(edited.2020.03.31)
Locked Away, Chapter 12
Misty's face scrunched up; knees soaked from the damp grass beside the stream. She looked at the egg pokemon which looked between her and Ash with wide, dopey eyes, and grimaced.
"What's a togepi?" her concerned tone echoing the name for emphasis. Carefully, she then removed her cell phone to click the pokedex feature and brought it around to the front of her person. Pointing the object directly at the pokemon in Ash's outstretched arms, the built-in feature of her phone started to chime.
"Togepi, the egg pokemon: the shell seems to be filled with joy. It is said that it will share good luck when treated kindly." Misty's eyebrow quirked at this, but Ash didn't seem alarmed by the description, instead, he held the pokemon up to get a better look at it as it chirped and yawned. Misty's face messed up.
"I don't know how I managed to get that pokemon. I could have sworn it was a magikarp egg." she murmured, tapping her chin with her index finger. Ash grimaced slightly, looking at her with squinted, troubled eyes.
"You were going to give me a fish that turns into a gyarados?" He uttered worriedly.
"Hey, you never know. You might have been a great trainer for it." Misty shrugged in reply, grinning at him—glad to see his tears had ended and his normal charm returned.
Ash looked back at the egg pokemon in thought. Pursing his lips. That was right, this Misty had no idea about the trouble Ash had controlling charizard in his dreams—he could not imagine trying to control a gyarados, which was known to be twice as difficult. His lips pouted cutely as he brought the egg pokemon to his chest and hugged it affectionately. This version of Misty also had no idea of her relationship with togepi. Briefly, he wondered if that meant anything at all as the egg pokemon shrilled at him in glee once more. He eyed Misty carefully, eyelids lowered dashingly while she went to poke at the pokemon's shell. The red-head was truly oblivious.
"It's kind of cute." Misty smiled, patting the egg on the head to get a shrill of joy once more. "It also seems really happy." She pointed out, retracting her fingers as Ash grinned, rocking the baby pokemon.
"You said that last time, too." he managed inconsiderately.
Misty's eyebrows knit worriedly. "What?" she asked, where Ash's eyes shifted from the egg pokemon to her; wide-eyed as he snapped his jaw shut but grinned.
"Nothing." he offered her a slight nod while adjusting his legs so that he was squatting. Misty seemed engrossed, staring at the pokemon in his arms—either confused by how she somehow wound up with it, or because of how Ash naturally realized what it was.
"What happens now?" he asked after a brief silence, pulling her away from her dizzy thoughts. She blinked wide-eyed and Ash and then relaxed with a gentle exhale.
"Well," She pinched the bridge of her nose with her index finger and thumb and then clasped him on the shoulder briefly. "We can't stay here. The temperature is going to drop soon and our clothes are wet." She gestured to herself, and then to Ash whose entire back was damp because of the soiled grass beside the creek.
Having not noticed until Misty pointed it out, he felt a chill run up his spin and shuddered because of it. However, the overbearing iciness in his bones seemed to fade as he held the togepi close, and so he found himself instinctively shuffling the pokemon into the zipper of his jacket so that it would stay warm. Upon unzipping the jacket, it seemed rather joyous to be pressed up against Misty's red-scarf tucked away against his chest. Togepi gasped happily.
"Look Misty, it likes your scarf," Ash said facetiously, though Misty could only roll her eyes playfully.
"Great, now I'm never getting that scarf back." As she spoke, she rose from the ground, dusting off her dirtied knees the best that she could while Ash followed suit—otherwise occupied with playing with the first living pokemon he actually held since waking up. It was...endearing, in a very weird way to see him acting like that. Also a bit frightening that he seemed to switch mindsets so quickly—going from complete angst, to relatively happy. She wondered how much of his facade was honest or not.
"I guess we will head back into town, then, yeah?" She suggested, pointing back up the small incline that they fell from. Ash blinked up at her as she directed and lead the path; Ash inhaled.
"Misty." He called to her, unmoving. She paused and glanced over her shoulder at him, standing above him like some type of guardian. He inhaled, feeling heat rush to his cheeks, turning them pink.
"Thank you," he uttered nervously with a bright smile, causing her to wag her hand at him in reply; underplaying the value of his appreciation. Her heart skipped.
"Yeah, yeah, let's just get out of here. I don't want to be here when the night bugs come out." Ash smiled at her retreating back for a moment longer, following her shortly after.
Ash wondered why she did that: disparage any of his gratitude. She never accepted any thanks that he gave her directly; always playing it off as if it was not an issue, but was. It had to have been.
"You're scared of little bugs, Misty?" He cooed after her, catching up rather quickly, even though his muscles ached terribly from his prior fleeing. Misty shuddered visibly at his accusation.
