We are here again with another chapter that actually moves the overarching plot forward. In case it wasn't clear by now, a lot of the chapters that drive the plot forth are going to be ones without Max and Bonnie in them. This is because I've always hated stories where the entire plot revolves around the actions of the main character. Don't get me wrong, the main character still needs to have effects on the plot, but it shouldn't revolve entirely around everything that they do, because that's boring. Anyway, on with the chapter.
Whenever Ash stays over at Serena's house, he always sleeps on an inflatable mattress on the floor of Serena's room. In turn, Serena always does the same whenever she can find time to stay over at his place in Galar or his mother's in Kanto. Normally, the two like to sleep in for ages in the mornings, particularly when Serena's mother isn't there, so they won't be woken up by her Fletchling. However, on this particular morning, the two are woken up by Ash's Rotom Phone going off. Serena groans when she hears it. "Why did you set an alarm?" she grumbles. "I didn't," Ash replies sleepily, rubbing the tiredness from his eyes. "That's the sound my phone makes when I've missed a call. But it's probably just some journalist demanding an interview." He turns over to go back to sleep, but Serena lightly hits him with her pillow. "Aren't you going to check that?" she asks. "It could be important." Ash chuckles. "Nothing any of those vultures could call me about will ever be important," he replies. "It'll most likely be a request for an interview or a question regarding my love life." He lets out an irritated sigh at this. "Clearly 'I'm in a committed relationship with the Kalos Queen' doesn't produce enough gossip."
Serena laughs at this comment, but decides to check what it says anyway. When she turns the phone on, her eyes widen. "It's not from a journalist," she tells him. "It's from someone named Looker." Ash shoots awake at this and grabs his phone. He unlocks it and listens to the voicemail. "Ash, we have something to talk about," Looker said. He sounded frantic, and as if he was in the air. "Meet me in Lumiose this afternoon, preferably alone. Something serious is about to go down!" Then, the voicemail ended. Ash put his phone down and immediately started grabbing his clothes. "What's wrong?" Serena asks. As he picks up his clothes from the floor, he quickly explains to her the events of the cave, and what Looker and the agents of Interpol have been doing in Johto for the past few weeks. Serena's expression darkens at this, and she gets out of bed too.
While Ash hastily gets dressed, Serena quickly whips up a breakfast for both of them. Ash comes down and eats it quickly. He kisses her goodbye and promises to tell her everything when he gets back. Then, he grabs his hat and sunglasses and puts his hood up to conceal his identity, and rushes out the door. He usually wore some form of disguise when going out, due to his severe dislike of being mobbed by journalists and nosy fans. He loves his fans dearly, but cannot stand being swarmed by them. Especially when these swarms can often bring vultures swooping down very quickly.
Not for the first time in his life does Ash curse his habit of oversleeping, one that definitely isn't helped by having a girlfriend who likes sleeping as much as he does. Still, despite this, he makes it to Lumiose in good time. When he arrives there, he spots Hilda and Hilbert standing at the end of the road between Vaniville and Lumiose. "You're late" Hilda comments. "Sorry," Ash replies, not bothering to ask how she knew who he is. "Slept through Looker's phone call. Hilbert can't help but chuckle a bit at this, but stop when Hilda glances at him from the top of her sunglasses. Hilbert apologises and the two agents lead Ash through the city to where Detective Looker is waiting.
The detective is sitting outside a café right next to the Lumiose Gym, looking slightly battered, as though he'd fallen down a hill. To Ash's surprise, Clemont is sitting there with him. When Looker spots them, he beckons them over. "Glad you could make it," he says. "I assume you know the Lumiose Gym Leader." Both of them nod and greet each other like the old friends they are. Then, the six of them sit down around the table and begin to discuss matters. Before Ash can ask what this meeting is about, Hilda and Hilbert launch into an explanation as to what happened on the Embedded Tower, and Team Terra's plot. Clemont seems very perturbed by the news that there's a Team Terra spy amongst his employees. "What exactly does this machine do?" he asks. Hilbert takes over from here. "From what I can guess from the blueprints we saw," he says, "it's designed to send powerful energy into something, no doubt the power of Rayquaza. Judging from the design, I'd say it's supposed to overload something with energy, maybe cause it to malfunction."
