DISCLAIMER: Don't own pokemon. Big suprise there, eh?

P--P

Springs squeaked in protest as a 16 year old female threw herself down on it, her new Togetic blinking at her curiously. Having just gotten off the video phone with her old flame, she was visibly distraght. Despite the bright July sun shining cheerfully in though her windows, the day seemed dark and grey.

No tears ran down her face, but that didn't mean she felt fine. She was at the point where you refuse to belive the truth, refuse to accept this agonising reaility.

Misty blinked back at her Togetic, mindlessly feeding it and sighing as it gobbled down food cheerfully.

"Togi tog tog togiiii! "

"Yeah, I know, I know... " She replied distractedly, tossing a pillow at the video phone and dismissing the beep that followed.

Leaning backwards agin, she streched and sighed again. "I... I can't belive he's met someone else. AGAIN. I mean, May was fine, they were like brother and sister, and I know she didn't like him romanticly, but this Dawn chick... she's so different. So graceful... and gorgeous... and talented... "

"Don't forget nicer than you, " a dry tone emenated from behind Misty. The gym leader sat bolt upright, turned around and instantly scowled. "How long have you been spying on me, Oak? "

Gary's image's eye seemd to twich as he looked past the screen at something. "One, I wasn't SPYING, your pillow answered the phone. Two, long enough to verify that you are mentally unstable, not that I didn't suspect it before, and Three, did you forget that Gramps wants you and Togetic for a project? " He was wearing his now typical button up black shirt and gold and green necklace, slick sable spikes of hair fluttering slightly as if he was facing a fan.

Air made a hissing noise between Misty's teeth as she let out a breath with clenched teeth. "I don't need your bullshit, you antisocial Natzi. And I did forget, but shut your face. "

One eyebrow raised a fraction, hinting at the intrest that was smothered by Gary's typical smug arrogent exterior. "See you in five. "

"Five? Minutes? "

"Obviously. Gramps sent me to pick you up. Either that or my room is flying down the highway. " At last she noticed the sound of air whooshing by as Gary sped his scarlet convertable down the road. "And if that's true, then I've got bigger problems then whatever chick thing you have. "

The corner of Misty's mouth twiched ever so slightly, then was replaced by a grim look as she remembered her 'chick thing'. "Of course it is, after all, everyone else's problems always are less important than yours. "

Sting. Gary's chocolate brown eyes flashed fire. "Well, someone's got to give a rat's ass about my problems, I may as well be the one to do it. "

"Gary Oak admits to not being perfect?! Mark the calenders! " Her voice was sharp with bitter sarchasm, green eyes just as fiery as his.

"Do you want to WALK all the way to Pallet? " Gary seethed. "I'm sure you could use the excersize. "

Misty threw another pillow at the phone, knocking it off the desk, effectivly and dramticly hanging up. Five seconds later, a car horn sounded.

"Damn it, " she cried, half snarling, half sobbing as she trotted down the stairs, brushing coldly by Gary, and jerking the car door open viciously as Togetic hovered behind her.

"Geez, break everything, will you? Be nice to Kria! " (A/N. My avi's namesake from DMFA)

"...You named your car after a demon mare? "

"Naturally. At least I didn't name her after a natural disaster, MISTy. "

"Oh, so now you're going to mock my name? " The redhead snapped, closing the car door with exaggereated care. "Run out of better insults? "

Gary opened his mouth to reply, but she innteruped him again, crossing her arms and staring fixedly ahead. "Drive, Oak. "

P--P

Gary knew he should keep his eyes on the road, but he couldn't resist tossing a quick glance at the girl sitting beside him. At last she had a body as hot as her temper, long and lean, but with considerably more sinuwy muscle than her model sisters. Her simple cut off jean shorts and green tee didn't do her willowy frame justice.

Howver, what Gary noticed more was her body language. Large useally lipid eyes were like chips of turquiose ice staring blankly ahead, her jaw still tightly clenched, hands balled into fists, all of them hinted to suppressed fury and... anguish? What had Ash done to her now?

