And the climax begins!

Amy47101 does not own pokémon, only her OCs, Vale and Sara.

o.0.o.0.o

The Adventure Saga

Enlightening the Soul

o.0.o.0.o

It was roughly four years ago, when his fascination with the dexholders originally began to form. He was still a member of the original Rocket mafia, when a charismatic man, dressed in black approached him.

"Proton, what if I told you that, within due time, I could give you full access to all the dexholders to study to your hearts content? What would you say to that?"

o.0.o.0.o

Silver could do nothing but cradle his head in his hands as he sat on the couch. He was pretty certain that Ethan and Crystal dragged him here or something. He didn't even know where here was. He didn't care. He knew what Mask was like. And he new that Mask was serious about mutilating Lyra should they not submit. He was deadly, deadly serious, and Silver was completely, totally helpless.

He was helpless and ashamed. Not only had he dragged Lyra into this, but her friends and her idols as well. It was all him. He should have submitted to that damn monster. He should have just stayed with Mask, he shouldn't have put those silly ideas of freedom in Vale's head. He was a child. A stupid, helpless child, then and now. He hurt everyone around him, dragged everyone through his problems, took all his rage out on them, and yet these stupid idiots decided to stick around.

And look at what it got them. The lost of the most precious, innocent, lovely human being that he never knew. The only person who reached out to him and helped him and didn't give up on him. Hell, she turned other peoples views around on him. She was never phased by his abrasive attitude, she didn't even realize she was helping him… fixing him… She didn't even know that she was saving him.

He didn't realize it either. He realized that she was a friend. He realized that she was precious to him. And he didn't realize that, slowly but surely, she was saving him from his own destruction. Every time… she was always there… and now…

"You lost something precious."

He jerked his head up, sniffling and practically punching his eyes as he rubbed away her tears. He was crying. He hadn't cried since he was a child. Leaf was standing in the door way. He couldn't tell by her posture or her face what she was thinking.

"Are you here to mock me, Leaf?" he demanded, looking away. He hadn't even head her come in. Glancing around, he tried to keep his expression stoic as he realized that he was in some sort of house, a living room. He was on the couch.

"This is a home that Gary and I rented." Leaf said, answering a question not yet asked, but having not answered his original question. "The dexholders are staying here until further notice."

"Why so talkative now?" he sneered.

"You lost something precious." she repeated.

Silver just stared at her. She stared back. His sneer grew, and he stood.

"What would you know about loosing anything? I've lost everything in several swoops over the course of my life, and you're all depressed about loosing your dad? My dad completely rejected me, brushed me off like I was a bug-type on his jacket, my mom joined a gang, and everyone I've gotten close to is gone. What the hell would you know about loss?"

He turned his gaze away. Leaf remained silent.

"You were right." he spat to her. "You were one hundred percent right. All the strength I've acquired was useless when it truly counted, and now I've lost something that couldn't be replaced. No amount of yelling, training, or hurting will bring it back. Are you happy?! The mighty, knowledgable Leaf Green was right!"

"…"

"Silence now?" he spat. "Whatever, I don't care."

Then she did something surprising.

She crossed the room without a word, and plopped her hand on his head. Over his initial shock, he could feel her hand running across his head, gentle and soothing. It reminded him of every time after he failed with Mask, every time he ran crying to Vale, and how she would soothingly smooth down his hair and pat the top of his head. Whether it was to calm his sniffling before Mask heard or if it was because she truly cared for him as a sister would to a brother, he was never really sure. It might have been a mix of both.

"I lost something precious, too." Leaf murmured. Silver looked up at her, surprised by the look on her face. It was a look of loss, a look of sorrow, a look of understanding. "I lost my Dad. He was a good man. My Mom was never the same after that. Then something precious to me was stolen."

"Stolen…?"

"Taken… Disappeared from the outskirts of our home…" she murmured. "Such a sweet thing… Gone…"

"Why would you tell me this?" Silver hissed. "You should tell your boyfriend. Or someone with empathy."

She stroked his hair again. She furrowed her brow under the brim of her hat.

