A/N1: I'd like to note that in my imagining of the pokémon world, Christianity as a religion no longer exists. Therefore "Christmas" in this fic is merely a name for a occasion that has outlived its original purpose. I am not trying to promote Christianity above other religions, rest assured.

-x-

A Very Silvery Christmas - Chapter I

-x-

Gold shivered and stopped to tie his yellow scarf tighter around his neck. His mum had sent it to him, when he had told her he was permitted the entry to Mt. Silver and that he'd be exploring the place in a few days.

"Oh, but it's so cold there! I only hope you have a proper jacket," his mother had sighed into the phone, before starting a rant about dressing warmly as the pre-teen boy had listened helplessly. In the end, she had decided it was necessary for her to send a scarf and a pair of gloves for her adventuring boy to wear. Gold had been embarrassed―he was off all on his own, he didn't need his mother's… well, mothering―but had accepted the clothes with a simple murmured thanks.

Now, as he was wading through the snow that came halfway up his shin, he felt eternally grateful for the gift. The snow on the mountain was different from the snow he was familiar with. It was different from the powder that would sometimes fall in New Bark only to melt after a day. It was different from the snow in Ice cave, the one he swore was blue and was endlessly mirrored from the ice that covered the walls and frozen underground lakes.

This snow—this snow was harsh, unforgiving. It wouldn't let him move forward, but it wouldn't let him turn back either. Gold sneezed and after some ten seconds the typhlosion following in his footsteps mimicked the action, though with much more force. Gold smiled apologetically at his trusty companion. The big fire pokémon disliked the cold, but at least it couldn't get cold like Gold could.

And he not only could get cold, he was cold—freezing his ass, and several other parts of his body, off. Time after time he would start shivering uncontrollably and would have to stop walking in fear of falling over. Whenever he ceased his step, Typhlosion would let out a worried growl and trudge closer to him. After a moment of leaning against the large, almost hot, creature he could continue, feeling contently warm for a while afterwards.

The craziest thing in the whole deal was that he actually didn't even know why he was there. Yeah, he'd been there for a couple of days already, mostly a bit, or completely, lost. He'd walked and walked and crawled and ran and battled pokémon so strong that he hadn't even imagined such monsters could exist. He was thoroughly exhausted, suffering from frostbite and more than a little grumpy.

And all because of what? Nothing! Nothing at all, except professor Oak's words and some wild rumors and odd what-nots with no real meaning. Damn, if he'd ever deserved a cup of something hot and a comfy bed to curl and fall asleep in, it was now. And right now, it was the most unlikely to happen. The last time he'd slept under an actual roof had been when he'd left the deserted, save for the old nurse, pokécenter two days before.

He kicked a snowy lump, which proved to be a stone when his toe hit it rather painfully. He cursed aloud and Typhlosion made a noise, as if it was saying: no use little human, no use. Gold knew it was no use, he knew it full-well, better than anyone, but he was just so tired and cold and so very sick of the snow that clung to him and refused to let him go. Groaning with frustration he threw his head back and closed his eyes. Maybe if he stood there for a while and pretended he was somewhere sunny and warm the blasted whiteness would disappear.

Instead, he felt something soft and cold land on his nose. He slowly opened one eye and confirmed that, yes, it really had started snowing. He suppressed the urge to cry.

From the previous night, Gold knew that he would have to find some shelter, as the peacefully falling flakes would morph into a heavy blizzard. He looked around with worry nagging on his mind. They were pretty high up, and the occasional caverns had become more and more seldom as they'd climbed higher. It would've been blind-luck if he'd found any just by standing there ogling around. He sighed, not wanting to let fear overcome his determination. They'd simply have to keep moving forward, there was no other way. He enthusiastically stomped the first few steps, before his legs grew tired and he once more resorted back to slowly wading through the snow.

-x-

They went on and on without finding a cavern or anything else that could've been used as a shelter, and gradually the weather got worse. A strong wind blew snow on Gold's face and the pokémon behind him was growling with discomfort every two seconds. The young trainer tried his best to soothe the beast, to reassure it that they was going to be okay, but it was a futile attempt. Of course it was, when he couldn't reassure even himself. In the end he had to return the nervous typhlosion into its ball and go on without the company.

Gold thought about his options, as he waded on. His toes and fingers were numb from the cold, and he could hardly see in front of him for the storm. Flying away wasn't an option in this weather, not with his exhausted pokémon. There wasn't anywhere he could rest and spend the night and he would probably die of hypothermia on the god-forsaken mountain—alone.

He smiled bitterly at the thought, but moved forward nevertheless. He was an optimist by nature―even this seemingly helpless situation couldn't change that. He only pushed on harder, distracting his mind from the immediate danger.

