Being Second
An Egoshipping Fanfiction
by: i need sleep

AN: Surprise! I'm in university now! Clarifications are in order, and can be found at the bottom of this chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.

Chapter 11: Reciprocation

Misty was granted a week of Gary-free time. She carried on with her life as she had before the party planning began – feeding Pokémon, taking on challengers, and defeating children. She fell back into her regular routine which was occasionally interrupted by her older sister asking her to run errands, or Mrs Ketchum calling in to update her on the party coordination efforts, just like she had the night before she found herself in Pallet Town again.

They had spent some thirty minutes discussing colours. Delia went through the colour combinations Gary had approved of and deemed manly enough, and Misty made comments on each. Finally, they decided to go with a soft, pastel shade of red and a shimmery deep blue. As the older woman noted the choice they had agreed upon, she said, "We're making invitations tomorrow."

"Oh?" Misty said, wondering what they would look like. They had discussed having Pokédex invitations, but Delia had said herself that sending out Pokédex themed invitations would not give out the impression that they were having a semi-formal party.

Delia nodded. "I was actually wondering if you could help!" she said, "if you're not busy?" The woman looked so hopeful, Misty didn't want to let her down. "You have a really neat handwriting and I thought it would lighten the workload to have you around!" She looked conspicuously around her before she leaned into the videophone and began to whisper conspiratorially. "You know my other helpers here include the Oaks, and Tracey, and, well… I trust these boys but I don't think they've have enough experience with crafts or the patience to make the invitations. And I've seen the little photo frames you had at the gym and your sister told me you embellished them! They were really pretty!"

The gym leader blushed red. "Oh, they were nothing," she said, somewhat embarrassed. She was hoping Daisy wouldn't mention them as being made by her – she always thought they looked so childish, but she knew it was made well enough to look like it could have been mass-manufactured and store bought. "But I'd love to help."

"Thank you so much, Misty!" Mrs Ketchum raved. "Well," she checked her wristwatch, "I better go to bed. These old bones can't handle being up so late – I'm so glad you and Gary and Tracey are so willing to help. I don't know how I'll do this without you guys. I'll see you lunchtime tomorrow, dear!"

Mr Mime peeked into the camera just as she waved goodbye and said goodnight before the screen clicked off. She got up and stretched her body with a yawn. She, too, was tired. So Misty changed out of her day clothes into her pajamas before she flopped on to bed and was soon asleep.

The next day she let the cool breeze blow past her as she pedalled her way to Pallet Town. She didn't even bother looking nice – she just slipped into her favourite pair of shorts and pulled a red, sleeveless hoodie on. Her hood served to protect her head from the sun that was mercilessly focusing its attention on their town. Sweat dripped from her forehead, and she was glad to have brought a spare change of clothes in her little backpack. Making invitations shouldn't take too long, theoretically, but Ash is a friendly boy who might've met a lot more people on his continued travels. And Delia Ketchum didn't really get to throw many parties, so the idea of throwing a big one to celebrate her only son reaching the age of 18 excited her so much, Misty would not be surprised if she invited people Ash so much as breathed on.

She arrived at the Ketchum residence and was greeted by Mr Mime who smiled at her and pointed towards the Oak mansion, repeatedly saying "Mime, mime, mime," as if he momentarily forgot that they didn't really speak the same language. But the redhead gleamed enough information from his pointing anyway and she waved goodbye and let the Pokémon resume his cheerful sweeping of the front yard.

She knocked at the door of the mansion slightly unsure and had her bike resting next to her. She didn't know where she could park and she didn't want her bike stolen, so she was going to ask whoever answers the door where she could lock it. The door swung open to reveal Tracey who looked at her with such relief. "Hey, Trace," she greeted, before looking at her bike, "Where can I…?"

He stepped out of the house immediately, calling out behind him. "Misty is here," he said in a rush, "I'll just park her bike for her!" Turning to the gym leader, he said, "I'll park your bike, please, I think I have five paper cuts but Mrs Ketchum isn't letting us take a break."

Oh, dear. She was guessing Delia had begun to subject the boys to her iron will in order to ensure her invitations were going to be made as she had designed them to be. She relinquished her bike to Tracey and took a tentative step into the house as if she were anticipating a bucket of water to douse her or even an anvil to squish her. There was a tense atmosphere in the silent house. "Hello?"

