(Cubed Cinder; idea by DARNT00TIN)
May and Max walked up to the base of the Prism Tower and simultaneously
whistled.
"Wow… there aren't any structures in Hoenn that can remotely touch this tower!"
Max said.
"For once you're not kidding. I wouldn't be surprised if just one room of this
structure is bigger than the public library!" May said.
"Are you really sure this is where the Lumiose Gym is?" Max asked. May pulled a
leaflet out from her travel bag.
"That's what it says in the brochure. Maybe the gym leader is incredibly
wealthy." May said.
"I guess there's only one way to find out." Max said. The two nodded at each
other as they walked into the entrance of the tower.
However, almost the instant they set foot inside, a robot (that we knew as
Clembot) angrily walked up to the two, scaring them as they looked ahead.
"STOP! Nobody is permitted to enter this gym unless they have four badges or
more!" Clembot shouted.
"Waaaah! But I do! See, look! And in only a few weeks of traveling through this
region too!" May shouted as she pulled out her badge case and proudly showed off
the four badges she had already obtained from winning other gym challenges
around Kalos. Clembot stared at the badges for a few seconds, and then…
"Insufficient number of badges! You have five seconds to leave these premises or
I will be forced to zap you with more electricity than even a Raichu can
contain." Clembot said as lightning bolts suddenly surrounded its body from top
to bottom. May and Max backed away nervously, ready to escape from the gym.
"Geez… does that robot not know how to count!?" Max shouted. However…
"Clembot, stand down!" a male voice shouted from behind the robot. Clembot
suddenly fully powered down, standing lifeless in front of the two. That's when
they saw the source of the voice approach the robot. It was its builder,
Clemont.
"Sorry about that. Clembot here has been malfunctioning lately. No matter what I
try, it always finds a way to get its tough bot behavior back online." Clemont
said. He pushed a few buttons on the robot's back, and the three watched as
Clembot walked away from the hall and through another set of doors.
"Er… that's okay." May said.
"I am Clemont, the leader of the Lumiose Gym." Clemont said.
"I'm May, and this is my little brother, Max." May said. She and Clemont shook
hands.
"Well then, May. It's a pleasure to meet you. So are you here to challenge me or
are you just sightseeing? If you take those stairs, you'll reach the observation
decks." Clemont said.
"Oh? So this whole tower is not the gym?" Max asked.
"Heavens no! My sister and I, and Clembot if you count that, just have a couple
floors to ourselves. My dad feels it's easier on the wallet to just rent the
bottom two floors of this tower, along with our workshop down the street."
Clemont said.
"I see… what an interesting way of living!" May said.
"Heh… it's not much. I prefer to let my inventing skills do the talking! When
they're not blowing up in my face, that is." Clemont said.
"Anyway, Clemont. I am indeed here to challenge you to a gym battle!" May said
as she showed off her four badges to Clemont. Clemont smiled and adjusted his
glasses, allowing light to reflect off them.
"Well then, May! Come with me and we shall get started!" Clemont said as he and
the others went through the doors.
That's when the three came into the main battle area. May and Max were
impressed with the scenery, but then again, all gyms, especially the ones in
Hoenn, have been known to be a little flashy in order to entertain the crowds
that may be watching.
"Big brother!" a female voice suddenly shouted (with an echo thanks to the wide
open space of the battle room). The three looked to see Bonnie, Clemont's
younger sister, approaching.
"Oh, Bonnie? What's up?" Clemont said. Bonnie held up her bag with her faithful
Pokémon, Dedenne, sticking its head out, and it didn't look too good.
"Something's wrong with Dedenne. It's so tired, all of a sudden." Bonnie said.
"Denne…" Dedenne faintly said. Clemont looked closely at the Dedenne.
"Oooooh… that doesn't look good, although I'm sure it's nothing serious. Maybe
it's just tired… it has been up since early this morning." Clemont said.
"I hope so. Do you think I should take it to the Pokémon Center?" Bonnie asked.
"Oh… you must be Clemont's little sister that he mentioned?" May asked.
"That's right! And who are you two?" Bonnie asked.
"This is May and her younger brother, Max. May is here to challenge for the
Voltage Badge." Clemont said. Max, meanwhile, stared longingly at Bonnie. The
background suddenly changed to a heavenly one as Bonnie's face sparkled with
stars. Max was overcome with the vision of extreme beauty, especially as Bonnie
looked right at him.
