Previously, in Pokémon: The Lost Child, Prinplup, Grovyle, and Magmar uncovered a conspiracy in the tournament and put an end to the people involved. Now Prinplup and Grovyle are forced to leave the village and continue on their adventure to get stronger, but both have gained some new skills.
Prinplup is practicing his new metal claw power on a tree, getting the hang of exactly how it works.
"This thing is awesome," Prinplup commented.
"Yeah, to be honest, I had no idea you could do that until you did it in the battle against Golem," Grovyle replied.
"I wonder what other powers I could use."
"As I said, the power upgrades have only just begun. This isn't even our final form," Grovyle responded.
"What have you learned, Grovyle?" Prinplup asked.
"Oh yeah, I think I forgot to mention this, I recently discovered something pretty cool. Attack me first."
Prinplup did find this odd, but he was willing to help demonstrate. When Prinplup attempted to hit Grovyle with his metal claw, Grovyle twitched its eye, and when Prinplup attempted to hit Grovyle, that attack was blocked.
"Wow, how did you do that?" Prinplup asked, amazed at what had just happened.
"I don't know. I am just able to think and then block attacks with my thoughts."
"That is so cool."
"There is one restriction though, I can't use it too many times in a row or else it will stop working."
"Still, I expect that will come in handy at some point," Prinplup commented.
Prinplup and Grovyle would continue practicing their moves on random trees, with Grovyle getting the hang of his new detect move by finding out a bit more about how random the limitation is. Sometimes it allowed him to do it multiple times, and other times it didn't.
While Prinplup was practicing on a tree, he heard a noise. At first, it was faint, but Prinplup listened in closer to hear exactly what was going on. He couldn't fully make it out, but it sounded like someone was asking for help.
"Is there a problem, Prinplup?" Grovyle asked.
"I think I hear something. It sounds like someone is in trouble."
Well, I know I won't be able to stop you, so I won't try and fight it. Let's go help whoever is in trouble."
Prinplup and Grovyle rushed over to the noise, with Prinplup leading the way. When they got there, though, it was not what they expected. It was Zorua.
"Is that the same Zorua that helped us?" Prinplup asked Grovyle.
"I have no idea. I can't get a clear look, but it does look like they are in trouble. We need to hurry if we want to heal her."
Prinplup and Grovyle worked together to nurse Zorua back to health. After a few hours, she woke back up.
"Prinplup, Grovyle, are you who I think you are?"
"Yeah, Zorua, it's us the same Piplup and Treecko, you helped out," Grovyle said.
"Well, congrats on evolving."
"Why aren't you evolved yet?" Prinplup asked.
"I don't evolve until much later, it seems."
"What happened to you, Zorua? You were hit up pretty badly when we found out," Grovyle asked.
"It's a rather long story. So a while ago, I was approached by some Pokémon who said that he needed my help. He didn't reveal who he was, so I was naturally suspicious, so I asked what he needed me for. He didn't answer that though, and instead told me to meet him at Tran Lake, which I did know was nearby, and then he just vanished."
"That does sound rather odd," Prinplup commented.
"Yeah, I don't understand it either. I was naturally confused, but I was interested in what he wanted, so I decided to head over to the lake. When I showed up, I saw two Sandslashes standing over the body of a Shiftry, or at least I think I couldn't tell from here. I started panicking right away, but the Sandslashes spotted me and chased after me. They beat me up and nearly killed me, but a sudden hurricane knocked them and me away, I am lucky to have survived that."
"Man I am sorry to hear that. So you came across a murder scene," Grovyle asked.
"I think that is what happened, I have no idea if the Shiftry was the one who needed my help or something. Oh no, I need to get back there and stop them." Zorua tried to get up to run but was struggling to walk.
"Zorua you are in no condition to do this. You need to rest," Prinplup said.
"I can't just stand back and let the Pokémon that nearly killed me get away."
"If you need to do this, then at least let us come along," Prinplup said.
"Prinplup we shouldn't get tangled up in these murder plots. We don't want to end up dead as well," Grovyle said.
"Grovyle I am starting to get annoyed with your complete unwillingness to help out a friend that desperately needs it."
"I won't like it, but I know I won't be able to stop you, so I will go along."
"We will need you to lead us to Tran Lake Zorua," Prinplup said.
"Is there a way to possibly disguise yourself Zorua so we don't run into any problems?" Grovyle asked.
