---
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.
Mark continued, "Aside from that, each team will be given a walkie talkie in order to communicate with the other teams. The walkie talkies can only contact one team at a time, however, so if you have information regarding the mission that needs to be shared with everyone, then you must remember to contact both teams respectively."
"Is everyone clear on what they have to do, and their position in the mission?" Princess asked, raising an eyebrow.
After earning a synonymous affirmation from everyone, Princess nodded faintly, "Good. Let us get started."
Meanwhile...
Silently walking through the plains of Sapphire, a familiar Greninja exhaled faintly as he looked around himself and the Conkeldurr behind him. He looked at his left arm, where he had placed the small amount of the black substance he still had left in his possession. His eyes darted over to the Conkeldurr, who was silently grumbling to himself.
"Are the particles even leading us in the right direction?" The Conkeldurr suddenly asked, "I don't think we would find the orb in these plains."
The Greninja stopped walking, "They're malfunctioning, probably in reaction of detecting multiple groups of the particles scattered around Sapphire..."
"Speaking of which, we never got the particles we used on that unsuspecting Hippowdon back, did we?"
The Greninja looked at the remaining particles on his arm, "Somebody most likely stopped it, and got their hands on the particles for themselves."
"So we only have the particles on your arm and that bit left in the cave, right?"
"Right."
"So what do we do?" The Conkeldurr inquired, putting his pillar on the ground to lean on.
The Greninja looked down at his arm before he looked back up, "We get out of Sapphire and start fresh in a whole new location."
"And what about those kids as well as the Pokémon that know of us?"
"We'd just have to cut our losses and have one of our own watch over them closely..." The Greninja replied, "As of right now, getting out of Sapphire would be for the best. They're closing in on us, and getting captured wouldn't be desirable."
The Conkeldurr clenched his teeth. He knew his companion was somewhat correct in his assumptions. Yet the fact that they had gone through so much to find that orb, just to find nothing but a squad of Pokémon looking to take them down, was a pain in his side. He was just ready to kill them all. He had a chance to, but couldn't get out of the cave as quickly as the Greninja did back when that Snivy and her friends came in to the cave.
Speaking of which...
The Conkeldurr suddenly began walking closer to the Greninja, "Yo Diligence."
Diligence's eye twitched faintly, "What did I tell you about using my codename when we're in the open?"
"Right, my bad. It's not like anyone would hear us out here though, right?"
"It doesn't matter..." The Greninja let out a faint sigh, "What was it that you wanted to say?"
The Conkeldurr thought about how he should ask, "Why the hell did you just let that Snivy go? She was standing there, looking right at you, and you just let her and her friends escape!"
Diligence turned around to completely face the Conkeldurr, "I couldn't really answer that myself, to be completely honest..." He looked down at his left hand, "Maybe it's because I felt some sort of kindship with that one, as we both are able to tap into aspects of types we would never have."
"Like I said, another survivor."
"I can't remember any Snivy being there..." Diligence rubbed his forehead with his right hand, feeling an aching pain begin to sprout from it, "It's like there's some barrier in my head stopping me from knowing..."
The Greninja closed his eyes, thinking hard about his relationship with the Snivy. No matter how far back he looked, the first time he recalls seeing her was when she and her friends fought against them. He ended up repeatedly confusing himself with the questions left unanswered.
Shaking his head, the Greninja opened his eyes once more, "I guess it doesn't really matter. That Snivy is our enemy, as such, she needs to be killed if necessary."
"...You're right."
The two began walking again, this time utterly silent.
Far from them, in another area within Sapphire's plains, Oliver fastened the locator pack to his back in preparation to set out to find the orb. He looked down at the grass beneath his feet, trying his best to calm his nerves. Despite all of the training he had gone through with Jacob and the others, it was still hard for him to wrap his head around the very real possibility of running into the Greninja and Conkeldurr before either of the other teams.
Between himself, Akari, and Cricket there wasn't much aptitude for battling. The presumed strongest of the trio, Cricket, had battling skill unknown to Oliver. Being in Princess' team, he would assume that Cricket is strong enough to face the Greninja, as all of them with the exception of Miles and Akari were, yet he didn't know if the Kricketune would be able to win in such a battle.
What if he had to step in? What would he do? Run?
The Oshawott nodded faintly to himself, running was most likely the best option. While he was confident that he could battle better than he had been able to back in Forest Grotto, he had no idea if it was by much at all.
"Hey, Oliver!" A voice called to him, snapping him out of his thoughts.
Oliver looked over at Jacob, who was cheerfully waving his paw over at the Oshawott, beckoning him to come over and join the small gathering between himself, Sophie, and Logan. With a faint smile, he made his way over to join his travelling companions.
As he was walking towards them, he passed by Mark and Princess, who were currently discussing battling strategies amongst themselves. The two seemed as though they had been doing this every day for their whole lives, the strategies discussed between them being in casual tones, the situation and weight of the matter rendered to be nothing at all to them.
Oliver soon stopped in front of Jacob, Sophie, and Logan, who were standing in a small circle. Both Jacob and Sophie stepped aside to let the Oshawott into the small circle, smiling faintly at him.
"What is it guys?" He asked, a bit confused.
Jacob smiled, lightly patting Oliver's back, "We just wanted to spend a bit of time, just the four of us, before we start the mission."
"It might be hours until we'll be able to make sure we're all safe..." Sophie chimed in, her usual stoic expression remaining on her face.
Logan suddenly interjected, "And besides, I'm about to head out with my group right now!"
"Really?" Oliver leaned a bit closer to the group in his interest, "I thought we were heading out in a few minutes, not right this instant."
Jacob shrugged, "Apparently, their group needs to leave first to keep a proper eye out on the land below them."
"Team two, time to head out!" The quartet heard from Star, who was stretching her wings in preparation to carry three Pokémon on her back.
"Well, that's me!" Logan grinned, punching his left paw with his right as excitement filled his head, "Don't worry, if I see either of those bastards before you all do, I'll be sure to rough 'em up real nice."
Sophie scoffed faintly at his blissful ignorance, "Try not to get yourself killed in the process."
"You wish you could get rid of me that easy!" Logan smirked, walking towards his team, "The only ones that will be killed are those two..."
Oliver could clearly see that Logan's paws glowed a faint red underneath the bandages he had put on them. He knew that Logan was eager for a fight, but also knew that it was likely the main reason Mark and Princess placed him on the second team instead of the battling team.
"Don't kill them without extracting information!" Jacob smiled cheerfully, bidding the Scorbunny farewell with a wave.
Oliver passively waved at him as well, "Be safe Logan."
Logan only stuck up his left paw as he walked towards Star and the rest of his group, waving goodbye as well. The Scorbunny then hopped on top of Star's back, sitting between Elise and Mime. Star exhaled faintly, preparing to take off.
In an explosion of wind, Star easily took to the skies, leaving Oliver in awe. He was surprised the Staraptor could fly so easily, carrying three other Pokémon on her back. One of the three, Mime, was even slightly bigger than her in size.
Jacob then spoke up, "I guess we'll see you after you find that orb, Ollie."
Oliver turned around to look back at the Pikachu, smiling faintly as he let out a content exhale, "Yeah... Don't worry, I'll find it."
