Disclaimer: If I owned Pokemon, Gary would be in every single episode, most of the time for no apparent reason.

A/N: Hey guys, Ace here!

So, after having nothing to do for the last three days, I decided I'd crank out a story for my current OTP and enter the wonderful world of palletshipping. I plan on this story being pretty long, so I hope any of you deciding to read this are in for the long haul. Anyways, I'd rather not bore you with nonessentials, so please enjoy Uncanny!

Gary chewed on the inside of his lip, his hair shading his eyes from view. The silent trainer not far from him averted his gaze as he brought a hand up to the rim of his hat, tipping it down as if to say 'good job.' Gary made no move to respond, simply stood there, staring at the ground. Below him, his Raticate gasped, trying to get as much oxygen as it could. Gary bent down and gingerly wrapped his arms around it, pulling it into his chest protectively. While this trainer, who he had encountered countless times on his journey and sickeningly reminded him of a certain raven-haired boy, slipped away, Gary stalked up the steps to the main deck, his Raticate writhing in pain in his arms.

When he was finally out of sight, a sense of panic overtook the brunet as his Raticate lurched once again. He began frantically asking around for somewhere to let his Raticate rest and be treated. However, with the hustle and bustle of the S.S. Anne, no one seemed to have the competency to help him or his severely injured Pokemon.

"Excuse me, ma'am, is there a-"

"Sir, could you please go ask the service desk, I'm far too busy." Gary glared at the cruise staff woman and scowled. He'd already been to the service desk and they'd whined to him about being 'far too busy' with their guests. He crept back to his room, the breathing of his Raticate becoming huskier and more strained with every inhale.

As carefully as he could, Gary placed his Pokemon on the queen-sized bed in his suite. The Raticate, feeling the comfort of the cushioned mattress, tried to relax, slumping into the sheets and evening out his breathing.

Gary looked at the Raticate with glassy eyes. "It's going to be alright. You just rest," he said stiffly, falling to his knees next to the bed. He leaned on the edge of the mattress and folded his arms across it, laying his head on his forearms so he could watch the Pokemon fall into a forced slumber. Side glancing his watch, Gary calculated how long it would take the ship to dock once again. If they were on schedule, just two more hours and he could rush out before any of the ignorant tourists could block his exit. They'd be fine.

The trainer jumped when he heard his Raticate cough loudly and forcefully, as if something was lodged in its throat. It seemed that the distressed brunet had gone into a bit of a trance while watching the Pokemon's pain-twisted face. He immediately moved closer and placed a worried hand on the rat's head. The small beady eyes of the Pokemon opened a crack and watched its trainer for a moment, a small smile tugging loosely at its lips. Gary tried to smile back, but found that his mouth was trembling too much to do such a small gesture. His eyes welled up, but he refused to let the tears fall. Why would he cry? It would be fine. They would be fine. They'd be fine. They'd be fine.

When Gary finally heard the loud whistle of the boat signaling they'd docked, the body of the Raticate had gone stiff. Gary stifled anything from escaping his mouth, his jaw clenching and his eyebrows furrowing together to shield his eyes. The salty tears that spilled down his face couldn't be held back though and he fell forward onto the mattress, clutching the sheets with balled fists and burying his face in the comforter.

His mind flashed to the emotionless face of the trainer he had faced, and for some reason his brain kept connecting it with Ash's. Still, it couldn't have been the boy he grew up with, who he bantered with, for there was no way that his rival would ever be that blank and detached.

So why did Gary keep thinking of Ash?

Gary looked back to his Raticate, choking once more on the sobs he refused to release. He pulled his hand away as he felt the body below it gradually lose the heat it once possessed. He ran both hands down his face, wiping away the streaks the tears left and blinking, making sure he stopped looking so damn pathetic.

The brunet glanced at his Pokemon.

Why did he feel like Ash did this?

Slumped against the Pokemon Tower, Gary flipped an empty Pokeball from one hand to the other, his face completely void of emotion. He had been sitting out here for hours, trying to muster up the courage to get up and leave already. He'd done what he'd come to do. Now he had to continue on. For the sake of what he lost.

But could he really do that? It wasn't easy to forget something like this, let alone pretend like it never happened.

