Love in the Time of Traveling

Chapter 10: A Mine

Viroro's first thought on reading a scene in this chapter was "We did it! We created our edgy Pokémon protagonist!". It was a joke, of course, but proof I ended up making Gloria more foul-mouthed than originally intended, ha ha. Anyway, let's start Chapter 10!

Chapter 10

A Mine

Some more hours of training and a good rest later had Gloria feeling refreshed and ready to take on the following day. While their group had remained at the Pokémon Center for the duration of the night, the Postwick girl was feeling like she'd made good strides with all of her team, the three of whom were still snoring away on her bed when she woke that morning. For a moment, she wondered if she was the first up, only to notice that Ash and Pikachu were missing from their own bed. Figuring they must have gone to breakfast, Gloria headed out for a little, herself.

She didn't find the duo out there, but didn't let it stop her from consuming the dish of eggs and bacon before the computers in the Center took her attention. Yawning away the rest of her tiredness, she approached them as the doors to the Center opened, pressing a few items on the screen to bring up the latest news on the Gym Challenge.

"Whatcha looking at?" Ash's voice made her jump. She barely needed to turn her head to see him and Pikachu poking their noses forward. "Gym stats?"

"Er, just keeping informed about my rivals!" Gloria said with a pump of her fists. "Since the Gym Challenge is such a big deal, the League keeps detailed stats on everything. Challengers, their Pokémon, their badge number."

"Oh, like those cards the kids in Motostoke were talking about?" Gloria was a bit surprised he remembered, but nodded nonetheless. "Cool. What does it say about you?"

"I-I'm not looking at that!" she snapped at him, feeling herself grow warm with frustration. She already knew it would record a major loss on her record. Hoping to deter the subject from being about herself, she fiddled with the screen, finding the most recent Gym statistics. "Hm...only a handful have their first badge...Good news for me!"

"You're fired up, huh? Guess that means we should get going for Turffield City as soon as possible. I'll get the others up!"

"It's still just Turffield!" Gloria shouted after the man as he and Pikachu ran back for their rooms. She chuckled a little when he was out of earshot, before looking back to the computer. She really didn't want to check her own League stats or if a card had been created for her after her loss to Kabu, but it was nice to know she still had a chance. If only a few people had their first badge, it meant she wasn't far behind, and it was likely they were the few veterans of past circuits who already knew the game.

That was enough inspiration to move forward with speed.

Fortunately, her group was of one mind, each eager to get back on the road, including Serena who was moving a tad slower than the rest. It didn't help that of all the Pokémon they had on hand, Yamper was the only one she kept out, allowing him to gambol on the path in front of them while they set back on the route. Pikachu, of course, was keeping him in line, ensuring none of them ended up shocked.

"So, spitfire, tell us about where we're heading," Astrid said once they were a good way down the road, few others around but the wild Pokémon that populated the area.

"Will you ever run out of nicknames for me?" Gloria asked. Scorbunny blew a raspberry in the woman's direction, but only received a shrug for his troubles. Knowing it was better to not stoke the argument further, Gloria sighed and obliged the request for information. "It's a mine, owned by Chairman Rose."