"Hi! Welcome to Prism Tower! You look cute…" Bonnie said.
"Er… um… you're not so bad yourself… I mean…!" Max said.
"I take it he's 7 years old, just like Bonnie is?" Clemont said.
"Yep!" May said as she playfully rubbed Max's head of black hair.
"Hey! Stop messing with my hair!" Max shouted.
"Heehee… too bad! We're not in the Petalburg Gym anymore!" May said.
"Anyway, Bonnie, if you'll allow me, I'll take Dedenne to the Pokémon Center."
Clemont said.
"Okay, thanks." Bonnie said as she gently handed her bag, along with Dedenne
inside, over to Clemont.
May then got close to Clemont.
"Let me come with you. Our battle can wait. I care so much about Pokémon, I want
to make sure it's alright." May said.
"That's very kind of you, May. We can all go!" Clemont said.
"Actually, how about I stay behind? I wouldn’t mind giving Max a tour of the
rest of this gym." Bonnie said as she lightly tugged on Max's arm, which made
him blush a bit.
"Er… I…" Max said as he tried to find the words.
"I think that's a great idea! They could get to know each other too." May said
as she winked one of her eyes at her younger brother.
"Oooooooh! (I wish I could pull her ears like I used to do with Brock.)" Max
said as he grumbled to himself.
"We'll be back soon!" Clemont said as he and May walked out of the main room.
That left Max and Bonnie to themselves inside the gym.
"So, Max! Want to see my bedroom?" Bonnie asked.
"Okay, I guess…" Max said.
"Teehee… you're funny, Max. Shy, but funny." Bonnie said as she gently grabbed
one of Max's hands and forced him to follow from behind.
Eventually, the two made it to the bedroom. Max was impressed seeing it
decked out with Pokémon-themed posters and books all over the walls.
"Wow, this looks very nice." Max said.
"Thanks! I've been cleaning it up ever since my brother and I finished touring
the Kalos region." Bonnie said.
"Oh? You went touring?" Max said.
"Yeah! Mainly with these older kids named Ash and Serena." Bonnie said.
"You've traveled with Ash!?" Max shouted.
"Er… yes! You know him?" Bonnie asked.
"Do I ever! He traveled through the Hoenn region, where I'm from! May and I
traveled with him to make sure he didn't get lost and knew who to challenge. May
was so inspired… she put her contest career on hold so she could be a great
Pokémon Trainer like he was." Max said.
"Wow… that's impressive! Ash is such an inspiration to so many people. Serena
too… sigh… I miss her already. She's like a big sister. You must be lucky to
have a big sister." Bonnie said.
"Well… we have our brother-sister squabbles, but in the end, I don't know what
I'd do without her." Max said, which prompted a smile as she thought about her
relationship with her big brother, Clemont.
And speaking of big, that's what prompted her to show off her newest gadget,
and maybe put it to good use if it didn't explode in her hands.
"Oh! There's something else I gotta show you!" Bonnie said as she ran to a
nearby desk and picked up a wristband and also a smartphone-looking device.
"Here, can you put this on?" Bonnie asked.
"Huh? What is it?" Max asked.
"I call it a friendship bracelet. As long as you wear it, we can be friends
forever!" Bonnie said.
"Huh? Friends forever? But we only just met, and…" Max said.
"Pretty please, put it on? I wish I could have more friends from distant
regions." Bonnie said.
"Okay, okay. May would get mad at me if I turned down a request from a girl like
you." Max said as he slapped on the friendship 'bracelet.' Of course, I quote
bracelet because the true intentions of the device were about to become real for
Max. Bonnie smiled as Max finished attaching the bracelet around his wrist.
"Great! Say… how about we compare heights as our first act of friendship?"
Bonnie asked.
"Well… okay." Max said. He thought it was kinda silly to do something like that
considering he appeared to be the same height as Bonnie. But he nevertheless
played along. After handing Max a pencil, Bonnie tucked herself against the
wall, allowing Max to draw a line over the very top of her head.
"Okay, my turn." Max said. As he stepped aside and allowed Bonnie to move away,
Bonnie secretly was tapping away at the smartphone, where she was now looking at
two arrows. A pink arrow pointing up, and a blue arrow pointing down. She
quickly tapped the blue arrow once, watching as the wristband Max was wearing
briefly glowed. Once the glow faded away, Max stopped and held his head.
