Another Chapter. Which features: Amazing Onix, Digging and much more Digging.
Try to understand
that an oyster can only make a pearl
from a grain of sand
-Tiny Spark, Brendan Benson
Chapter 8
When Ash woke to an uncompromisingly bright sun, he was hit by a dull thump in the head, and when he sat upright, feeling dizzy, he began to realise that maybe he'd not recovered completely from a cold just yet.
"Have a kipper, Ash. You look like a zombie." Misty stuffed a kipper in his face.
Ash chomped, without much choice, on the cold, not especially nice kipper, and looked around to see that everyone else was awake and about. Gary, whose eyes were wide and looked like he might not have slept at all, was already packing up, and Tracey was ambling about, doodling random scenery in his beloved sketchbook.
"You were sleeping so deeply." Brock said in explanation. He was in process of heaving his rucksack on the shoulder. "Sorry, everybody took the best of breakfast."
"Yeah, but you didn't miss much," Gary said, "we were all in the mood for omelette. But Misty was mean and wanted to keep Togepi all to herself."
Misty hugged Togepi tight to her chest. "It's a Pokemon." she reminded sharply. "My Pokemon."
Privately Ash sniggered, and was also a little disappointed. He really fancied omelette.
"Why didn't you wake me earlier?" he rubbed his eyes and stretched. His head still throbbed a little, but the buzzing activity around him was distracting. Gary looked at him eagerly;
"Because you looked so cute," he said, "Sleeping like a baby. It would have been cruel and unjust to wake you,"
Ash blinked up at Gary; "since when did cruel and unjust stop you?"
"Be quiet and eat your kipper." Gary said, and turned round in one quick movement. Ash knew he wasn't really annoyed; he'd come to learn what tone Gary took, what expression he wore, when he was genuinely annoyed.
And plus, Gary was in the process of jumping Tracey from behind, and clamping him in an unforgiving hug.
Not very annoyed, then.
Ash was helped up by Misty, and they walked together for the remaining length of the journey to Mount Moon. She commented once or twice that he looked a bit peaky, but for the most part she was busy trying to lull Togepi to sleep with some demented song about dancing Rattata. Ash did feel a little sick, but he wasn't about to admit weakness, and he made a point of keeping up a strident pace, until they eventually reached the foot of the mountain.
It was incredibly hot, and the sun was shining on the rocks, making them seem to burn like brilliant orange fire.
"It's very beautiful to look at, more than I remember," Misty said.
"Yeah, I might have to do some watercolours," Tracey was already enthusiastically rifling through his big brushes collection.
"This is all very exciting, but I'm very bored, and it's half past seven,"
Ash stared up at the rude shadows that loomed all over him, blocking out most of the sunlight. Gary was stood in the middle, surrounding by his new lackeys Brock and Tracy.
"Half past seven?" Ash rubbed his eyes. "Just exactly what time did we get up?"
"Time is irrelevant when you've got new discoveries to, um, discover," Gary told him.
"Half past seven..." was all Ash could think to mutter. He tried to remember when this holiday home had become a long string of early mornings and very late nights.
"Are you sure you're ok, Ash?" Misty asked, and she put a hand on his forehead without warning, "You're still sick, I knew it. You should go home,"
"I'm fine," Ash glared all around, him but mostly at Gary, who looked bright and amused with his pickaxe and stupidly big backpack.
"Let's go then, Ashy. You can be my second in command for this expedition! Won't it be loads of fun?"
Ash tilted his head at his rival, and wondered if there was even much point about wondering if his rival had lost his mind. "if you say so,"
"Digging? Now?" Brock raised his brow.
"Of course! Early Pidgey catches the Weedle and all that,"
"Early Pidgey might also pass out in his own stupidity," Tracey grabbed Gary by his shirt and yanked him firmly to the ground. "You've got to sit and eat first."
Ash certainly didn't much care about Gary's passing out. In fact the idea kind of appealed to him a little bit.
"That would never happen," Gary said with great conviction, but stole a crafty cookie from Tracey as he got away from him. He looked down at Ash; "C'mon, Ashy-boy. Can you pry yourself away from that Pikachu for a little while?"
Ash stared round at his friends, feeling a little bit afraid. They all shrugged very unhelpfully.
Eventually Brock saved him from the prospect of being alone with Gary.
"I'll come with you. You want to borrow my Onix anyway, don't you?"
