Chapter 1
July 3rd, 2006

Lyra groaned and sat up. There was a rush of blood to her head and it made her dizzy. Her head pounded and she lifted an arm to rub her hand across her forehead. A long silky sleeve flowed in the air with her movements. Her eyes narrowed as they traced the movements of the dress. The sleeve was long and orange which slowly faded into white with the help of a gradient. Feather-like tassels hung from the bottom, giving it a look which greatly resembled Ho-Oh's shimmering rainbow wings.

Lyra frowned as she stared at the sleeve. She knew that she didn't own anything remotely similar to this garment. What happened to her regular overalls and red long sleeved shirt? She opened her mouth in confusion. "Where...?"

"Do you remember what happened?" A deep voice asked, cutting her off in her wonder.

Lyra jumped, her hands quickly moving towards her chest instead of her head like she had originally planned. She slowly turned her head to the voice. Her frown deepened. "Why are you here?" She narrowed her light brown eyes.

Silver stared at her with his red eyed gaze. His head looked strange, maybe it was because his hair was up in a small low ponytail, she could see that it was greasy, as if he hadn't showered yet that day. She was kind of glad that her bobbed hair was at this length now. Which meant that Silver had longer hair than she did. Lyra realised that her hair was at a similar length to Serena's. "Why else would I be here? Johto isn't in danger anymore. Your plan worked. You were so exhausted that you've been asleep for a few days. You didn't get much sleep after what happened. You were up helping everybody after Celebi brought us back to 2006."

The memories came flooding back to her in an instant. "Oh right..." She trailed off. "But again, why are you here?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" He repeated himself.

Lyra just stared. She didn't know what to think of his response or what to say in reply to that. Silver sighed and sat down in a plush white chair, his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes were closed. "You've been asleep for three days. Everybody was concerned. Especially Ethan, Kris and I. We're the ones who have known you for the longest amount of time." He explained.

"Ethan and Kris are here too?" Lyra was surprised that they had stayed. Right now the whole group was taking refuge in Lyra and Khoury's apartment. Her eyes widened. "Khoury!" She shouted. "You said he was in the building, where is he now?" She demanded.

Silver quickly stood up and reached for her bedroom door, quickly avoiding her question. "Silver, where is Khoury?" He paused, sighing once more.

"Ask somebody else."

Nerves raced through her, her skin was dancing with the tingling numb feeling. "Where... is... Khoury?" She asked again.

"Silver looked in the opposite direction. "He's dead."

Her heart stopped and she felt nothing. "...What?" The room suddenly went cold, straight to black and white.

"Khoury died in the fire."

"What do you mean?" She asked. Her hands trembled as the gripped tightly onto her sheets. Her eyes prickled and stung from behind.

"Khoury was pretending to be a Rocket grunt." Silver spoke quickly, he was clearly trying to make this as fast as possible. "He was the one who attacked Proton. He was secretly working with the G-Men just like me, Kris, Ethan and even that kid Ritchie that some of your friends happened to know.

"He got hurt in the fire and refused to let anybody save him. He said that either way, he'd be dead soon. Whether it was from the fire or Giovanni." He explained. "He chose to die in the fire because it wasn't directly from Giovanni." Silver's hands went up to be tucked away in his pockets. A movement Lyra knew he did when he was feeling an emotion he wasn't proud of. His hands showed what he was feeling more than his face did. "He got me to stay with him for a bit longer until he made me leave. He wanted me to tell you something... but I don't think I should tell you. Not right now at least."

Her vision became blurred with tears as she tore her gaze away from Silver. "Will... will you ever tell me?" Her voice shook. She could feel him look away quickly. His sharp eyes no longer bored into her soul. She laughed slightly. At least she still had her soul.

"I'll pass it onto you someday. Possibly sooner than later." He promised. In one swift movement, he yanked the bedroom door open and left.

She nodded, not wanting to say anymore and finally let the tears spill. They burned her cheeks, red hot with anger and sadness. "What the hell Khoury." She gasped out. "Y-you promised to never leave. You said that best friends will never leave each other." She choked out a sob and quickly she buried her face into her white duvet. "What the hell?" Her heart felt as if it was stabbed through, searing with pain. She felt awful and only one thing could ever fix it. Only one thing could mend a broken heart.

