AN: This chapter has a bit of science and lab stuff in it so for any science nerds out there like me, hopefully you enjoy it. If I haven't explained it well enough for anyone, let me know and I will try adding some more details.
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon or any of the characters. Just the random plot bunnies that my mind creates.
Chapter Warnings: Language, science stuff, don't try this at home!
Pairing: Ash x Gary
Chapter 25 - Infiltration
A shrill beeping arouses him from his slumber. Glancing to his right, Gary sees his partner quickly turn the alarm off and stealthily try to get changed in the dark. He fails.
"Ash, what are you doing?"
The shadow freezes and slowly turns to face him. Gary can't see his expression in the little light in the room but he can easily imagine the guilty look on Ash's face for getting caught.
"Gary, go back to sleep. You need to rest. I'm going to go check the Museum out real quick."
Snorting softly, Gary slowly gets up and stretches his tired body. He crosses his arms over his chest. Ready to protest.
"I'm fine. I'm tired of sleeping. Plus, you have never been there before right? You don't know where that researcher's office is or what his supposed machine looks like. You need my help."
With a quiet sigh, the raven turns on the light and motions towards Gary's equipment with a resigned motion.
Smirking in victory, Gary quickly gets ready. Since this is a stealth mission, they decide to leave their packs, rifles and swords in the room. Armed only with their knives, Beretta's and pokemon on their belt, the duo slip out the window and into the night.
xxx-War of the Dragon Riders-xxx
It takes them a good 15 minutes to get to the museum since they have to avoid the streetlights. Thankfully, no one is awake at 2 AM, so they haven't been spotted yet. If they even knew how to spot trained soldiers in stealth mode.
Gary keeps watch as his partner disengages the security system and picks the lock of the side door to the Museum. Once the door is opened, he takes the lead and heads towards the back of the building. Ash again stoops to pick another lock. Between the two of them, he was always better at dismantling security.
The duo quickly search the lab before them. Once he determines that they are alone and there are no cameras, Gary pulls out his flashlight and heads over to the large desk to his left. He begins to look through files as Ash wanders around looking at the equipment.
Based on this data, he still hasn't had a successful trial yet. All of the fossilized eggs show no response of life no matter what changes to the equipment are made. The researcher insists that the data is correct and they should be revived though. Hmm.
Gary is pulled from his thoughts by a low whistle. Looking up, he sees Ash motioning him over to a case across the room. He joins his partner and shines the light into the glass box.
Four large eggs sit on cushions. A page from some old book in front of each one. Each page has a picture of the egg as well as stats on the extinct pokemon.
Hmm. If the egg is fossilized then the DNA would have degraded a long time ago. If we are able to somehow get functional DNA, we could insert it into the egg while it is in the machine. That might jumpstart the process.
Green eyes widen as Gary reaches into his pocket and pulls out the piece of amber he put in there earlier. Gramps did say that he would be able to tell what pokemon it came from if he was able to extract the liquid. That means it has DNA right? The fossilized tree sap must have preserved it.
"Ash look for a drill that has a very thin drill bit, a pipet and pipet bulb."
"What the hell is a pipet?"
Gary sighs as he scans the equipment throughout the lab. One would think that Ash would know basic lab equipment after living with a Professor for a while. Guess not.
"Just look for the drill."
Opening a drawer, he finds an assortment of glass sticks that have a small glass container in the middle. Gotcha. Pulling out the thinnest one he can find, he grabs a small rubber balloon-like object and attaches it to the larger end of the pipet. Done.
Hearing a whirring noise behind him, Gary quickly turns around to see Ash playing with the drill. Rolling his eyes at his ridiculous partner, he takes the drill from him and examines the bit on the end. That should work.
He walks towards a clean lab counter. Placing the amber in front of him, he carefully places the fragile pipet next to it. Motioning for Ash to take his flashlight, the raven grabs it and stands on the other side of the counter to provide light.
Grabbing a squirt bottle, paper towels and a stand up magnifying glass, he places them nearby and takes a deep breath. Let's do this.
He sets the amber on the paper towel and lines the drill up with the insect's abdomen. He starts the drill at the lowest possible speed and begins to drill into the amber. A high pitch squealing emanates from the contact point. He flinches at the noise.
Gary slowly pressed down into the fossil. As soon as there is enough debris to hinder his sight of the trapped mosquito, he removes the drill and cleans the drill and surface with the squirt bottle.
It takes several minutes to reach the middle of the orange fossil. He pulls the magnifying glass towards him to see how much further he has to go. I can't go in too far or I will destroy the DNA.
