Chapter 17: Deeper and Deeper

The Luxio continued to swim across the ocean floor. He was beginning to have trouble staying completely under the water, as it was getting surprisingly shallow at some parts, he could see the top of the waters while he was almost touching the floor.

He kept on swimming towards a light that flickered once in a while. He needed help to know what to do next, and he was sure Wally would have an idea.

Bolt knew that finding that book was definitely helpful to me in the long run, but he knew that Sparks and Melody were down in the Red Currents already. Bolt had a sinking feeling that he would have to go down there to find them he just didn't know how he should do it.

Bolt shook his head, now's not the time to think about it. He continued swimming forward until he could make out a small purple Pokémon in the distance. Wally.

"Wally!" Bolt called out towards the light Pokémon. Wally turned towards Bolt with a look of surprise on his face and quickly swam towards him.

"Bolt! What's going on? What did you find? And where is Karah?" He said in a concerned tone.

"Calm down." Bolt said to the older Pokémon. "Karah's just near the ship."

"So no mon's found out about us yet?"

"Well, I don't think anymon has seen us."

Wally let out a sigh. "I still don't like this. First, you're gone for much longer than I thought you would have, and then when I saw you without Karah, I thought we'd been found out!" He went on in an angered tone.

"Yeah, I was gone for a while, but it was all worth it." Bolt said in an entertained tone. "I found a book or some sort of diary in Gator's office on his ship. And that's where Karah is, she's holding onto that so that we can use it later on to clear our names incase Gator tries to cast the blame on us."

Wally raised an eyebrow at bolt. "Really? I guess something like that would help us a lot. But let me get this clear, the captain wrote down on a book everything that he did to Melody even though if someone found it, they would know that what he did was illegal?"

Bolt was about to answer, but stopped for a moment. "The way that he wrote in the book was as if he was talking to somemon, I think his family, or maybe his wife. And it seems that, they're all dead, and it's the only way that he can talk to them. From what I read he seems quite proud of what he did, and I bet he thinks his family would agree with him."

Wally just shook his head. "Well, enough of that. Let's head back to Karah." He said as he started swimming towards the ship. Bolt followed.

The two of them continued through the waters, when Wally let out another comment. "It's just all wrong. I may not be around Pokémon like you as much as I used to. But I most certainly would not agree with anything that he has done to that Pokemon. She never deserved anything like this. I can only pray that she's alright."

Bolt just looked towards where the ship was. "Melody and Sparks are probably already on the Red Currents, they may have been down there even before we got here. At least that's what it seems like."

Wally looked at Bolt. "I'm sorry if I sound mad. I am happy you were able to find the book, but I'm disappointed that you didn't come back sooner so that we could try to help them earlier."

"I know." Bolt said, just trying to brush it off.

"Your little brother is down there, and I'd bet he could be in trouble."

Both felt that one, and looked at Wally. "Okay, okay, I know I wasted more time than I should have. But I just wanted to know. I mean the guy froze me solid, kidnapped my brother, and now is forcing them down currents that are, apparently, so deadly that he isn't going to do it himself! I just couldn't help myself but find out why all of this is happening."

Wally just let out a nod. "Well, can't say I don't blame you. Besides, it's been done. So let's not focus on that anymore."

The two finally reached the Popplio, but Wally turned his head at her position. "Why is Karah above the water?"

"She's still holding the book above her head." Bolt said as he went to the surface. The seal started to back up into the ship when she saw Pokemon coming towards her. But when she saw the two familier heads pop out, she let out a small sigh.

"Wally!" She tried to say quietly. "Do you know what I should do with the book? I don't want to be above the water anymore." She said shaking in fear.

"Yes, hand the book over to me. I'll hide it myself." The light blue Pokemon then slowly swam up to the purple Pokémon, and he took off the book using his antenna.

Bolt fiddled with his claws. "So...what should we do now?" Wally took in a deep breath and looked towards the Red Currents, and Bolt felt his chest get tight.

"Well, you're not going to like it," He started off slowly. "But then again, it feels obvious what you need to do." Wally said as he pointed towards Red Currents. "You should be the best at getting through those currents."

Bolt wined a little at the thought. "But that stream was deadly like you said. I mean Gator's a huge, strong, powerful Pokémon, and even he won't do it!"

Wally turn towards Bolt. "Yes, it is deadly, but I think it's more of payback of what Sparks and Melody did, than fear of the currents itself."

