Setting: A redo of the XYZ climax, the end of episode XY131 Down to the Fiery Finish! through XY136 Forming a More Perfect Union! Spoilers up to there for XYZ and the Mega Evolution specials.

Pairings: PokéShipping, Ash/Misty; one-sided AmourShipping, Ash/Serena; MarissonShipping, Alain/Mairin; some BeautifulWorldShipping, Malva/Lysandre; and brief HandymanShipping, Tracey/Daisy.

Rating: T for graphic and foul language and depictions of violence, terrorism, suicide, and death.

Ages: Serena and the rivals are 15. Mairin is 16. Ash and Misty are 17. Clemont is 18. Alain is 19. Bonnie is still, like, 7.

A/N: Alright, folks. It's finally here. The story that halted all progress in GS and became a monster in its own right. I just want to clarify that while this is multi-chap, it also is not going to be a match episode for episode with the ones I'm reinventing. Some events will happen earlier, later, or not at all, plus a lot will be added. I hope you like it.

Falling

"Aaaaaaaah!"

Olympia's eyes went wide as she fell, her knees hitting the balcony with a sickening crack. Her hair came unfurled and her students knew exactly what was going on as soon as her body took on that tell-tale glow.

But it had never happened like this before.

"Lady Olympia?" Charlene called as the meditation group returned to the ground, as was respectful when Lady Olympia was having a vision.

"It's happening."

Her body still curled over like it couldn't take the weight of her head, Olympia began to levitate into the air. But she wasn't in control as she always was, not this time. Even her Meowstic were looking at her, concerned until they became embroiled in the vision as well, the glow capturing and freezing them while Olympia began to shake.

"It's happening!"

Abruptly, the nebular dome flashed a radioactive green, not unlike the one they'd seen Olympia prophesize about only a few months earlier. The green eye, Charlene remembered. But the green gave a sputter, and then the whole dome was shrouded with a blood red. The red and the green flickered back and forth like a strobe until the green was finally snuffed out, and the red remained, blooming until the room was thick with it, like a macabre fog.

Then it fell to black.

When the stars and planets began to wink back into existence in the dome, Olympia's body was face down on her balcony, her Meowstic prone on either side.

Charlene paled.

"Help her," Charlene rasped, the sound barely leaving her mouth. Then she found her voice again, shouting: "Help her!"

"And rounding out a competition that's featured more Mega-Evolution than we've ever seen before here at the brand new Lumiose Stadium, Alain comes out the victor with his Mega Charizard. This match had a huge finish like no other, with Alain overcoming a Type-disadvantage against Ash Ketchum's very special—and dare I say, unusual—Greninja. The stadium erupted in applause as Alain has seemingly mastered Mega-Evolution. Now let's see some slow-motion replay of the match's highlights."

"Now that our final competitors have had a short canteen break, we bring out our semi-finalists and begin the award ceremony. The conference's analysts have placed Reno in the position of fourth place and Sawyer in third, making our top three all newbies to the Kalos League. And here comes the Champion, Diantha."

"And with the end of the awards ceremony, the Kalos League has officially ended. And what a League it was! Mega-Evolution was once a fringe aspect to the Kalos League but this year marked the first that a majority of competitors featured Mega-Evolution on their teams. Later today, I'm hosting a live AMA where you can have all of your Kalos League questions answered. But for now, this is Malva, signing—bleep, what the bleep is that‽"

Malva's hand was on Houndoom's PokéBall at the sound of the first explosion. Her head whipped around until she spotted the first of many thick, black vines breaking through the brand new stadium wall. That was enough to take her hand away. Now was not the time to battle.

It was time to run.

She gave one cursory look over her shoulder at her camera crew and shouted, "Come on, team; get out of here!"

They followed her simply because they didn't know what was happening. But she did.

And fuck Lysandre for not warning her.

"Everyone, evacuate! Make way and allow for children and the elderly to exit first! Help them if you can! Watch your step and be vigilant! Evacuate as safely and quickly as you can!"

Diantha had been given a mic for the award ceremony and she was making the best use of it she could as she pointed out the exits currently free of vines. If everyone didn't make it out before the vines inevitably collapsed the doorways, people would probably have to be carried over the stadium wall one at a time by Pokémon. And if too many people were left inside, Diantha wasn't sure that they would have the resources to handle that fast enough. Because as it stood right now, the newly constructed stadium was turning to rubble. Many vines had already burst through and Diantha had no idea the integrity of the building and how long it would hold. Of course, it was made to withstand Pokémon Attacks, so they probably had some time yet, but still…

"Yes, that way. Move along. Careful now! Evacuate quickly but safely and watch your step!"

These words came without the familiar resonance of a sound system. The building's wiring must have been snapped. She tossed the useless prop on the podium behind her and continued shouting.

People probably weren't listening to her. If they could even hear her. Diantha could see Professor Sycamore on the other side of the stadium shouting with the same arm motions as her, but she certainly couldn't hear a word he was saying. Everyone was in a panic, screaming, shouting, looking for loved ones. Pokémon were coming out and being put away left and right to pick people up, toss boulders, or maybe even just for comfort. Diantha herself had let Gardevoir out just to keep an extra set of eyes looking out for any more vines crashing through the walls.

