Climb to the Summit

**Characters** | Samantha Starstorm

**Description:** When Sam and Carrie hear rumors about a powerful trainer residing atop of Mt. Silver, the highest mountain in both Kanto and Johto regions, the two close friends soon discover more about themselves and each other while on their journey to the top.

**PMD Future Flashback: Climb to the Summit**

Once Sam and Carrie both finished their journey through the Kanto region and after taking part in the Indigo League, the duo decided to climb Mt. Silver in order to seek the truth behind the rumor about the region’s strongest trainer residing there. It was said that when an experienced trainer ventures to Mt. Silver’s summit, they would have the chance to battle the strongest trainer on the highest point of both Johto and Kanto regions. This was one of their adventures that they had while they continue to make their way back to Goldenrod City within the Johto region.

After spending the night at a nearby Pokémon Center, the two young trainers began their ascension to Mt. Silver’s summit. While exploring the cavern in the upper part of the mountain, the area tremors similar to an earthquake which causes the two ladies to temporarily lose their footing. Carrie was able to regain her balance with the assistance of the wall next to her after cursing under her breath, he brows furrow from the incident as she searches for her friend. Sam was not as lucky since she was close to the edge of the ledge when the tremor hit and when a piece of the ledge collapsed, she began to fall down the cavern cliff with it. A gasp escapes the fedora wearing trainer before she falls, extending out a hand to try and catch on a ledge.

“Sammy!” Carrie exclaims in shock as she rushes to the edge and falls onto the ground of the ledge and grabs Sam’s wrist in time before her best friend’s body hits the cliff side wall below, "Hold on! I got you!”

Before Sam could glance up to her friend after giving a grunt of pain when her back slams into the wall, she begins to feel lightheaded and a bright white light blurs her vision before disappearing a couple moments later. Images begin to appear as one shows the clearing of the upper mountain filled with a winter landscape. The next shows the duo enter the beautiful scenery as they comment on its beauty.

“Come on, Sammy! We’re almost there!” Carrie exclaims as she waves her hand before the duo rush outside to be greeted by the snow and frigid mountain air, "This is beautiful...”

“Wow... This is amazing...” She hears herself say while she glances at the landscape before them.

While they venture through the snowy terrain , they come across an unsteady, old wooden bridge that leads to the other side of the mountain next to a rocky wall before the vision shifts once more. This time, there is an enormous avalanche which rapidly descends Mt. Silver that plows through the the bridge and the area they are in, the vision abruptly stopping as the snow covers them. After witnessing the visions, Sam’s mind finally returns to reality as she blinks her eyes and refocuses before glancing at her friend in alarm along with slight relief.

“Sam?! You can still hear me, right?” Carrie calls downward while she does what she can in order to keep a tight grip on Sam’s hand to stop her from falling down the cavern.

“Y-Yeah! I can still hear you, C!” Sam exclaims back while she tries to extend her other hand towards her friend, an idea sparking in her mind, "Use Magnolia or Esma to help you!”

“Good idea!” Carrie strains to say, quickly grabbing a pokeball from her waist and pressing the button, "Go Magnolia, use vine whip!”

Once Magnolia, the Chickorita, appears beside his trainer, he extends out a couple vines from his neck and quickly descends the ledge to wrap around Sam’s waist. When Sam was secure, Carrie grabs her other hand and heaves her fedora wearing friend towards the cliffside with Magnolia, dragging her over the ledge and onto the ground. Sam glances at the duo in front of her after Magnolia withdrew his vines and returning them to his neck, giving a thankful smile with a sigh of relief.

“Thanks for saving me, C and Magnolia.” Sam responds in gratitude before crossing her arms with a quizzical expression, turning back to the nearby cliff, "Though, what caused that powerful tremor?”

“I’m not sure. As you pointed out, it could have been a Pokémon using Earthquake...” Carrie trails off as she returns Magnolia to his pokeball and placing the ball with the others around her waist, “Thanks, Magnolia.”

She then turns to her friend, crossing her arms.

“I hope we find the exit soon.” She adds as she looks forward.

“I really hope so, especially after that...” Sam nods, “We’ll have to be even more careful.”

