Author's Note: Eh. Somehow I both like and dislike this chapter… Oh well.
The Aqua Grunt and Devon Researcher return. Oh, and Devon Researcher has a name now. (Gasp!)
Chapter Nine: Vs Poochyena II!
Lynnie grinned as she exited the gym, running her fingers over her new Stone Badge. She decided to do a bit more sightseeing before leaving Rustboro and started back towards the Pokémon Center.
That and some food would be nice. Lynnie sighed as her stomach growled. The shopping would have to unfortunately wait until after she stopped at the Pokémon Center.
Stretching, Lynnie closed her eyes as she walked back towards the Pokémon Center. Consequently, she wasn't quite prepared when she crashed into something moving.
"H-hey, you! Get out of the way!"
Suddenly, a blur dashed past Lynnie, knocking her over. Crossing her eyes and dusting herself off, she stood back up to see a blue-and-black clad man rushing away with a silver briefcase in hand. A feeling of nostalgia washed over her as she recognized him from Petalburg Woods.
"No way," Lynnie muttered. "You just have to come back and…"
The man smirked over his shoulder, his eyes almost mocking, "Too bad!" He tossed a small object onto the ground, which promptly exploded into a cloud of smoke. Coughing, Lynnie tried to wave some of the said smoke out of her eyes, and by the time she could see clearly again, the man was gone.
"Well, that just wasn't fair," Lynnie complained, folding her arms. "But I guess I shouldn't have expected that."
"Um, miss?"
"Now what…"
Lynnie turned around to see the Devon Researcher she'd met in Petalburg Woods. He'd folded his hands behind his back and was concentrating a bit more on the pavement than Lynnie.
"Oh, hi," Lynnie grinned. "You're that Shroomish guy!"
He laughed nervously. "Um, yes. But…"
"But that guy," Lynnie jerked her thumb over her shoulder. "Right?"
"Right," he answered sheepishly. "I hate to impose again, but…"
"Well, do you want me to just go, or should you come with me?" Lynnie asked.
"If you want to… there's really only the tunnel project that he could have gone through," the Devon employee answered. "You really can't miss it."
"Okay, gotcha," Lynnie grinned, and turned around, heading back in the direction of the gym.
"Um, miss. The tunnel project's east of here, not north…"
"I… I knew that."
Sighing, Lynnie corrected herself and headed towards the eastern gate of Rustboro…
- - -
"Ow."
For what seemed like the millionth time, Lynnie tripped over a stone in the uneven ground. Rustboro was north of a forest for crying out loud. Why did the eastern landscape have to be so rocky anyway?
Picking some of the clay-like soil off of her sleeve, Lynnie stood back up and sighed. Not only did her sense of direction fail, but so did her coordination. At least there couldn't be that much farther to go…
And fortunately, soon enough she spotted a cave entrance in a gradually sloping mountain. Lynnie gulped—caves made her rather nervous.
Ducking through the short entrance, she shivered slightly. The air was somewhat misty, and the low temperature didn't help any. Squinting through the mist, she tried to feel along the wall, ignoring the condensation numbing her fingers as best as she could.
Lynnie was actually doing fairly well, until she tripped again. Landing flat on her face, she grumbled to herself as she tried to stand back up.
"Shame. The ground's a nice place for you. Keeps you out of the way and all."
"Uh, hi there," Lynnie tried as she heard the thief.
"I really don't have time for this again, you know," he snapped. "So why don't you just—"
"Which I suppose is why you're hanging out in an unfinished tunnel," Lynnie giggled, noticing a solid wall behind the man.
"Shut up," he muttered. "Just because I'm stuck here doesn't mean I don't have a back up plan, and…"
"Wingull!"
A small white bird interrupted his sentence, flapping its wings nervously. The thief glared.
"I can't even steal a useful Pokémon," he muttered.
"Well, hey, how about we have a battle then?" Lynnie suggested. "If I win, you get to get rid of Wingull, but I get that thing you stole."
"And if I win?" The man raised an eyebrow.
"Don't worry, you won't."
"You arrogant—!" the man shouted, grabbing his Pokéball. "Go, Poochyena! Teach this brat a lesson!"
"Hey!" Lynnie retorted. "Come on, Skipper!"
Skipper appeared next to Lynnie's feet as the Poochyena barked. The thief simply smirked as the Mudkip cocked her head to the side.
"Heh. Use Bite, Poochyena!"
"Water Gun!"
Poochyena quickly leapt forward, bearing its fangs and Snarling. Skipper shot a retaliatory blast of water just in time, sending the dark-type skidding backwards. Shaking itself off, the Poochyena growled.
"Weak," the man hissed. "Use Tackle and don't miss this time!"
"You use Tackle too," Lynnie called.
The two Pokémon charged forward and crashed into each other. Both of them fell backwards after the impact. Skipper slowly raised herself back onto her feet as Poochyena panted.
"Try a Mud Slap now, Skipper!"
"No—Poochyena, Bite again!"
Poochyena weakly raised itself onto its feet and stumbled forward. Skipper quickly dug her feet into the rocky dirt of the cave and shot it towards the other Pokémon. Caught off guard, Poochyena tried to shake the dirt out of its face with little success.
