As promised, here's the next chapter. It's not very well thought out because I was quit busy, so I put more focus on that gym battle and the next chapter, since both of them involve the story of this fic. As a result, this will probably be bad. While easier to write than Performances, Contests are still hard to write, so don't expect much from this one. Anyway, on we go.
Chapter 64:
Breloom-ing Danger
After Bonnie's win against Winona, she spends the rest of the day and all of the next day having a look around Fortree. While she does that, Max, Kenny, and Drew spend all their free time perfecting their pokémon's moves for the upcoming contest. Bonnie joins Max frequently to offer her opinions whenever he needs them. But, she's also there because she's worried. Every contest Max has entered so far, he's managed to win. While that was only 2, there's still the possibility that he might grow a big head, just like she did in Laverre. So, she tries to keep his wins off of his mind, just in case. But, she should've realised there was no keeping secrets from a boy as smart as Max. As the two talk, he starts eyeing her suspiciously. Eventually, he asks, "You're trying to keep my mind away from my wins so I don't grow a big head, aren't you?" he asks. Bonnie goes pink at this, which makes Max chuckle. "Don't worry about that," he tells her. "Not only have I seen you crash and burn from overconfidence, but my sister also did the same thing."
Bonnie stares at him. "What?" she asks. "Your sister got overconfident?" Max nods, giggling a bit. "But, she's the Top Coordinator!" Bonnie exclaims. "How could she be overconfident?" "This was back before she became Top Coordinator," Max explains. "She entered the Contest in Rubello, and got such a big head that she barely trained her pokémon. As a result, she got her ass so thoroughly handed to her that it almost wasn't funny." He laughs at that, before adding, "Almost." Bonnie can't help but giggle at that mental image. "So, I suppose you'd rather not repeat that?" she asks. "Certainly not," Max replies. "Not only do I not want to repeat that incident with her, but also, I don't fancy having a role reversal of Laverre thank you very much." Bonnie is about to snap at him for bringing that up, when she gets a better idea. "Instead, she pulls out her Balance Badge and holds it away from him. "Good point," she says. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to place a tracking device on this, so I don't have a repeat of Ash's battle with your father." Then, she begins to walk off, giggling to herself. As she does, she hears Max call out behind her, "Touché Bonnie. Touché."
After that conversation, they all spent the rest of the day training, or playing with her pokémon in Bonnie's case, until it was time to get something to eat. As the four of them sat around a table and ate, the three boys began exchanging friendly banter together, about how they were going to beat each other. "I'd better win this one," Drew said. "Because if I don't get a ribbon here, I'm out of the running." "Wait, you only have one ribbon?" Kenny asks. "How did you manage that?" "He spent too long sulking at home, believing he failed his chance at dating my sister," Max replies. Drew glares daggers at him. He's about to reply, no doubt a retort to do with Max's friendship with Bonnie, when his phone rings. He answers it with a, "Hey May, what's up?" then proceeds to leave the table, deliberately ignoring Max's smirk.
While Drew conversed with his girlfriend, the other three continued to talk about what they'd do after the contest tomorrow. Kenny explains that he's going to return home for a little bit to say hi to his family and Roxanne, before heading out again to wherever his next contest is. As for Max and Bonnie, neither of them have much of a plan for what they'll do yet. But, they'll work it out once the contest is over. Just as they finish talking about that, Drew returns, looking a bit worried. "What's up?" asks Max. "Is my sister doing something stupid and dangerous?" He coughs then, but Bonnie detects the words, "And hypocritical," hidden in it, which makes her laugh slightly. Drew doesn't say anything. He just sits down again and resumes eating. Everyone stares at him, waiting for him to explain what that call was about. Finally, Max practically shouts, "What did my sister want!?" Drew looks up at him for a few seconds, before saying, "My help with something. I'll tell you about it when we're done in Fortree." Then, he resumes eating.
True to his word, Drew doesn't share what May told him. So, when they head to bed that night, Max tries calling May about it, but she doesn't pick up. He tries again, only for her to hang up immediately. Thinking this was odd, he decides to leave it until after the contest tomorrow. When he wakes up the next morning, he finds that May hasn't tried to reach out him about his attempt at calling. He goes to try again, but then figures that she's probably asleep. So instead, he pockets his phone and heads down to breakfast.
