Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon or its characters. But if I did, there would be an anime based off the events of HGSS with an awkward, implied romance between Lyra and Silver. Because you know we all want that.
Silver grabbed Lyra's wrist just before her fist made contact with his jaw. She was unbelievably strong in this state, the lenses of her sunglasses boiling bloody. Voice gruff with exertion as Lyra threw another punch at him that he had to snag from the air, Silver growled, "Lyra, it's me, Silver. Tell whatever thing is controlling your brain to shut the f*** down." She shook her head fiercely; there was no recognition in the way she brought her knee up, clipping him hard between the legs in what was best known as a "cheap shot" or a "nut shot". Silver winced but did his best to keep standing. Using the moment of weakness, Lyra tore her wrists free of his grip and rammed him hard with her shoulder, sending him tumbling to the ground.
Once he fell, she started toward Mt. Pyre. "You guys! Stop her!" Silver ordered weakly, feeling both winded and properly assaulted by the beast that had just taken over Lyra's body.
Alakazam immediately teleported, but Mellow shook her head profusely. "I was the last straw. It wouldn't be wise for me to help her," she said, and slowly her words made less sense in his head as Alakazam moved further away. "I caused her…to act…in such a…sol, Absol, way that…Absol, ab, sol ab," Mellow noticed the confusion Silver's eyes as he struggled to his feet.
Silver glared at her. In his blinding worry and anger, he snarled, "I'm holding you responsible for all of this if I can't cure her." Suddenly, Alakazam reappeared with a struggling Lyra in his psychic grip.
I've brought her back, Alakazam stated simply.
Silver hesitantly drew closer to Lyra. If she was a beast now, it would take the Destiny Knot and the Mental Herb to cure her from it—hopefully, the combination provided to them by Wally worked the same on humans as it did with Pokémon. "Hold her as still as you can. I need to get some things out of her backpack."
Alakazam nodded. I will do my best for you. Lyra's limbs snapped out in a spread-eagled position, effectively cutting off her every movement. Her head thrashed violently as Silver crossed behind her and snatched a length of a Destiny Knot and a Mental Herb from her backpack. He began to zip the pocket closed when Alakazam's power rebounded fiercely, slamming the former user with his own power, making him collapse. Silver glanced over at him with concern, but he had already started to sit up, massaging his noggin with a rather murderous look on his face. Meanwhile, Lyra had fallen onto her back and fallen hard at that. Silver noticed the opportunity and took it. He threw himself on top of her, straddling her hips to immobilize her legs and pinning her arms with his own. "Mellow, Feraligatr, Shuppet. Help me out here!" he roared as Lyra attempted to bite his wrist.
Feraligatr responded the fastest. He planted his claws on Lyra's forearms, allowing Silver usage of his hands. Shuppet flung her tiny body on top of Lyra's legs as if her minimal weight could immobilize her human friend. Standing warily at a distance, Mellow watched as Silver took the tangled Destiny Knot and unraveled a long portion of it. The Mental Herb hung from Silver's teeth as he bit down on the stem of the leaf in concentration. Lyra thrashed harder, trying to break free, but between Silver's weight on her hips and the brute force of Feraligatr's claws on her arms, she wasn't able to break loose.
Silver finally untangled a long enough portion of the Destiny Knot to begin his work. "Feraligatr, hold her forearms together. I'm going to tie her wrists with this Destiny Knot," he mumbled around the Mental Herb, jiggling the thick red string in his arms. "It'll keep her from struggling, and it's also part of the cure," he said, using words to comfort himself more than any other living thing around him.
Feraligatr nodded and coaxed her arms up with difficulty. Though she didn't seem to be able to speak of a lick of human language in this state, Lyra certainly held some vehemence in her voice. Swearing without swearwords, Silver thought grimly as Feraligatr finished raising her arms so that his Trainer could tie them without threat of getting bitten or headbutted by his currently manic rival.
He started looping the Destiny Knot around her wrists. Though Feraligatr held the girl mostly still, she twitched and shuddered enough to make Silver's job difficult. "Shuppet, take her sunglasses off. The sunlight might stun her for a few seconds," he ordered out of the side of the mouth. The Mental Herb between his teeth made prolonged discussion quite difficult.
