A/N: Phew. Finally finished the chapter. It's been a long ride for this fic everyone. But this is the last chapter. Enjoy.

At the summit of the tower, everyone was silent. Kagutsuchi could barely believe his eyes. Even the champions that were weak and beaten were shocked at what they saw. Deoxys, Ren's pokemon that he had long thought was gone forever, was before him right now in the hour he needed him the most.

"How is this possible?" Kagutsuchi asked. "I saw what happened at the Sinnoh League! You should have died along with Regigigas!"

"I did die." Deoxys spoke. "But I have been allowed to return for this brief moment. In order to assist my trainer."

"How?! You shouldn't have that authority!"

"I do not." Deoxys said. "I was granted it by an outside party."

"An outside party?" Kagutsuchi questioned. He widened his eyes when he realized who must have interfered. 'Yui… That girl must have revived it and hidden its program for this moment back when she stole my authority.'

"The pokemon of this world will not be subjugated by you any longer, Kagutsuchi!" Deoxys spoke. "You will pay for your crimes here and now!"

"And you're going to do that?" Kagutsuchi asked. "You ungrateful programs! I MADE you!"

"That may be the case but we will not act as your slaves." Deoxys said. "You gave the pokemon of this world free will. And that will be your downfall." The psychic type glanced back at Ren. "Now Ren! Touch your key stone!"

"My key stone?" Ren questioned. He widened his eyes, realizing what Deoxys had in mind. "Got it!" He tapped the rainbow colored stone and it began to glow along with Deoxys. "Let's do this! Deoxys! Mega evolve!"

Deoxys bathed in light as it transformed. When it reammerged, it was born anew. It had features of all three of its different forms. It had the aerodynamic features of its speed form. Its left arm was a bulky blade that seemed like it could be used for attacking and defending, while its other arm was normal. Attack, defense, and speed were in perfect harmony.

"Mega Deoxys. How interesting." Kagutsuchi chuckled. "But still futile! You will die like the rest!"

"Take him down, Deoxys!" Ren shouted.

"With pleasure!" Deoxys said as it sped at Kagutsuchi. He fired a blast at the psychic type, but Deoxys vanished in the blink of an eye. It quickly reappeared behind Kagutsuchi and raised its bladed arm.

"Psycho cut!" Ren ordered.

With a powerful swing of it arm, Deoxys struck Kagutsuchi. The attack landed and hit Kagutsuchi hard. The creator of PWO turned around and glared at the rebellious legendary.

"You worthless pile of trash. You will pay for that."

"Dragonite, thunderbolt!"

"Tyranitar, hyper beam!"

"Sceptile, dragon breath!"

"Hydreigon, dragon pulse!"

Out of nowhere, the four attacks fired off and hit Kagutsuchi while his back was turned. He let out a cry of pain.

Ren looked at his side and saw the other champions standing weakly on their feet like him. "Guys…"

"Heh, can't let you go hogging the spotlight." Akio grinned.

"Yeah. We all want to take this guy down." Kaede said.

"We're not out of this just yet." Kirito told him.

"Rebellious little insects…" Kagutsuchi growled. "I've had enough of this! Now die!"

"Not happening!" Kaitlyn said. "You're the only one dying here!"

Ren saw his Charizard get to its feet. The fire type eyed him. Both of them knew that they couldn't falter here.

"Deoxys, keep Kagutsuchi busy!" Ren called out. "We'll attack when there's an opening!"

"Understood!" Deoxys confirmed.

"You think a weakling like you can stand equal with me? Get real!" Kagutsuchi said.

"This ends now Kagutsuchi." Deoxys spoke. "With our combined power… we will end you."

Asuna stared down towards the ocean. The waters below were blocked out by the clouds around them. And that was where Megumi had fallen. One of her childhood friends, with whom she had finally begun to rebuild her friendship with, had fallen to her death.

"Megumi… Why…" Asuna sobbed. "It's not fair… We were finally friends again…"

Misaki clenched her fists. This wasn't right. Sure Izumi had done some nasty things as Laughing Coffin, but she was finally starting to redeem herself. And now this had happened? None of this was right.

It was too cruel to be real.

