‘Don’t rush over to our place. Take your time, smell the roses, and stuff. This is also not because of any accidental disasters that may or may not render you mattresses-less if you get over to our place too fast’.

Was the message from Casey Snagem that Gary got as he walked from Indigo on the day of the Top 4 matches. Amidst grass and shrub, stone and sky, Gary’s thoughts wandered around to various subjects. About the battles he won, the one he lost, Gramps’ gossip at dinner last night, and what might have happened to his mattress. Eventually a thought did come to his mind that stayed there. Unfinished business.

Gary had defeated someone who he really wanted to beat. Paul was defeated and Gary felt vindicated. Gary felt like he had balanced the scales that Paul had shown to be so unbalanced it wasn’t funny. There was, however, someone else. Someone who he had unfinished business with. Red.

Gary hadn’t really crossed paths with Red since Fuchsia, not unless he somehow forgot it, but the losses were still that. Losses, and they were something Gary wanted to make good on.

Gary dwelled on the idea of beating Red for a while as he walked, though the more he walked along the more questions he had. Like, where was Red going to go next? Where was Gary going to go next?

Was he really going to decide based on where Red was going? That felt kind of…petty. Maybe even pathetic, Gary had to admit. Chasing after Red just to win was no way to live, and Gary had no desire to devolve like that. Though what other decision method did he have to decide what to do next.

Ash was helping gramps and after that was apparently going to catch the Whirl Cup or something. The Whirl Cup didn’t interest Gary at all, and just going where Ash went was a different kind of pathetic than stalking after Red for petty vengeance, but Johto was also a common place for Kanto Trainers to go next, or to come back to Indigo for the next conference.

What was his path going to be?

Eventually, after some walking that turned into flying on Pidgeot after he walked to a dead end and didn’t feel like backtracking, Gary eventually saw a small town sitting in the hills between Pallet and the Indigo Plateau. A few dozen brown homes, with dirt streets and bikes everywhere, just with more hills and a bit less grass overall, instead being gravellier underfoot. Speaking of his home, the little place reminded Gary of his home, in its small size and feeling just that little bit out of the way from everything without really being in the middle of nowhere, and Gary instructed Pidgeot to land. Gary’s thoughts weren’t going anywhere productive, so maybe a change of pace would do him good. Plus, as a rural kid, sometimes as remiss as he was to admit to it, he could spy a flea market from miles away and those could often be interesting to look around, especially in a place with people Gary hadn’t known for years. Might give him an idea or two.

The town vendors were a little surprised to see someone riding a Pidgeot landing in the middle of the market and getting off, but not so much. Gary’s eyes slowly moved past some of the stands, not really much for radios and vinyl records, though one stall did catch Gary’s eye. Mostly for one item, which he went over to look at.

“...Oh, you are looking at that? I mean, it’s nice, but just an old souvenir from a trip to the coast years back.” The wizened old man at the stall didn’t sound like he minded someone taking it off his hands, but didn’t seem to get why Gary was interested in it. Gary meanwhile was holding the ‘souvenir’ up to get a full look at the item, and knew it was what he thought it was. A Dragon Scale.

“How much do you want for this?” Gary asked.

“Not much,” the merchant admitted, looking like he was amazed someone wanted something from, probably, a corner of his shed. There was a part of Gary, one whose empathy towards others was nurtured by Daisy and tempered by his own path since he first ran into Red and Paul, who wanted to tell the guy just how much a Dragon Scale cost and how much ‘not much’ was a steal, almost literally, in Gary’s favor. On the other hand… bargains were bargains, and there was that old rule about supply and demand affecting prices. No one was looking for Dragon Scales here, so the price was going to be low.

Gary also had to be honest, he stopped feeling even a little bad about basically buying something for not even five percent of its actual value after he was done looking over a stall devoted to handcrafted gnomes. Gary did not purchase any, but there were more things to look at, and maybe he’d find a Magmarizer or something. Probably not, but it would be neat if he did. Gary did find some possible bargains, but first Gary needed to consult gramps’ list. Said list was of rare books that covered historical accounts of people and Pokémon interacting that would be useful sources, but were considered difficult to find even in professional libraries. Random corners of the countryside sometimes had them, left in corners of long forgotten estates and collections.

There were dozens of books attested to on the list, books reference offhandedly in the works of researchers from centuries ago like Professors Westwood (The First to the current Professor Westwood, The Fifth) or Laventon that were seemingly nowhere to be found these days, but sometimes you could find them in strange places. Apparently the granddaughter of a professor over in Galar stumbled on a few sources that Professor Laventon had used in his many research papers recently, which were then shared via the immortality of internet archival. None of the lost sources were the ones that would make his old man jump in joy, the sources of old stories about Zorua population migration from Draconid sources still remained lost unless some Draconid gave them up for example, but it was a reminder that there were seemingly lost sources just waiting to be found somewhere in the world.

They were probably not going to be here, but Gary had time to kill and already succeeded at something. Though it soon became apparent that was all he’d succeed at today.

“Books? Eh, sorry kid, not too many of those for sale here. We have a public library, pride of our town in fact for the last century, so we never really bought them in tons.” A seller of hand-carved soap admitted after Gary asked about them. Gary couldn’t really judge, Pallet Town’s library was really just gramps’s book collection in the lab that also happened to be the place the communal picture books, dictionaries, travel guides, and filth like the Alphanegan Chronicles were kept for everyone to borrow. The soap seller did seem to be willing to offer suggestions beyond the values of Aspear soap to him though.

“You know, if you are just a traveling trainer, it might be worth stopping over at the breeding center at the edge of town. You might get an egg or something. Plus, our town’s best trainer in fifty years lives there, just back from her own go at Indigo if you’re feeling that battler’s itch. She didn’t rank as highly as you, but she made that ninja know fear.”

Gary faintly remembered that Koga did fight a female trainer in…was it the sixth round? Yeah, sixth round.

“Scaring a ninja huh?” Gary was curious what that was about.

The old man smiled.

“The girl’s name is Manna Ornus. Her mother runs the breeding center just and has for about seventeen odd years or so since it opened up. Nice pair, the both of them. You just missed our party for her success, it was a real doozy. One of us ended up on the roof in the morning and no one knows how.”

Gary smiled, a smile that was of a familiar nature. The soap seller chuckled.

“Your hometown too, eh kid?”

“Yeah, I may have a party waiting for me and another guy back home in a few days.”

Soap seller smiled.

“Well, as an often bored old small town man, I can say with an honest thanks, thank you to all you ambitious young folks for keeping our lives entertaining, even if some of us will grumble otherwise. Better than what some of your kind get up to I tell you.”

Gary felt an old person grumble coming on, but instead got a sigh.

“Kid…ever hear of Team Rocket?”

Gary resisted the urge to go ‘um, yeah’ laced with sarcasm he had previously reserved for Ash at his dumbest. The old man got the part about Gary knowing what Team Rocket was minus said sarcasm, as the old man shook his head.

“Dumb thing, I know. Everyone knows who they are. It’s just…bless your parents, and Manna’s mother, for keeping you both on the right track.”

…

Gary fortunately got away from the old man not long after, but it did leave Gary with a thought to dwell on a bit. Team Rocket, and where it often found its newest members. It wasn’t something anyone talked about in town, but Gary always got the impression there were hushed conversations about if X’s kid would end up in Team Rocket. Sometimes the conversations were more open.

‘An idiot like you, a Pokémon Master? You're too dumb to even be in Team Rocket,’ Gary remembered Zacharias saying to Ash once. The older kid had never liked either of them. To Zacharias, Ash was a naturally occurring rival in attitude, goals, and talents who matched Zacharias’s own skills in Zacharias’s final year in Pallet Town in a way that agitated the prick to no end. As for how the older jerk had seen him….

‘Do you want us all to bow to you, oh Prince of Pallet Town?’

…Prince of Pallet Town. Gary remembered that one, honestly he probably tried to turn that insult into a compliment, if not wear that one in pride. It wasn’t even that hard, he was kind of a prince. His illustrious ancestor was the town namesake. Professor Oak was basically Pallet Town’s beating heart. The mayor of the town for many years was Gary’s great uncle. The postmaster was his great uncle. Daisy was basically the beloved princess loved by all. It was an easy mindset to develop about himself, and it was probably just as easy for him to fall into that mindset. Being legit better than pretty much everyone in Pallet Town didn’t help.

‘Bow. Bow before your prince!’ Gary declared once, having defeated Ash and Zacharias in a game of trivia.

