Chapter 19: United

The small Pichu held his eyes shut as his long ears were being pulled on, body was getting hit with a tail, and his heart was broken.

It had all happened so fast, too fast for Sparks. He went from finding the chest he and Melody needed to get out of this huge fetch quest, to realizing that they weren't alone, and then they started attacking him and Melody and...

She...couldn't be dead. She just couldn't! She had been through more than any Pokemon should ever and now she may not even be living any more?! It just...it wasn't fair.

And now Sparks was curled up, just waiting to wake up from this nightmare. But it was real, and he was living in it. Once Melody fell down, she never appeared to even move since. Sparks would have checked if her heart was pumping, but once those Evil-Types saw that Melody wasn't moving, they went towards their next target.

Him.

Sparks would have tried to fight back and help Melody, but he had never truly fought in his life, and he was just a small Pichu. Any powerful move he could do, which were few, would hurt Sparks more than them. And that was if the attack hit them in the first place.

Now, he was all out of ideas. Melody was down, and the three Pokemon were now peaking him, or hitting him with water. Sparks had completely given up on trying to fight his way out. He always went with the pacifist route, because he believed that all Pokemon were the same. I mean, it worked with Melody and those wild Beedrill. The answer didn't have to be fighting! Maybe if Sparks stayed like this, the Pokemon would understand him, and leave him alone.

It was a small chance it'll work, and he knew it. But it was the best idea he had.

But if it didn't work out, then would they do the same thing to him they did to Melody? He...he might die in just a few more minutes, seconds even!

It was wrong, he shouldn't even be here! He was going to return home until Gator showed up and captured Melody again, and took him along with her. He probably wasn't even going to say good bye to all his friends back at home, to his parents, he even wanted to see Bolt again...

Sparks put his teeth together, and cried even more in sadness. Bolt was probably not going to feel bad about this, he was probably back at home and probably told Mom and Dad a lie so that he could just out of most of the trouble. And Sparks wouldn't even be there to say anything!

"Why Bolt...why did you have to ruin everything!" Sparks thought. He just stayed in the same spot, waiting for this to all be over.

...

...

*Step* *Step* *Step*

"GET OFF MY BROTHER!" A loud voice roared.

Suddenly, Sparks' pain stopped, and his vision went bright yellow. Sparks opened his eyes to a blinding yellow light from all around him, and he was just able to make out the bodies of all the Pokemon who were attacking him. Sparks felt small sparks of electric hit his checks and go into his body.

Thunderbolt? But who could be using that? Gator didn't have somemon in his crew that could do that did he?

And suddenly, the light went out and the three Pokemon fell down to the ground. The Carvanha fell flat on its left side with spirals in its eyes, which made sense because it was an electric attack to the Water-Type. And the same thing could also be said about the Honchkrow, because it's a Flying-Type.

The only one who didn't seem to have fainted was the Raticate, who let out a weak growl, but still got up from the attack, and turned towards whoever did that attack. But it didn't even get a chance as its body was slammed into by the attacker. And Sparks didn't even see the Dark-Type slam into the wall, as his eyes were completely locked into something far bigger.

He saw the mix between light blue and black fur, the lion-like body, and the remaining sparks of the Thunderbolt move in its star-shaped tail. It was a Luxray, the Gleam Eyes Pokemon.

Sparks was very close to yelling 'Mom' when the face turned towards him and Sparks noticed that its face looked nothing like his mother's, but a male's. But Sparks didn't even have time to say, or even think, as the Luxray quickly came up to Sparks, and wrapped the Pichu with his front arms.

"Sparks, you're alive!" The deep voice cried out in relief, as Sparks started to feel a few tears hit his head. But Sparks couldn't say anything. Bolt?! For once, when Sparks got an answer, he got an overload of questions screaming in his head. How did he find me this time?! Did he ever go home?! Was anymon else here?! How did he turn into a Luxray?! He wasn't supposed to do that for a few more years!