"Because… We both lost something precious. I haven't given up yet. So you shouldn't either."

Her hand paused. Silver felt someone else enter the room.

"So Mount Silver hasn't completely frozen your heart yet, has it Leaf?"

Silver recognized Gary's voice, though he was surprised by his teasing. He expected something like that from Fire, not the notoriously arrogant Gary Oak. Leaf was silent for a moment. He expected her to remain silent, but something lit up in her eyes. A playful fire that flickered in a mostly stone-cold gaze.

"And I see that even within a crisis, you're a blind, arrogant idiot, Shaymin Head."

Silver glanced over at Gary. For a moment, he looked absolutely shocked. It made him wonder when the last time Leaf actually talked was. Gary crossed his arms, smirking.

"A full sentence, Leafy in front of someone other than your beloved? My oh my, why so talkative?"

Leaf scoffed in response.

"Do you prefer the silence?"

"Not in the slightest." Gary responded smoothly, crossing the room and pecking her on the cheek. Silver felt himself staring at the two with a furrowed brow. This was the most famous couple in all of Kanto? They acted more like… casual, bantering neighbors than a couple. Or any couple he imagined.

Maybe he shouldn't be one to judge this situation…

"Silver," Gary said, turning to him and reaching for his bag. "I got that research you wanted. Honestly, I'm surprised. I'm not one for a coincidences, but…"

He trailed off as the front door opened, and the chattering, worried voices of the other dexholders, Sara, and Looker filled the small rental home. Gary looked up with a smirk while Leaf retreated to the corner of the room. Silver kept his gaze averted, hoping no one would notice that he was blubbering like a baby earlier.

"We couldn't find anything." Fire snarled under his breath.

"That's to be expected of you." Gary said, pulling out the aforementioned papers and tossing them on the coffee table. "As for myself, I've found something useful."

Almost everyone gathered around the papers.

"You got a lead on Lyra?" Dayna asked hopefully. Gary shook his head.

"Well…"

"These are historical documents." Krystal said with a furrowed brow. "Gary, how could these…?"

"How could these find Lyra?!" Ethan demanded, crushing a few papers in his palm, shaking them to prove how useless they were. "What use is history when what's wrong is happening now?!"

"I don't know about you," Gary responded, gripping Ethan's wrist and taking the papers from his hand. He kept his grinning smirk on his face, but Silver noticed his eye visibly twitching at Ethan's rashness. "But history effects the present, as well as the future. Haven't you ever heard the phrase 'Lets not repeat history'?"

"I didn't realize you were a history buff…" Krystal trailed off thoughtfully. From the corner of the room, there was a loud snort. Everyone brought their gaze up to Leaf, who was keeping her gaze firmly out the window, though her smirk was slowly forming into a smile.

"Not you too!" Gary snapped at her. Her smirk grew.

"Now, now," Sara said, stepping between the two with her hands up. "The atmosphere is tense, we don't need any lovers quarrels. But I also know Silver asked you to get this information. That being said, Silver, what on earth could historical information have to do with Mask, and how could it stop them?"

Silver was shuffling through the papers, only giving Sara a brief glance before he resumed his search.

"Krystal, Ethan," he said, holding up a single file. "Do these look familiar?"

He placed the single file on top of all the others. In large letters was three large symbols with a fancier design overhead and below. The three symbols formed a triangle, and in the center was a smaller symbol. Ethan took a look at it and jumped back, grabbing his wrist like it burned him while Krystal sat there, shellshocked. Silver tapped a finger against that paper.

"Gary, what are these?"

"Those?" Gary said, glancing at them. "Those are symbols of your regions legends. They were found in the Ruins of Alph, apparently. Historians believe that these three," he traced the triangle. "Represent your legendary trio, Suicune, Entei, and Raikou. This little one is a small legend, Celebi, I think. These two big ones are your 'gods', Ho-oh and Lugia."

"Guardian of the Skies and Guardian of the Seas." Krystal murmured.

"Care to explain why you looked like you saw Ho-oh when you looked at it?" Fire asked, directing the question to Ethan. Ethan floundered for a moment, backing away and clutching his hand. Silver sighed.

