Blake and Sylvia are stranded on an alien world, with no idea of how to get home. What awaits them in this bizarre place? What dangers and secrets? What will they learn about each other? Will they ever find their way back?

Also, thank you to everyone who read my story "The Heir to the Dragon". I would appreciate if you continue to read and support it in the future! You can get there through my profile!

The nomination round is almost over! We've got a lot of girls nominated, if there are any left you want to add, be sure to let me know!

Currently Nominated: Alcea, Ayame, Carrie, Caelia, Cynthia, Dakota, Elaina, Elizabeth, Julia, Kate, Kitty, Maddi, Marion, Nikita, Olivia, Sango, Sylvia

KedharS: Only going to get more confusing from here, I imagine.

Pokemonking0924: It's definitely complicated and strange, that's for sure.

Superduderr: Who can say just what it is? Certainly not Blake and Sylvia.

JoshGamerV: Well, can't wait to hear them.

Rowlets and Oshawotts: That's definitely an interesting theory. I may use characters, but it may be quite some time.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 626

Blake stared dumbly at the rumbling, shifting tube of sand as it approached him, not sure what to make of it.

Luckily, Sylvia had the common sense to respond for the both of them.

"Come on you idiot, don't just stand around looking like a fool!" Sylvia shouted angrily, grabbing Blake by the collar and pulling him back harshly, just as the ground beneath Blake's feet exploded. A massive grayish-black shiny pillar jutted out of the sand, pulsing and throbbing in the air like a giant living tentacle.

Then, it tilted down so the end turned towards Blake and Sylvia, and both kids gulped. Staring them in the face was a giant mouth. It had a round shape like a leech, filled with row upon row of razor-sharp teeth that ground against each other like a buzz saw as it throbbed, a long lashing tongue whipping through the air, oozing chunks of black slime.

It was also roughly the size of a great redwood tree, that was an important part.

"SHIT!" Blake shouted, turning and running through the sand, Sylvia hot on his heels. The giant sand worm lunged after them, letting out a loud shriek as it charged, teeth scraping in a horrifyingly painful sonic wail.

"Blake!" Sylvia shouted to him over the creature's screams. "I'm guessing you don't have a pokeball on you?"

"Would that even work?!" Blake exclaimed. "We don't even know if this thing's actually a pokemon or not!"

"Worth a try!" Sylvia called back.

"Well, sorry to disappoint you, but I don't just carry pokeballs around when I'm going to break into a professor's office!" Blake shouted back.

"You didn't even know what you were doing, so that's not a valid reason!" Sylvia called back. "Anyway! In case you didn't notice, that thing's catching up to us! And we aren't exactly doing great at running on sand, you know!"

Blake glanced over his shoulder, and she was right. The throbbing worm-creature was approaching them, writhing through the sand, mouth opening and closing wildly as its tongue lashed towards the two of them.

Shit.

"I can see that!" He shouted back. He was grateful to be such a fast runner, and even more grateful to Ayame for encouraging him to practice with her sometimes. Running on sand was hard, especially this bizarre sand. He was lucky that this worm-like creature wasn't going that fast. But that didn't make this a winning strategy. It was going to catch up to them, and when it did, then they would be swallowed whole.

The fear of that was enough to send a burst of strength into his legs, and he pulled ahead, trying to put as much distance between them as he could.

Sylvia slapped her hand against her face. God, of all the people she could be stuck in this horrific desert with, it had to be a complete idiot like Blake. "BLAKE!" She shouted as loudly as she could, hoping to catch his attention as he pulled ahead. He glanced back at her, and she jerked her head to the side, away from the creature, as a signal. "Try going sideways!"

Sylvia ducked and turned to the side, dodging the massive worm, the beast shooting past her and continuing its pursuit after Blake. Sylvia stood up, brushed the sand from her dress, and gave Blake a coy smile and a wave.

