Night time has fallen in Kalos. On Route 18, also known as the Vallée Étroite Way, Tierno detects a glimmer deep in the river bank, and Shauna quickly gets Skitty to bring it out of the waters. Sure enough, it is a Mega Stone, and Shauna catches it in her hands as she gasps that the glows seem to be everywhere. Soon, Tierno spots another shimmer nearby, and sees that it is coming from underground this time. He orders Corphish to start digging, and in no time obtains yet another Mega Stone. By following the resonance glow of the Mega Stones, Shauna and Tierno have successfully found Mega Stones that lie around in the soil and the water. However, as the Sundial's effect on the Mega Ring only lasts from 8pm to 9pm, they only have an hour to work with. As it is only 10 minutes past 8, Shauna suggests they check against the ones they have with the list, and see if they are lucky enough to have those for Rute and Solsol already.

Meanwhile, at Anistar City, Y chases after Essentia on the Sundial, and rationalizes that she must be the one commanding the Hawluchas. She demands to know why she attacked the professor, and vows to put an end to every evil deed of Team Flare. Essentia hops adeptly between the crystalline spikes of the sundial, and finally leaps onto one Hawlucha who quickly glides off towards the direction of the city center. Y wastes no time in pursuit, and Trevor alerts X that Y has gone off. X notices that with the departure of the Hawlucha which Marisso was battling with, the other Hawluchas have quickly lost their team formation, which suggests that they were indeed under the direction of Essentia.

Clinging onto Hawlucha, Essentia keeps her flight low and hovers between the buildings of Anistar City. Y gives chase on Fletchy, and soon sees Essentia trying to escape by turning corners into another street. She quickly follows, but it turns out to be Essentia's trap. Standing on a rooftop, the masked trainer orders a Stone Edge from Hawlucha just as her pursuer angles in, and the super effective attack quickly knocks the Fletchinder off its flight. Y begins to plummet, but manages to send out Solsol just in time to regain altitude while retrieving Fletchy. She angrily commands a barrage of Psycho Cut from Solsol, which destroys the rooftop Essentia is standing on and causes her to lose her ground.

At that moment, the visor on Essentia's head gear scans the Pokeballs in Y's bagpack and detects Xerneas, and Essentia realizes that she is the girl who captured the legendary Pokemon. Without hesitation, the masked trainer propels herself back into the air, and lands onto Solsol right behind Y, stating that it is time for Pokeball Jack. In that split second, Y hears a voice speaking to her telepathically, warning her to run, and she quickly retrieves Solsol while calling out Croaky to help her flee the scene. The unexpected retrieval of the Absol causes Essentia to tumble, making her crash through the roof of the building below.

Back at the Sundial, the time is 25 minutes past 8. Trevor spots the sparkle and smoke from the direction of the city center, and starts to get worried. X, having defeated all the Hawluchas, decides to go assist Y and tells Trevor to stay behind with the professor. Trevor gets anxious and asks what they should do when Tierno and Shauna return, but X has already dashed off before he gets his answer.

In one of the alleys of the Anistar city center, Y sits in a corner with Croaky, and takes out the Pokeball of Xerneas, who has reverted back from its Tree Forme. Y knows that it was the one who spoke to her telepathically, and Xerxer explains that it was because it sensed a dangerous intention from Essentia, a malicious intention to control it. Y gasps in terror that such a thing is possible, and realizes that it must be what Essentia meant when she said Pokeball Jack. Y wants to know if Xerxer wants to come out of its Pokeball, but Xerneas reveals that its bioenergy hasn't recovered to a state that allows it to battle effectively yet. Taking a peek out to the main street, Y spots the Pokemon Center, but remembers Green has said that not even the Pokemon Center's healing machines could recover a Pokemon's bioenergy. That said, she decides that it is still safer to stay indoors than out on the streets, and makes her way into the Pokemon Center. Once inside, she takes a seat in the corner, and recalls Ramos saying that they shouldn't have to fear Team Flare's ambush anymore since they have Xerneas. However, now that the enemy has something like the Pokeball Jack, she is scared that Xerxer may fall into their hands instead.

Suddenly, she is approached by the Pokemon Center Nurse, who wants to know if she would like to use the healing machines. Y feels uncertain, but the Nurse convinces her by saying that the Pokemon will feel delighted to have their health recovered. Y sees the damage Fletchy has sustained from the intense battle, and rationalizes that the Nurse is right. With that, she hands her the Pokeball of Fletchy, and the Nurse inquires if there is another Pokemon she would like to heal up. Y contemplates again as she holds onto Xerxer's Pokeball, but little does she know that the real Pokemon Center Nurse is currently being tied up a muffed underneath the service desk.

