Pokémon Journey: XYZ

Hey guys Paradox here and welcome to Chapter 123 and Chapter 40 of XYZ. Here is the final chapter of Team Flare's Arc. Now this won't go exactly as how you're thinking, if you know from previous conflicts throughout this story then this won't be a sweet victory. So brace yourself.

Enjoy.


"You have to fight to reach your dream. You have to sacrifice and work hard for it."- Lionel Messi


Chapter 123: Apocalypse

"Olympia, get some people to the rooftops. Coordinate aerial Pokémon for bombing runs." Drake calls as the Psychic trainer calls some trainers to her and rush to the buildings. Things appear grim for everyone as Team Flare dug into the plaza and attacked from all sides. Drake hid behind a car from Stingers as Charizard fires a stream of flames to the ground as a barrier.

"I don't think we're gonna punch through like this." Wulfric calls from the next car. "We just gotta hold until Olympia is in position." Drake said. "Someone needs to tell her to hurry up." Blue adds. "I sure she knows the stakes. Meantime we have to find a gap in their defenses." Green said. "Man, I sure hope Clemont and the others found their way through the tunnels." Drake mutters as he continues to instruct Charizard where to attack.

Meanwhile while the attack takes place above them, Rene, Clemont, Serena, Bonnie and Looker trek through the water system underground with Clemont leading everyone. "You sure this is the right way?" Rene asked.

"Positive." Clemont replies. "It's just that I can't help that we're going in circles and considering that you've done this before, it be really embarrassing if we are." Rene said. "Relax, I'm sure this is the way." Clemont said. "I'm sure the fighting has already start it." Serena said. "All the more reason to hurry." Looker adds. "You think I should've lend Squishy to Drake and the others?" Bonnie asked as she peeks inside her bag to look at the sleeping blob. "No, I'm sure Drake and the Gym Leaders will have everything under control." Rene said as they approached a ladder.

"We certainly DON'T have things under control!" Blue yells. "I know, I know. Where's Olympia with that bombing run?" Drake said. As if with perfect timing, a dozen Flying type Pokemon flew across the sky and fired Air Slashes down below Team Flare. "Talk about perfect timing." Drake calls. "No time to awe about. Go!" Wulfric said as Drake lead a charge with a handful of trainers. Everyone spread around while advancing to ensure no stragglers break from the plaza.

With Charizard and Raichu covering him from above, Drake broke a hole through Team Flare's ranks. Meanwhile he constantly checks up on everyone with some concern. Suddenly, they weren't going any further due to the mechs in place pining everyone down. "Damnit, I hope everyone else is faring better than we are." He thought.

Things were going just as the same for everyone else. For Steven's group, they managed to pin Team Flare in place but couldn't advance due to the mechs they were using to hold their line. "Metagross, use Psychic." Steven calls as the Iron Leg Pokemon roars out a concussive blast to knock some hostile Pokemon back but not the mechs behind the Grunt's lines as they continue to fire, causing Steven and Metagross to retreat. Their attack did managed to buy Korrina time as she and Lucario rushed in from Team Flare's left flank.

"Use Aura Sphere." The Aura Pokemon fires a sphere of aura at one of the mechs, causing it to collapse but for the other ones to then turn to them and rain Stingers upon. Korrina and Lucario had to flee back to the to group with speed as they couldn't stay any longer. "This is brutal! We knock them down but they have more mechs to back them up." Korrina said. "We have to deal with those mechs. Without them, their ability to street fight will be severely limited." Grant adds. "I don't suppose anyone has a plan then?" Ramos asked as Steven could only wonder what could they do.

"Diantha, We can still use the trainers on the rooftops to aim for their mechs." Viola said as Diantha's Gardevoir shielded them using Safeguard from Stingers. "Have someone relate that to Valerie on the rooftop." Diantha orders as Viola calls a random trainer to rush to the building.

Things were even hotter up top of Prism Tower, where Ash and Alain stood back to back against a Pyroar and a Houndoom. "Our Pokemon are gonna make mince meat out of you fools." Malva said. "What do we do?" Alain asked. "What else? We fight." Ash said. "Malva's Houndoom can Mega Evolve and without Charizard, I'm at a disadvantage." Alain said.

"Geez do I have to do everything for you? You have other partners, so use them. I don't have Greninja at the moment but I'm still putting on a brave face." Ash said. "I don't have powers like you." Alain said. "Stop making excuses. You really want to make it up to me then go kick Pinkie's ass." Ash said as he rush away towards Lysandre's Pyroar. Alain had no other choice as he faced Houndoom.

