-Choices and Tiny Things-

Lyra walked back towards her house. She stopped by one of the many greenhouses - the section she lived in was the "agricultural" one. The glass was slightly fogged up, but Lyra could still see the rows of vegetables, fruit, and dwarf berry plants. Hoping that the environment would help her clear her head, she entered, making sure that the door was completely shut, so as to not let the heat out.

Section 4, as the official documents referred to it as, was located in the north-eastern part of Goldenrod City. Lyra supposed she was lucky to live in 4; it was pretty far from Rocket headquarters, and it produced food for several cities, so Team Rocket tended to leave the place alone, and most families were able to grow a bit of extra food for themselves.
It was a tense relationship, however. Before the take-over, the Gym had been in the area. This, combined with the fact that the Rockets didn't like to do much in the area, had turned the area into a haven for the types of people who were more... active in their hatred for Team Rocket. Section 4's fate seemed to balance on an Ariados thread, constantly teetering back and forth between the approval and wrath of Team Rocket. There were constant rumors that an attack would be launched - though whether it would be from the Rockets or the rebels never seemed to be a certain point.

In the back of the building, Lyra noticed several people loading bags onto a Pidgeot. Once the Pokémon had as many bags as it could carry, it flew off, and another one took its place. Going a bit closer, she heard one of the group talking.

"Damn, we're never going to get all the supplies out in time."

"Yeah. We could use some more people. Even one more person would help." It did look like a lot of work, and if the number of supplies was any indication, there were at least three more Pidgeot to load up.

"You know we can't draw too much attention. We have to do it ourselves."
It seemed the supplies were for the rebels. Lyra hovered in indecision, debating between helping and leaving. She'd always wanted to help. But she was scared. What if the Rockets found out, or her parents got mad, or some freak accident happened?
Something from the back of her mind seemed to whisper, 'What if. What if you do help? What if this saves someone?'
'Such little things, they can be so huge, you know.'
Lyra frowned slightly. She could help them. Just a little thing, nothing big, no huge commitment - just a girl who passed by and did something a little brave. She forced herself to walk over to the workers.

"Do you need help?"
They stared at her, and she couldn't help but but feel self-conscious with their piercing stares locked on her.
A few moments passed, and then one of them, a tanned man with dark hair and a beard, said, "Help us load these." Lyra nodded and moved into a spot where she thought she'd be helpful.
One of the workers, a woman with medium-length, light purple hair, whispered to her, "This helps a lot. Thank you." Lyra simply nodded and helped lift the surprisingly heavy packages onto the Pidgeot. When she turned, she saw the Pokémon staring at her. "Uh... hi?" Lyra wasn't exactly sure what to do, since there were never any Pokémon around - Team Rocket had confiscated them all. She was surprised she knew what this one was called. Hesitantly, she stuck her hand out towards the underside of its head.

"You really shouldn't do that," said one of the workers, a blonde-haired, blue-eyed young man. His words startled Lyra, and she jumped a bit.

"Why not?" she asked, turning her gaze to the worker.

"He's not familiar with you. He could bite you or peck you."
Lyra looked back at the Pidgeot. She looked him in the eye, and saw an unmistakable spark. Intelligence. Curiosity. Even with the rather critical look he seemed to be shooting at her, she couldn't make herself think of him as violent. "I don't know. He seems okay." She moved her hand forward, placing it under the Pidgeot's head. The feathers were smooth and soft, but with a tiny bit of roughness. She instinctively ran her hand in the direction the feathers grew, smoothing down the rough patches as she went. A tense second passed; she was unaware of the rest of the group's eyes on her, solely focused as she was on the Pokémon in front of her.
Finally, the Pidgeot made a small trilling sound, closed its eyes, and pressed its head against her hand. Lyra couldn't help but smile at how peaceful he seemed.

"Hey, you ever handled a Pokémon before?" asked another of the workers. Lyra briefly looked up before shaking her head and returning her attention to the Pidgeot. I've never even been this close to one. The smoothness of the feathers, the structure of the wings, the way the crest on its head seemed to flow down its neck all mesmerized her.
The workers all exchanged looks. The purple-haired woman asked her, "What's your name?"

"...Lyra," she answered dreamily.

"Hmm. ...well, Lyra, we need to keep working. Though I am glad you get along with him."

"Huh? Oh, I'm sorry! Yeah, let's keep going!" Lyra said, giving the Pidgeot one last scratch under the chin before resuming her work.

The work was done quickly afterward; Lyra returned home tired, but with a sense of satisfaction. She had done something to help the rebels, something she had always been scared to do. She had met and befriended a Pokémon, a chance she had thought she'd never get. She was glad she had made that small choice. Maybe it would help her be better - less scared of insignificant shades of a possibility. One tiny step at a time.
Overall, it was a very good day for her.


"You said you wanted to talk to me about something, right?"

"Yes."

"Well, tell me then!"

"Of course... We were loading supplies for Blackthorn, and we had this girl help ou-"

"You weren't worried about her telling?"

"She saw us and just turned around. It was fine. Anyway, she just went right up to the Pidgeot and started petting it. No training, nothing."

"That's pretty cool. But why is it important?"

"Well, I was thinking, with some training-"

"You wanna recruit her?"

"Uh... yes, that's-"

"Go ahead! She sounds like she'd be good! We need more Trainers, anyway. More everything, actually, but you can't have everything, now can you?"

"Trainers? I was thinking more along the lines of a Breeder..."

"We have enough of them. Put her into the Trainer course. We can change it later if we need."

