The great unknown

"This is a weird feeling," Bonnie commented one evening.

"What is?" Laura asked, looking up from where she was cooking dinner on Bonnie's stove. To Bonnie's great appreciation, Laura had turned out to be a pretty decent cook. No more instant noodles when camping! The first time they had gone grocery shopping, Laura had taken one look at what her blond friend wanted to buy, and decreted that even if they had to keep their load light, there was no way she was going to eat such junk. She was not quite in Clemont's league, but then, in Bonnie's partial opinion, very few people were. The vegetable stew currently simmering in the little pot smelled delicious, in any case, and the girls had gotten fresh bread to go with it at the last village.

"Like I'm going backwards. I wish we were in Johto already!"

"Hey, one thing at a time! I think we're making really good time." Laura replied. "We'll be in Lumiose City in two days at this rate."

"Yeah, but this is the exact same road I followed in the other direction just a few days ago," Bonnie complained. "Say, would you mind having an early start and pushing hard tomorrow? I bet we could be in Lumiose by nightfall, and we could go straight to my father's place."

"Alright, if you want to." Laura easily agreed. She was turning out to be a very agreeable travel companion, with a heretofore unsuspected amount of equanimity and good cheer. "But I think we have been pushing quite hard already, you know. Don't worry, Johto will still be there in a few days!"

Thinking back on the last days, Bonnie had to agree with Laura's assessment. Eager to start their new adventure, they HAD indeed been pushing the pace rather hard, mostly stopping only for a quick rest around lunchtime and for the night. Bonnie suspected that, left to their own devices, each would have walked a little bit slower and made a tiny bit more stops, but they seemed to be spurring each other on. On the plus side, this was getting Bonnie back into shape very quickly, and getting her where she wanted to be faster, so she was definitely not complaining. Because they had been so eager to leave Acquacorde, especially Laura, they had not lingered around the pokemon center after making their big decision, and it had not occurred to them that they did not know the best way to go to Johto until that evening, when they started making concrete plans. What they did know, however, was that there were only two possible means of transportation to get there from Kalos, plane and boat. In both cases, they had to go to Lumiose City, either to the airport there, or on their way to Courmarine. And now, they were camping at the edge of the forest where Bonnie had first met Litleo, and Lumiose was almost within reach.

"I still want to reach Lumiose tomorrow if we can."

"Hey, I already agreed!" Laura laughed. "Anyway, dinner is ready, both for us and for the pokemon."

At these words, their little furry and feathery friends, who had been playing together nearby, came running to her. Bonnie smiled at their enthusiasm. At the same time, her stomach growled loudly, destroying her pretense of more decorum, and Laura laughed again.

xxx

"Bonnie! I thought you'd be there tomorrow at the earliest," said her father, engulfing her in a bear hug. "And you must be Laura. I'm glad Bonnie found a good friend, travelling is so much better with friends! Thanks for taking good care of my daughter!"

"Nice to meet you," Laura said. "You have a great daughter, sir, I'm happy we're travelling together."

"My, you're a polite one," Meyer commented. "No need to lie though, I already know what my daughter is like!"

"Dad!"

The big man laughed.

"Well, you arrive too late for dinner, but there are still plenty of leftovers in the kitchen. Clemont returned to Prism Tower after eating, no doubt he's tinkering with whatever mechanic he's working on right now."

The next day, Bonnie and Clemont's father had to leave early, having promised the pokemon center to fix their secondary generator. When Clemont woke up after a short night – he had stayed up very late, working on his latest invention – he found the girls on the information terminal, looking up Johto.

"Sleeping the morning away as usual," Bonnie commented as he entered the room. "You can thank Laura, I was going to wake you up and she persuaded me not too."

"Appreciate it," Clemont yawned, with a nod to the dark-haired girl. "Though I don't know how you did it, tempering Bonnie's energy is no easy job!"

Laura stammered a reply, looking embarrassed. Bonnie had noticed that her friend was quite painfully shy with stangers, even in such an informal context.

"So, now that you're up, you can help us!" She said. "How would you go to Johto, boat or plane? We're having trouble finding the right information, it seems like there are too any options. The boat is cheaper, right?"

"Oh I'd definitely go by air," Clemont answered. "The ships that go between Kalos and Johto are mostly freighters, and very very slow. The journey takes more than three weeks, you'd go nuts. Plus, there aren't that many of them anyway. Let me check, I think Dragonite Airlines is flying to Johto every day. There you go!"

