Obligatory warning of this coming out on Friday due to busy schedule, blah blah blah, you've heard me say this all before. Also, this chapter will be a bit messier than the previous few have been, as I don't have as much of a concrete plan for this one due to a full schedule. But hopefully it will still be good.
Chapter 20:
Boatloads of Conviction
When Officer Jenny comes by to take Sarah and Sam in, Brawly has only just taken them out of the sand. He hands them over to her and she cuffs them, before throwing them into the back of her car and driving them to the police station. From the back seat, the teo criminals can see that she seems quite excited to have members of Team Terra in custody. When they're brought to the station, they're put into a prison cell, and Jenny calls Detective Looker to inform him about the arrest. During all of this, Sarah notices that Sam has kept his mouth shut tight. At first, she thinks it has something to do with the fact that Debbie and Cooper are around. But when the car went over a bump in the road and Sam nearly choked, she realised that he was hiding something in there.
Now, when Officer Jenny steps out of the room to talk with Looker privately, Sam brings his hands up to his mouth and spits out a hairpin. He proceeds to manoeuvre his hands so that he can stick the hairpin into the cuffs, and listens carefully. With a soft click! the cuffs come off. He massages his wrists before doing the same with Sarah's cuffs. Then, he makes sure no one is coming before doing the same thing with the cell door. "How do you know how to do that?" Sarah asks. Sam looks rather sad at this. "Let's just say my parents weren't too accepting of who I am" he replies simply. Sarah nods, putting two and two together. A few minutes later, Sam successfully picks the lock and lets them both out. Before they leave however, Sarah hugs him. When Sam gives her a quizzical look, she says, "Hearing what you went through, and what you still go through, makes me wish this world could be a better place!" Sam nods, returning the hug. "I know," he says, returning her hug. "But that's why I joined Team Terra. So I can make it better." Sarah nods and wipes her eyes. "So, why don't we go and find Max Maple," she says, "and make this world a better place for people like you!" Sam nods, smiling at her. Then, they open the window and sneak out of the station.
Max, Bonnie, May and Drew head back to the port to get on the next boat to Slateport. May and Drew are planning on sticking around to watch Max perform in the Contest there, then finally leave them alone and go off to inform all of Hoenn that Team Terra are launching their Tremors again. Max is very much looking forward to being able to travel alone with Bonnie again, although he will never admit to that. May would never let him hear the end of it. Once their tickets are purchased, May decides to go shopping, which means poor Drew is dragged along with her. While they do that, Bonnie does a bit of training while she prepares for her 3rd badge. She's also hoping to run into Clemont and Korrina when they get to Mauville. Max explained to her that it's a very high tech town, not unlike Lumiose, which means that that would be the most likely spot Clemont will be. She also hopes to catch a ground type pokémon, or something that will help her win her 3rd badge.
Eventually, May and Drew return, and their boat arrives. The four of them join the crowd of people getting on board the boat. As he's getting on, he spots two people wearing hoods in the crowd of passengers getting on. Normally he wouldn't think much of it, and chock it up to two people who aren't a fan of the sun. But after recent events, he can't help but feel cautious around them. He points them out to the others, who all agree that they should be careful around them. Max posits the idea of them getting off this boat and hopping on the next one, when the boat starts to move, cutting off that plan. So instead, they decide to keep an eye in the two hooded figures, as well as one hand on their pokéballs.
Sure enough, as the four of them keep an eye on the two hooded figures, it becomes clear that they're slowly inching closer to them. At first, they let them be, and make bets on whether they're Sarah and Sam or Debbie and Cooper, and how long it'll take them to notice that they've been spotted. But eventually, Max grows bored of waiting, so he releases Wingull and orders her to blow their cloaks and hoods away, revealing Sarah and Sam underneath. The two of them look rather pissed off thst they've been discovered, but they soon replace those looks with determined ones. "So, you managed to figure us out huh Maple?" Sarah taunts. "Very clever of you." Max shrugs. "Not really," he says, "you two were just far too obvious." They glare at him, going slightly pink in the face. "Well, that doesn't matter!" Sam snaps. "What matters is thst we've come for your notebook!" "So let me guess," May interrupts. "Surrender now or prepare to fight?" Bot agents get visibly angry at the comparison to Team Rocket, but they choose to ignore it. "Just hand over the book and we'll leave you alone," Sarah tells him. "Don't, and this entire boat will suffer the consequences!"
