Chokotto Koi
By Dave

"Ash!"
“Whaa?” Ash snapped out of his peaceful dreams abruptly.
“C’mon, I’ve been calling you for five minutes.  It’s eleven thirty and I have to leave, I want you to get out of bed and clean this dumpy house,” Mrs. Ketchum said, leaning impatiently against the doorframe of Ash’s room.
“Uh, where are you going?” Ash asked groggily, wiping the sleep from his eyes.
“I told you yesterday, I’m taking my vast collection of Mr. Mimes to the BBWP Meeting,” Mrs. Ketchum said, pulling a pokeball from her purse.
“BBWP?  What?”
“Bizarre and Bafflingly Worthless Pokemon.  Anyway, I have to go.  Oh, Gary’s at the door, I told him he could come up.  You might want to get dressed.  Well, I’m off.”
“Mime!” screamed a random Mr. Mime somewhere downstairs.
“Aw, c’mon mom!  I’m not even…” Ash started to complain, but Mrs. Ketchum had already left the door and was quickly replaced by Gary.
Gary Oak, Ash’s once-best friend and now his biggest rival.  Gary, strong and lithe and full of the boastful, unashamed, irrepressible pride of youth.  He wore his traditional lopsided grin and wild brown hair.
“What’s up, loser?  Still in bed, huh?” Gary said, walking into Ash’s small, cluttered room.  “C’mon, dude, it’s already 11:30.  Just gonna sleep all afternoon?”
“Well…” Ash stuttered, pulling his thin sheets up onto his shoulders to cover his naked chest.  “I dunno.  I was actually going to take Pikachu down South to the coast to practice against some water-type Pokemon this afternoon.”
“So what’re ya doin’ still in bed?  You’re wasting time,” Gary grinned, kicking a loose Pokemon doll from underneath his feet.
“Pssh, right.  Just cuz’ I don’t get up at six in the morning doesn’t mean I’m wasting time.  You’re just angry cuz your grandpa has you doing all his trifling Pokemon-catching chores,” Ash said.
“Yeah, well at least I’ve got worthwhile Pokemon.  Are you still working on evolving that Metapod?”
“Oh, shove it.”  Ash sighed, shrugging off his covers and getting out of bed.  He shivered slightly against the cool autumn air that floated through his open window, reaching over to grab a wadded shirt from the floor.
“Guess you’re not the little scrawny wimp you always used to be anymore, huh?” Gary said, eyeing Ash’s smooth chest.  “Now you’re just a less little, less scrawny wimp.”
“What do you mean?” Ash said, pulling the simple black shirt down over his head.
“Uh... nothing,” Gary said, suddenly nervous.  “I mean… you know, you were always the skinny little dork and now you’re actually looking like you’re in pretty good shape.  Just thought I’d say something.”
Ash smiled.  “Well, thanks.  I don’t know when the last time you said something nice to me was, but thanks anyway.”
Gary shuffled a bit, uncharacteristically antsy.  “Well, I dunno.  I just thought… you know, I sorta miss hanging out and all.  Nowadays, all that we ever do is fight.  I mean, that’s really why I came over.  I wanted to show you this awesome new Electrode I caught earlier.  But… I don’t know, it’s just not the same.  I mean, we were best friends and all.”
Ash paused, scratching his leg slowly.  It was true, he supposed.  Gary and he had been friends for as long as he could remember, until they both happened to show up at Professor Oak’s that day.  Now everything was just a race, a competition.  Who had the better Pokedex, who had the most rare Pokemon.  There just wasn’t room for friendship, and Ash knew that was how it had to be.
“Yeah, I know.  We were,” Ash said, standing up and pulling on some jeans.  “But I guess things change over time, you know?  We’ve both got something to do, and they just happen to be conflicting.  I mean, it’s not like either of us are gonna give up collecting Pokemon… and we both can’t just ignore the fact that the other is getting in the way of our collecting… that’s how things are now, Gary.”
“I guess…” Gary said, staring at something just beyond Ash’s spiky black hair.  “Yeah, well, you know that I’m still gonna have the Pokedex finished before you!”
“Pssh, only cuz’ your grandpa’s helping you out.”
“No way, loser.  Anyway, I’ve gotta run.  I’m going out to the power plant today.”
“All right, be careful.”
“Yeah, whatever.  What are you, my mom or something?”
“Uh…” Ash blushed.  “Naw, I just know that your weak Pokemon’ll get whipped bad and you’ll be all alone out there.”
“Ha, whatever.  Smell you later, loser.”  Gary walked quickly out of Ash’s room, leaving him standing alone.  Ash sighed, remembering all the times that he and Gary had sat around in that same room, talking and waiting for the day when they would be old enough to be Pokemon trainers themselves.  And now they were.
Ash walked into the living room, where Pikachu lay curled up on the couch, sleeping.
“C’mon, Pikachu.  We’re going to the coast, remember?” Ash said, shaking the little yellow ball of fur awake.
“Pika…?” Pikachu asked inquisitively, rubbing his little eyes.
“Yeah, let’s go.  It’s almost noon, are you just gonna sleep the day away?”

