Chapter 79:
Max is ticked, Bonnie can tell. He hasn't been smiling as much as he used to before, and she sees him start to scowl on occasion when he thinks she isn't looking. However this doesn't interfere with his work. He's still as analytical as ever, and writing down notes on pokémon seems to be the only thing that puts a smile on his face, except for talking to her. They'd left Pacifidlog a few days ago and returned to Mainland Hoenn, since thry both figured it would be easier to get a boat to Mossdeep from Lilycove. So they took a boat back to the mainland, and have been walking back to Lilycove ever since. Now, they're walking along the path, with Max describing some pokémon into his audio logs. But when he's not doing that, Bonnie can tell he's annoyed. He isn't in the same funk that she was in after Trixie defeated her but he's still clearly angry.
But, when Bonnie tried to talk to him about it, he flatly denies anything. "I'm fine Bonnie," he tells her. "I'm just pissed off by what Harley said about me bringing my sister down." But Bonnie won't let it go. "Are you sure that's all it is?" she asks him. Max doesn't look at her. "Positive," he says, without much enthusiasm. "I didn't let Harley's words get to me, don't worry. I'm just angry to have lost to a pompous, uppity knobhead like him." Bonnie can't help but chuckles at that. But she still can't let it go. She knows thst deep down under all the anger, Max is at least a little bit upset by what Harley said. Still, she decides it would be best not to push ot any further, so she leaves him be. When he's ready to talk, she'll be there for him. But, this decision becomes harder to maintain as the days go by. Bonnie can see that he still looks really annoyed. But more than that, she begins to notice that maybe he is letting Harley's words get to him, at least a little bit. So, she quickly devises a plan to help cheer him up. "We've been doing that a lot recently," she comments to herself.
Her plan is simple. She'll explain that she wants to meditate and sense the Aura of the area around them, to see if Team Terra is following them. While she does this, she'll also be searching for any signs of pokémon that might peak Max's interest. If she finds one, she tells him, and they go searching for it. If she doesn't, they move on and she tries again on their next break. So, when they stop for a break, she puts her plan into action. She sits down and explains what she's doing to Max, who just nods and pulls out an audio log. Trying to focus on feeling out for people's Aura is difficult while he does this, and it's made even harder by the green glow surrounding him. But, she ignores that and focuses on finding a herd of pokémon. And Team Terra of course. She scans the surrounding area for any signs of life, and eventually, after almost 10 minutes of searching, she finally finds something.
She punches the air a little bit as she returns to her normal vision. Max sees this and looks up at her. "What's up?" he asks. "Are Team Terra nearby?" Bonnie shakes her head. "It's not that," she tells him. "Thry aren't coming, but I did find something that might peak your interest." Max raises an eyebrow at her. "What is it?" "A herd of pokémon," she replies. "I don't know what they are, but there's a large group of them nearby." Max looks at her suspiciously. "What are you planning?" he asks. "Me? Nothing," she says sweetly. "I just thought you'd be interested to know that there's a large herd of pokémon nearby. That's all." Max looks at her quizzically, then shrugs and begins packing his things up. "Well then," he says as he stands up, "let's go and find them shall we?" Bonnie nods in agreement, glad to see the grin return to Max's face. She gathers her own things and stands up, then leads the way to where she found the herd with her Aura.
When they get there, Max's eyes widen. "They're Rhydon!" he exclaims. "Rhydon travelling in a herd. I've never seen that before." The Ryhdon are all standing around near a large body of water, with several patches of grass surrounding them for them to eat. And, convenient places for Max to hide. Deciding it would probably be wise to not record audio about these Rhydon, he sneaks over to a patch of grass to conceal himself, then begins to update his notes on Rhydon to include information about them travelling in packs. Bonnie sneaks up behind him and watches as he documents all that he can about them. "I thought you already got information on Rhydon from Kalos?" she asks. "And from some of the ones here?" Max nods. "Which is why I'm updating the Hoenn entry rather than writing a new one," he replies. "But I never wrote anything about them travelling in packs before. So, I'm adding to the entry to explain that." Then, he gets back to writing.
