Author's Note: If I could break this story up into 3 parts, this would be the beginning of the 2nd part. That's all I had to say. Thank you all for staying with me this long. New settings approaching!

Enjoy!

Lyra.

…

Sun blasted over Goldenrod's singing saffron streets, casting dark shadows over my pokegear's open screen as I strolled amongst flocks of pedestrians towards the Department store.

The girl in me, after my most recent defeating of a gym leader, needed to shop. Badly. While battling, it had never reoccurred to me that I was throwing orders and flaming Steelix while in improvised pajamas. Being as close to home as I was for the first time in months, I figured stopping there wouldn't be such a bad idea either.

Before long, I stood in between racks of summery rose colored dresses that I couldn't resist. All of my wins had been very generous toward my wallet, and I could easily afford the entire joint if I wanted it. Pokémon training was the kind of business that allowed that sort of profit.

I was just fingering the material on a raspberry-colored floral when somebody tapped my shoulder. Upon turning around, the small girl behind me gave an enthusiastic giggle.

"Mommy! Come here! It's Lyra!"

Here I was, bewildered as ever, as a woman in her early 30's or so replaced a sweater on a rack and rolled her eyes. "Honey, I told you, the cashier is not Lyra. Her name was Betty-"

The rant of disbelief continued until the woman's daughter gave a sharp tug on her sleeve, pointing directly at me. Our eyes met, wide with surprise.

The little green-eyed brunette suddenly produced a pad of paper shaped like a pokeball and an expensive looking pen, possibly belonging to her mother, as they ogled. "It really is her!" she fawned.

These were the times that I needed to exert some suavity. I was a celebrity, after all. A lopsided smile graced my face as I bent down to scribble my name and a few encouraging words onto the paper. All the while, the girl and her mother looked ready to faint with excitement.

There really was no getting used to this, I guess. Just as I handed the pad of paper back to the girl's mother, sending them on their way, something tipped me off to the feeling of eyes on my neck.

Before I could blink, a voice both familiar and irritating burst to life in my ear. "Lyra! Long time no see, eh?"

Whitney, in her usual attire, was peering at me from over the opposite side of the clothes rack I stood before, a Miltank seated beside her. "You've gotten so famous since I last saw you, huh? On the battlefield?"

"For sure," My internal wit and talkative nature turned me into a chatterbox despite my urge to go running out of the store. The last time I'd seen her was when I tried haplessly to cheer her up when she burst into tears after I defeated her. "I see you've stopped the waterworks?"

"That, and toughened up a bit too. Right, Mil-ey?" She patted the head of her rotund powerhouse of a Miltank and grinned ambitiously. "What do you say about a rematch?"

I gave a frown of honest disappointment as I answered. "You know I would, but I just finished a 6-on-6 against Jasmine and the team is exhausted,"

Whitney's grin turned into an understanding smile. "Right- I saw your battle on TV. She's tough, isn't she? Well, I understand. I remember the last time I battled her, she absolute stomped me. Of course I wasn't at the top of my game like I am now, but still. Normal and Rock moves were doing nothing to that Bastiodon of hers. It was like punching a steel-studded rock wall! I had to rely on…"

At this point my ears and eyes had wandered, looking for an easy change in subject. A sale sign caught my attention, and I quickly put a plan into action. "Hey, look! A two for one sale on these dresses! Grab your size and we can pay together,"

She looked slightly bewildered but complied, being the agreeable girl that she was. Within the next 10 minutes, I found myself holding a massive shopping bag and licking an ice cream cone on a city bench. I'd eagerly changed into a new purchase- the same flowing magenta dress I'd been eyeballing in the Dept. store. Silver's belt still clung to my waist as a sneaky addition that I doubted he'd notice, but chose to do anyway. I'd put away my trademark over-the-knee socks. On top of that, somewhere between leaving Rocket HQ and arriving at Silver's, my hat had been lost. A new, wide brimmed ivory one shielded my eyes from late afternoon sun as I watched the people walk past.

The more pedestrians that scuttled back and forth before me, the lonelier I felt. More than once, a couple would stroll past, some pushing strollers and others locking hands. No matter how rudely anyone glared, these people had eyes for each other only. It was as if there only obligations were to be together, before others' judgment, despite and because.