After the duo nod to each other with understanding and determination, they continue to venture deeper as they navigate their way through the cavern. Thoughts begin to plague Sam’s mind as the two friends continue their adventure.

‘What were those visions I saw back when I hanging onto Carrie’s hand over the cliffside? How did I space out at a time like that?’ Sam thinks to herself while she strolls across another tunnel with her best friend, ‘Whatever that was... It was strange.’

* + - * +

Once the determined duo reach the cave exit in the mountain about an hour later, they are welcomed by the cold mountain air as they walk into a winter wonderland landscape. All the pine and spruce trees were covered in a layer of snow along with the ground before them. The path in front of them is blanketed, absent of any footprints as if it’s covered by a blanket of pure white fabric. The sun’s rays gave the snow on the ground and trees a soft shine, complementing the atmosphere. The two ladies are taken aback in awe by the beautiful scenery in front of them.

“Wow... Mt. Silver is very beautiful. Don’t you think too?” Carrie awes in amazement before turning to see Sam’s speechless expression, “Sammy?”

“Wow... This is amazing!” Sam whispers to herself before her friend glances at her, waiting for her answer.

She feels a moment of deja vu after muttering those words as she quickly shakes her head before nodding to Carrie.

“Yeah, this is quite the view! Who knew that this area would be so beautiful up here...” Sam delightfully comments before taking out her smartphone to take some pictures.

“Great idea!” Carrie smiles before she decides to do the same, taking pictures of the scenery, “We can show this to the others when we return to the Pokemon Center.”

After taking photos of the near summit, the duo ventured forward into the snowy landscape viewing the scenery around them as they walk before stopping at an old wooden bridge that leads to the other side of the mountain a few minutes later. There is also a rocky wall right beside it that could easily be climbed which leads to the summit. Sam stops in her tracks while Carrie walks ahead as she remembers her vision she had back in the cavern cliff before her eyes widen in shock, recognizing the scenery in front of them before getting buried in snow.

‘Oh no… This looks exactly like my dream before-' She thinks to herself before catching up with her friend.

“C, we should find some shelter right now.” Sam hastily suggests, her friend turning around and glancing at her in surprise and confusion.

“Why?” Carrie questions, “Are you tired from walking?”

“Sorta… I should be fine after we take a break from walking. I’m sure that you are too. We climbed up quite a way in a matter of a couple hours.”

“True… All right. We can take a break for a few minutes before we-” Carrie gets interrupted when small pieces of snow falls on their heads.

The duo glanced towards the top of the mountain with concern while more snow was falling though this time, it was getting heavier. At the same time, a tremor began to echo through the mountain, making the ground shake like it had previously in the caverns.

“F\*\*k!” Carrie curses, “This is bad!”

“S\*\*t! I-its an avalanche!” Sam shouts as she immediately heads towards the wall in front of the rocky wall before grabbing Carrie’s wrist and pulling her in my direction.

‘My vision came true?!’ Sam thinks while Carrie catches up with her against the wall as the duo take a couple breaths and hears the tremors above them get louder and closer, ‘Is this it for us?!’

After the duo lean against the rocky wall to hopefully avoid the coming avalanche, it continues to rush down the mountain, descending towards the duo. A loud roar of the incoming threat had Carrie glancing upward once again, this time in shock.

“Where did this come from?!” Carrie exclaims after cursing under her breath.

“I don’t know! Something must have happened further up!” Sam shouts back so that her friend can hear her over the tremor, “We need to do something or else we may be swept away by the avalanche!”

Carrie and Sam think for a moment before the former nods to herself and turns to her just as startled friend.

“I have an idea. Just trust me!” Carrie exclaims, quickly taking off her special bracelet and shoving it into her jacket pocket before grabbing a pokeball from her belt and tossing it into the air, "Go Esma!”

The psychic type feline, Espeon, appears and cries out in greeting to her owner, waiting patiently for her instructions.

“Wait a minute!” Sam shouts in exclamation, her face marred with shock while glancing at her friend, "What are you doing?!”