And that was the thing that caused it.

"K-Khoury…!" She screamed into her blanket. "Why didn't he tell me?" She spat. "I was right next to him. I only spent months looking for him and he was right there, trying to help." Her throat burned and she began to hyperventilate a little. What was there to life when the one thing you cared about so much was gone, just like that? There was still a lot to live for; just a big chunk of her was gone. She had regions to still save, friends to care for, pokémon that depended on her, her mother.

"Why were you so selfish? I was searching for you! You know I'm too scared to follow you! Why did you have to be a hero? Why not somebody else? You-you asshole! I can't forgive you for being so stupid!"

It just hurt so god damned much.

July 3rd, 2006

Dawn stared at the blue-gray painted walls in Lyra and Khoury's home.

No, Lyra's home.

Gin or now as he fully revealed himself, Silver was the one who volunteered to check on her for the time being.

Dawn had cried when she first found out who the Rocket grunt really was. Ash kept it more to himself but he too cried, she knew, she was with him. Ever since, she and Ash had basically been inseparable. Everybody was dreading the time for when Lyra was to be told. Nobody wanted to take on that heartbreaking role. The two were best friends. They lived together and they were the first and last people they'd see in the day. They confided in each other the most and loved each other. No matter if it was platonic or romantic; they had a deep bond that anybody could see. Losing a friend hurt, losing your family hurt even more. Khoury was the main objective for Lyra to join the group of Legendary Protectors in the first place. All she wanted to do was find him and ensure he was safe because he was the one whose wellbeing was the most important to her. He had the greatest impact on her life and that was something that would not be easy to say goodbye to. To just stop existing.

Being dead was far from safe.

Dawn sat very closely to Ash. He really was trying his best to hide his mourning but it was just too difficult of a task for him. Misty could hardly give him any comfort, she didn't know Khoury. Dawn was the only one who could help him cope. Her heart ached painfully.

Ethan and Kris weren't much better off either. The two plus Silver and Ritchie had known him closely; hell they were in frequent contact with him as they were all G-Men of the Johto Division, they were a team. Dawn knew Lyra probably wasn't going to take their double lives with a spoonful of sugar and smiles. There was just another emotionally ridden confrontation brewing in the minds of many. What would come next? Dawn feared for Lyra, she feared that she might succumb to something she was stronger than because of this weakness.

Everyone who wasn't close to Khoury didn't experience the awful grief the rest were going through. They all tried to make distractions for the others, even Paul. He had tried very hard, coming up with different scenarios for them to do, even asking Ash for a battle which was strange in itself, and even stranger that Ash hadn't accepted, saying he wasn't in the mood.

But it was hard being distracted when you were in a place that breathed so heavily of Khoury. His personality was everywhere in the apartment. From framed pictures to random doodads scattered on shelves. He was definitely the one who has designed the place. It was mostly him with little splotches of Lyra in various spots.

Silver reappeared through the hallway and sat down on one of the free chairs that had been pulled out from the kitchen table. "She knows." He said suddenly. Dawn's heart plummeted.

Ethan sat up straighter from his spot on the carpeted floor. "You told her?" His eyes were completely focused on his red-haired friend and nobody else, as if they were the only two in the room.

Silver nodded. "She asked, so I told her. None of you need to worry about being the one to tell her about it anymore." That last comment helped Dawn's overworking brain cool down a bit. She didn't want to be the one to tell her friend. Her shoulders sagged again, there must be a heavy strain placed on Silver.

Ash shifted from beside her, he was squished between Misty and herself, he pressed furthered into Dawn's side, seeking the touch of somebody who was just as close to Khoury as he was. "How… how did she react?" He asked carefully.

Silver shrugged and rubbed his face, taking a few moments before replying. "I don't know, I wasn't looking. I didn't hear any crying so I think she's just in shock right now. But it'll ware off in a few seconds. I don't doubt she's crying now."

