Little Pokèmon, Big Dreams

Chapter 4: No Mountain High Enough, No River Wide Enough

Days turned into weeks as Red traveled with Bolt. The mountain Bolt had sighted was indeed far but the pair found their journey slowed by Bolt's need to train as a Pikachu as well. After not seeing Shinx anytime after they had crossed the river Red and Bolt soon forgot about their worries that anyone was after them,  unknown to them that Shinx had lost their trail at the Beedrill tree. Now their routine was to travel for a few days until they found a spot with plentiful resources where they would bed down for a few days while Bolt trained before picking up and finding a new spot. Bolt wasn't the only one trainng however, as Red was in his own special way. Red learned more moves than Ember and practiced them with only the curiosity of how they could come in handy. He knew that the mountainous region they were headed to would be a challenge and it was one that he wanted to overcome as much as Bolt did. When they arrived at the mountain Bolt's challenge would be to find her thunderstone, but Red's would be the decision of if he wanted to find a fire stone and evolve or not. Red tried to imagine if becoming a Ninetales was his dream, but his feelings were too mixed for him to feel any passion about it. He had never thought past ever being a Vulpix but maybe he would be alot happier if he evolved. Maybe he would regret it. Bolt insisted the decision would come to him when he option was in front of him and that in that moment he would know what he wanted but that didn't stop Red from mulling it over every moment of every day. In the short amount of time he had known Bolt she was already making so much progress on her own dream while he hadn't even found his, it was a little disheartening. The moon shined bright above them and the noctournal Pokemon rustled about to their business while Bolt and Red ate their food by the fire.

"Double Team, Agility, Thunderbolt, Quick Attack- I wonder just how many moves I could learn as a Pikachu alone. If I weren't so excited to find my thunderstone and evolve I would spend more time as a Pikachu and find out," Bolt admitted. Red looked back at his tails and gave them a wiggle.

"At least you know you want to evolve, every day I imagine how it would feel to be a Ninetales and I just can't even  begin to have any clue as to if I would feel happy or regret everything," Red sighed. Bolt patted his arm.

"Not all Pokémon choose to evolve and that's totally alright and great, it's not always appealing to change if you like how you are now," she said encouragingly. Red was taken aback by her words. Did he actually LIKE himself if he was having this much trouble with his decision? All he'd ever known was disliking his traits and qualities until he met Bolt, but even then he'd never once complimented himself in any way. Maybe liking yourself didn't involve actually admitting to yourself things that you liked about you, maybe it was even more subconcious than you could ever realize. Red thought hard and deep, trying to find the moment he had first liked himself. It was to no avail as Red's own sense of self perception was buried too far under his outward experiences that he couldn't process it effectively. Now he was bothered with the need to know himself better and he found himself deterimed to discover how he really felt about things. Maybe this would be how he found his dream too, if he could understand himself better. This night was a major breakthrough in Red's problems as the mountain loomed in the ever shorter growing distance between them.

Red and Bolt continued to travel for even more days after that night and that conversation, every day proving to make them both stronger and more ready for whatever the mountain had in store for them. Red grew more familiar with himself as Bolt grew more powerful and skilled. Soon they became confident they were ready for their challenges and so they foused solely on getting to the mountain. Little Pokémon have little strides however as they soon discovered when days went by where it seemed the mountain never grew any closer.

"Impatience is just a hurdle to get over but now that I'm so close to my thunderstone the wait is excruciating," Bolt cried. Red agreed.

"This waiting is harder than crossing the river ever was, or perfecting new moves, or even remembering what different berries do," Red whined. Bolt had still been teaching him everything she knew and Red had taken a special interest in what the different kinds of berries did with there being so many varieties.