Archive of Our Own ^beta

"And you're positive that no one's going to see us?"

"All of the labs are locked up at night and trust me, no one wants to be in one of them at two in the morning."

When Ash Ketchum huffed, his breath made a visible fog in front of his face. The reminder that it was towards the end of December in the Arceus-damned Sinnoh Region was only adding to his annoyance. The bulk of THAT was made up entirely by Gary Oak, who was fiddling with a few keys at the door to Professor Rowan's laboratory. Ash had made the mistake of not dressing for the cold when he had allowed Gary to drag him out of bed at that unholy hour, and he was deeply regretting it. He envied his former rival and his long-sleeved white coat...even if it was probably thinner then the blue vest Ash was wearing.

There was a loud jingling as the keys clattered to the ground, and Ash groaned impatiently. He was swatted in the chest for his troubles before Gary snatched the small keyring back up. "Shut up, all right? My fingers are frozen solid..."

"H'yeah, I'm REALLY sorry about that." Ash deadpanned, earning him a withering leer before Gary turned back to the door. "Look, do you have the key or not? You dragged me all the way out here and you can't even get us--"

The door clicked, and Gary stepped aside, pushing it open with a half-smug, half-pouty manner. "You were saying?~"

Grumbling, Ash shouldered past the other boy, eager to get in out of the cold and warm his freezing arms. "I was saying that you suck at opening doors after waking up people too early in the morning." He retorted, matching Gary's glare with one of his own the moment the auburn-haired male stepped in behind him. "What was so important that you had to get me up in the middle of the night?"

"Something I didn't want your little girlfriend or your other blond friends to see yet." Came Gary's scathing reply, before he gestured impatiently for Ash to follow him down the hall. "Come on and stop complaining. You'll like this."

Ash made another grumpy noise before trudging along after him, choosing to ignore the remark about his friends, still blissfully asleep back at the spare room in the dorms. He had brought Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie all the way from Kalos to have them meet some of his other friends before the holidays were upon them all, the ending stop being Professor Oak's lab in Ash's home town of Pallet. Along the way, however, he had made a stop in Sinnoh to collect Gary, as the younger Oak would be returning home himself. Ash had thought it was a good idea, as he hadn't seen his friend in some time, nor heard from him. In truth, it HAD gone rather well, although it had been rather late by the time they had arrived. Professor Rowan had offered them room to sleep for the night, and Ash HAD been sleeping until Gary had come to collect him. Pleased as he was to see his former rival, he regretted not getting to the lab sooner at the moment. At least then, he could've done this during the day time instead of sneaking around in the middle of the night.

The trainer realized after a moment that Gary was talking softly to him as they headed down the hall, and briefly tuned out his inner fuming over the situation so he could listen.

"-been dabbling in more revival experimentation, but with more recent remains." The boy was saying, gesturing lightly with his hands as he talked, "Just to see if there was any possibility of reviving recently passed Pokemon."

"What?" Ash asked, with a yawn. This once again prompted the other Pallet Town native to glare back at him. "Come on, don't lookit me like that, I'm half asleep."

"You could at least pretend to be awake, then." Gary shook his head, stopping outside of a closed door with a keypad. He slid a small card through a slot on the top, then quickly hit a sequence on the numeral pad. "Forget it. I didn't bring you here to fight with you. Just...take a look, all right?"

The door closed with a soft hissing noise behind Ash, and he rubbed at his eyes as Gary turned on several of the lights overhead. The room inside was about the size of a classroom laboratory, with computers and machinery Ash didn't know the names of - and didn't care to find out - placed against the walls. Several metallic platforms of various sizes, with wide glass tubes and containers  placed upon them, were in the center of the room. On one was something that did finally get his eyes to open more then halfway. Rocking gently back and forth was a large egg, colored yellow but patterned in what looked like flames. The machine rocking it under a bright light would rotate the egg once in a while. It was this machine Gary approached, and Ash was quick to follow him.

"What Pokemon laid that...?" He asked, watching as Gary jiggled the mouse for a computer attached to the rocker. "I thought you said you worked with reviving fossil Pokemon."

"I do." Gary replied, pulling up several small windows. To Ash, they looked like a bunch of squiggly lines, but he was sure they were important. His friend made a few notes by hitting a couple keys, then stood up straight and lifted the egg gently out of the stilling rocker. "This...is a Moltres egg." He grunted, finally getting a good grip on the large, round object. "That's what I was talking about when I said we were trying more recently deceased Pokemon. We got the DNA from remains that date back only a century ago. If this hatches, it'll be post-dated any other revived fossil by a couple thousand years."

