"What do you mean I can't pass through here?" demanded Arden, slamming his fist down on the security guard's desk.

The guard looked up from his newspaper and cup of coffee. "I mean exactly what I said, kid," he said. "This gate's closed. Come back later."

Arden slammed his forehead against the desk with a sigh. "Come back later? Well, just how much later?"

"I dunno, kid. Later."

With a groan, Arden pulled at a lock of his own hair. "This isn't fair! Where am I supposed to go if I can't get into Saffron City?"

"I'd try Vermillion, if I was you," said the guard.

"Were. It's if I 'were' you," said Arden, pulling out his map and waving it around. "And in case you haven't noticed, Vermillion is south of Saffron. And you won't let me into Saffron."

"There's an underground path just up the way you came," said the guard blandly. "Why don't you head up there, and leave me be, okay?"

Arden gritted his teeth, and put his map away. "Fine, whatever," he said, stomping out of the gate house. As soon as he left the building, he felt a shiver down his spine, and had the uneasy sensation that he was being watched. Nervously, he pulled a pokeball from his belt. "Come on out, Fang," he said, releasing the golbat. Fang screeched and swooped above his head, looking to him for instruction. "Ah, there's no fight or anything like that. I just thought that maybe we could, uh… hang out, or something? Here, why don't you stay on my shoulder? Yeah, come here…"

With a look of mild confusion, the golbat perched on his trainer's shoulder.

"Good boy," said Arden, opening the door to the underground path. "Just, uh, just don't suck my blood or anything like that, okay?"

Fang looked at him flatly.

"What? Not that I think you would, but…"

Obscured by the tall grass growing on a nearby ledge, a sandshrew watched Arden and Fang disappear into the building which housed the underground tunnel's entrance. When the door closed, it stood up and, glancing around briefly, turned and ran toward the gatehouse.

The underground tunnel was darker than Arden had expected, which made him glad he had Fang with him. The golbat led him through the disorienting darkness. He emerged from the other end of the underground path, to a wide, lush green field of grass with a brick path curving through it, and a large, blue pond in the middle, offset to one side. A bug catchers were wandering about the grass with their nets, and a couple of campers were seated by the pond talking to one another. Beyond the peaceful meadow, a small city with quaint building sat hunched beside a harbor and a hilly rise. As Arden started along the serene path, he couldn't help but smile at the picturesque quality of it all. Fang flapped his wings and opened his mouth widely, closing his eyes.

"You like this path, too, Fang?" asked Arden. "It's pretty, isn't it?"

"Golbat!" said Fang.

"…you can do more that screech?" Arden said, raising an eyebrow. "I feel like you've been lying to me, Fang, holding back. Just how much don't I know about you?"

The golbat closed his mouth, once again looking confused.

"That's a nice looking pokemon you have there," said a female camper who was sitting in the grass with a male camper.

"Is it strong?" asked the male camper. "Can we look at it?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess so," said Arden, heading toward them. "He's pretty strong, I guess…"

"He looks strong," said the girl, reaching out her hand to pet Fang. He snapped at her playfully and she withdrew her hand quickly. "He's so mean!"

"Not the meanest pokemon I have," said Arden with a shrug.

"Hey," said the boy, grabbing Arden's arm. "Do you want to battle us? We'd love to have a double battle with you and your nice looking pokemon."

"I have to tell you, you are coming off as way creepy right now, kid," said Arden, arching one eyebrow. He pulled away from the camper. "A double battle, huh?"

"Yeah—two pokemon versus two pokemon."

"Yeah, alright," said Arden, resting on hand on his waist. "Yeah, I can probably do that."

"He'll battle us!" exclaimed the girl.

"Oh, glorious!" shouted the boy.

The clasped their hands together and squealed with joy.

"You guys are… you're creeping me out," said Arden. He took a step back.

"We're sorry!" said the girl. "We'll stop."

"You'll still battle us, right?" asked the boy.

"Y-yeah, I'll still battle you."

"Yay!" said the girl. She threw out a pokeball. "Go, Pidgey!"

"Alright!" said the boy. He threw out a pokeball. "Go, Spearow!"

The pidgey and spearow appeared, squawking and flapping their wings. Arden tossed out a pokeball from his belt. "Go get 'em—Fang, Thief!"

Fang leapt from Arden's shoulder to swoop around the campers, who followed his movements with evident glee as Arden's pokeball landed and the meowth sprang out of it. The pidgey took flight, and with a hard flap of its wings sent a hardy gust toward Fang. The wind attack struck the golbat, knocking him sideways and temporarily disorienting him.

"Thief, use payday on that pidgey!" said Arden. "Fang, bite that spearow!"

"Spearow! Use peck on that meowth! Don't let it hurt Pidgey!" shouted the boy.

The spearow darted toward Thief, but before it could make contact, Fang blocked it and—in one swift movement—sang his teeth into one of the enemy pokemon's wings. Thief arched his back and with a growl shot a stream of coins from his forehead which battered the pidgey above them. With a squawk, the pidgey pitched its body to one side and feel back.

"Ha! Teamwork!" said the girl, clapping her hands together.

"His pokemon must be quite good friends!" said the boy, delighted.

"Uh… alright," said Arden. "Thief, scratch that sparrow! Fang, use wing attack on that pidgey!"

"Pidgey, sand attack!"

"Spearow, fury attack!"

The pidgey flapped it's wings hard, creating a cloud of dust. Fang burst through it, smacking the pidgey in the throat with his wing and knocking it out. The spearow tried to attack Thief, but he dodged nimbly out of the way of its attacks before scratching it across the face. The spearow recoiled, covering its face with its wings.

"Okay—finish it, guys! Bite!" said Arden.

Fang and Thief lunged together at the enemy spearow, sinking their teeth into it simultaneously. With a pained squawk, the spearow fell to the ground. The male camper returned it to its pokeball.

"So strong!" said the boy.

"So coordinated!" said the girl.

"Uh, yeah," said Arden as Fang swooped around to perch on his shoulder and Thief sat down at his feet. "They, uh, they did do good, didn't they?"

"Thank you for showing us your pokemon," said the girl, bowing.

"Oh, yeah!" said the boy. "And thank you for the battle."

Arden took a few steps away from them. "Right. Uh, see ya," he said, starting again for Vermillion City with Fang on his shoulder and Thief walking along beside him.