The Final Battle
is a Pokémon: The Series Fan Fic by 11JJ11.
After the death of Pikachu, Ash is left in ruins, but many of his friends have been murdered as well. When the blame falls onto Ash, and Charizard's life is in danger, Ash escapes with his Pokemon and disappears. But freedom doesn't mean safety, and three years later Ash finds himself emotionally shattered, with the true killer still on the loose. Now he must search for the true killer of his friends and avenge Pikachu's death.
There's also a side story, A Final Chance, about Alain and Mairin during the same time as The Final Battle.
This fanfic provides examples of:
- Afterlife Antechamber: Ash is allowed to temporarily enter the afterlife and talk to everyone who's died already before deciding whether to stay or go, but he can only see an endless white abyss.
- All Love Is Unrequited: According to
Word of God, Sabrina had feelings towards Ash but he never returned them and likely never would even if she didn't sacrifice her life for Mew. - And This Is for...: Ash shoots Giovanni three times: once for everyone he hurt at the league, once for everyone that gave their life for another because of him, and once for Pikachu.
- Anyone Can Die: Yes. The main premise is Ash being persecuted for the deaths of Misty, Iris, Tracey and Pikachu and that's just the start of the story. Cilan, Professor Oak and May also die at the hands of Team Rocket and even the main heroine of the story, Sabrina, has to sacrifice her life to give the heroes an edge.
- Betrayal Fic: It's more of the softer type of betrayal fic as Ash's former companions are still sympathetic and shown to have their doubts as to Ash's guilt, and Ash eventually begins to forgive them as he heals from his own trauma.
- Broken Bird: Ash, due to the deaths of Pikachu and his friends. And, later revealed, Delia, who was kept as Team Rocket's prisoner.
- Cannot Tell a Lie: N, as befits his devotion to Reshiram and status as Hero of Truth.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Delia, nee Delilah, was held as a captive of Team Rocket.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: Pikachu and Misty both die in Ash's arms.
- The Dragon: The Chief is secretly supporting Team Rocket, using his amnesiac agents as pawns in the plan.
- Driven to Suicide: Ash tries to drown himself in Sinnoh after the stress becomes too much and he would've succeeded if his Pokemon hadn't intervened.
- Et Tu, Brute?: Brock lies on the stand when he testifies against Ash.
- Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Ash isn't necessarily bad, but he does put up a tough front to hide his issues. Despite this, he still risks being caught to see Delia at a dinner at the league.
- Evil Knockoff: The Shadow Mewtwo Team Rocket creates from Mew; unlike the original Mewtwo it has no emotions or sentience.
- Evil Running Good: The International Police are secretly being manipulated by Team Rocket.
- Final Battle: Aside from the obvious Pun, this kicks off when Team Rocket attacks the League and kills all the Champions. Ash and Looker deal with their personal vendettas of Giovanni and Dean respectively, the rest of the Pokemon Trainers are dealing with the rest of Team Rocket and Tobias, Alain, N, Mew, a herd of Latis and Mewtwo deal with Shadow Mewtwo.
- Frameup: Ash is framed for the murders of Iris, Tracey, and Misty.
- Freak Out: Ash has several:
- At the formal league dinner, when Giovanni appears
- In front of Dawn when Sabrina interrupts their training
- After he sees May's Blaziken
- After Charizard attacks him
- Given Name Reveal: Looker strikes a chord when he brusquely questions Delia about Ash's whereabouts and only calls her by her birth name, Delilah.
- Heel–Face Turn: Shawn, aka Looker, used to be a loyal member of Team Rocket but betrayed them to help Delia escape.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Sabrina gives up the last of her psychic reserves to Mew so that she could battle Shadow Mewtwo.
- Identity Amnesia: Looker suffers this for the time before he joined the International Police. It turns out all the agents of the International Police suffer from this.
- I Hate Past Me: Looker is disgusted and disturbed by his past self's allegiance to Team Rocket.
- Interrupted Suicide: Twice for Ash: once at Lake Valor and once at the league. He's interrupted by Sabrina and Ivysaur, respectively.
