When Misty arrived at the Ketchum residence, she was surprised to find it empty. She peaked through the window and noticed all of the lights were off, but she decided to check the backyard for good measure. When she walked around back, there was still no sign of Delia Ketchum in sight.

The gym leader was disheartened. She figured if she was going to be in Pallet Town, she might as well surprise Delia with a visit. But although she felt a little disappointed, she quickly decided she wasn't going to let this ruin her good mood.

Misty excitedly headed to Professor Oak's lab. She had recently been gifted with a Pokemon egg and she couldn't wait to share the news of her good fortune. A small part of her was also hoping the professor would be able to predict what type of Pokemon might come from the egg.

She arrived at the lab with glee just to discover that no one was there. Misty was incredibly irritated at this point, but she continued to ring the doorbell and knock furiously. She didn't care if she was being annoying, she just wanted someone to answer the door.

For a moment, Misty had to pause and take a deep breath. She knew her frustrations would only lead to her kicking the door down. As she pondered what to do next, her hand subconsciously twisted the doorknob and she was surprised to see that it opened.

This was not only confusing, but also frightening. Sure, Professor Oak was a little old, but it wasn't like him to carelessly leave the door unlocked. What if something terrible had happened?

Misty immediately rushed inside on high alert. She rounded every corner with caution, only to find each room as empty as the one before it. She tried calling out the professor's name but all she heard in return was her own echo. She was just about to give up, when she heard a noise from below her. Misty followed the sound of what sounded like footsteps that lead her to a door. She immediately drew a pokeball before approaching the door.

Misty sucked in her breath, then she slowly cracked open the door to peak inside. She was instantly relieved when she noticed a familiar flash of spiky brown hair. Gary Oak was shuffling around the room, clearly deep in thought. Misty gradually crept inside, careful not to disturb him.

"Don't talk to me."

Well, so much for that.

"How did you know I was here!?"

"Seriously Misty? If the pounding on the door didn't give it away, that howling you were doing in the hallway sure did."

Misty's emotions immediately switched from shocked to irritated. Less than one minute of being around the researcher and he was already getting under her skin.

"You haven't even looked up! I could be Team Rocket for all you know."

It's funny how pointing out what a person isn't doing, immediately gets that specific reaction out of them. Gary looked up from his mass of papers just to roll his eyes.

"I recognized your voice."

"Huh."

"You act like you're surprised."

Before Misty could respond, Gary looked back down as his papers. Truthfully, she was surprised. Although she had been around the researcher several times before, she never actually considered them friends. For some reason, someone besides a friend recognizing her just from her voice felt strange.

"Aren't you going to ask me why I'm here?"

"Do you want me to ask you why you're here?"

"Well, yes." Admittedly, Misty felt childish for trying to force Gary to take interest in her news. The researched let out a frustrating sigh, but still he put his papers down and gave Misty his attention.

"Why are you here?" He was surprised to see Misty's face light up in response to his less than enthusiastic question. She immediately reached for her backpack and began digging inside.

"You're going to love this! I'm actually glad I ran into you." Gary struggled to fight a smile from appearing on his face. He never thought he would hear Misty, of all people, say that.

She pulled out a Pokemon egg and held it in front of him. The researcher inside of him took over as he instantly grabbed the egg and began studying it.

"So, what is it?"

"What-how am I supposed to know?"

"How? You're a researcher for crying out loud!"

Gary couldn't hide his irritation. He immediately shoved the egg back into Misty's arms. He felt foolish for thinking Misty wanted to show him the egg for any other reason than to get some answers out of him.

"Take your stupid egg and leave." The words came out just as harshly as he intended. Misty was confused, she wasn't sure what she did to upset him. In her mind, it was a simple question.

"Geez Gary, if you don't know it's not a big deal."

"Of course I don't know! My research has nothing to do with Pokemon eggs! Honestly Misty, we've known each other for years, you should know this!"

Misty was caught off guard by his anger. She had witnessed some less than pleasant moments from him before, but never quite like this. The short fuse inside of her went off and she responded to his anger with her own.

"You've never told me!"

"You've never asked!"

Misty blinked. He was right, she's never asked. Suddenly, she felt guilty. She's known Gary for just as long as she's known her other friends, but why didn't she consider him a friend too? He's never been rude specifically to her before. In her younger years, she had some animosity built towards him due to his rivalry with Ash, but he never returned it. And as the years went on, he was always there whenever Misty needed help with something relating to her water pokemon. And yet, she never once took the time to actually get to know him, despite how much time she spent around him.

"Well I'd like to know."

Gary wasn't expecting this. The Misty he knew would either storm off or tell him off. He couldn't explain why it bothered him so much that Misty didn't seem to know a lot about him.

"Really?"

She gave him a smile and nodded. Without responding, Gary grabbed a chair and pulled it up beside his desk, indicating for Misty to sit down. He then grabbed his stack of papers and smiled.

Author's Note: Sorry if this isn't that good! Kind of wrote it on a whim at the end of my graveyard shift. It was intended to be a one-shot, but I wasn't sure where I was going with it, so I left it as a drabble instead. Hopefully, I'll write more ego in the future.