AN- Ugh, Writer's Block sucks. Seriously. It's amazing I managed to get a chapter out, since I'm suffering from a rather serious case of it. So yeah. Sorry for the wait, but please don't expect fast updates (a more detailed explanation is on my profile, if you're curious). And uh, this is mostly a buildup chapter, just to warn you. *shot*

mhadz0021: You were right about "Simple and Clean" *gives cookie*, and the other song wasn't actually used so much as mentioned. Blue asked about Yellow's "Sk8ter Boi", which is an Avril Lavigne song.

And, *gives cookies* to everyone else who managed to guess the songs. Thanks for the reviews, guys!


Set in Motion

Lunch the next day was quiet all around. The colorful group hadn't been the only one to see the news. Hushed whispers and quiet murmurs abounded.

"Who cares about them, anyway? I was raised being told they were a bunch of quacks. Wannabes playing criminal."

"Well, yeah, at one time they were just an annoyance, but not anymore. Rumor has it that they've got a new leader, and he…"

"…won't hesitate to kill anyone who gets in their way. Mostly, they're just thieves, but they'll steal anything, from high-class heists to taking candy from a baby."

"Age or gender doesn't matter; if you get in their way, they will take you out."

Needless to say, the mood was quite somber. The anxiety in the atmosphere was so thick that you'd be hard-pressed to cut it with a knife.

And while her friends may have been content to sit and stew in depression, Blue was not. So, she took the metaphorical knife and proceeded to stab said atmosphere as brutally and violently as she could by saying the first non Team Rocket related thing she could think of.

"If you're employing the One Person Rule, then so am I."

Red looked up from where he'd been brutally and violently stabbing his corn with his fork in complete and utter bafflement. "Say what now?"

In all truth, the brunette herself wasn't quite sure what had possessed her into saying such a stupid and nonsensical thing, but she wasn't about to admit that. So she thought quickly and spun the slip-up into something usable. "What I mean, is, since you've got one person, that person being Yellow, to help you spy on me, don't I get one person on my side?"

Red quirked an eyebrow. "If you got someone on your side, that person would need to agree to let you gossip about them – and only them! Not only did Yellow agree to help me, she suggested it. Sorry to say, but you'll have a hard time finding someone willing to let you gab about them." Of course, the moment Red had finished talking, he'd realized his mistake. "No, wait –"

By now the other two residents of the table had long since abandoned their food, watching the match of wits with bated breath.

Blue smiled, looking quite like the cat that had the canary caught beneath its paws. "No I won't. Right, Yellow?"

The blonde froze immediately and let out a small squeak. "B-but I'm already working with Red!"

The elder girl waved a hand as if to say, Who cares? And indeed, "You can have a dual role. Help him keep an eye on me when he's not around, but to make it fair also let me gossip about you – only you, of course."

Yellow attempted a meek defense. "But, but, how is that fair? The deal was that you don't gossip at all, right? No exceptions…?"

Blue rolled her azure eyes. "That was the original deal, yes. And I could have held my tongue and won fair and square, but then Red decided that I needed to be put under even more pressure – thanks for that leap of faith, by the way, you jerk."

She accompanied her last words with a spiteful glare his way, to which he shrunk away from, chastised. She directed her gaze back to the blonde, plastering on a small smile. "So you see, Yellow, it's fair, because it evens the playing table after Red stacked the deck in his favor. Instead of two to one, it's back to one to one – or rather, two to two."

Still, the younger girl nibbled on her lip and avoided Blue's eyes. "Well… I still don't want you to gossip about me…"

The brunette sighed and placed a hand on Yellow's shoulder, bringing the other girl's gaze back to her. "You mean you want it to stay the way it is? With you betraying me like this? I was so hurt when I found out you took his side last night, you know…"

Yellow lowered her head in guilt and ignored Red's outraged splutters of, "That's blackmail!"

Blue gave him a pointed glare, which belied her victorious smile, and mouthed, Actually, it's closer to bribery. I ease her guilt for her help!

He scowled. "You should be ashamed of yourself, Blue."

But he couldn't know, of course – she was ashamed that she'd had to resort to such a nasty trick. And on a friend, no less! She wanted to blame it on him, say that he pushed her to such a cruel limit. But she knew it was as much her fault as his. So she looked down at her untouched lunch tray, avoiding his baleful glare.

Only Green bothered to notice the look of hurt that flashed over her face before disappearing under a calm mask of indifference. But he stayed silent. He always does.

Finally, Yellow looked up. "It's not like there's much in my life to gossip about anyway…?"

Blue smiled at the last ditch effort. "Just more of a reason for it to be you. Even if I can gossip about you, what would there be to say?"

