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Sapphire Town, Sinnoh
A familiar Rockruff packed a brown backpack with snacks as he excitedly prepared for his first official training day with Mark and those four Pokémon that saved his and Akari's lives. He had always issued the chance to thank them for saving him and Akari, despite seeing them a few times after being saved.
He rummaged through his possessions, checking to see if there was anything else to bring along.
Akari peeked into the room confusedly. She was easily able to tell that he was planning on going somewhere again. Miles had never told her that he had somewhere to go, and no matter how much she poked and prodded her best friend, he would tell her he was simply going to roam the town.
"Can I come, Miles?" The Zorua suddenly ask, making Miles yelp faintly and jump a bit.
He looked back to face her, "Your leg still needs to heal, Kari."
Akari stubbornly huffed, her cheeks puffing up in a pout, "I can walk around fine now!"
"Mom says we could get into trouble again outside...." He reminded her, "And if we do, your leg would get worse."
"No fair!" Akari whined, "You know I don't listen to her that often!"
Miles giggled softly at this, putting the backpack on, "I'll be home later."
The Rockruff quickly left the room, his tail wagging in excitement.
He left Akari alone in the silent room; She had no idea how to respond to Miles' enthusiasm about leaving the house alone. Akari soon left Miles' room and went to her own, laying down in her bed.
She didn't understand. Miles had changed ever since they were attacked by those two Pokemon about a week prior. She saw a new sense of determination in him, something she had always known to be a part of Miles' character, but he seemed to be determined about things that she wasn't aware of, and this bothered her more than she would've ever guessed.
Her and Miles always did everything together.
They ate together.
Played together.
Had fun together.
It was always them two and Miles' parents, occasionally interacting with other Pokémon in the town, but constantly remained in their own bubble. Everything in their lives seemed to be so small and simple. Things never were beyond Sapphire Town. But suddenly, things became so complicated, and even Akari, the chronic prankster herself, couldn't ignore the fact that she had been attacked by those two Pokémon.
Now even Miles was acting differently. What was she going to do?
Meanwhile, Miles ran through Sapphire Town, barely missing a few Pokémon as he dashed past. Adrenaline pumped through the Rockruff's veins as he wondered how his first training session would turn out. Miles was sure that he'd be able to impress them with his Edged Armor attack, since it was a one of a kind attack.
It was an awfully hot day, the sound of Sapphire's bug-type Pokémon filling the occasional silence in the town, when and if there was any silence to be filled. Many Pokémon walked around town, going to their favorite stores and visiting other Pokémon.
Many would call this place noisy, others would complain about the many tight squeezes through buildings to get to the other side of town. There could be a plethora of other things Pokémon could complain about when it came to Sapphire Town, such as The grassy landscape of the town always remaining in an unkempt state, but always to the liking of the residents in Sapphire.
He anxiously knocked on the door of Mark's house, his tail wagging in excitement. A moment later, Mark opened the door and looked down to see the young Pokémon.
The Garchomp raised his eyebrow, "You're pretty early, kid."
"I couldn't wait!" Miles exclaimed in response, his tail still tirelessly wagging behind him.
Mark looked upon the young Pokémon as if he were a beacon of light in the dark circumstances that they all found themselves in. He still couldn't understand the thinking of someone who would just attack a young, defenseless, unassuming Pokémon. But even though that happened, Miles only stood there with a carefree smile, ready to take on the world.
It was quite commendable in his eyes, even if it was just the blind optimistic nature of a child.
Mark shook his head with a faint smile, "Wait out here for a quick moment, okay?"
Miles nodded as the Garchomp closed the door.
In the common room, Jacob and Oliver were lounging on one of Mark's couches. Oliver was writing something down in a notebook, while Jacob was sitting upside down, his feet up in the air.
"Still documenting?" Mark asked, grabbing the duo's attention.
Oliver looked up from his notes, "No, I'm trying to figure out the connection between Nidoking and the black substance. We confirmed that it was symbiotic, but how did it get to Forest Grotto in the first place, and could it be a part of a bigger entity since the substance here is not the same one from there?"
"I never even thought about that!" Jacob exclaimed, falling down to the side so he could sit upright.
"Apparently neither did Logan, because when I asked him about the substance, he thought it was just something natural."
Suddenly, the substance began bouncing off of the sides of the jar it was put into.
"Nothing about that is natural..." Jacob smiled nervously, shuffling away from the jar.
