Please note, this chapter gets rather tragic, and contains the death of a pokémon. So, TW for animal abuse I guess. Please also note, that there will be discussions of mental health conditions in this chapter, one that I don't suffer from. But I've done a lot of research on it to make sure it's accurate. If anyone who's reading this does suffer from it, please let me know if I got anything wrong and I will amend it. But with that said, here's the chapter.
Chapter 26:
Manic Attack
Max always knew that at some point since parting ways with her, May will call him to check up on him and wonder if Team Terra have gotten him yet. So, when his phone starts to ring roughly half a week since they parted ways, he's unsurprised to find that it's May calling him. What does surprise him however is when he enters Video Call mode, so that Bonnie can join in, is how distraught May looks. Max can barely say, "Hello May", before she immediately asks, "Have you seen or heard from Drew lately?" Max is quite stunned by this, and doesn't say anything to that. Luckily for him, Bonnie is able to respond. "No we haven't," she says. "Why? Has something happened?" May tears up a little bit, but dries her eyes quickly. "We both made a mistake," she tells them. Then, she explains what happened between them and how Drew had run off. "And now he won't pick up the phone when I call him!" Max can't help but feel bad for his sister. As much as he likes to tease her about her massive crush on Drew, hearing what had happened between the two makes him pity her. So, he hands the phone over to Bonnie. "Ask her for advice," he tells May. "She's the romance expert."
Bonnie can't help but blush at Max calling her a "romance expert". May notices but doesn't comment, since she wants Bonnie's help. "Well, I think Drew isn't picking up the phone because he thinks that if he answers, you'll be telling him that you never want to see him again" says Bonnie. May sighs. "That's what I feared," she says. "Any ideas as to how I can go about telling him that I didn't mind the kiss?" Max, who'd tuned out the conversation after he'd handed the phone to Bonnie, swirls around to look at May. "You mean you're finally going to tell him how you feel!?" he asks. May sighs, then nods her head. "Yes, I suppose I am" she says. Max is immediately invested in this conversation. "it's about time!" he says. "That is extremely rich coming from you brother," May replies, to which Max goes red. "But back to Drew, Bonnie, do you have any way to help me?"
Bonnie thinks about this for a moment, before giving her opinion. "Do you know where he lives?" she asks. May nods. "Ok, I suggest you show up in person to tell him. If I know boys, and I have an older brother, so I'm pretty sure I do, after thinking he blew his chances with the girl he likes, he'll go home to wallow for a while. You'll probably find him there." May thinks about this. "Max, care to confirm this?" she asks. Max just shrugs. "Well I've never had a crush on someone before so how would I know." May sniggers at this but doesn't say anything. "Ok, I'll try it, thanks Bonnie" she says, then ends the call. "Well, it was nice to see you too sis" says Max sarcastically, which makes Bonnie laugh. "Hey, it's not my fault I'm so good at detecting romance and shipping them together" she says. That's when they hear a friendly laugh from behind them. "I'd say there are a few people who would question that Bonnie!" says a voice they recognise.
The two of them spin around to see Ammon Donovan walking up the them, flanked by several members of the PRA. Ammon looks at them with a wide grin on his face, and a bit of mad glee in his eyes. Max and Bonnie run up to him and the PRA. "Hi Ammon," says Max. "What are you doing here?" Ammon's face darkens a bit, but his face still holds that look of pure joy. "We're here to finally put a stop to something that's been poisoning this area of Hoenn for too long," he explains, before pulling out his phone and showing the pair an image of a factory. "This factory has been ruled as too dangerous by Hoenn's officials, and they are demanding it to be torn down. Their one problem is that it's owned by this guy." Ammon swipes right on the screen, and an old man that Max recognises appears. "Remember this old bastard?" "Abaddon" says Max. Ammon nods. "This guy owns the place, and he's been pretty stubborn about keeping it open." His face sours. "That man would literally destroy every ecosystem in this world if he thought it would make him even a few PokéYen richer. That factory has been scheduled for removal for the past year and a half, but he's managed to bribe enough people to keep delaying it. So, we've decided to take matters into our own hands."