No, no, no. He wasn't going to forget and pretend. He was going to remember clearly where he went wrong and he'd correct himself, make him and his team better and strive to win and prove that he wasn't a failure. He could do that.

...Right?

Still trying to figure out the inner argument with himself, Gary was snapped back to reality by the sound of familiar voices. His eyes momentarily narrowed and his mouth pressed into a firm line before he forced his lips to curl into the old smirk that felt disgustingly fake.

"Hey, Ashy-boy. What's a loser like you doing here?" he asked snidely, trying to display his usual arrogant attitude as he stood to greet Ash, ignoring the other's two traveling companions like he normally did. As expected, Ash immediately bristled and Gary forced a bark of laughter. The brunet internally noted that, yes, Ash was far too oblivious to notice the atmosphere that followed Gary had changed. Drastically.

"Who are you calling a loser, you jerk?" Ash snapped back, his temper immediately spiking at the very sound of his rival's voice. Next to him, Misty frowned, mumbling something about how he should get so worked up so easily.

The taller of the two trainers narrowed his eyes. "Calm down and be a little respectful, won't you? This is a gravesite after all," Gary shot back, a strange bite to his voice that usually didn't accompany the teasing. Ash furrowed his eyebrows, his lower lip jutting out ever so slightly in a childish way.

"Yeah, I know. I'm not stupid!" he shouted back, his teeth gritting in way that he only seemed to do when addressing Gary. "But I'm not in the Pokemon Tower, so it's fine!"

Gary shifted his weight from foot to foot, arms crossed. "Well you never know who's standing around. Do you know what it's like to have one of your Pokemon die?"

The brunet stopped immediately. He hadn't meant to say that. Ash gave him a quizzical look but disregarded it as just another thing he could brush aside. Idiot.

"Of course I don't. I take care of my Pokemon," Ash responded pointedly, his Pikachu chiming in to prove his point. Gary tried not to wince and cleared his throat.

"Well sure, you take care of the six you carry around. What about all your other Pokemon, hm?" he challenged, forcing his arm to stay put and not punch the kid across the face.

The black-haired boy fumed a bit, letting out the weird growling noise he tended to make before he was about to shout. However, before he did, Gary held up a finger, his eyebrow arching.

"Well I better get going. I've got a lot to accomplish, ya know," Gary said with a forced wink, chocking down the urge to sprint off in the other direction. Ash didn't know, so why let him? In fact, he hadn't even been a part of it at all. Still, he couldn't help the bitterness that festered in his gut, that told him to crush his rival before he could take another breath. The resemblance between that trainer and Ash made Gary's stomach twist. But it wasn't Ash's fault. He had to remind himself of that. It wasn't his fault.

He still wanted to knee him in the crotch.

Before he could even hint at what was up, Gary turned on his heel and began to walk away, resolving to not tell the trio of what he'd gone through. Besides, Ash was still so innocent and he didn't have to push the weight of his burdens onto others.

The brunet could feel his rival's questioning gaze and ignored the sound of his name being shouted. It was true; usually he'd brag more. Usually he'd mock him more. Usually he enjoyed their playful banter.

Usually he didn't feel like shit.

Gary looked across the battle field at his opponent, grudgingly pulling out a Pokeball and returning his limp Arcanine. He shook his head, his dusty brown spikes swaying with the motion.

"Why? Why did I lose," he whispered, looking at the Pokeball still in his hand and tightening his grip. Ever since the day he lost his old teammate, he never made any mistakes raising his team. After all this time, this stupid mute trainer still managed to beat him and only a few days after he'd become champion.

And still, the only thing he could think was how he looked so much like Ash.

Gary shook his head, trying to dispel the thoughts, only to have new ones bound into his head. He'd accomplished his goals, he'd been the best, but it was so short lived it hardly seemed like it existed. No one had even properly congratulated him other than the fellow Elite Four members.

The brunet sighed. He'd done it, and that was all that mattered. He had to put on a good face for this asshole, even if he was the reason his reign had ended so abruptly. He didn't have to act like a child. He was better than that.

As Gary walked across the field, ready to congratulate the trainer who's name he still didn't know, someone quite familiar walked through the door.

"Well hello there!"

Gary froze. Why is he here?

"So you've won! Sincerely, congratulations!"

Why did he say that to him and not me?

