Chapter 6
Words Are Unnecessary
'Every challenge along the way, with courage I will face. I will battle every day, to claim my rightful place...'
Bisecting the Kanto and Johto regions from one another was a mountain unlike any other in the world of Pokémon. Mt. Silver as it was called, pierced the heavens and allowed those daring enough or perhaps foolish enough to stand atop its summit to look down upon the entire world of creation. It was said that Arceus had rested there after finishing its work atop Mt. Coronet, and since then many other legendary Pokémon had either made their nests upon the summit or come to pay their respects.
According to legend, a terrifying battle between Ho-Oh and Lugia had once taken place there with the silver guardian of the sea emerging victorious and bestowing the mountain its namesake, and since then territorial battles between Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres had reportedly taken place from time to time.
The emerald dragon of the sky Rayquaza had once landed atop the summit, presumably to rest from its endless flight, and had gone unchallenged until returning to the ozone layer. The deities Dialga and Palkia were said to drink from the springs every few centuries, and deep within the caverns under the mountain were said to be the golems of ice, rock, and steel sealed away until the end of time.
Even the mirage Pokémon Mew had reportedly been sighted there, though few believed such fantastical accounts.
Besides myths and legends, only Pokémon capable of surviving the harshest of environments resided near the summit, and even then most made their homes within labyrinth-like cave dwellings and mountain recesses. Deaths of foolhardy trainers weren't an uncommon occurrence even further down the mountain, and only a small handful had ever reached the summit to tell of it. For the fallen, their Pokémon would either adapt and evolve to their new surroundings, or they would perish like their trainers...
Traversing Mt. Silver after an extended stay in one of its famously therapeutic hot springs was a teenage girl with blonde hair and lilac eyes. She was bundled up in multiple layers of clothing and accompanied by a large humanoid Pokémon with a red V-shaped crest much like a mask and beige feathers instead of hair. Perhaps its most distinguishing trait however were the flames emerging from its powerful-looking limbs.
Despite it being the warmest day in weeks atop the mountain and her Blaziken radiating heat beside her, the girl raised in the tropics found herself shivering almost nonstop but didn't dare pause even for a moment for fear of her legs never working again, that and being spotted by persistent predators.
Although rare, occasionally she'd glimpse a Tyranitar calmly observing her and her Pokémon, or a herd of temperamental Mamoswine that apparently hadn't quite forgiven humans for nearly causing them to go extinct a millennia ago, but thus far none of them had posed much of a threat. She did admittedly run for cover whenever a particularly aggressive pair of Salamence and Aerodactyl made their presence known, but thankfully they seemed more interested in thwarting the other's attempt of a light snack than they actually cared about trespassers.
It was the right of passage of every Silver Conference entrant to climb as far up the mountain as they dared before competing in the tournament near the base, but for her, winning some foreign region's conference and being entered into its Champion League was merely a stepping stone on her way to becoming a Pokémon Master. The true challenge awaited her atop the summit, or at least so she had been told by a little birdy that had never steered her wrong.
Coming upon a clearing after months of climbing, the young woman smiled as she realized they were now standing atop all of creation. Together, they began running toward the summit where a lone figure already stood, gazing down at the world as if unimpressed by what he saw.
The pair slowed to a halt, respectfully keeping their distance from the current owner of said world.
"I finally found you," she gasped, removing her facial coverings. "My name's Yang Xiao Long. I'm a Pokémon trainer from Alola, and I've been waiting for this moment my entire life..."
The young man didn't respond, nor did he even bother turning around.
Yang took a step forward. "You win two world championships back to back and vacate the Tojoh Championship without a word and you think you can just disappear without a trace?" She shook her head, grinning ear to ear. "If I'm gonna be the greatest Pokémon Master that ever lived someday, that means I've gotta go through you first. Not Lance, not Leon, not even my Uncle Qrow. The only opponent that matters is you, Red..."
The young man wearing nothing more than faded jeans, a black t-shirt and a red short-sleeve jacket turned, his hat obscuring his eyes. He stood stoically as though having waited atop the summit all these years in exile just for her, having watched her climb all the way to the top and witnessed her every struggle and setback. He raised his hat slightly to get a better look at his challenger.
