Arden strolled along the edge of Cerulean City, his hands tucked into his pockets, with Gimpy shuffling behind him, huffing. "Tor—tortle," panted the wartortle, dragging his leg.

"Look, it's not my fault I can't carry you any more," said Arden. "You're too big. What do you want me to do about it?"

"Wartortle," mumbled Gimpy, hanging his head. "War tort tortle."

Arden sighed. "You know full well I don't understand any of that."

He made his way along a fence and was surprised, when he turned a corner, to find Dixie leaning against it. "Dixie," said Arden. The Rocket grunt smiled.

"Arden, I heard you got the Cascade Badge. Congratulations," said the grunt. He reached into his pocket. "I actually have something I wanted to give you… Ah, here it is."

Dixie produced a disk from his pocket, which he held out to the boy.

"A CD?" asked Arden taking it. "Uh, I don't really have a player, but… thanks?"

"It's a Technical Machine," Dixie told him. "You can use it to teach your pokemon a move. That one teaches 'dig'."

"…use it how?" Arden asked, raising one eyebrow. "Uh, thanks, Dixie."

The older boy tipped his hat to Arden as he straightened up. "Be seeing you," he said, starting down the path the way Arden had come.

"Bye," said Arden, waving slightly as he turned his feet toward a path leading south. He paused. "…wait, I never told him my name. …did I?"

"Tortle," mumbled Gimpy, shrugging his hidden shoulders.

Arden frowned before continuing along the path. "I'm sure he's not spying on me, or anything like that," he said, climbing down a ledge. "He seems like too nice a guy for something like that." He turned to help Gimpy down the short ledge. Straining a little with the wartortle's weight, he set him down in the tall grass. "Then again, he is a member of Team Rocket, so I guess all the 'nice guy' bets are off, huh?"

He climbed down another ledge before helping Gimpy down it. "On the other hand," he said, pausing to put a finger to his chin. "I still don't know what's so evil about Team Rocket. I mean, according to Dixie, they were just getting fossils in Mt. Moon. He said stealing fossils, but how do you steal a rock from a mountain?"

He slouched. "Urg. I hate hiking. I need to rest," he said, sitting down in the tall grass.

"Wartortle, war," said Gimpy, tugging at his pant leg. He pointed beyond the ledges, at a small building. A sign beside it declared, in blocky letters, 'Pokemon Day Care'.

Arden blinked. "A day care? For pokemon?" he said. "I'm not even entirely sure what that means…"

"Tortle!" exclaimed the pokemon, pulling at his arm. "War war war."

Arden sighed and hung his head. "Fine, fine. You're always so annoying," said Arden, standing up. He felt a slight tug on his belt. "Huh? Hold on, Gimp—I think I'm caught on something."

The grass rustled as he looked around. Finding himself unhindered, he paused. "Huh. Weird." The young trainer shrugged it off as best he could and started toward the Day Care building.

He reached the building with Gimpy trailing behind him and entered.

"Hello, and welcome to my Day Care," greeted an elderly man.

"Hi," said Arden, looking around with his hands in his pockets. "So… what do you do here?"

"I look after other people's pokemon for them," he said. "With my special care, pokemon who are too weak to battle can grow."

Arden raised his eyebrows. "Pokemon who are too weak to battle?" he repeated. "Oh—I've got a pokemon like that!"

"If you'd like, I can look after it for you and raise it while you're away," said the elderly man.

Arden smiled. "Yeah! I would like that! Hold on," he said, reaching to his belt and touching his pokeballs one by one. "Let's see here—Gimp's ball, Gentry, Cruelty, Fang… Where's Flop?"

He turned to Gimpy. "Where's Flop?" he demanded of the wartortle.

Gimpy raised his hands. "Tortle wartort, wartortle."

"Well, I had him when we left Dixie's place," said Arden. "Do you remember me having him in Cerulean City?"

"War—wartortle," said Gimpy nodding. The pokemon bit his lower lip. "…tort."

"What was that? That last part? Does that mean you're not sure?" asked Arden, eyes widening. He grabbed hold of Gimpy's shell and shook him. "Tell me you're sure!"

"Warararar," said Gimpy, dizzily, as Arden shook him.

"E-excuse me, young man," said the old Day Car man. "I couldn't help but over hear. You had a pokeball stolen, you say?"

"A pokeball with a pokemon in it!"

"Did you, perchance, stop in the grass just north of this building?"

"Uh—yeah, yeah I sat down there briefly," said Arden. "Why?"

