The next Gym battle, so soon after the previous one?! What!? Yeah, looking back on the 1st half of the story, the gaps between the Gym battles are far too long. However, I needed to make the 1st half as long as possible in order to keep both halves equal length, otherwise they wouldn't be "halves" and it would be driving my neurodivergency mad! I don't have anything else to add to this, so just enjoy.
Chapter 54:
Hubris's Price
The six of them end up staying in the same hotel, just on different floors. Luckily for Max and Bonnie, they managed to snag a room with two separate beds, so they don't have to worry about sleeping in the same bed. Bonnie spends the evening near the river training her pokémon, while Max transcribes his audio logs into his book. He glances up at her and her team on occasion to admire their work, and he notices something somewhat odd. "Hey Bonnie!" he calls. "I couldn't help but notice your training isn't as rigorous as usual. Why is that?" Bonnie stops and turns to look at him, smiling. "Observant as ever," she comments wistfully, more to herself than to Max. "I just don't think I need to do as much this time, that's all." Then, she turns back to her pokémon. Max is confused by this. "Why not?" he asks. "I've heard that Valerie is really tough. She could hand your butt to you on a platter if you aren't ready. I mean, you don't even have a poison or steel type on your team!"
Bonnie turns back to Max again, and he sees that she has a cocky smile on her face, even though her eyes flash with slight annoyance. "Come on Max, were you not at my previous battles?" she asks. "I managed to beat every single Gym Leader on my 1st try so far. Not even Ash can claim that, and he's the freaking Monarch!" Max's stomach sinks slightly. "You're letting that get to your head, you've become way too cocky!" he tells her. "If you're not careful, you'll fly too close to the sun and get burnt." At the look of confusion on Bonnie's face, Max explains, "It's an old story from thousands of years ago. But my point is, if you start slacking because of your success so far, which you only got thanks to hard training, you'll come crashing to the ground when you finally get beaten."
Bonnie pouts at this. "So, my best friend doesn't believe in my ability" she sulks. Max resists the urge to pull his hair out. Arceus, if she wasn't so cute he would've left her by now! "It's not that at all and you know it!" he snaps. "Of course I believe in you! But you saw Paul's battle against her yesterday! He had the type advantage, and even he struggled against her. He only won because he Mega Evolved, which he wasn't even planning to do in the 1st place! You're cockiness will not make you win, it'll only bring you down." Max expects her to storm off and tell him she never wants to see him again, but instead her cocky grin returns. "Wanna bet?" she asks. Max's eyes widen. "What do you mean?" he asks. "Do you want to bet on whether you're correct or not?" she replies. Max chuckles humourlessly. "Of course I'm correct," he replies. "Hello, I don't have a gift dubbed "my Observant State" for nothing. But sure, how much are we talking?"
Bonnie's grin broadens. "I bet you 2,000 Poké-Yen that I will beat Valerie tomorrow with the training I've done now!" she tells him. "You're on!" Max replies. "And, since you're so confident in your abilities, I'm not going to come up with any strategies for you. After all, you seem to be naturally good at this?" He notices Bonnie's face fall, and something like guilt and regret appear in her eyes. Max almost feels bad for adding that part, but holds firm, knowing she needs to be taught some humility before she suffers a loss that makes her want to give up. Bonnie's face hardens a second later and she takes Max's hand to shake it. "Done!" she says. "I probably won't need it anyway."
Bonnie regrets saying that almost as soon as the words leave her mouth. The hurt that suddenly appears in Max's eyes make her immediately back track. "I didn't mean that!" she says quickly. "I'm so sorry Max, I was just caught up in the moment. Of course I need your strategies, I just said that as a counter to your claim!" Max nods, but she can tell he was affected by what she said. "No, I get it," he tells her. "You were just caught up in the heat of the moment. I understand, don't worry." He tries to hide his face, but Bonnie can see some tears begin to well in his eyes. With that settled, Bonnie returns her team to their balls and Dedenne to her bag, then she heads into town to find something to eat. She invites Max along, but he refuses, saying he needs to finish updating his book. But that's a lie and they both know it. He's still hurt by what she had said, and wants some time alone. Bonnie nods sadly and leaves him to it, feeling her own eyes begin to water. She walks away from him and goes into the city. But she gets so angry with herself for what she said to him that she punches a nearby tree. In her anger, her Aura fuels the punch, and she snaps the tree in half.
