Okay guys. This chapter is a special one, because it introduces an OC. But, for those who don't know, my computer was erased without my knowledge, so I lost some data. Okay, a lot of data. And I lost all the places where the OCs will be showing up. So I'll have to redo that again. Which will take some time. Also, if you guys have any ideas of anything you want to see, like a tournament or something, let me know! I was thinking of doing some sort of Whirl Cup like in the anime, but Lyra might not have all that much Water Pokémon. Maybe one or two? Who knows. Anyways, enjoy the chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or any of its characters, including Lyra, Ethan, or Marill.

Chapter 10

"I'm sorry you didn't get to see anything amazing. It's all my fault," Lyra apologized. Her, Marill, the wild Mareep, who had been very useful throughout their little journey in the ruins below, and Frieda were sitting in the Archeologist's lounge, relaxing and having a drink of lemonade after their encounter with the Unown. Fearing for the Unowns' safety, they had to lie, saying they never encountered any creatures down there.

"It's quite alright, Lyra. I actually had a good time. Except for being attacked by rampaging Unown, of course," Frieda replied. "And I have some great stories to tell when I get back to my family!" Lyra's darkened face suddenly brightened up.

"Really?" she exclaimed, and Frieda nodded.

"Yes. But, I think it's time for me to leave. I have a date tonight, so I must be ready by 5," she supposed. "It was really nice meeting you, Miss Lyra." They both stood up and shook hands.

"Nice meeting you too, Frieda. Have fun on your date!" Lyra answered, and with that, Frieda left, leaving Lyra, Marill, and Mareep sitting on the couch. The brunette then looked down at the Water and Electric Pokémon. The two were eating from a bowl of Pokémon food provided to them by the archeologists who rescued them. "You know, Mareep, I can't believe that you're still around. You're a wild Pokémon, aren't you? Why don't you go be in the wild?" Mareep looked briefly up at Lyra before resuming to its meal. A man who looked to be around forty dressed in a tan outfit with short rifle green hair walked up to her.

"Hello miss. I hope you're feeling okay," he said to her. When Lyra nodded, he looked down at her two Pokémon. "And I judge you two are good as well?" Both Marill and Mareep uttered a response to him, and finished up their food. "Are you sure you didn't get too hurt down there? We can always call Nurse Joy and have her check up on you, you know?"

"I'm fine, really!" Lyra retorted. "But I would like to know how to get to Azalea Town from here, if you don't mind."

"Of course not. You just have to go south from here. Once you reach the end of Route 32, there's a cave called Union Cave. Once you get through that, Azalea Town is right around the corner."

"Great, thanks so much, mister! Okay Marill, you ready to head out?" Marill nodded and jumped up on Lyra's arm. Mareep bleated and stood up, walking next to Lyra and rubbing on her leg. "Aw, alright. I'll walk you outside, okay?" She craned her neck to look at the man. "Thanks so much for everything. I've really enjoyed my trip here." The man waved to her and Lyra marched out the door.

o 0 o

After exiting the Ruins of Alph, Lyra wandered back onto Route 32, and back to the place where she first saw Mareep. "Here we are, Mareep. This is where we found you earlier," she happily said to the Wool Pokémon. The Pokémon took a few steps forward, but then turned around and looked sadly at Lyra.

"Mareep, reeep..." it muttered.

"What's the matter, don't you want to be with your friends?"

"It looks like it wants to be friends with you." A boy with cut military style black hair under a blue Pokémon League hat who had been watching the scene from afar walked up to Lyra. He wore a bright red t-shirt and he had on long dark green pants, with zippers going all the way around them along the knees. Immediately, Lyra noticed a silver necklace around his neck, and attached to it was a red and white Poké Ball.

"Pardon?" Lyra asked, surprised by the boy's sudden appearance.

"I said it seems that Mareep over there likes you. I think you ought to catch it," he stated, checking the black Pokétch on his wrist to check the time quickly.

"Catch it?" Lyra repeated, and pondered over the idea for a moment. "Mareep, do you want to come along with me?" The yellow and blue sheep Pokémon nodded its little head vigorously and started jumping up and down. "Well, okay! Then it's settled!" Lyra just stood there for a while, until finally the boy spoke up.

"Um, are you going to catch it, or what?" Lyra looked at him like he had three heads.

"You catch it in a Poké Ball, right?" she inquired. This time, it was the boy who looked at Lyra like she was from another planet. "Well, I've never caught a Pokémon before. And both of the Pokémon I have already came with their own Poké Balls." The boy's sky blue eyes stared at the brunette in disbelief. Then, he sighed and took out an empty Poké Ball from his pocket and pressed the silver button in the middle to make it bigger.