"I'm not scared. I just don't like them." She groaned as her eyebrows twitched.
"Really?" he pressed knowingly. "Then what's that?" he pointed to a dark spot on the ground in front of her. Her eyes shifted to it instantly, an automatic shriek echoed from her lungs and she threw out her arms and ducked behind Ash; who laughed hysterically.
When he laughed, she realized that he was joking. Misty twitched angrily and swatted him over the head. Cursing his name before climbing the rest of the way up, and leaving him behind in a fit of her grumbles, mostly swearing at him.
"Misty, you can't use that language in front of the baby pokemon." Ash whined and togepi shared in his laughter as it chirped at Ash's antics. Holding the pokemon close so it wouldn't fall, he dipped out of the trees and onto the dirt path, following Misty with a slow trot.
"I'm glad you're feeling well enough to make jokes." She hissed, not quite over the near-death experience. "I hope you know I will get you back." She warned, clenching her fists furiously. Ash grinned.
"I'm counting on it." Misty found his gentle and honest reply a bit deterring, her anger lopping off the side of her head as she glanced over at the grinning boy. One of her eyebrows lowered.
"You bounced back quickly. You're sure that you're okay?" She asked skeptically, though her concern effectively killed his excitement and smile.
Of course, he was not okay—but, he wasn't dead either, and Misty was right. He couldn't stop after everything that he has been through. Even if it was hard, and excruciatingly painful at the start, he had to keep going.
"Yes. I'm fine." He murmured halfheartedly. After assessing that he was providing a half-truth, she returned to her spiteful nature.
"Good. Because I was going to say, if you didn't freak out earlier, we could have asked that man if he knew where your mom moved." She pursed her lips haphazardly, and Ash's eyes grew wide—he hadn't even thought about that.
"I didn't even think about that." He echoed his thoughts, eyebrows knitting together thoughtlessly. Misty sighed. Of course, he didn't. She winced slightly, bothered by her own hostility all of a sudden; something about him managed to claw under the surface of her skin just enough to bring up emotions she would rather forget, especially her spitfire nature.
"Do you think we should try and ask them again?" Misty asked, dropping the subtle anger that had been lacing her voice. She easily returned to the less passionate, nonchalant person that made Ash frown. Just like that, the Misty he remembered was gone, and the adult, somber Misty returned. Not that this one was bad, she simply took getting used to; and he was starting to think that he didn't mind that.
"I think so. I'll actually go to the door this time to see if that will convince whoever that guy was." He said with a borderline confident nod. Misty nodded her approval as well.
"Just... don't get your hopes up." Misty inferred and Ash nodded once again, albeit slower and less enthusiastic.
When their heels stopped at the white picket fence they stared into the lit-up house with a bright porch light, Misty exhaled. Ash mimicked her pose; steeling his back for anything as he followed Misty up the walk. She extended her fist to the door and tapped gently. The scattering of silverware rang behind the protection of the wooden door. They probably just sat down for supper, and here they were again. Ash tried to put this out of his mind, finding it disturbing enough that someone else was living in his house. It was just a house, after all... the house he grew up in. He inhaled and closed his eyes for a moment, counting back in his head the way that Dr. Abby had taught him.
After a few moments, the door swung open. This time a dapper young woman with auburn hair stared at the duo, wearing an apron with flowers and a red mom-dress.
"Can I help you?" She asked happily and Misty and Ash looked at one another. His eyes pleading for assistance.
"...hi." Misty started. "We were here earlier... I think we talked to your husband." Misty gestured with her hands as she spoke. "This is Ash Ketchum, he used to live here ten years ago. His mother was Delia; we were just wondering if by any chance you know where she moved to...?" Misty questioned, phrasing the iteration much more professionally than Ash would have managed. He nodded his head in agreement, squeezing the pokemon in his arms for comfort.
"Delia? She was so sweet growing up." The woman chirped and looked at Ash skeptically. "But...I could have sworn that her son was dead?"
Ash flinched visibly at this—obviously he was not dead!
"He was in a coma. Delia recently took him off of life support but he recovered. It was a misunderstanding?"
"And who are you?" The mother asked gleefully, "The girlfriend?"
Misty grimaced uncomfortably, but Ash blushed several shades of red at the inquiry and his mouth fell open.
"Caretaker." Misty corrected the woman, clasping her hands together in front of her body. "Anyways; did you know or not?" She accidentally snapped while Ash fumbled through his brain to get ahold of himself. He was an adult. Adults did not get embarrassed over untrue accusations; at least Misty did not, and she was really his leading poster child of adulthood; so he followed by example and inhaled.
