Grotto PKMN Center, Sinnoh
Things were peaceful in the morning. The faint chirps of bird-like Pokémon audible in the distance, as well as the complaining groans from other Pokémon who just wanted a little more sleep.
In a certain room, four teenage Pokémon were soundly sleeping in their beds. Each was dreaming their own individual dreams, and the occasional movement only drifted off as a singular noise.
All of that silence was broken when the Pokémon Center began rumbling wildly.
Jacob jumped and fell out of his bed, soon groaning in pain as he rubbed his head.
Oliver's eyes shot open as he sat up in his bed, looking around confusedly. "Logan, does Forest Grotto have earthquakes?"
"Not that I remember..." The Scorbunny rolled out of his bed, soon standing up. "Lucy might know what's going on."
Oliver, Jacob, and Logan all ran out of the room while Sophie tried her best to sleep through the rumbling.
As the boys ran downstairs, they noticed that everything was in a state of disarray. Just like them, many Pokémon in the Pokémon Center were abruptly woken up by the unexplained rumbling.
In the main lobby, Lucy was running around, trying to attend to multiple Pokémon at once who had complaints about the rumbling.
Logan ran over, soon reaching the desk. "Lucy, what's going on?" He asked loudly, "Is there an earthquake?"
The Blissey's eyes darted to Logan. "It's not an earthquake, it's Nidoking."
"What?" Jacob and Oliver both asked loudly, appearing from behind Logan.
"He has been rampaging for some reason." She replied, "But he hasn't gotten close to the center yet, so we're okay for now."
Logan suddenly turned around, grabbing both Jacob and Oliver's arms and pulling them upstairs. He soon threw them inside the room.
"Let's move!" The Scorbunny shouted, running towards the balcony.
At this point, Sophie was already awake, and she, along with Jacob and Oliver, knew what he was referring to. Both Jacob and Sophie both followed behind Logan, and soon Oliver followed behind.
Logan vaulted over the balcony, followed closely by Jacob and Sophie. When Oliver ran to the balcony, he suddenly stopped, looking down at them.
As Jacob and Logan quickly ran towards where the rumbling was coming from, Sophie looked up at the Oshawott.
"Aren't you coming too?" The Snivy asked.
"I feel that someone should help with any problems here in the center." He answered quickly. "Just go ahead without me."
"Okay." She nodded, turning to follow Jacob and Logan.
"Hey Sophie?"
She stopped.
"Good luck."
She looked back at him and gave a faint smile. That smile quickly faded as she ran off, following behind Jacob and Logan.
The trio ran into the main city area, where they heard the most rumbling from. A decent amount of time passed, and after tracking the rumbling, Logan ducked into a bush, pulling Sophie and Jacob into it. "Guys be quiet."
"Neither of us were saying anything." Sophie raised an eyebrow.
"What is it?" The Pikachu looked at Logan.
"Look." He pointed to a clearing, an audible gulp going down his throat. "It's the ringleader..."
Both Jacob and Sophie looked out to see a large hulking beast nearly twice their size. The beast was knocking down trees as he walked, the look in his pale white eyes expressing no true emotion.
Jacob let out a shaky breath, as seeing the one considered to be the most feared in the Grotto honestly shook him to his core.
Meanwhile Logan's teeth were grinding together silently. It had been almost nine years since he saw Nidoking. He wasn't a defenseless kid anymore. He wouldn't lose. Not this time.
The Scorbunny, as if on instinct, blasted forward with the help of his special Flamethrowers and towards Nidoking.
"Logan, don't!" Sophie shouted after him, seeing a few flaws in his strategy.
Nidoking instantly turned to see Logan, and glared at him. The Scorbunny, caught a bit off guard, hesitated before he let out a shout.
"Flame-Shot!" He screamed to pump himself up, firing off a blast.
Unfortunately, Nidoking managed to block his attack. Logan, running on pure adreniline, flipped his body around to go for a kick to the head. The attack hit, but it didn't seem to affect him at all.
