AN: Hey guys! A longer chapter to make up for the wait. I have decided to make this an Ash x Gary pairing. I will make sure to add any warnings and separate it for those who don't want to read any citrus flavorings.
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon or any of the characters. Just the random plot bunnies that my mind creates.
Chapter Warnings: Language, blood/gore, death
Pairing: Ash x Gary
Chapter 18 - Mission
After a week of being fussed over for every little thing, Ash had finally had enough.
"God dammit Gary! I can walk by myself! You don't have to carry me anymore. Especially to the damn bathroom!" He yells at the brunet, face red in embarrassment at the amount of time it takes him just to sit up to get off the damn bed.
His partner raises his hands in mock surrender with hurt written all over his face. "I just didn't want you to pull your stitches. You're hurt enough already…" Gary states softly.
His heart clenches at the sad look on the brunet's face. Ash sighs before lifting an arm. His partner quickly slides Ash's arm up over his shoulder and his free arm around his tapered waist.
After getting dropped off in the bathroom, Ash sits on the edge of the counter as his partner carefully unravels the bandages. Glancing behind him, brown orbs take in the various stitches and patches of burned flesh creating an odd sort of patchwork on his now ruined tan skin.
Gingerly sliding to his feet, Ash turns on the shower and waits for his partner to leave and give him some privacy.
Pausing in the doorway, the brunet turns around with a gigantic smirk overtaking his features. Ash sighs in annoyance, waiting for whatever stupid thing Gary is going to say next that will no doubt piss him off.
"Sure you don't need me to wash your back Ashy-boy? I'll be gentle." The brunet's voice pitches deep and husky towards the end of his question causing heat to burst onto Ash's face. His partner slowly starts reaching for his pants. With a weak scowl in place, Ash slams the door in Gary's face. His eyes narrow as he hears low chuckles coming through the door.
What's with all the damn teasing? If I didn't know any better, I would say that Gary's the one into dudes.
He shivers as flashes of that dream rush through his mind again. Brought to the surface by his partner's rough voice, so similar to the pleasure filled one that echoed in his mind in his sleep.
Shaking his head to dissipate the images, Ash steps into the stream of warm water. It takes all of his concentration to not imagine large, warm hands tenderly cleaning his injured body.
xxx-War of the Dragon Riders-xxx
Gary leans against the wall waiting for his partner to finish cleaning up. His nose scrunches at the lingering smell that he still has not acclimated to. That paste smells horrid.
He glances up as a figure enters his peripheral vision. His grandfather is walking towards him in his ever present lab coat.
"I made a new paste. It doesn't have any Stun Spore or Sleep Powder in it since Ash's skin has scabbed over. Once he is out of the shower, bring him downstairs, and I'll take his stitches out before you wrap him up again."
Gary nods in acknowledgement. He watches his only living relative walk back downstairs. Leaning back against the wall, verdant eyes stare at the ceiling, his mind nearly blanks from exhaustion.
Taking care of someone 24/7 is tiresome.
"You could go back to sleep you know."
Gary jolts from his thoughts by the sudden voice and a burst of hot, humid air. Green eyes lock on the steaming tan skin before him. A few stray water droplets drip down his partner's torso and into the black fabric of his cargo pants. His hands twitch, wanting to reach forward to pull the fabric down. Just a little bit. Just enough to watch the liquid roll a little farther down the lithe body of the raven before him.
"Gary?"
Green eyes flash up to meet confused brown. Mind blanking of everything but the images permanently seared into his brain.
Maybe I do need some more sleep.
With a quick nod, he slides his arm back around the warm skin and helps his partner down to the lab.
xxx-War of the Dragon Riders-xxx
Stitch-free and re-bandaged, Ash happily munches on some cereal at the kitchen table across from the brunet.
It feels good to be up and about again. Even if I am still a bit sore.
"Has Professor Oak had any luck with that egg yet?" He asks curiously.
His partner shakes his head and gazes sideways towards the lab. "The shell of the egg is too thick for most instruments to penetrate and he doesn't want to use any invasive techniques in case they cause damage to the baby pokemon."
Ash hums in agreement. He slowly stirs his cereal, lost in thought. But the Professor said that it may need a specific aura to hatch. How will the egg feel that through such a thick shell and all that containment equipment?
"With how heavy it is, it's probably a rock or steel type. It amazing that the egg floats at all to be honest." Gary muses.
Ash's reply is cut off by a high pitched beeping. Sighing at his now soggy cereal, he pulls out his comms set. After sliding in the ear piece and adjusting the microphone, Ash answers the call.
"Identification number and team." The Commander's voice sternly calls out. Gary lists out his ID number and Ash follows with his own as well as their team ID.
"Team Alpha. There's been a power outage last night over most of Kanto. An experienced Beta team had been dispatched to the Power Plant off of Route 9 but did not make check in this morning. You are to immediately head out and provide assistance. Get the power up ASAP. Understood?"
Seeing the defiance and worry rise in green eyes across from him, Ash quickly reaches over to rip off his partner's comm set to prevent him from declining the mission.
