A/N: Welcome back, here's another chapter, idk what to write here cause I'm braindead atm
"Mable? Aren't you supposed to be-"
"That stupid little brat and his bratty little friends are free. Alert Lysandre."
"There's a problem with that."
"And what is it?" Mable snarled, practically seething with anger.
"The brat with the Absol, Lysandre wants her de-"
"I know that Celosia, why the hell can't we alert Lysandre?"
"Her father is one of the most notorious criminals in the world, and they're stuck in a six-on-six."
"As in-"
"The head of Team Rocket, yes."
"WHAT THE F-"
"Mystical Fire!"
"Water Shuriken!"
"Aura Sphere!"
"Blast Burn!"
All four attacks broke through the various vines in their way. Serena had swapped to Delphox because she lost Absol and Alain had changed from Bisharp back to Charizard, who was back in his mega-state.
"Lysandre will probably have a lot of guards, and he's gotta have something he's after."
"Well the something he's after is probably me, last time he tried to use Greninja and me as a power source."
"What?" Dawn said.
Alain nodded, "Lysandre was using the energy from Pokemon undergoing Mega Evolution to power his weapon to destroy everything. Then, of course, Ash comes along with the Bond Phenomenon and it snowballs."
"Did you have a reason for helping him?"
"Because I know where this is going, I should mention that Lysandre even had Steven and Diantha fooled into believing that he was good."
"Wasn't Chespie also involved?"
Alain nodded.
"Who's Chespie?" Chloe asked.
"A friend's Chespin."
"So what happened to it?" She said, trying to push forward
"It's a long story." Alain snapped
Dawn and Chloe looked at Ash and Serena who shook their heads.
"So, to get us off that subject, are we gonna have Ash-Greninja anytime soon?" Korrina asked, resting her hands on her hips.
Ash and Greninja shrugged, "We haven't been able to sync up and we don't know why."
"Did Lysandre do something?" Alain asked.
"My only interaction with that psycho was him threatening Serena and droning on and on about how I'd never escape the restraints."
"Maybe it's because you two have been apart for so long."
"Probably."
"That was my guess," Greninja said into Ash's mind.
"Yeah, I bet someone like Professor Sycamore would know."
"If we can take down Lysandre and still can't sync, we'll have to ask him."
"It'll come back, I'm sure," Serena said, trying to reassure Ash.
"Awwwwwwwww."
"Seriously?" Serena said, raising her eyebrow.
"You two are just so adorable."
"We have a very high chance of dying, Serena more than any of us, so I don't think we should be focusing on this."
"I'm with Ash, we need to stop Lysandre," Brock said.
"Yeah, and I'd prefer not to die because of a psychopath who decided on a whim to kill me," Serena said.
"Fine, but you two better go on a date if we survive this."
"After," Ash corrected.
Serena turned red, "Did you just?"
Ash nodded, "I did."
"Well damn."
"That was smooth," Korrina said.
"Who are you and what have you done with the dense little kid I met back in Pewter City three years ago," Brock said.
"Meanwhile Brock still can't find a girlfriend," Max snickered.
"Long-distance relationships very rarely work," Brock protested.
"He's grown up," May whispered.
"Did not know that was possible."
"Rude," Ash said after that last comment.
"Okay then," Serena said, still bright red.
"Did the twerp just get a girlfriend?" Jessie said, blinking in disbelief.
"I think that's what happened," James responded, also in disbelief.
"Well, ya know what that means, besides, the writer of this fanfic saw this on the amourshipping subreddit, and she decided it deserved a place here," Meowth piped up.
The Team Rocket trio gave each other knowing glances as Ash and Serena glanced at each other and braced themselves.
"PREPARE FOR TROUBLE AND MAKE IT TRIPLE!" Jessie practically screamed in excitement.
"TO GIVE IDEAS FOR ASH'S DEVASTATION!" James exclaimed happily.
"TO PROTECT ALL READERS WITHIN OUR NATION!"
"TO ANNOUNCE THE JOY OF ASH AND SERENA'S LOVE!"
"TO BLAST ALL HATERS TO THE STARS ABOVE!"
"JESSIE!"
"JAMES!"
"TEAM AMOUR BLASTS OFF AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT!"
"SHIP IT NOW OR PREPARE TO FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT!"
"SHIP IT, THAT'S RIGHT!" Meowth cried out.
"WOBBUFFET!"
"Did, did you just hear the same thing I did?" Serena said, still attempting to process Team Rocket's outburst. Ash shrugged.
"It looks like Dawn and I found some assistant wedding planners," May said with a wink.
