Still don't own Pokémon.
She stumbles out of the cavern into a fresh patch of snow, so excited that she trips and nearly falls face-first into it. The Nidoking trailing behind her scrambles to wrap its arms around her. It catches its trainer and holds her until she regains footing.
"Ha. Yeah." She pats the Pokémon affectionately, if awkwardly, and it growls in content. "Thanks." Alice looks out ahead to see the mountain extend off into the horizon, a jagged edge blanketed in snow. "So this is the summit? Yeah?" She looks up at her Nidoking, who shrugs. Carefully, she begins to walk towards the end, as far as the summit extends. The snow crunches under her boots, but she soon finds it drowned out by the footfalls of her significantly larger and heavier Pokémon. Oh right. Probably should have thought of that. She turns around to face Nidoking. As it meets her gaze, it flinches, drawing its claws towards itself innocently. Timid as always. Chuckling, she pulls out his poké ball.
"Sorry, bud. Don't think it's particularly safe for the two of us if you keep going." Nidoking drops its arms to its side, disappointed, but in agreement with its trainer's judgment. Alice opens up the poké ball, and Nidoking's form recedes into the capsule. Tucking the ball into her bag, she turns once more to the end of the mountain and resumes walking. Once she reaches the edge, she looks out above and around. All right… Can't spot any more of the mountain that I can get to…This is as far as I can go. Alice shoves her hands into her coat pockets, buries her face deeper in her scarf, and looks below, observing the lower levels of the mountain.
"Now what?" She wonders aloud, soon accompanied by a deep sigh. The snow floats down as she stands there, looking up at the sky. "Legends, eh?" Sighing again, she sits cross legged on the snow, studying the frozen ground she's seated on. After a few moments, she lies back and lets the snow fall on her face, staring up at the white sky as her friend's words echo in her mind.
"Legends, Alice. Legends. You're going up Mt. Silver for a load of gossip!? People have died going up there. Is this really worth it?"
Alice remembers making it a point to record any sign of human life as she made her ascent, and all that currently consisted of was the occasional ace trainer or miner. No signs of any sort of permanent residence. Back to square one, I guess… Fall Series Registration begins about a week after Summer Series… She closes her eyes. And suddenly, there's a pressure on her gloved fingers, pressing sharply into them-
"Shit!" Alice yelps. The pressure leaves her fingers instantly as she springs up.
"What the-" She turns in the direction of the gruff voice and she sees a man standing over her, an old Kanto League cap atop his head shadowing his creased brow, a short-sleeved red jacket over a black shirt, and light-brown pants. He raises his hand at her as if to push her away even though she isn't making any move to get closer, closing his eyes momentarily and inhaling sharply. "All right, two questions. First. Who are you?"
"…That's it? You know, most people would apologize after they stepped on someone's hand, but hey, whatever, right?" Alice says mockingly as she picks herself up off the snow. "I'm Alice." She waves her hands in front of her, hoping to appear harmless, but all she receives is a continued glare from the man.
"And…? Keep going."
"What, you're not going to tell me your name? I guess I'll just call you Grumpy, then." His scowl deepens, and it scares her more then she wants to admit. "Fine, fine! I'm a Pokémon Trainer." She squeaks. Why is he so unnerving? There's a slight rattling in her bag, and when she checks it, she finds that her Pokémon are trembling. Is this guy…? He stops scowling at her, but he doesn't appear satisfied- pensive, if anything.
"What are you doing up here? Sure, trainers come to Mt. Silver to get tougher, but few people bother with the summit." He crosses his arms and watches her skeptically. Suddenly, Alice is aware that she's unsure what to do with her hands, so she starts absently brushing the snow off her pants.
"Legends… Yeah. I heard a super strong trainer lives up here and I wanted to find him." She explains nervously.
"You came up here to challenge him?" He suggests, and there's a faint, amused smile on his face.
"…No, actually." The smile leaves his face, and now his eyebrows are raised in curiosity. "I, er… Look, it's a long story. I don't even know if he's here. I should probably just go home."
"…Probably." He agrees. She stares regretfully off towards the edge of the summit, then turns.
"Goodbye, I guess." Alice mumbles, and begins trudging back towards the cavern she used to get to the summit. But then she stops, and looking back at the man, calls, "Didn't catch your name."
At this point, his back is to her. There's a bit of a pause. His hands are in his pockets, and he appears to be watching the snow swirl about the mountaintop, a solitary figure amidst the wind and the white. "Once upon a time," he calls back, "They called me Red."
Red hands her a steaming mug. She's nearly bouncing in her seat as she takes the handle, eyes wide and grinning with excitement and awe.
"So you've been up here this entire time?"
"Not exactly. True, I've set up a home here and everything, but I've also traveled around a bit. Just a few days ago I got back from Kalos."
