Welcome to the official beginning of the 2nd volume! Much like most of the 1st Volume, each chapter will be coming out on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, to the best of my ability at least. Thanks to taking the previous fortnight off, I have been able to come up with a proper plan for the first few chapters at least. Hopefully the rest will follow along. Thanks for your patience, and to all who've already read chapter 1. Now, on to the chapter, which is being updated from my phone, so please excuse any mistakes made.
Chapter 2:
Homecoming
Mostly to stall the inevitable questions from his parents regarding their relationship, Max ends up giving Bonnie a complete tour of Petalburg. At her request, he shows her some of the shops in the city. In particular, she wants to see the shops full of stuff he likes. He ends up having to wait outside a few of them while she goes in to browse for something. He knows she's looking for a present for him, and she's adamant about getting him one, so he doesn't try to argue about it. Instead, he waits for her to choose something.
Eventually, she comes out of one of the shops carrying something behind her back, and makes sure Max can't see what it is. She tells him to look away for a moment, before quickly slipping whatever it is into her bag. Once she's happy, Max shows her around the rest of the town. It's not nearly as big or as impressive as Lumiose City, but Bonnie still over it. "It's such a cute town!" she comments happily, something that makes Max chuckle. In total, it takes him 3/4ths of an hour to show her the whole town. He always knew it's a bit small, but he never truly realised that until he finished giving Bonnie the tour. The fact that it didn't even take him an hour to show her the whole town, while it took her almost 3 days to show him Lumiose truly made him realise how tiny his hometown is. Bonnie still appreciates it, and gushes over how lovely it is. In particular, she likes how quiet it is, especially when compared to the loudness of Lumiose City.
But of course, he's stalled long enough, so he leads Bonnie to his home. Due to the Petalburg Gym being attached to the building, Max's house is larger than Bonnie's is, something that seems to surprise her. "What's with the face?" Max asks as they approach. Bonnie goes a bit red and shakes her head. "Nothing," she replies. "I just thought your house would be a lot smaller than this." Max can't help but chuckle. "What, did you think I live in a small wooden cabin in a forest?!" he asks, acting affronted. "No, no," Bonnie says quickly. "I just pictured a house a bit smaller than mine, that's all!" Max laughs at this. "I figured as much," he says. "Don't worry, I was only joking." Bonnie seems to look relieved by this. "Besides, a lot of the house is actually just the Petalburg Gym."
Bonnie's eyes widen at this. "Wait, one of your parents is a Gym Leader!?" she asks. Max looks a bit surprised by this. "My dad is, yeah," he tells her. "Didn't I tell you that?" Bonnie shakes her head. "You didn't," she replies. "Would I be able to challenge him at some point before we head off?" Max looks uncertain. "Well, you can," he tells her. "But you need at least 3 pokémon to do so." Bonnie looks disappointed at this. Before they left, Bonnie decided that she'd like to start this journey basically from scratch. So, she left all of her pokémon back at Professor Sycamore's Lab, apart from Braixen, Dedenne and the egg her brother got her for her birthday. "You could always just call Sycamore and request that he send you one of your pokémon over" Max suggests. Bonnie shakes her head. "But that would defeat the whole point of starting from scratch," she points out. "I'll just wait until my egg hatches, or catch a 3rd pokémon on our travels, then wait until we return here to challenge your dad." Max nods in agreement. "That's what Ash did when he arrived," he tells her. "I reckon that's the best idea." Then, he sighs and resumes walking. "Now, come on. It's time that you meet the rest of my family."
When the two of them enter Max's home, Max is filled with a huge sense of comfort and familiarity. He didn't really notice how much he missed home until he stepped into the building and looked around. He wants to turn to Bonnie and say something dramatic and funny to welcome her in. But before he can, a bunch of people suddenly leap out of different hiding places and shout "SURPRISE!" So, instead of a funny joke or corny reference, what leaves him mouth instead is a surprised scream, which has everyone in hysterics. Norman and Caroline step out from behind the door they were hiding behind and both envelop Max in a big hug. "Welcome home Max!" Caroline tells him. "We missed you so much!" Norman nods in agreement, then looks up at Bonnie. A grin form on his face as he spots her. "So," he says, "you must be Bonnie." Max catches sight of his sister, and sees the teasing glint in her eyes. Scenting danger, Max quickly shouts to his father, "Whatever May told you about my relationship with Bonnie is a bear-faced lie!" Norman looks at his son with a raised eyebrow. "So you aren't best friends?" he asks. "Because that's what May said you were." Caroline claps her hands with delight. "Does this mean my son has a girlfriend!?" she exclaims.