"Come out Unfezant." Alain selected as he figured the other more bulky Pokemon he had were too big for the platform. "I figured I'd had the home field advantage, if you'd never wasted your Charizard in the first place." Malva said. "I didn't get this far without some help from others." Alain said. "Others that you've betrayed Alain." Malva said as Houndoom makes a move against Unfezant.

"Go Goodra, use Dragon Pulse." The slimly dragon fires a rainbow beam at the fiery lion. "Use Flamethrower." Pyroar retaliates by countering with a stream of flames, canceling out the Dragon Pulse.

"Use Ice Beam." Goodra follows up with a beam of ice at Pyroar, nicking him on his tail. "Hyper Beam." Charging up in his mouth, Pyroar fires a devastating beam at Goodra. "Use Bide." Goodra braces himself and tanks the attack while absorbing the energy. Ash figured it would work without a hitch since Pyroar would be vulnerable after firing a Hyper Beam.

It worked out as Ash expected as Goodra then fires a white blast which engulfs Pyroar. "Ha, you're gonna have to do better than that." Ash boast. "This is just the beginning." Lysandre said.

Sneaking through the hallway, Looker leads the group behind a corner as they saw Grunts rushing towards the entrance. "Move! We have new orders! Defend the front." One grunt said. "Guess Drake was right. With all the ruckus everyone's making, Team Flare is routing to defend the front of the gym." Rene said. "We still need to reach the battlefield." Looker said.

Reaching the entrance was a cinch but now the real work begins. On the field was Xerosic and a team of grunts manning two machines. "What are they doing?" Bonnie asked. "Probably linking Prism Tower to their airship above us?" Rene said. "Ms. Oak could be correct that they're using Prism Tower as a starting point to map the whole region for geographical targeting." Looker explains. "But what about the other machine?" Serena asked.

"Status on the Mind Amplifier?" Xerosic asked. "Status is fully operational, the link to Z-2 is in the green." One grunt said. "Good get it online and have Z-2 move into position. Let's give those so called rebels something to fear." Xerosic said. "I had enough of this." Looker said as he broke from cover. "Wait." Rene warns but was too late as the others left to chase Looker.

"Halt Xerosic. You're done here." Looker said as he raised his badge. "Well it appears some rats managed to scurry in here." Xerosic smirked. "Since this is my gym, that would make you the rats." Clemont managed to make that remark.

"I hope you wouldn't mind that we're occupying the space." Xerosic said. "As a matter of fact, you're getting thrown out. Now surrender." Rene warns. "At a time like this, oh no, no, no, no. We're just getting started." Xerosic grins as a Grunt activates the Mind Amplifier, causing the antenna on it to realign.

Outside Prism Tower, Drake manages to knock out one Grunt when suddenly a loud roar. Zygarde in a red form rather than green lands in front of him with a loud shirk. "Aww shit." Drake groans.

"What did you just do?!" Serena asked. "Merely moving Z-2 to the board and joining the game." Xerosic said. "You insolent fool." Looker releases an Arcanine from a Poke Ball. "Turn off the machine now!" Looker demands.

"Have you done this before? Why would we do that?"Xerosic said as the grunts around him summon out Golbat, Liepard, Houndour. "Because we'll break it instead. Being a nerd and all, you must hate it when your toys break." Rene said as she and the others summon Altaria, Delphox, and Luxray. "Get them." Xerosic orders as the grunts command their Pokémon at the group. "Bonnie get to safety." Clemont said. "No I'm not because me and Dedenne are helping out." Bonnie said.

"But-" "I'll watch her Clemont, don't worry." Serena offered. "Worry about yourself girl." One grunt said as her Golbat fires a Sludge Bomb at her. "Use Mystical Fire." Delphox uses her wand to summon a stream of flames at the Sludge Bomb, canceling it.

"Looker I'll handle this. Defending this gym is my responsibility." Clemont said. "Very well, be careful." Looker sighs as he rush to help the girls. "I guess it's come to this. Scientist against scientist." Xeriosic said. "Scientist? Don't make me laugh. You're a madman." Clemont said. "One person's genius has always had some madness. How else has great men of science go on the achieve such wonders beyond nature." Xerosic said. "At least they were thinking about their work benefiting mankind. You just want to destroy everyone." Clemont said.

