Chapter 15: Red Currents, Red Waters.

The sound of a school bell was ringing during the clear blue sky, as the noise of several kids was suddenly heard along with the sound of their moving footsteps. Among one of them was a small and young Luxio, who was walking down past the few tables and towards his friends who were chatting by the other side of the class.

"Hey Bolt! Come over here!" The Monferno called out. Bolt walked over toward his friend with a smirk on his face.

"I was thinking maybe you'd like to come over and hang out at my place tonight? Maybe answer a long awaited question?" The Playful Pokemon said with a grin.

Bolt smiled at the thought. "Yeah sure, why not."

The both gave a friendly yet rival-like stare towards each other, as the both of them knew what was gonna happen tonight. A nice friendly fight between one another. Or a little bit more than that, as recently the class had gotten into a discussion of who was stronger, and of course ever since Bolt had evolved he'd been wanting to answer that question!

And from the looks of it, they were going to answer that tonight-

"Sorry, um...Bolt?" a voice called. "What about my library book?" The mouse, who's head appeared upside down in front of the Luxio's face, said.

Bolt stopped. "The book's due today? And I got to go now?"

The Pichu nodded. "Well, you know what Mom said. You have to make sure to take me home whenever I need to do something done like that, and also, Mom and Dad aren't going to be home tonight, so that's a double 'got to be home with me tonight'."

Bolt groaned at the comment, he hated when Sparks acted like he was all knowing and stuff. He is the younger brother after all.

But before he could think more about that, a female voice came out from behind the teachers desk.

"Sparks! Bolt! You both forgot to grab your newly graded papers!"

Sparks' ears went up and he jumped off Bolt's head and landed right next to him, while Bolt just fixed his now messed up fur, and turned around to face the Simipour, who is now walking towards the two.

"Here you go." Said the teacher with a smile. "I hope you have a good rest of the day."

"Thank you." Sparks said as he grabbed his paper.

"You're welcome." The teacher said. "And might I add that you did a very good job on your test Sparks. I'm sure you'll be able to keep it up and earn a very high grade by the end of the school year!"

Sparks slightly blushed at the comment, while Bolt cringed and looked away from the two of them.

"Thanks I'll do my best!" The mouse said proudly. The teacher then looked at Bolt, who still wasn't looking at her, and cleared her throat. Bolt's fur went up.

"Y-yes?" He answered.

The Geyser Pokémon gave a concerned look towards the lion. "And you Bolt," She said as she took a breath in. "I think you need to focus a little bit more on your school rather than on your fighting, maybe your brother could help you out." She said as she handed Bolt a paper.

Bolt looked at his grade. "76%" He then covered his mouth, as he accidentally said that out loud.

"Whoa really!?" Sparks said in a concerned way. "I got a 98 for my test."

"98!" Bolt yelled he once more covered his mouth. A few chuckles started coming from his friends.

"Ha, I would've never guessed that your little brother would be doing so much better than you."

Bolt started to get annoyed by the comment, and tried to think of some kind of a comeback. "Well what did you get?" He asked with a grin.

"A 91." he said firmly. "I mean, it's not as good as your brother but, it's not out of range like you."

Bolt looked away from him as his grin faded from his face. "Well, unlike some Pokemon, I like to focus on my battling skills, and not types of moves, types of Pokémon, kind of Pokémon, Pokemon footprints, all of which are things I never once thought I really needed to know."

"It's for if you want to be a gatekeeper at a guild, like the one at Treasure Town." Sparks chipped in.

Bolt gave Sparks an annoyed look. He didn't want Sparks to make things worse then they already are.

"Look, my point is that it's all complicated stuff that doesn't mean too much in the long run. It's all very annoying and difficult to learn for your information." Bolt said, but he was starting to regret saying that when the Fire-Type gave a look that made it seem like he already had the perfect come back.

"Then why does your brother who is a baby Pokémon in his first year of school getting grades higher then you have ever had? In fact, I don't even think you've ever had an A minus in any of your tests that you've taken in your life!"

Bolt started to show his teeth, but then the teacher stepped in. "Alright! That's enough out of you, Corey!" The Teacher barked towards the bully.

"Yes, Mrs. Simipour." Corey said. The Water-Type was about to turn to Bolt and apologize to him, but the Luxio had already heard enough.

"Let's just go to the library now Sparks." He said in a very annoyed tone.

Sparks then ran over towards him. "Could I ride on your back?" Sparks asked as he scratched the back of his head.

Bolt looked towards his little brother and simply said, "No."

