(Good morning or day everyone, as I'm no doubt you're aware of I've not been able to write as quickly as I wanted to, the stress of things have delayed me and for that I apologize. As some of you are aware, the school year has or is about to start for people and I hope that my stories can help you along the path, and because of my schedule I'm going to have to take time writing even more than usual. I know you're all anxious to write your reviews but wait until you read the end of this chapter for there's a message I want to address to all my readers and Trust me I think you'll like this as I'm not sure if anyone has ever done what I and another Author are planning to do here.
Again I wish that everyone hold their reviews until the end of this chapter and I hope you like what you see. As you know, or probably heard, her majesty Queen Elizabeth II of UK has passed away and I had taken the day to mourn her for she was a good person who was a fair and steadfast queen to her country.
Reminder: I would like to remind you all about the ideas that popped into my head during my hiatus and it's everything listed under "Undetermined" or "Challenge" in my page is yours to pick if you want to write. I'm available for advice if you wish to proceed as such. I am encouraging everyone, to write if you want to. Let me know in an PM after you find an idea that you want to write so I can help you with it. They are all on my profile page and are awaiting you to look at them, please look at them after you read this chapter and review it.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything of Pokémon or Beast Wars they are the properties of their respective owners.
The fox-like Maximal, Foxfire, is an OC Maximal made by Stone-Man85 in his "Beast Wars" story. Please look at his story if you get the chance.
"Talking"
'Thinking'
"Communications"
"COMPUTERIZED VOICES."
Please Read, Review, and Enjoy)
After Ash's separation from the Maximals, he and his friends made their way through Cormarine City and entered the Kalos Badlands. On their travels through it, they ran into a Spoink who was in need of aid. A Grumpig came to take over the oasis with Team Rocket using the Grumpig for their own evil purposes, unaware of the villainous trio discovering a Maximal Stasis pod and had the Predacons turn it into another Predacon for their evil. Right now, our heroes were continuing their way through the Kalos Badlands.
Serena looked at her map and said, "Once we get through this area, we'll be close to Lumiose City."
She, Bonnie, Ash and Pikachu turned to see Clemont having trouble keeping up, as usual. Next to him was his faithful Luxio, "Sorry I kept you all waiting."
No prob!" Ash assured his inventive friend, "You okay, Clemont?"
Clemont smiled at Ash and Pikachu, recalling the conversation he had with the Kanto Region native about the Lumiose Gym and their promise to battle when they got back to the center of the Kalos Region.
"When we get to Lumiose City, let's have our battle right away." Ash said, excited to have a normal gym battle and not have to worry about Team Rocket or other things getting in the way to make it worse.
Clemont got up and clenched his fist with a smile, "Sure, you got it."
Before anything else could happen they heard the telltale sounds of someone's stomach growling and looked to see Ash's stomach was the culprit. They all laughed and got ready for lunch.
They had gotten the folding table, chairs, blanket for their bags, a grill and a frying pan. Clemont started cooking as everyone was getting everything else set up,
"I'm really hungry…" Bonnie said, looking at her brother cooking.
Clemont looked back and told her, "It's almost ready, Bonnie."
Serena finished cleaning the utensils, "There, all clean."
Ash looked to his partner and said, raising a hand in the air, "Make sure you eat a lot, buddy."
Pikachu raised his front legs up and "pika"ed in agreement with his trainer. Ash smiled reminding his partner, "You know what they say; 'Can't battle on an empty stomach'."
Unaware of the Trainer from Pallet Town, Clemont wondered if Ash remembered the promise they made to battle at the Lumiose Gym. Ever since he met Ash, he had learned so much from the Brunette boy from Kanto. And that caused his thoughts to wonder about himself and all that Ash had accomplished since they met outside of the Lumiose Tower. And wondered how he could return the favore for Ash… But then, Clemont was worried about how Ash would be like when they meet Clembot again… Or would Ash greet the robot as he did before? Or will he treat Clembot with hostility, just as he had when they left the Maximal base. It was true that since separating, the Predacons hadn't bothered them so much… if only Team Rocket could be as 'considerate'. Clemont was thinking everything over and had been wondering if Ash's capture and threats of being experimented were a ploy to prevent them and the Maximals from working together again?
Every time that he or someone in their group tried to bring it up, Ash's anger would return, making him act like a different person. A person that scared them, especially Bonnie.
Clemont, so engrossed in his thoughts, lost track of his cooking and burnt what he was cooking for everyone. The only thing that snapped him from his thoughts was Bonnie shouting, "Clemont it's burning!"
Clemont yelped as he went and flipped it in the pan before putting them on the plates for them to try and salvage their meal. Bonnie, her face being the definition of disappointment, lamented, poking her meal with her fork, "Hard as a Rock-type…"
"Sorry about that Bonnie." Clemont apologized rubbing his head sheepishly at his mistake.
Serena looked and said to the group's inventor, concerned, "That's not like you at all, you all right?"
"I got lost in my thoughts." Clemont answered with a sigh. They then tried to eat as much as they could as Bonnie sighed, Ash noticed and asked, "Bonnie?"
"Sorry I just miss everyone." Bonnie said, making Clemont and Serena worried.
Ash was confused, "What do you mean? Everyone's here."
Bonnie looked up at Ash and said, "That's not what I mean and you know it."
Ash's face took on a realized expression before he sighed, "Bonnie, I told you after we got out of there, the Maximals are not who they said they were. They were pretending to care."
Bonnie huffed, looking away.
Serena would go and say, "Now now, let's finish what we can for lunch, we're gonna need it to get to Lumiose City."
Ash's expression brightened as his thoughts became that of his upcoming battle with Clemont, "Yeah let's do it."
He ate what he could with Pikachu.
After getting everything they could eat and put away the continued on their trek through the badlands, Along they way Ash felt some sunlight being directed at him and saw a large building. When the others got close, the boy from Pallet Town asked, "What's that?"
