Adventures Beyond!

Chapter 40: By Any Means

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Sapphire Town, Sinnoh

After completing their second trial, Mark let out a satisfied sigh. He looked at Oliver, Jacob, Sophie, and Logan, who were all sitting on the grass in front of him.

"Are you ready to begin the third?" Mark asked, "This trial tests your strategical combat. In other words, using combat will be an option, not a necessity."

Oliver put a paw to his chin, looking down, "There's probably another goal to achieve, if combat is optional... Now all I have to figure out is what our goal is..."

"I'll keep it simple, alright?" Mark looked between the four, "You see that tree all the way over there?"

Oliver squinted into the distance in the direction Mark pointed in, "I might need a better prescription on my contacts, I can't see a specific tree you're pointing to..."

Jacob squinted as well, "That tree all the way over there?" He asked, "The one that has an x carved into it?"

The Garchomp nodded, "That one, yes."

"What about it?" Logan asked, eager to get started.

Sophie gave him the side-eye, "That's going to be our goal, obviously."

Mark nodded again, "She's right, your objective is to make it to that tree all the way in the distance, before I do."

Logan grinned confidently, "A race?" He asked loudly, "I used to be the best at freestyle races back in the Grotto! Let's do this!"

Mark silently scoffed at Logan's confidence, "Then we'll start now."

The instant after the Garchomp uttered those words, a large amount of dirt was kicked up as the four were pushed back by pure force.

"What the heck?" Logan asked, quickly getting back up, "He's going so fast!"

"Let's go!" Jacob's eyes glowed orange before being thrown off balance by Logan who flew past at high speeds.

"Way ahead of you!"

Logan quickly gained on Mark, using his Flame Shots to get close and fire off another at Mark.

Before the last Flame Shot could hit, Mark quickly grabbed Logan's arm, spinning around and slamming Logan to the ground by his head. Logan let out a faint groan before he suddenly grabbed Mark's arm.

"You're not going anywhere..." Logan grinned evily, "Move an inch and I blow your arm to so many pieces It'll take the rest of your life to find 'em all..."

Mark was surprised that Logan was so confident, despite literally being pinned to the ground. Logan then gripped to his arm tighter, waiting for Oliver, Jacob and Sophie to pass them.

The Garchomp realized what Logan was going for, and picked Logan up before quickly throwing him back towards the trio before continuing to run for the tree.

As Logan was flying back towards his allies, he cleared his throat, "Jacob, hold your paw out!"

Jacob was a bit confused, and held his paw up above his head. As Logan passed by the Pikachu, he grabbed Jacob's paw, making him fall backwards. Logan planted his feet on the ground before beginning to spin Jacob around to the point where all that could be seen was a blur.

"Let's... Go!!" Logan bellowed as he used his Flame Shot technique to launch Jacob towards Mark, kicking up a small amount of dirt from the launch point.

Oliver was sweating a bit as he watched Jacob and Logan's display of strength. His eyes followed Jacob as he flew past, realizing that he had the ability to do the same. The Oshawott quickly looked around the area before seeing a small pond nearby.