AUTHOR'S NOTE

ME: Well, it's been a few chapters long now and I can't hide my happiness! I think it's only've been a month and now I've got TEN chapters going! Holy fudge, I really AM in a hurry.

YELLOW: Oosh. . . TEN chapters?

GOLD: Can't you count?

YELLOW: Of course I can! Though. . . what's Nicole-chan gonna do after THIS?

GOLD: . . .

GOLD: Yeah, good point. What ARE you gonna do after this?

ME: A few Harry Potter stories, I guess! But only a Oneshot's in my mind, so that means only one chapter which is equivalent to about three and a half days of work without the internet and 55% of the work given to typing the story with the idea of what I'm going to do divided by 23 hours and 56 minutes (approximately 24 hours to daylight) and 30 minutes of taking the story within the range of 3 and a half days to the internet I'd say it'll be a few weeks' time until I finish this story.

GOLD: WT*? o.O

YELLOW: What. . . was THAT?

ME: What, even though I'm clueless doesn't mean I can't be Math-smart (SMILES SHEEPISHLY)

GOLD: . . . THAT. . . was. . . CLUELESS WORK?

ME: Yeah, compared to my other brainy friends. They work faster than that, I guess.

YELLOW: So you're telling us that you're clueless by COMPARISON?

ME: Oh well! Now that that's done, thanks for everything, everyone!

GOLD: Seriously, you call yourself an idiot yet you managed to understand WT* you just said, so what in your crappy opinion are Yellow and I?

ME: Erm, can you rephrase that? (SMILES SHEEPISHLY)

REPLIES TO REVIEWS

Pika127: Oh? Well- (scans dictionary for need of better word)- I've never felt so contrite and- (synonyms, snynonyms)- com-pun-c-chi-uos- right, COMPUNCTIOUS in my life for making you feel as conscience-smitten as I am now. As penitential as I am now, I can't bear to see- is that supposed to be READ?- anyone sad. It just makes ME sad.

So we'll just get on with the story!

TENTH CHAPTER: BILL

Yellow gaped at staring at the island above it, Kitty's wings fluttering violently of her dead weight which came unnoticed to her. She closed her mouth and felt it go dry as all the saliva in her mouth evaporated or simply just went down the drain- and by drain it meant the tube that directs food into the stomach. . .

Speaking of stomach. . .

Yellow's stomach had been growling like a monster now- she can't help it, she was hungry, but her growing interest in the island was much worth it than having a full stomach.

She darted her eyes from one part of the island to another and it suddenly became clear to her as flashes of memories exploded inside her mind's eye and kept on nagging her what was left behind all this time she'd been here and she couldn't remember, all those times she heard herself mutter in her dreams. . . All it needed was one answer. . .

This was what Barty had drawn in his calligraphy.

This was what nagged Yellow all those times. . . And this was it. Mirage Island. Gold told her all about it and she was worried about how boyishly she acts- she kind of felt weird and guilty at the thought of it but now, it all seemed too weird to be true. . . An island that he said had been banished from the face of the earth and will return in one month. . . One month equivalent to seven here and divided by how time was split is the answer: 3-and-a-half months.

Another answer popped right in front of Yellow, an answer that proved her to be right about hiding her true gender and taking refuge as an islander for a while- Bill.

Bill- Bill- Bill. . . He'd be the answer to everything here, in Yellow's life here, in Mirage Island. . . All she needed was to find him- which would be hard, she didn't see his face- she was feeling guilty of what she had done instead but now was not the time to worry about that- although Red did. More than that, he KNEW him. He was his best friend along with Green. The whole lot of them were best friends, and yet Yellow had never felt so idiotic in her entire life- she would've just seen his face if it weren't for Red's-

Hold on- why was she blaming him?

"Kitty-" she managed to whisper out of shock, but Kitty wasn't answering back. Yellow craned her neck and looked up. . .

Yellow's eyes widened in both surprise and horror as Kitty's wings were flapping slowly and apparently, he seemed to be reaching his limit now, pulling themselves up so high in the sky seemed to have weaken him along with her weight that's heaving them down- was this plan going to shambles as-

"Oh cra- -"

She could feel herself being pulled down- her straw hat was beginning to slip from her grasp along with her fishing rod- but that wasn't the point, though she kept clutching them both tightly with both of her hands- she can't die now, she just can't- What will Gold and Uncle Wilton say? She managed to open her eyes despite the wind forcing them to shut and saw that Kitty was falling ahead of her.

Panic rising in her body and fear creeping behind her spine even as she continued to fall, she dived headfirst so that she and Kitty will at least hold on to each other before they die. . .