Bonnie and Laura looked at the page.

"Sounds good," Bonnie said. "What do you think, Laura? Laura? Hey, what's wrong?"

Her friend had an alarmed expression and looked on the verge of crying. She threw an agonised look at Bonnie's brother, reddening. Twice, she tried to speak, but no words came out.

"Oh Bonnie, I can't do it," She murmured despairingly after a while.

"Why not?"

This time, her voice was so low it was very hard for the siblings to hear her.

"It is too... I mean I don't... I don't have enough money for the ticket. I'm sorry! You'll have to go without me."

Bonnie and Clemont exchanged looks.

"No way I'm going without you! I can pay for you, no problem," Bonnie offered immediately.

"No!" Laura cried out. "Thank you so much for making the offer, you're really too nice, but I won't let you! I have to make my own way. I'm sorry, I can't accept, it would be wrong."

"But..."

"Laura is right," Clemont interjected. "Being indebted to someone is not something to take lightly. It has destroyed many friendships."

"What? You can't agree with her!" Bonnie exclaimed, aghast. "I want to continue to travel with Laura!"

"As it happens, I might have a solution." Laura and Bonnie stared at him, one face filled with hopelessness, the other with indignation. "Bonnie, you know when you told me that the gym was starting to really look like a pigsty and I really should spruce it up?"

"Yeah?" Bonnie said, surprised at the apparent non-sequitur.

"Well, I decided you were right after the day Electrike decided to play in one of my storage rooms and came back out grey as an espurr. So I made a nice machine to clean the whole place. I called it the cleaning-and-dusting-in every-nook-and-cranny-machine. I was supposed to complete it yesterday, but when I tried it, it unfortunately exploded into my face. So I'm back to square one, and since I'm quite busy with gym battles right now, I think the best thing to do would be to hire a cleaner. You can have the job if you're interested," he added, turning to Laura.

"Oh I am!" She cried. "But, this is not make-work, right?"

"Oh no," Bonnie replied before Clemont could. "His gym really does look like a pigsty and needs a thorough cleaning."

"Gee Bonnie, thanks," Clemont said sarcastically.

"In that case, I accept! But I'm sorry your machine didn't work as you intended, I hope you didn't get hurt?"

"Don't worry, my brother is used to it, his machines are always blowing up in his face – or the face of anybody nearby, really."

"Bonnie!"

xxx

Visiting the Lumiose gym a while later, Laura had to admit that Clemont's offer, though fortuitous, was definitely not make-work. Situated in the heart of Lumiose City, inside the famous Prism Tower, it was quite striking and very modern, but there clearly was an air of neglect about it, as if the owner had more important things to do than housekeeping. Looking at all the half-finished machines in Clemont's workshop, it wasn't hard to understand that he had many other interests to fill his time. She was even more impressed by the gym leader after that little tour, even with Bonnie's remark from earlier that her brother's inventions weren't always very successful.

"I hadn't realised it was quite that bad," Bonnie said. The blond girl had insisted on sharing the work, despite Laura's protests, saying that it would go much quicker this way and she wanted to be in Johto as soon as possible. "It might be faster to go by boat, in the end."

"Sorry," Laura responded automatically.

"Stop apologising! It's not even your mess. This one we can lay directly at my brother's feet."

Knowing they had several days' worth of work in front of them, the two girls started quickly.

"Espurr, come out!"

"Espurr?"

"Use psychic on all the small parts laying around and put them in this box, it will be a big help! But don't try lifting anything too heavy, it would tire you too much."

Bonnie thought that it was a great idea to turn a chore into a useful training session. Not to be outdone, Dedenne decided to help too, wiggling into the small corners under the big pieces of machinery to gather the small parts that Espurr could not see.

It took them five full days to completely clean and tidy up the gym. The arena itself was not too bad, since Clemont had wanted to maintain a minimum of decorum in front of his opponents. But the back areas, the workshop, the storage rooms! They were a disaster. Bonnie wondered how her brother had been able to find anything when working on his beloved mechanics.

