Chapter 42 - Take Action

"All right, all right. Explain everything again. Slowly."

Sparks glanced over at Carmen who had just spoken, and then down at Ziggy. The nervous Buizel was the centre of attention, but it was something that couldn't be helped. Carmen, Terry, Rico, Danika and himself all sat in a private meeting room in the guild, and the air was thick with tension.

Ziggy gulped. "It was a big, big room…" he said, "Not a small dark room like I first remembered. There was a whole bunch of stuff everywhere, but there were no windows. The only light came from lights hanging from the ceiling. Dr. Hilo wasn't the only one there. There were a bunch of Pokémon running around, all in white coats like his, but none of them were paying any attention to me…

"Even though I was screaming…only Dr. Hilo acted like I was there, and only sometimes."

Sparks bit his lip hard, causing it to bleed. He could feel a bubbling feeling of rage welling up within him.

"I couldn't see very much because I was strapped to the table…" Ziggy continued, "but when I turned my head to the right, I saw it…I didn't know what it was because this was before it showed up in the park, but now I know…It was the Nihilego."

Everyone else in the room shared dark looks with one another. Even Danika shared the same look of dread.

"It was like this big…big glass tube…Well, maybe 'tube' isn't the right word. Just, like, this big round glass wall built into the far wall. And it was in there, just floating there and not doing anything. The Nihilego… It had a bunch of things stuck to it. Wires, I guess. There were screens kind of like the ones on Danika's computer showing a bunch of stuff, and there were Pokémon standing outside of the glass watching it."

Sparks held a paw to his head, feeling like it was being crushed by a Kingler's pincer. Based on what Ziggy was describing, wherever he had been abducted to also had the Nihilego in it. More than that, the Nihilego was apparently captured there, and multiple Pokémon were aware of it. It sounded like the Pokémon there might have even been studying it. And all of this was from before the strange beast had made its first appearance in Edwards Memorial Park. Sparks couldn't wrap his head around it; it made no sense.

"While Dr. Hilo was doing…stuff to me…" Ziggy said as a shiver ran through his body, "he did walk over to the…'case' or whatever with the Nihilego in it a couple of times. He looked at it too, and he talked to the other Pokémon that were there."

Ziggy was then silent for a few seconds before finally saying, "That's…all there is, I guess. It didn't do anything. It just stayed in its…case thing the whole time."

Everyone else looked at each other with wide eyes. The silence in the room was deafening; nobody could seem to bring themselves to say anything. Rico, with a paw to the side of his head, eventually spoke up. "So…what does this mean?"

The Riolu's questions brought Sparks back down to earth for a moment. He cleared his throat before speaking in a serious tone to the others. "It means that Hilo has some connection with the Nihilego. He has known about its existence since before the rest of the public did. He either has it confined somewhere, or had it confined at the time and hasn't told anybody. It means he has Pokémon working for him who are keeping this a secret as well."

More heavy silence followed.

"What this suggests," Sparks continued, "is that Hilo was studying the Nihilego, considering it was in what sounds like an observation chamber with wires and computer equipment hooked up."

"But…how?" Terry suddenly blurted out, "When that thing showed up in the park, it took the entire city by surprise. The entire world! Nobody had ever seen anything like it before!"

"That's not completely true…" Sparks replied.

"Huh?"

His expression briefly grew dark. "The residents of Dewdrop Island saw it…"

Sparks could practically feel the chilly wave that swept through the room.

Rico then asked, "So what are you saying? After Dewdrop, the Nihilego…somehow came into Hilo's possession and he's been keeping it in a secret underground laboratory for years and years?"

"That's…one possibility," Sparks admitted, "but it's also possible that Hilo merely captured it briefly around the time Ziggy got kidnapped, and then when it showed up in the park, it had actually escaped."

"Or been released…" Carmen commented.

"We have no idea how long it had been in there before Ziggy saw it," Sparks continued, "and we don't know what the Nihilego's status was after it showed up in the park. All we know is that Hilo had it before the rest of the city found out about it."

"And that alone is troubling…" Carmen said grimly, "For such a dangerous and unknown creature, there is no benign reason I can think of that he would capture it and study it, but not reveal its existence to anybody else until it attacked our guildmate and stole his memories."

Sparks saw a haunted look pass over Rico's face for just a brief second.

Carmen then turned to the young Buizel again and asked, "Ziggy, just how many Pokémon did you see in this place?"

Ziggy frowned and replied, "Um…Besides Dr. Hilo, I think maybe…five or six? Maybe eight? Less than ten for sure…"

"That's the other thing," Sparks said as he crossed his forelimbs, "Ziggy's memories of this event became much clearer, so we know now that Ziggy was definitely kidnapped and held against his will in this place by Hilo. This wasn't a case of Hilo trying to save him from the Gengar or anything like that. There was definite malicious intent."

Ziggy nodded demurely. "Nobody was caring for me. They just did stuff and they took my blood and stuck stuff onto me. Dr. Hilo wouldn't say anything to me, but he just looked at me with this scary look." He sighed softly. "The same way a lot of others look at me…"

Sparks frowned and asked, "What do you mean by that?"

"Y'know…The look shiny-haters give me. When they look down at me like I'm nothing. Like I'm not a Pokémon and something less than that."

