Chapter 3 : Here is Chapter 3. I hope you enjoy

"I have travelled so far and gone down many paths but none have led me to such a beauty as you, may I ask your name fair petal?" Takeshi spouted his usual lines each with a twist to them for the newer girl; if she had known this maybe her fear wouldn't be so insistent.

"My…my name is Rei…" Trying to pull her hands free, there was a growl behind and she looked back to see Rentoraa looking quite unhappy. "Please, would you all come to my place?"

The group all nodded one of the three more enthusiastic than his friends as they all made their way to Rei's home.

…

The team sat outside on the porch, it was glossy and wooden and looked like it had been varnished professionally. Out on the clearing that Rei lived on the Rentoraa were laying there, one male and the other female and playing happily around their parents were baby Korinku. There were two males and one female and they all seemed to be having a very good play fight.

"So this is why we were unable to find that path, it's become a breeding spot!" Takeshi looked over it again just for good measure and was impressed that there would be a place like this hidden.

Rei nodded slightly and glanced over at him "We've been here for a couple of years now looking after these Pokemon, its kind of like a reserve here and all kinds come and visit but this spot is a major breeding place for Rentoraa!"

"How old is that map Takeshi?" Satoshi asked his friend sceptically. Both of the youngsters glanced over his shoulder and the male began to get tense and sweat a little, trying not to look at them both.

"Well, you see…My father gave it to me when I went home so…" He laughed nervously and didn't dare look back at them for what he knew was there on their faces.

Fortunately a distraction was created as one of the cubs came over and made calling sounds and the attention was taken away from him and Takeshi sighed in relief. The cub was much lighter than the final form of its parents and the dark fur was small and far between, the tail was much smaller and wiggled around out of control where as Rentoraa's looked more graceful.

"How cuuute!" Hikari ran forwards to greet the small Pokemon and Pikachu followed to say Hi to another young electric type. The female scratched its head giggling as the Korinku purred. Satoshi felt happy seeing them play with the cub and smiled; turning back to Rei he looked somewhat serious.

"You said 'We've been here', who else lives with you?" He watched as her face turned into a worried expression and she looked out at the trees for a moment as if thinking about something important.

"My father and I moved here together but he's been gone for a couple of days and I don't know where he is. I tried looking for him but…well he isn't the usual places." She turned back around to face him. "I just don't know what to do."

"Well we can help you look for him if you like!" Her face lit up and she clasped her hands over his.

"Really? Thank you Satoshi-kun, you have no idea how much this will mean to me!" Smiling widely she made him feel a little uncomfortable until the ever timed pick up lines began from the side.

"Of course we would help such a wonderful lady as yourself, why what kind of people would we be if beauty's in distress were ignored by us? You have our word that we will do whatever it takes to find your beloved father and return him safely to you!"

Rei stared at the tanned male and sweat a little, unsure at his meaning and attitude, were all men like this? "Um, th-thank you…"

-

The group walked through the woods slowly looking for the man who had disappeared two days from now, and it seemed to be quite hard because they hadn't seen or heard anything. Hikari was wondering if maybe he was hurt but she couldn't voice this worry at all because it would just upset everyone more. But if it were true he would be unable to call out and ask for help.

"Those Korinku, at what age do they leave their mother?" The breeder in Takeshi was curious as to how everything worked and he had been wondering this for a while. The cubs had looked strong and capable but with new kinds of Pokemon one was never sure about each rule. In fact Pokemon in general tended to let their young go at a tender age even if they were babies. He had seen it often with Pichu and the like, but some liked to keep their young around for a long time. Lapras was a good example of this, they travelled together and so the parents tended to be very protective. It would lessen with time however the fact remained that they would all stick together for as long as they lived.

Korinku and Rentoraa from what he had observed were pack animals, they had multiple cubs and who knew what their living ways were, if in fact they did let their cubs go and if so when? Rei didn't seem to have to think long and turned around to address him directly.

"They are old enough to leave, but this place has become so safe for them that the family doesn't seem willing to go. Rentoraa in general are pack type which means they do have more than two of them together and the male will mate with all the females of that pack. Wonderers come here to mate and start their own family which is why they may become reluctant to go back out there. We've tried to make this place as friendly as we can but sometimes it isn't good."

"Wow that's amazing, I never knew that!" Hikari said, they hadn't seemed like pack types to her but then she didn't know much beyond battle and type. There was so much to learn.

