Clemont's secret

Ash and the others left Arles early in the morning. By 11:00 they reached Lumoise City.

"Finally Lumoise City." Red said as they walked down Adlen street.

"Hey Red since we're here we should probably stop by home and see mom."

"Right."

"Where do you live?" Serena asked.

"We live on Tonro street. But I think mom is probably still at work." Ash said.

"Well what should we do in the meantime?" Clemont asked.

"I know! We can go to this cafe my dad always takes me and my mom when we come here." Serena said.

"Coffee?" Bonnie said with doubt.

"It's alright Bonnie I'm sure we'll find something you'll like there." Clemont said. Serena lead the group to a cafe called The Flavor of Lumoise.

The cafe looked high end with tables and booths inside the building and some tables outside.

"This place looks nice," Red said.

"Just wait until you taste the coffee," Serena said. As they waited in line to order their coffee Ash looked around at the people there.

There was a variety of people drinking coffee there. Businessmen, tourists, policemen, and some trainers.

"A lot of people like to come here."

"This place is pretty popular, I heard that even the Champion of Kalos likes to come down here whenever she's in Lumoise."

"Really the Champion." Red said. After another few minutes they reached the front of the line and the cashier.

"Hello can I get your orders?" She said. Serena looked up at the menu.

"I think I'll have the Kalos roasted with a hint of Vanilla." Ash came up next and looked at the menu.

" Hmm, I guess I'll get the dark ground." Red came up and placed his order before Clemont got his. Clemont then looked at the menu again.

"My sister will have a Pecha berry smoothie."

"Alright will these be on one bill or separate?"

"Separate." Red said. Each of them took out a few Kuros, which was the official currency of the Kalos Region. They moved out of the order area and to the end of the counter where another employee put their coffee.

The group found an empty table in the outside area and sat down. Red took a drink from his coffee first.

"Mm this is good Serena." While the group drank their coffee they let their pokemon out and gave them some food.

Pikachu and Charmander were sitting next to each other while they ate. After a minute they noticed Pancham had completely devoured his and looked over at their bowls.

As Pancham motioned himself close Charmander let out a small ember in front of Pancham.

"Char!" charmander said holding his bowl away from Pancham.

"So now that we have a real map again." Red said looking at Clemont.

"It could take us a while before we get to Cyllage City. But that leaves us plenty of time to train and battle other trainers." Red said.

"Sounds good, but I wonder if we shouldn't ask around about the Lumoise gym leader while we're still here." Ash said.

When Clemont heard Ash say this he accidentally lost balance with his right hand and tilted his cup up too high making coffee pour around his mouth.

"Ahh!"

"Geez Clemont are you okay?" Serena asked. He coughed a little.

"Yeah I'm fine it's just, it's going to take us so long to get to Cyllage City we shouldn't spend to long here."

"He's right, we should get moving as soon as we can." Bonnie said.

"But we have to see our mom first." Red said.

"Well we can see her, but we're just saying we don't think it's a good idea to dilly dally here in Lumoise." Clemont said.

Moments later as Ash looked around he saw two very interesting men sitting at a table not far from them.

The two men were wearing military uniforms. One was wearing the same Kalos army uniform that captain Laffon had been wearing except his beret had a bronze leaf on it instead of 2 silver bars.

The other man was wearing a very dark blue military uniform with a small Kanto flag insignia on the right shoulder and the words Kanto air force on the front chest. He also had a dark blue beret with two silver bars on it.

Ash could see the Kalos army soldier's name from his uniform was Achille. He had honey blonde hair like Serena's, blue eyes like Serena's and a very similar skin tone. Overall this man looked much like a man version of Serena.

The other man had very dark brown hair that almost seemed black. He had very light brownish eyes that almost seemed green, but his nose and mouth were covered by a blue turtle neck like cloth. Ash also noticed that the name on his uniform seemed strange but somehow familiar, Nair.

