Serena and her Pokemon stopped at a quiet little area outside Lumiose City. It was close enough to easily see the city, but just far enough away to avoid too much of the noise. It was a perfect spot to relax, under a tree and close to the river. Just the place she would have stopped at if still travelling with Ash and the others.

The four of them just sat and relaxed for about an hour. Serena brushed Delphox's fur, while Sylveon stretched out and took a nap. Pancham did some exploring around the river. For the first time since leaving Geosenge Town after fighting off Team Flare, Serena felt comfortable. Once they'd run into Sawyer, things had all kind of unravelled. With Greninja leaving, meeting Palermo and then Ash losing his gym match, culminating in the end of their relationship, Serena hadn't really had time to relax and enjoy things.

Suddenly, Pancham jumped away from the river. He yelled out in excitement. "Pan! Pancham!" He was animatedly pointing at the river.

Serena immediately stood up. She ran over to stand next to Pancham, Delphox and Sylveon behind her. "What is it Pancham? Are you ok?" She asked, looking into the river.

Pancham waved his arms as if to dismiss her concern. She realized he had a bit of a happy look to him. He then looked at Delphox. "Cham! Pan-pancham!" He yelled, pointing again at the river.

Delphox's eyes widened. "Del?" She leaned forward, peering into the river. She then looked around, hope in her eyes.

"I don't understand." Serena said. It was times like this she wished she had Ash's ability to understand Pokemon. It could be really frustrating, trying to understand them, especially when they got so excited.

"What are they so excited about?" Serena turned around and was stunned to see the challenger that had easily beaten Clemont, Mauve. Serena couldn't really see her facial expression because of the scarf, hood and glasses, but she sensed the woman was mocking her. "You look pathetic. I've been waiting to find you alone."

"What? Me?" Serena suddenly felt pure fear. She was alone except for her Pokemon. Even so, they weren't exactly the best of battlers. If Mauve was going to attack her, she didn't know what she was going to do.

"Yes..." Mauve took a step forward, pulling a pokeball from her pocket. "I want to make him suffer. Hurting you will make my revenge so much sweeter..."

Pancham stepped forward, ready to fight, while Delphox and Sylveon positioned themselves at Serena's sides. "What are you talking about?" Serena asked. What possible reason could this woman have for wanting to attack her? What kind of revenge was she talking about?"

Mauve laughed and tossed her pokeball forward and the Pyroar that had wiped the floor with Clemont emerged. "Pyroar, use flamethrower."

It opened its jaws so fast that Serena knew her Pokemon would be too slow to counter. She had no idea what was about to happen. She knew the power of that Pyroar, so it definitely wasn't going to be good. She braced herself and closed her eyes.

To her amazement, Serena felt nothing. She thought she must have been hit, but then realized that she would have had to feelsomething. At least a push, or maybe hear a yell from her Pokemon. She opened her eyes slowly and saw Mauve whipping her head around wildly.

"He's here? Where is he? I thought you were alone." She seemed somewhat hysterical. She turned her attention back to Serena. "You're lucky this time, girl." She paused. "At some point I'll have my revenge. Just you wait...I'll embarrass him and show the world my power." She then turned and ran off, recalling her Pyroar to its pokeball.

Serena looked at her Pokemon, who were all staring behind her, in shock, towards the river. She turned around as well, but didn't see anything. "What is it?" She supposed something about what Pancham had seen before was the reason for her being saved from Mauve. She then noticed Delphox, eyeing the river with longing. "Delphox, are you ok?" She asked.

Delphox turned to her. There was some sadness in her eyes, but also a little bit of happiness. "Del-delphox." She nodded.

Serena smiled. She didn't know what had happened, but it seemed to fill all of her Pokemon with comfort. She turned around and looked in the direction that Mauve had gone. What was up with that? Mauve must have had Serena mixed up with someone else. She seemed to think Serena was close to someone that had done something to her. Perhaps it would be better to find some hobbies in Lumiose City.

XXXXX

Ash had a hard time escaping from the crowd after Officer Jenny had told him he could go. A bunch of people had asked him for autographs and a couple of reporters had asked him for interviews. He'd signed a couple of autographs, but it became too much very quickly. Eventually, despite how embarrassing it was, he just decided to run.

Luckily for Ash, people assumed he would be sticking around Anistar City, so once he managed to dodge the crowds by zigzagging through the streets, he managed to slip to the exits of Anistar City and get back to the road.

