*Come in, I've been expecting all of you*
*How?*
Lily talks to him through the connection they discovered
*Zorath, you're up*
Zorath takes over and starts speaking
*Because I was the one who called you, Ultraman Zorath reporting for duty*
*But how?*
*This is a complicated story and involves the battle that happened a few days ago, remember hearing about Lily's death, well thanks to her powers she's actually alive and so am I and we're sharing a body currently. No one but you can know she's still alive and trust me being brought back was painful*
*Looks like we have a lot to discuss then*
*Indeed we do, indeed we do*
For three hours many things were discussed including who would stay with them since Lily was technically still a kid and needed looked after. Once everything was settled the group settled into a new routine with Zorath showing up again only three days after having revealed himself to his fellow Ultramen. A few weeks later there was trouble and Lily decided to fight with her hands though one person definitely wasn't too happy about it despite undergoing training with her, they still didn't know her fully
*Lily I don't think this is a smart idea*
Lily doesn't listen and punches the enemy
*Be quiet Zorath I know what I'm doing*
*And just how do you know how to fight enemies like this?*
*Hundreds of hours of hand to hand combat training with the evidence of repeated broken bones on my x-rays to prove it*
*And just how often have you ultimately resorted to your abilities which you currently can't use?*
*I know my limitations Zorath, I know when to stop and since I can't use my powers yet because we don't want to reveal the truth until the time is right I'll stop shortly before my physical limit which I have been trained to know and do*
*Fine but if you get seriously hurt you know the consequences like I do if I need to show up*
*Yeah I know but really what choice do we have right now*
*You win on that argument but don't think we're finished, it's just keeping yourself alive is more important right now*
*Fine we'll argue again later, but right now you're right on the fact that I need to concentrate*
Eventually the fighting for her was over and she eventually managed to get to a safe place and that's when Lily and Zorath discussed her training in full so that Zorath knew that she could take care of herself even without her powers
*Okay, now that I know that I can actually make plans around your abilities*
*Agreed, so three minutes maximum huh?*
*Yep, like all the other Ultraman who have fought on Earth*
*Got it, last resort only and we'll have to agree on that won't we?*
*Yes, though eventually we'll also have to agree on when to use your powers if we don't separate at that time*
*Wait until we need to then because honestly we can't figure that part out until we know for certain that's going to happen and a situation like that arises*
*Agreed, don't really like it but no choice in the matter either*
Suddenly Lily started coughing up blood in the apartment and Ultraman Mebius as Hibino Mirai was there and saw the blood because the disguise actually dropped whenever in the apartment since the secret was out between the Ultramen
*Lily are you okay?*
*Blast, the poison, I completely forgot about it since I was doing better*
*Poison?*
Lily explained the full situation and after looking at blood samples Mirai said that there actually was a cure but that the EDC probably hadn't heard of it yet because the cure was still fairly new to the space community and while the EDC had alien allies cures like this still took time to spread. Fortunately since the Ultramen were a lot closer and knew about the cure they could easily procure it for Lily within two days Earth time
*Thanks*
Two days later after school Lily went home and took the cure to the poison, the cure tasted foul, smelled worse and her body definitely didn't like it but fifteen hours later she was cured of the poison, however even then both Lily and Zorath knew it was a possibility that the two of them would still be together after she was revealed to be alive because the wounds caused by dying and then reviving quite painfully were slow to heal
"I hope never to take medicine like that again"
*What did you just say?*
*Sorry I said I hope I never have to take medicine like that again, it was painful*
*Yeah, forgot about that, it's something that's being worked on but with you coughing up blood I knew we didn't have much time*
*Yeah, the poison is what almost killed me through use of my powers last time if you want Zorath can confirm that for you*
*Oh we believe you, we've seen that poison do it's work before*
*Actually she technically did die, if not for her powers she would still be dead*
*As it is everyone that isn't inside this room thinks I am dead still and it's not something to be corrected quickly or easily*
*It's not time to reveal yourself and you know that*
*Yeah I know that, doesn't mean I have to like it though*
*Good point*
*By the way, just how often do you train in regards to your powers so that you always know they're under your control?*
*Basic training every day, intensive training that involves all my weaker abilities once a week and then training for all my abilities including my strongest ones once a month*
*That doesn't seem nearly enough practice for the strong ones*
*Except it is because I instinctively know if I need to use my strong abilities or not*
*So the monthly practice is just so that you know if anything has changed since you last used your abilities*
*Exactly, it also let's me know about how strong I am because during practice I always have to take a break because the stronger attacks weaken me faster than the weaker ones so I have to know my limits on how many I can do before I can't use my abilities for a bit*
Soon it was time for Lily's summer break and through daily meditation both Lily and Zorath knew they still needed some time to heal, they were getting better but it was slower than they thought they would. They had also continued joining in battles whenever needed and that's when Lily started to notice that Zorath was having trouble staying the full three minutes which let her know that there was a problem that neither of them were feeling, though she also knew that there was a possibility that Zorath knew and wasn't telling anyone because they had discovered they could do that to a certain extent. One day Lily finally figured out how to help Zorath, but it would come with a misunderstanding first. They were fighting enemies and Lily soon realized that Zorath was going to be needed so Lily started gathering up energy when suddenly she changed into Zorath who didn't exactly have the energy and only lasted a minute instead of the normal three. Once the battle was over she went to where she was currently staying and went into a meditative state
"Zorath what do you think you were doing?"
