Blue Heaven

By Spruceton Spook

Part 21

Friend or Foe

As soon as Ash heard the bell chimes resound throughout the house, muffled yet so familiar from behind the closed door, his stomach clenched. He yanked his finger away from the button as if it had just snapped at him.

What did I do? he thought frantically. Should I've done that?

Stricken with sudden panic, he wanted to run for it. He realized a little too late that he had no idea what to do once that door opened before him. Who would answer it? He found himself wishing it was anyone but Gary. If it was one of his parents or May, he could smile and say hi and be all friendly; he didn't know how he would react if the door swung open and Gary was there. His own impending actions were a mystery to him.

But as much as he was compelled to split, he stood his ground. The world around him became still. He heard no sounds coming from the house, but he knew there was someone home; a car was in the driveway. A silver minivan—Gary's mother's car. That didn't mean Gary was home, though. Ash hoped he wasn't.

Why did I bother doing this then? Ash questioned his own feelings. He wasn't prepared; he was a nervous wreck. The only thing controlling him now were his high hopes of accomplishing something from this impromptu meeting. He had no course of dialogue lined up, no idea of how he was even going to approach this. But worst of all, he didn't know how he was going to conduct himself. And that scared him.

His heart nearly leapt out of his chest as he heard the front door being unlocked.

Oh God, he thought, his eyes wide as he inadvertently backed away. What am I going to do? No, no, I don't want to do this! No, no, no!

He didn't have much a choice, however, as Gary's mother's face swiftly appeared behind the screen door, lighting up at the sight of Ash. This eased the boy's tense muscles just a bit, but he still stood frozen stiff, an awkward smile perking at the corners of his mouth.

"Hi, Ash!" Mrs. Oak greeted, her tone that of happy surprise.

"Hi," he squeaked.

"How are you? What's going on?" she asked. Ash stepped aside as she opened the door and held it for him invitingly. "Come in."

Ash declined politely with a wave of his hand. "N-no, that's okay. I—I'm just, um..."

"Oh, stop it!" insisted Mrs. Oak, still with her tremendous smile. "I don't see you enough lately. I don't even remember the last time I opened the door to you! Come in!"

Although her warm welcome was tempting, Ash shook his head. "No, really, I'm good, thanks. I just came over a second to—"

"See Gary?" She lifted her eyebrows knowingly, letting the door close gently.

See Gary. The words ricocheted incredulously through Ash's head. He couldn't believe the nod he gave in response.

"Is he home?" he asked, wondering why he did.

"Oh, sure," Mrs. Oak chuckled. "Wow. I'm sorry, it's just it's been so long since I heard you say that, Ash. God, you kids grew up too fast." Ash couldn't help but laugh a little along with her. He was as shocked as she was, but in no way did their nerves compare. "He's upstairs. You're more than welcome to come in and go get him," she attempted to lure him in again.

The image of him waltzing into Gary's bedroom practically made Ash shudder. He couldn't picture doing anything more outrageous at the moment.

"No, it's okay, I'll wait out here for him. If that's okay with you," he added quickly, rocking back and forth from the heel to the toes of his feet.

"That's fine," she said. "I'm actually surprised to see you here today. Looked like you two were having one of your classic little spats yesterday."

Ash was taken slight aback. "O-oh," was all he could respond to that. He felt himself flush as he looked uncomfortably off to the side. He didn't expect this to come up, but now that it had it was no surprise. Only a spat was the last thing he considered what happened the day before, and it certainly wasn't little.

Fortunately, Mrs. Oak was still smiling. "Made quite a bit of a mess. Just as crazy as your parents' first wedding!" she laughed.

Ash giggled nervously, startled to hear amusement in her tone where there should have been disapproval. It obviously must not have appalled her as much as he had assumed it would. Then again, Mrs. Oak, oddly, never did get burned up about certain things his own parents did.

"I'll go get Gary for you. Are your mom and dad still home? Did they leave for their trip?"

"Uh, yeah, they left a few minutes ago."

"They're going have such a good time. Wish you could've gone with them, don't you?"

Ash smiled shakily. You have no idea, he thought. "Yeah. That would've been cool."

Mrs. Oak nodded. "Okay, you stay there, Ash. He'll be right out."

As soon as she left, the forced smile was wiped clean off Ash's face. He could hear her shouting to Gary, and his body stiffened again. Reaching up to wipe more perspiration from his brow, he took a deep, insecure breath, trying to calm himself down.

I can do this, I can do this. After all, it wasn't like he was meeting the President, or facing an unmerciful court judge. This was Gary, his friend, the kid he previously held a bond with that could have been mistaken for brotherhood.

But this was a different Gary, he realized dismally. And in light of the recent events—how a majority of the fights were his fault, how Gary had tried so many times to apologize and Ash had not given him the chance—his humility was not fortifying his defense in the least. At that moment, he wondered if Gary would even have the interest to hear him out.

Suddenly, the sound of trudging footsteps on the staircase pricked his ears. Ash stopped breathing, and didn't resume when Gary came to the door. Their eyes locked brusquely and uncomfortably. The quietness of the lazy day intensified as not a word came out of either of the boys' mouths, every unsettling thought and emotion expressed by their deadlock gape.

"Hi, Ash," Gary muttered, though good-naturedly.

Ash managed to swallow the bulky lump in his throat. "Hi, Gary," he replied, barely above a whisper.

And then ensued a thickly awkward silence. Unfortunately stuck in the position of the caller, Ash knew he needed to speak next, but didn't know if he could. His eyes quickly darted away from Gary, panic rising again. He was at a loss for words.

I knew this would happen, he groaned to himself, his troubled glare set on his sneakers. You have to say something, he told himself demandingly. You have to; you brought yourself here, now you have to go through with it...

When Ash looked back at Gary, he noticed that he, too, was preoccupied otherwise, his attention fixated down the sun-drenched lonely road. But feeling Ash's focus back on him, his eyes immediately flicked back. Ash inhaled; this was it.

"Um," he uttered, clearing his throat. He pointed down the road limply. "You wanna go for a walk?"

It was no shock that Gary was completely stupefied at the request. His head jerked back slightly.

"Sure," he then said softly.

Sure? Not only did Ash not believe the answer, but how easily it had come out as well. He was going to talk to him? Muddled, Ash didn't know yet if this was a good start or a bad.

