Silence. Kris needed silence. Kris needed silence, she needed to be alone, she needed to be with him, she needed to belong again-

She buried herself into the deepest part of Ilex Forest and simply sat there, tucking her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. Lyra, she thought, the name sour even in her thoughts. What kind of name was Lyra anyway?

"Phloo," hummed her Typhlosion, almost mournfully. Was he trying to make her feel better?

"You're no good at this empathy thing," she sighed, only half-joking. The Pokémon nuzzled her gently and she gave his nose a gentle pat, but it was only half-hearted. He tried another gentle "phloo" but Kris didn't even seem to be listening to him anymore. Lyra, she thought, LyraLyraLyraLyraLyra. Her name was acid.

With a sad little moan, the Typhlosion sauntered off in the other direction. His trainer didn't even seem to notice. That was what upset the Pokémon the most; that she was so incredibly distraught that he could have walked up to Goldenrod and she wouldn't have realized. And he couldn't do anything to make her feel better. He found his own little bit of the forest and poked idly at the ground.

A little sprig of color, suddenly-something he only noticed from the corner of his eye. He'd almost sat on the tiny pink flower that protruded proudly from the ground, but only now was he actually seeing it.

Girls liked pink things, didn't they? And his trainer's shirt was pink, so she must have had some sort of fondness for it. He stared intently at it for a moment and then carefully let his giant paw go near it and carefully, carefully pluck it out of the ground. There-he'd gotten it without damaging it. He had been so concerned; he was an absolute giant and this little bit of nature was so fragile. But he'd done it. Yes, he thought, Kris would like this.

He stood and slowly made his way back to where his trainer was. And then, there it was again: that almost imperceptible flash of color, this time right under where his foot was about to land. Oh, no! He'd almost stepped on the sweet little thing. Typhlosion bent over to get a better look, and maybe try to apologize to it. This one was blue, he noticed. Oh, this one matched his trainer's hair! Yes, he decided, she would like this one. With another careful movement of his monstrous paw, he picked the little flower and held it with the pink one.

Typhlosion started back on his wandering to his trainer, eyes downcast in case he were to find another flower; he didn't want to step on one. And then, suddenly, there one was. Next to another, and another, and another... He looked up, and there they were. An uncountable number of flowers, spread out in a magnificent tree-surrounded grove in every color he could imagine! This one matched his trainer's coat, this one matched her shorts, that one was as blue as her eyes and these didn't match anything on her but they were pretty! A grin spread across the Pokémon's face and one by one, he picked the flower, and that one, and this one, gathering them into his paw and making a little bouquet. Yes, his trainer would absolutely love this, this would make her happy...

"Typhlosion!"

Oh, that was her voice! The Pokémon stood, and called back with a loud, "Ploooo!" He didn't want her to see the grove just yet, he thought, so he went to her, following the sound of her voice and her footsteps against the forest floor. There she was; he'd know those pigtails anywhere. Kris smiled at him, only half-happy, and wiped wetness from her cheeks.

"I'm sorry," she told him, "But just because I'm not paying attention doesn't mean you can walk off like that, oka-oh?"

A grin spread across Typhlosion's face when she saw the flowers, and he held his paw out towards her-foryou-and unfurled it. "Plooo."

The girl paused, looking completely bewildered. Typhlosion was worried at first-did he do something wrong? But then she began to smile, not just half-happy this time but full-happy, and hugged him as she took the flowers from his paws.

"Thank you," she said quietly, and the Pokémon gently hugged her back. He had done well, he thought, because as long as his trainer was happy, so was he.