"There's no need to tell us that!" Jacob chuckled, "We already believe in you."
The Oshawott was a bit surprised by his best friend's statement, turned to look at Sophie. She gave him a faint smile, along with an affirming nod. She didn't need to say that she felt the same as Jacob did.
Between meeting him in Casteel City, getting to know him in Forest Grotto, and even working alongside him to learn who she was in Sapphire, she had begun to recognize Oliver as someone she could rely on whenever the chips were down.
"Make sure to catch them, okay?" Oliver held out a clenched paw to Jacob, who beamed at the sight.
Jacob, a bit more enthusiastic than before, quickly clashed his paw against Oliver's. This was a clear acknowledgement of the Oshawott's wishes, solidifying his resolve even more. As Oliver began to make his way over to Cricket, he suddenly felt something wrap around his wrist. Turning around, his eyebrow raised in intrigue.
It was Sophie, who had gently grabbed his wrist.
Jacob looked between his two friends with interest.
"Hm?" The Oshawott tilted his head softly, "What's up Sophie?"
"Be careful..." She spoke softly as she wrapped her friend into a gentle hug.
Oliver, initially surprised by this, hugged her back after a few seconds, "You too..."
The Pikachu, feeling a bit out of place, blinked a few times as he watched the two interact. It was pretty weird for him to see Sophie being so gentle. Usually, she was a coldhearted piece of work that he would always go back and forth with. On the other paw, she was often very considerate and soft about Oliver.
Yeah... It was clear to him who her favorite friend among them were.
"Why are you always so worried about me specifically?" The Oshawott asked, breaking the hug between them.
Sophie playfully punched his arm, "I can't have the only one I actually tolerate go down, right?"
"Right..." Oliver nodded faintly in response.
"Jacob, Sophie, let's get going!" Miles called over to them from a slight distance, sitting between Mark and Princess.
"Coming!" Jacob called back to the Rockruff, quickly running over to where they were.
With a quick wave, Sophie followed behind the yellow Pokémon.
Oliver was left standing between Akari and Cricket. Oliver knew that both were standing behind him, so he didn't try to hide the prevalent worry spreading across his face as he watched Jacob, Sophie, and Miles leave towards the plains area.
"I'm thinking that the first place we should check is Sapphire Town..." Cricket suggested, scratching beneath his chin with his hand, "That would be a good place to start."
Oliver nodded in agreement, "Considering that the town area is in the center of the greater Sapphire area, it could be a good point of reference to see exactly what direction the orb is..."
"Right!" Akari exclaimed, jumping up with her childish demeanor.
Cricket began walking, "Let's go. There's no time to waste."
Arriving at Sapphire Town, Akari hid herself as she looked around. She knew if her parents, or anybody else who knew her recognized her, then she would be endlessly questioned about who is with her, and where Miles was. They had left their house together, after all.
Oliver payed close attention to his locator pack, hearing it jingle faintly as it began to pick up something. The Oshawott stopped in his tracks before pointing the backpack in different directions, closely listening to it. He could hear a spike in frequency when pointing towards a small restaurant.
"Oh, I know this place!" Akari spoke up.
Oliver's eyes widened as Cricket looked at the Zorua with interest. He understood the reason why Mark and Princess allowed Miles and Akari, two kids, to participate in such a dangerous mission. They have background knowledge. Wherever they happened to go within Sapphire's borders, Akari was bound to know what it was. The same was apparent with Miles, who could help navigate through Sapphire's wild areas.
"Really?" Cricket asked her, "Is there anywhere in there that an orb can be kept?"
Akari lightly scratched the side of her head, "There's a big closet full of stuff that the owners have collected throughout their years of living in Sapphire...."
"How would we be able to get into there?" Cricket asked, "It's not like we can just bust into a local restaurant and force the door open."
"I have an idea."
Akari and Cricket both looked over at Oliver, who was holding a paw over his mouth. He looked between them before taking a deep inhale.
"...But I'm not gonna like it."
"What's the plan, Oliver?" Akari asked, a smirk forming on her face.
---
Akari walked into the restaurant, disguised as Oliver. She smirked to herself as she walked up to the front counter. She lightly rubbed the scalchop that Oliver had given him. Despite her ability to transform into Oliver, she couldn't just materialize a new scalchop out of thin air. To make it more believable, she had no choice but to make the look more authentic.
Meanwhile, the actual Oliver waited for an opportunity to sneak into the backrooms where Akari had mentioned. With the specific directions she had given him, he was ready to make his way back there. But first, he needed to wait for Cricket to act.
Cricket was currently walking towards the front counter behind the disguised Akari. He looked at the few items that were for free on the desk. Toothpicks, small mints, and napkins.
The Kricketune walked past Akari, who began to speak.
"Excuse me, Sir?" Akari asked, speaking in a near-perfect impression of Oliver, "I would like to ask you a few questions."
Oliver's eyes widened at the impression, "Since when could she...?"
As the owner of the restaurant, an elderly Absol, turned his attention to her, Cricket quickly swiped a few toothpicks and threw them towards Oliver in hopes from him to catch one of them. He then walked towards the bathroom, at a point where the Absol's view of most of the store at his left was blocked.
This was the chance Oliver was waiting for. Picking up one of the toothpicks from the ground, he quickly rolled his way over to the hallway leading to the back areas of the small restaurant. The Oshawott silently ran over to the closet listed by Akari before looking at the wooden toothpick in his paw.
"Hope this works..."
~~~Earlier~~~
"What's the plan, Oliver?" Akari asked, a smirk forming on her face.
The Oshawott smiled nervously, "I kind of learned how to pick a few locks when I was little..."
Akari suddenly stood on her hind legs, putting her paws on his shoulders, "Teach me!!!"
He gently pushed her off of him, "It's not something I can just teach. I haven't actually put it into practice yet. I only know the mechanics and the methods of lockpicking..."
"So we're going off of a bet?" Cricket inquired, looking around to see if anyone was listening into their conversation.
Oliver clenched his paws, "It's all we have."
"How are we going to do this?" The Kricketune questioned, "Get you over to the back of the restaurant without being noticed, I mean."
"Akari's going to have to go in there and distract her, camouflaged of course to not attract attention to her."
Cricket pointed to himself, "And me?"
"I need you to find me a tool to lockpick with, and block the restaurant owner's eyes from seeing me. How to do that? I don't know, but this is the best I can come up with..." Oliver closed his eyes as he spoke, "It's a plan came up with in a hurry, but luckily, I'm pretty good at things like that."
"Can I transform into any Pokémon I want to?" Akari asked with building excitement.
"If it makes sense, sure."
"In that case..." She suddenly transformed into an Oshawott, swiping Oliver's scalchop and putting it on her own stomach, "Oshawott, I choose you!"
~~~Present~~~
Oliver's paw gently moved around as he skillfully jiggled the wooden toothpick in the lock of the door. He knew that if her were to move it too hard, the pick could break and completely squander their biggest chance at getting inside and looking for the orb.
His breathing quickened as he tried his hardest to get inside. nothing he was doing seemed to be working. He assumed that this could be the case, as a wooden toothpick didn't exactly fall under a list of lockpicking tools. As he tried to reconfigure his position, a small click was audible. Not from the door, but in his head.
