The Anistar Chronicle

Chapter 10: Too Much Distance

May's voice was consistently calm, but on the inside heart must have been racing. She had just received a random phone call telling her that her little brother was about to become a mind-slave to an evil organization. Bonnie had only ever worked for Team Lumière because she had no other choice - after she ran away, there were no other sources of income and it gave her a roof to sleep under. At first, Nova's goals seemed miles away. She had never even heard of The Anistar Chronicle before. But then Max Maple came along.

"I've told the Hoenn police and as we're so far away from Kalos there isn't much they can do. But closer regions are on the case. They're using helicopters to fly over there, I've done everything I can." She choked up a little, "I'm sorry I couldn't do more."

"No, no!" Bonnie was still sat on the gym floor, next to Max, who was drifting through a dreamworld. He was so close to her that they were touching, but he was millions upon millions of miles away at the same time. "I would be lost without you, May, I honestly can't thank you enough."

It was almost like she ignored that comment because something else distracted her, "Professor Birch asked me if Chamenos went to sleep when everyone else did. Is it awake?"

"Well, it's back in Anistar City, at the sundial, now. That's where it needs to be to control everyone. Its master can choose who it controls, which means for us it's everyone in Kalos apart from the team. I don't know, but based on the research I helped complete, I would presume that it's still awake."

"If it is, can I ask you who its official trainer is? Is it Max? Or this Nova person?" She inquired. "The professor is here with me if you can't tell." Bonnie presumed that May, not knowing of a better option, rushed to find Professor Birch, the Hoenn professor.

"It's Max." She was so frightened - she felt like a young child. "I think."

"Go to where it is and tell it that its trainer is in danger, this should make it snap out of whatever ungodly trance it's in, doing these favors for Nova. From the limited knowledge we have here in Hoenn, all we can tell you is that psychic types are the most intellectual of all: they know the borders between good and bad. Nova has blurred those for Chamenos, but if you get to it in time and try to connect with it, it might just be on the same wavelength as you." Listening to May's lovely, thick Hoenn accent, she glanced at Max.

She took his glasses off of his face so that they wouldn't be broken if he rolled over in his sleep. She wanted him to wake up like her brother had longed for her to return home for all of these months. Was Bonnie still Blossom? Was Blossom still Bonnie? With different clothes, different hair and a different name, at first she had been certain that she wasn't her old self. All she cared about was her selfish survival and the egotistical want to sleep inside a warm room and not on the freezing streets. She had been so foolish, to simply dismiss Nova's corrupt motives the way she did. It was indescribably pathetic, to only care about yourself, to ignore the bigger picture and the thousands upon thousands of people it would effect.

Chamenos was with Nova, there was nothing she could do when she finally got back to Anistar City in a tired, frizzy-haired mess. Nova saw her. "Miss Blossom?"

"Nova." She pulled out Rotom's Pokéball, "I'm doing this for you, Max." She said under her breath so that nobody heard. All of the grunts had gone back to the base, it was just her and Nova now. This was crazy, in a word, but she needed to do something. And besides, the police would be there soon, regardless. It was time. "Rotom, go!"

"Miss Blossom," her voice was far too silky to be comforting, "whatever are you doing?"

She glanced at Chamenos, who was hovering directly in front of the sundial, its eyes closed as if it was in a trance. "This isn't right, Nova. Why are we doing this?"

"Because, girl, I told you," she began, words long and breathy, "everyone should think alike. May I ask you a question? What happens when we disagree? What happens if we disagree and we have power?"

Bonnie felt like she wanted to be swept up by the wind, to fall asleep like all of these people scattered around Kalos and wake up safe and sound next to Max. Max who would still be himself: arrogant, egotistical and strikingly intelligent. The boy whose chubby arms gave the best hugs.

She wondered where Jake was. His secret feelings for the older woman, had they blurred his vision? Had they made the lines between good and bad unclear? He said it was nothing but the fact that he was nowhere in sight implied otherwise, at least how Bonnie saw it.

She didn't answer.

"I'll tell you - war. Why does war happen? Because humans can't get along, and when they're pitted above one another, was is the result." Her eyes lit up for a brief second like she wasn't so evil at all. "I'm envisioning a world free from discrimination, war, hatred, where everyone wakes up under the same sky, a world like the old one."

"And how is this going to work? How is using Chamenos' power going to help? What you're doing isn't teaching them to co-operate and live happily, it's taking their free will away from them entirely."

"Foolish girl, you're acting too big for your pigtails. You're only seventeen, what would you know? I gave you a home, I gave you food, I gave you friends. And what do you do? You disrespect me and question my ideas." She pulled a Pokéball from her pocket. "And besides, it's too late for you to stop me, Miss Blossom." She smirked and a shiny Pokémon emerged from its ball. "Aegislash, go!" A shiny Aegislash.

"Rotom, stay alert!" She waited for Nova to hit her.

"Attack form, Head Smash!" The Pokémon switched from its defensive form.

"Rotom, dodge!" She praised it as it missed the larger creature's pursuit in an attack. "Good boy! Now, Hidden Power whilst it's still in that form!"

"Aegislash, change form!" But it was too late, it had already taken a decent amount of damage.

"Shadow Ball!" The ball got straight in the middle of the Aegislash's shield. It didn't take a lot of damage. "I believe in you, Rotom!" Rotom whirred in the air, happily.

"Head Smash!" Aegislash took Rotom by surprise. It fainted.

"Rotom, return!" Bonnie withdrew it. "You tried your best, I'm sorry I let you down." She pulled out Skiddo's ball and was ready to throw it into battle until she heard a rustle in a nearby bush.

"Den-denne!" Dedenne jumped out from the bushes, directly in front of Nova.

"W-what? Dedenne? Did you follow me? Oh, I told you to stay with Clemont!"

Dedenne's whiskers sparked. "Den-den-dedenne!"

"You wanna fight, Dedenne?" Bonnie glanced at the powerful shiny in front of the tiny rodent creature. She knew this wasn't a good idea.

"Den-denne!" The Pokémon chirped in response.

"Well, alright, do your best!" She was shouting at the top of her lungs, "Nuzzle!" Ah, how she had loved to nuzzle her adorable, little companion when she was a young child.

Dedenne leaped up and suddenly the Aegishlash was paralyzed.

"Huh," Nova muttered, "you're a smart girl, Miss Blossom."

"Thunderbolt!" Aegislash was hit by a super-effective yellow bolt of pure power. It fainted.

Nova withdrew it. She collapsed onto her knees. That must have been the only pokémon, other than Chamenos, she had with her. "You're so foolish!" She started to cry and held her head in her hands.

"No, I'm not. What you're doing is wrong, Nova." Dedenne stood at her feet.

"B-But it can't be! If it was then why was Chamenos summoned for me? Don't you see? The Anistar Chronicle says that Chamenos appeared to Lylee Daniella when she was distressed, that's why it came for me!"

"But it didn't, and deep down you know that. You just won't admit to yourself."

"If not me, then who? Who else?"

"A boy."

"A boy? That's preposterous!"

"Not when that boy had just had his heart snapped in two. That boy needed Chamenos more than you ever could." She exhaled. "He's innocent and you're evil."