A New Journey Begins
May runs through her checklist one last time, just to make sure that everything is in order. Food, check; Music, check; guests, while they weren't here yet they confirmed they were coming so, check; Max. May looks around. "Max is outside dear" says their mother, Caroline. May sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. "Is he seriously writing on his birthday?" May asks aloud. She sighs again and runs out to get him.
It has been four years since Ash had gone on his journey through Hoenn with May, Max and Brock. Now, Max has turned 10 years old at last, and is finally ready to have a pokémon of his own. So, his family is throwing him a party to celebrate. But of course, Max is fast asleep on a tree stump, using a notebook as a pillow. The pencil he was using to write with had since fallen out of his hand and had been taken by a wild pokémon. May approaches her younger brother and tries not to laugh at the sight.
Max's hair is a total mess, and it seems like he slept in his clothes again. He's wearing a green jacket and a white t-shirt underneath, with a pokéball insignia and red trousers. May chuckles at the sight, then sneaks up behind her younger brother. Then, she proceeds to make the sound of a Taillow very loudly in Max's ear. Max jolts awake and looks around eagerly, only to find his sister laughing herself hoarse. "Very funny prick" he says, wiping pencil rubbings off of his face. "Well, I'm not about to let my little brother sleep through his 10th birthday," May replies. "Hurry up and get ready, everyone'll be here soon." Max nods and gets to his feet. He closes his notebook and looks around for his pencil. He spots bits of pencil strewn about on the grass and figures out what happened. Grumbling about a waste of a good pencil, Max returns to his room. Once there, he opens his notebook again to see what he'd managed to document before he fell asleep the night before. Only a few Zubat, a Taillow and some Ghastly. So, not much. As Max sets about fixing up the smudges left by his face, his mind wanders back to when he decided to write this.
When Max was younger, he loved reading about different pokémon as opposed to going outside to see them. However, when May set off on her journey with Ash, Caroline insisted Max go with them so that he could experience real pokémon instead of just read about them. He was blown away by how much more there was to pokémon than what was written in his books. When their journey was over and Ash and Brock moved on to Sinnoh, Max decided that he'd make a more up to date pokémon book, one that included the pokémon's behaviour and pokémon from other regions.
He'd manage to write notes on most of the pokémon that lived in Hoenn, but he still needs their behaviour, which led to many nights staying up way too late and falling asleep on that stump. But now, he finally gets a pokémon of his own, and can finally set out to complete his book. Hyperfixation long overtaking his exhaustion, Max furiously scribbles down his itinerary for his journey through Hoenn. He just about finishes the first half of the map when a tap on his shoulder jolts him back to reality with a loud squeak of fright. "You have got to stop doing that!" he complains to May, who's laughing behind her hand again. "Well, you've got to learn to keep that ADHD of yours in check," May replies. "Come on, everyone's already here. All we're waiting on is you." Max nods, then follows his sister downstairs, deciding to leave his notebook in his room in case he gets distracted.
May wasn't lying about people being there. A lot of people they met on their journey or from Petalburg City have come to celebrate the day Max finally becomes a trainer. Amongst the sea of faces, Max sees Brock, who's being dragged away from the local Nurse Joy by Misty. Max also sees Professor Birch and his adopted son Brendan, who'd recently became the Hoenn Champion. Ash is there too and talking to a dirty blonde girl. Max grins to himself when he spots Drew in the crowd
Max walks over to Ash and the girl, and they wish him a happy birthday. Then, Ash takes the girls hand and introduces her as his girlfriend, Serena. Max had heard about their relationship, but this is the first time he's met the girl in question. He looks over at May to see how she'd react to this, but notices that she's talking to Drew, and looking pretty nervous. Max sniggers. He always knew that May was hopeless for Drew. Max returns to his conversation with Ash and Serena and asks how the two started dating.
"Oh, it's quite simple actually," Ash says, rubbing the back of his head. "As I was leaving Kalos, she kissed me goodbye. That kiss kept circling around my head for ages. So, 2 years after the Masters Eight Tournament, I returned to Kalos and asked her out." Serena makes a giddy noise and squeezes Ash's hand. "At first I thought I was only dreaming, but when Ash squeezed my hand like this, I knew it was real and swooned." At that, Serena lays her head in the crook of Ash's neck and Ash lays his head on hers.
Max talks to other people in the house. His conversation with Brook keeps being interrupted by his goggling at various girls. By the end, Max had pulled on his ear so many times that it started swelling. At one point, Max had to move him to a different part of the house because Brock kept getting distracted by Ash and Serena's relationship. Max kept trying to hint at Drew that May likes him, but she put a stop to that quickly.
Eventually, Birch and Brendan approach him and Birch says, "Happy birthday Max. Whenever you're ready, I have your selection of Starter Pokémon in my lab." Max starts jumping around giddily. "I'm ready," he replies. "I can't wait to begin documenting Pokémon here properly!" At that, Ash and Serena approach. "About that," Ash says. "We heard about your dream to document all pokémon and their behaviours, but seeing your notebook, it seems a waste to start in Hoenn, especially since you've already been around it."
"So, we were thinking," Serena continues, "that once you pick out your pokémon, you fly with us to Kalos and start your journey there?" Max's eyes widen with excitement. "You mean it?!" he asks. The two nod. Max throws his arms in the air and cheers. Birch laughs, then heads to his Lab. Brendan follows. "I'll be there to give advice Max" he says, then waves cheerily at May before he leaves after his father.