"Ooooooh…" Max said.
"Huh? Are you okay, Max?" Bonnie asked.
"Yeah, I am now. I felt this feeling of vertigo for a split second." Max said.
He then tucked himself against the wall, watching as Bonnie drew a line above
his head.
She smiled seeing the line a good bit below her own line.
"Look at that! It looks like you're shorter than I am!" Bonnie shouted.
"Huh? What are you…?" Max said as he looked back at his line to see it below
Bonnie's, and then he turned around and looked at Bonnie herself. She was almost
a full head taller.
"See? What did I tell you? We may be the same age, but I'm taller!" Bonnie said.
"N-n-no way! This is impossible!" Max said.
"Teeheehee! Okay, okay. I should level with you before you find out eventually.
You see this phone app here?" Bonnie said as she showed off the app with the two
arrows.
"Yeah?" Max said.
"It's called Resize Me. With just a touch of the screen, anyone aside from
whoever is using the app can be either enlarged or… in your case, shrunken!"
Bonnie said with a smile.
"WHAT!?" Max shouted.
"Watch when I touch the blue down arrow." Bonnie said as she showed off the
screen and tapped the blue arrow. Max watched as Bonnie appeared to grow even
bigger, but one glance at the floor getting closer and closer made him realize
he really was shrinking.
As he was looking down, he saw the bracelet he was wearing glowing with
energy. Eventually the energy faded away and Max stopped shrinking. He was now
exactly half the size of Bonnie (and his usual height).
"I get it! It's the bracelet!" Max said.
"Teehee… very good! The app communicates with the bracelet to make the
size-changing possible. You may be almost as smart as my brother!" Bonnie said.
Max looked all around the bracelet trying to rip it off.
"Don't waste your time. Only the app can unlock the bracelet." Bonnie said.
"You… I… I don't like this! Change me back to normal, please!" Max shouted.
"Don't worry. It's just as easy to grow you back to normal size. But I'll do
that when I feel like I've had enough fun." Bonnie said.
"No! I want to be back to my normal size now!" Max shouted. Bonnie had a
perturbed look on her face as she leaned towards Max, looking down on him like a
mother to her troubled child.
"You don't scare me!" Bonnie shouted, forcing Max to back away and trip over
himself. There was certainly no questioning over who was the most imposing in
the room.
Before Max could get back up, he watched as Bonnie got down on her hands and
knees and crawled towards him, eventually resting on her knees. Even when down
to the ground in this manner, Bonnie still towered over Max.
"Teehee… as long as you behave like a good little boy, maybe I won't shrink you
anymore." Bonnie said.
"Gulp…" Max said as he gulped nervously.
"Something wrong?" Bonnie asked.
"Well… I don't know. You look so big. The way you approached towards me was so…
overwhelming." Max said.
"Teehee! Am I really that big? It can't be THAT scary, honestly. I've had dreams
where I was as tall as this tower." Bonnie said.
"You have!?" Max said.
"Sure! Hey, wait here. There's something I'm just itching to do!" Bonnie said as
she stood back to her full height and walked away towards the closet. She opened
up the doors, pulled something out, and then quickly closed them. Bonnie was now
holding what appeared to be a 10 inch Tyranitar action figure, returning to
where Max was standing and getting down on her knees.
"Rawr! I am Tyranitar! I am the king of the monsters!" Bonnie said.
"Er… that's it? Just a Tyranitar toy?" Max asked.
"Haha! Not just any Tyranitar toy! I walk it around my toy city set, like it's
rampaging around and destroying everything. And then…" Bonnie said.
"And then?" Max asked.
"Then I come to the rescue and kick the monster clear out of the city!" Bonnie
said.
"Eh heh…" Max said. Bonnie set the Tyranitar toy aside and didn't look too
thrilled.
"What's wrong? Haven't you played with your Pokémon toys like that?" Bonnie
asked.
"Well… I didn't have many toys growing up, and I still don't. I'm more into
watching Pokémon battles on TV." Max said.
"I see. I guess I'm the same way, watching whenever Clemont has gym battles here
against other trainers. Still, you gotta have a little fun once in a while!"
