Basically this is "Part Two" of Enlightening the Soul. I don't know how far or how long this is going to last, but I'm pretty sure this is coming to a close soon.

So yay!

Amy47101 does not own pokémon. She only owns Vale and Sara. All rights go to their respective owners.

o.0.o.0.o

The Adventure Saga

Enlightening the Soul

o.0.o.0.o

"So what do you plan to do next?"

"Train, obviously. I'm going to beat the league, and if you somehow manage to get there, you'll be greeting me."

"Then I look forward to it, Silver!"

o.0.o.0.o

"What are you doing?"

Lyra blinked, looking up from her little campsite, looking up at a familiar redhead. Silver, with his signature scowl, stood at the edge of the clearing, arms crossed, taking in every little detail with an observant eye. Lyra offered his a bright grin in return.

"I'm taking a break from training." Lyra smiled. "I figured after the whole Team Rocket fiasco, everything would be hectic for a while, so I backed off a bit." She cast her eyes to a bubbling brook nearby, some of her pokémon happily playing by it. "And I figured they deserved it to. They've been working so hard up to this point, you know, and-"

"Don't think I can't tell you're lying." Silver shot back, utterly destroying her little act. "You're horrible at it." he pointed to the east. "New Bark Town is just up the road, practically within walking distance. Why not just go home?"

"Ah… I've been caught." Lyra said, laughing in order to make light of the situation. Pressing her index fingers together, she bashfully looked up at Silver. "I'm kind of, well… homeless."

He narrowed his eyes, prompting further explanation.

"I suppose it's a bit of a long story… but I came home and Mom was gone. Just… poof. Gone." she shrugged her shoulders. "I guess when I refused to send her money from the battles I would win, she saw no further use for me and figured I was fine on my own." she ran her hands across the legs on her overalls. "Sooo I bought myself a few supplies and set up base camp here, since it takes… a lot of money to live on your own, you know? The centers only let you stay for a week tops without paying, so…"

"So she abandoned you."

"Well, abandoned is a strong word-"

"She abandoned you."

Lyra fell silent for a moment, then relented.

"… Yeah."

What else could she say? She had come home one day, only to find out it was no longer her home at all. Her aunt had said that she had managed to collect a few of her things, a few important things before the house got sold, but it still didn't ease the shock of the cottage being empty and up for sale.

In hindsight, she should have seen this coming. Her mother wasn't a good parent, probably never was going to be. So knowing that out of nowhere she left, well, it came as quite a shock, even more so when no one told her.

Well, maybe that was her own fault. She always had a rather cruddy habit of leaving the pokégear on vibrate rather than on the cheerful, pop-song ringtone.

She was crying, and she knew she was crying, but she smiled, trying to play it off as cool in front of Silver and her pokémon. Silver scowled, averting his gaze. She wasn't sure if it was because of the information or because of her tears.

Slowly, he exhaled, then brought his gaze back to hers.

"Listen…" he trailed off, then shook his head. "Pack your things."

Lyra blinked, cocking her head.

"What for?"

Silver shot her a glare, his next words practically being spat at her.

"Just pack your things!"

o.0.o.0.o

Lyra had disassembled her things rather quickly, she didn't have much to begin with and followed Silver through the forest. It was only a short distance before Silver stopped, her accidentally bumping into his back.

"Watch it." Silver snapped, then returned to glancing around.

"What are you looking for?" Lyra asked, curiously looking around as well. Silver ignored her, continuing his search until he finally found what he was looking for.

"Here." he pointed to a small carving on a tree, a single, solitary 'S'. He then reached down, suddenly pulling up an entire, five by five square of grass. "Crawl inside, it's safe, so don't worry."

Lyra, seeing no reason to not trust him, looked down as he began his descent, only to see that he was climbing down a ladder. At the bottom, Silver glanced up at her, shielding his eyes from the sunlight that filtered down.

"Are you going to stand there like an idiot or are you coming?"

"I'm coming!" Lyra exclaimed, turning around and going down the ladder. Silver waited patiently at the bottom.

