Firstly, I want to thank all those who followed, favourited and reviewed this story. I'm happy that you guys like my story.
Secondly, replies to the reviews. I'm going to reply all of my reviews this way as I have guest reviewers.
Zedric751: Thank you very much.
Bunnicles: Thank you for reviewing, it's rare for people to ship Almiashipping and Heartsoulshipping. But it's nice to see another fan.
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Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.
Lyra walked along the hallways of the school building before she arrived at an empty music room. Lyra's Glaceon walked beside its trainer and Lyra released an Espeon from a Repeat Ball. The two Pokémon stood beside their trainer while Lyra opened the door carefully. Inside the music room was a boy with navy blue hair and a black cap which was worn backwards. The boy who was playing the guitar turned his attention to the opened door. Lyra popped her head through the door and the boy sent Lyra a bright smile.
"Come on in." Smiled the boy.
"How's your practicing going, Ethan?" Asked Lyra.
"Just practicing for the competition, you will come and watch right?" Asked Ethan.
"Of course! I wouldn't miss it for the world." Said Lyra.
Lyra's Espeon struck up a conversation with Ethan's Umbreon while Lyra's Glaceon stretched its body against the cool flooring of the music room.
"About Nate..." Trailed Lyra.
Ethan frowned, "He has been through a tough time lately."
"But he has been getting out of hand lately. Rosa is really worried about him, and as her friend, I'm worried about her." Frowned Lyra.
Ethan sighed, "I can't tell you anything, if you want to know, you should ask him personally. As for Rosa, I feel bad for her too. I'll get Nate to talk to her."
"One more thing, Serena feels uncomfortable when you guys sit beside her in class without us. Your fangirls keep glaring at her, and she can't concentrate during class." Said Lyra.
Ethan's eyes softened, "I'll talk to the guys about this later. I can understand her feelings."
Lyra gave a small smile, "Thank you."
"How about we go and grab some coffee? I'd like to spend some time with my best friend." Said Ethan.
"Why not?" Replied Lyra, with a small smile.
Both trainers recalled their Pokémon before leaving the music room. Ethan offered Lyra his hand and she took it with a smile. Ethan and Lyra soon arrived at the cafeteria's cafe. Lyra got a cup of iced mocha latte while Ethan got a cup of iced caramel latte. They found a booth seat to talk while they had their coffee.
"So, how are you these days?" Asked Ethan.
"Same old routine, but I guess things have been a little different ever since Serena transferred here. She's a good friend." Said Lyra.
Ethan smiled slightly, "I could tell, you seemed happier."
"I'll accompany you tomorrow, when you go and visit your parents." Spoke Ethan, softly.
Lyra's expression became solemn but she nodded, "You don't have to, but feel free to join me tomorrow."
No one other than Ethan knew that Lyra's parents were already dead. They died when Lyra was just seven and her grandparents have raised her ever since. Ethan knew how much Lyra missed her parents and he always made time to talk and spend time with her. They were childhood best friends after all.
Ethan patted Lyra's head before giving her an encouraging smile. The two friends decided to talk about something happier.
Lyra gave Ethan a grateful smile, "Ethan, thanks for talking with me."
Ethan grinned, "No problem."
"If you will excuse me, I'll be getting takeout for my friends and I for dinner." Spoke Lyra.
Ethan nodded and Lyra left the area. Lyra went to get takeout for dinner for herself and the others. Kate had offered to help her carry the food since Serena was with Rosa, Kate herself was out for a walk. Kate found Lyra waiting for their food. Lyra and Kate saw the former's name pop up on the screen and the two collect the bags of food.
"What did Ethan say?" Asked Kate.
"Ethan said that he would talk to Nate. Apparently Nate has been though a pretty hard time and he flirts and dates girls more often to release the stress, not that I agree with such a form of a stress reliever." Replied Lyra, with a slight frown.
Kate nodded slightly in agreement to Lyra's statement as they approached Rosa and Serena's dorm room. Kate knocked on Serena and Rosa's room door three times before Serena opened the door.
"We've got dinner, so come over in a little while." Said Kate.
"Rosa is just freshening up." Nodded Serena.
Kate and Lyra nodded and they headed to their room to put the food boxes down, but they left the door open. Rosa and Serena came over a few minutes later. Lyra and Kate opened up the food on a small table on the floor.
"Ethan said that he will talk to Nate, hopefully things will get better and Rosa might have a chance with Nate." Said Lyra, with a playful smirk.
Rosa scowled at her friend's joke before Lyra waved the scowl off, knowing that Rosa knew that it was just a joke.
