Hideout in Vaniville Town

It takes them until the evening to reach the place Ash and Serena are staying. The two decide that they should inform Ash and Serena about Team Terra and the Jade Orb. The two agree that Bonnie will be the one to tell them, because there was always the chance that whatever's causing Max to be so protective of the Orb will not let him tell them anything. They also hope that Serena will know something about Team Terra, since she's a big pokémon performer. Chances are she's heard somethings while travelling. And Ash may know about the Jade Orb since he's been to every region.

The place they're staying at was a small town called Vaniville. It's a small town surrounded by various fields full of pokémon. Max leads Bonnie through the town until they come across the ranch that Serena had encircled. And, sure enough, Max spots Ash and Serena in one of the paddocks with the Rhyhorns. Ash is struggling to stay on it while Serena laughs at the sight. "I thought you said this would be easy!" she calls to her struggling boyfriend. "I'm just a little rusty ok!" Ash replies, before the Rhyhorn bucks him off angrily. As Serena checks to see if he's ok, Max and Bonnie begin laughing hysterically.

Ash stands up indignantly when he hears them. "I'd like to see you try staying on one of these!" he yells, before seeing who's laughing. "Max, Bonnie!" he exclaims, running over. Serena turns around and smiles at her old travelling buddy. "Nice to see the two of you found someone to travel with!" she says, leaning on the fence of the Rhyhorn paddock. Max and Bonnie walk over to the two. "Yeah, it's been fun so far," Bonnie replies happily, before giving Ash a side-eye. "And if I recall correctly, I had no trouble staying on them when I was six." Ash rolls his eyes and scoffs. "That was just a Skidoo" he mumbles.

"So, this is where you've been staying?" Max asks, looking around the stable for some sort of dwelling. Serena looks at him with confusion, before realising something and laughing. "Oh right!" she exclaims, laughing. "I was only joking Max; I don't actually live here." Ash and Bonnie stop bickering to look between the two. "When I handed Max a map of the region, I encircled this ranch and told him he'd find us here," Serena explains. "But I jokingly told him that we'd be living here since my mother would've no doubt had us spending a lot of time here. I had him come here since during the day no one's home. Sorry I never clarified that it was a joke" she added, rubbing the back of her head.

After clearing up the misunderstanding, Serena allows Max and Bonnie to ride the Rhyhorns. Bonnie is, of course, a natural. She seems to have a gift with communicating with pokémon and was able to get the Rhyhorn to trust her with relative ease. Max has more difficulty with the Rhino pokémon due to nerves. His first few goes have him in the dirt in under a minute. However, after analysing the Rhyhorn with his Observant State, he figures out a way to get it to trust him and is riding along with Bonnie in no time, much to Serena's amusement and Ash's chagrin.

"I still can't believe Bonnie and Max managed to ride the Rhyhorns before you did" Serena laughs, before kissing the bruise on Ash's cheek. It was now the early evening, and the four of them are in Serena's house. Her mother is away competing, so they have the place to themselves. The group is in the kitchen, eating the takeaway that Ash and Serena had ordered. "So," Ash says, "what's your journey been like so far?" Max and Bonnie chuckle. "Kinda similar to yours actually," says Max. "We're on our way to Santalune so Bonnie can compete against the gyms, and I can write about more pokémon. We've even got our own Team Rocket to deal with."

Both Ash and Serena laugh at the memory of the duo and their talking Meoth. "Have fun with them then," says Ash, "they ended up following me across the world. Who are the ones chasing you?" "Some group calling themselves Team Terra" Max replies. At that, Serena freezes. "Team Terra?" she asks nervously. Max and Bonnie look at her. "You know them?" Max asks. Serena nods apprehensively. Ash sees the look on her face and gives her hand a comforting squeeze. Serena smiles gratefully at him, before saying, "They're more serious and dangerous than Team Rocket," she explains. "They're something of an enigma. No one knows who their boss is or what they look like. It is also largely unknown what they hope to achieve. So far all we do know is that they were founded in Sinnoh some 3-4 years ago, they steal people's pokémon and they are dangerously clever."

Max and Bonnie laugh at that. "Not the people we're dealing with I can assure you that," sys Bonnie. "We managed to blast these two away, and then flee from a large group of them when Max used a bunch of repels as a smoke bomb." Ash rubs Max's head at that. "That's pretty clever," he says. "But why are they chasing you?" Max feels the urge to claim not to know, but he keeps quiet and allows Bonnie to explain. She explains how Max found the Jade Orb, that it kept him from telling people about it, and that Team Terra want it for unknown reasons. When she finished, Max finds that he no longer has the urge to hide it, so he rummages through his bag and pulls out the Jade Orb.

Ash and Serena stare at it. "Do you know what it does?" Max asks Ash, hoping he came across references to it on his travels. Unfortunately however, Ash shakes his head. "I haven't," he says sadly. "It looks similar to the Red and Blue Orbs that belong to Groudon and Kyogre. Maybe it has something to do with Rayquaza?" "Maybe it causes it's primal form" Max ponders. At that, the other three shake their heads. "If you mean Mega-Evolve, then no it doesn't," says Serena. "Rayquaza can Mega-Evolve simply by using a move called Dragon Ascent." "How do you know this?" Max asks. "We saw it ourselves a few years ago" Bonnie replies. Max looks back at the Jade Orb, completely baffled. If this didn't power up Rayquaza, then what did it do?

The two spend a few days in Vaniville. Max is paranoid that Team Terra would still be patrolling the area, so he and Bonnie agree to stay with Ash and Serena for a few days, just to be safe. The two are more than happy to have them, provided that they aid with the chores both around the house and with the pokémon. Max is more than happy to help with the Rhyhorn, since he's able to get a closer look at their behaviour and traits. When he isn't helping Serena out with them, he's sitting on a fence, scribbling everything he notices about the pokémon. Bonnie quickly notices how unaware of his surroundings he becomes when he's writing and makes a game of seeing how close she can lean into him before he's aware. By the time he notices, her nose is practically touching his cheek. Her closeness to him causes him to jump out of his skin, much to Bonnie's amusement.

However, a few days later, they decide that they've overstayed their welcome, and decide to head off to Santalune at last. Ash and Serena go with them, hand in hand. Bonnie notices with great joy that the two are inseparable. Eventually, they reach the entrance to Santalune and the start of Route 1. She and Max say goodbye to the couple, then set off back to Lumiose, hoping that Team Terra has since moved on.

Author's Notes: Going on hiatus until 15th June because of Final Exams