"..."
Reaching for his belt, the former Champion retrieved a worn Pokeball and lazily tossed it into the air. Emerging from the bright light was a gigantic, toad-like creature with blue-green skin and an enormous white spotted flower blooming on its back. The Venusaur roared upon entry onto the snowy battlefield, and despite its obvious high-level, Yang couldn't help but smile as her faithful companion stepped forward to meet the challenge.
"Blaziken!" she called. "Let's kick some grass! Use Flamethrower!"
A river of flames poured from the Pokémon's beak straight for Venusaur, but before they could come within ten feet of its flower, a pair of vines thick as tree branches wrapped around the torrent of flames and snuffed it out.
The Venusaur stepped forward, wisps of fire falling harmlessly onto its vegetation while its massive vines slithered like snakes across the battlefield toward Blaziken.
Yang could only marvel in abject admiration of the Pokémon's strength, but she quickly regained her senses. "Brave Bird! Go!"
With a running start Blaziken leaped into the air and burst into golden flames as it rocketed toward Venusaur. Inches from its face however, Blaziken found itself caught in mid-air by the vines, and from the Pokémon's precious flower came a purple powder that immediately extinguished Blaziken's flames and caused it to cry out in agony.
"Blaziken!" Yang screamed, watching in horror as seeds began covering her Pokémon's body and sprouted into vines. "Q-quick, use Flamethrower!"
Before any further flames could pour from its mouth, Venusaur slammed Blaziken onto the ground, the momentum carrying itself into the air so it could attempt a high-impact Body Slam.
"Overheat!"
Another river of flames spewed from Blaziken's mouth twice as large as the one before, and similar torrents erupted from his arms and legs. All around the battlefield the snow melted and the accompanying water turned to mist, but Venusaur had predicted this and returned to its trainer's side, protecting them both with a Light Screen while Red calmly rubbed his wrists as though in some kind of discomfort from the heat.
As the flames died down, Blaziken emerged no longer poisoned or entrapped by the opponent's Leech Seed, and glanced back at its trainer who was busily shrugging off layers of clothing.
With an impossibly wide grin she held up her bare arms revealing a pair of bracelets around either wrist, each one housing a gemstone enveloped in a crimson light.
"Blaziken!" she commanded. "Mega Evolve! Then use your Z-Move, Inferno Overdrive!"
"..."
(A/N: Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed. This was a bonus chapter of sorts catching up with what Yang's up to while Ruby (and Weiss) are finishing their gym challenge, but it's also a bit of a guilty pleasure if I'm being completely honest. As a long time fan of the "Pokémon Adventures" manga, Red is one of my all-time favorite characters, and seeing his video game counterpart at the top of Mt. Silver back in the day is one of my favorite gaming memories. I took inspiration from the manga as to why he's on Mt. Silver, and the hot springs and him rubbing his wrists were hints that he may be recovering from some kind of injury (frostbite to be specific).
The chapter was essentially a "one-off" and unfortunately we won't get to see the conclusion of the battle, though we may learn of it later, at least from Yang's perspective. It's probably safe to say that Yang has her back against a wall even with a Mega Blaziken and Z-Ring at her disposal. I'd imagine she and her Pokémon will put up an impressive fight, but to me Red is and will always be the very best like no one ever was. He's the undefeated champion who's become bored with life and is looking for that spark to reinvigorate him. Perhaps that person is Yang, or perhaps it's a smaller, more honest soul that he's in search of.
Also, I'm aware that it's impossible in the games for a Pokémon to both Mega Evolve and use a Z-Move, but there's really no in-universe explanation why it shouldn't be possible. A high-level Mega Blaziken using Inferno Overdrive is pretty terrifying, but then again so is Red who didn't seem to be having any trouble combating a normal Blaziken with his Venusaur, not even needing verbal commands. In that regard I took inspiration from the Orange Island's leader Drake, who'd just tell his Dragonite "You know what to do" in any given situation. Seems like something Red would do as a canonically quiet character, and the title of the chapter, "Words are Unnecessary", is actually Red's only canon sentence as an NPC.
All credit goes to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who has blessed me with this story and wonderful readers such as yourself. God bless)