Chapter 4: We Help Those

Sparks' world had stopped, but it did so in the best way possible. He had heard it from his own ears.

It spoke, it really...wait. Sparks had to see if this was a dream he was having. He then reached to the end of his tail to pinch himself.

"Ow!" He yelped in pain. He then opened his eyes and saw the ship with the Lapras still where it was before.

He smiled, completely forgetting about the last dozen of minutes in his life, as that didn't matter to him anymore. Now Sparks had a fact that Wild Pokemon may not be so different from normal Pokemon after all.

He dashed right up to the Lapras, who is having trouble understanding why Sparks was hurting himself. "You can really talk!" Sparks said with stars in his eyes.

The Lapras starts to get a horrified look on its face, and starts shaking its head.

"No-mm-o!" It says with a tight mask over its face. Sparks takes a few steps back, he wasn't expecting this. He would have thought that the Pokemon would at least nod, or try to smile. Was there something wrong with talking-

"Hey! Stop moving, you freak!" A crewmate angrily calls out to the Lapras from the other side of the ship.

"You're going to be the death of all of us if you keep this up!" Another one cried out.

Sparks looks back at the Lapras, who seems to take a sigh of relief. "What's wrong? Isn't it a good thing that you can talk to somemon like me?" Sparks asks.

An idea comes to his head. "I know, you could say something so that everymon can release you, and you can go back home!"

The Transport Pokemon takes a few seconds to think what Sparks said to her.

She then takes a breath in, gets ready, and says, "Did...got hurt." It said with a sad look as it turns it's head to face a whip. "They don't want talk. They want...no talk."

Sparks stares at the whip, and feels chills go down his spine. He turns back to the Lapras. It's not trying to say...

"Want home, want help, want...you." It says, with tears in its eyes.

"H-help..." Sparks says to himself. He then thinks about those words the Lapras had just said, but he doesn't know what to think anymore!

Was the Lapras...captured?! Was it only trying to only escape and not hurt anyone?! But what about Gator? He said that the Ice-Type crashed into his ship! Unless he was the one lying! Or does this Lapras just want to attack everyone? Could it be the one that's lying?!

Sparks takes a few more steps back, he can't believe the past hour of his life! From his brother yelling at him, to this?! Sparks was starting to get a headache from it all.

The Lapras starts to panic as it doesn't want Sparks to leave! It tries to move its neck in a way that it can stop Sparks from leaving, but not too much that the crewmates would notice.

Sparks turns his body from the Pokemon and starts to walk away from the Wild Pokemon. But only after a few steps he turns his head back toward the turtle. Sparks takes a long look at its face. It's face can only looks like it has pain and sadness, with tears in it's eye, and while her mouth is mostly hidden, he knows there's a frown that had fear all over it.

It didn't want to stay on the ship anymore. It wants to leave.

Sparks kept staring at the face, and took it all in. The Lapras needed his help, he knew it. That wasn't the look of somemon who would lie, right?

"You're going to Red Current tomorrow at dusk, right?" He asked. The Lapras started to show a slight sign of hope on its face, it nodded. Sparks gave the trapped Pokemon a smile to try to tell it that he was going to come back, and it seemed to work, as the Pokemon's face started to slowly get a smile of it's own.

He then turned away from the ship, and continued walking down the dock. Had he really just done that? Did he agree to free the- "Hey! Who's there?" A familiar voice said to Sparks. Sparks turned his head to see a huge box with supplies covering the face of...Gator!

Sparks gulped, but answered the captain's question first. "It's just me, Sparks. I'm gonna go back home now." Sparks said in a nervous tone.

Gator paused for a moment, which only made Sparks worry more, Gator didn't see him talking to the Lapras, did he? Finally, Gator spoke, "Oh, alright. Guess you should go back to see your brother. I take it that you enjoyed the Lapras?"

Sparks froze when Gator mentioned 'Lapras' However, Sparks still replied. "It was good. In fact, really cool. Thanks again for letting me see it!" Sparks tried to say in the most normal way possible.

"You're welcome! Hopefully you can come back aboard soon! It's nice to see the wonders of this world at a young age. Nothing like it." Gator said with a glad voice, but then stopped. "Could you, maybe move a little out of the way, Sparks?" The Water-Type asked.

Sparks' ears went up, realizing that he was blocking off the Captain. "Right! Sorry!" He said as he moved to the side to let the Feraligatr pass by him.

"Thank you, and have a good day!" Gator said as he passed by Sparks. Sparks felt his heart get heavier as he looked at the Captain whistling a happy tune while walking back to his ship. Sparks then wondered if the Lapras really was in trouble, I mean, Gator's such a kind Pokemon...right?

