Golden Echoes: Mem. 8- Part 2

"SILVER!"

"W-what?" Silver jumped out of his bag, blinking sleep out of his eyes. Lyra was standing over him with a horrified expression on her face.

"Did I seriously call you Silvy last night?!?"

"Oh," Silver smirked. "Yes, you did."

"OH. MY. GOSH!" Lyra cried. "I can't believe it! My life is over!! That must mean that everything else I remember is true too!!!"

"Yep."

"HOW ON EARTH COULD I HAVE ACTED SO INCREDIBLY LIKE A SILLY INFATUATED GIRL IN FRONT OF YOU?!?"

Silver winked. "Maybe you have a crush on me."

Lyra punched his arm lightly. "Oh shut up. Don't use my own words against me!" She smiled maliciously. "Well, I might just have to kill you to keep you silent."

Silver rolled his eyes. "You can't kill someone who's saved your life."

Lyra sighed. "I know, I know. Can you please, like, forget that this ever happened?!?"

"Do you want me to forget everything?"

"Um… w-what do you mean?"

Silver stared at his hands. "Like… the stuff about… our parents."

"Oh," Lyra blushed. "I was… um… aware while all that was going on."

Silver's heart fluttered with hope. "You mean… you meant to do all that?"

"Not exactly!" Lyra squeaked. "I mean, I knew what was going on at the time. After my leg started hurting… I kind of blacked out. I "woke up" while we were sitting on the log… but it was like I was drunk or something. And I didn't remember anything else until this morning."

So Lyra had hit her head. He was relieved that she hadn't intended to call him 'Silvy' and say all of that ridiculous stuff, yet he was a bit disappointed that she hadn't 'exactly' meant what she'd said before they went to bed.

"Oh dear," Lyra continued. "Um, have I made things really awkward between us?"

Silver shrugged. "You've always made things awkward."

Crap. That did not come out the way I planned…

Lyra raised her eyebrows. "What do you mean by that?"

"Never mind… Is your leg any better?"

"Slightly," Lyra replied. "I can walk a bit, but it still hurts."

Silver nodded. He would still have to help her through the cave, but to be honest, he didn't particularly mind. He liked the idea of Lyra holding onto him… dammit! What the hell is happening to me?!?

***
Silver watched as Lyra hobbled over to the cave entrance. He had offered his assistance, but she had stubbornly refused. This had caused them to lose quite a bit of time, and Silver hoped that Lyra would let him help once they reached the cave.

"Are you ready?" Silver asked as Lyra finally stumbled to the entrance
.
"Yeah," Lyra panted out between breaths. The walk had clearly exhausted her, and Silver was worried that she wouldn't last much longer.

He put his arm around her waist, drawing Lyra close. She gazed at him, eyes wide open.

"Um, Silver, are you okay?"

Silver raised his right eyebrow. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"You're acting really nice and happy and un-Silvery. Did stuff happen last night that I don't know about?"

"Like what?"

A playful gleam came into Lyra's eye. "Maybe you stripped me again."

Silver groaned. "I thought we'd agreed to let that incident go."

"I never said anything like that."

"Fine then. I'll leave." Silver unhooked his arm from Lyra and started into the cave.

"Wait!" Silver paused as he heard footsteps follow him. He turned and around and saw Lyra take a tentative step in.

Her foot slipped. She fell flat on her face, slid a few feet, and crashed into Silver, who in turn lost his balance and toppled over right next to her.

"I'm sorry!" Lyra exclaimed. Her face contorted with pain. "Oh Arceus. That hurt!"

Silver cautiously stood up. He helped Lyra to her feet, and regained his original position with his arm wrapped firmly around her waist.

"I guess I need you," Lyra grumbled.

Silver smiled coyly. "I guess you do."

***
The duo moved very slowly through the cave, careful not to break any of the already thin ice. They walked as softly as possible, occasionally taking breaks for food or to rest Lyra's leg.

This routine went on for many hours. Silver checked his PokeGear frequently. 6:00 Pm… 7:00 PM… where was the flipping exit?!?

At 7:30 they came to the exit. That is, what should have been the exit. Instead, a cold, rocky wall blocked all means of escape.

