Prologue - A Cold Reception

The freezing wind cut through the girl's jacket like a dagger aimed at her heart. Dressed in simply a short, heavy overcoat over her dress and boots, the nineteen year old shivered and once again cursed herself for not carrying better protection from the cold. "What was I thinking? Oh yes, 'I'm from Sinnoh, I can handle a simple mountain'. Gah!" She took another step forward through the snow covering the ground ahead of her as far as she could see, which wasn't much in the raging blizzard. She stayed close to her Fire Type Pokémon as a half hearted effort to thwart the cold, but to no avail. The Rapidash shook her flame covered head. The cold was even worse for the Fire Type and the girl longed to put her back in her Poké Ball. However, walking in this area without light and defence was a death sentence. If one managed to avoid the hordes of bloodthirsty and powerful Pokémon that inhabited the area, one could fall off one of the many cliff edges that suddenly sprung out of the ground. No, light and defence were necessary, and the girl's Rapidash was no freshly caught foal; she had been trained for years, defeating many powerful opponents with her speed and tenacity.

The girl's head was down, to protect her from the cold as well as to watch for hazardous terrain. So she didn't see the silhouette when it slowly rose up out of the darkness. Her Rapidash did though, and snorted to catch her attention. When she looked up, she saw the dark shape of another person standing a dozen feet away. The person was standing in complete silence, not moving a muscle. As she drew closer, she called out, "Hey! You there! Who are you?"

She didn't receive a reply. She took a few steps closer and could see that it was a man. He was looking at her, but his face was partially obscured by the shadow of his battered red hat. He wore blue jeans and a black shirt with a red jacket over it. His shoes were old but serviceable. His left hand was by his side, while the other was at his waist, clutching something. He peered at his from under his hat, but she still couldn't see his eyes. "My name is Dawn. Are you…?"

As she stepped forward, if she hadn't been looking at his face, she would never have noticed it. A subtle change, barely a whisper of alteration. The side of his mouth ever so slightly curved upwards into a smirk. Before Dawn could react, she felt extremely drowsy and fell to her knees. Her eyes were already shut, and she felt rather than saw Rapidash crashing to the ground next to her. And then all she knew was blackness.

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Far away, another girl sat in her bedroom. She was alone, and the only source of light in the room was from the television. She wasn't really watching it, it was muted and she had a lot on her mind. But it had been a welcome distraction for a while; watching reruns of old League battles. She even saw an old battle of hers. But then they had shown him.

It wasn't easy to look at him, even after so long, even if it was just on television, even if it was a much younger him. They had shown him at his peak, when battling was his greatest passion and all he ever talked about. They showed his best battles, the one where he became the Champion, the one where he narrowly retained the title. The memories had been too much for her. She had put the TV on mute, not being able to bring herself to turn off his face. But the damage had been done. She couldn't watch it either. So she faced away from it, trying to find solace in organising her desk. Her desk in her room, which she hadn't entered in years. It was largely untouched, only being cleaned once a week in her absence by her mom. Her parents still didn't know she was back. She had snuck in from the roof, something she had been used to doing as a child when she was as mischievous as any Ghost Pokémon. Funny how everybody has changed since then. Him, most of all. Will he show up tomorrow? What will he be like now? I haven't heard from him in four..no..five years!

The girl sat there, lost in her thoughts, oblivious to the tears rolling down her cheeks until she fell asleep, still on her chair.

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A few blocks down the road, a young man lay on his bed. He seemed to be in a jolly mood, his arms up and behind his head, lips puckered as he whistled a random tune. He lay fully clothed, his belt with five Poké Balls attached lying on the ground next to him. A sixth Poké Ball lay next to his head on the bed. He also had his television on, but here the volume was up. The same channel was playing, showing past Pokémon battles.

The young man had not really been watching. He just wanted some outside stimulation to drown out the sound of his thoughts. His idea had so far been unsuccessful. He, too, had a lot on his mind. Tomorrow! He has to show up. I've been waiting too long for this day. He began playing with the Poké Ball lying on the bed, tossing it up, spinning it; the anticipation for the next day weighing heavily on him.

