Part IV: The Midnight Flight of Lyra Soul

When Lyra said she had something to show me, I had quite a different mental image of what was coming next.

"Lyra!" I was currently shouting above the bitter winds of Blackthorn at around a hundred feet off the ground, my arms clinging to her thin frame and my mind praying to Lugia that we don't fall off of her mode of transportation. "Lyra Soul, I demand you take us back down to the ground right now!"

"Oh relax, Jerky!" Lyra simply looked over her shoulder as her brunette locks whipped her cheeks until they turned cherry-red. "I promise you that you're perfectly safe with me!"

"We're on a stinkin' Skarmory over a hundred feet off the ground, woman! How in Lugia's name is this considered safe?!"

My clearly sadist rival simply laughed and looked ahead into the endless abyss of stars and gleaming moonlight. "Because you're with me, genius! I'm a trained professional at this!"

"At flying?!" I let out a shocked yelp as a murder of Murkrow flew through us, the Armor Bird Pokémon unfazed by their screeches of agitation. I spat out a few feathers as Lyra simply laughed. I then sharpened my glare at her back and snapped, "Unless you have an official license from Falkner, I'm not believing you for a single minute!"

I watched on as Lyra shook her head. She then turned back to my and shot her eyes to my waist. "If it makes you feel better, you can release Crobat to act as a safety net, big baby."

"You bet your badges I'm letting Crobat out!" I unclipped Crobat's Pokéball with a glare at those dancing hazels and hurled the capsule high. "I'd be crazy to trust you in this mess!"

Lyra let out a mutter that sounded suspiciously like 'you-claimed-you-trusted-me-back-at-the-Pokémon-Center' just seconds before Crobat let out a screech and swooped down for my rival. I watched the streak of purple with utter horror and let out a screech of panic.

"Crobat, no!"

But I was too late.

Crobat grabbed her with deadly accuracy, lifted her into the air and chirped with utter bliss at the sight of the brunette. Lyra Soul simply dangled from his mouth with a laugh and patted his side. Skarmory let out a shrill shriek of anger as my Bat Pokémon started to coo to her in that strange manner of his.

"Aw," Lyra let out a laugh and looked up at him with nothing but love in her warm hazels. "I've missed you too, Cro! How's Silver been doing lately?"

My Pokémon shot me an glare of accusation before letting out a few chirps. I just ignored him and silently kept praying that Crobat could effectively talk with his mouth full.

"Really now?" A small flame of discomfort rose in my chest as my rival began to have a conversation with my Pokémon. It was bad enough when she talked to her own Pokémon, let alone talked to mine. "I had a sneaking suspicion. He's looking thin and pale again."

My discomfort quickly morphed into anger at her words.

"Who are ya' calling 'thin and pale', Beanpole!?"

Lyra and both flyers just laughed at my insult, making the heat rise to my cheeks in protest. The girl swatted the air for a moment and Crobat simply fluttered along with the flying Skarmory as we continued this midnight flight.

"Hey Silv," I looked back up from Skarmory's back to see Lyra giving me a smirk—a dangerous smirk. "Hold on to Skar tight, alright? We're going to fly higher."

I felt as if she tossed a rock straight at my head.

"Are you nuts, woman?! We'll end up catching hypothemia or some crap if we fly higher in this night air!" Lyra just shook her head and pointed up towards the moon.

"Skar, head for the stars."

The Amor Bird Pokémon let out a shrill call that sounded suspiciously like a laugh before shooting up for the heavens above. I found myself screaming in protest as Crobat darted up beside us with a cheering rival in his jaws. I tried to gulp down as much air as possible as we suddenly popped up above a cloud.

"See, you big crybaby?" Lyra popped up seconds after me with a smiling Crobat. "It doesn't kill you."

I fought to stop hyperventilating as I looked around our hovering location. The air was indeed colder up here, but that was nothing compared to the night sky.

