Disclaimers: As much as I may want to claim ownership of this production, I can't because Pokémon belongs to a whole lot of different companies that I can't remember the names of at the moment. Any characters that appear in this fic that is not a part of the original series, belong to me so don't take them without asking first.
Summary: It's been two years since his adventures traveling through the Hoenn region with Ash, Brock, and May came to an end, and now it's time for Max to shine! Join Max as he travels through the Pokémon world in his search to become a Pokémon Master.
Glossary:
"{bold}" = Pokémon language
'italics' = thoughts
Max wondered around the forest outside of Little Root Town by himself. After a quick discussion, both he and Kenny had decided to split up and meet back at a nearby stream so they could catch some Pokémon on their own.
He had already managed to catch a Wingull, nicknamed Kiara, using Hyde, and two Wurmple, Duo and Matrix, using Ganon, and was now letting the grass type rest in it's pokéball while he let Hyde have another chance. Now the duo were now searching the area for more Pokémon, before heading back to meet up with Kenny.
Hyde was walking quietly beside him as they walked around the forest, when the dog suddenly stopped in mid step and perked up his ears as if listening for something.
"What is it, Hyde?" Max asked, stopping where he was, as he looked around for any sign of what his Pokémon might have heard, "Did you hear something?"
Hyde continued looking around the path, in search of whatever had caught his attention, while sniffing the air, before letting out a loud bark as he took off running towards some bushes and disappeared into them.
"Hyde! Wait up!" Max cried out as he ran towards the bushes, pushing his way through the bushes as he goes and getting injured in the process, "Where'd you go?!"
As he got past the bushes, he didn't see Hyde anywhere in sight, but could hear the dog's barking coming from somewhere nearby, when he suddenly heard what sounded like a Pokémon's distressed cry for help.
Following the sound to its source, he came upon the sight of Hyde jumping around a thorn bush, where a white skinned Pokémon with green 'hair' and two red horns sticking out of it's head, was struggling to get free from a thorn bushes.
"Ralts!" Ralts let out a pain filled wails as it was cut up by the thorns as it tried to get loose and away from the dog Pokémon in front of it.
'I can't believe it. A Ralts!' Max thought as he pulled out his pokédex and pointed it at the Ralts. 'What's it doing around here for? This areas not where they are normally found...'
RALTS, THE FEELING POKÉMON. FEMALE. RALTS HAS THE ABILITY TO SENSE THE EMOTIONS OF PEOPLE. IF ITS TRAINER IS IN A CHEERFUL MOOD, THIS POKÉMON GROWS CHEERFUL AND JOYOUS IN THE SAME WAY.
'Poor thing needs help,' Max thought as he put down his backpack, opened the flap and pulled out a Swiss Army knife, then started walking towards the thorn bush, "Hyde back off! Can't you see your scaring it?"
Hyde immediately backed away from the bush at the sound of the reprimand in his trainers voice, taking a few steps backwards and sat down with a unhappy look on his canine features.
At the sound of heavy footsteps on the forest floor, Ralts looked up and instantly froze at the sight of the human boy heading it's way, as it renewed it's struggles to get free before it was caught.
"Calm down Ralts," Max said soothingly as he bent in front of the thorn bush and started hacking at the branches that trapped Ralts. "I'm only here to help you out, not catch you. It wouldn't be right for me to do that when your like this."
"Ralts?" Ralts said as she stopped her struggles to look at the human curiously, immediately sensing the sincerity in the humans words as she relaxed.
After a few minutes, Max finally had Ralts free from the thorn bush and carried the now docile Pokémon in his arms as Ralts tiny hands clutched his shirt in a tight grip, back to his backpack where he sat Ralts on his lap as he sat down next to his pack, and pulled out one of his medicine bottles from his pack.
"Ralts?" Ralts asked as she looked at the bottle Max pulled out suspiciously, as she sat in his lap.
