Ok so it has been a really long time since I've written lol but I've been playing some Pokémon and kept getting inspiration to keep writing so here it is! :) I'm sorry that I took so long (and hello to all the new people who are now following my story ^.^) But I hope I can make it up by posting more chapters! I basically have down what's gonna happen so it really shouldn't be too difficult for me :) Plus, I'm on a summer break so I definitely have time!

And just as a tip for further in the chapter, Professor Oak's lab is gonna be a mix of generation 1's area and the show. It's like this: the entrance is like generation 1, where the lab and stuff is right in the entrance. Then there are those stairs you see in Oak's lab in the show that leads to another level. For me, the door up there leads to a long hallway with more rooms and such. (If you need a better visual, just go on Bulbapedia and search professor oaks lab. The pictures should make it simple to visualize).

But uhm, ok let me stop ranting! Let's get on with the next chappy!

"Mimey?"

Mimey stopped sweeping for a moment, hearing Delia call out to him from the kitchen. Like usual, he walked over, chiming out his name in a question, and asked what was needed.

Delia turned upon his arrival, stirring some food which was cooking in a pot on the stove at this moment.

"May asked me to watch Graveler today because she's going to visit Shigeru. So could you stay outside and make sure he comes to the right house? I just want to be sure that he won't get lost again," Delia said with a sympathetic smile as she moved around what Mimey now realized was rice (due to the smell that had now reached his nostrils).

Mimey gave a quick salute along with another chime of his name, smiling afterwards and running over to the front door, opening it up to be greeted by the afternoon sunlight. His vision was blurred away by the sudden light but only for a moment as the colors of the outside world began filling themselves in.

Mimey decided to stroll outside to the front gate and wait there for his friend but paused halfway as he looked over to the front garden and noticed a giant rock watering the flowers. Said giant rock quickly turned around, holding his green watering can close as he sheepishly chuckled.

"Mime mime!" he cried out happily as he ran over for a hug.

"Grav!" he replied, hugging his friend but making sure not to hold too tightly.

The two lightly conversed before Mimey invited Graveler inside, going straight to the kitchen to inform Delia of his arrival.

"Oh you're here!" she said as she walked over and patted him on the head; Graveler smiling brightly.

"Did you manage to see May before she left today?"

Graveler replied with a pout and a shake of his head before quickly recovering after with a small smirk.

"Oh well that's alright. You can talk to her later when she gets back."

"Or he could talk to me now."

Delia looked up as May stood right outside of her door, smiling widely with sore, red eyes. Delia opened her mouth, about to invite May in, but paused as she saw someone walk out from behind her. Her eyes grew wide, seeing the younger brunette smile over to her as well.

"Hey," he said.

Slowly, she walked towards them, turning it into a jog as she ran over to the boy who was practically her second son; pulling him in and hugging him tightly.

"Ah, ah! Still a little sore, Ms. Ketchum," Gary said, making the mother loosen her grip but not having the capability to completely let go.

"Thank Arceus you're alright," Delia said, kissing the top of his head before pulling away to see her son and his friends walk in.

After discussing the situation and about Shigeru regaining his health, Delia decided to have a celebration for his return. Gary tried to explain that that wasn't necessary, but everyone else was up for it and soon enough, the group was around the dining room table as Delia and Brock cooked.

As they conversed, Gary continuously looked over to the Pokémon that played around the room, noticing that some of their words seemed very boggled up. He wanted to bring this up to the others but it didn't seem like a big problem so he kept it to himself for now. They were all in such a happy mood and he didn't want to change it as it had been a while since everyone was in a relaxed setting.

So instead of keeping his mind on Pokémon, he forced it to stay on Ash; the one who kissed him earlier this morning. Just thinking about it brought a smile to his face. In between conversations he would look over to Ash, giving him a long gaze until the other looked back at him. That kiss must've really embarrassed him as Ash would always look away, trying his best to pretend that nothing was out of the ordinary.

"So Satoshi and the others have said their sides of the story and we've heard yours kinda briefly. Why don't you really spell it out for us little bro?" May asked as she placed utensils and plates down on the table.

Gary looked up at his sister then at the others who were looking at him, waiting for an answer. He was fine explaining everything out except for one thing: that Pokémon. Whatever it was, it definitely wasn't from around here and he planned on looking it up as soon as possible. But he found it odd that throughout all of his vast knowledge, he couldn't think of one piece of history or literature that described that Pokémon. It made him frightened, but also a bit confused as it was being held captive by the boss of Team Rocket. Where and when did this all happen?

But before he could start from the beginning, Delia walked into the dining room, asking for him.

"It's the phone. It's Professor Oak!" she happily exclaimed.

Both May and Gary looked at each other for only a moment before Gary chuckled and got up, following Delia to the phone in her kitchen.

Gary looked down at the phone, feeling very nervous to talk to his grandfather after such a long amount of time. Hesitantly, he picked up the phone that was discarded onto a table and held it up to his ear, taking a moment before asking, "hello?"

"Shigeru, is that you? Oh, I'm so glad to hear from you! You're not still hurt or anything, right? I was worried sick-"

"No one's listening, Gramps," Gary replied with a monotone voice.

"Oh...Well then, I heard you're back on your feet so I expect that report to be turned into me soon."

Gary's eyes widened, feeling that cold shiver down his body that usually happens when you forget about something extremely important. So many things had happened throughout this year that Gary barely got any of it done! He started it at first, briefly writing notes on his adventure, but with his mind constantly being boggled by Ash then the cheerleaders and all this hard work to beat Gym Leaders, an essay just seemed like a waste of time. He planned on finishing it all before coming back home but that obviously didn't work out as planned due to Viridian.

"You did finish the report, correct?"

"Uhm...yeah, yeah I got it done. Just have to find it," he replied, allowing at least one white lie for now.

"Good. Bring it to the lab as soon as possible. We have a lot...to talk about."

Gary paused for a moment, disliking the tone in his voice. He knew he was up for some sort of scolding when he got back.

Nodding to himself, he replied, "Understood. I'll...be there as soon as possible."

"Very well. Goodbye."

"Bye."

After sighing to relieve some of the built up tension, Gary hung up the phone and turned around, looking over to Delia who asked what the professor wanted.

"He just wants me to bring something to him."

"I see. Are you going to go now?"

"Mmmm...nah, I'll go after the party."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I did say as soon as possible. That didn't imply anything about leaving now," he replied, smirking afterwards.

Delia softly laughed and shook her head, scooping out rice and putting it into many separate bowls of varying sizes.

"Well don't get him too upset. I didn't hear anything about this," she replied as she passed him and Brock a few bowls to take to the others.

As Brock walked into the other room, Gary followed and replied, "Awesome, I owe you one, mom," before wincing and pausing in his steps.

He turned to look at Delia whose mouth at the moment could best be described as the shape of a capital D pointed downwards. She quickly pointed to him, crying out, "Ha! I knew you still called me mom!"

