Chapter 25

June 21st, 2006

Lyra clenched her fists tightly, so tightly that her bruised and cut knuckles turned a pale white. Gary was right, of course the researcher was right; he was hardly ever wrong. She took a deep breath, though it didn't quell her racing mind. Khoury was here, Ethan was here, Kris was here, even he was here. Her gaze flitted over to him. The red-haired man wouldn't look at her. No, it wasn't whether he would look at her; it was that he didn't want to look at her. Of course she was beyond happy to know that her three most likely closest friends were safe and that she got the chance to see him again. But contradicting her happiness, she was fuming to know that they didn't try to contact her. She knew that they knew what exactly she was. Ethan, Kris and him, they were all protectors just like her and Gary, and they had known where Khoury was. They knew!

Lyra knew her anger wasn't needed or necessary but it was there, it existed. She didn't want to hold such anger but she did, her mind was in a whirl because of the situation that had happened to them before. She couldn't think straight and she didn't know what to do really. Her thoughts were dazed because of her emotions and she hated it. She hated being who she was and she was reacting. She was an emotional mess.

Lyra inched closer to Gary, so far she felt as if he was the only one she could really trust and she had known him for the shortest amount of time out of the five people she was thinking of. Gary gave her a gentile smile.

Kris turned to Suicune, "Is there really no way to stop them that doesn't involve violence?" Suicine took a brief look to the sky and shook its head slowly. Kris sighed heavily. "Very well then," She looked at the group. "A battle it is."

Ritchie stared at her, then to Suicune and to Entei. "Is there really no option?" The brown haired man sighed when Entei shook its head like Suicune did.

"Let's do what we were doing before." Gary spoke to both Lyra and Gin, "It was working."

"Azumarill, bubblebeam!"

"Umbreon shadowball!"

"Use shadow ball Gengar."

A blur raced past Lyra, her short hair moving with the wind it caused. She watched as a bird pokémon flew in line with the other attacks which were sent from her pokémon as well as Gary's and Gin's. The pokémon was a large Swellow. Swellow was glowing a bright white, soon after; another bird flew out, a Pidgeot. Its wings flapped furiously as it sent torrents of air towards the flying legendries. Three loud roars echoed out in the sky, vibrating the air. The legendary dogs were all standing at the edge of the building. They looked so majestic and strong, standing before the storm. Thunder flashed more and more frequently and furiously. It was getting closer, closer, and closer to Lugia and Ho-Oh. The rain poured down harder and the heat making the air heavy steadily grew, both from inside the burning building and out. Smoke tickled her nose and hurt her lungs. She had to focus and hurry or else the building would collapse.

"Pidgeot!" She called to Ethan's pokémon. The flying-type recognised her and flew over, landing in front of her. Neither Gary nor Gin were paying attention to her. She smiled. She mounted herself quickly on Pigdeot and spoke again. "Fly me to Ho-Oh!" She ordered loudly over the thunder, now gaining attention from the others. Pidgeot quickly took flight and zoomed through the air; she could hear shouts in the distance but paid no mind. She had an idea and it would work. The lightning came flashing next to her, Pidgeot swerved to avoid it; she could still feel the crackle of electricity singe the hair on her arm and tickle through her skin. Ho-Oh was eying them closely. Cautiously Lyra stood up, she refused to look down, knowing that her stomach would churn unpleasantly and plummet quickly down to her feet.

"Just a little closer…" She muttered to herself, though it was unheard because of the rumbling of thunder and she felt the sound waves reverberate deep in her chest. In one quick motion, she leapt, her bare feet being tickled by Pidgeot's malting pale feathers. She crashed into Ho-Oh's side, fear struck through her as she felt herself slip. She snagged onto Ho-Oh's feathers and the legendary let out a cry of pain. Lyra stilled her breathing then let go of one feather and swung to grab onto a higher spot.

A rush of adrenaline surged through her as she successfully grabbed onto the higher feathers. She used her foot to dig into the beast's side and hoisted herself up more. She went to dig her foot in again and her foot slid off quickly, her stomach hit the side of the bird again. She felt the wind leave her chest and she gasped for air. The high altitude made it hard for the air to enter into her lungs again.

