So, good news for me, and all of you as well! I did a few calculations, and worked out that I don't actually need to make that one chapter before the batch that I have pretty much fully planned. Which means, I can finally write it! These next 11 chapters are almost fully planned out, and will bring us to the halfway point of Hoenn, a hell of a lot faster than I did with Kalos. Because of this, expect the update schedule to be far more frequent, as I know pretty much everything that will happen in this section of the story. But, without further ado, enjoy!

Chapter 39:

A Pattern Emerges

In no time at all, Max and Bonnie are fully packed up and ready to return to Max's hometown. Both of them are excited to return, because it means that their teamwork will be put to the test against Max's father Norman, and neither of them can wait until they get to challenge him. So, once they've got their stuff together, they bid farewell to Flannery, then head out of Lavaridge. As they do, Max gets an uneasy feeling, which Bonnie notices. "What's wrong?" she asks. Max shakes his head. "Nothing," he replies. "I've just been thinking." "About what?" Bonnie asks. Max hesitates for a few seconds. "I don't want to jinx us," he tells her, "but I've noticed we haven't seen Team Terra since their attack on us in the mountain." Bonnie hits him lightly. "Well done idiot," she jokes. "Now they'll definitely come for us!" Max laughs, but at the same time can't shake that feeling. A feeling that something bad is going to happen.

And of course, Max is right to listen to those fears. Ove the next few days, nothing much happened. They got into a scrap with Sarah and Sam, but managed to get away, as usual. Bonnie tried to catch another new pokémon, but it got away again, much to her disappointment. However, she didn't let this bring her down like the escaped Poliwag did, and kept her head held high. Max was both proud of her for this, and rather relieved, as it meant he doesn't have to worry about her running off again. Max also takes the time to fill out more of his notebook with information on pokémon. His second journal is coming on nicely, and it may not be long until he needs to replace this one too.

Now, with nearly a week gone by since they left Lavaridge, Max finds out where his next contest will be. If he wants go compete in it, they will need to make a detour to Verdanturf Town. He debates whether or not he should tell Bonnie this, but she finds out when she looks over his shoulder at his phone. Max is ready to defend himself from the questions of why he didn't say anything to her, but instead, Bonnie says, "You didn't want to tell me in case I fall back into that downward spiral?" she asks. Max sighs and nods. "Can't get anything past you huh?" he asks. Bonnie chuckles. "You're my best friend, I can almost always tell what you're thinking." Max blushes a bit at this, as there is something that she can't tell. "But you don't have to worry," Bonnie goes on. "If you want to, we can take that detour to Verdanturf, then go back to Petalburg afterwards." Max smiles at this and thanks her. Then, they set off in a new direction.

But, of course, it doesn't take long for things to go south. About a day after they make this decision, Max and Bonnie are walking along the path towards Verdanturf. Dedenne is sitting on Bonnie's shoulder, nibbling on a berry she'd found for him about half a kilometre back. At that moment, he begins to panic. He stuffs the rest of his berry into his mouth and dives for comfort into Bonnie's bag. All around them, pokémon begin to panic as well, and start running away from the area. It doesn't take either of them long to figure out what's happening. Without a word, the pair of them start running. As soon as they do, the ground begins to shake. The pair of them trip as they run, but manage to stay on their feet.

As they run, it doesn't doesn't take long for the ground to start splitting apart. While they've been growing accustomed to this, it still makes running away a challenge. To make matters worse, a large crack appears in the path in front of them, splitting it in half and cutting them off. Max considers calling Gallade and having him teleport them to the other side, but then he remembers that Gallade can't focus enough to teleport them out of there. So instead, he guides Bonnie away from the crack and into the forest to their left. He knows this is a risky move, but it's better than falling through the cracks in the ground. Arceus knows he's had enough of doing that to last several lifetimes.

But even so, it doesn't take them long to start feeling lost. It doesn't help that they're forced to dodge around falling trees, and change direction a few times in order to keep moving. Eventually, Max releases Wingull and has her fly overhead to help them find their way back to the path. She flies up over the trees, and quickly locates the path. She starts flying in that direction, and Max and Bonnie follow, keeping as close to Wingull as possible in order to avoid getting lost again. As they do, they quickly come to the realisation that they can't both be watching Wingull, otherwise they'd get crushed by falling trees, or fall into cracks in the ground. So they decide that Bonnie should keep an eye on Wingull, since her eyesight is better, while Max guides her on the ground. This turns out to be an effective method of travelling through the forest as it collapses.

Eventually, thanks to Wingull's help, the pair manage to make it back to the path. From there, they just need to keep moving and eventually they'll be able to outrun it. Max looks up and calls Wingull back so that he can return her. But as he pulls her ball off of his belt, another crack forms right at his feet. Bonnie notices in time and manages to stop. But before she can catch him, Max falls through. Bonnie begins freaking out, and pulls out Shiftry's ball to help catch him. But before she can, Wingull dives in after Max. As she does, her determination to save her master causes her to start to glow. as she flies after him, her body gets bigger, especially her beak. By the time she catches Max and flies him out of the crack in the ground, she's no longer a Wingull. Now, she's evolved into a Pelliper.