"All right, finish it with another Tackle!" Lynnie countered.
Skipper once again leapt towards the Poochyena, knocking it back to its trainer's side. Grumbling, the thief withdrew his Pokémon.
"Why again?" he growled. "Fine, just take the goods and leave me alone, will you? I'll get docked for being so weak anyway. It's not like the boss won't get what he wants in the end…"
With that, he dropped another smoke bomb. Coughing and blinking as she withdrew Skipper, Lynnie waved the smoke away, and he was gone again. She then sighed and knelt down next to the Wingull, who was flitting timidly around the briefcase.
"I guess the best I can do is turn you in," she muttered, reaching for a Pokéball. "Here…"
"W-wingull!" it stammered, and nervously blasted her with a Water Gun.
Lynnie crossed her eyes. "Just… my… luck."
- - -
"Here."
Lynnie handed the surprisingly light briefcase to the Devon researcher as she returned to Rustboro City. He grinned thankfully.
"This is amazing," he said, truly sounding like he meant it. "Let me take you to the Corporation. I'm sure the president would like a word with you, miss, um…"
"Lynnie."
"Miss Lynnie," he corrected himself. "All right then!"
"Hey, wait!" Lynnie cried, jogging to keep up. The man had a surprisingly quick pace…
- - -
Lynnie sighed as she sat down in Devon Corporation's red-carpeted lobby. The researcher had headed upstairs a few minutes ago to speak with the president and requested that she wait downstairs. Unfortunately, there were no chairs, so she had to sit on the floor.
She boredly tossed the Wingull's Pokéball back and forth between her hands. She'd eventually managed to coax it in, but still had no idea what to do with it.
Bored, Lynnie stood back up—and promptly hit her head on the glass case next to her. Crossing her eyes and rubbing her forehead, Lynnie read the description on a small engraving on the front of the case.
"Devon got its start as a producer of stones from quarries." Rock and metal fragments lay inside the case, and a small card read, "Samples donated by Steven Stone."
"Crys would love this place," Lynnie muttered. "But I wonder who Steven Stone is?"
"Lynnie, Mr. Stone is ready to speak to you now."
The researcher reappeared at the bottom of the stairs. Lynnie jumped, finding it ironic that the president's last name was Stone. He wasn't Steven, right…?
"Sure, but what about?"
"The goods, I think," he replied. "His office is up on the top floor."
"How many floors are there?"
"Ten—please keep up!"
Lynnie twitched slightly as she scrambled to keep up with him. The researcher explained the projects on each floor as they passed, but Lynnie was hardly paying attention; technicalities really bored her. She was vaguely interested, however, in a fossil regeneration project he mentioned when passing the sixth floor.
"Here we are," the researcher announced as they reached the top of the last staircase—the president's office apparently took up the entire floor. "She's here, Mr. Stone!"
"All right. Bring her here," a soft voice returned.
The researcher led Lynnie through the large room to a long desk at the opposite end. An elderly bearded man in a brown suit sat signing papers. He looked up as they approached, smiling.
"Ah, Lynnie, yes?" Standing up, he extended his hand. "I'm Lapis Stone. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Er, thanks," Lynnie replied, taking his hand.
After shaking her hand, he sat back down. "Well, let's get down to business then, shall we? It's come to my attention that you've helped recover some of our goods from a thug of one Team Aqua twice. If I'm not imposing, this is an important delivery that must be made to Slateport's shipyard, and I was hoping you could go."
"Well…" Confused, Lynnie pinched the bridge of her nose. "I mean, yeah, of course, but why?"
"Never mind the details," Mr. Stone replied, an odd tone in his voice. However, he bridged his fingers and smiled at her again. "Than you for agreeing to this, though. I have just one more thing to ask of you. There's a small island called Dewford on the way to Slateport. I need you to deliver a letter to a man named Steven waiting there."
"Um… Sure," Lynnie answered—as if she could say otherwise—but she was starting to get even more confused. How in the world would she get transport to there? And why was this Steven guy just hanging out in Dewford, anyway?
Mr. Stone nodded. "Very well. Oh, and…" He reached into a pocket in his suit and pulled out a small oval-shaped device. "Consider this a return gift. It's one of our recently developed PokéNavs—it's programmed with a map, among other things."
Looking it over a few times, Lynnie clipped it onto the strap of her bag, grinning. "Cool, sir!"
Mr. Stone grinned back as he watched her, apparently catching site of her Stone Badge at the same time. "You're welcome. And I think you'll be pleased to know that there's a gym in Dewford Town as well. Now then, the parts and letter are on the shelf near the door, and Jerry there will show you out. Good luck!"
Lynnie blinked, realizing he meant the man that had shown her in. Jerry creaked open the door, and Lynnie took the goods and the letter, thankful that whatever had been in the briefcase had been moved into a much smaller box.
Eventually, she arrived back on the first floor. Catching sight of the stone display in the lobby again, something clicked in her mind.
Mr. Stone wants me to take the letter to some Steven guy. Could he be the stone donator? They'd have the same last name then…
Lynnie shook her head. "Nah, I'm probably just thinking too much. It must be a coincidence, or something."
With that, Lynnie headed out of the building, whistling as she thought about her two deliveries and possible badge.