Welcome to chapter ten! This is it, you guys! The end of the trilogy! I can't belive I've been working on this for over a year. I must admit, though, as fun as it's been, I'm pretty happy to finish it. It's kind of a relief.

If you ever read chapter four of Persevere again, please ignore the fact that they went to Mahogany Town rather than Ecruteak. That was my bad. :(

For the most part, I think this is pretty good. I'm worried I didn't give the battle enough focus, and the ending might be a bit cheesy. But either way, I hope you like it. More notes at the bottom! And now, on with the finale! :)

Enjoy!

Chapter Ten

The sea of black Green had been expecting to find in the Ilex Forest was much smaller than he would've imagined, though it was certainly nothing to be overconfident about. He remained quietly high in the air on Charizard's back, scanning the ground below and formulating a plan. He was as ready as anyone to have this finally over with.

He couldn't see Giovanni, but he knew the Rocket leader was present. Something about the way a large group of grunts was congregated around one spot tipped him off, and he dutifully kept an eye trained there. He couldn't for the life of him figure out what the man was up to- did he really think he was going to be able to capture Celebi?

Green's attention shifted as he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. He fully expected it to be Red or Blue, or even one of the others, so he kept his guard down. This proved to be a mistake, however, when a furious-looking Altaria screeched and proceeded to attack. He nearly laughed- or cracked a smile, at least- at the absurdity of the cloudlike creature, but it proved difficult when he had to concentrate on avoiding the Fury Attacks.

"Charizard, Dragonbreath!" Green ordered, relying on a type advantage to finish the battle quickly. Charizard's powerful jaws opened wide and blue flames flew toward the Dragon-type. Sure enough, the Altaria seemed to take fairly heavy damage, but recovered quickly and used Dragon Pulse.

"Flamethrower, Charizard! Now!" White-hot flames erupted from the Fire-type, meeting the Dragon's attack in the middle. For a moment, there was a stalemate as the two attacks fought to gain control, but they soon exploded, creating a cloud of thick smoke.

This was the moment the Rockets on the ground chose to interfere with their battle. A flock of Flying-types ascended toward Green and Charizard, shrieking and clawing and preventing them from fighting back. Fighting to keep calm, the orange creature spewed streams of flame, singeing the wings and feet and bellies, but still the Flying-types attacked. For every one he defeated, another was quick to take its place.

A brightly-coloured beam suddenly whizzed past, effectively taking out a handful of the enemy Pokémon. Turning, Green saw that this time it was Red, along with a grinning Aero who drew in a deep breath and shot another powerful beam.

"You were supposed to wait until we got here, Green!" Red called with a grin.

Green chose to ignore him, concentrating on finishing off the dwindling supply of Flying Pokémon. There was a flash of blue off to the side, and when he turned he was greeted once again with a furious Altaria. By now, he was beginning to get irritated, and Charizard seemed to sense his mood. Opening his jaws wide, he unleashed more blue flames. Finally, the air was clear.

The victory was short-lived, however. The Rockets on the ground were furious, screaming and shouting at them and demanding they fight. Every so often an attack whizzed past in an attempt to knock them out of the sky.

"We can't go down there yet," Red whispered unnecessarily. "We don't stand a chance."

"What's taking everyone else so long?" Green grumbled, gripping Charizard's neck as he narrowly avoided a bolt of electricity. "We can't wait much longer."

As though they knew they were needed, Gold and Crys appeared suddenly on the horizon. Silver and Blue were visible not long after from the other direction. They landed quickly on the ground, acting swiftly to disarm as many Rockets as possible. Charizard swept his powerful tail into a line of grunts, sending them sailing into the nearby trees. Ataro bounced along unnoticed, snatching Poké Balls and tripping any enemies he passed.

Ruby and Sapphire arrived to give their support just as Blasty was delivering a solid Mega Punch to the jaw of a Nidoking. The Poison-type roared and steadied itself, and the two locked hands, each trying to knock the other back.

"Sorry we're late," Ruby called rather sheepishly, before jumping into the fray. Nana snarled fiercely and snapped at the heels of a Hitmonlee. The Fighting-type kicked a foot toward Nana, who expertly caught it in her jaws. With a jerk of her neck, the Hitmonlee was quickly taken care of.

Sapphire didn't hesitate either, and soon Dono was curled into a Rollout, knocked enemy Pokémon aside like bowling pins. The floor of the Ilex Forest was soon covered in Pokémon from either side, a sight that had become painfully familiar as of late. Poli and Poltaro teamed up to take out a Rapidash, while Scizor made quick work of a Shiftry. Parasee eagerly chased down a Hypno, and Sneasel slashed at a Linoone.

Gold and Crys fought nearly back to back, providing each other support. Silver kept a close eye on Blue, who in turn kept glancing at her younger brother figure. She battled not far from Green, who, like Red, kept his attention everywhere.