"I knew he was a chromaphobe…" Sparks grumbled.

When an uncomfortable silence pervaded the room again, Terry sat up suddenly and said, "So...we're gonna do something this time, right? We're gonna go arrest him? …Right?"

Sparks looked to Carmen for an answer, and the Braixen wore a conflicted look. "Given what we know, which is unfortunately not much," she finally replied, "I think it is clear that Dr. Hilo has some things he needs to answer for. Harbouring that Nihilego at a point before it appeared in the park can only mean so many things, and none of them are good. Unfortunately, from a legal standpoint anyway, I still don't think there's anything we can do regarding Ziggy's kidnapping. It still happened too long ago and there's no concrete proof. The Nihilego is another matter altogether."

Terry sat up even straighter, his tail wagging a bit. "So let's go get him!"

Sparks looked at the Eevee in surprise. "A little eager, Terry?"

"I'm eager for justice!" he proclaimed, which made Rico snicker softly.

Carmen held a paw to her forehead and furrowed her brow, looking like she was deep in thought.

"It's not that simple, is it?" Sparks asked her.

The Braixen shook her head. "The first and foremost problem is that we have no idea where this windowless room was that Ziggy and the Nihilego were in."

"It's gotta be under his lab, right?" Rico asked. Sparks could hear a touch of excitement in his voice too.

"A basement wasn't part of the tour when I went there," Sparks explained, "so I don't have any proof against that claim." He then turned his head and glanced over at the Pokémon who hadn't said a single word in the last five minutes. "You've been there more than I have, Dani. Is there a basement?"

The Sneasel had been looking distinctly uncomfortable the entire time, and Sparks couldn't blame her. She had tried her best in the past few days to advocate for Dr. Hilo and prove his innocence, but that battle was all but lost now. When she replied to his question, she didn't even lift her head to look at him. "There was no basement. No stairs or elevator or any way down. The ground floor was the lowest."

"So a secret underground lab then!" Rico proclaimed, "Probably a hidden elevator somewhere to get down to it. Maybe everything on the top floor is fake just to keep up appearances!"

"Rico, slow down," Carmen cut in sternly, "This is all theories. This room could be anywhere. Really, the only thing we know, based on how long Ziggy was missing for, is that it's likely within Radiant City boundaries."

"Well still, it'd be the first place I'd check," Rico remarked.

Sparks rolled his eyes. "Oh yeah. 'Hey, we'd like to check and see if your lab has a secret basement. No reason why.'"

"What we also don't know…" Carmen said, cutting off the banter before it could begin, "…is whether or not Hilo still has the Nihilego. If he's still using this room that Ziggy was taken to, is the Nihilego still there? Even if we manage to find this 'secret lab' and show it to the police, what would happen if the Nihilego simply wasn't there anymore?"

"Besides us looking like fools…" Sparks replied, "It would give Hilo or whoever is working for him a very easy chance to up security around where it is now, or just move it somewhere else."

"That certainly wouldn't be good…"

"And furthermore," Sparks continued, "Even if the Nihilego was still in a basement under the lab, it probably wouldn't do to just show up at the front door with the police force. In that short amount of time Hilo could easily cover up the entrance to the basement, get the Nihilego out through some secret passage, or even just hide it from view somehow. He could have a Zoroark hiding down there for all we know, casting an illusion to hide the tank." Sparks closed his eyes and shuddered softly as a few bad memories barged through his mind.

"So what're we supposed to do?" Terry asked in an incensed tone, "Just wait for it to attack again and then follow it home?"

"No," Sparks replied, "and that's the other thing! We know that the Nihilego can…'teleport', for lack of a better term, through these weird portals in the air. That could be how it gets in and out of this secret room. Hilo might even have control over them somehow. That would make it extremely easy to get it out of sight even if the police quickly raid the basement…"

"Gee whiz…" Rico groaned, "We're never gonna find a solution if you keep poking holes in our plan with your precious logic, Sparks."

Sparks gave him a glib look. "It's called 'experience', rookie."

"But we have to do something!" Terry proclaimed, "If there's even a possibility that Hilo has some connection with the Nihilego, we have to follow it! What if he's behind the whole thing?"

"…You think Hilo is controlling the Nihilego?" Carmen asked in an eerily serious tone.

"I hate to agree," Sparks replied instead, "but it makes the most sense based on what we know. Hilo had the Nihilego under his control, and then less than a month later it attacked and he didn't reveal anything about his prior knowledge, nor has he done so up to this point. It's the only explanation that makes any sense…"

"But how?" Rico asked incredulously, "I know he's a brilliant scientist, but how could he be in control of something like that? To do that he'd have to control the portals, and how would he do that? How did he find this thing in the first place?"

"None of that matters right now," Carmen cut in, "We need to find the Nihilego. There's a very good chance Hilo still has it contained somewhere, so we need to find where that is. At the very least, we need to find the room Ziggy was taken to."

The sound of a chair being moved caught everyone's attention. The group all looked up and cast surprised glances at the Pokémon who was heading towards the door.

"Dani?" Sparks called to her in concern.

The Sneasel reached the door and laid a claw on its handle. She paused, sighed forlornly, and simply said, "Good luck, you guys."