When she hopped down, he turned, flicking a switch, light flooding the room. Lyra blinked, seeing what looked like a little room, complete with a futon, a pillow, and a radio. It was a simplistic little room, with support beams holding up the walls, some planks making a ceiling so it wouldn't collapse in on itself. Small lanterns, all wired together, hung throughout the room, providing light. Lyra guessed they were solar powered, as there was no way electricity ran down here and Silver didn't seem the type to spend money on batteries.

"Do you have your pokégear?" Silver asked, holding out his hand. Lyra blinked, unclipping the item from her bag.

"Of course, why wouldn't I?"

"I want to see it."

Lyra shrugged, unclipping the item from her bag and passing it to him. Silver booted it up, then began fiddling with some things. Lyra, ever curious, looked over his shoulder to see what he was doing. He paused, glancing at her for a moment, then shuffled away, going back to what he was doing.

"Whatcha doin'?" she asked, shuffling back to look at him. It looked like he was putting placemarks on certain areas of the map.

"Helping you out." he responded gruffly, passing it back to her. She blinked, looking at the map, seeing at least one little placemark on every route, including where they were now. "Each of these are one of my secret bases. Just look for a S nearby, and you'll find a place to stay for the night, if you can't afford or don't want to pay for anything else."

"For free?!" Lyra exclaimed.

"For free." Silver confirmed, nodding his head.

Lyra was silent for a moment, beaming, latched her arms around his neck.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!" she cried out as one big word. Silver stumbled a bit, though managed to catch her before they fell.

"But," he emphasized, pushing her back. Lyra blinked, staring up at him.

"But what?" she asked, cocking her head.

"I…" he swallowed, bowing his head. "I need your help."

o.0.o.0.o

"So it basically started with me needing to earn my last badge." Silver said, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair as Lyra happily slurped her milkshake. He figured the best way to get her help was to buy it from her, so he offered lunch and she accepted.

Now they sat in some little restaurant in Goldenrod, 'catching up', as Lyra put it.

"Did you win? I'll bet you won." Lyra smiled, setting down her milkshake for a minute as she looked up to talk at him. Silver scowled, staring at his coffee.

"I did, but the gym leader, Clair, refused to accept defeat, and demanded that I go to the Dragon's Den and take some test. So I go to the den after arguing with her a bit, and some old guy asked me some questions. He told me I failed and when I told Clair this, she refused to give me my badge. I argued with her some more, and it eventually turned into a screaming match between me and her."

Lyra giggled. He glared at her.

"Are you laughing at me?"

"No." a pause. Another giggle. "Maybe. Yes. It's just that I can't see you getting into a screaming match with anyone, let alone a gym leader."

He turned his gaze away, slightly embarrassed that he got into a childish argument with the gym leader, but even more so that Lyra found it funny.

He stiffened slightly when Lyra reached across the table, placing her hand over his.

"I'm sorry." she said, smiling. "If it helps, I think it's endearing, if anything! It just means you want to defend what's rightfully yours!"

"'Endearing', Lyra?" he finally said, pulling his hand away and turning his head. "Since when did you start using such big words?"

"Hey!" Lyra pouted. "I'm not a little kid!"

"No, you just have the mindset of one."

"Silver!" she continued to whine. "Stop making fun of me!"

Silver rolled his eyes, deciding to drop the conversation.

"Anyways, I need you to go and beat the gym leader. Maybe a second trainer beating her will knock some sense into her."

Lyra thoughtfully sipped her milkshake.

"How do you know that she won't pull the same thing on me, though? You know, failing the test. Then what?"

Silver shook his head.

"That's not going to happen."

"What do you-"

"I'm willing to acknowledge your strength." Silver said, looking her dead in the eye. "I'm not going to admit that you're stronger than me, but you have… something. You and I… we outclass these gym leaders."

"That's it!" Lyra exclaimed, slamming her hands on the table and catching the attention of other patrons. Silver ran his hand down his face in embarrassment while Lyra happily continued. "We can do this together."

Silver fumed slightly.

"But I already beat her, I shouldn't have to challenge her again!"

