Pokémon

Holy cheese and crackers!

Grade 12 and don't know what you want to do for the rest of your life...or even University? It feels pretty freakin' crappy. But hey, you can just take a little bit of everything in high school just in case, like me. Chances are, I probably won't need pre-calculus or calculus for whatever I end up doing. So WHY AM I THERE? Because taking the hardest courses I could find seemed like the best way to go at the time. On the plus side, I'm actually doing good. But how much work will teachers give you before realizing that you have better things to do with your evening?

*Breathes* Now that that's out of the way *shoves mountain of homework to the side* I shall FINALLY post this chapter.

People who favorited or followed or is a little ghost that pops in to read without a name or leaving a trace...hey I don't judge. But thanks for the support :D It makes me smile knowing people like it and makes me feel good as somebody who likes to write when possible that people are there reading :)

cpdx: Ummm...update wasn't soon :( my bad. Hope your still reading anyway! Cuz if not it would be like talking to myself right now... Ah, unfortunately I do not have deviantart. Message again soon :)

julie .ramirez2015: I saw your review while I was checking my e-mail and was like "You know what, I actually have time right now. Let's do this!" Thanks for reviewing :)

This chapter seems kind of like a filler to me, but I suppose it had to be done. Tried to add some humour...not sure how it worked but I tried.

Long chapter make it all better? No? ...Virtual cookie and milk?

Chapter 38 – That Which Must Be Done

After a trying and tiring few days, now back in the solace of the Canalave City Pokemon Centre, Alex took a long shower, an hour-long catnap, changed into clean clothes and followed the fanning scent of warm food…but still felt pretty crappy. The lack of sleep hung over her like a dark veil, creating a hood over her darkened eyes down to the droopy sweater, loose sweats and the ever-cozy fuzzy slippers.

Yes, that's right. Fuzzy slippers, for Alex vowed that she wasn't leaving the Pokemon Centre the entire day because the island was out to get her.

"…" Paul regarded the girl quietly from the bench across from her. Her interesting footwear choice was planted on the plush surface of her seat, knees pulled up to her chin and arms constricting her limbs all together. And even though this was all meant for her comfort, the brunette was as tense as ever, brisling against anything that threatened to cause her more grief.

"What?" the girl muttered sulkily, burying her face into the soft material covering her legs until only her eyes were visible.

"…" With a shrug, the purplette averted his eyes to the window, where the sky had taken on an astonishing shade of grey that could be mistaken for a cloud of black smog at first glance. The dusky cover hung low upon the city, unyielding to the once cheerful blue sky or for the noon-high sun to peek through. And if everything in the always-bright Pokemon Centre were to settle down, there would be a faint rumbling rolling in from across the churning ocean.

Alex reached down and stroked her slippers with a sigh. She had put eevee and the rest of her pokemon back in their pokeballs to rest, seeing as they also had a trying few days and they deserved to sleep in. The girl felt kind of lonely, and increasingly sick about smashing her best friend over the head with a log. Especially when she found out he was only out in the woods because he was worried about her. And Paul's silent attitude made it almost seem as if she were sitting all by her listless, lonesome self.

"Sorry about the wait. Alex, you'll be happy to know that Gary is recovering fine. I've settled him in to rest and he may have some trouble focusing when he gets up." At least Nurse Joy remained overly-bubbly and positive, emerging from the back room with her traditional smile.

The trainer's response was a miniscule nod and a yawn. "I need coffee," she mumbled quietly, barely registering anything around her or the words spoken to her.

"Right awa-"

"NO! Don't do it!" came a shrill shriek, found to be the thought-to-be-unconscious Gary Oak as he ran over and just about trampled over the startled pink-haired nurse. He was followed closely by a less than happy, waddling pink pokemon, though the boy either didn't care or didn't notice. He placed his hands on Nurse Joy's shoulders with wide, dilated pupils. "She'll go crazy! Don't give it to her! It's like giving a fully loaded gun to an assassin; she could kill everyone!"

