The Environmentalist

(Author's note: For those of you who were unaware, I've changed Team Cosmo's name to Team Terra)

Thankfully, Team Terra had since given up on finding them on that road. At least, that's what it looks like when Max and Bonnie arrive back to the place where Max used that makeshift smoke bomb a few days before. Despite the fact that it looks like Team Terra moved on, Max and Bonnie air on the side of caution and have their pokéballs ready in their hands, just in case. However, nothing happened as they walked along the path. Once they moved beyond the spot where they were ambushed a few days earlier and there was still no sign of the Team, Max and Bonnie finally relax enough to put their pokéballs back onto their belts and relax. As they walk, Max gives Bonnie some advice. Since Viola is the bug type gym leader, Max recommends Bonnie to catch a flying type or fire type. Bonnie immediately knows what pokémon she wants and runs on down the road with Max running behind her.

Eventually, the path leads them to a large field. The field is vast and green, surrounded by trees. It has flowers blooming all over it and has pokémon running or flying about without a care in the world. Bonnie puts her bag down and pulls out her pokédex. Then, she runs around the field, determined to find the perfect new pokémon for her team. Max meanwhile puts his bag down and pulls out his notebook. Then, he starts to write about the different pokémon he sees and how they're reacting to their environment. Max is fascinated by the pokémon native only to Kalos, especially how they get along with pokémon that can be found in other regions.

As he's writing and drawing sketches of the pokémon, he looks up at Bonnie every now and then. She has her eye on a small bird with a red head and grey and black body, with white on its wings. The pokédex states that it's a Fletchling. This one seems to be rather playful, and has more interest in dodging the attacks Dedenne throws at it rather than actually fight back. Eventually, Bonnie grows tired of this game of chase and asks Max to help her lure the bird down lower so that Dedenne can have an easier chance to hit it. Max obliges and puts his book and pencil back in his bag before running after her. He was so focused on the Fletchling however, that he fails to notice the two people who'd been eyeing his bag for the entire time they were in that field.

The Fletchling squeaks with excitement at the new playmate and starts ducking and dodging around Max as he tries to slow it down. Max notices how playful the small bird is and gets and idea on how to trick it. He turns to Bonnie and tells her to have Dedenne ready to hit the Fletchling with Thunderbolt. Then he starts laughing and running around the field after the bird. Fletching falls for Max's ruse and starts doing small tricks as she keeps pace with the spectacled boy. After a few minutes of this, the bird swoops low enough to fly level with Max's head. Max grins at his plan's success, before shouting "Now Bonnie!" and ducking. Fletchling is suddenly struck by Thunderbolt and finally stops moving. While she's frozen in the air Bonnie hurls a pokéball at her, catching her. Bonnie cheers at her success and releases the pokémon, planning to apologise to her for tricking her like that. Instead however, she seems pleased. Through squeaks and miming, she reveals that she wants to join Bonnie since she had lots of fun playing with her. Bonnie grins before returning Fletchling to her pokéball. Then, she and Max walk back to where they left their bags.

However, when they get back, Max starts to panic. His bag is nowhere to be found. As he begins looking around for it, Bonnie releases her new Fletchling and tells her to go search for a small green duffel bag. Fletchling gives a salute before flying off. The bird returns half a minute later and points to the path. Bonnie thanks her and returns her, then she and Max run onto the path to see if they can catch the thief. No sooner than they get back on the path Max spots his bag. It's being carried by a young man with light green hair, who's running beside a woman with bright yellow hair. Max groans. "Ugh, not you two!" Sarah and Sam freeze, before turning around and grinning at the two. "Yes, us two!" says Sam pridefully. "Thank you so much for leaving your bag unattended, it made it so much easier to get our hands on the Jade Orb." Max swore. "I couldn't give a rattata's ass about that Orb," he shouts. "But I'd like my bag back. It has my notebook in it!"