"I'm sorry. We wouldn't bother you if it wasn't important. We can't get a hold of my mom since I've woken up, and I'm worried about her. If you have a number or something..." He muttered, eyebrows knitted together. The mother looked away from the slightly irritable Misty, to Ash, whose honest face was hard to turn down—Misty only knew this because of experience.
"Well... certainly. Why don't you two come inside?" The woman pulled open the door for the two of them, and Misty made a mental note to ask Ash later how he always managed to get people to listen to him with those doe eyes. She supposed it had something to do with having chocolate brown eyes because people never treated her like that.
"Just wait here a moment and I'll go get my husband." The woman said cheerfully and walked away. Misty took her chance to lean over close to Ash's ear while he watched the woman leave.
"How do you do that? People look at you and swoon." Misty glowered, only partially upset and jealous. Ash had to fight down his bolstering grin.
"I think I read in a magazine that 'resting bitch face' is a treatable illness, Mist." He tried not to laugh at his own poorly contrived joke or at her heated reaction. He watched from the corner of his eye how her entire face turned red from her neck to her forehead and she had to bite down on her lip to stop herself from screaming and pounding him into a bloody mess on the carpet.
"At least I don't have the mentality of a toddler." She growled quietly in her defense, fingers twitching nervously.
The sweet smile he imposed on her deflated her brief anger—reminding her that he was only only joking. She sighed, and crossed her arms, ending the challenge as the father from before rounded the corner from Ash's old kitchen. If one looked closely, they would have seen that Ash was shaking and his snark replies were a symbolism of facetious worry over legitimate humor. Misty let it slide while they were here, but the second they left, she was hitting him in the shoulder for that comment. She didn't care at all that he was still recovering or not.
"Hey there, I'm the one that knew Delia. Glad to see you made your way back...but unfortunately, I don't know where your ma' could be." The man said with a soft look at Ash, who visibly flinched; the humor in his eyes dying out.
"However, my wife found a box of things with your name on it in the basement. She ran to get those things—if that helps in any way." At his comment, Ash's face brightened up just a little and he nodded.
"Yes. Thank you." Ash smiled innocently, listening to the quiet approval of togepi at his small amount of happiness.
"Do you by any chance know anyone that might know where we could find her?" Misty asked suddenly, all eyes on her. The man twisted his lips in thought.
"The new professor might know." He suggested pointing down the road to where the saw the laboratory on the hill.
Ash snapped his fingers thoughtfully. "That is professor Oak's lab. He was almost like my uncle when I was growing up." He said thoughtfully, though simultaneously both the husband and Misty flinched. More so from Misty who shook her head and ran the palm of her hand down her face.
"...is that a bad thing?" Ash asked, but Misty shook her head, a sullen look replacing her half-anger.
"It's... a... I'll tell you later." She suggested, seeing the mother appear back in the hallway carrying the small box of leftovers from the basement. Ash winced; his hands were full carrying togepi, but he didn't want Misty to carry his leftovers. He removed the egg pokemon from his jacket and awkwardly handed the pokemon off to Misty—praying that it wouldn't cry like it did in his dreams.
Misty took the pokemon awkwardly; having only handled a few baby pokemon in her life, she maneuvered it in her arms backwards at first, having to turn it slowly to face the people. It shrilled happily in her arms, and Misty fought the urge not to sigh in relief. Finally, a baby that didn't scream when she held it. Meanwhile, the woman passed off the closed box to Ash. Low and behold, written in the corner of the box was his full name written in his mother's handwriting. Ash stifled his gloomy sigh. Instead, he smiled at the woman and her husband.
"Really...thank you." He said, looking down and shuffling his feet.
The woman looked at her husband and then back to Ash; having made a wordless agreement. "Why don't you stay for dinner?" They asked, but Ash glanced at Misty who was occupied with togepi, and content with trying to juggle the baby pokemon and her purse and Ash shook his head slightly.
"No, thank you. She's kind of under a tight schedule." Ash said, pointing towards Misty who made it very clear she wanted to be on the train before they closed. Misty pursed her lips, having been mentioned and looked up at the couple.
"You look really familiar. Do we know you?" The husband asked suddenly, finally connecting the red-hair, the cascade pendant and the overall tone of her egotistic nature.
"You're a gym leader, aren't you?" And his cheerful disposition fled quickly, as did the wife. Misty straightened her back and smiled.
"Yep. I'll be going." Misty nodded, having needed no more indication than what they provided to know that she was no longer welcome in the house. She turned quickly, and kicked with her boots out the ajar door. Ash watched her, though the couple seemed to return their soft gaze to Ash, offering their sympathy.
