"You didn't have to scare Flint." Volkner told Natalie when he saw her walk by the gym, probably on her way back to her apartment. She stopped and turned to him, holding a few books in her arms. Her hair was up in a messy bun and bag hung low on her back, probably filled with her sketch book and other books. "Her brother already scared the shit out of him."

"Oh, good." Natalie said with a small smile. She was happy Lily decided to tell her brother she was going to Kalos, and let him meet Flint. "I'm her best friend, that's my job."

"I'm Flint's best friend and you don't see me scaring Lily." Volkner replied, walking towards her. It was lunch time anyway, so he needed a break from the gym.

"That's because I'll knock you out if you scare her. Besides, guys don't have to scare the girls." Natalie told him with an eyeroll. She shifted her books to one arm so she could brush a strand of her hair out of her face and Volkner noticed the scar on her cheek. It was noticeable, he didn't see why he didn't notice it before.

"Where'd you get that scar from?" He asked and she tilted her head before touching the scar.

"Oh, accident when I was thirteen." She replied with a shrug, lowering her hand to help carry the books. "Anything else you need to ask before I head on my way?"

"Yeah, want to go grab some lunch?" He asked and she looked surprised. "Come on, my treat. Flint usually has lunch with me but, ya know." He put his hands in his pockets, waiting for her answer.

"Uh, sure." She mumbled, still caught off guard by it. She and Volkner were friends, but they only hung out with Lily and Flint were involved. She hadn't spoken to him much since the festival except for the few texts messages he mostly sent when he was bored at the gym. She felt awkward and out of place walking beside him without Lily or Flint or the distractions of the festival.

She kept her books against her chest, smiling at the old people that passed and waved and smiled at the two blondes. She looked over to the beach, because practically no matter where you were in Sunyshore, unless you were facing the wrong direction, you could see the beach. She saw someone waving to her and she waved back, knowing it was Cassius.

"So what were you doing out and about?" Volkner asked, knowing Natalie most likely wouldn't be starting the conversation.

"Cassius forgot his lunch." She muttered, shaking her head. "Plus I had to drop a few books off at the library." She didn't go out too much unless it was early in the morning when she and Cassius went jogging, or it was at night, and sometimes during the day, but usually only when someone wanted her to come out.

"Looks like you got more." He said as he stopped at a small restaurant and held open the door for her. She went in, relieved to see it was more like a burger joint than anything else.

"I didn't, surprisingly." She told him and picked a table near the window. She sat her bag on the chair next to her and put the books she was carrying into the bag. "I forgot to put them in my bag earlier before I left the library, but they weren't so heavy."

"I've seen some of the heavier books." Volkner glanced over the menu, already knowing what he wanted.

"There you are. Where's Flint?" The waitress asked as she approached the table. She seemed very friendly with Volkner, but she gave Natalie a questioning look.

"Hey, yeah, he's out in Kalos with his 'girlfriend'." Volkner said and the waitress laughed.

"They still haven't made it official? You'd think he was married to her with the way he talks about her." The waitress replied, shaking her head. "But it sounds like they'll have a lot of fun out there. Is this your girlfriend?" She asked and Natalie's face got red when the waitress looked at her.

"No, this is Lily's best friend, Natalie." Volkner said and Natalie nodded her head, regaining the normal tan color of her face. "She's joining me today since Flint decided to ditch me. I'll have the usual."

"Alright, you ready?" The waitress asked Natalie, not having to write down Volkner's.

"Plain cheese burger, nothing on it, and a lemonade, please." Natalie replied and she jotted it down and left them, going back to the kitchen. "Got myself a lemonade since it's your treat." She said with a small smile. "Lemonade is so expensive in this city. Who wants to pay two dollars for it? You're the gym leader, lower the price of lemonade."

"I'll see what I can do." He said as the waitress set the drinks down. "This means you'll have to treat me to lunch one day."