"All for the sake of achieving a new world order. I laid out the blueprints for Team Flare to follow. Now everything will come to fruition. As we speak the uplink of Kalos's geographical map is uploading to our airship and by Lysandre's orders, he'll commence the firing sequence." Xeriosic said. "Man Drake is right. Sometimes talk is cheap." Clemont said. "Then let us get this over with." Xeriosic said as he summons a Malamar. "Why did it have to be a Malamar?" Clemont groaned as Luxray growled.

On the platform, things were heating up as Alain's Unfezant took a hit from a Flamethrower. "Come on kid?! I may have beaten you last time but at least put up more of a fight. Or do you perform better when you're angry?" Malva mocked.

"Use Air Slash." Unfezant fires out sharp blades of air at Houndoom. "Use Dark Pulse." Houndoom fires a darkness beam to counter the Air Slash. "What would Ash do...Get close and personal. Use Sky Attack." Unfezant glows in a light but is vulnerable. "So predictable, use Flamethrower." Houndoom fires another flame stream at Unfezant. "Power through...now." Unfezant rockets forward, tanking through the Flamethrower and managing to nail Houndoom down. "I guess I got a rise out of you. So how about I turn it up a notch." Malva touches the amulet on her neck to activate her Key Stone.

Around Houndoom's neck was the Mega Stone and it reacted to Malva's Key Stone. Undergoing metamorphosis, Houndoom's horns were elongated, his skeletal mane grew around it's body, and the tip of its tail had an extra arrow head. This was Mega Houndoom. "Without your Charizard, do you stand a chance?" Malva asked. "If Ash can still find it in himself to fight then so can I." Alain said.

"Use Bone Rush." Ash's Lucario rushed in to whack the lion into the metal ground. Ash figured he had to stop fighting from a distance so that's when he decided to switch from Goodra to Lucario. "Fire Fang." Pyroar charges in with fiery fangs and bites down on Lucario's bone staff, causing a standstill.

"Use Force Palm." Lucario uses its right paw to press against Pyroar's forehead and expel a shockwave to repel him. "Aura Wave." Using a signature move of an Aura Guardian, Lucario expels an wave cut of aura that strikes Pyroar head on.

"Use Payback." Pyroar rushes recklessly and managed to surprise Lucario with a blow, deal double damage. "Use Swords Dance." Lucario compensates for the damage by summoning swords to raise its Attack stat. "Now Bullet Punch." Lucario then rushes in with a speedy steel fist. "Fire Fang." Pyroar rushes in with a large, fiery bite and bit on Lucario's fist.

Caught in Pyroar's mouth, Lucario struggled to break the lockjaw away. "Use Aura Sphere." A quick idea, Lucario used his lodged paw inside Pyroar's mouth to fire a ball of aura inside his body, hurdling Pyroar away from Lucario and fainting.

"Bravo on your ingenuity Ketchum. An Aura Sphere shot from inside a body. But Pyroar wasn't my strongest Pokémon, but this one is. Go Gyarados." Lysandre calls forth the Atrocious shiny Pokémon as his last partner. "Let's make things more interesting." Lysandre then touches the Key Stone on his Mega Ring to activate the Gyaradosite. The tendons running from it mouth grew longer, and two dorsal fins grew out of his back, giving Mega Gyarados the illusion of wings.

"Did you really think I wouldn't have a Key Stone of my own with my own Mega Evolved Pokémon? I'm the most prominent expert on Mega Evolution there is." Lysandre boast. "It doesn't change the fact you're still a madman." Ash said as he figured it was time to change strategies once more.

"Charizard use Metal Claw." Drake calls as the Flame Pokémon scratches the rampaging Zygarde but with minimal effect. "Blastoise use Hydro Pump." Blue commands as the Shellfish Pokémon fires high pressured water from his cannons. But Zygarde has proven resilient as it uses Land's Wrath to attack the two Pokémon who tank the hit. "Any other ideas?" Blue asked. "It's too enraged. We can do all the damage we can but Zygarde will just keep going." Drake said.

"So it's an unstoppable force. Got it." Blue said. "I didn't say unstoppable, but we need to keep it at bay." Drake said. "Perhaps I can assist. Use Blizzard." Wulfric had his Mega Abomasnow fires a snowstorm from his mouth which hits Zygarde head on with 4 times the damage.

