Adventures Beyond!

Chapter 42: Think, Learn, Grow

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Sapphire Town, Sinnoh

Oliver woke up to the sensation of something pushing against his right cheek. He groaned faintly as he opened his eyes. He was in a dark room, and could barely see everything around him.

He looked to his right, just to see a familiar Scorbunny's foot pushing against his face.

"Gah!" Oliver suddenly sat up, wiping his face with a blanket, "When's the last time he washed his feet...?"

The sudden movement from Oliver woke Logan up, who looked over at Oliver, "What are you doing up so early...?"

"It's your fault!" The Oshawott exclaimed.

Just as Oliver looked at Logan, the blanket was suddenly snatched away from Oliver by Sophie, who only remained quiet as she tried to go back to sleep.

This affected Jacob, who's body suddenly went cold.

The Pikachu grabbed the blanket and tugged back, trying to get the blanket over his own body. Jacob and Sophie began having a tug of war over the blanket, eventually to the point where both of them were pretty much awake.

Oliver tried to mediate between the two, but a pillow was suddenly thrown at his face. It had been Logan, who chuckled softly.

"Logan, you play dirty!" Oliver grabbed the pillow from his face, "I can't even see that well without my contacts!"

"There's no such thing as dirty in a fight!" Logan exclaimed in response.

Oliver smiled, "If so, then you would've beaten Pan easier."

Logan chuckled, "Oh-ho-ho, where did that sass come from?!"

Suddenly, Jacob tugged hard on the blanket, causing them all to fall off of the bed and onto the wooden floor.

Under the blanket, the four groaned softly, remaining still.

Jacob then heard movement inside of the room that wasn't one of them, and went silent, "What was that...?"

"What was what?" Logan asked Jacob, a bit confused.

Oliver peeked out of the blanket, and his sight drifted over to the top of the bed, where Mark was sitting. He was looking back down at him with a stoic expression.

The Garchomp exhaled tiredly, "Looks like I didn't have to come and wake you four up."

"AHHHHHHH!" Jacob, Oliver, and Logan screamed in surprise.

—

Mark sat down on a couch in the common room, gesturing for the four to sit down on the couch across from himself, on the other side of a wooden table.

The four sat down, Sophie requiring a bit of help from Oliver to get up onto the couch.

"Okay, since you four are on this mission now, I guess I should reveal the trick up my sleeve..." Mark told them, "This is our only lead to finding that orb before they do..."

The Garchomp only looked at the four of them silently as he reached underneath his couch, pulling out a small glass jar, filled with a gooey black substance. Oliver's eyes widened as he suddenly tensed up.

Sophie noticed this reaction from Oliver, and only exhaled softly. What has been going on with him lately?

***

Oliver explained what happened back in Forest Grotto as Sophie was laid in Mark's bed. The Snivy completely forgot about the pain in her body as she listened to every word he said.

"You went to go talk with Nidoking?" Sophie asked, her eyes widening.

Oliver nodded, "Yeah... It was that same day Jacob and Dawn had that battle, a day before we left Forest Grotto."

Sophie only looked up at the ceiling, "You could've gotten yourself killed, had he not been so docile..."

"I know, trust me, I really do..." The Oshawott looked away, "But something's happening, Sophie. And I've been meaning to tell you that some things are beginning to line up..."

"Like what?"