A warning that, like the last chapter, I will be making this one up as I go along. Hopefully it will turn out as well as the last chapter did, but there's no guarantees. I just felt like it's been too long since these characters have appeared in this fic, so I thought it was about time I brought them in again. This will be a mess, because I will probably be having fun with this one. Also, I'm probably going to be writing the end of this while drunk, so do excuse anything really fucking stupid.
Chapter 61:
Best Enemies Forever
Max is very cautious about his new Loudred as he is getting his pokémon healed in the Pokémon Centre. While he waits for them to be healed, he sits on a hospital bed, being looked over by the Nurse Joy for any major injuries. Despite his protests that he was fine, Bonnie, Drew and Kenny insisted that he get checked out, especially when he winced as he handed over his team. So, he relents and allows the Nurse Joy and her pokémon to examine him. While he does that, the others sit in the lobby, waiting for him. Their pokémon have been healed and given back to them, including Max's. When they get them back, Bonnie makes the decision to paint an L on Loudred's pokéball, in order to tell which one Max probably shouldn't use. Or at the very least, use with caution. It isn't long before she decides that she has a good excuse to use it.
Max returns to them not too long after their pokémon are. He lifts up his shirt to show some new bandages around his midriff, and one on his left arm. He's also got a large plaster on his forehead, right above his eyes. "As I said, I was fine," he tells them. "Just needed to disinfect a few minor scratches, that's all." The three of them are relieved to hear this. Bonnie carefully hugs him to avoid hurting him, before they turn to leave the centre. But, as they're about to exit the building, they hear a voice call out behind them. "Jeez, what happened to you? Fall into another river?" The four of them stop, Bonnie's face flushing red. Turning around, they see none other than Trixie walking over to them. Bonnie's fists clench, and Max sees her eyes dart to Loudred's pokéball. Instinctively, he steps back a bit, keeping the loud pokémon out of her reach. "Well actually," he says to Trixie, "I was dropped out of a plane." He can tell by the look on her face that she isn't fully certain if he's joking or not.
"What do you want?" Bonnie snaps, stopping anymore conversation between the two of them. Trixie turns her attention back to Bonnie. "What else could I possibly want?" she asks, pulling out a pokéball. "Ah battle with you of course! I lost one recently, so I need a confidence boost by beating you!" Bonnie's face flushes red with anger. "Last I checked, I've only lost to you once," she says. "So, I don't know what kind of boost you could possibly get from me." At this, Trixie smirks and lets one of her pokémon out. Bonnie's jaw drops slightly when she locks eyes with Trixie's Swampert. "Your starter is still on its middle evolution isn't it?" Trixie asks, a shit-eating grin on her face. "Meanwhile, all of my pokémon are on their final evolutions already. Honestly, if your team isn't at its full potential, what is the point in keeping them?" Both Max and Bonnie look ready to punch her for that, so Drew quickly grabs their arms.
"How can you be so heartless?" Kenny asks. "The whole point of being a trainer to to forge bonds with your pokémon!" Trixie actually laughs at him for that. "Oh please," she exclaims. "The whole point of being a trainer is the glory of victory! If your pokémon can't get that, then there's no point in keeping them!" At this, Max thinks he spots a tear in Trixie's eyes. But she laughs again, so perhaps he was only imagining it. "I've had enough of this!" Trixie exclaims, turning to face Bonnie again. "So, are we going to have a battle, or are you going to chicken out?" "Oh, we're battling alright!" Bonnie growls. "And I'm going to kick your ass SIX WAYS TO SUNDAY!" Trixie smirks at this, and leads the way to the door. But, before she can open it, it bursts open, smacking her across the face and knocking her to the floor. While Bonnie laughs her head off at the sweet bit of karma, Max turns his attention to the person who comes in. A frail young man with green hair. He looks frantic, and so out of breath he starts having a coughing fit. "Help!" he cries. "I *cough cough* need he- *cough* -lp!"
Max approaches the young man cautiously, and realises that he knows him. "Wally?" he asks. Wally turns, and breaks into a relieved grin. "Oh, Max Maple. Thank *cough cough* goodness." "what's wrong?" Max asks. "It's *cough* Ammon!" he chokes out. "S-Some- *splutter* -thing's wrong with *cough cough* him!" Max leads Wally over to a seat. He sits down on it and pulls something from his bag, a small canister. He buts it to his mouth and begins to breathe into it, slowly and deeply. "What is that?" Kenny asks. "A bronchodilator," Wally replies, his coughing fit having gone down. "It helps clear my *cough, splutter* airways of mucus. I have cystic fibrosis, you see." He takes a few more minutes to breathe into the bronchodilator, his breathing becoming easier as he does. Max waits for him to lower the bronchodilator from his mouth before asking, "What's wrong with Ammon?"