"That's the Kalos Power Plant." Clemont explained, smiling.
Looking at the blond inventor, Ash repeated, "A power plant?"
"My big brother designed the place." Bonnie revealed, causing Ash, Serena, and Pikachu to look at the bespectacled trainer in surprise.
Feeling embarrassed, Clemont looked down, cheeks rosy from his embarrassment, "Not exactly, I just helped with the programming."
Ash gave the blond boy a smile, "I think that's so awesome."
Clemont then began to explain how it worked by explaining about the satelite that collected the sun's energy directly from space and transmitted the energy to the plant's dish as microwaves. Ash tried to play it off as if he understood it, but it didn't work. So he admitted he didn't understand one bit but gave his answer as "science is so amazing" that it made sense. Leaving the humans to look down in tired annoyance or laughing at Ash's oversimplifying things. It wasn't too longer ago he would have said the same thing about the Transformer's technology.
"Well, at least You're more honest about it, Rhynox thought it was quite impressive." Clemont stated, before seeing Ash's face being covered by his hat making the blond inventor cover his mouth hastily. Thinking Quickly, Serena suggested, "Here's an idea, how about we go checkout the Power Plant up close?"
Bonnie and Clemont nodded in agreement. Ash raised his head, revealing a smile, "Great idea, and maybe we can come across some rare Electric-types."
His smile and excitement made the others sigh in relief as they went to the power plant. Clemont was the first to speak, "It's possible."
"Let's go!" Bonnie cheered as they hurried on ahead, Ash in the lead.
Serena held back and whispered, "That was too close, please be more careful. Ash still gets upset at the mention of them."
"Sorry, I forgot…" Clemont apologized as he kept running, "I miss them, especially Rhynox."
Serena sighs, "I know though… I miss them too. Especially Foxfire and Cheattor."
Clemont looked down, "Bonnie misses Cotton-Buns, but she's too scared to say it in case it set's Ash off again…"
"I've never seen Ash that angry before." Serena couldn't get the memory of Ash's face that night out of her mind, "Not even Team Rocket got him that mad."
The two others looked at Ash from behind with concern.
When they arrived, they found the building across a deep gorge, with a metal bridge connecting the outside with the gate. A fence surrounded the main property. On the tallest tower, were Antenna dishes. Seeing it Ash commented, "Looks like a secret base."
"That's strange, the antenna is supposed to be pointed at the sky." Clemont observed.
"So, do antenna feel sad too?" Bonnie asked.
Serena suggested, "Maybe something happened?"
"Yeah, could be." Clemont answered as Ash followed up with, "We should go check it out."
Everyone agreed and they made their way to the bridge that connected the plant to the rest of the badlands. While running, Pikachu felt something wrong and held his head. He gave a painful sound which caught the attention of Ash, who asked, "Something wrong Pikachu?"
Bonnie saw sparks flying from Dedenne, worrying her, "Dedenne is acting strange too!"
Seeing how both Electric-Types were in pain, Clemont stated, "Something's not right."
Luxio was feeling pain as well. Dedenne jumped out of Bonnie's bag and stood with the others until the pain stopped and their eyes glowed red. The humans could do nothing as the three Electric-Types made their way to the plant, seemingly ignoring the cries of their trainers/friends. That's when the three turned and sent an Electric attack which made the four humans scatter.
After the resulting explosion, the three Pokémon continued on their way, faster than before. After Bonnie cried out Dedenne's name Serena asked, "What's gotten into those three?"
"Let's follow them!" Ashe called, thinking quickly as they hurried to find out what was wrong with their friends. When they made it, they hid behind some rocks and saw a large number of Pokémon, of many different Electric-type species standing before the gates, awaiting there.
This surprised them, Clemont stated, "They're all Electric-Types too."
He then began to think, "…Electric-Type Pokémon, and they're all gathering at the power plant…"
He was soon pulled from these thoughts as the gate to the plant opened and the humans saw two Bug-types stepping out: one was a large Skorupi, the other was a Scyther, and both seems to be herding the electric-type Pokémon inside the power plant. The last three were Pikachu, Dedenne, and Luxio.
"Pikachu!" Ash called to his partner.
"DEDENNE!" Bonnie cried as they hurried to catch up to their Pokémon friends. Clemont and Serena tried to stop them, not wanting the Predacons to know of their presence.
Just as the doors were shut Serena thought she saw the Scyther peering at them through the gate. Ash pressed his hands on the gate and growled. Serena looked concerned, "What do we do?"
"Maybe the power plant has something to do with their strange behavior. It all happened so quickly." Clemont suggested.
"We gotta help Pikachu and the others." Ash said, before turning to Clemont, asking his inventor friend "Got any ideas on how we can do it?"
Clemont took a moment to think, "I think so. There are blueprints of this plant, I've seen them before although I only saw them once."
Clemont then let out a gasp, "The plant has giant air vents. That's how we get in."
"Great!" Ash exclaimed smiling then asked, "Where are these vents?"
Clemont looked and pointed, "Under this bridge, out of plain sight but not a risk to the plant's equipment."
Ash nodded as he began to lead them there. Clemon, however, was stopped by Serena and asked, "Did you see what was herding the Pokémon inside?"
"I did… it's a good thing Ash was too focused on wanting to help Pikachu to notice." Clemont was very concerned about how much trouble they could be in if those two Pokémon weren't really Pokémon in the first place.
After making it under the bridge, they could see, the vents that Clemont mentioned. Seeing the vents, Clemont told them, "This is it."
Pulling out a Poké ball, Ash called out, "Come on out, Frogadier!"
Frogadier appeared from his ball and asked what Ash needed. Ash then pointed to the vents, "See those vents? I need you to stop their fans."
