Olivine City was silent when they finally made it. It was nine o'clock, and Lyra briefly considered that something could be wrong, but decided on mentioning it to Silver. They entered the Pokémon Centre; Nurse Joy was still on duty and gladly gave them a room. There were other trainers sitting in the lobby, which put Silver's mind at ease.

Their room was small; two beds, one by the window and one by the door, with a chair and a night table. Lyra threw her bag onto the bed, flinging herself on to it afterwards. Silver went to the window, closing the curtains after a long look outside.

"Silver?" He whipped around at the call of his name to see the brunette smiling at him. It wasn't a genuine smile though- she looked concerned, but was clearly trying to hide it the best she could.

"What?" He sat down on his bed, facing her.

"Everything will be okay," she nodded with conviction, as if she was trying to convince herself as well. "I don't really know what's going on, but… it'll be fine!" Silver stared at his knees for a moment before lifting his head, attempting to smile the best he could.

"Thank you." There was a pause, before he got up, lifting his bag in the process. I'm going to change so I can get to sleep. We're going to have to get up early tomorrow for the ferry. You better be changed by the time I get back."

Lyra nodded, and scrambled to change as soon as the door was closed. She was brushing her hair when he came back, humming quietly to herself. Not another word was said between them that evening, until the 'goodnight's they mumbled sleepily to each other. Tomorrow would be a busy day, what with the ferry and trying to avoid any more Team Rocket grunts as they escaped the country.

Silver was awake a full hour before Lyra, showering and getting dressed in the time. He wandered down to the restaurant down the street, picking up coffee for himself and the girl. Returning to the Pokémon Centre, he shook the girl awake, gently calling her name.

"Lyra." No response. "Lyra." She mumbled in her sleep, pushing herself to a sitting position very, very slowly.

"You're not a morning person, apparently."

"It's five a.m. No one is a morning person at five a.m. Apart from you, maybe."

"The ship leaves at six. I have coffee. Get up."

She swung her legs over the edge of the bed, mumbling to Silver that she hated him. Leaving the room, she padded down to the bathroom, splashing cold water over her face to wake herself up. She got dressed quickly, returning to the room to retrieve her coffee from Silver. It was almost cold; so she downed it in one go, receiving an angry look from Silver.

"Ready?"

"Let's go."

The two returned the key to the reception desk. Nurse Joy hadn't arrived yet, and so the payment was tucked under the key. The two walked quickly to the port, boarding the only ferry that was there. Silver showed the attendant their tickets on his Pokégear, and they were immediately allowed on.

Silver scouted the ship for Team Rocket members, leaving Lyra on the deck. The wind whipped her hair, leaving it in a tangled mess. Salty air got in her eyes, making them sting. Beside that, the view was beautiful. Leaving Johto waters, she could barely see the region disappearing in the distance. Silver reappeared a few minutes later, arms crossed and a scowl on his face.

"I think we're in the clear. Obviously I can't be sure, but I think we're safe for now."

"Good!" Lyra smiled a bright, genuine smile, and Silver's scowl slowly dissipated, being replaced with a look of relief. "Um… where are we going?"

"I did tell you this morning, but clearly you were too tired to pay enough attention. We're on our way to Hoenn."

"Oh. That'll be fun. Have you ever been before?"

"Once, when I was younger."

"I haven't. It'll be a new experience for me! Hey, maybe I can challenge the gyms? Then that'll give us an actual reason to be travel and we won't be asked what's going on!"

"Good idea. You do that. And obviously, I'll come with you. I don't really have any better ideas, so…"

"Good! It'll be fun travelling with you."

"Right," Silver said, stuffing his hands in his pockets, "You should come downstairs. There's a glass floor and you can see ocean through it."

The two wandered below deck, to be confronted by many, many young children and their parents. Toddlers had their faces pressed up against the glass, ogling the water type Pokémon swimming under the ship. Lyra wandered over to the glass, crouching down beside one of the children. Silver sat down on one of the chairs surrounding the perimeter of the room, smirking at the girl who seemed to be engaged in the fish.

"Hello," she said, softly, as to not scare the toddler. The boy looked up at her, eyes wide. "What's your name?"

"Oliver. I'm two!" He seemed very excited about this fact, and Lyra laughed at his enthusiasm.

"My name is Lyra! It's nice to meet you. Where are you from?"

"Aquacorde Town! We're on holiday!" Lyra didn't know where this was, but nodded anyway.

"I'm on holiday too! Hey, do you know what these Pokémon are called?" She asked, pointing at the pink fish swimming under them. With a shake of his head, Lyra answered. "They're called Gorebyss!" The young boy nodded knowingly.

"I like the fish!" He stated cheerfully, making Lyra laugh. She glanced over at Silver, who was watching them. He looked away swiftly once she made eye contact, glaring at the floor.

"It was lovely to meet you Oliver. I have to go now. Have a nice holiday!" She patted him on the head, smiling at his mother who was kneeling on the other side of him. Lyra headed towards Silver, sitting down beside him.

"Are you happy now?"

"This was your idea."

"Whatever. At least I'm not talking to random children."

"Hey!" She hit his arm gently, eyebrows knitting together. "It's part of my job to be friendly and interact with the public. I'm not about to sit with my face all screwed up, not having fun." She copied his movements; crossing her arms and her legs, and pouting.

