Arden walked to the Pokemon Center with Thief on his shoulders. "There was this nice guy on the ship that game me a Hidden Machine," he told the meowth. "It's cut. I've got it in my bag, and while we get your team mates healed up, I'm going to teach it to you."

He entered the building and set his pokeballs on the counter before having a seat in the corner with Thief. Setting the meowth on the seat next to him, Arden, unslung his pack and opened it. Thief leaned his head over the bag as Arden looked through it. "Move your head—I can't see what I'm doing, Thief."

"Meow," said Thief, pulling out a TM disk with his teeth.

"No, not that," said Arden, taking it away from him. "That's not cut, it's dig."

"Meow," said the meowth, flattening his ears. "Meow. Meowth."

Arden put the TM back into the pack and resumed his search, only to have the pokemon pull it out again. "Thief! Knock that off!"

"Meow," said Thief, taking the disk between his paws. He held it toward Arden. "Meow, meow!"

"What? What do you want?" asked Arden, snatching the disk. "This isn't the right disk, I told you!"

"Meow!" shouted Thief, extending his claws. He swiped at Arden's arm, scratching him.

"Hey! Ow!" said Arden. He put his other hand over the scratch. "What do you want from me?!"

"Meow! Meow!" said Thief, putting his paw on the disk. "Meeeow!"

"What? This?" said Arden, looking at it. "Well, what do you want with it? It's just dig, isn't it?"

The young trainer looked at the disk. The TM number and name were proudly displayed on one side of it, above the move's power and accuracy and the amount of times the move could be used before the pokemon wouldn't have the energy to do it anymore. Beneath that was a label, which read simply, "Ground."

"This is a ground-type move?" asked Arden, raising his eyebrows. "As in, a move that's super-effective against electric pokemon?"

"Meow!"

"And if I teach this move to one of you guys, I could beat Surge!" Arden said, leaping to his feet. "Yeah! Alright!"

He rushed to the counter. "Nurse! Nurse, are my pokemon ready yet?"

"They will be in a moment."

"I want them now."

"Hold on."

"Can't you hurry?"

"The machine goes at its own speed."

"Make it faster!"

"I'm sorry, I can't."

"But I need my pokemon. I have battles to win."

"Hold on."

"How about now? Are they ready now?"

"I said hold your horses," barked the nurse, losing her patience. "The machine can't go any faster so you'll just have to wait!" The machine beside her dinged. "…okay! Your pokemon are fighting fit! We hope to see you soon."

Arden took his pokeballs and rushed outside, followed by Thief. The meowth looked around, and spotted Bruno, tucked between a large rock and a building. He nodded to the sandshrew before climbing up onto Arden's shoulders.

"Who should I teach this to? I can only use it once, right?" asked Arden, pausing in the street. He pulled one of the pokeballs of his belt. "I could teach it to Gentry—he's a hard worker… Or, maybe I could teach it to you, since you're fast. Oh—I know! I'll teach it to Cruelty. He's my strongest and fastest pokemon, so it'll give me the best shot at defeating Lieutenant Surge. Yeah!"

He held up Cruelty's pokeball. "Come on out, buddy!"

"Ka pika cha!" said Cruelty, arching his back.

Arden knelt next to him. "I've got a move for you to learn," said Arden, holding up the dig TM. He paused. "I'm, uh, not sure how to get it off this disk, though."

"Kaachu," said Cruelty. The pikachu's gaze rested on the pokemon on Arden's shoulder. His cheeks lit up and crackled as sparks flew from them. Arden returned Thief to his pokeball quickly, at which Cruelty looked slightly deflated. "Ka."

Arden turned the Technical Machine over in his hands. "Dixie gave this to me, but he didn't say how it's used," he murmured. Cruelty snatched it out of his hands. "Hey!"

"Piii cha," said Cruelty, pressing the disk against his head with both hands. His ears drew back, and he squeezed his eyes shut. "Pikachu… Pi." Suddenly, the disk shattered and fell away.

"The disk! It broke," said Arden. He looked at Cruelty. "Did… Did you learn it?"

"Ka!" said Cruelty, turning. He touched the ground with his paws for a moment. Then, cheeks sparking, dug his stubby fingers into the earth. Moving at unreal speeds, he dug into the ground and, in only moments, he was gone. Arden looked around.

"Cruel—Cruely?" said Arden, taking a couple of steps.

Suddenly, the pikachu erupted from the ground a few feet away from him, accompanied by a spray of gravel and dirt. Arden jogged over to him and picked him up, spinning him around. "That was great!" he shouted. "Alright! Surge is going down!"

"Cha!" said Cruelty. He sank his teeth into Arden's finger.

"Gah—cut that out! That hurts!"