"Ice seems to be the most effective." Blue said as Zygarde continues to thrash about. "It's almost if he's resilient to pain. Whatever Team Flare did to it, we gotta reverse." Drake said. "Wulfric give me a hand. Blastoise use Ice Beam." The Shellfish Pokemon fires out a beam of ice from its mouth. "You heard him boy, use Blizzard again." Mega Abomasnow fires out a snowstorm from its mouth, helping Blastoise freezing Zygarde solid. Zygarde was immobilized for the moment but it was too early to celebrate as Zygarde was able to break free from his icy prison with a loud screech. "Okay...does anyone else have anymore bright ideas?" Blue asked.

Diantha's team made mild progress. A few mechs survived the bombardment and Celosia and Bryony came out with their reinforcements. "We're barely making a dent." Viola said. "We need to press on. Have the trainers spread around their defenses, we'll pinch them into a corner." Dinatha said.

As for Steven's group, things were going a lot better on their front. The mechs were destroyed thanks to their early bombardment. Their steady progress push Team Flare back to the main entrance of Prism Tower. "We got them on the run." Grant said. "Don't let up sonny." Ramos said.

Things inside the Lumiose Gym were tense. Clemont was busy trying to get to the Mind Amplifier before everyone outside gets hurt. Rene figured to just smash it to bits but Clemont claims that could leave things in a worse state. He needed to reach the machine but Xerosic was more of a pest than he thought.

"Use Psybeam." Malamar fires out a beam at Luxray who dodges it. "Use Discharge." Luxray discharges out wild electricity that made Malamar difficult to dodge. Malamar was struck and it fell. "Now Wild Charge." "Use Psychic." As Luxray charges at the defenseless Malamar, the giant squid flashes it psychic powers to restrain Luxray and hold it down.

"Use Mystical Fire." "Overheat!" Both fire types turn up the heat as Delphox and Arcanine blasted the Golbat and Liepard. "Dragon Pulse." Altaria fires out to take on the rest of the Houndour.

"Use Discharge now" The restrained Luxray suddenly discharges lightning which hits Malamar, freeing him. "Now Swift." Luxray then sprays out a barrage of stars that nail Malamar and quite unluckily the Mind Amplifier behind it, causing it to malfuntion. "Talke about good timing." Serena said.

"Noooo! What have you done?!" Xerosic scramble to the Mind Amplifier to stabilize it but ultimately causes the circuits to short out and the Mind Amplifier to cease functioning.

The red Zygarde roared in pain until it suddenly regains its own green color. The cells disperse out of Zygarde, causing it to reverse back into a Z-core unconscious. Drake rushes it to Blue and said, "It looks hurt". " Given to what Team Flare did, I'm not surprised." said Blue. "We must press forward gentleman." Wulfric reminds them to wrap up the rest of Team Flare's forces.

"YOU ALL WILL PAY FOR THIS!" Xerosic cries. "Ha and you said breaking toys is never a good thing." Rene said. "It was never my intention to break it." said Clemont. "If that's the case then how about I break the other one." Rene said. "Ha, doing that won't stop the Ultimate Weapon. Whatever is already targeted will be reduced to ash." Xerosic said. "Then how about we'll make you reverse the process and shut it down." Looker threatens.

Suddenly the Geographical Rader started beeping. "What is that?" Bonnie said as Xerosic began to laugh. "Yes, yes, yes. The process is now complete." Xerosic said as he rushes over. "What does that mean?" Clemont asked. "It means..." Xerosic took a metal pipe from the ground and proceeded to smash his own invention, shocking everyone. "It means...that no one can stop us now." Xerosic said.

"Use Thunderbolt." Pikachu jumps and shocks the giant Mega Gyarados. "Incinerate." Gyarados flies out of range and then fires a fire ball at Pikachu. "Deflect with Iron Tail." Pikachu parlays with its tail to destroy fire ball. "Dragon Tail." Mega Gyarados manages to get the jump on Pikachu by smashing his tail on him. Ash growled but then noticed that Pikachu got switched out with Noivern, courtesy of Dragon Tail's after effect.

Alain continues to fight hard with Bisharp when Unfezant got tired out. He knew it was a risk due to type disadvantage and facing another Mega Pokémon. Alain felt it was a long shot but if Ash could face overwhelming odds and come out swinging then he rightfully deserves to be called the better trainer. "Use Thunder Wave." Bisharp emits an electric wave that affects Mega Houndoom with paralyses. "One lucky move won't help you." Malva said. "It won't be luck that beats you Malva." Alain said.

