Chapter Six: Past

My mother needn't have worried about me. I was doing just fine on my own. I caught a couple more Pokémon and had figured out a pretty good system of battling. I only wished my mom could see me now; I didn't need to speak in order to be successful. I was already at Violet City, and soon I would beat the first Gym Leader. Beating him would show her…

She sent me messages more often than I would have liked. Where are you? she would ask. Do you need Ethan to go with you? Are you having trouble communicating with people? Where are you? Do you want to come home? I'm so proud of you, but if you need to come home, you can. Where are you? Where are you? Where are you? Do you need help?

No. No. No. She didn't need to know where I was, I didn't want Ethan to come with me, I wasn't having trouble communicating with people or Pokémon, I didn't want to go home, and I certainly didn't need any help. I didn't care whether she was worried or not, and I didn't care if she lied and said she was proud just to get me to come back. I wanted to do this.

I only replied to her last message with a simple refusal for help. I didn't want to reply at all, but I figured she would keep sending me messages if I ignored them all. I had been gone a little over a week, and she was already freaking out. Who knew how many messages she was going to send me a few months from now? I didn't want to think about it.

Entering Sprout Tower, I found this was a reasonable excuse for turning my PokéGear off. The tower was peaceful and silent, the only sound coming from the creaking of floor boards when people walked. The silence was so sweet, and I wondered why all people couldn't speak like me. The world would be so much more peaceful.

"Welcome to Sprout Tower," an old man said as I approached the ladder in the back of the tower. I nodded at him, and he smiled. I had heard legends of the sages of the Sprout Tower; they lived and trained in the tower, and they only spoke when addressing visitors; in other words, they trained and meditated in silence. It sounded like an ideal job.

The sages were more powerful than the trainers I had challenged on the way to Violet City. But their Bellsprouts, however well-trained they were, were no match for my Cyndaquil. Now that Cyndaquil had learned Ember, a fire-type move, those Bellsprouts were toast. The only trick was getting Cyndaquil to figure out what move I wanted it to use.

Almost all trainers had the same reaction went I sent out a second Pokémon. "You can only use one Pokémon in a one-on-one battle!" But they didn't understand; I wasn't sending out a second Pokémon to battle—I was sending it out to give orders where I couldn't. I always had a little note in my pad of paper ready to explain the situation.

My Butterfree understood my directions best, perhaps because it was the most mature of all of my Pokémon. It took a lot of training to prepare all of my Pokémon for this, however. They each needed to learn my commands, and with their constantly changing move sets, it was difficult for them to grow familiar with my sign language. But they all worked as hard as they could to figure it out, and for this I was grateful.

I liked battling, and I liked being with my Pokémon. My mom didn't understand that even though I couldn't speak, I was just like everyone else. I was just a girl who wanted to grow up and learn the things I was supposed to learn. How did she expect me to be successful if I wasn't allowed to try things first?

And a part of me, perhaps more potent than I thought, didn't want to see Ethan grow up without me. Maybe that was why I yearned for separation from him. He was my best friend, and he had done so much for me. But that was just it—eventually he would need to move on and stop doing things for me. And now was that time. He wouldn't be mine forever, and I didn't expect that. So, I needed to move on, too.

As I climbed the tower, battling all the sages along the way, I let my mind wander. What would I do once I finished my adventure—when I had gone as far as I could go? Would I return back home and resume my life as a mute girl who couldn't do anything? That wasn't the life I would choose, but what were my other options?

I took it as a good omen when I saw Silver finishing his battle with the Elder. Without even thinking about it, I twirled my hand away from me, signing his name without hesitance. The movement was so fluid, so natural, and I couldn't help but smile upon seeing him. Sure, he was a jerk, but he did something good for me.

"You showed us what you've got, and it is indeed good…" the Elder was telling him, and I stepped a bit closer. Maybe it was rude of me to eavesdrop, but Silver was a rude person. If he minded, then I could call him out on several things if he wanted to fight that battle. "Take this Technical Machine. However, you should care more about your Pokémon. The way you treat your Pokémon can be too harsh… remember, Pokémon are not tools of war…"

Tools of war? If Silver was battling that harshly, and I could remember it from our battle back in Cherrygrove, then there was obviously something the matter. It didn't take a genius to pick up on that. Then again, he did steal his Totodile. There was something going on in his mind that he was fighting with. Maybe his Pokémon were tools of war for some battle he was fighting in his head.

Well, didn't we all have something wrong? He wasn't alone. Which meant that I wasn't, either. If Silver was struggling with something, then we could struggle together. No more picture-perfect world like I had back at New Bark. No more Ethan here to fix things for me. I had dysfunctional Silver to keep me company.

