The next morning started off with two loud yells, and Brock, May, and Max shot up looking for the source of the offending noise.
They quickly found it as they looked towards Ashley and Gary, who were quickly scrambling away from each other and the three started to laugh uncontrollably as they understood the problem.
Ashley glared at them icily "And just what are you laughing at?" they normally would have shut up, but they just couldn't stop, Ashley started to get suspicious. "What did you do." she ordered them to tell her in a calm, collected voice, it was then that they shut up.
May and Max pushed Brock forward and he glared at them "He did it!" Ashley turned her full focus on a nervous looking Brock.
"Well, Ash, you two fell asleep talking, so of course you were near each other. So I simply moved you closer and put your arms around each other. Not my fault you're such a heavy sleeper." he smirked at her and she gave him a death stare and hit him over the head before turning around to look at Gary, wondering why he'd been so quiet.
He was in the same position he was before, wide eyed and in shock.
Ashley rolled her eyes to hide the slight pain in them. 'is it really that bad to wake up next to me?' she looked at Pikachu and nodded to him. Getting the message, he sent a thundershock at the brunette, literally shocking him out of his stupor.
"Hurry up and get ready Gary. I want to eat and get moving." she stated in a clipped tone before grabbing her clothes and shoving past him and into the forest to go change.
Gary looked at Brock in confusion "What did I do…?"
Brock just chuckled and walked past him, talking to him over his shoulder "You're smart Gary, I'm sure you'll understand at some point! Most likely not today, but at some point." and he walked off to make breakfast.
…
The group was walking along with Ashley and Brock in the front, whispering to each other, May and Max in the middle arguing over something or another and Gary was in the back with Blastoise and Umbreon flanking him and Ralts in his arms, throwing her in the air and catching her.
Charizard and Taillow were flying above them while Pikachu, Torchic, and Forretress were next to their respective trainers.
Up in the front of the group, Brock decided to ask Ashley what he'd been wanting to know since he'd joined up with the group.
"So, are you ever going to tell him Ash?" she got quiet and looked up at him with a hint of sadness
"No Brock, I'm not. What's the use of telling him when I know he doesn't feel the same? I'll just save myself the heartbreak and get over him, okay? I learned not to take chances like that from watching you get your heart broken so many times…"
"Oh Ashley, I've only gotten my heart broken a couple times, and some of them, you didn't see. All those pretty girls were just that, pretty girls. It doesn't mean you should just throw your heart around, but I do mean that sometimes you just have to take chances."
"But… what if I ruin this friendship with him? I only just got him back, I can't just let him leave again Brock! You don't know how that felt… everyone I loved except my mom seemed to just leave me, I had no friends until I met Misty because everyone in Pallet knew that everyone I cared about seemed to get hurt, so they steered clear. Ever since the incident I thought he hated me, especially on our journey since he declared me his rival… you know I honestly don't know when he stopped being mean, or why… I guess it was gradual but still. He had no reason to stop." she stated thoughtfully "I'll ask him later."
Brock looked sadly at his friend, he knew all the things she'd gone through and it hurt him to see her so sad, he wasn't a violent person, but he would personally punch anyone in the face that decided to hurt her, she was one of his best friends and like a little sister to him after all, he had to protect her.
"Ashley, you don't need to tell him now if you don't want to, but I don't want you to hold it all in like this… just please tell him when you're ready okay?"
"Alright Brock, I will. But for now I'm just gonna try and get over him."
The tall, spiky haired brunette nodded and they fell into a comfortable silence.
…
It was around 2 pm when Ashley got seriously bored. And a bored Ashley is never a good thing.
"Guys" she whined "I'm bored!" and then promptly plopped on the ground.
They all looked at her incredulously.
"What?" she questioned defensively, and then her eyes lit up in excitement "Oooh! I know what to do!"
She then whistled loudly.
"What was that supposed to do? Pop our ear drums?" Gary asked dryly, but she just held up a finger and a second later, Charizard landed in front of them.
"Hey buddy!" she ran over to him and motioned for him to put his head down and then whispered something in his ear. The dragon like pokemon grinned, which was quite frightening actually, and leaned down.
She then climbed onto his back and took to the air.
"Ashley! You're gonna get hurt!" Gary screamed at her but she just laughed and made Charizard do a flip. She said something that they couldn't hear and the dragon climbed higher into the sky. They saw her stand up, say something else and jump off the Charizard's back, laughing as she fell through the air
Brock had a small smile, May was covering her eyes, Max was laughing and talking about how cool it was, and Gary, well Gary was yelling at Ashley.
As Ashley got closer, Charizard swooped down and she landed skillfully onto his back, and Gary realized that she must have done this before, probably a lot by the way that Brock looked completely at ease with this.
The trainer and pokemon were now just flying, and Ashley had a soft smile on her face, like nothing could ever hurt her. Gary, seeing this, smiled at the girl and motioned for everyone to continue on their way, Ashley would be fine up there.
…...
It was nightfall and all the pokemon were in their pokeballs, with the exception of Pikachu of course, and everyone was sleeping.
Everyone except Ashley.
Why… why did he change? Why is he my friend… I need to know….
"Gary… are you awake?" she asked, shaking him
"Well I am now." he said sleepily and yawned, turning to face her "Why, what's up?"
She looked at him nervously, "Well, I couldn't sleep… my mind wont shut up."
Gary chuckled lightly "Is that new? What will it not shut up about?"
She mock glared at him before turning serious. "Well, I've been wondering all day… Why are we friends? I thought our friendship died years ago, especially when you decided to be my rival, and did all those mean things… so what changed? Why do you even want to be my friend after what happened? I wouldn't blame you…." she asked distressed
Gary went quiet and got a thoughtful expression, and then looked at her seriously. " Ashley, I've told you time and time again that it was never your fault that the incident happened. So please do not ever believe that because it wasn't, I promise. As for the reason of why we're friends… well I don't know when it happened, but I realized that I needed you back Ashley, but I was too stubborn to admit it, so I gradually got nicer to you, and started bringing back our friendship…. Ashley, you are the reason. You're the reason because I couldn't take being your enemy, that was too painful. More painful than living with the fact that I had just left you when we both needed each other and I realized that even if you didn't still need me, I still needed you, I haven't ever really gotten over what happened, but as long as I have you I can cope with it better. I missed this Ashy, being close to you, you being my best friend… I know I'm probably not your best friend, that title belongs to Misty or Brock, and I don't deserve it for abandoning you like that, but I'm just happy to be with you again."
"Oh Gary… I missed this too. And you are my best friend, you're tied with Brock and Mist" she hugged him tightly then giggled
"What? What are you laughing at?" Gary asked incredulously
"We're acting so cliché!" she laughed out and Gary chuckled
"Yeah, I guess we are. Well, I don't know about you, but I'm going to bed."
"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea." she rubbed her eyes and yawned, stretching out before curing up in her sleeping bag. "Goodnight Garebear."
"Goodnight Ashykinz."
A/N Wow it's been a while! Sorry to all my faithful readers! Scholl likes to get in my way a lot but it's break now! So this was a filler chapter and I feel bad about the shortness but the next chapter will be long I promise! SPOILER ALERT but Ashley will also be getting a new pokemon ;)
