A/N: Alright I'm sorry it took so long. I rewrote this thing several times before redoing the plotline I put together. R/R please, just in case I have major plotholes. Enjoy!

When Dark Falls

Chapter 3

03rd June 2005 (original)

28th June 2005 (rewrite)

"Hey hey hey! Howdie ya'll, I've just gotten me a new pokemon. How 'bout a battle to guage it?" Ranma smiled at the stranger; his aura said nothing bad about him other than he had a slight liver problem, and a pokemon battle was something he hadn't really tasted before, "Alright, let's see, Kire! Let's go!" Kire leapt in from behind Ranma and landed on both feet with a crash and studied the opposing trainer, gauging him. The stranger, wearing hiking gear laughed, "Well you have an excellent Scyther there; I'd estimate him to be pretty young but powerful still.

He paused and picked out a pokeball from his belt, "my challenge, Machoke! Karate Chop!" Jeremy instantly found the information in his head, "a fighting type, it requires a power belt to regulate its power or it'll go out of control. You'll want to be keeping out of its way." Ranma grinned instead, "but that's exactly what I'm not going to do. Kire! Aerial Cutter!" it was an attack Ranma came up with by combining Kire's Wing Attack, Slash and Fury Cutter. His opponent frowned and thought aloud, "Aerial Cutter? Never heard of that, or my name's not Jim."

The Aerial Cutter hit hard, and the Machoke was forced backwards by several feet. It leapt right back at Kire with several vicious karate chops and kicks. Scyther took a few hits and blocked or evaded the rest, but his amour withstood the onslaught easily. Ranma frowned; the Machoke was evidently a higher level than he'd estimated, "Kire! Down Flash!" This time it was an original attack using Ranma's training and combining it with Scyther's agility attack, a back bladed slash in the way of a low kick knocked the opponent down dead fast. Scyther crossed his blades over Machoke's neck and the fight ended.

Jim laughed out loud and recalled his Machoke; Ranma smiled and gave Kire a hug. Jeremy frowned in concentration. Jim whispered to the pokeball, since the pokemon inside could hear, telling Machoke that he'd really done well. Ranma walked up and shook his hand, "That was an excellent Scyther, never heard of those moves you used though. I'm off to the mountain road, wadabout you?" Ranma grinned, "we're off to Cherry Grove. Be careful right?" Jim nodded and left.

Ranma and Jeremy kept walking, Scyther and Shroud dancing around each other, sparring. Ranma noticed Jeremy's aura indicating frustration, and decided the boy wasn't going to ask, "You're wondering why you've never heard of the Aerial Cutter or Down Flash before. You're also wondering how a young Scyther like Kire could have won against a Machoke in close-quarters combat." Jeremy's eyes widened with a look of total innocence, but Ranma knew that he really wanted to know.

He chuckled, "Professor Elm said in the 14th lesson that a pokemon's mind is much more developed, in general, than a humans. He also said that a pokemon given absolute free-will could do things humans could, just based on their minds. That was meant to be the 'how to develop your pokemon' lesson. I sneaked a lok at his lesson plans, and corrected it for him, and proved it. You know that I'm a martial artist, and that I train my pokemon in the martial arts, as well as learn certain things from them.

"I learned of the normal pokemon attacks not so long after I arrived, but felt that development, invention, and that sort were key to success in battling, more so than mere power. I need you to promise me that what I'm about to tell you will not get out to everyone else from you." Jeremy nodded quickly, "The Aerial Cutter is a combination of Fury Cutter, Wing Attack, and Slash. The Slash portion provides most of the power, but it's lack of attacking speed is upped when you add in the speed required for Fury Cutter, and further upped on both counts when you add in Wing Attack. The Fury Cutter further provides a solid grounding for Kire to use not just his arm blades, but his wing blades too. The end result is double power, several times speed, and loads of damage.

