(Fan cover in media by MysticalBlaze!)

Without a breath or a shiver, Red tossed out his first pokemon. From the exploding pokeball a yellow rat flung out. Zags of saffron lightning bolts sparked off into the clear air as the Pikachu poised himself into the snow, white piles sinking up to the stub of the electric-types chin. The pokemon's obsidian orbs showed a strength and intimidation that even sent chills down my spine, not from the below zero weather.

I have to win this. I will.

My pokemon's capsule gently was flicked off by my fingertips, gracefully turning in the air. From the bursting lights, Venusaur swung out. The snow her paws fell into was tossed up into the air as she let out a hardy roar, shivering her muscles slightly. I recalled that Pikachu's ability was static from when I was raising the small pokemon, meaning any form of physical contact has just been crossed off. "Venusaur, use Razor Leaf!" I quickly commanded, deciding to hold back the stronger moves for the future.

From her large flower, the leaves spun out and tore across the battle field. Pikachu stood undaunted by the incoming attack as his master rose a hand. Red sharply struck his arm across his body to his left side, a silent direction. The Pikachu in seconds became engulfed in a glaring surge of electricity sparking from his cheeks, taking the entire body. The Razor Leaf was zapped into ashes as they sped into the electricity.

Still absorbed in the power, the pokemon took a single step before rushing off like a blur. The golden light zagged back and forth like the pokemon's own tail before he wedged between Venusaur's thick legs. He shot up against her belly, the power tossing her up. With collision, thunder rumbled in the distance while the brilliant lightning bounced off and against my pokemon.

The Pikachu quickly vibrated back to his battle location, a trail of snow parted where his running path was. It uncovered the dark stone at our feet as the Pikachu took low breaths, the attack obviously taking a toll.

But not as much as it did to my Venusaur who tottered like a child taking their first steps. Her head trembled to be held high as her reaching leaves shivered. Rising from her stomach I could see dark marks from where the lightning and roped burns across her. "Razor Leaf, Venusaur!" I still demanded to push her forward. At the time, I took no notice at the use of Volt Tackle in this Fire Version. It took time for me to one day realize that the move was not introduced until Generation III.

And like the obedient partner she was, my pokemon staggered into her battle position. From her gigantic blossom locked on her spin she propelled numerous leaves which spun out with fine rims. Pikachu took small leaps back to dodge each bit of foliage. In moments, the rosy-cheeked pokemon was flicking his jagged tail beside his master's pant leg.

Red silently turned out the yellow mouse's capsule, recalling him. The trainer tucked the pokeball back as he tossed a new one into battle. From a bright gleaming, a pair of wings unfurled themselves. They were an indigo with a vibrant orange lining. Two great paws dug into the snow while the monster let out a resounding roar. The draconic head swung around, his eccentric blue eyes striking at Venusaur.

If you couldn't tell already, it's Charizard.

And my next move was fatal.

I hesitated. My mind debated whether to return Venusaur to her pokeball to send out another. Or to keep Venusaur battling to the point she faints to knock down health points of the Flying-Fire starter.

At the same moment I reached for the next pokemon's pokeball settled in my bag, it was too late. Red gave a flick of his hat. Charizard's belly expanded, glowing a faint red, as the pokemon's head rolled back before thrusting forward. Its angled jaw pulled open before firing a thick plume of fire, the blaze snapped just at the feet of Venusaur. The embers of the luminescent fire burned from a dull red to a starry white.

One strike and the fire spread, the snow on the mountain top evaporating. The crawling fire, with a flick of the Charizard's tail, spun into four towering columns of flames at the corners of Venusaur. The dancing inferno leapt and bound across her as he let out agonizing wails, being burn to a crisp. The strapping pink petals of her tropical blossom becoming caught up in the fire which seemed to devour my partner.

I was helplessly watching as Charizard added to the fire of Blast Burn, roasting my pokemon.

When its lustering flames became a smoldering smoke that puffed up into the sky, Venusaur was done. Her body was run through with third-degree burns and her fern leaves were charred down to the stubs. Her legs twitched in attempts to rise, but I wouldn't let a thing happen. I rose my hand in which her pokeball sat in and returned her.