"Super Onix!" Gary said brightly. He wrapped an arm around Brocks shoulder. "I'm glad you saw the light and decided to join me after all,"
Tracey leant into Ash; "don't worry, the excitement will wear off after a couple of hours, when he discovers there is nothing to discover,"
"Quiet, betrayer," Gary said, "you and Misty need of go off on your date now. With all the wonderful scenery, and adorable Clefairy. I'm sure it'll be the most vomit inducing display ever,"
"Date?" Ash looked between Tracey and Misty, and they both seemed as clueless as he felt.
"Don't worry, Gary doesn't know what he's talking about, ever," Misty said, arms folded round her Togepi. "Besides, relaxing is much better than digging. I think you're crazy,"
"Certainly am not," Gary dismissed, and he gave Ash a glance over, then seemed to wince. "Er, here is your pickaxe, oh weedy one,"
"It's not a date," Misty said importantly, as she hauled Ash upright. "I would never date Tracey,"
"Oh, ok," Ash felt himself shrug. It was good to know, he supposed.
He examined the pickaxe Gary had given him, and swung it experimentally around a few times, almost maiming both Pikachu and Misty in the process.
"I still think you look sick," Misty told him sternly,"You still have that cold, and I don't want to catch it,"
"You won't, so long as you keep sunbathing," Brock said, weaving between them both. "Think you can manage that terrible chore?"
"Shut up, " Misty grinned, "I'm showing Tracey the moonstone too, if we can find it," she looked at both boys, but her gaze rested mostly on Ash. "Take care Ash, and don't let Mr Ego boss you about, alright?"
&&
"I'm not digging," Brock reminded.
"No problem. Ashy's helping me,"
Ash inwardly groaned. How on earth had he been looped into doing some horrible manual labour? And at the satisfaction of his arch rival, no less?
"...so when we get there, I'm going to start digging immediately, no breaks. The sooner we start the more chance we have of finding something, alright?"
"I guess," Ash wasn't going to pretend he was an expert in the art of digging.
Gary looked at him, and for a moment Ash thought he might be offended, but when he turned, he saw Gary was rifling through his rucksack, and had retrieved one of the many large hardbacks he seemed to have in endless supply.
"See." he flicked enthusiastically through it, "these are all the different fossils,"
Ash glanced at the page, it was interesting, but not quite so interesting as watching Gary; who looked bright with anticipation, with the sun shining evenly onto his pale face
"I wonder if Tracey might implode if he finds a Clefairy? I think he might," Gary told Brock. "And then we'd be left to clean up all his innards, cos he's such a fanboy,"
"Nice," Brock pulled a face.
Ash grimaced at the mental image.
They had been walking for a little while, all along the edges of Mount Moons valley of caves. The sun was burning over them now, as it tended to do through mid-morning. Gary didn't seem fazed at all, and was springing about, despite the great weight of his rucksack, and Brock was shaking his head at him, but laughing anyway.
"What's the joke?" Ash sided up to Brock.
"The joke is standing right in front of us. Jumping up and down like an idiot."
"Hey," Gary halted, "I'm very offended. I'd send you back if not for your amazing Onix."
Brock put on a face of mock upset; "is that all I am to you? A man with the tools to finding your fortune here today?"
Gary seemed to ponder for a moment or two; "pretty much," he nodded, but Ash noticed the roguish look in his eye, and the way he smirked at Brock was amiable enough.
Ash was reminded of the earlier fight he'd gotten into with Gary; about accusing him of using his own friends. Maybe Gary remembered it too, because Ash caught him looking over at him for a second, and his expression was a bit unsure.
When he looked back at Brock again, he was all cocksure and confident as normal; "You upset me deeply, amazing Gym Leader of Rock. I can't believe you would make such accusations,"
Brock scoffed, and gave Gary a friendly shove.
Feeling left out, Ash stopped walking; "I think we should dig here. It looks alright," Ash didn't have any idea if it looked alright at all, but he did know that he wanted this terrible Brock and his Onix worshipping act to stop.
Gary stopping grappling with Brock and looked around. Then he pulled a book from his bag and scanned down a page which had been doodled in quite a bit. He seemed satisfied, and nodded at Ash.
"Yeah. This is the area gramps said had fossil sightings," he dropped his rucksack and pulled a pickaxe out, stabbing it into the ground with a flourish. "It's perfect." he blinked at Ash again. "I had no idea you were expert at this sort of thing,"
Ash supposed he could have replied honestly, and say he actually wasn't, but he didn't think Gary deserved another titbit of his own stupidity.
Instead he shrugged; "well, I guess I am,"
Gary spared him an interested look, then began marching about their small siting very importantly.
"I know what we need to do," he said finally.
"What?" Ash asked, not wanting to be interested.
Gary turned to Brock; "we need your Amazing Onix."
