Ashley was laying in the sun with Pikachu next to her on the ferry to Hoenn. Gary was underwater with Blastoise, trying to see how long he could hold his breath.
"I can't wait to get to Hoenn, Pikachu! It'll be so fun, and I bet we'll get to see so many new pokemon and challenge bunches of trainers. We won't be alone either! We have Gare Bear and Blastoise with us. First thing first though, we've gotta get to Littleroot and meet Prof. Birch like we promised Harrison, and Gary will get to learn something from him!"
"Pikachu!"
Then Ashley saw the Captain walking by, "Excuse me captain, could you tell me when we're going to dock in Littleroot Town, please?
"Sure, if everything goes on schedule, we should get there by tomorrow night,"
"That's great! Thank you! I'm Ashley by the way"
"Say, is this your first trip to the Hoenn region, Ashley?"
"Yeah" Ashley smiled happily
"It must get pretty lonely traveling all by yourself like that!"
"Oh I'm not alone! I've got my buddy Pikachu here! An-" she didn't finish what she was going to say as she and Pikachu got hit with a blast of freezing water, she shrieked loudly and stood up quickly as she heard uncontrollable laughter and looked over to see Gary on the ground, laughing and Blastoise next to him trying to look innocent, "GARY OAK! THAT WAS FREEZING, YOU MORON! As I was saying Captain, I'm also traveling with that idiot over there" she pointed to the brunette whose laughter had started to subside and he greeted the Captain.
"Nice to meet you Sir! I'm Gary" he said, laughter still oozing from his every word as he stuck out his hand
"Nice to meet you Gary, call me Captain" he shook the hand Gary had stuck out "Nice to meet you too, Ashley" he smiled and walked away.
Ashley turned to glare at Gary, who had an innocent look on his face and stated "Gare Bear, you're gonna be the death of me you know," he just smiled widely at her and she looked at him suspiciously.
"I know, and I take pride in every moment of it Ashy! Hmm… you know, I really should come up with something better than Ashy, it doesn't bug you enough…." she got a horrified look at the thought of a new nickname meant to annoy her.
"No, no Gary please!" she pleaded with him and got the cutest look on her face that she could. She could have sworn that she saw a pinkness show up in his cheeks but brushed it off, no time for fooling yourself she scolded in her mind.
"Sorry Ashy, but considering my nickname is Gare Bear," he said the nickname like it was something horrible and she smirked at him, "I think you deserve something more embarrassing and annoying"
Ashley just pouted, crossing her arms like a 5 year old and sticking out her bottom lip. Gary then got an idea and stepped very close to the dark haired girl.
Blastoise and Pikachu, who had silently been watching the whole exchange, looked at each other, nodded, and walked over to the pool, away from their crazy trainers.
Ashley had frozen on the spot and dropped her arms as she and Gary had a silent staring contest. He was smirking at her with mischief dancing in his eyes and she knew she had a blush coating her cheeks. Suddenly, he bent down and threw her over his shoulder. She shrieked at the sudden movement and started pounding on his back, she would've kicked too if it wasn't for the fact that he held her legs tightly to his chest.
"Gary Oak, you let me down this instant!" she yelled at him furiously.
"Alright!" he then pulled her off his shoulder and dropped her into the pool.
Ashley spluttered as she resurfaced, spitting out the water that had entered her mouth, "GARY!"
He just laughed loudly as he ran away.
They laid down on two mats next to each other when nightfall came, Pikachu sleeping next to her, and a pokeball sitting next to him. He looked at her and started to speak.
"Isn't it weird? Last time, we set out on separate journeys, and we were complete rivals in everything, not taking the time to even become friends."
"But now," she spoke up "We're on a new journey, with new goals. We'll always be rivals, but now, I'd like to think of us as best friends, don't you?"
He smiled softly at her "Yeah, best friends, sticking together till the end! Hey, Ashy?"
"Yes, Gare Bear?" she teased with a smile and he scowled lightly at her, but pulled something out of his bag.
"Do you think you could get my half on a necklace like yours?" he held up his half of the pokeball they both had and she smiled brightly.
"Of course! I have an extra chain, so I'll do it tomorrow! Gary?"
"Yeah, Ash?"