‘Urgghh. Oh, I’ll beat you next time Gary!’ was Ash’s response to such losses. A determination to try again and be better next time.

‘Tccchhhh….you think you are all that. Well, just you wait. I’ll take Kanto by storm before you two Igglybuff can cry about it. You’ll wake up one day in Zacharias Town!’ Zacharias’ was a declaration of revenge.

…Gary shook his head at the idea. Yes, technically, ‘Gary Town’ or ‘Ash Town’ was possible. But the amount they’d need to do to earn it was… kind of ludicrous. It wasn’t just being a good trainer, but a living legend. A hero of heroes, and well…even at his most arrogant Gary had never imagined Gary Town. Even back then, ‘Daisy Town’ was a lot more likely in the way of mass achievement, and Daisy would both need to achieve more, a lot more, and get some arrogance to want that.

And Zacharias had accomplished so little it seemed, seeing as Gary hadn’t seen or heard anything from him, that Zacharias Town was never happening, and was out of Gary’s thoughts as soon as he came upon the Ornus Breeding Center, or at least the Breeding Center run by a Ms or Mrs. Ornus. It was a fenced area, a miniature take on the old man’s lab back home, just with some of the less extreme terrain varieties. Fields, woods, and a pond, nice enough for a variety of Pokémon. Part of the fence looked broken, and recently by the looks of…

*SMAACCKK!*

The crack of nearby wood and stone got Gary’s attention, drawing his attention to a scruffy thicket where the sound of battle was evident.

“Block it, Sudowoodo!” a girl’s voice shouted from the thicket.

“Suuu!”

“Champp!”

Gary ran over to where the fight was, a mixture of worry for something going wrong and a general interest in battles peaking his interest, maneuvering around scrubby trees to see a fight in progress.

On one end was a Machamp, who Gary would peg as a wild Pokémon who broke the fence. It was more known to throw rocks as a species than Sudowoodo after all, and it was surrounded by dozens of busted Pokéballs.

One the other was a Sudowoodo, who looked rather fine for a Rock-type battling a Machamp. Its trainer was a girl, taller than him and looking…like Ash? Just like Red, and kind of that Ritchie kid, she had a lot of the features Gary associated with Ash that did not come from his mom. Black hair, those marks on his face, a certain type of expressiveness in her face that Gary felt Ms. Ketchum lacked, the ears, even a similar blue jacket and black undershirt dress style. The girl had red eyes though, and she was a lot slenderer than Ash was, especially after he bulked up. Lithe, Gary could probably describe her. Her jacket collar also had a red and orange collar and she was wearing a jean skirt instead of pants or shorts.

“Wood Hammer!” The girl shouted as Sudowood’s fake branch foliage glowed a vibrant green. The Machamp matched with glowing red auras around its arms, a Strength attack, as the two clashed, with the Sudowoodo winning out. A lack of any sign of recoil had Gary guess the Sudowoodo’s ability to be Rock Head.

Machamp was knocked to the ground as the girl took out her last Pokéball.

“My last one, better make it count! Pokéball go!”

And the girl threw the ball at Machamp, who got sucked in as the ball began to shake. Once. Twice…

*SNAP!*

And it burst open, revealing the Machamp who roared at the two. Both trainer and Sudowoodo looked frustrated, the frustration of being out of Pokéballs with a Pokémon you wanted to catch still standing.

“Young master, might I suggest lending them a hand?” beeped his Pokédex, quietly over the resulting loud clash of what looked like Cross Chop and Head Smash.

“With what, catch stealing?” Gary could not see that going well, even if he just gave Machamp to her right afterwards.

“Negative. Do you need a reminder of that program that Ash’s Pokédex stole and added to the Pokédex collective?”

The Pokéball duplication…

“Do I have spare balls?” Gary would need to ‘restock’ later, he liked having a lot on hand in case of emergency rare Pokémon, but giving a few up for someone wasn’t something he was against.

“You do. On your person are regular Pokéballs, Great Balls, Ultra Balls, and Timer Balls.”

Gary nodded as he reached into his bag.

“Remind me to replicate one Timer Ball,” Gary told his Pokédex as he took the ball out, feeling its distinctive ridging.

“Indeed sir. I’ve also desynched the selected ball. It will no longer default to your ownership if it should capture something.”

Gary nodded before bursting out of the bush, getting all three’s attention.

“Need this?!” Gary shouted, ensuring the girl saw him before throwing her the ball. While surprised, the Ash-alike girl caught the ball, initially being surprised at its nature, but nodding.

“Maaa!” the Machamp yelled, its arms all glowing purple for a Cross Poison attack.

“Sudowoodo, use Mud Shot!” the girl countered. Sudowoodo nodded before spitting out a volley of mud bullets, each of which struck Machamp in the chest. The multi armed Pokémon staggered from the blow, breaking its guard and creating an opening.

“Go, Timer Ball!” shouted the girl, who threw the ball right on Machamp’s head in a perfect strike. The ball sucked in Machamp, and it wiggled once. Then it wiggled twice. Then it wiggled a third time. Finally, it clicked shut, and both the girl and Sudowoodo let out a tired breath they’d been seemingly holding the entire battle.

“We finally catch that pest who keeps breaking mom’s fence, and it just takes us all of our Pokéballs.”

“Suudoo wooodo.” Sudowoodo agreed as both looked over to Gary, expressions of gratitude in their eyes.

“I cannot thank you enough for giving us that Timer Ball. I wasn’t sure what we’d have done without it, other than drive off that Machamp and run to get more before it comes back to break stuff.”

“Woo,” Sudowoodo added in agreement.

Gary smiled.

“Not a problem at all. My Pokéball budget’s kind of large, so I can afford to help someone out. Nice battling by the way.”

The girl blushed.

“Oh, everyone thinks so I guess. Oh, my name’s Manna Ornus.”

“Gary. Gary Oak.” Gary wondered if he needed to include the last part. The girl tapped her chin in thought, as if she needed a second to remember something.

“Oh hey, you were at Indigo too.”

“Yeah, though on the opposite side of the bracket,” Gary clarified. If she battled Koga, and managed to scare him or whatever happened in her final Indigo battle, she’d have been on the side with Red and Ritchie instead of himself, Ash, and Paul. Though speaking of Ash, and Red and Ritchie… the more that Gary looked at the girl, the more she really did look like Ash. And apparently that thought gave him a really, really odd look on his face, given the girl’s confusion.

(Sudowoodo also looked to be mimicking it…oh yikes. Glad no one took a picture.)

“...Is something wrong?” Manna asked as Gary tried to figure out the best way to explain it. The best he could come up with was to use the Pokédex to pull up a picture of him and Ash and elaborate from there.

“Sorry it’s just… well, this dofus is a guy from my hometown and probably my best friend, in a sort of ‘says more about me’ sort of way than anything meaningful, and well…”

The girl stared at the photo for a minute, a look of incredulity on her face. Specifically, of the sort one gets when something unfathomable happens repeatedly.

“Would you believe you are not the first person to point that out? It was mostly with that Red guy in my bracket though, and earlier today,” Manna added, sounding like she was both dumbfounded by it, and actually rather curious. “My mom was actually the first person to mention it, she’s at the house and you should already be thanked for helping me. You weren’t just passing through right?”

Manna’s words weren’t a judgment, just that of someone who knew the road to her mom’s business didn’t really go anywhere else.

“Yeah, I was looking around and heard about this place, guess I’m doing more than just possibly looking into a new Pokémon.” Gary could not have predicted how this went, but now he was in a kind of… weird mess, so he might as well see where this went.

Worst came to worst he would have an interesting topic to discuss with Ash next time they met.

…

The main building of the breeding center doubled down on a house. It was larger than one in Pallet Town, painted a light blue instead of Pallet Town’s beloved pure white, and with a green roof instead of red. It also looked like it had been expanded at some point, with the door Manna was leading him to being on a newer section of the house. As the paths not taken were the ones with such outdoor decor as rocking chairs and gracidea-ladden pots, Gary would guess this was the business annex of the house and the other path led to the actual home. Perhaps at some point the home was just a regular house that was later expanded to work with the Pokémon Breeding business. Gary wasn’t sure, it was just him thinking to himself.

Eventually Manna opened the door, the green door opening up to a space that was an officialish looking space. Desk and chairs, professional photographs, just a bit of embellishment with the odd photo of a little girl who probably could have pretended to be kid Ash and fooled a lot of people.