"This is Pokémon medicine called Full Restore. It'll help you heal faster. But it'll sting a bit." Max said as explanation as he held out the spray can for Ralts to inspect, before he started shaking it up and uncapped it, "As soon as you're healed you can go on your way, okay?"
Ralts nodded her head in understanding, then let out a tiny squeak of pain when the spray hit her cuts, her eyes widening in surprise as the cuts disappeared within seconds of coming in contact with the spray.
"See? That wasn't so bad was it?" Max said smiling a bit, as he gently set Ralts on the ground, and reached back into his backpack to return the spray can, and pulled out a tin filled with Pokémon food.
Scooping out a small handful of Pokémon food into his hand, he held it out to Ralts who looked at the offering warily.
"Here, go ahead and take it. A good friend of mine made this, so it should be pretty good," Max said, still smiling a bit as he held out the food towards Ralts, waiting patiently for the Pokémon to make the first move, "I don't know if you're hungry or not, but I thought you might want something to eat."
Ralts seemed to consider the offer for a few minutes, before stepping forward and lifting a small hand into Max's cupped hand, and picked up one of the pebbles of food, sniffed it for a second before popping it into her mouth and chewed on it a few moments before letting a happy cry of delight and started reaching into Max's hands for more.
"Like it, do you? I thought you would," Max said, as he held the Pokémon chow in one hand while Ralts continued grabbing pellets out of it, "Brock's a pretty good cook when it comes to both human and Pokémon food."
As Ralts continued eating the Pokémon food from his hand, Max poured what was left of the food into his left hand and continued holding it out to Ralts, as he used his free hand to pull out a napkin, and wrapped up the remaining pellets inside, and hands it to Ralts, who takes it with a questioning look on her features as she looked up at Max, as he stood up and picked up his backpack.
"Looks like I'll be seeing you Ralts. I promised I wouldn't capture you and I won't," Max said as he smiled down at Ralts, before turning on his heel, and started to walk away, "Try and keep out of thorn bushes next time."
"Ralts?" Ralts said, as she looked at the wrapped bundle of food that Max had just given her, then back at Max, as she held the bundle in her arms, as she watched Max's retreating back.
"Tree?"
"Rowr?"
"What is it you guys?" Max asked as he also stopped and watched his Pokémon, as he also looked around for any sign of what had caught the duo's attention, "Do you hear something?"
"Raaallltttsss...."
Max stopped dead in his tracks when he heard that familiar cry, as he looked around in search of where it came from before a faint rustling sound coming from some bushes.
After a minute or so, the Ralts Max had rescued earlier emerged from the bushes still clutching the napkin he had given her earlier, and came to a stop a few feet away from Max and others.
"Ralts!" Ralts said as she held up the napkin towards Max.
"No way Ralts. I told you already that the food's for you to eat. I have plenty more food where that came from, so I don't need it." Max said as he bent down to gently push the napkin back towards Ralts, "I want you to have it. Now I have I have to meet up with a friend of mine. I'll see ya later."
Standing back up, Max turned to continue walking in the direction he'd been heading, when he heard Ralts call out to him again.
Turning back around he saw that Ralts was still following him, and had stopped walking at the same time as he had and was now looking up at him with an expectant look on it's face, as she set the napkin down and pointed first at him then at his pokéball belt.
"What is it, Ralts? I thought I told you..." Max asked, confusion sounding his voice as he bent back down so he could look back at it, before understanding finally hit him, "Do you want to come with me and be my Pokémon? Is that why you won't stop following me?"
"Ralts!" Ralts exclaimed excitedly, nodding her head excitedly as she looked up at Max with a happy look on her face.
"Well, if your sure about that," Max said as a huge smile appeared on his features, as he pulled off an empty pokéball from his belt, bent down and gently tapped it on top of Ralts head, "Welcome to the team, Ralts."
The pokéball immediately popped open and sucked the psychic Pokémon inside, shook once before settling down with a loud ding.