That...made sense. Wally took a deep breath as he shook his head. "I suppose the real fear is whatever is in those caves. Either way, I think it would be best if one of us goes down those currents. Bolt, you seem like a strong and young Pokémon, so I'd assume you'd be the best fit."

Bolt lifted his head and wined. He could try to wiggle his way out of this. Make a big excuse, but the thing was, Wally, was, unsurprisingly, right. Wally seemed too old to do something like this, not to mention, he didn't even have any legs. But just as he started to think about Karah, she herself swam in front of Wally.

"I want to go there to!" She said. Wally and Bolt were caught off guard by the amount of sudden bravery from the Popplio.

"Karah," Wally began. "You're too young to-"

"Melody's my best friend, and she's down there right now! This is my first chance I have to help her! Besides," She turned towards Bolt. "Two is better than one right?"

Bolt looked at the Water-Type and almost laughed at the inspiring words Karah gave off. But an extra hand wouldn't hurt at all, he would just have to make sure Wally was all right with it first.

Bolt coughed. "I wouldn't mind if there was a Water-Type to help me out. Maybe she could come with me. I mean, what is she going to do here? I could have her use Soak on me so I don't drown."

The two kids looked at the older Pokemon as he let out a sigh. "Alright, Karah, you can go with Bolt."

"Yes!" Karah said as she pumped her fins towards the surface.

"But!" Wally said. "You two must work together if you want to stay safe, do you understand?"

"Got it! I'll meet you down under the ship, Bolt!" The seal said just as fast as she swam to the ship.

"Wait! Wally didn't even-" Bolt let out a sigh as he saw the Popplio go farther out of sight.

"I'll jump out of the water to grab the sailor's attention." Wally said. "Make sure she hears that."

But Bolt just looked towards where she went in shock. The drive to help her friend, the way she said it, and how fast she went. It all seemed like he was talking to a Water-Type Sparks.

Bolt started to get lost in his thoughts as Wally went up to him. "Bolt?" He said as he looked firmly towards the lion.

"I- um... yeah?" Bolt said as he snapped back. "Karah is just a small child, keep her safe."

Bolt chuckled and swam past him. "Don't worry...I promise I'll watch her back and keep her safe." He then stopped once he realized he said 'promise.'

"Well...all right then." The Lantern said. "Good luck, and may Arceus watch over you."

Bolt bit his tongue harder, he had never heard someone ask for Arceus's help before. The only time he remembered hearing it, was when some of his students mentioned the name during a difficult pop quiz in school.

This wasn't going to be easy.

Sparks looked ahead of himself across the dark cave, with the only source of light coming from himself. The Pichu started to charge a yellow energy between his paws, and then shot it a few yards across the cave. And from what the lighting was able to uncover, there seemed to be nothing there besides more rocks.

"All clear." Sparks called behind him. And small rumbling noise was heard, as the Lapras continued to drag herself across the ground. She as she continued to move forward, she seemed to have some more trouble going past the stalagmites on the ground.

The cave must be getting smaller.

Sparks quickly looked up to see small specks of dust and a few pebbles falling from the ceiling. He then looked at the cave ceiling a bit longer as he started humming to himself.

"Hold on." The mouse said as he put his paw up towards Melody and reached into his bag. Melody felt annoyed that he told her to stop and she started to show her teeth as she saw Sparks hold out the compass.

Sparks noticed her stern luck. "He can help us. I just have a few questions for him." The Electric-Type said calmly.

Melody looked away from Sparks with some embarrassment because he noticed her making the face towards anything Gator related.

"Hey Gator?" Sparks began. "What kind of Pokémon are we exactly talking about that are down here?" The compass was silent for a few more seconds, but then finally, the alligator answered.

"I'm not entirely sure." The rough voice said. "While I would love to tell you what you may be up against, I'm afraid no one's been here enough times to get a good idea on what you could be facing. But I would expect a few Dark-Types, perhaps some Ghost-Types here or there. I'm sorry I'm not that much of a help."

Melody rolled her eyes towards Gator's apology. "I am sure he means it." Spark said as he covered the compass, he then uncovered it.

"Well okay, thanks. I guess it's just a good thing that you're trying to help us right?"

The Feraligatr didn't respond at first.

"Yeah, I'll try to think of something to help you guys out." There was another long pause, something that Melody was getting very annoyed by. "Well," Gator said in a calmer tone. "I'll leave you to to continue down your-"

"Wait! I just remembered something!" Spark said into the compass.

"And what's that?" Gator asked.