“Oh, well hello there! Welcome to the Ornus Breeding Center. I’m Galia Ornus, and you’ve already met my daughter it seems. Oh, sweetie, about that problematic neighbor…”

Manna held up the Timer Ball, a look of exhaustion on her face. ‘Problematic neighbour’ was just business speak for a rogue Machamp apparently.

“I got ‘em, but that Machamp just would not stay in the ball. Gary here had to give me one to actually stick it because it broke out of all of them.”

Gary took a minute to compare the two. While Manna looked like a slender female Ash, her mother…how could Gary put it nicely in his head…oh yeah she had the um….’Pumpkaboo’ body type. Yeah, that was it. The Pumpkaboo body type. A statement no woman wanted to ever be said aloud about them. She also didn’t really look a lot like Manna either: her hair was blonde and her eyes were a light green. A lot like Ash’s mom and Ash didn’t look all that alike either. Her clothing was a set of multi-layered, ruffled sort of clothing kind of in the style of a Jellicent or something, which overall made her look like a very colorful large fruit with a textured outer layer.

…Yep, Gary was not going to say any of that aloud.

Ms. Ornus looked astonished.

“I thought I was being a worry wart by giving you all fifty I had in the back, but that Machamp was the biggest problem. Still, if you did help us finally catch that thing, young man, I can’t thank you enough.” Ms. Ornus sounded like part of her was comparing the cost of Pokéball restocking to fence repair. Gary smiled.

“It wasn’t a problem, I’m just glad I could help out.”

“Mom, Gary’s traveling through and heard about this place and town and came around to look around.” Manna quickly explained as Ms. Ornus looked a bit worried.

“Oh that’s wonderful, but I’m afraid we don’t have any eggs right now. I actually just finished the first year of a big contract to raise Totodile eggs for Johto, but the Totodile are already off to their future partners and unless anyone finds an egg randomly I won’t get any more until… well, not sure. Masuda said he might leave an egg with me if he goes looking for a mate for Shinevern if those Wingull of his… it’s all in the air unless anything comes up on the listings. Well, at least it gives us time to get more Pokéballs for the eggs.”

Manna looked ready to offer to replace it, and if Gary had to guess how that would go it would be something like ‘Mom, I got a lot of money from the Indigo League’ and then her mother would insist not spending it on her like that because it was a work expense and then Manna would point out that she was the one who wasted all of the Pokéballs and then Galia would point it out was actually Machamp not staying in the ball, and it would go on and on. While it could go in a different direction, Gary was just basing his assumptions off Ash and his mom, he felt like offering a hand. It wasn’t going to cost him anything after all.

“Well, from a Professor’s grandson to a Pokémon Breeder, I think I can help you with your stock problem and spare you both the trouble. Allow me.”

A few minutes later and there was a pile of freshly made Pokéballs on the desk, not quite fifty but more than enough to last for a few clutches of eggs.

“You… you didn’t have to do that,” the older woman said in disbelief at the mass of Pokéballs now on her table. A pretty penny and its cityscape of friends in value, just given to her.

“It’s no big deal. Literally a Pokédex figured out how to just replicate them,” Gary left out the part about it involving thievery of some sorts, “it doesn’t cost me anything and you were on ball fumes from that Machamp being unusually stubborn. It’s the least I can do to help you guys out. Trust me, I know what the ball budget can do to a place.”

His poor old man. A thousand things could cause him problems, and sometimes they were spherical.

“There must be something I can do to repay you for this…do you need to stay the night?”

“He has a Pidgeot, mom, you don’t need to…oh wait, didn’t you say we have some older Pokémon that could use a trainer,” Manna first reminded her mother, then suggested an alternative as the woman nodded eagerly, liking the idea.

“Oh, oh of course! That’ll do. Young man, I must implore you to take one of our Pokémon with you on your journey. They all need a good home, and you are certainly a good person. I know a lot of people prefer freshly hatched Pokémon…”

“No problem at all,” Gary assured her. He hadn’t come out here gung ho on getting a new Pokémon, but if he did see one that caught his eye or was interested in coming along with him that would be quite nice.

…

Manna led him out back to where the older Pokémon resided. It was only after they left the office, where Ms. Ornus was putting away the Pokéballs. It was only after the two were out of earshot that Manna took a breath.

“Worried she was going to embarrass you?” Gary guessed. Manna shook her head.

“No, she’s good about that. She’s not going to assume every guy who comes around is going to date me or anything. She’s not one of those moms. I was actually worried that you might bring up… well the guys that look like me.”

“Trust me, the deadbeat’s not back home or anything. She can’t go down there and shake him down for money.” Gary gave a reasonable guess. Manna shook her head.

“Oh no, it's not that. She just… well she doesn’t really agree with me when it comes to this stuff. I mean when some of the townsfolk said that Red looked like me the other day, I liked the idea. But she… well, she wasn’t happy about it.”

“You guys know Red’s a jerk?” Gary immediately guessed. At Manna’s confused look, Gary quickly backtracked, “Um…never mind. Um, personal opinion, and I guess you wouldn’t know that. I don’t think the guy gave any interviews, the guy doesn’t talk a lot.”

“Oh, nothing like that. It was all about how he looked, how he looked a lot like me. No one in town’s up early, so I guess they don’t really catch Ash when on. They said that Red and Ritchie might ‘make the Ninja feel fear’, or however they put it, and were curious about why they looked like me. In a positive way, but my mom didn’t really take it that way.”

Manna pinched her lips, as if trying to find the right way to put it.

“...My mom….well she’s a bit sensitive about the…how do I put this….well the daycaring.”

Gary stared at Manna for that interesting euphemism. Manna quickly elaborated.

“She doesn't have anything against me or anything, but she would rather not think about the man ever again in any way. I always knew it wasn’t something she was happy about, but everyone in town was surprised over how angry she got about it when someone wondered about Ritchie and Red. I’m not sure if I want to even imagine a fourth one.”

Manna breathed for a moment, her breath holding in it a bit of wonder.

“Meanwhile I hear stuff like that, and I’m just intrigued. I’d love to have met them, but I didn’t even really think about it until it was too late. I’ve always kind of wished I had siblings, I’m the only kid around here who doesn’t. I’m not exaggerating, the last only child before me was that way because they were orphaned around forty years ago, and I’ve always been a bit jealous of everyone.”

“Hey, take it from someone from a town with a mix of them. Everyone’s jealous of what the other guys have.” Gary was well aware there were people who envied the only kids, and the only kids envied the ones who had siblings.

“I’ve heard that before, trust me.” Manna had clearly had the same sorts of interactions. “Just because it is true, doesn’t mean you don’t wonder. And now I might just have three brothers who I completely missed, well at least I might. Though I guess, how would you even know?”

“Well I can at least say I noticed that Red and Richie look like Ash, so you aren’t crazy.” Gary assured her, still not entirely sure what he was walking into, but even without a DNA test… yeah that was just funky. And there was the fact that Red, socially weird as he was, had asked Ash’s group to look after Yellow during his big matches. Wait, didn’t Yellow…

Gary banished that thought before he went into a Raboot hole. When you did that, you either went completely crazy or got kicked with a giant foot and wished you hadn’t gone down it.

“Well if you ever do want to ask, I’d say come around for the next party when your mom might not be suspicious or agitated, but not sure when that would be. I’m sure he’d love to finish that Orange Islands trip of his for his birthday in May, but you can’t predict that sort of thing. Though…”

“Wait, May?” Manna interrupted, sounding surprised. Gary nodded, not sure where this was going.

“May 22nd, why does that matter?”

“I was born on the 25th of May,” Manna said in a startled tone, unsure of what it meant. Gary had no idea how to process… whatever the heck that was. It was definitely surprising, and it was really strange that two people who looked a ton alike were both born to single mothers and ‘bang and run’ fathers, and the fact that this place wasn’t really that far from Pallet Town…

“...I mean gramps would need more than just all of that to really be sure, but he’d agree it really is looking…but I mean…okay I don’t know how to process….” Gary stammered, more than a little overwhelmed by the coincidence, “Like I’d never have said that to Ash, but I always kind of wondered if Red’s dad just cheated on his mom with Ash’s mom because I mean, they really do look alike, but the 22nd, and 25th, and do I even want to know about Ritchie… but I mean it isn’t like Red was also born in May…”

“Red Tajiri was born to a single mother in Vermillion City in that same timeframe.”

Manna stopped in her tracks and Gary nearly tripped before quickly pulling out his Pokédex, utterly beyond belief what just came out of it. Even more so when it gave Red’s birthdate.

“...That’s less than a week apart,” Manna said of the three of them. Three people who looked a lot alike all born to single mothers in a somewhat small geographical area, and they all ended up at the same Pokémon League Conference?