Lyra pushed herself to go further, it's not like she could stop now anyway, she was so far above ground. She reached higher and higher, climbing up the massive flying-type legendary. Her muscles began to burn from the exertion but it was a good feeling. Thunder rolled again and the wind both swept her chopped hair off of her face and whipped it into her eyes.

Finally Lyra reached the back of Ho-Oh. She could see now that the bird was thrashing to get her off. She didn't understand how she hadn't been flung off yet. Lyra held on tighter and slowly approached the neck of the beast.

Lyra went over her plan in her head again. She had to be more careful now, more so than before because quite frankly, she hadn't been thinking up until that moment and she regretted it but there was no possible way to go back now so here she was. An idiot standing on the back of Ho-Oh.

Pulling the cold oxygen into her lungs again, she wrapped and arm around Ho-Oh's neck. "Ho-Oh!" She shouted, her voice nearly drowned out by the raging storm. "Ho-Oh!" She tried again, louder. "Ho-Oh!" The bird stopped thrashing its head. Instead, she could see its head turn slightly so it could look down at her. "Ho-Oh please! It's okay, stop fighting. It's not your fault, it's not our fault. Team Rocket is gone, don't worry! You won't be hurt again, please stop fighting!" Ho-Oh didn't make any signs to show that it was listening to what Lyra had said. "I am the one who protects you Ho-Oh, I understand you, I felt you when you needed me! I came, I'm here! Please, I know you don't want to hurt anything; you're just angry and maybe scared. There's nothing that can hurt you anymore, you're safe. If you stop then nothing will be put against you. You and Lugia and its child have already caused enough damage to the building," She pulled herself closer to Ho-Oh's neck, its golden feathers tickling her face. "It's okay to be scared. I'm here to help you."

A tingling sensation traveled through her skin. She closed her eyes and held on tighter. The feeling intensified. "Please!" She begged. It felt as if power surged through her and she pulled back, arms still tightly wrapped around Ho-Oh's neck. Its golden wings let off an eerie glow. Upon closer inspection, she too was glowing a golden sheen.

Her heart stilled and she could feel the massive bird's heart beat under her hands. Her own heart stilled and fell into tune with a rhythmic beat.

The legendary was calming down. She could feel her emotions stirring inside her and Ho-Oh as if they were just one living entity.

Is this what Sammy experienced before?

It seemed as if the world slowed as she became one with Ho-Oh.

June 21st, 2006

One, two.

One, two.

One, two.

Dawn's heart pounded viciously in her chest as she frantically raced through the building trying to find a safe exit. She could feel the sweat pool on her lower back, sticking unpleasantly to the black Team Rocket uniform. The building was getting hotter and hotter and smoke slowly filtered into her nose. Her eyes watered with both the frantic feeling stirring within her and just from the sheer heat that was being confined into the building. It also didn't help that she had a huge gash on her forehead, obstructing her vision in her right eye.

Dawn had no idea where to go. She had looked around everywhere and couldn't find a way out; she was just walking in circles. She was caught in the rush of escaping Rocket grunts; nobody really took notice as she was wearing their clothes.

Dawn had Piplup out with her as protection, he was a water type pokémon after all and he was her best defence against oncoming flames.

There was a loud crack as a beam started to fall in front of her. Dawn let out a loud scream and crouched down, covering her head with her hands. "Piplup!" Her pokémon cried and raced over to her, also trying to both give and get protection. The ground shook violently as the beam crashed into the ground in front of her, some of the floor breaking away at the impact of one end. Dawn couldn't help it; she was too scared to get up.

"Help!" She screamed as loudly as she could. "I'm lost!" She choked on the ending of the last word. "I don't know how to get out…" She whimpered.

"Hello?" A feminine voice called. "Is somebody there?"

Dawn perked up, sitting now. Piplup moved closer to her to provide some comfort. "Help me!" She shouted again.