The Electric-Type took in a breath. "Well, it's just that it was hard for us to get down here due to the rushing waters. And most of the water will be pushing against us. How exactly do you think we could get out?"

Gator took even longer to answer this time.

"He left us here to die." Melody said as she shook her head.

"I'm sure he has a plan." Sparks said trying his best to sound reassuring. "Gator had to have a plan for this. He was planning about this trip for a while, surely he would've thought of something so crucial, right? He still needs this stuff."

Sparks was just about to ask Gator if he was still there, when the captain's voice came from the compass.

"Fortunately, the moon is lower so the tides should be lower as well. You two should be able to climb back up the rocks and all the way to where we are."

Melody let out a gasp, she did not like that answer. "And how am I going to get out 'captain?'" Melody said angerly.

Sparks heard the captain growl from the other side, but muffled up the sound up so Melody wouldn't hear it. "Well, pretty much every Water-Type knows Surf. I was just assuming you'd be able to use that move to get out of here. Understand that, 'sailor?'" Gator said in the same tone as Melody's.

"But the currents are thin! It's not easy to control Surf through something so small! I will hurt my fins and shell even more than they already have! You do not care about me anyways! You just came up with that idea just so you could get me to-"

"Um, Melody? I don't think Gator's listening to us anymore." He said as he showed her the compass.

Melody felt like saying one of those words sailors said when they got angry. But she just turned her head away from the compass.

"Let's just hurry up." She said as she moved next to Sparks. The Pichu looked worried let out a sigh, being thankful that things didn't get any more heated.

He then put the compass back into the bag, and ran ahead of Melody to check out more of the cave.

Bolt stared towards the start of the Red Currents as he laid on the ocean's seafloor.

He was having trouble getting himself to move another inch towards those currents. Just everything he'd heard from it. Yeah, it wasn't downright you're gonna die there, but it didn't sound like a spot that would be easy for him either. He started to wonder if anyone else had tried to go down those currents. Did any of them come back?

"It's okay to feel scared." The younger Pokémon told Bolt.

Bolt looked to the side to see the Water-Type. "Scared? I'm not that scared about it. I mean, you heard what Wally said. The tide should be lower so it'll be easier to go down there."

Karah didn't look too convinced but took that as an answer as she looked towards the currents. "I'm thinking about how we're going to get back up."

She then turned to Bolt's back. "Could I ride on your back?"

Bolt almost instinctively said no. But actually stopped himself and thought about that question for once. "If there's no water for you to swim in, I guess you can." Bolt said with a sigh.

"Thanks Bolt." Karah said in a cheerful a way that reminded Bolt of Sparks.

Bolt just shook his head, and tried to think of something else. The two of them continued to stare towards the current. None of them knew what to do, and no sound was made until Karah cleared her throat.

"So, what are we waiting for? Exactly?" She asked out loud.

"Wally said he's going to make another distraction for us. Once he does that, we'll sprint, or in this case, swim towards the currents." Bolt answered with a small yawn.

"Do you think we'll be able to see the distraction?"

"Well Lantern is his species name, I doubt we'd miss it, don't you think?"

Karah let out a few laughs at that remark. She let out another sigh as she rested on the sand. "You know, after this is all over, and Melody is free. I wonder what she would want to do after this."

"I'm sure Sparks would be filled with ideas on what to do." Bolt said as he stretched his arms. "I don't think I'm the one to tell you what you can and can't do. But my dad's literally the mayor of our town, so I guess even if there is a chance you guys would be breaking rules, I'm sure he'd be able to bend it to put some sort of protection around you two from Gator."

"Do you think he could really do that for us?" Karah asked.

Bolt took a moment to answer, he didn't want to lie to her, but everything that he did say could happen.

Bolt shrugged. "I'm not 100% sure, but I would think so...maybe" He then stretched his body again. "As long as we keep that journal in perfect condition, everyone at town will see the truth behind Gator's actions, and I think my dad would make a few notes about that as well."

"Wow, your dad sounds super nice and helpful! You and your brother must have a great family." Karah said with a smile.

Bolt was caught off guard by the complement and struggled to find a reply to it. "I- thanks, I guess."

Bolt laid down on the floor and put his head on the sand as he started to think about his parents. He still had no idea of how they would think of this whole operation Sparks had. Bolt was certain that he'd be able to get away with most of everything that happened, as a lot of it was because of Sparks. But he couldn't help but wonder what was next for them. Melody's words towards Bolt started to go through his head, and he groaned at those thoughts. As long as he had the diary, they would be fine. Everymon would believe them, and by next year, this would be one of those stories that they would laugh at.