"Just make the Poké Ball bigger, throw it, and it should be caught," he explained. "Normally you'd have to weaken it with another Pokémon, but it looks like the little guy will go along willingly."

"Sounds easy enough," Lyra muttered, and opened up her bag to search through it. Suddenly, she froze and started laughing nervously at the young boy. "I seem to have misplaced my extra Poké Balls. Oopsie." The boy face palmed himself and tossed Lyra the Poké Ball he was holding in his hand. The novice Trainer was caught by surprise by the throw, fumbled with the ball, almost dropping it and juggling it around before she finally caught it.

What am I dealing with here? he thought as he watched the strange girl sigh with relief.

"Okay, so now... I toss the ball!" she shouted, and tossed the Poké Ball. It sailed through the air and slammed against a tree, missing Mareep completely. The ball opened and fell to the ground uselessly.

"You're suppose to hit the Pokémon, you know..." the boy muttered to Lyra.

"It doesn't have a tracking device in it?" Lyra questioned. The boy shook his head.

"You should try aiming," he replied, and put his hands behind his head nonchalantly.

"Aw, man! I was so bad in gym class!" Lyra complained, and awkwardly ran over to where the opened Poké Ball was sitting on the ground. She closed the Poké Ball and once again tossed it. This time, the Poké Ball hit the Wool Pokémon. When it did, the Poké Ball opened like when it hit the tree, but Mareep's body started to turn red, and was instantly sucked into the Poké Ball. It fell to the ground and started to shake. "Is it caught yet?" The boy shook his head once again and pointed to the ball as it started to shake. The usually silver button was flashing red, and the whole ball was shaking. Finally, the ball dinged, and silver sparkles came off it.

"Now it is," he stated. Lyra squealed with happiness and scooped up the ball in her hands.

"We caught Mareep, Marill!" she exclaimed, showing the Aqua Mouse the Poké Ball.

"Marril!" the Water Pokémon replied. The brunette then turned to face the boy.

"Talk about good timing! If you hadn't shown up, who knows what would have happened!"

"It's fine. I'm always willing to help a fellow Pokémon Trainer. Did you just start?"

"Kinda. I just started my journey, but I've had my Marill since I was ten. I'm twelve right now," Lyra replied.

"Really? I am, too. I just started too. I'm Zed, from Cinnabar Island." The boy stuck out his right hand, waiting for Lyra to shake it.

"The name's Lyra, from New Bark Town," she introduced, and shook Zed's hand. "Cinnabar Island, huh? That's all the way in the Kanto region!"

"Yeah. Very good for someone who never went to Pokémon Trainer's School," he commented.

"Oh, I've been to Pokémon Trainer's School." Zed looked at the other Trainer in surprise. "I was just really bad in Gym class. I don't think anyone wanted to be on my team back then." Lyra giggled at her comment like it was no big deal. Not wanting to continue this awkward conversation, Zed quickly changed the subject.

"So are you heading to Azalea Town, or to Violet City?" he asked.

"I'm going to Azalea. There's a Gym there that I want to enter," she replied.

"Ah, so you're challenging Gyms too, huh?" Lyra's brown eyes lit up.

"Yes! I just started, though. How many badges do you have?" Zed took out a black badge case and opened it up, revealing a silver badge that looked like a pair of wings. "Cool, which Gym Badge is that from?"

"Violet City's Gym," he replied bluntly, and put the case away.

"You beat Falkner?" Zed nodded.

"I have a couple Pokémon that are good against Flying-types. It wasn't a piece of cake, but my Pokémon are... aggressive," he replied. "I'm guessing you got beat?"

"He wiped the floor with me," Lyra muttered.

"Well, now that you have Mareep, you should be all set. Electric-type Pokémon are really good against Flying-types," Zed explained. "Anyways, I'm heading to Azalea Town also. Any chance you want to accompany me?"

"Sure! What do you think, Marill?" Marill nodded in response and the two Trainers started following the path that lead down Route 32.

"I'm surprised that now since you have Mareep you don't want to go back and challenge Falkner again," Zed said to Lyra.

"I want to train Mareep first before I challenge him. I think the Azalea Gym will do nicely," she replied.

"Don't be so sure. I wouldn't take the Gym Leaders lightly if I was you. Especially since you lost to Falkner." Lyra stopped in her tracks for a moment before jogging to catch up with Zed.