"Dawn?" The voice said. "Hang on! I'll be right there, don't move!" Dawn listened silently as two pairs of footsteps raced around, "I see you, just a second!" The voice was muffled as it said something else, the beam was lifted up and the floor broke away more. "Run Dawn!" Dawn snatched up Piplup and raced under the beam, ducking under it. Dawn launched herself into May's arms, wrapping her one free arm around the brunette while Piplup was being held safely in the other. Her shoulders shook as she let her fright finally come through as tears.

"I thought I was lost, I couldn't find a way out of here." She sobbed and May gently stroked her head while holding her in a death grip.

May gently rocked them from side to side. "The exit's right here, not too far from us. I have you it's okay, don't worry anymore." May rest her head against the side of Dawn's "I thought Paul told you to stay with him, what happened? What happened to your head?" She demanded.

Dawn pulled away, wiping her face with a soot covered hand. "The Rocket grunts practically stampeded me in here, I couldn't see anybody I knew but Rocket grunts." She shook her head. "I-I was starting to freak out. It's felt like I was going in circles and then that beam fell." She pointed behind her and noticed May's Blaziken standing by the beam, smoke pooling into the room from the spot where the beam fell.

"We need to go." May said. "You're safe now, you're not alone." May comforted her and held onto Dawn's hand tightly. "Drew's not too far. He's looking somewhere else. There are three of us together."

"Where's Paul?" Dawn asked frantically. "Is he okay? What if he's stuck somewhere too? Oh Arceus…"

May nodded to Blaziken and started to pull Dawn away to the door. "I'm sure Paul's okay, he's strong as heck." Dawn laughed lightly at that. "I mean, have you seen that guy?" May asked. "He looks lean and skinny but man, that is not the case, I want to know if he does as much training for himself as he does for his pokémon, that's another thing, he's got all the crazy tough pokémon with him that can protect him perfectly fine if he can't take care of himself." May jumped over an overturned desk and helped Dawn along. "I'm sure we'll find him, then the Hoenn squad will be back together!" May laughed at herself this time, a smile growing on Dawn's face.

"Don't say that." Dawn giggled.

"What? Squad?" May questioned. "It's true though."

"Imagine if Cilan said something like that." Dawn wondered.

May threw her head back in a laugh. "It hasn't been all that long and I know Iris would probably dump his ass right then and there."

"Maybe not though." Dawn reasoned. May's idea was effectively working; she wanted to distract Dawn from the scene around her. "Iris has liked him forever; she might just give him a lecture or something instead."

May nodded. "Hm, yeah that seems more likely." Blaziken had moved in front of them and pushed open the door, standing there was Drew with another person. "Iris! Perfect!" May exclaimed. "We were just talking, what would you do if Cilan said squad?"

Iris exploded with laughter. "I don't really know what I'd do…. Maybe not feed him?"

"Oh my Arceus." Drew muttered. "That's extreme."

"But you don't cook… he does." Dawn said slowly.

Iris nodded. "Right, yeah. Maybe make him eat his own snot or something like that then."

Drew rubbed his face, a very prominent grimace stuck on it. "You're disgusting,"

"Thank you." Iris replied with a grin. "But let's remember, that any future kid you have will undoubtedly do that. So you better get used to the thought."

"Let's just get out of this hell hole please." Drew said and turned to walk down a flight of stairs. "We're on the second level so we're not too far from safety. "I saw somebody else get out, I couldn't tell who though."

"It was Cilan and Paul." Iris clarified. "I told them to get lost; Pansage needs medical attention badly so they're trying to sort that out right now. I saw you Drew, and I came back."

"Paul?" Dawn asked hopefully.

May elbowed her in the side. "See, I told you he'd be okay." May reached up and rubbed a finger against Dawn's head, showing her a red covered finger, "You however are not. Maybe doctor Paul can fix you up?" She gave her friend a wink.

"No, shut up!" Dawn averted her eyes. "Let's not let him do that please!" May grabbed a hold of Dawn's hand again and helped her down the stairs.

"Okay, maybe not him but how about doctor May?"

"I don't trust you."

