So, as I mentioned in the end notes of the previous chapter, I wanted chapter 85 to be about Bonnie's final Gym Battle. However, this got longer than I thought, and I wasn't in a writing mood on Sunday. I asked someone out and got ghosted, so as you can imagine I was pretty down. But, I'm feeling a bit better now. I've accepted my fate as a life-long single pringle, and am back to writing in full force. So now, let's get on with part 2 of the Battle of Mossdeep. Enjoy.
Chapter 85:
Blasting Off Again
When the four of them leave the building, they head straight for the docks. When they get there, they see what Brendan was talking about. several dozen boats are sailing towards the harbour, as they watch. Team Terra agents are running about, trying to find a way to get rid of them without engaging directly, lest they start an all out fight. When Max first arrived, he almost couldn't tell that Team Terra have taken over the city. Now however, he sees that the city is flooded with them. They're everywhere, running through the streets, scrambling to get either to the harbour to stop the boats from arriving, or to the rocket to prepare the launch. May quickly slipped her mask back on before they left, so people all over are either running from her or trying to take advantage of the chaos to take a swing at her. Each time the latter happens, she's always quick to either knock them out or into the water.
Eventually, the League Officials and police approach the dock. When they do, Team Terra finally bite the bullet and engage. They start firing at the boats. Pokémon moves, bullets, even blasts from cannons, where those came from no one will ever know, fly at them Immediately. Those on the boats respond with their own pokémon. At the front of every boat is a Psychic type pokémon, who uses its power to send these attacks back at the agents. Some of the pokémon abilities make it through the psychic powers, so the boats swerve to avoid them. Team Terra begin to attack again, but before they can, May charges in with Blaziken, ripping their weapons apart and knocking more foes out or into the water. While she does that, Drew goes around doing the same, keeping Roserade tucked into his jumper, he uses her Vine Whip to aid May in clearing the dock for the League officials' and officers' landings.
While the two of them do this, May and Bonnie help the boats dock by using their grass type pokémon to create small bridges to the dock from the boasts. While they do that, Bonnie occasionally keeps the agents away from the League officials by shooting tiny pulses of Aura out of her hands. Ever since she did that during the Second Kalos Crisis, she's been training herself to be able to shoot those without knocking herself out, as long as she does small bursts. Soon enough, everyone on those boats are able to make it to Mossdeep. Seeing this, most Team Terra agents make a run for it back to the rocket, or any of the buildings in Mossdeep that they took over. Hearing all of the commotion, many of the residents of Mossdeep come out of their buildings to see what's going on. When they see the Team Terra agents running away from the dock, and League officials and police officers arriving to help them. Immediately, they leave their houses to join in on helping everyone into the city.
Once everyone is in the city, the one who's clearly in charge of the arrival approaches May. He's a tall man with long, spiky, light blue hair, a kindly face, with small stubble for facial hair, and lightning blue eyes. He looks rather familiar to Max, but he can't quite place it. "So, you're the Blaziken Mask," he comments. "I've heard about you. But I thought you were from Kalos. Not to mention a lot older." May chuckles a bit. "You're thinking of my mentor," she says, surprising Max with how deep and gravelly she made her voice. "He is from Kalos. I am his successor, the 10th Blaziken Mask." The leader of the operation smiles. "I suppose that's fair," he says. "Well, allow me to introduce myself. In case you couldn't already tell, I am Steven Stone." Max and Bonnie's jaws drop at this. Steven Stone notices and laughs. "I suppose I look rather different with the facial hair and casual clothing, huh?" he comments. "After Brendan beat me, I felt like it was time to take a break from dealing with the press, so I chose to work in the Pokémon Hoenn League to take a break from all of that, while still participating in the Leagues in some way. Although, I certainly wasn't expecting to have to deal with something like this." He looks towards the rocket at this. "So, Blaziken Mask, what do we know so far?"
Without revealing anything that could give her identity away, May explains everything they know about what's going on. As she does, Steven keeps glancing up at the rocket, which still hasn't begun its launch yet. Still, he's clearly concerned that something bad will happen if they don't get a move on. A sentiment that Max agrees with. "So, that's the situation," May concludes. "So, any ideas on what to do?" Steven Stone thinks for a few seconds, before grinning. "I think I have an idea," he says, before turning to Max. "It's you they seem to be after, correct?" he asks. Max nods. "Good," he says. "Come with me. If it's you they want, it's you they're going to get!" Bonnie protests majorly upon hearing this. May clearly looks like she wants to do the same, but can't without giving herself away. Drew also kept his cool, but he was more obvious about his disapproval. "I don't mean hand him over to them," Steven hastens to explain. "I mean, if one of us show up carrying him over, offering him in exchange for shutting off the rocket, we can keep them distracted long enough to disable it."
