I am so sorry that this took me 5 fucking days to write! But I moved my Saturday uploads to Sunday, because Saturdays have become rather busy at the moment. But then I got sick on Sunday, which got worse on Monday, so I put this fic on hold while I felt like complete shit. At least this time it was due to my physical health rather than my mental health. But I'm better now, so here's the next chapter at last. Sorry for the delay, and I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 7:

First Catch of Hoenn

Over the next few days, Max spends a lot of time scouring through his notebooks, whenever he isn't writing in the second one of course. "Looking for whatever Team Terra wants eith them?" Bonnie asks him. Max nods absently. "There's nothing here of any interest!" he complains. "Literally the only thing in here worth trying to steal it is a page about the Jade Orb and Rayquaza! But they apparently no longer have any interest in finding them!" He groans with frustration and leans back, placing the book over his face in annoyance as he does. Despite the situation, Bonnie can't help but laugh at how funny he looks. "It does seem weird that they'd be after a notebook of all things," she agrees. "Especially one that's just full of pokémon facts." Max nods and removes the book from his face. "It's especially frustrating considering the fact that I'm planning on publishing them!" he exclaims. "Like, if they just wait a bit, they'll get the book, and leave us alone. It's a win-win!"

The pair sit in silence for a while whilst Max fixes some of the smudges left on the pages by his face. After a few minutes of this silence, Bonnie asks, "Should we tell our families about this?" Max stops writing and thinks about it. "Depends," he replies. "How will your dad react if he found out that Team Terra are after us again because of my notebooks?" Bonnie immediately shakes her head. "He'd probably either make you give up on writing it, or give it over to them, or make me stop travelling with you if you refuse to do so." Max nods at this. "My parents would probably stop me from writing them while we travel," he agrees. "Or stop this journey in its tracks." Neither of them want any of those to happen, so they agree not to breathe a word of this to anyone, unless the situation becomes really dangerous. With that settled, the pair packs everything away, and sets off to Rustboro.

As they continue on their journey, Bonnie decides she wants to catch her first pokémon in the Hoenn Region. As it stands, she only has 2 pokémon, Dedenne and Braixen, both of which will be pretty useless to her in a Rock Type Gym, which is what the first Gym is if Max's memory serves him well. So, to stand an actual chance in this battle, Bonnie needs to get her hands in a Grass Type or water type. As it happens, the fields they travel through are full of those types of pokémon, but none of them really catch Bonnie's eye. Not like the pokémon in Kalos did. There are plenty if Grass Types to be found especially, but a lot of them are also poison types, which according to Max would be a bad idea to bring to a Rock Type Gym, since some of them may also be Ground types. As for the other Grass Types Bonnie sees, she doesn't really have any particular interest in them.

That is, until they're about 2 days away from Rustboro. That morning, Max wakes up to find something knocking against his bed. Worried that it might be Team Terra again, he grabs Grovyle's ball and carefully reaches towards the zipper of his tent. He opens it slowly and peaks around, ready to shout for Bonnie should the need arise. But to his surprise, and immense relief, it's not Team Terra knocking against his tent, but a small pokémon. Max recognises it as a Seedot. Immediately, his mind jumps to Bonnie. Knowing her, she will definitely want this pokémon on her team. So, he slips out of his tent and very quietly goes over to Bonnie's. Luckily for him, she's just coming out of it. "Oh, hey Max," she says, rather loudly. "What are-" Max interrupts her by putting a finger to his lips and making a shushing sound. "I found a pokémon that might interest you," he tells her quietly. "But you need to be quiet, or you might frighten it away." Bonnie nods, suddenly eager to see what pokémon he's talking about.

As quietly as he can, he leads her back over to his tent. Luckily for them, the Seedot is still there. Unluckily for them, Bonnie can't keep her mouth shut. "It's so cute!" she exclaims, before slapping her hands over her mouth. But the damage us already done. The Seedot makes a noise of fright and scarpers into the woods, much to the annoyance of the pair. The two of them proceed to eat a very hasty breakfast, then pack everything away as fast as possible. Then they sprint into the woods, hoping to find that Seedot again, or another one if they can't.

Thanks to the rain they had the night before, the ground is muddy, which means that they're quickly able to locate Seedot's footprints in the mud. Soon however, it gets muddled up by other pokémon tracks. "Do you think you can use your Aura to find it?" Max asks. Bonnie shakes her head, a hint of anger on her face. "Ash never taught me how to do that," she complained. "He only showed me how to find the Aura of those who are next to me." Max nods, feeling a bit annoyed with Ash as well. "Ok, plan B then" he says, before going back the way they came. He locates the Seedot's footprints, then begins to analyse them. Then, he gets on his hands and knees and crawls along the ground, ignoring the mud that begins to coat his hands and trousers. After a few minutes of this, he manages to locate Seedot. "This way!" he tells her, before getting to his feet and running after the pokémon. "Your brain is nothing short of incredible!" Bonnie tells him. As they run after the Seedot, Max can't help but blush at her comment.

Eventually, they manage to find the Seedot again. It's resting on a rock, having clearly been tired out from its run. Bonnie pulls out a pokéball and begins to approach it, when Max puts an arm on her shoulder. "Remember to battle it first," he tells her. "Don't just throw the ball like you did with that Magneton." Bonnie rolls her eyes and shakes him off. "Don't worry Max," she says. "I can learn my lesson." Then, she sends out Dedenne. She considers sending out Braixen, but she doesn't want to knock Seedot out, just hurt it enough to catch it. Seedot sees Dedenne run towards it and tries to run away again, but Dedenne is quicker, and manages to block its escape. So with no other choice, the Seedot engages Dedenne in battle. It sends out Seed Bomb, which begins to sap Dedenne's health. Realising she needs to end this battle quickly, Bonnie orders Dedenne to use nuzzle, then play rough. Seedot manages to dodge the nuzzle, but fails to avoid Play Rough. It uses Tackle which successfully lands, and some of Dedenne's health is sapped. Dedenne uses Nuzzle again, this time actually hitting Seedot. While it's stunned, Bonnie throws an empty pokéball at it. The ball hits Seedot in the head and sucks it in, then it shakes once, twice...

Click! Bonnie cheers as the ball successfully catches Seedot. She picks it up, then turns to see Max's reaction, only to find that he's completely absorbed in his notes, writing down everything he noticed about Seedot. Giggling to herself, Bonnie walks up to him, then taps him on the shoulder. Max yelps in fright and leaps almost a metre into the air. Bonnie laughs her head off as he glares at her. Then she sets Seedot free and heals him up. "Hey Seedot," she says, kneeling down as she does. "Sorry I scared you earlier, but I got really excited, because I want you to join my team. So, what do you say? Do you want to?" Though she already caught him, Bonnie holds our Seedot's pokéball, giving him the option to say no. Seedot looks Bonnie up and down, before bobbing his head and going back into the ball. Bonnie cheers again, and this time, Max is actually paying attention and he cheers too. Then, Bonnie attaches the ball to her belt, and she and Max set off back to the path, and back on their journey to Rustboro.

Ok, I finally managed to get this one out, sorry again for how long it took. I'm a sorry that it's shorter than normal. There was going to be a scene with Team Terra right after Bonnie caught Seedot, but, where I live, Tuesday is very nearly over, and I need to get this out quickly. So, I hope you enjoyed that, and I'll see you on Thursday with the next chapter.