Dawn could feel a few sets of eyes staring at her uncomfortably. Paul was looking directly at her, so was May and Drew, though May's eyes occasionally flicked to Ash as well. She fidgeted and ran her fingers through her blue hair unconsciously, pulling free some knots. "Should I go in and see her?" She asked slowly, her voice quiet.

Silver glanced over at her. "No," he said quickly. His red eyes bored into hers. "She needs to mourn herself. Just leave her be for an hour or two. I doubt she'll eat anything now that she knows."

"That sounds like something she'd do." Kris added in. "We need to watch her to make sure everything is going alright in her brain despite knowing about… Khoury." She sighed. "She's definitely going to take it the hardest." She unconsciously buried herself in the chair she was sitting in, a blanket wrapped tightly around her to provide some comfort. "The funeral will be soon."

Ash let out a loud groan and pulled his knees up to his chest, hiding his face behind them. "Why did this have to happen?" He questioned in a muffled voice. "Why do we have to deal with this right now?"

Cilan cleared his throat and spoke up. "This is a war," he said solemnly. "Or at least we know for sure now it is. Team Rocket is no doubt creating the problems in the other regions too. I wouldn't be surprised if Diantha or any other champion will contact us soon to help direct us where to go from here. Three large regions, plus an archipelago are all in disarray."

"This is just something we need to overcome." May said. "There's a high chance that my whole family is dead, mother, father, brother. All of them. It's hard to just get over things so easily but it's something that's necessary. The sooner we figure out what to do from here, the better. I refuse to let any other families have to suffer like I do." There was another person that they knew that could be counted on the death list, Kenny. Three friends gone in the blink of an eye, and two very caring parents.

Dawn blinked. Through the whole problem in the Radio Tower, May had acted like a calm person because she had to, not because she wanted to. She helped vanquish Dawn's worries because they had other pressing matters to figure out first. She felt a wave of guilt rush through her. May was still suffering and she didn't show it because they had other, worse things put onto their shoulders. They were all still very much children, she herself was just sixteen and the oldest in the group was hardly twenty. She glanced at Cilan; she wondered how exactly he was faring. A thought occurred to her, what if he felt as if he was the one who ultimately had to protect them all. That was not something she was okay with. Cilan was just as fragile as the rest of them were. All of them were on par with their emotion range and right now nobody was really doing very well. The last few days had been draining, Lyra having slept for three herself because she had taken so much work tasked upon herself to do. She said that Johto was her home and she was to be the one who helped the most because she was obligated to do so. That was not something Dawn was okay with either.

A phone rang, Silver rubbed his face again, he seemed to be very stressed currently. He pulled his pokégear out of his pocket and looked down at it. His eyebrows creasing. "Shit." He muttered.

Ritchie stepped over to his older friend and looked down at the ID. "What would happen if you don't answer?" He asked.

"That's not an option."

"Is it—?"

Silver nodded, "My father, yeah." He stood up. "I'll try and come back for the fifth." The fifth. That was Khoury's scheduled funeral, to be held in New Bark town. "I'll sneak out again, not like he'd really notice."

July 5th, 2006

Leaf stared at herself. She was put back into the black dress she wore when she was younger, except it wasn't the same dress. She hated funerals. Then again, everyone did, they were not a fun experience. She envied the people who had not yet had to attend one. This funeral had to be a small and discreet one. There was no chance of an open casket in far that somebody would recognise his face and punish his family for his disobedience to Team Rocket.

A hand was placed on her bare shoulder. She stared in to the eyes of a long-time friend, or perhaps boyfriend, though the mirror. "You don't have to go you know." He said. Leaf wished for that to be a real option. She hadn't known who Khoury was, barely what he looked like, she was too shy to ask which one he was in the pictures in Lyra's apartment, it didn't seem appropriate.

"I'm not going to sit in a pokémon center all by myself while other people are upset. If I can help somebody in any way then I will."

"You've already been to enough funerals as it is,"

"It's been over ten years Gary." She said. "If you're asking me about this, I could be asking you the same thing. Are you okay with going to a funeral? We've both attended the same amount. My parents and my grandparents died ages ago. I want to help the others."