Brock took his pokeball out, and looked uncommonly smug; "I figured that,"
Gary went to grab if off him, but Brock moved backwards.
"Just a moment," he said. "Before I go lending you my Amazing Onix, I want to be sure you're going to take care of it, and not put it through some kind of slave labour,"
Ash felt inclined to agree with Brock's weariness.
"What?" Gary was vaguely insulted. "I'll have you know I treat my Pokemon with the utmost respect! Just talk to my Eevee for a reliable source of information,"
"I don't doubt you're usually very good to your Pokemon," Brock said, grinning, "although it hasn't escaped my notice that you seem to become a bit...fanatical when it comes to fossils."
"Fanatical?" Gary looked innocent. "I'm not,"
"Well, ok," Brock sounded very unconvinced, but he handed Gary the Pokeball.
"Will it obey me?"
"As long as you have my gym badge it will,"
"Oh. I have lots of badges," Gary looked at Ash, and Ash turned away, thinking he might possibly punch Gary if he witnessed anymore gloating.
"Let's get on with your stupid digging," he said grumpily.
Gary turned Brock's Pokeball in his hand, and looked at Brock for eager confirmation. Brock nodded, and then the Pokemon was released;
The Onix came into being with a tremendous roar, and coiled about the area, making the ground tremor and Ash look at it with some awe. It seemed to have grown a great deal since the last time he'd seen it.
"Whoa," Gary gasped, "that really is an Amazing Onix."
Onix's roaring cry slowly dissolved into a purring sort of rumble, as it observed the three trainers stood before it. It lowered it's enormous, stony head and growled at Brock knowingly. Brock patted it on the nose.
"There's a good girl."
"Girl?" Gary stared at Brock, eyebrows raised.
Ash couldn't help his own laugh.
"Of course." Brock said, with great affection. "She's the love of my life, you know. The only girl who's never abandoned me,"
"I see," Gary said, with a scrutinising face. "Well I hope your girl is prepared for some heavy duty digging,"
"No hard labour," Brock reminded.
"Fine, fine," Gary said dismissively. And then he pointed a few feet away from him. "Well, can she at least dig us a hole there? To get us started?"
"No problem,"
They watched on as the Onix, upon Brock's loud "Dig!" command, burrowed head first into the ground.
The dirt spluttered up and hit Ash without warning. He coughed and choked, staggering backwards. To his side, he expected Gary to be much the same; but annoyingly, he didn't seem too bothered at all. In fact he was still grinning very broadly.
"It's brilliant!" he shouted above all the noise. "We'll be found a fossil in no time at all!"
Ash wanted to be annoyed, and he was at least completely confused by Gary's insane amount of enthusiasm for getting really dirty, but in the end he just settled for smiling weakly.
Gary must've caught him smiling; "pretty impressive huh, Ashy?"
"Yeah," Ash couldn't not agree. And besides, this impressive had nothing at all to do with Gary. It was Brock's amazing Onix, after all.
They all watched for a little while as a fair sized hole was gradually beaten into the ground. Eventually, Brock called Onix back, and she curled round her trainer obediently.
"That was great," Gary gushed. He peered down into the hole. Ash did too, and saw strange glittering against it's sides. Ash knew what they were...
"Moon stone fragments." Gary said, presumably recognising them as well. "I've got loads. But they're useless if you haven't got the right Pokemon,"
"Why do you have them all, then?" Ash asked.
"Paperweights. You can never have too many paperweights."
Ash stared. "And you'd probably use a Masterball as a paperweight too, wouldn't you?"
"Don't underestimate the power of paperweights, Ashy-boy,"
Ash watched, his mind felt skewed, as Gary jumped into the hole. He landed easily on his feet.
"Are you coming?" he asked, but was already cutting into the side of the hole with his pickaxe, not sparing either Ash or Brock another glance.
Ash exchanged a look with Brock, then sighed heavily. He supposed he had to.
He jumped into the hole, with not half so much grace as he'd intended. He landed on his bottom and whimpered.
Gary looked at him, and his mouth trembled into a grin. "Heh. You're useless," but he offered Ash a hand.
Ash felt amazingly humiliated, but managed to swallow down enough pride to take Gary's hand and allow himself to be pulled up.
"Thanks," he mumbled, looking at the ground.
"Well don't just stand there looking more useless than usual," Gary rolled his eyes.
Ash looked at him in bewilderment. "What do I-"
Gary reached a hand behind his back, to his rucksack, and pulled out another pickaxe. He shoved it in Ash's hands. "Here. Now get digging."
