Chapter XVIII: In Which Everything is Resolved
The second that woman's words entered my mind, everything just stopped. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't move. I couldn't even so much as think a single thought. As if having my rival suddenly so close to me wasn't bad enough, I get some adult woman cheering me on as if I was actually about to kiss my rival. I mean, I will be the first to admit that this position I found myself in was quite...uncomfortable, but that gives her no right to jump to conclusions.
As a sudden weight pressed against my chest, I felt as if I was about to pass out. My face was burning so much that I couldn't even feel my nose, my ears were ringing from some form of shock or something else, and Sneasel was currently engaged in some bitter spat with Lyra's Glaceon. All in all, this was one of the worst situations I've been in these past two days.
Yes, it even beats being tied up and thrown inside of a closet.
It felt like hours before I could regain some sanity and bring myself back to the real world. I blinked furiously for a few seconds before trying to figure out what to say. It was painfully obvious that my rival would throw some sort of 'flirt-insult' that she tosses my way on occasion, perhaps something along the lines of charming young girls in this very Pokémon Center in my free time.
However, I did not expect to find my rival passed out..again!
It took me a few seconds to adjust to this strange development before shaking myself back to the cold reality that my rival's head was resting against my chest once again while the rest of her just sprawled out in some awkward fashion. However, once this was established, I only had one reasonable option to partake in.
...After I moved my arms off of her shoulders.
After I had righted this unknown wrong, I immediately gave my rival a glare and tried to sit up. But, as I'm sure you are aware, a teenage girl is heavier than you would think, and so I was basically trapped here. Normally I would have yelled or even just outright shoved her off of me. However, with her recent admittance of 'being scared for me', I felt a bit...how do I say this...?
I was feeling a bit more...compassionate? Eh, perhaps that's too strong a word. Maybe forgiving would be a better fit in this case. I have a reputation as a top Trainer to uphold and that specifically bans me being all mushy. Besides, I wouldn't dream of going all soft. That's just plain stupid!
"Lyra Soul," I found my voice sharp as I gave her a rough poke on the cheek. The feuding Pokémon nearby stopped abruptly and turned to me with looks of shock. I shook off their rivalry and focused back on my rival. "Get your rear off of me, pest. I think you've had enough 'cuddle time' and need to get the heck off of me."
A few seconds ticked by and left me sitting there with my rival basically right on top of me and no response. As you may guess, this made me irritated very quickly. Therefore, ignoring the rabid growling of her Glaceon that signaled for me to get away from my rival, I gave her another shove. This one proved to be just as helpful as the first, leaving me sitting there with a scowl.
"Alright, enough with the tricks, Lyra." I frowned as she continued to just lay there. "I get it. You are very skilled in playing dead. Exceptional, even. However, the last place I want you to display such a pesky trick is on my lap. So," I paused to give her another push. "Off!"
"Silvy!" I looked up and found Sneasel giving me a grin. I gave him a scowl as he pointed to my rival. "Little Ice-Rattata told me that she's out for real! He said that she always does this after that crazy crap in the hallway!" I gave him a frown before looking back down to my rival.
"Well, what do you want me to do, then?" I motioned angrily to my rival before glaring at him. "I can't just let her take a nap on me, stupid! I'll end up getting some witty tease from Ms. Nosy over there behind the desk!"
Sneasel simply folded his arms before turning away. "I'm just trying to help you, seeing as you rescued me from that idiot back in Cianwood. But if you prefer to yell at me instead of listen," He took a moment to jump off the couch before waving a clawed paw in dismissal. "I'll just leave."
"Fine!" I watched him head for the hallway with a frown. "Be that way, Sneasel! I can take care of myself!"
I took a moment to look down at my rival before letting out a sigh. As stubborn as I might be—according to my rival and Sneasel—I had to admit that he was right. Lyra Soul was out cold, leaving me sitting here with a passed out brunette and a vicious Ice Demon for company. As terrible as this was, I knew that this was easy compared to the stunt back in the hallway.
"Well," I decided to try to pick her up to at least move her off of me. "I might as well try to get you to wake up or something before we have another crisis on our hands or something. You seem to have a knack for attracting trouble, after all."
It took roughly an hour of hard work, a whole bucket of water, a wasted Awakening and a nippy—man, I had to fight the urge not to kick that thing today—Glaceon ruining my good left sock, I managed to get some sort of response from my rival. And by response, I mean for her to jump on me and tackle me with a fist raised.
"Whoa!" I struggled under her as I tried to lift my arms to defend myself from a potential repeat of the hallway. "Lyra! It's me! I was trying to wake you up and don't you dare go crazy on me again!"
The brunette immediately snapped out of her strange state and leaped to her feet. Once she was up and awake, she reached down and yanked me to my feet. I gave her a glare as I brushed off some dust from my jacket. I have got to remember to be more careful with this one. She's literally a fiery one! I swear, she's always trying to take me out!