Death was waiting for them to come, she realised too late as she made swimming gestures over to Kitty, who was- even though his eyes were wide open, but he's a Bug-type after all- unconscious during their fall- Fall to DEATH?

Yellow couldn't believe she'd fallen again from her attempt to fish over the boulder-thingy, because this must be her worst yet- Kitty had already lost conscious and Yellow was left to use her instincts on what to do- why hadn't she noticed this earlier? What the hell has gotten into her when they'd flown a few hundred feet higher up?

"No, Kitty- please wake up! I don't even know how to fly!" she pleaded, trying to wake Kitty up whilst falling down the sky about over 300 feet- she held on to her fishing rod for safety and for dear life and didn't care what was going on as she closed her eyes, hugging Kitty with her left hand so that he wouldn't die as well.

Curiosity had gotten the best of her and now they're gonna DIE- how pathetic was that? Was this the second time she almost died within the last five minutes? Yellow didn't feel idiotic at all anymore- but something worse made her stomach feel horrible, something more than idiocy: guilt. Was this because she didn't notice her pokemon's feeble attempts at hovering in the air with her dead weight? She hadn't flown him for years!

Then again, she knew this moment was going to come, she knew what must be done- nothing- and knew that her time was up. . . just now. Yellow closed her eyes automatically as these thoughts ran inside her mind. . . Though if she'd chosen the best place to die, she would rather it would be within her house because the last persons she wanted to see were her family and friends (Though Blue, Chris and Platinum would be way creeped out by Gold. Maybe Sapphire would come, at least).

This was the stupidest way to die.

"Please God, give me a chance," she prayed, her eyes open now, gulping nervously- she felt like they were only a few feet from death now. . . "If You wanted me to die, then this was the least place I wanted to die-"

She felt Kitty flap his wings and she grabbed the oppurtunity to climb on his back- though she paid it with a price as a gust of wind swept by them as they fell-

"Ah, m-my ha. . ." she said hopelessly as she tried to jump from Kitty's back the same time she managed to successfully climb behind him but only reached out her hand because Kitty wasn't giving her any chances for that. Her straw hat was flying away as it drifted along the wind's currents. . .

Kitty launched his wings and- Yellow didn't know where they were headed for her eyes were blinded by the leaves and dust the gust had blown into her eyes- Yellow felt rocks brush against her hair and her skin before she heard a splash: they landed-

"What the-? This is the pond!" Yellow gasped, swimming toward the corner of the pool, soaked. She noticed that the corner of the small pond was disgustingly mossy with- with moss, but this was no time to be concerned of such petty things. Yellow spit the water in her mouth so that she could breath properly- and more importantly, think properly.

She glanced behind her shoulder and looked for any signs of Kitty. "K-Kitty!" she said, gasping still, the water still trying to calm itself from their unusual timing of landing in there with a splash. She clutched her fishing rod and dived into the water, trying to look for any signs of life- and, hopefully- Kitty.

It was actually a good thing they had landed on water- Yellow was, of course, nearly as good in swimming as she was in fishing. Water sports seemed to be what she does best. Running will be a nightmare. She held her breath for a while, opening her eyes in the clean, fresh water: it was a pond, after all. She was surprised to see that a great amount of Fish Pokemon (along with fish, sweet, delicious fish) was inside the boulder-wall-thingy. She squinted her eyes for a better sight.

She had already wasted fifteen seconds of breath but she can hold a whole lot longer than that- and for a really good reason, she'll have to try her best to stay underwater. Yellow wanted to blink, but that just might let her go back up again: she had dived almost three meters underwater already and still hadn't found Kitty yet. She definitely heard another splash before her.

She couldn't have imagined it. Kitty must be here. She felt her hair drift along with her in the water and tried her hardest not to remember when the last time she'd bathed in the ocean. . . It was a long time ago, when she hadn't faked her gender yet. She shook her hand aggressively. She was distracting herself. Good Lord. . . she was acting like Chris. Was this kind of experience inexplicably turning Yellow into her? It wasn't bad, though it wouldn't hurt to have fun once in a while.

Something moved. She was sure of it. It wasn't blue or anything- it was white. Pulling down her hair so that she wouldn't feel so restricted much that had prevented her from swimming freely, she swam in a backstroke over to that area, feeling the air in her mouth pop up any second. But it can't be- it was still. . .

"Mmmmmphh-!"

Yellow felt her foot being strangled by something. She was so caught in surprise that she literally let out a scream but no sound came out- instead of her voice, it was air in the form of bubbles. She'd lost her time underwater. . .

"Kmmmmm bwo bwooo. . ." she moaned, barely feeling the grip she was giving on her fishing rod- she couldn't breathe, and she had to get herself out of this situation. . . She can't die after twice of nearly getting killed by falling. . . This must be an off-day for her or something. Three times in a row. . .

