Hello, everyone! Time for another chapter!

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Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon in any way, shape or size!

Diving Board

(Summer before) Grade Three

May (8), Drew (8), Misty (8), Ash (8), Gary (8), Leaf (8), Paul (8)

School had not started yet, and it was a hot summer day, so Drew found it to be the perfect opportunity to have a small swimming pool party. At his mansion, he had a huge swimming pool, which was the perfect place to spend the hot afternoon, and so he invited his best friends May, Gary, Paul, Ash, Leaf, and Misty.

Misty, of course, was thrilled at being invited, as she loved the water, and often entered swimming competitions. She and everyone else accepted, and all arrived at his mansion on the planned day.

"Whoa!" Gary, who had come to the pool after changing into his swim-suit, took in the sight. The pool was huge, with two diving boards, a high one and a low one, and a water slide.

"You like it?" Drew, who had already changed into his shorts, was lying on one of the chairs that were on one side of the pool.

"Awesome!" Gary looked around, smirking. "Since the others aren't done changing yet, looks like I get the first jump in the pool!'

The spiky-haired boy stood at the edge, stretching, and positioning himself so that he could jump in perfectly. Unfortunately for him, Paul chose that exact moment to show up, and pushed him in with one hand as he passed by behind him.

"Paul!" Gary whined, gasping as his head emerged from under the water. "You ruined my perfect jump!"

Paul just shrugged and laid himself down on the chair next to Drew.

"Amazing!" Misty arrived and gaped at the magnificent pool. "Wow, Drew, it's way bigger than my pool at home!"

"Of course it is! He does live in a mansion after all." Leaf appeared at Misty's side.

"Wow! We should come here every summer day!" May marveled as she arrived as well.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Ash had showed up. "Cannonball!"

The black-haired boy got a running start and launched himself into the water, creating a huge splash.

"Hey, watch it!" Paul warned, as some of the water landed on him.

"Oh, come on, Paul! It's a pool party; you're supposed to get wet!" Ash pointed out.

"Only if you actually go in the pool." Paul shot back. "Now don't bother me." He lay back down, with his arm over his eyes, possibly to take a nap.

"Come on, everyone! Jump in!"

May slowly slipped into the water, while Leaf followed Ash's example and created a huge splash, making sure she got plenty of water on Gary's and Ash's heads. Misty, however, eyed the diving boards.

"I'm gonna dive in!" she announced. "I really want to try that high one!"

"There's no way you can do it." Gary scoffed. "You're going to get scared going up that high. Just spare yourself the embarrassment and do the low one."

Misty's eyes sparked. "Yes, I can!"

"No, I don't think so."

"Wanna bet?"

"Sure! If you don't Pidgey-out, I'll, um, I'll do it too!"

"Fine!"

"But if you do get scared, then when school starts, you have to go to the front of the classroom, and yell, 'Gary Oak is the best, smartest guy in the whole world!'."

"WHAT?!"

"What's the matter? You don't think you can do it?"

"Of course I can!"

"So, you accept?"

"Yes! In fact, I'll go dive in right now!"

"I'll be watching!"

"You do that!"

Misty stomped to the ladder of the high diving board. She had never dived in from this height before, and as she climbed higher and higher, a near-inaudible voice in her head questioned whether she really could manage to do it. After all, not even the diving board for the pool at her house, which was actually pretty high, was this high. But she, being stubborn, wasn't about to back down now, and on she went, heading for the top, not showing any hesitation.

Everyone seemed to be watching now, wondering how all this would turn out. Drew was sitting up, eager to see the end result, while Ash was cheering Misty on, clearly thinking she would win the bet. May observed anxiously, worried about how Misty would accomplish such a challenge, opposite of how Leaf felt, as she appeared to have full confidence in her friend. Even Paul seemed mildly interested, as his arm had traveled from his eyes to the top of his head so that he could watch the show too.

Gary smirked. "She's just being stubborn. She's gonna choke at the last second."

"Don't be too sure!" Leaf pointed at Misty, who was now standing at the tip of the diving board. "You're gonna get creamed for that bet, Gary. I'm going to love seeing you freeze up when you have to jump from that thing."

"There's no way she can do it." Gary was adamant in his belief, although a teeny tiny part of him wondered if Leaf was right.

