Grotto PKMN Center, Sinnoh
"Yes!" A familiar Scorbunny exclaimed, walking into the Pokémon Center. "Made it just in time."
Frost and Leah walked up from behind him, looking around. Simon let out a sigh of relief, and Chomps was simply remaining still. Following behind them was an exhausted Pikachu, who was barely able to keep up with them.
"Is this it?" Jacob asked, trying to catch his breath. This got a nod from Logan, making the Pikachu finally relax himself.
As he did, they were suddenly alerted by a metallic sound. They all looked back to see a few more Pokémon walk in before closing a large metallic door just in front of the sliding doors of the Center.
"Wow... We really cut it close there..." He remarked.
"Jacob?"
The Pikachu's ears perked to the sound of a familiar voice. He looked to his left to see an Oshawott standing there with a surprised expression.
"Oh hey, Ollie." He smiled. "Glad to know that you made it here okay. What about Sophie, though?"
"Jacob's still alive?" Sophie, who was a short distance away, asked. "I thought for sure you'd be dead." The Snivy walked over.
"Well, that makes the whole group." The Pikachu remarked before seeing the crate that Sophie had behind her. "Um... What's with the crate?"
"We ran into the food seller here." Oliver explained, "We're just helping out."
"What about them?" The Snivy pointed to Logan, Leah, Frost, and Chomps. "Are they with you?"
"More like he's with us." Leah commented.
"No, I followed you to your treehouse, so technically..." He suddenly stopped. "Aw, man..."
"Yeah, that's what I thought." The Aipom smiled.
"Treehouse?" Sophie asked, "Where even were you through all of this?"
"Well after separating from you two, I met Logan and the others." Jacob began to explain. "They attacked me, but it turns out that Logan only wanted to have a good fight."
"Logan's the... Scorbunny, right?" Oliver looked over to Logan, who gave an affirmative grin. "...Right. Anyway, why do you look so tired?"
"Well a group of Nidorino shook the treehouse and tried to kill us in the middle of the night, is all." The Pikachu replied, fanning a paw.
Leah walked up to speak, "Anyway, we're-" Her voice was suddenly cut off when she heard a scream of joy.
"Logan!" A familiar Blissey exclaimed, running over and giving the Scorbunny a hug. "I'm so glad you're okay!"
"What the? Ms. Lucy, what are you doing?" Logan asked loudly.
"Hugging you, what else?" She asked with a soft smile. "I'm just glad that you're okay..."
"I was fine!" The Scorbunny argued stubbornly.
"Aw..." Frost teased. "Is this your substitute mommy?"
"Shut up, Frost!" He kicked his legs. "Just wait, I got you later. Don't worry about it."
"Is that a threat?" She asked with a smirk.
"Yeah, it's a threat!" He yelled at her.
"Okay, and?" The Sneasel asked with a taunting grin.
"GRAHH!"
"What a hothead..." Sophie remarked, looking at the screaming Scorbunny.
"Yeah, I guess..." Oliver agreed half-heartedly. His mind was occupied with the sound of screaming. He looked over to where it was coming from, and he could see a female Floatzel being held back by a group of Pokémon.
"Please let me out!" She begged, completely in hysterics, "My son and my husband are still out there!"
Lucy let Logan go and walked over to the female Pokémon. She stepped into her line of vision before looking into her eyes. "Ma'am?"
"Y-Yes?" She asked, a color of fear painted in her eyes.
"Unfortunately, I cannot allow you to leave, it's too dangerous." Lucy told her, making the Floatzel let out a whimper. "But, I can have all of the Grotto Rangers begin to search for them and sweep the whole forest outside, too."
"R-Really?"
"Of course, my job is to help any Pokémon in need." The Blissey smiled. "And the GR has a duty to protect Pokémon in the Grotto. It's just us doing our jobs."
This seemed to calm the Floatzel down a bit. "W-Would you let me know as soon as possible?"
"You'll be the first to know."
"T-Thank you so much, I really appreciate it." She smiled up at Lucy.
"No problem." She gave a supportive smile, "If you would excuse me, I need to begin sorting out room assignments."
Later on, Logan was called up to get his room assignment.
"What do you mean?" Logan asked loudly. "I'm not getting a room with my friends?" He looked up at Lucy with anger in his eyes. He gripped the key that was given to him.
"No, all of the rooms that had more than four beds were reserved for large families." She shook her head. "And I want you to keep an eye on those three over there."
The Blissey pointed over to Oliver, Sophie, and Jacob, who were talking to one another happily.
"Oh... You don't trust the unthreatening travelers?" The Scorbunny asked sarcastically. "Come on, one of them doesn't even look like he can handle getting hit by a marshmallow from a slingshot."
"That's rude." Lucy scolded him. "Look, I want you to keep an eye on those three. The job is assigned to you because you're one of the only Pokémon I can completely trust here."
"Fine." He huffed.
"Thank you, hon." She patted his head before walking to her main desk.
The Scorbunny grumbled quietly as he trudged back to his group.
"Attention all Pokémon." Lucy spoke through the intercom, which was broadcasted through the whole center. "Please feel free to now head to your assigned rooms, if there are any questions, comments, and concerns, ask me."
