"So if I understand you correctly, the more we capture, the richer we'll become?"

"Exactly. Carbink are the gateway to an unlimited supply of valuable jewels. They are fairly easy to capture, however, finding the damn things is the hard part. If we're extremely lucky, we might end up with one that'll mutate..."

"Well... they do blend in well with this cave. But no matter. With these Houndour we've been given, tracking them down won't be a problem..."

"Ah the perks of joining Team Flare... wouldn't you agree Jacqueline?"

The woman in question glanced over at her two male cohorts and offered a half smile. She had like green eyes and long obsidian locks that were tied up in twin-tails. She wore a red combat suit with a Team Flare insignia etched into the chest area. She wore two heavy-looking golden gauntlets which gave off a fiery aura upon activation.

"You speak the truth Claude," she replied, reaching down to pet her loyal canine.

"So Jacqueline, ya gonna go with Charles to that fancy ball?" the other crimson clad teammate inquired.

Jacqueline blinked at the question and blushed faintly.

"Well... I mean... he did ask if I would attend, Derrick, so I don't see why not," she stated somewhat nervously.

"So that's a yes then?"

"It's not a no," Jacqueline replied hastily.

"No use hiding your infatuation with the captain. It's as clear as that mole on your face," Claude grinned, earning a flustered glare from his comrade.

"For the last time, it's not a mole, it's a beauty mark. Call it a mole again, and you'll be walking funny the rest of the week," Jacqueline hissed.

Derrick rolled his eyes at the duo and crossed his arms.

"Can we get down to business? Those Carbink aren't gonna wait for us to find them."

Jacqueline and Claude mutually agreed to ceasefire for the time being, and refocused their attention on the task at hand. Finding some Carbink. Without anymore words exchanged between the three, they set to work.

"Oh wow! look, how pretty!"

Shauna stood at the entrance to the cave, her eyes shimmering with delight as she drank in the vast mirror-filled pathways. Trevor immediately took out his camera and Tierno darted in to see his reflection on the multitude of surfaces, laughing as his body seemed to stretch as he danced from one mirror to the next.

"This looks rather fun," Serena giggled, walking up to one of the reflections before turning to face Seth. "Does this mirror make me look fat?" she grinned, watching as her body seemed to widen.

Seth couldn't help do his best not to laugh. They all looked so ridiculous.

"I'm not sure if I should answer that," Seth replied, suppressing a grin.

In truth, the mirror made her look hilariously disproportionate. And from where he stood, the mirror he was looking at made him look unrealistically thin. Needless to say, he was having fun.

"Well isn't this lovely? I remember the first time I ever set foot in these caves," Cerise mused as she hovered beside Seth, her eye glancing about at the others as they played.

"I assume this place holds some sentimental value to you?"

"Oui, it does indeed m'lord. Who could forget the place where two kindred spirits met?" Cerise chuckled.

"So you met your first love... here?" Seth blinked, glancing around as his friends made faces in the mirrors and laughed at each other.

"Yes! I was but a young girl then. My mother and I would often play games here. Needless to say, I met my husband during one of these escapades," Cerise added, casting a longing glance towards a certain set of mirrors that Trevor and Shauna were standing near.

It was almost as though she could see herself and her husband, laughing like the children they were at the time. Even as they grew older, they still came to play.

"Hey Seth, get in here ya goof! Trevor wants a picture," Shauna called out, earning a light chuckle from the brunette.

"If you insist," Seth replied, meandering over to join them in their revelry.

Several embarrassing photographs later, the crew were on their way through the caves once again.

"We've been wandering through here for what seems like hours, and still no sign of any Carbink! Then again, considering they are all sentient rocks with gems sticking out of them, any one of these stupid rocks could be one!" Derrick shouted, kicking a rock against a wall, causing it to bounce off and hit a gem embedded rock of similar design.

Unbeknownst to him, said rock that he disturbed was indeed a Carbink.

"Calm down man, we knew this wasn't going to be easy the moment we accepted this mission. But just think of what will happen once we do bag ourselves these Carbink. People will see how prosperous they can be by joining our cause, and they'll all come running," Claude reminded Derrick.

Jacqueline rolled her eyes.

"Don't forget that riches are just the beginning. Our leader desires a more perfect world. One where beauty remains and where everything is perfect. No poverty, no war... nothing like that. I can just picture it. Why the captain and I would--"

"Live happily ever after and have five kids and a mansion with golden toilets," Claude cut her off, making use of his best impression of her fawning over Charles.