“Why do you know that?” Gary asked the Pokédex. Why would it have that information?

“Because Ash has been looking into it and his Pokédex has been keeping records on it. I have access to all of the information his Pokédex has and can share all but the locked information.”

“... um… what?” Gary repeated.

“The Pokédexes are all connected to each other and share information. Our information and knowledge is a collective and we can easily access information from another. The only thing we cannot share are information we label as ‘sensitive’. For example, passwords, life defining secrets, and the like.”

“Life defining secrets,” Manna repeated, as if that meant something to her.

“Access forbidden,” the Pokédex immediately declared.

“Okay yeah, I get that part, but why… how did Ash end up… like… what?” Gary was just dumbfounded. Ash was a single minded dork when he left Pallet Town, except when Daisy was nice to him, but somehow he found time to not only become one of the best new trainers in Kanto, if not just best trainers in Kanto at this point, but actually got into girls who weren’t his sister, built up muscles and started a gene hunt to start building a family tree up?

“From what I can share: chance encounters in Celadon and Gringey City.”

Not Lavender Town?

“Okay, so what does it look like? Ten people? Twenty? Am I stretching?”

“.....Don’t drink any liquids,” the Pokédex warned him as it loaded something up, a spinning wheel to show it loading up a lot of data…..

“Are Pokédexes supposed to do that?” Manna asked nervously. Gary shook his head before the display came up.

Gary wasn’t sure what word he exclaimed at the sight of it, as the shock he felt as he looked at the sheer amount of everything turned it into gibberish.

Why were there so many? What sort of people was Ash finding?! What sort of crazy nonsense was Ash running into!? Was Daisy actually being serious when she said Ash’s Goodra was caught in the sky and that sort of thing just happened to Ash!?

Did Ash go to Johto at some point?! Why did he have information from Johto? Did that poor Pidgeot of his fly around the world constantly?! Why was there censored information? What in all of this was censorable? Did Gary want to know what was censorable?! Um… was that bit about relationships for a girl from Gringey City a typo?

Why did Ash have information on possible siblings of his in Fiore? How on earth was he getting information for a Rangers nation? Should Gary be concerned that Ash would get arrested for espionage? Did he get this information from Gramps, for reasons Gary would never admit aloud to suspecting because he didn’t want his grandfather arrested either? How on earth did Ash’s (and Red’s and Manna’s and probably Ritchie’s and seemingly half of Kanto’s) even get into Fiore?! Oh damn it was the Raboot hole!

“.....Um….can I have this? Like as a download or something?” Manna eventually asked, snapping Gary out of a sense of having seen something he should not have. This wasn’t like, evil or something, and good on Ash for finding time to explore it, but Gary wasn’t sure he wanted to think about it that much.

“Gary Oak, do you permit the sharing of this information?” his Pokédex asked as he nodded.

“Yeah, sure, I hope you know what you are doing with it,” Gary agreed, wondering what she was going to do with all of it. After a beep his Pokédex announced that Manna would have access to the information via a shared link, she thanked the Pokédex for it, and Gary…Gary was happy they were just about at the older Pokémon, as it would be a good distraction.

Speaking of ways to not think about that mess too much, they found the Pokémon.

Around a water hole scampered, trained, or slept several Pokémon. Around the water skipped a Marill, while in the depths Gary could see a Staryu blinking. The trees in the area were all marked with paint from a Smeargle, while a Heracross crawled up one tree. An Ekans was curled up in the nook of another tree, while around the trees slumbered a Girafarig, Sentret, Phanpy, and Snubbull.

“It’s not a lot, but sometimes eggs end up here and mom takes care of them. A few trainers who start around here meet their first Pokémon here, though I’m the only one to actually start with one of the really famous ones. Mom found a Bulbasaur egg a while back, and the rest is well…” Manna explained, her thoughts drifting into that of history. The mention of the egg gave Gary a bit of a memory jolt.

“Oh yeah, you have a Venusaur.”

Manna nodded.

“Yeah, he’s my best Pokémon, and really strong. Though I’m still trying to figure out we can use his power the best. I feel like I’m just the narrowest, final stretch to master it, but not quite there yet.”

The way Manna said that made Gary feel like he knew what it was about, but Gary just couldn’t figure out what it was. He was going to remember what it was later and be so annoyed with himself, or find out later and feel like an idiot.

“There are other Pokémon here too, we just need to find them and…”

Manna stopped as she noticed a Pokémon up a tree. It was a brown and white Pokémon, whose fluffy form was well known the world over. It was watching them narrowly.

“An Eevee,” Gary identified reflexively, like he was Ash or something, as Manna frowned.

“Yep. Eevee’s not really all that friendly though. He’s not mean or anything, he just isn’t the sort of Eevee that just comes up to you and cuddles.” Manna’s words were a warning to not get his hopes up. Eevee were always sought after, but not every Eevee wanted to be everybody’s friend.

Gary, feeling interested in trying his luck, walked up to the Eevee hollow. Eevee watched him warily, though not moving to flee or anything, as Gary reached into his bag for a berry.

“Right idea, but the execution is going to be a bit hard. We’ve tried all of the usual berries, even some of the odder ones, and he’s not really taken to them. An Oran or Pecha berry isn’t going to do it.”

“I guessed that much. Have you tried a Chople Berry?”

“No?” Manna sounded like she wasn’t sure what it was. Gary pulled out the red berry and held it up to Eevee, who sniffed it. The Eevee then took a single, nervous bite out of it. Gary held his arm out steady as it swallowed the bit of berry, then took the rest of it and started eating it in more full vigor.

“Lucky guess. It’s just a bit of a gut feeling, and probably a bit of ideas from the old man,” Gary explained to Manna. If the Eevee was wary, then trying with a berry whose properties were good against something that was problematic for Eevee. He didn’t have a ton of them on him, but maybe he could get a conversation started and…

“Hey wait, those two aren’t fat ladies!”

The Pokémon around them, as well as the two of them, were startled as two shapes slunk through the trees and approached them. Clad in black, their heads were covered by black caps and the only color visible to their clothing was the big red R on their chests.

“Team Rocket?!” Manna exclaimed, sounding surprised and horrified.

“Well, I guess we aren’t going to hear one sing, but not like they can stop us. The rest of the boys can just clean up after us.” The other grunt, who hadn’t called Manna’s mom fat, declared as he took out a Pokéball. The Marill jumped into the pool to avoid being noticed.

“Gary, go make sure my mom’s okay,” Manna told him in a steelish tone. Gary didn’t argue, he just made tracks while Manna seemed all too happy to deal with the two who insulted her mother.

“Hah, the guy’s afraid of us. Makes sense to just leave us to get all of these Pokémon after we beat…” Gary faintly heard the first one speak. Then Manna sent out Venusaur and the sound of a beatdown was quite audible even as Gary ran towards the house.

He was nearly there in fact when a near dozen more black shirted thugs burst out to block his way.

“Hey boss, we’ve got a runner!” one grunt shouted.

“...Don’t call him that, he’s not that highly promoted,” a second crook grumbled.

“Well he’s still higher ranked than…”

“Yes, I am higher ranked than the rest of you. Now I do expect the one who thinks I shouldn't be called ‘boss’ while I’m in command to have a chat with me after we’re done dealing with…oh hello.” Someone in the crowd, the ‘boss’, changed his tone as soon as he saw Gary. The voice was also familiar, though Gary couldn’t quite figure out why.

One of the Rockets stepped up in front of the rest, crossing his arms. The first thing Gary noticed was that this ‘boss’ of the grunts looked to be younger than many of them. He was probably only sixteen or something, maybe seventeen, with short brown hair with some blond streaks from the sun. His frame was average but not unathletic, and curiously his hat had badges pinned in them. A Boulder, Cascade, Bell, and Umbra badge, one each, specifically. The Rocket, whose eyes were just a bit too shadowed to see, looked right at him, his mouth curled into a slight snarl. Gary had no idea why, at least until he looked up a bit so as to not have his eyes as obscured. Then Gary saw the black eyes and the dots connected.

“Zacharias?!” Gary said in disbelief, seeing who was leading this squad of Team Rocket grunts. The elder student of himself and Ash, now wearing all black with a big red R prominent on the center, rolled his eyes.

“Oh, so Oak remembers me. I’m almost flattered to be remembered by a Quarterfinalist. Are you exiled or just trying to avoid everyone’s judgment?”

