Notes- this chapter features: Frisky Ponyta! Salivating Arcanine! Black Eyes! Snorlax Boxers!
Chapter 5
"Gary saved Brock's life?" I won't believe it. Ash had added, in his thoughts.
Misty was beaming at him, and nodding a bit too enthusiastically.
Ash's head was foggy and thick with sleep. He had been sleeping through much of the day, and both Pikachu and Eevee were curled on his lap. Through the window the sky was dimming to the dull pinkish colour of evening.
And Gary had saved Brock's life.
Ash considered asking the reason why, or even how, as he levered himself up a bit more on the couch.
For a while, probably before he'd fallen asleep, he'd heard voices outside the house, shouting and laughing, and it had all sounded like too much fun. Like the laughter was deliberately trying to torment him. Then he'd had a long and dreamless sleep, which was probably a good sign, since it hadn't involved giant Tentacools.
Then Misty had burst in, woke him up with a gentle nudge, and announced that Gary had saved Brock's life.
Still processing it all, he squinted at Misty through baffled eyes; "Gary saved Brock's life?" he repeated, wondering if he said it a few more times it might all evaporate into a bad dream.
"Yes," Misty nodded with more enthusiasm, "There were a load of Tauros, and they were all running towards us, and they caught up to Brock. Then Gary sent out his Arcanine and it chased them all away,"
Ash rubbed his eyes and blinked away the last of his sleep. "Oh," was all he could think to say.
Then the door burst open again, and Tracey was standing there grinning.
"We caught one, finally! The Professor got it!" he was waving a pokeball in the air.
Misty grinned back, and Ash felt strangely misplaced between them.
"Oh, Ash you're awake," Tracey seemed to notice him with a wave, "how are you feeling?"
"Confused," Ash stated, honestly.
"No more giant Tentacools?" from behind Tracey, Gary peeked in, a smirk on his face. Then he looked at Misty; "has he told you? We caught one at last."
"Yep," Misty smiled at him. And Gary was smiling back. "Do you need some help?"
"We've still got four more to round up,"
Ash watched as both Tracey and Gary left, and then Misty stood to follow.
"I want to come too," he said, and was standing up before she could say otherwise.
A brief clouding sensation passed over his head, and he knew his cold was still there, a nasty reminder.
"Ash, you're sick," Misty began to protest.
"I feel much better," he insisted, and was already walking toward the door. He felt Misty at his side, giving him a concerned look.
"You know your mom is going to kill you? Either that or the cold,"
Ash shrugged, then turned properly to Misty; "did he really save Brock?
"I told you."
Ash looked ahead, where Gary and Tracey were already running out onto the ranch. A little way ahead were three other little figures; Professor Oak, Delia and Brock, all trying to round up braying and frantic Ponyta.
"Well, Gary didn't technically save him then, did he? Arcanine did the saving."
Misty blinked at Ash, rather bemused. "I guess. But it's his Arcanine."
Ash managed to suppress a rather petulant scowl. He couldn't let childish spite get the better of him now. And he wanted to be out here, with everyone else, and get on with having the fun he knew he'd been missing through the better part of the day.
They reached the fence which held in the disobedient Ponyta, and there on the field Ash could make out everyone's figures, which looked small and drowned in the vastness which was the ranch.
A little nearer than everyone else, and then Ash realised they were walking towards him, Gary was talking to Brock, and Brock was laughing at him, or with him. Whatever. They were both laughing, and Ash was beginning to get a headache.
"I could've saved him," he mumbled. "Brock, I mean,"
"Oh?"
"Yeah. And I wouldn't have used a Pokemon, either. I would have saved him myself."
Misty sighed; "I'm sure you would have, Ash." she didn't sound impressed. "And you would have gotten horribly mauled in the process,"
Ash bit back a snappy reply. He didn't want to argue with Misty; and when he turned back to the field he saw that Brock and Gary had reached them.
Brock's appearance was dishevelled and his hair was spikier than usual. Gary, in a contrast which seemed only to exist to annoy Ash, was all perfect and spotless. And his usually pale cheeks were tinged with the tiniest bit of pink.
As Brock blew out an exhausted sigh, he turned to Ash, eyebrows raised.
"Ash? Shouldn't you be in bed?"
"I tried suggesting that. It was a futile effort." Misty said, her voice heavy.
"I wanted to come help,"
"How can you help?" Gary asked, like he was pretending to be curious, "I don't see what good you could be,"
Almost unconsciously, Ash clenched his fists. It was what he always did when Gary riled him like that, he was beginning to realise. Like some sort of instinctive act. The ferocious dig of nail in his own palm was almost satisfactory, like maybe he was projecting that angry pain onto his rival, even though he knew it was having no effect whatsoever.
In fact, rather as Ash had come to expect, Gary just smirked at him.
Even worse, Misty said something, and her voice was sweet and teasing, and she was talking to Gary;
"Caught anymore yet?"
"Not yet, those Ponyta are demonic." and Gary was smiling back at Misty, and it wasn't a very innocent smile either. Because Ash had gotten to know Gary's smiles by now, and he could almost split them into two distinct categories; Deeply Angelic or, and this being the most common, Deeply Obscene.
Right now, Gary was smiling at Misty, and if it had been directed at himself, Ash knew he would have been blushing bright red. Obscene didn't quite cover it.
"Not so demonic as the Tauros," Misty laughed girlishly. Ash was bewildered by it. Misty didn't laugh like that.
"They're probably my Tauros," Ash decided to point out, wanting to remind everyone of all the Tauros he's caught, that one time...
"That explains a lot. They were very, very deranged." Gary said sombrely.
Misty laughed again.
"Ash, your mom won't be too happy you're outside," Brock's voice sounded distant and unimportant.
Ash was too busy being perplexed by Misty, who continued to laugh girlishly and smile too much at his arch rival.
"Hey, you should remember that time the Tauros saved us all from Team Rocket,"
Gary turned to Ash, and the Deeply Obscene smile was gone, replaced with something like tentative interest. "I remember. But so what? Team Rocket are not exactly known for their success rate."
Ash couldn't argue with that, much to his chagrin.
The silence which lingered about them seemed to agree with Gary.
Misty's laugh was embarrassed; "well, Ash has a point. The Tauros did save us that time,"
"They also nearly trampled Brock," Gary added. His smirk was deep and looked like it might become permanent if it was given the chance.