Ash stared at the axe dumbly for a moment, then watched as Gary began digging fiercely into the cavernous sides of the hole. Feeling a little odd about it all, Ash copied him.
Brock peered into the hole. "Can I trust you boys not to kill each other for a bit?"
Ash looked up at him. "I'm not sure," he said, not entirely sarcastic.
"Well, try and be good. I'm going to start up a fire for lunch, alright?"
"Ok," Ash called back up, not really caring at all. He chanced a sideways glance at Gary, who was digging very rapidly now. Just watching him made Ash want to sit down.
Gary saw he was looking; "what? are you having second thoughts, now?"
"Second thoughts about what?" Ash started digging again.
"About helping me," Gary said, sounding a little breathless. "I know you're only doing it cos your mom says you have to."
"That's not true," Ash corrected. "She just told me to keep an eye on you, that's all."
Gary stopped digging, leaning on his pickaxe, he gave Ash a puzzled look. "Why are you helping then?"
"Because I'm an idiot, obviously."
"No," Gary shook his head, "you're not an idiot. You're a sucker," then he turned back to his digging.
Ash fumed. The vaguely twisted thought occurred to him that disposing of Gary would be incredibly easy; with pickaxe in hand, and a convenient hole to bury the evidence in...
He steeled his temper, and instead focussed his anger completely on the stupid rock.
"That's the spirit," Gary said, sounding impressed. "Where'd you get that energy from, anyway?"
Ash hit the rock face with a particularly nasty blow. "I'm imagining it's you," he explained.
"Oh," Gary shrugged, and didn't seem too bothered, "well whatever does the job, I suppose,"
The two dug in mutual silence for a little while, which suited Ash just fine anyway. He was very furious at himself for even considering helping Gary out on his stupid expeditions, never mind actually doing it.
Occasionally, and only adding to his own disgruntlement, Ash found his shoulder rubbing accidentally with Gary's. It was only to be expected; they were in such close proximity, after all. But Ash still hated every minute of it.
After a while though, it was Gary who finally complained;
"Can't you watch where you put your axe?"
Ash straightened up and matched glare with glare; "I'm sorry, but it's too cramped in here!"
"Well you nearly chopped my head off!"Gary dropped his pickaxe and looked fed up, "I'm hot," he moaned.
"Well I am too," Ash said savagely. But he wasn't actually that hot at all. He was actually...a little chilly.
He stared at Gary, who was in the process of tugging his jacket off; revealing a sticky looking shirt. It clung to his skinny torso quite a bit, and Ash couldn't help but notice the bone which seemed to jut out. God, he was thin.
"What?" Gary sounded uncomfortable, and Ash quickly blinked away, realising he was staring.
"Nothing," he muttered, and decided to look at the ground with great interest. "It's not that hot,"
"Are you kidding?" Gary said, incredulous. "It's burning," he squinted up at the sky, and Ash followed his gaze, to where a mid-afternoon sun was burning mercilessly on them.
Ash supposed it was hot. But he shivered, anyway.
"What's wrong with you?" Gary quirked an eyebrow. And without permission, stepped toward Ash.
"Nothing." Ash would have stepped backward, if not for the damn hole, which proved useless in a wanting-to-runaway situation. His back hit the wall behind him, and then he knew he was trapped. Gary was looking at him as if he might be unstable.
"Well, if you're sure," he said slowly.
Ash was saved any further pretences of being macho and totally without a cold, when Brock peered down at them.
"Any luck?"
"Nothing," Gary said, but didn't seem too annoyed, "we've got all afternoon, though."
"After the wonderful meal, of course." Tracey's voice was somewhere past Brock, and then Misty was suddenly peering down at them.
Gary grinned. "How long have you two been back?"
"Not long," Misty looked a bit embarrassed. "We got so far into the Mountain before realising none of us have a fire Pokemon to light the way."
Ash thought about his Charizard, and if it would obey him he'd be only too happy to lend it to Misty. He was about to voice this, but then...
"Ah, you see. You want my beautiful Arcanine now, don't you?"
Misty was unimpressed. "Or we could just use Brock's nice little Vulpix. Which doesn't trample or drool all over me,"
Gary's face fell, in mock upset. "You're wicked, Misty,"
Misty smirked down at him, but offered a hand up, "c'mon, both of you. Foods ready,"
Gary didn't take the hand, but looked at Ash instead. "Help him, he's the one dying down here,"
"I'm not! I'm just...hungry," Ash said, which was partly true. Leftover kippers for breakfast certainly hadn't done much to quell a grumbling stomach. He accepted Misty's hand up, all the while imagining that Gary was probably sneering at him, and probably thinking about what a complete weed he was.