While cleaning the gym, the girls had the opportunity to see several of Clemont's battles. Ever since returning from their big journey two years ago, he had decided that his opponents could choose between challenging him or Clembot, his robotic assistant. Usually, one was battling and the other was refereeing. As it happened, most of the trainers who came to challenge the Lumiose gym in those few days decided to battle Clemont himself. Having decided that he wanted to keep his gym a pure electric one, the blond gym leader mostly used his recently evolved magnezone, his heliolisk and his luxray for the battles, though he was hoping to be able to use Electrike in the near future. In the meanwhile, Electrike, Chespin and Litleo played together a lot. The three little pokemon had become fast friends from the moment Litleo had met the other two. Chespin and Litleo had the same kind of mischievous streak, and were always sprurring each other on. They were often getting into one trouble or another, with Dedenne a willing accomplice. Espurr took its role as helper of the two girls much more seriously, though Laura encouraged it to go play with the others if it wanted too.

During the gym battles, Bonnie and Laura stopped working to cheer Clemont on. Bonnie pleaded and pleaded to be the official battle judge at least once, since she now had the legal age, arguing that she had seen so many battles already that she would even be able to do it in her sleep. In the end, her brother relented, to her delight, and the experience left her grinning from ear to ear. Laura was deeply impressed by Clemont's battle style and the training he had given his pokemon. Only one challenger, out of seven, was able to defeat him.

"Your brother is really great!" Laura told Bonnie in an admirative voice after Clemont won his fourth battle in a row.

The blond girl smirked. "Laura, are you sweet on my big brother?"

"What? No, of course not," Laura replied immediately. "I just meant he is a really good trainer!" But she could not bring herself to look her friend in the eye as she said it, and Bonnie wondered if the dark-haired girl wasn't blushing a little.

"Anyway," Laura continued, clearly keen on changing the subject, "When are we going to see Professor Sycamore? You said you wanted to see him while you were in Lumiose City."

"Right. Let's go tonight then. You'll love his laboratory, he's got so many cute pokemon!"

xxx

Laura indeed enjoyed her visit of Professor Sycamore's laboratory very much, though being her usual shy self, she observed a lot but said little. Professor Sycamore easily forgave Bonnie for having skipped coming to see him before leaving Lumiose City the last time, and gave her, as well as Laura, the latest pokedex. He also took Laura on a tour of his laboratory, with Bonnie interjecting many comments to his explanations of his current research. The Hoenn girl was a little wary of Garchomp at first, but seeing his sweet nature was cuddling him alongside Bonnie before long.

Professor Sycamore wanted to see Bonnie's new pokemon, and Laura also showed him her swablu and her espurr. The professor was especially interested in swablu, saying he had never seen its mega-form.

"My swablu can mega-evolve?" Laura said with surprise. "That's really cool!"

"Well, not Swablu himself, but his evolution, yes."

"So lucky," Bonnie gushed. "I want to have a pokemon that can mega- evolve too! Professor, can my litleo mega-evolve? As a pyroar I mean."

"And my espurr?" Laura asked.

"Not that I know of, Bonnie, Laura. Of course, just because no one has seen a mega-pyroar or mega-meowstic until now doesn't mean that it isn't possible, but don't count on it."

"Oh well, it's ok, I'll find other friends, maybe it will work with one of them. I love my litleo anyway!"

"And I love my Espurr!"

"You certainly both have very likeable little lads, " Professor Sycamore agreed.

"Lads? Is my espurr a male? I never knew."

"And Litleo too?"

"Of course! Didn't you know?"

Both girls shook their heads.

"Well, you just had to ask them you know, they know what they are!"

The two friends exchanged sheepish glances: they had never thought of such an easy solution. Soon after, they took leave of the professor.

"Have fun in Johto you two! It's a very nice place with lots of interesting pokemon. You'll have to tell me all about your adventures there next time we meet."

"We will, " Bonnie promised. "Good bye Professor, and thank you again for the pokedex!"

xxx

The last evening, Bonnie insisted on going shopping with Laura and giving her a makeover, saying that this was a new phase in her life, a new beginning, and she needed a new look to go with it.

"You'll feel a different person, you'll see!"

She hoped it would bolster her friend's confidence. After all, she reasoned, it had worked for Serena! Laura let herself be convinced, and the two girls had great fun trying on lots of clothes. In the end, the dark-haired girl traded her faded jeans and greyish t-shirt for a cute dark-blue skirt and yellow blouse, saying she wanted some sunshine everyday, even if the real sun was hiding. As they were on sale, she got stylish boots to go with the outfit, but decided to keep her old bag, which she found very comfortable to carry.