Her ankle was sore and she couldn't feel it anymore- she felt her life being sapped away from her- again- and she still hadn't found Kitty. . . Her pokeballs were right in her belt bag- if she could just reach it- Omny, he's the right one to be here, it's underwater, he'd fight this thing-

But the problem is, she doesn't even know what this thing was. If Omny had a disadvantage, they're done for- and it seemed as if she was the first to be done for. Though dying seemed to be a pretty better way to live than living here in Mirage Island. . . What was she thinking, she's still alive and can just wait for death- but that. . . is a death option.

She looked down below her- it was too dark to see its other features, but she was sure she saw a hand, a white one- but it couldn't possibly be human, could it? This deep in a pond and had such strength. . . Her breath was short-lived, and so was she. . . Using the last strength she had, she reached for Omny's pokeball slowly as the creature-thingy and her went deeper into the pond- she realized that 4 minutes had already elapsed- and her breath had already gone just so long ago.

Just as she was about to finally touch the button that releases Omny, something had prevented it from happening: Yellow couldn't hold the remaining air she had longer- she had to force them out. . . Thinking it may not be of much use anyway, she thought of loosening her grip on the fishing rod in her other hand to decrease the weight- but instead, it just tightened and Yellow struck the rod at the creature-thingy and it let out a cry- not a battle cry- she released the air in her mouth and bubbles escaped from it: the grip of the creature-thingy had loosened and she was able to move now- but sorely, because its grasp on her hand and ankle seemed to have weakened her too much for her to carry on. . .

It was a Poliwhirl. . . White hands, and the strength- but she didn't know what came over it to drag her deeper underwater- its eyes were poked by her rod and it seemed to have swam away in fright, though Yellow could read its mind and what she extracted was rage. But it was all over now, she'll eventually drift upwards and not die, though her efforts were wasted: she hadn't found Kitty. But it was herself she should worry about- her air had gone into the form of bubbles and she doesn't have something to breathe with. . .

Yellow felt herself drift below the surface of the pond. . . This was a pathetic and weird way to die. . . The weirdest part was where she had to die. . . But nothing can get weirder than this other than dying by falling from the sky.

The pond was a little bigger than she thought it was. The circumference was just the size of seven men formed in a circle, but she guessed that below the boulder-wall-thingy and the ground that lead to the wall of the school- the reason why there was no window in the back of it- was that just beneath it was another part of the pond. That explains why the ground Dody had run on was so hard: there must be some kind of hard cement that supports the weight of the school- a really hard kind, kind of like a Caterpie's String Shot skill mixed with the hard, steely elements that forms a Metagross.

She could've sworn she'd heard a splash. . . then thought she saw something move in the corner of her eye. . . But everything was a blur to her now- something was motioning towards her- either it was human or pokemon, it can't be worse than the one that attacked her, can it? It had hands- it must be human, then- and had feet: he or she- he, because it was Mirage Island, of course- swam closer to her and seemed to have halted.

Yellow wanted to let him know that she was there- but didn't move. She just floated upwards slowly of the bouyancy and felt her whole body ease and she saw everything blur and fade into nothingness- in the pitch-black she thought she felt him close to her and that was all she could get out from this situation forward. . . She'd fainted.

...

"Yellow, wake up, wake up. . . "

Something stirred in front of her mind's eye. Everything swirled and the colors had changed, twirling into focus- Yellow squinted her eyes only. She wanted to be sure where she was before making a mistake and misunderstanding again. There was light: the flourescent light was a bit dim- she could see the sunlight shining through the curtains and was even brighter than it did. Sunlight. . . She could feel the atmosphere in the room tell her- not exactly tell her, but you know- it was noon, that day she'd fainted- had it not elapsed a day yet? She realized that it was the first day of the month- time here must be going too slow for the time in Hoenn.

It was pure instinct that told her not to open her eyes too wide yet: why? This is the third time she'd been lying unconscious by something- either from a storm/mudstorm or underwater. It just had to associate with water- and had been awoken by people she had yet to know. This was all too de ja vu for her. And yes- she understands French but can't speak it, sad, but true.

Yellow remained still and silent and her eyes were squinted to see who was waking her up- still, because the dolt still doesn't know she was awake. Red and Green waking her up was different. She trusts them.

Yeah, but you just don't have enough guts to tell them your're a girl.

Wait, where's that coming from?

Are you kidding me? It seems as if I'm the only one with brains.

You're my brain, aren't you? If you are, then that's why you're the one with brains =P

You're making faces at yourself if I'm part of you.