He then thought back to the look the Wild Pokemon gave him, which made something inside his heart tell him that it was the right thing to free the Lapras. Sparks made up his mind, and turned away from the ship to head back home. He knew that this was going to be a long night.

"Thank you, Bolt!" A Dugtrio said with a newly delivered package on top of it's head.

"No problem. Just doing my job." Bolt replied with a smile. The Luxio then turned back and looked at his now empty mailbag. He let out a sigh of relief.

Bolt had never felt so peaceful in his life! He felt like he could smile forever as all of his problems felt like nothing to him anymore. Even with Sparks giving Bolt another mailbag, it didn't feel like he had more mail to deliver, in fact, it felt like he delivered it all in record time! He should have yelled at Sparks months ago!

Ok, maybe that's a little too much, but it still felt good to not only let that off his chest, but that he also was alone for the first time in what felt like forever.

"And, that is, EVERYTHING! Ha, ha!" Bolt thought to himself with the biggest smile he could make. "And now, after so much time with that Pichu, it's time to have some fun! To the party!" Bolt said in his head.

*Growl*

The lion looked down, oh ya. "On second thought, home first, then party." He said in a less happy tone. As he walked down the street to go back on his way home.

A door flew open as a dash of lightning came into the house. Sparks then, just as fast as he entered, closed the door, and ran straight into his room in a blink of an eye. He closed his door, got a few pieces of paper from his wooden desk next to his nest, snatched a pencil, and sat down on the ground. He knew if he was going to help the Lapras, he'd have to have a plan, and plan it out very carefully.

"Alright." He began, as he started to draw on one of his papers. "That Lapras needs my help. So, I need to think about this. Step by step. The ship leaves tomorrow at dusk, so if I'm going to help it, it'll have to be tonight. And Mom and Dad don't come back until at least noon tomorrow so they can't help me, and Bolt..." He pauses as he draws him on his paper.

"No!" He says as he writes a huge 'NO' on Bolt. He looks at his paper, and realizes something. He has to do this by himself...tonight.

Sparks' ears go down knowing how hard it might be all by himself, but then his Dad's motto comes to his mind. "We help those who can't help themselves." Sparks takes a breath in. "Dad would do this. Wild or not, I'm sure he would! So that means that I should too!" He said as he stood up.

He starts to write the ship from his memory, and goes through how he can free the Lapras. He remembers that the Lapras was tied up so he would need to cut the ropes, he would also need to be quiet in case there were crewmates watching the Lapras. Thank goodness he's the 'Tiny Mouse Pokemon.'. But then after he frees the Lapras, he'd have to get away from the ship before they could catch them.

Now that he thought more about it, where would they even go? Does the Lapras even know how to get home? Or would they need a map? Wait, how would a map really even help them out? Sparks decided to figure out the 'where to go after they're free' part out last.

He was drawing plans for what felt like hours and didn't leave his room or even eat, as he couldn't really afford to lose time when he had to figure out a plan. He ended up making a few more plans in case something wasn't like he thought it was, and make even more plans in case something went wrong.

Suddenly, Sparks heard the front door open and close. He didn't know who it was until he looked at the sun outside.

The sun's almost down. Bolt's back! He starts to panic in his mind as he shoves his papers under his nest, hopefully Bolt wouldn't see them, I mean, he wouldn't come into his room and look under his nest, right?

Bolt walks into his home and then towards the kitchen and sees two salads with a small note from his Mom reading: "To my two mailmon, hope you had a great day working together and have a fun time at the party together!"

Bolt felt a little sick reading the note, why did Mom have to say it like that!? Does she think it turned out ok, or did she know that something would go wrong, and then wrote it just to add salt to the wound. Bolt just threw the note to the side and grabbed a salad bowl with his mouth and walked down the hallway, past Sparks' room, and into his own room, and began eating it, which it wouldn't take him too long to finish it.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Sparks' door. Sparks continues to put his things away as fast as he can, while also trying his best to stay quiet. "Please leave, please leave, PLEASE LEAVE!" Sparks thought. It was already bad when Bolt found out about him feeding the Wild Pokemon, but a plan to break out a Wild Lapras that he just met, from a Captain who seemed very nice and friendly? Well, he'd be lucky to even survive that one

! He grabbed the last piece of paper and was just about to put it away, when Sparks' door knocked. The Pichu's heart stopped, as he froze in place. He realized he hadn't locked the door, meaning that Bolt could just waltz in and end him if he saw anything weird.

"H-hello?" He asked.

Bolt put his paw down and then put his head down. Was he really going to say this? But he decided to put his doubts aside.

"Hey Sparks." Bolt started on the other side of the door. Sparks swallowed and closed his eyes. He didn't know what to say, or if he should even say anything. All he wanted was for his brother to just leave. "Enjoy tonight, cause you're gonna have a BAD time tomorrow!" Bolt said laughing as he walked away from Sparks' door and toward the front door.

