Sorry for the sudden hiatus, I was so completely swamped with college work that it wasn't even funny. I had procrastinated it all, and suddenly I had a week and a half to do all of my assignments, plus an exam, and I hadn't started anything. So, I've spent the past week and a half doing just that, and as a result I had no time to write this, and was so stressed out I probably completed a months worth of cardio simply from how much my heartrate went up. Could I have avoided all that if I had done it properly from the get go? Yes. Would I have been much happier for it? Also yes. Will I learn my lesson from all that? No. Anyway, in order to make it up to anyone who's actually reading this, I'm going to upload daily for the next 5 days to catch up to where I should be had I kept up my schedule. Anyway, here's the gym battle with Winona. Enjoy.
Chapter 63:
Head in the Clouds
Winona leads the way back to Fortree. For a city under siege, it doesn't seem like they were suffering at all. "I'll be honest," says Max, "I was picturing a worse scene." Winona chuckles a bit at that. "Team Terra weren't attacking us," she explains. "They didn't stop us from leaving the place, nor did they try to stop the flow of supplies like food. They simply kept an eye out on the road for when you showed up. The only messages they prevented from leaving were any to do with them being here, that's all." Max nods in understanding, then they carry on towards Fortree. When they arrive, Winona immediately calls to address the residence of the city about the end of Team Terra's siege. Max wants to go with her to watch this, but Bonnie practically drags to the nearest Pokémon Centre, ignoring his protests of, "I'm fine!" "Max, you were sitting in a van that was thrown down a hill!" she protests. "If you are actually fine, then you're a miracle of science!" Kenny goes with them to see if Max is alright, but Drew stays behind. He decides to make a call instead.
May picks up quite quickly, much to his relief. "Hey Drew," she says happily. "What's the matter?" "Can't a guy call his superhero girlfriend to make sure she's alright?" he asks, to which May laughs. "Not when he's travelling with her brother who's being chased by lunatics," she replies jokingly, to which Drew chuckles as well. "No, I suppose not," he admits. "So, what happened this time?" she asks. Drew relays the events of earlier in the day to her. May doesn't say anything for a bit. At last, she asks, "Did they manage to get his notebooks?" "No," Drew replies. "That's the weird thing. They didn't even try." May makes a sound of confusion. "What?" she asks. "What do you mean by that?" "They attacked him on the path, there were like 20 of them or so, and another 50 joined their parade along that path, but none of them even attempted to rifle through his bag for the books."
May thinks about this. "So, I take it you've come to similar conclusions that I have?" she asks. "If by similar conclusions, you mean that Team Terra are after something other than Max's notebooks, then yes, I have," he replies. "Have you got any theories as to what they want?" "No I don't," says May. "I'll admit, that those two morons chasing them for the notebook has thrown me off a bit." "Do you reckon that's their plan?" Drew asks. "Use those two as a means to confuse us, and not figure out what they're really after?" After a bit more thinking, May replies. "No, I don't think so. Those two can be clever at times, but there's no way they're clever enough to successfully act this stupid. I think there was some sort of miscommunication with them, and they believe that they're after the notebooks. But in actual fact, there's more to this." Drew nods, though May can't see him do that.
"So, should I tell Max about this?" he asks. "Because considering the fact that you haven't told him this yet, I'm guessing you don't want him to know?" "No, I don't," May replies. "Because I know my brother, and I know that his fear of them taking his life's work is the only thing keeping him out of their clutches. Because he's trying to keep them away. If he found out that there's something else he has that they want, whether he knows what that is or not, then he may turn himself in to spare Bonnie, or the region if it comes down to it. So, if he believes his work is in danger, he's more likely to keep himself safe. You understand where I'm going with this, right?" Drew says he does. "Look, there's a Team Terra base nearby to Fortree, so if you're looking for information on what they want with Max, you can try there." "I'm going to head there now," May replies. "I'm investigating something for Max anyway, so this is just one more thing to add to that list." The couple move the conversation on to other matters, like the upcoming Contest that Drew and Max are entering. After that, they bid each other farewell, then Drew hangs up the phone.
True to Winona's word, she isn't ready for a gym battle until the next day. So, Bonnie spends the rest of the day training her team for the battle. When she isn't doing that, she's checking up on Max. As it turns out, he is mostly fine. He got a slight concussion from being thrown around in a van, and minor bruising here and there, but other than that he's completely fine. He gives Bonnie an "I told you so" smirk, then joined her in training her pokémon. While he does that, Kenny goes off to do his own training for the Contest in 3 days. Once Drew is done being on the phone with May, Max receives a call from his sister, telling him off for being so reckless and self-sacrificing. Bonnie can't help but laugh as she watches him try to apologise to May while she badgers him for not being so stupid and not valuing his own life.
The next day, everything in Fortree returns to normal once more. Winona has sent messages out to all the Gym Leaders, as well as Brendan and the League, informing them of what had happened over the past few weeks. As she finishes doing that, she finds Bonnie racing over to the gym for her battle, with her three friends not far behind. Bonnie strolls into the Gym and spots Winona coming towards her. "So, I see you're ready for the battle now?" Winona asks. Bonnie nods excitedly. "You bet I am!" she exclaims. "So come on, let's do this!" Winona grins at her, then nods. "She's got your energy," she comments to Max, before turning and leading them to the arena. "Well, come along. Let's have our battle." Bonnie runs after her excitedly, while the three boys follow behind, chuckling.
