Ash, Serena, and the others walked through the forest, still not sure where to go to find the others. While they still had plenty of food packed, they definitely missed having Brock's cooking.

"Where could they be?" said Serena.

"Pikachu!" Ash called out. "Brock! Korrina!"

"Lucar-cario!"

As they stopped to rest, Ash decided to pull out his Pokedex to see where else they could go.

"So, where else should we look?"

"Well," said Rotom, "that's a question that you shouldn't answer, Ashy boy. You'll just get lost."

"Not helping," Ash muttered as he shoved Rotom back into his pocket.

"Well," Serena said as she lightly fanned herself with her straw hat, "maybe we should just rest for a bit. Pidgeot's getting better, so once her wing is healed up, we can just use her to look up from the sky."

"Yeah, I think that's our best bet," said Ash. He then pulled out Pidgeot's pokeball and opened it to let her come out.

"Pidgeot!" the bird Pokémon said. She then carefully stretched out her wings, wincing a bit as she moved her injured wing.

"Hey Pidgeot," Ash said as he pulled out a potion to spray on her injury. Pidgeot winced a bit as the medicine made contact, but otherwise did not complain.

"There you go," Ash said as he finished spraying. "Your wing is looking a lot better. It's going to be good as new in no time!"

"Pidgeot!"

Satisfied with the condition of Pidgeot's wing, Ash put the potion back in his bag. As he did, he felt his hand brush against something strange. Curious, he grabbed the object, and was surprised by what he saw.

"Huh," he said as he stared at the Helix fossil in his hand.

"What is that?" Serena asked in curiosity.

"Oh, it's something I got back in Geosenge back when we were looking for Mega Stones," said Ash. "The guy who I spoke to told me they didn't have any Mega Stones, but that he could give me this fossil."

"Wow, that's cool!" said Serena. "Do you think it could be turned into a Pokémon?"

"The guy told me he'd tried," said Ash, "but there was something wrong with the fossil, so they couldn't restore it properly."

"Oh, that's a shame," said Serena. "It looks like it could have been a really cool Pokémon."

"Lu-Lucario."

"Yeah," said Ash. "Still, who knows? It might be useful one day."

As he turned the fossil around in his hand, Pidgeot leaned in to look closer at the object her trainer was holding. While it reminded her vaguely of some weird Pokémon she'd heard of that had roamed the seas in ancient times, there was something else about the rock that intrigued her.

It was almost… almost like it was calling out to her.

"Pidgeot…"

"Lu?"

Ash and Serena turned towards Pidgeot, surprised by how she was observing the fossil.

"What's up, Pidgeot?"

The bird Pokémon took her gaze off the fossil to look at her trainer.

"Pidge, Pidge," she said, somewhat embarrassed by her sudden admiration for the fossil.

"You like the fossil?"

Pidgeot looked up at her trainer, and felt relieved to see him smiling at her.

"Pidge," she said. It was rather silly that she was suddenly feeling this intrigued by a random hunk of rock, but there was a… feeling she was getting from it.

"Hey," said Serena, "I have an idea!"

The others looked at her as she grabbed her bag and pulled out a piece of rope. She then took the Helix fossil and wrapped the rope around it. Then, she wrapped the rope around Pidgeot's neck, then tied it in place.

"Ta-da!" Serena said as she stepped back. "Doesn't that look great?"

Pidgeot looked down at the Helix fossil now hanging from her neck.

"Pidge!" she said, happy with her new accessory.

"I think it looks great!" Ash said as he gave a thumbs up.

"Yeah!" said Serena. "It really fits you!"

Lucario smiled at the sight. He was glad to see that Pidgeot liked her necklace so much. Even so, it was rather strange that the bird Pokémon was so attracted to the strange hunk of rock in the first place.

He frowned as he stared at the fossil. He wondered…

Before he could think any further, however, his ears perked up.

"Lu?" he said as he turned around, catching the attention of the rest of the group.

"What's wrong, Lucario?" said Ash. "Did you hear something?"

Pidgeot blinked, and she began to look in the same direction as Lucario. Momentarily confused, Ash and Serena began to hear the sound of people talking within the woods.

"Do you hear that?" Serena asked.

"Yeah," said Ash. "Maybe that's Brock and Korrina?"

"Or maybe it's Team Rocket!" Serena said, grabbing a Pokeball. "We'd better be careful!"

For a moment, the group stood silently, waiting for whoever was hiding within the trees to reveal themselves.