The stars seemed to shimmer even brighter than I've ever seen before, almost to the point that they radiated their own light as the moon shone beside them. They were far more numerous as well, dazzling the navy skies with a shower of diamonds. The moon sat in the center of it all, almost as if it were a pearl on the center of a diamond necklace. I had to admit, it was pretty nice up here despite the chill.

It was, dare I say it, beautiful up here.

"Well?" Lyra's confident voice pulled me out of my thoughts like an angler. I looked to my right to find her folding her arms with a smirk of confidence. "Your thoughts on the scenery, Sir Grumpypants?"

I gave her a glare before turning to my left. "It's like something out of a cheesy chick-flick, during the lead's date with the super hot guy or something."

A muffled giggle met my burning ears as I folded my arms. "Oh, I had no idea you were fluent in chick, Silver. Perhaps I should look through your PokéPlayer the next time I get the chance."

I snapped my attention back to her and gave her the darkest scowl I could muster at nearly ten at night. "You touch my 'Player, Lyra and I will personally ensure you have a painful and gruesome death."

Lyra just rolled her eyes and gave me a playful mimic of my face. "Like you'd ever kill me. You couldn't survive without me, redhead."

I felt my cheeks burn as she just laughed her accusation off as if it were nothing. ...She's probably right. I found myself horrified with my brain's result. Things just wouldn't be the same without a pesky Marshmallow-Head around.

I turned my head away and scoffed as I tried to regain some sanity.

"Like I said," I looked out of the corner of my eyes to find her giving me a smug look of triumph. "You wouldn't dare try to hurt me."

"Why are we up here anyway, Miss Annoying?!" I spat the question out and prayed that my face wasn't as red as her sleepwear at the moment. She just blinked at me before giving me a small smile—a genuine smile.

"I wanted to show you something," She looked up at the skies before letting out a long sigh. "I thought it might cheer you up, Silv."

"I don't need cheering up, Marshmallow-Brain." I gave her a glare as my insult simply earned a laugh and a pat for Crobat.

"I haven't heard that one in over a year!" She flashed a toothy grin before turning to her Skarmory. She snapped her fingers as if a signal before nodding her head to the Armor Pokémon. She then slowly turned to face me with a grin—a far too suspicious grin.

"Well, I'll see you later, redhead."

An utter weight of confusion slammed into my skull as she slowly rose a hand to Crobat's side. "What in Lugia's name are talking about, you little—"

It was right then that she tickled his side.

I let out a scream of panic as Crobat's mouth opened with a laugh. Horror raced through my veins as she simply plummeted to the ground below, dropping through the thin layer of clouds as if it were nothing.

"LYRA!"

Crobat let out a squeal of shock before darting after her with panicked echolocations ringing out in the night air. Then, the unthinkable happened.

Skarmory slammed into Crobat in mid-air with a laugh of a caw, knocking me overboard and sending Crobat into a dizzy twister.

I just screamed as I dropped even faster than my smaller rival, diving straight through the thin clouds and racing to meet the ground. My heart exploded within my chest, slamming violently until the hollow sound rang out in my ears even above the screaming winds around me. Unable to watch either my rival or myself go splat on the grass below us, I covered my eyes with my jacket sleeves and began to fervently pray to Lugia, Ho-Oh and every legendary that I knew that my rival and I wouldn't die by becoming craters in Blackthorn in the dead of night.

A cold bolt raced through me as something gently grabbed my arms. I didn't dare open my eyes, fearing that it was the hands of some undertaker waiting to take me to my grave. My grim and frankly terrifying thoughts were burst by the sounds of laughter.

I looked out of my arms to find exactly who I last expected to see smiling at me as we fell to our doom.

"Aw, don't be such a baby, Silver!" Lyra was grinning ear-to-ear as we continued to fall faster than I even knew was possible. "Move your arms!"

"Are you insane, woman?!" I tried to throw her off of me but I just ended up spinning in mid-air and earning a sickening swirl in my gut. Lyra just chuckled before grabbing the back of my jacket and righting my descent for me with a smile. I gave her the darkest scowl I ever made and spat out, "We're going to fall to our deaths!"

