This one will be another I'm not too confident in. I had the idea to evolve Gallade here, but I'm not too sure how this will work out. I had a small idea a few weeks back for the chapter where Max gets his hands on a Shiny Stone, but I didn't know where to put it until like last week. So here we are. Hopefully you like this chapter, because I put a bit more thought than usual into it, and because I'm introducing another new Mega into this story in it!
Chapter 41:
Gallade Runner
Max and Bonnie spend the next few days traveling through the Kalos Badlands. They had taken a mountain pass to avoid them the last time, but now Bonnie's impatient to get to the gym, so she has them bite the bullet and travel through the Badlands. The two then proceed to spend the entire journey cursing that decision. It's unbearably hot in the Badlands, to the point that Max can't even take out his notebook to document any of the pokémon they come across. They find a pokémon centre in an oasis, which brings them great relief, but they only spend a single night there before they need to keep moving. Max can't help but look back in anger at the nice water that they'd left behind, which now feels like half the world away.
After another day or two of travel, they finally make it out of the Badlands. Dedenne quickly finds a river and the two humans jump in, not even bothering to take their clothes off first. Once they cooled off, the two just lay in the sun for a while to allow their clothes to dry. While they do, they talk about some of the pokémon they'd seen, and Max decides to buy some audio logs in the next town they visit, so he can still document pokémon without having to stop, then write down what he said when they stop for the night. That way, they can progress so much faster through Kalos. As much as Bonnie supports Max's dream, she'd be lying if she says that she isn't very relieved to hear this plan.
Eventually, they arrive at the next town. Max and Bonnie are glad to be in this town, because it means that they can buy a few important things. Like potions, repels, food, water, etc. While they're there, Max also steps into a tech shop and buys some audio logs. Then, the two go for some lunch. While they sit there and eat, Max writes down everything he remembers about the pokémon they saw in the Badlands. Once he's finished, and the two are done eating, Bonnie checks them into a room in the pokémon centre for the night, whilst Max wanders the place, looking for an item shop. Specifically, he looks for one that sells Shiny Stones, which will allow him to finally evolve his Kirlia into a Gallade.
At last he comes across one and hurries inside, only to find it rather low on stock. He approaches the desk, where a worried young man stands, talking hurriedly on his phone. "You still can't retrieve it?!" he's saying. "I'm running dangerously low on supplies here, I need that delivery... Well that's not my fault! I placed that order days ago, it's your job to deliver it!... Look, if you can't get them to me, I will run out of merchandise and be forced to close!... I don't need your apologies, I need those items!" Then he hangs up the phone, pockets it, then puts his head in his hands and sighs. Max walks over to the counter nervously, not wanting to be shouted at. The proprietor looks up at him and sighs. "Whatever you need, chances are I don't have it," he explains. "I ordered a replenishment a few days back, but apparently the truck that was carrying the supplies has fallen down a cliff in the Badlands. No one was harmed, luckily, but now I have very little things to sell."
Max looks around and sees that a Shiny Stone isn't one of the items for sale. Disappointed, he turns to go, but then he thinks of something. He turns around to the proprietor and asks, "What if me and my friend went to fetch them for you?" The proprietor looks at him with both doubt and hope at the same time. "How?" he asks. "Well, the two of us were already in the Badlands, and we have experience fetching stuff down cliffs. We both have pokémon who can use teleport, so we'd be able to get them, no problem." The proprietor looks very excited at this. "Can you really get it for me?" he asks. Max nods eagerly, which makes the proprietor even happier. "Excellent!" he exclaims. "If you can get them all for me, feel free to keep whatever you came in here for, free of charge!" Even more motivated by this promise, Max agrees to this deal, then runs out the door to find Bonnie. He finds her standing outside the shop and explains the situation to her. Bonnie seems less enthusiastic about the idea of going back into the Badlands than Max is, but she agrees to go with him to fetch the items. So with that settled, they pull out their Kirlias and have them teleport them all back to the Badlands.
Once they arrive there, they're immediately blasted by the immense heat of the desert. Bonnie starts grumbling about this decision, while Max checks the map on his phone for any roads wide enough for a van, and high enough for it to fall from a cliff. Eventually he finds on about half a day's walk away and starts setting off towards it, with Bonnie grumbling behind him. They set off through the heat, trying to be as sparing as possible with the water they just bought, as Bonnie likes to keep reminding Max. As they travel, they see the pokémon from the Badlands again. This time, Max has his audio logs, so he's able to document them without stopping, which Bonnie is incredibly thankful for. Eventually, they reach the hill that leads up to the place where the van fell. Max immediately heads up the road without a second thought, having long since tuned out Bonnie's complaints.
They make their way up the path, with Max straining his eyes to try to spot signs of anyone helping find a van. As he walks, he can hear Bonnie's voice calling out to him. Having to deal with her complaining all day drove him up the wall, so at this point he just snapped. "Bonnie, I swear to Arceus if you keep complaining about this I will deliberately start writing things down again!" he says angrily, rounding on her. However, for once Bonnie isn't complaining. Instead, she's pointing down the path, where people are gathered, trying to pull an upturned van out of a small hole that it got wedges inside of. Max apologises to her, then they make their way down to those people. As it turns out, the van is properly stuck in this hole, to the point that not even a Machamp is able to get it out. Max and Bonnie join in in helping the people down there in getting the van out of the hole, but it just wasn't budging.