"Nice, nice. So what do you do up here? Meditate? Train? What do you eat? And where do you get this chocolate? I've never tasted anything like it-" Red peers at her uncomfortably over his own mug as he sips from it.
"Tell me again why you're here?" On their way to his house, she'd told him, but he wouldn't tell her he wasn't listening at the time. But she didn't think anything of it, because she sits up in her chair at the request.
"Right. Yeah. I'm a Pokémon Trainer. But you knew that- sorry, er…" She stops, unsure of how to start, then perks up again. "I want to become champion." Red's shoulders droop in an unspoken "Oh great". Alice nods, brushing off his reaction. "Typical, I know. But I've entered the League Series three times and all three times I've gotten knocked out. So… I was hoping that I'd come up here and you'd help me."
"…Help you how?" Red inquires before sipping from his mug again. Alice slouches, thinking of what to say. "Probably should have thought of that before you came up here." He adds.
"Like… Say you help me train my Pokémon… Or maybe give me some pointers?" She suggests nervously. Then, she realizes something, because the excitement returns. "Teach me to be a better Pokémon Trainer."
"That's not something that can be taught." Red states bluntly. "You don't be a better Pokémon Trainer by holing yourself up with one person and drilling your partners until they drop. Sure, that might work for a bit, but it'll only get you so far."
"Are you saying you can't help me?" Red sets his mug down forcefully, and she flinches.
"That remains to be seen." He pauses, crossing his arms. Alice waits. It's another brief silence, but it's too long for Alice's taste, and she opens her mouth to speak- then Red crosses to the door and picks his jacket from the coat rack next to it. "Follow me." He opens the door and leaves.
Alice springs from her seat and jogs after him, but stops in confusion when she sees him standing right outside the house, ankle-deep in snow.
"All right," Red gestures at the open, snow-covered area in front of him. "Show me your team." Nervously, Alice pulls six poke balls from her bag, and opens each one. In front of her and Red, a Blastoise, a Clefable, a Nidoking, a Wobuffet, a Scizor, and a Magneton materialize. Clefable immediately wraps its arms about itself, glaring angrily at Alice for releasing it into such undesirable weather, Wobuffet appears to be held rapt by the snow falling around it, and Scizor looks down curiously and starts shifting its feet around. Magneton simply floats there, Blastoise stands resolute and stoic, though Alice catches it blinking in surprise, as snowflakes fall near its eyes. Nidoking looks happy to see her, then sees Red and starts fidgeting.
"You've got an… Interesting crew here." Red observes. He steps forward, and simultaneously they fixate on him warily.
"Settle down, guys. It's fine." At this, Blastoise and Nidoking relax a bit, though just barely in the latter's case, and Wobuffet goes back to staring at the snow. Clefable glares at Alice as if she's crazy, and Scizor studies Red, head slightly tilting to the side. And Magneton continues disregarding everything. She hears a crunch of snow as Red turns to her.
"I've seen all I need to see." Alice's mouth hangs slightly open in surprise.
"…Huh?"
"You heard me. You can return them to their poké balls if you like, as they all appear to be uncomfortable here." She's still quite dumbfounded, but she does as he says. Then she overcomes her stupor.
"That's it!?"
"You haven't even heard what I have to say." Red states calmly, but Alice gets the sense that he's a touch irritated. So she shuts up. "Your Magneton. It's not fully evolved." Silence. Alice stares at him.
"Yeah. What about it?" Alice nearly snaps, and quickly she places her hands in her pockets so it won't look like she's unnerved.
"Why haven't you evolved it?"
"Because…" She trails off, and she feels whatever fire that was building inside of her snuff out. There's an answer to the question, but she doesn't like it. Or rather, she imagines Red won't like it.
"I'm just curious is all. Most trainers would want to maximize their Pokémon's power, meaning evolution if possible, but there are others. Say… For many species, it's easier to learn moves in the earlier stages of evolution. But what's your take?" Red looks at her expectantly. Well. No more beating around the bush…
"It can't evolve in Kanto or Johto." Red blinks.
"That's it?"
"Look, this is the only league I'm interested in, so-"
"No, no." Red holds up a hand. "You want my help? Go evolve that Magneton. We'll talk more after you do that."
"…You've got to be kidding."
"You have your choice of Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, or Kalos. Though if I may suggest, Sinnoh is the closest." Red turns around and walks toward his house with Alice staring after him dumbly.
"I didn't come all the way up here so you could send me away." Alice snaps. Red stops, but he doesn't face her.
"As you've told me. You want my take on how to be a better Trainer? Then you'll do as I say. Or you can just forget we ever met and continue on the way you have. But if that was working, you wouldn't be here." Alice's fists clench tighter in her pockets, and she looks to the side. "Your choice," Red says, shrugging, and he walks into his house, shutting the door.