The five Pokemon walked out of the forest and stopped outside of the entrance of it. "So, Sparky, where do you live?" asked Needles. "Um... not too far from here, actually," said Sparky. "It's right about this wa-" he looked up at Reggie, who was holding his sister's corpse in his arms and started shedding tears. Needles quickly turned Sparky away from it before he could start crying. "Alright, so this way? Let's go," said Needles. And then the group walked until they reached Sparky's house. "This is it," said Sparky. The group members all looked at each other silently for a few seconds. "What?" asked Sparky, turning to them. "Do we... knock? Or what?" asked Reggie. "I'll knock," said Needles, approaching the door and knocking on it a few times. The door opened, and Needles stepped back. A pair of Ampharos were at the door. "Yes, how can I help you?" said the father Ampharos. "Um... hello... I'm Needles from Team November... your son was on a rescue mission and then... this happened..." Needles moved to show Sparky's sister's dead body in Reggie's arms. "Oh... oh my..." said the mother Ampharos. "We're so sorry about your loss..." said Needles in a negative tone. "Please... just get it away from us..." said the father Ampharos. "I can't believe she's gone...". "Sooo... you just want me to throw this out back, or what?" asked Reggie. "Reggie!" shouted Needles. "Fine, fine. Sheesh," said Reggie, who flew out back and started digging a hole to bury the corpse in.

"Um... Mom? Dad?" asked Sparky timidly. "We'll leave you all alone to talk for a minute," said CT. "We will?" asked June. "Yes, we will," said CT and Needles to June at the same time. They all headed to the backyard to find Reggie in a deep hole, seemingly ten feet deep. June looked down the hole. "Reggie, what the hell are you doing?" asked CT. Reggie flew up the hole and kicked the corpse into it. "That," said Reggie. Needles put on a stoic face and crossed her arms. "What?" asked Reggie. "They didn't want to look at it, so I just went ahead and buried it," he added. CT just rolled his eyes. "Well I hope you can explain that to Sparky's parents when they find their daughter's dead body buried in their backyard with footprints in the side of her face," said CT. "Implying her skin wouldn't have rotted away by then," said Reggie sarcastically. "Whatever," said CT. Then, Sparky walked up to the group. "They think it's too soon," said Sparky. "But if I really want to, I can join your rescue team". "Well that's great news," said Needles, hugging Sparky. "Hey, what's in the hole?" asked Sparky curiously. "Um, nothing!" cried Reggie, scooping up a gigantic pile of dirt near the hole he dug and dropped it all into the hole. "So, why not head to the base? We're pretty tired, you know!" said Reggie. "I don't know, it's still rather bright out, and I don't really feel like heading home just yet," said Needles. "Too bad," said Reggie. "We're heading back to base". CT just shrugged. "If you want to go somewhere, you can," said CT. "But be sure to come back," he added, glaring at Needles. Needles just sighed. "Don't worry, I will," she said. "Actually," said Sparky. "I wanna see our base!" "Right," said Needles. "Yeah, so head home it is?" asked CT. "I guess," said Needles. And then the group headed to base.

At base, Sparky wandered around the house curiously. "Where do I sleep?" asked Sparky to CT. "Uhh..." CT thought for a minute, then got an idea. "Follow me," he said, leading Sparky to CT's room. "Cool!" said Sparky, looking around. "Do I get that laptop on the bed too?" he asked. "Uhhh, no, that's mine," said CT, grabbing the laptop. "Feel free to make changes to it or whatever," he said, walking out of the room and by June. "Um, isn't that YOUR room?" asked June. "I never use it, remember?" said CT. "Uhh, okay," said June, shrugging. Sparky felt the bed, rubbing his flippers on it. Suddenly, Sparky froze with his pupils dilated. He had a flashback of Butch killing his sister. The brutal moment repeating in the little Ampharos' head. Needles went to check on him. "Hello, Sparky! How are you liking your new room so far?" asked Needles. Sparky didn't respond. He was staring at the wall with a horrified look on his face, twitching a little. "Sparky?" asked Needles, worried. Still no response. Sparky then broke out crying, sobbing into his flippers. "Sparky!" cried Needles, running to him and hugging him. Sparky hugged her back, still crying. "Oh Arceus! It was horrible! That Rhyperior killing my sister! It's come back to haunt me! Make it stop!" he cried to Needles. "Shh, shh," said Needles. "It's okay... I understand your pain. It's not easy to let go of a family member, especially after witnessing their death," she added. "I wish I could do something to help..." then she sighed. Sparky stopped crying for a minute. "Well... could we maybe get some ice cream?" asked Sparky. Needles smiled. "Sure!" said Needles. "Let's go!"

