So I have a few reasons why I'm updating this chapter today instead of on Tuesday. 1. I have the full thing planned and didn't want to wait another 3 days to actually write it. 2. I have my driver's theory test on Tuesday, and as a result I may not have the time to write then, hence I'm writing today. And 3. I want to speed up the progress of this story a bit more. I won't be doing this every Saturday mind you, because last time I did that I got sick of writing this story. But I shall be doing this every now and then, so keep an eye on this fic, just in case. Anyway, enough about that, enjoy.
Chapter 29:
Tremorous Return of Sarah and Sam
The next day, the four of them make plans to set off together. Max finds out that his next opportunity to be in a pokémon contest will be in Fallarbor Town, so they prepare to set off in that direction. From there, Max and Bonnie will head to Lavaridge Town, while Clemont and Korrina will head off somewhere else, they aren't quite sure yet where. As the gang are preparing to leave, Bonnie gets a call from Meyer. Clemont sees this and starts to panic slightly. But before he can stop her, she answers the phone. "Hey daddy," she says happily. "What's up?" "I'm just calling to congratulate you," he replies happily. "Clemont sent me a picture." Bonnie looks quizzically at Clemont, who seems to be trying to find somewhere to hide. "Oh, well, thanks daddy," she says. "I've got three badges here in Hoenn, and now we're on our way for my fourth, after Max competes in a contest."
Meyer only beams at this. "Ah, so your going to cheer your boyfriend on, just like he's been doing for you!" At this, both Bonnie and Max freeze, going redder than they ever have. "Wh-Wuh-What!?" she exclaims, so flustered she stumbles over her words. "Where did you get that idea!?" At this, Meyer holds up a picture he'd printed out. Bonnie's mouth falls open, while Clemont facepalms. It's a picture of Bonnie and Max in a tight embrace with Bonnie's Phanpy right after her victory against Watson. "Oh Arceus, Dad that's taken completely out of context!" she says aghast. "I had just won a tough Gym Battle with Phanpy, who's my newest pokémon. Max helped me come up with the plan that got me the win, that's why we're hugging. Max is not my boyfriend, just my best friend!" Meyer looks rather sheepish at this, and rubs the back of his head. "Sorry about that Bonnie," he says, laughing slightly. "Clemont sent me the picture, and I took it out of context." "Oh he did, did he?" Bonnie asks in such a sweet voice it immediately sends alarm bells ringing in Max's head, and she turns to give her brother a death glare. "Well, sorry about that you two, no doubt that would've embarrassed you greatly," Meyer finishes. "I'll leave you to it then. Have fun with the rest of your journey." He and Bonnie exchange a few more pleasantries, then Meyer hangs up.
When he's gone, Bonnie rounds on Clemont, an angry smile on her face. "Brother dearest," she says, in the same dangerously sweet voice. "Would you do me a favour and stay still for a few seconds." Then, she opens the flap of her bag to let Dedenne out. "Dedenne, nuzzle him please." Clemont then has to spend the next five minutes running away from his younger sister and her pokémon, while Korrina and Max watch them do this, laughing their heads off. "Can you believe we fell for these guys of all people?" Korrina asks him. Max blushes, but doesn't respond. Once the two siblings have calmed down, and Clemont's hair has stopped smoking, they gather together around Max's phone to check out which route will take them to Fallarbor the fastest. Once they've decided on the route, they gather their things and set off.
Over the next few days, nothing much happens. Max records any and all info on pokémon he can spot on his audio logs, while Clemont and Bonnie stare at him, Clemont in amazement and Bonnie with infatuation. Bonnie, whenever she isn't staring at Max, spends her time training up her team fir her next battle. She puts more focus on Phanpy than the others, as she'll have the type advantage in the next battle, that being the Fire Type Gym. That's not to say she's ignoring her other pokémon, far from it. But she's giving Phanpy just a bit of extra training to make sure she's ready. Clemont spends his time tinkering with a few contraptions, with some ideas he got from his time in Mauville. He focuses particularly on this one project in particular, which seems to be bugging him. "What are you working on?" Max asks him at one point. "It's supposed to be a device that automatically brews potions and other healing remedies for you by gathering the nutrients from the ground," he explains. "But I'm having a bit of trouble with it." "What kind of trouble?" Max asks. "It explodes if it shakes too much," Clemont responds. "And by that I mean, if you so much as run with it, it will blow up when you try to use it."
Korrina meanwhile uses the forests around them to keep up with her workout routine, something that often distracts Clemont. Bonnie finds this endlessly funny. "Honestly Clemont, how do you expect to get any work done when you're constantly checking Korrina out when she works out!" she teases him. At this, Clemont merely responds with, "And I'm amazed you manage to get any training done at all when you're constantly staring at Max when he's writing stuff down in his notebook. Actually, not that I think about it, how many times have you crashed into trees because you were listening to him record information on those logs?" Bonnie hits him for that, but doesn't respond. Instead, she shoots Clemont a glare that clearly states, "Alright brother, you win this round!"
