Okay, so I'm trying to get a little bit ahead of Enlightening the Soul over The Reality of Serenity. Why? Because I'm a horrible person who wants to hold you back from Leaf reuniting with her sister.

...

XD

Amy47101 does not own pokémon. Only Vale.

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The Adventure Saga

Enlightening the Soul

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"Lyra, can you make a promise to your Papa?"

"What is it?"

"If you ever find a man you love enough to marry, you need to promise not to love another man enough to marry him."

"Huuuh? But I wanna marry you! And... And I love all of the boys in my class!"

"It's okay to have friends, Lyra. There's a difference between friendship love and marry love."

"So... I can only have one marry love?"

"At a time, yeah."

"Don't worry Papa! And besides, I only wanna marry you! ... But you married Mommy, so I guess that wouldn't work, huh?"

"No, it wouldn't."

"You still love me though, right Papa?"

"More than anything, Lyra. ... No matter what happens, remember that your Papa loves you. Understand?"

"I understand, Papa."

o.0.o.0.o

Lyra gently ran her hand across the Miltanks head as the rain pounded down outside.

Just as she and Silver were about to reach Olivine, rain began pouring down and they were forced to take shelter in a nearby farm. In the farm was a small family of five, a tall, willow-thin man, a large woman, and three girls, one helping her mother in the kitchen and two in the farm, attempting to nurse a baby Miltank.

"You sure you don't wanna go to bed, dear?" the woman asked, coming in to check up on her. Lyra mutely shook her head. "You know you don't have to nurse it back to health."

"I want to." Lyra responded.

"Do you plan on sleepin' out here?"

"Maybe."

The woman kneeled in front of her.

"You okay, dear?"

Lyra forced what she hoped was a convincing smile on her face.

"I just really don't like the rain."

The woman paused, then shook her head.

"Some people are just like that, I suppose." she stood up again, hands on her hips. "Come in if you feel like sleeping."

"Thank you."

She leaned back on the wall, sighing and closing her eyes. She couldn't go to sleep tonight. She had to find a way to stay awake. Usually, in the past on this night, she'd go over to Krystal's house and she and Ethan would have a sleepover, in which she would guzzle enough caffeinated soda to keep her awake. And if the caffeine didn't keep her awake, then the overwhelming need to use the bathroom certainly would.

But she did not have her caffeinated soda tonight.

She wouldn't close her eyes. She couldn't. If she did, she always saw that...

She heard the door open and, well, slam shut.

"Okay, what the hell is wrong with you?" Lyra looked up and saw Silver glaring at her with this arms crossed. "And don't give me that 'I just don't like the rain' excuse that you gave that lady. Rain can't make someone that depressed."

She averted her gaze, remaining silent. Silver sighed, sliding down next to her.

"Something happened today, didn't it?"

"How would you know?" Lyra asked, still petting the miltanks head.

"Because, oddly enough, humans remember the saddest events and the happiest events in their life." Silver said with a glower. "They're emotions usually reflect said event on the anniversary of that day."

"My Papa, ten years ago, died today." Lyra hugged her knees to her chest. "I was only five, and I... found him." Silver paused, the question on his tongue. She looked at him with a forced smile. "I very well can't bring up his death without telling you how he died."

"You don't have to-"

"But you want to know." Lyra said, cutting him off. Silver fell silent as she took a shaky breath. "He... hung himself."

Silver, for once, felt lost for words. Not choosing to remain silent, no there was a difference. He was literally lost for words. He knew his views on suicide. Suicide means people are weak. It means they gave up. It means they couldn't deal with life. And he hated people who were weak.

"Do you know why?"

"I don't have a clear answer." Lyra sighed. "He had everything, you know? He was successful in business, he had my mom, me..." she trailed off. "I guess in hindsight, I should have seen it coming."

"You were five."

"But even five-year-old's understand that adults don't just close businesses or beat up a random guys for no reason."

"What?"