The brunette lifted her head away from her knees, now in full awareness, to glare at her so-called friend. "Excuse me?"

Gary whipped his head back and forth defiantly. "Don't listen to her! She's worse than a swarm of angry beedril. Worse than a terrorizing, fire-breathing dragon that has been stung by a swarm of angry beedril! Worse than-"

"Oak, do you want to end up in a coma for the rest of your life?!" Alex roared, rolling her sleeves up to her biceps threateningly. "I swear, Oak, I'm not running on very much sleep so don't test me. Do not make my fuzzy slippers hit this floor or I'll dropkick you all the way to-"

"Now, now, let's everybody calm down," Nurse Joy stated firmly, spinning herself and the hysterical boy around so she stood between the two teens. Her tone was stern as she crossly placed her fists on her hips and stared down her patient. "Mr. Oak, you are supposed to be in your room resting."

"Meep!" Gary ducked behind the strict nurse, slid under the table, and cowered behind Alex. "No! Lexi, don't make me go back to the white room! Do you have any idea who I am? I'm the grandson of-hey, your hair smells really good."

Still in her curled up position, the girl watched with a raised brow as Gary lifted a long strand of her chocolate-colored hair up to his nose and inhaled as much as he could. "What's wrong with him?" she asked hesitantly, tugging the strand of hair away from the boy in case he decided to try to eat it.

Nurse Joy gave the girl a hesitant smile. "Well, I knew he would have trouble focusing, but it appears as though the painkillers we gave him didn't react as they should have."

"Ah," Alex turned her gaze back towards the boy, who was grinning in his seat beside her while staring unblinkingly ahead. Of course the quiet Paul, who glowered back with agitation, appeared to be the object of his amusement, at least for a moment. Alex sighed. "I'll take care of him. Just bring me some pancakes, I guess."

"Sure thing…" the nurse replied slowly, eyeing the table tentatively. She turned on her heel and fled from the table, and with a sigh, her chansey wobbled behind.

Paul's eye twitched, unwilling to back down from the awkward and irritating stare down that the idiot across from him had commenced. As he grew more unnerved by each passing moment, the boy remained with the same unblinking, smirking visage.

Brown orbs lazily watched the two, almost unnoticeably scooting away from her seat buddy. Once she was as far as she could get without falling out of her seat, still disregarded by both boys, she heaved a deep breath and cuddled back into herself.

"Lexi! What's the matter, Little Lexi?" Gary pounced on his best friend, nearly toppling her off of the bench. The only reason she was still upright was because his arms enclosed around her and squished the girl tighter into her fetal position. He kept on sprouting out things about how she must have been lonely without his awesomness around her, listing all the reasons he was awesome, how she was almost awesome, but only because his awesomness rubbed off on her, how emo-kids were so not awesome…and he somehow missed the dark aura rolling off the other two people at the table.

"Oh, looks like everybody is getting along," Nurse Joy stated. She placed a stack of syrup-coated, strawberry-garnished, whip cream-topped pancakes in the middle of the table. She was once again in good cheer, thinking everything was fine after seeing the troublesome Gary Oak hugging his supposed 'best friend'. She also didn't notice the contradictory glare of two trainers. Instead, the flickering light behind the gloomy clouds captured her pink gaze.

"I've never seen so many large-scale storms hit our island in such a short period of time. Some of the locals are starting to worry."

"I knew this island was out to get me," the girl muttered darkly, skewering a strawberry with her fork and nibbling at its vibrant ruby flesh.

Paul rose a brow, asking, "It is an island, isn't it usual to get storms?"

"Well," the nurse hesitated, deciding whether or not to continue, "We do get our fair share of rain storms, but hardly ever like this. There was a rumor that there's a mysterious island out beyond Iron Island that is said to appear very rarely, bringing with it massive storms like this…but it's only a rumor. Most sailors won't sail when weather like this comes on."

