I can't believe I'm finally getting around to rewriting Once Upon A Silver Soul! Attention to all my current viewers, the chapters will probably be very different from what they were, except for a few small things. I know this was my first story and all, but I hated how I started writing this. So sorry for the inconvenience everybody, thanks to all my reviewers, and I don't own Pokemon!

Chapter 1: The Start Of Something New

Sunday, May 14th

I awoke to the sensation of warm sunlight arousing me awake. I opened one eye, reluctant to get up. A strand of my brown hair was in my face, also working to awake me by tickling my nose. I opened both eyes, and attempted to blow the strand of hair away, but it didn't work. I pushed back the yellow comforter, and swung my sock covered feet around to the wood floor. I could feel the cold sensation even with the fabric covering them. I stretched my arms up like the child my personality reflected, even though I had just turned twelve ten days ago. I didn't bother getting dressed or anything quite yet, instead making my way downstairs for breakfast.

"Lyra, you're finally awake!" That was my mom. People always said we looked alike, and I suppose we kind of do. Her brown hair was darker than mine though, and she wore it down with her favorite red headband most of the time, while I wore mine in pigtails with my big white hat, a red bow just the right size to match it. I sat down at the table where my mom sat down waffles and maple sausage with Razz berries. She told her usual stories and we laughed together, like every morning. I was just finishing up washing my dishes when mom spoke again.

"Oh, I almost forgot, Ethan was here earlier. Wants to hang out again I suppose."

"Thanks mom!" I was feeling much more like my peppy self now that I was awake, and before I ran upstairs I kissed my mom on the cheek. I dressed in my black tank top, red shirt, and jean overalls that also served as a pair of shorts. Afterwards I added my knee socks and red shoes.

Before I left to go downstairs, I noticed my tan bag hanging on the foot of my bed. I desperately wanted to leave home, go on a journey with Pokemon, like every other kid. I had packed my bag, thinking I would get a Pokemon as a gift for my twelfth birthday, but boy had I been wrong. I had a huge argument with everyone that day, it felt like I was up against the world. I could still hear their voices now. You're still too young! You are far too frail Lyra. Not another word young lady, you're still a child, not even close to being able to leave on your own.

I banished the words from my mind. Just another day.

"Did you grab your Pokegear sweety?"

"What's the point mom? It couldn't tell me what region I'm in." She looked thoughtful for a moment before replying.

"True. But be careful, kay honey?"

"Of course mom!" I hugged her goodbye before leaving the house. I instinctively grabbed my hat as I walked out the door. The windy environment of New Bark Town often blew it away. That had been how I'd met best friend, Ethan Gold, years ago. A story for another day. Suddenly my mother burst out the front door after me.

"Oh I'm so glad you haven't left yet! Professor Elm just called, he has a favor to ask of you so stop by the lab sometime today Lyra, okay?"

"Sure! Bye mom!"

"Bye honey." We hugged goodbye again, before I headed south, in the direction of Ethan's house. It was an unusually not windy day, and really quite beautiful. Before I could get there, a familiar blue Pokemon almost caused me to trip when jumping into my arms.

"Marill!"

"Hey little guy!" I patted the Pokemon of my best friends head.

"Marill! MARILL!" Ethan could be easily heard from everywhere in this small town, screaming like that. "MAR- Oh, hey Lyra!" Ethan waved to me, blushing a little bit. He'd liked me for years. I'd gotten over my crush years ago, but I still felt bad for Ethan, I never had any intentions of returning his feelings.

"I see you found the trouble maker." I giggled at Ethan's comment, something common for me.

"Here." I handed Marill back to it's trainer.

"Thanks, sooo, you just wanna' head back to my place and hang out for a while?" I shrugged my shoulders.

"Sure. But I gotta' visit Professor Elm later, so not for too long." We walked a few feet when Ethan suddenly stopped, causing me to run into the back of him. "What?" I patiently asked. He turned around rather slowly, smiling in a very creepy way. "W-what?" I asked again.

"You wanna go climb Doom Rock?" Doom Rock. The name the community gave to an enormous rock on the beach on the east end of town. Ethan and I always tried to climb it as kids, and often got hurt. Ethan even broke his arm once, at the same time breaking our record for highest on the rock. From then on we were absolutely not allowed to mess around on Doom Rock.

"I don't know..."

"Oh come on Lyra! Don't be such a baby!" I knew Ethan's comment was harmless, but to me, being indirectly called weak, too young, too frail, I took it to heart.

"Fine!" I marched, fast, down to the beach, Ethan struggling to keep up with me. Our neighbors looked confused as to why the happy-go-lucky girl of New Bark looked so angry, and honestly, it was kinda' funny! Once we got to the beach, we each kicked off our shoes and socks, running to Doom Rock. Ethan got to the ledge about five foot from the ground, where we would sit down and just talk, laugh.

