PoV:
Lyra!
Pokemon Map I Loosely Use For Visual Aid: The distance between areas might be different; some cities are somewhat incorrect, a few routes have been mislabeled, and some cities aren't listed, but it's the best I've found.
Google Document (In-line Comments)
2:48 p.m., November 7th, Saturday, 106 PH (Post Hoopa Event). Day 151.
Events: Rhea and the girls are on a Badge Hunt, trying to get all the Kanto Encrusted Badges before time runs out! Our girl started her journey on the 9th of June, and the registration deadline for the Winter Indigo Cup is December 5th (27 days away).
Lyra leaned against the table, feeling the cool breeze of Viridian’s seawind flowing inland, her brown ponytail tickling her neck. A smile played on her face, straw between her lips, watching her daughter engage with her friends.
Inside, all she could feel was this moment, Silver’s hand resting on her back, Pokemon snuggling her soul as they watched their girl. There was a battle inside her soul, her Aura showed clearly, despite how well she thought she hid it.
And that was amazing.
Silver leaned in to whisper into her ear, “You still want to box my dad’s ears?”
“Only every other day,” she mumbled, between straw sucks of her smoothie. “But I know he means well… Not how I would have done it. Look at her, though. So lucky, strong, so proud… Our little girl.”
The news report got a soft sigh from her, knowing the implications.
It was big.
New Mega Stones. Strange events were happening that could spill over into other regions. People were scared across the world on another continent.
But that wasn’t her problem.
That was a future Lyra problem.
Right now, she was with her daughter.
And all she wanted to do was sit with her baby girl on her lap and sing to her at night.
A little silly? Maybe.
But she let the emotion work into her, reflecting sleepless nights caring for her little redhead many years past wash over her.
What currently caught her selfish eyes were ruby irises.
Vindicated in every hard decision she ever made.
A little ray of hope, dangling on the string, like slow-spinning redemption.
Every time her redhead spun a little in, a little out, she was mesmerized.
We made such a perfect little jewel.
Oversized, and overwhelmed…
How can you make your flawed mother so motivated?
I could chase this moment forever.
Despite all that, Lyra couldn’t not feel the movements across the region from that report.
Leaf was the loudest. Always had been, even when they were teenagers. The woman’s soul blazed like a bonfire you could see from the other side of Johto, and right now that bonfire was bouncing: Cerulean, pause, Cerulean again, gone, Vermilion for half a second, gone.
Oh, no… Please, don’t come. I’m busy. So busy… Wait, you’re taking her?
Lyra’s mouth puckered around her straw, feeling a pout coming on as a Legendary Pokemon was added to Leaf’s Aura flare, blazing white hot.
Kris was steadier. A cool river current that Lyra could trace if she concentrated, and she didn’t need to concentrate because Kris’s husband had been texting her for the last ten minutes in increasingly salty fragments.
It was hard to ignore the humor in it.
Though she did fear what this likely led to. And her own Pokemon were getting more worked up by the minute with the idea of new Mega Evolution stones.
2:31 p.m. - Gold: Leaf stole my wife!
2:33 p.m. - Gold: She didn’t even ask!
2:34 p.m. - Gold: I was MID SET
2:38 p.m. - Gold: Kris says hi btw
2:39 p.m. - Gold: She also says I should come, but why when none of my Pokemon get new Megas? Bah. Everyone got stronger but me? BS!
2:40 p.m. - Gold: I’m not coming
2:41 p.m. - Gold: Tell red I said sup because Arceus knows he’ll be there!
Lyra snickered at the screen, tucking her phone away before Amira could see it. Her daughter didn’t need to know that Aunt Leaf was about to do something profoundly stupid in approximately fifteen minutes. That was a surprise best experienced live.
And one she hoped to snake out of.
Kalos has everyone jumping in. Someone needs to stay in Kanto and Johto… I suppose Gold is staying, she reasoned, tongue playing with her straw as her anxiety rose. Why can’t I play hooky, too?
She looked across the table.
Amira was sitting between her friends, Lori teasing, finding weak points that brought out sides of her fire-haired daughter, Lyra wanted to experience!
There was gasoline in her daughter’s veins, waiting to be ignited.
Why couldn’t she be there to spy on her training? To be a part of it?
She was her mother!
Who else had that right?
Freaking Dawn… Why couldn’t I be the one to train them?
No. Ash and Dawn had to get that treat.
Stupid…
And that was how Lyra knew she was not okay.
Cool down, girlie! It’s cool… We’re cool.
She bit down on her straw, a low growl rumbling in her throat that got an annoying smirk from her husband. That ‘she’s got a little crazy in her’ look.
“What’s that look for?” she grumbled, kicking his shin with a light glare.
