Forest Grotto, Sinnoh
Jacob's body slammed into the ground, just having received an attack from Nidoking. He tried to get up again to keep fighting, but it seemed like his body needed a bit of a break. Nidoking went in for another punch, and the Pikachu braced for impact.
"Not so fast, bucko!" Logan slid in, soon using a Flame Shot to repel Nidoking's arm and body.
The Scorbunny soon screamed in agony, his paws twitching and shaking as he looked at his right paw. It was black in some places, starting to be burnt from the overuse of his attack.
He looked up to see a group of Grotto Rangers watching from the partially opened shutter door to the Pokémon Center.
Logan clutched his paw, tears beginning to fall from his eyes, "You see? This is what a true Grotto Ranger is!" He gave a pained smile, "You protect others and the Grotto at all costs!"
While Logan was busy shouting at the GR, Nidoking ran up to attack from behind, catching his attention. His eyes were quick to follow Nidoking's movements, but his body was taking longer than he expected to react.
He braced for impact...
...But it never came.
He opened his eyes to see a black and white figure standing in front of him.
"You...?"
Pas was standing in front of him, holding Nidoking's arm in place.
"It's Pan..." The Pangoro let out a faint growl, "I think I'm finally starting to get you kid..."
The leaf in his mouth shifted softly as he glared at Nidoking. Logan was standing there in surprise, his arms limp to his sides.
"I can't let him die now..." Pan thought, looking at Nidoking with a glare.
Fifteen Years Ago, Forest Grotto
"There, I win," Pan smiled, putting his paws on his hips.
"That's not fair! You were always stronger than me..." A familiar Cinderace panted faintly, putting his paws on his knees.
Pan chuckled, "All I hear are excuses from someone who doesn't want to get stronger."
"Sounds like you want to battle..." Kenny smirked, his paws glowing a bit.
"Kenny!" A feminine voice shouted loudly from in the distance.
The two stopped instantly, their eyes widening slightly.
"Babeeeee! Babeeeee!"
Kenny looked over to see his wife, Emily, running towards them at blinding speeds.
"Looks like she isn't stopping..." Pan commented, taking a few steps back from the male Cinderace.
Emily suddenly tackled the love of her life, making them tumble a few feet into a tree. The female Cinderace was conveniently sitting in his lap as she looked down at him.
"I've got news!"
"It better have been a good enough reason to tackle me..."
"I'm pregnant!"
Pan, who was taking a sip of water, immediately spat it out, "Seriously?"
"Mhm!" She smiled looking over to the Pangoro for a moment.
"Ah shit!" Kenny, who had been in shock, suddenly blurted out, ruffling his head fur.
"Are you not happy...?" Emily's ears drooped a bit.
"No, I'm really excited!" Kenney reassured her, "It's just..."
"Just what, hon?"
"You're the mother..."
As Pan began laughing loudly, Emily's face turned red, "What's that supposed to mean, bucko!?"
"If they turn out like you, they're gonna be reckless and loud... Not to mention that they're gonna be a hothead like you," Kenny looked away, "And they might go on and on about wanting to be a Grotto Ranger like us..."
Steam was basically flying out of Emily's ears as Kenny went on, biting her bottom lip.
"...But I also know that he or she will be loyal to their friends, and will try to help others as much as possible," Kenny gave her a calm smile.
Emily's angered red hue turned to a pink blush almost immediately.
"Aw babe!" She hugged him, "You always know what to say!"
"Finally she's asleep..." Kenny groaned as he sat down on a couch, "She wouldn't stop going on and on about baby names..."
"Did you two settle on some?" Pan asked.
"Ryder or Logan if it's a boy, Jenna or Lyra if it's a girl."
"Good picks. I see that you two want to use some Grotto 'L' names..." The Pangoro smiled, "Why though? The two of you were raised in Galar."
"Well, when me and Emily ran away to Sinnoh, and we loved Forest Grotto..." Kenny smiled softly, "We just thought that it would make sense for someone growing up here would have an 'L' name like a lot of the other Pokémon raised here."
"So... What did you need me here for so late anyways?" Pan asked, gesturing to the window.
Kenny sighed, "Pan, you have no wife or kids of your own."
The Pangoro's eye twitched softly, "You really want to die, huh?"