"It's best not to get mixed up with leaders." The woman warned him, offering him a clasp on the shoulder. Ash's eyebrows furrowed—he was going to argue with her that Misty was not a crook or anything like that—but making one of the first mature decisions in the last twenty-four hours, he only smiled.
"...err, thanks. I guess." He said, and slowly started to turn.
"If you don't find your mom, you're welcome to come back and see the place. We would understand." They offered and Ash smiled in return.
"Thank you." he nodded towards the box and saw himself out the door by backing up. They waved briefly, but once the door was shut, he immediately heard the judgment of Misty being passed between the 'nice' couple. Even going as far as pulling the curtains closed.
"Misty...what was all that about?" Ash asked, finally turning to see her standing outside of the white picket fence, looking rather miffed and lost in thought. He approached her, brushed his shoulder against hers, and blinked.
"Misty?" He called to her, ripping her gaze away from the house.
"I'm sorry, what?" She asked, blinking several times at him as he gave her a very soft smile. She didn't hesitate to start down the road, cradling togepi naturally. Ash thought that looked more natural to him, as well; rather than him carrying the egg pokemon.
"I asked what that was about?" He questioned, only getting a sigh in return.
"Remember how I told you that gym leaders are the league's scapegoat?" Misty muttered and Ash nodded, which she saw and confirmed from the corner of her eye before continuing. "Well, not everybody approves of us, especially smaller towns like Pallet who don't have a gym leader."
His face scrunched up, juggling the box in his arms.
"Why?"
"Because people are... well, they're uninformed to start, and they blame us unfairly. We're not responsible for anything that happens but they see us, so they blame us because we can't 'fix' their problems." she groaned, and though Ash knew she didn't want to talk about it; he pushed anyways.
"Problems? What kind of problems?" he asked worriedly as they made their way to the laboratory thoughtlessly.
"Higher taxes that the League keeps imposing. Not only that, the stupid list of ever-growing regulations they keep hashing out. We're the most vocal figure head, so a lot of people, you know... don't like us..." Misty muttered tiredly. "Can we not talk about this?" She asked sadly, glancing at Ash.
Fidgeting, he nodded and they made the rest of the way to the laboratory in relative silence, and darkness. Ash wished that he brought a flashlight. He was not adapted to complete darkness, but that was attune to the natural farm land of Pallet Town, he supposed. They didn't have street lights on every corner. Instinctively, he walked closer to Misty so he didn't get lost. Wrapped in her own thoughts, he finally smacked his lips to get her attention.
"What happens if the professor doesn't know anything?" he mused quietly, using the cover of darkness to hide his own downcast features.
A bit depressed sounding over the last part of their conversation she sighed uneasily. "I don't know. Do you have any plans?"
"No." he muttered, thinking that maybe he could return to the assisted living home until he found a way to support himself. That, or he could live on the road. He shuddered, remembering how difficult the trek here was; the latter of the options seemed like suicide right now.
"Then I guess you could work for me at the gym." She muttered, unsure if she was ready to offer him that. He blinked up at her, seeing her face only from the faint glow of the moon hidden by storm clouds.
"Really?" He gasped, and Misty sighed.
"Don't get so excited about everything. It's a lot of work, and I won't pay you."
Ash's face fell... "Why not?"
"Because you owe me money, Ketchum." She growled. Ash felt sweat on the back of his neck. She could be so heartless sometimes. The streets brightened up the nearer they came to the foot of the hill to the lab.
"At least that way you can get experience and pay off some of your debts while you try to figure out what the next step in your life will be." Misty suggested, quickly adding; "Because if you try to travel on your own right now, I'm calling the psych ward on you." She warned him very seriously, genuinely concerned for his well-being. He smiled at that and rubbed the back of his neck.
"I won't. I think after the walk here I'm going to sleep forever anyways."
Misty sighed, stopping at the large metal gate at the end of the hill, their faces illuminated by the street lights in the area. "That's a bit ironic coming from a coma patient." She murmured, facing him.
He blinked up to the laboratory, as if asking why they were stopping; but, as usual, he was starting to familiarize himself with the gloom expression Misty made before delivering bad news. The way the skin around her eyes crinkled slightly, how the right side of her lip twisted into a pensive frown and the way her body language shifted from confidence to slumped shoulders. She looked between him and the laboratory and sighed.
"Before we go up there, I need you to understand something." She warned him, and Ash swallowed, looking up to her sympathetically.
"What?"
"The Professor Oak you know isn't there."
Ash's face scrunched up, confused. "How come?"
Misty fumbled, shifting the weight of togepi in her arms who had fallen asleep on the trek here. She bit her lips as if searching for the correct words to form a cohesive thought.
"...He uh.." She grumbled, drawing her lips flat. "He passed away a couple of months ago."
"Passed away? Like retired?"
