Gary and Ash had been spending a lot of time together. Ash was shown some of what Gary has done and learned as a pokemon researcher, and they've battled. Ash turned over in his sleep and was sleeping peacefully by his side. But then a knock at the door made him stir and groan.
"Hey Ash, you in there?"
Ash didn't respond, so Gary walked in.
"Hey Ashie! Time to get up," Gary said.
Ash yawned. "Man, what time is it? three in the morning?" Ash asked.
"Add another three hours."
"Well, I still got plenty of time before the buses come." Ash then pulled his covers over him.
Gary sat down on the bed, leaned in and pulled the covers off his head. "Don't you want to be one of the first to get breakfast?" Gary whispered.
Ash opened his eyes wide.
"Guess not," Gary said. Then Gary slowly got off the bed.
Ash jumped out of bed and shouted, "wait! I'm coming!"
Pikachu was sleeping peacefully. But then the sudden movement made it jump up and stare at Ash. Ash quickly got dressed and put a hat on his head.
"All right! Let's go!"
Gary smirked. "Same old Ash..." he thought. Gary let out a yawn.
Gary and Ash were now on the bus. Gary yawned a bit as he looked out the window. Ash looked at his hands as the bus moved. He wondered how he was able to get so far without Gary. If it weren't for him, he believed he wouldn't do so well during his first time at the Kanto league. It just seemed to him he knew exactly Ash well. Even if he teases him a bit, he knew it wasn't bad. Then Ash felt a hand on his shoulder.
"You okay, Ash? You've been kinda quiet," Gary said.
Ash smiled a bit. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just..."
Gary wrapped his arm around his neck and whispered, "just thinking about how amazing I am?"
Ash got a bit red as he huffed and crossed his arms. "N-no..."
Gary smirked a bit, as he lifted his chin up to get Ash to look into his eyes.
"You don't have to lie to me," Gary quietly said.
Ash moved his eyes away from Gary's.
"I-I'm not lying..." Ash mumbled.
"Oh really?"
Gary slid his hand though Ash's sides and started tickling him. Ash squirmed around and tried as hard as he could not to laugh.
"Y-y-yeah! I was...wasn't! Thinking... Of you!" Ash said.
"What was that?" Gary asked. He tickled him more.
"Fine!" Ash grabbed Gary's hand. "I was... thinking how amazing you were." Ash turned away blushing.
Gary put his arm around him and leaned into his ear. "Well, I think you're pretty amazing too. You know that, right?"
Ash looked at him with a small smile and nodded.
Serena had gotten on the bus and sat down next to Ritchie.
"Hey Ritchie..." Serena said.
"What's up?" Ritchie asked.
She looked away from him with a blush.
"I... just want to think you, for helping when I was upset about Ash," Serena said.
Ritchie smiled. "Don't mention it! I was glad to help."
Serena looked at him with a blush. "You really are kind, and much more responsible than Ash is!"
Ritchie let out a nervous laugh. "Well, personally I don't think it's hard to be more responsible than him."
Serena chuckled. "Yeah, true!" Then Serena looked at him with a smile. "Well, I do enjoy being with you. You're very helpful and enjoyable to be around!"
Ritchie blushed and smiled. " I enjoy hanging out with you too! You're a very sweet person and very calming to be around."
Gary and Ash got off the bus together. Once Gary got off the bus he walked slowly. Ash turned around and faced Gary. Gary had his head down.
"Are... you sure your okay?" Ash asked.
Gary had been acting strange ever since they rescued Umbreon, but he was sure Gary would've said something and done something, but he's been getting worse ever since.
Gary looked up at Ash and said, "yeah, I'm fine." Gary then yawned.
Ash crossed his arms. "You... don't look fine." Then he saw the drained look on Gary's face. "Have you been getting enough sleep?"
Gary looked away ran his hand through his hair as the bell rang.
"We'll talk later. Right now we need to get to class," Gary said.
"On the bus after school, we'll talk?" Ash asked.
"... Alright. I'll see ya later."
Once school was over, Serena meet up with Ritchie. They got on the bus together. Serena looked up at Ritchie with a frown. Ritchie is really nice and all, but what if the same thing happens to her what happened with Ash? She wasn't sure if Ritchie was interested in her like Ash. But she's starting to have feelings for him. With how nice and sweet he is, and how he helped her in her time of need, how can she not? But when she thought she should go for Ash when she saw him in school again, he'd already went after another girl.