"Only a century...?" Ash questioned, reaching out and pressing his hand flat to the surface of the egg. It was incredibly warm, and almost shocked his fingers from the increase in temperature. He supposed he had been colder then he thought originally.

Gary scoffed slightly, setting the egg back into its cradle and letting the rocker turn back on. "'Only a century', he says. Do you realize what this means? We could keep this going further and bring back Pokemon that have only just died. It sounds like it'd be fairly simple, since we can revive fossil Pokemon already, but it's not. There's some sort of missing link...it might make this egg not hatch, actually. We're hoping it does."

"Huh...so...it could die?" The trainer frowned worriedly at the gently shifting egg. Death had always been a squeamish subject for him, and the idea of something that hadn't even gotten out of its egg dying was a bit sad.

"It could," Gary admitted, crossing his arms, "But I've been keeping a close eye on it. So far, there haven't been any problems, but I'm not going to let my guard down yet. I've actually got some of the vital systems hooked up to my Pokegear, in case they drop. Anyway...I wanted to show you because I need someone to work with it when it DOES hatch."

It took a moment for Ash to process what sort of offer Gary was giving him, and his eyes widened. "You want to give ME your Moltres?"

"It's not really mine, technically...but I want you to work with it for a little while, yes." The other boy admitted, finally smiling a little. "I discussed it with Professor Rowan, and we agreed it needs an actual trainer to assess how well it does in and out of battle. We couldn't give it to just anyone, and the professor already trusts you, so I threw your name out and he took it."

"Wow," Ash shook his head, turning back to look at the egg once more, "I dunno what to say, Gary..."

"A thank you would suffice."

The snark in Gary's tone didn't do anything but make Ash laugh a little, that time. He rubbed the back of his neck. "Thanks, Gary. So is this your Christmas gift to me?"

"Hey, if you want it to be, I can take back the other one." Was the reply, complete with Gary jerking a thumb over his shoulder. 

Ash once again laughed at him before they fell into a comfortable silence. Despite his earlier whining about being up so early, Ash found he didn't mind so much anymore. His friend's offer was astounding, and the fact that Gary had chosen Ash out of numerous others to entrust with the creature in the egg was humbling, to say the least.

 "You sure I can't do anything to repay you?" The dark-haired trainer finally asked, glancing over towards where Gary was standing. 

The other boy, absorbed in a couple things on the computer screen, peered up at Ash curiously. The fingers on his left hand tapped absently against the side of the raised platform while he examined Ash, who felt just then like he was under a microscope. Trust Gary to make everything a study session. "...No. You'd already be doing me a huge favor just by taking this on."

"It's a legendary Pokemon, Gary. You're just gonna give it to me to run around with?" Ash questioned.

His friend shook his head a little. "One, it's not that uncontrolled. I'm expecting you to do certain things and take down notes...which I'm sorry for, actually, but it needs to be done. Two, I trust you." He stepped closer to Ash, putting his hands in the pockets of his lab coat. "A lot of other people do, too. If anyone could do this, it'd be you."

"You're putting wayyyyyy too much faith in me." Ash stated, bluntly, crossing his arms over his chest. He was slightly glad that his body decided to finally start putting some effort into getting taller during the past year. Gary may have also gained another inch or so, but now the two boys were roughly the same height, and Ash had a sneaking suspicion that he might have been the taller one for once. It was a lot less intimidating then Gary staring down his nose at Ash while they talked, which had been the norm a couple years ago.

Gary's response to Ash's worried tone was to shrug slightly. "I don't think so. You're really good with Pokemon, and Moltres is going to be a little freaked out when it realizes it's not in the same time period it was when it died. It'll need somebody to work with it who's kind and...well...somewhat patient." The jab made Ash stick out his tongue at him. "I've seen how you work with other Pokemon. Trust me, I'm not worried about Moltres. Although I'm pretty sure you may have to go to a burn unit a couple times..."

"Heyyyy..." Ash lightly swatted at Gary's shoulder while the other boy snickered. "Really, thank you. That means a lot, y'know, considering how you were a couple years back to me."

"Don't remind me." Was the researcher's reply, accompanied by a roll of his eyes.

"I will remind you until the end of time." Ash mock-sneered, smirking at Gary. "About how much of a jerk you were and your weird little catch-phrase--"

"Don't you dare."

