WARNING: Some conservative readers may be offended by some of the content in this chapter. Chapter implies a relationship between two characters of the same sex - you have been thoroughly warned.
_Recap_
Episode Title: O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Closest town/landmark: Pewter City Gym
Distance travelled: 110km
Pokemon mentioned: Eight
Badges received: One
Number of Slate children: Ten
Rocks that look like Bill Murry identified: Seventeen
Discovering your fourteen year old brother will probably get a girlfriend before you do: Priceless
There are something that cannot be quantified . . . for everything else . . . there's MATHEMATICS.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Pokemon. If I did I think this 'season' is just tame enough to be airable in Japan - will have to make some significant changes in order to meet Cartoon Network standards. Maybe add some aliens to make it more hip and then come up with an awesome soundtrack to successfully compete with Disney. How do you think 'Misty's Song' would work as a hip hop dance number?
Ash: The Last Stand – Ego Altercation
After spending the next day in Pewter, admiring the sites (the rock farm, the quarry, the History of Masonry Museum, the 'Rock 'n' Roll' Museum (which sadly had nothing to do with popular music), and the Ancient History Museum with it's special exhibition on 'Tools of the Stone Age' and the worlds largest collection of indigenous rocks), the quartet spent the evening at the Slate's enjoying a good meal and being fussed over by Brock's large family. They left the next morning, making a beeline for Mt. Moon, which would eventually grant them access to the road to Cerulean City.
About this same time a weary traveller had arrived at the aforementioned Cerulean City, intent upon conferring with the gym leader and defeating her in battle. It is that traveller, and that battle which shall be the subject of our current observation.
Misty tried to smile encouragingly as the ten year old recalled his last Pokémon and looked despairingly at the large water dragon glowering at him from the pool. She usually didn't let Gyarados out so early in the match, but the kid has really annoyed her with his cockiness and the way he was talking so disrespectfully about the other gym leaders that she sent out her strongest Pokémon early. Gyarados easily defeated all three of the child's Pokémon without blinking an eyelash.
This only served to remind her of the reason why she liked to hold Gyarados back. She felt incredibly guilty for crushing the young boys spirit, even if he was an arrogant little asshole that totally deserved it. Usually she threw in Goldeen first, who they all took out easily with a thunder attack, before bringing out the big guns like Starmie and Gyarados – it somehow seemed fairer that way to let them knock out at least one of her Pokémon.
If she was perfectly honest, most trainers hardly ever saw Gyarados – most of the time she would save him for the tougher competitors and she knew the water dragon appreciated it. Gyarados would probably not be happy with her sending him out against such a noob trainer, especially when it could potentially affect his chances of getting in on a real battle today with an experienced trainer.
She tried to think of something encouraging to say to him in order to make up for the defeat, but the kid had run off in tears before she could get a word in. Perhaps she had been a little harder on him than was necessary, but it wasn't really fair on Gyarados not to fight to her fullest potential and it wasn't fair on the gym not to live up to its reputation.
'Yup, that's it,' she thought to herself with a determined nod. 'Totally justified.'
"Well you look pleased with yourself, Red," a voice called as they entered the arena. "I take it the kid that rushed past me in tears was your doing."
Misty grimaced at the figure that appeared at the large entrance doors. "It's not like I make a habit of it, Gary," she replied. She put on a falsely sweet smile and a cheery tone before adding: "Just think of the better person you could have been if you'd had someone like me and Gyarados around to teach you a few lessons in humility when you were younger."
Gary laughed as he flicked his hair away from his face. "I doubt it would have done me any good," he told her with a laugh. "It's really too bad that your sisters aren't willing to battle. A round with them does a world of good for my ego."
Misty shook her head as she left her battle station and moved to greet Gary properly. "How come we haven't seen you around lately?" she asked as she gave him a brief hug. "Tracey's here on almost a daily basis, but I haven't seen you in months."
Gary smiled awkwardly. "I've been busy on that research I was telling you about. But do not fear," he added, as he presented her with a medium sized box. "I come bearing gifts."
"Um . . . thanks," she replied uneasily, taking the package from his hands.
"From Ketchum."
Misty's eyes widened brightly at the name of the gifts benefactor as she took the box more eagerly and almost ran to find somewhere to set it down and open it.
