Meetup and Showdown in Terminus
Serena's POV
As the group moved through the forest, they hit an opening in the trees to reveal an abandoned mine. This was Terminus cave. "Hey look Squishy, we're here," Bonnie told it. Squishy popped out of its place in Bonnie's bag and looked at the cave. Arco was looking at it as well in thought.
"What's up Arco?" Serena asked.
[It's nothing. Just remembering that this is where father met Echo after he saved him from a Drapion that once lived here,] Arco answered.
The group went down and used the old minecart tracks to get into the cave. Inside was a ton of small crystals that glowed brightly despite the dark cave. "Ever since this mine was abandoned, it's become home to a lot of wild Pokémon," Serena commented to the others.
"Wow! Look at them all," Bonnie said, looking around to see all the wild Pokémon nearby, who ignored the humans, for the most part, some giving a few curious glances before moving on.
[Where are you going?] Dedenne asked suddenly. Serena turned to look and saw Squishy hopping down the mine. Bonnie immediately ran after it with the others not far behind.
"Squishy! Wait up!" Bonnie called out. Squishy then stopped on a large rock just before all the crystals ended and the cave was pitch black. "Are you looking for something?" she asked.
"Braixen, come on out!" Serena shouted, letting out her partner. "I need you to light up the cave," she told her. Braixen nodded and let her branch shining light down the dark cave.
"I can see a lot better now," Ash commented.
"Well I can add to that," Clemont said, turning on his Heliolisk lamp.
The group followed Squishy down one of the tunnels that forced them to crawl, but they reached a large opening eventually. [How close are we?] Arco asked Squishy, who replied with something in return. It then led them down another tunnel, though they could walk this time, which led to a much larger opening. This time though there was a gorge in the floor.
Squishy then looked back at them before jumping down the gorge. "Squishy! Wait!" Bonnie shouted, attempting to follow but Clemont stopped her.
"Bonnie, wait! It's too dangerous," he told her.
"But Squishy is all alone. It could get into trouble," Bonnie said worriedly.
"Don't worry. Noibat, come on out!" Ash shouted, letting out his Pokémon. "Use your Supersonic and find us a way down safely from there," he ordered, pointing at the gorge Squishy went down.
"Luxray, you help too," Clemont called out.
Together, the two found them a path and led the group down. After following them for a while, they reached a large green pool with Squishy in the center as the water glowed bright green. "Squishy! Thank goodness," Bonnie said, stepping into the water. "Don't go off on your own like that. We were so worried," she added.
The light then stopped and Squishy disappeared. "Where'd it go?" Serena asked in surprise.
Outside Terminus Cave: No one's POV
A truck pulled up to one of the cave entrances and the green-haired woman from before stepped out with several grunts. "You're late," the purple-haired woman said, revealing herself with a few other grunts.
"Got stuck in traffic, and hoped to shake a tail," the green-haired woman replied.
"You'd better. Though I was wondering if you had an accident," the purple-haired woman said.
"Whatever Celosia. Let's hurry, Z1 is waiting for us," the green-haired woman replied.
"Okay okay let's go," Celosia said, leading the group down the tunnel.
Two figures then stepped out from the trees above the cave and looked down. "Well, that's interesting," one of the figures said, revealing himself to be Alec.
Back in the cave: Serena's POV
After Squishy vanished, the group was looking around for it, with neither Noibat, Luxray, or Arco able to pick up anything. The latter of the three was the most annoyed by that. [If Squishy can mask its own Aura then I don't think we have any chance of finding it normally,] Arco stated.
"Maybe Squishy's not here anymore," Serena wondered.
"No way! I know it's here!" Bonnie shouted.
Ash put a hand on Bonnie's shoulder. "You're right. Come on out Squishy!" Ash shouted.
"Please! I know you're here!" Bonnie cried out.
A Pin Missile then appeared and flew straight towards Bonnie and Ash, the latter grabbed the former and got out of the way in time. "Alright you kids, don't move," a familiar voice ordered. The group looked to see the red-suited people standing above them with Pokémon out.
