Chapter 7: Condition…

"Ash?"

"Gary?"

"Ash!"

"Gary! It is you!" the two ex-rivals gave out their secret handshake. It caught Ash completely by surprised to see his best friend here, "Wow Gary, what are you doing here?" he asked hoping to get a straight answer from him once in awhile, "The last time I saw you, you were heading off to the Shinou region! When did you come back? Did you find some new Pokemon? What happened to you all these years?"

Gary happily complied to answer most of his questions, "Hey one question at a time Ash. Well I got back here probably a few months ago. I was heading back to Pallet town until I saw Scott. He offered me to challenge the Battle Frontier and no I haven't gotten any new Pokemon. I sent some of the ones I had back to my old man. So what about you? What are you doing here? I thought you'd be living a life of luxury back home with all the money you got from winning all those Pokemon leagues" they both gave out a friendly laugh.

"Well, I was just passing by doing one of Professor Oak's deliveries. I met an old friend of mine, Anabel, who I think you already know" it was then that they noticed the girl in question was starring at them with a confused expression on her face, "Oh, sorry Anabel. This is my best buddy Gary. He and I used to be rivals during our Pokemon journeys, but I defeated him in the end!"

"Hey! You got lucky with that last shot! Besides, my Blastoise was a water type so of course it didn't stand a chance against your Pikachu" Gary pouted and faced the other way. Even though they were fifteen years old the two of them still act like they were ten years old. It wasn't long until Scott came by to see what all the commotion was all about, "Well Gary, it looks like you and Ash are old acquaintance?" he asked with a big smile still on his face.

"Yeah… he and go way back. Believe it or not, this guy was supposed to be dead last when he was training with me back in Pallet town" the two trainers gave out a smirk and laughed. It was great to meet an old friend at this most desperate of times. In fact, Ash would probably say he was his only friend that he would be able to trust. "So Anabel, are you ready for another match?" the purple haired girl nodded in acceptance to his challenge, "Hey Ash, why don't we talk about old times when we finish this battle? I'd bet you'd wanna hear some of my adventures"

"No… not really" Gary face faulted, "Hehehehe Just kidding Gary. I'll be waiting for you at the café, my treat" with their meetings agreed upon with a hand shake, Gary and Salon Battle Maiden Anabel took up their positions as the battle started.

There was no surprise that Ash saw Blastoise coming out first. That Pokemon was indeed Gary's starting Pokemon and it evolved through years of hard training together. Ash remembered how well Blastoise fought against his Pikachu in the semi-finals of the Pokemon league. It was able to hold itself against an element it was weak against for a long period of time. None of them backed down on that fight and withdrawing wasn't one of their options. But… eventually, in the end, Ash emerged victorious.

Anabel felt strange. This was the fourth time she fought Gary and during his three tries to beat her, it would always come out with the same result. But now that he's back for the forth time, the boy's skills and techniques had risen about ten folds. His abilities were more accurate and his blows were stronger. It was like she was now fighting a whole new person. "You've improved Gary. The last three times I battled you, you barely made a scratch on any of my Pokemon" she said with a grin. Gary just smiled back in return and continued ordering his Pokemon.

As the battle raged on to about half an hour. Anabel's last Pokemon finally submitted defeat and was now unconscious on the battle field. Ash gave out a yell of joy to Gary and congratulated Anabel on a battle well done. And by the time Anabel finally handed the challenger his ability, they decided to go on for a little break at the café. Since Anabel and Scott owned the place, all the food was free of charge.

Anabel: "I see, so the two of you were rivals for five years?"

Gary: "Four years to be precise. That last year was… something else"

Ash: "… Aheh. Anyway, I guess you'll be heading off to the battle pyramid huh?"

Gary: "Yeah probably. Wanna tag along? Maybe we could talk about old times"

Ash: "Nah. I think I had enough adventures for one day. Although I'd like to meet a few Pokemon trainers that are good"

Gary: "I heard that. Ever since you became master. No one wanted to battle you anymore… well… except me of course"

Ash: "You were never one to refuse a battle before"

Anabel: "Well from the looks of you two. You guys must be really close friends"

Gary: "Well, technically this kid here is actually related to me"

Ash: "I'm his uncle"

Gary: "Yeah yeah yeah, we heard that before. But cousin sounds better don't ya think?"

