-Chapter 2-

James woke with a start, a loud ringing noise in his ears and white hot pain shooting through the upper part of his right leg. As his eyes started to clear from the blurriness, he looked around at his surroundings. With a jolt, he remembered where he was and what had happened only hours (had it been hours?) before. Unbuckling his seatbelt, he noticed that blood was seeping through a large tear in his pants. In a panic, he jumped up into the aisle. Pain shot through every step he took as he looked down to see himself walking through ankle-deep water. Red water. Blood filled water. What… He shook his head to clear his mind, and he looked around for way to get out.

Most of the plane had been dented and crushed by the impact of the crash. He maneuvered his way through a small opening between two seats to reach the back of the plane. There were pieces of rubble and debris from the scattered aircraft floating around in the water. He looked down. Sand, lots of sand. That's a good sign… right? That means land, land is good. He sat down on the edge of where the plane had been torn apart, his legs dangling off the edge. Glancing down, he noticed that his khaki pants were bloodstained. He took off his shirt and wrapped it around his injured leg, hoping it may help stop the bleeding. He knew he needed to get down, somehow, but the pain would be unbearable. Deciding that jumping would be suicidal, he went to check the front of the plane for any openings closer to the ground. As he stumbled his way through the plane, James noticed how many men, woman, and even children hadn't survived the crash. Actually, looking around, it seemed like only he had made it out alive. But that couldn't be right…

Finally, he reached the cockpit and found an exit in between the pilot's seats and the dashboard. Carefully, he slid through, feet first, and landed on the soft sand beneath. A sharp jab of pain shot through his thigh again, and he collapsed onto the ground. He knew he had to get back up, but his leg protested. After much struggling, he finally won over the pain in his leg, and he shakily stood up. Noticing a sizeable branch, he quickly grabbed it to use as a walking stick.

He hobbled around and about the wreckage, searching for some form of life. Nothing. He couldn't find a soul with even a heartbeat or a gasp of breath left. James looked to the woods that bordered the beach. He noted the palm trees, which he had never seen in person.

Suddenly, he remembered hearing stories about another region, a paradise-like chain of islands called Alola. The story went that humans and pokemon lived as equals there, but for some reason or another, it had been cut off from the world. Maybe this is Alola. But there would be people… unless it's just a small island no one lives on. He sighed.

Again, he looked up at the island. A small mountain rose above in the distance, surrounded by leafy green. Closing his eyes, he could hear the waves lapping at the shore and wingulls crying above him. James could smell the salty sea air and a peculiar smell that was rank with a tinge of sweetness. Wrinkling his nose, he turned 180 degrees, only to remember the dead bodies that were surrounding him. Suddenly, the feeling of being in such a place of beauty was drowned out by the reality all around him. James knew he couldn't stay on this beach much longer. He turned back to the trees, and with a deep breath of apprehension, he started walking.

What am I getting myself into? he asked himself as he trudged through the sand. With every step he took, it became harder and harder for him to keep going. He stopped and sat himself down on a very uncomfortable rock near the edge of the beach. The white shirt he had wrapped around his throbbing leg was now seeping with blood. Looking at mere sight of the wound made his stomach churn and his head spin. He dizzily unwrapped the blood-soaked shirt from his leg. The pain was unbearable, and the blood still hadn't stopped gushing out. As he took a closer look at his leg, he noticed that there was a large piece of glass from the wreckage lodged insidem. Seeing the glass made him feel even more dizzy.

With a somewhat steady hand he attempted to pull the glass out. In one swift motion he shut his eyes and ripped the glass from his skin, gasping in pain. He wrapped the wound with his shirt once more and laid back against the rock, out of breath. He felt both mentally and physically exhausted. His eyes became heavy, and soon enough, he fell into a deep sleep.

When James woke up, he quickly realized that he could feel something crawling on him. He slowly opened his eyes. A small, black pokemon that looked like a crocodile stared at him, and James stared right back at it.

"Sal?" It looked at him with a question in its eyes.

"Um, hi?" James replied. "Who, or what, are you?"

"Al al dit," it said.

"Right, I don't speak pokemon. Hmm."

A voice from behind him spoke. "But I do. She's called a Salandit."

James turned his head as fast as he could and winced. He was sore from sleeping on a rock. "What—who—hello?"

There were no other people around (well, people who were alive), but a small, grey Meowth sat about ten feet away from him. The Meowth cocked his head curiously before opening his mouth. "Hey."

James squealed in surprise and scrambled backwards. "You can talk?"

"Duh."

James moved backwards a bit more. "Is that normal, uh, wherever we are?"

"Huh, I never thought about it much. I've never been to any of the other islands," the Meowth replied.

"Then how come you can speak the same language I can?" James asked.

"I had another human friend," the Meowth explained. "He taught me how to speak human."

"Oh. Hmm." James answered with a confused expression on his face. "But what about the other humans? Shouldn't there be others here?"

"Other humans live on other islands." The Meowth rolled his eyes. "Don't you know anything?"

"I guess not," James replied, a dumbfounded look on his face. "Where are we, for starters? Who are you? How big is the island? What—"

"Woah, one question at a time, idiot." The Meowth rolled his eyes yet again. "We are on an island in Alola, but it doesn't have a name since it's so small compared to the other islands. I'm Meowth, obviously. And I don't know how you measure distance, but it would probably take you a week to walk around the whole island."

While James digested this information, the Salandit latched onto his right leg. The injured leg.

"Ow!" James exclaimed. He started awkwardly trying to shake the Salandit off, but instead he ended up falling over, into a dead body. "Oops."

By now, the Meowth was laughing hysterically, and the Salandit had crawled off of James's throbbing leg. Finally, the hysteria passed, and James started to crawl back to his rock. "So, what should we do now?"

Meowth shrugged in an unconcerned way. "Whatever you want. I suppose I'll have to keep you from dying, though.

"Alright then, let's walk around a bit. I want to see what this strange island has in store for us." James hobbled up off of his comfort rock and began to walk along the warm sand. When he turned away from the blinding sun, he found himself facing the forest. "First, how about there?"

Meowth glanced at his newfound companion, noticing for the first time a harsh sunburn. That's what he gets for not wearing a shirt, I suppose.

Meowth and James walked side by side as they entered the lush forest. The emerald green trees towered over them like a city of skyscrapers. As they stepped along a soft layer of moss and sand, James looked up, and saw a toucan-like pokémon soaring above them. Large leaves covered the light of the sun, and they found themselves engulfed in the cool shade. The scent of aromatic flowers reached James's nose, and he inhaled gratefully, thankful that he wasn't breathing in the fumes of carcasses anymore.

"So," Meowth said. "What's it like where you're from?"

Inwardly, James winced. But before he could figure out what to say, they stumbled into a small clearing. James and Meowth both gasped as their eyes caught sight of a small, huddled figure covered in torn clothes. As they neared it, James realized it was another human, a woman. He hurried towards her and noticed, to his excitement, she was breathing. She was alive.

AN: Oh, my, god, we are so so so sorry. It has literally been like THREE FREAKING MONTHS since we last posted! Thank you all so much for all the support you gave us in the last chapter! Except for that dude who said that this fanfic should be in anime. Newsflash, the pokémon section is in "Games" because it is also A GAME! Anyways, thanks for everything you guys! The support you have given us is what inspired us to keep this going. This chapter is a little longer than the last one, but hopefully y'all like longer chapters. We should be updating more often. We have to write a novel for school, so that's been taking up a lot of our writing time, in addition to homework and life.

See you next time!

-DarkUmbreon19 & MewMe0w