Lovrina slowly opened her eyes. The light was bright, she could feel the hot sun on her skin, and underneath her she felt sand. She slowly pushed herself up, trying to figure out what happened. For some reason, her nose itched.
But then she heard a voice, "Oh hey, good, you're not dead."
Lovrina quickly shot her head over and saw Ash sitting on a rock, but he had his left arm in a brace.
Lovrina wanted to shoot up, but then she felt something and looked down, seeing that her leg was also in a brace. Now, little thing, Ash did not actually break her leg; he just put a brace on her. And fun fact about the brain: if you think your body is in pain, your brain can make you feel like you are in pain.
There are a lot of very interesting studies that go into this, but we don't have time to talk about psychology. It is a very interesting subject, though. Ash almost minored in it when he was in his old life, but that's not important here.
Lovrina thought her leg was broken, so her brain made her feel pain as if her leg was actually injured. Because of that, she couldn't stand up.
"Eww, you're still alive," she said through gritted teeth.
"Yeah, yeah, hate me if you want. How about you look at our situation?" Ash said, pointing behind him.
Lovrina looked over, and her eyes widened. She saw what looked like the train, only it was tipped over and on fire, with parts blown off.
"Looks like someone blew up the train. As far as I know, it's only the two of us left, but maybe others survived," Ash said.
But in reality, those trains were just the Ditto's. The train never left the tracks. Actually, right about now, they were probably at their destination.
Lovrina stared at the burning wreck for a long moment before slowly turning back toward Ash, her eye twitching, "...I can't believe I'm stuck in Desert Krono with you."
"The feeling's mutual, Lovrina."
"Don't call me Lovrina!" she immediately snapped, "You are not my friend!"
Ash simply ignored the complaint, as if she hadn't even spoken, "Whether we like it or not, we're stuck out here. If we want to get out alive, we need each other."
"We absolutely do not."
"We absolutely do."
Lovrina crossed her arms, "I'll survive just fine without you."
Ash pointed toward the endless sea of dunes surrounding them, "Really? Because I have no idea which direction we're supposed to go in this desert."
Then he pointed at her, "And you can't walk."
"I can too!" She immediately tried to stand.
The moment she put weight on her leg, her brain made her think she was actually injured, so she immediately collapsed back into the sand, clutching her leg.
"...Shut up."
"I didn't say anything."
"I know you were thinking it."
Ash shrugged, "Even if your leg wasn't 'broken,' you still don't have any Pokémon to help you."
Lovrina puffed out her cheeks, "I do too!"
"I checked. You've only got a Luvdisc left. That Roselia, Delcatty, and Beautifly are all still knocked out."
Lovrina froze. Then, very slowly, her face turned bright red.
"...You checked?"
Ash blinked.
"...You checked my body?!" she suddenly shrieked, pointing an accusing finger at him, "YOU PERVERT!!"
Ash looked completely unamused, "I checked your Poké Balls."
"..."
"..."
"...Oh."
There was a long, awkward silence. Lovrina slowly looked away, "...Still a pervert."
Ash decided not to acknowledge that statement on any level.
"So," he continued, "I know how to survive in the wilderness, but I don't know this desert."
He pointed toward the endless horizon, "And since you're an Orre native, you probably know what direction we need to go to get out of here."
Then he pointed toward her leg, "You can't travel on your own."
Then he pointed at himself, "I can."
Finally, he gestured between the two of them, "So we either work together...or this desert sun kills us both."
Lovrina looked away with a loud, annoyed huff, "I hate that you're making sense."
"I get that a lot."
She stayed quiet for another few moments, pouting as hard as she possibly could, "...Fine."
Ash nodded once.
"But!" she quickly added, pointing at him again, "The second we get out of this stupid desert, we're enemies again!"
"Sure."
"AND!" she pointed at him one more time, then crossed her arms, "I want a piggyback ride. If I can't walk, you have to carry me."