Bonnie said. Max didn't say anything, and Bonnie could sense the dread from her
shrunken friend.
"You know, you could use a pick up." Bonnie said.
"Huh? A pick up? What the…!?" Max said, watching as Bonnie stood back to her
full height. As she did just that, however, she grabbed Max's sides with both
her hands, lifting him off the ground.
"Wheeee! We're going to have so much fun together… son!" Bonnie said as she
twirled around the room, taking Max for a ride like a mother with her child.
"Waaaaaah! Stop this! I'm getting dizzy!" Max shouted, but Bonnie didn't comply
as she spun around with him for another minute. At times, she would lift him
high above her head like a baby, which made him kick his legs about as he tried
to break free.
"Up you go!" Bonnie shouted as she raised him higher and higher.
"Put me down PLEASE! I'm scared of heights!" Max shouted.
"Alright, alright. Don't lose your glasses." Bonnie said as she lowered Max down
and gave him a quick hug before finally setting him back down on the floor. He
breathed heavily to catch his breath.
"Teehee… you know, I know of a way to reduce your fear of heights." Bonnie said.
"H-How?" Max asked. He watched as Bonnie picked up the phone again, causing him
to gasp.
"By reducing you even more so the floor is that much closer!" Bonnie shouted.
After a quick giggle, she tapped on the phone, and Max could only watch as
Bonnie and her room grew bigger.
"Eeeeek!" Max squealed as he wondered how much smaller he was going to get.
He soon found himself exactly one foot tall now, putting him just below eye
level with Bonnie's knees.
"Wow! You look cuter and cuter the smaller you get! Teehee!" Bonnie shouted.
"How tall am I exactly? Show me! Show me!" Max said as he jumped up and down
trying to see the screen of the phone. This only made Bonnie giggle more until
she finally broke into laughter.
"Hahahaha! I never thought I'd enjoy seeing you act like this! Go on, try and
reach it!" Bonnie said as she dangled the phone above Max, pulling it up the
instant he came close to touching the screen. Max finally clenched his fists and
stomped the floor beneath him.
"Quit teasing, Bonnie! This isn't funny anymore! Just you wait until my
sister finds out what you've done!" Max said as he walked up and kicked one of
Bonnie's ankles out of frustration. Bonnie didn't feel the hit much, but she
nevertheless kicked back, knocking Max down to his behind again as he looked up
at Bonnie resting her hands (with the phone in one of them) on her hips.
"Come on, Max. This is nothing to be embarrassed to be about. How many times in
your life will you get the chance to be teeny tiny and look up at a girl like
me?" Bonnie said.
"Ugh… aren't YOU embarrassed!?" Max countered.
"Huh? Embarrassed? Me? Why would you think that?" Bonnie asked.
"Well, I'm too small to do ANYTHING meaningful now. I mean… look! I can't even
reach this table anymore! Even if I stood on my tiptoes, how could I… say… eat
lunch?" Max asked.
"Hmmm… well, being small is not always a disadvantage! There are different games
we can play." Bonnie said.
"Like what?" Max asked.
"Well…" Bonnie said as she suddenly crouched down in front of Max, overwhelming
the young boy once again.
"She's so huge even when kneeling in front of me." Max said to himself as he
stared into Bonnie's eyes. And yet he was captivated. Maybe it was because of
Bonnie's bubbly jolly personality that she would show to everyone (except Team
Rocket).
"Like seeing how small you can really get?" Bonnie said with a smile.
"WHAT!? You mean this isn't the smallest size?" Max shouted.
"Teehee… nope!" Bonnie said. Max could feel the imaginary air deflate out of his
body. The size difference was crazy enough as it was. The oppressive feeling
from being surrounded by her entire body was making him anxious. Bonnie could
sense the tension and tried to lighten the mood.
"Aren't you curious?" Bonnie asked.
"Maybe, but… huh?" Max said as he watched Bonnie lower one of her hands and
stood it on its side next to Max.
"Look, see how big my hand is?" Bonnie asked.
"Yeah. Meeep!" Max said, then he shuddered as he felt his body diminish once
more. Bonnie's nearby hand loomed ever larger as Max shrunk more and more. After
about 10 seconds, the shrinking stopped. Max was now a mere 6 inches tall. He
watched as Bonnie stood back to her full height... almost straining his neck as
she towered over him.
