The Guilty and the Innocent
Chapter 5
An old lesson –Oak
A/N: One chapter, no flashbacks, little seriousness, the world is ending!
"Strange." Giovanni turned the pizza slice around in his hand. "It tastes good, but it's so... strange looking."
Oak nodded in agreement, since he was in mid bite he wasn't going to open his mouth to agree, not when nodding did the job for him.
It had taken a long time to explain that eating a pizza with your hands was the best way to do it. It took even longer to get Giovanni to try it. He was a cautious man, slow at sampling something new, he dragged out each motion of the experience eyes forever looking for a way to either use it or avoid completing it if it was not useful. Too many hours working in the kind of cut throat world he lived did that. Eventually he got around to eating it; Oak didn't have to pull teeth, which was a marked improvement from other experiences where it seemed like he'd have to.
There were times he felt more like a dentist then a scientist, especially when Leo was involved.
"How go your classes?" The younger man asked, setting aside the food for now.
"Well enough."
Oak smiled, he always smiled when he talked about his academic courses that he taught. He loved to teach and Leo did not mind listening to him chatter on about it for a while. It was for Giovanni a taste of the world beyond the cut throat, a glimpse into innocence that he was never allowed to have. So Oak told him the antics of his current lot, trotted out humorous tales of his work. Giovanni countered that with scarce few tales of his own, but then his work involved life and death decisions of Pokemon and humans, so there were few humorous tales to tell. Giovanni ran a mass of business, a large number of restaurants ranging from large corporation ran chain restaurants, to seemingly small mom and pop business', he had his hands in several Pokemon research institutes and medical facilities, Oak would not be surprised to learn that more then half of his supplies came from Giovanni's company, Leo had his hands in so many companies, shares, 'friends' working in other people's companies, plus with is wealth he was a massive influence on everything around him...
"A friendly… Muk? Sam, I know poison types, they're all notoriously vile tempered."
"You're a Rock, Poison, Ground, and Fighting type specialist, but your Pokemon are primarily used for fighting, and may I add that after exposed to your strong personality they tend to adopt mannerisms and habits much like your own."
"Not this again." Leo's lip quirked in a tolerant humored manner, it was a strange undertone to his exasperated sounding voice. "The great, human influences Pokemon personality and development speech."
"I have significant proof for my statements, almost the whole of the human and Pokemon psychology department agree with my findings." Sam pointed out. "And you know getting scientists to agree on anything, much less those of differing branches to agree on a theory that would tie both their pet theories together is as hard as making… a group of businessmen to not think about money for five minuets."
Leo saw the hit and took it with a quiet chuckle.
"That my friend would be impossible, money preys on all businessmen's minds for the whole of their life." He took a generous swallow of water, "It is our shadows shadow."
"Now that gives me an idea, a shadow's shadow… Gengar…"
"No spur of the moment Poke-poetry, please. You may be famous for it, but let me tell you it's hellish to hear it over and over again. Bad enough that would-be-literature-experts pick it apart and find meaning under your original meanings and then find more meanings under that," Leo shuddered with real feeling behind it. "But you do not know torture until you get to listen to young people with scarcely a brain in their heads yell at each other about the meaning of a five line drizzle poem."
"Would you rather listen to them talk of sports?"
Leo snorted. "Sports, save gentlemanly 'pursuits' are too low class to quibble over. At least that's what my colleges would say if any would be tactless enough to bring it up."
"There are so many rules." Sam grimaced. "If you wrote them all down I imagine you would have a book long enough to rival my humble library."
"Humble!" Leo laughed. "You have a shelf ever inch of room you have plus several 'show' tables that are coated in books, my God there isn't a topic long enough to match your humble library in length."
"Stop teasing me, I know you're as much of a book Caterpie as I am." Sam grinned. "As I recall an old Charmander that used to be here nearly set you on fire when you mistook him for a lamp and dragged him back for light when he got sick and tired from reading over your shoulder."
"I only did that once." Leo grumbled.
"Then you tried to talk me into selling you the Charmander because, and I quote; "he'd make a good portable lamp"."
"I was twelve." Leo growled.
"You were nearly a bald twelve."
"Must we go over that experience again?" Leo rubbed his head. "Because if we do then I must cover that time I came to visit only to find you trapped in tree, an infuriated Dodrio picking away at the seat of your pants because you forgot to give one of the heads it's treat."
"You had to say that didn't you."
"You started it, I finished it." Leo picked up the pizza and helped himself to the rest of his meal.
X
"Muuuk! Muka muka muk!"
"Samuel lo-"
Giovanni winced as Oak was knocked over by Ash's over enthusiastic Muk.
"Muk!" Wrapped in a hug body slam hybrid Oak wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. The poison type was courteous enough not to ooze over the wounded leg or the Professor's head. Everything else was fair game though.
"Get off!" Oak crawled, well tried to, crawl away.
"Muk!"
The hug tightened.
"Can't…. breathe!"
"Persian, use screech."
Oak clapped his hands over his ears, knowing what was to come. Chilling spine tingling waves of noise rolled over him; the noise was mercifully somewhat muffled by Muk's size. The poison type whimpered and slithered off of him. It considered the Persian and a calculating look gathered in its tiny sludge rimmed eyes.