She gave me a confused look before shaking her head and leaning towards me. Suddenly I found myself face-to-face with my insane rival as she grabbed my hands and steadied my shaking.

"You won't die, Silver." Her voice was surprisingly calm as she lied right to my face. "I promise you, this is perfectly safe." I opened my mouth to interject something along the lines of 'you-are-utterly-insane-and-we-are-going-to-die' when she motioned to the ground below.

My eyes betrayed me and stole a glance at my soon-to-be killer.

I was instantly floored by the sight of Blackthorn and the surrounding areas looking like nothing more than an overhead map, only in stunning depth and color that I could hardly explain. The grand buildings and ancient shines of old were nothing more than miniatures in this small staged model of Johto, everything being small enough to be a replica of the living, breathing town of dragons. Every light in the town was nothing more than a candleflame, shimmering for the two of us in a silent funeral ritual.

I opened my mouth to speak several times, but each attempt was ended with myself closing my mouth like a suffocating Magicarp. Lyra just fell across from me with a small smile of self-satisfaction on her glowing face.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Her voice was calm and steady. Somehow, the sound brought a sweet blanket of peace to shield me from the bitter air of late August. "It's one of my favorite things."

I lifted my head to give her my full attention with a raised eyebrow. "How is this your favorite thing?" A sudden prick of alarm stabbed me and made a horrible image flash in my mind.

There she was, falling to her death as the great bird of fire watched on. She didn't scream or cry out for help as the Kimono Girls and the Ecruteak City Gym Leader watched my rival fall to her death, thrown off the back of the grand phoenix and sentenced to a swift and painful death the moment she met the cobbled streets below.

Despite the fact that I wanted nothing to do with the great bird of rebirth, I found myself racing back to the small village with unsteady breath. My small dot of a rival eventually became clearer in the autumn air as she danced with the falling leaves, ignoring the doom that awaited her as she grew closer to the ground.

I pulled myself out of the memory as the image of Lyra Soul lying on the ground under a tree flashed into view, taunting me with that crooked leg and those shut eyelids that I assumed had covered clouded eyes.

"Lyra Soul," I tried to keep my voice from quivering as she simply waited for me to speak with an odd glint in her eyes. "How in the name of Lugia could you ever enjoy this?!" I lifted my chin even higher as she just chuckled at my rational worry. "You were thrown off the back of Ho-Oh, for Lugia's sake! You could have died that day, Lyra! Yet here we are, plummeting to the ground by choice as if it were as simple as jumping on a trampoline!"

She gave me a sad look before shaking her head and squeezing my hands. She let out a deep breath before giving me a cold stare that shot an arrow through my heart.

"That's why I like this. When I was falling off of Ho-Oh, everything flashed before my eyes." I watched on in utter silence as she continued, "Some would say it was terrifying, scarring, even. But when I saw my life before me, I realized something."

"What?" My voice was barely above a whisper, making me doubt she could hear me. "What could you possible realize that would make you want to do this?"

Her hazels narrowed until that flame came back to haunt me. That burning flame that I've seen so many times danced in her eyes with a fierce hunger that only Ho-Oh's own flames could rival.

"That no matter what others make me be, whether it be a 'chosen one' or a 'hero', I'm not what they want. In the end, I am Lyra Soul. I will never become their little pawn in some grand game of destiny, fates and prophecies, I will be what I choose to be."

Her words just shot a bullet straight through me yet again, leaving me falling there with wide silver coins for eyes. She just closed her eyes for a moment and took a breath as I struggled to collect myself.

This is what she sees this as, then. I swallowed hard as I closed my own eyes. She feels...free. This is her doing what she wants and feeling free from them. This is her moment of absolute control, her calm to her storm.

I angled my head to give her my full attention once again and opened my eyes to find her waiting for me to respond, small embers still smouldering in those hazel pools.

I felt as if it all clicked in my mind.

