My Asylum In A Wintery Storm

To say he was exhausted was an understatement. His muscles ached all over, and he smelled of sweat and an outside musk; disgusting in his opinion. Gary Oak couldn't wait to get to his grandfather's house, just over the hill, for a well deserved vacation. Breeching the top of the hill, he heard Umbreon bark happily before racing fourth to playfully swipe at an on passing Butterfree. Watching it flap away in the breeze, Gary called Umbreon back to him before heading towards the front door. "You're silly, Umbreon, did you know that?"

Opening the front door, Gary instantly noticed how quite his childhood home was. "Hey, Gramps, I'm home!" He called out as he knelt down to remove his shoes.

"Upstairs, Gary!" He heard his grandfather call back.

Tucking them away, against the wall, Gary moved up the stairs on his left, Umbreon in toe. "Grandpa?" Realizing that the elder man wasn't in his bedroom, Gary moved back out into the hall wondering which room he could be in.

"In here, Gary." Walking into one of the guest rooms, wondering exactly what his grandfather was up to, the brunette instantly froze in the doorway. "You just need to take it easy now, Ash." Watching his grandfather pull a white t-shirt over the other teens head, Gary's eyes were instantly trained on the large bruises around the other boy.

"But, Professor…" Ash attempted to get up.

"Pika-pi!" A Pikachu barked loudly, aiding the professor in getting the trainer to lay down. Even from the doorway, Gary could see that the Pikachu sitting on the bed with Ash was not the teen's partner. This one was a lot smaller, and had a small spike of fur on the top of its head. Probably a lot younger too, Gary thought.

"You're done for today, Ash. Just rest up a bit before you head home; you're welcome to stay the night if you don't feel well enough to get home." Tucking the blankets securely around the smaller teen's lithe body, Professor Oak smiled to himself when the trainers' heavy eye lids closed. "Keep an eye on him, Pikachu." Turning towards his grandson and Umbreon, Oak smiled and headed out with them, shutting the door behind him.

"What happened to him?" Gary inquired, wanting to know exactly happened to cause bruises like that.

"Ash has started helping me around here; I'm just getting too old to take care of this huge place on my own anymore, Gary." The brunette couldn't help but cringe at that answer, knowing he should be home to help his grandpa out more than he does. Just over a year ago, Oak had fallen for no apparent reason. "Well, we were working and all of a sudden he just collapsed. Poor boy, he needs to rest more, just like you." Professor Oak gave his grandson a pointed look.

"Hey Gramps, don't worry about me."

"How can I not? It's been two years since you've been home, Gary."

Biting his lower lip, the young researcher glanced down at Umbreon who only looked to agree with the Professor. "Well, I'm home now."

"That you are," the elder man agreed. "Let's get you something to eat, you look so skinny."

Watching his grandpa push past him, heading down the large stair case, Gary couldn't hold back the sigh any longer. Looking to Umbreon, he reached out to scratch the top of its black head. Feeling his Pokemon snuggle into the touch, Gary couldn't help but smile. It felt great to be home. Taking a quick glance towards the guest room door, Gary's thoughts instantly flashed back to the horrendous blackened marks that marred Ash's body. Something was going on, and Gary was determined to figure it out.

POKEMON: Gotta Catch Em All

"Oh man, Gramps!" Leaning back heartedly in his chair, the teen placed his hand over his food-expanded stomach. "I sure did miss your cooking."

Chuckling at his grandson's antics, Professor Oak cleared away their plates, taking them over to the dishwasher. "Glad you enjoyed," he spoke through a yawn. "Go relax and get ready for bed, you look tired."

Taking in his grandpa's haggard appearance, Gary frowned. "How about you go relax and I'll feed the Pokemon at the lab tonight."

"But—"

"It's no big deal." Waving his hand in the air, like this task was no big deal Gary looked towards his partner. "Umbreon and I can take care of things, Gramps."

