"WHY IS HE TAKING SO DAMNED LONG?"
Venonat flinched. Silver long stopped hitting his pokemon, but Pavlov be damned, when silver screams, his pokemon get ready for pain. And for the first time in this day, Silver's luck paid off. His old habit made Venonat point itself towards the wall that has been behind it the whole time.
It was a craggy wall, with noticeable fissures. It was even sandstone in the middle of a bunch of granite. Hard to notice in the red light unless you point directly at it.
Silver stood up for the final time in this hole. It was a way out. Everything about this wall said "Bomb me" or its correspondent gaming mechanic.
"Machamp!" - He grinned, as his pokemon came out, ready for action. This was the moment hope was going to smile on him. Gold was out of the way and he could look for Suicune all on his own. - "Smash!" - Machamp punched the rock, one time and again. Another time. Bluish light started peering in from the cracks. This was it, it was the physical manifestation of his absolute victory. Behind this wall, all this time, his fate, his goal was waiting, and he was about to grasp it!
One final punch and light engulfed him. His eyes strained him from adapting the the sudden lack of red darkness. He summoned Machamp back to his ball and crept out, Venonat following. Slowly, he got a picture of the chamber behind.
It was huge and tubular. It had small waterfalls falling in its walls, dripping into a puddle deep below. This puddle would then run into a river. It was the mountain's underground spring, the place where the Twistspike river was born.
And in it, in the middle of the puddle, which had two elevated layers of water seemingly floating like a wedding cake surrounded by mist, it stood. Shining white, the crystal in its head irradiating visible fresh cold, its mane fluttering on some invisible wind that did not affect the mist around it.
Suicune.
It was majestic. It was mysterious. It gave the feeling of power he seeked.
And it was asleep.
Silver was right all along, this was the predicted nest Suicune had chosen for itself. And now he was going to have the opportunity to descend the spiraling path down to the Spring, and prove his might to the beast. Or at the very least, abuse Mean Look and throw 99 Ultra Balls at it.
As he took the first step, the mist around Suicune stopped. When he took another step, the spring water stopped running. He did not try another step after the next. You can't ignore waterfalls that stop running. Venonat was shivering behind his hurt leg, keeping as close to him as it possibly could.
Suicune was awakening.
Silver swallowed his panic. If anything, this was perfect. The beast was acknowledging his approach. It wouldn't have been more fitting not to have a epic fight of respect, instead waking up a enraged monster, no more noble and worthy of legendary status than a wild, stupid Houndoom.
The surge of adrenaline in his blood he felt was only quenched by the serotonin in his brain. He was looking down at Suicune. He was heading to face it off and maybe successfully dominating it. This moment was the most perfect of his entire lifetime. Right now, he would finally achieve...
A tumor!
Suicune's mane, fluttering to the side, revealed that its previous brilliance was tainted by darkness on its back.
This blot on the eerie brightness, this thing that so much gave him horror... Had the particular shape of a Girl. Silver froze, but not from the cold. The scene, the girl getting off its back, walking over water, and hugging Suicune's neck, stroking is long snout. The intimacy between the two was colder than ambience could ever aspire to be.
This wasn't any girl.
It was THAT girl.
"Crystal... "
She was there too, back then, when Suicune woke up for its centuries-long slumber.
And she was here now. She had come to this place long before him.
She beat him to it.
Silver lost.
To a girl.
Crystal lifted herself over Suicune's back. And then, she rode it as Suicune disappeared in a flash of cold wind of the north. The blue radiance petered out with Suicune's leave, and water started running again. The cave was empty, barring for Silver and Venonat.
Silver stood still.
Venonat re-lit its eyes, filling the room with the contrast of a red hue. It then looked at its trainer.
"..."
Venonat lowered its antennae and made a low buzzing screech.
"This is a premonition, you know?" - Silver was still standing still, not bothering to look at his HM slave - "Gold was there too. That day."
There was a silence. it wasn't awkward, nor sad. It was merely that, a silence. One that penetrated the sound of running water. Silver's epiphany told him many things about his past and his future. Fate crept closer to the screen where all tales are told, it was waiting for the several jokes it played at Silver's expense this day to pay off.
But for the first time in that day, Silver shrugged it off. He literally shrugged. Fate, disappointed, looked away to find a new victim.
"Whatever!" - Silver said.
"?" - said Venonat.
"There's 3 beasts of legend. So what if he might have one? It'll make no difference!"
He raised a fist.
"In the end, I'll take the strongest one! If Suicune would take that girl over me it's because Suicune was a dog with low standards for owners! Better than having a legendary, is having the strongest breed of legendaries! I shall fight his legendary beast with my very own! And I'll show everyone, I will show them that I'm the one who wins!"
And thus, Silver turned back and into the hole.
And there he waited for Gold.