Sam took a deep breath as she was still coming to terms with everything around her. The good news was that she had seen and treated worse, the bad news... that was in a hospital with state-of-the-art equipment. What the hell was going on? None of that really mattered, all that mattered was doing the best she could with what they had. Still, it wasn't like they had absolutely nothing.

"Chase, take off your shirt."

"My lady! How scandalous, I am a pure manwhore that saves my magnificent body for the bedroom only."

Sam simply glared at him, until he tore off his shirt and handed it over.

"Better than nothing." She replied as she tore it into strips, and then began using it to wipe and clean up Kevin's wound. Why was it so purple? She figured he might have been poisoned or something and requested for Pecha berries, hoping in the miracles of this world but this was ridiculous.

"Oh." Chase replied as he realized why he needed to strip. "That makes sense, wait, why didn't you use your shirt?"

"I'm a girl, dumbass." Sam replied.

"So? It's not like I want to look." Chase shrugged.

"No shit, but we need to get to civilization at some point. I can't exactly go in public without a shirt, right? You and Kevin though would be fine."

"Oh, right."

Psyra flinched as she felt terror emanating from her human. Sam also looked to see his face and she saw Kevin cry for the first time in her life. She grit her teeth as she cleaned the wound, not even able to get distracted by the chiseled abs she was touching. A far cry from the little Munchlax he used to be.

"It'll be alright Kev, I'll protect you. You'll wake up, and you'll be okay. Then I'm never going to leave you alone again and we can spend the rest of our lives in this world."

"Movie confession number 73!?!" A shrill and confused voice sounded next to her. Sam snorted, Kevin was her best friend and she promised to protect him after he protected her before. Of course, you would never really want to spend a day apart from your best friend as well if you could. She was simply going to be roommates with him like they said they'd be when younger.

"That's ridiculous, I just want to take care of my friend and be around him the rest of my life. The past ten years without Kevin were really lonely without his sarcastic remarks or shitty quips. Life's just empty without him, at least part of life was this past decade. Don't you all feel the same?" She asked in exasperation.

"Holy shit, two movie confessions in one day!" Chase replied with a snarky laugh. "Of course, life without Kevin hasn't been as fun, but it didn't feel any more empty or full. I missed him but I bet you girls both were thinking of him every day. Then again, it's not like I ever cared to try and 'convert' a straight guy. That shit's whack, so I only ever had a crush, tops."

Kate blushed furiously of course, unsure of what to say. All three of them were actually feeling deeply worried and uncomfortable with the situation. This teasing was just a welcome distraction.

"I-I did. I never imagined when I saw him again, he'd look so... different but still Kevin." She finally managed to get out as she fidgeted with her long and wet hair.

"I know what you mean, surprised the shit out of me. Still, Kev's my BEST friend, and just a friend. The magnitude of our feelings is just a little different as besties. Also, Chase, you weren't over him for at least two years before you met that Diego and moved away to be with him after high school. What even happened to him, anyways?"

Chase sighed and smiled gleefully, something that let the girls know he was actually enraged at the memory.

"Turns out two years into the relationship after I asked him to marry me, I found out he had a wife, and three kids. No wonder he would only spend the nights on the weekends, huh?"

"Oh shit. Sorry." Sam replied immediately as guilt twisted in her stomach.

"Don't be, it's fine. Kevin literally warned me that my 'friend Diego' was kind of sus and that moving countries immediately after high school might have been premature."

"I think Kevin knew uhm that Diego and you weren't just... friends. You also talked to him more than us, so he probably noticed you two didn't seem on the same page."

"Yeah, Diego didn't realize I thought we were more than friends either. Huh, I never actually told Kevin I was like, hella gay, did I?"

"Chase, the only people that didn't know you were 'hella gay' were the delusional girls whose hearts you had to break."

Kate snickered a bit and felt a deep relief inside. Sam and Chase continued to talk and bicker about trivial things, most of which were sports related from their old world. 'Old World.' Kate looked around at the Poochyena and Ralts playing. She didn't turn to look at the body. This was a different world and none of them were really talking about that. Of course, because then it would be real.

The fact that she would likely never see her mom or dad again, and the fact that her beloved salon was gone... it was all real. Still, she would rather be here than have Kevin disappear and she never knew where. The same thing happened to his family, so maybe... she tried to squash that hope quickly, though. Even if they went missing in a different dimension, it didn't mean it was THIS one. She distracted herself by petting the canines around her while Chase and Sam distracted each other. Eventually, they were all brought to the current reality by some low howling.

The Mightyena Sam sent to search for berries were back. She recognized them, of course she did. Although they weren't very good items in a competitive sense, they were definitely useful in a normal playthrough.

Pokémon were smart, and this world was... different than their old one. Kate and Chase gathered the different berries and thanked the Mightyena for the help while Sam was at work.

