Chapter 12

Dreams So Real

I was once a good girl, now I've gone bad.

Black.

Blackness was everywhere.

Lyra couldn't see anything but the inky colour as her consciousness slowly began to regenerate itself. She felt like she had been out for years, she was so groggy and tired. But then again, she knew that she had just taken the vial of liquid on the shoreline of the Lake of Rage. Somehow she had ended up in a vortex of blackness because of it? No, that couldn't be right. He'd said that she would be fine and that he would be there when she woke up. But was she even awake yet? The only thing she could confirm was the fact she wasn't dead.

At least not yet, that was.

She heard herself groan a little as she felt the blood in her body rush through her veins. The feeling reminded her of the sensation she felt when she had slept on a limb funny. The blood would rush into her system again as she would attempt to move her seemingly dead body part. That was what she was experiencing at this moment. Only it was in every single inch and fibre of her being.

I can't stay like this forever, she thought to herself. There's only one way to figure out if you're truly dead or not. If you see him—she paused mid-thought, her breath hitching at the mere mention of the word—then you know you're alright.

Taking control of her body, she moved her left arm and then her right one, testing them to see whether or not they were mobile yet. It was easier than she thought it would be, so she began to wiggle her feet and legs. Everything seemed to be in tip-top shape. Ok, here it goes! In one short movement of her eyelids, a tsunami of light flooded her eyes and she blinked several times. Grunting at the very unwelcoming greeting, she shielded her eyes with her arm, which made things a bit more bearable. As she finally began to adjust to the unusually bright light, she took in an image that made her heart pound uncontrollably.

Teal eyes gazed into hers and a warm smile greeted her. Now this is what I'm talking about! She thought happily as she noticed a gloved hand extending towards her. Figuring that she had properly adjusted to the room's brightness, she lowered her arm from her face and took the man's hand, smiling at him. She had never felt so happy in her entire lifetime! Just glimpsing his handsome figure made her want to swoon.

"Lyra," Proton said. The brunette could die in this very instant and be satisfied with her life. She smiled back at him. "Are you feeling alright?"

She nodded her head a few times, making sure to go slowly, just in case her head wasn't quite up to speed.

"That's good," he said, his voice velvety and smooth. "Can you get up on your own?"

She glanced downwards and remembered she was still lying down on whatever surface she happened to be on. Wanting to prove herself to him, she gripped his hand as a safety precaution as she used her free arm to prop herself up. Now in a sitting position, she swivelled her body to the edge of the table (which she had previously been unconscious on) and hopped off. Smiling with pride, she looked up at Proton, whose hand never let go of hers and whose eyes seemed to be smiling.

Lyra began glancing around the room, taking in her new surroundings. It seemed to be a small hospital room, minus the medical gear and tacky curtains. The walls were a dull beige colour and the table that she had jumped off of was tall and made of stainless steel. She hadn't remembered it being uncomfortable to lie on, which was a good thing, considering all of the aches and pains she may have had to experience after hopping off of it. In addition to the table, there were a few chairs and a desk, which housed a state-of-the-art computer. Other than that, it was a very barren room.

"What is this place?" she asked curiously.

"It's a testing room," Proton replied curtly. "We experiment on newly designed inventions here."

"Oh," she said.

The executive began to lead her out of the room and into a narrow hallway. She didn't fight him, instead wanting to go wherever he wanted to take her. There was no one to be seen and it felt odd to be alone with Proton in what seemed to be a very big building. Eventually, the duo reached the end of a hallway and he opened the door for her. She hesitantly walked in and gasped in surprise as she took in a beautifully decorated bedroom.

It was everything Lyra could have ever dreamed for. A four poster bed adorned with deep scarlet sheets sat in the middle of the room, covered with a black canopy that draped around the bed like a net. A grand vanity stood against the wall, covered in various makeups and perfumes. There was an open door on the right hand side of the bed and Lyra craned her neck in order to see what lay inside. What seemed to be a lavishly decorated bathroom lay within, fully equipped with a tub, shower, sink and large mirror. She had never seen such luxuries before!

