If there's anyone actually still reading this at this point, you're probably reading this on a Monday. That is because as I write this note, I'm feeling pretty bummed out right now, which has severely affected my desire to write. I'm not going to say why I'm bummed, because it's personal, but right now, I'm just trying not to think about too many things right now, and writing helps with that. Also, I still want to make sure that I reach my deadline for this fic, so I just need to push through this and get it done.
Chapter 84:
Family Matters
After many days of running through Hoenn, May and Drew finally arrived at Lilycove. Happy to be done running through the region, Drew happily sat down on a chair at a café next to the dock. May joined him, making sure her Blaziken Mask attire was safely hidden in her bag. As the couple sat there, waiting for their boat to arrive, May looked around the place. "It's been a while since I've been here last," she commented. Drew nodded in agreement. "It has, hasn't it," he replied. "Especially considering just how beautiful the town is, it's a shame we don't come here more often." May nodded, then spotted something behind Drew. She squinted in order to get a better look. "Look behind you," she said. "Is that Max and Bonnie?" Drew turned around, and squinted his own eyes. "Yeah, you're right," he said. "That's definitely them." They smiled at each other, and stood up to go and greet the pair.
But, before they could approach them, Max and Bonnie stood up. The boat to Mossdeep had arrived, and they were making their way over. So, May and Drew grabbed their bags and did the same. They followed the two to the dock. Once again, May was about to call out to them, when she stopped, because Bonnie had stopped Max. "What's wrong?" Drew asked. "Why did she stop." May shrugged. "I don't know," she replied. "But Bonnie has good instincts, so something is clearly wrong." Drew looked at her quizzically, but he didn't argue with her. May had to admit, 'good instincts' was a pretty bad excuse, but it was better than revealing Aura to Drew. The two of them hung back and watched as Max and Bonnie discussed what they're going to do next. Just as they came to an agreement and turned around, a large group of people appeared seemingly out of nowhere and began to push them towards the boat. May and Drew stared at them, when May spotted one of the people's jumpers roll up a little bit, revealing the tell-tale colours of Team Terra.
Both May and Drew stared at this. "Did you see that?" May asked. "If by 'that' you mean the uniform of Team Terra, then yes, I saw that," Drew replied. "This is obviously a trap, what are we going to do?" May looked around frantically, hoping to find something to help her brother. Then, she spotted something, and grinned. "Come with me," she said to Drew. "I have an idea." She led him over to a shop selling different coloured cloaks. Not bothering with the colour or material, she grabbed the first two she could find, quickly paid for them, then handed one to Drew. "Come with me," she said. "We're boarding that boat!" Not bothered with arguing, Drew just followed her to the dock. The two of them slipped the cloaks on, then hopped onto the boat right as the gangplank was pulled up. They crept into the crowd to avoid being detected. Once they were certain no one noticed them board the boat, they chose some seats near the back and sat down, keeping a close eye on Max and Bonnie once they did.
May didn't take her eyes off her brother for the entirety of the boat ride. Around at some point during the boat ride, May noticed that Max spotted her and Drew. It was clear to see that he was suspicious of them, and kept checking on them every few minutes. Eventually, May decided to just walk up to him and alleviate all of his worries. But, as she stood up, she spotted someone with a bushy mane of orange hair slip in behind Max and place a gun to the back of his head. May couldn't hear what was happening, but she was certain that that was Sub-Admin S. May pulled Drew to his feet, then started to run up towards Max and Bonnie. But before she could get close to them, everyone on the boat stood up and pulled out a gun, before pulling off their jumpers, coats, or cardigans to reveal their Team Terra uniforms.
May considered fighting her way through the crowd to her brother. But before she could, Drew grabbed her hand and pulled her down to the floor. "Why did you stop me?" May asked him. "Are you insane!?" Drew replied. "We're vastly outnumbered here! If you start fighting, what if S shoots Max!?" May didn't think about that. "So, what do you suggest we do then?" she asked. Drew thought about it. "We wait," he replied. "Wait until they dock, then see if we can learn exactly what those holes are, and why they go between Larousse and Mossdeep." May thought about this, and realised he was right. So, she nodded, and the two of them snuck around the boat, trying to get closer to Max, Bonnie, and Sub-Admin S. Once they were, they overheard their conversation about the Geo Map, and why they're in Mossdeep. "Bingo!" May thought to herself. She quickly called Brendan to let him know of this, to which he informs her that he'll send some reinforcements as soon as possible.