"I think my Mom was cheating on my Papa." she admitted. "I didn't even know who it was. I just woke up one night to see Papa practically throw some guy down the stairs and my Mom trying to follow them. It scared me because he was never a violent person. Ever." she sighed. "There was talk of divorce. But my Mom said that if he divorced her, she was taking me."

"She used you as a bargaining chip?" Silver asked, widening his eyes a fraction. "But... isn't she in the wrong?"

"Yep, but that didn't matter. My Mom... was always very controlling. She told him that she'd tell the courts that he abused us. That's when my mom started, well, abusing me. She said it was because we had to have proof that Papa was a bad man. I didn't understand that because I was five."

"Abuse?" Silver thought. With the way she acted, one would have thought that she grew up with a perfect life.

"First it was bruises. Like she's squeeze my arms really hard or punch me or hit me. She'd take pictures and tell them that my Papa did it. Social Services would come and they would ask me who was hurting me. My Mom told me that if I didn't tell them that my Papa did it, I'd be in trouble. One day... I slipped up." she suddenly began shaking. "I told them that my Mom said that I had to say what I was saying. I've never seen her so angry. She literally dragged me over to the electric stove by my hair, turned it on, grabbed my hand and pressed it onto the burner. And she held it there, no matter how much I was screaming."

"And the police didn't do anything?" he asked, some of his shock leaking through his voice.

"My mom locked my in a closet all night and day after that. She told them I was sick."

"Where the hell was your father during all of this?"

"My Papa was a broken man." Lyra said, shaking her head. "Mom got a restraining order against him. He couldn't see us. He loved his family more than anything, would give anything for us. So this was really tearing him down." she closed her eyes. "Papa was running a successful pokémon training house for years. It's been in the family for about five generations, including my Dad's." she paused, hugging her knees closer to her chest. "He closed it down. A week later, I snuck out of the house to go see him. I found him hanging from the rafters of the barn on the business's grounds."

Sighing, she tilted her head back.

"Apparently they served him a warrant for his arrest on child and domestic abuse. They said that, with the divorce, broke him. Mom was, to say the least, mad. The life insurance didn't cover suicides, so she went to court to get the money. And she lost. She spent so much money on the court proceedings that we had to move to New Bark Town because the rent was cheaper."

"Did the abuse continue?"

"Yeah." Lyra opened her eyes, though kept her face buried in her knees. "She told me it was my fault that we had to move, it was my fault we didn't have money, my fault that Papa was dead..." she let out a shuddery sigh. "I think she was just mad because Papa left everything to me. All the money he made, the business, anything he's ever owned... it all went to me. Of course, I can't claim it until I'm eighteen, but still..." she shook her head as she raised it from her knees. "Sometimes I just feel... I dunno, guilty? I mean, it was my fault that Papa got the charges."

"How is it your fault that your mother is a conniving, lying, controlling, greedy bitch?" Silver asked, crossing his arms.

"Silver!" Lyra exclaimed, snapping her head to him, shock on her face. She'd never heard anyone say something like that about her mother so... so casually!

"I'm not going to apologize." Silver said, shooting an icy glare back. "Everything I said was true and you know it."

"And despite what she's done to me, I forgive her and I love her and I'm sorry!"

"And you forgave her for it!" he shouted in sudden realization, jolting up from his slumped position against the wall, recalling the sentence she shouted at him before they leapt from the aircraft. He could hear the anger in his voice, but why was he angry? Angry at her mother? At her, for throwing this all in his face out of no where? Her father, for being a weak bastard who couldn't tough it out for his own kin?

...

Maybe he was angry at himself. He couldn't understand it, the undying forgiveness, the never ending smiles, the optimistic view on a pessimistic world... Dammit, it didn't make any sense!

"Silver, shh!" she said, afraid that he would wake up the family in the house.

"How could you forgive someone who has done nothing but hurt you?!"

"Because she's my mother!" she yelled back with clenched fists and budding tears.