And why was he hugging Sparks right now?! As far as Sparks recalled, Bolt hated hugs! And him! And Sparks just wanted to yell at his brother now. Yell at Bolt for getting him into this near death experience. Tell his brother how much he hated him right now.

But the way Bolt cried out his name, embraced him, how he was crying right now. It didn't feel fake at all, it felt real. Very real. Sparks finally spoke.

"Bolt, is that really you?"

A loud sniff was heard, and then a sigh. "Y-ya. It's me. Your big brother. The one who..." Bolt wiped his eyes and let out a cough. "Look, I need to make this quick before anything else attacks us." He then looked at Sparks firmly. "I didn't mean for any of this to happen, but I was scared about whta Mom and Dad would think of me if you weren't home, and that lead to me giving you and Melody away to Gator, and you being sent down here and nearly dying. It was just..."

"Bolt are you-"

"Let me finish! I have to get this off my chest." Bolt pointed out. "I've just...been so annoyed that you've always been right, and it feels like I'm in your shadow when in my eyes it should be the other way around. That's why I said I hated you. Because I was jealous. I don't know how much you hate me now, but just know that I'm going to get you out of this mess that I got you in."

There was a small pause again. His brother looked down towards the ground, and looked ashamed. Something that Sparks had never seen on his brother. Sparks didn't even know what to say besides.

"Bolt, do you...really mean all of that?"

"On the night school ended, Mom told me that I needed to drop my big ego, and change for the better. And after seeing Melody, and everything Gator's done to you guys, I've just let her down. I got to help you guys out. Mom and Dad would want me to do it, in fact, that's why you went with me to deliver mail." He replied.

His brother looked down towards the ground, and looked ashamed. Something that Sparks had never seen on his brother's face. The mouse saw that Bolt really meant it.

"Huh, I was wondering why Mom told me about that on the same night. Another one of Mom's master plans, huh?" Sparks said, trying to lighten the mood. Bolt lifted his head, but looked away from Sparks. "Yeah, you know Mom." The two brothers then made a few awkward laughs. Clearly the two of them wanted this to end as soon as it could. Sparks was just weirded out by Bolt's sudden change in character, and Bolt was probably cringing in the inside due to the cheesy things he just said.

"Ahem!" A small voice called out from Melody's head. "I'm happy that the two of you are sorting things out. But what about Melody!?"

"Right! Sorry Karah." Bolt said as he started to move towards the Popplio. Sparks just quickly walked around the fainted Pokemon and then got on all four paws to run over to Melody. But his eyes glanced at the Seal Pokemon, who Bolt seemed to know. But then he became more focused on Melody. Sparks came up to the blue turtle and put his ear against the side of her chest. He closed his eyes, and focused on trying to hear her heart. And just after a few seconds, he heard a faint beat.

Sparks then let out a loud sigh of relief. She wasn't dead, she was still alive. But it wasn't by much. Sparks then took his ear off of Melody. "Alright, her heart's still beating, but it's not that much. So we need something-"

"A Reviver Seed?" Bolt said as he looked around himself. "Yeah! You'll find one in my bag." Sparks said as he pointed to his bag. Bolt nodded and walked over towards it without a word. Sparks didn't realize how much that felt wrong. Yes, it was nice, but wow. Sparks still felt a bit weird about Bolt turning a new leaf. How much would this change him? Would he be able to keep it up? Would Bolt-

"Um, hi." A voice said right by Sparks' side. The mouse turned over and saw the Water-Type with a nervous smile across her face. Sparks was about to speak, but then suddenly found himself feeling the same way. "A...Hello. I-I'm Sparks." He finally said.

"Oh, I know. I heard about you by a Butterfree a few days ago. You are the Pichu that broke Melody out?"

Sparks looked at her confused. "You...heard about me?"

She nodded happily. "Oh ya! The Wild Pokemon that came up would not stop talking about what had happened! And once I heard about it, me and my friend Wally came from all the way from Ocean's Island to find the two of you!" Sparks was taken back by this. From what it sounded like, what he did was a big deal to so many Pokemon! And many of them were Wild!