At first, Ash was planning on flying with Gliscor to get to Shalour City, but he decided that he felt like walking for a few days. He liked the idea of just camping out with his Pokemon once again. He'd make sure to stop at Pokemon centres along the way so he could heal his Pokemon and continue making transfers, but he decided that he'd try living on the road until he got to Shalour City.

After a few minutes, and once he'd gotten well away from Anistar City, Ash decided to stop for a break. He would normally not stop so soon after exiting a city, but the running around to hide from the "fans" had been fairly exhausting. He sat down against a tree and called out his Pokemon.

Immediately, Pignite, Heracross and Gliscor crowded around him. Oshawott and Snivy were excited too, but since they'd already seen Ash, they allowed the others to greet him first. Ash smiled as he hugged each of his Pokemon. "How are you all doing? You all look really strong. I bet you've been training hard."

Gliscor nodded. "Gliscor!" He said, in his smooth, cold voice that would intimidate those who didn't know how kindhearted he was. He jumped back and did some impressive flying manoeuvres while opening and closing his pincers.

"Awesome, Gliscor. Professor Oak was right, you've definitely been training really hard." Ash smiled as Gliscor landed and winked at him.

Heracross leaped away from Ash and it looked like he was about to show off some of his own skills, but instead he hopped up into the tree and started sucking on one of the berries that were growing on it.

Pignite smiled at Ash and stepped back and unleashed a powerful flamethrower into the sky. Then, he used flame pledge and flames erupted out of the ground in a line of fiery pillars in front of him. He then turned to Ash, an expectant look on his face.

Ash clapped. "Wow, Pignite. I never would have thought you hadn't been battling in a long time. I bet you've been training with Infernape and Charizard." Pignite nodded. "Can't get much better fire type training partners than those two."

Snivy and Oshawott also showed off a couple of moves, and then the group just decided to relax for a little while. Pikachu was happily flying around with Gliscor, Heracross was continuously searching for different plants to suck on and the three Unova starter Pokemon just hung around Ash. It was the best he felt since splitting up from Serena. Really since splitting up from Greninja.

Suddenly, Ash felt his body freeze up. None of his Pokemon noticed anything. Maybe they couldn't see anything. Maybe it was just something happening in his mind. It was like he was feeling fear and anger, but he knew he had nothing to be afraid or angry about. Then, his vision changed. It was kind of a foggy blue colour for a moment, but then it cleared up and Ash realized he was looking out from water, maybe from a river. He felt his heart start pounding against his chest as he saw Serena, with Delphox, Sylveon and Pancham. And then, he realized what the fear and anger was about. A woman wearing baggy clothes, who had a scarf and sunglasses covering her face, was in front of Serena and she had a female Pyroar out as if to attack her.

The woman ordered her Pyroar to attack and Ash knew he couldn't let that happen. He felt as if he did it himself. He jumped out of the water and threw watery ninja stars to block the attack and then fell back into the water again. As he landed in the water, he was sure that Pancham, Sylveon and Delphox had seen him. He let the river guide him away a little and then watched the scene in front of him.

The woman stared around wildly, looking fearful and furious. She then said something to Serena and then ran off. Ash watched as Serena stared around confused and then started talking to her Pokemon. Her Pokemon were staring into the water, presumably looking for him. Serena didn't seem to be able to figure out what they were saying, too relieved to be safe from the attack. However, she knew that something was up with Delphox, who was having the strongest reaction to the whole situation.

And then, just as quickly as the vision had started, it ended. Ash opened his eyes and saw all of his Pokemon looking at him in concern. He looked around in confusion. Apparently, he'd been out of it or something. He stood up straight and rubbed his eyes. "It's ok, everyone. I'm fine." He looked at Pikachu, knowing the electric mouse wouldn't believe him. He knew he had to tell the truth, but he couldn't figure out what the truth was. He'd seen Serena and her Pokemon. He was near a river. His eyes widened. He'd seen something similar to that before. "Greninja...Greninja was saving Serena."

XXXXX

Serena and her Pokemon spent the day just walking through Lumiose City, after the incident with Mauve. She was surprised, but she didn't feel too freaked out by it. Something had saved them. Something was watching over them. She didn't know what to call it, but she supposed at the moment she might as well call it a guardian angel.

