Chapter Text
The wind swirled snow all around Blue on the icy summit of Mount Silver. He shivered from the cold and agitation as Red blankly stared back, not a single hint of light in his eyes.
“Come on, Red,” Blue said, feeling something like desperation crawl into his throat. “We’re all worried about you. You need to come home.”
Blue breathed heavily, and a great cloud of steam blew away into the night. He stood there, watching Red. A flicker of emotion came into his eyes–but just as soon as it was there, it was gone.
He still said nothing. The silence was deafening–Blue almost wanted to cover his ears to avoid it.
“Please, Red,” begged Blue. “Say something. Anything.”
Red turned away for a moment, as if remembering something. Blue’s hands bunched and unbunched and his cheeks grew uncomfortably hot. Anger grew in his abdomen when Red turned back to him with the same soulless expression.
“What have I got to do?” he found himself asking. “I’ll do anything.”
Blue felt himself pulled toward his rival on the summit. He took a single step closer, and barely had enough time to gasp before fire lit Red’s eyes from the bottom up and Charizard exploded from a pokeball in his hands and roared.
Blue, startled, stumbled back and nearly fell on his butt in the snow. Anger swiftly split through him, and he clenched his hands into fists.
“Damn it, Red!” he exclaimed. “Is this what you want? To stand up here and scare away people who are trying to help you?”
Red’s jaw squared but he said nothing. His eyes narrowed and his eyebrows deepened a crease between them.
Blood pounded thickly in his ears. If it was a fight Red wanted, it was a fight he’d get.
“Go, Rhydon!” he yelled and threw out the Pokemon.
Blue fought fiercely, but not nearly as intensely as Red. Power and rage seemed to flow from him to his Pokemon, and the entire mountain curved at his will. Blue was sure that at some point, it moved and shook and rotated upon his command. His team was easily overwhelmed.
Finally, Blue called back his last Pokemon. Silence fell atop Mount Silver, and Blue watched how the flame that lit his friend’s eyes had changed and was replaced by unmistakable sadness.
Blue’s breath hitched in his throat as anguish welled in his stomach. That expression that Red’s face held… he had seen it many times before, in Lavender Town.
Something had happened to Red, something terrible and traumatic and tragic.
Something that Blue could not fix.
After what seemed like an eternity, he found it in him to speak.
“I don’t know what happened to you, Red,” he said softly. “But I’m sorry.”
He hung his head and turned back the way he’d came.
For many months later, Blue was haunted by the misery in Red’s eyes atop the mountain. He thought about him nearly constantly, at home, at the gym, in bed before he tossed and turned in tortuous dreams about him.
What, he wondered, had happened to Red?
He had theorized several things, but knew nothing for certain. Perhaps, he thought, he had lost a Pokemon, but aside from the loss of Charizard or Pikachu, Blue could not think of any Pokemon’s loss that would drive Red to isolate himself on Mount Silver for as long as he had.
He thought and thought but found no answer. On some level, he knew it was killing him to know Red was hurting and that he could not even begin to help him.
After four months, Red still had not come back. Blue realized that in four months, Red could have left, and Blue or anyone else would have no chance of finding him again. The thought of Red being absent in his life terrified him, and so he planned to journey back up to Mount Silver to check if Red was indeed still there.
Sure enough, he was. This time Blue tried to ask what had happened to him, but again Red did not respond. His face seemed hollow in places and his clothes looser. Again he wouldn’t allow him within 20 feet of him, and the two fought fiercely once again. Blue found himself losing even more miserably than he had before. Incensed, he stomped all the way back down the mountain.
About a month later, he returned and tried again. This time his entire team was swept by one Pokemon, and after the battle he found himself rooted in place in complete shock for several minutes afterward.
He’d always known that Red was stronger than him–even though it had been tough to admit at first. He hadn’t, however, realized just how vast the gulf between their skill levels was. Because it must have been, for him to beat him so brutally.
Blue wasn’t sure what it was. Maybe it was just that Red felt sorry for him. Maybe he thought that something was wrong with him since he hadn’t ever seen him speechless before. Whatever it was, Red seemed to have thawed a little bit. He stood watching him for several long, quiet minutes. Then he tilted his head, turned partially, and waved for Blue to follow him.
Blue immediately felt his heartbeat pick up and his chest lighten, despite his brutal defeat.
“Yeah, Red, of course!” he said in response to his unspoken question. Quickly, he followed his rival as he walked around the mountain through the swirling snow.
Red led him into a cave cut into the mountain that he had obviously made into his home. It was minimal but oddly cozy. Blue stood with his hands in his pockets while Red took a small pot, filled it with snow from just outside, and set it on a small camp stove. He extracted several dry Sitrus leaves and put them in the water once it had melted.
He saw Blue still standing and pointed to a pile of blankets in a far corner. Blue nodded and sat.
“You know,” he said, wrapping his arms around his knees, “There’s a lot that’s happened since you’ve been gone, Red.”
Red glanced over, mouth slightly open. Blue saw a spark of something alight in his eyes and felt his entire body relax as he knew Red was still alive in there. Red motioned for him to continue, and so he did.
Hours passed as Blue talked about everything that had changed and everything that hadn’t. Steam rose from their cups as they sat and sipped Sitrus tea. Red never once said a word, and throughout his stay, Blue saw him check in and out as his eyes lit for several minutes then drained as his face became soulless and impassive again.
