The cropped path that Arden was following curved around large trees, and tall grass, and the boy, holding his squirtle, rounded the bend, admiring the greenery around him. He spotted a young boy searching about in the tall grass a ways down the path, and paused to watch him. "Huh. Probably looking for pokemon," murmured Arden at length. Gimpy nodded slightly.

Arden took a few steps forward, wondering if he should interrupt the boy to ask which way Pewter City might be. Maybe, he shouldn't bother—after all, the last boy wasn't much help. Finally, he decided it wasn't worth the trouble and started, once again, along the path. As he passed near the tall grass, the boy looked up.

"Now we have to battle!" shouted the boy.

"What?" said Arden, turning his face toward the boy. He gave the boy a bewildered stare. Was he even old enough to have pokemon? Where were this kid's parents?

"You made eye contact with me," said the kid, coming out of the grass. He was wearing shorts. That wasn't the sort of clothes Arden would choose to go into tall, itchy grass in, but, then again, he was from a place where people weren't complete lunatics, so who was he to judge?

"No I didn't," said Arden. "I didn't even look at you!"

"Yeah you did. Just now when you said what," the kid told him. "Now we have to battle!"

"I—what? No, I—no! You tricked me!" said Arden. "That's not fair! I don't want to fight. I just want to go to Pewter City…"

"Too late. We have to battle," said the boy. "Go, Caterpie!"

"I don't want to, though," said Arden again, shaking his head. "I'm leaving!"

"You can't run from a trainer battle!" yelled the kid, and his caterpie raised itself up in angry agreement.

"What? That's stupid. Why not?"

"It's forbidden! Now, battle me!"

Arden sighed. "Yeah, fine," he said, defeated. "Let's see… caterpie is a bug pokemon, so… Oh!" He reached into his pocket and grabbed a hold of a pokeball. "Go, Brain Damage!"

The pokeball opened with a flash, releasing Arden's new pidgey. Immediately the pokemon fell to the ground, cooing and weakly flapping his wings. The boy and his caterpie exchanged a confused look. "Ah… alright," said the boy after a moment. "Uh, Caterpie—tackle."

The caterpie charged at Brain Damage, who did nothing to avoid the attack. "Brain, tackle it back," said Arden. The pidgey merely titled its head and flapped its wings. "…Brain? …ah, man. I hate this place…"

Apparently unable to return any attacks, on account of all its brain damage, it wasn't long before Brain Damage was defeated by the kid's caterpie. Disheartened, Arden returned him to his ball.

"Okay, what now? Can I go?" asked Arden.

"No," said the kid. He pointed at Gimpy. "Send out your next Pokemon!"

"But—can't we just say you won? I really don't want to fight anymore—ah, fine." Arden sighed and set the squirtle on the ground in front of the caterpie. "Go get 'em, Gimpy. …fight dirty if you have to."

Gimpy nodded and limped forward. The caterpie looked at it for a moment, twitching the feelers at the top of its head. As Gimpy stumbled toward the caterpie, he couldn't help but feel that it posed no real threat. He let his guard down, and that was his mistake. In a split second, faster than lightning or wind, the caterpie sprang up and was upon the squirtle, beating him all over with its long body. Gimpy would have been positively humiliated if he hadn't been so soundly trounced that he was knocked out.

"No way! Ah—Gimpy, you useless pile of shell!" shouted Arden. "Now I have to go all the way back to Viridian and without any pokemon! What a pain!"

"You need to black out," said the kid, pulling out his pokeball and returning his caterpie to it.

"Say what now?"

"Black out. That's what happens," said the kid. "You're out of pokemon. So you black out."

"But I don't… I mean…--why?"

"It's just what happens," said the kid.

Arden paused. "Are—are you serious?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "I'm not going to black out. I mean, I'm completely fine…"

Suddenly there was a loud 'crack' overhead. Arden looked up just in time to see a tree branch of no small size falling toward him. It clocked him on his head and he passed out. He had no idea for how long he was out, but when he woke up, he was in the pokemon centre in Viridian, Gimpy fully refreshed at his side. Arden rubbed his head, feeling a lump through the hair, and checked his pockets by habit. He was missing some money. "Ah—that stupid kid in the forest pick pocketed me!"

He picked up Gimpy and marched out of the Pokemon Centre. "Come on, Gimpy," he said, fuming. "Now this is a matter of pride."

"Squirtle…?" mumbled the pokemon. But, it mattered little to him—at this point, he was just along for the ride and he knew it.

With a determined look and determined steps, Arden made his way to the forest. He passed the old man drinking his coffee. He passed the people in the gate house who he assumed were as insane as the old man. He passed the boy whose pokemon had all feinted. And then, in the same place as before, he found the boy with the caterpie.

"You're back to fight again?" asked the boy. Arden nodded. "Okay. Go, Caterpie!"

The boy sent out his caterpillar pokemon. The caterpie reared up, ready to strike, and Arden's squirtle blanched. However, Arden already had a plan. "Okay," said Arden. "Go, Gimpy!"

But, instead of setting his pokemon down on the ground as he had before, this time Arden raised up the squirtle by his sides and slammed him down, shell-first, on top of the kid's caterpie. The caterpie made a pathetic sound and feinted. Gimpy lay on top of the pokemon, stunned, a little foam coming up out of his mouth.

And so it was that Gimpy learned the move 'bubble'.