Faltering, he finally responded, "Okay." Turning away, and making sure to allow his eyes to widen incredulously only afterwards, Ash dragged his feet down the walkway as Gary screamed into the house, "Ma, I'm going out with Ash! I'll be back!" and heard the sharp slam of the screen door behind him.

Calm down, calm down, Ash soothed himself. He paid almost no regard to Gary as he made his way out onto the street, but was very much indeed conscious of his every move. He could feel him following behind, making his scalp prickle sensitively. The feeling was keenly similar to one Ash had experienced as a child, walking past a neighbor's yard that contained a particularly cantankerous growlithe. The creature would charge at the gate and bark and growl as Ash marched stiffly and swiftly by, leaving him, momentarily, fearing for his life.

But just as he had been in no real danger then, he was confronted by no life-threatening ordeal now.

It's just Gary, he reminded himself, you can do this. Just speak your mind. It's no big deal. He's not going to kill you.

In fact, Ash didn't really understand why he was so nervous. It wasn't like he was asking Gary to bail him out of debt or...give him a kidney or something. As they strolled together down the road, the only sounds being the crunch of the dirt and pebbles beneath their feet and the rhythmic swishing of Gary's jeans, Ash figured Gary would be just as agreeable to what he was proposing as he was.

Stuffing his clammy hands into his pockets, Ash kept at a leisurely pace. Gary had come up beside him, but Ash kept his eyes strictly down. After nearly two years of nothing but fighting and competition, they were bizarrely together in a sort of civilized fashion, drowning in deep silence.

Obviously, though, the lack of speaking made Gary too anxious. "So...what's up?" he asked all of a sudden, making Ash's heart leap.

"Umm," he struggled. Trembling, he lifted his eyes to catch Gary looking expectantly at him. He tore his gaze away, and bit savagely at his lip.

"It's about the battle yesterday, isn't it?" Gary presumed. Ash wanted to reply, but couldn't, so Gary continued. "Look, Ash, I know that's what it is, so why don't you just—"

"Wait, stop!" Ash shouted abruptly. Gary's mouth did just that, along with his feet. They both halted, Ash's hand flying to his forehead to continue to shield himself from Gary's discomforting stare. As easy as it was, Ash knew he couldn't let Gary speak first. He couldn't allow any opportunity for Gary to upset him before he even had a chance to state his claim. The pressure coerced him to proceed.

"Just," he said restlessly, "l-let me say something first, okay? Let me talk and then...and then you can...say what you have to say. Okay?"

Gary perked intriguingly at this. "Okay..."

Ash took his hand away from his face. "Um...you're right. It—it is about yesterday, but...it's about everything else, too. It's about what's been going on between us—all the fighting, an-and the rivalry, and how we're always at each other's throats. And what happened yesterday was...the worst of it all..."

"But I was—"

"No, please let me talk!" Ash interrupted him forcibly. "Please...I just—I need to say one thing, and...and then I'm done..."

Gary was inert, waiting in suspense. Ash paused. "I don't want to do it anymore."

He tilted his head. "You mean be rivals?"

Though that was only part of it, Ash nodded, because it was one of the underlying purposes of the visit.

But what Gary said next, so sincerely, so ruefully, shocked Ash. "Neither do I."

Ash instinctively opened his mouth to continue, but all that came out was a flabbergasted, "Huh?"

Shrugging, Gary fixed a moderate smile on his face. "I don't want be rivals anymore, either, Ash."

If it were at all possible, Ash became even more flustered by this sudden change of attitude on Gary's part. Never before did he imagine those words coming out of Gary's mouth, and at this moment in particular.

"Y-you don't?"

"Nah," Gary answered, his smile growing. "I mean, it was fun at first, but...after what's been going on lately, it's just been getting nasty, and...it's not fun anymore." Ash gaped at him as he chuckled. "I wanted it to be some sort of friendly competition, but now it's just...bad." He shrugged. "Not the way I wanted it to be."

Now what did he say to that? Ash simply continued to stand there, gawk-eyed, taking into Gary's casual demeanor and wondering how his rival could easily mistaken this neat brush-off for a heart-felt make-up session. He wouldn't allow that—would he?

Clearing his throat, he decided quickly that he couldn't. No, it was too far gone now. "No, Gary, um, listen... It's not just that. I—I don't want to be rivals anymore, but...I think that's just...part of what I don't want anymore."

Gary was confused. "I don't know what you mean..."

"I mean I don't...want to be friends, either."

At first, Gary's facial expression didn't change, but Ash knew his announcement was certainly a blunt and effective one. Sure enough, Gary's eyes fell, flickering thoughtfully. Ash's heart was racing, and his uneasiness prompted him to continue.

"I—I, uh, I just think it's for the best," he elaborated, too timorous to look at Gary as he spoke. "We haven't been getting along, and there's too much stuff that happened that...just makes me not want to bother anymore."

Gradually, Gary took it in and accepted it with slow nods of his head. "So..." he started, "you want us to be strangers."

Did he want that? Yes—he did. "Yeah," he replied quietly.

"You want us to be strangers," Gary restated, and Ash finally looked up at him. "Two guys who just so happen to be going for the same thing, who just so happen to live in the same town, on the same street, but...don't know each other?"

"...Yeah."

Ash couldn't really tell what Gary was thinking in the silence that followed. He watched his former friend take on another contemplative expression, one that, to his wariness, did not look very accepting.

"Why?" Ash asked anxiously. "That's...not what you want?"

For a moment, it looked as though Gary didn't know quite how to answer this, which made Ash hold his breath.

"Well, I have to admit," he finally said, "this isn't what I was expecting."

Ash arched an eye. "You mean...you thought I wanted to make up with you?" he questioned with almost a hint of appall in his voice.

Surprisingly, Gary let out a laugh. "Well, if I knew that this was what it was going to be about, why did I even bother meeting you at the door?"

"I...dunno," he replied, extremely puzzled. He quickly took hold of himself as best as possible. "Anyway, no matter what you thought, I didn't do this to make up with you," he said firmly. "I just think that—that it's best if we go our separate ways. For good."

"Sure, I get it," Gary shrugged. He thought for another second. "Only..."

"Only what...?"

"Only it's not gonna be easy," he finished honestly.

His brow furrowing, Ash asked, "What do you mean?" After all that chaos his stormy rivalry with Gary had created, Ash couldn't think of anything more easy to do. Just being there and going through this ordeal was making him edgy to leave.

