Evening came in the town of Pallet as May finished with one of her clients. She petted the small Rattata and looked up at its Trainer, who thanked her and gave her money for the massage.

As soon as they left, May relaxed, letting her long, scarlet hair loose. She left her home and walked over to the edge of town where an opening to the ocean laid.

She knew her little brother would be coming soon as Cinnabar Island was quite close to Pallet Town. You could even faintly see the island from where she was standing.

After a few minutes of quietly watching the sea, May squinted her eyes at a figure that was coming closer. Her eyes widened as she saw a Blastoise and a Trainer with a flop of red hair coming her way.

Although she had a deep and personal conversation with him this morning, she couldn't help but to brightly smile at his arrival. It had been so long since she last saw him face to face.

After a few minutes, Gary waved from the distance and May waved back, standing on her toes even though it wasn't necessary. As her brother came closer, his Blastoise slowed down and May took a few steps back so the water wouldn't hit her feet.

When Gary was finally into the small bank of water, May instantly noticed his growth. He had grown taller since he left, obtained a stronger build, and his hair has grown to slightly cover his eyes. She decided she'd ask him later if he wanted her to cut it.

When Gary climbed off of his Pokémon, he walked up to May and stood in front of her for a moment. May brightly smiled at her brother's hesitant expression then opened her arms, Gary meeting her halfway for an embrace. As she was much taller, she made sure to bend down a little so her chest wouldn't be directly on his face.

Either way, Gary tightly held her, saying, "hey."

"Hey, Shigeru. I missed you."

Gary nodded and sighed, replying, "yeah. Missed you too."

"I made you some lemonade from Aspear and Mago Berries; your favorite."

"You don't have to make my favorite meals anymore, you know," Gary replied as he let go of his sister.

May smirked, placing a hand on her hip.

"No, you got it wrong. I made some for myself and just kept a couple drops for you because I didn't want to waste any of it. You know I couldn't care less about you."

Gary smiled and shook his head at this. He missed his sister's cruel sense of love.

"Well with the way you make it, trust me, I'm glad there isn't much left. I want to live, thank you."

May laughed at his retort then turned to the Pokémon who climbed out of the water and was drying himself off.

"Wooow. Look at you. You look great Wartortle- oh, I mean, Blastoise."

Blastoise smiled at May then looked around the town. It hadn't changed one bit since they first left, which was something he always enjoyed about this small place.

After Gary recalled Blastoise, the two walked back to their home, bantering back and forth. This was usually the way for them to show their affection as they both found it a little difficult to express it.

As soon as they made it to the house, Gary saw Graveler watering the berry trees in front, looking nice and calm. Cooking, Cleaning; now watering their plants? Has his Pokémon always been such a softy?

As May called out to him, Graveler turned around and gasped when he saw his Trainer.

"Don't tackle me!" Gary yelled out as he came running over.

But the Graveler ignored Gary's command as he picked Gary up in an embrace. Gary angrily struggled to get out, telling him to get off, but Graveler knew how his Trainer was and he knew that one hug wouldn't get him too upset.

Once he let go, Gary sighed and called out all of his Pokémon, telling them to play outside while he talked with his sister. They happily complied, running off together to play around.

Instead of it only being a couple drops of lemonade, May actually had a whole pitcher for him and Gary took a cupful, saying he would try his best to digest all of it.

"Do you have anymore clients today?" Gary asked as he sat at the table across from May.

"None that I know of. But if necessary I might reschedule them since you're here."

"No, no don't do that. I won't be staying long."

"Yes, you will."

Gary gave May a confused look.

"Little bro, you have been through way too much hell to just leave. I want to talk and figure out some things before you go."

"*sigh* This has to do with Cinnabar, right?"

"Not only that. There are some things that you need to know that... I think you don't know yet."

"Like what?"

"...Like..."

May paused, wondering if she could really bring this up right away. Out of everything that he's told her throughout his whole journey, she noticed one key person this revolved around and she had to wonder whether this was all about said person.

"Like why you are on this journey to begin with."

Gary's eyes widened when she said this, but he looked down at his drink as he pulled the cup up to drink some more.

"Look, Shigeru, I can tell something had been going on. I know you don't want to be a Pokémon Master."

"What? What makes you think that?"

"Shigeru, ever since you were a kid, you always were more interested in the scientific part of Pokémon rather than actually winning a battle or being the best..."

