Chapter One: Present

"Speak, Lyra."

I opened my mouth, feeling like a stupid animal being taught tricks. But I was used to this. There was nothing new about being told to talk when I didn't have anything to say—because I couldn't say it, anyway. I had been attending speech therapy for years, a new therapist every year telling me to speak now or forever hold my peace.

And I held it.

Nothing. As always, I was speechless, unable to say anything at all. No noise came out at all; there were no whispers, no mutterings, no noises of any kind. All that came out was air, and I narrowed my eyes at the therapist. He was just as impressive as the rest of them. No one else could get me to speak, so why could he?

Why did my mom even continue to try? I had been fine on my own when I left home; sure, I had run into some obstacles, but I had never considering being mute my handicap. It wasn't as though I couldn't understand and couldn't respond. I had my own language, my own ways to communicate, and I could still think. So, why did I need to speak?

But my mother continued to hire new therapists for me, and to please her, I went to each one. No one ever made any progress, and I never expected them to help me. I was eighteen now; if someone was meant to make me speak, then I would have already. But I was fine the way I was, and I didn't need to speak to be heard.

I tapped my hands against my chest, turned my hands back out with some of my fingers pinched together towards the doctor sitting in front of me, and pointed my index finger at him. The doctor laughed, looking incredibly amused by my admittance, and folded his hands together. Then, leaning towards me, he smiled.

"You hate me already? But we've only just begun." He sat back up and crossed his legs. I narrowed my eyes more, and the therapist laughed again. "It's impressive what you've done, Miss Lyra, with your disability. I will admit that. You've done some wonderful things with your life. But wouldn't you like to tell everyone about those things? Wouldn't you like to speak to your friends and have conversations with them?"

I pointed to myself again, beginning to get angry, brushed my hands away from myself, made fists, and bounced them up and down twice. After leaving home and going on an adventure with my Pokémon, I had acquired many new friends—friends who didn't need to hear my voice to talk with me. And they all liked learning sign language.

"No, you can't," the doctor argued, and I pursed my lips. What did he know about me? None of these therapists could do anything for me because none of them understood me. "You have a preconceived notion of what I can do for you, and that's unfair. I am one of the most prominent doctors in the field of speech therapy in the world. I have healed thousands of mutes. There is even technology available for mutes which can vibrate their vocal chords and force them to speak. Your voice can be found."

I smiled, taking my turn to become amused by his stupidity. I pointed at him before curling my index finger and middle finger together, proceeding to make a "V" with the same fingers and holding them against my forehead. I stuck my tongue out at him, standing up from the uncomfortable wooden chair he had forced me to sit in.

"Well, you are one of the most rambunctious mute girls I have ever met in my life, calling me stupid! How dare you?" The doctor rose to his feet as well, trying to look intimidating and failing. "Feel free to leave if you choose, but you may not come back once you walk through that door. You will lose your opportunity to work with the most recognized speech therapist in the world."

I shrugged, turning around and walking out the door without another thought. I knew the man would be surprised; it probably wasn't often that he was walked out on by one of his patients. Certainly he had never met a mute girl who spoke her mind as easily as me. But I didn't need to speak to do that.

"That was fast. I figured it was a good decision to wait."

Ethan stood up from the steps of the porch, waiting where he was as I walked out of the beautiful estate's front door. I smiled at my friend, happy that I didn't have to text him. It would be awkward storming out of my speech therapy session and then having to sit outside to wait for Ethan to show up. My mom didn't like me to go to any of my sessions without someone with me, just in case I needed to stop somewhere. Most people didn't know sign language.

And yet she had let me go on a journey all by myself. Go figure.

"Went that well, huh?" he asked, and I smiled, nodding. We walked down the steps of the porch together, picking our bikes off from the side of the house. "Hey, just think: the next one can only be better. It's a trend, right? It's been that way with everyone. You always get a person you hate, and then you get a person you don't particularly like but don't dislike either, and… it goes on. Next time will be promising."

I sighed, pausing as I swung my leg over my bike and hopped on. I moved my arms and hands, forming words in my own art form, signing out: I don't want there to be a next time. I'm tired of doing this. As I finished my sentence, I rolled my eyes, grabbing my handles and peddling away. There wouldn't be a next time if I had anything to say—or not say—about it.

Once I started moving, the conversation usually ended. I couldn't talk while I was riding my bike, since my hands were a little busy holding me on the contraption, and the conversation would die if I couldn't respond. Ethan usually respected that, keeping his mouth shut because I had to, but on occasion he would talk just to annoy me.

"Well, what else can you do, Lyra? Honestly. It's not like you can go work somewhere that you have to speak and stuff. And, I mean, you can always teach sign language somewhere, but something tells me that you don't really want to do that. I hate to say it, but your options are really limited unless you find a way to talk."

I peddled faster, furrowing my eyebrows in annoyance. Luckily, New Bark Town was only two towns over from where the speech therapist lived, so the ride would be faster than previous ones. But I had been going to speech therapy since I could remember, every year a new doctor because the old one wasn't making a difference. Every year hoping that something magical would happen and one doctor finally would make a difference.

It was probably true that half the reason it didn't work so well for me was because I resisted it so much. Maybe muteness was a hindrance, but I never thought it so bad that I couldn't cope with it. I managed perfectly fine on my own, and honestly, I kind of considered it a part of me. I had never heard my own voice, and I was a little afraid of it. What if my voice didn't match my personality? What if I sounded like a man? What if I sounded like a squeaky little kid?