"The Down Flash in contrast, is not really meant to hurt though it could. If they made a game out of it, Down Flash would be a very low powered thing that made the opponent flinch at most. In essence, the down flash is a high speed attack that combines my training of Kire, a flash attack, and meditate, giving you very little damage. My training comes in the form of giving Kire an incredible amount of speed, along with a mid-combat awareness of which limb is closest to his opponent's legs. The Flash Attack makes everything slow down slightly, and Machoke couldn't see where he was going or where Kire was. This allowed Kire to use his speed and any limb to trip up Machoke, and put him in a position where fighting on would be pointless. I only did this for the surprise element though, since I got the feeling that Machoke was much higher a level than Kire, it was the easiest and fastest way to finish."

Jeremy nodded sagely and seemed to put this into his mind on file. Dark was fast falling now, and Ranma didn't want to be caught in the dark without a camp site. Shroud or Kire could use a flash so they could see, but finding an appropriate campsite in the dark would be difficult at best. Jeremy hadn't slept anywhere other than his room before, so was hoping against hope that Ranma wouldn't do a weirdo and sleep on the cold hard ground. Ranma soon stopped, "See the smoke over there? That's where the nearest pokemon centre is. We won't be able to get there any time soon, so I'll just mark the direction in this clearing, and we can sleep here."

Jeremy's eyes widened in fright, fear, and shock, "surely you don't mean out here in the wildeness? What about bears or other dangerous animals? Mommy said that there were Ursaring and Tyranitar here!" Ranma had just sent off Kire and Shroud for wood, and was digging out a pit for the fire, and suddenly fell over in a massive face fault when he heard what Jeremy, "You can't seriously believe that Jeremy? Ursaring live in caves and mountains, nearer Blackthorn. Tyranitar are so rare that if I saw one I'm more likely to stand there in awe than anything else.

"Besides, Tyranitar live nearer the 'monster' areas like Mount Silver, Dragons' Den, and the Unknown Dungeon. Around here at night you're more likely to meet Hoothoot, Zigaloon, and Rattata. Of course, there are trainers around here with other more powerful pokemon, but nothing near the power of a Tyranitar." Jeremy sighed in relief and took out his sleeping bag just as Kire and Shroud came back with food and firewood, "Ranma, how do I use a sleeping bag?"

Ranma blinked, "you haven't? Oh well, this side faces up, you open this zip here, and later you get inside and snuggle up. I tend to sleep open though, and Shroud sleeps with me sometimes. Kire hasn't been round long enough, but I think he may be nocturnal. All set?" Jeremy nodded and grinned, "What's for dinner?" Gyou then came along with several large fruit in his arms. Ranma grinned, "See? Gyou's already into the camping thing. He's gotten you some nice fruit there. So yes, that's for dinner unless you can get us poultry or something like that." "Scyther..."

………

"Ranma, how do you sleep like this?" Jeremy's tired voice broke the silence in the camp as he slowly awoke from the most uncomfortable sleep in his life. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and patted Gyou, who was wrapped around him in an effort to help him sleep. "Ranma, what's for breakfast?" no answer came, "Ranma?" Jeremy opened his eyes fully now and gazed round their campsite. Ranma was nowhere in sight.

Jeremy panicked; this was his first time out in the wild and Ranma had abandoned him; weren't they friends, even the best of friends, apart from their pokemon? He was just about to start screaming in fear when he noticed Ranma's sleeping bag and traveling bag still there. His sleeping bag was rumpled, as if the user hadn't bothered tidying it up before leaving. Jeremy calmed down and listened; a far away yell of "faster!" reached his ears. Gyou walked up and tugged his trousers; Jeremy turned and knelt to Gyou's level, "Do you know where Ranma is?"

"Hra!" Gyou started jumping away and Jeremy followed through the undergrowth. The cries were getting louder now, and soon they came to a clearing where Ranma was training Kire. Jeremy gasped; Ranma was had both hands behind his back, and was jumping around, evading Kire's powerful slashes cleanly and swiftly. He thought the previous day's fight against the Machoke had been fast, but it was nothing to now; he could hardly see the slashes, and apparently Ranma wasn't getting hit. A soft growl from behind caused Jeremy to start, and he let out a short scream as he turned around and tumbled backwards into the clearing.

After what seemed to be hours but was really just a few seconds, Jeremy opened his eyes and found Kire, Shroud, Gyou, and Ranma staring back at him, "You know, if I didn't know better I'd ask you what school of Martial Arts you studied." Ranma grinned and helped him up onto his feet, "No matter, just about done training for today. Shroud you got our food?" Shroud nodded and stalked away towards the campsite. Ranma clapped Kire on his back and smiled, "You did great today Kire, we'll have you taking me out in a few slashes soon!"

