The constant snowing on Mt. Silver was fearsome. It's hard to imagine anyone training in such extreme climate. Except him. Stepping out of the cave with Chikorita following closely behind, Lyra finally arrived at the topmost of the mountain, but was unsure exactly why she came back in the first place. It was only days ago when she first visited this hellish place and found herself completely defeated in battle by a stranger. He was overpowering, the way he fought was flawless and graceful, his tactics error free. Lyra loathed him in a way at first, for crushing her Pokémon. But despise turned into acceptance, acceptance into curiosity, and curiosity into anticipation. Undeniably, she admired him in a way, but doubtful if she actually wanted to meet him or be him.
Climbing on the last steps to highest ground, Lyra didn't see what she hoped. He was not there. What!? No way, I walked the entire way up here to see- "A-choo!" Chikorita sneezes. Lyra swiftly picks up Chikorita from the snowy path into her arms, trying her best to keeping it warm. Despite being a bit let down, she did not want to bear the risk of her Pokémon catching a cold. "Alright… let's go Chikorita."
With the blizzard growing to be more fierce, it was hard to even walk through the snow. Lyra kept her pace slow, head down, hand on her hat to fight off the horrid weather. Thump. Bumping hard into something, she almost loses her balance, and falls backwards… but she didn't. One hand catching onto her wrist, another around her waist, someone caught her. Him.
He made sure she was steady on her feet again before releasing her. Recognizing who she was, he looked confused.
"….You…?"
"Umm… thanks! …It's you again." Lyra murmured while she recovers from the shock of almost falling and seeing…him. He on the other hand didn't look too thrilled.
"… Did you come to challenge me again?"
"Oh!...N-no… I was just…"
"….."
"….."
He raises one eyebrow, with a questionable look on his face and asks.
"… You didn't come to look for me, did you?"
"Of course not! I-I just happened to be around here."
"…Uh. I see. I didn't think so."
Lyra's face was blushing at the straightforwardness of his question. She didn't understand why, why she was tripping over her words. "…I'm Lyra." She manages to spit out.
Waiting for his reply, she took the courage to look directly into his face; Even with only short sleeves on, the trainer didn't look cold. His perfect skin was porcelain white, his hair neatly tucked under his hat and he had a expressionless look, gazing right back at her. "Nice to meet you… I'm red." Red flashes a light smile at her.
"Um…T-the weather's pretty hectic eh…" Lyra relies, looking away, hiding her shy face.
"….. Why are you stuttering?"
"It's cold!"
"Is it?" Red lightly places the back of his hand on her cheeks. "…Your cheeks are awfully red… and hot though. Are you okay?" Lyra didn't answer, only blushing more. He looks away, hiding his slight smirk and said, "You should get your Chikorita to the Pokecenter… I'm here every day except Tuesdays…Remember." With that, Lyra replied with a quick nod and began taking her leave.
It was a blossom of a new friendship, or was it more?