So, the way I see this universe in my head, Ethan and Lyra travel through Johto together at 16 and both enter the Pokémon League. Ethan wins the Johto League and enters the victory tournament where he loses quite handily to Koga and travels through all the remaining regions over the next few years from Gens 1-7, starting with Sinnoh, then Kalos, Unova, Hoenn, Kanto and finishing with Alola whilst Lyra studies under Professor Elm. He then takes on the Johto/Kanto Battle Frontier (the Gen 3 and 4 battle Frontiers merged together) and then re-enters the Johto League and this time he becomes Champion.

With hindsight, Lyra could trace the beginnings of Ethan's crush on her to when they were around ten or eleven.

Ethan had convinced her to help him prank a teacher that they both hadn't liked very much during their primary school years and they had gotten caught, resulting in detention. For Ethan, this was water off a Psyduck's back, he had gotten used to losing his lunch break by this point in his school life.

For Lyra though…

She had never gotten detention. She'd never even been scolded by a teacher. A model student through-and-through. She'd gotten angry at Ethan for convincing her to join in and had refused to speak to him for the rest of the day and had walked home without him.

She'd been woken up that night by an insistent tapping on her window, at first she dismissed it as a Pidgey or a Hoothoot, but when she eventually got up to shoo it away with Flora and Marina's help, she was met with a sheepish-looking Ethan.

As much as the friends that he would later come to travel with knew Ethan as having a fiery determination and steely resolve, nothing ever made him waver as much as when Lyra was upset with him.

From that night, it was more often than not that one of them would sneak through the other's bedroom window to bunk down for the night and their parents quickly got used to one child going up to bed at night and waking up to two children coming down the stairs the next morning, or to a text explaining that they weren't at home anymore. Admittedly, Ethan would usually be the one to come to Lyra and she'd always assumed that was because her bed was comfier. Whenever she stayed at his, she'd always wake up with a stiff back from the multiple springs that left her feeling like she was lying on cobblestone.

Not that she'd ever say anything, Ethan's mother was already working three jobs just to put food on the table…

Lyra snapped out of her trance with a particularly loud snort, she shook her head to attempt to rid herself of the groggy feeling and checked her clock.

01:37 a.m.

She turned back to the textbook she had open on her desk. Professor Elm was setting her an exam on Friday to test whether she was capable of joining the next research project he was starting. It was Wednesday now, and she still didn't feel confident. She took a quick swig of the mug of tea she had on her desk, cringing as it had now gone cold.

She was taking an unorthodox route to her chosen career. Usually Professor Elm would only take on aides who already had university degrees, but instead he'd chosen to tutor her personally since she had returned from her journey with Ethan through Johto. His tutelage would be supplemented by online courses to broaden her depth and breadth of knowledge.

She was eternally grateful for the experience though, despite the fact that she knew that he was only doing it because he was a family friend, having mentored herself, Ethan and Kris since they were all young on proper Pokémon care.

She glanced at her window, the constant tapping of the heavy rain and howling of the swirling wind catching her attention. Flora and Marina had both decided to stay outside for the night, Lyra walked over to the window and looked to see her Azumarill frolicking in her back garden and her Bayleef laying in the rain, enjoying the feeling of the water on her skin and leaves.

She was procrastinating now and she sat back at her desk and picked up her pen. Her eyes traced over the sentence she'd left off at, her thumb pressed the button to set the cartridge of her pen to the writing position, before pressing again to retract it.

Rinse and repeat.

01:49 a.m.

At this point, Lyra realised that she'd been reading the same sentence over and over, and that it just wasn't going in. She stretched and decided to turn in when she heard a loud tapping on her window, louder than the rain had been previously.

Tiredness forgotten, she ran to her window to throw it open, grabbing Ethan by the front of his sodden hoodie and yanking him into the bedroom, slamming her lips to his as she did so. In her haste to get him inside, she toppled back to the floor, dragging him with her.

"Guess I'm still falling for you, huh?"

She pulled him into another kiss, hands moving to his face as she ignored his joke. He'd been travelling in Alola and she hadn't seen him for months. Their time together over the past few years since they'd travelled through Johto together was mostly through phone calls whilst he continued to travel and she studied. With the exception of his journey through Kanto, she'd never been granted the time to join him on trips abroad.

"Fuck," she breathed as they finally pulled apart, "I missed you so much."

Ethan picked himself up and held his hand out to her with a smile, "I missed you too Ly."

She took his hand and pulled herself up, finally taking the chance to admire her boyfriend again after months apart. He carried himself with a confident air, his red, well-worn hoodie a darker shade than usual thanks to the storm outside.

"You've been travelling for how long?" she raised an eyebrow at him, "And you still don't think to wear a coat in the rain?"

"I just got back," Ethan admitted, "I just had to come and see you. I left so fast that I left Cynder and Aibo behind."

Lyra blushed and smiled at him, feeling her heart soar, "You're such a sap, though I don't think either of them would've come out in that weather."

She wasn't wrong, the Fire-Type Cyndaquil had an understandable aversion to the rain. Ethan's Aipom also hated storms.

She pulled him into another hug, nuzzling her face into the crook of his neck and breathing deeply, one of her hands took the wet cap that sat backwards on his head off, dropping it to the carpet so she could tangle her hand in his hair, ignoring the chill that ran through her fingers from the rainwater. They stayed that way until she felt him start to shiver.

"I'll get you a towel," she said as they parted and she made her way towards the door, "You get out of those wet clothes."

Ethan bent down to the bottom drawer of her chest of drawers, which was taken up entirely by clothes for him which had accumulated over the years, and pulled out a pair of pyjama bottoms as she left her room to go to the bathroom, the tiredness from earlier set back in with a vengeance and she yawned heartily when she returned and passed the towel to him.

"I don't think there's much point putting those on," she smirked blearily at him, pointing to his pyjamas.

"Lyra," Ethan shook his head at her, "You look exhausted."

"Ethan," she frowned as she unbuttoned her overalls, "I haven't had you for months, I don't want to wait anymore."

"You look like you're about to pass out," Ethan said as he dried his hair and hung up his wet clothes, "I've just got back, I'm tired too. I promise, when we wake up I'm all yours, however you want me."

Lyra was about to object but another large yawn took over, making her head feel fuzzy and tears come to her eyes. Ethan climbed into bed and settled under her covers, he opened his arms to her, his eyes pleading.

"Okay," she eventually whispered, rubbing her eyes. As much as she craved him right now, he was right, she could wait another couple of hours. She disrobed fully just to tease him a little before pulling on one of his own T-shirts that she'd stolen for bed and settled into his arms.

"Tell me about Alola," she mumbled into his chest as he undid her pigtails and ran his fingers through her hair.

"Tomorrow," he said, "Just wanna be with you right now."

Lyra pressed a kiss to his skin and slurred sleepily, "Love you."

She felt his chuckle more than she heard it, "Love you too Ly."

Lyra felt her eyelids get heavier until they finally shut, her breathing evened out as she breathed him in.

Moments like this were what kept her going.