AN: Thanks for all the reviews!

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon or any of the characters. Just the random plot bunnies that my mind creates.

Chapter Warnings: Language

Chapter 14 - Project

Gary awakens to a quiet house. He glances toward the clock. 6:51 AM. Five hours of sleep. Awesome.

With a groan, he rolls out of bed and quietly checks the upper floor. He can hear snores emanating from Gramp's room but nothing from his partner's. Cracking open the door, he sees chocolate eyes awake. Ash is currently staring at the ceiling while petting a slumbering Pikachu.

He waltzes in but his partner takes no notice of him. Must be really lost in thought then. With a wicked smirk in place, Gary darts down to a few inches from his partner's face.

"Mornin' princess. Can't sleep without a prime snuggle buddy huh?" He watches in glee as his partner sputters and flails before falling out of bed again. His face as red as a tomato.

"Gary! Stop doing that! Almost gave me a freaking heart attack." The raven harshly whispers as he slaps Gary's leg from his spot on the ground.

With a chuckle, the brunet leaves his flustered partner. Heading downstairs, he hears shuffling from his grandfather's room.

Guess I'll make some breakfast for everyone. I'm so nice.

Thirty minutes later, two soldiers and one professor sit at the table with full bellies and empty cups of coffee. Ash stands up to grab bowls and pokemon food from his bag that he left in the den last night when he is waved off by his grandfather.

"Don't be silly Ash. Both of your pokemon can eat and sleep here. This is where you will be staying after all since Pallet is too small to have a military office. All I ask in return is the opportunity to take some occasional data for my research."

A brilliant smile lights up Ash's face pulling out small one on his own.

"Thanks Professor! That's very generous of you." Happiness practically radiates off the raven at the thought of being able to pamper his pokemon instead of feeding them rations all the time.

"Nonsense. Let's go outside and get them some breakfast and exercise. I am curious to see which pokemon you have." His grandfather says eagerly. Notebook and pencil already out and ready to receive notes.

The duo follow the professor outside and into the training field. After receiving instructions from the old man, they carry out a large bag of pokemon food and dump it into a long, shallow trough. The pokemon immediately dig in once called out.

"My my, such a large spread from only two weeks of traveling. Can you boys tell me where you got each one and the circumstances of the capture? I am in the middle of a paper on changing migratory habits due to all the increased military activity but sadly I am low on data. I should really make some kind of device to give to trainers to do it for me." The older Oak trails off in thought.

Gramps sighs and stares off into space as he taps the pencil against the white pad of paper. He looks at Ash expectantly. After a quick pause to glance over his pokemon, the raven recounts his captures.

"Well Pikachu chose me at the graduation ceremony. I caught Krabby on Fuchsia Beach. I found Lapras there also. She had a harpoon wound that some pirates gave her and somehow washed up on the beach. I think it should almost be healed by now. I ended up catching 12 Tauros at the Safari Zone since they were protecting the other pokemon but I only kept one. I then caught Pidgeotto on Route 15 after she dive-bombed me because I smelled like food. She evolved on the flight here when she got frustrated that she couldn't catch up with Gary's Fearow. Haunter agreed to come with me due to a deal we made with an angry Gengar in Lavender Town. Charmander was abandoned and abused by another soldier so I offered him a place on my team and he agreed. And finally I caught Mankey on Route 8 after he stole my hat."

Professor Oak stared at Ash before bursting into chuckles. He asked the raven a few more questions about his pokemon and the Lavender Town battle but Gary didn't really pay attention. Eevee came over to play as soon as she finished eating.

"And how about you Gary?" Looking up at the expectant look on his relative's face, he quickly rattles off the necessary information on his pokemon.

"Squirtle chose me as his trainer. Caught Doduo, Nidorino, Scyther and Pinsir at the Safari Zone. Scyther and Pinsir were fighting over food. Got Fearow on Route 18, Growlithe on 7 and Kadabra on 8. And Ash gave me Eevee as a birthday present. He said she was abandoned as well."

At the sound of its name, Eevee gave a small yip causing Gary to scratch between its long ears with a small smile on his face. Gary glances up to see a shocked look on Gramp's face. What's that look for? Thankfully, the old man recovers quickly.

"Well, I am very proud of you both. You have fine teams already. May I see them do some training drills?" The professor asks with child-like glee.

Nodding in agreement, the soldiers direct the starters to lead training once again. Gary quickly calls out to Kadabra before it walks off to join the others. He pulls the spoon from his pocket and holds it out to the psi pokemon. He pulls it back as it starts to reach for its conduit and points to the collar at its neck.