Shuppet flew off her legs and took the glasses off of Lyra's face by biting down on the nosepiece with her mouth and pulling. Silver's theory proved correct; the moment the sun hit her face, Lyra's eyes shut tightly, and she stopped thrashing around for the time being. Silver took this as the chance to finish looping the Destiny Knot around her wrist. Taking the large amount of extra string, he knotted it tightly and then wrapped an end around his own wrist.
With the final loop around Silver's wrist, Lyra's struggling ceased. Feraligatr let her forearms go; he knew how the rest of this was going to go down. Eyes half-hooded, Lyra looked up at Silver with horrible eyes that were not like her incredibly beautiful and warm hazel eyes. She breathed, "Something smells really good." Her eyes focused on the Mental Herb hanging between his teeth. She lifted her head and bit it free of his mouth, her mouth so close to his that Silver couldn't help but grow warmer. Chewing the herb slowly, Lyra relaxed, settling back down on the ground again, wrapped tightly in Silver's Destiny Knot. When she swallowed the herb, she stiffened and shook as the effects of her Curse were eradicated completely. Her skin tone warmed to take on the tan she would've normally started to develop by now, and the dark circles under her eyes lightened up until they were but pale lavender shadows.
Lyra's breathing deepened. She relaxed once more; her eyes opened slowly, revealing the honey-gold of her irises without a trace of red in the sun. "Silver?" she asked quietly in a voice devoid of the sardonic tones it had taken on lately, and it was enough for him. Silver grinned at the sight of Lyra laying there beneath him with her normal eyes and a confused, unaggressive expression. His self-control slipped easily from his mind, letting him react as he'd always wanted to at the sight of the girl he was in love with. He didn't care that the Pokémon were there to see him pull her into his arms and collapse onto the ground with Lyra lying on top of him. His arms wrapped tightly around her, Silver couldn't help but laugh in relief.
Lyra blushed profusely at this close contact. "Silver, are you all right?" she asked, her wrists still bound and propped against his chest uncertainly.
Silver sat up and tugged her arms around his neck. He cupped her face, and, without giving it a lot of forethought, kissed her hard.
Lyra seemed surprised by it; regardless, it didn't take her long to sink into it, resting against his chest. Her knees tightened around his hips as he pulled her even closer to him by the small of her back. He angled his head, grinding his lips against hers; he figured that with her massive lack of experience and his inability to initiate something like this for so long, it was safest to keep it a closed mouth kiss. She groaned quietly as he moved his lips from hers and pressed them against her forehead instead, holding her closely. Her skin was soft and stung with salt. "That wasn't your first kiss, was it?" she muttered, her voice satisfyingly shaky.
"Whitney and Janine both stole a few from me," he answered against her forehead, albeit reluctantly. Whitney thought that following him around and sneaking kisses to his lips would cheer up Silver after the Lavender Town incident a few years back, but it had really only made him avoid her. Janine, on the other hand, truly stole kisses. She'd planted traps in her Gym for him whenever he came to ask about Lyra and occasionally decided that she wanted to take a memento from her victim. Not that any of that really mattered—he'd never enjoyed them. Sure, he'd learned what and what not to do by the antics of those two Gym Leaders, but what did it really matter now? What if it made Lyra angry? Lyra and Janine were good friends, after all, and Whitney was an acquaintance of hers. What if she thinks I'm a man-wh***? He thought, aghast.
To his surprise, she sighed and demanded, "Do it again."
Silver felt a devilish grin slide onto his face. He pulled her tightly against him once more as he fiercely kissed her. Her heart slammed wildly against her chest, hard enough for Silver to feel it and allow himself a surge of pride: yes, he had never beat Lyra in a battle, but now he had her totally enraptured and like putty in his arms. He figured that was far better than ever beating her in a battle, anyway. Her body thrummed under his touch, and he decided to let himself try something new and different. He left her lips and kissed down to her neck, pressing his lips just under the hinge of her jaw and trailing them down further. She shuddered and groaned, "Oh yes."
Silver grinned against her throat. He planted another kiss against her lips, wanting nothing more than to deepen it—
My, my. I'm gone for an hour and I come back to this? Lyra squeaked in shock as Raikou, seemingly out of nowhere, padded up to the interlocked pair. He sniffed at Lyra's bound wrists; it suddenly occurred to Silver that this had to look terrible out of context. With a clandestine glance to Silver, Raikou muttered, I have to say, I'm glad I have.
