(Re-publishing because the site was being glitchy. I'm not sure if it was only a problem for me but some of it didn't show up? So yeah. Just gonna be safe.)

It seems every time I plan something, I never end up doing it. Like how I planned to start writing this chapter a couple days after I published the last one, but look how that turned out.

Oh well. I was on vacation. I suppose that's my excuse.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon and unless my dog somehow takes over the world, I never will.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Silence.

Pure, cold silence hung heavily in the ruined tower as the final words escaped the woman's mouth, broken only by the rumbling of the ongoing earthquake. Every life form, humans and Pokemon alike, were completely still. That is, until a single shard of wood broke free from the ceiling and fell down to the ground with a light tapping sound.

An ear-shattering scream rang out from one of the Marowaks, foam dripping from its mouth as it desperately ran towards the exit of the tower. Lyra's heart pounded loudly as she watched all the other creatures follow suit, the tower echoing with cries of terror in mere seconds. The Marowaks fought against each other, scratching madly at doors that wouldn't open. Bile rose up in her throat as she saw one torn mercilessly in two by its horrified kin. Dust started to rain down upon the gathered figures as the shaking grew more violent. Lyra attempted to pull Silver closer to her by his arm, but he only pulled away roughly, still shuddering madly.

"Silver, please!" Raising her voice as loud as she could manage, the girl prayed he could hear her. "We have to get out of here! This tower's about to collapse and-" Lyra fund herself unable to continue. Because of his struggling and how loosely she had tied it, the red cloth around Silver's arm had slid off, revealing the wound beneath. Oozing an odd clear liquid, the injury was large and heavily swollen, pulsating visibly. Silver let out a strangled choke, chest heaving frantically, before coughing up a mouthful of foamy saliva. Tears streamed down his face, looking alien on his normally stoic expression.

"Silver…" The brunette whispered, eyes alive with concern. Her mind raced. What could she say? How could she tell him he'd be okay when she herself wasn't even sure of that fact? Could he even hear her?

Umbreon let out a barking sound from beside her, breaking her out of her trace. The girl turned around, her expression utterly terrified. For once, she felt like she had no control over the situation. Feeling useless, she starred at Umbreon with hopeless eyes.

Umbreon let out a low growl. Stalking up to her trainer, the dog like Pokemon let out a couple more barks, causing the girl to flinch.

"W-what?" Lyra whispered fearfully. Umbreon smacked her a few times with her tail.

The dark Pokemon thrust her paw out to indicate to Pokeballs Lyra had in her bag, and then flipped her head around to look at the rest of the brunette's team. Suicune, Ditto and Meganium all stood strong at the entrance, blocking any of the terrible creatures from getting to the trainers should they desire to. Lyra turned back to her loyal Pokemon, understanding, but hesitant.

"But…" She swallowed nervously, trembling. "If I put them back in their pokeballs, and me and Silver were to…. Die…." She shuddered. "Then who will come to release you?" Her eyes held a dangerous look of seriousness. "You know what happens to a Pokemon when it's left in its Pokeball for too long!"

Umbreon let out an impatient yowl, growing more and more skittish as the building continued to fall apart. Rings of yellow flashing blue, she thrust her head up, a strong cerulean glow surrounding it. Protect.

Lyra bit her lip uncomfortably. "B-But…. Would you be able to protect all three of u-" Suddenly, a large beam of wood broke free from the ceiling. A terrible, ear-shattering crash was heard as it and the large portion of the roof it had been supporting slammed into the ground. The brunette screamed out of terror, grabbing Silver and holding him close. The cries of agony from beside them indicated that many of the mutilated creatures had been crushed beneath the wooden remains, either dying insanely or held down by their own rotting entrails. Sympathy was not an emotion Lyra was capable of feeling at the moment however, as once the dust from the impact cleared all she felt was pure, unrestrained relief.

The room was almost silent. The Marowaks had all but given up with their fruitless attempts and were now merely sitting, heads hanging in defeat as they waited for their inevitable doom. Lyra's mind was made up. She tore into her bag, grabbing each and every one of her Pokemon's Pokeballs without a hint of hesitation. She wasn't going to let anyone die here, human or Pokemon.

"Ditto, Suicune, Meganium, get over here!" Her voice was a little harsh, but she couldn't help it. She needed them to understand the danger they were all in. The three Pokemon became alert at their trainer's call, obediently sprinting over towards her. "Ditto, return!" Lyra called as she retracted the amorphous creature once it had arrived. "Suicune, return! Meganium, return!"