The crowd didn't seem to be getting any smaller. As soon as a hundred people exited from the floor, a hundred more had flooded in from the rush out of the stands. They went so high…the arena was designed to fit one-hundred-thousand people and had been filled to capacity. And that was a fraction of Lumiose's actual population…

But that kind of thought wasn't useful to Diantha. As Champion, she needed to act. She brought out her Holo Caster, ready to send a message to Lumiose's radio tower. The phone number was somewhere deep in her contacts, but when she finally found it, the call didn't connect. Diantha tried again, and a third time, then a fourth call to one of her assistants, but not a single sound came from the device. When Diantha looked back at the swarming horde of people, she noticed just how many of them also seemed to have their Holo Casters out and she realized that she wasn't going to be able to make a call anytime soon.

It would be okay. She would just write down the message and give it to a police officer to bring to the radio tower. Although, she didn't want to waste police power at the moment when it really couldn't be spared…but then again, she couldn't risk giving the message to a civilian either when they only needed to worry about getting to safety.

Or…

Diantha had a workaround. But she quickly realized that she hadn't brought her belongings with her into the arena. Of course, fifteen minutes ago it had been so important that she not look like a saddle-Tauros. Now that all seemed ridiculously trivial.

No matter; that was hardly the biggest hurdle she'd have to overcome in all this.

She pulled out a second PokéBall. Diantha wasn't going to bring her purse onstage, but she was the Champion, after all, and the Champion went nowhere without a full party of Pokémon. "Hawlucha, go!"

Her Hawlucha came out of its 'Ball as Diantha kneeled down to meet its gaze. "You need to go and get my bag so I can write down a message. Then you bring it to the radio tower to be broadcast. Okay?"

"Cha! Haw loo cha!"

"Great!"

By the time Diantha stood, Hawlucha was already off, and she felt a twinge of relief relaxing her shoulders. That would be one thing done. After that, she and the police could focus on controlling the situation.

But as soon as she had that thought, it severed in her mind, causing her to recall Olympia's prophesy all at once. It wasn't just her that was bound to be involved in this.

And as soon as Diantha began to look around for that boy that had been standing so near her only minutes before, she realized that Ash—and his friends—were long gone.

"Everyone, evacuate!"

Ash and Alain were already heading for the closest vomitorium when they heard Diantha's first cry for evacuation. They were some of the few people already on the floor, so it was just a quick sprint through the growing dust, Pikachu at Ash's heels, and they would be in the bottom hallway of the stadium, where only the competing Trainers were allowed. That section contained holding rooms, locker rooms, and bathrooms, but most importantly, a number of emergency exits to the outside. The spectators would be going out the main entrances that surrounded the stands.

"The vines are coming from outside," Alain said, his voice surprisingly even, "so it's probably not safe out there either."

"What choice do we have, Alain?" Ash asked, checking for the tenth time that Pikachu was still beside them. "This isn't something we can fight from inside a stadium!"

"Fight?" If it weren't so urgent that they kept running, Alain would have stopped to stare at Ash. "What are you talking about?"

"We're gonna figure out what's causing these vines, and we're gonna take them down!"

The hallways were in far worse shape than the stadium itself. They were an obstacle course of vines that Alain and Ash had to alternatingly duck under and climb over in order to keep moving. Some of them were frozen in place, tough and easy to climb, while others felt alive, still growing and wiggling their way into the stadium.

"What can we do? Our Pokémon are completely wiped out."

That thought was enough to pause Ash for just a moment, as though he had honestly forgotten that they'd just battled in the biggest match of their lives not even a half-hour before. Their bags were still in the holding room in the stadium—if there even was a holding room anymore. No healing items and no quick way to get any.

"We'll figure it out when it comes to it."

"What kind of a plan is tha—?"

"Right now I can only do the best I can with what I've got, and I know my Pokémon want the same," Ash interrupted with a sternness that Alain hadn't ever heard from Ash before. "So are you with me?"

Alain's eyes grew dark for a moment at Ash's unexpected speech. And he found himself saying: "No."

"What?"

"Where's Mairin?"

Ash slowed for a second as he climbed over a particularly thick vine. "She didn't say. She just said she didn't want to bother you until after the match."

Alain closed his eyes tightly for a moment, as if to compose himself. "Of course. She's always overthinking stuff like that."

"She couldn't have known something like this would happen."

The faint glow of an exit sign led them to the nearest emergency exit. But when they got close, they noticed that there was a thick vine punched straight through where the door had once been. All that remained were ragged strips of metal hugging the vine, leaving deep, red scratches in it.

"Pika cha?"

Ash shook his head. "We keep looking. The next one will be fine, I'm sure of it."

They took off running again, Pikachu panting heavily than he would have if he'd been at full health. But Ash knew that Pikachu's break since the Battle had been enough to revive at least some of his little buddy's energy.

"I need to look for Mairin."

One glance back and Ash could see that Alain's expression had taken on the same determination he'd worn throughout all his Battles of the Lumiose Conference. But now there was an extra touch of softness that seemed almost alien on his face.

"Okay, then we will!"

"What?" Alain looked at Ash, surprised to see him change his plan so quickly. "I thought you were gonna take down what was creating these vines?"

"We can't do anything without our friends, Alain. That's what I've learned on my journey."

"You would say something like that."

Ash grinned. "I would! So, at a time like this, I guess I can ask: is Mairin important to you?"

It hadn't taken long for Bonnie to lose sight of Squishy. It had been weaving between people's feet and around chairs and before Bonnie knew it, Squishy was gone.

"Squishy?" Bonnie called out repeatedly. "Squishy?"

"Bonnie!" Clemont grabbed Bonnie's wrist before she could run any farther and he began dragging her down the stairs.

"Let go of me! I need to find Squishy!"

"No," Clemont argued, holding Bonnie even tighter as she began squirming out of his grasp. "We need to get out of here before the walls fall on us and we don't have any chance of finding Squishy."