"Tch," Paul scoffed, once again becoming uninterested, "And since nobody actually sails in the storms, nobody's seen the island that they claim could be there. As if a storm could magically make an entire island appear out of nothing."

"I don't know. There are anomalies like that all over the world that can't be explained. And how did the rumor start if nobody has ever seen it?" Gary piped up sensibly, causing everyone to stare incredulously.

"Gary, you're back!" The girl smiled as he blinked at her. Then, suddenly he collapsed headfirst onto the fluffy pillow of pancakes, the medication he was given finally efficiently sedating him.

"And there he goes," Paul finished quietly to himself, rolling his eyes and taking a bite of his breakfast, consisting of plain toast. It was still better than flat pancakes crowned with a big, egotistical head.

Alex pouted. "Aw, my breakfast!" Her stomach growled in agreement. The girl heaved a sigh and poked the boy's face with the prongs of her fork, blandly asking, "is he alright?"

"I'm sure he's fine. Concussion patients tend to sleep a lot," Nurse Joy answered evenly as though it was completely normal for her patients to drop unconscious on a plate of food under her supervision.

She returned to the previous conversation, her eyes been lit up by a sky-illuminating flash, "As to the island, though there haven't been many sailors on the water during a storm, there have been people stranded on Iron Island until it was passed who have claimed to see a silhouette of a land mass that vanished as soon as the storm blew over."

Suppressing a cringe as a more discernible clap of thunder trailed the light closely behind, Alex prodded at the edges of the remaining, semi-suitable-for-eating pancakes that subsisted the head-smushing, determined to eat some. "Well, either way, there is nothing that can make me leave this building until I believe I'm not going to get killed." She was about to take a bite of the heavenly, sugarcoated goodness before a sudden noise and buzzing from her backpack on the floor, soundless to everyone else, made her expression sour.

Beep. Beep. Beep…Beep. Beep. Beep…

Dark eyes watched from across the table as the brunette angrily tore the food from her utensil, slammed it back on the table, flung her legs to the side and making the pensive nurse jump. She grabbed the shoulder of her backpack roughly to sling it on her back, and stomped off with her fuzzy slippers squelching across the shining tile floor, muttering, "I'll be right back," under her breath.

The girl tore through her bag, not bothering to find the privacy within her room, and pressed the green button on the palm-sized black device in the middle of the bright, but otherwise unoccupied hallway. "What?" Alex quietly snapped. She wasn't too impressed at the fact her fuzzy slippers were pressing into the cold floor, away from her cozy little booth, nor was she amused at the inelegantly disheveled face of Dimentio, who took pride in being anything but, appearing on the tiny screen.

"Shadow! It's horrible! It's terrible! What are we going to do?!"

"Don't yell at me," the girl huffed, scrunching her nose. "What's your problem? Your stylist go on vacation? Barber jump off a cliff? Somebody steal all your mirrors?"

The ebony haired man growled, pushing a hand through the spiked strands. Nonetheless, the irritation forced past the near anxiety attack and he was able to speak more clearly, though spite rang out in his voice. "Grim contacted me saying there's a key on some stupid island near Canalave City and it might be our only chance to get it, but our jet is under repair. Dark is in Jubilife, but with the weather the blimp to get across is closed so there's nothing we can do except hope that none of those other idiots are there!" he finished with a sneer.

'Oh no, not the island. It can't be…' "Uh, I'm here…" 'No! Bad brain! Shut up and don't speak without permission!'

Green eyes flashed with optimistic attentiveness across the screen. "Here? Here where?"

The brunette winced, uncertainly answering, "Here in Canalave." She had a feeling her fuzzy slippers weren't going to find the comfort of the plush, red cushions of her bench again anytime soon.

"Oh…" The charming man looked stunned for the first time since she met him. He looked off to the side and muttered, "Why the hell didn't anybody know that?"

"And I found the Adaptability Neucleofuser…"

"The what?" Dimentio yelled, evidently shocked beyond belief. He shook his head as Alex went to explain. "No, no, I know what it is."