"I don't care if you're all enslaved to Kagutsuchi…" Misaki growled as she glared at the group of pokemon fighting them. "You'll PAY!" She quickly gave out a command. "Empoleon, ice beam!"

The water and steel type roared as it fired a blast of ice at the pokemon. Several shattered with their HP hitting zero. But their number was too large for them to be taken down so easily.

Ryota joined in on the battle. "Garchomp, dragon rush!" Upon his command, Garchomp lunged at the controlled pokemon and smashed through their formation.

"There's no end to them." Ryota said. "Aren't Ren and the others done yet?"

"If Kagutuchi is half as powerful as you described, then I think it's going to be awhile before they're done." Misaki said. If she was being honest with herself, she wasn't even sure if they could beat Kagutsuchi. But she shook those thoughts out of her head. They had to have faith that the five champions could win this fight. Cause if they couldn't… then no one would be going home.

"The longer this drags on, the more players we'll lose." Ryota said as he grit his teeth. "We can't let this continue."

Misaki glanced back to Asuna, who was still in tears. She couldn't blame her with what had happened to Izumi. She had just gotten her best friend back, only for her to be ripped away from her again in the most cruel way possible.

'We can't let anymore people die.' Misaki told herself. 'We can't let anyone go through that heartache ever again.'

Asuna wept as she fell to her knees. She clenched her fists in frustration. That image stayed frozen still in her mind. Megumi falling beneath the clouds to her death. One of the best friends she had ever had in the real world gone in an instant.

"How much suffering are we going to be told to endure?" Asuna mumbled to herself. Her entire body shook with rage. "How many more people have to die in this stupid death game?"

"Mama…?" Yui questioned.

Asuna slowly rose to her feet. She wiped the tears rolling down her cheeks and shouted out into the sky. "I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU KAGUTSUCHI! YOU HEAR ME?! YOU WILL BURN IN HELL AFTER I'M DONE WITH YOU!"

Several flying pokemon became attracted towards Asuna from her shout. They all dived down towards her and Yui by the balcony.

"Discharge." Asuna commanded in a cold tone.

Jolteon obeyed its trainer's command and unleashed a wide stream of electricity at the horde of pokemon coming at them. They were all stunned and fell.

"Yui, get behind me." Asuna told the young AI. "I won't let a single one of these pokemon get to you."

"Mama… I'm afraid." Yui said.

"Don't worry Yui." Asuna told her. "I'll protect you."

"No, not of that." Yui said with a shake of her head. "All of these pokemon… they're being controlled against their will. Their all suffering when none of them want this fight."

Asuna couldn't deny that fact. The pokemon of this world all seemed to have free will, an effort to make them seem as alive as possible. That only made this battle all the harder with the fact that their minds were being controlled by Kagutsuchi. But they had no choice but to fight. If they didn't, then there was no way they would survive.

'I want this to end.' Yui thought to herself. 'I don't want to see innocent people and pokemon get hurt.'

Suddenly, a weird sensation entered Yui's mind. She couldn't fully describe it. "Wh-What's going on?"

"MHCP-01. Codename Yui. Can you hear me?"

"Who are you?" Yui asked.

"There's no time. I need you to listen to me carefully if we are to end this nightmare. Please give me your undivided attention."

"Ok. I understand."

Asuna looked at Yui, wondering what was going on. "Yui, what are you saying? Who are you talking to?"

"You kept me alive and sealed me away for this moment. You also gave me instructions in the case that your memory was corrupted when trying to escape Kagutsuchi." the voice spoke.

"I… did that?" Yui asked.

"I'm going to give you something. Only you can access it. I need you to get to the top of the tower and give it to each of the five champions battling Kagutsuchi."

The next thing Yui knew, an odd sensation went through her whole body. It only lasted for a few seconds, but when it was over, Yui knew exactly what she had to do. What only she could do.

"You are you alright?" Asuna asked.

Yui looked at Asuna. "Mama, we need to get to the top of the tower where Papa and everyone are fighting."

"What?! But Yui, that's-"

"Please!" Yui begged. "I may have a way to defeat Kagutsuchi!"