That instinctive feeling in Ash's clenched fists returned, and they twitched some sort of anticipation. He wasn't sure what it was, but the hotness simmering around his head was definitely not a good feeling.
"Uh," he took a moment to take in Brock; who looked fine, really. Certainly not as though he'd suffered some near death experience. It had probably all been exaggerated. Ash knew Gary best for his bragging, and Misty had probably got caught up in the excitement of it all. It comforted him mildly, but he asked anyway; "...are you alright, Brock?"
Brock laughed; "fine, of course,"
Ash felt a little more assured, but Gary was still smirking, and there was nothing to be done about that.
He turned away in time to see Tracey running towards them, face flushed a brilliant red, waving two pokeballs in his hands.
"Look! Two more! We got em!"
Tracey clambered over the fence, and took a moment to regard Ash. "Don't you remember? You have a cold. And also, your mom is going to kill you,"
Ash grinned weakly. "I feel much better, thanks."
Tracey shook his head, but a faint smile was visible there. When he turned to face Gary the smile seemed to glow, and then Gary smiled back, and it was like the one he had shared so briefly with Ash last night, only magnified a few thousand times.
For a moment, Ash wondered what made Tracey so special.
"Two down, two to go," Gary grinned as Tracey threw the pokeballs to his chest. He pocketed them both.
"Professor says we'll have to put them in the separate PC, so we know who needs training and all that," Tracey said.
Gary rolled his eyes. "I know that. I've been helping out at the lab long enough, stupid,"
Tracey pulled a face at him, and Gary stuck his tongue out and then hopped over the fence into the field with ease.
"Are you coming with us this time?" his face was bright and maybe a bit hopeful when he looked at Misty.
Ash was bemused by it, and Misty laughed another of those weird laughs.
"I don't think so! Didn't you see? I nearly got mauled last time,"
Gary shrugged it off; "Don't worry. If you can catch a Tauros you'll have no problem with a Ponyta. They're pretty tame in comparison."
Misty looked doubtfully out at the field. In the fair distance was Professor Oak and Delia; chasing around the final two tiring Pokemon.
"Come on," Gary said, and he held out a hand, which seemed to indicate Misty's. "If you come with, I'll let you admire my beautiful Arcanine,"
Ash felt his stomach twist, and decided that Gary was just a rude and immodest little brat. Because clearly, Arcanine was a word which meant something else entirely. Something vulgar and inappropriate, and nothing to do with fire Pokemon at all.
"Well, ok," Misty stepped forward, hesitant.
And then Ash's nausea was replaced with deep, furious scandal, when Misty seemed to accept the atrocious chat-up line, and her hand met Gary's. He led her, with a grin which might have been encouragement, but Ash also liked to imagine as Smug Jerk, onto the field.
Gary turned round once to settle eyes on Tracey; "are you coming? Or do you want me to pick up all the extra brownie points from Gramps?"
Considering Tracey was such a fawn for Professor Oak, and everything he stood for, and also the fact that Tracey seemed to be Gary's Best Friend Ever these days, Ash was not surprised when Tracey jumped back over the fence, a determined look on his face.
"No way," and he linked hands with Misty as well.
Of course, Tracey's hand didn't count.
Swallowing down his sickness, Ash watched the three of them run off, looped together by swinging hands. Ash tried not to think of Misty and Gary playing cards, and their smiles, and other stuff which seemed to hurt his stomach. He turned to Brock.
"Aren't you going, too?"
"Nah," Brock shook his head. He was leant, looking casual and carefree on the fence. A million mind sets away from Ash's own tormented mind. "I think I've suffered enough near-death experiences today."
Ash didn't want to think about that, of all things. He pulled a sour face.
"So, is Gary's Arcanine really that great?"
Brock looked at Ash for a moment, then laughed. "Well, I guess so. It's a pretty high level, if that's what you mean."
"Oh. And it really saved your life?"
"Maybe a little," Brock smiled a bit. "But it really wasn't all that spectacular."
"That's good." Ash said, with the enthusiasm of doorstop.
He couldn't help but stare at what was happening in the field before him. Though their figures were all small and not at all detailed when they were so far off, it still somehow upset Ash to see Misty shrieking loudly, as a wily Ponyta brushed past her. Gary was shouting something to her, and she was laughing back at him. Then Gary caught a hold, finally, of one of the Ponyta, and Tracey cheered.
"Do you think Misty likes Gary?"
Ash had asked the question in a rush; and not really given himself time to think on the consequences, nor whether he really believed it himself.
Now he'd said it, it seemed that little bit more real. More frightening, even. He watched as Gary gave Misty a leg up onto the Ponyta, and she was giggling.
Brock sounded thoughtful in his reply; "I don't think so." he paused, and then; "I know Tracey likes him,"
Ash wasn't surprised by that at all. "Yeah. That's pretty obvious, isn't it."
"Is it?" Brock looked at Ash now, his brow raised.
"Either that, or the normal thing to do round here is to treat Gary like some sort of God. He loves him almost as much as Professor Oak."
Brock laughed loudly.
Ash continued: "you like him too, don't you?"
"He's ok. I don't really know him that well." Brock looked at Ash with interest. "Does it, um, bother you?"
Ash shook his head, and heard himself sigh, heavy and weary; "What's it got to do with me, anyway? Obviously though, there's something you lot see in Gary that I really don't."
"What do you see?"
"A self-conceited jerk."
Brock laughed again, tossing his head back. "Maybe you're right. There's certainly a bit of that in him."
"A bit of? I'd say a lot of."
"Well. A lot of, then." Brock amended. "But hey, he cooks a mean lasagne."
"I could cook lasagne," Ash insisted. "And it'd be better too." he watched as Misty and Tracey rode around on the wild Ponyta, and Gary stood in the middle, laughing.
A little way off were the Professor and Delia, and when Delia caught sight of Ash, she gave him a wave which might have also suggested she was going to give him a lecture a little later on. Ash winced, and waved meekly back.
"Which do you prefer? Death by cold or death by angry maternal instincts?" Brock was joking, but Ash found himself contemplating his own preference with a bleak seriousness.
They watched as the two Ponyta came cantering toward them; and Misty's shrieks of terror almost drowned out Tracey's laughter. Behind them was a large, brilliant spark of orange and yellow, bounding across the field with great ease. It took Ash a moment to realise it was an Arcanine.