Frogadier saluted as he went and used his frubbles to gum up the fans to the vents, stopping them for the children to get in.
Clemont took the lead as he warned, "Careful. Watch your head."
The others followed Clemont, unaware of a spider-looking device blinking silently as soon as they walked in. They had to begin climbing through the vents when it was too small for them to walk into, leaving Clemont to lead them with Ash behind him and the two girls behind them.
As he led them, Clemont spoke, "These vents… connect… the whole plant…"
He then made it to the cover that fed the room with air and stopped to tell them, "Somebody's down there."
They could see three men dressed in uniforms for people who worked in the power plant, as well as technicians and how they were. All this made Clemont to exclaim, "Oh no! They've been tied up!"
It was loud enough for the three men to look up. One asked, "Is someone up there?"
The cover and the children fell causing dust to be kicked up and the adults to look in surprise. The technician with the mustache asked, "Who are you kids?"
While the one with the sleeves rolled up and cap worn backwards asked, cautiously, "Are you with them too?"
Ash got up and asked, "With who?"
"If you're asking then you're definitely not with those three." The technician with the glasses said.
But the sleeves rolled up asked, worried, "But what if they're not really kids? What if they're like those robots pretending to be Pokémon?"
That made Serena and Clemont look worried to Ash who said, "Let's get you untied before you tell us what's going on."
Ash, Clemont and Serena untied the technicians as the Mustache Technician said, "This plant's under siege."
That shocked them and Ash asked, "Wait, someone took control of it?"
"Yeah, you got that right." Rolled-up sleeves Technician answered.
Glasses Technician took over and explained, "A trio of hijackers consisting of a man, a woman, and a Meowth."
"Not only that, but the Meowth could talk and they had these robots who transformed from Pokémon!" Rolled-up Sleeves exclaimed, making the kids worried even more.
"A talking Meowth and robots that transform into Pokémon, huh?" Ash asked, his anger building at the mention of those.
The three nodded, thinking back at how it all started "Yeah we let the three in thinking they were in need of water and a place to rest before they continued on their way."
"We let the three of them in gave them a bottle of water and bread to help them. But as soon as they finished, they tied us up and deactivated the transmission radio before calling in the backup."
"Some sort of hole opened up and out walked these Pokémon, some larger than normal while this one Tyrantrum who was about seven feet tall was the first to speak, saying something about 'Terrorize' and it transformed into this large robot eight or nine feet. They proclaimed that the plant was theirs allowing the Seviper and Ariados robots to begin messing with the controls with a Beedrill and Aerodactyl robot. The Heliolisk said something about making sure that they were not discovered by their 'oppressive enemies'."
"When we asked what they were doing, the Meowth spoke about making microwaves into Pokémon control waves. He changed the position of one of the antennae to the ground to catch all the electric-types at once before the Ariados mentioned about how once that was done he would begin filtering the control waves to control other types of Pokémon in the Badlands. We tried to tell them they had no idea what that would do to the Pokémon, but the Seviper simply stated how some sacrifices were acceptable for science. The man then had his Inkay spray us with ink to keep us from distracting them while the last thing we heard was the Tyrantrum ordering someone named Scythecutter to put us somewhere out of the way."
"When we woke up we found ourselves locked up in here." The mustache technician finished closing his eyes in disappointment at how they easily fell for the villainous trio's lies.
Ash had a sweat drop as he said, keeping his cool, "Those three have got to be Team Rocket."
"That's why Pikachu and the others are acting so strangely!" Serena realized, which Clemont continued, "It's because of the Pokémon control waves!"
He then went to the technicians and asked, "Do you know where they are now?"
"Those three with some of the robots are most likely to be in the plant's control room. The others are in a movement between the conductor's power relays to their portal outside of the plant." Mustache Technician answered.
"You see the control room is right next to the super-conductor ring and I'm pretty sure they're still there. The Ariados bot had said something about how the natural energy within the conductor ring is messing up with their portals trajectory and had moved the portal to be outside of the plant to prevent interference between here and their base."
"What are those robots anyway?" one of the technicians asked.
The kids looked at each other and Serena asked, "Do you think?"
"We need to be sure." Clemont told her before asking, "The robots with them, what did their symbols look like?"
"Their symbols?" The mustache technician asked as they thought about it.
"It was like a face-print of a Bug-Type ." The third answered before asking, "Why?"
Clemont told his friends, "Definitely Predacons."
Ash's eyes hardened as he couldn't believe that the Predacons were involved with this scheme of Team Rocket's, "Those robots have gone too far!"
"What's a Predacon?" The rolled-up sleeved technician asked.
Before Clemont could explain, Ash interrupted and shouted, "Evil alien robots from another planet who want to take all the energy from our planet and conquer the universe."
"You serious?" The mustached technician asked, raising a brow at the claim; but seeing the serious expressions and nods from the kids, the three adults looked between them as the slim one asked, "How do you know about those things?"
"We had more than our fair share of them, especially when they were fighting their war with another faction who lied about why they were different from the Predacons." Ash told them, worrying his friends.
"Whoa, seriously?"
Clemont stepped and said, "Actually we used to be friends with the other faction… before we went our separate ways…"
He looked back at Ash who was still angry about what happened between himself and the Maximals, thinking that all the transformers were the same, no matter what side they were on.
The technicians thought about it and said, "Maybe if they haven't already, we can try and open some of the doors from the sub control room, but given the code those two Predacons used to take over, we're not sure if we'll be able to override all of the doors, especially since they seem to be interested in the energy in the Super Collider ring."
"Yeah, he and the Seviper-bot did something to not only the system, but also hooked up the Super conductor ring to some sort of machine that made all the electricity they put into it becoming some sort of violet-purple cubes of energy."
"Pardon me, did you say violet-purple?" Clemont asked, surprised, "You sure you don't mean blue crystals?"