Lyra turned to Proton and smiled. "Whose room is this? They must be very lucky if they get to live in a place like this!"

"It's yours," he replied, leaning against the doorframe nonchalantly. She squeaked in joy as she ran to each focal point within the room, from examining the perfume bottles, to jumping onto the bed. Suddenly though, she felt quite odd. How could she act so childish in front of such a serious and wonderful man as Proton? Realizing her mistake, she quickly bolted upright from the bed and stood up, bowing her head slightly.

"I'm sorry, Executive Proton," she said politely. "It's just that I…" she glanced around once more, not ready to stop her exploring. "I've never seen anything like this before."

The man approached her and touched her cheek, making Lyra blush at his sudden intimate gesture. "Don't worry," he said, circling his finger slowly. "That has nothing to do with your purpose."

"My purpose?" she asked, surprised that he was not offended by her actions.

"Yes," he reiterated, bringing his other hand to her face as well. "Your purpose is the pursuit of strength."

Lyra gasped as he mentioned the word he had said to her on that fateful night. The one thing she knew she couldn't live without. The one thing that would make her better than anyone else. She suddenly gripped his shoulders tightly and stared at him with pleading eyes. "Help me, Proton. Make me become stronger! Please!"

He smiled and lifted his hands away from her face. Turning his head to the side, he said, "All in due time, my dear. For now, just become accustomed to your new surroundings."

As the man continued to stare in the other direction, Lyra asked the question that had been eating away at her since she had woken up: "What is this place, Proton?"

He turned towards her, a smile on his face as he replied, "Your home."

xxXXxx

Gold was in deep trouble.

Not only had he lost track of Lyra, but now, Silver was missing as well! How could he have done both of those things in the span of only an hour? It was fairly easy to remember how he had misplaced Lyra, what with his spur-of-the-moment idea to begin a catching contest with her. Add onto that the fact that he had let her run off alone without his supervision. Altogether, this was the perfect recipe for her disappearance. There was no denying his idiocy concerning that decision.

But Silver? He was the one person in their trio that kept them focused, made sure things were running smoothly. He never missed a beat and was serious every single second of his life. And now he was missing too. The fact that he had quickly hung up the Pokegear was worrying him. Did he get caught up in a battle somewhere? Had he seen Lyra and rushed off to find her? There were so many possibilities and it gave him a headache just thinking about them. At this point, he had become exasperated with combing through the shorelines of the Lake of Rage. There was no sight of either of his friends and the sun was beginning to set.

"How in the world am I going to get myself out of this mess?" he said to himself as he buried his face in his hands. His quilava looked up at him and cocked its head. "First I lost Lyra and now Silver's missing too! There has to be some kind of explanation…" Lifting his hands away from his face, he glanced downwards at the ground. What he didn't expect to see was a Pokegear lying only a few feet away from him.

"Wait a minute that looks like…" Gold said reached over and picked up the device. "Oh my gosh it's Silver's Pokegear!" He flipped it open and scanned the list of recent calls. Sure enough, Gold's number was the most recent call it had recieved. "Score!" he yelled as he shot up in the air, a clenched fist raised high in the air. His quilava merely rolled its eyes at its owner's, disinterested in the boy's blatant enthusiasm. "The only problem is how the heck am I supposed to reach him if he doesn't have this on him?"

Suddenly, it began ringing and Gold shouted in surprise, nearly dropping the device before hesitantly answering. "Um, hello?" he said.

"Hey, Silver. It's me, Bugsy," said a boy's voice. "I'm calling to discuss my analysis on those blood samples you gave me."

Gold sighed. "Sorry, but this isn't Silver. I'm his friend, Gold."

The gym leader gasped slightly and said, "If you're not Silver, then why do you have his Pokegear?"

"That's a long story," Gold replied. "But I can explain everything later."

"Do you happen to know where he is?"

"It seems like he's disappeared into thin air. His Pokegear is the only clue I have as to what happened to him."

Bugsy sighed in frustration. "Silver warned me that this might happen. But I never thought it would actually come true."

