HILARY

"I dont think she actually knew she had been shot." The doctor says, leading Hilary back out of the room.

"The bullet pierced her arm, but I assume she was too busy with Janine to have noticed, shock would have set in instantly." He finishes.

"Will she be okay?" Hilary asks, and the doctor nods.

"Yes, I expect her to make a full recovery, though it may take a little while." She nods.

"And what about my mother?"

"Her case is a bit more serious. She has obviously been starved for quite a while, most of her organs are starting to fail. I think she will recover, but it will take a lot of patience."

Hilary nods, thanking the doctor and heading out so he can check Serena's wound.

Gardenia stands quickly as Hilary enters, still wearing the bloodied shirt.

"Is she okay?" She asks, tears in her eyes.

"She'll be fine, it just caught her arm." Hilary explains, and she nods.

"How are the kids?" Hilary asks, and Gardenia shakes her head.

"Ash is a write off, they escorted him back to Pallet with Belle. He shut down, completely. And Misty... She wont talk. She's with her sisters, but she's... bad." Hilary nods

"Also, those two kids... Melody and Jakob, they came by a few minutes ago with Surge, but I told them to come back later." Gardenia finishes, and Hilary hugs her.

"Gar... I'm so scared..." She sobs quietly into the younger girls shoulder.

"Hilary, it's okay... have you been to see Christina yet?" Hilary shakes her head slowly, and Gardenia gently pulls back.

"You should. She would love to see you." Gar whispers, and Hilary nods, slowly heading towards the room her mother is in.

She takes a deep breath in, before exhaling quickly and opening the door slowly.

Christina is sleeping quietly on the bed, but the sound of the door creaking open wakes her.

"Hello?" She croaks, before her eyes meet with Hilarys.

"Mom..." Hilary sobs, rushing forward to hug her.

"Hilary!" Christina sobs into her daughters shoulder.

"I... missed... you..." Hilary sobs, and Christina shushes her, gently smoothing her hair back and kissing her hair.

"I know baby... I'm so sorry..." She cries.

SERENA

"Hmm..." I moan, finally waking up.

The first thing I realize is that my arm is in a lot of pain.

The second thing is that I am on a bed, and it smells familiar.

I open my eyes, and see why.

I'm in the same bed I was in when I stayed as Bill's house, the huge window's overlooking the beach and ocean.

Sighing, I lean back, before everything hits me.

Where's Janine? Mom? Are they okay? Where are my pokemon?

I sit up again, quickly throwing the covers off, to see Alto, curled up in a small bundle of blankets in the corner.

"Baby..." I moan quietly as I stand, and he startles awake.

He rubs his eyes, but flies into me, throwing me back into the bed.

"Baby..." I cry, into his shoulder as he nuzzles my face.

"C-c-cha..." He sobs, and I kiss his forehead.

"We need to find Mom and Janine. Do you know where they are?" He nods, sniffling, and leads me out of the room.

The hallway is empty, and Alto leads me to a door near the end, one I recognize as a guest room.

I quietly open the door, to see... an empty bed? The covers have been messed up, as if someone got out in a hurry.

I go to close the door, when I hear her speak.

"It's you."

Janine drops from where she was hiding on the roof, and breathes out quickly as she lands.

"Are you okay?" I step forward, and she nods.

"A bit sore, but nothing I can't handle." She smiles, but I can see the pain behind her eyes.

"Well, I'm going to find my mom. Give a shout if you need anything." I hug her gently, and she tenses, but gives in.

"Thank you." She says quickly, laying back down in the bed.

I shut the door behind me as I head out.

I head slowly down the stairs, until I hear a familiar buzzing sound outside.

I open the door, and get bombarded by flying type pokemon.

"Hey guys!" I laugh, as they hug, kiss, and swat me gently.

Bane and Belle kiss me over and over, hooting and chirping in excitement, as Bea accidentally swarms me as she hugs me. Mambo latches onto my foot, refusing to let go.

"Do you guys know where mom is?" Bea nods, leading me back into the house.

She stops before a door, bowing slightly, before taking Mambo and leaving.

Taking a deep breath, I slowly open the door.

Hilary is on the bed, hugging mom as they both cry.

Mom's eyes lift, meeting with mine.

"Serbear!" She sobs, and I launch myself onto them, tears running freely down my face and neck.

"MOM!"

"Baby, I am so proud of you! But WHY would you do something like that?" Mom asks, and I shake my head.

"I had to! I couldn't just sit back and watch them hurt you!" I sob, and she shakes her head, but kisses my head.

"I love you girls, so much. So much." She hugs us, again.

"Dad... there was... an accident..." Hilary sits up, wiping her tears, as Mom pulls us in beside her to cuddle.

"What happened, babe?"