Misty sighed, forgetting that terms would fly over his head sometimes, even if he should have been familiar with them. She steeled herself for his reaction, meeting his brown eyes with her cerulean greens.
"He's dead, Ash." She slipped, exhaling as the immense horror paraded into his eyes. "He passed away from a heart attack a few months before you woke up. It was really big news around Kanto... I'm sorry." she added, stammering slightly. She hated that look of terror that filled his eyes when he was given bad news; Misty only prayed he would not bolt into the darkness as he had previously.
Fortunately, he did not. Instead, Ash looked up to the laboratory, its form taking a shadowy, lumbering castle over the signal beacon of hope that it once carried. He gulped slightly, and looked at Misty and then back at the laboratory. Ash's reaction surprised her though, the terror being washed away quickly with devote worry and possible frustration.
"...Do you think Gary is okay?"
Misty blinked suddenly, taken aback by his concern for someone else. She opened her mouth, then closed it.
"I don't know. Why don't we go find out?" Misty said earnestly, pushing open the metal fence which gave way a deafening shriek. She hiked the stairs slowly, moving effortlessly even in the dark. The task wasn't as easy for Ash, who shambled and stumbled up every other step. Funny, he didn't remember them being so long when he was a kid.
The door came much too quick for Ash's comfort, but unlike his own house; there was little hesitation before he rapped against the steel doors, elating a loud thump through the laboratory's lightened windows. From inside they heard shuffling, followed by an abrupt slam of a door that made the duo jump simultaneously before the front door itself budged open.
A woman around Ash's age, with light brown hair, pursed her lips at them, a bit irritated.
"Hello?" She asked, and Misty and Ash looked between each other.
"We're here to talk to the professor about a missing woman."
"Oh." The bored tone of her eye changing as it went from Misty to Ash's. Her face paled instantly, drawing her lips to a flat line. She swung open the door fully so that the two of them could walk into the lobby. The girl watched Ash as if he had grown horns or something, but he didn't seem to notice—neither did Misty. They were both fascinated by the glowing room; covered in pictures and paintings and colors of pokemon, endless as far as the eye could see.
"You... you're here to see the professor?" the brunette stammered, earning their attention.
"Yeah. We're sorry for stopping in unannounced like this." Ash apologized quickly, slipping over to the chairs, nerve wracked to hell.
"Why does Gary sound familiar? Have you mentioned him before?" Misty asked.
"No, I don't think so."
-"WHAT!?" the shriek followed seconds after the brunette left the lobby to grab the professor. Misty and Ash shared a brief glance and they both looked at how far away the front door was for safety purposes. The pound of boots clicking against titled floors; no, running against tiled floors had their head-spinning—they did the only thing they could do in such a short time; eye the door worriedly.
Within seconds, the figure of a man emerged from the lab door, followed closely behind by the brunette lab assistant. Ash's mouth fell open right away at the realization of who the new white-coat sporting professor was. Had Ash not been holding the precious box he was given early, surely he would have dropped it. Staring back at him, with long, gravity-defying auburn hair was none-other-than Gary Oak.
"Ash?!" He bellowed, shell shocked as he approached Ash. Misty folded her arms protectively around togepi and pursed her lips. She knew that she had heard that name from somewhere—Not from Ash, but as the boy that identified the body at Viridian City so many years ago. Ash didn't skip a beat. He placed the box of things on the seat beside them, and then overwhelmed by pure instinct, he leaped across the lobby to greet his childhood friend.
"Gary, you're here!" Ash yelped earnestly, launching Gary into a full hug. The new professor patted Ash's back and shoulders in disbelief at what his own eyes were seeing. Ash did seem to have that effect on people.
"I'm so sorry to hear about Professor Oak..." Ash murmured, separating from Gary.
Gary shook his head, grabbing Ash's face and pinching his cheeks; ruffling his hair and even shaking him a little. "No, don't apologize, Ash. You were the...How were the..." At a general loss of words, his face scrunched up.
"We thought you were dead." he said painstakingly.
"Nope. I'm alive." Ash laughed nervously, unsure of what to say; that same, boyhood laugh that plagued Gary and Ash's childhood sent shivers down Gary's spine—he never thought he would hear that again. Gawking for a few moments, Gary stepped aside to push open the door, gesturing the two into the back of the laboratory.
"Please, come in." Gary motioned for them as the brunette moved aside.
As Ash walked through the doors, followed closely behind an equally as surprised—but not as vocal,Misty-his mouth fell open. Unlike Samuel Oak's lab, Gary had undergone some major changes; the first being the fish tank at one end of the wall, the other being the huge mural of the legendary pokemon of the six regions—only, they weren't fleshed out in color. Buried in stone.