"So what do you think now? Do I look big?" Bonnie asked.
"Of… of course! You're like a downtown building now!" Max said.
"Teehee! Good answer! I bet I'm big as that Tyranitar would be if this were a
monster rampage type movie." Bonnie said.
"I guess…" Max said as he tried to picture it in his mind. While Bonnie had the
size, but her looks were too different to really tell.
"Of course, you're small enough that I can do one fun thing right this instant.
Like the Great Destructor!" Bonnie said.
"The great what? What the!?" Max said, only to watch as Bonnie raised one of her
legs up, hovering her pink shoe above the shrunken boy.
"I squash you! Bwahahahaha!" Bonnie said with an intimidating (albeit acted)
evil laughter.
"Wait wait wait wait!!!" Max screamed as the shoe came down quickly. He ducked
down thinking it was over, but instead, Bonnie slammed her shoe down to the
side, just missing crushing him. The shockwave nevertheless knocked him down on
his behind yet again.
Bonnie got back down on her knees as she kneeled down again.
"Hahaha! Come on, I was only kidding! You knew that, right?" Bonnie asked.
"Heh. Heh heh… I knew that! I was… gulp… I was just a bit startled, so I
tripped. That's all!" Max said. Bonnie could easily see the shrunken boy
shivering with fear.
"It's okay to be scared. I know I would be if a giant person almost stepped on
me!" Bonnie said. She next lowered a hand down.
"Come on! I'll carry you." Bonnie said. Max finally found the strength to get up
and walk onto Bonnie's hand. The shrunken boy held on tight as Bonnie got back
on her feet. She smiled as she lightly poked the shrunken Max on his head.
"Aren't you just the cutest thing?" Bonnie asked.
"Oy… I'm just glad May isn't around to see this. Then again, maybe it's for the
best she's not the one holding onto me. I'd never hear the end of it." Max said
to himself as he looked down at the floor, noting how high it looked from where
he was.
"Wow… it's like I'm flying." Max said out loud.
"Isn't it? When I dream of being gigantic, I get the same feeling. It's like I'm
flying in the air like a Pidgey and I forget I'm walking around dozens of feet
tall." Bonnie said.
"I guess I can't argue with the view." Max said, prompting Bonnie to smile.
"Are you finally getting it, Max? That I'm not some big meanie who makes fun of
everyone smaller than me?" Bonnie said. Max felt she had a point. It wasn't like
she was bossing him around to do everything she asked. She did have a nice
gentle feeling to her palm, and she looked sincere in her happy expressions.
"Y-y-y-yeah. I think I'm getting used to it." Max said.
"Good! Because it's time for a new game." Bonnie said. Max was anxious to find
out what would happen next as he felt Bonnie lowering her hand downwards.
Max was eventually gently dropped on the table, which Bonnie took a seat
behind. At the same time, she placed her Tyranitar action figure on the table,
which was now a bit taller than Max himself.
"Rawr! Here comes the big, ugly Tyranitar!" Bonnie shouted as she thrusted
Tyranitar a few times towards Max.
"Huh? Don't you find it even a little bit threatening?" Bonnie asked.
"Well, a little bit, but…" Max said. Before he could say anything, though,
Bonnie whipped out the phone and tapped on the screen again. Max once again
shrunk… his size getting cut from 6 to 4 inches tall. Now even the Tyranitar
figure was towering over him. Certainly not as much as Bonnie herself, but he
looked nervous as Bonnie bounced the figure from left to right.
"You were going to call me a theater dummy, weren't you?" Bonnie asked.
"What!? No no no! That's not what I was thinking at all!" Max frantically
shouted.
"Teehee… so what do you think is scarier? The Tyranitar… or my hand?" Bonnie
said as she set aside the figure and hovered a hand above Max. She brought the
hand closer and closer, and Max did not get a good feeling about this.
"Waaaah! Please don't crush me with the hand ceiling!" Max shouted. Seconds
later, Bonnie pulled the hand back.
"Hand ceiling? I like that, actually! Clever play on words!" Bonnie said as she
pulled her hand back.
"Er… thanks." Max said.
"I tell you what. I want to make you feel like a hero." Bonnie said as she got
up and went to the nearby desk.