Disgust boiled up in my stomach like acid rotting though at the same time I sent out Marowak. I was sickened by what was done to my starter, naturally, but that wasn't what made me feel utter repulsion. That was towards myself. Because I felt proud.

I raised Charizard when I was playing on my Gameboy from the very start. I, of course, hacked him later on. But this was the first pokemon I chose and he won with a move I hacked in from the future generations. Smart, right? Well, not anymore.

Marowak twirled her ivory bone with patience, observing our opponent who towered over. What I found was that soon after, Red returned his Charizard to bring out Pikachu once more. Is he an idiot? I thought very dryly, His most powerful move of Volt Tackle won't do a thing against Marowak.

"Fissure!" I commanded, shoveling my thoughts aside to wrap up the battle.

Like all the times before, my pokemon wound up her club as her dusty tail flicked tentatively. She then struck down on the mountain, her body flipping up into the air as the ground at our feet trembled. In the distance I heard many avalanches start to surf down the rocky ledges. Red simply smiled from his battle position and pulled on the back collar of his jacket.

The spitting of the Earth at our feet commenced, moving like a bolt of lightning towards Pikachu. Just inches away he leapt up and, with his staggering speed stat, he shot across the field like a blur to strike Marowak with a Quick Attack. The force threw my ground-type off balance, tottering on a single foot, as Pikachu poised himself for another strike.

His tail gave off a brilliant silver glow, shining down with a metallic sheen. One small paw forward before taking off at Marowak, snapping up into the air. It was in slow motion from there, the Pikachu smirking arrogantly as his cheeks prickled with tiny sparks. It all came down, the Iron Tail crashing into Marowak's skull-small cracks running about as her mocha eyes bulged from her head.

Finally, Pikachu back flipped away so that Marowak could fall. Her body weight throwing up snow where she landed, "Only. Two. Attacks," I breathed, gently calling back Marowak. "Who next, who next," I gritted my teeth as I swam though my bag.

I could hear Red recalling his own pokemon. I wondered if he knew who I was going to send out next. Out of complete paranoia, I spun around and continued to fish though my chiffon bag. I could think logically, he would probably send out a sweeper like Charizard out next. Or he might throw out Lapras to shake this up. Someone who would be fine against either would be Hitmonchan with his variety of elemental punches.

My mind swam around with many different options of tactical procedures to pursue on with, There is also a 60 percent chance of him sending out one of his other three. He just returned Pikachu, so there is no rhyme of reason to send him back out. In that chance I could just throw out yet another pokemon randomly and there is a 35 percent of an opportunity in which case of it being a perfect match up in my favor. 35 percent prospect of it being a stale mate match and a 30 percent of a random shot being in Red's favor.

Now, those odds have to wide and unsettling of margins... If I do go with Hitmonchan, his statistics and elemental attacks would be 0 chances of it being a bad match up. 20 percent leaning towards a neutral standoff. And an 80 percent likelihood of a round in our benefit.

The choice was obvious.

I grasped my fingers around Hitmonchan's red and white pokeball before tossing it out as a baseball into a field. As the lustering light dazzled down from the pokeball which burst forth with my pokemon, we were also lifting the curtain to meet our next opponent. Snorlax.

The large pokemon swayed as a sumo wrestler would, his eyes drooped with a sleep-induced exhaustion. For example, you know how you want to go back to sleep right after you wake up? It was like that. Snorlax's pointed teal ears twitched to acknowledge the presence of my fighting-type who was currently shooting false punches into the air.

Though Snorlax had just emerged for battle, he let out a rolling snore as his head tipped forward as if to sleep on both feet. I smirked, I originally thought that the chances of Hitmonchan winning this round would be roughly 67 percent... But now it must be well in the 80's. My mind defaulted to numbers and figures. Plotting out angles. Deciding the amount of health that would be reduced by certain attacks. How our speed would knock this battle out of the park. In a way, I was pulling apart this battle like a jigsaw puzzle.

