What happened earlier:

"I actually didn't want to imagine it... But now that I think about it again... It would definitely be a possibility... !"...

~~~

Roy started to feel very uneasy, after the young Pokémon Trainer heard Friedes words about the possibility, that the Explorers really might could've kidnapped Liko and Sprigatito. But... He just didn't want to believe that!! Friede noticed Roy's tension and gently touched the boy's shoulder. "Roy... Is everything alright?" he asked a little bit out of concern.

He then woke up from his train of thoughts and looked up at the adult. "I'm fine.. Just... Just the idea, that Liko could actually be in danger... I'm so worried... What if, something worse happens to her? I would never forgive myself for that!! She is my best friend after all, so is Sprigatito ... " he replied, while his voice was clearly shaking throughout his words.

The Rising Volt Tacklers leader now carefully grabbed both of the child's shoulders, so he could look him straight in the face. "Roy, listen to me... I fully understand, what must be going on with you right now... I'm just as worried about Liko and Sprigatito, as you are, do you understand?..." he sighed briefly, while he showed off a slight chearing up smile.

"Liko is so brave, she cares about others, about us, Sprigatito and even other Pokémon. She has shown extreme courage in many difficult situations, which is exactly the potential, that makes her so unique as a Pokémon Trainer. So please don't worry. We'll find her. I promise." Friede continued.

Roy listened to him carefully, then took a deep breath and exhaled afterwards. Fuecoco did the same. Well, like the Trainer, like the Pokémon. Now the boy's eyes were determined and full of confidence again. "You are absolutely right, Friede! We will definitely find Liko and Sprigatito!"

"There you go, that's the Roy as I know him. I like you much better that way." Friede said with a proudly, satisfied smile and briefly patted Roy's head, whereupon he had to giggle slightly.

"And what should we do now? If the Explorers have really kidnapped Liko, they could have disappeared with her to God knows where! Or worse, maybe they're already out of the woods with her and we won't even have a chance, of finding her and Sprigatito at all!" he now said and paced up and down thoughtfully.

Friede watched him and now scratched his chin thoughtfully as well. "That would be possible... But let's assume, that the Explorers really kidnapped Liko... Why didn't they come to us immediately? That would at least be my first intuition, to kidnap someone first and then blackmail possible relatives afterwards, so that this kidnapped person is released unharmed... No, there has to be something else behind Liko's disappearance. Especially, since I already know Amethio very well and even, if he is still after her pendant... He would never even dream, of kidnapping Liko like that, without informing us afterwards! That just doesn't suit him, I'm absolutely sure of it!" he said now and was already pretty convinced of his theory.

"Hmhh, now that you put it like that... Yes, that actually makes sense. However, we still don't know, where she could be. Wait, maybe there is only one possible explanation. It could be, that Sprigatito possibly ran deeper into the forest and away from the original path, whereupon Liko followed It. Maybe she got lost on the way and now can't find her way back out." Roy said then, while awaiting Friedes answer.

"I know, I'm already thinking. First of all, we should actually search the forest first then. Maybe, Liko really got lost there somewhere, while she followed Sprigatito." he suggested, to which Roy gave a nod of agreement.

"Got it. I think it would be the best, if we split up then. That way we might have a better chance, of finding a clue of, where they are." the young Trainer said and immediately released Wattrel from its Pokéball. "I'll keep an eye out further south, you further in a northerly direction." With that, the young Trainer went into the corresponding direction of the forest, like Liko and Sprigatito had probably done before.

As Friede looked after him, he now took his Rotom phone out of his jacket pocket, to inform the rest of the crew about Liko's sudden disappearance. Finally at last...

~~~

Meanwhile, Amethio had been flying on his Corviknight for several hours over the thicket of the forest, through which Liko and the rest of the Rising Volt Tacklers had previously passed, to get to her grandmother. It had already started, to get dark and there were gray clouds in the sky, which were a sign of a rain shower, that was about to begin. The young teenager was still completely confused by, what had happened before, that he didn't really know, where exactly he was actually going. Or rather flying.