"I guess you're right. But I still can't help but look forward to my match!" Lyra sighed and after figuring that Zed wasn't going to say much else, decided to change the subject. "So you beat Falkner, right? You must be a strong Trainer. But you said earlier that you just started out as a Trainer."

"I have aggressive Pokémon. Plus, I have an Electric-type," he replied.

"How many Pokémon do you have?"

"Four right now. But when I came to Johto, I had three on me."

"When I challenged Falkner, I only had two Pokémon, so I was forced to forfeit when Chikorita fainted," Lyra said. The conversation was dropped there, and the two continued down the path for a while. Finally, they reached a small Pokémon Center outside of Union Cave.

"We're going into the cave, right?" Zed asked.

"Actually, do you mind if we check out the Pokémon Center really quick? I want to check if someone's been through here," Lyra replied.

"Are you looking for someone?" The brunette slowly nodded, wondering if she should involve her new friend in her dilemma.

"Just a friend!" she lied, and skipped to the Pokémon Center doors, the automatic sensors reading her movements and opening for her. Marill, meanwhile, was holding onto her Trainer as tightly as she could so she wouldn't get bounced off. Zed wondered if the girl he was currently traveling with was holding back any secrets from him, but then that thought diminished when she tripped on a Trainer's backpack and fell flat on her face.

"Are you alright?" Nurse Joy exclaimed as she ran out from behind the counter to help Lyra up.

"I'm fine. This happens a lot," she replied, slowly getting up and wiping dust off her clothes. She then noticed all the Trainer's eyes in the little Pokémon Center staring at her from all around, and her face suddenly turned as red as a Tomato Berry. With her head down, her and Nurse Joy walked back to the front desk.

"You're sure you're alright?"

"I'm fine, Nurse Joy!" She assured the pink-haired nurse by waving her arms around in the air. Most people in this Pokémon Center probably think I'm a lunatic... she thought, and stopped waving her arms. Lyra noticed Zed in the corner of the Center snickering to himself. "I need to ask you something, though, if you don't mind."

"Of course not. What would you like to know?"

"Well, I was wondering if a boy with long red hair has come in here lately?" Lyra asked. Nurse Joy thought for a minute.

"No, I haven't seen anyone like that around here lately. Is he a friend of yours?" Lyra laughed nervously.

"Yeah, friend... sure..." she mumbled to herself. "Okay, well then how about a boy with a yellow and black cap on his head. He usually wears it backwards, and he has a Cyndaquil." A flash of recognition came across Nurse Joy's eyes as she recognized the description.

"A Trainer like that was here a while ago. He didn't stay long, just long enough to get his Cyndaquil healed and he was gone." she replied.

"It's possible that Silver skipped this Pokémon Center and headed right into Union Cave. It definitely seems like something that bully would do..."

"Did you say something?" Joy asked. Lyra jumped up in surprise.

"I said that out loud?" When the Pokémon Nurse nodded, Lyra mentally slapped herself and walked away without saying a word. Why do I keep embarrassing myself like this?

"You find what you were looking for?" Zed asked as she passed by him to leave the Center. He had to run to catch up to her.

"Yes... and I also found out that everyone in that Center now thinks I'm a lunatic!" she yelled, sighing afterwards. "I did bring it upon myself, though. I just can never step foot back into that Pokémon Center again." Zed laughed.

"I know exactly how you feel," he replied, and the two walked into the cave in front of them.

o 0 o

Lyra had never been inside a cave before, and she hated it already. The inside was dark, and the air felt very moist and heavy. Not only that, but Lyra couldn't see her Marill hanging right off her arm. Since Marill would always wonder off, Lyra always had to keep an eye on it. Not being able to see her Marill made that very difficult. After walking as far as they could using the light from the opening of the cave, Lyra sighed and took out her PokéGear, the small light from the screen slightly illuminating the darkness. "It's so dark, I can hardly see a thing!" Suddenly, an idea popped into her head. "Hey, Mareep has Flash! He could light things up!" Lyra reached into her pack to grab her Pokemon's Poké Ball when Zed put out his arm.

"I'll light things up. Don't worry," he said, and took off the Poké Ball that hung on the chain around his neck. "Okay Flare, go!" When Zed's Poké Ball opened, the white flash of light lit up the cave briefly before the Pokémon formed out of the light. In front of Zed and Lyra stood a medium sized red lizard-like Pokémon. On the end of its tail was a flame, destroying the darkness around them.

"Char," it mumbled. Shining in the light of its tail flame, a Fire Stone hung around the Pokemon's neck, held by a thin black string to hold it in place.

