Grotto PKMN Center, Sinnoh
Oliver opened his eyes in the morning, his eyes immediately scanning around the room to register his surroundings. It was eerily quiet in and outside of the room. Compared to the constant noises around them from other families in the floor below them, things seemed almost tranquil.
He let out a soft groan, sitting up in his bed. He stretched his arms as he silently got out of bed. His stomach growled loudly as he walked through the room and opened the door leading to the hallway. He took one last look around the room to make sure he didn't wake anyone before closing the door slowly.
As the door closed, a familiar Snivy opened an eye.
The Oshawott walked around, looking for Lucy. He noticed that there was a room behind the front desk, and knocked on the door.
"Hm...?" A familiar Blissey walked out, rubbing her eyes. "Oliver, is it? Why are you up this early, and knocking on my door?"
"Well... I was a bit hungry, and I was wondering about the food situation here." He answered, "Is there some sort of system?"
"I'm not in charge of food." She answered with a yawn. "I only oversee it. Ask Asher about the food situation, he's in room five on the first floor."
"Thanks." The Oshawott gave her a smile. "Sorry for waking you, by the way..."
"It's fine, just... Please let me get some sleep, it's been a long twenty hours since the evacuation." She gave him a tired smile.
"Okay." Oliver nodded before beginning to walk off. "Sorry again."
"It's okay." She gave him another smile.
Approaching Asher's room, he saw the door open, revealing a familiar Lucario. He gave the Oshawott a friendly smile, looking down at him.
"How'd you know I was coming?" Oliver asked, "Or are you just coming out to use the bathroom or something?"
"I knew you were here, and there's a bathroom in almost every room." Asher answered. "I could sense your aura from the moment you started approaching me. What do you need?"
"Well, I came to ask about the food situation here." Oliver explained, "I'm getting a bit hungry..."
"The food situation is easy to answer, and easy to understand." He told him, "Each Pokémon here gets five berries each. With around more than one hundred Pokémon in the Grotto, we're glad that we're surrounded by forests full of berries."
"Over a hundred?" The Oshawott inquired as they began walking towards the main room. "But the Pokémon Center doesn't have enough rooms to support that many Pokémon..."
"Exactly." He sighed as the two walked into the main room.
There were tons of Pokémon scattered around the large main room, in their own groups. They all seemed a bit down, using large blankets to shield themselves from the cold that managed to seep under the doors of the main entrance. Oliver instantly put two and two together, seeing that they were the Pokémon who were unable to get rooms for themselves.
"Oh... Then why were me, Jacob, and Sophie able to get a room?"
"You three were placed with Logan, right?" Asher asked, earning a nod from Oliver. "As you know, he's keeping watch over the three of you, meaning that it would be better to have you in an isolated room."
"I guess that makes sense..." He looked down, putting a paw to his mouth.
"But don't worry." The Lucario reassured him, "A few of the Grotto Rangers, along with Lucy, have begun construction in order to make more rooms."
Oliver walked back into his assigned room, carrying a sack filled with twenty berries. He let out a sigh as he placed the bag full of berries nearby the closet.
"Those are our rations for the day?" A voice asked, making Oliver jump.
He turned to look for who spoke, and he saw Sophie, who was laying on the top bunk of their bed, looking down at him.
"Sorry, Sophie." He immediately apologized, "Did I wake you?"
"No, I've been awake since you left the room about a half hour ago." The Snivy answered, sitting up.
She lightly patted the bed next to her, non-verbally telling him to sit next to her on the top bunk. Sophie could tell Oliver's demeanor was a bit off compared to when he left earlier that morning.
Oliver nodded before climbing up to the top bunk and sitting next to her.
"Are you doing okay?" Sophie looked at him with the same, uninterested expression she always seemed to have.
Oliver instantly looked away, ashamed that he was so easy to read. "Why would you think of asking something like that?"
"The look in your eyes is different from when you left." She answered without hesitation. "Now what's up?"
"It was a bit unsettling to see how the rations were here." Oliver told her, looking back to look at her. "At this rate, we won't be able to last a week without somebody going out for more berries."
"You do have a point." Sophie nodded, "We must be moving through at least one hundred a day. If we don't act fast, we're all going to die."
Her statement didn't do the best for the Oshawott's nerves, making his stomach churn as his breath hitched for a moment. Sophie noticed this, and felt a bit bad for it. She lightly patted his back for support.
"You know, we could recon the area." The Snivy suggested, "So we don't run out so soon, if you know what I mean."
Oliver's eyes widened, "That's right! We'd be able to get more berries on a daily basis, and since we're not residents, we're expendable!"
"Your point?" Sophie raised an eyebrow.
"It won't matter to them whether we live or die, meaning that we might just be able to come and go as we please!" The Oshawott smiled. "I'll be right back."
He suddenly gave Sophie a hug before heading out of the room.
She was left there sitting on her bed, a bit surprised by his gesture. Her mouth was slightly agape as she looked at the recently opened door. "Hm..." She exhaled through her nose. "That felt nice."
A few hours passed since Oliver left the room, and Jacob along with Logan had already woken up. They had decided to wait for Oliver at Sophie's request, since she knew he was planning something.
Jacob and Logan were debating something as Sophie laid on her bed in attempts to tune them out. She was wondering to herself how she ended up with two of the loudest Pokemon in the Grotto as roommates.
Oliver walked back into the room, carrying a few bags that seemed to be made out of fur.
"Woah... Who died to become that thing?" Jacob asked, looking at it confusedly.
"No one died." Logan replied to his statement. "We simply used fur from the barber shop to weave them into sacks for holding berries."
"Ew.." Jacob and Sophie both grimaced.
"I thought the same thing, too." Oliver chuckled, "But don't worry, I was told that they go through a disinfection process."