Clemont looks very nervous about this bit of news. "Can I see the blueprints?" he asks. Hilbert looks down sadly. "Unfortunately," he replies, "the computer we found it on was destroyed before we could save it." At this, detective Looker pulls out his phone. "That, my dear agent, is not entirely true" he says, before unlocking the phone and handing it to Clemont. On the screen is a picture of the blueprints Ash and the agents had seen on the computer. Clemont analyses the image for a few minutes, before handing the phone back to Looker and nodding his head. "It seems you're correct," he tells Hilbert. "it does seem to be designed for that purpose. And, considering the fact that they're heading for the Kalos Power Station, I think I know what they want to do with it." "What?" asks Ash, already dreading the answer. "I think they mean to overload the Plant with power," Clemont explains. "Doing something like that will cause a blackout all over Kalos!" "For how long?" Hilda asks. Clemont thinks about this for a moment. "It's hard to say," he says finally. "Definitely not permanently. I'd say a few decades at most."
Ash suddenly realises something. "That would give people enough time for the World to start undoing the effects of climate change!" he exclaims. "If all of the regions in the world are without electricity, the World can start mending some of the damages." "And when it's done," Hilda finishes. "It'll be a new world!" Looker sits back in his chair and contemplates all of this. "So, they think that doing something like this will heal the world," he comments, before chuckling. "I never thought their Boss could be so naïve. Even if it takes a few decades to fix the damage, it'll still be fixed. Then we'll just go back to the way we were before." Clemont stops him there. "But it'll still give the world time to undo a lot of the damage we've done," he points out. "but I'd say their Boss is also hoping that people will see how damaging electric power is to this world, and will make sure that it never gets used again!"
Looker can't help but chuckle. "Clearly he's never had to deal with politicians," he says. "Even if everyone in the world saw that Team Terra was right, those guys will just stuff their ears with the money that electric companies give them and rebuild them anyway. Money talks a hell of a lot louder than the populace." "But that's beside the point!" Hilda points out. "We know what they're up to! We need to warn the League about this, maybe they can stop them before it happens!" Everyone around the table nods. "We need to get word to the Champion," says Looker. "Clemont, do you have any means of contacting him?" Clemont nods, but looks doubtful. "I do, but they're all in the Gym itself" he says. "Well what's wrong with that?" Hilbert asks. "They've got a spy amongst my employees," Clemont points out. "They've probably bugged every means of communication in there. Maybe even my phone!" This dulls everyone's mood a bit.
"It would be too suspicious if you were to leave the Gym for a bit as well, wouldn't it?" Looker asks. When Clemont nods, Looker begins thinking of another way to get this information to the League. Eventually, he comes up with one. "Can you think of a single worker in that plant who you are 100% certain isn't a spy?" he asks. Clemont answers "Yes" immediately. "I have one employee who's worked there since my dad was in charge of the Gym," he explains. "She's been working there for longer than Team Terra have been around, so there's no way she's their spy!" This seems to satisfy Looker. "Ok, good," he says. "So, here's what I need you to do. Write down this information on a piece of paper, and have this employee head to a post box or post office that's outside of Lumiose. We'll deliver this to them by letter, that way it's impossible to track!" "But why can't you just tell them yourself?" Clemont asks. "Because we have to report this to Interpol," Looker replies. "The League is only 5 months away, we don't have time to report to them both! And anyway, there's a chance we could've been followed, so if we head up to the League, they may change their plans."
"That's why you want me to have this delivered," Clemont realises. "Because it'll throw their spy off our trail." Looker grins at him. "Bingo!" he says. "So, while this letter gets to the Champion, we'll hopefully be able to scrounge enough men together in time to protect the Power Station from Team Terra. Is everyone clear on our plan?" There was a resounding yes from the group sitting at the table. Looker smiles at this, then dismisses them all. The three Interpol agents head out of town to get the next flight back to Unova. Meanwhile, Ash and Clemont head into the Lumiose Gym. "I'm going to need to somehow figure out how to ramp up security in here without tipping the spy off," Clemont tells Ash quietly, who nods in agreement. They arrive in Clemont's main workshop, and after making sure no one saw them go in, Clemont quickly scribbles down his warning. Then, he has Ash write down the Champion's address. After becoming Champion a few years prior, Alain had given his address to Ash, in case he ever wanted to organise an exhibition match. Once that's done, Clemont summons the employee to his office.