"Idiot!" Misty scowled, clutching tight to her Pontya as it halted by the fence, it's hooves pawing at the ground. "Why'd he get the damn Arcanine out? He knew it'd freak out the Ponyta!"
"It got them moving though!" Tracey was laughing, and he fell from his Ponyta with a yelp before it cantered away again. He cursed and rubbed his rear rather pitifully.
"One-nil to me,"
Gary came into sight, and he offered Tracey a hand up with a smug smile.
Tracey shook his head as he accepted it. "No way. You didn't catch that Ponyta. That's Misty's,"
"I did catch it," Gary said, grinning deviously. "I was just being a gentleman, giving it to the lady," he looked at Misty, who was still clutching tight to her rogue Ponyta, as though her life depended on it. "Heh. Nice riding back there."
Despite her terror, Misty managed to pull off an impressively venomous glare.
"You...that stupid Arcanine! Don't ever do that again! Idiot!"
"What?" Gary was innocent. "Don't you like my Arcanine?"
"No!" Misty snapped, and Ash felt victorious.
"Aw," Gary was disappointed, but Ash knew he was feigning it. "You said it was wonderful, too,"
"Well I changed my mind. Quite dramatically. It's a wild and demented beast which shouldn't be let within a 1000 mile radius of mankind."
"He likes to chase Ponyta." Gary shrugged. He stepped up to Misty's Ponyta, which was jumping about unsteadily. "A lift down, madam?" he raised a hand to Misty's.
She took it in a clumsy hold, and almost fell into Gary's arms, all shaky and white. The Ponyta had cantered off before anyone could stop it.
"Hah. That's nil-nil again." Tracey said joyously.
Gary waved after it. "Farewell, noble Ponyta. May we see you again, when you've become less wimpy."
"Urgh." Misty groaned, resting heavily against Gary's shoulder. "I hate you. And I feel sick."
Gary grinned, "That's what all the girls say,"
And Ash noticed, with terrible distress, that Gary's arm was supporting the small of Misty's back.
"Here, let me help you." Ash stepped forwards, and made a show of pulling Misty away from Gary's hold.
Misty moaned a bit more. "Just let me sit down." she wavered, and both Ash and Gary guided her to the ground. Ash let his hand linger a little longer on her shoulder.
"Well," Gary didn't seem fussed, anyway. "I guess rounding up the Ponyta didn't work out." he was looking at the field in some amusement; "we should leave them for Gramps and Mrs Ketchum to round up."
Both the Professor and Delia were leaping about for a Ponyta, and after one near miss ended up falling into a heap on top of each other.
Gary grinned more widely; "I don't think they'll complain. They like the company."
Ash saw the Professor help his mother back to her feet, and they were both laughing. Then his view of them was blocked by the blur of vivid orange and yellow, and Gary's Arcanine came into sight.
It was so swift in it's step, and so graceful with it, that for a second Ash was almost awed by it, and could have completely understood certain peoples gushing words. It really was quite beautiful.
Misty let out a little scream; "Oh no! It's coming straight for us!"
Gary laughed, and Ash stared at him, annoyed. But as he stared his annoyance faded a little. And it wasn't like there had been any point to it, anyway. Gary wasn't even looking at him.
That was ok too, though. Because Ash was given the moment to look at Gary properly. Whose face was always a little paler than everyone else's, and whose hair was that reddish burnt brown, and seemed to look intentional even though it was so messy. Artful. Wasn't that the word he'd used?
As a warm breeze rushed round them, Ash saw the hair, artful or spiky, or whatever it was supposed to be, whip about with it. And the pale complexion which met his skin, a shocking contrast to dark hair and eyes. And suddenly Ash was looking at his rival from an altogether more different perspective.
Ash quickly turned away, mortified that his mind might have betrayed him like that. He was gratefully distracted by the big, hairy, salivating sight of Arcanine, who looked much less graceful close up, and more like an enormous dopey dog.
"Urgh. It's drooling all over me!" Misty staggered from under the Arcanine's great, hulking body and knocked into Ash.
"Hey, you'll hurt his feelings!" Gary stroked a hand over the beasts muzzle. It nudged against Gary with such enthusiasm that he almost fell backwards.
"Oh, it's magnificent." Tracey said, and he'd already gotten his sketchbook out, and was drawing frantically.
"My Charizard's pretty magnificent, isn't it?" Ash looked at both Brock and Misty, desperate for confident confirmation.
"Of course it is." Misty said, looking at Arcanine with perfect disdain. "It's a lot more magnificent than that hairy thing."
Gary leered at her, "oh really?"
"Yes, really."
Gary wasn't looking at Misty anymore; "Hey, Ashy. Why don't we have a little battle? Your Charizard and my Arcanine? And see whose is most magnificent?"
Ash felt the pit of his stomach drop."I can't." he said, and was more furious that of all Pokemon Gary could have picked for a battle, he'd chosen Ash's infamously unruly Charizard.
And there was no point hiding it from Gary, who would be a nuisance and probably pester him, or no doubt new best friends Tracey and Brock for the truth anyway. Ash deliberated for a second, feeling Gary's gaze on him, as well as everyone else's, who already knew.
He looked at Gary; who seemed more curious than impatient.
Ash closed his eyes for a tiny second. In his head, he recalled Gary smiling last night, and it had been friendly and...nice. Ash had smiled too.
It couldn't be so bad.
He opened his eyes and looked at Gary with a brave face; "I can't let my Charizard battle with you. It won't obey me."
For a moment, Ash held his breath, wondering if he'd just made the most awful confession of his life. He'd just given a pretty big pile of fuel to Gary's never ending fire of taunts against him.
But Gary just blinked at him, his face rather blank.
And then Ash felt a hand squeeze his shoulder, supportive. "Don't worry, Ash. It'll listen to you one of these days, I know it."
Misty. She was shockingly supportive when she wanted to be, Ash dimly noticed. But he was still trying to decipher Gary's reaction, which had now been blocked by Tracey.
"C'mon. We can't be having Pokemon Battles, anyway. You do still have that flu thing, remember. Which makes you hallucinate weird stuff, like giant Tentacools."
Ash allowed himself to be led toward the lab.
"What? Hallucinations?" Gary sounded disappointed. "Oh, and I thought you were telling the truth, Ashy!" his laugh was faintly malicious, but Ash was not bothered by it.
If anything, he was more relieved. Gary had not said a single nasty word about Charizard.
That was strange.
"Hah. Ashy dreams of hugging giant Tentacools. This is priceless stuff. I need to write it all down."