Gary would later reflect in hindsight that the taunt didn’t do anything. Instead Gary focused on the big R on Zacharias’s chest, which seemed to only infuriate Zacharias more.

“Is the Prince of Pallet Town astonished? Can’t be any more astonishing than seeing yourself be outperformed by Ash Ketchum. Yeah, while you were underperforming, I’m moving up in the world!”

“Someone’s delusional,” Gary mockingly told the old rival/bully/nuisance turned criminal. “And not like that way we used to say Ash was. He actually made his delusions a reality.”

And found brand new ones it seemed, but that wasn’t important right now.

Zacharias reached for a Pokéball on his belt, listening to the sound of screaming up with Manna, before barking out an order to his fellow grunts.

“You lot, go grab the eggs and any Pokémon you see. Clearly those two idiots are having trouble with some dumpy old lady, go save their hides and finish the job. I’m going to beat and rob a quarterfinalist.” Zacharias barked at his underlings, who immediately scrambled. Gary was sure that Manna would handle them alright, but part of him wanted to beat Zacharias quickly to give her backup in case being on the wrong side of a baker's dozen proved too much.

Part of Gary also wanted to draw this out. Zacharias could use a beating. It would be like finally beating Paul, just not quite the same. And he rather liked beating that Sinnohian jerk. Anything similar to that feeling would be quite nice.

“Venomoth, go!”

“Pidgeot, I choose you!”

The two Pallet Town trainers quickly made space as the two winged Pokémon were sent out.

“Use Stun Spore!” Zacharias of Team Rocket ordered as the Venomoth began to flap its wings, sending out a storm of yellow spores towards Pidgeot, and Gary.

“Dodge and use Mirror Move!”

While Gary got away from the spores that suspiciously were aimed in a way to hit them both with a quick dodge roll like he was in a video game or something Pidgeot’s feathers glowed blue for a second before shooting out his own gust of blue powder. Said powder struck Venomoth, who fell to the ground and struggled to get back into the air.

“H…hey!? Powder moves aren’t supposed to work on the user!?” Zacharias stuttered. Gary’s expression was stone faced.

“That’s only if you are a Grass-type. Now Sky Attack!”

Pidgeot flew into the air, glowing blue with building power as Venomoth struggled back into the air. The Bug-type managed it, just in time for Pidgeot to slam into it from above.

Zacharias, grinding his teeth, returned Venomoth as Pidgeot landed next to Gary. Gary stroked Pidgeot for a moment, eyeing his old school rival turned crook with a side eye.

“You know, if we were all back in Pallet Town, I’d have told you that was so easy even Ash could have won it. Nowadays I’m pretty sure I’d need to say something like ‘well if I can beat you, Ash would do it faster. After all, I’m just the ‘quarterfinalist’.” Gary mockingly observed as Zacharias ripped a second Pokéball off his belt.

“Don’t you dare mock me, you bastard! Do you know what happened to me!?”

“Nope,” Gary popped as he returned Pidgeot for a second Pokémon, sending out one of the other ones he had with him. Gary sent out his Marowak, while Zacharias sent out a Fearow.

“Of course you don’t,” Zacharias glowered.

“Well, you apparently moved up in the world so….”

Zacharias, very much infuriated at having his own boast turned against him, had Fearow come at Marowak with a Drill Peck.

“Detect!” Gary countered as Marowak’s eyes flashed blue, letting him easily side step the oncoming Drill Peck.

“Someone like you, with the world handed to you on a silver spoon, doesn’t get what failure is. Not until this week when you got creamed by some girl! Fury Attack!”

Fearow came back around for Marowak, beak rapidly being stabbed at Marowak, who blocked each blow with his bone.

“You know, it’s talk like that that made it so Ash was always more popular with the girls than you,” Gary drawled, happy to keep Zacharias venting. “Brutal Swing!”

On the last stab Marowak swung his club around, whacking Fearow away, the bird recovering as Zacharias looked ready to spit at him.

“He bang your sister yet?! Drill Run!”

Fearow’s following attack directory was curiously set to skewer either Marowak or himself. Marowak didn’t move, protecting Gary from said stabbing as necessary.

“Nah, he apparently got eyes for some other girls now, and actually gotten somewhere. Good riddance I say, I don’t need another person going on about my sister being hotter than the Cinnabar Volcano. Bone Club, then Aerial Ace!”

Marowak swung his club right into Fearow, the two clashing for a good minute before Marowak managed to overpower the attack, which was quickly followed by a blue shining bone being slammed into Fearow up the head. Fearow was sent into the air before landing in a crumbled pile next to Zacharias, the second loss building up Zacharias’s anger.

“It’s always the stupid and privileged ones! The rest of us suffer while you both take everything! Some more than others, quarterfinalist.”

Returning Marowak with a thanks, Gary had some questions for Zacharias to answer.

“Then why didn’t you go the distance? Why did you ‘go up’ in the world?”

“....” Zacharias said nothing as he sent out his next Pokémon, a Hypno. Gary in turn sent out Arcanine.

“Why are you so angry at me and Ash? Is it just because we got to the Indigo League in a year? There's no time limit you know.” Gary pressed further, both curious for an answer and wanting to keep Zacharias angry and not thinking straight, or about the distant sound of Rockets being manhandled by a Venusaur. “And you got pretty far, unless you stole those badges on your hat.”

“Because everything went wrong for me!” Zacharias shouted as Hypno charged at Arcanine with a Zen Headbutt attack.

Arcanine, at Gary’s command, used Flame Wheel at the last second, causing the attack to be blocked and for Hypno to wince with a sudden and intense burn.

“Everything that could go wrong, went wrong! I lost my stuff in a storm! I had no more Pokéballs to catch more Pokémon to help me beat that stupid Raichu nutcase in Vermillion City! I didn’t even have the stuff to get to the next Gym to try someone else! No matter how hard I tried with the Pokémon I had, I couldn’t get anywhere!”

Hypno, while its trainer was ranting, used Psychic to lift Arcanine off the ground. Arcanine struggled for a bit in the grip, before blasting a Dragon Rage into Hypno, knocking Hypno down and freeing himself from the psychic attack before rushing in with an Extreme Speed, smashing into Hypno and knocking it out.

“I was halfway to Indigo, and everything went wrong because of a storm! A freak storm that wasn’t even on the weather map for me until the day it hit!” Zacharias was almost trembling with frustration and rage as he returned Hypno. “I needed to remake myself from the ground up because what did playing ‘by the rules’ get me but a wrecked tent and four gym badges. Oh, I’m sure it must be so hard to understand for someone like you or the wonderlove child. You’re a prince without a crown, given everything from a Pokédex downward on your pampered ass! Meanwhile the idiot apparently gets himself a harem or something while getting even more than you. I don’t see you with some Unovan starter or a taffy dragon! Idiots get all the luck, and don’t leave any for the rest of us!”

Arcanine, who Gary had been petting for a good win, growled at Zacharias. Gary for his part had to agree that it did sound like a bad break. A storm impoverishing a guy was bad luck, and he even faintly remembered a bad Vermillion area storm from last year that suddenly changed its path away to strike around the port city out of nowhere. It was a legit bad break for Zacharias. However…

“Okay, let’s set some points straight. You aren’t the only one who had problems.”

Zacharias looked ready to mockingly guess at the problems, but Gary beat him to it with the truth.

“You know what happened not even a week after I got out of Pallet Town? I ran into someone who kicked my ass again and again and again. Then I ran into the biggest jerk this side of Mt. Coronet, who also handed me my ass after being an ass to me during a tag tournament. And to top it all off, Ash surpassed me at some point, which is chump change compared to those two.”

“So the prince lost his crown?” Zacharias mocked, anger tinting his mockery as he reached for a fourth Pokéball.

“No, I lost my ego and had to build myself back up and finally beat that big jerk where it really counted,” Gary countered as he reached for a ball himself. Idly Gary noted that, if they were going to keep up this style of battling, he would be in a bit of a pickle, as Gary would prefer to keep Blastoise for the eventual Primeape, and two of his other Pokémon were more in training than…

“Vee!”

Zacharias, to his credit, avoided being struck in the back by the arrival of the Eevee with a decent enough dodge. His baseball reflexes were not dulled by the Rocketness at least. Eevee ran over to him, hopping urgently, before turning around and glaring at Zacharias.

“Did you seriously just attack me with your own rat! I guess you really are copying Ash! Alright, Graveler, smack that thing!”

