Chapter Fourteen – Another Side
The forest is quiet, with only the light gusts of winds rustling the leaves breaking the silence. Celebi doesn't respond to my question, obviously because it can't speak back, and the uncertainty gets to me. My breath becomes frantic, and my heart nearly beats out of my chest. I crouch down, holding my head and squeezing my eyes shut.
Other Lyra just sent me to the Ilex forest, that's all. I'm not even that far from Goldenrod. I can get back to the radio tower in just a bit if I hurry, and then I can smack her upside the head when I find her.
And if I'm wrong?
I groan and move my hands around my bare stomach to hug myself. But holding myself like that reminds me of Proton, and I jump to my feet and tug the shirt down, only for it to bounce right back up to where it was two seconds ago.
Ugh… I don't like thinking about his hands around me…
My legs begin to shake, and I fall to my knees. In the seconds that follow, my head rushes. I know what's coming, so I take a deep breath. But, somehow, it doesn't come. I sit there on my knees waiting for the explosion, but I don't feel anything more than the vertigo that has already faded into nothing more than a distant memory.
I lift my face from my hands and glance around. Celebi watches me curiously as it floats upside down in midair, but it rolls over and comes closer to me when I push myself to a standing position.
There's no use freaking out here. My bag is still slung over my shoulder, which means that I still have Art and the dragon, even if I don't have Golbat with me right now. And since I'm still wearing the Rocket uniform, that also means that Other Lyra is still wearing my clothes. So regardless if I was the only one conscious for that event, it won't matter. Silver will know right away that it's not me with him.
Besides, if what Other Lyra said was true, this isn't a permanent situation. Eventually I'll be forced to return back to my dimension, just like she'll be forced to return back to hers.
So… why? What was the point of sending me away if it was all temporary?
"You know why," I say to Celebi, "don't you, My-Mylea?"
Celebi circles me once and then flies forward on the path. I have this strange feeling that wherever I am, wherever Celebi brought me, it was for a very specific reason. And I'm not entirely sure that Other Lyra knows where it took me… all she wanted was to get me out of the way, right?
Somehow, I don't want to have to leave this serene place, where everything is calm and peaceful and not caught up in the tide. But I know that beyond the trees and brush, there's a world out there that is just as messed up as the rest, regardless of where we may be. If that's true, and I know it must be, then I need to figure out how to fix it.
I release Art and Dragonair—Draga… no, Dragana?—and then turn my attention to Celebi. "If you brought me here for a reason, then come with me. You can help me. I know you can," I say to it, and it circles me once more. Then it pauses in front of my face and leans in close, and it touches my nose with one of its tiny hands.
"I'll take that as a yes," I say and begin walking towards the north exit.
It is a little unsettling how similar things are here to my own dimension. The people on the route are familiar to me, though by appearance only, and seeing the daycare that Ethan's grandparents own… well, I want to stop in and ask them what's going on, but seeing as I'm wearing Rocket garb, it's best if I don't. They won't know who I am, anyway.
So I book it north towards the radio tower, only to find that Goldenrod is completely blocked off by Rockets. I wouldn't normally be thankful to be wearing the Team Rocket uniform, but this is pretty good luck.
Maybe they won't question the Pokémon standing behind me.
"Excuse me, I need to get to the radio tower. Proton has requested my presence," I snap at the two Rockets standing guard at the city limits. I'm not sure why no one has tried to overtake them; the two look to be just grunts, and they don't even have their Pokémon standing guard with them. Even if this does go funky, I'm sure Art could handle them on her own.
"Oh." One of the men standing guard stands up straighter and glances me over. His gaze shifts conspicuously towards the Pokémon behind me, but I stand my ground with my heels planted. Silver said a grunt like me would never have such strong Pokémon, but I've decided: I'm not just a stupid grunt anymore.
I think Proton might agree.
"Hurry up and get out of my way!" I bark. The men immediately part way for me.
The whole city is crawling with Rockets. If this truly is another dimension, then that means that the place is a little bit ahead of mine. I'm not sure by how much time.
But it actually doesn't take me long to find out. I enter the radio tower without much of a problem, aside from some looks from the other grunts in the city. It doesn't seem that the authorities have been contacted yet. And the determination in my eyes or the force of my steps must frighten all of the Rockets from causing me trouble because the second they size me up, they look away with wide eyes and pursed lips.