"You look peaky," Misty assessed, sounding frighteningly like his mother.
"I told you," Gary had scrambled out of the hole by himself and was looking at Ash with vague amusement. "It's his scrawniness, obviously. He just can't take the heat,"
"I can!" Ash insisted, not really sure why it was so important. Hell, he hadn't even wanted to dig in the first place...
"Scrawny? I thought he was stocky, remember," Misty said.
"Whatever," Gary sat with great intent next to Tracey by the campsite. Brock had cooked them all some sort of pasta and was dishing it out with great care.
"It's my masterpiece," he declared, as Ash sat down, opposite Gary. "I think it'll probably beat the lasagne in terms greatness,"
"Is that so?" Gary was poking his pasta as though it might be a deep betrayal to actually eat it. In the end he took a big bite and said; "Not bad,"
"Not bad? I think you should know all my brothers and sisters go mad for this at home,"
"It's great, Brock," Ash said with spirit, even though his appetite had disappeared, and his cold infested body wasn't in the mood for downing food.
He felt a bit sick.
"It's great," Gary mimicked, but was too busy playing with his stupid Eevee to know that Ash was glaring viciously at him. "I bet you're always cooking, aren't you, Brock? With all your kid brothers and sisters,"
"Yeah, that's true." Brock nodded. He was feeding his Onix some self-made Pokemon food. "But not so much anymore. Since dad came back. I think he's getting on ok with the kids now,"
"Where did he go to?" Gary asked, quite innocently curious. He had stopped tickling Eevee and was looking at Brock with interest.
Ash was also interested; he hadn't really asked much about Brock's family in the past. He'd never felt comfortable talking about it, and in truth, the occasion to talk about it had never really come up anyway.
But it seemed Gary was great at bringing up awkward topics of conversation.
"He went to become a great Pokemon Trainer," Brock said, and Ash was surprised how easily he spoke about it. "I think he wanted to become a Master, a bit like you and Ash, I guess. But that didn't work out. When he failed, he was too embarrassed to come home, as far as I could gather. So it was up to me to look out for my brothers and sisters,"
"What about your mom?" Gary asked.
Ash exchanged a weary look with Misty. This would be the test. The test to see if Brock would do the right thing and tell Gary to mind his own business in hopefully much less polite terms.
"Mom died,"
Brock said it with such finality.
And even though Ash had known all along, of course he had, it still caused him to shrink back, and he knew Misty and Tracey looked much the same.
Gary was looking at Brock, his face unfathomable. "I'm sorry to hear that," he said, with no kind of emotion that Ash could detect. Then he bowed his head toward his Eevee, and started stroking it again. Ash couldn't see his expression anymore.
"That's ok." Brock replied, just as stoically. And also, he didn't seem annoyed with Gary at all.
Ash wanted to say something, anything, to point out how rude and uncalled for Gary's questions had been. How it was certainly none of his business. But somehow he just couldn't.
"You're brothers and sisters are cute little devils, though," Gary said suddenly, and sounded apologetic.
Brock grinned. "Aren't they just. Devils, I mean,"
After that, the atmosphere seemed to lighten all around them. Gary could get away with murder if he wanted, Ash realised. He was that good.
With great abruptness, Tracey spoke;
"Ash, you are quite thin, aren't you?"
Ash stared. "I'm not!" then he turned to Misty; "Misty, I'm not, am I?"
Gary looked up, smirking. "It's just the angle," he said, most unhelpfully.
"You're not," Misty said, and she was glaring a bit at both Tracey and Gary. "Take no notice of those boys. They don't know what they're talking about,"
"Oh really?" Ash asked, dismally unconvinced. He wanted to be swallowed up in a hole, and it was sort of convenient that there happened to be one nearby. He was considering jumping into it, to avoid spiteful eyes which insisted on commenting about his ill-formed body, when another body was suddenly right in front of him;
"Maybe a little digging will build up those muscles, Ashy?" Gary suggested. He was so close that Ash could see the bright greens of his iris's, and how they reflected his own bewildered face inside of them.
"Er,"
"Come on. Don't you want to develop a manly stature like myself?"
Tracey laughed. "Manly?"
"What's so funny?" Gary cast him a superior glare.
"Nothing," Tracey said, mouth hidden behind his hand.
Gary turned back to Ash, "Well, Ash? Can you take the heat?"
Ash glared at him; "yes," and he shrugged his jacket off and swiped a pickaxe off Gary. "Come on. I'm ready to dig,"
Gary seemed pleased, and he jumped into a hole, which managed to conceal him up to his shoulders. Ash, learning a small lesson from last time, chose to slide in to join him.
