"HOT!" Sapphire screamed as she ran around the forest in a panic. Blue was struggling to try to put the fire out with the water from her Blastoise. From where they were, they could see the whole internal area of the forest in the deep red flame, as the trees began to turn as black as a Banette. The trees seemed to cry out in pain right before they toppled on the scorched ground and destroyed themselves and other surrounding trees. With every toppled tree, there was a stab in the hearts of Blue and Sapphire as they continued to try to salvage as many areas as possible. They cared not for their own safety, but for the Pokémon within.

...At least Blue did.

"Sapphire! Stop running around like a crazed maniac and help! Bring out something! Hurry! We have no time to waste!" Blue yelled at the terribly frightened Sapphire. Sapphire fiddled inside he pockets, fumbling with her Pokéballs over and over again. The panic began to seep in further into her mind. Once she caught a hold of the ball , Sapphire instantly threw the Pokéball.

"Trop!" screamed the Tropius as it popped out of the Pokéball. The Tropius then bawled out in pain when the fire touched its wing. As it fell, it crushed all the trees in its vicinity. Being a tall Pokémon, it just about did twice the amount of damage that Blue's Blastoise had tried so desperately hard to salvage. The Tropius was immediately called back by Sapphire.

"...Crud. Why'd I do that!" Sapphire moaned with regret.

"We have no time for regrets, Sapphire! We have to figure out a plan that'll douse the fire!" Blue shouted desperately, but encouragingly at Sapphire. However, the recriminated Sapphire had her head hung down in shame.

"This is my fault...I shouldn't have called Chaka on to attack that thing. I'm such...a fool..." Sapphire sobbed as she ducked her head to her knees. Blue watched her with sympathy as Sapphire sobbed for what seemed like forever.

Blue's Blastoise just then tired out and fell over. The Blastoise was panting heavily while the fire continued to rage, eventually burning what little piece of the forest the Blastoise had managed to salvage. Blue took a while to take in Turtley's failure, but when she did, she lost her rag.

"Oh, that's it! I give up!" Blue whined. "This is pointless! We are going to leave now, NOW! You're there, sulking the eyes out of your sockets, not helping me at all! This mess...you created it all! You're right!" Sapphire looked up at her, as her vision began to be blurred with teardrops. Then Blue said something that got Sapphire's goat.

"You've killed the Viridian Forest! How could you!" Sapphire, with fire now in her eyes, stood up and grabbed Blue tightly.

"How dare you! Chaka was just trying to defend herself! You have the guts to tell me that I killed the Viridian Forest! If anything, your selfish actions destroyed this forest! If you had Turtley attack the thing, this never would have happened! But all you care about is the safety of yourself and your Pokémon! I commend you for your faithfulness to your Pokémon, but due to this, all of us might die here!" Sapphire shouted. Blue rebounded and grabbed Sapphire. She struggled against Blue's strength, but she was unable to move her.

"Hah! You're funny, Sapphire, you know that! I killed the Viridian Forest! Now that's comedy!" Blue shouted with an obvious sarcastic tone. Then, Blue's grip grew tighter.

"If you hadn't told me to come here in the first place, this never would have happened! YOU are the selfish one. You just had to fight that thing with FIRE, didn't you! Burn the thing down! Now, look! Your misguided actions led this forest to ruin!"

"I didn't mean it!" Sapphire screamed. "I just wanted to protect the forest from that meteor! I just wanted...I wanted...to help..." Blue calmed down and let go of the struggling Sapphire. Blue turned away from her and looked into the burning wreckage. Blue called Turtley back into the Pokéball and sighed.

"I'm sorry, Sapphire. But it's not going to work. Turtley is exhausted, and this fire is raging way out of control," Blue sympathized. Sapphire looked back.

"I...know, Blue, but I wish we could have done something about this. I just wanted to save the place from that object...that meteor."

"Yeah, I agree. Let's hurry, we don't have much time. The fire's starting to seep into this area," Blue urged. The two girls started to run for the exit, when they ran into Yellow and Red. All four of them fell down at the force of the impact.

"Whoa!" Red shouted. "Blue! Sapphire! Are you guys all right?"

"Yeah, we're fine. Were you coming to get us out of here?" Sapphire asked.

"Yeah, and don't worry about the Pokémon. They're already out of the forest, so you don't have to worry about them," Yellow confirmed. Blue sighed with relief.

"That's good. We have to get out of here soon, Turtley's exhausted," Blue said. They all got up and ran out.

"Blue, have you seen Green anywhere around here?" Red asked. Blue jumped in shock.

"What! He's in here!" Blue shouted.

"Yes, he is," Yellow said. "Originally, we were just looking for you two. But then he ran in here to look for you." Blue looked truly shocked.

"Really...so he does...care..." Blue whispered, blushing.

"There's the exit! Come on, guys!" Red shouted.

The four ran out of the forest as the timber burned more fiercely and trees began to topple as the wood turned black and crumbled. The ground became charred and there seemed that there wasn't a single area in the forest that wasn't affected. The smoke became thicker, but the group managed to get out of the forest. By the time they were all out, they were choking and coughing and were covered in black dust.

"Yellow! You're OK! Am I relieved!" Wilton shouted happily as he took his niece into his arms. Professor Oak was there as well, along with Green, who was covered with black dust in the face.

"Green? What happened? You suddenly ran out on us back at the lab!" Red shouted. Green clutched his arm and replied: "I didn't think there was much time until..." Red didn't catch the rest of the sentence. Then, with a gasp and a murmur, the townspeople and the five kids watched as the Viridian Forest went up in flames. They all bowed their heads down in despair.

"Long live..." a man whispered, "...the Viridian Forest." The last tree was engulfed by the flames.