(AN): Let's cut the crap. No long author notes today before the story.
Disclaimer:I don't own Pokemon
Leaf looked on as Red's Charizard spread his strong wings wide as he took into the black sky.
The sun-orange fire-type bared his fangs at the sight of Leaf, growling warningly the whole way. His blue eyes burned, matching the intensity of the yellow flame raging at the tip of his tail.
Leaf looked down at the Pokeball in her hand, gripping tightly. If Red was going to fight using him, his starter, his very first Pokemon, she would fight with hers.
"Go Venusaur!" she said.
Appearing on the ground Charizard was looking upon was a large, green, four-legged Pokemon. On its back was four green leaves, a red flower standing proudly in the middle of the four leaves. A seed clogged the mouth of the flower.
"Saur!" the female Pokemon roared. She shifted uncomfortably as her feet touched the snow, but otherwise did not show weakness.
Leaf knew this battle was going to be crucial. She had already showed Red what she believed in, expressed not only in her heartfelt words but also through the art of battle.
All she could do now is let him respond.
If he would respond at all.
The winds grew stronger once again. Snow rushed from the sky like flock of white Swannas migrating to a warm region.
The gale sang ominously, heralding the coming battle.
Charizard made the first move, breathing a stream of orange flames at Venusaur.
"Venusaur! Protect!" Leaf ordered.
She struggled against the blizzard, but Venusaur managed to conjure a transparent force-field that repelled an otherwise fatal attack.
Red and Leaf struggled to see the battle through the raging snowstorm, both using their arms to shield their faces from the weather's wrath. The difference was, one of them felt the winter's cold bite while the other did not.
Charizard, unfazed by the raging tempest flew towards Venusaur at blinding speeds, lethal blades of air surrounding his body.
"Venusaur! Leech Seed! Quick!" Leaf screamed over the howling wind.
Because Charizard was shrouded by the darkness of the sky, Venusaur struggled to pinpoint where he was coming from. That, plus the snow pelting her face did not make aiming her attack easy.
Then, she heard a disturbance in the air. Not the wind, but like something was travelling in its domain, displacing the air. She forced her eyes open. She knew which direction to fire in.
Venusaur turned around, firing the Leech Seed blindly into the blizzard.
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Then out of the snowstorm, Charizard came crashing into the snowy ground. He was entrapped in vines sprouting from a seed implanted on his belly. With his movement restricted, the vines began slowly sapping his energy.
Red could feel Charizard restrained by the vines. He didn't even have to look. But despite that, he smiled at how Leaf really thought this was going to stop him.
Charizard stopped struggling against the vines' restrictions. Focusing his power, he coated his fangs in fire, biting down on the bonds that rendered him helpless.
It worked like a charm, Charizard's flame-encrusted teeth cutting through the vines like a hot knife through butter. Then in retaliation, fired a Flamethrower attack at his opponent.
"Venusaur! Get out of the way!" Leaf said desperately.
But Charizard was to close and the snow on the ground too thick. Within minutes, the grass-type was fully engulfed in Charizard's angry orange flames.
"Venusaur!" Leaf called worriedly.
Charizard stood proudly in the winter storm as Venusaur shivered visibly. The flower on her back had drooped slightly, its leaves looking like they were about to wilt due to being exposed to extreme conditions consecutively.
But miraculously, Venusaur stood determined against all odds to keep from fainting.
Red gritted his teeth. He was at wit's end with Leaf's Pokemon refusing to faint. He was just about ready to tear his ebony hair straight off his head.
Why? He asked himself. Why carry on through a hopeless situaton?
He glanced at Venusaur, her eyes drooping, then immediately widening in attention, fighting the urge to pass out from exhaustion.
Was it not logical to save your energy for another battle?
But he answered his own question.
Whatever their reason may be, it did not matter.
Because he would win. After all, he always did in the end.
For total victory was his goal. For the past three years, it has been his ultimate goal.
It was his only goal
Red smiled ruefully as his Charizard took of into the sky once again, flapping his strong wings, leaving a small cloud of anow in his wake
"Venusaur! Razor Leaf!"
