Adventures Beyond!

Chapter 52: Search and Destroy

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Sapphire Town, Sinnoh

Miles and Akari both let out a wide yawn as the two watched Mark and his team hurriedly scramble around to get preparations in order. While they were rushing around the base, Oliver, Jacob, Sophie, and Logan were also getting a few things ready. Logan was wrapping his paws in bandages to limit the recoil of his Flame Shots on his paws. Oliver was helping Mark in constructing a tracker for the orb in question.

They had already confirmed that the strange black substance was connected to the orb in question; Using that information, they were going to put the jar of the substance that Oliver had extracted from the Hippowdon the day prior into a backpack filled with different pieces of scrapped metal. 

When they would get closer to the orb, the substance would react, thus rattling the metal inside and making a loud noise. It was the only method they had that would put them a step ahead of the Greninja and Conkeldurr.

"You think this will work?" Oliver looked over at Mark, who let out a faint exhale.

"I'm willing to bet on your research. You're a smart kid."

The Oshawott smiled faintly at the comment as Mark beckoned from him to follow the Garchomp to the commons.

As the two walked in, Mark and Princess exchanged a glance, nodding to each other.

"Alright, you all!" Princess suddenly exclaimed, catching everyone's attention, "Today is the day we act. We are going to bring the Greninja and Conkeldurr down, as well as find that orb. We are going to bring Sapphire back to peace." 

"Yeah!" Both Miles and Akari suddenly cheered, pumping their paws into the air.

The Vespiquen smiled faintly at the two youngest participants, "In order to ensure the success of this mission, we will split into three teams." 

Her statement was met by a few intrigued expressions as Mark stood up to speak, "For starters, team one will be Cricket, Akari, and Oliver. I'm tasking them with using the locator pack to find that orb."

"Next will be the aviation and information team, which will be comprised of Mime, Star, Elise, and Logan..." Princess continued, "They will be tasked with taking to the skies and being a link between team Cricket and team Mark, as well as providing support for both teams in case things go wrong."

"Speaking of which," Mark chimed in, "The third and final team will be for battling. Jacob, Sophie, Miles, Princess, and myself will find the Greninja and Conkeldurr, wherever they are, and take them out."

Sophie and Jacob exchanged a quick smile. Jacob knew that Sophie was itching to have a one on one with the Greninja and figure out what was connecting her and him. This was a correct assumption, as Sophie was nearly bursting with adrenaline. Her heart beat against her chest and her mind began to race. She had been so close to figuring him out, yet each time she met a dead end. She wouldn't let it happen again, though. 

The Pikachu was also itching to fight them, as he wanted to finally beat them and move on. While he has had fun in Sapphire, he quickly came to realize that he was pretty limited as to what he could do while he was still under Mark's watch.

Logan, meanwhile, let out a huff. He was on watching duty? Why couldn't he switch places with Miles, since it was clear Logan was a better battler than a ten year old Rockruff. He looked over at Miles, who wore a faint smile as he faced forward. The Scorbunny then smirked to himself. It was only natural that someone he spent so long training would be picked for the battle team.