The old man smiled slightly. "There's been a meowth running around these parts, swiping things from travelers," he said.

"A wild pokemon?" asked Arden. He balled up his fists. "That jerk! It stole my magikarp! I'm going to go find it and I'm going to beat the snot out of it! Gimpy, come on!"

He ran to the door and slammed it open and was gone, scrambling up the ledge behind the day care in a minute, Gimpy limping pathetically behind him, trying to catch up. Arden paused on the ledge for Gimpy to catch up. "Sorry—I need to get the drop on this pokemon, Gimp, and you slow me down too much," he said, holding up the wartortle's pokeball. "Return."

With a flash of light, the wartortle withdrew into the pokeball. Arden crouched beside the grass, pondering his next move. "If I were a meowth," he mumbled to himself. "How would I be lured into a trap?"

He crawled through the grass on his knees and elbows. "Meooow," said Arden, trying to coax it out. "Meeeeooooow. Meeow. Meow. Meeeeooow." He sighed, feeling ridiculous. "Meow."

"Meow."

Arden stopped dead in his tracks. "Me-meow?"

"Meow."

He looked around frantically, until he spotted a figure on the ledge above him—a Meowth sitting, watching him with evident amusement. At its feet was a pokeball.

"H-hey, there," said Arden, creeping up to it. "You wanna give me that pokeball, buddy?"

The meowth cocked its head to one side. "Meow?"

"Here kitty, kitty," Arden said slowly, moving toward it with as little fuss as possible. "Come here. Come here and I'll give you a treat, kitty, kitty."

"Meow," said the meowth, putting one paw on Flop's pokeball.

Arden reached into his back and pulled out a bit of dried meat. "Hey—hey, why don't we trade?" he asked, offering it out. "You give me that pokeball, and I'll give you this tasty beef, huh? Sound like a plan?"

"Meow," said the meowth. It snatched the pokeball up in it's mouth and turned to run.

"Damnit," said Arden, straightening up. "You're not getting away! Go, Cruelty!"

With a flash, he released the pikachu from his pokeball. "Pi pika chaaa!"

"Cruelty," said Arden. "Get that meowth! Don't let it get away—I don't care how badly you beat it up. You can be as violent as you want."

"Pika?" asked the pokemon, his ears perking up. He smiled. "Pika pi chu!"

Cruelty launched himself forward, cheeks crackling, up onto the ledge. The meowth ran into the grass, but Cruelty was fast on it. He tackled the fleeing meowth, knocking the pokeball out of its mouth. Arden scrambled up the ledge as Cruelty smacked the meowth around with his tail. The meowth growled and scratched Cruelty across the face, prompting the pikachu to shock him. The meowth screeched and threw itself at Cruelty, and the two exchanged blows so fast Arden couldn't keep up.

"It's as strong as Cruelty!" Arden exclaimed. "Oh, I can't pass this up."

He pulled a pokeball from his bag and tossed it, drawing the fighting meowth into it. Cruelty blinked as the ball rolled around. "Cha?"

The pokeball popped open, releasing the meowth, and cruelty was back on him, punching and biting. Arden tossed another pokeball. The light swallowed the meowth, forcing it inside, and the pokeball rolled about as the wild pokemon struggled. Cruelty and Arden watched it intently until it fell still.

"Yeah!" exclaimed Arden picking it up. "I caught him! And I'm going to call him Thief!"

"Kachu," mumbled Cruelty, looking upset.

Arden smiled nervously. "Don't worry. I'll let you beat the next pokemon to a limp pulp."

"Kachu," said the pikachu, climbing up Arden's leg and pressing the button of his own pokeball to return himself to it.

Arden searched through the grass until he found Flop's ball. Having recovered it, he headed back down to the Day Care.

"Welcome back," said the old man.

"Here—this is Flop, my magikarp," said Arden, holding the ball out to the man. "He's not too weak for you to raise, right?"

"No pokemon's too weak for me to raise," said the old man, taking the pokeball. "You see, it's my policy to raise a pokemon with love and gentleness. No pokemon is too weak to be loved."

"Well, you haven't met Flop," said Arden. He started for the door. "When should I pick him back up?"

"Come back any time," said the old man. "I think you'll be surprised at how much your pokemon grows."

"I'll be surprised if he grows at all," muttered Arden. "See ya."

A/N: Hey, I just want to thank everyone who reviews again. You guys rule. For anyone with the time to say so, I'd also like to know if you have any favourite characters as of now? Or any characters you absolutely hate?