He took the toothpick out of the lock before looking down at it, "The most effective way to pick locks is to use two tools to pick the top and bottom, but in order to get another I would have to go back and sneakily grab another one... But that would be too risky. I need to work with what I have right here."
Oliver suddenly applied pressure with his paw to the middle of the toothpick, breaking it in half.
"With pieces this small, there is a very real chance that I might lose grip and get it stuck in the lock, but it's a chance I just have to take I guess...."
The Oshawott began using both of his paws to maneuver the two individual toothpicks in the lock. He repeated the same few motions every few seconds, knowing that it was the best way to do it. He was already working with a small chance, as a toothpick doesn't exactly have ridges in it. In order to lockpick more effectively, he would need a ridge to manipulate the lock.
"If only I had ridges... Maybe just one..."
Oliver once again took the toothpicks out of the lock, racking his brain on a way he could improve his chances. Razor Shell would work, as he didn't even have his scalchop on him. Aqua Jet had no practical use there, being a move he couldn't use on a small scale. He then thought about his other attack...
Water Pulse!
Oliver put both toothpicks on the ground before clasping his paws together. He proceeded to create a small Water Pulse, which was easy to control because of it's scale. he held the spiraling sphere of water close to the toothpick, slowly lowering the attack onto it until it eroded some of the toothpick, leaving a ridge in its place.
"Yes!" Oliver quietly exclaimed, doing the same to the other half of the toothpick.
After waiting a bit for them to dry, Oliver stuck his makeshift lockpicking tools into the lock once more. After a few minutes of repeated motions and skillful maneuvers, he heard a click. Not in his mind, but in the door this time.
His eyes bulged as he put the two toothpicks down. He put his paw on the doorknob and slowly attempted to turn it. The doorknob followed Oliver's motion, opening the door for him. The Oshawott grinned to himself as he excitedly ran inside.
His grin quickly faded as he came to realize that nothing was inside.
Oliver walked around the empty room, confusion filling his mind. His locator pack was still reacting to something. He didn't know how or why it was, but he would have to figure it out fast. Time was fleeting.
The Oshawott walked around the room, taking note of how the jingling inside of his pack would increase as he approached a window. He then held the pack up to the window, looking out of it as well. It was directly pointing in the direction of the cave Sophie, Jacob, and Akari had gone to a few days prior.
Oliver quickly turned around, running back towards the door.
Meanwhile, a still-disguised Akari was eating a meal with Cricket as they waited for Oliver to return.
"Think he got in?" Akari asked, her mouth stuffed with food.
Cricket ate a bit of his food, "He's a smart kid, I think we can rely on him."
"I guess..." The phony Oshawott took a sip of her lemonade.
"Guys, the orb isn't here!" Oliver exclaimed in a hushed tone as he shuffled over to the two.
Akari suddenly spat out her drink onto the table, "What? no way!"
"Damn it, Akari!" Cricket cursed, "You had to spit all over the food?"
Oliver picked up both of their plates, scraping them out into a nearby trash can, "Forget the food! We have to head to the cave."
The Oshawott returned to the table and put the plates stacked on a spare chair.
"What are you doing...?" Akari asked faintly.
Oliver was in the process of wiping the lemonade off of the table, "I can't just leave it like this!"
"What an honest boy..." Cricket hummed.
---
Approaching the entrance of the cave, the trio turned their attention to the locator pack on Oliver's back. It was shaking wildly, as though a live Pokémon had been trapped inside and was desperately fighting to be released.
"Yeah... It's most definitely here..." Oliver thought out loud.
Akari examined the rocks that had been piled up in front of the cave, a result that Sophie was directly responsible for. She tried to push one of the rocks out of the way, but her small size seemed to not be enough to make it budge.
The Zorua looked back at Oliver and Cricket, who were also looking around.
"C'mon, you guys!" Akari called to them, "We gotta get inside!"
Both of them nodded as they joined Akari in moving the rocks from the entrance of the cave. Akari pressed her paw against Cricket's back before turning into a Kricketune in order to move the rocks more effectively.
The Oshawott wiped a bit of sweat off of his forehead, "We've got to hurry."
This statement was met with an affirmative nod from both Akari and Cricket, picking up the pace.
As Oliver worked to clear the cave's entrance, a single question continuously racked against his brain, a thought that wouldn't leave him alone. Like a moth drawn to light, Oliver quickly relented and began pondering on the question in his head.
"If the orb is here, then how have the Greninja and Conkeldurr not found it yet?"
With Logan
High above the plains of Sapphire, Logan observed his surroundings. While he was able to launch himself into the air with the help of his Flame Shots, he never got the opportunity to remain in the air for such a long period of time.
Maybe one day, when he could expand the amount of Flame Shots he could use without having to wrap his paws in bandages, he could actually use them to fly as high and as far as Star could with her wings.
A large gust of wind pushed against the Scorbunny's face, forcing him to squint his eyes as he tried to keep facing forward. Seated between Mime and Elise atop Star's back, he looked below their high position to survey the plains that they had been flying over for the past half hour.
Suddenly, the Scorbunny felt a faint tap on his left shoulder, prompting him to turn his head and look at Mime, who only pointed below them. Logan, a bit confused by this, looked on the side where Mime had been sitting, to see two distant Pokémon walking through the plains.
Logan suddenly tapped his paw repeatedly on the Staraptor's back, "Star, fly lower. I think Mime found something."
Star, a bit confused, decided to follow the Scorbunny's request and descend. Getting closer to the two figures, the four's eyes widened as they realized that they had found who they had been looking for.
Elise quickly picked up her walkie-talkie, clearing her throat, "Attention combat team, we have located the Greninja and Conkeldurr in question."
After a few seconds, a sound emanated from the microphone, "What are the coordinates?"
On the ground, Greninja's stride considerably slowed down as he heard a shift in the wind above him, "Don't look above us, but I believe we're being—"
Before Diligence could finish his sentence, the Conkeldurr was already looking above them, completely stopped in his tracks.
"Damn it, Will!"
Star's eyes bulged with fear upon knowing that they had been spotted, quickly redirecting her flight by raising her right wing to turn around. She began flapping her wings repeatedly to ascend as quickly as possible, hoping that there wasn't any way for the Greninja and Conkeldurr to attack them.
Just as quickly as Star began flying away from the two, her underside was suddenly struck by a high-velocity stone pillar, that sent the four careening towards the ground. Star had been winded and systematically passed out from the impact on her stomach, leaving Logan, Elise, and Mime to fall towards the ground.
"Aviation team?" Mark's voice came in through the walkie talkie that had been dropped in the process of them being hit, "Hello?"
Logan used a Flame Shot to fire himself towards the walkie talkie, catching it midair.
Turning his attention back to his comrades, the Scorbunny noticed how close they were to hitting the ground. Logan quickly pointed his paw to the sky, launching himself towards the grassy terrain.
Rocketing past Star was enough to prompt the Staraptor to regain consciousness. She frantically looked around to assess her surroundings, noticing how Mime and Elise were both helplessly falling. She tried to flap her wings, but quickly stopped, as the hit on her stomach seemed to affect her body more than she had anticipated.
With no other choice, she used her wings to grab both Mime and Elise, ready to shield them with her body.