Silver chortled softly, leaning in again to whisper back, “Just a couple secret sinners. She’s easy to love. Easy to hate. She tastes like a drug, and feels just the same. Bitter to the tongue, but a thrill for your brain. A little bit crazy, but she’s worth all the pain.”
Lyra’s gut twisted at the dark thoughts she hated bleeding through that he saw.
His words were hot against her ear, making her cheeks color slightly.
“She’s nerdy and sweet. She’s been through the hardest, but has prospered from pain. She appears to be heartless, surrounded by flames, but through all the darkness, a lover is chained… ’cause she hates that she loves so hard, like a disease. It’s left her with all these scars no one can see…but me.”
Lyra’s chest tightened as his fingers moved from her back to her side, scooting closer to rest his head against hers. She whispered, “Just a mother hiding behind nightmares and dreams…”
Silver’s words sent a shiver through her.
“And if you’re lucky, she might let you see those nightmares and dreams… You’re just what I eat for dinner.”
“Silver!”
“Mom?”
“Hmm?!” Lyra’s face was beyond red now, steam blowing out of her ears as she nudged her husband back, heart beating like a Buneary. “Nothing! Nothing!”
“Just teasing your mother,” Silver winked, catching an Impidimp smirk from the Unova gang, including the curious twinkle in Karen’s eyes. “I think we’re going to be interrupted soon, so I thought I might as well catch my opportunity.”
“I’m sure,” Lyra grumbled into her straw, fidgeting with the tail of her hair. “My throat is just really dry.”
“I’m sure it is,” her husband whispered, leaning in, “maybe we can fix that a bit later.”
“Mmm!”
It ran down her brainstem and across her tongue, his fingertips suddenly playing at the nape of her neck. She sucked up the rest of her drink in one gulp, coughing shortly after.
“You are the worst!”
“And you love me for it.”
“Mmgm!”
She hung her shoulders at the giggle that left her daughter’s throat, her friends joining in.
Kill me! Why, Silver?! You evil, evil man!
Arceus, I love you… Look at her laugh.
This is the worst.
This is the best…
I’ll make you pay later!
And you’ll love every minute of it…
This is the part of motherhood—womanhood, in conjunction!—nobody warns you about. The part where your kid is strong enough to handle it, your husband was a little imp, and you have to let her be her own woman.
Under the table, Silver’s hand found hers. She laced their fingers together without looking at him. And he leaned in one last time.
“Let me know that I’ve done wrong a bit later, but you know I’ve known it all along. We’ll go around a time or two, wasting time, because your time is never a waste… Our dirty little secret?”
Lyra couldn’t help but snort at that last line, thinking back to the first awkward line he’d said after once stripping her near-naked in a Rocket secret base when they were teens.
“Our dirty little secret.”
I love you for knowing when I need that.
She squeezed. He squeezed back. Meeting adjourned.
“—and then Chuck called me to complain about losing money,” Karen was saying, waving her glass and giving her a deflection wink, “and I said, Chuck, you bet against a girl who beat Blaine unconscious last week, what did you expect? You saw that Ghostly Field!”
“Mom, you’re going to spill.”
“I never spill! That would be a waste. And I drink every drop.”
“You spilled on Dad’s kimono twenty minutes ago.”
“Ah. That doesn’t meet the definition. Spilled only works if it wasn’t intentional.”
“Your mother has a point,” he nodded, between his own drink of sake. “Spill would be the wrong word.”
Lyra giggled. She couldn’t help it. And she then turned her attention to Rhea, who was quietly eating risotto and looking very small and very happy between all these enormous personalities. It made her heart swell.
This girl—this bright, complicated, genetically impossible girl that her daughter had the extraordinary fortune of being teamed with—was sitting at her table eating her food, and Lyra wanted to adopt her.
This cold world you girls are growing into isn’t good enough for you…
I’ll never let you fall. Even if saving you sends me to heaven…
I haven’t done enough to protect you all.
Not nearly enough…
But I won’t stop. Never.
Christie, your kid is wonderful. I’m stealing her. Fight me.
You know I’ll win. I always win… Always.
I have to always win. No matter the cost.
Inside, she felt her Pokemon resonate with that.
And a division started. One she resisted…even if they were right.
I don’t want to go.
I want to stay…
You’ll make me cry.
Don’t make me cry…
Her phone buzzed again.
2:46 p.m. - Gold: Seriously though is something happening in kalos
2:46 p.m. - Gold: Are you going with them?
2:46 p.m. - Gold: Lyra
2:46 p.m. - Gold: LYRA! I know you’re ignoring me. I feel you with Karen and your family!
She glanced at it.
Then she glanced at the TV above the bar again.
The banner was red.
Why is there always a bonfire to put out?
I want to laugh until I cry.
What’s wrong with that?
What’s wrong with crying…that I’m happy?
I’ve got so much to lose…
Arceus, don’t let me lose my mind.
Lyra’s smile didn’t drop as the tears started.