"Aaw, think about it Silver!" she exclaimed, reaching over the table and grabbing his hands. "If we go back as a team, then beat her as a team, she'll have to give us the badge! I'm sure of it, Silver, I'm sure of it!"

"I-I'm sure there's strength in numbers…"

"Great!" Lyra jumped back, clapping her hands. "I'll go to the pokémart to stock up, see you!"

Then she ran out. Silver didn't even bother to stand up, simply shoved his elbows on the table, making the glasses shudder a bit from the force, then rammed his head into his hands.

He stuttered. He only recalled stuttering once and that was when he was consumed by fear, introducing himself to Vale way back when he was a child. Outside of that, he did not stutter ever.

All he knew was that Lyra, holding his hands like that, was making his heart pound uncontrollably. It wasn't an uncomfortable feeling, rather it was warm… maybe even welcome. Welcome except for the one thing; whatever the feeling was, it made his mind go blank. He couldn't think of the proper thing to say outside of immediately agreeing with whatever she said. Whatever she said was right, flawless, the way to go, and he simply couldn't bring himself to refuse.

Since when did Lyra make him feel like that?

"Abandoned by your date?" he glanced up at the waiter, offering a sympathetic ear. He scowled. "Ouch. Was it bad?"

"I was not 'abandoned'." he said. A moment later, he blinked, then looked up again. "Ethan?"

"Hmm? Wait, Silver?" he said. "Hey, I almost didn't recognize you without your signature scowl.

"And you in anything other than a hoodie." Silver scowled. Ethan rolled his eyes. "What are you even doing here?"

"My job. Shift just started."

"I thought you were living with your grandparents."

"I am. I felt bad mooching off them though, so I got a job." Ethan responded, then shot him an odd look. "And you know this because…?"

"Lyra told me." Silver responded. As well as all the updates on Professor Elm's research, and Krystal's work on the Pokédex, and how Dayna and Fire are doing… Ugh, he did not need to hear all detailed updates over their seniors… "Don't you hate me? Why are you talking to me?"

"Old news." Ethan said flippantly. "I mean, with how much you've helped Lyra, and the way she talks about you, it's hard to hate you, really."

"She talks about me?" Silver said, furrowing his brow. "… What does she say?"

Ethan smirked.

"Wouldn't you want to know."

Silver glared. Ethan continued to smirk.

"So who left you hanging?" Ethan grinned. "I really wanna know who would dare to leave the fearsome Silver alone at a table in a restaurant."

"… When did your shift start again?"

"About three minutes ago, why?"

"Because I was here with Lyra." Silver responded, now his turn to smirk. "We're going to be traveling together." Ethan's eyes flashed, some sort of instinct to most likely protect the girl, then, averted his gaze.

"I'm not going to let you bait me, not while I'm working." Ethan sighed.

"I thought you had a thing for her." Silver said, crossing his arms.

"For her cousin, Krystal? Sure. But Lyra? I still remember times when we had sleepovers together. Maybe when I was younger, I might have had some little crush on her… but now?" he shook his head. "We're more like siblings if anything." he shot a glare at Silver. "But don't think that gives you the okay to go for her, got it? You've gotta get the Ethan seal of approval first!"

Silver raised an eyebrow, slightly, dare he say, amused by Ethan and his protectiveness of Lyra. Silver was pretty sure he could wipe the floor with Ethan, easy enough.

"So, Krystal, huh?"

Ethan blinked, widened his eyes, then flushed crimson.

"D-Don't say anything!" Ethan exclaimed.

"I'll remember this when you owe me a favor." Silver said, standing up. "But as of now, I need to go find Lyra before she wastes her money on something… cute." he scrunched up his nose, thinking of the things Lyra could be wasting her precious dollar on. "We'll be traveling back up to Blackthorn City soon."

"Blackthorn, huh? Guess that's where all the strong trainers go."

"Wrong." Silver shook his head. "Those who have true strength go to the league and win."

Ethan frowned, but said nothing. A thoughtful look crossed his face, then he brought up another topic of conversation.