"I do have a way of conjuring up perfect illusions that make me seem transparent. It is not ideal, but that is likely the best you will get."
"That will do. Prinplup you should carry her as you are the strongest of us two."
"I can handle that."
Prinplup and Grovyle followed Zorya's directions while Prinplup carried Zorua so they could keep guiding them. It didn't take them too long to arrive at Tran Lake, and they seemed to have caught it at the perfect time. Both of the Sandslashes were still around.
"Are those the two that tried to kill you?" Prinplup asked Zorua.
"Yes that is, it looks like they are still packing up," Zorua said.
The first Sandslash said, "The boss wants to make sure that the information that Shriftry had never got out."
"How much could that Zorua have seen? I feel we are being paranoid for nothing," the second Sandslash said.
"If the boss finds out that we let a witness get away, he will have our heads for dinner," the first Sandslash said.
However, when they least expected it, the Sandslashes were jumped by Prinplup and Grovyle, and the Sandslashes each got into a battle with them. Prinplup brawled with the Sandslash, with Prinplup using his metal claws to attack while the Sandslash was using its own claws to counter the move. This went on for some time, but Prinplup threw some bubbles into the mix, which hurt Sandslash pretty badly. Prinplup got a few more hits in with his metal claw. Sandslash tried to clash with his own claws, but Prinplup overpowered him.
At the same time, Grovyle was brawling with the other Sandslash, and his leaf blade was slicing through everything that the Sandslash threw at him. Sandslash tried to roll attack Grovyle but Grovyle blocked it with his leaf blade and hit back as hard as he could. The other Sandslash was knocked out quickly as well.
"That felt almost too easy," Prinplup commented.
"Well, we did have the type advantage and the element of surprise. Help me tie these two up so we can question them."
They tied the two up and then waited for them to get back up. It wasn't going to be easy, but they knew they needed to get these two to talk.
"We know exactly what you two did. Why did you kill that Shiftry?" Grovyle asked menacingly.
One of the Sandslashes said, "It's our job. He knew some information about a secret organization and they wanted us to silence him before he could tell anyone."
"What is this organization and what did they not want anyone to know?" Grovyle asked.
"They call themselves The Brotherhood. We didn't exactly ask, we are just being paid to do a job. Be warned, you two are in deep trouble when they find out what you know. They can't risk leaving you alive.
Just as Sandslash was talking, two shadow balls were fired, and Prinplup and Grovyle knocked both to the ground. Then came a Pokémon who proceeded to execute the two Sandslashes.
"It's an Aegislash," Grovyle said.
"Oh no, They are in trouble. They can't handle that Aegislash," Zorua said.
Grovyle attacked the Aegislash, but it just blocked his attack with its shield and then it instantly knocked it back with its sacred sword. Prinplup tried to attack as well, but Aegislash kept shrugging off its moves and then knocked it to the ground.
"These two are weak, I will need to eliminate them, though nothing can get out."
Aegislash attempted to execute them. Grovyle stalled for time by detecting and blocking the attacks, but all three knew it was going to fail eventually. Zorua saw what was going on and knew she needed to help, but she was weakened and didn't know if she could. However, just as it was needed, Zorua started evolving.
As Aegislash was about to finish off the duo, Zoroark launched a newly learned dark pulse at him, which caught him off guard quite a bit. At this point, Aegislash didn't see these three as worth it and decided to retreat.
"Wow, you just saved our lives again, uh," Prinplup said.
"Zoroark," Grovyle corrected.
"It's the least I could do after you saved me."
"Do you have any idea what is going on with the whole Brotherhood talk from those two, now dead, Sandslashes?" Grovyle asked.
"I feel I should let you guys in on this. The truth is I have been tracking down this organization for a while now. They were the ones who killed my parents. I need to bring them down."
"I'm sorry to hear about that Zoroark," Prinplup replied.
I need to keep on this journey, I already feel the strength of this new form. First I am going to try and figure out what that Shiftry knew."
Meanwhile, at an unknown location, the Aegislash was reporting to his master.
"Shiftry has been taken care of, and I made sure that the Sandslashes couldn't talk."
"Excellent work," the leader said.
"There were a few kids that stumbled into what was going on but I am sure that they don't know anything that could ruin your plan."
"Keep an eye on them anyway. I don't want to be too risky."