After chatting with a few more people, Max grabs his notebook and bag, then runs off to the lab alone. He practically skips over to it, documenting every pokémon he sees along the way. He arrives to find Brendan and Birch waiting for him. Birch releases the three starters that Max can choose from: A blue swamp lizard, a red bird and a green gecko. "My son will explain these pokémon," he said, putting an arm on Brendan's shoulder. "I've got to prepare you a Kalos pokédex. Luckily Professor Sycamore recently gave me some."
Max looks at the three pokémon. First is the Swamp Lizard, Mudkip. "That's Mudkip," says Brendan. "I chose that one actually. He's a water type, and eventually evolves into a Swampert." Brendan pulls his own out to demonstrate. Next is the Fire Bird, Torchic. "This is Torchic," Brendan explains. "May made a good choice with him. He's a powerful fire type that evolves into a Blazekin." Max then moves on to the Gecko, Treeko. "That's Treeko," Brendan explains. "He's a grass type that evolves into Sceptile. He seems to be father's least popular choice."
At this, Max picks Treeko up. "I'll take him!" he says. Treeko squeaks with glee at finally being chosen. Brendan smiles at the sight, then resummons Mudkip and Torchic. Just then, Professor Birch remerges from his lab carrying a red device. "This is the Kalos pokédex," he explains, demonstrating how it works. "I requested these from Professor Sycamore after we noticed the Mega Evolution Phenomenon happening here. It'll help you throughout your journey." Max takes it gratefully then runs home.
He lets Treeko out of his pokéball so he can observe how he reacts to his environment. Max writes down everything the gecko does with great interest. In fact, he's so absorbed in his work that he fails to notice the Mightyena charging at him until it knocks the wind out of him. Treeko immediately goes on the defensive, but before Max can order it to do anything, the Mughtyena starts licking Max's face. At first he's confused by this, but then he recognises it. "You're the Mightyena I met 4 years ago!" he exclaims. The puppy nods excitedly. "Why did you knock me over?"
The answer to that question came when the ground in the forest to Max's right shakes violently. Max gets to his feet and tries to run but loses his footing and falls into the hole the tremor created. Treeko and Mightyena fall after him. He catches them both before they hit the ground, then decides to return Treeko to his pokéball and catch Mightyena before anything bad happens to them. Once they were both safely inside their pokéballs, Max looks around to see where he fell. Thankfully his notebook wasn't damaged.
As he wanders through this cave he stumbled in, he spots a bright light in the distance. "That must be the way out!" he says to himself, before running as fast as he can towards the source. He rounds the corner and stops dead. It wasn't the way out. Instead, he came across a small chamber, with Unown carvings on its wall. At the centre of the chamber stands a pedestal, carrying a Green Orb. Above the pedestal is a carving of a giant snakelike pokémon that feel familiar to him. Max remembers the Red and Blue Orbs from before and grows wary. But something compels him to take it.
He doesn't know why, but a small voice at the back of his head tells him he should take it and bring it with him. He's still hesitant, but then reasons that that tremor wasn't natural, which meant someone caused it, probably so they could get their hands on this Orb. So, he figures that whoever they are, they were the wrong people to be in possession of something like this. Perhaps he could take it with him on his journey then give it to Ash before he parts with him. With that settled, Max steps forward and takes the Orb off of the pedestal.
At that moment, the whole chamber shook violently. Max quickly puts the Orb in his bag and ducks behind the pedestal in case the cave starts caving in. But instead, a way out opens up for him. Max gets up and runs for it, not daring to look back. He emerges from the cave to find himself standing at the foot of the cliff where he was walking earlier. Max pulls out his map and finds the quickest route back to his home. Then he puts his bag on his bag, which was made heavier by the Green Orb, and sets off.
By the time he gets back, he sees that Professor Birch and Brendan were already there. His mother and father, as well as his sister, Drew, Ash, and Serena are standing with them, frantic. Drew is obviously trying, and failing, to calm May down. Then, May spots him and the group ran over. "Are you alright?" Caroline asks, checking him for any injuries. "Professor Birch and Brendan were walking the same way you came and saw the gap in the road caused by the tremor. We were worried that you fell into it." "I did," Max replies. "But had it not been for my new Mightyena, it would've been a lot worse."
At the confused looks everyone was giving him, Max produces his pokéballs and shows off his new team, Treeko and Mightyena. Ash smiles. "Is that the Mightyena you befriended years ago?" he asks. Max nods. "If he hadn't knocked me out of the way I would've fallen in headfirst" he explains. "What was in the hole?" Brendan asks. "There must've been something if a tremor caused that much damage." Max was about to tell him about the Orb, when something stops him. The same thing that told him to take it. "Nothing," he lies. "Just a small ravine." Then, to avoid anymore questions, he turns to Ash and asks, "So, when are we going to Kalos?" Ash laughs. "It seems I rubbed off on you a bit," he jokes. "Our plane leaves in about two hours, so what say we head there now and have a battle once we get to Kalos?" Max nods energetically at this, which makes everyone laugh. He runs upstairs and quickly pack a bigger bag full of everything he'd need. As he was about to leave the room for the last time for a while, something nags him again. Deciding that there was no point in resisting these calls, he opens his bag and puts the Green Orb inside, then closes it and runs to catch up with Ash and Serena.
He says a round of goodbyes to his friends and family, then he, Ash and Serena set off to the airport. Max bounces with excitement at the thought of a brand-new adventure. He wonders about the Green Orb, and decides he'll worry about it in Kalos. Maybe he'll give it to Ash before he sets off. But, if Max new exactly what this adventure of his was going to have in store, maybe he'd have tried to resist the urge to take the Orb with him.