Thanks for waiting! You get both perspectives this chapter, it was high time for Lilly to make a comeback.

Chapter 40: The Aftermath

I was asleep when Mewtwo teleported us directly into the house. In fact, I probably would have remained asleep until the next day, had I not immediately woken up to the sound of gasps and confused shouting. "Freeze!" "Stop right there!"

Unfortunately for us, we came home right in the middle of a police investigation. "She is stable," Mewtwo said calmly, staying perfectly still as they requested.

"Release Champion Lilly at once," the more feminine voice said in warning.

At this, he still did not move except to grip me tighter to himself. At the moment, I was too tired to even lift my head. "How do I know that you're not members of Team Rocket?" Mewtwo asked quietly.

"What about you, big guy? Aren't you part of Team Rocket? I have half a mind to call for backup," the man's voice threatened.

Mewtwo did not physically react to the accusation, but I knew him well enough to know he was at least stung by it. A tense silence followed, which was only broken by me speaking up. "He didn't mean it. They're just afraid of you," I said groggily, gently patting his back. I heard the woman gasp when she saw me move.

I know you can't see them, but I am, in fact, taller than both of these people, Mewtwo replied.

"You know that's not what I meant," I groaned, "just lemme do the talking."

Mewtwo hesitated, then set me on my feet. I rubbed my eyes and turned around to look at whoever was addressing us. Two officers were standing in the kitchen with Pokéballs drawn, one man and one woman. The woman was significantly older than her partner. "This," I said through a massive yawn and gestured behind me, "is my partner, Mewtwo. He . . . he just saved me from Team Rocket."

The two officers lowered their Pokéballs and looked at each other in confusion. "Partner . . . ?" the woman whispered.

"This is really Mewtwo?" the man asked, taking a step toward us.

"Yeah," I repeated through another yawn. "We're okay, but I'm really tired. I want to go to bed, now."

"That will have to wait. Champion Lilly, we need to take you to the hospital for further evaluation," the woman said, stowing her Pokéball in her belt, "you're covered in blood, you look like you were in a serious fight."

"No," Mewtwo said quickly from behind, putting his hands on my shoulders, "Lilly stays here."

The woman shot him a look. "This is not up for debate, she needs to be examined immediately," she said firmly. "She could be seriously injured—"

"I can assure you that physically, she is entirely unscathed, and her vitals are normal," Mewtwo repeated, his voice icy. "What she needs is rest. Lilly does not leave my sight or this house. Team Rocket is very likely looking for us at this moment."

The man took a step forward and began to raise his voice, saying, "Oh, so you're a police officer now? How about you keep your—"

The woman raised her hand, and her subordinate fell silent.

"A valid concern," she said calmly, lowering her arm, "but we just want to be sure. We can have a nurse come to the house to check Lilly here. Do not let her change or shower before we get her."

I groaned, as both of those things were all I wanted to do. "I'll get the nurse," the woman continued as I stood there with my eyelids drooping. "Officer Jack, you get Mrs. Ketchum. We'll need her here for this."

"Wait, who's going to watch the kid?" Jack asked as she started for the door.

"Mewtwo can stay here with her," the female officer said. She turned to look at Mewtwo when she added, "Also, we'll need to ask you some questions with Mrs. Ketchum when we return."

"By all means," Mewtwo said, his voice calm once more. The female officer told her subordinate to get Mrs. Ketchum again, and the two left the house together.

Mewtwo sighed after they left. "Hang on for a little longer," he murmured encouragingly, lifting me up onto his hip, "you did well back there." My head fell against his shoulder as he levitated toward the stairs.

I must have fallen asleep in those few moments because the next thing I knew, I was in my bed. A woman with pink hair and a Chansey were looking at me from above. The corners of the woman's mouth were turned down slightly in confusion. I felt the uncomfortable static of a garbage bag underneath me. "I'm Nurse Joy, I'm just checking you over," she said once she realized I was awake.

"Unhuh," I exhaled in response.

"Are you feeling alright?" she asked,

I halfheartedly put a thumb up. "Yeah, I'm good."

Once they were finished, the nurse told me that I could go wash up.

As I walked to the bathroom, I could hear Mewtwo and Mrs. Ketchum talking in low voices downstairs. The nurse walked down to join them, and she also began talking in a low voice, but I was too tired to eavesdrop. I set the water on the hottest setting, but even that couldn't rid the soreness and chill that came over me. Once I was finished, I threw on the first t-shirt and shorts I found in my room, shoved the plastic off my bed, and collapsed onto it once again, falling asleep immediately.

As soon as everybody left and I had placed Lilly on some garbage bags in her room, the first thing I did was seek out her Pokémon. I sensed that they were all still gathered outside, and I called out to them. Do not come to the door, but we have returned safely.

I heard Ninetails shriek through the walls, followed by other cries of excitement. Calm down! Team Rocket does not know that we are here, your noise may tip them off.

Where is she? Ninetails asked silently.

We want to see her! Togekiss added.

I know you're anxious, I replied sympathetically, I will let you know when it is safe to see her. Please be patient for a little longer.

At that moment, the female officer came back with a nurse from the Pokémon Center, who immediately went upstairs to assess Lilly. I was suddenly nervous that she would discover something strange about her, or worse, burn herself. Just as the nurse reached the top stair I teleported to Lilly's room, carefully removed the opal necklace from around her neck, and teleported to my room where I hid it under my bed. All of this was done without the female officer noticing my absence, as she was on the phone giving updates on the current situation to the proper authorities.