"Sit down." Gary ushered to Misty, leading them both to a couch and coffee table in the corner of the room. Ash followed, deciding against his observation in order to sit on the red couch. Misty rested the egg pokemon on her knees while they both watched Gary pace back and forth for awhile—being watched by not only Ash and Misty; but his assistant as well.
His back and forth motion was dizzying, so, Ash rubbed the back of his neck and laughed at Gary's antics.
"Sit down, Gary." Ash murmured, and so Gary did, awestruck.
The professor fell into a seated position opposite Ash and Misty with his elbow on his knee and his chin rested in his palm. His mouth ajar as he observed Ash with his hazel eyes. He had no idea what to say, or even what to think at this point: For the first time in many years, Gary was speechless.
"...How?" He muttered finally, stupefied.
Ash chewed on the inside of his cheek and dug his nails into his jeans. "...I woke up, I guess? I don't know how to better explain that."
"Well, obviously you woke up—just—how?" He questioned skeptically, head tilting.
"Triggered after his mom pulled the plug," Misty muttered nonchalantly, Gary finally ripped his eyes off of Ash, staring in full at the red-head beside his old friend.
"You're the girl from ten years ago," Gary observed and Misty nodded sheepishly and rubbed the back of her neck.
"Yeah, that's me," she said. Having noticed who he was as well, Gary scoffed with a sly, but honest smile pulling at his lips.
He shook his head in disbelief, "Do you make a habit of saving people?"
"Usually I'm the one that does the injuring." Misty joked in return, eyebrows furrowing together. Gary chuckled but Ash blinked at her response and skipped to the chase.
"Gary, do you know where my mom is?"
The question seemed to fly right past Gary, as if he was too excited to function; "I can't believe this. You've missed so much."
Ash grimaced.
"Yeah...thanks for that reminder." Ash mused pathetically, pinching the bridge of his nose. Gary gestured to the lab assistant who took a seat dotingly beside Gary.
"You remember Leaf, don't you?"
Ash made a face. "Ahh...not really." He said sadly, a lot of the people from his childhood seemed to fade over the years.
"Well, this is my wife, Leaf." Gary announced, looking up at the woman for a brief moment and then back at Ash.
"It's nice to meet you." Leaf murmured, scratching the back of her neck faintly, a bit discomposed.
Ash gasped and sputtered: "You're married?!"
"Since last year," Gary confirmed with a snark grin—not unlike traditional Oak.
"You? Gary! When we were ten you already had like six girlfriends!" Ash gestured dramatically with his hands. Misty snorted beside him, drumming her fingers gently on the shell of the pokemon.
"A lot has changed in ten years. Especially you. Holy cow." Gary gestured to the boy's clothes and appearance and Ash found himself laughing nervously.
"You should have seen me a few months ago."
"I did see you a few months ago. A little while before..." Gary trailed off and made a face. "Oh man, have you seen your mom yet?" he asked, Ash's question finally catching up with him. Ash shook his head sadly, but not disappointingly as he usually would have. Gary was here, alive and kicking—he had no reason to be sad.
"Ahh... no, actually. That's why we came here; the...uh..." he glanced at Misty as if it would conjure the proper words. "..the people who moved into my mom's house, they told me to ask you where she moved," Ash muttered weakly, the joyous tone taking a turn for the worst.
Gary felt the nerves in his fingers twitch as he watched Ash's face turn from complete bliss to a wash of torment.
"Have you already gone through all of the treatments for... well, someone in your situation?" Gary asked, and Ash nodded quickly.
"Yeah, Misty took care of that," Ash said honestly, smiling at the said female who blushed gently in return and busied herself looking at the far more interesting ceiling tiles.
"Oh." Gary smiled at her. "Thank you. I suppose the hospital couldn't get a hold of anyone here then... My grandfather was listed as Ash's emergency contact..." he glanced at Ash. "But I suppose they neglected to mention that."
"They really did," Misty muttered, getting a nervous laugh from Ash. How much easier would it have been if they knew Ash had living friends like this; an Oak, no less.
"I didn't know they already assigned a new professor for this region?" Misty muttered, a bit off-topic. Gary blinked at her.
"Well..." He paused, thoughtfully. "I'm not officially sworn in yet. Not until the start of next year." he pointed at her. "Misty..." he thought about her name briefly. "You're the Cerulean City gym leader, aren't you?"
"That's right..." Misty nodded, hoping that Gary's reaction was better than the couple at Ash's old house. Fortunately, it was.
"I've only heard good things. I'm glad Ash got stuck with someone as renown as you are for taking no bullshit-" he paused, quirking an eyebrow. "-and pretty."
