Adventures Beyond!

Chapter 22: One Step Forward

"And you guys already know that I have the Flamethrower thing." Logan told them, "My family refers to it as 'Flame Shot', where we draw the flames from our feet to our paws or other parts of our body."

"Oh, it has a name." Oliver's eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Well yeah." Logan nodded, "I mean, I'm pretty sure you would get tired of calling it a 'Special Flamethrower' eventually. It's a mouthful."

"Makes sense." Jacob shrugged.

"Anyways, aside from the suppressive strategy, what other plan do we have?" Sophie asked, moving to sit next to Oliver.

"Well there is something that comes to mind..." Oliver trailed, a paw rubbing the bottom of his chin in wonder.

"Hm?" The group looked at the Oshawott with intrigue.

"I was thinking that Sophie could launch me with her Reflect to increase my speed while using Aqua Jet." He explained, "It might be a bit of a risk because of recoil, but it's probably best to increase the only attack with the type advantage."

"What if he blocks it?" Sophie asked, a bit unsure about the plan. "During the fight, Nidoking was able to block attacks from Logan, who had used his Flame Shots for extra speed."

"Jacob and Logan can provide an opening." Oliver answered quickly.

"Then let's train it!" Logan exclaimed, getting excited.

Jacob seemed to match his enthusiasm as they both rushed out of the room.

Sophie went to follow, but Oliver quickly grabbed her hand before she could leave. "Hey, there's something I need to talk to you about."

The Snivy began sweating, thinking of the possibility that he picked up what Jacob mentioned when they first walked in.

"There's something up with this book."

Sophie's nerves instantly calmed, looking back to see her Oshawott friend. "What do you mean?"

"Check this out." Oliver pulled out the book he had checked out from the library downstairs and flipped to the black page.

"What's that?"

"I don't know," The Oshawott answered, touching the black page, "It just... Materialized in front of my eyes. It feels almost exactly like a page."

Sophie's eyebrows wrinkled, "All of the other pages seem in perfect condition..."

"I know. What Pokémon would be removed physically from the book, and why?" The Oshawott's brain was filled to the brim with questions.

"Maybe we should look into it later," Sophie closed the book, "We have a different priority right now."

"Right," He nodded, "Let's see how Jacob and Logan are doing."

"Don't forget, you also wanted me to launch you," The Snivy added.

"We should probably train that too..."

Meanwhile...

Jacob and Logan were in the middle of their training, as they had decided to do a bit of one on one battling.

The Scorbunny used a Flame Shot to propel himself towards Jacob quickly, trying to go for a kick. The Pikachu managed to avoid it, his food sliding against the grass below. He then fired off a Thunderbolt, which Logan tried to avoid, but crashed into a nearby tree in the process.

Jacob looked a bit surprised, as Logan wasn't exactly the clumsy type. He noticed Logan rubbing his eyes after the attack, and his eyes widened.

"Hey, Logan-" Jacob tried to call out to him, but was soon interrupted by two familiar Pokémon.