A warning, I'll be making this up largely as I go along, as I have no idea what will happen here. I don't have much motivation to write today, but I'm going to make the mistake of powering through it to get this out, otherwise this may not be updated until Thursday. It also doesn't help that I'm sitting my theory test today, and I recently got Persona 3, so I may not have enough time to write this either. But I'll try my best, but please be warned that this will be rather lacklustre.
Chapter 30:
Not Mushroom for Improvement
When Max is finished explaining the Tremors to Clemont and Korrina, Bonnie has already taken the initiative to set up camp. The other three help her out, but Clemont's mind seems to be elsewhere. At last, he says, "Is there a way to track when and where these Tremors occur?" Max shakes his head. "They only lasted 5 months the first time, so they stopped before anyone could figure out a way to do that," he replies. "And they've only struck three times so far, so they're still impossible to predict." At this, Clemont's glasses gleam. "Not for long," he says. "The future is now, thanks to science!" Bonnie groans at this. "I swear to Arceus if you've already invented a method of tracking them, I will make you test it 20 kilometres away from this campsite!" Clemont laughs at this. "Don't worry," he says. "I've only just thought of it now. But I will try!" Bonnie rolls her eyes. "Whenever you test them, please do so a few kilometres away from us" she tells him. "Hey!" Clemont retorts. "My inventions haven't been blowing up as frequently as they used to!" "Then explain what just happened like 15 minutes ago!" Bonnie retorts. Clemont huffs at this. "I said 'as frequently'" he mutters.
The next morning, Clemont starts writing down notes on how to go about this invention. He has to be practically spoon-fed his breakfast by Korrina, and then she has to physically drag him to his feet when it's time for them to depart. "With both of them spending their time writing, I wouldn't be surprised if we miss the contest in Fallarbor" she comments to Bonnie as they set off. Bonnie laughs in agreement, while the two boys scowl at the comment. As they travel, Clemont, when he's not thinking of ways to make a machine to track the Tremors, is keeping an eye out for any attempt by Team Terra to attack them. But throughout the day, nothing happens. By lunchtime, he starts to calm down a bit. As he and Korrina set up a spot for their lunch, Max and Bonnie decide to wander around. Bonnie goes looking for a good spot to train her team, while Max searches around for berries for his pokémon.
As he does so, something catches his eye. What seems to be a beige mound of fur with orange polka dots. He steps forward to investigate it, when he trips over a bit of rope lying on the ground. A loud noise sounds above him, which causes the mound to scarper, leading Max to realise it was a pokémon. But before he can go after it, he looks up just in time to see a cage falling down on him. He dives out of the way as it lands where he was just standing moments before. "What in the world!?" he cries, before looking around. "Show yourself!" a pair of men step out from the bushes, scowling at him. "Stupid kid," one of them grumbles. "Do you realise what you've just done!?" Max glances back at the cage and realises it was for trapping pokémon. Which leads him to realise that he's looking at a pair of poachers. His anger flares as he remembers the poachers that had captured his Gallade back when he was a Kirlia.
He pulls Gallade's ball out and stares the poachers down. "I don't know what you're after," he says angrily. "But I don't take kindly to people like you!" The man on the right laughs. "Oh, well isn't that cute," he sneers. "Like you have a chance of stopping us." Both men pull out pokéballs of their own. "Alright then, we'll humour you," says the man on the left. "Once we're finished clobbering you, we'll be on our way to collecting that Shroomish nest." At this, Max only grows angrier. "All the more reason to stop you!" he says loudly. "I will not let you harm nature like this!" Both men laugh. "Oh really?" says the first one. "Newsflash kid, you're on your own! And there's two of us, and we're twice your size! So give up, before you get hurt!" At this point, the bushes rustle, as Bonnie, Clemont and Korrina burst in and join Max's side. "Who says he's alone?" says Clemont. Both poachers stare the four of them down. Then, they put their balls away and scarper.
As they run off, Korrina can't help but scoff. "Cowards like that are all talk," she says. "The moment you show your teeth, they're off." "Who were they anyway?" Bonnie asks nervously. "Team Terra?" Max shakes his head, glaring in the direction the men ran off. "Poachers," he replies. "There's a Shroomish nest nearby, and these bastards were trying to capture them all." The other three's eyes widen. "We gotta do something!" Bonnie says. Max agrees, but Clemont and Korrina temper their anticipation. "As much as I agree with that," Clemont says, "we don't know where the nest is. How can we help them?" Max looks around the forest at this, and grins. "These guys left traps all over the forest," he tells them. "If we disable them, it should help keep the Shroomish safe." Bonnie is all for this, and Clemont and Korrina don't see any issue, so they agree to let them disable the traps while they keep an eye on their lunch.
