Happy Christmas! As I am writing this note, it is Christmas Eve, but who knows, maybe you're reading this on Christmas or even Stephen's Day, who knows? This one should be more planned than the previous one, since I had time to come up with it, but I forgot to do any planning, so I'm just using a conversation that was supposed to happen at the end of the last chapter as a starting point, then working from there. Wish me luck on that, but this one will probably be shite.

Chapter 68:

Guilt Rising

Neither of them spoke for much of the day after that. Both of them are far too shocked by what they'd just witnessed to say anything about it. The next time either of them spoke, it was at dinner. Bonnie notices that Max seems more closed off than usual. He's still writing in his notebook, but he isn't talking. Granted, she hasn't been talking either. "Are you alright?" she asks him, finally breaking the silence. Max looks up at her. "Yeah, why?" he asks. Bonnie shrugs. "You're just really quiet," she points out. He shrugs. "You haven't been talking much either in fairness to me." Bonnie nods in agreement to that. "I know," she says. "But you're normally blabbering into your audio logs, so it's a bit weird to not hear you do that," she tells him. "Everytime you don't do that, it's always because something is bothering you. So, I was just wondering if that's the case again." Max looks at her, then his notebook. "I'm fine Bonnie, really," he says. "Just, surprised at what happened earlier I guess." Bonnie nods, supposing that that makes sense.

She doesn't bring it up again for the rest of the night, nor does she say anything about it the next day either. The two of them just pack up their things and set off for Sootopolis once more. As they travel, Bonnie notices that, once again, Max isn't saying much, seemingly lost in thought. Bonnie keeps an eye on him for a bit longer, before asking, "Something on your mind?" Max snaps back into focus and looks at her. "Sorry?" he asks. Bonnie giggles and repeats her question. Max looks like he wants to lie, but changes his mind. "I'm just thinking about that Camo person," he replies. "Ah, I see," Bonnie replies. "Still don't trust them?" Max shrugs. "I don't know," he replies. "I'm having a bit of as hard time processing what happened." Bonnie nods. It was pretty unbelievable. "Well, I think I trust them," she tells him. "After all, they did save us from Team Terra." "So did Megan," Max replies. "And you saw how that turned out."

Bonnie turns to him, feeling a bit angry at this. "Max, that's not fair!" she exclaims. "Yeah she was working for Team Terra, but she swapped sides. She helped us put a stop to Team Terra's plans at the end!" "I know," says Max. "Which is why I amn't sure about Camo." At this, Max begins to fiddle with his pen. "On one hand, they're wearing a mask, and concealing their identity, which is suspicious. But at the same time, my sister is also running around fighting Team Terra and saving people while wearing a mask, so I don't know how to feel about this." Bonnie nods in understanding. "I suppose, after sharing your most prized possession with someone, only to have them use it against you as blackmail, it would be kind of hard to trust new people after that," she remarks. Max nods. "Especially when they're wearing a mask," he adds. Bonnie laughs a little bit at that and nods.

Neither of them speak for a little while. Then, Max says, "But at the same time, I want to trust them, you know?" Bonnie looks at him, indicating him to continue. "I've grown up reading comics about superheroes, like Spinarak-Man, Super-pokémon, Zubatman, all of those. So, to see them appear in real life is a dream come true for me!" Bonnie suppresses a giggle. Leave it to Max to be a huge comic book nerd. "Sorry, I shouldn't laugh," she says. "I'd be a hypocrite if I did." "You read comics?" he asks. "Hey, just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I can't like comics," she replies. Max suddenly starts panicking a bit. "I-I didn't mean it like that," he exclaims. "I meant that I haven't really talked to anyone who likes comics, so I was just surprised." He's going to keep rambling, but then he notices that she's laughing. "Sorry," she says. "I was only joking. But seeing you backtrack was so funny." Max can't help but smile a bit at that.

"Anyway, what were you saying about superheroes?" Bonnie asks him. "Oh, right," he says. "It's amazing to see them in real life. Like my sister. But there are also supervillains in those stories, and in real life now too, what with Team Terra and all. So, I guess I'm just worried which of those Camo will be." Bonnie nods in understanding. "Could you imagine the comics that could be made if Camo becomes the arch enemy of May?" she asks. "The fight scenes that could be drawn!" Max laughs at that. "Or some Team Terra Admins fighting Ash," he adds. "Now those would be cool panels!" The pair begin excitedly talking about all the cool images and art styles that could be used to draw Ash and May. "And who knows," Max adds. "Maybe we might see someone make actual comics of them." Bonnie nods excitedly. "Or even you," he adds.