At some point, the sun began to fall and Blue had to leave to get off the mountain before night fell. He tried once again to get Red to come back with him, but when he did, Red stared away at the floor and did not respond.
Finally, Blue sighed and got to his feet. “Alright, Red,” he said, “I need to head back down.”
Red looked to him with sadness in his eyes. He nodded.
Blue felt his heart twist and tears crawl up the back of his throat.
“If you need help, find me,” he said, and departed the cave.
Blue contemplatively returned to Pallet Town, not uttering a word the entire way.
He didn’t realize until at the base of the mountain looking up that he was crying.
Several more months later, after crushing an opponent at the gym in Viridian City, Blue was healing his Pokemon when the doors swished open and two people walked in. It was after hours and the other trainers in the gym had long since gone home.
“We’re closed,” deadpanned Blue, not looking up from the PC box. “If you want a battle, come back in the morning.”
“Blue,” his grandfather said.
Blue looked up. “Hey, Gramps,” he said. Beside him stood someone who made all the color drain out of his face and the snarky words he was going to say die on his lips.
Red’s mother stood beside the Professor, face pale and thin. She looked almost as dead as Red had the last time he’d seen him.
Ever since Blue had come down from the mountain the first time, he hadn’t been able to look her in the eye. He hadn’t the courage to tell her where her son was.
Now he wondered if he’d made a mistake.
“Blue, we came here because we needed to know something.”
“What’s that?” he asked, dazed, still staring at Red’s mother.
“We know you and Red were quite close,” said his grandfather. “We also know that he’s been away for quite some time.”
“Have you heard from my baby?” asked Red’s mother quietly.
Blue’s heart nearly broke. For a while, he couldn’t say a single word.
Should he tell them? Would Red want that?
No, he decided. Red had made it quite clear that he’d wanted to be left alone.
“No,” he said at last. “I… haven’t heard from Red in a while.”
His grandfather gazed at him sternly, and Blue had to force his eyes away. That was, until he stepped forward and placed a hand on his shoulder, forcing him to look up at him.
“Grandson,” he said, “Let’s talk privately.”
Blue could only nod.
“We’ll be back soon,” said his grandfather, before Blue led him to a room in the back of the gym, where punching bags and mats and other equipment were stored.
“I know you’re lying,” he said, as soon as Blue closed the door. “Why?”
Blue rubbed his forehead and chewed the bottom of his lip.
“Red wouldn’t want it,” Blue mumbled after a while.
“Wouldn’t want what?”
Blue didn’t answer.
“Blue,” said his grandfather. He grabbed his shoulder and yanked. “Blue, look at me.”
He did.
“It’s time for you to stop asking yourself what Red wants, and focus on what he needs .”
“Red’s in a bad way, Gramps,” admitted Blue desperately.
“Just tell us where he is, Blue.”
“Something happened to him. I have no clue what. He’s not speaking.”
A threatening edge entered his grandfather’s voice. “ Where , Blue?”
“Mount Silver,” he confessed finally. When he did, he suddenly felt the world spin beneath him, and grabbed onto the nearest object for support.
“Thank you for your honesty,” said his grandfather, and left the room.
Needless to say, his grandfather and Red’s mother were unsuccessful in bringing Red home.
After they returned, however, Red’s mother seemed to improve significantly. Her face seemed fuller, and more colorful within a week.
Fall arrived and leaves fell from the trees. The days blurred into one another, mundane battles and mundane opponents excepting one powerful girl with a big white hat named Lyra. As she took the gym badge graciously, Blue could not help but feel a serious dosage of deja-vu.
He still thought about Red every day, every night before he fell asleep. What happened? What happened? What happened? The thought replayed over and over in his mind, before he fell asleep into the darkness of a deep and dreamless sleep.
There was knocking on the door. Blue’s mind registered this as his brain drifted in and out of sleep.
It was too early. Must be a dream. He grabbed his blankets and rolled over.
But he hadn’t had a dream since Red left, and the knocking persisted.
Blue groaned and turned back around, slowly stretching his arms above him. He opened his eyes. Dim early morning light cast gray over the bedsheets.
Who was at the door so damn early? They hadn’t had a visitor in forever, and his grandfather would have just let himself in.
As Blue rolled out of bed and trudged to the door, the knocking stopped. The silence felt heavy with expectancy.
Blue, rubbing his eyes, opened the door.
In front of him stood someone he thought he’d never see in Pallet Town again.
In front of him stood Red.
Blue’s eyes widened. For a long time, he stood staring, unable to say anything at all. Suddenly, though, the words all came out at once, crashing into each other as they did. Excitement raced through him like a shot of caffeine.
Red held up a finger, and Blue instantly stopped, waiting, as Red pulled a small notebook from his pocket and a pen from behind his ear.
He flipped open the cover and wrote. Blue leaned against the threshold as he did, afraid that if he didn’t, he would surely collapse from shock.
Another emotion excitedly welled up in his chest, but Blue forced it down.
Finally, Red held up the notebook to him. Blue leaned forward to see what he had written.
Four simple words.
I need your help.
Upon reading the words, Blue felt himself soften and his chest spread with warmth. He was so happy that tears threatened to close his throat. He found a smile spread across his face, so wide it almost hurt.
“Well, you’ve come to the right place, then,” he said.
Blue looked into Red’s eyes. They were warm and light and alive.
It took all Blue had in him not to break down and cry.
Because Red had chosen to heal, and he had chosen Blue to help him.