Chapter 2
Ash took a nap in the most comfortable bed he had ever slept on. It felt nice for a change to sleep in an actual bed and not in a tent or a sleeping bag.
He couldn't believe that the rooms in the Oak mansion were so comfortable, even more than the ones in some of the hotels he had slept on during his journeys. He always wondered why the mansion had to have so many rooms, he didn't know exactly how many they were, maybe around 50.
In that moment, he imagined himself as the owner of the mansion, he imagined he could invite all his friends for the holidays and they could all stay in a room! Maybe Professor Oak did that with his colleagues when they had to gather for an important meeting.
He walked to the window where he could watch the backyard and the lab. All the pokémon were there, some playing, some sleeping and some others eating. He saw Pikachu playing with Bulbasaur and Gary's Umbreon.
The sun was going down to the distance, soon his mom and professor Oak would get back. Then he would talk to his mother and professor Oak about his journey… but the idea got him tired enough to want to take another nap.
He walked to the bathroom and he undressed, watching himself from his waist up in the mirror. He left his hat on his head and he laughed at himself.
"I should start wearing this less, shouldn't I?" He took his hat and looked at it, just as his other hats, this hat had a lot of memories from his last journey, all of which were precious to him.
He left the hat on top of the laundry basket, over all his other clothes. Then he looked again in the mirror and he played with his hair.
"Maybe I should cut it… or use some kind of hair gel… or even hair spray." He concentrated on his look in the mirror and then he burst out laughing, Ash had never been the guy who cared for how good he looked, he was the type of guy who would use a t-shirt he had worn the day before if the thought it wasn't dirty enough.
After that, he took a relaxing shower.
-o-
Gary was still working in the lab, his eyes were now tired and exhausted from looking at the screen for hours, even if he had his glasses on. He decided to call it a day, he looked outside and he realized it was already nighttime, most of the times he lost track of time while working in the lab.
He was about to turn off his computer when he got an e-mail from Tracey:
Hi mate! Cherrygrove City is awesome! Since I arrived, I haven't stopped painting. This city has truly inspired me, just like you told me! I'm sure it's the smell of cherries in the air and those pink tress everywhere.
Thanks again for giving me this trip as my birthday present. Though I'll be missing you and professor Oak as well. I promise to send you photos of my drawings in my next e-mails.
Oh! And Marill says hi to Umbreon!
-Tracey
-o-
Gary smiled as he read the e-mail and he quickly typed a response where he said he couldn't wait to see Tracey's new work.
Finally, he turned off his computer and got out of the lab, closing the door and locking it with his keys.
The backyard was dark now but he walked to the door to the kitchen and turned on a switch that illuminated the whole place, now he could see all the pokémon.
"I bet you all must be hungry," he said walking to a small cabin at the end of the backyard and all the pokémon ran to take their food bowls and followed him, they all knew he was going to give them dinner.
-o-
Ash was drying himself in his room when he decided to walk to the window again, he looked first at the night sky and then the lights in the backyard caught his attention. He saw Gary at the end of the backyard with a big bag and in front of him all the pokémon made a line so organized Ash was so surprised. He could see all the pokémon carried a bowl with them too.
He kept drying his hair with the towel as he watched the beautiful moment of Gary giving food to all the pokémon, even Pikachu was in line next to Umbreon, maybe she was going to share her food with him.
This side of Gary was new to him, for a moment he considered that it was professor Oak who did this and Gary was just doing it because he wasn't there at the moment, but Ash could swear he could see happiness in Gary's face, and it was a happiness that came from doing that regularly, not just when his grandpa wasn't around. Ash was touched.
When he was completely dried, he tossed the towel to the bed but he didn't get dressed afterwards, he didn't want to miss the show. He stood there, naked, in front of the window, as he watched Gary fed all the pokémon.
-o-
Ash finally got dressed and walked downstairs, to the living room, where now Gary was watching TV. He was alone so Ash decided to give him company.
"Mind if I sit?" Ash asked curious.
"Hey! You're hatless," Gary said surprised.
"Yeah, I decided to give my hat a rest… besides, it's kind of ridiculous to wear my hat in the interiors, isn't it?"
Gary laughed.
"Maybe, but your hat is part of your signature, who is Ash Ketchum without his hats?" Gary teased.
"My signature, huh?" Ash gave the comment a smile and a thought inside his mind.
"Still, it's nice to see your hair for a chance, I like it," Gary expressed.
Ash blushed, no one before had said that about his hair… and it was kind of weird that the first person that said it was Gary… but still, it was a nice comment and he embraced it with a thank you.
"Well, have a seat, Ashy-boy," Gary said as he looked through the channel guide for something that caught his attention.
Ash sat right next to Gary and decided to say it. "It was nice, what you were doing outside."
"Huh?" Gary blushed, he knew exactly what Ash was talking about but still he tried to act confused.