The three mechanics nodded as glasses asked, "Yeah why?"
Clemont turned and said, "This is not good guys."
"Why? What are they doing?" Ash asked, looking for a reason to go into attack mode.
Clemont would say, "I'll explain on the way."
"Right, we'll force our way though!" Ash said, throwing a Poké ball, followed by Clemont, and Serena. The Pokémon that came out were Hawlucha, Bunnelby, and Pancham. At their trainers' commands, the three Pokémon used their most powerful physical moves to force the door open. When they got outside of the door, the kids returning their Pokémon to their Poké balls. The technicians went to the sub-control room.
The kids ran to the next door, deeper into the plant, when Serena asked, "Clemont, what'd you mean when you said that it was bad for them to have that machine?"
"Isn't it obvious?! It's because they're stealing energy away from the people and Pokémon of our world for their dumb war!" Ash shouted as he kept running.
"They're using what Rhynox told me was an ancient Decepticon technology that allowed them to convert other energy sources into making a sort of Converted Energon placing them in cube-like containers." Clemont explained, remembering fondly of his time learning about Transformer science, "Like the raw Energon crystals, the manufactured Energon is highly volatile and explosive in this form, while Energon cubes are more stable than the raw crystals we saw when we first met them."
The three members of Team Rocket who were with the Predacon tech experts, watched their collection of electric-type Pokémon, even as the Predacons got some sort of strange cube that turned the electricity into a type of energy that filled the cubes. Megatron smirked, he was pleased at how he found a means to replicate the old Decepticon energy conversion cubes into a manufactured form of Energon. It's not as potent as natural Energon, but it's easier to process and carry. It's also as volatile as the natural kind."
"Okay we'll beat those robots back and get rid of that Energon before they go trigger happy with it, hurting more Pokémon!" Ash said as they kept going. Though to Serena and Clemont, Ash seemed to have forgotten what would happen if they get any more of it back to their base which would be bad in the long run for them all…
The Predacons were using the computers working on both converting the energy into Energon, keeping Lumiose from discovering them, and altering the control waves to not just effect those of the Electric-type. Meowth and Megatron were overlooking everything when Meowth said, "There's a Pikachu!"
"So?" Seviperella asked looking away from her station.
"I see…" Megatron figured out and asked, looking at the human speaking Pokémon, "Meowth, you know that child's Pikachu more than we do. Is that the same Pikachu with our collection of Pokémon?"
"I don't know Mega-boss, but if it is with the Dedenne and a Luxio, then that can only mean one thing." Meowth answered.
Ariadosus cackled, "They're here."
"Right and we can't let them get into the plant!" James stated.
But Ariadosus pointed to his beeping forearm, "I put many security devices around all possible entrances of the base, the ones by the vents activated just a few kliks ago."
"So those brats really are here." Seviperella hissed, finding it annoying.
Megatron activated his Commlink, "Scythecutter, Heliosneak, we have infiltrators of the young organic kind. Deal with them."
"Hold on, hold on! There's no need to go to that extreme!" Meowth exclaimed. He might be a villain, but he's not that cruel… maybe…
The Predacon leader turned to the Pokémon and asked, "And why not?"
"Because we can make them do what we want without needing to shoot a rocket." Meowth explained bringing up a picture on the hologram screen which made Megatron smile, "Oh Yess... This will do nicely."
As the kids kept running the mustache technician spoke from a nearby radio, "After this door should be the one leading into the Super conductor Ring."
"Don't worry we'll take care of everything." Ash assured the technicians who were helping them.
"What about those robots though? This is all going to be for nothing if we don't have a way to get help." One of the other technicians – Glasses, asked, worried for their safety.
"But we do have a means to get help." Serena said, reaching into her pocket for the comm. device that Rhynox gave her. Ash could see how it showed the Maximals' Symbol on it.
Ash gritted his teeth and snapped, "Forget it! We don't need their help!"
"But Ash-" Serena began, only…
"I said no! We can handle this on our own!" Ash shouted, determined to want nothing to do with those war machines who lied to him, who did nothing while Ariadosus did whatever he wanted with the Pokemon he captured for his sick version of scientific study...
Ash felt sick and had to focus on getting Pikachu and the Pokémon free before anything horrible happens because of them.
While Ash hurried over, Serena glanced at her retreating crush's back before turning er attention to the Maximal communicator.
With a troubled expression, she thought, 'I'm sorry Ash…'
And activated the device, "Maximal Base… can you hear me?"
Ash and the others went to the door, which would lead them to the Super conductor ring, Serena came up behind them as the rolled-up sleeved technician spoke to them in the nearby speaker, "Please stand-by. We're unlocking the door now."
"We have no idea what's happening inside since they took over, so please be extremely careful!" The mustache technician urged.
"We will!"
"Good luck to you." The second technician said to them as the door opened and the kids peaked in. They hurried to one of the support beams of the room to get a better look at the Super conductor ring.
They peeked over to look all around and found their friends. Ash called, being as unnoticeable as possible, "Pikachu! Hey Pikachu!"
The four of them watched saddened by Pikachu not reacting to his friend's voice, Clemont telling him, "No use, he's not reacting to your voice at all."
Unaware that they were seen on one of the cameras, and they suddenly heard the familiar voice of Megatron speaking, "Welcome children."
They looked around for the source but turned their attention to the main control room above, even as the Predacon leader spoke, "To the Predacon secondary base in the conquest of your planet."
"You may think you're hidden, but you're as obvious as your dumbness. And it's game set and match for the team in the driver's seat!" James' voice echoed, Ash reached behind him to discreetly get a Poké ball read.
Meowth was then heard, "We got a mountain of Electric-types and that's pretty sweet!"
"So get used to the taste of defeat!" Jessie gloated, as some Predacosn found their rhyming to be annoying.
