A diamond hidden within the gray line

Chapter 34: Touching reunion and a hilarious memory.

-Narration-

"Hey, dad! We're ready to go, and so is max!" junior said first, who got the waiting room first. "Finally. Any longer, and i would have ended up losing my patience...where's max?" Bowser went on to say, before asking about max. "He's coming. But he's uh..slow." Kamek answered. "Well, at least he's ok." Rylie says. "Hey! You must be rylie, right? I was there when max called you." Iggy says to her. "R-rylie..?" They all heard max say who was close enough to hear them talk. "Max?" Rylie got up, but was in absolute shock as max slowly walks in with a look of nervous elation, while mike looked at max with utter disbelief in his eyes.

-Rylie pov-

I have known max from the day i have met him up until the day he left with bowser....and it's as if i am seeing him for the first time all over again. He looks so..different. And with everyone here around me, including bowser himself who i have never met before much less knew his name...i feel so small compared to most of bowser's kids. "You look so different, but your eyes are still the same." I say with a soft smile as he slowly walks close to me and sits down with a pained grunt. "You alright?" I ask him. "Body. Is sore. I hardly ever complain, and this is a rare moment." Max answers. "Not to worry, son. That'll pass." Bowser says to him while max looked down at me. "You must be frightened..." max says to me.

"Honey..just because you look different, doesn't mean you have changed completely. Even while you were human, you are still a gentle giant in my eyes." I tell him, and saw that a tear was slowly falling from his face. "Even after what i did...you have no idea how much that means to me..." He says, trying to act tough as always. The first month i have known him he was prone to emotional outbursts that were intensely emotional, but he never once attacked anyone, so whay would he say that? "W-what did you do..?" I ask. "It's..complicated. I have a feeling that max will talk about it later." Bowser answers. "Oh..ok." I say to him, unsure of what happened, but thankful that i could see him again.

-Mike pov-

Great arceus...it's one thing that he looked like roy, and even with his shades, he looks pretty upset. But the fact that max has clearly grown a few inches to the point that it's noticeable? Fucking hell... "You know, i ought to smack you upside the head for nearly getting yourself killed! And yet, me and everyone else wants to know..why the hell did you do that?" I ask him. It's no secret that i wasn't exactly happy with him, and neither was roy who i know for fact that he's wanting an answer. "Because i couldn't bear the feeling of helplessness. Fawful would've killed roy, and the guilt would have eaten me alive if i didn't do something. And yet...i still don't know how i moved so quickly to get in front of roy. That part is a literal blur to me." Max responded, looking down as if he was ashamed.

"Max..." Iggy utters. Great, now i feel guilty for getting peeved at max especially since everyone around me is silent and surprised by what he said, but in that moment, i find myself wondering if he had used a spell to appear in front of roy like that...to be able to move that quickly through a brief flash of light...could he have used teleport, a move that some psychic type pokemon use, something that max used without realizing it? Or..was it something else? I hope i can find the answer to that question soon.

-Roy pov-

Oh, well that's just fucking PERFECT! He felt helpless, and that automatically gave him the right to take the hit?! Ugh..as much as i want to be pissed with him, i'll let this one slide, especially since he doesn't know how he appeared in front of me the way he did. I'm..i'm just glad he survived...

-Bowser pov-

So..that's why he did it...i would've been disgusted and insulted if it had been mario! But max is definitely nothing like him, and since he doesn't know that he appeared from out of a brief flash of light to take the hit, i don't see the need to ask him about it. I have a feeling that he'll have to answer that question to reporters sooner or later though.