Gary put his cup down as he put his hand through his hair. He always had a habit of doing that when he felt stressed over something. He could sense the pressure that was going to come along with this conversation.

To that, May bit her lip then said, "but right now you must be tired, right? How about reminiscing with your room for a little while? I actually need to go talk to someone in town."

Gary looked up at May for a moment, before sighing and agreeing with her.

"We'll talk tonight then?" Gary asked as he refilled his cup and made his way to the stairs.

"Yeah. I'll be back soon. Don't run away!"

But Gary left before she could see any sort of reply.

Once May left the house, Gary went up to his room, drinking the lemonade. He missed this drink and the luxuries of sleeping in a comfortable bed. Even though he occasionally slept in an inn or motel, most of the time he slept outside. Mainly because he wanted to save money or their just wasn't one around.

Opening his door, Gary looked around his room, noticing that everything was the same, excluding some areas being a little more clean. May must've cleaned it (or more logically, Graveler because she stopped cleaning his things ages ago.)

Sighing, Gary drank some more of the lemonade and placed it on top of his drawer so he could drop his body onto his bed. He deeply inhaled the familiar smells and cuddled into his bed, feeling extremely comfortable all of the sudden.

A nap wouldn't hurt. May was planning on keeping him here for a little while anyway. Still, he had to leave soon or Ash would pass him and he didn't want that.

As he tightly held onto his pillow, Gary looked around his room, seeing many childhood trinkets and posters of bands he used to like. He actually forgot about the joys of music. He should listen to some before going to sleep.

As his eyes continued to survey the contents of his room, he suddenly noticed a brown box hidden under some of his old toys. It was full of Pokémon cards, but seeing that box reminded him of the one he had hidden in his closet.

Slowly, he stood up and walked over to his closet, opening the door and looking through the many articles of clothing being held by hangers. He's been wearing the same clothes for so long that he lost interest in even wearing these. For a moment he wondered if it all still fit him before discarding the thought and bending down to look at the items on the floor. Pushing some things to the side, Gary found the small, brown box he hid years ago. It wasn't too heavy and it had a small layer of dust covering it. The fact that it looked so worn out depressed Gary, as he knew the contents inside reflected the same feeling.

He brought the box out and placed it on top of his bed, lying down again. Once he was comfortable, he opened the box and looked inside. The box was never opened so the things inside weren't as dusty.

There were two filled photo albums, small folded notes, and other small trinkets in there. Gary remembered that when his rivalry with Ash turned sour, he told himself he had to pretend to be mean to him, so he had to hide all the things he had that were from Ash or reminded him of his old best friend.

Gary took out a green photo album and laid back down on his pillow, opening the first page.

"Ash and Gary Adventures"

Gary chuckled and shook his head at the silly title, forcing the sadness out of his mind of how much pain this one sentence made him feel.

As he turned to the next page, he looked at each memory, amazingly finding it hard to remember them.

There was one of them fishing with his grandfather. Gary had caught a Magikarp and Ash was cheering for him. Another was of them playing in the forest around the town, another in the park, one of them rolling down the hill that went up to his grandfather's lab, and many more.

Gary bit his lip, trying to hold back how sad these pictures made him feel. He missed the friendship they had. Of course, he would never admit it, but he wanted it back so much that it hurt because he had no other friends. He could make some easily, but the fact was he didn't want any other friends. Just Ash...

He turned a page and blushed at a picture of his younger self kissing Ash on the cheek. Although it was a little embarrassing, he couldn't help but to smile. Did he understand what love was at that age?

He continued to turn pages, finding many moments of them being severely close and happy; even moments where they were taking a bath together when they were too young to speak.

He faintly remembered times when Ash's mom would help take care of him and his sister. She was practically a second mom to him.

Before putting the album back, Gary turned back to the page of where he kissed Ash and stared at it for a minute or so. He then sat back up and looked back into the box, pushing the other album to the side and grabbing a bunch of photos that were out and scattered.

Leaning on his arm, he looked through the pictures, finding ones that he took himself instead of someone taking it for them. Gary would sloppily hold the camera and take a picture of him and Ash together.

The first one he saw was of himself holding the camera with both hands, lying on the ground with a big, goofy smile. Ash was backwards, his head next to his and smiling up at the camera. Ash was missing a tooth and Gary giggled at how childish it made him look.

