Grotto PKMN Center, Sinnoh
"Are you kidding me!?" An enraged Scorbunny asked, flailing his arms. This outburst of rage had alerted a lot of the Pokémon in the main lobby, where Logan's standoff was happening.
Logan pointed his right paw accusingly at a Pangoro, who remained silent as he loomed over him with his arms crossed.
"Hey, Logan, calm down..." Oliver tried to put a paw on his shoulder, but his paw was quickly slapped away.
"Stay out of this!" Logan shouted.
"You probably should let Logan do what he wants," Sophie looked at Oliver, "That way, when he gets destroyed one day for doing this, you'll have the satisfaction of telling him that you told him so."
"You can be so heartless sometimes, Sophie..." Jacob commented, giving the Snivy a side eye.
"This has nothing to do with you, you overgrown teddy bear!" The Scorbunny bellowed.
"Whether it has anything to do with me or not, that little 'plan' of yours is absolutely insane!" The Pangoro, Pan, stated quickly.
Pan had managed to overhear one of Logan's many heroic speeches about how he was going to take down Nidoking and free the Grotto, and Pan had decided to confront Logan about it.
"So what if it's insane?" Logan's paws balled into shaking fists, "It's more than what you and the rest of the GR have been doing!"
"Just give it up, kid! We're dealing with this, like it or not!"
"I'll never give up! This is more than just you!" Logan yelled, "Nidoking's the one..."
"...He's the one who hurt Mom and Dad!"
Tears welled up in his eyes before he quickly wiped them away.
Pan's eyes widened, "I see... That's Kenny's son..." His gaze quickly reverted to normal as he let out a frustrated sigh, "The protection of the Pokémon in the Grotto is more important."
"What about the Grotto itself?"
The Pangoro remained silent after Logan's question.
The Scorbunny then scoffs, "I can't believe you call yourself a ranger, I could do better than you any day."
Pan smirked softly, having expected this reaction from the hot-headed Pokémon, "How about we settle this like rangers? One on one battle."
"You're on, bucko!"
Pan begins to walk away, adjusting the leaf in his mouth, "Meet in the clearing behind the Pokémon Center in an hour, don't be late."
Oliver, Jacob, Sophie, and Logan returned to their shared room. Logan let out a faint huff as he walked in first, his back facing the three.
The traveling trio all exchanged glances before Sophie and Oliver shifted behind Jacob, pushing the Pikachu forward.
"Seriously?" Jacob mouthed, a little frustrated.
"Out of the three of us, you're the closest to him," Oliver reasoned in a low whisper, "Try and talk him out of this."
The Pikachu rolled his eyes, walking up to Logan, "Yeah... I don't think battling a Grotto Ranger is that good of an idea..."
"I can't back out of this now, I've already accepted his challenge."
Jacob let out a soft sigh, realizing how hypocritical of him to be questioning Logan's decision to go through with a battle. He didn't know how to convince him otherwise, since he's been in the same situation.
Oliver stepped up to try and reason with Logan, having some type of idea about Jacob's current mindset of accepting a challenge.
"What if you get injured during the fight, and Nidoking shows up?" Oliver asked confusedly, stepping in front of the Scorbunny.
"I made up my mind already, you two," Logan let out a gentle sigh, "And besides, I'm gonna win this."
The two boys sighed in response to Logan's statement. Both of them knew that fighting a Grotto Ranger wouldn't turn out well, but they both knew how Logan felt about Grotto Rangers in general.
The duo exchanged a glance.
This was something he needed.
"I'm gonna take a nap," The Scorbunny walked towards his bed, soon laying down on it.
Sophie, who was already laying down on her bed, let out a long sigh, "Well, it's his funeral."
"Sophie..." Oliver softly rubbed his temples.
Forest Grotto, Sinnoh
As the midday sun beamed down on the surrounding area, Logan, filled with rage and a sense of justice, walked out to the battlefield followed by Oliver, Jacob, and Sophie.
Oliver, knowing that there was a low chance of Logan beating Pan, had been thinking over many different strategies on how to beat him. But he only kept going to the same thing, beating him with speed.
Logan stood on the right side of the battlefield, waiting silently.
Soon, Pan walked out, lightly cracking his knuckles as the leaf in his mouth shifted directions. He knew that Logan would come out to battle him, but had he come up with a strategy?
As Pan stopped on the left side of the battlefield, Oliver stepped up to the sidelines.
"I'll call it," He looked between the two, letting out a soft sigh.
Both Logan and Pan gave a silent nod, staring each other down.
Pan's expression was more lightened. He wasn't worried about the outcome of the fight. He was planning on doing a workout in the afternoon, so things seemed to work out perfectly for him.
"Battle, begin!"
Logan's expression instantly shifted to a confident smirk as he ran forward, not allowing Pan to take the first move.
