Team Flare

Team Flare (Japanese:  Flare-dan, literally Flare Gang) is the villainous team in the Kalos region.

In Pokémon X and Y
Team Flare appears in. Their goal is to create a "beautiful and better" world while making money, eliminating everyone who does not follow their standards.

They are first encountered in Glittering Cave, where they attempt to steal fossils off the researcher working there, but are stopped by the undefined and /. This occurs without the researcher noticing. They next appear in a scene in, examining the mysterious rock formation. The Grunt defeated in Glittering Cave challenges the player to a rematch.

In Geosenge Town, they are seen examining the rock formations there, when a grunt is encountered by the player and tries to flee. Once he is followed, there appears to be an entrance to a cavern which has been blocked off. This is later revealed to be Team Flare Secret HQ.

On, it is revealed that a problem inside the Kalos Power Plant is responsible for the blackout in Lumiose City, which is preventing the player from accessing the majority of the city, including the Lumiose Gym. A Team Flare Grunt outside the Power Plant drops a Power Plant Pass, which the player uses to enter the building. Inside the building, a and Team Flare Scientist Aliana are siphoning electricity from the Power Plant, causing the blackout. Once they are defeated, the player can progress to Lumiose City.

At Laverre City, Team Flare Grunts are blocking the player from entering and the Poké Ball Factory until the player has defeated the Laverre Gym and received the. At that point tricks the Grunt guarding the Poké Ball Factory away so the player and / can enter. Although the player defeats them, the Team Flare Scientists are able to steal many of the Poké Balls, with the exception of the Master Ball.

In Frost Cavern, a Trainer's, which the player needs to traverse the snow-blocked , is upset. Upon reaching the depths of the Cavern, Team Flare, led by Mable, are antagonizing an. Once she has been defeated, the Abomasnow gives the player an Abomasite, and the player is now able to traverse Route 17 on the Mamoswine.

Team Flare does not appear again until the player has received their seventh badge from the Anistar Gym, where Lysandre reveals that he is the leader of Team Flare, and sends out a live broadcast to all trainers around Kalos via the Holo Caster. During the broadcast, Lysandre reveals Team Flare's plans of using the "ultimate weapon", a machine built by the king of Kalos 3,000 years ago that can eliminate all life. To achieve this, Lysandre plans to use / to activate the machine in Lysandre Labs in Lumiose City.

Lysandre Labs' secret entrance is located inside, where Lysandre greets the player with a battle, before moving to the basement. Once the player reaches the basement, he is revealed to have imprisoned AZ, who tells the player the history of the ultimate weapon. The player then encounters Xerosic in conversation with Lysandre, whereupon Lysandre promises to deactivate the weapon if the player defeats Xerosic. However, despite this promise, Xerosic still activates the weapon by remote control, even if the player manages to switch off the weapon. The weapon, situated in Geosenge Town, activates from the three s in the center of the town.

The player then enters the Team Flare Secret HQ, to the Northwest of the town, which was previously blocked. After battling Lysandre, the player, with the help of Calem/Serena and Shauna, make their way down to the legendary Pokémon. The player encounters the legendary Pokémon, and after catching /, Lysandre challenges the player to one last battle. After being defeated for the third and final time, Lysandre expresses his disgust towards the fact that his beautiful world will never be a reality. The player and his/her friends attempt to reason with him, saying that if people cooperate together, a better world is possible, and they use the Mega Evolution achieved by him as proof of the bond he has with his Pokémon. He, however, rejects the idea as mere naivety and then attempts to force immortality on the player and their friends/destroy everyone in the building and fires the ultimate weapon using what little power still remains. The blast from the weapon destroys it and buries Lysandre and the HQ under rubble. As a result, Team Flare disbands. It is unknown what becomes of Lysandre afterwards.

Despite the collapse of Team Flare, however, the player encounters them once more. After defeating the Champion, during the main post-game side story, Looker arrives in Lumiose City with the intent of apprehending a criminal he is tracking, enlisting the player and a young homeless girl named Emma to aid him. A crime wave breaks out in the city, and the culprit is ultimately revealed to be one of Team Flare's scientists, Xerosic, conducting an experiment using what little funds he still has following the disbanding of Team Flare. After the player defeats "Essentia," the creation of his project, Xerosic relents and surrenders to Looker, ending Team Flare's reign of terror once and for all.

Elite Four member Malva was also a member of Team Flare; however, she was not revealed to be with them until after Lysandre is defeated. Instead, she is the host of the newscasts occasionally sent through the Holo Caster. Her rank in Team Flare is unknown, although she knows classified information.

In the main series
Lysandre debuted in the in Mega Evolution Special I. He was seen monitoring Alain's Charizard's energy levels during its Mega Evolution from his laboratory, and was apparently pleased with the result. He reappeared in Mega Evolution Special II, when he visited the ruins Steven Stone was investigating, leading to attacking. In Mega Evolution Special III, thanks to the efforts of Alain,, and their Pokémon, Lysandre was able to secure a gigantic Key Stone, the Giant Rock, for his research.