Oliver chuckled, "No kidding."
"Anyways..." Mark began, catching their attention, "Jacob, get Sophie. Oliver, get Logan. Report back here in a few minutes, there's something I want to show you four."
The duo nodded.
Logan was outside, a small rock in his paw as he looked upwards. He gripped the rock with his right paw and let out an exhale. He didn't notice Oliver approaching him as he began to focus.
"Hey Logan–" Oliver tried to say, but stopped as Logan began running forward.
The Scorbunny jumped into the air, spun around, and used a Flame Shot to launch the rock as far as he could, "Go!!"
As Logan hit the ground, he watched as the rock began breaking in the air, soon breaking into small pieces that fell to the ground.
"Damn!" Logan angrily huffed, punching the grass beneath him, "It broke again..."
"Logan?" Oliver asked confusedly, making his ears twitch.
The Scorbunny turned around to look at Oliver, "Huh?"
The Oshawott gestured to the house behind him, "Mark wants us all in the common room, he says he wants to show us something."
Logan groaned dramatically, "What would he want to show us after a week of nothing?"
"Guess we'll find out, right?" Oliver shrugged.
Meanwhile, Jacob knocked on the guest room door, peeking in.
Sophie was sitting on the bed, just like she had been allowed to only do for the past week. She seemed to be distracted, reading into something with great interest. The curtains in the room were drawn, completely dampening the sun outside. The place was quiet, a lamp on the dresser nearest to the bed being the only light to illuminate the otherwise dark room.
Jacob squinted to see what she was reading, and noticed that she was reading a book on Dragon types.
The Pikachu shuffled into the room, walking over to look at the Snivy, who was still lost in her book.
For the past week, she could only remain in bed as she waited for her injuries to heal. During that time, she decided to do research on Dragon types, family lineage, and the Theory of Improvement. No combination of the three subjects gave an example of her situation, and she was struggling to make any more connections beyond that.
"Sophie?"
Her gaze shifted up from the book to look at Jacob.
"How's the reading been treating you?" The Pikachu asked, raising an eyebrow, "I bet you've made a ton of progress on your research, being the only thing you can do..."
"Did you come here to annoy me or is there a reason?" Sophie rolled her eyes at the Pikachu's statements.
Despite always going back and forth with Jacob, Sophie learned to see him as a friend after everything they've been through together. While she wasn't as close with him as she was with Oliver, she could confidently say that she would look out for him, and knew this sentiment was reciprocated.
Jacob chuckled, "Yeah there's a reason."
"What is it?" The Snivy took note of what page she was on before closing the book.
"Mark wants to show us something."
Sophie nodded as Jacob left the room. She took a while to get herself out of bed, her arms and legs screaming with irritation and discomfort. Her injuries were healed to a decent degree at this point, but still brought her discomfort whenever she would try to do anything moderately active.
The four quickly made their way to the common room, sitting down on the couch. When Mark knew the four were there, he opened the front door, "You can come in now."
Suddenly, a Rockruff walked in, looking around and at the traveling group.
Jacob's eyes lit up with recognition, "Oh, it's that kid we saved! Glad you're doing okay, um..."
"Miles. My name is Miles."
Jacob smiled, "I'm Jacob."
"Sophie."
"The name's Logan."
"And I'm Oliver."
Miles' tail wagged with enthusiasm, "It's nice to finally meet you guys!"
"It's nice to meet you too, Miles. "Where's your friend?" Oliver questioned, looking at the Rockruff.
A faint shiver went up Miles' spine, "She's still getting better at home... Her leg is still injured and stuff..."
"Why are you here, anyways?" Sophie's eyelids lowered.
Mark closed the door after looking around for a moment, "I offered to train this little guy along with you four, so he won't have to worry about him or his friend being attacked in the future."
"Is there a specific reason why you decided to pick him for this?" Oliver asked.
Suddenly, a light blue spike shot out of Miles' arms without him noticing. The four did notice, however, and were surprised by this.
"An improved attack!?" The Oshawott stood up, "Where are all these coming from? What attack was it originally? How'd you find out you could use it?"
Throughout his and his friends' travels, Oliver had grown a great interest in evolved attacks, as well as the Theory of Improvement overall. With Logan as a point of reference, he began to dive deep into his research concerning improved attacks.
Jacob stood up and gently pushed Oliver back down in a sitting position, "You can ask him all this later."
The Pikachu chuckled to himself, knowing that Oliver was always like this when he discovered a decent research topic.
