[Pokémon HGSS] A Latter Adventure

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Title: A Latter Adventure
Fandom: Pokémon HeartGold & SoulSilver
Pairing: Lyra/Silver
Rating: G
Summary:
Notes: A pinch hit for storkswap! It was my first time writing kidfic. I was really taken by one of the recipient's prompts for Lyra's child to call her the same way she'd done with her mom. Finding a name for the child was a bit tricky, but I settled on "Bell" to follow the music theme and because I thought it worked well with "Silver" as well, not to mention that bells are pretty important in Johto, and the Pokémon world in general. I liked the idea of Lyra becoming someone who studies Johtonian history, inspired by some of the things she saw and the people she met on her journey. The title was inspired by the description for the Ruins of Alph: "A place where you can find a former adventure."
AO3 Link: Here.

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"Mom, can you see me? The signal here isn't great."

Indeed, when Lyra tried to tilt her trusty old Pokégear to get a better angle, her daughter's face still couldn't be made out very clearly. Even her voice came out of the speakers muffled and crackling, like she was talking into a metal pipe with a piece of cloth wrapped around its end. She brought it up, toward the ceiling, to no avail.

"It's alright, Bell," Lyra said, "we can just talk the old-fashioned way."

Even through the sizzling on the line, Bell's frustration was audible when she replied, "Alright."

Lyra couldn't blame her. If she'd been able to show things to her mom directly on the phone rather than having to tell her, back when she was on her own journey, she would have been jumping at any occasion to do it. Even taking pictures was ridiculously easy on these new models. Silver had caved and gotten one of the newer models of Rotom Phone so he could take it with him when he was training abroad, and they'd both spent an embarrassingly long time going through all the shiny new apps and tools it offered.

"So, how's it going?" Lyra asked cheerfully, to distract Bell from their technological mishaps. She put her Pokégear back down on the desk and rearranged the notes she'd scattered there as she worked. "Exploring more caves?"

There was a short silence on the other end. Tucked under a sheet of paper, she found a large, withered leaf that must have been shed by Silver's meganium at some point and forgotten there. She lifted it carefully, mindful not to let it break into tiny pieces that would prove a nightmare to clean up, and moved it to the top of the pile.

"Bell?" Lyra said when there was no response. She checked that the call hadn't dropped. "Are you still there?"

"Sorry, I got nervous." Bell's voice had gone a little higher, taking that tone that Lyra remembered she'd sometimes use as a young child when she was worried about getting scolded. She frowned, but let her continue. "I'm in the ruins you told me about when I was little."

Relief filled Lyra's mind. She sighed, shaking her head, even as she knew her daughter couldn't see it.

"Why would that make you nervous?"

Another short silence, and then Bell softly said, "I thought maybe you'd have liked to take me there yourself."

Lyra opened her mouth – to protest or to agree, she couldn't say – and found her throat suddenly too tight to get any words out. Her heart felt full and heavy, too big for her chest, the same it had been when she'd gotten to see her child for the very first time, to know she was safe and healthy and theirs to love and protect until it would be time to set her free.

"But!" Bell added, sounding somewhat more confident as she went, "I knew they were close, after I beat the gym in Violet City – Mr Falkner said hi, by the way – and I just couldn't walk past without taking a look! I'm really sorry, Mom!"

Her enthusiasm was so obvious that Lyra couldn't help but laugh, the sudden sound causing her girafarig to raise his head from where he was napping on the little nest of pillows he'd designated as his sleeping spot. Both of his heads then snapped toward the door in perfect sync upon hearing the doorknob rattle.

"Your father's home," Lyra said, smiling at Silver as he walked in, his thin silhouette broadened by a heavy coat. "You're early!"

"The road to Azalea Town is blocked right now. There's a herd of tauroses causing trouble." Silver paused, shedding his coat and hanging it on the rack. He stepped up to Lyra's desk and leaned toward her Pokégear. "You hear that, kid? Don't go running off to Route 33 just yet!"

"Dad!" Bell groaned. "I haven't even gotten to Union Cave!"

Lyra elbowed her husband, making him jump, to her great satisfaction. "She's in the Ruins of Alph!"

"Without you?" Silver frowned, though the corners of his mouth twitched with the unmistakable hint of a smile. "I'd have thought she'd want the renowned expert to give her a tour."

"She got too excited," Lyra said at the exact moment as Bell exclaimed, "I got too excited!"

That, at least, got Silver to grin openly, and Lyra to laugh again.

"Oh!" Bell said. "Actually, now that Dad's here, I can show you! Let me call you back, okay?"

She didn't wait for their response, ending the call immediately. Silver took out his Rotom Phone and, as soon as her name showed up on his screen, took her video call.

The sight of the Ruins of Alph was one Lyra doubted she would ever get tired of. Bell held her Pokégear as far out as she could, beaming with pride and excitement as she stood in front of the intricate carvings on the wall, her auburn hair almost dark red in the near darkness. At her feet, only the tip of her head peeking into view, was her cyndaquil.