"Bullet Punch, now Hitmonchan!" I demanded, brushing away locks of hair that fell into my face. Following my command, Hitmonchan bent down and positioned his feet like a runner. Both of his gloves dug into the frosty snow before he shot forward. Within a moment, he was up to Snorlax's flabby gut, releasing flurries of jabs and prods. Every few seconds, Hitmonchan would fly to another angle to release his punches. Each one was strong and fast, like bullets being fired from a gun.

Hence the name.

I started to become cocky with a beam stretching across my face, "Now use Fire Punch!"

Then, like a snowflake drifting in the mountain winds, a gentle voice whispered something. I couldn't make out the word, a single word was said and I couldn't figure it out. I was so engrossed in my attempts to make out what it was, who said it, I completely ignored the battle.

Hitmonchan was winding up his dominant hand as golden flames danced about his ruby glove. He let the swing go, all the power he could in one punch. A huge mouth dropped open and engulfed the entire arm, pointed white teeth sinking into Hitmonchan's shoulder pad, "---Chan?" his voice squeaked before noticing a pair of teal ears flicking above the mouth which had taken his arm, which was still connected.

Then, I followed back to the battle after hearing a shattering CRUNCH. Hitmonchan sucked in both of his lips in an act to hide his pain, failing as the sweat came down in buckets down his face. Soon he was screaming as the pain became too much of a burden. Some blood dripping down into the snow, making it no longer a pure white.

Like a Growlithe throwing out the bone, Snorlax rolled his neck around and tossed Hitmonchan back at me. My pokemon slid across the snow, far behind me and into the mountain's side, "Hitmonchan!" I cried out while watching the fighter stumbled back. His head had a large egg sized bump reaching up from where he rammed into the walls and with his good hand, he clutched his gargling wound where blood ran down his dark arm to match his boxing gloves.

From behind I heard a whooshing of snow about, the hair on the back of my neck rose in a way of telling me an enormous power was gathering. Faltering to glance back, my blood drained the color from my face. An auroral magenta mixed with a maize light that swallowed up Red's Snorlax. For a sluggish pokemon, when it took off I couldn't have kept up with him as he flew like a jet into Hitmonchan.

My fighting type was driven into the rocky mountain and continuously pounded into the wall. Once the pumbling was done, Snorlax fell back with a content grin as his stomach rose and fell- suddenly zoned out and asleep. Hitmonchan slid down the wall covered in scars with blood running around everywhere.

Now on both knees, Hitmonchan panted-- choking each breath. He looked at me, his left eye swollen shut as his right had blood dripping around. My pokemon gave me a smile, a few teeth missing before collapsing face first into the ground.

He would be sore for the next few days.

Shuffling out his capsule, I switched him out for Vaporeon. As he pounced from his pokeball, his leathery mermaid tail flicking about, Red had replaced his pokemon with a Venusaur. The grass-types frog shaped head shook around as his leaves shuttered. "Shit..." I cussed under my breath, If I switch out now then Pidgeot would be struck with an attack that would probably knock him out... But Venusaur are slow--- Wait, I forgot. I hacked up Venusaur's speed to make him one of the fastest on the team... He'd probably be able to dodge... I looked down at my Vaporeon who stared up at me with trust in his arrogant black pools.

A sacrifice pokemon to faint would force me to switch out, and give me the first move in the next round. I slipped back into a cold-as-stone thought process I held since the beginning. I'm sorry, but I have to win. I echoed mentally, but was I really? "Vaporeon, use Ice Beam!"

The aquatic responded by reeling back his powder blue shoulders, his fins quivered slightly. From the tip of his nose, a ball of ice spun into existence, before shooting like a cold lightning at the third-stage Kanto grass starter. I watched as Red pulled on the back of his hat, dark hair whipping slightly across his forehead like a paintbrush. His Venusaur understood the direction and pulled his front paws apart.