"Good thing my training taught me something new..." Logan jumped up to be at eye level with Pan, "The blinding aspect!" The Scorbunny fired off a Flame Shot in Pan's face to blind him temporarily.
The Pangoro rubbed his eyes, letting out a soft groan in pain.
Once his sight cleared up, he instantly felt an impact on the back of his head. It was Logan, who had instantly kicked the back of his head. The Scorbunny flipped and landed on the ground before jumping up to do another kick.
The attack was quickly sidestepped by Pan, but Logan had planned for this.
Logan reeled back his paw, swinging it around to do an underhanded Flame Shot. Just as if fired off, Pan grabbed his paw and twisted his wrist, the force nearly flipping Logan around.
Once Logan's face was clearly exposed, Pan raised his other paw and decked the Scorbunny in the face, sending him into disorientation. The Pangoro then turned on his heels, and slammed Logan onto the ground, back first.
Logan could feel everything that was happening second by second, but it was too fast for him to recover and counterattack. He could see the sky above him, and he could hear the audible groans of his friends in second-hand pain.
As his body fell to the ground, Pan reeled his right leg back and kicked Logan in his stomach, sending him flying back a few feet.
Meanwhile...
Frost was looking out of a window, seemingly watching intently. She was in her shared room with Leah, Simon, and Chomps.
"What are you looking at, Frost?" Simon, who had noticed how long she was standing at the window.
"Logan getting into another fight."
Leah and Simon nearly dashed to the window, looking outside to see Logan in a fight with a Pangoro nearly seven times his size.
"Not again..." Leah rolled her eyes, watching Logan get kicked in the stomach, "How does he manage to make enemies so quickly?"
"Whatever it is, it interests me," Simon told the two as he quickly teleported outside and on the sidelines.
He looked to his left and he saw Oliver, Jacob and Sophie watching the battle.
"What's the situation?" The Abra asked the three calmly.
"What the?" Jacob nearly fell off of the bench he was sitting on, surprised by the sudden extra viewer.
Oliver looked over at him, "Logan started a fight with a Pangoro because he was angry that the GR were handling the Nidoking situation poorly."
"Oh, that's all?"
"What do you mean, 'that's all'?" Jacob got back up, sitting next to Oliver.
"This happens all of the time with Logan," Simon explained, "He's always been such a hothead, especially when it came to the GR."
"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.
"Yeah, no kidding..." The Pikachu smiled nervously.
"I just learned that the best thing for Logan is to let him sort it out on his own."
As Logan hit the ground, he almost instantly stood back up and used a Flame Shot in his right paw to quickly launch himself towards Pan. Once he was close enough, Logan held a paw up to his face.
The Pangoro held up his arm to shield himself from the incoming attack, expecting to receive a Flame Shot.
Logan, instead of doing what was expected, grabbed Pan's arm to vault over it and spin to kick Pan across his face.
Sophie's eyebrows raised, watching silently, "Logan is not the type to pull feints like that..." She looked over to Oliver, "It wasn't like that before Logan started training with him..."
The Scorbunny reeled back his other leg before going for multiple kicks to his face, which were all avoided swiftly by Pan. Pan then balled his paw and sent it towards Logan in an uppercut.
Logan tried to block the attack with his own punch, and possibly overpower him, but being as small as he was, the effort was in vain and he was knocked into the air.
The Scorbunny let out a cry of pain as he hit the ground, his body aching above the cracked surface of the battlefield.
Pan calmly walked up to him, and looked down at Logan, their eyes meeting. The Pangoro could see an unflinching expression from Logan, and the Scorbunny let his paws slide on the battlefield.
"Your fighting style does not fit your body," Pan gave a soft glare, "You're trying to out strength the opponent, as if you were the same size as them."
"So what?" Logan asked angrily.
"Your current close-minded nature is unbefitting of a ranger."
He began to walk away, softly rubbing his paws together. He was fairly out of breath, but relatively okay.
"Hey..."
Pan heard his voice, and stopped in his tracks.
Logan let out a soft groan, standing up slowly. He could feel his own body resisting his mind, wanting to just give up on him. But Logan wasn't ready to admit defeat. He wasn't ready to admit a lot of things.
"I will become a Grotto Ranger..." He slowly raised his paw to point at Pan, "I will do my best to defeat Nidoking..."
Pan turned back around, looking at the exhausted Scorbunny.
"And I will avenge my parents!" Logan pointed his outstretched arm towards the ground, "No matter what it takes!"
He fired a Flame Shot into the ground, launching himself into the air. He pointed his paw behind him, and launched himself towards Pan. He winced softly as he took a quick glance at his arm.
"Looks like any more Flame Shots and I'm screwed..."
Logan clenched his right paw as he reeled his arm back. He used his left paw to hold his already slightly pained arm, and let out a shout.
