Team Flare
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 Artwork of Team Flare Grunts fromX and Y | ||||||||||||||
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Team Flare (Japanese:フレア団Flare-dan,lit. Flare Gang) is thevillainous team with their organization based in theKalos region. Their goal is to create a "beautiful and better" world while making money and eliminating everyone who does not follow their standards.
InPokémon Legends: Z-A, Grisham reveals that Team Flare wasn't always an evil team and also formedTeam Flare Nouveau, a team that plans to fix the original team's reputation.
In the core series games
Pokémon X and Y
Team Flare appears inX and Y. They are first encountered inGlittering Cave, where they attempt to stealfossils off the researcher working there, but are stopped by theplayer andSerena/Calem. This occurs without the researcher noticing. They next appear in a scene inRoute 10, examining the mysterious rock formation. The Grunt defeated in Glittering Cave challenges the player to a rematch.
InGeosenge 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 beTeam Flare Secret HQ.
OnRoute 13, it is revealed that a problem inside theKalos Power Plant is responsible for the blackout inLumiose City, which is preventing the player from accessing the majority of the city, including theLumiose Gym. A Team Flare Grunt outside the Power Plant drops aPower Plant Pass, which the player uses to enter the building. Inside the building, aTeam Flare Admin and Team Flare ScientistAliana are siphoning electricity from the Power Plant, causing the blackout. Once they are defeated, the player can progress to Lumiose City.
AtLaverre City, Team Flare Grunts are blocking the player from enteringRoute 15 and thePoké Ball Factory until the player has defeated theLaverre Gym and received theFairy Badge. At that pointShauna tricks the Grunt guarding the Poké Ball Factory away so the player andSerena/Calem can enter. Although the player defeats them, the Team Flare Scientists are able to steal many of the Poké Balls, with the exception of theMaster Ball.
InFrost Cavern, a Trainer'sMamoswine, which the player needs to traverse the snow-blockedRoute 17, is upset. Upon reaching the depths of the Cavern, Team Flare, led byMable, are antagonizing anAbomasnow. Once she has been defeated, the Abomasnow gives the player anAbomasite, 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 theAnistar Gym, whereLysandre 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 theking of Kalos 3,000 years ago that can eliminate all life. To achieve this, Lysandre plans to useXerneasX/YveltalY to activate the machine inLysandre Labs inLumiose City.
Lysandre Labs' secret entrance is located insideLysandre Café, 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 encountersXerosic 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 inGeosenge Town, activates from the threemenhirs in the center of the town.
The player then enters theTeam 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 catchingXerneasX/YveltalY, 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 their friends attempt to reason with him, saying that if people cooperate together, a better world is possible, and they use theMega 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 friendsX/destroy everyone in the buildingY 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. InPokémon Legends: Z-A it would be revealed that Lysandre was saved from the rubble byZygarde, though he had both lost his memory and become immortal due to the ultimate weapon's power.
Despite the collapse of Team Flare, however, the player encounters them once more. After defeating theChampion, 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 namedEmma 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 memberMalva 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 theHolo Caster. In Pokémon Legends: Z-A it is revealed that she was an Admin and participated in an unsuccessful mission to capture Yveltal, which left her weakened and unable to participate in the battle against the player and their friends.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A
InPokémon Legends: Z-A, further information relating to the origins of Team Flare is revealed by former Team Flare gruntsGrisham andGriselle. They reveal that the organization once existed as a place for people to come together and help one another; however, Lysandre eventually grew disillusioned with humanity and sought to decrease the global population. To this end, he decided to use the ultimate weapon, which resulted in the disbanding of Team Flare, with former members being arrested or regarded as outcasts in society. Lysandre Café, the location ofLysandre Labs, eventually grew derelict, as no one wanted to rent a location so closely associated with Team Flare. Grisham and Griselle have startedTeam Flare Nouveau and wish to fix Team Flare's reputation.
