Part III: Little Black Truths

I slowly opened the bathroom door with a sigh, feeling short of breath inside of this steamy little room. I padded out with a frown and pulled my towel off of my head, then flung it to the floor with a grunt. I froze as I found Silver's Typhlosion standing near his trainer, his crimson eyes intently locked onto my face. I then looked to the left of the door and found my poor Meganium giving the Fire Type a shaking growl.

I snapped my attention to the culprit with a growl of my own, startling him slightly from his awkward-looking recline. "Why is your Typhlosion out? I thought you hated letting them out of their Pokéballs."

Silver just shrugged and kept his eyes on his stolen Pokémon. "You had yours out, so I decided to let mine out. It's not a crime, Marshamallow-Head."

I just shook my head and headed towards the coffetable, hoping to perhaps read some of the other articles inside of the magazine instead of my own. I stopped as I found it oddly missing from the glass surface. I slowly turned my attention back to my rival and found him now looking up at the ceiling and clearing his throat.

"Alright, where did the magazine go?"

"W-What are you talking about?!" I raised an eyebrow as Silver's voice faltered on his yell. "There certainly wasn't a copy of Trainer's Elite Beat on that table, Pigtails! You're losing your mind—if you even had one to begin with."

I just chuckled and smirked at him. "You're doing that specific denial thing again, Silv. You're really losing your touch."

"Oh, shut it already!" His Typhlosion let out an amused rumble and turned towards me, pointing to the pillow under his trainer's head.

Ah. I smirked even wider as I walked on over to the bedside and glared down at the mess of red hair that was now frizzing all over the place. I barely could distinguish those metallic eyes under those scarlet locks, the cold orbs slowly drifting to me before snapping back towards the ceiling. I just chuckled as his cheeks gained a slightly pinker hue to his pale skin.

"What do you want?!"

"Oh," I just yanked the pillow out from under him, earning a curse as his head was sent crashing to the mattress. I grinned as I found the black cover sticking out behind his head. "Just taking this from you!" I pulled the magazine out with a laugh as he groaned with defeat. His starter let out a roar of amusement just as Meganium waddled over to my side.

"G-Give it back, you stupid girl!" I quickly lifted it above my head as Silver suddenly lunged for me, grabbing for it with shaking hands—guilty hands.

"No way! I can read the stupid magazine, Silv—ER!" My taunt was rudely interrupted by him toppling off the bed and smashing into me, sending us both crashing to the floor. Typhlosion just laughed at us in his throaty growls while my loyal Meganium let out a roar of panic.

I blinked as I found my own face staring back at me with a baffled look. I slowly pulled the magazine away and found the second me to be a picture of Meganium and I a few days before we challenged the League, startled by a sudden photographer. I raised an eyebrow as I found the page of my interview mysteriously Snubull-eared on the left side.

"Hey, this is my interview, isn't it?" I felt Silver stiffen close to my stomach as I tilted the page to the left. "Why's it Snubull-eared?"

"Wh-What are you talking about?!" I looked out from the bottom of the article to find him propped up on his hands and knees with a completely red face. "You obviously bent it over when you took it from me, pest!"

"Um, no I didn't, Mr. Flustered." I smirked as his eyes grew wide and he tried to shake the heat away from his face. "It fell on my face and was on this page, in case you forgot."

"Look," I glanced back at him and found him giving me a strange pout-like scowl. I just chuckled as it somehow reminded me of an angry Eevee. "Just give me back the magazine." I grinned and lifted the magazine higher.

"How about no?"

Silver then gave me a furious scowl and tried to reach the magazine himself. "Then I'll take it back!"

"Nope~!" I just yanked it away and curled up with the magazine pressed against my chest, making him let out a roar of frustration. I opened one eye to find him trying to reach in a small opening in my curl to pull the copy of Trainer's Elite Beat out, making me just laugh at him.

"You're really going to stick your hand near my boobs, Silv?" I relished in the way my taunt made his face burst into color and continued, "I didn't realize you still wanted to strip me."

"I don't!" He was yowling as his starter started to roar with laughter again, Meganium already trying to get past the Fire Type to come to my rescue. "You don't even have boobs!"

