100 THEMES: 1, ROOFTOP
Lyra was sat facing away from the bench on the rooftop of the Goldenrod Department Store, a sleepy Feraligatr lay curled on the floor beside her. The sun was setting over the populated city, and everything was bathed in the orangey glow. Lyra lent on the barrier, resting her head on the palm of her hand, to watch all the inhabitants go about their business, reaching down to her Pokégear and tuned into a random radio station.
Professor Oak's Pokémon Talk came through the small speaker. The Feraligatr beside her shuffled grumpily, it seemed to cheer up as Lyra reached down to pat its scaled head. It opened it mouth in a yawn to reveal its large fangs set in its powerful jaws before settling back down; Some of the civilians of Goldenrod were scared of the large water pokémon, so Lyra had come to the rooftop for some peace. She smiled and looked back over the city.
A new attraction had not long opened up in Goldenrod, a Global Terminal had opened up in the most Northern-West corner of the city. Lyra had never been in the building, she loved her Pokémon far to much to even think about trading them, but she knew that the huge Terminal offered trainers the technology to trade their Pokémon to others in far-off regions.
The radio tower stood high against the skyline, the shadow that it cast lay across the Magnet Train line. Lyra could see a train coming in from the far off Saffron City, she wondered if anyone she knew was on it. It didn't take long for it to pull into the station and out of sight; although she couldn't see the passengers disembarking, Lyra scanned the crowd that came out of the station doorway for any familiar faces, but none stood out.
The majority of the crowd went straight to the Pokémon Centre, maybe to seek accommodation for the night Lyra mused.
A familiar pink-haired young woman strolled out from the Pokémon Centre flanked by a Miltank. It was Whitney, the Goldenrod City Gym Leader. Some of the crowd stopped to stare as she strolled past, one even ran after her holding a Pokéball aloft, clearly challenging her to a battle. Whitney must have accepted as the young man followed her toward the gym. Lyra giggled, she remembered after her battle against the young Gym Leader, how Whitney had gone into a tantrum and refused to give her the badge until she had calmed down. A lot of time had gone by since then, Lyra had defeated not only all the gym leaders in the Johto regain, but the Kanto, Hoenn and Sinnoh gym leaders, and had continued to rise in the pokémon world till she had become the Johto Champion.
Music came wafting up on a breeze, Lyra cocked her head almost looking over her shoulder, the lights from the Game Corner caught her eye. She watched some poor soul slump out with pockets a lot lighter than when they had gone in, as the door had opened more of the gimmicky music floated up to her watch post. Lyra had tried to win a Dratini once, but it had nearly cost her a months worth of battle winnings, and she still didn't get one; It wasn't till a few month later when the Dragon Master at Dragons Den bestowed one on her that she managed to register one in her Pokédex.
Feraligatr twitched in its sleep, Lyra wondered if the Game Corner music had somehow disturbed it. Smiling at her partner, she looked back over the largest city in Johto, as the sun was setting the street lights were beginning to light up. Darkening corners would soon be safely lit, there were no dark spaces in Goldenrod anymore, not since Lyra had put an end to Team Rockets take-over plan a couple years ago. Even the underground passage was well lit now, there were still trainers looking for a battle, but at least Team Rocket were long gone. From her perch, Lyra could just make out the northern entrance to the Underground Tunnels, poking out from behind the Magnet Train Station; just along the street from the entrance lay the flamboyant home of the Name Rater. On first glance Lyra thought it was the home of some sort of psychic (turns out he lives in Kanto's Saffron City) or perhaps even a small circus; it had been a surprise when she had pulled back the curtain to see an old man staring up at her from behind a desk.
Further past the Name Rater's home and Whitney's gym, lay the Flower Shop. Seeing the old Flower Shop again brought back many happy memories, all beginning with one particular visit to the shop. After Whitney had given her the Plain Badge, Lyra noticed the small shop next door, one thing led to another and she left the shop with a Squirtbottle stowed safely in her bag. It was the Squirtbottle that enabled her to capture a Sudowoodo, who had quickly become a valued member of her team. Sudowoodo had remained on the team and travelled far with Lyra, winning at gym and league battles in not only the Johto and Kanto areas but also the Hoenn and Sinnoh regions. From the rooftop of the department store Lyra could see that the shop was still open, in fact, there seemed to be a customer still browsing the flowers.
With Feraligatr still napping at her side, Lyra continued to watch the shop entrance with a vague curiosity to see just who would be flower shopping at this time of the evening. By the time the customer left the shop it had gotten dark enough for the street lamps to be fully lit, but the customer simply walked out the shop then paused in the gloom, they seemed to be fidgeting just outside of the lamplight. Lyra could still make out the figure, but with the combination of the lights of the rooftops and the darkness surrounding the person it was just too dark to tell who it was. As she was considering waking Feraligatr to work out who it was, Professor Oaks voice was suddenly cut off by a shrill ringing on her Pokégear. Someone was calling her. Feraligatr woke at the shrill noise and grunted in annoyance, stretching out to its full length as it did so.
Lyra picked her Pokégear up and flipped it open, the name on the screen flashed Silver.
"…." There was silence from the other end.
"Hello? Silver? Is that you?"
"Tch, yeah…Where are you?"
"I'm in Goldenrod, why? Where are you?" Lyra paused for a moment, wondering if something had happened to her stubborn friend. "Are you okay?"
"Of course I am. I'm in Goldenrod as well. Meet me outside the Radio Tower in two minutes." Before Lyra could ask why Silver hung up.
Guess I should go meet him then. "Come on Feraligatr, lets get going." She sighed, pressing the end call button.
Waiting for the water Pokémon to follow her away from the seating area, something far below on the streets of Goldenrod caught her eye. A figure was moving toward the pools of the lamplight, slipping a dimming Pokégear into a pocket. The large blue Pokémon nuzzled her shoulder, affectionately telling her it was ready to get going, when Lyra saw the mysterious figure under the streetlamp for the first time. Even from the rooftop of the Department Store that red hair was unmistakeable. It was Silver, heading toward the Radio Tower.
Even though the Feraligatr growled softly at the sight of their old rival, Lyra's face split into a large grin. Silver had looked rather uncomfortable, almost nervous, as he headed down the street with a bunch of Lyra's favourite flowers in hand.
Heading toward the elevator, The Champion chuckled as she crossed the rooftop plaza with Feraligatr in tow. She had long since decided that, after several years, it was about time that her old rival finally made a move on her.