As revealed in theSide Mission EX2, Team Flare became interested inMewtwo's powers and was curious to see if Mewtwo could help power up theultimate weapon. The five Admin scientists of Team Flare managed to locate and capture Mewtwo at theUnknown Dungeon inPokémon Village, located in theKalos region, bringing it toLysandre Labs. This decision was the start of a project called "Project M." They could not figure out why Mewtwo was in the Kalos region in the first place, with one theory suggesting it was seeking the power ofMega Evolution. The five attempted to use bothMewtwonite X andMewtwonite Y to get Mewtwo to Mega Evolve, but Mewtwo refused to transform. Since Mewtwo spends most of its time storing energy for the day it needs to battle and slumber, "Project M" was placed on hold, and Team Flare eventually forgot about it. Mewtwo remained asleep untilPaxton orHarmony brought Mewtwonite X and Mewtwonite Y to Lysandre Labs, causing Mewtwo to awaken once again.
In the spin-off games
Pokémon Masters EX
Lysandre andMalva appear inPokémon Masters EX
Team Flare members serve as supporting characters in theVillain Arc.
| Dex | Trainer | NDex | Pokémon | Type | Weakness | Role | EX role | Base potential | Availability | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #115 |  | Lysandre | #0717 |  | Yveltal | Flying | Fairy |  |  | ★★★★★☆EX | Poké Fair Sync Pair Scout |
| #115 |  | Sygna Suit Lysandre | #0721 |  | Volcanion | Water | Rock | |  | ★★★★★☆EX | Poké Fair Sync Pair Scout |
| #212 |  | Malva | #0663 |  | Talonflame♀ | Fire | Rock | | | ★★★★★☆EX | Sync Pair Scout |
In animation
Pokémon the Series
Pokémon the Series: XY
Lysandre debuted inMega Evolution Special I. He was seen monitoringAlain's Charizard's energy levels during itsMega Evolution fromhis laboratory, and was apparently pleased with the result. He reappeared inMega Evolution Special II, when he visited the ruinsSteven Stone was investigating, leading to an attack byMegaRayquaza. InMega Evolution Special III, thanks to the efforts ofAlain,Steven, and their Pokémon, Lysandre was able to secure a giganticKey Stone, theGiant Rock, for his research.
Malva debuted in person inMega Evolution Special IV, battling Alain and Charizard with herMegaHoundoom. The battle eventually ended in Alain's victory.
Team Flare, as a collective entity, debuted inFrom A to Z!, with theTeam Flare Grunts and the five Scientists all making appearances. They reappeared inMeeting at Terminus Cave!.
InA Meeting of Two Journeys!, Xerosic and twoTeam Flare Admins conducted a test of a prototype weapon that was being powered byZygarde and the Mega Evolution energy.
They infiltrated Prism Tower inKalos League Passion with a Certain Flare!, and executed their scheme after the conclusion of the Lumiose Conference inDown to the Fiery Finish!, using Zygarde to slowly destroy the Kalos region, starting with Lumiose City. Starting fromA Towering Takeover!, Ash and his friends try to stop Team Flare, with Ash himself getting captured so that Lysandre could closely observe theBond Phenomenon between Ash andGreninja. Duringthe 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 capturedSquishy, whileClemont andClembot were able to infiltrate the Lumiose Gym, capturing Aliana and Bryony in the process. During the events ofRocking 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 theGiant Rock transformed into a giant copy of Zygarde. DuringForming a More Perfect Union!, Lysandre was revealed to have survived and began controlling the giant rock with a control device, which he used to battle Ash, Alain, Malva, Steven, Professor Sycamore, Diantha, and all of Kalos' Gym Leaders. Squishy andZ2 transformed into Zygarde Complete Forme and battled against it. In the end, Ash and Alain destroyed Lysandre's control device while Zygarde destroyed the Giant Rock withCore Enforcer. The explosion engulfed Lysandre as he fell into it with his fate unknown. Afterwards, Malva promised to hunt down the other Team Flare members and afterwards turn herself in as well.
