This chapter is going to be rather short and rather shit. That's because I want to keep this story's average length at 2,000 words per chapter, meaning I need to make two chapters 1,000 words long in order for me to do that. I was going to do that in the previous chapter, but I ended up rambling a bit, so I'm doing it in these two chapters instead. But something to note if you're reading this chapter by the time chapter 34 is published, then you can just skip it since it adds nothing. But for those of you who decided to read this one anyway, here it is, and I apologise for how bad it is.
CHAPTER 33:
Copycatting Team Rocket
As Max and Bonnie continue on to Coumarine, Bonnie has started to make fun of the way that Trixie pulled a complete 180 when she found out that Max could hear what she was saying to Bonnie, which makes Max laugh. But much to Bonnie's relief, he thinks that the only reason she completely changed her tune after the battle is because she was worried that he'd report her to the owners of the Sky Battle Centre. Max is just glad she's able to joke about the situation, since it meant that she'd gotten over what had happened in the cave. If he's being honest with himself, he's amazed he got out of that situation alright. He had a fricking gun pointed to his head, how was he not affected?
He pointed this out to Bonnie one night while they ate. When she hears this, she points out that he went through a lot when he was 6, so maybe his mind is much sturdier than he thinks. "After all," she says, "when you saw that guy Homura, it didn't cause you to freeze up. Besides, you were also focused on getting me out of there, so maybe that's why you weren't affected." Max figures that makes sense, so he drops the subject in case it causes Bonnie to start getting anxious again.
A few days after their time Sky Battling, the two end up in a wide-open field, completely full of all sorts of pokémon. Max's eyes go wide at the sight of them, and he immediately pulls out his notebook to start writing them. He's had to be careful with it since C started ripping that page out. He managed to fix it, but it's a bit flimsy, so he's more careful with it to avoid ripping it. He goes to the centre of the field and sits down on some rocks and starts writing as much as he can. Bonnie finds herself admiring him again for a bit, before deciding to get some training done. Maybe she might even complete her team.
The two remain in the field for roughly an hour. They probably would've stayed there for most of the day, but those plans end up being interrupted by a violent tremor in the ground. Max snaps out of his Observant State and starts looking around wildly, reminded of the Tremors Team Terra had caused in Hoenn over 5 months ago. He quickly puts his notebook back in his bag and throws it over his shoulder. Bonnie returns her pokémon to their balls and runs over to him. She's about to ask him what's going on, when they both get their answer.
A giant machine comes rolling down the field. It looks a lot like one of Team Rocket's old contraptions, except it doesn't have a Meowth head on it. It rolls around on treads, which are attached to a box-like body. On the arms of the body are a claw for its right hand, and a magnet for its left. The cockpit sits at the top, which is just a large glass dome. Sitting inside the dome are Sarah and Sam. Max and Bonnie roll their eyes as the machine approaches. Somehow, Sarah and Sam notice and stop the machine. They open the dome and clamber down.
"You should be terrified," Sarah comments. "Why are you rolling your eyes?" Max shrugs. "I've seen scarier contraptions from Team Rocket" he replies. Bonnie chuckles, then adds, "You two really do love to copy them don't you?" This causes both of the agents to go red in the face with anger. "Will, you, stop, comparing, us, with, Team, Rocket!" Sam shouts. Max and Bonnie look at each other. "We haven't done that in months," Bonnie points out. "Although if you want, we can start that again." Max laughs his head off at that.
Sarah flushes even red with anger and stepped forward to slap her, but Sam caught her hand. "Don't go hitting a child!" he shouts. "What are you, a conservative?!" Sarah apologises and pulls her hand free. "No of course not," she says, as if to reassure him. "Otherwise, I wouldn't be working with you. Now come on, let's just get our machine to take the Orb from them." Sam nods, and the pair return up the cockpit. But by the time they got back in, Max and Bonnie were no longer there. They had taken this moment to flee the scene and had started running as fast as they can towards a Pokémon Centre Max had found on his nav. Team Terra growl with rage and use the machine to chase after them.
The pair almost make it to the field when Team Terra manage to catch up with them and block the way. "Not so fast!" Sam shouts. "Don't think you can go slipping past us so easily!" 2well we almost did," Bonnie taunts back. "So maybe focus more on us and not how easy it is to annoy you!" While Bonnie continues to taut them, Max begins subtly analysing the machine, hoping to find its weakness. Eventually, he gets an idea. He pulls out Kirlia and has him teleport himself onto the front of the machine, where something was jutting out a bit in the centre of it. Then, he quietly tells Bonnie to instruct her Kirlia to do the same. The two pokémon do so while their trainers keep Team Terra distracted.
They reach this jutting out cover and use their abilities to blow it clean off the machine. Max grins to himself. Sure enough, there's a power source hidden behind it. He turns to Bonnie to instruct her to do something but, as if she can read his mind, she's already doing just that. She pulls out Dedenne and Shinx and orders them to get up to that core. Max pulls out Treecko and has him use Vine Whip to create a path for the two electric types to get up there. Once the path is created, they proceed to run up it as fast as they can. Sarah and Sam panic and start trying to move the machine, but Bonnie sends out Talonflame and has her fly around the top of the machine to keep the two of them busy.
While all of this is going on, the two electric types reach the core. They both activate Spark and ram into the core as hard as they can. Sure enough, the device starts to fizzle out and combust. Shinx and Dedenne get out of there quickly and Treecko lowers his Vine Whip path. Then, as the machine continues to short-circuit, Max pulls out Pyroar and Mightyena and orders them to destroy one of the treads. They do, and the machine topples over. Luckily for Sarah and Sam, they're able to get the dome open and scramble out of there before the machine hits the ground. But as they get to their feet, they see Max and Bonnie running towards the end of the field. They're about to chase after them, when they notice that Bonnie has her phone to her ear. They realise she's probably calling the police and bolt out of there.
Max and Bonnie watch the two agents run away and laugh. In actual fact, Bonnie had been calling her brother to let him know that there was a big machine lying in a field not far from Coumarine, in case he'd like to come and check it out. She also told him to bring the police, as it belonged to Team Terra. Once that was sorted, the two continue on their way to Coumarine. Fennekin pops out of her pokéball at this and gives an angry cry, obviously annoyed that she didn't get to participate in the battle against the machine. Bonnie laughs and picks her up. "That's because Max has one less pokémon then me," she explains. "So, I figured it would be easier if we used the same amount." At that, Max starts looking around. "Well, why don't I fix that," he says. "I think I'll try to get a flying type of my own as well!" Bonnie laughs at her friend's antics, then drags him away from the field and onwards to Coumarine.
Like I said, it's a short chapter, since I want to bring this back to 2,000 words on average. But sorry if the battle was a bit messy, I'm a bit hungover right now, so this was the best I could manage. I could've updated it tomorrow instead when I might be feeling better, but I'm pretty sick of the Sunday updates and would like to rectify them. But anyway, join me next week as I finally give Max his 5th pokémon. Then, I promise you, we'll finally be in Coumarine.