"Gary, I'm disappointed in you."

Why? I did it first. I was never congratulated, my achievements were never acknowledged. You don't even know this kid.

"I came when I heard you'd beaten the Elite Four, but when I got here, you had already lost!"

Liar. It's been three days. It doesn't take that long to get here. A phone call would've worked. You're lying. You're lying. You're lying.

By this time, Gary had tuned out of what his grandfather was saying to him, the same phrase looping around his head over and over again like a broken record. His hands clenched and unclenched at his sides as he watched as Professor Oak continue to congratulate this trainer as if he'd known him for years, walking him to the room he'd been in not long ago. He felt his eyes sting terribly, his cheeks flushed with anger, but he didn't take action. He just stood there and watched as neither of them payed him any mind and he just stared as his grandfather fawned over the trainer's victory while the emotionless boy just looked back at the professor, his grandfather, with a flat and wordless expression.

Gary's sudden absence went unnoticed.

Seven years later found Gary in a lab, his old ragged traveling clothes turned in for a stark white lab coat. On the bridge of his nose were a pair of thin rimmed glasses, accentuating the sharp features that had carried over from his adolescence into his adulthood. Since his resignation as a nomadic trainer, Gary had dedicated himself to a life of research and gym duties, choosing to take up residence in Viridian City.

With Viridian City being in such close proximity to Pallet Town, it would be safe to assume that he and his Grandfather would be in frequent contact.

This assumption would be wrong.

Though he did have to keep in contact with Professor Oak for business matters concerning research in the fields they shared, Gary and Professor Oak had little to no conversations regarding their personal lives.

And honestly, Gary couldn't care less.

So now, as Gary sat in his office situated in near the Viridian Gym, his mind drifted towards the now distant day of when his relationship with his grandfather had gone sour: the day he lost his title as champion. However, the young professor had a bit of trouble staying on that topic as his mind drifted from that day to the unnamed boy.

Ever since the kid's victory, no one was really sure where he'd gone. Immediately after his triumph, he was all everyone ever talked about, but soon after he seemed to disappear of the face of the earth. For a while, region-wide stations would theorize what happened to him; he'd left for another region, he was exploring unmapped territory, he was assassinated, and all sorts of other things, ranging from reasonable to bizarre.

Still, it was hard not to wonder. The champion was supposed to be somewhere where they could easily be challenged by some new trainer thinking they had what it took to beat the Elite Four. There was a ton of controversy and soon the members decided that the title would go back to Gary, but he had politely refused, telling them he didn't find it fair that the title would be stripped away from that trainer who looked so much like...

Predictably, the thought of that boy led to the thought of Ash. It had been ages since he'd seen his old rival and the lack of communication with his grandpa had prevented him from asking about what he'd been up to. Who knows, maybe by now he was a champion in some other region already.

Frowning, Gary let out a small sigh. He really did think of that raven-haired boy far too often. It was mostly when he had nothing to do in the lab and had no challengers at the gym, both of which pretty common. Most of the grunt work was done by his assistants and hardly any trainers managed to get to his gym without giving up on their journey sometime before reaching his standards.

A small ding from his computer snapped Gary out of his thoughts. He glanced over at his computer screen and minimized a document he was supposed to be looking at, opening his email window instead. Recognizing the sender as Professor Elm, Gary opened the new email, scanning it quickly with his analytical eyes.

"Professor?"

Gary turned around to look at a skittish lab assistant, a small blond kid with huge blue eyes. He was holding an Oddish in his arms, one that looked rather solemn and listless.

Another frown tugging at his lips, the brunet closed the window on his computer momentarily. "Good timing. I need you to pack my research bag for me," the researcher said, his voice even and smooth. The lab assistant looked rather torn, glancing from the Oddish, to the hall, to Gary, and back again. Suppressing the urge to roll his eyes, Gary held out his hands. "Give me the Oddish and go."

The assistant blinked in surprise before obliging and hurriedly running off. Gary sighed, spinning in his chair and reopening the window, the small seed-like Pokemon now sitting in his lap, whimpering every so often.

"Mt. Silver, aye?" Gary mumbled, reading over the email once again, the text claiming that the fellow researcher wished to see Gary at the large mountain that towered in between their regions. He lazily clicked the reply button, typing a quick message agreeing to meet the fellow professor at the base of the mountain.

