Hey again! Hope me updating at 9:38 PM doesn't add trouble to who views this!

Chapter three: Four cries in the night.

In the Goldenrod City red light district a dark skinned boy made his way through the busy streets with his right hand concealed under his shirt. He used his left hand to wave at the tempting calls from a group of girls and boys in revealing leather clothing then turned at the nearest corner and welcomed the sight of an abandoned street.

"Perfecto~" he chirped, removing his hand from under his shirt and letting it bleed freely onto the ground. As he began an upbeat stroll down the desolate street, a small sound in the distance caught his attention. He stopped walking and tried to carefully listen for what, or who, ever made the noise. He heard it again seconds later, or them rather. There were four of them; four far, lucid cries ringing throughout the night air, only able to be heard in the rare streets that lacked the damnable night life nearby.

"Quite the interesting night~." He told himself before taking a coin from his pocket with his bloody right hand. He began to whistle a merry tune as he flipped the coin into the air and continued his stroll down the dark street, becoming ever closer to the cries.

---

Vence was still on his knees at the Goldenrod City Magnet station, still unable to believe the situation he was forced into by his parents.

"Hey, watch were you stuff ends up. I almost broke my neck because of this!" Vence turned to see the boy from earlier, Rai, holding one of the Poké Balls that had spilt out his bag moments ago. Rai's hardened expression went soft when he saw the void look that Vence gave him. "Fu-, What happened to you…" Vence ignored the question and slowly began to pick up the items he dropped around him. Rai took offense to the act.

"It was a question." He frowned "Don't have to be an ass about it." He tossed the discarded Poké Ball in front of Vence and was about to turn to leave, but a shining case among Vence's items caught his attention. "I thought you weren't a Pokémon trainer." Rai folded his arms, half intrigued and half annoyed.

Vence bitterly tossed the badge case into his bag along with a map of the region and a rather pathetic amount of money "Well apparently I am. S- Sorry about the ball. I dropped-"

"Forget the ball" Rai said waving his hand as if it waved the topic away. "What's with the mood?"

Vence zipped up his bag and got to his feet. He just noticed how close he and Rai were in height, despite going through the same ordeal with the teen hours ago.

"So?" Rai asked, awaiting an answer. Vence dug into his pocket and gave Rai the shredded pieces of his parent's letter. While the teen tried to piece together the ripped papers, Vence told Rai of his parent's expectations of him to become a trainer and the current situation it landed him in.

"They always talked about me becoming a trainer." Vence's voice creaked "But I didn't think they'd plan something like this. They left me here with forty f-fucking Kanto dollars in my bag! How much is that in this region anyway?" Vence let out a loud shout that had been stirring inside him and then threw himself onto a station bench. He put his head in his hands and began to sob silently to himself.

Rai felt awkward around the abandoned boy, but tried not to let it show on his face. "Get up... we're leaving." He let the shreds of paper he had been reading fall to his feet and began to grind them into the station platform with his shoes.

"What are you talking about?" Vence said more to himself than Rai.

The almond eyed boy scraped a few bits of paper from his shoes before replying "We're heading to the Pokémon Center. It should take us a while too, especially without a city map, so let's go."

"What good does going there do?" Vence responded in a downcast tone. He shifted on the bench, uncomfortable with his new trend of negativity.

"You're a trainer now." Rai stated simply. "You need a place to sleep. Not to mention my Pokémon need to be healed thanks to yo-"He cut his sentence short and just gave Vence an impersonal look before turning and walking towards the station exit. Vence got to his feet and followed him, walking a few paces behind.

---

The boys engaged in light conversation as the made their way to the Pokémon Center from the train station. It was actually sort of comforting to Vence, having someone to talk to and, more importantly, show him the way he had to take in such an unfamiliar environment. Vence learned that Rai wasn't in fact a Pokémon trainer like his father assumed.

"A coordinator" the boy said over his shoulder as they squeezed their way between locals familiar with the over crowdedness of rush hour side walks. "I specialize in cool and tough Pokémon and heading to a town nearby to win my first ribbon."

"Cool" Vence replied honestly, receiving a thumbs up from Rai. He had always watched Pokémon contests on the weekends and was an avid fan of coordinators like Daisy Oak and Ruby (whose name caused Rai to break into a sudden coughing fit.) As the boys continued their journey to the center, Vence couldn't notice the…devious turn that the city shops took.

So far the duo had only passed shops that you would expect any trainer to see on their way to a Pokémon Center; marts, coffee shops and even a small bike shop. The buildings had become shadier after a few turns, however. The innocent shops were replaced by dark bars where inebriated adults stumbled out of before being swept into the street's crowd and large, neon lit clubs where trainers that were obviously underage awaited entry in gaudy outfits.

"Crap…" Rai said trying to focus on his Pokétch and not the grown woman that sung 'Viridian City' off key while her Machoke carried her home over its shoulder. "I think we made a few wrong turns. We're in the red light district."

"A few?" Vence questioned as he stared at a tattooed girl have the Flareon on her shoulder light cigarettes for her friends "Do you know how to get back?