When Bonnie returns to her and Max's room, she sees that Max isn't there. In fact, he doesn't come in until much later, when she's already in bed. She pretends to be asleep, and notes that he doesn't even try to check if she's awake. He just slips into the bathroom and gets changed, then crawls into the other bed without a word. The guilt that she feels makes it hard for Bonnie to fall asleep, but she manages to eventually. When she wakes up, Max's bed is empty. In fact, he's not even at breakfast with Dawn, Zoey, Paul, and Miette when she gets down to check. "Hey Bonnie!" Dawn calls. "Ready for your next match?" Bonnie nods half-heartedly. "What's up?" Zoey asks. "Where's Max? Is he still asleep?" At the mention of her friend's name, Bonnie bursts into tears. With the exception of Paul, all of them gather around her to check if she's alright. While they do that, Paul decides to fetch her breakfast for her.
When he gets back, she explains to them the bet she made with Max the night before, and the really stupid thing she said to him. She even voices her concern that he may not want to travel with her anymore after this. Zoey rubs a comforting hand on Bonnie's back, while Miette tries to reassure her. "I'm sure he knows that you didn't mean it," she tells her. "But I can understand why he'd be angry and hurt by it. He probably feels that it invalidates him." "What do you mean?" Bonnie asks. "Well, he helped you win all of your gym battles didn't he?" Miette explains. "And here you are saying that you beat them on your 1st try, so you don't need to train. Then, you go on to say that you probably won't need his strategies to win against Valerie. To him, that could also have sounded like you don't need him."
Bonnie's eyes widen. "But of course I do!" she exclaims. "He's my best friend! I never would've made it this far without him!" "So tell him that," Zoey says. "Maybe even call of that bet." Bonnie shakes her head. "Max is too analytical for his own good," she replies. "He'll see that as a shallow gesture to get him to come back. But I can't win it either, or else he might leave me!" "So are you going to throw the match?" Dawn asks. Bonnie thinks about it. "No way," she says. "I care about him and want him to stay with me, but I don't want to end my winning streak, especially when I know I can win!" Paul leans forward at this. "How about this," he says. "When you win your match, refuse to take his money, and maybe even give him the 2,000 Poké-Yen he would've gotten if he won. Then, ask him to think of ways for you to train more efficiently. Even if you think you don't need it, show him just how much you think you need him." Bonnie grins at this and hugs Paul tightly. "That a great idea!" she exclaims. "Thank you so much!" With that, she picks up her bag and runs out the door. "That was pretty smart Paul," Miette tells him. "Where did you get that from?" Paul looks a little guilty at this. "I had to do something like that to get some of my pokémon that I had released because they lost back" he tells them.
Bonnie arrives at the gym to find it open. She steps inside and immediately looks at the stands. When she sees that Max isn't there, her heart sinks. She about to run back out to look for him, when he comes wandering through the door. "Max!" she exclaims, running up to him. "You came!" Max nods, but more out of disinterest than pleasure. "I'm just here to win the bet" he says, with no emotion in his voice. This breaks Bonnie's heart, but she continues to look at him. "I'm going to win it," she tells him. "But I really am sorry for what I said. I didn't mean it!" Max just nods to this, and heads up to the stands without another word, while Bonnie heads into the arena, where Valerie proceeds to float down amongst flower petals, not that Bonnie is paying attention. She only half listens as the ref explains that this will be a two-on-two battle, rather than the three-on-three that she'd grown accustomed to.
Once the ref is finished, the battle begins. Valerie starts with a Sylveon, while Bonnie decides to start with Talonflame. Talonflame begins the match by using Flame Charge, but Sylveon is quick to dodge it. Then, it quickly uses Rain Dance, weakening Talonflame's fire abilities. So, Bonnie has her go in with Brave Bird, but Sylveon uses Double Team before she can hit it, and Talonflame completely misses. While she's damaged from the recoil, Sylveon strikes her in the back with Moonblast. Talonflame tries to go in for another attack, but Sylveon uses Sand Attack, severely lowing Talonflame's accuracy. While she continues to struggle to hit Sylveon, Sylveon hits her with Moonblast over and over again, eventually defeating her.