And so, Max and Bonnie rush around the forest, disabling as many traps as they could find. Max sends out Grovyle to help, and Bonnie does the same with Nuzleaf. As they work, a pair of eyes watches them. A Shroomish with an unusual colour to it follows Max in particular as he works to shut off the poachers' traps. At first, it thinks he's doing that to set up his own, but after a while, it begins to realise that's not the case. So, it decides to help him. It finds a trap, then shakes the leaves around it to let Max know it's there. However, it always scarpers before he arrives. It doesn't trust him enough to let him see it just yet. Soon enough, all the traps are disabled. Max and Bonnie meet up to discuss what they'll do next. The pair look around, and seem to come to the same conclusion. "Let's rig a trap for the poachers!" they both say, before laughing at the fact that they'd thought of the same plan.
With that, they begin to gather together the materials they'd need to do that. Meanwhile, the Shroomish hears this, and runs back to its nest to talk to the others. After some convincing, it gets the rest of the Shoomish's approval to show Max and Bonnie the way to their nest and allow them to booby trap it. So, it runs back over to them, and gets their attention. Max turns to see what made the noise, and his eyes widen when he sees the shiny Shroomish. He wants to catch it, but decides against it, and instead waves. Then he notices the Shroomish is jerking its head backwards repeatedly. At first he's confused, but then he realises what the Shroomish wants. "Eh, Bonnie," he says. "I think that Shroomish wants us to follow it." Bonnie looks at it, then sees its head jerking. "I think you're right" she agrees. They drop the materials and move to follow it, but then it starts shaking its head and jerking it forward. After a few seconds of staring in confusion, they realise that the Shroomish wants them to bring the stuff with them. So, they pick them up and follow.
The Shroomish leads them to its nest, where other, non shiny Shroomish are hiding. The Shroomish all look at them expectantly, and Bonnie quickly realises what they want. "I think they know of our plan to trap the poachers," she says, "and want us set it up in front of their nest." Max looks to the shiny Shroomish and asks, "Really, is that ok?" The Shroomish nods. With that, the pair get to work setting the trap up. Shroomish helps them wherever it can, and in no time at all, the trap is set. And not a moment too soon, as not long after, they hear the sound of the men approaching the nest. Quickly, Max and Bonnie hide, and wait for the poachers to come into range. "I told you it would just be easier to go in and get them ourselves," says one of them. "Now all of our traps are gone!" "But people won't buy them if they're hurt," the other points out. "And shiny pokémon go for a lot of money." "Fine whatever," says the first. "Let's just grab them and be done." But they never get the chance to do that. As soon as they step in range, Max and Bonnie spring their trap. A large net falls from the trees and ensnares the poachers, completely sticking them to the ground. They try to resist and get free, but before they can, the shiny Shroomish uses Stun Spore, which causes them to stop struggling.
The police are quickly called and led into the forest where the poachers are. As they're being taken away, Officer Jenny commends Max and Bonnie for catching them, but reminds them that they should leave this sort of work to the professionals in future. Max and Bonnie just nod, not wanting to point out that if they had, the poachers would've captured the Shroomish and escaped. Once Jenny and the poachers are gone, they, along with Clemont and Korrina, finally sit down to eat lunch. As they do, Bonnie excitedly tells the older couple about how they caught the poachers. Once they're done, they get ready to leave. As Max is packing his bag, he feels something bump him on the leg. It's the shiny Shroomish, coming to thank him. At least, that's what Max thinks. But then, the Shroomish knocks Max's bag over and kicks a pokéball over to him. "You want me to catch you?" he asks. The Shroomish nods, which makes Max smile. "Well alright then," he says, picking the ball up and catching him. "Welcome aboard Shroomish!" "Hey, now you have a shiny just like me!" Bonnie points out. Max nods at this, then they continue on their way.
Ok, this is why I don't write when I don't have the motivation, because in my opinion, that was awful! I wanted to give Max a Shiny, and asked my brother to choose one, and he said that, but I hadn't thought about what will happen in this chapter until I actually sat down to write it. I made every single sentence of that chapter up as I went along! But anyway, don't worry, I have more of a plan for next chapter, and hopefully I'll be more motivated to write that one. See you then.