But just as Bolt and Sparks were walking away from the lion's friends, he heard one last quip from Corey. "Maybe you should learn from your little brother! He could be better than you in the coming years!" He called out.

"Corey!" The teacher shouted. Bolt said nothing but just walked even faster away from them. It was getting annoying that he had to take his little brother back home and not being able to hang out with his friends anymore, well not totally, but it still felt like he couldn't do it nearly as much as he could do compared to last year.

But not only that, but his friends were starting to make fun of him because of how much better Sparks was doing in his classes compared to him? Sure, sometimes they may have brought that up before, but now it felt it came up more than not.

And he hated both of those things! Bolt looked at his care-free brother with a angry look. This was going to be a long school year, he knew it.

The white moon shined its light onto the ocean, making it one of the only source of light in miles. But that didn't really matter, as every Pokemon was fast asleep. But under the ocean's even darker surface, there were three Pokemon moving right through it. The two Water-Types and the one only-for-an-hour Water-Type made there way through the dark waters when one of them peeked her head above the waters.

"See anything?" The Lanturn asked the Popplio. The seal kept her head up for a while, until she swam back down quickly, and with a smile.

"Yes! I see a light through some mist! I think we're finally here!" She said happily.

The Luxio let out a small sigh knowing that this long trip was almost over, while Wally moved upwards to peek up too. Bolt decided to follow, not he could do anything else but swim.

The lion moved his legs to reach the surface, and once he broke through he didn't even gasp for air. It was strange, not needing to worry about air, or even the water in his eyes. Not that it was a bad thing for the non-Water-Type, it's just that when Wally and Karah said that the move 'Soak' made you into a Water-Type, they weren't kidding.

Bolt looked at Wally's face, and followed his eyes to try to see this 'light,' when a small splash was heard from behind both of them, as the sea lion returned and landed onto Wally. She pointed her flipper out towards where she saw the light. "Right...there! There's the light!"

Bolt then followed her eyes and looked towards the east, and it took a while, but he was able to spot a small yellow light in the mist.

"Well I'll be." The Lanturn said in shock. "You may be right Bolt, they do seem to be here."

Karah started to move with excitement. "That means we're close to finding Melody and Sparks!" She said, only for her to stop suddenly. "Wait, but how are we going to break them out?" She asked.

Bolt blinked a few times, and realized that they didn't have a plan. "Wait a minute," Bolt said in an annoyed tone. "So you guys traveled across the ocean to find your friend, and you never once during this trip thought of a plan to break her out?!"

"Calm down, Bolt." Wally said. "It's not that we didn't have a plan, it's just that we don't know what we're up against. So, we haven't made our plan yet." Wally gave Bolt a look of slight fear, but then sighed. "Just hold on to me so we can get closer to the ship, and we'll find out what to do then."

Bolt started to feel, for the first time in a while, uneasy about this whole thing, and was starting to think about maybe not doing this. But he didn't think about that for long, as how could he get out of this? Swim all the way across the ocean on his own? And besides, he needed his brother back too. Bolt put his paws around the light purple Pokemon, as Wally went under the water.

"What I do know is this: Find Melody and your brother, don't be seen, and then get away from them before they have a chance to catch us." The Lanturn stated as he swam under the water and towards the light.

"But didn't you say the ship's faster than us?" Karah asked.

Wally didn't hesitate to answer that one. "Yes, it is. So we're going to need to find a unique way to escape."

Karah started to think of an idea. "We could hide underwater, we can just use Soak so that we can all stay there and not have to worry about going above the surface."

"Ya, that doesn't sound like a good plan." Bolt said. "I think the whole crew are Water-Types. So, I'm sure that if we did that, they'd look for us under the water."

"Well, the way I see it," Wally stated as he started to slow down. "Is that we're going to have some risks in our plans no matter what. We'll have to find out what they are as we go through with the breakout."

"Risks?" Bolt said.

"Yes, did you not hear me?" The Light Pokemon said as he started to swim upwards. Bolt didn't reply right away, as he hugged on tighter as he rode on the Pokemon.

The two finally broke through the surface. "Well, ya. But aren't you supposed to figure this stuff out first? I mean, isn't the whole part of a plan to lay down all of the steps before anything happens?" He questioned as he slid off Wally.

"Unless you want to spend our time not helping your brother. We should move as quickly as we can." Wally replied.

"Alright." Bolt sighed as he turned away from the older Pokemon and looked toward the ship for the first time. He could see Gator's ship anchored at the side of two mountains, and with, what it looked like, his whole crew around some sort of a waterway. Bolt was a bit slow to realize what that current was, but Karah spoke first.