"'SMELL YA LATER, AAAASHHHYYYY-BOYYYYY~'!" Came the haughty exclamation, followed by Ash bursting into giggles at the other boy's expense. "It was the dumbest thing ever, Gary...!"

"Shut up-! It's not that funny!" Gary snapped, a red flush staining his cheeks.

"Well, it wasn't then, either." Ash admitted, still grinning wickedly, "But now? It's pretty hilarious. You talked big for a guy with THAT kind of catch-phrase..."

Groaning, Gary turned away, focusing on shutting off the monitor he had been using. "As Gramps loves to tell me." He griped, quietly. With his back still facing Ash, he added on: "You do know I'm sorry for all of that, right?"

"Huh?" Ash blinked, frowning. "Well, yeah. Course I do. You said it before. Why?"

"I just...think about it sometimes, that's all." Gary said, softly, lingering with his back turned still even though the monitor had gone dark seconds before. "I was a mean little kid, and I guess maybe part of me is just paranoid that people are still upset with me about that."

Ash thought about that quietly. He didn't think he was still angry at Gary for the way he'd behaved at the beginning of their separate journeys. It would have been silly to be, he realized: Ash had gone through so much in the past several years that made Gary's ribbing look minuscule in comparison. Even if Ash's worst problems HAD been Gary's attitude, his former rival had long since apologized sincerely for his actions. He shook his head finally, smiling faintly, and tugged on one of Gary's sleeves. "I promise, I'm not mad anymore. We're friends again~"

Gary finally looked at him over his shoulder, returning the smile in a way that could only be filled with relief. "I'm glad. I missed being your friend, actually. Sorry for not trying to get in contact for a while, by the way."

"What's with all the sorries?"

"...I'm a little behind on the apologizing." His friend admitted. "I guess it does sound kind of weird."

"YOU'RE weird." Ash countered, and Gary lightly shoved him.

"You're the one who likes being Pika-shocked, not me."

"Oh yeah? Well, you're the one with the stupid catch-phrase."

"Again...?! Whatever, you're the one who rescanned Pokemon he already saw before."

"How d'you know that?!" Ash exclaimed, embarrassed immediately for being called out.

Gary smirked a little. "Grandpa gets all of your Pokedex's data sent to his systems, remember?~ Did you really scan a Growlithe while you were in Unova?"

Sputtering, Ash shoved him, much like he had been shoved seconds before. "No--!"

"You did~"

"Did not!"

"Did so."

Frustrated, Ash fisted his hands in the front of the other boy's shirt and coat, lightly shaking him. "Don't you tell ANYBODY, Gary Oak...!"

"No promises." Gary smugly retorted, reaching up to try and pry Ash's hands from his clothing.

Ash's eyes widened, and he growled, causing his friend to step back in slight surprise. The backs of Gary's legs hit the chair in front of the rocking mechanism, and he dropped down abruptly, taking Ash with him. The chair rolled innocently away, further causing them to crash to the floor. Ash flailed, releasing a handful of Gary's shirt to grab for something to hold himself up. Unfortunately, his fingers groped and latched onto the keyboard for the rocker's computer, which was not attached to the surface it was on in any way. The board slipped off of the flat surface as he went down, and Ash heard a startled and pained yelp as his chin collided with Gary's collar bone.

"Owowowowow-!" Gary whined, his hands releasing Ash's wrists and covering up his mouth.

"What? What happened?" The trainer asked, rubbing at his chin.

"You pulled that down onto my FACE, that's what happened...!" The other boy whined, pulling his hands away. Ash was startled to see a small amount of blood on Gary's bottom lip, along with smears on his fingers. "My lip's busted..."

Alarmed, Ash scrambled to sit up, reaching up to pull Gary's hands further from his face. "I'm sorry! Lemme see, I'll get it..."

"Don't touch it-OW!"

"Hold still-!"

Gary fought with him momentarily until Ash managed to hold both of his wrists in one hand (a feat he wouldn't have managed if Gary had bothered to put on his wristbands that night) and hold them slight off to the left. His right hand grabbed Gary's face, thumb just under where the other boy's lip was split open. It wasn't a bad split, and it wasn't bleeding too terribly, but he knew it would bruise and he knew it'd be sore for a while. Absently, he ran his thumb across it, gathering and wiping away the bit of blood that was beading there.

"I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to pull it down." Ash finally murmured, watching Gary wince as he again tried to swipe the blood away from his friend's lip. All this did was smear the red liquid, due to how much had already collected on his thumb. "It doesn't look that bad." He added, trying to lighten the mood.