They both heard creaks from the house, and she smacked a hand over her mouth, both freezing and falling deathly silent as both stared at the door. The creaks continued. Then there was the flush of a toilet and the running of tap water. Some creaks, then a door gently shutting.

Neither said anything for a moment.

"I have to forgive her." Lyra finally spoke. "I have to." she said this in a louder voice, with a little more resolve. "Grudges weigh you down. They break your spirit more and more the longer you hold them." she folded her hands in front of her. "My Mom held a grudge against my Papa because he wanted a divorce, and looked what happened to her." her voice went soft. "She became a monster."

A heavy silence.

"Unfortunately for you, I disagree." Silver said, crossing his arms and slumping against the wall again. "There are some things that aren't forgivable. And people don't become monsters. They're born that way. We don't change. Ever."

"That's funny, coming from you." Lyra said with a forced laugh. Silver furrowed his brow for two reasons. One being he, again, did not understand what she was implying, and second being he did not like her forced laugh. At all. As if sensing his confusion, she spoke again. "Haven't you changed, Silver?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Of course you don't." Lyra said, leaning over until her head thumped onto his shoulder. "It's hard for people to see the change within themselves."

Silver hardly paid attention to those last words. Lyra was making a pretty ballsy move, using him as a pillow...

"Something must have changed for me to trust you this much. Not even Krys or Ethan knows the full story of what happened."

But then again, Silver will thoroughly enjoy rubbing this in Ethan's face later.

o.0.o.0.o

"Do you think they're in love, sister?"

"I dunno. They slept here together, so they have to be a couple or something..."

Something pulled at his good arm.

"Look, they're even holding hands."

"Yeah, they're totally in love."

Silver suddenly snapped his eyes open, glaring his fiercest glare possible at the unfortunate humans who dared to wake him up. The two little girls squeaked in fear, scrambling back to avoid the frightening look on his face.

Silver let out a low groan from the stiffness in his body. He's slept in some pretty uncomfortable places before- the four-by-three closet he shoved himself into as a stowaway to and back from Kanto came to mind- but he now knew it was an incredibly stupid idea to fall asleep against a wooden wall with his legs crossed.

"Lyra." he muttered, reaching over and shaking her shoulder. She snorted, then blinked her eyes awake. She sat up, rubbing her eyes.

"Mornin'." she murmured, still half asleep as she looked around. "Oh, wow. Did we sleep here?"

"Apparently." Silver stated, standing up, though tensing at his legs tensing. Lyra stood up beside him, stretching her arms above her head with a groan.

"Did the girls wake you up?"

They both turned to see the farmers wife in the doorway.

"Nope!" Lyra replied cheerfully, almost a complete turnaround from what she was last night.

"Sorry we left ya there, trainers. You just looked so adorable and sweet that I couldn't bare the thought of moving you."

"We'll walk it off." Lyra said.

"Well, come in." she waved them into the house. "We've got breakfast in the making right now. The bathroom's open if you wanna freshen up."

"Okay. Thanks." Lyra beamed. As the woman went back inside, she turned back to Silver. "Hungry?"

"You okay?"

It was a short, curt question, nothing at all special. Just a simple thing to make sure she wasn't going to breakdown at the breakfast table or anything. But Lyra beamed like someone asked her if she wanted a million dollars.

"I'll be fine."

o.0.o.0.o

I'm sorry to any trainer who happened to find this first. I regret to inform you that the Olivine Gym will be temporarily closed. A precious pokémon of mine, my Ampharos, Amphy, has fallen extremely ill and I have to tend to her. If any of you were to be so kind, would you please head to they Cianwood City Pharmacy to pick up a special medication for Amphy? I have already placed an order, but cannot go since I can't leave Amphy unattended. I will compensate you for your troubles.

Sincerely,

The Steel-Clad Defense Girl, Jasmine.

"We have to help it!" Lyra exclaimed, fists clenched in determination.

"Boo-hoo!" Silver said with a glare, resisting the urge to smash his fist through the note. "Just let sick Pokémon go! A Pokémon that can't battle is worthless!"

