"Ash," Alain said, nodding across the arena. "This time it's an official battle."

"Yeah!" Ash agreed. "This is going to be a lot of fun!"

"I'm not going to argue with that," Alain replied. "Hmm. What about if we agree not to use any Mega-Evolving Pokémon or similar until the end of the battle?"

Ash gave a thumbs-up, and Alain began by sending out his Bisharp. Ash countered with Talonflame, and the Fire-type flew in a rapid circle for a few seconds before vanishing with a blur of speed.

"Swords Dance, and Thunder Wave," Alain ordered. "Form a shield around yourself so that Talonflame can't get close."

"Sync up with it!" Ash called. "Watch his rotation and match it, that way you can get through the defences!"

Talonflame appeared out of nowhere in front of him, sending a whoosh of hot air through the entire stadium at once. "Are you sure?"

"Why?" Ash said.

"That'd mean going a lot slower than normal," Talonflame explained. "If I'm trying to sync up with his movements, I mean."

"Then look out for an opening!" Ash amended. "And use Detect to keep track!"

Talonflame evaded an opportunistic Rock Tomb, nodded briefly, then vanished in another whiplash surge of speed.

"Hmm," Alain frowned. "Bisharp… Rain Dance!"

"Push your tailwind out ahead of you!" Ash called. "Push the rain out of the way!"

The rainclouds grew overhead, sending down their deluge, and Bisharp kept Swords-Dancing and crackling with Thunder Wave as Talonflame presumably circled.


"So… I'm not entirely sure I get what's going on," Siebold said. "Not for the first time. But isn't Talonflame invisible? Shouldn't that mean that he's pushing the raindrops aside and it's easy to see where he is?"

"Oh, I see the problem," Clemont realized. "You think that Talonflame's invisible."

"...well, I can't see him," Siebold replied. "What's actually going on?"

"He's just really fast!" Bonnie explained. "So it's sort of like he's everywhere at once because it wouldn't take him any time to get anywhere, so he might as well be everywhere."

"That's about right," Clemont confirmed. "It's a bit more involved than that, it involves quantum or something, but I'm a bit uncertain about the details."

"But if he's moving that fast, then he should definitely be pushing the raindrops away," Siebold complained.

"Not quite," Clemont said. "You see, he's pushing the raindrops aside enough to make a Talonflame-shaped gap to fly in, but it's averaged out over the whole arena because he's everywhere."

"This is giving me a headache," Siebold complained. "How do you keep track of this?"

"Mostly we don't," Pancham told him. "You sort of just learn when to smile and nod along, and when it might actually matter. But, then, Ash has known Legendary Pokémon for more than half his life and if you want to argue with Mew about what's possible, good luck, Mew's got more experience than you."

Bisharp suddenly flew into the air and caught fire, then used Metal Burst, which both blew the flames away from him and also caught Talonflame and slammed the Flying-type into the ground.

"Quick!" Alain said.

Bisharp landed and sprinted over, but Talonflame had enough warning and flipped upright just long enough to Roost before disappearing.

"We're going to have to stop Talonflame healing," Alain decided. "Taunt!"


"That was very impressive," Alain said, some minutes later, as he recalled his Weavile. "I didn't realize a Leavanny could do that."

He paused. "Actually, now that I think about it, I don't know why I said that. You're just going to say the same thing as before."

"Yep!" Ash agreed, calling back Leavanny as well because she was a little bit unconscious. "A lot of having a Pokémon is being surprised by what they can do, because Pokémon are great!"

He held up a Pokéball. "But I know who I'm sending out next – ready?"

"Ready," Alain agreed, and sent out his Chesnaught with a flash.

Ash's choice was Noivern, and the Dragon-type waved a wing. "Hi!"

"Good afternoon," Chesnaught replied.

Noivern's ears hummed visibly and audibly as he began building up his resonance, then the signal to restart came and there was a bright flash as he called down a lightning strike.

Chesnaught didn't seem to be very bothered.

"Gyro Ball," Alain instructed, prompting Chesnaught to ball up and start spinning, and Noivern took off in a way that rapidly went from a basic lift-off to an agile super-manoeuvre and managed to dodge Chesnaught's first attack.

"Try ice and fire!" Ash called. "Switch between them, keep Chesnaught off balance!"

"Right!" Noivern agreed, his ears pulsing with resonant energy as he began to build up the musical background.


Drasna looked up. "Why can I suddenly hear boss music?"

"What?" Wilkstrom asked.

"It's a joke," Drasna said. "You haven't seen it? ...no? Well, never mind, then."

"What I want to know is what move that is, if it is just one," Siebold said. "Any chance you can help?"

"I think it's mostly just music," Braixen told them. "Or, not just music, but… well, I don't quite understand it myself, even though it's quite magical in nature, but Noivern can do lots of different types of music at the same time and so he can make things happen with it. Like how Sparkling Aria is a song move that makes water, he's just developing it further."

She shrugged. "What can I say, except, if I understood it well enough to explain properly I'd probably be able to do it. Understanding how to do something is the hardest thing about actually doing it, the rest is just practice, right?"

"True," Diantha allowed.

