Team Flare
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 Artwork of Team Flare Grunts from X and Y | ||||||||||||||
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Team Flare (Japanese: フレア団 Flare-dan, lit. Flare Gang) is the villainous team with their organization based in the Kalos region. Their goal is to create a "beautiful and better" world while making money and eliminating everyone who does not follow their standards.
In the core series games
Pokémon X and Y
Team Flare appears in X and Y. They are first encountered in Glittering Cave, where they attempt to steal fossils off the researcher working there, but are stopped by the player and Serena/Calem. This occurs without the researcher noticing. They next appear in a scene in Route 10, 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 Route 13, 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 Team Flare Admin 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 Route 15 and the Poké Ball Factory until the player has defeated the Laverre Gym and received the Fairy Badge. At that point Shauna tricks the Grunt guarding the Poké Ball Factory away so the player and Serena/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 the Master Ball.
In Frost Cavern, a Trainer's Mamoswine, which the player needs to traverse the snow-blocked Route 17, is upset. Upon reaching the depths of the Cavern, Team Flare, led by Mable, are antagonizing an Abomasnow. 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 XerneasX/YveltalY to activate the machine in Lysandre Labs in Lumiose City.
Lysandre Labs' secret entrance is located inside Lysandre 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 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 menhirs 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 XerneasX/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 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 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. 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 spin-off games
Pokémon Masters EX
Team Flare members serve as supporting characters in the Villain Arc.
In animation
Pokémon the Series
Pokémon the Series: XY
Lysandre debuted 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 an attack by Mega Rayquaza. In Mega Evolution Special III, thanks to the efforts of Alain, Steven, 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 Mega Houndoom. The battle eventually ended in Alain's victory.
Team Flare, as a collective entity, debuted in From A to Z!, with the Team Flare Grunts and the five Scientists all making appearances. They reappeared in Meeting at Terminus Cave!.
In A Meeting of Two Journeys!, Xerosic and two Team Flare Admins conducted a test of a prototype weapon that was being powered by Zygarde 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 Greninja. 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 Clemont 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 Core Enforcer. 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.
Though not mentioned by name, in Catching 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 and Lucario 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 in the anime. 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 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 Yveltal was being kept while sleeping in its cocoon form.
In the manga
Pokémon Adventures
Team Flare appear as the main antagonists of the X & Y arc. The four Scientists first appear seeking to steal X'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 Y's mother Grace. Using Celosia's Aegislash's mind controlling powers, the villainous team forced their prisoners to transport Xerneas, which had retreated to its tree form, from Route 8 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 Sky Trainers led by Yvette, while five other Kalos Gym Leaders and three of the Elite Four defeated their forces of grunts stationed elsewhere around Kalos.
In the TCG
Team Flare has appeared in the Trading Card Game, primarily in the XY Series. However, where the prior villainous teams of Team Rocket, Team Aqua, Team Magma, Team Galactic and Team 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 with Team Flare Grunt in XY, kicking off a pattern of Grunt cards manipulating the opponent's Energy cards. Flashfire brought in the team's leader, Lysandre, onto the card Lysandre, notably duplicating the effect of Pokémon 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's Benched Pokémon as their Active 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 are Supporter cards, Xerosic for the team's most well known admin and Lysandre'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 from Standard and Expanded. Joining the supporters were three Team Flare Gear cards, Item cards themed to Team Flare, and two Team Flare Hyper Gear cards, Pokémon Tool cards which are attached to the opponent's Pokémon-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 the XY Series.
The Sun & Moon briefly returned to Team Flare. Two campaigns tied to villainous teams led to Pikachu being released for each team as SM-P Promotional cards. Team Flare is one such team, so the Pretend Grunt Pikachu for 2016 included a Pikachu as a Team Flare Grunt among the other Pikachu as Grunts, and Pretend 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's Forbidden Light had a Kalos theme, so there is some Team Flare representation in that set. Lysandre ♢, Lysandre Labs, and Pyroar 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 later Sword & 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 introduces Boss'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 is Giovanni themed, Shining Fates introduces a Lysandre variant. Silver Tempest's Trainer Gallery has a printing of Malamar with Xerosic.
This listing is of cards mentioning or featuring Team Flare or their Pokémon in the Pokémon Trading Card Game.
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 (Route 10 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 (Abomasnow in Frost Cavern and Red Gyarados at the Lake of Rage).
- The names of Team Flare's scientists are possibly a reference to solar flares, 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 Pokémon X and Y. Incidentally, the games were released during solar 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 a 3DS 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 the 3DS to the Switch.[3]
Names
| Language | Name | Origin |
|---|---|---|
| Japanese | フレア団 Team Flare | From flare or solar flare and possibly flair |
| English, French German, Italian European Spanish |
Team Flare | Same as Japanese name |
| Korean | 플레어단 Flare-dan | Same as Japanese name |
| Chinese (Mandarin) | 閃焰隊 / 闪焰队 Shǎnyàn Duì* | From 閃焰 shǎnyàn, solar flare |
| 閃焰團 Shǎnyàn Tuán* | ||
| Chinese (Cantonese) | 閃焰隊 Símyihm Déui* | From 閃焰 símyihm, solar flare |
| 閃焰團 Símyihm Tyùhn* | ||
| Finnish | Ryhmä Flare | Same as Japanese name |
| Polish | Zespół Flara | Same as Japanese name |
| Brazilian Portuguese | Equipe Flare | Same as Japanese name |
| European Portuguese | Equipa Flare* Team Flare* |
Same as Japanese name |
| Russian | Команда Пламя Komanda Plamya | From пламя plamya, flame |
| Latin American Spanish | Equipo Flare | Same as Japanese name |
| Vietnamese | Băng Ánh Lửa | Translation of Japanese name |
References
Related articles
 Team Flare
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| Lysandre Labs • Team Flare Secret HQ • Ultimate weapon | ||||
| Boss | Notable members | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lysandre (Masters) | Malva (Masters) | Chalmers | ||
| Scientists | ||||
| Aliana | Bryony | Celosia | Mable | Xerosic |
| Other members | ||||
| Team Flare Grunts • Team Flare Admins Alain (Pokémon the Series) • Essentia (Adventures) • Lumiose Press editor-in-chief (Adventures) | ||||