"Gary Samuel Oak!" "Gary!" Leaf and Ash said in unison, equally as red; the former of which bonked Gary on the head for his comment. He laughed awkwardly at his wife, waving his hand at her.
"Old habits die hard, I'm sorry." Gary played it off, but Misty had already slapped her forehead from embarrassment and Ash was stewing in his seat for a few moments. He even crossed his arms defensively—he supposed that at least that didn't change about Gary, even though everything else did.
"So why did you take over here?" Ash blinked his question; the boiling of his blood turning into a light simmer.
"Ahh... I don't know. It just... sort of happened—I had a few jobs before this and I guess... it just runs in the family?" He said awkwardly but before Ash could pose another question, Gary looked knowingly at his wife who stood up quickly.
"Hey, Ash why don't we go check on the pokemon—you haven't been out there in years," Gary suggested, standing up. He motioned to Leaf and Ash followed suit.
"Sure, I guess." Ash started, following after Leaf. He glanced over his shoulder at Misty who rose, and knowing she would follow, Ash looked forward nonchalantly. With full intention of pursuing, Misty wrapped the egg pokemon in her arms awkwardly; mentally swearing at Ash for not taking care of it. Gary watched her with some regard, but quickly held up his palm to stop her from tailing Ash.
"Delia never stopped by the hospital?" he questioned once Ash was out of earshot. Misty visibly grimaced; oh boy. He was really putting her in this situation.
"No, she never did." She didn't beat around the bush, rather she looked directly at Gary. "She's still alive, isn't she?"
"Of course...but, uh..." Gary stammered. He looked down and shuffled his feet for a moment before stalking off to his desk to grab a piece of paper to scribble some information down. Misty would have preferred he just spit out whatever he had to say, but held her tongue.
"How has he been? Mentally?" Gary asked, and Misty couldn't say; her lips twisted.
"His therapist cleared him, but it's touch and go—he reacted really badly to the family in his old house. I just got him boosted up." She confessed, biting her lip hard.
Gary shuffled over his papers once and then sighed bitterly. "I know where his mom is." Gary sighed, "But it's...I don't think he should see her." he finished flatly.
Misty's face fell, automatically switching between polite eagerness to devote frustration.
"Why not? That's been his goal since he woke up." Misty argued, but Gary's face contorted painfully and he slipped Misty the peace of paper that he had written on and her face fell; both from understanding and disappointment. Pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration, she sighed.
"You can't keep that news from him." She said, tiredly folding the paper in half.
"I can't." Gary murmured. "And I will tell him...someday," Gary added. "But not yet." he finished and Misty rolled her shoulders at him as if questioning why he couldn't have just left that news to himself. Why tell her?
"I just... I need time to smooth things over." Gary said earnestly. "He's staying with you, isn't he?" He asked, gesturing towards her and Misty kicked out the heel of her foot, a bit assaulted at the accusation. People made strange assumptions.
"I mentioned it to him." the words slipped out of her mouth and she rolled her eyes and tongue.
A sense of urgency broke in Gary, his voice pleading; "Can you help out for just a few more weeks? I'll even pay you if I have to... If I knew he woke up I would have..."
Misty sighed through her nostrils, kicking the toe of her boot against the tile and then glared at Gary. "It's fine. You don't need to pay me." Misty sighed, rubbing her temple with one hand, the other holding the egg pokemon who remained fast asleep in her possession.
"Thank you." Gary sighed, "You're like a god-send."
"...Yeah. I'm starting to think I am." an angel with horns holding up the halo. Misty added as a sarcastic afterthought when Ash stumbled back into the room.
"Hey, where were you? You missed the-" he looked between Gary and Misty—the latter of which seemed oddly agitated.
"Did something happen?" Ash cut himself off and naturally, Misty pressed a smile over her lips to douse her emotions.
"No, of course not. I was just on my way." She pointed at him, snatching his arms in hers while she shifted the sleeping pokemon into his grasp rather than her own. He grimaced awkwardly, laughing as he cradled togepi.
"Thanks for holding him." he offered with a weird rosy-color on his cheeks and then scampered off like a child to show her the pokemon in the field. Misty followed him begrudgingly, only glancing briefly back at Gary. He didn't look at her, he was lost in his own thoughts watching Ash.
XOX
Their short visit went off without a hitch, but as the time grew closer to 10:00 pm, Misty watched her phone like a hawk. She watched Ash and Gary as they took turns sharing stories like old friends would. Misty enjoyed seeing a normal, happy Ash over his arguably over-emotional counterpart. He didn't even pester Gary for information about his mom, forcing her to wonder if Ash had forgotten, or simply was too scared to ask. Sometimes, she couldn't read him.
