Entering the Cerulean gym, Arden saw that it appeared as an enormous swimming pool with a looping catwalk above the water, like a dock. At the end of the path, a young woman with boyish orange hair was sitting with her feet hanging over the edge, into the water. Arden started toward her, feeling sluggish. As he stepped onto the planks of the dock, an older boy swam up to him.

"Hey, there—you don't look so good, kid," said the swimmer, leaning against the dock. "You're all sweaty and pale."

"It's, uh, it's kind of hot in here," said Arden, rubbing his forehead.

"Ran," chirped Gentry.

The swimmer stared at him for a moment. "Uh, alright...," he said. "It's my job to weed out the unworthy from facing Misty. So, we're going to have to battle."

"Y-yeah, that's, uh… alright," said Arden unevenly. "Go—uh—Gimpy!"

He tossed out his pokeball weakly while the swimmer released his pokemon—a horsea—into the water. The horsea whinnied, squirting a few bubbles into the air.

"Squirtle!" shouted Gimpy, raising one of his little fists.

"Geddem, Gimp," said Arden, breathing heavily. "Uh, use, uh… bub..ble…"

Gimpy glanced back at him. "Squirt?" said the pokemon before looking to Gentry. "Squirtle squirt?"

"Nido," said Gentry, shrugging.

The squirtle turned back toward the horsea and fired a stream of bubbles at it with little effect. "Horsea, use leer!" said the swimmer.

"Seeea!" shouted the horsea, screwing up its face and glaring at Gimpy. Gimpy shivered despite himself, and took a step back.

"You gonna…gonna taketha from…tha…," mumbled Arden, almost completely incoherently. "Gim…use…"

He staggered forward and, dropping Gentry, fell over the side of the dock, unconscious, sinking into the water. "Squirt!" shouted Gimpy, running as fast to the edge of the dock as his hobbled foot would allow, Gentry right behind him. The squirtle leapt into the water after his trainer.

He could see Arden in the dimness of the pool, drifting downward. Gimpy kicked his warped legs as fast as he could, but could not catch up to him. The pool was deep and dark and the squirtle was losing sight of the boy. "Squirtle!" he moaned, swimming as fast as he could, tears forming in his eyes as he realized it wouldn't be fast enough to save his trainer. He pushed himself harder and harder, determined to save Arden, though his muscles ached and stung under the strain.

Above the water, Gentry paced the deck. "Ran! Nidoran!" he shouted to the swimmer and his pokemon.

"His pokemon dove in to get him—I'm sure that squirtle's faster than I could ever be, and stronger than Horsea," the swimmer said, trying to calm the nidoran down. "Your trainer's going to be fine."

"Nido! Nidoran!" shouted Gentry, slamming his paws on the dock. He twitched his ears and looked around. No one in the gym seemed concerned, or willing to help. The little pink pokemon paced the dock before making up his mind. He turned toward the water and jumped in with a cry of, "Nidoo!"

Gentry landed in the water with a splash and started paddling downwards, but his tiny feet were poor for conveying him through the water. He flapped his ears to give him a boost, and it worked somewhat. He couldn't see a thing in the water, and he wanted badly to clench his eyes shut. All the nidoran could make out was a faint dark blue shape which seemed insufferably far away.

"What does he think he can do?" said the swimmer. "That stupid nidoran—he'll drown! Horsea, bring him back up here!"

"Seeeea!" shouted the pokemon dutifully, diving beneath the water.

Swiftly, the horsea moved through the pool, down to Gentry, who was running out of breath as he worked against his own buoyancy. The horsea darted in front of him, pushing him back up to the surface. Gentry flailed his arms in protest, but the other pokemon took no notice. It brought him above the water and tossed him up on the deck, where he collapsed, sputtering for air, tears welling up in his eyes.

After a moment, the familiar form of Arden broke the surface. He was unconscious, being carried by Gimpy who was beneath him, unseen. "Nido!" shouted Gentry, leaping to his feet and perking his ears forward.

"See? What did I tell you, little buddy? Your trainer's alright," said the swimmer grabbing hold of Arden and pulling him onto the docks. Gimpy bobbed in the water, his long furry ears perked in anticipation. "Wartortle…" he mumbled, as the swimmer leaned over the unconscious Arden, checking him out.

"He needs medical attention," said the swimmer, turning to Gimpy. "Do you know anyone who could help him?"

"I can," said a man at the dock's edge. The swimmer looked and his jaw dropped slightly to see a grunt from Team Rocket. The swimmer reached for a pokeball, but the Rocket held up his hand. "No, it's alright. I'm not here on, ah, 'business' or anything like that. I'm what you might call an acquaintance of the kid here. I can get him some medical help. You know, for the drowning and the poisoning…"

"Poisoning?"

"Yeah. You know, the reason he stumbled into the pool in the first place?" asked the Rocket. "Sheesh, you're quite dense, aren't you? I mean, all sweaty and uncoordinated."

"I—I thought it might've been something like that," murmured the swimmer sheepishly.

"Right," said the grunt, approaching. He picked up Arden. "If you don't mind, I need to get this guy some medical assistance.

"Oh, yeah, sure," said the swimmer. "See you around."

The Rocket smiled. "You better hope not."

~.~.~

A/N: I want to thank every one that reviews. I'm really glad to have your interest, and I appreciate every review I get.

I drew a few quick sketches related to this story, which you can see on my photobucket—which is [dot]com/albums/a295/fire-rabbit_of_hearts/ . Just, uh, replace that [dot] with a period. However, those pictures contain roster spoilers, so be warned. Also, if you go flipping through the pages of my album, I will warn that some pictures may not be suitable for the extremely young and/or sheltered.