Chapter 11

When I woke up the next morning, it was around Nine-thirty, which I thought was nothing until the memories of the previous night came back. Now that caused me to jump out of bed and dash to the bathroom, the door slamming shut behind me. Forty-five minutes later, I came out of the bathroom after taking a shower, putting my hair up into a ponytail. My attire for the day was a pair of flip-flops, my favorite pair of dark blue denim jeans that flared at the bottom and a white tank under a jean jacket. I looked at the clock on my night stand and my eyes widened. It was 10:15! I had less than 45 minutes to get to Devon Corp. that is if I knew where the building was, which I didn't.

So I quickly ran downstairs, got a pop tart for my breakfast on the go and then collected my pokemon from Nurse Joy. Just as I was about to leave the pokecenter doors, I stopped in my tracks. Nurse Joy! I spun around and returned to the counter where Nurse Joy had just looked up from her papers.

"Yes?" She smiled, looking at me. I burned under her gaze, feeling like a four year old child asking for a candy bar.

"Um…I'm not from around here and I was wondering if you knew where Devon Corp. was…." I said, grinning sheepishly, rubbing my hand on my neck.

"Sure, you just turn left and head to the road. You head back towards the Gym and Devon Corp. is right across the road to it." She smiled, as I stared at her.

"Is it a skyscraper?" I asked, though I knew the answer already.

"Yes."

"I am blind." I declared, shaking my head. "Thanks!" I then took off out the doors and down the street back towards the Pokemon gym. Coming up to the gym I looked across the street and spotted the towering brown building that I somehow didn't connect with being the Devon Corp. building. I walked across the street after making sure that I wouldn't get hit and walked in to the front…cement yard of the building. I spotted Harvey by the front doors, most likely waiting for me to get there.

"Ashley!" Harvey called from his position, waving his hand in the air. I ran the rest of the way to him, afraid that if I walked I would be even later. And I know that Head people of companies did NOT like being kept waiting.

"I'm sorry Harvey, I got lost." I said simply, smiling a little.

"It' alright, you're here now, so let's get going." He said simply, waving me to follow him into the building.

We walked inside and I began looking around like I was a kid in a candy store. I had never been in a building like this before; the Secretary's desk was at the back wall, right in front of the doors so that whoever was working would be able to see who was coming and going. Some trees littered the floor in a few corners with a few couches so that people could wait until they were called on for a meeting or until their shift started. Then over on the far right I saw a stair case that led both up and down. An Elevator was on our immediate left. We went towards the stairs.

Harvey led the way as we walked up the set of stairs, and then we came to a door. The Door had the sign 'Lab 1' marked on it. We walked right on in, and I got a sight of what Devon Corp. was making at the moment. Harvey was leading me through the throng of scientists and lab assistants as I looked at the machines. One of the machines that caught my interest was one that was in the back corner nearest to the staircase that we had just vacated. It was a tall machine that had wires everywhere, but a platform was in the center of the contraption with an amber dome that seemed to cover it. That was as much as I could study it before we walked up another set of stairs, and this time we came to a plat form that had the sign 'Mr. Stone' written on it.

"Alright, you're going to have to wait here a minute so that I can tell Mr. Stone that you're here." Harvey said as he opened the door quietly. I stood out on the platform for what seemed like a minute or two, studying my shoes and the underside of the stairs that led to higher levels of the building, before Harvey came back and said I was allowed in.

"Good Luck, He said to me before he closed the door. I quickly swallowed my nerves and looked around quickly. It was a rather large office with couches and a desk with a few display cases with special stones in them. That was about as much as I got in before I walked up to the desk where Mr. Stone sat.

"Mr. Stone?" I asked hesitantly.

The man looked up from the paper that he was signing and smiled, "Ah, you must be Ashley that I heard about. From what I gather, you've been a real help to Harvey and I, with the Goods I mean of course. So I thank you for what you did." He said smiling at me.

"Oh, it was no problem, sir." I replied, probably just making the whole thing with Team Aqua seem like a simple Lost and found reward for a puppy.

"From what it seems to me, it is a problem with Team Aqua now. And I am sorry that you had to get involved with the matters. You don't need to deal with them-"

"It's alright Sir, I moved here from Kanto, so I'm used to Terrorist groups." I said, putting the whole situation lightly.

"That may be so but still….you shouldn't have been involved. Though What I'm going to ask of you is going to make me seem like a hypocrite." He said, looking over to the side before glancing back at me.

"And that would be…?" I asked, wanting to know what he wanted me to do.

"Well, I was wondering if you could deliver these Goods for me, as It seems that none of my Staff can do it as Team Aqua has managed to steal them from them already. The Goods belong to Captain Stern in Slateport by the way. That is of course, if you want to deliver them."

"Of Course. It wouldn't be a problem." I said, after all it's not like I have a curfew.

"Great, and also, along the way, I was wondering if you could drop this letter off in Dewford."

"No that's fine, I'm challenging the gym leaders now, and I guess the next one is in Dewford, so that was going to be my next stop anyway." I told him.

"Thank you so much. And, I hope this will do for all the troubles that we have caused you." Mr. Stone said, pulling out one of his drawers and taking hold of a blue colored electronic device. A Pokenav.

"Oh, you don't have to pay me any-" I began to say, only to get cut off.

"I Insist, you're doing both me and the company a huge favor, and I won't take it back. Plus you may need it later. I want you to call me when you get both the package and the letter delivered so that I won't be having my hair turning white on me." He joked; I gave a small laugh before pocketing the Pokenav, letter, and the Goods in my bag that was on my hip.

"Thank you for the Pokenav, sir" I said, smiling after looking back up at him.

"Don't thank me, as I just said, you're doing us a huge favor. And you don't have to call me 'sir', I feel older than I am when you say that." He grinned, causing me to laugh again before I said goodbye and left. I soon followed the path that Harvey and I had made and left the building all together. The Sun was directly above me, signaling it to me that it was noon.

"Ashley!"

At my name being called, I saw May over on the sidewalk, waving to me to head over to her. So, just to irk her, I walked over at a slow pace. She seemed ready to explode when I finally stood right beside her.

"You rang?" I drawled, raising an eyebrow.

"Guess what! Guess what!" She almost screeched as she bounced up and down, an face splitting Grin stretched wide on her face.

"I would guess that you had roughly six bottles of Five hour energy, but I feel that that's nowhere near the correct answer. So tell me what's up." I said.

"I got my first badge!" She all but screamed.

I blinked a little and then slapped my ear for a bit, "I'm sorry, could you say that…oh I don't know…a little bit LOUDER!" I shouted at her sarcastically, shaking my head to get the bells out of it.

"Sorry, I didn't think that it would come out that loud." She smiled sheepishly.

"Anyway, congrats on the win. You're a step closer at becoming a champion. That is of course, if you want to become one." I Said as I saw May look away slightly at the mention of becoming a trainer.

"I don't know what I want to be really."

"That's fine, no one should have to plan out their career at 11 or 12 years old." I said, starting to walk down the street with May walking slightly behind me. It became silent between us, but that was fine as it wasn't an awkward silence. Soon enough we were walking through the double sliding doors of the pokecenter. May headed towards the Front Desk to hand over her pokemon while I went to a couch and table to write a quick letter.

After finishing said letter, I got up and stretched my back before walking to the counter and taking out my room keys, "Nurse Joy?"

The nurse looked up from behind a pile of papers that probably needed a signature, "Yes?"

"I'm leaving today, so I'm returning my key if that's alright." I said, handing over the key.

"but don't you need to get your things from the room?" She asked, puzzled as she held the keys in her hand.

"Nope, I have everything already with me." I told her.