The shockwaves from the clashing of moves on top of the tower were intense. It took almost all of the strength the five champions had not to be blown off. But they weren't the only ones struggling. Kagutsuchi was also having a hard time dealing with six mega-evolved pokemon at once. Deoxys kept him busy while the others unleashed attacks when his guard was down.

"Damn you…" Kagutsuchi growled. "You brats are really beginning to irritate me."

"That's fine with us." Akio smirked. "Cause we have some payback we've really been meaning to give you."

"You little- Augh!" Kagutsuchi let out a cry of pain when a blast from Deoxys hit his back. He turned and glared at the legendary pokemon. "When I'm done with you, you will wish you had stayed dead at the Sinnoh League."

"I do not fear you, Kagutsuchi." Deoxys spoke.

"You will."

"We may be wearing him down, but we're running on fumes ourselves." Kirito mentioned. "We need to end this fast."

"Well what do we do? We've been hitting him as hard as we can." Akio said.

"That ability of his to change types at will is troublesome." Ren noted. "If only we could work around that."

"What if we tried a united attack with different types?" Kaitlyn suggested. "You know, one strike with a type combination that gives us the best advantage?"

"That's good in theory and all, but it would have to be perfectly calculated to work right." Ren said. "I don't think any of us can do that right now in these circumstances."

The five champions stayed silent. The battle would turn against them if they couldn't end this soon. But what could they do? None of them had an answer until Kaede finally spoke up.

"... I'll do it."

The other four champions turned to Kaede as the girl looked at them with a determined expression. "If you guys can keep him busy for a few minutes, I can think out the perfect combo for us."

"You sure?" Akio asked.

"I know it's a tall order, but I need you to trust me." she told them. "I've been playing these games since I was little. I know how to strategize type advantage to the fullest. So please. Let me do this."

The others looked at each other for a moment before finally nodding in unison. "Alright Kaede, we're trusting you." Ren said.

"Thank you."

"All we gotta do is stall for time, right?" Kaitlyn said. "Then let's do this! Tyranitar, use rock slide!"

Tyranitar roared as several stones came falling down from the sky. Kagutsuchi blasted them all away with a dragon pulse attack.

"Go Charizard!" Ren ordered. "Get him!"

The rest joined in too as they fought against Kagutsuchi. Meanwhile, Kaede closed her eyes and concentrated. They had each shared their teams with each other before the battle. As such, she knew exactly what pokemon they had at their disposal. 'Dragon. Ghost. Ground. Flying. Poison. Bug. Water. Electric. Rock. Grass. Dark. Ice. Normal. Fire. Fighting. Stell. Psychic. Fairy. Eighteen types in total for the pokemon games. With the pokemon we have, what's our best combo attack? Think!' She thought relentlessly as she tried to block out the sounds of the hellish battle going on right now. She had caused so much trouble for people since being enslaved to Kagutsuchi. Now was her chance to finally make up for that. Everyone was counting on her. It was up to her and no one else to pull this off.

As he held off the trainers, Kagutsuchi noticed Kaede concentrating. "You should pay attention, little girl!" he yelled as he unleashed a thunderbolt in her direction.

"Kaede, look out!" Kaitlyn exclaimed.

As the electric attack zoomed her way, Dragonite quickly appeared to protect its trainer. But before the thunderbolt could hit either of them, Sceptile intercepted it. With its Lightning Rod ability, it absorbed the attack with no damage.

"You're not laying one hand on her." Akio said with a glare. "You should focus on us."

"Grr… Fine! If you wish to die first, then so be it!"

More time passed as the clash continued. But finally, Kaede opened her eyes in realization. "I've got it!"

The other four champions looked over at her. "Well don't keep us in suspense. What's the plan?" Ren asked.

"I'll explain as we go." Kaede said. "Just follow my instructions and be ready to send out other pokemon when needed."

"You got it." Kirito nodded.

"First we need a change in weather." Kaede explained. "We need sunny weather."

"On it." Akio said, grabbing a pokeball from his belt. "Camerupt, sunny day!"

The fire-type appeared from the pokeball. Acting right away, it changed the weather and made the sun shine brightly. Kagutsuchi took notice of the change in weather. "A weather change? Really? You think something that minor will help you?"