"It's like I have to handle everything with you." he snapped to him, practically tearing the right glove from his hand and holding it up, the back of his hand facing everyone. Gary widened his eyes, the amber-brown orbs flicking from the paper to his hand.

"I have one too." Krystal said. With that, she brushed her bangs aside. "It appeared one day out of no where, shortly after Team Rocket disbanded. But I will admit, it was not the first time something weird has happened to me…" she sharply turned her gaze to Ethan. "Ethan. I know because you told me, bigmouth. Don't think you can hide now."

"...I don't understand." he said slowly, pulling off his fingerless glove on his left hand, showing his own mark. "But this thing just showed up out of nowhere, and recently…" he trailed off, then fixed his gaze on Silver and Krystal. "Have you two been having weird visions?"

"Yes." Silver answered bluntly. Krystal nodded.

"Visions?" Sara asked, furrowing her brow. "Of what?"

Krystal fell silent. Ethan shuffled in place. Silver scowled.

"Are you going to answer the woman or not?!" he finally snapped.

"Well how exactly do you tell your seniors and detectives that you're having visions of dying?!" Ethan demanded.

"If you don't have the balls to do it, then I will!" Silver hissed. "The first time I had one was in the middle of the festival. I had a vision of getting trapping a burning home and begging Entei to save the rest of the village. I'm fairly certain that whomever's death it was, they died of being crushed under that beam, smoke inhalation, or severe burns. That being said, this mark reacts oddly to certain things. It showed up a little after I first arrived in Ecruteak City, and sometimes it glows."

"But it's always followed with a surge and a sense of power." Krystal finally said. Her fingers were gently rubbing the mark on her forehead, eyes closed like she was thinking deeply.

"…'Whomever's death', Silver?" Gary asked, quoting him.

"Well, it wasn't mine. Obviously." Silver spat. "And it certainly doesn't look like anything from the future."

"You were in a burning building." Ethan glowered. "How would you know?"

"Do you want to try me at this point?" Silver hissed, glaring menacingly from the shadow of his bangs.

"Please, stop fighting." Dayna whimpered. Silver glanced at her.

She looked to be on the verge of tears at this point. He wanted so badly to call her out on her weakness, to snap that she didn't deserve to be his senior in anything, and the only advantage she held was age… But he knew that Lyra would probably be on the verge of tears as well if she saw the three of them arguing. Only more… vocal.

"So what does it all mean?" Fire finally asked. While seething, he looked like he was trying to calm down and make sense of what was going on. At this point, it seems his mind was trying to figure out everything more so than it was focusing on his burning rage.

"...It means that they're reincarnations." Gary finally said.

"Alright, did you just pop a blood vessel in that brain of yours?" Fire asked, crossing his arms. "How does that make any sense?"

"...It's not entirely impossible." Krystal said.

"Not you too Krystal!" Ethan cried out. "You're supposed to be the smart one of the four of us!"

"Don't lump me in with you." Silver spat.

"Not the time, you two." Krystal warned. "But think about it. Ethan, don't you remember that old legend that you grandparents taught us? About the three heroes who lost their partners in the burned tower?"

"Yeah." Ethan slowly admitted. "The three heroes prayed to the shrine which housed the pixie-pokémon messenger, Celebi, day in and day out. One day, the great Ho-oh heard their pleading cries and revived their fallen pokémon."

"Which then became known as Suicune, Entei, and Riakou. To prove themselves and regain their trust, they each had to perform an act of trust, to show that they truly cared for their partners above all else." Silver finished. He glanced at the two. "That's the gist of it, right? Lyra and I found out about that legend when we fell into the Ruins of Alph."

"Yeah." Krystal said. "It's a childhood legend here in Johto. It ends with the phrase 'One day, the heroes will live again'."

"Followed by 'And you never know if the hero is sitting next to you now!'." Ethan sighed, shaking his head with a nostalgic smile. "It was supposed to be a way to make sure we don't treat others badly. Basically a big 'treat others as you want to be treated' sort of thing."