At this, he leads Max and Bonnie over to a crate that two people are carrying. With that mad gleeful look still on his face, Ammon opens the box to reveal several large explosives inside. Max and Bonnie's jaws drop. "You're going to blow it up!?" Max asks. Ammon laughs merrily at this and nods his head excitedly. "That we are!" he says. "And don't worry, these bombs will spread native seeds across the site of the explosion, so new wildlife can grow here. It'll be perfectly safe." Max doubts this, but doesn't say anything about it. At this, one of the people carrying the box speaks up. "Why don't you two come and help us?" he asks. Max takes a look at this person. He's a somewhat sickly looking boy about May's age, with long green hair and pale skin. Ammon beams at this. "Good idea Wally!" he says. Max wants to protest, but before he can, Ammon wraps an arm around his shoulders. "Max here has intelligence like you've never seen in one just 11 years old! He'll be excellent help!" Then, without a word, he leads the group on, and Max and Bonnie follow. Not like they have much of a choice in the matter.
As they walk, the green-haired boy walks up beside them. "Sorry I dragged you into this," he says. "But Ammon is going through a bit of an episode right now. I'm hoping that you being here might help him calm down." "An episode?" Bonnie asks. "What do you mean by that?" The boy looks a bit nervous at this. "It's not really my place to say," he says. "Once he's Ammon again, the Ammon that you know, he'll explain." The boy stops talking for a bit, before realising that he never introduced himself. "I'm Wally by the way" he says, holding out his hand. Max shakes it, feeling how thin this boy is. The group keeps walking, until finally they arrive at the factory in question. To say it's horrible would be an understatement. It's a huge concrete block with massive smokestacks coming out of the roof, with black smoke billowing out of it. Different pipes come out of the walls, with filthy liquids pouring out of them into the nearby river. Max has the urge to vomit, which Bonnie acts upon.
Ammon seems to like their reactions. "Glad you see why this is such a problem," he says. "I've been after this son of a bitch for years, and this is my chance to truly strike back against him!" Then, he turns to everyone. "Right," he says, "does everyone remember the plan?" there's a cry of confirmation from everyone except Max and Bonnie. Ammon slaps his head when he realises this. "Oh, sorry," he says. "I was so excited about this that I forgot you're only a recent addition to the group." Then, he shows the explosives to Max and Bonnie again. "So, some of the people here are going to lure all the workers in there out of the building," he points to the first group, a group of 10. "Then, my group is going to go in and plant all of the explosives across the factory," he indicates to the rest of the people there, a group of about 15. "Once we're out of there, Wally here will trigger the explosives and level the factory, spreading new seeds across the site in the process." "Why isn't Wally coming in the building?" Bonnie asks. "Cystic Fibrosis," Wally explains. "I can't be in any place that would make it hard for me to breathe." Max and Bonnie nod in understanding.
Ammon decides that Max should join him in planting the bombs, while Bonnie joins the group that are luring the workers away. Once again, Max tries to argue with this, but Ammon doesn't seem to be able to hear him. He's in far too good a mood, almost to the point that it makes him look a bit insane. Looking around at the rest of the group, Max sees that they all seem used to this. So, he decides that there's no point in arguing with Ammon, and agrees to go along with this plan. So, he and Bonnie wish each other luck, then Bonnie joins the group sneaking into the building. For the next 20ish minutes, they wait outside for signs of the workers leaving. Sounds of battle can be heard from inside, but Max has no idea what's happening. Then, he spots various vines through some of the windows in the factory, and figures out what that group's plan is. Sure enough, some workers come running out of the building, crying out that the forest is angry with them. Ammon starts to laugh at this. "It worked!" he announces. "Now it's our turn!" Then, he leads the way into the factory.