As she expected it would, her comment eased the blonde's worries just a tad, and she nodded. "Okay."

And, if irony weren't such a cruel bitch, that would have been that.

But since it's a well established fact that irony is a cruel bitch, a figure standing just behind the blonde – how all four had managed to miss him, and his posse of two, they couldn't guess – chose that moment to say, "Oi. Blondie."

In unison, all four friends turned to the newcomer, Yellow letting out a confused, "Reh?"

Slightly annoyed golden eyes stared down at her. Gold sighed. "You know, if you're gonna give a guy your number, you might want to consider answering the phone." All the friends, hers and his alike, froze. It took him a moment, but he realized his error, and went to correct it. "Uh, that came out wrong. What I meant was…"

But he trailed off, because really, there wasn't any other way to put that statement. Behind him, Silver let out a sigh of his own and shook his head at his friend's idiocy, and Crystal looked wildly between her beau and the blonde, not yet angry, but very confused.

She grabbed his arm tightly. "What's going on here, Gold?"

Silver intervened, "You should have told her what you were planning before dragging her over here, you idiot."

The boy in question realized belatedly that the redhead was right. And so, with a pleasant smile directed at the blonde he had stupidly approached and a We'll be right back, he proceeded to drag his girlfriend out of the cafeteria.

Instead of immediately clamping onto this juicy new development and interrogating Yellow about it like the three had figured she would, Blue turned to the redhead. "So that was your 'idiot friend', as you're so fond of calling him?"

He sighed and plopped down next to her. "The very same."

Of course, the other three friends gazed at them with gaping mouths – although it was clearly metaphorically speaking when it came to Green. He simply looked between the two in mild perplexity.

Red was the first to become coherent. "Wait. You know each other?"

The brunette rolled her eyes. "Of course! Unlike the three of you, I do actually have friends outside of this table, you know…"

Her comment was met by angry frowns from the boys, though Yellow remained unresponsive, and, well, that simply wouldn't do.

Blue smiled at her amazing luck and got right down to it. "So, Yellow, what was that about your life being uninteresting…?"

In response, the blonde simply groaned and put her head on the table.


The moment the door separating the cafeteria from the hallway banged shut, Crys whirled on him. "What the hell is going on here, Gold?"

The amber-eyed boy threw his hands up in defense. "I'm asking for her help, is all!"

"You're not making any sense! How do you even know her?"

Gold sighed and ran a hand through his hair in exasperation. "Okay, look. I met her yesterday just after the two of us had that blowout. She offered to give us counseling" – he air quoted the word – "so as to help keep our relationship stable."

Crystal crossed her arms and chewed on her lip. "Fair enough. But why take her up on this offer? Weren't you saying just last night that you like our relationship just the way it is?"

That had been a necessary white lie. Somehow, he didn't think being told he'd rather keep his limbs intact wouldn't go over well with the girl.

"Weren't you just saying last night that our relationship is dysfunctional?" He scowled, then. "Damn, I'm getting sick of that word. Isn't there any other way to describe a slightly unusual relationship?"

"Terminally insane?" Crys cracked in response.

Gold chuckled at that. "We're getting off topic here. My point is, you're right. The way we're conducting this relationship is —" he started to say dangerous to my health, but quickly amended it, "— not healthy. So I figured, why not give this girl a try? Maybe she can help, maybe she can't, but we don't have anything to lose, so…"

She jutted her lower lip out and pouted. "I don't know… I mean, why does she want to help us, anyway? She doesn't know us, and it just seems too weird. Besides, I really don't like the idea of laying our relationship out on the table for some stranger to nitpick at."

A roll of golden eyes. "True, I don't really know her well, but from what I've seen, she seems to be an honest to goodness saint. She's helping because, from the bottom of her heart, she wants to. Don't ask me why; I don't know. She's got her own goody-two-shoes prerogative. If she thinks she can mend this broken relationship, then I say let her."

Crystal squirmed uncomfortably. "I still don't like the sound of this… do you really want to get relationship counseling, especially from a random student?"

Gold sighed, muttering Difficult woman, before clasping her hands in his own. "Crystal. I care about you. I'm doing this for you – for us. I know it seems a bit too personal for a stranger to get involved, but I think it's for the best. Do you trust me?"

Blue eyes met gold, and she squeezed his hands in reluctant consent. "Okay."


By the time the two made it back to the lunchroom, Blue had long since abandoned her attempts to poke fun at the blonde – it's hard to do anything to a statue. Yellow hadn't moved a muscle, staring morosely at her cold food.

"So you're childhood friends?"

Red's inquiry was met with a beaming grin. "Yep! I've known Silver here from even before I met you two boys!"