"I sensed you were gathering up your powers when you know it's too dangerous right now"
"There's a reason I did that Zorath, for some reason you can't stay for the full three minutes, so what I was doing was gathering up my powers and when we transformed I was going to send the energy to you for the duration of the three minutes. I will keep doing that until we find a solution to the problem"
"Sorry Lily, all I knew was that you were gathering up your energy, I didn't realize it was for me"
"Next time you sense something like that ask me"
"Will do"
They continued talking and started really asking each other why Zorath could no longer last the full three minutes. Fortunately Mebius soon figured it out and after a quick period of Lily asleep she was told that things were fixed and that Zorath no loner needed her powers to keep Zorath fighting for three minutes
*Works for me, by the way Zorath what was wrong anyways?*
*Turns out that your poisoning was also affecting me though we didn't know it*
*But the cure...*
*Only healed you because it's your body, Ultra mother succeeded in temporarily separating us without killing either of us so that I could have the cure as well, however for Ultra's the cure doesn't take fifteen hours and as such you were only unconscious for ten, about the normal amount you sleep during a night anyways*
*But you're cured as well now?*
*Yes*
*Good*
Three days later both Zorath and Lily knew as soon as she woke up that it was the day she would be revealed to be alive, they didn't understand how they knew that but they just knew
*Mebius, I'm going to be revealed as alive today*
*How can you be so sure?*
*No idea, just know that I am, might be a combination of Ultra senses and the fact that since I was little and has these powers I could sometimes sense when it was going to be a bad day and was ready for any and all attacks that might happen*
*Will you and Zorath separate then?*
*No, we still haven't quite healed yet, but we're close, I think after we reveal I'm alive once everyone fully comes to terms with what's happened these past few months we can be two separate people again*
*That's good to hear, we know that it's the best for you two to remain together until both of you have healed but we've missed seeing our brother as a separate person*
*I'm sure you have and he's missed you guys, you have no idea how hard it's been for him to speak to you through me*
*But when will you reveal yourself?*
*That's the one thing I don't know, all I know is that I will be revealing myself through the use of my powers which is why I want to know where you put my gloves three months ago?*
Lily was giving Mebius in his Mirai form an angry look and Mirai knew she wasn't happy about giving up her gloves three months ago but the other Ultra brothers had had their reasons to demand Lily giving up the gloves despite the fact that they knew she would need them once more
*Five minutes, they'll be here in five minutes, I've already told Jack about the fact that you need them back and he told me that they're ready*
*What are you talking about?*
(Sighs) *Do you remember when we first found out about you two being stuck together and you mentioned he was your secondary means of controlling your powers?*
*I remember*
*We started thinking about how to help you with the glove situation especially when you mentioned you could only wear the gloves for an hour before it started hurting your wrists because they were so heavy, you also mentioned that sometimes a fight might last longer than an hour and as such you had to retreat after the hour was up*
*Except that I only need the gloves against human opponents*
*That's where you and your family is wrong, you actually need your gloves against everyone you fight except when they are truly machines because we've been scanning the enemies you fought without gloves since we first found out about you and you're doing hidden damage, damage so well hidden there's no way for you to have known about the damage you were causing. When we realized that the damage was unintentional we decided to do something about it, we've modified your gloves so that you can wear them as long as necessary and not hurt those you're trying to bring in if they aren't human*
*Thank you, that actually means a lot to me to know both that I was hurting my enemies unintentionally and that you have a way to fix that...but how? my gloves are made of a unique material*
*And we've found material that acts the same but is much much lighter*
*I'll have to see for myself*
*Yes you will, but since you're so used to your gloves you'll probably instantly notice the difference*
Five minutes later the gloves arrived and Lily could indeed instantly tell a difference and she decided to keep the gloves on that day since they never knew when she would be revealed to be alive, but she also knew that once she was revealed she could go back to the routine of only wearing them when fighting against opponents that weren't machines
*Okay, Zorath I'm in control until you're needed, hate to break it to you but lately you've been more in control whenever I'm at school than I have been and I'm afraid I don't particularly like that*
*Sorry didn't mean to*
*I'm sure you didn't but you did it anyways*
*Right, making sure you remain in control until I'm needed then*
The link the two of them had went silent but Lily knew he was still in the back of her mind, just making sure that it was Lily instead of Zorath. Things started out normal and she went to school when suddenly they were all dismissed because of an attack by Quintessons and a few other enemies and as such it was felt that it was better for everyone to leave the area than staying put. On the way to their temporary apartment they realized that things were not going well, damage was being incurred on an epic scale despite the attempts of several groups to keep the damage down when suddenly both realized that they weren't going to make it in time so Kerenai put her right hand forward and up and all of a sudden several people were shielded from a collapsing building plus the disguise Zorath was holding for her disappeared completely
"Lily...is that...you?"
Kerenai simply nodded at the EDC officer and then declared a powerful attack knowing it would weaken her physically but give the defense force an advantage