Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. This was just written for fun. Also the prompt for this is somewhat related to Fire Emblem.
It had been four years since Lyra had become one of the youngest Pokémon Champions ever, she was beginning to grow restless. She spent most of her time training her pokémon at the Elite Four's facility in Indigo Plateau, but there was something missing. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy her face being plastered all over television and newspapers with loud headlines that read LYRA GOLD, YOUNGEST POKÉMON TRAINER TO DEFEAT ELITE FOUR. There was a little bit of embellishment, because she knew that Red had defeated the Elite Four before her, but she relished the attention. That wasn't the problem - it was that there were no more challenges.
She'd worked steadily through all eight gyms in Johto, battling trainers in each gym and surprising them countless times after they'd claimed that she would never be able to beat their Leader. But she'd won, and she'd taken on the Pokémon League Challenge and won again. Five long battles against some of the best trainers that had ever lived in Johto, and she'd beaten each of them in a row.
But since she had, the challenge was gone. The thrill of adventure had disappeared, and now, four years later, she was beginning to crave it again. She'd gotten into the habit of sitting on her bed with maps of each region spread out before her - Kanto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova and Kalos. She'd go there with new pokémon and work from the bottom up all over again. But each time she ran through the possibilities in her head, she always came to a dead end. She was a Champion now, and she had responsibilities. She was supposed to be around for new challengers. She couldn't very well have Lance stand in her place, because if someone did manage to beat him, then they would have to wait to challenge her for their battle to be official. And if they lost, she could imagine that the League would be in a lot of trouble for setting up unfair battles or something like that.
She'd examined the maps several times that evening, but each time, she ran into the same problem. She sighed and collapsed on her bed. She knew that she needed to get ready soon, because her mother had offered to hold a Creation Day party at their house for several members of the League. While the functions did offer her the chance to wear pretty dresses, it meant dealing with a lot of business that was incredibly boring.
She hopped up off her bed and was about to open her closet when she heard something clink against her window. Her hand instinctively went to her pokémon belt, only to realize that she wasn't wearing it.
Nevertheless, she edged over to the window and opened it, squinting into the darkness. She was about to shut the window when she heard a familiar voice hiss, "It's me, you idiot - let me up!"
She glanced down to see Silver clinging to the edge of the house. She hadn't seen him in a long time, not since before she'd climbed to the top of the League. But despite the fact that she hadn't seen him since she was ten, it didn't take very long for her to fall into their old routine.
"And why should I let you in my house? I should just close the window on your fingers," she sniffed as she tapped her fingers against the top of the frame.
"Because it's about Team Rocket."
She paused for a moment and frowned. "Team Rocket's gone. Lance and I beat them in Goldenrod City and dismantled their operation. I don't know why you'd bring that up, because lying sure as hell isn't going to allow you to come in."
Silver grunted as he tried to pull himself up into a more comfortable position. "It's not a lie, goddamnit. And if you don't let me in, I'll probably fall and land right in front of all the big League members that are supposed to come here. It'd be a lot of bad press for the Champion."
"...how did you know people from the League were coming here?"
"Does it really matter? Just let me in already."
Lyra reluctantly extended an arm and helped pull him up into her room. "I would have thought that you would be skilled at climbing into random people's homes, considering the fact that you broke into Professor Elm's lab years ago to steal one of his pokémon."
But there was something different about Silver now. It wasn't just that he was older. He had never tried to find her before, and that single fact stuck out in her mind as she watched him examine the maps that were laid out all over bed.
"Was the Champion of Johto planning on taking a vacation?"
"Why'd you just call me that?"
"Well, you are the Champion, aren't you?"
"...Yes. I haven't lost to anyone, if that's what you were wondering," she muttered as she went to grab the maps. She tried to ignore the way that her stomach twisted when he called her the Champion of Johto. She couldn't decide if it was meant to be a compliment, an insult or a mixture of both.
