After leaving Lumiose, progress slows down for the two. Max focuses even more on his notes on pokémon than he had while travelling with Clemont, Korrina, and Megan. When he isn't making notes, he's started training up his pokémon a bit more. He has no plan to challenge the Kalos League, but he figures he may as well make his pokémon stronger anyway. Bonnie has been training her pokémon up harder than ever, in preparation for her next Gym battle. She's determined to win this thing no matter what and wants to get a lot stronger. The two even have a few battles together to raise their strengths. They're evenly matched for the most part, and neither of them is able to pull off more than one or two wins before the other evens the score.
Because of Max's desire to document pokémon and Bonnie's desire to train, the two slow down considerably on their journey. Without someone travelling with them to keep them going, the two slow down constantly in order to do all of the things they wished to do. According to Bonnie, the two are taking three times longer to make it to Coumarine than she did when she and her brother travelled with Ash. This makes Max laugh and apologise for how distracted he gets.
On this day in particular, they are camped out on a path that runs between two steep hills, one going up to their left, and one going down to their right. The one on their right goes down into a rocky valley, with numerous caves and tunnels running along it. They know this because Max attached his phone to Bonnie's Fletchinder and set record the day before, then Bonnie sent her flying through it so that Max could see what kind of pokémon were down there. Now, they're waking up and getting ready for the day. It's Max's turn to make them breakfast while Bonnie packs everything away. Once they're finished, they resume their journey.
Because of how nerve-wracking it is for them to walk through these hills, they both agreed to not do any training or writing until they're through it, which should be within the next few days. They walk for a little while, before being ambushed by none other than Sarah and Sam. Max groans in annoyance. "Ugh, would you two just leave us alone!?" he complained. The two agents laugh. "I'm afraid not, boy," says Sarah. "For as long as you have that Jade Orb, we will be hunting after you. So, why don't you spare yourself the trouble and just hand it over?!"
If Max is being honest with himself, the offer sounds very tempting. But he knows that it will have a great number of consequences if he allows them to have it. So, he once again refuses, which Bonnie agrees with. Sam sighs, then says, "Well then, it looks like we're going to need to battle you once more!" Then, he sends out his Mime Jr. while Sarah sends out Pumpkaboo. Max and Bonnie just sigh, before Max sends out Litleo and Bonnie sends out Dedenne.
Pumpkaboo flies straight in with a Shadow Ball, but Litleo counters quickly with an Ember. Once the Shadow Ball is repelled, Dedenne charges forth and uses nuzzle on it. Mime Jr. goes in to strike Dedenne with a tackle, but Litleo is quick to catch it with Fire Fang. She throws Mime Jr. up the hill, and Dedenne strikes it with thunder shock, knocking it out. Pumpkaboo, determined to help its ally, swoops in to take Dedenne out, but is slowed down from paralysis. Litleo uses this opportunity to strike it with flame charge, knocking it out too.
Max and Bonnie smirk at their victory, while Sarah and Sam grumble in annoyance as they return their pokémon. "Now, we wone the battle, so will you leave us alone?" Max asks. Sarah and Sam sigh and look like they are going to, but then Sam makes a dive for Max's bag. He grabs one of the straps and tries to pull it away, but Max resists, trying to keep the bag. The impromptu tug of war lasted until the zip of the bag came open, and the contents came spilling out. Max just about manages to save his potions and heals, while Bonnie catches his notebook for him. But the Jade Orb just about slips out of Sarah's fingers and bounces down the hill. Sarah and Sam stare in horror as it bounces away.
Bonnie is about to go after the Orb, but Max stops her. "Wait, maybe we should leave it," he tells her. When Bonnie looks at him with confusion, he says, "Ever since I found it, it's been causing us nothing but trouble. They're never going to find it in there, and we can tell Ash and the authorities that it's down there. So, let's just leave it." Bonnie thinks about it, then nods in agreement. But, as they're about to run past Sarah and Sam, Max's head suddenly starts throbbing painfully. He stops moving to clutch his head, and he starts grunting and gasping from the pain. Sarah and Sam notice this and make a move to overpower them. Seeing this and Max's sudden state, Bonnie quickly pulls out Kirlia and, in a split-second decision, orders her to teleport them down the hill and away from the pair. Kirlia does so, right before Sarah or Sam can catch them.
When the two are brought to the bottom of the hill, Max's headache surprisingly starts to dim. As it does, he begins to hear a weird noise. It almost sounds like a cry or call for help. Max quickly spots Team Terra up on the hill as they begin to make their way down slowly. "Are you alright Max?" Bonnie asks nervously. Max nods. "The weird headache has gone down a bit," he replies. "Hang on, I want to test something." Then, he began to walk away from the place the Orb fell. Immediately, his headache began to grow worse. He stopped, then went towards the Orb. This made his headache dim again. He swore loudly.
