Chapter 6

Alph's POV:

"Oh... my head..." Alph moaned as shards of pain writhed up his jaw and became a tight knot in his skull. He was laying on his back, gazing up into the bright blue sky. He'd obviously slept for awhile. But how many days had passed? He struggled to remember around what time it had been when he'd passed out, but thoughts seemed to slip away before he could fully understand them. He propped himself up onto one elbow, gritted his teeth (which hurt), and attempted to sit up. The pain immediately worsened, and he cried out as he fell back to the ground.

"Be careful, kid! You hurt yourself pretty bad out there! You're lucky my friend and I found you, or you'd be Mandibuzz bait by now. How's that jaw feeling?" a masculine voice broke in with a touch of concern. Alph managed to flop his head to his right, and saw a kneeling figure reaching towards him. He instinctively jerked away, but the hands seized his shoulder and he began to panic. His breath quickened a bit and he let out a sort of odd whine.

"Woah, calm down. I don't want to hurt you. Just sit still, because I'm fairly certain you broke your jaw. And of course, don't even get me started on that Aura Sphere burn. It's terrifying!" the teen shuddered. Alph said nothing, but continued to bunch his muscles as the trainer carefully opened his mouth and poked at his chin. He winced in pain, and immediately, the hands left.

"Sorry. It's an awkward break... oh! You're back! Find anything?" the kid's train of thought was torn from Alph as he looked up at another trainer loping into the clearing. It was only now that the injured boy took the time to look around. He was occupying a sort of camp, with a lean-to built out of branches that leaned against a large boulder and a smoldering fire. There were few flames, and it was letting off little smoke and slowly dying. It must have been burning all night. A lazily flowing river resided about a few feet behind the boulder. He also noticed that he was lying on a thick covering of greenish foliage. Alph shifted his weight to face his two rescuers.

"Not a trainer for miles. I saw a broken tree and a few weirdly-shaped arrows in another clearing, but other than that, no signs of life. I wonder if we're the last two trainers," the smaller boy replied nervously. A yellow mouse on his shoulder bobbed its head in agreement. The older trainer had nothing to say to that.

"Are you... Ash?" Alph was forced to stop as his presumably broken jaw throbbed in protest. The two both fixed their gazes on him.

"Yeah. Do I know you?" he asked curiously.

"No... I've... just..." he whimpered and closed his eyes, reaching up one sore arm to massage his face.

"The kid's been through a lot, Ash. We should let him rest for now. Is Pikachu hungry?" the taller trainer looked at the electric-type that Alph assumed was a Pikachu. It squealed happily and sat up on its trainer's shoulder.

"Yeah, I thought so. Pachirisu is starving, too. Let's go forage for some berries or something. I think I saw a couple Tamato berries when we were carrying him over here..."

"Alright! Let's go, then! Should one of us stay behind to watch him?" Ash looked over at Alph in concern.

"Yeah. Pachirisu, would you mind hanging around? Just send off a nice electric shock into the sky if you see anything suspicious, okay?" he petted the squirrel on his shoulder with fondness, and it purred its reply. It jumped off and landed on the boulder, throwing a mocking salute at the two males. They both laughed and set off, talking in low voices as they went.

"Mmm..." was all Alph had to say to this. His thoughts were swimming in molasses. Who were the two trainers, and what did they want with him? He trusted Ash, of course. He'd actually watched Ash lose the Kalos league on a Pokemon Center TV when his Lycanroc had been badly poisoned by a Foongus, and knew that he'd saved basically the entire world with only a little bit of help. But he didn't even know the other one's name. Well, if Ash trusted him, then he'd just have to hope for the best. They obviously could've left him to die.

Alph closed his eyes miserably, his jaw continuing to pulse with dull waves of pain.

Just rest for now. Just... rest...