"Is it really so far-fetched?" Gary asked. He sounded excited. "You guys are having visions, with marks of the legends on your bodies. Am I not to far off?"

"You sound like you want this to work for your own personal benefit more so than anything else. Reincarnation is a preposterous idea, even for someone who inherited the brain of Professor Samuel Oak." Looker suddenly retorted, crossing his arms. "With that being said, what on earth could any of this have to do with Mask kidnapping Lyra?"

"Some detective you are, if you haven't figured that out yet."

Silver felt his heart leap to his throat as he whipped around, seeing Vale standing idly in the doorway. His hand immediately went to his belt, not even caring if he destroyed the room. While he felt his heart throb in memory of the young woman he used to see as a sister, he was more than willing to lash out to save Lyra.

Yet just as his hand brushed the pokéball, it was like he froze. No matter how much his brain demanded that he move, he couldn't. His hand was frozen in time, forced to remain that way.

"What the-?!"

"Hey!"

He strained his neck to move, and surprisingly, his head swiveled easily, seeing that almost everyone else was stuck in a frozen state, surrounded in a bright blue light. He turned back to Vale, seeing her Gallade standing next to her, eyes glowing bright blue as he kept his hold firm.

"What do you want with Lyra?!" he snarled as she walked past him. She didn't answer. "Vale!" he twisted his neck to catch Vale approaching Sara, taking her bag from her shoulder.

"That-! Give that back!" Sara exclaimed.

"Stop fussing so much, I'm only taking back what should have been mine to begin with." Vale responded, digging around in the bag. Sliver heard a couple of pokéballs drop to the floor until finally, Vale pulled out a gold and white pokéball.

"That is…!" Krystal exclaimed. Silver felt fire race up his arm, and he knew the mark was glowing. Krystal groaned and Ethan turned back to him, and through the golden top of the pokéball, Silver could see faint wisps of glowing green.

"I am the the protector of this shrine. It is my duty to protect the guardian legend that sleeps here… Celebi wants to know… What brings you to the shrine? ...What have you lost?"

"Vale, you…?" Silver muttered.

"… I don't quite think Mask knew exactly what he lost when you got away. But then again, he seemed to realize pretty quickly what he could gain through the proper manipulations."

Silver wished that he could twist his neck around fully, because Vale walked out of his line of sight, towards Gary. Gary was silent as Vale took whatever she wanted or needed from him.

"… I don't know why you would want to take that." Gary smirked. "That was a letter that my grandfather wrote, meant to be read when all the current dexholders were present. What would you need that for?"

Vale didn't respond.

"How much does this guy know?"

"What is Mask after, Vale?" Silver asked. "What does he want?"

"Same thing that he's always wanted. To win his silly little game. To gain enough power to win."

"So that's all this ever was to him? A game?" a sudden, unexpected voice seethed. The coldness in Leaf's voice was so prevalent that it practically iced over the room. He wondered what vendetta she had against Mask… Something to do with that 'precious thing' she mentioned earlier?

We both lost something precious.

"Mask's M.O. isn't taking random items from random people. He only takes things that he thinks will benefit him" Silver responded with those words in mind. "Whatever you think he took, rest assured he probably didn't."

"And what better benefit than the youngest, most impressionable daughter of the Green family?" Gary shot back, speaking for Leaf. Silver felt his stomach sink. So what Leaf meant by 'something precious' wasn't an item, or even a pokémon. It was a person.

Silver didn't know how to respond, as he knew there was very little comfort for when the

Vale didn't respond that time.

"You wanted power, you said?" Dayna suddenly whispered. "Is it because of what happened three years ago…?"

"… Yes." Vale responded.

"So you don't necessarily want us as trainers, but rather, the pokémon that we have access to." Ethan said slowly.

"Then what's the need for Lyra? You don't need her, right?" Silver found himself practically pleading. "She's just a bargaining chip, isn't she?"

