Author’s Note: The concept of Misty and Gary together has always confused and intrigued me. First of all, what type of friend would fall for your enemy, or how sick would your enemy have to be to woo your best friend? It’s always interesting to see how Ash will react to this unique though often flawed couple…

- Deal -

- By Brian -

I rubbed my head in pain as I lay on the couch, making a mental note to never mess with Ash’s Tauros herd again. They’re all a bunch of animals I tell you, a bunch of animals that’ll trample all over you when you’re just trying to feed them-

“Ring-Ring-Ring, Ring-Ring-Ring, Phone Call!”

I groan, wondering why anyone would bother calling me when I’m in so much pain. Well, whoever it is, I’m gonna make sure they understand how much of a headache I have!

I drag myself to the vid-phone and answer, “Look, buddy, I’m not really in the mood to talk-”

A large lump forms in my throat as I see a frantic, red-haired girl crying on the screen, her hands shakily clutching the phone in a desperate attempt to keep her composure.

“G-Gary…? Is…is T-Tracey there…?” she asks quietly, tears streaking down her face as she does so.

It takes a few moments for me to respond, as I’m not used to seeing frantic girls call the house. “Tracey’s not here right now…he and gramps are doing field study on the Orange Islands…”

She responds with more muffled cries, causing me to feel even worse-

Isn’t that Misty…? That’s the girl that Ash was traveling with, when I was still journeying…but why, how come, shouldn’t she be…?

“Hey, um…Misty? That’s your name, right?” I try to say in the calmest tone I could muster, and it works, sort of, as her cries have died down a little.

She’s looking at me with wobbly eyes, as if she’s expecting me to say something that’ll fix everything. I don’t want this pressure…I don’t even know this girl all that well, but I’ve got to do something before she decides to take drastic measures. Any decent human would do that same, right?

“I may not be Tracey or Ash, but if you want, maybe you could come over and we could talk?” I suggest, my voice suddenly taking on a nervous tone.

She’s now looking at me through half-suspicious eyes, before nodding very slowly and then hanging up, causing me to stare at the screen, wondering what had just happened.

* * *

I open the door and let her in, absently noticing that she’s wearing a blue and white dress, a far cry from her tomboyish t-shirt and shorts, and her hair is down. I suppose that’s what a gym leader is supposed to look like in order to appear more mature, but I can’t help staring.

She’s sitting down on a couch, her hands in her lap, and her dress can’t hide the fact that her legs are shaking.

“Thanks for letting me come over…I had no else to talk to…” she says quietly, her eyes glancing at the carpet.

I slump down on to my favorite chair, attempting to figure out this whole situation. Apparently she has no friends besides Ash and his gang, and it looks like she’s all alone in Cerulean City. The question is…why was she crying earlier?

“What’s the matter, Misty?” I ask, her name sounding unfamiliar when coming out of my throat.

She looks at me funny, as if she had expected someone else, Ash perhaps, to say those words to her. But all she has is Gary Oak right now, I suppose, and she’s got to make due with what she’s got.

“I…” she struggles to find the right words, but it seems like she might be on the verge of tears as well.

A sudden wave of discomfort hits me, and I try my best not to do anything out of the ordinary.

“I…it started with a phone call…I was talking with Ash…and…” she whimpered as she mentioned of his name, but continued, “and in the middle of our conversation about…about…I don’t remember what it was about, but during the middle he was talking about this new girl he met…”

“A new girl…?” I echoed, wondering how Ash had managed to-

“Yeah…a new girl!” she half-shouted, half-cried in disbelief, “Can you believe him? After everything I put into our relationship-”

“Relationship?” I asked in shock, wondering why Ash had no mentioned it the last time we talked-

She looked at me, a sad smile on her face. “Well…to me it was. I thought…I thought, you know, that he thought so too. We shared so much together…I traveled with him for a good three years…and now that I’m gone he just happens to find another girl to replace me…”

I raised an eyebrow at this. “I highly doubt Ash would just replace you. He’s just not that type of person…”

“You should’ve heard him talk about her, Gary!” she says, startling me a little, “He went on and on about her…this May girl…he talked about how cute she was, how nice she was, how much of a great battler she was, and…and…!”

