Arden saw the decrepit doors of the mansion close as he reached the bottom of the stairs. He rushed toward them and threw them open. Gaius was walking along the path, toward the town proper, with Quenelle beside him. "Gaius!" shouted Arden. His big brother stopped, but did not turn around. Arden reached him and stood silently, staring at the back of his brother's jacket. Quenelle turned to look at Arden, and his eyes were sad.
"Gaius," said Arden again.
Gaius' shoulders were stiff and his whole posture was unwelcoming. "Yeah?" he asked without turning around. He said the word as though it were the hardest thing in the world to say—as though the word were stuck in his throat, refusing to come out.
Arden scowled. "So, what—you're going to go away without a word and when I stop you, you won't even look at me?"
His shoulders slumping ever so minutely, Gaius turned his face slightly to his younger brother. "What?"
Arden wasn't used to being spoken in such short terms by his brother, and was slightly taken aback. "H-hey, don't say things like that to me—so brief and unsociable," he murmured. "And what do you think that was about? Just leaving like that, without a word? You didn't even apologize. You hurt all those pokemon and you broke Dixie's nose and you didn't apologize."
Gaius turned his face away again. "Did you like Dixie's nose?" he asked after a moment.
"I… guess. I don't really understand the question—"
"Then I'm glad I broke it," said Gaius, shoving his hands into his pockets. "He had it coming, anyway. Going around everywhere, looking like a hurt child. He's got an ugly heart and people with ugly hearts should have faces to match. It's only right."
"Hey, don't you talk that way about Dixie. Dixie's my friend."
"This is why I never let you have friends. You're bad at choosing them."
Arden glared at his brother's broad back. "You think you can say things like that just because you're my big brother?"
"I think I can say things like that because I care about you. Whether you like it or not. Whether you like me or not."
"Well you can't say things like that," spat Arden. "And if you actually cared, you'd let me live my own damn life and make my own mistakes!"
Gaius lowered his face. "I can't do that," he said. "If I do, you might get hurt. I don't want you to get hurt, ever." He turned around to face his little brother, and Arden could see that he was crying. "And then, all at once, I realized just now that I'm hurting you. You could have died just now, and I would've been the one to cause it. And that's unforgivable."
"Gaius…"
"It makes me sick—physically sick—to think of you ever getting hurt," continued Gaius. "And then… and then I realize, you are hurt and I'm the one who's hurting you. Every friend you might've had, I always ran off 'cause I was afraid for you. I can't stand the thought of someone ever breakin' your heart. You had no one and I was… I was glad, because you didn't have anyone but me. And I went right on tryin' to protect you from every one and everything without thinkin' 'bout it and when you said that you didn't need my help I just ignored you and I told myself 'he's just a kid. He doesn't know what's good for him and what isn't.' But that's not right. That was selfish and wrong and it makes me positively sick."
He rubbed the back of his head and turned his eyes toward the ground. "I'm sorry," he said. "I've been treatin' you bad. I'm sorry, and I don't deserve to be forgiven and… and I don't want to be forgiven either. Because even if you forgive me, it's not gonna make that alright. You suffered all this time 'cause I'm a selfish prick. Nothin' in the whole world can make that okay. I'm sorry, Arden."
Arden frowned. "I'm not mad at you," he said.
"Well you should be," said Gaius. "I tried so hard to keep you all to myself I… I hurt you so much." He turned away. "I'm gonna go see Elara, and then I'm headin' back to Johto. From now on, I'm gonna let you live your own life and let you make your own mistakes. Take care of yourself, bab—Arden."
Arden rushed forward and hugged his brother tightly around the waist, burying his face in Gaius' long leather jacket. Gaius reached back and ran his hand slowly through his little brother's hair. "Just… just watch out for yourself, 'kay, Arden?" Gaius could feel Arden nodding against his back. "You stay out of trouble, alright?" Arden nodded again and hugged his brother tighter. Gaius smiled down at the boy. "You're going to need to let go of me, Arden, or else I can't go…"
"I don't want you to go," said Arden, his voice muffled by Gaius' jacket. "Not like this—not all sad."
With a slight resistance from the younger brother, Gaius pulled out of the hug. He turned around and, kneeling one knee, Gaius pulled Arden to himself and hugged him tightly around the shoulders. Quenelle watched the two of them, his eyes smiling. "Take care, Arden," Gaius said softly. He released Arden and stood. With a nod to his tauros, Gaius started away once again. Hesitantly, Gimpy put his hand on Arden's shoulder.
Arden looked at the blastoise, and then at the rest of his pokemon, standing beyond, despite their injuries. "You guys…" he murmured, his voice wavering somewhat. Suddenly his eyes widened and he turned back around. "Gaius! Wait!"
Gaius paused and turned back. "Yeah?"
"Dixie's pokemon," said Arden. "I came out here to get them."
