Elara hung up the phone gently. Her boss was on business in Pewter Town, and he'd been calling to tell her it was going to take longer than expected. He was a nice guy, her boss at the Lab—however, to her he couldn't hold a candle to her old boss, Gaius. She frowned, staring at the phone and thinking of Gaius, and of his little brother who had been attacked by Rockets, and yet told her not to tell him. "He'd want to know," she mumbled, picking up the phone. "After all, I didn't actually promise not to tell him."

She dialed the number of his pokegear and waited as it rung. After a moment, Gaius answered. "Hello?"

"Gaius—it's Elara."

"Elara!" said Gaius, his voice cheerful. "Hey, I haven't talked to you in a while! You know, I was just tellin' Professor Elm about how you're a big fossil researcher now. How's Kanto? You workin' hard on unraveling the mysteries of the world, or whatever?"

"You know it."

"That's great. You're not smokin' again, right?"

"Nope. Not once."

"That's good. Good for you. Didn't I tell you that you could do it?"

"Yeah. It's hard but—"

"Keep at it."

"I will," said Elara, smiling and leaning against the wall. "I met your little brother today."

"Baby brother? How is he?"

"Well…"

"What? Did something happen? What's wrong?"

"He asked me not to tell you but… He was attacked by a couple of Rockets. They tried to force him to join and there was a scuffle. He's not hurt though."

On the other end of line there was silence.

"Gaius? Gaius, whatever you're thinking—"

"One of those Rockets—one of them was that guy he'd been traveling with, wasn't it? Dixie?"

"—Please don't."

"I'm gonna fuckin' kill that guy."

"Gaius, this is probably why he didn't want me to tell you anything—"

"I shoulda snapped his little neck the first time I saw him. I knew this would happen. That something like this would happen."

"He doesn't want you to hurt him. That's why he told me not to tell—your brother and that guy, I think he still wants to be friends with that Rocket."

"No. Out of the question. I'm gonna beat the shit out of that guy, and the other one too."

"I don't think your brother'll forgive you if you hurt him."

"I can live without baby brother's forgiveness, so long as he's safe."

"Gaius—"

With a click, Gaius hung up. Elara frowned and thought about calling him back, and trying to get him to cool off. Instead, she set the phone down with a sigh. "Was that wrong of me, after all?" she wondered to herself in a whisper. "I… I just wanted to help…"

"Hey, there you are," said Arden from the door way. Elara looked up, smiling at him.

"Yeah—sorry. My boss is a little long-winded," she said, crossing her arms behind her back. "What's up?"

"Oh, nothing," said Arden. "There was just this guy in that room you left us in who was really creeping Gimp and me out."

"That must've been Bradley," said Elara. "He's a bit off, but he does good work."

"Is he always monotone like that?"

Elara nodded. "Word is, he got dropped on his head as a baby, and that's why he talks like that," she said. "But I just think he does it to screw with people."

"Well, it certainly was unsettling," Arden mumbled. Behind him, Gimpy nodded. "He kept talking about secrets and just staring at me with those dead eyes…"

Elara giggled. "Oh, Bradley—he's such a kidder," she said.

"Yeah, he's a holler," mumbled Arden. "Anyway, I was thinking I should probably be checking out the gym for my next badge. So, if you don't mind, I'm gonna go."

"Oh, of course," said Elara. "It was nice meeting you. Good luck at the gym."

"Thanks," said Arden. "Bye."

"Toise," said Gimpy, waving to Elara as they started away. She waved back, until they'd disappeared around the corner, into the lobby. When they were out of sight, she sighed and leaned against the wall.

"I hope Gaius doesn't do anything to make that poor kid brother of his hate him," she said, frowning deeply.

Arden and Gimpy left the lab, passing by the sunny girl at the counter who cheerfully bid them farewell. Arden craned his neck around, looking for the gym, once they were outside. Spotting the large building, he made toward it with his blastoise shuffling along behind him. "She was a nice lady, Elara, wasn't she?" asked Arden.

"Blas," said Gimpy, nodding.

"I wonder if everyone in Gaius' gang is like that—nice and all," said the young trainer as he walked along. "That'd be kinda strange, wouldn't it? A gang full of nice delinquents. I can't imagine what they'd do… Forcibly assist old ladies with their groceries?"

They reached the gym, but the doors didn't open before them. Gimpy flattened his ears and looked around. "Blas?"

"Huh," said Arden. "I guess this gym doesn't have automatic doors. It is pretty far out of the way, I guess, so that makes sense… I guess."

He pressed on one of the doors, but it wouldn't budge. Frowning, he pulled, but the doors remained firmly closed. Gimpy tapped him on the shoulder and he turned to see the blastoise was pointing at a sign taped onto the inside of the door. Arden leaned forward and read it aloud. "The gym leader is out." Arden scowled, "Out? Out where? When's he coming back?!"

"Blas bla," said Gimpy.

"I know it can't answer," said Arden, crossing his arms. "Man, this blows…"

He uncrossed his arms and knocked on the door. "Hey, excuse me?" he yelled. "Is there someone inside there? Hey?"

Gimpy clicked one nail against the glass, where the sign was taped up. "Bla blastoise oise blas."

"I know! I read it, genius," said Arden, leaning against the doors. A dilapidated building on a rocky rise above them caught his eye and he straightened up again. "Hey, look at that. What d'you suppose it is?"

The blastoise looked where his trainer gestured. "Blastoise?" he said, flattening his ears.

The building looked as though it had been abandoned for a very long time—it was little more than rotting and burnt timber which had the semblance of a building. Arden asked, "Do you think that's the sort of place strong pokemon might hang out?"

"Blas."

"You're lying. You just don't want to check it out."

Gimpy shrugged. "Blastoise."

Arden started forward as the pokemon stayed behind, watching him. The boy stopped and turned around. "Hey—come on," he said, putting his hands on his hips. "Where ever I go you have to go, too. It's a rule. A pokemon rule."

"Blas?" asked Gimpy. 'Why?'

"You just have to!" said Arden. "This is how it works. Stop being a coward, because we're going into that structurally unsound and creepy building and we're going now."

The blastoise grabbed hold of the gym doors and shook his massive head. "Toise!" objected Gimpy.

"Fine," said Arden, furrowing his brow. He crossed his arms tightly over his chest. "Then I'll go without you. And you're gonna be here all alone. And you're going to miss me and you're going to be all sad and lonely, and if I find leprechaun gold up there, you don't get any. Hell, if I find cookies, you don't even get any of those. Because you're a coward and you wouldn't come."

"Blas," said Gimpy, waving goodbye to the young trainer.

Arden glared at him flatly. "Oh, you are insufferable," he said. "Fine. Be seein' you later, ingrate. I've got plenty of pokemon willing to pick up your slack when you're not around."

Gimpy watched him march off toward the burned mansion, half-amused and half-concerned. The blastoise didn't go after him, however—he was tired of strange places and battling strange pokemon, and he was sure that, whatever was there, Arden could handle it. The pokemon took a seat next to the gym to wait for his trainer's return.