Lyra's face, currently a color that was on par with Silver's hair, was filled with confusion. "Why?" she asked. Silver noticed the cut near her collarbone had already stopped bleeding, but a number of droplets clung desperately to her skin. He wiped them off with his thumb, earning another squeak from Lyra.
I've always liked the thought of you two together. Now, if you're done…showing affection, you should know that I can sense Suicune, Entei, and Ho-oh, Raikou said. Frowning a little, he added, Suicune and Ho-oh are safe and within a very close proximity to us, but I can only sense Entei's presence. It's like sensing him…through a very thick, dark fabric.
Silver lifted Lyra's arms off of his neck and quickly freed her wrists from the Destiny Knot as she asked Raikou, "That's not good. Did you know that I was slowly turning into a human version of a beast, by the way?"
Oh, so the Destiny Knot around your wrists was not something darkly romantic that Silver talked you into?
"Do I really look like that much of a pervert to you?" Silver demanded as Raikou chuffed at him.
Shuppet flew over to Lyra, slowly followed by Mellow, Feraligatr and a wary Alakazam. "I can still understand you. Kuni was talking about that like it was pretty normal for a person cured of a Curse, actually…oh! Well Kuni is a friend of mine…" Lyra explained to Shuppet. Silver tuned it out and watched Mellow.
Raikou noticed Mellow as well. He asked, Who is the Absol? What's wrong with her coloration?
"You mean they don't usually have black fur?"
No. White fur, dark face, Raikou explained. The two didn't speak, letting the conversation between Shuppet and Lyra fill their ears. Silver watched Lyra, and he felt a smile twitch on his lips. She glanced his way, and she twisted away quickly so that he couldn't see her face, but he still caught the bashful, breathless smile that lit up her face.
Silver fetched his Pokeballs and returned Feraligatr and Alakazam. It was time to move on to Mt. Pyre. "Raikou, lead us to Ho-oh and Suicune. You sense they're all right, so let's go find them."
"But what about Mt. Pyre?" Lyra asked. Mellow seemed to nod.
"I'm pretty sure they have the same thing in mind if they're all here," Silver responded, his tone far warmer than it had ever been in his life. He wondered just how drunk he was on his rival at the moment.
Lyra nodded, scratching at her neck thoughtfully. She turned to Mellow. "Do you want to help out?" she questioned her quietly. "We could always use another ally."
Mellow's eyes widened, and so did Silver's. He wanted to protest; she was a beast! A cured beast would have been fit to help, but Mellow didn't qualify in that category. After all, she seemed repulsed by the idea of a cure for her beastly condition as well! Before Silver could tell her to drop the idea, Lyra added, "Even when you're not cured, you have far more self-control than any regular Pokémon has. And…you're a woman scorned, right?"
Who actually asks someone that? Raikou asked Silver as Mellow slowly began to nod, her eyes narrowing.
Silver gestured to Lyra as she began to nod with Mellow as encouragement. Not without affection, he said, "Obviously, Lyra does."
Moments later, Lyra and Shuppet embraced Mellow, who seemed shocked at the attention from the human and the overeager little ghost. "I'm so happy you're going to help us out!" Turning to Raikou and Silver, Lyra declared, "Let's get going! Glaceon is around here somewhere! And we've got a region to help out!" With Mellow following her tentatively and Shuppet fluttering around both of them, the flannel-clad Trainer began to storm off.
Raikou sighed loudly. Lyra Soul. Wrong way, young lady. How about I take the lead now? He asked.
Flushed a faint pink, Lyra nodded. "Okay."
As Raikou began to lead them toward wherever Suicune and Ho-oh were, Silver sidled up to Lyra. He whispered, "You're feeling better."
She smiled and nodded slowly. Her hand slipped into his, shocking him, and Lyra murmured, "I owe you a lot right now, you know. You'll have to come to collect on that someday."
Holy—! Silver blushed violently. What the hell was she implying? Shuppet and Mellow shot him sideways glances as he sputtered for a response and found none.