Megatron couldn't help but joined in the gloating as he spoke, "From this moment forth, the Kalos Power Plant is under Predacon control, as is your capital Lumiose City yesss. So, I suggest that you remain where you are unless you wish it to go into complete panic, nooo."
A holographic screen appeared as the children saw the image of Lumiose City while the familiar cackling of Ariadosus was heard when they saw a white bar lowering, Clemont, recognizing it gasped, "Not that!"
And immediately they saw several parts of Lumiose city be without power, the traffic lights, the medical centers (humans and Pokémon alike), and others that solely depend on the power the plant provided.
"They're shutting the power off…" Serena gasped, worried.
Clemont was very concerned and asked, "What are we gonna do now?"
"What can we do?"
"I would advise not to do anything else you brats, otherwise we'll be forced to wipe Lumiose City off the map." Ariadosus showed them, "It's amazing how the main structure of this city is also the largest supplier and container of energy within your feeble city. Imagine what would happen if I cause all the energy that we took away into the tower itself."
Clemont's face paled when he heard that, "But if you do that then…"
"Precisely, so don't even think about trying any futile attempts of heroics, nooo. Otherwise, everything you love will be destroyed." Megatron finished, with a cruel chuckle.
Ash's face contorted with rage, holding his hands up in surrender, "You win this time you robots!"
Up in the main control room, Megatron chuckled darkly at this, "You are wise to heed me, children. Yesss."
The members of Team Rocket grimaced at how far their partners would go to get this victory over the twerps, "Boy Megatron, you sure aren't taking any chances."
"Of course not, after all that they've done to foul your own plans as well as our own, Nooo." Megatron stated looking at the children from where he was, the scree he had his eyes on showed a close up of the kids.
Ariadosus cackled, "Preparing the feedback into Lumiose City at the first sign of trouble, Megatron."
Jessie then had a dark smile, "I have a better Idea, why don't we have our control waves make the Pokémon in that room attack the twerps to make sure they don't try anything funny."
Seviperella hissed in amusement, "Not a bad idea, we do need to make sure we can get them to do exactly as we want."
Megatron thought about it, found it deliciously underhanded, almost as brilliant as his plan to put the wedge between the Maximals and humans. Looking at Meowth he ordered, "Do it."
"By your command!" Meowth said as he typed it up.
Outside of the power plant's walls, a portal opened up as several shapes came out of it. the largest one, revealed to by Rhynox went to a hatch and began typing, looking at the coding done with the plant's systems, "Not too shabby. Maybe with a little help…"
And decided to help the humans with their plan in getting the plant out of Predacon control. While some of the other Maximals watched what was happening inside the main room of the plant.
Ash looked back to Clemont and asked, "Ready yet?"
"Almost, just a bit longer…" Clemont stated, remembering the plan they came up with the Techinicians to regain control and stop the control waves.
Only for them to see several of the walls lowered to reveal dishes and immediately the electric types in the room all turned on the children. Ash let out a cry of pain when the attack hit. Pikachu kept the attack and Ash kept himself standing. The villains watched as this happened.
The kids grew in apprehension at seeing the Pokémon glaring at them and their bodies sparking with electricity. Ash got his arm out and told his friends, "Alright, I got this!"
"Follow me, quick!" Clemont told the girls as they went for cover.
Pikachu launched himself into the air and delivered a Thunderbolt at his friend.
"It's too dangerous!" Clemont shouted to the brunette, pleading, "Stop!"
Ash refused to give up and said, "I can't… let those alien robots use these Pokémon!"
"There's no way… There's no way I'll let them win!" He the Ash used all his willpower to keep going through the pain of the electric attack from his best friend, taking steps forward to Pikachu.
Ash reached his friend as he pleaded, "Pikachu…"
Pikachu began to change expressions as he responded, looking at Ash's face who promised, "I'm gonna get you out of here, and I'm not gonna stop until I do."
Up above, the Predacons who were watching were shocked that a human, a species that they had seen as weak, could keep going against such a barrage of volts from Pikachu even as Team Rocket tried to make Pikachu keep attacking, to keep the bond between Pikachu and Ash from breaking the electric rodent free.
"This doesn't make sense… how can that boy withstand so much electrical energy without expiring?" Ariadosus asked, shocked at what he was seeing, especially at how his systems weren't picking up that energy that he displayed the night those two Maximals rescued him.
Megatron glared when he saw this, this confirmed his suspicions that the boy was going to be trouble. Scythecutter stated, "He has more of a warrior's spirit than I thought."
His words got disapproving looks from his comrades. But Megatron was the only one who seemed to hold concern from what his Stealth strike commando was saying…
"I want any available Predacons to the Super Conductor Ring chamber, immediately!" Megatron ordered. They hurried out at his command, with Scythcutter leading the charge. knowing that an angry Megatron means great punishment for them all. Though Scythecutter (and Heliosneak) were the ones who didn't do so in fear of punishment like the others. Heliosneak stayed with his leader as he watched, knowing that his Poké mode's ability would be a great assistance should things go south.
Megatron growled, looking at the children, "Time to ground these children… permanently."
Which made the three members of Team Rocket feel a cold chill down their spines…
"Couldn't agree with you more." Heliosneak said, aiming his weapon at the glass and fired.
Luxio charged forward and headbutted Ash away from Pikachu, sending the boy back, hitting the floor heard.
Having enough, Clemont shouted, "Stop it!"
And went too, ignoring the cries from Serena and Bonnie. Luxio growled before jumping at Clemont, using Thunder Fang, putting the inventor in the same pain as Ash was previously in.
Seeing this made fear grip Ash who shouted, "Clemont no!"
Clemont kept hugging his friend as he said, speaking to his friend, "Oh, Luxio. Luxio… it's me."
