I had no idea how to approach with these last few chapters, so I hope I did alright!

Chapter 24: Fights

"I was in the Silph building because I wanted the gratification and adoration of being a hero to the city. It was all for my personal gain. Red was in the Silph building because he hated Team Rocket and knew that if no one did anything then they would take over the city and eventually the region. It caused him injuries but he continued anyway. That was for everyone else's gain and had nothing to do with his," Green said. "God, I was such a selfish child," He added on with a slight chuckle.

The first thing Red noticed when he woke up was that nothing was hurting. That was odd, he'd almost grown used to it despite it being incredibly uncomfortable and well, painful. The second thing he noticed was that he was in a very white and sterile room that smelled too clean. But he was still drowsy from just being asleep, and his mind couldn't comprehend anything so he didn't think to question. Instead he just lay there, relishing the fact that nothing hurt right now.

"Don't you ever scare me like that again, okay?" Green's voice cut through his daze. He blinked a few times, trying to clear his head and then pushed himself up into a sitting position. He looked around and found Green sitting in a chair that had been pulled up close to the bed that he was in.

'I'm sorry,' He replied slowly, unsure of what was happening. Where was he and why was he in this bed? 'Where am I?'

'The Pokecentre,' He switched to signing. 'You fainted in the Silph building. I'm guessing it's because of the burn on your leg?'

'Oh, fun,' Now it made sense what this place was and why nothing was hurting. They'd probably given him anaesthetic or something, so when that wore off joyous times would ensue. Pikachu was sitting on the end of his bed, and now that he was awake, had perked up and was smiling. He imagined that the poor creature would have been worried sick about him. 'I'm okay, Pikachu,' He mumbled, reaching over to pat it's head. As he extended him arm, he noticed that it was bandaged up to his elbow, making it appear worse than it probably was.

Green nodded. 'So, want to tell me what happened? The nurses need to know and I can't tell them anything without knowing myself,'

He paused, trying to recall what had actually occurred. It must have been a fair few hours ago now and his memory of it was a little blurry. 'I was battling a Rocket, and I think he got angry and pushed my against a boiler,' It was all coming back to him now, the seering pain, that feeling of utter helplessness. It wasn't pleasant.

"Shit," He mumbled and was cast a few disapproving stares from other patients in the room (this was the first time Red had noticed them for some reason). His cheeks flushed pink and he switched back to signing. When something was surprising, Green would revert to talking normally by instinct. This would usually make Red laugh a little because what he often said when surprised was a swear word which would get him in trouble from whoever else was there with them. 'I don't know how you do it, but you always manage to get yourself into such trouble,'

'I know,' He replied, downcasting his eyes. Usually this would have added fuel to the fire of their rivalry, but Red wasn't really up for an argument, and his mind kept drifting to Raticate. 'But this time it's justified, I was trying to help,'

'You're an...' He began, and then trailed off. His eyes showed that he was trying to grasp the right words to use. 'You're an awfully...good person,' Red smiled, that would have been hard for Green to say because he didn't like complimenting people without comparing them to him. And there was no way that Green would have been able to say that at the beginning of their travels six months ago. Had he changed over the time? He certainly sounded more mature, Red thought.

'Green, I'm sorry about Raticate,' He said quickly, almost fearing his reaction. He'd been meaning to say it as soon as he saw him next, but these particular circumstances had prevented this. It was also a complete change of subject, but he'd just remembered it and worried he'd forget if he didn't say it now.

'It's okay,' He frowned, and Red was able to tell that he was still grieving, and probably would be for quite a while now. That was to be expected though, he'd lost one of his best friends. He didn't even want to imagine how he'd cope if anything ever happened to Pikachu - or any of his pokemon for that matter. 'How did you know about that? I never told you,'

'I saw the headstone. I'm uh, really sorry for killing it,' All the pent-up guilt he'd felt and tried to ignore was now spilling out, and he couldn't stop it. He felt like an idiot for blubbering so much, but he just couldn't help it. Sometimes he wondered if his words had a mind of their own. 'Seriously, it's my fault. Pikachu used such a large Thunderbolt and I didn't mean for it to. I really didn't want to cause so much damage, I'm so sorry,'

'Red,' Green placed his hand on Red's shoulder and looked him squarely in the eyes. 'It's okay,'

He had never really experienced how intense Green's gaze could be when he was serious about something. He knew that he often stared, but he'd never been stared at like this before. It was a little unnerving. 'Is Team Rocket gone?' He asked hopefully, trying to change the topic away from something so depressing. Green took his hand off his shoulder and shook his head slowly.