"Them again?" Ash asked in surprise.
[Let's take these fashion idiots,] Arco said as he, Pikachu, Luxray, and Braixne prepared to attack. Before they could though, Drapion attacked them with a Sludge Bomb.
"That was a warning," the purple-haired woman.
The two women with the visors then pressed a button and started looking around the cave. "Found you!" the green-haired one shouted before pulling out a gun and shooting a red energy beam at one of the stalactites. Something then splashed into the water. "Looks like I missed, she added.
The two women then started shooting into the water, but the shots were too close together to be random so they were aiming for something they couldn't see. [It's Squishy they're shooting at!] Arco shouted.
One of the shots then seemed to hit its mark as Squishy suddenly appeared out of the water, hurt. It landed on the other side of the water with some red energy sparking off it. "Squishy!" Bonnie shouted as she tried to run over to it, but Drapion shot another Sludge Bomb stopping her.
"I told you not to move!" the purple-haired woman shouted.
"Let's go everybody!" Ash shouted, and the Pokémon got ready to attack.
The other red-suits released their Pokémon which consisted of four Houndor and two Skorupi. "Noibat, Supersonic!" Ash shouted. Noibat shot the sound which stopped Drapion before Noibat hit it with a Tackle.
"Iron Head go!" Green-haired shouted. Bisharp ran forward and slammed into Noibat, knocking him back.
"You alright Noibat?" Ash asked.
"Now, Metal Sound!" Green-haired ordered. Bisharp unleashed the soundwave which stopped the Pokémon in their tracks.
"Now capture Z1!" Purple-haired ordered. One of the grunts went up to Squishy and pulled out a container.
"Dark Beam!" two voices shouted. A dark beam of bending energy came from behind the tunnel where the red-suits came from and slammed into the grunt who walked towards Squishy.
An explosion was then heard from the same tunnel as one grunt wobbled out and fell to the ground with heavy wounds. "You all better give up while I'm feeling merciful," a familiar voice said as Alec stepped out of the smoke while dragging another grunt by the neck, but something was different physically. He had wings that looked a lot like Flame's fusion, horns on the side of his head, and a large one on the back, narrow slits for eyes, and visible fangs.
"The Champion?!" Purple-haired asked in shock.
"Your friend here already told me your mission, so leave what you call Z1 alone or you'll be dealing with us," Alec said, throwing the grunt as Ethan, Flame, Cassidy, Eve, and Cotton came out as well, Flame and Cotton both in their Mega forms.
"We'll gladly take it," three voices said as Team Rocket appeared in front of Squishy and did their motto.
Everyone was silent as everyone clued in that they were there. "Okay, now we have these clowns," Green-haired said.
"Ignoring them, I believe you have an old score to settle Flame?" Alec asked him.
[Yeah. They're the ones,] Flame growled, giving the red-suits a deadly glare.
Purple-haired then flinched back. "Wait a minute. I think that's F1AM3!" she shouted in realization.
"I thought it was dead," Green-haired stated in surprise.
"Doesn't matter, get them!" Purple-haired ordered.
Before any of the grunts could do anything, Alec suddenly shot yellow fire at two of the grunts while Flame used Flamethrower on two others and Cotton took down the last two with Dragon Pulse.
Ash didn't waste the opportunity he had. "Greninja, get Squishy back!" he shouted, throwing the ball and Greninja appeared.
He got across the pool at breakneck speeds and grabbed Squishy from Meowth's paws. "Drapion, Cross Poison!" Purple-haired shouted.
Before Drapion fired, Serena noticed that Alec appeared to freeze before his left eye suddenly turned blue and Flame's turned yellow. He gave him a nod before Flame fired a blue and yellow Flamethrower at the Cross Poison, stopping it before it hit Greninja.
"Use Stone Edge!" Green-haired ordered. Bisharp jumped up and used Stone Edge on the roof, but Greninja successfully dodged.
Greninja then landed by Bonnie and gave Squishy to her. "Thank you Greninja," Bonnie said, taking Squishy from him.
