Chapter 10

Derpity derp, hey there. Long time no see :3

I must say, that I hate this story *whacks it a bunch of times with a hammer* I have absolutely no inspiration for it, but that may just be cause nano is sucking the life out of me. It is so difficult to keep up with the word goal during the summer. I have so much to do and so little time!

I even missed an awesome golf excursion for writing!

Anyway, altogether, I have about eighteen chapters written :D That is quite a few, if I do say so myself. But they aren't all edited so I can't just throw them all up at once. Sooorrryyy.

Onwards… this is a very odd chapter. You don't even see Ho-oh in it Dx But you do see Red :D I just randomly threw him in there cause I thought it was a good idea :3 Because I'm sure that lots of you are waiting for the SilverxLyra action I will tell you that it starts in… CHAPTER 15 DUN DUN DUN!

Reviews!

Splitheart1120: Lyra's fiiiine, no worries *bows* How would the story go on without her? And poor Ethan! All he wants is some lovin'! Eehee thanks for the review, you know how much I love them :D

FluffyMareep: Thank Arceus for furniture that knows when a books getting suspenseful xD I was going for intense! It's actually probably the third most intense scene in the book! Action wise, that is! First will obviously be climatic ending! Thanks for the review!

Sapphiet: Why in the world would Silver be jealous? I wonder :) Poor Ethan! But if we lock him in a cage the story cannot go on! The bell tower is just a terrorist attack. Why do any terrorist attacks happen? Usually to declare something, or just cause some one's pissed. We'll find out where Ho-oh took Lyra, though I am sorry about how anti climatic it is! Don't shoot me! And I'm sorry, but after these next few chapters the action will tone down, but then burst forth crazily! And that's when it will all start going to hell! :D Thanks for the review! I always love reading them!

Izzzie: OMG I LOVE YOU THANK YOU SO MUCH! I'm very unconfident in the way I write, and I'm always changing it a little in each story, so I appreciate your comment! It helped boost my confidence a bit :D In a few chapters, you'll hear some back story on Lyra and Silver, in the form of a songfic! I wrote it cause I had no muse at the time and I did for that :3 Thanks for the review!

Anyway, hope you enjoy the chapter, even though I definitely did not! Thanks for reviewing, keep it up pretty please

Something soft cushioned my body, yet everything ached. My fingers and toes refused to move, and my eyes seemed melded shut by exhaustion. I moaned quietly to myself as a breeze picked my hair up and caused it to tickle my face, the cool air causing relief to the hot burning on my skin.

I lay there was a long time, my eyes closed and my body limp, not knowing where I was. I felt like I'd just been put through a blender, but what had happened before was all blurry in my mind, as if the horror I'd been put through had tried to be blotted out by my mind. There had been an explosion, then fire, and Ethan almost dying, then me almost dying, but Ho-oh had saved me…

I jerked my eyes open with a gasp, sitting up, which caused a burn on my back to ache sharply. I fell back onto the softness, which turned out to be long grass. My breath came heavily and raggedly, and I stared around myself. I was in a forest, surrounded by trees, but the leaves and grass around me was all scorched black, as if the heat from Ho-oh had burned them.

No wonder I felt like a blow torch had been blown over me. I hadn't just been exposed to the flames from the explosion, but also Ho-oh's own internal heat.

I reached up shaking hands, feeling me hair. It had been burned worst, probably from blowing around in the wind and catching fire. It only went to my chin, and the ends were frayed and burnt. My arms were covered in little burns, nothing life threatening, and my clothing hung on my body like rags, holes dotting them here and there.

My mouth was dry, so when I tried to call out no sound was made. I struggled into a crouch, pressing my hands to the ground, and looked at my belt. Somehow, Meganiums pokeball had remained on my belt, and I unclipped it with weak, awkward fingers.

Meganium looked surprised to be out of the pokeball, as if she hadn't been out for a while. Who knows how long I'd been out here. At the appearance of me, she gave a cry, nudging me lightly with her snout.

"I… I'm… o-okay," Was all I managed to say, but Meganium didn't look convinced, the worry still living in her eyes.

To prove to her that I wasn't seriously injured, I pushed myself up into a crouch, then onto my feet, and was shown a whole new world of aches and pains. Wincing, I gave Meganium a wobbly smile.