This seems to cause Wally to remember why he's here. "Something happened to him," he says. "Max, you're pretty smart, maybe you might be able to figure it out." "But I'm no doctor," he replies. "Wouldn't it be wiser to talk to Nurse Joy about it?" Wally nods. But before he can get up to talk to her, they watch as she puts the phone down, grabs her coat and apologises to everyone, but there was a medical emergency and she needs to leave the centre for a while, but her pokémon and some of the other staff can take care of everyone's needs. Wally swears and sits back down. "Maybe she's going to go and help Ammon?" Bonnie suggests. Wally shakes his head. "She just ran off in the opposite direction," he points out. "Look Max, can you at least come and have a look, your knowledge of pokémon may be able to identify the problem." Max looks helplessly at his friends, then at the desk, before sighing. "Alright, I'll help," he says. Then he turns to Drew and Kenny. "Could you two stay here and inform Nurse Joy of this if she gets back before we're done?" he asks. The two of them nod, then he and Bonnie follow Wally out of the Centre. "Hey!" Trixie calls. "What about our battle?" "That'll have to wait!" Bonnie calls back. "I've got something much more important to deal with!" Then, she leaves, enjoying the look of outrage on Trixie's face.
Max and Bonnie follow Wally as he leads them down a pathway to a big campsite. The people there are in a panic, running around, obviously very stressed out about something. "How does this camp not have any doctors?" Max asks. "We were only planning on camping out here for a few days," Wally explains. "We didn't think one of us would fall under an ailment, otherwise we would've brought one." He tries to laugh, but it's obviously a forced one. None of them speak as Wally leads then to the biggest tent, no doubt where Ammon sleeps. When Max heard that Ammon is sick, he pictured him lying down and breathing heavily, maybe with a cloth over his forehead. So, when he hears a crash coming from the tent, he jumps out of his skin. "Yeah," says Wally. "Unfortunately, this one triggered a mood shift. This time a negative one." With a warning look, Wally opens the tent flap to reveal Ammon Donovan.
He looks dreadful. He's sweating profusely, and his eyes are sunken. He's in a white t-shirt and a pair of white shorts, and half of his tent seems to have been destroyed in anger. When he hears the flap lift, he rounds on them, his eyes full of fury. But then he spots Max and Bonnie, and the fury lessens on his face, to be replaced with a deep sorrow. "Hey Max, hello Bonnie," he says, his voice almost devoid of emotion. "Sorry you have to see me like this." He steps towards them, then winces in pain. He clutches his chest and falls to his knees. Wally runs forward to help him back up. "What happened to you?" Max asks. "That's why I brought you here," Wally explains. "We don't know." Ammon looks quite angry with himself now. "The thing is, this feels familiar," he says. "If I wasn't in this state, I probably would've figured it out by now. It doesn't help that I'm in a depressive state. The self-doubt and immense sadness keeps my brain from properly working the way it usually does."
Max nods in understanding. Then, he begins to look at Ammon closely. As he does, he spots something on Ammon's arms. "Wait," he says, "show me your arms." Confused, Ammon does so. Max examines them closely, specifically his veins, which have become a bit more prominent in his arms. "Were your veins always this prominent?" he asks. Ammon looks down at his arms, and he realises the same thing Max does. "Oh my Arceus I'm so fucking stupid!" he yells. "What's up?" Bonnie and Wally ask. Ammon shows them his arms again. "I've been poisoned," he explains. "Somehow I've been poisoned." Wally immediately gets worried. "What!?" he exclaims. "How!? Are you alright?" "I'm fine," Ammon replies. "It's not enough to actually threaten me just yet. But enough to hurt me. We just need to find the correct plant to cure me, then find out how this happened." Immediately, Max pulls out his phone and calls Kenny. He explains the situation to him and Drew, then asks them to find out if there's any kind of plant that can cure poison. They confirm that their is, and say they'll bring it over to them. Max thanks them and hangs up.