Sparks thought back to the Pokémon that helped him escape the night that the breakout plan happened. Sparks made a small chuckle to himself. The whole past two days have really been a roller coaster of emotions for him, hasn't it?

He then blinked. "Wait, do you know Melody?" Karah then remembered she hadn't told him yet. "Oh, I'm sorry. My name is Karah, and I'm Melody's friend. Maybe best friend if what Wally said was correct. Has she mentioned me?"

Sparks' eyes went wide. "Yeah! She has. I mean, not too much, but that's not to say that she isn't thinking about you. I'm sure she has been thinking about you a lot, it's just I think she had a lot going on through her mind like. Learning how to talk, protecting me, making sure that Bolt stayed put, and well a lot of other things." Sparks turned towards the Popplio, who was now giggling a little.

"Bolt was right when he said you talked a lot." She said to Sparks. Sparks didn't really know how to think about that.

"About that, how did you two run into each other?" He asked genuinely interested.

"Oh, we found him frozen solid when yesterday was almost over. Me and Wally looked at him and told ourselves that we couldn't just leave him there. So, we helped him out and unfroze him, then he told us all about you, and how you were going to the Red Currents, and here we are." Karah said.

The Pichu looked towards his brother, who was going through the bag. "How has Bolt been...treating you?" He said quietly.

Karah thought for a moment. "He's been nice to me. When we were going down the river and to this cave, he stopped me from going too far down the river, and figured out how to find you guys."

"Really?"

Karah looked confused. "Yeah. Why? Does he treat you badly?"

Sparks eyes went wide. "No! Of course not! I mean," He looked to Bolt again. Thankfully, it seems he didn't hear that either. "He said he never liked me because I was annoying, but he's never hurt me or anything besides the one time he saw me feeding a Wild Pokemon."

"I see..." Karah said as she started to have a frown as she turned towards her friend.

"Hey, Melody's not gone." He said firmly, trying to convince himself as well. "Melody is the strongest Pokémon I know. And that's saying something because my mom and dad are explorers! I don't think she'd allow herself to go out like this. I think-"

"Here you go!" A deeper voice said, as a blue and black paw slid a seed between the two of them. Sparks looked up to see his older brother, who now was in the body that looked much older. He was going to have to get used to his evolved form. 'I wonder what mom and dad will think about this?" He thought to himself.

"Are any of you going to take it or..."

"No, no I got it." Sparks said as he grabbed the seed and walked towards Melody's mouth. "It's just weird seeing you like this. Making a complete 180 on me all of a sudden."

"Uhh, yeah. It's a bit awkward for me too. I guess you could say it's as weird as me evolving so quickly." Bolt said as he looked away.

Sparks stopped, and had another question about Bolt. "And your new body feels fine?" Sparks asked.

Bolt chuckled. "I mean, I haven't really fought anymon yet, but yeah, this feels great!" He said as he started to take pride in himself again. "I feel like bigger, stronger, quicker, and most of my fur even dried during that white light, so now I'm not even wet!"

"Have you tried your x-ray vision yet?" Sparks asked. Bolt eyes went wide. "Oh, I forgot about that." Bolt then blinked slowly and seem to put effort into blinking. Probably try to activate the x-ray vision. Sparks turned away from him and didn't pay any more attention towards that. He had the seed, he knew what he had to do now. He came face to face with the Lapras, Sparks took in a few deep breaths to try to calm himself down.

"She's alive, she's alive." He kept telling himself. He then walked up to her mouth, put his right paw on to the top of her jaw, and slightly opened it so that he could just slide the seed into the mouth with his left paw.

Then he let go of the jaw, so her mouth would close. And hopefully the seed would do it's thing.

...

No noise was made, no mon spoke, and, thankfully, no other Pokémon came in to attack them, as the three of them watched the turtles body to see if it would move again.

