Previously, in Pokémon: The Lost Child, after collapsing in the desert, Prinplup and Grovyle found themselves inside of a relaxing village where they could heal up. Soon after, a rampaging Tyranitar attacked the village, but with the power of their teamwork, they managed to take it down. After being hailed as heroes of the village, the duo continues on their journey with newly gained confidence in their abilities.
"Well, we finally made it out of the desert, Prinplup."
"I will admit it does feel good to be in a more comfortable environment."
Well, now that we are here, what do you say about practicing some more with our abilities."
"Sounds like a great idea I am more than in."
"If we could hone those, even more, we'd be a real threat to anyone who dares to oppose us," Grovyle said.
"That is true, the one that did the most was you jumping off my body and shooting those bubbles and then you launching them one by one," Prinplup said.
"Let's try that one again."
When Prinplup and Grovyle try the move again, they are once again able to pull it off flawlessly, they even get off a more powerful hit and destroy several rocks in the process.
"I think we have gotten it down pretty well. You know, Prinplup, I was thinking of another idea you know that water gun move you used against Tyranitar?" Grovyle asked.
"Oh yeah, I had been so focused on what happened that I hadn't got the time to figure out how it properly works."
"Try shooting it at me. I think I have a way I can use it," Grovyle asked.
Prinplup shot the water gun at Grovyle, and Grovyle used his moves to absorb it and then his vines to redirect it, spitting out a massive water gun in multiple directions that even hit Prinplup.
"Wow, that was amazing, Grovyle," Prinplup said.
"Are you okay, Prinplup I saw that you got hit by it?" Grovyle asked.
"I'm fine. My moves don't do much damage to myself."
"That move was powerful, but it took a lot of energy out of me to do it," Grovyle commented.
"I did not realize. Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I am fine, just a bit tired."
"Maybe it wasn't a great idea for us to continue practicing I should let you get some rest first."
While Prinplup was talking, a Pokémon was hiding in the bushes, jumping from bush to bush. Prinplup was starting to take notice of this, and so was Grovyle.
"Uh, Grovyle, it feels like someone is watching us," Prinplup said.
"I am getting that feeling as well, but who is it."
Prinplup and Grovyle braced themselves, keeping a close eye around to see if they could spot any weird movement. Prinplup witnessed some sort of figure jumping from bush to bush. Once they noticed it, Prinplup and Grovyle attacked it, and when they were done, Exploud fell onto the ground.
Prinplup and Grovyle ran up to it and Grovyle asked, "Why were you spying on us."
"You don't understand, I had to make sure you were not him. He is everywhere, and he is after me. The end is approaching and I have to stop him from getting access to my move," Exploud said in a scrambled crazy way.
"Okay, this guy is crazy," Grovyle said.
"I'm not crazy. I swear the end is near, the end is near, you have to help," Exploud said.
"What is going to cause this end and what does that entail?" Grovyle asked, even more, confused about what the hell he was talking about.
"I have already said too much they could watching," Exploud said and then tried to run away.
"Wait who is they, what in Arceus' sake are you talking about," Grovyle.
Exploud turns around to say, "You said that name."
"Uh, you mean Arceus," Grovyle said.
"Do you know who he is?"
"I don't, it is just a common phrase Pokémon like to use," Grovyle said.
"You don't understand. Arceus will be the end of all of us. He is unpredictable. He is everywhere. He will never stop. I know that name means something, but they won't let me get any closer, ahhhhh," Exploud said while running away screaming.
"Well, that was odd," Grovyle said.
"Should we go help him because he seems to not be doing super well?" Prinplup asked.
"Honestly, I don't know. He is crazy. Honestly, I am mostly just interested in what in Arceus' sake is going on with him," Grovyle said.
"About the whole Arceus thing, you don't know where that phrasing is coming from."
"Honestly, I don't. It is just something that a lot of Pokémon say. I had always assumed it was probably some Pokémon, but I never really paid it much mind until that Exploud paid specific attention to it."