Unebeknownst to both Yellow and her brain- er, Yellow only- the man had looked dubious. Yellow snapped back to reality from hers and snapped open her eyes abruptly when the man had said, "Yellow, I know you're awake."

When she opened her eyes, she saw a man- no doubt only a few years older than both Red and Green- staring at her with friendly eyes- friendly black eyes. Nothing but shock and surprise overcame her- but panic. He knew now- after all, he must be the one who rescued her from underwater- she had to thank him properly for saving her and for not doing, you know, it- he had brown hair, a brunette, and Yellow's stomach did a backflip- she knew this man, grinning down at her sheepishly- he arranged his necktie- he looked like he had just graduated school and Yellow had never seen anyone look so professional- and his collar. His long sleeved work shirt seemed to be too clean for its own good, in Yellow's opinion, because the guy just doesn't have any dirty spots; his hair was neat, calmer and nicer-looking than that of both Red's and Green's. He was cleaner and neater than Gold, Red and Green combined.

Yellow wanted to speak, but she can't. She was still in a bit of a shock. She gulped and tugged her turtle neck nervously. Bill looked down upon her, still smiling- she could feel her knees weak: was she a sucker or what? First it was Green then Red- then Bill, or is it just her liking for nice men? Either way, she still thinks that appearance will be the last thing she'll look for in a guy- but something inside her says in Blue's flirty voice, whispering in her ear: Don't think of me as shallow, but you must agree: if you like to have cute-looking babies, then at least you'll get a fifty-fifty chance if you nab a cute guy.

"You fell a fair few times, you know? Because- I guess you already know this- beneath the school is a magnetic field to keep the classroom on top of the pond, because if that goes out of hand- and your fishing rod's at the table- I'm sorry- but the bouyancy of the water has been tampered with because of the magnetic field and can't work like that anymore, so that's what kept you from rising up the water."

So now Yellow knows what the reason was for her falls. She didn't speak yet.

Bill took a seat next to her on the bed, looking sheepish still, and Yellow raised her bed sheet covers up to her nose, trying to cover what had already been seen- no, not anything bad, she was talking about her hair- and it was pulled down, so it was already obvious she was a girl. They sat in silence still when Yellow said meekly, "Who are you?"

Somehow, she already knew the answer before he replied. Of course she did, but she's got nothing to talk about to start a conversation- apart from Where am I? And that somehow had black pointy hair.

Bill moved his lips and said, looking at her now, raising his head from his reverie, "Bill, just call me Bill, Yellow."

She recalled him saying her name a bunch of times now- why does he know? She opened her mouth to ask and what came out was a shy, "Owdidooknow?"

For the first time in a fair few days, she heard someone laugh at her. Yellow smiled slightly, still shy, and still shut up. She was so not like herself now- on the contrary, in fact- and gave a sigh. Bill covered his mouth to shut himself up and, looking as though he was trying to fight the urge to laugh- unsuccesfully, like Gold- said, "Oh, Yellow- I've known for quite a while now."

Panic stricken, Yellow tried to hide it and still remained to be quiet. Had Red told him? If he did- does that- even as much as Yellow knows she likes (a little) the guy- idiot know? If Bill told him, she swore to beat the daylights out of him using Gravvy-

"Gravvy. . . Kitty. . . Dody," she muttered hoarsely, looking anywhere but nowhere. Where in hell were they? She felt Bill's eyes look at her in smitten, and- even though she wasn't really listening, she heard him- said, he seemed to be raising his eyebrows, "Your Graveler, Butterfree and Dodrio? I returned them to your pokeballs once I've found them."

"Thanks," said Yellow, her voice cracking. Then another thought appeared in her mind, wanting to question it, "Why didn't you-?"

"Why didn't I follow the rules and did it with you?" said Bill, his eyebrows still raised. Yellow nodded mutely- how did he even know? It's like he could read her mind like an open book or something- something Yellow had despised so dearly was that anyone could read her thoughts and use it against her in a sly way, she was reminded instantly of her best friend Blue. But it was clear that a blush crossed his face and he looked away immediately. "I wanted to help you. And, besides, I've got someone else in mind, anyway."

Yellow looked at him curiously, when she raised her head, Bill was looking apprehensive.

"No, I'm not homosexual, you know," he said, sounding hurt, still not looking at her- Yellow was beginning to feel the corners of her mouth twitch involuntarily and break a smirk- "And I'm not going to tell you, anyway. And Red's cancelled your tour round Mirage Island."

AUTHOR'S NOTE

ME: Thanks for taking time to read, everyone! I know it's kinda short =P Shortest one YET! Keep loving, smiling and all the other important things else. And I hope you understood the explanation- again. =P You know, about the bouyancy.

YELLOW: At least I did now.

GOLD: I still don't =(