AN: I'll be honest, I like this one better than the Unbeatable Series and you all should check out the updated versions of previous episodes of this! I went back and changed to GIS and add to them so they add up. Not sure I got all the mistakes, but most of them! Anyway, here is Episode 7!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything Pokémon related, I just use their ideas for my own amusement.

Episode 7: Lost in Darkness

The girls were setting up camp near Dark Cave for lunch. They spent the day training and exploring the area. This time Naomi actually joined them training after what happened the other day.

"By tomorrow we should be in Violet City." Zane mentioned to start a conversation as they were setting up for lunch.

"Finally my contest debut and it is all in three days!" Korina said excitedly. However, Korina had one problem…she had yet to figure out an appeal. Battling seemed like an on the spot sort of deal, but an appeal had to be thought out.

"I'm glad we don't have long or go through the cave." Naomi said looking back to the cave entrance that wasn't far from where they were set up.

"Dark Cave?" Zane answered, "Yeah, it is named that for a reason. You'll need a light to get through it."

"I think we're all ready to go," Naomi looking at the set up.

"Yup, all set to go. Come out you two!"

"Piplup!"

"Chika!"

"You too Bulbasaur!"

"Bulbasaur!"

"Can't leave you guys out!" Zane said tossing her own Poké Balls.

"Cyndaquil!"

"Phanpy!"

The group began to eat with their Pokémon at their sides as they sat on a blanket. They saw no reason for tables and such. This way they could be with their Pokémon and travel lighter. Not all the trainer eat peacefully as Korina picked at her food.

"What's wrong Korina? I'm not that bad of a cook," Naomi said trying cheer up her friend while figuring out what was wrong.

"Are you thinking about your contest?" Zane asked. She didn't think it could be anything else.

"How did you know?!" Korina asked shocked.

"I guessed…plus I can't think of anything else it might be. What's on your mind?" Zane asked. Now that Korina was out she wouldn't have much of a choice plus they needed to trust each and overcome obstacles together.

"I know I've been training with you two, but I can't think of anything for the appeals round. Also I'm worried about the battle round. You two are good trainers, but I need something different," Korina explained.

"I understand, you know we could help…" Naomi tried to suggest.

"What good will that do?" Korina asked. "Neither of you are coordinators and I'm pretty sure none of you have seen a contest. I just feel so in the dark about this…"

"It will come to you." Zane spoke up.

"Huh?" Korina questioned.

"Like with artist and writer they pull things from what is around them. That's what you need to do. Look at the battles you have with us and see what works," Zane explained. Korina and Naomi just stared at Zane. Had that come out of their friend's mouth or mind? Zane gave them a dirty look knowing what they were thinking. "Fine, don't take my advice. Last time I try to help…"

"No, thanks Zane, that helps a lot. Will you battle me later?" Korina asked.

Zane smiled and answered, "Sure."

"Finally a Pokémon that can produce a light!" A boy around their age came running up to them and picking up Cyndaquil.

"I wouldn't do that!" Zane warned.

Cyndaquil twitched angrily and growled, "Cynda…Quil!" He then unleashed an Ember burning the boy. No one put Zane handled him with permission.

"Should have known..." The boy moaned laying on the ground covered in burn marks.

Cyndaquil made affirmed sound before hoping in to Zane's arms.

"I tried to tell you, he doesn't like anyone, but me picking him up." Zane said kind of laughing. She kind of thought it was funny. She also really he had no hard feelings against him or her.

The boy got up and brushed himself off and apologized with, "Sorry, my name is Farris and I've been looking for a Pokémon that can use a light for a while. My sister is somewhere in Dark Cave and I can't find here. We were just by the entrance too."

"Oh my goodness! Guys, we have to help!" Naomi exclaimed hoping her friends would agree.

"Agree."

"Thank you so much." Farris said leading the way after the girls packed up and returned their Pokémon.

As they made their way to the cave they introduced themselves. Farris thought they all seemed like nice people, but he still got wary vibes off them. He needed help and if asking the meanest people was all he could do then, he'd do it. He just hoped this didn't turn out badly and he ended up lost. They arrived outside of Dark Cave to find just looking inside it was pitch black.

"No one was kidding. I can't see a thing…" Naomi commented.

"Okay Cyndaquil, light these for us with Ember." Zane said placing down some sticks.

"Da." Cyndaquil affirmed as he gave a nod before lighting the sticks. "Quil!"

