Having a bit of a block on Deviation so I decided to try a little palletshipping. This is my idea for the story behind the friendship. It'll be a few chapters long. Tell me what you think!


It was 13 years, six months and three days ago when he first lost Ash.

That was the day when everything changed.

For the two boys, everything revolved around their friendship. Ash was the centre of Gary's universe and Gary was the centre of Ash's. Of course they had hopes and dreams,

but those meant nothing if the other wasn't be there. Every single moment of Gary's life had been filled Ash. Together they played, they laughed, they dreamed. Everything had seemed

so big, so colourful. They were six years old and the world was at their fingertips.

He remembers every moment of that day clearly. Together they had climbed the tallest hill in Pallet. They stood at the top breathless and proud. At the time, it felt like they had scaled Mt. Silver.

Ash's black hair fluttered around his head as looked up the the sky, beaming.

"Gary, what do you think it'll be like when we're famous?" he asked, still looking up at the sky.

Gary just stood there for a minute as the breeze ran through his russet hair. From this spot, he could see for miles.

"It'll be just like this" he answered.

"What do you mean?"

"No one can touch us. We'll be unbeatable. like being on the tallest mountain, no! like flying!"

Ash's eyes widened and his smile grew larger

"Like flying?" he repeated

"Just like flying." the older boy answered.

They pretended to fly over their "mountain" when Gary spotted something.

"Look ash! someone is going to your house!"

The two boys stopped and looked.

"maybe it's dad!" the younger boy exclaimed.

"let's go see!" Gary said before the two boys ran down the hill.

Ash's father had been gone on a journey to become a Pokemon master, vowing not to return until he had proven himself. Both of the boys knew that if he was back, it could only mean one thing.

As they ran towards the house, they gushed about what was to come. They couldn't wait to see all the badges and trophies.

Gary wanted to see what kind of Pokemon he had.

Ash wanted to see how powerful they were.

As they neared the house, the anticipation was so great it coloured everything.

Thinking back, Gary should have seen the look on Ms. Ketchum's face.

He should have felt the worry in her voice when she told Ash to come inside.

He should have known why she told Gary to head home, but he didn't notice anything.

All he saw were the fantasies they had come up with.

All he felt was the jealousy that Ash would get to meet all of the Pokemon first.

As he headed home, all he could think was that now both of their families were famous.

But they were wrong. It was only later that he was able to piece together what had happened in his absence. Ash's father was no master. He had come home after two years of travelling to say that he had failed and that he was leaving for good. Delia pleaded him to stay, but he had already made up his mind. He had just come back for his stuff.

Apparently Ash had stood there paralysed as he watched what was happening. It wasn't until after his father left that he dashed out the door, trying to catch up.

When two hours passed and the boy hadn't come back, Delia called the police.

Gary was still running around his room, dizzy with excitement when he heard the phone ring. Oblivious to the world outside his imagination, he let his mind create adventures the boys would have.

He was jumping on his bed when he heard his grandfather coming up the stairs. He was probably coming to tell him that they had been invited to see M. Ketchum's Pokemon. He could picture his

grandfather tell him to hurry up, because M. Ketchum was an important man.

But that was not the case.

When the professor opened the door Gary stopped jumping, but the bed still swayed.

He had never seen his grandfather this serious. He didn't understand. What was wrong?

"Ash disappeared, no one can find him."

and just like that, his entire world fell to pieces.

They spent the afternoon looking for Ash. Almost the entire town had come to help. As they searched, the light drained out of the sky and the air became cold. His Grandfather told him to go home and get some sleep but he couldn't, not until Ash was safe. Gary kept telling people where he and Ash liked to play, knowing the boy would be somewhere familiar. He watched as the search parties continued to come come back without him. People were looking more and more worried. Everyone was losing hope.

To Gary nothing was making sense. Everyone was throwing around the word "if", like the black haired boy might not even exist anymore. Gary wanted to scream. He didn't understand, Ash couldn't just disappear! He wanted to explain to everyone that the boy was there, they just weren't looking hard enough. When professor Oak finally took him home he kicked and screamed and cried. He said they weren't doing it right. But the old old man just looked at him with sad eyes.

"Sometimes" he said, "people go away and they don't come back. Do you remember what happened to your mom and dad?"

He thought hard. He had been much to young to understand what had happened back then, so he only knew what people told him.

"They got hurt" he said finally.

"Yes, they got hurt very badly. Even though somebody found them, nobody could bring them back."

The boy furrowed his brows in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"If somebody is really hurt, there is a chance that they could die. It's like if they fell asleep and never wake up."

The cogs were moving in the boy's head. Suddenly, we was more scared than he had ever been in his life.

"Did ash die?" he asked, fresh tears rolling down his cheeks.

His Grandfather took him in is arms and held him tight.

"I don't know Gary, I don't know."