So I figured I'd update this, then get to The Reality of Serenity. I wanna get ahead on this so a certain something can happen before another certain something and... yeah. Don't worry, no more long waits for that story. ^.^
Amy47101 does not own pokémon. She only owns Vale. All rights go to their original owners.
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The Adventure Saga
Enlightening the Soul
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"I've never ever flown before! This is amazing!" Lyra cried out gleefully as the wind made her pigtails whip around, one hand on her hat to keep it from flying away. Fire chuckled, own hand on his hat.
"I think your friend is pissed off at me." he stated, glancing down at Silver, who was glaring venomously up at him when he wasn't covering his face to avoid the onslaught of salt water. Lyra laughed at that.
"Are you kidding? He's like that with everyone." she shook her head voice dropping a bit. "Even me. Sometimes," she paused. "Sometimes I wonder if he even needs me around. I guess all I do is get him into trouble, always butting heads with Team Rocket and the Masked Rockets, trying to rescue people and pokémon, getting myself into dangerous situations without even meaning to..." she sighed. "I think all I do is cause problems for him."
"Heh." Fire said simply. "You wanna know something? I have a friend like you."
"Really?" Lyra asked.
"Yeah. She thinks that all she does is cause trouble for her friends and family." he paused, a bit of worry crossing his face. "She barely says a word now. Seriously, only her boyfriend can understand what she's feeling, and that's basically through stares. She isolates herself because she thinks it will fix the problem."
"That's so sad!" Lyra blurted out.
"It is." Fire said. "And if I know anything, she's not a burden and neither are you. Judging from his personality," he smirked. "Don't you think he would have abandoned you if he didn't have some sort of feelings towards you?"
Lyra giggled.
"Pity?" she threw out there.
"Pity, friendship, maybe even love." Fire shrugged. Lyra could feel her face heat up from the word 'love'. "It's something, isn't it?"
Lyra thought about that, then smiled brightly.
"Yeah. You're right."
At this point, they had gotten to the beaches of Cianwood. Fire slid off first, and offered a hand to help Lyra down. She happily accepted, sliding into the sand and feeling the golden grains slip under her one sandaled foot.
"You know," Fire said, still gently gripping her hand in a brotherly manner. "Every once in a while, you come across a person who's got a certain spark in their eyes. A spark that just tells the world that they're special. I've only seen one other person like that, but it's been near snuffed out. So can you make me a promise, dexholder to dexholder?"
"Sure!" Lyra grinned. Fire smiled at that.
"Don't loose your spark."
Now, one could say that this would have been a very, very sweet moment between two friends, but certain people didn't see it like that. Certain people saw it as a stupid, useless, annoying, arrogant, and every other insulting word one could think of nineteen-year-old being a much to- aka, barely- grabby with a fifteen-year-old girl.
So leaping off his Blastoise and smashing his fist into his face was perfectly justifiable.
"Silver!" Lyra exclaimed as he regained his balance, Fire sprawling out on the ground from the hit.
"I thought he was someone else." Silver said simply, still glaring at Fire. "My bad."
"Fire?!"
Both trainers turned their attention to a petite blond woman around eighteen running up to them, a Raichu on her shoulder. Lyra immediately recognized her by her ponytail and hazel eyes.
"Dayna!" she squealed, grabbing her hand and vigorously shaking it. "Oh my Ho-oh, it's so nice to meet you! I'm Lyra Kotone and I'm a dexholder too!" she pointed at Silver. "That guy who punched your boyfriend is Silver. He didn't mean to, I'm sure!"
"Oh, he meant to alright." Fire said with a chuckle, standing up and rubbing his cheek. "Hey Dayna."
"You should ice that." Dayna murmured.
"I will."
"Will you sign my notebook?" Lyra blurted out, holding out the notebook to her senior. Yellow glanced at her, then smiled.
"Sure." she said, signing next to Fire's name. Lyra squealed.
"Thank you~!" she sang out happily.
"So did you catch up with her yet?" Fire asked, turning back to Dayna. Dayna sighed.
"She ran off again. I think she went to meet Gary."
"I think that's what she needs." Fire sighed. "Though I would've liked to have at least talked to her about our progress."
"Leaf Green is here?!" Lyra exclaimed. "The Leaf Green is here?!"