In response, the trio raised the control waves up several levels in order to increase the aggressive nature of Luxio. It caused Luxio pain which Clemont noticed, "Luxio?"
Luxio's eyes were shining with red as he bit down on Clemon's shoulder more with a Discharge, causing in the gym leader to scream.
"I would not do that, nooo." Megatron said walking around the main conductive ring with another Predacon that none of the kids recognize, "Right now your blond comrade is dealing with rather painful amount of energy coursing through his body."
"Hurry up already rat-face, I don't think the kid can handle anymore!" Cotton-Buns shouted, worried.
"I'm working as fast as I can, this isn't exactly easy you know!" the Ratatta shouted back hacking the door as fast as possible for them to get in.
Optimus Primal watched and prayed, "Just hang on a little bit longer, Clemont, Ash… we'll be there soon…"
Even as they watch, Clemont speaking to his mind-controlled partner.
"Oh Luxio, it's painful isn't it…?" Clemont asked, before assuring the lion-looking Pokémon, "I'm here. And I won't quit until you're safe and sound…"
His words seemed to have reached Luxio, even as the ring began to turn red.
Megatron and Heliosneak looked at the change in color, while the leader growled, "What is happening?!"
Ariadosus reported through the comms, "There's a build up of power within the main system and I can't regain control over it! I've been locked out!"
"Boss we got a problem! The Maxies are here! And they're stopping us from getting the goodies back to base!" Croaker commed in through the sounds of weapon fire going off from his head.
"WHAT!?" Megatron shouted as he heard this, gnashing his metallic teeth more in anger.
"MAXIMIZE!" Optimus shouted, transforming and engaged the enemy with his team.
Scythcutter and Kabubot were engaged in a duel with their swords clashing between them.
Rhynox lead the charge with a Take Down plowing through the doors that were locked, with Cheattor, Foxfire, and Airblazor with him. Cotton-Buns rode on his back, blasting any Predacons behind them with her Energy-Slingshot. Buzzinator wasn't able to get out of the way in time as he was hit and fell to the floor.
"Hurry Rhynox, we need to get to the kids before Megatron tries something!" Cheattor said as he rashed along side the muscle of their group.
The technician stared, surprised, by what they saw of these others, and hearing them talk about keeping the kids safe and how they were fighting the Predacons. This made one of them help to unlock as many doors as possible for the Maximals to reach the kids in time.
"Luxio! I'm sorry." Clemont spoke to his partner, then asked, "It's painful isn't it? It hurts doesn't it?"
He then remembered how Ash was in trying to reach Pikachu. "I'm here, and I won't quit until you're safe and sound."
Luxio faltered in his assault, even as the light became red.
"Look, the super conductor ring's color!" Serena exclaimed as they all could see it.
"It turned red just like they said it would!" Bonnie pointed out.
Clemont, not giving up thought, 'Come on Luxio, we can get through this together.'
Before he commanded, "Clemontic gear on!"
The Aipalm's arm came out and touched the ground.
"Just hang on! I'll act as the ground!" Clemont shouted, making the others worry about him, despite the cries his friends gave.
"Alright, I want you to keep using Discharge!" Luxio obeyed as the discharge spread throughout the main complex turning the power off which caught the attention of everyone in the plant, humans and transformers alike.
"Yo! Who turned off the lights?" Croaker asked, unable to see even as he was hit by Ratitrap's blaster fire. with the lights off many of the Predacons were knocked out or knocked down by the teamwork of the Maximals.
When all the power turned off, it freed the Pokémon from the control waves. Pikachu and Dedenne reunited with Ash and Bonnie. Clemont, unable to deal with the effect of the Discharge any longer, collapsed, Luxio was quick to catch his trainer on his back. Immediately Luxio's body began to shine, as it grew larger and more developed, just as the lights turned back on.
Heliosneak looked surprised, "What's going on with that varmint?"
"I… I do believe it is evolving." Megatron answered. He remembered seeing the example but seeing it in person was quite different experience. In place of the cub like Luxio was a fully-evolved Luxray in his place.
Clemont climbed off and saw how his partner looked. Luxray let out a roar and sent electric lightning throughout the room, changing the room's color from metallic blue to electric yellow, destroying the dishes around them, even sending the two Predacons back with a loud thud through the nearest wall.
"Good when Electric terrain is in effect, all the electric-type moves gain a boost."
"Everybody!" Ash called out to the Pokémon, and shouted, "Let's Go!"
And immediately the Pokémon around them began to charge up.
Up above the Team Rocket trio all were very frightened as Jessie exclaimed, "You don't want to do that!"
"And even if you do, DON'T!"
Except their words fell on deaf ears as the combined power of the attack shot at the three and sent them soaring, screaming, "WE'RE BLASTING OFF AGAIN!"
As soon as they saw the flash of light in the sky, everyone cheered, only… for a chuckle to be heard…
They all turned to see Megatron and the new Predacon approach, unaffected by the attack, which Megatron mused, "What a delightful, and otherwise surprising effect this 'Electric Terrain' has, yesss. I'll be sure to have that in the list of attacks that and help me conquer this world."
His eyes on the Predacons, Ash then ordered, "Pikachu, thunderbolt 'em!"
Pikachu wasn't too sure but tried to zap the Predacons, only for one of them to transform into a Heliolisk. With his ground-electric type Poké mode, Heliosneak absorbed the attack at he laughed. That made the other two fire their weapons, sending Pikachu back with a thud.
Heliosneak changed back to robot mode and smirked, "Thanks fer the power boost, mousy. That refilled my power-cells greatly."
Ash gritted his teeth hearing the Predacon gloating. He then shouted, "You war machines won't win! We'll stop you and your dumb war!"
"Please, like yer all are a threat without the Maximal Oppressors on your side." The newest Predacon waved off, thinking the kids weren't a major threat. That made Ash growl more, even as Megatron gloated, "Yesss. You have a point Heliosneak, but then again I doubt this boy can do anything alone… Especially after how he found the truth about our species."
