The Status is NOT Quo.

                             “ I’m not here to play games, Toby. ”

He simply cut him at the end of his sentence, dismissively waiving a firm hand. Negotiations, with Dosh’Te, at least, were out of the question.

“ With all that you’ve said - and with how seriously you seem to take us, I am then deeply sorry to tell you that the boss will give the order to hunt down every single one of you without any hesitation. 

This happened before, and I don’t really wanna see it again. And I’m not here for this. Man, I just wanted a break, god damn it … ”

He turns around, back facing the Umbra leader - but he still doesn’t walk away, tilting his head slightly towards the man. 

“ And for your … Plan, of a greater world I imagine, like the dumb fucks that’ve tried before you, well … It seems that we’ll give you some problems with that. There’s lot of legendaries roaming around, so go somewhere else if you wanna bother people that much. Fuckin’ terrorists in Alola, I swear to fuck … ”

He finally walks away, shrugging and sighing as he does so - man, this time he deserved that break - and without a word, he opened the mansion’s doors. 

“ Ah, and before I forget … The hunt starts now. ”

And the echo of the closing doors resonated in the whole town, like a solemn call.

And a second eyebrow rose, but the smile didn’t seem ready to fade anytime soon. On the contrary, he knew well how menacing all of that sounded - and despite being nothing but a bunch of good at nothing criminals, he heard stories about their leader. The ‘Destruction in human form’, so to say. As far as he knew, one of the quite few Skulls the region took seriously.

A though guy. Someone who isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty.

And he knew well how that shouldn’t be the right reaction to such threats, but after all of that his smile widened, taken by a sudden rush of adrenaline.

“...suite yourself.” he simply replied in a hiss, waiting for the doors to close before turning towards his Pokèmon once more. Yet another movement of his hands, and they walked back to the base.

“ There’s literally nothin’ I can do to make ya spill the beans, is it. ”

                                                  “ Hold up! ”

As if he wasn’t exasperated enough.  The admin lets out a single - but very long - grunt, murmuring probably some insults when he stood up - with some difficulties, it seemed, at his body could do this much. 

“ … Ah yeah, Team Umbra, huh ? ” a quick glance to the leader explained it all. But … The other degenerate wasn’t wearing the uniform, was he ?

“ Now mister, that’s our territory, we do the orders ‘round here. Your grunt trespassed out grounds, and tried to roast us to death. ” as he marked his words, he didn’t hesitate to pull the other by the arm, painfully throwing him in front of his boss.

… Well, at least he doesn’t weight much. Fuck, my arm …

“ You don’t see us drawin’ dicks on your boath. Does Team Umbra even have some fucking dicipline ?! ”

He was at the point of yelling - if it wasn’t already the case. Calm down, Dosh’Te, calm. Down. 

“ As admin of Team Skull, ” he takes a breath, “ I demand that you and your grunt get out of the gates, and the whole region.

If we do find you lot here in Alola, we will not take your visit kindly. ”

                                                      “ Now, get out. ”

And for the most part, Toby stood there. Inflexible, only giving a quick look at Firetruck as soon as he was tossed at him, as if he was an old sack of garbage.

Which, considering the glare he recieved by his leader, was exactly how he was considered by the Umbra himself. An angered look full of disappointment - a silent promise that he won’t see the light of day anytime soon, let alone anything outside his room. 

Again, as the Skull spoke, he simply moved lightly his hand, allowing the Zoroark to pick up the grunt before giving the object head his full attention, arms crossed and eyes semi-closed, nodding just every once in a while with, surprisingly enough, genuine displeasure for the inconvenience.  He was even ready to accept to simply leave that whole, overly dramatic thing as a true gentleman, not even daring to talk back even as his leadership was taken in question - if not by grabbing for his own jacket, holding it in a quite offended grip before counting to ten, relaxing once more - and ask if, pheraphs, there was anything he could to in return to everything that could happen...

That is, until the Skull ordered him to get out of the islands.

At that point, Debito lifted one of his eyebrows, before being unable to refrain a tiny chuckle.

“...I will get out of this place, and I assure you - no Umbra will ever get in your territory anytime soon, and if they do” another quick glare is given to Firetruck, before returning to the monitor “I assure you, it won’t go unpunished. I am willing to give up some of our.. treasures, so to say, for this unforgivable inconvenience. “

Money aren’t a problem, anyway.

“...however.” he continues after some seconds, a tiny grin finally appearing on his face “I fear we can’t leave Alola anytime soon. We have a mission to accomplish, and we won’t return to our homelands before that’s over. We’ll do all we can to not interfere with your little...” he hesitates, once again unable to refrain a teasing, low laugh, barely covered by one of his hands “acts, so to say, but if by any chance you’ll attack us we won’t stay there and just take it.

The leader is quickly grabbing his Pokèmon, before rushing outside.

Fucking hell indeed.  Just a second of distraction, and Firetruck was outside.

“ You’re just no fun, are you ? ”

“ You think this is gonna make our grunts safe ? How many times did this dude threaten to burn the base, or some grunts now that we’re at it ? 

How many grunts wanna rebell since, y’know, this fucker doesn’t follow any of our rules ? ”

    There’s a short laught, before the girl proceeds, simply shrugging at his remarks. 

“ For once, that ain’t ‘bout what I want; I’m just doin’ my work. Makin’ sure everybody listen, behaves. 

An’ now ‘s time for him to sit down, be humble. ”

     Radio finally shakes her head, her smile not leaving her face - this time around, it didn’t seem like he would have been able to reason her. 