Max, meanwhile, watched as Bonnie was setting things up. She was placing
empty crayon boxes left and right on the floor, plus a small scale model of
Prism Tower and a pencil. Once she was finished setting up, she gently picked up
Max and dropped him amongst the boxes and the Prism Tower model. He was about
half the size of the model, giving him for a split second the feeling of being
bigger than usual, but then falling down from the 'sky' was Bonnie's hand
holding onto the Tyranitar figure. The figure kicked down one of the crayon
boxes.
"Rawr! Now that I have arrived, Tyranitarzilla has come to destroy the city!"
Bonnie said in a lower pitched voice trying to imitate an evil-sounding Pokémon.
"And you, heroic boy named Max, are done for!" Bonnie shouted as she made the
Tyranitar figure kick down another box, pretending it was an innocent building.
"Gulp…" Max said as he gently backed away.
"Ummm… you're supposed to fight back with the pencil. Y'know, treat it like a
sword!" Bonnie whispered.
"Er… um… right!" Max said as he picked up the pencil, which was not an easy task
given he was 4 inches tall, but held it he did. He thrust the 'sword' forward,
and Bonnie thrust the Tyranitar figure back.
"Ow! That hurt! Take this, punk!" Bonnie said as she thrust the Tyranitar figure
forward, knocking Max on his back again.
"Ouch!" Max said.
"Nobody can match my power and my flight!" Bonnie said, pretending to be
Tyranitar again.
"Hey! No fair! Tyranitar normally can't fly! I quit!" Max shouted.
"Huh? Already!? We were just getting to the good parts!" Bonnie said.
"Please, no more! I think I hurt myself falling onto my back." Max said as he
rubbed his back.
"Pfffft… alright. Wow… you're no fun." Bonnie said as she set aside the
Tyranitar figure and eventually picked up the 'buildings' that were the crayon
boxes.
Max watched as Bonnie then returned, picking up the shrunken boy and setting
him on the table.
"Well, unfortunately you lost the fight with Tyranitarzilla. As such, you'll
have to face the punishment." Bonnie said.
"P-Punishment!?" Max shouted. He watched as Bonnie picked up the phone again.
"The punishment of being even smaller! Teeheehee!" Bonnie said as she tapped the
screen. Max shrunk yet again.
"Waaaaaaah! No more!" Max shouted, watching as the world around him, especially
Bonnie, grew and grew.
Max was now his smallest size yet at only just a tad under two inches tall. It
was actually more accurate to measure him in centimeters, as Bonnie did out
loud.
"Look at that! You're only 5 centimeters now!" Bonnie said, and Max felt like he
had been punched in the chest.
"5 centimeters! Ugh… you're so near, and yet so far…" Max said as he looked
around the room, his brain telling him everything seemed to be out in the
distance, and yet Bonnie loomed large above him.
"So far? But I'm right here!" Bonnie said as she leaned in with her face,
blocking almost all of Max's view of the bedroom. The young girl then puckered
her lips a couple times.
"Um… what are you doing?" Max asked.
"What else? Giving you a big kiss." Bonnie said as she leaned closer and closer,
but Max just turned around and ran away to the other side of the table.
"D-d-d-don't swallow me!" Max shouted. Bonnie giggled as she watched Max run
away until he got to the other edge. He almost ran right off it and flailed his
arms around trying to keep his balance, but he was unable to do so.
"Waaaaah!" Max shouted as he felt himself fall for a few seconds.
But his falling stopped when something caught him from underneath. It was one
of Bonnie's hands. She had gotten up and quickly walked over to catch Max just
in the nick of time.
"Haha! You really should be more careful! A fall from that height at your size
would be pretty bad." Bonnie said. She could see the intense fear in Max's eyes.
"O… okay." Max said.
"Really. Let me give you a kiss and make you feel better." Bonnie said as she
first cradled Max against her face to 'hug' him and then finally give him that
big kiss. Suddenly, he looked to be feeling a little better.
"That… felt really nice." Max said.
"Teehee! I would hope so! Other giant girls would probably squish you like a
little bug under their feet." Bonnie said.
"True, I suppose." Max said.
Just then, Bonnie heard a muffled noise come from the other side of her
bedroom door.
"Bonnie, we're back!" Clemont shouted. Bonnie loudly gasped and stuffed Max into
her puffy white skirt, entangling him within its many layers of fabric.
"Shhhh… don't say anything!" Bonnie whispered.
