Lyra's brow furrowed as she checked both her own and Ethan's bags again, making sure they had everything for their trip.

Jake and Lily, now ten and eight, had gotten more curious about her journey with Ethan as they'd gotten older. In the last few months though, it felt like every other thing out of their mouths was a question about what it was like to travel with your own Pokémon, challenge different Gym Leaders and camp out under the stars.

When they had been asked the last one, Ethan had suggested taking a camping trip in the woods surrounding New Bark Town, which their kids had eagerly agreed to.

And that left her where she was now, packing for both herself and Ethan whilst her husband helped their kids pack a weekend bag each.

Once she'd gone over her mental checklist three times and made sure that they had everything, she zipped up the bags and made her way to Jake's room, where Ethan was sat on the floor with two backpacks.

"Where are they?" Lyra asked as she leaned on the doorframe.

"Brushing their teeth and bringing their toothbrushes before we leave," Ethan replied, a bright smile on his face, "After that we should be ready to go."

"You're really looking forward to this."

"Yeah, I am," Ethan said, his smile turning a little more wistful, "I've always missed travelling a little bit. Don't get me wrong, I love the life we have, and the steps we've taken to get here. But, I do miss the experience of seeing new places, and working with your Pokémon and friends to reach the next new place."

"I know," Lyra said, "I remember how hard it was for you to adjust to being in one place again."

"Yeah…" Ethan sighed, "It's been nearly twenty years since we left on our journey through Johto."

"Ugh…" Lyra frowned, "Don't remind me."

Ethan chuckled, "I guess… I just feel like it's a chance to show Jake and Lulu what we loved about travelling, but I also feel like it's a chance to recapture our youth a little bit."

Lyra gave him a wry smile, "We're thirty-five, not fifty-five. We haven't completely lost our youth yet."

Ethan opened his mouth to continue, but Jake and Lily pushed past Lyra to quickly put their toothbrushes in their bags.

"Let's go!" Lily shouted, bouncing on the balls of her feet with excitement, her Cyndaquil sat on her head.

"Calm down Lily," Lyra said, a smile at her daughter's excitement coming to her face, "You need shoes to travel outside and your dad and I need to get our Pokémon from outside as well."

Lily pouted, but Ethan ruffled her hair as he stood up and stretched himself out.

"Don't worry Lulu," he smiled warmly, "It won't take us long."

Luckily, they lived on the site where Ethan ran the Day-Care, so Cynder, Aibo, Flora and Marina were quickly within reach. Ten minutes later, they were travelling through the woods to the lake where Ethan and Lyra had camped out numerous times as children.

"So is this what your journey was like?" Jake asked, seeming almost like he was unimpressed.

"A little," Lyra said as she adjusted her bag strap and ran a hand across Flora's back, "It's a little different, your dad and I know these woods like the back of our hands, so it's not like we'll get lost or anything. Usually you'd be navigating as you go, we always had a map close to hand."

Ethan nodded, "Your mum was always better at navigating than me, I definitely got us lost a few times. We also know where we're going to camp out tonight, once the sun started to go down, we'd be looking for any half decent clearing to set up camp."

Lily meanwhile, was enraptured by the whole experience, "Did you see lots of Pokémon?"

"Of course we did," Ethan smiled, "You've seen all the Pokémon that we'll see around here, it's a lot cooler when you're climbing over mountains and seeing Pokémon that you don't see around here."

It didn't take them very long to reach the clearing with the lake. Jake and Lily were eager to head off and play but Lyra called them back.

"We need to set up camp first," she said, "Jake, you help your dad put the tent up. Lily, come with me and we'll find some firewood."

With the jobs shared out, they set to work. Lyra found herself amazed by how excited Lily was by a menial task such as searching for firewood, bringing every small stick she found over for approval. The tent was up when they returned with their arms filled with firewood. Ethan showed them how to start a fire with matches, given that Jake didn't have a Fire-Type of his own.

They let Jake and Lily off to play after that, sending Aibo and Marina off with them and telling them to stay within sight. Ethan and Lyra set up a stove over the fire and got started on making a stew for dinner.

"Lily's having the time of her life," Lyra said as she looked over to where the kids were having a battle.

"Jake seems happier now," Ethan replied, throwing some chopped vegetables into the pot as he did so, "I think he thought we were just going to take care of everything when we got here."

"Camping out around here probably isn't very impressive to him," Lyra shrugged, "He does seem to be coming round though."

After dinner, when it started to get dark, the whole family sat around the fire with mugs of hot chocolate. Ethan and Lyra spent the evening telling more stories about their journey, recounting the time when they got caught in a major thunderstorm and had to camp out in a cave for two days. Eventually, Lily was nearly asleep, leaning against Lyra as she fought to keep her eyes open. Lyra gently stroked her hair and looked across the fire and saw that Jake was struggling to stay awake too.

"Time for bed?" she asked.

"'M not tired," Lily murmured, causing Ethan to bark out a laugh.

"I don't think you're fooling anyone Lulu," he said.

