"Great job," Silver quipped, throwing a newspaper onto Lyra's bed, "You made front page." Lyra finished tying her pigtails up before turning to pick up the paper. On the cover, her smiling face was plastered, along with the headline.

"'Mystery Trainer Whips Wattson Into Shape'? I just beat him in a Pokémon battle. Nothing special." She set the paper down with a sigh, adjusting her hair in the mirror again.

"Lyra, you took down all his Pokémon in one hit each, and your Meganium didn't take any damage. This kinda is a big deal, especially when the Mauville Gym is generally the third or fourth one challenged by beginner trainers."

"What I want to know is how they found out. I thought we were doing a good job of being secretive." The brunette shrugged, folding her pyjamas up and stuffing them into her bag. "Maybe it was the gym trainer? He didn't seem happy that we came in so late in the day."

"I think you're over thinking this. Whatever happened, you're on the cover of every newspaper in Hoenn, and everyone knows we're here!" Silver sunk down onto the bed, waiting for Lyra to finish packing up her belongings. "I knew this was a bad idea."

"Nope! That's where you're wrong. This was a brilliant idea." Lyra lifted her bag, opening the curtains with a flourish.

"How is having news articles written about you and published in every trainer's newspaper a good thing?"

"Because they know I'm here." She said this sentence with a particular emphasis on the 'I'm', causing Silver to lift his head. "You said they know we're here. They don't. Yes, everyone knows I'm here, but once someone figures out I'm the Indigo League Champion, no one will care about you. You'll blend into the background. And even if Team Rocket is following obscure Hoenn newspapers, they probably will assume we've split up from each other. All you," She poked him in the chest, "have to do is avoid cameras. And I know for a fact that that is something you're particularly good at."

"You know, I think you're a lot smarter than I give you credit for," Silver laughed, affectionately ruffling Lyra's hair. "Let's get going."

Unfortunately, Lyra's plan was foiled as soon as the two trainers left the Pokémon Centre. A horde of reporters had gathered outside, cameras ad microphones at the ready. Lyra paled, quickly shoving Silver back inside the Pokémon Centre with a mouthed 'round the back'. A reporter sprinted up to Lyra, shoving a microphone in her face.

"Miss, you've taken the Hoenn Pokémon League by storm with yesterday's performance in the Mauville Gym. Can you tell us where you got such a powerful Meganium? These Pokémon are not native to this region and we've all been left wondering!"

"Um… Well… I've had Meganium for a while… it's been raised since she was a Chikorita, and…" Lyra drifted off. Even as a Champion, public speaking had never been her strong point, but she had put on a brave face and stared crowds straight in the face. However, a large crowd like this that was a complete surprise threw her off- she was practically paralysed with fear.

"I don't think she wants to answer any more questions," a gruff voice came from behind Lyra.

"And who is this?" The reporter asked.

"Well…"

"I said, no more questions!" Silver, who was standing up straight for once, grabbed Lyra's hand, pulling her through the crowd and throwing his Crobat's Pokéball. The bat Pokémon came out immediately, and Silver, still holding Lyra's hand, grabbed a hold. "Fly."

Lyra could see the flashes of cameras from the journalists, and mentally cursed herself or being so stupid. Of course they were going to have found where they were staying, and of course they would be waiting for her when she came out. This wasn't the first time she'd had an unfortunate time with reporters- when she had won her eighth Johto Badge, she had a ton of reporters waiting to ask her questions, and she had no one with her to defend her.

"I'm really sorry, Silver."

"Don't worry about it."

"Well, I am! I told you we'd be okay, and as soon as I walk outside, that happened! I hate how this turned out!"

"Lyra."

"News reporters are always like this. They have no care for other people! If they knew I was the champion, they probably wouldn't treat me this way!"

"Lyra." Silver gently guided Crobat to an open patch of ground just outside the city.

"This is al my fault. I could've used weaker Pokémon, or just not challenged the gyms at all! I'm just selfish, that's all it is." They landed safely, and Lyra continued blabbering. "I go us into that mess, and you got us out, even after I said that you could just avoid cameras and reporters and I'd take the fall for you, and-"

"Lyra!" Her eyes shot straight up to meet his, before falling back to the ground.

"Sorry."

"I told you, it's okay. We'll be okay. It was one picture, and I doubt it was particularly good. It's hard to capture moving objects on camera."

"You're right," Lyra sighed, "there's no point dwelling on it. We should move on. Where's next?"

"I looked it up, and we're probably closest to Lavaridge Town. It'll still be a bit of a walk, and we'll have to go through Mauville again. But if you're not comfortable, we can totally go somewhere else." Silver pointed on the map, and Lyra nodded enthusiastically.

They arrived in Lavaridge Town that evening, both of them weary from the journey. Lyra flopped down on one of the Pokémon Centre's sofas, taking her shoes off and setting her feet gingerly on the table. Silver booked a room from Nurse Joy, collecting the key and joining Lyra on the sofas.

"I don't think I've ever walked further in my life," Lyra complained, stretching out over the back of the seat.

"It wasn't that far. And a lot of it was downhill," Silver pointed out, causing Lyra to pout in annoyance.