I deadpanned at him and started to growl, making him retract his hand and rub it awkwardly. "I do too have boobs, wise guy. There's just not Clair's boobs that suffocate you to death—"

"I don't want to hear about your boobs, Marshmallow-Head!" I looked up to find Silver sitting on his knees and covering his face in his hands, making me just chuckle and sit up. "I just want my magazine back!"

"Well tough luck, Jerky!" I leapt to my feet as Silver remained on the floor. I flaunted my little prize for a moment before snickering at his embarrassment. "Besides, why would you want to read about me, anyway? You're always ranting about how much you hate me, so why the sudden interest?"

I was taken by surprise as Silver jumped to his feet with a deadly glare—which honestly I grew immune to long ago. With a growl, he swatted his crooked jacket back over his side and got in my face.

"Perhaps I wouldn't be forced to read about my rival if she happened to actually spend some time near me instead of hanging out with all of those stuck-up losers in the Elite Four all day!"

An awkward silence slammed down on our heads as metallic eyes grew wide with horror. I just gawked at him as he looked down at the floor, muttering under his breath about 'being an absolute idiot' for spitting that in my face.

"Silver...I..." I found my heart dropping into my gut at this sudden realization. Is that why he was so touchy in the lobby? I looked down at my new pink sneakers and bit my lip in thought. The way he talked about me being the Champion...was this the reason why?

"Forget it." I looked up to find him looking away and swatting the air in dismissal. "You forget I ever said anything, Marshmallow-Head." He slowly trudged to the bed and just let himself flop down on the soft comforter before he went on, "You have more important things than dealing with a rotten rival now."

I felt a sad smile stretch across my face as I walked after him. Typhlosion and Meganium alike just watched us with worried eyes—Gani's being far more worried than Typhlosion's would ever be—as they waited for this scene to play out before them. Silver flinched as I let myself sit beside him and place a hand on his back.

"Hey," I leaned forward a little bit and tried to locate his eyes under that mess of hair. "Remember this?" He looked up to find me flaunting that burn on my hand with a smile. He raised an eyebrow before shaking his head.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"A lot." I scooted up on the bed and let the strange heart-like scar show in full view of my rival. "When I got this mark, I was nothing more than a girl fresh out of New Bark Town."

"Liar." I snapped my head to my right to find him glaring at that mark. "You've always been more than just a girl with a poor choice in attire. You're forgetting that the scar on your hand is from a legendary bird of fire, idiot."

I shook my head before placing my scarred hand on his own hand, making both of our cheeks warm at the strange bolts that resulted from this contact. "I was never enthusiastic about the whole deal with Ho-Oh, you understand that better than anyone." I took a quick glance to see if he was listening and found his metallic gaze locked on that strange mark with a fierce spark in those orbs.

"You were never just a girl." I found myself straining to hear him as his voice came out low and barely a whisper. "You've been a 'chosen one', a 'hero', an 'idol' and now you're a 'Champion'." I found myself looking down at my lap as he seemed to look straight through me.

"You've never been just a girl, never."

I paused for a moment, floored by this sudden twisted opinion of me. Is that how he's always seen me? I glanced up to see him turning his head towards our starters with a bitter frown on his face. It's almost as if I'm not even a person in his eyes. I felt my heart drop into my stomach as I felt a shocking thought enter my mind.

It's as if I'm on some sort of pedestal high above his head.

I decided right then and there that I needed to fix this.

"Silver," I gave him a hard stare as he continued to watch Typhlosion poke my poor Gani's antennae. "Do you trust me?" My question quickly snapped him out of his—most likely—fume and brought his gaze right back to my own eyes.

"What?" He narrowed his eyes in confusion as his mouth opened slightly. "What kind of question is that—"

"Do you trust me?" I pressed the question with a glare and a squeeze of his hand, making his cheeks light ever so slightly.

"...Yes?"

I smiled at his reluctant answer and pulled us both to our feet.

"Then I have a little something to show you."

Author's Note: In case it was unclear, the burn on Lyra's hand is actually in the shape of HeartGold's logo, the wings of Ho-Oh in the shape of a heart. She received this early on in her journey during an encounter with the legendary Pokémon. It was the literal mark of being the chosen one, as the Kimono Girls told her later on. The burn is no longer painful, but it still looks kinda bad. Lyra commonly hides it with make-up, which of course washed off in the shower.

And on a related side-note, it's best never to trust your hot-headed/stubborn/crazy rival when she asks for it.