Chapter 8

Two days had passed since Ash had said those words to Misty ‘I always keep my 
promises’. Misty knew what Ash meant by that ‘He’s going to buy me a new bike. I 
won’t have any reason to travel with him, and it’s all my fault’ Misty thought as she sat 
in her room trying to find a way to fix things, but sadly the only solution seemed to be the 
thing she feared most in the world. 
Tomorrow was Saturday, the day of the play, and they had rehearsed every scene, 
everyone knew their lines, everyone knew where they should stand. The play was a 
guaranteed success, the tickets sold out, everyone was excited and happy. Everyone 
except Ash and Misty, the Cerulean sisters believed their little sister should be happy. 
‘Like Misty aren’t you excited, tomorrow you will finally get to kiss Ash’ Misty 
remembered what Violet had told her earlier that day. However, Misty knew better, the 
sooner she kisses Ash the sooner the play will be over. Misty knew that tomorrow would 
most likely be the last day she sees Ash again, and just the thought of not being able to 
see Ash’s goofy, but cute face when she woke up in the morning made her heart hurt.  
“It’s hopeless, there’s nothing I can do. I’m not going to be traveling with Ash anymore 
and I’m just going to have to deal with that, that’s all. It’s probably all for the best 
anyway, things will work themselves out in the end,” Misty told herself in a failed 
attempt at making the situation sound better. 
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At that moment Gary was passing by and had heard Misty talking to herself. ‘Pathetic’ he 
thought as he heard her crying softly. Gary still didn’t really know what was going on 
since neither Ash nor Misty would speak to him unless they had to because they were 
rehearsing a scene. Of course that didn’t mean he was totally in the dark. He saw that 
after Ash and Misty’s conversation two days ago things had gotten worse between them. 
Ash barely acknowledged Misty’s existence unless they were rehearsing the play, and 
even then things were definitely awkward. Gary didn’t know how they were going to do 
the kiss scenes tomorrow even though he knew they both were probably looking forward 
to it. 
Gary couldn’t take it anymore, he had given himself the challenge of getting those two 
together, and he was never one to just give up.
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“10 years from now I’ll probably be laughing about this whole thing, ha ha, yeah that’s 
probably how I’ll feel,” Misty again tried to reassure herself when all of a sudden 
someone came barging into her room.
“Do you really believe that?”
“Gary?” Misty asked confused by Gary’s intrusion.
“Do you?”
“no,” Misty said, surprised by Gary’s demanding tone.
“Of course I don’t believe it, I’m just trying to make myself feel better, that’s all. How 
did you know what I was talking about anyway? Has eavesdropping become a new hobby 
for you now?”
“What happen between you and Ash?” Gary asked ignoring Misty’s questions.
“It’s none of your business”
“Despite what you may think I am not a bad guy, just trust me”
“Oh no, your not a bad guy at all. You just constantly insult, berate, and put down Ash 
every time we see you”
“Well if that’s what qualifies as being a bad guy then you would fall under that category 
too, hypocrite”
Misty realized he was right and decided it was best to just ignore him and hope he’d go 
away.
“Look Misty, I realize that Ash and I seem like mortal enemies but at one time we used to 
be best friends”
“Sure, best friends, in a world where Ash is Lex Luther and your Superman”
“We were, you could ask him yourself, that is if he ever decides to speak to you again”
At this statement tears began to form in Misty’s eyes.
“Please tell me, maybe I could help” Gary said soothingly.
“Like you helped before” Misty said, anger beginning to rise within her.
“Huh?”
“This is all your fault, if you hadn’t told Ash to go talk to me, which reminds me, you 
still haven’t told me what he was going to talk to me about”
“Don’t change the subject, what happened when he went to talk to you?”
‘Should I tell him? Things couldn’t get any worse’
“When were you guys best friends?” Misty asked, trying to change the subject once again 
as she decided she still didn’t trust him.