Another was of Ash taking a picture of Gary while they played in the water near Pallet Town; the same area from where he came today. Gary laughed at the next picture as it was of him jumping into the water, about to do a cannonball.

He found another of himself shooshing to the camera as Ash slept on his bed; probably when Ash would sleep over.

While looking through the large stack, Gary noticed that a folded note fell into the pile and he decided to open it to see what was inside.

As he read it, his expression changed. He sat up and took out a few more, keeping them next to him as he read the notes that he and Ash would pass back and forth to each other during class. Why did he ever keep these...?

Gary, I wanna play in the forest tuday. :)

TODAY. And ok. Tag?

No. Hide and Seek. You find me this time!

are you mad? I'm sorry I hit you.

It's ok Ashy. I'm sorry I called you stupid. Your A should be capital.

Can we play tuday today?

After we do our homework.

Yay! I luv you, Gary! :)

LOVE. And I love you too.

I'm scared! will we get marreed Gary?

MARRIED. And I don't think we will. Why?

Mom said that people who luv each other get married! And I luve you but I dunt wanna get married!

LOVE, DON'T. And we're not gonna get married. We can't until we're older. And I won't make you unless you want to.

Oh. Ok. Do we have kiss and stuff if we get married?

Yeah. Because that's what they do I think.

Ok. I like kisses.

I know. If we get married, I'll give you lots.

Yay!

Gary felt his face heat up at the last sloppily written sentence. They truly didn't understand about relationships at that time. They practically acted like a couple! Did their families know about these notes?

Gary sighed and moved on to another one, wondering how he felt about Ash right now.

Darrel said you don't want me to be your frend anymore...why?

FRIEND. I never said that! You're my best friend in the whole world! Don't talk to Darrel anymore.

so you wanna be friends?

Always. Forever and ever! Darrel is just being stupid. We don't need other friends. Just you and me. You need a capital S at the beginning.

Ok. I like that. Other people are meen. :(

MEAN. Yeah, I know. Will you come to my house today? We can eat and play together.

Ok! :)

Why can't we play every day? I don't like school.

You need to learn, Ash.

But I just wanna be with you every day. You can be my teacher!

I'm not that smart.

But we still should! We should run away from home and live together in our own house! So other kids can stop messing with us and calling me names. Anna took my candy today too. :(

You can have mine. Don't be sad. And ok.

Ok? We can run away?

If it's just you and me, yeah. These other kids aren't nice. I would like to live with you.

Why?

...Because I love you. Duh.

Gary put the paper down, covering his mouth and taking a shuddered breath as his eyes began to water. How could he forget such a connection he had? How could Ash forget how close they were? What broke them apart?

...Right. Pokémon.

Pushing the papers aside, Gary sniffed and went back into the box and looked at some of the toys Ash had given him when they were young. They were simple things that Gary didn't really remember getting, but he must have kept them for a reason.

There was even a Valentine's Day card that Ash gave him, saying how much he loved him, how they would always be "bestest friends", and that everyone else could disappear and he would still be happy (except for their families though. He made sure to point out that he didn't want them disappearing).

Gary laughed and shook his head, deciding to label this as childish. They both didn't understand what they were doing and no one labeled it as wrong. Because as kids, they were completely gay for each other without even realizing it!

The realization of that made Gary laugh but feel depressed at the same time. It made him wonder if he regretted the choices he made. If he hadn't started this whole fight with Ash, how would their relationship be? Would Ash still be interested in becoming a Pokémon Master? Or would he have been upset and not knowing what to do?

He chose to drop those questions, as only Arceus would know the answer to that.

He finally went for the red photo album, getting ready for some other painful memories. Gary opened the front page and sighed at the next silly label.

"Ash and Gary Adventures 2"

As he turned to the next page, he realized that instead of looking young and happy, the two were now a little older and expressing the exact opposite of happiness. Gary was smirking at Ash, most likely mocking him, while Ash yelled at him, looking downright furious and red.

The next page was another of them looking as if they were in an argument, then as he turned a few more pages, he bit his lip, noticing it was empty.

He continued to turn then realized that there was nothing else in there; in other words, their journey together came to an end.

Gary shut the book and groaned, never knowing that this 'break up' was more painful than anything else he had felt.

After pushing everything to one side of his bed, Gary laid back down on his bed and covered his face with his hands, thinking about Ash until his breath flaunted its own lethargy; becoming slow and sluggish.