It was at that moment Ash remembered what Serena told him. Her father was in the Kalos army.

"Serena look." Ash said pointing to the two men. Serena looked over and her eyes widened as she saw them.

"Dad!" The two men turned towards them and the one who looked like Serena also widened his eyes.

"Serena!" The two got out of their chairs and almost sprinted over to each other. Serena's father wrapped his arms around her and lifted her up.

"Dad it's so good to see you again."

"Serena, I've missed you so much." After a minute her father let her down.

"What are you doing in Lumoise dad?"

"Ever since Team Rocket appeared in Kalos I was sent here with a detachment from the national guard in case they try anything around here. I heard from your mother that you started your Pokemon journey."

"I did, I already have two Pokemon." Serena called for her pokemon. Fennekin and Furfrou came over to her.

"A Fennekin and a Furfrou, very nice."

"Fennekin, Furfrou this is my father."

"Fenn." Serena's father lowered his hand and petted both of them.

Serena's father looked back at Ash and the others."Are those friends of yours?"

"Oh right sorry guys, these are my new friends. Ash, Red, Clemont, and Bonnie." Ash and the others got up and walked over to them.

"Hi it's nice to meet you." Ash said extending his hand towards Serena's father.

"Pleasure to meet you." He said as he shook Ash's hand. The others took turns greeting Serena's father.

"So Serena what are you doing here in Lumoise?"

"Well we're on our way to Cyllage City Ash and Red have a gym battle there."

"So you two are trainers as well."

"Yeah, those are our Pokemon." Red said pointing back at the table.

"Hey who's the other soldier?" Bonnie said looking at the other man.

"Uh, this is Captain Niar, he's from the Kanto Air force. He's here as an advisor for our forces since Kanto has been dealing with Team Rocket longer than we have."

The captain didn't say anything he just glanced Ash and Red occasionally. Ash could certainly tell that Serena's father and the captain didn't want to involve him in the conversation.

Ash still couldn't help but think he had seem this man somewhere,but where? The captain raised his left arm which had a watch on it and tapped it with his right pointer finger.

"I'm sorry Serena but we actually need to go."

"Already?" Serena said with disappointment.

"I'm sorry but the HQ commander wants us back by 12:30. If you're still in Lumoise tomorrow I might be able to spend some time with you but I'll have to see."

"Alright I understand." Serena and her dad hugged one more time before he and the captain left the cafe.

"So that was your dad, glad we had a chance to meet him." Ash said.

"I just wish we could have spent some time with him. But I'm use to it by now, his work for the people of Kalos is important."

"So Ash, Red Uh you think your mom is off work now?" Clemont asked with a hint of anxiousness.

"No, she doesn't get out until 4:00." Red said.

"Well maybe we could just stop at her work and see her. Then we can be on our way." Bonnie said.

"It seems like you two want to get out of Lumoise as fast as possible, is there something you're not telling us?" Ash asked.

A sweat drop rolled down Clemont and Bonnie's heads.

"No nothing, I just think we should." Clemont started.

"Clemont! Bonnie! It's really you!" A loud voice said. Both Clemont and Bonnie's faced turned blue and pale as they realized who it was.

A large man with brown hair that came all the way down into beard. He had brown eyes and was wearing blue overalls over a black working shirt and a green hat.

He picked Clemont and Bonnie up in his arms. "I haven't seen you two in days. You don't even stop to see your own father anymore."

"Father?" Ash, Serena, and Red said.

"Pika?"

"Char?"

"Oh are these new friends of yours. Hello my name is Meyer."

"Hello." Red said as he shook Meyer's hand.

"So I'm guessing you guys are trainers and these are your Pokemon."

"Yeah, we're trainers." Ash said.

"Well I use to be a trainer before I became chief electrician of Lumoise."

"You're the chief electrician of Lumoise?" Serena asked.

"That's right I know all about electricity and electric types from years of running the Lumoise gym. Now my boy Clemont takes care of that for me."

