Chapter Text
Laura’s first gym battle went surprisingly smoothly. The leader was a surly older man who looked like he belonged on an archaeological dig rather than in a Pokémon gym, and he used exclusively rock-type Pokémon in the battle. With Mudkip and a Seedot she’d captured earlier, Laura was able to win easily.
Laura admired the metal pin in her new badge case. There was space enough for seven more badges alongside it. She couldn’t wait to show the badge to Terry: she’d just arrived in town the previous day, and she’d already beaten the Gym Leader. She had no doubt that Terry would be impressed.
As she made her way to the Pokémon Center, she heard some shouts of distress from up the street. Several people turned to watch, and she followed suit. A man in red was running away from several men in business suits, a young boy among them.
“Steven!” shouted one of the businessmen, “You have a Pokémon, right? Send it after him!”
“Oh?” the man in red stopped, “If it’s a battle you want, I’ll take you up on it!”
The man in red threw a Pokéball, and a Poochyena appeared on the road in front of him.
“Uh…!” The grey-haired boy paused. Laura recognized him as the boy she’d met previously, in Petalburg Woods. He took a Pokéball from his pocket, “Um…! Beldum, go!”
He threw the Pokéball, and a one-eyed, metallic Pokémon popped from it.
“Poochyena, bite!”
“Uh!! Beldum… um…”
Poochyena did not wait for Steven to give a command; it ran forward and chomped down on Steven’s Pokémon. The Pokémon didn’t seemed too fazed by the attack–in fact, Poochyena leaped away and buried its snout in its paws. Beldum’s metal shell had hurt its opponent more than Poochyena had hurt it.
“If that won’t work… Poochyena, boost your attack power with Howl!”
Poochyena stood up and howled, pumping itself up for its next attack.
“Now, Beldum! Um…! Attack?”
“Steven, do you even know how to battle?” asked one of the businessmen. Steven hesitated, but then shook his head.
“I’m sorry!” he said, “I don’t know how…!”
“What a joke!” said the man in red. He recalled Poochyena, “Come back when you can put up a fight! Until then–hasta la vista!”
The man in red tore off again, leaving the businessmen and Steven standing in the road.
“We’ll never catch him without Pokémon to help us…” said the businessman who’d spoken earlier, “I guess that prototype is lost for good…”
“No!” said Steven, “We can still get it back! If we don’t, father will be…”
“But what can we do?”
“I’m going after him!” said Steven, “All of you stay here!”
Steven recalled Beldum and took off after the grunt. The people around Laura started to talk amongst themselves.
“He’s just a young boy…” said an older woman, “And with a Pokémon he doesn’t know how to command? I’m worried…”
“It looked like that thug was headed for the tunnel. Will the boy be alright?”
“I’ll make sure he doesn’t get hurt,” Laura volunteered, “I’ve already saved his behind once this week.”
“Please be careful,” said the older woman, “The road to Rusturf tunnel is full of tall grass.”
“I’ll be okay,” said Laura, “I have four Pokémon. Nothing to worry about.”
* * *
Laura managed to catch up to Steven before he’d gotten too far. He hadn’t even left the city proper yet, and she found him standing near the sign for Route 116.
“Hey,” said Laura as she approached him. He jumped before turning to face her.
“Oh, it’s you, from the other day,” he said, “Thanks again, by the way…”
“Yeah, yeah. I saw what happened just now,” said Laura, “That guy… he was from Team Magma, wasn’t he?”
“Yes. Also the same from last time, in fact.”
“You were going after him earlier… What’s stopping you?”
“If you saw what happened, then you must already know,” said Steven, looking away, “It’s true… I don’t know how to battle.”
“But you have a Pokémon!” said Laura, “The other day, didn't you say you could have handled it yourself? You were only going to use your Pokémon if things got bad–!”
“I was!” said Steven, “I was stalling for time, hoping someone would come to my aid before I had to make a fool of myself trying to battle. And I… I only said I could’ve handled it myself because…”
Steven blushed.
“Because I wanted to impress you.”
“Seriously?” said Laura, “Ugh, come on. That guy’s gonna get away at this rate.”
“Not likely,” said Steven, “Rusturf Tunnel hasn’t been completed yet. People were digging the tunnel with giant drills, but they noticed that the loud machinery was disturbing the local Pokémon, so they had to stop the project. If that man is heading to Rusturf Tunnel, he’ll be cornered.”
“Sounds like a perfect opportunity to nail ‘im,” said Laura, “Let’s walk and talk, okay?”
“S…sure…” said Steven, “You… you’re going to help me fight him?”
“Of course!” said Laura, “I can’t expect you to do it yourself!”
Steven flushed even more brightly. Laura started walking, and Steven ran to catch up to her. Before long they fell into pace beside each other, avoiding tall grass and shrugging off trainers who tried to fight them. Steven seemed much more timid now than he had the last time they met, Laura noticed. He jumped every time a wild Pokémon crossed their path, and he held Beldum’s Pokéball tightly as they walked.
“So why do you have a Pokémon if you can’t battle with it?” asked Laura after some time.
“My father gave me Beldum as a playmate when I was younger,” said Steven, “But I was never allowed to battle with it. I sort of know how battling works; I watch plenty of tournaments on TV. But I don’t know what attacks Beldum can use.”
“Is your dad protective of you?” asked Laura.
“You could say that, yes,” said Steven, “I’ve always wanted to be a proper trainer, with a card and everything… but father worries about me going off on my own, even with a Pokémon."
"Yeesh," said Laura. "Sounds like he cares about you a little too much. Doesn't want his little boy to get hurt, huh?"
"It’s not that he’s worried about me hurting myself or getting lost," said Steven defensively. "It’s… well, my father is Mr. Stone, the president of the Devon Corporation. He’s a very important and well-known person, and as his son…”
“He’s worried about someone kidnapping you,” Laura finished for him.
“Yes, put bluntly. The other day was the first time he’s trusted Beldum and me to run an errand outside of Rustboro. It figures that the thug chose that day to heckle me…”
“But if your father let you become a trainer, you could defend yourself, right?” said Laura, “He wouldn’t have to worry so much about you if you had strong Pokémon at your side.”
“I’ve wanted to try telling him that, but… I just don’t have the courage,” Steven admitted, “I love my father, he’s a wonderful man, but he can be very intimidating.”
“Well,” said Laura, “If you’d like, maybe we can try telling him together? You’ll have a bona-fide Pokémon trainer backing you up!”
“You would do that?”
“Yeah! I dunno if it’ll work, but it’s worth a shot.”
Steven looked at his feet.
“Thank you…”
“No problem,” said Laura, “Now come on. We’ve gotta get that thing back!”
“Prototype,” Steven corrected her.
“Right. That.”