Could he fix this whole mess that was created? He had no idea how, but the thought of them talking and having fun together managed to relax Gary's mind for the time being.

The brunette fell asleep soon afterwards.

May sighed and walked out of the house, knowing that this must be rough on her brother, but before she could really talk to him, she had to get some facts straight about his past. And the best person for that was Satoshi's mother, Delia.

She would've gone earlier but she was busy the entire day so she didn't exactly have time.

Walking over to her neighbor's house took about fifteen minutes. Once she was there, May knocked on the door and waited for Delia to answer. The door opened and May saw Delia brightly smile and greet her.

"Oh hello, May! How have you been today?"

May felt herself soften at the woman's words. Something about her presence just had this way of making others feel at ease.

"Pretty good. I had some clients today and Shigeru came back for a visit."

Delia somehow brightened even more at this, placing a hand on her cheek.

"Oh, Shigeru's back? That's wonderful! It makes me wonder if Satoshi might come around soon. I sure do miss him."

"Actually, I came here to talk to you about your son."

Delia gave May a confused look, lightly cocking her head to the side.

"And...my brother."

Delia continued to look at her before warmly smiling and replying, "ooh I understand. Please, come in!"

May walked into the nicely kept house, seeing nothing out of order. May wondered if she felt just as lonely as she did with her relative gone.

They walked over to the kitchen where a small table stood, May sitting down on one side.

"Oh! How about I get us something to drink. Some Oran juice?"

"I'm fine with that, thank you," May replied.

Delia nodded and went to the fridge, grabbing the pitcher of juice and pouring some of the blue drink for May and herself.

Once Delia gave May her drink and was seated, May took a deep breath and began to talk.

"I wanted to ask you: do you remember when Shigeru and Satoshi were inseparable?"

Delia smiled into her cup, remembering those days quite vividly. She could look out her own window and remember watching the two playing outside; away from all the other children.

"Of course I remember. They would never play with anyone else."

"Do you remember when that all stopped?"

Delia thought for a moment before saying, "I believe so. I remember...Ashy looking really upset and Shigeru took him on a camping trip to make him feel better. After that night, Ash and Shigeru would argue and always fight...It made me wonder what they fought about."

"Yeah...I kind of remember that too. That was...when Gary told me that he wanted to be a Pokémon Trainer. I found that so weird because he always wanted to be a Professor like Gramps. I still find it odd to this day. Whenever he called me, he would tell me about his battles but in the most 'scientifical' way..."

"So...maybe Shigeru became a Pokémon Trainer for Ash."

May looked up at Delia, feeling confused.

"Why would he do that though? Why was Satoshi upset to begin with?"

"When I talked to him before he went camping, I'm pretty sure he was upset because Shigeru was becoming a Professor. Maybe Ash wanted to be a Trainer and was upset that Shigeru wasn't going with him."

"So...Gary told him he would become one to make Satoshi happy?"

"Probably...Or," Delia looked down at her cup, softly moving the liquid around.

"-maybe Shigeru...knew what he wanted to be and would always talk to Ash about it. Maybe that made Ash feel like he wasn't good enough. My boy was never one to think about the future."

May sighed, drinking the Oran juice and blinking at how delicious it was. She then put it down and said, "I don't know. It's hard to understand them and what could've happened."

"It's not that difficult to know what's going through my son's head. You probably wouldn't understand because you're not a mother, but I just had this connection with Ash; all mothers do when they have a child. That's what I think anyway. But, I noticed that Ash would get upset when Shigeru talked about what he wanted to be. I never thought that it would affect him so badly though. Shigeru always cheered him up, saying that Ash could become his helper when he became a Professor. And I know my son, he wasn't into all that science stuff. He enjoyed just playing with Pokémon and I thought he would be a good Breeder, but eventually your brother got him into battling the Pokémon, which he enjoyed much more."

May drank some more of her Oran juice, thinking this through. She didn't think it would actually go this far, but would Gary change everything, just to make Ash happy?

"You don't think...Gary did this whole adventure just for Satoshi, right? I mean, by everything we have said, Gary would do anything to make him happy...Could he have taken it that far?"

Delia put her drink down onto the table and folded her hands, looking down at the table to think.

"Gary...he always, always took care of Ash. I remember...at some point that I didn't even need to watch them playing anymore because I knew that Gary would take care of him..."