Logan grinned, "Come outside with me, Miles!" His voice seemed booming with excitement, barely able to contain his own volume.
Miles confusedly stood up and followed behind the Scorbunny, who seemed to be bursting at the seams with anticipation. Miles was the first Pokémon aside from his own family with an evolved attack. The Rockruff couldn't tell whether Logan was excited or frustrated, as his facial expression seemed to be most used to being in an angry scowl.
The Rockruff, meanwhile, allowed his eyes to wander beyond where they were supposed to go, and noticed something rumbling. It had been for quite some time, he assumed, as the others in the house took no notice of this.
Miles tried his best to shield his eyes with one of his forepaws as the bright, midsummer sun beat down on them. Logan seemed to be unaffected by this, while Miles began to take notice of how humid it had become outside over the course of the day. As excited as he was to begin his training, Miles quickly accepted that only a masochist would want to train in this heat.
Unluckily for him, the masochist of rigorous training methods was leading him.
"Alright, check this out!" Bellowed the Scorbunny as he pointed both of his paws to the sky.
With a guttural shout, Logan released a Flame Shot from both paws, creating a bright light from them. As the dispersed wind from the sudden explosion pushed against Miles' face, he began to sweat as the produced heat combined with the already hellish temperatures of the afternoon created only a more heated atmosphere.
Once the attack dispersed, the Scorbunny clenched his paws as he turned to the younger Pokémon, "Now, show me yours!"
"I'm gonna die..."
Miles reluctantly tried to use his improved attack.
As another explosion could be heard in the backyard, presumably Miles' Edged Armor being put to the test by Logan, Mark focused his attention on Oliver, Jacob, and Sophie. He took notice of how Sophie's injuries were healing faster than what he expected, likely a result of the Snivy's genetic mutation that enabled her to use Dragon Claw to begin with.
Jacob and Oliver seemed to be faring pretty well, despite the circumstances they were put in. Jacob always seemed keen to deal with the problem facing them, and Oliver seemed to put the thought into it. That's what always seemed to complete the other. While Oliver was more analytical about the things he did, Jacob relied mostly on instinct to get himself through. Their synergy seemed to be perfect, in all forms.
Mark feared for the day that either would have to do something dangerous on their own for the first time.
The Garchomp suddenly spoke, "I'm planning on heading over to my team to discuss plans moving forward."
"Wait, today?" Oliver asked, earning a quick nod from Mark. The Oshawott never expected for Mark to actually go and consult his team. Despite the Garchomp constantly mentioning them, the Oshawott never met any of them, or even knew what species they were.
Mark nodded quietly, "You five can train with my team members as we discuss plans."
"I thought you said it was dangerous training anywhere that wasn't your backyard?" Sophie reminded him, holding a bandaged paw paw out confusedly.
"We have a small camp set up within a small patch of trees on the south side of the plains area. We won't be noticed as long as we stay within that area."
She nodded, seemingly content with this answer.
In reality, Sophie couldn't care less about training and the rules that were associated with doing so. She wasn't even allowed to do so because of her injuries. She simply just wanted an opportunity to verbally check the Garchomp. While she wasn't generally a vindictive and spiteful individual— Most of the time— she still harbored a few hard feelings from when Mark absolutely destroyed her in a one on one battle.
She didn't understand the logic behind Mark injuring her to the point where she needed serious medical attention, just for him to exclude her from any practices beyond letting her remain in her bed.
"Could one of you ask Logan and Miles whether they'd like to come or not?" Mark requested, walking towards his room, "We set out for the base in ten minutes."
"I'm on it!" Jacob proclaimed, immediately leaving to head for the backyard.
As Oliver and Sophie were left alone, Sophie immediately went to check her bandages, making sure that everything was in the right place. Meanwhile, Oliver struggled to start a conversation with her. After she and Mark had that fight, she had been a little bit off. More reserved and quiet. Oliver wanted to hypothesize, but knew that wouldn't lead to anything good.
"How's the research?" The Oshawott suddenly queried. Sophie's eyes widened a bit at the sudden question, but lowered back to their normal unbothered state as she turned to face Oliver.
"No progress."
A few days ago, Sophie had confided in Oliver about her constant research while she remained in bed. Since the Oshawott had told her about the PDB, she felt inclined to tell Oliver about her plight to possibly discover anything relating to her history. As stated prior, the research had been inconclusive so far.
