Along with several other children the following morning, Silver was not in the best of shape. He took a moment to assess his surroundings.

He was in an old professor's house; head drooped over his steaming coffee, eyes flickering to stay open even with the delicious-smelling fumes blasting in his face. They had all stayed up late the previous night. The earliest anyone had fallen to sleep was well over midnight.

Silver, foggy as his head was, thought about what lead up to this dreadful morning.

It all started with a battle. Or, what was going to be one.

He heard a voice. Female, giggling with what seemed every syllable that poured out of her mouth. Lyra. His eyes automatically rolled, head turning toward the voice.

There she was, in all her Lyra-ness. Wearing that ridiculous marshmallow hat with the gigantic red bow and the overalls that complimented the shape of her body… Silver shook his head. "What are you doing here?"

Lyra seemed surprised when she whipped around. "Silver? Is that you?" She recognized his voice from all the battles they'd fought previously. All ending with the same giggly victor.

"No. It's Santa Claus."

Now it was Lyra's turn to roll her eyes. "What are you doing-"

"Hold it," His hand shot up, stopping her from asking her stupid question. His mind worked fast with an idea.

"What?" Lyra asked, glancing down at her Umbreon. The circles on Umbreon's body seemed to glow here in this dark cave. It was an unsettling sight when mixed with the glow of the red eyes.

Maybe, if he could beat her just once, he would be good enough to tackle the League himself. Really, he was only in here to train, but maybe… "Are you going to challenge the Pokemon league?" He asked abruptly.

Lyra folded her arms across her chest. "What's it to you?"

Silver scoffed. "You didn't see any real trainers on the way, did you?" He took a Pokeball from his pocket and clicked the button for full size. The feel of this one told him it was his Golbat's. "Man, they were all spineless!"

His rival's eyes narrowed. "What are you getting at?"

"Well, the fact that you have come this far means you're not one of them. You're a formidable opponent." The girl blushed, which made Silver blush, but he quickly covered it up. "But right here. Right now, I will crush you."

Before Lyra could return her tired Umbreon to its Pokeball, release her Dragonite, then muster a cocky grin before it destroyed Silver's Pokémon, the floor suddenly started to shake. Umbreon cried out in distress, circling through his owner's legs. She tripped over him, falling to the floor on her palms.

"What was that?" Lyra whispered from the floor. She struggled to absorb the shock of pain going through her body.

"I don't know." Silver said, looking into the deeper part of the cave. Then he looked down at his rival, offering his hand to help her up. "It was probably another trainer. Or an angry Onix or something."

Lyra stared at his hand like it was going to bite, but took it anyway. Umbreon cried out again. The cave seemed like it was vibrating. This was no Pokémon's doing.

"We need to-!" Silver stared at the girl as she sunk into the ground. His own feet felt shifty, as if the floor were a trampoline.

"Silver!" She screamed out. Her Umbreon was running around frantically, so Lyra returned him. She zipped her bag – something she never did unless she didn't want to lose anything because of a-

"Lyra!" Silver snapped to his senses and hurled himself at his rival, catching her just as the ground gave in. Down they plummeted.

Silver cradled the girl as they fell to their deaths.

Or so they thought.

Lyra sat across from him at the table, staring at him. More people were pouring into the kitchen for coffee. She didn't like coffee much herself, so she settled for some orange juice.

"You're thinking about Victory road, aren't you? You made that same face right before we surfaced." She, of course, was referring to the underground river they fell into after what seemed like a lifetime.

Lyra froze when Silver pounced. They both fell in when he grabbed her shoulders. He wrapped his arms around her tightly as she screamed into his shirt.

The fell for 30 seconds, until the sound of water rushed up to their ears, and suddenly they were both submerged. They lost each other in the burning river, the current moving so fast it felt like it was ripping their skin away.

It took a minute to find each other again, to where they held on to the other's hand tighter than before. They refused to die alone.

Finally, it seemed to slow a bit after an hour of scraping over rocks, being held underwater for more than 30 seconds and almost losing their Pokemon more than once. Their hands had lost most blood circulation, and their eyes and skin were burning with acidic mineral water.

"Look, an island!" Silver shouted. Lyra would have smiled, but her face was paralyzed in fear of death. She was amazed Silver could speak at all.

They swam to this island, dragging their bodies up onto the cold, dryer floor. An entire five minutes passed before either one could muster words.

"Are… are you okay… Silver?" Lyra coughed. He stared at her with this one look…

The look she was giving him now.

"Yeah. Nice guess," he mumbled back. The memory wasn't a pleasant one, and he figured he wouldn't be able to go near caves for a long while.

"I never got to thank you."

He looked up. "Thank me? For what?"

She gave him a sad look. "For saving my life. You risked your life for someone you hated. So, thank you for that. I wouldn't be here right now if you weren't for you."

Silver propped his head up, almost glaring at her with strange eyes. "I never hated you, Lyra."

Before Lyra could process what he said, Lolly and Lance came from the hallway. Both looked as tired as Silver felt. "Hey. Nat should be back in a minute. Go get your stuff and let's get out of here. We're heading to Hearthome."

They stared at them. "Hearthome? Where's that?"

Lance spoke this time. "Southeastward. Nat's got something to do there and wanted an escort. Not sure why, though. He seems like a capable kid."

"Weird."

Cynthia and Nat walked in the front door. Cynthia didn't look nearly as tired as the others, but there were still evidence of dark circles under her eyes.

Nat held some bags of healing supplies for their Pokemon, reaching into one and tossing a couple of hyper potions at Silver and Lyra. "You guys ready?"

Lyra, after splashing some water in her eyes, making sure her bag was orderly, and some fresh clothes, smiled and nodded. "Ready as I'll ever be."

"Same," Silver grunted, wearing his black vest and jeans from before. He could smell the detergent in them. Carolina had washed all their clothing that morning.

"Yeah, let's go," Lolly gave a friendly smile. While her head felt bare without her hat, she was ready as she could be. Her Ampharos sat beside her feet, waiting patiently to get out of the small, cramped house.

Stefon had just woken up, so his reply was a hearty yawn. He didn't seem to be a morning person. "Anyone know where Carolina is? We should thank her."

Lance, who had been ready for hours, just shrugged, but turned his head when a small "Here!" echoed down the hallway. She came bounding up as if on cue. Her hair was tied back in a bun. It looked slightly damp, as if she had just bathed.

"Oh. Well, thank you for letting us stay at your house, Carolina," Lance coughed. Lolly stepped in, giving the old professor a hug. The others mumbled their thanks.

Cynthia stared at the six kids, realizing for the first time they were leaving. And that she couldn't go with them. "Well, uh, bye you guys. Good luck getting back home safely."

Lolly opened the door and walked out, followed by the others. Silver was the last out, giving one last "thank you".

"Wait, boy."

Silver stopped in his tracks, looking back to the professor. "Yes?"

"You said you came from Johto, yes?"

"That's right."

"Good thing you're going to Hearthome, then. Right now there's a contest for tickets to the Hoenn region, but from there you'd be able to find a plane back home. Or you could always change the destination, if possible."

Silver blinked. Going home had been the last thing on his mind, to be honest. He was just as curious as Lyra when it came to this strange new region. "Uh, thanks."

"And Silver?"

"Yeah?"

She gave a knowing smile. "It'd probably be best to make your move on her soon, if you haven't already."

She walked up and shut the door herself, leaving behind a confused Silver. He shook his head before returning to the others.

They walked out of the little town. And as they did so, entered what seemed to be the thickest fog any of them had ever seen.