"Think about it," Gary replied. "You, me, pretending that we don't even know each other? Come on, Ash, as much as we would try to do that, it's not gonna work. Sure, we could pass each other along the road and not look at each other or say anything and pretend we don't know who we are, but we still will know. We're never going to be real strangers. We live so close to each other, and—hey, what if we battle each other at the Johto League?" He laughed again, but Ash did not find the humor.

"We can try," Gary concluded, his tone denoting that he really would make the attempt, "but you know it isn't gonna work."

Ash didn't reply. Up to this point, he hadn't really thought extensively on what the disunion would entail, and all of a sudden, Gary had a good point, one that made everything Ash was solidly focused on hazy.

"But if that's what you want," said Gary, looking indifferently aside, "then...I can understand."

The stillness that followed was thick with awkwardness. Ash fidgeted on his feet. He didn't want to be there any longer. But he didn't want to leave, either. Though he had no idea what to say next, or what was supposed to happen next, the whole thing seemed heavily unresolved.

"So...I guess this is the last time we'll be talking to one another then, huh?" Gary suddenly broke the stillness.

The amount of ruefulness startled Ash. What was even more startling was how the simple statement almost brought the same feeling to him instantly. "Guess so," he mumbled, looking down at his feet.

"Might as well make the most of it. Right?"

Ash regarded him oddly. Make the most of it?

"Just for the record," Gary continued slowly, "like I said...I never wanted it to get this rough."

"But it did," Ash said, all but regretfully.

"I know," he replied in the same tone. "And I'm sorry about that."

Hearing the solemn, inaudible apology made Ash's fists tighten. Though inwardly he reached out and vengefully snatched it, his mouth spoke differently. "It...it's not all your fault." Where did that come from?

"Yes it is. I was the one who started the whole rivalry. I started this whole thing, and...and what happened yesterday at the reception was my fault, too. That whole mess—it... You're right, Ash. You're right. I guess it's just...impossible between us now. And it's all because of me."

All because of you, echoed in Ash's brain. He didn't deny that it was mainly true. But there was that tiny bit of falseness in it, also—well, perhaps more than tiny, one that nagged at Ash as it seemed imminent that he was to respond next. Once again, however, Gary beat him to it.

"Anyway, I...I'm sorry if I got you in trouble yesterday."

You should— Ash interrupted his own dishonest thought. But he shrugged one shoulder. "It—it's all right," he replied distantly.

"I really felt bad, ya know? I know how tough your dad is, and when I saw how mad he looked...I felt bad because that battle was all my idea. It was my idea, and he probably thought it was yours, huh?"

The nagging was too much for Ash now. The nagging, prodding, miserable feeling of guilt. What he admitted to Misty the night before was dancing on the tip of his tongue.

"Just goes to show," Gary closed disgustedly, "that everything always gets rougher than I want it to. I never wanted that to happen yesterday. The rampage through the party."

Finally, Ash cleared his throat. He couldn't hold it in any longer. "It wouldn't've happened anyway if I hadn't accepted your challenge." It came out so fast, so garbled, that Gary barely caught it.

"No," he disagreed. "I was stupid to even think of it. A pokémon battle at a party like that—at your parents' party!" He shook his head at his own absurdity.

"You wouldn't have thought about it if I hadn't bothered you," Ash said, this time more clearly. His own level of indignity was rising, making it easier to admit this. "I had no right to tell you to leave the party."

"Well, I shouldn't've bothered you," Gary disputed. "After the things I said to you, and knowing that you were still pissed off about it, I shouldn't've even said hello."

It seemed like so long ago that Gary had spoken his callous words, yet Ash could still remember them distinctly. Whether Gary meant them or not, they welded themselves immovably in his mind.

You shouldn't have, Ash agreed bitterly. He stopped himself from expressing that thought, though; he couldn't, wouldn't. He'd made a promise.

"Still...I—I had no right to tell you to leave."

"Well," Gary sighed. "I did."

"Why?" Ash asked gruffly. Curious, he wanted to hear Gary's reason. Unless he was made to, Ash couldn't picture the Gary he knew letting his pride be so easily wounded.

Gary shrugged, and to Ash's surprise, gave him a quirky grin. "Because I lost."

Ash's head jerked back. "What?"

"We both lost." Noting Ash's look, he laughed. "Control of our pokémon," he added.

Blinking a number of times, Ash said, "Oh."

Stuffing his hands in his pockets, Gary threw a glance down the road. "I don't get it. I mean, I've only had Raichu for a month, but—but it always listened to me during training. It never did anything like that before."

"Yeah, tell me about it," Ash replied readily. "Pikachu never did th—"

The awareness of what he was doing suddenly took him by surprise. He didn't want to converse—he wasn't supposed to. Ash could feel himself cramp with panic. Still, the hanging of an unfinished sentence was too heavy, and rather with difficulty, he continued.

"Pikachu never did that before, either."

Gary snorted. "That was bad."

"...It was."

"And it got worse."

Did it ever, Ash thought. But this time he didn't reply. He didn't want discussion with Gary now, especially over the event that had so greatly sealed the breaking point of their enmity. Instead, he needed a way out. He needed to end this. Quickly.

But Gary never gave him the chance.

"Yeah, so I went home. Didn't feel like hanging around much anyway after that. That whole thing just...really knocked me for a loop." He kicked at the ground with his feet, sending some loose pebbles barreling down the road. "So how was the rest of the party?"

Luckily, Gary was too occupied to notice the bizarre side-long glance Ash gave him. What does he think this is? Ash thought. If Gary had given him this recent proposal, he wouldn't attempt to push such breezy chit-chat. What was he trying to do?

"It was all right," he answered dryly, though. Just a few more minutes, just a few more minutes, he chanted, reassuring himself.

"Just all right?"

"It...was fun."

"Good," Gary cleared his throat. "Actually, I was thinking about coming back for the meal, but I thought that'd be kinda rude. But then May came back to the house half-way through with a plate of that pineapple chicken. That was so good; did your mom make that?"

"Well, her place did." Ash's voice was beginning to break from its muffled state. "I-it's what my dad wanted."

"It was awesome," declared Gary with a smile. "Of course, Ma'd sent May to try to get me to come back, but I wasn't going to. Besides, by then I was actually enjoying being alone in the house without people hounding me to do this and do that." He laughed.