An announcement on the television caught his notice. He frowned. They had been showing that match! It had been his greatest defeat. All his friends and family knew better than to talk about that day around him. It always led to anger and words that he would later regret. But today was different. Tomorrow would bring recompense for all these years. He would finally vindicate himself.

The young man turned off the TV and changed into his pyjamas. Early sleep will bring tomorrow that much faster.

Little did he know what tomorrow would actually bring.

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When Dawn came to her senses, she felt warm, much warmer than she had in days. She could hear voices, but they were indistinct and just noise to her. She kept her eyes closed, not wanting to inform her captors that she had regained consciousness. She could feel a thick quilt covering her completely, itching her skin wherever it was exposed to contact. Not something someone accustomed to luxury would use. She couldn't feel any bindings on her arms and legs. I'm not tied up or anything. She experimentally moved her left hand, then her arm, slowly so as to not bring attention.

"Looks like your visitor is awake."

Dawn froze. How could they tell? I barely moved an inch!

She heard muffled footsteps drawing closer, and then the quilt was yanked up and away from her tired body. The light and the cold hit her simultaneously and she cried out, not sure which was more painful. The cold was not as bad as it had been before, and she saw as her eyes adjusted to the brightness, that they were indeed indoors. Well, I wouldn't call this indoors exactly. Looks like I'm in some sort of cave.

She took a look around. She was on the only bed in the cave, a twin size bed with a mattress stuffed with hay. The quilt appeared to be of some sort of Pokémon fur, though she couldn't tell which Pokémon at first glance. The man she had seen earlier was standing near the bed holding the quilt. In the light she could see him clearly. He had black hair under his hat, and she could now see his eyes quite clearly. She had developed suspicions about the man's identity when she had first seen him the night before, but now they were confirmed. No other person in the world had those eyes. Brown irises with flecks of red that were his namesake; legendary Pokémon Trainer Red.

She looked past him and saw the rest of the cave. There was a fireplace, hewn out of the cave wall. A few earthen pots and pans lay littered in the area. There was a table and two chairs, roughly carved out of wood. On the table was an old backpack with a few Poké Balls lying next to it. There was a tunnel cut into the rock near the bed. She couldn't fathom where it led to though. The strangest sight by far was the last occupant of the room. All she could see was a figure covered by a large red cloak and hood, frayed about the edges.

No point pretending any more. She got out of the bed and stretched. Her overcoat was lying on the ground nearby, and she crouched to pick it up and put it on. The chill reduced noticeably. She turned to look at her captor. Or is he my saviour? Red was still standing there looking at her; his expression had not changed the slightest. He wore a mildly curious look, like a researcher who finds something just not quite completely as per his expectation. She was not sure of how to begin, what to say to him. She had dreamt of meeting him for years! She had grown up chanting his name at the TV screen. She had faced mirrors for hours on end rehearsing her first words to him. She had braved the harshest mountain known to man on an impulse to meet her idol. And now that he was in front of her, she was speechless.

He was even more impressive in person. No camera could ever capture the intensity of that gaze. When he looked at you, it was as if his entire being was focused only on you. Even now, she felt a blush creeping onto her face, just with the thought of his eyes on her. Yes, it was safe to say that she had fallen head over heels in love with Red. But which warm blooded teenage girl was not? Every girl she knew from her hometown of Twinleaf Town in Sinnoh was crazy about the Kanto Trainer. Just like every boy she knew was drooling over Cynthia. Tall and beautiful, the Sinnoh Champion had a way about her that inflicted an inferiority complex on other women. But enough about that, I'm in front of Red!

Red dumped the blanket back on the bed. He turned away from her and walked towards the fireplace. He lifted a bowl of something and held it out to her. The hunger hit her like a charging Rampardos. She hurried over to him and started gobbling the porridge inside. He looked on amusedly.

After she was done, he took the bowl from her and placed it near the rest of the earthenware, then looked back her expectantly.

"H..h..hi, My name is Dawn. I came here looking for you." Red's expression changed to that of puzzlement.