"Sorry, Silv!" She gave me a quick smile with worried eyes as I continued to bite my lip. "I was just...I didn't realize where I was." She let out an awkward chuckle as she picked up her barking Glaceon. As if by a miracle, the Ice Demon shut his muzzle in her arms and nuzzled her chest with closed eyes. "Better safe than sorry, right?"
"Yeah," I spat it out as I tried to regain some feeling in my back beside this throbbing sting. "Well, you were only on the couch as you were when you passed out, idiot." I stood up straight and found myself grimacing through the pain. "Do you have low blood sugar or something? You always seem to be passing out."
Lyra gave an awkward laugh once again and shuffled her feet. "Sorry, it happens with the whole rage thing. I managed to get rid of every other side-effect except that one. It's a pain, I know."
"Well, stop playing dead on me!" I found the words rushing out my mouth before I could think. "That's like the second time today, and I always seem to find you on the ground! You really know how to give a guy a heart attack, don't you?"
She took a step away from me for a second before giving me a smug grin, narrowing her hazel eyes until that little flame inside was visible. "Aw! You were worried about me!"
Heat rushed to my face as I jolted. Ack! No no no! You are such an idiot, Silver! "N-No I wasn't!" The stutter at the beginning really helped my case here. "I'm just sick and tired of pulling you out of scraps and such! Th-There's no way I was actually worried about some little girl like you! You're just my rival and a pain in my neck!"
She just laughed that haunting laugh of hers and gave me a playful poke on that new burn I had to show off. "Oh really? Well then, I guess this blush means nothing! Please excuse my boldness!" I just gave her a growl and shoved her hand away with a burning face. Man, I hate it when she teases like that!
"Just quit it already!" I gave her a harsh scowl as she simply tilted her head with a cocky smirk, taunting me in her silent pride. "I just—grrr! You make me so mad that I can't even speak!"
"Whatever," She shrugged with the same grin as I stood there with clenched fists. "You're just embarrassed about being found out. Well then," She looked over to the nearby counter and found Nurse Joy waving at us with a beaming smile. We both shuddered at the sight before she turned her attention back to me. "We'd probably go get our stuff and make sure we still have everything."
At this suggestion, I found a small amount of my anger melting. That's a good point... I found myself releasing my fists and letting out a heavy breath. Things were so crazy this morning, we pretty much threw our whole day away. I ended up shrugging and giving her a nod of agreement.
Lyra shot me a beaming grin once again and taking a few steps towards the hallway. "With those dolts all tied up, sending them in with the rest of the Rockets won't take much effort. After all this, I still can't believe there are still Rockets hanging around. I could have sworn that they were gone..."
I ended up walking right behind her with a sigh of my own. Yeah, isn't that the truth. After three long years without that monster, you would have thought that they had given up. It really rubs me the wrong way to know that they never seem to die! "Yeah, they're like a blood spot in a white carpet. They're nearly impossible to remove."
The cocky brunette gave me a shocked expression over her shoulder as she reached the door. "Yeah...I guess that's true...But that's an odd example." I felt a rush a panic as I found her giving me a suspicious look. "But it's a fitting example for Team Rocket, I guess. I bet they had a lot of blood spots in their carpets." She then walked inside of the room and left me in the all too warm hallway.
"Yeah, you have no idea."
Author's Note: We're getting so close to the end here. It's actually kinda sad for me to be finishing this mini-series (or perhaps this fits as a series with that word count) up... but I'm very happy that you all enjoyed "Irritation" so much! You really made this project a lot of fun. Truly, you guys are amazing!
Alright, so I gave it a seventeenth-century chapter name just for fun, I guess. I actually dislike such boring titles, so I used it as a parody of those serials of old. However, I see this as somehow fitting, seeing as this whole thing started as a parody of a popular plot-line for Rival and Heroine shippings. It's sorta crazy to think that a simple that idea that was only four parts at the start became a full-on parody-with-a-plot(?) of common shipping clichés and such. But I'm happy that this happened this way! The plot works so much better this way.
It seems that...SILVER UNDERSTANDS SNEASEL? That's crazy! But he asked quite a few chapters ago what he said to Lyra! The answer is: he was too tired to hear properly and was probably in denial over what he had said. Silver can understand the Sharp Claw Pokémon very well, actually. He's the only Pokémon he owns that he understands, actually. (I'm planning a one-shot about these two, actually. They are easily one of my favorite Pokemon-Trainer duos in the whole series) /quietly waits to see if anyone catches a small thing I put in as a hint/
Lyra is just...OH MY HO-OH STOP DOING THAT. She's always at his throat in one way or another. It's only a matter of time before we find out if she'll give a kiss or just slit his throat. Whether she betrays him or loves him. Whether she sticks around or runs off. We'll have to wait and see just which path she chooses! (Hopefully, she doesn't run off to Falkner's waiting arms. That would be bad for Silvy.)