Disclaimer:- I don't own Pokemon

Chapter 5:- Chibi Oak!


Ash:-

Ash hadn't spoken all that much during their travel to the Seafoam Islands. He saw Misty, May and Brock planning their next moves but didn't felt enthusiastic enough to join them. He was too worried about Gary and angry at that Professor to think of anything else at the moment.

Ash saw Pikachu taking the responsibility of guarding the three Pokemon and carefully wrapping a blanket around them. Greninja could have returned to his Pokeball as all four of them were travelling on Misty's Gyarados but Ash noticed that he was still swimming next to them, always staying alert for any signs of danger.

"Brock, do you know where the Seafoam Island Pokemon Center is?" May asked him and Ash could tell by her voice that she was really tired. All of them were actually. This adventure had started all of a sudden without any of them having any time to prepare.

"Yes, we had visited it in the past," Brock replied.

"It will take us only an hour more to reach the islands if my calculation is correct," Misty told her, "And the Pokemon Center is close from the beach. We can rest there and the Pokemon can get treated."

"That's a good idea," May said. But then her expression grew worried as she asked, "What after that though? We have come eight years back in the past. How will we go to our time? And we need to find Ash's friend Gary too."

"We will come up with some idea when we reach the Pokemon Center. I can't think of anything right now," Misty replied looking concerned as well.

They travelled in silence for the next hour. Once they reached the beach Ash called back his Greninja and he saw Misty calling back Gyarados as well.

Since Ash was carrying Pikachu on his shoulder, Misty and Brock decided to carry the Eevees and May decided to carry the Cleffa.

Ash recognized the Seafoam Island Pokemon Center from a distance itself. He and the others rushed inside as soon as possible.

Ash saw Brock blushing slightly the moment he noticed Nurse Joy. But since they had an emergency case of treating the three Pokemon, Brock seemed to stay more in control than usual. Although Misty still kept one hand on his ear as a precautionary measure.

"Nurse Joy, we have an emergency. These three Pokemon need treatment as soon as possible," Misty spoke to her and gestured towards the two Eevees and the Cleffa.

"Oh dear! What happened to them?" Nurse Joy asked looking worried.

Ash quickly recited the incident that had happened some hours ago. He saw Nurse Joy's expressions transform from worry to anger as she heard everything.

"What sort of person throws unconscious Pokemon in the sea?" she wondered angrily, "They need immediate treatment. Chansey bring a stretcher!" she shouted to the pink Pokemon who assisted her in the Pokemon Center.

"Chansey!" the Pokemon exclaimed as she brought a stretcher hurriedly.

Ash saw Nurse Joy carefully arrange the three Pokemon on the stretcher and then rush towards the Emergency Room. "You wait outside!" she called to the four of them behind her.

Ash, Brock, Misty and May spend the next couple of hours waiting outside the Emergency Room patiently. It was only when Nurse Joy opened the door and told them that the Pokemon were out of danger that they felt better. At least one good thing happened in this whole time-travel mess. They got to save some innocent lives which was always a priceless thing.

"I noticed that the Pokemon were already given some medicine which helped to keep them strong until I could treat them properly. I wonder who gave them the medicine?" Nurse Joy asked.

"Oh, it was me Nurse Joy. Actually I am learning to become a Pokemon doctor, so I had some medicines with me," Brock spoke looking really pleased with himself.

" Your medicine was super-effective. I am sure you will become a great doctor some day," Nurse Joy replied and beamed at him.

"Thank you Nurse Joy! It really means a lot to receive praise from you!" Brock started gushing with happiness.

Misty immediately put a hand on his ear as a warning and asked to Nurse Joy, "Can we see the Pokemon?"

"Oh they are still resting. You will have to wait for a few more hours to see them. I think the four of you should eat something till then. You all are looking really tired and hungry," she commented.

Both Ash and May's eyes lit up at the mention of food. Nurse Joy showed them the small cafeteria at the back of the Pokemon Center and all of them quickly ordered a bunch of different dishes. Ash looked out of a window and noticed that darkness was rapidly falling. It was almost night-time.

