Chapter Text
Mesagoza was too loud, too noisy. There were so many people, young and old, thronging the streets and going about their days. Each with their own agenda, own conversations, creating an underlying bustle to Mesagoza that Pallet Town would never be able to match.
He wasn’t exactly sure how he had landed himself in such a crowded hub.
Mesagoza had been the furthest from Kanto that he could get on the flights available, rivalled only by Kalos and Galar, yet what had drawn him to Paldea had been the vast expanses of wilderness that it was storied to be home to. The thousands of miles that lay between Paldea and wider Ransei didn’t hurt, either.
Were those eyes on him?
Red’s skin crawled at the phantom sensation of prying gazes, his own eyes darting around to the people nearest to him. He was fairly certain it was his imagination – in Mesagoza, Red didn’t stand out because of his age. Anyone looking at him moved on quickly, a curious Ranseigo child just one of the many school-age children in the city that hosted the world’s largest academy.
Red would never have been able to go to school.
And he would never have been able to stay in Mesagoza.
Nor any other settlement, either, as he found when he took a flying taxi to Medali. On the map, Medali had seemed like a town on par with Lavender Town, but what he found was something more akin to Vermillion City. High-rise buildings, an underlying clamour that rivalled Mesagoza’s, and despite the wide-open wilderness that surrounded the town, the streets themselves were claustrophobically crowded.
It was too much.
Pikachu chirped softly into his ear from his perch on Red’s shoulder, but he couldn’t–
He couldn’t.
He needed to find somewhere emptier. Somewhere that nobody could think to look for him. His gaze, inevitably, turned upwards.
In the distance, a snowy mountain loomed. It brought to mind rumours of Mt. Silver, in the Johto region of Ransei, and of the whispers that it was barred to all but the most skilled trainers. In a different timeline, if he hadn’t thought to get halfway across the world first, perhaps he would have ended up there.
But Glaseado Mountain was more than an adequate substitute.
There were a few buildings near the peak, but those within eyesight appeared abandoned and the east side of the mountain was completely barren.
Alone at the top of Glaseado Mountain, only his first partner Pokémon by his side, Red – for the first time since his defeat of Blue at the Indigo League – breathed.
A spherical squawking creature rolled into his campsite on his second day of being in Paldea.
He had never seen anything like it.
They were far enough away from civilisation that he couldn't see any more signs of life than far-off bonfires, clouds of smoke settling low over the distant silhouettes of vegetation. The wind’s howls as it whipped freely over barren plains were so disparate from the whistles between the buildings of Mesagoza and Medali, and a side effect of the untamed expanse was the sheer amount of wild Pokémon.
Fortunately, this one seemed benign enough.
It landed itself upside down. Red did his best to turn it around, but ended up having to roll it further, the Pokémon being far too heavy for him to lift.
Now that it was the right way around, its features were easier to make out. Large eyes and an even larger mouth, with somewhat short limbs relative to the size of the rest of its body. Pastel pink highlights seemed to be its only other defining colour, other than the snowy colour that comprised most of its fur, and Red realised – when the pokéball’s distance-triggered auto-recall kicked in – that it had managed to accidentally catch itself.
Red looked down at the Pokémon.
His new Pokémon looked back, wide, pleading eyes staring straight back.
As if a harsh lashing from the icy wind had managed to penetrate his clothing, his heart panged.
It was like staring down into Charmander’s eyes for the first time, before he had been a troublesome Charmeleon, long before he had evolved into the powerhouse Charizard that had helped him take down the Elite Four… and Blue.
Not for the first time since he had left for Paldea, his thoughts strayed back to his old team. His departure had been hasty, too hasty; the only reason Pikachu had come along for the ride was because they weren’t ever separated.
Yet now, with a new Pokémon staring him down, his heart ached for the ones he’d left behind.
Now, it was far too late.
And though the choice to leave had been hasty, the tension that had rubber-banded until it snapped and propelled him away from his home region had been building for a long time.
His return to Pallet Town had been expected, kind platitudes and crashing adrenaline granting him a few days of reprieve. Then the fanfare had begun.
The attention. The media.
All at once, the spotlight that he hadn’t seen waiting in the wings had turned on, that final battle twisted into a spectacle for consumption rather than the culmination of years of silent struggling. The light had shone down on him, blindingly, unrelenting and uncaring of the way that he cringed back away from its careless gaze.
They had exposed the parts of him that he had so determinedly buried, dragged them out of him, his records, his neighbours; his personal history crystallised into just another pretty sculpture on the mass media’s store shelves.
Red hadn’t come to Paldea intending to battle.
He’d come in search of an epilogue, a respite– but another companion might have a role to play.
