The trees in Pinwheel Forest are packed so close together, it's hard to see where to walk. It reminds me of Ilex Forest from before me and my family moved. That's perfectly fine by me though, I like the dark. So does my Umbreon, nicknamed Umbre, who was walking alongside me and giving off light from his rings so that I could see the various trees and low-hanging branches that seem determined to give me a concussion. Umbre was my first Pokémon, as he was given to me when I was 14 years old, though he was an Eevee at the time. He evolved into an Umbreon around 3 months later. From that moment on, I fell in love with the Dark type. Since then, I had only found a Houndour that was rooting through our garbage when it assumed that everyone was asleep. He was wrong. He wasn't very happy about being caught, but over the course of a year he eventually warmed up to me. Literally, seeing as he was part fire type, and I have the burns to prove it. Right now, he was in his Dusk ball. It had cost me 2 week's pay to buy, but seeing as it worked, it was well worth it. Back in Johto, I wouldn't have beaten Bugsy, Azalea Town's Gym leader, without him. It still took 4 tries and a month of training in Ilex Forest though.

I suppose you're wondering who I am, aren't you? My name is Jared, and I specialize in Dark types. Most parents tell their children to stay away from the "evil" Dark types, but me and them seem to get along just fine. I stand 5'11", and the fact that I'm an inch short of 6' irks me. I'm built for running more than anything else, though I'm stronger than I look. I have Black/Brown hair that stops at my eyebrows. Even though it's getting close to the Evening, I'm only wearing a black t-shirt and blue jeans, because I'm still used to Johto's much cooler climate. This brings me back to why I'm out in the middle of the forest in the dark. It's the only way to reliably find Dark types. That is, if there are any.

"Hear anything yet, Umbre?" He whined a negative. I sighed. "The guide said that there are Purrloin around here, but… seeing as you and Houndour are canines, that may not be such a good idea. You remember what happened that one time we fought against that girl's Meowth." Umbre twitched an ear. "I know you were having fun, but her Meowth definitely wasn't." He ignored me. I stared at him. He continued to ignore me. I sighed. "Fine, consider it dropped." He wagged his tail twice.

We continued walking for what felt like an hour before I decided that we weren't going to have any luck in finding a Dark type, not that it was a new feeling. Even when it's well known that Dark types are in the area, they're still hard to find. That, and the fact that I couldn't see beyond what light Umbre was giving off. I let Houndour out and got my sleeping bag unrolled while he was stretching. "Houndour, you have first watch. Wake up Umbre when you get tired. One of you will have to wake me when it gets bright enough for me to see." Houndour looked at me and chuffed. I chuckled and said," You can try, but from what we've seen so far there isn't anything other than grass and poison types. I rather you didn't get yourself poisoned when we are a day away from the nearest Pokecenter. We have two antidotes, and I'd prefer not to use them." He sat down with a groan. "I know, I know, it's been a while since you've hunted. Tell ya what, if we don't find anything by tomorrow afternoon, we'll head back. In the meantime, you could always eat a ration bar." Houndour looked at me, clearly horrified. "Oh come on, they aren't THAT bad." He stared at me with an incredulous look. "Alright, so they're nigh inedible. They're still filling. But if you don't want one, you don't have to eat it." He whined and padded over to me. I grabbed one out of my pack, removed its wrapper, and gave it to him. He took it with a look of disgust, and padded back over to his previous spot. "Alright, don't forget to wake me up. Good night."

The next day I awoke to a face-full of feathers. Apparently, one of them had found a Pidove before the morning. It's not the first time they woke me up that way. We searched for most of the morning with no success. We eventually made our way back to last night's campsite, where we took a short water stop. I filled a dish with water for Umbre and Houndour. "I guess were not going to find any Dark types here, well, aside from Purrloin. You two know that felines aren't chew toys." They grinned at me mischievously, if not a little scarily. "What?" I glanced upwards, looking for whatever-CRACK. A medium sized tree branch managed to hit me square on my forehead, and I cradled it as my Pokémon fell over in laughter. "Ow ow ow…hey, you two could've warned me a least. That hurt!" I looked for where the branch fell from, ignoring the blood smell in my nose. If it hadn't moved, I wouldn't have seen the Murkrow standing in the shadows behind the newly broke end of the tree branch. Acting like I hadn't noticed it, I secretly signaled where it was to Umbre and Houndour, who had finally stopped having giggle fits. They walked closer to me, still grinning, acting like the bird wasn't there. I let them come closer, and just as they passed me, I said, "Use Flash now!" Umbre complied, and the whole area was blasted with a bright light. "Ember!" I couldn't see, but I heard a squawk of pain, so I assume it connected. The light faded, and I saw the, now slightly charred, Murkrow starting to take off. "Umbre, use Pursuit!" He shot after the now fleeing bird. "Houndour, keep up with him and use Ember when you can." He barked an affirmative and ran in the same direction. I followed, just barely keeping within sight of the Murkrow. Umbre had caught up with it, suddenly did a wall jump off of a tree, slammed into it, and sent the bird sideways into a tree, which gave out an "Oomph!" as a man in what looked like a trench coat fell out backwards. Today was full of surprises. The Murkrow was dazed by the impact, so I yelled, "Houndour, hold it down with Bite!" He ran over and caught the falling bird in his mouth, and held it against the ground while it struggled. "Good. Keep hold of it for a second." He growled. "Just till I know that guy's okay." He flicked an ear.