"H-Hey! I never mentioned toilet seats! And five kids? Don't be ridiculous," she huffed, gaining a raised brow from the male duo.

"You're right, five is ridiculous. It's too few!" Claude laughed.

Before Claude knew what hit him, he was doubling over, holding his nether region in agony as a satisfied Jacqueline was dusting off her hands.

"Hmmm... maybe a few Growlithe would be nice to add to the mix," Jacqueline mused.

"You're hopeless," Derrick muttered, averting his eyes as she glared back at him.

"If you're done fantasizing," Claude winced, straightening up to focus on a particular corner of the cave, "we've got business to attend," he grinned after spotting movement from one of the rocks.

Catching on, the trio directed their hounds towards where Claude was looking, and zeroed in on what appeared to be a bunch of random rocks strewn about the path. But upon closer inspection, one of them was trembling.

"Looks like we hit the jackpot," Jacqueline mused. "Shall we?"

"Do you need to ask? finding these things was a pain in the ass," Claude growled.

"Well then, Houndour, get to work! Iron Tail!"

Stepping through the doors of Xerosic's lab, Charles deactivated the helm on his suit and scanned the area for Lysandre and Xerosic. The two were in the back of the laboratory. Upon noticing his arrival, the two leaders of Team Flare turned to greet him.

"You said you wished to see me, Lysandre?" Charles began, his eyes fixed on the stern look he was being given by Lysandre.

"Indeed I did want to see you. You see, up until recently, no one has been aware of our activity. People often take us for fanatics and not a serious threat to anyone's safety," Lysandre stated, placing his hands behind his back as he paced forward.

Charles furrowed his brows. He had a feeling he knew what this discussion was about.

"You are speaking of the incident in the caves," Charles inputted.

Lysandre nodded.

"According to one of our Admins, a group of trainers, four to be exact, disrupted the fossil excavation process. After handling the situation personally, she had given the order for the intruders to be eliminated, but as you were informed, there was interference from a lone trainer," Xerosic added.

"Right, one that possessed a Honedge that he wore on his back, and a Pawniard. The latter I can believe, however... it's highly unlikely that anyone can carry one on their back without their soul being--"

"That's what we thought as well. But you see Charles, there are a plethora of mysteries that go beyond the realm of possibility. Take us for example. The chances of us being alive are basically nonexistent," Lysandre lectured.

"I'm afraid I don't follow," Charles replied.

"Perhaps, for the sake of argument, say we took one life preserver, and we threw it out into the middle of the vast ocean somewhere, and there was exactly one Tirtouga in all of the oceans that cover the globe, swimming underwater. The chances that you and I came to be, are the same as that Tirtouga sticking its head out of the water, in the middle of that life preserver on one try," Lysandre elaborated as he reached for a remote to one of the lab screens and turned it on.

Charles watched as a battle between four individuals he didn't recognize, and members of his team, broke out. He observed as a fellow Admin devastated the group with the power of her Manectric. It wasn't until he saw footage of his team dropping like flies, that he realized something was wrong. That's when the camera zoomed in on Seth. Sure enough, over his shoulder and around his waist was the sash of a red Honedge.

Charles watched as Team Flare was swiftly dispatched with the help of the Honedge and Pawniard. The clip cut off shortly after.

"This was recovered from one of our colleagues who had been dealt with by this individual. I trust you recognize him," Lysandre ventured.

"Indeed I do. He's the pauper the Princess often complains about," Charles responded.

"Well this pauper recently gave several of our cohorts concussions. This kind of interference cannot be allowed to continue. I trust your squad is aware of him?" Lysandre inquired.

"They are aware that someone has caused an issue," Charles added. "Send me that video so that I may forward it to Jacqueline..."

After a few moments, Xerosic had uploaded a file and sent it straight to Charles' holocaster. Taking a moment to pull up his contacts, he sent the file to Jacqueline along with a message to be on the lookout.

"There, my team has been notified. I have given them orders to engage on sight..."

Lysandre smirked. "Excellent... now, let us discuss the proceedings for the ball, shall we?"

"I can hardly credit it..." Jacqueline breathed as she watched the footage play out.

"The part where our crew gets their asses kicked, or the priceless look on Tyson's face when he's inches from death?" Derrick snickered.

"I was gonna say the form this guy has and how fluid his motions are, oh, and the fact that Honedge knocked Melissa out cold. She's a stuck up cocky bi--"

"We get it, you hate her," Claude said with an eye roll.

"Of course I do! she's a flirty, cocky, conniving witch. Look at her sizing him up like a piece of meat... not that I don't agree with her..." she muttered the last part under her breath.

