Rival Survival - Chapter 2
"I'm on a Boat"

It was 6:30 am in the morning, Ash and Pikachu were fast asleep. Unfortunately, they should have been getting ready to head to Professor Oak's at this time. During the night, Ash had rolled over with arms stretched knocking over his alarm. It fell onto the floor and broke, leaving Ash and Pikachu to sleep past what would have been the chime of the electrode alarm rolled.

Ash rolled over in bed, the sun was peering in through his window and onto his face. He opened his eyes slowly and yawned. Sitting up he gave a big stretch, trying to think of what he had to do today. The sun was bright, and Ash was about to lay down and go back to sleep until it popped into his head. "PROFESSOR OAK!" He shouted, waking up Pikachu.

"Professor Oak! Pikachu! What time is it?" Ash stumbled out of bed, pushing the tangled blankets off of him and attempting to reach for his clothes. "Pika?" It said, head tilted.

Ash was hopping around on one leg trying to get his pants on, he crashed into his desk and fell onto the floor. He looked to the side of him and saw his broken alarm clock. "My alarm! Pikachu we're late! We need to get to Professor Oak's!"

Ash managed to get his clothes and backpack on, Pikachu hopped onto his shoulder and Ash rushed down the stairs and bumped into his mom. "Ash I made you breakfast honey. Aren't you supposed to be at Professor Oak's right now?" She asked.

"Sorry mom I gotta go!" Ash said as he dashed through the kitchen, grabbing a handful of bacon, toast and an apple. "Here Pikachu." He said handing his partner the fruit. Ash ran towards the door and halted. "Wait, mom what time is it?" He asked out of breath.

"7:20 honey. Have a safe trip!" Ash was out the door as soon as he found out what time it was.

Ash was stuffing the food into his mouth as he ran up towards Professor Oak's lab. Gary's going to tear into me as soon as I get there. Why did I have to be late today…

Ash got up to the door, but didn't knock this time. Instead he slowly opened it and tiptoed in. He didn't see anyone in the front entrance, so he quietly walked closer to the lab and looked around the corner.

"Late as usual, Ash." A familiar voice said. Ash winced at the sound of the voice. He turned around and saw Professor Oak and Gary.

"Ash, you're lucky I got you both a taxi to get to the ferry today. Are you really ready for this trip?" Asked the professor.

"Yes Professor Oak! Sorry I'm late, I -" Ash was cut off by Gary. "Don't make up excuses Ash, you're either ready or you're not."

"Alright then, here are the pokedex's and ferry tickets. I'll put these into your backpack." Said Professor Oak as he turned Ash around to open his pack.

There were a couple honks heard outside. "It sounds like your taxi is here. You boys better get going." Said the professor and he pushed them to the door. "Have a safe trip now. Gary, if you run into any trouble make sure to contact me."

"Sure thing gramps." Gary replied, as he walked out the door first.

"Bye professor." Ash said waving as he headed out the door next. Professor Oak stood at the front door waving to the both of them as they got into the taxi.

The doors shut, and both boys were now sitting in the vechicle. Surprisingly, Gary took the backseat along with Ash instead of trying to avoid by sitting up front.

Maybe he isn't trying to avoid me as much as I think he is. Ash looked at the ground. We never did travel together since we both left Pallet our first day. Maybe he'll warm up a bit. Ash smiled in hopes they could both build an actual friendship.

Ash looked over at Gary smiling. Gary gave him a disgusted look and rested his head on his arm up against the window. "Try not to be such a loser on this trip Ash." Said Gary as he looked out the window.

The smile went away from Ash's face. He looked a bit hurt, but then turned his head toward his window watching the houses and buildings go by.

Still resting his head on his arm, Gary's eyes went onto Ash. He does look a little hurt. Maybe I have been a little hard on him since the Pokemon League. Or… even since we both started our own Pokemon journey. Gary thought about his previous battles with Ash. He then remembered his last fight with him where he lost. Thinking about that battle always enraged Gary. Although that made him more hotheaded, Gary though to himself. Maybe if I apologize he won't look like such a wimp, or mope around for the rest of this trip. He sighed, then turned to Ash and began to open his mouth.