Scott: "That reminds me! Anabel, I got a call from your parents and they wanted you to contact them as soon as possible. It sounded urgent"

Anabel: "My parents? Ok. I'll see you two in a minute"

When the Frontier Brain member was finally out of sight, Scott turned his attention to the buffet table at the edge of the cafeteria. "I think I'll go and get something to eat. You guys want anything?" he asked to two trainers with his trade mark smile. The two of them just shook their heads in response. "Ok, suit yourself. I'm gonna have me some snacks" he went off to the snack table drooling all the way.

With no one nearby to eaves drop on them, Gary decided to poke up that long question that's been hiding at the back of his head, "So… do you still hate them?" he asked softly, more like a whisper. Ash took a sip off his hot coco and sighed. His eyes were more focused onto the ceiling rather than his friend. He knew that the boy would ask him sooner or later but he had time to conjure up an answer, "I wouldn't give the word hate Gary… but I guess you could put it that way" he replied not even looking at him.

"Well… I don't blame you. I would've given them the same reaction as well" Gary sat back on his chair in a relaxing position, "I mean… being sent to jail for a whole year with a false accusation was kind of rough. I didn't expect my grand father to be a part of it to" Ash's facial expression showed a visible anger and slight hint of sadness moving in from time to time, "Sorry… I guess I shouldn't have brought it up"

"No it's ok. I actually needed someone to talk about it anyway. It was hard at first… but after awhile, I begin to think less and less about it" Ash gave out his trade mark smile and finished the last drop in his mug of hot coco. "Oh and by the way. I've been meaning to give this to you (Ash handed Gary a small present box) Thank you for getting me out of there… Gary" The moment Gary opened up the box, he would've died of a severe choking and heart attack if he could. Inside the small box was a badge, but it wasn't just any badge. It was the master badge! The one every trainer have been dying to get.

"Ash, I can't accept this!" the young Pokemon Master gestured him with his hand, "Don't sweat it Gary. You're just as good a trainer as I am. Please take it. It's the least I could do after you saved me" Gary looked at the badge before focusing his gaze on his friend. Was this all true? Was Ash really giving away one of his most prized possessions just to pay him back for all that he did for him? Gary would probably blush on this kind of situation, but he was a strong kid so he was able to keep his image up. He gave out a weak smile and said, "Thanks Ash. I accept it, but don't be getting any funny ideas. I'm still gonna have a rematch against you!" the boy did his usual rival pose which caught the attention of some of the workers. Ash laughed, "Well that's the Gary we all know and love"

Gary: "You know me too well Ash… hehehehe"

There was a silence after the laugh. After knowing each other since birth, these two ex-rivals have been doing nothing but hang around, chatting and all the normal things normal friends should do. Gary gave Ash a worried glare before reaching out for a small box in his bag, "That reminds me… I got you these when I got back from Shinou" he handed Ash the box, which was more of a medicine container. Ash's eyes widened as he knew what they were, "Gary… how did you-"

"Know?" Gary smirked, cutting Ash off of his sentence, "To tell you the truth, I kind of discovered it by accident. When I was in the hospital in Pewter city, I saw your files and decided to take a little peek. That's when I discovered you had… a body failure" Ash was silent and amazed that his friend managed to find out about his secret condition. He glared at the box of expensive pain killers and let out a frown. "When did it happen?" Gary asked. Ash still kept his calm and remained silent. His grip on the box became tighter as he tried to suppress his anger even more. "It's from that hell hole… wasn't it?" Ash nodded slowly in reply.

Ash: "Did you tell my mom and… dad?"

Gary: "Nope… the only ones who know about it now are you, me and the doctor in Pewter city. I figured that, if you wanted to hide this from everyone else I thought I should just keep my mouth shut".

The young Pokemon master was surprised to hear what his friend was saying. For a moment there he thought that everyone in Pallet town would know of it by now. He turned up a smile and said, "Thank you… Gary" his rival blushed and looked the other way crossing his arm and sneered, "Shut up… I was only doing cuz I owe you a favor, nothing else hmph!"

NO THIS IS NOT YAOI!

A few minutes later after their little chat, Scott came by with a whole plate full of Kanto's delicacies, "Well Gary, your next challenge would be the battle pyramid. I uploaded the information on your Pokedex so you shouldn't have any problem finding it… for now"

Gary: "What do you mean by that?"

