It was dark all around Arden when he awoke, feeling as though he'd been punched in the lungs and had his stomach turned inside out. He groaned and sat up, rubbing his head. As he looked around, he found he was in a bed in a little room with a rocking chair and a little window with the shade drawn down. He stood up and—fighting the urge to just sit down again—he went to the window and drew the shades out of the way. Outside of the window he could see a pleasant little pond in a green yard with mountains and trees beyond it. "Whose house is this?" he asked hoarsely, turning away from the window.

He reached to his belt to check his pokemon, but his searching fingers found no pokeballs there. All the color drained out of Arden's face.

He wasn't quite steady enough to run, but he tried to do so anyway, and ended up falling down with a spectacular 'thud'. The boy scrambled to his feet and made his way, shakily, toward the door. As he reached for the knob, the door opened, and he came face to face with the Rocket grunt.

"You!" said Arden. "I know you! I met you in Mt. Moon!"

"Ah, you're up," said the grunt. "I wondered when you would be."

"You stole my pokemon, didn't you?!"

The grunt raised one eyebrow. "If I stole your pokemon, why would I bring you to my home, or check to make sure you wake up?"

Arden paused for a moment, biting his lip. "I… I dunno," he admitted finally. "You said that you steal pokemon, so I figured…"

"Prejudice is ugly," said the grunt, wagging a finger at him.

"I lost my pokemon," said Arden, motioning to his belt.

The Rocket stepped back, out of the doorway. "Oh, no worries," he said. "You didn't lose them. I just let them out of their pokeballs. I figured they must've been cooped up and I wasn't sure how long you'd be out."

Arden followed him out of the room, into a slightly larger living room. "So, what exactly happened to me?" asked Arden as they made their way to the front door.

"You accidentally poisoned yourself. Or, rather, your nidoran accidentally did," the grunt told him. "Then you nearly drowned."

"How do you know this?"

"I was on a job in Cerulean city. I saw you fall on your pokemon, so I suspected you might've been poisoned. So, I followed you into the gym to make sure you were okay."

"But… why?"

The grunt opened the door, revealing a lush stretch of green grass, dotted with tree stumps. All of Arden's pokemon—bar his magikarp—were frolicking in the grass, along with two pokemon he didn't recognize: a sandshrew and an ekans. Fang darted through the air screeching and flying in circles as, below him, the others dashed through the grass, in what appeared to be a game of tag. Or, possibly, it wasn't a game and they were simply trying to get as far from Cruelty as possible.

"Where's Flop?" asked Arden.

"Is that the magikarp's name?" asked the grunt. Arden nodded. "He's in the pond over there.

Gimpy looked up from their game. "Tortle!" he exclaimed, turning and limping as fast as he could toward Arden. "Wartort!"

"G-gimp, is that you?" asked Arden, raising his eyebrows. "How did you—when did you—you evolved?"

"Wartortle!" said Gimpy, grinning. His foot caught on a clump of weeds and he promptly fell on his face. "…tort."

"So, are those your pokemon?" asked Arden, pointing to the ekans and the sandshrew.

The grunt nodded. "That's right. The ekans is Nathair, and the sandshrew is Bruno. Say hi, boys."

"Ekans."

"Shrew!"

"Hey-ya," said Arden as Gimpy reached him.

"My name's Dixie, by the way," said the grunt. "I don't think I ever properly introduced myself."

Arden raised an eyebrow at him. "You're named Dixie?" he asked. "Isn't that, I dunno, a girl's name?"

The Rocket narrowed his eyes. "No, it's not," he said.

"I, uh, didn't mean to insult you," said Arden. "It's just… ah, nevermind. I should be going. I have, uh, gym battles to lose and whatnot." He paused. "Where are my pokemon's balls?"

Rocket Grunt Dixie reached into a pocket and pulled out some pokeballs, which he handed to Arden. "Here. Be seeing you," said the Rocket.

"Yeah," said Arden, recalling his pokemon into their balls. "And, uh, thanks for, um, saving me."

Dixie smiled before withdrawing into his house. Arden went around the side of the building, to the pond, where his magikarp was swimming swiftly through the water. Nathair and Bruno watched Arden from afar as he knelt next to the pond.

"Hey, Flop," said Arden, wiggling his fingers in the water. "It's time to go."

"Karp karp karp," said the pokemon stupidly, swimming in circles.

Arden frowned, not sure if it was an act of rebellion, or just an inability on the pokemon's part to understand him.

"Whatever," murmured Arden, holding up Flop's pokeball. With a flash of light, the device drew the magikarp into it. The boy stood up and returned to the front of the building before pausing and turning to Dixie's pokemon. "Do you guys know which way Cerulean city is from here?"

"Shrew!" shouted Bruno, nodding. He motioned with one stout arm to a thin path leading down the mountain. "Sandshrew shrew!"

"That leads straight down there?"

Bruno and Nathair nodded.

"Alright, uh, thanks," said Arden starting toward it. The ekans and sandshrew watched him for a while before returning to their spirited frolicking.

The path curved around the mountains, through a quiet, serene bit of landscape. It wasn't very long at all before Arden reached a large body of water. The path disappeared beside a small cottage on a cape overlooking both the water and Cerulean city.

"Excuse me," said a voice from the doorway of the cottage. Arden turned and was startled to see a cleffairy standing there, addressing him.

"Ah! Black magic!"

"No, no, no," said the cleffairy. "I'm a scientist. I accidentally mixed myself up with a pokemon. Could you give me a hand?"

Arden frowned. "I don't know. My mom told me never to trust a talking cleffairy."

"That's… oddly specific advice."

"All her advice was," said Arden. "Ah… What do you need me to do?"

"I just need you to press a button on my PC to initiate the cell separator," said the scientist, withdrawing into the cottage. Arden followed him inside. "Wait until I get into the machine, and then just press it."

"Right," said Arden, as the faux-pokemon scrambled into a large machine that took up one side of the building. Arden activated the device and it made a humming sound for a moment. Then, a door opened at the other end of the machine and a young man walked out.

"Oh, thank you," he said. "I'm Bill, by the way. I designed the trainer PC system."

"Oh," said Arden. He looked at the door on the machine that Bill had gone in. "What happened to the pokemon?"

"Pokemon?"

"You said you mixed yourself up with a pokemon, didn't you?" asked Arden. "It should've come apart from you when the separator ran, right? So… where is it?"

Bill rubbed the back of his neck. "Don't worry about that," he said. "Here, I want to thank you for helping me. So, I'd like you to have these tickets for the SS Anne."

"Uh, thanks," Arden said distractedly, taking the tickets as he continued to stare at the cell separator. "Bye, I guess."

"Pleasant day to you," said Bill, smiling. Arden didn't like that smile one bit. After all, just what had he done with that pokemon?