In the tower, the glowing sign behind the counter reads the lottery numbers for the day. And below that: the date.
It's months later. Not just days or weeks, but months.
That's how much time we have—no, not anymore. Silver and I accelerated it… Because what's about to go down in Goldenrod here… it's already happening in my Goldenrod because we made it happen.
Great Arceus, what have I done?
I take a deep breath and shake the fear out of me. The ladies behind the counter are just as scared as they were in my dimension, and I wish I could help calm their fears. But I need a solution, and I need one quickly. How can I stop this from happening?
What did Celebi bring me here for?
There is a Rocket grunt standing guard at the foot of the stairs leading to the offices and recording studios that await above me. Somewhere up there, Proton waits again—and the lady that the grunts in my dimension mentioned, Ariana, who is probably here for this whole thing. Who knows how many other executives are here, too?
"Whoa, where'd you get a Pokémon like that?" the grunt says as I approach. He nods towards Celebi, and Art snorts as though she's offended he didn't ask about her.
I swallow and get myself back into character. "None of your business. You don't get to question me. I'm the one who is allowed to question you." I reach up and grab a fold of the grunt's shirt. "Proton and Ariana requested my assistance here. Why wasn't I briefed on the situation before arriving here? Bunch of amateurs…"
My exasperation seems to frighten the grunt because he holds up his hands defensively and splutters, "I don't know, I don't know. I don't have any control over contact, ma'am. It's just, the opportunity presented itself, and—"
"What do you mean, 'the opportunity presented itself'?" I demand, and I tighten my grip on the grunt's shirt.
"J-just that the evolution operations at the Lake of Rage proved successful and the director here was gotten out of the way. O-our leader is sure to be impressed when he hears about this. The call is already going out, so it's just a matter of time. Proton and Ariana probably want you here for when he arrives!" the grunt continues to babble.
Other Lyra mentioned that Team Rocket in her dimension forced evolution upon Pokémon through the radio signals, but she didn't say anything about the return of Giovanni. Giovanni wasn't so much of a threat. I mean, a little kid defeated him in Kanto. But if he had been biding his time, training for these three years since his defeat…
I needed to find him. I needed to take him on.
But I'm not an idiot. I know Art and the dragon aren't anywhere near ready to take on the corrupt boss of an illegal crime organization. It's just… I don't exactly have very much time to waste. So what the hell can I do about it?
"Does anyone know where he is? Any hints?" I ask. As if someone as low on the totem pole as this guy would know anything about it.
"No. T-there are only rumors that he's still in Kanto or somewhere close to the border," the grunt explains. He winces as I let go of his shirt and grumble a little. "But-But Petrel and Proton have searched every corner of Kanto and haven't found him anywhere. But he's sure to return when he hears our message."
I'm not sure what makes them think that Giovanni has access to a radio, or that he'd be listening to any Goldenrod stations, but it doesn't matter. The fact is that it works. In the other dimensions, Silver's dad comes back and manages to run the show.
And it doesn't matter if Red comes back or if I train to be strong enough. Because the second Giovanni returns, Team Rocket must start sending out the signal to force evolution. And when that happens, they get strong enough to get the legendaries before anyone can stop them, and when people try to fight back…
I can picture it all. It doesn't take a genius to figure out how this all went down.
"Fine, well, I'll just—"
"Hey!"
It's my turn to wince because I know that voice. I try to subtly brush my hair behind my ears with my hand to block my face, but it's not like I can stand here covering my face the whole time without being obvious. Maybe if I just back away really slowly…
But Silver—Other Silver maybe—is in the middle of chastising the Rocket grunt when he notices me turn. He grabs my shoulder before I can slip away and spins me around. I bang into the wall behind me and squeeze my eyes shut as I lean back against it.
"Lyra?" he wonders. I peak one eye open and meet Silver's darkened gaze. "You've got to be fucking kidding me, right? What a joke. You think you're strong or something because you're playing dress up and look like one of them?"
His voice is cruel, much more so than the tone the Silver from my dimension uses around me. They are certainly just as crass as one another, but I feel a lot more resentment from him than my Silver.
My Silver? Damn it.
"Silver, listen to me—"
"Wait a minute, what do you mean 'dress up'?" the grunt asks as he pieces together what Silver says.
Silver, though, ignores the poor grunt entirely and points a finger in my face. "You're an idiot. Even as a joke, you shouldn't wear that garbage."