"What do you think, guys?" Max picked up the pokéball, and turned around to show it to Ganon and Hyde who moved back to stand at his sides, "We have ourselves a new member to the team."
Kenny was sitting on a tree stump with his Eevee resting on his lap while he ran a brush through her fur, while on the ground three Pokémon were busy eating the Pokémon food he had laid out. The new Pokémon with Kenny were an Azurill, a Taillow, and a scruffy looking Zigzagoon.
"Hey Kenny!" Max called as he ran the rest of the way to his friend, and came to a stop a few feet away from the other boy, "I'm sorry that I'm late meeting up with you but something came up. Have you been here for long?"
"Hey Max, It's okay. I haven't been waiting long." Kenny said, giving a slight shrug of his shoulders, when he looked up to see the other boy coming his way, and see his Eevee on the ground to go play, "I just got here a few minutes ago. So, how'd you do?"
"I caught two Wurmple, a Wingull, and a Ralts." Max said, as he pulled off his pokéballs and released his Pokémon, before sitting down and pulling off his backpack to get the food out and grinned over at his friend, "I see you didn't do that badly yourself, Kenny."
"Wow! Where did you catch a Ralts?" Kenny asked as he looked at the psychic Pokémon in surprise, "I didn't think you could find them around this area."
"I don't know what she's doing around here, but she was caught in a briar patch, and after I cut her loose, I let her go free," Max said as he looked over at his Pokémon who were now interacting with Kenny's Pokémon, as he pulled out his own food and sat on a nearby log, "'cause it didn't seem fair to catch her under the circumstances."
"If you let her go free, then why's she with you now?" Kenny asked as he pulled out his own lunch from his backpack, and took a seat next to Max on the log, "Or is this a different Ralts?"
"Nope. It's the same one." Max said as he looked over at Ralts as she hung back from the rest of the Pokémon as they played a game of tag, "I ran into her again on my way to meet you, and it turns out that she wanted to join my team so I caught her."
"Oh okay." Kenny said, before taking a bite out of his sandwich, and glanced back down at the rest of Max's Pokémon with interest, "Why'd you capture two Wurmples?"
"I want to try and get both a Beautifly and a Dustox. Their both cool evolutions." Max explained, sat down and started taking out food, "By the time their ready to evolve, I'm kind of hoping that one of them will evolve into a Silcoon and the other one into a Cascoon."
"Okay," Kenny said, as he took a sip from his can of soda, before turning his attention back to Max who was now eating out of a bag of chips he'd packed. "so where are we heading to next once we leave Oldale Town?"
"What do you mean?" Max asked as he glanced over at Kenny with a confused look on his face, as he offered the bag to Kenny who reached in and took a small handful of chips.
"Well, our first gym battle is going to be at your dad's in Petalburg City right?" Kenny asked as he popped one of the chips into his mouth, "Do you have any advice for how to get through his gym?"
"Here's my advice." Max said, as he shook his head, while popping another chip into his mouth, and chewed on it for a few seconds as a thoughtful look appeared on his face, "It'd be better if we skipped challenging my dad's gym, and work our way back to it after battling the other gyms."
"Why don't you want to challenge your dad's gym first?" Kenny asked, confusion filling his voice as he looked at Max and waited for the other boys answer, "It'd make a lot more sense to do it now than later since we'll already be passing through."
"Because I know the kind of Pokémon my dad uses in the gym. He specializes in Normal-type Pokémon, and all of them are at really high levels," Max explained, as a worried look appeared on his face as he glanced over at their Pokémon who were still playing amongst themselves, "If we challenge him now, our Pokémon wouldn't stand a chance against his this early in our Pokémon journey."
"His Pokémon are really that strong?" Kenny asked, his eyes widening in surprise as he saw the serious expression on Max's face.
"Yeah. We'll need a lot of training," Max said, as he finished off the last of the chips and crumpled up the bag, and put the bag into his backpack to throw away later, "before we'll even stand a chance of taking on my dad and winning."