From further into the mansion she heard Delia's voice, muffled, firmly giving what seemed like instructions. She stepped further in and padded over to the living room where she saw cardstock on the tables, envelopes, and pens, and glue guns, and little, shiny, black plastic "stones". Gary was slumped over an invitation, slowly and precisely laying a white ribbon along the glue trail on cardstock. The older Pokémon professor was cutting up parchment paper as slowly as his grandson, biting his lip in concentration.

"Hello, dear," Delia greeted softly, smiling at Misty. "We've finished around twenty invitations in two hours, and we have around sixty more to go. We should be finished by…" she looked at the clock on the wall, letting her own sentence trail off as she took note of the time – twelve o'clock in the afternoon, just about – "around 6 or 7 o'clock."

"Sixty?" Misty repeated loudly, making the two males jump. They both looked up to glare at her for surprising them and she looked at them apologetically.

Delia had bent down to pick up one of the finished invitations at Gary's side. It was beautifully designed, and looked clean and elegant. The details bragging about Ash's party to be held on the 15th of April at the Cerulean Princess Restaurant were printed on parchment paper, which was very slightly transparent. None of the "To" fields were filled, and Misty assumed that this was what she was invited over for. She took one, in awe, running her hands over the cardstock and the ribbon that bordered along the rectangle of parchment in the middle of the red card. There were black, shiny plastic dots stuck down the corners. "Wow, these look beautiful. Good job, lads."

Neither of the males looked up, but they both grunted in unison. Mrs Ketchum looked over her little working area and said, "We're taking a break." Ears pricked up. "We're taking an hour long break. Just finish what you're doing now."

With one last snip, Samuel Oak let his arm fall. He placed the rectangle parchment on top of the table and weighed it down with a bunch of pens from his pockets. "It's good to see you again, Misty. Delia, please call me when lunch is ready," he rushed out the back door. "I'm going to go and check on the Pokémon."

"Where is Tracey?" Gary said when he flattened the ribbon against the twentieth invitation he had finished. "He needs to put the black dots on this."

Misty looked at the card he just finished and praised the neatly placed ribbons around the parchment paper. "You guys working as a production line?"

Gary watched as Mrs Ketchum cheerfully walked over towards the kitchen, talking about how she was going to reheat the food she had made for lunch, before he turned to Misty again and said, "Yes, and we are overworked and underpaid." He cracked his knuckles and tilted his head right and left. "God," he moaned. "I'm so stiff." He tried to get up but stumbled back down, glaring at Misty and daring her to giggle. "I've been sitting on my ass for the past two hours, I think I can't see anything beyond five inches in front of me, and my hands are shaking. Stop staring at me and pull me up."

She rolled her eyes at his complaining but stretched her arm out and pulled him up anyway. "Tracey has escaped."

"Damn," he muttered, running his hand through his hair, making it stand even more than it already was. "Lucky bastard."

"You're all taking a break now, though."

"But he got to start sooner," said Gary, making his way towards his lab. "I think I thought of something while I was gluing stuff. I need fresh air."

Misty tutted. "That's not the way to fresh air," she hummed, eyeing the door Professor Oak (the older one) let himself out on. Professor Oak (the younger one) merely rolled his eyes at her.

"My lab has windows," he said slowly. "I need to write this idea down."

"What idea?" she asked, interested. She began to trail after him towards his lab. His research on Eevee evolutions was interesting to her – she heard from Tracey once before that the rest of the Pokémon research community thought Gary was an idiot for pursuing a topic they had assumed to be exhausted and fully researched, but the younger Oak insisted on carrying on his research on Eevee evolutions. His instincts had never strayed him before, and Misty believed that Gary would still find something. Eevee are such versatile Pokémon, and while there was a lot they knew, there were still things they didn't know. She was sure his research wasn't a waste of time.

And Misty was aware of his dedication to his research. When they had discussed it the first time they had seen each other again after a long time, the day they went out to look at venues, she saw the spark in his eyes and the animated state he seemed to enter when he began to talk about Eevee.

"You know how I mentioned there is a possibility of another Eevee evolution?"