"Use Flamethrower." Mega Houndoom blast out a full stream of flames at Bisharp. "Jump to wall and use Iron Head." Bisharp wall jumps from the spire's wall to avoid the Flamethrower and then fall on top of Houndoom with an iron headbutt. "Use Crunch." Houndoom took a quick bite into Bisharp's arm. "You fell for it Malva. Use Guillotine." Bisharp uses its arm blades to put Houndoom in a pincer hold and struck, causing Houndoom to faint.

"A rather cheap shot kid." Malva scowls as she reaches into her belt. "But there's plenty more where that cam-" "Sorry Malva." Alain punched her by suprised, knocking her out. "Not sorry...Man how does Ash do this without hurting himself." Alain rubs his fist.

Drake moves into the Gym's battle field to access the situation. Their teams manage to corner the remaining Team Flare forces until Diantha and Steven's teams force them to surrender. Now he headed inside to find it a mess but Looker, Serena and Rene guarding Xerosic and his goons. "Hey we manage to get things under control outside. Where's Clemont and Bonnie?" He asked.

"They went to Clemont's lab. With all the craziness that happening, they realized that Clembot was in here the whole time. Baby Pube over here had Clembot deactivated and locked away." Rene explains. "Hey, words hurt you know." Xerosic cries. "My fist will hurt you much more if you don't shut up." Rene threatens. "So you guys managed to stop him from mapping out Kalos to the Ultimate Weapon?" Drake asked. "Nope, we were too late and Cue Ball smashes his own machine to prevent us from accessing it."

"Is there another way to stop it?" Drake asked. "At this point you can't stop us. All Master Lysandre has to do is commence the firing sequence." Xerosic said. "And the asshole is still on the roof. Thanks Baby Face, I'm off." Drake runs off.

"Noivern use Boomburst." The giant bat aim downward fires powerful soundwaves from its ears which struck the large serpentine. "Stone Edge." Mega Gyarados then flings large boulders at Noivern. "Use Acrobatics to dodge." Like before, Noivern glows blue and zigzags through the rock shower and tackles Gyarados. "Hyper Beam." From close range, Gyarados charges up and blast Noivern away with a powerful blast.

"Rest up buddy, Pikachu you're up." Pikachu dashes forward towards Gyarados. "Use Thunderbolt." While Gyarados recharges from the Hyper Beam, Pikachu lights him up with electricity. "It shouldn't be long now. Just go down damnit!" Ash thought up. "Use Stone Edge." Gyarados then hurls stones at Pikachu.

"Iron Tail Climb now." A trick from their battle with Grant, Pikachu uses his tail to rock hop from boulder to boulder. "Now Electro Ball." Hurled from his tail, Pikachu strike Gyarados with a ball of electricity. "Dragon Tail." Quick Attack to dodge." As Gyarados swung his tail, Pikachu manages to land on Gyarados's tail with incredible speed. But Gyarados reacted quickly and flung his tail upward to get Pikachu off him, sending him up in the air.

"Volt Tackle." Falling back down like a meteor under an electric veil, Pikachu slams down on Gyarados's head hard. The giant serpentine couldn't hold on anymore and fainted. Lysandre was disappointed and felt his main plan beginning to untwine. "I suppose it can't be stop. Time for our final resort." Lysandre said.

"The game's over Lysandre, you're surrounded." Ash said as he approach him. Then Lysandre gives a war cry and charges at Ash to punch him but Ash merely ducks under his arm while gutting Lysandre's stomach, causing him to go down in pain. Ash then punched his jaw to push him down. "Satisfying to do that, but this is over." Ash said.

"Ash!"

Ash saw Drake running towards him. "Are you alright?" He asked. "I'm alright, I finally managed to knock this guy on his ass." Ash said. "What about him?" Drake pointed to Alain and his Bisharp restraining Malva. "He's...trying to make up for what he done." Ash said. "You don't sound so sure." Drake said. "I'm just trying to put him in the best light for you." Ash defends.

While the brothers conversate, Lysandre imprint a command key on his wrist to the airship above their heads. "Let our will be done." Lysandre imprinted the final key.

Suddenly a whirling and klaxon sound come from the airship with it's center opening up. "What is that?" Ash said. Drake then rushed to Lysandre and grabbed him by the collar. "What's its doing? What have you done?!" Drake demanded. "I warned you, you couldn't stop our plans. Now our final command is in motion." Lysandre said. "Is that a cannon coming out of it?" Ash pointed up to where a spire shaped cannon was lowering down pointing at Prism Tower.

