Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.

Ages: Leaf and Gary-16

Leaf's POV

The wind blew my hair around, messing it up. One hand clutched my hat to keep it from blowing off my head. The other hand clutched my books to my chest as I walked down the sidewalk. "Hey Leafy!" I heard a familiar voice shout. I turned around and squinted my eyes, trying to keep the wind and snow from blowing directly into them. Gary was running towards me. I smiled and rolled my eyes.

"Hurry up! It's cold out here" I said. Gary reached me a few strides later. I turned back around and continued walking with Gary beside me. His hands were shoved in his pockets to keep them warm. "So who were you asking out this time? I left school without you because you took too long." Gary smirked.

"I was asking Tiffany out. You know, the one blonde girl in my science class" Gary said. I nodded.

"Yeah, I know who you're talking about" I sighed out. "That's what? The fifth girl this week? How many do you plan on asking out? I don't think they appreciate getting their hearts played like that" I questioned.

"I don't know. Until I feel like taking a break. Besides, I don't think they mind. I am the most popular and handsomest guy there is in school" Gary said proudly.

"You are such a player" I snorted.

"Am not!"

"Whatever you say." We both continued walking until we reached the corner of the street. I just had to cross this street then turn the block before I was home. I looked both ways, and nobody was in sight. I swiftly crossed the street with the snow crunching under my weight. I had to cross before a car came. I turned around upon reaching the other side to see if Gary followed me. I frowned when I saw that he was crouching down on the opposite sidewalk tying his shoelace. "Gary!" I groaned out. He looked up at me and waved. My stomach flipped, and I felt my face heat up. I quickly scowled at him and looked away to cover up my blush. After a minute of standing in the freezing cold, Gary finally stood up. He looked both ways before beginning to cross the road. I don't know how but for some reason, I got a feeling that something horrible was going to happen. I whipped my head to the left and saw a car turning the corner at an incredible speed. The car hit a patch of ice and started spinning. Before I even realized it myself, I started crying. "GARY!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. He looked up at me with a confused expression on his face, not even realizing an out of control car was heading straight for him.

"What is—" Gary started before being illuminated by headlights then turning his head to the side and spotting the car. His eyes widened, and I couldn't help but stare as the car collided with Gary. Time seemed to slow down as Gary's body rolled up over the top of the car and landed on the other side. His head hit the pavement with a sickening thud. The car flipped over and slid a little before coming to a stop. At that moment, I ran the fastest I ever ran in my life to Gary's side. The snow on the ground started to turn a sickening crimson color. I grabbed Gary's arm and started to shake his body.

"Gary?! Gary?! Gary, wake up!" I shouted. He didn't respond. I pulled out my phone and dialed 911. The operator picked up, and I gave them all the information, as best I could while crying, that they needed. I hung up and quickly unwound my scarf from around my neck and folded it up. I put it under Gary's head as a make-shift pillow. An ambulance arrived a few minutes later. Some paramedics ran towards me and Gary. Some firefighters, which came in behind the ambulance, worked on getting the driver of the car that hit Gary out of his vehicle. Gary was placed on a stretcher and put in the back of the ambulance. I climbed in too, not wanting to leave Gary's side. "Is he going to be okay?" I asked weakly. The two paramedics just looked at me.

"We'll do everything we can to help him." My mind buzzed. Isn't that what they say when they don't want to tell you that the person probably won't make it? I just blankly stared at them and nodded. At the hospital, I was told to wait in the waiting room. While I waited I called Gary's grandfather, Professor Oak. He was Gary's only living family. I explained what happened, and he said he'd be over a soon as possible, but it might be a while because the weather was getting worse by the minute. Two hours passed and Professor Oak still wasn't here; the doctor, however, did come out to see me.

"Are you Leaf, the girl that came in with Gary Oak?" he asked. I nodded my head.

"How is he?" I asked softly. The doctor gave me a weak smile. My heart dropped.