Misty stretched her arms and bounced up and down a bit. It didn't seem too bad; she was sure she could handle it. But all that peer pressure from her friends watching made her feel something she would never admit to feeling: nervous. May looked like she was about to freak out, Ash was cheering her on wildly, Drew wasn't about to miss a single moment of what could be either be a great victory or a disastrous fail, Paul was spectating in an amused way, Leaf was convinced Gary would lose the bet, and Gary...

Gary. He had that 'I knew it' look on his face. He thought she hadn't jumped yet because she was too scared! Just that made Misty's blood boil. She'll show him! Water was her specialty, and there was no way he would humiliate her about something concerning what she was good at.

Misty positioned herself to dive. Taking a deep breath, she imagined herself as the expert swimming athlete she had yet to be, and leaped.

That short time in the air made her feel like she was flying, and once she hit the water, she welcomed the feeling. It was wonderful, and, she decided, really, really enjoyable. She wanted to do it again.

As her head came up for air, a cheer erupted, mostly from Ash, Leaf, and May. Gary gaped at her, unbelieving at what he had just witnessed. She smirked at him, triumphant, ready to rub her victory in his face.

"Ha! So what did you think about that, Gary! Still think I'm a scaredy-Meowth?" she bragged as she swam to him. "You think you can pull it off, too? Or are you gonna Pidgey-out?"

"Of course I can do it!" Gary insisted, snapping out of his shocked state. "I can probably do it even better than you!"

"Then prove it."

"Yeah, Gary!" Leaf pointed to the diving board. "You lost the bet to the swimming champion, so now I get to see you freak out!"

"You're going to be disappointed, cuz I am gonna jump with no problem!" Gary declared, although he was eying the board with the tiniest hint of worry in his eyes.

"You don't have to do it if you're too afraid." Misty continued her taunts, aiming to bruise his pride and ego. "We can just call it off if you really don't think you can do it."

"You're going to be eating those words, Misty!" Gary climbed out of the pool and began heading for the ladder. He was going to protect his dignity at all costs!

"You have a camera?" Leaf asked Paul.

"Sadly, no." Paul replied, not taking his eyes off the egotistical brunet.

"I can ask my butler to get one." Drew offered. "You want me to?"

"Definitely."

"Please do."

"Look! He's at the top now!" Ash pointed to the diving board. Gary had finally reached the top, and was slowly making his way to the tip. May had gone back to being nervous, Leaf, Paul and Drew were handling the camera Drew's butler had brought, Ash was looking eager to see another great jump, and Misty was staring up at him smugly.

Gary tried to focus. If only Ash would just stop shouting, and Leaf would stop flashing that camera (wait, where did they get that camera?!), and Paul would stop giving him that you're-gonna-fail look, and May would stop looking like she thought he was going to hurt himself, and Drew would quit watching him so intently as if he were some circus performer, and Misty would wipe that arrogant smirk from her face, then maybe he would be able to concentrate. He wasn't asking for much!

Don't look down. he chanted in his head. Just don't look down, and pretend you're just going to jump in the pool.

It helped, and Gary managed to convince himself that he was just doing what he always did. In fact, it worked so well, that he forgot to expect that he would not immediately hit the water. So, when he did jump, he found himself in mid-air, and panicked, ruining his position, and hitting the water in an unpleasant way.

This was humiliating! Gary, who was now underwater, knew he must have looked very silly falling the way he did. He really didn't want to go up to the surface and face the others. They would probably make fun of him, and he didn't think he could stand having his pride crushed even more.

Suddenly, a mischievous thought occurred to him. What if... he didn't resurface? What would their reaction be? They would probably forget all about his little mess up, and he would get to have some fun! So, forcing himself to hold his breath a while longer (which took a lot of effort), he waited.

His friends panicked when his head didn't reappear from the water.

"Gary!" Ash began swimming towards him as fast as he could.

"Hold on!" Leaf thrust the camera at Paul and jumped into the water after him.

May began screaming for help, and Drew quickly informed his butler, who was acting as a life guard right now, of the incident. But out of everyone, Misty had reacted the quickest, and had managed to reach Gary before anyone else. She pulled him to the surface and out of the pool, with some help from the others.

They all surrounded their friend, and Drew's butler quickly flipped through a first-aid book to make sure he knew exactly what to do in this situation.

"I-I'm sorry for making you do that!" Misty, near tears, apologized to the motionless boy. "I'm sorry! You were just... just such a great friend. A bit annoying, yes, but still... and this is all my fault!"