Alina's POV:

The lanky figure leaned out of a tree, scanning the horizon for any trainers. As she'd expected, there was not one. Mew's arena was simply ginormous. How did anybody find one another in the huge mess? The thin branch she was holding onto suddenly snapped, and she yelled as she fell out of the oak. Thankfully, she wasn't very high up, and the only thing that happened was a loss of breath. She wheezed and gasped, trying to regain the ability to breathe, and pulled herself up to one knee. She reached out her hand for a support that wasn't there, when suddenly, there was one. A warm hand closed around her own and pulled her to her feet. She forced out a short gasp and looked up into a pair of silver eyes.

"You alright? I saw you fall," he stated simply. His sky blue hair waved in the breeze, and he smiled a bit apologetically upon seeing her startled look.

"I... uh... yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for helping me up... I didn't even know you were there. Who are you?" Alina stuttered.

"My name is Steven. Steven Stone. A pleasure to meet you, miss...?" he raised an eyebrow, releasing her hand. He stood just a few inches taller than her, but held himself in such a position that Alina was tempted to think he was some sort of king.

"A-Alina. You going to challenge me to a battle or something?" she asked meekly. This well-dressed man, with his stylish suit and shining silver eyes, didn't seem like one who could be trusted.

"Of course not. I don't exactly plan on taking a life unless completely necessary," Steven looked away, staring intently into the cloudless sky.

"Got to agree with you there..." she remembered Tasha sorrowfully, "I watched my friend get killed by a hailstorm of Decidueye arrows just last night. It was horrifying... I don't think I'll be able to forget that easily."

"I'm sorry for your loss," the experienced trainer replied quietly.

An awkward silence settled between the two of them.

"So, would you like to team up?" Alina swallowed loudly, unsure what his response would be.

"Gladly. The more the merrier, correct?" Steven forced another smile onto his visage.

"I might not agree with that statement exactly, but sure, whatever. Do you have a camp or something?" the two of them began to walk off into the trees.

"Not really. I've just been sleeping with my partner for the most part," he replied casually.

"And that shiny suit of yours isn't wrinkled in the slightest? Wow," she snorted. That received a scoff from Steven.

"You learn a few tricks of the trade over the years." he said in a mysterious manner. Alina raised an eyebrow, but said no more.

The two of their voices became muffled as they further pushed their way through the chaparral, but they were not completely invisible. For yet again, a tiny figure gazed out at the two partners from a high tree branch. There was a tiny chuckle.

"Oh, so I see. I may have lost the chance to kill Cynthia, but the two of us will not let Steven get away, right, Decidueye? Or, at the very least, we can get the girl. Alina, she called herself. Heh..." the waifish trainer gazed over at a leafy green owl which held its composure even as the Cutieflies buzzed around it. It nodded ever so slightly in agreement.

"Dec..."

A/N: SCREE SUP HI!

Sorry, again, this legitimate took a month or two to update again. But hey, this story's not dead at least! Sooooooorry. I'll do my very best to get another chapter out in at least two weeks to make up for the wait. Again, I remind ya'll that I'm not focusing too much on this story, but to be fair, I have no writer's block on this. It's just lack of motivation. So yeah, sorry there.

Onto addressing the current matters of the story!

Looks like Alph survived, surprise surprise. What's a broken jaw and a destroyed back over the Pokemon Games, anyways? You all seem to enjoy it, certainly. So that means our trainers must be having fun, too, right, right? :D

Yeah, didn't think so.

Our malignantly mysterious (or not so mysterious, most of you seem to have figured out who she is) murderer returns with her trusty partner in crime! We have found out that Cynthia indeed escaped... but why did she leave Marie to her fate? We'll find out soon as two certain partners stumble across her and another familiar mega evolution trainer.

I think I'm unintentionally starting up a few ships... cough... is there an official ship name for Cynthia x Alain? No? Did I just make up a ship that would never work out? I think Alain's way too young for her... cough... whoops.

Also planning on doing a tiny saltshaker of Steven x Alina, although it won't last long (I GOTS A PLAN HEHEHEHE)...