"Ethan said that Nate has been going through a pretty tough time lately, and dating and flirting with those girls is his way of releasing the stress not that I agree with it." Said Lyra.
"Rosa, maybe you should talk to him. After all, you guys have known each other since childhood. You would probably understand him better than anyone else." Said Kate.
"But we aren't close, not anymore." Responded Rosa, muttering the last part.
"You should still show your concern as a friend." Spoke Serena.
Lyra paused from her eating when she heard Serena's statement before she started humming a tune. Lyra set down her utensils before heading over to the practice room. Kate, Rosa and Serena followed Lyra curiously. Lyra started playing the tune that she was humming on the keyboard before Rosa grabbed a music score pad and handed it to Serena who started writing the notes down. Rosa picked up her acoustic guitar and started playing the same chords on her guitar.
"This sounds nice." Spoke Kate, with a smile.
Serena and Rosa played the chords on their respective instruments while Kate watched as Lyra started humming while writing down some lyrics. Kate realised that the song probably didn't need a drum beat or a bass part, it probably only needed a piano and acoustic guitar part.
"I think all this song needs is an acoustic guitar and piano part. It doesn't need a bass or drum part." Said Kate.
"Now that you mention it, it does seem that way." Nodded Rosa.
"Why don't we let Lyra sing this song, since she was the one who wrote the lyrics and the intro of the song. Kate can sing with her too." Said Serena.
Rosa clapped her hands in agreement, "That's a great idea, I mean we probably don't need a drum or bass in this song, so the two of you can sing."
"I don't know, I'm not that good at singing. Kate is so much better than I am." Said Lyra.
"But you wrote the lyrics, so it is only fair that you get to sing it. I'll sing along with you too." Said Kate.
While Lyra and Kate were talking about who was going to sing, Serena and Rosa continued writing the chords for their respective instruments with the lyrics that Lyra has written for reference. It took them a while before they finally figured out how the song would sound like. Rosa and Serena played the intro while Lyra and Kate sang along for a testing.
"The intro sounds good." Said Rosa.
"Let's go with this song, we still have about a week left to finish writing and to practice this song." Said Kate.
Rosa and Serena continued playing and writing chords before they decided to stop so that they could finish eating their dinner.
"It's getting late, let's finish up our dinner before we go to bed. We have a pretty long day of classes tomorrow." Said Kate.
The girls finished up their dinner and cleaned up Kate and Lyra's dorm. Rosa and Serena threw away the trash before returning to their room.
"I'll take a bath first, if you don't mind." Spoke Kate.
"Go ahead." Said Lyra.
Lyra lay on her bed while Kate headed to the bathroom. Lyra hugged her pillow before heading to her closet to pick out her clothes for sleeping and for tomorrow. Lyra pulled out a sleeveless yellow nightgown from her closet and hung it next it to her towel. Lyra also pulled out a black shoulder-less top with white jeans and black platform sandals, and she hung them on her closet door. Lyra heard the bathroom door unlock and she picked up her towel and nightgown and headed to the bathroom. Lyra let the water wash down her body as she took her shower.
"A lot of things have happened lately. Things are going to be much harder from now on." Sighed Lyra.
Lyra took her time to bathe and Kate doing some reading while wearing her glasses when Lyra exited the bathroom. Lyra dried her hair with the hairdryer while Kate continued reading.
"Lyra, is math the only class that we don't share with Serena?" Asked Kate, looking up from her book as Lyra sat on her bed.
"It is, all of Serena's other classes have at least one of us there. But she has math with Nate and Calem." Said Lyra.
"Let's hope that Serena becomes friends with them soon, so that she won't be too stressed." Said Kate.
"I hope so too, but it's the fangirls who are making things hard. Serena never wanted to be part of the popular crowd in the first place, I think don't anyone of us wanted to be in the popular crowd in the first place." Said Lyra.
"You're right about that, we became popular somehow but we aren't like the other popular girls. If we were all given a choice in the first place, we'd rather not be in the popular crowd at all. Popularity doesn't really matter at all, what really matters is your personality and how you treat others." Said Kate.
Lyra nodded, "That's true, power and popularity isn't everything, which is why I'm glad I have friends like you guys."
Kate stifled a yawn and Lyra giggled.
"Let's go to bed, we still have classes tomorrow." Said Lyra.
Lyra turned on the nightlight while Kate turned off the main light. The two girls snuggled into their beds.
"Goodnight." Spoke Lyra.
"Goodnight." Yawned Kate.
The next morning...
