Steven was a bit morbidly fascinated the first time he watched Ithica take down a gym. He was a bit comforted by the fact that she was just as savage in a gym battle as she had been against him, and a little interested in the fact that the Kanto leaders seemed to be rather traditional and old-fashioned in their battle choices.

He stayed with Mel, though, for the most part. He'd had to part ways with the two for a while just after Ithica had demolished her fourth gym, since he had some duties to his home League to take care of.

Ithica, for her part, was having fun. The Kanto gym leaders were fairly predictable, at least to her, so she was able to sweep them pretty quickly. When Mel found the daycare, just after Ithica had taken down Saffron City, Ithica wasn't surprised when Mel wanted to stick around and learn from the daycare couple. Ithica just continued on her way to demolish the Kanto League gyms.

Once she'd gotten all eight badges (and she might possibly admit that Viridian City was a surprise; even after facing Janine in Fuchsia, she still hadn't expected to face Blue in Viridian), she decided to bypass the Indigo Plateau for the moment. Instead, she headed straight for Mount Silver.

Red was having tea when he was alerted to someone heading up to see him. He sighed a little but put his tea down for now, resting a hand on his belt. Well, he hadn't been challenged in a while. This could be interesting.

Or not. Y'know. Really depended on if this trainer was actually worth the challenge or not.

Ithica grumbled to herself as she finally reached the pathway to the mountain summit. On the one hand, yes, it was Mount Silver, it was literally the toughest route there was across two entire regions. But she still hated hiking. And to make matters worse, it was snowing, which she knew Dragonair Would Not Like. All of her pokemon were on her belt, for the moment, to keep them fresh for the battle ahead. Because she did intend to challenge Red, and she knew it would be a hard battle.

She blinked when she saw a little cabin tucked in a sheltered nook near the top of the mountain. Well, that at least answered the question of how Red was able to stay on the mountain for so long.

A little more hiking, and Ithica finally managed to find him.

"Hey!" she called. "Are you still taking challenges?"

Red eyed her for a moment before he nodded, stepping out a little from the sheltered nook. He, at least, was well prepared for the weather. He motioned for her to follow, walking a little ways away from his cabin. Just in case. He did rather like the cabin after all.

Ithica nodded and followed him a ways away from the cabin. One hand hovered over her belt, trembling just slightly. She was actually facing off with Red. She was feeling the same nerves as when she'd faced Steven in the Hoenn League, but this time she was looking forward to the match.

The battle was truly a struggle. Ithica admitted to herself that she might have underestimated Red's team, especially that Snorlax. Nothing seemed to faze the behemoth, not even Metagross with Hammer Arm. Ithica comforted herself with the fact that she managed to at least take out Red's first four pokemon, and she was maybe a little grateful that she didn't have to face down that Pikachu.

"That's it, I'm done!" she finally called when Dragonair had finally collapsed. Between the battle and the snow, the dragon had had enough. She rushed over to check her pokemon over, making sure it wasn't too badly hurt.

Red nodded and handed over a Hyper Potion to her. He kept several on hand, and he could tell Dragonair was special to her. She'd done better than almost every first-time challenger he could recall, and that was rather impressive, actually.

Ithica blinked when he handed her the hyper potion.

"Oh, thanks," she said, taking it. She promptly used it on Dragonair, patching up the worst spots. "Come on, sweetie," she murmured to the pokemon. "In out of the cold. Return."

Dragonair trilled and retreated to its pokeball, and Ithica stood up.

"I hope you know this is the only smudge on my otherwise perfect record," she commented to Red. "Your Snorlax is an absolute tank."

Red smirked. "I know," he said, watching her. "Perfect record?" He quirked an eyebrow at her, because that warranted an explanation.

"Hoenn League," Ithica said, raising an eyebrow in return. "And I sort of just swept the Kanto gyms before coming here." She grinned a bit.

Red snorted quietly. Well, she was definitely the most interesting person to challenge him now.

"On to Johto next?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Probably," Ithica admitted, nodding a bit. She paused for a moment. "Though... I do kind of want to explore Pokemon Cave before I leave the region."

Red smirked a bit and made a motion clearly meant to be 'be my guest'.

Ithica grinned a bit. She definitely liked him already.

"Of course, my friend is off learning how to daycare, so if you felt like leaving your life as a mountain hermit..." she offered.

Red snorted. "Then what?" he asked curiously, looking at her. Really, he had no idea what she was actually trying to tempt him with.

Ithica shrugged a bit.

"I'm going to demolish the Indigo League," she said. "And then the Johto gyms. And after that, probably destroy Sinnoh and Kalos as well. It'll probably be more interesting than being a pokemon hermit."

Red snorted quietly. "You'd be surprised," he told her, voice dry. "These idiot kids keep hiking up here. Little shits just can't leave me alone." But he smirked at her, clearly amused and just as clearly not quite grouping her in with the rest.

"I'd say I'm sorry, but I'm not," Ithica replied, grinning a bit. "Glad I didn't have to face down your Pikachu, but still not sorry."

Red snorted quietly and headed for the hut. "I can heal them in here," he offered, because she was amusing and he was bored. And he did have a whole set up in the hut.

"That would be great," Ithica said, following him to the cabin. "Kind of wasn't looking forward to the hike down the mountain with my team in this shape."

Red nodded and led the way to the machine. He put his four in that needed it and then motioned her to do the same.

Ithica loaded up her six as well, letting the machine do its job.

"Thanks again," she said, glancing at him.

Red nodded. "You did well," he told her, smiling faintly.

"I'm hoping I managed to at least surprise you a little bit," Ithica admitted. "I knew it would be a tough battle."

"You lasted longer than most," Red told her.

"Yes, well, that's because you held back Snorlax and Pikachu till the end," Ithica pointed out. "And I happened to have Zoroark to take on your Espeon."