"You're going to deactivate whatever it is you did or I'm dropping you off this tower." Drake threatens. "Your threats mean nothing to me boy. Beside, it's a fail-safe protocol, once its been activated it can't be shut off. In t-minus ten minutes all of Kalos will be wipe from the earth and all of us with it." Lysandre said. "All of us includes you and your forces. You'll die too!" Ash yells. "I'm a zealot remember? Dying for a worthy cause is a noble sacrifice and my men have no problems either." Lysandre said.

Drake then angrily threw Lysandre at the wall for a loss, knocking him out in the process. "What do we do?" Ash asked. "I don't know!? I suppose we can go up there and stop the countdown ourselves." Drake said. "It's our only option really." Ash said. "We can't leave Fur Face here on his own though." Drake pointed out.

"No problem, Alain and the others can watch him." Ash said. "...Do I even have to point out how wrong that is?!" Drake asked. "He's on our side now." Ash said. "He kidnapped you!" Drake pointed out. "I beat some sense into him. Literally." Ash said.

"Uhh guys what's happening above us?" Alain ran over and asked. "Lysandre stayed a step ahead. He's activated the firing sequence and is going obliterate us to Kingdom Come, himself included." Ash said. "I can't believe I'm saying this but YOU, are going to watch over Lysandre and Malva and get them off this tower." Drake pointed to Alain.

"Why, what are you guys gonna do?" Alain asked. "We're gonna go up there and find a way to stop that thing." Drake said. "We are?" Ash asked. "You got any better ideas? We're running out of time." Drake said. "And you're trusting me?" Alain said.

"I'm not, but Ash still does and quite frankly, we don't have much time to talk about it." Drake said. "I can do it, don't worry." Alain said. "Once this is all over, you're gonna have to take a long hard look in a mirror you know that?" Drake told Alain said as he understood. The idea of ending the world for the sake of power really brought down Alain's viewpoint about strength. "There's no way I'll ever be as strong as you guys." Alain said.

"You don't have to be. It's not always might at that shows our strength but rather the strength to inspire others can be an even greater one." Drake said. "He's right, people always tell us how heroic we are, but the truth is a hero can be anyone. Even a man doing something simple and reassuring like caring for a young girl and being there in her lowest moments to let her know that her world hasn't ended yet." Ash said as he calls back all his Pokemon. Drake then calls forth Pidgeot to give them a lift. "We'll see you guys on the other side if we pull this off." Drake said as he and Ash flew off, leaving Alain to look after Lysandre and Malva and a lot to think about.

"So how are we pulling this off?" Ash asked. "Not sure, the least we can do is get to the central hub where the weapon's control center is. Maybe we can try to shut it down." Drake said as they approach the airship. Inside was barren and most areas were in lockdown as Ash and Drake move through the large ship.

Back on ground level, Alain and his Pokémon got Lysandre and Malva back down to Diantha and Steven while also explaining his change in allegiance. "So we failed. We're all gonna perish." Steven said. "I'm sure Ash and Drake will figure something out." Diantha said.

Back in the skies, Ash, Pikachu and Drake slid under a closing reinforce door and into the main weapon's hub where a large power cell hooked to the main cannon pointing down below. "The main computer is over here." Ash said as he and Drake access it. "Arrghh! Lysandre wasn't kidding, the firing sequence is locked so we can't shut down the weapon." Drake banged his fist.

"What about destroying the cell?" Ash said. "Won't work, by this sequence Lysandre programed the weapon would fire the energy already built up so that won't stop the weapon from firing." Drake read from the computer. "There's got to be something we try then!" Ash said. "I'm thinking!" Drake said as he saw a system of pipe lines running around the power cell. "I think those pipe lines are hooked to the ship cooling system." Drake said.

"Okay?" Ash said. "And the weapon exhorts a lot of heat from energy buildup." Drake said. "Riggght?" Ash said nervously. "So if we disrupt the pipes, shut down the cooling system will cause an overheat buildup." Drake said. "I'm not following you." Ash said. "We can't stop the weapon from firing, so we let it but we disrupt the cooling system and also we damage the power cell rather than destroy it. That way it'll feed unstable amounts of energy into the cannon that it'll overload once it tries to fire." Drake said.