"A-are those the...Red Currents?" She asked out loud. "I'm afraid so."

The Lanturn said as he put his teeth together. "I can't even believe the nerve of that Feraligatr, to not only force a Wild Pokemon in those deadly currents, but a child too!"

Bolt didn't believe it either, but it was because he didn't understand why. How could he do this? He was so nice to them about a day ago, and even if he's mad, Bolt didn't expect him to be this mad. He then looked towards the ship itself. "I'm sure my dad would be all over this. I know he wasn't afraid to put in trouble. I should know it."

Wally then turned to Bolt. "Pardon?"

Bolt's eyes widened. He said that out loud!? "Why DO you know that?"

Karah asked the lion. Bolt then realized that they probably weren't going to let him get past this now. He took in a deep breath. "Well, about a year ago. I went to a party, and my friends thought it would be cool to train and work on our moves by..." Bolt cleared his throat. "Attacking wild Pokemon."

"What?!" The two Water-Types exclaimed.

"It was a while ago, okay?!" Bolt spatter out. He then looked at Wally. "Look, anyways. Everything was going well for us, until my little brother Sparks, who somehow followed me, saw what we were doing, and told on us."

"He's a great kid then." Wally said with a small smile.

"Ya, well. Let's just say my Dad was not happy at all, so we all ended up punished, BADLY." He then thought about his dad. Oh great! How was he going to explain this to his parents?! His worries paused when Kara swam up to him.

"Is...that the only time you were caught doing something that bad?"

Bolt's checks went red. "Can we just focus on coming up with a plan now?! Please?"

The sea mons looked at each other, then just nodded.

"Thank you." Bolt sighed. He then looked back at the ship, and noticed some crewmates. "All of those crewmates seem to be over there by that opening by that mountain," He said as he pointed at them. "Maybe this can be our chance to go onto the ship?"

"Onto the ship?" The seal wondered. "Why would we need to do that?"

Bolt thought for a moment, but then started to come up with a plan. "Well, Sparks and Melody could still be on the ship for all we know. But, if they are already down the waters, we may not know where they are. So if we go on the ship, there could be something to help us find them. Gator's like a businessmon. I'm sure he has some sort of a map of the plan on his ship."

"Bolt, I think they may already be down the currents." Wally said.

"But what if they're not? I'm not going down there for nothing you know!" Bolt said as he turned to Wally. But the Water-Type didn't look convinced. Which left Bolt to reason with him more.

"Look, I'll go around the ship and see if they are there, and, if not, I'll make some sort of a distraction so you guys can go down the currents."

Wally looked at Bolt. "Are you sure about that?"

"Ya." Bolt answered.

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Have you thought about this at all?"

"Ya-err. Well, you guys said we'd have to take some risks. So, no!"

"How about we think about this just a little bit longer, and then try it out?"

"...Fine." Bolt said as he turned to the ship. He probably didn't need to think of a plan that long, I mean, if his little brother could break out a Lapras from the same crew on his own, how hard could it be for Bolt to do it with two other Pokemon?

Come to think of it, was that why Sparks was in his room for so long? And now he's putting that together for the first time.

"B-But, I thought you said we needed to do this quickly!" Karah said. Wally looked at the Popplio. "We at last need a basic plan, one that we can all agree on so we're on the same page."

"But, what if they're down the currents!" Karah pleaded. It took a bit for Wally to answer that question.

"We'll...have to think of it quickly then."

Karah started worrying as she looked over the two, and looked at the opening. She let in a small gulp as she started to think about her long-lost friend.

"Al...alright then." She said.

The cold water was splashing everywhere, which didn't at all effect the Lapras, but it was barely giving the small Pichu a chance to open his eyes. However, the two were moving down a river with sharp rocks at the bottom, and although Melody had a shell covering her most important parts of her body, her fins were open to getting cuts.

Sparks wasn't able to see her fins, but he could hear Melody let out a cry of pain a few times. So, it was definitely taking a toll on her, and Sparks was starting to get worried about that.

Sparks moved his ears to cover his eyes as he grabbed the compass to try to call the Pokemon who sent them on this task.

"Gator! You there?!" Sparks called out. He then felt Melody shift over to the left, almost throwing of the Pichu, but he was fortunate enough to slam into one of the Lapras' spikes and stay on the shell.

Yikes! He knew this was going to be hard, but even when he's not the one going through the water he can tell that Gator meant what he said. The name Red Currents seems to be living up to it's name. But this isn't even the whole thing, they still had to find the passage, avoid the Dark-Types living there, and somehow get out with the evolution stones!

