying so, she really didn't attack people who were defenseless. Something about this boy, Cassius, was throwing her off. He was no threat to her, she could sense that.

"We should hang out some time." He offered and Nate frowned, furrowing her brows. She let her guard down and just sent him a questioning look. "What? Did that throw you off? Why? I'm pretty laid back, Natalie, you should know this. Well, maybe not, since we don't hang out. We should change that. C'mon, what do you say?"

"No. I don't fall for traps." She put her hand on her pokeball again, ready to end this. "Do you really think I'm some sort of idiot?"

"Oh come on, Nate, I'm being legit. This whole running around and stealing thing has gotten quite old and boring!"

"Then why don't you quit?" She questioned, narrowing her eyes. He shot her a look, and she understood.

You can't just quit Team Aqua or Team Magma.

She had thought about it before, multiple times. While she loved Tabitha and wanted to stay by his side, but the risks were getting too large and the stress was taking a toll on her. She couldn't forever evade the police and her mother's questions.

She wasn't about to go skipping off with this male though.

"I was thinking more along the lines of sailing away to another region." He shrugged, a glint in his blue eyes. "You're welcomed to join me."

"Excuse me?" She questioned, more taken back by this offer than the other things he had said. Get on a boat? With him? She began to laugh at this, because this was surely the dumbest thing she had ever heard. "You want me to sail away with you? No way! I barely know you!"

"Oh come on, it's an adventure." He shrugged, not hurt at all by her laughter. She seemed to be a stick in the mud. "I know you want to be freed from this just as much as me."

"Hmp, no thanks." She grumbled, now crossing her arms. She heard her name be called and she glanced at the two grunts before she dashed off, going towards her commander's voice.

"What the hell is wrong with you!?" Leighton exclaimed, stopping her foot in annoyance. "She could've mauled us! And you're here offering her some Caribbean escape?!"

"Leighton, when you get to be like me, you don't really care about outcomes, you just want something, anything, to happen. I have a feeling she'll come around."


Natalie was quiet about what happened with Cassius. Tabitha didn't seem to press what she did when he sent her off, and she was grateful for that.

That aqua grunt was a complete idiot! How mental was he to be offering up something like that? To her of all people! She sighed as she stormed home, preferring to walk instead of flying on her flygon. She needed to cool off her head and try to relax. She would have to sneak in through her bedroom window to avoid waking both her mother and Lily.

She just couldn't process all of what happened. She couldn't even process the thought that she was considering his offer! No way would he ever leave her commander's side, right? While thoughts of disappearing and getting out of Team Magma were popping into her head as of late, especially since Lily had grown so attached to her so quickly, she knew it would never happen.

Things had just been off lately, it seemed. Tabitha wasn't treating her fairly and was pushing her off to do missions away from him. It made work unbearable and she dreaded going. Was this the life she really wanted to lead?

This was so stupid. She let that idiot boy get into her thoughts and now she was questioning everything! She climbed into her backyard and crept up to her window. She opened it and climbed through, put her screen back in place, shut it and locked it, then got ready for bed.

Maybe she could take Lily to another region? She did mention her parents were working in the Kanto/Johto region, and Nate had more than enough cash saved to get them both there. She had this urge to protect Lily and she knew being here, working for Team Magma, wasn't protecting her. She had to protect her mother too.

Things were changing, and Nate felt like she knew this all along.


Cassius felt the heat rise through his body and he knew this was going to be painful.

Shelly always sent him on the shitty jobs, and he was so glad he left Leighton out to watch. He knew they were sent on the mission for disappearing in the night's earlier mission, but forcing Leighton to be a part of this wasn't fair.

"Fuck." He cursed, his arm was shaking as pulled it back, hissing at the pain. He pulled off his bandana and wrapped it around the cut on his arm, hoping to stop the bleeding and to keep it from getting an infection. He grabbed the item he came to steal and slowly and painful pulled himself through a window sill and out of the warehouse. He landed on his feet and stumbled, causing Leighton to leave her post and hurry over to him.

"Cas? What happened?" She asked, a hand on his shoulder.

"Just a tiny scratch. Nothing to worry about. I got the item, so let's just head home. I'll give it to Shelly tomorrow." He told her, starting to head towards the city.

It was dark, especially since it was three in the morning. Cassius' didn't want to show Leighton how much pain he was in, but he gripped at his arm tightly and winced. "I hate this fucking job." He admitted once they were on a proper street. He headed towards the place Leighton was staying at, because he didn't want her walking home alone in the dark.

"Come inside and Jordan will bandage it for you." She told him, taking the lead now. "I don't want whatever little 'scratch' you have to get infected." He went to refuse, but she turned and glared, sending chills down his spine. He didn't dare argue anymore.

She unlocked the door and ushered him inside, locking it behind her. He was surprised to see Jordan and Mikhail were awake and in the living area.

"Jordan, grab the first aid kit! Cassius got hurt!" She ordered. Her boyfriend looked at her, sighed, then went up to fetch the kit.

"What happened?" Mikhail asked, still watching the tv. Even though he asked, he didn't seem too interested. Cassius joined him on the couch, knees weak and tired of standing. He had been up for almost twenty four hours and it was taking affect.

"Mistake with a pipe. The item I needed was in a tight spot." He had no clue if Jordan and Mikhail knew what Team Aqua did. "I've been up for a while, I just wasn't watching myself."

"Then take tomorrow off! You can't work with your arm like that!" Leighton exclaimed when Jordan returned. He sat next to Cassius and slowly unwrapped the bandana, revealing the large cut.

"S-Shit." He whined when Jordan put some alcohol on it to disinfect it. He hissed as Jordan wiped at it, clearing the dried blood. "I can't just take tomorrow off. I got work to do and I don't need Shelly bangin' down my door and lettin' my gramps know what I'm up to." He eyed her. "I go to work injured all the time."

Mikhail eyed the cut, then Cassius as he continued to argue with Leighton. Jordan finished cleaning it and wrapped up the arm with a waterproof bandage, because he had a feeling Cassius wouldn't be able to stay away from water.

"Thanks." He told Jordan, standing and grabbing his bloody bandana. "If you know what's good for ya you'll be at work tomorrow or on the next ferry outta this region." He told Leighton seriously. "Shelly's still pissed at the stunt I pulled today, and unfortunately it means she's pissed at you."

"That's not even fair." She huffed, wondering why she did this to herself. Still, she wanted to stay. She worried about Cassius too much to leave him.

"Life ain't fair." He shrugged while he opened the door. "Later." With that, the door shut and he was gone.