Gary held up four fingers, "Three in one plus another." He smiled at her softly and she smiled back.

"Let's hurry up and get this thing out of the way." She said. "The sooner it's over, the faster we can help people."

"Right!" Gary agreed, "It's our duty!"

The ceremony was quite short, as explained that it is what Khoury had asked for while conversing with his father some time ago. It made Leaf wonder, did he know this was going to happen. By some chance he had told his father exactly what he would want to come out of a funeral, everything right down to the last detail such as what colour he wanted the tablecloths to be. Leaf could tell he was a very meticulous and defined person.

Despite Khoury being an only child with a single parent, also having a small family, there were lots of people there. Including the elite four, some gym leaders, Professor Elm, and Champion Lance. Lance had placed bodyguards, both outside the building and disguised as friends.

Lance had not so discreetly approached the others trying to talk with him, and by others, that meant the group of people who especially needed to be protected, all thirteen of them, not counting Ritchie, Kris, Ethan and Silver who had come back like he said he would. He followed Lyra around for most of the time, when he wasn't next to her as she was talking to others; he wouldn't be too far off watching. He was analysing and inspecting her every movement, whether it be her facial expressions to what food she would eat.

Ever since that final day on June 21st, 2006, the whole two weeks had gone by fast. The first week of people slowly coming back into the world of 2006 and not decades before to this week the finding of a body in the deep rubble, the sorrow of a death that lingered and hurt many people. It went from joy to heartbreak in a matter of days, like it was a snap of the planet's fingers.

Upbeat jazz music played in the background. It was like they were just partygoers for a business, a Christmas party. Despite the occasional tears and the fact that everybody was wearing a dark coloured garment that was much too fancy for a simple business party.

Leaf didn't know what to do at this point. The only people she really knew were Ash and Gary. The two were busy talking to people. Ash with somebody who was related to Khoury, and Gary to Professor Elm and his colleagues, this wasn't really the time for him to have a business conversation no matter how much the current atmosphere related to a work party.

It wasn't like this for neither her parents nor grandparents funerals. There was an early morning ceremony to celebrate their lives, a brief lunch and off to the place where they would finally lay. New Bark town wasn't far from Pallet, she had missed several anniversaries and she needed to make up for that.

"Hi." A voice said quietly next to her. Leaf looked over and her brown eyes were met with Serena's bright blue.

"Hello." She responded.

Serena had a drink in her hands, Leaf didn't think that the blonde girl beside her was quite old enough to drink yet, but Leaf didn't know exactly what Serena was like. From her past experience, she seemed to be pretty badass and brave, but compared to right now she seemed sweet, quiet, and shy. Serena must have noticed that Leaf was looking very pointedly at her drink; it was a deep red colour and it just so happened to be in a wine glass. Serena's face flushed and she held it up with a smile. "I'm not quite sure how to say it, but in French it's jus de canneberge."

The words were very similar to the ones she knew, she only spoke one language. "It's cranberry juice."

Serena bobbed her head, her hair swishing. "I knew it was something similar, unlike pamplemousse." She giggled.

"Pamplemousse?" Leaf questioned, badly butchering the pronunciation.

Serena laughed again. "Grapefruit!"

"Oh!" Serena was right; the two words were greatly different. "So you're from Kalos then I assume?"

Serena nodded again. It was easy to tell that she was in fact Kalosian, not only because of her naming her juice in French, but also because of her accent. It wasn't very heavy, she was easy to understand. "I was actually born in Kanto, but I've lived in Kalos since I was about six or seven." She shrugged. That explained her accent. "I lived in Pallet Town just like you, Gary, and Ash. I actually knew Ash when I was a kid too. We met at Professor Oak's summer camp one year."

"Really? That's cool!" Leaf responded with a smile, glancing back to the crowd of people.

"Do you think it's a bit too… cheerful? I mean I'd rather them be happy right now but it just doesn't fir the atmosphere we had to sit in before. I didn't really know Khoury either; I never met who he really was."

"Yeah, it seems a bit strange to me." Leaf confessed. "I've been to funerals before but none of them have been like this."