---

A cool breeze was blowing gently across the Cinnabar Sea, offsetting the still-fierce heat of the autumn sun pleasantly.  The sea rolled slowly against Ash’s bare feet and shins.  He turned to shout to Pikachu, who still stood hesitantly on the edge of the beach.
“Professor Oak says there’s been a whole lot of Tentacools around here recently.  The autumn tides bring them in from the deep sea.  I think you’ll find plenty of enemies to battle with,” Ash called back to his Pokemon.
“Chu!” Pikachu responded happily, scampering around playfully in the sand.
Ash nodded back.  “I’ll wait here.  See if you can’t find some Magikarp or something to fight with.”  It had been a long time since Ash had been to the southern coast, and the day was beautiful; he wanted to enjoy it.
Pikachu nodded and ran off to the east.  It probably wasn’t such a good idea, Ash supposed, to let a Pokemon off unwatched, but he knew Pikachu would be just fine on his own.  Wild Pokemon fought all the time, and Pikachu had an obvious advantage against any water-types that he might run into.  Ash stretched slowly, basking in the warm sunlight.  Kicking the sand about under his feet, Ash tracked over to a clear spot of white sand.  He shrugged off his jacket and laid it out against the sand.  The cool breeze was refreshing against his bare forearms.  From a distance, Ash could hear the loud buzz of Pikachu’s thundershock attack.  He smiled to himself.  Pikachu really didn’t need the training, but he knew how much the little Pokemon enjoyed a good battle.  It was the least he could do for Pikachu, considering how many times he’d bailed Ash out of trouble.  Ash untucked his simple black shirt and pulled it off.  The breeze surrounded him pleasantly, reminding Ash just why autumn was his favorite season.  He smiled, sitting down on the warm sands.
Maybe Gary was right, Ash thought, looking down at his own bare chest and stomach.  All the training and exercise he got as a Pokemon trainer had really paid off.  When he and Gary were younger, Ash was always the skinny one.  Barely a wisp of a boy then, now he wore the supple musculature of a young man.  Not bulging muscles by any means, yet there was still the slight definition of pectorals and abdominals, something that Ash secretly prided himself on.  Those, and the thin v-shape of his hips that narrowed down and then out into strong thighs.  And what was between those thighs, well… he had learned of those pleasures a little over a year ago; he learned from a Pokemon nature show, nonetheless.
But he was pale, still.  The same creamy skin that his mother prided herself on, Ash wished he could get rid of.  It wasn’t so flattering for a boy to have perfect skin as it was for his mother to.  Ash lay down against the soft, warm sands to let the sun soak into his chest.