After breakfast Ranma taught Jeremy how to pack his things effectively; they were soon on the road toward the pokemon centre when they were stopped by a boy of about 16 weilding a bokken, "Hold foul trespasser! Tell me by what right you dare trample the sacred lands of the Cuddles? Answer now or face my wrath! Clefable!" Jeremy and Ranma sweat dropped; the Clefable looked to be barely level 40, probably more like 30, and was thinner than it should have been. Ranma studied the Clefable and Kuno for a while, "You want him Jeremy? I need to call Professor Elm about this."

Jeremy nodded and moved forward, "This is public property and we have a right to be here, Gyou! Rapid Spin!" Ranma moved backwards and called Elm as Gyou burst out of his pokeball and flew at alarming speed toward the Clefable, putting a spinning tackle to good use. The supposed kendoist looked alarmed, "You dare strike my noble pokemon! Clefable! Attack with Double Slap!" Gyou evaded well and only one strike got through. Jeremy nodded his acknowledgement, "Gyou! Water gun!" Gyou leapt out of Clefable's reach and let loose with a blast of water that knocked Clefable into a tree.

"Clefable! Leer!"

"Gyou! Icebeam!"

Clefable quickly lost after that, and the kendoist looked ready to explode, "YOU DARE? STRIKE STRIKE STRIKE STRIKE STRIKE STRIKE!" He let loose with several quick stabs and slashes at Jeremy, who couldn't move fast enough. Fortunately, Ranma had finished his call just in time and grabbed the bokken out of the kendoist's grip, "You want a fight, I'm right here." Cuddles pulled out another bokken and charged; to Ranma though, he was far too slow and got knocked out in just 2 seconds. Jeremy poked the fallen kendoist's face and questioned Ranma, "What did you do?"

Ranma cocked his head, "I called Professor Elm so he could lodge a report with the Pokemon League. We're on public property so he was completely out of order, and the way he raised that Clefable makes me wonder how he got a Clefairy to start with, let alone a Clefable. What I did to him was knock him out; I'm a martial artist, as you know, and so is he, to an extent, just that I'm much faster than he is, so he lost out." Something caught the edges of his sensing abilities and he swung in that direction charging a ki blast just in case he needed it.

A ninja dropped onto the ground, "you are indeed good. The young master escaped this morning, and I've been trying to find him. Thank you for making my job easier. As is bade by my mistress, on behalf of house Kudo, you may pick a rare pokemon from our store. Take this note to my mistress, she awaits in that direction a few minutes as the crow flies. I will await the authorities." Ranma himself had no experience with Ninjitsu or Ninja, but decided that honor meant a great deal to them and so set off with Jeremy. The were indeed met by a female. She had flowing black hair and wore a black cloak around her shoulders. She eyed them beadily but took the note very seriously.

"So my brother has again lost. I ill see to it that he has not another chance to disturb other members of the public again. As is the law of house Kudo, you may pick a pokemon from us; follow me please." She brought them to a mansion, apparently where the family lived; impressive as t was, she didn't give them a tour, instead bringing them to a garden where many pokemon played and eggs lay around. She stopped and gave them a moment to take in the view before giving another narration, "you may choose from here, eggs only. The pokemon themselves are bound to my family so they won't go with you, but you may choose an egg to bond with."

Jeremy walked round, inspecting the many eggs there, identifying each with a reference card provided by the girl. Ranma brought out the egg he'd gotten for his birthday and asked her about it. She became wide eyed when she saw it and gaped for a moment, "That's a Lapras egg! How did you come by it? It's almost impossible to find hem because they're always laid in the sea!" Ranma smiled, "I got it for my birthday, but Silver wouldn't tell me what pokemon it held; nice to know it's meant to take a long time to hatch." He girl became misty eyed at the name, "Silver? He's a real man. I do hope he'll come see me again."

She shook herself out of her stupor just as Jeremy came back with a rather unusual egg. She studied it for a moment, "a Ponyta? Very well, raise it well. The short cut to the pokecentre is that way, good luck."