"Arceus above," Ash sighed, chuckling a bit.
"Well, if Ash and I are even going to make it to a wedding, we need to stop Lysandre," Serena said.
"Then let's go kick some evil leader butt," Dawn shouted, pumping her fist.
"I hadn't expected you to be possessing a mega yourself, Giovanni," Lysandre said, standing proudly next to Mega Gyarados while Giovanni returned a Pokemon to its Pokeball.
"Aggron was a newer addition to my team," Giovanni said, narrowing his eyes.
"You should never have crossed me, if you hadn't, your daughter would still be alive."
"You underestimate her."
"She's a performer," Lysandre scoffed, "Dependant on someone who's destroyed both of our plans."
"I hope he once again destroys yours."
"Ha, he was responsible for the failure surrounding the Kami Trio, your biggest one ever," Lysandre shouted, "ASH KETCHUM, I KNOW YOU REMEMBER THAT NAME."
Giovanni stayed calm, "He kept Serena safe from psychopaths like you, and as a father, that's all I could ever want."
"BUT HE COULDN'T KEEP HER SAFE IN THE END. SHE'S DEAD GIOVANNI," Lysandre near screamed.
"That's what you think."
"What are you talking about," Lysandre said, huffing, his voice breaking because of the strain he'd put on his voice.
"I intercepted a message between your admins. You assigned Mable to kill her, correct? Well, for whatever reason, she failed. My daughter is alive, and we both know you'll never get a chance to hurt her again," Giovanni said, unclipping another Pokeball.
"Oh really."
"Rhyperior, Thunder Punch." The Drill Pokemon appeared and charged towards Mega Gyarados with an electrified fist, ramming it into its side.
"HYPER BEAM," Lysandre roared.
"Dodge then use Stone Edge," Giovanni said, remaining calm. Rhyperior roared, causing light blue spikes to appear out of the ground towards Gyarados. One of the spikes stabbed into Gyrados's side, causing the Atrocious Pokemon to scream in pain.
"Ha, give it all you have, Gyarados is just a tool that can be replaced when it breaks," Lysandre cackled.
The red Gyarados looked at its Master, the feeling of betrayal starting to build up.
"I guess Mega Bonds mean nothing to you."
"Gyarados is only able to Mega Evolve because I needed more power for my Ultimate Weapon. The energy Pokemon give off during Mega Evolution was the power source, after I extracted the energy I needed, Gyarados would have been discarded."
If that's not dancing with death, I don't know what is, the Team Rocket Leader thought, calculating his next move.
"CLEMONT!" a little blonde girl shouted as she ran into her older brother's workspace.
"Bonnie," Clemont chided, "what did I tell you about interrupting me when I'm working."
"But it's important!"
"What is?"
"Look at this," Bonnie said, thrusting a tablet into her brother's hands.
Clemont rolled his eyes and looked at the tablet. It was a moving scene of destruction, eerily similar to the destruction of Lumiose City that had finally been cleared up last week.
"What is this?"
"A live overhead view of Vermillion City, in Kanto," Bonnie paused, "Where Ash and Serena are right now."
"Ash is a Champion now, and Serena's battle skills have greatly improved, I'm sure they'll be fine."
"Korrina is there too."
"She's WHAT?"
"Yeah, and I'm pretty sure Diantha would like to know about it," Bonnie said.
Clemont jumped up and ran towards a screen in the corner of the room. As it turned on the image of the Kalos Champion appeared.
"Clemont? Were there complications with the cleanup?"
"No, but we have a bigger problem, Vermillion City is under attack, and said attack looks identical to Team Flare's."
Diantha's eyes widened, "Lance sent out a report yesterday stating that the Gym Leader there, Lieutenant Surge, has been MIA for a month, and I'm assuming you know people on the ground there if you're calling me."
Clemont nodded, "I know Ash and Serena are both there, and so is Korrina."
"If it were just Ash and Serena, I'd let-" Diantha was cut off by a pinging noise. "They're not the only ones," she said, "Steven says that both children of one of his Gym Leaders are there, and Cynthia says a personal friend is there as well. I guess we have to get involved now since Lance won't do anything about it. I'll need you to assemble the Gym Leaders and have them waiting on standby just in case us three Champions, technically four, end up overwhelmed."
"Of course."
Diantha rubbed her temple as Gardevior came over to her.
"You ready to get back into action Gardevior?" She asked.
Gardevior blinked a few times, not giving a response, which Diantha took as a question.
"You're right, I'm not sure I'm ready to charge back into action, but we both know that Lance won't lift a finger to help so it's up to us, let's go."
