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Hey everyone! Been busy with college stuff! Dressing up as a Masquerade Ball Dancer for my dorm's Halloween Party/Dance. I'm gonna be all decked out in purple and black, with black wings and a black mask. ^^
Anyways, thanks go out to Mew Cinda for reviewing, and all the wonderful people who favorite/alerted this story!
And tremendous thanks and hugs are sent out to Lil Enchantress, who gave me a FANTASTIC review and tons of support! This chapter is dedicated to you! ;D
I do not own the characters of HG and SS.
As always, read, enjoy, and review!
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The next thing he knew, two arms were clamped resolutely around his middle, and he was having difficulty breathing properly.
The strange thing was, Lyra's hug wasn't tight enough to restrict airflow.
So why were his lungs seizing up, causing him to sputter?
"L-Lyra, let go!"
"You're really coming?"
"I said I was, didn't I?" Silver asked in an annoyed tone, more so to cover up the nervous spasm in his breathing pattern.
"Yes, well," Lyra finally released him, straightening up and looking slightly apologetic. "I didn't think you would want to."
Silver smoothed his jacket in an irritable manner, trying to appear his usual, indifferent self.
"On one condition," he stated, and he noticed that Lyra sent a puzzled look in his direction. "Well, two actually. Bring your team, not just Fang."
"Why?"
"Because," Silver lied on the spot, quite believably. After all, before Lyra had really gotten to him, it was how he had managed to scrape by for several years. "I want to see how you train with them, too. Then maybe I can exploit some of their weaknesses for future battles."
Lyra chuckled, then cocked her head to the side. "And the second condition?"
o0O0o0O0o
"I can't believe you remembered!"
"You still on about that?" Silver asked, exasperated. He was beginning to regret proposing that one condition to their traveling agreement.
"Well, you always seemed a bit annoyed with him, that's all," Lyra piped up cheerfully, turning to face him so that she was walking backwards down the trail.
"Would you cut that out? You're going to trip over something," Silver protested flatly.
"Why would it matter to you?" she asked with a shrug.
"I don't want to start things off with a concussion," he grumbled.
She shrugged again, continuing to walk backwards, Fang at her side. The Feraligatr kept an eye on where the pigtailed teenager was going to make sure she wouldn't run into a tree, but he seemed so lax about it that Silver concluded that this girl must walk backwards a lot.
She was strange.
"So," Silver started slowly, trying to ignore Lyra's unusual walking habit. "Where are we going first?"
She came to a stop, lifting a hand to her chin thoughtfully. As she stood, she placed all of her weight on one leg, the other foot lifting off the ground and resting on her other knee. It was something she often did when she stood around. Another quirk that was a part of the enigma that was Lyra.
"You know, I'm not too sure. I was thinking about going to the cliffs on Cianwood. Nearby the Safari Zone. That's one of my usual training hotspots. There are quite a few places there to find good, strong Pokémon, and it has a waterfall to work on Garnet's strength. But, now that you are here, I think that we should go somewhere else."
"Like?"
"Not sure yet."
Silver grunted in reply. Lyra put an end to standing on one foot and resumed walking.
"Oh! Since I just made that exchange, we should go to the Dark Cave," Lyra came up with after a few minutes of aimless walking.
Silver paused, remembering the place. He had caught Crobat there when he was just a Zubat.
An aptly named place. Who was the Captain Obvious who came up with it?
"Why there?"
"It's an interesting place," Lyra mused. "And it has a few interesting Pokémon that are hard to find elsewhere."
This piqued Silver's interest. He had only briefly been in Dark Cave, enough to find and catch a Zubat and leave. It didn't lead anywhere he wanted to go, so he never checked it out any further. He wasn't looking to replace his teammates, but it would be nice to catch a strong Pokémon.
"Fine by me," he stated.
Lyra seemed pleased that they had a destination in mind. She and Silver came to a stop, and Silver blinked, suddenly feeling slight apprehension.
Lyra, only after a second's pause, had already slipped inside the mouth of the rocky cavern pass, only to come to a halt when she realized that Silver wasn't following. She poked her head back out to look at him, confused and concerned.
"Silver, you alright?"
Silver jerked out of his trance. He shook his head to clear it.
"I'm fine," he insisted coolly, following her into Union Cave.
He tried not to think about his time counterpart's story involving the otherwise plain subterranean passage. He suppressed a shudder when it crossed his mind.
"You know, I think it's lovely in here. The underwater lakes, and the stalagmites and stalactites. It's peaceful," she chattered quietly. "And the Lapras that come here once a week are so beautiful."
"Lapras come here?" Silver asked in surprise. Inside a cave was not a place he'd expect to find the rare seafaring creatures.
"Yes, at the lowest level of the cave, there's a lake. Unlike these," she waved her hand at a cool freshwater spring, "It's made of saltwater. I think there must be some sort of tunnel underground that connects it to the ocean. For some reason, they only come to that lake on Fridays. I found that out when I went down there several times to train."
"Where don't you go to train?' he asked her.
