A Boy’s First Love

Lt. Surge threw out his last pokeball. The Pokemon that appeared was one that had been feared by several trainers and for good reason. It was by far Lt. Surge’s strongest Pokemon. It was Raichu.
Gary’s eyes widened at the sight of the Pokemon, but he kept his cool. He wasn’t going to be intimidated by the evolution of Pikachu.

Ash frowned as he saw Raichu emerge. He had a feeling this Pokemon was the evolution of Pikachu. It looked like Pikachu and since Lt. Surge had just used his own Pikachu earlier he figured he was correct.Gary told Sandshrew to use dig.

However, before it could dig underground Lt. Surge’s Raichu used quick attack and it hit Sandshrew with the move. Sandshrew flew back a couple of feet but dug its heels in the ground. It kept it from hitting the wall. Raichu then used slam. It ran forward, quicker than Gary was expecting and slammed right into Sandshrew. Before Gary could even react, his Pokemon had been knocked out.

“What just happened?” Gary questioned.

“You only have one chance left kid,” Lt. Surge replied, smirking.

Gary frowned and reached for his last Pokemon. He threw his pokeball into the air and out popped Squirtle. What was Gary thinking, pairing Squirtle up with Raichu? He would lose for sure.

“Gary what are you doing?” Ash asked, voicing his suspicion.

“Can it Ash, I know what I’m doing!” He said vehemence dripping from his voice.

Ash scowled, but dropped the subject. If Gary wanted to fight Raichu with a disadvantage he didn’t care.

“Squirtle use bite!” Gary said.

Squirtle ran forward, but as soon as it got near Raichu was hit by a thunder shock.

“Squirtle!” Gary cried.

His Pokemon looked like it had taken a lot of damage with that one attack. Ash was worried Gary might lose this if he wasn’t careful.

“Don’t give up Squirtle! Use tackle!”

Since Squirtle was close to Raichu it got the attack in. Its tackle wasn’t nearly strong enough to knock Raichu out though. Raichu merely skidded back a couple of feet. It didn’t even look that hurt. Gary scowled and told Squirtle to use bubble. Gary’s Squirtle opened its mouth and used bubble. The attack hit, but wasn’t very strong. After all Raichu was an electric type. Gary would have to do better than that to win.

“Raichu finish this off with thunder!”

Gary’s eyes widened and he told Squirtle to try and dodge the attack. Raichu’s thunder struck suddenly though, catching Squirtle off guard. Its electric attack raced through the water Pokemon’s body and Squirtle fell forward. Gary had been defeated.

“I-I lost,” Gary stammered.

“Better luck next time baby,” Lt. Surge said.

“Gary, are you okay?” Ash asked.

Gary nodded slowly but Ash could tell he was devastated. “Come on Gary, let’s get out of here,” he said.

Gary barely moved, shuffling forward slowly.

Ash frowned, worried about his friend. The two of them left the gym and Gary sat down in the poke center, eyes downcast.

“Gary, don’t be sad, that Raichu looked tough,” Ash said, trying to comfort him.

The brunette’s head rose up and he let out a deep sigh. “Thanks Ashy boy but I was pathetic. Losing to that guy was a disgrace,” he replied.

“Why?” Ash asked, confused.

“Because that guy is a complete jerk and I shouldn’t have lost to him. I provoked him, talked big and in the end just lost,” Gary said putting his hands in his head.

Ash finally understood why Gary was so upset. His pride had been at stake and he had lost.

“I’m sorry Gary,” he replied, grabbing his hand.

Gary turned a light pink color. For some reason seeing Gary blush made Ash feel embarrassed as well. Yet he liked the feel of his hand against his. What? Why did he just think that?

“Thanks Ash,” Gary remarked, not moving his hand from Ash’s.

Little did Ash know that Gary was feeling something towards him at that moment. It was something that could only be described as a crush. All Ash knew was that he had felt warm inside the moment their hands had touched. Ash was a little slow when it came to these types of things. The next thing that happened made everything click in for Ash.

Gary smiled fondly at his friend and said, “You’ve always been so supportive of me Ash. I never knew why until now.”

Ash frowned, “What’s tha-”

Gary kissed Ash on the cheek and he blushed furiously.

“It’s because you like me as more than a friend, isn’t it Ash?” He asked.

Ash gulped and chose his words carefully. “I don’t know Gary. I’ve felt things towards you that I can’t explain and correct me if I’m wrong but I thought boys were only supposed to like girls,” he said.

Gary laughed, “Ash you think too much! But if you need time to reflect on what I just told you then I’m cool with that.”

“I think I need some time Gary,” Ash replied truthfully.

Gary nodded, “Sure take your time.”