"Gary, you have to hold on!" Leaf cried. "Please!"

"Wake up, Gary!" Ash tried to rouse his friend. "Come on, buddy, you got to!"

"He-he was one of my best friends!" May sobbed freely. "And now..."

Drew stood solemnly to the side, his head bowed in seriousness. All he had wanted was to spend a wonderful swimming day with his friends. He had never wanted any of this. Gary...

A loud snort came from Gary. His friends jumped, startled. Gary?

Gary, unable to hold it back any longer, burst into laughter. The others around him stared at him in shock.

"You... were... FAKING?!" Misty screamed disbelievingly.

"Gary Oak! Don't you ever do that again! It wasn't funny!" Leaf scolded, enraged and a bit embarrassed that she fell for his trick.

"Y-yes it was!" Gary choked out, still laughing uncontrollably. "Your faces!"

"Not cool..." Drew glared at him coldly. This wasn't something you should joke about!

"You had us really worried! We thought you were dead!" Ash tried, but failed, to explain the seriousness of the situation.

Drew's butler shook his head and walked off, muttering something about children's sense of humour these days.

"Gary. Oak." Everyone turned to May, who was sounding very different from how she usually did. Her head was lowered, so her bangs covered her eyes.

Suddenly, she looked up. Her expression was one of pure outrage, and she was looking deadly. Without warning, she tackled Gary into the pool with her, where, from the looks of it, she tried to attack Gary in any way possible.

"Wait what are you-!" Gary tried to protest, but kept finding his head being shoved underwater. "I was just jok-!"

"You meanie!" May screamed as she repeatedly attacked him. "I thought you were actually DEAD! You are one of my bestest friends in the world, and you made me think you were DEAD just to get a laugh! I'll show you!"

"You get him, May!" Leaf gave her encouragement. "Teach him a lesson!'

"You know what? I'm going in there too!" Misty leaped into the pool to assist the brunette.

Drew, Ash and Leaf looked at one another and nodded before joining them, and before he knew it, Gary was really regretting playing his little prank.

"Well, other than that small 'Gary incident', today was a lot of fun!" Misty commented as they had lunch. After spending hours in the water, the seven friends had finally had enough, and so they had changed and went to eat.

"Yeah!" Ash agreed. "When are you going to have another swimming-party, Drew?"

"I don't know." Drew shrugged. "But it was all pretty great! Maybe soon."

"Yay!" May, who had returned to her usual self, cheered. "We can get together next week! Or maybe tomorrow! Or maybe every day!"

"I don't think every day would work, June."

"It's May!"

"I'm definitely going to remember this day." Leaf said.

"Me too." Paul smirked as he pulled out Drew's camera from his pocket. "Especially with all the pictures I took!"

"Oh, so that's where the camera went." Drew reached for the camera, and Paul handed it to him.

"What pictures did you take?" Leaf asked curiously.

Paul shrugged. "From where you left off. You caught Gary's hilarious diving-fail, and I took pictures of everything after that. So, that whole drowning act, and Gary getting beat up by May."

Gary scowled. "I was not getting beat up! May just caught me off guard!"

"Uh huh."

"Really!"

"Um, Paul?" May caught his attention. "When we all thought Gary drowned, why were you taking pictures instead of being worried?"

"He didn't look dead to me. Besides, he was getting enough attention."

"Wait!" Gary turned to him angrily. "So, you didn't bother trying to help because you just had a feeling I was okay?!"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Some friend you are!"

"Hey Drew? Can you send us copies of the pictures?" Ash asked.

"Good idea!" Leaf exclaimed. "The Gary mess-up dive one is a keeper!"

"Leafy!" Gary whined.

"Sure!" Drew nodded his head.

It really had been a water-ful day.

And done! This makes a pretty nice summer-related chapter.

Wow! This fanfic has now reached over 50 reviews, 20 favs, and 28 follows! I want to give a special thanks to everyone who's been reading this for all their support. You guys are all great!

Last chapter I said that I'm going to forget the update schedule and post whenever I want. But I realized that that might not be such a good idea after all, because then it would become hard for readers to predict the next update. So back to the update schedule! Like before, I'll update once a week during the weekend. And maybe during the week sometimes, depending on how much I write. So next update will be during the weekend!

A reminder to the poll, and please review and thanks for reading!

Bye bye for now! And have a smiling day! :)