Welcome to the first chapter of Persevere! I couldn't leave you all hanging after the end of Fading Fast, so here you go! Hopefully this one'll turn out okay, but I bet a lot of people won't like the ending. But no spoilers :)

Naturally, as with all sequels, I recommend you read Fading Fast if you haven't already. Though granted, this story isn't really that complex, so I'm sure you'd be able to pick it up pretty quickly. Your choice :)

Anyway. I thought this one turned out pretty well, hope you guys like it :)

Enjoy!

Persevere

Chapter One

The screen flicked off and Giovanni turned to his son, a wide grin plastered on his face. "Things are moving along perfectly. Don't you think so, Silver?"

The red-haired boy hesitated. "Um, yes, sir."

Giovanni's grin faded and was replaced by a frown. "Why the hesitation? There's no way those kids will be able to stop us. Everything has been planned to the last detail, and everything that could go wrong has been taken into account. There will be nothing anyone can do."

Silver nodded silently, watching as his father walked across the room and picked out a folder from a filing cabinet. Giovanni stepped back toward his son and slapped the folder loudly on the table. "I've worked too long and too hard for this all to go to waste! Do you have any idea what I went through to get you back?! …Of course you don't." He stared Silver straight in the eyes, his voice lowering to a menacing growl. "I've waited years to be able to go forward with this. It's all for you, Silver. One day you'll see that."

Giovanni took a step back and pointed at the folder. "There's information in there on each of the people you were with before I found you. We've got to be prepared for them, Silver. We weren't in the past. Somehow they always manage to perform some miracle and fix everything. That ends now."

Silver flipped open the thick folder and sifted through the pages. There were colour photos of several people who appeared to be about his age, some maybe slightly older. There were detailed summaries of their teams and special skills- each of them appeared to be gifted in different aspects of Pokémon. Silver wondered why Giovanni was so determined to stop them. They all seemed like nice enough people, in his opinion.

Giovanni's face shifted again, this time to a sad smile. He seemed to sense his son's hesitation at hating these people. "They never wanted you to be happy, Silver. How could they, when they kept you away from the only family you have? All they care about is doing what they think is best, no matter who it hurts. They'll try to hunt you down and take you back, and feed you lies about being your friends so you'll go with them."

Silver noted that his father's face changed to an odd grin that gave him a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach. The man continued. "You'll probably be tempted to go with them, too. But for what? So they can oppress you and keep you from doing anything worthwhile? They've always been against you. It's time to take them out before they can destroy everything we've worked for. Will you help me, Silver?"

Silver's gaze fixed on the man's eyes as the boy mulled over all he'd just been told. If these people were really as horrible as his father made them out to be, they deserved to be taken out, right? But… His eyes travelled back to the folder, still open on the table. The smiling faces of the people who were supposedly so against him beamed at him. They didn't seem like evil people… But if they were going to try to stop his father's goal from being accomplished, they'd have to deal with the consequences. "Yes," he said finally. "Yes, I'll help you."

"Good," Giovanni said, grin widening. "I'm glad to hear it. This is for the greater good, Silver. You'll see that one day. I'll make sure of it."

Gold yawned and stretched his arms, throwing the covers off himself as he got out of bed. He'd been staying at Professor Elm's lab since he'd lost him memory (or so everyone told him; it seemed likely, though, seeing as he couldn't remember anything from before a couple of days ago). He scratched his head and placed his cap over his dark, messy hair.

Everyone had convinced him to try wearing it- they said he'd worn it before he'd lost his memory. He'd been reluctant; he wanted to discover his own personality, decide who he was for himself, but he'd finally agreed and tried it. He'd rarely been seen without it since.

He walked out into the main room, expecting to find it empty, but to his surprise a girl he'd seen often lately and her green Pokémon were straightening up around the lab. The girl spun around when she heard footsteps.

"Hi, Gold!" she greeted cheerfully, a sincere smile on her face.

"Hi, uh…" He thought for a moment, trying to put her face to a name. He'd had to learn quite a few rather quickly. "Crys?" Her smile widened and she nodded. "And Mega, right?"

"That's right!" She put some folders into a desk drawer and turned to him. "You're making a lot of progress. That's great!"

Gold nodded with an amused grin as she started gathering more papers into another folder. "Why are you here so often?" he asked bluntly. She stopped what she was doing and looked up at him.

"I'm sorry!" she exclaimed. "Am I bothering you? I didn't realize, I-"

Gold cut her off, slightly bewildered at her outburst. "Whoa, slow down! You aren't bothering me, I was just wondering why you'd want to spend so much time here with me."

Crys lowered her gaze, avoiding eye contact. When she spoke, her voice was quiet. "You're my best friend. I want to help you get better."

Gold's face softened. "Really?"

She nodded. "We've been through a lot, Gold, even if you don't remember it. I hate that this had to happen to you, and…" She shrugged. "I just want you to be the same Gold you used to be."

They stood in silence after her confession, Gold deep in thought and Crys with her gaze still trained on the ground and her arms wrapped around Mega's neck. Suddenly she said, "I'm sorry, I… I have to go." She headed for the lab doors, Mega trailing behind. "Bye, Gold."

Before she could close the door, Gold called, "Hey, Crys?"

She poked her head back in. "Yeah?"

"I'll see you tomorrow?"

She grinned. "Sure."

Silver followed Giovanni as he entered a large, open room. The walls were covered in charts and pictures, and a whiteboard at the front detailed Giovanni's plan.

Giovanni had insisted that Silver know each step of the mission from beginning to end, and had led him to the central hub where each piece was carefully laid out. "We've been gathering forces for years," Giovanni explained. "It's actually rather easy. And now, even when someone does try to go against us, sheer numbers will prevent them from getting far."

"So what exactly are you planning to do?" Silver asked timidly, taken aback by the multitude of things plastered to the walls.

Giovanni smiled widely, and Silver had a feeling he wasn't going to like what he heard. "We're going to capture all the world's rarest Pokémon so that we may summon the being of creation, Arceus."

Silver's eyes widened. "What? Why?"

Giovanni placed a hand on his son's shoulder. "You'll find out why in time, Silver. For now, we must get going. We've got Legendary Birds to capture."