Author's note:

Personally, I would recommend rereading the previous chapter before digging into this one, just to properly build up the tension. It was originally supposed to be one chapter but it got out of hand and I had to split it.

***

“Nina, look, there’s someone in front of the shrine…” Kerry pointed, her finger shivering from the biting winds.

In lieu of a response, Nina just let out a smirk and marched towards the stairs, eliciting a confused look from Kerry who she signalled not to follow with a raised hand.

When she took her first step up the stairs, the first thing that Nina felt was the pressure — a stifling, all encompassing aura that weighed down on her as she approached.

Nina groaned, her breath strained with a tightness in her chest. But the girl was undeterred. And with a forceful heave, Nina ascended the stairs, one step at a time, each heavier than the last. Her unseemly grunts and pants finally earned the attention of the figure she was aiming for as the man shifted ever so slightly.

The figure looked behind him, to glance at the fearless interloper who dared to approach his domain, his eyes cold and indifferent. And yet, Nina could feel the burden of his gaze, further compounding the strain of her gait.

The stubborn girl heaved and huffed, and with an unrelenting will, Nina finally made her way to the top, clothes drenched in sweat but with a brazen smile on her face as she confronted the living legend before her.

“Mister Red.” She greeted, but was met with only an oppressive silence in response.

Nina took in a deep breath, her lungs gasping for whatever smidgen of oxygen that was permitted to them as she expanded a Pokeball and thrusted it towards Red. Nina may not be a battle maniac, but she would be damned if she let such a precious opportunity pass her by.

No words were said and no words were needed as Red stirred once more, his face shifting into a stiff grin as a competitive light flared up behind his pupils, bringing them back to life. With slow, deliberate movements, like a reanimated statue, Red turned to face Nina, a weathered and worn Pokeball in his gloved hand, which he also expanded and thrusted towards the girl in response.

A tense silence fell between the two Pokemon Trainers as the stars shimmered and a veil of moonlight enveloped the space.

Nina dropped her Pokeball, prompting Red to do the same, summoning their respective partners onto the field with bright flashes of light.

“DRAGOOO!!!” Nitey emerged with a challenging roar, scales already gleaming an iridescent glow as he stomped his feet on the ground and glared at Nina’s opponents.

However, the Dragon Pokemon’s bravado did not last. Because what appeared by Red’s side was his imposing Charizard who emerged in a fury of flames — an incandescent blaze that somehow washed harmlessly over the wooden shrine behind him, showcasing the veteran Fire Pokemon’s perfect mastery over the element.

Both Nina and Nitey couldn’t help but shrink back a little at the Charizard’s silent glare. They felt fear and reverence in equal measure as an awe-inspiring aura dominated the tip of Mount Silver. Even Kerry, who was nowhere near the Charizard, collapsed onto the ground from her shaky knees.

All around the mountain, Pokemon stirred and cried out in a panic, while the elderly innkeepers who ran the inn at the halfway point and the small handful of guests they were hosting all jolted from their sleep and began shivering in fear.

“Holy Arceus… Did Red figure out a way to turn his Charizard into an Alpha?” 

And indeed, the legendary trainer’s Charizard was nearly double the size of his lesser kin, with scales almost as thick as an average roof tile and a flaming body covered in scars and bulging muscles. Even his tail flame was nearly the size of Nitey, burning so hot as to be tinged white near its core.

Then there was the aura, the unmistakable aura of an Alpha Pokemon — one which demanded absolute reverence and subservience. It took everything that Nina and Nitey had just to remain standing, a feat that seemed to have earned the respect of Red as the silent protagonist character gave them a nod of approval.

It did not stop a waterfall of sweat from pouring down Nina’s brow though, as she subconsciously compared the magnificent specimen before her with all the other Charizards she had encountered in the past — even that faux Mega Charizard Y who nearly killed her paled in comparison to Red’s. 

“And speaking of Megas… Is that a Charizardite on his bracelet?” The thought that the Alpha Charizard could get even more overpowered was enough to make the girl second guess this battle. But Nina just shook off her cowardice with a firm shake of her head and yelled for Nitey to prepare himself.

“DRAAA!!!” Nitey roared while flaring his Draconic aura to fight back against the Charizard’s oppressive domain. 

