That Bleeds from Silver
Arc 1 – Prologue
Mt. Silver I
Her flaming red hair may have marked her elsewhere, but in the dark it was only her size that distinguished her from the Sneasel slinking by. They hadn't attacked, but she spared no gratitude to them; she had nothing with her worth stealing save her pride, and of the two of them they were better fitting to their surroundings and circumstance. If they weren't in the habit of attacking every thing that moved in the darkness – which, as far as she knew (which was quite far), they weren't – then they had no reason to attack her.
She had no business with them either, unless one could kindly offer her an escort up to the mountain's peak. But without any means to communicate with, persuade or control them, she was better off leaving them alone. Even if their icy breaths and occasional scratch of passing claws caressed a line of Goosebumps down her cheeks, their inattention was by far preferable to the haunting screeches of the Zubat. Luckily, fear of the cold kept them away from the sloping cavern walls and the crusts of black ice which hung from the ceiling – or she assumed that's where the pitter-patter of little ice crystals came from.
She trembled slightly, warm breath feeling heavy in the cold air. How it could be so cold inside a mountain, she neither knew nor understood. She did know that her clothes were hardly appropriate for a mountain climb – but if she didn't steal the right gear from somewhere there wasn't much she could do about with. With mother long since dead and father having abandoned both his dream and her, all she had was the wealth of knowledge she had accumulated in her life, and the clothes upon her back. And they were good clothes, for her father, when he had cared, had wanted only the best for his daughter. Her gloves were made from material not even the rough cavern walls could scratch, and her toes were about the only warm part of her in the chilly and dark mountain interior.
But none of that meant anything. Even if she were clad only in a skimpy two-piece bikini, if she could make it up to the top then she could fix it all. Hopefully. Hopefully her father would come back then, when that boy who'd crushed him stepped down from his hiding place in the peak and fixed the damage he had caused. That thought kindled the embers in her heart, while it did nothing to the outwardly chill, it drove her continuously inward.
The Sneasel were oddly comforting, though she said nothing to them, and their little chittering were certainly not directed to her. They knew their way after all; all she had to do was follow the fresh chilled air over the stagnant wafts, and she would find her way to the snow. The exterior peak, where it was rumoured the Legendary Champion now lived, for whatever reason forsaking both his title and his people. No-one dared go up there, even the new leader of the Viridian Gym – stolen from her father. But they didn't have a cause, a reason like hers. And if he had a heart, he could not possibly turn her away. She, who had lost a father and a home because of him, his actions – that he had abandoned as soon as it was complete. Maybe…maybe she could have hated him less for it if he had continued to protect Kanto as was his cause, even if she believed that to be misguided.
But to turn away and hide from it – abandon it all? There were many who would not accept such a Champion, and for her it was personal. She was not a trainer, not like him, but she was a citizen of Kanto and, if nothing else, she had her agile body and her sharp voice.
And the Sneasel's shadows leading her unintentionally on, with another pair of eyes wrapped snugly in the shadows and watching her.
The cave walls sloped upwards, and she found herself climbing soon enough, rock scratching her arms and face and prodding her even through her boots and gloves. The tails of her blazer – mean to be thrown over a school uniform like it was but good for nothing save warding off the Spring chill – battered her sides with impatience, and the wind likewise assaulted her bare legs. The school skirts were good for something at least though; it didn't puff up in the wind like the uniform from the Community College did.
She made it to the second level enough, and the Sneasel suddenly scattered. Eyes watering, she wondered if it was the light that had driven them away – before realising the Sneasel were not normally found in the lower level anyway. She had forgotten her geography; part of the reason they were so hard to find and catch was because most didn't dare go through the Dark lower levels on their own – or even with a Pokemon that could light their way. That light attracted other things: Phanpy and Onix and the occasional rare and foolish Larvitar. But the stronger Pokemon were always deeper in, those Pokemon that only the best trainers could handle – though she realised that even they had to slink outside at some points. For food possibly, or egg-laying. Perhaps fortune had smiled upon her, sending the Sneasel out when she had need for a guide.
