The first thing Arden did when he landed in Kanto was to check his pokemon. They were fine, save for Cruelty, who had taken a brutal beating from Adalhelm. The raichu's nose had been broken and one of his cheekbones had been crushed. Arden rushed him to the nearest pokemon center to be treated, along with the rest of them.

"It's quite an injury," the nurse told him, after she'd run his pokemon through the machine. She handed him back his pokemon in their balls.

"Is he going to be alright?" asked Arden. "Will… will he still be able to fight?"

She nodded. "Yes, but the damage was… Well, that sort of thing, it's irreversible. He's going to look like that forever, probably," she said. "And one of his cheeks was damaged, so I don't think your raichu will be able to generate more than half of his usual electricity."

"Only half…?" said Arden, holding Cruelty's pokeball in his hands.

"With so much damage to his head," the nurse told him. "It's a wonder he's still alive, much less that he'll be able to go on battling. What happened?"

"Team Rocket," said Arden, and the nurse's gaze softened.

"I see. Well, you be careful," she said. "Take care."

Arden nodded and headed for the door. He emerged into the salty air of Fuchsia City, feeling frightened and alone. Above him, the sun was high in the cloudless sky, warming the earth dutifully. He looked up into that sky, but could find no joy in it. Sighing, he sat down on a short ledge, letting his feet dangle over, and rolled a pokeball between his hands. "Dixie," he muttered. "What a snake… All that time he was nice to me—was that the only reason?"

Tears of anger and hurt were welling up in his eyes, but he pushed them back. Sniffing, he slid down from the ledge, landing in the soft sand beneath. "I hate him," he yelled, kicking a shell into the side of a large rock. "I hate him! And I don't need him—I can be a trainer just fine without his help! Just fine!"

He ground his teeth together and punched at the side of a rising cliff. "Just fine," he repeated again, softly. "I didn't need his help to begin with."

The Fuchsia gym loomed over him, up on the rocks. Fuming, he turned his gaze on it. Arden furrowed his brow and scrambled up the ledges toward it, his veins burning and his heart aflame with anger. He entered the pokemon gym violently, and Koga looked up, startled.

"Hey, what did my door ever do to you?" he said, frowning as Arden made his way toward him, navigating the invisible walls with clenched teeth.

"Shut up! It did plenty!" shouted Arden. The gym leader faltered. "I want a rematch!"

"Okay," said Koga. "But, you do realize that the anger isn't necessary to get a rematch, correct? I'll battle you even if you come in here calmly like a sensible human being."

"I'm not a sensible human being!" Arden yelled. "—Wait, no! Forget that—I mean I am, but I'm… Shut up!"

"Fine then," said Koga. "We will battle—Weezing!"

"Go, Gimpy!" Arden yelled, tossing out the wartortle's pokeball.

"Ha! That pokemon's too slow and weak," Koga said as their pokemon appeared from their balls. "It's no match for my fast and poisonous ninja pokemon!"

"What on earth qualifies weezing as a ninja in any way?!" demanded Arden, frustrated. "Gimp—waterpulse!"

"Tortle!" yelled Gimpy, hunching over. He fired a blast of water from his mouth which rocketed toward the enemy weezing. At the last minute, however, the opponent's pokemon dodged to the side, allowing the attack to pass by harmlessly. "War!"

"Smog!"

"Weeez!" huffed the enemy pokemon, expelling a thick gas from the pores in his body. Gimpy covered his nose and staggered back a few paces, his body shuddering.

Arden gritted his teeth. "Poisoned," he muttered, narrowing his eyes. "Use surf, Gimpy!"

The wartortle swayed, trying to shake his head clear of the fast-acting toxin. "Tor… tortle!" he said, somewhat weakly. He could feel his trainer's unfocused rage bubbling, however, and it gave him the strength to stand; he didn't want to be on the receiving end of that anger. Summoning his strength, he formed a wave beneath his feet. "War-tort-tle!"

The weezing grimaced as the enormous wave crashed down on him. The pokemon gasped and struggled as the wave receded, back into nothingness, trying to catch his breath and sputtering. Arden stuck out his chest and raised on fist. "Not very ninja," he said. "Unless getting pulverized by the tide is a secret ninja technique that only stupid gym leaders in stupid gyms with stupid invisible walls know."

Koga frowned. "I'm not stupid and neither are my invisible walls," he said, sounding somewhat wounded. "Do you know how hard it is to make an invisible wall? I mean, they're never really all the way invisible. It takes a lot of work to make walls that can be invisible enough to be tricky!"

"It's stupid!" yelled Arden. "Why don't you just use regular walls?!"

"I'm a ninja!"

"You're a grown man!" said Arden. "It's ridiculous!"

