Once again, I don't have much of a plan for this one either. I was going to put either the Fortree contest or Gym Battle here, but I felt that those would be too soon after the last contest. So, I'm adding one last chapter in here before I write either of them. As I said, this will be poorly written once more, because I am completely stuck for this arc. Look at this point I'm just trying to get through this arc in order to get to the bit I actually have planned, so the quality will dip again for a bit, just like in Kalos. So, let's just get through this mess together, so we can enjoy the good parts all the more, shall we.
Chapter 62:
Fortree in Solitude
No matter how Max looks at the situation, he can't make sense of it. Abaddon hates Ammon, that part Max is certain of. But does he hate him enough to try and kill him? That part Max isn't so sure of. But Ammon is positive that this was Abaddon's doing, and is planning on heading back to the Pokémon Centre to record a video explaining all of this to the world. Max tries to stop him, and convince him to think this through, but Ammon won't listen. He's too focused on his crusade against Abaddon to hear Max out. Frustrated, Max decides it's time to leave. His friends agree, and they pack away their things. Before they leave, Max decides to call his sister, but he won't say to the others why. It takes a few seconds after he calls May for her to pick up. When she does, Max walks away from the group. "All Bonnie and the others manage to catch is, "Hey May... No that's not why. Look, I need you to check something for me." Then, he disappears into the trees, and Bonnie can't hear anything else. Eventually, he returns with his phone back in his pocket. The four of them bid farewell to Ammon and his crew, then set off for Fortree once more.
Over the next few days, nothing of note really happens, which makes Max and Bonnie nervous. Every time they've had a lull in action on their journey so far, an extreme event was never far behind. So, while they travel, they keep their eyes peeled and ears at the ready for any sign of an ambush. But, with nothing happening as they approach Fortree, they start to lower their guard a bit. This turns out to be a mistake. When they're only 2 hours away from Fortree, Bonnie's head begins to hurt. "Oh no," she says under her breath. Making sure only Max can hear her, she tells him, "Aura warning." Max nods, then pulls out a pokéball, pretending like her heard something. Both Drew and Kenny look at them quizzically. "What's wrong?" Drew asks. "Thought I heard something," Max replies. "Just making sure we're not about to be attacked." Drew and Kenny nod and pull out their own pokéballs.
As they continue along the path, Bonnie spots something off about the pokéball that Max is holding. "Wait Max," she says, alarmed. "Isn't that the-" "Pokéball I used to catch the Loudred?" Max finishes. "Yes it is." "Why use that one?" Kenny asks. "What if you can't control it?" "I think I'll be able to," Max replies. "I caught it after all. If I wasn't able to control it, then it would've broken out of its ball and been extra pissed off with us. So, I think I should be able to." Kenny, Bonnie and Drew nod at this, then they resume their journey to Fortree. But before long, their walk is interrupted once more, but this time by the trees shaking. At first they think it's just the wind, but then it happens again. Looking at where it's coming from, they see that it's concentrated on a single spot in the branches. The four of them aim their pokéballs at it. Bonnie dearly wishes she could throw an Aura Sphere at it. "Who's there!" Drew calls. "Come out now, or we'll make you!"
At that moment, a masked figure dropped from the branches of the tree. they aren't like Team Terra. Their clothes are light blue, and they've got purplish hair. The mask they wear is a pair of goggles and a light blue bandana. Max barely has any time to register this before the figure charges at him. They grab him, hoist him onto their back and take off. Bonnie cries Max's name, but he can't do anything against his captor. He tries to struggle and free himself, but their grip is too strong. Eventually, they stop, pull Max off of their back and push them against a tree. "Are you Max Maple?" they ask. Despite the muffling that the bandana does, Max can tell the person is a woman. And that he thinks he recognises her voice. "What?" he stutters out. "Are you Max Maple?" the woman repeats. "Younger brother to May Maple? That's you right?" She raises a fist at this. "Yes!" Max replies quickly, remembering the gloves that Team Terra's Admins own. "Yes I am! Who are you?" The woman relaxes, then removes her goggles and bandana. Underneath them is Winona, the gym leader of Fortree.