For a while, it was pretty boring as they walked through the streets, but eventually, Serena and her Pokemon were able to embrace it. They were going to have to figure out how to live in the city eventually, so why not now? It actually became quite enjoyable just walking and being with her Pokemon alone. They even stopped at a few places. Serena got Pancham an extra pair of sunglasses, Sylveon some new ribbons and Delphox a case to hold her branch when she wasn't using it.

Later in the afternoon, they all stopped at a cafe fairly close to the apartment building. The sky was starting to get fairly dark, so they got a table inside. There were quite a few people in the cafe with Pokemon and Serena smiled, seeing a young trainer with a small Noibat. It reminded her a lot of Ash when he was taking care of his Noibat, now Noivern.

While waiting for her coffee and some pokepuffs for her Pokemon, Serena looked up at the TV. It was nothing special, just a weather report, but she looked at the clock and knew the hourly news report was about to come up. She waited a couple minutes and then the graphic showed up and the screen shifted to show Anistar City. This immediately made Serena lean forward in interest. She knew Ash was probably already there, so if anything was happening, she wanted to know.

The news narrator started speaking. "Big news out of Anistar City today, as the Sundial, which the city is famous for, has been stolen. Many of you may be wondering who could be responsible for such a thing. Well, don't be surprised as we show you." The screen then showed a video of two people in unmistakable red suits, signalling them out as members of Team Flare. One had orange hair, while the other had blue hair. Serena recognized the blue haired one from Terminus Cave. The two Team Flare women were fighting police officers, and easily winning, with their Weavile and Druddigon.

The narrator then spoke again. "Yes, Team Flare, the criminal organization involved in the events in Geosenge Town a few weeks ago, were responsible for this theft. These two members, stayed behind to fight off the police, while their associates escaped. However, things didn't go as planned for them."

Serena's jaw dropped as she saw none other than Ash appear on screen. He stood in front of the two Team Flare women with his characteristic furious determination on his face. He then called out two Pokemon. Serena was shocked to see two completely unfamiliar Pokemon appear before him. One was a little blue and white otter-like Pokemon. The other was a little snake-like Pokemon with two little legs and two little arms.

The narrator continued. "You may have heard of this young man. This is Ash Ketchum, a young trainer out of Pallet Town of the Kanto region. He's the one who defeated Malva of the Elite Four. He fought off these two Team Flare members with his Oshawott and Snivy, before finishing them off with his Pikachu." They showed as Ash's Oshawott and Snivy used hydro pump and leaf storm against Weavile's ice beam and Druddigon's dragon pulse. The attacks were even, but then Pikachu leaped off of Ash's shoulder and used an extremely powerful thunderbolt to completely do away with the Team Flare women and their Pokemon.

"As you can see, this young man has proven himself once again to be quite the capable battler. I think we can all expect to see some impressive battling from him once the Kalos League begins." The news segment ended by showing a close up of Ash, smiling with his Pokemon.

Serena looked at her Pokemon, seeing them staring at the screen in amazement. Sylveon in particular, looked quite excited, presumably because of seeing Pikachu. Serena couldn't blame her. Pikachu's thunderbolt was definitely quite impressive.

She sat back and thought about what she'd seen. It was awesome to see Ash, of course, but she knew it wasn't a good thing she'd seen him. The only reason he'd had to battle those Team Flare members was because the Sundial had been stolen. She thought of Lysandre, and even Malva, being out there. If they were planning something with the Sundial, it couldn't be good.

XXXXX

Ash didn't know what to think of his vision with Greninja. He was tempted to immediately start heading to Lumiose City, but when he thought of what Olympia told him, he knew he couldn't. It might only make things worse. He told himself. And besides, Greninja was there. Knowing the frog-ninja Pokemon was keeping on eye on Serena and her Pokemon made Ash feel much better.

But what was it that happened with Greninja? Did he purposefully make contact with Ash, or was it some kind of unconscious connection. Maybe it was because he was saving Serena as well as Delphox. Ash knew that Greninja's love for Delphox and his own love for Serena helped make their bond stronger, likely because of Serena's and Delphox's bond. However, he didn't quite understand how that could make him see what Greninja was seeing so far away.

Pikachu tapped Ash on the shoulder with his tail. "Pi-pikachu?" He asked.

Ash looked up in confusion. He had been walking without really looking where he was going. "Huh? Um...sorry Pikachu...lost in my thoughts."