Though not mentioned by name, inCatching the Aura of Fate!, it was revealed that the Kalos region was still suffering from the effects of the actions orchestrated by Team Flare. In this episode, Ash andLucario teamed up with Greninja to destroy some of the Giant Rock's remaining roots.
Unlike the games, where Team Flare hunts down Xerneas or Yveltal,Zygarde is their main target inPokémon the Series. Instead of stealing Poké Balls or electricity to further their plans, they utilize energy collected from Pokémon undergoing Mega Evolution.
Pokémon Generations
Team Flare appeared inThe Beauty Eternal, where Lysandre introduced theHolo Caster inKalos. It was also revealed that Team Flare was secretly in the process of developing "Project Y". Later, Team Flare'ssecret HQ was seen, whereYveltal was being kept while sleeping in its cocoon form.
In the manga
Pokémon Adventures
Team Flare appear as the main antagonists of theX & Y arc. The four Scientists first appear seeking to stealX'sMega Ring with various schemes, but were thwarted several times. Lysandre also made an appearance withProfessor Sycamore, acquiring a video file of Xerneas and Yveltal for his research.
After Xerneas and Yveltal's clash inVaniville Town, Team Flare took all the people and Pokémon in the city and imprisoned them intheir HQ, includingY's motherGrace. UsingCelosia'sAegislash's mind controlling powers, the villainous team forced their prisoners to transport Xerneas, which had retreated to its tree form, fromRoute 8 toGeosenge Town to be used as an energy source for theultimate 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 thePokémon 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 theMenhir Trail in order to absorb their bioenergy. Their plan was stopped by the teamwork ofAlexa,Bonnie,Clemont,Viola, and theSky Trainers led byYvette, while five other KalosGym Leaders and three of theElite Four defeated their forces of grunts stationed elsewhere around Kalos.
In the TCG
Team Flare has appeared in the Trading Card Game, primarily in theXY Series. However, where the priorvillainous teams ofTeam Rocket,Team Aqua,Team Magma,Team Galactic andTeam Plasma received themed sets, dedicated card types, and specific support for their cards, Team Flare only has a minor presence in the game overall. This would further herald a de-emphasizing of the villainous teams in the TCG overall.
As always, Team Flare's representation in the TCG started withTeam Flare Grunt inXY, kicking off a pattern of Grunt cards manipulating the opponent'sEnergy cards.Flashfire brought in the team's leader,Lysandre, onto the cardLysandre, notably duplicating the effect ofPokémon Catcher from before it was weakened by an errata from the XY set. That card also established villainous team leaders being associated with effects that forcibly put one of the opponent'sBenched Pokémon as theirActive Pokémon.
Phantom Forces was the major Team Flare set, though the set is not named after the team as seen in prior villain-themed sets. There were seven cards associated with Team Flare.[1] Two of them areSupporter cards,Xerosic forthe team's most well known admin andLysandre's Trump Card representing Lysandre equipped with the Lysandre Machine for his final battle. "Trump Card" proved to be extremely powerful, and the card was eventually banned fromStandard andExpanded. Joining the supporters were threeTeam Flare Gear cards,Item cards themed to Team Flare, and twoTeam Flare Hyper Gear cards,Pokémon Tool cards which are attached to the opponent'sPokémon-EX to hinder them. The Team Flare Hyper Gear cards feature an especially eye-catching visual treatment, incorporating the team's red color into the frame elements and a large "FLARE" watermark over the textbox. After this set, Team Flare themed cards petered out completely, with older villainous teams like Aqua, Magma, and Rocket getting other cards later on during theXY Series.
The Sun & Moon briefly returned to Team Flare. Two campaigns tied to villainous teams led to Pikachu being released for each team asSM-P Promotional cards. Team Flare is one such team, so thePretend Grunt Pikachu for 2016 included a Pikachu as a Team Flare Grunt among the other Pikachu as Grunts, andPretend Boss Pikachu was released in 2018 as part of the Team Rainbow Rocket's Ambition campaign. The latter is, understandably for a pretend boss of Team Flare, a Pikachu dressed to resemble Lysandre.
