I don't own Pokemon or any affiliated characters/ technology.

The ebony haired youth sat comfortably in a place any normal person would never dream of resting. Legs dangling over the edge of the jagged black cliffs, she pulled her red jacket tighter around her to protect her from the blistering snowy winds and leaned back against her Charizard, reaching up to stroke his snout affectionately. He growled out in pleasure huffing out a puff of warm smoke. They sat in perfect silence and stillness, enjoying their view of the sun disappearing over the forest down below them. As the sun disappeared, the temperature dropped several more degrees and the girl began to stand, shivering now. Stretching, she spoke to her draconic companion. "Time to head in, Cam," she mumbled in a voice husky from disuse. He hummed back in agreement, shaking his wings and standing as well.

The girl and dragon strolled up the steep slope of Mount Silver as if they were walking on the flattest of fields. They came across the occasional Pidgeot and Ursaring as they traveled but a steely glare from the charizard discouraged any unwarranted attacks.

Within half an hour the two reached the entrance to their home, a crevice obscured by icy sheets and large rocks. They slipped through it and walked into their cave. It was a decently sized place, tall and wide enough to comfortably hold twelve more Charizards of Cameron's rather overly large size, with a firepit in the middle that kept the place warm enough despite the howling winds and chilling temperatures of Mount Silver. Shelves covered with hundreds of books lined one of the walls and several trunks filled with a variety of berries, vegetables, and other kinds of foods and supplies were pressed against another. A large pile of blankets, apparently flame retardant with how close they were to the fire, served as a bed for the two.

A yellow mouse-like creature with a lightning bolt shaped tail popped up from beneath the pile of blankets. He hopped over to the girl, cooing affectionately, and nuzzled against her legs. "Hey, 'Nir," she greeted him, peeling off her jacket and hat and shaking the snow out of her hair. The dragon, hummed a hello as well before he plopped down next to the fire, allowing the snow to melt off his back and warm his scales. The youth picked up the Pikachu, set it on her shoulder, and walked over to one of the trunks pulling out several rawst berries and some dried meat before joining her other companion by the fire. The three relaxed, comfortably enjoying their small meal while watching some cartoon on the small screen of her pokegear.

At the climax of the show, wherein the main character turned into a large humanoid monster to fight the other equally large monsters eating his friends, the pokegear's screen blinked to an incoming call screen with a picture of a young woman with long blonde hair standing next to a blue dragon pokemon with a yellow star on its snout. It read, "Cynthia." Two sets of garnet eyes, one belonging to the Charizard and the other to his trainer, exchanged a look before the girl answered it.

"…Hello?"

"Red!?" cried the voice on the other end of the line. The girl, Red, and the Charizard, Cameron, pulled away from the pokegear for a moment, wincing at the volume. The Pikachu, Mjolnir, awoke from his nap, blinking at the noise.

"Cynthia? No need to shout. What's up?"

"I'm on Mount Silver! But, I can't seem to find the cave…"

"…This is why I told you to tell me when you wanted to visit. There's going to be a snowstorm tonight."

Another voice echoed from Cynthia's end. "Tell your friend this isn't the time for a lecture, Cynthia! It's freezing out here!"

"Shh!" Cynthia hissed back. Then, "Red?"

"…"

"Red? You still there?"

"…Who was that?"

"Uh, who was what, Red? You must be hearing things. There's only me and Dune here."

"Uh-huh. That didn't sound like Dune. Pokemon don't speak in words."

"…heh heh?"

"Cynthia."

"…I just wanted to introduce you to some friends. You should really make more friends, Red. Maybe it would help."

"It won't, Cynthia."

Another foreign voice, different from the first, called out coolly, "Sorry to interrupt, but, it's freezing out here. Could you two maybe wait 'til we get wherever it is we're going?"

Red sighed. She couldn't just leave them out there to freeze. "Me and Cam'll come to get you, hold on." The trainer and dragon stood and peered out of the cave and out into the rapidly deteriorating visible surface of Mount Silver. She spoke into her pokegear again. "Have Dune use flamethrower or something. Up in the air, so we can see you."

A bright pillar of red flame appeared not 300 meters away. "'Kay, I see you, we're on our way," Red said. She hung up and, not bothering to put on her coat, ventured into the snow with her charizard on her heels.

In less than two minutes, Red and Cameron found Cynthia and four other women and their Pokémon huddled in together in the midst of the snowstorm. She cleared her throat to get their attention. Speaking directly to Cynthia with a sickly sweet tone, she said, "And this is why we always ask Red if it's okay to visit before just climbing Mount Silver," She rolled her eyes. "Follow me." She turned around and led the group back to her cave.

When everyone was safely inside, Red looked back outside at the worsening blizzard and said, "Doesn't seem like the storm'll blow over for another day or two, so it looks like you guys'll have to stay here until then." She turned to look in their direction avoiding eye contact. "Is everyone alright? Pokémon as well?" The woman with the short blonde hair spoke up and Red recognized her as the second voice. "Yes. We're all fine. Thank you."

Red was starting to feel uncomfortable. The four strangers were staring at her while Cynthia was guiltily avoiding eye contact. "…Good," was all she could bring herself to say before she turned around facing her charizard. She found it easier to address the interlopers if she wasn't looking directly at them. "Well, um, you can borrow some blankets from that pile there and there should be plenty of food to go around. Hopefully." She busied herself with brushing snow off of Cameron's wings as she spoke. She sent the dragon and mouse to another cavern in the back of the cave, asking him to fetch some more food. They went and Cynthia followed them. "You can let your Pokémon out, too, I think, the cave's probably big enough…"

"Ah, thanks!" chirped a cheerful voice that sounded way too close for Red's comfort. She whirled around in surprise and came face to face with a cheerful smile of a red head wearing a blue flight suit. Red's eyes widened at this, screaming internally. Communicating with strangers wasn't really her strong suit and being in such close proximity to one made her anxious, especially without Cameron nearby. "Do you have any aspear berries? I think my swanna has a little bit of frost bite."

Red couldn't respond, she was too busy panicking. The other women noticed her silence and approached as well with faces full of concern. This, of course, didn't help to soothe the red-eyed trainer and she attempted to back away, now on the verge of hyperventilating. Too close, too close, too close!

The one dressed in light pink with long wavy, dirty blonde hair reached out, gently wrapping her manicured hands around Red's arm, halting her escape attempt. "Are you alright?" she asked.

Red, now having a panic attack, saw not Cynthia's four friends looking at her with worried expressions, but the leering faces of Team Rocket grunts grinning maliciously down at her. She promptly fainted.

So, the backstory here is that Red, from Pokemon Red, is a girl and, as this takes place a bit further in the future from the events of Pokemon Red, she's somewhere between 17-19 years old. I would assume taking down an entire criminal organization as a ten year old with only your Pokemon as support would be mentally/ emotionally damaging for a ten year old. Therefore, in this story, it left her with a crippling fear of strangers, especially in groups and crowds, and being in such situations without her pokemon or someone she trusts nearby leads to panic attacks. This is my reasoning as to why Red stays secluded on Mount Silver. This story takes place during winter and Red has sent her pokemon other than her charizard (Cameron) and pikachu (Mjolnir) to stay with Professor Oak as winter is the most dangerous season on the mountain. Cynthia challenged Red to a battle years ago which Red won and they became friends soon after, both occasionally visiting the other. Cynthia's four friends are Elesa, Skyla, Caitlin, and Shauntal, all of which visit her in gen V.