He started digging straight the way, and ignored the thumping in his head, which had progressed since that morning. It was definitely the remnants of yesterdays cold, and he supposed he'd been optimistic in thinking he'd be completely better for today.
"Don't overwork yourselves down there," Misty called.
"Aw. It's nice that you care so much about us," Gary said, peering out at her.
"I don't!" Misty said rather quickly. "Actually, I wouldn't care if you fried."
"I hope the same fate doesn't befall your cute, precious Togepi." Gary said, and was undeterred by Misty's horrified face. "Hey, I've got an idea. Why don't you do a cheer? It'll be great moral support. It'll help us dig faster."
"I might point out to you that I am not a cheerleader!" Misty looked insulted.
"But you'd look so cute," Gary was only teasing, but Misty blushed anyway.
"I thought you'd had enough with the cheerleaders?" she asked, struggling to keep a reasonable tone.
Gary shrugged. "I have my moments of weakness,"
Misty snorted, and turned bodily away from where both Gary and Ash were digging. "You're immature and I hope you get buried alive with the fossils you're looking for,"
"You're so charming, Misty." Gary said, and Ash could see he was grinning as he went back to his digging.
Ash thought he should feel better, to know that Misty still thought Gary was immature; but for some reason he felt a little more annoyed. Like maybe Misty's telling blush told something more? And maybe Gary enjoyed winding her up for reasons other than the simple fact that he was a jerk?
Didn't people wind up the ones they really liked? Old playground games, tugging pigtails and all that...
Ash scratched his head, and in the process managed to drop his pickaxe.
"Ow!" he grimaced, as it landed on his foot.
Gary turned, and looked amused.
"It's not funny," Ash said, feeling hot.
"What's the matter? Is the heat too much for you?" he poked Ash in the stomach, and grinned.
Ash batted the hand away from him."I'm fine!" he insisted. But Gary was looking at him with malicious delight. He leant heavily on his pickaxe and Ash prepared himself for another taunt.
"Do you know what we really need?" Gary asked instead.
"...need?" Ash said, bewildered. He had no idea what they needed, but when he stared at Gary now, he was quick to notice how filthy he looked; his face smudged with dirt, his hair messier and much spikier than usual, his once-white shirt marred with mud. Even his neck, leading down to a jutted collar bone, was dusted in dirt...
Ash blinked. And quickly focussed his eyes back on Gary's.
"Er. A shower?"
Gary looked confused. "A what?"
"A shower," Ash repeated, thinking it sounded much more sensible, and normal, in his head.
"We need a...oh, yeah. I guess we could need that, too." Gary tilted his head, perhaps choosing to ignore how insane Ash knew he sounded.
Ash was thankful. He was sure he was blushing.
"But what we really need is a whole bunch of Diglett," Gary said.
Ash felt his head nod in agreement. Anything to banish thoughts of showers. "Yeah. Diglett's are nice." He said very slowly. He thought his brain might be dying.
Now Gary was eyeing him oddly. "Yeah. I guess they are,"
Ash managed to blink, which was an achievement, considering how mentally incapable his brain had been acting recently. He stepped back a bit from Gary, so that he couldn't really see himself in the green iris's anymore.
"Well," Gary seemed not to see how unbearably uncomfortable Ash was. He looked up; "Brock's amazing Onix doesn't seem to be helping much. In fact, it's not so amazing anymore, if you ask me."
"Don't badmouth Onix! She's posing for me!" Tracey said, apparently not too far away from them.
Ash followed Gary's gaze, to see that Tracey was currently sketching away on his pad, and Onix was lying a few metres in front of him, it's immense form half curled into a circle.
"It's asleep!" Gary said, appalled. "I can't believe it's asleep!"
"It's posing," Tracey corrected.
Gary scowled. "Since when did posing constitute digging?" he turned to Ash. "I'm annoyed," he said, as though the point needed to be made any clearer.
Ash wasn't annoyed. He was too busy feeling sick and embarrassed to be even remotely irritated. And his head really hurt.
"I'm sorry," Brock said apologetically, but he was grinning. "I told you. My girl isn't working slave labour, you know,"
Gary pouted. "I think you should help us, Brock. You are the master of Rock, after all."
"I'm sorry. But I've got a date with a moon stone, apparently,"
"What?" Gary looked aghast.
"I'm going with Misty and Tracey to the Mountain. Who knows, we might bump into Seymour on the way,"
"Who's Seymour?" Gary demanded, remarkably suspicious.