Turning his attention back to the grass Pokemon in his lap, Gary got up and walked to one the many rooms in his lab. Picking up a stack of files when he entered, he glanced at the identification tag on the Oddish's left foot while he sorted through the papers, finally finding the one he was looking for and flipping it open, eyes flicking from header to header until landing on one.

"You just haven't taken your pill yet," he murmured, setting the Oddish on a lab table and placing a small check mark in a box that labeled whether or not the Pokemon had been given its daily medication. "Assistants," the researched scoffed, rolling his eyes. He left the room for a moment only to come back seconds later with a jar filled with small orange capsules. After giving one to the Oddish, he watched with a smile as the sheen of sweat it was sporting melted away and his breathing evened.

"There you go little guy." With that, he put the small Pokemon back outside to the recreational center and went to his room to pack a few scarce belongings. He wasn't sure how far up the mountain Professor Elm was going to ask him to go, if he wanted him to at all, so to be on the safe side he packed a large winter jacket and other such warm items. When he was finally ready, he went to the lobby of the lab to wait for the assistant to bring him his things.

Scampering into the room several minutes later, the assistant gave Gary a sheepish smile, gasping for air. "Sorry that took so long, Professor. I wanted to make sure I didn't forget anything," he said through staggered breaths, using exaggerated gestures to better explain himself.

Waving a hand dismissively, Gary smiled. "It's no problem. Would you mind fetching Umbreon for me, though?" he asked, taking the bag from the assistant and setting it on the floor as he took off his lab coat. The assistant nodded and Gary could see he was trying to remember where the dark type liked to relax.

"In the gym," Gary said, answering the unasked question. The assistant smiled appreciatively before running off out the doors. Luckily, the brunet only had to wait a mere fifteen minutes before he and his partner were ready to go.

"Um, Professor, if you don't mind me asking-"

"I'm going to Mt. Silver to meet up with Professor Elm. He says there's something there he wants me to check out," Gary cut in, stuffing his hands in the pockets of the black jacket he had put on for the trip. The assistant nodded comprehensively and gave his superior a thumbs up.

"Good luck then. I'll tell the others tonight," he promised, clasping his hands together behind his back. Gary thanked him and gave him a two-fingered salute, walking out the automatic doors with his Umbreon at his heels.

It wouldn't take long for Gary to get to the Indigo Plateau where he could then cross to get to Mt. Silver, so he opted to walk instead of getting driven around like he was ten again. It actually felt refreshing to just walk along the short straight road, but when the familiar building that led to Victory Road began to come into view, a horrible sinking feeling tugged his stomach down to his feet, making them hard to comply and just move forward as thoughts of past events welled up inside him. He forced himself on, though, pressing forward and forcing his feet to move. When he finally got to the building, he inhaled in a huge breath of air and stepped through the doors.

For all the fuss his body had put up, it really wasn't that big of a deal. He walked through the lobby, flashed his official researcher's badge to the guard stationed in front of the hall that lead out to Mt. Silver, and was out in the open all in just a few minutes. He took another shaky breath before continuing onward, taking another few measly minutes to get to the mouth of the cave that led into the mountain.

"Ah, Gary, nice to see you. How've you been?" came the familiar voice of Professor Elm, who appeared behind Gary to clasp a hand on the brunet's shoulder. Gary turned around and smiled, holding out his hand for the researcher to shake.

"Pretty good. Not much has been happening. How about you?" he asked idly, firmly shaking the man's large hand when it met his. They continued on with their friendly chitchat before the older professor finally brought a clipboard out of his satchel, placing them in Gary's waiting hands.

"I'm glad you were able to respond so quickly. I was worried I'd be having to wait for days for a response. Anyways, here's what I've got," Professor Elm started, gesturing to the rather scattered papers. "There's been some odd behavior with the Pokemon. It seems that the higher you get on the mountain, the less Pokemon there are. Usually this is a normal occurrence, seeing as many Pokemon don't like the high altitude of a mountain, but for Mt. Silver, this is largely an irregularity," he explained, frowning.