………

"Hi Mummy, guess what? I won my first battle against a Clefable!" Jeremy was on the phone to his mother while Ranma saw to their pokemon being healed. Jeremy had been cuddling the egg all the way to the pokemon centre, constantly talking about Ponyta. Of course, he hadn't gotten to the part about what to name it. "He was hopeless, that's for sure though, Ranma even made a call to Professor Elm to report him! See Mummy? I can be a good trainer." Ranma could hear the grin in his voice.

"Your pokemon are healed sir, are you going on immediately or would you like to stay?" Ranma's attention was torn away from Jeremy's phone call by Nurse Joy, the first he'd seen, but if Silver was right, not the last he'd see, "Yes we'll be staying here tonight if it's possible? We'll finish off the road to Cherry Grove tomorrow. Thanks again!" He picked up the pokemon, releasing Shroud, Kire, and Gyou before attaching the pokeballs to their belts, "You done on the phone, Jeremy? We should start training you know?" Jeremy quickly finished his last goodbyes and scampered out the centre, hot on Ranma's heels.

"Shroud, you and Kire take Gyou over there to that clearing alright? I'm gonna train Jeremy so you two train Gyou, OK? Shroud studied him a bit and nodded, nudging the other two along. Ranma turned to Jeremy, "I know there aren't many like yesterday, but there will still be people around who will try to harm you as a person, rather than you as a trainer. So you will learn from me; just the basics, nothing fancy or advanced like me, but enough for you to survive."

………

"That's him, the one with the Umbreon. On my signal we get him." Two shadows leapt away and crouched on either side of the clearing where Ranma was sparring with Shroud while Kire, Gyou, and Jeremy took a break. One shadow appeared to be a cat of some sort, while the second shadow had short hair. The middle shadow had long hair and wore gloves, apparent as she raised a hand, starting a click that was the signal.

"That's enough for now Shroud, we want to be ready when our attackers show up, don't we?" Shroud purred and subbed himself against Ranma's leg, "Umbreon…" click the trap was sprung, and 3 shadows leapt out of the bushes upon their knowing prey, "Team Rocket strike!" Ranma turned, grinned, and fired two Ki blasts at the humans while Shroud launched into a full on claw scuffle with the Meowth. Jessie and James jumped up, wince in pain, and pulled out their pokeballs, "we don't know how you found us out, but you'll regret it! Seviper! Arbok! Wheezing! "

The four pokemon squared off against Ranma, "You think this is going to stop me? Guess again!" he stretched then folded himself in with a whispered, "Umisen-ken" and disappeared from sight. Everyone was shocked and didn't make a move till Seviper suddenly howled and dropped, unconscious with what looked like multiple snake bites on his back. As the other three looked on in horror, Arbok and Wheezing suddenly banged into each other, unconscious as well. "Wobafett!" the blur, blue pokemon jumped out of it's own pokeball, and suddenly noticed a human sneaking up on Cacnea.

"Woba!" it leapt and tried to smack the human, but Ranma was too fast and switched techniques, "Yamasen-ken! Welcome Gate White Fang Fingers!" Wobafett wondered why he'd suddenly stopped in mid air, then noticed in incredible pain in his middle and looked down, only to see the human's hand thrust into his middle; a cry of pain made it out before he collapsed unconscious. Cacnea turned round and followed James's order of "Needle arm!" Ranma evaded it quickly though, and jumped back, "O-Ruoanashingu!" a ball of bright white energy flew at the 8, blasting them away, "Team Rocket's blasting off again!..."

………

"Hmmm…I've reviewed the video of your loss, and I agree for once. This new trainer is really something, and we must bring him over to our side, he will be a great asset. I will have the other teams alerted, you three will have a vacation." The screen winked out and a man in the shadows turned his chair round, scratching the head of the Persian beside him, "Yes I think that will do nicely. With them out of the way, we can move several steps closer to achieving world order." "Persian…"

"Sir, your orders sir!" Giovanni turned to the grunt, "Ranma Saotome must be captured, he will be an asset to Team Rocket, as will his pokemon."

A/N: Now what would I do next...