"I think it's great that the Pokemon are finally feeling good. That Cleffa and the Eevees are adorable," May spoke while munching on her sandwiches.

"Yeah they are cute!" Misty agreed.

Ash was about to take another bite of his sandwich but he paused when he noticed that Brock looked quite pensive about something.

"What happened Brock?" he asked.

"I was thinking about Celebi. Do you remember that Celebi had met Professor Oak when he was a little kid?" Brock asked them.

"I didn't knew that," May said.

"Yes Celebi knew Professor Oak when he was young," Ash told her, "The Celebi from the past had accidentally travelled to our time with a young boy who was actually Professor Oak. And we had helped them to go back to their time."

"And this means that the Professor Oak from this time would also know about Celebi. If we go and tell him our story then he would believe us and might be able to help us," Brock explained.

"So are you saying that we should go and ask the Professor Oak from this time to help us?" Misty asked him.

"Yes," Brock replied, "I think we need to travel back to Pallet Town."


Gary:-

Gary was standing near a small window in a room that was provided to him after Professor Oak agreed to give him the job of his assistant. Gary knew this room very well, it was going to be owned by Tracey in the future.

He stared out of the window, it was almost mid-night. He knew he needed to go to bed by now as he had to prove he was a good assistant to his grandfather the next day but he just couldn't fall asleep on a day like this when so much had happened. He was where he wanted to be but now he needed to plan his next strategy very carefully.

He was thinking about what to do the next day, when he saw a small figure sitting all alone in the grassy field behind the lab. Gary immediately remembered, whenever he was upset he used to go out and sit alone in the field of grass. He grabbed his lab-coat and went out to talk to the one person who he was most interested in.

"Hey there little buddy, why are you sitting here all alone?" he crouched down and asked in a friendly voice to the small figure who sat cross-legged on the grass.

An auburn-haired head turned around and two dark green eyes met his. He looked at Gary in an inquisitive manner.

"Who are you?" his past-self asked him in a slightly suspicious manner.

Gary remembered his grandfather telling him not to talk to strangers. He realized he needed to introduce himself.

"I am Harry Greenwood. Professor Oak's new assistant," he told his younger counterpart in a cheerful tone.

"He has to change assistants every week," younger Gary commented carelessly.

"I am sure I'll last more than a week," Gary replied feeling confident.

"Really," his younger counterpart asked in a challenging tone, "You don't look smart enough. Tell me, at what level does a Pidgey evolves?"

Gary winced a little. He had no idea he was that rude when he was a kid.

"Level 18," he replied dully.

"And how would you beat a rock-type Pokemon?" his younger counterpart asked promptly.

"I'll use a water-type. But also keep a grass-type ready," Gary answered. He needed to stop this. He should be the one asking questions to his younger-self, not the other way around.

"You still haven't told me your name," he gently reminded the boy.

"Because you are still a stranger. I'll talk to you when my gramps introduces you to me," he answered.

"Oh, so are you his grandson?" Gary asked, adding some curiosity in his tone.

"Yes, and I need to leave now. Smell ya later!" the boy spoke as he got up and ran towards the house.

Gary let out a small sigh as he stared at the little boy running towards the house. It was going to be a challenge to gain his trust.

He spend the night trying to come up with different plans to talk to his past-self until he finally fell asleep.

The next morning he was woken up by the familiar loud screeching of some Pidgeys and Spearows. He got ready and came out of his room in an hour to find Professor Oak, May Oak and little Gary settled at the table eating breakfast.

"I was just going to come and wake you up," May Oak said without looking at him.

"Oh, alright," he replied awkwardly. His sister felt just as much out of reach as she had felt in the future. Although at least here she didn't knew him. Gary saw her lovingly putting extra pancakes in younger Gary's plate and suddenly felt a pang of jealousy. He had no idea why his sister had became so distant in the future.

"You can join us for breakfast Harry," Professor Oak said kindly. He must have noticed Gary standing awkwardly at a side.

