I went back watching Pokemon and I've always liked Gary, so this is it xD

I do not own Pokemon (I'd die to have my own Pikachu...)

Old Habits Die Hard

A young girl was sitting at the riverbank, watching the water flowing down the stream and the magicarps that would suddenly jump out from the water. She watched as the water pokemon living in the river swim around, chasing and playing with one another. She then looked around and saw either people fishing, playing or relaxing with their pokemon. The girl then smiles when she heard the pidgeys chirping, landing in front of her and greeted her before they flew once again to the sky.

"It's a nice day today." The girl said as a caterpie crawled next to her.

"Hey there little guy, isn't it a nice day today?" the caterpie then crawled to her head.

"Yeah, it's a very peaceful day…"

"Mary!" the girl the sighed as the caterpie jumped down.

"Well, it's peaceful when I ran away from them… until now… see you later, little guy." The caterpie crawled back into the bush. The little girl then felt the wind and quickly pushed her summer dress down, afraid it would flip.

"Mary!" the girl then opened her eyes and saw her best friend running towards her.

"Hey there, Gary." Mary said, smiling shyly. It's a habit of hers when she met up with him. Gary has been very popular with friends her age, especially girls. It just felt a little bit embarrassing, as how Gary would still hang around her with he got all the fame a child could ever imagine.

"I've been looking for you, where have you been?"

"I was just here, sitting near the river. Is something wrong?"

"It's very dangerous! What would happen if you fell into the river? Grandpa and your mom will be very worried!"

"Sorry, but it was nice. I like spending some alone time…" Shigeru then saw Mary's guilty face and sighs.

"You know, you should have told me… I can at least lend one of grandpa's pokemon to you so they could watch over you…" Mary then pouted and crossed her arms.

"I can take care of myself, Gary… I'm not a little girl…"

"Well, you can't blame me. Did you know that sometimes your sense of direction gone haywire? Like that Ashie boy."

"Don't talk about my brother like that…"

"I can say whatever I wanted."

"Meanie! You're such a jerk!" Mary said as she puffed her cheeks and walked away from Gary, leaving him flabbergasted.

"Mary! Wait!" Gary said as he tried to coax Mary out from her anger.

"Hey, Mary!" Mary quickly looked up and saw her brother waving at her. Mary's face quickly lit up and she ran towards her still waving brother.

"Ash! Where were you?" Mary said as she jumped on her brother, hugging him.

"Mom won't let me go outside until I finished my homework, sorry about that." Ash said, rubbing the back of his head.

"As usual, Ashie boy."

"Come on, Ash, let's get away from him. Gary is being all-mighty as usual." Mary said, pulling Ash's hand.

"W-Whoa! Slow down! I'm gonna trip!"

/

Down at the hills, little Mary and little Ash played, chased and laughed together while young Gary was watching both of them in envy. He had always wanted to make Mary smile and laugh like that, but he seemed to always make her angry at him and in the end, she left him to play with her older brother, his rival. Gary watched Mary as he pouted in envy, what could he ever do to make Mary be like that with him?

"It's not fair…"

Mary was laughing, running away from her chasing brother. Then Delia came and took Ash back telling Mary that her brother still had more homework to do and left her alone in the meadow. Mary then ran around the grass when she noticed the young Gary sitting all alone under the tree. Mary felt bad for saying bad things to him and decided to go to him.

"Gary?" Gary saw Mary looking guiltily at him and was confused.

"What are you doing Mary?"

"I'm… sorry for saying those bad things… I was just annoyed… forgive me?" Mary asked, putting her hand out to Gary. Gary was shocked and when he saw Mary's sorry face he couldn't help but give Mary a hug.

"Gary?"

"I'm sorry too… I was just jealous, seeing how Ashie boy seemed to spend more time with you…" Gary said blushing, holding Mary's hand.

"He's my brother, Gary."

"But I want to play with you too…" Hearing that, Mary's face lit up and she quickly pulled Gary for a run.

"You should've said so! Let's go play! It's not fun playing alone, and I'm lonely now!" Gary smiled, seeing Mary's wide smile and bright eyes.

"Yeah."