Bolt tried to smile at those thoughts, but couldn't help but feel worried about what would happen in the future. Even if it was a good thing to free a Wild Pokemon, the ways they did it, why they did it, and how long they were gone...it was clear that Mom and Dad would punish them in some way.

He then groaned as he looked towards his shadow as it appeared across the seafloor going on and off with the yellow, bright, yellow light appearing around his shadow.

...

Wait a minute.

"Shoot, Karah, that's the signal!" Bolt called out. But Karah was already swimming towards the currents.

Bolt clumsily got off the ground and started swimming after her. "Kar-" Bolt almost cried out, but he stopped himself when he started to notice a huge amount of smaller boats and other objects in the water.

Bolt then started to worry again, he didn't know much about how quiet the water made him, or how much the water could cover him, but he didn't want to test that. He just took in a deep breath, and quietly swam after her. He held himself as low as he could go, but he also avoided the sand at the bottom so no mon would see a huge cloud of dust right by them. He continued swimming forward, when he couldn't help but peek towards his right and got a glimpse of something that made his fur go white.

He froze in the middle of the water. Was it? He just had to know, right? Bolt groaned to himself as he turned his head towards what he saw, and sure enough. He was able to make out a large blue and tan body with two huge feet and large tail in the water.

Gator.

The lion suddenly found himself even more frozen than he already was. There he was, the one who started it all. The mon who caught Melody. The mon that made Sparks go on this journey. And the mon that froze Bolt, and left him at shore to die.

...

Well, maybe not 'to die.' But what else was he doing to him?

And Bolt was sneaking past him literally under his nose. If he saw them, who knew what would happen next. Something touched Bolt's shoulder.

"AGH!" Bolt yelled.

"Shh!" Karah went as she covered Bolt's mouth. "Quiet, they could hear us."

Bolt looked at the captain one last time, then finally turned away from him. "Don't EVER do that to me." Bolt said annoyed.

But Karah was confused. "Don't ever do what?"

Bolt was about to yell at her 'that' but just decided against it. "Nothing." Bolt said as he shook his head.

The two then made their way towards the opening of the mountains, where it felt like suddenly, everything started to get thinner. Bolt approached the beginning of the current, and took a moment to examine the size. He wasn't with Melody that much, but the width of the current looked like it could only have two Melodys in it at once side-by-side, maybe three if she really tried.

The lion put his paw on one of the first spiky rocks, it almost cut his paw open when he started to push into it, and he was sure he'd be seen a lot more of these as he continued down. He could already feel sick to his stomach as he made a few more steps towards the rocks, and already started to feel the amount of water pushing against him to go even deeper into the current.

If he was going down this, he wasn't gonna come back up until a long time.

"So do we just go down the current and into the cave?" The sea lion asked.

Bolt snapped out of his thoughts and looked towards Karah. "I'm sorry what?" Bolt said as he shook his head.

"Are Pokémon like you always thinking that much? Or is it just you?" Karah asked with a smile.

The Electric-Type just looked towards the currents. "It's not that, it's just... a lot is going on with me right now."

He decided to skip over seeing Gator, as he didn't want to make Karah panic too. Bolt stood at the edge of the current, waiting for the Popplio to go ahead of him. But after a few seconds, he still didn't see her go ahead, he turned to a side to see the Popplio, shaking, as it seem to be holding on to one of the rocks. Her eyes were frozen onto the current, as she was finally showing signs of fear.

Bolt used this moment to get back some much needed adrenaline. "I thought you said it's okay to be scared?"

Karah almost didn't hear him through her own thoughts. "O-oh it is!" Karah said quickly. "It's just that, you didn't say you were that scared so I thought maybe it would be best if you, you know, went first?"

Both started to be filled with pride and almost jumped into the currents, but then his small Shinx stopped himself, and told him to think about what he would do down there.

"You know what, I think it would be best if we try to go at the same time. I'd like to make sure that you're following me." Bolt said as he saw the currents. "I do not think this is the place to get separated."

"Oh." Karah said queitly. "Y-ya, I guess that makes sense." The seal started to swim to the lion. "Could I...ride on your back now?" She asked as she fidded with her fins.

"I guess she's already going to be riding on my back for the way back." Bolt thought to himself "Sure." He said. "Although I'm not sure how much your fins can hold on against the current."

