Chapter 18: Nearing the End

It...couldn't. Could it?

The Lapras and Pichu couldn't stop looking at a dark part of the cave ahead of them. They had gone through sharp rocks, sharp turns, avoided Dark-Types, while been forced against their will by a cruel sea captain all day to do this!

Sparks let out a yawn, what time was it again?

But he then shook his head. There were in a cave, so that would have to wait, if that was what he thought it was, then it could all be over and he could look at the sky outside to see what time it is.

No more worrying about getting hurt in here, no more Gator, but most importantly, Melody would finally be free.

The Pichu and looked at his paws, took a deep breath in, and then shot a small spark, halfway across between them, at the object. The small spark exploded on the ground, scattering more smaller sparks and light across the cave, revealing even more of a shiny part of the strange thin object.

But Sparks realized that it wasn't glowing, or making it sound light, but reflecting it.

Spark started to put two and two together as he realized that they may have found what they were looking for.

"Melody, I...I think this is it! I think that's the treasure!" Spark started to fill up with excitement as he ran past Melody, without a thought, towards what could be over there or what the noises of the cave could be.

For the first time in a while, Sparks felt genuinely happy and excited about himself. Yes, he could've found this under better circumstances, but it wasn't every day somemon could open up a treasure chest, a real life treasure chest, and find valuable things in it.

He then got closer to the end of the cave, and lit himself up again. The Pichu opened his eyes to see a small metal post that was sticking out of the ground. Suddenly, the mouse started to feel sad again, and put his head down. But then, his eyes caught onto were the stake was planted.

On a 'X'.

"X marks the spot." Sparks said out loud in disbelief. "Oh my goodness! This could be it!" Sparks said as he excitement caused him to light up. So much so that he closed his eyes for a little bit so he could get used to the sudden brightness again.

His eyes peaked open, as he started to think about what to do next. Okay, it was clearly buried. So, he'd have to dig it out...somehow.

The mouse looked at his small paws, and then let out a annoyed sigh. It was better than nothing.

The Electric-Type dropped to both of his knees and started digging through the dirt. The marine reptilian Pokémon tilted her head towards the sight of seeing Sparks digging. Never had she seen Sparks so into something in her life.

I mean, she only knew him for three days, but the speed that he was doing was something that reminded her of some other Wild Pokémon she'd seen. Maybe it was some sort of a Pokémon thing they did?

She was a bit nervous to speak up, but she finally did. "What are you doing?" She asked.

"I'm trying to dig out the treasure!" Sparks said, without even looking back.

"How do you know it there?"

"There's always a treasure under an 'X!'" Sparks said as his head started to dip lower and lower.

Melody began to look around. "But what if it's a trap?" She said.

Sparks finally seemed to slow down, and looked tempted to stop digging and look at Melody. But he didn't.

"Melody, Gator isn't lying. There is a treasure here." He reasoned.

"How can you tell?" She exclaimed as she started moving towards the Pichu.

Sparks sighed. "If Gator wanted us dead, why would he spend all this time, sailing across the island, just so he can send us down a dead end?"

"Because he's mean."

"But," Sparks said as his head got even lower. "He's also a business mon. This would be a lot for him to just to get revenge. He wants money to help his business at the end of the day." Sparks then paused. "Besides, if we can get this out quicker, the faster you can be a free Pokémon."

"...A free Pokémon?"

Melody stopped moving, and lowered her head. Sparks was right. This was her key to be a free Pokémon. If they did this. She may never need to worry about Gator ever again.

The things that she would be free to do, the places that she could go to...What would they even be?

Melody lifted her head to Sparks' back, who was now completely downward, and started to think about that question. When she was first 'home free' she tried to take Sparks with her and leave that cruel Luxio behind. But now, she knew Sparks wouldn't want to go with her, and even though she understood why and was alright with that.

But what could a Wild Pokémon like her do?

"H-hey Sparks?" Melody asked in a weak tone. "What are you going to do when you get home?"

Sparks stopped digging again, and this time, not only looked at Melody, but got up on his feet. He started to scratch his chin. "I...don't really know. But I'm going home if that's what you wanted to know."

"Oh yes, I know that!" Melody said embarrassed. She then coughed. "I was just wondering what you'd do when you get back home."

Sparks blinked, and starred at the Ice-Type. "Well, the first thing I'm going to do is tell my parents everything that I did."

Melody gulped. "And you sure you will be okay? They will be mad."