"He's in pretty bad shape, but he could have been a lot worse. He has a broken leg, but I'm also afraid to say that he may have suffered some brain damage. We found some bleeding in the brain, but we won't know the full extent of the injury until he wakes up. You can come see him now if you want" the doctor explained. The doctor turned away, and I followed him. He took me to a room and gestured for me to go in. I gulped and slowly opened the door. My heart broke at the sight of Gary. His head was all wrapped up and bandaged. One of his legs was in a cast and elevated in the air. Lastly, his arms and face were covered in bruises. I gasped and ran towards him. Once I reached his side, I immediately grabbed his hand and held it. The doctor left us in private.

"You're such an idiot" I cried out. I rested my forehead on his stomach. "Why couldn't you wait to tie your shoe after crossing the street with me? Why?!" The next thing I knew, I was being shook awake by a hand. I must have fallen asleep. I opened my eyes, to see Professor Oak's hand on my shoulder. He looked down at me with concern on his face. I looked up at him and retracted my hand from Gary's. I launched myself at Professor Oak and wrapped him in a hug. I couldn't help but cry into him. He wrapped his arms around me and stroked my hair.

"Don't worry, dear. I'm sure he'll be okay. He's a strong boy. You know that and I do too" Professor Oak tried to say strongly, but I could hear his voice cracking. I also felt tears hit the top of my head.

"I hope you're right" I said before letting go of him and walking over to the seat next to Gary's hospital bed. I sat down and grabbed Gary's hand again. My thumb rubbed small circles on his bruised skin. "Get better soon" I whispered to the unconscious boy.

The next day…

I clutched my schoolbooks to my chest as I ran down the street towards the school. I had to get there before school actually started. I flew through the glass doors of the school and ran to the attendance office. I handed the lady there, two excused absences. One for me and the other for Gary. I walked through the deserted hallways to all my classes to get my homework for the day. Each teacher knew about what happened to Gary, and they all looked at me sympathetically as they handed me my assignments. They knew that Gary and I were best friends and were inseparable when we wanted to be. I thanked them before leaving. As I stepped out the school doors, I saw some students getting ready to enter the school. They all looked at me questionably, but I just shook my head sadly and kept walking. They would find out what was going on in class today. I kept walking until I made it to the hospital. I went straight up to Gary's room and sat down in the chair I sat in yesterday. "Hey Gary, sorry I took so long. I had to get today's homework."

"You know he's not going to answer" a nurse said as she came in to do a checkup.

"I know. I would rather talk to him, then sit here in silence" I confessed. The nurse smiled. She checked Gary's IV and the other machines he was hooked up to before leaving. I sighed and pulled my homework out of my yellow shoulder bag. I guess I'll do this to pass the time. Time passed slowly as I finished writing one more sentence before finishing. I packed everything away and looked back at Gary. He looked like he was struggling to breath, but other than that he looked sort of peaceful. Looks like he'll be missing his date with Tiffany. I smiled. I never liked her anyway.

"Hello, Leaf. I suspected you'd be here" Professor Oak said as he came into the room with a notebook and pen.

"Yeah. Mom said I could miss school for a few days. I decided to take her up on the offer" I said distantly.

"I'm sure Gary would be happy to know you stayed by his side" Professor Oak said. I looked at him boredly. My eyes shifted to the notebook in his hand.

"So what are you writing? Poetry or working on research?"

"Research" he answered.

"Mmmm" I hummed out. I looked back at Gary and grabbed his hand.

Two days later…

I ran down the corridors with expert speed. Nurses and doctors yelled at me to be careful or slow down, but I ignored them. The loud speaker came on a minute ago to call me to Gary's room immediately. I guess I was the best person to talk to now since Professor Oak was at home doing some research. I finally reached Gary's room and burst through the door. The first thing that happened was my brown eyes meeting a pair of black ones. My heart started beating faster as I ran up to Gary and hugged him with all my might. "Gary, you're awake! I'm so happy!" I squeaked. I felt Gary awkwardly pat my back.

"Yeah" he said embarrassedly. I pulled back from him and smiled.