Gary sighed, ‘Fine, maybe if she knew the whole story she might want to open up to me’
“My parents and Ash’s mom used to be good friends so me and Ash were constantly over 
each other’s houses. We both were really competitive, we loved Pokemon, and we 
wanted to become Pokemon masters when we grew up, so we had a lot in common. We 
became fast friends. I used to spend a lot of time at my grandfather’s lab because I liked 
to watch the Pokemon. Ash liked to watch the Pokemon too so that’s where we used to 
hang out, of course I know that was definitely not the only reason he came by so often,” 
Gary turned a little red at the memory and suddenly became quiet.
Misty was intrigued “What was the other reason?”
“It’s not important”
“Oh come on, you have to tell me now, you told me everything else,” Misty pleaded.
“No, it’s no big deal, besides it’s not the point of the story”
“If it’s no big deal then why did you look so pissed?”
“I was not pissed!” Gary defended.
“Then why did you turn so red, come on, what’s the big deal?”
“Okay, okay, Ash had a “little” crush on my sister May who use to help my grandfather 
out with the Pokemon at the lab”
“I didn’t know you had a sister, older or younger?”
“Older”
“Well why was that such a big deal?”
“Because, all right, it wasn’t a little crush it was a big crush, I mean he was practically in 
love with her. I remember he used to come over and she used to baby-sit us and he used 
to ignore me and spend all his time talking to her”
Misty gave Gary a confused look, and began to wonder what he was trying to tell her.
Gary saw the look and continued to explain passionately.
“That wasn’t the worst part, not only was my best friend ignoring me but my sister was 
too. I mean who did Ketchum think he was trying to steal my sister from me. She was my 
big sister, my May, not his. How dare she pay more attention to him than me. Sometimes 
it seemed that she liked him as much as he liked her. Once I had come home after Ash 
and I had gone with grandpa to search for a rare Pokemon that was spotted in the forest, 
and instead of May asking me if I had a good time, she asked me how Ash was and if he 
was stopping by that day. Can you believe it?”
As soon as Gary finished his rant he looked to Misty who’s face changed from one of  
serious listening to one of unstoppable laughter.
“What’s so funny” Gary asked hurt.
“It’s just, you were jealous of Ash because you thought he was going to steal your big 
sister away?”
“Yeah” Gary said still not understanding what was so funny.
“And you were how old?”
“Well let’s see, Ash’s crush started when we were six and continued up until we left on 
our Pokemon journeys” Gary recalled.
“Okay, and you are how old now?”
“15”
Misty burst out laughing again as Gary held a look of hurt on his face.
“All right, all right, I get it, I took Ash’s crush a little too seriously”
“Took?” Misty stated referring to his passionate speech.
“Fine I’m still sensitive when it comes to my sister”
“You think?” Misty stated sarcastically while still snickering.
 “Okay we’ve gotten off track here” Gary said changing the subject.
“The point of the story was that Ash and I were best friends up until we left on our 
Pokemon journeys, so it’s not like I’m this heartless guy who is mean to Ash and likes to 
see him suffer just for the hell of it”
“But I don’t get it? Why did you guys stop being friends?”
“Well because, Ash and I were now going to be competing against each other”
“So, Ash is friends with lots of people he competes against”
Gary just gave a shrug as a response.
“It just doesn’t seem like Ash to give up on a friendship just because you guys were now 
competing against each other,” Misty pondered the reason until she saw a look of guilt on 
Gary’s face.
“Oh my God, you did something, didn’t you?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Gary said innocently.
“I know what happened,” Misty said as she put the pieces of the puzzle together.
“You were probably mad about this whole crush thing that had been going on for 4 years 
and you were trying to get back at Ash by creating this rivalry between you two”
“Your crazy”
 “I’m right aren’t I? And that’s the reason your no longer friends, you probably made fun 
of him and insulted him because you knew it would bother him like the crush bothered 
you”
Gary just sat in silence starring at the floor.
Misty continued to imagine the whole situation as if it was part of her own memories.
“And knowing Ash he probably vowed to become a Pokemon Master before you, am I 
right?” Misty asked with a knowing grin on her face.
“NO, he also said he would be a better Pokemon trainer than me” Gary answered 
sheepishly.