Gary felt heat rush to his cheeks as he smiled and replied, "no, you misheard me."

"Of course I did, my son. Now take that food over. I'll bring the rest soon."

Gary nodded and walked back to the table, almost completely forgetting about the trouble he was bound to be in in a few hours. As he passed the food around, the question about the Viridian Gym incident came up again, but Gary decided to tell them that he'd prefer not talking about that right now. He didn't want to think about that and preferred just having fun. Any other conversation would probably be better.

"Ok. So what did the professor call about?" Ash asked.

Excluding that one.

"Does he want to see you now? Let's visit him after we eat!" he continued, without leaving Gary room to reply.

"Oh uh, no, no, he kind of wants to talk to me alone. Family issues," he explained. Ash's sudden burst of joy then suddenly simmered down at this information but he seemed to understand and continued to eat, adding that he'd see him later.

"Should I come along, Gary?" May asked, giving him a serious look.

"No, it's fine. Trust me, I can handle it."

May watched him for a few more moments before dropping the subject and continuing to eat.

A few hours passed with the group chatting about themselves and the things they went through during this past year. Gary talked about many things that happened but stayed away from the subjects of Cinnabar and Viridian. Those were just a few things that they didn't need to get into detail about. However, he did talk about Lavender Town and the Rock Tunnel. He could only say so much though, as the thought of it occasionally played with his emotions and made his mood waver.

Ash explained that they didn't stay too long in the Rock Tunnel as he really wanted to check out Lavender Town. He said he remembered being in the Pokémon Center when things felt a little off. Everyone's heads began to hurt a bit and then the commotion from the tunnel began. They only assumed that the sound of many Onix screeching* were what caused the headaches.

"We wanted to quickly go and help but the nurses from the Pokémon Center suggested we stay there to help others as people and Pokémon were already coming in with injuries," Misty said.

"Lavender Town never really had tourists before so the Pokémon Center barely had any nurses. We did a lot of work there," Brock added.

Gary nodded, looking over to Ash who then began to speak.

"Once things settled down, that's when we went to check out the place. We heard about the death of a very important Pokémon and someone who tried to help. I didn't know it was you until the day after."

Gary looked down at his empty bowl, remembering the little argument the two had in the Pokémon Tower. Thinking on it now, he definitely regretted being so rude to Ash. The whole idea he had was idiotic to begin with. But apparently it actually wasn't as dumb as he thought since Ash did admit that it worked on him.

"I was furious at you after that fight we had but...I understood why you were like that when I went upstairs and realized that you were the one helping others out of the Rock Tunnel...So sorry for saying all those things before," Ash said, softly biting the side of his lip and keeping his gaze on the table.

"No, I was being just as rude with the crap I said. I started it so you don't have to apologize," Gary said, watching as Ash looked up at him and smiled, causing him to smile back.

"Still," Misty said, catching everyone's attention.

"I really do wonder about what happened with those Team Rocket members. The ones that killed themselves? What kind of sound did they hear to make that happen and the Onix going crazy?" she asked as she looked down in deep thought.

Everyone took a moment to think about it but did not have enough information to make any strong leads on the idea.

"The only thing I can think of is that it must have been sounds that triggered certain chemicals and hormones in their brain; something that brought such a deep feeling of depression that they had no choice but to kill themselves," Gary stated as a final thought on the subject.

"Oh, let's stop talking about such grim things," Delia said, frowning as she got up.

"Why don't we have some dessert now? We could clean up then talk more in the living room," she added as she walked back to the kitchen.

Delia suggested making ice cream or milkshakes, but as everyone was craving for different flavors, they all decided to enter the kitchen and make their own personal desserts.

Gary had to admit, it was a lot of fun to make ice cream from scratch and try different things to make them taste better. Even the Pokémon got to pick out what types of berries could be in their smoothies and ice creams. There was a wide assortment as Delia grew her own berries and Ash and Gary had a decent amount to share. Since the kitchen became so busy with everyone moving around, Gary made sure to frequently bump into Ash by "accident", apologizing with a smirk to make sure the message got across; only to make sure Ash kept the thought of them in his head.

The only downside to this dessert event was that Gary wasn't allowed to make his dessert too sweet as he was still recovering.

Soon enough, everyone managed to make their desserts and went to the living room, turning on the tv to a game show channel and watching tv for another hour or so. But Gary could only enjoy the games for so long as he had to make sure he got started on his report.

After another game show, he got up and went to his book bag, taking out a pen and paper and walking to the dining room to start writing right away. About ten minutes passed and Gary saw someone walk in from the side of his vision, looking up for only a moment to see that it was Ash.

"Hey, what're you writing?" Ash asked, noticing that he had just finished one page and was moving onto the next.

"A...report," Gary replied, wanting to give Ash his full attention but managing to only give so much as his mind was preoccupied.

"Report?"

"Yeah, Gramps wanted me to write one about my adventure throughout Kanto. It shouldn't be too hard as long as I make sure to retrace my steps correctly and all the facts that went along with it."

"He's making you do this now?"

"No, he told me when I first left. But I kinda..."

"Forgot about it."

"Yup. But I can get it done now. It only needs to be like...ten pages? And I went through a lot of hell and got a lot of info so it should be easy to fill up."

"You should've done this earlier," Ash said, leaning onto the chair next to the brunette.

"Says the person who always used to procrastinate in his school work."

"Hey at least I passed!"

"Yeah, barely!" Gary replied, laughing afterwards.

Ash was mad at first but laughed about the situation as well. He sat down on the chair next to Gary and placed his arms on the table, leaning his head and half of his upper body on it as he quietly commented, "man all this food's got me sleepy."

Gary only grunted in reply, looking over to see Ash shut his eyes then stay silent, before returning to his work.

The two sat there for a while, Ash occasionally asking a simple question or saying a simple comment which Gary always replied to. Neither brought up any serious subjects as they both knew that this work should get done before distracting Gary about something else and because of this strategy, Gary got his paper done much faster than expected. It wasn't even dark out yet.

It was now 6:37 pm and everyone was cleaning up and getting ready to go. May and Graveler were going to go back home, Gary was getting ready to meet with the professor, and Misty and Brock were planning on sleeping in an inn at the next town over, but Delia suggested them simply staying here as she had room to spare.

"I had a great time today Delia. Thank you for everything," May said as she gave the eldest woman a quick hug by the door.

"Don't mention it, May. You all are always welcome here," she replied with another sweet smile. She seemed to never run out of those.

Gary then came over, giving Delia a hug and saying good bye to her as well. But before he could go, Delia made sure to inform him to do all the things he already knew he needed to do.

"Now don't forget to visit your grandfather."

"I'm gonna go now."

"If he starts anything about being very late, you can just tell him that I didn't let you leave until you ate something."

"I probably won't need that but alright."

"And when you get home make sure you wash up before bed."

"I know, I will. May wouldn't let me do that anyway."

"He's right," May said from behind.

