*Beval Hernandez's POV:

I struggled and flapped my arms around, trying to stay above the water. I did not have on a life jacket, so thank God I knew how to swim. I coughed and gagged as small waves crashed on me. The storm was still present, the sky was still gray, the rain still came down, but the waves were calmer.

"Hey! Hey! Shimizu! Robin! Gaia! Help!" I cried out, coughing between words as I held on to a pole, which once belonged to the mainsail.

"Beval!" Gaia screamed as she hysterically flapped around in the water, several yards from me. Thank god, she was alive.

"Gaia, come to me, hang on to the pole!" I shouted to her.

She began swimming over and hanged on to the pole like her life depended on it, which it did.

"Come on, climb on!" I heard Kimberly say to Danny, Mohammed and Katie.

Farther away from us, I could see her helping them on to a huge piece of wall that was staying on top of the water. The wall was navy blue in color, so it had to have come from a side of the boat. It was thirty feet long and twenty feet across. Big enough for eight people to be on. Comfortably.

"Beval! Gaia! Come to us! You'll be safe on here" Katie shouted.

"You okay?" I asked Gaia, making sure she was alright before we went over.

"Yes, I think so. I'm so scared" she whimpered, sniffling as tears fell.

"It's alright. I got you, just grab on to my back, okay? I promise I won't let you go" I told her.

"O-okay," she stuttered before letting go of the pole and grabbing on my shoulders. I started swimming over to Kimberly and the others.

Right before I could reach them, Shimizu appeared out of the water, in front of the wall. He was holding on to an unconscious Robin.

"I got her!" he shouted, gasping for air.

"Shimizu, oh thank god you made it back up safely, is she okay?" Katie asked with intense concern, but with a sense of relief.

"She's unconscious. The impact of the wave might've knocked her out. I must perform CPR on her, or she will die. Make room," Shimizu stated, scared for the life of Robin. He lifted her up on to the piece of wall and laid her flat on her back. Me and Gaia climbed on to the wall.

He climbed over her and began performing CPR.

It was quiet, everyone was patient, but worrisome about if Robin was going to survive. Including me. It's rare for CPR by itself to work, but it is possible, and I was hanging on to that possibility.

"Oh Robin" Gaia whimpered before burying her face in her hands to cry. Katie held on to Gaia and cried with her.

I was trembling, and it wasn't because of the water, I was scared for my best friend.

She was like a sister to me, a sister my own age. We've been through thick and thin and I wasn't ready to lose her, not like this. Not now.

"Come on Robin, come on" Shimizu grunted, pumping Robin's chest. He proceeded to do mouth to mouth and pumped her chest again.

"Robin...please wake up" Shimizu whimpered, his voice cracking as he was about to cry. But he didn't give up, he continued pumping her chest.

That's when it happened.

Robin sat up and gagged and coughed out water from her lungs.

In intense happiness and relief, we hugged Robin. Some of us, like Gaia, Shimizu, Kimberly and Katie cried in relief.

"Oh Robin, I thought I lost you" Shimizu cried as he hugged Robin tightly.

"What? Where? What are we sitting on?" she asked with a raspy voice.

"A piece of wall, don't you remember the wave?" Shimizu asked, still holding her.

"Yes" she responded, leaving my grasp.

"Everything is lost now. Look around, no food or water, our weapons are scattered and the bomb is gone. It's hopeless, we're screw-"

"Right there!" Shimizu shouted, interrupting Mohammed. He pointed to a bomb, still intact as it was floating around. He jumped into the water and swam over to it.

"Wait, wouldn't having a bomb with us be dangerous? What if it goes off?" Gaia asked in fear.

"There is a certain way to start the bomb. The bomb has a timer and the only way to start the timer is to open it and start it up yourself" Danny explained to Gaia.

"Where are we going to place the bomb? It may roll off" Kimberly asked Danny.

"The bomb is clearly not a sphere shape. It's flat at the bottom. We can place it in the center of the wall, and we'll be able to sleep around it. That way, it won't slide off."

"You're really good at problem solving and critical thinking. Hopefully you will try and find us a way to the island from here" Kimberly said with attitude, crossing her arms and pouting at Danny.

"Listen Kim, not everything in life will go exactly according to plan, especially in situations like this."

"You're a psychic. Didn't you know this would happen?!" Kimberly yelled at him in anger.

"I only use it when necessary, like when I want to know about an event, place, something or someone."

"The point I am trying to make is that wouldn't you know where to go from here. You don't have your compass, right?!"

"No Kim, so I'm just going to have to use my powers to take us there, and these paddles."

Danny picked up two of the four boat paddles that was next to him.

"Where did you get those from?" Robin asked.

"They were floating around in the water, so when Kimberly helped me on to the boat, I grabbed a hold of them. Four of us can paddle to the island."

"And, how will we get home?" I asked with a blank stare.

"Good question, I don't know. We will have to try to find someone that can help us."

"Find? The island is deserted!" Robin snapped.

"Perfect, just perfect" Kimberly said in sarcasm, resting her head on her hand. "We just might be stuck on that island forever. Matter of fact, we may die out here! Our food is gone, our water is gone, all we have is a bomb and a wall to sit on!"

