Clemont winced as he watched Chespin get a flamethrower right to the face and get slammed to the ground in front of him. He quickly recalled the energetic grass-type to his pokeball and ordered Luxray to take care of the opponent, a Torkoal, with a quick thunder fang. Luxray darted forward, his jaws shooting off electricity, and then bit hard into the Torkoal. The enemy Pokemon staggered back and fell to the ground, causing its trainer to quickly recall it and run off.

"We're doing pretty well." Brock said weakly.

Clemont sighed. They were both down to two Pokemon each. Luxray and Bunnelby for Clemont and Croagunk and Chansey for Brock. Clemont had sent out Heliolisk and Magneton earlier, but they'd been easily defeated by a Tyranitar, before it was defeated by a combo attack from Chansey and Croagunk. "We need to find Bonnie. Those Wetlands Pokemon aren't going to be able to hold Team Flare back for much longer."

"Right." Brock nodded. He was just about to take a step forward, when someone stopped in front of them. "Well...apparently we have another obstacle."

Clemont instantly recognized the purple-haired woman from Team Flare, Celosia. She was sneering at Clemont and Brock, both her Drapion and Manectric in front of her. "Just ran into your little brat of a sister. Lucky for her, she had that Goodra to save her."

"So you ran away from Goodra like a scared little kid, while Bonnie probably stared you down face to face." Clemont taunted back. As much as Bonnie frustrated him with running off, he was proud of her. He knew that she'd at least fought this woman off.

"I didn't run away. I was ordered to look for Z-1." Celosia snarled. "A very important mission." She narrowed her eyes and smirked. "And attacking you was another order that I'll gladly follow." She pointed at Luxray. "Drapion, use pin missile."

"Swift!" Clemont shouted. Luxray immediately whipped out his tail, shooting off a dozen shiny golden stars that smashed into the pin missile attack, causing a little explosion between Clemont and Celosia. "Bunnelby, dig!" Bunnelby quickly burrowed into the ground.

"Cross poison!" Celosia ordered. Clemont's eyes widened as Bunnelby shot out of the ground behind Drapion. However, Drapion whipped around, his claws glowing in a purple light and crossed in front of him. He slashed outwards and struck Bunnelby hard, sending the rabbit-like Pokemon flying. He landed hard and didn't move.

"Bunnelby!" Clemont yelled out in concern. He knew his faithful rabbit Pokemon wasn't going to be able to continue and recalled him to his pokeball. He was now down to only Luxray. As strong as Luxray was, though, Clemont wasn't liking how things were going for him.

"Chansey, use pound on Manectric!" Brock ordered.

"Luxray, discharge on Drapion!" Clemont yelled out.

Both Chansey and Luxray whipped forward towards their targets. Chansey pulled back her fist and thrust it forward, slamming it into Manectric's jaw. Meanwhile Luxray slid past Drapion and unleashed a blast of electricity that jolted the poison Pokemon with extreme force.

"Manectric shock wave!" Celosia yelled. "Drapion, cross poison again!" Manectric was quickest to act, sending his electricity jolting through Chansey with incredible speed. Next Drapion lunged forward and slashed out with his purple claws, perfectly striking Luxray. Normally, Clemont knew Luxray would be able to handle attacks like that, but he'd been battling non-stop for quite a while now and he was exhausted. The attack seemed to do a lot of damage and Luxray panted heavily after staggering back to stand in front of Clemont, while Chansey did the same, standing in front of Brock.

"Any ideas?" Clemont asked Brock.

"Our Pokemon are too tired." Brock said. "We need help."

Clemont knew that was wishful thinking. It wasn't like anyone was available at the moment. Even with the Wetlands Pokemon, the defences of the city were stretched pretty thin. And considering there was no sign of Ash, things were starting to look pretty bad. He'd noticed someone arriving on a Dragonite to help out Alain, so maybe some other trainers had heard of what was happening and were on their way. It still seemed pretty unlikely, though. "I don't think we're getting much help." He finally told Brock.

Brock smiled. "Hold that thought."

Then, as if on cue, a female voice shouted out an attack order. "Corsola, bubble beam!"

After that, another voice, this one male, ordered another attack. "Umbreon, shadow ball!"

The blast of bubbles slammed into Drapion and flew him back, while the shadow ball struck Manectric hard in the head, causing him to flip threw the air. The trainers, who Clemont noticed were a girl with orange hair and a guy with spiky brown hair, ordered the same attacks. Once again, Drapion was smashed back towards Celosia with another bubble beam, while Manectric was knocked out with another shadow ball.