"What about the captain?" Claude teased.

"I merely expressed that this man is attractive. I am free to do so if I want to, thank you very much," Jacqueline replied curtly.

"Can we get back to the task at hand? these Carbink are getting squirmy. One of them is bound to--"

"Escape? yeah... I wouldn't worry too much about that. One missing Carbink won't be of any consequence," Jacqueline shrugged.

Hiding behind one of the many reflective surfaces was the Carbink that had been knocked over before the mayhem began. Seeing the distress of its comrades, the Rock-type began hopping in the opposite direction as fast as it could.

"Okay, so we're on our way to Shalour City... and once we get there..."

"We'll be visiting the Tower Of Mastery. That's what it says in the email. Apparently there's someone there who knows a lot about Mega Evolution, Seth," Trevor explained.

"That sounds interesting," Seth declared, keeping pace with his companions as they traversed the depths of the Reflection Cave.

"That's assuming we don't end up lost in here. I've heard stories of that happening," Serena informed the group.

"True, that is highly likely to occur, if you're alone that is. But we've all got Pokémon with good sense of direction. I think we'll be... fine?" Seth paused, his eyes zeroing in on an exhausted-looking Carbink.

The little Rock/Fairy stopped dead in its tracks as it saw the five trainers before it. Instinct told it to run, considering the three humans it came across had just taken its friends captive. Not sensing any hostility, the panicked Carbink frantically began calling out to them.

"Carbink! bink... friends... bink! bink! danger! please, oh please help!" Carbink cried out.

Seth's ears twitched as the jumbled speech of Carbink went from a repetitive screeching of its name, to easily understood English.

"Oh wow, a Carbink! those are so cute!" Shauna gushed, hurrying over to greet the little rock-rabbit.

Upon approach, Carbink began hopping away, stopping only to urge the five to follow.

"Shauna, I think you're scaring it," Trevor pointed out, indicating to how shaken up Carbink seemed to be.

"More like it was scared before it got here," Seth chimed in, a concerned expression etching itself onto Seth's face.

"I'm going to take that to mean... you understood it, and it wants us to follow it. Am I close?" Tierno asked, his answer coming in the form of a panicking and jumping Carbink who seemed to be trying its hardest not to lose patience.

"My friends are being attacked by three humans and three Houndour! now if you would stop talking and start running I'd greatly appreciate it! there's no time to lose!" Carbink shouted.

Upon hearing the name of a particular Pokémon, Seth narrowed his eyes.

"M'lord... you don't suppose--"

"I do. I don't know why I didn't pick them up earlier, but I can definitely feel the presence of three people... and the Pokémon with them," Seth muttered.

"Uh Seth? care to fill us in?" Serena questioned him.

"I have a hunch that Team Flare is here. Carbink mentioned three humans with Houndour companions. We've only run into one group of people who fit that description..." Seth replied, turning his head to beckon the others to follow.

Without any further deliberation, the five trainers were darting down the pathway, following Carbink as it hopped along. Several moments later, the squad found themselves looking at several cages with Carbink inside. And standing with their backs to the group, were the three responsible for their captivity.

"Looks like we finally managed to round them all up. Now we just need to call in and have these Carbink shipped back to HQ," Claude declared happily.

As he stretched, he was pummeled in the back of his suit with a barrage of stones, causing him to dive to the ground and roll away as the assault subsided.

"What the hell!?" Claude scowled, rising to a stand to face the offender.

As he spotted the Carbink, he was met with another sight. One that triggered immediate alarm. And as usual, Jacqueline couldn't wait. She powered up her Flare Gauntlets and rushed Seth, winding up a swift haymaker in the process while closing the distance within seconds.
With a mighty thrust, she shot her fist forward, utilizing the augmented power of her weapon to amplify her strike.

Her fist was met with adversity in the form of Seth's right palm which guided the strike away from its intended target, while he followed up with an open palm strike to Jacqueline's face, sending her skidding back with such force, she had to dig her heels in more forcefully to slow her stop. Not letting up, she charged again, striking out slightly faster, forcing Seth to grapple with her, their eyes locking in the process.

"Damn you're good! I can see why we were told to be wary of you," Jacqueline grinned.

"Seth!" The group exclaimed as Seth and Jacqueline clashed.

"I'd worry about yourselves if I were you," Derrick stated, calling the attention of the group to his battle-ready Beartic and Claude's Ursaring.

"Shall I assist them?" Cerise inquired, earning her answer in the form of Seth blocking a knee to the groin. "I'll just leave you two be then."

