The third part, look for the fourth part (3rd chapter) around Friday next week. Please review, constructive criticism only. I'm very fragile… ^_^

Tamer of Darkness: A Pokémon Saga!

Chapter 2 – Cherrygrove Rescue!

By Kitty

"So, you caught a Murkrow on Route 29? Wow, I didn't think those kind of Pokémon lived around that area…" Nurse Joy commented as Rena waited for her Pokémon to heal in the Cherrygrove Center.

"Well, they don't actually…" Rena replied, "It probably got lost when it was migrating."

A soft ring of the center's healing chamber brought Nurse Joy over. She came back with a plastic yellow tray holding Vela and one Pokéball. "Have you thought of a name for it yet?" The nurse asked

"Hmmm," The trainer pondered, "How about 'Dark-Wing'? I mean he's black and he's of the flying type… I think it fits!"

Laughing softly Nurse Joy suggested, "Why don't you call him out to see if he likes it?"

Rena's face lit up as she pressed the trigger mechanism of her new Pokémon's Pokéball. "Go Dark-Wing!" The black crow monster appeared in a red flash of light on the Center's marble floor.

"Krrrow! Murrr!" It chirped in irritation. Dark-Wing hopped onto the counter and chattered wildly at Vela.

Nurse Joy intervened by placing a shallow pan of yellow birdseed in front of the angry patient. Smiling at Rena she added, "Don't worry. He'll forget about it in a while."

"Thanks Nurse Joy! I guess we'll be off to explore the city after Dark-Wing finishes his meal," Rena leaned on the light blue counter and continued to watch Dark-Wing eat.

~* 1 HOUR LATER *~

Refreshed and renewed the trio trotted out of the Pokémon Center in full stride. Dark-Wing gallantly perched atop Rena's right shoulder as Vela was left tag along her trainer's ankles.

"So, what do ya say we check out the marina?" Rena asked her Pokémon

Hopping along the path Vela answered, "Vee!"

"Dark-Wing?" Rena asked turning to the bird on her shoulder.

Dark-Wing absentmindedly preened his feathers in a nonchalant manner. "Kro." He finally chirped and when back to his coat.

Giggling his trainer replied, "I'll take that as a 'yes'. Let's go!"

~* CHERRYGROVE MARINA *~

Vela yawned, crossed and un-crossed her eyes then sneezed. Her trainer raised and eyebrow at the Eevee before turning back to the ocean. They had been at the Cherrygrove Marina for about 20 minutes and nothing interesting had happened.

Dark-Wing was bored out his skull; he finally hopped off Rena's shoulder and began to soar over the ground.

Irritated Rena called to him, "Come back soon okay?"

With a chirp of agreement the impatient Murkrow continued gliding along the coast.

Lee Taira sat on the edge of the shore watching the tides roll in and out. He gripped his Good Rod waiting for a bite. A light breeze picked up, ruffling his dark brown hair that hung down to his ears in a willowy fashion. His plain white button-up shirt and gray pants were crinkled from sitting too long. His pants had too many pockets; each lined with bright blue. His green-hazel eyes darted from the water when a bird's trill broke through the air. An alarmed black Pokémon flew onto a rock to chatter wildly at him.

"Whoa! Slow down little guy!" Lee said in an attempt to calm the shrieking bird he recognized as a Murkrow. The Murkrow lunged at Lee, trying to peck his head. Catching the crazed Pokémon by the legs Lee held it away from his face as it flapped its wings in frenzy.

"Put him DOWN!" A girl screamed from behind him. The Murkrow sunk it's talons into Lee's hands, making him let go, and flew to the girl's shoulder. It squawked loudly and vividly.

"What the-" Lee exclaimed turning around. He stopped in the middle of the sentence and eyed the girl standing on the rock above him, obviously angry. She was a year younger then he and the Murkrow on her shoulder was joined by and Eevee at her feet. She had a belt full of Pokéballs to boot; she almost looked like a trainer.

Bubbling with rage Rena tried to control her voice when she addressed the strange boy, "Why you, you- Pokémon thief!" She shouted

Lee was shocked. Pokémon thief? Pokémon thief?! That insane bird had tried to kill him! "What on earth are you talking about?! That, that thing tried to use my face for target practice!" He yelled pointing Dark-Wing.