Ash just acknowledged it with a nod, wondering when this was going to end.

"Only have to put up with that for another month, though. I'm dying to go back out on my journey, but Mom convinced me to stay till my birthday," he rolled his eyes.

Birthday, Ash thought. Guess I won't be needing to get him something this year...

"She's good at that. But she keeps dropping hints here and there about what they're giving me. I think it's a cell phone." He brightened with a giddy smile, which Ash shakily tried to imitate to at least show some sort of interest. It wasn't that convincing. He couldn't get it: was this chatter-box the same person he had just basically told off?

"And besides, I think my grandpa's giving me a pokémon. He gave me one last year, so I don't see why he wouldn't do it again. And I don't wanna leave without that now, do I?"

Like you need another pokémon, Ash felt compelled to snort. Was Gary ever going to shut up so he could leave?

"So how much longer are you gonna hang around in Pallet?"

Ash did everything he could to contain his urge to glare. Don't you get it? he thought. I don't want to talk to you!

But he regarded the question, shrugging. "I dunno. Not—not much longer, I guess. I was hanging around for the wedding."

Gary nodded. "Yeah. That was so cool. You know, for your parents. And you, too. Get a cool party and good food and all. Coulda gone for more of that chicken," he chuckled. "Or a piece of cake. I figured your mom made the cake, too. She makes great cakes." He paused. "I'm gonna miss her cakes, you know? Especially the—what was it? She made it for us that one time when I slept over; I forgot what it was, but do you remember that?"

Ash looked up quizzically. "Remember?"

"Yeah," Gary smiled. "The first time I ever slept over."

Slept over...

"There were no snacks in the house, and your mom felt bad, so she baked us a cake with—I dunno, there was a spice in it, or something. What was that again?"

For a second, Ash face wrinkled with confusion, until it dawned on him. "Oh!" he replied, perking. "Mace! It had mace in it."

Gary pointed a finger at him exuberantly. "That's it! Remember your dad came in and asked if she was making 'the killer cake'?"

It was impossible for Ash not to smile, much less laugh. The memory came racing back, accompanied by the sudden watering of his mouth at the thought of his mother's unique, delicious mace cake. "Yeah...yeah, I do remember that."

"Your mom didn't make that cake for the wedding, did she?"

"Oh...no." His laughter died down.

"Good. Then I would've really been upset," he breathed, wiping his brow facetiously.

Ash's mind continued to drift inadvertently to thoughts of their sleepovers—the good ones, not their latest fruitless attempt. He quickly tried to shake the memories away. No, no memories, no memories, he chided himself. Memories aren't good. Shut up, Gary, shut up!

But alas, Gary did not shut up. Instead, as if he was striving to find more things to talk about, he said, "I'm sure you had a good time with Misty for the rest of the party."

At the sound of her name, Ash's attention was seized sharply.

"So...you and Misty...you're really...?" Gary gave him a sly smile, a gesture nudging Ash for the answer.

"Um—um, yeah," Ash smiled timidly.

"That's great, man. She's a pretty girl."

The smile suddenly grew with ease. "She is."

Gary took an uncomfortable breath. "Look, I, uh...I didn't mean what I said about her at the party. You know, why you two—"

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Ash interrupted. He didn't want to think about that right now, but it was too late. The sleepover memories were swiftly replaced.

"I guess...I guess I was just a little surprised, and—and caught up in the moment of fighting. I'm sorry."

Ash took in Gary's very serious, very remorseful face; the apology was real. Apologies, apologies. He wasn't surprised he was receiving them, but he sure as hell was surprised at how they were presently making him feel. Aside from the annoyance of his headache posing its second attack.

"It's okay," he whispered listlessly.

Gary accepted the pardon with a restored smile. Yet another silence fell between them.

Apologies and silence. Silence and apologies. Ash didn't know if he could take much more of it. Of course he welcomed the apologies, they were certainly not difficult to hear; but his own indifference in accepting them were peculiarly unsettling. The silence was even more cruel: it made Ash's mind stray. It was something he hardly needed at this point. All it was doing now was making him feel bad about himself, and making him remember things that were not helpful in making this final good-bye any easier.

He was more than ready to leave, but not just because he couldn't stand being in Gary's company any longer. The longer the meeting went on, the more chances Gary would have to drudge up some other remarks to test Ash's resolution. He wanted to wrap it up quickly and uneventfully and go home, where his friends were waiting anxiously for him.

And it was like Gary read his mind. "Well, I guess Misty is waiting for you," he said.

Ash inhaled deeply. "Yeah."

Gary let out a laugh. "You do realize how cool that is, right? Look at you, twelve-year-old guy and you already got a girl to come home to."

"Heh, yeah, that is pretty cool," Ash admitted with a smile.

"So." Gary hesitated before extending his hand toward Ash. "Guess this is it, huh?"

Staring down at Gary's hand, Ash felt his innards tighten. This is it. "Guess so," he replied. He took Gary's hand for a moment, but there was no shake.

"Gonna miss ya, Ash," Gary said, smiling sadly.

Gonna mis— Ash couldn't believe how freely that almost came out. But it hadn't. Grounding his teeth, he simply nodded, and began to walk backwards and away from Gary—for the last time.

Gary remained as he was, looking unmotivated to move. He was anything but content, but trying to come to terms with this as tolerably as he could. Ash could see this, and it wasn't helping. Why couldn't Gary be so aloof like he normally was? Why did he have to act differently now? The way he appeared, it was almost as if he didn't want Ash to leave, like he was still expecting something else, like—

"Hey, Ash?" Like he still had one last thing to say.

Ash halted, his heart speeding up again. What now...? he silently wondered.

"Just—before you go, and since this is probably the last time I'm ever gonna talk to you..." He bit his lip, and Ash became attentive. "I just wanted to let you know I'm sorry. About everything. I know I've said I'm sorry a million times, but...I mean it. I'm sorry that—I'm sorry about yesterday, and about the sleepover and accusing you of that stuff, and—an-and provoking you, and... And I'm sorry about what I said to you that day—in your backyard. You know, about your parents." He shrugged helplessly. "That was so wrong of me to say that stuff to you. And it was false, and I'm sorry; it—it was just stuff I heard that I didn't understand. Or that I shouldn't've mentioned to you. I mean...heh, what can I say? I take after my mom. I love gossip. Guess...I just have a bad habit of telling it to the people it's about."