"Silver, you just said it yourself," Vale responded after a long pause. She walked back to her pokémon's side. "Mask doesn't take things that doesn't benefit them. For that, I'm truly, very sorry. Now then, Gallade-"

Suddenly, a ball of orange and yellow fur shot out from behind her and attacked Gallade. Vale snapped her head to the mini-battle going on in the back, then back to her captives. Silver could feel his limbs starting to function again. Vale swore under her breath, eyes flicking between the now almost functioning people to her pokémon.

"Gallade!" she exclaimed, darting back behind the psychic-fighting type as it barely dodged another attack. She let out a low growl, almost as if she was annoyed by this development, but it looked like she knew she wasn't going to be able to face the flareon that was attacking them.

"I want answers." Leafs voice said. She wasn't growling or hissing, but her voice was so low and so cold that even Silver felt a shiver go up his spine. Silver craned his head, surprised to see Leaf was actually moving, albeit, slowly. It was then that he realized that he could actually roll his shoulders a bit. "No more games."

"Gallade," she said simply in response, almost as if she knew she was no match for her. Which was utterly surprising to Silver. He knew Leaf was strong, he experienced it firsthand. But Vale was specifically trained to be a force of destruction. Masks force of destruction, no less. "Teleport."

"Wait! Vale!" Silver found himself taking a step forward as the psychic hold on them loosened.

"Mask is waiting for you to return, Silver."

Those were her parting words as she teleported with the mysterious pokéball and letter in hand.

o.0.o.0.o

Lyra lifted her head from her knees as she heard something slide under the door. For as long as she's been in here, she became attuned to the silence, so even though it looked like nothing but a simple letter, she couldn't help but be intrigued by it.

She crossed the room to get to the letter, slowly picking it up and turning it over in her hands.

"What is this…?" she murmured, picking up the paper and slowly breaking the seal, opening it, and pulling out several pieces of paper, each one filled with handwritten words.

Lyra found herself widening her eyes as she read what was written.

o.0.o.0.o

"Seems like Vale expects you to know where you're going." Ethan said after a long silence. Silver kept his eyes closed, then he slowly turned.

"That's to be expected. I was his apprentice at one point in my life, and before you go spouting accusations," he shot a glare at him. "It was not something I willingly entered, nor was it something that I am remotely proud of."

"… What did you…" Dayna paused, biting her lip for a moment, then rephrased her question. "What did he… train you in?"

"It was complicated." Silver said, crossing his arms as he wracked his brain for a simple explanation for Masks madness. "And I was very young, so I don't remember much. I remember Mask taking a specific interest in training me in evolution. That involved the best strategies and movesets for pokémon, as well as how to raise their stats to the maximum in training. Mask had other children under his rule, three other boys other than me and two other girls other than Vale. The boys were older than us… They're probably in their twenties by now and the girls were only a little older than Vale. The boys primarily trained Vale and I in fighting, training of the body, training of instinct, and training of the mind. I don't know much about the girls, not even their names. But their initial purpose was to be a source of comfort, I think. One had healing powers and the other had powers that could allowed her to predict the future. but Vale and I didn't have any interaction with them whatsoever."

"I see." Looker suddenly said. "And why was that?"

"Probably because of Vale." Silver said, looking him in the eye. "Vale was his 'special project'. From what I understood, everything that I was trained in and everything those three were trained in were primarily for Vale."

He held out an open palm, as if to make an example of what he was saying.

"Vale has always shown exceptional talent in battling. Up until I challenged Leaf, she was my unmatched opponent, the one opponent I could never beat. On top of that, she was impressionable and sensitive, unlike me. Mask introduced her to brute force and merciless strategies that would annihilate her opponents. That way,"

He clenched his fist tightly.

"Mask had someone who could destroy everything in his path."

"So… she was a tool? That's it?" Sara asked. Her voice seemed to be shaking, her fists clenched tight at her side, quivering. It was then Silver remembered that Sara had connections with Vale. She was supposedly her old, childhood friend that went missing in Hoenn.

"We all were." Silver said simply. "But Mask particularly liked Vale because she was just the perfect concoction of desperation, stupidity, naiveté, and strength. She was always desperate for attention, always desperate for approval… and easily manipulated. If she got in trouble, then she worked until she got the praise that Mask so sparingly gave."

