Disclaimer: I own Lily and that's it. And Lily's finally worth owning, starting in this chapter!

Part Two: Lily --- 2011

Chapter One: Missing Brother

"Make a wish, honey!"

Lily closed her eyes. This would be hard. There were tons of things she wanted: a new bike, for one. But she didn't really expect one, since she'd wrecked her old one riding down the steep hill she'd been told to stay away from.

Boy, was Mom mad! She thought, remembering. She grinned. She couldn't count the times she'd almost given her parents heart attacks. Her fun had had its price, though. She had spent almost her whole summer so far at home, grounded. In fact, she was still grounded. She frowned at that thought.

"Are you going to blow out the candles or are we going to have a wax cake?"

Lily's eyes popped open. She glared at her nephew, Gary, who was actually twice her age. "Shut up, Gary!"

"Lily!" her father said sternly. "What have we told you about that?" Lily's parents disapproved of people saying 'shut up'.

"But he—" Lily began, then stopped, seeing the look on her father's face. "I'm sorry."

She finally just wished that she'd get a good first Pokemon. Now that she was ten, she could be a Pokemon trainer. Lily had been waiting for this day her whole life. She blew out all ten candles at once. Everyone clapped. Lily felt happy, looking around the room at her family. Next to her mom and dad, Gary sat with his wife, Misty. Lily watched as Misty giggled at something Gary whispered in her ear, then rubbed her hand over the gentle swell of her belly. Their first baby would be born in a few months. Lily couldn't wait.

On the other side of the room Lily's niece Daisy, who was twenty-six, stood next to her husband Brock. Their three-year-old son Stone ran around the room, acting like a lunatic, as usual. This time he had a bucket on his head. Daisy held her sleeping baby daughter Rose in her arms.

Lily's whole family was here, and yet…something was missing. Lily could sense it, even though she didn't know what it was that was missing. It was just a feeling. She tried to rid herself of it.

"What did you wish for, Lily?" Daisy asked.

"Honey, you know she can't tell or she won't get her wish," Brock said.

Stone lifted the bucket off of his eyes. "Cake, cake, cake!" he cried. "Lily cut the cake now!"

Lily smiled and cut the cake, like he wanted her to, but she didn't eat any.

"Lily, what's wrong?" her mother asked. "Don't you want some of your birthday cake?"

"Not right now, Mom. I don't feel well. May I be excused?"

"But you haven't even opened your presents yet," said Misty.

Lily sighed. She wanted to get away from everybody for a while and do some thinking, but she couldn't be rude to everyone. She smiled and nodded to Misty. "Sorry, I almost forgot about them. I'll open them now."

Misty handed Lily the present from her and Gary. It was a long package. Lily ripped it open.

"A fishing pole?" She tried to hide her disappointment. She'd never been fishing. In fact, she didn't like to even go near fish. They were slimy and gross.

Misty smiled. "When I was your age, I loved to fish for water Pokemon. I thought you might enjoy it, too."

"Thanks," Lily said. "It's great." But in her head she knew that it would probably sit in her closet, gathering dust.

Daisy and Brock gave her a pink bike helmet.

"Gee," Lily said, "this would be great—if I actually had a bike to use it with!"

Daisy and Brock looked at Lily's parents questioningly. Delia shook her head. "It's a long story."

Professor Oak frowned at Lily. "Well, young lady, maybe you'd still have a bike if you hadn't disobeyed us when we told you to stay off that hill. Now I think you owe Daisy and Brock an apology and a thank-you."

"But it wasn't my fault I crashed my bike! I wouldn't have ridden down the hill at all if you hadn't told me not to! If anything, it's your fault my bike got wrecked!"

"I think you'd better go to your room, Lily. Right now."

"But it's my birthday!" Lily looked to her mother for support. But Delia was frowning, too.

"You heard your father. Now go!"

Lily stomped to her room and slammed the door. That would show them! She flopped onto her bed. Stupid birthday anyway, she thought. At least I got the privacy I wanted.

She reached under her pillow and pulled out a wrinkled photograph. It showed a boy with a red and white cap and a blue vest. He was holding a baby on his lap, and there was a Pikachu on his shoulder.

That's me, Lily thought. The baby. I had red hair even when I was just a month old. And I think that Pikachu could be the same one that Mom and Dad have had as long as I can remember, the one who never goes into a pokeball.

"But who's the boy?" she asked aloud. She didn't recognize him. But he's holding me! She thought. Shouldn't I recognize someone I probably actually knew? "Who is he?"

She hadn't asked her mom and dad yet, because then she'd have to admit that she'd been in the attic again. She wasn't allowed up there for some reason, but that didn't stop her from going up there anyway, every chance she got. She remembered very well the time she'd fallen through the attic floor, right on top of Mr. Mime as he was serving her parents breakfast in their bedroom, on their anniversary.

"Mime!" Mimie had cried when she'd landed on him. She'd rolled off of him, and he'd started cleaning up the mess of wood, plaster and insulation, like he was perfectly fine, but her mom had freaked out anyway.

"No one was hurt, not even me!" Lily had said. "It isn't my fault the attic floor isn't very sturdy!" She had kept arguing that it wasn't her fault (how was she supposed to know that that was the reason she wasn't allowed in the attic?), but they'd punished her anyway.

But that had been ages ago. Mimie had fixed the hole in the floor since then, so Lily figured there was no reason now for her to stay out of the attic. That's where she'd found the picture. The picture of a mysterious boy.

There was a knock on the door. Lily put the picture under her pillow. "Come in," she said.

Her mom came into the room and sat on her bed. "We need to talk about what happened tonight. Why were you so rude to Brock and Daisy? They were just trying to be nice."

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Well what do you want to talk about, young lady?" Delia asked angrily.