"Danika, where are you going?" Terry asked.

"I…can't really handle this. I'm just going to go back to my room. If you guys come up with a plan of action, you'll have to count me out I'm afraid."

"Will you be okay?" Rico asked.

"I don't know. I feel like my world is turning upside-down. I've learned that a very close colleague who I look up to, admire, respect, and call a friend is actually a kidnapper and possibly behind the deadly Nihilego attacks. That…hurts. A lot. So, I'm just gonna leave this up to you guys…"

Everyone glanced at one another with frowns, but then all simply looked back at Danika and gave her a nod. Sparks truly felt bad for her, but he knew that this was probably the best course of action. This was too personal of a matter for her.

Before Danika could leave, Ziggy quickly stood up and rushed over to her. He wrapped her up in a tight hug, which caught her by surprise. "I'm sorry, Danika," he said to her, "I hope you feel better. Tell me if I can help at all…"

Danika looked wordlessly at the Buizel for a few moments before finally hugging him back. "Don't be sorry," she said softly, "Just…figure this out, okay?"

Ziggy looked up at her and nodded. "We'll try."

The Sneasel then looked up at the others and said, "Don't worry. I won't try to get in your way or anything, and I won't tell anybody else. I just want to be alone right now…"

Carmen nodded and said, "Thank you. Take tomorrow off if you want."

With that, Danika could do no more but sigh and quietly leave the room. The door closed behind her, sounding five times as loud as it actually was among the deafening silence of the room.

Five Pokémon remained in the room. Ziggy slowly made his way back over to the group and sat down, but for a while everyone was quiet. Carmen eventually cleared her throat and said, "Where were we, then?"

Sparks felt his heart ache for Danika and what she was going through, but he knew that there were unfortunately more important things to focus on at the moment. "Right…" he said, trying to adopt a more serious tone, "We need to find the room and/or the Nihilego, hopefully in the same place."

"'Hopefully'?" Terry remarked in surprise.

"Well, it would make things simpler, if nothing else…"

"We need to think of way to discretely do that…" Carmen informed with a glance at all of them.

Sparks skewed his lips and thought about the question, but nothing came to him. "The only thing I can think of is to have Ziggy get kidnapped again, and there's no way in hell we're doing that."

"Obviously," Carmen agreed.

"Could we get a Ghost-Type to, y'know, go through the ground?" Rico asked, "Y'know, sink down into the ground and poke his head in to see if there's a basement?"

Carmen gave a flat look at nothing in particular for a moment. "Risky," she commented, "and if this really is a secret place to hold the Nihilego, it very likely has measures in place to prevent nosey Ghost-Types from peeking in.

"That would be illegal anyway," she concluded.

"Does that matter at this point?" Sparks retorted, sounding a little hotter than he meant it.

Rico then sat up straighter, ears and tail perked up. "What about the away team?" he asked, "Aren't they studying the Nihilego anyway? Or chasing it, or whatever?"

"Hmm…" Sparks mumbled in thought, "Have they made any significant advancements?"

"I didn't require them to provide detailed daily reports," Carmen said, "I wanted them to focus on their work and only inform me if necessary. They might be able to help, and this would be pertinent information as it relates to the Nihilego…"

Sparks frowned, though. "If they have a way they could help, don't you think they would have found it already?"

"Radiant City is huge, Sparks," Carmen countered, "And furthermore, what reason would they have had to check the lab owned by someone who's supposed to be studying these things in the first place?"

"Fair points, I suppose…I guess that's probably our best course of action right now, hm?"

Carmen nodded authoritatively. "All right, then. I'll contact the group and schedule a meeting with them as soon as possible. Sparks, be ready to come with me to this meeting whenever it happens. And Ziggy, you should probably come too."

Ziggy gulped but said, "Okay."

"Hey!" Terry cut in suddenly, "We wanna come too!" When Carmen gave him a look, he added, "We wanna catch this thing just as badly as everyone else does, so we wanna help as much as we can." Beside him, Rico nodded in agreement. Terry hadn't even consulted him, yet he had spoken for the both of them with such confidence.

Sparks looked over at the young couple. At first he was confused, but then he realized that these two Pokémon had perhaps the most investment out of anyone to see this creature dealt with. Rico in particular looked like he had a thousand emotions on his face at the same time.

"All right," Carmen said in agreement, "but the same goes for all of you as I asked of Danika. Don't let word of this get out just yet. We don't have all the facts and we don't want to risk losing a potential upper paw in this."

Everyone nodded.

It was the next day, yet Sparks found himself in the same position as before. He was sitting in another room surrounded by concerned Pokémon, only there were more of them now.

Carmen had taken himself, Ziggy and the new mates over to a nondescript building in the heart of the city that looked like it had once been a simple office building. This was one of the 'bases' that had been set up by the guild for the away team to use while they conducted their work regarding the Nihilego. Sparks could see that many of the smaller office rooms had been converted into quick but comfortable places to sleep.

Now, they sat in another of the rooms around a table, with the sun shining in through the window. Danika was no longer with them, but they were now joined by two familiar faces; a Sylveon and a Pidgeot. Carmen had just finished briefing them on the new developments.

