The ground in Mahogany was still rather wet from the torrential rain they had seen for the past few days, but it was drying up as the sun peaked over the far-off mountains in the west. The Pidgies and Spearows were out again, chirping and going along their daily business and scavenging for any food that might have been washed up with the rain.

The tranquil near-silence was slightly disturbed when the door of the resident gym slid open with a 'woosh', and Arella and Harris stepped out of the gym, a new gym-badge in hand.

"That was a lot easier then expected," she sighed.

"Well of course it was," Harris shrugged, the cigarette in his mouth moving as he talked, "The old man didn't even bother using and water moves. He just kept using ice moves."

"Well, it is an ice gym. . ." she trailed off, "Do you think the others are awake yet?"

Before Harris the question, it was answered for him as his trainer ran into a giant wall of muscle. Looking up, Arella saw it was Matthew looking down at her.

". . .Morning" she said finally.

"Morning," he nodded.

"What are you doing up this early?"

". . .I wanted to apologize," he looked away.

Any words the might have come out of Arella's mouth then suddenly disappeared, choked up, as her brain processed this information. She thought Matthew had hated her. . .

"I've. . .been unfair to you. Calling you a terrible trainer and saying Fudge's death was your fault. . .I. . .guess I just want to blame someone, and you were the only one there."

The tranquil silence suddenly seemed more noticeable as the Feraligatr paused, and it almost became unbearable to both pokemon and trainer. Finally, Matthew broke the silence again.

"So. . .I'm sorry. . ." he looked down, "Can you forgive me?"

"Oh Matthew. . ." Arella bit her lip to try to keep from crying, then hugged him, surprising the Feraligatr.

"Matthew, you know I would never be mad at you!"

Harris coughed impatiently, making Arella giggle and let go of Matthew. She looked back up at him, and smiled, "Let's go back to the room, okay?"

"Let's," he nodded.

She had to admit. She was quite surprised of the scene the lay before her in the hotel room. And judging by Matthew and Harris's looks, they were too.

She had honestly expected them to all still be asleep, or just waking up, or moving around groggily. Instead, they were all gathered in one corner of the room, eyes wide as Arella could just barely make out the slight static of the radio.

The first to notice them was Elizabeth, who, instead of saying anything, just gestured them over to the radio as well. As the group of three walked over, Arella could hear the radio broadcast that was playing.

". . .not sure what exactly is going on, but all contact inside the Radio Tower of Goldenrod has suddenly been cut off, and people in Team Rocket uniforms has been seen running around Goldenrod. Authorities, however, are assuring everyone that there's just some electronical failure in the tower, and Team Rocket isn't there since they disbanded three years ago. . ."

As the announcer said the last three words, the radio slowly began producing more and more static until it completely covered up her voice. Then, it started changing pitches at alarming speeds like someone was fiddling with it before it went silent, then quite static again, but no more announce. Instead, a different voice went on the air.

"Testing, testing," a male voice said, then some talking in the background was heard, a cheer, and the man started talking again.

"Ha! We did it! Giovanni, if you're listening to the radio now, we've gotten Team Rocket back together and taken over the Radio Tower! Come over to Goldenrod and lead us to glory again! I repeat-"

Arella walked over to the radio and changed the channel, but to no avail. Every single channel they could get a signal on was the same thing: calling Giovanni over to Goldenrod.

"They're back. . ." Arella said quietly as the radio continued to fill the room.