The trainer's eyes furrowed. "Say what? He knew this would happen?"

"He told me that there were people that would kill him for what he was doing and that he needed to ensure that my research remained top secret. I haven't told anyone about it. Well, except you now."

"That sneaky little ginger," Gold smirked. He was happy to know that the red head had taken precautions with their undercover mission, but he was still worried about his safety; especially since he had mentioned that people would kill him if they knew what he was up to. "Anyhow, what did you find out?"

"Well that's the problem. I've analyzed the samples of the normal golbat's venom and that was, as you can guess, normal. But I've found something quite odd about Lyra's."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, stop the bus," Gold said suddenly. "How did you get a sample of Lyra's blood?"

"Silver sent it to me yesterday. He has a very unorthodox way of giving me things." Bugsy laughed. "I never expected a sneasel to be waiting outside my window in the dead of the night with a needle full of blood in its claws!"

Gold tried to figure out just how Silver could have gotten Lyra's sample. They had completely botched their first attempt back at his grandparent's daycare, having completely shattered the needle in the process. He hadn't informed him of a second attempt at the task, not even bothering to talk about their underground mission during their time away from the Daycare. So how could he have done it…?

"The spare!" Gold cried out as he snapped his fingers. That was the only possible way! They hadn't used it yet and Silver had only taken one other needle to take the sample of the regular golbat. The only possibility for him to take the sample was when they were at the elderly lady's house in Mahogany Town. They had all taken a nap then and Lyra would have expected him to take a sample. It all made perfect sense now! How could he have forgotten about that?

"Pardon me?" Bugsy asked.

"Sorry about that," Gold apologized, feeling slightly embarrassed at his comment. "So you said there's something odd about Lyra's blood?"

"Yes. I've never seen anything like it before. But I think I can explain it better to you in person. Are you anywhere near Azalea Town?"

"I'm at the Lake of Rage right now, but I'm sure I can get there by tomorrow."

"Perfect," the gym leader said. "Oh and before I forget, do you happen to have the sample for Proton's golbat? I will need to compare the genetic makeups of the two golbats in order to further my analysis."

"Yeah, about that…" Gold said, putting his arm behind his head. "I don't have any of the needles on me." As he began to think of a way he could retrieve the case of needles, he noticed a black figure darting through the trees in front of him. He stood up and said, "Hold on a second." Lowering the Pokegear from his ear, he stealthily moved towards the brush, wanting to know what was spying on his conversation. Suddenly, the figure leapt out from beneath a bush and stopped two inches from Gold's feet. He yelled in surprise as he took in the form of a sneasel, who glared at him menacingly. "Holy crap! Don't do that!" he chastised as he began to calm down. He knew that there was only one person who owned a sneasel so stealthy.

"What? Is something wrong?" he heard Bugsy say.

Gold put the Pokegear back to his ear and replied, "Everything's alright. I just got startled by Silver's sneasel."

"It's very good at that," the gym leader responded with a laugh. "But if you said Silver wasn't around, what is his sneasel doing here?"

"I don't know," Gold answered as he bent down to his knees in order to reach the Pokémon's level. "But if he's out of his pokeball, then Silver must have a plan for him." He glanced down at the creature's claws, which held a tiny needle filled with a dark red fluid. "And I think I know what it is."

A/N: Oh my gosh guys, last chapter had seven reviews! SEVEN! That's a record for this story. Pat yourselves on the back! It made me very excited to check my email and see like eight different review notifications. In terms of Lyra's POV, it was funny to read because I didn't write that she'd felt a change in her personality. I just had to write what Lyra was feeling and that was happiness. :P The description of Lyra's new room reminded me of the room that Christine Daae has in the Phantom's labyrinth of the movie adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera. Sans the swan motif and the wax doll though xD.

Things only get crazier from here! What will happen to Lyra now that she's under Team Rocket's thumb? Where have they taken Silver? And what will Gold do now that he's found Silver's sneasel? So many questions, so little chappies! (Actually that's a lie, I wanna say this will be at least twenty chappies, but we'll see.)