As soon as Meyer said that Clemont's face turned white and a sweat drop came down his face.

"Now Clemont, I've been hearing rumors that you've been going rough on some of the challengers. People are even saying that you're tossing them out of the gym. Now I know you can't go easy on challengers but you have to remember son to make the battle a learning experience."

Meyer let Bonnie and Clemont down.

"I have to get back to the power grid control. Make sure you stop by the apartment."

"Yes dad". Clemont said. Meyer left the cafe. Clemont and Bonnie slowly turned around at the others who now looked rather upset.

"Ha ha you see I-" Clemont started before Ash grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him over to him.

"Clemont you lied to us!"

"I can explain!"

"There's no point brother we might as well tell them everything."

They left the cafe and went to a fountain where Clemont and Bonnie sat on the cement wall around the water.

"The truth is I am the Lumoise city gym leader. I have been for the last few years."

"Why didn't you tell us you were the gym leader?" Ash said.

"And why did you shock us!?" Red said.

"First of all I didn't shock you. Secondly I didn't tell you I was the gym leader because I'm ashamed of what happened."

"What do you mean?" Serena asked.

"A few weeks ago I started a project. You see as much as I liked being gym leader, I loved inventing things. I just couldn't find enough time to do both anymore so I had an idea to build a robot gym leader to help me manage gym battles."

"A robot gym leader?" Ash said.

"I called him Clembot."

"Why?" Red asked.

"I don't know It just sounded like a good name. Anyway I worked so hard to give him an AI that would allow him to learn every time he battled."

"What happened?"

"I'm not exactly sure what happened but when I tested him out in a battle he refused to battle me since I didn't have four gym badges. Though that's really my fault since I set that in his program."

"Okay so he wouldn't battle you." Serena said.

"I put in a fail safe override command voice code but for some reason the password I set didn't work. After the password failed Clembot forced Bonnie and I out of the gym and wouldn't let us back in."

"And we've been locked out ever since." Bonnie said.

"Oh guys I'm so sorry." Ash said.

"To make things even worse all of my pokemon are in the gym. All except Bunnelby who I caught just before the incident happened."

"Clemont why don't we go in there and stop the robot." Red said.

"How? Clembot won't let us back in and even if we did, how could I beat him. I just have Bunnelby and he has all of my experienced Pokemon."

Red grabbed Clemont by his shoulders and shook him a little.

"Clemont get a grip!"

"Seriously why do you guys keep grabbing me."

"Clemont you need to have faith in yourself as a trainer. If you just give up now you'll never reach your goals."

Clemont put on a determined face and looked back at Red.

"You're right. I'm going to take back my gym!"

"Yay we're getting the gym back!" Bonnie said.

"That's the right attitude Clemont." Red said. The group made their way over to prism tower where a few trainers were waiting outside the entrance.

"What the hell is with this gym" One of them said.

"Huh, what's going on?" Clemont asked the trainer who said that.

"I went inside to challenge the gym leader. I even had four badges like it said. But them some weird robot was there instead. I battled him but lost and then the crazed machine shocked me and forced me out of the gym."

Clemont's face turned red with embarrassment.

"Come on let's get out of here." Another one of the trainers said.

"If I don't stop Clembot my gym's reputation is finished. Alright there is a secret entrance I made in case something like this happened."

"Wait a minute if you had a secret entrance why didn't you get your dad and have him take care of the robot." Serena said.

A sweat drop rolled down Clemont's head.

"Well I guess I was just so ashamed." Ash and Red face palmed as Pikachu shook his head. Clemont walked up to the side of the tower and revealed a secret terminal and entered a 4 digit number.

A hidden door opened up and revealed the inside of the gym.

"Alright lets go" Ash said. Clemont led the way through the hallways of Prism tower. The interior looked similar to the section of the tower Ash and Red saw the first time they came in.

