Grotto PKMN Center, Sinnoh
After their talk, Oliver and Sophie walked back to the room that they shared with Jacob and Logan. The Oshawott opened the door before being instantly tackled to the ground by a yellow flash.
"Ollie!" Jacob exclaimed, looking at him. "You're not alone in this! We'll help you, don't worry!"
The Oshawott chuckled, pushing his best friend off of him. "You're a bit too late. Sophie just said that."
"Well I would've been the one to say it first if she hadn't insisted on being the one to talk to you." Jacob looked at the Snivy with a suspicious look.
"She what?" Oliver's eyebrow raised.
"That's not important." Sophie quickly interrupted, pushing Jacob to the side. "Now that we have things settled, we can continue with our planning."
"Right!" Logan's enthusiasm seemed to return instantly whenever something involving beating Nidoking was involved.
"Now that we have an actual type advantage, all we need is an effective strategy." Oliver told the three, sitting down on Logan's bed. "Any ideas?"
"Okay, what attacks can you guys use anyways?" Logan piped up, crossing his arms.
"Uhh... Not that many." Jacob smiled nervously.
"How many? And what attacks?" The Scorbunny reiterated his question.
"I can use Reflect, Leaf Blade, Swords Dance, and after activating my power, Dragon Claw." Sophie answered his question. "I know the maximum amount of attacks a Pokémon can learn."
"What?" Jacob asked loudly, walking over to her. "Why didn't you whip Reflect or Swords Dance out during the fight then?"
"It's not like I had the time to do that." The Snivy replied quickly, "We had to fight as fast as possible without giving him any time to attack back."
"Wait." Oliver's eyes widened. "No time to attack... That could work for a long-term strategy."
"Hm?" Sophie looked at the Oshawott, a bit interested to see where he was going with that statement.
"A suppressive flurry of attacks would be able to wear him down, and keep ourselves from being attacked in the process!" Oliver told the three, "It would also result in a quicker fight than it would be normally."
"I still gotta know what attacks you're working with, though." Logan interjected, a deadpan expression spread on his face. "What are your attacks?"
"Why are you so insistent on knowing what our attacks are?" Jacob questioned, getting a bit annoyed. "Are you planning to try and kill me again?"
"Are you still on that?" The Scorbunny asked loudly, putting his paws on his hips, "I thought we were cool!"
"Both of you, stop." Oliver sighed, lightly pinching the bridge of his nose in irritation. "I don't see the harm in telling him about our attacks, since we already know his."
"Well yeah, because he only has one attack." The Pikachu muttered with a pout.
"Either way, we know his attack." The sea otter Pokémon spoke, "So we might as well. We're a team, after all. We need to be able to synchronize properly."
"I know Thunderbolt and Dynamic Punch." Jacob finally answered defeatedly, "Though I mostly use Dynamic Punch."
"I know Razor Shell and Aqua Jet." Oliver smiled, glad that Jacob finally stopped being stubborn.
"And you guys already know that I have the Flamethrower thing." Logan told them, "My family refers to it as 'Flame Shot', where we draw the flames from our feet to our paws or other parts of our body."
"Oh, it has a name." Oliver's eyebrows raised in surprise.
"Well yeah." Logan nodded, "I mean, I'm pretty sure you would get tired of calling it a 'Special Flamethrower' eventually. It's a mouthful."
"Makes sense." Jacob shrugged.
"Anyways, aside from the suppressive strategy, what other plan do we have?" Sophie asked, moving to sit next to Oliver.
"Well there is something that comes to mind..." Oliver trailed, a paw rubbing the bottom of his chin in wonder.
"Hm?" The group looked at the Oshawott with intrigue.
"I was thinking that Sophie could launch me with her Reflect to increase my speed while using Aqua Jet." He explained, "It might be a bit of a risk because of recoil, but it's probably best to increase the only attack with the type advantage."
"What if he blocks it?" Sophie asked, a bit unsure about the plan. "During the fight, Nidoking was able to block attacks from Logan, who had used his Flame Shots for extra speed."
"Jacob and Logan can provide an opening." Oliver answered quickly.
"Then let's train it!" Logan exclaimed, getting excited.
Jacob seemed to match his enthusiasm as they both rushed out of the room.
Sophie went to follow, but Oliver quickly grabbed her hand before she could leave. "Hey, there's something I need to talk to you about."
The Snivy began sweating, thinking of the possibility that he picked up what Jacob mentioned when they first walked in.
"There's something up with this book."
Sophie's nerves instantly calmed, looking back to see her Oshawott friend. "What do you mean?"
"Check this out." Oliver pulled out the book he had checked out from the library downstairs and flipped to the black page.
"What's that?"