"Yeah...I'd work on that..." Ash cleared his throat, looking away at the mountains. Another apology, another uneasy clench in his gut.

"Yeah," Gary agreed, smiling shyly. "Anyway, I...I—I don't know what got into me. It's like—like this whole rivalry just...totally screwed up everything with me. Th-the seeing who would get the most badges first, or who would do better in the Pokémon League, or get more pokémon—that's what this rivalry was supposed to be—if anything.

"It wasn't supposed to be like this, Ash. I know it looks like I wanted it to be, but it's not. I didn't want it to start this nasty fight between us. I like competing with you, but for fun. Honestly." His voice grew silent, but it was not forced. Ash's ears pricked further.

"I don't want to fight with you. And I realized that it's my fault, that I started it; I do. I guess...I guess it just all got to my head. I always let things get to my head," he grit his teeth shamefully. "I don't know what's gotten into me lately. But I just want you to know, Ash...I'm sorry."

Ash still had his eyes fixed on the mountains. He was hanging on Gary's every word—more than he wished. Stop now, he told Gary in his mind. Stop before you make me feel any more bad about doing this.

"I'd give anything—really—to go back and change everything," Gary defiantly went on, though. "Have things back to normal again. You know, before we trained. But...I know it's not gonna happen. I don't blame you for not wanting to know me anymore. I'm a horrible person, so I understand. I just wanted you to know that...that I wished it hadn't happened this way."

Ash's attention was diverted from the landscape. Horrible person?

And suddenly, Gary was moving past him. He was done. The roles were at once reversed as Gary was the one leaving, heading home.

Ash watched him go, his last drawn-out amends floating around in his head. Unable to completely grasp it, Gary's ardent apology and confession were just so...unGary-like. He hadn't expected that at all whatsoever, and as Gary advanced further and further away from him, Ash saw someone different than the boy he'd been fighting with for nearly two years.

"Oh, and Ash?" About fifteen feet away, Gary stopped and looked back. Wrenched from his thoughts, Ash became alert again. Gary gave him a weak smile. "Just to let you know: If ever you change your mind, you know where to find me."

Change my mind? Ash wondered. Why...would I want to do that...?

"See ya, Ash." Giving one more final wave, Gary continued down the hot, wavering road.

See ya, Gary.

He didn't know what he was thinking. He was crazy to think it, wasn't he? Ash felt there was no other reason for his thoughts. A feasible one, at least. But as Gary's apology, very obviously but not so blatantly frank, entrenched itself deeper in Ash's mind, there was no denying the sudden onrush of ambivalent feelings on his part. As much as he wanted Gary to keep walking, something wanted him back as well. Something within him wouldn't let him simply dismiss Gary's feelings as unimportant.

What he did next he found nothing short of surreal. It was as if he had no other choice, that the nagging he had experienced earlier had returned, but for a different purpose, edging him and prodding him and forcing the word right to his lips.

"G-gary?" Oh man, what am I doing?

Pausing in midstride, Gary gradually turned around at the call of his name.

Ash swallowed heavily, nearly gulped. "I, uh..." Gary looked sharp. The pressure made Ash's entire body quiver, wondering if what he was about to say next was one of the wisest moves of his young life.

"I...I suppose we could...give it one more shot," he finished. And with that simple statement, the future suddenly became a wide-open blur of possibilities.

The look on Gary's face was not surprising. Within an instant, it brightened to one of pleasant shock.

"Gee," he commented, "that was pretty quick."

Ash flushed with discomfiture. "Well..."

"I thought I'd at least make it to my house before you changed your mind," chuckled Gary lightly.

For a moment, Ash found Gary's flippant mood to be somewhat startling, mistrustful. Had he been...expecting Ash's change of heart so rapidly as a result of his sham apology? But what was said next solidly—and thankfully—convinced Ash that was not true.

"Are you sure that's what you want?" Gary asked. "I'm not forcing you to make a decision you don't want to, Ash."

"No. No, it's..." Ash shrugged admittingly. "It's that I don't know what to do that I'm doing this. If that makes any sense."

"Sorta does."

"I—" Stopping, Ash breathed deeply. "I don't think you're a horrible person, Gary. You haven't been the nicest one to me, but...I—I haven't been the nicest one to you, either. A lot of the stuff you did—and that I did—was my fault, too. I mean, a-at that sleepover, when you tried to apologize to me and I didn't accept it—I felt bad about that. Just like all the times I felt bad after meeting up with you somewhere and having fights with you over dumb stuff that I realize, when I look back on it, you didn't really start."

Gary nodded in comprehension.

Ash shrugged again. "It wasn't easy for me to come over here to do this. I felt ten times more guilty about what I did in all of this, but...I had no other idea how to fix it."

He still couldn't believe what was coming out of his mouth, but there was no doubt that he was beginning to feel considerably better. He basked in this sensation, despite the fact he still wasn't sure if what he was doing was right.

"Well, I'm willing to fix it," Gary smiled softly. "What do you think we should do?"

What did he want to do? Ash, in all honesty, had no idea, and this unpreparedness was clear in his outwardly ignorant expression.

"Well, I'll tell you what I'll do," Gary said, making his way back towards Ash. "I feel kind of embarrassed saying this, but...I'll stop tormenting you. Heh, sounds good, doesn't it?"

"Sounds fine," Ash managed a small smile. Sounds...so not like you, he almost laughed. After all, Gary's harassing didn't begin with the rivalry. But his high hopes at that moment eagerly embraced the promise.

"And," Ash added, knowing it was his turn to pledge his part, "well, I'll try not to be so stubborn about putting stuff that happened between us behind me."

"I'll try to do the same with our rivalry," Gary agreed.

"It's not going to be easy," Ash mumbled, smiling embarrassingly as he quoted Gary's former dispute.

Laughing, Gary nodded. "Tell me about it! After all this, I'm still standing here wanting to compare how many badges we have!"

"Two," informed Ash willingly but meekly.

"Four."

Ash smacked his forehead, but his smile was still there, weary. "Go ahead."

"Go ahead and do what? Two badges is awesome!" Gary exclaimed.

Arching an eye at him, Ash snorted humorously. "You're kidding, right? You're not gonna make fun of me?"

"Why would I?" Gary shrugged. "Now if you said you had one, or none, well then maybe..."