Once the three Pokemon were safely secured in their respective pokeballs, the girl wasted no time shoving them quickly into her bag, not even bothering to put them in their proper spots. This action forced the ball of Gold's Bellossom to the very edge, near the entrance, but that didn't receive a second thought from the trainer.

Lyra pressed Silver's limp body as close to hers as possible. He was completely still now, with the exception of the slow, shaky breaths rattling through his form, leading her to suspect he was unconscious. Trembling like mad, she turned to Umbreon. The dark type hadn't moved an inch, her red eyes set firmly on her trainer. Lyra nodded slowly.

"Wait until it breaks." She commanded. Umbreon bobbed her head furiously.

With that settled, the girl shut her eyes. She had to depend on her Pokemon now. If it failed, they died. If it worked, they lived.

It was as simple as that.

The cracking sound was growing to be almost overbearing. Lyra found herself counting. Counting the seconds until her possible doom. Silver shifted in her arms, before tensing again.

One…. Two…. Three…

The Marowaks were screaming now. Horrible, agonizing screams emitted from the bloodied creatures. They thrashed madly, biting, scratching, killing. It didn't matter what got in their way, what mattered was them.

Four…. Five…. Six….

Lyra never thought she'd find herself relating to a Marowak.

Seven… Eight-

The moment her lips moved in the shape of the word, the roof collapsed upon them.

Everything way so horribly loud Lyra thought for sure she'd go deaf. She felt herself being enveloped in a pale blue light, the large shafts of wood smashing down upon them and simply snapping once contact was made. Lyra was now gripping Silver with all her might, squeezing her eyes shut. She wouldn't dare take a look.

….

It was impossible to tell how much time had passed when she felt the rumbling beneath her feet slow to a stop. The deafening sound let off a little, fading in an almost painfully slow way until all that could be heard was the light cracking of small shingles as they met the ground. Lyra's eyelids twitched. Was it over now? Should she look?

Shivering, she broke open her eyes, brown orbs prepared to take in whatever damage the tower had faced. And, sure enough, it was horrible.

While the long walls of the tower were still mostly intact for the time being, the roof was completely gone. Broken support beams had gathered all around the huddled trainers. Dust was heavy in the air, making every shaky breath she took in all the more difficult. Every square of the floor was a horrible mess, whether it be from the fallen roof or from the blood and splattered organs of the now permanently deceased Marowaks. The only place this excluded was the small circle around her and Silver, saved from the damage by one move alone.

Umbreon let out a weak cough from beside her, attracting the attention of the trainer. Lyra stifled a gasp as she saw the dark creature, sprawled out with an exhausted look set upon her features. Sweat stained her pelt, mixing in with the dust to make a horribly matted coat.

"Umbreon…" she whispered, gently setting Silver down and turning to her fallen Pokemon. "That was amazing…"

Umbreon rolled her eyes, twitching a little. Had she have not been so exhausted, the creature would've accepted the praise with a head held high and a graceful stride in her step.

Lyra ran a hand through her soft fur, a warm look filling her eyes. "I'm so proud of you, you know that?" She breathed. Reaching into her bag once more, she withdrew Umbreon's pokeball. "You more than deserve a rest. Once we get home I'll clean you up, I promise." And with a muffled grunt and a tweak of the leg, Umbreon was retracted into the orb.

Lyra sighed deeply. This wasn't going as well as she though it would. Not only had they let the Team Rocket member escape, but both of them had almost been killed in the process! Speaking of which….

The girl turned once more to check on Silver. The trainer had pushed himself up into and awkward sitting position, one hand planted firmly on the ground and his head facing downwards. He was still shuddering like mad, leftover tears of agony still in his eyes that he was wiping away at in irritation. His bottom lip had been entirely torn open.

Lyra gently crawled over towards him. "Silver? Are…." She swallowed. "How are you feeling?"

Silver looked up at her, expression unreadable. After a bit of a silence, he slowly said, "either the bacteria wasn't transmitted correctly, or they were merely speaking empty words." He forced himself to sit up, wincing momentarily before covering it up with his usual expression.

Lyra could tell by the look in his eyes that he was angry. Angry at himself for showing weakness. Never had the girl seen him in a situation where his very life was dependent on another person's competence. And it was very clear that he hated it.