"Wow…" Jules murmured, "Wild..."

"I'm sorry you had to go through that, Ziggy," Tora said, extending a wing to briefly give Ziggy a gentle hug.

"So we need to find this thing, and we need to find it fast," Carmen stated, "How quickly can Javier and Shay get back?"

Jules frowned and said, "They're both off in other cities chasing leads, which I guess we know now are dead ends. Shay is hurrying back, but Javier probably won't be back until tomorrow night."

"We need to figure out where this room is," Sparks said, a sense of urgency in his tone, "Even if the Nihilego isn't in that room anymore, there's bound to be important clues there."

"Well, it's gotta be under his lab. Right?" Jules said with a slight tilt of his head.

"We don't know that," Sparks countered.

"I mean, it makes sense that it'd be there," Jules shot right back, "If this Hilo guy is doing secret science work, he probably wouldn't want it too far away from his actual lab, y'know where all of his resources are."

"There's no record of there being a basement under that lab," Carmen remarked, "I had Danika check the public records on her computer."

"Well, no duh. It's a secret basement lab."

Sparks shook his head. This was getting off track. "So, your team hasn't developed any way to track the Nihilego then? Nothing like Psychic energy traces or anything?"

Tora shook her head. "No, unfortunately not," she said, "We tried working with a few Psychics, but it never went anywhere."

"I was hoping we could just stand behind the lab and use some sort of method to detect if the Nihilego was right below us…"

"You guys are overcomplicating this!" Jules spoke up suddenly, "We just have to go and figure out if there's a basement under the lab!"

"But, Jules-" Sparks started.

"Do you have any other leads?" Jules barked, "Any other whims or ideas where this secret room could possibly be? If we look for the basement under the lab and it's not there, well that'll put us in the same position as we are anyway; without any idea of where to look. At least under the lab makes sense and is worth checking out!"

Sparks quietly stared at the Sylveon for a few seconds. He tried to think of a good retort, but after a moment he simply put a paw to his chin and glanced downwards. "You…might have a point…" he admitted.

Jules grinned. "'Course I do!"

Terry then leaned in and asked, "But how're we s'posed to figure out if there's a basement or not? We already ruled out digging and Ghost-Types, so how would we do it?"

"We'd have to do it in secret…" Rico commented, "We'd have to be sneaky."

Sparks looked at the couple in surprise. "Are you suggesting we break into the lab somehow and sneak around inside to see if we can find anything? Are you nuts?"

Terry and Rico briefly shared a glance, before both looking up at the Raichu with a serious look. "Do you have any other ideas?" Rico asked.

"That sounds like the best course of action to me, too," Jules chimed in, "It makes the most sense."

"It's also highly illegal," Carmen sternly cut in.

Sparks glanced at Carmen for a moment, looking at her disapproving face, then over at Jules and the couple. He frowned and then returned his gaze to Carmen. "It's…not the first time the guild has acted illegally in the name of good…"

Carmen didn't reply, though Sparks could swear he saw her eye twitch slightly.

"They do make fair arguments," Tora said, "We find ourselves in an extraordinary situation with a potentially volatile set of circumstances. In basic terms, we have to think of Dr. Hilo as being in possession of a deadly weapon that he could unleash at any moment on the unsuspecting public. Now that we have sound belief that he is a Pokémon of interest in this, we need to act quickly, carefully and decisively."

Sparks frowned and looked off at nothing for a moment. He also wasn't terribly eager about the idea of doing something so illegal, but it might be their only option. When no-one said anything else after a few moments, he let out a grumbling sigh and spoke up. "All right. For the sake of argument, let's say we're going ahead with this plan. How would we do it?"

Everyone was quiet for a moment as they considered the question. Eventually Terry raised a paw. "What if we send in someone pretending to be, like, a building inspector? Then it wouldn't look suspicious if they were poking around."

"Still too risky," Sparks said with a shake of his head, "The moment anyone he doesn't trust gets too close, he'll likely move the Nihilego or block it off further."

Jules nodded in agreement. "Right," he said, "So…It's gotta be secret."

Sparks wore a troubled look on his face. "Then that's just a different kind of risky…Even if someone got inside in secret, they'd have no idea where to look and there might not even be anything to find."

"Well…" Jules said, pausing slightly as he thought about the problem, "In that case, maybe we don't have to do the looking."

"Huh?"

"We get eyes inside the building," he explained, "and keep watch for whenever Hilo exits his secret basement lab. It'll both confirm its existence and show where the entrance is."

Sparks regarded the Sylveon in silence for a moment. Slowly, his frown was replaced by an intrigued look. "Interesting…"

Jules grinned proudly. "Yeah! Let him do all the work for us."

"But wait…" Rico cut in, "What if he doesn't come out of the lab? For all we know, he could spend days down there. It's a good idea, but leaving 'eyes' inside of the building for such a long time could definitely be a problem."

"Well, we make him come out," Jules remarked.

"'Make' him?"

"Just give him some reason that he has to come out. Jiuji Labs is still a public place, right? I'm sure he has to come up to the front door if someone's there asking for him."

Sparks' ears perked up. "That's right," he said, with a touch more energy in his voice, "He came up to the front desk that time I went to the labs."

