The six travellers keep heading through the Kalos region, heading for the Battle Chateau, which is now only two days away. Since the fight against Team Terra, Lucas has taken to trying to examine the Jade Orb, but he hasn't been having much success. Zoey has been trying out her routines for her first pokémon showcase, with Dawn and Bonnie giving her plenty of advice. Barry has been running around the place after any new pokémon that catches his eye, or else glancing at Lucas every time he was examining the Jade Orb. Max meanwhile spends every chance he gets writing in his notebook. For reasons she can't explain, Bonnie finds her eyes wander in his direction whenever he enters his Observant State, but she chocks it up to her curiosity. It is incredible that he's able to completely shut himself off from the world around him when he enters that state.
Now, with just 2 days left in their journey, the group finds themselves camping beside a river. It's a peaceful night, and everyone is getting some last-minute practice/training/study done before bed. Max is thankful that Dawn cam cook almost as well as Brock could, which Zoey likes to proclaim that if she remains this consistently good, then she can look forward to an excellent homelife in the future. The rest of the group laugh at that comment, while Dawn goes red in the face and gives her girlfriend a light slap. After they finish eating, the group works together to clean up the campsite and wash their stuff in the river. Then, they all went into their different tents. Zoey and Dawn shared one, as did Lucas and Barry. Barry had his own but a pokémon had torn its roof open two nights ago. Lucas innocently offered Barry to share his, somehow completely unaware of just how much of a gay mess his friend had become over this offer. Bonnie and Max had their own tents, which Dawn found somewhat amusing, much to the two's confusion.
Little did the group know that when they fell asleep, two shadowy figures emerged from the nearby trees. One male and one female. The man is tall with beige hair and the beginnings of facial hair. He wears the Team Terra uniform, however his has a hood and a brown mask that hides his whole face, eyes included, from his forehead to just above his chin. This signifies that he is an admin. The woman is smaller, with flaming red hair, but once again her face is hidden by another mask, like her co-worker. Without so much as a sound the two creep along the campsite, heading for Max's tent. However, even when they aren't even near the area, C-03 (Sam) and C-05 (Sarah) have ruined everything.
A few weeks prior, before Max and Bonnie met Dawn, Zoey, Barry and Lucas, C-03 and C-05 had tried to break into Max's tent while they thought he was asleep to steal the Orb from him. But he was still awake, scribbling away in his notebook. Even if he wasn't, the two had made so much noise while making their way to the tent that they alerted Bonnie, who along with Max and their pokémon quickly chased them off. After that, Max managed to fit a makeshift locking mechanism to the zipper of his tent, making it so that it was only possible to open it from the inside.
The man giggles with the zipper, before realising what the mechanism attached to the zipper did. He swears quietly, then turns to his partner and very quietly explains the problem. The woman curses as well, then looks around at the clearing. She smirks evilly then turns to her partner and whispers a plan of action. Her partner joins her in evilly smirking, then he pulls out their signature items, a small bag of explosives. Without another word, they split up and prepare a banging wake up call for their targets. After all, the boss wants the Orb. They never said anything about keeping the boy or the girl alive in the process.
When Max wakes up, he hears Bonnie's voice calling out to him through the door of his tent. He opens it up and sees her worried face greeting him. "What's up?" he asks, stretching. "I don't know," she replies, "but I can tell that something is wrong." Max looks at her quizzically. "What do you mean?" he asks. "I don't know," she says again. "But I have a feeling that something bad is going to happen." At that moment, Dawn and Zoey climb out of their shared tent, bleary eyed. "What's wrong?" Zoey asks as she and Dawn assemble the fire for breakfast. "I keep getting this feeling that something is going to happen, something bad" Bonnie explains. Just then, Barry and Lucas come out of their tent. They question Bonnie's worry, to which she explains for the third time of her unfounded fear. The two shrug it off and help Dawn out with breakfast.
Once breakfast is eaten, they start getting ready to leave. But, as they do, Bonnie starts getting more anxious. "This feeling is getting worse!" she exclaims to Max. Max pats her back and tries to calm her down. Once the campsite is disassembled, they start heading out. But, as they go to leave, Bonnie suddenly calls out, "Don't go any further!" Dawn and Zoey were leading the way, and they both freeze after Bonnie's call. They look around but see no danger. So, Zoey shrugs and continues walking. But then, Dawn looks down at Zoey's feet and her eyes widened with horror. "EVERYBODY GET DOWN!" she shouted, before diving onto her girlfriend.