"Well, I liked to take a lot of breaks on my journey. So I never walked that far."

"If I hadn't made you keep walking, we would've been camping outside."

Lyra was silent for a moment before she spoke again. "I guess," she conceded.

"It's pretty late. We should go to sleep soon."

"Yeah. I've got a gym battle tomorrow, after all!" Lyra lifted her feet off the table, standing up. "Do you know anything about this gym leader?"

"I'll tell you when we get back to the room. This might take a bit more planning than Mauville did."

Lyra flopped down onto the bed, staring at the ceiling. Silver walked over to the bed opposite, perching on the end. He searched through his bag, brining out a small red book.

"I got this in the Pokémon Centre in Slateport City while you were registering. It's a guide to the Pokémon League of Hoenn. Since you're the one battling, I thought the least I could do would be to help you out." Lyra sat up straight, crossing her legs under her.

"Silver, that's so… thoughtful!"

"Yeah, okay. Well anyway. Lavaridge's gym leader is a girl called Flannery. She uses fire type Pokémon, so your Meganium might have to sit out this time."

"Oh."

"But, it also says here what her strategies are. She relies heavily on Overheat, which lowers Special Attack after doing massive damage. It itself is also a Special Attack, so I think you might want a water Pokémon with high Speed and Special Defense stats."

"I don't have any water Pokémon that have that. But I do have Togekiss, and she knows Water Pulse, so we'll be fine.'

"What about your other Pokémon? You need two more."

"I'll just bring Dugtrio and Azumarill. They'll do okay," Lyra shrugged, "and besides, I do kinda want to do the same thing as in the Mauville Gym. That's like… my new reputation."

"Do what you want. I'm not gonna stop you. Just… don't over do it with the one hit wonder thing. It might not work after a while. The gym Leaders will be expecting you to do that, and will use more defensive Pokémon."

"They might, or they might expect me to change my style for that but keep their strategy the same. Silver, I know this won't work the entire time, but it'll work for now. They have a different style of battling here in Hoenn, and I'm using this technique to figure out how it works."

"Don't come crying to me when your plan backfires."

"I would never come crying to you! And besides, I thought you were trying to help me."

"Well, I was, but it seems you're not really willing to listen to my advice!" Silver got to his feet, towering over Lyra who was still sitting on the bed. She sprung up, landing lightly on the carpeted floor.

"I am listening to you! I'm just saying, not everything is the same here in Hoenn!"

"And I'm saying that you need to stick to what you know best!"

"Ugh, you're insufferable!" Lyra turned on her heel, storming out of the room. "I'm going for a walk!" She slammed the door behind her, leaving Silver standing in the middle of the room.

It was completely dark when Lyra made it outside, walking at a particularly fast pace despite her earlier complaints about her feet being sore. She wandered to the edge of town, and when she reached the wall, slid down it, curling up at the bottom. She took her Pokégear out of her pocket, pressing the power to on. She hadn't turned it on since they had arrived in Hoenn, and mentally cursed herself for not doing so when she saw the sixteen missed calls from her parents, from Ethan, and from Lance. Most recently though, was a text from Silver. Come back. It was sent less than a minute ago, and Lyra kicked herself for letting her temper get the better of her. Annoyed at Silver, and at everyone back in Johto, and at herself, she dragged herself back to the Pokémon Centre- very, very slowly.

When Lyra entered the room, she saw Silver standing in the middle of the room, exactly where he was when she left. Sure, she had only been gone a few minutes, but he hadn't moved an inch. He moved towards her, almost warily, and she stayed rooted to her spot, silently closing the door behind her.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let my temper get the better of me."

"I'm sorry too. I need to be more careful with my words. You're the battling expert here."

"I really appreciate your help though. I probably would've marched right into the gym and used Meganium as my main and run into some problems." Lyra stared down at her shoes for a second, before holding her arms out to Silver. "Come here."

"What?"

"I'm going to hug you, idiot." Silver unwillingly moved towards Lyra who wrapped her arms around his back. He took a while to respond, but eventually enveloped her in his arms.

As per Silver's recommendation, Lyra used Togekiss first in her battle against Flannery. The battle itself was short lived- she managed to take out all three of the gym leader's Pokémon with one shot each. This prompted a barrage of questions from Flannery, who was no stranger to local gossip.

"So, you're the trainer that beat Wattson really easily! You've been all over the covers of all the trainer magazines."

"Uh, yeah! That's me," Lyra confirmed sheepishly, returning Togekiss to her Pokéball.

"You had better look out. We had an emergency gym leader's conference yesterday, just for you."

"What? Why?"

"Because frankly, the gym leaders are scared of you. Wattson's no pushover, but you managed to defeat him easily. And you've done the same here. Once BuzzNav catches word of this, you'll be on their channel too. I'm just saying," Flannery warned with a shrug, "the other gyms might be harder to beat."

As the pair left the Lavaridge Gym, Silver elbowed Lyra in the ribs.

"What did I tell you?"

"Shut up."

AN: I had to rewrite this chapter because I felt I had moved the plot on too quickly, and that is why this update is a bit late! thank you for reading, and please leave a review!