Arden walked along, carrying Gimpy through the labyrinth that was Mt. Moon. Occasionally, he'd try to talk to Gimpy, only to get moody silence in answer. The first few times he ignored it as his imagination, but eventually, he stopped walking and dropped Gimpy on the floor. The squirtle hit the ground hard and fell onto his face.

"Squirt!" he shouted, scrambling to his feet. He turned to Arden, furrowing his brow. "Squirtle—squirt squirt squirtle!"

Arden crossed his arms. "Well, serves you right if that hurt," said the boy. "You've been a jerk for, like, the last two hours. You're lucky I didn't punt you into a wall."

"Squirtle!" shouted Gimpy. He huffed up his chest shot a few bubbles at Arden, which stung when they struck him.

"Ow—quit it!" said Arden, wincing and trying to knock the bubbles away with one hand. "Jeez—what is up with you? I mean, you were fine before we met that Iris girl. What, did all that fawning go to your head, you little blue jerk?"

"Squirt," said Gimpy, shaking his head and crossing his stubby arms. He looked to the side and mumbled, "Squirt, squirtle squirt."

Arden sighed. "I've told you before, I don't understand anything you say. Not anything."

Gimpy dropped his head, exasperated. After a moment, he decided on a different approach. "Squirt!" he said, and started flapping his arms and looking around with wide eyes. "Squuuuuir, squuuuuuuir, squuuuuuuuir…"

"Eh? What is tha—Brain Damage? Something about Brain Damage?"

"Squirtle!" said the pokemon, nodding vigorously.

"Brain Damage," mumbled Arden, putting one hand to his chin. "You… think I shouldn't have traded him?"

Gimpy nodded again. "Squirtle!"

"Oh," said Arden. He tapped his chin with his fingers a couple times before venturing, "Because it was dishonest…?"

"Squir—squirtle," answered the squirtle, first shaking his head and then nodding it.

"Is that… yes and no? Uh, so it's part because it was dishonest?"

The pokemon nodded. "Squirtle."

"Okay," said Arden slowly. "So, what's the rest of it?"

"Squirt squirtle squirt. Squirtle! Squir—"

"I told you, I don't understand that crap!" said Arden, getting frustrated. "Look, I don't care. I don't care. We have to get going."

He grabbed a hold of the protesting pokemon and lifted him up. Gimpy thrashed around. "Squirt! Squirtle!" said the pokemon in what Arden assumed was roughly equivalent to a demand to be put down.

"Knock it off!" said Arden. "Stop that! I want to leave! Hey—don't make me put you back in your pokeball. Or better yet, I swear I'll leave you right here."

"Squirt! Squirt! Squirtle!" objected Gimpy, kicking his leg. He threw one of his little arms out, smacking Arden in the face.

"Ah! Hey!" said Arden. "You're just determined to be a little pill, aren't you?"

"Squirtle!" Gimpy yelled at the top of his lungs. His voice echoed around the cavern, and was met with the startled flight of a horde of zubat leaving their perches.

A stray zubat veered down toward Arden and Gimpy, screeching and frantically flapping its wings at them.

"Ah! Zubat!" yelped Arden, dodging out of its way. "Quick, Gimp! Hit it with bubble!"

"Squirt!" shouted Gimpy, shooting out a stream of light blue bubbles toward the zubat. The zubat dodged the bubbles nimbly before wheeling toward Gimpy and screeching again.

Gimpy fell back, as if struck. "Gimp!" said Arden. "You alright, pal?"

The squirtle got slowly to his feet, swaying and stumbling. "Squuuuiruuuiruuuuur," he mumbled, looking dazed.

"Good, Gimpy! Don't give 'em an inch! Bubble!"

Gimpy puffed up his chest as if he were about to do the attack, but nothing came out. Arden watched for a full three minutes as the Zubat circled over head, and Gimpy stood frozen in mid-attack. Then, the squirtle fell over with a moan as a bastion of bubbles foamed harmlessly out of his mouth, popping a short way in front of his face. The zubat screeched again and swooped down at Gimpy, biting him as it did and sucking some of his blood before swooping back up out of reach.

"Come on, Gimpy—get up!"

"Squuuuuir," mumbled the pokemon, sounding confused. He rocked back and forth on his shell without any definite purpose evident in his actions.

Arden grimace. "Jeez—come back, Gimpy, that's enough," he said, holding up the squirtle's pokeball. A light from the pokeball engulfed him, pulling him inside. "Alright, time to see what you can do—go Gentry!"

He threw the pokeball—noticing for the first time that it had a large heart-shaped sticker adorning it—and in a flash of light, his newly acquired pokemon was released. The nidoran's eyes went directly to his target without stopping on anything else and he let out a little cry of, "Nido!"

"Okay, Gentry—use, uh, use poison sting!" said Arden.

"Nidora—," started the little pink pokemon, preparing its attack. It cut off suddenly, turning to look at Arden. "Ni… Nidoran?"

"I said, poison sting," said Arden. He pointed. "On that zubat. Use poison sting on that zubat!"

The nidoran looked around confused. "Nido? Niiiidoran?" he said turning around slowly, his large ears flat against his back. "Niiiiidoraaaaan?"

"If you're looking for Iris, she's not here," said Arden. "We traded. I'm your trainer now. And I want you to use poison sting on that zubat."

"Nido," said the nidoran, looking positively heart-broken. He laid down on the ground and buried his face under his little paws, making a sniffling sound.

"Are—are you crying?" asked Arden, raising one eyebrow. "Oh, jeez. Forget this! Gentry, return!"

He held up the pokeball and the nidoran disappeared into it. Arden looked up at the still circling zubat and it screeched at him. He pulled a pokeball from his pack and lobbed it at the zubat. "If that old codger in Viridian could catch a healthy pokemon, I can too!"

The ball stuck the zubat knocking it out the air. Pokemon and pokeball hit the ground hard before the ball opened and a red light engulfed the zubat. The pokeball rolled side to side a couple times. Just as it looked like it was about to open and release the pokemon, Arden ran up and grabbed a hold of it, pushing the halves together with all his strength.

"You stay in there, damn it!" he demanded. He could feel the ball shaking in his hands, trying to open, for what seemed an eternity. And then, it stopped. The ball made a clicking sound signifying the capture. Arden puffed out his chest and hooked the pokeball to his belt. "Yeah. Yeah, that's exactly what I thought. Checkmate zubat!"