"What the hell…" Silver mumbled, touching the cool wall. There had to be a route through the cave! Everyone said there was…

"Are we going to have to backtrack?" Lyra asked, an obvious quiver in her voice. The only other way to Blackthorn was over the cave. It could take weeks to scale back up the cliffs with an injured leg.
And Silver highly doubted they had enough supplies to last more than a few days.

"No," Silver answered. "There's got to be away." He felt along the wall, searching for indents or manmade objects. Maybe there was a door somewhere...

"Hey, Silver,"

"What is it?" Silver asked, keeping his concentration on the wall.

"Come here."

Silver sighed. He abandoned his search and joined Lyra. She was situated a few feet away from the wall. She seemed transfixed on a particular patch of ice.

"What…" Silver stopped. The ice here was so thin that one could see through it to what lay underneath. About ten feet down, another sheet of ice lay glistening on the ground, with nothing but air between them.

"That's odd…" What on Earth formed this cave?

"I'm going down."

"No!" Silver exclaimed, grabbing Lyra's shoulder. "You have an injured leg! Besides, how will you get down?"

Lyra rolled her eyes. "How clueless do you think I am?" She reached into her pocket and drew out a Pokeball. "Go Meganium!"

Meganium shot out of her ball with a flurry of leaves and petals. She gave Silver a sour look.

"Now now, Meganium.  Be nice." Lyra patted her Pokémon's head.

"Now, you send out Quilava."

Silver snorted. "That would be Thyplosion." Thyplosion flashed out of his ball like a mountain of fire.

The two Pokémon eyed each other warily. Thyplosion let out a little hiss. Meganium swished a vine at Thyplosion.

"Meganium!" Lyra shouted. "Stop it!"

"Mega." Meganium looked sheepishly at her trainer.

"Uh, you too, Thyplosion. Lyra's a… we're working together now."

"Thyplosion," Thyplosion responded smoothly. He gave his trainer a knowing smile.

"Whatever, Thyplosion."

"Thyplosion," Lyra began, slowly approaching the strong fire Pokémon. "Will you burn a hole in the see-through patch of ice right here?"

Thyplosion nodded. He sent out a flare of flames. The flames melted the ice… and scorched the tips of Meganium's flower.

"Meganium!" Meganium cried furiously. She sent out a volley of razor leaves.

"MEGANIUM!" Lyra yelled. "STOP THAT RIGHT NOW!"

"Thyplosion, return!" Silver quickly drew his Pokémon back in before it could do anything else to anger Meganium.

Lyra sent an exasperated look to Silver before returning to her now-docile Pokémon. "Okay, Meganium. Can you send me down the hole?"

"Meganium!" Meganium wrapped her vines around Lyra and slowly lifted her down the hole.

Lyra landed on her feet. "Meganium, bring Silver down."

Meganium scowled at Silver. She tied her vines loosely around Silver and shot him through the hole. He landed on his knees with a crack!

"Silver! Are you okay?"

"Yeah…" Silver glanced down at the splinted ice below him. "I think we better get moving."

Lyra nodded. "Right. Meganium, return!" She glared down at the ball containing her Pokémon. "We're going to have a long talk later, missy."

CRRRRRRRRRRRRRRACK!

Silver watched in horror as a long fissure split in the middle of the icy floor. Small chunks fell down into nothingness, including one mere inches from his rival's feet.

"LYRA!" Silver grabbed the startled girl's hand and ran for the opening. They had just made it into the free, fresh air when the ice floor shattered.

Silver stared down into the dark depths. "Well, no one else is going to be using this path anytime soon."

Lyra grimaced. "We'll have to warn Nurse Joy at the next Pokémon center. She can get a call out to the Joy in Mahogany Town."

"Then let's find a Pokémon center."

***
"Why, hello children."

Silver started into the crinkled face of a very old woman. He had expected to find a young Nurse Joy in the nearby Pokémon center, not an ancient hag.

"Hi, ma'am," Lyra responded politely. "We just came from the Ice Cave about a half mile back. We were wondering if someone could tell the Nurse Joy in Mahogany Town so that she could warn the other trainers."

"I'll do that, dearie," the woman responded. "This isn't the first time it's happened, so don't feel that this is your fault. They'll get that fixed up pretty soon, I bet."

