"I wonder where Ash has gone. He just kinda disappeared after getting the earth badge." Gary mused as his snuggled against Arcanine for warmth. The giant fire dog hand no complaints about warming his master, he liked being out of his poke-ball. Just then another streak flew across the sky and Gary was sure he wasn't seeing things this time.
"Now that is weird. if I didn't know better I’d think that was that evil Pokemon I fought back in Viridian..." Gary muttered as he twisted some grass around his finger. Thinking about Viridian made him think more about Ash. That black haired trainer had been plaguing Gary's thoughts for as long as he could remember and it didn't really bother him anymore but he would never
let anyone know exactly what those thoughts were about, now that would be embarrassing. Gary was as secure in who he was as a twelve year old could be but he knew that having feelings for another boy was a no-no. That's why he'd broke off his friendship with Ash three years before, he didn't want it to get any more complicated as it was. Instead he put on an arrogant front in front of Ash and occasionally felt bad for how mean he could be but he had convinced himself that it was for the best.
"So Arcanine, how do you think we'll do in the Indigo league tournament? Will we blow them away as usual?" Gary asked the fire dog, to get his mind of Ash. Arcanine barked an affirmative answer and Gary smiled to himself. The smile vanished quickly as Gary was overcome by a cold feeling, a feeling of lose. He didn't know how or why but he just couldn't get warm no matter how much he snuggled into Arcanine's fur.
"What the heck is going on?" Gary asked himself shivering. Suddenly all that he could think about was Ash's Pikachu and it was crying and his heart was aching. Arcanine howled as if feeling his masters pain and Gary fell forwards on his hands and knees.
"What's wrong with Pikachu..." he whispered and heard Pikachu whisper something through its tears.
"Pikapi.."
"Pikapi? Isn't that its name for.." Gary mumbled, still on his knees, practically trying to bury himself in the dirt anything to stop the pain in his chest. Pikapi...Satoshi...Ash's Japanese name. When they were six and seven years old, Satoshi and Shigeru had deiced they needed more Americanized names, and Ash and Gary were the ones that stuck. They were the names which every one called them, even Ash's mother and Gary's grandfather yet some how Pikachu had picked up on Satoshi rather than Ash and used it's Pikachu dialect to call him just that.
"There's something wrong with it's Pikapi, with Ash but what.." the pain suddenly subsided and Pikachu disappeared with a joyous look on her little yellow face.
"What was all that about..." Gary asked looking back into the sky to see two streaks fly across it with a brilliant white light. One was pink, the other blue and then dozens of other blue streaks after the initial two. Gary watched the light until it was long gone from the sky and then he stood.
He exhaled deeply and turned to his favorite pokemon.
"Come on Arcanine. Let's see if the girls stayed or went to the hotel." the fire dog whined an agreement and lifted his owner onto his back with one gentle toss of his head and galloped back to where the car had been to find the cheerleaders. He did of course, all fast asleep in the car so he and Arcanine spread out just next to the vehicle and slept the rest of the night there.
A few days later...
"Well if it isn't the loser...Where ya been Ashy-boy? Certainly not training for the Indigo league." Gary sneered as he spotted the ebony haired boy walk into the lab of his grandfather's lab.
"Shigeru..." Professor Oak said warningly, not looking up from the Krabby he was examining. Gary rolled his eyes and went back to inspecting two pokeballs, trying to decide which he wanted to train for the Indigo league.
"Professor, what do you know about Mew?" Ash asked, for once ignoring Gary's comments. Professor Oak looked at the young boy and scratched his chin in thought.
"No more than most unfortunately. All that is know is they are an elusive species of Pokemon that hasn't been seen is generations." Professor Oak replied. "Why do you ask Ash?"
"No reason..." Ash mumbled and hugged his Pikachu tightly to his chest. Professor Oak shrugged and left the two boys alone in the lab. Gary fidgeted for a brief second at being alone with Ash for the first time in ages but recomposed himself and turned to look at the black haired boy still standing in the middle of the lab.
"Ash, have you seen a Mew?" he asked carefully. Chocolate brown eyes shot up from the yellow fur they'd been fixed on to look into the stormy blue eyes that regarded him coolly.
"What's it to you? Even if I did you'd just tease me about it." the slightly younger boy snapped and Gary put down the two pokeballs he was holding.
"Because I think I seen one a few days ago." Gary confessed quietly, looking down at the tiled floor. Ash titled his head to the side in thought.
"Well at least I'm not the only crazy one in Pallet." he giggled and left the lab at a dead run.
“Hey! I’m not crazy!!!” Gary yelled after him and chased the other boy through the ranch, forgetting about which pokemon he was planning to train. He tore after the sound of Ash’s laughter, leaving the others at the ranch confused. Misty and Brock looked shocked at the rivals chasing each other like little children rather than the mortal enemies they announced themselves to be. Ms. Ketchum and Professor Oak just smiled to themselves, both thinking the same thing.
....Strange occurrences can bring people together...