"Yeah, she's here." Fire said. "But I don't think you should track her down or anything."
"If she wants to meet her juniors, she'll track you down." Dayna smiled. Lyra looked disappointed for a moment, but quickly brightened up.
"Oh well." she said, shaking her head. "One day I'll meet her!"
o.0.o.0.o
"You just left Cianwood?" Lyra whined into her pokégear talking to Krystal. "Silver and I got here just today!"
"Yeah." Krystal sighed. "There was a contest there and Ethan won his gym badge. We need to hurry on to Mahogony Town for my next contest."
"Boo to the fact I missed it." Lyra pouted. "Oh well! I wish you luck on your next contest!"
"Heh, thanks." Krystal chuckled slightly. A moment of silence. "You should the nonsesne Ethan's been spouting lately. Ever since we got to Ecruteak City, he kept on saying that he felt like he was being followed by something. Said the city felt familiar, like he knew the place, even though we've never been there before."
"That's weird!" Lyra exclaimed. How coincidental that she felt like that in that city too!
"I'd say he's crazy, but I've felt the same way as well." Krystal sighed. "Maybe we went there when we were kids and we're feeling nostalgia from that. But that doesn't explain the feeling of being followed!"
"Being followed by what, I wonder?" Lyra mused. "Maybe it's a fan!"
"Being stalked by a fanboy." Krystal stated dryly. "Yay."
"Oh, don't be like that!" Lyra smiled. "Maybe it's a pokémon?"
"If it is, rest assured I'll capture it." Krystal said. "I've been working really hard on completing the dex."
"Heh, I haven't even thought about it." Lyra laughed.
"Good thing the dex can scan from inside your bag." Krystal said. Lyra could almost see her eye roll. Lyra laughed. "Anyways, I need to get going. Ethan wants us to get up early tomorrow to get a headstart on traveling."
"Alright, then." Lyra smiled. "Talk to you later. Bye bye!"
"Bye, Lyra."
Lyra hung up, tucking the gear away as she stared at the ocean. She kinda missed Krystal and Ethan. As she imagined it, this journey was supposed to be about them traveling together as friends. But they each had different dreams and aspirations. Krystal wanted to be an expert coordinator and catcher. Ethan wanted to be a pokémon breeder. But what did she want? Sure, she's been fighting the gyms, but that was only for something to do, something to work for. Did she plan on challenging the league? To win the championship? Was she cut out to do something like that?
She sat thoughtfully for a moment. Championship... To be the strongest trainer in Johto...
"Well, we've come to far to give up now!" she said, jumping up and clenching her fists. Grabbing two pokéballs, she threw them in the air. Most of the time, she winged it, but this time around, she really, really wanted to impress her seniors and Silver. "Alright, Espeon! Dragonair!" she grinned at the two newly evolved pokémon. She was proud of their progress, both evolving during their hard training today. "We're just going to do a bit of battle against each other, to get used to your new forms, oka..." she trailed off as she felt a shiver go up her spine.
Slowly, she turned, and saw an all to familiar pokémon. A long purple mane glistening under the moonlight, its head twisted to look behind it, as if searching for something on the cliff face, then turning to stare at the body of water before it. Lyra had her mouth agape at the majestic sight.
"Suicune..." she murmured. It turned it's head to her, and they locked eyes for a moment. Then it bolted across the waved. Suddenly, the white caped man from the burned tower ran up to her, panting as if he began sprinting towards her.
"Wasn't that Suicune just now?" Eusine asked, his name suddenly coming to mind. "I only caught a quick glimpse, but I thought I saw Suicune running on the waves."
"It was Suicune." Lyra stated, turning back to look at the cliff, then to the sea. What was it looking at, she wondered.
"Suicune is beautiful and grand. And it races through towns and roads at simply awesome speeds." Eusine gushed. "It's wonderful... I want to see Suicune up close..." a pause. Suddenly, he sent out an Electrode and a Haunter. "I've decided. I'll battle you as a trainer to earn Suicune's respect!" he announced. Lyra blinked, looking at her Dragonair and her Espeon. "Come on, Lyra! Let's battle now!"
"Okay!" Lyra said, smiling, standing behind her pokémon.
"Ladies first." Eusine said politely. Lyra smiled.
"Dragonair, Safeguard! Espeon, Future Sight!"