He starts for the hem of my shirt, and I smack his hand away from me. The surprise that lights Silver's face is almost comical, but I don't really have time to find it funny. "What do you think you're doing?" I snap. The Lyra in this dimension must be more soft-spoken than me if this surprises him. "It's not like I have anything on underneath this! Besides, you know…"
His face goes almost as red as his hair, and he backs away from me. "I-idiot."
"Are you telling me you're not a member of Team Rocket?" the grunt demands. It's the first sign of authority that I've seen from him since stepping in here, which again kind of makes me wonder why no one has stepped up to the plate to challenge him.
"As if she could be…" Silver mutters under his breath. He's still red in the face, which makes him seem a little less tough.
But I'm not messing around. I shoot Silver a dark look. "I can answer for myself, thanks." He looks even more uncomfortable.
"Damn it. If Archer hears about everything I told you…" the grunt mumbles. He fumbles in his pockets for his Poké balls and then comes out with two of them. "Battle me! I'll make you pay for making a fool out of me!"
I look at Silver and frown. "Hey, be a pal and help a girl out?"
"I'm not helping you…"
"Silver! Is that you?"
It's a new, but still disturbingly familiar, voice. The grunt seems exasperated at the crowd now forming here in the radio tower, but he looks hopeful as someone in a Rocket uniform heads our way. But as the girl gets closer, his expression darkens. Silver's eyes go wide, too, and I wonder if it's too late to duck out now.
Another version of me, clad in the exact same Rocket garb that I'm wearing and with a Meganium just like Art behind her, stops yards away from us when her eyes fall on me. "Um…" She takes a couple of hesitant steps towards me and glances me up and down. "A copycat? I heard of a girl in Kanto who's really good at that. Are you her?"
I should just say yes and get the heck out of here, but I don't. I shake my head. Mylea makes a noise that sounds kind of like a laugh and flies over my head.
"Is that…" Lyra #3, if you include me, begins.
"I crossed dimensions with Celebi and arrived here, and if we don't stop Silver's dad, who happens to be Giovanni, then your dimension—and all the other dimensions so long as no solution is found—is going to fall at the hands of Team Rocket and the legendaries who will be under their control," I tell her.
Everyone is staring at me like I've got three heads. After a minute, Silver bursts out laughing and looks at Lyra #3. "I'm so fucking confused," he chortles.
"So, like, are you something that was created by this Celebi?" Lyra #3 asks. She reaches up and pokes my cheek, seemingly surprised when her hand doesn't go through me. "Fascinating. But kind of creepy. I'm not sure I like this."
"I wish I knew what was going on…" the grunt mutters.
"Okay, did you hear a word I just said?" I ask. Silver stops laughing, but Lyra #3 continues to look at me like I'm some crazy science experiment. "If we don't find Giovanni, your dimension is going to fall. People will die. Including Silver over here!"
This gets Silver's attention, if my announcement that Giovanni was his dad didn't during my previous speech. "What?"
"This is all very complicated, and I would love to give you the full break down of everything that is going on. But we don't have the luxury of time on our side right now." I grab Silver and Lyra #3's arms and pull them into the center of the lobby. The grunt stays by the stairs completely dazed. "I'm you from another dimension, not a copy. And I was sent here by another version of us. There isn't much time left for your dimension."
Lyra #3 breaks away from my grip and takes several steps back with her brow furrowed. "You're lying."
"This is really messed up," Silver says.
"I wish things were easier to explain than this. I wish that I could explain everything—heck, I wish I understood everything, but I don't. All I know is that Celebi brought me to this dimension because it's on the brink and it thinks there is a solution," I explain, as if this is an explanation at all. "So, I need you to just trust me for a minute, we have to put our heads together, and think of how we can stop them."
Lyra #3 and Silver exchange a skeptical glance, but then Lyra #3 sighs and nods. "Fine. It sounds like you're on our side anyway, so regardless of how literally ridiculous this sounds, I'll follow your story for right now."
I want to tell her that at least I'm not like Other Lyra, but she would have no idea what I'm talking about and probably be insulted that another version of us is a huge bitch.
"I'm not going to be a part of this. I have better things to do," Silver says, but before he can stand up, both Lyra #3 and I grab one of his hands. His face contorts in either anger or disgust—until he turns his gaze on me and probably remembers how he almost stripped me, because his face goes red once again.