"Actually, I'm the most qualified person here to be a doctor." Iris said. "Doctor Harrison isn't here, but I am, I'll fix you up."

They pushed open another door and Dawn looked around at the main lobby, everything was destroyed, burned and ripped couches, smashed desks and computers, charred plants, broken windows. There was obvious evidence that there was a small war within the building.

"There's the door," Drew said. "Be careful of the broken glass."

He was right, the glass doors had shattered and really, it couldn't even be labelled as a door, just smashed glass. May practically dragged Dawn through them; Iris had placed a hand on Dawn's shoulder and took Piplup from her in her free arm. Drew was closely walking behind, inspecting their movements.

It was still dark outside, but the nearby building had been lightened with an orange glow, rain fell down around them. She could see two bodies hunched over Pansage, one was holding their jacket over top of it and the other was busy giving it different berries and medications. "Let's bring her over with them May." Iris instructed. "Cilan has my bag and there's bandages and cleaning supplies in there."

"Okay." May nodded.

"Stop talking as if you're carrying me, May you're just holding my hand and Iris, you're squeezing my shoulder. I'm walking on my own." Dawn sighed. The warm rain felt refreshing against her skin compared to the dry hot air inside the Radio Tower.

"We need to be dramatic." May spoke quietly. "We need to get Paul to see you!"

"What?" Dawn exclaimed. "No, you said you wouldn't!"

"Cilan!" Iris called to her boyfriend. "Move my bag over, I need my stuff for Dawn!" Cilan didn't look up; her just pushed the bag to his left over and continued working. Paul however looked up and watched as they led Dawn to sit close next to him. She felt her cheeks heat up and rolled her one eye that she had open. "It's just a cut, I'm okay, my head didn't split open, it's nothing big, I just need it washed really, I don't even need a bandaid."

Iris appeared in front of her. "Hey Dawn, guess what."

"What?"

"Be quiet and don't complain."

Dawn gasped. "I'm not complaining!" She retorted quickly.

Iris rummaged through her bag, "What do you think Paul?"

Dawn didn't look at him, but she could guess his expression. "Just wash her off like she said, it's nothing serious. Head wounds just bleed a lot. She knows what's best for her body."

She sighed, "Thank you Paul."

"It's should still be bandaged though." He added.

Iris grinned. "Thank you Paul!"

A bright light suddenly blasted in the dark sky, Dawn jumped and gaped upwards.

June 21st, 2006

"Clemont?" Serena asked and gently shook her friend. Clemont grunted and sat up, one of the lenses in his glasses was cracked and the other was clouded with dust. "Are you okay?" She asked worriedly.

"I'm fine, are you okay?" He replied back.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Here, let me take those," She carefully took the glassed off of his face and rubbed the dust from the one unbroken glass. She placed them back on his face and stood up, suddenly feeling flustered.

"Uh…" He said slowly. "Thanks." He pushed himself up off of the ground. His blue coveralls were dirty and covered in soot and dust, they were torn in some spots but other than the appearance of his clothes, he seemed to be perfectly fine, just like he had said, well other than the bullet wound he had that was still clear to see. He still favoured one leg over the other. Clemont quickly turned his head to the side and coughed. The air was a light gray colour. Clemont turned back to her and frowned. "Your shoulder." He pointed to it, she looked down, there was a trickle of blood seeping through her cardigan.

"Oh, it's fine, I didn't even feel it." Serena squinted down the staircase. "I think we can get down." She said. "There's still stuff on the stairs but there's enough room for us to walk down." Clemont stepped up next to her and looked down.

"I don't know how safe it'll be." He said slowly as he looked it over. His eyes turned back to her and he looked at her shoulder again, then up to her eyes. "The ceiling is drywall and cement. That's pretty heavy stuff and the stairs could be under a lot of strain." He looked at her. "How much do you weigh?"

Serena blinked. "You're asking me how much I weigh?"

A blush dusted over Clemont's cheeks, "No! I mean yes! But I didn't mean for it to sound rude or something! I just—if I know I might be able to figure out if we can get down there safely!"

Serena frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. "Well we are practically the same height so we should weigh the same."