"Hey, you were in the Burned Tower when it exploded, right?"

Silver raised his eyebrows.

"Yes. My arm was broken and I was in a short coma from the smoke inhalation."

"I just… Did that place feel familiar? The towers?"

Silver pursed his lips, unwilling to discuss the topic further. As much as he hated to admit it, the place was familiar. Not in a way that told him he's been there before, but rather, in a way that… felt almost like home. A familiar, tugging feeling, a feeling that brought him to the tower in the first place. Well, in all honesty, his quest for strength is what originally brought him there. But he had to admit that being in that tower made his heart ache in a horrible way and left a bad taste in his mouth, not unlike when he first got separated from Vale.

"'Cause when I went there, I got this really weird feeling. Same thing at the shrine in the Ilex Forest, you remember that?"

Silver didn't respond. Ethan lowered his voice.

"I think it's connected to a legendary pokémon. 'Cause, you see, a few weeks before we took on Team Rocket, I got shocked. I was just lounging, wasn't even touching anything, and bam. Shocked, with an arm spasm and everything. I've had this mark on my hand ever si-"

"Ethan!" the two snapped their gazes up, seeing a man in a dress shirt walking up to them. Silver briefly saw the word manager under his name tag before he told Ethan to quit yapping. Ethan shot him an apologetic smile, then ran off to continue his job.

Silver himself shook his head, leaving a tip on the table. Ethan had loose lips, but Silver could only wonder to himself if he somehow sensed the similarities between them. Perhaps there was a coincidence between the shock on Ethan's hand and the burning sensation he once felt on his left hand. It was shortly after he had defeated Jasmine, he remembered because he spent the next three days arguing with himself on whether or not he saw the legendary Entei staring down at him.

About two days later, he had noticed the mark on the back of his hand.

o.0.o.0.o

Krystal stared in the mirror before her, then shook her head, splashing some water on her face before standing upright.

Such an odd dream, but even odder, having it leave her so unsettled…

"Krystal?"

She turned to the door, hearing Sara's voice on the other side. Drying her face, she crossed the bathroom and opened the door. Sara smiled, raising her hand in a wave.

"Heya, rookie."

"What do you want, Sara?" Krystal asked, getting straight to the point.

"All work, no play, huh?" Sara teased, stepping aside, however, and allowing her to walk by her. "Basically, I've got a huge lead on Mask's location, but I need to get past some security stuff. My initial reaction with computers when they don't work is to blow them up, soooo…"

"Fine." Krystal huffed, closing the door behind her and following the older girl to their base of operations.

Every since Sara demanded the GS ball from her, Krsytal had since decided to work with her on the still looming threat of Mask. While still unsure of what their true goal was, all the two could really come up with was that they may or may not be in an alliance with Team Rocket, they were responsible for, so far, two child disappearances and possibly six or seven more, and that they were hunting for legendaries.

"They've been lying low since Team Rocket disbanded, right?" Krystal said musingly. "How do we know that they weren't a part of it?"

"Well first and foremost is their motives. Team Rocket was destructive, their actions holding little substance. It's like," her voice dropped a couple octaves, imitating a mans voice. "Lets blow such and such up to get such and such and leave the grunts to do the rest!"

"She's right." the two girls turned to Looker, who was musingly holding his chin in his hand. Sara grinned towards her mentor. "Mask is more detailed than that, though. Anything he did, any action his grunts or executives or admins took… there was a reason behind it."

"But the question is what." Krystal mused. "None of it makes any sense. Why would they kidnap children? And go for the legends, claim individuality, but hide behind the name of Team Rocket? What are they aiming for?"

"I informed you about the Felicity being Vale situation, right?" Sara said, confirming what Krystal already knew. "Maybe he wants some super soldiers to mold to his image."

"But if what you say is true about Silver… Well, from what I know, he hates everything to do with Team Rocket and the Masked Rockets."

"I'm assuming that he escaped before Mask could properly implant his brainwashing techniques into him." Looker said, shaking his head. Krystal let out an excited gasp, grinning.