Sparks were starting to lose hope. "Please. Don't have it end like this." He told himself. "She just wanted to grow and learn more about us."

Suddenly a small, bright white light dimmed in the Lapras' mouth. It was on for a few seconds, but then slowly died down until it was total darkness again. Sparks continued to look at the body, and then he noticed a faint ever so slight twitch in her eye. This was followed by another one, and another twitch. And then a grown of pain.

"Ahhh..." She spoke. Her eyes slowly peaked open and immediately made contact with Sparks. Sparks could see her energy being used to smile.

"S-Sparks?" She said weakly. She then closed her eyes again. "What happened? Are the Wild Pokémon gone? Are you all right?"

Melody couldn't see it, but Sparks' eyes were filled with tears, and he was just about to answer. When Karah flew up into Melody's face and hugged it.

"You're alive! We finally found you, and you're alive!" The seal cried out with her eyes filled with tears. "I thought you didn't make it! I thought I would never see you again! But now you're here, and you're OK!"

Melody was caught off guard for a moment. But then felt overwhelmed as tears started to flow from her eyes as well. She recognized that voice, it was a friend she hadn't heard in so long.

Her eyes went open, and she started to raise her neck a little. "Popplio? You're you're here too!" She said with a mixture of confusion and joy.

"Yes! Of course I'm here! I never stopped looking for you since day one!" Karah said happily. But then the turtle moved her head away from Karah, which caught everymon off guard. Melody then started to get onto tears, but they weren't of joy.

"I'm sorry... so, so sorry." She muttered.

Karah started to panic. "H-hey! What's wrong?"

"If I was careful around Gator, none of this would have happened! You wouldn't have gotten hurt, or worry about me, or travel around the whole world to find me!" She answered with her eyes closed. "All of this is my fault."

Sparks looked to his brother, and it seemed Bolt didn't want to say anything yet. Which made sense, he also didn't have anything to say about this because he wanted Karah and Melody to go through this themselves.

That or Bolt just didn't care too much, he didn't fully know how Bolt felt about Melody yet.

"Hey." Karah said. "We didn't know Gator was going to do that to you, you just wanted to help the sailors out, and you did! And even though you were trapped. You learned how to talk, and made some friends along the way!"

Melody opened her eyes and looked around towards Popplio, Sparks, and...Bolt. "The important thing is that we're all okay and we can-"

"YOU!" Melody yelled in anger as she saw the lion and a bright light appeared in her mouth. Bolt turned white and screamed in fear, knowing perfectly well what was going through her head.

"AGH! Wait! Melody! I'm sorry for- Agh!" And before anymon else knew it, Bolt was hit by another Ice Beam. Fortunately, Bolt had moved just in time to just get his head and front legs frozen. Karah had her flippers to her mouth in shock, and Sparks just sighed. Bolt's back legs started moving away from Melody in fear, and began hitting the wall to get free. Sparks suddenly found it very hard to not laugh.

But then Melody started to stand upright. "If it weren't for you, we wouldn't be in this cave!" She yelled towards the panicking block of ice. Melody started another beam, about to freeze the rest of that mean Pokemon's body, but then her friends stood in front of her. Melody let out a small yelp, and then paused charging the beam.

"Melody! Stop!" Karah yelled. "Bolt's the whole reason I was able to find you! He even saved me during the currents!" Melody's eyes went wide.

Sparks then said, "He's also changed and is sorry for happened!..I think, but please, don't freeze him!"

Melody looked at the two of them. Sparks knew that Melody wanted to freeze him more than anything right now, but thankfully the two of them seemed to have calmed her down.

Melody then sighed, and a loud crash was heard. "DON'T FREEZE ME, I'M BEGGING YOU!" Bolt said, thinking Melody was firing again. But he froze when he saw her much more calmer. He looked at Sparks and Karah, as if he was asking them if she was okay, but then Melody spoke.

"You led Popplio here?" She asked the Luxray.

Bolt just stood in place shaking, whether he was cold or was scared Sparks didn't know (probably both), but he didn't say anything.