"…But it's at the bottom of the ocean."

It seemed to take a moment of thought, head bowed out of view, before the man revealed his charming face, eyes sparkling and lips pulled into a manipulative smile. "Well, aren't you the overachiever. If you have the ability to find and destroy a missing machine then it should be no problem finding some stupid vanishing island in the middle of nowhere then retrieve a silly old key, right?"

"Well, you see-"

"Right! I always knew you were right for this job, my darling Shadow."

"But I-"

"You come back without the key, or at least destroying it as well, you'll be the one jumping off a cliff, but we won't supply you with a parachute this time. Okay, look forward to hearing from you! Ciao!" he finished joyfully, vanishing with his scheming personality back in tact, and Alex the one close to a wreck.

"Ah damn," Alex exhaled. "This island is going to be the end of me." Heaving an exhausted groan, the girl squelched her way to her rented room to switch out her lovable footwear and find a jacket to brave the incoming elements outside. All along the way she mumbled, "Remember, Alex, your doing this to gain their trust. You need them for information. Just hang in there."

Half of the shared room looked like a tornado tore through it. Clothes lay strewn and crumpled on the floor, the chair and desk, windowsill, and her bed from this morning's attempt to get dressed. The sheets on top of the bed were twisted and folded and scrunched up by the wall, pillows crumpled and not at all where they should be. Yet, it still looked so comfy and inviting…

"Just hang in there," she recited, glaring at the pristine, un-lived-in-looking opposite side that was Paul's. The brunette marched right on past with a sneer in search of the waterproof boot that matched the one on top of the curtain rod.

After a 15-minute hunt and now garbed in a matching pair of sleek black boots, Alex strode down the hall and up to the table with purpose, setting her backpack down only long enough to shrug on and zipper a thin black raincoat. She knew that the coal eyes of her traveling partner were glued on her though she hadn't glanced at him upon reaching the table. She wasn't too keen on telling him what she was about to do after all that had happened already.

The table was quiet except for the shuffling and movement of the girl. Paul noticed she wouldn't look at him and that she was keeping her mouth shut in a straight line. He took it upon himself to ask, rather curiously because it was amazing how many ridiculous situations she seemed to get herself into, "What are you doing?"

A contemplative expression crossed the brunette's features, wondering how to word what she was going to say until it just blurted out without her brain's permission...again. "To find the island."

"…What?"

"What?!"

Alex whipped around to see the tray Nurse Joy carried tip perilously along with a fresh plate of equally deliciously-garbed pancakes, for her cry was much more alarming to catch her attention than the deadpanned one from the boy. Alex gave a small, feeble smile. "Thank you for your concern, but this is really something I must do. You know me, I'm all for adventure," she tittered, turning to tuck her sweats into her boots to break eye contact.

'Must do?' the purplette thought, yet remained quiet until the females were done with their chat.

The nurse put the plate on the table with a little more force than necessary. "You're kidding right?" she sternly assured. The motherly instincts roared up in the kind nurse and glowered at the young teen trainer.

"Sadly, no." Alex fastened her pokeball belt tightly on her hips. She had learned her lesson about wandering off on her own with the most recent scare, and she sure wasn't going to make that mistake again anytime soon. A trainer isn't exactly as efficient without pokemon. With the addition of the rest of her gear affixed to her back, she was, more or less, set for her mission.

Paul paused for a moment with his response, speculating whether the brunette was going to laugh at her own joke. It was doubtful, as well as untrue, but he still held onto that shred of hope. However, the girl didn't seem to be waning from her claim.

Though the single table was quiet, the rest of the Pokemon Centre was not. While the peculiar, smog-like clouds and spectacular streaks of lightning danced over the murky, far-off ocean had captivated the attention of many tourists into getting a closer look out by the waterside for a while, the icy droplets that began to leak from the billowing ceiling and the flashes rolling ever closer up the coast, followed by the rumbling of the thunder, was enough to scare them all back inside.

