The positive reviews are much appreciated. I'll do my best not to disappoint.


The Path Through Oreburgh Gate

This path was not something familiar to Chris. When he first ran away from Veilstone City, he made his way through Mt. Coronet from Celestic Town, then continued on down through Floaroma Town to get to Jubilife City. It was his first path that was a complete mystery to him, which helped to spark his sense of wonder.

He spots a few Psyduck lazily drifting in a pond, and can also hear the humming of what he doesn't realize is an Abra as it meditates. As he approaches the Abra, it quickly teleports away, but he makes a mental note of its appearance. "One day." He says as he continues down the Route.

As he stops for a moment to take a sip of his water, he can spot a blonde head of hair heading his way. It doesn't take him long to realize that its Barry approaching him, as the boy is practically sprinting towards him. "Hey!" The boy shouts. "Chris, right?"

Chris nods his head. "That's my name. Yours was Barry, wasn't it?"

"That's me! You got your start as a trainer, didn't you?"

"I did."

"Have you gotten stronger since Lake Verity?"

"Yes. And you?"

"Me? Do you even need to ask? Of course I got stronger!" Barry pauses, and grabs a Poké Ball from his belt. "Come on! I'll demonstrate!"

As Chris grabbed his Shinx's Poké Ball, he had a sneaking feeling that this would be the first of many battles he and Barry would have. "You're on." He said calmly.

"Go, Starly!" Barry exclaims, calling out his own Starly. The small bird emerges, and cries out to the sky.

"Skarr, post up!" Chris throws his own Poké Ball, and his Shinx lands on the ground with a roll, and on its feet.

"I've been wanting to battle you from the moment you commanded your Mudkip with no hesitation. Starly, use Tackle!" Barry's Starly goes at Skarr with reckless abandon, flying as fast as it can.

"Skarr, dodge, and Tackle it!" Shinx manages to dash to the left to avoid the attack, and then turns around and runs at Barry's Starly at full force. Skarr is more focused on its aim than Starly was, and lands a clean hit. "Excellent!" Chris exclaims to compliment his partner.

This annoys Barry somewhat. "Hey, don't go getting cocky!" He then looks at his Starly. "Starly, Quick Attack!" This time around, Starly's speed works to its advantage, and it hits Skarr. Skarr hits right back however, smacking the bird with its tail. "Use Growl to ward it off!" Barry commands, and the little bird growls at the cat Pokémon.

"Hold your ground, Skarr! Use Tackle again!" Chris's words are enough to keep Akrr right in Starly's vicinity, and he hits it with a Tackle attack right on the money. Barry's Starly goes down, and cannot continue.

"Starly, get up!" Barry calls out, but it is no use. Starly is unable to battle. Barry sighs, then calls the little bird back into its Ball. "It's not over yet, Chris!" Barry activates his other Poké Ball, and throws it. "Go, Piplup!" From out of its Poké Ball, the little blue Penguin Pokémon emerges with a strong cry. It stares down Chris's Shinx, but Chris immediately calls it back.

Chris then looks to his partner on his right shoulder. "You ready, buddy?" He asks his Mudkip.

"Kip." His partner says with a nod, before hoping down to the ground to face Barry's Piplup.

"I was hoping you'd do that." Barry says, eager to face down Chris's partner. "Piplup, use Water Gun!" Barry commands.

"Hawke, use Water Gun as well!" Both Hawke and Piplup fire bullets of water at each other, which collide and turn into steam. Neither Pokémon has taken damage, and both are ready to attack again. "Tackle attack, buddy!" Chris calls out, as his Mudkip rushes at Barry's Piplup.

"Piplup, use Peck!" Barry calls out, as his Piplup's beak glows and it rushes right at Hawke. Despite Hawke's experience, Barry's Piplup takes the least damage from the clash of attacks, and Hawke gets put on its back for a moment. "Keep it up Piplup, us Peck again!"

Before Barry's Piplup can charge at Hawke, Chris issues a command of his own. "Hawke, use Mud Slap!" Hawke does as commanded, and hurls mud on the ground at Piplup's face. The little one panicks as its vision is now obscured, tripping on the floor and rolling onto its back.

"Damn." Barry says to himself. "This battle is getting tight!" He looks to his Piplup's face, and realizes that the mud is still in its eyes. "Piplup, shake it off!" He calls out.

"Not fast enough!" Chris says right afterwards. "Hawke, use Tackle!" Hawke runs at Piplup again, and tackles it back down to the ground. Now it finds itself on top of Piplup, pinning it to the ground. As it looks down at Piplup, Chris issues a final command. "Water Gun!" Piplup does manage to shake the mud from its eyes, but just in time to see Hawke fire a bullet of water right into its face, before rolling backwards off of it. Like Starly before it, Barry's Piplup cannot continue.

Barry is completely stunned by all of this. "What just happened?!" He asks with an exasperated gasp. "I lost?!" He manages to calm himself quickly, calling back his Piplup. He shakes his head. "Well, that's it!" The enthusiasm in his voice is plain as day as he continues. "That's the last time I'll ever lose!"