'No, they're still inside the Silph building,' He remarked, pointing to the giant skyscraper visible out the window.

'Then I'm going to stop them,' He said decisively, pulling the sheets away from him and swinging his legs over the side. There was a tiny shoot of pain, but he ignored it. This was still more important than his well-being. Pikachu jumped up from it's spot on the bed and joined Red at his feet.

'No, you can't,' Green stood up, blocking his exit. 'You collapsed the first time, and it's only been a few hours since then. What makes you think you'll be okay the second time?'

He knew that Green was being reasonable and probably had his best interests at heart, but Red was stubborn, and would go and do what he thought was best. 'If I stay here for days, then the whole city might fall under Team Rocket's control. If I can do something to stop that, then I probably should. This is for everyone, not just myself,'

'Red, listen to me,' He was unmoving and stared down at his rival. 'You have a second or third degree burn on your leg, and about ten million scrapes up your arm that made you collapse from the pain. You have to rest before you do anything, otherwise when the painkillers wear off you'll hurt more than you can imagine,'

'Second or third degree?' He repeated, running his fingers softly over where the burn was. His pants were covering it, but he could feel the bandage. 'Won't I have a massive scar from that?'

'Yes, you will. It'll probably be worse if you leave now,' Green sighed, running his hands through his hair.

'I'm not staying here,' He said, waving off his comment about his injuries. Green didn't understand how bad Team Rocket were, and that they had to be gone as soon as possible. He pushed past him and stormed out the door.

"It's your own fault if you hurt yourself more!" He heard him call before he ran out the doors of the Pokecentre. The two of them never meant to fight, it just sort of happened. They were both so stubborn, and that often put them at odds. Red didn't like it, he wanted to be friends with Green like when they were children, but their pride always got in the way.

Red had remembered the steps he'd taken when he found Green last time, and just re-traced them, figuring that he wasn't very far from Giovanni now. Standing just around the corner from where his rival orignally was, Red found a frightened employee of the Silph Corporation. He was sitting at a table, shaking nervously. He looked up in fright when he heard Red's footsteps, but when he realised that he wasn't a member of Team Rocket, his face had relaxed into an expression of utter relief.

"You're the guy that's trying to save us, aren't you?" He asked. When Red nodded, a large smile appeared on his face. "We all really appreciate everything you're doing, we've been so scared about ourselves and the future of the company. So, thank you,"

'It's no problem,' He replied, and then mentally cursed himself. He'd just been in the rhythm of signing because of talking to Green, so it was an automatic response. The man just smiled again at him, seemingly not bothered by him not talking. Well, that was a nice change.

"I heard about what you did in Celadon too. It's really brave, taking on a whole organisation by yourself and winning too. It's really quite something," He had a bag by his feet, and he leant down and fished around in it, grabbing something out. It was a really shiny pokeball. "I want you to have this," He placed it in Red's hands. "There's a Lapras inside. We usually keep it here, but it will do a lot better if you take it. I think you'll train it well, as it's very intelligent and will give you rides if you ever need transportation across water,'

He unzipped his bag and placed it inside. 'Thank you,' He looked around, the only other path to get somewhere else in this room was a warp pad. He liked avoiding those as much as possible, but sometimes he had to use them. Reluctantly, he stepped onto it and found himself falling through the air in another room. He landed with a thud, and suddenly his leg began to sting. It only happened for a moment, but it made his eyes water.

