and the burning wheel of the sun.
"I don't know how you survive up here," Green whined as he wrapped his scarf tighter around himself and pulled Eevee closer. "My balls are freezing here, man."
Directly across from Green sat Red, who shot a pointed look at his best friend and rolled his eyes before pulling his cap down to cover his eyes.
On either side of Red and Green sat Fire and Leaf, who were only slightly warmer than Green. At Green's complaint Leaf threw a premade snowball his way, laughing as the boy sputtered out insults. Her brother snickered as he pulled a marshmallow on a stick out of the fire.
They all sat around the dismal fire shivering. That is, everyone except Red who had creepily become accustomed to the cold weather. None of them particularly enjoyed climbing to the top of Mt. Silver. It was truly difficult, and all three of them were used to battling through some of the worst weather conditions with little more than a hat and some pants – and a very short skirt in Leaf's case. It took all day, it was guaranteed cold every single day of the year, snow ended up getting everywhere and Green spent the entire trip complaining.
So they only did it once a month, if that. In Green's opinion, Red should be glad they even visited him at all.
They were also usually a bit more careful than this. They waited until the ever present snow storm was a little less vicious than usual before climbing their way to the peak. They monitored the weather reports until the perfect moment struck. It wouldn't do to go up Mt. Silver and then get stuck there.
Unfortunately, that's exactly what they did. A massive snowstorm raged outside Red's not-so-cosy cave, absolutely forbidding exit down the mountain. Which then lead them to their current predicament – they were four people and two pokémon, one measly fire attempting to keep four bodies warm as they waited out the storm with thinly veiled irritation, and one jumbo packet of marshmallows to keep them occupied.
"But seriously, how do you survive? It's like minus a billion degrees in the middle of a raging snowstorm and you're sitting there in a fucking vest!" Green exclaimed, staring at Red as though he was possessed. He would have probably accused the boy of secretly being a froslass if they could even be found on Mt. Silver.
Leaf scoffed and bent down to pick up another deadly snowball in her mitten covered hand before a sharp look from Fire made her stop. She gratefully accepted a warm toasted marshmallow instead and began picking off the charred bits.
"Don't be such a baby. It's not that cold!" she said to Green with a mouthful of marshmallow muffling her words. "You come up here more often than us anyway."
Green sneered, "Yeah, but you and Fire are just freaks who don't seem to feel the cold!"
"Uh, excuse you." Fire muttered. "We've been travelling through Hoenn, and that place literally does not even get a winter and we're still more tolerant to snow than you are."
Leaf poked her tongue out at Green as she and Fire hi-fived.
Green threw an exasperated look towards Red. "Why aren't you the one punishing the kids, Mom? I always feel like the bad guy here!"
Red sent a look Green's way but otherwise ignored him in favour of cuddling Pikachu closer to himself.
In the background, Leaf and Fire laughed. "Red's Dad. You're the one who's got girly hips, Green," Leaf snarked.
The two didn't even notice when Green flipped his middle finger at them before going back to pouting. The other three pointedly ignored him in favour of more productive activities.
Like more marshmallows.
"Why are you the one with control over the marshmallows anyway, Fire?" Leaf remarked and lunged for the packet. Her brother grinned and lifted them out of the way as she fell onto his lap. Fire laughed and leant down, using her back as an elbow rest. Leaf retorted by screeching and wiggling around, trying to get away.
Green sneered at the twins. "You keep that up and there's gonna be rumours, Fire. That champion in Unova gets shit about his twin sister no matter where he goes."
Fire audibly growled from the left of him and threw Leaf to the ground. His sister huffed before climbing back to her spot, the packet of marshmallows tucked safety under her arm.
She poked her tongue out at Fire as he glared at her from across the fire, but made no move to get up and retrieve his food. Silently, Red grabbed a chocolate bar from his backpack and threw it towards the younger boy. Fire grinned gratefully and ripped it open with his teeth.
Opposite to the two boys, Green nudged Leaf with his foot and gestured towards the packet, "Gimme some."
Leaf raised an eyebrow and shook her head. "No way – these are my loot from a fearsome battle with the evil overlord of fire. I'm not giving up my sweet booty," she snarked and popped a marshmallow into her mouth.
Green growled shared a poignant look with Fire before they simultaneously threw themselves in her direction, attempting a coup d'état towards the only girl of their group. Leaf shrieked and stuffed the packet down her top before either of them could get to her.
The two boys stopped and stared at her for a few seconds before Green recoiled and gestured towards the girl, "You go get them, Fire. You're her brother. She can't complain about you going down her top."
Fire looked at Green with a deadpan expression. "Uh, yeah she can, dumbass."
"Don't you call me a dumbass, asshole."
"Ooh, real mature. Get that one from that Joey kid?"
"No, I got it from your Mom."
"What did you say about my Mom?!"
"Yeah! What did you say about our mother, you little bitch?"
"I think you're the bitch here, Leaf, obvi— OW! That hurt! No more snowballs to the face, okay?!"
"I'll stop throwing snowballs at your precious little face when you stop insulting my mother!"
"And I'll stop insulting your mother when—,"
The threesome stopped bickering the second Red held up his hand.
They waited impatiently as the silent trainer simply pointed towards the exit of the cave. Outside, the storm had finally stopped and tiny, beautiful snowflakes were falling gently from the sky.
"Whoa," Fire murmured as he let go of Green's collar and made his way out of the cave. Leaf let go of Green's leg and stood up, shaking the snow from her jacket before following Fire.
In the cave, Red shot a deadpan look towards Green, who scoffed in return and shook the snow from his hair. "Yeah, I know I'm lucky. Now c'mon, this is the perfect time to get back at Leaf for all those snowballs she threw at me!" He said and grasped Red's arm, pulling him out of the cave. Pikachu and Eevee followed them out excitedly before diving into the snow.
Once outside, the two trainers threw their arms up to shield their eyes from the bright sunlight. The sound of a snowball fight reached their ears when Leaf shrieked and Fire laughed.
Green chuckled and bent down, scooping up some fresh snow before stalking towards the twins with an excited Eevee bounding along with him. "Oh, Leaf," he sung.
Red smiled softly and bent down to pick his perky eyed pikachu off the ground. The mouse pokémon scrambled its way up to Red's shoulder to perch himself there. The trainer watched his friends engage in a particularly violent snowball fight, all previous frustrations forgotten.
It was true. His friends were rarely able to visit him on the mountain he's marooned himself on, but when they did, he really, truly appreciated it.
Red smirked and bent down to pick his own snowball up. It was the rare visits he had with his friends that made his life worthwhile, and he was going to enjoy every second.