Sapphire is unable to return Rono to his Poké Ball, and Roxanne explains that her Nosepass has the Magnet Pull Ability, which prevents Sapphire's Steel-type Aron from leaving the battle. Roxanne has her Nosepass use Rock-type moves to bury Rono in a pile of rubble.
Roxanne begins bragging about her type specialty, which, despite being weak to Steel-types, has an advantage when magnetic forces are applied in the fight. Roxanne continues her strategy, which she continues to brag about how she studied hard to come up with it. Sapphire tries to get far away from Nosepass, preventing its magnetic force from affecting Rono, but cannot attack due to her techniques requiring physical contact.
For Roxanne, however, being far away doesn't affect her strategy, and she has Nosepass shower Sapphire and Rono in rubble with Rock Slide. Believing that she has won the battle, Roxanne opens the door outside to let the Sapphire out. Wind begins blowing inside, allowing Sapphire to find out where north is.
Rono climbs out of the rubble, revealing that he is still able to battle. Due to Nosepass being unable to face a different direction than north, it loses its balance when it turns around, allowing Rono to beat it and give Sapphire the victory. Sapphire reveals that she figured out that Nosepass can only face north due to the position Roxanne started the battle in. Sapphire tells Roxanne that she shouldn't spend all her time reading books, as nature can tell people things that books cannot.
Roxanne understands, and presents Sapphire her first Gym Badge: the Stone Badge. As Roxanne clips the Badge to Sapphire's pack, Sapphire decides to go to Dewford Town and deliver the letter to Steven. In Dewford Town, Steven Stone talks to Captain Stern via Pokégear about the near-completion of the Submarine Explorer 1 and prepares to do something after investigating Granite Cave.