So I decided to incorperate all of your ideas into one one-shot ;) This takes place during the Team Flare Arc after Ash has been captured. Just so you guys know, most of this did not happen during the arc. I made adjustments as I went and it will be quite different. Also, the timeline is probably a little messed up, but what-ev's ;) Enjoy! ^-^

Serena POV

I run down the streets of Lumiose with Mairin, searching for Ash and Alain, who seem to have vanished.

"Serena, do you think they are alright?"

I clench my fist. "Yeah... yeah, I'm sure they are just fine Mairin," I reply distractedly, unsure if my words are a lie. "Those guys are strong, they are probably just fighting off some grunts somewhere." Mairin nods, satisfied with my answer, although she still looks worried. Suddenly, a nearby TV flickers to life.

"Here we have footage of the monsterous Pokemon heading through the city..." the voice sounding oddly familiar reports as a camera view from above appears.

"Hey! That's Zygarde!" Mairin exclaims. I nod in concern as I watch the snake-like creature rampage through the streets.

The view of Zygarde becomes smaller and smaller as the reporters gain more altitude in what I assume is a helicopter. The camera now turns to Lumiose Tower.

"It seems that there are strange beams originating from Lumiose Tower." As they draw closer, I am able to make out a couple figures standing atop the tall building. Mairin covers her mouth in shock as the image becomes clearer.

"That's Lysandre!" She exclaims as she recognizes the man.

"And Alain!" I add as Ash's rival appears on the TV.

"What could they be doing up there?" Mairin questions. I merely stare at the screen in confusion. Suddenly I hear footsteps behind us. Mairin and I whirl around, only to find Professor Sycamore and another man I soon realize is Hoenn's Champion, Steven Stone.

"What's going on?" Sycamore asks, his eyebrows drawn in concern. I point towards the screen.

"Alain is on Lumiose tower with this Lysandre guy," I reply. Mairin looks absolutely miserable.

"Lysandre couldn't have caused this... and Alain would never..." she mumbles. I put a comforting hand on her shoulder. Soon though, it is my turn to be worried as another face is shown on the screen.

"Ash." I barely mouth his name at first, still in shock, before it becomes louder.

"He has Ash!" I exclaim, pointing to the screen. The others turn to the screen and gasp. Sure enough, the raven haired trainer looks back at us, being suspended in some sort of trap. Without realizing it, my legs are already moving towards Lumiose Tower. Steven catches my arm before I can get far though.

"No! What are you thinking?" He says shaking his head. "This man is very dangerous, you two need to get back to safety!" I tear my arm away glaring back fiercely.

"I think am going to save Ash!" I reply. Before turning again. This time, Sycamore grabs my arm. "Serena, we are going to get him back, I promise, but we wouldn't want you and Mairin getting hurt." The redhead comes to stand by my side.

"We are coming with you," she says, folding her arms. Sycamore scratches his head and looks at Steven who merely shrugs.

"If they want to come, I suppose we can't stop them," he says. "We need a way up there though."

"I can get us up there," I say, remembering Clemont's tour of the tower. "But there might be guards."

"Leave the guards to me," Steven says, pulling out a pokeball. Sycamore nods at Steven.

"I will go with you two and make sure nothing gets in your way."

"Thank you," Mairin and I say in unison.
"Let's go."

*************

We sneak past as Steven begins battling the Team Flare grunts stationed at the entrance.

"Stay low and in the shadows," Sycamore whispers as we creep down the empty hallways and reach the elevator. Mairin and I nod. The elevator slowly goes up floor by floor, until suddenly... it stops.

"Profes-" Mairin begins worriedly.

"Get behind me." We do as he says just as the door opens.

"Well look what we have here... a couple of little pests..." The green haired Team Flare admin says, folding her arms, a team of grunts behind her. Professor Sycamore steps forward, drawing out his Pokeball. "And you know what we do to pests."

"Go help them," Sycamore whispers to us as he pressed the close button and steps out. "I can assure you, it will be no easy task to get rid of this pest."

"Professor wait!" Mairin shouts, but it is too late. The metal doors have already slid shut.

"It's up to us now," I say as the elevator open and cool air rushes in. We have reached the top level of the tower. Mairin looks frightened. I turn to her. "We can do this. We have to be brave, just like Ash and Alain." Mairin gives a small nod, a glint of determination appearing in her eye. "Alright. You go try and help Alain and I will try and get Ash out of there."

"Sounds good," Mairin says, pumping her fist, then heading off around one side of the enormous tower. Meanwhile, I carefully send out Braixen amd begin creeping along one wall. After some time, I begin to hear voices.

"...and you will be a part of this beautiful new world," the deep male voice says.

"I would never help you! The world is already beautiful the way it is," another voice rings out. My heart skips a beat.

"That's Ash."

I slide further along the wall and peek around the corner, and sure enough, there they are. Alain seems to be missing though, hopefully Mairin succeeded. I take a deep breath.

"Be brave... be brave..."

"Braixen! Use flamethrower!" I shout, emerging from my hiding place. Braixen blasts a stream of fire towards Lysander and his machine. The man stumbles out of the way in time for the fire type move to shoot right past him. However, he is distracted, just as I had planned. I run over to Ash, who looks shocked. Braixen immediately gets to work on burning through the metal restraints. Ash's expression turns from shocked, to happy, to angry in a matter of moments.

