A/N: Time for an explanation, long chappie! And also, yay! I'm officially graduated!

Read on!

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Chapter 14

The knock on the door was heard but not attended to, so he proceeded to push it making the metal door scratch the metal floor and tried not to wince at the high pitched sound. Gary Oak stepped inside and hit the lights. He tried not to be startled at the mess the laboratory was, and winced at the knowledge that he had been working there days straight and hadn't even noticed his surroundings. Something in his eyes flickered as he noticed the old man clad in a laboratory coat, sitting in the ground staring blankly at the void. Samuel Oak, his grandfather, used to the glory and the tabloids, reduced to a dozing off fool that blended in with the pointless laboratory reports spread all around the place.

Whatever trace or hint of rage that Gary Oak was holding on to, ready to unleash hell on the old man, seemed to fade away almost instantly as a new feeling of pity invaded him. He turned around and closed the metal door, leaning against it. Samuel Oak reacted, finally showing a hint of awareness and looked up, his eyes wavering as he looked at his grandson, relief and embarrassment marked heavily on his face. Gary, standing in the top of the stairs leading down, stayed there and looked down to his grandfather, the blabbering fool sitting in the ground of the basement.

"This was never about Togepi or my researching, was it?" More than a question, an affirmation as Gary squinted his eyes in sudden epiphanies aggravating his mind. Professor Oak sighed as he made an especial effort to climb to his feet, startled at his grandson voice.

"Look, Gary, I—"

"Just how on earth did you think whatever you had planned was going to work out?" Gary huffed out, crossing his arms in front of his chest. Samuel Oak threw his head down in shame and reluctance. It was time to come clean.

"Misty and May have been going out to eat together lately. I knew about May's meeting today. I... I expected Misty to go with her" Samuel Oak said, sighing. "Without them here, I could have convinced you it was fatigue induced and..." he trailed off, losing the strength to tell the truth. Gary's blue eyes wavered as broken glass. "And what? Take me off the research?"

Professor Oak seemed to lower his head even more. A long understanding pause went by. The Oaks stood there, the grim room standing like a witness to the quiet doom in the air. Neither one of them said anything for thirty seconds, but merely stood there, Gary staring at the worn out figure of his grandfather, and Samuel darting his eyes around the grey badly lit room, a mere token of his decadence in science.

Gary started to climb down the stairs. "What on earth was going through your mind, Old sack! You made her worry" Gary finally snapped.

Samuel Oak was on the defensive mode. "Look Gary, I'm sorry if you—" He paused and stared at Gary quizzically. "—Her?" he asked. "Misty? Christ, Gary, you're angry because I upset her?"

Gary huffed, folding his arms over his chest. "I hope, for your damn sake that you have no problem with that, Samuel."

Samuel Oak spaced out, that distant look in his eyes distorting the brown colour, making it shift to black for a flash of a second. "I... I never noticed" he whispered out.

Gary let out a bitter chuckle. "Is that supposed to surprise me?" Gary retorted bitterly back at the old man.

Samuel Oak looked up and met his grandson's eyes with something Gary wasn't expecting: anger. "Think what you want of me Gary. But I notice" he said sternly. "You think in that stubborn head of yours I don't care about you and your sister? Can you really be that blind!" Gary opened his mouth to reply, but found himself drawing blanks when it came to an answer. He looked taken aback, but didn't reply.

"I know, Gary. I've always known everything I need to know. I know about May's busy agenda so I don't have to worry about her getting home late, I arrange it so she has enough money every time to come back in a taxi when it's too damn late, I know about that tattoo you got on your back when you were 15 out of some drunken rebel act of your teenager self, or whatever it was that made you do it" Samuel ranted, finally feeling like things were being dragged out to the light. It was quite relieving, to say things unsaid for years, and finish the unresolved business in the Oak mansion. "I know, grandson. I know you used to hold May whenever she cried when it was her birthday and your parents didn't return. I know May used to think dogs were a good omen when she was five and came back home with all of Pallets stray dogs, I know how appalled your mother was."