- Interspecies Romance: Lucario and Pidgeotto have an egg together in the epilogue, despite not sharing an egg group.
- It's Personal: Looker pursues Ash because he believes he murdered his partner, Walker.
- Journey to the Center of the Mind: Sabrina uses a variant of this to show Max Ash's memories and prove his innocence. She later does the same to Looker to reveal his past memories.
- Kangaroo Court: Giovanni arranges things so that the judge and jury would all be biased against Ash, convicting him on scant evidence. In fact, at the beginning of Chapter 3, after Misty's murder, Charizard is chained like a beast for his status as a dangerous Pokémon, and Ash knows that if he loses the case, then Charizard will be sentenced to death because he was at the scene of the crime.
- Klingon Promotion: A tradition in Giovanni's family; he killed his mother to take over her gang and claim the name Team Rocket.
- Leave No Witnesses: Team Rocket's modus operandi, which leads directly to the deaths of Tracey, Walker, and Cilan.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: Looker is revealed to be Ash's father.
- Metaphorically True: N isn't technically lying when he tells Delia he hasn't seen Ash face-to-face since saving him in Sinnoh two years ago.
- Mind Rape: Two Type II examples:
- Sabrina did this to Ash while he was on the run, forcing him to relive the deaths of his friends.
- Mew did this Sabrina years ago, leading to her becoming the crazy girl she was in her anime debut.
- Muggle Power: Psychics are treated with heavy suspicion by the International Police. This is because Team Rocket doesn't want its agents learning where they came from.
- Murder by Mistake: Ash later learns that this is why Tracey was murdered; he was at Professor Oak's lab when Butch and Cassidy were looking for Ash.
- Mutual Kill: Downplayed. Charizard wins his rematch with the Blaziken in chapter 57 but the wounds he's sustained cause him to die soon after. However, it's implied that Charizard would have made it to Ash on pure Heroic Willpower alone if he hadn't decided to let him go.
- Non-Lethal K.O.: Explained in-universe: Pokemon gain strength from the bond with their trainer, but normally lack the power and desire to use lethal force. If a Pokemon is trained to use combat force, they require a very close bond with their trainer to remain sane.
- Not Helping Your Case: While staying would have spelled Charizard's death, Ash's fleeing after the verdict only increases his friends' suspicions that he was actually guilty.
- Obstructive Code of Conduct: International Police agents are not allowed to discuss their pasts.
- Power of Trust: N is one of the few people Ash trusts, due to his willingness to listen to what Ash wants and his continual support.
- Similarly, Jessie, James, and Meowth still believe in his innocence. Delia also continually believes in her son, and Word of God has confirmed that Professor Kukui also still believes in Ash's innocence due to being a father figure to him.
- Similarly, Jessie, James, and Meowth still believe in his innocence. Delia also continually believes in her son, and
- President Evil: Giovanni is the Master of the tournament.
- Safety in Indifference: Ash tries to convince N and Max (and himself) of this.
- Taking the Bullet: May takes a bullet for Max.
- Techno Wizard: Downplayed, but Ash definitely counts. During his time on the run, he taught himself electronics and built his own portable PC. He also writes new code that allows Porygon to evolve to Porygon2.
- That Man Is Dead: Ash declares to Max that the old happy-go-lucky Ash is dead and all that's left is him (who, due to all the trauma, is bitter and borderline suicidal)
- Theme Naming: All the International Police agents have code names that end in 'er': Looker, Speaker, Walker, etc.
- Undying Loyalty: All of Ash's pokemon towards him, especially Charizard.
- Would Hurt a Child: Giovanni, who doesn't hesitate to try to kill Ash and killed Delia's first baby.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Ash has a crippling fear of Blazikens after seeing one murder Misty.
- Wrongful Accusation Insurance: After the extent of Team Rocket's crimes are revealed and Shawn takes the Chief's position in the International Police, Ash is pardoned for the crimes he committed as a fugitive.
- Yandere: Serperior, and Charizard to an extent, towards Ash, as a side effect of the combat training.