Delia warmly smiled and looked at May, a small smirk forming on her face.

"Did he finally admit to having feelings for Ash?"

May blinked in surprise, not realizing that she knew about this as well.

However, she smiled, saying, "no I don't think so. But...he has found out that he likes men. So that's a start."

'Even though he found out in one of the worst ways possible,' May thought. It seemed best not to tell people about Gary's actions back in Cinnabar.

Delia nodded, replying, "good. I knew he was into boys ever since he was a child! Did you see it too?"

May nodded with a sympathetic smile. "Of course. Who couldn't? With the way they would act like a couple. They even kissed each other on the cheek almost daily."

"Remember when they accidentally kissed on the lips? They both became so red but wanted to try it again and we had to tell them not to because only parents did that," Delia said with a big smile.

May laughed with Delia at the memory then said, "should I talk to him about it? Maybe help him understand that he's liked Ash for a long time? He doesn't even realize that many things he's done in this journey was to protect your son."

Delia thought about the idea for a moment, then shrugged with a smile, saying "I honestly don't know, May..."

The two stayed quiet for a moment, May finishing her drink and thanking Delia for it.

"How about instead of just telling him, how about hinting towards it? Just bringing up what Shigeru wanted to be, and why he started all of this. I don't exactly know why Shigeru would go so far to take care of my son, but if I could make an assumption, I would only say that he loves him a lot more than he thinks."

May nodded, agreeing with Ash's mother. She looked up at the clock in the kitchen, seeing that an hour had already passed. Time sure flied when speaking about the past. She had to get back before Gary decided to leave.

The redhead stood, smiling and thanking Delia for all of the information given. Delia walked her to the door and before she left, she made sure to tell May to be careful with Gary.

"Even as a child, I could always tell that he hid his emotions and what he truly felt. A lot of it was for the sake of Ash. So give him time to realize it on his own. And don't let him know that we predicted this ages ago."

Delia giggled afterwards and May smiled, agreeing that this relationship was foreseen many years ago.

"Oh right, and if you can, can you talk to Ash as well? Odds are he will come to visit for a little while and I plan on keeping Gary in the house for at least tonight and tomorrow morning. Maybe they can talk while they're here?"

Delia nodded, replying, "don't worry, that will be easy. All I have to do is beg a little and Ash will stay as long as I want."

May nodded and waved goodbye to Delia, walking back to her house. She looked up at the falling sun, thinking of her little brother when he was younger.

That boy's mind was always either on Ash or Gramps and his Pokémon research. School was never a problem for him because his grandfather taught him many things beforehand. He could name almost all 150 Pokémon known in their region and knew that there were even greater Pokémon at different places at such a young age.

However, he was a little bullied around First grade. In Second, Gary would get into fights when trying to defend himself or Ash (mainly Ash). At some point, the other kids learned to leave the two alone because one way or another, Gary was going to tell them to back off or he'd hit them.

Since then, it was always just them battling the world. Ash would sometimes try to make new friends when he was angry at Gary, but in the end, he always felt like other kids just weren't good enough.

Around Fourth grade was when their rivalry began, May now assuming that it had to do with that camping trip they went on. But even though Gary would battle Ash with Pokémon cards a lot more than usual, he still visited his grandfather almost daily to learn more about the technology in his lab.

So the sudden desire to become a Pokémon Master definitely didn't make sense. She had to figure out what Gary said during that little camping trip they had and maybe reminding him of his goals would remind him that this was all just to obtain the love of his friend.

With a deep, confident breath, May continued her way back home, getting ready to have a talk with her brother.

But she was pulled out of her thoughts as she felt something push onto her leg. She looked down and smiled at Gary's Eevee that gleefully hopped up and down on its back legs.

May picked the brown fox up, turning to the direction he was looking, seeing the rest of Gary's team running up with Graveler.

"Hey guys. Having fun?"

They all nodded in agreement, smiling brightly; with the exception of Growlithe who merely walked up to her with a blank expression. Looking at the odd fire dog reminded her of the present she got for him and his Trainer.

She decided to walk back with them, leading them inside the house to feed them some snacks.

While she placed the food around, on, and at the table, she didn't notice Gary sluggishly coming down the stairs; simply watching the scene.

Blastoise was the first one to notice him, smiling and calling out to his Trainer as he sat on the floor.