Celosia quickly recalled her Pokemon and glared around at the new trainers. "How dare you interrupt our battle!"

"How dare you attack our friends!" The girl with the orange hair yelled back.

Celosia looked like she wanted to yell something back, but she was quickly realizing she should probably be getting out of their. She probably had other Pokemon, but now she was getting outnumbered. She quickly took off past a stunned Clemont.

When she left, Brock pulled Clemont along behind him until they reached the two trainers that had helped them. "Clemont, this is Misty and Gary. A couple old friends of Ash's and mine." He looked at Misty and Gary. "This is Clemont. Ash has been travelling with him through Kalos."

"Nice to meet you and all, Clemont," Gary said, "but I think we should get moving. This isn't really the time to be making introductions."

"Right." Brock said, looking more serious. "Alright, we're looking for Clemont's little sister, Bonnie. We're worried she might be heading towards..." He looked up towards Prism Tower and pointed.

"What is that?" Misty asked, gaping at the terrifying Zygarde.

"Team Flare's weapon of mass destruction." Clemont muttered. "Lysandre might have Serena up there as well."

"Who's Serena?" Both Gary and Misty asked at the same time.

"Uh..." Brock said, "well I think it's more Ash's place to say..."

Clemont rolled his eyes. It wasn't the time to talk about that. "Come on, let's go." He turned and started to run. He might not be the most athletic person in the world, but worry for his sister had him moving fast enough that he was slipping past the battles fairly quickly in search of his sister.

On the way, he noticed some people he knew fighting some heated battles. Alain, Mairin and the people on the Dragonite, were fighting a group of Skarmory and Fearow. They seemed to be winning, but it clearly wasn't easy. On the ground, he noticed Professor Sycamore was fighting alongside a guy that looked slightly like Ash. His Garchomp was in front of him, while the other guy had a Chesnaught. They looked to be fairly well off. Garchomp was mega evolved, while Chesnaught seemed to be a dominant battler. And then, a few feet away from Clemont, he noticed a very strange sight. Palermo was battling. She had an elderly looking Delphox in front of her. However, as old as it may be, it looked to be strong, as it was easily beating back a trio of Houndour. Clearly Palermo was much more than a performance coach.

"So where's Ash?" Clemont looked to his left and saw Misty running alongside him. "Is he fighting the Team Flare leader?"

"He's not here." Clemont explained. "It's a long story, but he had to leave for some kind of special training. He'll be here, though. Ash won't let them win."

"Well if Team Flare has this girl, Serena, I'm sure Ash is going to make them pay." Misty said with a smile. "Ash doesn't let anyone who hurts his friends off easy. And I'm sure it's worse if it's his girlfriend."

"How did you know?" Clemont asked.

"Brock made it clear enough." Misty said. "Sounds like Ash has grown up quite a lot."

"He's the leader of our group." Clemont thought of all the times Ash had not only inspired him, but also Bonnie and Serena. Even all of their Pokemon. Even people they had met throughout their journey, like Tierno, Shauna, Trevor and Sawyer. He thought of the battle with Sawyer, where the Sawyer's Aegislash had seemed very interested in Ash, because of its ability to sense leadership. "He's going to be here soon. And when he gets here, Team Flare is going to be shaking in their stupid red suits."

XXXXX

"Goodra, ice beam!" Bonnie yelled. Goodra immediately unleashed a blast of icy energy which struck the Scizor head on. The steel-bug Pokemon immediately started to get encased in ice and was immobilized only moments later. Bonnie smirked at the stunned Team Flare trainer as she ran past him, on her way towards the city. "Dedenne, shock him quickly." She ordered. Dedenne gave the stunned Flare member a nice jolt of electricity as they ran off.

Bonnie looked up towards Prism Tower as she, Goodra and Dedenne made their way towards the city. She could see Zygarde hovering above it. This made her a little relieved, because it meant that at least Squishy wasn't in the middle of fighting it. She did know, however, that it was only a matter of time. She wished Goodra was a little faster, but she knew it was better to stick with him. He was extremely strong and he definitely seemed willing to listen to her commands. It was definitely safer moving forward with him.

