I realized that I forgot my disclaimer. Whoops. :) Well, I do not own Pokemon or Heart Gold or Lyra or Silver or Lance, although I kinda wish I did. And yeah. That's it. Also, while I may not have been too nice to Silver so far, he's growing on me. He's kind of a jerk though. Just thought I'd point that out. Okay. Enjoy!

I took another glance into the mirror of Silver's house, where I was currently hidden. I was currently sitting in his living room, to be exact. Wow, this was weird. And I know that it was childish and silly to be worried about how I looked at a time like this, but I couldn't help it. Suicune, my hair was so short! My traditional pigtails were gone, replaced by a low ponytail, which was the only thing I could make work at the moment. My hair was darker too. I had shied away from bleaching it (blonde was just too eye-popping for me) and instead chose a shade of dark brown. Gone, as well, was the trademark hat, which I was going to miss so much. Silver promised to hang onto it for me, so at least it wasn't completely gone. My mom had given me that hat for my tenth birthday and I had worn it since. I had instead adopted navy ball cap of sorts which I was constantly pulling down over my eyes. Well, I was never going to be the most attractive girl in the room, but that wasn't what I wanted right now anyway. Actually, my plain girl-next-door type of look was perfect.

But I hated the different. Everything had to be different. Even my Pokemon. I had refused to let go of Cav, my Megamanium, or Luke, my Charizard. Cav was the Pokemon I started with and Luke was a gift from Lance after I became a Champion. He said that although he didn't think me fit yet for a Dragon-type, he didn't mind giving me a pseudo-Dragon type. In our next battle, I used Luke to beat his prized Dragonite. Shows him. From there, I had a whole new party, which was difficult to deal with sometimes. I had convinced Silver, somehow, to let me borrow his Gengar, which was the scariest and yet most effective Pokemon I'd ever seen. As for the remaining three, I had picked the highest level Pokemon I had that I hadn't used often. Sandslash, Gyarados (not the red one because I couldn't really attract any more attention than using that), and Jolteon fit the bill nicely for me. That way I could pose as a Kanto trainer, besides Cav, who I guess could be a gift from an older sister or something. I wasn't leaving him behind.

I flicked a look over at the TV, which was currently on Silver. I grinned. He could be quite a convincing actor when he wanted to be. Now he had everyone convinced about how we had been out for a training session when a horde of stampeding Tauros had caught us unaware and trampled right over me. Before anyone could do anything, my shirt got caught on the horn of a Tauros and I was dragged along and eventually flung off a nearby cliff, into a river, where I disappeared. Officials were looking for me, but the current was vicious out there and it was very likely I hadn't survived. Well, what do you know? I was on the news.

Next was a clip of the statement from Silver himself. I turned up the volume curiously. "It was an accident," Silver shook his head, calm, yet showing just the right amount of grief, "It could've happened to anyone. I just wish I could've done something to stop it, you know." The clip cut off and the news person came back on, looking solemn. She was buying into it all the way. Silver may not be the most charitable, but when you got his support, you felt it. As for how he is explaining this to Lance, I don't know, but it really wasn't any of my business. As long as the story worked, I didn't care.

"That was one of our Champion's take on the death of former Champion Lyra Kotone," the newsperson continued, "And as far as getting a hold of the other Champion, there's been no luck. Johto's Dragon Master hasn't made a public appearance since the announcement of Kotone's death. I'm sure he is mourning her in his own way, as will the rest of Johto at the news of one of Johto's finest being put to rest. This is Johto Channel 7 news and that's a wrap."

I turned off the TV, trying to avoid any guilt I felt. This was the best way to do things. I had to make things safe again. If Lance was taking this hard, that was his problem. I couldn't let anything distract me.

"I'm back from Champion duty," Silver called and a few seconds later I heard the front door slam shut, "Have they run my clip yet? I didn't miss it, did I?"

"You missed it," I announced, looking up as he came through the door.

He took one look at me and shook his head. "You know, you still look like Lyra Kotone. Changing your hair and clothes doesn't constitute cover."

I glared at him. "I did my best. What would you suggest anyway?"

"You really want my advice?" Silver asked critically, looking me up and down.

"Yes, I do," I replied, crossing my arms.

"Disguise yourself as a boy," Silver shrugged, walking toward the kitchen and getting himself a glass of water. "It diverts attention and makes you seem stronger. Besides," he gave me another one of those up and down looks, "You always did look kind of like a boy. Lose the pigtails and you and Ethan look almost identical from the back."