"A weird scientist guy who lives with the Clefairy," Ash put it, glad to know something which Gary clearly didn't, "He believes that Pokemon came to earth from space,"
Gary sniggered; "Really? And he lives with Clefairy? That sounds pretty warped, to me."
"Some people might say you're pretty warped, for carrying on this insane digging," Misty pointed out.
"Aren't you impressed, though?" Gary offered her a wink. "Look at all the work I've done,"
"You didn't do all of that. Onix and Ash helped,"
"Yeah, but I've done the most. And I'm not the one posing for a picture. Or dropping pickaxes on my feet," he looked at Ash.
Ash felt dully insulted.
"I just think you don't know when to quit. You're stupid and stubborn," Misty assessed.
"Stubborn's just a nasty work for great willpower." Gary dismissed. "Unlike Onix. The Onix that from this day shall be known as the Not Very Amazing Onix."
"That's a very underwhelming name," Brock said.
"That's the point," Gary rolled his eyes, but he was smiling openly at Brock. Brock was smiling back.
Ash just couldn't understand it. Why did all this bickering have to be so playful and friendly? Why, when it came down to it, did everyone have to like Gary? No matter how rude and regardless he was? Even Misty didn't seem to get so wound up by him as she did with anyone else, Ash himself included.
These stupid, repeatedly echoed questions were giving Ash's headache a hard time.
"I've been digging for ages," he said flatly.
Gary blinked at him and didn't seem too impressed. "Well, you've been digging for a bit. But nowhere near as much as me."
"What are you talking about? Of course I have!" Ash couldn't help raising his voice. He needed to defend his poor, aching limbs, which had been working needlessly for much of the day, all for the sake of his ungrateful, bratty rival. "I've been digging just as much as you!"
"I don't think you have," Gary sounded bored.
Ash clenched his fists, and forgot his aching headache for a moment. He shouted; "I've been helping you all day! In the burning hot sun, getting all dirty!"
Amazingly, Gary laughed. Ash was furious.
"What's funny?" he demanded.
"Nothing," and Gary's face resolved into a bare frown. "Well then, Ash. If you still think you can dig, keep digging. I've still got loads of energy left."
"I will!" Ash snarled. He stabbed his pickaxe with as much power as he could muster into the ground.
"Fine!" Gary's mouth quivered between a sneer and a scowl. "Let's see who drops first!"
"Let's not do that." Brock interjected, looking worried. "Listen, if you guys are gonna be like this, maybe I should stay and keep an eye-"
"We don't need to be babysat, Brock!" Ash had spat before he could stop himself.
For a brief flash, Brock looked startled. And with it Ash immediately regretted what he'd said. He didn't want to sound like Gary, degrading the idea that his friends might be looking out for him, just keeping an eye on him.
"Ok, that's ok, Ash," Brock said calmly. He was smiling thinly between both Ash and Gary now. "I know you guys can take care of yourselves. We all do, right?" he turned round, to where Tracey and Misty had surrendered to an awkward silence.
They both nodded, and Ash thought they looked terribly unconvincing with their smiles.
"Ah, of course." Misty said quietly. "I think they'll be fine,"
"Yep. No problems I can see." Tracey had finished up his Onix drawing, and he turned to the hole with a nervous expression. "Er, I drew a picture," he said.
The tension, which had wrapped thickly about everyone, was snapped when Gary reached out for the drawing. "Oh, can I have it?"
"Of course," Tracey grinned, and handed it to him. "I was going to give it to you anyway. You said you wanted a picture, remember?"
"I remember." Gary nodded, and was looking at the drawing. "It's great, Tracey. I guess you caught Brock's girlfriend in a more amazing pose," he grinned up at both Tracey and Brock.
They grinned back.
Ash seethed silent jealousy.
It wasn't just the fact that they were all grinning at him. Him. The one who accused Ash of being lazy with a pickaxe, of not pulling his weight.
But why did Gary get to have the drawing? Hadn't Tracey promised Ash a drawing too? Or had he forgotten?
Ash stared bleakly up at Tracey. Tracey was still grinning, quite unbearably, down at Gary.
He probably had forgotten.
"It's getting dark, you guys." Misty said. "how about that trip to the Mountain?"
&
Misty, Brock and Tracey left the campsite, and said something about not being too late. And Ash was also sure he could hear Misty and Brock whispering something shadily like- 'leaving them with the pickaxes wasn't a good idea.'
But it was too late for regrets now. Ash was alone with Gary, and they were both sticky and bothered in a hole, with only a snoozing Onix nearby for company.