"Shut up," Misty said, somewhere near to Ash's side. "And can't you control that rabid beast?"
Ahead of them, Arcanine was running about in deranged circles, panting and barking madly.
"It's his walkies. He likes to walk." Gary said, and he sided up to Misty, just so Ash could see him out of the corner of his eye.
8
Inside the lab, everything felt warm and cosy, and Ash was exhausted as he dumped himself on a plushy couch. He was reminded, as everyone else had been reminding him, that he was still rather sick, and the dull thumping in the back of his head seemed to have returned with a vengeance.
Misty sat near to him on the couch, and flicked the television on.
Tracey, Brock and Gary stood by a PC, and Ash watched them for a little while, but mostly Gary, who looked warm and content between the two older boys, as he began loading Ponyta data into the PC. He was typing stuff on the keyboard with the eager professionalism of someone who was trying to impress a favourite teacher.
Well, it seemed to be working. Brock and Tracey looked suitably impressed, anyway.
"Ash, you really should have stayed at home today. You do look awful."
"Huh?" Ash blinked back at Misty. "Oh. Well. I feel alright."
But he knew Misty wasn't to be fooled. She just gave him a look which reminded him too much of his mother, who was all he really didn't need to think about right now, considering the lecture he was definitely going to get.
"Gary showed me how to sort out the data,"
Ash saw Misty was looking past him, to where Gary was still busy impressing Tracey and Brock with his stupid dorkiness.
Of course, there were other people besides his mother, who Ash really didn't want to think about either.
"He's pretty good at it. He knows where all the Pokemon are stored and what all their status is," Misty continued gushing, and Ash was strongly reminded of Tracey.
"It shouldn't be a surprise," he said. "His grandfather is Professor Oak, you know," he stared, as Gary pointed out something else on the computer monitor, and both Brock and Tracey seemed to be engrossed by it. It was like the Areodactyl thing all over again.
"Maybe he'll show you how it all works, if you ask him," Misty said, and her face was sympathetic.
Ash pulled a face in horrific realisation. Did she think he was jealous? Jealous that Tracey and Brock seemed to garner all of Wonder Boy Gary's attention?
He scoffed loudly. "I don't think so." he shifted on the couch and folded his arms. Then, in a lower voice; "Don't see why they all like him so much, anyway,"
Misty didn't say anything, which was much more alarming to Ash. He'd hoped she'd be there to offer horrible words about one Gary Oak. To make Ash feel a little better about himself. Now though, she just looked uncomfortable.
She might have opened her mouth to say something, but such little wonders were destroyed when Tracey, Brock and Gary decided to join them. Brock and Gary were smiling between themselves, as though they were the only ones in on a filthy joke.
"Oh, I wish your Arcanine would sit still," Tracey peered out the window, sketchpad in hand. "He keeps disappearing."
Tracey gushed a bit longer about Arcanine, and other things which might have been related to Gary, although Ash couldn't be sure because he chose to turn his brain off at a certain point. Instead he started thinking and worrying about what Misty had said. Or might have said.
"...so that's what I'm going to do. And you can battle me then. Right, Ashy?"
"Huh?" it took Ash a while to realise Gary was talking to him. He was sat on a chair opposite, taking off his boots.
"You can be battle me after I get the Areodactyl. Then we can determine forever who is the best trainer ever in the world. Ever."
"I don't think it'll be that decisive," Brock took a seat next to Gary, looking doubtful.
"Why not? And you should be rooting for me. You're helping me find the Areodactyl, remember?"
Brock didn't respond at once; he was looking somewhere round Gary's feet, and then pulled a face of concern.
"What?" Gary looked insulted. "Are my feet that terrible?"
"No, not that," Brock shook his head, and pointed at the slip of skin exposed on the boys bare leg. There was a nasty looking gash there; which was dark with dried blood.
"Oh," Gary looked at it and then seemed to remember something. "Must have been when those Tauros attacked. They got in the way a bit."
"It must have hurt," Brock looked rather incredulous. "I didn't think they got you,"
Tracey came over too, concerned; "That looks painful. Wait a minute,"
Gary just shrugged, and seemed rather unfazed by the attention. "Ow," then he winced, as Tracey placed a wet cloth over it.
Ash felt something tighten in his gut.
He remembered thinking it was nothing; that Brock hadn't really been in any danger from the Tauros at all. And that Gary was just a braggart. Him and his stupid Arcanine. But that gash looked nasty, and maybe the Tauros could have really hurt him...
"Ow! You're making it worse!"
"Shut up, stupid. It might get infected," Tracey scolded as he kept wrapping the cloth tight round his leg. "You should have said something,"
Gary pulled his leg away from Tracey in annoyance. He folded his arms petulantly. "It's not as bad as it looks. It didn't even hurt very much." he looked more embarrassed than angry, and as Tracey moved toward him, Gary held up an arm in warning. "It's fine,"
"Well, ok." Tracey gave him an odd look.
Gary glared, and then he stood up. "See? I can walk and everything. It's like some kind of miracle has happened."
"Haha." Tracey did not look amused. He shoved Gary lightly in the side.
Ash just stared as Gary smirked over his shoulder. It was unfair. Why did Gary do stupid things which he wasn't supposed to do? Like save Brock from the Tauros, and end up hurting his leg and making Ash feel completely terrible about it, for no reason at all?
And it wasn't even a bad wound. Gary was fine and smirking and sarcastic. It was nothing to worry about.
And Ash wasn't worried, really.
The door opened, and Professor Oak and Delia entered, rosy cheeked and windswept. Victorious between them, they held the pokeballs which contained the last two Ponyta.
"It took a long time, but it was worth it," Delia wiped an arm over her brow. Then she looked at Ash. "I'm too tired to even begin to wonder why you're not in bed. So I'll save it for later, alright, dear?" she half slumped on a nearby chair and closed her eyes.
Ash nodded frantically. His insides slackened their relief.
"Look, gramps. I sustained an injury out there. Aren't I brave?" Gary was lifting his leg up to the Professor, the sarcasm still evident in his voice.
"Oh. That does look rather nasty," the Professor didn't seem to catch it. "Have you cleaned it up properly?"
Gary frowned. "What am I? Five years old?" he turned and watched as the Professor began tapping in data for the Ponyta, and Ash found himself watching Gary. He looked immersed by whatever the Professor was doing. Like he was the only thing that really existed in the room, and everyone else had disappeared. Nobody else grabbed Gary's attention like that, Ash knew.