"Yep, that was worth it!" Bolt thought to himself. It felt good to say that. Revenge has never been so sweet! Bolt then opened the front door and closed it.

Sparks then fell to the ground and almost fainted out of relief as Bolt had finally left the house. "Thank...goodness he didn't come in." He then got up, and grabbed all of his stuff from under his nest, and continued working on his plans.

But then another thing came to Sparks' mind, something he thought of before, but didn't think about it long enough: What would his parents think about this? He doubts he'd be back in time before they would come back.

The Electric-Type then banged his head on the ground. He hadn't thought what he was going to do about that!

A Thunderbolt went across the night sky, as a crowd of schoolmons gasped. The lightning hit a Metang right in it's steel face and fell to the ground.

"Critical hit!" Bolt proudly stated as he smiled at his now tried out opponent.

"I'm not...DONE YET!" The Steel type yelled as it tried to get up.

"Really, cause it looks like you are." Bolt thought. The Luxio then charged at the Pokemon with his tail starting to glow.

But then the Metang put up its metal claws fast and screamed, "AGHHHH!", as it charged at Bolt in a furious tone.

Bolt didn't think that he would get up so fast, and tried to stop to get out of the way. However, he wasn't fast enough as the Metang's claws slammed into Bolt's chest, and both Pokemon were then headed into the direction from where Bolt had just come from.

They were in the air for a few seconds, until, finally, they both slammed into the ground, leaving a big dent in the process. Bolt slowly started to move out from under the Metang's claws. He was hurt, but he needed to get back up and use his Iron Tail before his opponent would try to strike him again.

Bolt moved his bruised body out from the iron claws. However, when he got up onto his feet and looked at his opponent, he saw that it had fainted. "Must have used Take Down, heh." Bolt chuckled as he turned to see his classmates.

"Bolt wins!" A Pawniard called out. The crowd of classmates then cheered on Bolt, which made him feel painless. However, when he started to move from the battle, he started to realize where his opponent slammed into him.

Right in the chest, eh, he could just walk it off...maybe.

Bolt continued to slowly walk away from the Steel Type, when an Oran Berry appeared in front of his face.

"H-here Bolt!" Another Luxio says with her cheeks completely red.

"Oh, uh, thanks Lucky." Bolt says as he takes the berry off her paws. Bolt then takes a few bites out of it and immediately starts to feel his chest heal.

"You...r-really did a good job out there. Have you fought before?" Lucky asks.

Bolt can't help but smile at the compliment. "Oh ya, from other fights with classmates to Wild Pokemon." He said as he swallowed the last part of the berry.

"Did your Dad teach you?"

"Ya, he did most of my training, but my Mom also help me out too because, you know, she's a Luxray."

"Has Sparks had any training?" Bolt gave a weird look to the lion, but then he continues. "Eh, not much. To be honest, I think Sparks is going to ditch fighting to find out a bunch of stupid facts." Bolt then laughs, however Lucky doesn't seem to understand (or like) the Electric Type's joke.

She then takes a breath. "Is he here?"

Bolt was shocked by her question and almost growls at her, as this was supposed to be the night where he'd get away from Sparks. She didn't know what happened, did she?

However, he puts his anger aside and replies. "No, he's at home. He wanted to stay home...I don't know why. Why do you want to know?"

Lucky started to have her cheeks go red again. "I-I was just curious if you brought him here because, you know, cause he's your brother."

Bolt looks at Lucky's red face one more time, and then turns away from her and walks the other direction. "Well no, I still didn't bring him." Bolt says in a slightly mad tone. He didn't want to think about the Pichu.

Lucky only had her ears and tail down, as she watches Bolt walk away from her.

"Wow Lucky. You did it." Another female voice says.

Lucky turns her head around to see two of her friends coming to her. An Emolga and a Manectric, with the former landing its small body on Lucky's head. She then looks toward where Bolt walked away.

"You confessed your feelings...about Sparks. Who knew you liked him more than Bolt. Is it because of his 'shocking' good grades?" The Sky Squirrel joked as she now looks down at Lucky's red face.

"T-that's not what I was doing!" Lucky said with her cheeks being even more red than what they already were. "I wanted to ask Sparks what Bolt likes, so that I could...you know!"

Lucky's two friends look at each other with the same annoyed looks on their faces. Then the Manectric turns her head to Lucky.

"Or maybe, you could ask him yourself what he likes?" She says.

"But Rachel, I don't even think he likes me at all! You saw how he just walked away from me!"

"That's because you act like a total loser whenever you talk to him." The Emolga said as she started to laugh.

"Evergreen!" Rachel yelled at the Emolga.