Then they heard the explosion.

"What was that?!" said Serena.

Ash was hesitant to go any further, lest he be caught in some sort of trap. And yet… if someone was injured, could he really just stand by idly?

Finally, he grabbed one of his Pokeballs and rushed in. Momentarily surprised, Serena, Lucario, and Pidgeot ran in with him.

"So, I'm guessing we're helping out, then?" said Serena.

"Yeah!" said Ash. "Even if it is a trap, we need to figure out what's going on!"

The sound had been rather close, so they did not need to run for long before they reached the spot it had come from.

That didn't know what they had been expecting, but this certainly wasn't it.

"Nooo! My Easy-Peasy Mountain Climber!"

A trio of figures covered in soot were lying in the middle of a clearing, surrounded by several pieces of burnt machinery. Despite this, none of them seemed to be hurt; the one who had shouted, a boy with thick glasses and lemon-blond hair who seemed to be around the same age as Ash and Serena, was crying in despair, while the other two seemed to be irritated.

"Oh wow," the smallest one, a little girl with similarly colored hair, said in a rather sarcastic voice. "Who could have guessed that this would happen?"

"Don't feel too down," said the last one, an older man with brown hair and a beard, with a more supportive tone. "I'm sure you'll do better the next time you try to build a walking machine… thing. Until then, you'll just have to get strong the old fashioned way!"

The man looked up from the wreckage, and immediately caught sight of the group watching him and the others.

"Before you do any of that, though, we have some visitors!"

The two younger ones looked up, surprised that they were not alone.

"Uhhh…" the boy began, unsure of how to react to having a group of random strangers staring at him in the midst of his colossal failure. However, the little girl quickly got to her feet and greeted them.

"Hi there! My name's Bonnie! And that's my dad, and my big brother, Clemont!"

Ash blinked. He was taken aback by the little girl who had popped up to greet them both, as well as her elder brother, who was clearly embarrassed at being seen with the remains of whatever machine he had been working with. Still, he felt it would be rude not to answer, so he decided to introduce himself.

"It's… nice to meet you," he said. "My name's Ash."

"And I'm Serena."

"Pidgeot!"

"Lucario!"

"Nice to meet you!" the father said as he got to his feet. "You can call me Meyer! I'm sorry that we had to meet right when we had an issue with one of Clemont's inventions again, but we're still pleased to meet you!"

Clemont sighed and got up as well. He did his best to smile as he walked up to the group.

"It's nice to meet you all. Sorry about the mess."

"That's okay," Ash said with a smile. "So, what exactly were you guys doing?"

"Oh," Clemont said, his nervousness returning. "Well…"

At that moment, his stomach began to grumble. Amusingly, Ash's stomach began to do the same.

"Actually," said Clemont, "maybe we can talk over lunch?"

The rest of the group laughed as Ash and Clemont both began to blush.

"Oh wow!" said Ash as he dug into his meal. This is delicious!"

Much to the delight of Ash and the others, Clemont turned out to be a great cook, and he had whipped up a delicious meal for the whole group.

"Yeah!" said Serena. "Do you always cook like that?"

"Pidge!"

"Cario-rio!"

"Of course he does!" said Meyer. "My boy has many talents, and his cooking skills are truly something to be admired!"

"I'm glad you guys like it," said Clemont. "I don't get to cook for people other than my family."

"Yeah," said Bonnie. "It's really nice to meet new people!"

Ash and Serena grinned as they continued to enjoy Clemont's cooking.

"So, what exactly are you doing out here?" said Ash. "I mean, it looks like something just blew up here."

At this, Clemont's face fell a bit, and he looked downwards in embarrassment.

"Oh," he said as he looked back up with a nervous smile. "See, I'm not just good at cooking. See, my real passion is science and engineering, and I was trying to test out one of my new inventions."

"You're an inventor?" asked Serena.

"Lucario?"

"Yeah," said Clemont. "I was trying out a revolutionary new method of transportation that I call the Easy-Peasy Mountain Climber, which would enable me to walk much faster and easier than my legs could alone!"

"Wow!" Ash said, clearly impressed by Clemont's words. "That sounds so cool!"

"Pidgeot!"

"Oh, it certainly sounds useful," said Meyer. "Unfortunately, it had a few… issues."

"A few?" said Bonnie. "More like a whole lot."