Eventually, Max comes up with a plan. He summons Treecko and has him use Vine Whip to entangle the van. While he does that, Pidgeotto comes out and flies off to find a large branch. She comes back just as Treecko is finished wrapping the van up. Then, Max's Pyroar comes out and melts the stone a bit, before the trainer who own the Machamp had it pick the branch up and jam it into the cliff. Once that was done, one of the people trying to save the van pulls out a Vanilluxe and freezes the part Pyroar melted, at Max's instructions. Once they're sure it's going to hold firm, Treecko leaps over and wraps the vines over the branch, turning it into a hoist. When they've checked that the vines won't snap, everyone grabs hold and begins to pull as hard as they can. As they pull, Bonnie produces her Kirlia and has her use psychic to make things easier. Max's Kirlia hops out of his pokéball and joins his friend in trying to psychic it out. Eventually, Max's plan pays off, and the van is pulled out of the hole. Everyone immediately praises Max's intelligence, making him very bashful and a bit flustered.
Once Treecko lowers the van back onto the ground, the group inspects it. Fortunately, all of the items are still inside the van, so there's no need to go spelunking into the hole to find anything. Unfortunately, the van is totally smashed. One of the people involved in pulling the van investigates the engine, and proclaims that it's completely totalled. Everyone was rather annoyed at this point, because they just want to get this over with and head home. That's when Bonnie gets an idea. She calls over both Kirlias, and gives them both some PP ups to restore their energy. Then, she instructs the pair to Teleport everyone and the van over to the town toey were in that morning. The Kirlias look a bit nervous at this, but agree to her request and do just that. It takes them a bit of time to envelop everybody in the ability, but they manage to, and within the blink of an eye, they're standing outside of the shop with the van in tow.
The proprietor runs out of the shop when he hears people cry out with alarm. His eyes fall on Max first, then on the large, broken-down van that Max is standing behind. His eyes widen with surprise, then his face breaks out in a grin. "Oh my Arceus, thank you so much for your help!" he says, running over and firmly shaking Max's hand. "As promised, you can take anything you need from the van, free of charge. You too girl!" he adds, pointing towards Bonnie. "As for the rest of you, I have your payment inside. Thank you all so much!" Then, he heads inside, followed by the others involved in pulling the van out. While they all talked, Max and Bonnie rooted through the van for items they'd like. At last, Max finds a Shiny Stone and immediately pulls Kirlia out. He places the stone on Kirlia's head, and Kirlia immediately begins to glow and his form changes. His arms and legs extend, and his head reshapes itself. When the glowing stops, Kirlia is no more. Now Gallade stands in his place, shouting a battle cry.
Bonnie and Dedenne continue to search through the van to find a stone or other items that peaks their interest. Eventually, Dedenne knocks into something and freezes. He shuffles through the pile until he manages to pull it out, then he runs over to Bonnie with it in his hands. Bonnie picks it up and examines it. Max notices this and starts examining it as well. Eventually, both of them gasp. "I think that's a mega stone!" says Max. Bonnie nods. "But the question is, who's it for?" They puzzle over this for a few seconds, before Bonnie recognises the colouring of the stone. "Oh, my, Arceus!" she exclaims. Before Max can ask what she's talking about, she hands the stone back to Dedenne, before taking the keystone out of her pocket and touching it with her fingers. "If I'm correct," she says, her voice barely containing her excitement, "then this should work. Dedenne, mega evolve!"
Mega energy bursts from the keystone and into the mega stone that Dedenne is holding. Immediately, Dedenne begins to glow, and his shape changes. His tail lengthens, wraps around his body, then comes to a stop on top of his head. He grows a third whisker on each cheek, and electric sparks jump between them all. Completing this new form is a big electric ball that he becomes enveloped in, like a hamster ball of see-through electricity. Dedenne squeaks with delight at this, before jumping into Bonnie's arms. She gets a bit of an electric shock, but she ignores it in favour of hugging her new mega Dedenne tightly. Max smiles at this, then proceeds to describe what he sees into his new audio log. Bonnie and Dedenne proceed to train up with his new mega form with Max, who uses his new Gallade and his new mega form. Eventually, night begins to fall, so the two decide to pack their training in, then head into their room, where Max proceeds to listen to the new audio tapes he recorded until he can barely stay awake.
Sorry I updated this today instead of yesterday, but I got Skyrim for the 1st time and lost all motivation to write. But I finished it today, so go me! Now, I hope you like the mega design for Dedenne, and I bet you were a bit surprised that I gave a mega to Dedenne. If you have any comments on the design, address them to my brother Diamond682, as he's the one who came with it. Also, I hope you got the puns both in the chapter title, and the two in the 1st paragraph. But anyway, I'll see you all on Tuesday with the next chapter.