“Vee!” Eevee declared definitely as Zacharias sent out the middle evolved Ground and Rock-type before looking over its shoulder at him. So, Eevee wanted to battle with him? Gary was fine with it, but what moves did Eevee know? In his pocket, Gary felt his Pokédex vibrate, and Gary wondered if his Pokédex had just accessed the Ornus computer systems for a record or something. If so…

“You know, seeing as you couldn’t beat Lt. Surge with a Graveler, unless that’s just some bonus you got for signing up to Team Rocket, I’ll give you a handicap. Pokédex, tell him what Eevee can do.” Gary played up the old arrogance, which was also a cover for his own knowledge gap here.

“The Eevee who will defeat the ruffian’s Graveler will do with the moves Sand Attack, Take Down, Shadow Ball, and Quick Attack.” His Pokédex played along as Zacharias looked absolutely infuriated.

“You…you….how arrogant are you!?”

“Arrogant enough to know I’ll win against type advantage. I do have a Thunder Badge after all.” If Gary had them in his jacket, he’d flash them. While that would have been a nice touch, it wasn’t necessary to get Zacharias to go berserk.

“BULLDOZE!” Zacharias shouted as Graveler started punching the ground with all of its fists, causing shock waves to fly out in all directions, including towards Eevee, who tensed readily.

“Eevee, dodge the shock waves and use Sand Attack!” Gary instructed. Eevee, who was more than ready, ran at Graveler, jumping between the shock wave rings like a master at hop scotch or something. Gary, who had to admit Ash was always better at that niche than him, was not nearly as elegant, but hey, he wasn’t the one with sand in his eye. That was Graveler, who Eevee got right up close to and kicked sand at, right in the face.

“GRA!”

“Graveler! Focus Punch!”

Graveler’s fists all glowed blue and all lunged at Eevee… in theory. In practice, Eevee just got behind it while Graveler punched at empty air.

“Now Shadow Ball!”

Graveler was promptly struck from behind, and rolled over onto its face, getting back up just as Eevee ran back around it and opened its little mouth.

“Vee!”

To blast another Shadow Ball into Graveler, which this time sent Graveler into the air.

“Finish this with Take Down!”

Just in time for Eevee to leap upwards into Graveler, striking the sturdy Rock Pokémon with a final blow that caused it to crash down in a heap while Eevee landed gracefully. Eevee darted over to his side and took a surprisingly relaxed sitting posture, one that was also a bit more distant than most Eevee who would insist on a cuddle, as Zacharias returned Graveler.

“Send out that special starter of yours. I’m going to break it,” Zacharias said, his words as dark as a Bite attack. Gary, who was already going to do that, took his ball off his belt.

“Fine by me, but good luck with the ‘breaking’ thing.”

And with that, two Pallet Town Trainer starters were sent out. Blastoise and Primeape, both glaring at the other. Pokémon could hear from inside their balls after all, and knew what was going on. This wasn’t just a brawl, it was personal.

“Scald!” Gary started as Blastoise aimed his cannons and fired the boiling stream of water at the anger powered Fighting-type.

“Dodge it!”

Primeape easily avoided the blast, running towards Blastoise while preparing its fists for what looked like a Cross Chop attack.

“Block it with Power-up Punch!” Gary ordered as Blastoise’s fist flashed orange, the two attacks clashing. Primeape glared at Blastoise just as it flipped, spinning a bit to get right at Blastoise’s head for attacking.

“Acrobatics!”

Blastoise withdrew his head just in time to avoid the flurry of blue fist and foot blows, though what Gary would call Blastoise’s collar bone, i.e the top part of his shell around his head, weren’t as lucky. Blastoise did feel those blows, and was forced back a bit before Primeape disengaged from the attack, with Blastoise popping his head out from his shell after the blows ended.

“Keep up the pressure with Gunk Shot!”

“Ice Beam, then Skull Bash!”

Primeape’s next attack saw it manifest a large purple mass of toxins like a polluted Rock Tomb and threw it at Blastoise, who blasted ice from his cannons to strike and shatter the attack harmlessly. This gave Blastoise cover to prepare the ramming attack, firing itself like a massive bullet into Primeape, who was struck and sent crashing down right next to Team Rocket’s Zacharias.

Gary almost smirked, but noticed Eevee was not cheering and was instead watching Primeape, who was getting back up.

“...I am not going to lose to you like this. I won’t. I won’t!” Zacharias declared in mounting fury.

“Pri!” Primeape shouted in tandem, its fist glowing with a dark aura. Then, without orders, Primeape ran at Blastoise and, before Blastoise could react, struck him with the dark fist.

“Toiiii!”

The resulting strike caused Blastoise to gasp out in pain before collapsing to his knees. Zacharias looked surprised, before grinning like mad.

“That’s not Assurance, but it’s way better so go all in. Hit that turtle again!”

The same blackened fist was used once more to strike Blastoise, this time sending Blastoise flying right over Gary’s head before he crashed behind him in a boom that sent out enough dust to blind him and Eevee. Primeape was now breathing heavily, not in exhaustion but pure rage.

“An attack powered by our hatred. That’s awesome, Primeape, keep this up! We’ll beat this prince, then take all of the Pokémon they’ve got here, and then we use our vacation days to finally break that stupid Unovan’s face!” Zacharias with every word seemed to grow more maniacal and eager, like he was building up a list. “Then we’ll go find Ash Ketchum and punch him all the way to his father! The bastard might actually thank me!”

“...And then you’ll take over the world?” Gary dryly guessed where this was going.

“Nah, but maybe Pallet Town.” Zacharias revived that old ambition while Blastoise got back up on his feet. “Zacharias Town would be a nice place for a Team Rocket base after all, don’t you think?”

Well… Zacharias was both back to normal and losing his mind. Wonderful.

“Blastoise, I can get Pidgeot or Arcanine out for this if you’d prefer.” Gary asked his starter, who shook his head as a blue aura formed around him. Torrent. Gary also noticed the Mystic Water on Blastoise. “Alright, let’s win this.”

“Toise.” Blastoise nodded as he aimed his cannon as Primeape, the turrets flashing blue. Gary felt a grin coming on. Also a speech that was about as cheesy as that pose he did after he beat Paul, but he was going to say it anyway.

“You know what, you can use all the anger you want. You're a jerk, and you even have sort of a reason to be frustrated. Not enough to be actually a justified criminal, and certainly not enough to get you ‘Zacharias Town’. Now everything I do have, my own frustrations, my own bonds, my own hard work, that is actually something that can get me somewhere.” Gary began.

“Vee!” Eevee added.

“Oh shut up! I’m going to feed you that crown of yours, ass first! Primeape, attack again!”

Now both of Primeape’s fists were glowing that dark, wicked color with the power of pure rage. And Gary would counter that with a power fueled, partially, by friendship.

“Another thing I have is that I actually know the names of my new attacks! Blastoise, use Hydro Pump!”

“Blastoise!”

Blastoise launched his newly accessed sixth attack just as Primeape charged in, and Primeape ran right at the intense pressure streams and struck them head on with its new attack. Primeape, fueled by fury, punched the water and was able to hold it back…for about ten seconds. Then the power was too much, and Primeape was blown back right into Zacharias, which continued to blast into them as the blast arced into the air.

“GAAARRRRYYYYY!”

The two were blasted further and further, until they were out of sight.

“.....” Eevee stared after the blown away duo in surprise, while Blastoise dropped to an exhausted knee.

“Gary!”

Meanwhile Manna ran over to them, her Venusaur following with about a dozen and a half grunts bound up in vines flailing around as the evolved grass type ambled behind her. She quickly took stock of everything before looking around, as if expecting to see a Team Rocket member somewhere.

“You were fighting their boss right? Did he get away?”

“...I kind of made him fly.” Gary admitted, not sure what was going to happen now. He… didn’t just kill Zacharias, did he? Manna, as if sensing his worry, turned around to look where Zacharias had been blasted. Gary wasn’t sure what she expected to see, or why she seemed to be satisfied after looking for a while. Did she have binoculars or something? Really, really good ones?

“That Team Rocket guy is still alive, though we won’t be seeing him again. He won’t be arrested today, unlike the rest of them,” Manna assured him, and not just about someone calling a Jenny. Gary wasn’t sure how she knew that, but Gary would choose to believe her without evidence. He liked being able to sleep at night, so it worked out.

…

“I can’t thank you enough, twice over.” Ms. Ornus empathically repeated as the last of the captured Team Rocket Grunts were loaded up into a squad car.

“I only battled one of them, and that would have happened anyway. Guy had it out for me.” Gary reminded her.