"So... what is this chick thing of yours? "

"Who do you think you are, Oprah? I'm not going to pour out my personal life to an egotisical asshole. "

Gary decided to ignore her insult, curiousity overcoming his pride. Impressive. "So, it's personal? Something to do with your dear little Ashy-boy? "

At the mention of his name, Misty's lips trembled briefly. "He's not mine... not anymore. "

"...oh. " Gary fell silent as he put two and two together. Earlier, she had gone on about Dawn's virtues... and was upset about Ash... ah-hah. "You think him and Dawn are an item? "

"Why do you care? "

"Why shouldn't I? "

"Well, for one, you seem to like your pokemon and research more than basic human contact... " Misty said dryly.

Gary chuckled. "Touche. Still, I don't think you can blame me. The majority of 'basic human contact' for me involves either worship or insults. "

"You could make an effort to not come off as such a dick. "

"I'd rather be hated for what I am then loved for what I'm not. " he quipped.

"So what you're saying is that deep deep down, you're just as big of a jerk as you are the majority of the time? "

"Yep. "

Misty snorted. "Liar. No one's the same on the inside that they are on the outside. "

"Awww, does Misty-Mist have a soft spot? " Gary smirked evilly, still looking straight ahead.

"For things I care about. My sisters, pokemon, Ash, my book collection... " She let her voice trail off, pointedly leaving him and everything related to him of the list.

"So I see. " He raised his eyebrows briefly before relaxing again, the sunshine keeping his mood light and dangerously flammable temper at bay.

More silent minutes elapsed, broken on by Gary's fingers lightly drumming the steering wheel. The forgotten Togetic crawled into Misty's lap from the backseat, careful nto to let it's wings get caught in the wind whooshing over the top of the windshield.

"Tooogi toooog. " She said sleepily, Yawning and making Misty grow drowsy as well. Her head started to nod, and semiconciously Gary lightly pulled on the corner of her shirt, causing her head to flop over on his shoulder where it stayed.

P--P

As Gary pulled into the driveway, his sister stood in the driveway and smirked. "Hey, Romeo, your cheeks are redder than a Camerupt. "

Reaching up with his left hand, Gary felt his hot face. "I... got sunburned, ok? It's nothing. "

At the sound of his voice, Misty blinked groggily. "Huh...wha... where am I? "

"In Pallet town, just outside of the Oak family Lab, in Gary's car, ON HIS SHOULDER. " Daisy remarked loudly, and Misty jerked upright.

"Why didn't you wake me up? " She snapped, face red as well, though from anger or embaressment, no one was sure.

"You looked like you needed it. Sheesh. " Gary huffed, red fading only partly from his cheeks due to his before mentioned sunburn. "What are YOU doing here anyway, Daisy? "

"Gramps went on an errand and'll be back in an hour or so. He said to go ahead and start without him, but to be careful. The air conditioner's still broken, and it's real hot inside. Keep hydrated! Bye! "

Following Gary, Togetic and Misty wandered inside the messy Oak lab, dodging piles of paper and rather stressed looking computers, Pokeballs rolling around underfoot, and several phones ringing.

"Aren't you going to answer those? "

"Pfft. Not likely. I could care less about Gramp's calls. They're usally fans or telemarketers anyway. " Gary shoved a pile of books to one side, reveling a sleek and obviously loved laptop, the brunette resercher flopping down in a dusty wheeled chair and motioning at another equally old chair for Misty.

Hitting the power button, Gary spun around in his chair as he waited for the computer to start up, tenting his fingers, a slight smirk lightening his otherwise serious countenance. "You've probably forgotten why you're here, so I'll explain again. "

Misty glared at him, but he brushed it aside and continued. "A couple of weeks ago, I discovered something interesting in Togetic's DNA. Esentially, it has the ability to evolve. Again. Into what, and how, we have no clue. "

Turning back around to face the desk and opening a drawer, Gary pulled out a few shining rocks. "These are some new evolution stones Professor Rowan found in Sinnoh. With your permission, naturally, we'd like to try out a couple on Togetic. "

As if on cue, Umbreon lept from the shadows behind some bookshelf and into his master's lap, where he turned his intense ruby gaze onto Misty. The Gym Leader turned to the pokemon behind her.

"What do you think, Togetic? "

"Toe toe togetic. " Bring on the stones.

