Chương 74: Chapter 72

The dark courtyard behind Lacey's bakery was briefly illuminated with iridescent hues, but the colors faded away as Lemon's Dazzling Gleam failed to last. Ninetales barked a few pieces of advice then demonstrated her own Dazzling Gleam, which lasted much longer than Lemon's did, and only ended when Ninetales chose to end it. Lemon's eyes went wide and it tried again, this time the colors persisted a bit longer, but quickly faded once more.

Opposite to them, Vanilla tried to spin in place, but the dense cream that made up its body wobbled and shook, throwing it off balance. Florges floated over and picked it up, then helped it balance as it went through the movements again. This time, Vanilla properly spun and held its arms out to use Fairy Wind, creating a spiral of sparkling energy around it. Florges smiled and moved to pat it on the head, but Vanilla rushed in and hugged her, catching her off guard. She, of course, hugged back.

Lacey, nearby, had brought a table out and we were discussing plans for her performance, with her bouncing ideas off of me since I had a better idea of what Fairy Types could do. Almost everything I talked about was hurriedly written down into a notebook to let her be able to refer to it later.

I ended up having to shut down some ridiculous plans during our discussion, like the one where she would just have her Alcremie spray frosting everywhere with Decorate, and another where she would have them do nothing but spin in place and sing. Even with those types of ideas mixed in, the plan for her performance was slowly becoming more and more fleshed out. However, as we talked, I kept glancing away and zoning out, and Lacey was repeatedly forced to call out my name to get my attention.

Frustrated, she snapped her fingers when I got lost in thought while watching our Pokémon once more, and she looked at me worriedly.

"Alex, what's wrong? You look like something's eating at you." I snapped back to reality and chuckled.

"You know? You're the second person to ask a question like that to me." Lacey huffed and crossed her arms, and I tried to focus back on our notes, but found myself unable to. Spending yesterday with my Pokémon in Lumiose was nice, but my thoughts kept drifting to Lysandre. Thomas hadn't got back to me yet even though it had been two days. I knew he was reliable, but the lack of updates hadn't helped my stress, and I was constantly worried that Lysandre would pull something major at any moment.

"You didn't answer my question," Lacey said. I blinked as my thoughts were interrupted again, and looked back up to her. She was frowning harder, staring at me intently.

"Sorry," I said.

"There's just something that might happen soon that I'm stressed about. Nothing you can help with."

"Are you sure?" I paused. Lacey was technically an outside observer to this topic, and might be able to give me an alternate viewpoint I hadn't considered before. I tapped my pen to my lips in thought, and decided it was worth the risk.

"Actually, you might be able to help me. What's your opinion of Lysandre?" Lacey blinked at the unexpected question, and cocked her head.

"Lysandre? That one guy from the Holo Caster? I know he's famous and stuff, but I don't actually know much about him. Like, I know he donated a bunch of stuff to the local Pokémon Centers recently, but not much more than that."

"So you don't really have an opinion?" She hesitantly shook her head.

"... Kind of? I don't really ever see him, just hear good things about him. I guess he doesn't show up in the public eye that much." I hummed. I wonder if that means Lysandre is actually doing good, or is just manipulating the media to promote his image. Isn't that news anchor on the Holo Caster a part of Team Flare? They're a part of the Elite Four, too. I bet it wouldn't take much to paint the narrative that Lysandre is a good person.

Lacey politely waited for me to have some time to think, then spoke up once more to bring me out of my thoughts.

"So, did that help at all? Or was that just a nothing answer?" I shrugged.

"I'm not sure, but maybe. It let me consider something I hadn't considered before. Thank you. Let's get back to working on your performance." Lacey smiled and leaned forward to start describing another idea she had, and I started to consider ways to tell her that juggling Poké Puffs while reciting the Kalos national anthem wasn't a good idea. Once I finished up at Lacey's, I went over to Sycamore's ranch to spend time with my Pokémon.

To train, we decided to have a little competition to see who could create the most clever uses of their moves. Ninetales ended up getting second place, since she was able to use Blizzard within her Hail to get her Ice Beam to bend. It took a lot of effort on her part, but I imagined it would be a good way to catch her opponents off guard. But the true winner, however, was Ponyta, whose simple combination of Fairy Wind and Double Edge got him the prize.

Essentially, when Ponyta used Fairy Wind, he would create the dust in his mane to send forward. His combination involved creating a Fairy Wind and holding it in place, then slamming into his target with Double Edge, using that impact to send the dust forward. It was one of the simplest of the combinations created, but everyone agreed he won simply because it was the one that could actually be easily used in battle.

