A/N: Here's where I stand apart from the game a little bit. I refuse to believe that pokemon can only use four moves and have to forget a move to keep that rule alive. Not only that, but I also refuse to believe that pokemon go from one region to another on their own unless you beat the Pokemon League. For the benefit of nonbelievers, I'll explain the reason why. Pokemon can easily get from one region to another, not only by flying and swimming, but trainers do come from other regions and abandon their pokemon for various reasons. You might say, "Who would abandon a Scyther or a Sneasel?" Something like that, but there could be plenty of reasons. Maybe they got old and were deemed worthless, or maybe they were very young and believed not to have any good moves. Then, once they were abandoned in the region, they could breed with another pokemon in their egg group and produce a colony of their kind that spreads throughout the region. Now, the reason I believe in a pokemon learning more than four moves. The only reason they actually have that rule is because the game doesn't have enough memory to have all pokemon learn as many moves as they possibly can. I will however, have them lose moves if they develop a more powerful version of the attack. Like to forget Absorb for Mega Drain or something like that. Sorry about the long explanation but I felt the need to avoid future complaints from strict gamers, and I apologize if I offended anyone, now on with the story.

PS: (Translates Pokemon Speech)

Ch. 7: Oreburgh Mines

The Oreburgh Tunnel was as busy as always. Bryce walked through the entrance and stood for a second so his eyes would adjust to the dark. As he did, he noticed Zubat hanging upside down among the stalactites, sleeping off the late night. But some were still awake, fluttering among the ceiling. A line of Digletts led by a Dugtrio burrowed through the tunnel close to the wall to avoid the people that happened to be there, while calling out a sort of chant.

'Diglett-ee! Diglett-ee!'

'Trio Trio Trio!'

'Diglett-ee! Diglett-ee!'

'Trio Trio Trio!'

They continued the chant until they disappeared in a small hole in the wall. Other than that spectacle, there were more people than Bryce had ever seen in one place. Couples walking through the tunnel, observing the glittering walls caused by the rich nutrients found in the rock. Two kids were having a battle on a trail off to the side of the main tunnel while others stopped to watch. As Bryce started to exit the tunnel, he heard cries of, "Chimchar, use Scratch!" and, "Use Bide Kricketot!" echoing through the caverns of the vast area.

His eyes met the sight of a town full of people. There was barely any room to walk without bumping into anyone but he tried his best. Ever since the loss of Jubilife, Oreburgh had become the site for tourism. Mostly because of the excavations and the various gems found in the mines. People from all around could watch as men worked in the tunnels with old fashioned drills and pickaxes. Another team would cart wheelbarrows in and out to collect the gems found in the walls. But this wasn't what Bryce was looking for.

"Where's the Oreburgh gym?" He asked himself, vaguely recalling the gyms his dad conquered when he was a kid. From his description, there should be a large building, not unlike the pokemon center with a bright red roof and the gym leader's name was Roark. Once or twice, he almost walked into a Pokemon Center. With all the people in the streets, it was hard to tell where he was going. Finally, he found it. Like everywhere else, it was surrounded by people but who were mumbling and jeering.

"What? I was hoping to see a gym battle with my kid today!" Called out one man.

"Where's the gym leader?" Asked a woman somewhere in the midst of the crowd.

Bryce pushed passed the people until he approached the doors. He tried to push them open but they were locked and bolted. As he shook the doors, he heard the flutter of paper and looked up to see a note taped in between the doors. He stood back so he could read it.

Dear Challengers,

I regret to announce there will be no gym battles today. The gym leader has decided to take a personal day.

He sighed at those words, that's just his luck. But while he's here, he might as well visit the famous Oreburgh Mines. He pushed back through the crowd and made his way south of the gym. There was a vast gate overhead and a tollbooth right below it. Outside the tollbooth was a Growlithe. As Bryce approached the booth and paid the 50 Pokes, the Growlithe started to sniff his jeans for anything suspicious. After a while, the Puppy Pokemon nodded and took his place back beside the toll booth with a sharp bark.