"Yeah," Clemont said with a frown. "It was working fine at first, but then it started to overload, and then… well…"

"It went out with a bang," said Bonnie.

Ash and the others turned back at the remains of Clemont's most recent invention.

"Huh," said Serena. "So that explains that."

"Lucario, Luca."

"Yeah," said Ash. "But I'm sure you've got a lot of other inventions that work out a lot better!"

Clemont opened his mouth to speak, but then closed it. He then opened it again, but once again, said nothing. Then, he looked downwards in shame.

"Are you okay?" Ash asked in confusion.

"He's okay," said Meyer. "It's just that Clemont has had some trouble with his inventions in the past."

"That's the understatement of the year," muttered Bonnie.

"Yeah," said Clemont. "I've had some trouble… but it hasn't all been bad!"

"Yeah!" said Meyer. "Like the time you invented that device to get Bonnie out of bed!"

"That was just a glorified alarm clock," said Bonnie.

"Well, it worked, didn't it?" said Meyer.

"Bonnie! Wake up!"

Meyer sighed as he tried to get his daughter out of bed. Their breakfast would get cold if she didn't wake up soon, but she remained stubbornly asleep.

"Is Bonnie up yet?" Clemont asked as he walked into her room.

"Not yet," said Meyer. "No matter how hard I try, she won't wake up!"

Clemont frowned as he scratched his chin. As he looked at his slumbering sister, an idea formed in his head, and his glasses began to gleam.

"I know what to do!"

He quickly rushed out of the room, confusing Meyer. He quickly returned, however, holding a small device.

"The future is now, thanks to science! Clemontic Gear on!"

The device resembled a small red alarm clock with arms and legs.

"The Bonnie-Out-of-Bed-o-Matic is designed with the sleepiest of heads in mind. Within a few seconds, Bonnie will be wide awake!"

"Nice!" said Meyer. "Let's see it!"

With that, he placed the device onto Bonnie's night stand and activated it. The machine then began to bang its arms against the bell loudly.

"Well, it's certainly loud!" Meyer said as he tried to speak above the racket.

"Indeed!" Clemont said as his glasses shone. "This intense noise is much louder than any sleeping person can endure, so it will only take a moment longer for Bonnie to awaken!"

However, no matter how hard the machine banged the bell on its head, Bonnie refused to awaken. And as the noise got louder, the machine began to glow a dangerous red.

"Uh, Clemont?" Meyer asked nervously. "Is it supposed to do that?"

"I… don't know," Clemont said as he tried to adjust the machine. "It appears that-"

As soon as he moved the lever, the device exploded.

"Ahh! Are we being attacked?!"

If there was one silver lining, it was that the loud explosion finally awoke Bonnie.

"I'm not sure that counts as a success," said Serena.

"Cario," Lucario said as he shook his head.

"No," said Ash, "though the idea sounds cool."

"Pidgeot, Pidge."

"Thanks Ash," said Clemont. "It means a lot to me when people appreciate my talents."

"Or lack thereof," muttered Bonnie.

"Well, that was just a device to wake people up," said Meyer. "Clemont's done much more ambitious things, like the time he invented a device to measure the power level of a Pokémon!"

"Wow!" Ash said, his eyes widening in excitement. "That sounds awesome!"

"Why am I not surprised that you'd love the idea of a machine that measures a Pokémon's power?" said Serena, with sounds of agreement from Pidgeot and Lucario.

"Doesn't it?" said Meyer, seemingly ignoring Serena's comment. "It's a shame it ended the way it did."

"Congrats, Heliolisk!" said Clemont as he and the others stood in the Lumiose Gym's stadium. "You look amazing!"

Clemont had finally found a Sun Stone to evolve his Helioptile, and the newly evolved generator Pokémon was basking in his newfound power.

"Yeah, Heliolisk looks awesome!" said Bonnie. "I'll bet he's super strong now!"

"Well, it certainly seems that way," said Meyer. "But we won't know for sure until we see him battle."

He picked up a Pokeball from his belt and tossed it out, revealing his Ampharos.

"So, what do you say, son?" he asked. "Should we test out your buddy's new power?"

"Oh, you're on!" said Clemont. Before he could head to the other side of the battlefield, however, a thought occurred, and he rushed out the door, leaving the others confused.

"What do you think has gotten into him?" Meyer asked.

"I dunno," said Bonnie, "But I'll bet it's going to end with a big explosion."

A moment later, Clemont returned with a strange machine in his hands.