Ash had images of Ariadosus' 'hospitality' and his time 'researching' Pokémon and he ran at Megatron with a yell, surprising his friends. He didn't want his friends to see him like that again…
Megatron smoothly sidestepped and used his tail pincer to pick the boy up who fought to get out of the tyrant's grip who chuckled, "It's useless to even try it, boy. Yesss. But you wouldn't know considering how you're still acting on the impulse. Nooo."
He then tossed Ash away to where Luxray caught him. Megatron chuckled, "Do you a child as you can defeat me and my forces?"
"Maybe not by himself."
Explosions were heard as the walls revealed the other Predacons having damage to their bodies as the Maximals came in, and a voice that made many of the humans in the room smile in relief, "But we can together!"
The kids saw the Maximal whose armor resembled a Talonflame with the others.
"Who's that Maximal?" Serena asked, seeing the Talonflame Maximal.
Clemont readjusted his glasses, "I don't know, never seen that one before."
Megatron glowered, seeing the Maximals standing over his enemies, "You'll pay for this interference Primal!"
Before firing his Tyrantrum head's laser at them. Which allowed the Predacons to regain their senses for Megatron to shout, "Predacons, Attack!"
"Maximals! Defend the children and the Pokémon!" Optimus ordered as the kids knew what that meant. Serena called to the Pokémon, "Hurry everyone, this way!"
The Pokémon did as told by the human girl, wanting to get away from the conflict as they hurried. Bonnie tried to get out of the way, but a pair of rockets from a certain Skorupi-Predacon were heading both her and Dedenne's way. Only she felt a pair of arms grab her and she looked to see the Talonflame Maximal was the one to save her.
Looking at the young girl, the Maximal asked, revealing to be female, "You okay, sweetie?"
Bonnie nodded, which made the flying Maximal, Airblazor, smile, "Good, now hang on tight. I'm getting you to your brother and friends."
She then flew Bonnie over to the other humans were and said, delivering Bonnie to her brother as a result, "Here you go, Specs! "
"Stay covered kids, I'm gonna knock some sense into the Predacons about endangering children." She said to them, then flew off to rejoin her comrades.
Bonnie had stars in her eyes and exclaimed, "That girl's a keeper!"
"Wait… what?!" Clemont asked, surprised to hear that Bonnie thought that another Maximal would be good for him, especially one whom he couldn't see as a female Maximal because of how fast she was flying.
They hurried out of the room with the Pokémon.
Megatron chuckled as he fired his weapons before going into fighting his enemy, Optimus Primal. Optimus went and faced Megatron as the two leaders fought fiercely.
The two leaders locked their weapons together as Megatron growled, "Admit defeat Primal, Your and your petty moves cannot hope to defeat me alone!"
Optimus looked like he was having trouble, But a quick pot shot from Airblazor distracted Megatron enough for Optimus to deliver a powerful Focus Punch that sent Megatron into the air before landing on his head.
Optimus looked at him and said, "Maybe but I doubt even you can take us all on. Even if your Poké Mode's types is one of the most powerful type on this planet."
One by one, the rest of the Maximals surrounded the Predacon leader, Megatron glared, "The day and the plant are yours Optimus Primal… but don't forget I still have all that converted Energon."
He then pressed the button and immediately he and the Predacons disappeared, much to Ash's frustration.
Once the battle was over, the Maximals, in Poké mode, turned to the humans and their Pokémon partners. Clemont, Bonnie, Serena, & the technicians smiled at them, but Ash remained with his hardened glare. Seeing that Optimus sighed, "Maximals… return to the base."
"What/huh/Seriously?" the Maximals asked surprised by their leader's words.
Foxfire turned to Serena, "But…"
Serena looked back, wanting to see her Maximal friend again, but Ash got between them and shouted, "Just stay away from us you… heartless machines! It's because of you that all of this had to happen!"
Everyone heard and was shocked or hurt to hear him say that, Optimus' expression remained stoic. Foxfire took it the worse hearing that from one of her friends; it shook her to her spark.
"Stop it, Ash!" Clemont shouted in defense of the Maximals, "We wouldn't have made it if it wasn't for Serena calling for their help."
"Are you serious?!" Ash shouted back; his anger now pointed at Clemont. It was really scaring Bonnie and some of their Pokémon too… But Ash, so blinded by his anger, kept on ranting, "You're really defending those robots after everything that happened?! They're not like us! They're just metal and wires! Especially since they don't care about anything but their dumb war!"
"Wow… that kid's anger's stronger than an Eruption." Airblazor commented as she looked over at the black-haired kid with the red cap.
Absoltron sighed, "He has his reason to be angry... but it is misplaced..."
"Ash, what Ratitrap said, he didn't mean it." Cheattor tried to say. But Ash turned back, glaring, "He seemed to mean it pretty well how you all don't really care about the Pokémon on this planet!"
He looked around and found some rubble from the blast roof from Team Rocket's Blast off, and began to throw things at them, even though they was not doing anything while some didn't reach them. After seeing that, Ash looked at Pikachu and ordered, "Pikachu, thunderbolt them!"
Pikachu and the others looked surprised to hear him say that. Pikachu was very conflicted. Seeing nothing happen, Ash snapped, "Pikachu!"
Pikachu shook his head defiantly, knowing that this was wrong.
Optimus looked down and sighed, "Rhynox... activate the Return protocol."
Rhynox sighed and nodded, doing as ordered, "Right..."
Immediately the portal opened and one by one, the Maximals retreated into the portal. When he saw this Ash shouted, accusingly, "You gonna run away?!"
He then threw another Poké Ball, "Frogadier! Blast them with your water pulse!"