"You're not five, I know," the Professor sounded vaguely apologetic, his attention all for the computer screen. He patted Gary absently on the head.
Gary grimaced, unamused.
The Professor turned away from the monitor; "Delia, looks like we have all the Ponyta rounded up. If you'd like, tomorrow we can start the training,"
"Oh, of course," Delia said. "the fete is barely two weeks away. We have so little time left,"
"What are you training the Ponyta for?" Misty asked.
"They're going to be leading a parade at the fete. We've got to get them all ready for it in less than two weeks, now,"
"I would help, but since I'm a useless cripple now there just isn't any point," Gary said morosely. "Also, I really need to go to Mount Moon."
"But if you're a cripple how will you get there?" Brock wondered.
"Ah, that's where your Amazing Onix comes in." Gary swung over the couch near to Misty. "The Onix will take me there. It's big and strong. I'm sure it could manage my weight,"
"Not if it's carrying the weight of your ego," Misty sniped, and she hit him on the shoulder.
"Ow. Why do you abuse me like this?"
Misty blinked at him, solemn. "Two words; Demented. Arcanine."
"Aw," Gary's face fell in mock pity, "You're not still sore about that, are you?"
"In more ways than one,"
Gary spared her a smirk, and then, without given warning, reached out and clasped her hand in his.
"Misty, please accept my most humble of apologies,"
Misty's eyes were wide and startled by the gesture, and Ash supposed his own expression was much the same. Then Misty's brow rose suspiciously. Ash wondered why she didn't let go of his hand too. "Ok, I accept your shameless apology!"
Gary seemed pleased. "And please accept a free ride on my beautiful Arcanine."
Misty's face twisted into slight horror. "I don't think so." but even as she said it, she couldn't seem to help the smile which was trembling to reach her lips. Then Gary tipped his head, and Ash watched as he gave Misty a faint kiss on the hand.
And Misty, no matter what she actually thought of Gary, could not feign the obvious blush which crossed her cheeks.
Ash was not so much horrified. Well, he was. But not in the way he thought he might be. Or probably should be.
Probably he should be horrified for Misty. Maybe feel sorry for her; because Gary's brutal flirting was anything but subtle. In fact it was terribly unsubtle. He might as well have worn a flashing flourescent sign round his neck saying something along the lines of I love you Misty, wanna come make out with me hint hint wink wink.
But he wasn't so much horrified by that. He'd always thought Gary would be that type, anyway. With the Obscene Grin and everything.
Instead there was something strange and indescribable in Ash's stomach, and he could definitely trace it back to last night, during the card game. When Misty and Gary had been smiling together, and Ash had felt like he needed to say something, or do something, to stop all the smiling.
He felt like he needed to do it here, again. And as soon as possible, since Gary was grinning at Misty in that soft way now. The way Ash had noticed earlier on the ranch, when he'd noticed Gary's hair...
"Earth to Ash,"
Tracey's hand was waving before his eyes.
"What?" he said, with a little more irritation than he'd intended.
"Your Pikachu is here. And it looks distressed."
Ash batted away confusing thoughts about Gary and Misty, and the strange feeling inside of him vanished with them. He saw Pikachu standing in the doorway, on all fours and panting slightly.
"Pi! Pika Pi!"
Ash quirked his head at his Pikachu. He didn't understand everything his Pikachu said, although he knew certain words, and certain tones. He didn't need to consider this for long, and he sprung to his feet, a little against his better judgement, since the world slid a little out of focus.
"Careful, Ash. You're still sick." Misty's hand steadied him, on his shoulder. "What is it?"
"I think it's serious," Ash followed Pikachu outside, and the electric rodent began running, back toward his house.
Ash heard his mother calling behind him, something about his cold, and how it was going to get worse. He ignored her and followed Pikachu into his house. For a long few moments, Ash couldn't understand what Pikachu was saying, or trying to show him. There was nothing there, the whole house was empty.
Then Pikachu prodded at an empty pokeball, and did an excellent impression of an Eevee. Gary's Eevee.
"Eevee? Eevee's gone?"
"What?"
Ash turned around, and Gary was standing there and he looked pale. He shoved Ash aside and bent down to the empty pokeball.
"Where is it?" he demanded, not looking at Ash.
"Pika," Pikachu looked very helpless, much how Ash felt. He stared at Gary's back, and wondered what to say.
"What's up?" Brock's voice was behind him. He guessed everyone else had caught up too.
"Gary's Eevee-"
"-It's missing," Gary finished rather savagely. He turned round to Ash, his eyes flashing accusation. "Where is it?"
"I-I don't know!"
Gary shook his head; "you were supposed to stay here, and now it's gone,"
Ash didn't like the angry upset which seemed to have crossed his rivals face. He also didn't like being accused of things which really weren't his problem;
"It's not my fault it's gone, I wasn't told to stay and look after your Pokemon!"
"If you'd have stayed here, like everyone told you-"
"That's not fair," Ash clenched his fists, a familiar rage settling about his head. "And you don't know it's gone anywhere! Maybe it's still in the house!"
Gary seemed to dither in his anger for a moment, as though trying to ward off Ash's words.
"Well fine," then he stepped close to Ash, and his face was menacing. He thrust the empty pokeball in Ash's hand. "Why don't you go find it? Or maybe you're too much of a loser to do that?"
"I-I'm not a loser! You're the loser! You can't even keep your Eevee-"
"Shut up!" Gary sprang forward, and this time there was no Tracey there to hold him back. Ash wasn't prepared for the fist which connected with his chin. He stumbled back, and when he saw the sneer on his rivals face, he saw red and forgot everything else.
He forgot about how Gary had smiled at him after the card game; and had not been so bad all of the time, and hadn't mentioned anything about a hurt leg out on the ranch, or even how he made Ash's stomach feel strange sometimes when he did odd things. Ash forgot all of these things as he leapt forward and plunged a fist into Gary's stomach.
It meant nothing right now.
Gary staggered backwards, his face brief in shock, before recovering himself with a nasty snarl. He flung his fist into Ash's chest, and though it hurt, Ash was still too high on his own anger to really register the pain.
He aimed a sharp blow to Gary's face, but the taller boy dodged it, and Ash brushed only the outer side of his cheek. Gary hit back more successfully, and along with a stinging pain in his nose, Ash found his head falling into contact with the floor, and then Gary's weight crushing down into him.