He recalled his journey, how it had begun 11 months ago when he had only just been turning 15. He remembered how he'd felt real mature and like he already knew it all, turning fifteen and being allowed to go off on his own. Of course he could've started younger, his mom most likely would've signed the necessary permits, but he'd wanted to wait until he could feel truly independent. Now he was soon turning 16 and he kinda felt smaller than ever. The world was big, he had realized during his traveling time. He'd never know it all, but he would definitely try to see as much as he could.

Given that he could get down from this mountain.

Then he thought about the people he knew, subconsciously listing all the people who'd maybe miss him if he were to disappear now on this mountain. First off, there was mum. She was always so nice and beautiful and Gold really did love her. He had often wondered if she was doing okay, had been doing okay without him around all year. Of course he had called her, nearly every day in fact, but still it wasn't the same as waking up every morning under the same roof.

What about Lyra? He had known the girl since they'd been toddlers, and they were really good friends. He idly wondered if her marill had evolved, or if anything fun had happened to her since they last saw each other in Celadon City. That had been a long time ago, and though the girl had phoned him several times after, he kind of missed her cheery voice and smiling face.

Then there was Kris: Kris with her crazy hair and amazing meganium. He'd never actually met her before they both showed up at professor Elm's laboratory on the same day to get their first pokémon. In the beginning, Gold had felt kinda nervous in her company, humble in the way his mum had taught him to be around girls, but soon enough he'd realized that she would be a great friend, nothing more. And truly, Kris was wonderful, not as up-beat as Lyra but somehow similar, at least in Gold's opinion. They'd run into each other on various occasions during their adventures, and she had been loads of fun to hang out with.

Talking of running into people, Gold was suddenly reminded of one more person. It wasn't like he'd forgotten about him, no, more like he'd long since pushed the thought of him to the back of his head.

Silver—his rival on the route to becoming the best trainer in the region and beyond it.

The boy had come such a long way since the day Gold had found him lurking around the lab in New Bark, about to go off and steal a totodile. They'd battled each other many times, Gold always managing to pull the longer straw. Silver was ever as furious―blaming him of cheating, blaming his pokémon, and blaming himself too. But the last couple of times had been different; the red-haired boy was changing somehow, for the better. Gold liked to think it was because of him, because of his relentless endeavor at making Silver understand what raising pokémon was really about. In truth, it probably wasn't because of him at all. He'd learnt from Kris a couple of weeks ago that she and Silver had traveled together for a few months in Kanto.

Maybe the crude boy was just crushing on Kris, and therefore trying to become a better person in order to impress her?

Gold made a face. He could almost see what kind of kids the two would have―one side of their hair blue and the other bright red. He chuckled tiredly―it wouldn't work for those two. Besides, he knew that Kris was far too weird for Silver. She was calm and a bit boyish, but had some weird quirks of her own. Like reading crappy romance novels just so she could write down her own comments on the side of the page, and buying all her clothes from the flea market cause she wanted to save the planet. Silver couldn't care less for the planet.

Gold was getting sleepy by then, but he knew he couldn't lie down. He couldn't fall asleep because if he did, he definitely would die. So he continued occupying his mind with thoughts other than sleeping.

Yeah, Silver didn't care about the world. He didn't much care for anything else either, except mocking Team Rocket above everyone else―but Gold didn't really blame him for that, given his father and how the douche had more or less abandoned him once things went awry. That was a deep scar for someone to bear alone, and easily explained Silver's general distrust in humanity.

Yet, Gold smiled as he remembered, when they'd last met on Mt. Moon, the boy had spoken in a much kinder way than his usual I-detest-everyone-and-especially-you manner. And it had seemed like he'd taken better care of his pokémon too. When he'd lost, he hadn't even snapped; he'd just calmly taken the results as they were. And when Gold had run after him once he'd started heading towards the Pokémon center, they'd had a real talk, not just an argument.

It wasn't the first time they'd talked, since once before they'd even spent the night in the same room at crammed pokécenter in Celadon―that being the time Silver had finally revealed his father to be Giovanni. Still, Gold had a feeling that it was the first time both of them had truly and thoroughly enjoyed the conversation. He remembered it like yesterday. After all, it was one of his greatest achievements.

It was weird, really. He couldn't stop wondering about the boy. Not in a creepy obsessive way, but rather like a worried friend. They weren't really friends―if only because Silver most likely hated his guts― but Gold still couldn't find it in himself to dislike his rival. If he was honest, he rather liked the snappy boy. He was extraordinary, one of a kind. Gold knew he wasn't a bad person, his past just made him act all tough. Beneath his core he was probably lost and confused and a bit scared. And the way Silver would pretend he didn't care when he so obviously did… Gold really wanted to get to know him better. He really wanted to become Silver's friend, become someone more important to him than whatever he already was, and tell him that he wasn't alone, not like he believed to be.