"Yes?" she asked, entering the messy laboratory/office with him and sitting herself on a plush leather swivel chair at the corner as he scrabbled around to find a blank piece of paper. "Did you find a new stone to make them evolve or something?"

Gary shook his head no. "I've been thinking about Umbreon," he said, pulling out a sticky notes pad with a happy hum, "and how Umbreon evolved without the use of a stone or anything like that. And then I thought about Glaceon, which evolve around a stone. They don't need to be given one, they don't need to take one. What if there is another possible way of evolving Eevee that did not involve giving them anything? Happiness has to be boosted at certain times to gain an Umbreon, or an Espeon. What if you have to boost other things, like… I don't know, friendship? Negative feelings?"

The gym leader felt one of her eyebrows rise.

Gary slumped against the desk and let out a big, defeated sigh. "It doesn't make sense, does it?"

"Are you suggesting most Eevee trainers don't love their Eevee enough?"

"And by that logic, are you telling me that most Eevee trainers don't make their Pokémon happy enough to make them evolve into Umbreon or Espeon instead?" Gary countered, before looking up at the ceiling with another sigh. "Maybe the rest of them are right. Maybe I am researching a dead end."

"Hey!" Misty said, calling his attention over to her again, "Don't think like that! You're an Oak! Follow your instincts and prove those people wrong!"

At her mention of him being an Oak, the surprise in his eyes was replaced by something else. He turned guarded, before he chuckled under his breath somewhat bitterly and sarcastically said, "You don't need to remind me I'm an Oak – half the Pokémon Research Community does that on a regular basis. They think it's the only reason I'm even there."

"Because being inquisitive about Pokémon is in your blood?" Misty offered weakly.

"No," Gary said simply and curtly, "Because I failed at being a Pokémon trainer and so I turned to something my grandfather can help me in."

Misty felt herself fume. How rude! And how dare they! It's true Gary may not have pursued Pokémon training as Ash did, but he was in no way a failure! The younger Oak was a brilliant man, and a capable Pokémon trainer. He only quit because he realised what he wanted to do, and it was to research Pokémon and know more about their world through study. "Wow," she said, her face heating up anger. "It doesn't take a genius to see how enthusiastic you get about researching Pokémon, and it doesn't take another one to see how great of a Pokémon trainer you are! If I get my hands on those 'supposed' geniuses, oh, I'm going to…"

"Woah, slow down, Red." He laughed. "You know, no one else has defended me before. I'm afraid violence is not going to be the solution though," he said, rejuvinated. "I'll find something, I know it. So what if they doubt me?"

"Yeah!"

Their morale boosting session was interrupted by the sound of the phone ringing. They both paused and looked to the door. Gary made for the hallway and jogged down to where the video phone was plugged in, but he was beaten to the punch by Tracey, who had returned from his bike locking with several band-aids on his hands. "Hello?"

"Tracey!" a familiar, still slightly nasally voice echoed throughout the quiet living room. Misty and Gary froze as Ash's face came into view from the video phone. "Is Professor Oak home?"

The artist looked towards Gary. "Which one?" he asked Ash jokingly. "Gary's home."

"Gary's home?" Ash asked happily, "Sweet!" He didn't realise that his childhood friend was just a little ways away from the phone, surprised at being spoken of so positively. "I forgot he's technically Professor Oak the Younger now, I keep thinking he's still just Gary."

"He is!" Delia said, basically skating out of the kitchen in happiness. "Ash!" She parked herself in front of the video phone, taking Tracey's place. The artist had gotten up and fetched Professor Oak outside. "Gary is here, and so is Misty!"

Ash's expression turned puzzled. "Misty is there? What for?"

"Helping with your party!" The woman clad in pink turned to the two teenagers standing together out of sight and waved them over. "Come say hello!"

There was shuffling on the other line and muffled arguing as the phone was take from Ash by a beautiful, fair skinned brunette. "Hello, Mrs Ketchum!" Sixteen-year-old May greeted, "How are you?"

"May! You are looking radiant as ever." Delia smiled excitedly at the bandana-clad teenager on the other end. "I am going to see you next month, right?"

She nodded, her soft looking hair shaking along with her. "Of course," she said, "If we have to drag Ash back to Pallet Town by his ear we will! We wouldn't dream of missing the party."