The other entries were either nothing, like how Azumarill and Mawile simultaneously came up with the idea of using Play Rough to throw a rock at their foe, or overcomplicated, like how Whimsicott created a Rube Goldberg machine of moves that involved using Leech Seed twice but only resulted in a single successful Leech Seed. It was interesting and complex, but honestly not that useful. Ponyta was overjoyed to win, although he didn't really show it outside of a brief whinny.

He was really coming along as a Pokémon, and I considered him to be at the same level of power Ninetales was when I first caught her as a Vulpix. However, his actual skill involved with his moves far outclassed her at that level, and he could perfectly combine his special attacks and physical attacks to serve as a powerful mixed attacker. Ponyta got the extra Poké Puff, like I promised, and to my surprise, I saw Azumarill try to sneak away to mimic what he had done.

From what I could see, she was trying to find a way to use Surf and a melee move at the same time. She was pretty independent when it came to training, and would want to work through this possibility herself, so I stayed back. If she could figure something out, I knew it would be a devastating combo. With the events of the day and afternoon out of the way, I returned to Sycamore's lab.

I started to retire to my room for the night, but Sycamore popped out of one of his research rooms to the side and caught me in the main hall.

"Alex! Perfect! I have—I was about to call this good news, but now that I think about it, you might not actually like it. Here." He reached into his lab coat to pull out an envelope, and handed it over. I raised an eyebrow when I saw it, and when I opened it up I saw a short message written on personalized stationary signed by... Lysandre. I hesitantly read it over, and once I finished it, I froze. I read it over again just to make sure I wasn't misreading anything and furrowed my eyebrows.

"He invited me to dinner," I stated flatly. Sycamore smiled.

"He asked me when you were free, and I thought this was the perfect way for you two to get to know each other a bit better. I know you have your complaints about him, but you might be able to convince him to see it how you see it, or even just learn more about him in general! It's perfect isn't it?" I frowned and opened my mouth to respond, but Sycamore spoke up before I could.

"Please, Alex. I know you're unhappy about Lysandre, but I owe a lot to the two of you. I would appreciate it if you could at least go just this one time." I sighed. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Am I really going to let myself be peer pressured into a one-on-one meeting with the leader of a villainous organization? Unfortunately, yes. I owe Sycamore too much to turn this down, and the way he's looking at me is telling me that "no" isn't the answer.

As much as I want to decline, making an excuse might just make Lysandre angry. Ugh, this is a lose-lose situation. This might be the dumbest thing I've ever done, but at least I might be able to get a better insight into his plans. When Steven shows up, what I find out during it might be key to capturing Lysandre.

"Fine," I said.

"I'll go. But don't expect me to dress up." Sycamore let out a brilliant smile.

"Wonderful! I'll tell him the good news. Thank you, Alex. I'm sure things will go swimmingly!" The dinner was scheduled for the next evening, so I spent the next day going over all the possibilities with my team. I made sure everyone was on high alert, and even set up several escape strategies in advance, preparing for the worst. In all honesty, considering the dinner was to take place in an extremely popular public restaurant, I doubted he could make a move against me.

Outside of a general distaste he might have detected, as well as any minor comment sent his way by Sycamore, Lysandre probably wouldn't think of me as a threat. Even if I was, I was just a normal Pokémon trainer to him, and he hopefully wouldn't bother going against me. I walked into the restaurant with my Pokéballs clipped to my belt. My team was paying extra attention to what was going on outside of their balls, and Ponyta had the special role of pulling double time to protect my mind.

If things went wrong, Ninetales would be sent out first, followed by the rest of my team for any escalation. A waiter in a fancy uniform ended up leading me to a booth in the back, and I let out a sigh of relief when I saw our discussion would be in full view of all the other guests here. Lysandre was sitting at the table, leaning forward with his hands up and fingers pressed together. When he saw me approach, he brought his head back and raised an eyebrow.

I mentally cheered that my decision to not dress up had already thrown him off and quickly took a seat across from him. The waiter handed me a menu, but before I could pick it up, Lysandre placed a hand and slid it back into the waiter's hands.

"That won't be necessary. I am familiar with the meals here." I stopped my mouth from dropping at the sheer arrogance he just demonstrated by refusing me from looking over the menu myself. The waiter very professionally did not respond, and instead simply took the menu and walked away. Lysandre leaned back to straighten his posture, and looked me over with a discerning eye.

I tried to maintain my own composure, but the image of his face contorting during the speech the other day flashed in my mind and I couldn't help but to squirm in my seat.

"I watched the recordings of some of your battles in the Ever Grande Conference. Your team is certainly impressive," he said.

"Tell me, is it your Altaria that Mega Evolves, or your Mawile?"