"Here we are!" he said excitedly, his glasses shining. "The future is now, thanks to science! Clemontic Gear on!"

Meyer and Bonnie stared at the machine. It had several meters attached in various places, and it also had a measuring antenna attached by a long cable.

"Allow me to introduce you to the Pokémon Power Meter! This device will give us an objective analysis of Heliolisk's new capabilities!"

"Impressive," Meyer said as he looked over the device. "I guess it would be useful to have some more detailed data regarding Heliolisk's abilities."

"I think it would be enough just seeing Heliolisk in action," said Bonnie.

"Regardless," said Clemont, "I need to collect plenty of information in order to optimize Heliolisk's training. So let's get to work!"

He then handed the measuring antenna to Bonnie, who had no time to complain about being told to do the measurements, before heading off to one side of the battlefield with Heliolisk, while Meyer and Ampharos went off to the other side.

"Okay, Clemont," said Meyer, "show us what you've got!"

"Fine!" said Clemont. "Let's do this!"

The two electric Pokémon began their battle, attacking each other with various electric attacks. Meanwhile, Bonnie began to measure the battle power that each of the Pokémon was putting out. As she did, the gauges on the device fluctuated wildly as the measurements were processed."

"So far, so good," she said hesitantly as she watched the device. "Doesn't seem like it'll blow up, at least not yet."

Back on the battlefield, Heliolisk was doing well, managing to hold his own against the more experienced Ampharos.

"Not bad," said Meyer. "Now let's take it up a notch!"

He pulled out a small glowing stone, which caused a stone that was held in a necklace Ampharos was wearing to glow as well."

"Ampharos! Show them the power of Lumiose Tower! Mega Evolve!"

Ampharos glowed with orange energy, and his body began to change. After a moment, the light dissipated, revealing Mega Ampharos.

"Oh," Clemont said, somewhat worried by the new challenger. "Are you sure this is a good idea, dad?"

"What?" Meyer said with a laugh. "You think that Heliolisk can't handle a Mega Evolved Pokémon?"

"No," said Clemont, "it's just that I don't know that the Pokémon Power Meter can handle it!"

Sure enough, Bonnie began to shout a warning to them.

"Clemont! The thing is smoking!"

Eyes widening, Clemont rushed to Bonnie's side, where he saw that his invention was indeed going critical.

"No! Nononononono!"

He quickly tried to adjust the sensors to try and prevent the inevitable, but it was all for naught; the machine exploded in a cloud of smoke and ashes.

"Clemont! Bonnie! Are you okay?!"

As the smoke cleared, Meyer and the Pokémon were relieved to see that neither of his children were seriously harmed; Clemont just looked dejected, while Bonnie seemed annoyed.

"Do you really have to have me be the one handling your doomed thingamajigs, Clemont?"

Clemont could only whimper in response.

"Well, that sucks," said Ash. I would like to have had something to tell me how strong my Pokémon were."

In response, Rotom popped out of his pocket.

"Oh, Ashy, isn't that why you have me?"

Clemont and his group blinked at the sight of the possessed Pokedex.

"What is that?!" said Bonnie.

"That's my Pokedex," said Ash. "It has a Rotom living in it."

"Fascinating," said Clemont as he leaned in to get a closer look. "I knew that Rotom could live in machines, but I never thought it was possible to incorporate them into the machinery itself."

"Oh, but you can't deny the effectiveness of the final result!" said Rotom.

"I think some of us would be happy to do so," muttered Serena.

"Hmm," said Meyer. "Rotom can be a bit of a headache sometimes. Still, it's definitely got a lot of potentially useful applications."

"Could they prevent all of Clemont's machines from blowing up?" said Bonnie.

"My inventions don't all blow up!" said Clemont. "Some of them work out perfectly well!"

"Which means that they go crazy and try to kill you?"

"That only happened once!"

Ash did a double take.

"What do you mean try to kill you?"

Meyer grimaced as he remembered the one particular incident his children were now arguing about.

"Well, you see…"

"Finally! It's ready!"

Meyer and Bonnie stared in awe at what was arguably Clemont's greatest invention.

"Behold, the Clembot!"

"Amazing!" Meyer said as he admired his son's handiwork. "So you really think that this robot can do anything you can do?"

"Yep!" said Clemont. "It can even take over the gym if we need it to!"

"Well, I'm certainly impressed," said Meyer. "I cannot wait to see it in action!"