Pelliper sets Max back on the ground and Bonnie throws her arms around him. But before they can celebrate for too long, the shaking of the ground reminds them of the danger they're in. So, Max thanks Pelliper for saving him, then returns her to her ball and they resume running. Neither of them stop until the shaking does. Once that happens, they pause for a while to catch their breaths. "I don't know about you," Max pants, "but I'm getting awfully sick of falling into cracks created by Tremors." "But I thought that was only the second time?" Bonnie asks. Max nods. "The first time led me to discover the Jade Orb," he explains. "I don't fancy repeating that experience." Bonnie laughs at this, then looks around at the damage. "How many more of these do you think there'll be?" she asks. Max shrugs. "No idea," he replies. "These ones are all so random. I just wish we could find a connection."

In the Battle Tower in Larousse, Brendan is training his pokémon for the next challenger who comes to face him. Or for the day he faced the Team Terra admin responsible for the Tremors that plague Hoenn, whichever comes first. After he took the moniker of Champion from Steven Stone, Brendan decided to move the League's base of operations to the Battle Tower in Larousse. While the main League itself is still held at the same stadium, if anyone wanted to challenge Brendan and his Elite Four, they now had to come to Larousse to do so. The reason why he chose Larousse is because he felt that it was the centre of Hoenn, as well as the pioneer of clean energy in the world, having a city this big run entirely on wind power. Plus, the battle tower was a popular building for tourists, and still holds regular battles, unless someone has come to challenge Brendan.

Just as Brendan finishes his training session, one of his League Officials approaches him. "Mr. Champion sir," he says. "I've come with grave news." Brendan wipes sweat off of his brow with a towel. "How many times do I have to tell you to just call me Brendan?" he asks. "And what's the matter?" "Another Tremor has struck Hoenn," the Official replies. "This one was between Lavaridge and Verdanturf Town." Brendan groans in annoyance. "Will they ever let up!" he complains, before throwing his towel around his shoulders and returning his pokémon to their balls. "Show me," he says. The Official nods, then spins around and leads Brendan out of his training room and out of the Battle Tower. He guides Brendan to Larousse's police station, where several monitors have been set up to keep an eye on the Hoenn region.

These monitors had been installed during the original plague of Tremors, in order to keep an eye on them and detect a pattern for when they appear. They stopped using them once the Tremors had stopped, but now that they've started up again, they're back in use. When Brendan shows up, the Officer Jenny working there starts playing the footage of the most recent Tremor. As Brendan watches, the pathway between the two towns gets torn apart, just like all the others. "This doesn't make any sense," he says when the footage is finished. "These attacks seem so much more specific than last time. Last time, pathways were a rare occurrence, now it's every attack. Not to mention they attacked an actual town." "If I didn't know any better," Officer Jenny muses, "I'd have said they're targeting someone in particular this time."

This small comments causes something to click in Brendan's brain. "I think you might be onto something there!" he says, before turning his attention back to the monitors. "Is it possible to zoom in on the image of this video?" he asks. Jenny fiddles with the computer, and the video zooms in. Then, Brendan orders for the video to play in slow motion, and to focus on the path. Jenny replays the video like this, and Brendan watches intently. Eventually, he spots a pair of kids running down the path. "Stop it!" he orders. Jenny pauses the video. Brendan leans in closer to the screen. After staring at the kids for a few seconds, he manages to make out a boy with black hair, and a girl with electric blonde. "Max?" he questions. Then, he leans back, rubbing his chin in thought. "He was at the first attack," he muses. "And he was in Slateport when it was attacked."

His eyes widen. "Quickly, show me footage of the third attack!" he calls. Jenny pulls the video up and zooms in again. Sure enough, he spots Max and his friend in this footage too, accompanied by an older boy who may be the girl's brother, and another woman. "I've got it," he realises. "I've found the connection!" Both the League Official and Officer Jenny stare at him with anticipation. "They're after Max Maple," he tells them. "He's a friend of mine." "But what would they want with a young boy?" Jenny asks. "That's what I want to find out," Brendan replies, before pulling out his phone and making a call. "Looker," he says as soon as the other person answers, "get your agents ready. I've found the connection between the four Tremors. Team Terra are going after Max Maple. So, we're going to get to him first!"

It's funny just how much more I can fit into chapters that I actually have planned, instead of making them up as I go. And don't worry, the rest of them are also planned out, so expect an increase in length over the next few weeks. Now, unfortunately, despite the fact that I just started a bit I'm excited for, I will have to go back to my regular schedule for just a little bit longer. But hopefully, I will be able to start getting these out a bit faster soon. So, see you on Tuesday with the next chapter.