"Great!" Jules proclaimed, "So we just do that again! Get eyes on the inside, and then Sparks waltzes into the front door and says he has to speak with Hilo. Maybe get some guild documents drafted up or whatever. Whoever's inside will watch as Hilo exits his secret lab and then we'll know where it is!"

Rico sat up excitedly. "That just might work! Wow! Great job, Jules!"

"Heh," Jules said with a smirk, "Expect anything less?"

"This is great!" Terry chimed in, "We'll just make it something super important that he has to come up and see it! Maybe something he needs to sign!"

"STOP!"

Everyone flinched, ears all splaying against skulls, as the loud shout resounded through the room. Slowly, meekly, everyone turned to look at the very incensed Pokémon who had spoken.

"You are all getting way ahead of yourselves!" Carmen barked, "I must have missed the point when I gave authorization for such a brazen plan to even go forward. Breaking and entering is one thing, and now you want to add forgery to the list of crimes?"

A moment of uncomfortable silence permeated the room for a moment as everyone shared a glance like a group of scolded cubs. Sparks frowned and looked back at her. "Sorry, Carmen…" he said, and then everyone else mumbled quiet apologies as well.

Carmen sighed heavily and brought a paw to her face so she could pinch the bridge of her muzzle in frustration. "Look…I do agree that this is a very urgent matter that we need to address, but you're all being willfully ignorant of the consequences of what you're planning. This is all well and good if the secret room and the Nihilego are there, but what about if they're not? And, more importantly, what are you going to do if you get caught?"

A few grim and troubled expressions were shared between the group.

"I…can't condone what you're all planning. I can't support it…" Carmen then glanced off to the side, her ears lowering as well. "At the same time, though…I do admit I don't have any other ideas."

"We understand, Carmen," Sparks said, giving the Braixen a sad smile, "These are weird circumstances. This isn't the kind of thing you trained for when you became a Guildmaster, and we all know you're just trying to watch our backs."

There was a brief moment of quiet, and then Rico spoke up. "I still say we should go for it…"

"Of course you do…" Carmen grumbled and then sighed again. "I do hope you all realize that what you're proposing is very risky."

"For sure," Sparks replied, "But in terms of the risk factor related to the Nihilego itself, in regards to being able to find it and secure it without it being taken away, this is the least risky."

"I wouldn't be able to approve such a mission in any kind of official capacity."

"Sweet," Jules said with a cheeky grin, "Covert ops!"

"That means…" Carmen continued, "that if any of you are caught trespassing inside of Jiuji Labs, or any of this reconnaissance is detected, neither myself nor the guild will acknowledge it. As far as the Rescue Society will be concerned, you were acting of your own accord. You would be on your own."

This time, the Braixen's words had a heavier impact on the gathered Pokémon. Terry, Rico and Tora looked nervous upon hearing that, while Sparks and Jules just looked troubled.

"In fact…" Carmen continued in a softer, more regretful tone, "we would probably have to punish you. We might even need to…expel you."

Carmen was met with five wide-eyed stares.

"So now do you understand why I can't condone this?" she asked.

Nobody replied right away. A few Pokémon shared glances with each other, but for the most part they looked down at the floor or off into space. Everybody seemed to be carefully considering the Braixen's words.

After the most prolonged bout of silence yet, Sparks was the first to speak up. "I would risk it."

Carmen gaped at the Raichu in surprise. "You can't be serious."

"This whole thing is serious," he replied calmly, "This needs to be dealt with. The Nihilego is harming Pokémon. Risk of termination or prosecution is worth it to me."

"Us too."

Now, both Carmen and Sparks looked over in shock at the Riolu who had spoken. Rico was holding Terry's paw, and both were looking over at them with determined expressions. Sparks heard Carmen quietly stammer under her breath, and he cast her a sidelong glance. He figured he knew what she was thinking. It was easy for him to say he would put his job on the line. Much easier considering how long he had already worked at the guild, his relatively lesser position that he held today, and simply the wisdom of his older age. Sparks and Carmen both knew that if the worst were to happen, he would be able to handle it.

But for the guild's two newest members of the prestigious active team to put their jobs on the line, after working so hard to get the position in such an impressively short amount of time, was another thing entirely.

"You two…" Carmen muttered, her voice trailing off.

"I've seen the harm it can cause," Terry spoke somberly, "…I've seen it first-paw."

A dark look crossed over Rico's features and he looked over at his mate sadly.

Carmen shook her head in disbelief. "You two have your whole future in the guild ahead of you…"

Rico shot Carmen a hard look. "My future was almost taken away from me forever," he said in a hauntingly low tone, "I'm extremely lucky that I got it back." He then turned to look at Terry, a mix of emotions on his face, and leaned over to wrap the Eevee in a hug. Terry nuzzled him gently.

Sparks glanced over at Carmen, and saw that her expression had softened.

"I'm in too," Tora spoke up, "This is my duty as a guildmember. And if my duty as a guildmember involves the risk of losing my place as a guildmember, then so be it." The Pidgeot nodded resolutely.

"Can't leave me out of the fun," Jules commented with a confident grin.

"And I know in my heart," Sparks added, "that if the need arose to ask other members of the guild for help in this mission, most all of them would agree in a second."