"I'm fine, don't worry," said who I can only assume is the slightly creepy tree guy in a deep voice. He was brushing off some leaves when I turned around. He stood roughly the same height as me, with brown skin and short fuzzy black hair. His black leather trench coat had a red R embossed on the left shoulder sleeve. "I've had worse happen to me."

"You sure? You just fell from a tree. From about, ehh, nine feet. Backwards."

"Yes, I'm sure. Weren't you going to catch that Murkrow?"

"Oh yeah." I walked back over to Houndour, and took out a Dusk ball. "Umbre, be ready in case this doesn't work." He looked at me and nodded. "Alright, let's hope this works." The Murkrow's struggles became more frantic as I kneeled down and tapped it on the beak with the ball. In a flash of red light, the bird was sucked into it. It wiggled in my hand once, twice, thrice, paused, and then clicked. I let out a sigh of relief, and then grinned. "Who would'a thought that we'd find a Murkrow, here of all places! They were rare enough back in Johto!" The two canid Pokémon wagged their tails.

"Not bad. Your method of capture is….interesting." I turned back to Mr. Trench coat and said, "Thanks. We've practiced it for an occasion like this. You might want to back up, though. I'm going to let him out in a second, and he wasn't very happy when I caught him."

"I saw," he said, taking a few steps back. "I'd like to see how it works out."

"Sure. Hey, before I do, what's your name?"

"My name? It's Daryel. Yours?"

"Jared. Alright, here goes nothing." I pressed the release button. In another red flash, Murkrow was let out of the ball and appeared…somewhere. A weight on my head gave me a pretty good idea where. As I looked up without moving my head, I noticed that it was glaring down at me. "Uh, hi?" It narrowed its eyes, and Pecked me. On the forehead. Right where the branch hit me. It hurt. A lot. "Augh!" I yelled as I ducked out from underneath the bird. Even as I took a few quick steps back, it flew after me with obvious intent. I put my hands up in a placating way (as well as to defend myself) and said, "Take it easy!" I stood still as it flew up to a tree branch and glared at me. "You don't have to like me, but could you at least work with me?" It continued trying to use a Glare attack. I glanced over at Daryel. "Hey Daryel, Murkrow are supposed to like shiny things, right?"

"Supposedly. I've never raised one."

"Hmm." I reached into my pack and took out my badge case, as well a short length of string. Opening it, I took out my Hive Badge and threaded the string through a small hole on its top. "Murkrow, come here," I said as I held it up so that it caught the light. Hesitantly, the bird fluttered down and landed about 1ft away from me. "Here, this is for you." I knelt down and slowly reached forward to tie the Badge around his neck. After doing so, he turned his head sideways to admire it. "See, I'm not such a bad guy, right?" Murkrow regarded me with an even look, then chirped and flapped up onto my head again and settled down. Apprehensively, I asked, "You're not going to Peck me again, are you?" He squawked. "What do you mean 'I'm not moving'?" He squawked again. I sighed. "Fine." As I put Murkrow's Dusk ball away, Daryel asked, "Which Badge was that?"

"The Hive Badge."

"From Johto? When did you get that?"

"Last year. Me and my family moved here after the Slowpoke Well overflowed and destroyed our home."

"That's too bad. If it had happened this year, we would've helped rebuild."

"We?"

"Oh, that's right. I work for Team Rocket. We work for the benefit of-"

"Team Rocket? From what I've heard, they were a group of thieves and thugs."

"Different branch. Our Boss, Giovanni, wasn't very happy when he found out. In fact, he left the company out of anger. We've been trying to find him ever since. Only He can put Team Rocket back together again."

"Wasn't Giovanni a Gym Leader?"

"The very same."

"Huh. It's too bad it didn't then." Umbre and Houndour, who had previously been lying down and chuckling at the Murkrow that was still sitting on my head, padded over and sat down by my left and right side, respectively. Umbre looked up at me and chuffed. I looked around, and then said, "Your right. Hey Daryel, you wouldn't happen to know which direction Narcrene City is, would you?"

"Lost? The main pathway is about half a mile that way. I was about to head that way myself."

"Mind if we join you?"

"Not at all." I returned Houndour and Umbre to their Pokeballs, and we walked in the direction that he had pointed. We walked silently for about 5 minutes before he said, "I noticed that you understand Pokémon very well."

"Not all of them, just Dark types. We just seem to understand each other."

"One of Team Rocket's goals is to eliminate Pokémon stereotypes, and as you probably know,

Dark types have some of the worst of them. With your ability, we could really use you."