Sparks gave her a reassuring smile. "Yeah, they will, but my Mom and Dad will understand it. They were a Rescue Team when they were younger, so I'm sure they did some dangerous things against their own parents."

Melody blinked toward the new word. "Rescue Team?"

Sparks' mouth went wide. "Ohhh! I never told you about a Rescue Team. Wow! Okay..." Sparks turned his head, wondering where to start. "So, a Rescue Team is just a group of Pokémon that help others. Whether it's finding lost Pokémon, giving them foods and other things, or fighting off bad guys for them."

"Help those who can't help themselves." Melody quoted.

"Yep, that's... Wait, hold on. You remembered that?!" Sparks asked with his eyes wide.

Melody nodded. "Of course. That is why you helped me, right?"

Sparks almost fumbled his words. "Y-yeah. I-it was." The two stood still for a few moments, with the only sounds coming from the drops of water from the ceiling.

"Guess that shouldn't surprise me. You're a smart Pokemon." Sparks then realized that he should get back to digging. "Well, I'll...get back to digging now." And he turned back to his hole, got onto his knees again, and began digging through the dirt again.

He continued doing it from few seconds, when his ears picked up a question. "Rescue Teams sounds like nice Pokémon. Are you going to be one?" Melody asked.

Sparks blinked again. "I've...thought about it, but I not going to make a choice yet. Especially right now." He ended with a small chuckle.

Melody smiled towards the reply, but that slowly faded away once she started thinking about what she'd do next. It held been so long since she'd been home. What's changed since then? Would she still be able to live there? But what about her new skill of being able to understand another language? Could she put that into use? She could definitely sing more songs now, that was for sure. Maybe some of the smaller Pokémon would want to hear some of those songs. She could even teach them if they asked.

Oh! And Popplio! She's probably been worried about her! Melody held a smile at the thought. She'd have to tell her best friend, as Sparks called it, a whole lot of things when she got back. They'd have so much to catch up on once she came home. They hadn't seen each other since...the day she was captured.

*Crack* Melody snapped out of her thoughts and looked to Sparks once she heard the sudden noise, and noticed him flapping his one paw in pain, he must've hit something hard. Sparks kept moving his arm up and down, as he tried to get rid of the pain. He wasn't expecting something so hard and rough to hurt his paw like that! The mouse looked at his right paw, but then noticed that there was a small piece of sliver by his left finger.

Sparks gasped at the realization, and lit himself up once again. So much so, that even Melody looked away. But Sparks opened his eyes and looked down towards the ground and saw just the smallest spot of dirt that was showing. They really did find it.

"Melody! I found it!" Sparks cheered as he started digging around the shape and did his best to move it. However, from the looks of it, it didn't seem that the small mouse would do much to move it. The chest seemed to be just as wide as him, and that doesn't even include whatever could be in there.

Melody looked at herself, she knew that she could help Sparks lift it by using Psychic. But would that work? If she had long enough fins, she would be able to touch the back of her head and try to feel how bad the mark was. But she didn't have that, the only way to tell how bad it was, was by using the move.

She looked towards the struggling mouse. She knew she had to help him.

Slowly, Melody started to slow down her breaths, and visualize the chest. Her head started to feel tighter, but it didn't feel bad at all once the energy surrounded the chest completely. She then took another deep breath, as she imagined grabbing the wooden crate with her mind. She felt it still being firmly held by the ground, so she pictured the hand pulling harder.

Her head started to ache, but she knew she'd have to get over it. This was for her, for Sparks! She had to get the crate out!

The chest wasn't moving, but the ground was starting to crack around it though, so she didn't need to do this for that much longer. Her breaths started to get more intense, and the pain started to escalate. But at the same time, the crate started to move upwards.

She started to hear a yelling voice, telling her to stop it. It was probably Sparks, but she wasn't going to listen to him. This was the only way. She started to put harder, and her head began to shake. Her eyes began to feel like they were about to pop out of her head.

The pain. It started to hurt badly. Melody was breathing even more intense as she could feel the chest coming out. But would head head make it through? That huge bolder she slammed into. Even with a Oran Berry, the mark it made on the bad of her head was still hurting!

But she kept on going, through the pain, through Sparks' warnings, she persevered. She started to feel like those endless days of her working, those nights she cried, and Gator so close of being done with that was causing Melody to preserver forward.