“Mom?”
“Lyra, what’s going on?” Rhea whispered, seeing Silver rubbing her back.
The man shook his head with a small smile.
“My sweet love is just so happy… Thanks for being our daughter’s friends.”
“Mhm!” Lyra sniffed, nose running, latching onto her husband. “Everywhere I look, I just see a glimpse of my little girl. Mom and mom troubles… I just love you so much. Just remember, girls, life is what you make it. No good. No bad. Just how you take it… And I love you so much.”
She almost wanted to pout and box the girls’ ears as they gave that young girl glance to one another, like, ‘emotional moms, am I right?’ And that made her want to laugh and cry harder.
So she did.
And in that babbling mess, her unhinged brain made connections that felt like she was in a boxing match with a Hitmonchan!
Diantha’s pregnant… She’s had a hard time as a parent. She’s trying… Now this, in her region? Maybe it would be good to lighten the burden… That’d be nice. Others helped me with Amira during the war… I want to cheer her on with her son.
Her Meganium stirred in her ball.
It wasn’t a question. It was a pull—the deep vine-root tug that meant her Starter had been feeling the same Aura signatures Lyra had and had already made up her mind about what needed to happen.
No, Lyra pushed back, gently but firmly. Not yet. Amira needs me. Our girl needs me. Maybe after they go to bed. We don’t need to rush…
Huh? Her mouth pushed together, still trying to collect herself as Silver dabbed her cheeks with a handkerchief. No, I know we need to get stronger… I know we’re facing Geeta.
Her Starter’s kick in the gut made her wince at the response.
No… It would suck if we lost with Amira watching. I don’t want to lose.
I get we need to train…
The Meganium settled. Barely.
Okay, yeah, I’ve been slacking.
I’m not helicopter parenting!
Ugh… Maybe a little.
Lyra could feel the rest of her team’s agreement with the Grass Pokemon’s assessment, though. They were all thinking the same thing. Entei was probably already pacing. She could imagine Ho-Oh’s opinion, too, and it would not be patient.
She was putting their region’s reputation on the line.
Legendary Pokemon had their own pride in areas, too.
A territory thing.
I know. I know! But my daughter just lost in front of eighty thousand people, and she won’t talk to me until later tonight, when we’re alone. I need to be open to her doing that before leaving! I—
“Hey, uh, Sunshine…”
Lyra’s internal monologue snapped as Lori’s voice cut through the table, and then the viral clip started playing, and then Jason Vermillion was sprinting through Lumiose being chased by an eighteen-foot shiny Alpha Dratini, and then—
She almost choked on her water.
“Isn’t this the city of love?!”
Lyra covered her mouth, trying very hard not to howl, because her daughter was right there and this was supposed to be a serious afternoon and she was supposed to be the responsible parent and—
She looked at Amira.
Amira had this look on her face, and Lyra saw who her sight was locked on—
Dyantha’s son.
Oh.
Oh, baby.
You really have fallen for him, and you don’t even know it!
Not Kekipi, the boy you showed us.
Lucian, the guy you hated and called you ugly?
What a twist…
Lyra’s heart cracked open at the sight.
The riptides of the heart can take us down paths we resist…
Her Meganium stirred again. Harder this time.
I said NOT YET—
And then Leaf’s Aura appeared in Viridian, approximately a hundred feet above the reflecting pool, and it was not alone, and it was not subtle, and it was sitting on top of something that made the entire southern horizon light up gold and crimson.
Lyra felt the heat on her face through the restaurant window.
Face dull as the whole city froze, Lyra let go of a long, exasperated sigh.
“Asyra really is flying them…”
Leaf’s Buddy Bonded Moltres materialized in the park with the Legend.
She was the size of an airliner.
“Heya, girlies!” Leaf shouted from a hundred feet in the air, standing on a Legendary bird in flip-flops and a billowing summer dress. “I’m here to kidnap your mom, Amira! Kalos trip! New Evolution Stones! Weird stuff is happening! Adventure!”
“Uh, I don’t think so, Leafie! I’m busy with my daughter!”
Lyra stood up. She was going to go to the railing and yell at Leaf to go away because her daughter needed her. That was the plan. That was the active, chosen, responsible mother plan. She was going to stand at the railing of Le Vernal and shout NO! Leaf would pout and leave, and Lyra would sit back down, hold her daughter's hand, and be a mom.
That was the plan.
Her daughter’s voice was like a cold finger running up her spine.
“Actually, I think you should go, Mom. It sounds like your thing.”
“Huh?” Lyra’s vision defocused. “B-But you need training. For your grandpa—next week’s challenge. I was…”
“I was going to do that alone.”
“Oh. Alone…”
Lyra felt herself crack like a pane of glass, the color leaving her as she melted into the drain. Sharp as a thumbnail tack pressed against her belly button. Her daughter didn’t stop there as a Clefable teleported Green and Kris to the rooftop, and warning sirens blared around the city.
