Crystal Cave, Sinnoh
Dawn clenched her paws, wiping off a bit of dirt off of her face. In the darkness of the cave, she could barely see who was looking back at her, the one who nearly hit her with an attack.
"I won't ask you again..." The Pokémon spoke, "Who are you?"
"Typically, you're supposed to give your name first," Dawn looked back at him.
Suddenly, something swung at her face. The Buneary managed to avoid it by leaning back, but the object was swung once again to hit her legs.
The attack was successful, and knocked her down.
Dawn smiled to herself. She had a plan. When she could see the figure getting close, she used Thunderbolt in random directions to illuminate the cave's interior.
She looked forward, and could see a Marowak glaring back at her. Her gaze switched to the floor as she quickly got back up with a small hop.
The Marowak ran at her, entering her small field of vision.
"You wanna do this, weakling?" Dawn quickly put her paws up to her chin, bouncing from foot to foot, "C'mon then, show me what'cha got!"
The two went to attack, but were both pushed back by a weak paw.
"Stop..." A weak Aipom managed to push out as she looked over to the Marowak, "I... I..." She wasn't able to finish, however, as she collapsed back on the ground.
Both Dawn and the Marowak exchanged a glance before looking down at Leah.
Meanwhile, At the Pokémon Center...
"You need to sit down!" Leah chased after Oliver, who was quickly walking through the main lobby of the Pokémon Center.
Oliver ignored her orders as he approached the elevator in the back of the main lobby. He, in all honesty, never operated an elevator before, but knew he would need to work it out for his plan to work.
That is, if it had any possibility of working.
Suddenly, Lucy placed a firm paw on his shoulder, "I won't let you go. You're obviously in a lot of pain. You need to lie or sit down!"
Oliver looked back at her, "Ms. Lucy..."
"What?"
"I have to do this, it's bigger than just a little bit of pain..."
The Blissey went silent, her paw's grip slowly softening.
"Maybe it's a bit unnecessarily risky and hard..." The Oshawott let out a sigh before giving a shaky smile, "But nothing's too hard if you look deep enough."
Lucy allowed him to walk to the elevator's doors, where he stood for a while pressing a button.
"You press the down arrow if you want the elevator to come to the ground floor..."
"Oh!" Oliver, who's paw was firmly pressing the up arrow, moved his paw to press the down arrow.
The Oshawott walked inside of the elevator and stood there for a second looking at the buttons before pressing one, the door to the elevator soon closing in front of him.
Once they completely closed, Oliver slid down the back wall of the elevator, letting out a rasped sigh. He slowly put a paw over his stomach as he let out a faint groan. His body was screaming out, and he refused to listen.
As things went silent, all he could hear was the distant rumbling from the fight that was still continuing outside.
"If I can get to the top of the roof, then maybe the momentum could carry over and contribute to my attack power..." The Oshawott began to think, "That way, I won't have to worry about a launch from Sophie, I'll already have good speed."
The elevator doors opened once again, and the Oshawott walked out to be on the top floor. He looked and saw a window at the end of the hallway. Oliver ran over and went to grab his scalchop...
...Which wasn't there.
Oliver looked all around him, "Where's my scalchop!?"
As he was looking around, the Pokémon Center rumbled harshly, throwing Oliver off of his balance. He struggled to stand before he shook his head and ran towards the window.
On his way, he grabbed a nearby carpet and threw it against the window, soon punching it.
The impact managed to crack the window, and Oliver went in for another. This attempt was successful, as the window cracked more and broke open. The carpet managed to keep Oliver from being hit by any glass in the process as he stood on the edge of the window frame.
He looked out of the window and up at the construction above. The frame of the new floors was made of a tough wood, but he wasn't sure if he could stand on it.
He let out a soft sigh before crouching down and jumping to reach the wood of the soon-to-be fifth floor of the Pokémon Center. As he lifted himself up, some of the wood cracked.
"I have to hurry..."
Meanwhile, Jacob, Sophie, and Logan were all still battling Nidoking. Jacob's ears perked up at the sound of distant creaking.
The Pikachu looked to where he heard the noise, and his eyes widened at the sight, "Guys... I'm not going insane, right?"
Both Sophie and Logan looked over to Jacob, who was pointing up at the Pokémon Center.
The two followed his paw, and saw Oliver, climbing up to the frame of the large building.
"What is he doing...?" Sophie asked silently, in a strange state of shock.
As they were watching Oliver, Nidoking had grabbed a large boulder and hurled it in Oliver's direction.