Then she felt it. The crate was out of the ground. She just had to endure the pain for just a bit longer. She began to shake.

"Agh! Just...a little..." She mumbled. Even though both of her eyes were closed, she began to see lights across her vision. She just had to move it above the ground. And place it on the floor. She felt the pressure lighten.

"A...little."

*Crack*

And just like if somemon fliped the off switch, her head fell to the ground, as she flopped onto the cave floor. She had done it. She had safely moved the box, and all in one piece.

Now...She just felt like sleeping.

"MELODY!" Sparks yelled.

Sparks...

No, she couldn't rest now, not when they still needed to get out of here. The Lapras opened her eyes, and saw the Pichu on the verge of completely losing it. She must've scared him half to death by the look on his face.

"Spa- Agh." Melody tried to speak, but she began to have a huge headache.

"Melody, don't move. Please!" The mouse said with a small tear in his eye. "I'm going to check your mark."

Melody listened to Sparks, and heard him walk around her to see her head. He let out a small yelp when he must've seen the mark, which only made Melody feel worse.

"Okay, I'm not a Psychic-Type and have never seen anything like that, but I can say that's not good." Melody peaked open her eyes to see Sparks' worried look. She let out a small whine.

"Hey it's alright. You got the crate out. That's a really good thing!" Sparks said trying to sound happy. The Pichu then looked over to the chest, but shook his head. Melody was just able to make out the tiny mouse running to his bag, and saw him pulling out something blue.

"Eat this. I'll go check out the treasure okay?" Sparks said calmly.

"Okay." Melody muttered as Sparks began to walk away.

"And no Psychic! I mean it!" He yelled back.

Melody laughed a bit, until she realized that it hurt to just do that. Sparks let out a smile.

"She really doesn't give up, does she?" He thought to himself. He had only knew her for three days at most. But it had already seemed that she was stubborn and unwilling to back down when it came to Sparks safety. If it weren't for his plans, and Melody's trust in him, she would have fought the whole crew herself, Sparks was sure about that.

And it made sense. Melody saw Sparks as a friend. I mean, anyone who saves you from a crazy sailor has got to mean something to you, wouldn't they? Sparks jumped over a small rock. But her stubbornness was getting her into trouble. The mark on the back of her head seemed to be slightly glowing with the light purple energy.

Sparks would have thrown up if he looked at it any longer and looked at the treasure chest in front of him to take his mind off that.

It was a pretty sizable chest that was wooden and had some moss and a few cracks around it, but it still seemed intact. From what Sparks could tell, this probably was in here for a very long time.

*Crash*

Sparks quickly turned his head and fear, expecting to see an evil Dark-Type appear right behind him, but it was just Melody's flipper, hitting a rock and splitting it into two. Sparks took a sigh of relief.

"Sorry." Melody said quietly.

"It's all right. It was a small scare you gave me. How are you feeling?" Sparks asked.

"The Oran Berry made me feel much better, thank you." Melody said.

Sparks began to show a worried look. "Look, I know you want to help me, but for now, don't move for as long as you can, okay?" Melody took some time to answer, but then slowly nodded. Sparks then looked at the treasure. "So, do you have any guesses on what could be in here?" Sparks asked out loud as he turned to face the wooden box.

Melody sighed. "No, I do not know."

"Really? Come on, you have to at least have one idea, right?" Sparks questioned.

But Melody shook her head. "...Do you know what you would guess?" Melody asked.

Sparks nodded and walked closer to the box. "Well, it could just be a bunch of poke, maybe some gold coins, or even some jewels." Sparks looked at the chest again. "Let's see what it is." He said with excitement.

The small mouse put his two paws against the hatch and was ready to lift it open.

"Okay, so before I open this, I'm just gonna guess right now what it is. It's going to be...an Evolution Stone."

Melody opened her eyes and looked at the Pichu. "A what?"

"You don't know what a Evolution Stone is?" Sparks said. "They help us evolve and grow into stronger mons like how you could be a- Wait, that's not a good example. Oh, how I could be a Pikachu or even a Raichu if I just use the stone."

Melody continued to think about it, but she seemed to be coming up with something. Sparks continued. "You're like surrounded with a white light, it happens once you touch it?"

The turtle made a small gasp. "Oh! We call those grow stones."

"Grow stones?" Sparks said with an eyebrow raised. Melody nodded. "I mean that's not a bad name, it's just...kind of funny to me." Sparks said.