This action triggers a tripwire which causes an explosion, throwing Dawn into a nearby tree and knocking her out. This explosion triggers several others surrounding the campsite, including right where Barry and Lucas are standing. Lucas notices with just enough time to shove Barry out of the way and to begin running, but not enough time for him to be completely clear of the blast, thus knocking him out as well. Zoey and Barry are beside themselves with worry and begin anxiously trying to wake the two up. At that moment, Max notices that another trap is being activated and warns the others. Quick as a flash, Bonnie sends out Dedenne and orders him to use discharge on the traps. He does so, right before an explosion was about to go off where Max stands, saving him.
At that moment, footsteps can be heard coming out of the forest. A man and a woman step into the camping area, dressed in the Team Terra uniforms. Except, unlike Sarah, Sam, C or any of the other idiots they've dealt with, these two are wearing green sleeveless hoodies and black masks with visors on them, covering up their whole faces. But then they spoke, and Max's eyes widen as he recognises the man's voice. "Well, well, well," he says. "Looks like some of them managed to avoid our attack." The woman laughs, which Barry and Zoey seem to recognise. "Unfortunate indeed Homura," she replies. "Looks like we're just going to have to deal with them ourselves."
Worry and anxiousness are replaced by fury and hatred on Barry and Zoey's faces as they, Max and Bonnie pull out their pokémon. "Who are you two?" Zoey demands. "We are two admins of Team Terra," the man explains. "I am admin Homura, and this is admin Kasei. We are also known as the Demolition Duo of Team Terra." Admin Kasei nods and laughs again. "We usually give orders to our sub-admins and let them take care of everything by sending out their lackeys. But sometimes, particularly in this case with admin Momiji's bungling sub-admin C, we are sent in to take care of anything troublesome. And you, my dear Maple, are becoming particularly troublesome." Bonnie can't explain why, but the way Kasei called Max, "my dear Maple" rubs her the wrong way.
But Max pays that last part no mind. He stares down admin Homura in particular, obviously trying to see if he can recognise him. "Are you two out of your minds?!" he demands. "Are you aware of the damage you've just done to this ecosystem?" Homura chuckles. "Those bombs blow seeds everywhere," he explains. "It'll replace what we destroyed in due time." "That's not a justification for destruction!" Barry yells, then he sends out his Empoleon. Max sends out Treecko, Bonnie sends out Fennekin, and Zoey sends out the Leafeon she showed them the day before. In response, Homura sends out a Crobat and his own Mightyena. This causes Max to realise how he recognises Homura, and his face hardens into one of fury. Bonnie is amazed at how much hate could appear on his otherwise kind face. Kasei meanwhile sends out a Purugly and a Bronzong. Now Barry and Zoey get confirmation on why they recognise her.
But before a battle can begin, Max gets an idea. He orders Treecko to keep them busy with Razor Leaf, then sneaks over to them. Eventually, he finds the admins' explosives bag. He rummages through it, finds the explosives. Then, he runs away. He returns Treecko to his ball and yells, "RUN! I ignited their explosives!" The others didn't wait to be told twice. Zoey picks up Dawn and carries her in her arms bridal style, while Barry gives Lucas a piggyback. Homura and Kasei dive to the ground and cover their heads, returning their pokémon as they do. But then, the explosion doesn't come. The two look around and realise that Max never ignited their explosives. They go red in the face and round on them, only to realise that the group had given them the slip. "C wasn't kidding," grumbles Kasei. "Maple is a crafty boy." She looks at Homura, who nods. "Let's not tell The Boss about this," he says. "Let's just keep going. I've dealt with Maple and his sister before. The boy is craftier than I remember, and I'd very much like to be the one to either bring him in, or do him in!"
By the time the group stops running, Dawn and Lucas reawaken. Barry and Zoey put them down, Barry gratefully and Zoey reluctantly, then they explain what had happened. Dawn's eyes widen as the two admins are describe, and especially the woman and her pokémon. "But…" she says, amazed, "that sounds like Mars." Zoey and Barry nod. "Mars was a Commander for a terrorist group back in Sinnoh known as Team Galactic" Zoey explains, seeing the quizzical look on Max, Bonnie and Lucas's faces. Max is amazed. "I recognised one of them too," he says. "I'm pretty sure the man was a guy named Tabitha." Seeing the confusion on everyone's faces, he adds, "He's an admin from a terrorist group back in Hoenn called Team Magma." At this, Lucas becomes lost in thought. "But the question is," he says after a couple minutes, "what are they doing working for Team Terra?"