Gary ran his fingers through Umbreon's silky fur as his smirk broadened. "Exellent. " Misty's mouth pulled up at one corner slightly/

"You look like a Bond villian. Master Gary, " she stated, pronocing his name with an accent, making it sound like Geh-HRI and trilling the 'r' slightly.

He closed his eyes and chuckled lightly. "If I'm your master, would that make you my mistress? "

Seconds later, he was brained by the infamous Misty Mallet.
P--P

"I just don't get it, " Gary sighed half an hour later. "I've tried everything. She's just.. not evovling. " Both humans were slicked with sweat, the lab was like an oven. The young resercher drained yet another water bottle from the mini fridge, panting slightly as Togetic blinked at him.

"Why must you torment me? " He mock groaned. The ringing of the phone was driving everyone partly insane, incessant since they'd gotten there.

"Wait... I think that's my cell phone. " Gary pulled the device out of his pocket, flipping it open and stating calmly, "Yes? "

"GARRET DOMINIC OAK!! I'VE BEEN CALLING YOU FOR OVER THIRY MINUTES!! " Gary almost dropped the phone in shock, scrambling to get a better grip on it with his sweaty hands and turning the phone volume down.

"And you mock my name..? " Misty flashed an evil smirk at him as he mouthed 'shut up' and spoke into the phone.

"Sorry, Gramps... yes... not yet...I've tried that... that, too... what am I, stupid? ...Yeah, ok...Do you know when, then? ...I see. All right, see you when you get back. "

Sighing, the sable haired male tiltled the chair backwards dangerously and pivoted around in aimless circles. "Gramps was checking up on me again. Oh, and he won't be back for another few hour or two. " Misty cast him a suspicious glance.

"Is research always this frusterating? "

"Not always, but far more often then people think it is. " Letting out a breath in mock dispair, Gary abruptly got out of the still spinning chair and headed for a room in the back. "I'm changing into cooler clothes. Need me to steal you anything from Daisy's room? You're the same size, I think. "

"I'm fine, " the redhead replied, rubbing her fingertips against her temples and feeling oddly dizzy. A few seconds later, her dizzyness was replaced with suprise. (A/N. Fluff alert!)

The Professor's grandson had certainly changed physically since she had last seen him, skin darkening a shade or two and covered with lean muscle. Not to mention the tattoo she could see through his thin grey wife beater of a red gyradoes, it's head on his right shoulder blade, long body curving out to just cross over his spine then reverse direction to end below his ribcage on his abs. Fortunatly for her, Gary didn't notice her shocked and curious gaze sweeping over him, too caught up in Umbreon taking his chair.

"Move it, boy. " The black lupine pokemon leaped off the chair only to hop onto his master's lap as soon as he sat down. At last, Gary noticed Misty' expression and gave her a mildly curious glance.

"Kanto to Red, do you read me? "

Misty snapped out of her thoughtful state, feeling rather sluggish. "Yeah, I hear you, Dominic. " she finished, ephisising his middle name and eliciting a huff from him.

"Hothead, " he replied without missing a beat.

"Moron. "

"Tomboy from Hades. "

"Self centered Muppet. "

"Mental hospital experiment. "

"Anti social- oooooh... " Misty stopped suddenly and growled as the pain in her head incresed, closeing her eyes and missing Gary's smirk vanishing.

"You ok? "

"Just a headache. Could we turn on a fan in here? "

Gary nodded at the papers that had taken over the lab. "Like I told you twenty minutes ago, it'll mess up all our important papers. Apparently Gramps' has got a system. Here, have a drink. "

"I'm not thirsy, Gary. "

"I didn't ask you if you were or not, you need to drink something or you'll get sick. "

"I'm serious. "

"So am I. " A note of concern entered his tone. "You don't look so good, Mist. "

Pain lanced though Misty at the sound of Ash's pet name for her. "Don't call me that. That's Ash's name for me... " Standing upright suddenly, she started towords the door.

"I'm going outside to get some chair... " Wait, chair? That wasn't right. What was going on? She paused as she swayed slightly and heard Gary's voice calling to her from a distance.

"Misty? You should sit down.. "

Her legs buckled suddenly, and stars exploded behind her eyes as cool darkness enveloped her like an ocean wave.