The room fell silent as Carmen slowly looked around at each team member one by one. She gave each of them a long, hard stare, and not one of them flinched or looked away. In the end, her ears drooped slightly and she sighed softly. "I don't want to expel any of you," she said, "Not in a million years. Not in my wildest dreams…" She then took in a deep breath through her nose, let it out slowly through her muzzle, and then surprised everyone by suddenly smiling confidently. "So," she continued with much more energy, "Let's all make sure it doesn't come to that."

Smiles spread across the others in the room who all gave soft cheers of praise and relief. Sparks grinned warmly at the Braixen and said, "Atta girl. Knew you'd come through for us."

"Right then," Carmen said, slipping right back into her authoritative tone, "In terms of execution, I agree with the plan you've set forward. Watching for Hilo to potentially exit from this secret area would at least give us a starting point, even if such an exit ends up not existing. I will talk with Danika about setting up some documents for him to sign, and if she's not comfortable with that then I will figure something else out."

"So, are we good with giving Sparks that role?" Rico asked, "You can be the 'distraction'?"

"That would probably be the best fit for me, honestly," he replied, "So I'm fine with it."

"You should probably have someone else there with you as well," Carmen said, "You never know."

"I can tag along with him," Rico spoke up, "I'm not afraid of a tussle if things go south!"

"Then who's going to be the one sneaking in?" Terry asked.

"That's the most important role, and also the most difficult one…" Carmen commented, "It can't be anyone too big, so that rules out Tora. In fact even Jules is probably too big."

"You callin' me fat?" Jules quipped.

"We might have to recruit someone else from the guild to help with this," Carmen remarked, "Though I am still very hesitant to spread knowledge of this any further than we already have."

"Well, if you had to pick, do you have anyone in mind?" Sparks asked.

Carmen let out a huff of breath and furrowed her brow. "You're asking me to recommend someone to break into a house, basically. That's not exactly something I'm well versed in. Not to mention figuring out a way into a laboratory like this will prove to be challenging, and they'd have to be extremely stealthy."

"Shay is small enough," Tora commented, "but I have doubts he would be able to remain stealthy enough. Javier could probably do it, but that would mean likely waiting until two days from now."

"And we want to do this today or tomorrow, if we can…" Sparks said.

"Such is always the way plans go…" Carmen lamented, "They sound good on paper, but actually executing them is where all the trouble lies. We really can't move forward with any of this unless we figure out someone to do this, otherwise we'll have to come up with another plan."

"I'll do it."

Everyone turned and looked at the Pokémon who had spoken up. Surprise was visible on everyone's faces, and especially on Sparks', because the one who had spoken up was none other than Ziggy.

Sparks had been so focused on everything else that he had almost forgotten Ziggy was still there with them, listening to everything they were saying. It took him a few seconds to get over his bewilderment and actually say anything. "…What?"

Ziggy looked up at him and simply repeated himself. "I'll do it."

"…Do what?" Sparks figured he knew the answer, but he asked anyway.

"I'll sneak into the laboratory."

Silence filled the room, with everyone else wearing the same shocked expression. Sparks could only look at Ziggy in confusion. "You're…You're joking, right?"

Ziggy, however, looked completely calm in every way. He simply shook his head.

"Wh- But…" Sparks stammered, "D-Don't be ridiculous. This is a super dangerous thing we're doing. You don't…Y-you can't- I mean… Ziggy, we'll find somebody. Don't worry about that. We appreciate the offer, but-"

"No, Sparks," he interrupted, "It's fine. I can do it."

Sparks worked his jaw uselessly for a few moments, unable to find the words to convey his feelings. "Ziggy…You can't," he eventually managed to say, "This is really important and really dangerous."

"I'm small enough, aren't I?"

"W-well, yeah, but…Ziggy we're not gonna make you do something like this just because you're small. We're not monsters! We'd never ask you to do something so crazy. That would just be-"

"Sparks…" Ziggy interjected, more forcibly this time. He reached over and placed a paw on Sparks' leg in a comforting gesture and looked up at him, his eyes still calm and a little smile gracing his muzzle. "Sparks, I can do this," he said, "This is the kind of thing I'm good at. I've done stuff like this a million times before."

Ziggy's words hit him like a Hyper Beam at point blank, rendering him stunned and silent for a moment. He finally realized what Ziggy was talking about. They were looking for someone to sneak inside of a building and remain hidden. They were looking for someone to break into somewhere. A venomous sense of dread began to consume Sparks' heart as he realized that Ziggy was right.

Essentially, they were looking for a thief.

"Heh…" Ziggy chuckled dryly, "Y'know, I'm not really proud of it, but I got really good at sneaking into Pokémon's houses. I hardly ever got caught, and I always did my best to not break anything or do anything so they'd know I was there." He sat up a bit straighter and looked into Sparks' eyes, his smile growing a bit warmer. "This is nothing new for me, Sparks. I did this tons of times back in Sunshine Village."

"Z…Ziggy…" Sparks murmured softly.

"You're proficient at breaking and entering?"