Bryce took this as permission to keep going, so he kept walking. He walked through the mine's entrance and noticed a huge pile of steel girders outside of the gates. He assumed they were for some construction project. The mines were a lot like the Oreburgh Tunnel and he began to feel that he'd wasted his Poke's. But when the trail started to slope downwards, the thought was extinguished in his head. The cavern branched off into many different tunnels. Gems were embedded in every other vacant space in the wall. Men with hardhats were hard at work, using their pickaxes to knock the gems out where they fell into waiting wheelbarrows.

There were even pokemon that the workers used to assist them. Machops were using Karate Chop on the walls to knock out gems into wheelbarrows. Bryce spotted two or three Sandslashes burrowing into the walls. There was even an Onix that slammed its head into the walls, came out, and opened its mouth so a pile of gems fell on the ground for the men to collect. As Bryce watched in awe, he realized maybe Turtwig would want to see this. He plucked her pokeball from his belt and dropped it on the ground in front of him. A red beam took on the shape of the Tiny Turtle who smiled at her trainer with a, 'Turtwig!'

But it didn't take her long to turn around and admire the sparkling gems. She looked around, mouth agape before running off on her own. Bryce shrugged and let her go. "What's the harm?" He asked mostly to himself and went back to watching the workers.

Turtwig had ran down a vacant tunnel, wheelbarrows were littered all over the place so she guessed that they were on their breaks. She slowed down after a while, her excitement at all the pretty objects dimmed down. Suddenly she stopped and stared at a huge blue gem stuck in the wall. It was almost as big as her head! She wondered if Bryce would want it and decided to find out. She got a firm hold of it with her hooked mouth and pulled hard. She strained so hard she felt her sprout start to bend until finally, her efforts were rewarded with a "Pop!" She fell backwards and beamed. She walked back to the gem and started to pick it up when "Wham!" She was struck in the back of the head with a blunt object.

The force of the sneak attack caused her to fall flat on her face on the cave floor. After she recovered from the shock, she jumped up and looked around angrily for her attacker. Ahead of her, was a dark brown pokemon wearing a long skull on its face. In its hand was a long white bone.

(How do you like my Bonemerang, human servant?) It asked with a sneer. (Who are you to come into this tunnel and steal, our gems?)

Turtwig looked a bit indifferent at this accusation. (Your gems?) She asked indignantly. (They're stuck in the wall of this tunnel, anyone can come and take them!)

(Heh, not when it's in my tunnel!) It replied, pounding its chest with one fist.

Turtwig bent over and picked up the gem and began to walk in the other direction, the way she came. (Well I'm taking it and I'd like to see what you're going to do to stop me!) But as she began to walk off, she heard a loud long cry coming from behind her. 'Maroooooooooooooo! Marowak! Maro! Marowak!' It sounded like a bunch of nonsense to her but from behind her, in the cavern she had yet to explore, there came a loud rumbling that shook the tunnel.

Bryce was talking to a man with a hard hat about the art of spelunking while this was going on.

"Y'see," started the man. "The trick is to swing firmly, hard but not too hard so you don't damage the gems. One swing over the gem, and one swing under so it falls out unharmed. Then you," But before he could finish, a loud rumbling met their ears along with a panicked, 'Turtwig, Turtwig, Turtwig!' Turtwig came running out of the tunnel she had explored, with wide eyes and a panicked expression on her face. She went so fast, she blew past Bryce before he could even ask what was wrong.

"Turtwig, wha-?"

He noticed the rumbling was getting louder and when he turned around, a chaotic scene met his eyes. A group of pokemon was storming the tunnel led by a Marowak. Dugtrios, Digletts, Sandshrews, Sandslashes, an Onix and a couple of Geodudes were destroying the tunnel, a shower of debris and gems came raining down but they took no notice. The man Bryce was talking to pulled out a walkie talkie and started shouting.