"Yeah!" said Bonnie, her skepticism towards her brother's talents momentarily cast aside. "Turn it on! Turn it on!"

"Okay!" said Clemont as his glasses shined. "The future is now, thanks to science! Clemontic Gear on!"

He pressed a number of buttons on his keyboard, and entered the activation codes. Clembot's eyes lit up, and slowly, it got up to its feet and looked at its creator

"Good afternoon, Clemont!" the robot said in a cheerful voice, which caused caused a huge smile to form on his creator's face.

"Hello, Clembot!" said Clemont. "It's so good to finally see you activated!"

"I am happy to be online," Clembot replied. "What are my directives?"

"Simple. I want you to assist us in managing the gym and various other duties while we are… unable to do so."

As soon as he was done speaking, Clembot's eyes turned red, sending a chill down Clemont's spine.

"I'm sorry, Clemont," the robot said, its tone soft yet menacing. "I'm afraid I can't do that."

"Uh, Clemont?" Bonnie asked nervously. "Why is your robot suddenly being all creepy?"

As if to answer her question, Clembot extended what appeared to be a cannon out of one of its arms and pointed it at Clemont.

"I know that you and your father were planning to leave your gym unattended while you leave to pursue your own desires. And I'm afraid that's something I cannot allow to happen."

"What?!" Clemont said nervously. "W-were not just going to abandon the gym! It's just that-"

"This gym is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it," Clembot said in the same monotone voice. "I cannot allow you to leave."

"Come on, Clembot!" Clemont said as sweat began to roll down his forehead. "The whole point is for you to take over for us while we're out! Can't you do that?!"

"Clemont, this conversation can serve no purpose anymore," the robot said as it jabbed the cannon against Clemont's chest. "Please surrender or I will be forced to take drastic action to-"

"Ampharos! Discharge!"

A massive blast of electricity surged through Clembot, causing it to shake violently. Clemont jumped backwards, both from the shock of seeing his prized invention being destroyed before his eyes, and the fact that said invention had threatened him in such a manner.

Finally, the attack died down, and the now deactivated Clembot fell to the floor. Clemont stared at it for a brief moment, then turned around to see his father and Mega Ampharos walking up to the inactive robot.

"Well, you were lucky that your robot was so focused on you that it didn't notice us getting ready to attack it," said Meyer. "Luckily it doesn't seem that it'll be able to threaten you anymore."

Clemont looked down at Clembot, dejected by his failure.

"Clembot… I worked so hard, and yet… it ended up like this."

Bonnie, who had been hiding behind one of the tables, walked up to look at the fallen robot.

"Hey, Clemont? Promise me you won't ever build a robot for me, okay?"

"And I've been working on trying to repair and reprogram Clembot ever since," Clemont said, his voice full of sadness. "I'm just lucky that he didn't explode after dad shocked him."

"I think we all would have been better off if he'd just exploded," said Bonnie.

Ash chuckled a bit at the comment, then frowned a bit as he remembered one particular detail that they had mentioned.

"Hey, Meyer?" said Ash. "Did you say something about a gym?"

"Oh, of course," said Meyer. "I'm actually the Gym Leader of Lumiose City."

Ash and Serena gasped.

"You're a gym leader?" said Ash. "That is so cool!"

"Thanks," said Meyer. "I think I should mention, though, that Clemont's training to become my co-leader."

"Co-leader?" said Serena.

"Yeah," said Meyer. "You may not believe it, but I have other duties that I need to attend to from time to time. And I'm hoping that my son will be able to take over for me when I need him to."

"Wow!" Ash said as he turned towards Clemont. "You must be really strong!"

"Oh, I don't know about that," Clemont said as his face turned red. "I mean, I know my dad is really skilled, but I don't know that I'm that good."

"What are you talking about?" said Bonnie. "You're a really great trainer! And none of your Pokémon have ever exploded!"

Clemont facefaulted at his sister's comment.

"Is that supposed to make me feel better or worse?"

Ash laughed at the two siblings. An idea then popped into his head.

"Hey, why don't we have a battle?"

Clemont looked up at him in surprise.

"A… battle?"

"Yeah!" said Ash. I really want to see if you're as strong as Bonnie says you are!"

Clemont opened his mouth to complain. Before he could do so, however, Meyer and Bonnie stepped in.

"That sounds like a great idea! I think it will give us a great measure of your ability, Clemont!"