"Oh," said Gaius, digging into his pocket and pulling out four pokeballs. He tossed them one by one to Arden. "Give him my apologies. That other guy, too, I guess."
Arden nodded as Gaius walked on. Turning back to his pokemon, Arden sighed. "I almost forgot about these," he said. "That would've been embarrassing…"
He glanced at Thief and Cruelty who were licking each other's wounds and Fang, who was laying on Gentry's back, apparently unable to fly. "You guys…" murmured Arden. "You fought so hard… Now you're all hurt because of me. I'm sorry, guys. I'm sorry you guys have to get hurt because I'm not a good trainer."
"Chaaa," said Cruelty, shrugging as Thief bit on his ear softly. Narrowing his eyes, he smacked the persian's nose with one stubby hand. "Raiiicha."
Gentry put one paw on Arden's foot and looked up at him. "Niiido. Rino."
"You guys… Even though I don't understand what you say," Arden said, winding one arm around Gimpy's and petting Gentry's nose. "Something about the way you say stuff makes me feel hopeful. For your sakes, I'm going to keep trying."
"Blastoise," said Gimpy. If Arden had looked at the blastoise then, he would've seen him looking the happiest he ever had. But Arden didn't look.
"Alright," said Arden. "I guess I'll go take Dixie's pokemon back to him and then… we can all go get ice cream or something."
Fang looked up weakly at the mention of ice cream. "Crooooo," he said, flapping his wings feebly.
"You like sweet things?" asked Arden. The pokemon nodded. "Huh. That's something I never knew about you." He let go of Gimpy's arm and started back toward the mansion. The pokemon made to follow him, but he stopped and motioned for them to stay behind. "You're all pretty beat up. You guys should rest here. I'm only gonna be a minute, okay? Wait here."
The pokemon did as they were told and watched him go. "Do you think that's alright?" mumbled Gentry to the others. "Letting him go back there alone? What if those Rockets attack him…"
"They won't," said Gimpy.
"You sure?" asked Fang, laying limply across Gentry's back.
"I don't think that Dixie, at least, is a bad person," said Gimpy. "So if it came to that, I think he'd protect Arden."
"Arden protected him," said Gentry. "It'd only be right…"
"I don't think that's how it works," Fang muttered.
"Bruno isn't a bad pokemon," said Thief. "I spoke to him before. He's a… he's a good guy."
"You like him too much," said Cruelty. Thief bit down on his ear. "I said to knock that off!" The raichu smacked Thief's face again.
"But you're so tame now!" said Thief, rubbing his cheek against Cruelty's and grinning. "So tame! Where did all your barbarian's passion go?"
Cruelty narrowed his eyes. "I'm about to passion you right in the teeth," he growled.
"Oooh?" said Thief. "I'd like to see this! Your passion in my teeth—why that sounds slightly indecent, actually."
"Thief, stop trying to rile him up," sighed Gimpy, grabbing Thief by the ear.
"Nyaaaa! That hurts!" said Thief. "Let go!"
"Stop riling Cruelty up and I'll let you go," said Gimpy.
"But he's gotten so tame!" said Thief, looking at the raichu with clear amusement. Cruelty stared back at him flatly. "You've gotten so tame!"
"It—it is kind of true," mumbled Gentry meekly. Cruelty glared at the nidorino. "I-I-I like it though. I like you—er, I like you better now. B-but I did before. …please don't hurt me."
Cruelty snorted and crossed his stout little arms.
"It's because of when he went away to train," said Fang.
"Oh, yeah," said Gentry. "He got special training. …I want special training. How was it? Was it fun? Did you meet interesting pokemon?"
"Of course it wasn't fun," growled Cruelty. "He kept whipping me and then he didn't understand why I kept attacking him."
Thief bit down softly on Cruelty's ear, and was once again smacked in the nose. "You're so mean to me, Cruelty," said Thief, putting his paws on the raichu's shoulders and pushing him down. "But you know I love you any way."
"Mean to you? You're the one who's pushing him down and biting him," mumbled Gimpy. Gentry nodded in agreement.
"Hey," said Fang, sitting up. "Do you think Arden will really get us ice cream, or was that just one of those things he says—you know, the way he says things sometimes that are completely unprovoked and never come to pass?"
The pokemon were silent. Finally Gentry said, "He sounded serious."
"He sounded like he was joking," said Cruelty. "He just delivers jokes dryly."
"I think it's a moot point," Gimpy told them flatly. "After all, have any of you ever seen an ice cream parlor anywhere? There aren't any."
The pokemon were silent.
"I wanted ice cream," murmured Fang after some time.
"I want barbequed eel," said Gentry.
"I want that cake with the little strawberry slices in the icing," said Thief.
"I want aspirin," said Gimpy, putting one hand over his eyes and sighing.