Gary furrowed his eyebrows after finally managing to straighten out the papers, looking at the numbers curiously as Professor Elm continued. "As you can see from those results, I've been having my assistants monitor this mountain for the last fifteen years. Every year up until about seven years ago, the numbers have been relatively consistent. However, every year following that eighth year of examination, the numbers have been dropping steadily. At first I thought nothing of it, but some of species of Pokemon are nearing extinction in this area," he said hurriedly, fretfully, throwing his arms up into the air for emphasis. Gary looked from the stack of results to the researcher, his eyes narrowed in thought.

"So you want me to go up there and see what's up?" Gary asked slowly. At his side, his Umbreon cocked her head to the side, looking at her trainer with slanted eyes.

The researcher placed a hand on her head as Professor Elm replied, "Why yes. I was thinking maybe radiation or something of the sort might be up there."

Gary's eyebrow quirked. "Don't you specialize in evolution?" he asked skeptically, thumbing through the papers again. "Why are you messing around with demography?"

The professor seemed to sputter for a moment before pulling himself together, straightening a tie that had previously been crooked. "If you must know, it was originally one of my assistants projects. I became involved in it when things started to get a bit abnormal."

"Uh-huh, and why am I going, not you or your assistants?" Gary persisted, a smirk pulling the corner of his lip up.

"Well you are the youngest researcher. Probably the only one of us who could climb a mountain without collapsing from exhaustion and assistants can hardly be trusted," Professor Elm shrugged with a small chuckle, shrugging one shoulder. Gary sighed with a roll of his eyes before agreeing, to which Professor Elm gave a bright smile and another retired laugh. "Wonderful! And I'll assume by your bags that you're ready to depart at any time."

Gary nodded and rolled his shoulders back. "Yeah, I guess so. It shouldn't take that long to get to the top of that mountain," the researcher noted, eyeing Mt. Silver with a careful eye. "I suppose I'll shoot you an email after I've made a conclusion and I've gotten back to my lab," Gary stated, pushing the straps of his bags further onto his shoulder.

"Sounds like a good plan, Gary. I'll be hoping to hear from you soon."

Gary waved him off with a self-assured smile before turning back to the mouth of the cave, placing his hands on his hips and glancing at his Umbreon.

"You ready for this, Umbreon?" he asked a little absently, innerly apprehensive of having to trek up such a mountain. Of course, he'd never admit his doubts, but being safely in a lab and gym for the past seven years or so, save for a few minor excursions here and there, and then suddenly having to climb a mountain inhabiting the strongest Pokemon in the Kanto and Johto regions was a little daunting to say the least.

Next to him, Umbreon trilled excitedly, happy to finally have something to do other than lay around all day. This reassured Gary a bit as he took his first step forward, entering the inky black cave with his partner at his side.

"I wonder how far we've gone," Gary mumbled, unfolding a small map of Mt. Silver and crouching down next to his Umbreon to use her glowing rings to see the print. She stepped a bit closer and forced the light she emitted to intensify. Gary scratched the back of her ear in thanks as he squinted at the paper.

"Alright, we're not too far from the top, but we're going to have to go out and around the mountain to get up any farther," Gary deduced, looking for any other ways of continuing up further. He looked around for the opening that was marked on the map around him, his eyes fixating on a gaping hole in the wall of the mountain a good five hundred feet away from them. From their distance, he could see snow.

Gary set down his things and plopped down onto the ground. "Well there's no way in hell I'm going outside during the night while it's snowing," he said with grimace, pulling out a purple scarf to drape over his neck and let fall over the large ski coat he had put on once the temperature started dropping as they ascended the mountain. The Umbreon cooed, curling up to Gary's leg.

"I'm worn out. We should be able to get there in the afternoon if we leave early tomorrow morning, so let's take it easy for now," he said to his Umbreon, who nodded sleepily. Though they had only been traveling for a day, the path up the mountain wasn't all that long, in retrospect anyways. Sure, the road was physically tiring, but the lack of Pokemon allowed them to move faster and there was a set trail that was easy to follow.

Plucking the sleeping bag fixated onto the top of on his bags, the researcher quickly unraveled it and scooted into it, trying not to disturb his partner too much.