Gary laughed openly at her sudden change in mood. "I wish someone else had been around to see your face," he said joyously. "The transition from forced graciousness to unabashed joy was priceless."
Misty glared at him before letting out a sad sigh and sitting on the table next to her precious box. "Am I really that obvious?" she asked sadly, knowing that Gary would be honest with her in his reply.
"Only to everyone but Ashy-boy himself," Gary replied almost teasingly as he joined her by the table. "That boy wouldn't know how you felt about him if you jumped him in an alley and did a strip tease for him. Which I totally recommend by the way," he added with a lecherous grin as he wiggled her eyebrows at her.
She scowled in response. "I'll let Tracey know, shall I?" she asked pointedly.
"Go ahead," Gary replied smugly. "Now enough of the self-pity. I'll admit I am actually curious to see what Ashy-boy got you. I take it you weren't expecting anything."
Misty shook her head as she hopped down from the table and carefully unfolded the boxes tabs. She gasped as her eyes lighted upon the gift inside – a European, contemporary style tea set painted with an oriental pattern. The exterior was black with white bushels of flowers painted on them, and the inside a deep red. The set consisted of a teapot, two teacups and two saucers, and a small sugar bowl.
It wasn't really anything special, at least, it wouldn't be for anyone else or from anyone else, but for Misty it was wonderful. It was the most thoughtful thing that Ash had ever given her and she would probably treasure the set until the day she died. She suddenly had a very strong desire to drink tea, which had never occurred to her before.
Gary scoffed as he recognised the set. "Looks like he won big on one of the carni' games," he noted.
Misty gushed elatedly. "He won me a prize," she smiled, her eyes shining brightly with joy.
Gary scoffed again. "Sometimes you are such a girl, Red."
Misty rolled her eyes, refusing to let Gary ruin her happy mood. "It's wonderful," she said almost absentmindedly. "Although I do wonder why he sent you to deliver it."
"Well, I did tell him that I was heading this way," Gary shrugged. "Although he didn't seem to be too happy about it."
"I can just imagine how that went," Misty replied drolly. She knew what the two of them were like if left alone together, although they did tend to be more civil these days. "Gary, I don't know why you always have to provoke him like that," she reprimanded coolly.
"Same reason you do," he replied with a smile.
"What? You mean you're secretly in love with him too?" she asked incredulously, raising a sarcastic eyebrow in her direction. "Does Tracey know you harbour what I assume – well hope really – are unrequited feelings for another man?" she added pointedly.
Gary continued as though she had asked some sort of reasonable question. "I do it to push him," he told her almost solemnly. "You know, he and I were friends once too. But there can only be one Master, and I believe Ash could be that Master and deserves to be that Master. So I push him to compete in ways he never would have thought of himself and to be a better person.
"To help him realize the things that matter," he finished with a wistful shrug.
Misty was torn between smiling softly at Gary's uncharacteristic genuineness and rolling her eyes at him. She finally settled for eye rolling as Gary would hardly appreciate the former gesture. "Exactly what insightfulness and wisdom did you offer him this time?" she asked sceptically, worry evident in her voice.
"Jealousy," he said simply with a sinister smile. "It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on." (A/N: Othello for anyone was wondering)
He laughed when Misty looked unimpressed by his profound knowledge of classical literature. "I got myself threatened with serious bodily injury for you, Red, and this is the thanks I get?" he asked with mock disdain. "To be honest, I didn't seriously think he had it in him, but I guess I hit a nerve with that one."
"You always hit a nerve," she countered. "So what brings you to Cerulean City anyway?"
"You actually, Red," he responded. "I'm here to challenge you to a gym battle."
Misty smiled broadly. "I think that can be arranged."
"This is a three-on-three battle," Daisy declared, happy to be included in the battle once she found out Gary Oak was the challenger. She smiled appreciatively at the young Oak boy who sent her a charming smile back. Misty shook her head, sending a Gary a look that told him that she did not appreciate him leading her sister on like that and if he didn't tell her, she certainly would.
"No substitutions," Daisy added, winking at Gary.
"That's a bit harsh, Red," Gary commented, alluding to his desire for some sort of explanation on the point.