Melody growled, and Bolt finally talked. "Y-yes! I led her here to find you! And I came with her because I'm s-sorry! I didn't m-mean for this to happen to either of you!" Bolt said before it was too late. Melody rolled her eyes, to which Bolt let out a small groan. "L-look, I know you hate me. But I'm here to make things right, okay?"

Melody turned her head away from the lion, but he still continued. "I read a book from Gator, I know what you went through. The day you helped those sailors, the night Gator came out to meet you, the berry he gave you, and how he made you look in front of everymon else. And for what, just because random Lapras' killed his family? Sure you freeze me all the time, but that's because you're caring towards your friends!" Bolt sighed. "And I've just been selfish, even to my own brother when he's always been...right. I kept trying to do things my own way during my short time with you guys, and all I did was slow you down."

Melody still wasn't looking, but Bolt smiled. "But now I'm willing to listen to the both of you guys, and even if you don't like me, I just want to ask you to put that aside until we all get out of here. Besides, Gator beat me up and froze me solid too. So I've got a bone to pick with him as well."

Melody made a small snort, though no mon knew why. She then turned around and looked to her friend, who nodded at her. To which Melody moved her head closer to lion, and stared at him. Sparks noticed that his older brother looked a bit scared about this, but he noticed that Bolt seemed to be standing strong. Melody looked at him for so long without any word or movements, that Sparks noticed Karah was about to speak, but then Melody finally rose her head.

"You're still a mean Pokemon." She said.

"Ya...I'll work on it." Bolt said.

Melody then looked at her two friends and sighed. "So what do we do now?" She asked, mainly to Sparks.

The Pichu looked down. "Well, I did want to get as many stones back to Gator as we could, but the chest broke and Bolt unfortunately used one of the stones."

"Hey, hey! I didn't know about that! And that helped save your life and you know it!" Bolt pointed out.

"I know! But, the treasure does belong to Gator so that means you kind of stole that from him, and he's not going to take that lightly."

Bolt started thinking about how dumb it would be to fuss over one stone, and then grunted when he remembered that stones like those are super rare, and probably upset that the Pichu was right...huh, he really was right all of the time. No wonder Bolt was annoyed by that.

"Well," Kara stated. "There are four of us here, maybe we could all help carry them up?"

Sparks looked towards the seal. "That might work, but I don't think it'll matter how many stones Gator gets. I don't think he'll ever stop holding onto Melody. The stuff that Gator talked about seemed super serious to him. I mean, to lose your whole family and then walk away from that? That can't be easy."

"Froze me solid or not, Gator had his reasons." Bolt said, which made everyone look to him. Bolt suddenly got nervous. "I mean they were terrible reasons! But he still had a reason is my point."

"And no matter what he'll capture you again if he has to." Spark said as he looked at Melody. "I don't even think it'll matter if our dad's the mayor, we can't just say that Gator was in the wrong. Who would believe us?"

Bolt coughed out loud. "Excuse me, but did you forget when I told Melody I looked in his diary?"

Sparks blinked to a few times, but then his eyes went wide as he looked towards his brother in disbelief. "You took Gator's diary!?"

"Yep, if we show that to everymon-"

"No no no no! If something bad happens to that, Gator could kill us! He- Mmm!" Sparks yelled. Bolt shoved his paw into the Pichu's mouth. "Come on, I'm not that stupid! I left it with Wally so it wouldn't get ruined." He told his younger brother.

"Wally?" Melody asked.

"He's a super kind Lanturn that helped us. He even taught me how to speak like you guys!" Karah said.

"Oh." The Lapras nodded. "I was wondering that."

All four Pokemon then said nothing for a while. They were all caught up with each other and now everything just seemed awkward now.

Karah let out a sigh. "So, what-"

"Sparks!? Lapras!? Are you there?!" A loud voice called out.

"That's not mine! I swear I'm not hiding a compass!" Bolt panicked.

