Chapter 2

Arinia walked to the beach and sure enough Mark was there waiting for her. Mark jumped up from the rock he had been sitting on when he saw Arinia and ran over to Arinia and swept her off her feet and into his arms. "Arinia, I've missed you so much! I'm so glad to see you again, it's just not the same without you at my side."

Arinia chuckled softly, "I've missed you too, but you're here now and I can tell you my big news."

"Big news?" Mark asked, setting Arinia back on her feet.

"Yeah, Wattson just told me that when he steps down as gym leader, the position would fall to me." Arinia told Mark happily.

"That's great news!" Mark said, pulling Arinia back into his arms for another hug.

"Mark, what have you been up to?" Arinia asked.

"Oh gosh, Arinia, I had a feeling you were going to ask that……. Arinia, I've been on the trail of Maxie, as you probably know he's my enemy and he doesn't like me much either. Also I don't know how, but he somehow got word that you're my girl. That's one thing I'm worried about, since I don't want to put you in danger since I love you." Mark replied.

"Why's that such a big deal?" Arinia asked, not really understanding where Mark was going with this.

"It's a big deal because I'm concerned that he might use you or harm you in order to destroy me since he knows I love you. That's what I'm concerned about since I don't want Maxie to harm you." Mark replied.

"What should I do?" Arinia asked Mark concerned.

"Just be careful and try not to go walking alone at night if you can help it and you should be fine, but if something still happens you can be sure that I'll rescue you. However, I hope it doesn't come to that, since I don't want you to be at Maxie's mercy. That's the thing that frightens me……..." Mark said, looking at Arinia with love in his eyes.

"Mark, I'll be careful, you can be sure of that. I have no desire to be hurt by Maxie." Arinia replied.

"I know, but it's more what will he do; as I said he knows I love you and that might be reason enough for him to want to take you prisoner." Mark said, frowning slightly at the thought of Arinia being a prisoner at Maxie's hands.

"Okay, time to lighten the mood. I heard a song lately that I wanted you to hear. It goes like this. Mark then sang the song to her, and hoped that she would like it.

Did you like it?" Mark asked after he had finished singing the song to Arinia.

"I loved it!" Arinia exclaimed.

"I'm glad. I wanted to surprise you with it." Mark said.

"Well, you did, it was a nice surprise." Arinia replied, smiling at Mark.

Just then Mark's radio crackled, and Archie's voice was heard, "Mark, come in Mark. We need you Mark."

Mark took his radio and spoke into it, "Yes, boss? What is it?"

"Mark, I know you were spending time with Arinia, but we need for you to get to the Weather Institute as fast as you can, Team Magma is up to no good and we really need your help." Archie said through the radio.

"I'll be there as soon as I can." Mark replied.

"Okay, good, see you soon." Then the radio crackled as the call ended.

Mark looked at Arinia not really wanting to leave the girl he loved now that he was finally with her again. "I hate to do this to you, but I've got to go, my team needs me. I'll try to come back to visit you soon, okay?"

"Okay, Mark, you know you can always call me too, that's why you gave me that poke gear, right?" Arinia said.

"That's true, and that was indeed the reason I gave you that. Now I must be going, I'll call you later, okay?"

"Okay, Mark, I'll see you later." Arinia replied.

Mark kissed Arinia on the cheek before he called out his Milotic and surfed to the other side of the beach closest to the Berry Master's house, and once on the other side Mark waved to Arinia before he ran off down the route towards the Weather Institute. Once Mark was gone, Arinia headed back into town to go meet back up with Wattson, since she was staying with him since her home was a long ways away, and it would've taken her too long to get to the gym each day, so Wattson had insisted that she stay with him. Arinia walked backed to the gym and got there just as Wattson was locking the gym up for the night.

Once Wattson was done locking the gym up, he glanced over at Arinia and said, "Come on Arinia, let's go back to my house for the night. I trust you had a good time with your boyfriend, did you not?"

"I did, until unfortunately he got called away by his team due to a mishap at the Weather Institute." Arinia replied.

"You'll see him again soon, I'm sure of it. Now let's head home for the night." Wattson said.

Wattson and Arinia headed home, but unknown to Arinia the words Mark had told her about her safety being in jeopardy were about to come into effect full swing, since a magma grunt had been spying on Mark and Arinia while they had been spending time together, and he thought that Arinia would be the perfect way to do Mark in once and for all. "Boss, come in, I have news." The grunt whispered into the radio.

"Yes, you may speak." Maxie replied, through the radio.

"Boss, you might want to consider taking Arinia captive since Mark loves her so much. It might be the perfect way to destroy him, by taking the one thing that matters most to him." The grunt replied.

"That's true……. Hmm……. Yes, that'll work…… I'll do that……. Thanks for the suggestion. Now I want you to find Arinia and bring her to me, is that clear?"

"Yes, sir, it's as clear as crystal. I'll capture her and bring her to you as you've requested." The grunt replied.

"Arinia stays with Wattson at his house, so you might be able to steal her from her bed and bring her to me. That might be your easiest way of getting your hands on her since she's always so well protected since she's a top gym trainer." Maxie said.

"I'll do that, boss, that sounds like the perfect way to get my hands on her. Don't worry I'll get her and when I do, I'll bring her to you right away." The grunt replied.

"Good, now go get her. I will not tolerate failure, so make sure that you succeed." The radio crackled one last time and the call ended.

Now the grunt followed Wattson and Arinia as they walked back to Wattson's house at the edge of town, near the Winstrate Family's home, keeping out of sight as best he could, but remaining close enough that he could see where they were heading so that he could snatch Arinia in the night and take her back to their base while she was sleeping.