"I wish you'd quit touching it." Gary grumbled, shifting his shoulder blades against the cold linoleum.

Ash found that peculiar, that he was still touching Gary's face. It wasn't a bad sort of peculiar, like the kind he would get just before he got caught doing something he wasn't supposed to be doing. It was more of a weird, fuzzy sort of feeling he got in his cheeks and chest. It was a feeling he'd had felt before only a couple of times, also associated with close contact with the same boy laying on his back on the floor. The first time it had happened, he had just picked Gary up off the Viridian Gym's floor, concerned his rival was badly hurt. The second time had been when Gary announced his change in career. Both times, he hadn't had time to reflect on the strange feeling. In the lab, with no one due in for (what Gary had said was) a few hours and no one else around, Ash finally did.

He must have spaced out, because Gary shifted again and brought him back to the present. "What's with that look...?" The other boy was asking, cautiously. "Why're you looking at me like that...?"

Taking in Gary's wary expression, Ash didn't answer, and let his eyes trail back down to his friend's bleeding bottom lip again. There was, again, beads of deep crimson swelling there. His own thumb was covered in the red substance, and trying to wipe off the third wave of blood would only spread the stain across Gary's mouth and the skin around it.

Hastily, Ash reached up with his slightly-bloodied hand and grabbed the brim of his cap, taking it off and pulling it back on backwards. Gary protested briefly when Ash placed his hand back on his face. It was a brief bit of protesting because he was cut off abruptly when the trainer leaned down and kissed him right on the mouth.

Ash had no idea how many people Gary may have kissed thus far in his life, but for himself, this marked the first time he'd willingly done it to anyone but his mother. Even then, he couldn't compare it to the tiny, cute pecks he gave to appease her. For one thing, he didn't pucker before kissing the researcher sprawled on the floor, and it was because of this that he could taste the coppery blood as well as smell it. He was nervous, and expected Gary to wrench one of his hands free to sock him right in the cheek. All he felt were small twitches from the other boy's hands.

He fully expected the calm demeanor to vanish once he pulled back. There was no yelling when he did, however, and Gary didn't exactly look furious. He looked bewildered. The expression on his face was almost comical, save for the tiny smear of blood under his lip. Absently, Ash ran his tongue over his own, catching where the blood lingered on them.

"...What...was that?" Came his friend's croaky sounding voice, then.

Ash could only shrug, finally (and reluctantly) releasing Gary's hands. "Dunno. I felt like trying it."

Gary gaped at him, mouth slightly ajar and eyes wide. "You kissed me, and all you can say is you were just trying it out?" He finally asked, sounding slightly exasperated.

"...H'yeah." Ash agreed, nodding. "Sounds about right."

"Wh...You can't just..." Swallowing, and NOW looking mildly irritated, Gary covered his face with his hands. "WHY?"

"I guess I've wanted to for a while, actually. I thought about doin' it a couple times with you." He freely admitted in reply, watching Gary's hand-covered face curiously. His former rival groaned, sounding a mixture of frustrated and tired. "Does it help if I say that it was nice?"

"What-?! No-!...Yes-?! You don't just kiss people out of the blue, Ash! If somebody saw-"

Ash frowned. "What if somebody did? It's not a big deal."

Gary laughed, sounding bitter. "Not a big deal...do you have any idea what people would say? The kinds of treatment we'd get if the wrong people saw you kissing me?"

"...No?"

"It'd be bad, are you really that oblivious?!" The auburn-haired boy exclaimed, taking his hands away from his face finally.

"Why? Was I bad at it?"

Once again, he watched as Gary gaped at him silently before shaking his head and grabbing Ash by the collar, shaking him. "How are you this dense?! Do you not read any of the news at all, do you not LISTEN to people at all when you're out in public?!"

Now it was Ash trying to pry Gary's hands from his shirt. "What's so bad about kissing you? Nobody hates you, Gary. What're you so upset about?"

"You're a BOY, Ash...! I'M a boy...!" Gary finally bellowed, shaking him again. "Boys don't go around kissing each other!"

Ash blinked, his grip slackening on Gary's hands as he turned that information over in his mind. He couldn't recall anyone ever saying something like that to him before. Then again, he was sure he'd never encountered two boys kissing before, either. His friends only ever talked about the other gender romantically. Ash had always thought that it was merely because he'd never met a person who liked the same gender, not that it was wrong. "...Why not?"