Ash/Scott: "Oh you'll see… hehehhehe"

(Time skip 4 hours)

"Well guys, I'm off to the Battle Pyramid!" Gary waved at his friends as he goes off into the horizon. "Good luck Gary. Have a safe journey!" Ash cheered his friend along with his Pikachu, Scott and Anabel. Once the challenger was finally out of sight, Scott turned to Ash with a wide smile on his face, "Well, I'm off to meet up with Brendan. I have a strong feeling that Gary's gonna have a hard time beating him. I'll see you in a week Anabel" the chubby Hawaiian man entered his corvette and drove off the other way.

Anabel: "Well, I guess it's just us now huh?"

Ash: "Yeah… let's go home"

Anabel: "Excuse me?"

Ash: "I mean… your house! Ahehehehe"

Anabel: "That's ok Ash. My doors are open for you any time, any day. Take it as a personal 24 hours life time invitation. Come on, there's a Pokemart close by and I could really use a new pair of shoes"

Ash: "Why would you need a new pair of shoes? You already have 12 pairs of boots back home!"

Anabel: "Oh hush hush! Now come on! I always wanted a carrier boy"

(Somewhere along the road)

"Boy oh boy, that Ashy boy never change I'll tell you that" Gary said to no one particular. He was having a good time strolling along the woods on his own. He wasn't much of a talker unless it was either with some of his friends or unless he was given no other choice. He placed his newly acquired Master Badge on his jacket which could be seen by anyone from almost every direction. Passing travelers would see him and would either bow in respect or be struck with great awe.

Just as Gary was enjoying his solitude in the woods, his cell phone began to ring. He answered it, "Hello, this is Gary speaking"

"Gary, is that you?" it was professor Oak who was on the other line, "I've been trying to contact you all week now. Where are you?" Gary gritted his teeth slightly as he heard the voice of the man he once respected. Ash may still have some respect towards his grandfather but Gary was a whole different story. To see and hear the man who was once his role model send one of his friends, heck! His best friend to prison was… was just too much to bear.

Gary quickly composed himself and decided to act normally instead of being harsh. Besides, he was Ash's new father after all. "Yeah, hi gramps" he said in a dead bored tone, "I'm heading towards Pewter city right now. I'm getting my last Frontier Brain symbol"

P. Oak: "Well I'm happy for you Gary, but you should really call once in awhile. I was really worried if something might have happened to you-"

Gary: "Sorry professor… I guess I was a little caught up with training that I forgot. Oh and by the way, I met Ash a few minutes ago. He's staying in an old town hotel not far from the city"

P. Oak: "Well, I don't think he'll be going anywhere soon. I heard there's another blizzard coming up north. You be careful on your journey too, ok?"

Gary: "Ok professor. I'll call you again some other time" "Hopefully never…"

Just when Gary hung up his cell phone, the sky suddenly darkened as if something bad was about to happen. Gary was a little into the super natural and sci-fi things so something this unusual would really catch his attention, "What the hell?" he muttered under his breath while looking at the dark clouds assembling right above him. The wind gave out some sort of sickening aura that would make anyone nauseous. He covered his nose and mouth so that he wouldn't get the smell in the air, "Something bad is going to happen… and I hope it's not me" Just as soon as the wind stopped, a black car suddenly ran past him. Gary's eyes made contacts with the driver but he couldn't get a clear picture of how he looked like. The weird part about that, was because his car had a big giant dent on the door, which could've been caused by some sort Pokemon attack. "Who the heck was that?" he wondered.

(Time skip, Night time) (At Anabel's house)

After purchasing snacks, clothes and a new pair of shoes, Ash and Anabel made their way back home carry equally large bags together. When they got inside, Anabel decided to prepare dinner, "Hey Ash, I'll go and make dinner. Why don't you put all of these in my room and I'll arrange them later" the boy just nodded in head reply because he was too tired to even complain. He took the package and left them all inside the master bed room. Pikachu and Espeon decided to have a little game by playing with several yarn balls. It was strange because Espeon looked like a cat and Pikachu looked like the mouse. It was a wonder why cats like yarn ball but after awhile, Pikachu begins to understand why.

Ash took off his jacket and head watch a small game show on TV. Apparently in that show, when you answer the questions wrong, you get zapped by a random electrical type Pokemon. The boy laughed at the constant easy questions that they were supposed to answer. In all his life the boy didn't just become a Pokemon master because of his skills of Pokemon battles. He also learned many things during his travels in the outside world. He learned the history of very important people in the younger days. He learned geometry, mathematics and many other things during his adventures and now you could say he had he IQ of a little genius.

