A tidal wave streamed past Remoraid and Lyra, bobbling them around like a fishing float on the water. Remoraid, swimming against the red Gyarados' tide, buckled once when Lyra stood up on his back. "When we arrive, it'll be a straightaway battle," she said, adjusting her hat. "The plan is to weaken our foe, and then catch it." Violent rain slammed down on her freezing shoulders. In the waters below her, wild Magikarp smacked against one another, fighting senselessly in an effort to overcome the mysterious air enraging and confusing them.
Once again, I'm rushing into battle, Lyra thought. Because lately... there's been no other way to concentrate! Against all reason, I've been thinking nonstop about Jerkface! This surge of anxiety and confusion is eating away at me. Why did he invade my brain like this? This air! The Magikarp must be fighting against an overwhelming emotion as well... Like them, I, too, want to quell it through battle! Balancing carefully on Remoraid's slick back, Lyra dug through her bag and pulled out Eusine's white cape. Tying its red bow around her neck, she crossed her arms and gazed ahead. The cape's stiff, white fabric rippled behind her.
Constantly I think of things I can't complete... Well it's to thrown them into the backseat! Lyra decided. Like a Magikarp, I'll splash recklessly ahead and forget everything! "It's show time," she said, raising a finger at the red Gyarados. "Prepare to be outshone!" Angered by her rude pointing and insufferable claim, the Gyarados snarled and leered down at her, startling Remoraid just enough to lower his defenses.
"Anonymous! Attack with the wrath of mankind's uncredited poets!" Lyra declared, throwing out her arms and then swinging a palm forward. "Ride in high and Psybeam away!" Anonymous sharpened his eyes bravely, and flitting rapidly past Gyarados's lashing tail, he gunned ahead and blasted the towering serpent with a swirling, multicolored psychic beam.
"GYAAAAA!" the red Gyarados roared, his voice vibrating the air. Throwing back his neck and slackening his jaw, he rocked forth and regurgitated a powerful twister.
"Did he just barf up... a TORNADO?" Lyra yelled, wincing as the cyclone tore past and swept her skyward. A whole tornado?! "No... no way!" she cried, still blasting off. That's ridiculous, she thought, ridiculously awesome! Showered by a torrent of cold water, Lyra swung her arms back and flipped upright mid-flight. As the twister devoured lake water in the deluge and grew into a waterspout, it blasted her further skyward.
Coughing through the spraying turbulence, Lyra clung onto her hat and peered downwards. "That's—" she muttered, inhaling water and gagging, "—fwah!" I'm so far up! she thought, struggling to maintain her sense of direction. With an unbelieving blink, she watched the cyclone wind down below her. And what's this?... I'm... I'm going down! She started falling. "Anonymous! Return!" she yelled, clicking his pokeball and snatching him off the distant lake surface. "Aerodactyl! Go!" She flipped upside down, head first, but managed to unlatch his pokeball and unleash him. "Are you ready boy? Here I come!" she wailed as she fell. Aerodactyl, waggling through the storm, dove and caught her before she could splatter down across the water.
Dashing along the lakefront, a tall man hurried along—his cape flying behind him with each bound. What is that girl doing?! he wondered in alarm, watching her free-fall. Did she seriously... just catch a ride on that Gyarados's Twister? "No time to think... She's in trouble," he exclaimed, ruffling his cape and reaching for a pokeball. "Dragonite—"
"—Aerodactyl! You're the undeniable king of the skies," Lyra exclaimed, catching her feet on his bony back and leaning close, "yours is the might that roars through time! That's why I'm entrusting it all to you. Together, we can move in time. The power of the ancient dragons conveyed through moves..." She closed her eyes and bent her arms, the cliffs of Tohjo Falls flashing through her mind. "Those moves... Are yours! Throw back! We're ready! Half flap... and jet up!"
Losing altitude, Aerodactyl and Lyra slammed the lake's surface and skidded across it. "Balanciiiing!" Lyra called out, clenching her teeth and grounding her step as they pulled up and up. As they faced the sky, she slipped, but caught herself and slammed a foot forward with a boosted sprint. Aerodactyl flapped—stretching his snout and wings heavenwards—and rocketed up through the powerful rainfall as Lyra defied gravity. Running with everything she had, she ran in-place on his down-turned back, with only momentum threatening to throw her off now.
By the water front, the tall man stood, his hands at his sides. This is... it, he thought in disbelief, his urgent expression draining away. This is the move, just as our Elder once explained. As the master runs in place, air flow is increased and the dragon will reach unbelievable speeds. It's like walking up a wall.