Except for a young teen trainer who was just preparing to make her exit with the hood on her jacket being tugged over her head. "Don't let Gary drown in the syrup. The Professor would be terribly upset with me…or extremely happy… Well, if you think of it then-"

"Are you insane?!"

For a moment, Alex wasn't sure who had spoken. It couldn't have come from the typically placid and cool Paul. But, seeing as there were no other conscious males in the immediate vicinity, and the purplette now stood with his hands firmly placed on the table as though he were pushing her back into her seat, she assumed that he was indeed the one who had spoken. His eyes were now in full contact with hers, challenging and with conviction. But Alex hardly skipped a beat with her response. "Most probably." Her back turned as she gritted, "Not like I have much of a choice. Of all the things they could have me do…"

Paul scoffed. "It's not like you'll find a sailor willing to take you out anyway."

"~ Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me! ~"

Alex collapsed into a fit of giggles after what seemed like hours of spinning hook-armed with a young, peppy sailor and belting out random songs. She lay on her back, feeling her body bob and rock while supported by the dark planks of wood supporting her above the riling water crashing and foaming against the hull of the ship. A torrent of rain pounded down on her face, hood long forgotten, and spilled off her raincoat and boots, but soaked her now extremely and uncomfortably waterlogged sweat pants. Still, she lay there with eyes closed and a smile on her lips, much like the captain of their ship at her side.

"Don't you think you should be, I don't know, steering the ship?" Paul, who was propped along a wall under a short awning near the captain's quarters and avoiding the bulk of the rain, leered out at the other male.

"Naw, it's much more fun this way! The wind and the sea know where they're going, so let them lead us."

Pulling herself back up onto her butt, the brunette glanced down at the sailor. "But how can we be sure the wind and the sea is going the same way we are?"

Paul face-palmed. Were they really having this conversation? It was at this time that Paul contemplated as to why he was on the violently pitching mound of boards, and how this came to be. He couldn't remember how long exactly it was since they set out on their voyage, but to his tastes and the cold, brutal weather, it was far too long.

Roughly 30 minutes prior

"Really? You will?" Alex gushed. Hey, if she was getting dragged into this mess, she was going to make an adventure out of it. Plus, now that her curiosity was piqued, her motivation was restored. The brunette was now wide awake, thanks to the rain that made it feel like you were submerged in a bucket of ice-water, and she was ready to rumble.

"Really? You will?" Paul asked with a combination or irritation and disbelief. The deep-down mean part of him that he reserved for those special people he just couldn't stand was screaming 'You should have been out of here on the first blimp last night!' He pushed his hands down further in his pockets and told that part of him to shut up.

"Really! I will!" beamed a teal-haired boy, older than them but not by too much, sitting atop a bobbing ship that much resembled an undersized pirates ship, complete with a ragged skull-and-crossbones flag trembling in the wind. He sat just beyond the spiked crown of the gaping gyarados figurehead leaping from the front of the ship, sided up against the port.

What drew Alex to him was the fact he was like a joyful ray of sunshine lost in the curtains of rain and brightening the shadow of the clouds. Though his eyes were the shade of the deep depths of the sea, his attire included an orange bandana with whimsical yellow designs matted to his short, teal hair and tanned face, a two-toned, bright yellow striped t-shirt that didn't seem to lose it's brilliance despite the downpour, baggy and tatted jean shorts with large, orange-buckled pockets, and his feet continued the vibrancy with two, orange-colored, yellow-laced shoes kicking merrily off the sides of the gyarados figure. And the closed-eyed, toothy smile he maintained despite being out in the elements never once dimmed its intensity, and that alone was enough to liven up the brunette.

"Awesome!" she cheered. Without a moments debate she was jogging halfway across the port and clambering up the flimsy wooden boardwalk to mount the ship.

The purplette never took his eyes of the stupidly grinning sailor boy, giving him a vacant look that seemed to commune "Why in the world would you do something so stupid and reckless?"