Oshawott hopped up on his shoulder as well, opposite to Pikachu. "Osha!" He said, happily. Ash had decided to walk with all his Pokemon out. He thought it would be better to do this with all the Pokemon as he brought them back. He knew he could need them at any moment and also having them out was a lot more fun.

Ash laughed. "You're as lively as ever Oshawott."

It was pretty late in the afternoon and they were going to have to set up camp for the night fairly soon. In the morning, Ash planned on heading to the Pokemon centre and then making his next Pokemon transfer. He was going to do it pretty regularly, almost daily. He wanted to make sure he had time with all of his Pokemon. Olympia said they'd be important in the end, so Ash knew he had to make sure all his Pokemon were in top form.

As they walked, Ash didn't know how he knew it, but he supposed it had happened so many times, eventually he was going to get a sixth sense about it. He ducked quickly as a mechanical arm stretched out from behind him. When he ducked, it swooped past him and over his head, completely missing him.

"Oshawott, use razor shell!" Oshawott immediately leaped up and slashed down with his scalchop. The mechanical arm that Ash knew must have been reaching for Pikachu, was easily ripped apart by Oshawott's attack. Ash turned around and glared at the surprised faces of Team Rocket. He could see James was holding up a device that was connected to the now destroyed robot arm. "You three..." He muttered in anger.

They did their boring motto and then Jessie looked at Ash's Pokemon in confusion. "What are you doing with old Pokemon?"

She seemed so genuinely confused, Ash almost felt bad for his angry retort. Key word being almost, because he didn't actually feel bad. "None of your business. All that matters is getting rid of you."

Meowth looked around. "Where are the other twerps?" He asked in his scratchy voice.

James shook his head. "It doesn't matter. We have to get Pikachu." He called out his Inkay. "Inkay, use Psybeam!"

Jessie had called out Gourgeist at the same time. "Gourgeist, dark pulse!"

"Pignite, flamethrower! Snivy, leaf storm!" Ash yelled. The flames and storm of leaves blasted forth and easily deflected the streams of dark and light energy heading towards Ash. "Gliscor, fire fang on Gourgeist. Heracross, megahorn on Inkay."

Gliscor swooped down from the sky, completely surprising Gourgeist. He opened his jaws and they started flaming. He then clamped them down on Gourgeist and the pumpkin-ghost Pokemon screeched in pain. Gliscor threw it back and it fell at Jessie's feet. Heracross was just as effective. He whipped forward and his horn glowed in a white light. Before Inkay could move at all, Heracross' horn slammed into it and it flew back and slammed into Meowth.

Ash then felt pure rage fill him up. He really did not feel like dealing with Team Rocket at the moment. There were far more important things going on that he needed to think about, and Team Rocket was just a nuisance. All they did was waste his time. It was time to show them he had no interest in dealing with them.

"Pikachu, thunderbolt. Oshawott, hydro pump. Snivy, leaf storm. Pignite, flamethrower. Heracross, hyper beam. Gliscor, stone edge." Ash wanted each of his Pokemon to hit Team Rocket with all the force they could muster and they knew it. The attacks all combined into a massive wave of what looked like pure, white light. He could just see Team Rocket staring in fear. Their Wobbuffet tried to use mirror coat, but it was no use. The attack easily blasted through and there was a massive explosion. Team Rocket was launched into the air and flew away.

XXXXX

Team Rocket landed with a huge splash in a lake. Meowth looked at Jessie and James with the same defeated look he always got when this happened. "Why do we even bother trying?"

James sighed. "Well I thought we had a chance this time. The twerp was on his own. It seemed like the perfect opportunity."

Jessie narrowed her eyes in thought. "Why wasthe twerp alone? I thought he would at least have the twerpette with him. Those two looked like they were getting pretty close."

Meowth shrugged. "It doesn't really matter, does it? Alone or not, he whooped us as usual." He paused. "Although, is it just me, or did he seem stronger than normal? Maybe that's why he brought back those old Pokemon. Maybe they've been doing extra training or something?"

"Maybe..." James said slowly. "I don't know...even Pikachu seemed stronger. And that's saying something."

Jessie and James recalled Gourgeist, Wobbuffet and Inkay to their pokeballs and the three Team Rocket members made their way over to the land. They realized that they'd been launched so far that they'd landed just outside Anistar City.

Meowth looked towards the lights of Anistar City. He could just barely see the dock where the Sundial should be. He remembered watching the whole scene with the twerp and those Team Flare members who had helped steal the Sundial. "You know...that twerp seemed extra strong against those losers from Team Flare as well."