Raikou furtively gazed over his shoulder at him. In what seemed to be a private manner, he blithely said, Someone is a lucky boy.
The echoes of Silver sputtering awkwardly bounced through the hills and down into the strait in which Mt. Pyre rose out of, confusing all who had no idea of what had a certain redheaded Trainer had achieved in a moment of unguarded, unbridled affection for the girl he'd been in love with for four years.
"So…there's Ho-oh, Latias, Suicune, Kris…and me."
"Don't forget Suicune and me firing up Rayquaza! Even though we don't really know where he is…but he'll be back soon, I betcha my entire ponytail."
"That's all of six of us against…well, okay, are we officially saying that Giratina is the enemy now?"
When haven't we been, you idiot?
"Okay, jeez, sorry, Latias."
"You know, it's more like nine. I have Meganium, Ampharos, and Fearow on me."
Morty sighed and rocked back onto his heels. This idea session hadn't just gotten off on the wrong foot; it had taken off with only one engine in full function and broken ailerons. Ho-oh had suggested razing all of Mt. Pyre and then soaring straight up in the strange, shimmery distortion. With an indignant trill of rage Latias shot down the idea. After all, Mt. Pyre was a resting place, even if it was being used for rather nefarious purposes at the moment. From there, the ideas went consistently downhill. The main issue was a lack of numbers—at best, they had nine. Suicune said that she sensed Raikou—who Silver and Lyra were supposedly with nearby—but that would only include another three, bringing their number up to twelve. Though the Legendaries were immensely power, it took more than power. Their resources would be stressed and spread out to a very wide locus. Sighing ruefully, he rested his back heavily against the tree behind him. "We really do need more people, I think," Morty said almost to himself.
Raikou, Lyra, and Silver are very close by and growing closer yet, I'll remind you, Suicune grumbled as she tossed her mane primly over her shoulders once more.
"So that's three…plus Lyra's six and Silver's five, since his Gengar is susceptible to whatever those ghosts are doing. So that's fourteen plus nine…twenty-three?" Morty laughed at his mental math. "You can tell I spent more time battling than in formal education."
Latias, still in human form and sitting beside Kris and Suicune, kneaded her forehead. And yet the fate of the Pokémon in this region rests in your hands, Latias complained.
Morty glared across the clearing they sat in as Latias ranted on. Her bad attitude was revolting when he didn't feel the stress of every individual in the region hanging over his head. It was then that he noticed glowing red eyes and a ruff of dark fur glaring at him from in between trees. His heart lifted into his throat, thundering painfully in his vocal chords. Leaping to his feet, he roared, "Beast!"
Every Pokémon nearby immediately went into an attack stance. Don't come any closer! Latias snapped. We'll tear you to pieces!
Suddenly, the beast—an Absol, Morty realized—was joined by a very familiar face framed by messily tied-back chestnut hair. Lyra stood next to this Absol with the gray ghost Shuppet hanging over her shoulder; her stance held comfortable easygoingness. "Oh. Wow. There are a lot of Legendaries in this glade, aren't there, Mellow?" she asked the beast, of all creatures, in a bit of a drawl, jamming her hands in the pockets of her jean shorts.
"Lyra! We're right across from Mt. Pyre! Get in there!" Lyra and the beast, shortly followed by the Shuppet, rushed into the trees, followed quickly by Raikou and Silver.
Latias glared at the newcomers. Who are these people? Why is Raikou with them? Hell, why is the beast with them?
Lyra held up her hands reproachfully. "Um, hi there. I'm Lyra, Kris's cousin. The cute redheaded one is Silver…" Morty turned his attention to Silver, who blushed vibrantly at Lyra's description of him. "…and you all obviously know Raikou; he's travelling with me because his taste in humans is crappy. And…the beast is Mellow. She told me that Giratina ordered her to kill Rayquaza or else he'd let Rayquaza kill her, but she's here and alive and ready to get him back for ordering her to do something so reckless."
Kris struggled to her feet and ran over to her cousin, pulling her into a tight embrace. "Lyra! I missed you!" she cried. "What happened to you? Why do you got all these extras with you?"
She sighed, and she began to tell the story of what had happened to her over the past days.