"Why do you think it's an Evolution Stone?" Melody asked.

"Oh, trust me, if you want to talk about something that's shiny and expensive, and is pretty much regarded as a treasure, look no further than an evolution stone. You probably don't understand anything about how prices and money works, but these things are a lot of it! They are barely in any of our stores, and when they are, they are expensive!"

"Stores?" Melody asked.

"A spot where you trade stuff." Sparks said as he opened the crate. And suddenly, the whole cave seemed to light up. In fact, it only seemed to be make everything even brighter. Sparks peaked open his eyes and looked what was inside. His jaw dropped at the sheer beauty of what he was seeing. He was right, it was an evolution stone. But there were a lot of them.

"Ohhh." Melody said as she tried to get closer to Sparks. Her eyes were fixed on the rainbow made by all of the evolution stones were making. They looked beautiful altogether, as if it were multiple rainbows combining together to make one beautiful glass window.

To Sparks, he almost wanted to reach out there and touch some of them just to see what would happen. But then he stopped himself, and closed the lid.

"That was really pretty." Melody commented,and Sparks nodded.

"Yeah it was. Although now I'm just wondering how we're going to get it out of here." He said as he looked around himself. "I can see why Gator put so much of his focus on this, this is probably a secret stash of his that he just left here for safekeeping. The amount of poke that one evolution stone is worth is a lot, but an entire chest filled with them?" Sparks stared at the crest for a few seconds. "This has got to be priceless!"

*Squeak*

Melody turned her eyes towards the backside of the cave. For the first time since she was in here, she thought she heard something that wasn't from her or Sparks. She started to remember the few times were Sparks commented on that, hearing something from somewhere else. But this time it seemed that he didn't hear it, but was more focused on the treasure itself.

The yellow, Pokémon put his paw under his chin and started scratching it. "Now, the only thing that I am wondering is how much we're going to get out of here. I wonder how many of these I could carry?"

*Grrrr*

Another noise filled the caves air, but it sounded closer this time, and more scarier. Melody did not like that. She then made some effort to turn around so that they could get ready to leave.

"Sparks?" She said. "Let's hurry up and get this out as fast as we can. Gator will want us back soon."

But Sparks must not have heard the noise again. "Melody, just give me a little bit more time. We have to think about how we can get the most stones all at once. I'm sure if that we can at least get half of these stones we'll be able to finish the job and be home free! Gator could let you go for helping him make so much poke off this stuff!"

Melody stopped for a moment, the idea of freedom alone was enough to make her stop worrying about the cave, but she tried to push that aside for a bit longer. Remember, she had to get out of the cave and survive the Dark-Types if they wanted to even bring the stones to the Captain in the first place. So far, they haven't even ran into one Dark-Type.

But Melody was getting the feeling that they're luck was running out.

"We could try to lift it and put it on your shell." Sparks muttered to himself out loud.

Melody heard that and agreed with it. Anything to get out as soon as they could. "That could work. I-"

"No." Sparks said as he gave it a second thought. "You really shouldn't use Psychic. I saw the mark on the back of your head. Trust me, if you used that, your skull could split into two. That was a bad idea."

Melody sighed. He was right. Even though she was about to say it, she really didn't want to use that move either. She then looked at her chest, and got an idea. "Could you tie the chest onto my shell so I could drag it?" She offered.

Sparks thought about it. "We really shouldn't do that. The chest doesn't look too strong, it probably would break before we even get out of the cave."

Sparks then snapped his paws then looked into his bag as looked to have an idea. While Melody continue to stare towards the cave's ceiling.

*Squeak*

Melody then stared towards the ceiling again, she then turned her head towards Sparks, who had the same look of fear as she did. Melody slowly nodded her head towards the treasure chest with a look of fear in her eyes. But Sparks knew it was her way of saying, 'Hurry up with whatever plan you have.'

Sparks quickly ran towards the chest, and tried to push it to Melody as much as he could, causing the box to crack and screech as it dragged across the ground. Those sounds seemed to carry into the cave. Melody started to hear some more mumbling sounds come from deep into the dark.

"No, not when we are so close." She whined. Her mouth then began to grow a cyan light again. Whatever the cave threw at them, she would freeze it. Melody looked through the darkness, waiting for something to come out from it. She waited for a few, yet long seconds, with the only sounds being her heart beat, and a few more sounds from the depths of the cave.

