When our heroes arrive in Lumiose City, Ash and Serena look around in awe, while Clemont and Bonnie seem a little nervous. The impressive Prism Tower catches Serena’s eye, and Ash tells her about his attempt to challenge the Lumiose Gym inside it—an attempt that was quickly shut down by a robot who threw him out upon learning he didn’t have four Kalos Gym badges yet. Clemont waves this off and Bonnie tries to get them moving when someone pulls up beside them—it’s Meyer, Clemont and Bonnie’s father!
Meyer soon reveals that Clemont himself is the Lumiose City Gym Leader, much to Ash’s and Serena’s surprise! Clemont explains that the Gym was taking up too much of his time (time he’d rather spend working on his inventions), so he built a robot named Clembot to take over some of his duties. But a glitch in the programming left Clembot with a stubborn personality that sticks to the “rules” no matter what—and since Clemont doesn’t have four Gym badges either, Clembot won’t even let him inside his own Gym!
After a pep talk from Ash, Clemont is willing to try sneaking into the Gym so he can repair the malfunctioning robot. Inside, they find Clembot on the battlefield, where it finally accepts Clemont’s override code—and his battle challenge! Clemont sends out Bunnelby against his own Heliolisk, one of the Pokémon he left at the Gym to fight at Clembot’s side. The battle seems very one-sided at first, but Bunnelby proves it has a tough streak, and with some unexpected strategy, Clemont manages to defeat his own creation!
The robot finally recognizes its inventor, and Clemont starts a full reprogramming. This time, he remembers to install a few important qualities he left out in the original programming: compassion, kindness, and flexibility. Then, along with Ash and Serena, Clemont and Bonnie visit their dad to explain the whole situation at the Gym—and to tell him they want to leave the new and improved Clembot in charge so they can keep traveling with their new friends! Meyer happily declares his support for their journey, but makes Ash and Serena promise to keep his kids out of trouble.
That night, Clemont asks Ash if he’s sorry he couldn’t have a Lumiose Gym battle. Ash says he plans to honor the original four-badge requirement and return when he’s a bit further along in his Kalos journey...on one condition. When he does come back to challenge the Lumiose Gym, he wants to battle Clemont, not Clembot!