"Ah, Red, we meet again," After than final warp pad, finding Giovanni had been simple. He'd landed on the right floor and had to walk for a bout a minute until the 'Boss' came into view. The President of the Silph Corporation was also there, looking frightened. His eyes widened when he entered the room, probably assuming that he was just another Rocket grunt. "The President and I were just discussing a vital business proposition, weren't we?" Giovanni glanced at the other man, urging him to play along.

"Uh, yes!" He stuttered. "We won't be a moment! You can just have a seat if you want,"

"No, he can't," Giovanni continued, smirking at Red. "He's just a kid, and he needs to learn to keep his nose out of grown-up matters. So Red, I'd like you to leave now,"

Okay, Red. Keep your cool, don't let him get to you, he's doing this on purpose.

He stepped towards him, leaning in close and lowering his voice. "I didn't think I'd run into you again," He said. "But I suppose it was inevitable. You seem to have a strong sense of justice, which is unfortunate. You have the capability to become a great leader like me, but you chose good. That's a shame, good never gets you anywhere in life. I suppose it's your mother's fault. She would have raised you to look out for others,"

Red was furious, how dare he say that about his mother? She had raised him the best she could without him having a father, and she was the nicest person he'd ever known! So he had no right to say that about her. He had to keep himself calm though, otherwise he'd not be able to talk to his pokemon when they battled, so he'd lose and everything he'd done would have been wasted.

"You're fourteen and already so strong-willed," He said, his smirk getting wider. Red couldn't help but gape now, how did he know so much? Had he had someone scouting around and finding out information about him? "You remind me a lot of what I was like when I was younger," That was the final straw for him, he was utterly disgusted that he was being compared to the leader of the organisation he detested so much. Pikachu sensed this and stepped in front of Red, ready for a battle. "And now you want to fight me? Very well,"

'Pikachu, I don't want you to battle right now,' He picked up the little mouse and placed it on his shoulder before reaching into his bag and pulling out Squirtle's pokeball. Giovanni picked up one of his pokeballs from the table and released a Nidoqueen. Red noted this as a new addition to his team, as he hadn't had it in Celadon.

"Don't battle in my office!" The President interrupted, looking around in concern for all his furniture. Now that he thought of it, Red realised that this probably wasn't the best place to fight, Squirtle would probably get water everywhere.

"This is Team Rocket's office now, so we'll battle wherever we want!" Giovanni roared, making the other man cower in fear in his chair. The volume of his voice shocked Red, making him jump slightly in his spot. There wasn't any reason for him to be yell so angry, the President hadn't done anything. If anything, Giovanni should be angry at him. But he was the boss of Team Rocket, he had to be unpleasant in one way or another. "Nidoqueen, use Body Slam!"

He watched the giant creature charge towards them. He had to wait for the right moment to strike, otherwise his strategy wouldn't work and he'd have to reconsider the whole battle. Squirtle, on the other hand, was freaking out (it didn't want to be crushed) and began to move to take a dive behind Red's legs for protection. But Red wouldn't have any of that. 'Don't move ye...' His leg buckled and he stumbled forward a moment. He gasped from the sudden pain. It was starting to come back slowly, and right now was just a dull throb. But now his plan wasn't on time and he had to try and get it back on track. 'Squirtle, go now!' He yelled, Nidoqueen was just about to jump and land on the creature. It ducked out the way and Nidoqueen just bellyflopped onto the ground instead. 'Now, while it's down, jump onto it's back and into the air and use Water Pulse,' If Squirtle did it from that angle, it would hit Nidoqueen in the face and have maximum effectiveness.

It hit Nidoqueen with full force, and it took Nidoqueen a few minutes to recover and stand up again. Squirtle was unscathed and stood facing it's opponent with a determined look on it's face. Red had never seen it attack so powerfully before, and he wondered if the rain had made it stronger or at least in a happier mood.