"Because...because they just don't, okay? A lot of people don't like it."

Frowning again, Ash rolled one of his shoulders. "So then they don't have to do it, right? I don't care that you're a boy, Gary; I've never wanted to kiss anyone before other then you. And I liked it." He paused, finally expressing some worry. "Oh...so YOU didn't like it."

"I didn't SAY that." Gary's face once again flushed a bright, crimson red, rivaling the blood once again collecting on his lip. "I just...are you really not aware of the whole gay taboo thing...?"

Blinking, then allowing his eyes to drift for a moment, Ash finally shook his head. "I guess not. Is it really that bad, me wanting to kiss you?"

"For some people it is."

"What about you?"

Silence. Gary was avoiding Ash's eyes and looked rather uncomfortable. "...I...can't say I haven't...thought about it. I've just never acted on it. Can you blame me? You're not exactly well-versed in anything remotely romantic." He pointed out, finally, causing Ash to pout.

"Well...nobody's here but us." Ash slowly replied. "So what're you so afraid of? You said nobody'd be here until morning."

Gary fell silent at that, almost leering up at Ash. He looked as though he were internally fighting with himself before he muttered something that sounded like 'forget it' and yanked Ash down by the front of his shirt, mashing their lips together with a small grunt of pain. Blood ran from between their mouths from his split lip, and Ash felt it slowly slide down his chin. He couldn't bring himself to care. His first kiss had been curious and brief, but this second one was like he had thrown open some sort of floodgate. It was harsh and full of pent up longing, made his face flush with heat.

"I dunno...what'm doin', Gary..." He breathed, after a moment. He could barely open his eyes, although he did want to, just to see if Gary looked as flushed as he felt he was himself.

Fingers slithered up into the hair under his hat brim, curling around a good chunk of his dark colored hair. "Just follow my lead." Gary murmured, and then in a tone that suggested he was smirking as he said it, he tacked on: "You're good at that.~"

Ash growled at the taunt, leaning back in and biting Gary's lower lip. He was rewarded with a soft squeak, which Gary tried to cover with a small cough before running his tongue over the trainer's lips. Ash instinctively did it as well, the taste of copper faint on his own lips. Something was being said about opening his mouth, which he did without question, only to be startled when the other boy's tongue darted in between his teeth and touched his own. He nearly bit it, but instead used his own tongue to press back so that it ended up in the researcher's own mouth. It should have felt gross but didn't. Vaguely he was aware that, for once in the many years he'd known Gary Oak, Ash was the one in control somehow. Despite his lack of knowledge on what they were doing, he had usurped dominance from Gary or Gary had willingly given it to him. It was almost elating enough on its own, let alone with the sensations flowing through his nerves from the actions themselves.

"Ash..." Gary murmured during a pause for air.

"Mm." Was his articulate reply.

"...Ash...ASH."

He finally pulled back entirely, frowning and mouth open to ask what the problem was now, only to see Gary looking utterly horrified. Ash blinked, then sniffed. "...Why's it smell like smoke?"

Gary all but threw Ash off himself, scrambling to his feet. Ash wasn't far behind him, coughing a little: there WAS smoke in the air. He could hear fire, and a soft glow was coming from the cradle the Moltres egg was sitting in. The egg that was now glowing and flickering reminiscent of fire.

The egg with a crack in it that was emitting smoke.

"...It's hatching." Both of them said at the same time, in a mixture of disbelief and terror.

Gary all but screamed, gripping his hair. "I was supposed to get this outside when its vitals said it was ready to hatch!" He squealed, looking horrified.

"Why? What's so bad about it hatchin' in here?" Ash asked, warily.

The egg shook, and then the cradle burst into flames.

"THAT!" Gary screamed. "It'll burn down the whole lab--" At that moment, the fire alarms went off in the building, and he shrieked again, whipping off his coat. "We have to get it out of here, if the sprinklers come on, the water might hurt it...!"

"HOW?!" Ash exclaimed weakly, peering up at the ceiling.

He had something flung into his chest, and peered down. A pair of heavy duty gloves, with sleeves that would come up to his elbows, were there. Gary was already pulling on a pair of his own, his lab coat tied by the sleeves around his waist. "Put those on, quick! They're Fire-Type proof, and we usually use them when dealing with open flames on Pokemon...I don't know how long they'll hold up to Moltres..." He broke off with a whimper, watching as the computer monitor sparked and fizzled. "Hurry!"