"I will give this back but only if we make a deal. This spoon doubles your psychic powers but that will cause harmful effects on Ash and I whenever you are out of your ball. So if you want it back, you will have to wear the collar which will block out any waves that are damaging to humans. But if you fight against it too much, your power will cause damage to it. So, what's it gonna be?"

The psychic pokemon stares at him for several unblinking minutes. Gary holds perfectly still, eyes locked with the creature. Gary's eyes narrow as he tries to assert dominance over the powerful pokemon.

Finally, its eyes lower and it holds out a hand. Passing the spoon over, Gary watches in amazement as the pokemon bows slightly and points toward its head and then the collar.

Gary leads Kadabra back over to the group. It silently watches Pikachu and Squirtle dart around various objects in complicated maneuvers before quickly following in perfect, precise movements. Damn. It's almost creepy how smart that thing is.

Gary glances back at the other new pokemon. Mankey doesn't seem to be having too much trouble since it is already quite agile but its movements are too bouncy as it hops from one movement to the next instead of a smooth transition. Growlithe and Eevee are having slightly more trouble and keep tripping over their own feet. The brunet watches as his starter quickly runs back and gurgles some more instructions. They do better after that.

Glancing to his left, he sees the content and happy look on his partner's face. A matching one copies itself onto his own but is quickly forced into a scowl at the cheeky grin Gramps is sending his way. He turns back with a huff.

The professor returns to furiously scribbling notes as the pokemon do strength drills before splitting off to spar in pairs or small groups.

"This is incredible how close they are and how quickly they picked up on the military training program." The old man comments, a hint of incredulity in his voice.

Gary turns towards the professor at the observation.

"Ash said the same thing a few days ago. Though most of the training success is thanks to Pikachu and Squirtle. We've barely done a thing to be honest." He crosses his arms over his chest as he watches the drills in front of them. We should do some Battle Simulations to get some actual battle experiences in. But the closest Pokemon Center is all the way in Viridian.

"Hm I doubt that." Gramps answers cryptically, pulling Gary from his thoughts.

xxx-War of the Dragon Riders-xxx

It wasn't until around noon that Professor Oak declares that he had obtained all of his preliminary data on their pokemon. Ash follows the two Oaks inside their home for lunch while their pokemon stayed outside to eat and play.

After finishing up some sandwiches, Ash finally asks the questions that had been plaguing him upon his early morning wake up.

"Professor? What exactly did you contact the military for? You said it was for a project?"

"Ah yes. It honestly isn't too big of a fuss. I received a call from the Marine Pokemon Laboratory in Johto last week to take a look at an egg they had found floating out in the ocean. However, they have been unable to get it to hatch. You know that some eggs only hatch if they sense a strong or caring aura nearby? For survival and so on you know. Anyway, they were hoping if I could run some tests on it and possibly get it to hatch. A researcher is arriving on the SS Aqua tomorrow afternoon in Vermillion City to drop the egg off. If I had known you boys were already over there, I would have passed more details along. However, I also didn't realize that I punched the wrong code in by accident, so I have to ask for forgiveness on that one. I know you two must have been worried." The Professor explains, his face slightly apologetic at his mistake.

Ash reaches over and pats the old man on his shoulder. "Don't worry about it Professor." He replies happily. "We got to see you two weeks early so it's fine. We will gladly go pick up the egg for you right?"

The younger Oak nods at his question. Ash turns to ask more details of the mission but is interrupted by Pikachu bursting into the room in full on Agility-mode and jumps up into his lap. Eevee quickly follows behind him onto her own trainers lap. The ravens quickly notices the happy, satisfied look on the yellow rodent's face. Ash raises a black eyebrow in question.

"Did you two really just race to see who could get to us first?"

With a twitch of his tail, the mouse grins at him before nudging his hand asking for a reward. With a chuckle, he indulges his starter with a thorough scratch behind his ear.

Excusing himself from the table, he walks back outside with Pikachu in his arms. Scanning the training area, he sees most of their pokemon napping in the sun. He spots Pidgeot in a nearby tree with Fearow and heads over.

"Hey you two. We have a mission. We have to get to Vermillion by tomorrow afternoon. Instead of taking the routes, we can just fly over the forest like we did on the way here to cut down on time. I know you guys are probably still tired from last night, but do you think you can make it there and back if we were just cruising?"

The two large bird pokemon squawk in agreement and unfurl their wings. Looks like they want to go now just to prove me wrong. Ash chuckles and gives them a wave before heading back inside. Better get the rest of the mission details and call it in to command.

With the right code this time of course.

xxx-War of the Dragon Riders-xxx

AN: Apologies for the long speaking parts this chapter. I thought it would be helpful to throw in a quick review of what pokemon each of them has. And I figured Professor Oak has to rant a bit when talking since he's older AND a professor.

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Next up: Chapter 15 - Delivery