"ASH!" Serena yelled after watching both him and Greninja fall to their knees. She sprinted over to him, both were breathing heavily. "You're pushing yourself too hard."
"If Greninja and I can't sync up before we find Lysandre, you're as good as dead, and I can't live with that," Ash said, forcing himself on his feet. He stumbled before Serena grabbed his arm to stabilize him.
"Ash, please, for the love of Arceus, you're pushing yourself way too hard, please think about yourself."
"I can recover when Lysandre is dead and I know you're safe."
"Ash!" Serena scolded, "You don't want to lose me, and I don't want to lose you, and I will lose you if you keep pushing yourself too hard."
Riolu released itself and gently placed its paw on Ash's shoulder, "Ri."
Ash smiled at the little Emanation Pokemon, "I'll be fine buddy, but you should go back into your ball, it's not safe."
"Riolu, ri," Riolu protested.
"What's it saying, Meowth?" James whispered.
"The little pup says it don't wanna go back in its ball, he says that he wants to help like Blondie's Lucario-"
"Hey!" Korrina protested.
"Ri, rio, riolu."
"And that he senses something off about the twerp and wants to help him because the twerp has given him so much and he wants to thank him. It's enough to make the coldest of hearts melt," Meowth translated, tearing up.
"Meowth keep the sappiness down, we don't want a certain reader complaining," Jessie hissed.
"Jess, do you think we've broken the fourth wall too many times?" James asked.
"I dunno James, I think she's running out of ideas and is writing this as filler so she can figure out where to take the plot," Meowth explained.
"That is probable."
"I don't know what the heck that was all about, but Riolu, you're still a baby, you only hatched a few weeks ago, I may be reckless with my own life, but I'd never be able to call myself a trainer if I put you in harm's way," Ash said.
"Cario."
Riolu stood up after hearing Lucario agree with what Ash had said. The Emanation Pokemon closed his eyes and held his paws together and began to glow. The small Pokemon began to grow taller, spikes appeared on both paws and his chest. His tail turned black and grew longer and the fur on his chest turned into a cream yellow.
"RIOLU EVOLVED!" Go shouted.
Ash's jaw dropped as he looked at the fully evolved Aura Pokemon in front of him.
"Lucario."
"Woah," was all Ash could say, Riolu had evolved just to help.
"Hey, we just got more of a fighting chance," Korrina said.
"How?"
The Shalour City Gym Leader tossed a pair of stones to Ash.
"Lucarionite and a Keystone?"
"Yup, my Grandfather gave them to me in case I saw you again once Riolu had evolved, it was- Actually, I have no idea why he did that, but all that Lucarionite we found in Geosenge town was more than enough for Lucario's Mega Gauntlet, so we ended up with a few spares and I just carry an extra Keystone just in case."
"I thought you were joking," Alain said.
Korrina shook her head before flinching at the sound of an explosion. Most Pokemon got into a fighting position, while their trainers stabilized themselves as the ground rumbled.
"What was that," Chloe squeaked, clutching Go's arm in fear.
"Um, Chloe?" Go said, lightly blushing. The maroon haired girl squeaked and let go of his arm, her face was bright red.
Korrina's Lucario's ears perked up and stared off to where the sound of the explosion was coming from.
"What's up Lucario?"
"Cario."
"Translation, please?"
"He said 'Diantha'," Meowth translated.
"Really?"
"It is Lysandre we're talking about, it makes sense that she'd be here," Alain said, "I wouldn't be surprised if Steven was here too."
"Cynthia could also end up helping," Dawn awkwardly tried to add.
"Why wouldn't Lance just come out to help?"
Ash scoffed, "I'm not gonna list the stuff that I've had to deal with that Lance could have easily dealt with, that was in his jurisdiction, but he didn't want to."
"He's right," Brock said.
"Well if it's at least one Champion I think we'd all be safer by finding them."
Ash nodded, standing up and grabbing Serena's hand, "Then let's go."
A/N: Riolu evolved, and I'm still a newbie so it wasn't the greatest evolution scene so I'm sorry
Amourshipper35 - Thanks, and it was actually Mable since Malva turned on Lysandre in the Team Flare arc
UnKnownGuy2006 - Thank you, I wanted Lysandre to be hitting the cunning/insane villain personality so yeah, and I explained why Korrina has the spares. And the Dark Ash is the one from the Hoopa movie (which is how Serena recognized it) so yeah.
Shadow wolf42 - I updated his moveset so that's why he's using Night Slash
IAmDomeAceTucker - lol