"It's that time, Red. It's been twelve years. You have to go back." At this, his face lost all semblance of joviality. His eyes grew hard as a Steelix, red flecks glittering like droplets of blood.

"You don't know what you ask, girl. There is no place left for him except here. There is nothing left for him except his Pokémon."

She froze. That voice, it had sounded inside her head, not outside. It was the same voice that had warned Red that she was awake, but in the fear of being discovered she hadn't noticed that it had played in her mind. She turned to the mysterious figure under the cloak. It had thrown its hood back and stood regarding her with purple eyes. Its head was decidedly feline, with two short blunt horns. She couldn't see the rest of its body under the cloak.

"Who or what I am is none of your concern. Your only consideration should be of how to get back to civilisation safely."

Dawn was flustered at this response. This is not what I expected at all! But then again, she hadn't known what to expect. Red had disappeared without a trace half a decade ago. Nobody had heard from him, nobody knew his whereabouts. Mount Silver was one of the few places that had not been frequented by Trainers, one of the few places where Red could be. On a night out with her friends, the topic of Red's whereabouts had come up. The general consensus had been that he was holed up on Mount Silver. They were on vacation in Kanto, and so a drunk Dawn had gotten on her Rapidash and ridden it halfway to Mount Silver. When she woke up the next day, she decided to continue her quest to find the missing Trainer. It had taken her close to two weeks to get to where she was now; a week in the perpetual blizzard of Mount Silver. She had not prepared herself for the difficulty of the task. No food, no water, no warm protection. A couple of days, she thought, that's all it'll take. She had survived by scavenging food, stealing from Ursaring dens and fishing wherever the water wasn't frozen. The mountain was a heartless place. Her Pokémon protected her, but even they weren't immune to fatigue and injury. At the end, only Rapidash had enough strength to protect her. Even after she had faced the mountain's welcome, she had not expected this sort of response.

She went looking for a legend and found a cold reception.

But Dawn was not one to give up quickly. She hadn't become one of the top Trainers in Sinnoh by retreating when she hit a roadblock.

"None of my concern!" she exclaimed. "I've risked my life to find Red and bring him back! The least you can do is tell me why he won't come."

"It's none of your business! Now go, before I make you leave."

She stood her ground. "No, I'm not leaving till I at least get an explanation. The whole world wants to know what happened to Red. There are those who pray every night for his safe return. He has a lot of people who care for him!" I care for him! She longed to shout, scream, yell, rage at this mysterious cat figure. Angry words never helped anybody, she remembered her father's advice from her childhood days. She softened her tone, "Please. What could be so terrible that he would want to live here, in this cold desolate mountain away from his friends and family?"

The creature stiffened, before turning its back to her. Dawn saw a tube of some sort connected to its neck and travelling down into the folds of the cloak. Huh, it's definitely a Pokémon. Psychic Type from the way it talks, and powerful too, since it can talk. Wonder what it is. She felt something move behind her and turned to see Red standing there facing her. He was looking at her with those brilliant eyes, inscrutable expression on his face yet again. It must have been for only a few seconds, but to Dawn it seemed like an aeon. What gorgeous eyes he has. When he broke the connection, she felt hollow, like someone had scooped out her insides.

Red walked over to the feline and gently laid his hand on the Pokémon's shoulder. When it looked at him, he gave a sad smile and a small nod. The Pokémon sagged in defeat. It turned around and once more its telepathic voice echoed around the cavern.

"It seems that Red has consented for me to tell you why he lives here. Why he doesn't venture back into the world that raised him, adored him, and then chewed him up and spat him out like a piece of gristle. I will narrate this tale from his point of view, as he has permitted me to look directly into his mind while I recite.

Listen well, for it's likely that neither you nor the world will ever hear such a story again. A chronicle of ambition and fortune, betrayal and courage, deceit and enmity, and most importantly, love.

Go back to them when I'm done. Go back and tell them what I'm about to tell you.

The legend of Red, Pokémon Master."

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A/N - My second story! I was stuck on the other one, Red: The Journey and decided to write out this little vision running through my head. Tell me what you people think! Review