"Druddigon, dragon pulse!" A voice shouted. From somewhere off to their right, a dragon-shaped blast of energy shot towards Goodra and slammed him in the side. He stumbled for a few steps, looking like he would fall, but he managed to stay upright. However, he'd definitely been winded. Bonnie immediately recognized Aliana. She'd been hoping she wouldn't run into any of those Team Flare women again, but she supposed one of them was bound to keep an eye out for her.

"Goodra, are you ok?" Bonnie asked.

"Goo-goodra." Goodra said, glaring at Aliana and her Druddigon.

"Can you battle?" Goodra nodded and Bonnie smiled. She almost felt like she was Ash. She'd had success battling with Hawlucha in Geosenge Town and now she was doing a pretty good job with Goodra. "Ok, use rain dance!"

Goodra focused hard for a moment, and then a dark cloud formed above him. Bonnie knew he could have soaked everyone that was fighting around Lumiose City, but all he needed to do was use it on himself. The rain started to fall on him and he instantly looked better. Bonnie smiled, remembering how this technique had turned Ash's battle with Clemont around.

"Now, dragon pulse!" Bonnie yelled.

"Druddigon, dragon pulse again." Aliana ordered.

Both dragon types reared their heads back and then launched them forward, shooting out their dragon-shaped beams of energy. The power seemed almost even as they slammed together and created a massive shock wave of energy that caused both Pokemon to stagger back. Bonnie did notice, however, that Goodra's dragon pulse had seemed to just barely force Druddigon's back a bit before they had exploded.

"Slash!" Aliana ordered.

"Dragon tail!" Bonnie shouted, glad that Goodra had learned that move.

Druddigon shot forward, his claw out in front of him. He pulled it up as he approached and then slashed down. However, as Druddigon was approaching, Goodra prepared his own strike. His tail began glowing in a green light. Just when Druddigon brought down his claw, Goodra shot his tail upwards and countered. For a brief moment, Druddigon held his attack strong, forcing it against Goodra's attack. However, Goodra was just too strong and he managed to force his attack through and strike Druddigon in the chest, knocking him high into the air. Goodra didn't stop there, though. He brought his tail down again and aimed carefully as Druddigon started to fall back down. As Druddigon approached, Goodra shot his tail forward once more and slammed it into Druddigon once again. Druddigon went flying and fell hard in front of Aliana.

Aliana glared at Bonnie, clearly hating the little girl for commanding a powerful Pokemon like Goodra with such ease. "You think you can be a Pokemon trainer just because Ketchum's Pokemon listen to you? Only weak Pokemon listen to weak trainers."

"Goodra beat Druddigon pretty easily." Bonnie retorted. "I guess that's why Druddigon listened to you. Your both weak."

This made Aliana's eyes flare. For a moment, Bonnie was almost sure the woman was going to explode on the spot. She recalled her Druddigon and then threw out another pokeball. It was a large dog-like Pokemon. A Mightyena. "Mightyena, use crunch!"

Bonnie opened her mouth to shout a command, but it was pointless. Mightyena was on Goodra too quickly, clamping his jaws onto the dragon-Pokemon's tail. Goodra shouted out in pain and tried to shake him off, but Mightyena was holding on tight.

"Now, sucker punch!" Aliana ordered. Mightyena kept her jaws around Goodra's tail and then pulled her front paw back. She then leaped off of the tail and shot her paw forward, striking Goodra in the face, causing him to stagger back in pain.

"Blaziken, sky uppercut!" Suddenly a Blaziken shot forward and struck Mightyena hard in the chest with a fist, sending the dog-like Pokemon flying upwards. Bonnie noticed something strange about the Blaziken though. Its mane of white hair was spiked upwards and seemed to make an 'X' with the hair on its chest. It also had fire shooting out from its wrists. She realized what it was. A Mega Blaziken.

"Blaziken Mask?" Bonnie said, turning around. She noticed him right away. The mysterious hero of Lumiose City. He was dressed in a red cape and had a mask that made him look like Mega Blaziken.

He then pulled the mask aside for a moment and the man behind it smiled and winked at Bonnie. "I noticed you needed some help, Bonnie."

"Da...da...daddy?" Bonnie stuttered. Was her father actually Blaziken Mask? After all this time, she actually hadn't noticed that?

Meyer put the mask back on. "That doesn't matter right now." He said. "I take it you're looking for Clemont and your...Pokemon...Squishy?"

Bonnie nodded. She supposed Professor Sycamore had told her dad about Squishy. She hadn't actually seen her father since they had arrived back in Lumiose City. Apparently he was off doing research for Professor Sycamore.