He bellowed a monstrous roar as the pokemon's kitten teeth were bared. From the earth under our feet shot up colossal pillars of thousands of intertwined vines. Each deep spring vine making up the tens of pillars were covered in hunter spikes. The Ice Beam was just like a mosquito running into the windshield of a car. The plant columns danced around for a bit before spiraling with a beautiful accuracy at Vaporeon.

My pokemon panicked, tripping around on his tail to stagger away. He was too slow, the sharp vines shot into him like arrows by the dozen. Scrapes that drew Vaporeon's blood wrapped around his entire body as the pillars all wrapped around his small body. He cried. Oh Arceus, his cries were so loud and stricken with agony. He was in so much misery.

When the vines took their leave, slithering away back into the ground which they came. This let Vaporeon drop from the air he was suspended in, once he hit the ground he couldn't even twitch his tail. In struggle to hide the guilt I felt, I swiftly called him back.

I watch Red send out his Blastoise, not wanting to keep battling with his Venusaur. Pushed in a corner, I could only send out Pidgeot because Vulpix would have been crushed. A wind from behind pushed his pokeball from my fingers and into the battle, his tawny wings spreading out as the gusts fluttered his feathers like angel wings.

Salmon mingling with a bright yellow line of feathers slinked around Pidgeot as he was prepared for battle. With a quick twist of his head and a chipper coo to me, Pidgeot resumed ready for battle. With a quick hand motion from Red, Blastoise's cannons swirled with an icy wind. Howling I remember from my battle with Blue. "Get out of here, Pidgeot!" I demanded quickly just as the Blizzard was broken out on us. My bird understood and shot up into the atmosphere, his wings slicking against his back until he was barely a blip in the sky. "Fly!" I shouted as loud as I possibly could, moments after my throat starting to feel very coarse.

My ideas of him being unable to hear my voice was promptly whisked away in the act of where Pidgeot descended rapidly like a falling rock. With a sudden jolt, both his wings ruffled out. He was a streak in my vision as I soared at Blastoise. But, like the kill-joy Red had become in this battle, he flicked his nose.

From the Blastoise's dual cannons and his mouth, water began to surge. Surge like ocean currents in the midst's of a hurricane. Hydro Cannon shot Pidgeot right down, one thundering into each wing and the final one striking his rib cage. Pidgeot fell like a stone, but not even half way through falling was Blastoise ready to attack again. A Flash Cannon this time, the dazzling steel lights glared, causing my own eyes to burn. The glistering beam exploded against my pokemon, leaving him just a mound which snow started to gather on.

Snow was gathering.

At the same time I was returning Pidgeot, very frustratingly I will also mention, I took note of the gentle flakes that begun to settle on my head; the flakes melted into my scalp and for a bit it was soothing. Then awfully cold.

Red of course did the same, as quiet as a church Rattata. I knew who was left on both sides. We sent out our pokemon and my spirits were sinking, though we weren't going to go out without a fight. That was a given.

Lapras vs. Vulpix

Red gave his order with a snap, damn that guy suddenly turned into a hell load of a cocky S.O.B. like Blue. I forced a grin quickly. The snow that fell around us suddenly was pulled into Lapras as she let out a lonely song like drone, her obsidian eyes reflecting the shards of frost.

A blizzard? Arceus, that kid has become too cocky at the end of this battle. I snarled to myself as I shot out an arm, "Alright Vulpix. This is our last stand, so use Fire Blast!"

The fire fox swished her crimson tails at me quickly before the hot flames began to perform a ballet close to her muzzle. Once the turmoil of ice and snow was thrusted upon into the battle, it was the same moment that Vulpix was able to fire though. She discharged the orb of fire out at the Lapras, the flames lapping into the kanji 大.

When the fire and ice became one, a cloud of steam filled the air, expanding across it started to tumble off the cliff-side. My vision was absconded with, but Red must have been able to see clearing. Because within I heard wails of the two pokemon. A lonely Lapras was sounding her battle cry as another Vulpix screamed with displeasure and agony.

Then it was silent.