“I knew it, that’s why you bother him now too isn’t it? Wow, that’s so pathetic, you insult 
someone for 5 years just because their sister liked them best”
“MAY DID NOT LIKE ASH BEST, AND AT LEAST I DON’T INSULT SOMEONE 
FOR 5 YEARS BECAUSE I’M IN LOVE WITH THEM!”
Misty starred at Gary in shock ‘He knows, but how?’
Gary saw Misty’s sudden change of mood and remembered the point of his visit.
“Misty, even though Ash isn’t my best friend any more it doesn’t mean that I still don’t 
think of him as my best friend. Please tell me what happened, I know Ash just as well, if 
not better than you do and I think I can help. Besides, it looks to me like you need 
someone to talk to”
Misty realized Gary was right, maybe he could help.
“All right, but only if you promise you won’t say anything to anyone”
“I promise”
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An hour had gone by as Misty told Gary about all that had happened 2 days ago. She 
poured out her heart once again as Gary just listened intently to her story.
“So now he thinks I hate him and he is going to buy me a bike so that he can get rid of 
me”
“I bet Ash doesn’t see it like that, knowing him, and what you said, he probably thinks 
that doing this will make you happy. I mean that is the reason you gave for traveling with 
him isn’t it?”
“Well yeah”
“But the real reason is?”
“Because I care about him”
Gary looked at her, a little annoyed.
“Because I love him”
“Right, so now all you have to do is say that to him”
“Easier said than done. Besides, he should have figured it out himself by now. I mean, 
someone’s following you just for a bike for 5 years. I mean, come on!”
“Yeah well, he also didn’t realize that I insult him because I’m upset about his crush on 
my sister. And plus, this is Ash we’re talking about here, he doesn’t exactly catch on to 
things too quickly”
“I guess not,” Misty sighed.
“But that’s one of the things you like about him, isn’t it?”
“Yeah,” Misty said dreamily.
Gary just shook his head at the hopelessly in love girl.
However Misty soon snapped out of her daze as she realized she still didn’t have a 
solution to her problem. 
“All right Mr. I think I can help, help me”
“I have a great idea. You know what you can do?”
“What, what?” Misty asked desperately.
“Tell him you love him”
Misty facefaulted “That’s your great idea?”
“Well yeah, what’s wrong?”
“I told you I already tried that”
“No, you told me that you couldn’t say it and he got mad and walked away”
“Exactly”
“Well that’s not trying it then. This time you are actually going to get the words out of 
your mouth so he can hear them”
“I can’t do that”
“Why not?”
“First of all he won’t even speak to me”
“So, make him speak to you, or better yet I’ll make him speak to you”
Misty was out of luck and out of excuses as she had to tell Gary the real reason she 
couldn’t tell him.
“I can’t tell him because if he doesn’t feel the same way then he will hate me even more”
“If he doesn’t feel the same way? Of course....” Gary was about to reveal Ash’s feelings, 
but he realized it wouldn’t be right. ‘Besides she should find out from him not from me’
“Of course what?”
“Of course he wouldn’t hate you” ‘good save Gary’
“Okay, maybe he wouldn’t hate me but I know he probably thinks of me as a friend and 
nothing more. So if I tell him and he only thinks of me as a friend then things would 
probably become too awkward and I’ll probably lose him anyway”
“Well if you don’t say something then you definitely are going to lose him, at least this 
way you have a chance”
“But...”
Gary looked at Misty’s eyes and saw fear, so he tried his best to reassure her without 
giving to much away.
“Look Misty, I realize your scared but if I thought this wasn’t going to end well then I 
wouldn’t tell you to go through with it. Please trust me, okay?”
Misty got a feeling that Gary knew a little more about Ash’s feelings than he was letting 
on and she began to feel a new hope build within her.
“Okay”
“Now get some rest, its after 2 am and we have a play to put on tomorrow. No sister of 
mine is going to have bags under her eyes at the tender age of 15,” Gary said playfully.
Misty smiled as she watched Gary step into the hall.
“Gary”
Hearing Misty’s voice, he reentered her room.
“Yeah”
“Thank you” Misty said as Gary winked at her and once again walked out of the room.
Misty lay down on her bed as she thought about tomorrow.
“It’s going to be a long day”