Latias listened to the tale of this Lyra girl. She was an interesting girl, taking the best qualities of Kris and mellowing them out. Plus, she seemed less rash and quieter in general. Rubbing at her right thumbnail, Latias listened with Marvel as she described getting Cursed by ghosts, losing her Glaceon, and travelling across the sea on the back of a Lugia to get her back. She really cares about her Pokémon to do that, Latias decided for herself, watching Lyra describe the finer points of her tale, including her discovery that she'd been slowly turning into a human version of the beasts.
"…and then Silver managed to do the cure."
Latias's head snapped up. Cure?
Silver, the redhead who seemed like he probably frowned a lot, reached into Lyra's backpack and yanked a tangled red ball of yarn and rumpled leaves from the front pocket. "Destiny Knot and a Mental Herb," he explained. "That's the cure. We discovered it when Shuppet got tangled up in a Destiny Knot and then suddenly ate a leaf off of the Mental Herb."
Lyra sighed. "Didn't I say that Shuppet used to be a beast already?"
How does it work? Latias asked, leaning forward. What makes it a cure?
"I have a theory," Lyra said, glancing at Silver, who looked like he was about to tell Latias off. She continued, "So…Destiny Knot is an item that forces your opponent to reciprocate feelings of love when they use Attract on you, and the Mental Herb cures conditions like infatuation and confusion. Love and hate are very passionate emotions, and the beasts feel hate very strongly. When a person who cares about their wellbeing uses the Destiny Knot on them, they suddenly realize that they're being cared about, and so they should care about the other person. The Mental Herb suddenly smells really good in that state, because you understand that it'll clear your mind and stop you from acting irrationally."
Latias pondered that for a moment. So…only someone with good intentions for the beast would be able to cure them, then, right?
"Exactly."
Latias turned her head to watch the Absol called Mellow. In the language of Pokémon, she asked, "Why haven't you allowed her to cure you?"
"I am miserable no matter what form I'm in," she answered, dipping her head. Misery flashed in her luminous eyes as she added, "At least in this form, I can talk to ghosts and fly."
"Don't you feel intense hatred? Wouldn't you want to be free of that?"
Mellow chuffed bitterly at the suggestion. She retorted, "I felt intense hatred before all of this began. I might as well use it to my advantage in the meantime."
Morty cut into the conversation. "Okay, well, that's great about the cure, Lyra, but I doubt we have enough to cure everyone. Plus, you'd get yourself killed trying to cure some Pokémon with poisonous fangs or something."
Mellow scowled at Morty. "Relay to him that he should not be so condescending toward the girl. She is kinder and braver than he will ever be."
Latias grinned devilishly. "You and I might be friends yet." Repeating Mellow's words to Morty, both Pokémon earned a dark scowl from the Gym Leader.
Ho-oh clapped his wing to his forehead in an obvious sign of irritation and flapped his wings to get everyone's attention. He growled, Quit arguing! We need to come up with a plan of action since we are all here and ready to take down Giratina! Please put aside your petty arguments and let us decide how we are going to vanquish this threat!
A minute later, everyone had settled down into something of a loose circle. Latias noticed that Lyra's group never deviated far from her; there was a sort of gravity to her that seemed to draw everyone and anything in. The redheaded one, Silver, asked, "So…I feel like you guys had some ideas, but you all were arguing too much to settle on one?"
Kris laughed. "You have no idea. Ho-oh wanted to set fire to the mountain to scare the rest of the beasts away."
"That's insane!" Lyra blurted, and then clapped a hand over her mouth. Ho-oh gave her a dirty look as she added, "I mean, it's a really big important mountain around here and all."
Latias nodded. My thoughts exactly.
Lyra leaned into Raikou, scratching at his chest fur thoughtfully for a few moments as she said, "I wonder if the cure would work on Giratina. I mean, he's the source. Maybe if we cure the source, everyone else will be cured, too."
"He isn't technically a beast," Silver retorted. There was restraint in his voice; clearly he didn't want to be as condescending as Morty or as sharp as Ho-oh when it came to this girl.
She shrugged. "I think it'd be worth a shot. I mean, we certainly have enough people and Pokémon to distract the beasts—they really don't take well to water, so all you'd have to do is get a couple of Water-type Pokémon using those attacks to frighten them away for a while—and then we go get Giratina…where is he, by the way?"