Ziggy visibly winced at the sound of Carmen's question, and he bashfully turned to look at her. "Uh…Y-yeah…" he muttered, and then cleared his throat before speaking more clearly. "Well, y'know…I couldn't just steal from the marketplace every time," he explained, addressing the whole room, "They'd catch onto me really quick, so…I had to find food somewhere else from time to time. Every Pokémon keeps food in their house, so I figured out how I could sneak inside and grab some."

For the moment, Sparks couldn't respond. He obviously knew about the illicit activities Ziggy had gotten into before the two of them had met. However, Ziggy usually didn't like to talk about them and Sparks had never seen reason to hear about them. Though he wished it didn't, it still hit him with a bit of shock.

"Uh…!" Ziggy perked up when he noticed everyone was looking at him and held up his paws suddenly. "I-I-I didn't steal anything else! I didn't, like, rob the houses. It was always only food. Just…a bit of food to keep from starving."

After another moment of slightly uncomfortable silence, Rico cleared his throat. "Gosh," he said, "I didn't even consider asking you…"

"This isn't a house, though," Carmen countered.

"Oh, I snuck into other places too," Ziggy replied, "There was a community centre, and an exercise gym… Plenty of restaurants, for sure. I got into a couple of stores to see if they had food…" Ziggy trailed off, a remorseful look on his face. He was quiet for a moment and then shook his head. "Harder to get into, for sure, but I could always get in one way or another."

"Hmmm…" Carmen murmured, tenting her paws under her chin with a thoughtful look on her face.

Finally, words managed to bubble up from Sparks' throat. "W-wait a minute! We're not…seriously considering this, are we?"

Instead of replying to him, everyone turned to look at Ziggy expectantly. The Buizel looked up at Sparks and said, "I can do it, Sparks."

"Ziggy!" Sparks snapped, "You're talking about sneaking into the place run by the very same Pokémon who kidnapped you in the first place!"

"Well…It's not like I'm gonna be fighting him, right?"

"Certainly not," Carmen replied immediately.

"Still, though!" Sparks continued, "We don't know anything about these Pokémon who are secretly working for Hilo. We don't even know anything about Hilo himself! This could be dangerous. If you get caught, they might do something terrible to you! And not to mention, this might be the place where the Nihilego is!"

Ziggy was frowning, but Sparks took more notice of how everyone else was looking at him and were taken aback. He belatedly realized how high the volume of his voice had gotten.

"…I hate to say it," Terry eventually spoke up in a quiet voice, "but Ziggy might be our best option right now. If there's anyone who can sneak into the labs and stay hidden, it's the Pokémon who lived on the streets for years stealing food and sneaking into houses without being captured. Right?"

"It's true…" Ziggy said, though he was still frowning, "I got seen a bunch of times, but they never actually caught me while in the act." He paused and then added, "You were the first one who caught me, Sparks. That's why I was so terrified at first…"

"So, you think you could find a way to sneak in, Zig?" Rico asked.

"If there's a way in, I can get in," Ziggy replied, "Hopefully there is a way in in the first place."

"No!" Sparks exclaimed, "No, Ziggy! You're not doing this!"

Ziggy looked up at him in confusion. "But…"

"It's too dangerous!" Sparks looked down at the Buizel, a distant sense of panic welling within him. He felt like he was being subjected to a practical joke. It didn't make sense to think that the others would even consider putting Ziggy through something like this.

"Sparks, I can do this!" Ziggy retorted as he sat up straighter, "They won't see me! I'll put some mud on my fur to hide the colour, and I can even wear the hoodie because it's black. In fact, this'll probably be easier for me! I'm not even stealing anything this time, I'm just watching."

The Raichu could only look at Ziggy in shock. In all the time he had known the little Buizel, Sparks had never heard him sound so confident before. He couldn't believe that Ziggy was even considering this at all. Wasn't he scared? Wasn't he nervous?

"I'll get out at the first sign of trouble," Ziggy continued, and then sighed softly as he added, "I've done that plenty of times before too, which usually lead to me going to sleep hungry…"

"Z…Ziggy…" Sparks murmured.

The Buizel had been looking up at him with a determined gaze, but it shifted to a worried frown. "Sparks, are you okay?" he asked in concern, "You're…shaking."

Sparks glanced down at himself, noticing that his forelimbs were quivering slightly. He grabbed onto them with his paws as if to hold them still. For a moment, he asked himself why he was shaking. That notion didn't last long, though. He knew why he was shaking like a leaf; he just didn't want to admit it to himself.

"Ziggy…" he whispered, "Please don't do this…"

A surprised look appeared on the Buizel's face, and for a moment he was struck silent. "S…Sparks…" he eventually said.

"You don't have to do this," Sparks continued, "Someone else can do this. Someone who can…Someone who is…Just someone else! Anyone! It's…It's too dangerous for you!" He jumped a moment later when he felt a pair of small paws hugging him from the front.

"Sparks, please don't cry…"

'Cry?' Sparks wondered, 'I'm not crying. What does he…?' His thoughts were interrupted as a pair of drops landed squarely on top of the Buizel's head, dampening his fur in a couple small spots. Sparks blinked, realizing that his vision was going blurry. 'I…I am crying…'

As a few more tears streaked down his cheeks, Sparks reached out and picked up the Buizel so he could hug him properly. He held Ziggy tightly while trying to keep himself from audibly weeping.