"Thank you, for coming with me to Hoenn. You don't know how much it means that you agreed to travel with me, and that you're my best friend,"
"No, Ash, I should really be thanking you. 'Cause if you hadn't stopped me up on the hill, I would've been alone right now, and that would be just plain boring. Who else would I annoy? But anyway, it means a lot to me too, to have you as a best friend,"
Ashley's eyes had gotten slightly glassy, the way he said it had made her feel special and she leaned over to hug him, he hugged her back tightly, "Goodnight Gary"
"Goodnight Ashy"
Then they both laid down and fell asleep.
In the middle of the night, the door to the room where the passengers were asleep slowly creaked open as two robotic hands crept into the room. The hands snaked over to the spot where the two friends were sleeping and got to work, the first one grabbed a hold of the red and white ball next to the boy and the next snatched up the little yellow mouse that had been sleeping next to the girl, he instantly woke up as he was grabbed.
"Pika!"
The girl started to wake up in a daze at the hands started to retreat with their prizes
"Pikachu?" she opened her eyes groggily and spotted the two hands sneaking off with her Pikachu and a pokeball "Pikachu! Gary wake up!" she shook the boy awake and ran after the robot thieves, but quickly lost them. Gary then rushed out of the room looking panicked.
"Blastoise's pokeball is gone! Where's Pikachu? What's going on?"
"Oh God, that was Blastoise's pokeball? Two robotic hands just came in and took it and Pikachu too! We have to go find them, who knows where they're being taken!"
Gary nodded and grabbed her arm as they ran in the direction that the hands had gone. Turning the corner they almost bumped into the Captain.
"Whoa, kids, where are you headed at this time of night?" Ashley spoke up in her hysterics
"Sir, my Pikachu and Gary's Blastoise, someone got these robotice hands in our room and took them! We don't know where they are now! Please, sir, help us!"
"What! Did you see which way they went?"
"Well they went this way but it think they're too far now"
"Alright then kids, follow me!" he then rushed down the hall with the two teens following behind him. He stopped at a computer like device. "With this I can see where any stowaways are on the ship" he explained and turned his attention the screen. "Ah ha! They are on the lower deck in the food storage room! Follow me,"
And with that, they were running again.
They burst in and heard the farmiliar voice of a certain meowth "So why don't you just sit back and enjoy this peaceful cruise?"
This comment, apparently made Gary pretty mad because he spat out "There's nothing peaceful about it!" the look on his face actually scared her a bit, but then she spotted two containers, one with a pokeball and the other with pikachu. She knew she had adapted a similar look to his.
The Captain spoke up, "You have some nerve stealing these kids pokemon like that! Who do you lowlifes think you are!" his voice was stern and commanding, with a hint of anger to it.
Jessie chuckled and opened her mouth, Ashley groaned as she realized what the woman was about to do.
"Prepare for trouble on land, and sea" James spoke up next
"Make it double, the troubles on me!"
"to protect the world from devastation"
"to unite all peoples within our nation!"
"to denounce the evils of truth and love,"
"to extend our reach to the stars above!"
"Jessie!"
"James!"
"Team Rocket rides the waves at the speed of light!"
"Surrender now or prepare to fight, fight, fight"
"Meowth! That's right!"
"Wobbuffet!"
The Captain look downright confused, Gary looked annoyed and Ashley was just exasperated.
"Seriously! Do you ever give it a rest? I should have known it was you!" Gary glanced at the two contaiers holding their pokemon and looked at Team Rocket dangerously.
"Give me back those pokemon, NOW!" Ashley took a step back and looked at him warily
"Never! You little twerps, we will do this without mistakes, now leave!"
"You're wrong, stealing these pokemon was the biggest mistake you could've made! Go Machoke!" the Captain call upon the Machoke that was always with him.
"Ma! Machoke!" it called and readied itself for battle
"Alright if that's how you want to play it, go Arbok!"
"You too Wheezing!"
"Arbok use poison sting!"
"Dodge it!"
"Wheezing, use smoke screen!" Ashley looked worried
"It cant see!"
"Now tackle!"
"Ma!" the Machoke was rammed into a tank of water.
"Now finish with acid, Arbok!" the Machoke quickly dodged as the acid hit the water storage tank behind it, causing water to start spilling everywhere.
Ashley stumble back into Gary, "Not good, not good!" she panicked and Gary grabbed a hold of her when the water overtook everyone and swept them out of the room.