When he gets down, he runs into Kenny, who was just on his way up to wake him. "There you are," he says. "We were wondering where you were." "Sorry," he says. "I slept through my alarm." He joins the other two at the table, and notices that Drew looks very worried. He's pale, and is hardly touching his food. "Are you alright Drew?" Max asks as he and Kenny sit down. "You look shaken." Drew looks up at him and quickly puts on a brave face. "I'm ok," he says. "I just haven't heard from May since last night." "What's wrong with that?" Bonnie asks. Max however has a bad feeling about this, tying back to his attempt at calling her last night. "She called me to tell me that she was on to something last night," he says. "She told me to expect a call in the morning. I still haven't heard from her yet." This causes Max's insides to twist with worry. Had something happened to May? Did he cause that something to happen by calling her? As his thoughts spiral, he barely notices Bonnie looking at him with concern. Soon, it is time for them to head to the Contest Hall. Realising this, Max wolfs down his breakfast as fast as he can, then follows after his friends, hiccupping because of how quickly he ate his food.
Just like all the other times, once they reach the Hall, the three boys separate from Bonnie and enter the backstage area, while Bonnie heads up to the seating area to watch her friends perform. As she sits there and waits, Max, Kenny, and Drew sit in the backstage area, waiting their turn to be called. Eventually, one of the judges steps onto the stage and announces the contest. As he does, he jokes that he hopes there will be no interruptions this time, which gets a few nervous chuckles from the audience. Once he's finished announcing, he steps off the stage and sits with his fellow judges. Then, the first Coordinator steps up. They're pretty good, but nothing special in Bonnie's opinion. Maybe that's why she isn't a judge, she muses. When they're finished, the audience and judges clap politely as they walk off the stage. Then, Max comes on, and Bonnie is instantly paying attention.
Max brings his Breloom out again, since he figures she didn't a proper chance yet, since their last contest was interrupted by Sarah and Sam. Now, she's getting a proper chance to shine in all her shiny glory. She begins her bit by spinning around like a ballerina, spewing off different kinds of powders. Max has put on a mask to avoid breathing it in. Then, Breloom uses her vines to raise herself into the air, using the different powders to turn herself into a disco ball with flowers growing from the vines holding her up. Then, she drops herself to the ground, and proceeds to dance around again, letting those flowers float over the audience. with a bow, she and Max finish their entry in the Appeals round. The audience cheer a lot more vigorously than they did for the previous contender, which makes Bonnie happy. After the applause dies down, Max exits the stage, and the next performer steps up.
After that one there are another, two, but Bonnie isn't paying much attention to them. She's just waiting for Kenny or Drew to appear. Eventually, Kenny does, and Bonnie starts paying attention again. Kenny has brought his Poliwhirl, now a Poliwrath, to the stage this time. When they got to the centre of the stage, they began their bit. Poliwrath stomped its foot on the stage, and geysers of water erupted from it. As everyone watches, it darts around the stage, punching the geysers and creating waterworks (water fireworks). As that happens, water begins to cover the floor. Once all of the geysers are gone, water has completely coated the stage. So, Poliwrath uses Ice Beam to cover the floor in ice, then proceeds to skate around it, doing a few more tricks with his fists. When he and Kenny finish, the crowd once again goes wild.
Another two contestants that Bonnie doesn't know go next. She doesn't understand why she isn't able to pay as much attention to this as she in with the Pokémon Showcase. "Probably because they aren't as flashy," she thinks to herself. "I suppose this is how Max felt when he was watching the Showcases in Kalos." After those coordinators finish, Drew steps up next, and Bonnie is back to paying attention. This time, he brings out his Absol for this contest. He orders it to use Double Team, then both of them use Perish Song. They throw in Swords dance, followed by Psycho Cut and Night Slash, deliberately missing each other. Eventually, the clone disappears, and Absol uses Razor Wind to finish it off. Like with Max and Kenny, as well as one of the other entries, the crowd goes wild. Once Drew disappears from the stage, the final two coordinators appear on stage, and they get treated to a similar reaction. When they're finished, it is announced that Max, Kenny, and Drew make it through to the Battle round, along with those three others who's Appeal Round are well received.