"But I need to make sure that Squishy is safe!"

Bonnie was crying now, her face turning red with anger and exertion as she continued to try to break free from Clemont's grip. Then Serena took her other hand and crouched down to Bonnie's level.

"Your brother's right, Bonnie. You can only make sure that Squishy is safe if you're safe yourself. And Squishy is smart. It's probably trying to get out of here but was able to find another way because it's small. So let's just get outside the stadium and regroup, okay?"

Bonnie sniffled a little, but nodded. She took that moment to rip her arm away from Clemont, but she kept her hand firmly in Serena's. She knew Clemont would be hurt by that—she could imagine the wide-eyed expression, his hand still outstretched toward her—but she didn't care. "Let's go."

"Cut them all down, Blaziken!"

Meyer had been at home with his radio when he'd heard Malva's voice cut out suddenly and profanely. He and Clembot had run for the television to see what had interrupted the broadcast and quickly seen the vines for the first time. In only a couple of minutes, one news channel after the other had ended its footage, and the television had gone to static.

It'd only taken a minute more for Meyer to change and head outside with his Blaziken and Clembot. While Clembot had headed for the Gym, Meyer had taken in the vines that weren't just on the TV—they were outside the house.

"Behind you, Blaziken! Sky Uppercut!"

The first time he had donned the mask and the persona of Blaziken Mask had been about three years prior, shortly after his wife had died. In failing to protect her, Meyer had tasked himself with doing his best to protect the city that his kids called home. Clemont had just graduated and was smart, but clumsy. He'd had a hard time making friends and was often too closed-in. Even as a four-year-old, Bonnie had been feisty, but she was young and trusting. Meyer didn't doubt that one day Bonnie would be able to throw a punch that would knock any man out, but while his girl was still a baby, she needed his protection.

After trying and failing to fill both the mother and father roles that he so wanted his kids to have, he'd realized he would have to go about things in a different way. And when he'd discovered his Mega Stone and Key Stone, he'd found it.

He kept the city safe. Often a degree of this burden would fall on the city's Gym Leader, but Clemont was still coming into his own, and didn't need that extra worry. Meyer was afraid it would overwhelm his often overthinking son. So he stayed vigilant and did what he could to shelter his kids.

Today, he felt that all crumble away.

Lumiose was the most urban and metropolitan city in all of Kalos; Meyer had seen and intervened with a wide variety of crime and unrest in the past three years. But that experience had done nothing to prepare him for this. Who was he supposed to battle? Which vine should he have Blaziken use Sky Uppercut on?

Abruptly, his thoughts narrowed, and he felt a sense of calm.

"Clear a path, Blaziken!"

It wasn't his job to protect the city. It was his job to protect his kids. If he had nothing else to show for the day, that's what he would do.

All he had to do was find them.

The second emergency exit Ash and Alain found wasn't yet destroyed or blocked off by vines. They pushed it open expecting to hear the alarm that accompanied emergency exits, but all they could hear were the fresh sounds of panic coming from the street.

"If the wiring's been damaged, then an electrical fire could start at any time," Alain said, looking back at the stadium they'd just escaped. "And who's to say these vines aren't flammable?"

"Why wouldn't they be?" Ash asked, touching one of the vines that had torn through the stadium wall.

As he rubbed his fingertips against it, Ash could distinguish that it felt almost like the bark of an old tree. It was gnarled and uneven, but that red veining mottling each vine was not normal. Even Ash could see that.

"Ash!"

A coil in Ash's stomach loosened at the sound of Serena's voice, not to mention the sight of her, Clemont, and Bonnie all still together and unharmed. A small wave of relief coursed through him as he exclaimed, "I'm so happy you guys are okay!"

Just as the group reunited, Lumiose's sound system began beeping, signaling that they were about to be used.

"This is a message from Champion Diantha. People of Lumiose, now is the time for evacuation. Leave your belongings and escape Lumiose until we can get the threat under control. The roads are unsafe, so do not drive your vehicles. The damage seems to be centered around Prism Tower, so avoid that area when evacuating."

The message sent a fresh ripple of fear through the crowd of League spectators. Those who weren't already running upped their pace, while those who could turned to Pokémon for help. People took to the skies with their Talonflame and bowled through the crowds on the backs of their Gogoat.

Clemont, on the other hand, froze.

"Prism Tower?"

The group turned to the heart of the city where the thick vines had curled up like a tendril of ivy. And at the top was an alien red glow against the bright afternoon light.

"That's…"

Everyone heard Alain, and saw the unmistakable expression of recognition on his face. But he trailed off and seemed to freeze.

"Alain?" Ash prodded.

"Alain, do you know what that is?" Clemont urged.

"It's Zygarde," Alain said finally, swallowing thickly before continuing. "It's Zygarde and Lysandre is doing this."

"What?" Serena cried. "Why would he do that?"

"I don't know. But I…Lysandre captured Zygarde months ago. And no Pokémon would do this without someone forcing it to. Ash." Alain turned to Ash. "It's important now more than ever that we find Mairin."

"Mairin?" Serena asked. Then she remembered the talk she'd had with Mairin just the day before about Chespie being at Lysandre Labs. "Oh no!"

"Then let's go!" Ash declared.

"I'm gonna go to Prism Tower," Clemont said before Ash could run off. "I've got to protect my Gym. My Pokémon are there, and I can't leave them. Bonnie, you…Bonnie?"

Bonnie had been very quiet for the past few minutes and was looking up past their faces. When everyone else followed her gaze, they saw a last few bright green streaks arching through the sky.