"You know, Tommy, you should try catching a grass type or a water type before we reach Rustboro and challenge Roxanne," Max said as he looked over Tommy's group of Pokémon as they interacted with his own, "Against her Rock and ground types you won't have a chance."
"Yeah, I know, But it'll be some time before we get to Rustboro, so I'm not worried," Tommy said with a slight shrug of his shoulders as he turned to grin and Max, "I have plenty of time to try and catch either type before then."
"With my Wingull and Treecko, I'll already be set by the time we get there." Max said
While the two boys talked, Ralts approached Max once she was out of her pokéball, and pulled on his pants leg to get his attention, and Max looked down at her a moment before bending down to pick her up and placed her on his lap.
"That reminds me," Max said, as he looked down at Ralts as she rested in his lap, as a thoughtful look appeared on his features, "I haven't given you a name yet."
"Ralts?" Ralts said as he looked up at Max in confusion, cocking her head to one side as she looked up at him.
"Well I give all of my Pokémon names, instead of simply calling them by their species names," Max said as he lifted Ralts up so that they were now looking each other directly in the eyes, "it'd make it easier in case I caught more than one of the same species. So, would you like a name too, Ralts?"
"Ralts!" Ralts said, nodding her head excitedly as she smiled up at Max.
"Okay, then I'll call you Jade." Max said just as the rest of his Pokémon finished off the last of their food and came over, and Max smiled down at them as he turned Jade around so she could get a look at the others, "Hey you guys. Hyde and Ganon have already met her, but I'd like the rest of you to meet the newest member of our team, Jade."
The Pokémon all greeted Jade as they gather around Max, before they pulled away from him a moment later to go play with Kenny's Pokémon, inviting her to come join them, but she refused to be moved from Max's lap.
"I see that Jade has already become attached to you, Max," Kenny said, as he watched the psychic Pokémon sit on Max's lap, who was now chatting with Azuril who had wondered over, and was sitting on her tail.
"I know, it's just that I've always had a knack for making friends with Pokémon, even ones that are still living out in the wild," Max said, a rueful sigh escaping his lips, as he looked back at the Pokémon, as he gently placed a hand on top of Jade's head, "I sometimes wish I could be able to talk to Pokémon, and be able to understand exactly what their saying to me."
"Yeah it'd be cool if we could understand what Pokémon really are saying, I'd guess," Kenny said, when suddenly his eyes widen in shock when he glanced back at Jade, "Max watch out!"
"What?" Max said as he turned his gaze away from Kenny to try and see the source of his warning, when a sudden flash of white light hit him, causing him to cry out more in surprise than pain as the power behind the light washed over his body.
'What happened?' Max wondered as everything around him suddenly started to go black, as he felt his body start to fall as he heard Kenny's and the Pokémon's panicked cries, 'Why did Jade attack me for...'
"{I didn't do anything wrong! I was only trying to help!}"
"{How?! By knocking him out cold?! That's really helping! Your just lucky he's okay or else I'd...}"
Max came back to consciousness to find himself flat on his back on the grass, and looking up at the sky in confusion. As his mind cleared more he thought he could hear what sounded multiple voices arguing from somewhere close by, but didn't recognize any of them.
'Wha... What happened? How did I wind up on my back?' Max wondered to himself as he tried to sit up, only to let out a low moan when the sudden movement caused his head to start spinning, 'Oh yeah. Now I remember. Ralts did something and...'
"Max! Are you okay?" Kenny voice cried out, when he saw that the other boy was now awake, "You had us all worried for awhile there."
"Not so loud, Kenny. My head hurts," Max whined, as he closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again to look back up at Kenny with a worried look on his face, "What happened? And how long was I out for?"
