This one will be short, because I haven't got much of a plan for it. And by that I mean, there isn't enough in this chapter to make it to my 2,000 word count average. I'm sure if I gave it some time, I could probably make it longer, but I need to get this out today, so I won't be doing that. But with that said, I hope you enjoy.
Chapter 35:
The One That Got Away
After she and Max left the Pokémon Centre where they parted ways with Kenny, Bonnie spends the next few days scouring the place for a new pokémon. Specifically, a water type. Sure, she has Phanpy, but one ground type isn't enough to win a gym battle, especially when only one other of her pokémon can actually do anything to a fire type. So, she scours the routes, and the rivers they travel along, to see if she can find the perfect one. She has Max help her too, by using his Observant State to see how strong a pokémon will be. His protests of, "I can't turn my Observant state on on command!" seem to fall on deaf ears, as Bonnie's headstrong determination to get her fourth badge, and show Trixie that she's stronger than her. But, there's a small part of her that also wants to show Max that she's a good trainer, and worth coming up with strategies for. As much as she wants to deny it, Trixie's harsh words affected her, and made her worry that Max will realise that she's right and leave her. Just the thought of that causes her heart to break.
About 5 days after they left Kenny at the Pokémon Centre, the pair arrive at a large, gushing river. Bonnie suddenly gets very excited by this. "If this doesn't have a strong Water Type here," she says, "then I don't know what will." With that, she runs down to the riverside. Max runs after her, keeping an eye out for any Water Types. He also keeps watch for Team Terra, lest they show up and ruin everything, as usual. But Bonnie doesn't care about Team Terra, or much of anything for that matter. All she's focused on is finding the perfect pokémon for her team. Max is almost certain she'd probably try to set up a lure and bait one out, but he knows her too well to seriously think she'd do something like that.
For the first 20 minutes or so, nothing appears. At least, nothing that catches Bonnie's eye. Max has long since grown bored, and has documented every pokémon in the area in his notebook. He's just about to suggest to Bonnie that they get moving and try again somewhere else, when Bonnie snaps to attention so suddenly that the surprise causes Max to fall off the rock he's sitting on. "Found one!" she quietly announces. She points to it, and Max follows her finger. A small tadpole like pokémon comes out of the lake. "That's a Poliwag," Max observes. "It's so cute!" Bonnie exclaims. Then, before Max has time to stop her, she pulls out a pokéball and throws it at the Poliwag. The Poliwag is sucked into the ball, which shakes twice before the pokémon breaks out and runs away.
Max facepalms at this. "How many times do I have to remind you of this?" he says. "You need to battle the pokémon before you try to catch it!" Bonnie bashfully rubs the back of her head. "Sorry," she says. "I keep forgetting." Max rolls his eyes and laughs. "Let's just follow the Poliwag and see if you can catch it." Bonnie nods and the two of them chase after it. Luckily, Poliwags aren't very quick, so the pair are able to catch up with it with minimal difficulty. Unluckily for them, this Poliwag seems to be excellent at avoiding capture. It sees them coming and immediately dives into the water. Bonnie swears at this. "How do we get it now?" she asks. Max notes which way the Poliwag is swimming, and follows the route down the river. His eyes land on a tree branch that hangs over the river. "I have an idea about that," he says. "Follow me."
Max leads her over to that tree branch, and tells her to release Shiftry. When she does, he tells her to send him up the tree and cut the branch down, but not to do that until he says so. Bonnie understands what Max is planning, then tells Shiftry to do that. Shiftry scrambles up the tree, then readies his leaf blades to cut the branch down. Max spots the Poliwag swimming towards them, and raises his hand. When the Poliwag is in the right place, He drops it, shouting, "NOW!" "Shiftry, Leaf Blade on the branch!" Bonnie shouts. Shiftry slices straight through the branch, and it drops into the water, right in front of the Poliwag. The Poliwag is so surprised that it leaps out of the water and onto the path where Max and Bonnie are standing on. It's dizzy from the shock, so Bonnie uses that as an opportunity to try again with another ball.
But before she can reach into her bag, the Poliwag overcomes its dizziness and hits Shiftry with Bubble Beam. Bonnie drops her bag back over her shoulder and refocuses on the Poliwag. "Oh, so that's how it's gonna be huh?" she says. "Well then, looks like we'll have to battle you after all." Then, she points to it. "Shiftry, Leaf Blade!" Shiftry rushes forward and tries to slice at the Poliwag, but the pokémon manages to dodge the attacks with ease. Then, it uses Water Pulse in retaliation. Shiftry uses his Leaf Blades to slice through the attack, then rushes in with Vine Whip. This time, Poliwag is unable to avoid the attack, and is hit. But, it stubbornly keeps fighting, using Bubble Beam again. Shiftry is hit by this in the face and is almost thrown into the water. But, he manages to latch onto the nearby tree and get himself back on the path. Then, he uses Leaf Blade again, successfully landing the attack this time.
"Ok," Max calls. "I think it's weak enough! Try catching it!" Grinning with confidence, Bonnie reaches into her bag to grab a pokéball. But she can't find one. Beginning to panic slightly, she rummages harder, desperately trying to find something, but she can't. Desperate, she orders Dedenne to hop out of her bag, then opens all of its pockets and dumps it out on to the road. She rummages through her stuff, and comes to a horrible realisation. She has no more pokéballs. She turns to Max, who looks at her with confusion. "I'm out of pokéballs!" she cries. "Can I borrow one from you to catch this guy!?" Nodding, Max grabs one from his belt and throws it to her. She catches it and turns her attention back to the Poliwag. Only to find that it's not there anymore.
She spots it as it runs down the path to the other side of the tree branch that Shiftry knocked into the river. With a horrible jolt, she realises that it's about to jump back into the water. "No you don't!" she cries, and she throws the ball with all her might. It hits the Poliwag, which gets sucked into the ball. The ball shakes once, twice, thrice... The Poliwag breaks out of the ball, then hops into the river. Both Max and Bonnie run over to the edge and try to find it, but they can't. The Poliwag escaped. Bonnie kicks a nearby stone into the river in anger. "Arceus Dammit!" she cries. Max puts a hand on her shoulder. "It's ok," he tells her. "It's only a Poliwag." Bonnie nods in agreement, but Max can tell she doesn't quite feel that way. He can see that she's angry about this, but he doesn't understand why.
"Hey, we can always try again," he points out. Bonnie shakes her head. "No more pokéballs," she replies. "So, no we can't." "Ah," is all Max can say to this. "Well, I'm sure we'll still be able to think of a plan for you to win the next badge." Bonnie nods, but her heart isn't really in it. Still, she pulls a smile, then nods at Max. "Let's keep going," she says. "We're almost there, right?" Max checks his Nav on his phone and confirms that they are. "Cool," says Bonnie, turning towards the way they need to go. "So, let's get to Lavaridge. I'll just buy more balls there. I needs be, I can always run out and catch a water type once I've bought them." Max nods, then leads on towards Lavaridge.
As I said, this was a short one. I figured I should have a scene where Bonnie fails to catch a pokémon, because both she and Max have been very lucky in their attempts each and every time they try to catch one. Plus, I need this to have an affect on her, for reasons you'll see why in a few chapters. Now, I'm a bit stuck right now, because I don't know if I should include the Gym Battle in the next chapter, or have something else happen in the next chapter, and have the Gym Battle in the chapter after. You'll see on Thursday which decision I make. See you then.