"Serena, what are you doing here??" He demands.

"Saving you," I reply, caught a little off guard.

"It's too dangerous, what were you thinking??"

"I-"

"Serena I couldn't bear it if you got hurt because of me," Ash says, his eyes showing an intensity I rarely see.

"But Ash-" suddenly his eyes widen. He opens his mouth to form a warning, but it is too late; a large hand from behind has already claimed it's target.

**********

Ash POV

"Serena look out!" I shout as I see Lysandre approach from behind, having refocused on the current task.

"Would you look at that... I seem to have caught a little mouse..." he says grinning, holding Serena in a headlock. The girl tries to look fierce, but the fear is evident in her eyes.

"Get your hands off of her!" I shout, struggling against the last of my bonds. Braixen had given out a worried cry and temporarily stopped working on them.

"Aw our dear Ash is worried about the little mouse," Lysandre says in a mocking voice, smiling down at Serena. She tries to break free but to no avail.

"Lysandre... just let her go... I'm the one that you want," I growl. Lysandre only chuckles and begins walking back towards his machine, Serena in tow.

"Oh, I wish I could Ash, but then she would surely bring all her friends back with her, and we can't have that. I'm afraid the problem will have to stop now, I can't have your dear little friend interfering with my plan," he replies. Serena's eyes look panicked as he begins walking closer to the edge. My heart beat speeds up as I realize what Lysander is saying.

"Braixen hurry..." I barely whisper to the fire type Pokemon who has now went back to adding heat to the metal from the shadows.

"Lysandre, you don't have to do this, she didn't do anything wrong," I say, my voice faltering. The leader of Team Flare reaches the edge of Lumiose Tower and stops.

"I CAN'T LOSE HER!" I shout desperately. Just then, I feel the last of my restraints break and my brain become sharper. Greninja, opens it's eyes and shatters it's restraints. Lysandre looks both panicked and amazed. Then, taking one last look at Serena, he grins.

"Let's see how strong you really are Ash- Greninja." His hand releases and Serena screams, finding nothing but air beneath her.

Stronger...

Stronger...

Then everything changes. Everything seems to have slowed down. Not for me though. I am stronger. And faster. We must be faster. Greninja rushes forward as I move my legs, cutting the bands of the other trapped Pokemon as we pass. We rush past Lysandre, who observes silently, then straight to the edge of the tower, where Greninja shoots out it's tongue. Shooting down, down, down, until finally it wraps around her waist.

"We did it."

A wave of exhaustion hits and things return to normal. Noivern quickly takes action and swoops down, allowing Greninja to rest Serena on it's back. I stumble backward in relief.

"Astounding." I try to stand and face Lysandre, but can't find the energy. Lysandre smiles and releases his Gyrados. "Well I am quite glad I got to see thay transformation in action, but I'm afraid you escape will not go unpunished." Greninja struggles to it's feet and stands in front of me.

"No... my Pokemon are too weak to battle... they won't be able to handle it..."

I look to Noivern hovering nearby us.

"Well at least she is safe."

"Oh, but Lysandre, your actions cannot go unpunished either."

"Whatever do you mean Alain?" I turn around in surprise. Sure enough, Alain stands beside his Charizard and Mairin.

"Thank goodness," I think, smiling slightly. Then, everything goes black.

*********

Ash POV

As soon as my eyes open, a pair of arms envelope me. 

"Ash you're awake! Thank goodness," Serena exclaims, sighing in relief.

After overcoming the initial surprise, I return the embrace. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?" 

Serena shakes her head. "I'm fine, thanks to you." 

Suddenly, I pull her away to make eye contact. "Also... what we're you thinking?! You could have gotten yourself killed!"

Serena folds her arms indignantly. "You're the one that could have gotten killed! Do you know how scared I was??" 

My expressions softens as I hear Serena's teary eyed response. "Hey, I'm okay though. No need to worry. You did rescue me after all," I reply, putting my hands on her shoulders.

"I suppose we both did some rescuing today." 

I nod and grin. My happiness is short-lived though. "Wait... WHAT HAPPENED WITH LYSANDRE?! I realize, attempting to jump out of the Pokecenter cot. Serena quickly stops me, putting her hands up.

"Alain and Sycamore took care of him," she replies, soothingly. 

"Zygarde?"

"Back to normal."

 I open my mouth again, but Serena puts a finger over my lips.

"Clemont, Bonnie, Mairin, and the others are all safe."

Finally at peace, I lean back into the pillow. "It's all okay?"

Serena nods. "Now you should probably get some sleep, you have been through a lot," she says, standing to leave.

"Wait... will you stay? I don't want to lose you again."

Serena looks surprised, but complies, pulling up a chair. 

"Don't scare me like that again okay?" I ask as my eyelids grow heavy.

"As long as you don't go scaring me like that again," she says, smiling.

"Deal." And with that, everything drifts off into blackness.

I know. I'm awful. This is really (really really really) late, I haven't been updating, and I haven't been active. Super (super super super) sorry. School and volleyball have been hectic lately. My English class is requiring us to write 30,000 words of a novel for National Novel Writing Month by the end of November and I have needed all my spare time for that. (This one shot is 2,000 words to give you an idea). Once November is over I will have more free time and I promise to update. Be expecting a new chapter of Cupid then. Thanks so much for reading and remaining supportive! You guys keep me going! Make sure to comment your thoughts on this one shot below ;)