"Mightyena, crunch!" Bonnie whipped around. She had completely forgotten about Aliana and Mightyena. She saw the dog-like Pokemon running straight for Blaziken.

Meyer didn't panic, though. "Blaziken, blaze kick." He ordered calmly.

As Mightyena whipped towards Blaziken, jaws opened in preparation for his crunch attack, Blaziken braced himself. Just when it seemed Mightyena would land the attack, Blaziken's leg shot up, engulfed in flames and slammed into Mightyena. The dark-dog Pokemon was launched backwards and it slammed into Aliana. Both of them stayed down, apparently unconscious.

"Come on," Meyer said, "let's go. We should head towards Prism Tower. Stay close to me."

"Not so fast." A voice said. Bonnie and Meyer looked up to see two Team Flare members. However, they were in white suits rather than the typical ones. They had a Golbat, a Toxicroak, a Liepard and a Swalot in front of them. The one who had spoken was a male, who was bald. The other was a woman, who had red hair. "Golbat, use supersonic!" His Golbat shot forward and hit Blaziken with its supersonic waves. Bonnie immediately noticed Blaziken's stance change. He'd successfully been confused.

The woman ordered an attack next. "Swalot, use poison gas!" Swalot sucked in air and seemed to expand and then it released a mist of poisonous gas that surrounded Blaziken, who didn't have the awareness to avoid since it was confused. The fire-chicken Pokemon stumbled, now not only confused, but poisoned as well.

"What do we do?" Bonnie asked, looking at her father in panic.

Meyer watched for a moment, clearly taken aback by the speed with which this had happened. His powerful Blaziken had been overwhelmed pretty quickly. However, his daughter's concern seemed to jar him back to reality. He stood in front of Bonnie, shielding her. "Get out of here, Bonnie. Find your brother."

"No!" Bonnie screamed. Leaving Keanan was one thing. He had Pokemon with him. Her dad had lost his. She could help. She ran up and stood next to him. "Goodra, dragon pulse. Dedenne, thunder shock."

XXXXX

Greninja focused hard, trying hard to see into his trainer's mind. He needed to help Ash get here as fast as possible. It was the only way he could gain the energy needed to help in the fight. He was too badly injured from what had happened the night before. He could feel every bruise and scrape on him. There was no way he could fight like this. He needed Ash.

He was currently sitting in the river, hoping for the water to give him some extra energy. With that failing, he was now attempting to connect with Ash. He had felt very little at first, but for the last minutes, he had been feeling something. He was feeling anger, determination and love. It was definitely Ash.

"Del-delphox?" (Do you feel anything?) Delphox, who had joined Greninja by the river, asked. She was clearly concerned. She also was in no position to fight, so she knew that Ash's arrival would make things much better for everyone.

"Ninja." (A bit.) Greninja answered.

Suddenly, there was a loud noise, coming from Prism Tower. Greninja looked up and saw the Sundial. It was much easier to see now, given that the sun was beginning to set. Its odd glowing was shining much brighter.

The Sundial wasn't what made Greninja look up, though. He saw the Zygarde hovering near it, but it seemed to be getting agitated. It was moving around with jarring movements and it seemed to be looking down at something. Instantly, Greninja knew what was happening. He knew he had to get there to help, no matter what condition he was in. He leaped out of the water and began to move. He could hear Delphox right behind him.

They moved quickly, despite their injuries. Likely, it was because they both knew that if Zygarde was getting involved in a battle, it was much better to help the one fighting it. They hadto stop that Pokemon from wreaking havoc all over the city. From wreaking havoc all over the Kalos region. Really, from destroying the world.

Suddenly, Greninja heard a scream from a city entrance to his left and stopped. He knew he had to get to Prism Tower...but he couldn't ignore the scream. It was Bonnie. If she was in trouble, Greninja had to help. She was Ash's friend. He bolted off to go and find her.

XXXXX

Clemont was surprised he was actually managing to keep up with Brock, Misty and Gary. He was obviously usually quite slow, but today, he was actually managing to keep up pretty well. Actually, he was even slightly ahead at the moment. He supposed his motivation to help Bonnie was giving him extra strength. He was going to scold her after this, but he definitely needed to make sure she was safe first. He could see the battle was once again going poorly.