Nidoking suddenly reeled back his arm, preparing to punch the Scorbunny. Logan braced for impact, and was sent flying off into a nearby forest.
Jacob and Sophie both watched him fly off, and looked at the other.
"We have to come back with more Pokémon." Jacob told her. "With my malfunctioning powers, it's really just you who's reliable right now."
"You would be right..." Sophie looked back at him, "...But if we were to leave, chances are that he'd chase us back to the center."
"So you're saying that we have to fight him right here and now?" The Pikachu gulped.
"Let's go." She quickly left him behind, running off towards Nidoking
The Snivy's right arm began to glow a faint shade of violet, her increasing heartbeat seeming to match the rate at which her arm was covered with scales. Her head turned slightly to her right, wondering if Jacob was behind her, or even coming at all.
She wasn't surprised when he could hear the grass behind her swishing quickly, and focused her attention back on her opponent.
Nidoking snarled, some of the saliva from his roaring mouth smearing on Sophie's cheek as she prepared a Dragon Claw.
The Nidoking swung an arm at Sophie, the appendage kicking up a decent amount of dirt as it careened towards the Snivy. She skidded to a stop before jumping, barely avoiding the attack.
While Sophie was midair, Jacob activated his power before pressing his paws against her feet.
"Go!" He pushed her feet, propelling her towards Nidoking at high speeds.
In an instant, Sophie was tumbling on the ground from the sudden impact with the ground. She had managed to attack Nidoking, but she hadn't done as much as she wanted to. She was caught off guard by the speed she was thrown at Nidoking.
Nidoking suddenly covered his right shoulder, letting out a large growl.
Both Jacob and Sophie realized that Sophie's attack had hit. They decided to pick up the pace, not wanting Nidoking to get a second to recover.
Nidoking suddenly swung his left arm at Jacob. Using his power, Jacob managed to block and hold the arm in place.
"Sophie!" He shouted, keeping Nidoking's paw from moving.
She seemed to understand what the Pikachu meant, running to hop onto Nidoking's arm. She ran up his arm before using a Dragon Claw that hit his face. This time, the attack wasn't so effective, and seemed to anger Nidoking more.
Nidoking swung Jacob off of him before turning to attack Sophie. Before he could, something in the distance could be seen getting closer.
"You bastard!" A now angered Logan shouted, using his special Flamethrowers to propel himself at high speeds.
He flipped himself midair before going for another kick to the head. This attack hit, and sent him sliding back a few feet.
Sophie watched Logan's paws intently. She noticed how they shook slightly, even when the Scorbunny was completely still.
As Logan backed up to regroup with Jacob and Sophie, he put his paws behind his head, seemingly out of breath.
"I wonder what's wrong with his paws...?" The Snivy glanced at him, before her eyes focused on the battle.
"C'mon!" Logan yelled as he went to attack Nidoking again.
The Scorbunny jumped up to meet Nidoking's face before firing off a Flamethrower that managed to temporarily blind him.
Taking a chance, Jacob went to his blind spot and charged up a white Aura in his paw, using Dynamic Punch on his gut.
Whenever Jacob or Logan weren't attacking, Sophie would use Leaf Blade from a slight distance to keep Nidoking from attacking either of them.
Suddenly, Nidoking let out a loud, piercing roar as he grabbed both Jacob by his paw, and Logan by his leg. The two winced at the Nidoking's grip before he threw them both down to the ground, knocking them out.
Nidoking then suddenly turned to Sophie.
Meanwhile...
Oliver brought some bandages to Lucy, who appreciated the help. The Oshawott then headed upstairs to see if there were any problems on the higher floors.
Ever since his friends left the center, he had been helping with making sure that every Pokemon in the center was attended to properly. But something in the back of his mind was bothering him.
He just allowed his friends to run off and challenge Nidoking, and he stood by and let it happen. What kind of friend was he?
On his way back downstairs, he heard loud clamoring. Louder than what he was hearing before. He walked into the main lobby, where he saw Jacob, Sophie, and Logan be put onto individual stretchers and hauled off into the operation rooms.
The Oshawott's heart dropped down into his gut.