"It was necessary," Misty explained. "If I let them substitute, I get kids constantly flicking from their electric Pokémon to the other two as some kind of absurd battle strategy. It's incredibly annoying and simply prolongs the inevitable."
"I wouldn't dream of it," he laughed. "So, whose up first?" he asked.
Misty thoughtfully fingered the Pokéballs on her belt as she tried to decide on her first call, when Azurill who had been sitting beside Daisy, ran and jumped into the arena, ready for battle. She smiled at her baby Pokémon. "Zuri, sweetheart, do you want to battle for mommy?" she asked sweetly, as she bent down calling the Pokémon to her side.
"Zuuuurillll!" the blue mouse called cheerfully. "Zu zuril!"
She caught Gary's eye, silently asking him if he was willing to send out an easy Pokémon for her azurill. He nodded, as he reached for a Pokémon off his belt. "I only caught this one yesterday, so go easy on it, Zuri," he told the baby Pokémon, who trilled happily as it jumped into battle.
"Oddish go!" he called sending out a small indigo, bulbous creature.
Misty smiled and silently mouthed 'thank you' as she sent Azurill into the field. "Zuri, bubble," she commanded kindly.
Azurill gave a quick determined nod and sent out a bubble attack. Several bubbles flew from the little Pokémon's mouth and burst upon Oddish who had not been commanded to defend itself from the attack. It winced, but clearly little damage had been done to the grass/poison type.
"That was great sweetheart," Misty called encouragingly, which caused Azurill to trill happily, pleased that she had done so well for her mother/master.
Gary called for a poison powder from Oddish. In return, Misty called for Azurill to dive down under the water to evade the powder that instead rested harmless on top of the water, nullifying its effects.
"Zuri, let's try for a tail whip," Misty suggested.
"Oddish, stand your ground," Gary called, countering Oddish's natural instinct to defend itself against the attack. Azurill slammed her large tail into Oddish's side, knocking the grass-type into the pool and forcing Gary to return the Pokémon to its 'ball.
"Azuuurillll!" the blue mouse cried cheerfully as it swam back to Misty's battle stage.
"That was great Zuri," Misty cried, grabbing Azurill in her arms and swinging her around. "You've made mommy so proud sweetheart."
Azurill let out another trill as her body began to glow brightly. Misty let out a gasp, as the glowing form seemed to change shape and dim down so that she could see the Pokémon she now held in her arms.
She smiled as she nuzzled the Pokémon to her chest. "Zuri, you clever thing," she gushed. "You evolved."
"Mar, mar-rilll," Zuri replied, cuddling back to Misty.
"Why don't you go sit with Aunt Daisy and watch the battle?" Misty suggested to the marill who continued to trill happily as she jumped down and sat beside Daisy, who immediately began to fuss and coo over the newly evolved water-type.
"Your turn, Gary," Misty said, as she turned back to the match.
Gary nodded as he called out his blastoise. Misty called on Gyarados, releasing the large dragon into the pool.
Gary called for a hydro cannon, immediately calling on one of the tortoise's most powerful moves. Blastoise charged up its cannon and aimed it at Gyarados. Misty commanded the water-dragon to duck under the water to try and reduce some of the damage that would be done, even though she knew there was no way to avoid a direct hit from the attack.
The hydro cannon hit Gyarados dead on, in spite of being refracted by the water to some extent. While Gyarados recovered, Gary made his next move, calling for a skull bash. Blastoise dived into the water, his head glowing brightly, as he propelled himself to Gyarados.
All Misty could do was call for Gyarados to try and evade the attack, while countering with protect. The Pokémon did as she commanded, but the attack still managed to graze the dragon as he tried to escape.
Misty smiled in spite of this. She now had Gary exactly where she wanted him. She called for dragon rage, which would have been impossible had Gary not commanded his blastoise to enter the water. Gyarados began to circle the blastoise, gaining speed and capturing the tortoise in the increasingly powerful attack.
Gary muttered a quick 'shit' as torrents of water rose around his blastoise, and Gyarados kept getting faster and faster. There wasn't a thing he could do to avoid the damage of this attack, but he quickly called for Blastoise to withdraw in the hopes that it might be of some help. The large tortoise withdrew into his shell as the attack hit, and as expected it did significant damage and Gary recalled the Pokémon, which was near to faint.