Green raised an eyebrow. "Has there ever been a time in your life when you haven't had a boy to torture?"

Red laughed at that. "Probably not."

The girl sulked and mocked offense, sticking her tongue out at them. Silver gave a small smile, happy to know that she had made such good friends, and waved at the returning couple.

Noting their return herself, Yellow pulled herself up and gave them a smile – though it was obvious how strained it was.

Not one to beat around the bush, Gold started right in, "We accept your offer, for real this time."

Crystal, ever the voice of reason, continued, "Yes. But… how exactly do you plan to 'counsel' us?" She, too, air quoted the word – clearly her beau was influencing her more than she let on.

The blonde frowned. "Um… I haven't thought that far yet. I guess… professionally?"

Everyone else at least covered a snort of amusement - if not outright laughed - at her unhelpful answer, but the only indication of glee on the onyx haired girl's face was the slightest quirk of her lips. "I… see. Would you mind expanding on that a bit?"

Yellow blushed in humiliation. "Um, well… find a time when all three of us are available and then hold a session in an empty classroom…?" she ventured.

The couple shared a glance and Gold admitted, "It's not a bad idea."

Crystal sighed, shaking her head slightly, but accepted it. "It'll have to do. We've both got a free period after lunch, and from what I've been told you met Gold at such a time, so you do, too…?"

"Only on Tuesdays and Thursdays," the blonde said.

It was at that point that the bell rang, signaling that lunch was over.

The whole group was shocked. No one had touched their food at all, and truthfully it had seemed as if time had stopped to allow the flood of events to pass.

The three eldest left swiftly, shouting goodbyes as they left.

Yellow hurried on, rushed. "I have class now, so… I guess you'll call me?"

Before the person who actually had her number – namely, Gold – could speak up, Crys responded, "No, you're the one setting things up." She pulled a pen out of her pocket and handed it to the rushed blonde. "Give me your hand."

Perplexed, Yellow did as she was told, and the taller girl scribbled her number down as quickly as she could. That done, she gave a small bow to the two – missing their incredulous expressions at her doing such a thing – and ran off, shouting her own goodbyes.

"I'll call as soon as I've secured a room!"

The remaining two – actually, three; Silver was still sitting quietly at the table, observing everything from the sidelines – stayed there awkwardly.

Gold cleared his throat nervously. "So…"

The pigtailed girl responded, "So?"

Silver sighed, while the other two shuffled around without any true purpose. A very clearly awkward silence fell over the trio, and he surprised them by being the one to break it, asking the pointless yet necessary question Gold had felt compelled to ask.

"Now what?"


The rest of the day passed in a relative blur, at least for Yellow. All too soon she found her last class to be ending, and as she gathered her assorted books and supplies she thanked her luck that this particular class was so close to the one she was going to detour from the dorms for.

Ten minutes later she stood outside the door to her first class of the day. She could hear Professor Lance shuffling around inside, and knew he was alone. His last class had just ended – how coincidental that his schedule ended with hers.

Five minutes later she was still standing outside his door, not knowing how to go about what asking she wanted.

Two minutes later she convinced herself that she'd knock… as soon as she gathered the courage.

Three minutes later she had steeled herself and her hand was slowly but surely making the journey to meet wood.

The door opened before she'd even touched it, and she drew back sharply. Lance stared at her, unimpressed. "I don't have all day to wait around for you to knock, you know."

She let out a small Eep! of fright, and then blushed as his words sunk in. "P-professor! How long did you know I was out here?"

He gave her a sardonic look. "Long enough. Was there something you wanted, Miss Grove, or was my door just quite fascinating?"

Yellow was sure her face was going to be permanently stained red after today – how many hours can one spend blushing? "W-well…" No sense puttering about. Be direct now. "You don't have a class right after lunch, right?"

Lance raised an eyebrow. "That's correct. But what does it matter?"

Now came the difficult part. She still firmly believed that he was a nice guy, but that didn't mean he wasn't intimidating…

"W-well, I was hoping I could use your room on Tuesdays and Thursdays for…" I can't tell him that's it's so I can be a relationship counselor! Heck it sounds insane, even to me! "…a project. Yeah. A project!"

And in a way, she wasn't even lying. Helping those two was a project… in a sense.

He put a finger to his chin and appeared to think about it. "Hmm… well, I suppose as long as you're quiet I could put up with you."

And that was when Yellow realized that there had been a terrible misunderstanding.

"No! You can't —" she bit down on her lip, hard, to keep from talking. I can't tell him he can't be in his own room! I've got no right! To even think of kicking him out is absurd.

"Can't what?"