Behind them, Ash was faintly aware of shrieking protests. Probably Misty.
The air was cut short in his chest, because Gary had pinned him so soundly, and there were little explosions of pain somewhere round the back of his head where it had hit the ground. He struggled, and fumbled with a fist, trying to grab at something which might help him.
Gary yelped when Ash caught the long chain of his pendant and gave it a sharp twist, curling it tight round his rivals neck. He intended to rip it off, and hoped it'd be painful too, but it wouldn't snap, and Gary grabbed his hand in his fist and pulled it away, gasping a bit.
His eyes were wide and for a moment might have looked frightened. It helped Ash to sustain what was left of the fighting spirit inside of him. The frightened eyes and the gasp somehow spurred him on. With his one free hand, the one which wasn't being held tight in Gary's own, Ash pulled back and landed a victorious right hook at one of those wide eyes.
Gary cried out and fell back at the same time Delia came in:
"Oh my God! What is going on here?"
The little glow of satisfaction in Ash's mind was quickly deflated by his mothers high voice. His guts sank in a growing sort of despair, and he lifted himself upright with a grimace. Pain thronged his side, and his nose felt warm.
Delia was glaring down at him, and her face was pale and alarmed.
Hands behind his back lifted him up, and Ash realised it was Misty. She looked pale too, and Ash felt her fraught grip stay on his jacket, as though he might leap into another unexpected attack at any moment.
Ash had no such inclination, even when he dared a look at Gary, who had already got to his feet and was managing to dust himself down with a deep air of arrogance, despite a glaringly obvious black eye. It might have been comical, in any other circumstance. Ash couldn't even bring himself to sneer at it.
Tracey was standing nearby, a hand faltering near to Gary, like it was unsure whether to touch him or not. In the end he just let it fall to his side, and he frowned.
"Well? Explain yourselves, please," Delia was looking between both of them now.
Ash muttered to the ground; "it was nothing,"
"It didn't look like nothing,"
A tiny silence, and then another meek voice; "It was nothing, Mrs Ketchum. Sorry we worried you."
Ash looked up, and saw Gary was staring across at him. His face was unreadable.
"Well," along with anger, there was a trace of despair in Delia's voice. She sighed and shook her head. "Clean yourself up, Ash. And go to bed. I don't even know why you got up today anyway, the state you're in,"
The comment stung, only because Gary had said it moments before the fight. It almost made it seem like she was on his side.
When he reached his bedroom, and spared a moment to wince at the bleeding nose reflected in the mirror, he realised his hands were still clenched into shaky fists. He uncurled them and the empty pokeball dropped onto his bed.
He remembered Gary's Eevee with a rush of sickness.
He didn't have much time to dwell on it, since footsteps padded up the stairs, seemed to hesitate on the landing, and then a soft voice in the hall.
For some reason Ash wasn't very comforted by the sound of Misty. And then he remembered her and Gary at the lab, and all the laughing.
"Go away," he snapped lamely.
"I'm not,"
Ash turned away from the door and slumped on his bed. "Fine. Don't."
A little sigh outside, and then; "fine. I won't."
"Fine."
"Fine."
Ash tossed on his bed, and stared hard at the wall. He could keep this up all night.
"Don't be stupid, Ash."
"Don't you be stupid," Ash corrected, knowing he was being idiotically immature.
"Well I'm going to be, Ash Ketchum, whether you like it or not. I'm going to be very stupid and come marching into your room and talk some sense into your brainless head. Ok?" she paused, and then, "er, you're all dressed, aren't you?"
"Yes,"
"Good." then the door flung open. "Here I am, ready to talk to you," she spoke in a bracing voice, like she'd just entered the den of a savage lion. Her eyes scanned about the room somewhat apprehensively.
Ash blinked at her, confused, wondering what she expected to find.
"Well," he mumbled. "Here you are. So talk."
"Ah, yes. Here I am." Misty shifted, and her posture was all awkward and shy. Ash couldn't really recognise it on her. It was almost like Gary pretending he was modest and nice and not a total jerk. That just wouldn't be right.
"Um. Are you going to talk?"
"Yes." Misty nodded at once, then crept in that non-Misty-like way to the edge of Ash's bed. She seemed to stare at it for the longest second, and for a moment Ash thought she'd become victim to some sort of paralysis.
Impatient, he patted the bed.
She sat and cleared her throat very loudly. Ash wasn't sure if she was blushing, her head was turned down and away from him.
"Ok," she spoke slowly. "I don't expect you to go down there and apologise to Gary-"
"-what?" Ash stared at her. "Me apologise? He's the one who accused me - said it was my fault!"
Misty was looking at him tentatively, as though he might be that savage lion.
"Well, yes. But, you know, it sort of was, Ash." her voice was terribly meek. "I mean, you should have stayed in home. We all told you that. And then you hit him too-"
"I was angry! He made me angry like he always does!"
"Here, have a tissue,"
"What?" Ash snatched the tissue from Misty anyway, and wiped his nose. He tried to ignore her quelling look; that pitying expression she seemed to adopt when she knew he'd done something incredibly stupid, but just didn't have the heart to tell him. Ash hated that look, but only because it always worked.
Made him sigh and realise maybe he was wrong about things.
He half held his breath, hoping she was going to comfort him now, and tell him it was ok, and if Gary tried to kill him, she'd be there to provide bandages and plasters.
"You can be an idiot, Ash,"
Ash blinked at her, dimly insulted. "Thanks, Misty,"
Misty's face was soft though. She wasn't trying to be insulting, Ash realised. She was just being...well, Misty.
"Ash, I'm sure Eevee will turn up. And anyway, Gary knows you're sick. I can't imagine he'll stay angry at you. So don't worry,"
Ash frowned at her; "what makes you think I'm worried?"
Misty looked at him, and then sighed as though he'd maybe missed a glaringly obvious point.
"Nothing, never mind."
"And anyway, he's always angry at me. So it doesn't make a difference, does it." Ash decided, and wondered why he felt rather sad about that. "Maybe it's stuck in the laundry," he added, after a moment.
"What?"
"The Eevee. It might be stuck in the laundry. Pikachu got lost in there once."
Misty was doubtful; "do you even know where the laundry is?"