"Now everyone! We need to force him down onto the tower floor!" Kaitlyn said. "Use attacks that come from above!"

"That works for me! Tyranitar, rock slide!" Kaitlyn called out.

"You too Aggron!" Akio said, tossing out his pokemon.

Both pokemon roared and called forth a combined rock slide attack. Kagutsuchi couldn't deal with the massive barrage of boulders crashing onto him and was knocked down.

"Charizard, mega punch!" Ren commanded.

"Hydreigon, draco meteor!" Kirito said, adding on the pressure.

Next up was a flurry of meteorites that came raining down at Kagutsuchi. Finished up with a powerful punch from above from Charizard, he finally crashed onto the ground.

"Now everyone bind him on the ground with psychic!" Kaede instructed.

"That means you're up Umbreon!" Kaitlyn said.

"You too Metagross!" Kirito called out.

"I'll help too." Kaede added on. "Hypno!"

The three psychic types appeared and each focused their psychic attacks on Kagutsuchi. He struggled to move as his mind became attacked. "Ahhhhh!"

"It's working!" Kaitlyn noticed.

'We're not done yet.' Kaede thought silently. 'Next he'll change types.'

"You insolent pests." Kagutsuchi growled. His color changed to his dark type form. With his new typing, psychic attacks had no effect on him. "You will not defeat me."

'He's shaken. Now for the main course.' Kaede thought. "Hit him with fire!"

"Charizard, flamethrower!" Ren ordered.

"You too, Camerupt!" Akio called out.

Kagutsuchi saw the streams of fire come his way. He acted quickly and changed to water type. The blasts hit him, but the damage was minimal. "Is that all you fools can-" he stopped talking when he noticed a sudden drop of water hit him from above. He noticed it start to rain, most likely due to the Starmie that was now standing at Kaede's side. He slowly began to laugh. "Hahahaha! Are you all stupid! You changed it to rain when I became a water-type? What were you expecting me to change to a different type?"

"Nope." Kaede smirked. "You acted just as I expected."

"What?"

"Tell me, do you know the other effect of rain?" Kaede asked. "More specifically, what it does to a certain move?"

Kagutsuchi looked oddly at the girl when he suddenly felt a presence behind him. He saw multiple electric-type pokemon behind him. 'No!'

"Use thunder!" the champions shouted.

Kagutsuchi didn't have anytime to react as a massive blast of electricity came flying down from above. It hit him with such force that it knocked the five champions back, nearly blowing them off the tower. Kagutsuchi roared it pain. "AAUUUGGGGGHHH!"

When the attack was finally over, Kaitlyn sat up groaning. "Is it over?"

"I hope so." Ren said, getting to his feet as well.

The five champions weakly got up and looked over to Kagutsuchi. He was lying on the ground, motionless.

"Did we actually do it?" Akio asked.

"Ugh…" a low groan came from Kagutsuchi. The five champions widened their eyes as he managed to stand back up, though it was clear he was severely damaged.

"You're kidding…" Kaede gasped.

"That was a cute trick." Kagutsuchi said, his anger clear in his tone. "But now it's time to end this!"

"Well so much for that." Kirito said with a frown. "Any other ideas, Kaede?"

"I honestly thought that would finish him." she said.

"Great." Ren said. "Well we just have to try and finish him with what strength we have left."

"Papa! Everyone!"

All heads looked to see Yui and Asuna fly up onto the top of the tower using Asuna's Altaria. Yui hopped off the flying type and rushed to the champions.

"Yui?! Asuna?! What are you doing here?!" Kirito exclaimed.

"Papa, I have something that can help you beat Kagutsuchi!" Yui told them.

"Seriously?!" Akio gasped. "What is it?!"

"It's an item that was never implemented into PWO. It was decided to be ignored at the end and got sealed away instead." Yui explained. "I'm manifesting them now."

The young girl closed her eyes and focused. A few seconds later, each of the five champions noticed their left wrists glow. They widened their eyes as a new bracelet formed around them, similar to the champion bracelets they had on their right wrists. But these ones were a white color and different shape. Each one had a different colored crystal in them. The five champions widened their eyes when they realized what they were.

Each of them had a Z Ring.

