He didn't need to speak, for the mere facets on his face told his Pokémon everything they needed to know. If the trainer, Red of name, and red of indumentary, were honest with himself, he'd admit he didn't really like to utter words, sentences, feelings. What for? His normal muteness, his ellipses that told everything while telling nothing were enough.
And yet, sometimes words could not be avoided. How many challengers had he faced, how many times had he moved his tongue, pushed his lips to acknowledge something? Even if it was just a grunt of approval, followed by a smirk that would make Green, his ever so rival proud? How many such instances were such?
Tales of a trainer in Mt Silver, that fought like no Champion or Gym Leader, were spread all throughout Johto and Kanto. Though he rarely, if ever, left the top of the mountain peaks, he knew it. After all, how else could he explain all those who stumbled upon him? Who looked him in the eyes and uttered some line or two before bringing up the challenge? Ready to win or lose by the Pokémon they carried?
If anything Red was glad for the many revives he had brought before moving there. - Not because he lost often, in fact he rarely lost more than one or two Pokémon in a full battle, but because going down the routes, with the highly leveled Pokémon, when your party was fainted was dangerous. He didn't even charge, to revive the Pokémon of the opponent. But then, he had won hundreds of battles and hadn't lost since Misty, and so he had more money than he could ever spend on his own.
Maybe if he bought a house in Mauville, sign a lease, or one of those mansions in Sinnoh - Who knew? Those all seemed like good ways to spend his money, ways that wouldn't seem too far fetched (like the bird), when it was only him and his Pokémon, sleeping bag against the rock, heated by the fire of his Charizard, or when he had only the rock ceiling as a respite from all the hail. That threatened to deafen him with the intensity at which it crashed against the ceiling. So much so that he couldn't even hear his thoughts - At those times it seemed a worthwhile endeavor, something to spend all that money on, something to get his hard earned money to go away.
But then every time another challenger appeared, someone who somehow managed to get access to Mt Silver, even though from what he knew the Professor had restricted the access to the region of Johto (or was it Kanto? He sometimes forgot basic Geography…), his discomfort, cold, or even humidity were forgotten, because this was what he lived for, battle, the thrill of the fight, the challenge of several different Pokémon facing against one another….
It didn't happen often - in fact days and nights often became mixed in what could only be described as a routine. How many were the days that had passed? Had it been years? Months? Red amused himself by facing the wild Pokémon in the area, and messing with his camp, regularly moving it from inside a cave to the top of a peak, to somewhere else. - Grunt, psychical work, but it was work all the same and it kept him busy.
But sometimes someone appeared who gave him a real challenge, someone who, even if he didn't talk, almost gave him the urge to yell out the attacks he wanted his Pokémon to use, such was the intensity of the blood pumping through his veins. - When it looked as if the silence was not enough because if he kept it up, his head would boil, and he needed release, something that could only be accomplished by the opposing Pokémon hitting one another.
Sometimes - however rare it was - That was a feeling that came with the Trainer that came to challenge him. - Something that he hadn't felt much ever since becoming Champion, since rising up to the top. Who was above him? He had given his title to Lance willingly - Not ready to spend the rest of his days waiting in a room, but ironically enough doing something similar all the same. A cave, or a heat regulated room, decorated to his liking. - One was flashier (and more comfortable) than the other, but they served practically the same purpose. Battling and training and fighting…
Red kept up with the news, he knew that Green had been made the Viridian City Gym Leader. He surely had more challengers than Red had, in his little abode from the world. People still needed his Badge if they had started in Kanto, though he heard there were people who went for the sixteen badges of the Indigo League.
However many badges those trainers had, Red was not worried. It had been a long time since he had last lost, and if he lost, all he would lose would be money. He remembered all those times with Green where losing seemed like such a big deal. One of those where he thought he'd better win, or he'd retry until he did. - Sure, part of that was that Green placed himself at the most inconvenient places, often times blocking routes, that Red needed to pass through. But another part of it, if he were being honest, was the rivalry he felt.
Green might have even beat him to the Pokémon League, all the way to the Champion place, he might have held his title above his head. - As the greatest trainer of the two regions. Well - Until Read beat him, in any case, a Pidgeot had rarely if ever been a good match against a Pikachu.
Pikachu which was always, no matter what the challenger, his opening Pokémon. So much so that he was almost certain that it was his strongest Pokémon. He had started with him, and some things just didn't change. Was it force of habit, or just stubbornness? Whatever the case it didn't seem to really matter.
Besides, if the little yellow mouse was pushed to faint, probably by a strong Ground attack, he had a Pokémon that floated above such threats - He was well, unless someone brought Rock. But hardly anyone but Hikers used rock Pokémon, those were a rarity amongst most. And while he had met one or two hikers who climbed the mountainous region of Mt Silver - The one that bordered between Kanto and Johto, the one rarely traversed. - Most of them weren't really very interested in a Pokémon Battle.
Not that that prospect worried him, after all, for those Rock Pokémon, if they were ever able to knock down a certain Flying/Fire type of his, he had Grass and Water. He was prepared for most eventualities.
Red had long since his beginning as a Pokémon Trainer, where he had to use a hastily evolved Caterpie into Butterfree, since his Pikachu did little to no damage, on the Pewter City Gym, that variety was an important thing in a Pokémon Trainer. - Even if most Trainers tended to stick to one type, which was ultimately what proved to be their downfall.
Even Green had changed some of his diversified team into one composed by mainly one type. - It was something. - Sure most Gym leaders focused on one type, but it was still a downgrade from the type of trainer that Green had once been.
Sometimes, though he never admitted it to his Pokémon, Red dreamed of going down into Viridian and rechallenging Green, see who truly was the strongest trainer after what appeared to be years (but could very well be months) of training. Because Green faced a dozen trainers a day in search of his Badge (or if not a trainer at least something similar), while Red had one or two trainer matches from time to time. And though he kept his Pokémon busy with the countless wild Pokémon who came to challenge them. - Whether due to having their territory trespassed on, whether the reason was another, Green had to be having a ton of experience earned.
Even if he lost the occasional match - Green who unlike Red never saw fit to size up their opponent, not that he could, as he was obligated to accepting any challenge that came their way. - Red still felt that urge to battle him.
Sometimes, in the dawn, or in the dusk, whenever the rare trainer appeared way down below, very very far, Red would blink, and he would swear that he could see traces of Green in whomever approached. The arrogant smile, the eyes who looked him over as if he were not a threat. Even sinking into the snow, Red could swear they were Green.
Yet they never were, and though he fought (and won, every time), he couldn't help but feel a pang of disappointment.
Author's Notes: So, yeah, I lost the use of my computer. Sometimes inspiration strikes when a computer is in reachable distance, so...yup. I know Red is in Pokémon Sun and Moon, but I will be the first to say, I miss playing as him.