Under the Skin

Chapter 10

Gary yawned and stretched, feeling Umbreon and Eevee do the same. He felt…good.

Gary sat up, looking around his room like he had never seen it before. He was feeling better than he had in years. It was great. He felt like running again. Patting Eevee and Umbreon, he went to his dresser and opened it up, grabbing one of the button down shirts he had worn for the past three years, and then froze, looking at his closet.

Umbreon seemed to smile, nudging Eevee happily as Gary vanished into the walk-in closet he hadn't set foot in in years. He knew this was good news. Gary came out, dressed in his old travel clothes, and he even grabbed the green and yellow Ying-Yang necklace hanging on the door beneath his lab coat which he put on shortly after the necklace.

"Come on you guys, I have to check up on the Shiny's today." He said, turning to the pokemon on the bed. Umbreon and Eevee jumped off happily, running up ahead of him. Gary smiled, wondering why he was feeling so good. Maybe it was the dream he had had last night. He remembered Keegan, the Ranger Jack had been talking about. Gary had met the ranger before, and he had helped Gary out for a few days. He had met Jack then too. It had been rather interesting, staying at the base.

Gary couldn't remember much, the moments specifically with Keegan were clearer than the rest, but he had unlocked something. Like the fact that the white Eevee was real, he hadn't made it up. Though, he should probably keep that little bit to himself. The pikachu in the dream was also oddly familiar, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it, the details of the dream were fading away.

Gary walked into the kitchen, grinning like an idiot. Oak, Keegan, and Daisy were already there, and the look on Gary's face when he walked in made Oak spit his mouthful of orange juice over his pancakes.

"What happened?" Daisy asked, torn between utter joy and confusion.

"I remembered something." Gary smirked. "Keegan, that Ranger Jack was talking about. I can't remember much, but it's there. I wandered into their ranger base." He said. "Dreamed about it last night." Daisy stood in shock, then a smile spread over her face and she hugged her brother tightly.

"Oh my gosh! That's the best news I've had in years!" She cried. Gary smiled, shoving Daisy off of him. Keegan was staring at him, fork half way to her mouth. He looked at her and tilted his head.

"Yeah? What's up?"

"Nothing, nothing…" She said, turning back to her food, but with a smile on her face. Gary shrugged, and cut the pancakes on his plate in half. He knew he wouldn't eat all of them, but he'd try to eat at least half.

Daisy was the first person done, and as such, hurried to the phone. Gary couldn't eat anymore of his food due to laughing while he listened to Daisy call just about everyone they knew to tell them that he had remembered some tiny little detail about the five missing years. As Gary got up to go outside, Daisy grabbed the back of his lab coat.

"Oh, no you don't. We're all going to go out and celebrate." She grinned. "This could be the start of a lot of recollections."

"I might not remember anything else!" Gary cried out in protest, trying to wiggle out of the jacket. "Why make a big deal out of it?"

"Well why not? This is obviously the best you've been feeling for awhile, so why not take a break and enjoy the day?" Keegan asked. "Not like you've been giving yourself a chance to relax anyway."

"She's right, Gary." Oak pitched in, standing. "It has been the first thing you remembered, and perhaps if your mind connects remembering with fun, you may remember more." Oak said. Gary noticed the beginnings of a lecture, so he sighed in defeat.

"Al right, al right." He smiled, shedding his lab coat. "I give up." He said, shrugging off the lab coat and placing it on the back of the chair nearest to him. Daisy squealed and set about making a picnic lunch, which Misty was also doing no doubt. Gary walked outside, fed the pokemon with Keegan and Oak's help, and then sat on the fence waiting for Daisy to come out. Keegan joined him, smiling as she swung her booted feet. Gary decided not to ask her about it, and turned his attention to Daisy, who signaled that she was ready to go. Gary hopped off the fence, and ended up racing Keegan to the bikes. How, he didn't know, she just got ahead of him and he felt some of his old competitive spirit.

*****

True to thought, Misty had also made a large picnic basket, making sure that there was enough for all the humans and Pokemon. They spread the two large blankets they had brought under a large tree, and set about setting up the meal. The group of 11, 7 people and 4 pokemon, dug in, talking happily. Jack was heard laughing loudly as Gary revealed what he remembered, also remembering the few days that Gary had spent at their base. Luckily, he didn't remember the Eevee, Gary didn't want to talk about it just yet. He wasn't sure people would believe him.

As the little party wore on, Gary sat contemplating things, watching the pokemon play. Umbreon and Zephyr got along the best, while Pikachu and Eevee were still connecting. It was relaxing to watch them tumble about in the grass without a worry. There had been a sense of urgency in his dream that made him tense even now. How much stress had he been under?

"Hey, Gary." Ash said as he sat down beside his ex-rival.