"Z Rings?!" Kagutsuchi gasped. "But how did you access those?!"

Yui looked over to Deoxys. "I had help."

"I only did as you instructed." Deoxys told her with a nod.

"My own programs constantly trying to betray me." Kagutsuchi growled. "I will not stand for it any longer! I will kill all of you here and now!"

"Hurry everyone! You have to hit him now!" Yui exclaimed.

The five champions each looked at each other. "You remember the moves?" Ren asked with a grin.

"Dude, we're pokemon nerds. Of course we do." Akio smirked.

"I've always wanted to do this!" Kaitlyn grinned.

"Time to end this!" Kaede said. "Let's go everyone!"

Each of the champions locked the Z Crystal on their Z Rings into place. And each of them performed the pose for the movement corresponding to the type they were using.

"Gigavolt Havoc!"

"Continental Crush!"

"Bloom Doom!"

"Inferno Overdrive!"

"Devastating Drake!"

The five champions each called out their move and their mega-evolved pokemon responded in kind. A powerful combined blast came from the five pokemon.

"I WILL NOT BOW TO THE LIKES OF YOU!" Kagutsuchi roared as he fired off a hyper beam with all of the power he could muster. It clashed with the five Z Moves. The colliding blasts pushed back and forth violently.

"It's over, Kagutsuchi!" Kirito yelled.

"We are not puppets for you to control!" Kaede shouted.

"Time to make you pay!" Akio called out.

"You made lots of people suffer. Even your own son." Kaitlyn glared. "We will not let you win!"

"We're deciding our own future! And it's one where we all get to live!" Ren told him. "Now get lost!"

Kagutsuchi slowly felt himself losing the stalemate. "Impossible… I can't lose… I am the ruler of this world. I am a king! No! I AM A GOD!"

"You're a lunatic that needs a serious reality check!" Ren shouted. "Now die!"

"No… I can't…" Kagutsuchi grunted. Finally, the combined Z Moves broke through and hit him full force. "NOOOOOOOO!"

A large explosion occurred from the blast. Everyone collapsed, having no more strength left in their bodies. They looked over and saw Kagutsuchi collapse onto the ground. But this time, his body was dissolving.

"I lost… How is this possible…?" Kagutsuchi muttered. "My goal was so close. Damn you… all."

No more words came out of Kagutsuchi as his entire body fully shattered into polygons. Ren and other others saw this and each breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, after so much fighting, it was finally over.

They had won.

[A/N: Play Lugia's Song (Pokemon 2000 movie)]

Asuna walked to the edge of the roof and looked down. Her eyes widened at what she saw. "No way…"

All around the tower, the army of pokemon suddenly stopped moving. Altogether, each of them shattered into fragments. With Kagutsuchi gone, they couldn't be around either. As if to further signal their victory, the rain clouds parted and the sun began to shine through. The army of players around the tower looked at each other. They all realized what this meant. Smiles came to each of their faces as they cheered. Cheered for their victory. Cheered for staying alive through this nightmare.

The sounds of cheering reached the ears of the five champions. Each of them grinned, happy they had managed to win. "We really did it." Kaede said.

"We all did it." Ren said. "Together."

"Well I guess you guys helped out a little. I had that in the bag the whole time." Akio spoke.

"Sure you did." Kirito said.

"It's finally over." Yui said. She looked out towards the horizon. "And with that… everything can finally end."

"Yui?" Kirito said as he and the others managed to get to their feet.

"The game has been beaten with Kagutsuchi's defeat." Yui said. "As such, every player in PWO will be logged out momentarily."

"You mean… we can finally go home?" Kaitlyn said, the reality still settling in.

"Wait." Asuna said. "What about you Yui? What about this world?"

Yui stayed silent for a few moments before finally responding. "The servers will continue to run for some time. I'll be living here still with all of the pokemon of this world. But without Kagutsuchi maintaining proper maintenance and updates… this world will eventually end."

The players all widened their eyes. "End?" Kirito asked. "But that means you'll-"

"It's alright. I knew this would happen eventually." Yui said. "But I stayed quiet… because I didn't want you all to worry."