"Gary, I—" I started but looked up to see the doctor shaking his head sadly. My smile fell as I looked back down at Gary. His eyes shifted back and forth frantically while his hands were playing with the sheet that covered his body. "Gary?" Gary looked up at me.

"Umm, I didn't catch your name?" he said sheepishly. I gasped as my eyes started to water. I focused all my attention on the doctor.

"I'm afraid we were right about the brain damage. I'm sorry but your friend here has amnesia" the doctor said sympathetically.

"Is it permanent?"

"No one ever knows in these cases. It could come back in a few days, maybe years, or never. Time will have to tell" the doctor said.

"So you don't remember me?" I asked Gary.

"Sorry" he said. "Are you my sister?"

"No" I said in offense.

"Oh, I see. You're my girlfriend then?" I opened and closed my mouth in shock. My faced heated up, and I punched Gary on his still bruised arm.

"NO!" I growled out.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"I'm your best friend, Leaf." Gary studied me.

"I guess I could see why I'd want to be friends with you. You are pretty" he said thoughtfully. I blushed again.

"So when can he go home?" I asked the doctor.

"Hmmm, maybe a few days. He did just wake up. I'll give his grandfather a full explanation, but I want you to know that he needs to be around familiar people and places. It should help jog his memory some."

"Got it."

Four days later…

I was really nervous as I walked to school. Gary limped after me on his crutches. Nobody knew that Gary had amnesia, and I had bad feeling about today. I should have warned everyone in advance, but Professor Oak wanted people to act normally around him when they first saw him. He said it might help. I doubt it but oh well. "Leaf, wait up!" Gary said. I stopped walking and let Gary reach my side.

"I'm sorry. I got lost in thought" I confessed. He gave me a goofy smile.

"It's okay. I'm going slow anyway. I don't want to slip on any ice" Gary said.

"Look, there it is" I said while pointing at the school building. "Are you ready?" Gary gulped.

"Yeah" he said nervously. I gently nudged him.

"Hey, you better start remembering how to act. The Gary I know is confident and doesn't care about what other people think of him. He's not the nervous type" I joked. Gary perked up.

"You're right. You do know best" he said while straightening his back. We finally got to the school and walked through the doors together. Gary was swarmed with girls as I was pushed out of the way.

"Gary! We're all so glad your back. Can we all sign your cast?" Gary looked at me for help. He looked so confused and scared. I pushed through the crowd of girls and made it to Gary's side.

"What's going on?" he whispered to me. I felt guilty for forgetting to tell him an important part of his personality.

"Girls love you. I forgot to mention that you are a player" I said quietly. Gary looked at me in shock.

"Are you serious?!"

"Yeah, now do something." Gary looked at me then cleared his throat. His eyes started to shine and a smirk came on his face. He faced the crowd of girls before shouting "Ladies, ladies, one at a time now. You can all come sign it at lunch." I stood there in shock. I guess he's a natural at hitting on girls. All the girls surrounding us cheered happily before rushing off to class.

"That was amazing" I said in awe.

"Thanks but I really want you to be the first one to sign my cast. You haven't asked to sign it yet." I blushed. I dug around in my bag and pulled out a green sharpie. I bent down and drew a big green leaf on the white plaster and then wrote my name inside. I capped the marked and put it away. "I love it." We walked to class together and sat down in our respective seats which were right beside each other. Some male students walked up to Gary and clapped him on the back saying how glad they were that he was back. Gary would keep a serious but sarcastic composure on to make it seem like nothing was wrong. However, no matter how good he was at acting, I could see he was terrified by the look in his eyes. Class began after a few minutes of talking.

"Okay class, I would like to go over some of the stuff we covered in the last month. Now, Mr. Oak I know you haven't been here but you were here at the beginning of last month, so I expect you to know most of this stuff" the teacher said sternly. I heard Gary gulp but nod. I looked over at Gary and shook my head 'no' to him. Gary may remember a lot of the things we learned but he still has trouble with it. I have been trying really hard to refresh his memory on the stuff. Once I talk about a lesson, he usually remembers, but I haven't got to this month's stuff yet. I raised my hand and the teacher looked at me.