A loud alarm rang across Lyra and Kate's room at exactly 6.45am. Lyra and Kate both sat up on their beds rubbing their eyes sleepily. Kate headed to her closet to pick out her outfit while Lyra went to take her bath. Kate picked out a pale yellow smock ribbon top with a white pleated skirt and white sneakers. Kate made her bed along with Lyra's before Lyra come out of the bathroom fully dressed. Kate picked up her towel and outfit and headed to the bathroom.
Lyra combed her hair and she decided to clip her hair to the side, letting her side tail fall on her left shoulder. Lyra placed her bag on her bed while her shoes were placed by her bedside. Lyra picked up the lyrics sheet from last night's brain storm and read the lyrics which she wrote. The song still wasn't complete yet but Lyra had a feeling that it would be finished sometime today.
Lyra lied on her bed and closed her eyes as she waited for Kate to finish getting ready. Lyra briefly heard the bathroom door unlock but she didn't move from her position. Lyra stayed in that position for a few minutes before opening her eyes. Lyra saw Kate tying her hair into twin tails and not her usual spiky buns.
"What's with the new hairstyle?" Asked Lyra, as she slipped on her shoes.
Kate shrugged, "Since you are wearing a new hairstyle too, I thought that it would be nice to have a change."
"A change is good once in a while." Shrugged Lyra.
"Shall we get going? We don't want to be late for class, we still need to eat breakfast." Said Kate.
"We should." Nodded Lyra.
Lyra and Kate exited their room and Kate made sure to lock the door before they knocked on Rosa and Serena's room door. Serena opened the door with Rosa just behind her. Serena a pale pink short sleeved hoodie with a gray skirt and black platform shoes. Serena's hair was tied into its usual ponytail. Rosa wore a short sleeved sky blue dress with white platform sandals. Rosa's hair was tied into twin tails with white ribbons but without her usual side buns.
"You two look great!" Grinned Kate.
"Let's go and get breakfast." Said Rosa.
The four girls headed to the cafeteria to have their breakfast. Lyra and Serena got a plate of waffles each while Rosa and Kate got a plate of pancakes each.
"So Serena, how do you find the school and the city after being here for almost a week?" Asked Kate.
It's different from where I came from, the city where I came from wasn't so packed or busy. Lumiose City is definitely more "city like" with all the stores, hotels, cafés and restaurants around." Said Serena.
"The city does give off such a feeling." Nodded Kate.
"How about we hang out tomorrow? We can show Serena around the city and it is a Saturday tomorrow." Suggested Rosa.
"That sounds good." Nodded Kate.
"I have no objections." Said Lyra.
"It's decided then!" Grinned Rosa.
The girls finished up their breakfast before heading to their lockers. Lyra stood in front of her locker but not before noticing something sticking out of her locker. Lyra opened her locker carefully and noticed a card attached to a bright blue ribbon which was sticking out from the locker holes. Lyra picked it up curiously before recognising the handwriting before a smile broke onto her face.
Rosa peered over Lyra's shoulder and she smiled.
Message:
It's been a while since we've hung out, it's was nice talking to you, it reminded me of when we were kids. I'll always be in your care.
Your Friend,
Ethan Berlitz
"It must be nice to receive such a note from a childhood friend." Said Rosa, abet a little enviously.
"Don't worry, your childhood friend might just do the same." Said Lyra.
Rosa scoffed, "He would never do such a thing."
"He? Lyra never mentioned that it was a he." Smirked Kate.
"You do like him." Mused Serena, with a rather amused look.
Rosa scowled, realising that she had fallen into a trap. "Like I said before, who in the right mind would fall for a guy like him?"
"Well someone did." Said Kate.
"I do not like him." Scowled Rosa.
"I never said that it was you." Responded Kate, with an amused look.
Rosa scowled once more before ignoring Kate.
"Rosa and I will be heading to our first class then." Said Serena.
Serena dragged Rosa off to class while Kate and Lyra walked to their class.
"Someone is in denial." Muttered Kate, when Rosa and Serena were out of their hearing range.
"You can't blame Rosa for getting mad, especially with Nate's personality. But you are right about one thing, Rosa is in denial about her own feelings." Said Lyra.
"But I guess it would be the best to leave Rosa and Nate's situation alone for now. They should resolve it themselves without any intervention from us." Said Kate.
"But for now, let's not say anything." Said Lyra.
Lyra and Kate entered their classroom and took their seats. Lyra and Kate opened up their grammar books as their teacher entered the class and wrote their assignment on the board. It was a usual practice for this particular class and Kate and Lyra were used to it, but Lyra was much quieter than usual. But Kate didn't comment on it, Kate knew that it was best to leave Lyra alone when she was quiet.