Sparks then was horrified by the last thought. How were they going to get back!? They've only been going down this for a few minutes, but it's been mostly downstream! Sparks started to panic. Gator didn't send them on a wild mon chase to get them killed did he?! I mean, it could-

"Yes, Sparks?!" The Sea Captain answered.

"Oh, thank goodness." Sparks thought as he heard his voice. He then put his paw on the small stone. "I'm just wondering how much longer we have to do this!"

The mouse heard the Feraligatr grab some sort of paper. "How many turns have you taken?" The Water-Type asked.

"Melody! How many paths have we taken?" Sparks called out to the wild Pokemon.

"Do you mean, splits?" Melody asked.

"Y-Ya! Splits!" The Lapras tried to think about it as she also did her best to avoid as many sharp rocks as possible. "Two! We took-"

*Slash!* "AGH!" The Lapras cried out, as she felt a rock cut across her back left fin. But she still continued to answer. "We took two...left and right."

"We took a left and then a right!" Sparks told Gator. The Captain quickly replied. "Then that means you just have to take one more turn to the left, and then you should be there!" Sparks was about to smile in relief, but the Pokemon wasn't done speaking. "But, this turn will be the most downstream and sharpest turn yet! With the entrance being under the water!"

Sparks panicked again. "Under the water!? You mean we could just float over and miss it?!"

"Yes, but don't worry! The entrance should be big enough for you two to make it through and it's located at the only spot where there aren't any sharp rocks! So I'm sure if the Lapras puts its head under the water, it'll be able to see the cave's opening!"

"My head could hit rocks and I will get hurt badly!" Melody yelled toward the captain.

"Then I say put your head into the water when there aren't any spikes and do it quickly!" Gator roared back. Sparks got a glimpse of Melody and saw they she wasn't pleased with that response, so he tried to make her feel better.

"Hey, don't worry!" He said as he put the compass away. "I'm sure after we get inside the cave, we can heal you up!" Melody didn't respond, but Sparks could tell that she heard him, which made him feel better about her.

"If we do what he says, I'm sure we'll be in good shape." Sparks said as he saw the currents' fork up ahead.

"Turn left up here!" He called out. Melody still didn't say anything, she was just too furious with what was going on with the both of them. She had several cuts on her fins, but Sparks was going to get even more hurt at this rate, she was just going to shake and then he would fall off, or they would get attacked by Dark-Types! And it's all that Pokemon's fault that they were in so much danger! All that she was hoping for, was that-

"TURN! NOW!" Sparks yelled at Melody. Melody snapped back into the world, and saw the fork in the current, and the center that was separating the two waterways. She quickly twisted a full 90 degrees so she could make it to the left side, however, this left her side wide open to get hit by something, like the mountain making the fork! "Hang on!" Melody cried out as she closed her eyes and prepared for the worst as her entire left side was about to be slammed into the corner of the mountain. Sparks quickly held onto her shell.

*Crack!*

Sparks was just hanging on, but then his foot slipped on a soaked part of her shell, and he fell into his knee and was barely holding onto the spike on the shell, while Melody on the other hand, slammed not only her shell, but her head slammed into the rock wall as well! Melody's whole world suddenly became a mess, as if it were a dream, as her vision was unclear and she could barely hear Sparks crying for help. She shook her head hoping that it would all go away.

"Melody!" Sparks cried out at the top of his lungs. "STOP!" He then turned his head towards the Lapras, only to see a painful mark on the side of her shaking head, and this horrified him. "Oh, that's bad, really bad." He said to himself. Sparks knew that Melody was hit hard, so he didn't want to assume she heard him, but instead, he carefully tried to get back on his feet.

"I knew the water was going to cause problems." Sparks told himself as he focused on the spike. He then slowly moved his feet, trying his best not to think about his slipping hands. "But not this much! Just hang on a little longer." Melody stopped shaking her head, as it seemed to only make things worse for her. She needed to focus! This...this was that left they needed to take, but then...then there was something else they had to do, it was the last thing to do...what was it?!

Suddenly her fins felt deeper waters. Thank goodness! Now she doesn't have to worry about those painful rocks at the...bottom.

WAIT! She had to go underwater! Now! With little thought, she stalled herself as much as she could, and then dove underwater. Could she already not see well because of how dark it was? Yes. And did her head hurt. More than ever. But she only had one chance to make it to this cave and, even with how much she hated Gator, she didn't want to come back to him empty handed!