"I don't know," The Oshawott answered, touching the black page, "It just... Materialized in front of my eyes. It feels almost exactly like a page."
Sophie's eyebrows wrinkled, "All of the other pages seem in perfect condition..."
"I know. What Pokémon would be removed physically from the book, and why?" The Oshawott's brain was filled to the brim with questions.
"Maybe we should look into it later," Sophie closed the book, "We have a different priority right now."
"Right," He nodded, "Let's see how Jacob and Logan are doing."
"Don't forget, you also wanted me to launch you," The Snivy added.
"We should probably train that too..."
Meanwhile...
Jacob and Logan were in the middle of their training, as they had decided to do a bit of one on one battling.
The Scorbunny used a Flame Shot to propel himself towards Jacob quickly, trying to go for a kick. The Pikachu managed to avoid it, his food sliding against the grass below. He then fired off a Thunderbolt, which Logan tried to avoid, but crashed into a nearby tree in the process.
Jacob looked a bit surprised, as Logan wasn't exactly the clumsy type. He noticed Logan rubbing his eyes after the attack, and his eyes widened.
"Hey, Logan-" Jacob tried to call out to him, but was soon interrupted by two familiar Pokémon.
"Jacob, Logan!" Oliver called to them from a slight distance as he and Sophie walked over, "Mind helping us with our training?"
"Yeah, you're talking about the launch thing?" Logan asked.
"Yeah," The Oshawott nodded, "I don't know how we'd be able to train it if the target wasn't mobile."
"Good idea," Jacob smiled, "Me or Logan can act as Nidoking while you two do the launch thing."
"Sounds good to me," Logan grinned while Sophie gave a nod.
After deciding that Logan would be their "Nidoking", the four walked a bit further away from the center until they were in a small clearing in a part of the forest.
"Let's do this!" Logan shouted at Oliver, Jacob, and Sophie as they prepared for a battle, "Don't hold anything back!"
"If you insist..." Sophie rolled her eyes before activating her dragon abilities.
Jacob clenched his paws, deciding against using his own power. He saw this as the perfect opportunity to train himself while not using his power. His time in the Grotto showed him that he was basically relying on his power to get him through hard battles.
The Pikachu knew that he couldn't always rely on his power, as they could malfunction like they had been for the past few days.
Suddenly, Logan ran forwards and towards them. He reeled back a paw before firing off a Flame Shot at them.
The three were knocked back, not having expected the sudden attack. Jacob immediately stood up and charged at Logan, shooting a Thunderbolt down in front of the Scorbunny.
Logan let out a soft groan, rubbing his eyes.
"It does blind him!" Jacob's eyes widened.
Oliver was observing from the back, and had noticed the same thing, "His Thunderbolt must be so bright to the point where it would blind someone for a second. Maybe the same could work for Logan's Flame Shots..."
"Oliver, jump!" Sophie suddenly ordered.
Oliver did as he was told, and jumped as high as he could.
Suddenly, Sophie grabbed Oliver's ankles and began swinging him around in a circular motion. The Oshawott knew what his friend was going for, and prepared himself.
The instant when he felt Sophie's hands leave his ankles, he charged his Aqua Jet and launched forward.
Jacob noticed Oliver approaching from the corner of his eye, and fired off one more Thunderbolt to temporarily blind Logan before jumping away.
Oliver took his scalchop from his stomach, preparing to strike.
Before he could hit him, however, Logan jumped out of the way, just barely avoiding his attack.
The Oshawott looked to see that Logan's vision had cleared up. The Scorbunny wore a confident, toothy grin as he stuck out a paw towards Oliver.
"Too slow!"
He fired off a Flame Shot from nearly point blank range into Oliver's side, launching him in another direction and right into a tree.
The Oshawott let out a groan as he slid down the tree.
"Oooh..." Jacob grimaced, "That was bad."
He and Sophie walked over to him, helping Oliver up.
"Are you still good to fight?" Sophie asked.
Oliver blinked a few times, "Of course! We need to get more training in."
"Want round two?" Logan asked, a bit cocky.
The Oshawott smiled at him, "Let's do it."
After a few hours of training, the sun was beginning to set.
The four knocked on the shutter door blocking the entrance to the Pokémon Center, and it raised just a bit to let them in.
"Why do you four insist on going out nearly every day?" Lucy, who was sitting at the front desk, asked.
Logan walked up to the desk, smiling cheerfully, "There was something we needed to do."
The Blissey then noticed the various bruises and wounds on the four's body.
"Woah..." She flinched, "Do you guys need to be healed, by any chance?"
"We'd love that, thanks!" Jacob smiled.
"Right this way," Lucy sighed defeatedly, leading the four to the healing area.