She had to have brought me here as a way to prove all of those titles wrong at once. A 'chosen one' should not be thrown off the back of the beast they are expected to tame. A 'hero' is not expected to fail and land herself a long six month stint of no action after breaking her left leg and then another six months of specialized therapy to bring the limb back up to full strength. An 'idol' does not throw herself in harm's way just for kicks.

And a 'Champion' does not do such reckless acts as if they were little children, even if they technically were a child—well, a teenager.

I felt a grin stretch across my face and a small laugh escaped my lips. Lyra's eyes grew wide for a split second before they returned to a gaze of utter thankfulness. I tightened my grip on her hands as we just exchanged a nod as if we had just finished that momentous battle in Victory Road and realized what we had both struggled to express in that moment.

"I get it." The words finally left my mouth as Lyra pulled us closer together with a small smile. "I get it, Lyra. I get it."

"Good." She smiled even wider and then gave me a nod. "I was hoping you would."

A sudden caw rang out above the sound of the rushing winds. We both looked up and found her Skarmory diving for us as compact as a needle, slicing the air with his sharp beak and his metal helmet. Crobat dove right behind him with a look of concentration, as if he was struggling not to panic.

Lyra just took a deep breath and whistled in that special way of hers that brought her Armor Pokémon straight to her side. The great metal bird dove down until he was under us and then spread his wings wide.

Skarmory popped up under us and caught us on his back, letting out coo after coo and nuzzling his trainer with closed eyes. Crobat soon caught up and gave me coos of his own, rubbing his face all over my cheeks as apology for dropping my rival. I just gave him a pat on the head as forgiveness and watched as Lyra motioned for Skarmory to take us back down the remaining hundred feet to the solid ground.

Steel talons gripped the dirt and churned up grass as he landed on the earth below. Lyra silently slipped off the Pokémon's back and held out her hand with a pleased look. I just smiled and jumped off with a small grunt. Lyra gave her Skarmory a well-deserved thanks and recalled him back with a flash of light. I quickly followed suit and gave my Crobat a rest.

"Well then," My brunette rival grinned and ran a hand through her frizzed hair as if we had just taken a walk through town instead of sky-diving over Blackthorn. "We should get back inside before Nurse Joy finds out we slipped out the window."

I nodded and stuck my sweating hands in my pockets. "Right. The last thing I want to hear is that ditz's comments about..." We both just shuddered at the memory of the pink-haired woman's taunts back in the lobby.

"Yeah," Lyra just laughed and motioned back to our open window. "That's honestly ten-times worse than anything I've ever heard in my life."

I smirked as we walked back to the substitute entrance of our room. "Even worse than the infamous 'talk', Marshmallow-Head?"

She just shot me a fierce glare and growled at my mentions of one of life's oddest and most uncomfortable situations. "Don't ever bring that up again." She then jabbed my chest and frowned at me as I struggled not to laugh at her. "I had to endure a three-hour lecture thanks to you and your little 'plan' at the Radio Tower."

Heat raced to my face as she walked ahead of me. My feet stopped for a moment as I struggled to come up with a clever retort to that horrible little prompt. After a good two minutes of sputtering, I just settled for the old stand-by.

"It wasn't like that! I swear I just didn't want you to be a part of that scum, honest!"

I ran to catch up as she just laughed at my excuse. "Right, and I'm the great Leaf!"

"Shut it, Marshmallow-Head!" She stopped abruptly by our window as I stormed over. "I'll have you know that your so-called 'hero' is such a coward that she—" I was rudely interrupted by her scarred hand slamming over my mouth.

"Quiet!" I let out a few frustrated sounds as she looked over her shoulder and gave me a glare-and-hiss combo. "Nurse Joy always checks the halls during the late hours for two things, laundry and intruders. If she hears us out here, who knows what might happen."

I shoved her arm down and managed to remove the muzzle over my mouth. I raised an eyebrow and glared at the serious expression on her moonlit face. "Yeah, she'll send out her Chansey and Softboiled us to death." She deadpanned as I waved my hands in the air and imitated Gengar's ghostly wail. "I'm so scared!"

