Max lay silent in his room, unaware of what was going on beneath his bedroom floor.
BENEATH MAX
Party music played loudly in the background as Caroline Maple strutted proudly into her lounge, where she was greeted by cheers and applause from her friends and family. Beside her was the love of her life, Norman Maple, Gym Leader of the Petalburg Gym.
Max's parents were having the time of their lives!
BACK TO MAX
And Max also had no idea as to what was going on in his garage...
AT MAX'S GARAGE
Ash playfully pushed May's back against the wall, rubbing himself against her as she wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him passionately. For 'some reason,' May only had a very long shirt on, and Ash only had a pair of boxers on.
WITH MAX AGAIN
The only thing Max knew was that he had messed up this time, his mother and father were extremely mad at him for making such a fool out of them, and May was even angrier about him ruining her make-up. He tried hard not to shed a single tear, but failed to hide his miserable facial expressions. The worst part was that Max's family planned to embark on a three-week holiday in Kalos the next morning, and now Max was unsure as to whether or not his family would let him go!
Normally, Max wasn't a huge fan of holidays. When he was forced to part ways with Ash and his other friend Brock Harrison a few years ago, he was absolutely devastated. However, Max had been to Kalos once before, and he met a girl there called Bonnie, who was also related to a gym leader! The truth was that the pretty young girl stole his heart, and had kept it safe for over two years. Now that Max was older, and had significantly changed his childish style, he was almost of legal age to become a Pokémon Trainer, and was determined to travel to Kalos when he did so in order to meet the love of his life.
Thinking about her constantly, Max finally fell asleep, still unsure as to whether or not he should look forward to the next day.
THE NEXT MORNING
Max woke up with a start, a certain teenaged girl - who just so happened to be Max's sister - had roughly flung Max's bed-sheets off of him.
"Wake up, Max! Our parents are ready to leave!" May groaned, running out of the room as quickly as she came. Max bounced of bed like a Hyena as it goes to pounce upon its prey, and he rushed to put on the only clean clothes he could fine, which were his average winter clothes, nothing special. As he was getting dressed, the rest of his friends and family rushed outside and into the coach waiting for them, Caroline followed close behind, counting everyone by their head. She even counted her husband. Ash was there too, and helped his girlfriend's mother out in counting the last few people. Luckily, they released that Max was being his usual, slow self, and waited (im)patiently. Norman apologised to the Coach Driver on their behalf, and then saw a kid coming towards the coach. Norman assumed that this was Max because he had the same winter hat, but was too tired to realise that Max was still inside, and wouldn't have got past Caroline and Ash without being spotted, yet Caroline and Ash were busy having a debate about something to do with beaches.
"Cool, a coach!" the little kid said, leaning into the window parallel to the driver's.
"Kid, go away, this coach has been hired for this group of people only," the driver shouted at the little boy.
"Sheesh, sorry mister grumpy face," the kid retorted as he rolled his eyes and walked away.
Now aware that 'everyone' else was in the coach, Caroline, Norman, May and Ash all struggled their way into the front of the coach, and the driver wasted no time in driving away.
Poor Max, on the other hand, had only just picked up his suitcase from inside his lounge! He opened the front door and looked out.
Nothing.
He simply shrugged and walked into the kitchen. Nobody was there.
"May, relax! The coach isn't even here yet! And why are you all being so quiet all of a sudden?" Max shouted, assuming that somebody would hear, but nobody heard.
"...Hello?" the 8-year-old boy added.
Still nothing.
He walked into the lounge, nobody was there, he walked into the bathroom, nobody was taking a shower or doing their business, he knocked on the toilet door, no response or light reflecting from the corner of the door. Max even went up to the attic, which he had always hated to enter on his own until last year, nobody was there. Even in the garage, nothing. The strangest part was that everyone's luggage was gone.
"Hey guys, is this some sort of practical joke?" Max sighed out loud. Nobody responded, and thus Max gave up trying to get an answer; he simply went up to his room, put some headphones on and began playing Pokkén Tournament on his Wii U.
3 HOURS LATER (WITH MAX)
"Damn!" the boy said as his Wii U ran out of battery power. He quickly put it on charge, took out his headphones and went downstairs again. The silence remained as it was...
He went over to a cupboard nearby a fridge and found a stray box full of small sandwiches. It was lunchtime.
Max sat down, put a cloth on, got some cutlery and enjoyed some nice sandwiches and fruit. He was still unaware of the location of all of his friends and his entire family.
3 HOURS LATER (WITH MAX'S FAMILY AND FRIENDS)
The enormous group had finally reached the Terminal, and were giving in all of their tickets to a member of the staff nearby. As they boarded the plane, some of the younger kids started whispering. By the time they had all boarded the plane, the big news had reached Norman and Caroline.
"Psst, uncle Norman!" a little boy sitting next to his uncle and aunt said.
"Yes?" Norman replied.
"People are saying Max isn't here!" the little boy continued. Norman's eyes suddenly widened and his jaw fell loose. Hearing this somehow, Caroline's eyes did the same thing.
She quickly interrupted by squealing, "WHAT?!" and standing up to look behind her. Faster than a Rapidash in a race, she counted all of the children and teenagers who she knew.
Max was not there.
"MAX!" the poor woman said.
Caroline stood perfectly still for about 10 seconds before she passed out into Norman's arm, her fears of Max's safety overcoming her.
BACK WITH MAX
"Mum? DAD!" Max shouted. He was starting to get worried now, not a single friend or relative had been in sight for the past 3-and-a-half hours.
At last, he got a phone call, and he answered it as quick as possible.
"SWEETIE! ARE YOU OKAY?! WHERE ARE YOU?!" a high-pitched voice screamed down the telephone. Max sighed in relief - it was his mother.
"Yeah, mum, I'm at home. Where are you?" he responded.
"I'm in a-" his mother began to answer in an ashamed voice, but paused. Down the phone line Max could hear a man announcing that a plane had just taken off, and in approximately eight hours, all passengers would be arriving in the beautiful Kalos Region.
He then heard someone passing out, the phone being dropped, and then he lost connection.
The poor boy also put the phone down, and turned around with his jaw wider open than ever before.
"I-I'm... h-home.. a-a-alone..." he stammered awkwardly.
And just in a single second, joy sparked in his eyes, and he dashed up to his room, jumping on his bed and showing how filled with energy he was.
"WOOHOO! MUM NEVER LETS ME STAY AT HOME ON MY OWN!" he shouted happily.
He then zoomed downstairs at light-speed, and raided his kitchen for ice cream, his favourite weekend treat.
"Mmm, these are gonna be the best three weeks of my life!" Max laughed. Oh how wrong he was...
TO BE CONTINUED...