Pokémon: The Golden Apocalypse, Chapter Twenty-Four

Red huddled against a tree, shivering. Even though he was on solid ground, he could still feel his hand slipping from the wet surface of the rock. He could still feel his body swing dangerously. He could imagine his broken body on the outskirts of Viridian being gnawed on by rattata and other pokémon.
His climb had been uneventful, and he knew there was no reason to withdraw so, but the fog made idle thought dream, and dream reality. It enveloped what was, leaving a void that imagination could fill and fear could rule. Red was left bereft of an anchor. He felt more alone than he ever had.
Except. Nyoromo was there in his pack. Bubbly, happy Nyoromo. Red removed his little pokémon and held it in his hands. The poliwag looked back at him with its large eyes, squirming gleefully. Its presence brought Red back from the nightmare he had believed.
"No point in wasting the day, is there?" Red mused.
"Poli!" exclaimed Nyoromo. Thus agreed, Red rose with his pokémon cradled in his arms, and walked a bit away from the Forest. He turned left and began the journey around the Fallen Viridian. The shroud across his vision slowed him as he worked to avoid the cliff, but he still moved at a reasonable walk.
He met the mountain within the hour. The Tojo range, it seemed, cut across the land even here, forming a wall to the west of the city. Red could only turn and try the other way, or scale the cliff once more and walk across the city.
He chose to retrace his path. Not only were the cliffs treacherous and full of bad memories, but the city could still be harboring any of the feral horde that had chased him away. Even so, he knew the city would be a much shorter path, and his inability to traverse it brought anger into his step. He moved foolishly, and didn't feel the ground crumbling until almost too late.
He leapt to his right just as a large portion of the earth broke free and fell into the city with a roar. The noise woke Nyoromo, who Red had kept safely with him. The pokémon uttered a bleary "Wag?" before returning to its slumber.
Red, however, was considerably more unnerved. The fear rose in him again, and he sat trembling. He had endangered himself and Nyoromo without cause. He cursed at himself under his breath, and then worked on steadying his pounding heart.
After a minute, his head began to clear and he saw the best course of action would be to walk closer to the Forest. This he did for some time, but his apprehension pulled him steadily closer to the trees until he had to duck branches with frequency. Still uneasy from the near-disaster, he chose the lesser of two terrors, and entered the Forest proper.
Had he waited but a moment longer, he might have seen a flame slowly descending into Viridian in the east.