"Yes!" Jacob exclaimed, jumping from his previous sitting position. "I'm so glad we got a room together. It was pretty lucky."
"She's just keeping us in one location so we're not spread out through the center." Sophie walked up from behind Jacob. "We're not exactly... Trusted here."
"Glad to know you guys have already figured it out." Logan walked up to the trio, seemingly a bit angry.
"It was pretty obvious." Sophie told him, "Especially the part when Lucy started pointing over at us."
"Are you staying in our room too?" Oliver asked Logan.
"Yep." He nodded with a sigh. "We should get moving, I have the key." He tossed the key into the air and caught it as the four walked towards the stairs leading upstairs.
Walking through the hallways of the second floor, Oliver looked around. He could see many Pokémon walking into their assigned rooms, some along with whole families. He took notice of the visible fear on a few Pokémon's faces, averting his eyes in discomfort at the sight.
"How long will we have to stay here...?" The Oshawott wondered, walking behind Sophie, Jacob, and Logan.
Luckily, they weren't trapped like last time. They could just leave if they wanted to... Right?
"Ollie?" A familiar voice snapped him from his thoughts. Oliver looked to his right to see Jacob looking back at him with a confused expression.
"Yeah? What's up?" The Oshawott's expression seemed to calm a bit.
"Are you doing okay?" He asked, "You seem to be a bit uncomfortable here."
"It's that noticeable, huh?" Oliver asked with a faint smile. "It's just that I wanted to really have a good look at the Grotto. But we've only transferred buildings since we got here."
"Yeah, it's a bit suffocating." Jacob replied, "But why don't we take it from the source then? We just take out Nidoking, and start looking around this place."
Logan suddenly stopped in his tracks, having heard the whole conversation. "Are you nuts!?" He turned around to face Jacob.
"Wha...?" The Pikachu's ears perked.
"Look, I'm all for defeating that Nidoking..." The Scorbunny began, "But you can't just simply 'take him out'."
"Why not?" Jacob asked.
"Well, as you've seen already..." Logan began, "He has a bunch of forces behind him, along with strong strength to back it. We would be able to take them down, but the GR don't want to."
"GR?" Oliver raised an eyebrow.
"The Grotto Rangers." He answered, "They're basically like police here, they're also a bunch of cowards." As the four approached their assigned room, Logan used his key to unlock the door.
Jacob smiled at the sight of the two bunk beds on the left and right sides of the room as they all walked in.
"What, because they don't want to be killed?" Sophie asked. "That sounds basically realistic."
The Scorbunny's teeth clenched together as he slammed the door closed behind them. "Not for the Rangers!" His voice echoed through the empty room. "They're supposed to be fearless, and do whatever it takes to protect the people of the Grotto!"
"Hey, relax dude..." Jacob stepped forward. "What Sophie was trying to say is that it isn't unrealistic to be scared."
He remained silent.
"We're only teenagers..." Oliver spoke. "...Fear of the unknown is natural."
"Fear is a weakness." The Scorbunny shook off the comment before heading over to the bottom bunk on the right, grabbing his blanket to use as a curtain and covering himself up.
"That was... Really bad..." The Oshawott let out a sigh.
"I'll take the top bunk above Logan's." Jacob smiled before whispering to them. "I'm sure that neither of you would want to deal with him right now."
"You just want top bunk, don't you?" Oliver asked.
"Yep." He nodded with a smile, walking over to the ladder leading up to the top bunk.
"What about you, Sophie?" Oliver looked behind him to see nobody there.
"Hm?" The Snivy asked, already laying down on the top bunk. "Oh, you were going too slow."
"It's not a problem, I didn't care either way." The Oshawott fanned his paw dismissively.
As Oliver went to his bunk, Sophie looked over to the blanket blocking Logan's bunk. The Snivy had a feeling he was doing this out of some type of self-defense, because of his defensive responses to each of their statements.
"So guys, anywhere in the Grotto you want to see?" Jacob asked, looking over to Oliver and Sophie.
"Well, I don't know much about this place." Oliver pulled out his map before Jacob walked over and Sophie began hanging from the top bunk by her legs. "The map only shows basic locations around Sinnoh, and mini places of interest there."
"Like what?" Sophie asked.
"There's a nearby restaurant that has a really good selection of food." Oliver explained. "I've never heard of the... Tamato Curry?"
"Hm... A spice dish, maybe." Jacob remarked, "Sophie, you can handle spices, right?"
"Yep." She nodded. "What about Oliver?"
"Don't even ask him..." The Pikachu remarked, "I don't want to even begin to get into that eating contest a few years ago..."
"I was nine!" Oliver retorted, standing up. "That's not fair, I've changed since then!"
"So let's say that I grabbed a Tomato berry..." Jacob trailed off, "Would you eat it? Be honest."
The Oshawott looked away, letting out a nervous chuckle. "Well..." He smiled, "I would."
"Oh, what do you know, there was a Tamato berry under my pillow." Sophie spoke up. "Want it, Oliver?"
"No!" He exclaimed, "Y-You're lying, right?"