He called his electivire into battle and quickly called for a thunderbolt attack. Misty tried to counter with protect, but given that Gyarados was already somewhat weakened by the days previous battle and the attacks from Blastoise, it was futile. Gyarados was defenceless – the water conducted the attack regardless of any attempt by the water-dragon to avoid it and the attack hit hard, taking Gyarados out of the battle.
Misty smiled wryly as she returned Gyarados, congratulating the Pokémon on a job well done. She had been expecting that – it was the reasons she had sent Gyarados out when Gary called Blastoise, rather than saving her strongest Pokémon until last. She knew that Gary would have a powerful electric-type ready for battle, and Gyarados' position in the water would leave it vulnerable for any such attacks.
But Misty had just the Pokémon this situation called for.
"Vespa!" she called, as she sent out a Pokéball and releasing the evee evolution. The vaporeon did not technically belong to Misty, but she had been spending some time with him, teaching the water-type some attack's when Violet – Vespa's owner – wasn't looking and then smuggling it onto her Pokébelt when she knew Violet wouldn't miss it.
Daisy gave her a discouraging look but Misty just shrugged as if to say 'what choice did I have?'
She started with an easy attack, calling for a water gun. Gary fought back by calling for a shock wave. Both attacks hit their targets, but Gary was able to do more damage than Misty due to vaporeon's vulnerability to electric attacks. Gary called for another thunderbolt and Misty immediately called for Vespa to use quick attack and combined with a tail whip. Using his speed Vespa managed to avoid Electivire's thunderbolt, and managed to get close and hit the Pokémon hard with his tail, the physical attack doing more damage than the previous water attack.
Gary, never being one to let an opportunity pass him by, quickly called an attack before Misty could react. Using Vespa's proximity to his advantage, Gary called for Electivire to use iron tail. The attack hit Vespa hard, throwing the water-type backwards onto a nearby platform. He struggled to pull himself onto his feet, dropping back to hard surface of the floating platform almost immediately and bringing the battle to an end.
Zuri quickly moved towards the fainted Pokémon, and used her restore to begin the healing process. Daisy happily declared Gary the winner as Misty recalled Vespa to his Pokéball.
"Well, Red," Gary pronounced smugly. "That was one hell of a battle. I bet even your boyfriend couldn't have done so well."
Misty grimaced, not giving Gary the satisfaction of seeing her scream profanities at his insinuation, although she couldn't hide the faint blush that spread over her cheeks. "I suppose you'll be wanting the cascade badge for your troubles," she said drolly, rolling her eyes.
"Like, allow me," Daisy said sweetly, quickly making her way over to Gary and pinning the badge to his shirt with unnecessary care and contact. Misty wasn't sure how Daisy intended to justify the need to slip her hand inside his shirt, but decided it was best to simply let things pursue their usual course until Gary fell out of Daisy's fancy.
The strawberry blonde stepped back to proudly survey her work, her eyes trailing appreciatively over the figure on which it was pinned who smiled back at the girl suggestively. If not for Tracey, Misty would have declared that the two deserved each other – they were probably the two biggest flirts in Kanto, and unlike Brock, they were actually very good at it.
Gary was unable to hold back a scoff as he looked down at the badge pinned to his shirt. Like the boulder badge, the cascade has been redesigned according to the League's five-year mandate. "A luvdisc?" he asked, raising a sceptical eyebrow at Misty. "Ashy-boy is gonna love it."
Misty blushed and tried her best to deflect Gary. "The luvdisc was Daisy's idea," she argued in her defence. "I was just the one to suggest that it be blue."
Gary clearly didn't believe her, but rather than arguing the point he instead moved to give each of the girls a quick hug. "I best be going," he said to both the girls, before turning to Misty specifically. "Don't give up on him, ok," Gary commanded, waving a finger at her. "He may be slow to catch on, but I promise you Misty, that boy loves you more than anyone else ever could. He just hasn't realized it yet."
With those insightful parting words, the two Waterflower women walked Gary out and waved at him as he walked dramatically into the sunset.
Daisy sighed with disappointment as she watched him go. "It is like, a total crime that a boy that fine has no interest in women," she breathed sadly when she was sure he was out of hearing range.