"Bet you can't even get up here Lyra!"

"Hm!" I pouted like a kid, quickly climbing to the ledge where the baseball cap wearing boy was sitting, and pushed him down. Ethan landed in the soft sand while Marill and I giggled.

"Hey now! No need to get violent!" Suddenly, for really no reason at all, I noticed the shadow of Doom Rock overcast onto the sand, covering up both Ethan and I. I know Ethan didn't mean for it to happen, but I often lived in his shadow. He had a Pokemon, Marill, and was often seen as more experienced, and stronger than me. Ethan, could you take care of that troublesome Sentret for me? Ethan, could you and your Marill run to Cherrygrove City and pick up a few things for me? Ethan, could you, Ethan, Marill, could you two, Marill, do a favor.

I pushed out the thoughts and random words from my mind. I looked up at the looming rock, a determined look on my face. Turning around carefully, standing up on my tip-toes, I took hold of a crevice in the rock. One hand after the other. One foot after the other.

"Uh, Lyra?" I ignored him. "I don't know if that's such a good idea..."

"Don't be such a baby Ethan! Besides, this isn't so hard!" Until my foot slipped almost ten foot off the ground. I screamed on the way down, my usual girly scream. I was lucky enough not to hit the rock on my way down.

"Ly-oof!" I felt the air get knocked out of me, and didn't want to get up. Marill then came over and started poking at my side.

"Mar? Marill?" I set one hand on the sand, using it to prop myself up, before realizing I was on top of something. Or rather, someone.

"Ethan! Ohmygosh, I'm SOOOOOO sorry!" I stood up, helping him up as well.

"Don't mention it." He replied, brushing sand off of himself.

"Nice catch by the way." I smiled at him, Ethan blushed a little and smiled back. Suddenly a noise that came out of nowhere made me jump, before I realized it was Ethan's Pokegear ringing.

"Hello?" I could faintly hear a voice on the other line, but couldn't tell who it was or what they were saying. "Uh huh, okay. Alright, I'll be home in a minute. Bye dad." Ethan hung up. "I gotta get home and help with lunch Lyra, wanna hang out later?" I nodded.

"Sure, I have to go see Professor Elm anyways." He nodded back and left, grabbing his shoes at the edge of the beach and jogging off, Marill not far behind. I myself nodded, knowing Ethan was gone, and picked up my own shoes at the edge of the beach, not bothering to put them back on, and walked to Elm's lab, right on the edge of town. I always imagined they put it there so trainers hoping to get a Pokemon from the Professor didn't have to trudge through the bland streets of New Bark Town. After a few minutes I was right in front of the lab, the largest building in town.

Before walking in I noticed a tuft of something red behind the mailbox. I quietly walked towards it, standing on my tiptoes, not being able to see just what this tuft was at my current height. I gasped when I realized what was going on.

A girl is peeping on Professor Elm! Of course, there was no way for me to know at this point that it certainly was not a girl, I could only really see his long hair. At first I thought this was quite serious, but after thinking about it for a moment I realized how funny it was. I snuck up behind who I thought was a her.

"Oooh, see anything juicy going on in there?" She jumped from her crouching position, landing on her bottom, even cursing a tad too loud.

"W-who are you!?" I realized this wasn't a girl when he spoke, and stood up. Whoever he was, he was a couple inches taller than me, about the same height as Ethan. He looked pretty mad, but the redness on his face from getting caught diminished the look of anger. Before I could stop myself I stifled giggle escaped my lips. The hand over my mouth did little to help. Before I knew it I was laughing like Gengar on Halloween.

"What's so funny marshmallow head?!" His face was even redder than before.

"Hahahahahaha, I just, haha, I don't know!" I continued laughing, almost at tears. I even collapsed to the ground, holding my stomach laughing. My hat even came off at one point. Eventually I wiped the last of my tears away, standing up and readjusting my 'marshmallow hat', as redhead called it.

"So why are you watching him?" I asked smiling.

"Mind your own business marshmallow!" He yelled, shoving me to the ground. I looked up, pained, into his bright red eyes, confused as to why he did that. I couldn't help the tears beginning to form in my big brown eyes. Several tears streamed down my face before I wiped them all away.

"Y-you big meanie." I sniffled, standing up and walking away, entering the lab. I'd wiped away any remaining evidence of the event before anyone inside could see me.

"Hello Lyra! You know I've been waiting for you!"

"I know Professor! So what can I do for you?" I politely replied, my hands together in front of me.

"Of course. So Lyra, do you know anything about my research?" I was thoughtful for a moment, trying to remember what it was that Professor researched.