Seeing a small movement in the liquid in the bug's abdomen, he pulls the drill out and grabs the pipet. He carefully inserts the glass pipet into the small hole after squeezing the balloon to create a small vacuum in the tube. Upon reaching the fluid, he slowly releases the balloon, sucking the liquid into the small container in the middle of the tube.
Glancing up in triumph, he matches the wide grin on his partner's face.
"Now what?" Ash asks. His voice breathy in his excitement.
Hmm. I think Gramps used to say there was a few steps to compare DNA but that we need to purify it first...But if this researcher is working with fossils, he may have a machine that does everything for us.
Placing the pipet on the counter, he examines the various pieces of equipment. He sees a "DNA Comparison" machine next to the largest machine. Perfect.
Switching on the machine, he follows the prompts on the screen in front of him. Grabbing the pipet, he deposits the liquid into a small disposable plastic well sticking out from the machine. Pressing the "Start" button, the well is sucked into the machine. It hums gently.
Minutes pass in silence as they wait for the machine to finish processing the DNA. Ash is wandering around the room again. He better not break anything.
"Ash while we wait, start wiping everything down. We don't them to find our prints."
Ash nods silently and begins wiping down the counter and puts the drill away. Gary wraps the pipet in a paper towel steps on it. He throws the broken pieces in the glass disposal bin. They won't be able to find enough leftover DNA from just the pieces.
By the time he finished wiping the DNA machine down, it beeps and prints out a sheet of paper. Green eyes widen at the name of the pokemon that the DNA came from. Aerodactyl.
"Ash...it's an Aerodactyl."
The raven freezes in shock. Gary quickly removes the sample well from the DNA machine and places it in the sample injection unit of the "Fossil Revival" machine. He then opens the glass case and removes the Aerodactyl egg. He places the large purple/gray egg in the egg housing unit of the machine. I really hope this works and doesn't just blow up or something.
He starts the machine. A flurry of alarms begin to go off. The duo stare at each other in shock as they quickly clean up any remaining evidence that they were there. Gary puts the amber back in his pocket.
He can hear sirens in the distance. Fuck. The security system must have kicked back on. I didn't realize we were in here that long. Ash is already by the door ready to go at moment's notice. Gary glances impatiently at the machine in front of him.
We can't leave the egg here. Not after we tampered with it. We have to take it with us.
Thankfully, the machine beeps several seconds later and opens. He grabs the steaming egg and DNA well and bolts for the exit with Ash on his heels. They quickly exit the museum avoiding any cameras and head for an alley across the street.
They watch in silence as two police cars pull up in front of the museum. The officers head inside with weapons drawn. The duo silently make their way back into the Pokemon Center, keeping to the shadows as much as possible.
xxx-War of the Dragon Riders-xxx
"Are we clear?"
His partner nods. They slip in through the window. Closing the curtains, the raven turns on the light before he changes to get back into bed.
"We cleaned everything and I also wiped the door handles. They will have no idea we were the ones there."
Gary nods as the egg in his lap begins to shake. Green eyes widen. It actually worked? And it's hatching already? How?
Cracks appear on the surface of the egg. Gary places the egg on the sheets next to him. A piece falls off revealing a small white eye staring at him. A muffled shriek comes from the egg.
Gary quickly covers the egg with a blanket. Fuck it's going to wake everyone up! Glancing around quickly he sees a few leftover pieces of fruit sitting on a plate on the other side of the room.
Motioning to the fruit, Ash quickly stands up and grabs the tray before handing it over. Gary flinches as he feels sharp teeth trying to bite through the blanket and his Kevlar shirt. The blanket muffles another shriek.
Gary starts to quietly shush the newly hatched pokemon. It stills at the sound of his voice. Lifting the blanket slowly, the small pokemon cowers away from him. It looks around the room with terror in its eyes and tries to hide under the blanket once more.
"It's alright. We won't hurt you." He coos softly at the baby pokemon. "I bet you are hungry huh? How about some fruit?"
Gary offers a piece of fruit to the fossil pokemon. He remains still as it slowly crawls forward and sniffs his hand. It quickly grabs the fruit and swallows it whole. It sniffs his hand for more and looks back up at him.
With a smile on his face, Gary offers another piece of fruit but holds it closer to his body. Aerodactyl crawls into his lap to get at the tasty treat.
He places the remaining two pieces of fruit on his lap to distract the pokemon as he reaches for an empty pokeball. He touches the middle button as soon as the creature finishes his meal causing it to be sucked inside in a flash of light. He smirks once it stops rolling.
"Gramps is gonna freak out once he finds out I revived a fossilized pokemon."
xxx-War of the Dragon Riders-xxx
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Next up: Chapter 26 - Dress