The two of them stood there on the ship, each with a ripped ticket. The cheerleaders gasped and crowded around Gary, while Misty took a step in front of Ash. It felt more like the battle of minions than the actual bosses.

Gary smirked, while a slight blush appeared on his cheeks, and turned away from their eyes. "I knew something smelled on this ship." Firstly, he was always Gary Oak, no matter how many awkward moments between the two.

Instead of confronting him on his insult, she grabbed one of her pokeballs and gripped the metal shell. "I challenge you to a pokemon battle!"

"How many badges do you have?" His eyebrows came together. His hand slipped inside of his pocket, ready to show the girl his shiny medals.

"Two!" She returned his smirk as she pulled out her red case. Two shiny stones. One from Brock's Gym and the other from Misty's Gym. The one from Misty's Gym was the one he helped mold and form through endurance, annoyance, and a barking old man.

He gestured his arms out into a shrug and kept his eyes closed. "They don't count if you dig them out of the trash."

Ash held the badge case above her head and declared proudly, "I earned them with hardwork!"

Misty sweatdropped and turned to Brock. Before the redhead could even open her mouth, the blind man was already nodding in agreement. The most Ash has worked for a badge was dancing in the water. The other time was because of a mistake and Brock's forgiveness.

Gary did not believe a word she say and cocked his head as he pulled out his own badges. "We aren't even on the same level, Ashley-girl."

Ash's face reddens in anger. Gary always knew the right words to make her roar, and he loved pressing each and every one. "WE ARE GOING TO BATTLE! TONIGHT!"

He glanced back at his girls with a gleeful smile, "That's the strangest bed invitation I ever gotten." Yet he did not deny the request. Her eyes growled double in size and he stepped back, behind his crowd of girls. "Alright then, smell ya later!"

"I'M GONNA GET YOU ONE OF THESE DAYS, GARY!"

"If you actually do manage to beat me, I will have to rethink my whole life."

She angrily blushed at the brunet and stomped her foot in despite of him. A flashback of her old friend crossed her mind when he was out of sight. A small boy, in love with an Eevee, who played in the yards everyday. The one before her was only an egomaniac asshole. So making him rethink his whole life actually sounded like a good idea. She smirked.

"Get ready, Gary. Me and Pikachu are gonna make you eat those words."

Brock stood on the side of the room as the cheerleaders crossed in front of him. All varying in sizes, styles, and appearances, he couldn't help but envy the lad who picked out this ground. Drool started to form at the edges of his lips as the finally one walked away.

The orange haired girl tilted her head and looked around in the room for a certain pokemon trainer. She raised her eyebrow when she saw no sight of the girl. "Where is she?" Misty muttered irately.

He gave a small shake of his head and escaped his daydream. "Uh… I think I saw her on the deck earlier."

"Are you sure it was Ash, not some other girl?"

"I'm not blind, Misty. Last time I saw her, she was sorting something out. Seemed busied so I decided to leave her alone."

The girl nodded as she held onto her plate and seated herself at the table, with Brock sitting across from her. A thought crossed her mind, Brock probably left to hound down another girl, but it soon left her mind. Brock may be a mindless flirt, but he was still their friend. "We should at least bring her some dinner."

His lips formed into a smile. "Don't worry, I already made her a plate."

That was one thing Misty could always count on, his preparation. Even though this is only the start of their journey, to become the greatest, Brock has prepared most of their meals and always had potions in his bag whenever Butterfree gotten hurt. "This is supposed to be a cruise…yet she hasn't enjoyed any of it…"

"Gary has though," Brock gave a slight nod to Gary's direction. The boy crowded himself with beautiful girls and made a spectacle through the feast hall. He ordered several of the kitchen staff to serve his table excusably.

The brunet's eyes flickered to their meekly table and smirked.

Brock slowly shook his head and started eating again. "I do hope Ash's hard work will wipe his smirk off."

"Will she be able to though? She hasn't really faced a challenged."

"So you think Gary will be a challenged for Ash?"

"That's not what I'm saying!" She paused, "…Maybe it is. We know he's strong, he battled you and gotten the third badge, probably by battling as well. Unlike Ash, who only helped to get the two badges. He's been constantly progressing ever since, while Ash's progress has been so awkwardly…"

"It's only the start of her journey. If she doesn't beat him this time, there's always next time, Misty."

Misty slowly nodded. "Yeah…alright." She would rather see Gary's downfall sooner than later, but Ash spends most of her time on kindling friendships than power. She has only gotten two new additions, Charmander and Primeape, to her team, Pikachu, Butterfree, Squirtle, and Pidgeotto.

They had no clue what Gary had under his belt.

The two of them stood on different sides of the deck. Each with six pokeballs on their sides. Brock stood in the middle of the two of them with a cheering crowd behind him. He turned his head at both oppopents. "Six vs Six match. First one to defeat the other player's team is the winner. Anything else?" The dark skinned man only asked the second part without thinking one of them would add more onto it.

Gary took a step forward, "I got something."

They glanced his way.

"What about a bet to make this interesting. A trade off. Winner picks from the losing side team, and trades for one of their own."

"What do you think I want to do that?!"

He raised an eyebrow, "Why? Is something wrong with that?"

"They are my friends!"

"Man, and I would have thought you would have wanted one of my highly trained pokemon," he paused and with a click of his tongue, "Ashly-girl."

As soon as she heard that nickname, she gritted her teeth together. "Fine! Alright! Let's get this on!" Gary chuckled as if he knew this outcome was coming.

"Trade-off!" Brock glanced at the two of them again, "Agreed?" Ash, without hesitation, nodded. While Gary smirked and nodded his head, waiting for Brock to start the match already. The dark skinned name nodded and raised the flag once more. "One! Two! Three!...GO!"

Quickly, their hands dropped to their sides and grabbed a pokeball. Gary took a single second slower than Ash, as her pokemon, Charmander, was released. He smiled and pulled out his first pokeball.

Wartortle appeared on the field, across from Charmander. The deck was covered in sunset glow.

Brock announced to the crowd, who was now taking bets, "WARTORTLE AND CHARMANDER HAS ENTERED THE FIELD!"

"Wartortle?" Ash asked quizzical. Her hand slide into her pocket and pulled out Dex. The pokedex landed on the turtle pokemon and read aloud its information. "Squirtle's evolution then…"

"AQUA TAIL!"

"DODGE!"

Something major happened to me two weeks ago, so I haven't been updating. But even before that, my updating has been few. Sorry for the wait!