"Okay Melody." Sparks said. But Melody didn't bother turning her head, she was too focused on not letting any thing get past them. But Sparks knew exactly what she was doing, so he continued speaking. "I am going to push this treasure chest onto your fin, then you are going to carefully lift your fin, so I can try tilt it in a way that the treasure chest will slide off of your fin, and fall against your shell."

Sparks stopped to see if she was listening, to which she gave off a small nod. Good, she was hearing this. Sparks cleared his throat. "Once that happens, I will grab the chest and lift it onto your shell so that it can be caught in between the spikes and not move around that much. Okay?"

Melody hesitated, she knew that she would need to look at Sparks in order for this properly work. But those could be seconds that she would lose to incoming intruders. They could get a cheap shot on them, or worse, destroy the chest and take the stones. But they needed the chest in one pice, and as many stones as they could get, it was the only way that they could truly be free from Gator.

Melody quickly turned towards Sparks and noticed that he had somehow moved the chest onto her blue fin.

And then quickly turned back.

Although a new noise seemed to be appearing, there was still nothing. But they didn't know what it was and it started to drive the two of them mad. "Okay, ready?" He asked.

Melody waited for a moment, but then nodded.

"Don't worry, I'll keep an eye out." Sparks said as he got next to Melody's shell.

"Alright, now." He said. Melody then slowly lifted her back fin, and felt the crate's weight.

She could do this. Maybe she could use a bit of Psychic to help keep it steady?

"No." She thought as she turned to the chest. Sparks said that her mark looked bad. If she got hurt now, then there'd be no way to-

Sparks yelled. "MELODY! AHEAD OF YOU!"

The Lapras turned back towards the cave. Only to see the face of a dark blue bird fly in front of her face, a Honchkrow.

The Ice-Type quickly lowered her head just in time as the Big Boss Pokemon flew over her head. Melody gave out a sigh of relief, and was about to turn herself to try to freeze it. But then she saw the crate still on her fin.

Shoot! She had to keep that still or else it could break! And that meant no sudden movements. She could only hope to hurry it-

*Wham* Something hit her in the back of her head, and right by her mark. Melody let out a cry in pain as her head nearly hit the ground.

Forget about it. She needed to do something now. Or else the two of them would be in even worse trouble. Melody turned her head, and looked for a target. And that's when she saw another Dark-Type.

She saw it's smaller roundish body, that was the size as that one Wartortle in Gator's crew. She saw it's rodent-like body and fur. But instead of the cute and neat way like Sparks would have it, it was messy and all black. And it had a face that was filled with anger, and one sharp tooth sticking out. She had seen that Pokemon before, it was called a Raticate, but never a black kind.

But before she could think about it. She fired the bean of cool light towards the enemy, and it hit the Mouse Pokemon, and froze it almost instantly.

"AGH!" The Pichu cried out. Melody then felt as if her heart was stabbed.

Sparks!

She turned her head to the smaller mouse, and saw the Honchkrow peaking at the Pichu. They were probably here wondering about the light.

Sparks was keeping his head down, doing his best to hold onto the chest, but Melody knew that Sparks wasn't going to last long if he stayed like that. Melody almost used Psychic, but caught herself, and instead moved her energy towards her mouth.

"Leave him alone!" She yelled as she fired another beam. However, the bird was quick, and flew up into the air and then stared at Melody's eyes with a look of pure wickedness.

Before Melody could do anything a very loud screech was made right next to her. Melody again let out a cry in pain. And tried to see what Pokemon it was.

"Melody! There's a Carvanha right behind you!" Sparks yelled as he started to push the crate up her shell.

Melody grunted, but then her lower neck was hit with an Aerial Ace from the Honchkrow, and Melody's head slammed against the ground with a loud, painful thud. She whined as she tried to get up. It just kept getting harder to move, and her mark seemed to be getting worse.

This was the worst thing that could happen. She was already hurt badly on her head, Sparks was too weak to do much damage, and Melody couldn't even move that fast thanks to all of the rocks and lack of space around her, that was, even if she had the strength to do it.

Sparks watched in horror as he saw Melody being ganged up by the other Pokemon. But what was he even able to do?

The Pokemon had started to pay no attention to him, which was alright because he already had one of the heaviest things on his back. But to see Melody being so helpless against them. A Pokemon who wanted nothing but to get out of an endless road of torment for months, somemon so kind, somemon who he couldn't help but only watch get hurt.