Once his legs were under the flap, the brunet let out another yawn, stretching his arms out and shuffling further down onto the ground so his faithful partner was now pressed up against his side. He opened the flap a bit, allowing the dark-type to squeeze into the mouth before he finally zipped up the sleeping bag. Vaguely, Gary felt the faint grumble of hunger, but found he was too worn out to reach into his bag and pull out a bite to eat.

He wasn't sure when exactly he had dozed off, but the researcher was jolted awake by the fierce sound of wind resounding off the inner walls of the mountain. Gary let out a violent shiver and found that his scarf had fallen off sometime during the night, his eyes quickly darting to the far off entrance to assure himself that yes, it was morning. He quickly tied the garment back around his neck and sat up, the cold that surrounded him quickly dispelling the sleep from his eyes. Next to him, his Umbreon had already stirred, looking up at him with only her back half covered with the sleeping bag.

"Good morning, Umbreon," he greeted, his voice still a bit low and groggy from just waking up. The Umbreon mewed in greeting before nudging Gary's bag, telling him quite simply to get them something to eat. Smiling sheepishly, Gary flipped open his messenger bag that had all his supplies, shifting the other pack of personal items to his opposite side. As he sorted through the one that was still close to the dark-type Pokemon, a frown began to curve his lips and his Umbreon gave him a questioning look.

Letting out a low growl of irritation, Gary pushed the pack away forcibly, causing the black cat to jump away in surprise. "That idiotic assistant forget to pack us any damn food!" he growled, his nose wrinkling. The Umbreon blinked before her hairs began to stand on end, feeling the same resentment towards the assistant's stupidity that her owner felt.

To add to his displeasure, his stomach let out a long, drawn out howl, demanding he feed it immediately. He sat up in a rush, scrambling to get everything together and shoved all of it on his shoulders, marching towards the open hole that led to the outside.

Next to him, Gary's Umbreon trotted next to him, her gaze sour and off-putting, an easy match to her trainer.

"The sooner we figure this thing out, the sooner we can get food," Gary sighed, stopping for a moment to rub his temples. His breathing evened out after a few moments and he exhaled deeply, trying to regain his cool. "Let's just get up there, do what we came to do, and leave," he said, addressing his friend. The Umbreon nodded briskly, already beginning to stride ahead.

As the two exited the hollow mountain, they were immediately hit by an icy cold wind that bit at any skin that remained uncovered. Gary immediately grimaced, quietly murmuring, "Maybe this is why all the Pokemon left."

Though the cold was close to unbearable, Gary had been right about his assumption. It only took them a short while to get to the summit, about the same time when the sun was at its peak. Gary looked up with eyes squinted, a hand over his eyes in a faux visor as he tried to look up to highest point of the mountain.

"How strange," he mumbled, stepping closer to a structure splayed out before him. It appeared that a staircase had been carved into the rock leading up to a rather large platform. His eyes strained to see to the top and he was almost hesitant to start climbing it. For all he knew, a giant monster of a Pokemon was awaiting him up top, ready to crush him into the ground or eat him or something.

Leave it to his thoughts to reassure the hell out of him.

Gary felt something push against his leg and looked down to see his disgruntled Umbreon trying to nudge him forward, obviously not pleased with her trainer just standing there like an idiot with the temperature being as cold as it was. He gave her a pat on the head before beginning to go up the stairs, one step at a time.

It's always a strange sensation when the biggest of cliches happen in real life. When someone who's supposed to always expect the unexpected and never be surprised nearly jumps out of his skin and screams like a prepubescent girl. When his eyes almost bulge, like they have to physically pop out of his head in order to completely be sure that the sight in front of him is real and not some illusion brought on by fatigue.

But no, this was real. The person in front of him was real.

Ash Ketchum.

Was here.

On a fucking mountaintop in below freezing weather.

To say that Gary was dumbfounded would be a huge understatement. However, the array of emotions that began to build up inside him, the questions that swirled through his head like a whirlpool, the words that were lodged in his throat, waiting for his lips to part so they could tumble out in a jumbled, incoherent mess were suppressed.

And the only thing displayed on Gary's face was a quirked eyebrow and a trademark smirk.

No, Gary would certainly not allow his expression to reveal what he was feeling right now. He didn't want to assault Ash with the questions that bombarded his own thoughts. For a moment, he didn't even trust his voice to keep his cool, but eventually, he found himself saying simply:

"Funny meeting you here."