Clemont and the others were heading towards the Lumiose City entrance that was closest to Prism Tower, and as they ran, they could see that the defences were starting to crack. The Wetlands Pokemon had definitely helped, but they could only do so much. They were still heavily outnumbered and Team Flare seemed to have a lot of strong Pokemon.

"Brock!" A girl's voice came from behind. They continued running, but the girl came running up next to Brock, who was next to Clemont. She was wearing an orange outfit and a green bandana around her brown hair.

"May!" Brock said happily. "Glad you could make it."

"Anything for you and Ash." May said. She looked at the others. "Oh! Misty, I didn't know you were here."

"Yeah." Misty said. "Brock called Gary and I as well."

Brock quickly introduced Misty to Clemont and Gary. "Ash isn't here yet. We've managed to hold the fort for now, but as you can see, things aren't looking too good."

"Where is he?" May asked. "How could he not be here?"

"Long story." Clemont explained. "He had to do some special training and then something else important in Coumarine City. We can't worry, though. Ash will be here."

Suddenly, a scream was heard up ahead. Clemont's eyes widened and he picked his pace up. It was Bonnie. She was in trouble. He noticed Luxray look back at him from where he was, running in front, and he nodded. They were going to crush whoever was hurting his sister.

There was an explosion up ahead and then Clemont saw a jolt of electricity go up into the sky. He thought for a moment it was Pikachu, but realized quickly that was just wishful thinking. Pikachu had far more power than that. He looked closely, adjusting his glasses as he ran, and saw that it was Dedenne, perched on top of Goodra's head. The sight of Goodra made him smile, but the scene in front made him worry.

The masked hero known as Blaziken Mask was standing next to Bonnie. The alarming thing was that he had no Blaziken in front of him. This told Clemont that Blaziken was out of the game, which was definitely not good. He noticed that Goodra also looked to be in rough shape. He could see a Golbat, a Toxicroak, a Liepard and a Swalot. Their trainers, a man and a woman, were wearing white suits.

"Luxray, discharge!" Clemont yelled. Luxray charged forward and unleashed a blast of electricity that coursed through Golbat and Swalot.

"Clemont!" Bonnie yelled happily.

The male Flare trainer glared at Clemont. "How dare you interfere. Toxicroack, brick break!"

"Croagunk, counter with your own brick break!" Brock yelled.

Croagunk launched past Clemont and thrust out his arm and collided with his evolved form. The attacks strained against each other, but ultimately Croagunk was overpowered by his evolved counterpart. "Finish with another brick break!" The male trainer yelled, and his Toxicroak slammed Croagunk down once more, where it didn't move.

"Liepard, shadow claw on Goodra. Swalot, finish after that with belch!" The female trainer yelled. Her Liepard was on Goodra in an instant, slamming its claw upwards and striking his head, knocking Dedenne off of it. Immediately after, Swalot unleashed a loud, disgusting belch that shot out brown and purple sludge that struck Goodra across the entire front of his body. He slammed into the ground with a hard thud.

"Goodra, rain dance!" Bonnie yelled. Goodra tried his best to stand and muster enough energy to do it, but he was too weak. The constant battling had taken a toll on him and he was now badly poisoned.

"It's ok, Bonnie." Clemont called. "Luxray, thunderfang on Swalot!" Luxray darted forward and bit into Swalot with his electric jaws. The purple poison-Pokemon immediately staggered back in pain.

"Golbat, supersonic on Luxray!" The male trainer yelled. With incredible speed, Golbat flew in front of Luxray and quickly started shooting off his supersonic waves. Clemont could see it in Luxray's stance that he was now confused. "Finish with poison fang!" Golbat launched forward and chomped down on Luxray with his poisonous jaws and Luxray slumped to the ground.

Clemont quickly recalled Luxray and then ran over to stand with Bonnie and Blaziken Mask, his friends following. Blaziken Mask seemed to look at Clemont with concern. "Are you alright, son?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'm ok. I-" Clemont then stared in shock at the man as he lifted off his mask. "Dad? You're Blaziken Mask? You're a hero?"

"Unfortunately not today." Meyer said darkly. "I was pretty easily beaten by those two." He pointed to the sneering Team Flare members. "Although, to be honest, my Blaziken had been fighting a lot as I looked for you and Bonnie."

Clemont decided to delay his shock for a moment. He braced himself as he turned to face his opponents. He realized, with a sense of dread, he and his friends were pretty much all out of Pokemon, and that these two Flare trainers seemed almost unbeatable. Things definitely didn't look good.