"That's Squishy," Bonnie said, oblivious to all that had been decided. "It must be going to Prism Tower; I know it!"

"Bonnie, you shouldn't—"

"I don't care! If you don't let me go, then I'm going to hate you forever, Clemont!"

That kind of outburst was nothing out of the norm for Bonnie and not something that the older three would usually believe. But, really, where was there safer for her to go? The whole city was being torn apart by the vines, and without a chaperone, Bonnie would be at more risk than she would in the center of town.

Clemont took one reassuring breath, steeling himself against regret. "Fine."

"Then let's go!"

Like a shot, Bonnie began to run off. Clemont immediately followed, calling out for Bonnie as he did so. Alain tossed Ash a look and took off the other way, hedging his bets on Mairin's location. That left Serena looking back at Ash with an expression of uncertainty.

"You should go with them," Ash immediately decided.

"Oh, okay," Serena said, a little surprised by Ash's certainty. "Um, if anything bad happens—"

Ash tossed her one last smile and confidently declared, "Nothing bad will happen."

Malva had thrown her match against Alain for two reasons. One, he seemed as though he could be valuable to the team. He was strong—strong and just blind enough to believably beat her if she and Houndoom played their parts just right. He had the passion and the drive to get things done, not to mention the type one personality to get them done well and efficiently. And Lysandre needed that in a battler. He had plenty of scientists with the same vision that he carried. However, he needed someone strong but innocent to do the groundwork.

Malva was strong, but she wasn't innocent.

Reason two was that it was important Lysandre not know quite how strong she was. She had to be somewhat strong to be of any value to him at all—and her reputation as an Elite was enough to tell him that without her having to lift a finger. But he could never know that she was strong enough to overtake him. That's why she'd only ever showed him one Pokémon; her Mega was all he was interested in anyhow.

She fingered a PokéBall containing one Pokémon of many he didn't know that she had—and had trained meticulously. Malva knew she wasn't known as the heavyweight of the Kalos Elite Four; she had coasted on her past effort in recent years and focused on her stardom, which she didn't regret in the least. That helped in her guise for Lysandre anyway. But it was just like riding a bike.

Or in this case, a Pyroar.

She released Pyroar and hopped on her back, something she hadn't done in ages since now she had mopeds, limos, and town cars all just buttons away, and they loped away from where she'd just been broadcasting. Without the responsibility of following her, now her three bumbling techies could find shelter.

They didn't seem as though they were strong or clever enough to protect themselves—if they thought disguising a Meowth as a human was going to fool anyone, they had another thing coming. Although Malva had to admit she was curious as to what was underneath playing the legs.

But not presently. Presently, she was off to Prism Tower.

When the first chunk of concrete fell, it all came back to her.

Mairin remembered hiding as that ancient temple crumbled around her. She remembered the meteors falling, and the fact that Alain was the only reason she was alive. She remembered hugging Chespie for dear life…Chespie, who wasn't anywhere around. Chespie, who was lying in a lab, with no clue that this was even going on.

Her hands began to tremble. Before she knew it, her thighs were shaking too and her knees were unable to hold her. A sob escaped her mouth as she began crawling, not entirely knowing which direction she was going in, but knowing that she had to get out.

But her strength didn't hold. Her resolve crumbled and she curled in on herself, barely able to breathe as she remembered Rayquaza's attack. Then the fight between Kyogre and Groudon. What was next? What was happening?

Mairin didn't know how long she'd been frozen for when she heard a voice, a comforting voice shouting above the noises of panic, over all the destruction.

"Alain?" Mairin asked, too quiet for him possibly to hear.

"Mairin?"

That second one was a scratchier voice that had to be Ash. They were looking for her!

"Mairin?"

"Alain‽" Mairin sobbed out, projecting as loudly as she could so that it was almost a scream.

Mairin pushed herself to her feet, grabbing on to a wall for support, as her legs still felt wobbly, and the bones in her face were buzzing from the crying. She hurriedly wiped her eyes as she scanned through the now-emptying streets for him. And there he was, Ash and his Pikachu close behind on the street just below her. She hadn't realized how far she'd crawled—and she had no idea where the box she'd been in was in relation to this balcony.

"Mairin!" Mairin felt her heart clench and unclench at the warm sound of relief in his voice at seeing her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm okay!"

But, she wasn't, was she? Her head felt messed up, she was afraid of what would happen if she moved, and Chespie. She choked back a sob, because she really wanted Alain to think she was okay.

"I'll send Charizard for you!"

As soon as Mairin saw the light of Charizard's PokéBall, a giant vine ripped right through the ground in front of Alain, separating them again. The smithereens of concrete spat up at her and Mairin fell back to the ground, shielding her face from the debris.

Through the ringing in her ears, Mairin heard a faint, "Dragon Claw!" but she stayed down. In the small corner of her mind that was present, witnessing the events as they happened and not morphing them into painful memories, Mairin expected to hear Alain's voice say something else. Give another command or try another tactic. But he had gone quiet.

And she began to wail.

Serena could already tell it was no use. Every time one of their Pokémon slashed through a vine, at least one more would burst up somewhere around them. And they kept coming to dead ends where there was no way to go around them.

Something had come over Clemont, though. There was no give in him today; Serena had never seen him go at something with such physical endurance. But even if Clemont had that extra energy today, there was still only so much his Pokémon could do for him.

To add to Serena's growing apprehension, the vines seemed to be narrowing in on them. As Braixen burned through one vine, Serena felt the asphalt rumble a little too close to her feet. Before she could call on Braixen, or release another Pokémon, the vine was already curling over her head, and about to smash her body into the road.