While he was thinking about this, his mind kept flashing back, to what had happened earlier, when he had found Liko so badly injured near that cliff. When she almost was about to fall down from it... This specific situation had literally left him in a state of shock. And when Spinel revealed himself and admitted, that he was the one, that had intentionally hurt the girl including her Pokémon, just to get Likos pendant... And not forgetting the fact, that his rival hadn't shown neither a sign of shock, nor hint of remorse, or even regret at all... That moment had thrown Amethio completely off track.

His gaze fell down onto Liko again, who he was still holding in his arms, so that she couldn't fall, since the two of them were at least several meters above the ground on his Corviknight.

The young Trainer was still unconscious. Only now did Amethio fully realize, how terribly she had actually been mauled. Just like, he'd seen before, the young girl had suffered serious injuries from the now obviously reckless attack by Spinel's Pokémon.

For one thing, she had a profusely bleeding wound on her stomach and another, not quite as large, wound on her left leg. While this may not have been as extreme, that didn't meant, it was any less worrying. The Explorer Admin knew, that these wounds had to be treated as quickly as possible, especially the one on her stomach gave him pause.

But first they had to find somewhere, to stay out of the heavy rain, that had now started, so that the two of them wouldn't catch a cold. Because that particular thing was actually also true for Amethio right know.

At that moment, it didn't matter at all, that he was part of an evil organization or even the fact, that he usually wasn't the kind of person, who openly showed his emotions and feelings to others, but always tried to hide them as best as possible. No, this time it was different... Completely different...