They waited on the roof of the boat until it docked and let all the members of Team Terra off. Once they were, Drew used Roserade to swing himself and May off the boat and onto a nearby building. From there, they followed the group through the streets of Mossdeep, making sure to stay out of sight. Drew stayed up on the roofs, while May snuck around the alleys. She donned her Blaziken Mask attire in a back alley while Drew kept watch. They followed the troop all the way to a PRA building that looked abandoned. Once they were sure no one could see them, Drew had Roserade lower a vine to lift May onto the roof. From there, the two of them watched as Max and Bonnie are led into the building. May wanted to get in there immediately and free them, but she knew she couldn't do that while S was in there. There were too many patrols, and she couldn't just creep around the rafters like she could in the bases. So, they waited. Eventually, S left the building, along with several other soldiers. Now was the perfect time to strike.
Roserade lowered May and Drew back to the ground, then jumped into Drew's arms. From there, Drew places a mask onto his face, one he bought in a shop so Roserade didn't have to keep making his herself, then he and May ran into the building. Using her Blaziken powers, May tore through the building, demanding to know where the two kids they kidnapped were. After beating up enough agents, she finally found out where they were keeping Max and Bonnie. From there, it was a simple matter of running up the stairs, and beating up a bunch more agents along the way, before finally reaching the door that Max and Bonnie were locked behind. Without stopping, she ran up to the door, raised her fist, then smashed it to pieces. "Hey little bro," she said when she got into the room. "What do you say we get out of here and disable that rocket?"
May leads the way through the building. Max thinks they're leaving, until he notices May run right past the front door. "Where are we going?" he asks. "The exit is there." "I know," May replies. "But you aren't leaving." "What!?" both Max and Bonnie exclaim. "If you argue that we're too young, both of us stopped the Second Kalos Crisis by ourselves!" May sighs. "That's obviously not why!" she argues back. "Team Terra are after you! They're going to use the rocket to destroy Larousse if they find out you left. Besides, if you were to go to the rocket, which is probably crawling with Team Terra, they could capture you again and do who-knows-what to you! I will not lose my little brother because he feels like all of this is his fault!" Max stares at her. "I don't think this is all my fault!" he argues. "Then why do you want to put a stop to this so badly!?" May argues back. "Why do you constantly throw yourself into danger!?" "Why do you do it then?!" he shoots back.
May stops and stares at him. "So, it's ok for you to run headfirst into Team Terra's bases and fight in them, but when I want to do something similar, it's because I'm feeling guilty?! All I've been feeling these past few months is worry! Worry that you aren't going to come back! Worry that I will never see you again! And you're going into deadly situations to learn why Team Terra are after my notes! How do you think it feels to know that my sister is getting herself in situations where she could die, and I have the ability to stop you from doing that, but I don't because I seemingly care more about my stupid notes than you! That maybe, if I stopped being selfish and handed them over, you wouldn't be risking your life for me every single fucking day!" With that rant over, Max runs off, wiping his eyes as he does. May watches him go, guilt coursing through her guts. She moves to run after him, but Bonnie stops her. "I'll go after him," she says. "You focus on figuring out a way to stop Team Terra's rocket." With that, she turns and runs after her friend.
May removes her mask and sits down on a nearby bench, running her fingers through her hair. Drew sits next to her, and starts rubbing her back affectionately. "In all of my exploits through Team Terra's bases," she says, "I always worried about how you would react if you saw me injured. But at least you knew whether or not I'd be ok. I never thought about Max, or how he felt about all of this. Some older sister I am huh?" Drew doesn't say anything, he just continues to rub her back. Eventually, he does speak. "You know, this is sort of similar to when he and Bonnie ended up unconscious in Kalos," he says. "Remember how that felt?" May nods, remembering the sight of her battered little brother lying on that bed. "This is most likely how Max feels," Drew goes on, "except you at least got to see him recover, and see that he was fine. He doesn't get that. For all he knows, you're lying in a forest, just like he was, alone, and he can't be there." May nods again, tearing up a bit. She decides that she needs to go and speak with Max, and stands up. But before she can, her phone rings.