Ashley and Gary held onto each other tightly and kicked to the surface, they saw the captain get out as they were swept away and knew he would do something. They took one last breath as the water filled to the ceiling and dove under. The two teens looked ahead of them and saw team Rocket swimming swiftly to some stairs, Pikachu and Bastoise still clutched in their arms. Swimming after them, they reached the stairs and went up after them.
They sprinted across the deck after the thieves who were escaping one a rope, "Oh no you don't!" Ashley screamed and nodded to Gary, who understood immediately and ran ahead of her jumping off the railing and holding tightly to Wobbuffet, Ashley quickly followed, grabbing a hold of his waist. Gary spoke up.
"You give them back now! Give me back Pikachu and Blastoise!" Jessie looked at him warily and spoke to the blue pokemon.
"Wobbuffet, if you are a loyal pokemon, you will let go!" she screeched obnoxiously.
Ashley looked ahead and screamed! "BIG METAL WALL! BRACE YOURSE-" They slammed into the wall and fell to the ground, Gary and Ashley landing on a pile of wooden boxes and Team Rocket and meowth with the pokemon landing on two different trucks, driving away. The pokemon and Meowth turning one way and Team Rocket turning the other, they seemed to be yelling at each other.
"NO! Pikachu! Hey wait… when did we get to a dock?" Gary walked over to her and helped her out of the box she'd been stuck in.
"The Captain most likely stopped her to get repairs, but c'mon lets go get our pokemon" she nodded quickly and ran after him when an officer Jenny appeared next to him
"What's going on kids?" she looked at their worried faces and Ashley spoke up.
"Officer Jenny! Team Rocket stole my Pikachu and my friends Blastoise, please you have to help us!" Officer Jenny looked shocked and angry
"They did what? Hop on kids, we'll follow them!" they did as she said and pointed her in the direction the truck had gone. Just then the Captain stuck his head out of a window on the ship and shouted to them
"Be back by nightfall, kids! Or we'll have to leave without you!"
"We will Sir!" and wit that they were off, following Officer Jenny's Pidgeot
They hopped off the motorcycle as they reached where Team rockets balloon had fallen, Ashley ran to Pikachu, who had Blastoise's ball in his mouth and was wrapped in a metal brace.
"Pikachu! You're okay!" she took the ball from his mouth and held him in her arms while walking to Gary, happily handing him the ball, he smiled gratefully and threw the ball
"Go, Blastoise!"
"Blast!"
"You little Twerps! Lets see how you handle our super magnet!" James then turned on the magnet and pikachu started to be pulled towards it, "NO! I've got you Pikachu, don't worry!" she held fast to the poor little mouse and they were slowly pulled closer. Gary looked at her worriedly.
"Ashley, be careful!" Team rocket looked annoyed that she hadn't let go yet
"Fine then! We'll just have to use full power!" James then turned up the power on the magnet and things started flying around the alley, just then, a metal barrel lifted off the ground, revealing several Haunter, and shot towards Ashley, hitting her in the back of the head causing her to drop pikachu and get knocked out cold.
"ASHLEY!" Gary sprinted over to the fallen girl and panicked "No… no, no, no!" he checked her pulse and was relieved to find that she still had one. He gently laid her down and turned to the scene furiously, if looks could kill, Team Rocket would be dead 50 times over. He then saw that pikachu was attached to the gigantic magnet and turned to Blastoise.
"Blastoise, use bite on Pikachu's brace!"
"Blast!" he did so and carried pikachu back over near Gary.
"Whaaaa! That brace cost a fortune you twerp! Well if you wanna play it that way!" they jumped out from behind the balloon basket, but before they could do anything, the Haunter's floated in front of everyone and used nightshade one the magnet. Gary, realizing what was going to happen, yelled out orders
"Blastoise, use withdraw and bring Pikachu with you! Officer Jenny, get down!" then he dove to the ground, covering the unconscious girls body with his own as the magnet exploded.
"Team Rocket's blasting of again!" was heard as the team disappeared into the distance. Everyone got up and walked over to Gary and Ashley, who was slowly regaining consciousness.
"I swear, Ashley, you must have some kind of death wish." he chuckled at her and she smiled weakly
"Pikachu's okay?" she asked and the electric mouse bounded over to her.
"Pika! Pikachu!"