"Alright Clembot should be in the battlefield which is this way." Clemont said. Before they reached the end of the hallway Pikachu heard something, almost like the buzz of electricity and his cheeks began to spark.

"Pika, pika pika." He said poking Ash's neck and pointing down the hallway.

"What is it Pikachu?" Ash asked. He looked at where Pikachu was pointing and saw a small metallic looking pokemon with two magnets sticking out of it's sides floating towards them.

"What is that?" Serena said opening her pokedex. Magnemite, a Magnet Pokémon. Its means of floating through the air are not understood. This very mysterious Pokémon is of the Electric type.

"Hey that's my Pokemon. Magnemite it's me Clemont." When the magma mite saw Clemont it looked like it was happy for a moment. It seemed rather upset and unleashed thunderbolt at them.

"Look out!" Ash grabbed Serena and pulled her out of the way as Clemont picked up Bonnie and moved her out of the way.

"Why is it attacking us!?" Red shouted.

"I guess it must think I abandoned it here." Clemont said.

"Don't you have it's Poke ball or something?" Serena asked.

"No Clembot does, why did I give him all of my Pokemon?" Clemont asked.

Pikachu heard something else moving towards them. He turned around and then shouted

"Pika!" Ash and the others turned around to see a Pokemon that looked like 3 Magnemite stuck together.

"That's my Magneton." Clemont said. When the Magneton saw Clemont he gained a angry expression.

"I'm sorry I haven't been here for you two, but if you would just let me explain!" Magneton also unleashed Thunderbolt at them forcing Clemont and Red to move back.

"Clemont do you mind if we take them down?" Red asked.

"Go ahead."

"Alright they're steel type so fire should be very effective. Go Charmander!" Red said.

"Char!" Charmander shouted as he came out in front of Red. The Magnemite unleashed Thunderbolt at Charmander.

"Charmander dodge and use Flamethrower!" Charmander quickly moved out of the thunderbolt's path and then unleashed Flamethrower, engulfing Magnemite in a jet of fire.

When the flames cleared Mangemite was covered in soot and fell to the ground.

"Fire works, Go Fennekin!" Serena said. Her Fennekin came out and looked at the Magneton.

"Fennekin use Ember!" Fennekin opened her mouth and unleashed a small burst of fire at Magneton. However, the Magneton split up into 3 pieces avoiding the ember and then reformed before unleashing thunderbolt.

"Fennekin!"

"Pikachu Thunderbolt!"

"Pika chu!" Pikachu unleashed thunderbolt and hit Magneton's stopping it from reaching Fennekin.

"Go Riolu!" Riolu came out and landed with his fist on the ground as he looked up at Magneton. The Magneton unleashed thunderbolt at Riolu.

"Riolu dodge and use quick attack into force palm!". Riolu easily avoided the incoming Thunderbolt then sprinted forward and knocked Magneton back a little with Quick Attack.

Once he was directly over Magneton he hit the top eye with Force Palm and plowed the Pokemon into the ground.

"Nice job Riolu!" Ash said. Riolu got up with a look of pride on his face as he got off Magneton. Clemont walked over and picked up Magnemite and Magneton.

"I'll have to take them to the center later." Clemont led the others through the hallway until they reached a large battlefield with a set of bleachers on the right side.

"We're here!" Bonnie said.

"But where's Clembot?" Clemont asked. Not a moment later the stadium lit up entirely revealing a large robot standing on the other side of the battlefield.

"Clembot." The robot was shaped like a human with 2 arms and legs and what looked like a helmet on his head. Clemont noticed that there was a dent in the head.

Clembot's eyes lit up read as he looked at Clemont.

"Welcome to the Lumoise city gym, four gym badges are required to receive a battle."

"Clembot command override unlock battle." Clemont said.

"Command password required." Clemont thought carefully, he was positive he set the password to Sandwich, but Clembot wouldn't accept that.

That was when Clemont remembered the dent on citroid's head. The day he finished Clembot he accidentally dropped him on a metal counter.