"Awesome job," Ash added.
"Listen, that thing you call Squishy is more than it seems. It's our duty to retrieve it," Purple-haired stated.
"Colosia, enough," Green-hair warned.
"How interesting. Please, do tell us more," Alec demanded.
"A slip of the lip is no reason to think we'll listen to you," Colosia said. "Drapion, Sludge Bomb!" she ordered.
Drapion fired around the cave, blinding everyone for a brief moment. Green-haired then appeared in front of them. "Now will you hand it over?" she asked, but Ash, Pikachu, Arco, and Greninja between her and Bonnie.
"I'll protect Squishy. I promised to never let it go," Bonnie said determinedly.
"You leave us with no choice. Reinforcements, keep the Champion and the girl he's with off us while we capture our objective," Green-haired said. Serena turned to look and saw a small army of red-suits had appeared, with a few looking like they were a bit higher up than the others, facing Alec and Cassidy.
Squishy then started glowing bright green and a ton of creatures that looked just like it started appearing all over the cave. "What's with all the Cells?" Colosia questioned.
"Cells? Are they Squishy's friends?" Clemont wondered.
Squishy then jumped out of Bonnie's arms and the "Cells" turned into green energy which flooded into Squishy. It then turned into a dog-like creature and faced the red-suits. "That's Squishy?" Bonnie questioned, stunned.
"Did they merge into some kind of evolution?" Ash wondered.
"This is what you saw, right?" Celosia asked Green-haired, who nodded in acknowledgment.
Squishy then glowed green as the ground started rising around it attacking the red-suits and Team Rocket. "Okay, I have to ask what you found," Alec said as he, Cassidy, and their Pokémon appeared beside them as Squishy's attack raged on.
"I could ask what happened to you," Serena pointed out, referring to Alec's body.
"After all this. Right now, Team Flare is the bigger threat," Alec told them.
"Is that what they're called?" Ash asked.
"Yeah. Let's just say Flame has a history with them," Alec answered.
Alec's POV
When Squishy's attack ended, it was standing in place as all the Team Flare members had varying degrees of injuries and all their Pokémon knocked out. "Squishy!" Bonnie called out, but it didn't listen before running off.
"Liepard, after it!" Green-haired shouted.
"Manectric, go!" Celosia called out, both throwing Poké Balls.
"Now, Pikachu and Greninja, stop them!" Ash ordered.
"Ethan, help them out!" Alec called out. "Focus on taking out any remaining Team Flare members then catch up," he then told Flame.
"Eve, get in there! Cotton, help Flame!" Cassidy shouted.
The four Pokémon ran forward and managed to get between Squishy and Team Flare's Pokémon while the two Mega's searched for targets. "Shadow Claw!" Green-haired commanded.
"Greninja, use Cut!" Ash shouted. The two attacks clashed and appeared even.
"Manectric, Thunderbolt!" Celosia ordered.
Manectirc fired and hit Greninja hard, sending him into the rocks.
"Iron Tail!" Ash and Alec shouted. The two attempted to hit Manectric, but he dodged.
"Dazzling Gleam!" Cassidy called out. Eve targeted Liepard, who also dodged.
"Are you okay Greninja?" Ash asked worriedly.
"And that's that for Greninja," Celosia stated.
Arco, Luxray, and Braixen then joined Pikachu, Ethan, and Eve facing the two leaders as the others ran up. "What a nuisance. Look, get out of the way," the one the grunts called Bryony ordered.
"Greninja, can you still battle?" Ash asked him.
[Yeah. Let's take them,] Greninja replied.
"Let's go!" Ash shouted.
Greninja was then surrounded by water and his body changed to have a large red diamond on his head, and black tuffs with a red lightning bolt in it. "It's just like them!" Alec realized. So his gut was right on what power Greninja had.
Everyone else was also surprised. "Water Shuriken!" Ash ordered.
