Terra-torial Struggle
Looking around, Max realises that he's the only person who realises that his opponent is a member of Team Terra. Knowing the kind of person he's dealing with, Max decides it'll be easier to deal with him if he had no pokémon left. Then he can just rip the hood off and get everyone to safety. Good plan, he thinks to himself. He sends out Litleo first and hopes that his opponent sends out a grass, bug, steel or ice type. But instead, he sends out a Houndour. Oh great, Max thinks. This is going to be harder than I thought.
Max begins to rethink his strategy. He decides the best way to go about this would be to push the Houndour into the water. But before he can go about this plan, his opponent shouts, "Head-butt!" Houndour charges at Litleo head first at full force. Litleo just barely manages to dodge the attack in time. "Ok, use scratch Litleo!" Max orders. Litleo's paws glow white and she digs them into Houndour's skin. Houndour cries out in pain and tries to shake her off. "Throw it into the water!" Max orders. Litleo gathers up her strength and begins to try and throw the Houndour off of the arena, but before she can get very far in that plan, the agent shouts, "Use bite to shake it off!" Houndour gathers energy into its teeth and bites down on one of Litleo's front paws. Litleo cries out and lets go of the Houndour. We need to end this quickly before Team Terra tries something! Max thinks desperately. Eventually he comes up with a plan. He calls out his order at the exact same time as his opponent, both shouting, "Use Flame Charge!" Litleo and Houndour Charge at each other full force, both of their bodies covered in flame. They meet each other in the middle and cause a massive blast of fire, which covers the two trainers. Once the dust settles, Houndour has collapsed, and Litleo remains standing, but barely.
However, no one is paying the pokémon any mind. Instead, all of their focus is on the two trainers. Max's hair is singed by the blast, while his opponent's cloak catches fire. He tries to stamp it out, but eventually gives up and throws it off. The crowd gasps at the sight of the man's uniform. The man glares at Max, but then smirks a bit. "You're to clever for your own good Max Maple!" he says angrily. "But you're also foolish if you think you can stop us by yourself!" "I know I can't," he says, then he gestures to the crowd. The Chateau's security guards are running towards the ring to apprehend the agent. He just laughs at the sight. "Well then," he says, pulling a trigger from his pocket. "I'd better make this quick. Goodbye Max Maple. And rest assured, we will take the Jade Orb from your friend." Max growls with rage and charges at the agent. He just smirks, then presses the button on the trigger, causing an explosion to rip the arena apart.
As the explosion throws Max into the water, Bonnie cries out and runs to the edge of where the spectators can stand and watch. She looks over the railings and sees, much to her relief, that Max is fine. His Litleo used the last of her strength to defend him from the blast. Dawn, Zoey, Barry and Lucas gather around Bonnie and watch as Max pulls out Treecko's pokéball and has him use Vine Whip to raise them back to where the others are. But, before he can get very far, other people in the crowd pull their cloaks off, revealing themselves to be Team Terra agents. Bonnie indicates to Max to stay below in case one of the agents tries something, but then Admin Homura flies in on his Crobat. He laughs at the carnage his underling caused, then pulls out a megaphone and yells into it.
"esteemed spectators of this Battle Chateau!" he shouts. "This place's very existence is a crime! You steal this planet's resources in order to make a place for pokémon cage fighting! You already do this in regular parks and in the gyms, what reason have you to build an environmentally damaging place just for that! We, Team Terra are here to right this wrong! If you do not wish to be caught in it, I suggest you start running!" Then, he pulls a bomb out from his pocket and drops it into the pool where Max is hiding. It explodes, causing the building to shake. "Destroy this abomination!" Homura yells to his subordinates. "Make sure it can never again bring harm to this world!" The other members of Team Terra spring into action and immediately begin to reek havoc on the place, and the security moves to get everyone out of the building. Barry and Lucas jump to help the security with evacuation, while Bonnie runs down into the basement of the building to help get Max out of the pool, as he is little more than a sitting Psyduck. Zoey and Dawn run after her, but they're stopped by Korrina. "I'll go with her to help her friend," she tells them. "You two see if you can help put a stop to Team Terra's plans." Dawn and Zoey nod, then run after some Team agents, while Bonnie and Korrina run downstairs to help Max out of the pool.
Max manages to swim with Treecko on his back to the underside of the Chateau. He's growing tired, but manages to spot a small balcony on the wall under the Chateau. Unfortunately, a Team Terra agent is standing on it, planting an explosive to the wall. Max has Treecko quietly use Vine Whip to raise both of them onto the balcony without being detected. Treecko does so, and Max holds his breath as Treecko raises the two of them up. But of course, his foot slips off of the wall, making a small scraping sound that echoes through the underside of the Chateau.