"No," Lyra's eyes were practically daggers as she didn't even so much as blink. "I'm talking press, media attention and parental restrictions on the both of us." I cringed at the last option before snapping my attention back to the other two.

Media attention. Press. My mouth opened slightly in furious disgust as her voice rang in my ears. Oh, so now she's some superstar?! Like that's gonna happen just because she snuck out with me for a few hours...

Crap.

"Now then," I jolted out of my thoughts and found her under the window with her fingers laced together, waiting to hoist me up. "Are you going to be sleeping inside tonight, Jerky? I specifically recall someone making quite the fuss this afternoon about 'wild Pokémon' and 'danger' over staying outside..."

I just let out a huff and stormed over to the window. "I don't need your help, Pigtails." She shot me a look as I thumbed my chest with pride. "You're forgetting that I'm a master thief and an expert at stealthy maneuvers."

"Not something to pride yourself on, redhead." It was frankly surprising how much emotion she could convey while whisper-hissing at me. "Just get your lavender butt inside, will ya'?"

"It's purple!"

She just rolled her eyes and shoved my side. "Just get in there!"

"Fine!" I made quite the ferocious hiss before backing up a good five feet to give me space. I then waved her to the left and glared at my target. "Move out of my way so I can get inside, woman!"

"Whatever," She just shrugged and gave me a smug grin. "You'll never make it, Silver."

"Shut it, pesky!"

I then took a deep breath and planned my movements. A quick dash would give me enough speed to make a long jump to reach the windowsill, and from there it's just easy pickings to scale the side of the wall and get inside of the room. I grinned as I imagined myself repeating the same routine I used to steal Cyndaquil from Professor Elm. I'll even have an opportunity to claim the bed!

"Any time this century would be nice, Silver."

I growled and shot the smart-mouthed rival a scowl before taking a deep breath once again and a few steps backwards. With a springbox start, I ran for the wall. Once I was the required distance away, I hurled myself into the air and reached out for the ledge.

I winced as my hands slammed down on the wooden frame and my legs crashed into the wall. Ack, not as easy as sneaking in Elm's lab. With a low hiss of pain, I put my feet against the wall and started to climb.

And by 'started to climb', I mean I constantly made myself look like an idiot by not even getting a single ounce of traction on the bottom of my sneakers.

"Crap!" I tried pulling myself up but apparently I had used up all my adrenaline in our fall over Blackthorn. "Stupid wall's too slick to climb."

I looked to my right and found my rival struggling not to burst out laughing at me. As usual, her struggle was in vain. She just let out a roar of laughter as I hung from the window like some Aipom.

"Told you, dummy." She gave me the usual grin before motioning for me to get off the wall. "Get down from there and I'll lift you up the right way."

"No way!" I growled at her and just tried that much harder to get in the window. "I can do this, Marshamallow-Head! Stop laughing at me!"

"Fine then." I raised an eyebrow as her voice no longer sounded as if she was beside me. I looked to my right to find her gone without a trace. "I won't laugh."

"Where the heck are you, Marshmallow-Head—"

A sudden pressure against my rear made me scream in embarrassment once again.

"Oh, be quiet!" My face felt as if it would melt off as my rival tried to assist me the same way her Bayleaf had back on the outskirts of the Ilex Forest. "You'll wake the whole village!"

"Watch where you push, idiot!" I tried to shoot her a glare over my shoulder, but I just ended up glaring at my hair. "Have you no guilt over shoving me?!"

"Hmm..." She paused for a minute before laughing at me. "Nope~! I'm just fine down here."

"Well," I let out a huff and turned towards the window. "I for one am disgusted by your lack of boundarie—"

My lecture was interrupted by my face being slammed into the floor of our room. I let out a grunt of pain as Lyra simply let out a quiet whoop of joy. I sat up and glared at the window as I rubbed my red cheek. How dare she shove me inside like a ragdoll!