Serena froze. She thought about covering her face, falling to the ground, tossing her body to the left or right, but all these thoughts cancelled out and left her looking up, straight into the face of her own death. In doing so, she saw something fly out of the sky at the last minute and kick the vine away, severing it in midair.

It hadn't been one of her or Clemont's Pokémon, that much she knew. And certainly little Dedenne hadn't just exponentially increased in size in order to pull off that maneuver. But when she looked around for her savior, she was not at all surprised to see a Mega Blaziken.

"Blaziken Mask!" Bonnie cried out.

It was clear enough that Bonnie was excited to see Blaziken Mask, but Serena knew herself and Clemont simply felt relief. If anyone could help them out of this Gordian knot of vines, it would be the city's own superhero.

"What are you kids doing here?" Blaziken Mask asked them. "Didn't you hear the evacuation notice?"

It was true that as they had grown closer to the center of the city; they had run into fewer and fewer people, all of whom were running desperately in the other direction. They were close enough to Prism Tower now that vines had replaced all the people and Pokémon that had once bustled through the city center. It was a miracle Blaziken Mask had gone this far in to save them at all.

"I'm the Leader of the Lumiose Gym," Clemont declared, as if a native resident of Lumiose wouldn't already know it. "I have friends in there that I have to save."

"And my friend Squishy ran off there!"

"It's not safe. Uninjured civilians should be doing all they can to get themselves out of danger. The longer you're here, the longer the emergency response teams have to put themselves in danger to find you!"

"But who knows what will happen if we leave them alone? This could be critical to saving the city!"

Serena found herself not having the ardent motivations of her friends. Yes, she wanted to help Clemont save the Gym and she wanted to help Bonnie find Squishy…but she found herself unable to explain why she was thrusting herself into such danger. All she felt was something inside of her that didn't let her even consider doing anything else.

And in a flash, she realized that what she was feeling was Ash. She was doing what Ash would do. And that made her proud enough of herself to stand up.

"We're doing the right thing," Serena finally stated. "There's a Legendary Pokémon being controlled at the top of Prism Tower and we're going to see what we can do about it. The city is just going to turn to rubble otherwise! So you can either join us or pretend you never saw us."

Serena knew that Clemont and Bonnie were surprised to hear such strong words out of her. But Serena just crossed her arms over her chest to show that she wasn't going to take back what she said, and kept her eyes locked on Blaziken Mask.

It surprised them all when he took the mask off.

"Dad?"

Even though Alain had already deduced that Lysandre was behind Lumiose's takeover, Celosia showing up had enlightened Alain. He'd put one and two together, but had failed to get to two and three.

He was a criminal as well. He was implicated in the scheme as much as Celosia was showing herself to be, now as Ash was being hooked up to spheres. Spheres that Alain didn't have the faintest idea about. All at once, Alain remembered working with Lysandre, side by side, and all the bullshit he should have seen through.

Alain had been blinded by the shimmering Key Stone and Mega Stone. They were exactly what he'd been searching for, and here they were in a plush case, being offered to him. It was a dream come true.

"You see, Pokémon emit a powerful energy when they Mega-Evolve. This energy is boundless. So I've been researching if we can harness that energy for peaceful means."

"If so, then you should ask Professor Sycamore for help."

"That's not possible. If word gets out, certain people will try to use it for evil. Looking back at human history, that's a given. The professor must not come to harm. He will be protected at all costs. That is my solemn vow."

Alain had believed all that, vomited it back to Professor Sycamore just the day before. Professor Sycamore, who had believed in him so much…and who would be so disappointed when he learned what Alain had been stupid enough to be part of.

"Thanks to the Giant Rock, we were able to collect more Mega-Evolution energy than we expected. Now my plans for peace can move forward to the next stage. It's all thanks to you, Alain."

Who was he to help Mairin? What was he supposed to do for Ash, who had just looked at him with such shattering betrayal? What would Ash or Mairin think of him now? He was the reason Chespie was in a coma. He was the reason Ash was being taken away by Celosia. Innocent people and Lumiose had probably already died from the destruction of the vines.

It was all thanks to him.

Diantha still couldn't get any messages out. The stadium was well-evacuated, and Hawlucha had managed to deliver her message and return to his PokéBall with nothing more than a little dust from building rubble damaging him. Evidently the radio tower had not yet been destroyed, though she hoped it too was in the process of being evacuated.

That meant that she no longer had any lines of communication farther than she could shout. And as soon as she had put that haphazardly scrawled message in Hawlucha's beak, she'd been thinking of other things she needed to get out. She knew that some brave volunteers would opt to stay in the city at their own risk, and if she could have offered a little direction on what was to be prioritized, maybe a few lives could be saved.

All she could hope for was that people's judgment was good and dangerous mistakes wouldn't be made in the midst of this crisis.

As her worries began to overwhelm her, clouding her analysis of the situation, Diantha spotted—of all things—a news crew with a helicopter. And they seemed to be actually reporting live.

"Excuse me!" she shouted before the decision was even made in her mind. "Can I borrow you for a minute?"

The talent turned to her in what Diantha knew was the murderous rage of being interrupted while on screen. She then also recognized the expression of someone's jaw going slack at the face of the Champion. Or a movie star, depending on which kind of fan it was. Diantha squared her jaw and narrowed her eyes, speaking low with authority: "I need to make a statement to my region and those around the world. Think you want the scoop?"

The talent as well as the audiovisual guys all nodded quickly and Diantha stepped in front of the screen with practiced ease. She hadn't yet worked out quite what she was going to say, but she hadn't taken all those improv classes for nothing.