"If you are addressing my lack of curves, then I resent that statement," I answered crossly.

"Well, you always were kind of flat-chested," he stated, not even looking at me.

"Silver!"

"Lyra. If you want the truth, you come to me. That's why you did, right? And I'm telling you that you'd make a pretty convincing boy. And seeing as I already made a statement on national television that you fell to your death, there's no turning back now. So you either man up and do what's necessary or you chicken out and run home to Ethan, who seems to have become your new mommy. So if you want to do this right, you listen to what I say, okay?"

I was mad now. I was so insanely mad. I wanted to have Luke blast this guy into charcoal. I almost called him out, seeing as my hand strayed to his Pokeball, but I just looked at Silver coldly, making sure I got my message across. "Don't you ever, ever mention my mother ever again. You can say whatever the heck you want, seeing as you hate pretty much everyone in this world besides your Typhlosion, but don't you ever reference to her. Do you get me? Now let's keep this business-like and I won't have an issue with anything you say."

Luckily for him, Silver refrained from smirking. "Okay, Lyra. I won't go there if that's a touchy spot. Wouldn't want you to sic your Charizard on me." He shot a knowing look at the hand now resting on Luke's pokeball. "But you have to understand that this isn't a picnic in the park. Revenge is a tricky thing, Kotone. I wouldn't want you to get the wrong idea."

"This isn't about revenge-" I argued hotly, still pissed out of my mind. However, Silver cut me off before I could finish what I was saying.

"Yeah, Lyra, it is," Silver retorted, "You're pissed. I get that. Just remember that you went looking for them. And that changes a person."

"Speaking from experience, are you, Silver?" I answered icily, raising an eyebrow.

He looked away. "It doesn't matter what I've been through. What matters is that you're about to make a choice. Is this really what you want?"

"Yes," I nodded without hesitation, "This is what I want. Definitely."

"Okay then," Silver nodded, meeting my eyes, "Alright. Then let me help you out."

"Do your worst," I said, crossing my arms. "What do I need to do?"

Two hours later

"When I said 'do your worst', I wasn't serious," I said grumpily as I looked in the mirror. My hair was even shorter- now cut like a boy's, seeing as that was my new identity- and I was dressed in baggy-looking clothes with the same navy hat as before. My eyes were a different color too (blue now) due to some kind of color contacts. Overall, I didn't even recognize myself.

Silver smirked, looking quite pleased. "At least one of us is enjoying themselves."

"I'm still mad at you, ginger," I frowned deeply, "So wipe that smirk off your face right this second."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Silver shrugged, "So what's your plan to start off with?"

"I want to make sure Ethan's okay first," I decided, worried after the message Team Rocket had sent me, "Then, I guess I'll roll from there. I'll start with that sketchy guy at the store in Mahogany Town, you know, the one whose store was above the Team Rocket base. He got off free cause we didn't have enough evidence against him to prove he knew the base was there. I'll find out if he's been contacted by Team Rocket recently. Then I'll move on to other known members of Team Rocket."

"The way I see it, you've got two priorities right now," Silver explained, "Finding the one who did it and the one who gave the orders to do it. If you're looking for the big guy, I suggest talking to Blue, the Viridian Gym Leader, at some point. That'll be tricky, but his gym used to be controlled by Team Rocket. He may know where Giovanni fled to when he was first driven out of the gym. It's all about following the trail, you know."

"Sounds good," I nodded, "I want to leave tonight so I can fly in the cover of darkness. Plus, you probably don't want people to see a mysterious boy leaving your house in broad daylight."

"Neither do I want people to see that at night," Silver pointed out gruffly, "So don't be seen."

I grinned at him. "Thanks for helping out, Silver."

"Yeah, well, you just hold up your end of the bargain and everything will be all good," he replied, looking away from me. I could tell that he was a little bit pleased though. So there was a person buried in there after all. "And Lance will be on Champion duty all this week, so he'll be kept busy."

"Good," I answered, not pursuing the conversation any more. "In other news, I got an idea," I grinned again, grabbing Cav's Pokeball from my belt. "Want to have a battle while we wait?" With Silver's being a Champion and all, his house also including a state of the art indoor battling field. That way, no one could see us and I could get in some practice with my new team.

For the first time in a long time, Silver grinned right back. "You're on."