"Talonflame is unable to battle!" the ref announces. Bonnie returns Talonflame to her ball and picks her next choice, not even daring to look at Max. She doesn't think she could handle it if he's bearing a smug grin on his face. She considers sending out Gardevoir, but decides against it since she's also a fairy type, so instead she sends out her other Mega, Dedenne. True he's a fairy type as well, but his primary type is electric, especially when he mega evolves. She Mega Evolves him the moment the ref calls for the battle to resume. Now with Dedenne's increased speed, she's able to avoid the Moonblasts, and land some hits of her own before Sylveon can do anything to prevent it. Dedenne strikes with Discharge, then avoids a Moonblast. He lands a nuzzle, paralysing the Sylveon, then manages to avoid a Quick Attack. Sylveon manages to land a Draining Kiss on Dedenne, but Dedenne manages to recover and land a few more Discharges, eventually knocking Sylveon out.
"Sylveon is unable to battle!" the ref calls. Valerie grins and sends out her Spritzee. Bonnie remembers this thing being fast, but luckily for her Dedenne is faster. That is, until Valerie uses Trick Room. Bonnie's stomach drops. She had completely forgotten about this move! Had she had Max, he could've thought of a counter, but of course she had to open her damn mouth. She's so distracted by her anger at herself that she fails to notice Spritzee charge at Dedenne until it's too late. Bonnie tries to get Dedenne to hit Spritzee with an assortment of moves, but he's too slow thanks to trick room, so Spritzee is able to eloquently dodge each of his attacks, and land all of hers since he's too slow to dodge. Eventually, this wears Dedenne out, and he faints. "Dedenne is unable to battle!" says the ref. "Making Gym Leader Valerie the winner of this match." Bonnie can't believe it. She had lost, just as Max had predicted. Now, no doubt he has a smug look on his face, and is expecting his reward. Without looking at him, she returns Dedenne to his ball and runs out of the stadium. But, if she had looked at him, she wouldn't have seen a look of triumph, but concern.
Max leaves the gym as fast as he can and begins searching for Bonnie. Luckily for him, she didn't go far. She's sitting by the river, clearly crying her eyes out. Max believes this is because she lost, and feels a bit annoyed, but he pushes that aside and approaches her. "I know what you're going to say Max," she says. "And I don't want to hear it! You were right, ok! I got too cocky and I paid for it! Just take your winnings! But I'm really, really, really sorry for saying I mightn't need your strategies! I couldn't have gotten this far without you! I need you Max, so please don't leave me!" Then, Max does something not even he's expecting. He walks over to her and hugs her tightly. "Of course I'm not going to leave you," he tells her. "You're my best friend! What you said hurt me, but I wouldn't leave you over something like that. I just needed some time to myself, that's all." "Why?" Bonnie asks him, looking up at him. Her eyes are all red and puffy. "Because," Max admits, going slightly pink, "I didn't want you to see me in the state that you're in now."
Bonnie laughs at this, then pulls him down to sit next to her. The two sit there alone for a while, staring at the City as it's basked in a midday glow. Max sees how close their hands are to each other, and admires how amazing she looks in the sunlight. The sun made her hair glow like electricity. Bonnie eventually notices his staring and blushes slightly. "What is it?" she asks. Max wants to tell her how beautiful she looks, and just how much she truly means to him. But just as he's about to, some different words leave them instead. "How about we go out to the forests and try to find a poison or steel type pokémon for you to fight Valerie with?" he says, mentally kicking himself for being such a coward. "I know you want more electric types on your team, but look at this." He then pulls out his notebook and scrolls through it, eventually coming across one that looks like 3 magnets with eyes stuck together. "It's a Magneton," he explains. "It's an electric and steel type! it's perfect for your team!" Bonnie looks at the picture Max had taken with his Rotom Phone and had printed onto the page, and the notes he'd made of it. Then, she smiles. "Sure!" she agrees. "And along the way, I'll be sure to train my pokémon up some more." They both laugh at this, and set off in search of a Magneton, glad that their first real argument didn't end their friendship.
I bet some of you thought this was going to be the one where I made them official! But I will say it right here, that won't be happening for a long time. This is just a me thing, and I get that it's weird, but I'm not comfortable with writing a romantic relationship between two 10-year-olds. Why do you think all of the relationships I made so far all started when they were at least 12? Also, I know that the two of them, Bonnie especially, may have seemed out of character, but I just realised that in the 7 months of this story, they have yet to have had a proper argument, so I thought I'd do something with that. I also noticed how easy the Gym battles were for Bonnie, so I decided to combine those things into this. But anyway, I shall hopefully see you on Sunday, but I'm going to Bulgaria tomorrow for a week, so I may have to put this fic on hold until I get back. We shall just have to wait and see.