"Thank you, Gary, goodnight." Pressing a kiss to the young researcher's forehead, Professor Oak spoke softly. "It's great to have you back, son."

Watching his grandfather disappear down the hall, Gary turned his attention to Umbreon. Watching him lick his lips, savoring the sweet taste of the homemade Pokemon food, the researcher reached out to scratch Umbreon's soft black ear. "Ready to go, Umbreon?" Watching him quickly jump up and dart towards the hall, Gary was only eager to follow; his curiosity getting the better of him in his tired state to see what kinds of Pokemon his grandpa was now working with.

Slipping back into his sneakers, the two quietly left the house careful not to wake the two upstairs. Walking around the side of the house, Gary's eyes widened at the sight of the research lab. Even in the thick of the night, the teen could make out the faulty patch-work some lackluster carpenter did in the moon lights glow. Going to open the gate, Gary and Umbreon both stopped dead in their tracks when the old gate dropped to the ground. "Uhh…"

After leaning the gate back up against the fence, Gary pressed forwards towards the dented door that seemed stuck, wedged into his door frame. "Oh come on!" Pounding his fist against the frame, Gary was amazed when it swung open. "Come on, Umbreon."

Closing the door behind him, Gary stepped into the small office at the end of the hall to obtain the key to open the food storage locker. Careful to step over the large stacks of papers, Gary turned around to see where Umbreon was only to find him sitting in the door way. He was smart, and didn't dare step foot in the office. Carefully extracting the key, the two made their way towards the large arena area where they were greeted with the sight of utter destruction.

"What is going on here?" Gleaning over the large open room, Gary noted how it looked like rubble; rafters barely hanging from the high ceiling, the ground beneath had been uprooted, holes and char marks littered the walls, and even the windows were taped over. Grandpa has really been lacking in his up-keeping as of late. "No wonder he's hired on Ashy-boy."

Walking past the ever flocking Pokemon, Gary glanced back to see Umbreon playing with an Eevee. Taking a moment to look the sleek looking fur, Gary noted how this one looked exactly like Umbreon did before he evolved. "You make a friend, Umbreon?"

Laughing at his friends loud chirping response, Gary ducked into the side room to get everything into the feeders so he could feed the mass amount of Pokemon residing in the damn-near condemned building. The young researcher had a sinking feeling that he was going to end up staying longer than he initially wanted to. After setting up the outdated feeders, the brunette went to turn them on only to find that they no longer worked. Heavily sighing, he proceeded to pull out the red dishes from under the counter.

After making countless trips out to the arena, making sure each Pokemon got their fill, Gary slumped against the wall feeling his weariness ebb away at his conscious state. Watching Umbreon and Eevee share the bowl of Pokemon food, Gary could feel his eyes begin to get heavy. "Still have the stalls to feed yet…" He spoke to no one in particular. Just as his eyes closed, a loud crash brought him to full alertness.

Pushing away from the wall, Gary looked to all the Pokemon before him to see them with their heads turned towards the stables where the sound emitted from. That's when Gary saw it. His eye's zeroed in on the small Pikachu with the naturally spiked fur chomping down on a berry next to a Mudkip. That's when Gary noticed that Eevee and Umbreon were darting across the arena towards the stables. "Hey, Umbreon! Wait!"

Running to catch up with them, Gary pushed through the double doors to hear the loud uproar of the Pokemon in their stables. Taking in the mess at the end of the hall, Gary was instantly running towards the person in the middle of it all. "Ash!"

Dropping down to the teen's side, Gary roughly shook the boy awake with the help of Umbreon's friend, Eevee. "Ash, hey Ash!" Watching his dark eye's slowly crack open, Gary sighed in relief. "I thought Gramps gave you the night off?"

"Yeah, but—"

"You're bleeding." Gary pointed out as he helped his grandfather's assistant sit up. Taking the younger teen's right hand into his own hands, Gary reached for one of the rags on the ground to quickly wrap off the offending cut across the younger's palm. "Looks like you cut your hand on the pick."