"Heh. Yeah..." She smirked as Jacob began laughing.
"Hey!"
"Come on, Ollie, lighten up." The Pikachu patted his back, not bothering to hold back a laugh.
As Logan heard the laughing from behind his blanket, he was tempted to pull the blanket down and join in, but he might've made a bit of a mistake yelling at them. Maybe a little time to himself would help.
..Would it?
Later on in the night, Oliver woke up. His eyes seemed to be glued shut for a moment, but when he opened his eyes, the room seemed to still be dark. Only the moonlight from the opening leading to the balcony.
He looked around the room, his eyes resting on the blanket blocking Logan's bed. It was opened up from the side.
"Huh?" He asked groggily, getting off of his bed before walking over to the curtain and seeing nobody inside. "There's nobody in here..."
He suddenly heard movement coming from the balcony.
The Oshawott looked around before walking to the balcony. He could see a familiar Scorbnny sitting on the rail, seemingly ready to jump off.
"What are you doing!?" Oliver asked loudly, not worrying about waking anyone up. "We're on the third floor!"
"Huh?" He looked back with wide eyes. "Oh, no, no chill out. I'll be fine." He waved his paws.
The Oshawott stopped. "How?"
"Check this out." Logan smirked.
He jumped from the balcony before firing off a strange blast from his paws, propelling himself back up to the balcony.
"What was that?" Oliver walked over.
"Apparently, it's a Flamethrower." Logan explained, "Originally, our fire's supposed to come from our feet and mouths, but my family has learned to draw them to other parts of our bodies. But I've only learned to put it in my paws."
"So, you're taking an originally established move and... Evolving it?" Oliver raised an eyebrow. "That kind of sounds like the Theory of Improvement."
"Theory?"
"Well, the theory states that each and every Pokémon attack is incomplete in some way, and can be improved upon or... 'Evolved' in different ways."
"Like mine!" Logan exclaimed, jumping down from the balcony to stand next to him. "So, did I have the ability to use it because my parents could?"
Oliver shook his head. "They aren't hereditary as far as I've read."
"I guess Mom and Dad didn't have the opportunity to get to that..." The Scorbunny let out a sigh. "...But I guess they helped me to learn more in order to become a strong fighter."
"Mhm." The Sea Otter Pokémon nodded in agreement. "So about the GR..."
"What about the GR?" Logan's expression changed slightly. "There's nothing else to say."
"Well it seems that you kind of... Resent them." Oliver looked away.
"I don't resent them, I admire them." The Scorbunny remarked, "I wanted to become just like Mom and Dad and become part of the GR."
"Then why do you seem angry at them?"
"Because they've become so spineless." Logan ranted, "A year or two after my parents went into comas, they just stopped trying to combat Nidoking and only protect others."
"I thought protecting others is what they're supposed to do."
"That's just a part of it." He explained, "They're also supposed to protect the Grotto itself, but they just stopped the second things got bad."
"Hm..." The Oshawott nodded.
"Why else do you think I have that group in the treehouse?" He asked, "We're all Pokemon who are tired of living like this."
"You're tired of living this way... I could understand that." Oliver spoke, "If this were happening around me, I'm sure I would've gone insane by now."
"I guess you get it, too." He smiled. "So why don't you help me?"
"Huh?"
"Me, you, Jacob, and my group could take him down ourselves." Logan proposed, "Think about it, Forest Grotto could finally be free!"
"That's a very ambitious goal, but..." Oliver looked away, "...Do we even have enough firepower between us to make that big of a difference?"
"Then we'll recruit more Pokémon!" He exclaimed decisively, "Or do you have any ideas?"
"I mean... I guess if we were able to learn about Nidoking himself, there could be a good chance that a coordinated attack would work."
"You're right!" Logan grinned. "That's a great plan!"
"Wait, I didn't mean-"
"With enough knowledge and strength, we could take him down."
"But you're missing the point of what I'm-"
"You're right, we would need to find him first." The Scorbunny nodded, "I guess we could wait until he eventually comes to us."
"Logan, that would be-"
"Amazing, I know!" He looked up, smiling brightly. "This could be the year, the year where we are finally free from Nidoking's grip."
"But-"
"Thanks, I really needed that." He looked at Oliver with a sincere smile. "It's been a pretty long time since I've felt hope like this..."
Oliver decided to remain silent, not wanting to burst Logan's bubble.
"Anyways, you seem to know a lot." Logan remarked, "Is that why you travel? In order to learn more?"
"No, not exactly." Oliver shook his head.
"Then why do you travel?" He asked, "You seem to be really hesitant towards things."
"Of course I'm hesitant, I'm scared of a lot that could happen to me or my friends."
"Then why travel if you're scared?"
Oliver remained silent. The simple question seemed to stump him. He looked down at the floor, his mind full of confusion. This should be a clear-cut answer, right?
"I'll give you time to think it over." Logan patted his back before heading to bed.
"Right..."
As Logan's footsteps faded into the bedroom, Oliver remained outside. He looked up to the moon above, which looked back down at him.
"An easy decision..." He let out a sigh, "...Right?"