But for some reason, Kate felt that time was moving a lot faster today. And before Kate knew it, it was already the end of school. Today was supposed to be a short day but still time seemed to be moving too fast in Kate's opinion. Kate headed to her locker, and she waited for the others. Kate saw Rosa and Serena approach her with the latter of the pair opening her locker.
"Where is Lyra?" Asked Rosa.
"I haven't seen her ever since English, we have different classes after that." Said Kate.
"I saw her in physics for our second period, but I haven't seen her after that either." Said Rosa.
"I last saw her in chemistry, but that was an hour ago. But I didn't see her after either." Said Serena.
It was then that the boys, namely Kellyn Hajime, Nate Black and Calem Xander, approached them with a very similar question to theirs.
"You girls wouldn't have happened to see Ethan would you?" Asked Kellyn, arguably the most level-headed, after Ethan, of the group.
"We could ask you boys the same thing, have you guys seen Lyra?" Asked Kate.
Calem tapped his chin, "If I remember correctly, those two have their last class together on Fridays, which is today."
"Come to think of it, Lyra was kind of out of it today." Said Rosa.
"Maybe they went somewhere together?" Suggested Nate.
"Lyra isn't answering my calls though." Said Serena, who was on her phone.
"Neither is Ethan answering mine." Said Calem.
Just then Kate remembered something, "What date is it today?"
"April 26th, why?" Asked Nate.
"If that's the case then, there is nothing to worry about for now, at least until they return." Said Kate.
The others raised their eyebrows in confusion, but after a few seconds Kellyn shrugged.
"I trust you, your judgements are usually spot on." Shrugged Kellyn.
Kate grinned, "Thank you for having so much faith in me."
Just then Nate remembered something, "Getting back to why we were looking for you girls in the first place, would you girls like to grab some pizza for lunch with us? You see, Lucas and Dawn are ordering pizza for delivery because they have a special coupon or something, they said that it's their treat and they asked us to invite you girls."
Dawn Hikari and Lucas Kouki were friends of both the girls and the guys, the both of them were pretty popular themselves but they were a year below them. They were all the same age but Dawn and Lucas both got held back a year after they transferred schools during elementary and they had to repeat a year of elementary due to mis-matching school credits. But Lucas and Dawn didn't really mind as they were able to make friends with those who were in the same year as them, but they did miss their friends who were a year above them.
Serena on the other hand blinked confusedly before she remembered the girl with blue hair in one of Rosa's photos.
"Dawn is the girl with blue hair right?" Asked Serena.
"I forgot that Serena hasn't met Dawn and Lucas yet. But you are right, both Dawn and Lucas have blue hair just in different shades." Said Rosa.
"Sounds good, we'll take this chance to introduce Serena to Lucas and Dawn." Said Kate.
"Lucas told us to meet him at his dorm room in twenty five minutes. We'll go and put our things down first and change into something more comfortable and casual, you girls should do the same." Said Kellyn.
With that the boys took their leave, and Kate nodded in agreement to Kellyn's last statement.
"We should change too, at least into pants." Said Kate.
Kate, Rosa and Serena headed back to genie dorms as well. Kate changed into a red hoodie with black shorts, Rosa changed into a white top with brown 3/4 jeans while Serena simply wore a pair of black tights under her skirt. The three girls slipped on their slippers and headed to Lucas's dorm with Kate leading the way. The boys and girls dorms were in separate buildings. Kate led Rosa and Serena to the dorm building next to theirs and they took the lift to the seventh floor and they stopped in front of the room numbered 712. Kate knocked on the door before Calem opened the door.
"You girls are just on time,the pizzas just arrived." Said Calem.
The three girls stepped into the room and they saw four pizza boxes,three bottles of drinks and six boxes of different side dishes on the floor. Nate, Kellyn, Dawn and Lucas were loading the food onto the table.
"That's a lot of food." Murmured Kate.
"We had a special coupon for a six person meal, but even this is a lot of a six person meal. But the eight of us should be able to finish this." Said Lucas.
"Don't worry, it's our treat! It's been a while since we've had a meal together even though Ethan and Lyra aren't here today." Said Dawn.
Dawn then turned her attention to Serena and she gave the honey blond girl a bright smile. "You must be Serena Fiore! I'm Dawn Hikari. It's nice to finally meet you, Lucas and I were itching to meet you but we were busy with a project which was due today."
"My name is Lucas Kouki, it's nice to meet you, Serena. We wanted to have some good food after finishing our project and we just so happened to have that coupon, and we thought that we should treat you guys to a meal." Said Lucas.
"That's so nice of you guys!" Smiled Rosa.
"Well, let's get to eating." Said Lucas with a smile.
