Interestingly enough, this came out of a conversation with SuicidalToeSocks about Lyra being the Town Bicycle.
Ooohrah?
Feedback greatly appreciated.
They were chanting her name from the walls of the stadium—" Lyra, Lyra, Lyra!"—and in the echoes she smiled and waved up to her fans. She was a top Pokéathlete, she was League Champion, she was a master of the Battle Frontier; she was at the top of her game. She was the Chosen One. She was the stuff of legends. She was what everyone said she was.
But one person knew she wasn't. He knew. There were three Trainers from New Bark Town –"the third Pokéball is gone! You wonder who Professor Elm gave it to…"—and Lyra wasn't the one that was supposed to be the top.
He confronted her the next time she came back to town. She stopped by to see her mother to ask about her money, of course, and he was lurking in the back of Elm's lab with Marill bouncing expectantly on her tail.
He grabbed her arm. "You don't deserve it, you know," he seethed, "I know what you did. They love you and adore you, Lyra, and you know you don't fucking deserve it."
Lyra gently removed herself from her grip; behind her, her Ampharos looked on interestedly; ready to defend her if threatened.
She grinned. It was hasty and sharp, and her teeth poked out the sides like her Typhlosion. "Oh, Ethan. So high and noble. So ready to defend her honor…but I'm not the one still hanging around here, am I?"
She sashayed into the house, Ampharos ducking low. Through the window, Ethan could see Lyra's mom embrace her, even with barging in. He clenched his fists and a tear squeezed out his eye as the wind turbines shifted in the night above him.
"I'm sorry, Chris, I'm so sorry; you didn't deserve what happened to you," he whispered, "but you keep on your journey, wherever you are, however far behind you started, you keep up. For me."
And in the night, the Hoothoot called softly and the full moon twinkled. Ethan turned and went back upstairs to his room. Lyra stole the region's love. She stole it. And damned if he didn't love her, too.