Outside of the tower, Arden collapsed onto his knees. Setting Gentry down in the grass beside him, he doubled over and retched into the dirt. Gentry pressed against his leg and shivered. Long after Arden had nothing to throw up, he continued to heave. Finally, he was able to straighten up, and he looked around with his vision blurred by tears. Gentry lay his head on Arden's thigh and looked up at him.

"Raaan," said the nidoran, flattening his ears.

"C-come on," said Arden, picking him up and holding him against his chest. "We need to… to keep moving."

He left town, walking slowly, holding Gentry against him. His whole body felt numb and shaky, and his stomach turned over at the unwanted thoughts about what had just occurred. The young trainer tried to push it out of his mind—after all, there was nothing he could have done, and no way he could have known what would happen—but his mind kept dwelling on the idea that any time he had ever called out Cruelty, it was like he'd been playing Russian Roulette. And any time he'd ever call him out again, it was still up to chance whether another pokemon would be killed. Or a trainer.

He stumbled on, trembling, through the fields west of Lavender Town, tears running down his cheeks. "I should—I should just… just throw his pokeball into a river," he said to Gentry. "B-but, he's the strongest pokemon I have… I don't… I don't think I'd be able to win against Surge wi-without him…"

"Nido nidoran," said Gentry, pressing his face against Arden's chest.

Arden sat down on the side of the path. "I wish that Gaius was here," he said, wiping the tears from his eyes with the back of his hand. "He'd know what I should do. He'd know how to tr-train Cruelty. I could c-call him, if my stupid pokegear worked outside of Johto!"

"Nidoran," Gentry said, trying his best to calm his trainer.

Arden pulled out his pokegear from his bag and shook it angrily. "Stupid thing," he said. "If I could call Gaius… He—he can train any pokemon at all. Jeex—I don't even know where he is or anything…" With a sigh, he put the pokegear away.

In fact, however, Arden's big brother Gaius was not all that far away.

In Cinnabar Town, a young man with spiky blonde hair and an enormous frame arrived from the ocean, on the back of a burly tauros. Still mounted on his pokemon steed, he entered the town, his sharp green eyes scanning the buildings. "Well, Quenelle," he said to his tauros, rubbing the pokemon's neck. "Doesn't look like baby brother's here."

Quenelle snorted and tossed his head.

"I know, I know," Gaius said. "Guess we'll keep looking."

He turned his face toward the volcano at the edge of town. "Might as well sight-see, though," he said, grinning. He urged the tauros toward the volcano. "Looks like a dangerous place to build a city. These Kanto folks aren't too smart, eh, Quen?"

"Taur!" shouted Quenelle, nodding his large head.

Gaius laughed and patted his cheek. "Now, you ain't just agreein' with me to keep up appearances, right?"

"Taur!"

"Alright," said Gaius. "That's what I like to hear."

"Taur-aur-auros," said the pokemon breaking into a run, as he headed onto the rocky path which lead up the volcano. Gaius looked around as his pokemon bore him onward.

Suddenly, he grabbed onto the tauros' horns and yelled, "Wooah—one minute, there, Quen! Hold it!"

With a great deal of dust, Quenelle dug his hooves into the ground and skidded to a stop. "Auuuros?"

"I saw a pokemon gym," said Gaius, holding one hand over his eyes to shield him from the mid-day sun. He spotted it and thrust out his hand toward it. "There! That's where we're going, Quenelle!"

"Taur!" shouted Quenelle, changing directions. He charged toward the gym. The doors opened before him, and he came clattering to a halt inside the gym.

Gaius took a deep breath, digging his fingers into Quenelle's fur. "Yeah. This is what I like, Quen," he said. "We haven't battled in a week or so. Should be fun."

He approached an old man who was working on a mechanism that ran the doors. "Hey, old guy," said Gaius. The man turned his face toward him briefly before returning to his work. "Old man, you hear? I want to know what sorta gym this is, and I want to know who runs it. Oh, and I want to know what you're working on."

"I'm fixing the machines that open the doors," said the man. "This is a fire-type gym. The Leader is Blaine."

"Alright," said Gaius, grinning. "Where's he at, old guy?"

The old man stood. "I am Blaine."

Gaius' expression didn't falter. "Even better!" he said, as Quenelle tossed his head and stamped his feet in excitement. "I'd like to challenge you to a fight."

"You? No, I don't think you'd be much of a match for me," said Blaine. "You obviously don't have the discipline and respect to be a good trainer.

Gaius frowned. "Really? That's sad to know," he said. He pulled open his coat, revealing eight badges—one from each of the gyms of the Johto region. "Guess these guys made a mistake, then, huh?"

Blaine grimaced. "Fine. I'll battle you," he said. "It's a gym leader's duty to take on all challengers, I guess—even the rude ones."

"Alright!" said Gaius, pumping one fist in the air. "Here we go! Quen—you're my man! Let's do it!"

"Taur!" said Quenelle, leaping forward, Gaius still mounted one his back.

"Arcanine, go," said Blaine, throwing out his pokemon. With a growl, the Arcanine appeared. "Fire blast!"

"Quenelle! Surf!" said Gaius, leaning forward on his pokemon.

The arcanine's attack came at them, but Quenelle leapt nimbly out of the way. The tauros slammed his hooves down with a rumble. Suddenly, an enormous wave appeared, which bore Quenelle and Gaius up, upon its crest. It crashed down on the arcanine, fainting it immediately. Gaius laughed. "That was fun, that was fun," he said, as Blaine returned his pokemon. He held out his hand. "Badge, please?"

With a grumble, Blaine handed over the badge. Gaius smiled, watching the light glint off it, and then showed it to Quenelle before pinning it inside of his jacket next to the others. "Thanks, old guy," he said, turning his tauros to the door. "Oh, point of interest—have you seen a boy with blond hair, kind of short, goes by the name Arden?"

"Can't say I have."

Gaius frowned. "Eh, alright," he said, rubbing his beloved tauros' neck. "Well, hey, old guy, where can I get to from here where there are other gyms?"

"Fuchsia has a gym," Blaine told him. "Just go out past the Sea Foam islands, and then head north. You… you didn't come from there? I mean, I've only seen tauros in their Safari Zone…"

"Safari Zone?" Gaius repeated. "Well, that sounds like fun. C'mon, Quen, let's go check it out!"

"Taur!" said Quen, tossing his head. He broke into a run as the gym doors opened before him. Full gallop, he raced over the dusty path through Cinnabar, and hit the ocean still running. His hooves did not sink into the water but, instead, he ran atop the waves, his tails cracking like whips behind him. As the tauros raced over the water, Gaius closed his eyes and took a deep breath of the sea breeze.

"This is a good vacation," he said.

"Taur," agreed Quenelle.

"It's too bad about the circumstances of it," he said. "I'd have liked to have come here on my own time, with happier news…"

"Taur," Quenelle said.

"Even so," Gaius said. "It can't be all bad. I can make this a good time. We'll go get a few more gym badges while we try to find baby brother. I mean, just because the news is grim doesn't mean we have to be, right Quen?"

"Taur!" said the tauros, splashing water about with his hooves as he ran across the waves.

A/N: 'kay. I'm not sure what to draw now, so I've decided I'll take requests, if any one has them? Is there anything you'd like to see involving these characters or their pokemon?