Disclaimer:- Nintendo and Gamefreak own all rights of Pokemon. I don't own anything. This fanfic is just written out of love and for fun! I am not making any money from it.

Author Notes:- I know Ash and others don't age in anime, but I am using the fan-theory of aging them a year per region. So Ash and Gary are sixteen and others are also aged accordingly, more details in the fanfic.

I am using italics for Pokemon speech and single quotes for thoughts of the characters.

This is mostly anime-verse AU but there could be a few things from the games and manga.

Chapter 1- And It Ends In Tears

Gary:-

Gary Oak stared at the medium-sized box in his hands and smirked in a confident manner. It was a package, gift-wrapped in bright emerald green paper and tied with a dark red ribbon. He was sure that he had bought the perfect birthday present for Ash.

Today was the birthday of his childhood best-friend and ex-rival, Ash Ketchum. Gary personally felt that it was quite unlike Ash to celebrate his birthday in such a grand manner. But from what he had heard, Ash's mom had convinced him to stay in Pallet Town a little longer after returning from Kalos. She seemed to have realized that Ash needed a break and he was missing his older friends, so she had came up with the idea of having a reunion of his friends on the occasion of his birthday.

Gary was secretly glad that he was currently in Pallet Town and not in Sinnoh. He wasn't sure whether he would've been able to come from Sinnoh in time and he didn't wanted to miss this occasion. He was certain that Ash would be really glad to see him again and would probably introduce him to everyone as his first friend and rival. Gary's smirk grew wider at this thought.

"bree-on", the sound of his Pokémon pulled Gary out of his musings.

"Just a minute, Umbreon," he spoke to one of his most trusted Pokémon and constant companion. Gary hastily checked himself in the mirror and felt reassured by the fact that he had applied just the right amount of hair-gel. He didn't know why, but when he had told his grandfather and Tracey that it would take him at least a couple of hours to get ready for the party they had simply shook their heads and left earlier asking him to come later.

Gary stepped away from the mirror, holding the package in one hand and Umbreon's Pokeball in the other.

"How do I look Umbreon?" he asked the dark-type mon who had been lazily lying on the floor, probably feeling a little bored.

She slowly opened a crimson eye and gave him a reassuring, "Umbreon". Gary smiled and tapped the button on his Pokeball. The red and white metal orb grew in size and opened, producing a bright light which soon engulfed the beautiful Pokemon.

"Now you rest till we reach the party," Gary said once Umbreon was inside her Pokeball and patted the metal ball in a kind manner.

He had came to stay with his grandfather during his temporary break from doing research in Sinnoh. While leaving the house he checked that all the Pokemon were in their Pokeballs and made sure to lock the house and lab properly, so that no intruder or Pokemon thieves could come inside. He had quite some experience of people trying to steal Pokemon from his Grandpa's lab.

Just when he was about to leave, he had the strangest feeling of being watched by someone. Gary turned around but saw no one in the vicinity. He waited for a few more minutes and the feeling of being watched or spied upon increased with every passing moment. He couldn't be sure about it but he felt like he had heard someone's playful laughter in the surroundings.

After a couple more minutes though, Gary decided to shrug it off as a possible ghost-type Pokemon. He had done a little research on Misdreavus in the past and read loads of books on ghost-types. He thought perhaps some wild ghost-type mon had came near his grandpa's lab and was now playing tricks on him.

Gary however, was in no mood for tricks. He didn't wanted to get any more late for Ash's birthday party. He knew that Ash would be eagerly waiting for him, and would want to introduce him to his new friends.

So he hurried down the path from his Grandpa's lab, completely unaware of the fact that two large blue eyes were watching him with concern and worry from behind a thick cluster of trees.

The sound of noise and laughter increased as he reached near Ash's house. The little house was decorated with colorful bulbs which were casting a beautiful glow against the fading evening light.

The last time Gary had been here he had been an eight year old kid, now he was sixteen. A wave of nostalgia hit him as he remembered all the memories of him and Ash playing at his house. He had been really happy back then, Ash was his first real friend. Even after so many years Ash was someone extremely special for him, there was a reason he considered him to be his most important friend.

Gary was sure Ash felt the same about their friendship. He remembered how Ash had suggested that they each keep one half of the Pokeball even after their rivalry was over. He gently pressed a hand against his pocket where he had kept that piece of Pokeball which he highly treasured, even though he would never admit it to anyone.

'Ashy-boy would call me a sentimental fool!', he thought to himself.

With these thoughts in his mind, he walked up to Ash's house and pressed the bell.

The door was opened by someone who was dressed like a clown, and was wearing a white costume with pink-magenta spots on it. Gary was confused for a moment until that person finally opened their mouth to speak.

"Mr. Mime!", the person greeted loudly.

"Oh, so you are the Mr. Mime Gramps always talks about," Gary chortled with relief. For a moment he had gotten worried about whether this was supposed to be a fancy-dress party and he had misheard the instructions. All of his efforts for looking the best at Ash's party would have been for nothing had that been the case.