"None!? I've been traveling for two months! How could I have none?"

"Exactly," replied Gary, giving a hearty slap to Ash's shoulder. "You're doin' all right. I have no reason to make fun of ya."

Well, that was certainly a switch. Ash was amazed. His test, in just the first few minutes of their civilized talk, had proven successful. But he still doubted how long this would last, or if it would last at all. He stuck by his belief in any case: if they were going to try to rekindle their friendship, it wasn't all going to happen in one shot.

"So," he said, "I guess then...we're just going to have to play this all as it comes, huh?"

Gary tilted his head. "I guess. Unless you have something in mind that we can do."

Ash was willing to try it, but he wasn't sure if he was ready just yet. Standing there in the blazing sun, dazed and suffering from his headache, he still wasn't sure if it was all happening. He needed time to think.

"I don't have any ideas right now," he responded. And suddenly, like a flash, a thought sprang to his head. "Unless..."

"Yeah?"

Ash glanced down the road in the direction of his house. Incidentally, he began walking in that direction, and Gary followed. "Um...my parents are coming home on Thursday night. Around like seven o'clock. We're gonna be cooking a big dinner for them, and we'll have a lot of food, so...I dunno, you want to come?"

"To your house? For dinner?" Gary's tone was stunned, and Ash immediately realized what an odd suggestion it was. But he couldn't think of anything better at the moment.

"Yeah, sure," Ash shrugged. He made a silly grin. "I was actually planning on asking Brock if I could make the dinner. I've been wanting to give it a shot."

Gary almost burst out laughing. "Are you trying to get me to come and convince me not to?"

"What?" Ash laughed confusingly.

Slumping, Gary groaned amusingly. "Oh, come on, Ash! Remember the one time you were over my house and you and I decided to try to make milkshakes? While my mom was outside?"

At the reminder of the incident, Ash's eyes flared and he covered his grinning mouth with his hand.

"Yeah, exactly," Gary said. "My mom was finding ice cream all over the kitchen for a week afterwards."

"Hey, that wasn't completely my fault! You didn't check to see if the lid was on tight enough, either!" Ash defended himself, referring to that of the blender.

"Yeah. Which was exactly my mom's reason when I tried to blame it on you," Gary smirked. Ash rolled his eyes. "So is that what you're gonna pull again?"

"Hopefully not."

"All right, then I suppose I'll come," Gary gave in. "You want me to bring wine or something?" he joked.

Ash shook his head and laughed. "We have enough, thanks."

Gary nodded, taking on a pensive look. "So if we get through this, then I guess that means we're good?"

"I'm crazy enough to think so," Ash admitted. "If I do my part, and you do yours."

"I'll do my part," Gary avowed with a hand over his chest. Now in front of Gary's house once again, they stopped. "Whaddah ya say, then?" At this, he extended his shaking hand once again. "Friendly rivalry?"

Sounded better than nothing, Ash figured. He chortled. "Whatever that means," he settled, this time sharing a strong handshake with Gary.

"Means we're allowed to brag all we want, but we can't put the other down," he explained.

"I think I can handle that," Ash winked.

"Same here. Easily."

Ash grinned, and there was another moment of silence, though this one lacked the untimely anxiety of before. The two boys breathed affably as they looked off randomly at the surroundings, letting the effect of their tryst soak in. Ash's heart was gradually beginning to slow down, but it was beating more out of excitement than worry now.

"Well, I guess I'll really let you get home to Misty now," Gary suddenly announced. "I'll see you Thursday night, Ash. Or maybe even sooner."

Ash nodded once. "Maybe. I'll...I'll give you a call." Call? When was the last time I called Gary...? He was still in wonder that he uttered such a statement to Gary alone.

"You got it," Gary replied, starting up the walk to his house and waving. "See ya, Ash."

"Bye," Ash returned the farewell, waving as well.

He stood for a brief time after Gary went into his house, staring at the front door, almost as if in a stupor.

Did that just really happen? he asked himself. Did he just really make amends with his arch-rival, or was it just some wacky hallucination?

Whatever it was, though, Ash realized as he languidly turned on his heels and started the walk home, it felt eerily satisfying. Seconds later was when it finally hit him.


As Ash made his way home, a tiny, disbelieving smile soon etched into his sweat-glazed face, the world suddenly became lighter. The birds finally chirped happily in the dense heat as they soared above his head like jets, and the crickets' buzz drilled his ears with a sense of jubilance, cheering for him. There was a lively spring in his step, his calves tightening and cramping as the quest to get home at once became a hurry. His headache was no longer a thing of concern. The news bounded in his brain, danced on his tongue, eager to be spread triumphantly. Just the looks on Misty and Brock's faces alone made the short trip back to his house seem like an excursion.

Approaching his house, Ash's restless walk swiftly became a dash. He was almost compelled to jump into the air and whoop, the verve of his excitement firing sharp surges through every limb of his body. Slowing to a trot as he reached the front gate, he made a swooping turn into the yard, leaped to the patio, and rapped tumultuously on the door.

Shivers ran up his spine as he watched Misty's shadowed image emerge from the kitchen and walk up to the door, Brock and Pikachu following right behind. With all his might, he tried to control his silly grin, but it was futile.

As she slid the door open and he waltzed in, lifting his head to enhance his cheeky smirk, her face became dubious. Brock looked just as leery, neither of them knowing what to make of Ash's spunky entrance. The smile he displayed, easily comparable to the one during his drunken escapade the night before, was what really baffled them.

Misty turned to Brock. "Okay, he's smiling. What do you think that means?" she asked, sounding very distrustful.

Brock stroked his chin as Ash posed for him happily. "Well..." he speculated, "it could mean one of two things. Either that stupid grin he's giving us is saying, 'Guess what, guys! All went well!'... Orrrrr, it could possibly mean, 'Hey guys, Gary's knocked out on his front lawn, and look, I don't have a scratch on me!'"

Ash couldn't keep his laughter in at that. Misty had to smile as well, but she still feared the reason.

"All right, Ash, which one is it?" she demanded.

"The second one, of course!" He pumped a fist in the air gleefully, as if it were terrific news.

"Ash!" Misty exclaimed, her smile vanishing promptly. "You don't mean that!"

"He doesn't mean that," Brock said.

Ash chuckled. "Of course I don't mean it," he sang calmly, watching Misty slump in relief. "I'm kidding. You really believed that?"