His mind was turning sluggish as he wondered on about his rival. Slowly but surely his steps became more and more sluggish until he stopped walking altogether. He was puzzled about it when he noticed―why had he stopped? Then his feet buckled underneath him, and he thought: oh, that's why.

Before darkness took him he might've seen a flash of red, and that reminded him of Silver. He smiled tiredly and could see no more.

-x-

When he woke up, everything was a strange swirl of gray and blue with the light hue of orange mixed in it. He blinked once, twice, but the picture didn't get much clearer and he groaned as pain hit his body. His forehead was on fire, his eyes hurt and his feet were sore… actually he couldn't think of a place in his body that didn't hurt. For some minutes he just laid there, coping with the pain and willing it away, until it dawned on him: he was alive and he wasn't cold. He tried opening his eyes again.

This time it worked, and the picture cleared from the edges of his vision until he could make out his surroundings. He was in a cave, and in quite a large one at that―he couldn't see the entrance anywhere, nor could he feel the mountain breeze like he had during the previous nights he'd spent in caves. There must've been a fire somewhere near him—he couldn't move his head to see, but he could hear the silent crackling of it and the orange light was obviously caused by a fire. That explained the wonderful warmth that had enveloped him. Gold sighed contently—he didn't know where exactly he was or how he'd gotten there, but at least he wasn't outside dying in the blizzard.

Some ten minutes passed and his thought begun to make sense. He was becoming more awake and aware every passing second. His mind had just realized his stomach's dire need for food and hunger was nagging at his brain relentlessly. Soon it became impossible to ignore and so he turned to his side in the process of trying to get up. That's when he saw a boy he didn't know.

The boy was sitting on a pillow by a small coffee table—table? Here?—and reading something. He looked older than Gold himself, maybe around eighteen or nineteen. He had jet black hair that was short, but definitely longer and tidier than Gold's own. He was dressed in a red and white jacket and worn jeans, and his face bore an unreadable expression of indifference. Next to him, a pikachu was sleeping on the table.

As if he had sensed Gold's stare, the boy looked up. He had reddish brown eyes that looked… well, dead, really. Gold was reminded of a fish. He had those eyes, still eyes, and the look of someone who'd already seen it all, never blinking, never changing, but never fully there. Like he was looking straight inside him and at the same time couldn't see him at all, or didn't care. Gold swallowed.

"You're awake," the stranger said dully. Gold waited a few seconds for him to continue in some way, maybe explain what had happened or introduce himself to Gold, but nothing came.

"So, err," he started nervously. "You must've brought me here. Uh, thanks, I guess?" That staring was really unnerving, it would take some time getting used to.

The boy nodded. "Yes." Simply yes. He really was a quiet one.

Gold cleared his throat. "Well…"

His stomach growled then. For a second, the boy looked like he was alert, but then it disappeared. He did get up though. He didn't say anything, but Gold got the hint. He too got up, managing to do so with only minor stumbling, and followed after the other with slightly wobbly feet.

"Who are you anyway? You, I mean, I, no…" Gold silenced himself when the boy turned to give him a look that might've been amused.

"I'm Red," Red answered. "I live here."

There was nothing unnecessary in his short, but clarifying speech. He could've said quite a lot of things, like: 'oh, I'm a trainer, here's my pikachu!' (Just then Gold noticed that the previously sleeping pikachu had apparently hopped onto Red's shoulder when he had been getting up) or 'what a blizzard it was! You better be glad that I happened to stumble upon you, or else you'd be frozen solid like a glalie!'

But really, those lines weren't needed. Because the second Red mentioned his name, everything came together with a terrifying crash in Gold's mind.

He was Red.

Red.

All those people he'd met…

"Red's been away. He hasn't called either, so I have no idea where he is or what he's been doing... They say no news is good news, but I do worry about him."

"I was the champion too for a while, though that was pretty short-lived thanks to Red…"

All those rumors…

"I heard the real Kanto champion is missing?"

"They say he's off training somewhere. Hiding from the challengers, you know?"

It had led him to this.

Gold stopped dead in his tracks. He was shuddering, suddenly, and he was pretty sure it wasn't the hunger.

"Red," he repeated. "You're Red, the strongest trainer in Kanto."

It wasn't a question. The boy had turned to face him when he had spoken and now they were staring at each other in complete silence. The world stood still.

Red nodded.

"Oh," Gold breathed. "Oh." Then he grinned. For what seemed like the first time in ages, he was actually glad. He'd found the guy he had sort of been looking for, but hadn't actually expected to find. He was warm, comfortable, and safe, and the master trainer was probably gonna give him some food. Life was good.