"A likely story… from a criminal!" Rena snapped and crossed her arms.

Narrowing his eyes to look at her closer Lee replied, "How do I know you didn't steal it?"

Rena gasped in disbelief. "I'm this Pokémon's trainer!"

Lee looked at her one more time then began to laugh. "Hahaha, you? You're a girl!" That provoked another round of laughing that got him a nip on the thigh from Vela. "Ow! Little witch…" He muttered and rubbed his leg as the Eevee ran back to the protection of her trainer's legs.

"I'll have you know-" This time it was Rena who stopped. Dark-Wing had begun another round of blood-curling shrieks.

Yelling over the noise Lee told her, "See! He did that to me too!"

Flapping off of Rena's shoulder Dark-Wing flew over Lee's head, making him duck. "Dark-Wing, come back!"

Rena and Vela began to run after their friend and reluctantly Lee followed. Looking behind her Rena asked, "What are you doing?"

"Well," He panted, "That charge of yours is flying towards the dock, something's going on if he's freaking out like that."

"Whatever… I just want my Pokémon back…" Rena muttered and continued to run.

Dark-Wing had ceased his noise making and was winging silently towards the dock. When Rena reached the end of the trees that sheltered one side of dock Lee grabbed her arm keeping her in hiding.

"What are you doing?" She asked loudly.

Holding a finger to his lips Lee hissed, "Shhhh!" He pointed to a spot the edge of the dock where men in black suites were drawing a net full of Pokémon from a ship. Rena squinted and finally drew back, eyes wide.

"Those are Dratini! They're supposed to be rare!" Rena whispered in an amazed tone.

Lee nodded, "Yeah, their colony is protected by Cherrygrove law, no one is allowed to catch them…"

"Obviously someone didn't read the sign," Rena indicated the chunk of wood labeled 'No Poaching'.

Rolling his eyes Lee told her, "C'mon, we have to stop them. Those Dratini have no battle skills of their own! They couldn't possibly fight off all those people."

"I think someone tried that already…" Rena motioned her head to a trio of unconscious guards.

He was beginning to get impatient with her, "Let's just help already!" A determined nod came from both girl and Eevee. "Okay, you and your Eevee-"

"I'm Rena and she's Vela. Get it right thief-boy." Rena growled.

Agreeing Vela added, "Vee eevee ee!"

"Lee." He corrected

Putting her hands on her hips Rena compromised, "Fair enough. Now can we finish this?"

"Like I was saying; you and Vela go cut the ropes on the net." He handed her a closed pocketknife. "I'll go distract the poachers."

Before Rena had a chance to reply Lee dashed off, still covered by the trees to a place farther from her hiding spot.

"Hey losers!" Lee shouted coming out of the undergrowth. The thieves seemed shocked by their uninvited guest. There were about 4 of them, three came over to Lee and gripped Pokéballs in their hands. Rena looked around, the fourth one that had been on the ship had disappeared. She shrugged, he probably ran off. Swiftly and silently Rena and Vela padded towards the boat. Hoisting herself up after Vela jumped onto the edge Rena tumbled over into the ship. Lurching to her feat she took out Lee's pocketknife and flicked the sharp end out. After a few minutes Vela found the rope and Rena began to saw through the thick fibers. Weak cries came from the net below, 20 some Dratini looked at Pokémon and trainer with pleading eyes. One of them was particularly fixed on the duo, a rather large female with pale pink eyes.

"Vela! Go get help!" The Eevee ran off as she turned back to the captives, "Don't worry," Rena whispered "We're gonna get you out of here…"

Lee's situation was somewhat different. All three trainers had called out a Pokémon, a Sentret, an Ekans and a Zubat. Rena's Murkrow had joined him and was currently trying to battle off the Zubat's Supersonic attack. Clutching his own Pokéballs Lee call two of his monsters out.

"Nido! Battle! C'mon out boys!" Two Pokémon materialized in front of their opponents; a Nidoran Male and a Mankey braced themselves for a fight. "Nido, use your Double Kick! Battle, use Karate Chop!"

