With a frustrated sigh, Arden took a seat in the Fuchsia City Pokemon Center. He looked sideways at Quenelle, standing beside him, and pouted. "I can't believe you wouldn't back me up back there," he said.

Quenelle hung his head. "Taur-auros."

Arden kicked his feet out and rubbed the back of his head. "Don't even try to act sorry. I would've beaten that gym leader easy if you'd have just attacked," he said. "I can't believe you don't respect me. I mean, I thought we were friend, Quen!"

"Auros," said Quenelle, licking Arden's cheek. The boy smacked him sharply on the nose.

"Stop that," he said. "I'm angry with you. I mean, I know I don't have as many badges as Gaius or Mom, but I don't see why that matters! I mean, you just stood back and watched Koga completely flatten my whole team!"

Quenelle hung his head again. "Auros."

The nurse leaned over the counter. "Excuse me! Your pokemon are now fighting fit!"

"Why do they all use that phrase?" mumbled Arden, getting to his feet. He collected his pokeballs and attached them to his belt.

"We hope to see you soon," said the nurse.

Shaking his head, Arden started out the doors, with Quenelle trotting along beside him. He emerged into the open air and sighed deeply. Not far away was the gym, and, for a while, Arden stared at it. "I'm just going to lose again, aren't I?" he muttered to himself. "I'm just going to keep loosing. Just like when I fought Surge."

He sighed and turned away. "Why even bother? Come on, Quen. Let's go somewhere else," he said, walking away from the gym. "I hate it here."

Quenelle looked at the gym sadly before turning and following Arden. He passed through the sleepy streets of Fuchsia, past a house which was more like a shack where a woman was crying and hanging laundry outside to dry, next to a meager garden. Arden came up on the eastern gatehouse out of the city, only to find Dixie leaning against the wall there, lighting up a cigarette with his cubone at his heel.

"Dixie," said Arden, waving at him. The Rocket grunt looked up as the younger boy approached.

"Oh, hey, Arden. Didn't see you coming along there," he said.

"I didn't know you smoked," Arden said.

"I didn't know you had a tauros," said Dixie.

"It's my brother's," Arden said. "I'm holding onto him for a couple days."

Dixie took a long drag on his cigarette. "You don't say… Now, why's that?"

"Well, I traded my pikachu to my brother temporarily, so he could train it," said Arden.

"Probably not the smartest move," said Dixie.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, part of being a trainer is training pokemon yourself," Dixie told him, twitching his cigarette between two fingers. "It builds a strong connection between human and pokemon…"

"You saw how violent Cruelty is," Arden said, looking down and rubbing the back of his head. "I just… I can't handle him. He's getting worse and worse and I'm… I'm not a good enough trainer to break him. He will never listen to me. Not unless a better trainer than me breaks him down first. I'm just… not up to scratch there."

"Arden… You shouldn't say things like that," said Dixie. "That's negative thinking. I mean, you're bound to fail if you just keep telling yourself you're not good enough."

"I'm not good enough, though," Arden said. "Did you know I lost to Lt. Surge twice?"

"Well, twice isn't so bad," said Dixie, throwing one arm over Arden's shoulders, and pulling him into a sort of hug. Arden coughed a little and moved his face away from Dixie's cigarette. "You should've kept trying. I mean, third time's a charm, right?"

"I guess," mumbled Arden, his face heating up as Dixie held him against his chest.

"Did you use that move I gave you?"

Arden nodded. "Yeah, but Surge's raichu was too fast… uh, can you let go of me? This is starting to feel really awkward."

"Ah, right. Sorry," said Dixie, moving his arm from Arden's shoulders. He nodded toward Quenelle. "So this is your brother's pokemon, huh? Well, he's certainly… big. Are you heading back to Vermillion to challenge Surge again with this tauros?"

"Nah," said Arden. "Quen won't listen to me. I don't have enough badges."

"That's rough," said Dixie brining his cigarette up to his lips. "You gonna head back up there, anyway?"

"I don't think so," said Arden rubbing the back of his neck.

"I think you should."

Arden shook his head. "I'll just be beaten again. It's not worth the humiliation."

"Don't say things like that," Dixie told him, leaning forward. He flicked his cigarette down and ground it out with his foot. "I think that you could be a very good trainer if you'd just believe in yourself."

"My pokemon are too weak," Arden said, his eyes fixed on the earth. "No matter how hard I train, I'm going to end up being beaten by Surge's raichu. It's too fast… I just… I can't."

Dixie reached to Arden's belt and pulled one of the pokeballs off of it.

"Hey," said Arden. "What are you doing?"

Pulling another pokeball off of his belt, he handed it to Arden. "Here," he said. "This is Bruno. He's a ground type, and he's a decently high level, so you should be able to beat Surge with him."

Arden looked at Dixie, wide-eyed. "Why would you…?"

"I want him back, though, when you beat Surge," Dixie said, fixing the pokeball he'd taken from Arden to his belt. "I'll hold onto this pokemon until then."

Arden blinked, looking down at the pokeball Dixie had handed him to the one he had taken. "But… why?"

"Because I hate to see you so down," Dixie said, leaning forward. He kissed the top of Arden's head softly. Aden blushed deeply.

"Your breath smells like tobacco smoke…"

Dixie straightened up, smiling. "Come on, Dexter," he said to his cubone. "We have higher-ups to report to. Be seein' ya, Arden."

"Bye," said Arden quietly. He watched the Rocket Grunt go silently, before turning to Quenelle. "Did that seem weird to you? …it seemed weird to me."

"Auros-aur!" said Quenelle, tossing his head.