Adventures Beyond!

Chapter 25: To Where it Leads

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Grotto PKMN Center, Sinnoh

"Got any fives?" Oliver, who was holding a few cards in his paws, asked Logan.

Logan remained quiet for a few seconds, "...Nah."

Sophie rolled her eyes before grabbing a card from Logan's selection and passing it to Oliver, "If you're going to cheat, at least make it believable..."

"I thought we were cool, Sophie!" Logan exclaimed, faking tears.

"Don't even try that," Jacob scoffed with a smile, "Oliver and I have been traveling with her for a while now, and I don't even know if I can comfortably sleep at night around her..."

"I get up a little late to eat something, and suddenly I'm the weirdo."

"Sophie, It was four hours from sunrise!" Jacob's ears perked.

The Snivy looked at the Pikachu, "As I was saying, a little late."

Oliver laughed softly at the conversation.

It had been a while since Logan's fight with Pan. Enough time had passed for Logan to be completely healed up. Things had been calm in the Grotto. Pokémon had even become able to begin working on making more floors in the Pokémon Center to ensure that there was more space, should this happen again. Nidoking was nowhere to be seen, and the lockdown seemed to be close to ending.

Maybe with the lockdown being over, the four could gather more allies to defeat Nidoking. Wherever he was.

The four continued to talk and laugh until their ears were filled with a loud alarm.

"Ow ow ow ow ow! That's a new one..." Jacob covered his ears, wincing in pain.

"An alarm?" Logan stood up, dropping his cards.

Jacob took a glance at Logan's cards, soon looking back up at the Scorbunny, "I thought you said you didn't have any threes!"

"That's... Not important!" Logan exclaimed, "There's a huge threat nearby, and we gotta check it out!"

"Whatever..." Jacob gave a soft pout as Logan opened the door, running out.

The four ran downstairs to the main lobby, where there were frantic Pokémon running around to find a safe place to hide. Lucy was trying to maintain calm, but was having trouble dealing with so many Pokémon.

"Lucy!" Logan ran up to the Blissey, "What the heck is going on?"

"Nidoking is in front of the center. He's trying to get in!" Lucy sounded frantic as she looked over to the metallic barricade over the door, which had been caved in a bit.

The four looked at Lucy with wide eyes, their eyes shifting over to the barricade.

"Some of the local residents went to the windows to fire attacks at Nidoking, but he has been getting closer and closer to getting in," Lucy looked down, "If he gets in..."

"Let's go!" Logan ran towards a nearby window, opening it with a bit of struggle, "This is the moment we've been preparing for!"

"Ready, guys?" Jacob stretched his arms a bit.

Oliver gave a determined glare, "Ready."

Oliver and Jacob looked at Sophie, who gave a silent nod.

"Right, let's do this!" Logan gave a confident grin.

Lucy couldn't speak her mind as she watched the four jump out of the window. She wanted to stop them, yet she knew she wouldn't have been able to.

"Just... Stay safe you guys..."

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Outside of the Pokémon Center, the four ran out to see Nidoking.

Oliver almost stopped in his tracks, seeing how large Nidoking really was. The Oshawott clenched his scalchop in his paw as he grabbed it from his stomach, letting out a soft sigh.