She looked around for the opening, while trying to move against the strong current, but she still couldn't really see it. "Please." She thought. "Be here!" Her vision started to come back, and when it did, she saw something ahead of her that seemed to go to her left, and it seemed to go into something. That had to be it! Melody was about to move towards the cave, when something soft hit her in the back of her head. And then floated right in front of her face, then down the waters.

Sparks. Melody's world stopped at that moment. "SPARKS!" She cried out. Sparks had held onto Melody as hard as he could, but once Melody dunked underwater, it was over for him. He had slipped of and could only now do his best to swim against the current, which was hopeless with his tiny limbs.

Sparks almost called for Melody, but that would just waste his much needed air. Sparks heart was beating out of his chest. As he saw Melody scream out his name. Is this what your final moments are like, you're helpless and you can only pray for a sliver of mercy that you can make it though? Because let's face it, if these currents are as bad as they seem, then he'd be done for if Melody wasn't fast enough.

Melody couldn't believe it! How could she do this to the one mon' who helped her the most! And now he was going to die if she couldn't figure out something quick! If only the currents weren't so strong and her head a mess! Otherwise she'd be able to catch him with Psychic!

...Wait, that's it! Melody swam above the water and looked towards some rocks up ahead. Her head was a mess, but she could still use one move to help! A bright blue light appeared in her mouth, and as she prayed this would work she let the beam go.

It skimmed right across the water, but then hit the rocks up ahead, and then the water started to freeze around it. Melody kept the beam going for as long as she could, she may freeze Sparks, but at least he'd be frozen in place. She then stopped, and then dove into the water again, and looked for Sparks. "Please, please be here." She said as her eyes got salty from both the water and her tears. She went towards where her Ice Beam landed, only to see a wall of ice there.

It worked! Now... She looked across the wall, hoping to see the small mouse there, and thankfully there he was, waving his paws and probably low on air.

"Sparks!" She cried out! "Grab on!" She said to the Pichu, who was just able to move against the current, and to the Lapras. He then hugged onto one of her spikes, and then he pointed upwards. Melody knew what Sparks meant, and quickly moved upwards, and broke through the water. The two of them finally made a gasp for air, well, only Sparks.

"Cough! Cough!" Spark went as he coughed up water from his mouth. "Thanks Melody." He said. Melody just took in a huge sigh of relief. That was too close. Way too close. She then looked at the mouse, who was staring into the waters.

"Wait a minute, you froze the water into an ice wall, that not only caught me but..." He looked down at the speed of the current. "...it also slowed down the current! Quick! Let's get into the cave before the ice breaks!"

Melody looked worried. "But you-"

Sparks turned to the turtle. "Melody, this could be our last chance! I'll be fine." He said as he hugged onto her shell. She then turned towards the cave and gave one last look back to the yellow mouse. "Are you ready?" She said.

"Yep!" Sparks said as he nodded. "And don't worry, we can heal your head once we get there!"

"If there aren't any Dark-Types in there." Melody muttered to herself.

"That...may happen too." Sparks slipped out of his mouth. Melody looked at the Pichu in concern, but then took a breath herself and focused as she drove right under the water and swam toward the cave. The trip over there wasn't as bad as she thought due to the current being slower but that didn't stop her from looking back at Sparks to see if he was still holding on to her, which fortunately he was.

Melody started to think about how bad she hurt Sparks, but she stopped herself. She knew that she had to focus as she went into the cave. The cave itself, fortunately, wasn't that small, in fact it seemed that it could fit two Lapras at the size that it looked like. Melody started to look around, when she felt Sparks knocking on her shell. Melody then started to pick up the pace as she swam through the cave, but making sure she didn't go too fast. She went forward, for much longer than she would've wanted to. She then started to panic and question if it was a good idea to continue moving forward or to just turn around.

But she shook her head again, and decided to go faster, and faster. She made some quick moves past some rocks, and kept on moving, until finally she saw the surface of the water and some stalagmites.

"Finally." Melody thought. The large turtle then broke through the surface of the water of the tunnel and she turned to see if Sparks was okay. And was relieved when she saw him gasping for air, but not as bad last time. The two of them and then just took a small moment to catch their breath and to look around their surroundings. And after a minute, Sparks turned towards Melody's mark on her head. He then went towards it.

"Alright. Fortunately there doesn't seem to be any other Pokémon around here so how about let's take this chance to heal up your head, and try to figure out a plan." Sparks then was about to move towards his bag, when a muffled voice started coming out of his bag, and the both of them knew who it was. Gator.