She didn't take a cooling breath or clear her throat. She looked straight at the camera—as she'd been taught time and time again not to do as an actress—and began her second speech of the day. This was the one that mattered.

"Citizens of Kalos and beyond: Lumiose City has been consumed by growing vines, seemingly controlled by someone or something centered at Prism Tower. An evacuation notice has already been given, but if you are in Lumiose watching this broadcast, consider it your second warning. If you are taking the risk and choosing to stay and help, please focus your efforts on clearing vines to provide exits for those without Pokémon to carry them out of the city. Phone lines are down in Lumiose. If anyone has pertinent information to the ongoing situation, please send a Pokémon to deliver it to the local police department. To my region's Gym Leaders and Elite, please be vigilant. We do not yet know if the threat is spreading, and we may need your assistance. Likewise, to the leaders of other regions, if you are watching this broadcast, we do not yet know if further aid will be necessary, but—"

"Diantha!"

"—I hope to be able to communicate further as more information—"

"Diantha!"

Diantha had the presence of mind and the grace to step off camera before showing any anger. The signs of it in her face—tight lips, heavy breathing—could probably only be seen by the closest of friends, but she still knew better than to show anything less than evenness to the world. "What?" she asked, careful to keep her tone neutral.

"The broadcast cut off," the techie with the strange voice said from the helicopter. "Look!"

Diantha poked her head inside and saw that the monitor didn't show the view that was in front of her, but rather a strange, animated symbol. Then the screen shifted to a man's face.

"Is that…isn't that Lysandre?"

"Dad, what's going on?"

Clemont had about a hundred thoughts shoot through his mind all at once at the realization that his dad had been masquerading as Blaziken Mask for years, but only one of them stuck: how stupid was he?

For a kid long lauded as a prodigy, he sure had to be an idiot not to know that the superhero who had been protecting the city—who he had seen before, even just been speaking to—was his dad.

He was an absolute nincompoop.

"I'm sorry to have to tell you kids like this," Meyer started, holding his mask awkwardly in his hands, "but as your father, and not some stranger trying to save the day, I have to tell you how important it is to me that you're safe."

But before Meyer could say anything else to convince them, Lysandre's voice came over the city's somehow still-intact sound system.

"To my beloved Kalos region and the entire world, I am Lysandre, once of Lysandre labs, but now of the organization called Team Flare. I have an announcement. We are here to remake the world into a place of pure beauty and peace. Team Flare's purpose is to transform our world into an exquisite example of creation."

The screen panned over to where Zygarde still sat atop Prism Tower.

"This Pokémon's name is Zygarde. A Legendary Pokémon who is angry at the behavior of both people and Pokémon. The discipline of this world has been lost. Humanity is out of control. We have forgotten how to share. Without sharing, people begin to steal from each other. When that happens, there is not enough for anyone. In order to live in peace without stealing, we must reduce the number of beings on this planet. Only the chosen ones will move on into our bright, hopeful future. We of Team Flare, along with the fury of Zygarde, will be the ones to make that judgment. The new order will do away with the chaos of the world and bring about the beautiful future we desire."

When the speech was over, everyone was silent for a minute, trying to take in the implications of what they'd just heard. Whatever was happening to Lumiose wasn't meant just for Lumiose; it was supposed to take over the entire world. This wasn't about destruction or making a statement.

It was about slowly killing them all.

Before that realization could fully sink in, Clemont turned to his father with fresh and grim determination and said: "Looks like we're all in danger anyway, dad."

Mairin didn't know how long she'd cried for, nor how long she'd waited after her tears had dried up. But there was never another sign of Alain. All Mairin could think was that she was grateful there hadn't been any more destruction around her for a little while. No rumbling, even the sound of the panicked masses had died down—it was just her and her thoughts.

"Mairin, we've been looking for you!"

When she heard the sound of another voice, she blinked, her mind clearing for a moment. "What?"

She looked up and saw one of the workers at Lysandre Labs. She could only tell because of the familiar, rather garish garb they all wore. She didn't know how to tell most of them apart, and therefore didn't know their names, but apparently this guy knew her.

"Lysandre was worried about you, and he sent some of us to look for you. And anyone else who might need help."

"Oh, that's so nice." It really was, so she meant to say it like she was excited, but her voice was flat, and scratchier than usual. She was lucky that it hadn't come out as a raspy whisper.

"So if you'll just come with me, I'll bring you to safety."

The guy was reaching his hand out to pick her up from her spot on the ground. Grateful and a little embarrassed, Mairin took the proffered hand and pushed herself up. She leaned on the man's strength more than she would have liked, but the truth was that her legs still felt like jelly and she needed all the help she could get.

At that moment, Mairin heard another voice, this one familiar. But it wasn't talking to her.

It was Lysandre, and she was hearing him in surround sound. His voice was coming from speakers inside the stadium, televisions inside nearby houses, the Lumiose sound system where Mairin could vaguely remember hearing an announcement earlier.

"Come on; let's go."

The guy pulled on her hand, and Mairin pulled back. "Hold on; I want to listen."

"We're going to him—he'll be happy to tell you himself."

Mairin looked at the man in confusion. "Why won't you just let me listen to Lysandre?"

It had only been a question, but for some reason, it was enough to get the guy to loosen his grip, though not without his expression turning frosty and frustrated.

And as Mairin listened, her heart nearly stopped.

It quickly became clear that Lysandre had taken over all the audio-visual systems in Lumiose, if not the whole world. He was speaking in flowery prevarications, out of which Mairin gleaned two vital facts. One, this, all of this, was Lysandre's doing. Two, Chespie was not being treated.