Suddenly, a loud roar was heard from the one side of the cave. Sparks was just able to find the strength to push the crate into a spot, where it would at least be leaning on one spike, and turned to see who was doing it. It was the Carvanha, and the red and blue Savage Pokemon gave off a horrifying look as Sparks noticed its mouth glowing with a powerful purple color. It then looked towards Melody's glowing mark.

And Sparks heart dropped the moment he realized what it was planning on doing.

The Pokemon jumped into the air with its mouth wide open. It aimed for Melody's head, and Sparks could only yell, "NOOO!"

*Stab*

Melody's mouth shot open as the poisonous teeth sank into her head. The Lapras' mouth was wide open, but no noise came out from it, it was like her voice turned off. Sparks watched through his own tears, as her body felt limb, and her head fell down without a hint of energy.

The yellow mouse could only assume the worst when he noticed how she wasn't moving an inch.

A loud crash of a crate was heard right behind the Pichu, and the stones were scattered.

"Finally!" Bolt cried out as his face came out of the water, and he took in a huge gasp of air. ...that was useless due to how Wally used 'Splash' on him, and therefore, made him part Water-Type so he could breathe underwater.

He probably wasn't going to stop gasping for air whenever he came out though. The Luxio stared around himself and couldn't really see anything other than total darkness. Yep, he was in a cave alright.

Suddenly, a splash was heard right by Bolt's left, and for a moment he didn't know what it was, until it talked.

"Woah, it's really dark in here!" The small Popplio said nervously.

"Yeah, it's pretty-"

"Yipe! Bolt, is that you?" The Water-Type panicked.

"Yes Karah, who else could it be? We literally went into here together." Bolt said as he did his best to walk forward.

"I-I know, it's just...really really dark. I just wanted to make sure." Karah said as she looked around for the lion.

"I've never been in a spot this dark before. I'm used to having the moonlight shine at night and candles at home." Bolt started to shake himself as he heard Karah humming to herself.

"Um, where are you?" She asked. Bolt looked back to where he once was, and was just able to see her back.

"Turn around and follow my voice." Bolt answered.

"Oh." She let out as the sound of moving waters was made. She then swam over to Bolt, but bumped into a rock on her way, making a little 'Bop' noise. "Oww. You don't have any light, do you?" She asked.

"Y-yeah, just a moment." Bolt said as he did his best to hide his laughter. "I just need to dry off first."

"Why?"

"Well, I make light by having electric sparks going around me, that's kind of painful if I'm wet."

"Ooooh. That makes sense." Bolt then sped up his shaking as Karah sat next to him.

"Are you sure this is it?" Bolt asked a loud.

"I'm sure about it." Karah said. "You saw that ice wall, the two of them shouldn't be too far."

"That's fair. I guess it's just weird to me that I'm finally about to see Sparks...again." Bolt said as he started to shake his legs one by one.

"You saw your little brother yesterday, I haven't seen Melody in months!" Karah said.

"Fair again." Bolt said as he looked up at the cave's ceiling. He then hummed to himself. "Could you maybe stay quiet? We don't know what's in here."

"Okay." Karah said quietly. Bolt the shook his last leg, and got ready to light up. "I'm gonna light up now, so stand back." Bolt warned.

"Got it."

Bolt then took a deep breath in as he started to charge up yellow sparks around his body. They weren't that big, but some of them did go a little out of control whenever it touched any wet parts that were on or near him.

But other than that, it was an easy thing for him to do.

Bolt opened his eyes to see gray rocks ahead and stalagmites ahead of him. He then looked to his right to see Karah rubbing her eyes.

"Wow, that's bright." She commented, but Bolt laughed.

"Oh this is nothing, but I don't want to be too bright either."

"Yeah, I guess we don't want to wake anymon up like that." Kara said as she moved closer to Bolt. "What kind of Pokemon do you think we'll see?"

"Some Dark and Ghost-Types maybe." Bolt answered.

"Well, ya. But which ones?"

"I don't know, Sparks is the one who knows about a bunch of different Pokemon and where they live, not me."

"Oh, I see." There was a moment of silence as the two of them started to make there way down the cave. Karah stayed away from Bolt, due to his sparks, and Bolt just didn't have anything to say.

But after a minute of walking, and avoiding some sharp rocks, Karah asked a question. "So, what are you going to do after you find Sparks?"

Bolt looked down to the ground to think about it, he then cleared his throat and answered. "I think I'm going to take him home after this insane adventure is over."