Gary waved at him, scratching the back of his neck as he walked over to the table. Kadabra and Graveler sat on two of the chairs, so Gary sat on one of the empty seats across from them, placing his elbows on the table and one hand on his cheek.

Eevee, who was on top of the table, picked up one of his treats with his teeth and walked over to Gary, holding it up towards him.

Gary looked at his Pokémon for a moment before taking the small, pink candy and smelling it. It actually smelled pretty good. But when he bit one half of the snack, he grimaced at the taste but forced it down his throat.

"It tastes like crap," Gary muttered as he stuffed the other piece into Eevee's mouth.

Eevee was surprised at first but laughed as he chewed the food. He thought it was delicious!

"Oh, Gary. I didn't notice you come down. Do you want anything to eat?"

"Nah, I'm not hungry. Thanks."

May looked over to her brother for a moment before walking over and sitting next to him. She had to talk to him sooner or later.

"So Gary-"

"I think I like Ash."

May's eyes widened, feeling a little upset that her preplanned conversation was completely thrown out of the window with one five-word sentence.

"Wait, huh?"

Gary looked down at Eevee who brought his plate in front of Gary to eat close to him. As the small fox ate, Gary played with his tail, putting his hands through the smooth, but bushy fur.

"I was up in my room for a while; just thinking. And...I think I like Ash. Like...I'd want to be with him," Gary said, feeling his face heat up at admitting this out loud.

May could only say, "oh," then look away.

"Is it sad that being with someone else really opened my eyes to that?" Gary said, obviously beating himself up about this again.

May looked back at him and said, "Gary we already agreed that that was just something that happened. It's not important."

"It kind of is actually. Because of that, I realized I'm into men. That guy is such a douche though...He tried hitting on Ash this morning."

"You saw him again?"

"By coincidence when I was battling Ash. When he tried to make a move on him, I instantly protected Ash... I thought of him going through the same thing I did and...I got mad. Really mad..."

"...So you wanted to 'protect' him?"

"Hell yeah! That guy didn't even know my name and wanted to get into my pants. I knew what I was doing but Ash would never understand that! At the end though, I had to fake kindness to the guy and now he wants to be with me."

May could only pause then laugh at the situation.

"Why didn't you just beat him up? Like how you used to do it?" May said between chuckles.

"Used to?" Gary said, looking over to his sister.

"Whenever anyone would try to bother you two or even get near you two when you were kids, you'd threaten them. Don't you remember?"

Gary looked down at the table for a moment before nodding. He vaguely remembered being in many fights to protect himself and his friend.

"Well, are you sure it was just to protect him?...Maybe, you didn't want him doing that with someone else, but rather with you."

May expected Gary to quickly retort and disagree, but he sat there, continuing to look at Eevee's tail as he messed with it. After a moment, he shrugged.

"Gary, this isn't something you can just shrug off. You gotta think about it and see whether you truly have feelings for him-"

"I have thought about it, May. The whole time you've been gone, my mind has been on that and...I just don't know."

The two stayed silent after this, both not knowing what to say. A few Pokémon looked up at Gary, completely understanding this conversation but not knowing what to say (if they could say anything). All that could be heard was the sound of the Pokémon eating and chatting amongst themselves.

"He should be coming soon, right? Maybe you can just talk to him. Don't just blurt it out though; just...I dunno. See if you can just tell him."

"What makes you think he'd be interested in me? I acted like a complete douche to him throughout this whole journey...He probably hates me."

"...Well, feelings change. And if you really want to try for him, then you just have to prove to him that you can be a nice person and not just a 'douche'."

Gary scoffed at the reply and sighed, leaning back on his chair and looking up at the ceiling.

"I just don't know if I'm ready to admit something like that, May."

May hesitated, but placed a hand on her brother's shoulder, saying, "well you have time. He'll probably come tomorrow morning and you can talk then."

Gary nervously looked up at the ceiling, wondering if he really would go through with something like this. He wasn't even 100% sure that he liked Ash in that way. But facing him with this new perspective may help him find the answer.

With a nod, Gary sat back up and continued to chat with his sister, telling her about his adventure so far and hoping to find information on the Viridian City's Gym Leader.

Nighttime soon came and Growlithe watched Gary put all of his Pokémon away into their pokéballs.