Before anyone on the boat even has time to become concerned, Max simply says, "Wingull, Gust." The Seagull Pokémon flaps her wings as hard as she can, and Sarah and Sam are thrown into the railings of the ship. "How about this instead?" Max asks. "You piss off and leave me alone, or I throw you overboard?" Both agents look down at the sea, then up at each other. Then, they grab their cloaks, slip them on and disappear into the crowd. "You may have eon this round Maple!" Sam declares as they slink away. "But mark my words, once this ship docks, your notebooks will be the property of Team Terra!" Max just shrugs them off, then he and the other three return to their conversation. Namely, what pokémon Max is planning on using for his upcoming attempt in the Slateport contest. As they only need 5 ribbons to enter the Grand Festival, Drew decides not to enter the Slateport contest, in order to give Max a chance. Unsure of whether he was being kind or slagging him, Max decides to say nothing to that comment.
Back on the shores of Dewford, Debbie and Cooper watch through binoculars as the boat Max and his companions are on sets off for Slateport. After being thrown into the river by Trixie, the pair have been out of commission. Now they're back, and ready to take action, and a little bit of revenge. Unfortunately, they were too slow, and missed the boat, making them unable to do anything against Max Maple. Cooper swears and throws his binoculars on the sand. "Dammit!" he yells. "Sarah and Samantha are on that boat with them! At this rate they'll get to them first!" Debbie growls at this and is about to throw her binoculars down, when an idea strikes her. "Maybe not" she says, before pulling out her radio.
"Admin," she says, "this is agent R-06. We have found Maple's location. He is on a boat bound for Slateport." "Copy that," comes the voice of Admin Bannai. "I'll send a large number of agents to apprehend them when they arrive." "Negative," Debbie replies, her smirk growing. "I contacted you to request a Tremor strike on the town." Cooper looks up at her in surprise, while Bannai doesn't sound so keen on the idea. "With all due respect agent, apprehending Maple will be no problem for my men. We'll have him by the time the boat lands." "The boat has left the harbour already," Debbie counters, trying to keep the impatience out of her voice. "By the time you've gathered together enough men, Maple will have already left the town! Sending a Tremor his way will be quicker. Not to mention allow us to draw him out." Bannai sounds like he's considering this, but then he shuts her down. "All this will do is draw attention to ourselves, he says. "We don't want people to know that we are using this weapon again. Besides, my men are top notch. We'll bring Maple in without an issue."
Debbie is about to reply when Cooper snatches the radio out of her hand. "Admin Bannai sir, this is R-04," he says. "With all due respect sir, Max Maple is a crafty young man. He successfully managed to avoid all of Admin Momiji's agents for six months last year. It took almost half of our force to finally take the Jade Orb off of him. Now we're after something he values more than that Jade Orb; his knowledge. He will try harder to keep that out of our hands. But if he's injured by a Tremor, it will be a lot easier to take what we want." Bannai considers what Cooper has just said. Then, he agrees. "But before we go through with this," he adds, "I would like to confirm whether or not there are Team Terra agents in Slateport." At this, Debbie nods her head, but Cooper just smirks evilly. "There aren't any agents in Slateport," he says. "I would now, we were there earlier." Bannai receives a report confirming this, so he gives the go ahead for a Tremor to be launched at the town.
Cooper thanks him and hangs up, only to find Debbie staring at him with amazement. "Why didn't you inform him of the two on the boat?" she asks. Cooper shrugs. "Because they're on the boat with Maple and his companions," he points out. "If we told them, Maple could overhear and escape. Besides, Samantha is a freak, and Sarah is crazy for supporting her insane beliefs. One less freak in this world, the better." Debbie thinks about this, before nodding in agreement. "Glad we agree," says Cooper, before picking up his binoculars. "Now, come on. Let's go and watch the show."
Yeah, Debbie and Cooper are nasty pieces of work aren't they. I hope I'm not making their transphobia too forced, let me know if it comes across as that and I'll tone it down. Also, Sarah and Sam character development, woo! I would like to remind my readers that I'm not transgender, so I do not have any experience with transphobia. All of Sam's experiences come from stuff I've heard on the internet, so let me know if I've written anything insensitive and I'll fix it. I don't just mean in this chapter, but in every chapter going forth. But anyway, see you all on Tuesday.