"Hey Pikachu, I'm so happy you're alright" Gary frowned at how weak her voice sounded and scooped her up bridal style before turning to Officer Jenny
"Can we get her to a Pokemon Center to check if she's okay? I think she might have a concussion," for some unknown reason, Ashley started giggling. This scared Gary a lot… "Ashley… is there a reason you're giggling like a madman" she just giggled more and said in a teasing voice
"Awww, does widdle Gare Bear care about Ashwey?" he looked at her as if she were completely insane (which she could have been in the first place) and turned to Officer Jenny
"Yeah… lets get to that Pokemon Center now…." She just nodded, looking warily at the girl in his arms and motioned for him to get on the motorcycle and they drove to the Pokemon Center
Gary was currently carrying Ashley in his arms and Pikachu on his shoulder as they walked to their room on the Ferry. He had refused to let her walk because he didn't trust her to walk yet after taking such a blow to the head.
Ashley was very annoyed with this.
"Gary Oak, you better put me down this instant! I can walk perfectly fine, thank you very much!" she had been going on like this the whole way and Gary decided to humor her this time.
"Fine, lets see you walk Ashy" he then set her down.
"Sure thing, Gare Bear" he watched in amusement as she wobbled where she stood, obviously dizzy, and took a few shaky steps before stumbling and falling. Gary had just enough time to catch her and scoop her back into his arms
"You are really light, you know that Ashykinz?" he said nonchalantly and she looked at him incredulously
"Ashykinz? Why do you find the need to make a new nickname for me now?"
"Oh I thought of it a while ago but never got to use it, there's also Ley-Ley" she glared dangerously at him
"I know where you sleep" she said this very seriously, but cracked a second after she said it, laughing uncontrollably and Gary couldn't help but join in.
"I swear, you are the most insane person I've ever met, oh look! We're here," he pushed open the door and walked in, setting her on her mat and placing the sleeping Pikachu next to her. She pet the little electric mouse
"You had a long day buddy, you deserve a nice long rest" she said softly, looking fondly at her faithful companion. Gary laid down on him mat and spoke.
"You did too you know, and even though Nurse Joy said you don't have a concussion, you still need a lot of rest, you took a real hard blow to the head you know. I was really worried about you," he stated with a scolding tone and she smiled.
"Who knew, Gary Oak, my extremely arrogant jerk of a rival, would ever be so worried about my health," she teased him lightly.
"Hey, I do care you know!" he defended himself, " and even though I'm still your rival in some ways, doesn't mean I don't care. You are my best friend you know, I thought we established this last night"
"Yeah, yeah, and we did, it's weird seeing you care about me so much sometimes though… I dunno I guess I'm just still getting used to the caring you. Just don't change too much! I think I would start missing the arrogant jerk that was my rival! Wow, that comment is really going to comeback and bite me isn't it.," she stated as she saw his smirk.
"Oh yeah, the chances are almost 100%" she just groaned "Now get to sleep, we dock in Hoenn tomorrow!"
And on that note, they went to sleep.
Ashley ran out onto the deck with Gary one step behind her, they were laughing when Ashley screamed and pointed ahead of them "Look Gary! We're here! We made it to the Hoenn Region!" she pointed excitedly to the city they were sailing towards
"Well its about time! I was starting to think we'd never get here!"
Then a large flock of a pokemon that looked like seagulls and pelican's flew overhead and the two friends smiled widely at the sight of a new pokemon
"That is so cool! Lets go wake up Pikachu and get Blastoise out so they can see it too!" Ashley said joyously as she ran back to their room to wake her electric mouse.
When she got there the smile dropped from her face as she saw the state her pokemon was in, he was sweating and twitching in his sleep, looking her sick. "Oh no… Pikachu are you okay buddy?" she reached out to touch him only to get zapped "Pikachu! You're burning up, you must have a bad fever! You stay here buddy, I'll get Gary"
She sprinted out of the room to find Gary and Blastoise on the deck waiting for her, "Gary, you've gotta help, Pikachu is really sick!" he nodded and returned Blastoise, running after her.
A/N oooooh! A cliffy! Haha, I hope you liked it! If you remember this episode and the one after, you know what's wrong with poor Pikachu.
I would also like to give shoutout to my best friend Mysocksarerockin101 for the help she's given me on this story already!