Beads of sweat continued to accumulate near the tip of Nina’s chin, until the tension broke and a single droplet fell to the ground, signalling the start of this battle, launching both Pokemon to the sky with a vicious roar.

With an ear piercing sonic boom, the earth quaked, conjuring a vortex of violent winds that were daunting enough to blow Nina off the mountain were it not for Nitey’s protection. Even the ancient shrine and the spirit gate nearly toppled over as they wobbled and creaked, the shrine’s bell chimes clanging in distress.

Nitey heaved, his chest bulged and glowed a purple light, which then spread throughout his body as he spun around in the air to empower himself with Dragon Type Energy.

“DRAGOOO!!!” 

And with another roar, the Dragonite unleashed a massive, supercharged Dragon Pulse towards Charizard. This was actually Nitey’s nascent Draco Meteor that he had been working on with Nina, but instead of letting it spread out like the move intended, he compressed all that destructive power in a single bolt of energy instead.

“Char!”

But rather than dodge, Charizard chose to take it head on with an amused glint in his eyes. A ball of flames converged in the Fire Pokemon’s gaping maw, which he then casually shot towards Nairy’s Draco Pulse, exploding it in a bright flare — bright enough to light up the night sky like the rising sun and be seen throughout both the regions neighbouring Mount Silver.

“DRAGOO!!!” 

The flames parted, pierced through by a meteoric orange silhouette that crashed into Charizard with a burst of Water and Dragon Type Energy.

Charizard grunted, but the impact barely fazed him as he held onto the diminutive figure of the Dragonite with his steel-like claws and began spinning mid-air. 

Nitey conjured a Twister to try and counter the spin, but it was all in vain under the flame Pokemon’s overwhelming might. And when Charizard’s momentum reached its peak, the champion Pokemon tossed Nitey into the air and primed a Fire Blast in his maw.

“Nitey, snap out of it!” The juvenile voice of Nitey’s partner echoed in his head as he was ragdolling through the air, just in time for him to meet the approaching blast of flame with a hastily conjured Hydro Pump.

The overwhelming tide of Fire barely parted upon impact with the jet of pressurized Water and converged again behind Nitey, engulfing the Dragonite in searing heat.

Down below, Nina clenched her fists in barely contained panic, trying desperately to rack her brain for a way out of this predicament. “Water Spout, Nitey! Insulate yourself!” She didn’t need to yell since Espy would help convey her intentions, but she did it out of frustration all the same.

“DRA!!!” 

The Mystic Water pendant attached to Nitey’s collar gleamed a brilliant blue as the Dragonite drew upon its Water Type Energy to invoke Whirlpool, combining it with Hurricane to form a vortex of water that cut through the sea of flames and shielded Nitey from the stifling heat.

“Drago… DRAGONITE!!!” Nitey cried out in exertion, trying his best to maintain the rapidly diminishing Water Spout in face of his opponent’s seemingly never ending supply of Fire Type Energy.

“Draco Meteor, Nitey! Blast through the flames!” An image appeared in Nitey’s mind, that of a shotgun punching countless holes through a target. Not that the Dragonite knew what a shotgun was, but he understood the idea all the same.

“DRAGOOO!!!” 

With a loud roar, Nitey mustered the last of his energy reserves and unleashed a wide spread of condensed Draconic energy towards the source of the Fire, the crackling bolts of purple punched through the flames and impacted against Red’s Charizard with an annoyed grunt.

The Draco Meteorites that didn’t hit their mark streaked through the night sky like a shower of shooting stars, illuminating the darkness with radiant purple light. It was an almost mesmerizing sight, were it not for the worry about causing unwanted collateral damage in some distant land. Fortunately, the potency of each energy bolt was weakened by Charizard’s inordinately dense Fire Blast, allowing them to fizzle out before they made landfall.

Nina sighed, neither she nor Nitey harbored any hopes of winning this. But they would be damned if they left without making an impression. “Time for a last hurrah, Nitey!”

“DRAAA!!!”

A kaleidoscope of Type Energy converged around the orange Dragon; Water, Electric, Flying, Fire, Dragon — Nitey was putting everything that he knew on the line, harnessing every ounce of power available to him as he glared at the haughty Charizard who was just casually hovering in the air, patiently awaiting the Dragonite’s final push.