The man had forgotten all about calling out Dragonite to save the girl. Instead, his thoughts were robbing him of all executive function with their one-tracked repetition: That move was... It was sloppily done, but there's no mistake. Her footing... That was...
"Impossible! It can't be!" he yelled, holding his tensed forehead. "A secret technique passed down by our Dragon Master Clan for centuries... A technique so challenging, that even I haven't fully mastered it yet!" This is outrageous! he thought. With a stern gaze, he concentrated on Lyra's battle, heavily furrowing his red eyebrows in furtive distress. "Her form completely lacks any grace and refinement," he reasoned to himself aloud, "but that stunt just now. It was unmistakably the... The Sky Dragon Balancing Step."
"This is pure Aerodactyl!" Lyra blazoned, pulling her hat down over her forehead to shield against the gusty storm. "He is a mighty hammer of justice, swooping in from his dwelling over the fields of GLORY." She crossed her arms and let her cape flutter about. "He is brilliant, he is thunder!"
Sputtering loudly, Aerodactyl dissolved into hysterical laughter at her expense.
"You butt, I was being serious!" Lyra cried. "Grr! Be quiet!"
Aerodactly slammed the Gyarados with the end turn of his secret Fly attack. Taking advantage of Aerodactyl's lightning-fast appearance, the red Gyarados thrashed about and hacked up yet another Twister.
"Hrah! Thunder Fang!" Lyra yelled, her cape jolting up behind her. It's time... time to catch it! she thought in anticipation. Fighting her footing, she pulled an Ultra Ball from her bag, and in the ensuing moments, Aerodactyl dove down through the cyclone, screeching in pain but pressing on. Bursting out through the other side, with a righteous roar fueled by Lyra's belief in him, he clamped down on Gyarados's head and struck a critical hit. Plumes of electric bolts sizzled through the water spray and charged through Aerodactyl's fangs, shocking the enemy and overwhelming the sky line with blinding light for miles.
Down into the water the red Gyarados collapsed, shrieking and sending up an incredible tidal wave in its fall.
The enemy red Gyarados had fainted.
"NOOOO—" Lyra wailed, holding her head in mortification. She nearly dropped her ultra ball. "NOOOOO." Horrified by her failure to capture this rare and powerful creature, Lyra stood there, dumbfounded, as his final attack struck from beyond. A tidal wave gushed over her.
For a brief moment, the rain clouds parted and sunlight poured on through. What... what's with this sudden good weather? Lyra wondered. Are even the heavens mocking me now? In her overwhelming despair, she looked down. How cruel... I couldn't capture it...
In mysterious consolation, a red glimmer caught Lyra's eye. "Huh?" she emitted. Reaching into her front bib pocket, she pulled out a large, red scale. It shone like a piece of metal in her hand. What is this? She flipped it over. Is this from the red Gyarados? Before she could ponder the mysterious gift any further, a pokeball shook loose from her hip and blasted open. Bursting out, Anonymous dove through the air—causing Lyra to reach out and catch the big fish with a hearty huff.
"Remo!" Anonymous trilled. Glowing bright, he began to flash and grow in Lyra's arms.
The pokemon Crystal gave me, Lyra thought. He's finally evolving into... She watched in amazement as Remoraid absorbed his tail and sprouted long, flexible red limbs with suction cups instead. "Octillery!" she finished her thought aloud. "I trust him to save us!"
What Crystal said was right... Lyra realized; I only had to evolve it! She gazed upon the strong and healthy pokemon in her arms.
At last. I have obtained a FRENCH Octillery.
"One more barricade falls on my way to conquest," Lyra growled, knowing that Octillery's quality was a great asset. "Now then, Aerodactyl! Let's... KRF... fly low," she grunted, losing her balance and falling into the water with Anonymous still in arm. Yelping when they splashed in, they resurfaced moments later with Lyra riding atop Octillery's magnificent, shiny bald head.
"Aerodactyl, good work," Lyra said, ignoring the fact that he was having a laugh at her misfortune. She returned him to her hip.
Surfing atop her oversized Octillery, Lyra clung to him tightly as he slapped the water with his tentacles and ferried her back to land. Lyra knew she was traveling in style now, and that anybody who saw them, like this, would be made totally jealous from their majesty. From the distant shore, her eyes locked with the tall man's.
Hm! Lyra thought, going on the defense. I didn't notice him there before! Looking over her shoulders, she checked to see if anyone was behind her (as was often the case), and affirmed that nobody was. This was it. Her gaze intensified. I knew it, she thought, he's totally checking out my amazing French Octillery.