A new wave of indescribable emotions swept through me, and I bounded to my feet and strode down the street to outrun the tightness in my chest. Light wind smacked my face as I approached a corner while holding my hat on my head. I angled my body to launch into a full run just as I met at parallel with the corner. Just as I edged forward, my head collided straight into another person's body, bouncing me back a few inches before I could look up.

Silver's hands made a reflexive grab for my shoulders as I stared dumbly back into his eyes, caught up in sheer disbelief.

"I didn't think I'd run into you here," he mumbled, making a lengthy visual evaluation of my new outfit. "Erm, how did that battle go?"

I wanted with an itching urgency to nail him for not showing up to the match, but whining never got anyone anywhere. I'd bring it up later, when there weren't so many people within earshot. And so I put forth my best lopsided grin and said, weaker than I'd hoped, "I won a 2-to-6,"

"Let me guess… the shiny Fearow, and…" he wavered a bit before finishing; "-your Nidoran?"

Suddenly horrified, I sank my head to hide the embarrassing dampness in my eyes. I felt Silver reach out awkwardly to pat my shoulder as wandering eyes began to prod from on the sidewalk.

"Um… it's, er, okay," he mumbled, starting to pull me into the darkness of an alley. As soon as I felt a cool veil of shadow sink over my skin, Silver bent down to my height.

"Lyra. Some pokémon can't evolve. I shouldn't have to tell you that,"

A deep, shaky breath drew into my lungs as gravity pulled me to look up into his eyes. "I know, but I'm 7 badges in now, Silver. When I send her out against Clair, and god forbid she laughs at her, what do I say?"

Silver smirked. "You won't have to say anything. I'll pound her head in for you,"

"Promise?" I laughed, wrapping my arms over his torso.

"With a baseball bat," his earnest delivery of the line brought the smile out of me, when I needed it most.

Suddenly, something struck me, and no dosage of the violent charm he emitted could stop me from asking. "And where were you? At the battle…?"

Rigidness spiked his form in my arms instantly, drawing a startled breath from my lips as my eyes shot up to evaluate. Something told me I wasn't supposed to sense the reflex.

"I'll make it up to you," he whispered hastily.

I realized something just then. I really, truly loved him, and yet he had never been within so much of a foot of my family, my friends. As passionately as I loved the idea of traveling and moving around, I ached for some stability, if only with us. Call it silly, but I knew exactly how he could make it up to me;

"Silver," I backed away from him a few inches, looking deep into the gray eyes that I loved. "I want you to visit my hometown,"

All I needed was his defiant groan to allow the smallest of a grin from myself.

"I want you to meet my mom,"

"Lyra, be realistic. I look like a thug right now,"

This was the 8th argument he'd tried to throw at me since I'd hauled him out of the city limits and into Route 34. My hand clenched reassuringly onto his. "You look fine,"

I heard him mutter something along the lines of "bullshit" and stop dead in the middle of the dirt road, jerking me back an inch or two with the abruptness.

Patience was a lucky gift of mine- as was persuasion- so I turned around and pressed my body into his darkly clothed and undeniably thuggish form. These days he'd gotten firmer, stronger. He hadn't done so much as wince for days now- all the more reason to try to rouse reaction in him. I leaned back against a lone oak tree that stood alongside the road, sporting a flirtatious smirk.

"You're going to make me convince you? Out here in the middle of the road?" I couldn't believe what I was saying, while Silver took a daring step toward me, pressing a palm into the tree over my head. What a step this had been from when we were escaping the grasp of elders in the Dragon's Den. Now my innuendos actually got me somewhere.

His looming shadow eclipsed the sun from my eyes, appearing as a sunny glow behind his masses of red hair and glossing it to a near scarlet shade of maroon. Just as I dared myself to reach out and gently rake my fingers through the sun-kissed strands, something stirred in my peripheral vision.

Silver tensed automatically, backing away from me and examining the route. As I'd begun to do, I became hyper aware of the pokeballs at my side, beads of sweat collecting at my brow; nobody would ever sneak up on me again.

Suddenly, a familiar figure moved from around the side of a house- the Daycare Center- carrying a newborn Elekid in his arms. Tingles of pure happiness burst under my skin as Ethan, my childhood friend, looked up from the pokémon and met my gaze.