From where she stood, Misty observed the stranger. She was definitely pretty, and definitely got along with Mrs Ketchum – maybe even better than she did. The red-headed gym leader was not as outgoing or cheerful as Ash's new companion, who was proving herself to be quite the challenger for Ash's affections.

She caught herself with a jerk of her head. To Gary, it looked as if she just snapped out of some sort of a trance. Misty shook the thoughts off, desperately. A challenger? What was she thinking? Maybe this girl didn't even like Ash like she did. Ash needed some more growing up, and she highly doubted the lovely idiot even noticed his companion much. Except, Misty noted with some contempt, that May was definitely, definitely a brunette.

Gary's voice rang clear in her ear. "By the way," he had said, "all of Ash's crushes were brunettes. I don't think you'll stand much of a chance." She felt her jaw clench and her fists ball up. The nagging voice continued to ring in her head as she carried on observing this new companion, sizing her up. Trying to make sure she was appropriate for Ash. She had a curvy body, unlike Misty's slightly flat, straight one. And her hair looked so smooth and manageable, unlike Misty's, which was a daily struggle to tie down into the ponytail she usually confines it in.

It was starting to look like May was in the lead, and she probably wasn't even in the running for Ash's feelings.

She felt Gary's hand land on her shoulder and he began to lead her closer to the window, pretending that he was only leading her away to let his grandfather pass. "Hey," he said, "You look upset."

Her head snapped towards him. "I'm not," she replied immediately. "Just thinking about party stuff."

He gave her a disbelieving look. "Sure," he said, crossing his arms over his chest to observe the scene in front of them. "Aren't you going to say hi?"

"Maybe some other time," she said. "I think I'd rather meet them personally, you know?"

"Easier to size up competition in person," he muttered, which earned him a smack. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding," he said, raising his arms in defence. "Seriously, though. Do you feel threatened? Because you shouldn't be."

She looked over to him and raised an eyebrow. Gary was being nice – it was a little out of character to her. She was not going to admit that yes, she felt threatened, because she didn't want him to have something to dangle over her. "I don't know why you would think that," she said instead, trying not to meet his gaze.

"I know what you're doing," he said, softly, in a sing-song voice, "because I've done that before. And you should stop that. Don't compare yourself to her." She opened her mouth to retort but smoothly, he raised his hand to stop her. "I've never met her, and I can't really judge, but I'm sure you both have different strong points. Maybe she's one kind of beautiful, but you're also beautiful. Just a different kind of beautiful. It's not necessarily bad."

He left her, stunned and with her mouth gaping open, to walk over towards the video phone to say hello. She stayed by the window and was left alone with her thoughts. Did he only say that because she said positive things about him merely minutes before? Did he really mean it?

Who cares? She took a deep breath and pasted a smile on her face. It was twelve thirty and their little invitation-production was pushed back, but that can wait. She had to say hi to Ash and Brock first.

Author's Notes/Clarifications:

I can't promise this updating thing will be somewhat regular again. It's difficult to tell. I am entrenched in so many fandoms, it's difficult to stay interested in, and focus on, just one. I just hope it won't take me years to update again. Fingers crossed!

I find that it's always tricky to resurrect a fanfic which has been on-hiatus for a while. I started this in 2010, and my writing style has changed so much! I've gotten much better at writing longer stuff (thanks, university). Plus, my eighteen year old ass realised that my fifteen year old one didn't really think things through as well as I would've liked.

Clarification 1: When I began to write this, I didn't realise they would actually find a new Eevee evolution. I am going to do something with that - so I am going to be bending the games' canon to suit my story. I hope this doesn't piss anyone off too badly.

Clarification 2: This story assumes that Ash ages (because, let's be honest, the Anime!Ash is perpetually 10-11), but 18 seems a bit old, especially to my now 18 year old self. I might have to ask you guys to let that slide a little. The ages shouldn't really be much of a big deal. Misty and Gary are 19, Ash is 18, Brock is 20, May is 16, and Max is 13. I thought it was a little creepy to have them as 10 year olds, falling in love. There is some timeline manipulation.

TL;DR This is an AU. I am going to need to bend a fair number of established canon things to deliver a satisfactory (in my opinion) Egoshipping tale. I hope that is okay. Please forgive me. I love you.