In the meeting room at Team Flare Headquarters...
"Hey, hey! What the heck happened?! What on earth was your Class A doing?! Failing to finish the boss's assignment was bad enough, but you even burned down the Lumiose power plant! It's all over the news!" Mable, one of Team Flare's executives, stood with her hands on her hips, glaring unhappily at Aliana across from her.
"Ahahaha! That just won't do~! Now we can't get the electricity the Ultimate Weapon needs, can we~?" Bryony, who belonged to Class B along with Mable, deliberately raised her voice to mock her.
"..." Aliana's face turned ashen. She had no way to counter what those two women were saying.
Lysandre took a deep breath, finally reached the end of his patience, and abruptly roared, "Enough! How long are you going to keep arguing?"
Everyone froze. Lysandre's cold, furious gaze slowly swept over them, and they all fell silent.
"We now have enough Pokémon energy for the Ultimate Weapon, and even the crucial Mega Evolution energy is ready. We'll generate the electricity at our Team Flare Base."
"Mable, Bryony, I'll leave electricity production to you."
Hearing Lysandre assign Class A's original task to their Class B, the two women were overjoyed. They gave Aliana smug looks, as though saying, You're no match for us!
Aliana was practically ready to explode with anger. She wanted nothing more than to go over and slap them both.
"Aliana, I'll leave Xiao Yan to you. Make sure you find him."
"Yes..."
Xiao Yan walked through the streets of Lumiose City. To avoid causing a stir, he had changed into casual clothes and blended into the crowd as he headed downtown.
Protesters had all but occupied the central square. Holding up signs and banners of every color, they marched