All's Well That Ends Well

My heart was pulsating, pounding against my chest as an unruly prisoner might pound on prison bars, and every breath that I managed was methodical yet tentative. My goal, my only objective, was to leave this room without waking Lyra up. I gingerly slipped out of bed and tip-toed silently all the way to the door. For a moment, it looked like I would be able to make a clean getaway. For just a moment, it looked like Lyra would never be able to ask the unanswerable question of why I was skulking around in her room in the middle of night. However, just as I was ready to make my escape, I tripped over a wire, perhaps a computer cord, and I fell down with a clamorous thud.

"Who's there?" Lyra, who was struggling to find a light switch, cried out.

I didn't say a word; almost as if not speaking would make this problem disappear. Of course, it didn't and Lyra inevitably found a light switch.

"Silver what are you doing in my room at 6:14 in the morning?" Lyra chastised.

"You see it's a really long story involving Pichu and…"

"Where is Pichu?" Lyra said. "Did you eat him?"

"You need a head examination. Of course, I didn't eat him."

"If you were hungry I would have made you pancakes," Lyra continued. "Now spit Pichu out right now before I have to get rough with you."

"You don't seem to understand how the human digestive system works. Besides, believe it or not, I was Pichu the whole time. I was turned into the rodent by an impish Celebi and this morning when I woke up, I found out that I was a human again."

"And you say that I need my head examined," Lyra said with a wry grin on her face. "Now reveal the location of Pichu this instant or prepare for battle."

"Are you nuts? I'm not going to fight a girl."

"Espeon go," Lyra debonairly responded. "Now use your psychic to render Silver immobile while I give him the tickling of a lifetime."

"No, anything but that," I begged.

Lyra, who was perhaps having too much fun considering the circumstances, jumped on top of me and gave me a wayward grin.

"I've been waiting to do this a long time," Lyra said, instantly wanting to take back the words immediately after she said them.

"What do you mean a long time?" I demanded. At that moment I looked at Lyra's face and it was as red as a Tamato Berry. Her deep red blush was probably the most intense I had ever seen up to that point and perhaps the deepest I have ever seen since.

Marshmallow head shyly looked down at the floor, poked her fingers together and incoherently starting mumbling. I couldn't hear what she said but I think I heard the words "I kind of like you" somewhere in the incoherent jumble.

And that was a good thing. My stomach, which had been extremely nervous as a result of trying to escape Lyra's room undetected, starting doing flips, and I was almost certain that I felt my heart grow a little bigger. It wasn't three times bigger like in that sappy Christmas movie about a green monster but it grew nonetheless. However, my happiness, as happiness tends to be, was short-lived as Officer Jenny kicked down the door, like she was the star of a bad detective movie, or perhaps a bad detective novel that never got the chance to be turned into a movie.

"We've got you Silver," Officer Jenny stated matter-of-factly. "Resistance is futile. You are being arrested for Pokémon larceny; anything you say can and will be used against in a court of law."

Although it was quite out of her character, Lyra was laconic during this whole process, possibly because she was truly speechless or maybe because she was afraid that something she said actually would be used against me in a court of law. Either way, I was not going to take this injustice lying down.

"Listen here Officer Jenny, I did not steal Pichu."

"Pichu," the policewoman answered with a wry look on her face. "I was talking about the Cyndaquil that you pilfered from Professor Elm's laboratory a few months back. I should have figured that you'd be attempting to steal more Pokémon."

I grinned sheepishly, a natural reaction, but inwardly I was cursing myself for my mistake. It is true that I did steal Cyndaquil a few months ago but that was because no Pokémon professor would give me a chance to raise a Pokémon, considering I had no references, no friends, no family, no-one to hold me accountable. At first, I viewed Pokémon as tools of war, creatures to be used to advance my own selfish ambitions, but slowly I came to realize that Typhlosion and my other Pokémon were my friends. Even more so, I started to view Lyra as a friend, perhaps as more than a friend, over the last few days.

"You'll have plenty of time to perfect that pensive stare behind bars," Officer Jenny chastised as she forcefully handcuffed me and led me away to the police cruiser, a seemingly heartbroken Lyra shadowing my every step until I was locked away in the car and she could follow me no longer.

The drive to jail was a quiet one, my mind filled with shock and disbelief as opposed to schemes and contingency plans, not that the latter would have necessarily been fruitful anyway. Of course, life has a funny way of playing tricks on you and behind cold iron bars, the steel beams that held a dozen or so rowdy bikers who probably refused to pay their bar tab, was no one other than Gold.

"Silver," Gold cried out, tears of joy streaming down his face. "You came to rescue me."

"Well not exactly," I lamented. "As a matter of fact, I'm being locked up as well."