Ash didn't even hesitate. He simply turned around, crouched down in front of her, and looked over his shoulder.
"Hop on."
"..." Lovrina stared at him, "...That's it?"
Ash raised an eyebrow, "What?"
"You...you're not gonna complain?"
"You can't walk."
"I know that!"
"So if we need to move, I carry you."
Lovrina frowned harder, "...You're supposed to argue."
"Why?"
"So I can win the argument!" Lovrina said like it meant something, but she just looked at Ash, who wasn't even surprised.
"Aren't you the one that wanted the piggyback?" Ash asked.
"......Fine."
Trying to maintain what little dignity she had left, Lovrina scooted across the sand until she reached him, then awkwardly climbed onto his back.
The moment she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, she tried to keep whatever dignity she had left as Ash hoisted her up, and they were off. But as they went off into the distance, the train cart finally turned back into Dittos and started bouncing away to go rejoin Green.
—
{Over on the other side of the mountain}
Rui slowly opened her eyes. As the sunlight hit her face, she immediately shot up, looking around. She saw she was in the desert, and Ash was nowhere to be seen.
But what was nearby was none other than Yellow.
She was just sitting comfortably on a towel, with her sunhat protecting her from the sun, drinking a smoothie. Next to her, Chuchu was also drinking one.
She noticed Rui and waved, "Rui, you're awake!"
"...What happened?" Rui asked, still looking confused, "And where is Ash?"
Yellow shrugged, "I kinda fell asleep, then woke up here, and I found this smoothie next to me. It's pretty good." She took another sip, "Oh, and Ash, I dunno, haven't seen him."
"Wha-then we need to find him! The desert is deadly for people who don't know it!" Rui panicked, thinking that Ash might have gotten hurt and that it was her fault because she insisted they take the train.
But Yellow didn't look worried. She actually waved her hand in front of her, "Ehhhh, I mean, this is pretty normal, not gonna lie. Ash just kinda appears when he wants to when this kind of thing happens. It happens more than you think," she said as she took another sip.
Rui just looked at her sipping her smoothie, "Where did you even...how-how do you even know if it's safe to drink that? What if it was a trap?!"
Yellow stopped, looked down at the cup, then turned it around, "But it has my name on it."
She showed that on the cup, written in green marker, was Yellow's name with some green hearts. Chuchu nodded seriously.
Rui stared at the cup for a few seconds, then slowly looked back at Yellow, "That does not explain anything."
Yellow tilted her head, "Huh? It doesn't?"
"No! It absolutely does not!" Rui pointed at the smoothie, "How does a random drink appearing in the middle of a desert with your name on it prove it's safe?!"
Yellow thought about it for a moment, then looked down at the smoothie again, "...I guess it doesn't."
Rui immediately threw her hands up, "See?!"
"But it tastes really good, do you want some?" Yellow held up the cup, offering Rui a sip.
"That is not the point!"
Chuchu nodded while continuing to drink her smoothie, completely agreeing with Yellow that the important part was that it tasted good.
Rui looked between the two of them, and for a moment she genuinely didn't know what to say. These two were so strange that she couldn't tell if they were incredibly lucky, incredibly reckless, or somehow both.
She sighed, rubbing her forehead, "Okay...okay, forget the smoothie. We need to find Ash."
Yellow looked over at her, still calmly drinking, "Are you worried about him?"
"Of course I'm worried!" Rui immediately answered, "This place is a desert! There are probably dangerous Pokémon everywhere, the heat alone could kill someone, and he was the only one who knew what he was doing! I don't know how you're so calm. Isn't he your friend?"
Yellow stopped and lowered the cup, then scratched her cheek nervously, "I-I, um..." she sighed, "Look, Ash is...he's both one of the greatest people you can meet and also infuriating sometimes. When I traveled with him, some days I wanted nothing more than to hit him, then hug him for the rest of the day."