/

"You're going on a journey now, Ash…?" Mary said, seeing that her brother had changed his clothes to the ones Mary had seen her mother preparing. Mary was borrowing his cap for a while before Ash left and now she is holding it.

"Yeah, you stay with mom and take care okay? Don't get in trouble."

"Okay… you take care too, Ash…" Mary said, giving the cap back to her brother.

"Don't worry, you'll be able to go on a journey to when you're older."

"But it's still next year… I won't be seeing you at all then… and if I went on a journey, the chances of seeing you is almost none…" Mary said, pouting as Ash patted her shoulder.

"Don't worry, we'll meet each other soon. And you'll have your own adventure then!"

"I guess I can wait a little bit more…"

"Gary will be leaving soon as well, and I'm not going to lose to him!" Mary smiled, seeing her brother so enthusiastic, but inside, she was actually getting lonely. She's going to miss her brother very much when he's not here, and her best friend is also leaving to become a trainer just like her brother.

"So, can I see your Pikachu then?" Mary begged Ash.

"Actually… we haven't gotten along just yet…"

"Don't worry, I know you'll be okay Ash!"

"Yeah, thanks."

"I'm going to look for your Pikachu first." Mary said as she walked out from the house. Mary then saw the Pikachu under the tree and walked carefully towards it.

"Hello, Pikachu." Mary said as the Pikachu suddenly turned towards her and its cheeks started to charge.

"I won't hurt you… I just wanted to talk to you…" Mary said softly as the Pikachu's cheeks turned back to normal and she reached her hand out to pet it. Her hand stopped in front of Pikachu as it sniffed her and then pushed its head towards her hand.

"Thank you. My name is Mary, I'm Ash's little sister. I know you don't really like my brother, he might be a little bit stupid at some things, but he's a very good person. I just wanted… I just wanted you to look after him, I can't go on a journey myself since I'm not of age yet… so please look after my brother." Mary said, scratching Pikachu's ears.

"Mary!" Mary heard her best friend calling her and she bid the Pikachu goodbye and walked towards her best friend.

"Hey Gary. You're leaving too, soon?"

"Yeah. I'm never going to lose to someone like Ashie boy." Mary smiled and Gary noticed something off.

"Something wrong, Mary?" the younger girl then started fidgeting and Gary realized what was wrong.

"Getting lonely without having me around?" he teased as Mary puffed her cheeks in embarrassment.

"Not just you… Ash is leaving too… I'm not of age yet, so I can't go on a journey…" Gary smiled apologetically and held Mary's hand, a habit he came up when Mary started feeling lonely.

"Well, you won't know. You'll be going on your own before you know it!"

"Yeah… but I'm still confused to what I wanna be…"

"You'll know soon, don't worry!"

"Easy for you to say, Mr. Rookie Trainer!"

"Hey! I'm not a rookie!" Gary protested but stopped when Mary slipped her hand out from his.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye? Will I meet you again?"

"Sure, I'm sure we'll cross paths sooner or later when you went on your own journey."

"Yeah… oh, I forgot, I wanted to give you this." Mary said, picking out something from her pocket. Gary was wondering what Mary was holding on to and saw a small purple gem necklace.

"Well, you don't like accessories, but you seemed to be fond of that necklace of yours; so I bought you another one, I think it's going to look good on you." Gary took the necklace and looked at it before looking back to Mary.

"Thanks! I'll take good care of it. I better go."

"Take care, Gary… see you soon." Mary waved at the now walking Gary.

"One last thing." Gary said turning back towards the confused Mary. Suddenly Mary blushed deep red when Gary suddenly kissed her cheek. Mary then saw Gary grinned at her.

"W-Why did you do that?"

"Can I? You never get one anyway, so it's your first right?"

"Gary!" Gary then laughed at Mary's red face and hugged her for the last time.

"See you soon, Mary. Let's meet up again when you can go on your own." Gary said, leaving Mary behind. Mary then raised her hand to her cheeks and hit them twice.

"See you soon, Gary! Take care!" Mary yelled to Gary who turned back at her and gave her a thumb up. Mary then waved at Gary's back and watched him disappeared.

"I guess I have to work harder, I can't lose to either of them…"

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