After some more of that, Delia finally left him alone and went back inside to help Misty and Brock on where they can sleep. Ash came out to the door, finishing a conversation he was having with Brock, then looked over to Gary with a sheepish smile. Gary smiled back and turned to his sister, trying to give her signs that he wanted to be alone with him. May looked confused at first but soon understood and cocked an eyebrow with a smile.

"You two...?"

"Tell you later," Gary whispered over to her.

She nodded then said, "'k. Good luck with Gramps."

"I'm sure it'll be fine. See ya."

As she walked away Gary turned back around to see Ash talking to his Pikachu who was residing on his shoulder at the moment. He asked him to wait inside for a while and the electric mouse complied without a second thought, jumping off of his shoulder and running into the house.

Ash shut the front door and the two stood in front of each other, keeping silent for just a moment.

The sky was a soft shade of crimson as nighttime was slowly pushing its way in, making themselves and the scenery around them reflect off a faint red glow. Gary found it oddly interesting that the world seemed to be working perfectly for him as even a soft breeze passed by to cool his anxious nerves down.

"So," Ash said, looking up at the other.

"So," Gary replied in a mocking way, although he himself wasn't sure on how to start this conversation.

"What's...gonna happen now?" Ash asked bluntly.

"Well...gonna go talk to Gramps then...I guess go home?"

"No I meant...uhm, about-" Ash cut off, using his hands to gesture the both of them without looking Gary in the eye.

"Oh, uhm...well what do you want to happen?" he replied, not wanting to pull out some cheesy line from a movie.

Ash looked over to the flowers in the garden, seeming uncomfortable that he was now on the spotlight. But after a moment, he somehow managed to recuperate himself and look up at the brunette.

"I...want to become the Pokémon Champion."

"That's a little random-"

"Let me finish."

"Ok. Sorry."

"I wanna be the Pokémon Champion. Then after that, I want to travel to the other regions to see and experience new things. I want to be the Pokémon Master worldwide... and I still want you to be my motivation for getting there. I still want you as my rival."

Ash took a pause, leaving Gary room to make a comment but Gary was smart enough to know that it was better to just let him finish.

"But I also want you to be the one with me. I want you as my friend, my best friend and as...as..."

Ash's face started to turn red, biting his lip as he began losing his strength to release honesty. There was always a limit to how many secrets you could let out at once. But miraculously, he managed to continue, fighting the weakness in his voice.

"I want to be with you. Leaving all the crap from the last year behind, would you want to take this adventure with me?"

Ash nervously massaged his hands, trying his hardest to keep his eyes on Gary's. Gary stared back, amazed that he was in this situation at the moment. He always visualized himself being the one to ask this question but oddly enough it felt even better vice versa.

The silence seemed to last for ages as the blackette waited for the others answer. What Gary found funny was the fact that they both knew the answer yet for some reason they both needed some sort of final clarification.

"Yeah. Yes; I definitely want to take this adventure with you," he finally said, not being able to hold back the bright smile that began forming onto his face.

The shorter of the two smiled back which somehow forced Gary's smile even wider. He then apologized again, feeling as if it was simply necessary. He did torture him for a whole year.

But Ash merely shook his head, stating, "like I said before, that actually helped me. So keep doing what you do but make sure to remind me that you care for me afterwards."

Gary nodded and played with his bangs out of nervousness. There was something that he wanted to do at this moment and, theatrically, right now would be a perfect time to just lay it on him. But this wasn't a movie or some romance novel so he didn't know whether Ash would really accept him just moving up and kissing him. So instead, he went with his gut decision.

"Can I...Can I kiss you?"

At that, Ash's smile abruptly dropped, looking down at the ground with wide eyes for a moment. His lips lightly parted, as if wanting to answer but not knowing what to say. They had already kissed before, so it shouldn't be as embarrassing, right?

"Yeah," he quietly said, looking back up at the brunette with such confidence. It was odd to see him so self-assured. He was definitely nervous but was able to manage it which made Gary come to wonder where all of this was coming from.

Giving him a quick smile, Gary took a step forward and began to lean down to break the separation between them. But before they could connect, a smash was heard from inside the house following the front door opening to reveal Delia.

"Ash I don't mean to be rude or anything but your Pokémon are...well a little difficult to handle. Could you hurry inside, please?" she said, turning her head to the side to talk to either Brock or Misty.

Whoever it was didn't matter as Gary took this opportunity to turn Ash, grab his chin, and give him a quick kiss on the lips, moving away afterwards saying, "let's talk later tonight."

Ash watched him leave, at first looking surprised but smiling afterward and waving good bye.

Going in the direction of the lab, Gary started with a speed walk which eventually turned into a jog. He felt so elated his body just couldn't contain it. He couldn't control the smile that continued to increase as he ran nor could he stop himself from releasing a sudden laugh that pushed out of his lips. He honestly believed that there was nothing his grandfather could say to bring this mood down.

Walking into the lab, Gary was instantly reminded of the previous year of when he first left on his adventure.

It was now evening so only a few aides were working. He walked past the first area and into the lab where he could see his grandfather talking to another aide about some work. Since the topic seemed important, Gary stood near the table on the far right, allowing them to finish their conversation. He took this time to look around, noting that nothing had really changed except maybe some extra files and boxes thrown about.

"That was the professor's grandkid, right?"

"Yeah. Whatever he did, he's gonna be in a load of trouble."

Gary looked over to the thick bookshelves that separated the two rooms of the lab. Many new aides never knew that the "walls" that separated it were actually quite thin as they were only many shelves lined up. Gary walked up to the book shelf, pretending to grab and inspect a book while he eavesdropped on the conversation on the other side.

"Did you hear anything about what he did?"

"No. But I do know that some people came in to talk to the professor and gave him some files. After that, you could practically feel the heat radiate off of the old fella. I'm amazed he didn't get a heart attack."

Gary opened the book and skimmed the lines in contemplation. Could that have been Team Rocket and Giovanni? What could they have given him? But his grandfather being angry at him wasn't something new or something he couldn't handle. It was actually pretty common when he was younger. But the old man was great at hiding it when others were around. His appearance to others was always very important to him.

"Shigeru."

Gary turned towards the professor who was now finished with the aide. He instructed Gary to follow him as he walked toward the stairs. Putting the random book back, Gary took a deep breath and followed him, noticing other aides giving him peculiar side glances.

Once he was upstairs, he turned left into the door, which led down a long hallway to his grandfather's study, and shut the door behind him. The room was like a basic study that you would imagine; book shelves on both sides of the room, a large desk with papers and a computer sitting on top at the back of the room, and a few drawers and desks behind the main desk and next to the entrance; having Pokémon statues on top of each one. The main shades of the room were brown, giving the room a very relaxed yet stern feeling.

The professor walked over to his desk, sitting on his large chair and turning towards the computer.

"Sit down please," the professor said as he typed something into the computer.

"Uhm, ok," Gary replied as he went to sit down on a smaller chair in front of the desk.