Jake and Lily were asleep in record time, leaving Ethan and Lyra alone by the fire. Lyra poured out another pair of hot chocolates and sat in his lap, sighing contentedly as she leaned into him. They sat in comfortable silence as they drank from their mugs, surrounded by the crackling sounds of the fire and the snores of their Pokémon.

"I know you said that you missed this," Lyra said, "I didn't realise how much I missed it too."

Ethan smiled, pressing a kiss to her temple, "Yeah?"

Lyra nodded, "Yeah, I forgot how much I missed sitting under the stars with you."

She tilted her head up to catch his lips. She kissed him slowly before pulling away, briefly mesmerised by the way his eyes reflected the light of the fire.

"I've missed you," she said quietly. She'd been so busy at work lately, having to work late most nights in the week. She made sure that she spent whatever time she could with the kids when she was home, she didn't want her busy work life to damage her relationship with her kids, but that had led to Ethan being pushed to the side. She couldn't remember the last time they had time to themselves.

Ethan caught the note of apology in her tone, "Lyra, I know things have been busy for you. When we found out you were pregnant with Jake, I promised that you wouldn't have to give up your career to be a mum. I knew that meant that you'd have to work late sometimes. It's not like you're neglecting the kids."

Lyra shook her head, "Not the kids, but I've been neglecting you. I've been too busy for you, and that's not right."

Ethan was quiet for a second, "Is it any different to when I was travelling in other regions and you were working with Professor Elm? You stuck by me then. So, I'm sticking by you now."

Lyra looked away but leaned into him, "You weren't within arms length back then. I have you right here and I'm still ignoring you. Well, I'm stopping that. Even if I just spend half an hour with you before bed, I'm not pushing you away again."

Ethan finished his hot chocolate and kissed her, "Well, I'll never complain about more time with you."

Drinks finished, they decided to turn in themselves. Lyra quickly unzipped the entrance to the compartment where Jake and Lily were sleeping and shook her head in disbelief at the sight, Jake had turned a complete one hundred and eighty degrees in his sleep, Lily had managed to get out of her sleeping bag and was now sprawled out, her leg thrown over Jake's midriff. Tarragon and Flicker were both held close. She couldn't help but smile as she zipped the entrance back up, her heart full.

In the compartment she was sharing with Ethan, he had fixed a lantern to the top of the tent and was already laid down. He had set the room up in the same way they always had while travelling, a single sleeping bag unzipped and spread over the floor, with blankets thrown over the top to sleep under.

Lyra smiled as she felt a flash of nostalgia, getting ready for bed and climbing under the blankets with him. She put a hand to his face, feeling the scruff that was growing around his chin as she kissed him deeply before lying down, resting her head on his chest and throwing an arm over him to squeeze herself into his side.

"Love you," she whispered.

"Love you too," he replied as her breathing evened out and she allowed sleep to take her.

Ethan wasn't there when she woke up, the chill of being alone was probably what woke her in the first place. She got dressed and left the tent so she could stand up, a dull ache having settled into her limbs.

"Morning," Ethan said from next to the fire which had been restarted, Cynder's head was laid in his lap, happily receiving pets from his trainer.

"Hey," Lyra responded as she stretched, a number of clicks coming from her joints, "I'm really not used to sleeping on the ground."

Ethan laughed as he passed her a mug of tea, which she took gratefully as she sat next to him.

"So then, senior traveller," she asked as she took a swig, "What's your plan for today?"

Ethan simply pointed at the lake behind her, "Weather's really nice, it's supposed to get hot later."

Lyra hummed in agreement.

The tent behind them rustled, and Lily stepped out, still in her pyjamas but with her trainers hastily thrown on, laces still undone. She yawned and sleepily rubbed her eye with one hand, the other arm keeping her Cyndaquil clutched to her chest.

"Hey Lulu," Ethan said as she forced herself in between himself and Lyra and leant against his arm, taking hold of it with her free hand.

"Is Jake still asleep?" Lyra asked.

Lily nodded, "Yeah, he's lazy."

As she said this however, her own eyes closed. She clearly wasn't asleep, with how she continued to pet Flicker in her lap, but she certainly wasn't going to move for a while.

Lyra and Ethan looked at each other and shared a smile.

Lyra eventually stood up again, grabbing a pan and fetching a bag of rice to make onigiri. She looked back at Lily who hadn't moved at all, "Tea, Lily?"

Lily nodded, letting go of Ethan's arm long enough for him to wrap it around her and pull her closer into his side. Lyra decided not to ask him to help, deciding to let them have their moment together.

Eventually Jake emerged, fully dressed unlike his sister. He plonked himself down where Lyra was previously sitting, he looked over to Lily with her mug of tea.

"Are you making tea Mum?" he asked cheekily, an impish grin set on his face as his Chikorita hopped into his lap.

Lyra rolled her eyes, "Maybe."

"Please can I have a cup of tea?"

"Better," Lyra said as she poured one out for him.

As they sat around the fire with onigiri and tea, discussing their plans for the day, Lyra knew that she wouldn't trade these moments for the world. She'd taken over from Professor Elm as the head of New Bark Town's Pokémon Lab, and in doing so she'd become Johto's top Pokémon Professor.

Despite that, her kids, the family that she and Ethan had built together. That was her proudest achievement.