He smirked at her remark, in the way that she remembered him doing every time he thought he was about to beat her in a battle. "Good to know that your winning streak has been holding up."
She nearly dropped the maps as she walked over to her desk. "And what the hell is that supposed to mean?" she seethed, anger bubbling up inside her as she remembered the countless times he'd insisted that she hadn't managed to beat him. "I'm the Champion of Johto and you can't even admit that I've beaten you? You are unbelievable!"
"…You do realize that you're shouting and no one knows I'm up here but you, right?"
Lyra let out an irritated yell as she stomped back over to the window. "Out. You didn't even tell me a thing about Team Rocket. All you did was stand here and insult me."
Silver bit his lip and didn't move. Lyra was tempted to summon Feraligator and get him to deal with her former rival, but then she heard something that made her heart skip a beat.
"Sorry."
"…what?"
"I said sorry," Silver repeated, letting out a breath as he sat down on her bed. "I wish I could say this isn't about the past, but it is."
"What do you mean?"
Lyra remembered battling her way through Goldenrod City right after she'd received her seventh badge. The city had been completely taken over by Team Rocket—Leader Whitney and the trainers at her gym had been held inside the gym's walls so that no challenger could take down the operation. She'd made her way through the Radio Tower, beating each operative who challenged her. Sometimes when she thought about that day, she thought that maybe the reason that she'd won so many battles wasn't because of talent, but because she really didn't know what would happen to her or her pokémon if she lost.
"It's about Team Rocket," Silver remarked, letting out a sigh. "It seems they're working on something new."
"Well...what? Forcing more pokémon to evolve? Trying to catch legendaries?"
"No," Silver replied dismally, "much worse. A man I ran into in the Viridian Forest - he was one of Rocket's scientists - he talked to me about their experiments. He's been staying in the forest for several weeks."
Lyra raised an eyebrow. "You're believing a man you found living in a forest?"
"They've been trying to replicate their work from Goldenrod. It seems that instead of trying to make pokémon evolve, they've been trying to force people to evolve."
"...what?" Lyra blanched.
"It's grotesque, I wouldn't want to repeat it," Silver commented, shaking his head. Lyra was about to put up a fight and ask if the reason he wasn't keen to share the details was because he thought of her as some frail little girl, but she didn't make a sound.
After a moment's silence, Silver spoke again. "The reason I came here tonight is to ask you to come with me to Kanto. If Team Rocket really is working on these experiments, they'll need people like us to stop them."
It seemed ludicrous to her that Silver would ask her to travel with him after he'd done nothing but torment her on her own journey through Johto. And there was something that just felt so arrogant about his statement 'people like us', as though he was including himself among the Club of Extraordinary Trainers even though he'd never beaten a League Challenge before.
"So will you come with me?"
It would be a chance to travel again, to take down Team Rocket once and for all. But she'd have to travel with Silver, who had done nothing but poke and prod at her insecurities as she challenged the gyms in the Johto region. Not only would she have to deal with Silver, she'd also have to leave the League, at least temporarily. Not to mention the fact that what Silver was proposing was far from a simple journey through one of the neighboring regions to take on League Challenges. If they weren't successful, she doubted that she'd be able to come back to her post as Champion so easily.
"I can't," she murmured softly. "I have responsibilities here."
Silver sighed. "I knew you'd say that. I doubt you'd want to give up being Champion, even if it was only temporary."
Lyra bristled at his remark. "I'm afraid I don't know what you mean." She figured that it would be more useful to deflect, especially since she could see cars nearing her house.
He let out a sound of amusement and shook his head. "Never mind, I guess I'll just take them down on my own."
He walked back towards the window and leaned halfway outside, before giving her a half-hearted smile. "It was nice to see you again, Lyra."
Her heart did the same weird skip it did a few moments earlier, and as she watched him disappear into the night, she couldn't help but wonder if she'd made the wrong choice.