Eevee rejected the ball, obviously accustomed to sleeping with Gary. (He also knew that Gary secretly enjoyed sleeping with the small fox rather than alone. But no one would ever say anything about it.)

Gary then turned to Growlithe and was about to tell him to return, but Growlithe took a step back and quickly shook his head; showing that he'd rather sleep outside of the ball tonight.

Gary frowned at the Pokémon before saying, "no, get in here. I barely have room on my bed and I have no carpet."

Growlithe shook his head again. Gary sighed and held the ball towards his Pokémon again, not feeling like dealing with this tonight.

"Hold on Gary!" May quickly said before Gary could tell Growlithe to return.

Growlithe watched as the two talked for a moment then his Trainer's sister ran off. He wasn't one to really pay attention to human conversations, but he knew that whatever she said made Gary give up on trying to put him back in the pokéball.

Growlithe looked up at his Trainer, who now was leaning against the wall next to the stairs to wait for his sister.

The fire dog blankly looked over to Eevee who was already climbing a few stairs. He stopped at the fifth stair and waited for Gary, who turned to him and told him the location of his room.

Eevee nodded and continued up, giving Growlithe a slight sense of envy. Even though he didn't show it too much, he wanted to have a good connection with his Trainer.

May eventually came back with a red stone in her hand.

"A couple of weeks back, I gave a man's Pokémon a massage but he couldn't pay me in money. So instead, he gave me this. I decided to keep it because I wanted to give it to you as a present. I heard they can't evolve unless you use one of these," May said as she held the object out to Gary.

Growlithe's Trainer was obviously interested in this item as his sister gave him the item and he inspected it quite thoroughly. He then looked down at Growlithe and he could only blink back in confusion.

Gary led his Pokémon to the center of the room; an area that was empty and away from the other objects in the house.

The fire dog looked back up at the stone then realized that it had this odd presence to it; as if it was alive. Gary kneeled down on one knee and made complete eye contact with the Pokémon; making Growlithe feel a little nervous.

"Listen, Growlithe. I know you're not stupid, but you're kinda dopey so I need you to pay attention."

Growlithe nodded, forcing himself to try as hard as possible to keep his attention on his Trainer. He has to prove that he can be just as great as the rest of the team! He already proved it by strength, but he wanted to be emotionally connected to Gary too; like Eevee and Blastoise!

"This is a Fire Stone. It'll help you evolve into an Arcanine. Would you want that?"

Growlithe continued to look at his Trainer before looking down at the stone in his hand. That was going to help him become stronger? Why would he reject something like that?

He quickly nodded up to his Trainer, lightly hopping in his sitting position because of a sudden feeling of excitement.

"Good. I wasn't gonna give you the option anyway," his Trainer said before holding the stone out to his Pokémon.

The dog hesitated at first but he placed his hand on the stone, reminding himself that this would be a good change.

In that split second; Growlithe felt the stone under his paw, then suddenly it was gone. A jolt of heat ran through his body and everything began turning white. He felt himself shaking as the heat started from within then moved outside of his body; burning up so much that his body became numb.

After another moment or so, Growlithe blinked multiple times, trying to get the white, that seemed to surround him, out of his eyes. He then realized that he was looking down at Gary rather than up and knew that he had just evolved into an Arcanine.

Gary held out his pokédex to his new Pokémon for a moment before putting it away and sighing. May, on the other hand, ran up next to him, looking up at the Pokémon with astonishment.

"Wow he's huge!"

"Yeah. So now there's really no way for you to sleep outside of your ball."

The brand new Arcanine looked down at his body then turned his head to see his back. He has completely changed and really was huge!

Although he had evolved into something stronger, Arcanine's shoulders went down in defeat; knowing that Gary's remark was true. He'd never be able to sleep next to his Trainer now...

"Anyway, thanks May. This should really help me out. I probably have a better chance with the Gym Leader tomorrow now."

May nodded and walked up to the Arcanine, softly petting him then putting her hands through his fur.

"Oh gosh, he's so soft! Feel him Gary!"

As Arcanine was petted by both Trainer and his sister, Arcanine decided to take a step ahead and leaned his head down to Gary's waist, slowly poking his nose at the pokéballs that were strapped onto the belt he wore.

Gary looked up at him for a moment then grabbed the ball. He sighed and spoke to May a little more before returning Arcanine to his ball.