Watching Ash look at the clutter around him, his dark eyes quickly zeroed in on the offending tool. "Sorry, I was just going to try and finish picking out Ponyta's hooves. I guess I just got light headed again."

"Ee!" Crawling into Ash's lap, Eevee jumped up to lick his face.

"I'm fine, girl." He assured the dog-like Pokemon, softly petting the top of her head.

Confused by Ash's quite nature, the researcher proceeded to stand up. Aiding the younger teen to his feet, Gary didn't dare to let go of him as he was shaky on his legs. "Let's have you sit down, Ash." Ushering the trainer over to a small stool, at the end of the hall, Gary slowly sat him down. "Geeze, between you and Gramps, it's no wonder this place is falling apart."

The two shared a small laugh together, before a silence settled between them. "You should have seen this place when I first started here a few months ago." Ask spoke softly, reaching down to pull Eevee into his arms. Cuddling her to his chest, Ash cradled her small body against his chest like he would Pikachu.

"Hey Ash, where's Pikachu at?" As soon as the words escaped his mouth, Gary regretted saying them as the flicker of loss appeared over his friends face.

"Sickness is a terrible thing to have happen to your Pokemon, Gary." Playing with a small tuff of fur on Eevee's back, Ask subconsciously brought the Pokemon in his arms closer to his body.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Gary didn't want to think about what life would be like without Umbreon.

"Professor Oak and Nurse Joy from Viridian City said there wasn't much they could do." The young trainer's voice cracked under his emotional duress.

Biting his lower lip, Gary turned his attention towards the Eevee in the boy's arms. "Well at least you have a new buddy to keep you company."

"Huh?" Looking down at Eevee, the dark haired teen sighed. "Eevee isn't mine. I found her just outside town and brought her here."

"If you ask me, she's taken a fancy to you."

Ash sighed. "Maybe." Reaching down to scratch Umbreon's head, Ash looked back to Gary. "So why are you back? A vacation or were you just passing through?"

"Nope, a vacation; it's been too long since I've been home."

"Sorry you came home to it looking like this." Ash sighed, "hopefully I'll have most of this repaired by next week."

"The way you're moving now, I don't think you'll have anything done soon. Why are you back in town?"

"I have my reasons, and it was really nice of your grandfather to give me this job." Gary wasn't pleased with the quick answer. "The economy in this town is crumbling and a lot of people are leaving. So there's a lot of abandoned Pokemon and abandoned homes around here, so some thugs have taken to this region and have been causing a lot of problems for your grandpa and I."

So that explains those bruises… Inside Gary felt horrible for not being there to help his grandpa, but at the same time he couldn't shake the feeling that this wasn't the whole story. "No wonder this place is a mess."

"It's no big deal; I'll get it fixed up."

Reaching out, Gary gripped Ash's shoulder tightly. "I'll help you, too."

"Thanks Gary, but you really don't have—"

"Nonsense, this is my home too." Standing, the older teen moved to pick up the clutter on the floor before moving towards the feeding bins. "Let me finish feeding these guys, and I'll walk you back to the house so we can get to bed and get an early start tomorrow morning on fixing this place up."

Ash opened his mouth to protest, but decided against it as he winced in pain from the offending bruised around his body's trunk. Relaxing into the stool, the dark haired trainer leaned against one of the locker's before his exhaustion got the better of him and he was out like a light.

POKEMON: Gotta Cath Em All

Kira: Okay, so this is my FIRST Pokemon story ever, so please be gentle with any misconceptions I made in here. I was baby sitting the other day and the lil' guy is in love with the original Pokemon episodes, so while we were watching them on YouTube this idea for a story came into my head. I know I made Gary and Ash really friendly with each other, but in this story they are 17 and 18, so hopefully they can be adults (don't worry, there will be some classic Ash and Gary moments though). Let me know what you guys think, and I'm open to any ideas you may have.

Review!

-Dark Angel Kira-