Climbing ashore moments later, Lyra found that the man was still glaring at her. I'm not intimidated by this guy! I'm down to fight anyone! She looked him over, carefully judging his blue military uniform and his stylish cape. But still, I want to believe that he's an ally, she thought. Because upon closer inspection, I recognize he's got some great fashion sense.
"SPEAK, man," Lyra called forth, extending her arms in a failed attempt to appear bigger. It then occurred to her that this was no way to greet a potential ally of justice, but it was too late.
This was just how she greeted random field NPCs.
"I... That is..." the man answered, startled by Lyra's forwardness. "Well surely you've noticed... That this lake is full of Gyarados and nothing else," he said at last. "All the Magikarp are being forced to evolve... that's why I'm here." He crossed his arms to cement this fact, though now he wasn't so sure. Lyra's fierceness was really starting to get to him.
"So I'm not just seeing things," Lyra said, looking over her shoulder. "My foes were filled with the instinct to fight. It was a Magikarp battle royale... It was INTENSE." When she faced back around, she found the man practically in her face. "Eyah!" She jumped back, noticing he was even more ripped and intimidating up-close. He was totally tall! Those muscles are real... He's like a dude from a fighting game, she thought abruptly. And if he wanted to combo-attack anyone, nothing could be done...!
"Who are you?" the man finally asked. "Did you come here because of the rumors?"
"M-me? I'm the Trainer. Lyra," she stammered, clenching her fists in determination. "No, I'm just here to battle and sightsee. I mean, it's just Lyra."
"You're Lyra?" he said, sizing her up. Lyra stiffened her back and straightened her limbs. She even flexed a bit! (Actually, it was a bit too much.)
This can't be. She's even tinier up close... the man thought to himself in disbelief. How is it even possible for such a small infant to command a dragon with such ease? I almost feel... Insulted! Clenching his jaw, the dragon master narrowed his eyes and gazed off into the distance. No... These feelings are wrong... Being jealous of a child is immature of me. At most, I should be happy for her. Yes, that's right. She was born with the skill I had to work my whole life for. This isn't a bad thing! I must ignore these pangs of crippling despair... but.
The man glanced right, left, forward and then overhead—as if encompassed by the bleak miasma forged by hopelessness. Regardless, I'm in despair, he lamented to himself, landing on his hands and knees.
"Whoa, you've got one of those faces, man, who are you again?" Lyra asked, despairing the man YET MORE with her incredible ignorance. She poked a finger into her ear in an effort to scratch her itching brain; she could've sworn she'd seen him from some place before. Maybe TV!
The man jumped to his feet and instantly regained his usually-dignified composure. "I'm Lance, a trainer like you," he proclaimed mysteriously. "I heard some rumors, so I came to investigate..."
"Whoa! You mean the rumors about Pryce kidnapping little children?" Lyra asked, holding out her arms. "I heard those were false. Because of independently produced comic books. But really, it's gotta be wrong! But then again, I did meet worse, like the Demon King. He feasts on the dreams of innocent girls! And also ice cream. But never judge someone on rumors." She wagged her finger. "Rumors! They last anywhere from 75 hours to entire centuries."
Lance's jaw slipped. What does this infant speak of? he wondered. Kidnappings, comic books, dream-eating, and demon kings? Did she recently spring from a parallel universe? Well... It doesn't matter! I must discover the secret of her surprising skill... I must observe her more!
With this girl's baffling appearance, anything seemed possible to Lance. "I saw the way you battled earlier, Lyra. I can tell that you're a trainer with considerable skill," he said, his cape springing back as if it were a sentient being. "If you don't mind, could you help me investigate?"
"Huh?" Lyra emitted, looking up at him with widened eyes. "You mean we're teaming-up?"
Lance knew he had no other choice but to monitor this trainer. "Yes."
Lyra wrenched her eyes shut again and rattled her head around. Teaming-up, isn't that like hanging out? Wow, I haven't hung out in years! Am I still capable of being a friend?
Wait! Didn't Silver say I couldn't do it?
I... I... Lyra grasped her head, her mind spinning with inner turmoil as she made a decision. She put her hands on her hips in resolve. Forget indecision! I can DO it. And. I want to find out what's going on with the Magikarp!
And so she did.
"NO!" Lyra ejected powerfully, still confused by the question prompt as it popped-up on screen. Good thing field NPCs could be talked to again!