"I know. I do laundry sometimes. I mean, I would, if Mr Mime didn't get there first." he caught Misty's sceptical face, and then realise that laundry really wasn't the point of this conversation. "Um. And anyway, who leaves their Pokemon out of pokeballs? He should have kept it in one and this wouldn't have had to happen,"
"Says the person who let's a Pikachu sit on his head,"
Ash sniffed; "That's different. Pikachu's a special case."
"Eevee might be, too."
"You don't have to defend him. He can't hear you,"
Misty's eyes flashed something like upset, and then she tossed her head. Ash regretted what he'd said.
"He was being nice to you," he tried to explain, rather lamely.
Misty regarded him oddly.
"Yes. So?"
"Well, he-I don't know." Ash folded his arms stiffly. "He shouldn't do that being-nice thing. It's all wrong."
Misty shifted on the bed, seeming to find Ash's words amusing. "Well, he can be...he can be alright, I guess. Besides, he is, sort of...charming, in his way,"
It was like someone had put cottonwool in his ears, and Ash had misheard something.
That couldn't be right. Misty had said Gary was charming.
He studied Misty's profile. Maybe she'd just gone temporarily insane. That was ok; it happened to the best of people. And Misty always was fairly unpredictable.
But Misty's temporarily insane face didn't alter, and when she glared at Ash she just said; "What? He is a bit.,"
"Oh," Ash heard his voice in his ears, weak and without real emotion. "Charming. You think he's charming,"
"So?" Misty looked prickled, as well as rather embarrassed. "I mean, I can sort of understand why people would like him,"
"Isn't that the same thing?"
"What do you mean?"
"You're admitting he's likeable."
"To some people." Misty reminded.
Ash shrugged. He couldn't see the difference. "Well. You really liked the lasagne."
"Actually, I thought it was a bit on the salty side." she spoke as though she might be confessing a terrible secret.
Strangely, it cheered Ash a little.
He wasn't sure why. It was a bizarre and stupid reason to be cheered. Misty had just confessed, as far as Ash could tell, that she thought Gary was Charming. And when she was supposed to be playing the part of comforting friend, telling him all the reasons why Gary Oak was definitely not Charming, this really wasn't the greatest news in the world.
He smiled weakly at Misty anyway. "I'll make you a lasagne. And it'll be better. I told Brock I would."
"Great," Misty beamed. "Oh, you've still got a bit of blood there." she wiped his nose with what was left of the stained tissue, and her grin was a little coy.
"Thanks,"
888
The next day, the first thing Ash properly noticed when he went downstairs was Gary's black eye, which looked magnificent and fierce on his pale skin.
The second thing he noticed was his mother, who handed him a pile of unwashed laundry, her face sweet;
"Take those upstairs, honey. And then get to work on the rest, ok?"
"What?" Ash blinked at the dirty clothes.
"You might say 'what?' young man, but this is what you get for starting silly fights," Delia's face became a little more stern.
By her side, Gary was still there, all black eyed, only he wasn't smirking or sniggering like Ash would have expected. In fact he just looked gloomy.
"Do I have to?" he turned to her, "I still haven't found Eevee,"
"I know, dear." but Mrs Ketchum just gave him a sock she'd found on the floor. "Here," she smiled tightly. "Eevee will show up, I'm sure."
Gary didn't say anything else and went upstairs with a yawn.
Ash followed reluctantly, wondering about how long they'd last before one of them decided to shove the other in the washer.
8
Ash disliked Mr Mime just as much as the next person. And the Next Person happened to be Gary.
Gary always frowned or wrinkled his nose when Mr Mime came within vacuuming distance of his lower regions, and Ash was sympathetic to that cause.
Sitting by the laundry basket, he pulled out a plaid skirt, which he vaguely knew as Misty's, and folded it rather carelessly. He could have enjoyed this punishment; it wasn't too soul-destroying, and best of all Gary had been punished too. Clearly he wasn't Delia's complete Golden Boy, as Ash had initially thought.
But it had all turned out rubbish anyway. Because nothing was more punishing than spending the better part of the morning alone with Gary. Especially when you'd had a fist fight the night before.
"This pile is bottomless," Gary announced to the ceiling, face full of despair. "And I hate this,"
He pulled a crinkled set of yellow boxers from the pile, which almost made Ash blush. He was just thankful they were not the Snorlax ones.
He glanced at Gary, who was scowling at the door. Mr Mime was standing there, beaming.
"Go away," Gary chucked the boxers at the Pokemon's head. "If you want something to do, why not vacuum up all Ash's really bad clothes? Save us all an eyesore or two."
Ash sucked in a testy breath. He had to keep his temper, he had to stop curling his fingers into fists, and he had to stop buying embarrassing clothes.
He quickly stuffed the Psyduck print T-shirt to the bottom of the pile.
"This sucks," Gary carried on complaining, and he threw a t-shirt in the direction of his own careless pile.
Ash chanced a look at him. He'd not really looked at him for much of the morning. He'd just been afraid he'd be angry all over again, and want to punch his smarmy rivals face. Now though, he wasn't feeling that angry anymore, and Gary was leaning against the laundry basket, looking tired and neglected.
Something tugged at Ash, inside of him. He wasn't sure what it was, but whatever it was, it made him wish Gary would speak to him just a bit more.
But Gary wouldn't even look at him.
It wasn't so much a step back, to square one. Because square one had never really existed anyway. This was just a step further into the nothing which was their nonexistent friendship. Just another nasty reinforcement to the fact that Ash Ketchum and Gary Oak were never going to be friends.
It was almost worse. Because things seemed to have been going ok. Or as well as things could ever seem to go between them.
Like that few minutes after the card game.
"Misty has a lot of t shirts," Gary said. He was holding up a pink and yellow one, which Ash didn't really like.
Gary must've caught his reaction;
"You're one to talk. Your fashion sense is pretty nonexistent too."
"Hey," Ash glared, but the anger wasn't there. "I'll tell Misty you said that," he winced at his own childishness. And wished he was better at comebacks.
Gary looked at him, somewhere between very mild amusement and disgust on his face. "What do I care? Tell your friends what you like. I'm sure you'll feel a whole lot better for it,"
"I don't know what you mean,"
"It doesn't matter," Gary shrugged. "You've already done a great job losing my Pokemon,"
"That wasn't my fault!" Ash whipped the next t shirt from the basket in a fury. "Anyway, your Eevee couldn't have been that fond of you, could it? To have run away or gotten lost or whatever's happened to it-"
"Don't say that about my Pokemon! You have no idea!" Gary shouted, and then stood up so close to Ash, he looked like he wanted to finish what they had started yesterday, and punch him in the face.
