The trainers along the path back to Cerulean City wanted to battle Arden. Everyone always wanted to battle, Arden thought to himself. He stopped to battle them, taking it as a chance to exercise Gentry and Fang, and test out Gimpy's new capabilities. While battling with Gimpy, he was surprised to find the pokemon knew an attack he'd never seen.

"What was that? Water gun?" asked Arden, upon seeing Gimpy shoot a straight beam of water out of his mouth. "When did you learn water gun?"

"Tort," said Gimpy, shrugging.

"So, what, you're just not going to tell me when you know new attacks?" asked Arden crossing his arms. "Am I going to have to guess, or—"

"Excuse me," said the camper he was battling. "Can we, uh, can you just pay attention to the fight?"

"Oh, right, right. My bad."

"Pidgey, use whirlwind!" said the camper to his pokemon. His pidgey cooed, and issued forth a gust which swept Gimpy's already unstable feet out from under him. He flew backward, waving his arms, hitting Arden square in the chest. Trainer and wartortle fell to the ground, the former landing hard while cushioning the fall of the latter. The harsh wind dislodged a pokeball from Arden's belt, causing it to fly up into the air and release the pokemon that was inside. With a bright light, Fang appeared as the wind died down.

"How on earth—eh, alright, whatever," said Arden, shaking his head as he pushed Gimpy off himself. "Fang, bite!"

With a screech, the zubat swooped down at the pidgey, and bit it soundly in the wing. The pidgey screamed and thrashed. "Pidgey—use gust!" said the camper.

With a chirp of compliance, the tiny bird pokemon took flight before wheeling on Fang and beating its wings at him. The turbulence knocked the zubat back some.

"Oh, don't take that from it!" shouted Arden, shaking his fist. "Bite it! Bite it, bite it, bite it! And don't stop until it can't move any more!"

"Wartortle," mumbled Gimpy, looking sideways at Arden.

"Shut it, you."

The zubat and the pidgey exchanged blow after blow in the air until—finally—the pidgey fell limp and hurdled out of the sky. The camper returned it to its pokeball before it hit the ground. Grudgingly, he said to Arden, "You win, I guess."

"Ah, yeah!" said Arden, thrusting out a hand. "Pay up!"

Muttering, the camper handed him some money. Arden put the money in his pocket at the camper pointed up above them. "Hey—what's with your pokemon?" he asked.

"Huh? Fang?" asked Arden, looking up, as well. A light was coming from the pokemon as he circled above them. "…what is he doing?"

"Wartortle!" exclaimed Gimpy, waving his arms.

There was a brilliant flash above them. When the light cleared, Arden's zubat was a golbat. Arden's eyes widened. "Fang! You evolved, too?!" he said as the golbat swooped down and perched on his arm. "Well, all right! Take note, other pokemon of my party—that's how you earn my respect!"

Grinning, Arden turned and continued along the path to Cerulean city. He reached the town and made his way directly for the gym. As soon as he entered it, the same swimmer from before came up to the dock. "Well, hey there, guy!" he said. "You're looking much better."

"I feel better," said Arden. "I was poisoned. …do I have to battle you again?"

"Yeah. You didn't win last time," said the swimmer.

Arden frowned. "Well, but I didn't lose."

"But you didn't win."

"Why do I have to win?" asked Arden. "That's not fair!"

"What do you mean that's not fair?"

"I mean, it's not fair that I have to battle again just because I didn't win," said Arden. "I mean, I didn't even lose!"

"Look, can't we just battle? I mean, I'm not letting you past here unless you win, so…"

Arden sighed heavily. "Yeah, whatever."

"Go, Horsea!"

"Get 'em, Fang!" shouted Arden. With a screech, the golbat launched himself forward. "Use supersonic!"

Fang let out a high-pitched screech at the horsea, which seemed to make it disoriented. It floundered in the water, twisting its fins around in the water uselessly. "Bubblebeam, Horsea!" shouted the swimmer. The horsea fired a stream of bubbles up at Fang, but he dodged around them before swooping down and—under Arden's command—biting the horsea. The horsea tried to attack again, but ended up hurting itself.

"Fang, use bite!"

"Horsea, smokescreen!"

"Fang, astonish!"

The golbat made to attack and missed.

"Horsea, use bubble!"

"Fang, leech life!"

"Bubble, Horsea!"

In its confusion, the horsea hurt itself. With a whimper, the pokemon fainted, sinking gently into the water. The swimmer recalled it to its pokeball. "There, you won," he said.

"I won?"

"You won."

"Awesome!"

"Yeah, but you ought to be aware that Misty is much tougher than me," said the swimmer.

Arden frowned and returned Fang to his pokeball. "Really?" he asked, disappointed. "How much tougher?"

"Lots tougher. She's a gym leader."

Arden crossed his arms. "…but she uses water types, right?"

"Nope. Just thought that calling her self a water-type trainer and making the gym a big swimming pool would throw people off her trail. Looks like it worked," said the swimmer dryly.

Arden shot him a glare. "Don't be such a sore loser," he mumbled, continuing along the dock. He approached the red haired girl at the end of the docks. She looked up as he neared, but didn't stand. "What do you want?" she asked, furrowing her brow.

"I'm… I'm a challenger," said Arden.

"A little boy like you?" asked Misty. "Cute."

Arden scowled. "I'm not a little boy! I'm twelve! I mean—how old are you?!"

"That's not the point here," said Misty. She pointed at Gimpy. "Is that your wartortle?"

"Yeah."

"He looks kinda weak."

"Well that's because he is," said Arden. "But I won't stand to have you insult him like that! Battle me!"

"My policy is an all-out offensive with water pokemon," said Misty. "You know your wartortle won't be any good against me, right?"

"Yeah, I know," said Arden. He held up a pokeball. "I've got a different pokemon I'm going to use."

"Okay. Not like you're going to win, but okay," said Misty. "I'll battle you."

"Of course you'll battle me. You're a freakin' gym leader!—It's your job!"