He frowned down suspiciously at her, and she looked at her feet, unable to meet his eyes. But… there's no way that I can hold those sessions with him there. He'd never approve, and even if he did, there's no way the people I'm helping would! It's bad enough that they'll be pouring their hearts out to me, but to a teacher? There's just no way!

"Speak, Miss Grove. Finish what you've started."

She flinched at the impatience in his voice. "I mean… I need to have your room… without you… in it," she finished lamely, fully aware that it was a completely ridiculous request and that she would be shot down instantly.

"Are you honestly asking that I just lend you my room?"

Yellow looked up at him, chewing her lip worriedly – she was vaguely aware that somewhere along the line she had bitten it so fiercely that it was bleeding lightly. The bitter tang tasted horrible.

She gave him a small, hopeful smile. "…Yes?"

He must have stared at her in disbelief for at least a full minute before sighing and whirling back into the cause of all this debate – that is, he went back into the classroom. The blonde followed him cautiously.

"Asking for me to vacate my own room twice a week is a bit extreme," he finally muttered.

Her jaw dropped. Does that mean… "Sir? Are you really going to let me borrow your room?"

His back was still turned to her. "I suppose. But only once a week. Not twice. Either Tuesday or Thursday, pick one."

She gave his back a million watt smile and resisted the temptation to hug him. One, that would be highly inappropriate, and two, she had a snaking feeling doing so would cause him to retract his most generous offer. "Thank you so much, Professor! Really, thank you! And, um, either day is fine, really."

He sighed. "Tuesday, then. Be in just after lunch, and I'll already be gone. Leave before the bell rings, as I need to be settled and here before the students arrive. Are we clear?"

She bowed gratefully to his back – he was still turned away, rummaging through his desk – and exclaimed, "Of course! And thank you again! I'll see you Monday!"

Of course, before she'd even gotten five feet away, he called her back. "Miss Grove!"

"Eh? Yes, Professor?"

"Class today… it was unusually quiet. Why?"

Yellow smiled. "I thought you liked it being quiet?"

"Don't misunderstand. I'm thankful that today went so peacefully, but not so moronic as to assume it will stay that way. I'm simply wondering what has put everyone in such a somber disposition."

She realized then that he was honestly confused, and frowned. "You really don't know? Did you not see the news? Team Rocket has got everyone worried."

He perked up at that, eyeing her intently. "Team Rocket? What about them?"

"They've… taken over Saffron City, sir."

Not one to casually display emotions, even Lance couldn't hide his shock. "Saffron City? They're so close…"

Again, Yellow bit her lip – she was beginning to develop a habit, and if the blood was any indication, it was a bad one. "Is everything okay?"

But he waved her away. "It's fine. You're dismissed."

The look on your face says things are far from fine… The blonde nodded, uncertain and unhappy to end things like that, but obeyed.


"You're late." Blue cast a curious gaze on her roommate, who didn't really answer, just nodded. The blonde yawned and stretched, and that was when she saw it – scrawled across her palm so obviously, just waiting to be commented on; and to make the moment sweeter, she could comment on it! Repeatedly! She could gossip about Yellow as much as she wanted.

"Ooh! Is that a phone number? A boy's phone number? Why Yellow, I had no idea that you'd gotten over Red! Why didn't you tell me?"

A ring of truth was in there among playful teasing, but the brunette squashed it and shoved it to the farthest corner of her mind.

As expected, the blonde blushed again, and shook her head quickly, going into denial. "No, no! This isn't what it looks like! It's not even a boy's number!"

Blue was disappointed, but not surprised. Still, she had to poke fun. "Switching teams, are you?"

In response, Yellow let out a very put-upon sigh. "No, I am not. It's how I'm going to contact those two people I'm helping."

The elder girl yawned. "Oh, well that's boring. I'm gonna go take a shower."

The blonde recalled, then, that she had secured a room, and dove for her phone. Hopefully the number didn't get smudgy…

One ring. Then another. Then–

"Hello?"

"Hi, it's, um, Yellow."

"…I'm sorry, who?"

The confusion was evident in the girl's voice, and she realized then that they had never actually introduced themselves. "Yellow. I'm the girl from lunch that you and your boyfriend are getting counseling from?"

Unlike the others, she said the word with a straight face.

"Oh! I didn't expect a call from you so soon! Does this mean you've managed to get ahold of a room?"

She smiled. "Actually, yes… If you two are up to it we can meet as soon as…"


AN- That is not a cliffhanger. I trailed off in a way that you're supposed to imagine the conversation continuing. So yeah. Hopefully you all are glad for an update, even though it sucks in my own opinion. It STARTED good, but just kind of deteriorated in quality as it went… Part of the problem might be that I rushed to finish it, wanting to have updated at least one more fic before June ends... Reviews are appreciated!