"Lyra?" Disbelief dilated his already huge dark brown eyes to dinner plate size. Within moments he had charged up to me, ignoring Silver, and yanking me into a bear hug. "Hey! How's the adventure going?"

"7 in," I said proudly, remembering to give Silver's hand a light squeeze so he knew I hadn't forgotten him.

He backed away from me with newfound surprise. "Only one more left, huh?"

We both said her name in unison: "Clair,"

"I hear she's tough," I mused.

"Hah," he snorted out a laugh. "I hear she's a bitch,"

I tried unsuccessfully to stifle my laughter and wagged a disapproving finger at him. "Doesn't being bitchy come with the whole package? Of being strong, I mean?

He bowed playfully, defeated yet not caring all that much as usual. "Whatever you say, ma'am,"

Meanwhile, deep curiosity and judgment that only I could sense lingered in Silver's eyes as he made his own evaluation of the situation, anger slowly pursing his lips into a cold line. Knowing his violent nature and stricken with sudden worry, I scrambled for his side.

"Ethan, this is Silver. He's my…" A flush of debate turned my face red as I decided the best way to answer would be honesty, even if it was the biggest understatement to ever leave my lips. "My boyfriend,"

My friend gave me an exaggerated nod, raising his eyebrows to his hairline. Another betraying blush lit my cheeks, but trust me, it could have been worse. This was Ethan, king of perversion, foul language, and sex cracks.

"So Silver, how old are you?"

The beginning of "Mind your business" formed at Silver's lips before a quick stomp on the foot ended it. Instead, he stuttered out, "Sixteen,"

I noticed something twitch in Ethan's eyes as he looked Silver over, radiating an emotion only identifiable as suspicion. "Say, you look familiar…?"

Uh oh. Anywhere Ethan could have seen Silver, it couldn't have been under legal conditions on Silver's part, if you know what I mean. I leapt to change the subject, even though the topic that popped out of my mouth burned the edges of my lips to speak of.

"Ethan, how are your grandparents doing?"

Easily distracted as usual, he bounced on the subject immediately. "They're great, actually. Pa just took some of the profits from the last few months' boom and bought himself one of those 60's rides he likes. How about you?"

I tapped the brim of my hat uncomfortably. "Well, actually, I've been having a problem I think you could help me with,"

"Hm?" he egged me on as I paused.

"Annie's been… having trouble evolving. You know the disorder, how common it is. But it's been hurting her battling, and now that Sav and Sorrel have evolved, she's been really out of it…"

He nodded in understanding. "Yeah, sure. Here, give me her ball. I'll drop her off right now,"

He'd already strode halfway toward the open door of his grandparent's Daycare center with Annie's ball in his hand when he suddenly looked over his shoulder at Silver, who kept up a steady gate beside me.

"Hey, you! Er, Silver! Got any pokémon you want to drop off while I'm at it?"

Silver gave an awkward grimace, pondering, before a scratched pokeball appeared in his outstretched hand. Ethan peered into the slightly translucent surface of the ball and blinked in surprise.

"Nice! You've got a Feraligatr?" he shook his head in jealousy as we all trudged into the wooden building. "I got stuck with a Meganium,"

I'd heard this lament from him over and over, even though he was only a few badges behind me, last time I checked. "Ethan, you know how good you are with Grass-types. It was pure luck you got Chikorita,"

"Yeah, yeah- Pa! How was the drive?" Ethan half-addressed his grandfather, who sat in the middle of the room reading a novel.

The poor old man found himself talking into the back of Ethan's head as he trudged out into the orchard. I gave him a quick hello before hurrying after Ethan.

Outside, clusters of furry little baby pokémon and giant golem-like beasts were littered around on the grass, scurrying toward Ethan and his buckets of feed.

"Okay guys, chill out, don't eat me," he laughed and patted the head of a Pichu that tugged at his leg. "So are you going to visit your mom back in New Bark? I'm sure she'd love to meet Silver," I chuckled as he gave me a wink that fortunately escaped Silver's notice.

"Of course. Actually, I think I should be headed there now. It's getting dark," I waved vigorously, backing towards the door with Silver's hand clutched in mine. "Nice seeing you, Ethan! I'll call tomorrow!"