"Wow, you've grown since I saw you last," she comments. "I hardly recognised you." "Yeah, I can tell," Max comments, rubbing his back. "So, are you going to explain to me why the Mirror World you did that?" Just as Winona is about to do that, she narrowly avoids being hit by a wall of flame. The pair turn to see Bonnie, Drew and Kenny running over to them, glaring at Winona with their partner pokémon out. "Let him go!" Bonnie yells. She's about to order Braixen to use Flamethrower again, but Max gets between them, before she can. "Guys, guys it's alright, it's only Winona! We're fine!" Drew and Kenny recognise her and order their pokémon to stand down. Bonnie however continues to stare at Winona. "Who's she?" she asks suspiciously. "I'm the Fortree Gym Leader," Winona replies. Bonnie's eyes widen and she returns Braixen, apologising for nearly burning her.
Once that commotion was sorted out, they get down to introductions. When Winona learns Drew's name, she grins. "Oh, so you're Drew," she comments. "How do you know my name?" Drew asks. "May and Max's father," Winona replies. "When we met to discuss Team Terra and their Tremors, he kept talking about how his little girl was growing up and found a special someone." Max roars with laughter while Drew goes incredibly red. "Don't know why you're laughing," Winona says to him. "He also mentioned that you had your heart caught by a young woman as well." She looks at Bonnie at this. "And I suppose that would be you?" Both Max and Bonnie go just as red as Drew at this. "Getting back on topic!" Kenny interrupts, although it's clear he finds this situation very funny. "Why did you kidnap Max like that?" "Ah yes," Winona exclaims. "You see, Fortree is under siege."
Everyone stares at her like she's grown four extra heads, and all of them started speaking Ancient Hisuian. "WHAT!?" they exclaim. Winona shushes them. "Not so loud," she says. "They may overhear." "What's going on in Fortree?" Kenny asks. "Team Terra seem to be looking for you Max," Winona replies. "They seem to have the idea that you would be coming here next, so they set a trap. They've got agents along every way in or out of the City, so you won't be able to get in without being ambushed." "Why haven't you told anyone about this?" Drew asks. "You think I haven't tried?" Winona asks. "Every message I send out about this gets cut off, be they texts, calls or letters. Of course, normal messages still make it out of the city, it's just that anything to do with Team Terra gets stopped." "How do we stop this?" Max asks. Winona looks uncomfortable about this. "The only way they'll clear off is if you show up," she says. "If they catch you, they'll leave." Max considers this, which makes Bonnie very worried. "Please don't tell me you're actually thinking of doing this!?" she exclaims. Max shakes his head. "Not exactly," he replies. "I'm thinking of a way to get rid of them. I've got a plan." Winona leans in at this. "Really?" she asks. "What is it?" "A really, REALLY bad one," Max replies.
True to his word, this plan is terrible. But, there seems to be no other way, so there's nothing any of them can do but go along with it. And so, Max heads on towards Fortree alone. Meanwhile, the others follow behind in the air, keeping him in sight. Max keeps walking, recording notes on his logs and looking around, pretending to be unaware of the danger he's in. But nothing happens to him at first. That is, until he finally sees Fortree come into view. When he does, he hears the sounds of things being fired. Before he has time to grab a pokéball, ropes come flying out of the trees and wrap themselves around him, pinning him in place. He looks around as people come into view. At first, he expects Sarah and Sam to appear before him. But instead, he finds a woman he recognises. She's short, with long orange hair and brown eyes. Max's widen as he recognises her.
"YOU!" he exclaims. The woman laughs. "Glad to see you recognise me," she says. "You're Shelly from Team Aqua!" Max says. Shelly laughs. "Quite right," she replies. "Though, you will refer to me as Sub-Admin S until such a time as I stake my claim as an Admin! And I will do that by bringing in your knowledge." Then, S stands back up and says to her troops, "Throw him into the van! We're bringing him back to the base!" Suddenly, a large van appears out of the woods, along with a bunch more Team Terra troops. S speaks into an earpiece, telling her other troops to move out and return to base. Max struggles to keep the grin off of his face. This part of his plan worked. Now, all that's left to do is be freed by his friends. So, he allows the agents to pull him to his feet and throw him into the back of the van. Right as the door is about to close, he manages to catch sight of Winona's Skarmory up in the air. Now, all he needs to do is hope that they can save him before he's brought into Team Terra's base.