"Mime! Mime!", the Pokemon held out his hand and Gary realized that he wanted to see the invitation. Gary smoothly took out the invitation from the inner pocket of a fancy and expensive leather jacket which he had purchased specially for this occasion. The moment he handed the invitation to Mr. Mime, he stepped out of the way and beyond him Gary saw a room that was filled with people and Pokémon.

Gary wondered how many people had helped the Ketchums with the preparations because the entire place was lavishly decorated. It didn't looked anything like the place he used to visit in his childhood. All the furniture seemed to be pushed in a corner and the whole place was illuminated with bright lights. The air was filled with sounds of laughter, music and smells of delicious food items.

He noticed a pretty girl with brown eyes and dark violet hair, talking to an older guy with green hair and green eyes. He caught some vague words about dragon-types and Connoisseurs. He also recognized two Pokemon, Axew and Pansage, playing nearby. The two of them were talking in a heavy accent which Gary had heard before from researchers who came from the Unova region. This made him guess that they were probably from Unova.

Next, he saw another green-haired boy standing with a younger guy who was wearing glasses. Both of them were looking very concerned about something. Although the younger boy was looking a little annoyed too, and was constantly checking his watch. Gary saw that both of them were frequently staring towards the staircase, beyond which he knew Ash's room was located. A Roserade, Ralts and Treecko were standing near them. They were dressed in a way that was quite native to how poeple from the Hoenn region dressed for parties, which made Gary suspect that they were from Hoenn.

As Gary turned away from them, he saw a blond bespectacled boy who looked about his age, and who had came to the party wearing mechanic's clothes for some reason. He was being dragged around everywhere by a little blond girl who looked so similar to him that it made Gary conclude she must be his sister.

She was proposing to all the beautiful girls in the room and asking them to marry her brother much to the blond guy's embarrassment. Gary couldn't help but feel a little sorry for him. They had a little Dedenne and Bunnelby following them. Gary wondered whether they were from Kalos, the region where Ash had recently been for a journey.

As Gary made his way through the thick crowd he realized that they all must be Ash's friends. He thought to himself, 'Ash must have became really good at making friends.'

Gary had met some of his friends when they had bumped into each other in Sinnoh and before that back when Gary was a trainer. But he still found it a little astonishing that Ash had managed to make so many friends. It was especially surprising when he remembered how the two of them didn't really had any other friends when they were young and always used to hang out together.

He was slightly startled when someone put a hand on his shoulder and said, "There you are! Did you finished applying enough hair-gel?" the person asked in a slightly mischievous tone.

"Obviously Tracey," Gary replied with a little laugh, once he realized that the person was Tracey Sketchit, Professor Oak's assistant.

"Where is Gramps?" Gary asked him.

"Professor Oak had been waiting for you along with me until a few minutes ago. But an emergency happened so he rushed to see whether everyone was alright," Tracey answered.

"Wait, what emergency?" Gary asked feeling confused by Tracey's vague answer, " Are Ash and his mom alright?" he asked before he could stop himself.

"Don't worry, it's nothing serious. Actually Ash and May were stuffing up cookies before the party began, and it somehow turned into a competition of who could eat more because they are both quite popular for their insatiable hunger. And they both got ill after eating way too many cookies, so now others are treating them," Tracey finished.

"Hold on a sec, why was my sister competing with Ash about who could eat more? She doesn't really eat as much as he does," Gary said now feeling completely baffled.

"Oh, I didn't meant your sister. I was talking about Ash's friend May from the Hoenn region," Tracey told him. "Her brother and friend are standing over there," he added and waved towards the green-haired guy and the younger bespectacled boy standing near the staircase whom Gary had noticed earlier.

He didn't knew these people but one thought sharply prodded at the back of his mind, "Did you said Ash is ill? That too on his birthday of all days?"

Tracey nodded and told him, "Yeah, his mom, Brock, Professor Oak and others are trying to make him and May feel better. They had told me not to tell anyone because it might disrupt the mood of the party. They should be back in some time."

"I need to go and see him," Gary muttered. He hoped Tracey didn't notice the concern in his voice but the smile on the other male's face made it clear that he had realized that Gary was worried about Ash.

"Ash is in his room at the top of the staircase. Should I show you where it is?" Tracey asked.

"Nope I know where it is. I had been there loads of times as a kid," Gary replied and hurried towards the stairs.

Gary was quite sure of finding Ash's room on his own. He had been there as a kid plenty of times after all, and it wasn't as if the Ketchums's house was incredibly big for someone to get lost in it.

Confidently, he stepped into an open room at the end of the stairs and realized that it wasn't like the room he remembered at all. It took him a couple of minutes to realize that this was probably Ash's mom's bedroom.

