An Appealing Offer

After a few days of travel, the two finally reach a new town. As they walk through it, Bonnie reminisces about how she lost Dedenne here when she accidentally swapped bags with another girl. Max laughs at that. "You losing Dedenne seems to be a regular occurrence" he comments, earning him a slap from Bonnie. "Hey," he laughs, "I'm only joking." Bonnie rolls her eyes as the two walk through the town. As they walk, Max hears and feels his stomach growl. He looks over at Bonnie and sees that hers made a similar noise. They both laugh, then walk towards the nearest establishment that serves food, not caring what it was.

However, as the two move to sit down, they both hear a voice call out to them, mirroring Santalune. "Oi, you with the glasses!" Max turns and sees a blond boy in an orange and white t-shirt waving him over, with a girl with long black hair, a white beanie and a short blue and pink striped dress tries to pull him back down. Max looks at Bonnie quizzically, then the two walk over. "Sorry about him," the girl apologises when they reach them, forcing the boy back into his seat. Max notices that they both look to be the same age as his sister. "I just commented that you look familiar," the girl goes on, "so he decided to call you over." Max reassures her that there's no problem. "But, how do I look familiar to you?" he asks the girl. "Oh, right," she says, realising the whole reason her friend called them over. "By any chance are you the younger brother of May Maple?"

Max's jaw drops. "How do you know my sister?" he asks. "We both competed in a contest together in Sinnoh," the girl explains. "Along with my girlfriend." Bonnie looks confused. "Wait, so you two aren't dating?" she blurts out, which causes Max to facepalm. The two sitting at the table laugh. "Oh no," said the girl, "we are both way too gay for that. Well I'm bi, but that's besides the point. I'm Dawn by the way." The boy stands up at that. "And I'm Barry." As Max and Bonnie introduce themselves, another girl with flaming red hair, a cropped green t-shirt and short denim shorts walks up to them and sits on Dawn's lap. Dawn becomes an illegible puddle of gay panic at this, much to the amusement of the others. "I'm Zoey," says the redhead. "Dawn's girlfriend in case you couldn't tell."

Dawn straightens herself up after a few more seconds of cuddling her girlfriend, then looks around. "Hey Barry," she says. "Your boyfriend's taking a while." Barry goes bright red at that. "He's not my boyfriend!" he snaps, sounding like that's a sentence he repeats often. Zoey looks at Max and Bonnie. "When our final travelling partner, Lucas, shows up," she warns them, "be prepared for a gay panic to put Dawn's to shame." Barry wheels around at this. "I'm not into him like that!" he protests. Dawn laughs, still hugging Zoey. "He's hopeless for him" she tells them. "No I'm not!" Barry's protests fall on deaf ears. "He's super gay for him" Zoey adds. "For the last time!" Barry protests, "I don't like hi-." But his protests are interrupted by another teenage boy walking over, somehow managing to carry four large ice-creams in just two hands. He's a tall boy, with striking navy blue hair and intelligent grey eyes. He's wearing a white tank top and grey denim shorts, exposing his muscular limbs. Barry looks like his nose is about to bleed. "Hey," he says, handing the ice-creams out to his friends. "Sorry Barry," he says as he hands the ice-cream to the blushing blond. "But they didn't have anymore mint, so I just got you what I ordered." Barry nods as he takes the ice-cream, not trusting himself to speak. Lucas, totally oblivious to his blushing friend, notices Max and Bonnie for the first time. He introduces himself, then decides to go and get ice-creams for the two, despite their protests that they were fine. "The line's not long," he insists. "And I've got more money than I know what to do with." And with that, he runs off. Once he's gone, Barry's face returns to a normal colour and he slumps back into his chair. "See," says Zoey, smirking. "Hopeless."

After Lucas returns with ice-creams for Max and Bonnie, the group sets about discussing their plans. Apparently, Lucas and Barry are childhood friends, and had planned to set out on their journeys together. However, Lucas had to wait a year because his mother fell ill. Once he became a trainer and travelled around Sinnoh, the region's professor, Rowan, decided to take him on as his assistant, which he's apparently thriving at. As for Dawn and Zoey, Zoey is apparently the top Coordinator in Sinnoh, similar to May being the top in Hoenn. So, she decided she wants to give the showcases of Kalos a go, and Dawn came to support her. As for Lucas and Barry, Barry decided that he'd try out for the Kalos League, and Lucas came to support him. This caused a noticeable blush to form on Barry's cheeks, which somehow goes unnoticed by Lucas. "Arceus, it's like watching Ash and Serena all over again" Bonnie gripes upon watching this happen over and over again.

Eventually, their ice-creams are finished, and they get to talking about their next stop on their journey. Looking at their respective maps, they see that they're all heading to the Battle Chateau next. After that, while Max and Bonnie aim for Cyllage, the other four are heading to Coumarine City so that Zoey can participate in the Showcase there. Once they realise this, Dawn looks at Max and Bonnie, and suggests, "Hey, since we're all going to try out the Battle Chateau, why don't we all travel there together?" Max considers the offer. On one hand, it'll be fun to have more friends to travel with, even if it's for a small amount of time. However, it would also mean dragging them into trouble with Team Terra. Maybe even forcing him to explain the Jade Orb. But, as usual, Bonnie decides for him. "Yes!" she exclaims immediately. ""It'll be loads of fun to travel in a group this large!" Dawn beams at this, and Zoey chuckles. "I like your energy Bonnie" she tells her. "Hang on," says Max. "If you are going to be travelling with us, then there's something you need to know." He then proceeds to explain to the four of them about Team Terra and the fact that they're doggedly chasing them, even explaining why.

At this, the four laugh. "Please," says Dawn, wrapping an arm around Zoey's shoulder. "We spent quite a bit of time dealing with Twam Rocket while travelling with Ash." "And I spend maybe half my time dealing with stragglers of Team Galactic and other thieves in Professor Rowan's lab," Lucas adds. "We're more than capable of dealing with the likes of a small band of eco terrorists." Max smiles at this, and agrees to travel with them. After that, the six of them decide to check into the pokémon centre in the town and head off in the morning. As they approach the building, Max leans over to Bonnie and whispers, "Careful not to swap your bag with someone else's," earning another slap. Now, with a party of 6 for the next small part of the journey, Max feels confident that nothing can get in his and Bonnie's way now. As he, Bonnie and the other of Ash's friends sit around in the Pokémon Centre and chat about travelling with Ash four years ago, Max feels like things will only get better. Little did he know, that it wouldn't be too long before he ate those words.