Back up in the air, Bonnie can't help but worry as she watches Max being thrown into the back of Team Terra's van. "That self-sacrificing moron," she mutters to herself. Drew puts a hand on her shoulder. "As much as they try to deny it," he says, "the Maple siblings are very alike. Especially in that regard." Bonnie nods, then looks back down at the van. Due to the lack of space on Skarmory's back, Kenny produced his Fearow, and she and Drew were sitting on it, while Kenny and Winona took Skarmory. They watched as all of Team Terra's forces leave their posts around Fortree, and start heading back to their base. Then, the van Max is in starts driving off. Winona and Kenny follow, with Bonnie and Drew not far behind. They fly high above the roads, making sure to stay out of sight of the evil Team. Bonnie wants to tear them all apart, but knows that see must wait patiently for the right moment to strike. That moment comes right as the van drives past a field, full of bushes and flowers. The perfect spot for Bonnie's Shiftry to catch the van. With this in mind, both birds swoop down towards the van.
Max is patiently waiting for his friends to come and save him. He's kept his back firmly pressed against the wall of the van, making sure that no one from Team Terra is able to take his notebooks from his bag. But, for some reason, none of them have tried to take them from him. Perhaps they're waiting until they get to their base to do that. To pass the time, and calm his nerves, Max looks out the window of the front of the van. Outside is a nice field, which is exactly what he's been hoping for. He closes his eyes and braces himself. Then, the van lurches sideways and topples off the road. It rolls a few times, but Max is ok, well more ok than everyone else, because he is tied to the van. Before it can roll any farther, it gets caught and stops. Vines come through the doors, and Max uses them to cut himself free. Then, he bolts out the door and runs over to Bonnie and Drew, who've just landed. Winona and Kenny are not far behind. "Let's get out of here," says Kenny. The others agree, but Max doesn't follow.
"Max come on!" Bonnie calls. "We need to go!" "If we leave now, they'll just create that blockade around Fortree again," Max argues, before pulling out a pokéball. "I want to make sure they don't do that." Then he releases Loudred. The other three look worried about this, but Winona sees what he's planning. "Ok Loudred," says Max. "The others are scared of you, but I believe that you and I can work together. SO, let's show them that, alright?" Loudred nods, then turns to face the oncoming small army of Team Terra's forces. "Loudred, use screech!" Loudred obeys, and a loud, horrible sound bursts from his mouth. Over the noise, Max can barely hear Winona shout, "Skarmory, use Gust!" and Kenny shout, "You too Fearow!" The combination of the force from these three attacks caused the agents to start flying off. Then, once Bonnie and Drew had Shiftry and Roserade add Razor Leaf to the attacks, it completely destroyed their vehicles and sent them all flying away.
When the agents are gone, and the attacks all stopped, Max runs over to Loudred and hugs him tightly. "I knew you could do it!" he says. "You're awesome!" Loudred stands proudly, as if to say, "This is all true. Praise me more!" "Good job Loudred!" says Bonnie. "Sorry I doubted you." The other two boys nod. Then, they all return their pokémon to their balls. "So," Winona says, brushing some dust off of her clothes, "I take it you're here for the gym battle?" Bonnie nods vigorously. "Yep yep!" she says. "Let's do it!" Winona laughs at this. "Hold on now Bonnie," she says. "It's getting a bit late, and I need to address the people in regards to what happened here. So, why don't we wait until tomorrow for that battle, ok?" Bonnie nods, though some of her enthusiasm is gone at the thought of needing to wait. But still, with this settled, they all head back to Fortree.
Have any of you ever come up with a whole ass chapter just so you can use a clever pun in its title, because that's what I did here lol. Sorry this was messy, I had the momentum yesterday, but I've since lost it all, which is why the latter half is rushed and bad. Here's hoping that I have a better plan for the next chapter. But, I don't know if it will be out on Friday. Fingers crossed I guess.