"Okay then." He smiled. "You got anything to eat? I'm starving! Really, I could eat a ponyta! Or maybe not a ponyta, but—"

Red looked at him oddly as he kept on babbling. But hey, he couldn't help it. This was him. From the moment he had woken up until now, he'd been walking in a daze. It was weird―he wasn't shy, he was used to waking up in odd places at odd hours (what time was it anyway?) but right then and there when he'd first seen Red he'd lost all his confidence. It was like the boy had eaten it all up with those strange eyes of his. Gold chuckled in the middle of a sentence at the thought and received a raised eyebrow in response. But now—now that he knew, it was like his bubble had been popped. Everything was back to normal. In the other boy's presence he felt like he could speak and joke and laugh and act like he always did.

And as he watched Red, and the way his expression remained coolly static but at the same time subtly, gently, almost unnoticeably changed, he thought that maybe, just maybe, he could even like him. He'd heard so much about the boy―he was supposedly a genius with pokémon, a trainer whom no one had managed to best… yet. Gold had sort of secretly made that his dream. He wanted to be the one to beat Red in a battle one day. It was childish and incredulous to want to be the very, very best, and he knew it. But he couldn't help it. There would always come challengers and trainers better than him, but just for a while, if he could be the best in Johto, if he could beat the true Kanto champion, maybe then he'd be content. Maybe then it would be enough.

His thoughts were cut off, as the silent boy opened his mouth. "I have dry food," he said, and then probably surprised even himself with continuing. Maybe it was the influence of Gold's speech-flood. "My supplies are coming short."

He said nothing about getting more, nothing on how he got supplies in the first place, but Gold understood it was still a big deal. He smiled widely. "That's okay." He could definitely like this guy.

-x-

What Red described as 'dry food', turned out to be real dry―dried fruits and crackers. He dug up cheese from somewhere, saying that it was edible. Gold was thankful for it all, saying he had never eaten anything so tasty. There was an amused glint in Red's eyes as the younger boy ate, and thanked him while he ate, and then ate some more.

"Seriously though, these—what are these?" Gold said holding out the dried yellow berries in his hand.

"Grepa berries," offered Red.

"Yeah, grepa berries, that's it! They, and these nuts together—" He paused to throw some of the berries and nuts into his mouth, his expression one of utter delight. "—it's heaven. I swear."

Red said nothing, but Gold could swear he saw a hint of the tiniest smile twitching in the corner of his lips. He grinned and munched on happily, but after a while he had to ask the inevitable.

"Hey, by the way… How long did I sleep?"

He seriously had no idea. He felt well rested, that was for sure, but his inner clock was a mess. He didn't know what time of the day it was, or how much time had passed since he'd been brought here. The red eyed boy checked his wrist. He had an old fashioned watch, not one of those pokétches that were popular in Sinnoh and were swiftly spreading to Johto and Kanto too. No, it was a simple thing with a black leather wristband, and it disappeared almost as soon as Gold had caught a glimpse of it.

"26 hours," Red informed. Gold choked on a peanut. He had a violent coughing fit, during which Red got up—they were seated in some sort of "kitchen cavern"—and returned with a glass of water. Gold took it and drank until it was empty.

"26 hours?!" He spat out, feeling a bit outrageous. 10 hours he'd expected, maybe even 15, but 26? "So now it's, uh—"

"It's ten to eight, Friday evening." The older supplied helpfully. "You had a high fever. It took time for it to cool down."

"Right…" Gold muttered, silently wowing to never let himself sleep that much again. What a waste of perfectly good time.

After Gold had finished his meal, Red showed him around his home―or his living space, in any case. The cave was spacious, it's mouth like a tunnel that twisted and turned, effectively stopping the cold air from getting in. There was a smaller separate cavern, which Red had made his "kitchen", and in the larger space a trail down from one corner led to the lower sections of the cave where it was slightly cooler and there was an underground lake of perfectly clean water that Red used for drinking and cleaning.

Gold was full of awe and wonder―who knew that such habitable caves existed on the harsh mountain. There was even a wider area at the back of the cave, on a slightly lower level, where Gold could release his poor companions out of their pokéballs. Red offered to help him with the exhausted Pokémon, and so the two trainers treated them together. The champion brought them some food from his stock, saying that he had plenty enough to share. Or well, not exactly, but the older insisted on it, so he let him.

After some time, his pokémon were at full health once more and nearly glowing with happiness and so Gold returned them into their balls, save for Typhlosion, who always refused to get into one without a pretty darn good reason. Gold sighed with defeat and told the big creature to have it his way, warning him to behave lest he wanted to go without his favorite snacks in the future. Just then Red smiled, and it wasn't an invisible smile at all. It may have been small, but it was clearly visible. The pikachu that hadn't even once left the trainers shoulder cried out happily, and suddenly Gold was hit with a strange sense of belonging.

Although he'd been asleep for almost one whole day, he began to yawn right after they returned to the fireside. Sleepily Gold wandered towards the bed Red had made him the night before. Last thing that popped into his mind before falling asleep was that it was curious that Red had an extra mattress.