"N-no, she's right." Lucky says as she puts her head down in a defeated tone. "I have been nothing but a loser around Bolt. I just can't stop being nervous around him!"

Rachel walks up to the Luxio. "Would it help if I told him that you liked him?" She asked.

Lucky shaked her head. "No, if anyone should tell him, it would have to be me. Could you imagine if he said that he liked me back, but I wasn't the one who told him that I like him?!"

"Then tell him already." Evergreen said.

"I'm trying to!" Lucky said.

"Well try faster! You said it yourself that you don't want to spend the whole summer just sitting around thinking about going out with Bolt!" Evergreen yells at the Lion.

"Shhh!" The other two girls say to the squirrel. Thankfully, the noise that the boys were making made it hard to make out what the Sky Squirrel Pokemon said.

"Well, you did say that." Evergreen whispered as she turned her head away from her friends. Lucky then turns her body to the side, and makes Evergreen fall flat in her face.

"Fine! I'll tell you what. Tomorrow morning, I'm going to walk straight to his house and tell him how I feel." Lucky says as she triumphantly looks at the Emolga.

"You do realize you can just tell him now, right?" The Squirrel states as she puts her head up.

"Can't I just enjoy tonight first?!" The Luxio says as she covers her head with her paws.

Sparks laid in his bed, but he wasn't going to go to sleep, he was waiting for Bolt to come home and hit the hay so he could leave.

Sparks had spent every moment he could planning for tonight, he had dozens of plans ready, some tools that he needed, all of which he got from his house, a mask, and plenty of back up plans. However, the hardest part of the plan was what would happen after they broke out. Sparks had a book that he got from the library when he wanted to see where Treasure Town was, but it also had some more maps that showed the entire island.

And on one of them, it showed multiple currents that were not only lead toward Treasure Town, but even smaller ones that were far too small for Gator's ship. Sparks planned to go into one of the currents so that he can get away from Gator, try to see if he can get the Lapras to say where it's home was, and then go there.

Sure, that sounds like it would work, but Sparks also knew there were Wingulls in the crew, so he would have to find a way to lose them. He would also need to avoid Gator at all costs!

Sure, he was just a Pichu, but breaking into anyone's ship would make them furious. He also needed to find a way back to HIS home after he returned the Lapras to it's home. That is, if it knew where it's home was?

Sparks planned to use his own Poke to buy a ride back home from another small boat, or have a Pidgeot Flyer fly him back. But that was an even more flawed idea, and while Sparks had convinced himself that he would be back by tomorrow night, even he knew that wouldn't be the case.

Sparks didn't want to think about getting back home, or Gator, or even his parents look when he would finally get back home. Oh, and there was also Bolt, but then again, would he even care about Sparks running away?

But what if Gator saw him? What if he couldn't break out the Lapras? What if he got lost? What if he just left the Lapras alone, and just went to bed right-

Sparks shook his head, where did that thought come from!? That Pokemon won't hurt him, right? Sparks felt his eyes get heavy. He had to do this...right?

Sparks thought through it again, maybe this was too much for him.

"Just go back to sleep and don't do it, you could lose so much if you fail. You wouldn't want to miss out on going to Treasure Town would you?" He heard a part of him say.

Sparks started to tear up in stress, every second closer to his break out just felt like more doubts started to come into his head. He didn't want to make his parents mad at him, but as he thought back to the Lapras, he thought about the pain it would go through if he didn't help it. He thought of the tears, the face, the marks on its fins.

He had to do this, he just had to! No buts, no ifs, no-

The front door suddenly opened. Bolt's back home.

Sparks, however, took this moment to focus on any sound the Spark Pokemon made.

Bolt slowly walk toward his room. He could barely keep his eyes open, after all the battling, the food, and the walk back home, the only thing he wanted to do was to fall onto his nest face first, and fall asleep.

What time was it again? Wait, maybe he wouldn't want to find that out. The very tired Pokemon then opened his bedroom door, walked into his room, and fell face first into his nest, just as planned.

Sparks heard a thump in Bolt's room. And only a few moments later, he heard loud snoring coming from Bolt's room.

"Just like last year." Sparks says in an annoyed tone. Sparks then looked to his left to see his window. He took one more deep breath in, and made up his mind.

"I'm coming, Lapras." Sparks said as he felt his strength come back into his body. The Pichu then opened his window, went through it, and landed into the ground right outside his house.

He looked back at the house one more time. He wasn't scared, he wasn't weak, he was going to free that Lapras.

Sparks walked away from his house with only the moon lighting his way, but as he got farther, he heard his window suddenly jerk into the wall.

Sparks quickly looked back, expecting it to be his brother, but only found nothing.

"Must've been the wind." He said as his sense of fear went away. The Pichu then ran off into the night, determined to follow his plan.