"Sparks! Lapras! You two all right?! I haven't heard from you in a while! Are you in the cave now?!" He roared.

The mouse and turtle looked at each other in annoyance. Sparks let out a sigh and walked towards the bag slowly opened it and touched the compass. Sparks said, "Yeah, we made it. I-"

"Well good!" Gator cut in. "I was afraid that you two didn't make it!"

"Yeah yeah." Sparks said.

"Well, now that you're there just make sure you–"

Sparks put away the compass and put it in the bag hoping that the noise would end. "All right," Sparks said. "Like I said, let's just heal and take a moment to rest." He said as he dug through the bag looking for berries. Melody looked down at her reflection, and then at Sparks.

"Sparks...I'm sorry for what happened."

Sparks hopped onto Melody. "It's okay, I'm just glad that we actually managed to get into the cave!" He said with a chuckle. "Now all we have to do is get those stones and we can be free! Well hopefully."

Melody looked at Sparks in a confused way. "No, I was thinking too much about Gator, I almost missed the turn, you almost went down the current! I almost killed you!"

Sparks looked at Melody. "And who was the one who brought us into this cave?"

Melody then let out a sigh. "You've done too much to me. I don't want you to get hurt because of that bad Pokemon."

"Thanks Melody." Sparks said as his head appeared upside down in front of Melody's face. "Now eat this." Melody opened her mouth, and Sparks threw the Oran Berry into her mouth.

"Ya know." Sparks said as he laid down on Melody's head, and turned towards the cave's ceiling. "Your head's going to take some time to heal, sooooo..." Sparks twiddled his fingers. "You never told me how you learned to sing that one song, you know, the one you sang to those Water-Types and me. Could you maybe, tell me how you learned that?" He asked.

Sparks felt Melody nod. "Yes." She then looked down at the water. "It's how I wanted to speak like you Pokemon and...how I got caught by Gator."

"I don't like this." The Popplio said.

"We know." Wally said.

"I mean, I really REALLY don't like-"

"We GET IT!" Bolt yelled.

The Water-Types then looked at the Luxio. "Hey, she's the one who's panicking here."

"It's maybe because she doesn't understand your plan that much, which involves going near the very crew that kidnapped her friend. I wouldn't blame her for being worried." Wally said.

Bolt let out a sigh as he looked towards the small water type. "Look, all I need is Karah to help me sneak into the ship, while you distract the sailors over there." Karah turned to Wally. "And you're sure you want to do that?"

Wally smiled. "I'll keep my distance from them by only turning on my light. Besides, I don't think they'll waste their time with me, unless I start to get in there way, which I shouldn't need to. It's you I'm more worried about." He then turned to Bolt. "If you're found on the ship, I'm sure they'll do something to you, especially because you're Sparks' brother."

"Hey come on. I'm an Electric-Type, I'll be able to hold myself pretty well." Bolt said, forcing himself to have confidence, but then he broke with a small sigh. "Look, I have to do this. I don't know Gator's story about why he's doing this, but I want to know if Sparks is here." Bolt turns to the Red Current. "I can't let anything happen to him. My mom wouldn't let me hear the end of it."

He then remembered the other Pokemon. "And Melody too."

"Very well then." said Wally. "I'll get going now. Stay safe." The Lanturn then went under the water and went closer towards the sailors, which were surrounding the current the red currents.

"Why aren't they answering!?" Gator yelled to himself as he looked at the compass. "It's been two minutes!"

Wave was just standing off to the side. "Maybe it's because you sent in a Pichu to lead a Lapras into one of the most deadly currents around?" He said quietly.

Gator gave a stare and turned to the Warturtle. "What was that!?" The Warturtle panicked.

"I-I'm sure they're just healing right now Captain." Gator continued to look at the turtle, but Wave turned around and just looked towards the sea.

Suddenly, Wave noticed a bright yellow light shining inside the deep blue waters a few dozen yards from him. Quick to change the subject, he pointed it out. "Say, what's that over there?"

Gator look at the turtle for a little longer, until he looked towards where Wave was pointing. "What is that?" Wondered Gator.

Bolt started to hear a few voices from the sailors, he waited a little longer, and then he started to see a couple of them peeking towards the bright light that Wally was emitting. Bolt took in a deep breath, no going back now.

"All right, now's our chance." He said as he looked at Karah. The two of them went down underwater and under the ship. Karah was just right ahead of the lion when she noticed the anchor chain and gave it a curious look.