He turned around, his eyes mid-roll when their gaze landed on me. He paused, a glimmer of fear passing through his eyes as recognition set in, but when I smiled, he relaxed. Maybe he was afraid that I had told on him for stealing that Totodile—well, I did, but he didn't need to know that. And part of me wanted him to keep going, anyway.

Finally, he took a step towards me, crossing his arms. "He calls himself the Elder, but he was no match for me," he told me. If he was trying to impress me, I had already heard what the Elder said. It wasn't really working. "Sure enough, those who lecture how you should be 'nice' to Pokémon… they cannot defeat me."

He laughed bitterly, glancing back once at the Elder. Well, he was a cocky one, that was for sure.

"All I care about are strong Pokémon that win every time. The rest of them don't mean anything to me." He shot me a dark look, his eyes moving now to the Cyndaquil at my heels. He rolled his eyes one last time before pulling an Escape Rope out of his pocket and leaving the building without so much as a goodbye. I repeated his name again, staring at the spot he just left.

Oh well. If I wanted a friend while I was out here, I would have tagged along with Ethan. At least he was a nice guy…

"So good of you to come here!"

I jumped when I heard the Elder speak, having forgotten what I even came here to do. He smiled at me as I stepped forward, bowing before him. He was a short, chubby old man, and whatever hair could have been on his head was actually growing from his lip. His fluffy white mustache reminded me of Flaaffy wool.

"Sprout Tower is a place of training. People and Pokémon test their bonds to build a bright future together." His eyes lit up as he spoke, exemplifying the meaning of his words. With years of training behind him, I knew I could believe that those strong bonds were possible. "I am the final test. Allow me to check the ties between you and your Pokémon!"

He held up a Poké Ball, and I nodded, reaching into my bag and pulling out my notebook. I flipped to the page with my battle technique information on it, holding it out for the Elder to read. He narrowed his eyes as he read, glancing up at me with relative shock when he finished reading it. However, after a couple of seconds, he smiled.

I hurried back a few meters, pointing my Cyndaquil to the small arena we constructed. I sent out my Butterfree again for instruction, and Elder Li's eyes widened as he observed me. While others had been curious about my techniques, no one watched me quite like the Elder. He was truly testing me, so I had to show him what I—no, what we—could do.

Though more seemed to ride on this battle than other challenges I had faced thus far, I managed to convince myself that this was just like the rest of them. I remained calm throughout the battle, sending silent orders to Butterfree to pass on to Cyndaquil. I avoided the Elder's gaze every time I made an order, knowing that he was watching, although I was slightly curious what he made of this whole thing.

The battle ended with my victory. I bent down to scoop up my Cyndaquil, snuggling it against my chest. Butterfree flew around me, and I would have laughed if I could. If we could handle this guy, we would have no problems with the Gym Leader. Falkner wouldn't know what hit him—nor would anyone else.

Elder Li couldn't deny—I did have a strong bond with my Pokémon.

As I walked back towards the old man, Cyndaquil still curled up in my arms and Butterfree still hovering behind me, he hummed to himself. Then, after a moment, he nodded. "The way you battle is quite elegant," he said. That wasn't quite the word I would have picked, but I would take it. "You should be able to stand up to Falkner. And you should be able to make good use of this… It is a Technical Machine called Flash. Take it with you!"

He pulled a disc out of his pocket, handing it to me. I grabbed it with one hand, still balancing Cyndaquil like a baby in the other. This… this was proof that I could do something right. Now I just needed a badge to accompany it.

I thanked the Elder, bowing once more before leaving the tower. There, Mom. I didn't need to speak.

The Gym Leader proved no match for me. I made it through Falkner's gym without issue, and when I moved along to Azalea Town, I felt even more confident in my abilities. With a new badge to carry, my Pokémon began to trust me a little bit more. The new additions to my team didn't fear my battle strategy as much.

"For pity's sake! My dad's cherished bird Pokémon…" Falkner said when I won. But hidden behind his frustration was amusement, and he passed the badge to me without even hesitating. "But a defeat is a defeat. All right. Take this official Pokémon League Badge. This one is the Zephyr Badge." He closed my fingers over it, patting my hand and smiling.

Right. Maybe Falkner wanted me to win, too. That was the job of a Gym Leader, wasn't it?

Although I wanted to go home and show my mom my new badge, I decided that it was more important that I keep moving. Somewhere, somehow, this adventure was starting to become more important to me than proving to my mother that I could do what everyone else could. Being with Pokémon meant a lot to me.

So, when I heard about the missing Slowpoke in Azalea from Kurt, I couldn't ignore the situation. I needed to involve myself for the sake of the Pokémon. This, at least, was the job of a trainer—to fight for the Pokémon who couldn't fight for themselves. And since I knew all about that, wasn't it fitting that I was the one to fight back?