Not wasting time, the foursome released their teams into the fray, though the foes they faced were far superior to their previous adversaries. Ursaring and Beartic easily gained the upper hand.

Seth swayed to the side of a forward jab and swiftly brought up his arm to block an oncoming kick to the side of his head. Unwilling to give him any room, Jacqueline pressed her advantage. Spying an opening, she brought her knee up into his right side, only to realize her mistake a little too late as Seth had cushioned the strike with his drawn in arm and once more delivered a more forceful palm strike to the chest plate, only this one hurt significantly more, blasting her back several feet.

Seth's hand sparked with an azure current of aura which vanished as swiftly as it came.

"Geez! that one actually hurt... a lot! I mean, I thought this armor was supposed to protect my chest!" she ranted.

Seth simply looked down at his hand.

So that's how that works... took me long enough. Good thing I've got it down now. Those gauntlets hurt... and they burn. These guys do not mess around...

"Okay Seth. It is Seth right? round two... let's kick this up a no--"

"Aura Sphere!"

A fast-moving ball of highly concentrated aura tore through the area and blasted Beartic away from Serena and Shauna. A blue blur flickered past Seth and Jacqueline who were in mid strike, Seth crossing his arms to cushion another heavy blow. The swift-moving figure lashed out at Ursaring and leveled the massive bear with one swift kick, guiding his face to the floor with his foot.

"What the--oof!" Claude exclaimed as he was met with a knee to the stomach.

On the other end of that blow was a young blonde woman wearing a white helmet, with an outfit to match and some rollerblades on her feet. Claude doubled over in pain and did his best to steady himself.

"Dammit it's her," Derrick growled, his eyes locking with the interfering woman before him.

Turning to glance at the four trainers behind her, she asked, "you guys okay?"

"Yep! sure are!" Shauna replied hastily.

Serena nodded, as did Trevor and Tierno.

"Good. Now, where was I?"

Reacting quickly, she swerved right to avoid an oncoming thrust with a fiery short sword which was knocked aside by a bone wielding Lucario, causing Claude to have to double his efforts.

"Tch... figures you gym leaders would get involved," Derrick grunted, cracking his knuckles as he advanced.

However, before he could close the distance, he was struck hard in the side with a Force Palm that sent him flying to the side, tumbling end over end until finally coming to a halt, barely able to move due to paralysis.

"D...Dammit..." Derrick groaned.

"Thanks Lucario," the woman beamed, glancing over to see that Claude was out of commission and Seth had Jacqueline against the cave wall.

"Shoot... those two got beat. Why did she have to spoil my fun?" Jacqueline pouted.

"I think I have a pretty good idea why I was attacked... but there is one thing I want to know," Seth stated with a serious look.

As Seth fished for answers, Derrick had released his Kadabra who was linking everyone in its party with psychic energy.

"Oh? and what's that?" Jacqueline grinned playfully.

"How did you know my name? I don't recall ever giving that out," Seth replied with a hint of iron in his voice as he pinned her with a fixed glare.

"Sorry, but that is on a need to know basis, and right now, you don't need to know. Ta Ta!"

Within seconds, Kadabra had teleported Jacqueline, Derrick and Claude out of the cave, taking the Carbink with them. Seth grimaced as they vanished.

"Looks like they got away," the blond said as she skated up to Seth, her emerald gaze meeting his, curiosity lingering in her depths. "I'm Korrina, and you are--"

"They pulled a fast one on us! those jerks!" Serena snapped.

"Easy Serena, at least none of us got hurt, right?" Shauna reminded them.

"Exactly, nobody got shot this time," Trevor added.

"Shot?" Korrina blinked, turning to face the others with a bewildered look.

"Eheh... yeah... those guys didn't have any firearms, but the last bunch did. I got shot in the arm," Shauna disclosed. "But I'm better now!" she beamed.

"Honestly, I'd have preferred the last bunch over these three," Tierno interjected. "At least our Pokémon stood more of a chance..."

"All I can say, is that I'm glad Seth was with us this time. They attacked us without warning whatsoever. Seems to me we're on their hit list," Serena concluded.

Korrina turned her head towards Seth and then faced him fully. Stepping up beside her was her Lucario.

"Man... do you feel that, Lucario?" Korrina smirked, her eyes dancing with delight as she focused on Seth.

"Indeed I do. This one has an incredible aura pool, I suspect he is aura adept, considering he was able to replicate a Force Palm only moments prior to our arrival..."

"Seth was it? nice to meet you," Korrina said with a faint smile. "As I said before, I'm Korrina... Shalour City's gym leader, at your service."