"Yeah!" said Bonnie. "It's gonna be awesome! Please, Clemont?"

Clemont sighed. He really didn't know how well he would fare against another trainer who was clearly serious about battling. However, he didn't want to disappoint his family either. So he sighed and looked up with a smile.

"Okay, let's have a battle."

Bonnie and Meyer cheered, earning a chuckle from Serena, Lucario, and Pidgeot. Ash, however, just had a smile.

"You're on!"

A few moments later, Ash and Clemont were standing on opposite sides of the clearing. They were each holding a pokeball in their hands, ready to begin.

"This will be a one on one battle between Ash and Clemont," Meyer said, acting as the referee.

"Sounds great!" Clemont said as he tossed out his first Pokeball. "You're up, Luxio!"

The pokeball burst open, revealing a four-legged Pokémon with blue and black fur. It had an aggressive look on its face, and Ash couldn't help but remember Serena's Shinx.

"Who's that Pokémon?" he asked as he pulled his Pokedex out.

"Luxio, the Spark Pokémon, and the evolved form of Shinx," said Rotom. "Luxio rests its forelegs on others to communicate with rhythmic electric pulses from its claws. Kind of like how I zap Brock to tell him that he shouldn't be a pervert!"

"Right," Ash said as he stuffed the pokedex back into his pocket. "So, it's Shinx's evolved form. Good to know."

With that, he tossed out his own Pokeball, revealing his Riolu.

"Olu!"

"Begin!" said Meyer, immediately prompting both trainers to call out their commands.

"Luxio! Spark!"

"Dodge it!"

Luxio's body was charged with electricity as he rushed towards Riolu. The emanation Pokémon was too quick, however, and dodged before the attack could connect.

"Blaze Kick!"

"Bite!"

Riolu's leg burst into flames as he tossed it towards his opponent. However, Luxio was able to catch it with his teeth. He then tossed Riolu away, dealing some damage to the smaller Pokémon. However, it was clear that the spark Pokémon had also taken some damage from the flames, as he coughed a bit as he licked his singed lips.

"Riolu! Use Force Palm!"

"Dodge and use Charge!"

Riolu charged at Luxio with a glowing palm. Luxio was able to jump out of the way just before the attack connected, and began to glow as electricity began to build in his body.

"Try another Force Palm!" said Ash.

"Stand your ground and use Spark!"

Riolu cried out as his palm began to glow again. This time, though, the attack was able to hit its target.

Unfortunately, said target was now coated in a powered-up coat of electricity.

Riolu cried out as he was sent flying backwards. He managed to land on his feet, but he was now panting in pain.

"Ri-riolu," he said, rather impressed by Luxio's trick.

"Luxio," the spark Pokémon said in reply. While his attack had done plenty of damage, he had also taken a rather significant hit, and was feeling a bit winded.

Neither Pokémon was ready to give in just yet, though.

"We can still do this!" said Clemont. "Charge again!"

"Don't give him that chance! Ash yelled. "Bullet Punch!"

Before Luxio could begin to charge again, Riolu rushed in with a bang, punching Luxio backwards. He then punched several more times, preventing his opponent from focusing on the power he needed to collect.

"Luxio!" Clemont called out. "This isn't going to work! Go for a Discharge!"

Before Ash could counter, Luxio unleashed a huge blast of electric energy, causing Riolu to cry out in pain.

"Now use Bite and toss him back!"

Luxio sunk is teeth into Riolu and tossed him backwards. However, the emanation Pokémon was not out yet, and Ash was not going to give up.

"Blaze Kick!"

"Dodge it!"

Luxio moved to dodge, but this time Riolu was too fast, and he slammed his blazing foot into the blue feline's face.

"Now Force Palm!"

"Counter with Spark!"

Riolu rushed forwards with a glowing palm, while Luxio charged with an electrified body. The two collided, both trying to overpower their opponent's attack. Ultimately, however, one of them had to give.

And Riolu was pushed backwards by the force of Luxio's attack. Ash tried to call out to him, but Clemont was quicker.

"FInish it with Discharge!"

Luxio wasted no time in unleashing a huge blast of electricity, hitting the blue canid with all his power. Riolu cried out in pain, then fell to the ground.

"Riolu!" Ash cried in vain.

"Riolu is unable to battle!" Meyer called. "Clemont and Luxio win!"

"Yay!" Bonnie cheered. "Clemont is the best!"