"Don't worry. It's actually mine." Sparks said as he looked towards the glowing compass. "Throughout everything that's happened, I completely forgot about this thing."

No mon moved.

"So...is somemon going to answer it?" Karah asked as she looked around. Sparks continued to stare at the device. Answering it seemed like a bad idea to him, but then again, it was much worse to not answer it at all. Sparks took a step forward, then another one, and then, he began to walk to the compass. No mon said anything to the Pichu as he bent down and picked up the compass, and pressed on the glowing stone.

He took a deep breath in. "Y-yeah, we're both here. And don't worry! We not only found the treasure, but we've also taken care of any Wild Pokemon in here!"

There was silence, and then a sigh. "Good, it's just been a while since I've heard from you. Are you on your way back? Do you have the chest?Y ou better not have touched those stones!"

Sparks looked up and saw his older brother looking away from him. "A..." Sparks then had an idea. "Yeah, all of us are just trying to load up the chest right now. We'll be back soon!"

"If you touched any of those stones, you better not have-"

Sparks hung up on the captain and put down the compass. "Alright, well, it's clear that we need to get out of here. I've...got some ideas. But you all have to trust me and work together if this is going to work."

"Of course." Melody said. She then narrowed her eyes towards the Luxray. To which he just shook his head.

"Look, if you think I'm going to be against Sparks, I'm not, okay." He told Melody. "Besides, it seems that a lot of your plans have worked out for you. So yeah, I'm in."

Sparks was a little caught off guard by his brother being cool with this, but he shook his head.

"Alright, here's what I have..."

The ship stood still in the waters, but then shook a little to the side as a big Pokemon started to climb the ladder. And it was the Feraligatr Captain. He didn't know why, but it was as if there was a voice telling him something was wrong.

Maybe it was the length Sparks was taking, how it seemed that they still didn't seem to trust him, or how it felt like somethings were crashing into something not too long ago. That Pichu was able to breakout the Lapras once, so why not again?

It was probably that last one.

That mouse could be planning something that would go against him, and Sparks would probably overtake him if he wasn't careful. And that was why he had his whole crew around the current, just to make sure those two wouldn't try something.

But he also had something else, something that he was at first considering for that Lapras, but it then turned into a must have once she escaped. A powerful cannon, and it was a huge one too. Honestly, it was surprising how much it costed, but when you want it on such short notice, it shouldn't come cheap.

While the parts were ordered before they left, a part of the crew was setting it up while they were going to Treasure Town. He also wanted to make sure Sparks and the Lapras had no idea about the cannon. He was saving that for his trump card.

Gator then took his final step, and stood on his deck. A part of him was relieved to see everything in order, with there being no mon on the ship. He was glad everything seemed fine.

Seemed.

Gator made sure to look around his ship. No wild Pokemon hiding in his ship, no traps, no anything that wasn't his. But after a few minutes, he had walked all around the ship and found nothing to worry about.

Gator took a sigh of relief. Maybe he should go into his room to calm down. It was something that calmed him down. Maybe rest a bit? He hadn't gotten much sleep the past two days, the lack of sleep seemed to be doing somethings to his head anyways.

No, he wasn't go to see that Lapras until someone lets him know, but he knew that he would still have some kind of dream about his family, he was sure of it.

The only time he had a wink of sleep had his own family mad at him for losing the Lapras in his dream.

Besides, he had to prepare himself for Sparks, a little rest might be give him just enough energy to-

Gator stopped walking as he reached his door, as he saw some patches of water making a trail from and out of his room. It was small, in fact, Gator could have looked over it if he wasn't in this mood. But Gator felt a part of him black out as he worried that something had happened. In a heartbeat, he opened the door, and went into his room. And looked around it. Everything...seemed-

No, Gator could feel some dampness in the wood below his feet, somemon was in here.

Everything wasn't fine. Gator looked down at his claws and saw the trail of water go around his bed, and his heart stopped when he saw a clear spot of dampness in front of his dresser.