"I think they will be good enough, just until we get deeper into the current." She said as she got behind Bolt.

"Alright, just tell me when you're- Ark!" Bolt grunted has Karah held onto his back. She was surprisingly strong for her small size. Maybe she would last through the currents.

Bolt looked down the current. "Okay, just say when you're ready."

"Oh, ready!" Karah said has she somehow held on even tighter to the lion. Bolt continued to stare at the sharp rocks, he took a long, deep breath of water. "We're coming Sparks." He told himself as closed his eyes, and jumped above the sharp rocks, and the current started to carry him by itself.

Suddenly, it felt like all control of swimming was taken away from Bolt the moment all of the water started pushing behind him. He was spinning around. Bolt wanted to open his eyes, but at the same time, he was too scared to see what he may slam into.

*Wham!* Bolt's head hit the sandy floor. No! He was going to do this! He wasn't going to lose against water! That would just be stupid! Bolt opened his eyes to see a spinning world, as he continued to spin forward and seeing the floor, and the surface, the floor, and the surface, the floor, and the surface, the floor, and the surface-

Bolt felt like throwing up. And somehow, through all the noise and everything else going on, he was just able to hear the seal yelling from behind his back. "Try to gain more control while swimming!" She said.

"What do you think I'm doing?!" Bolt yelled back as the sound of rushing waters continued to fill their ears. Bolt started to move his arms and legs to try to find something to stop him, or something at least to tell him he's upright or not. Bolt was spinning around and around as he tried to look over the head of him but that quickly became what was under him behind him over him over and over again. Bolt tried to find footing and gasped when he saw a rock in front of his eyes.

He covered his chest just in time, as he slammed into the rock. "Agh!" Bolt screamed in pain as he hugged his stomach. Just then, his back got lighter, and before he knew it, a softer object hit the lion's chest in a more hugging approach. And it began pushing him against the current. Bolt opened his eyes and was able to see who it was, the Popplio.

"Wally said it's low tide. Let's try to get above the water! So you can stay upright!" Bolt thought back to the Pokemon at the shore, mostly Gator. "But what if someone sees us?" Bolt questioned.

Karah looked above her, presumably where they came from, and looking back to Bolt. "I'm not sure anyone can see us from here if we just have our heads out of the water, it's a pretty steep climb from in here." She answered. "Just try to go with the current!"

Bolt moved his arms, only to feel more out of control, saved only by the Water-Type. "Agh! How are Sparks in Melody able to do this!?" Bolt said in frustration as he continued to fail at moving properly.

"Well, she's a huge Pokémon, so she probably had more control over the currents, I'm sure stuff like this was probably nothing!" Karah said as she spun bolt to be upright and face-to-face with her. However, the current pushed Bolt's head a little more than Karah would've like, and the two heads hit each other.

"Ow!" The two of them said at once as the two did their best to brush off the pain. The seal finally put Bolt in a upright position. "How far do you think we have to go down?" She asked Bolt. Bolt thought for a moment, but nothing came up.

"I'm not sure!" He yelled. "Maybe I should've tried to look at his plans while I was in his room!"

The both of them finally got over the water, and the two began tredding. "You mean you don't know where they could be?"

"I just thought this would be one current that wouldn't leading to anything more." He reasoned. But as he started to think more about it, there may have been some other streams, created or caves or something that he didn't check!

STUPID. STUPID. STUPID! How could he have been so careless on something so important!

"You mean we don't know where to go!" Karah said with uncertainty.

"I'm sure will be able to find them." Bolt said, trying to sound calm. But even he started to break down in the inside.

"Okay, hold on!" Karah exclaimed, as she pushed Bolt right into a stone as soft as she could. Bolt hit the rock with a small thump, as it now looked like the lion was hugging the rock.

"Just hang on for a moment." The seal said. In a matter of seconds, the blue dark blue seal went under the water, but then shot out of it just another second later, and landed right onto a flat rock that was just poking out of the water. "Before we go another inch, we got to figure out a plan! We can't just go down the current and expect to just find them can we?"

She then put her fins on her head and started to think to herself, but those quickly turned into doubts. mumbling to herself loudly. "What if we already missed them? What is it gets even worse down the current what if..." She mumbed to herself loudly.

Bolt stayed calm and started to think in his head. He was stumped. How could he have let this happen. I mean yes, bringing a map probably wouldn't do much at all, as it would get shredded the moment it entered the current. But his could have at least remembered some directions from it! Bolt started to think to himself. Come on! He was able to find Sparks once, he could do it again!