Eventually, roughly half a week since they left Mauville, Max starts getting antsy. He keeps looking over his shoulder, and gripping onto his bag quite tightly. At first Bonnie is confused by this behaviour, but then she seems to come to a realisation, and starts keeping an eye out as well. For their part, Clemont and Korrina are incredibly confused by this. At first, they assume they've wandered into a place where wild pokémon attacks are common, but when they see Bonnie start looking around as well, they realise that this isn't the case. After about half an hour of this, Clemont decides to ask them what the Hell they're worried about. But before he can, something comes flying out from the trees overhead. A Vine Whip narrowly misses Max's head and strikes the path between them all. Looking up, the four of them spot two people standing on the branches, a man and a woman. The two of them jump down onto the path and bow graciously.
"Times up!" says Sarah happily. "We've let you have 2 weeks, and now we're back once again!" "So, unless you want to be defeated humiliatingly," Sam continues, "I suggest you hand over those notebooks of yours right away!" Max glowers at them. "Bonnie, Max, who are these guys?" Clemont asks, putting an emphasis on Max's name, as if to say, "If these guys have hurt my sister in the past, I'll kill you myself." Max can see him eyeing the Ts on their shirts. "They're basically the Team Terra equivalent of Jessie and James from Team Rocket," Max explains. "They're nothing to worry about." This seems to make the Team Terra duo very mad. "Nothing to worry about he says," Sarah complains. "Oh we'll give you something to worry about!" "You've escaped us for the last time!" Sam adds. "You won't be so lucky this time." Then, the two of them pull out two pokéballs each. "And also," they say together, "STOP COMPARING US WITH TEAM ROCKET!" Then, they send out their 4 pokémon.
In response, the gang sends out one pokémon each. Max sends out Grovyle, Bonnie sends out Dedenne, Korrina sends out Lucario and Clemont sends out Luxray. But before a battle can begin, all eight pokémon begin to panic. But not just those pokémon, other pokémon in the area start panicking and fleeing. Clemont and Korrina look around with utter confusion. They become even more confused when Max, Bonnie, Sarah and Sam returning their pokémon. "Ok, this is something to worry about," says Max. "We need to run, now!" "What's going on?!" Clemont demands. "I'll explain later," Max replies. "Right now we need to start running. With that, he takes off down the path, with the others following after him. "Why are we running?" Korrina asks. Her question is answered when the ground begins to shake violently, and the pathway begins to crack. "That's why!" Max shouts back. "So stop talking and start running!"
No one needs telling twice. They quickly lose sight of Sarah and Sam in all of the chaos, which isn't something they're particularly concerned for. All they care about right now is the fact that they need to leave this place. As they run, the ground starts splitting apart, and some trees begin to fall. Seeing this, plus how tired he's getting, gives Clemont a very risky idea. "Max, Bonnie, stay close to me!" he shouts to them. "Rina, keep running for just a few more seconds!" Then, he grabs hold of Max and Bonnie in his arms and activates his Ambipom ones. The four arms shoot out from his bag and three of them grab on to different trees. Then, he and the other two are lifted into the air. Once above the ground, Clemont uses his last arm to wrap around Korrina and lift her up too. Then, the four of them swing along the branches of the trees, avoiding the collapsing ground.
At several points, Clemont has to make a few sharp movements to avoid latching onto a falling tree, dropping Max at one point during that. He quickly sends one of the Ambipom arms to grab him before he hits the ground, and brings him back into his arms. "Why not just keep me in that arm?!" Max asks. "Because if I'm only using two arms, it will slow us down!" Clemont replies. At that moment, Max sees something out of the corner of his eye. Looking around, he sees Sarah and Sam clinging on to Sarah's Gourgeist as it swings them along the trees as well. A Vileplume is wrapped around other vines, and when Sarah points at them, it begins to throw moves at them. Not wanting to be shot out of the sky, Max releases Wingull and orders her to use Gust to blow Vileplume's attacks away. The two pokémon trade blows with each other as they continue to swing across the forest and away from the Tremor.
At last, the shaking finally stops, and everyone is set back down on the ground, with Gourgeist doing so with great relief. Now back on the ground, the two sides glare at each other. Then, Clemont has another idea. Quickly, he pulls out the contraption he was working on and starts to activate it. "Wait, isn't that the machine that blows up if it's shaken too much?" Korrina asks. "Yep" is all Clemont says, before finishing activating it, before rolling it in the direction of Sarah and Sam. "And weren't we just swinging through the trees?" Max asks. "Exactly," Clemont replies. "Everyone get down!" Then, he pulls the other three behind a fallen tree. Sarah and Sam aren't so lucky. They barely have time to register what was said before Clemont's machine explodes and the two of them are sent flying off. The group watch them go, before Clemont rounds on Max. "You'd better explain to me what the Mirror World that was!" he says. Max nods. "Don't worry," he says. "It has absolutely nothing to do with me." Then, he explains what the Tremors are, and the cause of them.
Funny story as to how I came up with this chapter. I simply thought of a badass image of Clemont using the Ambipom Arms to swing across a bunch of trees, and came up with that as well. All in all, it was a fun one to write. Now, fingers crossed I'm able to update this on Tuesday, because I will be very busy then. But I also will have a day off work, so it should work out for the best. See you all in the next chapter, wither way.