"...Ritchie?" Serena said.
Ritchie looked at her and said, "yeah?"
"...Just, how do you really feel about me?"
Ritchie gave her a confused look. "What do you mean?"
"Like... do you really find me boring or uninteresting... you can be honest, you know."
Ritchie shook his head. "No. Not only are you pretty, but I like how open you are with how you feel and how you go for what you want, but your also very kind, too."
Serena got very red at what he said and she looked away.
"What?"
She giggled a bit and smiled at him. "I see... Well, you're pretty attractive yourself!" Serena then winked at him.
"H-Huh?" Then he blushed. "Wait! T-that's..."
She laughed a bit at his reaction. She felt a bit better now, for at least he thinks she's pretty.
After school, Ash and Gary got on the bus together. Gary sighed as he remembered how his day went. Getting caught sleeping in class and waking up from a bad dream in a panic.
"So, what's been going on Gary?" Ash asked.
Gary looked away from him with a frown. "I... A lot has happened, during the time I was forced to go out with Ursula." He cringed a bit at saying her name. "She has she gotten to me... more than I like to admit."
Ash looked at him with a sad look. Gary had never said much about what all happened between him and Ursula, but now he can see why now.
Gary continued to speak. "All they did was put supervision, made them clean the school, and gave them detention on them... what a joke. What's going to happen once they get back out?"
"I'm guessing... steal and harm more pokemon?" Ash asked.
Gary stayed silent for a bit. "Just... thinking about what she could do next time to me..." He pulled open his bag and showed Ash what was inside.
"P-pokeballs?"
"Q-quiet!"
"You've been bringing your pokemon to school? But you could get them taken away for the school year," Ash whispered.
Gary zipped her bag back up with a frown. "After the whole incident with Ursula... I just can't leave them behind."
"You can't leave them with professor Oak?"
Gary shook his head. "With grandpa busy with this school and having to have his lab close by, and with me being his grandson... not only would it be obvious, but it would be easier for her to steal my pokemon."
"But, with so many pokemon he takes care of, there are some that can be there to help them out, right?"
Gary's eyes narrowed. "Grandpa... only lets them all run out early in the morning and late at night to get them exercise. Leaves plenty if time for her to get her pokemon."
Ash then thought a bit. "I know! I can watch over your pokemon!"
Gary starred at him with an unamused look. "Ash, giving my pokemon to you would be almost as obvious as giving them to my grandpa."
"Yeah, but I have pokemon that can watch over them when I'm gone and help them out when needed!"
Gary looked away with an irritated look. "Ash, I had Umbreon watch over my stuff when I was gone! Look what happened with that!"
"Uh... Right."
Gary then frowned. "And besides... I don't want you to get hurt again."
Ash put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, come on Gary! Put some faith in me!"
Gary looked at him.
"And maybe if Umbreon had Pikachu there with him, they can have each others back!"
Gary looked out the window. "I guess... I still don't really feel comfortable with it though."
"Just have a little faith in me, alright? Everything will be fine." Ash beamed at him.
Gary smiled a bit. He doesn't know why, but being around Ash just cheers him up.
"Right..." Gary said. Then Gary closed his eyes and was out to the world.
Once they arrived back at the dorms, Ash had decided to let Gary sleep a bit. So he took his bag and one arm and carried Gary toward the dorms. He tried to find Gary's dorm, but had no luck. So he just put Gary in his room for now. Pikachu looked at them with a worried look.
"Don't worry buddy," Ash whispered. "I'm sure he'll be fine. He just needs some rest."
Pikachu smiled and nodded in acknowledgment. Then he jumped into Ash's arms and Ash hugged him. Then he blankly starred at the floor. He really wanted to help Gary feel safer and was willing to do anything. It still really irritates him what Ursula and Harley all did to him and Umbreon.
"What monsters..." Ash muttered.
Then he felt Gary wrap his arms around his waist and it made him jump a bit. Ash looked back at Gary and saw that he was still sleeping.
"...Guess I can't go anywhere," Ash thought.