...

Sparks! That's it! What would Sparks do? Bolt put his head onto the rock, well, Sparks would probably do something outside the box. Something Bolt wouldn't do. This was getting harder after every passing moment. Bolt banged his head against the rock.

"Think!" He told himself. Bolt's head began to hurt and he started rubbing it. How hard did he... Wait a minute. Bolt looked at the small mark that he made on the stone and then started to wonder. Melody was a huge Pokemon, and Bolt was able to make a small mark on his own. What if... He looked at Karah's rock and noticed that it seemed strangly flat.

"Karah, I want you to get off that rock you're on!" The lion told the seal.

The Water-Type was caught off guard by the request. "You already have a rock, you don't need mine."

"No! I don't want to get on it, I want to see the rock!" He cleared up.

Karah looked more confused for a moment, but then she started to look surprised. As if she was understanding what Bolt wanted, or at least trusted him. Karah looked at Bolt. "I'm going to try to jump on your back. All right?"

Bolt nodded, preferring, not to waste his breath. The Popplio then paced herself. Then she moved as far back as she could on the rock, and then jumped right towards Bolt she seemed to be aiming to land in between the rock and his head.

Plop!

"Whoa!" Karah exclaimed nervously as she tried to keep her balance. She had landed right on top of Bolt's head and was leaning against the rock for a bit more support. It honestly reminded Bolt of when Sparks would climb on his head all the time. But heavier.

Bolt shook his head, and looked at the rock closer. He tilted himself as close as he could, without being carried or pushed by the current any more than it was. "It looks like..." Bolt said with the stress of his muscles holding onto the rock. "Like this was recently broken."

Karah gasped above his head. "That's why you wanted to see the rock! I get it now!" She then hopped onto the rock that the Eletric-Type had been studying. "If we can follow the cracked rocks that could've been caused by Melody, it could work as some sort of trail for us!" Kara said with excitement.

"Thanks Sparks, I already knew that." Bolt muttered to himself.

"What?" Karah asked confused.

Shoot! Bolt panicked. "I...nothing. Let's just hurry down the stream."

"Yeah." Karah nodded. "I'll try to help you move as slow as you can. So you don't end up crashing or hitting your head on something hard."

Bolt uncharacteristically let out a calm smile. "Thanks."

"No problem." The younger Pokemon said with a smile.

The two Pokemon continued to go down the current together, although it felt like after a while the waters were pushing them more. But it felt like they were still in more control of each other. Any rocks that did get in the way they were able to at worst, hit them softly, and twist around them. It even helped them whenever they they ran into a fork in the waters.

But the deeper the two went, they seemed to have seen more cracked rocks. And while it made things much easier, Bolt knew that those had to be from Melody. He started to wonder how much hitting one like that would hurt. He didn't want to say it out loud though. He didn't want Karah to wonder about that painful fact either. But as soon as the lion looked at the seal's face, he knew she was already thinking about the same thing.

"I feel terrible for her." The seal said. Bolt snapped out of his thoughts. "About...Melody?"

The sea lion nodded. "I am glad that they're broken rocks to help us know the way. But it also makes me nervous to see the size of the marks and rocks she's broken. Something like that has got to hurt!"

Bolt looked down at her and slightly nodded. His Shinx told him to make Karah feel better, something to get her hopes up. "Well, there's a saying from where I live." Bolt started. Karah stopped and looked at him with eyes filled with curiosity. "What is it?"

Bolt let out a sigh. "Sometimes we say, 'no pain no gain.'"

This confused Karah, to which Bolt should have figured. "It's kind of like a way to say that if you don't go really deep into something, like taking risks, you don't go anywhere." Karah then flipped herself around again, but she still seem to be thinking about it.

"So, Pokémon like you just hurt themselves like this, so they can get closer to their goals?"

Bolt almost let out a laugh. "No, it's just something that we don't really mean. When the Pokémon say that, they don't actually get hurt. It's like I said, they say that to-"

Bolt stopped as he saw something up ahead. Karah was caught off guard with the sudden quietness from the lion. "What? What are you looking-" But even she couldn't finish her sentence as she turned towards where Bolt was looking. Right in front of them, the current split into two. This wasn't the first split between currents that they had gone past, but that wasn't the thing that they were looking at.

