Lyra Nakajima

Kotone Lyra Nakajima is from New Bark Town in the Johto region. She and Casey Saunders previously traveled with the Mokusetsu when they were in Ecruteak City, Johto, looking for the fourth Plate, Tamamushi.

Present
Lyra first appeared in Episode 14. She and her best friend, Casey, came across Ash and Dawn in their hometown of New Bark Town, Johto. After introductions and learning what Ash and Dawn were there for, Lyra and Casey wanted to travel with them to find the next Plate. Ash and Dawn brought them to Alain and introduced them. They showed immediate interest in being Manipulators and joining the Mokusetsu later.

They all then traveled to Ecruteak City to find Tamamushi, the Bug Plate. Lyra and Casey educated Ash on the Burned Tower, since they passed by it. Lyra suggested that everyone play a baseball game with Casey to cheer her up from her reminiscining about the better times of the past.

Lyra witnessed Bianca being freed by Ash after she was tied up by Archie for not paying her taxes, saying he was going to kill Bianca after destroying the city. Lyra also witnessed Casey's Beedrill being killed when Casey ordered it to attack Archie. Lyra felt sorry for her best friend. She further felt bad after Archie burned down the baseball field afterwards.

After the fight for the Bug Plate, which had The Iron-Masked Marauder joining, the Tekiyoku retreated and when the Plate was found, Ho-Oh flew over the Burned Tower in magnificent fashion. This caused 3 silhouettes to appear from the tower, which Alain exclaimed must be the three Pokémon that died in the fire of that tower years ago. They came back to life, but flew away, their faces not seen. Another effect of the Bug Plate being found was that Casey's Beedrill came back to life. This filled her and Lyra with joy and relief.

Dawn ended up being caught by the enemy when they retreated, though. They ordered for the Bug Plate to be given up to them or else they'd kill Dawn. Alain gave the Plate up and the Tekiyoku left. Alain was furious and there was big tension. He then sent Lyra and Casey away from the group.

Personality
Lyra is pretty cheerful and balanced out with her emotions. She was a good help to the Mokusetsu in Johto without getting in the way during the fight.

For unknown reasons, she messes up Dawn's name, calling her "Dane". Dawn was always interrupted when trying to correct her. Even when hearing Dawn's name correctly in conversation, Lyra continued doing this, seemingly unintentionally.

Lyra is a great friend to Casey; the two are best friends from New Bark Town. They went to different academies, with Lyra going to Sinnoh Academy and Casey going to Kalos Academy, but the two maintained their friendship. Lyra was there to cheer Casey up when she was sad about her nostalgic memories being gone. She knows how much Casey loves baseball and thought up the idea of the gang playing baseball with her in an old stadium she used to play in to make her happy, which they all did (except Alain). She was sad with Casey when that baseball stadium was burned down by Archie and after what happened with her Beedrill.

Pokémon
Lyra mentioned that she has a Meganium, but due to the Tekiyoku's law on owning only one Pokémon at a time, she chose to keep her Marill with her. She says she has a close bond with it and never wants it to evolve.

Naming

 * Her first name, Kotone, is her Japanese name in the Pokémon anime. It's a reference to the sound of a "koto", a musical instrument.
 * Her middle name, Lyra, is her name in the English dub of the anime. Following the theme of her first name, it's meant to reference a "lyre", another instrument.
 * In fact, her name in 4 of the 5 other languages references 4 different musical instruments / properties of them. More can be seen here.


 * Her last name, Nakajima, is the surname of her Japanese voice actress, Megumi Nakajima.
 * Interestingly enough, Nakajima also voices another character named Lyra, a Celestial Spirit in Fairy Tail. This Lyra's alias in Japanese is also translated to "koto za", another reference to a koto, just like the Pokémon Lyra's Japanese name.

General

 * Her birthday, September 17th, is the original Japan air date of the episode she first appeared in the Pokémon anime.
 * Both Lyra and Casey have a Meganium, while neither chose it to be the one Pokémon they keep with them.
 * Lyra is from Johto, but is seen in Sinnoh in the Diamond and Pearl anime. This is due to Lyra being a new female character in the remakes of the Gen 2 games, which came out during Gen 4. Nocturnal Jay decided to introduce Lyra in Johto instead of Sinnoh, though, keeping her true to her region.
 * Her constant mispronouncing of Dawn's name as "Dane" is actually done in the Pokémon anime. In the Japanese version, instead of Hikari, she calls Dawn "Hikarin".
 * In the anime, Lyra subtly shows that she has a crush on Ash. However, this is not currently present in Tears of the Fallen, which is different, since most half-canonical ships with Ash and a female anime character are present in the series.
 * Regardless of the above bullet point, the shipping name for Ash and Lyra is called PokéSilverShipping.