Ash waved off his three friends not long before realising he needed to sit down. The ground had become a bizarre sort of oil painting, all the dirt washing into a gooey kind of blob. He thought he might pass out.
He staggered forwards.
"Careful," Gary's voice was close, and Ash realised he'd nearly fallen against him.
Mortified, he straightened back up, trying to regain his balance and to clear his fluey head. Gary was looking at him critically, and his hand was raised, as though he thought Ash might fall again.
"Are you alright, Ash?" he asked carefully.
"I'm alright," Ash said, through a thick voice. He sneezed.
"Are you sure?" Gary didn't sound convinced.
"Yeah. I'm just a bit dizzy." and resigned to the fact that he was never ever going to look cool in front of Gary Oak- it seemed an impossible law of nature- Ash rubbed his nose uselessly.
Gary smirked. "You've still got a cold,"
"Right, genius." Ash sniffed, sure that he'd never looked so pathetic in his life.
He stared at the ground, hoping his dizziness would subside. But it was hard to do anything, not when he knew Gary was staring at him like that.
"Here,"
Ash blinked up, and saw Gary was holding out a little pack of tissues to him. He looked at them wearily.
Gary looked insulted. "I've not used them!"
"I-I know," Ash stammered, and took the tissues. He gratefully wiped his nose, "Erm. Thanks,"
"No problem," Gary said, his hands on his hips. "maybe your mom was right. You're probably not well enough to be out here yet,"
"I am!" Ash insisted. But even as he spoke he wavered.
"Well, ok," Gary said, and looked awkward just standing there before Ash, as though waiting for someone to come along who had clearly forgotten their cue.
Ash felt too awful to be embarrassed about it all, and was soon replaying his foolish actions the other night; when he'd stormed out into the rain.
How many times was it possible to regret one stupid thing?
Ash was sharply pulled from his wallowing when he felt a hand rest lightly on his shoulder. He blinked up to see Gary;
"Actually, I think we should call it a night," Gary was avoiding his gaze. "I'm pretty tired as well,"
Ash looked at Gary, and when they were in such unnaturally close proximity, he could actually see just how exhausted Gary looked. With the dark contrast of nighttime, his skin was white and shiny, and his eyes were ringed with dark circles.
He looked quite resigned, and perhaps a bit sad. And then Ash realised it made sense. He'd been so excited about finding fossils...
"I'm...I'm sorry we didn't find anything," Ash started.
"Go sit down, you moron," Gary said, but his voice was light. "I don't want to be responsible for overworking you, or whatever Brock was talking about,"
Ash wanted to protest, but Gary's hand, rested across his chest, shoved him away, "Go on," he repeated.
Reluctant, Ash crawled out of the hole, and was glad when Gary followed.
They both sat down in equal exhaustion, but Ash felt more useless than ever.
"I could have kept digging," he insisted.
"I doubt it. Still, that's what you get for going out in the middle of a storm," Gary said, as though Ash needed to be reminded of his own stupidity.
Ash didn't feel so ill anymore. "Listen, I ran out cos I was mad. You made me mad, so it was your fault,"
"Is that right?" now Gary looked angry, mirroring Ash; both of them tensed up, their hands balled into tight fists. "So it's all my fault you decided to do what you always do? Be stupid and yell and run and be a moron? I made you do all of that, did I?"
"Yeah, you did!"
Gary's lip curled. "I didn't do anything! I just made your friends lasagne and-"
"Yes! Exactly!" Ash yelled. "They're my friends, not yours! And you can't take them away from me! So stop trying to!"
"I'm not trying to do anything!" Gary cried, "And you can't stop me from being friends with them! You can't choose who your friends are friends with!"
Ash grit his teeth, feeling himself flaring up; "Well why do you ignore me, then? You can talk to everyone else, but treat me like dirt! You can't ignore me forever!"
"I'm not ignoring you!"
"You are!"
"Well what do you want from me?!"
For a strange moment, Ash didn't know. And his brain floundered, humiliated in it's own anger. Really, what did he want from his rival?
The answer came in the simplest form.
Pikachu hopped over to them, probably to see what all the commotion was about. Then Ash knew exactly what he wanted.
He glared at Gary, a hand clamped tight about the pokeballs on his belt.
"I want a battle."
&&&
Notes:
So sorry readers! A late chapter! Upon my own request I asked my not so computer-savvy mother to forward me the next chapter draft by email, since there has been some requests for this fic to get back into gear. By no means am I abandoning this fic at all. Check my profile for an explanation for the super slow updates. I am hoping to get the next chapter out within the next couple of months, since this was all basically just the lead up...
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