"Yeah," and Gaius. "The funerals in a few days. I was supposed to tell you, and bring you back to Goldenrod for the service."
Arden shook his head. "N-no. No, that's too soon," he said.
"Ah, not at all," Gaius responded, smacking Quenelle's flank. "Quen here's fast enough to get us back home in a day, at the most. You ride with me, and it'll be just fine. We'll get there with plenty of time to—"
"No," said Arden. "What I mean is, I can't… go back to Goldenrod. Not now."
"What do you mean?" asked Gaius. "Didn't you hear what I said? Dad is dead. You know—the man who raised us? Him? Brought you into the world? Yeah. He's dead, Arden. You have to come to his funeral."
"No," Arden said again. "If I go back to Goldenrod, everyone's going to say how they knew I didn't have it in me to be a trainer, and how I've come crawling back."
"No one's going to say that."
"Yes they will!" said Arden angrily. "You don't know what it's like! They always supported you, while at the same time turning around and laughing at me for the same damn thing!"
Gaius' gaze softened. "Arden," he said. "You shouldn't talk like that. C'mon. They're your family and they love you…"
"I don't care," Arden said. "I'm not going back to Goldenrod. Maybe not ever—but certainly not now."
"But, Dad's funeral…"
"No one will care if I'm there or if I'm not there," Arden said, looking down.
Gaius grabbed his shoulder tightly—tight enough that it hurt. Arden yelped and looked up at him accusingly. "Now, I don't want to hear you say anything like that ever again, okay?" said Gaius. "You need to stop being so self pitting and realize that we love you, and we care when you're not around. I mean, for fuck's sake—why do you think I'm here if no one cares if you're at the funeral or not?"
Arden stared at the ground. Slowly, Gaius loosed his grip on the younger boy's shoulder. Crossing his arms, he turned away. "I can't make you go to the funeral," he said. "Well, I can—but I'm not going to. You've got your reasons and—and, well, they're stupid reasons, but I'm not going to make you come back to Goldenrod with me."
"Thank you," Arden mumbled.
"I'm going to take that pikachu of yours with me, though," said Gaius. "After the funeral, I'll come give him back to you. I dunno how perfectly I can train him in a few days, but I'm gonna try to get him under control for you, baby brother."
"Wait—where does that leave me, pokemon-wise?" said Arden.
"I'll… I'll leave Quen with you," Gaius said, resting his hand on the tauros' shoulder. Quenelle licked the side of his trainer's face with his enormous tongue. "It'll just be for a few days, anyway."
"B-but don't you need Quenelle to get back to Goldenrod in time for Dad's funeral?"
Gaius shrugged. "I'll manage," he said, taking one of the pokeballs off his belt and replacing it with Cruelty's. He handed the pokeball he'd removed to Arden. "Now, you two be good to each other, alright?"
Arden held the pokeball tightly. Across the bottom of it was a sticker which said 'Quenelle' in sharp blue letters. "Th-thanks, Gaius."
"I'll see you guys soon, then," said Gaius. He kissed Quenelle on the forehead before doing the same to Arden. "Stay outta trouble, baby brother, okay?"
Arden nodded. Gaius started away, waving to Arden and Quenelle over his shoulder. Arden watched him disappear from sight, around the side of a ledge. Quenelle looked at Arden obediently. "Uh—hey, Quen. Let me get dressed and we'll, uh, we'll get going, okay?"
"Taur-aur-auros!"
Around the other side of the ledge that enclosed the beach, Dixie sat with Bruno and a cubone. Gaius came around the corner, walking with a sort of strut. "Ah," he said, making Dixie jump with surprise. "I thought I saw someone watching us from the ledge there."
"Watching? I wasn't—"
"I saw you, man," Gaius said. "Lying's a little lame, don't ya think?"
Dixie was silent.
"If you ain't going to explain yourself," Gaius said, pulling a pokeball marked 'Daryle' from his belt. "I'm gonna just assume you're a threat to myself and my baby brother. And I know how to deal with threats, kid."
Dixie raised his hands. "I'm no threat to either of you. Honest."
"Shrew," said Bruno, tensing up. He glared at Gaius, and the young man could tell that the pokemon was ready to defend its trainer against anything.
"If you're not a threat, what're you skulking around about, huh?" asked Gaius, rolling his pokeball around in his hand.
"I was just… Just keeping an eye on Arden," Dixie said, blushing slightly. "Watching out for him…"
"Yeah, and I'm gonna believe that from a Team Rocket mook?" asked Gaius holding his pokeball forward. "I'm no idiot, buster. I know what that big 'R' across your chest stands for, and it ain't 'Respectable Member of the Community'."
"Look, I don't want to fight," said Dixie, as Bruno growled beside him. "Bruno—stop it. –Look, I honestly have no ill intentions toward you or toward Arden. In fact, I saved his life."
"Oh yeah?" asked Gaius, still holding forth his pokeball. Dixie wasn't sure what was inside of the ball, but he was sure he'd regret finding out.
Dixie nodded vigorously. "Yes—he accidentally got poisoned by one of his pokemon, and I gave him an antidote and brought him somewhere he could recover."
"He didn't mention that," Gaius said, not sounding too convinced.
"That doesn't mean it didn't happen," said Dixie.
"Technically true," responded the other, lowering his pokeball a little. "However, you'll understand if I don't take you at your word, kid."
"I swear on my mother's life," said Dixie.
"Oh, you should never swear on your mom's life. That's bad luck."
"Look," Dixie said. "We can head around the ledge here and ask Arden about it. He knows me, and knows that I never tried to harm him."
Gaius stared at him for a long moment. Finally, he clipped his pokeball back to the belt around his chest. "I'm gonna go ahead and let you be for now, kiddo," said Gaius. "But I'm gonna keep an eye on you. I know all sorts of people all around the world. So it's gonna get back to me if you hurt a hair on my baby brother's head, alright? And if that happens, I'm gonna come find you—and it won't matter where you are—and I'm gonna beat the livin' shit out of you." He half turned to start away, and then stopped suddenly. "If you're just lookin' out for baby brother, like you said, though… Well, then, you've got my gratitude and my friendship."
He turned fully away from Dixie and walked off with his strutting walk. Dixie watched him with wide eyes. "What an odd guy," said the Rocket grunt to his pokemon when Gaius was gone. "He must love Arden a whole lot to be so protective of him…"
"Sandshrew," said Bruno.
"Booone," agreed the little cubone.
Dixie stood. "For sure, he's not someone I want to tangle with, a trainer like that."
Wiping the sand off his uniform, he walked around the ledge. Ahead of him, he could see Arden on Quenelle's back, riding through Fuchsia city toward the gym. Returning Bruno to his pokeball and lifting his cubone up onto his shoulders, Dixie started to follow, but was stopped almost immediately by the familiar sound of a woman's voice calling his name. He turned slowly to see a woman, well into her middle age, with a basket of laundry at her hip staring at him with wide, tired eyes.
"Hello, mother," he said.
A/N: A new requested picture is up—link on my profile. I feel like this chapter took an almost unacceptably long time, and I'm sorry. I was distracted by a side project; my brother and I are making a Death Note Abridged Series. It's finished, actually, except Windows Movie Maker doesn't seem to like the idea of me saving it as a movie. Whenever I get the program to cooperate, I'll be putting up a link to it on my profile. So, if you're a Death Note fan, be sure to keep an eye out for that.