"Thanks," he muttered and sat down at a table.

"So he is really your assistant?" younger Gary asked his grandfather, while May put some breakfast on Gary's plate without looking at him.

"Yes Gary, this is Harry Greenwood my new assistant. Harry, this is my grandson Gary," Professor Oak introduced them, and then commented, "Wow, Gary and Harry. Your names rhyme, haha."

"We have already met," Gary replied with a smile at his younger counterpart, only to find that the young Gary was eyeing him very curiously.

"You know what, if your hair and eyes were of different colors you would have looked really similar to me. Almost like my older version," young Gary observed.

Gary almost choked on his coffee. He didn't knew he had been that smart when he was a kid. Or so unnecessarily curious for that matter.

"That's a nice observation Gary," he replied, trying to sounding enthusiastic.

"Gary makes a lot of interesting observations about Pokemon too," Professor Oak told him proudly.

"That's because one day I wanna become a researcher like you Gramps!" little Gary said happily and dug into his pancakes.

However, the older Gary saw Professor Oak and May exchange a worried look upon hearing that. This was something new for him. It really felt like they didn't liked the idea of Gary wanting to become a researcher, something that was news for the older Gary.

"Gary, should I call Ash to play with you today? The two of you haven't spend much time together since your holidays started," May spoke in a tone which made it look like she was trying to change the subject.

"I don't wanna play with Ash," his younger counterpart muttered in a low voice.

"But why? The two of you were playing together every day until a couple of weeks ago," May asked looking confused.

The older Gary remembered everything clearly. This was the first snag in his and Ash's friendship. He had started avoiding Ash after their school got over and holidays began. This incident also reminded him of another incident that was to take place a few weeks later.

"Professor, where does the rest of your family lives?" he asked trying to sound innocently curious.

"Oh, my son and his wife are also researchers. They are currently doing a research project in Johto but they are going to return in a few days," the Professor told him merrily.

Gary nodded his head. If all went well he would succeed in convincing his parents when they return home to not return to Johto where an accident had cost them their lives. He still remembered the news of their death very clearly. An excavation site of Pokemon fossils had been hit by an earthquake and no one had survived. His parents were the ones leading the quest. This time when they return to Pallet for a short time, he was going to do everything within his capacity to postpone or even cancel their project.

He saw May purse her lips at the mention of their parents. Younger Gary simply looked indifferent. Gary remembered that he was quite used to his parents being out of sight for months back then. It wasn't until he lost them that he realized how much he had loved them.

Younger Gary quietly finished his breakfast and mumbled something about wanting to finish reading a book and slipped out of the room.

Gary couldn't really eat anymore breakfast so he left as well.

He found his past-self sitting on a chair in the living room and pretending to read a book. But Gary who was standing behind him saw that he was secretly looking at a hand-drawn picture which was hidden amongst the pages of that book.

Gary remembered that picture very well. It was a messy childish drawing of him and Ash which he had drawn to give Ash on his eighth birthday party. But when he had seen that a lot of kids from their school whom Ash never even spoke to had been called to his birthday party he had felt apprehensive. And then Ash had randomly called one of those kids his 'best friend', something that had been enough to upset Gary.

"That's a cool drawing! Is that your friend Ash?" Gary asked his younger-counterpart.

"No! That's not Ash and this picture isn't cool or important!" his past-self shouted angrily.

"Then why are you staring at it?" Gary asked him gently.

"I wasn't staring! It's not important!" younger Gary exclaimed and shut down the book.

"Have you shown this picture to your friend? He would really like it," Gary suggested.

"He isn't my friend. He has got new friends now," younger Gary replied harshly and ran away. In his hurry, he forgot to take the book with him.

Gary carefully opened the book and found the drawing that was hidden away. He had came to the past to fix things up. And now he knew just where to start.


Author Note:- Hope you liked it! Writing younger Gary was a little tricky but really fun and enjoyable. Chibi Ash would be coming soon too! :)