"He had... a heart attack..."

"What?! Is he okay?" Her maternal instinct quickly replaced by the worry for her husband, she sits up quickly.

"Hes... recovering..." Hilary stops, face buried in moms shoulder.

"When you feel a bit better... we will go visit him." I finish, and she perks up.

"Really? I would love that." She kisses my forehead, but her eyes flutter a bit, and she leans against the wall behind us.

"Mom, your tired... we'll let you sleep, but we promise to be here when you wake up." Tears fill her eyes, but she nods, kissing us both before we head out, quietly closing the door.

I make it two steps before a small figure flies into me.

"SERENA!" Melody squeals, wheeling herself up and hugging me tightly.

"Hey baby girl! How's it going?" I laugh, and I sign to Jakob behind her;

How are you?

He signs back automatically;

Great! I missed you!

I smile, hugging him, but he pulls back, pointing at the bandages on my arm.

What happened? He signs, and I smile.

Beat up some bad guys, got a scratch.

He smiles, and I notice Lt. Surge coming up behind them.

"Hey darlin'." He hugs me, kissing my hair.

"Hey Surge. Hows it going?" I ask, and he smiles.

"Good good! I heard y'all were in town, and I was here visiting the kids anyways. Plus, I heard that Janine was here, and her father asked me to check in on her." I nod, and point to her room down the hall. He smiles, squeezing my hand lightly and taking off.

He knocks on the door, before heading in.

"Serena! Look at this!" Melody releases her pokemon, and it is no longer the small seed pokemon I remember, but the new and improved Sunflora, it's yellow petals shining lightly, as if the sun was directly hitting them.

"Oh wow! Flower, you look amazing!" Flower smiles, curtsying.

"I trained her myself!" Melody smiles, and I shake my head.

"Wow! Congrats Melody! You must be an amazing trainer!" I turn to Jakob.

Where is Terrence? I sign to him, but he shakes his head, tears filling up his eyes.

"They took Terrence away..." Melody says quietly, and I whip around to her.

"Who did?" I growl, and she wheels back a few inches.

"The... the orphanage..." She whimpers, and I kneel down.

"Why would they do that?" I ask as calmly as possible, but even I notice the venom dripping from my voice.

"Some kids... they were picking on Jakob cause he's deaf... and Terrence... he threw a rock at one..." She says quietly, and I stand up.

"You guys wait here, Gardenia will be back soon." I lie, and step between them, heading for the door.

"Serena! Where are you going?" I Melody calls, and I turn as I walk out the door.

"To make things right." I wink, and head out.

Alto is still attached to my shoulder, and I see the rest of my pokemon sitting together under the huge tree in the front yard, and Gardenia and Bill are with them.

"Ser!" Gar cries, flying into me.

"Hey babe, how's it going?" I ask, and she sobs, shaking her head.

I kiss Bill as he comes up, and he smiles.

"I need you guys to do something for me, okay?" They both nod, Gar wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Watch the kids, okay? I have to go get Terrence back." Their eyes go wide.

"Jakob's pokemon? What happened to him?" Gar sniffles, blowing her nose on a tissue Bill hands her.

"The orphanage took him away for trying to stop bullies from picking on Jakob." Gardenia's eyes go hard.

"You get him back, and show them who's boss." She growls, hugging me again, then heading inside.

"Want company?" Bill asks, but I shake my head.

"It's probably best if I go alone." He nods, kissing my forehead.

"Good luck." He says, and I smile.

He heads inside, and I turn to see my pokemon.

Well, i get halfway through the turn before I'm tackled to the ground in a hailstorm of kisses and feathers.

I walk through the front door, unceremoniously, and charge to the office.

The lady smiles as I head in.

"Hello dear! Looking to adopt?" She asks, but I slam my hand on the desk, sending wood splinters everywhere.

"Wheres the headmistress?" I growl, and she points to the door behind her, gulping as she hurries off.

I knock on the door, and a sweet voice comes from within.

"Come on in!"

I open the door, and walk in. All my pokemon are outside, except for Bea and Alto, who insisted on coming in, so they follow in behind me.

"What seems to be the issue, dear?" She asks, as I sit across from her.

"I was told you took a trainers pokemon away, due to a misunderstanding." I start, and she tilts her head.

"Trainers pokemon? We do not have any trainers here, ma'am, only the children." She says, laughing.

I slam my trainers guide on the table, startling her.

"Page seventeen, paragraph three." I instruct, and she shakes her head, laughing.

"I don't take orders from you, girl." She laughs, and I smile.

"Beatrice, watch the door." Beatrice sends waves of minions to cover the windows and doorway.

"I should call the-"

"PAGE SEVENTEEN, PARAGRAPH THREE!" I shout, and she jumps.