"Get up and use Double Kick," Giovanni commanded, scolding his pokemon missing Red's. He hadn't really noticed it before, but Giovanni's battling was pretty much what Team Rocket were preached. Exploit and use of pokemon to get what they wanted. It really disturbed Red, he didn't find it ethical. What worried him more though was how the pain in his leg was now really the only thing he could concentrate on. It was throbbing and stinging at the same time and he had to constantly jump from foot to foot so he didn't put so much weight onto it. Maybe Green was right, it probably wouldn't have been a bad idea to at least have a little rest.

'Dodge and use Water Pulse again,' He said. 'You can do it!' Squirtle began to fight back, but this time it was the one to get hurt. It was thrown across the room by the force of Nidoqueen's kick and landed with a thud near Red's feet. He bent over and helped the creature back onto it's feet. It swayed slightly, but managed to gain it's balance back after a moment.

'Pikachu, Thunder,' Persian was just about to faint, he could tell. But on the other hand, so was he. About halfway through the battle, he'd been unable to stand by himself anymore and had to lean against the wall. He was in so much pain, he had to concentrate on breathing deeply to try and take his mind off it.

Pikachu's cheeks began to spark, and suddenly a large bolt of electricity hit Persian on the other side of the room. It gasped from the sudden shock and then collapsed onto the ground, unconscious. Giovanni growled in frustration and recalled it into it's ball. "I lost again?" He snarled. "How are you so strong? We're Team Rocket, pokemon exist for us to exploit! How did you manage to take us out using our tools?" He sighed. "But we will never fall, I guarantee that," He was backing out of the room now, pointing at Red. "And I'll return, Red. This is not the last you've heard of me,"

Squirtle had been watching from the sidelines since the first battle, and suddenly it cried out in surprise. Red looked towards it and found an eerie white light beginning to glow around it's shell. A small smile made it's way onto his face, this was just like last time! Slowly the whole light took over it's body, changing into another shape. When the light began to fade away, a slightly bigger creature stood where Squirtle had been. It was Wartortle.

"Well done!" The President exclaimed, clapping his hands in delight. "Thank you for saving my company! I was so frightened we were going so be taken over by those awful Rockets!" He breathed a sigh of relief. "People said I was old-fashioned and dreaming, but I've always thought the city needed a hero, someone who would save us all in our times of peril. And now it appears we have one,"

Red couldn't take the hurting in his leg for much longer, he had to sit down. There was a chair opposite the President and he made his way over to it, hoping that it wasn't too rude to take a seat without being invited. He took it anyway, but it didn't do much justice. There was a little less stinging, but the throb was still there. He made a note to go stay in the Pokecentre for a few days after this since there was no rush anymore. He wondered if Green would still be there, but he thought it wasn't likely as he'd basically just stormed out on him before.

"But since you've given my company a future," He continued. "I'd like to give you this as a gift," He pushed a purple pokeball across the desk for Red. He eyes it curiously, he'd never seen one like this before and it was a little fascinating. "That's called the Master Ball, it's what Team Rocket were trying to steal. It catches any pokemon without fail, but it's a prototype so you should keep low when you want to use it,"

Red spotted a piece of paper on the desk and pulled it over to him. He fished a pen out his bag and began to write. 'Thank you,' He would have been a lot more excited about defeating the organisation he hated and receiving the world's best pokeball if his leg wasn't in such agony. He didn't even know how he was writing, all he could concentrate on was the burn. It was strange, he hadn't even seen his injuries yet.

"You deserve it, you've just saved the city,"

'Do you mind if I just sit here for a while? I'm a little tired after everything I just did,' He was tired, that wasn't a lie, but he just wanted to sit down because he couldn't really get back up. Well, he could, but he'd be in a whole lot of pain. He'd brave the walking when the throbbing went away a little. Red felt stupid, he should have listened to Green and waited for at least a couple of hours, anything would have made a difference to how he was feeling now.

"Go ahead," He stood up. "I have to go to a meeting on a lower floor, but you're welcome to stay here as long as you need," Red nodded, smiling in appreciation. He watched the President exit his office and then placed his head on the desk, breathing deeply over and over. It wouldn't last forever and he'd be okay eventually, he just had to keep telling himself that.