Logan, meanwhile, hit the ground with a loud thud, his left foot sliding against the ground enough to kick up a bit of dirt. He pointed his right paw towards the falling trio, while his left pointed behind him.
He wasn't as smart as Oliver, who could probably come up with a plan to help everyone be safe, but he could at least come up with something to help their chances at survival. Throwing the walkie talkie to the side, all caution was thrown to the wind as Logan let out a loud shout, ready to cushion their impact.
"Bring it on!!"
The instant Star's head impacted with Logan's right paw, Logan launched out a large Flame Shot with his left, attempting to completely stop their descent despite the overwhelming weight. His feet dug into the ground, struggling to hold their place as the weight was too much for such a small Scorbunny.
With a heavy heart, Logan jumped out of the way, allowing the three to crash into the ground. The impact was enough to send a wind that completely leveled the Scorbunny, putting him on his back.
The combat team watched on with horror as they saw a large cloud of dust erupt from the ground, most definitely being caused by their opponents.
"Was that...?" Miles' ears flopped down.
Princess nodded, "That was the aviation team."
Mark, almost too shocked by this display, struggled to raised his walkie talkie up to his ear, fearing that nobody would answer. Despite his rough and to-the-point exterior, he had grown to care for his team, as well as the bright-eyed kids that suddenly showed up to Sapphire Town weeks prior.
Finally putting the walkie talkie up to his ear, he listened to the static from the other side before finally speaking into it, "Come in, aviation team!"
Logan's ears perked as his eyes suddenly opened. Had being put on his back so quickly made him black out? He didn't have much time to question it, however, as when he turned towards the walkie talkie that Mark had spoke through, he realized that it was none other than the Greninja to respond.
"Yo."
"You..." Mark's voice suddenly sprouted a venom that Logan could quickly pick up despite how the walkie talkie muffled his voice, "What have you done with the others?"
"Most of them are already out cold. I just need to deal with that Scorbunny."
A sudden silence grew between both sides of the walkie talkie. Mark looked at Princess, who closed her eyes for a moment prior to giving him a nod. The Garchomp clenched his teeth before thinking of the best way to tell Logan, the most stubborn and headstrong of the six kids on this mission, to retreat. He eventually came to the realization that being as blunt as possible was the best way to approach something like this.
"Logan, run."
"And risk those bastards getting their hands on the orb?" The Scorbunny held his paws up, ready for a fight, "Not a chance!"
Diligence was able to tell that the Scorbunny in front of him was getting ready to attack. He threw the walkie talkie away to his right before preparing for a battle. He had full intentions of making this quick.
The protests of Mark in the distance soon were tuned out by Logan, who prepared to fight despite being outnumbered.
"Bring it on!!" Logan bellowed as he suddenly dashed at Diligence, trying to punch him. The Greninja avoided the various swings with little effort before quickly striking the Scorbunny's face with his own punch, making him fly back.
Using a Flame Shot, Logan quickly recovered from this attack, landing on his feet. His face was pointed towards the ground, and his breathing was heavy. Looking up to face the two, the Scorbunny had a devilish grin spread from ear to ear.
Blood dripped from his nose as he slowly wiped some of it off, "Not as heavy as Nidoking's punch, bucko..."
Despite the brave front he was putting on, Logan was shaking lightly, something that Diligence easily took notice off. The punch had clearly done a bit of damage to him, yet he also could tell that the Scorbunny wasn't the type to let him see any weakness. This was the correct assumption to make, as Logan only came back at him with increased ferocity.
The Conkeldurr suddenly threw his pillar at the Scorbunny, who skillfully vaulted over it. Getting close to Diligence, Logan used a Flame Shot directed at the ground to launch himself upwards. On his way up, he attempted to kick the Greninja in his face, this was unsuccessful, however, as Diligence quickly grabbed his foot and threw him at the Conkeldurr.
Will reeled back his arm, prepared to give him a punch that was sure to bring Logan down for good. With a loud grunt, showing how much effort he was putting into it, he swung his paw to crash against the Scorbunny's side.
Logan hissed as the pain rose from his ribs, yet could think clearly enough to press his paw against the Conkeldurr's wrist and used one of the spontaneous combustions that rose from his paws in order to get it away from him and use another in order to fire at his face.
This seemed to not affect Will as much as Logan thought it would. He noticed this, and backed away from him. Before he could recover completely, Diligence suddenly appeared at his side to try and punch his face.
The Scorbunny managed to see this, and blocked the attack with his right arm.
Logan quickly pointed his paw to the right and fired it at Diligence, grinning once more. He was starting to get used to their overwhelming speed and strength. The Scorbunny could feel the weight behind his punch, making his arm sting. It hurt, but it was beatable.
He closed his eyes for a moment as time seemed to slow down.
The last time he felt like this is when he was fighting against Pan. He was growing stronger and stronger with every moment spent fighting against the two. But with each moment, he was growing angry. He was mad that the two Pokémon were making it so hard for him to battle naturally. He didn't want to have to think. He didn't think while battling.
Upon opening his eyes once again, he looked at the Greninja, who was ready to launch a Water Pulse his way. His eyes flicked over to the Conkeldurr, who was walking over to grab his stone pillar.
Time went back to normal once again while Logan got ready to recover from the Greninja's previous attack. As Diligence launched the spiraling sphere of water at Logan, his eyes nearly grew bloodshot with rage.
"Don't make me think, damn it!!" Logan roared, sticking his paws outwards to both of his sides. Flame Shots erupted from his paws in an indiscriminate pattern, launching himself upwards as he swayed from side to side.
He then began rotating, the detonations emerging from his paws creating a small whirlpool around himself as he raised higher into the air. Finally coming to a stop, stories above the Greninja, he stuck his foot out towards Diligence, ready for a high velocity kick.
Grunting with effort he slammed his paws together above his head and pointed them to the sky. With another Flame Shot, the Scorbunny launched towards the Greninja as fast as he possibly could, wanting to finish him off.
Diligence jumped back, barely avoiding the explosions of flames from the heated up Logan. Logan wasn't finished with him, however, a quick Flame Shot shooting at him soon after he hit the ground.
Suddenly, a stone pillar slammed into the ground behind the Scorbunny, alerting his senses to heighten a bit.
"This has gone on long enough, you're getting boring..." The Conkeldurr spoke, his gruff voice scratching against Logan's ears.
He wasn't picky about who he fought, but if he had been talking the whole battle, Logan might've had to retreat prematurely. His eyes switched over to Diligence, who only nodded with agreement in reference to what Will had said a few seconds prior.
Once Logan had time to mull it over, his face turned red with anger.
"Who are you calling boring, bucko!?"
The Greninja's eye twitched with irritation, "I believe that you're the only one here, inarticulate buffoon."
"I don't even know what that means!" Logan yelled, pointing his paw towards Diligence.
"Come in, aviation team!"
The three turned to Logan's walkie talkie, which had been thrown to the side. Logan began sweating as he recognized Cricket's voice. Chances were that they didn't hear the interaction between his team and Mark's team because they hadn't contacted him.
Diligence walked over to the walkie talkie as Logan ran towards it as well. Before the Scorbunny could grab it, he suddenly crashed into Will's stone pillar. He had placed it there to stop Logan from getting to the walkie talkie.
Logan groaned and rubbed his face as the Greninja listened to whatever was about to be said.