The employee in question is a woman in her mid 20s, with long wavy brown hair, brown eyes that sit behind round magenta glasses, and some gold coloured earrings. She wears a white lab coat, with a brown jacket and grey jeans. "Thanks for coming Riley," says Clemont, before handing her the note and dropping his voice down to a whisper. "This is very important. I need you to bring this to a post office outside of Lumiose, and don't let anyone who works here see you." "How come?" Riley asks. Clemont goes slightly pink, and tries to come up with a decent lie. Even though he trusts her completely, he figures it's best she doesn't know what the letter is about. "It's a love letter for Korrina!" Ash says quickly. "He doesn't want the other employees to know he's sending them to her, in case they let Bonnie know. Knowing her, she'll never let him hear the end of it." Clemont quickly shoots Ash a look of gratitude, before agreeing with Ash's story. Riley grins knowingly at him. "Don't worry Clemont," she tells him. "Your secret's safe with me." Then, she turns and heads out the door. Ash and Clemont sigh with relief, then Clemont starts planning ways to increase the security of the Plant, while Ash makes his own way out to head back to Vaniville and tell Serena what's happening.
Riley makes her way through Lumiose after leaving the Gym through a hidden backdoor that she was one of the few people who knew about it. She'd shown it to a friend she'd made recently while working. That friend is currently away at the moment, running a few errands for Clemont. As Riley walked down the street next to the river, she suddenly spotted her friend rounding the corner, reading over something. "Oh, Megan!" Riley calls. Megan looks up from her notes and sees who's calling her. "Hey Riley!" she says, putting the clipboard in her bag and running over to her. "It's been a few weeks, hasn't it? Anything of note happen while I was gone?" The two women sat down on the wall next to the river and spent the next few minutes catching up on the goings-on since they last saw each other.
While they chatted, Riley shows Megan the envelope she's supposed to deliver and explains to her what it is. The two of them start laughing at how awkward their boss can be, before the conversation moved on to the relationship of the two Leaders. While they chatted, Riley absentmindedly put the letter down on the wall between the two of them. She knows she should probably get a move on and deliver the letter, but she figures it can wait a bit longer. She's enjoying this conversation so much. As it turns out, she probably should've heeded that thought. As she speaks, Megan's hands move around all over the place, especially when she gets excited, during one of these gestures, her hand brushes against the letter. The letter flies off of the wall and lands in the river, floating away. Both ladies swear and try to follow it, but neither of them have water types, so they are unable to retrieve it.
"Oh, Clemont's gonna kill me!" Megan shouts, panic clear in her voice. "He won't Megan," Riley reassures her. "He'll understand that it was an accident." Megan nods, but still looks unsure. "Did you get a chance to read it?" she asks. Riley shakes her head. "No I didn't," she replies. "It's none of my business, after all." "But you know it was a love letter?" Megan asks. Riley nods. "Ok," says Megan. "I'm going to go and quickly write another one for her. I got a good look at the address, so I know where to send it. You just carry on like nothing happened." Riley laughs at this. "I will," she says. "Good luck." She turns to head back to the Plant, when Megan calls out, "Can we please keep this between ourselves? I don't want anyone to know!" Riley laughs and agrees. "Of course," she says. "After all, I'd hate to be known as the employee who knocked her boss's letter to his girlfriend into the river." Both girls laugh, then go their separate ways, blissfully unaware of the gravity of what had just happened.
Well, things just can't go right for the good guys can they? I'd just like to say here, that I made Riley up. If there is a character in Pokémon called Riley, or if there's a character that matches the description I gave, that was purely coincidental. Now, next chapter will be back with Max and Bonnie making their way around Kalos. Let me tell you, when you remove the two easiest things to make in-between chapter about, the attempts to steal the Jade Orb and Max and Bonnie filling up their teams, it suddenly becomes a lot harder to write chapters about the bits in-between the cities. If I had known that, I would've made the 1st half so much shorter!