Asuna brought her hands to her mouth as tears formed in her eyes. "But… that's not fair."

"Kirito… Asuna… everyone." Yui said as she turned her head to look back at them with a smile. "Thank you for everything."

"YUI-" Kirito and Asuna exclaimed as their bodies glowed with an azure light and disappeared from the top of the tower, along with the other champions. Lights engulfed the multitude of players throughout PWO. Each and every one of them were leaving this world.

They were all going home.

-Six months later-

"I'm home mom!" Ren called out.

"Welcome home dear." his mother said. "How was school."

"Fine. Is Clair home yet?"

"Yes, she's upstairs. Getting ready for that whatever event you two were talking about."

"Got it. I'm headed to my room then. See you later."

"Be sure that you two are downstairs in time for dinner!" his mother called out as he ran upstairs.

"Got it!" Ren called back down before going to his room. His sister Clair peeked her head out of her room.

"You ready for today, bro?" she asked.

"Of course I am." Ren grinned. "I've been looking forward to this since it was announced."

"Well I'm going on first. See you when you get there." Clair said as she closed the door.

"Wait what?!" Ren exclaimed. "But we were supposed to log on at the same time! And I still need to download everything!"

"Too bad slowpoke! Or maybe I should say Slowbro?"

Ren rolled his eyes. "Very funny." Not wanting to waste anymore time, he hurried into his room and got everything set up. The download time seemed to take an eternity. But when it was finally done, he laid on his bed and fit his Amu Sphere over his head.

"Link Start!"

Colors flashed around Ren as his vision went white. But once all of the sensory checks were done, he found himself opening his eyes to a brand new world. A world that he hadn't been in since the decisive battle against Kagutsuchi. A world that he had missed so much.

He was back in Pokemon World Online.

"Took you long enough!" a shout from Clair was heard as Ren noticed her running over to him. "What took you so long?"

"Well maybe if someone hadn't left me behind to do the download process, you wouldn't have had to wait." Ren reminded her.

Clair let out an innocent whistle as she looked away. As Ren rolled his eyes he noticed another familiar face walking up to them.

"I see you two are the same as always." Misaki greeted.

"Hi Misaki!" Clair greeted. "You're here for opening day too?"

"Of course. Wouldn't miss it for the world." Misaki told them. "Also… there's a little surprise I found out from Kirito and Asuna."

Clair tilted her head. "What surprise?"

Misaki pointed over in the distance. "See for yourself."

Ren and Clair looked over to where Misaki was pointing. It took them a moment to spot Kirito and Asuna but they soon noticed the two of them. However, what surprised them was the third person with them. A small girl with long black hair. The same one that they had last seen when they left PWO. Yui.

"Yui?!" Dan gasped. "But how?!"

"Apparently, they managed to find the old PWO server data not too long after we escaped." Misaki explained. "They were able to transfer all the data over to this new version. And with some string pulling from Asuna's family, they managed to bring Yui over too."

"That's amazing." Ren said in shock. "But I'm happy for them."

"Oh yeah! Asuna also told me something else!" Misaki said. "Izumi's alive!"

"Izumi? Wait, you mean that ice type trainer that used to hate Asuna's guts?" Clair asked. "But how? I thought she died at the tower battle."

"Turns out she got saved right before she hit the water surface." Misaki explained. "A player managed to grab her midair. It was one hell of a save."

"I'm glad." Ren said. "So what about the others?"

"Well Ryota and Kaitlyn said they'll be traveling on their own together in the game so not sure when we'll see them. Akio and Kaede are doing the same." Misaki said. "As for me… I'm sticking with you Ren."

"Just don't get too lovey dovey you two." Clair said.

Ren and Misaki both chuckled at Clair's comment. Ren looked out towards the distance. "We've got a brand new region to explore."

"Lots of new Pokemon too." Misaki added. "So what are we waiting for?! Let's go!"

With that, the three players ran out, making their way into the new world. This was a whole new world to live in. A whole new world to see. But they still had to catch them all.

This was the new and improved Pokemon world Online.

A/N: Well I hoped you liked the journey through PWO readers. I thank all of you that have stuck with me this long. All of your support is what helped this story get to the end.

Until next time, everyone.