"Is Sparks going to get in trouble from this?"

Bolt bit his lip. "I...I think so. But as long as we have Gator's book, he shouldn't get into too much trouble. I think he'll just get grounded for a week, and a yell of 'I was so worried' from my Mom and Dad."

"Are you going to get into trouble?" Kara asked.

Bolt let out a chuckle. "I...I guess I might? I don't know."

"But wouldn't your parents be worried about you too?"

"They would, and probably are, but it's just that Sparks was the one who ran away and I was the one chasing after him." Bolt said as he stepped over a rock.

He then thought of something he hadn't before. "What are you going to do once you find Melody?" He asked the Water-Type.

"Catch up with each other." Karah said plainly. "I'm sure we've both been through a lot, and I bet that the two of us can talk like you very well, so we can go over the things we went through. Oh! And maybe even sing some new songs! It's been so long since we've sang together." She said excitedly.

Bolt's heart sank a little, and he looked away from Karah. But she noticed this.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Oh. It's...nothing, I just..." He let out a sigh. "Songs was how Melody got captured wasn't it?"

Karah went wide-eyed, but then remembered that he read Gator's book. "How...how much detail did Gator go through?" She asked.

Now Bolt started to feel bad, but he couldn't really back down now. "A little too much for you to find out." He said.

"He just wrote down all of the stuff that happened in that night?"

"Pretty much. He went into a lot of detail. He must've really enjoyed that night."

Karah felt sick. "How could somemon just do that? Writing something down that involves, hurting, capturing..., and just...making lives so much worse for us?"

Bolt's heart ached at that difficult question, and he just looked ahead of himself.

"I...I don't know." He said. "Maybe-"

"NOOO!" A cry of pain called out and echoed throughout the cave. The two Pokemon stopped in there tracks and realized what they just heard. Karah was caught off guard by the noise, but Bolt knew exactly who's voice that was.

"Bolt, was that-"

Suddenly Bolt grabbed Karah, and threw her into his back, and without a word, the two of them went deeper into the cave.

"Sparks!" Bolt yelled out as he started running. "S-s-p-p-a-a-r-r-k-k-s!" Karah yelled as her chest was bouncing on Bolt's back. Bolt knew that Karah was having a bit tough time back there, probably getting zapped with some of the sparks that were lighting up the way, but he was sure it wasn't that bad.

Besides, Bolt KNEW that was his brother's voice, and if Sparks was here, that meant Melody was too.

The lion saw a small rock in the way. "Hang on!" He told Karah right before he jumped into the air, and landed without missing a beat.

"How are you running so fast?!" Karah yelled in what seemed to be a panicked and a curious way.

"When you run across a part of the island non-stop to find your brother the first time, things like this are nothing!" Bolt laughed confidently.

He then came up to a sharp turn, to which Bolt jumped onto the wall in front of him, and then jumped from there back into the path. How long was this cave!?

"But...what happened to Melody?" Karah asked.

Bolt...didn't have an answer to that. Even knowing that his little brother who would never stop talking, he had never heard Sparks ever scream like that before. And the fact it sounded felt soul breaking didn't help.

"Agh! Hey! No!" Sparks yelled, but even though it wasn't as much of a yell as the first one, it sounded louder.

They were close. And just after that last thought, Bolt made one more small turn down the path, and then suddenly something bright flashed into his eyes, and the Spark Pokemon looked away for a moment in shock.

He then rubbed his eyes, and then looked towards the object that had blinded him. His eyes went wide as he instantly recognized the green glow from the stone. And not just any stone, a Thunder Stone.

Bolt then looked ahead of himself just a little further, and realized that their were many more laying across the ground. Were these Evolution Stones?

Suddenly, Bolt started to piece together that this was the 'order' Gator had. And it kind of started to make sense. But why were these all around the cave out in the open?

Where was Sparks and Melody?

The lion looked up a little more, and froze in fear as he realized that three Dark-Types were attacking Sparks before his own eyes. He almost couldn't believe what he was seeing. Sparks stood no chance against them and the both of them knew it!

But Melody, where was she? She should be here protecting Sparks! She would never-

"AGH!" Karah screamed as if she saw a Ghost-Type.

Bolt asked, "What's wrong-Woah!" As the blue seal jumps off of him and goes to a side of the cave. Bolt quickly turned to see why it was, and let out a horrified gasp when he properly lit up the area.