Arden shook Cruelty off his finger and the pikachu dropped onto the ground unceremoniously. The young trainer ran toward the gym at the ocean's edge, with his pokemon running after him. Arden's thoughts were all of the sweetness of seeing defeat on the smug face of the American gym leader. He reached the gym and entered it, still running. The electric gate was off this time, and he passed through to Surge's inner sanctum unmolested.

"Hey, I remember you," said Surge, standing. He held up a pokeball and released his raichu. "I wasn't sure you'd come back for a rematch. Most people don't."

"I'm not a quiter," said Arden, fiercely.

"Apparently not," said Surge. He smiled broadly—a gesture he meant to show approval, but all Arden saw was arrogance. "Hope you trained some. You ready to battle?"

Arden nodded. "Go, Cruelty!"

"Get in there, Raichu! Mega punch!"

"Cruelty, dig!"

Cruelty forced one paw into the ground, but Raichu was on him almost immediately. Before Cruelty could dig underground, the raichu drew back his arm and delivered a powerful punch which sent the pikachu rolling across the ground. Arden caught Cruelty up in his arms to find his pokemon had been knocked out cold.

"Oooh, light weight," said Surge, patting his raichu's head. "Too bad."

"I—I've still got more pokemon," said Arden.

"Use them, then, if you think it'll help."

"I will," said the boy. "Go, Gimpy!"

Surge shook his head. "I told you about this last time," he said. "It's a water pokemon. I mean, that's almost an inhumane choice!"

"Raichu rai," said Surge's raichu, looking back at him.

"Yeah, I guess that's a plan," said Surge, putting his hand to his chin.

"Hey—what? You can't possibly understand what he just said," protested Arden. "All that 'raichu raichu' stuff is just gibberish! There's no way you can understand that!"

"When you spend your life training a pokemon, you begin to reach a deeper understanding of each others thoughts and emotions," said the gym leader. "Raichu and I are friends, and our bond overcomes all barriers between us. That's what it means to be a trainer. Raichu, slam!"

The raichu threw himself at Gimpy, knocking him down with a powerful movement of his body and tail.

"Water gun, Gimpy!" said Arden. "And don't let him knock you around!"

With an effort, the wartortle shot a hard stream of water at the raichu. It struck him in the face, but he brushed it off.

"Mega punch, Raichu!"

Raichu drew back his arm and preformed the devastating attack, knocking out Gimpy. With a grimace, Arden returned the pokemon to his ball and threw out another one. "Gentry!"

They battled for two turns. Then, Gentry fell.

"Thief!"

One move later, Thief was finished.

"Damnit—Fang!"

Raichu managed to KO Fang easily with a brilliant thunderbolt.

Arden cursed, and reached to his belt. There was only one pokemon left—the stolen pokemon that he knew nothing about. Hoping it would be a strong one, he threw it out. "Go, pokemon!"

The pokeball opened and, in a flash of light, let free its contents. The light faded, revealing a yellow vulpix, whose entire body seemed to sparkle. Surge looked taken aback. "That's quite an unusually colored pokemon," he said. His raichu nodded.

"Alright—a vulpix," said Arden. He bit his lip. "A… yellow one. Uh, okay—flamethrower!"

Without question, the vulpix arched his back and let fly a cone of fire from his mouth. The raichu dodged to the side, but was not fast enough to avoid being partially caught by the flame.

"Raichu!" said Surge. "Let's finish this quick. Thunder!"

"Rai!"

Raichu's cheeks began to glow violently. An enormous blast of electricity shot from him, striking the vulpix, knocking him down. Wincing, the vulpix got to his feet.

"Vul…pix," said the pokemon, his voice pained.

"Not quite enough," grunted Surge. "Alright, it's weak, though! Quick attack!"

"You quick attack, too!" ordered Arden.

The two pokemon leapt at each other, but Raichu hit harder and faster. The vulpix went skidding along the gym floor, fainted. Arden picked it up, tears in his eyes. "No, no, no," he said. "I… I should've beaten you. I trained, I—I taught my strongest pokemon a move that's strong against electric types, I h-had a full team of pokemon."

Surge sat down, rubbing Raichu behind the ears. "You didn't win because you don't have a bond with your pokemon," he said. "You did better this time, kid, but you need to train some more if you want to beat me."

Burying his face in his vulpix's fur to hide his tears, Arden turned and ran from the gym. Surge watched after him, somewhat sadly. "It's a shame, isn't it Rai? Poor kid just doesn't understand the spirit of pokemon training."

"Rai-chu," said the raichu, nodding gravely.

"I hope he learns it," said Lieutenant Surge. "I hope he makes friends with those pokemon. It's hard for some people. Hell, I didn't learn the true nature of the trainer-pokemon relationship until you saved my life."

Raichu nodded again, somewhat sadly.