"It's better than nothing. We won't die out here because we should be at the island by tomorrow morning or afternoon. We will find something or someone that can help us leave the island, really we will" Shimizu said in an encouraging, peaceful tone, trying to calm Kimberly down. "We will figure out a plan. But until then, let's focus on what matters, and that's bombing the Headquarters."

"We are going to continue to head south. It should be around four in the afternoon by now. Is anyone here night owls? Anyone here like staying up late at night?" Danny asked.

I along with Gaia, Shimizu and Kimberly raised our hands.

"Alright, you guys will paddle during the night. Robin, Katie, Mohammed and I will paddle until it gets dark. One person near each corner will paddle in the same direction. Front to back, not back to front. Got it?"

"Yes" we all responded, except for Kimberly, clearly saddened by the boat being destroyed.

"Next time, please check the weather before bringing us out to sea, wack-job" Kimberly scowled at Danny.

"Maybe I should've left you at the camp. The authorities would've taken great care of you" Danny responded as he gave Kimberly the side eye.

"I don't think you realize the seriousness of the situation we are in! We are wet, it's around seventy-five degrees out here and God forbid if it gets cold tonight. If so, we might end up with hypothermia. And what about sharks?! What about sea creatures? Hell, what if you're not even a credible source to trust. We could've been going the wrong way this whole time and-"

"Kimberly enough! I planned the revolt, I hid you all for the last two days in my fucking brother's shelter and had it now been for me, you would've been dead!"

While Kimberly and Danny argued back and forth, I decided to take my mind elsewhere. I sat away from the others and sunk in everything that happened.

I thought about Mina and her hideout we spent for about a month. I thought about the extermination camp revolt, and us practicing our powers during the couple days we spent with Noah. I also thought about what happened six days ago, when Gaia confessed her love to me.

I looked at her.

It took a few seconds, as she was listening to Kimberly and Danny go back and forth for her to look at me as well.

I'll admit, I was nervous to talk to her. Everything was alright between us until that night when she kissed me and told me how she felt.

That kiss, it was beautiful.

Her brown lips were soft, and the kiss was tender. I had to kiss back, I don't know why, but the kiss was so amazing I had too. Her telling me how she felt made me look at our friendship differently. All that time, she loved me, and I didn't even know it. I was so oblivious to it.

After I found out, I avoided her because I wanted to gather in my thoughts and sink in the fact that she...out of all people, liked me. And now, here we were.

"Are you okay?" She asked as she scooted over towards me.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking about everything that just happened. I'm a little traumatized, I've never experienced all of this stress before. I'm so overwhelmed with uncertainty" I groaned, rubbed my face in distress.

"I know it's stressful and scary. I mean, our boat did get destroyed by a powerful wave, but somehow, someway, we've survived. Maybe it's because we weren't downstairs, or at the exact location point the crest of the wave crashed down. But we should be grateful that we are alive."

"Gaia, we barely survived. Robin almost died and we are stranded on a piece of wall with who-knows-what underneath us in the water. Just because "everyone is okay" doesn't make it okay" I scolded at her in frustrated, tired of the optimism from her and Danny.

Her mouth twisted a little as she looked down. I could tell I hurt her feelings with my tone of voice.

"Hey, I'm sorry. I'm just devastated, that's all" I apologized to her as I placed my hand on her shoulder.

"No, you're fine. I see where you are coming from. Sometimes, even being positive doesn't help. Maybe all we need to right now is to stay calm and focus on our goal: defeating the Headquarters" Gaia responded to me.

Even though I trusted Danny with my life, I still wished he would use his power more, and clearly think things through instead of just taking us out somewhere and not checking the damn weather to see if we might have any trouble.

I sighed as I looked away from her.

When I briefly peeked over at Gaia again, her body language showed that she was thinking about something. She wasn't sitting up straight, she was hunched over, staring down and playing with her fingers. That was something she always did.

"Beval..." she called out.

"Yes?" I answered nonchalantly.

"Look, I'm really sorry I kissed you, I know it freaked you out and I shouldn't have been so sudden with it" She said, slowly making eye contact with me.

I sighed.

"It's alright" I said with a friendly smiled. "Honestly, I liked the kiss" I whispered to myself.

"What did you say?" Gaia asked, not hearing me.

"Huh? Oh nothing, I was thinking out loud about something else" I lied, scratching the back of my head.

"Hey, are you two staying up? We are going to be up all night. We may need to get some shut eye before we end up dozing off while paddling" Shimizu suggested, from where he was.

"Nah, I'll stay up. I'm not tired, so I should be fine, thanks" I replied with a sincere smile.

I looked over at the others. Kimberly and Danny had stopped arguing. Instead, Danny was giving Robin, Katie and Mohammed their paddles. He ordered Robin to go to the right of the wall, near the front, where we were. He ordered Mohammed to paddle at the bottom left and Katie at the bottom right. Danny paddled near the front left.

Kimberly was near the center of the wall, getting ready to take a nap. Kimberly changed into a rabbit form as she laid there. Shimizu laid down next to her and held the bomb close to him, slowly drifting off to slumber.

