Just for a few short minutes, Kitty could forget that she was now in the vicinity of the person she had feared bumping in to the most for the past ten years, and just enjoy the sights and sounds of the gorgeous reserve she was on. Zeus's storm cloud colored manes not bothering her at all, if anything, the girl had to admit that Gary had done beautifully for himself the past ten years. Whilst she fully expected him to do anything and everything to surpass the rival he had a ridiculous obsession with beating, Kitty was happy to find him enjoying his work now. In fact, she had been a little surprised when she had first began working for Professor Oak, and found out that Gary was in fact working as a researched in Sinnoh. Never had she expected that headstrong, foolhardy boy she used to travel with to be the successful, intelligent scientist he was now. Oh don't get her wrong, Kitty had always believed that he had the intelligence to be whatever he wanted to be, but after their fight just before she had left, she found it difficult to believe that he will do anything but try and conquer all the regions just so he could brag to Ash about it.

But when she looked at him, she saw genuine joy when he did his work, and it was obvious that most, if not all the Pokemon on the reserve knew and was fond of him. Looking at him from the corner of his eye, Kitty couldn't help the soft smile that curved the corner of her lips when she saw Gary reach down to pat the heads of a couple of Girafrig who had wandered up. Their whole ten minute walk so far had been filled with no talk at all, just Gary explaining various sections of the reserve and what his work was so far. But even if so, just the tinge of pride in his words as he explained his lifelong works to her was enough for Kitty to feel her earlier irritation at him ebbing away.

Despite her irritation at him though, she knew why he was acting the way he was with her. It was just that… after ten years, Kitty couldn't believe he still harbored such bitter feelings about her leaving. Part of her would like to think that it was because he cared for her more then he wanted to admit, but the female was a logical one, and she knew that there was no way Gary could feel anything more than friendship for her. So she just assumed that it was because she had cut his pride deeper than anyone else had ever done to the great Gary Oak before.

Quite contrary to her belief though, Gary himself was beginning to admit, to himself at least, that maybe the reason why he still felt so miffed and betrayed by her leaving even after such a long period of time, was that perhaps he cared more than the little he would let on. Looking back at her every so often with the corner of his eye, the guy couldn't deny the fact that despite having all the anger and hurt bubble to the surface again with her reappearance, he's always cared more about her reactions, her thoughts and her feelings more than anyone else's. Maybe that's why I didn't want her to leave? The guy mused quietly to himself, and scowled at the thought.

Now was no time to play, he had way too much work to do, and even then, Catherine Thorne was the last person he would want anything to do with. To himself, he said that it was because she was far from the most suited girl for him. But deep inside, he knew that he was just afraid of history repeating itself. So even if he felt himself inexplicable drawn to her, undeniably attracted to her even after the many years between them, Gary Oak would never allow himself to act on them.

The plod of the Arcanine's large paws were matched by the solid beats of the Rapidash's hooves on the terrain, but it wasn't till they reached the Unova Pokemon reserves, did Gary finally hear a little squeak of reaction from her. By the time he turned from his seat atop his Arcanine, Kitty had already slide off Zeus's back to go running towards the first corral holding a couple of Bidoof. The joy on her face was something Gary had forgotten he took pleasure in seeing, and a sight that he couldn't seem to tear his eyes away, even as she crouched down next to the thigh-high fencing and reached in to pat a particularly friendly Bidoof.

Finally snapping out of it, Gary inwardly berated himself again as he got off, and walked towards her with what he hoped was a wry grin on his features. "What, haven't you seen the Unova region Pokemon before?"

"Actually, I haven't. I recently finished my research upon behavioral patterns of flying types and how they vary across breed as well as the habitat their brought up in. That took me all of two years, since there are flying types scattered all across the three regions, and I've been taking a year off, so I haven't had the chance to thoroughly study Unova region Pokemon yet." Her explanation was length, but Gary eagerly drank in every word, information about her something he hadn't heard in a long time.

"What were you doing before then?"

"After I…. I've worked as a Ranger for five years, that was where my interest in habitats and behavioral patterns came from." The initial pause had been pregnant, a topic both of them had been avoiding, and a topic Gary had no wish to pick up now. So when Kitty had let it slide, he allowed it, and moved to stand next to her as she straightened up.

"Well, you can start now. Ever since Ash returned from Unova, we've been asking for specimens from Professor Juniper, in exchange for our own specimens. They are high fascinating, actually, and some of them differ quite significantly from our own Pokemon."

"Really?" she exclaimed in excitement, and Gary couldn't help but laugh at how she suddenly appeared much younger then she looked with the excitement making her green eyes bubble. Nodding, he motioned for her to follow him, before venturing further on foot in to the small part of his reserve dedicated for the mysterious but fascinating Unova Pokemon.

"Their species are varied and different, none of which are similar to our own Pokemon. But surprisingly, some of them do share the same habits as ours do. Take Emolga, for example." He explained, and stopped in front of a tall, imposing oak tree. There, Gary looked up and gave a sharp whistle, and within seconds, the tree's rustled, before a white, yellow and black creature that seemed highly similar to a squirrel dropped on to his shoulder, much to Kitty's delight.