Gary visibly flinched and clenched his jaw, cracking his neck to one side. He was quickly loosing his temper, but Professor Oak just half smiled bitterly. "Yes Gary, your mother. And your father. I've... I've tried to be what they were to you kids so many times. But I can't... start. You're both grown up. And miraculously you grew up alright. I..." professor Oak eloquence vanished with a crash. Gary had tossed the glass lab materials, test tubes, microscopes off the table and down to the ground, making them all shatter in a million pieces. He was leaning his arms against the white laboratory wooden table, slightly trembling. But as he looked back at his grandfather, the icy glare that made his blue eyes turn a little lighter greeted the old man. Even though he was visibly shaken up, he managed to gather his voice.

"I'm not here to talk about what you didn't do" The hardness of the sharp words felt like blades, but his voice trembled slightly against his will. Samuel Oak had broken a few barriers, and for now, it was enough for the old scientist. "I came here to talk about what you did do. I just want to know why."

But Samuel Oak was lost in his thoughts for a moment and failed to react. It was time to come clean, and the realisation on that was painfully hurtful. "Gary, the first time Togetic wouldn't eat anymore, you and Misty took her to the kitchen. You made a whole pot of pokemon stew which you kept in the fridge..."

Gary was almost irked at the precision of his saying. "Speed it up" he warned, his voice still wavering.

Samuel Oak exhaled. "These last two weeks I've been in the biggest debacle of my entire career, grandson" He paused "After discovering the stew, something told me to analyze it, and even though the only thing you added was sugar, the boiled water made the glucose decompose, and the potassium, and nitrogen react, and form new molecules. None of that was actually toxic, but a small percentage actually became something new"

Samuel Oak proceeded after pausing but could see no visible reaction from his grandson, but merely comprehension. "I named it project CANDY ; It was this what made Togepi evolve, and nothing more. It's extremely easy to make, but as a secret mix, it could be sold as a product that can make pokemon evolve. It would be the biggest breakthrough that would make us the richest family on the earth, and would take us back to the top of researching--" Samuel's voice ended, a bit more excited that Gary would have hoped him to be.

Gary Oak gaped in disgust and groaned. The mere idea of them going after more pointless money almost made him heave "Sure" he snickered bitterly. "It would take YOU back to the top, wouldn't it?"

"But..." Samuel Oak interrupted him. "Grandson, I stayed up days and nights realising that it would only end up as a twisted power race... that would only harm the pokemon" Samuel paused, and exhaled "Gary, I like this world as it is"

The disgust seemed to fade, slowly but surely as Gary leaned against a wall of the laboratory. He glanced at Samuel from the corner of his eye and sighed. "Does this mean...?"

"I'm destroying all evidence that this research ever existed" He replied solemnly.

Gary nodded slowly, instantly agreeing, but tilted his head. "And the drugging?" He raised his eyebrow.

Samuel Oak sighed in dismay. "Grandson, I was trying to keep you out of this. You were getting too damn close to figuring it out. At the beginning, I let you back into the investigation because I wanted to spend more time with you. But after the discovery, I wanted to keep an eye on your own progress." There was evident guilt in his voice, but honesty "It was foolish. I shouldn't have hesitated. I shouldn't have had a voice in my head that actually wanted to use this for my own benefit. Now, it's too late to take back the things done without risks. So I'm keeping you out of this"

"Keep me out of this! Why should you keep me out of paper shredding?" He said exasperated.

"It's more complicated than that. As a government scientist, I report everything to them. What I'm doing Gary—if I get caught I'm hiding information..."

Gary gaped, but shook his head vigorously. "Screw that, I'm helping"

"No you're not"

A flame seemed to have lit up in his eyes as he clenched his fists "You can't tell me what to do, Samuel. Never could, and won't be starting now"

"You're not" He repeated, more vigorously.

He chuckled bitterly, as his sarcasm floated back up from the depths of slumber. "Oh really? And why the hell not!"

"BECAUSE!—" Samuel Oak exploded "—of her. You got angry because you thought I upset her? Me? Try to imagine how upset she's gonna be if you get caught in bigger problems your money can buy you out of" Samuel stared at his grandson, looking at how his back seemed to slid down the wall in irate shock. Gary was shuddering, clenching his fists, staring at the ground, trying not to shake from the incapacity he was feeling. Samuel smirked bitterly. "Seems like I hit a soft spot"

"Shut up" Gary warned, muttering.

