Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon.

'Buneary, use Jump Kick again!'

The Rabbit Pokemon once again used the move that she had been using all battle, to great effect. Nosepass toppled onto its back, defeated.

'Nosepass is unable to battle. Buneary wins, and the winner is Gloria!' announced the referee.

Gloria was elated and excited, but more than that she felt relieved, more so than she could ever remember feeling. Part of her had worried that she'd be stuck here forever, never able to beat Roxanne. Her team wasn't exactly great at the moment; Buneary was definitely strong, but Gloria got the feeling that the Rabbit Pokemon hated her guts. It didn't help that she also had a type disadvantage against both this Gym and the Fighting-type Gym in Dewford, which was the one everyone kept recommending to go to next.

Meanwhile, Feebas was, in its current state, essentially a Magikarp. After hours of training it had finally learned Tackle, but the thing was still practically useless. Gloria hoped to find a Prism Scale soon, if possible. She could probably buy one – she certainly had the money – but she felt an inexplicable desire to somehow earn it; find one for herself, or maybe win one as a prize after a battle. Why did she feel this way? She couldn't really explain, and she didn't like thinking about the question, so she avoided doing so.

And right now, not thinking about it was remarkably easy – she had just won her first Gym battle! She walked up to the center of the arena where Roxanne was waiting for her.

'So,' said Roxanne, 'you beat me. It seems I still have much more to learn.'

...Wait, didn't she say exactly the same thing to Bryce yesterday? Like, verbatim?

Roxanne awarded her with the Stone Badge, as well as the TM for Rock Tomb, which Gloria couldn't use right now since none of her Pokemon were able to learn it. She congratulated Gloria on successfully utilizing type advantage with Jump Kick against her Rock-types.

It was true that Jump Kick was probably the only reason Gloria had managed to win the battle. She had been stuck, unsure of what she was to do. Watching Bryce's fight made it clear to her that having a type advantage was huge, so she figured she should do the same. But how? Catch a Shroomish, probably, but those things seemed to be incredibly elusive when you actually wanted one. But then something happened when she was training in the backyard with Buneary. Gloria was working with her on Pound, when Buneary, in a show of disobedience, used a different move instead, a move which Gloria realized she'd never seen her use before. A quick scan with the Pokedex confirmed that this move was Jump Kick, which Buneary had learned...at some point? Gloria wouldn't have been surprised if Buneary had learned it right then and there, in her eagerness to say 'screw you' to her Trainer. But Gloria was thankful for it all the same, because now she had an actual means of winning.

And now here she was, with a Stone Badge to show for it.

After walking back home with her parents and a quick check of her room to make sure she wasn't forgetting anything, she exchanged a teary goodbye with her parents (or at least, her parents were teary; Gloria was not, as she was of the opinion that tears were for the weak), and headed off, as Bryce had done yesterday.

So, to Dewford then? She was a little nervous at the prospect of starting her journey for real, on her own, having to sleep in random rooms in Pokemon Centers in random towns, or even in a tent in the woods, every night for the next while, but she steeled herself. Yes, to Dewford. The ferry was only a few minutes' walk from her house, and it should be open at this time of day (that being 10:07 am, according to Gloria's watch; she'd gone to the Gym early in the morning again).

As she was on her way, she was bumped into by someone running past. Turning around, she saw a figure in a red-hooded outfit running towards the city's main street, carrying a briefcase. She was promptly bumped into again, this time by a man in a lab coat, who appeared to be chasing after the red-hooded figure, yelling 'Hey! Those are Devon mechanical parts you've stolen!'. She looked where they had come from and realized she was currently standing by the entrance to the Devon Corporation headquarters; the two must have come from there.

Curiosity got the better of Gloria, and she walked to the main street to catch another glimpse of them. There they were, heading east out of the city, towards Route 116. Towards...Rusturf Tunnel? But didn't that cave in yesterday? It was all over the news. Which meant the route was currently a dead end. So why would the thief run there?

She followed them. Probably against her better judgment, but she was curious. The thief recklessly ran across side streets, without waiting for the light to turn red, which resulted in them putting significant distance between them and the scientist, who obeyed the traffic lights as a sensible person would. Gloria did the same as the scientist, following about half a block behind. By the time they reached Route 116, the thief had disappeared into the flora. Seeing this, the scientist stopped, seemingly in defeat, but Gloria decided to press on. After all, this route was a dead end, right? It wasn't like the guy had anywhere to go. As she passed the scientist, she heard him muttering something that sounded distinctly like 'Mr. Stone's gonna kill me…'.

