Gilded Cage
You stand there, exhausted. Your Glaceon is battered and bruised but that doesn't matter, not right now anyway. Because you did it, you won. You should be happy, elated overjoyed but all you can think is no.
No.
NO.
Lance leads you out of the stadium, away from the professor and that radio girl, you never learnt her name. You go through the hall and he explains. That this is where champions are listed placed here for all history.
You find it terrifying. That after all you've done you are just going to be trapped once more. Trapped in a gilded cage. Suddenly you're telling Lance everything. How hard you fought to get out, to get free. You explain how you made your way out and for the first time you were free. And it felt so good; you never wanted it to end. So you stalled took extra time on you journey, savouring the freedom.
Then there was Team Rocket and suddenly it was your job to stop them. You couldn't wander along and smell the roses anymore. Oh no, you had to stop them. At this Lance looks guilty, remembering his own part in getting you involved. It doesn't matter you want to shout but you continue on regardless. And so you made your way, stopping Rockets when you came across them. You were still free but not like you were, but it was okay. You could still roam, now you just had a challenge. A goal.
When you defeated the finale gym leader - Clair – you didn't understand the feeling of dread, like you were finished, like your freedom was finished. It worried you but you ignored it, after all it had all worked out right? So you made your way along Victory Road, marvelling at your good fortune to meet a traveller from Sinnoh, more than willing to give you their temperamental Glaceon for your temperamental Vulpix, who both wormed up to their new trainers near instantly. And you entered the league.
You made use of the savings you had, well saved. Purchasing a colossal amount of revives and hyper potions in preparation for the battles ahead.
When you got past Will you should have been relived. After all this was what you had been working for. Instead the feeling of dread grew. It grew even more after you defeated Koga but sill you ignored it. By the time your Togekiss had defeated Bruno you could ignore it no longer. You had no choice however, you had to keep going. It was the rules. Once you had passed Karen you could barely walk. That feeling made it nearly imposable to continue, but you did. And then, then you had beaten him, beaten the champion. You wanted to be sick.
You don't realise you had started crying until Lance hugs you. You hold him tight, as if he was the only one stopping you from sinking into darkness.
"Please" you whisper "please, don't make me the champion; I can't be in a cage again. That's what being the champion is, a gilded cage, but a cage all the same." You're not sure how much he understood but he sits you on the floor, his cape wrapped around your shoulders. He moves away, rifling through a draw of paper. He finds what he was looking for, smiling as he brings it over.
"Sine this, please" and he holds the paper out to you. You eye it suspiciously.
"What is it?" your voice is a horse whisper.
"Papers saying you ask me to do your duties as champion, so you don't have to." Eyes wide you sign quickly. Thanking him all the while. You leave out the back, making your way to Kanto. You would come back, but not for a long while.
A year passed and you roamed Kanto. There were new gym leaders to battle and new pokemon to capture. As you wandered the stories of you faded until you were only talked about on slow news days or when someone had one too many. A wild story of a vanishing champion.
When you met Blue you heard about him, Red, the trainer atop Mt Silver. Blue and a girl Yellow had asked you to find him, try to convince him to come down. You had agreed, partly for the challenge, partly because you were so bored. And so you made your way through Kanto to Mt Silver. Entering Joto for the first time since you ran.
You scaled the Mountain carefully, not because of the dread but because you didn't know how this strange trainer would react to your presence after so long alone. So you went slow, weary of wild Pokémon and avalanches. Your Typhlosion walked beside you, more for warmth than anything else.
You find your way to what you assume is his camp, and sure enough he is standing on a make shift battle field watching you.
"Are you Red?" you call, the dread momentarily relieved. "I have been asked by Blue and Yellow to talk to you." He walks toward you and you can see the puzzled expression on his face.
"Why did they send you to talk to me?" he asks but you know he knows the answer.
"They want you to come down, to talk to them, to tell them your okay." There is a flash of annoyance that gives way to affection.
"Of course." You smile a bit. The silence stretches out.
"I want to make a deal." You look at him in shock as he continues, as you had honestly expected him to refuse outright. "We battle, If you win I go down the mountain and spend time with Blue and Yellow. If I win however you must tell Blue and Yellow that I am no longer on top of this mountain."
"Deal" you say with a smile and you both take you place on the battle field. He doesn't speak as he sends out his first pokemon, Pikachu.
"Typhlosen" you announce and the battle begins.
You battled for hours, matching you pokemon against his. It was the first time since battling the champion that you felt a challenge. You loved it. The boredom and dread was lifted and you felt alive. But you were stronger than when you first battled the champion. Slowly you take the lead even as the cold numbs your hands. When at last his final pokemon swayed and fainted you collapse against the snow exhausted.
Red watches you. Then he smiles. Walking toward you he seems to shed the weight as he walks. He holds out his hand and you allow yourself to be pulled up. You stumble slightly; you don't remember feeling this week before, not since the league.
"Come, I can heal your pokemon and we can go back down the mouton." He guides you to his tent and all you want to do is sleep. Sleep and forget the promise you made to Blue and Yellow. Forget you ever came up this stupid mountain. Before either of you notice you have curled up on his sleeping bag and drifted off.
You awake what must be hours later, much of the contents of the tent has been packed and Red is whistling as he reads. You rub away the sleep from your eyes as he glances up at you.
"Evening." He smiles and you push through sleep brain to answer him. You came up with something very insightful.
"Nuga" like that. He smiles an almost smile, just a twitch of the lips, and puts his book in a bag.
"Come on, we need to be packed before the wind stets in." You found it amazing how fast he had warmed to you. And you packed up the camp on top of the mountain. Pretending not to notice Red take one last look out at the summit, pretended not to notice the sliver of regret in his eyes.
The way down was faster than the way up, Red showing you secret shortcuts he had discovered, or in some cases, made himself. You both arrived at the bottom of the mountain by nightfall although you didn't know when it was you actually left.
You noticed the twin tents just after he did. The two figures in front of them noticed you right before him and seemed shocked. You found the lack of faith in your abilities insulting. You conveniently forgot that you never told them you were the missing champion. As you watched Yellow gleefully hug Red, squeezing him for all he was worth. You slipped out in the commotion thinking yourself unnoticed.
"Where are you going?" by mere chance Red had glanced up in time to see you leave.
"Cages" you call back, unsure if they will understand. A smirk crosses your face as you shout back at them, "And tell Lance the champion says thanks." The shocked silence doesn't fade until you are through the entrance to Mt. Silver and out of sight.