Something about a ten-year-old mentality being locked away in an adult's body kept her guessing. There were things someone at his age should have understood crystal clear that made no apparent sense to Ash. However, she noticed that he had to have changed in some regard because lacking from his conversation with Gary was any mention of how he spent the last ten years—in dreamland.
The clock buzzed at her, the alarm she set for herself rang and she kicked away from her position against the wall of the living room and approached the boys. Gary was showing Ash pictures of his wedding, but very notably turned other frames downward. One that had a certain mother in them, that Ash was thankfully still too oblivious to see. Misty sighed. She hated the feeling in her gut.
"Hey, I'm sorry to break this up." She intervened between their conversation. "But I have to get going. It's almost 10:00 pm and tournament hosting is in two days." She gestured to the calendar and then shrugged weakly. Ash's face fell, a bit unsure of himself.
"I..uh." he stammered and glanced very briefly at Misty; a puppy-dog look that seemed to unsettle her.
"I missed you Ash, but you can't stay here," Gary suggested quickly, a bit harsh even by Misty's standards. She flinched; as did Ash who laughed nervously. Gary followed up with; "Besides, you said that you owe her some debt, don't you? Better get started on paying that back as soon as possible." Gary muttered with a teasing grin pulling on his lips.
Misty slapped her forehead, believing that it sounded so forced coming out of Gary's mouth like that; but Ash didn't skip a beat.
"You're right," he said, mortified. "I'm going to be paying back on this for the rest of my life."
"Not if you get started. Arceus. I'm not a slave driver." Misty grunted, shifting her weight to one foot as she crossed her arms objectively at Ash who smiled up at her genuinely. He did not speak right away, however, instead, he shuffled over to the coat rack and pulled on the blue and yellow light jacket, but notably left his damp jacket in his arms. Misty followed suit, putting on her athletics jacket while Gary and Leaf followed the duo to the door.
"Well it's been really nice getting to know you two." Leaf said although she knew Ash briefly from their childhood, enough to recognize those lightning bolt patterns anywhere, they were never more than acquaintances at the time. Misty let out a sigh and then shook both of their hands.
"It was a pleasure." She mused happily nodding at the two of them.
Ash wasn't exactly familiar with goodbyes, so he instinctively copied Misty's actions; shaking their hands only for Gary to scoff and pull the raven-haired man into a brief, but a warm hug.
"I'm glad you're okay, Ash. I really am." Gary murmured, making Ash feel a little awkward at how close they were. As usual, physical contact was an anomaly, so being this close to someone—especially Gary, was a little unnerving; but not the same as when Misty did so. He just felt weird.
"Ahh, yeah." Ash muttered pulling away. "I'm glad I'm okay, too." He admitted and then glanced at Misty who adjusted the sleeves on her jacket.
"Anyways." Ash suggested awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck before adjusting his hat. "We should get going..."
"I'll stop by in about a week." Gary confirmed and Ash grinned at that suggestion.
"That sounds like a deal." Ash murmured and Misty nodded her approval as they both turned around to be ushered out of the building; only to be stopped by Gary who coughed. Notably, their hands were empty.
"...Aren't you two forgetting something?" He mused playfully, unable to hide his signature smirk and a professional eye roll. Misty and Ash glanced at one another, confused; they looked at each other up and down quickly... Ash's box...and...
"Togepi!" Ash shrieked, rushing back inside of the laboratory to fetch the small pokemon which had still not woken up until the shout of its name. Upon waking, it yawned at him and then ticked happily. Misty grabbed Ash's box of items leftover from his house.
"Phew." Ash sighed, feeling his shoulders slump. Now they were ready to leave.
"See you in a week, Ash; take care, Misty," Gary called after them, watching them leave down the long steps as he turned to his wife who smiled meekly, and then rushed to his phone to make a rather prevalent phone call.
On their way down the walk, Ash hummed to himself. "He was different than I remember."
"I think everyone you 'know' is." She made air-quote analogies with her fingers emphasize the word know. Ash shook his head, walking passed the metal gate.
"No. I meant different from my childhood." He said earnestly, getting an 'ooh' sound from Misty who nodded. "We weren't really that close growing up. We fought like cat and mouse." he murmured apathetically, looking up at the sky which had mostly began to clear. Aside from the chill in the air, and his still-slightly damp pants, it was a nice evening for a stroll; even if it would be a brief one to the train station.
Misty sighed in response. "Sometimes you fight the most with the people you're the closest with. Especially when you're children." She confirmed, missing Ash's red-infused cheeks in the night air.
"You think so?" He asked, glancing over his shoulder at her. Her hands were stuffed into her jacket pockets for warmth and her lips were pursed thoughtfully.
"Yeah, I think so."
..