Once he did, he took off his backpack and opened it to pull out the report he had just finished, hoping it was good enough for the man with high expectations.

"Here's the report," Gary bluntly stated, hoping he could bring up other subjects before Gramps would begin arguing with him.

"Thank you," his grandfather replied, taking the information and looking over the pages.

The brunette silently waited for an opening to speak as the professor did some work on the computer. He didn't know what to expect as his grandfather was always one to get straight to the point of why he was upset. But so far, he was avoiding the subject and making this seem like it was just another normal day. Was Gary supposed to think of this as a good thing or a bad thing?

"Shigeru."

"Yes?"

"You see, I'm reading through this essay but I notice many parts missing."

Gary gave him a confused look, replying with the one word that made this sentence confuse him.

"Missing?"

"For example, you molesting an older woman in the S. ."

Gary's eyes widened as those words left his grandfather's mouth, but he never looked up at Gary. He only continued to look through his report. This was evidence enough that Giovanni gave him nothing but lies.

"I didn't molest a woman, she came on to me!" Gary quickly yelled out to attest his claim, but that didn't seem to phase the old man.

"However, I let that go. Luckily, no one pressed charges. But then there was the aggressive way you treated people and Pokémon; not to mention letting a few die."

Gary gulped at this, feeling the guilt and pain from this statement. Yet he quickly recovered as he knew he was beginning to learn from his mistakes.

"...Ok, it's true that I was pretty bad at first but I learned to get better with time! I've been respecting Pokémon ever since that incident in Lavender Town which wasn't my fault! And you have to understand-"

"But I also let that slide because, let's face the facts, you were never a good child to begin with."

"Gramps! Will you just listen to me?!" he called out, feeling his short temper beginning to rise.

"But then there was the worst part. I could forgive everything else until I was informed that you-" He cut himself off, put the report down, and turned to the computer, pressing a button which abruptly sent out very erotic sounds from the speaker. He turned the monitor and said, "-that you let a man have sex with you."

Gary felt his face burn brilliantly as he saw a video of he and Vincent at the inn. How did anyone manage to put a camera in there?! Giovanni must have been following him ever since he appeared in Silph Co.

Panicking, Gary jumped off of his seat and moved toward the keyboard to shut it off but the professor moved it away, giving him a powerful glare. So instead, Gary grabbed some wires in the back of the computer and yanked them out, managing to pull out one that connected the monitor to the screen but the sounds of his own extremely embarrassing moans were still going. So he quickly ripped off the rest of the wires, shutting off the entire computer.

"You're paying for this computer if you broke it," his grandfather stated in a low tone.

"What the hell is your problem?!" Gary cried out, knowing his face was most likely beet red at the moment.

"Who gave you this?! And what right do you have to get into my personal life like that?!"

"Shigeru..." his grandfather replied, shaking his head.

"I understood you being with multiple women at once. I even accepted that they were all older than you. I even managed to let you hurting a woman slide because you didn't get too far."

"I never did anything to her!"

"But sleeping with a man? Shigeru, I thought you were better than that."

Gary breathed hitched, standing up straight with wide eyes as he realized what his grandfather was saying.

"So...you're telling me that it's ok to molest a woman, but I can't sleep with a man?"

The professor stayed silent, continuing to give Gary an ashamed look. But that only fueled his anger even more.

"I hate to break it to you, Gramps, but I'm gay! I don't know if you completely saw that video but that is some pretty damn great clarification that I'm not interested in women."

"Oh stop lying to yourself, Shigeru."

"I'm not lying."

"I did see the entire video. And I could tell he was leading you on the whole way."

"Of course he was! I've never had sex with a guy! And I'm pretty sure we both heard how I reacted to it. You need to understand-"

"No, you need to understand, Shigeru!" the professor yelled out, standing up from his seat.

"You are the only chance this family has! And I will not let you ruin it by turning into this!"

Gary scoffed, lightly laughing and turning away, amazed that this was happening.

"Becoming a homosexual would mean that you cannot have children! You'd break the family line; don't you understand that?"

"Then I'd adopt if that's the issue!" He yelled back as he pivoted around to look back at his grandfather.

"And I'm only 16! Why would that matter now?"

"Exactly! You are only 16 therefore this is obviously a phase you are going through and I expect you to be over it soon! Hopefully that attack in Viridian taught you a lesson!"

Gary paused, noticing that the professor was lightly surprised by his own words. But he allowed those words sink in as his grandfather now practically glared holes into his eyes.

"So you were fine with me almost dying and falling into a coma for 2 days straight?"

"If it cleared that mess of a head of yours, yes!" He yelled out in reply.

Gary could only stare at him with a mixed look of anger and pain. He once again shook his head as he walked away and laughed the situation off. He simply couldn't believe the way his grandfather was reacting to this. The conversation of sexuality was never brought up throughout their lives so Gary naturally assumed that his grandfather was fine with homosexuality like many others were. He was an opened minded man who wanted to learn and study everything about Pokémon. You would think that this would be nothing to him. But obviously, Gary was completely wrong.

After a minute or so of silence for the two to simmer down, the professor deeply sighed and sat back down, folding his hands to relax himself.

"Shigeru...please try to understand the situation I am in. Think of how this family would be seen if you do this."

Gary turned to his legitimate guardian, giving him a chance to speak to understand why he thought this way.

"Our family has been, for ages, a very pure and simple family line. Every parent had expectations for their child to become a great professor or, or gym leader or anything of that sort. I had to give up on your parents because of that accident, but they luckily had you two before they died. All of my expectations were then passed down to the two of you. Your sister, we both know that was a train wreck-"

"Don't talk about her like that."

"But you know it's true! She just ran off to do whatever she wanted, discarding the traditions of this family! But then there's you; the smart child who has a great intellect, is into the sciences of Pokémon, and understands that traditions must be followed."

Gary rolled his eyes and turned to look out of the window behind him, knowing that he never agreed to any of this but rather was forced in. Sure, as a child he was very interested in the more technical views of Pokémon, but that never said that he was following the customs that his family expected from him.

"This is why I have been training you for all of these years. Not only to become a professor but to find a suitable partner to continue the legacy."

"What? What do you mean?" he asked as he turned back to him.

"Why do you think you had so many female fans at the beginning of your journey? I sent out information about you and all of your accomplishments to the mothers of this region so they could see you as a suitable partner for their daughters."

Gary stared at his grandfather in disbelief, feeling betrayed and at a loss of words. This whole adventure was actually a scheme? To get him to marry some girl?

"I did this to help you Shigeru. For most of your childhood, you only had one friend; Satoshi. I had hoped that you suddenly getting angry at the boy would push you away from him so he wouldn't taint you...but I see that I was too late."

"Taint? What're you trying to say?"

"Are you kidding?" the professor said as he smirked and leaned back onto his chair.

"I knew that boy was gay since the first day he came over to play with you and he preferred playing with Pokémon dolls over the cards. I had hoped you would change him, but I could see that he was already born with those bad genes. There was no going back for him..."