---

“Chu!  Pika pika!” shouted Pikachu, jumping impatiently up and down on Ash’s exposed chest.
“Wha?” Ash said, waking suddenly.  He had drifted off lying in the sand.  “What is it, Pikachu?”
“Chuuuuu!” Pikachu shouted urgently, waving frantically.  Suddenly, a monstrously large Tentacruel burst up from the rising tide.  It roared, waving its tentacles madly.
“Oh man!  Where’d such a big Pokemon come from!?” Ash shouted in confusion, jumping to his feet.  “Uh, Pikachu!  Thunderbolt attack, now!”
“Chuuuuuuuuuu!” Pikachu shouted, concentrating.  A huge bolt of lightning struck the Tentacruel straight in its bulbous head.
“Cruel!  Cruel!” it grumbled, waving it’s tentacles frantically.
“Tentacruel, smokescreen!” a familiar voice shouted from the west.
“Cruel!” the Pokemon yelled, spraying a thick cloud of black ink in Pikachu and Ash’s direction.  Ash yelped as he was engulfed in the cloud of obscuring dye.
As the cloud cleared and Ash wiped the black away from his eyes, a new figure had replaced the Tentacruel.  Ash barely made out the strong silhouette of Gary.
“Ha!  I guess I got you one more time, huh?  You should remember that just because he’s a thunder-type Pokemon doesn’t mean that he’ll always win against water-type,” Gary chided, tossing a pokeball back and forth.
“For crying out loud, though, look what’cha did.  I’m soaked in ink.  You probably ruined these pants,” Ash moaned.  “I can’t believe you.  Jeez, what are you doing here anyway?”
“I heard you wanted to train Pikachu, so… I thought I’d bring you a real challenge.  My Tentacool just evolved yesterday,” Gary said, smiling proudly.
Ash sighed, running a hand through his ink-soaked hair.  “My mom will kill me if I go home like this and get the house all dirty.  I was supposed to clean it anyway, and I came down here instead.  Damn it, Gary!  Why’d you have to go and do that?”
“Jeez, sorry,” Gary said, kicking the sand slightly.  “Try not to get in the way next time, huh?”
“You asshole!” Ash growled, suddenly leaping at Gary.  Gary stumbled back in surprise, allowing Ash to easily knock him to the soft sand.  He fell with a quiet thud, Ash straddling his hips and holding his shoulders down as soon as he landed.
“How do you like it, huh?” Ash shouted angrily, smearing inky handprints into Gary’s face, shirt and hair.
“Christ, lighten up Ash!” Gary shouted back struggling under Ash’s weight.  He tried to get a hold of Ash’s arms, but his hands slipped in the ink.  “Stop it, that hurts!”
“No!  I’m tired of it!  I’m tired of you always having to be the one who wins!  I’m tired of anyone having to win!” Ash screamed, “It’s not supposed to be like this, Gary!  We were best friends!  Now look at us, all we can do is strangle each other!  Well, fine.  So be it.  I’ll fight back if you want me too, because you can’t always be the one to win!”
Ash stopped, dropping his hands to his sides and bending low over Gary.  Gary just stared up at him quietly, awed.  Ash had stolen the words from his mind and spit them at him in a fit of rage.  It shouldn’t be this way; Gary knew it.  But somehow it was, and now it was irreversible.  Or was it?  If they both longed for the friendship they used to share, then why should it be so irretrievable?
Gary sighed heavily, reaching up and rubbing the ink away from Ash’s cheek.  “I know, man.  I know.  It doesn’t make sense; it doesn’t make sense at all.  I don’t know why it turned out this way, but it did.  I mean… I miss you, Ash.  I miss being your friend.  In a way, I wish that we could go back to the way that it was before we were Pokemon trainers… but we can’t.  This is how things are now.”  Gary suddenly became aware of the fact that he was still stroking Ash’s cheek, but couldn’t bring himself to stop.  Ash’s skin was so soft and warm underneath his hand, he felt like letting go would mean letting go of what could be left of their friendship.
Ash nodded silently.  “I know, Gary.  I just don’t want to leave it behind.  You were my best friend.  Somehow, you were even more than my best friend, like… like my brother,” he said.  But brother wasn’t the right word, and Ash knew it.  He just didn’t know what the word was that he was really looking for.  What is closer than a best friend?  “I’m sorry I got so angry.  I just… I don’t know what to do anymore, Gary.”  Ash futilely attempted to wipe an inky handprint from Gary’s forehead.  “Do we keep fighting like this?  Do we try to be friends again?”
“Why shouldn’t we?” Gary asked, propping himself up on one arm.  “I mean, who really cares about who finishes the Pokedex first.  Whatever happens will happen.  I can deal with that.”  Gary stared steadily into Ash’s soft eyes.  “I don’t know what I think about you anymore, Ash.  It used to be easier; we didn’t have anything to separate us.  Now there’s this competition, this animosity that pushes us apart.  I don’t want it any more than you do, but is it really worth fighting it?  I don’t know, and if you have an answer I’d be more than happy to hear you out.  But until then, could you please let me stand up?”
Ash nodded, standing slowly.  Gary stood silently, straightening his shirt out.  He nodded to Ash slightly, and turned to walk away without another word.  Ash watched Gary walk away.  He didn’t turn back.