He then picked him back up and said to him. "From this day forth I'm counting on you to run the gym. I am the gym leader Clemont."

"The password is, from this day forth I'm counting on you to run the gym. I am the gym leader Clemont."

Clembot's eyes turned from red to blue and said. "Password accepted, battle commencing."

"It worked!" Clemont said.

"Alright now all you have to do is beat him." Ash said. Ash took Mangemite while Red held Magneton as they went with Serena and Bonnie to the seats.

Clemont stood on the opposite end of the battlefield as Clembot.

"Alright we can do this, I know we can. Go Bunnelby." Bunnelby came out of his poke ball and stood in front of Clemont.

"Pokemon selected." Clembot said. It raised it's arm and shot out a Poke Ball. A large yellow and black lizard like Pokemon came out and happily danced a round a little before it saw Clemont.

"What is that?" Red asked as he opened his pokedex.

"Heliolisk, the Generator Pokémon and the evolved form of Helioptile. Heliolisk produces enough electricity to power a large building and recharges by spreading its frills."

The Heliolisk seemed angry at Clemont as it hissed and raised up a round frill.

"Heliolisk I'm sorry I've been gone so long. I'll have to explain it to you later. Bunnelby use Mud Shot." Clemont said.

"Heliolisk use Protect." Heliolisk quickly threw a green barrier over himself and absorbed the mud shots.

"Heliolisk use Thunder!"

"Bunnelby use Quick Attack into Double Kick." Bunnelby quickly moved out of the thunder's path and moved behind Heliolisk. Once he was behind him Bunnelby kicked heliolisk in the back with his feet.

"Nice job Bunnelby, "

"Heliolisk use Thunder."

"Bunnelby dodge with Dig." Clemont said. Bunnelby quickly burrowed himself underground avoiding the thunder.

"Heliolisk use Bulldoze!" Heliolisk slammed his foot into the ground and caused a small group quake.

"Oh no," Bonnie said. The ground quake forced Bunnelby out of the ground and into the air.

"Thunder!" Clembot said. Bunnelby was hit with thunder and filled with electricity.

"Bunnelby!"

"That's not good, if Clemont could have pulled off Dig it would have done lots of damage." Red said.

"Alright that's not going to work, Okay Bunnelby use Double Team." Bunnelby quickly jumped into the air and made over a dozen copies of himself.

"Alright that should confuse them." Serena said.

"Bunnelby use Mud Shot."

"Parabolic Charge!" Heliolisk opened up his frill and unleashed a massive burst of electricity that covered the entire battlefield and hit every bunnelby.

"Wait Parabolic Charge! I never taught him that."

"Parabolic Charge?" Serena asked.

"It covers the entire field and absorbs the energy from your opponent." Ash said.

"Oh no, Brother you're losing!" Bonnie said. Clemont grit his teeth. He tried to think of way he could beat Heliolisk and Clembot but every time he thought he had an advantage Clembot turned it around on him.

"How am I going to beat him, he's too good." That was when Clemont remembered when Ash faced Viola. Even after he lost, he didn't give up faith.

Clemont looked back at Clembot and the hole behind Heliolisk and had an idea.

"Bunnelby use Dig."

"What? Brother you already tried that" Bonnie said.

"Bulldoze!" Heliolisk was about to stop his foot into the ground.

"Bunnelby use Double Team while underground!" Bunnelby quickly made a dozen copies of himself and jumped around the battlefield.

"Parabolic Charge!" Heliolisk quickly opened his frill and hit every Bunnelby with parabolic charge.

"No not again!" Bonnie said. Red and Ash noticed that there no more Bunnelbys.

"Hey where is Bunnelby." Serena said. Moments later the real Bunnelby came up and hit heliolisk from beneath.

"What?" Bonnie and Serena said. Clembot's head started to shake. "Error error, File not found Exception!"

"What happened?" Bonnie asked.