-x-

Morning came by and lazily Gold woke up. He opened his eyes and lay still for some three minutes until he had collected enough determination to get up and face the cold day. He couldn't see Red anywhere so he sauntered towards the entry, wrapped in his blanket.

The previous night, the blizzard had still been raging outside. Now though, as it was apparent from the almost unnaturally bright white light, the weather was clear. Gold was momentarily blinded by that light as he stood there, wrapping the warm blanket tighter around himself, blinking furiously. When he could finally make out the pristine scenery his breath was taken away.

The mountain had totally transformed. Gold had described it as unwelcoming, cold, and cruel. What he now saw was as far from those words as anything could get. The blizzard had left a cover of untouched snow everywhere, and it shimmered in the cool winter sun. The sky was cloudless and colored with the purest azure the boy had ever seen. The view was almost straight out of a Christmas card, except that Gold doubted any of those cards could even come close to such natural beauty.

He was brought back to reality as Red suddenly appeared next to him. Gold noticed the trail of footprints the boy had left in the snow, going somewhere out of sight before returning again, and grinned at his host.

"G'morning," he said, reaching to pat Pikachu on Red's shoulder. The electric mouse let him, and it made him smile even wider. "I'm almost starting to understand why ya wanna live here."

Red made a small sound of agreement—or at least Gold thought he was agreeing, since with Red you couldn't really be sure—but said nothing. That almost-a-smile of his was hiding in his eyes as he beckoned Gold to follow him inside.

"Speaking of living here," Gold started after a moment, "what's up with that? I mean, it's gotta be a great place to train, sure, but I've been to a lot of places like that. Places that are, y'know, more easily accessible and not on the top of a freaking mountain?"

He could swear Red was grinning but he said nothing and so Gold went on.

"Is it one of those eccentric genius things? Like how, I dunno, that one guy from Hoenn apparently tours the world in search of rare stones. Which is pretty damn weird if you ask me."

"Are you any good?" Red asked, stopping suddenly.

"Huh?"

Gold too paused and regarded the boy dumbly. He was avoiding Gold's eyes, staring into the far wall, his eyes shadowed by his mop of dark hair.

"At battling, you mean?" The boy gave a small nod. Gold laughed nervously. "Sure, I guess you could say so. I'm here, right? That's gotta account for something. And I think I saw my face on a magazine once or twice. Oh, and that one time―no, wait, a few times I've been on TV and―okay, y'know what, this is not the right way to do this."

He held his hand out. Red turned to eye him warily and he grinned.

"I know, I know, I already introduced myself yesterday, but I kinda withheld some information, so… Hi, I'm Gold Himawari from New Bark Town and I'm the current Champion of the Indigo League. Or I would be, but that's kinda discounting you and I'm not gonna to do that." Gold took a deep breath before continuing. "They say I'm good―great even, but that's not what I say. Cause I never once believed someone was good before I'd seen for myself. So, if you wanna know what I'm made of, I guess you'll have to test me."

He ended his speech with an earsplitting grin. Red sighed, which really alarmed Gold for all of five seconds before he realized there was a small but definitely real smile tugging at Red's lips.

"It's nice to meet you, Gold," Red said and took his hand. Their eyes locked. "I'm Red Pavot. And I will, eventually."

For a second, it seemed like that was all he was going to say. Gold was already about to drop his hand and move on when Red opened his mouth again.

"Do you… ever get tired of their looks?"

"Their―oh."

Once he realized what the boy meant by his question it was like a gate had been opened. All the questions he'd had for Red, all the mysterious connected to him… all those made a lot more sense. And all it had taken was a small moment of honesty.

Gold could see where Red was coming from, he totally could. But the thing was, he had always been very nonchalant about other people and anything they could say. That was more or less the reason why he got along with most everybody. And definitely the reason he got along with Silver, even before the boy had learned some basic manners and grown to be someone Gold was actually somewhat fond of.

So in that way, he'd never really seen it as a big deal when after he and Kris had busted Team Rocket's plans at Goldenrod they'd broadcasted his face all over national new. A few more people recognized his face when he came to a new town, no big deal. And then he'd gone and beaten the League and Lyra had flown to New Bark just to tell him that he was, as she put it, 'hot stuff'. He got interviewed a couple of times, but mostly he turned them down. Laid low. Sometimes either Lyra or Kris called him to say they were making up stuff about him on the entertainment channels. He really didn't care.

But it was different for Red, wasn't it? Gold had been lucky, in a way. He wasn't the only one taking the blunt for his actions. In playing the hero, dissolving Team Rocket and all that, he'd had help. In Mahogany there had been Lance, he was just the kid who handily happened to be around. And then there had been Kris and all those other trainers they'd teamed up with in Goldenrod. But Red―he'd worked his way undercover and fought the former boss of Team Rocket all by himself when the police couldn't. He'd become a sensation, nothing like the little peak of popularity Gold had experienced.