"Hey, I do not- ugh. You're really annoying, you know that?"

"If I'm so annoying, why did you ask me to run away with you?"

"We're not-" he lowered his voice, leaning ever so slightly closer to her. "We're not running away, okay? From now on, we're on holiday together. Okay? That's what you told that boy, and that's the story we're going to stick with."

"You really don't need to be so secretive," she hissed back, glaring. She grabs his wrist, dragging him back up onto the deck.

"Let go of me. What are you doing? Lyra!"

"Why are you doing this? Why are you being so negative? I know something is up, but you won't tell me! And it's really, really frustrating! I'm trying to be helpful, to be here for you, but you keep pushing me away!" She waved her hands about, stressed and angry.

"Lyra."

"No! I need an explanation. Please, Silver."

He grabbed her hand, mouthed sorry and turned around. Someone was standing there, watching them. The person was wearing a long coat and a hat, which was somehow not blowing away despite the wind. She looked from Silver to the stranger, and back to Silver, before clocking what was going on. She let go of his hand, causing him to put his own in his pocket, and took a step back.

"What do you want?" Silver asked, squinting in the bright sunlight.

"Lovers quarrel?" The person asked, and the two could easily see the smirk on their face.

"Ugh, no. Why does everyone assume that- ugh, whatever."

"To answer your previous question, I am here to retrieve you before you even get away, Silver."

"I'm not leaving."

"Oh no. You are, Silver. You're coming home."

Home? Lyra clocked this word in particular as the figure moved forwards, unbuttoning the coat and removing the hat. A shock of red hair appeared, and the bright red 'R' symbolizing Team Rocket was blatantly obvious on the chest of the person.

"Make this easy for us."

"Ariana. I… I don't want to go home. I never wanted to be there. You have no idea what it's like. You were always the favourite!"

"Well well. You were daddy's only boy. You were, in fact, the favourite."

"No. I don't care. I don't know how much he's told you, but I'm not going back!"

"Fine then. I'll have to take you by force."

She threw a Pokéball, yelling a command of 'Sleep Powder'. A Vileplume appeared, releasing the attack. Silver gritted his teeth- there was no way he could counter her attack. No, there was no way he could, but Lyra was one step ahead of Ariana. Her Togekiss appeared elegantly in the sky, firing a well timed Air Cutter towards the enemy Pokémon.

"Ugh! Damn brat. We were told about you," Ariana yelled, pointing a finger accusingly at Lyra. "I was told by daddy that you would be the thorn in our sides. If you move away, if you go back downstairs, we won't hurt you. You're of no significance to us, girl." She spat the last word with particular hate. Lyra moved forwards, throwing her arm out in front of Silver.

"No. I won't let you hurt him. He's done nothing to hurt you!" Lyra called Togekiss back to her side, the bird ready to attack again.

"Lyra…" Silver started, placing a protective hand on her shoulder.

"No, Silver. You get out of here, go downstairs, look at the fish or something. I'll take care of her. I'm not going to let you get hurt!"

"You're so naïve. You honestly think I could let you get away that easily? Vileplume can attack you whenever you move!" Lyra turned her back on Ariana, looking up at Silver, her eyes begging him to leave.

"Go."

"Thank you."

He moved half an inch to the left, and Lyra threw another Pokéball, releasing a Magmortar. Silver didn't even know she had such a Pokémon, but when she yelled 'Smokescreen', he understood exactly why she had brought it with her. He dashed through the door leading to downstairs, disappearing down the stairs and into the fish room. The smoke cleared quickly, and Lyra found herself face to face with Ariana.

"Give it up. I'm the strongest trainer in Johto; there's no way you'll be able to beat me."

"Cocky, are we? Vileplume, go. Attack!"

Lyra rolled her eyes, commanding Togekiss to attack the quickly approaching Pokémon. With a slight hand movement, she commanded Magmortar to attack the woman who was battling them with a Flamethrower attack. She wasn't particularly fond of attacking people, but this was different. She had to protect Silver- he was trying to escape, and she couldn't let him be kidnapped when they hadn't even got away.

The woman was hit full on with the attack- she was unsuspecting, which made it even easier to knock her out. Lyra dragged the body to the edge of the boat, checking that she was still alive before pushing her into the water, and sending Vileplume in after her. Hopefully the Pokémon would save her, and Lyra wouldn't be charged with murder.

The teenager sent her Pokémon back to their Pokéballs, sauntering downstairs to meet up with Silver. Faces turned to look in her direction as soon as she entered the room- clearly, they had heard the ruckus from the deck.

"Well?" Silver ran towards her, stopping just in front of her.

"I dealt with her," Lyra answered nonchalantly.

"What did you do?"

"I… um… I threw her into the ocean." Lyra answered quicker than she had ever spoken before, stringing her words together so it sounded like one word.

"Wow. I didn't even know you were capable of that."

"Yeah. I'm really capable," she said, back to her joking self. "Can we get breakfast? I'm really hungry now."

"Sure." They headed out of the room, slowly wandering down to the cafeteria.

"Oh, and Lyra?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

AN: I've had a resurgance of Pokemon feelings so expect maybe a couple of ContestShipping things? Maybe IkariShipping? I'm emotional, so if you have any requests please do ask! And don't forget to review this!