Gary stayed quiet for a moment, knowing that arguing about this would just lead to an even larger argument; one that he would probably never win. But he promised himself that he would stop lying and take a stand for what he wants and what he thinks is right, especially if he thought he could talk about Satoshi in that way. Did his grandfather really think he could control this? He had no say in this! He was his guardian but he was his grandfather, not his actual father or May or Delia.

Therefore, he tried reasoning with him as the professor was trying to do with him.

"Gramps... Being gay...isn't a bad thing."

"I already explained this to you, Shigeru. How will you keep our traditions going? As Oak's, we must keep the bloodline going. And adopting wouldn't count. I'm giving you the option now to get over this mess before I take drastic measures."

"What're you gonna do? Force me to be straight?"

"You are straight, Shigeru, I'm just going to remind you," he said as he pushed his seat back some to open a drawer below his desk.

"And to do so, I need to control everything you do now. Obviously this was too much freedom for you which you couldn't handle," the professor said as he stood up with an orange folder now in hand.

When Professor Oak walked up to him, he opened up the folder and passed Gary a few papers, telling him to read them. They were career forms that were already completed except for the signature at the end.

"These are your options. You can either be an aide here in the lab, a Pokémon professor or researcher, or the leader of the Viridian Gym."

"The Viridian Gym? You seriously think I want to go back there?"

"Since the leader has left, they are looking for a new leader and I know you have potential to do that," the older of the two said, ignoring the last question.

"But...no," Gary argued. "A-after all this I want to travel the world. I don't want to just stay here and become some gym leader!"

"I gave you multiple options, Shigeru. You're not ready to travel the world yet. You barely survived through the Kanto region. What makes you think you could go anywhere else?"

"I am ready for it! You can't just make these options for me! I'm not your son!" Gary yelled dropping the papers down onto the ground.

"Oh yes I can!" the professor yelled back, having an obvious anger problem that was just as bad as Gary's when it came to family situations.

"You are underage therefore, as your guardian, I have the rights to all of your money in your bank account."

"Then I'll make more!"

"And that wouldn't be possible if I took your Trainer Card away!"

Gary paused, shocked that this was even being said.

"I am your provider! I can easily explain to the authorities that you are not qualified to be a trainer and force it away from you! I could also take everything from your sister! It's not like she's doing anything with her life anyway."

Gary took a few steps back as he looked at his guardian, putting his hands through his hair.

"Now choose! Be absolutely nothing to this family, or choose one of these occupations," he yelled as he picked up the folder.

"...What the hell is wrong with you?" Gary asked, honestly wrecking his brain to find a reason why his grandfather was acting this way.

"Don't take this so dramatically! All of these occupations will be good for you! They will help you and get you out of this situation you're in!" his grandfather said, attempting to talk in a calmer manner to try and reason with him again.

"But I'm not in any situation! I'm happy with how I am!"

"And that's the problem! You think you're into men but...but try to remember how that girl felt! It was wrong but it was what you wanted wasn't it?"

"No! And I hate that you don't believe me when I say that I didn't touch her!"

"I have the proof in the files that those Team Rocket members gave me!"

"Listen to yourself! Team Rocket? You're seriously gonna believe what they say?"

"Fine, Shigeru fine. Then give me your evidence! Show me the physical files of you not doing these deeds!"

"You don't need that, my word should be evidence enough for you!" Gary cried out to him, but Professor Oak only rolled his eyes and shoved the folder onto his chest.

"Enough! Just tell me which you will sign! Do not make me take everything from you! I can even take away your beloved Pokémon!"

Gary took a deep breath, wanting to yell out more, but he knew what that would lead to. He only was 16 and his grandfather was right; he did have the capability to take everything away from him. Even if he did somehow run away with Ash to another region, he wouldn't have a Trainer Card and would not be able to do anything. Ash could try to support him but he didn't want to solely rely on someone else.

"You will carry on this tradition whether you like it or not," Professor Oak said, turning away to walk out of the room.

Gary only looked at the forms, not knowing what to say or do. How could he throw this on him so suddenly all because he was gay?

As the professor walked out, he stopped for a moment, not looking back as he said his final stand on the issue.

"The sooner you do this the sooner you will realize that I am just trying to help. It hurts now but it will pay off in the end, Shigeru. Give me your answer before you leave to the Pokémon League."

Gary didn't reply, feeling emotionally drained as his eyes began to swell up in aggravation. The man left, leaving Gary to try to make sense of this all and what was the best thing for him to do.

Half an hour or so passed of Gary brooding around in his grandfather's study. Out of frustration and pain he allowed some tears to shed but fought off the rest, not wanting the professor to walk in and see him in a weakened state. Instead, he thought of an array of options of what he could do, but all of them led to having to let Ash leave without him. And even though Gary knew that taking care of himself was more important, he still didn't want Ash to go off on his own. It wasn't that he couldn't fend for himself, but rather the risk of losing him.

All this stress seemed to build up along with the location, so Gary decided to leave the lab, but not before plugging the professor's computer back in to delete all of those files. Once that was finished, he left the room, walked back down the hall and down the stairs then through the back door, ignoring every glance that was turned towards him.

He walked a far distance from the lab, looking up at the night sky as he heard faint sounds of Pokémon in the deep forests around the town. In hand, he held the orange folder with his fate held inside of it, although he didn't know which would be his own.

Taking another look around, Gary decided to sit on the grass, not wanting to interact with anyone by going home or visiting Ash. He wanted to figure whether he should follow his grandfathers choices or just run off. One was more beneficial at the moment, but the other would probably ruin everything in the future.

Would Ash wait for him like he did in the hospital? Or would he leave, wanting to continue his adventure without him? Using the evidence from the past, Gary was pretty sure Ash could leave without him. And even if he did wait, would he hide their relationship when necessary or would that simply frustrate him? He didn't know the level of affection the other had for him and debated whether he truly wanted to know or not.

While he continued to think through a plethora of unanswered questions, the sound of grass bending behind him in a walking pattern caught his attention. But like before in the hospital, Gary didn't need to look back to know that it was Eevee. At first he thought this was just an assumption he made, but as the small fox Pokémon walked next to him, he had to wonder what kind of power was slowly growing inside of him.

'You don't need to be scared,' Gary heard in his mind, causing him to jump and look down at his starter Pokémon. He was looking up at him with his usual normal expression, seeming calm and relaxed.

'This is all probably kinda scary, but seriously, Pokémon can say their own names, why is it wild for us to talk?'

Gary could only stare as Eevee moved his head in ways that made it seem as if he was talking to him. When he didn't reply, Eevee rolled his eyes and moved a little closer to his Trainer.

'Alright, before you really start freaking out, let me just explain. You're Linked.'

"Linked?" Gary asked, a little hesitant on his voice.

'Yes. You can hear the thoughts and connect with the Pokémon closest to you. At first it was just who was physically close to you but slowly it's becoming the Link that only connects between a Pokémon and Trainer emotionally. For example, you and I. It's probably why you can understand me more than any others by now.'