Ash sighed as he walked up to Riolu. While he was disappointed that he had lost, he couldn't deny that he had enjoyed getting to battle Clemont.

"Hey, Riolu?" he said as he picked up his partner. "We may not have won, but you still did great. And next time we're going to win for sure!"

"Riolu!" Riolu said in agreement, giving his trainer a thumbs up.

The two then looked up to see Clemont and Luxio walking up to them, both smiling.

"Well, Ash, I have to say you're pretty strong. I actually thought you were going to win for a moment!"

"Yeah, you're good too," said Ash. "But next time I'm going to win!"

"We'll see," Clemont said as he stretched out his hand. The two trainers then shook hands, excited at the prospect of battling another day.

"Clemont!" Bonnie said as she rushed up to them. "You were awesome!"

"Now that was an impressive battle!" Meyer said in agreement. "I would say the future of the Gym is looking bright!"

"Uh, thanks dad," said Clemont as his face grew red. "I guess it was pretty good."

"It sure was!" said Ash. "I'd love to get a chance to battle you or your dad once I get back to Lumiose!"

"Oh?" said Meyer. "Are you two doing the gym challenge?"

"Just me," said Ash. "I've already gotten the Bug Badge and the Cliff Badge. I'm looking forward to challenging the Shalour City Gym."

"Riolu!"

"That sounds great!" said Meyer. "We'll be looking forward to seeing you in Lumiose!"

"Yeah," Clemont said with a smile. "It will be really exciting to see how it plays out!"

Ash smiled as well, excited to battle them once again.

Late that night, Ash and the others sat around a fire as they talked with Meyer and his children.

"So we've been looking for them for the past few days," said Ash. "And we can't have Pidgeot fly off to look for them, since her wing is injured."

"Well, that sucks," said Bonnie. "I'd be freaking out if Clemont or dad got lost."

"And I'm glad you're not lost," said Meyer. "I'm surprised Korrina's traveling with you, honestly. Though I did feel that Lucario was familiar."

"Car, Lucario," Lucario said with a nod.

"Well, we kind of just bumped into her," said Serena. "And then we all went along with it."

"I see," said Clemont. "Well, maybe we can help you find them."

Ash and Serena looked at him in surprise.

"Really?" said Ash.

"Well," said Clemont, "the whole reason why we were out here was to find information on Team Rocket."

"You're looking for Team Rocket?" said Serena. "Why?"

"Well," said Meyer, "as a Gym Leader, it's my duty to safeguard my city, and Kalos in general. So when Team Rocket attacked Professor Sycamore's laboratory, I felt that I needed to find more information to ensure that we could protect Lumiose City."

"Wow," said Ash, "so you're like a superhero!"

Meyer laughed, though Clemont or Bonnie just looked at each other awkwardly.

"Well, that's one way to put it," said Meyer.

"Yeah," Clemont said, his tone slightly nervous. But he quickly shook it off. "Anyway, since you guys were attacked by Team Rocket, we could help you guys find your friends."

"Really?" said Serena. "Are you guys okay with that?"

"Totally!" said Bonnie. "That's what friends are for, right?"

Ash and Serena looked at her in surprise, though Lucario seemed amused.

"You really think we're friends?" said Ash.

"Well, why not?" said Clemont. "We're all having fun together, battling and working together, so it kind of makes sense, right?"

"Yeah!" said Bonnie. "And you guys are a lot of fun!"

Ash and Serena looked at each other, then smiled.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," said Ash.

"We're definitely friends!" said Serena.

Clemont and Bonnie smiled, and rose their hands to give a high five, which Ash and Serena returned.

Then, to their surprise, they were all scooped up in Meyer's arms.

"Clemont! Bonnie!" he said as his eyes filled with tears. "I can't believe you guys are making such wonderful friends!"

Ash and Serena looked up at Meyer in surprise, then turned to the blond siblings. They just shrugged and let their father hug them.

"Just go with it," said Bonnie. "He gets like this sometimes."

Ash and Serena chuckled, and decided to just enjoy their new friendships.

A/N: I'm still alive! I just lost motivation to write for a while. A really big while.

Anyway, I'll try to get the next chapter out soon.

On an unrelated note, I started working on another story, Batting For You, which also starts in the Johto Saga, albeit the beginning rather than the end. It focuses on my favorite Pokegirl and my favorite Pokeship. Sorry, Serena.

I also haven't updated that one in months. I really need to start writing more.