"Again, come in aviation team!" Cricket's voice could be heard, "We have tracked the location of the orb!"
The Scorbunny gritted his teeth, completely aware that he would have to get to the radio device as quickly as possible to prevent any information from getting out. Logan tried to get past the Conkeldurr, who only swung the stone pillar at him.
He then jumped up before sticking out his left paw outwards, launching himself to the right with a less powerful Flame Shot. He then just as quickly stuck his right paw behind him to launch at Diligence, successfully getting past Will, or so he thought.
The Conkeldurr suddenly stepped in front of the Greninja, using his stone pillar as a wall to separate him from his ally.
Logan the heard Cricket say something else, "Relay this to the other teams."
"No..."
The Scorbunny tried to kick the pillar, but it was too thick to break through. He tried again and again, knowing that his Flame Shots wouldn't be able to get through to the other side. They were concentrated.
Wait... A concentrated attack?
~~~~~~
The thoughts swirled in his mind as he picked up the pace a bit. As he started going faster, the diversity of kicks he used began to expand, using a plethora of sweeps, jabs as well as heel kicks. As Logan used Miles' armor to bounce off of, he preformed a quick backflip before suddenly coming back towards him with his right leg outstretched.
As the Scorbunny's foot met with Miles' Edged Armor, a red hue began to surround Logan's foot and leg. The armor used to block Logan's foot began to buckle and crack under the increased pressure. With a quick shout, he broke through, kicking Miles square in his chest. Breathing heavily, his eyes widened.
"The hell was that?"
Before he could question any further, however, he heard voices from upstairs.
~~~~~~
He didn't have much other choice, did he?
He scoffed to himself as he began backing away from his two opponents. He looked at his paws, which were beginning to sting with pain. The bandages wrapped around his paws that allowed him to use more Flame Shots without any burnout were beginning to become charred and burnt, falling off of his paws and becoming ash in the wind.
"Ah, screw it."
In a defeated, yet cocky tone, the Scorbunny threw up his paws as though ready to surrender. He soon put them back down before removing the bandaging around them. He only had one chance to get through and destroy the only link he currently had to the other teams. If he was going to do this, however, then he needed to listen to a certain Pangoro's advice and throw his sense of shameless pride to the wind.
Getting in a running position, his paws pressed on the ground, heating the blades of grass below them to the point of combustion. He closed his eyes for a moment, preparing his body and mind for the physical toll he knew wound come from an attack like this.
Opening his eyes once again, he used the paws planted on the ground to launch himself upwards. As he began to fall, he used varying levels of his detonation ability to rocket towards Diligence. Soon flipping his body position, he held his right foot outstretched towards Diligence.
This was similar to the attack from before, but both Diligence and Will could tell that something was different. All of his body aside from the sole of his foot had been engulfed with a spiraling flame, caused by the various Flame Shots used to increase his speed.
Will held out his stone pillar to block the attack as Logan's right leg suddenly lit ablaze. It was clear that he had successfully learned Blaze Kick.
With just a few feet left between himself and Will, he let out a resounding shout, "Burn with the flames here, and all the way to hell! Firestorm Cannon!!"
Impacting with the stone pillar in his way, the heat generated by the newly learned Blaze Kick almost instantly melted through the concrete weapon, kicking Will directly in his chest and bouncing off of him towards Diligence.
Just as the Greninja turned around, Logan was grabbing the walkie talkie from him and sliding to a stop.
Breathing heavily, he winced in pain as he tried to ignore the various stinging pains in his paws. His fur had been a bit charred in a few different places from all of the heat and fire generated from the simultaneous use of his Flame Shots as well as his new Blaze Kick.
"We tracked the location of the orb to the cave—"
Logan suddenly used one last Flame Shot to completely destroy the walkie talkie. His teeth clenched as he slowly turned to look at Diligence and Will.
He lost.
The Greninja quickly turned around, dashing to what Logan assumed was the direction of the cave in question. Logan tried to give chase, but was stopped by a slightly burnt Will, who angrily punched his face.
"You broke my pillar!" He shouted, "Do you have any idea of how long it takes to remake one of those?"
The Scorbunny nearly passed out from the impact of being punched that quickly, but only returned the favor by pressing his paw against Will's stomach.
"Shut up, damn it!!"
With this shout, Logan allowed for multiple large eruptions to sprout from his paw, aiming to not only take him down, but to kill him if possible. A cloud of smoke cast a steampunk veil over the area, making it appear as though it were from a factory in the distance.
As the smoke cleared, Will only stood there with an unamused expression, "You done?"
"Die! Die! Die!!!"
The Scorbunny did the same as before, once again clouding the area in black smoke. This time, however, he was knocked back by a punch from Will that sent him flying.
Logan wasn't done, though.
He ignored the blood gushing from his nose as he only grew angrier, shouting indiscriminately and running back towards Will... Only to be knocked back with another punch from the creature over twice his size.
Despite the overwhelming odds, there wasn't any way that he was just going to give up and let himself fall unconscious. With all of the blows he had received, he might as well had been battling in a semiconscious state for the greater part of the battle.
Charging at him once again, Logan couldn't possibly use another Flame Shot. His paws screamed with pain, preventing him from using another one of his explosive attacks. They didn't hurt enough not to give him a good punch to the face, however, prompting him to jump up and try to punch his face.
Will easily moved his head to the side, avoiding the attack. Despite not being hit, though, he suddenly groaned with pain. Looking behind the Conkeldurr, Logan could see Mark using one of his claws to stab him in his lower back.
"You're here..." Logan exhaled.
Mark looked at the Scorbunny, "Are you alright?"
Logan tried to give his usual cocky grin and hold a clenched paw up, but fell to his knees. He was exhausted.
"Logan!"
The Scorbunny turned his head to the left, seeing Jacob, Sophie, and Miles running over to him.
"You really fought them on your own?" Jacob asked, interested and worried.
Logan smirked at him, "Fought and nearly won."
Sophie scoffed, "I seriously question the validity behind that statement..."
"Last I checked, I don't see you fighting both of them at once, bucko!"
"I see that all of the pounding to the head didn't affect anything up there..." The Snivy snickered, followed by snickers of amusement from Jacob and Miles.
The Rockruff then looked over, seeing that it was the only the Conkeldurr fighting against Mark, soon both him and Princess as she approached the battle.
"Where did the Greninja go?" Miles suddenly asked, catching the three's attention.
Logan's expression darkened, "He got away... He's heading to Oliver's team. He might already be there. The bastard's quick."
Miles whimpered, "Kari..."
"Damn... Mark! Princess!" Sophie shouted over to the two, who turned their attention to her without averting his eyes from the battle in his midst.
"What is it?"
Jacob butted in, "The Greninja's after Ollie's team, permission to pursue!?"
"Permission denied!" Princess shouted back, "They're too strong to—!"
"I have jurisdiction over them!" Mark cut her off, "Jacob, Sophie, Logan, and Miles, you have my permission to pursue the Greninja and take him down, permanently if necessary. Don't lose!"
The four immediately gave a salute, "Yes sir!"
Mark took a moment to turn away from the Conkeldurr, watching the four leave. Princess was keeping their opponent at bay, "You'd better be right about this."