They arrive at the main arena of the gym, and Max, Drew, and Kenny stand off to the side to watch the battle. Winona and Bonnie stand on either side of the arena while the ref lays down the rules of the battle. Once the pair accept them, the battle begins. Bonnie starts off with Braixen, while Winona sends out her Swellow. Max is surprised by this, because last time she sent out Altaria first. But he can't dwell on that for long, because the battle kicks off. Swellow dives in immediately with Brave Bird, which Braixen tries and fails to avoid, taking the attack in her chest. She crashes to the ground, then gets back up and uses Psychic. Swellow tries to go for another Brave Bird, but before it can, Braixen catches it with Psychic, then throws it around like a ragdoll. It hits the walls and ground a few times, but it manages to break out of the attack and go on the offensive once more, using Arial Ace. Braixen just managed to dodge it, then used Flamethrower. Flames covered the bird as it charged in once more. At the last second, right before Brave Bird was about to hit, Braixen cancelled Flamethrower and used Psychic once more. Right as Swellow's beak is about to touch Braixen, it's suddenly thrown away across the arena. When the dust clears, Swellow is lying there with swirly eyes.
"Swellow is unable to battle!" calls the ref. Winona can't help but grin at this as she returns her ace. "Well, those were some bold moves," she says to Bonnie. "But they won't be enough. Let's go Pelliper!" Then, she releases her next pokémon. Pelliper comes out of its ball and lets out a cry, before readying itself for battle. Before Braixen has time to react, it shoots a Water Gun at her, striking her dead on. Braixen is thrown back, but doesn't faint. She uses Psybeam and manages to just clip Pelliper's wing as it flies towards her. It hits the ground hard, but gets back up again. Bonnie curses, then tries that trick again, but this time Pelliper's able to dodge it, and fire another Water Gun. Braixen dodges this one, but fails to avoid the third one that comes flying at her. It hits her square in the face and sends her flying back, bouncing off of the ground a few times. She gets back up on shaky legs and tries one more time to hit Pelliper with Confusion. It strikes it in the face, but doesn't manage to confuse it. Pelliper uses Bubble Beam, and knocks Braixen out.
"Braixen is unable to battle!" the ref announces. Bonnie returns Braixen, then opens her bag. She was planning on saving him for the last pokémon, but the type advantage is too tempting to ignore. So, she releases Dedenne into battle. If Winona is worried about this, she doesn't show. Instead, she has Pelliper use Fly to avoid any attacks Dedenne might throw. But, this causes both Bonnie and Max to grin. Then, Bonnie orders Dedenne to use the move they invented back in the Battle Chateau, Lightning Pillar. Dedenne charges up all of his electricity, then launches it into the sky as hard as he can. The lightning fills the sky above the gym, and completely covers Pelliper. After it stops, Pelliper falls back to earth, unconscious. Winona quickly pulls out Pelliper's pokéball, and uses it to save it before it hits the ground.
"Pelliper is unable to battle!" shouts the ref. "Meaning Gym Leader Winona is down to her last pokémon!" Winona grins again. "Well, this has been an interesting battle," she says. "But now it's time for me to turn the tide!" Then, she releases her last pokémon, Altaria. Bonnie is about to order Dedenne to use Thunderbolt, when Winona raises her arm and taps something on her wrist. Bonnie's eyes widen as she recognises a mega stone. "Altaria, Mega Evolve!" At this, the mega energy flows into Altaria, transforming it into its mega form. Then, it uses Dragon Dance. While it powers itself up, Bonnie Mega Evolves Dedenne, then has him use Thunderbolt. The move strikes Altaria dead on, but doesn't knock it out. In retaliation, Altaria uses Dragon Claw, which does more damage thanks to Dragon Dance. Dedenne manages to avoid fainting, but it still does a lot of damage. Meaning they needed to end this battle quickly. So, Dedenne runs in with Quick Attack, then swaps to Play Rough, which does a lot of damage to the Dragon Type. Altaria tries to land another attack, but Dedenne avoids it, then uses Electroweb. The attack lands and Altaria cries out in pain. Before it can escape the web, Dedenne runs in with Play Rough, taking Altaria out.
"Altaria is unable to battle!" the ref declares. "Gym Leader Winona has no more pokémon, which makes Challenger Bonnie the winner of this battle!" The boys cheer and clap as Bonnie hugs Dedenne after he returns to his normal form. Winona approaches her, also clapping. "Well, that was certainly an enjoyable battle," she says. "Not many people have managed to beat me with only two pokémon, so you should be proud of that." Bonnie smiles at her. "Oh I am," she replies. "It was a fun one though." Winona nods, then pulls out the Feather Badge. "Well, make sure you take this as a sign of your victory. You've earned it." Bonnie jumps up and down with delight as she accepts the badge. Then, she runs over to her friends to show them. "That move was awesome!" Kenny tells her. "What was that?" "Lightning Pillar," Bonnie explains. "Max came up with it over a year ago, but we haven't used it since." As the four of them leave the gym and head back to the Pokémon Centre, Bonnie recounts when they came up with the move, and the time she used it.
I bet you all forgot about that move. If you want a refresher on Lightning Pillar, then reread chapter 12 of Volume 1. Anyway, funny story, this was supposed to come out yesterday. But, thanks to my poor planning and scrambling to get all my work done, I was so burnt out that I couldn't actually finish it yesterday, which is why it's out today. Now, as I said, the next 4 chapters will be out over the next four days, I promise you that much. I hope you enjoyed this return, and I'll see you all tomorrow.