Arden walked along the cobblestone path into Cerulean City, cradling Gentry in his arms. The pokemon was melancholy, and didn't respond to Arden's attempts to start a conversation. Each time he spoke, the nidoran only sighed and gazed off into the distance.

"Gentry, you're a real downer," Arden said.

The nidoran sighed and lay limply in his arms.

Arden scowled. "Oh—get over it already. You were traded. Stop being a big baby about it!"

One of Gentry's ears quivered slightly, but otherwise he made no answer.

Arden shook his head, giving up the futile conversation. As he entered the city, he noticed two trainers, about his own age, battling in front of a bridge and paused to watch them. A boy in a hat was commanding a bulbasaur against a spiky haired boy with a charmander. Arden watched the pokemon exchange a few blows, and sighed. "I wanted a charmander," he said. "Looks like that kid there's the reason I didn't get it…"

He turned away, trying to hide his jealousy. "Come on, Gentry. Let's go to the pokemon center," said Arden, stomping off toward the red-roofed building.

Still fuming with jealousy, he entered the center and trudged up to the counter, setting Gentry and his pokeballs on it without a word before slinking off to sit in a corner. The nurse blinked and watched him sit down before picking up the pokeballs and patting Gentry on the head.

"Aw, your trainer in a bad mood, sweetie?" she asked him.

"Nido," said Gentry nodding.

"Poor thing. That stressing you out, sweetie?"

"Nido."

"Aw," said the nurse, picking him up and stroking him. "Well don't you worry 'bout it, sweetie. Here, why don't you go into your ball, and we'll run you through the healing machine, and I'm sure you'll be in better spirits after that. That sound good to you?"

"Niiido," said Gentry, nuzzling the woman.

Arden watched them from his seat before crossing his arms and looking away, even more upset than he was before. After a moment, the doors of the Pokemon Center opened and the spiky haired boy entered, mumbling to himself, and approached the counter. Arden watched the spiky haired trainer give his pokemon to the nurse before heading over the same corner he was in. The spiky haired trainer sat down a couple seats away from Arden and crossed his arms.

"Hey, you're from Pallet Town, right?" asked Arden after a moment.

"Yeah, I'm from Pallet Town," the boy answered looking at Arden. "What's it to you, huh? Are you the Hometown Police, or something?"

"I saw you fighting with your charmander outside," said Arden.

"Oh yeah? You saw that?" asked the boy.

"Some of it," said Arden. "Did you win?"

The spiky haired trainer stood up. "I think my pokemon are healed. I have places to be, so that I can wait for my rival, Red, to show up and humiliate him," he said. "Smell you later, kid."

Arden watched him go to the counter and retrieve his pokemon before leaving the Center. "Smell you later?" repeated Arden, cocking his head to one side. "What a stupid thing to say. I mean, I smell pretty darn good for someone who's been traveling practically nonstop for weeks."

"Excuse me!" said the nurse to Arden. "Your pokemon are fully healed."

"Nido!" shouted Gentry from the counter, where the nurse was rubbing him behind his ears. He looked visibly happier.

Arden went to the counter and retrieved his pokeballs before picking Gentry up. "Thanks," he mumbled.

"We hope to see you again," said the nurse with a polite bow.

Arden raised one eyebrow. "You do?"

"Mm hm," said the nurse, smiling for the sake of politeness.

"You hope to see me again at what is the pokemon equivalent of an emergency room? Really?"

"Ah... Y-yes, we, um…"

"So," said Arden. "What you're basically saying, is you hope my pokemon get wounded badly enough that I return here to seek medical attention for them?"

The nurse rubbed the back of her neck. "Well, when you say it that way…"

"Unbelievable," mumbled Arden, walking towards the doors. They opened in front of him smoothly. "Simply unbelievable."

He left the pokemon center and paused to look around. The gym was a large building and very close by. It was a short walk for Arden, and he stood outside of the doors looking up at the sheer size of the building. As he admired it, the door opened and hit him, knocking him down. He landed on Gentry, who yelped and thrashed about. With a pained moan, Arden sat up at the person who had opened the door. It was the boy in the hat he'd seen earlier—a fact he might've been more surprised about if he hadn't been distracted with the falling. The boy offered him a hand to help him up.

"That's fine, I can get up on my own," said Arden, and he proceeded to do so. "That was, uh, my bad. I probably shouldn't have been standing there."

The trainer in the hat pointed to Arden's chest and he looked down to see his shirt had been torn and he'd been cut. "Oh, that's why that stings so much," said Arden. "I must've cut myself on one of my nidoran's spines when I fell…"

The boy in the hat frowned, but said nothing.

Arden picked up Gentry. "You must be Red, am I right?" asked Arden. The boy nodded. "I met a kid who said he was your rival. That must be cool, having a rival…"

Red shrugged.

"So, you fought at the gym here?" asked Arden unevenly. He'd been battered so much in the last few hours that he was starting to feel a little woozy.

Red nodded.

"You win?"

Red nodded again.

"You must be a pretty talented trainer, huh?" Arden asked. Red shrugged, blushing slightly. "You're, uh… hold on a sec, I'm feelin' kinda… Kinda funky… Nnnm. You're going to try to head to the, um, pokemon league?"

Red nodded, looking kind of concerned. He put his hand on Arden's shoulder to steady him.

"I'm, uh, I'm fine. Don't worry 'bout it. I just haven't eaten lately and I've, ah, I've been falling down. A lot." Arden turned toward the gym. "I should… I should go, uh, go fight this gym leader. See you, uh, later, Red."

Still looking concerned, Red nodded and started off down the street toward the pokemon center. Arden pushed open the doors of the gym and entered it silently and unsteadily.