Nina pumped her fist in the air and glared at the stoic figure of Red in front of her. “We won’t let them get away with going easy on us, Nitey! LET’S GOOOO!!!”

“Drago! DRAGONIIITE!!!”

Nitey rushed towards Charizard with Extreme Speed, slamming into the pseudo-Dragon in a colorful burst of Type Energy as the two continued plummeting towards the earth in a fiery blaze.

“Char! CHARIZAAARD!!!”

With a powerful flex of Charizard’s massive wings, he pushed back against Nitey, diminishing their momentum before unceremoniously crashing against the side of Mount Silver, causing the entire mountain to quake violently in the aftermath.

Nina collapsed onto the ground after feeling the severance of the invisible bond that she shared with Nitey. The girl sighed and conceded defeat, she could tell that Nitey had fainted in exhaustion after that final attack. 

“Question is, how do I get my tubby Dragon back?”

However, right as Nina had that thought, she fell onto her ass from a powerful gale as Charizard returned, landing with a forceful flap of his wings. The Charizard was holding an unconscious Dragonite in his arms, which he gently laid onto the ground.

Nina cackled like a madwoman, the thrill of her most recent battle finally catching up to her. “Thanks, Charizard! You were great out there!”

***

“So err… you come up here a lot?”

“...”

“N-nice weather today, huh?”

“...”

Nina looked towards Kerry who was helping to Revive Nitey some distance away, then back again at Red’s imposing Alpha Charizard whilst awkwardly shuffling her feet in front of the former Champion.

“Charizard is super impressive!”

“...”

“Mind if I pet him and feed him Berries?”

Red looked down at the chatty little girl in front of him, holding his gaze for an uncomfortably long time, before finally responding with a stiff nod.

Nina cheered internally, glad to finally get a response from the stoic protagonist. “Here Charizard, I got all sorts of Berries right here. What sort of flavors do you like?”

The Fire Lizard did not seem to be picky with food because he just stared at the colorful Berries in his claw and tossed them into his maw, chewing slowly and intently with his eyes closed to savor the cornucopia of juice and pulp gracing his palate.

Nina giggled and caressed the Charizard’s scales in fascination, using her fingers to trace the deep grains that formed the coarse orange surface.

“Wow…” The girl awed as she revelled in the pulsating heat running through Charizard’s bulbous muscles and the sparkling embers dancing beneath the surface, visible even through his thick and hardy exterior — as if the pseudo Dragon was wearing chainmail woven from the very essence of Fire itself.

“How…?” Nina asked, no longer feeling as nervous in the thralls of wonderment. “How have you managed to turn your Charizard into an Alpha? What method did you use? Does Professor Oak know about this?”

The girl turned towards the protagonist with a severe gaze, only to receive the usual silence in return.

“Does it have something to do with the shrine? Why are you here so often? Even in the games…” The last part was said in a barely contained whisper as Nina looked towards the structure in question, looking ancient and worn yet still standing strong even after such a harrowing battle.

Red’s eyes came to life with a sharp glint as he once again beheld the girl before him. Then, with a stiff and deliberate motion, he pointed towards the shrine and said;

“Seek… the final… piece.”

Nina jolted at the sudden response. The man’s voice was deep and gravelly, containing within a seemingly profound lethargy and aged weariness.

“W-What does that mean?”

However, before she could get another response, Red snapped his head up in attention as he narrowed his eyes and glared into the distance, as if sensing the approach of an unwelcome presence.

Then, just as abruptly as he spoke, Red climbed onto the back of his Charizard with a shocking amount of agility and flew off without a word, leaving Nina just standing there with her mouth agape like an idiot.

***

Author's note:

I tried to convey the feeling I felt when I first encountered Red in the original Gold and Silver games.

That oppresive silence, the slow walk up the stairs. And the mute protagonist awaiting atop the pinnacle.

I think anyone who grew up playing those games in that era could probably relate. That euphoria from knowing that the protagonist you raised now stood as the peak for the next generation to surmount.

Anyways, did I do Red justice? Only you guys can judge.