And what about the whole champion business? After beating Lance, Gold had only said he didn't really feel like taking up the post since he wanted to travel some more. The dragon tamer had promised him to call if someone ever got far enough to battle him and that was that.

But Red they hadn't let go off.

It kind of made him mad, even now. He'd watched the story go down on TV, he'd seen Red in the parade or whatever they'd held after his victory. He remembered the way his mum had gotten a really odd expression on her face and asked: "Say, doesn't he look kinda uncomfortable for someone who's just achieved their dream?" Gold had only agreed in that way kids often do without really understanding the whole picture.

Now, though? It kinda made sense.

Red hadn't asked for the fame. He hadn't asked to be paraded around. Maybe he'd just been in the right place at the right time. Or wrong, depending on how you were looking at it. Maybe he was actually just like Gold, a guy who'd only ever wanted to travel the world and meet new people and capture Pokémon. Or maybe he wasn't. Maybe the reason he'd become a trainer and ended a crime syndicate and done all those things for completely different reasons, which nobody even knew of, because nobody had ever asked. All they had cared about was the boy in the pictures, the legend, and they couldn't get enough of that.

So everywhere he'd gone, Red must've been followed by countless stares that all looked right through him, never at him. And Gold could imagine why he hadn't been happy with that. Heck, he wasn't happy and he was only thinking it up.

Suddenly Gold remembered how it had seemed like everything stilled when Red had introduced himself the previous night. It must've felt like that for the other boy, too. Like he was waiting for Gold to start looking at him like at a freaking ghost or a war monument or something. But of course, he hadn't. Because Gold was cool like that and he'd much rather know people than rumors. The only time he'd ever actively listened to them was when he was trying to find hints of Red's whereabouts, and even then he'd only memorized the useful bits. The rest had gone straight out of the other ear.

Gold shifted his stance and realized that he'd probably been silent for waaaaay too long. Not that Red minded, what with his own quiet demeanor, but still. He deserved an answer.

"Eeehhm," Gold said. Or, more accurately, didn't say but the noise escaped his mouth when he opened it.

Red raised a brow.

"I mean," he tried again, cheeks heating up a bit. "I do. Sometimes I find it all really annoying. But then I remember that people generally don't care about you if you don't care about them. After that it's easy to tune out. At least, for me it is. And if it isn't, it's time for a change of scenery. Being home usually works, cause the people there don't expect any more of me just cause they've seen me on TV or something. They've known me long enough as it is."

A strange expression passed on Red's face and he finally dropped Gold's grip.

"I wish it were like that," he muttered and started walking towards the living area. "But I was an eevee, kept for what I would become, and everyone everywhere had a stone for me. I didn't want them. Didn't want any of it."

While Red was talking, they reached the fireplace that was crackling on merrily. Gold nested himself in his blanket by its side and tried to think of something to say while the older boy busied himself by producing a tea pot from somewhere and hanging it over the fire. He then brought over some of the nuts and grepa berries from the previous night, as well as some rye crackers. Gold helped himself to some, and together they waited for the tea.

"You disappeared." The younger finally said after realizing there was nothing else left to say. "You wanted to be rid of the looks."

Red hummed softly in agreement.

"Did it work?"

Silence fell over them. Gold waited nervously, afraid he'd completely screwed up the strange camaraderie they'd been working towards by asking something too deep and personal. He sometimes did that and the worst thing about it was that more than once he'd hit the nail right on the head without meaning to. Like when he'd confronted Silver about his loathing of Team Rocket before he even knew of his past. People never wanted to feel like they were failing.

Suddenly Red let out a long sigh. Not an angry one, or even sad, just―tired.

"I wonder if it did," he said. "Living here I feel free. That's why I do. But―"

Gold burrowed his brows. "Is it lonely?"

"No. Well… yes, but it's fine." Red shrugged. "Only, I don't know if it's really living."

He carefully picked up the tea pot and poured it into two cups, offering the other to Gold. They drank in silence, or more like tried to sip at the boiling hot drink without burning their tongues. Gold watched as the older picked up some grepa berries and began to feed them to Pikachu, one by one. The little yellow mouse made happy noises as it munched on the treats.

Gold cleared his throat.

"I'm not gonna say you should come down or anything, cause, well, it's a choice you gotta make on your own. But there are still people out there who miss you for being… you, I guess. More than you might imagine," he mumbled the end of his speech awkwardly. He was definitely not good at these kinds of heart to heart conversations.

Red threw him a curious glance.

"I've met your mum, y'know?" Gold went on. "She still believes you're alive somewhere, although they've already announced you dead, sort of. Officially, at least, though there's still rumors and whatnot that run wild. Anyway, she was pretty chill? Like, I went to visit her because Professor Oak told me to―no wait, first there was... damn."

