Arden and Felicia stood across from each other in the wide, but seldom used, street. Gaius and Valor sat on a bench next to the house watching. "Oh, I want to cheer for Arden," Valor said to Gaius. "But I don't want to hurt Felicia's feelings." From a roof top across the street, Dixie watched the battle with interest.

Felicia held up her first pokeball. "Go, Ajax!" she said.

"Dile!" shouted Ajax, appearing from within the ball.

"Go, Fang!" Arden yelled, throwing out a pokeball. The golbat appeared with a screech and swooped up, over their heads.

"Ajax, watergun!"

"Fang," said Arden. "Use wing attack!"

"Gol!" screeched Fang. He gave a hard flap of his wings, creating a powerful wind which shot in the totodile's direction. Ajax rolled backwards, struck, and Felicia caught him.

"Oh, Ajax—baby, it's alright," she said, hugging the fainted pokemon to her chest. "You tried, baby, you tried. Return." She drew the pokemon back into his pokeball. "Don't get cocky—Ajax is a brand new pokemon, and I haven't had time to properly train him yet."

Fang began to glow, and change. Arden looked up at the pokemon, startled. Dixie leaned forward where he was seated on the building across from them. "That golbat's evolving?" he whispered.

The light faded away, revealing that Fang had become a sleek-winged crobat. Arden looked just as taken aback as anyone by the development. Felicia tilted her head slightly and said, "Hold on a minute—you treat one of your pokemon good enough that it'll evolve for you?"

Arden puffed out his chest. He meant to say 'of course', but all that came out was, "Apparently!"

"Well, we'll see what good it does him," said Felicia. "Go, Prometheus!"

With a flash, a cyndaquil appeared before her. Gaius clapped. "Whoo!" he said. "Go, Prometheus!"

Arden glared at his brother. "Hey!" he said. "What're you cheering for her side for, huh?"

"Sorry," said Gaius with a shrug. "That's Daryle's baby—I gotta be supportive of my own pokemon's babe, don't I?"

Arden gritted his teeth and turned back to the battle. "Fang," he said. "Use return!"

Fang screeched. "Cro!" shouted the pokemon, shooting through the sky at the cyndaquil. He struck the little pokemon hard with his wing, knocking him down and causing him to faint. Felicia returned him without a word. She held up another ball. "Go, Phoebe!"

A furret was released from Felicia's pokeball. She wound her long body around her trainer affectionately, and Felicia kissed the top of the pokemon's head. Arden scowled and shouted to Fang, "Use return again!"

"Cro!" screeched Fang, swooping toward Felicia and her pokemon.

"Me first!" Felicia yelled. Phoebe sprang from her side, into the air.

Fang collided with the furret mid-flight. Phoebe drew back one of her short arms and smacked the crobat in the back of the head before smacking him in the face with the other hand. Arden's pokemon crashed to the ground, the rival pokemon on his back. Phoebe leapt from the defeated crobat, returning to Felicia's side.

"Nng—whatever," growled Arden, holding up Fang's pokeball. "I still have the lead here! Go, Blazer!"

The ninetails appeared.

"That's a very pretty pokemon," said Felicia. "Too bad it's not going to last long."

"That's what you think," said Arden. "Flamethrower!"

"Sucker punch!"

Blazer hunched his back and prepared for his offensive. Before he could attack, however, Phoebe disappeared, only to reappear beside him. The ninetails yelped in surprise as the furret hit him hard across the face with her tail, sending him rolling over the ground. Arden cried out as his pokemon fainted. "How is it so quick?!" he shouted. Angrily he returned Blazer to his pokeball. "This isn't even fair!"

"Of course it's not fair," responded Felicia as Phoebe returned to her side. "You're a horrible trainer, and I'm a wonderful one. Our pokemon are miles away from each other in terms of care and training. What did you expect would happen?"

Grinding his teeth together, Arden held up yet another pokeball. "Okay, you asked for it! Cruelty!" he said. With a flash, the raichu appeared, arching his back. Electricity crackled at his cheeks. "I can't promise your safety now that I have to use this one."

Felicia looked underwhelmed. "Uh-huh," she said.

"Alright, Cruelty," said Arden, jerking the whip Gaius had gave him off his belt. He cracked it loudly beside the pokemon. "Thunder!"

"Hyper voice," said Felicia, throwing out her hand.

"Fur-ret!" shouted Phoebe, drawing back. She opened her mouth wide and let out a sound which caused Arden to fall to the ground, covering his ears. The force of the sound was so great that he could feel it press against him, blowing back his hair and rustling his clothes. When he ventured to look, he saw that Cruelty was sprawled out on the ground, unconscious.

"Oh, come on!" shouted Arden, leaping to his feet. He was frustrated beyond measure. "That's not—how could you… Oh, come on!"

"I told you to begin with," said Felicia. "There's no possible way for you to beat my team with such a low-level ensemble as yours."

"She's right, Arden," said Gaius. "Your pokemon aren't bad, but they're certainly not on the same platform as Felicia's team."

"Well, I don't care!" shouted Arden. "It's not all about levels!"

"It is when you're a horrible strategist," said Felicia.

"Shut up! I don't want to hear a single word from you ever again! Shut up!" said Arden. "Gentry, Go!"

The nidoran appeared with a cry.

"Surf, Phoebe!" Felicia commanded.

Phoebe arched her back as a wave materialized beneath her. Gentry dropped to the ground and covered his head with his front paws as the massive wall of water crashed down on him. When the water receded, Arden was frustrated—though not surprised—to find Gentry had been knocked out cold. Tears of anger and humiliation were gathering on Arden's lashes.

"Arden," said Gaius. "You should forfeit; all you're managing to do is injure your pokemon. Save the last ones the pain and just quit."

"No!" said Arden. "No, I'm not defeated yet! Thief!"

Felicia sighed as the persian was sent onto the field. "How tiresome," she said.

"Pay day!"

"Me first!"

A spray of coins erupted from the furret, striking Thief again and again. He cried out and fell unconscious. Felicia said coldly, "Gaius has it right. If you had any compassion for your pokemon at all, you'd admit that I've bested you and you'd give up these futile attempts to win. You're just running on uncaring pride."

Arden ground his teeth and held up another pokeball, glaring at Felicia. "Go, Gimpy!" The girl sighed, and her pokemon shook her head.

"Tort!"

"Gimpy, water pulse!"

"Sucker punch!"

Phoebe darted to Gimpy's side, punching him in the side of the head. "Tort!" objected the wartortle, falling backwards.

"Don't you dare faint!" Arden yelled, pulling Gimpy back to his feet. "If you faint right now I'm going to fill your shell with cement and toss you into a lake!"

"Waaar," said Gimpy, dazed and in back shape.

"I don't think he should keep battling," said Valor. "He doesn't look so well, Ardie."

"He's fine," said Arden. He shoved Gimpy forward. "Water pulse!"

"Torrr," mumbled the wartortle. He shot a blast of water from his mouth. It struck Phoebe dead on, though she did little but close her eyes against the blast.

"End this, Phoebe," commanded Felicia. "Hyper voice!"

Phoebe let out a blast of sound, which knocked Gimpy backwards, into Arden. The trainer fell down, and his pokemon skidded over the road, soundly beaten. The sound died out and Arden picked up Gimpy. He slapped the pokemon across the face. "Wake up and fight!" he shouted. Tears were blurring his vision and his heart was racing very fast.

"He's down, baby brother," said Gaius.

"No, no, no," said Arden, squeezing his eyes shut. He was breathing quite rapidly now, and everything was getting very hot. "No, he's not. He's going to… he's… going to…"

Arden fell to his knees, and blacked out.