Lysandre was incredibly confident. Two Poké Balls flew out, controlled by his mechanical arms.
With two low roars, a Pyroar and a Gyarados appeared in front of Lysandre.
Gyarados was a familiar sight, but Pyroar was a Fire and Normal-type Pokémon. It was worth noting that the shape of Pyroar's mane was very similar to Lysandre's own hairstyle.
Additionally, Lysandre's Gyarados was a Shiny Red Gyarados, just like Damian's.
"I'm not done yet."
The Key Stone on Lysandre's mechanical arm flashed. The red Gyarados let out a low growl as the light of Mega Evolution began to shine.
In the blink of an eye, Mega Gyarados appeared. Its presence was even fiercer than before.
"Come, Serena. Let me see how much you have improved."
Lysandre looked at Serena. He had known her since she first started her journey.
During Serena's travels, he had always played the role of a mature elder. He often told her about his ideals for a beautiful world.
But now, they finally stood on opposite sides.
"I will definitely stop you, Lysandre!"
Serena slowly clenched her fists. Her incredibly determined gaze made Lysandre lose focus for a moment.
How bright and dazzling was her will?
"Heh heh heh... You are just a flower that looks pretty on the outside. Can you actually produce fruit?"
But in the next moment, Lysandre snapped back to his senses.
"I will not allow it! This world is being polluted by short-sighted, foolish humans!"
"What kind of nonsense are you talking about? Your own end is already decided." Rosa really couldn't stand Lysandre's crazy talk anymore.
"What makes you think you are a savior? Is it based on this little bit of strength you have?"
In Rosa's eyes, even if the world really had a savior, that person could only be Damian!
Lysandre's face darkened. "I see much more than you do. You have no idea what I have personally experienced!"
"So what?" Hilda asked back.
"The world is exactly how it is right now. It isn't perfect, and that is why it exists. That is also why there are people like us who hope for something better."
Hilda released her Emboar. She completely rejected Lysandre's theory.
"Lysandre, you always say this world isn't beautiful. But isn't it just your narrow, stubborn mind that stops you from seeing that beauty?"
Platinum took her turn to speak her thoughts. Her Garchomp landed in front of her.
"Nothing is truly perfect. Because of that, we have hopes and dreams. But you stubbornly deny everything and want to destroy it all."
Perfect? What in this world was perfect?
In Platinum's eyes, the only person close to being perfect was Damian. But even Damian was not perfect.
This was because he had his own desires. At the very least, Damian's private life was not perfect.
Also, to reach his goals, Damian would use methods that normal people would find unacceptable.
However, that did not take away from Damian's talent and excellence.
"No! That's not true!" Lysandre was clearly shaken by their words. His voice became much more irritated.
Narrow? Stubborn?
That wasn't right. He had experienced those things himself!
"Total nonsense! You are just a group of kids who know nothing! What do you know?"
But Lysandre was indeed mature. Even though the girls' words had made him feel a moment of doubt and annoyance, he quickly pulled himself together.
"Right, right, right. We don't know anything, and you know everything," Rosa said sarcastically.
"Alright, girls. There's no point talking to this delusional guy. He's someone who is totally lost in his own world. Beating him up is the most practical thing to do."
Rosa believed it was no longer realistic to use "talk-no-jutsu" to make this lion-headed man wake up and realize his mistakes.
They had to use force!
Lysandre gave a low laugh.
"If it were Damian, the leader of your team, I would indeed be a bit worried. But with just you four, what can you do to me?"
Lysandre spoke calmly.
It wasn't that he looked down on these four girls, but wasn't the fact right in front of them?
Even in a one-versus-four fight, the victory would belong to him.
"Huh? You sound exactly like Cyrus."
Rosa smacked her lips. She didn't know where these leaders of villain teams got the confidence to look down on them.
"Come on. Today, I will teach you a good lesson. I'll show you how stupid it is to judge me with your narrow mind!"
"Hydreigon! Dragon Pu—huh?"
Rosa was just about to start the attack when she immediately noticed something. A thick stream of fire was coming toward her Serperior.
That was Flamethrower!
"Hydreigon!"
Hydreigon roared. It shot out pure dragon light, Dragon Pulse!
Boom!
The Dragon Pulse and the Flamethrower collided violently in mid-air. Then, they exploded with a loud bang.
That was a pretty powerful Flamethrower.
Rosa's eyebrows twitched.
"Boss, it looks like you're in a dangerous spot."
The relaxed tone and the sound of casual footsteps showed that the newcomer was acting very carelessly.
"It is not a dangerous spot," Lysandre corrected her calmly.
"Fine, fine. But Aliana and the others have all been captured. What do you think about that?"
A fierce-looking Houndoom walked out first. Behind the Houndoom were a man and a woman.
The person who had just spoken was the woman wearing red sunglasses.
"Elite Four Malva?"
Serena looked at the familiar woman in shock. She was indeed Malva, one of the Kalos Elite Four.
Beside Malva was a quiet young man.
"Hello~ Serena. It's been a long time." Malva waved her hand and greeted Serena.
But Serena could not stay calm at all.
"Tsk~ Malva, one of the Kalos Elite Four. I didn't expect her to be one of Team Flare's people too. This Kalos League is really..."
Rosa clicked her tongue. Although she didn't finish her sentence, anyone could understand what she meant.
