"We're gonna have a good time together, Quen," Arden said as the tauros clomped along beneath him. "You'll see. We'll have a great time 'till Gaius comes back for you. And you're going to win me a whole ton of battles."

"Taaaauros," said Quenelle, tossing his head as he trotted up to the doors of the Fuchsia City Pokemon Gym. They crossed the thresh hold into the gym, and Arden dismounted sloppily, falling down on his face. Scrambling to his feet, Arden looked around.

He could see the gym leader at the center of the building, and made toward him—only to encounter a hard, invisible resistance. "Ouch!" Rubbing his nose, Arden reached up a hand. He touched a wall that was completely invisible. "What on earth? –invisible walls? That's a cheap trick!"

"Auros!" said Quenelle, tossing his head and pounding the ground with his hooves.

"Quen—break it down," said Arden.

The tauros snorted. "Aur-aur-aur-auros."

"What?" asked Arden. "Come on Quenelle—you're strong enough to break it!"

The pokemon turned and walked away, along the wall, trying to find a different way to the leader. With a sigh, Arden followed him. "Fine, whatever," he said. "My way's quicker, but what ever…"

Quenelle clomped along through the gym, occasionally pressing his head against the wall to make sure he was still beside it. Arden followed him along through the seemingly random twists and turns of the invisible hallway. "This isn't working," Arden said. "Look—we're actually getting further away from the gym leader!"

His brother's tauros continued on, paying him no mind. With a frustrated sigh, Arden continued along behind him. After a bit, it became evident to Arden that they were, in fact, getting closer. "Who designs a gym like this?" Arden mumbled. "Seriously. Invisible walls;—is it just too hard to make a straight forward gym?"

Quenelle snorted. "Taur-aur-aur-auros," he said, as they reached the leader of the gym. The man turned to face them.

"A challenger?" he said. "Impressive that you got past my invisible ninja walls!"

"Yeah, about that," said Arden. "I was under the impression that this was a pokemon gym, not a fun house, so…"

"I am Koga," said the man. "I'm a ninja master, who deals in poison type pokemon—"

"Ninja?" asked Arden. "What are you, five?"

"Huh?"

"Pretending you're a ninja," Arden said. "It's something a five-year-old would do. You call yourself a ninja master, build invisible walls inside your gym… Quite honestly, I've got to wonder what the other gym leaders say about you when you're not around."

"L-lots of gym leaders put obstacles in their gyms," Koga said quietly.

"Like who?"

"Well, Erika, and Surge…"

"Yeah, but at least those obstacles were relevant," Arden pointed out. "Erika's gym was full of trees. She was a grass type leader. Surge had an electric fence. Because he trained electric pokemon. See? Now, what are you? A ninja-type trainer?"

"P-poison."

"Right. Well, shouldn't you have—I dunno—like, poisonous pits of acid around here?"

"That's… dangerous, though," Koga said.

"Well, so are trees and electric fences!"

"Trees aren't dangerous."

"They are if you fall out of them," Arden said. "Or if one falls on you."

Koga blinked. "Did you come to challenge me, or give me a lecture?"

"I dunno. Both, I guess," Arden said.

"Well, let's just battle, then, shall we?" said Koga. He held up a pokeball. "Weezing, go!"

"Quenelle!"

Koga's pokemon appeared, oozing gas from its pores. Quenelle leapt forth, cracking his tails and tossing his head. Arden smiled and gave his command, "Quen, thunderbolt!"

Quenelle lowered his head as if preparing for the attack, and then did nothing.

"Quen? Thunderbolt!"

The tauros shook his head. "Aur-aur-auros!"

"What's wrong with you?" said Arden. "Use thunderbolt!"

Koga chuckled. "It looks like your pokemon is too strong for you," he said. "It doesn't respect you and it won't take your orders."

"What? Nonsense!" said Arden. "I grew up with Quenelle! He knows me and he likes me—there's no reason he shouldn't take my orders!"

"Just because he knows you, or even likes you, doesn't mean he respects you as a trainer," Koga said soberly.

"Is that right, Quen?" asked Arden. "You don't respect me?"

Quenelle lowered his head guiltily. Clenching his teeth, Arden said angrily, "Fine. Come back. I'll fight with another pokemon, then."

"Tauros…"

"I said return, Quenelle," said Arden. The tauros turned and slowly walked behind Arden. "Instead I'll use… Gimpy!"

He held up the pokeball, releasing the pokemon into battle. "Wartortle!"

"Weezing, use smog!" said Koga.

Elsewhere in Fuchsia, Dixie sat down with at the bare wooden table in his childhood home as his mother served him some tea. He took the cup from her and stared into it as she sat down across from him. Dixie's cubone sat in his lap, looking from its trainer to the woman and back again as they sat in silence.

After a long silence, Dixie's mother said, "So, you work for… Team Rocket, now?"

Dixie nodded.

"We've been so worried about you," she said. "I and your father, both."

"I'm not here to come home," said Dixie.

Another silence passed between them. "S-surely you can't be happy being a criminal?" asked his mother.

Dixie stood up, cradling his cubone in his arms. "If you're going to start that, I'm going," he said.

"Don't leave," said his mother quickly. "Please sit down. I've missed you. Your father missed you… Don't you miss us, too?"

"No," said Dixie. "I can't say that I do."

His mother was beginning to cry. He turned his face away. "What did I do to make you hate me?" she whispered.

"I don't hate you," said Dixie. "I've just decided that I want to be someone who isn't pushed around and beaten."

"But, Dixie—becoming a thug for Team Rocket?"

Dixie started toward the door. "In this uniform, no one ever tries to bully me. No one comes home drunk and smacks me around," he said. "Goodbye, mother."

"Don't… leave again," she implored him, but he just walked out the door without reply.

A/N: Hi, all. I just wanted to tell you all that the Death Note projected I mentioned in my last note is finished and linked to my profile. I finally broke down and downloaded a different video editor, and redid the entire video. So, anyway, if you like Death Note, I'd love you forever for checking it out. Of course, I already love you forever for reading this story. Dontcha all know you're my favorite people in the whole world? Anyway, I guess that's the end of this irrelevant note.