Shattered Friendship

Troubles

Gary and Kenny sat around a small, crackling fire, gazing into the orange and golden flames. It was nearly midnight, and the duo was about to turn in for the night before continuing their journey towards Cerulean City. Their journey had been much more slow-going than anticipated, although that fact could be blamed on Kenny. As much as Gary liked the kid, there was no denying that he just wasn't cut out for the path of a trainer. He seemed more interested in the beauty of a Pokemon's moves, rather than strength. Normally, Gary wouldn't have minded, but it got irritating when he was constantly being held back by Kenny's stupidity. 

Ash would never have been this much trouble, he thought to himself, then shook his head. No, don't think about him. He's gone, remember? He cheated on that test and now he's getting what he deserves. 

The young Oak heir tried desperately to convince himself that they were right, that Ash had cheated and deserved his punishment. No matter what he told himself, however, he was unable to shake a lingering feeling of doubt. What if Ash was innocent after all? It didn't make any sense that he would be, yet at the same time, none of this made any sense anyway. Why would someone like Ash resort to cheating? He wasn't exactly a genius, but he wasn't stupid either and could easily have passed the test on his own merits. 

"Something wrong, Gary?" Kenny asked, snapping him out of his thoughts. 

"Oh–it's nothing," Gary replied. "Just thinking, I guess." 

"That's a new one," Kenny joked, to which Gary just rolled his eyes. "What are you thinking about?" 

Gary hesitated for a moment before responding, "Well...I was thinking about what happened with Ash." 

Kenny rolled his eyes. "Oh, will you forget about him?" he snapped. "Ash isn't our friend anymore. He made that much clear when he cheated on the test and then lied about it in front of Professor Oak." 

Gary glared at the redhead. "Really, Kenny? Ash made it clear he wasn't our friend? I seem to remember that Paul was the one who accused him of cheating, and we were the ones who didn't give him a chance to explain." 

"What does it matter to you?" Kenny snapped back. "And why are you defending him now? I don't remember you being so keen on helping Ash back when Paul was accusing him of cheating." 

"Yes, well..." Gary trailed off, unable to think of a rebuttal to Kenny's statement. "It doesn't really matter now, does it? As you said, he isn't our friend anymore, so we might as well just deal with it and move on." 

"That's rich, coming from the guy who just spent half an hour brooding about him," Kenny muttered, although Gary pretended not to hear him. He was exhausted after a long day of traveling, and the last thing he needed was to get into some sort of stupid argument at this time of night. 

Nothing more was said between the pair, and soon afterward both boys decided to get some sleep. Kenny was snoring away almost immediately, but Gary stayed up long after, tossing and turning in his tent. Everything that had transpired between the four former friends was now coming back to haunt him, and he couldn't understand why. As Kenny had said, they weren't friends anymore, and he needed to accept that. But even so, he couldn't shake the nagging feeling that there was more to the whole story. Unfortunately, the only people who could give him the full details were unavailable for contact. Ash probably had no interest in speaking to him ever again, and Paul was usually too busy to answer calls. 

Since when did friendships get so complicated? the ten-year-old groaned to himself. 

If Ash hadn't cheated on that test, then it meant that, for whatever reason, Paul had chosen to frame him. Of course, it was true that Ash and Paul's relationship hadn't been quite as close as their friendships with Gary or Kenny, but they were still friends and Gary couldn't see why he would do something like that. Going so far as to frame someone for cheating meant that something drastic must have happened, but Ash had never been the type of person to do anything to provoke such a response. 

Gary knew he needed to get answers out of Paul somehow. Even if he wasn't keen on opening up, at least he would be willing to talk to him. Besides, even if Gary had been a little more confident that Ash would give him a chance, he still had no idea where he might be. The Ketchum family had moved away, and no one had seen or heard from Ash or Delia since. 

As he turned over one last time and began to drift off to sleep, Gary tried to reassure himself that he was worrying too much. Surely, he told himself, he was simply overcomplicating the situation because he was worried about his two friends. 

This is probably just a huge misunderstanding, he thought to himself, closing his eyes. I'll talk to Paul, and everything will be cleared up. There's nothing to worry about.