"Haunter, use Lick on Espeon! Electrode, Sonic Boom!"
Lyra winced as the attacks hit. While Dragonair got blasted with Sonic Boom, Espeon had ducked down to wipe her face on the ground, as if disgusted by Haunter's attack. By doing this, she managed to dodge.
"You okay, Dragonair?" Lyra asked. He cried out his name in response. "Alright! Twister! Espeon, Shadow Ball!"
Lyra grinned. She had been working on this combination all day. Dragonair would create the twister, and Espeon would shoot Shadow Balls into it, causing mass damage. She hadn't the slightest idea why she wanted to win this fight so badly. Perhaps to prove herself? After all, Eusine was fighting to prove himself to Suicune. Did she want to prove her worth to Suicune as well?
She threw her fist in the air as the combo was executed near perfectly, swooping up Electrode and Haunter. Electrode cried out as it whipped this way and that.
"Haunter, get out of there!" Eusine ordered, though was nervous as he knew he was backed into a corner. With Dragonair's Safeguard still in effect, he couldn't use Hypnosis and Mean Look would be pointless since she didn't seem to want to switch out anytime soon. "Use Curse!" He watched as a nail seemed to appear over Haunter, going into him. Similar nail appeared over Dragonair, digging itself into it's skin.
"You're alright, Dragonair!" Lyra stated, thrusting her arm out. "Use Dragon Rush! Espeon, Psyshock!" She watched as Dragonair majestically flew into the air and into the twister, slamming into Electrode as the twister fizzled out. Espeon was right on hand with a crackling ball of psychic energy perched on her tail. She whipped around, sending it flying into Haunter. Dragonair let out a grunt as the curse inflicted it's damage.
"Electrode, Thunder!" Eusine ordered. A bolt of lightening suddenly shot down from the sky, enveloping Dragonair. The dragon roared out in pain from the attack, suddenly falling to the ground.
"Gyah! Dragonair, return!" Lyra exclaimed. "Espeon! For our fallen friend! Retaliate!" Espeon became enveloped in a white light, then sped across the battlefield, slamming into Electrode. The pokémon rolled back, but seemed to be okay.
"Finish it! Haunter, Lick, Electrode, Sonic-" Eusine was suddenly cut off as a ray of psychic energy shot down, enveloping the two pokémon. When the light cleared, both were unconscious. There was a moment of silence. Then...
"Alright~!" Lyra sang out jumping in the air. "Come here, Espeon!" she scooped up the psychic type, happily twirling it around. "I thought it was kind of silly to have you learn Future Sight, but Silver was right! Always set a trap for your opponent!"
"I hate to admit it," Eusine sighed, returning his pokémon. "But you win."
"Lyra!" she blinked, turning to see Silver jogging towards her. "What are you doing out here?"
"Hmm? Oh, I called Krystal! We juuuuust missed 'em!" she glanced out at the ocean. "She and Ethan are heading to Mahogany Town now." she turned back at him and grinned. "Then I decided to do some training, and guess what? I saw Suicune! The Eusine challenged me to a battle, and guess what? I used that trap technique you suggested and we won!"
"Eusine...?" he turned to look at Eusine. "You mean the cosplayer guy from the Burned Tower?"
"Cosplayer?!" Eusine exclaimed. "I'll have you know that I am a very fashionable person!"
"Says the man wearing a white cape and a purple suit."
"You little brat! And to think you might be one of the chosen one's..." he muttered the last part, but it was loud enough to catch Silvers attention.
"Repeat that." Silver said, crossing his arms. Eusine glared.
"You haven't noticed?" Eusine asked. "I'm not only researching Suicune, but also Entei and Raikou. Do you think it was merely coincidence that Entei decided to stay in a building that was obviously hazardous to help you? Do you think that he felt pity towards you? Or perhaps you reminded him of someone?"
"What are you saying?"
"All I'm saying is that the man who befriended Entei all those centuries ago was described as a serious, no nonsense type of guy." he paused. "With red hair."
o.0.o.0.o
"Do you have sights on Entei?"
"Yes." she stated simply while looking through the night vision on her mask. The beast of fire was standing on a cliff overlooking the town, as if watching over something or someone.
"Wonderful. Attila and Hun have sights on Raikou and Suicune."
"It seems they're following something."