He does this for about 15 minutes. During this time, Bonnie has gotten really bored. She can't pass the time doing much without scaring the Rhydon. She tries to pet Dedenne, but he makes a bit of noise, so she puts him in his pokéball, then passes the rest of the time just waiting for Max to be done. Eventually, he closes his notebook, packs it away and begins to crawl backwards. "I got it," he whispers. "Let's get out of here before they spot us." Bonnie nods, and follows him. As she does though, she can't help but ask, "Are you not going to try and catch it?" Max stops. "Should I?" he asks. Bonnie shrugs. "It's up to you," she replies. "But I think it would be handy to have one." Max thinks about it. "Yeah, I guess," he agrees. Then, he looks back at them. "Alright, I'll try." Then, he turns back to them and pulls out a ball. Bonnie stares at him. "After all of your slagging me for just throwing a ball, and you're about to do just that!?" she demands. Max shushes her. "Do you really think it would be wise to send a pokémon out to battle one of these guys, when there's a whole group of them!?" he asks. "In this occasion, it's a necessity. Besides, you were constantly using pokéballs. I'm going to be using and ultra ball." At this, he shows the ball to Bonnie, who nods in understanding. Max raises the ball, aims, then throws it at the nearest Rhydon.
The pokémon is absorbed into the ball, which hits the ground. The ball shakes once. Then twice. Then thrice. Bonnie grins and goes to pick it up, but Max stops her. "Wait," he says. "It hasn't clicked yet. Why hasn't it clicked yet?" At that moment, the Rhydon bursts out of the ball with an angry roar. Then, it glares at the two of them, who look at each other. "Run?" Bonnie asks. "Run!" Max replies. They run. The Ryhdon Max tried to catch roars in anger, which alerts the other Rhydon to their presence. The other Rhydon also roar and charge after the two kids.
Max and Bonnie tear through the field, hoping to get back to the path. With all of the trees surrounding it, they figure that getting up one of them would be the best chance to escape. But there's one small problem with this plan. Rhydon are fast. Stupid fast. It doesn't take them long to start catching up. In just a minute, they're almost upon them. In a panic, Bonnie starts firing off small pulses to dissuade the Rhydon. "Man this would be so much easier if I could properly throw Aura Spheres!" she complains. She tries to form one, but it fails. She's so distracted by this that she fails to notice the Rhydon try to charge her. Thinking quickly, Max dives onto her, knocking her out of the way. The two of them roll away from the Rhydon, but right as they were about to be in the clear... SNAP! Max howls in pain as a Rhydon stomps on his arm, breaking it. Bonnie quickly covers his mouth with her hand, then covers the two of them with grass. The Rhydon stop charging and begin searching for them.
Bonnie wants ro heal Max's arm, but she can't while the Rhydon are actively looking for them. So, she makes the call to begin sneaking away to the trees. Max crawls after her, trying to use only one arm. But his left arm, the broken one, keeps hitting the ground, causing him terrible pain. He has to practically grind his teeth to make sure he doesn't cry out in pain. They're about halfway to the trees when Max's arm burns with pain, and he can't help but let out a small yelp of pain. As he does, the Rhydon turn to look in his and Bonnie's direction. But before they can charge, a large pulse of water strikes the one in the front. It cries out in pain and looks around wildly for the source. At that moment, vines appear in the grass and begin to Whip the Rhydon, while water sprays around them. Realising that they can't do anything, the Rhydon turn and flee. Max and Bonnie sigh in relief, then turned to thank their saviours. "No need to thank us," says a familiar voice. "Your sister would personally clobber me if I didn't." Max and Bonnie grin as Dawn and Zoey walk over to them, with their Piplup and Leafeon following behind.
Now, I'm not 100% sure if Rhydon travel in packs in the anime, so let's just say they don't. Sorry for any spelling mistakes, this was supposed to be written on my laptop, but the Internet function stopped working again. Fuck my life. Anyway, that's all I have to say, so see you in the next chapter.