Blake put it together in about a second, dodging to the side as the worm approached, the bulky creature rumbling past. It was big, but it was slow and cumbersome, continuing on its path, and most significantly, it wasn't able to turn while it was moving, at least not sharply. It continued to surge forward, even though its prey was now gone. It would try to shift back, but no, it wasn't moving fast enough to catch them.

"Blake!" Sylvia's voice called from down the ways, waving him follow her. She was running in a perpendicular line to the thing's quaking body to make it even more difficult for the beast to catch up. Blake nodded, charging after her, trying to put as much distance between himself and the hungry hose with teeth as possible.

When Blake finally caught up with her, he was almost out of breath. The rumbling of the worm creature could be heard in the distance, but right now it was little more than a dark line in the sands miles away from them.

The two of them were standing on one of the larger, raised dunes above the surface of the desert, with quite an expanse beneath them. They met each other in the center, both of them looking rather ragged from their escape.

"Good thing… ha… that beastie only moves… heh… in a straight… hah… line…" Sylvia panted out, holding her side. Her face was flushed.

"Either way… hah… I don't… hurf… want to… ha ha… be here when it comes back," Blake gasped, looking back at the creature in the distance. "We really need to find some cover, quickly… or else that thing's just going to come back…"

"Right, sure, sounds like a plan," Sylvia scoffed, scanning the horizon. "Well, I'm open to suggestions. We've got a plethora of choices, after all, do we go that way, towards the sand? Or that way, towards the sand? Or maybe that way, towards the fucking sand?!"

Blake was taken aback. This was the first time he'd seen Sylvia really explode like that. She was actually angry. He expected that when he saw Sylvia get angry, it would be a "holy shit, pants-crapping time, this is gonna suck" moment of terror, but no. She was just… well, pissed. Like a normal person would be, trapped in a horrible situation like this.

Seeing Sylvia behaving like a normal person was really unnerving. He didn't even know what to suggest to her. She had a point. There was sand in all directions, he couldn't really say where would be "safe" as far as it was.

"For starters… let's go back to where we were before," Blake suggested. "Where we were spat out by that tablet."

"Oh, so back where the big penis with teeth tried to get us, that sounds like a smart move to you," Sylvia dryly replied, raising her eyebrow. Blake scowled at her.

"Well, it's just… I mean… look, it's the only lead we have!" Blake protested. "If people are going to try and get us back, then that's the place they'll pull us out of, right? Which means we'll have to be there if we want to go back!"

Sylvia took a deep breath, and exhaled. She reached up and rubbed her temples, letting out a long sigh. She walked over to him, and slapped him across the face.

"HEY!" Blake snarled, scrambling to his feet. "What the hell was that for?!"

"Looking for us? Seriously?" Sylvia exclaimed. "Are you fucking mental? No one knows where we ARE, Blake! Hell, no one even knows where we were! I didn't tell anybody what I was planning to do tonight, did you? You think people are just going to assume 'oh, those two went together to break into Professor Reinhart's office'?"

Blake didn't want to admit that she had a point. He opened his mouth to try and argue, but Sylvia was far from done.

"And even if they DID somehow put it together, then what? Do you know what the hell is up with that tablet? I have no idea what it is, or how it brought us here, so why do you think that they'll be able to figure out how to bring us back, huh?" Sylvia demanded angrily. "It would take a MIRACLE for them to find out how to bring us back!"

"That's…" Blake hung his head in shame. He hated to admit it, but she was right.

"I was fine with following you around and sitting there doing nothing when there wasn't anything to worry about," Sylvia grumbled. "But no, now you're saying that you want to risk being worm food if it means a chance of getting back home, well sorry, I'm not taking that chance! That's a stupid move if I've ever heard one, and I'm not going to risk it!"

Blake glared at her, jumping to his feet and grabbing her by the collar. "What the hell do you know, anyway?!" He demanded. "I'm sure it's not worth anything to someone like you, someone with nothing to go back to! But those of us with friends, with family, with people we love?! We would do anything to risk getting back there, even if it means we might end up dying!"