"I think I got it!" she exclaimed in a quiet whisper, as if she were in Mask's lair then and there, hacking to steal forbidden information. "Wait a minute… These aren't blueprints or maps of the location… These are…"

"Files." Looker said musingly, staring over Krystal's shoulder at the computer screen.

"Who cares? Print them," Sara said. Krystal nodded, working quick to print all that she pulled up. Sara darted out of the room to grab the papers, leaving Krystal and Looker with the computer. Just as she clicked print on the last available file, a window suddenly popped up on the screen. Krystal furrowed her brow.

"What the…?" she widened her eyes as green text suddenly appeared in the black box. She widened her eyes as the numbers and letters flashed on the screen. "Oh, no!"

"Krystal, status report!" Looker said as she frantically began typing on the computer.

"Maybe I can…!" Krystal didn't respond to Looker's outburst, keeping her gaze on the computer, only for the text to suddenly stop. Krystal blinked. "Did I…?"

Suddenly the screen popped, going black, then a fuzzy image of Mask's signature, joker-like grinning mask appearing on the monitor, mocking them.

"Damn it all." Krystal cursed, not one to speak such profanities, but felt the situation needed it.

"What happened?" Sara asked, holding some papers in her hand. "I heard yelling."

"I'm afraid we lost it."

"It? Did Mask block us out?" Sara responded, cocking her head.

"No." Krystal sighed, closing her eyes, disappointed in herself. "Mask sent a virus to our computer… It wiped everything."

Sara paled.

"Everything?" she squeaked. Krystal nodded sadly.

"I'm sorry…"

"NOOOOOOOO!" Sara cried out, dropping the papers and darting across the room and shaking the monitor. "I had everything on this thing!"

"Sara, I am so, so sorry for loosing all of your detective files. They must have taken years to gather-"

"I could care less about that, Looker keeps all that stuff on flash drives!" Sara snapped her gaze to Krystal's. "I had everything that was personal to me." Sara said, silently sinking to her knees. "All my pictures, all my diary entries, all my fanfiction…!" she wailed the last word. "Ooooooh…."

"Fear not, apprentice!" Looker suddenly said smugly, pulling out a large keychain full of flashdrives. "For I took the time to considerably store all those files on this!" he held up a purple flashdrive, unhooking it from the chain.

"Really?" Sara asked, tears brimming as she took the flashdrive. "Thank you!"

"It's weird that whatever he did would cause the computer to crash immediately after obtaining these files." Krystal said, standing up and crossing the room to gather them. "What are they?"

"Logs." Looker said, reaching down and picking up one. "Look. These here," he held up one and showed it to Krystal. She blinked, seeing a picture of Vale, almost like that on a trainer ID. Other things were among the paper, making it almost seem like a license. "Are profiles."

Krystal picked up another one, this one depicting a yellow haired woman, a few years older than Vale.

"Name, designated birthday, hair color, eye color, talents…" she trailed off. "Are these the kidnapped children?"

"I think so." Sara said, kneeling down. "Look, here's Silver… The two girls from Sinnoh… Felicity, Nathaniel… They're all here!" her voice went from curious to excited in a moment. "Looker, all those kids who disappeared across various regions… They're all here!" she trailed off thoughtfully, shuffling through the papers. "I don't see Serenity Green though."

"Maybe he isn't willing to admit to that." Krystal offered.

"Nope, these were sent so he could claim what he did, I'm sure of it." Sara said. "He either didn't do it, or wants pull her out as a trump card."

"Whatever is going on, he's spreading." Looker said, glancing over some more papers as he stood. Krystal blinked.

"What do you mean by that?" she asked.

"He has plans outside of Johto." Looker said, glancing up at Sara as she and Krystal stood as well. "These logs show he's moving some of these agents."

Sara flipped through them again.

"Huh. Five out of six have moved. Wonder why."

Looker was silent for a moment.

"Is it true, Sara, that most of the children were kidnapped for their abilities?"

"Yeah." Sara nodded. "Felicity, or Vale, as she is currently known, was taken for her promise in battle, Nathaniel for his communication with pokémon… I think the two girls from Sinnoh were kidnapped for separate reasons, one for healing abilities and one for intelligence."

