Challenge Number/Title: #1- Rocky Horizons

Title: Chill

Date Posted: 3/10/13

Fandom: Pokemon
Rating: T
Genre: (AH, AU, Canon, RPF): AU
Content Descriptors: Hurt/Comfort, Friendship
Character Pairing: Leaf/Red

Leaf's POV

I trudge up the steep rocky path of Mt. Silver with Ella, my Glaceon, padding along behind me. The cold, all-season wind whips across my face, causing me to let out a shiver. Ella, on the other hand, just breathes it all in and releases a delighted cry.

"Dammit. I wish I was an ice-type for a day," I mutter. At least that would help me in getting up this stupid mountain.

"Glace!" Guess Ella agrees with me.

Blue Oak, my friend and rival thought I was insane for even attempting to climb the infamous mountain that killed most people who tried to attempt climbing it, but I needed to do this. It's the boy on top of Mt. Silver that's giving me the motivation to make it up there, even if it takes me week to do so. I spent weeks after weeks after my win against the Elite 4 and Blue to gather badges in Johto, defeat the Elite 4 a second time, and getting Professor Oak's approval to go to Mt. Silver. Not only that, but my pokemon and I endured endless hours of training to prepare us for a battle against him, knowing that he has pokemon that's powerful than pokemon owned by trainers I've ever met. It's why he's champion, but ever since he left Kanto to live on top of Mt. Silver for who knows what reason, Blue has taken his role as champion, alongside Will, Koga, Bruno, and Karen of the Elite 4.

It was a grueling journey, but I knew it would be worth it.

I'm doing this all for the boy who stole my heart, the boy that Blue and Professor Oak hopes can be brought down after disappearing out of society three years ago. I had to do this, because I miss Red terribly. I miss having my best friend around, and after we started our journeys three years ago, we haven't seen each other since.

Needless to say, a lot of weight is being put on my shoulders.

"Glace!" Ella pauses, pointing me to something in front of the cold mist. In front of me, I could barely see the outline of a rocky wall.

Whew! Good thing Oak gave me Rock Climb!

Reaching to my belt, I pulled out my pokeball and threw it in the air.

"Come on out, Red!" My Typhlosion, Red, comes out and lets out a cry. He shivers slightly in surprise when the cold air touches his skin, but quickly brushes it off. After all, he is a fire type.

"Hold on a minute..." I step forward and sit on top of Red's neck, my legs wrapped around his waist and my arms around his neck. I grab Ella's pokeball and, pointing it to her, say "Ella, return." A red beam of light surrounds Ella's body, where she disappears into the pokeball, keeping her safe for the rest of the journey.

Placing Ella's pokeball back onto my belt, I turn back to Red. "Use rock climb!"

With a loud cry, Red jumps up into the air and digs his claws onto the rocks of the wall. He climbs up slowly, but steadily, making sure that we don't slip down and possibly tumble down this mountain. And judging from what I could see from above the mist, it still looks to be a long way up.

Don't worry, Red. I'm coming for you.

~:~

"What do you mean you're leaving Kanto? Where are you going?"

"Leaf, go away."

"Red! Don't you dare walk away! What's going on?"

He sighs, pausing to turn around and give me a hard glare. "This isn't any of your business. If I want to leave, then I will. It's what I want, and you've got to accept it."

"But... but..."

"But what?"

"What about everyone else? Your mom? Blue? Your title as champion? And... me?"

He stays silent for a moment, but then shakes his head. "Mom will be okay. The professor is, after all, isn't far from my house. Blue... well he's Blue. He'll forget about me within a month. I'll still have my title of champion. I just won't be battling in Indigo Plateau. That'll be Blue's job. He'll be champion in the Pokemon League, but I'll still be the ultimate champion no matter what."

"But if you're not going to be in Indigo Plateau, where will you be?"

Another moment of silence falls before he answers. "Mt. Silver."

I freeze, a chill running through my body. The name of the most tallest and dangerous location of Kanto... Blue always said only the best of the best ever ventures up there. And those who weren't were never to be seen again...

He sighs. "Look... I can take care of myself. I have Pikachu-" He rubs the head of his starter pokemon, "and the rest of my team. We'll be fine. And besides, as long as I stay in Mt. Silver, I get to battle the best challengers that manage to get to me."

"But-"

"Will you stop the buts!"

I stand there with an open mouth, shocked at the fact that Red yelled at me. Red never yells at me, except when he's mad at me. And by the grimace that's on his face, he looks beyond mad.

"I'm sorry," I whisper. "I just don't want you to get hurt."

He sighs, softening his face when he notices my distressed expression. "I'm the champ. And I think this is for the best. This is the job of the Kanto champion."

"But what'll I do without you?"

He shrugs. "You're my best friend, Leaf, and you'll soar to be the greatest you can be. Travel to other regions. See more pokemon. Be a pokemon master. Wasn't that what the professor told us to do before we went on our journeys?"

All I do is nod.

"Good." He takes a step forward and lightly brushes my arm with the palm of his hand. "Be strong, and take care of yourself." He kisses my cheek and steps back.

"Red..."

"Goodbye, Leaf."

~:~

The memory of that day still haunts me, because it was the last time I ever saw Red. I haven't heard from him since he left, and besides a letter that he left his mother and all the Pokemon he left for Professor Oak to care for, it was as if he disappeared out of thin air, even though everyone knew where he was. There were stories of trainers that attempted to battle him, and out of those that went, there were only a couple that I've heard of that defeated him. Yet, even after defeat, he still remained up there.

"Ty!" I got lost in my thought for too long to realize that Red and I were already at the top, and in front of me, with his back turned to me, was the boy I've pinned my heart for three years.

The boy I was in love with.

I know what you may be thinking... why the hell did I leave this as a cliffhanger? To be honest, I would have continued and given this the ending it deserved, but this is an exercise, and maybe, if I have the time, I'll finish it. This is my second try at writing a pokemon fic (the first was a pokemon/twilight crossover that I deleted a long time ago). This isn't the best (I kinda think it sucks) ... but hey, I tried. I got inspired to do this after playing Soulsilver, and I really do love Burningleafshipping. Plus, when I saw the prompt was Rocky Horizons, the first thing I thought of was Mt. Silver. No kidding!

So, for PTB's writing challenge, I've decided to do O/S's that center on both the Twilight & Pokemon fandom. I'm used to doing Twilight O/S's, but I think it's time to start going out of my comfort zone and go for other fandoms. For Twilight, you'll expect my usual work. For Pokemon, I'll take in popular shippings (I think most of them will be in-game shipping since making stories about those are entirely up to the writer), but feel free to suggest any shippings and I'll see if I can tie them in to the prompts.

Even though this is a mix of Twilight & Pokemon O/S's, I'll keep this under the Twilight archive, just because I believe a majority of the O/S's will be Twilight anyway.

And before I forget, LighterThanWhite (my FF bestie) is beta'ing all my O/S's, so she's gonna have a lot of time in her hands... *laughs evilly*