Gary continued to stare with wide eyes, and although this was all very bizarre, the brunette decided to accept this event, nodding to show Eevee that he understood.

"So...y-you can hear my thoughts too?"

'Only the ones that you actually say out in your head. I mean, if we heard everything in each others heads that would be way too much racket. I thought you were smart, Gary.'

Gary frowned at this, knowing that he was smart but choosing not to say anything.

'See, like you saying, "I am smart" in your head. I heard that because it was something you wanted to reply with,' Eevee said, smiling at Gary's surprise afterwards.

"Well, how am I supposed to control that?"

'Not sure. I only know the history of Links, not really how to do it. To be honest, many Pokémon thought that Links were nothing but myths and it never happened. But I know better. Would you want to learn about that now? Or would you prefer me telling you about that Pokémon you met?'

Gary's eyes widened, feeling elated that he could learn about that Pokémon right away. Yet, at the same time he was curious about this Link that Eevee was talking about. He looked down at the orange folder in his hand, feeling the depressive emotions it brought with it, and sighed, putting it down next to him and slightly sitting on it so the wind wouldn't take it away. He preferred pushing those thoughts away at the moment and this conversation definitely was distracting enough.

'I vote I start with the Links cuz it'll eventually lead to the Pokémon anyway. They're kind of connected. I actually think you obtained a Link because of him,' Eevee said as he scratched the back of his ear with his foot.

"Oh. Well ok start with the Link thing then," he said as he sat up straight and folded his legs, giving Eevee his complete attention.

'Ok. Where do I start...Ok. A long, long, long, long time ago, during a time called the Sengoku period, there was a region called Ransei, where people and Pokémon feuded for land. All the warlords of each kingdom in this region wanted to conquer the entire area, for if they did, they would meet the creator of all life who would assist them in anything they desired.'

"Wait. You mean Arceus?"

'Yup. Once one warlord conquered all kingdoms, they would meet Arceus. But that was very difficult as many warlords were very strong and had clans that worked together when necessary. Now not everyone could be a warlord or warrior. The people in the past were labelled one of these two things when they had the natural ability to Link; like what you now have. By the stories I've read and heard, they all started with headaches and pains like you had. But it should go away soon.'

Gary nodded, noting that the headaches he used to have are practically gone. Now it's only a strange feeling in his head that he found quite uncomfortable; like sleeping in an uncomfortable position.

'Anyway, warriors and warlords used these Links to not only get along with Pokémon, but fight for land. It was very bloody and gruesome, but when teams were formed with warrior and Pokémon, it was as if they fought as one; completely in sync and in tune with one another. One very important one was Azai Nagamasa**; the warlord who conquered all the kingdoms in Ransei.'

As Eevee continued his history*** lesson, Gary was informed of the many wins and losses of this legendary warlord. It particularly piqued Eevee's interest as Nagamasa had an Eevee himself and evolved it into an Umbreon. He also spoke of Nagamasa's largest competition: Oda Nobunaga, who conquered a large amount of land and was extremely powerful. At first many believed he wanted to conquer the land for evil; to enslave all with the help of Arceus. But during his final breaths he explained to his murderer, who was also his sister, that he only wanted to stop the fighting in this land. He had hoped that ruling with an iron fist would be the only way but he was wrong.

'After his death, Nagamasa met Arceus but amazingly, he did not use his power to assist him. Rather, Nagamasa simply asked for Arceus to never appear and help people directly; only to help from afar.'

"So the warlords would no longer have a reason to fight."

'Exactly. Once Arceus left, Nagamasa brought the warlords of all the kingdoms together; well the ones who survived and chose to follow him; and suggested an allegiance with one another. Even though he won this war, he hated that he had to fight to the top and hurt so many. After extremely long debates and conversations on how to rule, Nagamasa allowed the warlords to stay and rule their kingdoms the way they pleased. Of course, attacking another kingdom was banned but they often practiced and sparred for entertainment.'

"Oh. That's...kinda cool," Gary said now in a laying position as he looked up at the stars above.

'Yup. It's why I admire him so much! I'd love to be just like his Umbreon someday too,' Eevee said, squirming in his own excitement.

"So that's what you want to be? An Umbreon?" he asked, turning to look at Eevee who now stopped his movements and looked at his Trainer with wide eyes.

'Oh, uh, well if you don't want that...I mean, it's just a suggestion, really,' Eevee replied sheepishly.

But Gary only shook his head and replied, "no it's ok. If that's what you want to be then we'll find you a Dusk Stone and evolve you into one."

At that, Eevee smiled brightly, walking over to him to lick his hand and thank him. Gary nodded and sighed, responding with, "it's nothing. I mean, what right do I have to...control your life?"

Eevee, now sensing the sudden negative feelings, began hearing bits and pieces of Gary's inner thoughts that revolved around his grandfather who would not let him be himself. They seemed like a large dilemma so Eevee decided to move the subject back into his story.

Hopping onto his stomach, he quickly said, 'now let me tell you about Mewtwo! Thats the unknown Pokémon you met. You of all people have a right to know about him.'

This brought Gary back out of that gloom in his head as he looked down at Eevee, waiting for him to start.

'See, there was this other warlord, Uesugi Kenshin, remember?'

"Uhm, yeah. He was the one that worked well with psychic type Pokémon."

'Yes. In the later future, he met the legendary Mewtwo and it's close family member Mew, during a walk through the forest near his kingdom. They first planned on running away, amazed that they did not notice him approaching, but he urged for them to stay as he didn't want to Link with them. He had heard folklore about them and simply wanted to get to know them. At first, they were very hesitant and did not meet him on the days he asked. But seeing how persistent he was, they decided to talk to him, telling him about themselves and their powers.'

"So they pretty much became friends."

'Yes. And for a long time that's all they were. But during a sparring session with his honorable rival, Takeda Shingen, who was the ground type warlord, one of the warriors of said clan actually went to attack and kill Shingen. No one was close enough to help right away so Mewtwo actually jumped in, allowing them to Link and defeating the man quite easily. It was then on that the two were inseparable, being one of the strongest Links of that time.'

Gary looked away from Eevee for a moment before cocking his head and asking what the Pokémon was doing here then.

'No one really knows. The assumption passed around Pokémon was that since Mewtwo is immortal, his warrior must have died from old age and Mewtwo left, never Linking with anyone ever again. He was said to be constantly traveling the world, making many researchers lose sight of him completely. That was when rumors of Mewtwo being a creation of destruction started. And I'm assuming those Team Rocket fellows are trying to use him because of all the power he had during that time period.'

Gary thought this out for a moment and was about to respond when he heard someone call out to him in a loud whisper.

He quickly turned his head, seeing Ash walking up to him. What was he doing here?

"Ash."

"Hi. After everything was done at the house, I just kinda wanted to see you so, uhm yeah!" he said, sitting down next to him.

