After spending a comfortable night at Maria's house and having breakfast there the next morning, Xia You and his two companions said their goodbyes.
Just as he had predicted, the Pokémon Hunter J had not attacked that night either, which finally put Maria's mind at ease.
Standing at the door with her Gardevoir, Maria waved to the three of them.
"Well, have a safe journey!"
"Take care, too."
Xia You and the others thanked her and gave her one last wave, then shouldered their backpacks and left the flower field.
With light steps, the three headed down the slope. By the time they had crossed the flower field and looked back, the house was already out of sight.
They exchanged smiles, then gathered themselves and officially ventured into the endless mountains.
As far as Sinnoh's overall terrain went, most of its mountains were concentrated in the central region. The broad expanse of Mt. Coronet divided the entire continent in two, with smaller mountain ranges scattered around it. With their sparse vegetation, they resembled a massive scar.
Oreburgh City lay surrounded by those mountains.
As a resource-based city, most of the mountains near Oreburgh City were bare mining sites. The area boasted a wide variety of minerals, including not only precious rare earths but also coal and fossils. It could be called the heavy industrial base of the entire Sinnoh Region.
As a result, the three had barely entered the mountains before they noticed that the air had become somewhat murky, as though invisible dust and smoke hung over the area.
Even with all the forests and trees around them, as long as Oreburgh City and its hundreds of factories remained, that smell would never clear.
Still, although it was a little unpleasant at first, they grew accustomed to it after