It takes the two boys just over 20 minutes to arrive with the root in question. To Max and Bonnie's surprise, Trixie has come with them. "Why are you here?" Bonnie asks suspiciously. Trixie looks affronted by this question. "Eh, someone is sick, so of course I'm coming to see if he's alright!" she says. "You just want to have a battle with me because your ego couldn't handle being the second most important thing in a situation, huh?" Bonnie asks. Trixie glares at her, goes a bit red, and says nothing. Drew hands the root over to Wally, who follows Kenny's instructions on how to administer it to Ammon. Ammon eats the root, and immediately the colour of his veins lessens. His breathing becomes easier and he stops sweating as much. "Feeling any better?" Wally asks. Ammon nods, though he still looks really down. "Yes, thank you," he says. "But how the Mirror World did I allow that to happen!?"
"Maybe it was something you ate?" Drew suggests. Both Ammon and Wally shook their heads. "We all eat the same meal," Ammon explains. "So it would've affected us all." Max thinks about this. "Well, considering the fact that the poison was in your veins," he says, "I'd say the only way that you could've been poisoned is if you inhaled it somehow." At this, Wally thinks about something. "Actually," he says, "I think you might be on to something there Max." He explains his theory to the group, and all of them agree that could be possible. But, they need to test this out. So, Max, Bonnie, Drew and Kenny decide to spend the night in the PRA's campsite, in order to help figure this out. Trixie decides that she wants nothing to do with this, and departs, but not before having her battle with Bonnie. The battle ends with Bonnie winning, and Trixie claiming that Bonnie only won because she was distracted by the events that occurred. Then, she leaves before anyone can comment on that.
Their plan is to have Ammon lie in bed again at night, and wait for whatever poisoned him to return to try again. Max waits in the tent, hidden in a box, while the others wait around in their own tents for Max's signal, which will be a phone call to Bonnie, who will have Dedenne shoot electricity into the air to alert the others. With that settled, everyone went about their day as usual. Eventually, night falls, and everyone gets into position. Max waits patiently in the box for the attacker, while Ammon fakes being asleep. Max can see him keeping his eyes open, darting them around for any sign of his attacker. Eventually, something moved from the other side of the tent. Max's eyes dart to it, as a small figure scuttles underneath the fabric. Immediately, he calls Bonnie's phone, then bursts out of the box. Ammon leaps out of bed and the two of them stare at the creature that scuttled into the tent. It's a Skuntank, who immediately tries to spray the tent with poisonous gas. But before it gets the chance, Max has Pelliper blast it away. The Skuntank runs off into the camp, with Max in hot pursuit.
Just as the others arrive to help him, he dives onto the pokémon. As Bonnie watches, the Skuntank sprays him with Poison Powder. She cries his name, then sees that he hasn't been affected due to him holding his breath. He indicates to Bonnie, pointing at a pot lying nearby. Bonnie grabs it and throws it to him, and he immediately covers the pokémon with it, before having Pelliper get rid of the gas. He takes in a great lungful of air, gasping for breath. Once he's calmed down, Ammon approaches him. "Get off the pot," he orders. "I need to check something." Worried about what Ammon is going to do in this state, Max is hesitant to move. But he does after seeing the look on his face. Ammon lifts the pot off the Skuntank, then grabs it and checks its eyes. "Just as I thought," he mutters to himself. When everyone looks at him quizzically, he shows the Skuntank to everyone else. Its eyes are glowing blue. "Hypnosis," Drew comments. Ammon nods. "Which means this was a targeted attack against me," Ammon adds. "And I can think of only one person who would pull something like this." "Who?" Kenny asks. Ammon pulls out his phone and scrolls through it for a few seconds. "This guy," he says. "My arch enemy, Karl Abaddon." The picture in question is of the old man that confronted Ammon back in Kalos after the PRA, along with Max and Bonnie, destroyed his machines that were destroying a field. In the picture, standing next to him is what Max can only assume is his starter pokémon. A Hypno.
So, that turned out messier than I thought it would. But hey, at least it's given me an idea for a few chapters on. That was going to keep going as well, but I'm completely stuck with what to do next for that. So, I'm ending it here and carrying on, hopefully on Sunday, but idk. Also, Ammon is a lot harder to write in his depressive state than the manic one, so forgive me for that. Also, for those of you who don't know, a bronchodilator is like an inhaler. It's used by people with cystic fibrosis to help them breathe properly when. Anyway, this half of Hoenn is turning out to be quite difficult to write lol. But, I'll get through it, I promise. I have no plans on abandoning this fic, don't worry. But enough of that, see you next chapter.