"S-see, I-… I'm f-fine?" I coughed a few times to clear my throat.

Meganium growled under her breath, and then turned around to scan the area. I copied her, once again looking around, and didn't get any clues of where I was. Wherever Ho-oh had left me, it was far away from the danger at the Bell Tower, and far away from civilization of any kind. Actually, the temperature felt different, colder. There were goose bumps dancing across my skin.

I reached up to run a hand through my sooty hair. I wasn't worried, I'd camped out in the wilderness enough in my childhood to not worry about a few Pokémon, but I would like to know where the hell I was.

Fucking legendary set me off in who knows fucking where then had the fucking attitude to abandon me. I hate all Legendaries, they're all the same!

Meganium watched me slowly limp towards her. I couldn't read her expression any longer; it was something between amusement and worry. I sighed and stopped again, pulling the rags of my clothes tighter around my body.

"T-this i-is so," I coughed violently again, "m-messed u-up."

Maybe… I reached down to my hole spotted pants, slipping my fingers into my pocket slowly, trying not to graze the sore flesh on my fingers and brushing the tips of my nails against my phone. Somehow, it hadn't fallen out during the whole trauma.

I yanked it out and flipped it open, and found… no service.

"F-fuck!" I couldn't even swear violently.

"Lyra?"

The voice was soft, so quiet that I almost couldn't hear it over the sounds of Pidgey's and Starly's in the trees. Actually, it was a voice I hadn't heard in years, not since I'd put my heels onto the mountainous ridges of Mt. Silver. It came as a surprise.

Red looked exactly as I remembered. Almost five years older than me, with pitch dark hair and pale, pale skin. He wore a cap and clothes not suited for the snowy weather atop the mountain, yet never seemed to get cold, not in the short time I'd seen him. His red eyes were unnerving, almost unreal in the dim light of the trees.

"Re…ed?"

Red inspected me, his eyes showing little emotion, but I saw the way his lips tightened. He was actually worried, "What happened to you, Lyra?"

"A-a lot of c-crap… what are you d-doing here?" I know I sounded incredulous, but Red barely ever left his perch on top of Mt. Silver, not since he'd isolated himself off from humanity.

He gave me a dry look, "Seeing Ho-oh landing in a forest would bring almost anyone down," I think that was the longest sentence I'd ever heard Red say. I could have laughed, if my throat didn't feel like sandpaper.

"R-right,"

Red frowned, "You're a mess."

I gave him my own dry look, "Y-you don't t-think I r-realize t-this?"

Instead of answering, he walked towards me, "Pokémon center. Now,"

I coughed violently into my fist to try and recover my voice, "Pokémon centers are for pokemo-"

"And for humans, in case of emergency."

Red unclipped a pokeball from his best, releasing his Charizard. The good natured Pokémon looked at me, rumbling deep in his chest and shoving his head to butt me playfully in the chest, which almost sent me falling onto my back.

"Down, Char." At Red's command, Char recoiled, looking disappointed. Charizard was one of my favourite Pokémon on Red's team, and he knew it to. He used it to his advantage anytime I managed to scale Mt. Silver, which wasn't very often.

Red placed his hand on the back of Charizards neck, pulling him down so that the Pokémon crouched around waist level. It had always awed me how Red had this sort of… connection with his Pokémon. My Pokémon loved me, but they took commands, not motions.

"We'll fly," Taking my elbow, Red led me over to Char, and I didn't resist. My whole body ached. I did stop Red to pull off Meganiums pokeball, returning the Pokémon before Red ushered me towards Char again. Sighing irritably, I let Red actually lift me up and place me on the Pokémon. I was a few heads shorter then Red, and he was strong, so it was no feat.

Red clambered on behind me, wrapping an arm around my waist to keep me from flying off in mid-flight, "Hold on."

"I'm sure I'll be fi-" Char took off without command, probably from some order made by Red's foot, and I almost yelled out as I was thrown back against Red, only his grip on my keeping me from tumbling back to ground. Char moved with break neck speed, and exploded from the top of the trees with a flap of his wings.

"Shiiiiiiiit!" I managed to wrap my sore, tired arms around Char's neck, clinging on with whatever willpower I had left. I could have sworn I heard Red chuckle in my ear.

