Chapter 10: The Return. (Former Title: Reunion.)

Back in Pallet Town, all of the Pokemon were depressed from the disappearance of their owners. They were all at Prof. Oak's back yard still, seemingly waiting for their owners to return. Takeshi was waiting for Satoshi and Hikari at the lab, also helping around Satoshi's house, since his mother was worried sick.

8 days after the disappearance of its owner and his friend, Pikachu waited at the spot where Satoshi and Hikari were last seen, looking at the sunrise. Suddenly, its ears twitched, indicating that it sensed some foreign movement in the small forest near by. It quickly called over Cyndaquil (the closest Pokemon at the moment) and they moved closer towards the forest. Cyndaquil fired a Flamethrower at the forest while Pikachu unleashed a Thunderbolt, igniting several trees on fire.

Meanwhile, Hikari woke up when a sudden stream of fire whizzed by her head, burning her hat. She quickly crawled towards Satoshi, who was still sleeping (or unconscious). She forcefully opened Satoshi's eyes, because she didn't have enough strength to shake him. Surprised at the sudden light streaming into his eyes, Satoshi quickly sat up (again), slamming his head into Hikari's forehead, busting open her cut again. The impact stunned her, causing her to fall back down. Satoshi quickly looked around; he saw trees on fire, with streams of electricity and fire flying around them.

"Oh crap! Zapdos is here too!" he yelled, looking at the attacks in panic.

"No...it is not...the attacks are...too weak to...be from...legendary Pokemon..." Hikari said weakly, bleeding from her forehead. "Calm down...and take a look...around. We're not...in the forest...where we were...yesterday..."

Hearing this, Satoshi jumped up, helped Hikari to her feet, then ran out of the forest, seemingly dragging her with him. They were almost out of the forest when a jolt of electricity hit them. It wasn't enough to knock them out, but enough to stun.

Meanwhile, Takeshi walked near Pikachu and Cyndaquil with all of Hikari's Pokemon, wondering what they were attacking. He stared at the forest, where the attacks were headed. Suddenly, two people came running out of the forest, avoiding the Thunderbolts and the Flamethrowers. The Pokemon stopped attacking and looked at the two people with a look of surprise. One of the two was their owner and the other was his friend, who disappeared 8 days ago! Takeshi, Pikachu, Cyndaquil, and all of Hikari's Pokemon all ran towards them, some of the Pokemon crying tears of joy.

Satoshi let go of Hikari's hand and ran towards Pikachu, hugging it, with tears flowing out of his eyes. Hikari started to limp towards her Pokemon, who were all dashing towards her. They all hugged her and she hugged them back, with tears forming in her sapphire blue eyes. Everyone was very happy when Satoshi and Hikari returned, especially Satoshi's mother, who almost strangled him while hugging. Hikari called her mother, who was also very worried, after hearing from Takeshi that she disappeared.

"Hikari! You're back! I was so worried about you!" Hikari's mother cried on the phone. "What happened to you? You're bleeding!" she exclaimed, seeing her daughter's blood flow down her face.

"Oh...it's nothing...just an...accident..." Hikari replied weakly, wiping off the blood with a tissue.

"What's wrong? Why are you talking like that?" her mother asked, noticing the frequent pauses her daughter made while talking.

"I don't...know..." Hikari replied.

"Well, I'm just glad that you're okay. Get some rest. You look very tired. I'll talk to you when you're back to your energetic self. Bye." her mother advised, before she hung up.

Meanwhile, Satoshi told everyone what happened to them, and after he was finished, everyone had a look of worry on their faces.

"Both of you should go to the hospital." Prof. Oak advised. "Look at you. Satoshi, you've been hit by a Scyther's Slash, and you almost drowned! Go to the hospital, rest up there, then you can return to your Sinnoh Gym battles. And Hikari, you really need to go to the hospital." he continued. But before he could continue further, Hikari collapsed on the floor.

Startled, Prof. Oak drove everyone to the hospital, leaving his assistants to keep an eye out for the lab. At the hospital, the doctor ran a series of tests on both Satoshi and Hikari, then wrote down some notes as he heard what happened to them from Prof. Oak.

Many hours later, all of the tests have been completed, so Prof. Oak, Takeshi, and Satoshi's mother entered the room where Satoshi and Hikari were put to bed. Satoshi was awake and looked fine, while Hikari was sleeping with all sorts of machines monitored her status. She was bandaged around her head, her ribs, and her right arm, from what the others could see.

"Well, this young man didn't suffer anything, really. He just has a minor cut on his back with some bruises here and there. He was very lucky that the young lady knew proper cardiopulmonary resuscitation and some medical treatment with wounds. The lack of energy you're feeling, is from lack of food, and will go away once you eat something. The young lady, on the other hand, wasn't as lucky as he was. She's suffering from hypothermia, broken ribs, fractured right arm and forehead, punctured lung, a minor vocal chord damage, and a minor artery damage, as well. It's a wonder that she's alive right now." said the doctor.

"How did she suffer all of those?" Satoshi asked.

"Well, she got hypothermia from being exposed to the below freezing water for several minutes, she got broken ribs from what seems like a kick to the ribs, fractured right arm from the Beedrill's sting, worsened by a punch, apparently, fractured forehead from frequent from what seems like frequent collisions to hard objects, minor vocal chord damage from someone apparently trying to strangle her, minor artery damage from what seems like a knife wound, and a punctured lung from the broken rib." the doctor explained.

"Is she going to recover from all of those?" Satoshi asked again.

"She's not suffering from hypothermia anymore, her broken ribs and fractured bones won't be a problem, the minor artery and vocal chord damage won't be a serious problem, but the punctured lung will be," said the doctor, "well, get some rest, all of you. We'll do everything we can to ensure her recovery."

The doctor sent everyone out of the room, leaving Satoshi and Hikari alone. Satoshi slowly fell asleep, worrying about Hikari's condition.