"Ha." Natalie muttered, checking her phone before glancing at Volkner. "You invited me out since ya didn't have Flint. I owe ya nothin'."

"There's that accent." Volkner nodded his head and she looked away, embarrassed. "Are you embarrassed by it?"

"No, I just didn't realize I had one until all of y'all pointed it out." She grumbled, messing with the straw in her drink. "I grew up in Hoenn, and then it was just me and Cassius for about two years. We visited a lot of places, but at the end of the day, it was us on a boat in the middle of the ocean."

"What made you two want to go sail around?" Volkner asked, sipping his water. He watched Natalie play with the wrapping the straw came in.

"We needed a change. Being stuck in one place for too long never suited us." She replied, focusing it on the paper. "Until we came here, of course. Now he's got a job and we have an apartment. How domesticated." She didn't seem too pleased by this. "But I guess it's alright. Boat life was starting to irritate me and it's nice having my own bed and my own room."

"You had to share a bed with him?"

"His boat isn't that big. I didn't care much because he took me wherever I wanted to go and he was a good sleeping partner. We're pretty simplistic people. We didn't need much furniture or tons of room. We work with what we have and we deal." Natalie had gotten used to it fairly quickly, but having her own bed and room again was nice.

"You don't complain much, do you?" Volkner asked, taking another sip of his drink while Natalie took a long gulp of hers.

"No time for complainin'. I'll whine, sometimes, if I don't feel good, but other than that, no. There's no point in complainin' when you have a job to do." She told him bluntly, biting her straw now. "I have no reason to complain anyway."

Volkner nodded his head and glanced around the place, waving at a few people that knew him. When he looked back, Natalie was watching him, her chin being propped up by her hand.

"You come here a lot, don't ya?" She asked, glancing around. "I guess that's a given since she already knew what you wanted."

"Flint and I come here every Monday." Volkner told her.

"Routine can be dangerous." She mumbled. "I guess you don't worry. You're strong and everyone around here seems to love you. Guess that means you're a good gym leader?" She questioned, not sure how being a gym leader went. "Leighton told us you created those solar panel sidewalks. That's pretty impressive."

"No sense in having all this sun if we don't harness the energy. This city needs to be even more environmental friendly." Volkner started. "I get bored, a lot, waiting for challengers at the gym, so I have plenty of time to come up with ideas. I'm working on solar panels strong enough to help run big sky scrapers. Those things suck up energy and they're a waste." He was waiting for her to cut him off, but she watched him intently, listening.

He continued talking about his plans until the food arrived. He hadn't realized how hungry he was until he began eating. He took a few bites, enjoying his burger as Natalie ate hers, looking out the window as she did so. "What did you mean, earlier, about routines being dangerous?" He asked as he sipped his water and then ate a few fries.

"Hm?" She asked, coming out of her thoughts. "Routines are dangerous. People could be planning to attack you, and it's not that difficult when they know where you'll be and at what time." She explained, feeling like she should shut up. That was the Team Magma talking. "But uh, it's nothing and kind of stupid!"

"It makes sense. You think about stuff like that a lot, don't you?" He asked, sensing how tense she was.

"Yeah, sort of." She admitted. She had to. It was what she trained to do. "Old habits die hard." She bit into her burger again, wanting off of the topic. They ate in silence for the rest of the meal and Natalie didn't know what to say as they stood outside the building. She held onto the straps of her bag and looked around. "Uh, well, thanks for lunch."

"Thanks for joining me. You were enjoyable to talk to." He told her and she was taken aback by that. He had said something like that before to her, but she wasn't used to hearing it.

"No problem, yeah, you weren't so bad." She mumbled, feeling flustered. "I'll catch ya later." She nodded and hurried off. Volkner chuckled and watched her go.

Natalie waited patiently at the port, ready to see Lily again and hear about her time in Kalos.

"I bet she had a blast." Cassius said, nudging Natalie. "You want to go there, right?" She nodded her head and he grinned. "Cool. We'll hit it up soon. My schedule for work is so flexible, I love it. Just tell me when and we'll set sail."