"What's up?" Gary asked, looking over at Ash.

"Good to see you're looking like yourself again. Missed you these past seven years."

"Seven? Thought it was eight." Gary looked at Ash in slight confusion.

"Yeah. About a year after you started acting a tad distant, you just stopped talking to anyone at all, just sent letters every now and then telling us you were okay and on some huge mission. I got super pissed and went off to try and find some 'mission' bound to be bigger than yours." Ash laughed at this. "I gave up eventually."

"Knowing you." Gary smiled. "You probably got distracted." Ash laughed and blushed a bit at this. Gary laughed harder, knowing now when Ash and Misty had begun to date. "What'd you have to do, tie her to a tree and bring the candlelit dinner to her?"

Ash roared with laughter at this, while Gary chuckled. Ash ended up on his back, holding his sides and rolling side to side as tears streamed down his face. Once he calmed down enough, he sat up again, wiping tears from his face.

"No, actually. Our first date was a huge water pokemon show, one she had been wanting to see for ages. It lasted several hours, so we ate while we were there. Candlelit dinners weren't for a couple of months. Sorry to disappoint."

"Nah, that's okay.' Gary smiled. "Besides, it must've been fun to see how exited she got."

"Hell yeah. I almost lost my arm though. She wouldn't let go and she wouldn't stop bouncing up and down. Thought the whole arm would pop off." Ash grinned.

"So, when did you get married?"

"Apparently about the same time you ended up at the Ranger base. Jack was at the wedding, told us you were okay."

"Wonder where I was…" Gary muttered, putting his chin in a hand resting on his knee, looking off into the distance.

"Hey, don't sweat it man. You'll be here for the kid when he comes."

"Oh, so it's a He now?" Gary asked, looking at Ash, and eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, we got it identified yesterday. The doc's still not sure, but hopefully we can get it official next month. Misty wants to start in on the room right now, but I told her to wait."

"I'd wait anyway. Watch, it'll be a girl, just had her finger down there, or something." Gary smirked. Ash scowled, then grinned.

"Your on." Ash laughed, shaking hands on it.

"Hey! You young hooligans!" Jack's voice rang out across the park, alerting Ash and Gary. The two young men stood, seeing a newcomer as they turned around. They dusted themselves off, and walked over, the features of the newcomer slowly gaining focus.

He was a few inches smaller than Jack, and was also in a Ranger uniform like Jacks. He had lanky brown hair that hung to about his shoulders, gathering at the back of his neck and light brown eyes with a tad of green. He waved, so Ash and Gary returned the gesture.

"Meet Luke, you guys. He was the last guy Keegan recruited. He's the next best ranger at the base, under me." Jack said.

"Pleased to meet you." Luke said, smiling. He shook hands with Gary and Ash. "I'm just here to get this guy's lazy ass back to the base. He's going to be taking over for Keegan."

"Wow!" Ash exclaimed. "Congrats! Why didn't you say anything?"

"Eh, well, I kind of forgot. Between you and Misty's good news, and now Gary's it slipped my mind." Jack said, laughing.

"Eh? What good news?" Luke asked.

"I'm expecting my first kid." Ash said, grinning broadly. Gary decided the news of a kid was the one and only thing to get a guy to smile till his face looked ready to break in half.

"What's up with you? Engaged?" Luke teased, smirking. Gary shook his head, laughing.

"Well, I've had amnesia for the past three years, just remembered something and everyone decided to make a big deal out of it." Gary smiled.

"Well, I don't see why not. Especially if they're important memories, who want them to stay hidden?"

"That's true." Gary shrugged. He leaned against the bar of the bike rack they had been standing next to, the cool metal almost searing. It was relaxing though. The four men stood chatting for a little bit longer, until Luke did something that had Gary's mind shutting down at a rapid pace.

He threw his head back, laughing heartily at the deal Ash and Jack had made, hands on his hips. When he brought his head back to it's normal position, his smile was wide, showing all his teeth.

Gary felt light as darkness took over his vision and mind, and he only saw the smile as he toppled backwards, Ash's worried cry ringing in his ears.

Author's Comments

Meet Luke! He plays an important roll in the story, not gonna say what that would spoil things A LOT.

Anyway, hoped you liked this one. I imagined Ash to be the type of person to grin lke an idiot 24-7 for all of the nine months of pregnancy. I think he's just as bad as Misty sometimes XD

and i realized something at work today, i don't think our favorite Rocket trio will be in this i'm not sure though, gonna talk with Luna tomorrow and see if she can help me figure something out.

And about the whole thing with the bet Gary has with Ash about the gender of his kid, there was someone i worked with that that happened to. her parents though she woul dbe a boy also, but she had her finger down there XD just goes to show that nothing is compleatly fool proof ^^ You'll have to wait and see what it is though ^^