"Shockwave!" Celosia commanded. The two attacks clashed causing an explosion. "After it!" Manectric jumped through the explosion and used Slash on Greninja and Ash flinched as well.
"Use Cut!" Ash shouted. Greninja suddenly appeared in front of Manectric and hit him hard.
"Shadow Claw!" Bryony called out.
"Aerial Ace!" Ash countered. Greninja and Liepard clashed for a bit before Greninja overpowered her and sent her back. Greninja then turned to normal and he and Ash almost collapsed.
"We can't keep this up," Bryony told Celosia.
"Your right about that!" Alec shouted as his body was surrounded by yellow flames. He used Blast Burn and the two scientists and their Pokémon were hit.
When the dust cleared, the two had disappeared somehow. "Team Flare has fled. Should we pursue?" Flame asked in Alec's head.
"No. Let them go for now. Head on back," Alec replied. His body then turned to normal.
"Ash, are you alright?" Serena asked him.
"It's just like back at Ninja Village," Clemont noted.
"So that transformation's happened before?" Alec asked.
"Yeah. But what's up with yours?" Ash asked.
"I'll explain later. Right now, we need to find what Team Flare was looking for. I will answer all your questions as best I can when we get the chance but let it go for now," he answered. The group then made their way out of the caves and began to search for what Bonnie called Squishy.
Elsewhere
Lysandre stood in the Team Flare Headquarters, listening to the report from Celosia and Bryony. "What's more. We discovered that the Champion is indeed in possession of Subject F1AM3. He also seems to have merged with Mega Evolution energy," Bryony finished, showing an image of Flame and another of Alec in his new form that showed Mega Evolution energy in his body.
"Very well, that will be all," Xerosic told them. The two then signed off. "How interesting. I suspected F1AM3 survived after the lab was destroyed but now we know the Champion has it. Seems the experiment proved successful in another way than planned," he commented.
"Focus on Z1 for now. F1AM3 will have to be dealt with at another time," Lysandre ordered him.
"Of course sir," Xerosic replied.
Lysandre couldn't help but be intrigued by what the Champion has done. That would explain his disappearance and he also heard about this from Annabell, who had sounded furious which wasn't new. Though he was also curious about what the Greninja did. He felt that he heard about something similar before, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Oh well. He'd find out in time.
Back with the group
They spread out and searched for Squishy. Alec went with Cassidy and Arco and while searching, the two took some time to talk. "You know they're going to react to your Flame-Alec mode, right?" Cassidy asked.
"I know. But once they understand why I had to leave I hope they'll leave it alone. Though I'm surprised they just so happened to stumble into Zygarde," Alec replied.
[You sure it's Zygarde?] Arco asked.
"Olympia told us that Zygarde was going to be a central part in the coming threat. If I'm right, then Squishy is Zygarde, though why Team Flare's after it I don't know," Alec answered.
"They called it Z1, so that tells me there's at least one more out there. Should we try and find it?" Cassidy asked.
"No. We don't have any clue on where to find it. We'll focus on protecting this one," Alec replied.
[Squishy did promise me it'd tell me everything once he was back to full strength, though with what's happening now I'm wondering if that was just an empty promise,] Arco said.
[We'll find it. I'm sure of it,] Ethan replied.
However, when it was almost sunset, there was no sign of Squishy, so they headed back to see if the others had any luck. When they arrived, Ash and Serena were with Bonnie and Clemont. "Alec, Cassidy, did you find it?" Bonnie asked.
"Afraid not," Alec replied.
"Where could it have gone then?" Ash questioned.
"Well, we won't be able to do much while it's dark. We'll camp out for the night, then you can ask the questions you likely have," Alec said.
It didn't take long to set up and they ate dinner in uncomfortable silence as Alec explained what happened. "So, you left to save Flame?" Ash asked for confirmation.
"Yeah. He absorbed too much Mega Evolution energy when we used it near the Sundial. But I managed to stop it by absorbing the excess energy, which led to that form you saw me in earlier. Though it does require Flame to focus on me, so I can only use it when he's around," he answered.