Listening to her daughter speak about the atmosphere of the place and how glad she was to finally get to experience it for herself, Lyra found herself thinking of her first time there when she was that very same age, bright-eyed and eager to prove herself and learn about the world she lived in. It was kind of surreal to see Bell there, wearing the hat she'd worn herself and passed on to her, her bag bouncing with her every time she twirled around to show them something else, her cheeks flushed with happiness and agitation. At that moment, she reminded Lyra so much of herself that all she could do was laugh and cheer, afraid that any word would betray the overwhelming emotions that seized her.

When Silver leaned toward her, bumping his arm against her shoulder, she smiled up at him, and he smiled back, his fondness for them both laid bare, and she thought of him, too, of that young boy desperate to prove himself, convinced that he could only do it by force, kicking and screaming until he stood above everyone else, chasing a sense of approval he could never achieve. She held up her hand, and he took it, squeezing once.

They were both different people, and they'd both given up things along the way, as they figured out what they wanted and what they didn't. They'd found each other, again and again, chance meetings and provoked rendezvous, and now there was a new trainer falling in love with the mystery of the Ruins of Alph, the thrill of the adventure, and they were grateful to get to witness it.

The sound of Bell's voice had attracted the girafarig's attention, too. This time, he extracted himself from his pile to trot up to the desk and pushed his head until he could look at the screen, snorting softly.

"Oh, hi!" Bell greeted him, interrupting her gushing about the few unowns she'd spotted hiding in dark corners. "Do you recognize this place?"

The girafarig let out his signature cry, pressing the tip of his snout against the screen and leaving a smear. Lyra laughed at the face Silver made, pulling it away to wipe it with the sleeve of his shirt.

"If you're curious about the legends and myths of Johto, you should have a chat with Morty and the dancing girls once you reach Ecruteak," Lyra said once Silver had repositioned his phone, and she'd made sure that her girafarig wouldn't get to it anymore. "I'm sure they'd have lots of stories to share with you."

Bell's face lit up. She was holding her Pokégear closer to her face now, so close that Lyra could almost see the light dusting of freckles on her cheeks. "Really? That'd be so cool! I'll tell them Lyra the League Champion sent me!"

"You know I haven't been the Champion in a couple of years now." Silver squeezed her hand again. She gave him a look. "To be honest, I'm surprised Morty is still Ecruteak's Gym Leader. Maybe he'll keep battling beyond the grave, as a ghost..."

"Maybe he is a ghost," Silver retorted, deadpan as ever. Lyra rolled her eyes at him.

Judging by the way Bell kept looking around and sneaking glances at her cyndaquil, Lyra doubted she'd even listened to what they were saying. Her eagerness to get back to what she was doing was plain as day.

"I have to go," Bell said before Lyra could offer to hang up herself. "I'd really really like to catch an unown before it gets dark! They're so funny looking!"

"We won't keep you. Go get them! I'd love to see you with one when you come home!"

"They're interesting pokémons," Silver added. "There's someone in Celadon City, in Kanto, who can tell you more about them."

Bell's face scrunched up, deep in thought.

"Celadon City! That's a long way..." She took a deep breath and, with all the gravity of a child her age, said, "We'll see when I get there." Then, she grinned, waving with her free hand at the camera, and all but shouted, "Bye! I'll call you tomorrow!" before hanging up.

The silence she left behind was only interrupted by the soft snorts of Lyra's girafarig. She was holding his front head in her arms, his snout buried under her arm, and played with the scales on the back of his neck.

"She really is just like you," Silver said. He'd let go of her hand to brace himself against her desk. When she looked up at him, he was staring into space, his wistful expression mirroring her mood. "If she doesn't become the next Johtonian Champion, I'll eat one meganium leaf per day for a year."

Lyra wheezed out a laugh. "Don't make promises you can't keep!"

He mock-glared at her, giving a remarkable impression of the sort of looks he used to give her when they'd just barely begun to get to know each other, and she stuck out her tongue in response. Her girafarig sighed as he laid his front head on her lap, the back head darting around, pointy teeth bared into the usual grin.

She petted it gently. Imagining Bell as the new Johto Champion filled her with mixed feelings. Pride, of course, but also worry at the thought of her little girl in the limelight, having to deal with the same kind of pressure and scrutiny she went through. Glancing at Silver, who was now playing with the discarded dried leaf on her desk while reading through her notes, she knew that they would both have her back no matter what.

"I'll go start dinner," Silver said. He carefully bunched up his long red hair to tie it into a ponytail, his gestures swift by force of habit. "I didn't realize you'd branched out to Sinnohan myths."

"Oh! I can tell you all about it. It's fascinating."

As she moved to finish tidying up her desk as best as she could with her girafarig determined not to be disturbed, the topic of myths brought her back to what she'd said to her daughter. Perhaps it was time to give Morty a call, for old times' sake. She was sure he'd love to hear about Bell's newfound passion for ruins and legends – and to be told that Silver had theorized he might be a ghost.