Pokémon, after all, didn’t bear the complexities that he struggled to deal with in other humans. They had been there for him when nobody else had been, and they were safe in a way that humans hadn’t felt like for a long time.
Leaning down, Red patted the round Pokémon on its head.
Much to his dismay, after the first two days, he quickly found his supplies running out. His new Pokémon ate far more than expected, and the rations that he had brought for himself and Pikachu had been unable to keep up.
Though he wasn’t devoid of solutions. The money he’d earned from battling his way through the region, the League Challenge, and Team Rocket, was more than enough to support a family for a lifetime, three times over.
Money was useless in the wilderness, but he wasn’t the only person to have ventured this far up the mountain.
So on the third day, Red found himself trudging his way through the heavy snowfall towards the town that he’d seen in the distance when he had initially been scaling the mountain.
There was a Pokémon Centre and a tall, sleek Gym building, but the rest of the town of Montenevera was thatched cottages and the like – buildings that Red had only ever seen in movies before. The sun still rose early enough and set somewhat late at this time of the year, so its rays were gleaming off the snow and sending sparkling sunspots dancing across his vision.
The whole town seemed to glow from his vantage point just on its borders, the picture of serenity.
It was nothing like home.
Pikachu grumbled at his too-long pause, chittering as the lack of movement let the cold creep in and begin to start nipping at their extremities again. When he scrunched up his face in return, Pikachu only mimicked him. Red rolled his eyes.
Even so, he began to path his way down to the town soon enough.
When he found his way down to street-level, the sounds of the townspeople going about their lives became a lot more audible. The noise seemed to be enclosed within the town proper, walled in by Glaseado Mountain itself.
Despite the harsh conditions, there were children laughing, bell-like, in the town’s square. Each of them was bundled up in woolly sweaters and thick scarves, some sort of fur lining their boots and cheeks rosy, but all wearing smiles that stretched ear-to-ear. The parents watching over them gazed upon their children with fond indulgence, the kind that Red’s own mother had used to wear.
He hadn’t seen her in a while.
Turning away, Red headed towards the Pokémon Centre.
“Hola!” The nurse greeted cheerfully, turning around at the sound of his footsteps. “Woah– What are you doing up here dressed like that?”
Red looked down at his clothes.
The snow that had settled on his trousers was now melting, leaving dark stains and uncomfortably wet patches that were slowly leeching heat away from his body. Other than that, his clothing was… the same as he’d always worn.
With the addition of a cheap autumn coat from Celadon Department Store, of course.
It wasn’t very thick, but it… sort of did the job.
“You’ve got to be freezing!” The nurse exclaimed.
Red shrugged.
He wordlessly held out a wad of cash, pointing to the display’s Potion, Ice Heal, and Poké Doll. An Escape Rope would also have been helpful, but this Pokémon Centre didn’t seem to stock those.
The nurse took his non-response in stride – although her brow furrowed slightly – taking his money and shouting across the open-air Pokémon Centre to a man crouched just behind the shop counter.
At the nurse’s shout, the man stood up, banging his head on the countertop with a groan. He muffled a curse. In one hand, he held an Repel, in the other, a piece of paper that he was squinting at as if it held the secrets to the universe. He put both of them down on the countertop to rub his head with a wince.
“Sorry about the delay.” He apologised, “Got an audit coming up soon. Welcome to the Poké Mart! What exactly are you after?”
Like any other time he’d tried to force his vocal cords to make the sounds that he wanted, Red’s mouth opened for a moment, fruitlessly, before closing again. His breath misted into the air, precious warmth escaping with nothing to show for it.
More resigned than frustrated, he instead pointed the Potion, holding up five splayed fingers with his left hand. Then he repeated the process with the Ice Heal – three – and the Poké Doll – just one, for his new Pokémon.
The man working the Poké Mart got the idea. He gathered the items and placed them on the countertop, and they were soon joined by his change and a receipt after the nurse calculated the total cost. Gratefully stowing them in his bag, Red inclined his head in thanks, before turning to figure out where Pikachu had run off to.
Pikachu, it turned out, had found a old woman to talk to. He was chittering away at the indulgent lady while she cheerfully responded, the double language barrier not stopping either of them.
At his approach, she turned and asked him a question in what must have been Paldean, the language flowing with a different musicality than what he was used to. Red wondered how exactly to convey his lack of understanding to her before she repeated the question, this time in Ranseigo.
“Are you this Pikachu’s trainer?” She asked.
Red nodded, relieved.
“He’s a sweet little one,” She said cheerfully. “One of my friends lived out in Alola a few years ago, and she loved telling us stories about how Pikachu would zap berries that fell from the tree in her backyard! I’ve never seen one myself, but yours is so talkative, isn’t he?”
