Chapter Text
True to Trixie's prediction, they arrive in Accumula Town the next day. Bonnie has to admit, it's weird getting to the place so quickly. She misses the slow movement of travelling with Max. But, if her hunch is correct, she should be able to go at this pace again soon. Immediately upon arriving at the town, the 2 of them head over to the Pokémon Centre to get a room for themselves. Once that's done, they sit down at a table and lay out all of the cash they managed to acquire on their journey, and Trixie counts it. As soon as she's done doing that, she mutters a curse under her breath. "We don't have much money here," she says. "So, we won't be able to buy anything like phones or something to communicate with."
Bonnie sighs at this, then looks around the centre. "I wonder if this place has any phones we can use?" she says.
"I'd be kind of surprised," Trixie replies. "With the rise of Rotom Phones, many Pokémon Centres have started removing their phones, seeing that there isn't much point to it. You'd have an easier time trying to find a needle in a haystack."
Right as she finishes saying that, Bonnie perks up. "Found one!" she exclaims. Sure enough, there's an unoccupied phone sitting on a counter near the desk. "Told you there'd be one here." She turns and shoots a smug look at Trixie.
"I said many Pokémon Centres removed them, not All of them," Trixie replies. "But come on. Let's try and contact someone." She begins to step over to the phone, when Bonnie stops her. Trixie turns to argue with her, when she sees the worried expression on Bonnie's face. Immediately, she understands what's going on. "Look, I know you want to stay in Unova until you find Max," she says. "But I think we should at least get help in finding him, right? If someone like your brother was here, then we'd have an easier time of trying to get around Unova without issue." Bonnie sees her logic here, and lets go of her sleeve. Then, the 2 of them gather up their money, and begin walking over to the phone to try and contact an ally.
But, right as they were about to reach the phone, they both feel something press into their heads. "Stop moving right now," says a voice from behind Trixie. Both girls stop. "Good," the person continues. "Now, put your hands in the air, and walk back to where you were sitting. Gather your things, and then follow us." At this, the person leans forward, so that Bonnie can almost see her face out of the corner of her eye as she leans in between her and Trixie. "And don't try anything clever with your powers Miss Citron," the person says. "Or I'll have you both on the floor before you can fully charge up your power." Bonnie nods to show she understands. "Good," says their captor. "Now, do as you're told, and no one gets hurt."
At this, Bonnie and Trixie turn around and begin to walk back towards their bags. All around them, many people are watching this with a terrified expression, making Bonnie realise that they have most likely been found by Team Terra. "So much for staying out of sight," she thinks to herself. "We probably drew a lot of attention to ourselves with that battle against the Sewaddle." As they're marched back over to their stuff, Bonnie hopes that someone will stand up and help them. But no one does. Just like on the St. Anne II, everyone remains exactly where they are, some watching what's happening, others looking away out of fear.
They reach their things and Bonnie and Trixie pick them up. As she does, Bonnie finally gets a look at their captors. They have been taken by 2 women, one of which she recognises. With a sinking feeling, she realises that one of them, the one with the green hair and Sub-Admin sunglasses, is one of the former members of Team Flare. Bianca, if Bonnie recalls correctly. Bianca is the one who was pointing her gun at her, but she isn't the one who spoke to them. That would be the other woman, but Bonnie has no idea who that is. She is relatively tall, with short pink hair. As soon as both girls have their things, Pink Hair smiles. "Good," she says. "Now, walk out that door. And don't try anything funny."
Bonnie and Trixie begin walking towards the door. As they do, Bonnie says, "If you're looking for Max, I don't know where he is. And if I did, I sure as Reverse World wouldn't tell you!"
"Bonnie, what are you doing?" Trixie asks out of the corner of her mouth. "If they think we aren't useful to them, they might just kill us!"
"Oh don't worry," says Bianca, pressing the gun into Bonnie's skull. "As much as I very much want to, our Boss needs you alive. He's taking care of finding Max Maple himself. We just need to bring you in as a means of making sure that his plans remain working."
"But this girl here isn't a part of that plan," Pink Hair goes on. "So, unless you want her blood on your hands, I suggest you keep walking and behave yourself." Bonnie looks at Trixie, then sighs. As much as she dislikes this girl, she absolutely doesn't want her dead. So, she doesn't try anything clever. She just walks out of the Pokémon Centre, with Bianca's gun pressed against her head. Outside, some more Team Terra agents are standing about in the street, with a bunch of trucks sitting in the middle of the road. There are several other people standing there, watching this happen, and none of them are doing anything. Bonnie's fists clench a bit at this.
They continue to walk down the street towards the trucks, unimpeded by anyone in the town. However, right as they're about to reach the door of one of the trucks, a voice Bonnie recognises calls out to them. "And just where do you think you're taking them!?" the person asks. The 2 Team Terra agents stop walking, and turn around to see who just spoke allowing Bonnie and Trixie to do the same. When Bonnie sees who called out to them, her heart leaps with joy. Iris, the Champion of Unova, is standing there, arms crossed and shooting Team Terra a fierce look. "If you know what's good for you, you'll leave those girls here and get out of here!"
Pink Hair laughs. "Oh yeah!?" she taunts. "What can you do alone against the might of Team Terra?!"
At this, the ground begins to rumble, as a Mamoswine crashes through the trucks, throwing them all aside. Vines erupt around the place, catching the cars before they can harm anyone or break anything. Then, ice forms all over the trucks, making the metal weaker and weaker, before the vines crush them into powder. Suddenly, 3 other girls stand around Iris, with one of them hopping off the Mamoswine, as the other 2 stand with a Leafeon and Beartic. Bonnie's smile widens as she recognises them as Dawn, Zoey, and Georgia. Georgia even stands with her hand clasping Iris's. "Now, who said anything about her being alone?" she asks proudly.