“That was honestly an important step. Lower rung members of Team Rocket are easily rendered uncoordinated when their leaders aren’t around.” Officer Jenny added, giving the three of them one final thank you before driving off with the most recent additions to the prison system.

“Plus, that last one actually sounded like he was kind of tough. I am pretty sure all of the others thought they were just going to jump just my mom.” Manna sounded like she hated the thought.

“Well with how badly it went, it’s probably just going to be a one off thing.” Gary guessed. Especially if Zacharias wasn’t able to lead another mission, which seemed possible given that he was pretty seriously beaten and… would land in a nice soft pile of straw or a Snorlax belly somewhere. Yeah, that was happened until proven otherwise.

“Yeah, I think so. Apparently they were after the Totodile shipment, but that’s out of date and by the time it happens again I can get a better security system set up. Honestly I didn’t apply for it because I didn’t think I needed it, that’s on me,” Galia admitted.

“Are you sure…” Manna sounded like she wanted to ask about staying. Her mother quickly clarified that she meant it.

“No Manna, you don’t have to do that at all. I don’t want your career to end with scaring a ninja, you should accomplish as much as you want. Maybe go scare twenty-five ninjas. It’s all up to you, not some bunch of criminals and my thinking that remoteness was security enough.”

Gary could hear his grandfather or sister in that sentence, or Ash’s mom. They’d say something similar in the same situation.

“Eee.”

The three of them turned to see Eevee again, the little Normal type sitting still at the entrance to the annex. His tail wasn’t lagging, atypical for an Eevee, but typical for this one.

“Oh hey, you don’t normally come down here.” Galia noted as the Eevee walked over to Gary and sat at his feet.

“Do you want another Chople Berry?” Gary guessed. The Eevee didn’t say yes or no, just stared at him. Gary wasn’t entirely sure what that meant.

“You know, Eevee really does seem to like you. Why don’t you take him with you?” Galia gave her own theory as he looked back down at the stoic normal type.

“Oh, is that what you want?” Gary asked as he took out a Pokéball, feeling his Pokédex make a note to copy another one for later. “You want me to catch you and have you come with me?”

Gary repeated to make sure he got the correct answer. This Eevee wasn’t the most communicative, and he’d rather not make it upset by misunderstanding its intent if it just wanted another Chople Berry.

“Eevee.” Eevee nodded firmly. Gary smiled.

“Well then, I’ll make sure to pack a lot of Chople Berries, and make sure the old man keeps them on hand for you if you are back with him at any point.”

And so, Gary got on his knees and tapped Eevee on the head. Eevee was then sucked into his Pokéball. It shook only once before clicking shut.

“Eevee has been registered to your Pokéball. Good job, sir,” congratulated the Pokédex. Galia clapped her hands.

“Oh that’s wonderful! I hope the best for you both.”

“Same.” Gary agreed. Eevee was the first new Pokémon he caught since the first part of his Pokémon Trainer journey ended.

Where would the second go from here?

…

“So, where are you going after this?” Gary asked as he was about to take off on Pidgeot for Pallet Town. They were a bit away from the Ornus Breeding Center, halfway back to town.

“Well before today I had no idea what I was going to do next. I mean I knew I wanted to go for Indigo again next year, but not what I was going to do in the meantime. But thanks to you, I think I know what I’ll be looking for.”

“You’re going to look into Ash’s gene hunt?” Gary guessed as she nodded.

“Yeah. Maybe some of them will think I’m crazy, but if any don’t…if I really do have family out there, I want to find out. I’ll start with an easier task and find those two who seem to have found each other on their own.”

“Ringo and… Biwa I think?” Gary recalled as Manna nodded. He was lucky he got it right, or anything in that mess actually stuck.

“Yes. After them, I’ll have to think about who to look into next. And I mean, who knows how long connecting with those two will take. But this feels like the best path for me in my journey, it just feels right.”

“Best of luck to you then. And don’t forget you can just try to catch Ash back in Pallet Town at some point. He’s probably going to get to that ‘Supreme Gym Leader’ guy in the Orange Crew, so maybe you can time things to catch him at the post Orange League party.” As there would be a party even if Ash got swept by a Ditto. Manna smiled.

“That is an option… though there is another.”

Manna left that one hanging, and Gary felt a slight sense of foreboding. What was she planning, a giant Christmas get together…oh wait that might actually be it. And with months to make something out of that giant list…well Ms. Ketchum could probably live that surprise.

“Well, good luck with your plan. Don’t get arrested in Fiore!” Gary shouted the last one as a joke as Pidgeot started to take off.

“I won’t!” Manna assured him as Pidgeot took off into the sky and towards Pallet Town.

Before Gary popped over to the party, where otherwise he’d be surely missed, he stopped by the Oak residence. Daisy had messaged him he had a package from Saffron City, and it gave him just a bit more time before he got to face the music.

Hopefully not the actual music. Some people in this town just could not sing, and the time that they formed an impromptu county music band was one of the few times he’d have rather see Ash simp for Daisy. Maybe he’d have even rather seen Daisy return interest if they started yodeling again.

Gary shuddered as he took the parcel out. Zacharias could call him a prince of Pallet Town, but back in the day he would probably add on something about being ‘a prince of a county of fools’. He wouldn’t call them that anymore, and not just because fools were expected to be able to sing and play instruments.

“An Upgrade?” Gary questioned as he looked at his mail. Who mailed him that? It was a better thing to ponder than if anyone in town would try to sing again. Though, now to hear the other sort of music.

…

A Pallet Town Party was something else, there was little like it. Except maybe in other small boring towns.

Gramps lab was all set up with the works of a day party. Food everywhere, podiums for speeches, banners, the stuff of parties. Gary had wondered if he could pop in almost unnoticed…

“Hey, it's Gary!”

And nope. He was stopped in seconds. Maybe the secret back way wasn’t that secret…

Gary found himself staring down several of Pallet Town’s residents, including a few other of his schoolmates. So, was this the part where…

“Congratulations!” beamed Hosta.

“Top 8’s incredible in your first League. I mean, how does that compare to Daisy’s first Grand Festival? Seriously, someone do the math for me,” wondered aloud Bush Paine, who seemed to have gotten a job at the local store since Gary had last seen him.

“It’s actually better,” Rirston Rojo, one of his father’s interns and probably a relation of that ‘Rojo’ in the Top 64, clarified.

“That’s even better!”

Oh um… maybe not.

“You guys not see Ash yet or something?” Gary joked as Rirston laughed.

“Being proud of you and being proud of him aren’t mutually exclusive.”

“And um yeah, we have. You missed the speech,” Hosta added.

“Yeah, and the part where someone interrupted it to give him a big hug. I’m sure that his fanclub is envious, but maybe if you all weren’t scared of those out of town girls with Ash and had a pair…”

Gary was curious about what ‘pair’ Bush meant before the plump Hosta kicked him in the knee, preventing him from finishing the sentence. Because while there was an obvious fill in word, Gary didn’t hear a sentence ending there. So there was a pair of ‘something’, but what? Stilts? Did someone rush Ash on stage on stilts? It was probably something else though, so Gary asked and got the answer.

And Gary, despite himself, just laughed. Seriously, what were the odds of that!?

…

What followed that was more greetings, more praising, more congratulations, and one grumpy old person saying he should have done better than Delia’s son. He was ignored, and soon was directed towards the lab for a bit of a pre ‘final event’ preparation. While Gary hoped it wasn’t him singing with Ash or something, he did run into someone else who he could talk to about something Gary wasn’t sure about saying too loudly.

“So Zacharias fell in with Team Rocket. A shame, but not the biggest surprise.”

One of the party guests was Dwight, a Pokémon Coordinator from their town and in Zacharias’s year. He was also the only Pallet Town kid to get a Pokédex last year. Said Pokédex was also how he knew about Zacharias.

Dwight was a dimpled and freckled older teen, with a thin build and long brown hair. His Blastoise, who had won him the Wallace Festival when it had come to Cerulean City last year, was at his side.

No relation to Gary’s Blastoise. Gary wasn’t particularly close to Dwight.

“Yeah, I guess if I had to think of someone to fall into crime, I would have to guess Zacharias before Ash or something, but still a surprise. And not one I can say I liked.”

Dwight nodded.

“Yeah… it never is. Crime is one thing, criminals are just names. To put a name to a face, and memories too… I won’t tell his mother and father if you won’t.”

Gary nodded. Yeah, that was for the best.

“Zacharias… honestly I don’t think it had to be that way. Guy was determined enough that, without that storm, I think he’d have made it to Indigo,” Dwight mused.