"It's a code white! I repeat, a code white! Evacuate the tunnels, now!" He shouted before running towards the exit himself. Everyone started to tear out of the mine as though their lives depended on it, which it did, and Bryce followed suit, holding onto his hat to keep it from blowing away. But as he ran, he noticed three people fell back. A man, a woman, and a girl around his age. The man was the tallest of the three with brown hair and glasses, and a gray vest. The woman had black hair that fell to her shoulders and had the red vest. The girl had the same black hair as the woman tied in a braid that fell down her back. She had a bright pink vest and all three sported red hardhats. From where he stood, Bryce could hear the woman and girl arguing.

"But mom, I can help!" She shouted.

"You're not ready yet, you can get hurt!" The woman argued.

Bryce couldn't help but notice how much closer the pokemon were getting.

"Excuse me but do you think now's the time? You guys have to get out of here!" He hollered over the noise. They were the only ones left in the mine and he didn't intend to get crushed by wild pokemon.

The man nodded and took off a pokeball from his belt, "Roxanne, Stacy, the boy's right, now's not the time. Now, Steelix!" He cried as he hurled the pokeball in the stampede's direction. A large metal snake-like pokemon was let out in front of the group. It roared at the group of pokemon and Bryce couldn't help but stare. It was the biggest pokemon he'd seen in years.

"Steelix, use Rock Tomb!" Steelix roared and slammed his heavy spiked tail on the ground, four large boulders emerged from the ground and trapped the pokemon inside. "That should buy us some time, now lets go!" The other three nodded, the man returned the Steelix, and the group ran out of the mines where Bryce found Turtwig waiting for him with a worried look on her face. "Ok Roxanne, now!" The man yelled.

The woman now identified as Roxanne nodded and took out a pokeball of her own from her belt. "Probopass, use Magnet Bomb!" She yelled as she hurled it towards the mine entrance. A large bulky grey pokemon emerged. Miniature versions of it hung on each side of it and on its back. It had the biggest nose Bryce had ever seen and a mustache to match. It let out a monotone, 'Probo' before the mini-noses came from around it and formed a triangle, a large grey ball of energy forming in the middle. It shot out the energy ball so it clogged the entrance and the girders Bryce saw earlier came flying towards it until it was completely blocked off.

Bryce turned to the man, "So that's what the girders are for?"

The man smiled in response, "Yeah, the cave is filled with rock and ground types but they aren't strong enough to break through pure steel." He said with a smile. "Oh, through all the excitement, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Roark, and this is my wife Roxanne, and my daughter Stacy."

Bryce took the time to shake each of their hands in turn, he couldn't help but notice that Stacy was staring at him with a small blush on her face and held her hand out long after he had shaken it. He took the opportunity after he had shaken their hands to scan Probopass with his pokedex.

Probopass, the Compass Pokemon. It exudes strong magnetism from all over and controls three small units called Mini-Noses.

"Wait, you're Roark?" Bryce asked.

"Yeah, you were looking for me?"

"Well, actually, I was hoping to have a gym battle with you."

Roark chuckled quietly to himself. "I believe your mistaken, I'm no longer the gym leader." Bryce blinked in confusion.

"Then who is?" He asked

Stacy cleared her throat and tapped Bryce on the shoulder to get his attention, "I am." she chimed in quietly.

Bryce blinked and examined the 10-year old. He turned to Roark, "She's the gym leader?" He asked in surprise.

Roark laughs, noticing the look in his eyes. "Don't act so astonished! But you'll see soon enough," He added which fell to a mischievious tone in his voice "Shall we head over to the gym?" He asked before walking off with Roxanne and Stacy in tow. Bryce started to go too but he felt something bump into his leg. He looked down and saw it was Turtwig with a guilty expression on her face.

'Turtwig, Tur, Turtwig...' She said apologetically. Bryce bent down and patted the Turtwig on the head. "It's ok Turtwig, We all make mistakes but you don't have to dwell over them." Turtwig nodded slowly and opened her mouth, revealing the large gem which dropped to the ground in front of him. Bryce picked it up, examining the large jewel. "All that trouble was over me?" He asked before swooping her up into a hug. "You're a true friend Turtwig!" Turtwig grinned for the first time in what felt like hours. After Bryce pocketed the jewel, he returned Turtwig to prevent her from getting trampled in the crowded city and ran to catch up with the others.