"Altaria. Mawilite hasn't been discovered yet," I replied tersely. Lysandre simply nodded sagely, and we sat in silence as we stared at each other. Eventually, a waiter returned with a wine bottle and poured two glasses of red wine for us. Lysandre calmly sipped his, but I purposely left mine alone.

"The reason I wished to have this meeting with you, Alex, is that you posed a very intriguing question to me during my visit to Augustine. Tell me, if I asked you the same question, what would be your response?" I frowned.

"You mean choosing between letting the world get uglier and letting it end?"

"Yes. That one exactly." Posing that same question right back to me caught me off guard, but it wasn't completely unexpected, since Lysandre seemed to be big on philosophical debates. I spent a moment thinking, a long moment. My true answer was to let the world be uglier, of course, because destroying it was an absolutely insane thing to do. However, I couldn't just say that, and needed to phrase it in a way to not give Lysandre a reason to dislike me and take me out.

"I think... I think the question itself is flawed," I ended up saying. Lysandre crossed his hands and leaned forward in interest.

"Oh? Do go on."

"It implies the world can get uglier." His eyes widened almost imperceptibly, as if he didn't expect that, and once again I silently celebrated catching him off guard.

"Uglier implies the world can get worse off than it is now, but that's not really possible is it?" I asked.

"Humans and Pokémon make choices that affect society, and even if there's a setback, we learn from those mistakes. No one is perfect, and it's those imperfections that bring us forward. You mentioned being okay with stagnation, right?" Lysandre nodded. He was listening intently. Good.

"I'm not. We move forward because we are always changing, and taking that away takes away what it means to be alive. There's no good answer." Lysandre leaned back when I was done, and took a sip of his drink. I crossed my arms and stared at him, shifting in place again while he stared at his drink in thought. Eventually, he placed the glass back down on the table, and looked back up to me to respond.

"Honestly, Alex, I agree," he said. My head snapped towards him to look him in the eyes.

"Sycamore mentioned to me that you have complaints about the hypothetical brought up during my speech. I admit, I might have become a bit heated, but trust me that I have no intentions on destroying the world. As it stands, it is beautiful, and while there are those that wish to strip what makes life great away, I work to make sure those individuals do not have a platform to stand on."

He also shifted where he was sitting, switching which legs were crossed under the table, and stared right back at me with a firm gaze.

"It is individuals that affect society; individuals can bring it to greatness, or to ruin. People inherently look towards the exceptional, and it is the exceptional who lead. Their choices, their actions, influence the masses, and from what they do, people follow.

"Take, for example, Mega Evolution," Lysandre said, continuing.

"The first public recording of Mega Evolution was Diantha's Gardevoir, and the League purposely managed what information leaked out about it to better make sure people knew it was safe. Say, instead, news about Courtney's Mega Camerupt got out. Imagine what the public would have thought about a criminal using it, instead. They would have considered it a weapon, rather than a shield, and it's thanks to the document that you provided that we were able to prevent that." I froze. So Lysandre knows.

I had been far too shocked at that reveal to properly subdue my reaction, and my mouth hung open and my eyes went wide. Lysandre's eyes also widened a small amount, as if he was shocked he accidentally let that information slip, but rather than seeming like a genuine reaction, it looked practiced and fake. An ever so slight smirk appeared on his face, and Lysandre took another quick sip of his drink.

"Oh, I apologize. You meant to keep that a secret, right? Let me help you." Lysandre clapped his hands, and I was assaulted by the noise of chairs squeaking against the floor and cloth shuffling. I looked over, and to my horror, every single guest was standing up and leaving the room. Every. Single. One. My reaction ended up surprising myself, in all honesty. I just scoffed. Thanks, Sycamore.

With such a sudden threatening action, Ninetales released herself out of her Premier Ball to stand next to the table, and leaned forward and growled. The air around the table noticeably dropped in temperature, and Lysandre's drink froze over and shattered his glass. Calmly, and not threatened at all, he picked up a cloth on the table to wipe the red liquid off his glove, and looked at me impassively.

"I apologize if that action threatened you, but I did it to make a point. As I was saying, I believe society is shaped by individuals, and those individuals must be managed. I consider myself one, and I consider you one as well, but I do not know where you stand."

"Are you threatening me?" I asked hesitantly. Lysandre chuckled to himself, as if what I said was just a joke.

"No, Alex. If I was threatening you, you'd know." Ninetales's growls deepened, and frost began to form on the walls. Feigning an air of indifference, I stood up next to Ninetales to leave, but then Lysandre stood up as well. Ninetales only didn't attack because of the calming hand I put on her head.

"I believe I have gone about this the wrong way, and for that, I apologize," Lysandre said.