Pink hair stares at them, before realising that during all of this commotion, she'd lost track of Bonnie and Trixie. She spots them just as they finish running over to the Champion and her allies. Pink Hair sighs, then raises her gun again, pointing it straight at Georgia's head. As she does, all of the other Team Terra agents raise their as well, pointing them at the group. "This is all very cute, but there's still only 6 of you!" says Pink Hair. "So, unless you want this place to suffer the wrath of Kagari, you'll hand those kids over to me now!" Bonnie resists the urge to laugh. What was it with villains always revealing their names during speeches?
But, with all of these Team Terra goons, Bonnie knows that this will be very hard to get out of, especially since this whole town could be destroyed in the chaos. So, she makes up her mind to go back to Kagari in order to spare the place. But, before she can even take one step towards them, a little girl of about 10 years old steps away from her mother, and stands with them. She nervously pulls out her own Pokéball and gets ready to fight. "There's 7," she says, her voice shaking with a mixture of fear and determination.
Iris smiles down at the girl and rubs her head. A few seconds later, a young boy around the same age as the girl runs over and stands beside her, a Pokéball in his own hand. "8!" he says, his voice much steadier, but Bonnie could still hear the fear in it.
Then, 2 more people, roughly the same age as the 4 older girls step forwards as well, bringing the number up to 10. From there, more and more people from the town walk up to the group, all readying their own Pokémon for a fight. Soon enough, the whole of Accumula is standing there, ready to face off against Team Terra. The agents all suddenly look rather nervous. Even Kagari looked a little unprepared. "So, who's outnumbered now?" Iris asks. All of Team Terra looks really nervous at this. "I'll give you one chance," Iris continues. "Get out of here right now, and leave the 2 girls with us! Or, we shall see just how well your minions fare against the might of Unova's trainers!"
All of Team Terra look at Kagari for instructions. It's clear that none of them fancy fighting here. Kagari fumes. "Fine," she says. "Team Terra knows when it's beaten. But just because you've won this round doesn't mean that we won't be back! And when we are, we will get what we want!" With that, she signals for all of the agents to retreat. So retreat they do.
As soon as they're gone, the whole town begins to celebrate. Iris smiles down at the little girl who first stood with them. "What's your name?" she asks.
The girl blushes red. "E-Elaine," she replies meekly. Bonnie picks up a Kantonian accent in her voice.
Iris smiles at her some more. "Well Elaine, what you've done today was very brave," she says. "I daresay you have the makings of a formidable trainer someday. Perhaps you could even take my title from me."
Elaine's eyes brighten. "Really!?" she exclaims happily.
Iris smiles and nods her head. Then, she turns her attention to the boy. "And what might your name be?" she asks him.
"Hugh," the boy replies proudly.
Iris grins at him too. "You could also be a very strong trainer in future," she tells him. "I'd say your parents should be very proud of you." Both kids beam at this and thank the champion. Then, they run back to their parents excitedly.
Iris watches them go with a smile on her face. Suddenly, she feels an arm wrap around hers as Georgia steps beside her. "I daresay you just made their day," she comments.
Iris chuckles. "For their bravery, it's the least I could do," she says. Then, she turns to Bonnie and Trixie. "But thank Arceus we found you in time. Now, come with us, we'll get you to Galar, then try and find Max."
Trixie feels relieved at this and goes to follow them, but Bonnie puts her foot down. "No!" she exclaims. "I am not leaving this region without Max Maple!"
All 4 girls stare at her. "Do you know for certain that he's here?" Dawn asks. There's a bit of hope in her voice.
Bonnie hesitates. "No," she admits. "I don't know for certain. But I get the feeling that he's here in Unova, so I am not leaving this place until I know for absolute certain that he's not here! So, I'm going to Nimbasa to check that for myself, and there's nothing you can do to stop me!" This isn't true and she knows it. But she's determined to make sure that she's positive Max isn't here before she goes.
The others look at each other. "I know you care about him," says Zoey. "But you must think about this logically. If we get you back to Galar, we can then immobilise everyone we have to gather around Unova and hunt Max down that way."
"And notify Team Terra that we believe Max is here, causing them to do the same!?" Bonnie shoots back.
None of them say anything for a few seconds. "Well when you put it that way," Zoey acquiesces.
At this, Dawn speaks up. "Ok, how about this," she says. "2 of us stay with Bonnie hand her friend, while the other 2 go out and do a broad sweep of the region. If you find any trace of Max, then we stay in the region and find him. If you don't, we leave Unova and mobilise everyone to find him another way. How does that sound."
Figuring this is her best option, Bonnie agrees with this, leading to the others to agree as well. With that sorted, it then comes time to decide who will stay with Bonnie and Trixie, and who will go out to search for Max. "Georgia and I will search!" Iris volunteers.
Georgia looks at her like she's crazy. "Yeah, I think not," she says. "I'm not letting there be any chance of you having to go anywhere near the Village of Dragons!"
"So we don't," Iris replies. "We just avoid it. But we know this place much better than Dawn and Zoey do, so it'll be a lot easier to search for Max for us."
Georgia rubs her eyes. "And I volunteered us for this job to avoid doing just that," she says. She looks up at Iris to shoot that idea down flat, but Iris just looks at her with the Baby-Doll Eyes. So, instead of fighting with her girlfriend over this, she has to fight with her own knees to avoid them turning to goo. "Alright fine," she says. "We'll fly around the region and look for him. And if we find him, we'll lead him to Nimbasa."
Iris nods in agreement. Then, she summons her Dragonite, and she and Georgia climb on. "We'll call you with any news," says Iris. Then, they take off. The other 4 watch them go, then head back to the Pokémon Centre, with plans to head off the next morning, and begin their own search for Max Maple.