Danger Closes In
Once Max and Bonnie reunite at the entrance to the Gym, they head to the Pokémon Centre in order to both get Bonnie's Pokémon healed and to book a room for the night. Once that's sorted, they spend the rest of the evening going over what Bonnie can do when challenging Korrina. Or, more importantly for Bonnie, going over how Bonnie can get Clemont to come to Shalour so he can finally go out with Korrina. But, little do they know, they're being spied on from across the room. A young man and woman, both wearing large duffle coats, fedoras, sunglasses, and hiding behind newspapers, with the man wearing a fake moustache, are staring at the two of them from behind the newspapers, which anyone paying them any attention will notice are upside-down.
The two had taken their own long journey to get to this Pokémon Centre in Cyllage. Once they were sent back to their HQ in Kalos, the two kept a close eye on Maple and Citron, in case anything comes up. It took a week, but eventually, something did. While the two were sitting around in the base, a news report about the attack on The Battle Chateau came on the TV. At first they were grumpy, as they were supposed to be the one carrying out that attack. But then, Sarah noticed something. She spotted Maple on the screen, swimming away from the blast and under the Chateau itself. She got Sam's attention and pointed Maple out on the screen.
The two watched as Maple got away from the carnage without anyone getting their hands on him. They gaped as Admin Homura fell for those two boys' trick and watched as Maple, Citron, and those other 4 trainers who they were travelling with them escaped from them and carry on. Sarah leaned forward and whispered in Sam's ear. "You know what this means Sam?" she asked quietly. Sam nodded his head. "It means that we're the only ones who can catch Maple and Citron, and retrieve the Jade Orb" he replied. Sarah nodded. Then, they began making plans for how to sneak out of the Team Terra base and catch up to Maple and Citron. The two spent most of the best day working this out, but eventually, they managed to come up with a fool proof plan to sneak out of the base.
At midnight that night, the pair grabbed their disguises and positioned themselves in the correct spot for their escape. They also wanted to make a fake version of themselves in their beds, but decided that would be too stupid. So instead, they left a note explaining that they went out to finish their task. Their plan was a smart one if Sarah did say so herself. They hid in two rubbish bins right next to the rubbish depository. Sarah's plan was for them to be dumped into it, then once they land amongst the rubbish, they make a break for it until the building's out of sight. From there, all they had to do was track Maple and Citron down, steal the Jade Orb and bada-boom bada-bing, they were in the Big Boss's good graces.
But, just as they were about to be picked up, they overheard C talking to one of the other Team Terra agents. "Have any of you seen C-03 and C-05?" he asked. "They've been bugging me a lot recently about letting them go out, so I've wish to send them out just to get them out of my hair." Realising that they were making a terrible mistake, the two tried to climb out of the bins they were hiding in. But before they could get out, the bins were picked up by the claw of the rubbish depository, and thrown through the chute. The pair crashed into the rubbish bin on the outside, covered in rubbish and grime. Sam coughed at the awful smell. "I told you this was a bad idea!" he said, rubbing rubbish off of himself and gagging from the smell of his uniform. He fished around his pockets to make sure he had everything, then climbed out of the bin. Sarah scrambled after him. "How was I supposed to know C would be sending us out!?" she retorted angrily. "I never said that!" Sam argued. "But we could've done literally anything else to leave the building than the Arceus damned rubbish depository!" Sarah had no response to that, so she led the way up to the main road.
Once the two of them were standing in the main road, Sarah pulled her Nav out and scanned through it. After a minute or so of searching, her face lit up. "Found it!" she announced. Sam looked over. "If the girl is still going after gym badges," Sarah explained, "then chanced are they'll be heading to the nearest city with a Gym. And the nearest one is…" She trailed off and showed Sam her Nav. On it was the name of a city. "Cyllage" Sam read aloud. Sarah nodded. "It's the nearest city to the Battle Chateau," she explained. "Meaning they'll most likely show up here." Sam grinned at this news. "Well then," he said, "Why don't we head there ourselves." Sarah grinned too and lead the way to this city.
But as it turned out, that would be easier said than done. The two had to travel quite quickly to cover the distance, as not only did Maple and Citron have a one day head start, but Sarah and Sam also had to cover twice the distance, as the base they were sent to was in Lumiose. So, they needed to get a move on. However, they knew that they had one thing working in their favour. For some reason, Maple liked to stop at every space with an abundance of pokémon. The two would then spend hours there while Citron trained and Maple sat there staring at some pokémon and at something on his lap. Sarah recalled him mentioning a notebook when the two tried to steal his bag, and she was growing more curious about it each day. As they got closer, she began to think about getting her hands on this notebook, to see why he cared so much about it.
Then, to add to their annoyances, they spotted a few Team Terra agents going in to steal their glory. Like this duo of poachers who wished to steal the Jade Orb from Maple should he try to interfere with their transporting of two Kirlia from Hoenn. Not wanting to be outdone by those two bozos, Sarah and Sam quickly learned where the two poachers were headed, then fiddled with the armoured plating of their truck so that it would be less defensive. Then, once they learned that a man named Ammon Donovan was tracking those poachers down, Sam left a clue for him as to which h route the pair would be taking. They would later come to learn that Maple and Citron met with Donovan later the very next day and cursed at the missed opportunity.
But, not only did they have to deal with missed opportunities such as that, but they also had to purchase themselves disguises after they were spotted and nearly arrested several times. It was rather tricky to get their hands on anything since they were wanted criminals due to the uniform, but they managed to steal two large duffle coats, two fedoras, and two sunglasses. Sam fashioned the fake moustache himself out of leftover fabric he found next to a textile shop. Now that they had a means to hide themselves, they found it a lot easier to walk around in Broad daylight as they pursued the two kids.