I squeezed my eyes shut at one point, feeling nauseous. Pidgeot never flew this fast, and if she did it was only from my command, when I was prepared. The wind whistling in my ears made me feel disoriented and brought back flashes on memories from my flight entrapped in Ho-oh's claws. Shivers, not caused by the cold, ran down my skin.

We weren't that far from Mt. Silver, and with a beat of his wings, Char sent us rocketing down towards the Pokémon Center, slowing himself down by pulling his wings rigid and jerking back up. Even the landing wasn't gentle, the fire type crashing onto the ground and almost tumbling head over heels.

Gasping for breath, I stumbled off of the Pokémon and promptly vomited into a bush.

Red laughed, and I leaned back out of the bush, feeling disoriented, but still managing to glare at him. I'd heard Red laugh maybe a maximum of five times, and it was usually an offending sound. Char copied the noise, little flames spouting out his nose as his chest shook.

"Into the Pokémon center you go," Red took me by the elbow, pulling me towards the little, old building. It didn't even have an automatic door. Holes had been patched up on the roof and it was obvious it had been many years since the building had seen any sort of maintenance.

Walking into the building, Red called out, "Sarah?"

Out came the nurse that lived here. Her hair was blond, pulled to the side and done up in pigtail braids, and she was small, but she managed to keep connected with the outside world, unlike Red. At the sight of me, her eyes widened, and with a voice that chimed like bells said, "You're the missing champion!"

"Mmhmm."

She scampered over, reminding me of a child, "They've been searching for you for almost two days! Everyone thinks you died in the terrorist attack! Your names Lyra, right? Oh my goodness, this is the biggest day of my li-"

Red reached forward and pressed a finger to her lips, silencing her, "At the moment, Sarah, she needs some medical attention."

Flushing bright red, the blond girl finally took in my condition, and instantly grabbed my arm, "Oh my goodness! I'm so sorry! I'm such an idiot! Sit down right here!" She pulled me over to a chair and shoved me down. I was almost too shocked to say anything. This girly nurse was so… different then the people I was used to.

Pointing at Red, she said, "You go use the phone to call up Lance. I'm going to patch Miss Kotone up."

I gave an awkward smile, "P-please," Another cough, "Just call me Lyra."

Sarah's face lit up in happiness, and she nodded wildly, "Oh! Thank you so much!" Then she scampered off into a different room, probably to get bandages.

Red didn't look happy about having to use a phone, but he dragged his feet over anyway, picking it up off the wall and looking at over, before jabbing in the numbers half-heartedly. It surprised me that he knew Lance's number, but I didn't comment on it, instead just taking stock of where I hurt the most.

The whole of my thigh felt burnt, but not so severe that I couldn't walk on it. I was covered in to many cuts and bruises to count, whether from the falling glass or knocking against Ho-oh's talons again and again as we flew. There was one bad burn stretching across my ribs, and when I touched my skin and looked at it closely, I could see I'd gotten a sunburn, as if the heat from Ho-oh had burnt me like the sun.

I didn't want to look in a mirror, because I knew I'd look a mess.

Tears filled my eyes. The Bell Tower had been destroyed, brutally and without warning. Ho-oh's sanctuary would forever be gone, or at least the natural version. It hurt me to think that the bird would forever be forced to roam, without a landing spot to claim as its own. I knew that the Legendary rested countless times at the top of the tower, even if it was a rare occurrence.

"Lance?" Red's voice sounded as reluctant to talk to the former champion as his body looked. I could just barely make out the tired drone of Lance's voice, greeting Red, probably planning to explain to him what had happened to me.

"I found Lyra," Lance's voice spiked louder and more enthusiastic, almost demanding, and Red frowned, "She's fine, beat up. We're at the Mt. Silver Pokémon Center."

Lance said something quickly, and Red simply answered with an, "Okay," Before hanging up and turning to me, "Their coming."

Relief washed over me, and I reached up to run a hand over my face, which burnt more than made me feel better. Sarah came rushing out, carrying burnt ointments, bandages and a lot of peroxide to sterilize my cuts.

And next came a good twenty minutes of pain.

Sarah chattered in my ear non-stop, about how it was an honour to meet me and how her mother had knew me and always talk about how I was such a good person. It was a little embarrassing, and looking at Sarah, I also felt pity. She was young, too young to be running a Pokémon center on her own.