"Clemont had a brilliant idea he had Bunnelby use Double Team while he was underground to distract Heliolisk and then continued with Dig." Red said.

"Great job Bunnelby we've got them on the ropes!" Suddenly the damaged area on Clembot's head started to spark with electricity as Clembot kept saying" Error error."

"Uh is that thing okay?" Ash asked. Clembot's eyes turned red as he switched to his electric shockers.

"Commencing electric shock!" Clembot said as he started moving towards Clemont.

"Clemont run!" Ash said. Clemont saw Clembot try and shock Bunnelby.

"Bunnelby return." Clemont returned Bunnelby before Clembot could shock him. Clembot turned back towards Clemont.

"Clemont run!" Ash shouted. Clemont tried to run but he tripped and fell to the ground.

"Clemont!" The others said. Clemont looked over and saw Clembot over him with his shockers.

"Ahh!"

"Clemont!" Bonnie screamed. Heliolisk looked up and saw his trainer about to get shocked by Clembot. That is when Heliolisk remembered when Clemont first caught him. All the times they spent training together. How much they cared about each other.

Even after Clemont left he knew he still loved him. Mustering all of his remaining strength Heliolisk got up and opened his frill.

"Heli!" He scrammed as he unleashed thunder hitting Citroid. When the thunder hit Clembot it overloaded his circuits and power systems. Within moments Clembot exploded leaving Clemont covered in soot and robot parts all around him.

"Ouch." He looked over and saw Heliolisk had saved him.

"Heliolisk." He said.

"That was close." Serena said.

"Nice job Heliolisk." Ash said. Clemont got up and went over to Heliolisk and knelt down in front of him.

"Heliolisk, I'm sorry I've been gone for so long. I never meant to leave you guys. I know that we can never get that time back but I promise you that I'm not going to abandon you guys again."

Heliolisk smiled and nudged his head against Clemont's head. Clemont hugged his pokemon back as Ash and the others walked up behind him.

"You did it Clemont, you've taken back your gym." Ash said.

"I'm so proud of you brother." Bonnie said.

"Thanks guys, I never would have been able to do this without you." After Clemont took his pokemon to the center the group went to Meyer's apartment.

"What! You've been locked out of the gym for weeks!" Meyer screamed.

"Dad I'm sorry. I was just so ashamed of it I couldn't find the courage to tell you. But Clembot is gone and the gym is ours again."

"Well I wish you would have told me this sooner but I'm glad you were able to overcome this on your own."

"I didn't really do it alone. I had all of my friends behind me. Because of that I want to keep traveling with them."

"What? But you're the Lumoise gym leader son."

"I know but this experience has showed me I still have a lot to learn about training pokemon. I think traveling with Ash and the others will make me a better gym leader."

"Oh please daddy! We've been having so much fun with our friends." Bonnie said.

"Don't worry Meyer We'll make sure Clemont and Bonnie don't get into any trouble." Red said.

Meyer took a deep breath.

"Alright it sounds like you have your heart in the right place. Alright you can go. I'll take care of the gym for you while you're gone."

"Thanks dad." Clemont and Bonnie went up and hugged him.

"I think I'm going to take all of my Pokemon with me now. I've spent to much time away from them."

"Hey Clemont our mom is back by now so we're going back to our apartment." Red said.

"Alright It is getting pretty late so I guess we'll have to meet your mom tomorrow." Clemont said.

" So Clemont if you're the gym leader, that means some day we're going to have to battle." Ash said.

"I guess it does." Clemont said.

"I just hope you're ready for us," Red said. Ash, Red, and Serena left the apartment and started walking towards their apartment.

"Our apartment has a guest room, I'm sure our mom won't mind if you spent the night there." Ash said.

"Thanks guys, I can't wait to see your mom again after all this time." Serena said. On a building above them a man with a mega lucario was watching them.

"Ash, Red. After all this time I find you here in Kalos." His Lucario looked at him for a moment.

"You're right, I need to. But when the time is right."