"Coming, big brother!" Bonnie shouted. Max held on tight, bouncing around in the
'web' of Bonnie's skirt as she walked towards the door and opened it up. There
she saw Clemont holding her purse as well as something that happily hopped into
her arms.
"Denne!" Dedenne shouted.
"Dedenne! How are you, little buddy?" Bonnie shouted as she twirled around,
hugging Dedenne tight.
"Dedenne's just fine. Just a mild case of PokéRus. That's what was causing the
fatigue. Dedenne's immune system was fighting to cure its body of the
condition." Clemont said.
"Huh? PokéRus? That sounds serious…" Bonnie said.
"Hahaha! Don't be worried! It's actually a good thing. PokéRus is nothing more
than a series of micro-organisms that become attached to healthy and strong
Pokémon. A Pokémon infected or previously infected with PokéRus can actually
grow stronger more quickly over time." Clemont said.
"Oh? So does that mean…" Bonnie said.
"Your Dedenne is one day going to be very strong and formidable in battle!"
Clemont said.
"Wow! That's awesome! Isn't that great, Dedenne?" Bonnie asked.
"Denne!" Dedenne proudly shouted.
May suddenly joined in on the conversation by walking behind Clemont. She was
the first to notice an omission.
"Oh? Where's Max? I thought he was with you, Bonnie." May asked.
"Yeah, weren't you two going to tour the gym?" Clemont asked. Bonnie rapidly
looked around, and then remembered where he hid the now shrunken boy. As for
Max, he was tempted to shout out towards his gigantic sister, but ultimately
held his tongue.
"Oh, um… we're playing hide and seek. That little boy is hiding around here
somewhere." Bonnie said with an innocent smile.
"Okay then. Well, tell him Clemont and I will be starting our gym battle
shortly." May said.
"You two are going to watch us, right?" Clemont asked.
"Of course! Once I find him, we'll be there." Bonnie said.
"Alrighty, sis!" Clemont said. After dropping off the purse that Bonnie always
kept Dedenne in, he and May left, allowing Bonnie to close the bedroom door.
Bonnie breathed a huge sigh of relief as she rested her back against the
door.
"Whew… that was too close." Bonnie said as she walked over to her bed and sat
Dedenne down on it. She then reached into her skirt and gently plucked Max
loose, holding him up to her face again.
"Hey, um… thanks for not screaming for help when you best had the chance."
Bonnie said with a smile.
"Well, it was either that or be squished like a bug." Max said. Bonnie then
smiled.
"You want to go watch your sister battle my brother?" Bonnie asked.
"Well… yeah, but like this?" Max asked.
"Teehee! Of course not! She'd have a field day seeing you this small. Wait
here." Bonnie said as she gently set Max down on the floor. Max's heart raced
seeing Bonnie tower over him this much, even as she walked away to pick up her
phone. But then, she walked up to Max, planting her pink shoes just inches away
from him, and kneeled down.
"Um… listen… what you've been through the past couple hours, could you
pleeeeeeeease, pretty please not tell anyone? Clemont's always nervous about
anything he makes falling into the wrong hands." Bonnie said.
"Sure, no problem. This is our little secret." Max said. This made Bonnie
giggle.
"No pun intended, I hope!" Bonnie said.
"You know what I mean!" Max shouted.
After a few taps on her phone, Max gulped nervously thinking he was going to
shrink again, but instead… he watched the world around him get smaller and
smaller, plus the fact he was surrounded by a red glow. Max grew and grew until
he was finally back to his normal size.
"Whew… I'll never take my size for granted again." Max said.
"I feel pretty much the same way." Bonnie said as she leaned in and gave Max a
quick kiss on the cheek.
"Er… thanks?" Max said as he blushed, which again made Bonnie giggle with
delight. After setting the phone down on the table (closing the size-changing
program she had been using), she gently took Max by one of his hands.
"Now then, let's go root for our siblings in the Pokémon battle! Come on,
Dedenne!" Bonnie shouted.
"Dedenne!" Dedenne said as he jumped into Bonnie's purse, which she picked up
and wrapped around herself as she and Max left the bedroom. Max was secretly
thinking one thing on his way out but made sure not to say it out loud.
"What a way to have a first date…" Max said, shaking his head as he thought
about his sister hopefully defeating Clemont.
END