As they walked in, they noticed a familiar Floatzel resting on one of the beds while a female Floatzel watched over him. A small Buizel was also standing next to the female Floatzel.
As the group walked past them, Logan suddenly felt something weighing down his leg, nearly making him trip.
"What the...?" The Scorbunny looked down to see a Buizel, who had latched onto his leg and was looking up at him.
"Max!" The female Floatzel suddenly shouted, grabbing the Buizel and picking him up, "You don't do that to others!"
"He saved me and Dad, Mom," The Buizel told her, looking up at the Floatzel.
"What?" She looked over to Logan, then Lucy, "Are these the kids that saved them, Lucy?" She put her son down.
"Yes, they are," Lucy smiled.
Suddenly, Logan could feel a strong grip surrounding him, nearly squeezing him to death. It was the Floatzel, who had suddenly hugged him.
"T-Thank you..."
"Thank you so much!"
Logan was admittedly surprised by this as he felt tears dampen the fur on his shoulder. His paws moved up to return the hug as he was stuck in a daze by how quick that happened.
The Floatzel soon broke the hug, "Sorry... It's just... I thought I'd never see them again after we were all put in lockdown," She wiped a few tears out of her eyes.
"Wait... You were the crying Floatzel at the doors back then!" Oliver's eyes widened.
"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.
The female Floatzel smiled nervously, "Yeah, that was me," She held a paw out to shake Logan's paw, "I believe I never got your name. I'm May, and my son is named Max."
He shook her paw. "Logan."
"And you three?" She turned her attention to Oliver, Jacob, and Sophie.
"My name's Jacob," The Pikachu was first to introduce himself.
"I'm Oliver," He waved to both of them.
Sophie looked away for a moment, "Sophie."
"Anyways, me and Max should probably get back to our room," May gave them a smile. "If there's anything you need, feel free to ask."
Oliver, Logan, and Jacob smiled back at her, "Thanks!"
In the middle of the night, Sophie's eyes shot open to the sound of soft rumbling outside. She quickly got out of her bed before going to the balcony to inspect the area. When she looked down, she could see Logan and Oliver.
Logan was standing in the middle of a small area while Oliver was circling him, seemingly waiting for an opening to attack.
Sophie was a bit confused. Were they training this late at night?
Suddenly, Oliver jumped forward at Logan, charging an Aqua Jet quickly as he approached. He grabbed his scalchop before spinning himself to decrease drag.
Logan quickly avoided his attack before Oliver tumbled on the ground.
"You need to be a lot faster if you wanna get the jump on Nidoking!" Logan shouted at him.
Oliver shakily got up, "He's right. If what Sophie said was true, then Nidoking has some quick reaction time."
As Oliver was thinking, Logan suddenly dashed at him, reeling his arm back.
The Oshawott noticed this and jumped out of the way as Logan fired off a Flame Shot. Oliver tumbled into the ground before looking up.
Logan was already running towards Oliver, prepping his paws for another Flame Shot, "You won't always have time to think in the middle of a battle, Oliver!"
He fired another at Oliver, which he had to avoid.
The Oshawott quickly got up, charging his Aqua Jet, "I gotta move faster...!" He lunged at Logan as fast as he could. This attempt was denied, however, when Logan fired off another blast in Oliver's face.
Sophie winced as she saw Oliver crash into a nearby tree.
"My right paw's at it's limit..." Logan thought, preparing his left paw.
Oliver, who had just stood back up, charged his Aqua Jet and shot towards him again. That's when he noticed that Logan was preparing his left paw for a Flame Shot instead of his right.
The Oshawott grabbed his scalchop and began sliding it against the ground to make him veer off to the right. Logan managed to avoid this attack. But Oliver wasn't done yet. He made contact with a tree, but held the Aqua Jet around him as he prepared himself to launch off of it.
As he was getting ready to launch, for a split second, Oliver wasn't in motion, but held the Aqua Jet around him, making the water appear as if it were an unstable bubble around himself.
Once he launched off of the tree, he kept the Aqua Jet around him in its normal state as he approached Logan from behind.
The Scorbunny looked back, but before he could even move, Oliver suddenly punched Logan in his face, dashing past him.
Logan fell onto the ground from the force of the impact, while Oliver tumbled on the ground, skidding to an eventual stop.
The two were breathing heavily, looking up to the night sky. The two were both exhausted.
Oliver was happy that he had managed to get Logan off guard and land a hit after all of their training. He finally felt like he was taking a step forward, chasing behind Jacob, Sophie, and Logan, who were all ahead.
Logan stood up and walked over to him, holding out a paw.
"Looks like we're well on our way to stopping Nidoking, right?"
The Oshawott smiled, grabbing his paw.
"Yeah."