"What I'm saying is, I want you to be Logan's godfather."
Pan's eyes widened as he looked at Kenny, who wore a serious expression.
"Me? Why?"
"Out of all of the GR, you're probably the only one aside from us who can deal with a second Emily..." The Cinderace chuckled for a moment, "And you're strong. You're stronger than me. Maybe you can take them under your wing."
Pan looked at him, "No, I won't."
"What?"
"You are going to be there for your child, and I want them to turn out like you and Emily. I don't want them to turn out like me..."
"I'll respect that."
"But I can promise you one thing," The Pangoro stood up, "I will put my life on the line for that child of yours if you two happen to not be around."
"Thanks, man..." Kenny smiled brightly.
"No, thank you."
Back to Present
"Logan!" Pan shouted, snapping him out of his trance. Pan was struggling to keep Nidoking restrained, his feet shifting on the ground every few seconds, "Let's fight him together, nobody can do it alone."
The Scorbunny nodded, clenching both of his paws.
"I'll keep my promise to them, no matter what!" Pan led the charge as the two went to attack.
Meanwhile...
"It's way too bright out here!" A.J, who was the last to walk out of the cave, exclaimed as he shielded his eyes from the sun.
"How the hell did you survive in only darkness for almost a decade?" Dawn gave him the side-eye.
"Berries... Lots and lots of berries and water..."
"Stop discussing it, you guys!" Nix, who was walking behind Leah, called over to the two of them, "Last I checked, we were on a suicide mission to help defeat Nidoking."
Ness walked over to A.J and Dawn and began walking with them, "I still can't believe that you had no idea about Nidoking until now, and the fight for the Grotto is happening now!"
"It's still a bit much to wrap my head around, but I think I get the main idea..." A.J gripped his bone in his paw, "We have to stop Nidoking."
Leah was ahead of the group, thinking about what they would even do if they had managed to beat Nidoking. She spent half of her life in intense situations caused by Nidoking, so she wouldn't know what to do afterwards.
She shook her head. She could think about that when they actually defeat Nidoking.
Dawn lagged a bit behind the group. She had no idea when and how she managed to get herself wrapped up with the "defeat Nidoking" gang.
The whole time she had been on the lookout for Jacob, but she had slowly been accepting that her rematch would have to wait. She didn't even know if Jacob was even in the Grotto.
For now, she could stick around and lend a paw. After all, she was already a part of it, like it or not.
Ness walked back up to Nix and walked next to him, "It was really cool of you to do that back there..."
Ten Minutes Ago...
Nix stood there in shock, his eyes widened to their absolute maximum. Ness, his long time friend and partner in crime, was ready to abandon everything for the chance of fighting for a good cause.
He couldn't really blame Ness, though. He always tried to solve problems without killing others no matter how hard it was or how long it took.
"C'mon, Ness... Think about this," Nix tried to reason with him, "If we join them, we won't have any stability in our lives anymore."
Ness' expression was unchanging, "We don't need stability, as long as we have each other, we'll be fine."
Nix remained silent.
"That's why I'm begging you, Nix..." Ness' serious demeanor faltered a bit as he looked at his friend, "If I'm gonna rebel against Nidoking, I want my best friend to be there with me every step of the way."
Nix let out a long sigh, looking down, "Screw it..." He looked back up with a smile, "...We were never made to be pawns anyways. Sure, I'll go along with your little rebellion."
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Ness suddenly went and hugged his friend, jumping up and down happily, "You won't regret it!"
As Dawn, Leah, and A.J watched this happen, A.J sniffled a bit, wiping tears out of his eyes.
"That's a bromance right there..." The Marowak smiled, tears still in his eyes.
The Buneary rolled her eyes, "It really isn't that serious."
"You'll never understand the true bond of two guys against the world..." A.J shook his head, "That is a soul-binding deal."
"Whatever, let's just focus on getting out of here..." Dawn looked to the exit.
Nix looked over "Right, we still have that to deal with."
Back to Present
Nix looked back at his friend, "Well I know how unnecessarily risky you can be with things, Ness. Someone's gotta make sure you don't get yourself killed."
Ness smiled brightly, "I'll be counting on that."