Gary looked down at Eevee, feeling a little apologetic that their conversation would be cut short, but Eevee only shook his head, quickly telling him that they could finish this talk some other time.

"I went to the lab first but the professor said you already went home and you preferred me not bothering you," Ash continued. "But I heard someone talking back here and found you! I wonder if the professor knew. He wouldn't lie about that."

Gary lightly scoffed and replied, "yeah." Ash didn't need to know about the real professor yet.

Or did he? The two were planning on a huge adventure together and this was a major downside to it. It was only fair to tell him, even if it completely changes Ash's view of him.

"So what're you doing back here with Eevee?" Ash asked, moving his hand towards the small fox Pokémon. Eevee, in return, nuzzled it a bit before chiming his name out happily.

Gary stammered a bit as he sat up, moving Eevee to his lap.

"Hey, we uh, need to talk."

Ash gave the other a confused look which turned serious as he turned a little more towards him.

"What is it?"

Gary looked down at Eevee, debating on how to start this conversation. But the more he thought about it, the harder it became. It was all so stressful and abrupt and it would probably be just as intense for Ash to hear right away.

That's when it hit Gary that if he told him about this, Ash would then know about Vincent. There was no way he wanted to tell him about that! Especially because it wasn't even that long ago!

Gary continued to look down at Eevee, who chose to stay quiet to let his thoughts continue. That was when he knew how to start this talk.

"I...I'm Linked."

Ash slightly cocked his head to the side, confused at this sudden statement.

"Linked? To what?"

"...So yeah...I can talk to Pokémon telepathically and vise versa. And...I guess I know who that Pokémon is and that I should probably help him rather than fear him," Gary said, taking a deep breath after explaining everything to Ash.

The two were lying on their backs, looking up at the sky while Eevee stayed on Gary's chest. Gary managed to sneak a glance over to Ash, who was staring up at the sky with a serious expression that he couldn't read.

He had no idea if he believed him or not but he preferred explaining this over the events that happened in the lab. Gaining a little bit of courage in his voice, Gary decided to ask.

"I know this is a lot of craziness to take in but...it's happening. Do you believe me?"

"I do," Ash said all too bluntly.

"Wait, seriously?"

"It makes sense when you think about what happened in Viridian and in the hospital. Being around Pokémon kept hurting you. And when we were at my house, I noticed you kept looking over to the Pokémon in a weird way, like they were bothering you."

Gary nodded but kept looking at Ash, confused about his expression.

"So...what's with that look then? You look like you're thinking really hard about something."

Ash stayed quiet for a moment as he nervously pulled out blades of grass underneath his hands. He seemed to be trying to find the right words to say.

"We live in a Pokémon world, Gary. People could try to deny it but magic is obviously real. There are things that we just can't explain off the bat sometimes. But once you know enough, you usually can explain any type of magic in this world...I should know I guess."

Gary furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, wondering what he was talking about.

"You mean, there's something up with you too?"

"Most people probably just think it's normal. To not grow much? But this is different."

Gary turned towards Ash, leaning on his side as he used his arm to prop up his head. He could tell this was something that was really bothering his friend.

"I think I stopped aging. Or...maybe I'm just growing too slow. People think I'm just short for my age and most just always think I'm 10 or something. But I'm almost 18 and I still look and feel like nothing has changed."

Ash paused, giving Gary time to think. But he took this more scientifically and knew he would say something about genes or traits that made him this way. That is, until he got more in depth with the situation.

"I started paying attention to it by small things like how my hair and nails would barely grow, but that wasn't what really made me believe that this wasn't natural. When I would get cut or bruised they would heal almost instantly. Sometimes I'd get very large cuts that I only cleaned and bandaged and it was better by the end of the day. And I just thought, 'maybe I'm a fast healer'."

Ash then sat up, pulling up his left pant leg all the way up to his knee. Gary sat up as well and looked at it, not seeing anything but a normal leg.

"Until one day I slipped off the side of a small cliff and broke my leg. The bone was sticking out and was completely out of place while blood just poured down my leg."

Ash moved his gloved hand down his bare calf, stopping right at the middle of it and lightly rubbing the area.

"I could literally see my blood hardening and my bone and muscles slowly forming back together. The bone bent itself back in place, which hurt like hell, but only so much as it formed back together with the rest of my bone. I was only left with what looked like a gash. Brock and Misty helped me to a hospital and I was amazed to see that there was no trace of my bone breaking. The doctor said I would be fine the next day... That's when I was sure that something was wrong with my body. That I wasn't aging right because my body is always healing itself much faster than normal."

Gary was speechless for a moment as Ash pulled his pant leg back down, looking down at the grass before him instead of trying to look at Gary to see if he believed him. But of course he did. Gary's story seemed more surreal than his. The only difference was that Gary knew where his power originated from. Ash, on the other hand, hadn't explained it yet.

"Do you have any idea how this started?" Gary asked.

"I think I do. But it's just an idea," he replied as he looked over to Gary.

"You know that legendary Pokémon Ho-oh right?"

"Of course."

"When I was a kid, I saw him. I didn't know at first but years later, when I researched it, I knew that was what I saw. There's a belief that when you see Ho-oh, he grants your deepest desire. And that was when I remembered..."

Ash looked down again, reliving the moments through his memories as he visualized the sight such a long time ago.

"When I saw that Pokémon, for some reason I suddenly kept thinking, 'I want to be a Pokémon Master. I want to meet every single Pokémon in the entire world, be friends with them, connect with them.' Those thoughts just felt so strong at that moment, before it instantly went away."

"So you think...maybe it granted you some sort of immortality?"

"Doesn't it make sense?" he asked, looking back up at Gary.

"How else could I see every Pokémon in the world? I need to be healthy and live long enough..."

Gary nodded, looking down for a moment. Who would've guessed that Ash had some sort of power? When Gary gained his, his mind could only perceive that he was the only one. But once he realized that maybe hundreds of people are probably Linked and have other types of powers, everything just seems so different.

"Wow...you're power is so much better than mine," Gary said, trying to relieve some tension from this conversation.

Ash gave him a shocked look, replying, "what? Are you kidding? You actually get to talk and connect with Pokémon! That would be so much more better for me!"

"Well I would love to have healing powers like you! Especially with all the hell I was going through! I would definitely switch with you!"

"Yeah me too!"

The two stopped for a moment, realizing how idiotic this conversation was before laughing it off afterwards.

"I guess we both have something crazy about us, huh?" Gary said as he moved his hand onto Ash's.

Ash scratched his nose a bit and agreed, maneuvering his hand so it could be holding his.

The two stayed silent for a few minutes, letting all of this new information register into their minds. Gary seemed to see Ash in a new light now, and wondered how their lives would be now that he knew this. But that also brought up how long they would be able to stay together. He didn't know if he wanted to tell Ash about his grandfather now. Maybe when he gave it some thought tonight, he'd tell him tomorrow. But he'd have to avoid the whole Vincent issue. Telling the one you love that you slept with someone else isn't exactly something anyone would want to do. But it's not like they were together at that time anyway.