An an hour and a half had gone by. It was quiet now; the rain had stopped about an hour ago and the cloudy sky had cleared. The rushing sound of the waves and Seabirds filled my ears. The temperature remained the same, and our clothes were drying up. It was probably around six o clock by now.

No conversations were going on and everyone was either focusing on sleeping or paddling. I just laid there, looking up at the evening sky. The sky was still light blue, regardless if the sun would be going down in another hour or so.

As I was lying near the middle with Gaia, Shimizu and Kimberly, the quietness somehow took away my worries.

The worries of dying on the island by those killing-machines and the stress of having our boat destroyed. Not to mention all the upcoming things that will happen sometime in the future: the New World Order, World Peace and World War 3.

I never felt so relaxed in my life, and typically, I was a pretty relaxed guy. I was never as tense as Shimizu is...or was.

The more I looked at the sky, the more peaceful I became, which made me sleepier and sleepier. I could feel myself drifting in and out of slumber.

"Hey, hey Val" I heard someone next to me whisper.

I opened my eyes and looked over to my left. It was Gaia.

"Yes?" I asked, wiping my eyes.

"Oh, I just wanted to see if you were still awake. I can't sleep at all" Gaia said as she laid on her belly and rested her head on her hands.

"Well I'm awake now. Is there something you need?" I asked, sitting up straight. She sat up next to me and hugged her knees. I made sure I talked quiet so we wouldn't wake anyone up.

"Well...you see-"

She was doing it again; playing with her fingers. Clearly, she was nervous.

"I wanted to know, how was the kiss?"

I blinked rapidly as I bit my lip. There was no point in lying. What would that solve? She was my best friend, I had to be honest.

"Well, if you want to me tell the truth, it was random, yet beautiful" I said.

Gaia looked at me, her face showed that she was surprised by my answer. Her green eyes sparkled as she tucked a piece of her wet, tightly curled hair behind her ear.

Every time she looked at me, it gave me a happy feeling inside, even long before the kiss. Her smile made me want to make her smile even more. And when she hugged me, it always gave me a funny feeling in my stomach. Her bubbly attitude was cute, and her hyper personality was dazzling to say the least.

She could cheer me up when no one else could. Shimizu didn't really know what to say about my problems, Robin just told me to suck it up. But Gaia, she tried her hardest to understand my problems and could give me the best advice she could.

As I continue to think about it, my feelings became clearer. Maybe I was starting to like her too.

You see, I wasn't like Gaia. I didn't keep declining or rejecting my feelings if I liked someone. I didn't know if I liked Gaia or not at first, but as I start to sink in the fact that she was in love with me, I began understanding it. I began returning those feelings. That kiss and that confession played a part in me realizing my feelings as well.

It all makes since now, I taunted her about how people wanted us to be together and joked to her about how "she must like me" because I subconsciously wanted her to like me. My brain was saying Mina, but my heart was saying Gi Gi.

"You see Gaia, you were my first kiss. I always thought Mina would be, but it was you. And I am happy it was you. It felt amazing and I'm glad you were able to get those feelings off your chest."

Gaia made a big smile and hugged me tightly. I hugged her back.

"You were my first too Beval. I'm glad you liked it" Gaia replied.

"Umm, excuse you!" I heard someone say.

It was Kimberly. Not to mention, Robin, Danny, Katie and Mohammed were staring at us.

"This is not the time and place to be all lovey dove-y. People are trying to sleep, and shouldn't you guys be too?!" Kimberly the bunny growled.

"We were just talking, nothing more! " Gaia snapped back she crossed her arms.

"Sure, you were" Kimberly said with an eyeroll as she laid back down.

Robin flashed us a smile before turning around to continue paddling.

I looked at Gaia.

"So..." I said, feeling a little awkward.

"So..." she responded, feeling awkward as well.

"I'll just um, get some shut-eye until nighttime. We may regret not doing it later."

"Oh, oh yeah, of course, you're absolutely right. And I'll do the same. A couple of hours of rest is better than none" Gaia agreed with a nervous giggle.

"You're right about that" I winked at Gaia as we shared an awkward fist pump.

I couldn't tell Gaia my feelings, but at least I was able to give her a hint that I liked her back. I guess Kimberly was right after all; it clearly wasn't the time, not the place. Maybe that time will be when we come back home.

Gaia fell asleep before me, but it didn't take long before I was able to finally fall asleep too.

The next morning around eleven, I laid there, snoring on the hard wall, groaning and mumbling to myself in my slumber. As I squirmed and tossed and turned, I rolled off the wall into what felt like...hot sand.

The waking up process felt terrible. My head was hurting, my arm and back muscles were sore from all the paddling I did last night.

"What the-" I mumbled as I picked my head up and gripped on to the sand, surprised that it was sand instead of ocean water.

My vision was blurry as I fully opened my eyes, but as it cleared out, I saw a yellow crab standing in front of my face, watching me.

In panic and confusion, I jumped right up, accidentally scaring the crab away. I scratched my head, wondering where the hell was I.

That's when I heard Kimberly yell.

"Rise and shine Hernandez, we made it to the island!"