After about forty minutes of reasonably fast walking, Gloria was almost at the Rusturf Tunnel, with only a small area of extremely tall grass left to traverse. Suddenly, a figure sprang out from the grass and crashed right into Gloria, knocking her down onto her backside. It was the thief! He'd gotten the worst of the collision, and she got to her feet before he could.

Gloria wasn't sure what to say to this man. 'You've taken something that isn't yours!'? Yeah, like he didn't already know that. Battle him right away? But what if, somehow, she'd totally misread the whole situation? So she instead pointed to the briefcase and said, 'What's that for?'

The thief looked at the briefcase, then looked at Gloria as though she'd just announced the name of his crush in front of the whole of Rustboro, and said, 'You got it all wrong, ma'am! I'm just...I don't know! I've done nothing wrong!'

Did he have any idea how suspicious he looked right now? Even at face value, he'd just said that in response to her simply asking about 'his' briefcase.

'Then why were you running?' she asked, calmly still, but not quite managing to keep a slight 'I think you're an idiot' tone out of her voice.

'Grrr...Ah, screw this!' yelled the thief. Taking a Poke Ball from his belt, he continued, 'Come on, Electrike, let's take her down and make our getaway!' before sending the Pokemon out.

Gloria would have loved to quickly scan Electrike with her Pokedex, but she didn't have time right now. She sent out Buneary.

'Oh, this is going to be easy. Electrike, use Thunder Wave!' bellowed the thief. Electrike let out a surge of electricity that enveloped Buneary, before subsiding after a second or so. Buneary emerged, seemingly unaffected.

Gloria wasn't sure if the move had inflicted some kind of effect on her Pokemon that she couldn't see, but she decided to proceed as normal anyway. 'Use Jump Kick!' she ordered.

Buneary leapt up into the air and deftly drop-kicked Electrike right on the top of its head. The Electric-type was forced into a spread-eagled prone position as it skidded backwards due to the force of the attack.

'What the hell?! How'd that not paralyze it?!' yelled the thief incredulously. This made Gloria remember what Thunder Wave actually was: a status move that paralyzed the opponent. So the thief had a point; how was Buneary able to walk away, completely unaffected?

She then remembered what Brendan, Professor Birch's assistant had said to her when she'd first been given the Rabbit Pokemon: 'It's got its Hidden Ability, too.' Buneary's Hidden Ability, as she'd found out from scanning her that day, was Limber, which made her immune to paralysis! And here it was, already making itself useful!

Deciding to leave the thief in the dark about this, she continued, 'Buneary, use Jump Kick again!' Buneary jumped in the air again, ready to land another kick.

'Electrike, use Quick Attack!' yelled the thief. The Electric-type intercepted Buneary in mid-air and landed its attack, throwing Buneary off-course – and sending her crashing straight into the ground. The Rabbit Pokemon suffered significant damage, while Electrike came away unscathed.

'Buneary, use Pound!' ordered Gloria. But Buneary wasn't having it; she turned around to face Gloria, gave what was unmistakably a scoff, and turned and walked off in a seemingly random direction.

'Oh come on! Now's not the time to be defiant!' yelled Gloria, but Buneary simply gave her the – did she seriously just give me the middle finger? thought Gloria – and continued walking. Apparently she didn't appreciate her own Jump Kick being used against her, and was blaming her trainer. The two had never truly gotten along that well… Gloria looked at the thief, who was trying (and barely succeeding) to stop himself from bursting into fits of laughter.

This was a tricky situation. Feebas didn't stand a chance in any kind of battle right now, and Buneary was currently throwing a tantrum. She had to get Buneary back on task, and quickly, or the thief would escape! But how to do this? Think, think, think! Well, if the Rabbit Pokemon wasn't willing to listen to reason, maybe something else?

'I can get you a massage back in Rustboro, if you just keep battling!' Gloria called to her Pokemon, who turned her head to look at her trainer, but didn't move.

'And...and I'll buy you a couple of Poke Puffs! I promise! But only if you listen to me! Get back in the battle! Please?' Gloria added. Seemingly enticed by this last offer, Buneary turned around fully and ran back to where it had been, between Gloria and Electrike. The thief stopped holding back laughter, and upon the realization that he had been too busy doing that to realize that he had a golden opportunity to escape, now looked rather furious with himself.

Feeling like she'd just sold her soul, and questioning whether it was at all worth it, Gloria said, 'Okay. Use Pound!' Buneary crashed into Electrike, dealing damage.