"Silver, maybe you should lie down…" She eyed his wound wearily.

Silver narrowed his eyes. "I don't need to lie down." He hissed bitterly. Just as she was about to protest, he added, "It's not like I can anyway. We can't stay in here any longer, unless we want to be crushed by the remaining parts of the tower."

Lyra bit her lip. He made a good point. After what had just happened, she doubted that the rest of the building was very sturdy. Their best bet was to get out of there as soon as possible.

"But… The entrances are clearly blocked." The brunette pointed out, gesturing over to the large piles of rubbish that blocked the doors. "It could take hours move that all, even with the assistance of our Pokemon! Plus, we risk damaging the tower by doing so, meaning it cause it to collapse on us earlier." Silver looked annoyed at this development. "How are we supposed to get out?"

Silver hissed under his breath. Looking around, he surveyed the area for a better route of escape. They couldn't spend too much longer just sitting here. But what could they do? His eyes fell on to focus of one of the many broken support beams. Though they had pretty much all fallen to the ground, some left behind the edges, which stuck out just long enough for a fairly large Pokemon to stand on.

Finally, he turned back to face the girl. "Looking at the size of the room going upwards, Lugia and Ho-Oh would be to big to fly out. We can't risk injuring them anymore than they already are, especially in Ho-Oh's case." He sighed, pointing a finger at one of the pieces of mood he had been examining earlier. Lyra followed the gesture with her eyes. "I suggest we use one of out Pokemon to jump from the pieces of the remaining support beams to reach one of the doors that lead outwards onto some sort of balcony. From there, we can escape and merely fly away."

Lyra thought about this for a moment.

"I suppose that could work…." Reaching into her bag, she shuffled around a little, looking for the right pokeball. "Suicune would probably be the best to use. She's big enough to hold both of us and has the sturdiest leg muscles."

Silver nodded slowly as she sent the water type out. Planting both hands on the ground, he began to push himself up, letting out a stifled gasp as a wave of pain ran through him. Lyra cast him a worried expression as she too got up, which he responded to with a glare. He didn't need her pity.

Limbs trembling uncontrollably, Silver stood as firmly as he could considering the fact that he was experiencing the worst pain he had ever felt in his life. His vision blurred a little as he walked over to where Suicune was standing.

Lyra was silent as she watched her companion mount the large creature. She didn't dare pointing out how long he was taking with it either. It was her fault that he was in this much pain, and she knew it. If only she had been more careful. As much as they wouldn't agree with it, Lyra knew that watching after Silver and Gold was part of her responsibility both as a trainer and a friend.

Gold…. Lyra winced as she thought of him. Why had she made him stay outside? Something horrible was just destined to happen to him. He's eleven years old for Arceus' sake! Sure, coming in here with them probably wasn't much safer for him, but at the same time, with his assistance they could've won the battle. But no, she had to just abandon him out there. And now, because of her, everybody was-

"Lyra." Silver interrupted her inner ranting with a toneless call of her name. Lyra shook her head, clearing her thoughts. The other trainer was sitting on top of Suicune, crossing his arms and giving her a slightly impatient, though still controlled, glare.

Lyra grabbed the legendary's back, forcing herself upwards.

"Right, sorry…" She mumbled. Once she was comfortable enough on her Pokemon's back, she leaned forwards to grasp Suicune's mane, arm's brushing against Silver's. Silver flinched a little at her touch. Whether this was due to the pain he was currently experiencing on just because he still wasn't used to human contact, Lyra didn't know. And she didn't have anytime to find out either,.

"Suicune." The girl addressed simply, voice steady. "I need you to jump from the broken shafts on the walls to get to the nearest door you see above." She explained this is the simplest terms she could manage, gesturing to what she was referring to all the while. "You have to move quickly, wasting anytime could cause the beams to break from beneath us. Understood?" The blue Pokemon nodded. "Good. Now, don't start until I sa-"

Without waiting for her trainer to even finish her sentence, Suicune bunch up her muscles and leap soundly through the air.

The shift in gravity was almost enough send Lyra flying. Flailing a little, she struggled to get a good grasp on the legendary's mane. Silver was surprising unfazed however, and didn't even twitch when Suicune came crashing down upon the first landing.

