Chesema Town laid about two miles north-west of Mitis town, and was substantially larger. It was famed for it's legendary Gale Forest on the northern edge of the town, in which many rare Pokémon lived. Unlike most smaller towns, it had a fully maintained Pokémon Center, and a route leading to Silvent city in the far east, the town beniting from the tourism that it received due to its

Bronze, heeding the calculating Professor's advice, had roamed around town, looking for a woman with a penchant for rare items and artifacts and a shop that collected and sold such things. After getting a lemonade from the the local Cragrock Coffee, he had gone to the western edge of town, where he had found quarter of the small hamlet where a number of merchant shops sold their wares.

After searching for several minutes amid the obnoxiously packed streets, he saw a shop that proudly declared:

Linda's Oddities and Trinkets. Closed.

Sell Price is dependent on the perceived rarity of said item, and its function.

Come and Identify Curiosities of All Sorts.

Bronze checked the door, and seeing that it was unlocked, he assumed that the proprietor was still in the building. Inside, lines and lines of stuffy shelves bore many strange items and artifacts, Poke Balls, although there was little tht Bronze did not recognize. His father had taught him the nature of all sorts of things, from ancient weaponry to magic-imbued robes.

Picking up a Logarian dagger, Bronze admired the smithwork of the ancient weapons, one of the few salvaged before the Fall of Logaria. Next to it was a ancient Kalosi spatha, the chosen weapon of the legions of the Rumhoth empire. A Nurian scimitar lay still upon a pedestal, next to another strange, wicked-looked warscythe, with the display plate saying that it was found in a tunnel in Fiore. As strange as it was, Bronze could sense a tangible enmity between the warscythe and the Logarian dagger, as if they hated each as fiercely as a consuming flame.

"Hey, it's a Saturday!" Yelled a female voice from behind a shelf. "No admissions, sellers, well-wishers, or distant relations! Out! Out!"

"Cypress sent me, miss." Bronze replied. "I have something he said you could identify. Really, I have had a strange past two days, and I would rather like for you to just do this simple favor for me. I won't stick around if you don't want me to."

A woman of about thirty, sharp and angular, stepped from behind the desk in a large, orange coat with a lumberjack pattern shirt and jeans. Her hair was dark, with a few purple streak here and there. Either a genetic trait or hair dye.

"Really?" She said, dusting off a counter that didn't need cleaning. "Cypress? Well, kid, I am known as Linda, and I maintain this fine establishment. What is this object you wish for me to examine? Cover charge is a hundred units, but throw in a extra ten since I had a burnt coffee a few minutes ago."

Bronze pulled the Brick from his bag, and held it in front of Linda. With the other hand, he gave her fifty-five units. "You get the other half once I get my item identified."

"Hmmm..." She said, taking the Brick and weighing it on a few metal scales, and testing its characteristics with a variety of sensor devices. "Very, very curious...it has a feel of power. Raw power. Let me go over this with the Silph Co. Detector..."

With that, she took the Brick over to a machine with several lenses and metallic sensors covering it. To Bronze, it looked like a very cruel device, and could have had some serious aesthetic improval. After placing the brick in a plastiglass case, she leaned over a sensor scope and looked at the brick, while reading the data output.

"Odd, it seems to be emitting some kind of...primal energy, sort of like what they use to resurrect intact fossils. It doesn't have a source or even a definable mass, for Arceus. I would assume it is some evolutionary trigger for a Pokémon, but it doesn't have any kind of morphogenic signature that is so common with Evolutionary Stones. The readings seem to say one thing and change the next second. Frankly, it seems very unstable. Where did you get this thing, anyway?"

Bronze stayed quiet, not wishing to reveal the source of the object's origin to a complete stranger. He held out the rest of the payment, and dropped into a mahogany counter. "Thank you for your time and patience, ma'am. May I have my Brick?"

Linda stayed where she was. "You know," She said, grinning wider by the second. "This is a artifact with quite a lot of potential. It could be used for very, very many things. In a sense, it could perform many functions that some shady actors would like to be able to do. Interestingly, I know some people who would use that for themselves..."

With that, she ran out the moldering back door.

Bronze bolted after her, but tripped on a sack of berries, falling into a shelf. Although regrettable, physical feats were not his specialty. Dazed, he got back up, but realized that Linda was already likely to be far away. She knew the town, he did not, except for the occasional times he had visited any settlement farther north than Mitis.

Furious, Bronze ran out the back door, but saw nothing. Stark, mocking, nothingness, with no signs of thieves or bricks made of bronze. Taking the Logarian dagger as a final respite, Bronze walked back to the fountain in the town square, sat down, and thought.

What had happened? Why would a friend of Cypress turn out to be nothing but a thief? She wouldn't take it for money. Many valuable items were in the shop, and if she needed quick cash, she could pawn any one of them. Did she want to give it to her unscrupulous higher employers? Regardless, the last remaining piece of his parents before they left was gone...perhaps they would give him a lesson when he saw them again about keeping track of his things. Heh.

"Hey, Bronze!"

A familiar voice yelled from somewhere behind him. Bronze looked up and turned to see Jake, walking toward him with a ignorant, concerned look. "Hey, are you alright? Why are you moping by the fountain? You have work to do, don't you?"