"A what?" Logan asked confusedly.
"They clean the fur." The Oshawott simplified his statement.
"Oh..." He seemed to understand now, nodding.
"But why do you have those?" Sophie asked, raising an eyebrow. "We already got today's rations, right?"
"Remember what you suggested earlier, Sophie?" Oliver looked up at her with a smile. "I asked Ms. Lucy if we could recon the area, and she said yes."
"Recon?" Jacob's ears perked up. "So she's letting us go out there for scouting and more?"
"Well, the condition that she set was that it was a trial run." The Oshawott smiled nervously, "A condition was the only way I could get her to agree."
"Cool, when do we start?" Logan asked impatiently, wanting to get to it as soon as possible.
"Anytime tomorrow."
At Oliver's response, the Scorbunny let out a dramatic groan as he flopped down on his own bed. He was already getting antsy, and now he had to wait another day? That seemed unfair in his opinion.
"What are we supposed to do until then?" Sophie asked, sitting up.
"Well, I'm gonna look for my team." Logan stood up. "They're probably wondering what our next plan of action is."
"I'll come along too." Jacob smiled, to which Logan nodded.
"Do you mind if I come too?" Oliver asked him, "I don't really have much to do here."
Logan gave him a smile, nodding.
Once arriving at the dorm Leah and the others were staying in, Jacob exchanged a quick glance with Leah, which both Logan and Oliver managed to see.
"Hey guys." Logan smiled at them. "How's everything been?"
"Well we haven't seen any Nidoran or Nidorino around." A familiar Abra explained, "So they must be taking refuge in the forest."
"Hm... But why would they do that, Simon?" Frost asked, jumping down from the top bunk of another bed.
"An ambush."
The group all looked at Oliver, who had a paw up to his chin.
"An ambush?" Simon asked, "But Nidoking isn't as intelligent as us, that would be nearly impossible to plan among his army of allies."
"That's just it." Oliver sat down on the bottom bunk of Leah's bed. "Something's obviously wrong with Nidoking, but not his army. From what I heard from Logan and Jacob, they were trying to take down your treehouse, obviously knowing that it was your last line of defense."
The group all sat down as they listened to the Oshawott speak.
"They obviously have some semblance of intellect, if any." He continued, "Why else would they try to take it down instead of firing attacks at the house itself? Because it's stupid. Attacks like that would be easily deflected or blocked."
"Hm..." Simon quickly teleported out of the room before appearing again with a book in his paws.
"A book? Where'd you get that?" Jacob asked, standing up.
"I simply 'borrowed' it from the library in the basement." The Abra replied confidently, "I can put it back later."
"What kind of book?" Oliver looked at him levitate over to the bed he was sitting on.
"The behavioral patterns of different Pokémon." Simon passed the book to Oliver before he flipped to a certain page. The Nidoran page.
"Hm... It's said that Nidoran are drawn by strength." The Oshawott read off the page. "So are Nidorino, but they specifically fight for dominance. Put the Nidoran species' attraction towards strength, the Nidorino species' respect for dominance, and Nidoking's supernatural strength together, what do you get?"
"A supportive army..." Logan's eyes widened.
"Nice explanation, man." Frost snickered, "Even Logan was able to understand."
"Shut up!" The Scorbunny gritted his teeth as he pointed an accusatory paw at the Sneasel. "I still haven't forgotten what you said yesterday, either! You're on thin ice, lady!"
Frost shrugged dismissively.
As Logan yelled at Frost, Jacob was leaned up against the wall nearby the door. He exchanged a glance with Leah as he pointed to the door. A signal that she was easily able to pick up. She let out a soft huff as she watched Jacob make an excuse to leave.
"Okay, what do you want?" Leah asked Jacob as they stood in a quiet hallway. "What's with all of the glances and the signals?"
"I want to know what's going on. For real." The Pikachu told her, "It's been eating away at me, knowing that there's something going on under the radar."
She clenched her teeth, remaining quiet.
"I know you're hiding something." Jacob pressed on, "And if you're hiding it like this, then I know it's not some little accident you got into."
"Will you stop pressing me?" The Aipom asked loudly, "This has nothing to do with you. Why would I tell you something like that? I met you three days ago."
"Then maybe you'd tell that to someone you do know." A familiar voice spoke from around the corner.
A familiar Scorbunny rounded the corner to face the two, looking a bit concerned.
"Logan?" Both Jacob and Leah gasped.
"I may be a little dumb sometimes, but you didn't think any of us would pick up the fact that Leah left the room five minutes after Jacob did?" The Scorbunny asked. "What the heck is going on?"
"He won't stop pestering me about my bandages!" Leah told him in frustration. "Please help me to explain that it's none of his business."
"Her bandages?" Logan looked at her, "Hm... I always assumed that it was a fashion choice."
"T-They are!" Leah exclaimed.
"Take them off then." The Scorbunny told her, "If you have nothing to hide, then I'll let you have my rations for the next three days."
The Aipom gasped softly, looking at Logan's serious and unwavering expression.
"Leah, I care about you." Logan took a step closer to her, "As the leader of our team, it's my responsibility to ensure the well-being of you guys."
"Leader...?" Jacob's eyebrow raised as he listened to the conversation.
The Aipom let out a sigh before taking off the bandages over her paws. She showed Logan the heavy scarred and bruised paws she had been hiding for so long.
"Leah... What?" The Scorbunny took a step back, surprised. "Where? When? Why?"
"I know, I know." Leah cut him off dismissively before he could sputter out any other words. "I guess hiding them forever would've been impossible."
"That's what I've been saying." The Pikachu interjected.
"You shut up." The Aipom immediately reprimanded him, making Jacob shrink a bit as he remained quiet.
"So... What happened?" Logan asked.
"It all happened a while before I met you."