"Or rather, someone." she could feel that he was smirking, but she said nothing.
"Won't this throw a wrench in our plans, Mask?" she wondered.
"Not at all." Mask stated, his arrogance clear in his voice. "Simply find out who they are following. Once that is done, we can gather them together, put them in some sort of danger, and poof, all three caught in the same trap."
"Sounds underhanded."
"You don't get to be a ruler by being fair, Vale."
"... I understand." she sighed.
o.0.o.0.o
Silver crossed his arms as he watched Lyra and her pokémon, outside of Growlithe and Froslass, happily prance around in the water, splashing each other as they waited for the gym leaders arrival. His pokémon were also out, though they stood stiffly and attentively next to him, watching her and her pokémon prance about, Growlithe getting close to the water, only to dart back towards Froslass, who sat politely off to the side. His Quilava was staring at Growlithe like he was a disgrace while his Sneasel had her arms crossed next to him. His Golbat flapped overhead, finally deciding on hanging from the rafters upside-down. His Nidoking, now strong from hours of training since the day he picked him up from the Breeders, stood like soldier, awaiting a person to growl at. Finally, his Gengar, recently evolved from a trade Lyra insisted they do, only to trade him back, was flickering around, hardly listening as he got to close to the edge.
"C'mon, Silver! I had Nurse Joy wrap your arm in a plastic bag for a reason!" she grinned, teasingly splashing water at him. He easily sidestepped the water, not wanting to get wet. Honestly, he wasn't wearing a cast, just a sling to restrict his movement. So wrapping his arm in a plastic bag was essentially pointless.
They had gone to the pharmacy today, and they said the medicine for the Lighthouse pokémon wouldn't be ready until the afternoon. Silver suggested they challenge the gym, but it seems the gym leader was doing some sort of secret training that involved standing under a waterfall. But instead of training for the battle, Lyra insisted they played in the water.
"Shouldn't you be keeping your foot dry?" he asked. Lyra grinned, standing on one foot and holding up her injured one, no free of bandages.
"It's been a couple weeks and Nurse Joy said I'm fine now!" she grinned. "How about you guys?" she cooed to his pokémon. "The waters fine!" Silver rolled his eyes to that. He honestly was having trouble believing he was able to put up with Lyra for that long. Hell, he's been putting up with her since Goldenrod. Dare he say that her bubbly optimism was... comforting? He honestly didn't know, but he did know that he went from being disgusted by her cheeriness to slightly tolerant.
Emphasis on slightly.
He sputtered in surprise as water suddenly hit him in the face. His pokémon tensed, as if ready to attack. He shot them a glare to stop them from getting any ideas.
"Score!" Lyra exclaimed happily, throwing her fist in the air. Silver felt his face twist in disdain as he looked down at his jacket.
"Fight on." he muttered under his breath, his hand going to unwrap the plastic around his sling. Once that was discarded, he gently brought out his arm, resisting the urge to stretch it out. He undid his jacket and easily slid it off his one shoulder, revealing a black T-shirt, gently moving it off the other arm out of it like he had so many times before. He remembered the first couple times it was so painful and hard, he half thought about asking for help. But then his stubborn pride got in the way and he did it himself.
Tossing the jacket aside, he carefully put the sling back on, adjusting the straps, then kicked off his shoes and socks, then rolled up his pants.
And like that, he was standing in shin deep water, sending a wave of water over Lyra. She let out a squeal and immediately retaliated. The fire of a rivalry sparking in him, he splashed her again. Lyra let out a sudden squeal as she fell back, getting soaked. Silver smirked, seeing a chance.
"Score." he stated before sending a wave of water over her with his arm. She blinked, brown hair plastered to her face as she stared at him. Then she laughed like she always did.
"I did it! I think I finally did it!" she cheered. Silver blinked.
"Did what?" he asked.
"I finally got you to smile!"
He blinked. Had he smiled? His gaze slowly went to his pokémon. Now that he thought about it, all the pokémon was staring at him, some with open-mouth shock at him. His face quickly returned to a glare.
"You're delusional." he turned to his pokémon. "What are you looking at?" he snapped.
Suddenly, they heard a creak of gears and pulleys, and saw the waterfall over Chuck rising. Silver promptly returned all of his pokémon, Lyra following suite with the exception of her Espeon.
