Adventures Beyond!

Chapter 46: Task Force

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Sapphire Plains, Sinnoh

"How much further is this base you were talking about...?" Groaned Jacob, who was exhausted from all of the walking.

Mark looked over his shoulder to eye Jacob, "Shouldn't be much further."

The walk across the large plains area was a living hell for most of the group. It had only gotten hotter during the course of the day, and everyone aside from Mark seemed to take notice of this. Jacob's ears drooped as he continued to trudge along.

Between her injuries and the hot temperatures, Sophie was hardly able to stand. Oliver had offered to carry her on his back, and she gratefully took this offer, hoping that she wasn't too heavy for him to carry.

While Oliver tried to pretend as though she wasn't weight on his back, he was silently suffering as he carried her. He knew that if he let it be known that he was having trouble carrying her, Sophie would immediately get off and risk passing out due to exhaustion.

Logan was cursing to himself in silence, occasionally stomping his foot on the ground in anger. He was never used to moving through open spaces too often, as he had grown up in a place filled with trees and large flora.

Miles, meanwhile, was taking a moment to admire the scenery. He noticed the hills in the distance moved in a serpentine motion, seeming to be alive if he let his eyes focus on it. The grass below his paws crunched due to not being rained on in a while.

He looked up, and saw how the clouds in the sky spiraled and twisted, almost as if it were cotton candy in a machine. Miles knew that rain wasn't coming any time soon, as the clouds mirrored the color of an Alolan Vulpix.

It had been quite some time since Miles thought about Alola. His parents told him and Akari about how Melemele Island was, and how hot it was there, despite how hot it would get in Sapphire Town.

The Rockruff was reminded about his family at that moment. He took a moment to think about them and reflect on how he ended up at that point. Gone were the days where he and Akari would play around in Sapphire. The carefree days seemed long gone, and until then, they had long been forgotten in favor of learning how to properly defend himself.

Had he forgotten about everything up until that point, in favor of training?

The Garchomp remained silent as he heard the occasional curse from Logan and sigh of exhaustion from Jacob.

After a few more minutes of walking, the six approached a group of trees that all stood together. Through the tiny forest, Mark saw a small cabin. He smiled at the unassuming wood structure.

"This is your home base?" Logan asked, a clear disappointment in his voice, "My treehouse is five times better than this rickety old shithole..."

"Yes, it is..." Mark turned to Logan, a devilish scowl on his face, "...Got a problem with it?"

"Nope, looks awesome!" The Scorbunny blurted, standing up straight.

"That's what I thought."

As Mark faced away from them, he smiled faintly. Going back and forth with Logan entertained him more than he thought. The Garchomp walked over to the cabin and opened the door, giving light to a single staircase in an empty room. He ushered all of them to come in, and they complied silently.

"Normally an adult ushering a bunch of kids to get into his cabin would give off a ton of red flags..." Jacob remarked, "But I'll make an exception this once!"

"Why would that be a bad thing?" Miles tilted his head.

"Ever heard of stranger danger?" The Pikachu raised an eyebrow.

"But Mark isn't a stranger."

As Jacob let out a sigh, Mark led the group to the staircase and signaled them to go down it. One by one, the group began walking down the staircase. Sophie was a bit more hesitant, since every staircase going down lately meant that she wouldn't be going back up for a while.

Oliver, who was the first to walk down the stairs after Mark, allowed him to let out a gasp as he looked around. It was a neatly illuminated bunker made of a metallic structure. On his right was a bulletin board with string attached to each thumbtack, connecting to each other. On his left was a room, where he could see a Staraptor perched on a couch. The Staraptor was watching the news report about Oliver, Jacob, Sophie, and Logan.