Needles took Sparky's hand, erm, flipper, and headed out. "CT! We'll be back in a bit, we're going out!" said Needles. "You'd better come back!" replied CT. Needles just rolled her eyes. "Ha ha. Of course we will," she said. They headed to the center of Morado Town, filled with several Pokemon doing various jobs. "Hm, it's been a while since I've been here," said Needles. "I sure hope I remember where the ice cream place is...". "Isn't it over there?" asked Sparky, pointing to a cart operated by a Vanilluxe. Needles drooped her ears, feeling stupid. "Right... anyways let's go!" she said. They headed to the cart, where the Vanilluxe was making ice cream using Powder Snow. "Good afternoon to ya!" said the Vanilluxe. "What would you two be having?" he asked. "I'd like a Strawberry Ice Cream, please," said Needles, then she turned to Sparky. "What would you like?" she asked Sparky. "Umm... Chocolate and Vanilla!" said Sparky. "Comin' right up," said the Vanilluxe, who made them both in just a few seconds using Powder Snow, and handing the cones to Needles and Sparky using his tiny arm nubs. "Thank you! Do come again!" said the Vanilluxe. "No, thank YOU!" said Needles, handing the Vanilluxe some Poke. They then walked away. "So, do you want to go anywhere else?" asked Needles. "Hmm..." Sparky thought for a moment. "Is there a park around here?" asked Sparky. "I believe so," said Needles. "I'll ask if Brenda knows where it is". Needles led Sparky to Brenda's greenhouse. She knocked on the front door, but there was no response. Needles looked to see that there was a sign in the window saying "Out to Lunch". Needles sighed. "She's not here," said Needles. She then looked around. "Hm, then again, no one else is... odd, since the city was bustling with life," said Needles. Sparky noticed a forest nearby with some light fog. "What about that forest?" asked Sparky, pointing to it with his flipper. "That's not a park, Sparky," said Needles. "It looks kinda cool, though!" said Sparky. "Well, that IS the Calming Forest," said Needles. "But what are we gonna do there?" she added. "I dunno, but we can't find a park, so why not go to a place that's close to it?" asked Sparky, shrugging.

Suddenly, Emile appeared in front of the two, grinning. "Little lady wants to go for a walk in the park, eh?" said Emile. "Oh Arceus! Why are you here? Why won't you leave us alone?!" cried Needles. "Because picking on you is fun!" said Emile. "I'm sure my boys agree with me on that," he then whistled, calling for the rest of his team. Butch, the Rhyperior who killed Sparky's sister, an Electivire, a Charizard, and a Tyranitar appeared. "You've met Butch," said Emile. "Now meet Buzz, Slash, and Vince, in that order," he added. They all surrounded Needles and blocked her any escape route except to the forest. Needles thought for a minute, the noticed the opportunity. "Sparky! Run!" cried Needles. They both ran into the forest, Team Agro following right behind them.

While pursuing the two Pokemon, Emile discussed some plans with his team. "Alright, they're going right where we want 'em to," said Emile. "Alright Slash, slash the path!" said Emile with a pun fully intended. "Whatever," said Slash, who flew in between the two Pokemon, separating them as they both ducked out of the way. "Now, Butch! Seal 'em off!" added Emile. Butch then used Rock Wrecker to block off the fork that separated Needles and Sparky, forcing them to go separate ways. "Sparky!" cried Needles. "Alright, gang. Me, Vince and Slash will go after the girl. Butch and Buzz, get the kid, but don't take your time with 'im," ordered Emile. Sparky hid behind a tree, hoping that the villainous Pokemon wouldn't detect him, while Needles ran. She ran as fast as her feet could take her. She was nearly out of breath by the time she had lost the Pokemon.

Needles stopped to catch her breath. She looked around frantically. "Oh Arceus, where could Sparky have gone?" said Needles to herself. Meanwhile, Sparky is still hiding behind a tree. "Where could that little runt be?" asked Butch. "It don't matter," said Buzz. "The boss told us in advance to not bother looking for him. Just meet up with him and we'll go for the girl," he added. "I'm cool with that," said Butch. "Let's go". As they left, Sparky peeked his head from behind the tree. "Oh no... they're going to hurt Needles! I've got to tell the others!" Fortunately for Sparky, he was able to quickly backtrace his way out of the forest. He ran as quickly as his little feet could take him.

Meanwhile, Needles was still resting. She was caught between two paths. A path straight ahead that leads deeper into the forest, or a path to her left that led to a small area filled with rocks and various flora. She looked at both paths and inspected them carefully. Her thinking was cut short when she heard footsteps and voices. "Is that her?" said one of the voices. "I dunno, let's go check," said another. Needles gasped and quickly ran to the path to her left. She was able to hide behind a large leaf-like plant, though the ground was rather uneven and muddy. Luckily for Needles, the gang walked by without even checking the leftmost path. Needles smiled and gave a huge sigh of relief. "Hey, do you think she's in here?" asked Vince to Emile. "Nah," said Emile. "She couldn't have, unless she was actually stupid enough to run right into the quicksand". "Quicksand?" Needles asked to herself. She looked down and noticed that she was already up to her ankles and sinking deeper. Needles screamed in terror. "Quicksand!" she cried.