Red blinked at her. At a loss for words, as he usually was, he just nodded again.
She turned the full force of her smile on him, then – just like the Pokémon Centre nurse – looked him over and blanched.
“Young man–”
He didn’t know what his face did, but her voice softened.
“You must be cold.”
Red shrugged.
“Why don’t I show you to Montenevera’s winter wear shop?” The old woman said gently. “You’re not the first to show up here unprepared for the weather.”
Pikachu twined himself up Red’s legs and onto his shoulder in a few practiced motions, chirrupping in his ear.
Red frowned back at him, but Pikachu was unrelenting.
His clothing wasn’t that bad.
“Students from the academy are the worst offenders.” She went on, crows feet crinkling. “Especially when the academy’s Treasure Hunt is in season.”
Pikachu swatted the side of his face.
It seemed that the decision had been made for him.
The woman chuckled as she caught the put-out expression on Red’s face as he nodded to her, pulling Pikachu off his shoulder and into his arms. “Come along, then.”
Phoebe introduced herself as she lead the way to the shop. She was retired, but before that, she had worked as a Gym facilitator. In this region, she explained, League Challengers needed to pass a Gym test before taking on the Gym in question.
“Prevents people from overwhelming the gym leaders,” she chuckled, eyes twinkling, “though we haven’t had one at Glaseado in a while.”
Hm?
“I’m not referring to the Montenevera Gym,” Phoebe continued, Pikachu asking the question for him. “There’s another Gym compound on the southern side of the mountain, a little higher up. It’s not been used since Gym Leader Juan moved to Hoenn. I heard the man took over the Sootopolis Gym over there – a different kind of mountain entirely.”
Red didn’t know much about Hoenn, but he nodded along as if he understood.
Montenevera wasn’t that large, and so they arrived at the shop shortly, without fanfare.
“Here you go,” Phoebe said cheerily. “Make sure to pick well! Irene’s store sells clothing that’ll last you decades – I should know!” She gestured to her snow trousers.
Red looked down at his own trousers. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to part with them – they had been a gift from his mother, and he had already had to part with his cap because it was too identifiable. He settled on just buying a warmer coat.
Digging deep into his bag, by way of a thank you, Red wordlessly passed her a bag of Stardust. He’d picked it up in Mt. Moon, and like most of the trinkets he’d accumulated throughout his journey, he’d forgotten it was in his bag when he departed.
She cooed at him, then over PIkachu – who endured it a lot better than he did – before waving goodbye.
After waving back, Red turned and pushed the shop door open.
Inside, he could feel his ears slowly warming up, his nose burning as it suddenly had to deal with warm air after acclimatising to Glaseado’s sub-zero temperatures. It was autumn, but Glaseado’s altitude lent itself to cooler temperatures and thinner air both. The all-purpose waterproofs he’d worn throughout his Kanto journey had not been intended to be used in conditions this harsh, and the autumn coat only helped so long as he kept moving.
His eyes skimmed over the options in the shop, but his prior experience was limited at best. Most of his clothes had been picked by other people or had been recommendations by salespeople that he had taken at face value. Unsure of what to do, he hovered for a little longer than socially acceptable.
Pikachu helped him out. Leaping off Red’s shoulder and over to the coats section, he nosed through fluffy coat after fluffy coat until he cheerfully tugged at a yellow one.
It wasn’t quite the colour of Pikachu’s fur, a lighter cream, but it was still complementary – they would make a good pair. He looked at the other options before selecting it, because Pikachu couldn’t decide everything for him, but one glance at the other options – a mix of eye-wateringly and painfully monochrome choices – made Pikachu’s choice the one he went with.
He brought it to the counter.
“Good afternoon!” The woman, presumably Irene, said. She was filling in a crossword puzzle at the counter, and most importantly, had taken one look at him before greeting him in Ranseigo. “Is this all you’re after?”
Red went to nod, only to feel that the ice that had settled on his shoes – what little that hadn’t melted to slush through direct contact with his body heat – had finally succumbed to the central heating of the shop, resulting water turning his trainers into unpleasantly squelchy sponges.
Sheepishly, he shook his head.
Returning to the counter moments later, he put a pair of boots with fur trim that matched his new coat atop it.
“The blue snow boots?” Irene put her pen down, setting the crossword aside. “Good choice! Both these boots and the coat are lined with Mareep wool, which will keep you warm even with the temperatures on Glaseado Mountain. Will it be LP or PokéDollars?”
In response, Red pulled out the cash that he kept on him once more.
Five minutes later, he walked out of the store, down a significant chunk of his money – but also significantly warmer.