"May I talk to you in private, sir?" He quirked an eyebrow at me before nodding and heading out the door. I got up and stood outside the door with him. I quickly explained to him about Gary's condition in a hushed voice. He understood and said he'd let Gary off the hook for now, but Gary would have to at least answer one question. We went back inside and kids started whispering to each other. The class went smoothly, and Gary answered his question even though he got it wrong. When it came time for lunch, I think Gary wanted to pull his hair out. There was line of girls waiting to sign Gary's cast, and it was so long that it went out the cafeteria doors and down the hall. I don't think Gary's cast is big enough for all those signatures.

"Leaf" Gary hissed out urgently. I shrugged my shoulders.

"If you can't take it, then just tell them. I was never holding you back. Professor Oak only suggested the idea of not telling them. It was always your decision to whether or not you wanted to tell them or not" I said calmly. I stabbed some lettuce with my fork and shoved the leaves in my mouth. I turned my gaze to Gary, and he stared at me. I closed my eyes but kept checking up on him with one eye every once and a while. I saw him sigh then run a hand through his hair. I could immediately tell that he was going to tell everyone his condition. I placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"Everyone?" Gary shouted. His voice echoed off the walls. The cafeteria went silent. "You all have probably noticed that I have been acting different lately. Well, I would like to confess that the car accident I was in didn't just leave me with a broken leg, but it left me with amnesia." Gary paused and everyone gasped. "I didn't tell anyone because I wanted everyone to treat me normally, but I couldn't handle it anymore. People have been walking up to me like everything is normal or talked to me about something I am supposedly supposed to know. It's frustrating. It seems like we're best friends and know each other so well, but I don't remember any of you" Gary exclaimed. He was aggressively running his fingers though his hair now. After another second or two of silence, he slammed both of his fists down on the cafeteria table. The contents on it shook. Gary abruptly stood up, grabbed his crutches, and walked as quickly out the doors as he could manage. I stood up and followed him.

"Gary?! Gary?! Where are you going?!" I shouted after my friend. Gary stopped walking and turned around to look at me. His eyes shone with anger.

"You!" he said accusingly. I flinched under his intense gaze.

"M-Me?"

"Yes, you. What I said was true back there. All of you are strangers. You may have been my best friend and stayed by my side over the past few days, but I still don't know you. You're a stranger to me."

"Gary, I—" I tried to say but stopped under his cold stare.

"Why do you follow me around anyway? Why do you take care of me? Why do you keep me company? Do you pity me?" My eyes started watering at his hateful tone.

"No, I would never pity you. You'd hate me if I did that. I help you because you're my best friend. I care about you" I said honestly. Gary sighed.

"I'm sorry, Leafy. I didn't mean to make you cry. I'm just going through a tough time right now" Gary said. I froze.

"What did you just call me?"

"Ummm…Leafy" Gary recalled. "It's stupid. I'm sorry. It just sounded so natural."

"No, no. It's okay. You used to call me that all the time. It seems like your memory is slowly coming back after all" I said with a smile. Gary smiled too.

"Well, I don't know how I could forget you in the first place" Gary whispered, mostly to himself. A pink color dusted his cheeks. I ran up to Gary. "Let's get back to class." He nodded, and we headed back the way we came.

Two days later…

"Okay, remember. Just walk up to one of them and deliver a pick up line or say something cool. Then things should just go on naturally from there" I said. Gary looked at me doubtfully.

"Are you sure this will help jog my memory?" Gary asked cautiously.

"Well, it's the only other idea I had. Besides, you rejected my first idea" I stated.

"That's because making out with a random girl is not something I plan on doing at the moment!"

"But you always did it before!" Gary grumbled something too low for me to hear before picking up his crutches and walking up to some black-haired girl.