She had a nostalgic smile, "Ash has his own weird way of doing things, and he always comes out fine. Trust me, this entire thing doesn't even beat the top ten weirdest things we did when I was still there, so he's fine," Yellow tried to reassure her.
"If I know Ash, he's probably on his way to do something alone that he really probably shouldn't," Yellow tapped her chin, "Got any ideas?"
Rui stopped and tapped her chin, "Well...if I had to guess, it would be to go find the monolith alon- oh my Mew, he's going for the monolith alone!"
Rui immediately looked horrified at her own realization, "Of course he is! Why did I even think he would do anything else? He probably saw the most dangerous thing in the entire desert and thought, 'Yeah, I should go check that out by myself.'"
Yellow tilted her head and tapped her chin, "Yeah...that does sound like something Ash would do."
Rui looked at her in disbelief, "You're saying that like it's normal!"
Yellow shrugged, "For Ash? It kind of is."
Rui opened her mouth to argue, but then stopped because somehow, after everything she had seen today, she couldn't actually deny it.
She sighed, "Okay, we need to find him. Which direction would he even go?"
Yellow looked around the desert, then held up her smoothie again and took another sip, completely calm.
Rui stared at her, "...Are you seriously still drinking that?"
Yellow looked down at the cup, then back at Rui, "Yeah?"
"We are in the middle of a desert, Ash is missing, we have no idea where we are, and you're just casually drinking a suspicious smoothie."
Yellow tilted her head, "It's not suspicious."
"How is it not suspicious?!"
"Because it's tasty."
Rui stared at her, "That is the worst explanation I have ever heard."
Yellow looked down at the drink again, thinking about it, "...Yeah, I guess that doesn't really prove anything."
"Exactly!"
"But you should still try it."
Rui blinked, "What?"
Yellow suddenly sat up straighter, her eyes widening like she had just realized something important, "Wait."
Rui looked confused, "What?"
"You've never had a smoothie before, have you?"
Rui froze, "...No?"
Yellow's eyes widened even more, "You've never had a smoothie?!"
Rui immediately looked embarrassed and crossed her arms, "Is that really so surprising?"
"Yes!" Yellow immediately stood up, holding out her cup, "You have to try it!"
"Wait, what? No, that's not important right now!"
"It is important!"
"How is a smoothie more important than finding Ash?!"
"Because Ash would want you to try it!" Yellow said seriously.
Rui looked at her skeptically, "You're just saying that because you want me to drink your smoothie."
Yellow paused, "...Maybe a little."
Rui sighed.
Yellow walked closer and held the cup out again, "Come on, just one sip. It's really good."
Rui looked at the smoothie, then at Yellow, then back at the smoothie, "You really trust this thing?"
Yellow nodded seriously, "Yeah, it tastes good."
"That's not what I asked."
Yellow thought for a moment, "...I trust that it tastes good."
Rui covered her face with her hand, "I cannot believe this is the person I'm relying on right now."
Chuchu, still holding her own smoothie, nodded happily like she agreed.
Rui looked at Chuchu, "Don't encourage her."
Chuchu just kept drinking.
Yellow smiled and held the cup closer, "Please?"
Rui sighed, realizing she was not going to win this argument.
—
{Meanwhile}
The desert sun was starting to lower, but the heat was still brutal. Ash had been walking for hours with Lovrina on his back, listening to her complain every few minutes about the sand, the heat, the fact that she was tired, or just about how unfair the entire situation was.
And somehow, despite all of that, Ash didn't seem bothered.
"Are you seriously not annoyed?" Lovrina finally asked.
Ash glanced back slightly, "By what?"
"By me."
Ash raised an eyebrow, "You've complained about the desert, the sand, the sun, the train, Gonzap, your Pokémon losing, and my personality."
Lovrina crossed her arms while still on his back, "Exactly! Most people would be annoyed."
"Do you want me to get annoyed with you?"
Lovrina froze, "What?"
Ash continued walking, "You said most people would be annoyed. So do you want me to be annoyed?"