It was frightening, to say the least, considering all the possibilities of what I could sound like. I didn't want to risk hearing it.

"Lyra! Just because you can't talk doesn't mean you should ignore me!" Ethan called after me, and I smiled at this. "You could always go to another region, you know. I mean, Hoenn, Sinnoh, and Unova are a little far away… but you took down all the Gym Leaders in Johto and Kanto without a problem. Champion Lance, too. If you're looking for something to do, why not go to one of those regions? That could kill some time."

Kill some time? Of my life? Yeah, that sounded like a good idea… because I really wanted to kill some time of my life because I had too much free time. I didn't want to just sit back and waste away like that. I didn't want to have to kill some time. I wanted to do what everyone else did… maybe it would be different, but I still wanted it.

But… Ethan did have a point. Who said that I needed to stop at Kanto and Johto just because those two regions were connected? I had the rest of the world to travel to and explore. There was nothing stopping me from going there and trying out their leagues. My Pokémon team was practically unstoppable, anyway. We bonded in a way no one else could. They understood me without words.

"Though, you know… you have permission from Professor Oak to go to Mt. Silver, don't you?" Ethan continued, and I took one hand off the handles to touch the bag hanging off my shoulder. I swerved, grabbing the handle again to steady the bike. "Whoa! Careful there, Lyra! What are you trying to do?"

I narrowed my eyes, focusing on the road in front of me. I wasn't going to slow down to take the time to answer that question. All I had been trying to do was feel the Pokédex in my bag—it was sort of a reminder of everything that had happened. It was true that Professor Oak had given me permission to go to Mt. Silver; the old man had taken something as a likening to me, and he always seemed to be helping me out.

But I just hadn't gotten the chance to make it to Mt. Silver yet. I had always wanted to go, but Professor Oak had told my mother about how dangerous it was, and—though I was eighteen now and old enough to make my own decisions—she refused to let me go by myself. And it wasn't as if I could bring anyone else. Professor Oak had opened it to me, not just everyone and anyone. I couldn't just bring anybody.

So, I hadn't gone. But I had heard rumors of a silent boy there, one who had climbed the mountain and hadn't come back down yet. His mother, who I had met in Pallet Town in Kanto, told me that she didn't know where her own son was, and I sort of admired that freedom. If the boy—Red, or something weird like that—really was up there, then I knew he was at peace. Who was I to go up there and take it from him?

But… if he really was silent—like me—I wanted to talk to him. To tell him through our own language that I understood how he felt, and I knew he would understand me. If Red was really up there, then I couldn't just not see him. And maybe he was waiting for someone to come find him, to keep him from being lonely. Maybe he was stuck up there. No one knew the circumstances. And who better to find out than me?

I smiled, realizing exactly what I needed to do, where I needed to go. Squeezing the brakes on my handlebars, I skidded to a stop on the pavement. Ethan yelled out angrily, jumping off his bike to prevent crashing into me. I laughed an airy laugh, jumping off my bike and running over to hug my best friend. He didn't hug me back.

"What the heck are you doing, Crazy?" he demanded, his eyebrows furrowed and eyes narrowed. I bent down and picked my bike back up, putting out the kickstand and letting it stand on its own.

You gave me an idea! I'm going to go to Mt. Silver for a little while, I signed, and Ethan crossed his arms. My mom might not want me to go, but I need to. I have to go find this guy up there. He can help me. He's apparently been up there for quite some time.

Ethan fidgeted uncomfortably, bending down to pick up his own bike in an attempt to cover up his discomfort, but I still noticed. "What guy?"

I put my index fingers to my top lip, sliding it down towards my chin.

"That missing Champion from Kanto?" Ethan asked, and I nodded. "Well, how do you know that he's actually up there? That's only a rumor, right? I only suggested going to Mt. Silver for, like, a day trip. Catch some Pokémon, explore the caves… just before you go to Hoenn or wherever you decide. It sounds like you're turning this into an… expedition."

I frowned, shaking my head. Just for a little while. I just need to talk to him.

Ethan kicked a leg over the side of his bike, hopping back onto it and putting one foot on the pedal and his hands on the handlebars. "Whatever you want. Just, you know… don't expect too much, Lyra."

I never do, I signed before hopping back onto my bike and continuing the journey back to my home.

Author's Note: I haven't decided whether I'm going to update this at the same time as "Play Mates and Dream Dates" or if I'll wait until after. I mean, if you guys want me to update this with PMDD (like, on a Monday I'd update PMDD, on a Friday I'd update this kind of thing), I can do that. Just let me know.

This will be interesting for me as a writer. Considering my main focus as a writer is dialogue (if you haven't noticed before, dialogue is really my area of expertise), this will be difficult to write. There still is "dialogue", of course—just not as much since Lyra can't be speaking all the time.

Furthermore, this will be kind of an interesting set up. You see this is labeled: "Chapter One: Present". The chapters will alternate between present and past. So, the next chapter will explore Lyra's past in dealing with her muteness.

The sign language in this is American Sign Language (abbreviated ASL), by the way. I didn't think I could learn Japanese Sign Language, haha, considering I don't know the language.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.