"Wow, it's so cool!" Lyra exclaimed, and took out her Pokédex to find out what it was. "Charmeleon, the Flame Pokémon. It has razor sharp claws and its tail is exceptionally strong."

"Hey Flare, could you walk in front of us so that we can see?" Zed asked his Pokémon. The Flame Pokémon responded by spitting fire at its Trainer. Zed jumped up, the fire hitting the wet ground and making steam hiss and rise.

"Hey, that's not very nice," Lyra scolded, causing the Charmeleon to give her a death glare.

"Char, Charmeleon!" it shouted at Lyra. This seemed to infuriate Marill (while Lyra had no idea what it had just said), and the Aqua Mouse Pokémon jumped down from its perch to yell at Charmeleon. The latter growled and jumped back and put its arm in a fist. Suddenly, its fist became surrounded in red-orange fire and Flare started running forward.

"Flare, stop!" Zed shouted. However, his Pokémon ignored him and continued towards Marill. Marill, instead of running away, took a deep breath and fired a massive Water Gun at the Flame Pokémon. The attack came so fast that Charmeleon didn't see it coming and blasted it against the cave wall.

"Marill, stop this right now!" Lyra huffed, and picked up her Pokémon. The Aqua Mouse Pokémon was muttering angrily to itself and kept a watchful eye on Flare, but it did as it was told. "Look, why don't we just use Mareep's Flash. That'll work fine." Flare got up slowly when Lyra finished her sentence and wiped water off its skin.

"So, are you going to light the way? Or would you rather have a fluffy little Mareep do the job instead?" Zed taunted Charmeleon. Flare muttered under her breath and turned around, walking out in front of them and waving the two Trainers forward. "That's more like it!"

"What's up with Flare?" Lyra whispered to Zed.

"She has an attitude. Although it can get very annoying sometimes when she doesn't listen, it was because of that attitude I got the Zephyr Badge," he replied quietly. Suddenly, across the pathway, a small brown and white Pokémon that looked like a small rodent scurried along, its nose on the ground and sniffing. When it saw the light from Flare's tail, it looked up, its large brown eyes wide from the sudden brightness. "Hey, look! It's a Sandshrew! I've always wanted one of those!"

"It's adorable!" Lyra squealed and took out her Pokédex. "Sandshrew, the Mouse Pokémon. Sandshrew hates moisture and lives in holes it digs in dry places. It protects itself by rolling into a ball."

"Now's my chance to catch one! Sigil, I choose you!" Zed shouted, tossing a black Poké Ball with four green ovals on it. Out of the ball, a brown and tan Pokémon with a skull on its head and a bone in its hand came out.

"Cu, cubone!" it shouted. Suddenly, it glared at Flare, and Flare glared back at it.

"No, no! I didn't let you out to fight Flare! Look at that Sandshrew! I want you to fight it!" The Lonely Pokémon looked smugly at Flare, and Charmeleon looked at its Trainer in anger. "Hey, you're lighting the way; that's your job!" Charmeleon barked a couple of yells back at him in response. "Next time, but for right now, Sigil, attack!" On its Trainer's command, Cubone ran as fast as it could at the startled Sandshrew, and slammed it hard over the head with its bone, a Bone Club attack. This aggravated the Mouse Pokémon, and caused it to pull itself into a ball. Then, it bounced back and rolled as fast as it could at Cubone. Sigil jumped out of the way of the rolling Sandshrew, and threw its bone at it in response.

"Why aren't you ordering your Cubone to attack it?" Lyra asked Zed, who was just sitting there watching the battle. Zed answered by shrugging his shoulders.

"I'd just be wasting my breath with the commands," he replied. "Watch." He turned towards the two Ground-type Pokémon. "Sigil, use Headbutt now!" However, the Lonely Pokémon ignored him and continued its assault on its opponent with its Bone Club attack. It almost looked like a game of baseball. Every time the wild Sandshrew would come forward with a Rollout attack, Cubone would hit it back with a Bone Club attack. Finally, it seemed as though Sigil was tired of the game, and when the Mouse Pokémon came back for another whack, the Lonely Pokémon pulled its fist back and it started to glow gold. As Sandshrew threatened to slam into Sigil, it brought its fist forward and slammed it right into the balled up Pokémon. This time, Sandshrew uncurled itself and fell onto the ground. "Excellent, Sigil!" Zed cheered. However, even though the Sandshrew was down for the count, it still ran forward, ready to smash it once again with Rock Smash. As fast as he could, Zed brought Sigil's Dusk Ball forward. "Sigil, return!" As Cubone jumped into the air, the laser from the ball sucked it up before it could strike the poor Sandshrew again. Both Lyra and Zed let out a sigh of relief.

