This is the final chapter of the daily chapter uploads. After this, it'll be back to every Tuesday and Thursday, and Saturday if I have enough of an idea to do that. So, of course the final chapter is one I don't have much of a plan for, so expect it to be shorter than the previous two were. Also, this on will be updated on my phone for the most part, so expect a lot of mistakes, spelling and grammar wise.
Chapter 67:
Camouflaged Intentions
Max spends the next few days after leaving Fortree keeping an eye on the news for any news about his sister. After two days of travelling, he checks his phone to see that May's name has appeared. According to the article, she had been shot after a failed mugging, and her new boyfriend Drew had been seen carrying her into a Pokémon Centre in Fortree just the day before. He curses their haste to leave the city and contemplates going back to check on her, but Bonnie convinces him not to. "Let's not go back," she tells him. "If we do, we could slow our journey down. And since we're going the longe route around Hoenn to avoid getting caught like you almost were in Fortree. If we waste anymore time, we might miss the League and the Ribbon Cup, and I don't want to miss another league." Max considers this. "Fine," he says. "But I'm going to call her once we get good reception." Bonnie agrees to this, and they continue on their way.
As they walk, Max keeps an eye on his phone, waiting to see if his phone allows him to call May yet. As he does, he keeps an eye on his phone, making sure he can call his sister to find out what happened to her. If he hadn't been with Bonnie, he may have walked in to several trees and rocks. It also helps him avoid the rope that comes flying out from the forest. Bonnie grabs his shoulder and pulls him aside, allowing the rope to fly past him. Both if them look in the direction that the rope was thrown, to find two people walking over to them. It doesn't take them long to recognise these two, and they groan. "Ugh, not you two!" Max complains. "Can't you just leave us alone!?" Bonnie adds. Sarah and Sam laugh. "Not a chance," says Sarah. "Not until we have your notebooks!" Sam nods and pulls out a pokéball. "That's right," Sam agrees. "So, might as well hand them over, before we have to hurt you!"
Max and Bonnie look at each other, then pull out their own pokéballs. "We've beaten you every single time you've faced us in a battle," Max tells them. "So, what makes you think you'll win this time?" Both agents of Team Terra smirk at each other. "Oh, we'll win this time," Sam tells them. "Because this time, we have a little bit of help." Then, he and Sarah step to the side, and Sarah pulls out a remote control. She pushes a few buttons on it, and the ground begins to shake again. For a fleeting moment, both of them worry that it's another Tremor. But then, they notice that the shaking is much more slight, and it stops and starts. They have just enough time to realise what that might mean, when a giant robotic Araquanid comes stomping through the trees. Sarah uses the rope she tried to use to snatch Max's bag away to hook on to the cockpit and the Araquanid, and hoists herself and Sam into it. Then, the robotic Araquanid comes to life fully, with Sarah and Sam grinning down at this. Bonnie turns to Max. "Run?" he asks. "Run," he replies. They run.
The Araquanid chases after them, knocking over several trees as they do. They dodge through fallen logs and falling trees. The Araquanid robot makes several swipes at them, but they manage to avoid them for the most part. The smaller pincers and other small weapons do manage to scratch them once or twice, but they manage to avoid the larger attacks. However, it isn't long before their luck runs out. As they run, they're prevented from veering left or right by the Araquanid's legs. This eventually leads them to run off the path and further into the woods, which brings them to a cliff wall. Trying to run in either direction is impossible, as each time they try to go on either side to escape, a leg slams down, preventing them from running. "There's no escape!" Sarah shouts, her voice projected through the Araquanid's face. "We've got you cornered, so just give up!" Sam nods in agreement, and uses the controls to begin trying to grab the bag.
But before he can, Max summons Grovyle and has him grab the pincers with his vines. As the grabbers are pinned by the vines, Bonnie summons Phanpy, who comes out ready to roll. "Phanpy, use Rollout on one of the legs!" Phanpy tucks herself into a ball and begins rolling very quickly towards one of the legs. She slams into it, causing it to buckle slightly. She rolls away, then turns around and goes for another strike. This time, the robotic Araquanid raises its leg, causing Phanpy to roll underneath it. She spins around, and goes for another strike. But the Araquanid once again avoids it. This time, it also slams its leg back down, throwing Phanpy away. Phanpy gets back up, and tries one more. This time, the leg simply kicks her away. She crashes to the ground and gets up dizzily. Bonnie cries out to her to get up. "Come on Phanpy!" she shouts. "You can do it! I know you can!" Her shouts are interrupted by the Araquanid, which slams one of its legs into the side of the cliff, causing rocks to rain down on the two of them. Grovyle tries to help them as much as he can, but he can't catch rocks and keep the pincers at bay at the same time.