Jessie nodded. "He was hanging around that Professor Sycamore yesterday when he was doing some work with the Sundial. Remember it looked kind of strange with those lights. Maybe it did something to power up the twerp's Pokemon."

James scratched his chin in thought. "Well...we need to find that Sundial then. If it can make Pokemon so much stronger like that, we should definitely grab it for the boss."

"Because it worked out so well the last time we tried to steal it..." Meowth muttered.

"It will be different this time." Jessie said.

"Why?" Meowth and James asked at the same time.

Jessie narrowed her eyes. "As much as we'd like to do this ourselves, I think we need help." She pulled out the portable monitor they used to call headquarters. "We need to call the boss for reinforcements."

Meowth was hesitant, but agreed. Maybe Giovanni could see him doing some impressive fighting against Team Flare and then he'd get to replace Persian by the boss' side. He nodded. "Yeah...alright let's call the boss."

Jessie nodded and then clicked a few buttons and immediately the projection came up. Giovanni answered quickly. He had a very bored look on his face. "You three...what do you want?" He definitely didn't seem too pleased to be hearing from them.

James was clearly too nervous to speak and Jessie, for some reason, didn't seem to expect the angry sounding greeting from her boss, so Meowth spoke up. "Hi, boss." He said. "Um, we're calling on very important business. We believe we have a mission that is of crucial importance to Team Rocket. Perhaps even more important than anything we've ever done." Meowth could feel sweat on his neck. He wasn't entirely sure this was the truth, but that Sundial definitely did have some kind of power. He was sure Giovanni would be interested in it.

Giovanni did look a little interested. Meowth saw him lean forward a little. "Go on." He muttered.

"Well..." Meowth started. "Do you remember what we told you about that organization that is operating here in Kalos?" Giovanni nodded. "We've found out that they have stolen the Sundial from Anistar City." He thought it wouldn't be wise to mention that he, Jessie and James had witnessed what had happened and not done anything.

Giovanni shrugged. "And why should I be interested in that. From what I know the Sundial is just a silly tourist attraction."

Meowth was a little surprised at Giovanni's ignorance, but he definitely wasn't going to point it out. "No, boss, it's a lot more than that. It's been acting up the last few days. It's already been said that it has some kind of connection to mega evolution-"

"Mega evolution?" Giovanni interrupted. "You never mentioned anything about the Sundial and mega evolution before."

Meowth felt a little nervous, but managed to continue. "Well...um...we wanted to gather as much information as possible before telling you. We didn't want to tell you anything that was wrong." Giovanni nodded as though accepting that as logical. "Anyways, it's been acting up the last little while. So they've managed to get the Sundial, and we think that it's possible the Sundial makes Pokemon a lot stronger."

Giovanni now looked fully interested. "How much stronger?"

Meowth smiled. "Much stronger. The twerp with the Pikachu was hanging around the Sundial yesterday and today, his Pokemon all seemed supercharged with new power. Even his already strong Pikachu seemed extra strong."

"Interesting..." Giovanni muttered. He put his hands on the desk in front of him and started tapping his fingers together like a classic villain, thinking about his plans. "You three may have found something interesting for once."

James recovered from his nervousness. "Anything for you, boss." He said quickly.

Jessie leaned forward, ensuring she was most visible on screen. "It was my idea to call you. I knew you'd want to hear all about this."

Meowth rolled his eyes. "So...boss...do you want us to go after it?"

Giovanni nodded. "Of course I want you to go after it." He leaned back. "I'll be making the trip to Kalos soon, then."

Meowth's eyes widened, but he stopped himself from looking at Jessie and James in surprise. He didn't want to make Giovanni think they didn't want him. That would be dangerous. "Um...of course, boss. Um...why do you want to come?"

Giovanni glared at Meowth. "I know you three aren't capable of a mission like this. This sounds too important to leave to subordinates. I'll need to run this operation myself." He nodded. "I...thank you for your information. I will be in Kalos soon."

With that he hung up. As angry as he had sounded, the last part made the three Team Rocket members look at each other in excitement. "Did you hear that?" James said. "He said thank you!"

Jessie clapped her hands happily. "He knows we did all the hard work. I'm sure he's going to reward us."

Meowth nodded. "And I'll be taking over for that Persian as the top cat of Team Rocket. Giovanni finally knows how important we are."