Apparently, there was a language barrier, because the boy continued to smile like there was no tomorrow. Not sensing the apprehension from the male standing in front of him, his rather childish voice called down, "Hey, are you comin' too? Ya better hurry on up!"

"Not until I know why you seem so willing to sail us out in the middle of one of the biggest storms in nearly a decade. Who are you, anyway?"

"Paul!" droned the female from the deck, her head popping over the edge near the jovial boy seconds later. Why couldn't she make friends as happy-go-lucky and optimistic as the sailor boy? His personality was so upbeat and contagious that the brunette couldn't help but go along with him. "Don't be such a party-pooper! Just because you were wrong for once in your life doesn't mean you have to take it out on everybody else. Honestly, I should have left you back at-"

Paul growled. "If I get on, will you shut up?"

Lips pulling up to match the expression of the sailor, Alex nodded happily. She watched her traveling partner sigh, appearing exceptionally gloomy since he was not at all dressed for the conditions, and trudge along the same path she had. However, as much as she didn't like to admit it, he brought up a good point.

"Who are you, anyway?" she turned to the sailor.

The teal-haired boy swiveled in his seat so he would be facing the girl, his smile doubling though she wasn't sure if it was possible. "The name's Eli, sailor extraordinaire!"

"Oh, so you've been sailing for a long time then?"

"Nope!" Eli grinned as though he were quite proud of himself. "Only about 6 months."

Alex's head quirked to the side. "But you've sailed through a storm like this before?"

"Nope! But it sounds like an adventure!"

Paul was at the girl's side by this time. The blank look was still etched on his face, hands fisted and drowning in his soggy pockets. A brow rose at the ignorantly blissful sailor, thinking for sure this would be enough to get them off of the ship and end the entire charade.

"…Good enough!"

"What?!" Paul demanded, gawking at the girl incredulously.

Eli jumped up off his post and extended his fist to the black sky. "Allll-right! Let's get the anchor up and head out!" With his thrilled exclamation, the boy hopped, skipped and jumped about the ship to set sail.

The mixture between the humid air and the ice-cold droplets plunging to the earth was causing a smoky white haze to creep out and rest on the ground and ocean surface. It didn't seem to bother Alex or Eli, who had their minds set. Paul, however, took his traveling partner by the shoulders and made her look at him.

Faced with the insistent, prying eyes of the male, the smile flickered from the brunette's lips. The cold drops stung at her rosy cheeks, which reddened under the intense gaze though she would claim it was from the cold. And when he asked why she was doing this, she didn't know what to say.

Of course she was doing this because these people, however manipulative and immoral they may be, probably knew more about her parents then both of their children combined given they were they only meaningful thing written in her father's journal. And after finding this opportunity after 10 years, she would be damned if she wasn't going to follow it as far as it would take her. But of course it couldn't be as easy as walking up to a nice group of people in a bright, friendly neighborhood and saying "hey, I'm the daughter of an old friend of yours; do you know whatever happened to them?" No. For some reason, it seemed their friends happened to be a band of misfits. And outlaws at that. And even though Ryan told her to be vigilant and to back out if she was in any trouble, and she definitely would have been shipped back to Pallet Town and put under house arrest under the watchful eye of Delia Ketchum if they ever found out what she was doing, Alex hated giving up. Besides, they had to have some helpful information for her, right?

And again, if she told any of this to Paul, he would either look at her so outlandishly, decide she was insane and jump overboard (unlikely), convince Officer Jenny to arrest her and put her in a mental institute as soon as they found land again (assuming they ever made it back to land), or scowl at her until he had a chance to escape and tell her brother that she was crazy which would lead to previously mentioned consequences.

So, it wasn't without hesitation, a good loooong deliberation and many facial expressions that the brunette finally sighed and unthinkingly muttered, "You should have stayed at the Pokemon Centre."