Phanpy cries out in anger at this and begins rolling towards the leg once more. As she does, she begins to glow. She grows bigger, and her hide becomes tougher. As she slams into the leg again, she does so not as a Phanpy, but as a Donphan. This time, the extra large weight of the pokémon causes the leg to buckle even more. Donphan goes in for another attack, and the Araquanid tries to raise the leg again. But, Donphan is now bigger and faster than she was as a Phanpy, and as a result, the robot is unable to lift its leg in time to avoid the attack. This time, the Rollout is enough to snap the leg in half. The Araquanid falls over, completely blocking any escape route Max and Bonnie can take. By this time, Grovyle's have been cut through. Grovyle tries to put up another fight, but the robot Araquanid produces a small flamethrower, burning Grovyle badly. Max quickly returns his partner pokémon, just as Bonnie orders Donphan to attempt to break through the other leg in their way.
Donphan uses another Rollout, but this time, Sarah and Sam have learned their lesson from this, and raises the leg so that Donphan sails passed it and slams her into a tree. The combination of all the rolling and being slammed leaves her feeling dizzy. Max and Bonnie are officially trapped. Sarah and Sam laugh at this. "Now, how will you escape this?" Sam asks. Neither of them say anything, instead just choosing to glare. "You know, if you just hand those notebooks over, we will let you go?" Sam continues. "However, if you continue to struggle, we won't be so generous." Then, the pincers that Grovyle was trying to keep at bay begin to move towards them. But, right before they reach the pair, they stop. Max and Bonnie look at each other with bewilderment, then look up at Sarah and Sam. Both of them are freaking out a little bit, trying to figure out why they stopped. Then, as they all watch, the pincers snap in half.
Everyone stares in amazement as this happens. Sarah and Sam manage to get the Araquanid to its feet and try to stomp on the spot where the pincers were stopped, but they strike nothing. As they try again, something seems to shimmer in front of the leg as it punches it, knocking it backwards a bit. Then, it shimmers in front of Max, and he realises it's a person. "Run!" they tell him, before vanishing again. He doesn't wait to be told twice. As the Araquanid raises its leg again, Max grabs Bonnie's hand and drags her away from the scene. As they flee from the carnage, Max glances back once or twice. When he does, he sees the figure shimmer in and out of existence as they fight the Araquanid. The last time he looks in its direction, and sees the figure manage to completely destroy the Araquanid, and send Sarah and Sam flying off.
Eventually, Max and Bonnie manage to find the path again. It is only then do they stop running. As they bend over to catch their breaths, Bonnie suddenly stiffens. "There's someone here," she says. "Is it Team Terra?" Max asks. "Or that person with the suit?" "I don't know," Bonnie replies. "I can't tell." Max pulls out Gallade's pokéball. "Show yourself!" he demands. "Who are you!?" Suddenly, the air shifts and simmers, and the figure appears before them. They're short, roughly May's height. They wore a black hooded jumper with some sort of pad with wires at the front, black rubber gloves, grey trousers, black shin high boots, and a black mask with a visor that blocked any view of their eyes. Their hood is up, blocking any view of their hair. "I'm a friend," they tell them. "You don't have to worry." Max doesn't quite buy this. "How can we be sure?" he asks. Bonnie elbows him. "They saved us," she points out. "So did Megan," Max replies. "We've been burnt before, I don't want it to happen again."
The stranger regards them. "You make a good point," they say. Their voice is so distorted that Max can barely tell what gender they are, but he thinks it's faintly feminine. "Take your mask off," Max tells them. "That will help us know whether to trust you or not!" "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I cannot do that," they tell him. "Why not?" Max asks. "Why doesn't the Blaziken Mask, or his new protégé here in Hoenn remove theirs?" the figure asks. Max doesn't reply, realising that they have a point. "Alright fine," he says. "Can you at least tell us how you turn invisible?" The figure regards him a bit more, as if scanning to see if he's a threat. "It's a suit I built myself," they reply finally. "I don't have super powers, if that's what you're thinking." Max and Bonnie nod in understanding. "Why did you help us?" Bonnie asks. The person shrugs. "I couldn't allow two kids to be beaten to a pulp by a giant robot," they reply. "You're just lucky I was in the area. I need a specific type of plant to power my camo tech,"
At this, the person turns to go. "I shouldn't stay here too long," they explain. "I've only got enough juice to stay invisible for 5 more minutes, so I need more energy. I should be off." as they go to leave, Max calls out, "Wait!" the figure stops. "Can we know your name. Or at least what to call you?" The figure looks at him a bit more. "I can't tell you my name," they say. "As for what to call me, you can call me Camo." then, the figure turns around again. "See you around," they say, then they vanish, leaving Max and Bonnie staring at the place where they vanished, wondering what in the Mirror World just happened.
Well, that derailed fast. Sorry this didn't come out yesterday, I was going to write it, but then I spent all day playing D instead. As for Camo, I was originally planning on bringing them in in the third volume, but I was so fucking stuck with what to do with this chapter that I decided to put them here instead. As for their identity, all will be revealed eventually. For now, expect a few sporadic appearances from them over the next few volumes. So, now that I'm caught up on my schedule, this shall go back to my original schedule of Tuesdays and Thursdays, to the best of my ability. See you on Tuesday with the next one.