Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon

A/N: Okay, this is my first story, so hope you guys like it and constructive criticism is welcome.

The cold November wind made Dawn shiver as she walked back to the pokemon centre from a friend's house party. Her friend had offered to let her spend the night, but the centre wasn't that far away and Dawn wanted to be up early the next morning to practice a new combination that she had been working with Piplup and Togekiss on. She had left the party early for the same reason.

Although it wasn't very late, Dawn noticed that the streets were oddly deserted. She'd expected to see at least a few people around her age still out, but realised that she hadn't seen anyone since leaving the party.

A shiver ran through her that had nothing to do with the cold and she increased her pace as she entered the park that was a shortcut to the Pokemon centre. The fact that the lamps weren't turned on only added to the ominous atmosphere and Dawn was now decidedly jumpy as she followed the path.

She'd gotten about half way across the park, when the leaves of a tree in front of her rustled and something burst out if it. Dawn screamed and leapt back, shaking, before realizing the shape for what it was.

"Just a Noctowl", she said out loud. "Get a grip on yourself Dawn".

She turned back to the path in front of her and froze. A silhouette of a man blocked the way. It was too dark to see properly but he appeared to be staring at her.

"Can I help you?" she asked nervously, instinctively reaching for a pokeball, only to remember that she had left all of her pokemon at the centre.

Without replying, the man began to move towards her and Dawn took a step back in return. She kept backing away as he approached , until her legs hit a bench and she tumbled backwards onto it. Dawn began to scramble away instead, when the moon came out from behind a cloud and lit up the area enough for her to see the face of the figure in front of her.

"Kenny?" she asked, shocked.

"Hey Dee-Dee" Kenny grinned.

Suddenly angry, Dawn leapt up, crossed the remaining distance between them and slapped him hard across the face.

"What the hell Kenny?" she yelled at him. "You almost gave me a heart attack!"

Kenny rubbed his cheek where Dawn had struck him. "You're going to regret doing that", he said, his voice suddenly low and dangerous.

"What?" Dawn asked.

From the waistband of his jeans, Kenny removed a hunting knife, its razor sharp edge glinting evily in the moonlight.

Dawn didn't hang around to ask him what was going on, she just jumped up and quickly learnt that you can't run fast in high heels and ditched them without a second thought. Sobs tore from her throat as she ran for her life, Kenny not far behind

She just didn't understand why he was doing this, he had always been so sweet to her in the past. Okay, so maybe Dawn had turned him down every time he had asked her out, but that didn't drive someone to murder. Did it?

Tears were blurring her vision and so Dawn didn't the person in front of her until it was too late. She crashed into them hard, almost knocking the both of them over. Hands reached out to steady her and,looking up, Dawn could vaguely make out the face of a boy.

Seeing Kenny approach, the boy gently pushed Dawn protectively behind him and took something out of his jacket. Dawn was stunned to see that it was a gun, something almost impossible to obtain in the Pokemon world.

She stood, stunned, unable to move or speak as the boy before her removed the safety, raised the gun, took aim and pulled the trigger in one smooth, flowing movement.

Dawn had been expecting the deafening bang that guns tended to make in the movies, but then she noticed that something had been fitted to the barrel of the gun, a silencer. Kenny's body jerked as the bullet found its mark and then crumpled to the ground, silently and undramatically.

The boy who had killed Kenny returned the gun to his jacket, making sure to turn the safety back on first, and pulled two pokeballs from his belt.

"Charizard, Squirtle, you guys know what to do", he told the Pokemon who materialised from them.

Both Pokemon nodded before turning to Kenny's body. The Charizard unleashed a powerful Flamethrower, enveloping the body in white hot flames while the Squirtle stood by, ready to put out the flames once they had done they're job. The boy watched them work, petting the Pikachu that had just hopped up onto his shoulder.

Dawn had been in shock, but the smell wafting off the body soon snapped her out of it. She sprang at the boy, drew back her arm and smacked him. The boy merely took a step back, rubbing his cheek, he seemed unperterbed, as if he had been expecting it. The Charizard and Squirtle looked back at the humans quizically, whilst the Pikachu sparked threateningly. Dawn tried to hit the boy again, but he grabbed her arm to stop her.

"Calm down okay", he told both her and his Pikachu.

"Calm down?" Dawn shrieked. "You just killed Kenny, you bastard!"

The boy sighed. "Okay, look...", he paused and it took Dawn a moment to realise that he was waiting for her name.

"Dawn", she supplied.

"Look Dawn, this is going to sound really weird, but it didn't kill you're friend".

Dawn stared at him incredulously, did he really think that she was that stupid? "Yes you did! I watched you do it", she accused.

"Okay, to save time, let's just say that there are things that you don't know about. That you don't want to know about. But I can promise that tomorrow you can see Kenny alive and well okay? Now, let me walk you into town, where are you staying?", he asked.

"The Pokemon centre", Dawn told him, not sure why she did.

The boy waited until his Squirtle was done putting out Charizard's fire, returned both Pokemon and turned to Dawn. "Right, let's go".

Dawn nodded and the two of them set off. She had no idea why she was willing to allow this boy to accompany her across the deserted park, she had just watched him calmly kill Kenny after all. But then, Kenny had been trying to kill her. For some reason, she just felt safe with this strange boy.

Neither of them spoke again until they reached the Pokemon centre.

"Here we go", the boy said. "Do me a favour and stay in tonight okay Dawn?".

"Okay", Dawn agreed, looking up at him. It was the first time that she had seen the boy's face properly and she couldn't say that she was disappointed.

Kind, brown eyes, tanned skin and messy black hair that stuck out from underneath a red cap. A black and yellow jacket, blue jeans and black fingerless gloves completed the picture. The Pikachu on his shoulder regarded her with bright, intelligent eyes and Dawn had the strongest desire to pet it.

"Well, goodnight Dawn", the boy said after a minute, turning and walking away.

"Night", Dawn replied quietly, almost to herself.

She waited until the boy and his Pikachu had vanished into the shadows of the city, before going into the Pokemon centre and her room.

But although she changed out of her street clothes and got into bed, thoughts of her rather cute rescuer kept her from sleep.