"I bet the cubs are more than ready to start their own journey, right Pikachu?" Satoshi asked his best friend, knowing that he would agree before he asked.

"Piiikachu!" The little Pokemon nodded its head.

Just as the conversation lightened they heard a call. Around them was mostly woodland area and the trees were pretty tall, a lot of bushes surrounded them and it was difficult to determine where the sound had come from.

"Did you hear that? It sounded like someone was shouting, but I don't see anything!" The coordinator was awfully confused; maybe she had been hearing things.

"I heard it too; it sounded like 'hello'." Rei commented to her, and stepped up to a bush carefully. "Hello?"

Someone called out again, this time louder and more urgent than before. The group wandered to the bush and pushed the leaves aside to stare at what looked to be a cave out in a clearing. A man stood at the entrance and waved them over, he had on similar dungarees but his were blue and dirty. He also wore a grey shirt underneath it.

"Papa!" Running over to him Rei embraced her father lovingly and smiled up at him. "I'm so glad that you are ok, I've been worried sick!"

The man smiled gently at her "No need to worry now, I'm fine. Though I have been waiting for you. There was no way to contact you and I found a Rentoraa here in this cave, she was in labour but…unfortunately she didn't make it." They both looked very sad about this, and took a moment to be silent.

"What about the father?" The large man shook his head as if to imply he didn't know and that there was nothing more they could do.

"Who are your friends?" He asked, only just noticing the group behind his daughter.

"Oh, this is Satoshi, Hikari, Takeshi and Pikachu! Their here to help Papa, they looked for you with me!" She smiled brightly and her father nodded.

"It's nice to meet you all, my name is Hiro!" Greeting the others formally he bowed in respect to the trainers. "Please, all of you come with me, I want you to meet the cubs, and we must get them back to the house as soon as possible!" And with that he led everyone inside.

Deep in the cave there was a musty smell that tickled everyone's noses insistently, it was very damp and a mix between warm and cold that made their clothes slightly wet. It wasn't that big but they had to walk at least for three minutes to get to the end and once they did the sight there was unbelievable. Several baby cubs lay on the ground mewling out to their mother who lay a few feet away, motionless. Their eyes were closed and the movements were clumsy, it was heartbreaking to see such beautiful creatures left alone.

"How sad!" Hikari felt like she was about to cry any moment when she felt someone move closer to her. Glancing to her left she looked at Satoshi as he seemed to watch the sight she had just turned from. His presence calmed her somewhat even if he said nothing and she was determined to help these poor cubs.

Hiro walked over to them and glanced at his daughter and everyone else "Are you ready?"

Everyone moved forwards and picked up a cub gently, they all cried loudly but there wasn't much else they could do. Each of them had about two except for Takeshi and Satoshi who had one, eight in total and it was probably no wonder the mother had found it so hard to give birth to them. The body was starting to smell and it was probably for the best that they took the babies soon otherwise they might have gotten so distressed and died themselves.

They all left the cave quickly and started back the way that they had come from, through that one clump of bushes and along the pathway of grass and flowers. Other Pokemon reacted to the cries coming from the cubs and seemed either interested in them for reasons or would scatter in another direction. Predators would be wanting to eat them where as prey would run in case the parents were to come looking and they were in the wrong place at the wrong time, so to speak. So this went on until they got back to the house.

Soon they were all being fed warm milk from an eyedropper and seeming quite happy.

…

Somewhere in a usual hiding spot not that far from the travellers were two humans; one male and one female, and two Pokemon named Nyasu and Manene. Kojirou had his special binoculars and was watching the scene below. Off to the right in a patch near the trees were Rentoraa and their cubs that were oblivious to anything but the game they were playing. On a porch outside an old fashioned looking home was the brats and lots of little tiny Korinku being fed.

"Interesting, what a lovely bunch of Pokemon!" Musashi the female was unable to see as much as her partner but she still could make out more than enough.

"They would be peeerfect for the boss ~nya!" The catlike Pokemon added, thinking of all the things their boss could do with all of these electric types.

"Ooooh yes we should try and catch them all" Kojirou pulled the binoculars away from his face and grinned at his companions. "We may even get promoted for such strong kinds!" He laughed at this image of himself sitting in the boss's chair until Musashi came in and booted him out. Causing him to sigh.

"I have just the plan to use for this, follow me!" They turned around and disappeared.