He grinned sheepishly.

"I should just start at the beginning, right?"

The other just nodded, looking mildly intrigued.

-x-

And so Gold ended up telling Red pretty much his whole life story. Or at least the interesting parts. He began with the day he and Kris had first met at Elm's lab and how they'd met Professor Oak soon after, although Kris had most likely gotten more out of that initial meeting because she was a huge geek and Gold had only wanted to head out and train some.

He told Red about meeting Silver for the first time (second, technically, because the guy had tripped him over when Gold had been on his way to the lab) and the way the boy had used to be a really stuck up prick. At that point he also did his best to insist that the guy had changed pretty drastically (well, not really) since then, which seemed to amuse the older boy for some reason.

Then he skipped most of his journey, because hey training, battling, training some more, gyms… it was pretty much all the same and its only real value was in living it yourself. He did, though, recall in detail the encounters with Team Rocket and their plot to regroup in Goldenrod.

The way it all went down was still a mystery to even Gold himself―half the time he couldn't really believe he had been a part of it. What happened though, was that after Gold had accidentally been in the right spot at the right time to help Lance (whom Red recognized and acknowledged from his story) beat ass in Mahogany, he had, like everyone else in Johto, heard the broadcast on the radio. After which Kris had called him, saying that she was in Goldenrod and he should get down there because they were about to infiltrate the Radio Tower.

So he had and they'd organized a pretty nice counterstrike with the help of all the trainers currently lodged in Goldenrod, by approval of the police. During it Gold had a kinda nasty confrontation with Silver, where he'd accused the redhead of stooping lower than the goons of Team Rocket in his insistence of not becoming like them. It was a low blow, he had to admit in retrospect. But even if Silver had then punched his nose bloody and stormed off, somehow it had worked. Because the next time they'd met on the Victory Road, nearly two months later, Silver had seemed to be much less angry and actually quite reasonable.

Gold had rather enjoyed that battle.

Well, after that Gold had of course gone and beaten the league and then spent a week or so home after setting out again. Now that he finally had the time to sit down and think about it, he'd pretty much been constantly on the move since he'd walked out his door 11 months before. Which was kinda crazy but also kinda awesome. So much had happened during those months it felt like he'd aged years.

So, getting back to the story, Gold had landed in Vermilion and cleared through the Gyms in Kanto one by one. He'd ran into Silver a few times, most notably in Celadon wherein the boy had actually ended up spilling the beans about who his father really was.

At that point in the tale, Red looked up with the strangest expression Gold had ever witnessed on someone's face.

"He's… Giovanni's son?"

"Well, yeah. Raised by him until he was 10 or something, apparently, and then sent off to live with his aunt. Last time he saw the guy was right after he escaped police custody and disappeared. Said he came to say goodbye, or something," Gold explained. "Kind of a scary when you think about it. I mean, who would have though the guy even had time to have kids in between all that Pokémon trafficking and keeping up his front as a gym leader?"

The boy made a strangled sound. Gold frowned.

"Is something… wrong?"

Red coughed. "Never mind… Go on."

Gold hesitated but did as he was told. He continued with the latest battle between Silver and him on Mt. Moon (and at this point he realized that he was pretty much spilling all the details of his and Silver's interaction to Red, which was… weird, to say the least) and then his battle with Green Oak. And then he came to the interesting part.

"You see, when I was battling Green, there was this girl―"

"Leaf," Red supplied, apparently knowing perfectly well who the girl in question was.

"Yeah, Leaf. And after I'd won she and Green both said to me that I should drop by in Pallet. And I said why not, Kris was there working with Professor Oak and I wanted to see her anyway."

He held a small pause to let Red digest it.

"Well, me and Leaf went to Pallet and once there she started hauling me all over the place, talking about a million things but mostly about, uhh, you. Because she apparently wanted me to find you, though she wouldn't quite put it like that. We visited your mum and she told me the story of how you disappeared. Or more like, her own personal recollection of it. And it seemed to me… how should I put this… It seemed like she didn't blame you for running off, at all? And she wasn't sad like crushed in that way people who've lost their kids are on the television. It was just like she was waiting for you to come back whenever you felt like it."

He paused to collect his thoughts and let Red mull on it all.

"I wasn't initially gonna come and find you, not really," he confessed after a while. "Like it wasn't a dream of mine to battle the lost champion or anything. But then when I was in Pallet I started thinking… who is this guy? Should I really go and find him? And then what, battle him? Does he even want to battle anymore? Soon enough my head was so full of questions that I decided, you know what, screw it! I'm gonna find him just to make sure. And that's why I'm here."

Red smiled. More than smiled, he was almost laughing, as much as you could say that of him.

"What? What's so funny?"

"Nothing," Red replied. "I appreciate the thought, that's all."