"Lucy!" He ran over to the Blissey, looking up at her as she watched the three be hauled off. "What the heck happened?"
"They found Nidoking, and they... Lost." Lucy replied, letting out a sigh. "I mean, I knew it'd happen like this, but a part of me hoped that things would've been different..."
How could he let this happen? Maybe one more Pokémon could've been different. But what could he have done?
Things were silent in the shared bedroom that night.
"Yo, Oliver." A slightly agitated voice called out.
"Oliver." A calm, feminine voice spoke
"Wake up, Ollie!"
The Oshawott's eyes opened as he suddenly bumped his head against something.
Oliver, and another voice let out a loud groan as Oliver rubbed his forehead.
The Oshawott looked in front of him as he saw Jacob, Logan, and Sophie looking back at him. They all had bandages on their bodies, and Jacob was rubbing his forehead as well.
"Guys? I thought you guys were really hurt." Oliver looked between the three.
Sophie sighed, her hand tracing on the wool blanket Oliver slept under. "We took a bit of damage, but not too much to put us out for too long."
"That still doesn't explain why you guys are hanging over me, waking me up." The sea otter Pokémon sighed, getting out of his bed. "What's going on?"
"We need to be better in order to beat Nidoking." Logan explained.
"That's why I suggested we look up more on Nidoking." The Snivy continued for the fire starter. "In order to win, brute strength alone won't work. That's why we have to be methodical about this. Logan."
Sophie suddenly gave the Scorbunny a sideways glance, as to silently scold him for his actions in the fight against Nidoking.
"Yeah I get the idea." Logan huffed stubbornly. "There's a library below the main lobby, maybe we can find what we're looking for there."
"Wait, the Pokémon Center has a library?" Jacob asked confusedly, his ears perking, "Why are we just hearing about this now?"
"You never asked." The Scorbunny answered somewhat defensively.
Walking downstairs into the library, Oliver, Jacob, and Sophie were astonished by the atmosphere of the library. Things were quiet, surprisingly, as if the Grotto wasn't in danger for the past few days.
Some Pokémon were reading books, others were just sleeping on their desks, probably relieved to get away from the constant stress of their current situation.
Oliver quickly spoke up. "Since we're going into research on how to win, I think we should first start with a basic principle of battle. Type advantage."
"Sounds like a plan." Sophie agreed.
"Wait... What's Nidoking's typing again?" Logan asked quickly.
The three remained silent at Logan's question.
"What? None of us know?" The Scorbunny asked loudly, "I thought I was the dumb one here."
A sudden shushing noise was directed in their direction, making them flinch.
"Look, I never got to it." Oliver explained, "Me and Jacob have never seen a Nidoking in person, so I didn't think that I would have to fight a Nidoking one day."
"Fair enough, let's just get the Pokedex book."
"Wait, you have Pokedex books here?" Oliver's eyes suddenly lit up. "This will be easy."
The Oshawott soon returned with a large book in his arms.
"That's... Big." Jacob remarked, looking at the book.
Oliver then set the book down on a desk, sitting on a chair in front of it.
"Is this the National Edition?" The Oshawott asked Logan, to which he nodded. "Amazing! Every single Pokémon in existence is between the front and back..."
As Oliver began to ramble on about what a godsend the book was, Logan looked at both Jacob and Sophie.
"Is he usually this enthusiastic about stuff?" The Scorbunny asked quietly.
"Only when he finds a really good book." Jacob answered, his ears twitching softly.
"Jacob, Logan." Sophie looked over at the two. "Me and Oliver will study Nidoking's typing, you guys go and find some books relating to battle strategies."
"On it." Jacob nodded before he and Logan walked to go and find the book they were looking for.
Sophie sat down next to Oliver, watching the Oshawott meticulously flip through the pages of the book.
"It's so strange that this has been speculated to be derived from humans thousands of years ago..." He spoke out loud, flipping through a few pages.
"Hm...?" Sophie asked, her eyebrow raising.