"We can see to some degree, but it's still pretty dark…" Korina said as they entered.

"Better than nothing…" Zane said keeping a positive outlook.

"True."

"Farris, do know what area your sister is in?" Naomi asked. She hoped she wouldn't be too far for the sake they might get lost.

"No, she came in looking for her Dunsparce so she could be anywhere." Farris said. He hated he had to ask them for help when he should be able to protect his little sister alone. Plus these girls looked like they were going somewhere.

"Where you waiting for someone to come by with Pokémon like that?" Korina asked.

"Yes...the two Pokémon can't help with lighting. Well, one can, but it won't listen to me…" he sighed. It was embarrassing to have a Pokémon not listen to you.

"What are they?" Naomi asked curiously.

"A Wooper and a Weepinbell. I caught Dunsparce for my sister and Weepinbell is the one who won't listen. It was my first Pokémon as a gift from my great grandfather. After it evolved it just stopped listening…" Farris explained.

"Do you know why?" Korina asked.

"No…" he sighed. It was depressing alright.

"I think he does know…" Zane said finally entering the conversation.

"Zane!" her friends snapped. How could she say something like that? Sure it was like Zane to kind of blunt, but she never seemed to be judgmental.

"But I don't know." He retaliated wondering what this girl thought.

Zane stopped and turned around facing them with a serious look before she speculated, "I may not have any siblings, but have you been upset with your sister in front of your Pokémon? When my dad gets mad at me for no reason in front of his Pokémon they don't like to obey him until he apologizes. Pokémon seem to take the side of the young or innocent in some cases and thus it what gives them disobedient natures toward their trainers or people in a matter. I'm just taking a guess so don't take my advice."

With that Zane turned around and continued to walk forward. She hoped she had not said too much or gone too far, but she couldn't help it. Zane wasn't a people person, but she had been told she reads both people and Pokémon well. Just like how Naomi seems to know what they want and Korina can calm them down or be emotional. They all could be emotional, but Korina has demonstrate she can do easier than they others with as much as a smile. It was something that was going to make them great trainers.

"I…guess I did. Sorry I lied…I did get mad at her. She wants to train outside the city, but I won't let because she's too young. I didn't want anything to happen to her. I made her run away…" he realized before continuing to walk.

The others walked slowly listening to Farris. Zane was right. She might have been hard and harsh, but Farris seemed closer to fixing his problem than before meeting them. They went deeper into the cave and it felt like they weren't getting anywhere.

"Hey, quiet a moment." Zane said stopping and holding out her arm to stop the others. She had been leading the way with Cyndaquil perched on her shoulder still lighting the fire on his back to provide extra light. Zane was okay with to some degree, but her neck was awfully warm.

"Hear something?" Naomi whispered.

"Yeah, sounds like crying..." Zane answered back as soft as she asked.

"Lily!" Farris yelled running deeper into the cave.

"Hey wait!" Zane cried as they all followed him. It wasn't that hard to keep up as he didn't run very fast nor got a good head start. When they caught up they saw him being bombarded with Zubat and Geodude.

"Cyndaquil quick use Ember." Zane instructed to the fire mouse on her shoulder. Cyndaquil nodded and leaped.

"Piplup come out and use Bubble!"

"Bulbasaur you too and use Razor Leaf!" Naomi shouted calling out her. They all attacked and some went down. "There's too many! We can barely see!"

"I have no choice…Weepinbell go!" Farris called out his starter. He could have used Wooper, but right now they needed to see.

"Weepin! Weep."

"Please Weepinbell, I know I'm not the best trainer, but I need you. We need you. Lily needs you. Remember when you were a Bellsprout and we caught Dunsparce and Wooper. We were so happy just like Lily was when we gave it to her. If you won't do it for, do it for Lily, I can't let anything happen to her or let alone any of you. I just care so much…" Farris tried to reason with his starter.

"Farris look out!" Naomi called seeing a Geodude coming at them with a Rollout.

Farris jumped and grabbed Weepinbell dodging their attack. The Geodude came back around and tried again. Having built up more speed Geodude was faster. Farris tried to move them out of the way, but ended up getting nicked by the attack.

"Are you alright?" Naomi called.

"I'm alright, are you okay Weepinbell?" Farris asked.

"Watch out!"