With Logan
Both Pan and Logan rushed Nidoking, trying to get an upper hand against the large Pokémon. While Pan went behind Nidoking to hold him in place, Logan quickly jumped up and kicked his face.
As Logan landed back on the ground, looking at Pan and Nidoking trade blows back and forth, "I wish I could help more, but now my cooldown needs to last longer if I want to fire any more Flame Shots... For now I have to find anything possible to help me win..."
Jacob was watching the two fight, and was beginning to feel a little useless from his position. He hadn't really been able to get up since that one attack from earlier.
"It wasn't even that bad of an attack..." The Pikachu thought, mentally cursing himself.
Jacob kept trying to stand, but couldn't find the strength anymore. He needed to rest for a while. The Pikachu dragged himself to hide behind a nearby bush, "I hate to hide..."
Soon enough, Pan backed off to recover before Logan ran at Nidoking, his body close to the ground.
Nidoking tried to punch him, but the Scorbunny swiftly avoided the attack and carefully slid under Nidoking's legs. When he turned around to face Logan, he quickly threw a pawful of dirt into Nidoking's eyes.
Nidoking let out a booming roar, covering his eyes.
"Dirt won't last that long... I need something that will stick for a while..." He then looks at the ground, "Mud! But it hasn't rained in a few days..."
Logan's gaze quickly switched to something that caught his eye. A familiar Buizel was watching the battle, worried for everyone that was fighting.
The Scorbunny developed a smirk on his face.
Meanwhile, Leah, Dawn, and the cave team all finally approached the battle.
"Guys, get down!" Leah quietly ordered the group.
"Why should we?" A.J asked confusedly, looking at the Aipom.
"We don't want Nidoking to know that there's more enemies here..." Leah explained quietly, "We especially don't need him knowing about our little two surprises here either. We'll play as back up for now."
A.J nodded, "Right."
Dawn was already laid down on a tree branch, "I'm fine with that."
"You know, I never really knew where you came from..." Leah jumped up to hang from the tree branch, "You're definitely not from here, I know that."
"I'm from Casteel City, why?" The Buneary answered quickly.
"From Casteel? That city is far off from here. Granted, this is the easiest place to get to from there. Nothing but plains and the occasional Pokémon looking to defend it's territory.
Dawn's eyes shot open, remembering something.
She had just woken up, and was walking in the same direction Jacob, Oliver, and Sophie went in. When passing by a river, she was suddenly attacked by a Gyarados that had a spear in its eye.
It took hours to fend the beast off, and she needed to take a small break afterwards.
"Those plains are no joke..." Dawn whispered.
Logan ran towards the window Max was watching from, "Hey Max! Shoot a Water Gun at me!"
The Buizel was confused, but did what he was asked and shot the attack at the Scorbunny, who swiftly stepped to the side. He waited a few seconds before scooping up the mud and holding it in his paws.
He let out a faint sigh of relief. The cold and wet mud was soothing the burning sensation on his paws.
The Scorbunny soon looked up to see Oliver and Sophie. They were doing something strange. Whatever it was, he hoped it was worth the time.
"Are you sure about this...?" Sophie looked over to Oliver with uncertainty, her right eye glowing red.
"One-hundred percent!" Oliver smiled.
The Snivy was using an enlarged Dragon Claw to hold Oliver as if he were a ball. She was hoping that she wouldn't accidentally hurt him in the process of what they were doing.
The Oshawott smiled with determination, preparing to execute the plan. The plan was simple. Sophie would hop all the way to the top plank and launch Oliver down to hit Nidoking. All they had to do was time the jumps right, get Nidoking still, and properly launch.
Nothing too stressful...
Logan quickly ran at Nidoking before throwing the mud at him, which he managed to avoid. Logan's eyes widened.
"He's getting faster...?" Pan thought, looking at Nidoking.
Nidoking went to suddenly charge at Logan, who would've been unable to get out of the way soon enough.
Both Pan and Jacob saw this, and the two tried to get to Logan before Nidoking could. The Pikachu stood up and stumbled into a frail run, while Pan dashed to Logan.
Nidoking was faster than both Jacob and Pan, soon getting close enough to the point where the Scorbunny knew he would be attacked before either got to him.
Logan closed his eyes, and looked down
Suddenly, a familiar Buizel hit Nidoking on his head.