"I am a ninja!" said Koga, stamping his foot. "Ninja, ninja, ninja! Weezing—use sludge!"

"Weeeez!" shouted the pokemon, firing thick black grime from its smaller mouth.

The poisonous ooze caught Gimpy in the face, blinding him. Flailing his tail, Gimpy staggered around rubbing at his face and crying out. "Get a hold of yourself!" Arden yelled. "It's just a little muck—ignore it! Use bite!"

Gimpy whined and continued to rub at his eyes. Arden clenched his teeth and cracked his whip at the pokemon. "Bite!"

Startled, the wartortle tried to lunge forward, but his deformed foot caught on the ground and he fell onto his face. Arden smacked his forehead with one palm. "Useless," he muttered.

"Oh-ho-ho," said Koga, narrowing his eyes. "It looks like your pokemon could use more training!"

"And it looks like your pokemon is a bag of farts!"

"N-no it doesn't!" objected Koga, wrapping his arms around his weezing. "You're just jealous!"

"Jealous? Of what? Some man-child that keeps saying he's a ninja and his ugly gas pokemon?" said Arden waving his hands. "Oh, yes—I am so jealous. Oh, please, Mr. Ninja, won't you teach me to be as cool as you? Clearly you are awesome, and not at all creepy or completely retarded!"

Koga frowned. "Man-child?" he said. "Hey, you can't talk to me that way. I am a—"

"Yes. A ninja. You've said that," Arden told him flatly. "But guess what? I'm pissed off. I'm angrier than I've ever been in my entire life and, you know what? I just don't care anymore. I. Don't. Care."

"Actually," mumbled Koga. "I was going to say that I'm a gym leader…"

"I don't care!" yelled Arden. "Gimpy! Surf! And I swear, if you don't faint it this time, I'm going to cut off your ears, tie a rock to you, and then toss you in the ocean!"

"Toortle," moaned Gimpy, grabbing his ears gingerly with his claws. He had managed to free his eyes of the sludge. With a deep breath, he began to form a wave beneath his feet. The water gathered, surging up, higher than he'd ever before managed. Koga staggered back, clutching his weezing against his chest.

"Oh my," he mumbled. "That's a… that's a big one…"

The wave crashed down, knocking the weezing out of Koga's arms and smacking them both hard against one of the invisible walls. Gimpy landed on the ground, tripping a little bit, as the wave receded. Koga groaned and rubbed his head as, beside him, his weezing moaned and slipped into unconsciousness. Arden pumped one fist into the air. "Exactly!" he yelled. "Exactly that, Gimp! Now I'll let you live another day!"

"Toooortle," moaned Gimpy, flattening his ears.

Koga withdrew his pokemon, frowning. "Now my clothes are all damp," he muttered. "Man, I'm going to have to go home and change. And I just know this is going to mold…"

"Hey!" said Arden. "Stop talking about your stupid laundry problem and send out your next pokemon!"

"That's it. You beat me, or whatever," said Koga, waving the boy's shouting away. "I have your badge somewhere… If I can find it… It'll probably be wet, though."

Arden crossed his arms. "Well that's no good," he said. "I'm still angry as all hell."

"War!" yelped Gimpy as he began to flow. Arden's eyes widened as he turned toward the pokemon.

"Gimpy! You're evolving!" he said.

The light grew larger and larger and then, very suddenly, died away. When the glow faded, it revealed a large and frowning blastoise. "Blaaastoise," said Gimpy, looking down at his massive paws.

"Why are you making that face?!" said Arden, kicking him in the leg. "Evolving makes you stronger!"

"Blastoise," Gimpy said, flattening his little ears.

"Ah!" said Koga, holding up a badge. "Here! Found it. Oi, kid, come here and get this."

Arden walked up to him and held up his hand. Koga placed the badge in the boy's outstretched hand. "Having this badge makes your pokemon stronger," he told him.

"How?"

"Also," said Koga. "Your pokemon will be able to use surf outside of battle."

"Why couldn't they before?"

"What?"

"Surf?" Arden said, crossing his arms. "I mean, that's just swimming, right? What was stopping them from surfing outside of battle before?"

Koga sighed. "Look," he said. "I don't make the rules. I just hand out the badges and build the invisible walls, okay?"

A/N: Sorry for how long this took! It was a combination of college and the fact that I spent this week watching Cardcaptor Sakura during the vast majority of my free time. Anyway, I'm a little flabbergasted when I think about how far I've come in this story. Sixty chapters—and most of them over this summer. Thank you all for reading, as usual; I'm glad you could follow along on this journey with me. You guys are love.

I've been thinking about doing a spin-off story about Gaius' journey to become the pokemon trainer he is in this story, but I'm not sure yet. Thoughts, anyone?