She looked around. "I'm sorry, but where is Malva? She must be done with interviews by now, unless she's waiting to do the finals… well, if Ash or Alain reaches her and she has no idea what's going on, that's for her to deal with."


"Well, Ash," Alain said, looking up at the score board and then back down at his opponent. "Here goes."

"Yeah!" Ash agreed. "You're sending out Charizard, right? Because I'm using Greninja!"

"I'm not really sure this is standard for a League match," Pikachu said. "After all, normally both sides haven't agreed what they're using for their last Pokémon since their first Pokémon."

"Yeah, but it's more fun," Ash countered. "Greninja, come on out!"

Greninja came out of his Pokéball, glanced at Ash to see what stance he was in, then copied it as Alain's Charizard emerged.

Both trainers focused, Alain looking at his Charizard and Ash and Greninja striking three synchronized poses, then their Pokémon vanished in a flash of Infinity Energy before being replaced with their powered-up forms.


"When you said Ash had a surprise under his belt, I wasn't expecting that," Siebold said, leaning forwards. "What even is that? That didn't look right for a Mega Evolution, and Ash's Mega Ring isn't flaring like Alain's is…"

"Professor Sycamore's been researching it, but if you have any idea about the specifics… tell him," Diantha advised.


"Ready, Greninja?" Ash asked. "Then let's… huh?"

He looked down, to see Zygarde was patting at his leg.

"There is a problem," the Dragon-type said. "There is some kind of significant interference going on. It appears to be coming from the Lumiose Gym."

"Interference?" Ash repeated. "I guess it must be interference if it's in the middle of a League battle."

"Is something wrong?" Alain asked.

"No."

It wasn't Ash who'd spoken.

A man in a sharp black suit with red facings, and a mane of shaggy red hair, came walking out of one of the entrance tunnels.

"The time has come," the man said. "Alain, I'm calling in your debt."

"For what?" Alain asked, seriously confused. "You couldn't have picked a better time, Mr. Lysandre? I'm in the middle of a Pokémon League final!"

"That won't matter, in a moment," Lysandre dismissed. "Ash Ketchum. This is our first meeting, but I've been fascinated by you for some time."

Ash-Greninja tilted his head. "That's not the word a lot of people use, is it?"

"I don't know, fascinated can work," Pikachu shrugged. "Sometimes with 'horrified and' before it, for some reason."

"I am the head of Team Flare," Lysandre introduced himself. "My team and I have been working on an… interesting project for some time. Allow me to explain."

He adjusted one of his gloves. "There are two kinds of people in the world, as you have probably noticed. There are the ones who are ideal, who work hard and give selflessly, and then the rest of the people in the world just take what is not theirs. To put it another way, there are the people who are worthy, and the people who are not worthy."

Ash opened his mouth to say something, but Lysandre kept going without a pause. "I realized this a long time ago, and since then I have gathered together the equipment and support that I need in order to fix the world. To combine the powers of Xerneas and Yveltal, through Specimen Z, so that the only ones left in the world will be the proper trainers who deserve to be preserved forever, not the unworthy ones who do not deserve to live in Kalos."

Reaching into a pocket of his suit, Lysandre brought out some folded notes. "The world has dragged to its sacrificial altars the trainers of justice, of independence-"

"How long is that going to go on for?" Ash interrupted.

"I've got about another sixty pages of it," Lysandre said, slightly puzzled. "Why?"

"Because it's all nonsense!" Ash retorted. "How can you say the only people who are good are the people who are generous, and then say you want to get rid of everyone else? That's just ridiculous – and besides, it's okay that most people aren't strong trainers! It's sort of impossible for everyone to be one of the best trainers in the country-"

"You don't realize I'm right?" Lysandre asked, now sounding completely baffled. "But… you're such a strong trainer, you keep placing top in Pokémon League contests… you're obviously in the top percent of trainers. You must be able to work out I'm right if you just think about it."

"I have thought about it," Ash countered. "And, yeah, I haven't heard your whole speech, but I don't need to unless you're going to completely change your mind halfway through and start talking about something else."

"My thesis is entirely consistent," Lysandre defended.

"Then it's all wrong," Ash insisted. "You get that, right?"

"You just haven't heard it all, then you'd realize how right it is," Lysandre retorted. "I'd understand if normal trainers wouldn't follow the logic, but you're not like them, you'd obviously be able to. It's objectively right."

Alain was starting to look like he wasn't quite sure what was going on, but that he was sure he wanted to take back his original recognition of Mr. Lysandre.

"People aren't worth more if they're good Pokémon trainers, or worth less if they're bad," Ash tried to explain. "They're worth something. That's how it works. You don't have to earn being worth anything, not if you're a human, not if you're a Pokémon."

"Hold on… did he say something about Specimen Z, before?" Pikachu asked. "Xerneas, Yveltal… Z for Zygarde?"

"I believe I have worked out the cause of the anomalies I was detecting," Zygarde announced. "A Zygarde Core is announcing a failure of copy protection."

"Then let's save the other Zygarde!" Ash said. "Come on, Greninja!"

"Other Zygarde?" Lysandre repeated, then looked at Zygarde.

Did a double-take.

"Has that dog been a Specimen Z all this time?"


AN:


Who Is Lysandre?