"That was a close one," Lyra muttered to herself. Zed nodded and pulled out a Poké Ball with a blue top and two red lines on it.

"Now to catch it; Great Ball, go!" he called, tossing the red, white, and blue Poké Ball at the fainted Sandshrew. The ball hit its forehead and it was sucked into the ball much like Mareep was earlier. It started to shake, and the button started to flash red as Sandshrew tried to break free from the ball. But its battle from Zed's Cubone weakened it, and multiple sparkles exploded from the ball, signifying it was caught. Lyra cheered for joy as the black haired Trainer picked up the Poké Ball containing the newly caught Sandshrew.

"Wow, that was awesome! I feel sorry for poor Sandshrew, though," Lyra said, walking up and looking at the Poké Ball with Zed. The boy tossed the Poké Ball into the air and Sandshrew came out, looking a little battered and tired.

"Welcome to the team, Tombs," Zed happily declared, announcing his Sandshrew's new nickname. The Mouse Pokémon looked excitedly at its new Trainer.

"Aw, it likes its nickname!" Lyra squealed. Flare, however, was not impressed, and scoffed at the sight of Tombs and Zed bonding. The latter took out a purple and white spray bottle from his backpack and sprayed Tombs' wounds with it.

"This Potion will heal your wounds. It'll sting a little, though," he explained to it. Tombs nodded and didn't utter a squeal as the Potion did its job. After the bottle was empty, Tombs shook off the pain and smiled at Zed with happiness. "Sandshrew!" it uttered, and jumped at Zed. The black haired Trainer flinched in surprise and put his arms up to block his face, but then looked at Sandshrew in surprise as it hugged his arm and snuggled with him.

"Oh my god, it's so cute!" Lyra squealed again, jumping up and down and crushing her Marill in her arms. Zed laughed and placed Tombs on his shoulder.

"Okay Flare, lead us out of here!" Zed commanded. Flare scoffed, spit fire at the ground, and started walking the way straight.

o 0 o

After traveling a bit further, Lyra began to see natural sunlight, and she could feel a slight breeze moving her brown hair slightly. Then, once the group turned the corner, the exit was clear in sight. "Oh, look! There's the exit!" Lyra announced. "We made it!" Zed thanked Flare for her hard work (she responded by spitting an Ember attack at him) and returned her into her Poké Ball. The brunette ran as fast as she could, breathing in the fresh air as she stepped out into the open air.

"Looks like we made it," Zed stated as he reached Lyra and put his hand above his eyes so that the sun wouldn't get in his eyes.

"Thanks for offering to travel with Marill and me. Without you, I think we would have gotten lost," she said to him.

"No problem. It would have been quite lonely walking through that trail with just me anyways," he replied. "Now, how about I walk you to the Azalea Town Pokémon Center." Lyra nodded her head.

"I'd like that very much, Zed." So, the two strolled out and headed up the path that lead to Azalea Town. As they traveled to the old town, Lyra saw an opening in the side of a cliff. In front of it, there was a large statue of a strange Pokémon with a blank expression on its face. On top of it, there was a water spout coming out of its back. As they walked by the strange cave-like entrance, Lyra noticed a man in a black suit with a large red 'R' standing in front of it.

Oooo, now it gets interesting! Who could this mysterious person in the black suit be? I think it's obvious, lol. Anyways, sorry this took so long to write. I had a case of writer's block, and laziness. Plus, Farmville is sooooo addicting. *twitches* So anyways, now that I'm back in school, I'm back to a more normal routine. This chapter wasn't too bad for not having anything planned out when I started. This chapter is also my first OC chappie! ^^ Now, Zed Quill is owned by Nianque.

With only a week left until Black and White, they sure aren't giving out much information. They've given more about the anime. And you know my eyes are glued to anime updates being the anime freak that I am. So, tell me about what you think about Black and White so far. Has anyone else seen Ash's new eyes. Anyone else think they're creepy?

Okay, so let me thank my reviewers from last chapter!

Thank you:

Curse of the Black Rose

Nianque

pokemondude

DragonforceX

Hotrod198

OMGItsRainingOttsels

arkee

Harbringer of Houndoom

Mysteryless

Okay, that's it for this one! Next chapter, Lyra finds that Team Rocket is as horrible as the rumors say they are! Thanks for reading/reviewing! See you next chapter!