Ethan gave a scrambled effort to wave as he fought off the nibbling teeth of a Poochyena. "Got it, Lee- hey! That's mine!"

Silver and I departed from the Daycare as an overeager Furret leapt onto Ethan's head.

That was the reaction of my best friend. And now… for my mom.

"So where are you from, Silver?" Mom tapped uncomfortably on the kitchen table, toggling a strand of her thick brunette locks with the other hand.

Silver's eyes winced with nervousness as he blurted out a lie. "Sinnoh,"

"It's chilly there. You don't look like the complaining type, though," She gave him an approving half smile as she scanned his hard mask of a face, the unreadable gray scroll of his eyes. Behind them though, his mind was whirring with unease. It was like a channel only I accessed.

I wondered whether it would be a good idea to try to end the conversation here, before she started asking about family. "So Mom, are you going to that, um-" I viciously explored the contours of my memory to remember what event was going on in Ecruteak City tonight. "The jazz performance in Ecruteak Theater? At 8:00?"

Her eyes instantly lit with dreamlike anticipation. Nobody loved music like my mother did. "Of course- a whole 4 hours of pure audio heaven. You want to come?"

"Um, not tonight. I'm exhausted, you know? Battle with Jasmine?"

She nodded and took a look at the stove's clock behind her. "Right- and you know I'm proud of you, honey, but it's almost time for me to go,"

Sure enough, time had brought us from late afternoon into late evening, and the clock read 7:12 PM. As we processed immediately that in minutes we would be alone, a familiar, uncontrollable purge of lust swept from me into Silver, lighting shivers over my skin and bringing a bead of sweat to my forehead.

Luckily, Mom had her back turned in search of her purse and didn't notice my fingers knot urgently into the hem of his jacket. As shocking as these sudden cravings had been back at his house, having my mother present- a completely moral figure in my life- brought the onset of danger to the situation. It was far too enticing to bear.

As she hurried around the side of the table toward the front door, I practically jumped away from Silver and moved to open the door for her. "I hope you have fun, Mom. We were just heading out to visit Ethan's parents. See you later,"

I shut the door behind mom and my cheery, boldfaced lie and locked it. As soon as she was gone, I leaned against the door with an outstretched arm and made a sudden and unplanned gasp for air, finding my brain swimming in oxygen. How long had I been holding my breath?

Before my heartbeat had regulated itself, I found myself frozen by the sound of his silent approach behind me. Clutching me to him, he drew a hand from my waist and down, slipping teasingly down my inner thigh.

Again came the stuttering his name from my mouth, forgetting to breathe. I uttered a broken gasp, blankly aware of my hat tumbling lightly to the floor, as he lifted up a thick curtain of my hair and breathed an electrified gust of heat onto the skin of my neck.

A tremor racked my frame as his lips explored the length of my neck, leaving me so weak in the knees that I could feel my legs buckling beneath me. Reflexes shot my hand out for the doorknob with a grip so shaky and hot that it slid right back off. I cursed my vulnerable tendencies between clenched teeth.

My rapid slip of composure earned me a muffled chuckle from Silver- who still had his mouth hovering above my skin- that sent a fresh flurry of shivers down my spine. At last, I crumpled to my knees on the tile floor that I'd spent years of my life walking through innocent childhood on. Where his body had seared mine with tension felt suddenly bare, my face flushed red and chest heaving as though I'd just run a mile.

Still gasping for air, I tilted my head up to stare into Silver's smug expression above me.

"I know, I know. I'm not usually that generous," he crouched down before me, perfectly calm, as I spun around, floor-ridden and short of breath. "I was hoping to make it to your room first, when you fainted on me,"

"I did not faint!" I retorted abashedly, realizing that I might as well have. "You're just- ruthless,"

He shrugged, standing up again. With a deep inhalation, I unfolded to my full height as well. I saw his eyes taking a long look at my waist, where I'd added his own black belt as an accessory. His finger lifted an inch as if to say something, but he dropped it and sufficed to laugh instead.

I decided, in return for his generous-yet-also-insanely-greedy seduction effort, to skip up the staircase toward the bathroom. "Yes, sir, I stole your belt. And since you're so insatiable, Silver, I've decided to reenact a little gag of ours,"

Silver groaned with realization as I swept into the bathroom, stuck out my tongue mischievously, and closed the door.