Chapter 2

Early morning light streamed into Ash's bedroom, falling in golden rays across his sleeping form. He woke up with the sun hitting his face. Stretching and groaning as his body tightened and relaxed he listened to the house around him. He sat up, blinking the sleep out of his eyes, his hair more unruly than normal. He looked over at Pikachu who was still sleeping. He grinned at his long-time friend and threw back the covers. He headed towards the bathroom and turned on the shower.

He stepped into the shower as steam rolled out over the top of the curtain. He smiled as he relaxed into the warm water tilting his head back to let the water run through his hair. Minutes later, when he was through, he stepped out roughly towel-drying his hair. Pikachu pushed open the door he'd left cracked to look around the bathroom. "Pi-pika?"

Ash looked at him and smiled. "Yes, yes, we'll get breakfast in a minute. I think I smell mom's cooking already." He continued to dry himself off and dressed comfortably for the day. He bounced down the stairs and into the kitchen Pikachu bounding behind him.

"Good morning mom!", he said exuberantly.

Delia Ketchum turned away from the stove top to smile at her only son. "Good morning dear. How do you want your eggs? I've got biscuits in the oven and bacon and sausage frying on the stove now."

"Scrambled", Ash answered without missing a beat. He always ate his eggs scrambled. He wouldn't touch fried eggs. His mom knew that but she always asked anyway.

"Oh Ash", she said facing the stove again as she cracked eggs into the hot pan. "While you were in the shower the mail came. There's another large get together next week at the Oak Estate. You've been cordially invited and Professor Oak extended the invitation to me as well. He phoned this morning to be sure we received it. He asked if you couldn't stop by after breakfast and while you're there you can RSVP to the party."

"Sure mom, I'll stop by after breakfast."

An hour or so later Ash found himself walking down the road towards Professor Oak's laboratory. Pikachu explored the hedgerows alongside the road as Ash kicked a rock to the side. Ten minutes later he was knocking at the Professor's front door.

"Just a minute", a muffled voice called from inside. Seconds later the door opened and revealed Gary as the speaker.

"Gary!" Ash exclaimed with a surprised look on his face. "Uh..."

"Ashy-boy", Gary said with a smirk. "What are you doing here?"

"I...uh...I'm here to see your grandfather. Mom said he called this morning and wanted to see me. What are you doing here?" he asked without thinking.

"Well I do work here with Gramps. And I do kind of live here too", Gary said swinging the door wider inviting Ash in. "I think he's out in the garden with some of the pokemon. If you follow me I'll take you out back." He smiled at Ash and noticed how Ash blushed and looked away.

"Sure, lead the way!" Ash exclaimed looking anywhere but at Gary's face.

Gary closed the door and led Ash and Pikachu through the lab and to the adjoining gardens that butted up against the estate. Eevee made an appearance and followed alongside the two boys and Pikachu. The two pokemon began a game of chase as soon as they made it onto the lawn, darting in and out of plantings, around sculptures, and through water features.

"Gramps, Ash is here to see you", Gary called out.

"Hello Ash", Professor Oak said appearing from behind a small grouping of trees. Several bird-type pokemon followed him, hopping along the ground as he tossed them their morning breakfast. A small group of Butterfree whirled by as various grass and water-type pokemon appeared from the flower beds and the garden pond. "Thank you Gary."

"So Ash, I guess you got the inviation to the big party next week. There will be lots of famous trainers and researchers there. You and your mother will be there won't you?" He didn't even wait for a response. "Splendid, splendid. So I called you here because I wanted to give you this upgraded Pokedex", he said pulling a much newer model out of his pocket. "I've already updated it with all the data currently on your old one. And I also wanted to see if you'd mind bringing some of your pokemon to the party? I'm going to have the entire estate open and thought it might be nice to have pokemon wandering among the party guests." He did pause this time, looking up from the Spearow pecking about at his feet.

"Uh, sure Professor. I'll bring some of the ones I keep on me and you can feel free to use any of mine that you are currently keeping."

"Thanks so much Ash. Well I'll see you next week, but I have a lot of things to do before then. Gary will see you out and tell your mother I said hello." And with that he disappeared back into his garden with a flock of pokemon following behind him.

"Well that was weird", Ash said turning to Gary.

Gary laughed. "That's Gramps for you. So you'll be at the party?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Well Brock and Misty got invitations as well, so they should be here. Actually a lot of the gym leaders will be here. It's going to be pretty big."

"Sounds like fun."

"Yeah." Gary motioned for Ash to follow him back through the house and both the boys called their pokemon back to them. When they reached the door both the boys got kind of quiet.

"So I guess I'll see you around", Ash said looking down at his feet.

"Yeah", Gary said, looking away. "Uh Ash?"

"Yeah Gary?"

"Umm, I was wondering if you might want to hang out later", Gary said looking at his hands before crossing his arms and leaning against the wall. "We could go for a walk or eat or to the movies or something. I've just been kinda bored for a few days and I'll have some free time later today. Actually a lot leading up to the party. Gramps is handling everything on his own right now and it might be nice to get out and have some fun", he said rambling and picking up speed.

"Uh, okay. Let me check with mom when I get home and I'll call you and let you know?" Ash said questioningly. "And if it's okay then we can figure out what we want to do then."

"Sure, sounds great", Gary said smiling a bit. "Well I guess I'll smell you later, loser", he said with a wink for old times sake.

Ash glared balefully at him before grinning and shaking his head as he closed the door behind him and headed home.