"Um, I'm pretty sure it has something to do with Pokemon!"

"Well, yes. But anyways, as you know, Pokemon are carried in Pokeballs these days." I nodded my head. "But before the Pokeball was invented, people used to walk with Pokemon, just like Ethan does with Marill today! Pokeballs are great because you can carry many Pokemon, but walking with Pokemon must have some advantages. It could have something to do with how Pokemon grow or evolve..." I wondered why Elm was telling me this. I already knew everything he was telling me. Professor Elm was even researching Ethan and Marill's relationship, cataloging Marill's growth and bond with Ethan, patiently waiting for the water type to evolve into Azumarill.

"So what does this have to do with me Professor?" He smiled at me, and I probably looked even more confused.

"I'm going to give you a Pokemon!" My eyes widened, and my hands slowly went to my mouth.

"Y-you mean it?" I almost whispered.

"Of course-" Elm had been about to say something else, but I cut him off with my scream of excitement.

"AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Elm and one of his assistants covered their ears. I scream loud. A second assistant dropped a huge pile of papers. "Sorry!" I called out to him.

"There is a bit of a catch though Lyra."

"What's that?" I asked.

"Well, you know how everyone feels about you going on a journey..."

"Yeah?"

"Well, I am going to give you a Pokemon, but you're only leaving town this once to do a favor for me."

"Oh..."

"Lyra, I'm sorry but..."

"I-its alright Professor! I shouldn't have expected to leave home anyways." I was really upset. At least I was getting a Pokemon though.

"I'm sorry Lyra." He put a hand on my shoulder, trying to comfort me. "So my point is that I want you to walk with this Pokemon and see if it brings any special feelings or bonds between the two of you." I looked up and saw one of the Prof.'s two assistants. He was carrying a tray with three enlarged Pokeballs on it. After gesturing for me to pick one up, I released the most adorable little blue Pokemon! Another scream was coming.

"EEEK! IT'S SO CUTE!" The assistant that had dropped those papers before did the same again... The little blue Pokemon cried out in excitement with the cutest little quack noise!

"Totodile!" I let out two other Pokemon, a green one and a bluish green one with a little fire on his bottom, but I stuck with the first one. Professor Elm's assistant told me that he was a Totodile, and knew only two moves right now, Scratch and Leer.

"Would you like to give your Pokemon a name Lyra?" I thought about it for a moment, looking at the little Pokemon I was holding up in my arms right now. Suddenly he jumped out of my arms, and grabbed my hat in his little mouth.

"Ta ta toto!" Totodile laughed at me on the ground.

"Hey!" I laughed too.

"Don't be too surprised Lyra! Totodile is the big jaw Pokemon!" I laughed along with the water type Pokemon, chasing him around the lab trying to get my hat back. I finally got hold of it, and the chase turned into an all out tug of war.

"Come on, give it back!" I couldn't sound serious though, laughing the whole time. Totodile finally released my hat, and once it was back on my head I crouched down and patted his little head. I decided not to give him a nickname, mostly because I couldn't think of one.

"So, about this favor I have for you."

"Right! What is it Professor?"

"I have this acquaintance, maybe you've heard of him, he's go by the name of Mr. Pokemon." I nodded, recognizing the name.

"I have." The Professor sighed, looking out the window into space, making gestures with his hands.

"Well, he keeps finding strange things and raving about his discoveries, though most of the time it's something that wastes my time. But I recently got an email from him saying that this time it was for real. It's probably another Pokemon egg, but we're so busy with our research..."

"Say no more Professor!" I saluted him, grinning excitedly. "Totodile and I will go check it out for you!" Elm smiled back at me.

"Thank you Lyra. We must still call your mother though to make sure it's alright with her." I nodded, the butterflies in my stomach a sign of the growing hope in my head.

Silver's POV

I watched from the window in complete silence as the so called great Pokemon Professor of abilities and breeding gave away a Pokemon to that helpless girl from earlier. What an idiot! How could such a weak person possibly raise a Pokemon? Thinking of this suddenly reminded of when I had shoved her to the ground earlier, and I felt guilty. I locked the thought up instantly. I couldn't be getting cold feet now. But still, she seemed so innocent...

Lyra's POV

After several minutes of begging, my mother had finally agreed to let me go on this errand for Professor Elm, and now I was back at home. After eating dinner and getting ready for bed, I was lying on my bed letting Totodile nibble on my fingers. His clumsiness caused him to fall over sideways while I giggled at him.

"I can't believe it's finally happening." I said outloud, silently adding, this could be the start of something new, something brand new.

Sunday, May 14
I had huge writer's block on this, probably cuz I've already written it. It'll probably get easier as I get to the parts that I haven't written yet. Hope you guys enjoy it!