Lysandre hadn't said anything to inform Mairin of the second fact, but she knew it in her heart nevertheless. Whatever Lysandre had spent the last many months doing, none of it had been for Chespie. It had been for this. And unless, by some miracle, curing Chespie had something to do with this, then Chespie was still asleep. Now with very little hope of waking up.

Mairin felt her chest constrict and it was difficult to breathe. She found herself taking thick, wheezing gasps as the information sunk in.

"Let's go, Mairin. Lysandre will be more than happy to explain, I'm sure."

For a second, Mairin almost let herself get carried away by this guy. She wasn't thinking, her mind was overwhelmed and echoing with the words she'd just heard. But then she realized the implications of what was going on. This Lysandre Labs fellow wasn't alarmed, like she was. Clearly he knew what he'd signed up for, unlike her. He wanted this too. He wanted the world to die too.

"No!" Mairin tried to yank her hand back, but the guy had been expecting that. His grip was tight, and he was a lot bigger than her.

Mairin still felt weak from her panic attack earlier, but adrenaline was pumping through her body as her worldview narrowed to one simple fact: get away.

She kicked out her leg and managed to connect with the guy's thigh, but it wasn't enough to send him down; it was only enough to make him angry. He instantly began fighting back, grabbing Mairin's other arm and trying to reach them both behind her back. Before he did, she turned her head to the side and bit his arm, which surprised him enough to lose grip on that one wrist. She tried to push him away, but again, he overpowered her. She caught sight of him taking his hand away, which was a relief, but only for a second. He wasn't taking his hand away: it was a backswing. And as he brought his hand down to slap her in the face, she turned away, hoping that he would catch the back of her head, maybe on her hat, where it would hurt less, but the blow never came.

Hesitantly, Mairin opened one eye and saw a very angry Professor Sycamore standing behind the Lysandre Lab's guy, and holding his arm twisted behind his back.

"Let. Go. Of. The. Girl," Professor Sycamore growled. When the man hesitated, the professor added, "Or my Garchomp eats you. It looks like we have quite the day ahead of us, so he'll be needing the protein."

Under the weight of the threat of the Garchomp over Professor Sycamore's shoulder, the man released Mairin's hand, which Mairin took back and rubbed soothingly. His grip had grown so tight that the bones in her knuckles had started to grind against each other.

"Now what do you say my friend, Mairin, and I walk you to the police station?"

With Garchomp growling and licking its sharp teeth, the man didn't have any choice but to surrender. He looked down at the ground, silently admitting his own defeat.

Professor Sycamore began walking backn the direction he'd come only to look back and see that Mairin hadn't moved. "Mairin?"

As the adrenaline was draining out of her system, Mairin's mind became loud again with all that she now knew. A man she had put so much trust in was trying to destroy the world. What was she supposed to do with that?

Mairin saw Professor Sycamore's shoes enter her field of vision, and then his knees as he kneeled down to talk to her. She glanced up to see that the Lysandre Labs guy was now being all but hugged by Garchomp.

"Are you okay?"

Alain had asked her that question before and she had lied. She didn't want to lie to Professor Sycamore too, so she just shook her head.

"I'm sorry Lysandre lied," Professor Sycamore said, looking at Mairin with righteous compassion. "I know you must be feeling a lot of things."

Mairin held back all the impulses telling her to cry again. Chespie would not want her to sit around and lose herself—not when so much else was going on. Professor Sycamore was sorry for her that Lysandre had lied? What about everyone else in Lumiose? And what about Alain?

"Alain!" Mairin gasped. Instantly, Mairin knew exactly what Alain would be thinking. All the blame that he was surely already burying himself in. Mairin had seen what it had done to Alain just to know what had happened to Chespie; if he let himself, today would be the day Alain would destroy himself with guilt.

"What? Is something wrong?"

"We have to find Alain! Where do you think he is?"

Professor Sycamore shook his head. "I don't know. I haven't seen him since the vines broke through the stadium."

Mairin kept thinking. "What about Ash? They were together!"

That gave Professor Sycamore pause; obviously it was a little more to work with. "Well, if I know Ash…he has to be headed for Prism Tower."

When Ash woke up, the first thing he saw was the red hue of the sky. Hadn't it just been bright blue? And then he noticed his arms felt tight, mostly in the shoulders, but really, everything was uncomfortable. Had he slept the wrong way? His mind was still fuzzy with sleep.

No, not sleep. He'd been hit with a Confuse Ray point blank. It was probably just now leaving his mind.

Wait! That meant he'd been attacked. So…

Ash looked down and saw that he was stories and stories above the ground. Stories above even the next nearest building. He was being hung by his hands and legs at Prism Tower. It gave Ash a bone-chilling view of the destruction Lumiose had faced thus far, and all that was still coming as vines continued to tear the city apart. His instinct was to try to break free of the bonds, even if it was a long drop down, but a few jerks and tugs revealed that there was not a millimeter of give. He couldn't even wiggle his fingers.

A whimper sounded next to him, and Ash turned to see that Pikachu was there too, along with all his other Pokémon. He quickly realized that the familiar weight of his PokéBelt was no longer slung across his waist; it had been taken from him. Ash remembered Pikachu being hit by the strong Confuse Ray as well, but he had no idea how his other Pokémon had ended up in such a state.

"Oh good, you're awake."

With a start, Ash realized that the voice was coming from below him. And there he saw Lysandre standing with Alain, and looking pretty pleased with himself. Ash then remembered Alain's immediate assessment that all this destruction was the work of Lysandre, and Ash felt very, very unsafe. He looked to the side and saw that Pokémon Alain had mentioned, Zygarde, standing so close to him, and glowing with an unnatural red aura.