"Perhaps we could ask someone about that when we get a good chance?" Prinplup wondered.
"That could work, but there has got to be someone who knows something about this," Grovyle responded.
"So, what are we going to do about him?" Grovyle asked Prinplup.
"Normally it's me that asks you that question. Personally, I would say follow him. Maybe we could try and help him or understand him."
"Well, sure, why not, shouldn't be that big of a risk to take, I hope," Grovyle responded.
Prinplup and Grovyle began to walk slowly in the direction that Exploud had fled. Throughout the walk, both of them could not stop thinking about what was up with the Exploud: why he was so crazy, what he was even rambling about and more. Both of them were massively confused and no better off understanding it.
"Are you sure that he went this way?" Grovyle asked Prinplup.
"I am pretty sure he did keep your ears open. We might be able to hear him if we listen closely."
Prinplup and Grovyle went as quiet as possible, listening closely to the noises. They mostly just heard uninteresting stuff, but they did catch the sound of a few Pokémon talking. However, none of them appeared to be Exploud, as they were normal conversations rather than the ravings of a lunatic. However, after listening for a few minutes, they finally heard something that sounded like Exploud.
As Prinplup and Grovyle slowly walked over to where the noise was coming from. They saw Exploud crouched on the ground just talking to himself repeatedly about incomprehensible nonsense.
"They are after me, the whole world is after me, Arceus must connect to these people. Who are you? What is this? The end is near, the end is near."
The two were getting kind of freaked out at this. What could be the deal with this Exploud? Neither was quite sure how to approach him, as it's likely if they said the wrong thing, he would freak out again.
"Hey Exploud, we would like to talk to you," Prinplup said.
"It's you two again. You must be working for them now. You won't take me. I won't go back." Exploud, after talking, started screaming and firing off a massive boomburst that hurt both Prinplup and Grovyle super hard.
"Now it's time to fight Prinplup," Grovyle said.
"I wish we didn't have to, but this Exploud has given us no choice."
Prinplup and Grovyle started fighting, both of them running circles around Exploud. Exploud kept firing off his boombursts, which the two were able to get around. Prinplup attacked with his water gun from the left side, which Grovyle attacked with his leaf moves.
Exploud was having trouble dealing with them both attacking at the same time, but he was able to fire off a boomburst in both directions that they were only barely able to dodge. Grovyle then ran up to Prinplup and Prinplup launched Grovyle into the air. They had done this move a few times and it was time to use it again to take this Exploud down.
"Prinplup, fire them."
Prinplup tries to shoot the bubbles at Grovyle, but Exploud's boomburst is so powerful that it pops all of them and sends the two flying back.
"I didn't know that was even possible," Prinplup said.
"Arceus damn it, their goes are combo we need to come up with something else then," Grovyle replied
"We are still inexperienced with combo moves, though I don't know if we can pull it off."
"I have an idea," Grovyle replied.
Grovyle and Prinplup went for their secret combo move that they had brainstormed some time ago. At that point, Prinplup got out his metal claws and hit Grovyle at Exploud with them, giving Grovel such a massive boost of speed that Exploud could not block it or counterattack his leaf blade. Grovyle then jumped back and Prinplup then shot his water gun at Grovyle, which Grovyle redirected to spit out massive water guns from many sides, hitting Exploud multiple times and knocking him out.
"Did we get him down?" Prinplup asked.
"That was a close one, but the team moves helped."
Suddenly, a Zangoose appeared out of nowhere, but he ran towards Exploud to check on him.
"He is good. Thank Arceus."
"Hello, who might you be?" Grovyle asked.
"I am Zangoose. I apologize for my friend's outburst. He tends to go quite crazy. I need to take him back to my village to help him. You are welcome to come, as well as an apology from me."
"I think were-" Grovyle tried to say before he was cut off by Prinplup, saying, "yeah sure."
Grovyle didn't know if this was needed, but he decided to go along with it as it could be nice to get some rest after that.