It took a few minutes for the fog to dissipate. Red had already recalled his Lapras, leaving poor Vulpix furled up in a soaking wet ball. She showed signs of life, her body shook erratically as she let out shivering moans. The snow that fell became part of her wet clots of fur, which began to turn into frost. The battle was over and I rushed to her side, both of her beautiful eyes were scrunched shut and ice forming above them. I could barely stumble over to where she laid, and once I was there I collapsed beside her. My bare knees couldn't feel the cold compared to how much it hurt to see Vulpix slowly becoming a Popsicle.

I swept up the miserable creature into my arms, the sleeves of my jacket rustling her fur while I cradled the pokemon. Unable to know what was going on, Vulpix struggled, her puny paws pushing against my collar bone with a wavering strength, "Shhh..." I breathed my hot breath onto her folded ears. "It's okay. Everything will be okay. I'm right here, I won't leave," her floundering came to a halt, but her shaking persisted. Gently I stuck out my tongue and licked over top of her eyes. It was of course gross, but the heat of both my tongue and breath was enough to melt away what froze her eyes shut.

Her amber eyes gradually opened, though filled with tears that chilled. I gave her a broken smile and I gingerly brushed the back of her head, my fingers running though her frozen fur in an attempt to defrost it. "I'm," my own tears started to pour down my face, "Sorry... I'm so sorry, Vulpix." The voice I used cracked like glass. I pushed her head under my chin and into my neck. Both arms wrapped around her like a blanket as I let the water slip past her. "We weren't ready. I'm sorry. I wasn't ready. I'm sorry..."

We lost. I lost. I lost.

Then, like a castle after a horrible battle, it all came crashing down. I could no longer stop my tears even after returning Vulpix to her pokeball. Everything I was doing felt so wrong.

I was going to steal someone's Pokemon. (And they're only supply items keeping them alive on this mountain.)

So I could go home.

I wanted to go home so badly.

But even after, Red would still be banished to this frozen hell.

The only reason he was here was because of me.

He would never go home to his family.

And if I took his Pokemon,

he would really be alone.

How could I have tried to do something so cruel?

To leave someone alone. Alone. Always alone. Something I knew too well already, and now to get back to a life where I was so alone I was going to give someone the same fate. He--- Red would have never again seen the face of his mother, Professor Oak, or even Blue. If anyone ever comes up, it's an attempt to challenge him. Then they leave.

He is just used over and over. Hadn't I used him enough already?

Left in the cold silence of this mountain.

I was still sitting in the snow, my face now covered by my hands as I sobbed. I felt sickened with myself. I hated myself. What person would ever do that to another? "I'm sorry," I whispered. Something that felt so distance unzipped, then zipped back up. "I'm sorry," I repeated. Arceus, I was a horrible person. Selfish.

Crunch... Crunch.... Crunch...Crunch

The sound of faraway shoes stepping into the snow echoed in my mind as I mimicked myself, "I'm sorry. I am so sorry," my words were choked, spilling into one another and muffled by the palms of my hands. My breaths fell into each other, and my throat felt as if it were swelling shut, "Red," the steps stopped, "I'm sorry..."

The silence of the mountain was no longer, now it was just the sorrowful wails of a child who had finally found their wrongs. My entire body trembled with each heavy sob, my chest rattling as my tears flooded though my fingers. I hate myself. I hate myself. I hate myself. You're such an idiot Leaf. You couldn't even see such a simple thing. I sung to myself.

Breaking me from the spell I was under, a hand came down on my head. It was gentle though; an odd cloth or article was covering it and now fit around my head. I dragged my fingers softly down from my face, my eyes catching a white rim. A white rim that went around my entire head. I took my hand and spun it gently around what sat on my head, my hat... It was my hat.

I struggled to force my head to look up. To see the face of the one I, well, cheated. Red stood there over top of me, his deep eyes that I dreamily spent my days imagining were a hazel or chocolate brown, like my own. No, his lit up like two dazzling rubies, though they were softer as the red hues gazed at me. His mouth was smiling discretely, but it was obviously genuine.

And he said the first words I had ever heard the trainer ever utter so warmly, "It's okay."

He doesn't know.

He doesn't know...