"Yeah, but you're skinner than me."

Serena narrowed her eyes. "Thank you for the complement, but that won't get you a freebie."

"…Freebie?" Clemont said slowly, he was very confused.

Serena sighed. "I weigh 124 pounds."

"See, I do weigh more than you, and to make you happy, I'll tell you. I weigh 147 pounds, see much heavier." Clemont looked to the stairs again. "We can probably go down the stairs okay, but we should be careful and we should make sure to spread our weight." He looked to her again. "You should go first."

"Why would I go first?" She asked.

"Because you're 23 pounds lighter…" Clemont reasoned. "Do you trust me?" He held out his hand to her.

Serena stared at his open hand and nodded slowly; she grabbed it and let him lead her to the first step. She took a deep breath and started to gingerly walk down. Her shoes crunched the small pieces of debris as she carefully walked down. She reached the flat, square step and looked up at Clemont. He smiled at her. "Keep going, I'm coming down now, don't worry." She watched as he carefully took his turn and walked down the steps. After he was halfway down, she decided to continue down the next flight.

There had been no problems until the third flight of stairs. That was if there was a third flight of stairs. "Clemont!" She called and looked up. Clemont paused and looked over the railing at her.

"Oh, well that's a problem…" He frowned. "I have something that can help us, hold on, it's part of my clemontic gear."

"Will it explode?" She asked. "That's the kind of thing we don't want to risk right now."

"No it's in my back pack. It'll actually work." He said.

It took a few minutes for Clemont to hobble down the stairs. He stood next to her and pressed a button on his backpack, a blade popped out, much like one on a plane. "If you had that, why didn't we use it before?"

"It takes up a lot of the energy stored in my bag. I don't want to use it all in one go in case we need it later." He glanced at her. "We-uh-I kinda need to hold onto you so we can both get down there."

"Oh yeah, right." She stood where she was. They both just looked awkwardly from one to another. "So how should we do this?" She asked, "What would be easier for you?"

Clemont's face turned red again, "Uh, here I'll just…" He crouched down and hooked one arm under her knees and lifted her up. Serena's eyes widened and there was only one spot to put her arms… around his neck…

"Mew, this shouldn't be so awkward…." She said quietly. "We're like best friends right? We've practically live with each other for over a year so, this isn't that bad."

"No, it's perfectly normal." Clemont agreed. "Okay so here we go." He said and the blade began spinning, slowly lifting them off of the ground and Clemont maneuvered them down past the gaping hole in the stairs. "I'll just take us down to the bottom; we'll be out faster…"

"Uh yeah sure." Serena agreed. Serena silently cursed herself, what was going on between the two of them?

It felt like ages later, they reached the lobby. Clemont carefully put her down and didn't look at her. She felt slightly hurt at that gesture. Clemont's hands moved up to adjust his glasses and unconsciously, she followed his movements, but instead of adjusting non-existent glasses, she touched her hair. "Come on, let's get outside. I can hear some of the others talking."

"Of course." He scratched the back of his head. "At least Bonnie will be happy." Clemont said quietly.

"Huh? Why?" Serena asked.

Clemont jerked his head up and looked at her as if he was a deerling caught in headlights, "Oh, she's been wanting me to get new glasses, she says these ones are too nerdy or whatever." He shrugged.

Serena looked at him. "I think they suit you, I like them. I want to come with you when you go and look for new ones."

"Oh, sure. You can come with me."

Serena smiled. "Great!"

June 21st, 2006

Ash covered his nose with his shirt as he looked around the top floor room. "Leaf!" He called but it was muffled from his shirt. A hand placed itself on his shoulder and he quickly looked over, sighing a sigh of relief when his eyes met the green eyes of his girlfriend. Then they widened. "Mist! What are you doing here?"

"I followed you." She said. "I can't let you go and save people all by yourself."

"Yeah, but it's dangerous!" He exclaimed.

Misty shrugged. "And? I'm going to help you find Leaf and you can't stop me."

"Oh, I already knew I couldn't stop you." Ash shrugged. "But I don't like that you're here."