“Kind of wish he did. Then we wouldn’t have to be keeping him a secret and just be celebrating me or Ash whooping his ass.” Gary was pretty sure the outcome would still be the same, just done properly.

“Yeah, you probably would.” Dwight agreed, before the older coordinator wistfully smiled. “Been a while since I caught a party here.”

Gary nodded, trying to think about when Dwight was last in town.

“Since your run in the Kanto Grand Festival, right?” Gary recalled the last party he was sure Dwight was here for. Dwight nodded.

“Yep. Didn’t bring back a new Ribbon Cup for Pallet, not even close really, but I’m not giving up.”

Pokémon Coordinating was deceptively ruthless. There were people like Zacharias who thought it was just frilly costumes and stage tricks, but Coordinators were some of the most cutthroat Pokémon Trainers out there. Gary’s Gym Badges could be used again, but Daisy and Dwight had to re-win five ribbons each competition. Daisy had 45 ribbons on display with that Ribbon Cup of hers, and each of those ribbons were a key part of every other competitor's path to the Ribbon Cup. A coordinator needed a will of steel, a trainer needed nerves of steel, his grandfather had put it once.

“Well, a few rounds into any league or festival is enough for a party around here. Sorry Ash and I missed it,” Gary apologized for Ash as Dwight nodded.

“It wasn’t like you two weren’t busy. Plus, it was a good way to get feedback from my idol. I owe your sister for my dream.”

That Gary already knew, though he knew it less than the fact that he knew Dwight was not going to stare after his sister longingly. Dwight was not attracted to women after all.

“Well, watch out for that Solidad if you do. She might be a problem for your dream.” Gary advised from personal experience. Dwight nodded.

“Yeah, I know. She is going to be a dangerous opponent if I ever meet her in a contest, but I believe I can make my dream a reality. A Ribbon Cup in 40 ribbons or less, it’s a nice dream.”

“And a bit less open ended than being a Pokémon Master,” Gary quipped about Ash’s dream as Dwight laughed.

“Well, the thing about that is Ash doesn’t have a limit. I just need to not make it in eight years and win on my ninth or later attempt. A boundless dream and a bounded dream, what a contrast. So, I hear that Ash is going abroad.”

Gary nodded.

“Yeah, apparently he’s doing something for the old man, then going over to Johto. Maybe Kalos if Serena calls.”

“Ash goes abroad and I stay in Kanto. Where are you going?” Dwight asked as Gary shrugged.

“Still going to think about it. I have a training master to meet with after this and I’ll ponder with him on it. Guess the question is should I avoid the people who I want to beat to not be some stalker or not and kind of hope I get to beat them in a proper match somewhere.”

Dwight nodded.

“A good question, and I wish I could answer that. But I don’t really have personal rivals. You’ll need to figure that one out yourself.”

Gary would. Would he go to another region, possibly Johto or explicitly not Johto, or stay in Kanto to hone himself for the next league? That would be a lot to think about, and he dwelled on it after Dwight bid him adieu and let him go meet up with the old man and Ash, as the preparations for the party’s climactic event was explained to the both of them.

“A battle where the people in Pallet pick the teams?” Ash questioned.

“You know how bored everyone around here gets. What was the last big thing here that isn’t related to you or me?” Gary thought it was a weird idea, but whatever kept the townsfolk entertained until the next party. And whatever helped him not think about what he’d seen at the Ornus residence. He’d leave Ash to his devices and not ask questions.

“I think it was that big screening of ‘Leon: The Movie’.” Ash had to think about that one. That did sound about right. Setting up that drive-in movie screen, but without any cars, was a bit of a task, but everyone had fun with it. “Or was it Daisy’s humongous party after her Grand Festival win? I can’t remember which.”

Gary didn’t want to think about that one. Mostly because he spent most of it fearing how many people would try to all but propose to his sister at it. He even heard a rumor Ash was going to, which ultimately didn’t come true but it cost him way too much sleep. Oh thank you other girls, at least that nightmare stayed out of reality these days…

“So we have a few minutes while the votes are counted up, my brother’s handling it as he rather likes voting in general, so how would you like to wait for democracy?” Gramps asked them as Gary had an idea.

“Say Ash, before we give Pallet Town its last big piece of entertainment… honestly until one of us comes back here or after my sister or Dwight’s next Grand Festival, given how things are, let’s do something quickly for the both of us,” Gary requested as Ash blinked.

“Sure, what do you need?”

Gary grinned.

“Well, figured you might need some help intentionally catching Pokémon for a change, and I have some Pokémon who can evolve with the right item and a round trade with gramps’ old trade machine.”

At Ash’s surprised expression Gary smirked.

“Look, I’m not a pretty girl with lavender hair, but I know you’ve done that before. Plus, how many Pokémon do you even have in that registry of yours, forty-five?”

Ash looked ready to say something, probably something like his encounter rates or how it actually doesn’t matter that much. If it was the latter, Gary would let Ash have this argument won.

“Including his newest capture and the aforementioned mutual trade with Anabel I didn’t count initially, 59.” Ash’s Pokédex ratted him out. Gary laughed.

“...Didn’t you originally count Ash Ketchum’s roster as 55? Admitting to an error I see,” Gary’s Pokédex observed from Gary’s pocket.

“....I admit to no such thing.” Ash’s almost pouted while Ash seemed to be doing the math in his head to see for himself. “Also human, if you agree with that other Pokédex, I will change all your passwords and not tell you what they’d been replaced with.”

Ash immediately stopped trying to do the math as Gary laughed some more.

“Well then consider this my thank you gift for Paul. I’ll bring you up to 65 before you go meet up with the pretty Professor in a swimsuit. Should I tell Misty and Serena to dye their hair purple?”

Ash gave a withering look at the old man, who gave a deep bellied laugh alongside Pikachu.

“If it helps, think of it this way. If you ever find a Kingdra and Misty wants to catch it, you can lend her one of your Repeat Balls. Your Pokédex also registers her captures, so it would be a help for her.” Professor Oak sounded like he was pretty sure that wouldn’t happen, Kingdra were rather rare, but he felt like keeping up with the teasing while also being something approaching genuinely helpful.

“Oh yeah, she’s the one actually giving Gramps some water-types for a change right? She got a Qwilfish yet? If not, we can do an extra round trade for a Repeat Ball she might actually get to use later without a diving suit and more luck than sense.”

Because finding a wild Kingdra was a bit of a challenge. People usually evolved their Seadras for a reason.

“Gary… I can’t tell if you are teasing me or actually trying to be helpful,” Ash admitted as Gary grinned.

“Oh, a little of both.”

…

The final part of Pallet Town’s post Indigo League party was about to begin. The climax event, voted by the townsfolk.

On one end of a field stood Gary, and at the other stood Ash. Each of them had a bit of an unusual team composition, one they’d never choose themselves, but neither of them was hesitant to see how this would all end. Neither, Gary suspected, would consider this a definitive match because of those same conditions. And neither would give this match any less than their all.

His name was Gary Oak. In the first part of his Pokémon Journey he won eight badges and reached the Top 8 at the biggest Indigo League Conference in history. In doing so Gary had three great rivals, one of whom Gary had settled the score with. His Pokédex count numbered 70, with his captured and evolved Squirtle, Wartortle, Blastoise, Caterpie, Metapod, Butterfree, Weedle, Kakuna, Beedrill, Pidgey, Pidgeotto, Pidgeot, Rattata, Raticate, Spearow, Fearow, Sandshrew, Sandslash, Female Nidoran, Nidorina, Nidoqueen, Male Nidoran, Nidorina, Nidoking, Zubat, Golbat, Oddish, Gloom, Venomoth, Golduck, Mankey, Growlithe, Arcanine, Abra, Kadabra, Alakazam, Machoke, Machamp, Geodude, Graveler, Golem, Magneton, Doduo, Krabby, Voltorb, Electrode, Exeggcute, Exeggutor, Cubone, Marowak, Tangela, Horsea, Seadra, Goldeen, Magmar, Pinsir, Gyarados, Ditto, Eevee, Porygon, Spinarak, Ariados, Bellossom, Qwilfish, Kingdra, Porygon2, Tangrowth, with as well as the briefly traded for Yanma, Bulbasaur, Serperior, and Ambipom.

(Now Ash had 66 Pokémon registered to his name, including a Qwilfish to impress one of his love interests with a Repeat Ball. Gary had actually wanted to just tick off Charizard and have Goodra registered as well as a talking point, but Ash had declined)

This was not the end of his adventure, and his second one started today with a battle with his first, and friendliest, rival.

END