"Yes sir. We'll head out right away."
Ash puts away his comm set and places Gary's set on the table. Slowly raising his head, he meets blazing verdant eyes full of fury.
"Are you fucking insane?!" Gary growls out. "You just got your stitches out an hour ago and you accepted a mission?! You aren't going and that's final." Arms cross over his chest as he waits for Ash to even try to defy him.
Ash sighs deeply as he slowly stands to prepare his pack and weapons.
"I have to Gary. I told you I don't want Pikachu collared again. If I stay behind, it will make the military suspicious. It's just a reconnaissance mission anyway. I'll be fine." He explains, smiling placatingly.
"And what will you do when we meet the Beta Team Ash? Most of your pokemon are not collared. That alone will raise suspicions."
Ash rounds on his partner in frustration. He grits his teeth and points towards his empty belt.
"Then I will just use Haunter and Tauros if we are around any other soldiers. Collars can't be put on Ghost pokemon so they won't think twice about it. I wasn't planning on bringing Pikachu anyway. He's still too weak to travel and battle now." His anger dying as he thinks about his injured pokemon.
Ash turns away and walks as fast as his injured body can carry him.
"So are you." A whisper drifts to his ears from behind him. He pauses briefly but hears only silence. Huffing in annoyance, the raven heads upstairs to check his supplies.
xxx-War of the Dragon Riders-xxx
The duo land to get some food in Saffron. However, they are forced to eat their rations in the park after walking through the dark city to see every shop closed due to the lack of power.
After the quick break, they are in the air again. Racing towards their destination.
Three hours later, the soldiers find themselves outside of the quiet power plant. Gary sends a quick message to Base to signal they have arrived and are beginning the mission. Putting on the night vision glasses that Professor Oak gave them before they left, they fan out to search the ground around the entrance.
At the short low whistle, Gary trots over to his partner who is squatting by the ground looking at deep gouges in the grass. Clumps of dirt are thrown everywhere and patches of burnt grass crunch under his feet.
Reaching down he runs his hands over a dark patch in the grass. His hands come away wet and sticky. There was a battle here. Recently. Can't tell how many Pokemon or humans with all this dirt flung everywhere though.
Catching his partner's attention, he signals them to head inside. Weapons at the ready, the duo enter the large building.
Darkness. Silence. Gary's nerves stand on end as he scans the entry area. Overturned boxes and tables are scattered over the floor. Various doors lean ajar. Rust gleams along many of the metal surfaces. A staircase leads upstairs at the end of the main room. It looks like it's been abandoned for years. What the hell?
Splitting up to either side of the room, they quickly check each room branching off of the main one. Finding no adjoining hallways, he waits at the end of the main room for his partner.
Hearing an echoing bang from the upper floor, the brunet quickly turns his weapon upward and scans the upper landing.
Nothing.
Sensing Ash at his side, he slowly climbs the stairs. Still on alert. Still ready for any threat. Still looking for the missing Beta team.
Turning to the right, they come across a large bolted double door. At least 10 feet high and almost 10 across. Carefully releasing the large deadbolt, they both tie a section of rope to each handle and move away from the entrance.
On his signal, they yank open the doors and train their weapons inside. Ready to fire at a moment's notice.
Gary reels back in confusion and nausea. What the actual fuck? Nothing can smell this fucking bad.
His eyes water at the stench. He squints through the tears into the gloom to try to identify the source. He steps forward to enter the room.
The burnet is jerked to a stop by a tight grip on his arm. Ash yanks him backwards away from the door.
"Ash? What the hell?" Gary whispers harshly.
He watches in confusion as his partner picks up a broken piece of wood and throws it at the doorway. Teary green orbs widen in shock as the plank seems to stop in midair. The rancid odor spikes.
The brunet watches in sick fascination as the stick slowly slides to the floor. He hears a low fizzling noise as the wood slowly dissolves away.
Taking a closer look at the entryway, he notices a purple sheen to what he assumed was just the blackness of the room. Poison?
That makes no sense. Poison pokemon aren't normally found in power plants. Only electric pokemon are here usually...but if a poison type is here, that would explain the smell...and it could have killed the other electric pokemon which would explain the lack of electricity and why it's so quiet. But there should at least be some Magnemite and Magneton left since they are impervious to poison…
A hand on his arm once more pulls him back from his thoughts. He meets his partner's determined gaze. His eyes aren't even watering? How can he not smell this? He narrows his eyes at Ash for avoiding the torment that is being inflicted on him.
Ash chuckles nervously. "Guess I have a high tolerance now after being caked in that cream the Professor made for me."
Gary rolls his eyes at the comment. Of course he does. Glancing back at the wall of slime, he reaches toward his pouch for Kadabra's ball.
Poison is weak to Psychic attacks after all.
The brown psi pokemon emerges from the ball. Its eyes glowing bright to see in the gloom. The bright spheres immediately focus on its trainer.
"Kadabra, throw a few Psywaves at the wall of sludge in the doorway. We need to investigate this floor."