They didn't. Gator quickly reached out and opened the top drawer. then carefully slid his claw in the cabinet. And he moved it to the side, then the other side. But he didn't find the solid object he was looking for. Gator's head started to feel heavy. It HAD to be here. Every time he was done with it, he always made sure that he placed it right where he always left it. He then grabbed the drawer with both of his two claws, and ripped out the drawer, cracking it in the process, and flipped it upside-down. The map fell down, so did some dust, but not the thing he was looking for.

His diary. The thing that made him feel closer to his family, gone. Gator stared at the objects just laying on the ground. His breaths started to shorten. Somemon came in his room, and took HIS DIARY.

Gator growled, and felt a burning purple fire in his body tell him what to do next. "Load the cannon."

Gator threw open his door, and went to do just that. He didn't know what to expect, or who even in their right mind would know about it, find it, and then take it away from him. Sparks was a small, little devil, but surely he wasn't that fast.

He continued to think about it as he marched forward. He was going to get it back before the end of the day.

"Ouch!" Melody cried out as her fin hit another sharp rock. The four Pokemon were making there way up the current, which thankfully wasn't as difficult as they thought it would be. Well, besides for Melody.

Bolt looked to the Lapras as he saw her carry the water through her fins, and then use it to jump forward. Bolt just looked away from her, she was definitely the one who was slowing them down, as Bolt was just walking through the waters pretty well. It wasn't too hard to move around. Sure, the water was pushing him back, but at the same time, it was only at his knees. Besides, he wasn't sure if it was his x-ray vision or not, but he seemed to see into the water much better. His mom would probably have some tips to teach him.

Of course that would be after Sparks and he would explain everything to her first. And speaking of Sparks. Both him and Karah were on top of his back. The spot were Bolt never even thought he's allow just his own brother. It could be that Bolt knew Sparks and Karah would have a hard time on their own, and who knows, maybe because Bolt was now bigger, it was just more comfortable.

Even though those things were true, it seemed the main reason he's doing it was because Bolt wanted to change for Sparks. At least that would be something his parents would be proud of. Sure it may sound cheesy, especially to himself, but he just felt this 'snap' that caused him to tolerate his little brother a bit more than normal. Or that Sparks' plan sounded pretty fun to do if things were to go a certain way.

The plan was that Sparks and Melody would go up to the ship by themselves and give Gator the stones that he needed while Bolt and Karah stay behind in the water where no mon could see them. His brother was determined to play Gator's game and win by his rules. Saying that it was the best way for him to earn Gator's trust and set Melody free.

Of course, none of them, even Sparks, thought this was going to work. Karah was scared of Gator, Bolt had read the book, Sparks was yelled at by Gator, and Melody...well she knows what he did to her. So everymon knew that there was a good change Gator would have something up his claw. And that was where Bolt came in.

If anything happened to them. It would be a full out battle. To which Bolt couldn't help but smile at the thought of using his new skills against Water-Types. Oh, it would be so fun if he manages to use Thunderbolt on Gator. There was nothing more he wanted to do then fry him to a crisp. After one of those events, they would find Wally, and have him use Splash on everymon so they could go the whole way home underwater and out of slight.

But...every step Bolt took only made him nervous about it.

"Hey Sparks?" He asked. He felt the Pichu move in surprise.

"Yes?"

"When you were setting up the plan, what did you do to stop yourself from feeling nervous?"

Sparks didn't move. "I really couldn't do anything. Every moment on that ship made me feel sick no matter what."

"What, that's it? Didn't you plan things out?"

"I did, but those were just ideas. And a lot of things still went wrong."

Bolt just stared forward. He wanted a different answer than that, he wasn't used to planning! The one time he goes to his little brother for words of encouragement, he is left feeling worse. He was starting to panic!

"I'll be the first one to say that this is one of my least favorite plans. We're in a uphill battle." Sparks said with a nervous chuckle. "Literally! So, ya...I'm a bit scared."