"And the whole ship will explode in the process...what about the our escape plan?" Ash said as Drake stood there silent..."That's the thing, I don't think we can escape. The whole room is lock down and the doors are reinforced so we can't break them." Drake said. "So...there's a high chance we can die here." Ash said. "We can both cast an Aura shield around us so that can give us a slight chance." Drake said. "I forgot about that trick." Ash said. "It'll only helps a bit so get your hopes too high." Drake said.

They got to work, while Ash had Pikachu disrupt the pipes lines of the cooling system, Drake followed by damaging the power cell all while there was only two minutes until firing. "Warning, critical levels of heat buildup in main energy cell. Warning, main cell damaged, energy input to main cannon increase by 1000%."

"Guess that did it." Ash said. "And now we wait." Drake said. "T-minus 60 seconds until firing. Warning, excessive energy building in main cell. Warning, overheat buildup in main cannon to dangerous levels. Evacuation is in effect."

"Man Serena is gonna kill me." Ash said. "I'm sorry to drag you into this. If I had known this was the only plan we had, I wouldn't have brought you along." Drake said. "Which reminds me." Ash then turns to Pikachu. "I'm sorry to do this to you buddy but I don't want you to be here for what happens next." Ash said as Pikachu looked worried and surprised at what Ash did next.

"Pikachu return." Ash raised the Pokeball and return his partner.

"Wow, that surprised even me." Drake said. "He'll hate me for sure but at least he'll be safe." Ash said

Back on ground level, everyone was beginning to panic as they saw the energy build up from the barrel of the cannon. "Witness everyone, the final seconds until destiny is achieved." Lysandre spoke from his restraints. "How can you even praise this?!" Diantha yelled. "One must always risk everything for victory. No matter the cost my dear and know that despite all your efforts, all your strength, you will acknowledge failure once Death comes for us." He said.

"T-minus 20 seconds to firing."

"I'd be lying to say I wasn't scared." Ash said. "That makes two of us." Drake agreed.

"T-minus 15 seconds to firing."

"Hey, I just want to say thanks...for everything you've done for me. Even when you had a day job to do back home, you put everything aside to look after me, train me." Ash said. "What are brothers for." Drake said.

"T-minus 10 seconds and counting."

"Anything you want to say, say it now." Drake said. "If I'm dying here, I'll be leaving with many regrets." Ash said thinking about his life, from home when he started out to the many adventures, to the friends he made, the Pokemon he'd befriended, to Serena. "It's a pity when you die young, you never got the chance to do the many things you wanted to do." Drake said.

"Final countdown initiated."

"5"

"Well I guess this is it"

"4"

"This is it"

"3"

"Live free" while offering his hand.

"2"

"Fight on" while accepting his hand.

"1"

Both waited for the inevitable.

"0"

From the outside the weapon misfired and several explosions ensured around the ship, causing the propulsion of the ship to destabilized on one side causing the ship to come crashing down to an angle. Everyone saw the whole thing and Lysandre was speechless that the weapon failed. Everyone was too shocked as they saw the ship going crashing down to most likely the outskirts of the city. "They did it." Blue said as everyone began to cheer. "But where are Ash and Drake?" Bonnie asked as everyone began to wonder the same thing. Where were the brothers Ketchum now?


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I'm not gonna lie, this chapter was hell. This chapter took so much out of me from rewriting to planning that I suffered from headaches. Several times I'd walked away from this and then kept coming back the next day to work on it with little progress. Whatever drive I'd had was squeezed out of me to just finish this. There was just so much information that I had to account. But pretty much here it is, the final chapter of Team Flare's Arc.

Now I like to point out that last moment between Ash and Drake and ask if you recognize it. If you guess right then yes, it was from the very first chapter of this story but that wasn't the only one. Each first chapter of each Sega has a future moment, a moment that is now gonna become present and will tell what'll happen next.

Now we're approaching what I like to call the Aftermath Arc and it will be the final Arc of this story. The first thing I'll point out is that these next few chapters are gonna be shorter than normal (some of them, I'll let you know when one is longer). The purpose of these chapters is that they will be more reflective and I figure to break some of these scenes into smaller parts. Personal reasons, I think writing smaller will be easier for my sanity and I'll be able to upload sooner if I don't get lazy. Roughly around 3,000-4,000 words will the length.

I'll just stop here for now, if you have any questions PM me then. Leave a Like and Comment on this. Thanks for reading.

This is Paradox signing off. Goodbye.