2018'sForbidden Light had aKalos theme, so there is some Team Flare representation in that set.Lysandre ♢,Lysandre Labs, andPyroar are the three cards from this set, of which there is some synergy between the trio. The Pyroar represents Lysandre's own, and gets a boost to its attack's damage from the presence of Lysandre Labs. Lysandre
is more effective when there are more Fire types in play, such as the Pyroar.
Cards themed to match Team Flare are present in laterSword & Shield sets, though they are for specific characters rather than the group as a whole, and as such there is not a loose "Team Flare matters" group of cards.Rebel Clash introducesBoss's Orders, a card which causes an opponent's Benched Pokémon to become their Active Pokémon, which is the same effect as the Lysandre card. Instead of being named after a specific character, Boss's Orders is named generically so it can represent any villainous team leader.[2] A field in the upper right corner indicates the character of the card. While the Rebel Clash version of the card isGiovanni themed,Shining Fates introduces aLysandre variant.Silver Tempest's Trainer Gallery has a printing ofMalamar withXerosic.
This listing is of cards mentioning or featuring Team Flare or their Pokémon in thePokémon Trading Card Game.
Trivia
- Many of Team Flare's targets share notable similarities withTeam Rocket's targets: a cave where a regionalFossil can be obtained (Glittering Cave andMt. Moon), aPoké Ball-producing facility where theMaster Ball can be obtained (Poké Ball Factory andSilph Co.), a Pokémonburial ground (Route 10 andPokémon Tower), the regionalPower Plant (Kalos Power Plant andKanto Power Plant), and a location where experiments involving agitating a certain Pokémon are conducted (Abomasnow inFrost Cavern andRed Gyarados at theLake of Rage).
- The names of Team Flare's scientists are possibly a reference tosolar flares, which are classified asA,B,C,M, orX according to their peak flux range. Those are the scientists' initials in each localization ofPokémon X and Y. Incidentally, the games were released duringsolar maximum, a period of high solar activity with frequent solar flares.
- According to a girl in Lysandre Café, it costs$5,000,000 to join Team Flare.
- Team Flare is the only pre-Generation VIII villainous team to not receive a3DS theme based on them.
- The artist of these themes,Hitoshi Ariga, revealed that there were plans to create a 3DS theme for Team Flare, but they fell through as a result of the series moving from the3DS to theSwitch.[3]
Names
| Language | Name | Origin |
|---|---|---|
| Japanese | フレア団Flare-dan | Fromflare (as insolar flare) and possiblyflair |
| English, German, European Spanish, French, Italian | Team Flare | From the Japanese name |
| Latin American Spanish | Equipo Flare | From the Japanese name |
| Korean | 플레어단Flare-dan | From the Japanese name |
| Chinese (Traditional) | 閃焰隊Shǎnyàn Duì /Símyihm Déui | From 閃焰shǎnyàn / símyihm (solar flare) |
| Chinese (Simplified) | 闪焰队Shǎnyàn Duì | |
| Chinese (Taiwan) | 閃焰團Shǎnyàn Tuán[n 1] | |
| Chinese (Hong Kong) | 閃焰團Símyihm Tyùhn[n 2] | |
| Finnish | Ryhmä Flare | From the Japanese and English name |
| Polish | Zespół Flara | From the Japanese and English name |
| Brazilian Portuguese | Equipe Flare | From the Japanese and English name |
| European Portuguese | Equipa Flare[n 3] Team Flare[n 4] | From the Japanese and English name |
| Russian | Команда ПламяKomanda Plamya | From пламяplamya (flame) |
| Vietnamese | Băng Ánh Lửa | Frománh lửa (light from a flame) |
Notes
- ↑Pokémon animated series[specify]
- ↑Pokémon animated series
- ↑Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon website
- ↑Pokémon animated series