"They've been training for weeks day in and day out for this day. When Oliver, Sophie, Jacob, Logan, and myself fought against the Greninja and the Conkeldurr for the first time, they already seemed pretty adept at battling. Even Oliver, the Greninja's current target."
Princess raised an eyebrow, "Hm? The Oshawott? He always seemed more of a thinker than a battler."
"Believe it or not, Oliver actually faced off against the Greninja one on one when he and the rest of his friends arrived in Sapphire. Sure he was beaten, but he was able to hold his own to a certain degree. There is absolutely something there..."
"...He just has to let it show."
The same Oshawott in question was currently walking through the tunnels of Sapphire Town's cave system. Oliver payed close attention to the locator pack on his back, feeling and hearing it shake repeatedly, gradually getting faster as he, Akari and Cricket approached a clearing.
Akari's eyes darted around the cave's interior, recognizing it in almost an instant, "This is where we went to find those two Pokémon."
"Really?" Oliver looked over at her, "This is where you, Sophie, and Jacob initially found them?"
The Zorua nodded, "Mhm."
The Oshawott was even more confused than before. If the Greninja and Conkeldurr were using this cave as a shelter, this specific location, then why? Why hadn't they located the orb? There wasn't any way that they were ale to find it.
He slowly walked across the cave's clearing, the backpack filled with pieces of scrap metal began rumbling loudly, alerting him and his allies. Oliver walked to the wall, the backpack strapped on his back rumbling louder than it had the duration for the day.
Oliver knocked his paw on the cave wall. His eyebrow raised as he listened to the noise generated. Moving away from the spot he had just knocked on, he knocked again, hearing a different noise.
"...It's hollow...?" He asked himself out loud.
"Hollow?" Akari repeated confusedly.
The Oshawott nodded in response, grabbing his scalchop from his stomach and slamming it against the spot he had knocked on first. It had cracked a bit from the impact, confirming his suspicions.
After a few more times, the hollow area was exposed to the outside air. What Oliver saw in the hollow area made him freeze.
In the small pocket of space rested the same black substance that was currently sitting in his backpack at that moment. Quick to react to the substance in his backpack, the substance in the wall suddenly jumped towards it.
The Oshawott let out a yelp, immediately taking off the pack. Oliver, Akari, and Cricket watched on with confusion as the substance melted through the pack, spilling scrap metal all over the floor.
"The substance was tracking more of the substance the whole time...?" Oliver's eyes widened as he began stepping away from it, "Then where's the orb...?"
While he was thinking, Cricket suddenly jumped and pushed Oliver out of the way. Before the Oshawott could react to this, he heard a crash echo through the small cave clearing. Slowly turning to where he heard the crash, he nearly threw up out of both fear and disgust.
There Cricket was, head first, slammed into the cave wall at his right. Just as Oliver observed the sight, he heard Akari let out a terrified scream at what he had assumed was Cricket's limp body.
"Cricket!" Akari scurried over to the Kricketune.
He was right.
Oliver turned his attention from Akari, facing whoever had caused this. Looking back at him were the dead, soulless eyes of Diligence, who loomed over him silently.
"Of course it's you..." The Oshawott spoke, a very apparent shake in his voice.
What could he do? Initially, he planned to run, but he knew better than to just leave Cricket there... If he was even alive after hitting his head on solid stone like that. Between him and Akari, there wasn't much choice as to who would have to step up.
Without warning, Oliver summoned a Water Pulse in his right paw, quickly throwing it at Diligence. The Greninja swiftly conjured up a kunai comprised of water with his right hand, slicing it in half.
Using the same aquatic weapon he used to parry the Water Pulse from earlier, Diligence swiped at Oliver quickly. The Oshawott let out a faint yelp as he held up his scalchop, blocking the advances as best as he could. Oliver then went on the offensive, going for a quick slash to his side.
This attack clashed against Diligence's water kunai, resulting in a stalemate.
Diligence clenched the kunai of his creation, "You've improved."
Completely focused on the fight ahead of him, he only prepared for the next interaction between them by holding his scalchop up. Diligence suddenly dashed forward at a blinding pace, appearing in front of Oliver in an instant.
He was bombarded with various slashes with the help of the kunai in his hand, Akari was surprised to see that her Oshawott companion was blocking a good percentage of them. Once his arm was cut, however, he lost his focus and was susceptible to a kick square in his chest.
Once Oliver was sent tumbling on the ground, Diligence turned his attention to Akari.
The Zorua let out a whimper, gritting her teeth together. As the Greninja began walking closer to her, a small ball of black and purple energy began to appear in front of her mouth. Akari, despite the overwhelming fear overtaking her mind, managed to fire the attack at Diligence.
The Greninja swiftly sidestepped this attack, using his oceanic blade in order to attempt attacking her. Before his attack could hit, however, a familiar scalchop bounced off of it, redirecting where he attacked.
"L-Leave her alone!" Oliver shouted, picking up the scalchop and standing between Diligence and Akari. The fearful and anxious expression on his face grew a bit more determined, slowly getting a bit sharper in appearance.
The Oshawott jumped at him, using Razor Shell to attack the Greninja. Diligence easily blocked this with his aquatic knife before using his right leg to kick him back.
"Still so weak..."
Oliver landed on the ground, his eyes facing the ceiling of the cave clearing. He breathed heavily. He began racking his brain on strategies, attacks, anything he could possibly use in order to win this fight.
"C'mon... What would Sophie and Jacob do...?" He wondered, "...What would Dad do?"
~~~~~~
Years ago, a young Oshawott, held by a Brionne, was watching a Dewott train with a Sylveon.
"C'mon, Erika!" The Dewott shouted, "If you want to get back into the swing of things, then you've got to actually fight back!"
The Sylveon giggled to herself, "I don't know if you can handle me fighting seriously."
"Let me see for myself then!"
Slapping a scalchop from the individual sides of his waist, he quickly grabbed both and got into a stance. He held one scalchop towards Erika while holding the other behind him and above his head.
Oliver, intrigued by this, let out a hum.
"This is your first time seeing this, right?" Olivia asked, looking down at her son, "I was interested in it too."
Oliver nodded, watching his father battle.
The Brionne giggled at her son's increased interest in the battle, "It's a common fighting style for the Dewott in Unova, where he was raised. Unfortunately, evolving kind of goes against the fighting style, so once he evolves, he won't be able to use it anymore. You know, being a quadruped and all."
~~~~~~
Oliver stood up, breathing heavily, "I don't have much other choice... Let's give this a shot."
"Just concede..." Diligence told him, "I will let you two go if you give up now."
"If you think I only improved a little during my time here..." Oliver threw up his scalchop, creating a Water Pulse between his paws. The Oshawott let the Water Pulse remain in his left paw as he caught his scalchop with his right, "If you think I'd just let this mission fail...."
"...Then I need to show you who's will is stronger!"
He took a stance, his scalchop pointed at his opponent. He raised the Water Pulse slightly above his head behind him.
"Unovan Series: Dewott Style!"
Both combatants ran across the cave clearing, eventually meeting in the middle and clashing their weapons against the other's.
Meanwhile, Jacob, Sophie, Logan, and Miles walked through the cave, Sophie leading them by following a strong energy nearby.
"Hurry up!" Sophie called back to them, her pace quickening.