Pulling it out of her pocket, she sees that Brendan is calling her. "Give it to me straight," she tells him as soon as she picks up, "how many were you able to get here?" Brendan sounds delighted with himself. "Are you able to see the water from where you are?" he asks. May can't and tells him so. "Well, if you could, you'd see about 4 dozen ships approaching the city," he says. "All loaded with armed officers and league officials. You asked for a miracle May, I give you, The Hoenn League." May feels like punching the air. "SO, these guys can help stop the launch?" she asks. "Well, they can certainly get you close enough to the rocket to do just that," Brendan replies happily. "And don't worry about Larousse, I've got every Officer Jenny in the region here in case Team Terra try anything sneaky!" May can't help but laugh at this. "If Brock knew about that before his engagement to Olivia, he may have had a heart attack," she jokes. Brendan laughs at this. "Very true," he replies. "So, now you know this, what are you going to do now?" May looks down the hall where Max ran off. "Disarm the rocket," she says. "And I know just the guy who can help me do it."
Bonnie finds Max sulking in one of the rooms on the ground floor. Unlike the time he found her upset, Max isn't openly weeping. He is sniffling however, and clearly trying to dry his eyes. In order to give him a bit of time to recover, Bonnie knocks on the door. Max makes a small noise of surprise and quickly tries to regain composure, but when Bonnie enters the room, his eyes are still bloodshot. "Hey," he says. "Has my sister gone to singlehandedly stop a rocket launch?" Even when he tries to hide it, Bonnie can still hear the anger in his voice. "No," she replies. "She's still in the building." Max nods, before quickly looking away and wiping his eyes on his sleeve. Bonnie walks up to him and hugs him. "I know you're scared to lose May," she says. "I kinda know how that feels. My brother is always doing stupidly dangerous things with machines. When I was younger, I used to be terrified that one of his inventions would blow up so badly that he'd get hurt. But eventually, I grew used to it."
"But that's the thing," Max interrupts. "I don't want to get used to something like that! I don't want to get used to the thought of my older sister constantly going into incredible danger for my sake! I want to end this right fucking now, so she never has to do something like that again! And now, we have the opportunity to put a stop to an attack on Larousse, and she won't let me help!" Bonnie listens as Max continues to rant about this. He continues for a bit longer, before Bonnie stops him. "Wait, if you don't want her to go up there in case she dies, why do you want to go with her?" she asks. Max looks at her. "Because," he replies, "at least if she dies there while I'm with her, I get the chance to save her, or at least say goodbye. But, if she dies while I'm stuck in here, I don't find out anything until after the fight is over! Then, she's gone, and the last conversation I ever had with her was an argument!"
"That's not going to happen!" May declares, as she and Drew enter the room. Max immediately runs over to her and hugs her, which she returns. "Hey, I'm sorry I made you worry so much," she tells him. Max sobs a bit. "I'm sorry too," he says. "I know this was your choice, and I shouldn't be angry at you for it." May smiles at him. "Thanks bro," she says. "Now, come on, let's go shut down the rocket!" Max and Bonnie look at her with surprise. "You mean it!?" they ask. "We can come!?" May nods. "Well, there's a small army of police and League officials coming to Mossdeep right now," says Drew. "So it would be a real shame not to use them." "Plus, I seem to recall you ended up in that rocket before," May adds. "So, let's get over there and shut off the rocket!" Max nods eagerly, then the four of them run out of the building, and head towards the dock.
So, fun fact, this was only supposed to be the first half of the chapter, but then I got so focused on the family stuff between Max and May that I ended up taking a lot more time than I thought. Plus, it is almost midnight here, and I need too get this done before then. So, I decided to move the rocket fight to the next chapter instead. I was hoping to have the Gym Battle be chapter 85, because then each gym battle in the 2nd half of Hoenn would be 11 chapters apart, but now that's not happening. Anyway, with that, I'll see you all on Tuesday with the next chapter.