Welcome to part 2! Here we get to a bit that I've been planning for a long time. So because of that, I've got nothing else to add to this note, so let's get on with this.
Chapter 96:
The Champion of Hoenn Part 2: Terrible Ultimatum
Brodie laughs, and charges at Brendan, practically disappearing from view. Brendan spins around, trying to see where he'll come from. As Max and Bonnie watch, he suddenly stumbles forward, as if he was hit at the back of the head. He spins around and punches out, but the punch only connects with air. Then, he's hit again, stumbling sideways. He tries to punch out again, but doesn't hit anything. Brodie appears for a split second, his fists sparking with electricity. He punches out again, striking Brendan in the gut. He's thrown backwards farther this time. Before he hits the ground Brodie appears in front of him and strikes him again, sending him flying into the window. He doesn't break through it, but he does crack it.
Brendan coughs as he slides to the ground. Brodie steps over to him, picks him up and throws him into the centre of the room. Brendan struggles to get up as Brodie approaches him once more. "You know," he says, "I can stop this at any point. All you need to do is hand the title of Champion over to me." N-Never!" Brendan replies. Brodie sighs, then kicks him in the side, rolling him over onto his back. Max lets out a silent gasp as he gets a look at Brendan. His face has begun to swell up, and his nose and mouth are bleeding. But still, he refuses to give in.
"I will... never let... Team Terra... conquer Hoenn!" he says defiantly. Brodie does something very unexpected at this. He starts to laugh. "Oh, my dear Brendan," he guffaws, "what gave you the idea that we wanted to conquer Hoenn?" Brendan looks at him quizzically. "Think for a minute about just how powerful the Boss is. If he wanted to, he could've conquered the world by now! But he doesn't want to conquer it, he wants to save it. And to do so, he believes that we need some information that Max Maple has. All I need is the title for a little while, so I can place a bounty on his head, and get the people of Hoenn to hunt him for us. Once we have him, I will give you your title back. It really is that simple!"
Max's stomach twists with worry at this as he watches Brendan stare at Brodie, who has removed his mask again. His worries are put at ease when Brendan responds with, "If you think... that I would... allow Team Terra... to run... rampant... through Hoenn... so that you can... kidnap a... friend of mine, you... have another thing... coming!" he swings his legs out at this with all the strength he can muster. Brodie stumbles a bit at this, but doesn't fall. In response, he electrifies his fist again and punches Brendan a few times.
"I'm not going to allow Team Terra to run rampant!" he exclaims. "If I did, I'd have every Officer Jenny looking into me faster than you can say former Phantom Thief. I will act as you would, and put a stop to any Team Terra activity that is reported to me, even the ones I myself ordered. It may surprise you Brendan, but I do actually love my home region. It is why I joined up with Team Magma, and then Team Terra. Both Maxie and now The Boss promised a better world for people and Pokémon alike. But to achieve that world, we need Max Maple. He has slipped through our grasp too many times, so now we shall have an entire region looking for him."
Brendan says nothing to that for a bit. Then, he himself lets out a weak chuckle. "That's a weak excuse and you fucking know it," he says. "There's no way I will hand my title over to you." At this, Brodie kicks Brendan as hard as he can. Brendan is sent flying once more, but before he can go very far, Brodie grabs his leg and spins him around, before slamming him back down on the floor, cracking it a little bit. Brendan tries to move, but Brodie swings both his fists, now covered in fire instead of electricity, down on top of him. Brendan coughs and gasps for breath as the air leaves his lungs. "This will all stop if you just relinquish your title," he insists. Brendan spits at him. "I... would... rather... die!" he responds.
Brodie sighs. "This isn't getting anywhere," he complains. "We tried doing this your easy way, and we tried doing this my easy way, but you are still too stubborn to give in." Brendan smirks at this. "Might... as well... give up!" he says. Brodie chuckles. "I'm sorry Brendan, but I'm afraid I cannot do that," he says. "I've got a much better idea. It's one I'm not fond of, but you've left me with no choice." At this, he pulls a small rectangular remote control out of his pocket. The control has a big red button on it, with a dial surrounding the button. On the side is some sort of rotator, and it has an antenna on top.
Brodie turns to Brendan and shows it to him. "Do you know what this is?" he asks. Brendan shakes his head. "I'm not surprised," Brodie replies. "Considering it was missing from the machine you destroyed on Mt. Chimney." Brendan's eyes widen. "It's the... on/off switch... from the Tremor machine!" he exclaims. Brodie chuckles again. "You're close," he replies. "It's not the on/off switch, but the machine itself." Brendan stares at him with utter disbelief. "The machine up on Mt. Chimney was merely designed to locate the Tremors in a single point," Brodie explains. "Sort of like a marker. Without it, this gadget causes the shockwaves to spread across the whole region it's located in. All I can control here is how strong the shakes are, or set a timer for when they strike."
Neither Max nor Bonnie can believe what they're hearing, and clearly neither can Brendan. "You're... bluffing," he says, weakly. "There's... no way... that you'd do this." Brodie chuckles at this. "Shall we test that?" he asks, before turning the dial to the lowest setting and pressing the button. Almost immediately, Dedenne starts freaking out in Bonnie's bag. "No, Dedenne," she quietly pleads. "Stay in the bag. Please stay in the bag." Brodie doesn't seem to notice this, as he stares at the window. As they all watch, the city of Larousse begins to shake. Though it isn't much, a few windows shatter, and one or two bridges crack. Max and Bonnie stumble a bit from the shaking and almost give themselves away.