"You didn't know?" He tilted his head, "The reason why it's called a Pokédex book is because it is said that there were these things called Pokédexes that told you what a Pokémon was just by hovering a digital camera over it."
"Digital camera...?" She tilted her head slightly.
"Right..." Oliver chuckled softly, his paw tracing over another thin page as he flipped over another page. "...A digital camera basically is a camera... But like a battle watch Jacob has."
"Oh, so on a screen?" The Snivy asked.
"Exactly." He grinned, finally looking up to meet her gaze. "It's weird to think that at a time... Things were so different. What were humans anyway? What the heck are all of these things?"
As Oliver was flipping through the g section of the book, he stopped to notice something off. A page was ripped out. Sophie also leaned over a bit to get a closer look, confused by this.
"Who would destroy public property like this...?" Oliver asked out loud.
"Someone must've really not liked a certain Pokémon..." The Snivy remarked. "I'll go get another P.D.B."
As Sophie got up and walked towards the aisles, Oliver flinched in surprise when the ripped section of the page began glowing. He looked at the remaining residue from the ripped page, and it seemed to fill in that area, but instead of an actual page, only a black replica, with nothing on it, filled his place.
"What...?" As he heard Sophie's footsteps returning, he immediately flipped to the n section, where he would be able to find Nidoking's statistics.
"It's weird." Sophie walked up from behind him. "This Pokedex book is the only one here in the Grotto. Others are located in different places."
"That's fine, I'll just use this one." The Oshawott gave her a fake smile. "I really need to see what's up with this book..."
After heading back upstairs and checking out a few books, the four headed back to the room and began to strategize with their findings. They were able to think of a good strategy for Pokémon like Nidoking, to overwhelm him with too many options.
Once they got into type advantages, they all looked at Oliver.
"Nidoking is weak against water!" Jacob exclaimed, "Next time we fight him, you have to come along."
"Yeah!" Logan nodded excitedly, "Maybe some advantages are what we need to save the Grotto!"
"Um..." The Oshawott hesitated, taking a small step back.
"That could be a good plan..." Sophie thought out loud.
"I know we could rely on you, Ollie." Jacob smiled confidently, "We just have to put it into play."
As the overlapping voices hit Oliver, he let out a small whimper as dashed out of the room, leaving the trio confused.
He closed the door behind him before heading downstairs. He eventually found an empty hallway and sat down, facing away from the bright interior of the main lobby.
Why did he have to be born a Water type? Why couldn't he just be a normal type or something? He didn't want to have an advantage.
"Oliver." A voice snapped him from his inner thoughts, making him turn around quickly. A familiar Snivy was standing there, her uninterested expression seeming to fade as she sat next to him.
"How'd you find me...?"
"No offense, but you run away louder than Logan's voice through a megaphone." She remarked, softly patting his back. "What was that back there?"
"I don't want everything to be put on my shoulders..." He replied, looking down.
"Right..." Sophie remembered when Oliver told her that he was going to stay behind.
"It's just..." He trailed off, "I'm not like you guys. I can't make Flamethrowers from my paws, I don't have spontaneous boosts in strength, and I can't even match with you guys."
"...I'm just some guy..."
Sophie let out a sigh at his statements before looking away. "Just some guy wouldn't have been able to save me..."
Oliver looked up to face her, but she was facing in the opposite direction.
"Sophie..."
"I'm not going to repeat myself, it was embarrassing enough to admit." She told him, turning around to face the Oshawott. "I know you're worried about the weight on your shoulders, but I'm telling you now that you're not alone in this."
"Mhm..." He nodded faintly in response.
"We're on the same adventure now, and I would feel horrible if I just let you carry that alone." Sophie continued, "Jacob and I are on your side."
Before she could continue talking, Oliver suddenly hugged her tightly. The Snivy, surprised at this, let out a faint squeak as she looked at the Oshawott.
"Thanks... Really."
Sophie smiled softly at him, hugging back.
In the silence of the moment, Oliver's smiling face was returned to a worried one. "That's not all I'm worried about, but I can't drag them down..."
"For Jacob and Sophie's sake... I'll push through it."