The three all watched the boulder fly before Logan took action. He ran over to the Pokémon Center and used Flame Shot from both of his paws to launch himself upwards. He used the Pokémon Center as footing, as he ran on the wall to redirect his trajectory towards Oliver.
Once Logan reached Oliver's height, he looked at the boulder and stuck both of his paws towards it, "Too weak!" He made a big Flame Blast to instantly break the rock into pieces.
Nidoking then began charging a Hyper Beam in his mouth, opening his mouth wide. He aimed for Oliver as it continued to charge.
The Pikachu noticed this, and sprung off of his feet to run towards Nidoking before ramming him in his side. This redirected Nidoking's aim to slice through a tree.
Oliver looked down at what they were doing, and was surprised that they were keeping him from being attacked.
"Go, Oliver!" Logan shouted at the top of his lungs, falling to the ground.
The Oshawott was snapped from his thoughts as he gave a quick nod and continued to climb.
Jacob, meanwhile, didn't give Nidoking a second to recover as he quickly went in for a Dynamic Punch. Nidoking blocked the attack and swatted Jacob to the side and into the Pokémon Center, hitting the wall.
Inside of the Pokémon Center, in a fairly dark room, a heartbeat monitor began to fluctuate as the building rumbled.
Back to the battle, Logan went in to attack Nidoking, but was only using punches and kicks. This was something that Sophie had picked up on.
Suddenly, Nidoking grabbed Logan's right angle and went to slam him into the ground. As he was quickly approaching hitting the grass, Logan thought back.
The Scorbunny jumped up to meet Nidoking's face before firing off a Flame Shot 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.
"That's not happening!" Before Logan hit the ground, he used a Flame Shot to repel himself from the impact, throwing Nidoking's balance off in the process.
Sophie took this opportunity and used a Leaf Blade to distract Nidoking in order to allow Jacob to recover from his impact with the Pokémon Center.
She looked up to the top of the Pokémon Center, where Oliver was steadily approaching, "What the heck are you doing, Oliver...?"
With Dawn
Deep in a cave, Dawn was sitting off to the side as the Marowak that had attacked her earlier prepared a berry.
The Marowak had laid Leah down on a few large leaves, and had managed to make a small campfire for light and warmth. He grabbed the berry and slowly moved close to Leah's head.
The Marowak held the berry to Leah's mouth, and she soon bit into it, slowly chewing and swallowing the berry.
The Aipom's eyes opened slowly to see the Marowak looking back at her, "A.J... You saved me..."
The Marowak's eyes widened, "Wait, Leah!?"
Leah gave a weak nod, soon sitting up.
"I can't believe it! You made it out!" A.J gave a bright smile, "So where are the others? How are Denise and Lenny?"
The Aipom's expression immediately darkened a bit. She had forgotten that her long lost friend might have been disconnected from society ever since that day.
"A.J..." Leah looked away, playing with the bandages wrapped around her paws, "Denise and Lenny are dead... They've been dead for about nine years now..."
"They..." A.J leaned up against one of the cave walls, "...They never made it back out, did they?"
Leah shook her head.
"How did they...?"
"Lenny from blunt force trauma... A Steelix had found us soon after we split up," She let out a shaky sigh, "Denise died slowly, I assume, from being crushed alive by a bunch of boulders..."
A.J gulped softly, thinking about both young Pokémon, "How did Denise's parents take it?"
"Her mother's dead now, and her father..."
Leah bit her bottom lip.
"...Her father sort of lost it."
"And by 'lost it', you mean...?"
"Her dad has been terrorizing the Grotto ever since. Things haven't been the same on the surface," She managed to speak in one breath.
"Wait no way!" Dawn finally spoke up.
Both Leah and A.J looked to the Buneary.
"So you're saying that you had ties with the Nidoking guy's daughter?" Dawn asked, "Why didn't you do something sooner? You two could've talked to him!"
"One, we just got to know Denise by the time she died, and two, I've been in this cave for nine years!"
"Why have you been here for nine years anyways?" The Buneary raised an eyebrow, "Why survive in the darkness when you can just... Leave?"
"Well you see, you need to get across that river and climb up that steep wall to get to the exit," A.J pointed to the large body of water that Dawn and Leah nearly fell into.
"Still can't swim, can you?" Leah gave a teasing smirk.
"Of course not!" A.J yelled, "I've been exploring this side of the cave the whole time!"
As the three talked, two familiar male Nidoran walked to the edge of the fall leading down to the large body of water. They could see a small campfire, as well as three Pokémon talking.
"What the...?" Nix looked at them in confusion.