A loud thump was heard behind them. "Using Surf...is hard...are we...there?" Meledy groaned.

"Yep. So in a little bit it'll just be a straight way up." Sparks said with a smile. Bolt could tell Melody was trying to do the same. Bolt looked up the current, and saw the very beginning of the stream.

Right where Gator was waiting for them.

Bolt started to get nervous as Sparks got off of him, and went to Melody. "Okay, Melody and I will go up to Gator and his crew and see if he can let all of us go. And if anything goes wrong, you guys will help us out. Okay?"

Bolt looked at his paw. Then looked up to see Sparks all ready on top of Melody. And Bolt couldn't help but start to feel sick. Karah then called to Melody. "Melody, how's your head?"

The Lapras turned her eyes back, as if she could see the small glow. "I am fine. I just will use Ice Beam."

"Or Surf, you could use that against the ship. It would probably sink the whole thing." Bolt offered.

Melody's face was disgusted that Bolt came up with something, but then, Bolt noticed her look at her fins and let out the smallest smile. As if she was thinking about what he said. "No! We're not using Surf against the ship!" Sparks called out.

"Why?" Both Melody and Bolt said at the same time.

"Because, if we destroy the ship, then Gator will be really mad all at us, not to mention that there are Pokemon and supplies in there too. I want to finish this with no bad blood in the end."

"Pacifist..." Bolt muttered. "Sparks, if you're not going to put up a fight, then are you sure you want to do this? You're counting on a plan that you just said was your least favorite." Bolt asked.

"Of course." The Pichu answered.

"Really?"

"...Bolt, what's wrong?"

"Well it's just...I took Gator's book, and if he found out about it...Gator could KILL you if you hold back."

"I know."

"And you're once again FINE with this plan?"

"We don't have a choice. And besides, I'm more worried about you."

Bolt rolled his eyes. He was touched, sure, but he wasn't the weakest link here. "Oh, come on, I'm ready!" Bolt said as he started screeching his legs.

"Bolt, you JUST evolved. And with a stone! If we all do have to attack, what if you get hurt?"

"They're all Water-Types."

"That's not what I mean. What if you over work yourself? You know that Dad says-"

"That stones are just a cheap way of getting stronger, I know." Bolt groaned. "Look, I walked up here with you and Karah on my back. I know I feel stronger."

"Fighting and walking are two different things! We shouldn't fight until we need to."

"I have to at least be kind of stronger, don't I? Maybe let's just go out and attack them right now! Catch them by surprise!"

"Quiet!" Karah said on top of Bolt. "I thought you guys got over arguing?"

Bolt and Sparks looked away from the seal. "That's kind of a brother thing, I don't think that's going to go away anytime soon." Bolt said.

"Can we leave now?" Melody asked impatiently. The two brothers then looked at Melody. Then Bolt looked away from them.

"Fine." Bolt said. "I just want to go home anyways."

"I think we all do." Sparks said as he went into Melody's head. Bolt almost threw up when he saw Sparks on that huge mark on the back of her head.

"Ready Melody?" Sparks asked, to which she nodded. Bolt wanted to say something else, but he really couldn't find the words as water started to surround Melody's fins.

"Bye Melody! See you in a bit!" Karah said, doing her best to hide her worried tone.

Bolt took a breath in, should he say good-bye too? Sparks was his own brother, and the Pichu could die from this. No, he was still feeling a bit sick from the things he told Sparks when he saved him. There was a limit to his newfound kindness after all. Before Bolt knew it both Melody and his brother went up the currents.

And Bolt just stood still, watching them without making a sound.

"It's okay, I'm horrified too." Karah said, still on Bolt's back. Bolt looked towards her.

"No it's- I..." Bolt sighed at the loss of words. He felt Karah move closer to his head.

"Melody will be there to help him." Karah said. "And you too, right?"

Bolt looked at the Water-Type, and then sighed. "Ya...I'll be there too."

"..."

"..."

Bolt grunted. "I should have wished him good luck..."