An Ordinary Girl, Dian's Gratitude, and Larvitar's Resolve

Slateport City, the Pokémon Center.

"Mr. Dian, all your Pokémon are in excellent health."

Nurse Joy gave him a warm smile. "And here's your Pokémon Pokédex. I've registered it in the computer."

She leaned closer and added quietly, "Is that your girlfriend over there? She looks upset. A gentleman should cheer her up at a time like this."

Nurse Joy winked and returned to work. Encountering a couple in the middle of a quarrel had apparently added a little color to her day.

Dian was speechless. He clipped the five Poké Balls from the tray back onto his belt, put away the Pokédex, and glanced at Yue Jifei on the lobby sofa.

Noticing his gaze, Yue Jifei looked at him with a faint blush, then immediately turned away. It was one reason Nurse Joy had mistaken them for a couple.

Another was that they each held the other's Poké Ball and both had the same kind of Pokémon: Teddiursa.

Taken together, those three things had convinced Nurse Joy she was right.

Most important, Yue Jifei had done nothing to deny it. She was clearly delighted.

What pleased her was not being mistaken for Dian's girlfriend, though. She was happy because it troubled him.

As she herself had said, she enjoyed tormenting people—or, to put it more delicately, teasing them.

Dian walked quietly along a forest path. Once he crossed this stretch of woodland, he would be close to Mauville City.

Thanks to that bag of Sour Berries, he would not need to stop there. He could head straight for the Hoenn Great Desert.

"Misdreavus."

Misdreavus perched in Dian's hair, playing with a ball of shadow energy. Every so often, she sent out a jagged sickle of shadow to cut through a branch blocking their way.

Behind him, Larvitar used