When he approached the gym, he noticed the crowd was no longer there and instead, a line of people were filing into the gym, Bryce followed their influence, expecting to be the challenger everyone was going to see. But to his surprised, on the opposite side of Stacy, was a tall man in a trench coat and an old-fashioned zoot hat on his head concealing most of his face. The arena was filled with dirt, boulders, and rubble which he assumed was from previous battles.

Bryce found a seat in the front row of the bleachers in time to hear the announcer start to speak, "Welcome one and all to the Oreburgh Gym! The challenge today will be between the challenger Trent from Veilstone," The man gave a half-hearted wave to light applause. "and Oreburgh's very own Stacy!" Stacy stood in her place looking down at her feet as the gym thundered with applause. The announcer sat down as Roark stood up, a green flag in one hand and a red flag in the other. "The battle will be a two-on-two single battle! The challenger will be the only one allowed to switch pokemon! May the respective trainers release their pokemon?"

Trent plucked his pokeball off a strap on the inside of his trench coat and threw it into the arena. "Go Budew!" A small green pokemon appeared, her sprouts coiled around each other as if hiding something inside. Stacy took a pokeball out of a pocket of her pink vest and threw it in front of her. "Go Geodude!" A small rock with two arms, eyes, and a mouth floated in front of her, both arms crossed. 'Geodude' He murmured robotically.

Roark nodded and waved both flags down. "May the battle commence!" Trent was the first to respond, "Budew, use Absorb!" The small plant's sprouts uncoiled and revealed on the inside of each one was a red bud and a blue bud. The sprouts reached for Geodude, sending out a green aura in its direction. Stacy was biting her palm nervously, "Uh, um... Geodude, use Defense Curl..." She murmured. Geodude nodded and with a, 'Dude!' He curled so his face was to the ground and his arms were hidden from view. In fact, if Bryce didn't see where it went, he would've thought it was one of the rocks in the arena. But even with the defensive move, the aura struck him and made him fly into a boulder somewhere behind him, shattering it to pieces. The aura returned to Budew, bigger than before and it absorbed it back into its body.

Bryce shook his head, "Is she going to be ok?" He murmured to himself, "Even I know a move like Defense Curl can't guard against Absorb."

"Oh, she'll be fine." Bryce jumped in alarm, he didn't notice that he was sitting next to Roxanne who giggled at his surprise. "She's always like this, but she'll get better." Sitting so close to her, Bryce examined her features before realizing he'd seen her face on tv. "Aren't you a gym leader in Hoenn?" He asked in surprise.

She sighed before looking at him. "I used to be."

Bryce cocked an eyebrow at this. "What happened?"

"Team Galactic."

Bryce blinked, "Since when have they reached the Hoenn region?"

"For about a couple of months, the leader has been sending a member of the commander trio to conquer Hoenn, Jupiter I believe her name was. I used to work part time as a school teacher in Rustboro, and when they tried to tear it down, I fought back. Though I fought for a long time, I was severely beaten and branded as untouchable. Afterwards, I traveled all over the Hoenn region but my reputation preceded me and nobody wanted to take me in out of fear of invoking Team Galactic's wrath. So finally, I traveled to Sinnoh, without better luck until I came to Oreburgh. I was being tormented by the people, trying to keep me out of the city due to fear when Roark found me. When everyone came to watch his gym battle, he made an announcement. He said if anyone treated me as untouchable, he would shut down the gym"

Roxanne wiped her eyes and spoke softly, "He risked everything for me." Bryce blinked, it was hard to take it all in, the evil Team Galactic was starting to spread across the Pokemon World. He came back to reality shortly after, spying a blue and grey hard-headed pokemon standing over a KO'ed Kricketot. Roark had a green flag pointed in Stacy's direction.

"Kricketot is unable to battle! The winner of the Oreburgh gym battle is Stacy!" Stacy put a hand up, waving vigorously while beaming at the crowd who were going wild with applause. Bryce stood up as well as Trent walked away dejected, he reached for Turtwig's pokeball murmuring, "I guess I'm next."