"Done, for now. He's not going to die immediately, I think. Kate, we need to get to the nearest town. You're more of a nerd about this than I am, any idea where we are or where the nearest town is?"

Kate frowned as she thought about it. Ralts were in many regions, and Mightyena weren't super uncommon. Nidoking was definitely rarer though to her knowledge.

"Sinnoh somewhere between Routes 213, 214, and the Valor Lakefront but off route. I think." Kate replied. "This is just assuming the encounter tables in the games are kind of accurate and this Ralts is far away from home, which is normally 203 or 204, maybe. I don't think anywhere else in the Pokémon world has Mightyena and Nidoking living so close together. Uhm, this is just based on my vague memory so I could be wrong though."

Sam vaguely remembered Sinnoh. It was the last region she played, actually. Chase also remembered Sinnoh but that region definitely caught him off guard.

"Sinnoh? I thought we would be in the region where you got Kentucky Fighting Chicken as your starter because of Ralts and Mightyena. Weird."

"Blaziken." Kate corrected.

"Not mine." Chase huffed. "I'll give them all bad ass nicknames, to show how tight we are and stuff."

Most of the Mightyena and Poochyena had decided that the tall male wouldn't be a fit trainer for them at that moment. Most. One Poochyena found herself wondering what sort of title she would have with that human. Psyra sensed the optimism and hope exuding from her playmate as she inched towards the tall and dark human. In fact it didn't take long for the young pup to blatantly rub her body against Chase, showing her pack she claimed this human.

"Oh wow, aren't you a cutie. Hey wanna come with me? I'll call you the Dark Destroyer Dog or 3D for short!" Chase asked the Poochyena as he lifted her up. She yipped in exhilaration with sparkling eyes. The title was even better than she expected! So powerful and imposing! Chase laughed. "I caught a Pokémon!" He exclaimed in happiness as he spun around with her.

Well, it wouldn't have been her first choice, but Psyra was happy that they would likely travel together. They both chose a human from the same group, after all.

None of the pack were remotely jealous. Her choice of human seemed nice, at least. 3D was still cautious though that others would want to join. She knew humans usually never had more than one of a kind on their 'team' and she also knew that a human's 'team' had limited slots.

"Well, he's got spirit at least." Sam replied. "So, to the south is where that wrestling leader is, to the west might be where they have contests, to the north is the casino and to the east is that city with the lighthouse?"

"Pastoria, Hearthome, Veilstone, and Sunnyshore cities respectively." Kate mumbled. "There's also Solaceon City which has the daycare to the north-west."

Solaceon? Psyra chirped! She knew where that was thankfully, and it was close. In fact, it was where she was born! All of the humans stopped everything and stared at her for a while. She immediately moved closer to her human and grabbed his leg for comfort.

"Did you recognize a name I said?" The human female that was just speaking had asked her. Psyra searched her memory on the lessons to communicate with humans. Eventually she came to a nod. "Can you take us there? I'm sorry, I know it must be scary but we need to get Kevin to other humans so they can take care of him." Kate again spoke in a soft voice to the timid Ralts. Psyra nodded her blue head again. 

"Thanks a lot, little one!" Chase replied boisterously. 3D also yipped alongside him.

"Yeah, thanks. Kevin's really important to us. Alright big guy, grab the little guy. Kate, you deal with the berries and feed them to Kevin when he wakes up. Let's go, I'd rather not spend more time here. Little one, should I carry you?" Sam gave out quick orders and finally addressed the Ralts, whom quickly scrambled ontop of Kevin, wishing she could have teleported. Chase snickered and smiled as he carefully lifted his friend. 

"Alright, keep up losers, I have the navigator!" 3D yipped in affirmation and then Chase started running off, in the wrong direction. After some quick screams from Psyra who felt absolutely exasperated, Chase was on track. The Mightyena immediately set off, with some staying behind to protect the girls who had spent a solid moment standing there, surprised.

"Why didn't I see that coming?" Sam asked.

"I uh, kinda did but it still surprised me." Kate confessed. They both nodded and then started chasing after him again.

Psyra was doing her best to calm down as she investigated the emotions of the man known as Chase. He was slightly worried but mostly exhilarated and determined. There wasn't a trace of fear to be felt. Worry, yes, fear no. It brought a different kind of security than her human who felt even more intense fear than her but still pushed on. She used her psychic powers after much concentration to send out sparkling pink and blue lights to guide their way. It was a weak and ineffective version of flash, but it was effective for this.

"Awesome, thanks blue! Now that I totally know where I'm going... CHASE FULL SPEED! Let's go! ORA ORA ORA ORA!" Chase felt his lungs burn, sweat poured down his body, but still he remained in the lead. 3D was amazed at her new human Partner. She did her best to keep up, pushing herself and finding herself adapting during the run.