The excitement on Gold's face disappeared almost as quickly as it came. The boyish enthusiasm on his face evaporated into what I perceived as genuine curiosity.

"So what happened?" Gold asked. "And don't leave out any juicy details."

"Tell me what happened to you first," I countered. If I was going to tell Gold the extremely intimate, not to mention embarrassing, story about becoming a Pichu and ending up in jail then I definitely needed Gold's embarrassing story first.

"Well, you know how I like to pull pranks?"

"Yeah, I know you're a troublemaker."

"So basically Professor Elm gave me a Master Ball to deliver to Professor Oak. While I was making the trip from New Bark Town to Goldenrod City, the place where Professor Oak's radio show is, I saw a legendary Pokémon along the way. Long story short, I caught that legendary Pokémon with Professor Elm's Master Ball.

"That legendary Pokémon wouldn't happen to Celebi would it," I inquired.

"Yeah how did you know?" Gold asked, apparently stunned that I knew that piece of information.

"You idiot," I yelled, punching the steel bars as hard I could, producing a clamorous sound that startled everyone in the place from the rowdy bikers in our jail cell to officer Jenny and even though I sensed that every eye in the place was on me, it did almost nothing to quell my fury, a rage that stemmed from my humiliating time as a Pichu, a rage that made me want to pummel Gold senseless.

Gold was backing down, inching closer and closer to the cell wall, and I was steadily approaching, my patience just about evaporated at this point. Did I really need to start this conversation?

"I was turned into a Pichu this week. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you?"

"Calm down Silver." Gold implored, flashing a toothy smile, a grin that seemed to mollify my rage for reasons I still can't explain.

"When I caught Celebi, I thought that I would be the strongest trainer in Johto. However, things didn't work out that way."

"What happened?"

You see, Celebi was a handful; a real problem to control, and it didn't respect me because I only had 3 gym badges at the time. She constantly wandered off, pranking people because she felt like it and skipping out on our training sessions. Anyway, I told Professor Elm about the situation and he said that I should take the Master Ball and Celebi to Professor Oak anyway. Celebi ostensibly heard that conversation and next time I let her out of the Master Ball, she just took off, probably not wanting to be subject of Professor Oak's experiments, benign as they may be."

"So how did you end up in jail?"

Gold sighed. "I was riding my bicycle frantically in an attempt to catch Celebi when she flew off. I was so focused on catching up to Celebi that I ran a couple of red lights and Officer Jenny decided to arrest me to teach a lesson.

"You bet I did," Officer Jenny responded, wagging her finger at Gold profusely. "You caused four car accidents, destroyed three restaurants and left the city with a bill of 500,000 Pokédollars. Luckily no-one sustained any serious injuries. And there is no way you were chasing a Celebi kid."

"I was. I was. I was." Gold responded in a puerile way while stamping his foot repeatedly, injuring his case instead of helping it."

"And as for you Silver, we don't kindly to larceny around these parts. Your days of stealing Pokémon are over."

"I know I made a mistake," I pleaded. "But I raised that Cyndaquil into a strong Typhlosion and we are good friends now. Can't you just release me and my friend?"

"Well now that you put that way, I think I will let you guys go free. That story really warmed my heart and restored my faith in humanity."

"I looked at Gold, whose eyes were filled with guileless excitement as he watched Officer Jenny pick up the keys to the jail cell.

"Psyche," Officer Jenny said, and she put the keys back down almost as soon as she had grabbed them. "Did you actually think I was going to let you guys get off that easy?"

That was absolutely pathetic. I can't believe that I fell for that. I slumped down. This would be a long day.

"Hey aren't we allowed a phone call?" I asked Officer Jenny, suddenly inspired, after several boring and non-eventful hours had passed.

The police officer casually looked up from her magazine, a girly checkout aisle purchase no doubt, the cover filled with racy questions about relationships, dating and sex.

"Sorry boys," Officer Jenny said. "The prisoner's phone's is gone. We had to sell it to pay for the damage that Gold caused the city."

Gold sheepishly looked down at his running shoes.

"Don't worry," I told the crestfallen boy. "Someone will get us out of here. To be honest, I wouldn't even mind if marshmallow head came right now."

At that precise moment, as if by magic, Lyra came through the door and she wasn't alone. Following behind her was Crystal, Professor Elm, and my Typhlosion.

"Silver," Lyra called out. "I came as quickly as I could.

"I've been in here for ten hours."

"I had to get Professor Elm so he could clear your name and I also had to pick up your Pokémon. Did you know they were just abandoned in Ilex Forest? Luckily Kurt, the craftsman from Azalea Town, found your Pokeballs on a walk in Ilex Forest and he took all your Pokémon back home and took care of them for you.

"That was nice of him."