Ash heard Gary shuffle, he still felt insulted from what Gary had said and how he's been acting. "Gary, if anyone in this vehicle is a loser it's you! You, and your horrible attitude towards me. Stop being such a sore loser already!" Ash shouted, startling Pikachu. Ash stared at Gary for a moment, then went back to looking out the window. Pikachu looked at Gary who had a stunned expression across his face. It's ears were lowered, "Chu…" It said.

Gary went back to his original position and crossed his legs. "Hmph…loser." He mumbled.

~On the ferry~

The two boys began heading upstairs to the main deck, Ash was taking in all of the new sights and how big the ferry really was. Both of them seemed to have lightened up a bit since their exchange of words in the taxi earlier on. They got up to the main deck, it looked like a giant hotel inside. It was lit up nicely, and had a large lounge and dining area.

Ash's stomache growled. "Ugh, so hungry. Should have grabbed more for breakfast." He clutched his stomache and he and Gary walked further into the main deck. Ash took notice of the giant buffet. Ash started drooling and ran towards the buffet line. Gary grunted as he walked over towards Ash and Pikachu. "Good thing grandpa was able to get decent tickets, it covers food for hunger fiends like you Ash." Ash ignored Gary's comment, as they were getting closer to plating their food.

All of a sudden Ash felt he was being shoved. He assumed it was Gary, but before he could turn around he was pushed hard to the ground. Ash sat up and was moaning while rubbing his back. "Outta the way punk, I'm up next." The man had a deep voice, and looked like an unfit version of Lt. Surge. He looked larger than a Snorlax.

"Pikachu!" The yellow mouse shouted, bits of electric static coming out of it's cheeks. "It's okay Pikachu." Ash said. He got back up and got back into his place in line in front of the man, his stomache wasn't ready to back down. Ash was pushed to the ground again by the large man, harder this time. Ash winced in pain as he fell to the ground. He looked up at him, "Hey! My friend and I were in line!"

"Too bad kid, I'm eating first." The man said as he eyed the food. He felt a tap on his shoulder, he looked up and turned around but didn't see anyone. Brown spikey hair caught his attention. "Hey! If you're going to eat here you're going to have to wait in line like the rest of us. Not by budging in front of other people either. You got that?" Gary said, hands on his hips.

Ash blinked. "Gary?"The man looked at the purple clothed boy and was ready to get him out of his way too. He then saw the large crowd of people standing in line behind Gary, who all looked crossed with the way he was treating the boys. Gary narrowed his eyes and continued staring at the line budger. The large man looked at Ash, then back at Gary. He gave up, and walked away hitting shoulders with Gary as he was left. A couple people in line started clapping.

"Pika?" Ash's partner said, trying to see if Ash was alright. Ash patted Pikachu on the head. "Thanks Pikachu, but I'm okay." Ash tried getting up slowly, then stopped. He looked up, he saw Gary's hand reaching down toward Ash. Ash looked at Gary's hand, then put his into his rival's and stood up.

"You alright Ash?" Asked Gary.

"Yeah, I think I'm okay. He did push pretty hard." Ash replied.

"Alright then." Gary said, handing Ash a plate. Ash was surprised with how friendly Gary had just acted, he took the plate and bent down to put Pikachu up onto his shoulder. He scratched the back of his head. "Um, thanks Gary." Ash said quietly.

Gary was turned away from Ash already plating his food, and mumbled a response that didn't seem to be of any word known. Ash took what he could get.

~At the table~

Gary had just finished up his plate, but Ash was still hammering down more and more food. Gary watched as somehow Ash managed to down more food than all of his Pokemon put together. Even Pikachu looked stuffed. Ash gulped down his last piece of chicken, he took a drink of soda. He noticed Gary was staring at him. "What?" Ash asked. Gary shook his head and turned away, pulling out his pokedex. "I wouldn't eat that much while on a boat ride if I were you, Ash." He stated.

Ash shrugged off Gary's comment and looked around the deck. It really was built nicely. After a ten minute rest, Ash wanted to head outside to the outer deck. Gary unwillingly followed as Ash ran to the front of the ship. He breathed in the fresh air and felt the wind go through his hair. There was a big gust of wind, Ash grabbed onto his head but the wind already sent his hat flying into the direction behind him. Gary wasn't too far behind, hands in his pockets he walked up towards where Ash was. He saw the red Pokemon League hat flying toward him, he took his hands out of his pockets and grabbed it and finally got up to Ash. "Here." Gary said, handing the hat over to the boy.