This is a bit of an annoyance from Chris's perspective, as he has grown accustomed to losing in his life. Still, he allows Barry to continue. "I'm going to be the world's toughest Trainer," Barry carries on. "and you know it! The first thing to do is take on the Oreburgh City Gym! I'm gonna toughen up for that, totally!" Suddenly Barry dashes off towards Oreburgh City, without another word.

Chris shakes his head. "As a famous philosopher once said," He starts, with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "'That boy ain't right.'" He concludes. Still, he doesn't dwell on it too much, and just continues on down Route 203.

Chris's Pokédex saw much use as he made his way through the Route. He did manage to add an entry on Abra, right before it teleported away again. There were also other battles to be had, including a battle of a rookie's Shinx, and Chris's own Shinx. Skarr came out on top in that one.

Chris's Starly also did some growth during another battle. Chris's Shinx went down due to a supersonic from a rookie trainer's Zubat, and subsequent self harm from the confusion. Chris sent out his Starly in response. Suddenly, Ikaros's wings glow as it charges at the Zubat, and hits it with them. "Is that..." Chris starts to question, then pulls out his Pokédex for confirmation.

"Congratulations!" The robotic voice in the device starts. "Your Starly has learned Wing Attack!" Chris smiles, and rubs underneath Ikaros's beak as it lands on his head.

As the rookie trainer continues on through to Oreburgh Gate, he notices a hiker standing in front of a jagged-looking large rock blocking his path. The hiker starts to fiddle with his watch, and out of nowhere, a wild Bidoof appears, and smashes the rock to tiny bits. Rather than try to attack the hiker next, the Bidoof scurries off back the way it came from. Chris is dumbfounded by what he's just seen as he approaches the hiker. "How..." Chris's voice breaks the silence, and captures the hiker's attention. "How did you do that?" He asks.

The hiker shows Chris his brand new watch. "Back in Jubilife City," he starts. "they were giving away a few of these watches to anyone who could answer three questions from some employees for the Pokétch Company. I don't know if they're still doing the promotion or not, but if your interested you should head back to Jubilife."

Chris shakes his head. "I'm interested, but I don't really want to turn back just yet."

"Fair enough. But you should definitely look into it sooner, rather than later. This app to call wild Pokémon to do things like this isn't the only useful app on this watch." The hiker then tips his cap at Chris, and heads down deeper into the caverns. With the way clear, Chris continues on through to the other side of the Gate, and into Oreburgh City. Once the light of the City hits his eyes, Chris has a really good idea of where he wants to go first.

A man goes to pass by him, and Chris stops him for a moment. "Excuse me, where's the nearest clothing store?"

"Right over by the Pokémon Center." The man answers casually, which is something that Chris starts to think about.

"Thank you." He says, as he looks around town for the red roof of the Pokémon Center. He finds what he's looking for, and takes off to run over to the Center. Once he's there, he drops all four of his Pokémon off with the Nurse Joy, telling them that he'll be back in just a few minutes. He heads into the clothing store right afterwards, and buys himself a pair of sunglasses.

After he has the sunglasses to shield his eyes a bit from the sun, Chris leans against the wall on the outside of the Pokémon center as he contemplates something. The hiker in Oreburgh Gate, the man Chris asked for directions, Nurse Joy, the clerk in the clothing store. Not a single one of them treated him like any adult had in the past three years that he's been on the run. There were no questions of where his parents were, everyone treated him like he was of age. Like he was a traveler. And now it has finally dawned on him that that is exactly what he is. As scary as the thought of traveling the region, and possibly the world, all on his lonesome was, it was overwhelmed by the excitement he felt.

After his moment of self-reflection was over, Chris went back inside the Center, and collected his Pokémon. "Thank you." He said to the Nurse Joy, as his Mudkip and Chimchar hopped back up onto his shoulders. "I saw someone standing outside the Gym on my way here. Is there something wrong?"

"Oh no, usually if someone's standing outside the Gym, then it means the Gym Leader Roark is working in Oreburgh Mines."

"Roark, huh? Can you tell me anything about him?"

"He and Gardenia in Eterna City are the two youngest Gym Leaders in the Sinnoh Region, both of them being only twenty years old. Roark specializes in Rock-type Pokémon, so that Mudkip you have there will prove effective."

"Thank you."

"Hold on, I have one more piece of advice." The Nurse Joy looks at Caesar. "Give that Chimchar of yours some extra training. You'll know why, if you do so."

Chris nods at her, then exits the Pokémon Center, and looks around. Even though he's never seen a mine, Chris gets a pretty good idea of where it is as he looks off into the distance. "Ready to get some training done, Caesar?"

Caesar balls his fist up to pump it. "Chim!" The little fire monkey exclaims. Chris smiles, then walks his way down to the mines.


Just a short chapter here, as I didn't want them all to top off at 5,000 words, or more.