The other 3 still clearly don't like the plan, but Max shuts them down by agreeing to it. "If it means we can get everyone closer to the rocket, then I'm ok with it," he says. Bonnie still clearly disapproves of the idea. "What if they take you away before we're able to reach you!?" "Then you can use Talonflame to reach me or something," Max replies. "But at least it will stop them from launching that rocket long enough for everyone else to put a stop to it." Bonnie is still unhappy about this plan, but it's May who shuts her up. "Look, if we don't do something, Larousse will be destroyed," she says. "Don't worry Citron, I will keep close to them. As soon as Maple is handed over and the officials are close enough to the rocket, I'll jump in there and save him, then we'll come and help." Bonnie sighs and agrees to this plan. Steven Stone claps his hands together at this. "Excellent," he says. "Now, before we go through with this, there are some people I need to grab, just in case things go wrong." Before anyone can ask who he's talking about, he disappears further into town.
While he's gone the rest of them assemble to come up with their parts in the plan. While Steven hands Max over to Team Terra, and Blaziken Mask follows along from the roofs, the rest of them will sneak up by any means necessary. Then, as soon as Max is handed over and they move away, they will spring out, storm the rocket, and disable it. While they do that, Blaziken Mask will save Max, then the two of them will come to help with taking down the rocket. By the time they're finished planning, Steven Stone has returned. "I have our backup sorted," he says. "So, let us head over to the rocket and shut that damn thing down!" A large cry of support comes from the surrounding people, as they all agree to this plan. Then, everyone gets into position, as Steven grabs Max and begins leading him down to where Team Terra are waiting.
As Max is paraded down the streets, he notices several people have stopped what they were doing to watch. He wants to tell them to run in case this all goes wrong, but not only could that tip Team Terra off to what they're planning, but also there isn't much point, as Mossdeep is an island. Anyway, the city would hopefully be fine even if they fail. Max isn't sure his conscience could take it if two cities are destroyed because he refuses to surrender. He's brought out of his spiralling by Steven, who nudges him a little bit. "The Blaziken Mask is on her way now," he whispers. "Once you're alone with the agents, pretend to fall over, that'll be her signal to set you free." Max nods, not wanting to speak in case an agent notices his lips moving. With that settled, they pick up the pace, moving down the streets to get to the space centre.
They finally arrive to find the centre crawling with Team Terra agents, almost all of them have guns trained on the two of them. Both Max and Steven instinctively raise their arms over their head. Standing at the entrance to the centre is Sub-Admin S, accompanied by a few other agents. "So, despite allowing him to escape, you've decided to hand Max Maple over anyway," she says. Steven Stone nods. "We have decided that the life of one boy does not equate the life of a whole city," Steven replies. Sub-Admin S smiles at this, then sends two agents over to him. As they grab him and pull him away, Steven gives his arm a reassuring squeeze, telling him "It'll be alright" Max subtly nods, then follows after the agents, heading over to S. She grins broadly when he walks over to her. "So, you slip through our fingers, only to be handed back over to us anyway," she says. "It seems that Arceus himself has blessed our mission." Max says nothing, only choosing to glare at her. S laughs, then leads Max away from Steven.
Something is wrong. May watches from the roof as Max ids led away from Steven. But, instead of being led away from the space centre, he's led inside the centre. "Ah shit, shit, shit, no, no, no!" she mutters, before calling Drew. "Something is wrong," she tells him, using her normal voice since only he can hear her. "They aren't leading Max away from the space centre, they're bringing him in." Drew makes a noise of surprise. "What? Why would they do that?" he asks. "I don't know," she replies. "They only reason I could think of is to bring him into the rocket ship." "But that doesn't make sense," Drew argues. "Those city destroying tunnels are underneath! Unless of course..." He trails off, as he and May come to the same realisation. "They were bluffing!" they both realise. May ends the call with Drew and Calls Steven Stone. "Stone!" she exclaims, switching back to her Blaziken Mask voice. "This was a bluff! There is no tunnel of fire to Larousse! It was a trick to get their hands on Max!" Steven swears, then ends the call.
Down below, he shouts for everyone to advance on the centre. "They tricked us!" he cries. "There's no fire to destroy Larousse Stop that rocket!" Everyone charges at the centre. Down below, May can see Bonnie desperately running towards the entrance, determined to save herboyfriend. May turns to Blaziken, who nods. Then, the two of them bend their knees and leap off the roof, trails of fire flying behind them. They charge straight for the Space centre, flying over the chaos down below. She manages to flip in mid-air, braces herself, then she and Blaziken smash into one of the windows. She rolls on the floor, careful not to cut herself on the glass. She gets to her feet and brushes herself off. She's about to run through the hallways, then she sees vines attach themselves to the window. At first, she thinks it's Drew coming to help her. Instead, it's Bonnie.
May is about to ask her what the hell she's doing here, when Bonnie starts speaking. "I know I shouldn't be here," she says, very quickly. "But Max is my best friend, and I can't just let him be taken away from me! I can't lose him! So I'm coming with you to save him, whether you like it or not!" May sighs. "alright fine," she says. "Let's go and save him." Bonnie nods eagerly, then returns Shiftry to his ball, before the two girls run down the hall. They run through the centre, with May beating the crap out of any agent she comes across, while Bonnie uses Braixen to keep herself safe. At one point, after taking down a whole group of agents, May grabs one by the scruff of his neck and holds him close to her face. "Where is Max Maple?!" she demands. "Rocket," he says. "He's being brought to the rocket!" May nods, drops him, then stomps on his face, knocking him out.