Jacob and Miles, who were helping Logan to walk, looked over at her before exchanging glances.
"Oh yeah, I'm fine..." Logan huffed sarcastically, "...Thanks for asking, Sophie."
"Will you shut up?" Sophie snapped, "Who knows what that Greninja is doing to Oliver and Akari right now? He-- They aren't strong battlers."
"Sophie."
She turned her attention to Jacob, who wore a serious, unflinching expression.
"I know you're worried about Oliver, we all are..." The Pikachu lightly rubbed his own shoulder, "He might not have strange abilities like the four of us here, but he's been training this whole time, arguably more than yourself."
Oliver, meanwhile, was in the middle of another interaction with his opponent, clashing his Razor Shell against Diligence's aquatic kunai. Much to Akari's surprise, that funny stance that Oliver had taken was helping him keep a balance in the fight.
"He's been getting stronger..."
The Oshawott began to attack more aggressively, pushing Diligence back a bit and into a more defensive battling style.
"...Learning new attacks... I believe he can survive."
Diligence closed his eyes before using Double Team to surround Oliver with clones. The Oshawott began mindlessly attacking each clone, wondering which was the real one. Oliver's eyes darted to the right, where a Greninja that was slightly dirtied in different areas stood. He was perfectly blended in with the clones, and might've gotten away with it had he noticed the dirt on his body.
Pretending that he didn't notice this, Oliver continued attacking the clones until he reached an angle that allowed him to attack what he assumed was the real one. Quickly throwing his scalchop at him, Diligence had little time to get out of the way. This resulted in getting a small cut on his cheek as the scalchop flew by and became stuck in the wall behind him.
Oliver's eyes widened in surprise. He had hit him. He didn't have much time to process this, though, as a few Water Shurikens came his way. Now without his scalchop, the Oshawott was quickly back on the defensive, avoiding the natatory throwing stars as best as he could while running.
Diligence suddenly appeared in front of him, standing in his way. With his right hand, he tried to punch Oliver. The Oshawott held up his arms to block, but was suddenly sent crashing into the cave wall.
Confused, Oliver looked down at where he felt the impact, and saw that Diligence had used his left arm to take on the ghostly form and hold him against the wall.
"You hadn't used your left hand this whole fight, have you?" Oliver looked down.
Diligence raised an eyebrow, "I'm surprised you noticed."
Frustrated and filled with a sense of embarrassment, the Oshawott grew angry, water suddenly surrounding him as he used Aqua Jet to escape and charge towards Diligence. Before he hit him with the Aqua Jet, he pulled a feint, spinning himself around and suddenly hitting the top of his head with a kick.
Following that, Oliver tried to punch him repeatedly. Swing after swing, attack after attack, each was avoided and blocked by Diligence. He tried to jump up and attack from above, but a quick punch from Diligence's tongue sent him careening towards a wall.
"Did he just punch me with his tongue....?" Oliver thought, quickly using Aqua Jet to barely avoid hitting the wall, "That's just gross."
Using Aqua Jet, the Oshawott began dragging himself along the cave walls in a large circle, leaving bits of water on the walls and within cracks. After performing this maneuver for a few seconds, Oliver sprang off of the wall to redirect his Aqua Jet towards Diligence.
The Greninja avoided this, resulting in Oliver slowly skidding to a stop.
The Oshawott then used Water Pulse, absorbing the water from his Aqua Jet to summon the attack in an instant. He then kept going, using the water that he had left on the cave walls to increase the size of the Water Pulse between his paws.
Once it reached the size of a basketball, the density becoming similar to a bowling ball's, Oliver attempted to launch it at Diligence, but because of the new size and density, it wouldn't leave his paws.
"C'mon...." The Oshawott strained, trying his hardest to push it at the Greninja.
While Diligence was distracted by Oliver, Akari scurried over to where Oliver's scalchop had been stuck in the wall, soon pulling it out and hiding it in her tail to not grab any attention.
As Oliver strained, small streams of water began to surround the Oshawott. With an expression filled with determination, he didn't even notice what was happening. With a final grunt, he launched the large Water Pulse at Diligence, the Greninja only swiftly cutting it in half.
This created a large amount of smoke that clouded the whole area.
The Oshawott couldn't see a foot in front of him, and couldn't even see the fist rapidly approaching his face. Oliver was punched, being sent flying. Conveniently, he crashed into Akari.
Clouded by the smoke, Akari pulled the scalchop out of her tail fur before transforming into an Oshawott, running towards Diligence... Wherever he was. Oliver immediately understood what she was trying to do.
Oliver, remaining close to the wall, tried to figure out a way to attack Diligence.
Once Akari saw Diligence, she kneeled down before transforming back into a Zorua, using her claws to scrape at the ground. She then transformed into an Oshawott once again and charged at Diligence with the scalchop in her paw.
The Greninja then drew one of his kunai, ready to block whatever attack 'Oliver' had planned. Just before Akari tried to attack him, she used her free paw, which was filled with dirt from her prior scraping on the ground, to throw it in Diligence's eyes.
Now blinded, Diligence covered his eyes and let out a shout, taking a few steps back.
The real Oliver, emerging from the smoke behind Diligence, held a long and sharp piece of scrap metal from his locator backpack as he ran towards Diligence as silently as he could.
Jumping towards him, the Oshawott used the piece of scrap metal to stab him in the back. He wasn't done there, however, as he began dragging it down Diligence's back, creating a large, deep vertical gash along the course of his back.
Diligence let out a spine-chilling scream as Oliver took the piece of metal out of his back, throwing it to the side.
Akari transformed back to normal, quickly averting her eyes from the Greninja who was now on the ground. Oliver, meanwhile, was panting heavily. He covered his eyes and gently clawed at the fur on the top of his head.
"Did I just...?"
Before he could continue mulling over what had happened, he suddenly heard cheers from behind him.
It was Jacob, Logan, and Miles, who were cheering enthusiastically. Jacob was waving his paws above his head, Logan was punching the air in front of him, and Miles was jumping up and down. Sophie, meanwhile, only wore a smile.
"Huh...?" The Oshawott was extremely confused.
The three boys watching ran over. Miles rushed to Akari, soon tackle-hugging her. Jacob and Logan went to Oliver, The Pikachu putting his paws on Oliver's shoulders to shake him and the Scorbunny punching his arm excitedly.
Sophie then approached Oliver, putting a hand on his shoulder, "You worry me sometimes..."
"I did it..." The Oshawott looked at her, the noticeable, awkward smile appearing on his face.
"You straight up shanked that guy!" Logan grinned, "I'm so jealous!"
Oliver's eyes widened as he backed away from the trio, "Wait... How long have you guys been watching?"
Jacob smiled nervously, "Ever since the Greninja used his left hand to slam you into the wall."
"You just watched as I fought for my life?" Oliver asked loudly.
"Sure did!"
Oliver began shaking the Pikachu frantically, lecturing him. Logan only laughed at the scene, clutching his stomach. Sophie, meanwhile, looked over to the exit of the cave, "We should probably report this to Mark..."
The Snivy turned her head to look down at the Greninja, who's bleeding had somehow been stopped.
"Now that we got him down, let's look for that orb!" Jacob exclaimed, pumping his paws in the air.