Rosa truly felt that Kalos was even worse than Unova!
Even though the Unova region was currently weak because Alder had lost his drive, at least the Unova Elite Four were fine.
This was a member of the League Elite Four!!
And yet, a member of the Kalos Elite Four was one of Team Flare's people? If people found out, they would laugh themselves to death.
"Little girl, don't say such mean things. We just have different goals, that's all." Malva shrugged her shoulders.
"Hmph~ I'm too lazy to argue with you. People like you don't deserve to listen to me." Rosa didn't want to waste more words.
Malva narrowed her eyes slightly. This girl was quite arrogant.
"You arrived at the right time. Let's take down these four people together. Then, we will go to Geosenge Town to carry out the final plan."
Lysandre didn't want to talk anymore. Right now, the plan was the most important thing.
"Fine." Malva had the same idea.
Clearly, Malva, like Lysandre, did not take Rosa's group seriously.
After all, they were just a group of girls. How strong could they really be?
"Alain, which one do you want to fight?"
The boy named Alain looked at Serena. Serena was the talented girl Lysandre often mentioned.
He had wanted to test his strength against her for a long time.
"These three should be the few high-ranking people in Team Flare. It's perfect to take them all down now."
Platinum said in a low voice.
Originally, they thought there was only Lysandre. They didn't expect two more Team Flare high-ranks to jump out. This was perfect.
"Yeah, let's pack them all up! Then we go deal with that Zygarde?" Rosa was quite excited.
"That Zygarde... I'm afraid it's not something we can handle right now, right? We should let Damian handle it." Hilda was quite speechless.
"Hilda, what kind of talk is that? We are going to be Top Executives in the future. Why do you have so little ambition?"
"...I'm not even going to talk to you."
Hilda rolled her eyes.
The final battle setup was: Serena versus Alain, Rosa versus Malva, and Hilda and Platinum versus Lysandre.
At this moment, outside.
Diantha let her Gardevoir Mega Evolve. Then, she decisively fired a Moonblast at the raging Zygarde.
Boom!
The Moonblast hit directly and exploded. Zygarde let out an angry roar. Its eyes, which looked like insect eyes, suddenly locked onto Mega Gardevoir and Diantha.
That gaze, full of hatred and anger, gave Diantha a shock.
Did she make it angry?
Zygarde's giant body moved. Black-and-red energy started to gather.
Diantha immediately released Hawlucha. Hawlucha carried Diantha as it flew up and retreated.
"Gardevoir! Protect!"
Along with Zygarde's cry, the ground around Gardevoir began to surge violently. Waves of black-and-red hexagonal light flowed like a tide. They completely swallowed Mega Gardevoir, who was protected by the green shield.
This was the Ground-type move, Thousand Waves! It was one of Zygarde's signature moves.
Rumble!
The loud sound of the explosion kept shaking the area. Nearby buildings collapsed because they were hit by the power of Thousand Waves.
Diantha, who was carried into the air by Hawlucha, saw her pupils shake violently.
This terrifying power... is this the power of a Legendary Pokémon?
Diantha immediately realized that she could definitely not handle this terrifying Zygarde on her own.
Diantha quickly took out her phone and called a certain person.
She had to ask Damian to help!
And in their previous agreement, Damian had clearly said he would help them protect Lumiose City!
But such a huge Zygarde serpent was right here. If it was allowed to keep acting like this, wouldn't Lumiose City become a complete pile of ruins?
Back at Lysandre Labs.
Mega Houndoom was hit by a Dragon Pulse. It flew backward heavily and crashed onto the ground. A light flashed, and it was forced out of its Mega Evolution form.
"How can she be this strong??"
Malva no longer had her previous relaxed and calm attitude. Her face looked terrible as she stared at the Hydreigon and Serperior across from her, and Rosa standing behind them.
"So you only had this much skill. I thought you were actually powerful."
Rosa lifted her chin very proudly. This wasn't difficult at all.
Just a member of the Elite Four. I am a High Executive of Team Rocket!
"..."
Malva went silent. She never expected that a girl this young from Team Rocket would have such a terrifying level of skill.
She was certain that the Hydreigon and Serperior were definitely Champion-level!
And this girl was only a High Executive? What about the other three?
Malva glanced at the other side. As expected, Alain's hands and feet were already tied up. Well, he had lost even faster.
His Charizard X had been completely overwhelmed by Serena's Greninja. The battle had ended very early.
After defeating Alain, Serena joined the fair fight against Lysandre.
Specifically, Lysandre was now fighting Hilda, Platinum, and Serena all by himself.
Facing three opponents at once, Lysandre's pressure was higher than ever before. Even though he had released his Honchkrow and Mienshao again, it was useless.
Damn it! How could they be this strong?
This was only one versus three. Lysandre didn't dare to imagine what would happen if the girl with the hair buns also joined the fight.
At this moment, he was sweating heavily. He couldn't hold on anymore!
"Malva! Quick, come help me! Malva?"
Lysandre finally called out to Malva for help.
But when Lysandre looked at Malva, she had just been tied up by Rosa. She gave Lysandre an awkward but polite smile.
"Boss... I think I need you to save me more..."
Lysandre: "..."
-------------------------
Want to get a head start on the story?
The story is now available up to Chapter 520 on Patreon.
I'll finish it by the end of this month, so if you want to support me, now's the time.