He paused for a moment.

"You could say I took advantage of that desperation as well. Mask didn't take kindly to those where smarter than him, so he made sure to not teach us how to read or write until we were deemed worthy. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if there were basic things Vale still can't read. But I was a little bit older and a little bit smarter than he anticipated… and I planted the idea of escape into Vale's head to begin with. I needed someone with experience in that place, someone who knew their way around the base. So I started telling her stories about the outside world, and she was putty in my hands."

"So what happened?" Dayna asked hesitantly.

"What do you think?" Silver snapped. "I got what I wanted. I got out. But there was something that always bothered me…" he glanced at Sara. "Sara, assuming Vale is Felicity, how many pokémon did she have on her?"

"Two." Sara said immediately. "She always had two. An Eevee and a Sandshrew."

"She doesn't have a Sandshrew." Gary said immediately. "Leaf told me about it, about how some wild trainer ambushed her by the Lake of Rage. She called her battle strategy 'wild but powerful'… But there wasn't anything that was a sandshrew or relating to one."

"Mask doesn't have PC accounts for us." Silver said. "With all due honesty, we didn't have trainer licenses."

"But that's illegal!" Krystal gasped. "You can't participate pokémon battles unless you have a trainers or junior trainers license!"

"The man kidnapped us." Silver snapped back at her. "Do you expect him to follow laws as simple as a trainers license?"

"He's right." Fire cut in. "Masks character aside, licenses make people easy to track down. They get everything in order to keep track of the trainers in case they get hurt or go missing during travel. If you don't comply, you don't get the license. Fingerprints, blood samples, hair samples… Everything that would be extremely useful in tracking down missing kids."

"So are you…?" Krystal asked, looking at Silver with a horrified expression, as if she couldn't comprehend that he might be breaking the law. Silver rolled his eyes and pulled out his wallet.

"I got a legitimate trainers license." he said, slapping it down in front of her. "People just stopped searching for me."

"That aside!" Dayna said in a high, nervous squeak, pressing her fingertips together, intervening before the tension could become any more palpable in the room. "Wh-What does this Sandshrew have to do with Vale?"

"As I was saying," Silver said. "Is that I just think that it was odd that she had one when I was a child, but I haven't seen it at all when I've run into her now."

"Alongside her Eevee, you could consider that Sandshrew her partner." Sara said musingly. "Vale might be manipulated and desperate for attention, but she's not that stupid. She can't be. She feels no loyalty, she couldn't possibly... She could easily escape if she wanted to…" her gaze trailed to Silver's. "Right?"

Silver closed his eyes, nodding his head once.

"She was ten when we attempted our escape. Even eight years later, I can remember her letting me go on, while she chose to stay." Silver said slowly. "What I'm implying is that Vale… probably stayed because she got separated from her then Eevee and Sandshrew."

"That still doesn't excuse the fact that she's running amok with a criminal organization." Looker said bluntly. "The question behind the matter is, how far is Vale willing to go to get what she needs? On one hand we have a desperate young woman, but on the other… It sounds like we have a war machine designed to destroy."

"That was the intention." Silver agreed, albeit, half-heartedly. As much as he could argue about how good of a person Vale was when he was a child, and how they got along back in the base, Vale's entire existence to Mask was to destroy anything that he couldn't. She was a weapon of war to him, meant to be used, cast aside, and used over and over again, period.

He closed his eyes in frustration. It made him wonder if she was really aware of what was going on.

"Regardless," Sara said in response to Looker. "We can't just ignore the fact that Vale is being manipulated. Maybe it won't excuse what's going on or what she's done… but she's still a good person, right?"

"I don't care if she's still a good person or not." Silver finally said after a long, heavy silence. "If she intends on interfering with any rescue plan for Lyra, I intend on taking her out. Past personal relationships," he opened his eyes. "Are meaningless at this point. Mask will harm Lyra if we don't comply and surrender. The fact of the matter is, us complying and surrendering means that we are giving up very powerful legends as well."