Misty huffed. "Yeah, I believed it! I don't know what to expect when you meet up with Gary anymore! You could've killed him for all we know!"

"Well, I didn't now, did I?" he smirked impudently.

Brock was eyeing him knowingly. "Gary wasn't home, was he?"

Ash slapped his forehead. "Yes, he was home! And I saw him. And we didn't kill each other."

"So...he slammed the door in your face, then," Brock assumed again, and Misty gave him a pat on the shoulder, nodding in agreement.

"Either that, or he saw him through the window!" she laughed.

While the two of them snickered away, Ash watched patiently, his arms folded and lips pursed. Wait till they hear it, he thought, the delay in spreading his news making it all the more spine tingling. This is gonna be so great!

"Fine, say what you want," he cut in. "But for your information, I did see him, and I talked to him."

Their giggling dissipated, and Misty gave a great sigh.

"So what happened, then?" she asked.

Ash went to answer, but she quickly interrupted, "Wait! Answer one question first!"

"Misty!" Brock smacked his thighs in frustration. "We're never gonna find out what happened if you don't let him talk!"

"Shush," she gave him a shove, then focused an investigative glance on her still grinning boyfriend. "Did you fight?"

Rolling his eyes, Ash sighed. "Does it look like I fought?" He held out his hands for them to note the fact they were neither bruised nor swollen, as if that was convincing enough.

"Well, you are very sweaty," Misty observed.

"That's 'cause it's like a thousands degrees outside!" retorted Ash, gesturing towards the front yard.

"His clothes aren't messed up," Brock suddenly revealed. He shook his head. "He hasn't been fighting."

Misty saw and nodded, pleased, while Ash arching his shoulders proudly. In fact, he liked this game; it was more fun than just declaring what had happened. But there was no way either of them would guess that Gary would be their special guest Thursday night through twenty questions. Ash shivered with anticipation.

"Okay, Ash," Misty continued. "So this whole time you've been talking to him?"

"Yup."

"I can't believe that. There was yelling," she presumed.

"Nope," Ash happily corrected her. "There was no yelling."

"There was just talking?"

Ash glanced at the ceiling, wondering if that was the accurate term. "Yeah," he concurred. "Talking."

"Nasty talking?" Brock took a stab at the grilling.

Ash shook his head.

"Oh my God. So..." Misty decided to go to the final question—or questions, rather. "What's your status with him? You settled everything? You don't exist to each other anymore?"

Ash bit his tongue to keep his smile from growing too large. He didn't want to spoil it any more than it needed to be, making the engaging interrogation last as long as possible. "No, we exist to each other. More, actually."

"More?" the two of them choked in surprise.

"You didn't make up with him!" Misty cried breathlessly, already unable to believe the answer before hearing it.

Ash gazed into their anticipative faces, loving every second of it. "Not only did I make up with Gary," he said slowly and clearly, "but we decided to try to work things out, aaaand...I invited him for dinner on Thursday."

Misty and Brock's jaws promptly fell, and Ash started guffawing.

"Get out of here!" Misty practically screeched, her smile returning, exhilarated and wide.

"This is a joke!" Brock insisted.

"No joke!" Ash exulted boisterously. "I'm really serious!"

"Dinner?" gasped Misty. "You invited him for dinner?"

"Sure," Ash shrugged. "Isn't that what friends do?"

"You invited him for dinner!?" Brock repeated Misty's exclamation.

"Yes!" Ash stomped his foot giddily. He expected them to ask again, because he knew they had a hard time accepting it, as he still did himself, but they didn't.

"Ash, I...I..." Misty gaped at him, shaking her head incredulously. "You're lying. You have to be!" Her voice cracked at that, as if the amazement drained it of strength.

Lying! As if he could possibly fake something like this so fantastically! Ash took a second to stare into her lucid blue eyes, round as saucers, glittering like crystal in the sunshine. "Why would I lie to you?" he asked, shrugging. "I love you."

Stunned at the curt but completely sincere remark, Misty blinked a few times. "Really?" A small smile twitched on her lips.

Ash gave her a look, then shrugged again. "Of course!"

Unlike Ash's news about Gary, Misty didn't need any time to make sense of that. In a move that caught Ash off guard, she leapt at him and threw her arms around his neck with enough force to make him stagger backwards. He quickly caught his balance, albeit clumsily, as he returned the embrace.

"I'm so proud of you! I can't believe you did this," Misty said, bringing her nose to affectionately touch his. A brisk but pleasant shiver coursed its way through his body, and, his cheeks tinting just a bit, he couldn't resist the urge to kiss her. Not only was it the first time he had ever initiated a kiss between them, but it was also the first time he had done so in the presence of other eyes. He felt so good he couldn't be bothered with the particulars of his former fright. Misty certainly had no qualms about it, either.

The kiss was abruptly interrupted, however, as they suddenly heard a vexed, "Hmmph!" This, of course, coming from Brock. They turned to see him cross his arms and toss his head, offended.

"What's wrong with you?" Ash chuckled.

"Ohhhhhh, that's right," Misty remembered. "I made Brock my new boyfriend while you were gone."

"What!?"

She grinned, prancing over to the facetiously pouting Brock and taking his arm. "Well, when you left, I figured that if Gary didn't kill you, your folks would after you caused another disaster. Then what would I do? I can't go on alone in life!"

Ash dumped his head in his hand, then looked up with a pained expression. "You really thought I was going to cause another disaster?" Misty narrowed her eyes, irked by his ignorance.

Brock glanced wistfully out the patio door. "Wow. Thirty minutes, and it's already over. It went by so fast!"

"Oh, Brock, come on," Misty laughed, slapping his shoulder. "Thirty minutes is pretty good for you! You should be thrilled!"

Brock pretended to cry. Misty shared an amused look with Ash, who had now caught on to the joke, then turned to continue the satire.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better," she consoled, "it was one of the happiest half-hours of my life."

"My first relationship," Brock feigned sniffling. "And not even one kiss!"

Misty rolled her eyes. "Brock, please don't tell me you're gonna make me kiss you now."

Brock suddenly brightened. "Really? You will?"

"No."

"Oh," he sagged in disappointment. Ash snorted as Brock jut his lower lip out dramatically at Misty, who sighed at his nonsense. Exasperatedly, but with a smirk, she turned to Ash.