"I'm sorry, Sparks," Ziggy said softly, "I don't want to scare you…"

Sparks just stayed silent for a moment as he tried to sort through the jumble of thoughts in his head. Everyone else respectfully remained quiet for the moment, which Sparks was thankful for. He knew that now wasn't the time to get emotional when important things were on the line, but it was hard to focus when his mind was filled with such gruesome imagery.

Eventually, Carmen spoke up. "Sparks…We won't make him do it."

At first, Sparks just stared blankly ahead. He realized what his current actions made it look like, and he also realized he didn't care. Jules could make all the jokes he wanted, but Sparks didn't care. With a shuddering breath, he pulled Ziggy out of the hug and looked down at him. The Buizel looked back up at him, looking hurt and remorseful.

"Zig…" Sparks muttered in a hoarse voice, "Do…Do you really think…you can do this?"

"…Yeah…I can…"

Sparks sighed heavily. "I guess you know yourself better than any of us do…"

"But, Sparks…I…I don't want to make you upset."

"No, buddy…" Sparks shook his head. "After all, I was the one who told you that you should be proud of the skills you picked up when you were younger, even though they came from you being a thief. The simple fact is that we honestly don't hire very many former thieves, so…"

"Sparks…?" Ziggy murmured.

"I'm sorry, Zig," Sparks lamented, "I've just…really, really, really grown to care about you. When I met you, you were just another homeless Pokémon that I wanted to help, but you've wriggled your way deep into my heart and I couldn't get you out even if I tried. I haven't cared so much about another Pokémon in a long, long time… It's made me so happy to see you grow more confident and bright, to see you smile way more often, but it also hurts so much when bad things keep happening to you. I'm naturally a very protective Pokémon, but with you it's different. The world's been so mean to you and I just want to block it all, keep it all away from you.

"So I'm scared, Ziggy. Hearing you say you want to do this…really scares me. I don't want anything really bad to happen to you…"

A very poignant silence followed. Ziggy looked up at Sparks with wide open eyes. Sparks' heartfelt confession had really caught him off guard.

Sparks used his paw to wipe away a stray tear. "But what am I even talking about?" he mumbled, "You saved Pokémon from a burning building. I shouldn't have anything to worry about."

The Raichu jumped when he suddenly felt a pair of paws wrap around his midsection. He glanced down and saw that Ziggy had wrapped him up in the tightest hug his little Buizel paws could muster. There was a heavily emotional look on his face, and a moment later he started sniffling. "S-Sparks…" he mewled, and then the Buizel began to cry.

"B…Buddy…?" Sparks whispered in confusion. A moment later, he leaned down and hugged Ziggy back. He felt Ziggy crying into his arms for a little while, and all he could do was hold the Buizel and keep him close.

Eventually the worst of his tears seemed to have passed. Ziggy squirmed out of the tight embrace, but remained in Sparks' grasp. He simply looked up at Sparks. Their eyes met, but no words were shared. There didn't need to be any words. Sparks could tell, just from the look on the young Buizel's face, what he was feeling. He could see that the reason Ziggy had started to cry was simply from being overwhelmed with emotions. This was something Ziggy had needed to hear; something he had hoped to hear.

…to hear again.

After a few more moments, Sparks managed a little smile. "Promise me you'll be careful?" he spoke softly.

Ziggy briefly broke eye contact and looked around at the other Pokémon. There was a mix of emotions throughout the group, but the important thing was that nobody was shaking their head. Ziggy looked back up at Sparks. Tears still glistened next to his eyes, but there was a determined look in them as well. He nodded and said, "I promise."

Sparks nodded as well. "Okay. I have faith in you. With your help…hopefully we can put this whole thing to rest for good."

With the emotional moment having passed, everyone else gave both Ziggy and Sparks words of encouragement. Carmen confirmed once and for all that Ziggy was okay to take on this mission, and then they started quickly formulating an exact plan. It was only about ten minutes until they had everything finalized.

"Okay," Carmen said in summary, "So Ziggy will sneak inside of the lab. Terry will stay nearby on the outside at whatever point he used to get in, to keep watch. Once Ziggy is in, he'll find a vantage point and look to see if Hilo is present on the above-ground floors. If not, Sparks and Rico will then enter reception and ask for him. Ziggy will then watch to see where he emerges from, make a note of this, and get the hell out. Alternatively, if he is on the upper floors already, stick around to see if he then goes down to the secret basement. And finally, if reception says he's not in, get out immediately and we'll move on from there."

Sparks felt a creeping sense of dread as he listened to Carmen speak. He couldn't keep the instinctual part of his mind from picking out all of the spots where something could go wrong. He had been looking at Ziggy the whole time, but the Buizel didn't seem nervous. When Carmen was finished speaking, he nodded.

"That leaves Jules and Tora for backup in case anything gets violent, on land and air respectively," Carmen continued, "And myself, unfortunately, back at the guild pretending none of this is happening…"

"We understand, Carmen," Rico spoke up.

"We appreciate the opportunity," Terry finished.

"Well, if there's no other objections…" Carmen said. She paused, but nobody spoke up. "…then let's do this."