Finally, the day of their departure came. True to his word, Clemont had purchased Laura's plane ticket, waving away her words of thanks. "You more than deserve it, you did a great job at the gym." He told her. "And I liked the way you intertwined fun and training with your espurr. Keep it up!"

The blond boy accompanied his sister and her friend until the airport. Chespin, unhappy to be parted from his new friends, insisted to come along too. Finally the time for farewells came. Clemont wished Bonnie and Laura luck. He seemed a little envious of his sister going on such a neat adventure.

"Well Chespin, little buddy, we need to say good bye now, they'll miss their planes if they don't go now."

"Chespin, ches!" The little hedgehog was clinging to Bonnie's leg, unwilling to let go. Clemont sighed.

"He missed you and Dedenne a lot when you were gone," he told his little sister. "Things just haven't been the same for him without you two. Bunnelby is my main assistant in the workshop, Luxray and the others in the gym, and I think Chespin has been feeling at loose ends. I was hoping that having Electrike would change that, but since she was in such bad shape when we found her, I had to spend a lot of time with her, just getting her to trust humans again, and Chespin resents that, a little. Playing with Dedenne and Litleo and the others this week has been much fun for him, and I guess Chespin has a hard time accepting that it has come to an end."

"Chespin!" Agreed his little friend with a stubborn expression.

Bonnie looked at Chespin, then at her brother, thoughtfuL

"You know, there might be a solution..." She started to say.

"Wouldn't you mind?" Her brother immediately replied. "I was thinking it might come to that, so I have Chespin's pokeball with me. Though I'd miss the little scamp!"

"Of course I wouldn't mind, he's fun to be around! Chespin, do you want to go to Johto with Laura and me?"

"Chespin?" The little spiked pokemon looked at his trainer.

"It's fine with me," Clemont assured. "Go on an adventure with Bonnie if you want to."

"Chespin!" The siblings had to smile at Chespin's enthusiasm. Clemont entrusted his little friend's pokeball to Bonnie, looking a little sad.

"Hey don't worry big brother, I'll take good care of him!"

"I know you will, Bonnie. Now run along you two, or you're really going to miss your plane this time!"

xxx

"Hello Johto!" Bonnie exclaimed with a big smile upon disembarking.

The flight had gone quickly, and the adventure in Johto could now start. Laura followed her exuberant friend, amused by her antics. The Cherrygrove airport was not very big, and the two girls were soon out in the streets, just taking in the new sights. Bonnie was jumping around in her excitement, commenting an everything she saw.

"So cool! And so many pokemon that we rarely see in Kalos! Look, here is a marill with the lady in blue! And here a houndoom! And a togepi! Oh, they are so cute!"

"Slow down Bonnie," Laura called, as her friend started running. "I can't follow you this quickly. And be careful where you're going!"

The warning came too late. Rounding a corner at great speed, Bonnie collided with a black-haired boy running in the other direction.

"Hey," he said angrily. "Watch where you're going!"

"Watch it yourself!" Bonnie retorted, unwilling to admit to any wrongdoing. After all, the boy was running too, wasn't he?

"Whatever, I don't have time for this. Have you seen a treecko?"

"No, sorry," Bonnie replied, her annoyance instantly quelched as she saw the worry on his face.

"Damn, he should be here somewhere."

"Hey, shall we help you look for him? Many eyes are better than two."

"Oh, would you do that?"

"Sure," Laura said, piping up for the first time. "My swablu could even look from the air."

"Thanks a lot you two! That would be a big help! I'm worried about him, we had a bit of a fight for stupid reasons and he disappeared. It's not like him at all!"

"Hey, don't worry, I'm sure we'll find your treecko. I'm Bonnie by the way, this is my friend Laura, and my partner, Dedenne."

"Nice to meet you both. My name is Max."

END OF CHAPTER

My, this chapter was full of surprises! The big one, Max's arrival in the story, was planned from the first. Had you guessed? And yeah, Max has a treecko. I mean, it's practically cannon, isn't it?

The other one however, Chespin tagging along with Bonnie on her Johto adventure, came as a surprise to me too, to be honest! I hadn't planned on it at the beginning of the chapter. But the cool thing with characters is that they have a mind of their own sometimes, and Chespin really wanted to go. So I had no choice but to let him!

Thanks to all of you who took the time to give me a review, it's so nice to hear from my readers. Do continue to tell me what you think, I'll gladly take all criticism, good or bad! I'm sure I can improve many things, but it's hard to be neutral when you re-read your own story.