The whole room erupts in laughter as Max and Bonnie go so red in the face that steam practically billows from their heads. "No, no, no, no!" Max protests. "We're just friends! I thought May was going to tell you we were dating!" May raises her eyebrows teasingly. "Why would I suggest something like that when you're so insistent that you aren't?" she asks innocently. Max doesn't have a reply to that, so he just glares at her. Caroline laughs at this, before putting her arms around her children's shoulders. "Come now, we're only teasing Max. You're still a bit young to be dating after all," she says. "Now, why don't we get started on celebrating. It is your 11th birthday after all." Everyone agrees with this, and Max and Bonnie are led into the house. As they walk together, Max locks eyes with his sister, and mouths "I'll get you for that!" May laughs and gives him a look that says, "Do your worst."
If Max could have his way, he'd spend the rest of the day plotting ways to get May back. But his friends and family have other plans. If he thought his 10th birthday was a crowded ordeal, it's nothing compared to how many people have shown up for this one. Pretty much everyone he'd befriended during his and Bonnie's journey through Kalos has shown up to celebrate. The ones who already knew it was his birthday even got him gifts. Brock and Olivia got him a new backpack, as his old one was coming apart at the seams due to all of the excitement in Kalos. Norman and Caroline got him a new outfit, a green t-shirt with a dark green pokéball insignia on the front, some grey trousers, and black shoes. May and Drew also got him a shared present, that being a few items needed to evolve some pokémon native to Hoenn, should the need arise. Misty and Tracey also got him somethings, although these were separate presents. Tracey got him some TMs for his Grovyle to learn new moves, while Misty got him a new fishing rod to help him catch or document water type pokémon. Ash and Serena also got him a shared present, which was a camera and some more audio logs. Max is particularly thankful for these, as he's starting to run low on space in his logs, and the camera will be a good replacement for his subpar drawings.
But by far the greatest present comes from Bonnie. Max's eyes widen when she hands him a new notebook, saying "Happy Birthday Max," somewhat meekly. Max takes the notebook and flicks through the empty pages. It's got more pages than the one he used in Kalos, and the pages are also bigger. In short, it's perfect. He puts the new notebook down and pulls Bonnie into a big hug, thanking her for her present. Bonnie's face goes bright red, but she accepts the hug nonetheless. After a few seconds, the faint sound of a camera clicking causes the pair to spring apart. Looking around, Max spots Drew with his new camera in his hand, having clearly just taken a picture with it. "Good news Max," he jokes, "your new camera works!" Everyone in the room laughs at this, with May being the loudest, while Max snatches the camera from Drew's hand. "Don't know what your laughing at," he complains to Drew and May. "I saw you two make googly-eyes at each other throughout most of the plane ride." "MAX!" May shrieks, going redder than her brother while the room's laughter turns on her. Both Norman and Caroline laugh and shake their heads at their kids' obvious crushes. "Arceus I hope we weren't as bad as that!" Norman jokes to his wife, who elbows him, despite her chuckles.
The rest of the day is spent with all of their friends. They mostly spend their time chatting and eating. Throughout the party, some of the guests leave and return with a small gift for Max, like Miette getting him a new baseball cap from her and Paul, or Iris and Georgia both getting him a new necklace to hold his Key Stone in, which was much nicer than the wristband. Elio also steps out and buys him a few more t-shirts as well, one from everyone from Alola. As for the rest of them, they all tell him they'll make sure to get him something soon enough, totally ignoring his insistence that they don't need to. There are a few of Max's neighbours there as well, who also get him a few presents as well, and he receives many comments about how much bigger he's gotten. All in all, it's been quite the return for him.
But soon enough, it's time for the party to wind down. Eventually, it's time for people to be leaving. Most of their friends have managed to get a room in the Pokémon Centre, however Dawn, Zoey, Lukas, Barry, Tierno, Shauna, Mallow, Lana, Goh, Chloe, and Gary aren't so lucky, and end up having to get rooms in Littleroot Town. Clemont, Bonnie, Korrina and Meyer have already booked a holiday home in Petalburg, so they don't need to worry about that. Drew is staying in the Maple's guest room, so he doesn't need to worry either. So, once farewells are bidden, everyone separates. Max and Bonnie make plans to meet up the next day to plan out their route through Hoenn, before parting ways, with Bonnie wishing Max another happy birthday. That night, Max goes to bed, thinking that this journey will be a lot less dangerous and exciting than their journey through Kalos. How very wrong he was.
Only on chapter 2 and we've already got bad chapter endings. Sorry about that, I was a bit stuck. But I'm glad to be back to writing this story. I reread the Kalos volume, and felt that I rushed the beginning a bit, which is why I'm making this story's beginning a bit longer this time. I've got nothing else to add to this, other than see you on Thursday with chapter 3.