"Hey, Alexa. You look amazing today. Did you do something different? I bet it's the perfume" Gary said. "It smells nice." I watched from a distance. Alexa was blushing and twirling her hair around. Of course, I was right. Gary was a natural and already in the swing of things. He was already flirting like a pro. I sighed and turned away. I was probably the only girl in school who Gary hasn't hit on yet. But I never expected him to hit on me anyway. We were just friends.

"Leaf?! Leaf?!" Gary yelled while coming up to me.

"Yeah?" I questioned.

"I think it did help. I just remembered this one time when you were helping pick up on this girl by being my wing-man or girl in this case."

"That's great Gary! I remember that too."

"And I also got Alexa's number."

"You are still and always will be such a player. I can't believe I'm friends with a heart breaker." Gary looked at me with interest.

"Someone's jealous" he said playfully. My face started to burn.

"Am not!" I protested. "Hmph."

One week later…

Gary was slowly but progressively getting his memory back piece by piece. He was remembering the simple things like his favorite color or food and even a few memories of his childhood and some memories of highschool. It was great to have him remember things, but they were never important. Besides the fact that his memory was coming back, Gary has gone out on at least four dates so far. He wasn't quite up to his average dating amount, but the way he handled the dates made him seem just like the old Gary. "Hey, Leaf?" Gary asked, cocking his head to the side.

"What?"

"I still don't have all my memories back yet, but I was wondering what the Brittany girl meant to me. When I see her face or hear her name, I get this funny feeling inside. I'm not sure if it is a good or bad feeling. I thought maybe you'd know" Gary asked casually.

"Brittany?!" I shrieked out in surprise. I started to wave my hands back and forth dismissively. "You don't want to mess with her. Why are you asking? Did you ask her out? Did she ask you out?"

"She asked me out" Gary answered simply. "What's wrong with her?"

"She is the girl that you had your longest relationship with. You dated her for a year before finally calling it off. She was upset but ever since then she has been trying to get you back. She's probably taking advantage of your…situation" I said angrily. Gary looked thoughtful for a moment before looking back at me with a smile. My heart dropped. "Oh Arceus, you accepted her offer to go on a date didn't you? Didn't you?" I accused.

"Relax. I wasn't going to go out with that girl anyway; she seemed really clingy. Besides, I've been thinking for a day or two now. I don't want to be a player anymore. I don't even know why I was one in the first place when I've had you with me all along" Gary said. He was blushing, and I couldn't help but blush too.

"W-W-What are you saying?" I stuttered.

"I may not remember you too well, but I do know that I've always had feelings for you. Even before the accident. I knew it the first time I saw you at the hospital. You looked at me, and I felt a click like everything was right with you just being in the room."

"Gary" I breathed out.

"What do you say? Will you go out with me?" Gary asked. He looked at me desperately waiting for my answer.

"Gary, I'd…I'd love to" I responded. Gary smiled and wrapped me in the best hug he could even though he still held onto his crutches. I pulled away and looked up at Gary. He looked down at me with a smirk on his face. The next thing I knew, he kissed me. I was surprised but relaxed into the kiss. We pulled apart, and Gary got a distant look in his eyes. "Gary?" No response. "Gary?" He shook his head and looked at me.

"Leafy, I remember" he said softly.

"Remember what?"

"Everything" he said in amazement. I immediately jumped up and hugged him at his words.

"This is so exciting. It's a miracle. We have to go tell Professor Oak" I said while going behind Gary and pushing him towards the school doors to leave.

"Whoa, Leafy. Slow down. You're going to make me fall on my face" Gary said urgently.

"No, this is big news so hurry up" I called out while pushing on Gary's back to get him moving faster. Gary shook his head in amusement and started moving forward. I let out a huff of annoyance as Gary looked back at me with a cheeky smile. "Are you coming?"

"Yeah" I said. "Don't get cocky on me now that you remember everything, and no hitting on girls. I'm your girlfriend now" I said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah. Yeah."

A/N: Sort of a rushed ending. Sorry about that. And sorry for the fact the ending was sort of cliché but oh well. Hoped you liked the story though. Review please.