"Right. I'll go make preparations."


"You're going to be in charge of a mission next week. You need the practice."

"…"

"Geez. If looks could kill... I'm supposed to brief you, anyways. Section 4, the agricultural one-"

"I know that."

"It's a briefing. Calm down. Section 4's been withholding food. So somebody needs to go show them what happens when you don't follow orders."

"…"

"Take a couple hostages, get the food we were supposed to get. And a little extra. If you can manage that."

"…"

"And make sure they don't do it again. Maybe you could... set an example."


Lyra woke up to the soft murmur of voices beyond her door. Immediately, her thoughts snapped to the day before. Had the Rockets found out that she had helped the rebels? She sat up on her bed, tensed and ready to jump out if need be. Vaguely, the memory of her meeting with Silver rose like a bubble, then popped into the details and strangeness of it. She hoped no one had found out about that, either... Silver... Could it really... He seemed so different from the grunts. From what I expected. Especially if he is the one who saved me... Ah, this isn't the time! Paying closer attention to the conversation outside the door, she noticed the tone seemed much friendlier than she would've expected. Maybe it isn't Team Rocket. The thought had barely passed through her brain before the door to her room opened.
It was the woman from the rebel workers.

"Ah, it looks like she's already awake! Well then, Lyra, I think I have some things to explain to you." Lyra simply stared on, dumbfounded. What... What's going on? Why is she in my house? And what is she talking about, needing to explain?

"Oh, you look a bit confused." The woman chuckled. "I suppose I would be too. First things first, my name is Alexandria. But most people just call me Alexa. I noticed you got along very well with that Pidgeot yesterday - we all did. That's pretty rare for someone with no previous handling experience. So I was thinking - maybe you'd like to help us... on a more permanent basis. We could use you."
Lyra had thought she was surprised before, but this took the cake. This woman was barging into her house and asking her to become an active member of the rebels.

"What." Lyra immediately gave herself a mental kick for sounding so annoyed and stupid. It was just so much. She felt like she'd been shocked - or at least, what she imagined it felt like.

"Ah, I'm sorry. Here, let me start over."

"I'm Alexandria - but you may call me Alexa. As you know, I am one of the rebels working to try to bring down Team Rocket. The way you handled that Pidgeot yesterday was amazing. Especially since you've never had any experience with a Pokémon. Someone with as much natural talent as you would be a great asset. So, on behalf of the entire base, I'm inviting you to join us."
Lyra sat in silence. Join the rebels? She'd always wanted to help, but she'd also always been scared of what could happen - not just to her, but to her parents as well. She wouldn't want to put them in danger at all... And, what if she ended up being horrible? What if it was just a fluke, and the minute she actually had to do something, she froze up or failed spectacularly? It wouldn't be just her that suffered.

"It's okay if you're nervous. We all were when we first started."

"I... I'm sure... but... what if I'm horrible what if itwasjustafluke?" She flailed her arms around, further accentuating her confusion and fear.

"Trust me, it wasn't."

"But what if I can't do anything else!? Then I'd just be useless..."

"That's what we have training for. We'll help where you need it."
Lyra stayed silent. Even if that was all she could think of now to be worried about, she knew that something else would appear, that the unpleasant feeling in her stomach would bloom into some crippling worry. She put her legs over the side of the bed and stood up. She wasn't sure why; the movements were foreign and mechanical to her.
Mom. Dad. That was it. Slowly, she walked through the door to find her parents sitting on the sofa, worried, with wondering, frightened expressions on their faces. Lyra lifted her head, met the gazes of her parents, and hollowly walked over and fell to her knees.

Silence reigned for a full minute, and then Lyra spoke.

"Did she tell you..." Though the sentence was unfinished, it still carried her intended message.

"A little," her mother answered. She sighed, and Lyra caught the barest shine of a tear on her cheek. Lyra lifted herself to her knees, and wrapped her arms around her parents. She felt a drop hit her shoulder - her mother had started crying again. She felt her parents embrace her - her mother's arms, thinner than they should have been, and seemingly fragile, and her father's, strong, rougher, but still having a paper-thin feel in that moment.
The family stayed tied together for a while, before Lyra's mother slowly drew her arms back to herself.

"Lyra... I..." Her mother paused to blink back more tears. Lyra didn't quite understand why everything felt so desperate and final. She hadn't made her choice, had she?

"I've always wanted to keep you safe... but Arceus knows that it has to happen sooner or later..."
Lyra closed her eyes and bowed her head as she came to a realization. I don't have a choice, do I?
If I don't... what will happen? The Rockets will get me. I'll die. I'll end up here anyway.
And if it hurts this much, just to do this... what would the others feel like?
What do the ones who truly have no choice feel like?
A sad smile flickered across her face. This is how it's going to be. She lifted her head to look at her parents once again. "Mom... Dad..."
She could see - in their eyes, on their faces, in the small hitch of breath her mother took - they knew. So, wordlessly, they hugged each other once again. Lyra could feel tears welling up in her own eyes, and after a fruitless struggle, she let them silently fall.
This embrace was shorter, and yet she felt more comfort in it. Maybe because she knew her path now. Maybe because she had, if only briefly, silenced the turmoil in her mind.
Who knew.

She walked back into the room, that, so small a time ago, she had been ignorantly resting in.
"What do I need to do?"

She walked up to her parents. Another hug, kisses, exchanges of "I love you"s.

She walked out the door, following the purple-haired woman to wherever this choice would take her.