"What are you doing‽" Ash shouted. "Why are me and my Pokémon up here?"

"Oh, that?" Lysandre didn't bother shouting. It was as though he knew just how loudly he needed to speak for Ash to hear him, and wouldn't bother with so much as an extra decimal. "That's just in case this doesn't go well. You're lucky, Ash. You and your Pokémon may be a few of the lucky ones."

"What? What doesn't go well?" Ash turned his attention to Alain. "Alain, what is he talking about? No, you know, whatever he said, don't listen to him! You can fix this! Alain!"

But Alain didn't move. He wasn't even looking at Ash.

"Yes, Alain's been very helpful," Lysandre offered. "Without him, I may not have found you or your Greninja."

"What's this gotta do with Greninja?"

"I think you know very well what it's got to do with it."

Ash's eyes went wide. "Is this what you meant when you said you wanted to talk after the League? The new world you were talking about?"

Lysandre laughed. "You've got it. You and your Greninja will lead the way in our new world, letting us study your Bond Phenomenon so we can use that to inform how Pokémon and humans interact. So, what do you say?"

"We won't do any of that!" Ash raged. "I love this world and I would gladly die trying to save it!"

That statement didn't seem to surprise Lysandre. All he did was purse his lips and give a little hum. Then he said: "Well, if you won't be a leader, we'll gladly take you as test subjects."

Before he'd even finished his sentence, a pair of insectile machines fluttered up to either side of his head. They glinted rose gold in the sky's strange light as they flew around each other, mesmerizingly up to Ash. For a second, he saw a bright red beam shooting out of them.

And then he screamed.

His head ached and, for a moment, Ash was sure that Lysandre was trying to kill him. But over the sounds of his own pain, he heard Greninja crying out beneath him. He wasn't about to die; he was going to be controlled like Zygarde. Both he and Greninja were.

"Lysandre!" Ash cried out. "You will not control us! You will never win!"

By that point, Ash's Pokémon were all chattering in fear for their friends. Ash could feel their support and concern bolstering him, but at the same time, the pain was so great. His skin felt like it was being ripped off, and his brain was being crushed by his skull. The sounds of his friends were being dulled by a sharp ringing in his ears. The last thing he heard was:

"This power is enough to control the likes of a Legendary Pokémon," Lysandre said calmly. "And can't you see? We're already winning."

And then he heard nothing.

"Hey, I was watching that!"

Misty was standing up, shrugging on the pink jacket that she'd tossed over the back of the sofa hours before when they'd started watching the broadcast of the Kalos League. She tossed the remote back to Daisy. "Fine. Turn it back on if you want."

It was late at night by that point in Kanto. What had been an early afternoon match in Kalos had begun at 8pm for the Cerulean Gym. Of course, the broadcast had been continuing for a few hours by that point. They'd kept the channel on nonstop and had only just finished watching Lysandre's message when Misty had turned off the TV.

"Are you turning in, Misty?" Tracey asked, looking over his shoulder as Daisy turned the report back on to the news report of the disaster in Kalos.

Misty shook her head in response before picking up her Pokégear and dialing a number. Though the program was now back on with the magenta-haired newscaster analyzing the message given by Lysandre, Daisy and Tracey were both craning their necks back, focused on what Misty was doing.

"Hi, Professor," Misty said as she grabbed some sneakers and began to shove her feet into them one-handedly. "Yes, I have. I was wondering if you could send Ash's Charizard to the Cerulean Gym? Yes, I am. I do. I will. Thanks, Professor."

Misty ended the phone call and then tossed her head over to grab her hair to pull into her classic side-pony. She ran across the room to grab her backpack and began shoving granola bars in it.

"Misty, like, what are you doing?"

She blinked at Daisy as if she needed a moment to pop out of the slightly manic episode she was having. Then her eyes narrowed into a patronizing expression that Daisy was quite familiar with receiving from Misty.

Tracey, always a bit more perceptive than everyone else, began, "Daisy, I, uh, think she's going to…"

Daisy looked at Tracey with shock. "No. Misty, you're not…"

Meanwhile, Misty zipped her jacket and slung her backpack over one shoulder. As soon as she grabbed Charizard's 'Ball from the transporter, she would have everything she needed.

"Yes, Daisy. I'm going to Kalos."

A/N: Well, happy PokéShipping Week...2018! Yeah, I'm way late. This story was supposed to take a week...then a month...then ended up taking a year and a half. I don't know what to tell you. When I saw the categories for that year, this is the story that came to me and it...got out of hand. I'll tell you the categories this story was supposed to fulfill at the end. Until then, you can expect weekly updates. But stupid idea though this story is, I'm glad this is what I spent my time off from Ghost Story doing. In writing it (mostly due to my 100 words a day challenge and completing NaNoWriMo) I've earned a much better work ethic as a writer. I'm in better shape than ever to go back to finishing GS, and it will be my main focus during the ongoing quarantine in April 2020.

Speaking of quarantine, I just wanna extend my thoughts to everyone right now. I'm still in NYC, a worldwide epicenter right now, so I know it's a scary time. And I'm sorry that the story I'm putting out right now is one of intense catastrophe! It's not great timing. But hopefully this story can still provide you a bit of distraction while we're all going through this. I'm here for you and I hope you enjoy this story.

Also, this is the first of many thanks to my beta, C'sMelody, for this story. She's gone over every chapter not once, but twice, and some even more than that. Can you imagine? You guys owe her big thanks. Until next week.