"To conclude my thoughts; society is controlled by individuals, and if I were to destroy society, like I said, I would choose to eliminate the individual, rather than the masses. I wished to recruit you in my drive for a better future, but clearly, my actions have been misinterpreted." Lysandre raised a hand to reach into a suit, but paused when it looked like Ninetales was about to attack.

"I am simply retrieving a card, nothing dangerous at all," he said. She glanced over to me, and I nodded to let him continue. Without Ninetales stopping him, Lysandre pulled out a single card and placed it on the table. He began to walk out of the room, but when he reached the front door, he stopped. Without turning around, he called out to me.

"One last thing, Alex. I wish to leave you a question to think on. If you were given the chance, right now, to make the world better, would you take it?" Flashes of ordering Ninetales to attack, images of ending Lysandre here before he could fulfill whatever mad goal he had, appeared in my mind. With one order, the threat of Lysandre could be eliminated, but I just sighed instead. I couldn't do it. He left the room without any other words, and I was left in an empty restaurant.

I moved over to check the card as Ninetales leaned her head into my side comfortingly, and I glanced over to see what was on it. The second I saw what it was, I immediately dropped it on the floor. It had no words, no information, just a single symbol. A bright red, curved flame. The logo of Team Flare.

"Anything?"

"Absolutely nothing. I've never seen a mental defense so flawless. Even a Mega Evolved Alakazam couldn't detect anything! Incredible, isn't it?" Xerosic, head scientist of Team Flare, shifted his goggles and mumbled under his breath in excitement. Lysandre grimaced at such a distasteful attitude, and turned his attention to the Alakazam on the floor. The Psychic Type was burnt and smoldering, and its spoons laid sprawled out to its sides.

Its mustache had been reduced to nothing more than a faint shadow on its face, and its eyes were closed shut. Xerosic nodded to gesture at the unconscious Pokémon.

"Ah, I see you've noticed the results of our efforts. The device is functioning wonderfully, is it not?" Xerosic said.

"Of course, we need to reduce the infinity energy consumption, as well as the amount of pain inflicted, if we have the time. Otherwise, it works exactly as intended! No need for that bond nonsense to Mega Evolve our Pokémon." Lysandre did not respond, and simply started to leave the room. Xerosic followed as the pair stepped over the Pokémon on the floor, and the few other Team Flare scientists in the room moved in to clean up.

"You still did not tell me what you discovered regarding the target," Lysandre spoke. Xerosic shifted his red goggles again, and brought up his gloved arm, where a holographic display from the Holo Caster appeared. He quickly flipped through several different applications and diagrams, until a specific sheet of data appeared on the display.

"Here we are. Alex. A citizen of Hoenn who emigrated to Olivine, then returned to Hoenn to compete in the Conference. A dead father and mother, and a distant (and I mean very distant) relation to Elite Four Phoebe. Passing grades in school, a brief college history, but nothing that really stands out."

"And yet they knew enough about Mega Evolution to flip the field on its head," Lysandre stated.

"I want them." Xerosic frowned, and looked away from the leader of Team Flare. Lysandre simply kept his arms behind his back as they continued to walk down the sterile hallways of their laboratory.

"We may have taken the wrong approach," Xerosic said slowly.

"However, they seem easily influenced by Sycamore. Continue putting pressure on him, and Alex might just come around soon enough. Perhaps letting them meet someone else in our organization? Like Aliana or Bryony?"

"No. Do not send anyone else. I will find a way to convince them what is right." Lysandre's words caused Xerosic to smile, revealing a set of perfectly white teeth. Xerosic absentmindedly returned to switching the display on his Holo Caster, and hummed.

"Hmm. Taken a liking to them, I see? Well, I'm sure you know best, our most magnanimous leader." Lysandre did not respond, but his frown deepened. Xerosic continued to hum. They continued to walk forward in silence, and soon, they emerged into a large room where a number of red-suited Team Flare members were hurriedly typing on computers. On the far wall was a single massive screen displaying a map of Kalos, where a number of individuals were being tracked with glowing red dots.

Lysandre quickly looked it over, identifying the current positions of Diantha, Wikstrom, and Siebold, the top members of the Kalos Pokémon league that were providing his group the most trouble. His eyes also flicked over to the position of the newest member on the list, Alex, who seemed to have returned to Sycamore's lab after their... discussion. His observations were interrupted by Xerosic nudging Lysandre on the arm, and he snapped his head to face his subordinate.

As he did so, he was met with a playful grin and saw a new glowing dot appear on the screen. This one was pink.

"What is this?" Lysandre demanded. Xerosic's grin widened.

"Well, we might have found a new breakthrough to solve our energy issue. Say, what do you know about the Mythical Pokémon, Diancie?"