[Pokémon] Made It

Written for week 20 of the Flash Fiction Challenge: Together.


Her breaths were deep and ragged. Leaning on the wooden cane, she watched the girl setting up the tent. Snow was falling across the mountain, catching in the girl's long brown hair and collecting on white peak of her red cap.

"Do you need any help, dear?" The words were a rasp.

"No thanks, Grandma. You just rest."

She shivered. "I'm going on ahead. I'll meet you up there, Sienna."

Sienna stopped, frowning. "Are you sure? I can-"

The old woman waved a pokéball in her direction "I'll be fine, child. Dancer is with me."

Tossing it in the air, she released the great bird in a flash of white. The pidgeot cawed and bent its head to her. She stroked it, careful not to pull any of the fading feathers away. With a heave, she climbed to its back, almost falling into the plumage.

"Grandma, I-"

"I'm okay, Sienna. Calm down." She inhaled, held it, and then breathed out. "I'm fine. Put the tent up. Don't worry." She patted Dancer on his flank. "You know where we are. Take us to the top."

The pidgeot took a running start, then spread his wings and jumped from the mountainside. He wavered for a moment, dropping in the air, but then beat his wings and propelled himself forward.

"Good boy, Dancer. We can do this. Not far now."

A buffet of wind rocked the pidgeot and he rolled to side, the old woman clung to him with her knees. They ached with the effort.

"The ledge, there." She leaned to point.

Dancer dove, skidding to the stone below with screech of his talons. The old woman dismounted, and stretched her creaking limbs.

"We're here." The stone monument was a few metres away. It was tall, and hewn from the mountain itself. "Sorry to not take the long way round this time."

The letters carved into the monolith were square and matter-of-fact:

CHAMPION OF THE POKÉMON LEAGUE,
GIOVANNI'S DOWNFALL,
FRIEND,
HUSBAND,
FATHER.
RED,
MAY YOU REST IN PEACE.


She opened another pokéball and released a pikachu whose yellow fur was turning grey. He shivered in her arms, but looked at the monument, blinking.

"Chu."

Bright sun broke open the darkness and fresh air cut away at the damp smell of the cave.

"C'mon, Leaf! We're here, we've made it!"

They stepped out of the black, winding passage they'd been following onto a wide ledge. Kanto and Johto were laid out to the east and west.

"It's like… A really detailed town map."

Red laughed. "You would say something like that."

The wind whipped up her long hair and threatened to steal her hat.

She pointed, "Tohjo falls is in that direction. They really need a bridge-"

He took her hand, and the touch sent one million butterfree fluttering out of her stomach and through her mouth. He removed his hat to stop it blowing away.

"We made it Leaf, we made it here."

"Obviously. Professor Oak's favourite, aren't you?" He gave her a sideward glance and her mouth curved into a half-smile.

"What do we do now?"

Before answering, Leaf took a moment to think. Then she took Red's other hand, turning him to face her. "Whatever we want."

Standing at the top of Mount Silver, Leaf kissed Red for the first time.

Her chest felt tight, the tears ran down her face. She wiped them away with the back of her hand and shook her head. "Oh Leaf, you silly fool. You never cry."

Leaf heard wingbeats behind her, and Dancer's gentle call as it greeted another pokémon. She straightened herself, tried to regain composure before turning around. Jumping from the back of her noctowl, her granddaughter joined her on the ledge. She'd tied her hair back into a ponytail.

"I don't know that it's right you being up here without going through the cave, Sienna."

She smiled. "One day, grandma." She scratched the pikachu between the ears.

Sienna walked to the monument and tapped the cap on her head. She kneeled, and said something quiet. Leaf fished a small piece of paper out of her pocket.

"I have something for you."

The girl turned, eyebrows raised. Leaf felt the knot in her throat. She looks so much like him when she does that. She handed her granddaughter the paper.

"A phone number?"

Leaf beckoned Dancer and leaned on him, sighing. "How many badges do you have?"

"Three."

"Who do you travel with?"

"Just my pokémon."

Leaf smiled and nodded to the paper. "Call him. You shouldn't do it alone. It's much better with someone by your side."

The sun was setting, and three people sat on a ledge at the top of Mount Silver, two regions beneath them.

"Left me with a horde of golbat to fight off." Blue grumbled as he tore into a bread roll.

"I can handle this." Red mimicked his tone. "Run on ahead."

Leaf rolled her eyes. "Boys," she chided.

They were silent for a while. Blue lay back and absorbed the sun. Red did the same, and pulled his cap over his eyes.

"Hear about the trouble they had in Hoenn?" Blue said it through a yawn. "Someone our age stopped some deranged madman from flooding the entire world."

Red stretched his arms above his head. "We stopped Team Rocket from… What were they doing exactly?"

"Exploiting pokémon, stupid. Honestly-"

"Ever been to Hoenn? Either of you?" Leaf interjected. Neither responded in the affirmative. "Fancy it?"

Blue sat up. "Bet I get beat the champion before Red. Again."

Red pulled his cap up. "Game on, Oak."

Snow was no longer falling. Sienna was wrapping her hair round a finger.

"Time to go." Leaf gazed at the monument. "See you soon, darling."


Writing this has made me incredibly attached to Grandma Leaf. ;_;

It reads like a prologue to Sienna's story, doesn't it? I'm not sure how well it works as self-contained flash-fiction.