"Not long, probably just a minute or two. I don't really know what happened. One second we were talking," Kenny said shaking his head as he looked back at Max with a worried look on his face, "then Ralts was pointing a glowing hand at you, then there was a flash of light, and next thing I know you were lying on the ground out cold. How do you feel?"
"Like a Snorlax fell asleep on top of me," Max said, as he focused more on his surroundings, as he looked around in search of the other voices he was hearing, "Hey, is someone else here with us?"
"Nope it's just us here along with the Pokémon," Kenny said, confusion on his face as he looked down at Max, and reached down to steady the other boy when he tried to sit up, "Why do you ask?"
"That's weird. I thought I heard voices when I woke up," Max said as he gratefully accepted Kenny's help as he sat up, and looked around for the Pokémon, "Where's Jade?"
"After you collapsed from whatever Ralts did, Hyde and Ganon group tackled her." Kenny said, as he looked over at something on Max's left side, "Now Hyde's got her pinned on her back."
Max slowly pushed himself up, and looked towards where Kenny was staring at, to see that Hyde indeed had the psychic type Pokémon pinned to the ground, his fur sticking up and teeth bared angrily as he glowered down at Ralts who was squirming underneath him. Ganon and the rest of Max and Kenny's Pokémon were surrounding the two when he stopped dead in his tracks, when a somewhat familiar voice cried out to him in panicked tones..
"{Max! Please tell Hyde to get off of me!!}" Jade cried as she looked over at him from her spot on the ground, her red eyes pleading with him was underneath her green hair, "{They're going to hurt me if you don't call them off!}"
'Did I really just hear that?' Max thought, blinking a bit as he tried to clear his mind, as he stared at his Pokémon in shock. 'It's impossible. She couldn't' have spoken in English just now, yet...'
"{Why are you calling for Max's help for? He can't understand you.}" Hyde asked as he kept his paws on Jade's back to keep her on the ground, as he glanced up at Max for a moment before quickly turning his gaze back onto Jade, "{You're just lucky Max is awake now.}"
"{He can understand us now!}" Jade exclaimed as she squirmed a bit underneath Hyde's weight, as she tried to break loose, "{At least that's what the attack I did was supposed to do.}"
'Okay, now I'm sure I heard that,' Max thought to himself as he glanced over at Kenny and saw that the other boy didn't seem to notice anything different.
"Kenny, do the Pokémon sound... different to you?" Max asked in a low whisper so the Pokémon wouldn't hear him.
"Different? How?" Kenny asked as he gave the other boy a confused look on as he helped Max stand up, as he turned his gaze back on the Pokémon for a moment, "They don't sound any different than they always have."
"You'd think I was crazy if I told you," Max said as he turned his attention back on the Pokémon just as Ganon spoke up.
"{That's impossible, there's no way he can understand us now,}" Ganon said, as he crossed his spindly arms over his chest over his, "{Human's can't understand Pokémon speech.}"
All of the Pokémon nodded their heads in agreement as they turned their gazes on Jade who was still looking towards Max with a hopeful look on her face.
"Guess again Ganon," Max said, a rueful smile appearing on his face, as all of the Pokémon turned their gazes back on him with surprised looks, "I can understand what you just said perfectly."
"{What?!}" Hyde yelped, as he eyes stared intently at Max in surprise, while keeping a firm paw on Jade's back to keep her in place, "{It can't be.}"
"Max, are you okay?" Kenny asked as he looked worriedly at Max a moment then looked back at the Pokémon, and saw the stunned looks on each Pokémon's face, "What going on?"
"Don't ask me," Max said as he rubbed the back of his head tiredly, as he looked back at the group of Pokémon as they stared at him, before glancing over at Kenny, "It seems that I can understand exactly what our Pokémon are saying now."
"{How can you understand us now, Max?}" Ganon asked as he walked over to his trainer, as a curious look appeared on his reptilian features.
"We're going to have ask Jade that, Ganon," Max said, turned to look at the dog Pokémon, raising his voice a bit so he could be heard over the commotion the other Pokémon were making, "Hyde! Let her go already. Except for a minor headache that's already going away, I'm okay."