This causes Sarah to eye the bag curiously. "Notebook?" she wonders aloud. She reaches into the bag to investigate, but before she can get very far in her plans, a voice calls out, "Espeon, Psychic!" Max's bag glows blue and is yanked out of Sam's hands. The four watch as the bag floats over to a man with an Espeon at his feet. The man looks to be in his early 30s. He's tall and well built, with silky black hair that falls to his nape. He has a pale, clever face, with green eyes and a pair of glasses similar to Max's. He wears a red jacket and maroon tracksuit bottoms, with neon red runners completing the look. He reaches out and grabs Max's bag from the air. He puts it at his feet and looks at Team Terra with distaste. "I cannot stand thieves," he says. "Selfish people who don't care about the wellbeing of others. What do you have to say for yourselves." He speaks with a polite Galarian accent, and yet his piercing gaze and the way he speaks generate a feeling of power. Sam looks apprehensively at Sarah, but she remains undeterred. "It's none of your business!" she states angrily. "Now hand that bag back and stay out of our way, lest you want to suffer the wrath of Team Terra!"

This seems to peak the man's interest. "Team Terra you say?" he says, curiously. "I've heard about you. You're a group of thugs who steal other people's pokémon and claim It's for the good of the earth." The man's face darkens at this. "You people are little more than a selfish bunch of attention seekers, who use the goal of helping the earth to mask your greed and egos. You people give environmentalists like myself a bad name, and I must stop you right here!" And with that he raises his arm and points at the two. Before either Sarah or Sam can grab their own pokéballs, he shouts, "Espeon, Psychic on those two!" Suddenly, the two from Team Terra are lifted into the air. "Now, I will let you off lightly this time," he says seriously. "But if I catch one of you people doing something like this again, I will see to it that you have to relearn to walk!" And with that, he points to the sky, and Espeon sends the two flying off.

Throughout all of this, Max and Bonnie stare at this man in amazement. The man sees this and chuckles to himself. "Is this yours?" he asks, holding Max's bag out. "Oh, yes," says Max, snapping out of his trance and taking his bag back. "Thank you." "No problem," the man replies. "What's in your bag that made them want to steal it anyway?" "I don't know," Max lies. "I have my pokémon on my belt, so all I really have in there are my potions, pokéballs and my notebook." "Notebook?" the man asks, his interest peaked. "Max here has been documenting the pokémon we've seen on our journey" says Bonnie, before Max can dodge the question. "May I see this notebook?" the man asks. Max obliges and pulls it out, careful not to let this man see the Jade Orb. The man flicks through the pages of the book with great interest. "I must say," he comments, " you have quite the eye for the details. How long did you spend observing these pokémon?" Max shrugs. "Like a minute or two per pokémon" he says.

The man's jaw drops. "Do you have any idea how impressive that is?" he asks in amazement. "You managed to gather all of this in two minutes!? It takes regular observers weeks to gather this much information. How do you do this?" Max shrugs again. "I just, enter a sort of trance and hyper focus on each pokémon. My sister likes to call it my Observant State." The man closes the book and hands it back to Max. "Well I must say," he says. "It's quite a useful talent to have. I take it you're travelling to Santalune for the gym?" the two nod. "Then perhaps before you challenge it, you could come chat with me in the Pokémon Centre I'm staying at. It's in Santalune, don't worry. I wish to learn more about your Observant State." Max looks at him suspiciously. "Thanks," he says. "But we don't know your name. I've been taught not to enter stranger's houses." The man's eyes widened and he face-palms. "Silly me!" he proclaims. "I can't believe I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Ammon. I'm an environmentalist."

At this, Bonnie's eyes widen. "Are you Ammon Donovan, the famous environmentalist who's recourses have gone to creating hundreds of pokémon sanctuaries and projects to combat climate change?" Ammon took a bow. "That's me," he states. "And who might you be?" "Max Maple" says Max, his suspicions of Ammon long since cleared up. "Bonnie Citron" says Bonnie excitedly. The three shake hands, then Ammon says, "My offer to talk in the Pokémon Centre still stands Max. I would love to speak with you about your Observant State and your notebook. Your talent could be very useful for my cause." As Ammon turns to go, Bonnie says, "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity Max! Please can we go with him. He might have lots of cute pokémon." Bonnie uses Baby-doll Eyes, asking him find it hard to say no. Not that he wants to anyway. "Wait!" he calls as he and Bonnie run to catch up to him. "I want to talk with you." Ammon grins. "Thank you," he says. "This means more than you realise." Then, the three of them head off to Santalune City together.

