Careful! (Ash x Gary)

Chapter Two

Once Gary's back disappeared from view, Ash realized his breathing was abnormal. He placed his hand on his chest and felt it shake underneath his palm. He attempted once more to suck a deep breath in to slowly let it fall from between his lips.

Once composed, he bent down to scoop up his beloved mouse and made his way to the lab doors. He refused to let his mind wander and focused strictly on locating the stairs that led to the upper section of the lab. Each step that was conquered, Ash's breath grew shallower until he was panting when arriving at the top of the staircase. His body froze in front of the door. He knew that once he stepped over the threshold, he would have to face Gary. He shook his head, trying to calm the nervous waves crashing against the side of his stomach.

"Pik-pika?" Pikachu chirped from his place against Ash's chest, resting his chin on his collar bone.

"You're right." Ash responded as if he understood exactly what Pikachu was attempting to communicate. Ash fumbled with the doorknob before it actually functioned properly. A cool wave and smell of air conditioner wafted over Ash, cooling his sweaty palms. His feet carried him further into the house before the scent of beautiful flapjacks snatched his soul and carried him to the kitchen involuntarily.

"What took you so long, Ashy-boy?" The nickname stirred him slightly before he could actually think of an acceptable response. Gary sat on one of the bar stools, his infamous smirk playing a key role in his arrogant stance.

"......pikachu.... alone time." Fragments escaped in mutters as Ash claimed the opposite stool, away from Gary. Gramps stood in front of the oven, equipped with a spatula and a pan. A stack was already started on a glass plate on the island. When Ash finally glanced over to Gary, he noticed the news article head line flashed across the front page in bold black letters. He also noticed the  half eaten pancake on his plate and of course the absence of syrup. He sometimes forgot that Gary didn't develop such a sweet tooth in his younger years like Ash.

After Ash settled, he noticed Pikachu nodding off in his lap. Purring emitted from the smaller creature that was curled in a semi-circle under Gary's stool.

"I don't understand why the police can't do a decent job of tracking the group of people down." Ash broke the silence plaguing the room and nodded towards the newspaper that Gary was reading.

"Ash, seriously. You can not have high expectations for Jenny, who is literally the only head in each police department in each town. Can you really expect her to run from Vermillioj to Saffron, arresting an entire gang of criminals?" Gary quipped, his smirk tugging on the corner of his lips further.

Ash's jaw was already positioned to counter with a snarky comment before one of the assistants slammed open the front door, causing both of the teenage boys to jump from their stool slightly. The assistant sported long, shaggy, black hair, haphazardly thrown behind his shoulders with an almost broken hair tie. The bags under his eyes were so prominent; they stood out from behind his thick glasses paired with the wired frames. A small box was nuzzled between his oil stained hands. His shirt was stained light brown at the top, probably from a sleepy fumble with a mug of coffee, and his pants wrinkled from thigh to knee area.

"Professor," The man sounded as if he had not slept for a few days. "Janet and I have finally finished the two prototypes. I was trying to inform you with such, but Janice was discussing the topic with you. I thought she might have informed you that we were close to finishing. Now, there still might be slight bugs that have to be tweaked, but Janice and I are fairly confident in its progress. Our number one fear is it has a 16% chance that it might emit a small multitude of volta-"

"Thank you, Marcus." Gramps yelled, cutting off the urgent assistant. "Give my gratitude to Janice for the time being. I will briefly meet with her as well to discuss the rough edges." He turned to the boys, "I have a very powerful tool that will aide the both of you on your journey." He took a moment to clear his voice; the assistant taking the moment to excuse himself.