Lyra chuckled again. "I go wherever I can. I look really hard to secluded areas where other people don't usually go. It means fewer interruptions and there's likely to be more Pokémon there," she sighed happily. "They are amazing creatures. Very gentle and incredibly beautiful."
As Lyra talked, it helped to distract Silver from the ugly possibilities of the future. He never did talk much, and it was always around Lyra that he spoke more than a few sentences. Either way, he was grateful that she kept his attention from less pleasant matters, whether she knew it or not.
"Have you ever seen a Lapras, Silver?"
He nodded slowly. In actuality, he had seen one once, a long time ago. Before Team Rocket had fallen the first time.
"Yeah," he said grimly. "When I was a little kid. I saw members of Team Rocket drag one in, beaten and bloody. Every time it cried, they'd hit it again. They had brought it in to present to my… to sell for monetary gain."
He had almost said father. He gritted his teeth. He didn't want Lyra to know. He'd had enough of the wide-eyed stares, badly concealed whispers, and cringes when he was a kid. He didn't want any of that from her. He didn't want to throw another reason at her of why she should refuse to be his friend. He didn't want her to walk away, disgusted with him and his heritage.
And what he said had been the truth. Those grunt scum had brought the injured and forcibly captured Lapras to his father for money. Lapras were rare and highly prized. He was quite sure the creature had been quickly snatched up in exchange for a large sum of money at some black market his father ran.
Lyra had covered her mouth with one hand. She seemed to have a vague recognition spark in her eyes, but that was overwhelmed by shocked sorrow. Fang growled, yellow eyes flashing angrily at such a thing. Meganium shifted, also looking somewhat upset.
"How old were you when you saw that?" She whispered from behind her hand.
"Six. It was a long time ago," he mumbled, crossing his arms and continuing on his trek. Eleven years. But it was sharp as a fragment of glass in his mind.
He didn't often care to remember it, but it was always there.
"I'm sorry," she said sincerely, removing her hand from her mouth. Silver shrugged indifferently, though inside he was feeling a deep, bitter resentment.
Truthfully, at that time, he had still been an innocent sort of child, influenced by his kind mother's values even though she had already died by that point. He had tried to help the Lapras by sneaking in and attempting to feed it, but he had been caught and shouted at soundly by his father for daring to help a weak Pokémon that was good for nothing more than money and battling. And it had been that event that led to his father lecturing him often to try to reshape Silver into a future Team Rocket member with Team Rocket ideals.
Ultimately, that had failed. Well, the first half of it, anyways. The more bitter years he spent with his father, the more he came to loathe the organization of Team Rocket.
But he did make me like him. Ideal-wise, Silver growled to himself. He hated that. He hated that his father had bent his thoughts to try to match his own. As much as he despised it, it was the truth. Silver had become very much like that man.
At least I was, until…
He glanced over at Lyra, who was walking beside him. She looked as deep in thought as he had been. He felt a strange dismay that she continued to look saddened.
For a long while, they walked in silence. Silver occasionally glanced over at Lyra, who still seemed to be mulling over things in her mind unhappily. It was rather unsettling for him.
Fang and Meganium were also quite silent, though the way they kept looking at each other suggested that they were mutually wondering what their trainers were thinking about.
It was with relief that Silver saw the exit to the rocky cave as they had turned a corner.
Sunlight washed over them as they left the craggy pathway behind and continued on their walk to Violet City.
Silver was glad to leave the cave behind. It now held a slight feeling of foreboding with him, as did Mount Mortar. He rather doubted he'd ever pay a visit to that place now. Not with the future's possibilities hanging like a thundercloud over him.
o0O0o0O0o
The day continued to drag on as the duo, and their Pokémon, walked. Lyra visibly brightened after a while, especially since they had started to pass people that she was evidently familiar with.
She stopped to chat constantly with the "regulars" to this area. Fishermen, kids, it didn't matter. Silver hung back whenever she stopped to talk. He wasn't "social" like she was. He was content to wait it out. He couldn't help but feel a little better as she progressively looked more cheerful with each chat. He watched her eyes light up with happy recognition each time she paused, and her smile was almost contagious.
Several times he caught himself smiling slightly when she would laugh at a joke one of the area's trainers told her. It was a nice laugh, not annoyingly squeaky or incredibly loud. It was light and bouncy, and it suited her.
Closer towards Violet City, Lyra burst into a wide smile as she shouted, "Liz!"
A girl, a few years younger than Lyra, was up ahead, sitting on a patch of grass. A picnic basket was out, and the girl was chatting away on a cell phone, A Nidorina curled up in her lap.
Her eyes widened in confusion as she heard her name. When she looked round and saw Lyra, she sported a grin identical to hers. She muttered something into the cell phone and hung up. The Nidorina leapt off of her lap gracefully and Liz stood up. The girls embraced with happy squeals that made Silver flinch.
Yikes. I bet the Zubat in Union Cave heard that…
"Lyra! It's been too long!" Liz exclaimed as she let the pigtailed girl go. Lyra nodded enthusiastically. "How've ya been, girl?"