"…" The purplette, rather affronted, returned his hands to his pockets and looked off to the side. "Whatever," he scoffed. He turned on his heel and slogged along the deck to find shelter. If the girl wanted to catch pneumonia as well as be lost at sea with the idiot sailor, so be it.

BACK TO PRESENT TIME

Brown eyes peered through the blur-inducing rain at her companion. Sure, her remark got Paul off her back for the moment, but she regretted her choice of words. The girl blamed the many comments that spilled out of her mouth without the consultation of her brain on the lack of sleep and excessive stress. Even so, she still couldn't bring herself to apologize, because it would have been in his interest to stay out of it. She also couldn't think of anything that would make the situation better. All she could hope for was for this mission to go smoothly.

"Hey, pal!" Eli popped up in front of her. His grin intensified once he gained her full attention, as though he were trying to smile big enough for the both of them. "What's with the serious face?"

A weak twitch of the lips was all that was given in return. The gravity of her position came pouring back onto her like the bucketfuls of water pelting her body. "I just hope we can find the island, is all," she softly stated, eyes flickering back to the moping purplette.

"You mean the one over there?" the boy beamed, pointing across the dark and hazy horizon towards a spectacle that was hard to miss unless you were lost in thought or moping in a corner, even with the dense fog smothering the air.

Alex stood from her spot in a daze. Her feet carried her over to the side of the ship, the sloppy slosh of her boots splashing against the drenched surface. She felt the presence of Eli slightly behind her, and could hear the jolliness in his tone, but this time couldn't reciprocate it. "See pal, I told you the sea knew where we were going. Drew us in like a magnet."

It was enough for even Paul to glower out from his sheltered nook. Magnificent blazes of yellow reflected in his black orbs. A thunderous boom quaked through the ship's structure and rattled his bones, causing his brunette companion to shudder for an entirely different reason. The smog-like clouds seemed to be emanating from a towering, peaked shadow whose tip was submerged within the obscurity of the spiraling clouds. The frothing, writhing ocean seemed to churn and seize upon anything around the mountainous mass, and the snow-white mist rolling off its shore made it appear as if it were floating in nothingness. However no matter how thick the vapor, it was set alight in the darkness by electrifying bolts of lightning dancing round its perimeter like a fortress.

"Some stupid vanishing island my ass," Alex hissed, smelling the distinct burning stench of when lightning strikes plugging up her senses. She wanted nothing more right then but to curl up in a tight ball, go to sleep and hope that this was all a bad dream. Her nose curled. She clenched her gloved hand into a fist around a pokeball at her waist and sucked in a breath.

She was sure Paul felt somewhat the same way about their current condition. He was just as happy about being out in the middle-of-nowhere ocean during the storm as she was wandering out while a full-fledged storm was rolling out. On second though, probably even worse given that he was slumped in a corner, shivering involuntarily and glaring daggers. But, he actually knew where she was going this time, and that's all he said he wanted. Besides, she was the only one with an agenda on the island. With these thoughts, she braced her decision and took action.

"Paul?" she yelled over the multiple sounds rippling through the air. She met his eyes for just a brief second, droplets drowning most of her vision. A soft smile was barely conveyed, along with the sentence. "I'm sorry, it's something I have to do."

Paul's eyes widened. He sprinted out from under the makeshift shelter with his arm flying from his pocket and stretching outward. But it was too late.

It was too late, because with that one sentence, the young girl dove headfirst into the aggravated, watery abyss below.

Oooooh cliffhanger! Bad Piano-girl. Bad, bad!

Thanks to all that have made it through another chapter. Cheers to all, thank you kindly for choosing Piano-girl for your reading needs. Have a safe journey as you venture onwards in your lives and I hope to see you all again. If you really enjoyed your stay, please feel free to drop a review in the box, or send a private message if you would like to rant, or talk, or write about unicorns...did we get off topic?

Well, you know what time it is now, folks. It's time to say farewell and play the "When will Piano-girl update this time?" game. Really, even I don't know most of the time! Either way, I shall write for you all again another time.

Ciao for now!