"May I?"

"Sure!" he replied, a little too easily.

"Ash! That's not what you're supposed to say!" Misty exclaimed.

Reeling back, Ash smiled innocently. "Oops?"

She threw her hands in the air. "Yeah, oops. Aren't I lucky to have the most jealous boyfriend in the world!" Nevertheless, she gave Brock a coy smile, and planted a quick but sound kiss on his cheek.

"There," she said. Brock's blush came effortlessly, and Misty affably tsk-tsked at the frivolousness while giving him a squeezing hug.

Ash frowned. "I'm jealous," he grumbled.

"Oh, you are not!" Misty's eyes flared with silly aggravation.

Ash shrugged. "Isn't that what you wanted?" he asked capriciously.

"Ugggh..." she moaned, shaking her head.

"Ooooh, lovers' spat!" Brock suddenly snapped out of his humility, bounding for the couch. He collapsed into it. "This calls for a make-up kiss! Go on, go back to kissing," he gestured them on encouragingly, proceeding to get comfortable. "Don't mind me."

Misty shot him a playfully reproachful look. "That's not just for your enjoyment, Brock!" She turned to Ash, though, and her smile grew. "But I'm so proud of what he did, I think I might have to do that!"

Ash blushed fiercely, and scratched the back of his head. "I wouldn't mind it," he admitted.

Misty skipped over to him and grabbed him in another hug, which Ash returned elatedly. Before they even had a chance to kiss, however, Brock sprang from the couch and joined in the group hug quite energetically, nearly toppling the three over. Ash and Misty both yelped from the impact—Misty more so as she was pinched between the two boys—but soon they were laughing dizzily, stumbling around in a tight but sloppy embrace.

Misty had to catch her breath when they finally separated. "Hey," she said, realizing something as she pushed strands of stray hair out of her face. "You invited Gary for Thursday night? But that's when your parents are coming home, Ash!"

"I know! That's what's going to be so great about it, Misty! When they walk in and see Gary here and that I'm not fighting with him, and then see how clean the house is and how good we took care of everything, it'll really prove that they can trust me, and know I can be mature!" he said cheerfully.

"That is, if you really do go through with all the cleaning you're promising to do," Brock commented in a parental-like tone.

"Yeah," Misty snickered, delighting in Ash's suddenly insulted look. "I don't think I'll really believe it until I see a vacuum."

"Come to think of it, Ash, do you even know where your mom keeps the vacuum?" Brock taunted.

"I bet he doesn't even know where she keeps the dusting rags!" hooted Misty.

Ash narrowed his eyes at them through a side-long glance. "I choose to ignore those completely unfair accusations," he crossed his arms. But unable to remain ticked off, even in the whimsical sense, he perked up. "By the way, I was thinking: What if I cooked dinner Thursday night? Wouldn't that be cool?" At once, Misty and Brock gave him a dumbfounded look before bursting out laughing.

Ash's face puffed irately. "What's so funny?"

Misty was starting to turn red in the face from all the ruckus. "I can't believe you actually just said that."

"What?" shrugged Ash. Then, gathering the theme of their harassing, he understood and scoffed. "Oh. Come on, you won't let me cook? I can do it, you know!"

"Have you ever even used the stove?" gibed Misty.

"Sure I have!"

"What, to boil tea?" she retorted. Brock found that particularly comical, almost doubling over.

"Oh, shut up," Ash bristled, balling his fists determinedly. "I can do it! We're making the big roast beef, right? I've watched Mom cook that a million times. How hard can it be?"

Brock wiped tears from his eyes. "Well, for you..." he began, but seeing Ash's pained, beseeching look, he relented with a smile. "All right, fine. You can cook, but don't think I'm not going to be standing over you the whole time. All Gary has to do is make fun of the way you're stirring something, and there goes the kitchen."

"Yeah, you and Gary in the same kitchen, Ash, and you in control of the stove—doesn't go well together," Misty said. "All I can see coming from this is a great big ka-boom."

"Ash doesn't need Gary in the kitchen to make it go ka-boom," Brock pointed out.

"There won't be a ka-boom," Ash sighed good-naturedly. "Everything'll be great! Ooh, I can't wait—I wish they were coming home today!"

"Well, I don't!" Brock said. "Especially if you want this place cleaned up from top to bottom. We'd actually better get started so we don't have to do it all Wednesday night."

"Right," Ash agreed. "And, just to prove you guys wrong, I can tell you that Mom keeps the vacuum in the upstairs closet," he added saucily.

Misty shook her head in amazement. "I can't believe it. He makes up with Gary and wants to clean the house in the same day. I think it's like...a sign of the apocalypse or something."

"It better not be!" exclaimed Ash. "I still have the Johto League to compete in!"

"Yeah, no kidding," Brock flouted. "And I have to get a relationship that lasts longer than half-an-hour!"

"Ash's goal is much more attainable," Misty teased.

Brock gave her a look. "You're mean."

"I know," she grinned, giving his arm a friendly punch. She then spun around to Ash, and grabbed his hand.

"Come on, let's go clean something before you go back to your old self," she said, dragging him into the kitchen.

"Aww, but we have to celebrate first!" Ash whooped. "I say this calls for a beer and a phone call to Mom!"

"Ash!"

STAY TUNED FOR THE CONCLUSION!

:shields herself: Eeek, let me explain, let me explain! ;;;; I know, I know, I said this was going to be the last chapter before the epilogue. But, well…let me put it to you this way: I've realized there's no way I'm ever going to make a living writing short stories. I totally underestimated the length of BH's final three scenes, and as you can tell, as there are only two scenes here, I needed to draw the line somewhere otherwise this chapter 21 would have exceed a whopping 30 pages. And that, my friends, is a lot to consume in one sitting. So I did it for your benefit, which I hope you find acceptable rather than annoying. ;;

But no need to worry, you will not have to wait long for the real final chapter—and yes, it really is the real final chapter—because it is already done and ready to be uploaded. However, I will go back to my original routine and will post it a week from now. That's a guarantee. Not another two-month wait like it was for this one, which I apologize for. School has most certainly proven itself the current evil in my life, and yes, Ash and Gary are damn hard to write sometimes.

Thank you so much for your patience and putting up with my fluctuating chapter-count. And for reading, too, of course! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, the one to come, and the epilogue, which I plan to have uploaded on Thanksgiving. Till then!