Wow... this story is already ten weeks old. That's quite amazing...

Review responses... only have one review and I've already responded to it.

So, what are you to expect today? Well, today there is some conflict and an arrival at a place. That's all I will give you until you've read this. Have fun!

Chapter 11

The next day, The four of the travellers awoke, with Jake feeling very tired.

"Morning, guys.." he murmured as he opened his eyes.

"Good morning, Jake. Good sleep?" Alex asked with a yawn.

"Yeah, it was fine. I'm feeling a little sore now, though.."

"Understandably. You took quite the beating yesterday, I hope it was worth it." But what am I saying? I would've done the same. He was just faster than I was… Alex shrugged that sudden thought off and smiled.

"Of course it was worth it! I got Demi, didn't I?"

"Yes, you got Demi but will she be useful?"

"Uh.. yes! Of course Demi will be useful, she is super effective against rock, part poison type so Gardenia will be a breeze. Mum's gastrodon will be no trouble… She'd be great for battle!"

"If you say so.."

"And, she's more refined than Phoebe is, so it would add a unique dynamic to the team."

"Okay, you've convinced me." The ginger sighed.

"Hey, Phoebe, go and wake Chloe up, will you?" Jake asked, waking up the little fox.

"Vee... Vee.." She moaned as she stretched and jumped onto the blonde's bed disturbing her sleep.

"Nyx, get off of me. Go and bug Jake or Senju.." She murmured, pushing the kit away.

"Vee! Vee!"

"Oh… Phoebe.. Do you want to go out? Fine." Chloe sat up and yawned. " but you'd better wake the other two up." She ordered before being called upon by Jake.

"Morning, sleepyhead." He said with a smile, looking at Chloe. "Come on, Phoebe. Back over here." He called, letting the fox jump back to him.

"Alright, let's wake Senju up," Alex muttered as he rolled out of the covers and poked the strategist, making her bat away his hand.

"No. ten minutes." She replied sleepily.

"Fine, ten minutes. That's all you've got." He ordered with a heavy sigh.

Twenty minutes later, they were all awake and ready to adventure.

"Alright, today's plan is to get to mount coronet, and make some money!" Jake announced as he looked into a small notebook he bought the night prior.

"Sounds good to me. But, Jake, just remember not to over do it." Alex cautioned, causing Jake to dismiss it.

"Hey! I'm not that bad, I was just punched in the stomach and in the face multiple times."

"Exactly. Just keep yourself safe, man. I'm your best friend!"

"Well, his only friend.." Senju murmured to Chloe, eliciting a giggle.

"Nah, he's got Phoebe, but Alex is definitely his only human friend." The blonde replied, being a little too loud and being rewarded by a glare from Jake.

"Yeah, my only human friend is Alex, sure."

After a while, the three of them stopped bickering and got onto the road, staying in their two groups and ignoring each other.

"Jake…" Alexander started.

"Alex, don't. I don't have any human friends other than you so I'm not talking to them. You can, but I'm not."

"Jake, please, you know that it's not good to hold grudges."

"Maybe not, but if there's one thing you need to know it is that growing up with animals does definitely rub some qualities off on you, such as being stubborn or being able to hold a grudge well."

"Really? Well, if you grew up with Pokèmon then why can't you understand them?" Alex interrogated, feeling much smarter.

"Because I'm still human, I doubt you can understand your Crobat. I mean, I know basic body language, but that's just about it."

"Basic body language? Alright, then... You're wandering through a forest alone and see a very hungry… shinx wandering alone, how would you act if it started to lick your hand?"

"Well, what I'd do if it started to lick my hand is give it some food if I had any and if I didn't, then I'd bend down to meet it on eye level to try and gain its trust."

"Okay, so what if you did have food, and it accepted it. Having gained its trust, you note that the Shinx is young and probably abandoned, you are miles away from the nearest town, so what do you do?"

"I would try to place a poke ball to it in order to safely take it to a Pokèmon centre, try to find its parents or take care of it myself."

"I've got nothing more… you'd make a good ranger, that's for sure."

"What? What do you mean, I'd make a good ranger?" Jake asked, bewildered.

"Did I say that? I don't' remember saying that. Why would I say that you'd make a good ranger?" Alex hurried, attempting to recover from his situation.

"You did, and… that's what those sirens were yesterday, right? That's what you were doing! You were just doing your job as a ranger to bust some crooks, right?"

"Yes… Yes, I was." Alex resigned with a sigh, causing Jake to grin.

After two days of walking, stopping only at the Coronet Pokèmon centre for one night, The two groups of two arrived at the top of a hill, seeing a sprawling city beneath them all.

"It's not as big as Veilstone, is it?" Jake noted,

"no, it certainly isn't but it's still bigger than Solaceon. But, then again, that's not hard is it?" Alex replied, forcing a laugh at the end

"No, Alex, no it isn't. Not at all." Jake sighed, looking over at the smiling ginger, who shrugged the situation off as if it was nothing. "But I'll tell you what, it looks different to the photos I've seen of mum's journey." And, of course it was. Oreburgh had changed dramatically in the last 30 years. The dull browns and greys of the town were gone, as the old mine had been completely depleted so trucks and trains had no reason to go there anymore. Thanks to this fact, the areas on each side of the road were no longer littered with old chocolate wrappers or crisp packets, instead it had been left to grow, leaving beautiful grassy fields and hills where the old mine and overused roads used to be. It went from being hellish and full of factories to being a generally nice place to live, with lots of money being spent on recovering the city which was sourced from the old mine. Even the old gym building had been torn down.

"Does it now? Well, I did hear of a recovery scheme for Oreburgh on the news five years ago… it's amazing how much hard work and determination can do in five years, isn't it? You might be able to confuse this place for floaroma with how good it looks. Alright, maybe not floaroma but it definitely doesn't look like a guy built around a giant pit." He replied, his voice seeming full of knowledge.

"Yeah, sure… I'm going to find the Pokècenter, you can go and do whatever shopping you need to. I've got to train before tomorrow's battle."

"What? Tomorrow? Can't you wait a little longer?"

"No. I can't. If I had reason to, then I would but this town is boring as it is… see you at the centre, Al!" Jake shouted as he sprinted down the hill, Phoebe following beside him.

So, for those of you wondering why Oreburgh city has changed so much, well... I did research(Yes, research) and a coal mine (which oreburgh's economy was definitely based upon) only has an expected life span of around twenty to thirty years. As such, by now the mine will have been shut down, and the area around it will be renewed, as indicated by what I've done! Other than that, next week you will be able to read the heated battle between Jake and Roark. I'll see you then!