"You're just grumpy from lack of sleep." Lyra stated with a laugh.

"Lyra, unless you caught a large water type when I was looking, we won't be able to even get across the ocean to Cianwood."

"So we'll just ask someone!" Lyra said with a grin, as if the answer was obvious. Silver gave her a blank look.

"You can't go asking random people for rides!"

She blinked at him.

"It can't be that bad! And it's only a quick ride!"

"That's not the point, it's dangerous to go asking random people in a different place for-"

"So the Gym Leader's out?" both turned to look at the new voice, seeing a young man around nineteen with spiky, dark brown hair shoved under a red baseball cap. His arms were crossed behind his head, staring at the sign.

"Yeah." Silver spat out, annoyed he interrupted them. "So buzz off."

"Bummer."

A pause. He didn't move. Lyra was staring at him.

"You're Fire Red!" she suddenly exclaimed, pointing at him.

"That I am." he grinned. She dug around her bag until she pulled out her journal.

"Sign my journal." she said, holding out a pen. Fire let out a loud laugh, taking the pen and happily signing the front cover of the journal.

Lyra simply couldn't believe her luck. About three years prior, Leaf Green was crowned the youngest champion in history, Lyra became absolutely obsessed with the dexholders. It was more than just a fleeting fixation on a newly famous group of teens. Hers was a flat-out, no other way to explain it, obsession. She wanted to know everything about the dexholders. She wanted to play games with Ethan and Krystal, pretending they were dexholders. She wanted to be a dexholder. If it weren't for the fact that she shipped Dayna and Red so hard, she'd dream of marrying Fire, her favorite of the four.

And now she was talking to her favorite dexholder and he signed her notebook.

"I see we have a fan." he chuckled, passing the notebook back.

"I'm honored to meet you!" Lyra exclaimed. "I've got a dex too!" she pulled out her own pokédex, showing it to him. "See? See?"

He laughed.

"It's good to see other dexholders." he grinned. "I'm traveling with the others. I was supposed to meet Dayna in Cianwood, but I wanted to see if I could get a quick battle in." he sighed, putting his hands in his pockets. "Seems like it's a no-go."

"Silver!" she whipped back around with a brilliant smile on her face. "We could ask Fire for a ride to Cianwood!"

"No." Silver said flatly.

"Why?" Lyra asked. "He's a dexholder, so he's a trustworthy!"

"No." he repeated.

"But we need to help Amphy!"

"For the last time-"

"Sorry to interrupt your lovers spat," Fire said with a humored smile. "But I don't mind helping out a fellow dexholder."

"I'm a dexholder too." Silver stated with a glare, pulling his own pokédex from his pocket.

"Sorry, dexholders." Fire said. Lyra turned.

"See! He's fine with it!"

"Lyra..."

"I'm going to let Blastoise and Dragonite out of their pokéballs." Fire said with a wave, heading towards the coast.

"Let's go!" Lyra grinned, dragging him behind. Once reaching the coast, Silver saw two pokémon, a blastoise and a dragonite, obediently waiting next to their trainer.

"I'm going to ride Dragonite." Fire said, patting the orange pokémon.

"Then I'll ride Blastoise." Silver said, stomping over to the pokémon.

"Do you have a preference, Lyra?" Fire asked turning to her.

"I wanna ride Dragonite!" Lyra exclaimed. "I've always wanted to have a conversation with a real-life dexholder!"

Fire simply smiled. Silver glowered.

Silver's glower only deepened as he climbed onto the Blastoise, only to get blasted by a wave in the first thirty minutes of travel. Up above him, he could hear Lyra laughing. Was it at something that Fire said? Another blast of water. He could hear Fire say something, but couldn't make it out over the sound of the waves. He cast a glance up, and saw Lyra blushing.

He officially hated Fire Red.

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I just felt depressed when writing the first half of this chapter, so I decided to lighten the mood slightly with Fire entering the picture and Silver getting jealous. XD

Amy47101 signing off! ^.^