Bonnie stops dead at this, red in the face. "What's the matter?" Max asks. "What did you mean by that?" Bonnie asks. Max shrugs. "Well, we were talking about real life people with Superpowers, and here you are with the exact same powers as Ash," he explains. "In a few years, once you've finally convinced him to train you how to use them, you might be able to be a superhero too." In his mind, this makes sense, but Bonnie's mind is reeling over the implications of what Max had said. "Wait, you see me like that?" she asks. Max looks back at her. "Well yeah," he replies. "You have superpowers too, what with your Aura. Besides, you're already cool enough to be one." With that, he continues on his way. Meanwhile Bonnie is still reeling slightly. Eventually, Dedenne zaps her to get her back to earth. She shakes her head, then runs after Max.

After a few more minutes of silence, she pipes up again. "What about you?" she asks. Max looks at her. "What about me?" he asks. "May, Ash and I aren't the only ones with superpowers," she points out. "You have them too." Max stares at her. "How so?" he asks. "Oh, I don't know," she says, "maybe your fricking Observant State!" Bonnie is expecting him to go red, and start bashfully denying this. But instead, he just looks at her, utterly baffled. "That's not a superpower," he argues. "Oh really?" Bonnie asks. "The ability to fill up over a journal and a half full of notes on pokémon in under two years, is NOT a superpower!? Max, I know you're probably tired of hearing this, but do you have any idea how many people would kill to have that kind of ability! You can use it for good, so I think it is one." "How can it be!?" Max snaps. "All it's ever done on this journey is cause trouble and hurt others!"

Bonnie stops again, staring in amazement at Max's outburst. Max notices this and turns to look at her. "What do you mean by that?" Bonnie asks. "When has your observant state hurt anyone?" Max looks at her as if to say, "Have we been on different journeys?" "Well, a lot of Team Terra's attacks have occurred because of my Observant State," he starts. "If I didn't have my Observant State, then we wouldn't be being chased by Team Terra, they wouldn't have triggered that eruption to try to lure me in, they wouldn't have attacked my sister's event, she wouldn't have become the 10th Blaziken Mask, gone on a rampage through Team Terra bases, and wouldn't have ended up getting shot!" At this, Max kicks a stone across the path in anger, and Bonnie can see him hastily drying his eyes. He's about to run on ahead so that Bonnie doesn't see him do that, but before he can, Bonnie grabs him round the middle in a hug. Despite the situation, he can't help but blush.

"Now, you shut up right now!" she tells him, tearing up slightly herself. "I know what you're doing! You're blaming yourself for what Team Terra has done. Well, that stops here. Absolutely none of that is your fault!" Max wants to argue, but Bonnie puts a finger to his lips. "No arguments," she says. "You didn't choose to have your Observant State, right?" Max shakes his head. "And you didn't ask Team Terra to follow us to Hoenn?" Max shakes his head again. "Then how is this in any way your fault?" she removes her finger from his lips, waiting for his answer. Max can't think of anything. He supposes that she has a point, but he still feels his conscience nagging at him, as if it's trying to find ways for this all to be his fault. But, the way Bonnie looks at him, with such certainty that he is blameless for everything that happened, that he can't help but agree with her. "I suppose it isn't," he admits. "I'm just frustrated with all that's happening, and I've needed a target to vent my anger towards. I guess I just chose myself."

He chuckles a bit, but Bonnie doesn't laugh. "That's stupid," she says. "You are blameless for all of this. It's all Team Terra's fault. If they didn't find out about your notebooks, they'd just go after something else, and do all of this again. Would that be your fault?" Max shakes his head. "Good boy," says Bonnie. "Now, if you're quite done with this blame game, I've got a Gym Battle to get to, and you've got some contests to enter." With that, she leads the way forward, making sure that Max can't see how red her face has gone after saying that. Though Max doesn't notice her read face, he did cop something else. "Did you just call me a good boy?" he asks. Bonnie moves a little quicker. "Nope," she replies, her voice a few notches higher. "No I didn't." "No, I'm pretty sure you did," Max replies following after her. "No idea what you're talking about." As they continue on their way, they spend the next few hours arguing over what Bonnie had said.

Well, I certainly didn't expect it to take me 3 fucking days to write that. Sorry about that, the Christmas season is a busy time for me, so no wonder it took a while. But, since I don't want to fall behind on my schedule again, I'm going to be uploading the next one tomorrow. Once again, I have a basic idea for what will happen in that one, as it was also going to happen at the end of this one, but I spent far too long on this chapter, and figured that Max's guilt deserved it's own chapter to properly explore it. Because let's be real here, Ash had been through a whole lot on his journey, how the fuck did none of it affect him!? Anyway, with that, I'll see you either tomorrow or Sunday with the next chapter.