The large dog felt himself sadden at this. Now that he evolved, he was definitely much stronger, but now he could never sit closely like Eevee always does with him. Wartortle used to do it all the time as well, but once he evolved, Gary simply decided to switch the routine and sit on him instead.

With him, he tried many times to simply be close, but even when he accomplished it, Gary always seemed upset with the gesture. It made him wonder if Gary disliked him more than the rest. Maybe that was the main reason Growlithe was always forced to get into his pokéball...

Before Arcanine could continue to brood himself to sleep, the Pokémon realized that he was out again and in a different location.

They were now in a smaller, darker room with a bed and a dresser and other things that made a room a room.

"I'm just telling you now, sleeping on the floor is gonna be cold."

Arcanine looked over to his Trainer who was walking over to the right side of the bed, climbing onto it and moving next to Eevee. He then realized he was in his Trainer's room.

Gary didn't say another word as he took off his shirt and socks and tossed them to the floor.* He went under the covers and turned away from Arcanine, allowing Eevee to jump into his arms. Gary never held him, but Eevee knew that he subconsciously would once he fell asleep.

Arcanine stood there for a moment then sat down on his floor. He moved as close as he could to the bed then laid down, putting his head down and looking at the wall ahead of himself. Well, at least he was near Gary so that was kind of a start. Still, it wasn't enough to ease Arcanine's sadness.

the odd dog preferred being in his mind rather than reality, so he didn't know how much time passed by. All other sounds were blocked off but at some point, he felt a tap on his head and looked up to find the culprit. He saw Eevee looking down at him with a small smile before he whispered for him to bring his head up.

Arcanine followed his order then noticed that Gary was now lying in his direction; fast asleep. He then felt Eevee grab onto the fur on his cheeks and pull him close, moving his head onto the bed.

The large, fire dog turned his head and looked up to his slumbering Trainer. He looked much nicer when he slept.

Eevee smiled and moved to the end of the bed, curling up into a ball and sleeping on his own. Now, Arcanine wasn't that bright, but he had to wonder if Eevee moved him close to Gary on purpose.

However, the question flew out of his mind as he felt Gary stretch then grab onto him, moving in close and lightly cuddling onto Arcanine. The large dog felt himself blush at this and he softly cuddled back, wondering why his Trainer was so much kinder in his sleep.

He fell asleep to the sound of Gary's slow breathing and tight embrace, curious if his Trainer would push him away in the morning; maybe even get angry at how close they were.

Twenty or so minutes later, Gary was suddenly forced awake by one of Arcanine's soft sneezes as the air hit his chest. He sluggishly moved back a bit to see his Pokémon who was supposed to be lying on the floor, but was instead lying his head next to his. Being too tired to fight against it, Gary moved close again and accepted his Pokémon's warmth. Plus, much like Eevee, Arcanine was extremely comfy to hold onto.

*SHIRTLESS GARY IS BEST TYPE OF GARY

A.N. Ok so this chapter was originally supposed to be much longer but I wanted to break it off here because of...reasons lol No, but honestly, I like the simple cuteness with this ending. Of course, you could feel nervousness throughout this whole chapter, but it was for a good thing because DING DING Gary finally realized his love for Ash! *does a little dance*

But at the same time I kinda didn't like this chapter. Something about it felt like I was just dragging the scene out too long or like... I dunno, it just felt like it was all worded out weirdly.

Or maybe I've been looking at this for too long and my brain is like "TUU MENY WURDZ"

Lol So! In the next chapter, it will be tomorrow and he will try to talk to Ash about it lol Can you assume how that will turn out?

Actually, now I'm curious :) So I wanna ask: Do you think his confession will be successful? Or will it turn horrible and Ash will reject him and call him disgusting and horrible? Did Vincent actually keep his secret? /:) Lol many many questions (and with these, you can tell why this is so stressful for our Shigeru X3)

Anyway, R&R, tell me about any mistakes, what you think, what you're waiting for, etc etc :) and tell me your favorite part!

Lol mine is when Shigeru was reading their notes and read what he wrote about how he would give Ashy lots of kisses when they get married XD Just rereading that little bit makes my fangirl go wild~ I actually wanna draw a little scene of them as kids being awl kayoot XD

Lol uhm The next chapter should be up fast because I just broke it off of this was and was almost done it anyway. :) It'll be a little short but eh, I'm sure you guys are fine with that. (I hope so! oAo)