When they get into the factory, everyone in the group immediately splits off, each taking one explosive with them. "You stay with me Max," he says. "I may need your brains here, as this one goes in the centre of the factory." Max swallows nervously, but agrees to follow him. The pair sneak around the place, making sure to not be seen by any of the workers that have yet to be scared off by the PRA's trick. Max wishes he has a pokémon that would allow him to spy on the path ahead, but all of his pokémon stick out like sore thumbs in a factory like this. So, he and Ammon have to settle for just sneaking around. They pass through halls full of metal pipes and big rooms with conveyer belts, all full of different minerals. Ammon glares at them all as he passes. "The greed of Abaddon knows no bounds," he says. "I can't wait to really stick it to him with this attack!"
Unfortunately for them, Ammon said that a bit too loud. As he and Max approach the centre of the factory, a few workers spot them and run over. "Stop right there!" one of them shouts. "You're not supposed to be here!" Ammon stops and raises his hands in surrender. Max follows suit, fearing what could happen. But before he can think of a clever way out of this mess, Ammon spins around and punches the worker in the face. The others attack him immediately. Max dives out of the way as Ammon engages these four workers in hand-to-hand combat. Then he does something that Max isn't expecting. He starts to laugh. As he fights these people, he laughs mirthfully, as though one of them told a funny joke. As he laughs, he turns to Max. "Put the bomb in place!" he yells. "I'll hold them off!" Then, he goes back to his fight. Max stares in amazement for a few seconds, before grabbing the bomb and running to where Ammon wants it. As he does, he suddenly realises what Wally meant by episode. He places the bomb down and activates it. Then, he runs back to Ammon. "I've done it!" he yells, let's go!"
Ammon stops his fight, though he's still laughing, then he and Max make their escape. Behind them, the workers realise that there's no hope of stopping this, so they make their own escape. Max and Ammon run through the halls, along with other members of the PRA who also planted their explosives. Once they reach the nearest window on the ground floor, Ammon jumps out of it, and the others follow. Once they're clear, Ammon radios in. "Is everyone clear of the building?" he asks. Everyone says yes, so Wally is ordered to activate the bombs. As everyone watches, the building falls to pieces, with different seeds flying in every direction. Ammon watches this sight and resumes his laughter, basking in the great joys of his success.
Max and Bonnie reunite with each other, and both of them decide to spend the night camping with the PRA, away from the site of their explosion of course. Max makes this decision for them, because he wants to confirm something with Ammon. So, the next morning, he steps out of his tent and goes to find him. He finds him sitting at a campfire making breakfast for everyone. While he still has a grin on his face, it's a lot less pronounced than the day before, which only confirms Max's suspicions. He and Bonnie sit next to him, which makes him sigh. "I suppose you want to know what was wrong with me yesterday?" Ammon asks. Max nods. "I have an idea," he says. "But I'd like you to confirm it." Ammon chuckles a bit. "There's no getting past you is there?" he asks, before sitting back. "Well, as you probably guessed, I'm bipolar." Bonnie looks a bit shocked at this, but Max nods. "I figured as much," he says. "The way you laughed as everything went down kind of gave it away." Ammon chuckles again. "I figured it would," he says. "And I suppose you probably also noted how much of a downer I was during the rebuilding of Lumiose after the crisis?"
Max's eyes widen at this. He'd forgotten about that. "That was me during a depressive episode," Ammon explains. "That's when I'm at my lowest. What you just saw was a manic episode, when I'm at my highest." "How long have you been this way?" Bonnie blurts out, before slapping her hands to her mouth and blushing, while Max facepalms. Ammon just laughs and waves his hand reassuringly. "It's ok, I knew what you meant," he says. "Well, the episodes started when I was about 20, but I think they've been developing since I was 10. No one in my family suffers from bipolar disorder, so I believe it was a tragic event that caused it." "What was this event?" Bonnie asks. "I believe it was the same one that made me want to be an environmentalist," Ammon replies. As he talks, he goes back to cooking breakfast. "While the years of watching other ecosystems die out due to human interference led me to speak out against the practice, it was this one event when I was 10 that really set that decision in stone. I also believe it's what caused my bipolarism to develop."