"Well I guess you'll have to deal with that feeling then." She smiled at him. "You can't do anything without me." She put her hand into his and began to lead the way around the room. "Leaf!" She shouted, louder than he had before.

"Nido!" A pokémon cried back in response.

"I'm here!" Leaf shouted.

Ash looked to the side closest to his girlfriend. "Where?" He called.

"I'm by—" She stopped talking for a moment, but started up again. "I'm by Proton."

Ash glanced over at Misty and they took off running. In no time they reached the spot where Leaf was standing, Nidoking, Nidoqueen and Blastiose were all standing next to her. Proton was still lying on the ground where he was left; a puddle of dark blood was around him.

"Is he…?"

Leaf stared down at the man and nodded solemnly. "I tried to help but..." She shrugged, "He breathed in a lot of smoke." She looked at Gary's pokémon. "We should go up to the deck. Gary needs his pokémon, I can hear a battle happening."

"You don't want to leave?" Ash asked in wonder.

Leaf shook her head. "We can help more up on the deck, they're fighting three legendary pokémon, they need all the help they can get." She pointed to tall metal shelves. "We need to grab our pokéballs, they're sitting right there. I saw Lyra grab hers from there while she was going upstairs.

"Pikachu!" Ash exclaimed loudly and pulled his hand from Misty's and raced over to the shelf.

Leaf laughed lightly as she followed after her long-time friend. "Pikachu really is your one true love." Misty drawled.

"Of course he is!" Ash found where his were shelved and immediately let out his electric-type partner.

"Pika!" Pikachu exclaimed and raced around in happy circles. "Pikachu!" He jumped up into Ash's arms and affectionately rubbed noses with his trainer.

"Alright!" Ash exclaimed excitedly. "Now we can get up to that deck and help out!" He looked to Leaf. "You got yours?" She nodded and he grinned. "Let's go then!"

Ash made a little jump and grabbed both Leaf and Misty's hands. Pikachu let out a squeal as he hung on tightly to his trainer's blue jacket. Ash raced to the stairs he saw out of the corner of his eye. Misty and Leaf crunched his hands into a death grip but he barely noticed as he took two or three steps at a time. Misty would often complain to his to slow down but he didn't listen, he had something else on his mind. There were a chorus of giggled coming from Leaf as she raced up the stairs just as fast as Ash did. He grinned, he was happy that his long-time friend was happy again and expressing it so freely.

Ash flung the door open and only one thing came from him. "Holy shit…"

He stared on as the rain poured down and there was a bright glow coming from Ho-Oh. "What is that?" Misty breathed from beside him. Nobody answered her question; they were all too busy staring in shock.

In a white flash, the golden light disappeared and there in the air was Ho-Oh who looked slightly different and there was a silhouette of a person standing on the shoulder of the bird. There was a dress billowing in the wind from the storm.

"Who is that?" Misty asked this time, and she got an answer.

Ritchie looked back at him, an amazed expression on his face. "It's Lyra."

"What?" Ash asked quickly, "How? How did she…?" HE narrowed his eyes. "It kind of looks like the thing I can do with my Greninja."

Ritchie stared at him. "What exactly do you mean Ash? I've seen a lot of things over the past few years, and this is not one of them."

Ash let go of the two girl's hands. "It's like mega evolution, but it's not. Clemont has said that when it happens with Greninja and I, out heartbeats are at the same time and we can feel each other. It's kind of like we share a body."

"Share a body?" Gin was staring at Ash now. He had interest painted all over his face.

Ash nodded. "Yeah, but my appearance has never changed, always Greninja's." He shrugged and looked at the silhouette again. "I know for a fact that there is no way Lyra was wearing a dress before and if that really is her, she clearly is now."

"It doesn't matter how it happened." Ethan said. "Whatever she has done has worked. Ho-Oh isn't freaking out now, just the two Lugias."

"Lugia and Silver." Gin corrected. "Lugia's child is named Silver."

Ethan turned slightly to look at the red haired man. "You named the legendary you protect, after yourself… Really?"