"You don't have any idea of what I fight for!"
Logan went to punch Pan's face, but the Pangoro quickly turned around and clashed his paw against Logan's, completely halting his momentum.
The rabbit Pokémon pushed off of Pan's paw, landing on the ground before lunging at his chest. Logan noticed that his dominant arm, his right arm, was unable to keep up with his own speed from the damage the extra Flame Shot dealt.
Instead of going for another punch or kick, Logan slammed his head into Pan's stomach, letting out a faint grunt as he could feel Pan's stomach moving a bit. His ears scrunched up from the pressure, temporarily blocking out all of the sounds around him.
As he closed his eyes to blink, things went in slow motion.
It was shocking how a little bit of silence was all Logan needed to regroup himself. He had gone in with no plan, and ever since Pan pointed out how he was unworthy of becoming a Grotto Ranger, he had been fighting with reckless abandon.
He needed to cool down a bit. He needed to come up with something that could help him win. But what?
"Maybe... Just one more..."
He stepped on Pan's foot before using Flame Shot out of both of his paws upwards.
Grotto PKMN Center, Sinnoh
Logan opened his eyes slowly, letting out a loud groan of pain as his body resisted each slight movement. He looked to his right to see a familiar Blissey watching over him, writing on a clipboard.
The Scorbunny quickly sat up, letting out a gasp, "What the hell happened!?"
"Well I hate to tell you that we told you so..." A familiar Snivy mumbled, sitting next to Oliver and Jacob.
"When did I pass out?" Logan gently scratched one of the bandages on his left arm.
Sophie let out a soft sigh, "When you stepped on that guy's foot, you used your Flame Shot or whatever it's called, to launch your head right into his chin. You were knocked out just from the impact."
"Did he win!?"
The traveling trio looked in different directions, seemingly finding interest in whatever wasn't in Logan's direction. At this reaction, the Scorbunny's blood began to boil.
On the outside of the infirmary, a loud scuffle could be heard from inside, as well as muffled shouts from Lucy.
Logan kicked open the door, his face almost entirely red from anger, "Where is he!?"
A lot of the Pokémon, who were minding their own business, looked over to see where the shouting was coming from.
"Logan, he left about an hour ago to do his rounds!" Lucy walked out of the infirmary section of the Pokémon Center behind Logan, "Now back inside, your wounds need time to heal."
She gently pushed the Scorbunny back inside of the infirmary section, and was met with little resistance from him.
Oliver watched, and continued to bite his tongue. He had a few questions for Logan, but he didn't know when it would be the right time to bring them up, especially since it involved the prior battle.
The same part of Logan's fight just kept bugging the Oshawott.
Pan calmly walked up to him, and looked down at Logan, their eyes meeting. The Pangoro could see an unflinching expression from Logan, and the Scorbunny let his paws slide on the battlefield.
"Your fighting style does not fit your body," Pan gave a soft glare, "You're trying to out strength the opponent, as if you were the same size as them."
"So what?" Logan asked angrily.
"Your current close-minded nature is unbefitting of a ranger."
He began to walk away, softly rubbing his paws together. He was fairly out of breath, but relatively okay.
"Hey..."
Pan heard his voice, and stopped in his tracks.
Logan let out a soft groan, standing up slowly. He could feel his own body resisting his mind, wanting to just give up on him. But Logan wasn't ready to admit defeat. He wasn't ready to admit a lot of things.
"I will become a Grotto Ranger..." He slowly raised his paw to point at Pan, "I will do my best to defeat Nidoking..."
Pan turned back around, looking at the exhausted Scorbunny.
"And I will avenge my parents!" Logan pointed his outstretched arm towards the ground, "No matter what it takes!"
As Logan was put back onto his designated bed, Oliver walked up to him.
"Hey, Logan?"
"What?"
"Did you take what he said to you into consideration?" Oliver asked, looking away for a moment, "You know, about you being unfit to be a ranger?"
"Not at all," He huffed as if there was steam shooting from his nose, "I'm not gonna listen to what he says. I'll just keep getting stronger and force him to realize that I'm strong enough to be a ranger."
Although this was admittedly a terrible answer, Oliver couldn't help but to smile at Logan's unchanging determination. He never seemed to even think about considering the possibility of him giving up. It was admirable, in a sense.
On the other hand, though, there's only so much strength a single Pokémon could muster in a lifetime. And when Logan finally would hit that cap, what would he do beyond that?
Meanwhile, Logan laid back down to look at the ceiling. It's almost like he could feel the pain in his back from the moment he got slammed and was looking up to the sky.
There was no way he would let that happen again.
He would have to just keep getting stronger and stronger. Beat Nidoking, free the Grotto, become a ranger.
His destiny was laid out before him, and he was racing towards his goal.
He was going to do what he had to...
...No matter the consequences.