Lucas and Calem opened up a pizza box each.
"This one has no pepperoni in it, Rosa doesn't eat pepperoni." Said Lucas.
"This one has pineapples and extra cheese." Said Calem.
Calem offered Serena a slice but she shook her head.
"I'm allergic to pineapples." Said Serena.
"I'm sorry." Apologised Calem.
Serena shook her head, "It alright, you didn't know about my allergy."
Dawn passed Serena a pizza box, "Have this then, this has mushrooms and extra cheese."
Serena took a slice from the box Dawn was holding and she ate it with a smile smile.
"So Serena, where did you move from?" Asked Nate.
"I moved from Celadon City in the Kanto Region." Replied Serena.
"Were you born there?" Asked Lucas.
"I was born in Vermillion City in Kanto, it was a port city. But I moved around a lot when I was younger because of my mother's job before I moved to Celadon City to live with my aunt when I was ten. I haven't moved until I moved here with my mother, her job transferred her here and I moved along with her." Said Serena.
"Were you guys all born here?" Asked Serena?
"Only I was born in Kalos, the others were born in different regions but we all attended the elementary division of this school, this is a boarding school after all. Dawn and Lacus's families live here now though. But Ethan and Lyra's families each have a house in this city. But their families don't live there either." Said Calem.
"I was born in Sandgem Town while Dawn was born in Twinleaf Town in the Sinnoh Region. But we both moved here during our fifth year in elementary due to our parents' jobs, they worked for the same company and the company sent our parents to work at the Kalos branch of the company." Explained Lucas.
"Kate and I were both born in the Fiore Region, but in different towns. Our families later moved to Almia and we were neighbours there before we came here." Explained Kellyn.
"Rosa and I were both born in Aspertia City in the Unova region." Said Nate.
"Ethan was born in Goldenrod City in the Johto Region while Lyra was born in Cerulean City in the Kanto region. Both of their families are pretty rich." Said Rosa.
Serena tapped her chin before remembering something, "Does Lyra's family own a water park?"
"Her family does own a water park in Cerulean City, it's pretty famous. Ethan's family owns the Goldenrod Department Store." Said Rosa.
"I've been there on a school trip before but they don't seem like people who would be from such rich families." Said Serena.
"Well there are different types of people in this world. Ethan and Lyra aren't the types to flaunt their wealth. And they love hanging out with us, because they say that we are so down to earth." Said Kellyn.
"Please don't tell anyone about this. No one knows that Ethan and Lyra's families are rich except us." Said Kate.
"I won't." Said Serena, firmly.
"Thanks for the lunch treat though, I'm really full." Said Rosa.
"And we managed to finish the food too." Said Lucas.
"It was great, thanks a lot!" Said Kellyn.
"We should go out for a proper meal sometime soon, perhaps a buffet, there are a couple of good and affordable buffets in Lumiose." Said Calem.
"Sounds good, but perhaps some other time." Said Dawn.
"We should be getting back, Lyra should be back soon as well." Said Kate, getting up.
Kate, Rosa and Serena thanked Dawn and Lucas for the treat before helping them dispose the trash when they left the building. The three girls walked back to their dorm where Lyra was finishing up her lunch. Lyra was having a one person hotpot meal takeout from the cafeteria. Lyra finished her lunch before washing the container.
"Shall we finish up the song? I just finished writing the lyrics about an hour ago." Said Lyra.
Rosa and Serena nodded while Kate picked up the lyrics sheet. Lyra made some hot chocolate for them to drink. Kate, Serena and Rosa read the completed lyrics before Rosa and Serena started playing what they have written so far while Kate and Lyra sang along with the lyrics inside the soundproof room.
It took the girls a few hours but they finally finished writing the song. While Serena and Rosa were writing the music, Kate and Lyra have set up a video camera and voice recorder to record the song so that they could listen to the song as a recording. The first person to record was Serena, she played the whole song on her keyboard. Serena and Rosa then played the whole song as a duet. Rosa then recorded her guitar parts. Kate and Lyra then separated out the parts that they would be singing while Rosa and Serena listened to their recordings.
"The song sounds pretty good." Said Serena.
"How about we go and grab some dinner now?" Asked Kate.
"Lyra, we are planning on showing Serena around the city tomorrow while going to do some shopping for our outfits for the competition." Said Rosa.
"I'm fine with that." Shrugged Lyra.
Lyra, Serena, Kate and Rosa left the room but they made sure to lock their rooms before they headed for dinner, unaware of what was to come in the next few days.
For this story, the various known regions are just different parts of the Poké-World. They are not different countries. That's all that is to be noted for this chapter.
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