The two girls continue running through the facility. Eventually, they reach the bridge that will lead them to the rocket. But, by the time they get there, the door is shut, and the engines are starting. Bonnie begins to panic and sprints over to the rocket. But no matter what she tries, she can't get the door open. May reaches her, and goes to punch the door open, but at that moment, the engines start, and it begins to ascend. May grabs Bonnie and pulls her back, because she tries to jump onto the side. All they can do is watch as the rocket ascends. For about a metre. Then, it stops suddenly. The two of them are surprised, until Bonnie looks around. "Look down there!" she shouts. Looking down, May sees the two Mossdeep Gym Leaders, Tate and Liza, along with their Gym Trainers, using all of their Psychic Type pokémon to stop the rocket's ascent. As they watch, others with Psychic Types join in, keeping the rocket in place. In their minds, Bonnie and May hear a voice say, "We've got the rocket! Get in there and bring Max out!" the two of them nod, then May smashes the door and they run in.
By the time Max figures out this was all a lie, he is being dragged along the bridge into the rocket. Once he figures it out, he starts struggling, trying desperately to escape, but the agents that S chose are too strong, making him incapable of escape. So, all he can do is dig in his heels and be dragged into the rocket instead of walking. As he's led in, S can't help but laugh. "Do you really think you'll be able to escape us that easy?" she asks. "We can't let you leave us. Your knowledge is too vital to our mission. I'm sure our Boss is dying to meet you in person." Max says nothing, instead choosing to spit at her. S grunts in disgust and slaps him. "You'll learn your place in time, boy," she snaps. "For now, you can stand and watch as your friends fail to save you!" She points to the door, where Max can see May and Bonnie charge down the bridge after them. He watches as Bonnie reaches it and tries to break it open. Then, he watches as they begin to ascend, before being stopped by the Psychic Types. Seeing what's coming, S takes his hand and pulls him further up the rocket.
Beneath him, the door into the ship is smashed open, and he hears Bonnie calling his name below. Hearing this, Max is able to find the strength to slip out of S's grip and run back towards Bonnie and May. S tries to stop him, but is stopped herself by Vine Whips, summoned by Bonnie's Shiftry. Max smiles at this, then summons Grovyle into battle. "Grovyle," he says, "these guys are trying to kidnap me! Give us some cover while we escape, then follow us!" Grovyle nods, then summons a large Vine Whip to block the path. Using the opportunity. Max, Bonnie and May begin to retreat. But before they can get very far, Grovyle's vines are burnt away, and he's thrown backwards. "Grovyle!" Max cries. He pulls out his ball and tries to resummon him, but before he can, Grovyle is covered with fire from one of the agents' Arcanine. Max calls Grovyle's name again, desperately trying to save his partner.
In the flames, Grovyle hears Max's voice. He hears his master trying to save him. He tries to reach out, but the fire is too much. Determined to get back to Max, Grovyle pushes through the pain and fights the flame. As he does, he feels his body begin to change. He grows taller, and feels yellow spots grow on his back, his tail elongates, and gets covered in spikes. With a howl of anger and triumph, Grovyle uses Razor Leaf to blast the fire away, except he isn't a Grovyle anymore. Now, he's a Sceptile! Fully evolved at last. Max stares in amazement at this, before whooping in celebration. Now even stronger, Grovyle returns his attention to the Arcanine. It tries to attack him, but he effortlessly dodges it, then uses Vine Whip to throw it around like a ragdoll. By the time he's finished, the Arcanine is knocked out. Max beams with pride at this, before returning Sceptile to his ball. Then, the three of them turn and run, escaping the rocket before any of the agents can catch them.
Once they're free, and a safe distance away, the Psychic Types let the rocket go. As everyone watches, the rocket ascends into the sky. Except, it's used so much fuel while it was held down, that it doesn't get very high. So, instead of disappearing into the sky, it gets maybe 2km into the air, before falling back down to the ground. Luckily for everyone inside, a parachute is deployed at the top, so its descent is slowed, and they can only hope no one is hurt. As this happens, Drew runs up to them. "Well," he says, "that was awesome." Max nods. "Terrifying," he adds, "but awesome!" He moves to release his new Sceptile to get him treated, but before he can, he's tackled to the ground by Bonnie. "I was so scared I was going to lose you!" she cries. "Don't ever agree to such a stupid plan again!" Max promises he won't, then decides that Sceptile can wait. For now, he's content with hugging his best friend, and assuring her that he's fine. He's so focused on this, that he misses May taking a picture, and sending it to their parents with a big smirk on her face.
Ok, so that ending was rushed to high heavens. After the bridge, I was stuck on what else to do, but needed to get this finished quickly, otherwise it won't be coming out until tomorrow. But still, I hope you enjoyed that. And hey, Sceptile is finally fully evolved! As for when Braixen gets her final evolution, you're just going to have to wait and see. For now, I'll see you all on Thursday for the gym battle, as well as a few other things surrounding that. Mossdeep has turned out to be a lot messier than I thought it would be.