Serena nodded. "Yes but it's also a nice distraction for everyone, at least for now. In an hour or so…" She trailed off. "Even though I didn't really know him, I'll probably cry." She shrugged. "I don't like seeing others upset, especially to this degree."

"I agree."

July 6th, 2006

Iris rubbed her face as she sat in an open table at the pokémon center in Cherrygrove city. The town was hardly a city, but it was labeled as one. New Bark was just a couple of kilometers away, easy to walk to and from. The majority of the group was staying there in the pokémon center, everyone but Lyra was there. She was staying with her other friends, Kris and Ethan in one of their homes which were in the same small town. Silver had left almost immediately after the ceremony had finished. It was early in the morning; she expected a good majority of the group to still be fast asleep at this time. She was an early bird much compared to what people might see her as. There was no way for her to sleep in past maybe eight-thirty in the morning. She stared down at the coffee cup in front of her and the finished omelette she had cooked herself. She woke up and found herself to be in the mood for pidgey eggs. She found that they weren't as big as pidove eggs but tasted the same more or less. She took of her coffee and stared out the window. She yawned and rested her chin on her hand, using majority of her hand to cover her mouth after words. It was a dreary day so far, there was rain and it was generally dark, then again, it was early in the morning and after catching a glance of the weather on the television that was placed in the dining areas, it was scheduled to be just cloudy and humid. As much as she loved outdoors, her hair and humidity didn't exactly mix. Her scalp just felt gross and greasy even when it wasn't and her hair curled more than it usually did.

She watched as the reflection of somebody slid in the seat opposite of her. Iris immediately sat up straighter when she realised who it was.

"Hello Iris." The woman smiled kindly, her head tipping to the side ever so slightly.

Iris smiled back, "Hello Clair!" She responded. "You haven't gone back to Blackthorn City yet?" She asked.

Clair shook her head. "It may not be far but I just wasn't too keen on heading home just yet." She opened the lid to whatever her drink was, something steaming, coffee or tea. She took a small sip and looked back up to Iris. "How's Gible doing?"

Iris smiled broadly; she was giddy to tell Clair about the news. "Gible evolved!" She announced.

Clair laughed at Iris eagerness. "Really?" She asked. "I love it when a pokémon evolves; it just shows how strong it is with its trainer. You're one step closer to reaching your goal." She gave Iris a knowing smile. "Seeing as you are far away from your current position right now, Lance has tasked me with something." She rolled her eyes. "He made many attempts yesterday to get the attention of somebody within your group. I have unfortunate news for you." She frowned.

Iris narrowed her eyes, quickly glancing around. "Is this G-Men sourced?" She asked quietly.

Clair gave a quick discreet nod. "Team Plasma has made another attempt." Iris clenched her jaw. Clair stared at her fiercely. "The next stop for you is to head home."

Iris gripped onto the edge of the table. "When was this?"

"June third, three days ago. It was hidden from the news, only the other champions are aware. You are the last to know."

Iris cursed under hear breath. "I swear to Arceus that once I find one of them they will be punished. I have had enough of Ghetsis and his little growlithe. I'm going to be sent straight to the Distortion World once I'm dead." She cursed again. "I'll happily greet Giratina once this is over."

Clair shook her head. "There is no way you'll be the one paying Giratina a visit. That'll be all Ghetsis and his good friend." She looked around her as stood up slowly. "Indigo Plateau." She said simply. "Come as fast as you can."

Iris stood up as well, staring up at Clair. "We'll be there by today." She straightened herself out, her hands enveloped in tight fists. "I'll give Ghetsis a real fight, as if he were properly challenging the Unovian Champion."

Clair smiled down at her. "Make it known to him that all Dragon Masters are displeased, what's better than the strongest Dragon Champion herself?"

Iris laughed. "Oh it'll be engraved in his soul, believe it."

So this chapter isn't exactly what I was hoping to write, but this is what came to me so here! Have it thrown at you!

What do you guys think of the start to the newest chapter? What do you think is happening? What do you think will happen?

Have a lovely week guys!