"Should be…this way." The boys turned a few more corners and found themselves away from the bustling crowds of Goldenrod and on streets that were only occupied by moonlight.

Vence tossed Rai a nervous look as they advanced down a quiet street "This doesn't feel…"

"You cats lost?"

Both boys quickly turned to face the voice behind them and were met by the unnerving smiles of four pierced men. They all looked to be in their early twenties and were dressed in clothes as dark as their surroundings, an obvious attempt to camouflage themselves.

"Hey, you guys are Pokémon trainers, right?" One of the men spoke. He had more piercings than the other which Vence took as a symbol of his leadership "How strong are your Pokémon?" The four men reached into their coats and pulled out black Ultra Balls. "How would you like a battle?"

"We're not-"Vence began before being cut off by the release of the men's Pokémon. Four sleek Persians took form in front of the boys and showed their claws.

"Perrrrrsssss" The all cried towards the boys in unison, causing a string of laughter to erupt from their Trainers.

"We don't want to battle." Rai spoke defiantly "Vence, let's-"

"You can't get pass us until you battle." The man grinned "Come on, we'll play nice."

Vence shifted nervously. "My dad took Exeggutor with him after the train…incident" he whispered to Rai, who tensed instantly.

"Fine" Rai shouted "Poké Balls GO!" The teen reached to his side and tossed both of his Poké Balls into the air expertly. The men shielded their eyes from the red flash that erupted from them and, upon regaining their vision, erupted into a second laughing fit.

"W-what's so funny?" Vence asked with a false sense of courage. The source of laughter was obvious to him though, it was Rai's Pokémon. The creatures, who had not yet recovered from their battle with the rocket grunts, lay unconscious on the deserted street with no will to fight. "You wanted a battle."

"Are you serious kid?" The pierced boss said in between laughs. He regained his composure and his men followed suit. "You kids must be new to this city." He said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a steel knife. "It's obvious because ya haven' run yet. The last two trainers we met didn't even show us their Pokémon before we stole them."

Rai's eyes widened at the statement. He quickly pulled out his Poké Balls and returned his Pokémon, tucking them in the farthest lock on his belt and taking a step back from the men.

"Come on, don't be that way." The man said advancing with his own Persian "We'll let you keep that useless Nidoran. Growlithe will only sell high to one of the casinos. Hand it over and you can-"

Vence took Rai by the arm and began to run down the street with him, only letting go when he was positive the teen realized that they were running. As they sped further away from the men, the duo looked back to see if they were being pursued and mentally cursed as the four Persians the gangsters commanded hastily ran towards them.

The Classy Cat Pokémon followed the boys as they turned several corners in a vain attempt to shake them off and eventually began to start unleashing several thunderbolt attacks at the pair. One landed close enough to Vence to send the boy tumbling towards the ground face first.

"Come on" Rai shouted, rushing over to the fallen teen "Those things-"The lead Persians pounced on Rai and sent him crashing to the ground as well. The creature opened its mouth wide and tried to bite Rai's face, but found its mouth full of his arm instead. "ERUGHH" Rai screamed in pain as Persian dug deeper into his arm, piercing several layers of flesh. "Vence, God Vence help me!"

Nearby Vence's body spasmed as the three other Persians delivered another combined thunderbolt to his body. He tried to remain conscious as the classy cats stepped on his body to re group with their leader, who had abandoned a cringing Rai and stepped into a flickering street light, blood trickling down its whiskers the entire time. When the Persians lined up in front of their leader, the four of them began to cry into the night, unleashing their calls as loudly as they could for their masters to hear them.

Vence and Rai could hear the gang's foot steps before they reached them. As a last, desperate, plan of escape, Rai tried to reach for his Poké Balls, but had his hand kicked away from his waist and stepped on by the gang's leader.

"Damn idiots." He muttered, slowly adding pressure to Rai's hand causing the boy to squeal in pain. Vence tried to crawl to his companion, but was kicked in the side by one of the gang's members.

"This…" Vence thought to himself as he felt several globs of spit land on his face "Is a Pokémon journey? What the hell… is so magical about this?" Vence began to close his eyes and drift into unconsciousness as the men grouped around the fallen Rai.

"This is a mighty poor way to treat my age group, innit~?" a voice, different from the others, rung through Vence's ears, causing him to open his eyes. A dark skinned boy strolled casually out of the shadows and into the moonlight several feet away from the men, causing the various piercings that graced his ears to shine eerily. He wiped his bloody right hand onto his shirt before putting it on his hip and giving the gang a thumb ups with his left hand.

"So!" He grinned broadly with his eyes closed "Who wants to die first?"

As the men stared at the teen, expressionless, his hand began to bleed again.

---

So, what do you think? On the next chapter I've decided to begin a little OC request for gym leaders for fun, so I hope no one hates me for it. I already have gym leaders and plot lines written down; I just thought it'd be fun to add another user into the story. Also, do you guys think I should keep this M for Mature or make it T for Teens? Please leave a comment on what you think!