Right to his left side, he saw a unconscious Lapras' head. With a very bad, and somehow glowing, mark on the back of it. And from the looks of it, she was badly hurt, or worse... Dead.

Bolt stared at her closed eyes, wondering if they'd open up again. He didn't really like Melody, but to see her lay there motionless? It just showed the lengths that Gator was going with Melody to get this order done, and Gator probably wouldn't even care if she was dead!

Gator was an absolute monster when it came to treating Melody, a Wild Pokemon who seemed to be very caring and friendly towards everymon around here who was kind. But the absolute worst part about it was that she wouldn't even be here if she wasn't captured again, if Sparks had gotten her away in time. If he didn't give Gator the dots to connect-

Bolt took a few steps back in horror at that last though. He...she...This is all his fault.

Bolt looked down at the ground as tears formed on his face. He couldn't stop thinking about that. He was a murderer.

...murderer...

...Murder.

...MURDER!

"AGH!" Bolt yelled in grief. He heart was pounding hard against his chest. His breaths were getting faster. His vision was foggy, and he felt as if he was alone in a pit of darkness and guilt.

Never in his life did he ever think something like this would happen to him when he thought about a Wild Pokemon!

Just two short days ago, everything was normal, and Bolt was so relaxed to finally have some Summer vacation. But now? Sparks was getting attacked by Dark-Types, Karah was crying, and Melody...

It...it was all too much for the poor Luxio. He couldn't handle it. Not now, not ever. He...

...

No. Bolt brought his black paw up to his face and wiped his tears. "This is all Gator's fault! He's the murder! I was just his pawn!" Bolt thought to himself as he looked towards the gleaming stone. "And no matter what it looks like now, I can still make things right again!"

Bolt then jumped right to the stone and grabbed it with his paw. He then stared at the stone and looked at it, finally give a thought into what he was going to do.

Was he really going to use this stone to become stronger? He had always heard that using one too early in your life could give you problems due to the sudden increase in power you'd get. All of the overwhelming strength he was going to get from this. Bolt probably wasn't going to properly evolve until three more years! And what would his parents think about him using one so early?

Bolt looked up towards his little brother again, helplessly ducking, probably didn't even know Bolt was here due to the commotion. Bolt looked down at the stone, and pressed against it harder, until it let out a white glow. The glow of energy than shot through his whole body. He had no other choice.

Bolt grunted in the sudden amounts of energy and warmness he was getting all at once. Bolt couldn't open his eyes to see anything as he started to feel his body shake, and it let out a few cracks while his body was changing. He also felt a little weightless too, as if the Luxio was being held up, and molded into a Luxray. But from somemon who had already gone through one phase of evolution, this wasn't too different from that.

Bolt chuckled. Two days ago he also didn't even care about Sparks in the first place, and he bet that he wouldn't done this at all if it came to it. Those last two days...everything had really changed from him since then. He found out that Gator was a monster due to a past event, he found out that Sparks could kind of change into somemon who's more of a planner instead of a know it all. He also found about that some Wild Pokemon could change, and even be similar to him if given the chance.

Well, when he says Wild Pokemon, it really means Melody. Somemon who Bolt had hated to the core. The Pokemon that had caused Sparks to run off. It felt like she was his cheat card that he could use to make sure that the he'd stay safe.

But it was like that, and Bolt realized that now. Melody cared about Sparks. She didn't want to hurt him at all. The only reason she had ever attacked him was for Spark's sake...

She was acting like a better sibling than Bolt had in a long time, and it felt awful to think that because how true it was.

But this time it would change. Sparks had been trying to show him what was right in front of him all along, and he was so blind by his ego to actually listen to him.

But that's was over. He knows Melody doesn't deserve this. He knows what Gator deserves...and he owes it all to his little brother.

His mother's words came back to him.

"...Sometimes new things happen in your life...And the best thing to do is to welcome the change."

"Bolt, one day, a bigger change is going to happen, and when that happens, you will have to drop that ego of yours..."

Mom was right, unsurprisingly. He learned that everymon could change when it mattered. And now, it was his turn to change.

Bolt felt his body getting to the final stages as he was nearly done. The bright white light from the stone finally started to dim, as where once a Luxio was, a Luxray stood in its place.

One more line went through his head, and it was said by his brother and father at once.

"We help those who can't help themselves."

And for once, he took that to heart as he charged.