I remained silent.

"You don't have to join up today. If you ever fall on hard times, or need a job, know that we will have one waiting for you."

"….What would I have to do?"

Daryel smiled. "You would only need to travel to the various cities, and bring your Dark types with you. Show the people that they are not as evil as the stories say they are. We would supply you with Dark types from other regions as well."

"Hmm…I'll…think about it. I mean, it's tempting…but…I need to help my family right now. I understand what you mean by stereotypes. Some people blamed the Well's overflowing on Umbre and Houndour, and by extension, my family. We had to sell everything to get a plane ride here. I do plan to travel, eventually, when we get settled. I can't leave till then."

"Like I said, it doesn't have to be right away. I'm only asking for you to think about it."

Moments later, we came upon a paved road. "Ah, here we are. To your right is Narcrene City. Before you go, I want to ask you something. Would you have a battle with me?"

"A battle? Why?"

"I want to see how good you are. If you're as good as I think you are you won't have any trouble rising through Team Rocket's ranks, should you decide to join."

"Sure. How do you want to do this?"

"A double battle, two on two."

"Fine by me." I looked up with my eyes. "Hey Murkrow, you want in on this?" He squawked. "That's fine. You WILL have to get off my head, however. My neck is starting to hurt." He fluttered his wings. "Punishment, eh?" I took out his Dusk ball and returned him to it. "I'm gonna pay for that later, I just know it. Oh well." I put Murkrow's ball back in my pack, while taking out the other two. "Umbre, Houndour, you're up!" They appeared in a flash of red light, and stretched themselves while taking in their surroundings.

"Go Growlithe and Delcatty!"

Did he just…?

They materialized in a red glow. Umbre and Houndour started growling.

Yep. He did. Oh boy.

Seeing the look on my face, Daryel said, "Don't worry, Delcatty can hold her own."

"I hope so."

"Ready? Begin! Delcatty, use Fake out! Growlithe, follow it up with Flare Blitz!"

"Umbre, take the hit! Houndour, take Growlithe and counter with Ember!"

Daryel's Delcatty quickly ran up to Umbre as if to tackle him, but instead whipped around and hit him with her tail, while Growlithe cloaked itself in fire and charged towards Umbre. Houndour ran in front of him and seemed to steal his fire, then proceeded to send it at Delcatty in a blast of flame, burning her.

"Delcatty, use Thunder Wave! Growlithe, use Close Combat!"

"Use Confuse Ray on Growlithe! Houndour, use Taunt!"

Umbre let out a kaleidoscope of light at the nearby Growlithe, who tripped over his own feet, while Houndour ran up to the now crackling Delcatty and lifted his leg. The cat jumped away and hissed at him.

"Quick, while Growlithe is distracted, use Bite and Quick Attack!"

"Use Sucker Punch! Growlithe, snap out of it!"

Umbre rushed in and tackled Delcatty, knocking it down. Before Houndour could get there, though, it launched itself at him. They both fell in a tangled heap, before Houndour managed to find a grip. On Delcatty's neck.

"Houndour! Stop!"

"Delcatty, return!" The beaten feline disappeared in a red glare. "Not bad. Growlithe, use Close Combat!" The larger canid jumped onto Houndour from behind, and started mauling him. When he got off of him, Houndour lay unconscious on the ground. I grimaced.

"Houndour, return."

One hit? I closed my eyes.

"Umbre, use Flash!" Even through my eyelids, it was blinding.

"Augh! Growlithe, use Wild Charge!"

I opened my eyes. Growlithe, who had been blinded, shot past Umbre by at least a foot. Seeing an opportunity, I called out, "Umbre, use Pursuit!" He ran after the Growlithe, circled around him, and hip-checked him in the face. Growlithe reeled back in pain.

"Growlithe, let's finish this! Use Flare Blitz!"

"Umbre, use Quick Attack!"

Both canid Pokémon charged at each other headfirst and collided. They bounced back from each other from the impact, and failed to land on their feet. Growlithe attempted to get back up, but collapsed. Umbre was unconscious. The two trainers recalled their Pokémon. Daryel laughed.

"Well done! I'm just short of getting a promotion, and you battled me into a tie! Not bad at all. You would definitely have a future in Team Rocket."

I grinned and said, "Thanks! You sure didn't make it easy!"

"You know what? I want you to have this." He took some money out of his wallet, walked over, and offered it to me.

"Really? But I didn't win."

"Take it. It was entertaining."

"Can't say I don't need it. Thank you."

"No problem. If you want to join us after you get settled, we have an office in Castelia City. It's just off of Unity Pier. Tell them I sent you."

"It might be a while. Next time I'm there, I'll look into it."

"I'll be there. Be seeing you!" he said, as he headed the other direction.

I turned and started walking toward Narcrene City, and counted the money before putting it away. With what he gave me and the prize money if I beat the Gym Leader in town, we could get our affairs in order. I grinned and started humming my favorite song. Today was a great day.