Two of them are in the first round, and there battle isn't anything special. After that is Max versus the other guy who made it through. Max beats him with minimal difficulties, because his opponent uses a rock type pokémon. After that is Kenny versus Drew, which Drew wins. Max goes up against the other person who Bonnie doesn't know, and wins that one too. Now, it comes to the final round, between Max and Drew. As they stand on opposite sides of the arena, Drew grins at Max. "Just because you're my girlfriend's little brother, doesn't mean I'm going to take it easy on you!" he calls to him. Max mimics his grin and replies, "I was just about to say the same thing about you being my sister's boyfriend!" Then, the two of them send in Breloom and Absol. As the battle begins, to Max's horror, Drew raises his wrist and taps a bracelet on his arm. Absol glows as energy pours through him from Drew's wrist, and he Mega Evolves. Max swears, seeing that this will definitely bring down his points a little bit. But, he focuses on the battle and starts off with Dynamic Punch.
But Mega Absol avoids this, as though it teleported away. It reappears behind her and hits her with Psycho Cut. Breloom is thrown across the stage, but is able to get back up again. She sees it charging in with Night Slash and uses Tail Whip, slapping it in the face and lowing its defence. Mega Absol gets up again, but this time isn't quick enough to avoid Breloom's Dynamic Punch. Mega Absol is thrown back again, but manages to land on its feet this time. It uses Psycho Cut once again, striking Breloom dead on. Breloom hits the ground, and struggles to her feet. She tries to use Force Palm, but Mega Absol just dodges it and uses Psycho Cut again. Breloom takes the hit and is severely weakened. But then, Max grins and orders her to use Counter. This move makes contact and strikes Mega Absol int the chest. The Disaster Pokémon is thrown back in a small cloud of dust. Fort a moment, no one can see what has become of it. Just as Max is about to be declared the winner, two Psycho Cuts fly out of the cloud. Breloom barely manages to dodge them both, but fails to spot the third one flying at her. She gets hit in the face with it as Mega Absol appears out of the cloud, battered but still standing. Breloom however isn't so lucky. She takes the hit, then falls to the ground and doesn't get up. With 30 seconds to spare, Drew is declared the winner.
After being presented the award, Drew has to depart quickly. He claims to have received a call from his mother about something back home, but Max knows that he's really leaving so that he can go and check if May is alright. During the entirety of the Contest, when Drew wasn't on stage, he was staring at his phone, waiting for May to call him. But, she never did. So, as soon as he accepted the ribbon, he returns to the Pokémon Centre, packs his things and leaves quickly. Max to call out to him to get him to share what May's phone call was about last night, but Drew is already gone. Kenny leaves not long after, heading back to Rustboro before he goes to his next contest. This leaves Max and Bonnie to figure out what they're doing next.
Bonnie checks her map for the next Gym, and finds it in Mossdeep. But, just as she's about to suggest they head there, Max shakes his head. "What's up?" she asks. "What's wrong with Mossdeep?" "Nothing's wrong with it," Max replies. "But, remember what happened here when we first arrived? Team Terra were all over the city's entrances. They knew we were coming this way." Bonnie realises where he's going with this. "So, they might be waiting for us in Mossdeep now?" she guesses. Max nods. "It's definitely a possibility," he says. "So, what do you want us to do then?" Max looks at the map again, then points to a different city. "Let's go here first," he says. "Sootopolis, chances are they won't be looking for us here. Then, once we're done here, we can head over to Mossdeep." Bonnie nods in agreement, then puts her map away. As they get ready to leave, she notices Max also look at his phone. "I'm sure May is fine Max," she says. "She's tough. Whatever's going on will be sorted out before you know it." Max nods, then the two of them head towards the route to Sootopolis.
Ok, those turned out better than I thought they would. You might be wondering why I've changed the order of the next two gyms. That is because I have a cool idea for Mossdeep, but it kind of works better if it's towards the end of the story. So, I swapped them around. Also, because I wanted to change the pace, and get the harder to write gym over with quicker. Juan's battle is going to be a BIIIIIIIIIITCH to write when I get there. Anyway, see you all tomorrow where we find out what happened to May.