"Lyra!" Silver called, breaking outside the bounds of the lake's forest. Racing down the mucky shoreline, he squeezed between closely muddled trees and stumps. That was definitely her Aerodactyl, he thought. And that was definitely her yelling and flying around like an idiot! What the hell was she DOING? Stepping onto solid land once again, he jumped down over a ledge. As he landed, he heard something and stopped. Through the trees he recognized Lyra's boy-like voice—accompanied by the resonance of a man's.
"Tch," Silver hissed, holding his breath. His heart almost leapt past his lungs! But that was probably just Zubat still squirming around in his jacket, IMPRISONED. When I met that demented juggler in town earlier, Silver thought, recalling the off-screen event, he passed along a message to me from Morty... This message, it was:
'Lyra will meet the tall man at the Lake of Rage and... this man will help her realize her new feelings!'
"Whatever the crap THAT means!" Silver spat, crawling through the tightly-growing thicket and pushing himself closer. Though it doesn't make much sense, it still sounds ominous! What if he kidnaps her? Silver wondered. What if she disappears again?! Sneaking several paces closer, he pressed himself flat to the ground—much to Zubat's silent gasps of suffering.
In the clearing, on the other side of the forest floor to which Silver clung, he spied a tall young man with sharp, spiky red hair. Who is this damned muscle freak? Silver wondered. Are those his ACTUAL shoulders or just padding? He fumed. Of course it's just padding... HARUMPH. What a ridiculous cape! Capes... Silver finally noticed that Lyra was wearing hers. Rustling gently off her shoulders, its majestic form summoned up the memory of how she'd aggressively snagged it from Eusine back at the lighthouse.
Does she really like capes that much? Silver wondered. "Idiot," he muttered, biting his lip while watching them, full of hate.
Lyra, visibly conflicted about something, tilted her head up. "About that..." she said, and loud-enough this time for Silver to hear.
"Hm? Are you going to help me?" the man asked her.
"Yes," she answered. "I changed my mind... What you said about them being forced bothers me. And also this." She held out her pokegear and turned on its radio. A loud squealing erupted from it's speaker.
"Hm. So you noticed," the man said.
"This sound is bad," Lyra said, staring at her feet and remembering the Rocket Grunt who mind-controlled the Eevees back at the Dance Theatre. His Earth Badge had emitted a similar annoying pitch.
Lance appeared to trust Lyra's instincts. "Excellent!" he replied. "Yes, it seems that the lake's Magikarp are being forced to evolve... A mysterious radio broadcast coming from Mahogany is the source."
Silver listened warily. Could it be Team Rocket? he wondered. But I destroyed their machine! They shouldn't be able to broadcast anything now, so what in the...
"I'll be waiting for you, Lyra," the man said, unfolding his arms and patting her shoulder. Marching off, he swooped his cape back and sent its black form soaring effortlessly behind him.
Lyra gazed at this, awestruck and moved into chewing on her pillowy hat. Such fabric! Such billow! She escaped into her fantastical thoughts concerning capes. How does one command a cape like so? she wondered in awe, observing Lance while nearly causing her poor hat to deflate. I must... learn... how to do THAT.
Straining her face muscles, as if lifting a heavy load, Lyra threw back her cape. It flapped once and fell flat against her back. Unsatisfied, she grunted and tried again. And again. She gazed longingly into the distance. Then tried again.
What is she DOING? Silver wondered, clenching his teeth and fuming with an intense and confused passion. Is she SO impressed by that cosplayer... that she developed an ULCER? Silver couldn't believe that his own rival, of all people, was so distracted by such worthless things as muscles and height. What a moron! he cursed her and her dopey expression. I'm still growing you know. He's already reached his peak!
"Lance. He's..." Lyra murmured to herself in sudden realization, "like a real life super hero." She re-donned her chewed-up hat and huffed resolutely. Looks like... I might have to save the world for real! She clenched her fists as she became aware of the fact that as of right now, she was among the few tasked heroes keeping Team Rocket in check.
The bad guys. They always lose, right? Lyra thought. Isn't that what you once said, Dad? You said crime was a wayward path, one that can easily be fallen upon, or born into. It's hard for wrongdoers to know what's right in such situations... And that's why heroes are there. To show them the way. Isn't that why you wanted to become a hero?
No, Lyra thought, her eyes searching the skies past Mahogany town;
You did.
Without further hesitation, Lyra careened after Lance, her Octillery slithering after her.
Quaking with an unknown fury, Silver slammed his battered hands into the earth. Did you think I was kidding, he thought, when I said I wouldn't forgive you? Embittered by his rival's betrayal, he got up and followed her through the trees.
~To Be Continued~