I followed Kurt into the Slowpoke Well, whether he wanted me to or not, but it was a good thing that I did. Kurt was sitting against the wall of the well, one hand on his back, and his smile looked strained when he saw me. I bent down beside him, and he laughed.

"Hey there, Lyra!" he said happily, and I narrowed my eyes at him. "The guard up top took off when I shouted at him, but then I took a tumble down the well. I slammed down hard on my back, so I can't move." He tried to push himself up, but he groaned as he did so. I put a hand on his arm, and he shook his head. "Rats! If I were fit, my Pokémon would've punished them… Ah, it can't be helped. Lyra, show them how gutsy you are in my place!"

I raised my eyebrows. He was asking me to do this for him? Did he really trust me and believe in me so much that he would ask me to take on Team Rocket? I regretted never leaving New Bark sooner… if I had known there were such kind people in the world—who believed in me even though many others didn't—then I would have left in no time. Elder Li, Falkner, Kurt…

So, I stood up, nodding and hurrying into the depths of the well. I defeated the first few grunts without much issue. My Pokémon were a little hurt, but my newly evolved Quilava could handle what my other Pokémon couldn't. It wasn't until I stumbled into one of the higher-ups that things got a little crazy.

"What do we have here?" the blue-haired executive asked, grabbing my arm and pulling me towards him. Quilava growled at my heels, and the man let me go. He narrowed his eyes, pushing me away and shaking his head. "I am often labeled as the scariest and cruelest guy in Team Rocket. I strongly urge you not to interfere with our business!"

His battle style reminded me of Silver's. He was fierce, desperate almost, and I could see why he was labeled as scary and cruel. He treated his Pokémon harshly, yelling at them when they missed and cursing at me for not speaking. Proton didn't understand, either. There were all types of people in this world, and he was one who I didn't want to associate with.

"Are you serious?" Proton demanded, his voice shaking with anger as his Koffing huffed and huffed in exhaustion. "Did you come here thinking you could mess with our plans?" When I smiled and nodded, Proton didn't laugh. He curled his hands into fists, cursing again when his Koffing fainted. "For a kid to be this good… I didn't see it coming."

I wanted to yell at him, tell him that I wasn't a kid, but that was one of the perks of not having a voice—I couldn't make rash decisions and say things I would get in trouble for. If Proton really was an executive for Team Rocket, then I probably didn't want to upset him anymore than he already was. The only thing I needed to do was get the Slowpoke out.

Proton hurried towards me, grabbing my arm again and narrowing his eyes. "Team Rocket was indeed broken up three years ago. But we continued our activities underground," he hissed at me. I didn't know why he was telling me this. "A small obstacle like you won't be much of a problem for our mission. I advise you to be very afraid of what is to come."

He pushed me away again, shaking his head and abandoning the well with his crew. I sighed; well, apparently it wouldn't have mattered if I yelled at Proton, after all. I was already on Team Rocket's bad side now.

I hurried over to the Slowpoke scattered around the well, frowning as I examined their wounds. None of them seemed to be suffering, and their tails would grow back. Still, how Team Rocket could even do something so horrible was beyond me. I knew what it was like to be defenseless. Didn't they know, too?

"Way to go, Lyra!" I heard Kurt call, and I saw him limping his way over to me. I rushed towards him, moving my arm around his shoulders. I wanted to scold him for moving, but even if I could, he seemed like a stubborn old man who wouldn't listen to me, anyway. "Team Rocket has taken off. My back's better, too. Let's get out of here."

I rolled his eyes at his definition of "better", but I helped him get back to his house, anyway. Kurt managed to carry a couple of injured Slowpoke, and I had my Pokémon do their best to get the Slowpoke out of the well, too. Once they were at the Pokémon Center, Kurt and I returned to his house.

"You know, Lyra, you handled yourself like a real hero." Kurt smiled at me as he collapsed on his chair, and I blushed. Hero? Me? "As I mentioned before, Team Rocket was disbanded by a boy called Red three years ago. Now they have come back… I have a bad feeling about it…"

Red. Why did his name sound so familiar to me?

It didn't matter. If Team Rocket had returned, then someone needed to do something about it. And now that they knew I had interfered with their plans once, they would do everything they could to make sure that I wouldn't do it again.

But I would. If this was what I was meant to do, then so be it. I would fight for Pokémon. This was the bond the Elder had recognized me for, after all.

So, I vowed to myself—if Team Rocket really did come back, then I would do everything in my power to make sure that they didn't win. I would take Red's place, and I would live up to Elder Li's and Falkner's and Kurt's expectations.

Author's Note: My goodness, it's been a really long time. I'm sorry about that. I guess I've been really distracted by other things. I still have to write three one-shots that people requested, and I have to put up another chapter for "Rightfully Yours"… it's a busy weekend for fanfiction, haha.

The next chapter is Lyra vs. Red in the present! That should be a lot of fun. :D

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.