"Well on the bright side, the Aipom survived the poison.." Ness uttered.
"But on the dark side, we're now outnumbered!"
"We don't have to attack them, do we?"
"Yes! We do!" Nix spoke in a harsh whisper, "Otherwise, they'll get back to the king and defeat him! Where else would we go then?"
"Ah, good point..."
"Hey!" Nix suddenly shouted, catching their attention, "You three need to come over here with your paws up! You won't be harmed that way."
"Two Nidoran...?" A.J looked at them in confusion as Leah and Dawn got ready to fight.
Leah looked to A.J, "They work for Nidoking, they're here to stop us from getting back to the battle, probably."
"Battle?"
Both Nidoran jumped down to stand in front of the three.
"Last time..." Nix looked at them, "Come over with your paws up, and we won't harm you."
"First time I've heard any of Nidoking's army talk," Leah mused, putting her paws on her hips.
"I've heard them talk before..."
"Did you hear?" A voice asked from below, making Dawn's eyes shift in that direction.
"About what?" A male Nidoran asked another.
"A few of our forces got fainted by those kids at the treehouse." The first Nidoran rold the other, "I thought you knew this. You're so forgetful, Ness."
"I thought we devised a strategy to take them out for good." Ness' eyes widened. "What happened?"
Nix, the first Nidoran, let out a sigh, "There's supposedly a Pikachu with them as well, so that shook things up."
"Dang it!" Ness exclaimed, "Right when we had them... The King won't be happy. I feel bad for who has to tell him this time. Well... It's not like he's gonna vocalize that disappointment. He doesn't speak anyways..."
The two Nidoran walked in silence for a moment, Dawn silently following them from the trees above them. Nix raised an eyebrow as he looked at Ness.
"You know it's your turn, right?" Nix asked, to which Ness gasped.
"What!? No!" Ness put his paws on his head. "You gotta help me, Nix!"
"Nah, I'm good." He shrugged.
"I wasn't asking!" He shouted as the two walked into what seemed like a den.
"Wait... It was you two!" The Buneary shouted, "That means you two are the only Nidoran around here that actually speak to others..."
Ness and Nix looked at each other.
"Hey, how about you two join us?" Leah suddenly asked, walking forward, "You can help us fight against Nidoking, and you two can join my team!"
Suddenly, an attack was shot at her, forcing her to jump back as the attack hit the ground nearby.
"Another poison attack?" She looked to Nix, who had fired the attack, "You really wanna do this?"
"I don't think I do..." Ness shook his head softly.
"We can't falter now!" Nix yelled, his voice echoing in the cave, "The reason we joined Nidoking was because of a free place to stay, food to eat, and an actual family. Are you going to throw away all that for a gamble!?"
"Nix... I don't want to do this anymore..." Ness looked down, "The plots, the oppression, I just can't do it."
Nix remained silent, the crackling of A.J's small campfire filling the silence.
"We can actually do something good with our lives, and maybe allow the Grotto to be free."
"But..."
"But nothing! I already know which one I'd choose. The question is, are you with me..." He walked over to stand in between Leah and Nix, facing the latter, "...O-Or against me?"
With Oliver
The Oshawott finally reached the top of the wooden frame, used for the construction of the new floors. A wind pushed by, ruffling his fur as he struggled to keep his balance.
Down on the ground, Sophie was pushed back by an attack from Nidoking, and tripped on something. She tumbled on the ground before looking up to see what she had tripped on.
It was Oliver's scalchop.
Her eyes widened as she ran over and picked it up. She looked up to Oliver, meeting his gaze. She held the scalchop up in the air, earning a smile from the Oshawott.
His smile quickly faded, however, as he noticed something behind Sophie.
The Snivy looked back, and saw Nidoking looming over her. She looked past him, and saw Logan trying to get over to him, as well as Jacob.
Sophie braced for impact, and was sent flying.
Her body hit the wood and scaffolding Oliver was standing on, knocking them both down to the original roof of the Pokémon Center.
"Ow, ow..." Oliver groaned faintly, rubbing the back of his head. He looked up to see that there were a few planks and pieces of wood leading up to a high point.
"I won't be able to set up an Aqua Jet on such a small platform..." The Oshawott thought, "So what should I...?"
His eyes suddenly widened as he stood up in front of Sophie, picking up his scalchop and putting it to his stomach.
"Sophie, I have an idea..."
She looked up at Oliver, who was barely blocking the midday sun from her vision, "An Idea?"
The Oshawott nodded, reaching a paw out to her.
"...Will you..."
"...Trust me?"