She grabs the book, rolling her eyes, and opens it up.

"Lets see here... ah! Here we go! 'The aquisition of a trainers pokemon without their verbal and/or written consent is considered pokemon thievery, and will be treated as such in a court of law.' Okay? We have no trainers here, girl, so don't you DARE try to-"

"Next Paragraph."

"What?" She growls, and I smile again, signalling to Alto, and he jumps onto my shoulder, growling.

"I said, next paragraph. Are you deaf?" I laugh, and her eyes light up in anger.

"What did you just say to me?" She growls, standing, and I laugh again.

"You must be deaf. The little boy whose pokemon you took away, hes deaf to. And, as stated in the INTERREGIONAL Trainers guide, anyone who catches a pokemon is considered a trainer. That being said, when you took away Jakobs Abra, I seriously doubt you got consent, meaning and concluding my point, that you STOLE his pokemon." I breathe deeply, seriously wanting to deck this woman in the face.

"He gave consent, he knew it was wrong!" She shouts, and I slam my hand on the desk so hard one of the legs breaks, sending it crashing to the ground.

"HES DEAF YOU IDIOT! HE HAS NO WAY OF GIVING CONSENT!" I scream, and she steps back, the anger in her eyes now faded to fear.

"You have no right to speak-"

"You hand over that Abra RIGHT NOW or i swear to ARCEUS that desk wont be the last thing I break." I whisper, and her eyes get even bigger.

"I will NOT hand it over to someone like you!" She growls, and I snap.

Everything goes red as I fly over the broken desk, throwing her into the wall, and slamming her into the ground. I hold her down by her neck, and she tries to scream, but I cover her mouth.

"WHERE. IS. TERRENCE." I growl, and she points to a drawer in her desk.

I send Alto over, and her comes back with a small greatball with 'Terrence' scribbled over it in a black marker.

"There. Was that hard?" I smile, and she shakes her head.

"I'm going to go. You tell noone of this, and I'll replace your desk with a new one. Deal?" She nods, crying now, and I stand, letting her up.

"Good. I would hate for this fine establishment to get... damaged any more than it already has." I wink at her terrified expression, before heading upstairs.

"Where do you think your going?" The woman gasps, and I shoot her a look.

"To grab their stuff. They deserve better than this pile of crap." She shoots me a glare, but a angry growl from Bea shuts her up.

I throw all of their stuff into a large box I find in the hallway, and we head back to the house.

Jakob gasps in delight at the return of his pokemon, and he releases Terrence immediately.

"How did you get him?" Bill asks, and I shake my head laughing.

"Had to break a desk and almost kill the poor lady, but these two are officially out of there for good." Melody's eyes light up, and Terrence translates for Jakob, who gasps again.

"For good?" Melody asks, tears in her eyes, and I nod.

"All your stuff is up in the room I'm staying in, you never have to go back to that place." Melody bursts into tears, wheeling up to hug me, and Jakob cries quietly to.

I hear a door open from behind me, and hear my mom gasp.

"Mom, your up! How are you feeling?" I ask, hugging her quickly, and she smiles.

Her smile brightens the room, and its a smile I have dreamed about for years.

"Good now, just needed a rest! And hungry!" She laughs, then notices the two kids.

"And who are these trainers you have here?" Both kids straighten their backs at the mention of them being trainers.

"This is Melody and her brother Jakob. Jakob is deaf, but knows sign language quite well." She shakes both of their hands formally, and they giggle.

"They were staying at the local orphanage, but as of today they will be with me!" I laugh at Melody's squeal of delight.

"Wait... you... adopted them?" My mom asks, and the look in her eye makes me laugh.

"No no! Just... got them out of a situation they needed to be rid of." Mom smiles, kissing my cheek.

"Can we go visit your dad?" Mom asks suddenly, and I take a step back.

"Oh! I mean, if your feeling up to it..." I stutter, and she smiles, standing straight.

"Awesome! Let me go shower quickly, then we can go! Bill, darling, could you show me where the shower is?" He smiles, helping her walk to the bathroom so she doesnt stumble.

"That was your... mom?" Melody asks, and I nod.

"We just got her back, after many years of her being gone." I explain simply, and Melody nods.

"Shes really pretty." She says, and I smile.

"Thank you, Melody. Now! Lets go get set up in your new room!"

In the end, we finally decide to move them downstairs to Gardenia's room, so Melody doesn't have to get lifted upstairs, and Gardenia moves up into the room I'm staying in.

Mom comes out of her room, wearing an outfit Hilary lent her, and goes to sit outside in the sun as she waits.

I get changed, and head out, to see Mom with Alto, chatting away.

"Ready to go?" I ask, and she smiles.

"Of course."

She sits gently on Belle, and I hop on Bane, and we take off for Celadon.