Kris whipped around and smacked Ethan in the stomach. "Shut the hell up!" She whispered frantically to him. Ethan's eyes widened and he looked away.

Gary stared at from each of the three people, even to Ritchie who avoided eye contact. "What do you mean, named after yourself, his name is Gin, is it not?"

Gin glared harshly at Ethan. "Yes my name is Gin. Gin means silver." His cold gaze flicked to Gary. "Should we do the same?" He gestured to the now calm legendary. "Are you willing to do that for Lugia?"

Gary blinked. "I—"

"Gary," leaf said. The researcher turned around to look at her, she gave him a smile. "You can do it Gary."

He smiled back at her. "Of course I can, I am Gary Oak."

"Do you want Talonflame?" Ash offered. "You have no other way of getting over there." Gary nodded.

Gin walked over to Ethan, muttering a few words quietly to him before taking mount on Pidgeot. "Let's get going then. The final step until this is all over."

Ash released his fast flying pokémon and watched as Gary and Gin took off. "It's not the final step for the rest of us." He said. "There's still more regions that need to be helped."

June 21st, 2006

It was hard to breathe at the speed Talonflame was flying. This pokémon was truly one of the fastest moving pokémon in the world. He held onto the glasses that were stuck on his face, they were helping him see by blocking the wind from pushing its way into his eyes. He steered Talonflame to follow after Gin and Pidgeot. The baby Lugia, or Silver, as Gin had said, was flying closely next to Lugia.

He could feel Lugia's eyes trailing him. It was moving its neck along in the same direction he was flying. Lugia wasn't causing as much commotion as before, maybe it was because of the help that its partner was no longer angered.

Gary couldn't help but think that Lugia's movements were very Arbok-like. Gary could tell that Talonflame felt intimidated by the large flying-type, Lugia was after all, the one in charge of the three legendary birds, Atricuno, Zapdos and Moltres and therefore had a large impact on other flying types as well. There was large proof of sightings of the three legendary birds in Kalos, whether they were the same ones born in Kanto or not, nobody knew, it was too hard to tell because they were no up-close sightings as far as they knew aside form one sighting by a kid photographer named Trevor Lockwood.

Gary slid his hand through Talonflame's orange feathers. "Don't be scared." He said, hoping he could hear him. "We both need to be as brave as we can so we can calm it, right? You're not on your own remember, you have me here with you and even Gin and Pidgeot."

"Talon!" Talonflame cried and suddenly jerked forward, flying fasted and tumbling directly onto Lugia's back.

"Perfect!" Gary shouted as he steadied his footing and held on tightly to the now angered and wildly thrashing pokémon. "Perfect Talonflame! Thank you!" He praised and made a mad dash to Lugia's neck, following Lyra's actions to a T. "Lugia, Lugia!" He shouted. He could hear faint calls for the name Silver not too far off, obviously from Gin. Gary gripped tightly into one of the protruding squared-spike like shapes. Gary let go and flung himself forward. "Lugia can you hear me?" He asked. "My name and Gary Oak and I'm the person who you, or Arceus, or the world, or whoever has chosen to be the one who protects you remember? You gave me those awful migraines when you tried to connect with me and guess what? I'm here, quite literally on your shoulder." He pushed his glasses up and held onto Lugia with one arm, now using his other to hold his long brown locks from his face. "You know you're a pretty great parent. If I ever have kids I hope to be like you." Suddenly Gary's breathing was automatically changed and he felt lightheaded. It didn't feel like he had control of his body's movements anymore, it just did whatever. "You're such a good pokémon and really, I'm jealous. I can't just have you're nurturing and kind personality. I'm stuck with this god awful cocky one as my friends say," He laughed. "How about we make a compromise? You help me and I help you."

Lugia's wings made a great beat and it let out a small noise, as if it was shy.

Gary grinned. "Great!"

And that's it! The final chapter! The prolouge for the next book, Bringing Restoration is up on my profile so give it a peek, the first chapter will for sure be updated by next monday, or maybe sooner? :))))

I'm so happy that this first part is done, a little sad too but the adventure is far from over!

Stay tuned and have a lovely week!