Malva debuted in-person in Mega Evolution Special IV, battling Alain and Charizard with her. The battle eventually ended in Alain's victory.

Team Flare, as a collective entity, debuted in From A to Z!, with the s and the five Scientists all making appearances. They reappeared in Meeting at Terminus Cave!.

In A Meeting of Two Journeys!, Xerosic and two s conducted a test of a prototype weapon that was being powered by and the Mega Evolution energy.

They infiltrated Prism Tower in Kalos League Passion with a Certain Flare!, and executed their scheme after the conclusion of the Lumiose Conference in Down to the Fiery Finish!, using Zygarde to slowly destroy the Kalos region, starting with Lumiose City. Starting from A Towering Takeover!, Ash and his friends try to stop Team Flare, with Ash himself getting captured so that Lysandre could closely observe the Bond Phenomenon between Ash and. During the next episode, Ash broke free, and Alain, shocked by the results of his actions, defected from the team, with the duo facing Lysandre. Meanwhile, Xerosic successfully captured Squishy, while and Clembot were able to infiltrate the Lumiose Gym, capturing Aliana and Bryony in the process. During the events of Rocking Kalos Defenses!, Lysandre was defeated by Ash, Malva, and Alain and seemingly committed suicide, while Celosia and Mable were defeated and imprisoned by Team Rocket. Lysandre Labs was then destroyed when the Giant Rock transformed into a giant copy of Zygarde. During Forming a More Perfect Union!, Lysandre was revealed to have survived and used the Giant Rock to battle Ash, Alain, Malva, Steven, Professor Sycamore, Diantha, and all of Kalos' Gym Leaders. Eventually, the Giant Rock was destroyed when Squishy and Z2 transformed into Zygarde Complete Forme and attacked it with. Lysandre was engulfed by the attack and seemingly died as well. Afterwards, Malva promised to hunt down the other Team Flare members and afterwards turn herself in as well.

Unlike the games, where Team Flare hunts down Xerneas or Yveltal, is their main target in the anime. Instead of stealing Poké Balls or electricity to further their plans, they utilize energy collected from Pokémon undergoing Mega Evolution.

In Pokémon Generations
Team Flare appeared in The Beauty Eternal, where Lysandre introduced the Holo Caster in Kalos. It was also revealed that Team Flare was secretly in the process of developing "Project Y". Later, Team Flare's secret HQ was seen, where was being kept while sleeping in its cocoon form.

In the Pokémon Adventures manga
Team Flare appear as the main antagonists of the. The four Scientists first appear seeking to steal 's Mega Ring with various schemes, but were thwarted several times. Lysandre also made an appearance with Professor Sycamore, acquiring a video file of Xerneas and Yveltal for his research.

After Xerneas and Yveltal's clash in Vaniville Town, Team Flare took all the people and Pokémon in the city and imprisoned them in their HQ, including 's mother. Using Celosia's 's mind controlling powers, the villainous team forced their prisoners to transport Xerneas, which had retreated to its tree form, from to Geosenge Town to be used as an energy source for the ultimate weapon.

After locating Team Flare's hideout, X and his friends stormed the base, and as a result of their actions, Xerneas was awakened and later joined Y's team, and the ultimate weapon's blast was weakened so that no innocent lives were lost. As a result, Team Flare decided to go hiding in the Pokémon Village in order to plan their next move. Team Flare eventually planned to activate the ultimate weapon again by transporting Pokémon from the Pokémon Village to the stones at the Menhir Trail in order to absorb their bioenergy. Their plan was stopped by the teamwork of Alexa, Bonnie, Clemont, Viola and the s led by Yvette, while five other Kalos Gym Leaders and three of the Elite Four defeated their forces of grunts stationed elsewhere around Kalos.

Trivia

 * Many of Team Flare's targets share notable similarities with Team Rocket's targets: a cave where a regional Fossil can be obtained (Glittering Cave and Mt. Moon), a Poké Ball-producing facility where the Master Ball can be obtained (Poké Ball Factory and Silph Co.), a Pokémon burial ground ( and Pokémon Tower), the regional Power Plant (Kalos Power Plant and Kanto Power Plant), and a location where experiments involving agitating a certain Pokémon are conducted ( in Frost Cavern and Red Gyarados at the Lake of Rage).
 * The names of Team Flare's scientists are possibly a reference to s, which are classified as A, B, C, M, or X according to their peak flux range. Those are the scientists' initials in each localization of the games.
 * According to a girl in Lysandre Café, it costs 5,000,000 to join Team Flare.

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 * Images on the Bulbagarden Archives
 * Images on the Bulbagarden Archives

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