Oliver shook his head, "There's a bit of a problem... The backpack led me to more of that substance, and the bag was destroyed because of it."
"What? Really?" Logan put his paws on his hips.
Sophie sighed, rubbing her neck, "So should we regroup with the rest of the Task Force and decide what to do?"
He nodded, "I'm starting to question if the orb is in Sapphire at all, or if this was just another location those two were looking into..."
As Oliver was thinking, he didn't notice as Diligence shot his left arm's ghost form at the Oshawott. Sophie was quick to react to this, using her Dragon Claw in order to slam it into the ground.
"Don't you touch him!"
Sophie tried to use a Leaf Blade on him, which was successful due to Diligence's inability to move.
"Twenty-Three!" He bellowed, using his ghost arm to push himself back onto his feet.
Oliver's eyes widened, "...How is he not bleeding out?"
"How are you not dead!?" Logan pointed an accusatory paw at the Greninja, "Are you some kind of convenient zombie or something!?"
Upon closer look, Oliver could see a bit of the black substance dripping out of the Greninja's back. The Oshawott took a few steps back, surprised.
"He used the substance to cover his wound? Is he in control of them?"
Before they could say anything else, Diligence suddenly began dashing out of the cave at high speeds. Jacob's eyes glowed before he followed at the same speed. Oliver quickly ran across the cave clearing to Cricket, grabbing the walkie talkie from him.
"Mark, come in!"
As Oliver relayed the current situation, Logan and Sophie began to give chase, but the Scorbunny quickly collapsed, the adrenaline from his fight against Diligence and Will finally subsiding.
Sophie looked back at Miles and Akari, "You two, stay here and watch Logan and Cricket. Wait for help!"
The two youngest nodded compliantly.
Sophie ran off.
"Are we gonna listen to her?" Miles asked, looking at the Zorua with interest.
"Nah."
Meanwhile, Mark nodded silently before throwing the walkie talkie to Princess.
"What are you doing?" The Vespiquen asked confusedly, sitting on the unconscious Conkeldurr.
Mark prepared to run, looking back at her, "The Greninja in on the run, and according to Oliver, severely wounded. We're approaching the end of this mission."
---
Sapphire Town, Sinnoh
Diligence stumbled through Sapphire Town, attracting attention from various Pokémon. Despite his gaping wound, nobody wanted to approach him, as most could notice the mal intent from even a distance.
The Greninja suddenly looked to his right, where Mark was standing. Almost the instant the two locked eyes, Mark fired a Hyper Beam at him, which he was barely able to avoid. As Diligence prepared to fight Mark, he was suddenly punched by a powered-up Jacob in his ribs. The Greninja slid back, using Water Shuriken to keep both Pokémon away from him.
The two exchanged a glance, a single thought in both of their minds, "He's slower!"
Mark immediately dashed towards the Greninja while Jacob smirked and picked up a rock from the ground, dashing around a nearby building to get to Greninja's flank.
The Garchomp was getting ready to avoid whatever attack Mark was going to throw at him. Funnily enough, Jacob was the first to throw something, but it wasn't an attack. The Pikachu threw the rock he was holding at Diligence's back, making him wince in pain, temporarily turning his attention to Jacob.
While this was happening, it gave Mark the opportunity to attack him with his claw and knock him to the ground. Diligence's left eye then turned black as he shot back up, shooting his ghost-like left hand to Mark as he used some of the particles from his back to throw at Jacob.
The Pikachu froze, trying to stop his running. He knew he couldn't dodge it. He only had one choice. Holding his paws up towards the substance, he allowed it to hit his paws before just as quickly parrying it to the side.
It worked?
"It didn't stick...?"Jacob looked at his paws as his power suddenly turned off, a familiar feeling coursed through him as he tried to turn his power back on.
"Jacob, are you okay?" Oliver, who had an empty jar to put the substance, "Did you get any of it on you?"
The Pikachu was just as confused, "No..."
"It has no effect on you?" The Oshawott was surprised.
"Yeah, but it just disabled my powers!" Jacob cried, trying to flare them up again.
Oliver put a paw on his chin, "So it doesn't effect your powers, but disables them... That means..."
"Neutralize!" Both Oliver and Jacob exclaimed at the same time.
"Wait how'd you get to that conclusion?" The Oshawott asked.
Jacob smugly crossed his arms, "You think I don't listen to all the smart-type stuff you mumble under your breath?"
Oliver blushed embarrassedly, "Anyways, that means you can use your powers to touch the substance with your bare paws! For a few seconds at least... So how about we try to get that stuff out of the Greninja?"
"A few seconds is all I need..." He suddenly punched his paws together, his eyes glowing orange.
Sophie, meanwhile, used a large Dragon Claw to restrain Diligence and hold him up in the air, "Tell me... Who am I?"
The Greninja remained quiet.
"Oliver, get that jar ready!" Jacob shouted back at him as he approached Sophie, "Yo, can you throw him in the air for me? I'll be able to take him down, and you can ask your questions easily."
"...Fine."
The Snivy complied with his request, launching Diligence into the air. Using his power, Jacob quickly fired himself into the air behind him. The Pikachu managed to get to his height quickly, jamming his paw into the Greninja's wound, nearly throwing up at the sight.
Averting his eyes, the Pikachu felt the familiar sensation of the black substance. Pulling at it, he pulled it away from Diligence as they fell to the ground. Jacob threw the substance at Oliver, who managed to catch it within the jar and closed the lid.
Jacob's power faded, soon being caught by Sophie's Dragon Claw.
Hitting the ground like a sack of potatoes, Diligence let out a growl. His sight began to blur as a voice appeared in his mind.
"Ready to go, Diligence?"
His eyes widened, "Charity? How'd you—"
"Will told me about it, Bloody-pants. Now let's get you outta here!"
"Very well..."
In the blink of an eye, a black portal appeared beneath the Greninja. Diligence began to sink in, the wound on his back beginning to sting immensely.
"Hell no!" Sophie suddenly jumped towards Diligence, grabbing his tongue. She dug her feet into the ground as she tried to pull him out of it.
"You're not leaving, damn it!" The Snivy screamed, beginning to be pulled into the portal as well, "What. Am. I!?"
"Not good!" Jacob and Oliver ran forward, grabbing one of her legs each.
Within the dark space both Sophie and Diligence were in, the two looked within the other's eyes. The Snivy's right eye was turning a deeper shade of red while Diligence's black left eye was fading.
"Find Ben."
Sophie's eyebrows raised in surprise as her hands suddenly slipped from his tongue, Jacob and Oliver pulling her back out soon after.
The trio panted with exhaustion, staring at the spot on the ground where the portal used to be. They soon looked over at Mark, who was completely silent.
---
Logan slammed his paw on the table within the commons, "Damn it! Those bastards got away?"
Oliver nodded, "We had the Greninja cornered, but it seems that they're working with some powerful allies..."
"Kind of B.S if you ask me..." Sophie spoke, sitting on the end of the table.
The Scorbunny groaned, clenching his teeth with seething rage.
"It's no matter..." Mark told the group, "Thanks to Oliver and Jacob, we managed to get all of the substance from the cave and the Greninja, meaning that they have no way to find the orb without it."
The group smiled.
The Garchomp walked away towards another room, "Get ready for your lives to get back on track..."
"...We won."