Lyra forced herself to sit up straight, knuckles turning white from gripping so hard onto the pieces of purple hair. As the creature prepared for yet another leap, she half interrupted:

"Wait! Suicune I said-"

Suicune was having a great time blatantly ignoring everything her trainer told her, and once again jumped through the air, scaring the daylights out of the girl. Silver smirked the tiniest bit as Lyra yelled out loudly at her Pokemon.

It took two more jumps for the girl to give up entirely on even trying to command Suicune. By then, they were pretty much at the top anyways.

The last jump they barely made. Suicune's weight all but broke off the beam upon landing, causing it to break entirely when she pushed off. The leap was clumsy, Suicune letting out a cry of shock as she saw that they were falling just short of the last section.

Thinking quickly, both Silver and Lyra abandoned the Pokemon at once, causing the poor creature to begin to fall from beneath them. Silver just barely made it, having been weakened by his wounding, and needed Lyra to grab his writ with one had to steady him. With her other hand, the girl was desperately searching for Suicune's pokeball. Her heart was racing with terror.

"Got it!" She cried instinctively. Gripping the orb in one hand, she tore it out so forcefully that she didn't eve notice one of the pokeballs go flying out of her bag, rolling off the side of the landing and tumbling down to the ground below. Quickly, the girl returned her falling Pokemon to her ball, sighing in relief at the crisis she had averted.

The room felt oddly silent after what had happened. The creaking of the walls mixing with the heavy breathing of the two young trainers made to be the only sound. Lyra leaned over the edge of the ground she was standing on, shocked by just how high up they actually were. The floor below looked like it was miles away, mutilated Marowak's nothing more then splatters on the view.

"Well…" Lyra breathed, heart finally slowing down. "I suppose we should go get Gol-" A suddenly clacking noise from below startled her, followed by an almost silent rolling noise. Blinking the confusion, the girl flipped around. "What was that?"

"It's not important." Silver snapped quickly. Lyra turned back to him. He looked angry again. "Team Rocket has returned, we just about got killed three times their, and you're seriously worried about a little noise from below us?!"

Lyra paused, before nodding. He was right; they had bigger things to worry about. Much, much bigger. Without saying a word, the girl straightened herself out, dusted herself off, and walked towards the door, Silver silently in tow.

When Lyra opened the door leading to the outside world, she was ready for just about anything. The total demolition of the town, Team Rocket grunts surrounding them from every corner of the sky… She was prepared to face it, as well as many other things.

The hanging, bloody form of her friend was not one of these things.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Professor Oak groaned, setting down the phone he had held after yet another failed attempt to communicate with the Johto trio. He rubbed his face wearily, running his hands through his hair with a deep sigh.

The professor was getting worried. Very worried, in fact. The three trainers he had sent out just a couple hours before weren't responding to his calls. He'd tried all three of them, and nothing. Not even Lyra. Surely they couldn't be in much danger yet, could they? Kicking back his chair, he rolled over to the desk where he'd collected notes of the reports.

He picked one up, not really reading it as much as just skimming it. They were all very vague, not really offering any actual information on their return. To be honest, the only real reason why Oak had sent the three was because he had had his own suspicions of the team's return for a while now.

Three years had passed since Team Rocket had attacked Johto, which in turn was three years since they had first been established. If they planned on making their return anytime, now would be it.

And yeah, it was a stupid play to send three of the world's strongest trainer's out to investigate merely based of a simple superstition, but Professor Oak knew for a fact that he wouldn't ever be able to forgive himself should Johto fall under siege against these fiends once more. He put the paper down, frowning.

Just then, he heard the door open from behind him, soft footsteps signaling someone's arrival.

"Yo', Oak?" A young, feminine voice called out. The man instantly smiled, knowing exactly who it was. "You called? Said something about needing me for something?"

Professor Oak flipped around to face the girl.

"Yes, I did in fact. Thank you for coming so quickly, Leaf."

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

That chapter wasn't as long as I wanted it to be. ._. However, if I hadn't of stopped it there, it either would've gone on for a really long time or you'd get a really crappy next chapter. So, instead you get a hopefully decent this chapter and a hopefully fairly epic next chapter.

That made sense.

Also yes, Leaf is now a character in this. Will she play a big roll? Well just have to see, won't we? Except for me, I already know.

Thank you so so SO SO SOOO much for reviewing! Like oh my god you guys, thank you! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

~*Galefire*~