Taking the flying squirrel up by the body, Gary presented the creature to Kitty, and grinned when the Emolga chittered and immediately began scuttling around her shoulders and neck, causing the girl to giggle and laugh as she examined the flying squirrel with inquisitive eyes. "That's Emolga, and she's the only one we have on the reserve. She's an electric type, and we've been comparing her to the Pachirisu we have. They're surprisingly similar, considering how they're both electric types and of the squirrel species."

"She's a flying type?"

"Observant."

"I spent two years studying them, Gary. You would expect me to know a flying type with my eyes closed." Kitty responded with sarcasm, and the brunette scientist couldn't help but laugh at the familiar tone that was almost signature to the female's sarcasm.

"Yes, she is actually. She's a dual type, but they're not really capable of flying long, more like hovering in the air."

At that moment, the Emolga chose to chitter noisily from Kitty's shoulder, and jump from her shoulder to Gary's, and then back to the girl's before leaping up from there to go back to the lowest hanging branch. The branch still was quite a ways up from her shoulder though, and due to the height, the Emolga had to use quite a bit of force to get up there. The force from the squirrel's jump had Kitty stumbling, and would've fallen had Gary not caught her by her arm just as the black and white squirrel disappeared within the foliage.

For a long pause, the two froze in position, with Gary's fingers gripping tightly on to her arm, before the two suddenly broke apart with a sheepish grin, averting each other's gaze whilst Kitty nervously brushed off her sleeve and gave a shaky laugh. "She's… she's strong isn't she." She finally said in an attempt to break the silence, and Gary gave a sheepish laugh in return, and nodded. "Quite. But she's more skittish than anything, and quite prone to random acts."

"I can see that." She replied wryly, and the two shared a laugh before continuing on the tour of the reserve. The rest of the tour passed by fairly uneventfully, a time which both Kitty and Gary were glad they could slip back in to normal banter. In fact, by the end of the trip, the girl was quite glad it seemed almost normal between the two of them when they returned to meet both Arcanine and Zeus at the entry to the Unova reserve.

"But Gary… this isn't the only reason Professor Oak sent me to help you, is it?"

"… No. It isn't." Gary replied, as they got on their respective rides. As if contemplating on what to say for a second, Kitty stared at him whilst she watch his thoughtful frown crease his forehead, before he turned and gave her a rather tight smile. "Come on then, I'll show you the other problem that my lab has to deal with now."


Entering the lab, Kitty had to admit she hadn't felt the way she had for a long time. When Gary handed her the lab coat, he couldn't help but give her a wry grin, easily recognizing the way she felt a little out of place in the confined walls. Gary had always been able to pick out the slightest of change in her mood, tuned to how she felt and what she felt in a way no one ever was before, not even her own brother, who still resided in Olivine with their parents. But like Gary, Kitty too was quite in tuned with the guy's own thoughts, and she recognized his wry look easily, and flashed a sheepish grin as she shrugged on the white lab coat, pulling her ponytail out of the way.

"I haven't worked in a lab for a long time. I prefer field work, honestly. With how accident prone I am, I'm more likely to break specimens and lose reports."

At her reminded, Gary laughed. More often than not, they've always had some form of accident involving Kitty breaking a plate or dropping something or even closing a door on her finger, that accidents and her name had become synonymous. So when she admitted to being more field work and on hands then being a lab researcher, Gary couldn't say he was surprised.

"Point taken." He murmured, when the laughter finally subsided and he began leading her to the pair of closed doors. It was at this point, that his tone and expression became more serious. "But I don't have a choice. This Pokemon needs to stay in the lab for a fighting chance at survival."

His tone made her breathe catch, and for the first time, Kitty could see how genuinely serious Gary was about his work. But when the doors opened, all thoughts of that flew out the window, and her heart melted the instant she saw the tiny figure of the Shinx laid out on the operating table, with numerous wires connected to it, and a row of potions and antidotes at the ready and lined up behind it.

"Oh, Gary." Kitty murmured at first, quite at loss of what to say. Following the brunette's lead, she walked up to the table, and gasped when she saw just how pale the electric cub was, with its eyes closed and the beat of its heart on the monitor weak and fluttering. "What's wrong with it?"

"We don't know." He replied his tone tight and filled with worry and controlled frustration Kitty easily picked up. Standing just a little behind her as she stood directly next to the table, his gaze was fixed on the sleeping Shinx. "We found him one day on the edges of our reserve, with nothing physically wrong. But everything we've done could not revive him, and none of the potions, antidotes or berries work. Even Nurse Joy can't find anything wrong with him. We've tried everything, and nothing works."

"We think that perhaps, the Shinx had wandered too far away from the reserve and ended up contracting some form of weird, unknown disease that we have not found a cure for yet. He's got all kinds of symptoms, but nothing that is definite or concrete for us to pinpoint one particular cure. And we don't know how much time we have."

With every syllable, Kitty could detect how anxious and tense Gary was, and turning over her shoulder to look at him, her heart went out to him when she saw how nervous his features for. Instinctively, she reached out to lay a comforting hand on his arm. "You're the smartest guy I know Gary, and if anyone could do it, you can." She murmured, and then flashed him a weak, but cheeky grin. "And I'm horribly smart too, aren't I?"

Despite the circumstances, Gary couldn't help but give a wry laugh as he looked at her. "Yes, yes you are your Highness." He replied dryly, and Kitty widened her grin at him, before she turned back to look at the sleeping Shinx again, the beeping of the machines only underlining how serious his condition was. "And I don't believe that we can't do a thing to help this little guy."