"Healing abilities? You mean like medical abilities, like Dayna?" Krystal asked. Sara shook her head.

"Rumor has it that she could heal minor cuts and wounds with powers. Supernatural powers."

"B-But that's impossible!" Krystal exclaimed. "H-How…?!"

"Who knows? It's only a rumor too, she might just be quick with a potion." Sara shrugged. "The boys are a bit of a problem though."

"How so?" Krystal asked as they moved to a table, separating out the files for each kidnapped child.

"I can't find any record of these three." she said, putting out three photo's of what Krystal assumed were triplets. "So either Mask legally adopted them, or no one bothered to report them missing." she glanced up. "And given the history, I'm guessing the latter."

"That's so sad…" Krystal murmured.

"Isn't it, though?" Sara sighed, tilting her head back. "Whatever the reason, these three are on his side, and obviously important."

"And Silver?" Krystal asked. Sara didn't answer for a moment.

"I suppose since you're now a part of this, I should tell you but I'm telling you right now," Sara lifted her head, bringing her gaze to Krystal's. "Lyra knows as well, so don't worry, okay?"

"O… kay?" Krystal asked, slightly confused, but accepting regardless.

"Silver is Giovanni's son and the heir to Team Rocket."

Krystal opened her mouth for a moment, about to blurt out the obvious 'But he hates Team Rocket!'. But then she mulled over it for a moment. Maybe Silver hated Team Rocket because he hated being associated with his father.

"He escaped Mask, and when he managed that-"

"The red haired boy at the Final Battle." Krystal suddenly said, realization dawning on her. "Was that…?"

"Most likely." Sara said. "He sought out his father, and I'm guessing something either happened to Giovanni or Silver didn't care for his current situation. Whatever the case, Silver sought independence, made his way back to Johto."

"Probably plotting to rob Professor Oak and Professor Elm of a pokédex and pokémon." Krystal mused. "So why do you think Mask would take him? I mean, yeah, he's Giovanni's son, but is that reason enough to…?"

"That's what we thought, what with Serenity Green having disappeared a few years after Silver's initial disappearance." Sara mused. "But with him not claiming to be responsible for Serenity's disappearance, it's making me question the theory."

"I have a theory for that as well." Looker suddenly said. Both girls turned to him. "Team Rocket was not just a street gang that rashly stole from innocent citizens, as you know. They were a fairly intelligent mob. Giovanni was funding the research into legendaries, even creating Mewtwo."

"That's right…" Krystal trailed off. "Honestly, I didn't believe it until I actually saw the footage of Leaf fighting it."

"It's said Mewtwo is twice as powerful as the pokémon he was cloned from, Mew." Sara chimed in. "Maybe even more so." she blinked, then slammed her hands on the table, standing up, chair screeching. "Looker, are you saying that Mask might have kidnapped Silver…?!"

"For Giovanni's research, yes. He may have wanted to try to con Giovanni out of his research, maybe even Mewtwo itself. When Giovanni didn't give it up, I'm supposing Mask decided to keep the boy and make something useful of him."

"But…" Sara blinked, then rammed her head into her hands, as if trying to figure something out. "But from what I understand, Ariana left with Silver when he was barely old enough to remember Team Rocket. And he was just a toddler when he was kidnapped. So it might very well be possible…"

Sara widened her eyes, bringing her gaze up to Looker.

"Looker… Do you think it's possible Giovanni didn't even know he had a son?"

o.0.o.0.o

Lets end this on a dramatic note, hmm? XD Yeah, we're going to say there was about a five to seven month time skip since the takedown of Team Rocket.

I've officially embraced that there is something wrong with me. I love Fire Emblem to much. Fates is to much to handle. To many possibilities for ships. To many cute characters to pair together. So many meaningful conversations…

I've spent over eighty hours on a single save file just to unlock all the support conversations. I think I've become a monster. That, or an addict. I don't know which is worse. -.-"

Amy47101 signing off! ^.^