"What's this?" She asked. Bolt rolled his eyes, but answered. "It's supposed to be called an 'anchor,' it's what helps a ship from not drifting out into the sea."

Karah looked surprised and took another look at the underwater wonder. As Bolt when past her. "Could you maybe focus in the plan instead of something that I see every month?" He commented.

Karah then swam over to the lion's side and made a face as if she was about to ask him something, a face Bolt had seen too many times. Bolt swam until he got under the ship to where he thinks the ladder is, and then stopped and looked at the seal.

"Alright, what is it?" He asked in an annoyed tone. Karah was shocked by this. "How did you know I wanted to-"

"Sparks did it all the time when he was young, and because I don't want you thinking about your question while we're sneaking on the ship, so say it now." Bolt interrupted.

Karah looked away from Bolt and had a slight blush on her face, she then took in a deep breath and said: "I was wondering, because I'm a wild Pokemon, and how I can talk like you. Maybe, you could teach me more things about how Pokemon like you live? Like maybe reading!"

Now it was Bolt's turn to have the surprised look on his face. He cleared his throat. "And now you're asking this why?"

"Because what if somemon takes advantage of me like with what Gator's doing with Melody! What if I get thrown into that life because I'm nothing but 'a Wild Pokemon' to others? I don't want that happening to me."

Bolt looked at her, but still kept a serious look on his face. "Then just stay away from us. You'll be fine that way."

"But I don't want that! I can't just leave a whole new kind of life like that! I want to learn more about it! Live in it! And maybe, even teach others about it." She finished as she looked down. Bolt was about to respond to her, but she had another thing to say. "You don't know what it was like to have someone close to you suddenly get kidnapped and taken away for no reason other than 'you're a Wild Pokemon.' And, with how far and dangerous Gator's getting with Melody and your brother, it's...horrifying when you think about it. And if we do succeed in freeing Melody, will Gator come back for us?"

She then gives a puppy face towards Bolt. And Bolt began to feel bad for she, even if she was making that face on purpose, what she said, was true.

Bolt took a deep breath. "I may not be the best when it comes to that, and I would have to talk it over to my parents, but...I'm sure Sparks would be into your idea. If we get out of this alright that is." He said as he began swimming upwards.

Karah cut him off ahead. "Really!?" She exclaimed. Bolt was stopped in his tracks, but he didn't feel that annoyed this time.

He let out a sigh. "We'll see what happens when me and Sparks get home."

"Okay." Karah nodded as she got out of Bolt's way. Bolt just let out a sigh.

"Even when Sparks is on the other side of the ocean, he's still somehow with me."

He then slowly swam up to the surface, and peeked his face out from it. He turned his head and looked up towards the ladder, which was just to his right, then he spun around to take one look around himself. It didn't seem like anymon was looking towards him, and thanks to it being so dark, and for Bolt to have mostly black fur, hopefully no one would see him as he climbs onto the ship.

Bolt put his paw into one of the ladder's bars. Hopefully, there wasn't somemon up on the ship's deck, but if there were, hopefully they were looking towards Wally. Then Bolt, without thinking, quietly moved up the ladder. He didn't even bother to look behind him as he knew that would only slow him down. Bar after bar, Bolt could hear his heartbeat get louder and louder, but he kept on moving.

Did Sparks feel like this when he was breaking out Melody? This is a bit scary!

"No!" Bolt thought to himself as he reached the top of the ladder, and peeked over the deck. "If Sparks could do that. Then so can I!" He yelled, and for once, he kept it in his head.

He then looked across the deck, looking for what could hopefully be the Captain's office. Would it be under the top deck? On it? Over it? Would they even have one? Bolt hit his head with his paw. FOCUS!

He looked down at the floor and noticed a closed hatch. "Could the map be down there?" Bolt thought. But just as he was about to step out from the ladder, he started to second guess himself. "Wait, or would it be in his office? Would he keep the map in there? Or would he keep it were Sparks and Melody where being kept? Wait, where would they be held?" Bolt was starting to overload himself with suggestions again.

"AGH! I shouldn't think about this! If Sparks can figure this out this kinds of stuff, then I can too!" He looked towards the upper deck where the helm was, and looked right along its wall and saw a door with a small lantern by it.

Bolt suddenly couldn't get his eyes off that sight. That had to lead somewhere important, wouldn't it? He had to go in there now? But what about that lantern, wouldn't that be a huge risk? Bolt then looked back towards where Wally was by the sailors, reminding himself that he needed to do something now.