I backed away as she slammed a fist on a nearby coffee table, causing one of the legs to break off, which in turn caused gramp’s reading lamp and my favorite mug to fall off and shatter into a million pieces.

“My…my favorite mug…” I cried out, falling to my knees as I looked at all the pieces that now lay on the hardwood floor. I loved that mug, it was the highlight of every morning-

“Uh…Gary…?” she asks me, all traces of tears gone on her face as she looked at me, “Uh…sorry about the table…and the lamp…and…the mug…”

I looked back at her with an expression of shock, still unable to comprehend that my mug was gone.

“You broke my mug.” I whimpered, causing a small smile to appear on her face. How could she smile at a time like this?

Anguish (or something similar to that) filled my soul as I attempted to pick up the pieces, despite the fact that they were way too small to glue back together. Gramps had given me this mug when I started researching here, saying it was a sort of welcome home present. I had laughed at this, saying that out of all the things he could’ve given me, he gave me a simple mug. I soon learned that the simple things in life bring us the most joy…

“Gary…?” whispered a quiet voice from behind me, causing me to whimper out in surprise.

I turned around and saw myself face to face with Misty, who was uncomfortably close. “What?”

“I like you, Gary...” she whispers, her cheeks reddening as she does so. She’s closing her eyes, and she looks like she’s about to kiss me! What should I do, what should I do? I’ve never been kissed before, and what am I saying this is Ash’s friend!

“No you don’t!” I reply hastily, backing away from her and landing right on my chair.

She puts her hands on her hips and a smirk appears on her face. “That’s true, but I kind of need your help…”

I let out a sigh of relief, which does not last for long as she starts telling me the details of her plan. I don’t even know this girl that well, and already she’s dragging me into something like this…?

Now that I think about it, I sort of wished that Ash’s Tauros had trampled me a bit more…

* * *

I felt my face flush with embarrassment as I saw Ash pick up the phone. “Uh…hey Ash…”

“Hey Gary! What’s up-” his voice instantly stops as he sees Misty all over me, snuggling my head with hers.

Apparently her plan involved making Ash jealous by going for his rival-turned-friend, but I didn’t see any logic in that…which translates to me being a chicken and not wanting to potentially get into any sort of trouble. She convinced me, however, that she was just doing this so she could get Ash back, although I still had my doubts about whether or not this was a good idea…

“Hey Ash!” she greets him with glee, as she rubs her cheek against mine affectionately, “How are you?”

He looks lost for a moment, his eyes widening ever so slightly as Misty wraps her arms around me, causing me to sweat a little bit in nervousness. I hoped that Ash wasn’t going to freak out or kill anything…like me, for example.

“So…you and Misty, eh…?” he says, trying his best to chuckle, only to fail horribly.

“Yeah!” she replies for me, as she squeezes me tighter to her, “We’ve been going out for a week now, and I just like Gary so much…”

She nudged me in the ribs, urging me to add something. “Y-yeah! I sure do like Misty too…”

A look of pain flashed on Ash’s expression before he quickly hid it, although I’m sure Misty was too busy nuzzling me to notice.

“I never knew you two had a thing for each other.” he said in a friendly tone, attempting to make friendly conversation.

“I’ve always had a thing for Gary Oak…” she said dreamily, before planting a small kiss on my lips, causing both Ash and I to be alarmed. I struggled to remain calm and collected, despite the fact that I had just received my first kiss from someone who I didn’t even know all that well…

“You two look nice together…I…um…I have to go…May…May’s calling me. Later you two.” he says, his voice stumbling as he hung up the phone, the screen now blank.

I knew that May wasn’t calling him…he was just trying to escape. I put a hand on my head, suddenly feeling another headache coming on.

“Do you think it worked? Do you think he’s jealous now? Do you think he’ll leave that May?” she asks in a chipper tone, still holding my tightly to her, as if I were a security blanket.

“I…I think it worked too well.” I finally say, trying my best to get her off me so I could go get some sleep.

She made whimpered, and refused to let go of me. “What do you mean you think it worked too well?”