They were looking at right up in the wall of rock that was separating the two currents. A few of the rocks leading up the the fork were completely destroyed, there was a smaller crack, possibly the size of Bolts head, across the right side before the split, but then, worst of all, there was a huge dent that was probably just as big as Wally himself.

Or Melody's head.

Bolt looked at it even longer, but then his started to lean downwards a bit more than normal. Bolt looked down at the waters, and realized that they were picking up too much speed.

"Karah! Grab something! It's getting steep!" Bolt grabbed onto a half broken rock, but he gasped when he saw Karah get caught off guard. It was as if she didn't even hear him!

"Karah!" Bolt cried out.

But it was too late, she was already being swept away by the waters downward push.

"AGH-" Karah screamed as she went under the water.

"I got to save her!" Bolt's first thought told him. "She could go down the wrong path if she doesn't move fast enough!" Bolt went to push himself off and go after her. But his claws were stuck on the stone.

Bolt looked at his paws. He wanted to help, he really did. But part of him was a complete coward. Bolt growled at himself.

"I'm no coward. I have to go after her!" He yelled in his head. He then put his chest against the stone, took in a deep breath, and jumped off the rock.

The waters once more shoved Bolt forward, causing him to lose his control again. However, Bolt kept his head above the water this time, so while not perfect, it was doable.

Bolt treaded through the water as some of his paws hit some rocks under the water, stubbing his toes. But that didn't matter when his saw Karah's tail show above the water just a few yards ahead of him.

The Luxio took in a deep breath, then ducked down and picked up speed. "Karah!" He yelled under the water. Karah heard his loud voice and tried to turn her head to Bolt, but couldn't really see him due to her spinning.

"Bolt!" She cried out. Bolt stretched his arms out, she was just a few inches from his arms, he just had to reach a bit farther. Bolt did he best to not brush against the ground, mainly because it would slow him down (and probably hurt a lot), so he did his best to make small movements to not steer into the sharp rocks. Karah started to try to slow down and stop as much as she could by spreading her fins out, but that only made her go even faster.

Bolt realized that they were getting closer to the fork. And realized that in just a few seconds they would be going down a current not knowing if Sparks and Melody were down there, or even worse, get separated.

Bolt saw that Karah was trying to now get smaller so that less water would push against her, but Bolt knew he had to do something if he was going to catch up fast enough. Bolt gulpped as he spread out his arms and legs, and after every inch, he started to feel the overwhelming waters against him. Bolt started to pick up speed...maybe a bit too much. The Luxio started to get closer to the Popplio, but now Bolt was starting to lose control of himself as his chest was starting to lean upwards.

Bolt's face suddenly met Karah's eyes, and without another word Bolt grabbed Karah and held onto her near his chest. Just in time to see a huge gray hard wall ahead of him.

Bolt turned so that his back would be first to hit it, and so Karah wouldn't get hurt.

"This is going to hurt real bad." Bolt thought as his closed his eyes.

Then, the sound a slight cracking was heard as the lion's back hit the stone wall with a slam.

"AGH!" Bolt cried out. But at the same time, moved his body so that he could stay on the rock wall.

"Bolt!" Karah cried out. "Are you alright?"

"I just slammed into a huge rock!" Bolt roared in pain. He then tried to calm himself down by taking a deep breath. "Sorry, I'm...I'll be fine. I've had worse things happen to me." Bolt thought of that as a lie, but then again, in a wild ride that included running across a island, falling off a cliffside, being frozen multiple times, that may be true.

Bolt just groaned as he tried to not think of his back, as if that would help him. He looked down to see Karah's gaze caught on the monstrous marks above them. "Melody had to have made these cracks!" Karah whined. "Look at the size of them!"

She turned towards Bolt. She then looked back towards the cracks and slowed down as much as she could. She then let out of a worried mutter. "That looks like it really really hurt."

Bolt did a small nod but was still more focused on his back. "Are there any more cracked rocks or something we could follow?" Bolt asked.

But Karah didn't even seem like she heard him. Bolt sighed and let out a loud cough.

"Huh?!"

"Which way did she go?" Bolt said calmly.

"O-oh. Right." She answered as she hummed to herself and looked both ways, but then noticed that there was another decent sized mark that was the size of probably one of her bubbles on the rock wall on the. Karah started pointed towards the left side the left current. "They went that way!"

Bolt looked at where Karah was pointing. "You mean the left?" Karah thought for a brief moment. "Left, yes that's left. Yeah, the one on the left!"

"Wally didn't teach you what's right and left, did he?" Both said in a jokingly manner to forget about his messed up back.