The creatures nods as its eyes turn red. Waves of blue energy shoot from its mind and straight into the purple barrier. It slowly dissipates taking most of the smell with it.
Seeing Kadabra quickly jump out of the way, the soldiers follow suit just before a small horde of various electric pokemon storm out.
They were all trapped?
Ash darts in after the pokemon dispersed with Gary at his heels. The room is small with scorch marks painted over the walls.
They were fighting to get out. How'd all those pokemon get trapped in the first place?
The lights flicker causing the duo to flinch from the bright flash in their night vision glasses. Turning back towards the door, his partner speaks up.
"They must be trying to get the power back on to recharge themselves. Something must be stopping them though since the lights flickered. Let's check it out."
Heading back down the hall to the left, Gary watches as his partner kneels next to a body on the floor. Ash reels back in revulsion at the dissolving torso and legs.
Looking ahead, Gary sees multiple bodies lining the floor heading up to, or away from, a room at the end of the hall. A sign reading 'Control Room' hangs above the door.
The duo creep forward. The rancid odor returning with a vengeance. Whatever killed these workers also trapped the electric pokemon and may have shut down the Power Plant as well.
Dodging around a trail of slime, Gary launches a powerful kick into the door of the control room. It flies open and bounces with a resounding crack against the wall.
Ash joins him at his side before sliding farther into the room. The raven points to two human bodies and various smaller bodies of pokemon on the ground to the left. The Beta Team.
Seeing movement to the right, Gary quickly grabs his partner's pack and pulls him backwards. A ball of purple ooze flies inches from Ash's face. He gags in revulsion from the smell.
Turning quickly, he spots moving blobs in the corner of the room.
"Kadabra, Psywave!"
Once more, blue light fills the room and surrounds the mysterious blobs, highlighting their features. Taking in the purple amorphous forms and hideous smell, Gary grimaces. A bunch of Grimer and a Muk. Fucking perfect.
"Gary! Look at this!"
Hearing his partner's raised voice, he looks over to see a large metal covering over a circular hole. The screws that must have held it in place are rusty and twisted into odd shapes. Drainage pipe? Is that how they got in?
Quickly calculating the distance from the pokemon to the grate as well as the estimated amount of psychic power that Kadabra has released so far, Gary evaluates his options.
"Ash, get Charmander ready to seal that grate. I am going to lure them over." Gary orders.
Without waiting for a response, he turns once more to his psi pokemon who is beginning to huff in exertion.
"Kadabra, use Psychic. Control their bodies and make them slide back down that drainage pipe!"
Red eyes glow brighter, the room lighting up as if on fire. Gary removes his glasses in order to not blind his green orbs.
One by one, each of the Grimer slides across the floor and drops back down into the hole in the ground. However, the Muk won't budge.
The purple sludge pokemon glares defiantly as it struggles to stay in place. Kadabra's hands shoot forward. A burst of blue is sent hurtling towards the Muk throwing it backward with a loud moaning grunt.
Light fades from the psi pokemon's eyes as it drops to its knees, completely exhausted. Gary quickly reaches for his belt to call out another pokemon when a bolt of electricity shoots by his face, causing his hair to stand on end.
Jumping to the side, he looks behind him to see floating magnets building up power as they circle around one another. Magnemite? What are they doing here? Getting revenge for being trapped?
Multiple Thunderbolts burst out from the electric pokemon. They strike Muk with just enough force to push it towards the edge of the pipe. A burst of pressurized air knocks the soldiers back a few feet as well as the purple pokemon, sending it down into the dark hole. Sonicboom.
Sliding the metal covering back in place, the duo step back as Charmander releases a powerful Flamethrower welding the cover in place.
That will prevent them from ever coming back. Their poison won't be able to corrode the steel.
Gary smirks at the happy grin on his partner's face. Good. Mission completed and Ash wasn't injured further.
Seeing a spark in his peripheral vision, Gary slowly turns around with his arms raised in a submissive pose.
The Magnemite floats wearily, circling the two soldiers and eye the grate that their enemies disappeared into.
"We just came to help with the Grimer and Muk. We won't hurt you." Ash explains softly to the steel pokemon.
The floating magnet pokemon freeze at his words and stare at the raven. Their large eyes are directed towards Charmander as the fire lizard begins to growl at them.
The duo stand in silence, not moving a muscle, as the pokemon communicate with one another. One by one, the magnet pokemon float away.
The duo call back their pokemon and begin to head back outside when the lights turn back on.
Once out in the open air once more, Gary pulls out his comms set to report in while Ash begins to set up camp away from the battle ground.
"The League will send in the collection unit to get the Beta Team tomorrow as well as a new shift of workers to run the Power Plant."
The raven nods in approval as he curls up in his sleeping bag for the night. Gary calls out Eevee to join him. Her long ears will pick up on anything that might try to attack us.
The duo fall into a deep sleep beneath the stars.
xxx-War of the Dragon Riders-xxx
Favorite/follow/review please!
Next up: Chapter 19 - Egg