"Feeding the pokémon, I saw you from the window of my room, I didn't know Gary Oak had such a sensitive side," Ash said with a small laugh.
Gary didn't know what to say, he suddenly felt like he was being exposed… like he was naked and he couldn't do anything to hide it.
"Hey, it's okay to have a sensitive side." Ash smiled placing his left arm around Gary's neck.
"I may be a researcher, or a scientist if you will." Gary left the remote control on the table next to the sofa. "But I love pokémon just as much as I did when I was a trainer."
Ash took his arm back to himself and smiled. "I have a feeling this month will be just like when we were kids, way before we turned into rivals, remember that I used to come here all the time?"
"Yeah… you were… my only friend," Gary sighed.
"You used to be very shy, I remember… who would say you'd have a group of cheerleaders and a sports car by the age of ten?" Ash teased.
Gary's face turned red of embarrassment. "Oh God! Don't make me remember that!"
"Hey, do you still have your car?" Ash's eyes sparkled when he asked that question.
"No, I told gramps to sell it," Gary revealed feeling a little regret because Ash seemed so excited.
"I think I never told you but I would have loved to have a ride on that car," Ash sighed.
"Oh, shut up! Really?"
"Yeah! You seemed so cool with all those girls, I kept waiting for the day for you to offer me a ride, I would have said yes without thinking it," Ash confessed.
That was a surprise to Gary.
"I… I never thought of that, I'm sorry."
"No need for apologies." Ash smiled stretching his arms. "So, do you have any movie in mind?"
"Yeah!" Gary smiled taking the remote.
-o-
They watched the movie together but they didn't do much talking, they enjoyed the movie and that's what it was. When it was over, Gary stood up and turned off the TV.
"You hungry?" Gary asked Ash.
"Yeah, but my mom isn't back yet."
"I can make us dinner."
Ash's eyes opened in surprise. "You can cook?"
Gary laughed at Ash's reaction.
"Is that so unbelievable?"
"Well, it's just that I've been here for just a day and I've already learned some new stuff about you," Ash said.
"Is that good or bad?" Gary asked with curiosity.
"Good. Definitely good." Ash smiled. "So, what do you plan to make us for dinner?" Now he was curious.
"I was thinking about some enchiladas." Gary gave the idea a thought.
"Sounds good!" Ash agreed, remembering the times when Brock made enchiladas during his journeys to Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh.
"Alright, I'll be done in about half hour, why don't you go play with your pokémon in the backyard?"
Ash took Gary's word and headed to the backyard while Gary walked behind him to the kitchen.
-o-
After twenty minutes of playing with Pikachu and his other pokémon, Ash began to smell something from the kitchen, it was the smell of the enchiladas Gary was making and that smell was delicious, he didn't remember them smelling so good when Brock used to make them.
"Dinner's ready!" Gary exclaimed from the kitchen's window.
"I'm there!" Ash exclaimed "well, buddy, you can sleep with your friends here if you want" he said to his Pikachu.
"Pikachu!" He agreed.
Ash entered the kitchen and saw Gary walking to the dining room with the enchiladas. Delia was already there, sitting in a chair in front of the table.
"Mom?" Ash asked surprised "I didn't hear you come in." He walked towards her.
Gary went back to the kitchen for some plates and some glasses.
"I arrived about ten minutes ago, and saw that Gary was making dinner so I decided to help him." She smiled.
"She gave me her secret ingredient; can you believe it?" Gary said excited, leaving the dishes on the table and walking back to the kitchen for something to drink.
"You have a secret ingredient for enchiladas? How come have you never made enchiladas for me?"
"Well, I haven't had the chance." Delia giggled.
That's when Ash remembered how far he had been from home during the past years, another one of the reasons why he decided to take a longer break this time.
"I made this watermelon juice this afternoon, or do you want some coke?" Gary said leaving a pitcher with the watermelon juice on the table.
"I love watermelon! It's my favorite fruit!" Ash exclaimed overly excited.
Delia smiled. "The juice is good, Gary."
"Well, let's eat then, I'm very hungry," Gary said taking a seat and then Ash sat next to his mother.
Gary served the glasses with the watermelon juice and invited Ash and Delia to take the enchiladas they wanted from the big plate at the center of the table.
Ash took a sip of the juice first while Gary and Delia took some enchiladas from the big plate to their individual ones.
"This is delicious!"
"It's watermelon season," Gary explained. "Well, Ash, miss Ketchum, bon appetit."
The three of them had a charming dinner, Ash told Delia and Gary about his latest journey in Kalos, from the new friends he made to the adventures he experienced.
It was a nice evening, he only would have wished that professor Oak were there and it would have been perfect: his mother, his mentor and Gary, who he was sure that, by the end of the month, was going to become a great friend of him, maybe his best one so far.