Ash put his hat back on and corrected the position. Normally Ash would have brought up conversation, instead he decided to enjoy the sound of the breeze and view with his rival. Gary felt as if he was in a love and hate relationship with Ash, but he really was just glad to be traveling with someone who wasn't a Pokemon for once.

After about 15 minutes of silence Ash's stomache started growling again, but unlike last time it wasn't his hunger that was getting to him. Gary was right, it was bad to eat so much on a ship ride. Ash's face started to turn green. "Ugh…" He moaned, as he hung himself over the railing

Gary looked at Ash questionably. "Ash?" All Gary got in response was more moaning. Gary laughed a little. "I told you Ashy boy, you eat that much on a ship you're gonna get sick."

Ash sank down onto the ground. Pikachu was rubbing his back. "Well, maybe we oughta head up into the room until you get better. I don't want you to slow us down when we get off this ship." Gary said, throwing Ash's arm over his shoulder lifting him up. Ash was in a daze, but managed to walk with Gary up onto the deck above them to their room

Gary struggled to open the door while holding Ash up, but was able to get it open. Gary was huffing and puffing a little, but it would have taken more than that to truly tire him out. Gary and Pikachu helped Ash onto the bed, he still looked green with sea sickness. Gary puffed the pillows a little for him, then looked around the room. He sighed. "Thanks gramps, only one bed."

Gary slumped down in the chair next to the bed. Pikachu curled up beside Ash. Thankfully the both of them had a lot of time to rest, as the ferry trip wouldn't get them to their destination until evening. It only took minutes for Ash to fall asleep. Gary remained in the chair, head resting on his hand. After a few a minutes he began to doze off himself.

A few hours later, Ash woke up from his sleep. He rubbed his eyes and looked around the room. He felt a little queezy still, but nothing like before. He was out of it earlier, he couldn't remember how he got up here. He saw Pikachu sleeping beside him. Ash looked over to the side of him and saw Gary sleeping in a chair. "Gary?" He said.

Gary stirred a bit in his sleep but didn't wake up. Ash thought he looked peaceful for once, instead of acting his cocky self and throwing insults at him. Ash didn't bother to bug the boy any more, he put his head back onto the pillow and stared at the ceiling. Guess it would have been a disaster so far if Gary wasn't here. He still felt a little sea sick, so he decided to go back to sleep for a little while longer.

About an hour later Ash had woken up again, this time getting up to use the washroom and get a drink of water. He came back into the room and sat on the bed, he was feeling a lot better than he did earlier. He looked over at Gary who was still sleeping. I wouldn't have expected Gary to be such a heavy sleeper.

Pikachu shuffled in bed and woke up to Ash turning on the tv. "Pikachu!" It smiled, happy that Ash was feeling better. The sound of Pikachu's voice finally had woken Gary up. Ash looked over, Gary had a drowsy look across his face. He caught Ash looking at him.

"Guess you're feeling better?" Gary asked, still feeling tired. "A lot better, and I learned my lesson about eating too much on the water." Ash said with a goofy look on his face.

Gary stood up and stretched, he walked over to the window. He looked at his watch. "It's 2 pm, we still have until 8 until we arrive at Canalave City."

"So, what are we going to do until then?" Ash said looking over at Gary.

"I'm going downstairs to write down routes we can take on the map, and also to check the Pokemon located in the areas we'll be heading to."

"Well, if that's something to do. I'll come down with you." Said Ash getting up.

"Tch, I'm going by myself. What do you know about maps? Doesn't Brock figure that out for you?"

Ash was shocked at Gary's response. This morning he seemed more friendly and helpful toward Ash, now he's gone back to his old self again. "I'm just as good at it as you are." Ash said.

Gary looked at Ash who was determined to go with Gary. He thought for a moment about allowing him to come, then changed his mind immediately. "Go find your baby toys to play with." Gary said as he slammed the door.

Ash waited until he heard the footsteps go away. He went back over to the bed and sat down. He noticed a pamphlet on the night stand, he reached over and opened it. Ash read that there was a basketball court located somewhere on the ship. He was too young to gamble, so Ash eventually decided to go find it. "Come on Pikachu, let's go find something to do without Gary."