"Ooomph! The pounding waterfall right onto my head... Arrgh! Why did you stop the waterfall from pouring on me?!" the gym trainer standing next to the pulley's flinched under his booming voice, but spoke regardless.
"You have trainers who want to challenge you." he stated simply. He turned to Silver and Lyra, both still soaked from their mini water war, shoes, socks, and Silvers jacket still sitting at the front of the room.
"You just spoiled my training!" he boomed. "I have to warn you that I am a strong Trainer training every day under this waterfall!"
"That literally has nothing to do with pokémon." Silver stated, crossing his arms.
"What? This has nothing to do with Pokémon?" he paused, as if trying to think up an answer. "... That's true! ... ..." another long pause. "Come on. We shall do battle!"
He quickly sent out his two pokémon, a Poliwrath and a Primeape.
"Go on Espeon!" Lyra exclaimed, letting the psychic type jump out of her arms.
"Gengar." Silver stated simply, sending out the ghost type. He already had the battle planned out in his mind.
"Future Sight!" Lyra immediately ordered, setting up a trap as he had taught her. Silver smirked, begining to formulate his own trap.
"Will-O-Whisp." he ordered, pointing to Primeape. The move successfully burned the target. Said target glared furiously at him.
"Double Team!" Chuck ordered. "Poliwrath, start powering up that Focus Punch!"
Suddenly, they were surrounded by Primeape, all distracting from the Poliwrath gearing up a move.
"Psyshock!" Lyra ordered, watching as the crackling ball of psychic energy whipped through several of the copies. Silver followed suit, having Gengar use Shadow Punch to get rid of some more copies. Suddenly, Poliwrath burst towards them, glowing fist slamming into Espeon. Lyra let out a startled cry. Even Silver winced at the powerful punch. The downfall of him using a ghost type; the other pokémon was the target.
"Hex!" he ordered for Gengar to attack Primeape. He knew Hex did a lot of damage when the target was afflicted by a status condition. Now if only...
"Yay!" Lyra exclaimed as Future Sight came down, almost knocking Primeape out, but not quite. Poliwrath was still going strong, smashing into Espeon after getting ordered to use Body Slam.
"Shadow Punch!" Silver ordered, watching as Primape went down, beginning to form an idea for how to take down Poliwrath.
"Surf!" Chuck ordered. Silver widened his eyes as waves suddenly towered over them, ready to take them all out.
"Lyra!" he exclaimed as the water engulfed them both. In a split second decision, he grabbed her arm and all of them were swept up in water. He heard a garbled noise, seeing Lyra floundering about as the gym filled with water, air bubbles spilling from her mouth. He smacked a hand over her mouth to keep any more bubbles from escaping. He saw Chuck standing with his arms crossed. Espeon was floundering as well, Gengar seemingly fine since he was, well, a ghost. He saw some of the gym trainers pulling at a plug, and he began to wonder how many times this actually happened.
"Mmm...!" he heard Lyra murmur, pointing at her Espeon. He blinked, glancing at her and down to the pokémon, then hesitantly let her go. She swam down, towards the pokémon. As if reading her mind, the Espeon attacked using Shadow Ball, taking Poliwrath by surprise. Gengar followed up with another Shadow Punch, right in the middle of the spiral on it's belly.
That drew the line for the water-fighting type. It floated in the water, unconscious. Quickly, the water level dropped, and they were suddenly on dry land, gasping in air.
"What the hell were you thinking?!" Silver practically roared as Chuck approached them with their badges. "You could have drowned us!"
"Heh, sorry." Chuck said, scratching his cheek. "It just happened."
"Yeah, because murder 'just happens'." Silver stated.
"I'm tired." Lyra yawned, stretching her arms above her head.
"Here." Chuck said, passing them their gym badge. "Sorry for all the hassle."
"It was fun!" Lyra exclaimed. "Fun, if not surprising! Right Silver?"
Silver did not find it fun. In fact, he was annoyed, tired, and he wanted to take a nap. But he was not in an argumentative mood right now. So he crossed his arms and scowled.
"Whatever."
o.0.o.0.o
*claps loudly*
WONDERFUL ending there, Amy.
So, yeah. I'm super tired, but I promise that I'll update Reality of Serenity next.
Amy47101 signing off! ^.^