"You don't have to convince me of the stupidity of people holding out for those they love," Sylvia sneered. "I'm quite well-acquainted with that, in fact. But you misunderstand me if you think that there is nothing back home that I'm trying to get back to, and you are even MORE mistaken if you are foolish enough to believe that I care about keeping myself alive."

Sylvia wrapped her fingers around Blake's wrist and violently yanked it from her collar, stepping closer to him. "You're the one I'm trying to get out of here alive, you little piece of shit. And yes. If that means that I have to smack your stupid, crazy, 'haven't-thought-shit-through' dumbass to the sand, then that's what I'm going to do, you got that?"

Blake grumbled, pulling his hand free and storming away from her. He scanned the desert, the worm nowhere to be seen. But now that he took a closer look at the long trail it had carved into the sand, he had no idea where that starting point had been. The worm had wiped away most of their footprints in its wake. Then again, it had emerged from the ground somewhere… he might be able to find that hole where it had come out!

Sylvia didn't know what she was talking about. Trying to keep him safe? Trying to bring him home? He didn't trust that lunatic as far as he could throw her. He had to think about Aya right now, and that was what was most important. Getting back to her, no matter what. He reached into his pocket and felt for his ribbon.

His blood went cold. It wasn't there.

Blake's heart began to race as he dug into his pocket, but he couldn't find the ribbon! He checked his other one, but no, it was more of the same. NO. No, no, it couldn't be. This couldn't be. It wasn't allowed to be! There was no way he had lost that ribbon, he wouldn't ACCEPT that! He must have dropped it when running from that worm creature, it was the only explanation that made sense, but how far had they run, trying to get away from that thing?! It must have been miles, and it could have fallen out anywhere!

Assuming, of course, that it didn't get eaten, he bitterly reminded himself. No, no, don't even think about that. Those thoughts are bad. You've got to focus on where it might be, and that means it must have fallen out in the sand.

Blake looked down at the wide expanse of desert behind him. He and Sylvia were standing on a dune, but even elevated like this it still looked massive. He swallowed, spotting his footprints a few feet away, walking over to them and kneeling down, digging into the sand.

"What, did you go crazy or something?" Sylvia called after him, walking over to him with an exasperated look on her face. "What are you doing now? Think if you can dig your way down then you'll be able to find your way back home? Normally I'd be right there with you, but if 'down' is another sand worm then-"

"Sylvia!" Blake snapped. "Will you shut your goddamn mouth?!"

Sylvia did the opposite, in fact, her jaw dropping open in surprise. That was a very un-Blake sentiment, even towards someone like her.

"Hey, I'm just saying, that worm could come back, and we don't have time for this!" Sylvia exclaimed. "I'm trying to-"

"Shut up!" Blake shouted, frantically scraping at the ground. "Shut up, shut up! I know! I know we don't have time for this, damn it!"

"Then why are you being such a stubborn piece of-!?" Sylvia sputtered, astounded by how reckless Blake was acting.

"Because this is about Aya!" Blake exclaimed, stopping his dig and turning back to look at her, fury blazing in his eyes. "Her ribbon… I… I dropped her ribbon… while we were running. And I… I need to find it, I need to…"

"You've got to be kidding me!" Sylvia groaned, slapping her face in frustration. "Blake, it's a fucking ribbon! A stupid ribbon! It's not a big deal!"

"IT'S NOT JUST A RIBBON!" Blake shouted, his voice booming out over the desert. There were tears in his eyes. They trembled, rolling down his face, and disappearing into the sand below. "It… that ribbon… it's a promise…"

Blake turned back to the sand and began digging, shuffling forward to find new spots to dig into. "But I doubt you'd understand something like that."

Sylvia sighed, stunned that Blake would do something so futilely fatal. But she couldn't say she was surprised, either. That was just the kind of guy Blake was, in the end, cleaning desperately to sentimentality like that.