"Well, he's sending you a bill in the mail. Actually he's sending me a bill in the mail because you don't have an address," Lyra opined.

"Your address, your problem. Just think of the bill as a fine for wearing such a dorky hat"

"You know I don't have to help you out. I brought Professor Elm to clear your name. He doesn't like boys who are mean to me."

"Crystal," Gold cried out, interrupting our exchange. "Please get me out of here. I know you have 500,000 Pokédollars. Bail me out and I'll do anything for you."

"You mean you'll stop flirting with other girls."

"I'll do anything but that."

"I see," Crystal smiled. "You plan to pay off 500,000 thousand Pokédollars by yourself. Good luck with that.'

"I don't flirt that much. You shouldn't be so mean."

"You'll flirt with anything that has a pulse and remotely looks like a girl. Does the name Bugsy ring a bell?"

"Let's stop this lover's quarrel," Professor Elm, who was quiet up to this point, said. "I'll bail you out Gold. 500,000 is nothing for a wealthy scientist like me."

Gold and Crystal simultaneously blushed at the term "lover's quarrel" being used to describe their argument.

"Officer Jenny, I do not wish to press charges on Silver for his theft of Cyndaquil. Look at this Pokémon, the beaming Typhlosion you see evolved from the very Cyndaquil that Silver stole. He raised it to be a healthy and strong Pokémon and he treats his other Pokémon with kindness as well."

After some hesitation and some paperwork, Officer Jenny finally released us. As I left the police station with my friends and walked outside, I gazed at the amazing sunset, the sky bathing in glorious yellows, reds, and purples, reminding me of the value of small pleasures in life.

Before all this happened, I just wanted to be stronger than Lyra. Now, I just wanted to be near her. I liked her caring personality. I liked her ability to engage in witty banter. I liked her determination to succeed.

"That's not all you like," said a familiar pixyish voice, a voice I knew belonged to Celebi.

"Come out," I demanded.

"Who are you talking to?" Lyra said in tentative voice.

I didn't really feel like explaining, especially after the long day. Even though I mentioned Celebi to Lyra, I'm pretty sure she confused my story with banter of some variety.

"I'll tell you later," I insisted.

"Hey melon-man, I'm clairvoyant. Try using your brain to communicate. All you have to do is think the thought and it will transmit to me. I know thinking is a novel concept for you but I'm sure you'll get used to it."

"You are insufferable," I said by way of mental transmission. "By the way, did you target me because I knew Gold?"

"I saw a picture of you, Lyra, and Gold in his wallet one day and I decided you two would make a cute couple. And of course you do. It's mostly because of her though."

"We aren't a couple yet."

"Yet," Celebi smirked. "So what you're telling me is that you are working on it. I thought you didn't like her that way."

I blushed fiercely. Fortunately for me, no-one in the group was looking at my face, a face that had a surfeit of seemingly haphazard expressions, expressions that were wildly inappropriate because I ostensibly wasn't talking to anyone.

"Stop blushing, melon-man."

"Stop calling me that. It was only natural to take a look or two."

"Or twenty," Celebi scoffed. "Look, I'll be around Ilex Forest if you ever want to come thank me in person for finding you an awesome girlfriend. Or you could just leave some chocolate at the shrine in Ilex Forest. I love milk chocolate. Don't leave dark chocolate though. That stuff is terrible."

"Okay, I'll bring you dark chocolate."

"I said no dark chocolate bonehead. Do you want to incur the wrath of a legendary Pokémon? I wouldn't mess with someone who can manipulate time. I can make your life like Groundhog Day."

"Whatever, I scoffed. Someone should learn not to look a gift horse in the mouth."

"Speaking of gifts, before I leave, I want to give you a special gift," Celebi said. "That gift would be a song."

"Don't you ever get tired of this routine?" I sighed.

"Silver and Lyra sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g, first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the baby in the baby carriage."

As the song ended, Celebi's voice slowly and steadily faded away into nothingness. I looked over at Lyra, captivated by her radiant smile, thinking I should probably attempt to hold her hand, wondering if her coy wink was an invitation to do so.

Celebi was certainly a meretricious matchmaker but she was by no means a bad one.

So this is the end of the story. Thanks to everyone to who has reviewed. Special thanks to Sapphiet and Exxon for reviewing every chapter.

Thank you L100Meganium for your incredibly thoughtful reviews. I really benefited from your advice and I was even able to use a few of your tips in my story.

I'll probably be shifting my attention to one-shots for now, so I can get more content out. If anyone has any pairings then I'll be glad to consider them and I'll probably use them if I can come up with an acceptable story and plot. You can leave your pairings as a review or as a PM if you prefer.

Reviews about this story are always appreciated. I hope everyone enjoyed this story.