Umbreon luckily didn't get hit by poison sting, as Ash let him go before he could. Ash vision blurred and he had no strength to stand. Then he started to breath heavily. Pikachu and Gary called out his name. Ash looked up at Harley as he picked up Umbreon. Umbreon struggled and whined, but it was no use. Gary came after him and Pikachu thunderbolted Cacturne when it faced Gary preparing to attack him. Harley put Umbreon up as a defense.
"... You can't get away with this." Gary said. He sent back out his own pokemon. "You already lost,"
Harley looked back at Ash's pokemon. Only a couple were dealing with Ursula now as the others were behind him.
"H-Harley... Why? Didn't you say... you changed?" Ash asked.
Harley smirked. "Ash, you're more stupid than May ever was." Harley chuckled. "But at least you're entertaining..."
Harley let his guard down around Gary just enough to get socked by him.
"Think this is entertaining now?" Gary asked. "Give me back my Umbreon, and never mess with us again!"
"Or what? You gonna hurt your poor hurt pokemon to get me?" Harley asked.
Gary glared at him, unsure of what to do. But then Pikachu quietly ran up to Harley and climbed up on him. This made Harley try to shake him off.
"What are you doing you stupid rat? Get off me!" Harley shouted.
Pikachu glared at him as he sunk his teeth into Harley. That made Harley scream in pain and release Umbreon into the air. Gary caught Umbreon. But Pikachu was being pulled on, and was yanked off and chucked on the ground.
"IDIOT!" Ursula shouted.
Harley then noticed Gary got Umbreon. Then officer Jennys showed up.
"Freeze!"
"Oh thank goodness! Officer Jenny, they stole my-" Harley started to say.
"Save it! I saw the whole thing," Jenny said.
Growlithes and manectrics surrounded Harley and Ursula.
Then a Jenny approached Gary. "Sorry I wasn't able to act earlier, but in situations like these were I don't know everything, it could've been dangerous to act without backup."
Gary looked at Ash with a frown. He seemed to have passed out not too long ago.
"...I understand. Thanks for the help," Gary said.

Ash woke up after he ate a berry. When he opened his eyes, he saw Brock.
"Brock?" Ash questioned.
Ash! Thank goodness you're okay!" Brock said.
Ash looked around, and saw Gary and all his pokemon around, but a couple was missing.
"W-where's... Umbreon and Pikachu?" Ash asked.
"There's no need to worry. Nurse Joy already took them into her care. Right now we should get you cleaned up," Brock said.
Ash nodded. Ash then returned all his pokemon his their pokeballs and they all left.

After they got Ash to the hospital and cleaned and wrapped him up, Gary went to go see Pikachu and Umbreon. Ash went to see Pikachu first, while Gary went to Umbreon's side. Once Ash walked through the door to Pikachu's room, it jumped into his arms and nuzzled his face.
"Pikachu! Glad you're okay, buddy!" Ash shouted.
Nurse Joy smiled at him. "Pikachu will be just fine! Just needs rest up for a week before going into battling."
Ash nodded. "Thank you so much."
After he got Pikachu, Ash went to see Gary and Umbreon. But Umbreon was in the emergency care and couldn't be seen now. They both sat and waited to see him.
It was silent for a bit before Gary spoke. "I shouldn't got you involved... sorry."
Ash shook his head. "I'm glad to have help you and Umbreon out of that. Worth it in my opinion..."
"What if you died?" Gary shouted.
Gary faced away from him with tears in his eyes. It was quiet between them again. Ash put a hand on his shoulder with a smile.
"Well, I didn't, and that's what matters, right?"
"...But you could've, and I'll never put you in that kind of danger again, Ash." Gary pulled him into a hug.
Ash looked up at him with a small smile. "Come on Gary... It was mostly my fault." Ash looked away from him with a frown. "If I wasn't so stupid..."
Gary grabbed his chin and starred deep into his eyes. "Hey, your not stupid. You've won a lot of battles from showing how smart you are."
"True... But it was still mostly my fault that I got hurt."

Ash and Gary had to go to school the next day without any word on Umbreon. They were on the bus now heading towards the school. Ash looked up toward Gary and saw the sad, tired look on his face. He placed a hand on Gary and wanted to say something to him, but didn't know what to say. There was a times when he was unsure if his own pokemon would make it out of the ER. Remembering times when Pikachu was in there made him shutter. Gary was acting strange to Ash ever since Umbreon was in the pokecenter, and Ash could understand why. Which is why Ash knows basically anything he says or does won't make a difference right now, and it won't until he can see that Umbreon is okay.

The school day was difficult for both Ash and Gary. Not even the news about what happened to Harley and Ursula did anything to put them at ease. They could not stop thinking about Umbreon, especially Gary. He thought about all the things he did wrong, and how he should of done things differently. But Ash also had other things that were on his mind. Whenever he saw Misty, she turned away from him and wouldn't speak to him. Now that Ash thought about it more, he believed that he should've been nicer to her. Ash wished to speak to her, but he wasn't sure if she would let him.

Ash and Gary are out of school, and now walked back in to see Umbreon.
Nurse Joy smiled at him. "I got great news for you! It seems Umbreon is going to be just fine! You can now go and visit him if you'd like!"
Ash and Gary both smiled.
"Thanks so much..." Gary said.
"Glad I could help!" Joy said.
They entered the room and Gary hugged his Umbreon and it nuzzled it's face.
"Glad to see you're okay!" Ash told Umbreon.
Umbreon looked and talked to Ash, Ash taking that it was thanking it. Ash walked up and petted it. Then Gary looked at Ash.
"I... really couldn't have saved him without your help Ash... and I haven't even thanked you yet," Gary said.
Ash smiled at him. "Like I said, I was glad to help."
Gary looked down. "But with all the trouble I've caused you... I've got to do something." Then he looked back at Ash with a smile. "How about some ice cream? All you can eat?"
Ash eyes went wide as he tackle hugged him. "How can I saw no to that? You're the best, Gary!"
Gary pulled him back and looked at him with a smirk. "Well, you finally admit it, huh?"
Ash thought about it for a bit, before he got all red with a pout. "I didn't..."
Gary ruffled his hair with a laugh. "I'm just messing with yea."
Ash looked away from him with crossed arms. But he was glad he was back to himself, deep down.
Gary put a hand on Ash's shoulder. "Well, let's go get some ice cream."
Ash turned around with a grin and nodded. Then he faced Umbreon and said, "we'll bring you back some too, okay Umbreon?"
Umbreon seemed happy about that. Gary just sighed. Then they left the pokemon center together.

Ash was gulping down some ice cream while Gary just watch him.
"It's surprising he doesn't get..."
Gary's thoughts were interrupted by Ash screaming and holding his head.
Gary sighed and thought, "...that." Then he said, "Ash, there's no need to rush, ya know?"
Ash laughed a bit. "Yeah, but it's so good!"
"You really haven't changed much have ya Ash."
Ash shrugged. "Guess not..."
Gary smiled a bit. "Anyways Ash... About what we were talking about before."
Ash gave him a confused look. "Before?"
Gary leaned on the table with his arms and folded his hands while looking at them. "Yeah. About us dating..."
"Oh... Right."
Gary looked back up at Ash. "I think it'd be best to just stay friends for now."
Ash looked at him for a bit. Then he said, "yeah, I think we should be friends now too."
Gary smiled at him a bit. With all that happened and them just getting out of a relationship, Gary didn't want them to jump into another one. Also since Ash seemed to not quite understand his feelings for Gary yet, so he'd like Ash to know before they do any dating.
"Glad you see it my way."
"Me too..."