"Excellent," Lyra responded. "You?"
Liz looked happily smug. "Well, I've been just peachy! Me and my lovely Nidorina have been doing a lot of training lately."
The obvious stress on the word "Nidorina" was meant to attract attention to the powder blue Poison-type. Lyra's eyes and smile widened further.
"Liz, she evolved! That's wonderful!"
"Oh, yeah! I was gonna call you about it, but I had to get back to Gina and Dana. And then I had to make a call to Joey," Liz flushed a slight pink. "And once we get talking, we tend go on and on…"
I have the feeling this girl could go on and on with anyone. How hefty is that phone bill, I wonder?
"How long has she been a Nidorina?"
"Oh, she just evolved yesterday after we started to…"
Silver began tuning the girl, Liz, out. She was more of a chatterbox than Lyra. Lyra could hardly get a word in edgewise with this kid. She had started ranting and raving over how positively wonderful she thought her Nidorina was, and Lyra was left to nod and occasionally interject with a word or two whenever Liz stopped yammering long enough to inhale much-needed oxygen.
"…She would be fit for any contest. She'd wipe the floor with the other contestants in the Cuteness or Beauty category…"
Silver's mind wandered. It was great that Lyra didn't look so glum anymore. Though why she had looked glum in the first place had been a mystery to him. Was it all from him mentioning that Lapras? It seemed like there was more to it than that. She had appeared to be thinking about something that evidently had been weighing on her mind.
"…I mean, she's so fit, she could probably win the Pokeathlon…"
Bemused, he cast his thoughts to other things. He most certainly couldn't tell her of his little… adventure with Celebi. He definitely didn't want to do that. It would sound crazy, and it would definitely upset her, scare her.
He didn't want her to go through that. Definitely not. He didn't like to see her upset. It was strange.
But…
No, it was probably for the best that she didn't hear about his journey, her future death at the hands of the mysterious RP…
"…And that's why I totally think that Nidorina and I could dominate Bugsy in Azalea Town! Whaddaya think, Lyra?"
"If you think so, then definitely go for it," Lyra said earnestly.
"Well, hey! Whatever we do, I'll be proud of her, no matter what!" Liz pulled her Nidorina into a hug. Then she glanced up at Silver, as if only just noticing he was there. Which, she had.
"So Lyra, enough about me and Nidorina, who's your boyfriend?"
Silver's attention suddenly snapped back onto the picnicker girl.
Wh-WHAT?
Silver felt his face flush slightly, something that never happened to him. He was fortunate in the fact that Lyra's back was turned to him and Liz was focused on Lyra, so neither of the girls noticed as he bewilderedly turned to hide his face, crossing his arms and taking up his "indifferent" pose as he stared off into the sky, thinking furiously. He was oblivious to Meganium's smirk.
What the hell just happened?
Lyra stared at Liz, but then she laughed. "Silver? Oh, Silver's not my boyfriend. We're rivals and really good friends, though."
Silver again felt that shiver as her words echoed through his mind.
Really good friends…
She thinks that about me? We haven't known each other that long, and I was a jerk to her for a good portion of that time.
"Oh, whoops!" Liz amended with a childish giggle. "Sorry about that! I didn't know. Whatcha guys doing together, then?"
"We're traveling together and training for the time being," Lyra responded smoothly, waving away Liz's apology.
"Oh, okay! That sounds like fun!"
Liz glanced at her Pokegear, and her face turned to surprise.
"Oh, dangit. I have to get going. Mom'll kill me if I'm late for dinner. It was great to see you Lyra!"
"You too, Liz," Lyra said with a smile. The girl gathered up the empty picnic basket and took off down a different path, her beloved Nidorina scrambling right behind her.
"Wow, I didn't notice it was that late," Lyra said, glancing at her Pokegear as well. Dusk had already fallen, and they had spent close to an hour talking to- or at least being talked at by- Liz.
A cool gust of autumn air rushed by and Lyra shivered.
"Come on, let's get going to we can make it to the Violet City Pokémon Center."
Lyra led the way, and Silver finally moved from his position, following after her.
"So… you're friends with her, huh?"
"Yeah," Lyra said with a knowing chuckle. "She talks a lot, but she's really nice."
"And she… er…"
"Oh, that? Don't worry about it. Liz is harmless; she often jumps to conclusions like that. She did the same when Ethan and I stopped to talk to her once."
Amazing what that one word did to Silver. He felt a twang of angry annoyance that had nothing to do with what had just transpired. He'd never really met the kid who was apparently Lyra's best childhood friend. He had no idea what the kid was like. And yet…
I suddenly feel the need to punch something.
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How didja like it? Threw in some of the "phone buddies". I'll see if I can stick Irwin in somewhere, for hilarity.
For suggestions, I suggest:
"Pokémon Academy: Chronicles of OverAcheivers" by DittoGirl553. (My OC, Vi, is to be in it. Has anime pairings as well as SSshipping).
"Lyra's Journey" by Ice Krystal
Fang the Feraligatr wants you to review. Rawr.
Later! ~Meta-Akira
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