The Team Terra agent hears this and looks down. "There you are Maple!" he calls down to him. "So, you managed to survive the explosion. But that doesn't matter." The agent pulls out a knife and holds it above Treecko's vines. "Tell me where the Jade Orb is," he says menacingly, "or I'll send you back into the water. We can always get the information from the girl." At that, Max feels his rage boiled over again. "Treecko, bullet seed now!" he shouts. The bullet seeds hit the agent multiple times, causing him to fall into the water. Treecko pulls Max up the rest of the way, then Max thanks him and returns him to his ball.
Once Treecko was safe, Max turns his attention to the explosive attached to the wall. He fiddles with it, eventually taking the cover off. There, he sees a keypad. Now I wish I didn't knock him into the water, he thinks to himself. Just then, he hears the sound of someone coming out onto the balcony. Thinking quickly, Max hides behind the door and waits for the person to appear. As he hoped, it's another Team Terra agent, coming to check on his co-worker. Taking advantage of this, Max quickly jumps onto his back and wrestles him while he tries to find anything that looks like the code to the keypad to disable the bomb.
Eventually the agent manages to throw Max off of him. Max hits the floor and has the wind knocked out of him. As Max coughs, the agent approaches him. So, you're the elusive Max Maple that managed to outsmart some of our men," he says, pulling something out of his pockets. "Now, we know that you and your friend are here during this chaos." He grins, and Max realises that he's making a threat. However, Max is still too winded to do anything, but he manages to say, "If you hurt her, I'll destroy the Jade Orb!" The agent laughs. "Well isn't this cute," he says as he raises the thing in his hand. But before he could do anything with it, the door bursts open again and a blonde woman on skates charges through it and slams into the agent, throwing him off the balcony as well.
Bonnie and Korrina hurtle down the stairs, determined to get to Max before anything bad happens to him. Korrina sees the look on Bonnie's face makes her chuckle slightly. The two keep running until they hear voices on the other side of the door. Bonnie presses her ear against the door and listens as Max is thrown off of the agent's back. She hears the threats the agent makes, then starts panicking. Korrina steps back, then pelts at the door at her top speed in her skates, and knocks down the door. She charges at the man holding what looks like a gun at Max.
Once the agent is in the water, Max takes another look at the bomb on the wall. "It's no use," he says. "There's a minute left until they go off. We have to get back up to the main lobby and warn everyone!" The other two nod, then Max grabs Bonnie's hand and they run up the main lobby, with Bonnie's face going a tiny bit red. Korrina chuckles at the sight, then follows.
When the three of them arrive back in the lobby, they see the building in utter turmoil. The spectators had all been evacuated, leaving only Max and Bonnie's four travelling companions and members of Team Terra. Team Terra are running amok in the lobby, hurling Molotov cocktails and fire type moves around the room. Barry and Dawn are using their Empoleon to deal with the fire. Lucas and Zoey are fighting off any agent who try to get at those putting the water on the fire. Max and Bonnie send out Dedenne and Mightyena into the mix, then they both shout at the same time, "GUYS WE HAVE TO LEAVE! THERE'S A BOMB UNDER THE BUILDING! IT'S GOING TO FLATTEN THE PLACE!" At those words, the four give up their attempts to restore the building. They return all of their pokémon to their balls and run for it.
The members of Team Terra spot Max's bag on Bonnie's back, and tear after her. Max sends out Mightyena and fights off the members, then he follows his friends. They make it out of the building and tear across the path. They just about manage to get away from the building when the bombs under the building explode, causing the building to fall apart. Everyone stares in shock and horror as the building completely collapses. Max starts shaking with rage, but before he can do anything, Admin Homura and the rest of his men appear and begin looking for him and Bonnie. The two are sheltered by Dawn and Zoey, while Lucas and Barry try to find a way to draw Team Terra's attention. Lucas sends out his Golem and has it use earthquake to throw up a bit of dirt. Barry then runs through it, shouting for Max and Bonnie to follow him. The ploy works. Homura has his Crobat dive down to where Barry shouted. Lucas quickly has Golem throw up more dirt to cover their tracks, then they head back to where the others are.
Once they are reunited, the six of them sneak away from the carnage, just in case anyone holds them at least partially responsible, since it's obvious they're looking for them. Korrina follows after giving a promise to aid in any way she can to restore the building. Once they're clear, the group sets off again on their separate journeys. Dawn, Zoey, Barry and Lucas say their goodbyes, then set off for Coumarine City where Zoey plans to challenge the showcase. Korrina goes with the two for a bit longer, during which Bonnie asks her to take care of her big brother. But eventually, she too must part ways with the two. However, as she headed off, she calls back to Bonnie, "By the way, if you do want me to take care of Clemont, get him to Shalour and you've got yourself a deal." Bonnie cheers at this and gives a thumbs up, then she and Max set off for Cyllage, and Bonnie's next badge.