Venusaur fired a barrage of sharp, spinning leaves at a now airborne Charizard. However, Charizard was too quick and too far away to be caught, looping in the air to avoid the blade-sharp leaves. Then, he coated his body in an inferno, charging recklessly at Venusaur.
"Venusaur! Protect!"
Predictable. Red smiled when he heard Leaf give out her orders. There was a reason he asked Charizard to use Flare Blitz instead of Flamethtower.
Charizard's blazing form collided with Venusaur's transparent shield, breaking it. With them in close proximity, the fire-type launched a Fire Blast attack straight at Venusaur's face, engulfing her in a raging inferno as she roared in pain.
As the fire around it faded away, Venusaur staggered back a few steps, struggling to keep her footing on the snow. The temptation to collapse was there again, seducing her like the waft of sweet-smelling flower. But she couldn't. She wouldn't.
She and her trainer must take every attack Red and Charizard throws at them. To show the strength of their bonds, through their own resilience, to the lonely isolated teen.
Red narrowed his eyes, scanning Venusaur for any sign of breaking, any cracks on its steel-clad armour. Any sign at all.
Then, he saw it, Venusaur's vehement shaking in response to Mount Silver's relentless cold. He heard it, Venusaur's shallow, uneven breathing.
She was breaking, and he knew it.
He directed his red eyes at Charizard who didn't seem to be reacting negatively to the cold, nor the least bit tired as he took to the skies once again.
"Graaaa!" Charizard roared, coating himself in fire as he flew towards Venusaur.
Leaf's eyes, despite the pelting blizzard were wide in attention. Her teeth were grinding against each other, trying to think of a way to stay in the battle.
"Venusaur! Don't give up! Use Sleep Powder!" she said quickly.
"Saur..." Venusaur responded weakly, trying to use what little energy she had left to incapacitate her opponent who was closing in on her position.
But she was too slow, Charizard ramming her before she could release the powder, forcing Venusaur's singed body onto its belly. Before she could get back up, Charizard quickly launched a Flamethrower attack.
"Venusaur!" Leaf cried as the flames consumed her Pokemon.
As the inferno faded from her body, Venusaur collapsed. She tried to stand again, trying to will her legs to power through the pain, but ultimately, her legs were unable to support her weight anymore as she collapsed on her belly again, for good this time.
Red gave had a satisfied look on his face as Venusaur stayed down. Not fainted, but unable to stand. Leaf's strongest Pokemon practically done for. With Venusaur out, his victory was all but assured. In contrast, his ace looked like he could go for many more rounds.
Charizard walked up to Venusaur's lying form, glaring down at the Pokemon, a close friend once upon a time. She and her trainer were his and Red's very first opponents. She was the first Pokemon he truly understood, both as a rival and as an ally.
But his loyalty belonged to Red. Everything else came second to helping his trainer, his brother.
So he stood in front of his former friend, awaiting Red's command.
For Red, victory was just a hair's length away. Not only over the battle, but also over who's belief stayed true.
For him, victory proved he could live alone with his Pokemon.
Victory meant truimph over his bond with Leaf, showing her it may not be as strong as she thoufht it was.
But most of all, victory meant he no longer needed, no longer wanted, Leaf as a friend. He could be strong without them, free from his past to walk towards the future he decided for himself. Prove he was strong enough to handle anything all by himself.
It was something he longed to prove for a long time.
And now was his chance.
Burn down his past, his childhood memories that haunted him so for the past three years.
So he could live a free, unburdened life atop Mount Silver, thriving in its deathly cold grasp.
The moment seemed to play out in slow motion. The snowstorm stopped. For a while, there was silence, as if the winds themeselves waited in suspense for Red's decisive move.
Red smiled crookedly.
The solitary life he had convinced himself was what he wanted was within his cold grasp.
All he had to do was give Charizard the order for attack.
(AN): How will the story end? Is there still hope for Red to respond to Leaf's message? Or will he stay a lonely hermit forever? That's for me to know and you guys to find out in the next and final chapter.
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...Yeah. I had to do that. And this isn't even much of a cliffhanger. I'm pretty sure a few of you already know how this will end. All I'm here to do is put it on paper...err... screen.
Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. Sorry it was a bit short compared to the last one. I hope to see you guys in the last installment of Atop Mount Silver.
Laters.