"This really is a mystery..." The Oshawott pondered, to which Sophie let out a faint exhale.
Sophie looked at Oliver, "This is just the PDB all over again. We're not going to be able to figure anything out as long as we stay where we are. We have to get some answers from the Greninja..."
"I guess it would be reasonable, considering that the orb he and the Conkeldurr are looking for is connected to the black substance, which connects to the PDB..." Oliver played around with the suggestion in his head, "But still risky when you take a moment to think. Why would that Greninja not keep us in the dark when it would be the most strategically viable to keep us guessing?"
Sophie nodded, silently agreeing with Oliver's logic. She had always known that the Oshawott had a knack for thinking out every situation through every angle he could see. His thinking is what allowed them to win against Nidoking in Forest Grotto, after all.
So much to figure out, so little time to prepare.
Sophie then closed her eyes for a moment, "Whatever the circumstances, I will talk to that Greninja, and figure out what I am."
Oliver's eyes widened at the word she used when referring to herself, "what" instead of "who". He always knew that the Snivy was a bit sensitive when it came to anything relating to her history, as seen after they first encountered the Greninja and Conkeldurr.
"But why the Greninja specifically?" The Oshawott inquired.
"Back then, that Conkeldurr referred to me as 'another survivor' of something, which means he's not one of them. But that could apply to the Greninja."
"Whatever the case, we'll figure it out. All of us."
Sophie smiled faintly at Oliver's optimism. He always seemed to be more of a pessimistic Pokémon, despite how capable he's proved himself to be. She was grateful for him, as he was always there to support her whenever she was struggling. She hoped she could provide as much for a shoulder to lean on as he does her.
The Snivy snickered a bit to herself, "I'll hold you to that statement."
Meanwhile, Jacob walked outside. He saw Miles, Edged Armor completely active, trying his best to repel attacks from Logan. The Pikachu watched in amazement as Miles managed to keep Logan from completely burning him. While the Rockruff's form was a bit off, and was taking a bit longer to react to the Scorbunny's quick movements, Jacob noticed that there was at least something to work with.
Logan suddenly used a Flame Shot close to Miles' face, which blinded his vision temporarily. The Rockruff wasn't able to see the Scorbunny, trying his best to predict where he would attack from.
On your left, Miles!" The Pikachu abruptly yelled, catching his attention.
He decided to listen to Jacob's order and face his left so he could block with his forepaws. Logan swung his right foot He quickly blocked the attack, smiling brightly as he felt the impact press on his armor. Jacob noticed a few light blue shards fly. His armor was breaking because of all of the attacks received.
Logan finally ran out of breath, allowing Miles to release his Edged Armor and flop down on the grass.
"If it weren't for Jacob, you would've been finished!" The Scorbunny blurted, slamming his paws into the grass below him.
Jacob chuckled to himself. He knew Logan was always competitive with whatever he did, whether it be actual battles, training sessions, or just seeing who could run faster during their travels. The Pikachu assumed that despite the fact that he had been living in the same place with trees blocking the light from the sun most of the time, he was adjusting pretty well to the area around him.
Miles smiled, looking over at him, "Thanks a bunch, Jacob."
"No problem!"
"What are you even doing out here?" Logan inquired, springing to his feet as the grass audibly crunched under his weight.
"Mark wanted me to ask you guys whether you wanted to come with him to his team's base."
"His team's base?" The Scorbunny repeated inquisitively.
He couldn't help but be reminded of his team back in Forest Grotto. In the short time he was travelling with Oliver, Jacob, and Sophie, his team in the Grotto hasn't even crossed his mind. He missed them. He hoped that Leah was doing okay when it came to leading the team, since she volunteered to be the new leader.
It was a fitting role for her, as she was the first Pokémon to join Logan's team. She was one of the Pokémon to convince him to tag along with Jacob, Sophie, and Oliver. She was the Pokémon by her side when he saw his parents in critical health.
Logan suddenly shook the thoughts out of his head, letting his mind focus, "Yeah, I'll come."
"Miles?" Jacob turned to look at the Rockruff.
He nodded, giggling excitedly.
A voice from the house suddenly spoke, "If you're all coming along, then I suggest hurrying up."
The three turned to see who was speaking, and all smiled when they saw Mark, accompanied by Oliver and Sophie. Oliver wore a faint smile, while Sophie only stood nearest to the door with her usual indifferent gaze.
"Right!" Jacob ran over to the three, followed by Logan and Miles.