'Use Quick Attack!' yelled the thief. Electrike charged at Buneary, quickly reaching blindingly fast speed. But Gloria realized, she had an opportunity.

'Dodge it and use Jump Kick!' said Gloria. Buneary jumped high in the air, avoiding the Quick Attack, then came crashing down, right foot first, onto Electrike, just as it stopped. Electrike was thrown onto its side and skidded a few meters, eyes looking like swirls.

'Yes! YES! We won!' started Gloria, but then, upon remembering that the thief was right there, she quickly cleared her throat and said, 'Uh, I mean, you've been defeated! Now, what's in that briefcase?!' All the while, Buneary turned around to look at her trainer, on her face the most smug look Gloria had ever seen.

'Graah! Okay, fine! Here's the stupid Devon Parts!' the thief shouted, practically throwing the case at Gloria, before running off towards Rustboro. But he barely made it ten meters before he ran headfirst into someone who had just emerged from the nearby trees. The scientist who had originally been chasing him!

'Ah, caught you! Now where are the Devon Parts?!' said the scientist.

Gloria raised her hand. 'Uh, they're right here. I've got them, sir.'

Gloria sat down in the chair as instructed. She was used to fancy-looking interiors, given her upbringing, but she'd never been to the Devon Corporation CEO's office before. Truth be told, she wasn't entirely sure how she'd ended up in this situation.

'Allow me to introduce myself,' said the man in the expensive-looking suit. 'I'm Mr. Stone, the president of the Devon Corporation.' Gloria was expecting him to ask for her name in turn, but instead he continued. 'I heard just now we have quite a bit to thank you for. You got our Devon Parts back from that Team Magma grunt. They're essential to our latest project! I don't know what we'd have done without you.' Gloria nodded, feeling a little hot in the face. Team Magma? She remembered that name, from the news a couple days ago. Would explain the weird outfit...

'There's a favor I'd ask of a reliable Trainer like you,' he continued. Now I want you to know I'm a president you can trust. I'd never be so mean as to ask a favor for nothing in return. For what you've done, and for this favor, I'll offer a generous sum of money. Here, I'll even pay you in advance!' He pulled several bills from his wallet; the amount was nothing to sneeze at. Gloria, being part of one of the richest families in the region, really didn't need the money, but flustered as she was, she accepted it anyway, with a barely audible 'thank you'.

'I want to ask you to deliver this letter,' said Mr. Stone, handing her an envelope, 'to a man named Steven. You should find him in Dewford.' Steven? He didn't mean the Steven Stone? Wait...wasn't this man Steven Stone's father? So it must be… 'I also want to ask you to deliver those Devon Parts to Captain Stern, in Slateport. Would you do these things for me?'

'S-sure,' said Gloria. 'I'll do it.'

'Thank you,' said Mr. Stone. 'I'm counting on you, young lady!'

Dewford. Right. That was convenient enough, since it was where she was going, anyway. In fact, Slateport was probably where she was going after Dewford anyway as well. She was now just going to do some errands along the way.

But first…

Now chowing down on a Poke Puff, and having received an apparently satisfactory massage, Buneary somehow looked even more smug than she had a few hours ago. Gloria had already made quite the dent in the payment she'd received from Mr. Stone. She still couldn't quite believe she'd stooped this low, just to win one battle. She vowed to never have to do this again.

Also on Buneary's side of the picnic table, Feebas was munching on its own Poke Puff as well; Gloria decided it was only fair for the Fish Pokemon to get some too, burning through even more cash in the process. It didn't look smug like Buneary did, but Gloria suspected that this was more so because Feebas couldn't contort their faces the way humans and most Pokemon could. Gloria herself was eating a rather fancy salad; she usually preferred to have cooked Magikarp on the side as well, but she felt it would be extremely awkward if she was eating cooked fish Pokemon while sitting right next to another fish Pokemon.

It was 3:45 pm, so the ferry would still be open for a few more hours. Gloria had been planning to head to Dewford much earlier in the day, but she felt this was a welcome detour. As embarrassed as she was at having to spoil Buneary like this, she couldn't help but feel like this lunch they were having together was a bonding experience. Hopefully, if Buneary liked her more in general, she'd actually listen to her commands and not go on strike mid-battle. Buneary was proving to be a very strong Pokemon, so if they could get even a basic level of chemistry down, things would hopefully be looking up.

They'd be leaving for Dewford pretty much as soon as the bill was paid. Gloria was determined to catch up to Bryce, ideally sooner rather than later. She wondered where he was right at this moment...

Bit late, eh? Sorry about that.