"Alright," I stood up and frowned as Lyra was now a good ten feet away from the window and calling back to me with a smile. "Make room for me, Jerky!"

I just crossed my arms and smirked at this childish attempt. "Please, I couldn't make it in without nearly smashing my face in. You'll just end up slamming face-first into the wall and going splat."

Lyra just ignored me and started running full speed ahead to the window. I looked over my shoulder to find Typhlosion giving Lyra's Meganium a harsh rub on his green head, making him let out cries for mercy. Stupid weakling is always acting so pathetic until he's actually in battle. The second he's out and battling, he's a living nightmare. Just out of curiosity, I decided to turn back to check on Lyra's failure-in-progress.

My jaw promptly dropped open as she slipped into a handspring and launched herself straight in the air for the window. Panic swept over me as she neatly dove through the open window and headed straight for me, leaving me with only milliseconds until impact.

And let me tell you, it was a painful impact.

"Oi!" Lyra was currently twisted up with me on the floor, the two of us sent rolling backwards by her momentum. "I told you to move, idiot!"

"Well," I blew some of her hair out of my face as I tried to untangle my legs from her left leg and try not to focus on the fact that my rival was squishing me under her like a Body Slam attack gone wrong. "Excuse me for not believing you could do some freaky ninja crap and dive through the window!" She just laughed and lifted her head off my neck—and leaving a strange feeling on my exposed skin where the remains of her chuckle echoed—before smirking down at me.

"Well, I did warn you."

"Besides," I managed to free my limbs and roll onto my back, only to find myself looking up at her as her hair curled around her shoulders, rebelling with the lack of hair-ties. "Where did you learn to do that, Marshmallow-Head?! That was ridiculous!"

She just chuckled before flicking my nose. I rubbed the now red skin with a small roar of discomfort as she rose to her knees.

"Well, when I had that special therapy after breaking my leg, Falkner helped me get over any so-called 'trauma' from falling off Ho-Oh's back." She looked wistfully at the ceiling for a moment before shaking her head. "So he taught me a few maneuvers as well as how to do some fancy flying."

A strange feeling rose in my gut at the mention of the blue-haired Gym Leader of Violet City. So she hung out with that Pretty Boy for a good six months? I bet she loved every minute of that. Stupid girl and her stupid luck. I looked up to find her face twisted into something like regret.

"Excuse me for interrupting, Miss Lyra Soul." My sarcastic tone promptly pulled her out of her strange mood and brought her attention back to the boy she held trapped under her.

"But would you kindly get your Marshmallow-Butt off of me now?!"

Her face blossomed a fitting shade of red before she jumped to her feet and scurried to her Meganium's side with a few mutters that sounded like self-scolding. I just rose to my feet and calmly brushed off my jacket as if she had left dirt on my already-dirty clothing.

"Thank you, little brat." I shot her a smirk as she then turned her attention back to her starter. I watched for a moment as she rubbed her cheek on the Pokémon's head, letting out a few small noises as her starter let out babyish coos and calls in return. I shuddered in revulsion before an idea popped into my head.

A devious smirk stretched across my face as my plan unfolded.

Author's Note: Oh, I loved loved loved writing this chapter. This was (in my opinion) the moment that they broke a barrier between them. Silver, has many times needed a calm to his own storm, so to see Lyra's calm was basically a really strong move of trust on her part.

Yes, in HeartGoldHeadcanon!, Lyra fell off of Ho-Oh and broke her leg. The Kimono Girls and Morty did indeed watch her helplessly from the spire of the Bell Tower. It was quite the story, how a girl fell off of the great bird of fire and lived to tell the tale. (Hey, she caught him though!)

Lyra found out that instead of traumatizing her, the experience gave her a sense of freedom. Call her an adrenaline junkie or crazy, but she's sky-dived with her Skarmory ever since to calm her down after a rough day.

(In case it was unclear, Lyra forced Silver to throw on his jeans and jacket over his undershirt and shorts before they snuck out.)