"Well, Wally did say that plans were full of risks." He told himself. He looked up to see if there were any crewmates looking at him from higher ground, it didn't seem like it. He then targeted the door. "Here goes nothing."

Bolt flipped over the ship's railing and quietly, but very quickly, tip toed across the deck and towards the door. He then and got up right against the wall, doing his best to avoid the light from the lantern, and looked towards the door handle.

He could A: Open the door quickly and then quickly close it back up so that no one would see him but then risk having a lot of sound. Or B: he could open it very quietly but slower risking the chance of him being spotted by a crewmate from the sails.

Bolt groaned to himself, not this again. He shook his head and chose to do something in the middle. He twisted himself around and grabbed the knob opened it slowly so that he could peek through the crack in the slight the opening. It didn't look like anyone was there. He continued looking around for a couple more seconds before he quickly opened it enough so that he could slide through the doorway, and then closed the door.

He put his teeth together when he heard the door make a slight slam. Hopefully no one heard that. Bolt looked forward and didn't really see any sign of light, thanks to the door being closed. It made the small room feel a lot more bigger. And a bit scary too. Bolt's heart was getting louder and louder as he made small yellow sparks following through his fur so he could see better. He looked around the ship's room.

Bolt closed his eyes. "Just find the map, get out of here. Find the map, get out of here." He was telling himself as he started to walk to the other side of the small room. He turned his head to his left and saw a coat hanger, perhaps for Gator's jacket. So maybe this was his room.

In that case, let's just hope he keeps his plans near him. He then noticed a cabinet with several drawers in it, right next to a small bed. Bingo. He then quickly, but carefully avoided any steps that landed on squeaky wood, walked towards the table.

He opened up the drawer up on the top with his left paw, then let out a few more sparks from his arm and dangled it over the drawer so that he could see what was inside. Bolt looked and saw a folded up paper. Bolt let out his first true happy smile in a while, that's got to be the map! He quickly took it out and folded it out on top of the bed, he then lit up himself a little brighter so that he could see what the map was. But Bolt's smile went away when he realized that the map only seemed to have locations on it. As the map seemed to have everything on the island, Thunderwave Town, Treasure Town, and even the Red Currents. He took a moment to notice how much red markings there were around it.

Yikes, how long has Gator been planning this? Bolt sighed and let out a small grown, this wasn't it. He then carefully folded back up the map and placed it right back inside the drawer, but when he was sliding it in, his paw touched something else. Bolt looked over his arm and saw a red covered book. He blinked, while his goal wasn't to find a book, it did peak his interest considering on how worn out and huge it seemed to be.

Bolt shoved the map into the back of the drawer then grabbed the book to take it out. He placed it on top of the desk and then lit up his arm again. But when he put his paw over the book, there was no title on it.

He then dropped his eyelids as he used his other arm to flip over the cover. The book revealed to only have words as if it was talking to someone.

My Dear Love.

Bolt blinked a few times as he read down the page. This was Gator's diary! Or at least something like that. He then took in a deep breath and thought to himself, should he really be doing this if this really was Gator's diary? Doing something like that kind of reminded him of something Sparks would do to his room sometimes. And no one likes it when someone's going through your private stuff. Plus it would probably be filled with a bunch of boring stuff like normal day-by-day events, maybe some important calculations about his business, and maybe even go through some details on how he...got Melody.

Bolt suddenly had an idea. If he could bring this book back home. Then Gator wouldn't even try to attack them back for 'stealing' or 'breaking' into his ship. Because Bolt would have proof that Gator not only kidnapped a Wild Pokemon for no reason, but forced his little brother to go on this deadly trip. He was practically doing child labor after all! Bolt then thought about that last thought I was weird to say. How did his life get to the point for him to say that?

Bolt shook his head and smiled as he put together his new plan. That's how they'd be able to get away from Gator and not have to worry about them. All he would need to do is just find the proof of him kidnapping Melody in this book. He then looked at the other side of the book to see the amount of pages. He let out a sigh to himself. Well, Wally and Karah are waiting for me, gotta make this quick.

He then started flipping over a bunch of pages. Two pages turned into three pages, then five, and then ten at a time. He kept quickly looked at the pages to see if there was any talk of Melody when he finally came across a verse. "I am finally at peace my love, knowing I have finally gotten back at those Lapras, for what they did to all of you."

Bolt blinked. That was unexpected. But a good start nevertheless. Bolt stared at the sentence as he flipped over the page. He flipped about a dozen more, before he finally reached a page where it looked like it finally started. Bolt felt a little funny. Finally he was going to understand why Gator was doing this.

"Let's see here..."