Few words were spoken, and most of what was said was battle commands. There were surprisingly few Rockets, Red noted, but he decided not to complain. The crowd was thinning quickly, though he figured that had as much to do with their need to win as anything else. Out of instinct, he scanned the group and did a quick headcount to make sure everyone was okay. As he turned his head, he felt his heart skip a beat.

There, at the other end of the clearing, was Giovanni himself.

All of the rage he had learned to push away built back up. His head spun with fury and repulsion, and before he even registered what was happening, he was marching toward the Rocket leader. He paused only briefly to call, "Pika!" to the nearest Pokémon he could see that was his. The small electric mouse's ears twitched and his coal-black eyes sought out his trainer.

Pika spotted Red soon enough, and bounded toward him without hesitation. He had barely taken two steps before his sharp eyes locked onto what the boy was glaring at. Pika's eyes narrowed and he ran quickly to catch up with Red.

Giovanni turned at the sound of footsteps making their way across the forest floor. His face was blank, and he wasn't surprised at all to see Red making his way over, his Pikachu close behind. The boy looked absolutely furious, but the Rocket leader made no attempt to escape. There was no point.

He watched Red near, and noticed his mouth move. He'd apparently issued Pika an order, as the small Electric-type nodded and ran ahead, cheeks crackling with electricity. Giovanni realized very quickly that he was about to be attacked directly.

Or, he would've been, had an explosion not ripped through the battlefield.

The explosion wasn't particularly big, in fact it was rather small, perhaps the result of two attacks colliding. But Giovanni was very close. A huge, thick cloud of smoke and dust rested over the Ilex Forest. Giovanni felt himself being thrown back, coming to rest several feet from where he had been. He could see Red and Pika not far away; apparently they, too, had been caught in the blast. They struggled to their feet, and Giovanni braced himself for their arrival.

And then, there was a blur of red in his vision.

"Silver?" he asked weakly, though there was no doubt it was his son. Silver kneeled next to his father, face characteristically blank.

Red was beside them now, face still contorted in hatred, and Pika's cheeks resumed their sparking.

Silver's eyes widened almost imperceptibly, and he said, "Don't. You can't kill him."

Red glanced at his younger teammate, and for a moment, neither said anything. Then Red sighed sadly. "I know," he said, fighting away a waver in his voice. "I know."

Giovanni, still on the ground, let out a pained gasp. "Silver," he said. "I'm sorry." Silver said nothing, and the Rocket leader continued. "I only wanted the best for you, Silver. You need to believe that."

"So why did you do it, then? Why did you capture the Legendaries?"

Giovanni let out a tiny sigh. "It was all part of making the world perfect for you. We were going to capture each Legendary, and use their powers to create a world specifically for you. We needed them all for it to be perfect."

Giovanni could feel himself weakening, but before he was out of time, he had one more thing to say.

"Red," he began, voice nearly at a whisper. "I must apologize to you, too. And all of your friends. No one was supposed to be killed. I know it doesn't make it right, and I know nothing will ever fix it. But just know I never had any intention of killing anyone, and I'm sorry."

Giovanni's ragged breath began to even out when he was finished. That explosion must've gotten me worse than I thought, he mused, as his eyes began to drift closed.

Moments later, Giovanni's chest stopped its pattern of rising and falling, and he was gone.

Red and Silver sat in silence for what felt like hours. The sounds of the battle raged on behind them, but there was no more use for it. It was finally over.

The field seemed to stretch for miles, a sea of fresh green grass spreading endlessly in all directions. A lone tree grew tall, shielding the area beneath it in cool shade. Right next to the tree sat a small stone grave marker, etched with a name and two dates- birth and death.

Red sat quietly before the headstone. Pika and Chuchu huddled together not far away. The air was warm, the sun was bright, and if the grave in front of him hadn't told him otherwise, Red would have believed this was a perfect day.

He felt at peace for the first time in a long time. Team Rocket was gone, their leader dead- and although Red wished it hadn't come to that, at the very least they knew he wasn't in hiding. He felt a pang of sympathy for Silver, who had lost a father he'd barely known, but in the end, Red figured, it was for the best.

He'd just finished telling Yellow about their accomplishment, and how much they all wished she could've been there. It was comforting to think that maybe, somewhere, she could hear him. He wasn't sure if he believed in all of that, but it was certainly a nice thought.

With a content sigh, he stood and brushed the dirt off of his pants. Pika and Chuchu bounded after him, and he couldn't fight the small grin that made its way to his face- it had been too long since it had been there. Of course he missed Yellow- they all did, and they always would. But he knew she wouldn't want them to be sad, so he vowed to keep her memory alive, and a smile on his face.

THE END!

I kind of like the ending, myself. I thought it was pretty sweet, but you may disagree.

I just want to say thanks to everyone who read, reviewed, added this (or me!) to alerts, or favourited. It really means a lot, and I really appreciate it, even if it didn't seem like it when I was taking a month to update.

Well, that's it, then! It's been fun, but I'm really glad to finally have this done. Hope you enjoyed it! Bye! :)