"You guys going to Kalos?" Flint asked and the two blondes glared at him, daring him to talk again.

"I told you to keep an eye on her." Natalie growled, still angry with him. Lily had ducked out on the boat home, instead going to a café she had grown to love on her short visit. It was there she decided she knew what she wanted to do with her life. Run a café!

Natalie, Cassius, and Lily's brother were all pissed at Flint for not making sure Lily was on the boat, and for Lily for ducking out and giving them all heart attacks. However, though, Lily sounded so excited and she had thought out an entire plan, with much help from the owners of that café, and they found it hard to stay mad at her. Of course, she was dropped off in Snowpoint first so she could have a long over due talk with her brother about her future.

"It wasn't his fault." Volkner stood by Flint, patting his shoulder. Natalie and Cassius ignored him as Lily's ship pulled up and docked. A few minutes later passengers got off and soon Lily was hurrying towards them with her suitcase.

"Hiiiiii!" She greeted cheerfully. Natalie and Cassius crossed their arms, annoyance all over their face. "I brought presents…."

"Oh, Cas, she brought us presents." Natalie told Cassius, who gasped, both overflowing with sarcasm.

"Presents totally make up for the heart attacks you caused us." He said to Lily. "Seriously, Lil, you can't go doing shit like that."

"You two do it." She pouted, feeling guilty.

"We're different. You shouldn't be basing what you do off of us, we're horrible examples." Natalie told her as Cassius grabbed Lily's suitcase for her. "I think you and Flint need to talk."

"Yeah, he got a lot of crap when he stepped off the ship without you." Cassius told her, but patted her shoulder. "Seriously, don't ever do that again, you had us scared shitless. Glad you found your calling in life though."

"We'll take your suitcase back to the apartment and we'll talk to you later, okay?" Natalie told her, with raised eyebrows. Lily nodded her head with a smile and Natalie sighed. She couldn't ever stay mad at Lily. "That 'amazing' café plan really better be amazing." Natalie said over her shoulder and disappeared into the crowd with Cassius.

"Her plan is solid." Jordan mumbled, for once on the beach with them. "She explained it all to me and I could barely find any flaws with it."

"I'm still pissed she called you about it first." Natalie grumbled, glaring at Leighton.

"When you're rich, people will call you first. Besides, who cares? She's getting the café of her dreams!" Lily had pitched her idea to Leighton first, who was completely all in and ready to buy the building for her. Lily thanked her and tried to turn her down, telling her she had plenty of money from over the years saved, she just wanted to run it by her before telling Natalie, but Leighton wasn't going to take no for an answer.

"You spend money too recklessly." Jordan but Leighton smiled widely at him and he gave her a small smile in return.

"I'm helping a friend! I know what's it's like to have your whole future planned out for you. She found what she wants to do and I'm going to help the best I can!" Leighton declared before settling back in her chair, soaking up the sun. "Lily has been helped, now Mikhail and Natalie."

"I do not need assistance." Natalie muttered and Mikhail sighed. "It's always us."

"It's because you two are hopeless. You have a chance with a hot gym leader and you have a chance with a hot lifeguard." She pointed at them, frustrated.

"Leighton, I'm in no position for a boyfriend." Natalie said, not in the mood to talk about this. She and Volkner spent much of the week together, mostly because Flint was gone and Cassius got more shifts. His company wasn't all bad.

"But if Volkner asked you out?" Leighton questioned, smirking when Natalie hesitated with her answer. "See!"

"N-No!" Natalie flushed, shaking her head. "He's cute and he's okay but I don't think I would say yes." Natalie defended herself, wanting Leighton to stop with this. "Look, Leighton, he's a gym leader and I-"

"Am a beautiful girl who deserves a guy like him!" Leighton cut her off, huffing. "You're not a criminal."

"Leighton-"

"You are not!" Leighton exclaimed, ending it.