The Geodude wouldn't give up. It saw a strong opponent in Weepinbell and decided to go after it. Weepinbell was taken back by the care Farris showed in both his sister and his Pokémon. The only reason Weepinbell stopped listening after evolving was because Farris was starting to get mean to Lily. It was the reason they were stuck like this. She ran away. Now Weepinbell was starting to see that he always cared about her, them. He never stopped. He was willing to listen to what he had to say, in more than one way. Weepinbell got a look of fierce determination and launched a Razor Leaf attack. Geodude took the direct hit and rolled away into a rock fainting.

"Weepinbell…" Farris said. The Pokémon that would not take a command saved him.

"Weepinbell!" the grass type smiled.

"Oh thank you!" Farris cheered happily that his feelings got through to his starter. "Let's say we help out by using Flash!"

Weepinbell nodded and leaped into the air and his body glowed brightly releasing a light. The light brighten the entire place and everyone could see clearly. They all smiled and took advantage of the attack.

"Piplup Bubble again!" Korina commanded taking a new shot with new light.

Piplup fired his attack and Zubat turned and used Supersonic. The bubbles shattered and Korina could the water sparkle. Her eyes were in shock at what occurred. It was beautiful and Zane was right. The Flash attack did more than bring light to theirs and Farris's problem. It brought light to Korina's coordinator problem.

"Cyndaquil Ember!"

"Razor Leaf!"

Having no cover of darkness the wild looked shocked. They didn't think they'd be uncovered as they attacked. The thought to be foolish humans came into their cave and they attacked. They always used the darkness as a plus and now it gone. They were no good against trainer Pokémon that some had super-effective moves so they ran.

"We did it!"

"Now…Lily!" Farris called.

No answer came at first. Then a small voice was heard, "Farris…" It was crying.

"Lily!" Farris cried running to the little blonde girl who came out of hiding behind a rock holding onto a smaller than normal Dunsparce. He kneeled down and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I came in here so you wouldn't find me and got lost. I'm sorry, I just wanna go home!" she cried.

Farris enveloped his sister in a hug and cooed, "None of that matter now. What do you say we get out of here?"

She sniffed and nodded. The girls smiled and they all made their way out of the cave. By the time they made it out the sun was just starting to go down. After they got they all checked over to make sure everyone was alright. Sure they were dirty, but it was normal.

"Lily, I'm sorry I yelled you about training outside of home. It is just your young and I didn't want anything to happen to you. Please forgive me," Farris said.

"It's okay, I forgive you and I'm happy Weepinbell does too!" she squealed. They could like they were before. She liked that way and hoped it would stay.

"Weepinbell!" the Pokémon cried happily agreeing with the little girl. It was a misunderstanding about love. Despite what it cause, it made everything alright in the end and better as Weepinbell knew Farris wasn't the person he thought.

"What do you say you and I start training together?" Farris asked Lily. The girl's blue eyes grew larger with admiration as she looked at her brother. It was like he asked the million dollar question that was simple.

"Sure! Thank you!" she shouted in delight as she hugged her brother.

"That's great," Korina said.

"Yes and thanks to you all for helping me," Farris acknowledged the girls. They all smiled and nodded. "I guess we better get home. Thank you again."

"Yeah, thanks for helping my brother! Good-bye!" the girl cheered as she followed her brother to their home.

"Well this has been an interesting day," Naomi commented.

"Yeah, but we did something nice," Zane added.

"It was perfect!" Korina proclaimed. The other two trainers looked to her questioning what she meant. "Zane, your advice worked and I think I know what I'm going to do for the appeals round!"

"Really?" Zane inquired and Korina nodded furiously. "That's great!"

"A little harsh back there?" Naomi asked.

"Huh?"

"Oh yeah, with the comment how you knew he was lying." Korina inputted.

"I'm blunt and someone had to tell him." Zane scoffed. The others shook their heads and agreed. If Zane hadn't said what she said, would they still be fighting the wild Pokémon or worse? Well, what happened, happened, and it worked out for everyone. It was nice when everything worked out for everyone. Made the journey that more rewarding.

"Hey…do you think we could eat now?" Korina asked. They all laughed and decided to camp out where they were earlier for the night and set off to Violet City in the morning.

AN: And scene! There was Episode 7! Hope you liked it! See what I can do with insomnia at 5 in the morning! Hope you liked it and hope you'll also leave a review! Love hearing from you! And don't forget to check the new and improved previous chapters!

Preview: The reach Violet City in time for Korina's contest debut! Who is being used for each round? What will Korina's appeal be? Who will she meet? All the questions and more will be answered on next time on Pokémon Friends Until the End Episode 8: The Real Appeal!