"What was with the swapping eye color though?" Clemont asked.
"It's an advanced Mega Evolution technique called Full Synchronization. Which can only be done when the hearts and minds of the trainer and Pokémon become one. It allows me and Flame to communicate telepathically. I spent weeks training both skills to make sure I could control it before coming back," he answered.
"On a side note though I did get my eighth badge while that was happening," Cassidy commented, who was sitting next to Alec while holding his hand.
"What was up with that Team Flare? And why are they after Squishy?" Bonnie asked.
Alec sighed. "I wish I knew. I have theories but each of them doesn't have much to go off of. One thing we can confirm is that it likely has to do with the power it possesses," he answered.
"Then what are we waiting for?! Squishy could be being chased right now! Or captured with untold things happening," Bonnie said worriedly. "We have to go after it!"
"I can't allow that," Alec said.
"Why not?" Bonnie asked angrily.
"This isn't Team Rocket where we can go in against a small group with known numbers Pokémon blazing. Team Flare is organized, and they've evaded capture for a long time. The police and Gym Leaders have tried to find out everything they can about them, but very little has been found out. Besides, I know what they're capable of," he answered, looking at Flame.
"So, did they have something to do with Flame? I mean, they called him F1AM3, whatever that means," Serena asked.
"Well, I'm sure you already know that Flame isn't an ordinary Charizard. When I found him, he was hurt, weak, and scared after escaping his captors, who I now know were Team Flare. Heck, Flame's Fusion form shouldn't even be possible, but some kind of genetic tampering allowed his body to handle the amount of energy that form creates. When we first unlocked the form, it was with help from Professor Sycamore when I discovered both Charizardites at the same time. In a brief case of mad scientist, which was actually quite normal for him at the time, we put an idea to fuse the stones when we discovered Flame's genetic tampering allowed him to handle a lot more Mega Evolution energy than normal. And you've seen the result from that," he explained. "Since I found him, Flame's had a vendetta against Team Flare, though I only found out who it was exactly when we entered Terminus. Personally, I'm more than happy to help him," he added.
"So what? Squishy's in trouble and there's no way I'm just going to sit here!" Bonnie said before she started running to the trees.
"Bonnie, wait!" Clemont shouted, grabbing her wrist. "It's too dangerous to go looking this late," he told her.
"Let go! It's dangerous for Squishy too!" Bonnie protested.
"And what if something happened to you!" Clemont shouted.
Bonnie looked at her brother in surprise before breaking down and crying. "I promised to protect it. I promised to make sure it was safe," she cried.
Clemont hugged his sister. "I know. We'll find Squishy tomorrow. I give my word," he told her.
"Why don't we get some sleep. We'll need it for tomorrow," Serena advised.
"Okay," Bonnie said. The group made sure to put her to bed first.
"She's asleep now," she told them, stepping out of the tent.
"Thanks, Serena," Clemont replied.
"I think we can all understand why Bonnie's so worried," Cassidy noted.
"Yeah. I don't want to think of what Team Flare might do to Squishy if they catch it," Alec added.
"I wonder… if Squishy ran away from us and isn't just hiding till the coast is clear," Serena wondered.
"Even so, we have to find it. Even if it's just for Bonnie to say goodbye," Clemont replied. "For her sake, we have to find it."
"Yeah. Even though Squishy's Bonnie's friend, it's our friend too," Ash said confidently.
"We'll look first thing tomorrow," Serena suggested.
"Agreed. Though Ash, I have to ask what was up with Greninja back in the cave," Alec asked him.
"I'm not sure. But back in the cave, it felt like I could see out of Greninja's eyes and when he was hit, I could feel the pain," Ash answered.
"So I was right. That shared eyesight and pain is the first sign. I'd better contact Liz about this," Alec thought. "Well, I might know someone who can help you figure it out. But we'll worry about that after we find Squishy," he told Ash.
"Still, we'd better get some sleep. We'll need all the energy we can get tomorrow," Cassidy said before quickly kissing Alec's cheek and heading into her tent to get ready with Eve following her.