Hikari and Pochama were busy playing with the older cubs as it got later in the afternoon and began to meld into evening, they had been there for a while now and being lost seemed so long ago. She bent down to pick up her favourite, one of the female Korinku, and tickled its underbelly. She'd been shocked that the parents didn't seem to care about humans playing with them and she deducted that this may have something to do with Rei and her father being around.

"You are just the cutest thing; I wish that you could come with me!" She giggled as it chewed her finger.

Over at the house the others were having their own conversation.

"So you make your own Pokemon food?" Hiro asked the other man in front of him.

"That's right, each type of Pokemon likes something different so I try to blend and cater for their needs." He replied excited to finally have someone who was interested in these kinds of things. It almost took his mind off the beautiful woman beside her father…almost.

"Well I do say that is interesting, you are a fine young man! I'm impressed." His daughter giggled beside him at this, she wasn't surprised that he found the breeder fascinating to talk with.

Just as he was about to explain more about his breeder skills the ground began to rumble and shake violently making everyone hold on to something in order to keep stable. Once the ground stood still again they looked over to see a very large and very metal looking Habunake. The mouth opened slowly and they saw Team Rocket standing at the center of a very fake and large tongue.

"Who are you people?!" Hiro shouted stepping in front of Rei protectively.

Musashi: "If you ask us who we are..."
Kojirou: "The answer we give will be the universe's sympathy!"
Musashi: "To prevent the universe's destruction!"
Kojirou: "To protect the universe's peace!"
Musashi: "To bring love and honesty's evils to light!"
Kojirou: "The lovely, charming villains!"
Musashi: "Musashi!"
Kojirou: "Kojirou!"
Musashi: "The pair from Team Rocket soars through the galaxy!"
Kojirou: "A white hole waiting for a bright day!"
Nyasu: "Something like that ~nya!"

"What do you want this time!?" Satoshi asked angrily; not happy about them popping up again.

Musashi laughed evilly and then smiled down at the boy "I think you may have a fair idea of what we came for. Kojirou, Nyasu, into the Habunake Bot!"

They jumped backwards and slotted in to the controls pressing buttons and the like as they prepared for the attack, the gang ran out and met Hikari half way as she was still holding the small Korinku in her arms and Pochama was at her side.

"Where'd they come from?" She asked.

"Who knows, they always just come from nowhere!" They both looked up to see them ready to attack.

A pole came out of the mouth this time "Ready for acid attack!"

"Um Habunake doesn't have…" Kojirou started but was silenced by her glare.

"I know that! I built in any Poison type attack in to this Mecha now do it!" She shouted.

He pressed the button and the pipe hissed before letting out a particularly nasty acid which was aimed for everyone below, it soured through the air and landed just a couple of feet from them as they took a step back, watching as it ate away at the grass and mud. Immediately the mecha turned around to face the Rentoraa and their cubs before pressing a few more buttons.

"Alright this should work!" Musashi forced the Habunake machine forwards to back them all up and then watched in satisfaction as they were caught in a cage that snapped up from the ground. "Yes, this is going to plan."

"Every time you say that we lose ~nya" Nyasu said hoping she would stop celebrating.

"Whoa that's nasty stuff; we have to help the Pokemon and keep away from it!" Satoshi pulled out some Pokeballs and released his Pokemon from them, Eipam and Mukkuru. "Alright then we have to come up with a strategy! Mukkuru 'cause a distraction some how, Eipam you go over to the cage…there has to be some way to get them out!"

The bird and Monkey nodded and went straight into action, Mukkuru flew straight for the Mecha and just as they had hope it distracted them instantly.

"Heh look that bird is back, lets get 'im!" Kojirou pressed another button that sent out poison spikes.

"It's so handy having Poison Pokemon around!" Musashi laughed again and pressed the same button with made the acid come out.

'We have to make that acid turn back around somehow…' The trainer clenched his fists. "Dodge them!"

Eipam ran straight at the cage and climbed up to look for a way in. It seemed that it was pretty secure and had a bolt on the door with a lock. It didn't seem to be that breakable at all and he wiggled it around a little. "Eipam.."

Mukkuru seemed to be having quite a few close calls and Satoshi couldn't think of any way to make this situation easier for them, if only they had more distractions to confuse them with…'wait that's it!'

"Pikachu you need to help Mukkuru out and distract Team Rocket!" He said, Pikachu looked at him and nodded his head knowing exactly what his friend had in mind.

"We'll help to, right Pochama!?" Hikari added, smiling.

"Pocha!" The penguin nodded his head and strikes a pose for effect.

"Alright then let's do this!" He shouted.