She had been prepared to wander about in the dark if they hadn't been there, for she was not foolish enough to risk a light when she had no Pokemon with which to defend herself. And, as her life had been heading before falling apart at the seams, she would have had no need for one, or a license. The Pokemon would have been brought to her, like they had been brought to Gideon before his arrest. But her father had never liked him anyway, and she, in the few times she had met him, could not bring herself to like him much either.
But she couldn't become a Scientist now that her family assets were gone and her father disgraced and disappeared. But that was less important; what mattered was actually finding her father, and his honour, and restoring them. And a man who hid himself in the mountain had no uses for the shattered pieces of that honour, she was sure. Of all she'd heard of him, he was a sentimental fool who never considered the larger consequences. Though if he had tried to fulfil his duties as a Champion he may have come to learn. And maybe then Kanto wouldn't be in the political chaos it was currently in.
The second level was filled with Sneasel with arm-loads of berries, and with other Pokemon as well, keeping to their own groups. The girl was suddenly far more conscious of her hair, as dark eyes followed her every cautious step, but the Sneasel had come to know her presence and they did not attack. They were stronger than the Phanpy, and their evolved form Donphan, as well, and kept them at bay. The Zubat screeched a little from where they hung, upset at the strange presence in the cave, but there was less of them now, in the light.
Still, she was glad when she had passed them by, even if the alternative was being knee deep in freezing water and splashing Golduck. Their blunt beaks nudged her feet and almost toppled her – and the blubber-packed Quagsire as well, though perhaps their butting was unintentional – and she was frozen and soaked by the time she clamoured onto the other bank.
And the process repeated itself again: land, water, and land again with the Pokemon much ignoring her, save for the eyes that followed her journey. Perhaps they sensed she had nothing with her: no device, no Pokemon companion. Or maybe they sensed that fire in her heart, not warming but driving her on. Or maybe it was pure luck, ensuring she would not be attacked before she reached her destination.
In all honesty, the only armour she had brought against these Pokemon were hope. If they would drive her out she was sure they would have done so at the entrance way. Then her position would be all the weaker, because she would have had to cast her own pride aside to clear the way. Because no one in Kanto would give her anything – she, the child of the disgraced Team Rocket leader. Thinking she would follow in her father's footsteps no doubt – but they understood nothing. Nothing. They abandoned her the moment her father's name was cast into dust – from a well-respected businessman to the lowest of scum. Friends – or the people she had thought of were friends – turned their backs, their noses, to her. Adults she had thought she could rely on were gone, out of her reach. The things she could have fallen back upon were swept up – by the law, by fools taking their due pay, or so they claimed. And she hadn't taken much with her to school; she never did.
But anger at those smaller things would die out – did die out – quickly; it was those larger things, the fact that she had lost her father, her secure life, that spurred her on. Mt Silver was perhaps the only place that could open its doors to her – but those doors were of little use. It wasn't Mt Silver she wanted; she could not stay locked up in a mountain like their hermit Champion. It was for him she came: the Champion who hid himself from the world he had lead on a spiral down. But taking down an organisation did not mean its leader had to vanish from the world; there simply had to be something else. And an innocent Champion who had spent the better part of his life achieving his status had no reason to back away from the world once he got it.
She had nothing but those questions, and one place to get their answers from. And so she emerged on the Mountain's peak, trembling from both the cold and fatigue, crawling over those last few steps when her feet refused to give her those final dregs of dignity, stumbling into the padded snow beside an ugly blotch of red.
Post A/N: As far as the universe for this goes, it's loosely based on the games, in particular HG/SS, though there are some elements of the original GSC in here as well. It's probably easier to just take what's in the fic as it is, rather than me rationalise all the changes…because there are a lot. If you guys need me to though, I can do it starting next chapter.
As for the gender-change of Silver…don't know why, but my muses were being incredibly stubborn about it. "Her" name will be revealed in the next chapter…except for people on the PMF who already know it.
The prologue should last for another 1-2 chapters. I'm not fond of overly long prologues/chapters – not patient enough I suppose. But this makes it easier to cover more as well, since I want to try the next chapter from Red's side of things.