She walked over to him and crouched down, beginning to scrape her fingers through the sand and helping him search.

Blake stared up at her, stunned. That was not what he had expected to come out of his conversation, Sylvia helping him dig in the desert.

"Sylvia, what… what the heck are you doing?" Blake asked, confused. "What, are you… actually helping me?"

"Yup," Sylvia grunted, scraping through the sand. Still no ribbon.

"I thought it was just a stupid ribbon?" Blake inquired. "Do you expect me to believe that you're actually trying to help out of the goodness of your heart?"

"I have my reasons," Sylvia muttered under her breath, moving down after Blake's footprints. "If this is what you want to waste your time doing, then fine. But if that worm comes back and tries to eat you, I'm not about to let you get turned into feces for a hair decoration and some sentimentality, are we clear? Getting you back to Ayame is worth more than some memento."

Blake was surprised.

"You're seriously trying to help? Why? Why would you care?"

"I told you. I have my reasons," she said. "Less talking, more digging."

"Fine. I'm not exactly pleased with the thought of dying, even if it is for that ribbon," Blake said. "Besides… I can't exactly say that I blame you for being pissed with me. I'm just… surprised, I guess. That you, of all people would actually help. You can excuse me for not trusting you, I'm sure."

"No one's asking for you to trust me," Sylvia quietly said. "All I need you to do is listen to me. If you do, then I'll get you home. I promise."

"You're making me a promise in the same breath you're saying that I shouldn't trust you?" Blake asked. "It seems that you're still the same Sylvia in some ways, apparently."

Sylvia let out a wry chuckle at that.

"Speaking of breath, don't you find it odd?" Sylvia asked.

"Hm?" Blake looked up from the sand as he headed down the dune. "What do you mean?"

"What are we breathing right now?" Sylvia mused, tracing her fingers through the sand. "Oxygen? Something similar? These might be molecules that are completely foreign to anything we consider life. The fact that this place… that we can breathe in it… it staggers belief. There has to be a reason, after all. Nothing happens for no reason."

"I'm not sure I follow you," Blake said, turning away from her to continue digging. "You're saying there's a reason that we can breathe? Isn't it because, well, we're on a planet or dimension or wherever this is where we can? Maybe it's not some big conspiracy."

"I'm not a fan of coincidence," Sylvia said, shaking her head. She walked down to where he was, and passed him, heading a bit further down the hill, near the base of the dune. "Think about it, Blake! We know that this place, wherever it is, has life, right? The worm's proof enough of that."

"So?" Blake muttered. She was spending a lot more time talking than she was digging. He was getting frustrated with the fact that they weren't finding the ribbon.

"So, there's air here, air for sustaining life. But have you noticed something?" Sylvia asked.

"I've noticed a lot of things," Blake grumbled.

"You're in a bad mood," Sylvia smirked, her voice growing coy. "What, you're getting a little hungry, is that it?"

"No, I'm not hungry!" Blake snapped, standing up and moving to another spot. "I'm just frustrated at not being able to find the ribbon!"

"Are you thirsty, then?" Sylvia asked.

"No, I'm not thirsty, either!" Blake called back to her.

"…And you don't consider that odd?" Sylvia mused, tapping her chin.

Blake actually stopped digging then, looking up and turning to Sylvia, confused. He had no idea what she was talking about.

"What? No, I don't find it odd!"

"Even though we've been here for 17 hours?" Sylvia asked, glancing up at him. Blake froze. Seriously? 17 hours? They'd been trapped here for 17 hours now?

"You've gotta be pulling my leg," Blake said, shaking his head. "It hasn't been that long."

"It has," Sylvia said, her voice dismissive of Blake's statements. "And it's very odd, isn't it? 17 hours. And yet, I don't feel any need to drink, any need to eat. And I can breathe, but, well, am I really breathing anything? And a fixed temperature, too… it's like this world is… hollow."

"Hollow?"