Samuel Oak sighed, his expression softening. "You scare me sometimes, Gary. You remind me too much of myself—look at me" Gary raised his eyes and wincing at his sight. His worn out brown eyes were pleading. Samuel Oak looked devastated by age, he wasn't well shaved, the bags underneath his eyes were too big not to look at. He was too worn out. "I've been working... all my life. I'm too damn proud to retire... I'm still alone, as Oaks always seem to be."

() There was something in his voice that seemed to hint that solitude was a family curse that everyone seemed to face in a different way. His parents, an arranged marriage thought they could outrun it; May seemed to believe she could fool it with millions of meaningless romances and flings here and then, Samuel Oak believed he could forget about it, bury it in paperwork. And he? He had embraced it a while back, and the strange thing was that he couldn't find it anymore. It had vanished that very afternoon, when he had his arm draped over her stomach and had woken up to her face, which seemed to irradiate a special glow whenever she smiled.

And suddenly he got it, and understood what his grandfather was saying. The idea of Misty was something he couldn't walk away from nor endanger, and it was something that his very grandfather had understood in a very short amount of time. Suddenly he looked at him with something he hadn't in a very long time, gratitude.

"What do you want me to do?" he said wearily.

Samuel smiled content for the very first time in the conversation. "I want you to stay out of this. I'm smart, I'll outthink them. The most probable thing is that they won't even notice something odd in their files. But—to take all precautions, I would like you to go with her, when the month ends"

Gary's eyes wavered. "Go where?"

Professor Oak shrugged. "Wherever she wants to go, I guess"

His heart got caught in his throat at the mere idea. "What about May?"

Samuel chuckled, dismissing it as he waved it off. "Don't worry about her, she's not in trouble" he sighed. "And she's a grown girl now that just wants you to be happy"

And then they fell into a sharp silence neither broke in several minutes. Gary, slumped and practically sitting on the floor, managed to stand up straight and looked at his grandfather, gave him a nod, saying that he agreed.

It was time for a new start, a blank slate.

He pulled his grandfather for a short hug, something new and mundane, that however, they had never done before, but almost brought the old man to tears, Gary patted him on the shoulder and smiled in gratitude. Looking back to the metal door, Samuel Oak saw his hesitation to leave the room and rolled his eyes.

"Go" He said trying to keep his voice at bay, Gary just grinned and climbed the metal stairs and opened the door. He only looked back once, but it was enough to look the look of approval in the old man's eyes.

Alone again, in his laboratory, Samuel Oak paced and went to his computer in the corner. In it, there was one pop up window that had been in that exact position for days. The question "DELETE?" was in big red words, and two buttons below it. One for yes and the other for no.

It was the conclusion of a moral debacle of a lifetime, his dream of scientific immortality against the will of his grandson and his own moral self of preservation of the world as it already was, perfect. The very conversation was playing in his mind again, giving him strength. He moved the mouse and clicked a button below the giant question mark and to his dismay; he felt a wave of disappointment wash over him again. To a science man, such act was like the crucifixion to a believer.

The screen went Blank, only three words blinking in the middle

'FILES SUCCESFULY DELETED.'

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A/N: Okay! That was a whole lot of confrontation, don't ya think? What did you think about this chapter? Also, a million of thank yous to my anonymous readers. I'm so sad I can't reply .., Maybe you could consider leaving an e´-mail here if you want me to contact you with my gratitude! Anyway...

Small things first:

- "Candy" reference: Back when I actually played pokemon on gameboy, probably the firsts games out, I remember there was thing thing you randomly found hidden on bushes or won, it was called Candy and it was used to level up a pokemon of choice by one level. These however, are not in the anime show, since pokemon in the show do not represent numeric levels, but merely gain... experience? So I thought I could include a reference of why Candy didn't exist in this Pokemon world. I hope I got the facts right, I mean, it's been forever since my pokemon game playing days.

(): Reference to one of my favourite books of all time "A hundred years of Solitude", a story of a family condemned to loneliness, quite heartbreaking, amazing characters, and even though not everyone might like it. It's magic realism, some find the book too "weird". I think it's grand. And no, I'm not plugging. Okay, maybe a little.

The end is near!

Midnight Mist

You know how it is, Mrs. Review. Some may say I'm crazy. I just say I'm... incoherent.