"We're just a means to an end as well, then." Dayna sighed.

"Did you expect any less at this point?" Gary asked her pointedly. Dayna silently shook her head.

"But on the other hand, if we don't, Lyra is good as dead, and I don't mean that figuratively." Sara continued off what Silver said. "Mask is serious about his threats, I think that he-"

"She's not going to be killed." Leaf suddenly said in a very slow voice, as if she was thinking out her thoughts. Silver glanced at her. She looked just as stoic and plain faced as before.

"Leafy's brain is going a mile a minute right now." Gary chuckled, shaking his head, as if he expected this.

"I agree with her." Fire suddenly said. "Lyra's a bargaining chip at this point, because we're not the only one's who have been physically bonded to a legend. I don't know if you saw what I saw in the plaza… but I think Ho-oh chose her."

"That's insane!" Ethan suddenly exclaimed, shaking his head. "No offense to Lyra or anything, but Ho-oh… Ho-oh is like our god. Why would it choose someone like Lyra, or anyone from New Bark Town to begin with?"

"… It's because she has a pure heart."

Silver's declaration completely caught everyone off guard. He crossed his arms.

"Do you want to argue, Ethan? It's common folklore that Ho-oh left the tower in search of a pure-hearted human. It's been scouring Johto for years at this point… If you think any less of her, than you have severely underestimated your 'friend'."

He made sure that the air quotes were hearable in his sentence.

"That being said, Leaf is right. Mask would never give up such an opportunity. He only threatened… mutilation." his stomach turned as he forced out those words. "And if he has that healer on hand, even if she neared death, then he would just have her be healed."

"So at this point, even Lyra's a part of his games." Sara murmured quietly. Another heavy silence.

"There's no point in standing here waiting for Lyra to knock on deaths door." Fire said in an almost cheerful manner. "We've got one of the best strategists known to the current world on our hands, so lets make a plan of attack, like, now."

"...Strategist?" Silver responded slowly. Fire simply pointed. Silver followed the gesture, and saw Leaf. Her head was bowed, but through the shadow cast by the brim of of her hat, he saw a glinting green eye, brimming with confidence.

o.0.o.0.o

The Strategizer
The Trainer
The Helper
The Healer
The Breeder
The Catcher
The Evolver

All the trainers entrusted with my pokédex have very different abilities. As a researcher studying the bond between trainers and pokémon, I think that their abilities are important to each and every one of them. And through studying these dexholders, some longer than others, I can see

Leaf Green, the youngest pokémon champion and undeniably the strongest trainer in existence, at the moment, is not strong through brute strength, but rather, through well calculated, well thought out strategies. This applies not only to her battling, but to her life as well. Every decision she makes is based on a well calculated idea. They are always well thought out, without a flaw.

For always being able to perfect the perfect strategy, I have dubbed her The Strategizer.

My grandson, Gary Oak, is currently the strongest gym leader in Kanto. Unlike Leaf, he obtained his strength through obsessive training. He was always like that, though. If he couldn't do something perfectly, he trained until he perfected it. His pokémon are forces to be reckoned with, even if his strategy is faulty at times.

For his skill in pokémon training, I have dubbed him The Trainer.

Fire Red and Dayna Yellow, unlike Leaf and Gary, train their pokémon to benefit others. Fire prides himself on offering a helping hand, while Dayna has studied to be something akin to a medicinal herbalist. Fire is always the first to jump at the opportunity for offering help, and his pokémon have altered their moves in order to better comply and to aspire to be like to their helpful master. Dayna's pokémon, while not entirely meant to be on the offensive, work towards being supporting units in battle. They are the first to heal, the first to respond to a crisis, and the ones who always keep a calm mind when the world is in chaos.

For his ability to always help people and her capability in healing, I have dubbed them The Helper and The Healer, respectfully.