However, he pushed that thought aside for now, as he and Liko still needed to find safe shelter from the rain. And Liko's injuries had to be treated immediately. Even, if it ultimately meant, Amethio would be the one, to take on the task. 'Tch, how on earth did you get into this situation after all?!' he thought to himself, while keeping an eye on the unconscious girl in his arms.

~~~

After the teen had been flying around aimlessly for several hours, he slowly ran out of patience and told Corviknight, to land between a few trees, that belonged to the same area of forest, in which he had suddenly discovered Spinel before. "Corviknight, return." he said, as he recalled his second Pokémon and let its Pokéball slide back into his left pocket.

He then took Liko back into his arms and, as a precaution, put Sprigatito back into its Pokéball as well. Because it would be a bit difficult for the teen, to carry the seriously injured girl and her Pokémon at the same time.

So he continued, to stamp with her through the rather muddy ground of the forest, when, after a good bit of walking, Amethio finally discovered a cave. This should be enough, to keep both of them save from the heavy weather outside. At least for now. He immediately went straight inside there with Liko still in his arms, so that both couldn't get any more wet. His hair alone was already very wet and partially stuck to his face, due to the extreme rain.

After he had penetrated a little deeper into the cave, the teen finally stopped and carefully laid Liko down on the slightly sandy ground, to briefly sort out his thoughts.

How should things continue, now? Amethio could hardly inform Friede or other members from the Rising Volt Tacklers to say 'Hey, just that you know, I found the girl injured near a cliff, after I suddenly saw my rival, while I was following you, because I still want to get the pendant.' Seriously, how stupid would that sound?!

But for better or for worse, he HAD to do something, if he didn't want to get into any further trouble with his colleagues or even Gibeon himself. Because, he really couldn't use that too. He sighed a little out of frustration, but then, first of all wrung out his wet hair, before the teen sat down next to Liko and leaned himself against the cold stone wall.

Amethio exhaled deeply and then looked back at Liko and, at the same time, at her wounds. That's right, now it's coming back to him! She still needed treatment. Amethio lightly slapped his forehead. He almost forgot the reason, why he had actually fled here with her. Even, if it wasn't his intuition in the first place.

The young silver and black-haired boy let out a brief hiss, but then finally carefully leaned over the quiet girl and, at the same time, extremely carefully pulled the white T-shirt about halfway up her waist with his hands covered in black gloves. This gave him a better view of the gaping wound on her stomach.

Only now, when he took a closer look, Amethio realized, what fatal consequences Spinel's ruthless and yes, one could even almost classify as cold-blooded action, had actually brought to light.

There was a wound in the girl's skin, which was linear but slightly curved from the top of her belly button to the left side of her waist. Fortunately, the bleeding had stopped, but still... It just looked unbelievably terrible.

Amethio had to, even if he was actually unaware of this, swallow. He had seen a lot of injuries in his life before, but this?! This was definitely on a completely different level, but nowhere, near a positive sense. But the teenager could think about that at another time. Treating Likos injuries was the first priority right know!

Now Amethio started, to ponder a bit, because, he didn't know right away, whether he had any bandages with him. Nevertheless, he reached into both pockets of his trousers and surprisingly found a small roll of gauze bandage, as well as a few cotton swabs and even a bottle of disinfectant. Well, apparently it was sometimes really practical, to have something with you in case of an emergency.

Then he quickly shook his head. 'Enough of that Amethio, you better concentrate!' the teen reminded himself and went back, to taking care of the injured girl.

First he took some disinfectant, which he applied to a cotton swab and used it, to carefully remove the light dirt, that had probably previously accumulated in the wound. Then he took off one of his gloves and smeared some ointment on the wound, which he had also found in his pocket, and lastly wrapped the gauze bandage around Liko's waist about three to five times. With that, the main step was already done.

The last thing Amethio did, was disinfecting the smaller, less extreme wound on her leg and wrapping the gauze bandage around there too, but not as often.

After he had finished with that for the time being, he finally let Sprigatito out of its Pokéball again. The Grass Cat Pokémon was probably worried about its owner too. At least that's, what the teenager assumed, but basically that's how it had to be, right?

Shortly after the little cat saw 'light' again, the first thing, that happened was, that it's big eyes instinctively fell on Liko. It immediately made a slightly frightening sound and already imagined the worst, when it saw her laying there motionless, so it let out a quiet meow and carefully nuzzled its head against Liko's palm. Although the girl still didn't react, her body temperature was still within the appropriate range. Thank God!!

However, after Sprigatito turned around and suddenly saw Amethio, it again took an attacking stance and hissed slightly aggressively at him, just like it did with Spinel back then. The Explorer Admin wasn't particularly surprised by the Pokémon's reaction though.

He was more or less the enemy after all, as he had already tried several times, to take Liko and thus her pendant into his possession. Luckily so far unsuccessful. So he could definitely understand this current behavior, wich was actually entirely justified. At least in this current moment.

But there was no time for that, now. "I know, you think, I'm the one, who hurt her so badly. I can't blame you. But right now, I have other, more important things to worry about. Believe me, I just wanted, to help your owner. You can scratch my face later. But please... Trust me for now, at least for a while."

'God, you sound like a complete idiot, already talking to a Pokémon, like if it's your best friend or something. Great, Amethio. Really outstanding performance!' he heard his mind talking to him once again and let out a big snort of air. Then the teen carefully held out a hand to Sprigatito, to appear a little more trustworthy, he hoped. "Temporary Truce for now?"

The little Grass Cat looked very skeptically at this gesture at first, but then finally settled down after a little while, after it realized, that there was actually no point, in not trusting the Explorer Admin. What he said was true. Liko's health took priority for now. At some point, the Pokémon stopped hissing at Amethio and finally, but still very carefully stepped closer to the young boy's outstretched hand and nestled its head against it afterwards with a slight purr coming from it's throat.

Amethio sighed a little with relief and, with a slight smile on his lips, scratched the cat behind the ears, until it finally fell asleep snuggled up to its Trainers feet. He then collected some wood, that was laying around in the cave and used it to light a small fire, so that it wouldn't get too cold for the three of them. Because it wasn't quite clear yet, how long they would actually stay in this location, as long as the rain and the thunderstorm, that had now occurred as well, hadn't stopped.

At some point, the teen began, to yawn and laid himself down next to the glowing wood, before soon falling into a deep sleep. After all, everything had already been turbulent enough today. And who knew, what would happen next...

~~~

To be continued...