---

“You’re right,” Professor Oak said, after thinking for a while.  “I guess I didn’t really consider what an effect this would have on you and Gary’s friendship, and I apologize for it, Ash.  But I don’t honestly see what you want me to do at this point.  If Gary wants to be your friend, then I’m sure he won’t let me stand in the way.  Likewise, if he doesn’t then there is no amount of convincing that I could do that would change his mind.  I’m sorry, but I’m not a magician.”
“I know, Professor Oak, but… I think that Gary is too caught up in the whole Pokedex thing to even think about trying to be friends again.  He acts like the fact that we’re both trying to collect every Pokemon is somehow a direct order to not be friends,” Ash explained.  “I mean, not literally… I know how smart Gary is.  But he’s so obsessed with the whole thing.  Professor, I can’t explain how much I miss him.”
“You don’t have to, Ash,” the older man said, sitting down on a lab stool.  “I went through something that was similar, I think.  When I was a kid about your age, I was sure that I was the smartest person in my entire class.  I enrolled in every science contest I could and won with flying colors.  In fact, the only person who could even come close was my closest friend, a girl named Ivy.  Well, Ivy and I both were determined to win the Pallet Town Science Competition one year.  Somehow, we let that stupid competition come between our friendship.  It was the stupidest thing we could’ve done, and I lost a close friend because of it.  Ash, I don’t want you to lose Gary.  And I don’t want Gary to lose you.  Find a way to work it out.  If it’s important enough to the two of you,” Professor Oak paused.  “and I know it is, you’ll find a way to bring that friendship back.  I just wish that I could’ve done the same with Ivy.”
Ash nodded resolutely.  “I know, Professor.  Thanks a lot.  I mean… I guess I knew that was how it was for me in my heart… but it’s hard to believe until you hear it from someone else, you know?”  He smiled, raising a fist.  “Gary and I can make this work, I know it.”
“That’s the spirit, Ash,” said Professor Oak, placing a firm hand on Ash’s shoulder.  “I care a lot about Gary, I know that you’re the best friend he’s ever had.  Don’t lose that friendship, Ash.”  Ash nodded once more.
“Don’t worry, Professor,” Ash said, walking towards the door.  “I think I know what the problem really is.”  He paused, hand still on the doorknob, and then turned back to Professor Oak.  “And I think I know how to take care of it.” “Then do, young Ash.  Do whatever feels right.  If I could take it all back and be with Ivy, I know I would,” the Professor said, nodding.  “Never let anything stand in between your friendship.”
Ash smiled, nodded, and stepped out the door.

---

The sun was hanging low in the sky, tinting the broad plains around Pallet in a beautiful purple.  Gary Oak sat silently on the singular rock that rose from a sea of tall grass, his thinking rock.  Only a single Growlithe, standing guard sleepily at his feet, accompanied him.
“Gary!” Ash shouted, wading through the plains.  “Gary, it’s Ash!  Hey… Mary told me I could find you out here.”  Ash threw himself up on the rock next to Gary.  “You feel like comparing Pokedexes, huh?”  But as Gary turned towards him, Ash choked on his own words.  Uncharacteristic tears marked the smooth skin of Gary’s cheeks, reflecting the brilliant purple of the setting sun in dark, bloody hues on his young face.
“Gary?  What’s wrong, bud?” Ash asked concernedly.
“Ash… it’s…” Gary started, stifling a sob.  “I can’t be your friend, Ash.  I just can’t.  It’s not going to work, so it’s best if we just stop right now, okay?”
“Gary… why?  I… I want to be your friend, Gary.  I miss you so much; I could never express it to you.  I mean… I don’t even know how to say this,” Ash stuttered, rushing through his words confusedly.
“No… Ash, you don’t understand,” Gary said.
“I guess I don’t.”
Gary sighed deeply, pulling his knees up close to him.  “Ash, I can’t be your friend because I love you.  I don’t want to see you because I want you so much… I mean, I want to be with you.  I want you to be with me, always…” Gary choked once again.  “I don’t know how to say this, I don’t even know why I’m telling you.  I… I just can’t deal with this.  I don’t expect you to understand, Ash.  It’s just something that I have to deal with on my own, I’m sorry to draw you into it.”  Looking up, Gary caught his own reflection in the tearing surface of Ash’s own soft, deep brown eyes.
“No, Gary.  I understand,” Ash said, tears streaming from his eyes.  But still, his voice held steady.  “I understand, Gary.  I guess I always have understood what it’s like but never knew what to call it… I always have… loved you, Gary.”
Both boys were silent then, staring solidly into each other’s eyes.  All the words that could be said had been said; now, only thoughts remained.  And they flashed between Ash and Gary silently and knowingly.  In the dappled scarlet hues of the setting sun, their love was finally allowed to come forth.
“Ash… I don’t know what to say,” Gary finally spoke.
“Don’t say anything.”  Ash leaned over quietly, pressing his smooth lips against Gary’s forehead.  “I just want to be with you,” he said, his lips flickering sensually against Gary’s skin.
Gary wrapped his arms around Ash’s strong shoulders, pulling him closer.  “It’s been a long time, Ash.” He pressed his own lips against Ash’s slightly.  "We have a lot of catching up to do," he breathed, tilting his head to share his first kiss with Ash.