Ethan Gold and Krystal Quartz have been raised in environments that cultivated their talents. Based on what I know from Professor Elm, Ethan spent a majority of his time at his grandparents house. His grandparents run the breeding and pokémon raising house, where he spent a majority of his time mastering the delicate art of breeding, raising, and hatching pokémon. On the other hand, Krystal was born to a family of researchers. Her ultimate goal is to capture every pokémon in existence, and she is an absolute pro at her craft.

For being able to master the delicacy of pokémon breeding and bearing the strain of being a master capturer, I have dubbed them The Breeder and The Capturer.

Sara Knight came to me recently, similarly to how she came to me after one of my pokédexes has gotten stolen. Despite her young age, she was truthful when she said she was investigating the disappearances of multiple children across multiple regions. She came to me with newfound information detailing said disappearances… And after hearing about Silver's past, we came to a conclusion that he was the one who stole my pokédex. So for a year after Team Rocket was defeated, I decided to watch Silver, to observe his progress.

Silver was trained to evolve pokémon so that they are at their pique strength. He has mastered how to get the maximum strength from his pokémon through evolution of all kinds and how to take full advantage of said evolution.

For this, I have accepted Silver as The Evolver.

o.0.o.0.o

A single piece of paper was held within the hands of a man wearing a half-mask. In all truth, he knew all that there was to know about the dexholders. He knew their teams, their talents, their strategies, their personalities… He knew it all.

So when he heard that a letter, a letter that detailed and affirmed their talents, he wished for nothing more than to get his hands on it. Unfortunately, Mask only provided him with a single page.

"A reward," he had said. "For giving me the information I needed to get into Lyra's head."

He smirked as he read it over and over again. While he was sure, absolutely sure at this point, that Lyra possessed no talent, yet it seemed there was something worthwhile in her. Something that not only Professor, but Mask himself recognized.

"Executive Proton."

He folded the letter, annoyed at whoever the grunt was that decided to interrupt was rereading the girls talent again, what could possibly be so important?

"What?" he snapped, glancing over at the grunt.

"Mask required your presence. He said that it was urgent."

Proton sighed, folding up the last page of that letter and putting it in his back pocket. As he left the room to see what his new leader needed at the moment…

He didn't notice a slim hand attached to a long limb take the letter from his back pocket.

A hooded boy unfolded the piece of paper and began to read it curiously.

o.0.o.0.o

So this chapter mainly covers my bases as I set up a plan of attack. Basically, I wanted Silver and Leaf to form some sort of connection, similarly to Blue and Silver in the manga, only… not the same. Sort of like Leaf became a pillar of stability for Silver.

Basically, that whole reincarnation thing was something I had from the beginning. Suicune's trainer, however, leapt around a bit. Lyra was an obvious choice, but then I thought no, because Lyra is the pure-hearted trainer that Ho-oh has chosen. So then I thought, why not Vale? But then I was thinking that the role was to big for her to fill, so then I facepalmed and thought Krystal.

So then Krystal obtained that role and Vale assumed the role of the 'priestess messenger'. Not exactly the reincarnation-she would have been marked if she was. But lets just say she has the closest connection to Celebi at the moment. Of course, Vale isn't simply following these orders because of Mask, she has her own motivations in all of this.

As I'm talking about this, I want to point out how much Vale and Lyra seem to mirror each other. I'm not going to explain that fully yet, I plan on covering that later though.

Back to the letter from Professor Oak, totally inspired by the special manga. Guilty as charged. And Proton is pretty much obsessed with the dexholders at this point. He knows the ins and outs on pretty much all of them, especially Leaf and Lyra. Through unknown means, Proton came into contact with Mask and Mask offered him a position. Proton is basically stalking the dexholders, which is how he knew about the letter. Since he knows about Lyra's insecurities as well, he knew how big a blow it would be if she wasn't included, which circles back to her insecurities of never being good enough and never being wanted.

Mask wants to break the dexholders into submission. Proton wants to study them twenty-four-seven. Since Mask is convinced that Proton broke Lyra, his 'reward' was the page dedicated to Lyra's talent.

And now Hood has possession of the letter. For plot reasons.

Next chapter is going to be big. I'm excited for it. Thanks for reading and thanks for your patience.

Amy47101! ^.^