But, as was becoming of the two, they also befell many misfortunes on their journey. For example, a big storm occurred during one of the days of pursuit. The wind was so strong that it knocked the two into a river, sending them hurtling for miles in the opposite direction of where they wanted to go. By the time they got back to where they were, cold and wet, the storm had dissipated. They learned when they stopped at a pokémon centre that the storm had dissipated right before it reached the place where Sarah estimated Maple and Citron were, meaning that neither of them were slowed by the storm at all. "It's a if the universe doesn't want us to have that Orb" Sam complained as he and Sarah dried off.
Another example of the great misfortunes that befell them is the night before this one. The two were very grateful to be one day away from the City, and one day away from nabbing the Orb from Maple. But, it was becoming quite late, so they decided to set up camp at the base of a cliff. But, as they'd just finished pitching their tents, something huge lit up the sky. The two turned to see some makeshift fireworks rise high into the air and explode with marvellous colour. They were so focused on how beautiful the lights were, that they failed to notice some of the sparks from the light show landed on their tents, lighting them on fire. The two spent much of the evening trying to put the flames out, and were so tired afterwards that they ended up sleeping until 2 o'clock the next day.
But, despite all they had endured, and all of these trials, they had finally caught up with Maple and Citron. They only just arrived in the centre in their disguises when Sam spotted Citron's bright yellow hair. The two immediately bought newspapers and hid behind them, not paying attention to the fact that that the papers were upside down. The two watch as Maple and Citron sit at another table and plot out something, but neither of them can see what. Judging by Citron's excitement, it's clear she's already won her second badge. "What should we do Sarah?" Sam asks quietly. "They're right there, so it'd be easy to steal the Orb from him." "Patience Sam," she replies just as quietly. "We don't want to draw any attention to ourselves, so I say we wait until they're asleep and take it from them then." Sam agrees to this plan, and the two wait patiently behind their newspapers for Maple and Citron to move.
Max and Bonnie continue to sit and plan out their next move for a few hours. Eventually, the clock struck 10, and the two decide to head up to bed. They pack their stuff together and put them in Bonnie's bag, much to the disappointment of the two spying on them, and head up to the room that Max booked. Once they get up there, their jaws drop with surprise and a little bit of horror. The room only has one bed. A double bed. Both of their faces go a little red at the idea of sleeping in the same bed as each other.
Max goes back downstairs to try and book another room, but unfortunately for them that one is the last one available. So, the two try to offer to sleep on the floor while the other takes the bed, but their back and forth took a long time with no progress, so they decide to just bite the bullet and sleep on the bed together, making sure to be as far apart as possible without hurting the other's feelings or falling off the bed. They take it in turns to use the bathroom and change into their pyjamas, then, they climb into bed and prepare for a really awkward sleep.
Right before she goes to sleep, Bonnie let's Dedenne out of his ball. It's something she does because Dedenne likes to sleep curled up in Bonnie's arms. However, once she's asleep, he crawls out from her grip and climbs onto the bedside table to admire the sleeping pair. Dedenne loves his mistress, and thinks it's really sweet of her to try to find a mate for her older brother, his old master. But sometimes he thinks that she deserves a mate of her own. So, when Max came into their lives and Bonnie started to behave in a different way around him Dedenne decided that he would be perfect as her mate. So, he began to try to find ways to help them realise that they belong together. However, this instance was purely coincidental, but he's still very happy that it happened.
As he continues to admire the sleeping forms of the two kids, his ears perk up at the sound of someone outside of the door. Then, he hears the sound 9f someone slowly opening the door and trying to come in. At first, he's quite cross that someone would try to interrupt his mistress and her crush's sleep, but then he gets even more angry when he realises that it's the two morons who tried to kidnap him on the day he met Max, and the ones who've been chasing them all this time.
He doesn't know what they want, but he doesn't care. He will not let them interfere with his hard work. He quietly jumps down from the bedside table and creeps along the floor until he's at the feet if the two intruders. Then, right as they're about to reach Max's bag, he gives the male a mild shock.
Sam jumps with fright as he feels something electrocute him a small bit. He has to slam his hands over his mouth to prevent himself from crying out. Sarah rounds on him to demand what he thinks he's doing, when she suddenly feels the same shock that Sam received. She very nearly cried out from the pain and just about manages to avoid falling to the floor. The two of them look down to find the source of the shock, but find nothing. Then, something jumps onto Sam's head and shocks him again. He tries to swat at whatever it is, but it leaps off of his head and onto Sarah's.
Sarah freaks out and runs out of the room, with Sam in hot pursuit. He grabs a sweeping brush in order to smack whatever it is that's hurting them. Sarah runs outside and leaps into some long grass. Then, she proceeds to roll around in it in order to shake the thing off of her head. Once it's off, the two agents get a good look at it. They have just enough time to register that it's the small mouse that travels with Citron, when it gives them a massive electric shock, and sends them flying.
Dedenne stares off at his handiwork as the two evil people go flying further into the grass before landing with a thud. He runs up closer to them and sees that they're dazed and possibly unconscious. Satisfied with his handiwork, Dedenne lets out a mighty squeak of victory, then runs back into the pokémon centre and back up to the room his mistress and her crush are sleeping in. He arrives back in the room to see that they're still asleep. He smiles, then runs up to Bonnie. He's about to curl back into her arms, when he gets an idea.
Carefully, without waking the two up, he slowly rotates his mistress until she's facing Max's direction. Then, he carefully clambers over Max and does the same to him, so that he's facing Bonnie. Grateful that the two are light sleepers, he smiles happily at his handiwork, then curls into Bonnie's arms and falls asleep, excited to see how the two will react when they wake up tomorrow.