"There's life here, but nothing to sustain it. And I find that odd," Sylvia replied. She dug into the sand, lifting some of it up for inspection, letting the grains slip through her fingers as she studied them. "I wonder…"

Sylvia lifted her fingers up to her mouth and licked the sand off.

"Hm… ick. Gross. Wouldn't want to eat that," she said, spitting it out in disgust. Blake looked down at her, grossed out.

"Enough messing around!" He shouted. "We've got a long way to go, and we need to find-"

"Found it!" Sylvia called up to him. He flinched, his heart soaring. No. She was messing with him. No way in hell had she actually found it. It was Sylvia, after all, she wouldn't actually be of help when she could be a troll. He ignored the sound of her approaching footsteps and her shadow draped over him, not looking up until a blue cloth dangled in front of him, shining in the silver light of the desert as she presented it to him.

He stared up at it, shocked, and snatched it from her fingers.

"…A thank you would be nice," Sylvia dryly replied. Blake shot her a dirty look. Then he sighed, and muttered a thanks. "Oh, you're welcome," she sarcastically said, rolling her eyes. He grumbled something and stomped off, resuming his search for the entrance spot. Sylvia followed after him this time.

"Blake, are you seriously still doing this?" Sylvia shouted after him. "Come on, you're just going to get eaten!"

"What do you care?" Blake called back. "Just leave me alone! I don't believe you for an instant that you're suddenly trying to help me. Sure, maybe you're trying to get back home for yourself, but if that's the case, then you'll stay back here."

"I'm trying to keep you safe!" Sylvia growled, catching up to him and grabbing his arm, spinning him around. "There's someone waiting for you, you know! I'm trying to get you back home, and that means we've got to get out of this desert!"

"Oh, you're suddenly supportive of me and Ayame, huh?" Blake growled, shoving her back. "Fuck that! I don't believe you one bit!"

Sylvia groaned. "Why are you so infuriating? I'm just trying to help!"

"And I don't want your help!" Blake snapped.

Sylvia sighed, slumping over and pinching the bridge of her nose. Then, her entire demeanor changed. She stood up straight, her face serious. Blake was taken aback, not sure what he was supposed to think. The way she was looking at him was… off.

"Fine. Trust? If you trust me, you'll decide to come with me and find a way out of this desert, rather than sit here and be eaten?" Sylvia asked.

"What the hell are you talking about? I don't trust you because you're not trustworthy, and whatever it is you have to say to me doesn't matter a damn!"

"Think so?" Sylvia asked, raising her eyebrow and lifting up a finger. "One word."

"Huh?" Blake kept getting confused. Sylvia was strange on the best of days, but right now she was even more confusing than normally.

"One word, and you'll trust me completely, I promise," Sylvia said. Blake had no idea what magic word she thought would somehow win his trust, but the earnest look in her eyes was unnerving.

"Fine, what's this magic word?" Blake asked.

Sylvia stepped closer to him, grabbing his shoulders and lifting herself up, pressing her lips against his ear. She whispered it to him. One word.

Blake's face went deathly pale. His eyes stretched open and he stumbled back, staring at Sylvia like she was a ghost. He saw her in a whole new light.

"You… but that's-!" Blake stuttered. It didn't make sense. No matter how he looked at it, this simply wasn't possible. There was no way for her to know that, none. But the look in her eyes said it was so. But then… then that would mean…

Blake swallowed his disbelief. Sylvia smiled at him. It was a warm smile.

"Shall we go then?" She asked kindly. "Do you trust me, now, when I tell you that I want to help you, Blake?"

Blake nodded his head dumbly, still in a daze. "Y-Yeah, sure," he said, swallowing. "That… that's fine."

And the two of them headed off together into the desert, searching for an end that might never be found.

So, we've got some more interesting things going on… what will be discovered in this strange world? And what is this magic word of Sylvia's that allowed her to completely win Blake over to her side? What will result from this? Will they become friends now? Sylvia and Blake buddy comedy begins now!