Before she can say more, Carrie holds up her hand for a moment to stop her before withdrawing it to her side and closing her brown eyes in order to focus. She takes a couple deep breaths in order to focus before her hands begin to radiate an indigo color glow and erects a protective barrier around them. Sam’s eyes widen in surprise and awe in response while she witness the materialization of the indigo barrier and, as if on cue, Esma amplifies it with her psychic attack in order to make it stronger. The fedora wearing girl immediately refocuses on the dire situation once she has an idea on how to assist her psychic friend by grabbing a great ball from her belt and tossing it into the air.

“Go, Shade!” Sam shouts in determination as the dark type feline, Umbreon, appears beside his owner after giving a greeting cry, waiting for her orders, “Use psychic to help strengthen Carrie’s barrier!”

With a nod, Shade joins Carrie and Esma by using his psychic attack to further strengthen the barrier in order to protect them. Carrie glance quickly at her friend in surprise before giving a slight smile in thanks as she continues to supply her power for her barrier. As Carrie along with Esma and Shade pooled their abilities together to sustain the strong barrier, the avalanche quickly reaches them as the snow begins to pelt against it with immense force. Neither trainer would give in as the natural onslaught continues as they battle the disaster with their determination and encouraging their Pokémon to be strong and to endure until it passes. After a few minutes, Carrie begins to show signs of fatigue as her hands slightly shake before Sam rushes to her side to steady her. “

You can do this, C! I think we’re almost through!” She encourages, "Just hold on a little longer!” Carrie nods before adding more power to the barrier alongside Esma and Shade.

Once Sam smiles, she sees that the unrelenting snowfall from the avalanche is finally lessening as the disaster begins to dissipate. It quickly disappears a few moments later as the sun shines through the barrier, signifying the avalanche’s end. The barrier slowly dissipates shortly after and Carrie immediately collapses on her knees while Esma and Shade follow suit from fatigue. Sam quickly crouches down to check on her friend and placing a hand on her shoulder.

“C! Are you all right?!” She exclaims in worry, "Creating and maintaining that barrier you created must have taken its toll on you...” Carrie’s body stiffens for a moment before she relaxes and turns her head to her friend.

“Yeah, just a little tired. I’ll be fine.” She answers before seeing her Espeon and Sam’s Umbreon walk up to the duo, "I was surprised that you gave me a hand with Shade. The barrier was more powerful because of that.”

“I wanted to give you a hand however I could so Esma gave me the idea of having Shade assist. I didn’t want to sit by and be helpless and honestly... I wish I could have helped out more.” Sam replies, heaving a sigh before giving a sincere smile, “Thanks for saving us, C.”

“Sammy, we both did it together with our teamwork.” Carrie points out to her, “If you haven’t been here to help out, I don’t know if I could have withstood it for that long. Thanks for helping out.”

“Hey, that’s what best friends do for each other! I’m glad that we were able to get out of that terrible situation...” Sam comments as the duo rise to their feet, “So... how long have you had your psychic abilities? You really surprised me when you created that barrier to protect us.”

“Oh that... I’ve had them for a long time.” Carrie admits with a sheepish smile before they both returned their Pokémon to their poke balls for a well-deserved rest, “I suppress my abilities with my special bracelet that I usually wear in order to keep them in check.” Her friend gives a nod while she intently listens to her answer before Carrie grabs her special bracelet from her jacket pocket and clips it back onto her wrist.

“That makes sense since you wouldn’t want your power to go out of control...” She finally answers, her parents coming to mind with a smile remaining on her face, “I honestly think it’s a great ability to have since you did rescue us with it. I’ll ask more about it after we’re back at the Pokémon Center but regardless of your abilities, it doesn’t change the fact that you are still my sister that I wish I had.”

“Sammy...” Carrie awes in reply to her best friend’s statement before reciprocating a smile of her own, “Thanks, I really appreciate it.”

“Of course. Now, let’s head to the top of Mt. Silver to take on this powerful trainer who is said to be the best!” Sam smiles in confidence, “We made it this far after all.”

“Yeah. Let’s go.” She smiles back before the duo resumed their journey to the summit with a much stronger bond between them than when they began.

* + - * + -