"{Aw, do I have ta?}" Hyde whined as he looked over at Max with a worried look on his canine face as he glanced over at Max, before finally stepping off of Jade's back, with a grumbled "{All right fine.}"
Walking over to the group, Max bent down to lift Jade up into his arms, and looked down at her tear-filled eyes as she looked back at him with a worried look on her face. "Jade what did you do?"
"{You said that you would like to be able to understand us, so I gave you the ability to do so,}" Jade said as she reached up with her arm to rub at her tearing eyes, as she looked back up at Max, with worried eyes shining from under her green hair, "{your not mad with me are you?}"
"I'm not mad, at least not completely," Max said, sighing a bit as he reached up with one hand to rub his forehead warily, before looking back down at Jade as she stared up at him, "Though a little warning would have been good you know."
"{I didn't mean for you to get knocked out because of it.}" Jade said, as she looked away from Max, and refused to meet his gaze, "{I didn't meant to hurt you like that. I didn't think it would...}"
"{Ya didn't think at all!}" Hyde barked out as he glared at the psychic type from where he sat on the ground next to Ganon and the others, "{Ya could have really hurt Max with whatever ya did.}"
"Look it's okay, you guys. I don't think she meant any harm really," Max said, as he rubbed his temples with one hand as he looked down at the panicking Ralts, as she stared back up at him with worried red eyes, "You were just trying to give me what I wanted, and it worked."
"We're finally here. I thought we'd never get out of that forest," Max said, a huge grin appearing on his face as he glanced down at the city, as he dropped his pack to the ground and stretched a bit, and immediately saw the Pokémon Center that was on the edge of town, "Hey I see the Pokémon center."
"I was beginning to wonder if we'd ever get out of that forest." Kenny said with a moan, as he glanced over at Max, while shifting his backpack into a more comfortable position on his back, "I just want to find a place to eat and sleep for the night. I wonder where the hotels are?"
"We don't have to worry about finding a place to stay for the night, as long as there's a Pokémon Center in town," Max said, as he bent over to retrieve his backpack and pushed his arms through the straps, "All Pokémon centers always lets trainers spend the night for free if we ask. Plus there's free food."
"That's great news," Kenny said as a wide smile appeared on his face, as they started walking down the hill, "I wonder if Tommy and Arisa have gotten here yet?"
"We'll have to wait until we get to the Pokémon center and find out," Max said, with a slight shrug of his shoulders as he started walking down the hill, passing by some old ruins on the way.
As they walked by, Max glanced over at the ruins for a moment with a thoughtful look on his face as they passed by. He could see a sign posted up in front of the ruins warning trainers to be careful inside.
'I wonder if those are the same ruins May told me about a few years ago,' Max thought silently to himself as he continued walking after Kenny who had gotten ahead of him, 'I guess they must have opened it up to the public, because of the Pokémon that were discovered in there.'
Author's Notes:
Sorry guys for the long wait in updating this story, but I hope that this chapter makes up for it. grins So what do you think of it? Review please.
What do you guys think about my giving Max the ability to understand what Pokémon say? I figured it'd be easier than just typing up what they say in their native language full time.
Max's Pokémon Team:
Treecko - Male - Ganon
Poochyena - Male - Hyde
Wurmple - Female - Matrix
Wingull - Female - Kiara
Wurmple - Male - Duo
Ralts - Female - Jade
========================
Kenny's Pokémon Team:
Eevee - Female - Pearl
Taillow - Male - Spiral
Azurill - Male - Quasar
Zigzagoon - Female
========================
Arisa's Pokémon Team:
Torchic - Female
Poochyena - Female
Lotad - Female
Surskit - Male
========================
Tommy's Pokémon Team:
Mudkip - Male
Wurmple - Female
Poochyena - Male
Zigzagoon - Male