The two Pokemon ran forwards to the Habunake bot as fast as they could, both of them running around the bottom of it to try and confuse and distract them as long as possible. It twisted this way and that trying to get a good lock on them; Team Rocket aimed at the slowest of them and aimed an acid.

"Pochama look out!" Someone shouted desperately.

The Pokemon jumped as far as he could and landed hard on the ground, he felt a paw on his body and looked up to find Pikachu's worried face starring at him. He stood up and glared up at the thing that had attacked him determined to do what he had been told to. Musashi and Kojirou laughed at them, this was perfect, they were both standing there together.

"Mukkuru now!"

The bird flew downwards and into their direct sight, the large head followed him once more.

"Damn bird!" Musashi got ready to press the button once again.

"Ok now fly straight up into the air and don't stop until I say!" Satoshi said, hoping this would work. Mukkuru flew up just as his trainer said, higher and higher. The Habunake bot's head tilted back slowly, really slowly so that by the time they had the bird in their sights it was already quite far up. The female rocket pressed her button without thinking and watched as the acid flew upwards. The acid trailed the bird for as long as one minute before stopping dead in the air.

"Stop!" Satoshi shouted up the command to his Pokemon. He did just that, and fluttered there watching as the acid had stopped chasing him.

"Eh?" Nyasu blinked.

"Why'd it stop?" Kojirou asked in confusion.

"Crap its coming back!"

Sure enough it fell back towards them faster than it had gone up and within seconds it hit them. The acid sizzled and ate through the metal fast, all the electrical equipment began to spark and collapse in on themselves at an awful speed. The evil group scrambled as fast as they could to try and get out, they fall to the ground just as it blows up.

"My Bot…" Musashi growls and turns around to find everyone glaring at them.

"Pikachu give 'em a thunderbolt!" The trainer wasn't about to let them just get away with this.

"Uh oh, shoulda seen this coming!" Nyasu muttered.

The electric mouse charged up his cheeks, watching them with a very small frown on his face. Then with as much power as a Thunderbolt held he let loose on them.

"Piiikaaachuuuuuuu!"

They all cried out and felt the ground explode beneath them as they were hurled into the air like always, flying off into the distance and creating a 'ding' as they were no longer able to be seen.

Hikari ran over to the cage still holding the baby Korinku in her arms as, she looked at Eipam and he shook his head as if to say he didn't know how to open it.

"What are we going to do? We can't leave them all in there, it's not right!" Just as she was about to cry she felt something tap her on the leg. She glanced down to see Pochama looking up at her, he held out a flipper and there was a brass key. "For such a trick it's amazingly simple…" Taking it she smiled and thanked him before putting it in and turning the key. The lock opened and they let the Rentoraa and cubs out.

"There ya go little girl, you can go back with your family!" She smiled sadly and let the Korinku down as it looked back at her, and then waddled over to her mother and father.

"You take this path until you come to a cross roads, go right and you should make it to a Pokemon center before night. I suggest once you get there, you buy a new map!" Hiro grinned cheerily at the breeder as he coughed.

"Yes, I will. Thank you." He replied; a little embarrassed.

"Thank you for everything Rei-san, Hiro-san. We learnt a lot!" Hikari smiled as they nodded, she couldn't help but feel sad about leaving. After everyone said their goodbyes the group started back on the path again.

"I'm gonna miss those Rentoraa, wish I'd caught one!" Satoshi commented which earned a 'Pika' in reply.

"I'm going to miss Rei, she was an amazing woman!" Takeshi sniffled sadly and the Pokemon trainer laughed.

"You say that about every girl!"

The girl stopped suddenly as they continued to talk about what they liked, she though she had heard something.

"Ne, Hikari you coming?" The boy called back to his friend, she glanced up at him.

"Yeah!" Just as she was about to run over there was another sound and she looked back to see the female Korinku standing there behind her.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" She walked over to it and bent down. "You should be with your family, go on!"

The cub shook its head and rubbed against her, Hikari was shocked for a moment and her friends came up behind to see what the hold up was all about. Once they took a look the trainer beside her smiled knowingly.

"Looks like she wants to come with ya." He said.

She stroked her back "Is that right, you want to come with me?" The Korinku nodded which caused her to smile brightly. "Well then in to the Pokeball!"

She held up the white and red ball and opened it for the Pokemon, as soon as she saw it the cub jumped in and the ball closed, a red light showing and then going out.

"Welcome to the team, Korinku!"