Hey there people of fanfiction I am back and I am terribly sorry for the incredibly long absence. I have no excuses for myself other than I lost interest in this story but since I recently bought pokemon white my interests have been renewed. I hope you guys enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 17: Midnight Rendezvous and Stolen Kisses

Lyra wrung out her hat, squeezing out all of the water, before playfully glaring at her giggling squirtle. They had been training for their next contest and one small prank led to Lyra falling into the river. Chimchar howled with laughter from the safety of the tree branch it was perched on.

"Your training is next and it isn't going to be pretty." Lyra said walking to her tent. She zipped it close and stripped out of her wet clothes, throwing on a pair of red cutoff sweats and a grey thermal. Pulling her hair into a sloppy ponytail she climbed out of the tent and gave Chimchar a stern look. "Lets go, you and Lucario are next."

"Chim?"

"We're practicing our double battle combinations." Lyra said hitting the center button on Lucario's pokéball. "So get ready."

She tossed the ball up into the air releasing her fighting type pokémon. Chimchar jumped down from the branch it had settled on joining Lucario on the ground. Looking at her two pokémon and going over the moves they knew Lyra tried to come up with suitable combinations.

"Alright Chimchar use flame wheel." Chimchar nodded and cloaked itself in bright orange flames. "Lucario use bone rush to send Chimchar flying."

Lucario put it's hands together and then spread them out creating the glowing blue energy bone. Taking a batter's stance it hit Chimchar sending it flying forward. Lyra liked the power behind that combination. For hours they trained combining different attacks and working with different partners. By the time the broke for dinner Lyra had a good idea of who she was going to use in her next contest.

They ate silently, it was a lot calmer without Ethan around but at the same time it was unbearably lonely at times. Only a couple more days and she'd be reunited with her best friend, he'd have plenty to say about his time at camp.

After dinner she cleaned up, played with her pokémon for a while and finally checked her Pokégear for any missed calls, to her dismay Silver still hadn't called. It was looking like their relationship was over before it even really started. One silly argument led to days of silence. Frustrated and fed up Lyra tossed her Pokégear onto her sleeping bag and went on a walk along the river.

It was nearing midnight and she couldn't help but feel like she was being followed. Wrapping her arms around herself she hurried back toward where she had set up camp, hoping that all of her stuff was still there. In retrospect she shouldn't have left her campsite unattended or gone off on her own without a pokémon to call on if she got into trouble.

She squeaked out in surprise when someone stepped out of the trees. Her racing heart calmed down a bit when she saw that it was none other then the champion of the elite four himself.

"Lance, you scared me." Lyra said dropping her hand from her heart. Placing her hands on her hips and narrowing her eyes at the red head she asked, "What are you doing here? Not following me again?"

"Stumbling upon you." Lance shrugged.

"Surrrrrre." Lyra said drawing out the "r" sound and rolling her eyes.

"Fine I'm checking up on you per Ethan's request." Lance said.

"Oh." Lyra said her mouth forming a perfect "o" shape. "Well as you can see I'm okay."

"Yes I see that you are doing well." He said starting in the opposite direction of her camp. "Come with me."

"Where?" She asked joining him anyway.

"On a walk." He answered simply. He caught her hand and intertwined their fingers together. She looked down at their hands and smiled at how natural it looked to have her small hand in his larger one. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"About what?" She asked.

"Ethan told me about your fight with Silver?"

"Ethan needs to learn to keep his mouth shut." Lyra said under her breath.

Lance chuckled but didn't press her; he knew she'd tell him if she wanted him to know. They walked in a comfortable silence along the river. Lyra stopped, pulling Lance to a stop with her, he quirked an eyebrow at her questioningly. She pointed up at the night sky.

"I bet you don't see stars like those at the Indigo Plateau." She said thinking about home and how she used to search for constellations with her father. "My dad used to take me out at night to map constellations. He got me some of those glow-in-the-dark stars and replicated the night sky on the ceiling of my bedroom."

"Lyra…"

"Have you found out anything new about the operation my father's involved in?" Lyra asked pulling her hand out of his and wrapping her arms around herself tightly. "I know you can't divulge any information regarding your missions but please he's my dad and I want to know what he's involved with and why. Mostly I just want to know if he's okay."

Lance wrapped his strong arms around her waist from behind and placed a feather light kiss on the top of her head. "He's fine Lyra, we're tracking his organization closely and trying to come up with a way to get him out without risking yours and your mother's safety."

She twisted around in his arms and hooked her arms around his neck. Quietly she thanked him for what he was doing, the corners of his lips tipped upward in a barely there smile. His eyes searched hers, for what she didn't know but she could see the fight in his. He was fighting something, wrong and right, desire and devotion, lust and love? Knowing that she'd most likely never get another night like this with the man she was in love with she inched up on her toes and crushed her lips against his. He lost whatever fight he had been fighting and kissed her back, forgetting that he had a girlfriend and she had a boyfriend.

"I'm sorry." Lyra whispered when they pulled apart.

"Don't be." Lance said tilting her chin upward. He lowered his lips down onto hers stealing one last kiss from the girl he loved but couldn't have nor deserved.

Lyra couldn't deny the spark that was there every time her lips met Lance's. She wanted to tell him that she had fallen hard for him, that she loved him but she was afraid he'd call her feelings for him a "silly teenage crush." Then again he was kissing her, really kissing her. Her feet left the ground and her legs wrapped themselves automatically around his narrow waist.

"I can't go on pretending there's nothing between us Ly." He said trailing kisses down her neck.

"Don't." She breathed out.

"We can't you're too young." He murmured against her flushed skin.

"Lance, I don't want to pretend either." She said tangling her hands in his soft hair. Gathering all of her courage she quietly admitted, "I think I'm in love with you."

Lance stopped kissing her, his body tensing. "Lyra..."

To be continued...

Sorry for the shortness. Please do review anyway.