…So the cave is manmade?

"That's good to know," Lyra smiled. "Is it okay if we stop here for the night? We need a place to sleep, and I've injured my leg. Do you think Nurse Joy could take a look at it?"

"Of course!" The woman chuckled. "How about you and the nice young man rest for the night, and I'll look at it in the morning."

"That would be excellent!"

"Um, are you trained as a nurse?" Silver asked. He didn't want some incompetent nincompoop working on Lyra's leg.

The old woman's blue eyes flashed. "I happen to be a Nurse Joy, young man."

"You're Nurse Joy."

"Yes! What, were you expecting some attractive, young woman that you could hit on?"

Silver  blushed. "N-no."

"Good. You have a perfectly nice young woman right here. Now, off with you. Go to room 29. It's  down the hallway to your left."

Silver stormed past the old woman, avoiding eye contact with Lyra. Yet, that could not stop her chocolate brown eyes from constantly popping into his head.

***
"Hey, Silver?"

"Yeah?" Silver turned to face Lyra. She was laying across the room from him on an identical white bed.

"Thanks… for everything."

Silver nodded. "Okay."

"Really. What I said last night… I wasn't lying. You're not such a bad guy."

Great, now I'm going to feel guilty. Silver took a deep breath. "I'm leaving tomorrow morning."

"What!? I mean, n-not that I particularly care…"

Silver smiled. "Well, I don't think it would be exactly intelligent if we arrived at Blackthorn City together. Besides, you're perfectly safe now."

Lyra frowned. "I guess. But, you will wake me up before you go?"

"Na- you need your sleep."

"Silver!"

"You're recovering from an injury. Get over it."

Lyra sighed. "Fine. But… we will see each at the Silver Conference, right?"

"Duh. Do you doubt my mad battling skills?"

Lyra laughed. "Of course not.

…Bye Silver."

"Bye, Lyra."

Silver sat in silence, listening to Lyra's breathing. He waited until he was sure that she was asleep, and then snuck out of their room. He wanted to sleep on the couch in the lobby tonight; that way he could leave faster in the morning without disturbing Lyra. He walked into the lobby… only to find that he wasn't alone.

"What are you doing here, young man?" Joy asked coldly. She eyed Silver from behind the counter.

Dammit! "I'm sleeping on the couch tonight."

Joy snorted. "Did the young lady kick you out?"

Silver shook his head. "No. Lyra would never do that. She's too nice…"

Joy smirked. "Yes. How funny that such a rude young boy would fall for such a wonderful young lady."

Silver's heart stopped. "What-what do you mean?"

The old woman laughed. "You know what I mean. The way you looked at the girl, the way you stay by her side. Don't you wonder why she's always on your mind? You're in love with her."

"No," Silver whispered. "No, it can't be."

"It is," Joy responded bluntly. She turned towards a door behind the counter. "I'll leave you to sort out your thoughts."

The door shut. Silver collapsed onto the couch. No… there's no way… I can't be…

Scenes appeared in his mind. The first time he saw Lyra. When he saved her from the pack of thugs. When she fell of the cliff. When he'd met her in the hideout, when he'd "stripped" her in the radio tower. And just now- when he'd wasted tons of time in order to ensure her safety.

Every time she'd been in danger… he had freaked out. Even when he hated her. Even when she was 'Miss Weakling'.

Joy was right. She was always on his mind. Her face popped into his head while he trained. Her voice while he slept. And every time his heart raced like crazy.

I love her. I love Lyra.

Panic filled Silver. Love was not a good emotion- it was through love that his mother and father had come together. And that had turned out so well. What if the same happened to him and Lyra…?

Calm down, Silver. It's not like Lyra loves you too. It's a miracle that she no longer thinks you're a total douchebag.

Silver took deep breaths. It was true- Lyra was never going to love him in return. Though unrequited love would be painful, he could deal with it. He'd dealt with much worse pain in his life. Besides, this experience wasn't all bad- it almost made him feel… good to have such thrilling emotions run through his veins. Eventually, they would die down. If not, well, eventually…

Eventually my father will find me and force me to join Team Rocket. And I'll never see Lyra again.