"So what now?" Ash asked, pulling Gary out of his thoughts.

"I was actually thinking about how we could make you look older," Gary said to keep the subject away from him.

"What do you mean?"

"Well it bugs you that you look too young right? We can just cut you hair to look more mature, maybe change up your clothes or something. Your attire definitely can change the way you look. Like, this hair that sticks out all of the time," Gary said, grabbing onto some of his hair that stuck out.

"How about you stop doing that? It's kind of kid-ish."

"I don't do that! It kind of just does that on it's own. I tried brushing it down but in never works."

"Seriously? Then we'll spray it down with some hair cement!" Gary exclaimed in almost a challenging way.

"Is that what you use?"

"You don't seriously believe that my hair gets like this naturally right?" Gary said in between a small laugh.

"You've always had it like that! How was I supposed to know?" Ash replied, getting a little angry afterwards.

Gary chuckled and shook his head as he took off Ash's hat and played with the ends that stuck out a bit.

"Well you can blame May for that. She started this hairdo on me and it kind of just stuck."

Soon enough, Gary and Ash were now sitting face to face, Gary using both of his hands to figure out how he could fix his hair. At some point he had all the hair pushed down and looked at Ash's face, liking the maturity this was giving. But as he inspected his face, he realized that Ash's eye color looked more red than usual.

"Haven't your eyes always been a type of brown?" Gary curiously asked.

"Yeah but they've been turning a little red lately. It's been getting redder every day."

"Yeah, I can see that...ok I'm going to your house tomorrow so I can help your mom cut your hair. I've got an idea."

"Well don't just do it without showing me," Ash said as he moved Gary's hands so he could get up. His hair, in turn, quickly moved back up to it's odd, spiked up positions as he put his hat on top.

Gary smiled and got up with him, making sure to hide the orange folder in his book bag before Ash could see it.

The two decided to walk back together, Gary walking Ash to his house since he came with no Pokémon. They talked the whole way, goofing around about their powers and what they would do with them and how strong they could become.

Once at the front, Gary gave him a long good night kiss, making Ash smile before telling him goodbye and that he'd see him tomorrow. As Gary turned away, suddenly the thought of three certain words came into his head and he quickly turned, calling out to the shorter of the two.

Ash turned, still somewhat smiling as he waited for Gary to talk.

"I-..." Gary gulped, repeating the words over and over in his head but feeling too embarrassed to actually say it out loud.

"I-I'll see you tomorrow."

Ash looked confused but smiled, stating that once again he'd see him tomorrow too. Once Ash went inside, Gary pulled at his bangs, frustrated that he wasn't able to say it.

Around 8:30 pm Gary was finally home. He unlocked the front door with his spare key and called out to see if May was still up, but stopped halfway when he saw her sit up on the couch.

"Sorry, sorry. I fell asleep while waiting," she said as she watched him come in and lock the door.

"Yeah, sorry I took a while. I hung out with Ash for a bit after leaving the lab."

"Ok. So what did the old scientist want?" May asked as she stretched her arms and legs.

"A report that I was supposed to finish about the journey. Then we just talked and...yeah."

May turned to Gary, giving him an inquisitive look.

"And...yeah? Did something happen? What did he bother you about now?"

Gary sighed, looking over to Eevee who was sitting on his shoulder at the moment.

'You gonna tell her?' Eevee asked, softly frowning.

Still not sure on how he could reply through his head, Gary merely shrugged and sat on the couch next to her.

He knew she would freak out about this and would want him to just break all the ties with their grandfather, but he just couldn't do that. Not only because he could and would take everything away from him, but just the simple fact that Gary, in a distorted type of way, still wanted his acceptance. He didn't want his grandfather hating him and he certainly didn't want to leave this place behind. He loved Ash, but is he really worth his entire family?

So he told May everything that happened and allowed her to get as angry as he did. He listened to all her suggestions but made sure to tell her that it just wouldn't be best. And although she was furious, she eventually understood and knew what the better choice would be.

To lighten the mood before bed, he also informed her on the ability he had and explained what actually happened in the Viridian Gym. It kept her interested and off topic of the main issue, much like what happened with him.

Finally, she asked what was happening between him and Ash and Gary happily explained that they were in a relationship. He also told her about the drama they went through all because they weren't honest with each other, which she related to some cheesy chick flick.

In the end, the two went to bed, May glad that he was safe and sound and that he's finally happy, and Gary at ease after being able to let out all of his emotions. He chose to relax for a few days before going to the Pokémon League and decide what he'd want to do before he left. However, May made sure to assure him that he had no reason to rush, and that he should rest and heal up before thinking on things like that.

Another good night was interchanged, and the two, along with almost everyone else in Pallet Town, went to bed.

*ok, seriously though, I LOVED the old Screech because it literally was a SCREECH lol it's like just a fun, realistic thing to me but it was obvious why they took it out. Too loud and high pitched for kids, I get it. BUT STILL! Lol I loved when I was wearing earphones, just nonchalantly battling then "Onix used Screech!" And before I could finish reading it I'd cringe in pain and be like "dammit Onix you literally just lowered my defense!" ...lol yeah that was my spat on that.

** Azai Nagamasa is an actual man from historical events but it was never 100% proclaimed that the MC of Pokémon Conquest was him. But going by the history and the way he looked, you could make that assumption. Therefore I did :) lol not to mention many other characters were based off of actual historical figures.

*** All of the history I laid out here is NOT THE ACTUAL STORYLINE IN THE GAME. Yes, it is close to it, but like I stated I believe last chapter or the chapter before, I took the story into my own perspective lol so there was no bloodshed or death anywhere :/ which sucked but whatever lol I made it bloody and awesome.

A.N. wow I actually finished it lol yay me! Yeah a lot happens here and the next couple chaps as well :)

I hoped this wasn't too much to take in. And nothing was really rushed right? I hope not... Oh and I totally went there with Ash and his no aging thing XD it is a serious thing in my book.

And I love Delia so much! Such a perfect mama :3 and The Professor lol I'm assuming tons of people will hate him. But I guess I made him that type of person that doesn't want to see the different sides to something. Like, he's so deep into tradition that it blurs away any other way. (also some things he said were probably just said out of anger cuz he has anger problems too. That's how I thought it).

And the thing with Gary still wanting his acceptance may annoy some people but I know the feeling of disliking a father and/or mother figure intensely but still wanting them to be happy with what you do. It's just...this inward feeling that you want them to accept you because they are still family and family will always be there to either love you or haunt you. So I'd probably be like Gary at first, thinking that I shouldn't just run away (although when I was younger I would so do the opposite lol...)

So I gotta ask cuz I like asking questions :) what do you think'll happen with Gary? Like, what would he choose to do? And what do you think you would do in this type of situation? (but you can't kill the professor lol only exception XD)

Also R&R for me and tell me what you liked and hated about this chapter (and if I had any screw ups) :) I hope to put the next one soon!