Red leaned back in the corner, not saying anything, just supervising, which was how he liked it. At one point, Pikachu appeared, but it was at some time that I hadn't been watching, and when I looked over next Pika was just resting on Red's shoulder, watching me with eyes that could make anyone nervous. It was a truly powerful Pokémon.

Sarah flushed brightly suddenly, looking away as she wrapped up my ribs. I was pretty much naked except for the endless bandage she'd been wrapping around my chest, but Red had just looked away. He didn't have any interest in that kind of stuff.

"I know it might seem much, at a time like this, but can I have you autograph, Ly-"

She was cut of abruptly as the door to the Pokémon center smashed open, and in walked Lance.

"Oh shi-" I didn't even get the words out of my mouth before he spotted me, strutted over, grabbed me by the shoulder and yanked me to my feet.

"You stupid imbecile. I knew you were dense, but I didn't think you were stupid! What were you thinking, pulling that disappearing act and then practically getting blown up? You disappeared in a fucking fire, everyone thought you were dead! Ethan's been a wreck, and the whole countries in an uproar! Silver's been spouting tales about you getting carried off my Ho-oh and how you're still alive and how we need to stop worry-"

Sarah pushed in between us, "I'm sorry, Mister Lance sir, but you're going to have to step back. Miss Kotone's my patient and she's been injured, you could very well be stressing her out and causing her aggravation."

Lance finally seemed to take in my condition, and his whole face sagged in on itself. He sighed, running a hand through red hair, which still was showing a lack of spikes, "God, Lyra, I'm sorry. It's just; I thought you were dead…" He trailed off, turning away abruptly and walking towards another chair in the room, falling into it, "We'll get you home as soon as the nurse patches you up."

I felt embarrassed and like an idiot. Lance had been right in the long run, if I had just stayed cooped up none of this would have happened, yet I still felt that it wasn't right for me to get kept locked away from civilization.

While Sarah patched up my leg next, wrapping it up in a thick bandage to stop blood from seeping out from a noticeably deeper cut, I asked, "Is… Is Ethan, Silver and Rosary alright?"

Lance nodded his head, "They all got out of there uninjured, Ethan thanks to you. He's in a panic over you. Locked up in his room for the two days. You'll have to get him out."

My heart twisted. Ethan really did care about me. I just sat there, listening to the sound of my heart thudding in my ears, and feeling whatever I felt for Ethan swell up to an unbearable size. My face felt flushed red hot, but Lance was staring out the window. The only person that saw it was Red, and his face was unreadable.

"There, all done!" Sarah leaned back, looking over her handy work with a nod. I sat there, feeling awkward. I had no top on besides the bandages, and she'd had to cut my pants down to shorts.

Clearing my throat, I said in a disbelieving voice, "And what am I supposed to… ah… wear?"

Sarah blinked, then seemed to take in this I had almost nothing on, "Oh… ah… I should have something in the ba-"

"Here," Lance had yanked his shirt off, tossing it to me like it was an everyday occurrence for him to walk around half naked while I wore his shirt.

"Lance, take your shirt ba-"

"Shut up and wear it. It's the least I can do."

I sighed, but pulled it on. The shirt was so big on me that it hung all the way down to mid-thighs, the cloth hanging around me loosely. I gave Lance a glare, but he didn't return it with a snide look. Actually, he looked exhausted. He couldn't have had any sleep for the last two days.

"Let's go get Ethan before he does something drastic, then," I stood up, and Lance leaped to his feet, looking relieved to be able to get out of here. I leaned down to Sarah's height, giving her a hug, "Thank you so much… and you to, Red," Turning, I pulled him into my arms, him being reluctant or not. He was stiff, but Pika nuzzled my cheek, which was a good sign.

Pulling away, I limped to the door. Lance stepped forward and wrapped an arm around me, giving me support and opening the door for me, "Bye! Thanks again!" It wouldn't be until later that I realized I'd completely forgotten about Sarah's autograph. I'd have to mail her one.

Lance's dragonite looked over at us, and then snorted. A chilly wind had picked up, and it sent shivers down my spine, but Dragonite was warm as Lance hoisted me onto his back, and I wrapped my arms around the dragons neck, whispering to him, "Not too fast, please."

Dragonite gave a rumble that could count for a laugh, then took off into the air as soon as Lance was on his back with a mighty beat of its wings, but not at as nearly a break neck speed as Red's charizard had moved.