I’m less than dirt. Useless… Useless dirt.
The brunette ruffled her daughter’s hair with a grin.
“You’ve grown up so fast, Amira! I saw the match. You’ll crush him next week. We’ll be back to watch. Bet! Oh, we’d better run before Jenny comes and arrests us!”
Kris gave her a strained smile.
“I mean, we could have left Asyra on Mt. Silver, but she wanted to see how big you’ve grown, Amira.”
“Kyaaaa!”
The happy chirp sound of the legendary firebird made the glass across the city tremble, flaming billowing around her.
Rhea’s hand was held against her chest, sweating a little as the Victini Core inside her resonated with Asyra’s presence.
Amira hugged the pair, shooting a worried glance at Rhea before returning to the two Legends. “I’ll look for all of you in the VIP box. Leaf is right, you should probably go before my mom is hit with another major fine. Look out for Jason and his team? Mom?”
“You don’t need me?”
“Mom… Always so dramatic,” her daughter mumbled with affection. “Alright. I’ll meet you halfway. How about we do some training after you beat Geeta? I want to see my mom in all her glory.”
Lyra only partially heard that as Bailey exited her Poke Ball, vines picked her up and moved to nuzzle Amira’s head. All Lyra could hear was her daughter’s dismissal.
No hesitation. She didn’t want to train with me at all…
I’m such a mom-failure.
Wind hit her face.
She was upside down over Viridian Park, trailing vine-first behind a fifteen-foot Grass Pokemon who was bounding across rooftops toward a Legendary firebird with the confidence of a creature that had been making decisions for her Trainer since she was ten years old.
“Y-You really don’t want me?” Lyra babbled, big-eyed, staring at her upside-down daughter. “B-But daughter and mother training. The moments. The memories…”
Her daughter chuckled at her embarrassing position, leaning forward to kiss her forehead as if condoning the kidnapping.
“Mmmm. You love me? You think I’m cool?”
“Yes, Mom. You’re very cool. Go save the world?”
Sniffing back her snot and tears, Lyra nodded rapidly.
“I won’t let you down!”
“I know you won’t… Come back safe. I love you.”
Kris and Leaf had that annoyingly smug look on their faces, like they knew how this would turn out the whole time. Leaf cleared her throat after Amira broke away.
“Cynthia is heading there, forcing Dawn to look after Sinnoh. Green’s texting me to hurry up and pick Yellow and her up, too. Red’s flying down with Blue from Alola. Oh, and up there…”
A flash of rainbow lights brought a grinning ginger to them.
Daisy showed teeth and a peace sign, pulled out actual sunscreen, and was applying it to her shoulders—she was wearing a bathing suit.
“First time flying on a Moltres… I’m the official league rep. Oh, I promised Misty I’d bring back her Mega Stone for her Starmie. She tried to leave the Gym. We had to physically restrain her, which… My little sister is practically on steroids with that pregnant strength she’s got. But, Violet just sat on her, and that was that.”
“Violet sat on her?” Lori giggled. “Isn’t she like 90 lbs? And I’m glad you stopped her! I still need to beat the Muk out of her.”
“I mean, it was the only option when her Aura flails like that. Those stick arms are stronger than they look with Aura. She is eight months pregnant.”
And there, between the Moltres’ massive shoulder blades, waving down at them, as if asking what was keeping them, was Shauntal. Notebook open. Pen moving. Faint smile.
Lyra blinked.
“Wasn’t she here for…”
“Naa. My big sister can’t resist a good story,” Lyra shrugged with the rest of her family, “and I just saw the list of new stones. Mega Chandelure? She’s gone!”
“Alright,” Leaf barked, hands on her hips. “I think we’re off!”
“W-Wait!”
Before Lyra could get it out, the Clefable teleported all of them onto the floating Moltres. And below, she heard the sirens shift notes, a megaphone shouting from a Mega Pigeot that dove toward them like a speeding bullet.
Jenny. Oh no.
“Leaf Green Oak! How many times have I—you are under arrest—”
“We’re leaving, Jenny! Catch us if you can! Haha! We’ve kidnapped Lyra and Daisy, file a report with Elaine!”
“Kris—I’m going to bring your husband in!”
“Please don’t,” she screamed back as the Moltres chortled, flying higher, “he’ll ground me from research for a week to make it up to him! I’ll tell him to run!”
“You Legends are—”
Still upside down, wind whipping past them as the superheated air perfectly avoided them, keeping the army of Viridian Police at a distance, she smiled upon seeing her daughter waving her goodbye from the rooftop, mouthing three words she spoke in her mind.
I love you…
To know what you want, and not be able to have it at all…
It’s a terrible thing.
It’s a beautiful thing…
Get stronger. I’ll be here when you need me.
Always.