Mrs. Ketchum arrived with the male police officer a few minutes later. Her hands flew to her mouth when she saw me, and tears welled up in her eyes. "Oh, Arceus!"

I was confused by her reaction before I remembered that I was covered in blood. I quickly reassured her that Lilly and I were perfectly fine before she became too hysterical.

The officers had us sit down on the ripped couch while they stood in the living room. The first thing they did was demand that I recount the previous day's events exactly as they happened. I altered the timeline slightly, but I provided as much detail as I could without giving Lilly's identity away or letting them know that we died. This, however, proved to be more difficult than I expected. "But . . . why are you covered in blood?" the male officer asked, skeptical of my story.

I was hoping to gloss over the subject but given our appearances it seemed unavoidable. "Oh, I was shot," I admitted, "but I healed quickly, I have that ability."

"Wait, they shot you?!" Mrs. Ketchum exclaimed, horrified.

"How did you fail to mention that?" the male officer asked, incredulous.

"You said they managed to suppress your powers with some kind of technology. But you were still able to recover from something like gunshot wounds?" The woman interrupted.

"I located the device and destroyed it before it was too late," I lied through my teeth, knowing they had no reason to question that.

"Did Giovanni say why they abducted Lilly?" the woman pressed.

"It was not their original intent, but because I—"

I stopped talking and looked around furtively. The bugs, I spoke inside their heads, are they—?

"We took care of them earlier," the man said out loud, "our team of Magnemite did a thorough search of the place."

I sighed with relief. "That was the reason they kept her. They overheard that I was coming."

I realized my error before he even responded. "You mean, you knew their location and did not notify the police immediately?" the man asked heatedly, glancing sideways at his partner. "We could have had this mess over with much sooner instead of having to do all this guesswork!"

My patience was wearing thin with that man, but I took a deep breath before responding. "This was my fault in the first place, and I did not know what would have happened to her if the wrong people came barging into their top-secret hideout. I hope you understand."

"That's entirely fair," the woman said before the man could respond again, "this was a hostage situation. Had you come to us first, we probably would have planned something similar."

Finally, someone with sense, I thought to myself.

There was a brief moment of silence, thankfully broken by the nurse coming down the stairs. "How is she?" Mrs. Ketchum asked before giving her a moment to speak.

As soon as I saw the nurse's face, I knew she found something strange. I sighed to myself, knowing I could not enter her mind and speak for her without tipping off the officers and Mrs. Ketchum that I had done so. Lilly probably would not have approved of me doing that, either. But admittedly, I did consider it for a moment.

She set her bag down on the floor and said, "Champion Lilly appears to be in good condition. No signs of internal or extremal trauma, though there is a lot of blood on her. She's in the shower right now."

"That's a relief!" Mrs. Ketchum said, putting a hand to her chest.

The nurse put a hand to her face and continued, "However, her body temperature . . ."

What? But I took the opal! I thought, trying not to show the panic I felt.

"It's a little low. My thermometer could just be malfunctioning, but she did feel a little cold to the touch. I'm sure she'll warm right up with that shower, though."

"How strange," the female officer agreed, "we'll have to keep an eye on that." I nodded in agreement, confused by the nurse's assessment. She felt fine to me when I brought her home. What could she be talking about?

They exchanged a few more words before the nurse took her leave and returned to the Pokémon Center, then Mrs. Ketchum asked, "So . . . will that be all the questions you have for Mewtwo?"

"Yes, for now," the officer replied. "We'll have some questions for Champion Lilly when she wakes up, I need a description of the people who abducted her." The woman held out a card to Mrs. Ketchum, who passed it to me. "Call us as soon as you can."

"Wait," I said, standing up first, "there is something else you should know."

The officers looked at me expectantly. "Team Rocket abducted Lilly to a location in Jhoto, and I have reason to believe that's where they believe we are," I said, choosing my words carefully, "therefore, it would be in our best interest to keep Lilly's return quiet for a few days."

The male police officer was about to snap at me again for telling them how to do their jobs, but the woman spoke before he could. "What makes you say that?"

I could not give an honest answer. "Trust me," I said earnestly, "I cannot explain why. But I could be wrong, and they could come here at any time. I only tell you this because I am worried for her safety."

"Very well," she said, standing up, "then we'll have undercover protection in the vicinity of this house at all times, and set up cameras in case they try anything. Thank you for letting us know."

I nodded and sat back down. I remained seated while Mrs. Ketchum saw them out the door frame. "Thank you," I said to her when she returned, "you've done plenty. Why don't you go home and rest?"

"But, I should help you—"

"I will take care of the house myself," I reassured her, "all of this will be gone within the next few hours."

"What about the furniture?"

"I insist that you take some time to recover, it's been a long night. I will let Lilly know you were asking about her."

Mrs. Ketchum did not protest that time, promising to send Ash over to help once he woke up. As soon as she was gone, I went upstairs to Lilly's room to check on her. She was fast asleep, sprawled out on the bed like a beached Staryu. I touched her hand and discovered what the nurse said was true; she was colder than she had felt earlier.

I covered her with some blankets that I found in the hallway closet and was about to retire to my own room, but realized with dread that I, too, needed to rinse this blood off of me. Feeling too exhausted to teleport to another water source, I resigned myself to using the shower, which honestly took longer to figure out than if I had just gone to a lake and came back. Not bothering to even dry myself off once I was done, I finally entered my room and laid down on the bed, falling asleep for the first time in several days.