Lovrina opened her mouth, then closed it, "I..."
She looked away, "No. Obviously not."
"Then what's the problem?"
Lovrina puffed out her cheeks, "The problem is that you're supposed to complain! Or get frustrated! Or say something mean! That's how this works!"
Ash glanced back at her, "How what works?"
"The whole thing!" Lovrina waved her hand dramatically, "The mysterious boy and the beautiful, amazing, obviously incredible girl stuck together in the desert. Normally, this is where you start getting annoyed, and then I prove how amazing I am, and then you realize how lucky you are!"
Ash stared at her, "...You have a very specific idea of how this should go."
"Because I know how stories work!"
"Do you?"
"Of course I do!"
Ash turned back around, "Interesting."
Lovrina narrowed her eyes, "What does that mean?"
"Nothing."
She stared at the back of his head suspiciously, "You're weird."
"So I've been told."
Eventually, they found an oasis as they started getting closer to town. Considering there was fresh water there, Lovrina really wanted to stop and get a sip.
Ash went over to the oasis and set Lovrina down under a tree near the water. She immediately sighed in relief, stretching her arms out as she looked at the lake, "Finally! A break! My feet were suffering so much!"
Ash raised an eyebrow, "You haven't been walking."
Lovrina froze, "...That is not the point."
Ash shook his head slightly but didn't argue. Instead, he reached into his bag.
Lovrina immediately became suspicious, "What are you doing?"
"Helping your leg."
"My leg is broken because of you."
"No, it's not, but believe whatever you want," Ash said as he threw out the ball.
From it came Clefairy. Ash pointed at Lovrina, and Clefairy saluted before walking over and using [Heal Pulse].
Lovrina blinked, "Eh? Why do you have a Pokémon that heals?"
"Why don't you? As far as I hear, Orre doesn't have free healthcare."
Lovrina stared at him for a second, "...Did you just make a joke?"
Ash shrugged, "Wasn't trying to."
"Huh..."
For some reason, that actually seemed to confuse her more than if he had just insulted her.
When Clefairy finished, it tapped Ash's arm too, just to make the act look good.
"You should be able to walk in a few minutes. You can take that brace off if you want," Ash said as he took off the one on his arm.
Lovrina blinked as she looked down and took the brace off her leg, wiggling her leg, "Huh, it does feel better."
"Again, don't put pressure on it yet. Give it like three minutes or so," Ash said.
Lovrina looked at him again and sighed, "You know, when Wes talked about you, I expected something else, to be honest."
Ash raised an eyebrow, "What did you expect?"
Lovrina put a finger to her chin, thinking, "Hmm...Someone more angry. Or maybe someone who would constantly brag about how strong they are."
She pointed at him, "But you just act like everything is normal."
Ash shrugged, "Most things are normal if you've seen enough weird things."
Lovrina stared, "...You really have had a strange life, haven't you?"
"Yeah...you know, I should probably visit a therapist one of these days," Ash laughed helplessly.
She looked away, "I suppose that makes sense."
Seeing her defenses were down, Ash finally started the attack, "So."
Lovrina looked back, "So?"
"You mentioned Wes earlier."
The moment Ash said the name, Lovrina's expression changed. The usual confident smile faded slightly as she looked down at the sand, "...Wes."
Ash noticed immediately.
Then she smiled slightly, but it wasn't the same fake confident smile she usually had. It was more of a sad smile, "Wes...he joined Cipher around the same time I did."
"When I first saw him, I thought..." She laughed softly, "I thought it was going to be like one of those stories."
Ash raised an eyebrow, "What kind of story?"
Lovrina put a hand against her cheek, "The mysterious bad boy who joins the evil organization, and the beautiful, amazing girl who obviously catches his attention."
She paused, "I mean, come on. It made sense!"
Ash looked at her, "Did it?"
"Yes!" she immediately answered, then her voice lowered, "At least I thought it did."