Both of Lee's Pokémon obeyed, Nido hammered at the Sentret with his feet as Battle knocked the wind out of the Ekans with his arms. It looked good, Dark-Wing had taken out the Zubat with vicious Peck attacks, Ekans was gasping for breath and Sentret was conveniently KOed. He glanced over at Rena to see how she had fared, the ropes were almost all cut, and some of the Dratini had struggled out of their prison. The dark figure of another culprit came out of the shadows and reached for Rena. "Uhh, you, girl…" Lee tried to remember her name, "RENA!!"

Rena swung around just as the man grabbed her shoulder. She threw his hand off but lost her balance slipping off the ship through the hole in the railing designed for the net to come through. Her weight hit the bottom of the rope, snapping the upper cable that held only by a thread. A curve of the net twined around Rena's ankle, pulling her down with the heavy rope. She wasn't a very good swimmer to boot.

Gasping for air in the murky depths, water quickly filled Rena's lungs as she choked to breathe. In a mad panic of pain she tried to cough but only inhaled more of the life-drowning liquid.

The Dratini had escaped, they swam to the bottom of the marina, hiding and scurrying away from the dock. The pink eyed Dratini was half way down to her nest when she looked up to see the drowning girl. 'A life for a life, if I save you we'll be even' she though as her tail wrapped around Rena's waist. Dragging the human was harder then she had though. The net and rope attached to the girl's leg weighted her down tremendously. If she were to save the human girl before it was too late, that rope would have to go.

"Draaaaa! Tiniiiiii!" The call of the pink-eyed Dratini echoed through the water. A few of her people left their hideouts and swam up. Two began gnawing on the rope's base as two more wrapped tails around Rena's arms. When the net came loose all three Dratini shot up, reaching the surface in no time. They dragged her over to the sandy shore; a boy, his two Pokémon, a small Eevee and a hand full of police officers holding their captors waited there worried.

Once Rena was securely on land the other two Dratinis darted away, leaving the pink-eyed leader.

"Eevee! Vee eevee ee eee vee eve!" Vela chattered as she ran up to lick Rena's face.

"So, that was Team Rocket then?" Rena asked Lee. She was covered in a think wool blanket and dry clothes as she hung her feet off the edge of the dock.

Nodding he answered, "Yup, them alright."

After listening to his last statement it just occurred to her that he had a slight English accent. She was just about to comment on it when she noticed a small pair of pale-pink eyes looking at her from underwater.

"Why hullo there old girl!" Lee smiled when he saw where Rena was glancing. The head surfaced and drifted over to the edge of the dock.

Rena raised her eyebrows at Lee and asked, "You know her? She was the one that saved me!"

"Sure do, that's the leader of the Long Lake Dratini Colony. She greets all the friendly trainer, since they can't catch her." Lee winked at the Pokémon who only stared back.

"Dra…" She said softly.

The expression on Lee's face turned from playful to serious, he told Rena, "She wants to talk to you."

"Why?" Rena was caught off guard her surprise was obvious.

The Dratini continued, "Tini tini dratini ra. Ti tinidra ni ni dratini dra! Dratini dratini ini tini…"

Lee took a long pause. Finally Rena had to ask, "Well?"

Taking a deep breath he translated, "She says that you not only saved her life, but that of her colony and their unhatched young. She also tells me that even if she saved your life that only counts for one. The only was she can fully repay you is to come with you on your journey."

Rena looked at the Dratini; she smiled happily back to her soon-to-be trainer. "But the laws say-"

"They say no poaching or catching if the Pokémon wants to come with you willingly though it's fine." Lee interrupted.

"Alright then," Rena reached down to pick up her new partner.

Stroking the Dratini's tail Lee asked her, "What are you going to name the beauty?"

Smiling Rena replied, "Angel of course. She saved my life, she really is an angel."

"Angel it is then!" Lee got up and came back with a stick. He turned the Dratini towards him and tapped her lightly on both 'shoulders'. "I dub thee, Angel…"

To Be Continued in Chapter 3 of 'Tamer of Darkness'!

Why isn't Route 30 & 31 a perfect picnic for our hero's? Also, will Rena survive her first real Trainer Battle? And finally: Who gets on Lee's nerves the most? Rena or Vela?