"Like what?"
"L-like… find Lance…"
"Lance!" I let go of Silver and snap my fingers. "I don't have my PokéGear here… I can't call him. Do you have his number, Lyra?"
Lyra #3 shakes her head. Damn variances in the timeline… and there's no way we have time to try to track him down, even if he is already here somewhere.
There has to be something we can do. In the other dimensions, if Silver was off looking for Lance, that meant he wasn't fighting Team Rocket—strange that he put Lance above Team Rocket in terms of importance. I wonder what Lance did to him that pissed him off so much because it had to be something good.
But whatever. If Silver wasn't fighting the Rockets, the authorities weren't here, and Lance wasn't around, that pretty much meant that I (whichever one of us Lyras the "I" was) was the only one trying to stop Team Rocket here. And apparently it wasn't something I could do alone since I failed in the other dimensions.
Still, the bigger problem seemed to be Giovanni. If he returned, that was sure victory for Team Rocket.
It wasn't like there was time to figure out where he was, though, and none of the Rockets knew where he was. If they did, they wouldn't be sending out a radio message to him to come back. Was it worth waiting here for Giovanni to return, then being swarmed by all of the Rockets at once, who would surely defeat us?
Or was it better to go upstairs now, stop the message that Giovanni might have already received, and then be taken down once again?
The best solution, but perhaps the most impossible, was to stop the Rockets here and stop Giovanni wherever he was. Keeping the two parts of the whole separated was the safest route, but how in Arceus's name would we ever find Giovanni?
"You know him better than any of us, Silver. Where would your dad train?" I ask.
Silver crosses his arms like a little kid being defiant. "I don't know. I don't know him at all."
"Giovanni is your dad?" Lyra #3 asks.
"Yeah, how did you find that out?" Silver demands, but I wave him off.
"Doesn't matter. But what I need you to do is to think really, really hard about everything that you know about your father. I know it's painful…" I swallow and lean forward, grabbing Silver's hand once again. "I know that he's hurt you, and that you've had to take care of yourself. But I don't want to see you get hurt more, okay? So, just work past the pain and the anger, and think. Giovanni must have had a secret spot. And maybe, since you were supposed to be the heir to all of this, he told you about it or brought you there once."
I expect that the Silver in my dimension would succumb to my words. His gaze would soften, his heart would open a little, and he'd admit that every moment thinking back on his childhood would give him heartache. But this Silver hardens, tugs his hand away from me, and stares at the floor. He doesn't open.
"Silver…" Lyra #3 says softly.
But he doesn't say anything. He just stares at the floor and crosses his arms once again, and that's that. I sigh, exchange a look with Lyra #3, and shake my head.
This is hopeless. This whole thing is hopeless, and I'm going to be on the cusp of something great only to fail and lead this dimension into the ground, too. And then when my time is up, when I have to go back to my dimension, I won't be any closer to a solution.
And even if I was—even if I found Giovanni in time back home—I would have to live with the guilt of failing this dimension when I was this close.
Then, suddenly, Silver lifts his head and says, "It's a cave. I can't remember where. But there were waterfalls in the cave, and behind one of the waterfalls, there was a smaller cavern. He made a little base there."
A cave with waterfalls… there are lots of those in Johto, and probably even more in Kanto.
"Where did you live?" I ask.
Silver strains to remember, judging by the contortion of his face as he thinks. "A couple of places. There was the gym in Viridian, so we had a house there. But the Rocket hideout was in Celadon, so we had a penthouse there, too. And then we had a few vacation houses and safe houses…"
"But now there's the hideout in Mahogany, which might have been there prior to the fall of Team Rocket," Lyra #3 offers, and I nod.
I picture the map of Johto and Kanto in my head and try to pinpoint all of these major places in my head. They all kind of fall around the very center of Johto and Kanto—the line where the two regions meet. And I know for a fact there are lots of strong Pokémon along the border. My mom used to warn me all the time not to go too close to the water near our house for that very reason.
"The Tohjo Falls," I say. "What about the Tohjo Falls?"
Author's Note: Well, I didn't expect such a delay on this chapter, too… I got really sick for a while and was bedridden for a bit, and then when I got better this week, my final project for one of my grad classes was due and took over my life.
But here is the update! I woke up early to finish it because I really, really wanted to get it out to you guys. Hopefully the next update is sooooon!