I managed to stand up, but she was hanging on to me, causing me to fall down on the floor, with her right on top of me. Great…this day just keeps getting better and better…

“Didn’t you see the look on his face?” I say exasperatedly, “He looked like so sad…I don’t think he liked that May girl at all to begin with, if you catch my drift…”

She’s quiet for a few moments, and then she looks at me right in the eyes. “Do you think he’s mad at me…?”

“No…” I sigh, “but I think you…we…really hurt him…”

Her head is on my chest now, and I feel like running away, far away from this. “This was a bad idea…wasn’t it?”

I nod my head slowly, unable to think of any words to say.

“I bet he feels betrayed now. I didn’t mean to hurt him…I just wanted him to like me, like how he did when I used to travel with him…”

Oh no, please don’t cry. I’m no good at handling crying women, come on…

She sniffles a little, but thankfully she doesn’t cry. “I’m sorry for breaking your mug, I’m sorry for kissing you, and I’m sorry for dragging you into this, Gary…but I didn’t have any friends to turn to…”

“Why?” I ask, thinking I already knew the answer…

“My only friends are Ash, Brock, and Tracey…and…if you don’t mind…you …” she whispers hesitantly, before hugging me tightly.

I’m your friend? But I barely know you, and you barely know me…

“In case you’re wondering…it’s because you helped me…” she says, somehow reading my mind.

Silence fills the room as I lay on the hardwood floor, with a girl two years older lying on top of me, both of us wondering how badly we had hurt Ash, as well as how we could fix this whole ugly situation. I had tried to get up a few times, but every time she would whimper and hold me closer, probably because I was the only source of comfort she had.

I never should have made that deal with her…I never should have suggested that she come over…I never should have picked up the phone…

She’s looking at me right now, with those big blue eyes of hers, and she timidly leans in for another kiss…

If she likes Ash so much, why is she doing this…? Haven’t we hurt him enough…? Shouldn’t we stop doing this…? Shouldn’t we stop…?

As her lips are about to reach my own, I take the initiative and kiss her first, much to her delight…

- End -

This is my first Misty/Gary, so yeah…some scenes were awkward cause I wanted them to be vastly different from anything I’ve done with Ash and Misty. Ash and Misty know each other, while Gary and Misty have never actually talked at all in the anime. You’d think there’d be a little fight, but no…they have never said a single word face to face, which makes me wonder how people can put Misty and Gary together in the first place…

But then again, I did just right now. *insert evil laughter*

The last few stories I’ve written have had optimistic endings, so I decided to go for an angst-y one, where nothing is resolved. I also managed to add some slightly humorous parts in this story, such as how Gary was freaking out over his favorite mug.

And yeah, some people are probably going to complain that Misty and Gary are acting out of character, but that’s fine. If you want a Misty that’s not evil and desperate, you can always go check out my other stories with her, like Remember. Or if you want a feel-good Gary story, check out Drabble.

By the way, Gary is going to be in Ascension…as a good guy.

That’s all for now, folks. Thanks for reading, and remember to tell me what you think!

Final Story for Season Two:

Doom Desire - Wishing can be dangerous...especially when that wish is granted.

Stories Currently Planned for Season Three:

The Show Must Go On – The actor for "May" reflects on the character she portrays on the popular "Pokémon" cartoon show, as well as the effects of replacing a well loved character ("Misty").

Cognitive Dissonance – Ash must choose between the two most important things in his life. – This might become a part of Ascension –

Love Is Not A Magicarp You Can Catch – Brock goes on a date with Misty, and tries his best to impress her.

Standing In the Middle of Yesterday – Misty visits the place where she fished Ash out…

What Is Love? – Ash is asked a question that has no answer.

My Big Brother – Molly Hale thinks about Ash, and how, like a big brother, he watches over her. – This might become a part of Ascension –

My Favorite Color – Green (Amy) comes back to Pallet Town, much to Blue’s (Gary) surprise.

Born To Be A Winner – May and Ash battle for the title of Pokémon Master of Hoenn, and only one may win.

Multi-Chaptered Story Currently Being Developed:

Ascension – The truth about where Pokémon come from, how they came to be, what the Chosen One's true purpose really is, the final evolution that will change the world and, most importantly, an end to everything.