"Listen, Jake, old buddy old pal, my Bronze Brick just got stolen! So, please go away, and let me wallow in misery for a while! I've had a rather poor past few days, and I can't see any signs of improvement coming up! That woman took it, and now its gone."

Jake looked puzzled. "What woman?"

"Mid-thirties? Dark hair? Jeans, lumberjack shirt? Jake, it doesn't matter. She's gone. I should let bygones be bygones, I suppose. She is probably flying to Kanto for all I know! Logic demands it."

"Oh." Jake stood still, scratching his head. "You know, I saw a woman who looked like that run into Gale Forest through the northern archway-"

Bronze was already running.

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After passing through the yawning arch that marked the entrance to the thick, vibrant forest, he spotted a man with a Metapod and sun hat. Sure enough, he was almost certainly a trainer wandering through, a bug catcher by the looks of him.

"Sir, did you see a woman run past here?" Bronze asked, giving such a rapid description that the man had to strain to hear.

"Sure did." the man replied. "Ran right on that path just there yonder! You know maybe I could have a battle-"

With one fluid motion, Bronze sent out Charmander, and with a single fiery swipe it blasted the Metapod unconscious. Bronze was already desperate, his emotion flooding into his battling, although still he maintained a control on his wild rage, making him even more dangerous to any foe.

Bronze raced through a grassy clearing, through a circular grove of trees, and found himself in a dead end, with large, sheer rock walls on a sides, with a single minivan parked conspicuously above the wet plain. After a quick take, Bronze realized that Linda was trying to climb the walls to reach the vehicle, without much success.

Trying the sophisticated route, Bronze called a challenge up to her, knowing that almost no one could stand to be mocked. "Come down! Or perhaps you are too afraid to challenge a mere boy?"

Linda dropped to the ground with a pronounced thud, and turned to face Bronze. "Well, kid. You found me. Heh, looks like I got myself in a dead end. If I had only taken a left a few turns ago...it shouldn't matter anyway. Listen, you are just a fresh new trainer. There is no way that you can beat me...a member of Team Eclipse!"

Bronze almost reeled, but kept a straight face. Logically, this meant that Team Eclipse either wanted the Bronze Brick, or Linda was just going to give it to them, regardless. Clearly, Linda was a lower level grunt, spilling secrets as freely as she just did.

"Sure, ma'am." Bronze said, his voice dripping with uttermost contempt. "Perhaps you will find that you have underestimated me...and you might want to check your wording."

The woman's eyebrow twitched, and then she sent out her Pancham. Bronze sent out Charmander. The battle began.

Bronze knew the Pancham was definitely a higher level, so he had Charmander try to maximize the amount of hits over dodging. The opposing Pokémon was slower, so Charmander was able to cut and graze it while avoiding it's punches to a acceptable degree. Linda made a gesture of command once it became obvious the Pancham was tiring, and suddenly it stood still, concentrating deeply.

Bronze took the opportunity to order Charmander to send a few Embers at the enemy, which collided, clearly harming the opposing Pokémon greatly. However, Pancham still remained stoic.

Charmander leaped into the air ready to deliver a volley of blows. Then Pancham suddenly moved with much greater speed than it had, and after dodging Charmander's assault, began raining hits.

"Focus Energy, kid. Always a good move in these situations." Linda said with a smirk. "Pancham, keep attacking!"

Bronze judged the situation. Charmander couldn't get any hits in, and was tiring fast. However, Pancham was extremely tired as well. If a single, powerful hit could be landed...

"By the way, kid, why should I check my 'wording'?"

"Because I am not just a fresh new trainer!" Bronze said. "I have studied Pokémon battles and practiced nearly my entire life, my lady. To whatever end, I will walk through fire to become a Champion! I will be the one to turn Roria around, because it is heading for disaster! Humanity needs to rise above political quibbles, and focus on larger threats. Never, ever underestimate a Pokedex Holder!"

Bronze grabbed a item from his bag and tossed it to Charmander, who caught it. As Pancham was mid-attack, bearing down on the lizard's head, Charmander suddenly whipped out of range, and launched a powerful ember at the enemy Pokémon.

Pancham staggered, lolled about, and finally fainted.

Linda was in total shock. "What...how? I was going to beat you, fool!"

Bronze walked to Charmander, giving a pat, signifying a job well done as he held up the item in its hand. "Quick Claw. I knew I only had to get one more hit in." Bronze sprayed a potion on Charmander, healing it.

Linda turned to run, but Charmander jumped, seized the Bronze Brick from the woman's shirt pocket and brought it back to its trainer. Bronze bore the Logarian dagger, feeling the fighting spirit inside calling for blood.

"You beat me... ahhh, my lord will not be pleased..." Linda muttered with a palpable shudder, before running past Bronze into the forest.

Bronze could have followed her, but he decided to let her go. That fight would continue another day, and Bronze was never one to pursue escaped foes, if their Pokémon had been rendered defenseless. Getting her lawfully punished was more trouble than it was worth.

After recalling Charmander and sheathing the dagger, Bronze walked back to the Gale Forest entrance, ready to tell Jake about going to Silvent City, and participating in the first Rorian Gym Challenge.