"Don't, he bites, very unfriendly." Oak wheezed, Giovanni pulled him to his feet, or rather foot and handed him the crutches so the older man could steady himself.
"Muuuk!"
"MerOww!"
Giovanni pulled out his pokeball and the Persian who normally despised being recalled allowed the stream of red light to engulf him with a relieved look. Muk's hug fell on itself and the Poison type got up and eyed Giovanni.
"Leo, run." Oak gasped, rubbing his side.
"I don't run from anything." Leo drew out a pokeball. "Nidoking, let's go!"
The massive bi-pedial creature, sporting a scarred up face and a horn that was even now dripping venom towered over all it's other specie, for it was-minus horn- Giovanni's height. Lashing it's thick tail, the smaller horns on it's body bristled, filling with venom. Seeing the pained look on Oak's face Giovanni spared the older man a grim smile.
"I'll try not to wreck your house."
Knowing Leo those words meant that there wouldn't be a wall standing in all of five minuets.
A man with crutches can't move very fast, Oak made history by moving faster then most men his age, he got to the his lab, and more importantly the phone, in a few moments. Jabbing in a number he managed to get to contact the Pokecenter he thought Ash would be at.
"Hello?"
"Ms. Joy, Is there an Ash Katchem avail-?"
"Oh a phone call for me, I got it Nurse Joy!"
There was a long pause where Ash all but pounced on the phone and took the seat left for patents receiving phone calls.
"Hi Professor, how are things going?"
"There's a bit of an emergency, could you perhaps take your Muk, it's rather pressing that you…"
"Ice beam!"
"MUK!"
"Whoa!" Ash craned his neck to look over Oak's shoulder; from the flashes of color that bathed the screen from time to time the battle in the other room had reached rather apocalyptic proportions. "What's going on?"
"I have a rather… sensitive guest and your Muk was over friendly." Oak ducked the stray thread of Ice-Beam that was reflected into the room by a well aimed sludge bomb. "I really really need you to take Muk, now if at all possible."
"Ok… umm how about… let's see the Gym's a bug type so…"
"Physic, Grass, anything Ash, just hurry!"
"OK, I'll trade Bulbasaur for Muk then!"
"Herd him to the door!" Oak called to Leo, fishing out Muk's pokeball. There was no way to not know which one it was, since it smelled strongly of sewer.
"Professor, what's going on, who's this guest of yours? I didn't know you had any friends!"
Oak spared a long withering glance for the boy, Giovanni must be rubbing off because all he had to do was glare, Ash blushed and stammered an apology. Either Giovanni was rubbing off in a bad way or the Misty girl from Cerulean had finally taught Ash some manners.
"Muk?"
And that was the last cry as Muk disappeared into his pokeball. The ice beam however did not stop and it smashed into the flooring. There was a loud crack as the wood split under the force of the attack.
"Professor Oak, are you OK? That didn't sound good."
"I'm fine. I'm ready to make the exchange now." Sounding cool calm and collected was never so hard before.
"Alright, I'm ready to go too!"
The device seemed to warm up at a crawl, after a few moments there was a flash of light and almost simultaneously the trainer and teacher pulled their respective pokeballs from the device.
"Alright, I've got Muk here!"
Oak stared at the Squirtle, who looked completely confused to be here.
"Ash… you sent the wrong pokeball."
"Squirt?" The blue creature stretched and yawned, scratching the back of it's shell with sharp little claws.
"Opps, sorry Professor. OK now I got Bulbasaur's pokeball, this time it'll go right."
It took two more times before Ash sent the right one, and he was aware that from the other room, watching with humor glittering in his dark eyes, was Leo. Oak was probably going to be rained with teasing comments for an hour about the intelligence of younger trainers these days, well it would give them something to talk about, until he found the hammer and spare lengths of wood that he kept on hand for such crisis. Leo was, after all, responsible for breaking the floor and he'd fix it, or at least get a good start on it until he could hire someone else to come and do it.
X
"Sam you must be kidding…"
Oak wordlessly held out the hammer and nails, Giovanni took them without even thinking about it.
"You expect me to…"
Next came the ice chisel and a bucket, gingerly Nidoking took those.
"I'll call someone and they can get a start on it in the hour."
"Good. Until they get here you and Nidoking can pick up the shads of ice scattered on the floor ,the broom is where it always is, then you both may begin breaking up the solid ice and dragging it away. Deposit the ice in chilled pools I keep for the water types who favor the cold, then if your help has not arrived yet you may begin ripping out the broken boards and putting in the fresh ones." Samuel crossed his arms in front of him, his eyes for once as hard as the substance they resembled. "You broke it, you fix it, that is the nature of responsibility. As you may recall I had your father pay for and distribute feed to the Charizards I keep here after his thoughtlessness made me lose a bag of their food."
Leo did remember that, had recalled thinking Sam to be on of the bravest men alive to look his Sire in the eyes and tell him threats aside he would be doing it, and if he started now it would save him the embarrassment of having every Pokemon in this facility that was able gang up on him and force him to do it.
Setting aside his pride, as he did so many of his lessons upon entering this place, Leonardo Giovanni went to look for the broom and get started with the clean up.