Once they arrive in Santalune and heal up their pokémon, the three sit around a table in the Pokémon Centre and begin talking. Through these conversations, Max and Bonnie learn about Ammon's past. He was the only child of two pokémon researchers, and grew up surrounded by pokémon. In particular, he grew attached to a coral reef in Alola. He was born in the Galar region but spent his childhood travelling. But, when he was 8 years old, the coral reef grew sick due to pollution, and all of the marine pokémon Ammon loved either died or were forced to emigrate. This continued to happen in a lot of places where Ammon's parents did their research. So, when he was 18, he decided that enough was enough, and went on live television, publicly shaming the greedy companies who were destroying the environment, and the equality greedy politicians who did nothing about it because they were taking those companies' bribes. This, coupled with other demonstrations, led to Ammon becoming world famous, with many people following him and his message. Now he was 30 years old, and has funded many pokémon sanctuaries and projects that combat climate change, all from his own back pocket. Max felt so much respect for this man in that moment.

After that, Max and Bonnie shared their dreams with him. Bonnie told Ammon about her desire to win the Kalos League and become an amazing trainer, then one day take over her brother's job as gym leader so he can finally find a girl to take care of him. Hearing Bonnie say this reminded Max about Clemont's request to make sure Bonnie doesn't ask any girls to take care of him. Once she finishes, Max explains his dream to document every pokémon from every region and write a book, detailing not just the pokémon's habitats, diets and evolutionary behavioural patterns, but also their personalities, methods of communicating with each other, and to show that, like people, each individual pokémon is it's own creature, not a carbon copy of every other pokémon in its species.

This in particular peaks Ammon's interest. He listens to Max as he talks about the different personality behaviours he's seen in pokémon. Like the Fletchling Bonnie caught, or his Mightyena. Ammon goes through Max's notebook again, truly fascinated by Max's analytical mind. Then he looks Max in the eye and says, "You must make sure that Team Terra never finds out about this."

Max and Bonnie are stunned. "Why?" Max asks. "Team Terra are what you'd call an Eco Terrorist group," Ammon explains. "They claim to be trying to help the world, and maybe that's what they were doing in the beginning. But, the problem with a group like that is when it gets too big, its members become harder to control. I'd say that a lot of its members joined because they feel the name gives them power. They commit acts of evil under the guise of Team Terra's original message, like destruction and theft. I don't know how much of that is actually for their goal, and how much is for personal gain. All I know is, if Team Terra learn of this notebook, they will come after you. For a group of pokémon kidnappers and self-proclaimed 'Eco Warriors', your mind will be a goldmine. So for your own sake, keep this hidden." Max nods, suddenly fearful.

After that, Max and Bonnie talk strategy for how Bonnie will defeat Viola. Max already decided he doesn't want to challenge the League, since he doesn't want to risk taking away Bonnie's chance of fulfilling her goal. Also because it's easier to make notes of pokémon in battle, and what better way to do that than watching a friend battle gym leaders. Bonnie is pleased with this idea, because she was secretly worrying that she'd have to battle Max in the League. She could tell by both his notebook and the way he helped her catch Fletchling that he's an excellent strategist, and she doesn't like her chances of beating him. By the time they finish talking, it's the early evening. Bonnie goes and books a room in the Pokémon Centre with 2 separate beds. While she does that, Ammon heads off to his own room. But before he does, he turns and asks Max one final question. "Before I forget to ask," he says, "what are you planning on naming this book of yours." Bonnie comes back from the counter, evidently wanting to know as well. Max scratches his chin as he thinks about it, then looks up and smiles. "I'm thinking," he says, "that I'll call it 'The Trainer's Guide to the Pokémon World'."