When the shaking stops, Brodie cranks the dial all the way to max. "Those Tremors only affected Larousse," he says. "Do you want to see what happens when the device is cranked to full power?" Brendan doesn't say anything. "The choice is yours Champion. Would you rather aid in defending our world from destruction by allowing us to take your friend, or will you protect your friend, and cost Hoenn itself." With that, he spins the rotator on the side of the device and presses the button. "You have 1 minute to decide. Choose."
Max wants to hand himself over at this point to get this to stop, but Bonnie keeps a firm grip on him. Brendan still doesn't say anything. "50 seconds left," Brodie tells him. "I recommend choosing." "How... can you claim... to love Hoenn... if you're... going to... destroy it?" Brendan demands. "Oh believe me, I don't like this anymore than you do," Brodie replies. "But sometimes, to save the world you need to make a few sacrifices. Besides, it won't be my fault the region crumbles. It will all be on you unless you relinquish your title within the next 20 seconds!"
Max longs to do something, anything to help, but the situation seems hopeless. He keeps glancing out the window, hoping to see his sister or Ash fly through it to save the day. But that doesn't happen. "If I... hand it over," Brendan asks, "can you... promise that... Hoenn will be safe?" "Yes, fine, whatever!" Brodie exclaims. "Just make your choice in 10 seconds! 9! 8! 7! 6! 5! 4! 3!" "Alright fine!" Brendan exclaims, weakly extending his hand out. Brodie smiles at this, then deactivates the machine, with one second to spare. "You win. I relinquish my title as Champion to you." "A wise decision Brendan," says Brodie as he fishes through his belt for something. "And don't worry, you will get it back once I'm done with it. But before then, I need to further incapacitate you, to make your recovery take a bit longer."
At this, Brodie pulls out a gun. Brendan, Max, and Bonnie's eyes all widen at this. "What?! Why?!" Brendan demands. "You can blame Max Maple for this," he replies. "Do you really think that just because the whole region will be searching for him, he'll be easy to find? The boy is awfully crafty. He's managed to slip through our fingers every single time. I'd say the moment he hears about the bounty, he'll immediately have at least 10 escape plans thought up. In other words, I will need a bit of time." Brendan glares at him. "There's still... Steven Stone!" he exclaims. "He can... take the title... from you!" Brodie laughs again. "You seem to have forgotten that I've already dealt with Stone," he replies. "He's currently bleeding out a few floors down. If he survives, he won't be much of a threat for a while." With that, Brodie raises his gun and fires a shot into each of Brendan's legs, causing him to cry out in pain.
Max sees red and pushes Bonnie off him, before charging out behind the pillar. Bonnie follows suit and runs up to Brendan, beginning to try to heal his wounds. Max dives at Brodie, but Brodie manages to grab him by his t-shirt collar and lift him off the ground. "Well Brendan " he says tauntingly, "it looks like I won't be needing your title after all." Max struggles against his grip, trying to break free, but Brodie has him gripped too tight. Looking around, Max spots the device for causing Tremors is still in Brodie's hand. He forms a risky plan and kicks out at his hand. His foot makes contact and knocks the remote out of it. Max then uses the confusion to slip out of Brodie's grip. He lands on his feet then stomps on the machine, smashing it to pieces.
Meanwhile, Bonnie is struggling to heal Brendan. With all of the stress of the situation, she finds that she can't focus enough to heal him. She sees Max running over to her and goes to tell him this, when she also spots Brodie raising his gun to shoot them. Quickly, she launches a small pulse out of her hand, knocking the gun out of his. Max reaches her and the two of them help Brendan to his feet. "Get Talonflame ready," Max tells her. She doesn't even have time to ask him what he's talking about, before he leads her and Brendan towards the cracked window at full speed. "Max. Max. Max! Max! MAX! WAAAAAIIIIT!" Bonnie shouts, as Max throws his weight into the window, smashing it to pieces.
Immediately, he and Bonnie pull out Flygon and Talonflame, and their descent is stopped. "Take Brendan up to where Serena is and see if you can get Ash to help heal him," Max tells Bonnie. "I'm going to save Steven." Then, without waiting for a response, Max directs Flygon back down to the Battle Tower. They smash through another window, this time on the floor Max and Bonnie left Steven on to stall Brodie. Sure enough, there he is, lying in a small pool of blood. Max lands Flygon and quickly checks Steven's neck for a pulse. Upon finding one, he heaves him onto Flygon's back as quickly as he can. Once he's safely on the Pokémon's back, Max takes off back into the sky. As he does, he sees Brodie stare at him, before slipping his mask on and turning away from the window.
When he meets back up with Bonnie, he sees that Ash, May, Drew, and Serena are with her. Ash is trying to heal Brendan, but he clearly doesn't have enough Aura to do so. Bonnie just finished recounting what happened when Max flies up to them with Steven. "We need to get these two to a hospital now!" says May. Max nods, then summons Deoxys over to them. When they arrive, Max indicates to Brendan and Steven, saying, "I need you to bring these two to the nearest hospital on the mainland. Can you do that for me?" Deoxys nods, lifts the two former Champions onto their back, then speeds off back to mainland Hoenn. The others stare at the battle torn city of Larousse a bit longer and watch as the forces of Team Terra bid a hasty retreat. Then, they fly off back to Petalburg as fast and stealthily as they can.
Ooh that was as much fun to write as I was hoping, and I really hope you enjoyed that one. I've been planning that encounter since the start of Kalos, so I'm very happy with how it turned out. So, the Hoenn League is now under Team Terra's control. What does that mean for our heroes, and the region as a whole? Find out on Monday!