She looked down, "No matter what I did, he never cared." The wind blew slightly through the oasis, "I tried talking to him. I tried showing off. I tried being funny. I tried being...well, me."
She smiled sadly, "But he never looked at me that way, and even now..." Lovrina hugged her knees, "I don't really know anything about him."
That surprised Ash, "Really?"
"No."
She shook her head, "I don't know where he came from. I don't know why he joined Cipher. I don't know what he actually wants. Well, other than apparently he beat Cipher before, but now he's apparently part of it. Why? Reasons, I guess." She waved her hands up in the air.
Ash nodded, but inwardly he sighed. Well, there goes one of the things this entire plan was for, he thought. With her being an Admin, he thought she might have some information on Wes, but no. But that was just one thing. There was one more thing he could get to make sure all of this wasn't a waste of time.
He looked over at Lovrina, who was absentmindedly tracing little circles in the sand with one finger.
"So."
Lovrina looked up, "So?"
"You've been with Cipher for a while."
"Mhm. I am an Admin and Cipher's Research and Development team."
"Can you tell me what you're planning?"
Lovrina puffed out her cheeks, "Oh, you are so sneaky! I was wondering when you were going to start asking questions like that."
"I figured it was worth a shot."
She giggled, though it sounded forced this time, "You almost got me too. I was getting all distracted talking about Wes and everything."
Then she realized and covered her face with both hands, "Ohhh...Lovrina, you are so bad at keeping secrets..." she muttered to herself, remembering that she had just admitted she was an Admin.
Ash chuckled, and that made the tense feeling in Lovrina's shoulders ease slightly. She looked down at the water, but then she snapped back to reality, realizing she was getting comfortable.
She even forgot that they were supposed to be enemies, about how she wanted to throw sand in his face or yell at him. Thoughts filled her head, and she suddenly shot to her feet, "Ah, hey, oh look at that, it's my leg."
She looked down dramatically, "My leg's all better! I so have to go now!"
Without waiting for a response, she spun around and started walking away as fast as she could.
Ash simply watched her leave, "Okay."
She only made it about ten steps before stopping, "..."
She stood there silently for a few moments with her back still turned toward him.
Finally, without looking back, she quietly said, "...There's a cave nearby. It leads to Outskirt Stand. You'll be safe there..."
"And you?" Ash asked.
Lovrina was quiet again. She looked toward the horizon, "There's a monolith here..." she looked back at him one more time, "Consider it my thank you." Her meaning was clear
Then she walked away quickly, leaving Ash there with Clefairy sitting on his lap. After she was gone, Pikachu and Vee jumped out of their Poké Balls and went to drink water.
But Ash got what he needed. He pulled out his phone and dialed Green, "Yo, Green, we got what we need. I'll come pick you up. Where did you leave Yellow and Rui...wait, what's that about a smoothie?"
—
Later, Lovrina was walking into Krono Cave. There, she saw other members of Team Cipher who all let her pass with fear on their faces.
She got inside, where she saw multiple other high-ranking members of Cipher, including Gonzap and Wakin, who she was surprised and a little relieved to see were alive.
But then Wakin ruined it, "Tsk! I can't believe she's alive."
She decided to ignore it and keep her head held high. She looked forward, where she saw Wes leaning against a wall, Ardos and Eldes were standing by the monolith, and finally, in the center of it all, was a very old man: Cipher's Grand Master Greevil.
"Hello, Master Greevil," she said, bowing.
Greevil gave his usual smile, "I'm so glad you could make it. Take your post."
Lovrina listened, taking her spot at the side, though she sometimes shot sad glances over at Wes.
Greevil continued, getting all of their attention, "Evice will be here very soon with Gary Oak. Make sure no one enters this chamber."
But as he spoke, inside Lovrina's hood, there was a noticeable glow from the tracker Ash had slipped into it.
Because you don't really think Ash did all of that just for nothing with all that build-up, do you? Now Ash had Greevil right where he wanted him,