Ash jammed his hands into the gloves, then reached forward with Gary.

"On three." Gary firmly stated, already sweating. "And then we carry this right on out the front door."

"I don't remember where that was...!" Ash protested.

Gary ignored him, instead yelling out: "ONE."

"TWO..." Ash continued.

"THREE, GO!"

Between the two of them, they managed to lift the smoking, burning egg right out of its cradle. Parts of the machine had since melted or become warped from the heat, and Ash could feel it already seeping through the gloves. By the nervous look on Gary's face, he apparently wasn't the only one. Carefully, he stepped away from the ruined machinery and followed Gary. He had to keep his steps in sync with the other boy so that they wouldn't stumble.

"The door--" Ash pointed out as they came close to it, only to have Gary shoulder the pad beside it. It immediately set off another set of alarms, and the door shot open. When Ash peered into the hallway, he saw that this also opened all the OTHER doors in the hall. He didn't have time to peek at them before they began moving again.

Passing by windows in the hall, Ash could see that people had begun to gather outside the building. Gary must have noticed as well. "I'm in so much trouble." He lamented.

"It wasn't your fault." Ash grunted in reply, wincing as the heat became almost unbearable on his fingers. They would begin to burn in a couple more minutes. "Didn't you say your Pokegear was hooked up to that computer or something? Wasn't it supposed to go off when the egg was about to hatch?"

"I didn't expect that for another month or so, though...and I...kinda left my Pokegear back in my room..."

Ash gaped in disbelief at the sheepish researcher. "...Wow...all right, yeah, maybe this IS your fault."

"Thanks a lot, Ash..."

At that moment, a tiny plume of fire shot out from the crack between the two of them, nearly singing off both sets of their eyebrows. It got them to hasten along, trying to hurry without dropping their precious cargo.

"...There's the doors!" Gary finally exclaimed, and Ash felt a wave of relief flow through him. "I'm surprised nobody's come inside yet to see what happened..."

"Yeah, well, if anybody ran by us I think I'd kill'em." The trainer deadpanned. Gary frowned crookedly at him, but said nothing.

They were almost at the doors when they did open. An out of breath and frantic looking Professor Rowan stared at them, panting. Gary paused, just for a second, but Ash reached out and stamped on his toes.

"YOW! What was that for?!"

"These gloves are MELTING, that's what it's for!" Ash yelled at him in return before looking up at the professor. "Hold open the door!"

The old man took a quick look at the smoking, burning, and shaking egg before holding the door open as wide as possible. Ash took the lead, then, and both of them hurried out of the building and out to the grass. "Where do you want it?" The dark-haired boy asked, twisting his head to look over his shoulder at the surrounding area. Everything looked...rather flammable.

"Anywhere, Ash...!" Was the answer he received. The trainer nodded in understanding, and slowed to a stop. Carefully, just as the tip of the middle finger of his glove melted through, both boys set the egg down on the ground. The grass blackened instantly around it, smoke and fire spewing from the crack in the shell. Ash hurriedly pulled off the melted and destroyed gloves from his hands and arms, flinging them aside. "We just made it..." He breathed, grabbing the collar of his own shirt and pulling it up to wipe his face. The fabric came back soaked in sweat and smeared with soot.

"ASH!"

He turned then, finally realizing they were not alone. Behind them, the crowd that had gathered to stare worriedly at the building was watching them and the glowing egg. A fire truck had screeched to a stop, and the crew on board was going through the motions of entering the labs to check the status of the fire. Professor Rowan was speaking with one of them in a white fireman's coat and hat. Three blond-haired figures were barreling towards Ash and Gary, followed by curious onlookers who were just then drawn to the mysterious egg.

Ash's eyes widened, and he stepped back a little with his arms out. They were immediately filled with his friend, Serena, who flung herself onto him heavily. "Wah...! Get back, you're gonna get my back burned...!"

Flustered, the girl pulled away, allowing Ash to step away from the egg. "I was so worried! We woke up because everyone was running out of the dorms. We heard the alarms and...you weren't in your bed!" Her pretty face morphed from worried to angry. "What were you doing?!"

"Uh, well...y'see..."

"What's that?" Came another feminine voice, though this one was a bit squeakier. Bonnie, a little blond girl, was watching the flaming egg in an almost hypnotized fashion.

Serena finally seemed to notice the egg, and blinked. "What is that?"

"Looks to me like a Pokemon Egg," Clemont, the bespectacled boy, piped up, "A Fire-Type egg."