The ball opened, but instead of coming out, the ball closed up, surprising everyone. Ash was shocked, none of his Pokémon ever did that before... no wait... it did at the start of his journey back in Kanto... the Pokémon who didn't come out was because they knew what was going on with the Diglett that time ago was wrong... but why was Frogadier not doing it now? Especially since, to Ash's mind, fighting against the Maximals wasn't wrong! To him they're not better than the Predacons who took pleasure in hurting anyone, human or Pokémon.
Gritting his teeth, Ash grabbed another ball and threw it, "Fletchinder, flame charge!"
Only for the same thing to happen with Flechinder and then Hawlucha, and finally Sliggo, the evolved form of Goomy. Getting down on his hands and knees, Ash couldn't believe his Pokémon weren't coming to his aid in trying to stop the Maximals. Tears threatened to come flow down his face as Cheattor tried to go to his friend, only for Optimus to stop him with a firm and solemn shake of his head. Cheattor looked down and went through the portal.
Serena and Foxfire stared one last glace while the girl nodded, with a hopeful smile of them meeting again. Optimus lingered as he said, "Ash... I'm sorry I let you down... Please forgive me for what happened to you last time..."
And he immediately entered the portal while Ash looked surprised by what he heard. The boy immediately let the tears fall. Letting all of the pain from his traumatic experience with Ariadosus out, causing his friends, the Pokémon, and the technicians who were watching, look concerned for the boy. Even as Pikachu came to his human partner and consoled him.
After they got the Electric-types out of the plant safely, the kids, with the calmed down Ash, looked to the technicians and Clemont spoke, "I'm truly sorry that some sections of the power planet were damaged during our battle with Team Rocket and the Predacons."
"Don't be, we understand." The rolled-up sleeves technician assured them.
the Mustached Technician told them, "Because of you and the-"
He paused at Ash, worried that he was gonna 'act out' again like earlier with the Maximals, so he converted it to another phrase, "M-Team... Lumiose City is safe."
Glasses Technician pulled out a board and looked at it while saying, "We're using the sub-systems to supply power to the city, so everything should be fine now."
"That's wonderful." Serena said, speaking since Ash looked down still upset about his exchange with the Maximals.
Looking at Ash, Clemont told him, "And I learned something else from you Ash."
"I didn't do anything..." Ash told him, still dealing with these feelings before looking at the glasses wearing blond, "We were able to get the Pokémon out of there thanks to you... and the help we got..."
"He's right." Serena said, smiling at Clemont, "You were really amazing."
"Yup!" Bonnie added, "You were so great."
"Well... thank you all, it's nice to know you all feel that way." Clemont said, looking at the ground still thinking of the thoughts he had earlier that day. Clemont was brought out of it as he saw the Mustache Technician starting up a Helicopter and telling them, "I'm heading over to Lumiose City to report on what happened today."
He looked at the kids and assured them, "Don't worry, I'm not gonna mention the transforming robots in my report."
Clemont then took on a serious expression, went to the technicians and asked the technician onboard, "Would it be possible if I can come along with you to Lumiose City?"
This shocked Ash, Serena, and his sister Bonnie. Confused, the mustached technician answered, "Sure, if you want."
Luxray walked to join his trainer while Ash asked, "Clemont, what are you doing?"
Looking back, Clemont stated, "I think it's time for me to head back to Lumiose City."
"Then we'll come with you." Ash said, worried that the Preds or the Maximals would try something to his friend.
Clemont closed his eyes and said, shocking them, "No. I'm just not satisfied with where I am right now. I want to go home work hard, train, and reconnect with our friends."
"But Clemont." Ash tried to say, hoping to get through to his blond friend that the Maximals were not their friends, but the look in Clemont's eyes made the trainer from Pallet Town stop. While Clemont continued, "Ash, that night when you made us leave, that was the worst mistake of our lives. We might not be considered a major threat to the Predacons, because we're children and they underestimate us, but sooner or later they will try something directly on us and we need to work with the Maximals to stop the terrible war between their factions before it gets out of control. And I hope that by the time that you come to the Lumiose Gym the person you were can finally be back instead of the scared trainer before me. And when you get there, I know we'll give each other the kind of battle that we talked about last time we were at Lumiose City."
Though he was confused on what he was talking about, Ash smiled, "Okay, but still I'm not gonna lose, no matter what."
The two boys shook hands, sealing the promise they made together while Clemont asked, "Serena, would you look after Bonnie?"
Serena put a smile as she answered, "You can count on me."
Bonnie, and Dedenne, looked like there were gonna cry, but kept a brave face and exclaimed, "I'm not a little kid! I'll be fine!"
Clemont smiled, seeing this, before looking to Ash, "Remember Ash, the Maximals are more than meets the eye."
He then turned and climbed onto the copter with Luxray, calling, "I'll be waiting at the Lumiose City Gym!"
The three humans watched as the helicopter rose into the air, saying their temporary good-byes, before it flew in the direction of Lumiose City. Ash looked in the direction that Clemont, his friend, and rival, was heading towards.
(As you can see Ash still thinks that the Maximals and Predacons are the same... even though his friends and his team of Pokémon knew that his feelings are misplaced and acting out because of the trauma he had with Ariadosus last time he and Ash met. I hope that in this chapter people can understand that no matter what it was Trauma is not something to laugh at, think little of, or to misunderstand.
As you all probably are aware of from Ch 36 and 37 from Poké Rangers: Relic Hunters, Blaze Production and I are working on a crossover between his Poké Rangers and my Poké Wars story. Where the Pokémon universes connected to those of Power Rangers and Transformers collide in a crossover that I'm not sure anyone would expect. It'll take time and for that I ask for the patience of everyone who has been a faithful reader of my stories and Blaze's to wait until we are able to get it all written out for everyone to enjoy.
So until then and the next chapter. Stay Tuned, as the Journey Continues.)