"When I was 9, I lived around here in Hoenn. I had befriended this Mareep, which I had named Sheepy. I had planned to make Sheepy my partner pokémon when I became 10 and set out on my journey. We were the best of friends. But then, 2 months before my 10th birthday, this factory showed up," he jabs his thumb at the spot the factory stood the day before. "It bothered Sheepy, and all the other pokémon around here, but no one did anything to stop its production. Sheepy and I continued to meet up and play together, until about a week before I turned 10. That's when he stopped showing up to play. At first, I was sad, because I thought the factory was scaring him away, but I didn't go looking for him, figuring I'd see him again on my 10th. But that day rolls around, and Sheepy doesn't show up. Worried, I go looking for him. That's when I find him. The factory had polluted the water of a nearby river, and Sheepy had drunk from it. He grew very ill, and that's why he stopped coming to play with me. When I found him, I arrived just in time to hold him in my arms as he died."
Ammon has to stop telling his story at this, because he begins to cry. "I spent so long, trying to think of ways I could've prevented this," he finally continues. "Maybe I should've gone looking for him earlier. I should've known that the water wouldn't be safe to drink for him. All these thoughts kept dancing in my head. Couple that with then undiagnosed Autism, and you can see why I didn't cope well with the trauma. Looking back, I believe the signs of bipolar disorder began when I was maybe 12 or 13, but the episodes themselves didn't fully develop until I was 20." At this, Bonnie, who'd also been crying, hugs Ammon tightly. "I'm so sorry," she says. "That must've been awful." Ammon nods, his lip quivering slightly at the memory. Max himself feels a big lump in his throat. "That explains why you went quite far with this attack," he says. "It was personal for you." Ammon nods. "The thought of tearing it down probably triggered the Manic Episode as well," he comments. "Although, my episodes aren't always triggered by event. Most of the time they're random. So, who knows."
During breakfast, they hear more from Ammon about his bipolar disorder, and some other stories of his episodes. Once everyone has eaten, they begin to pack up their camp. "So, I suppose you're off to Mauville next?" Ammon asks. Max and Bonnie nod. "Gotta get my 3rd badge!" she says excitedly. Ammon smiles at this. "Well, good luck to you," he says. "I've always liked Mauville. A huge electrical city, and they were one of the first to switch to clean energy when the climate crisis became big news. I suppose that's why Team Terra never touched it." Max feels a bit of relief upon hearing this. "So, that means that we'll be safe from them once we get inside the city?" he asks. Ammon nods at this. "I'd say so," he says, before he quickly realises something. "Wait, they're still after you?" he asks. "But you don't have the Jade Orb anymore." Max catches him up on everything that's happened since he and Bonnie set out on their journey through Hoenn. Ammon looks angry at this. "I did warn you not to let them see it didn't I?" he says. Max nods bitterly. "Well, I assume you don't need me to say this, but you must be extremely careful not to let them have it. Otherwise we'll end up with another Kalos Crisis on our hands." Max nods in agreement. After that, they help the members of the PRA finish taking down their camp. Then, they bid each other farewell and go their separate ways.
Once again, I was a bit stuck on how to end that one, which is why it was abrupt. Now, I feel like I must say this, but I do not suffer from Bipolar Disorder, nor do I know anyone who does. I did a bunch of research on it in order to make sure Ammon's bipolarism was as accurate as possible, but if there's anyone here who does suffer from bipolar disorder, please feel free to, politely, tell me if there's anything I got wrong, and I will rectify it. As for Wally's appearance in this, I felt that it was a travesty that he wasn't included in the anime, so I fixed that here. Now, with all of that said, I'll see you on Tuesday with the next chapter.