Sighing in defeat, Ash nodded. "It is. When it began to hatch, it set part of the lab on fire. We had to bring it outside before it did any more damage."

"WE?" Serena questioned, narrowing her eyes and tracing them over Ash's shoulder. He glanced back, following her gaze to Gary. The auburn-haired boy looked startled as their eyes found him, and he busied himself with untying his lab coat sleeves from around his waist to shrug the coat back on. "Wait, why were the both of you in the laboratory so late at night?!"

Ash opened his mouth to answer, but a hand caught his sleeve and pulled him around. His eyes again found Gary, who said nothing as he jerked his head in the direction of the egg. It had gone from yellows, oranges, and reds to pure white. By then, the crowd had all but run towards them to see the object, and there were many gasps as the shape of the egg began to change. It grew larger, taller, thinner, and Ash could see the limbs taking shape. The heat coming off of the white shape was tremendous. Whirls of fire started at what appeared to be taloned feet and whirled up through the air around the forming Pokemon. At once, then, two enormous limbs - wings - folded open with a snap, followed by a beaked head on a long, swan-like neck. The white faded away as the large bird opened its mouth and shrieked into the air.

A hand fell on Ash's shoulder, and he looked up. Professor Rowan had managed to squeeze through the crowed to stand right behind he and Gary both, his other hand on Gary's shoulder. "Well...it appears the pair of you have become parents." Was his dry joke, followed more sincerely by: "That is a magnificent Moltres. Well done."

"Professor--" Gary started, looking a mixture of frightened and guilty.

The man shook his head. "There's no need for apologies. What happened here tonight was merely nature. We can fix the laboratory, Gary, but I cannot replace my student. And, ultimately...I believe this makes up for a little fire damage."

Looking relieved, Gary bowed his head slightly. "Thank you, professor."

There was a cry, then, from one of the onlookers: Moltres had finally noticed the small crowd and was ruffling its wings warily, causing embers to cascade down around them all. "Don't startle it! Everybody get back!" Gary called, pulling away from Professor Rowan to approach the large Pokemon. He paused, peering back, and gestured for Ash to follow. "Come on...this is your Pokemon, now."

Ash hesitated. Pikachu, who had arrived with his friends, made several soft noises and settled on his shoulder firmly. He finally approached Gary and stared up at the legendary bird. Moltres stared back, large eyes full of curiosity. To Ash's surprise, it didn't look all that frightened. He smiled upwards.

"Hi Moltres...! I'm Ash."

The creature stared down at him contemplatively before making a soft tittering sound at him. It easily was two times his height, and he had to crane his neck to look it in the face. "Uh...I know this place probably looks a lot different from what you remember...but I promise, I'll show you around and things'll be all right!" He paused, looking at Gary. "That good?"

Gary rolled his eyes. "It's not the most amazing greeting in the world, but it'll do."

There was a soft crooning sound, then, and both boys were startled when the large head of the Moltres leaned down towards them, then swung gently towards Ash's body. He cringed, eyes squeezing shut as he waited for the burns to come. Instead, the hot feathers and the plume of fire on Moltres's head only nuzzled at his chest. He cracked open an eye, then hesitantly raised one of his hands to lay it on the bird's skull. The noise it made could only be described as content, and Ash grinned widely. "Heyyyy, it likes me~"

"You're not hard to like." Gary replied, slyly, though he jumped a little when Moltres swung its head towards him next, seeking more affection. Ash watched as he ran his hands lightly over Moltres' beak and head, green eyes wide with awe. "I never thought I'd get this close to a legendary Pokemon..."

The almost child-like delight on his former rival's face made Ash smile crookedly at him. Over Moltres' head, Gary smiled back.

--

A Pokeball gleamed brightly in the morning light, settled in Ash's palm comfortably. He grinned down at it brightly. The events of the night before had wound down better then they'd expected. The lab was still damaged, and Gary had told him that it would be a week or so before it was ready to be used again, but Professor Rowan didn't seem all that upset about it. It had taken a while before someone had managed to get Ash a Pokeball to use on Moltres, although the bird had gone happily into it with only one shake of the ball itself. He couldn't be sure, but it felt warm in his hand even after sitting out on the bedside stand all night. The trust and adoration Moltres displayed so soon after hatching was a good sign. Gary was more then ecstatic about it.