Ash and Clemont were confused by this while Serena was wide-eyed in surprise. "When did you two become a thing?" she interrogated Alec.
"It happened while we were in Speaker Valley. So don't worry about it much," he replied before going to get ready himself.
"Oh we are so talking about this later," Serena snapped.
Morning eventually came around and after a quick breakfast, they began their search for Squishy. "Before we begin, I have a method for locating Squishy," Clemont told them.
"What is it?" Ash asked.
"Simple. Remember, the future is now thanks to science! Clemontic gear on!" Clemont shouted, pulling out a device that looked like an enlarged version of Squishy. "It's the perfect device to search for Squishy. I call it: The Trackdown Squishy for Certain Mark 1!"
"What's up with that name? It's so on the nose," Cassidy asked.
"Just ignore it and hope it doesn't explode," Alec told her.
"So, what does it do?" Ash asked.
"It searches for sunny places that Squishy seems to like so much," Clemont replied.
"When did you find the time to make that?" Serena questioned.
"Making a useful machine for a dear sister is what being an inventor is all about," Clemont answered. Bonnie seemed quite touched. "Now, go find Squishy Mark 1," Clemont told the device while pressing a few buttons.
The machine stood in place for a few seconds before wheeling off at high speed. "Did it find Squishy already?" Bonnie questioned.
"Only one way to find out," Ash said, pursuing the device with the others not far behind.
When they arrived at an open field with a good amount of sunlight, Clemont's device was nowhere to be seen. "I don't get it. Where'd it go?" Bonnie asked.
"I put a tracking device on it to see where it goes," Clemont replied. Before he could track it though, the machine solved the problem by rolling up, but it was heavily damaged. It then exploded in front of them. "My magnificent machine!" Clemont cried out.
A small group of Toxicroak then appeared in front of the group, looking rather annoyed. "I'm guessing they're the ones responsible," Cassidy theorized.
"Can you please calm down? We don't want to fight," Alec told them.
[That stupid machine attacked us for no reason and you say you don't want to fight? Filthy humans. Always twisting your words. Take this!] The lead Toxicroak shouted, shooting a Sludge Bomb at Alec but was immediately intercepted by a Psybeam from Eve.
"Look, that device was meant to look for someone that went missing, but I guess it malfunctioned. I'm sorry it attacked you," Alec apologized.
[Zip your mouth human!] Toxicroak shouted.
"LISTEN!" Alec shouted, drawing on the persuasive aura of the Speakers. "I don't know what your problem with humans is, but we don't wish to fight you. We just want to find our missing friend, and that device was a way to do it. Now please, calm yourselves," he added.
The Toxicroaks visibly relaxed and started to walk away. "Wow! That was amazing!" Ash commented.
"Well, I didn't spend all that time in Speaker Valley just working with Flame," Alec told them.
"Think you could show me a thing or two?" Serena asked.
"Sure thing. But after we find Squishy," he answered, noticing the look on Bonnie's face.
After some more searching with little luck, they decided to reorganize at a nearby Pokémon Center. "I just don't get how we're going to find Squishy. I mean, we've searched everywhere and there's no sign of it," Cassidy stated as they ate some lunch to keep their strength up.
"Well, Squishy can turn completely invisible. And didn't Arco say it could mask its Aura?" Clemont asked Serena, who nodded.
"Then we could have walked right past it and we would be none the wiser. I wish we got one of those visors Team Flare used. They seemed to have a way to see it based on the gunfire I heard," Alec stated.
"Squishy!" Bonnie suddenly shouted. The group looked over to see Bonnie standing in front of her bag and inside her second pouch was Squishy. "You have no idea how worried we've been about you," Bonnie said, holding the creature close.
"So Squishy came back on its own accord," Alec noted as the group gathered around. He did notice, just briefly, Squishy gave him a look he didn't understand. "Well, I'm going to make a quick call to that person I was talking about earlier Ash. Help you with that new Greninja form," Alec said before walking to the holophones. Hopefully, Liz answered.