"Dasiy, that's like so sick," Misty replied, lowering her hand as she turned to her sister. She decided not to correct her on her summation of Gary's preferences as it hardly made a difference. "He's younger than I am."
"I know," Daisy replied, trying to look innocent. "I'm just saying . . . it's a shame really. Though he does have like an incredible ass."
"Daisy!" Misty cried warningly.
"Fine, fine," Daisy muttered, raising her hands in surrender. "Come on. We've got to like totally get Vespa to Nurse Joy and back before Violet finds out that you put her precious vaporeon into a Pokémon battle."
"Alright," Misty sighed, letting her older sister link their arms together and drag her towards the Pokémon Centre.
"And when we're done there we can have a nice long talk about how you're like totally madly in love with Ash Ketchum and want to have little Ash Ketchum children to run around the gym totally declaring themselves the next Pokémon Master," Dasiy added joyously. "And explain to me why there is like a funny looking tea set sitting in a box in the battle arena."
"It's not funny looking," Misty replied, ignoring the previous comment to defend her precious tea set. "It's wonderful."
"Ok, Misty," Daisy said incredulously (at least it would have been if not for her incomprehensible 'Valley Girl' accent) and rolled her eyes. She let go of her sister so as to distance herself from her when her words finally sunk in.
"AND I AM NOT IN LOVE WITH ASH KETCHUM!!!"
~ to be continued ~
I know what you're all thinking. WTF! You see, I just happen to think that Gary and Tracey are cute together (I think I did mention Oakshipping in the first chapter, so you were thoroughly warned) and that as such, Gary needs to make an effort to befriend his boyfriend's friends, simple as that. I thought it was a nice little friendshippy chapter, and that it develops both Misty's relationship with Ash and Gary's relationship with Ash. Also I totally just blew all you egoshippers out of the water (although egoshipping and palletshipping are the only ships I like involving Ash and Misty that aren't pokeshipping, though that's probably to do with a fondness for Gary more than anything). And orangeshippers (which I totally don't get by the way because it kind of seemed like Misty didn't even like Tracey when they were in the Orange Islands – who else thought that for the entire Orange season Misty was perpetually pissed at Tracey for ruining her 'alone' time with Ash?).
Quick question: how many of you actually saw that coming? Total red herring at the end of the last chapter, but then I went and undid all my clever misdirection by pre-warning of potentially offensive content.
Actually the main point of this chapter was to get Misty's azurill to evolve. And yes, I know that Azurill doesn't have a nickname, but I needed that just in case I have to include Tracey's marill in a later chapter for some reason or another.
Now before I forget . . .
. . . OUTTAKES
"How obvious does a girl need to be?" Misty almost begged, forcefully moving her hands to her hips. "Do I have to jump him in an alley dressed in a bikini just to get the boy to realize that I like him?"
Gary smiled at the thought, clearly amused. "Perhaps," he replied with mock thoughtfulness, "although change the alley for 'live televised event' and the bikini for 'naked' and I think all of us will start to get the picture."
"How about no?" Misty grimaced, whacking the younger boy on the head as she muttered the word 'pervert' under her breath. "How do I even know he likes girls?"
"Fair point," Gary mused. "I bet him and rock boy have been some kind of item for years."
Misty just couldn't let that one go. She burst into uproarious laughter, completely forgetting her own despair as tears began to roll down her cheeks.
"If you had said anyone else," she managed between peals of laughter. "I don't know what it is about picturing Ash and Brock that makes me snigger like a school girl."
"Hey, I think they could have a very beautiful relationship," Gary defended.
"Oh and I suppose that all of his constant hitting on beautiful girls is just covering up for his and Ash's beautiful feelings for one another?" Misty suggested with a giggle. "No," Misty said decidedly, "I reckon if Ash was into boys, it would have to be you and no one else."
"Eh?" Gary asked, bursting into peals of laughter himself. "And how did you come to that conclusion, Red?"
She shrugged. "I guess you just seem more his type than Brock," Misty giggled . . .
*
As you can see, this scene was dropped because it's a tad OOC and doesn't really go anywhere. But I felt like throwing it in there for you all to gaze on in wonder. Also, bouldershipping makes me giggle, so I had to mention it.
REVIEW. If you like the outtakes let me know and I will try to include more of them in future chapters.