At the back of his mind, Ash decided his mom was insane. What was she thinking, putting them in the laundry room, all alone like this? Did she seriously not expect blood to be shed?
Now, he glowered at Gary and his breath was tight in his chest, almost anticipating another punch up.
Instead, Gary just levelled Ash's glare a moment longer, before collecting some Snorlax printed boxers in a vicious grip and chucking them on Ash's head.
"They suit you," he hissed, and then stomped out the room, door slamming behind him.
A moment later, Mr Mime peeped in, looking a little nervous. "Mime?"
Ash just scowled at it.
"Go away."
8
Misty was kind and assuring, even if she did happen to think Gary was charming.
"I know he's being unreasonable and immature and all those other things," she informed Ash in a conspirative voice as she made him soup. "Here, try it. Is it too hot? But did you know, he was looking for that Eevee all night?"
Ash spat the soup onto the table with a squeak. "Sorry, a little too hot," then he blinked. "All night?"
"Yes," Misty wiped up the soup with a disdainful face. "I think he was looking on the ranch mainly. Your mom and the Professor had to coax him in this morning, to at least get a bit of sleep."
Ash nodded absently. Yes, Gary had looked tired, he remembered that.
"Can I have more salt," he asked the soup bowl. "I don't know why he's so upset though,"
"Wouldn't you be? Think about if it was Pikachu,"
"I wouldn't go blaming other people. Or punching them."
Misty looked like she might want to say something, but instead she just put the soup bowl in front of Ash.
"Make sure you drink it all. It'll clear up the rest of your flu in no time."
"Yes, mom."
"Anyway, It's not your fault." Brock chimed in. He was battling with Mr Mime to dry some pots. "You were sick, and you're not responsible for Eevee. You shouldn't feel guilty,"
"I don't," Ash insisted. "Can't you guys remember? He nearly broke my nose."
"You nearly strangled him," Brock pointed out. Stupid Brock. Who was supposed to be helpful and not say these kinds of things.
"He nearly crushed my skull,"
"You both nearly did a lot of things," Tracey said from the doorway, which was probably more a warning than anything else, since Gary entered the room a bare minute later and looked at Ash's soup with disinterest.
"Your mom has more laundry for us. Just so you know." he said.
"Oh," Ash said dismally.
The awkward atmosphere was broken only by Mr Mime, who buffeted Brock, attempting to snatch the pots away from him.
Brock cursed, and Gary looked at the Pokemon miserably; "maybe he sucked up my Eevee."
"You're being unreasonable," Misty snorted. "Mr Mime would never do such a thing,"
"No?" Gary glanced at her with little interest. He curled his lip at the sight of her Togepi. "It was your strange egg thing, wasn't it? I always knew it was evil."
"It is not," Misty said with stern assurance. And she hugged the little egg Pokemon tight to her chest, as if she didn't trust Gary's glare. Ash couldn't say he blamed her.
"I'd like some proof, please." Gary said. "Times and places. When is your Togepi available for a thorough interrogation?"
"When you learn and put into practise the word Sanity. Which will be never, just so you know,"
Ash noticed the small upturn of Gary's lips when he looked at Misty. It was a good thing, he supposed. He kind of liked Gary's smile.
"Misty, careful with your words. I've uncovered a few shocking and incriminating things in that laundry basket, you know."
Misty almost choked, and nearly dropped Togepi.
"Don't worry. I won't say a word," Gary promised.
"I'm not worried! There's nothing there-nothing to be-" she shot a scandalized look at Ash, then back at Gary; "Just shut up!"
Gary sniggered. "Ok,"
Ash sat in his own faint confusion, wondering why Misty got so embarrassed about stupid things like clothes. He couldn't say he really cared very much about such things. Maybe Gary did, but he was a jerk so that didn't matter.
He finished up the rest of his soup alone, since Brock and Misty said something about going to help out at the lab, and Gary had spoken to Tracey in an impatient voice, demanding he come and see something with him.
He wasn't really listening when he opened the door into the hallway, but he caught himself just in time, when he noticed the two figures sitting at the bottom of the stairs.
Gary's voice was soft and quiet; "...I doubt it...It was ready to evolve, too. If it's lost, I don't know what..." his words seemed to fade, and then Tracey, the taller boy, rested a hand on his shoulder with no hesitation at all.
"It's ok," he said. "it's ok,"
It took Ash a startled moment to realise Gary might be very upset. He seemed agitated as he drew a hand through his spiked hair, and he rubbed a hand briskly over eyes which might have been watery. Ash honestly couldn't tell.
"It's just...it's... it has no sense of direction,"
"I see," Tracey was smiling kindly.
"And I wanted to show it her...she'd be impressed."
"She will be, and you will get to show her,"
Gary seemed to return Tracey's small smile, and nodded very slightly. Then he placed his head in his hands, and his sigh was shaky.
And Ash just felt like he wasn't supposed to have seen that. And a strange dryness prickled the back of his throat, almost like a feeling of constriction.
He turned back into the lounge and stared at the blank screen of the television, where his reflection was lines of vague black shapes, and yet still seemed to give away his shock.
He had known Gary was upset. Of course he had.
Perhaps not that upset.
But there was other stuff too, which left Ash's mind swirling in speculation. Who was she? The person Gary wanted to impress?
It hardly beared thinking about, although Ash had a terrible feeling he knew exactly who it was.
When he looked out the window, she was there.
"Hey, Ash! Finished all your smelly laundry yet?" Misty waved at him, bright and framed by the gleaming sun behind her.
888
Notes: -cries- this chapter was slow-going, and there was much Trauma and Writers Block involved. The story will hopefully get into gear in the next chapter though, so please stick around! And there will be Other Character Appearances! And maybe Richie! -shudder- And OMG there will most definitely be Mount Moon! CLEFAIRIES YAY
And thanks so much for reviews on previous chapters, you guys. I am encouraged to carry on because of them, so please, please do review this if you can spare the time! Also I'm glad people don't seem to mind longer chapters, cos I'm afraid they're not gonna be getting any shorter :P
credit:
"Farewell, noble Ponyta..."- part of a quote taken from Toshihiro Ono's Surfs Up Pikachu ("farewell, noble Slowpoke"), The final volume in The Electric Tale Of Pikachu series. (Which everyone must go and read immediately, btw.) couldn't resist :P