"This." Impulsively, Lily yanked the picture out and held it in front of her mom's face. "Who is he? Why don't you ever mention him?"

Delia gasped. For a minute she didn't seem to know what to say. Then she responded with anger.

"You went into the attic again, didn't you?" she cried.

"You didn't answer my question, Mom! Who is the boy in this picture?" Lily stopped suddenly when she noticed that her mother was crying. She jumped up.

"I'm sorry, Mom! I didn't mean to upset you," Lily cried, worried now.

Delia stood up and walked toward the door. "I can't talk to you right now, Lily. I'm too upset with you at the moment." She left the room. Lily started to cry. Now she'd ruined everything. She'd never find out who the boy was.

Later Professor Oak came to Lily's room to talk to her. "I know about the picture you found," he said. "Your mother told me."

Lily guessed he had come to punish her for going into the attic. "I'm sorry I went in the attic again. I just—"

He held up a hand to silence her. "You want to know who the boy is."

Lily nodded.

"That boy is your brother Ash."

She blinked. "But I don't have a brother named Ash."

"He was kidnapped when you were just a little baby. We were never able to find him."

"Why? Who took him? How old is he now? And why didn't you get him back?" Lily had a lot of questions, the most important one burning in her mind. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Lily, I'll try to answer all your questions as best I can. Let me start at the beginning," her father said. "Ash is actually your half-brother. Your mother is also his mother, but I am not his father, though I knew him since he was born and always thought of him like a son. His father was a very bad person whom your mother had divorced before Ash was born. So he didn't know about Ash. He didn't find out he had a son until Ash was ten. You were just born then," Professor Oak added.

Lily nodded solemnly. "So what happened?"

Her father continued. "Well, when Ash's father found out about him, he sent his workers to kidnap Ash. We haven't seen Ash since that day."

"Didn't you try to find him and get him back?" Lily asked.

"Of course we did. We tried for a long time, but the police finally closed the case."

"I never heard anything about him! Why didn't anybody ever mention him?"

"Lily, you have to understand how hard it has been for your mother. For all of us, but especially your mother. There was a part of her that died on that day. The only way for her to go on was to not mention Ash. She just can't handle it."

Tears welled up in Lily's eyes. "Daddy, I brought it up, and now Mom—"

"She'll be all right. She knew you would find out sooner or later."

"Dad, that Pikachu—is it the same one we have?"

He looked sad. "Yes. Pikachu was Ash's first Pokemon. They were inseparable."

Someone separated them, Lily thought. She leaned against her father, her head resting on his shoulder. "Daddy?"

"Yes?"

"If I got kidnapped, would you stop looking for me?"

He was silent for a moment. When he spoke, his voice was choked with emotion. "No, Lily. I wouldn't."

She turned to face him. "Then why did you give up on my brother? Wasn't he important, too? You and Mom didn't help him when he needed you the most!"

"Lily—" Professor Oak started to say. But Lily jumped up and ran out of the room, then out of the house, crying.

She didn't stop running until she reached the stable. All of the Ponyta and Rapidash looked up, startled.

"It's okay, guys," she said softly. She went up to Ember, her favorite Rapidash. She'd named the horse when she was little. She always liked to pretend he belonged only to her. She wasn't allowed to ride Ember or any of the other horses, but she had, once, anyway. Ember had been spooked by a Diglett popping out of the ground, and he'd thrown her. She'd gotten a cut on her head that may or may not have needed stitches, but she hadn't told her parents. She'd just washed it, and they never found out.

Now she stroked Ember's neck, and he nuzzled her. She was so upset, she poured out the whole story to the horses. They listened intently to her voice, and seemed as if they understood.

"I just want to meet my brother," she sobbed into Ember's neck. "If only someone had been able to find him! I would have—" Her head flew up abruptly, causing Ember to back away.

"That's it!" Lily cried. "I can go find him!" She was so excited, she didn't even tell her friends goodbye before racing back to the house.

She quickly got into her pajamas and brushed her teeth, then jumped into bed. Her mom came in to kiss her goodnight. Delia seemed distant, sad. Lily hugged her.

"Don't worry, Mom. Everything will be okay soon."

If her mother was curious about what she'd said, she didn't show it. Lily closed her eyes and pretended to be going to sleep until her mom left the room. Then she hopped out of bed. She pulled her duffel bag out from under her bed and opened it.

"Eww, gross!" There was a really old sandwich inside. She picked it up with thumb and finger and tossed it into the closet. Let Mimie deal with it.

Lily stuffed some clothes into her bag, then grabbed her hairbrush and yanked it through her red wavy hair. She tossed the brush into her bag and slung it over her shoulder. Then she smacked her forehead. She was still in her pajamas! She threw them off and got dressed.

Finally ready, she opened her door and silently ran to the kitchen. She grabbed some Oreos, some cans of soda, a box of Twinkies, and a couple of Pop-Tarts. She considered taking a loaf of bread, but then decided to only take things that were absolutely necessary. Then she spied a bag of Doritos. Well, those were pretty necessary. She stuffed everything into her bag.

Lily walked to the living room and opened the front door. But, curious person that she was, she just had to open the rest of her presents. There were a couple of books, which she shoved into her already almost-overflowing bag. The next package held a pokeball. Her first Pokemon! She'd open it later. It wouldn't do to let a loud-mouth Pokemon out right now.

The last present was a tiny box. Inside was a note directing her to the garage. Lily took her stuff and went out to the garage. She gasped. In front of her was a brand-new, pink and purple bike. She felt like a total jerk. Why had they let her make such a fool of herself? Oh well. She wheeled it out of the garage and closed the door. She didn't want to risk going back into the house to get her new helmet, though.

"It's not like I'll need it anyway," she said to herself. She climbed onto her new bike and sped off.