Suicune tipped her nose upward. Latias watched Lyra's eyes widen as she noticed the strange distortion in the sky. "What is that?"
"It's the way into the Distortion World, the space that Giratina inhabits," Morty explained in a bored voice.
Lyra rolled her eyes at his reaction and continued, "Anyway, so all we'd need to do is get a distraction going down in here, send some of us up into the Distortion World and try my theory."
"If it doesn't work, we could get killed. Giratina wasn't afraid of letting me die," Mellow said, and Latias relayed that to Lyra and the others.
Gazing at Mellow with a solemn expression, Lyra quietly added, "I don't think anyone should have to die in this fight, whether it's on our side or theirs. Most of the beasts didn't choose to become what they are, and I don't think they should suffer for it. And some who did choose this path regret it and want to change their ways." The comment was clearly directed at Mellow, who ducked her head and nodded in agreement.
That is very noble of you, but how often are wars won without casualties? Ho-oh asked haughtily.
Latias scratched at the bridge of her nose. Ho-oh, she was here originally to rescue her Pokémon. I don't think she's willing to harm everyone else just for one Pokémon.
"I want to stop Giratina, and yes, it's because I want Glaceon safe and sound," Lyra growled, shutting up the murmur that was rising through the small group. "But so many of those Pokémon didn't want to be part of this. I want to get them out safely. There's no need for them to meet an unfortunate end because of a girl who wants her Glaceon back and because of a crazy ghost dragon."
Latias grinned. There was such a shortage of those who wanted nonviolent solutions in this strange conflict. Loudly, she declared, I'm willing to figure out a plan based around this idea of the cure. Lyra shot her a surprised look, but she nodded gratefully Raikou and Suicune exchanged looks and nodded, which was quickly followed by Morty rolling his eyes and muttering, "Pacifists, all of you." Slowly, the entire circle, aside from Ho-oh, seemed to have cast their chips on Lyra's idea.
The guardian of the sky scoffed when they all looked at him. I have been around long enough to know that peacefully taking care of Giratina will not work in the end. There are not enough Destiny Knots and Mental Herbs in the world to take care of this problem peacefully. I will help you, but I will not be a shoulder to cry on when your plan does not work. Tell me when you have decided on a plan. Ho-oh awkwardly waddled away—the guardian of the sky was not meant to walk on land with his underdeveloped legs. Latias could only catch glimpses of his red feathers through the dense foliage Ho-oh had just plowed through.
Morty glanced around. "Well. Let's get planning?"
Lyra exchanged a look with Silver. Latias observed something pass between them as the redheaded scooted closer to the girl. She shot him a shy smile as she picked up a twig in the fallen leaves nearby and said, "Okay, well, let's figure out what we've got going for us here…"
A/N: Hello and welcome to "Mother of God! I actually did it! I actually made Silver initiate the kiss when originally Lyra was going to do it! But oh my sweet lordy Moses the rest of this chapter just did not flow for me!" Anyway, I hope you all are happy with Silver's moment of giddy happiness in this chapter. I know people say not to put kisses at the beginning of a chapter, but the rabid shipper in me could not contain myself. It had to be done.
So, anyway, I wrote the first half of this chapter at one in the morning after getting home from a day trip. I was actually going to incorporate the kiss as part of chapter twenty, but then I decided against that. The rest of this has been a product of half an hour spurts of writing. I don't know what it was, but this chapter was just hard to write. Ugh.
And yes, Silver is very worried about looking like a "man-wh***" to Lyra, although I don't believe in such terms. Silver isn't on a plane of thought quite that high yet...
A friend of mine read this chapter for me last night and pretty much called the little ragtag team at the end "the Poke-vengers" and I kind of wanted to punch her, but in a friendly way. They're just concerned citizens rising up to take care of a region that can't take care of itself very well.
I don't have a lot to write in the Author's Note for once, hahaha.
Thanks to my readers/favoriters/followers/reviewers, as always. I love you guys. You're helping me through the chapters I have issues writing so that I may write the chapters that speak loudly to my soul...
Review/favorite/follow this story! I've been working so hard since February, you guys. Even if I've only been publishing it for a little over a month now, it's still great to see support for this whopper of a story!