"What's wrong?" Bonnie asks. "The Orb won't let me leave it," he explains. "When I made that suggestion, it gave me the headache. Now, it feels like it's calling me." At this, Bonnie becomes very confused and quite nervous. "But it didn't call you the two previous times we lost it," she points out. "Why is it doing that now?" Max thinks about it for a minute, which is a bit difficult thanks to the ringing. "Because…" he says slowly, piecing it together, "it didn't feel threatened. I guess it probably figured I'd come after it or something. But when I said we should leave it, that's when it felt threatened."
Now Bonnie starts getting really nervous. "So, first it doesn't let you show it to anyone or talk about it, and now it doesn't let you leave it behind?" she asks. "Do you think it might be trying to take you over?" Max shrugs fearfully. "I really hope not," he says. "I've seen what these things can do to someone if they possess them." Then, the two of them begin walking in the direction the Orb fell. While they did, Max explains to Bonnie what happened to Pikachu when he got taken over by the Red Orb. Bonnie gets even more nervous after hearing this and starts keeping a very close eye on Max's behaviour.
The two of them clamber through the bottom of the hill to find the Orb. Max keeps glancing up nervously at Sarah and Sam and sees that they're still slowly making their way down the hill. Max's headache continues to dim as they get closer to the Orb. Eventually, they manage to find it. It had rolled to a stop just outside one of the small caves in the hill. Max quickly sends Litleo out again and has her stop any pokémon from taking the Orb into their den. She runs ahead of them and patrols the Orb while Max and Bonnie catch up. Once Max reaches it, he sighs and picks the Orb up. But at that moment, Sarah and Sam come tumbling down the hill. The two of them struggle to their feet, wincing slightly, then Sarah charges at Max, intent on taking the Orb from him.
Max dodges out of the way and he and Bonnie begin to clamber their way back up the hill. Team Terra charge after them and try to snatch the Orb out of Max's hands. Sam reaches him first and makes a swipe at him, but before he can grab it, Litleo rushes forth and headbutts him, knocking back down into Sarah. The two get to their feet and try again, so Max orders Litleo to use flame charge to kick up some rocks and stones to block their way.
Litleo cots herself in flames and kicks up a load of rocks to do just that. But the fire doesn't go out after she's done. Max and Bonnie watch with amazement as the flames completely coat Litleo and her form begins to change. Her legs and body elongate and grow more powerful. The small spark on her head becomes bigger and flows down her back. She stands proudly, now having fully evolved into a Pyroar. She roars ferociously and glares down at Team Terra. The two of them cower at the sight of the large lion, then they both bolt. "You were lucky this time!" Sam shouts as they run. "But we'll make sure that we get the Orb," Sarah adds, "if it's the last thing we do!"
Once those two are gone, Max puts the Orb back into his bag, then rushes over to Pyroar, hugging her tightly. "Congrats Pyroar!" he exclaims. "You look so cool buddy!" Pyroar holds her head up proudly, as if to say, "Yes, I am awesome!" Max smiles at the pokémon, before returning her to the ball and resuming the climb back up. But Bonnie stops him. "There's a much easier way of doing this you know?" she tells him. Max looks at her with confusion, then remembers how they even got down there in the first place. He laughs bashfully as Bonnie pulls Kirlia out again and tells her to teleport them back up to the path.
Once they're back up there, Max takes the Jade Orb out and examines it. "Looks like this thing will be causing us problems for a little while longer," he sighs. "I don't even know what came over me when I took it. I wish I didn't." Bonnie sidles up to him and puts an arm around his shoulder. "Maybe it called out to you that day," she told him. "Team Terra have been looking for it for months, right?" Max nods. "Hoenn had been struck by strange tremors for a few months before I stumbled across the Orb," he explains. "Once they found out I had it, the tremors stopped." Bonnie smiles here. "So, maybe The Orb trusts you," she points out. "It felt danger, so it chose you to protect it. I think that's really cool."
Max blushes at her words. "Thanks," he says. "I do wish it didn't trust me though, because carrying it around and having make some decisions for me is a bit annoying. Even more so with Team Terra constantly on our tail." He stands up and puts the Orb back in his bag. Bonnie has an idea then. "What if, after we're finished with Coumarine, we head to Lumiose and give the Orb to Professor Sycamore!" Max looks at her quizzically. "He's the resident professor," Bonnie explains. "The Orb will be perfectly safe with him." Max thinks about her proposal, before smiling and nodding. "That'll work," he said. "Then, Team Terra can finally leave us alone!" So, with that plan in mind, they continue on their journey, anticipating the moment when they won't have to worry about the Orb ever again.