Arden rode along on Quenelle's back with Bruno, feeling positively elated. As Quenelle trotted toward the north path out of town, Arden rubbed his neck and hugged Bruno tightly. "You guys are the greatest!" he kept saying over and over. As they neared the underground path's entrance, Dixie exited from it, a bag full of pokeballs slung over one his shoulders. "Hey, Dixie!"

"Arde—ah!" Dixie's eyes widened as they fell across Bruno. "B-Bruno! What did you—?"

"He evolved after my battle with Surge," said Arden, setting him down on the ground and holding out his pokeball to Dixie.

"Evolved? –What? No, no, no," said Dixie, setting down his bag and knelling next to his pokemon. "What about his everstone?!"

"Everstone?" said Arden, frowning. After a moment, his expression lightened and he dug through his pack. "Ah—you mean this rock?"

"Yes," said Dixie, looking at the stone in Arden's hand. "That would be exactly what I meant."

"I didn't know what it was, so I took it," Arden said.

Dixie's eye twitched slightly. "That's not a very good reason to take something," he said. "It could've been radioactive."

"…is it?"

Dixie paused. "No, it isn't."

"So," said Arden. "What exactly is it?"

"It's an everstone," Dixie replied, pressing one hand over his eyes with a sigh. "It stops pokemon from evolving."

"Why would you want to do that?"

"Oh, lots of reasons," said Dixie, standing up. He took Bruno's pokeball from Arden's hand and clipped it to his belt. "Distaste for the next stage of your pokemon's evolution, or perhaps because you like him just the way he is and don't want him to change, or so that your pokemon can learn moves it can't learn in later stages."

"Moves, huh?"

Dixie nodded, and put Thief's pokeball in Arden's still-outstretched hand. "Some pokemon learn really powerful moves in their early stages, which they won't learn if you evolve them," he said. "Nidoran comes to mind."

Arden stared at the everstone. "You don't say… Can I—"

"You can keep it," said Dixie. "I don't need it anymore, I guess."

Arden pointed to the bag Dixie had set down moments before. "What's with all the pokeballs?"

"Ah, nothing, nothing," said Dixie, hoisting the bag up. "I'm just… Making a delivery to my superiors in Saffron, and I thought I'd come down and get Bruno before I went."

"You can actually get into Saffron?"

Dixie nodded. "That right," he said, pointing to the red 'R' across his chest. "This uniform is my badge. Team Rocket's in control of the city."

"In control of the whole city? But, why?"

Dixie paused and put one hand to his mouth. "I don't know the details about those sorts of things, Arden," he said. "I'm just a grunt, after all. I know that I was supposed to help secure rare pokemon, and I did that. Whatever's happening in the city has little to do with me. I'll go receive my direct orders for this stage of the procedures, and then those orders will be as much that our control of Saffron has to do with me."

"So you don't even know what your bosses are trying to do?"

"I have vague ideas," Dixie said shrugging. "Steal pokemon, steal things related to pokemon… Steal whole cities if necessary. I don't question it, and neither should you."

Arden frowned. "Really seems like the sort of thing you should question…"

"Nah," said Dixie. "Are you headed to Saffron yourself? I could get you into the city, you know?"

"Ah—you can?"

Dixie nodded, smiling. "Mm hm."

"That'd be great! I've been trying and trying to get in there!" said Arden, sliding down off Quenelle's back. "The guard just kept saying the road was closed and sending me away!"

"Well, that's dumb," said Dixie. "…there's no road there."

As they started toward the gatehouse, Arden asked, "So, where'd you get all those pokeballs? Are there pokemon in them?"

"Ah, there are pokemon in some of them," Dixie answered. "Most of them, actually, I'm fairly certain."

"Did you catch all those pokemon?"

"No," said Dixie, shaking his head. "I didn't catch them."

Arden paused. "Did you steal them?"

"Me? No, not me," Dixie told him. "But they were stolen."

The reached the gatehouse and entered. The guard there looked up, briefly, but seemed to lose interest in them as soon as soon as he saw Dixie's uniform. Without a word, the guard went back to his previous business of folding a square of paper into a crane. Dixie held open the door into the city. "After you," he said.

Arden walked out into the sunlight, Quenelle trotting along behind him, and Dixie and Bruno following behind him. Saffron felt almost like home to Arden; the buildings were tall and grandiose, and the whole place was filled with warmth. Rocket Grunts hung about in the streets, mulling around at the entrances to buildings, with not a civilian in sight. Arden looked around. "Where's the pokemon gym here?" he asked Dixie.

"Eh, the pokemon gym's on lock-down," Dixie told him.

Arden frowned. "What? But, why?" he asked. "That makes my coming here so pointless!"

"Well, if you want to battle, there's an unofficial gym at the north side of town," Dixie told him. Arden brightened. "Of course, they're unrecognized by the Pokemon League and, so, can't give away badges."

Arden's momentarily bright expression went away and he slumped his shoulders. "Oh, great," he muttered.

"But," Dixie said. "I hear that if you beat their leader they'll give you a rare fighting pokemon in return."

Arden brightened again. "Alright!" he said.

Dixie smiled. "Well, I wish you luck in that," he said. "I've gotta split, but I'll see you later and you can tell me how that all panned out."

Arden nodded and turned away. "Ah—Arden."

"Huh?" said the young trainer stopping and turning toward Dixie. Dixie leaned down and kissed him on the cheek before straightening up again. Blushing, Arden could only stare wide-eyed at the other boy.

"Okay," said Dixie with a smile and a slight wave. "Bye."

Arden watched Dixie and Bruno jog off with their bag of pokeballs, still stunned and blushing. Quenelle tilted his head. "Auros?" After a long while, Arden seem to find his voice.

"Why is he so weird all the time?" he asked no one in particular.