He smiled faintly as he thought of his former rival. They had parted ways soon after being questioned by Professor Rowan. Nothing more had come from their good bye other then a tired 'good night' from both of them, with an agreement to meet up in the morning. Gary was still planning on traveling with them on their way to Pallet Town. For whatever reason, this seemed to not agree with Serena, though Ash hadn't been able to figure out why she was irritated about it.

It was the morning, now, the sun brightly shining in the window of the dorm room he and his friends had spent the night in. Pikachu lay in his lap, still sleepy after the wild night it had been subjected to waking up during. He brushed his hand gently over its fur, causing it to stretch and happily 'chaaaaa'.

"Ash!" Tiny feet ran to the door of the dorm, and Bonnie peered inside. She and her brother had gone later then Ash and Serena had to eat, and they both reappeared then. "You almost ready to go?"

"Uh-huh. How was breakfast?" He asked the little girl.

She smiled brightly, holding the tiny orange mouse-Pokemon, Dedenne, close to her chest. "It was really good! Not like back at home, but I liked it anyway!"

"You were right," Her brother added, quietly, "Everything is different here. It's interesting..."

"You'll get used to it." Ash reassured them both, smiling still. "We still have Hoenn, Jhoto, and the Kanto region to go through, so you'll get a lot of different things to see and do."

The bathroom door opened, then, and the three of them turned to see Serena enter the room. She had dressed for the cold, and grinned at them. "Welcome back, you two~"

"Serena!" Bonnie squealed, running to her next, "Those are the fluffiest earmuffs ever!"

The blond girl giggled. "They're really warm."

"You'll need'em." Ash piped up, gently nudging Pikachu. The electric-mouse lept onto his shoulder immediately. "Sinnoh doesn't get much warmer until later."

A knock came at the door, then, and Clemont pulled it open. Behind the door was Gary, who's hands were in his pockets. He was wearing a thick, black jacket with a white hood on the back, his bag's purple strap crossed over his chest. "Hello there, Gary."

"Hey Clemont." Came the reply. "I'm all set, whenever you guys are."

Ash got to his feet, pulling the straps of his backpack onto his shoulders. "I think we are, too, right guys?"

"Yep!" Bonnie exclaimed happily, tucking her ears under a thick, fuzzy, knitted hat. She reached up, then, grasping Gary's hand with a tiny pink flush on her cheeks. "I wanna walk with Gary~"

The auburn-haired boy blinked amidst the laughter of the other three trainers. "Looks like someone's got a crush on you." Clemont teased, causing his sister to squawk angrily and pout. Gary shrugged, smiling a little when he peered down at the little girl.

"It's okay, you can walk with me if you want to." He told her, wiping away her pout almost instantly. She dissolved into a fit of giggles, to the further amusement of Ash and his two other friends.

"Let's get going," He finally told them all, clipping the ball in his hand onto his belt. "I think Dawn said she'd meet up with us on the border to Hoenn, so we'd better hurry."

"She can wait." Serena said, softly, although something on her face suggested she didn't much care how long Dawn would wait for them. Ash wasn't sure what was wrong with his blond friend. She'd been acting rather odd since they'd begun Ash's backtrack home.

"It'd be rude." Clemont scolded, frowning as Serena looked away, embarrassed. "Especially if Ash already promised to say hello."

The dark-haired boy shrugged, wandering to the door. "Come on, guys." On his way past, his fingers accidentally grazed the back of Gary's hand. He didn't catch the other boy's reaction, but he knew his own face heated up at least a few degrees. Ash sincerely hoped he wasn't the only one who thought about their time in the lab before falling asleep the night before. He didn't know where they would go from that, but what he did know was that he wanted there to be something more between them.

He and Gary fell into step beside one another, Bonnie on Gary's other side with Clemont beside her, and Serena on Ash's opposite side from Gary. There wasn't much to be said as they all left the cluster of buildings. The spot where Moltres had hatched the night before was being picked over by other researchers, the acrid smell of burnt grass still hanging in the cold air. It faded as they wandered further and further away. Bonnie began excitedly conversing with her older brother about all the neat things and Pokemon she couldn't wait to see as they headed into the warmer Hoenn region. Serena remained quiet beside Ash. He expected not to be bothered as they walked.

Ash was surprised, then, as something brushed, then prodded, and finally grasped his fingers. There was no way Bonnie, Clemont, or Serena could have seen him shift his own hand to grasp Gary's in return. He smiled a secretive little smile and glanced over at the researcher, who didn't look at him but smiled as well.

And, well...that was all right then, wasn't it?~