He was just about to ask what that was supposed to mean when suddenly the unmistakable ringtone of his pokégear rang out in the cave. Gold was surprised and somewhat impressed that the battery in the device had lasted for so long, blizzard and all.

Quickly, he scrambled up from his seat and ran over to where his stuff was laid out on the floor drying. Snatching the pokégear he peeked a look at the caller id: "Mum 00400…"

He almost swore out loud and pressed the dial button.

"Hey mum," he said in his perfected chirpy phone voice. "I was just about to call you, y'know?"

"Darling," his mother greeted from the other end. "I know you weren't. But I'm happy to hear you're alright… I was getting kind of anxious, you know, what with no news of your whereabouts."

"Hahaha," Gold laughed nervously. "You know me mum, nothing to worry about. I'm as healthy as a horsea. I was just so immersed in my training, I totally forgot to call."

Red totally made a face at that. Gold countered with a rude hand gesture and turned his back.

"Well, that I'll buy! You've always been like that, after all. A mother knows her son." The son in question did a small dance for dodging that particular bullet―her mother would've likely had a fit if she'd known he almost froze to death and was miraculously rescued by someone thought to be dead. "But even so, I do hope you still remember our plan?"

He stopped dead on his tracks. His sweet victory had been short lived and dread replaced it like it had never left.

"Ehm," Gold mumbled nervously. "What plan you talking about, exactly?"

"Gold!" Her mother yelped indignantly. "You little rascal! Our Christmas plan, or course! You said you'd try and make it home!"

And suddenly Gold remembered.

"Oh yeah, I did say that…" He muttered into the phone before something else came to his mind. "Wait… Wait! What day is it, today?"

He swirled his head around. Red pointed at the cave wall where there was a calendar, somehow hanging from the rock. Mentally he counted the days since he had came to the mountain, he'd been unconscious for a while too, and eventually he came to the shocking realization just as his mother supplied him with the answer:

"Why, it's already Christmas Eve. If you're not already on your way, you should hurry it up!"

Gold struggled with a response―honestly, he didn't know what to say. He had promised his mum to come home for Christmas, but now he'd found Red and he kind of didn't want to leave. Besides, he rather felt obligated to stay with the older boy. It was Christmas, and though the holiday was so old nobody even remembered its origins anymore, it was still a time when friends and family came together. Not as important as the New Year celebrations, at least not in Kanto and Johto (though he'd heard the situation was different in other regions), but still.

He took a deep breath and started walking away from Red, not necessarily wanting him to hear the conversation about to follow.

"Mum?"

"Yes, darling?"

"I think I won't make it home. Cause, you see, I'm on Mt. Silver now, like I told you. And I found… this guy who's been living here, and he kinda helped me out the other day when I was out training by letting me stay with him. He's got a nice little place here, fireplace and food and all. So, what I'm saying is…"

"You'd like to stay there for Christmas." His mother finished for him. "Oh, Gold…"

Well, she didn't sound mad. Gold decided to try and explain a bit more.

"Y'know, I think he's been here all alone and…"

"Stop, stop, stop," the woman cut through. "You don't need to give me reasons. I understand. It's very nice of you, and I approve. Just, be careful okay? You can make up for this by making sure you're home for New Years. I was talking to Melodie the other day, you know, Lyra's mother, and she said Lyra will be home too. We were planning on taking a trip together to the Sprout Tower in Violet Town, so you'd better be there with us!"

Gold grinned.

"Sure thing, mum, you're the best," he replied chirpily. "I'll come home soon after Christmas, so I'll see you then!"

His mum laughed. "You're one ridiculous kid, but I love you. Merry Christmas, Gold."

"Merry Christmas," Gold murmured. "I love you too, mum."

After that he tried to say his goodbyes, but just as he was about to hang up his mum came up with something else important that she needed to tell her son. This procedure repeated until finally, after a few more tries, he was able to end to call and return to his place by the fire. He still wanted to eat a bit more for… lunch, he guessed, as he checked the time. It was already noon―he'd slept late.

"So, I guess I'll be staying with you for Christmas," Gold said as he munched on some crackers. Red was sitting quietly by the fire, reading a book. "You don't mind, do ya?"

The boy made a small sound and shook his head.

"Good." Gold grinned.

He couldn't quite shake off his excitement. It was definitely going to be an unforgettable Christmas.

-x-

A/N2: Hello dear readers and merry Christmas to those who celebrate it! I promised someone a new fic for the holidays, so here it is―a monster of a story that has taken me, I kid you not, four years to finish. I've been working on this in sporadic bursts and most of it has actually been written during this past year. The beginning is old, almost ancient, but I hope it doesn't show too much.

So, there will be two more parts, which I'll get to posting as soon as I get them back from my friend/beta reader. Thanks mikomikono! I hope you stick around for the ride! And as always, thanks for reading, leave me a note if you enjoyed―or didn't. :)