"No, he did," Karah said, "but it's just hard to remember sometimes. There's supposed to be this strange trick with your paws, but I have flippers, so I'm not even that good at it."

Bolt couldn't help but have a small snicker towards the answer, but was then caught off guard by something hitting his chest softly. Bolt looked down to see the cheered up Water-Type.

"Ready?" Karah asked.

Bolt nodded. "Just watch where you're going this time."

The mouse and the turtle continued through the dark gray cave, barely any of them muttered a word towards each other. Ever since the whole incident with a Gator, Sparks didn't bother trying to reason with Melody, and Melody just didn't wanna hear anything Sparks had to say about Gator, nor was she in the mood for talking. The only sounds in the cave where the occasional drips of water, the dragging of Melody's shell, and the quiet steps of the mouse.

Sparks tried to walk and look out for the rest of the way. Everything will be fine after they were done here, Gator would have what he would want, and would have almost no reason to keep Melody here. Besides now that Sparks knew why Gator caught Melody in the first place, he could probably get his dad to do something about what Gator was doing.

Sparks was sure that it would be pretty tough for Gator to continue holding Melody, Sparks was the son of the mayor after all. Gator had to know that. All he had to do was continue down this cave, which shouldn't be that-

"Grrr..."

Sparks' ears went up as his eyes started to dart across the cave, as he began to hear his heart pump against his chest. He turned towards Melody. "Did you hear that?" Sparks asked.

Melody simply looked confused at the Pichu's fear. "Hear what?"

Sparks realized that Melody probably had no idea what he was talking about. So, it may have just been in his head. Which means that it was nothing.

"Oh nothing." Sparks said. As he continued down the cave, although he started walking a bit faster than normal.

"Calm down Sparks." He told himself as he started to put his tiny paws on his head. "Just lower down your electricity. Maybe that'll cause less noise to happen and it'll save your strength. Just in case somemon appears. Not right now though!"

Sparks suddenly started to have second thoughts about coming across other Pokémon. If they did appear he would definitely do his best to fight them off. And it's not like Melody wouldn't be able to take some of them down too, right? Although, she did have that bad bruise on the back of her head. And Meledy was in a very closed spot, and she could hardly move that fast, nor turned around very well. And it was considering that there might be Dark-Types in here, or worse, Ground and Rock-Types.

Sparks was just a Pichu, any electric attack that he did do would hurt him right back. In fact, he's been kind of scratching himself a lot by just making light to see 6 feet ahead of him. So he-

"Grr..." Sparks froze and stood still this time. Something had to be making that noise.

"Did you hear that?" Sparks asked out loud.

Melody looked down at her fins. "Are you sure it's not me?" She asked back.

Great, she still can't hear it. "Melody, I'm serious! I think there's somemon in here watching us."

Melody turned her head. "A sailor?"

"Doubt it." Sparks shot that down. "I'm thinking a Wild Pokemon...besides you."

"Oh."

Sparks then thought about something he never asked. "Hey Melody, have you ever ran into a Dark-Type before?"

Melody was caught off guard by the question at first, but then understood why Sparks was asking this. "Not many times, but whenever I have seen one. It always attacked me."

Sparks started shaking. "B-but don't worry. I'm strong and defeated every one of those mean Pokemon." She said with a sense of pride. "I will not let them hurt you if that is why you asked me."

Sparks ear's shot up. "That's not why, w-why would you think that?" Sparks lied, but Melody saw right though his terrible response.

And let out a sigh. "I will protect you, and I will be fine. I told you that before we left, so do not worry." She said, with a calm smile across her face.

Sparks felt a little more calmer towards the reassuring words from the Wild Pokémon. And while he still worried about Melody, he didn't want to ruin the moment. So instead, he desided to change his thoughts. He looked down at his paws and started to snap his fingers, creating a small yellow spark.

The mouse continued to snap his fingers, when he started to have a little too much electric going on. It was starting to burn his fur.

"Ah!" Sparks exclaimed as he shot the small beam across the cave. The mouse rapidly waved his paw to get rid of the pain, but he couldn't help but hear something.

*Clank*

Sparks blinked at the unexpected sound. They were in a cave, and the only sounds that the two of them were used to was more of a low 'Boo' or at least a lower pitch 'Crack.'

But this? It sounded higher, louder, less open and more contained. Sparks turned towards Melody just to see that she was already looking at him.

They were both thinking the same thing.

Could that be the chest?