"Ash, the food is ready" Anabel broke his train of thoughts as she placed the dishes on the table. Once the two of them began to dig in, the phone began to ring. "Who could be calling at a time like this?" she said to no one in particular. She got up from her and answered the phone, "Hello, this is Anabel Charlton speaking, may I know who this is?" "…" there was no reply. Anabel could hear some heavy breathing from the other side so she figured that there was someone there, "Hello? Is someone there? Who is this?" the breathing on the other side became heavier and more sadistic. She tried using the video on the phone, but alas, all that she could see was darkness. "Hello? Who am I-" before she could finish her sentence, the phone line went dead. It creep her out for a moment, but she figured that the person would just call again.

"Who was that?" Ash asked while taking a sip from his glass. Anabel hung up the phone and resumed her dinner along with her friend, "Don't know. It's probably a wrong number" they decided to ignore it and continued what they were doing. Pikachu and Espeon had their usual Pokechow and time couldn't be any better. The snow storm was finally calming down according to the weather man on TV but for some reason, Anabel wanted it to go on. She didn't want Ash to leave her. She didn't want to be alone… but was living alone for many years already. She managed to strive even without her parent's support. Being a Battle Frontier member surely had its merits.

When it was nearly time for bed, Anabel decided to unpack all of the things she bought at the Pokemart. She put the new clothes in her closet and the new shoes in her rack. Once everything was in place, she noticed one plastic bag that didn't belong to her. She checked the contents and noticed that it was mostly boy's things, "Hey… this must be Ash's things. I'd better give it to him" she said to herself. She giggled when she looked at what the boy had purchased. It was mostly man's stuff but there were also some strange novels and books at the bottom. They were exactly the same books she had in her drawer. They were mostly romance and dramatic tales of love, hatred, jealousy and anger. Anabel never knew Ash had such a sensitive side but I guess that's just one of his hidden traits that he doesn't show to just anyone.

She ran down to the guest room and opened up the door without knocking, "Ash, I brought you your-" her sentence stopped when she noticed that Ash was only wearing his undies. The two of them starred at each other for awhile in silence. Her heart began to pump up rapidly and her she could've sworn she wasn't breathing for a whole minute. Her eyes quickly scanned the boy's body which would be the dream of many teenage girls out there. By the time she regained control, she screamed, "I'm sorry to disturb you! I should've knocked! Excuse me!" she went outside and slammed the door so hard that it nearly broke to pieces.

Anabel placed her hand in her chest and felt the beating of heart increase by about ten folds. Her face was red as images of Ash's body flooded through her mind like wild fire. No one would ever imagine Ash's masculine body. He may be a bit scrawny but if you take a closer look, he actually had a lot of muscles built in him. The abs on his stomach could take a women's breath away and his tanned slender chest was like that of a wrestler. "What am I thinking!" Anabel shook away the though as she used every bit of strength she had in her body to calm herself down, "That… that is not the body of a child. It was… the body of an athlete! She waited for about two minutes before deciding to know on the door. "Come in" said Ash on the other side.

"Umm… sorry about that" she apologized.

Ash: "Don't worry about it. I should've locked the door so it's kind of my fault too hehehehe. So what can I do for you Anabel?"

Anabel: "Huh? Oh yeah! Here… you left this in my room (hands him the plastic bag)"

Ash reached out to grab the bag, but in the process he also held Anabel's hand. Their hearts raced even faster than before. Their bottled up emotions began to spill as they could not contain it anymore. Not wanting to ruin their friendship, Anabel decided to leave, "Bye. Sorry to disturb you!"

"Anabel, wait!" he was too late. She was already gone. The boy just sat on the bed as he tried to calm himself down with his own book. He wasn't reading it. He was slamming his head on it trying to remove that painful emotion away. "Darn it Ash. You can't fall for her… you can't! You… can't" his mental denial was now proving ineffective now. His emotions were so full that the moment he releases it, it would prove to be… catastrophic.

Anabel was also having the same thoughts. Her heart was telling her to go to him but her mind was controlling her body. If she saw him again… she wouldn't be able to restrain herself anymore. She held her favorite Chansey pillow and squeezed it tightly, letting all of her love and lust poured into its fluffiness. "I can't believe it… I'm actually falling in love… with him" she finally admitted her heart's desire to herself, "But I can't… I can't do it" To control her bottled up emotions, Anabel used her telekinetic abilities to put herself to sleep. It wasn't a helpful process, but as long as she was able to get some shut eye, she wouldn't mind. Although she would feel a slight head ache tomorrow morning.