She turns her back, as to leave - before looking behind her shoulder, one last time.

“ Don’t you forget - everything I’m doing, it’s for you.

Because after I’ll be done with him - everyone’s gonna follow you, without darin’ to say a god damn word. 

Just wait an’ see honey. ”

Toby hated to admit it, but... she was right. There had been various moments in which Firetruck had been an actual danger, and if it wasn’t for his intervention Arceus knows what he would’ve ended up doing to the base, the grunts - to himself, even.

However, despite how right Radio could’ve been, he couldn’t refrain a laugh.

A seemingly sincere and amazed laugh, enough to even leave a tiny, forced smile on his lips as he opens his arms, each movement showing how tired he was of all that bullshit.

“You’re incredible.” he replied, just in time to stop her from leaving the room “Bringin the grunt’s safety in this discussion, when... let’s face it. You couldn’t care about this whole situation until you got personally involved into it.”

Another chuckle, and his hand went for his eyes, rubbing them as he got closer to the girl, until he managed to grab her arm.

“He’s loyal to me - and for what I care, I’d rather have a loyal grunt than one who’s scared of his own shadow because someone didn’t want to stay in her place.  The grunts know well how to deal with him, and they know they have to call me if anything bad happens. They’ve been trained to deal with the worst of the worst, after all - and you shouldn’t be an exception just because of your rank.  What is it, you think I’m too soft with the boy? Maybe I am, but don’t forget that if you’re still here it’s because I’ve probably been way too soft with you as well.”

“He already had a ‘rite of passage’, I ordered you two to stay away from eachother, and if you try to go and ignore my orders I’ll personally show you a piece of my mind.”

“Have I been clear?”

The moment he whispers those last words, Radio’s smile whidens so much her teeth can be seen. 

Passing her hand behind his head, taking a handfull of his hair, she pulls him closer and dives further into the kiss, smiling against his lips. 

Finally biting his lower lip, she draws back with a content smile, satisfied.

“ Doesn’t take much, does it ? ” 

The kiss didn’t last for long, but it was-

...nice. All right, let’s say it. It was nice. Enough to make the hand previously on her jaw to slide behind her head as well as soon as she pulled him close, even showing a tiny grin once she moved away, resting his forehead on hers.

Rising just one eyebrow.  Satisfied, maybe - but not enough.

Not after all that damned teasing.

“ I can’t feel pain, but maybe good ol’ I will make some efforts for ya. ”

While he decided to get tactile, Radio decided to keep her hands to herself - was that to restrain herself or to simply tease him more ?  Her grin only widens as she speaks, her eyes locked on his, her usually tired look slightly lit as she finally speaks again, her voice low.

“ Maybe ‘s time to be a lil’ bit more honest with yaself, eh, Toby ? ”

Fucking hell.

Of course she had to use a low tone like that. Of course she would keep on teasing like there was no problem at all about the whole thing. And, as much as he hated to accept it, she was succeeding with...

...w-with whatever she meant to do, to be fair.

Be a lil’ more honest. Yeah, right. As if that would’ve been a good option to follow.  He was supposed to be her leader - she was nothing but the annoying admin who blatantly ignored his orders to do whatever she wanted!

Then why is he attracted to her...!?

“...oh, fuck this.” 

Toby rolled his eyes, breathing out those last three words before firmly, yet incredibly tenderly grabbing her jaw, keeping her on the spot before leaning a little closer, pressing his lips against hers.

Playing with fire was her speciality.

And this is probably what she was doing right now.  The girl smirks again, seeming now more interested in the whole situation than before, then lets a small chuckle escape. 

This man was really something else.

“ I’m waitin’ for somethin’ you haven’t done yet. ”

Let’s see if she could get past that weird barrier of his.

And for how things are going, that might happen way sooner than she might think. It’s getting harder to keep himself from throwing away his reasoning and let his emotions take full control.

Once again - this goddamn woman.  She’ll be the end of him.

“ Dun’ tell me y’ain’t enjoyin’ the situation Meatball, you wouldn’t keep me here if ya weren’t. ”

Knowing Toby, it was still surprising that he didn’t push her away when she decided to get so intimate with him by sitting on his lap.  Sure, he could maintain that cold attitude, that tired expression of his, but she knew him so damn well. 

“ ‘S when it’s gettin’ awkward that ‘s the best anyways, means I’m doin’ great at extractin’ some reaction outta ya. ”

This woman. This goddamned woman.

Toby moved a hand through his hair, looking away from her for a moment as she kept going on with the teasing, unable to find a way to answer back at first. Maybe he should simply push her off. That would make the message get across way more easily than he was already trying to by using only his voice.

“Mhhm. And what kind of reactions are you expecting?”

“ Hah. ”

A short laugh comes out of her as she simply spins his chair toward her, finally sitting on his lap without any sort of trouble of course.  She smirks, undisturbed, her eyes not leaving the other’s face as she finally speaks again.

“ Honestly ? I ain’t here askin’ for a raise, nor nothin’ for once. ‘S just funny to bother ya, or if we can call it that now. ” a chuckle, again. “ Guess I like ya so damn much, Cap’tain. ”

Was she flirting ? Of fucking course.

...yep, that was absolutely flirting.

Toby tried all he could to avoid giving her any satisfaction, but at the end he couldn’t refrain a tiny chuckle as well. A way more tired one, granted, but a chuckle nonethless.