A while later, Shauna and Tierno have made it to Route 19, also known as the Grande Vallée Way, and are once again checking against the Mega Stone list with the ones that they have found. Shauna is upset that they still haven't found the two they really need after acquiring so many, but Tierno soon alerts her to a light blue one. Comparing it with the image on the list, Shauna exclaims that it is the Absolite, and says they only need to locate the Pinsirite now. However, she notices that the glow from the Mega Ring is starting to grow weak, and Tierno thinks it's because there is only 5 minutes left. Fortunately, it doesn't take long before Tierno spots another shimmer, and quickly dashes towards it. However, he quickly finds himself walking into a cliff, and lets out a cry as he begins to fall. Shauna screams as she frantically grabs the big guy, but her small frame clearly couldn't support his weight, which causes both of them to slide down the cliff side. The two come to a halt near the bottom, and luckily didn't sustain much injury. Tierno wants to know where the Mega Stone is and Shauna, shaking off her dizziness, gestures ahead. Yet, when the two finally see clearly, the scene in front of their eyes startles them.

At the base of the cliff, a large group of wild Pokemon lay sprawled across the riverside, all of which are known to inhabit the area. With hollowed eyes, they lay motionless, and the scene truthfully looks no different from a dead body dump. Shauna feels herself cringe inside, and Tierno states with a shaken voice that they all bear the same appearance as Rute's battle companion Scyther, which means they are also victims of Team Flare's Ultimate Weapon scheme. Tierno waddles over to where the resonance glow originates from, and sees that it lies underneath an Aggron. He asks for Shauna's help to move Aggron's body, but Shauna refuses and breaks into tears as she turns her face away. She cries that she could not take it anymore, but Tierno urges her to stay strong, and says they couldn't give up at this point. He reminds her that Green has said these Pokemon who were stripped of their bioenergy appear this way because they still have the will to live on, and they must strive to restore Kalos to the kind of world they wish to live in. Should Team Flare's scheme come through, not only Pokemon but humans would end up with the same tragic fate. Realizing that Tierno is right, Shauna fights her tears, and together with the big guy moves Aggron aside to claim the Mega Stone beneath just as the clock strikes 9pm.

Back at the city center of Anistar, X searches the streets with his team, and Marisso soon spots a foamy blob. X kneels down to see that it is the frubbles of Croaky, and at that moment, Y shows up just around the corner to beckon at him. X wants to know if she is alright, and Y explains that she has been healing her Pokemon at the Pokemon Center. She inquires about the Hawluchas, and X pauses for a moment upon hearing the question. He replies that they have been taken care of, and Y suggests they get going in that case. However, X stops her, and reminds her of the fifth point of their 'Five People's Pact'. Y doesn't understand what he is implying, and X, without warning, gets Rute to clamps its pincers around her head.

The girl immediately bolts in shock, and wonders what X is doing. X tells her to stop pretending, and says the real Y would first apologize for going off on her own chasing the enemy. Y winces in pain from the grip, and begs X to stop, insisting that she is really his childhood companion. Yet, X wouldn't hear any of it, and gestures to Rute. As the powerful pincers clamp in, the sound of metal and glass breaking is heard, and the girl drops to her knees, her body starting to shift and blink like an old television screen.

X states that real Y would never speak to him with the words and tones she did, and the imposter soon reveals herself to be no other than Essentia, whose helmet is now partially destroyed by Rute's grip. The masked trainer is less than fazed despite her identity being busted, and wonders what X could do. She points out that his entire team has been worn out from the battle with the Hawluchas, and he doesn't even have the Mega Ring with him anymore. On top of that, she has Xerneas in her hands, which makes it impossible for X to win. However, someone voices out her disagreement, and Essentia turns around to see Shauna and the rest of the Vaniville kids, including Y, whom she knocked out earlier at the Pokemon Center.

Shauna gets Marisso to return the Mega Ring to X and deliver the newly found Pinsirite to Rute, and Y voices out her anger at Essentia for ambushing her with its shape-shifting ability. She knows that it would be useless to demand her to return Xerxer, and thus decides to settle things with a fight. With that, she sends out Solsol, who has already equipped itself with the Absolite, and activates her Mega Rings simultaneously as X does. In a flash of seven-coloured light, Solsol and Rute Mega Evolves into Mega Absol and Mega Pinsir, and Essentia thinks it is time for a Pokeball Jack…