He couldn't believe that he had forgotten a detail which was such an important part of his childhood. Especially when he had such a good memory and could remember all the details about Pokemon and other things very well. He tried to convince himself that it was just the loud music at the party which had made him forget something so important.

Feeling a little dejected, he turned around and noticed that there was another room with a similar door on the opposite end of the passage. It's door was closed.

'This must be Ash's room,' he thought to himself.

He went near it and just when he had placed a hand on the knob of the door he heard the voice of a girl say,

"He used to be really arrogant back then, didn't he?"

"Yeah, but he had matured a lot when we met him in Sinnoh, hadn't he Ash?" this time a guy spoke.

Gary paused at the door, wondering who they were talking about.

"Doesn't change the fact that he had a huge ego back when he was a trainer. Sometimes I wonder whether he has still got some of that ego," Ash Ketchum replied, sounding tired and a little angry for some reason.

Gary slightly pushed the door open, and saw that Ash and a brunette girl were sitting on his bed, clutching their stomachs and looking extremely pale. He recognized Brock, who was standing near a table and putting the potions from different bottles in two large flasks.

Ash's Pikachu was sitting besides Ash and nuzzling him comfortingly which made the raven-haired trainer pat Pikachu's head, although he still looked a little lost and angry.

"Pika!" the small yellow rodent let out a cute squeal.

"I don't know why they are showing the re-runs of old Johto league matches today. That's what reminded you of his earlier behavior, right?" Gary heard his grandfather's voice.

He edged slightly more inside the room, and saw his grandfather, Ash's mom, Dawn and Misty watching something on the television in Ash's room. As Gary stared at the screen for a little longer he realized that it was a rerun of his and Ash's Johto league match. And then another realization hit him like a strong thunderbolt, they had been talking about him.

"It's a good thing they are showing this though. You can watch something on your birthday instead of just being all sick," Misty said to Ash in a slightly scolding tone, and then continued, "I still don't understand why the two of you were stuffing up so many cookies before the party?"

"I am sorry," the girl named May muttered in a small voice.

" Don't worry May, it's not your fault. I saw Ash challenge you for the eating competition," Misty said to her in a kind voice.

"Hey, I didn't knew we would get really ill! Don't blame me like that," Ash said angrily. Then Gary saw Ash's eyes dart towards the television where his Charizard had just defeated Gary's Scizor. Ash smiled in a satisfying manner which Gary found disturbing for some reason.

"Ash, sweetie, calm down. There is no point in getting angry over something that has already happened," his mom told him in a soothing voice.

"I still don't understand what everyone was talking about a while back though," Dawn suddenly spoke from her place on the couch in front of the television.

"About what Dawn?" May asked her.

" About Gary I meant. He had seemed really nice when I had met him in Sinnoh. Wasn't he always like that?" she asked the others.

Gary suddenly felt his heart-beat increasing as he heard Dawn's question and beads of sweat formed on his forehead. He had never had any problem of nerves but the thought of hearing a bunch of people state their opinion about him, especially when said bunch included Ash and his grandfather as well, was highly disconcerting.

"You are lucky Dawn, you never got to see the worse of him," Ash muttered darkly.

"What does that mean?" Dawn asked sounding confused.

"It means that Gary Oak used to be an arrogant, egoistic, over-confident and extremely rude..." Misty stopped mid-way and suddenly glanced towards Professor Oak, looking a little guilty.

"I am sorry Professor Oak," she spoke looking slightly ashamed.

"There is no need to say sorry Misty. You are right about my grandson. Unfortunately, Gary was extremely immature back when he used to be a trainer. Sometimes, I feel my own negligence towards him and his sister was the cause for it. At any rate I am happy that becoming a researcher has done him good," his grandfather finished speaking.

Gary couldn't believe his ears. He knew he hadn't exactly been nice to Ash in the past, but he would have never imagined all of them talking about him behind his back. Even his own grandfather wasn't defending him.

"He used to call me a loser," Ash spoke, his voice sounding really bitter now. "We used to be best friends when we were kids but he just threw all of that away. He started taunting and ridiculing me in front of large crowds. We had planned to travel together when we were kids, but he suddenly decided that he hated me and wanted to travel with a group of cheerleaders in a sports car."

Gary couldn't believe that Ash was actually saying all this and yet he knew it was the truth. He wanted both to run away from there before he had to hear any more of it and to go and tell Ash that he hadn't really meant those insults in a serious manner. But he just remained rooted at the spot frozen with shock.

"He used to tease me about my lack of knowledge on Pokemon," Ash continued, "As if he had forgotten that all of his extra knowledge came from Professor Oak. I didn't had that advantage, and I wasn't able to come to your place any longer once he started teasing me," Ash finished glancing in Professor Oak's direction.

"I know Ash, but I think he was just being immature back then. Gary really considers you to be his most important friend," Gary's grandfather tried to explain.

Gary felt a little comforted by the fact that his grandfather was finally saying something in his defense. But that feeling quickly evaporated the moment he heard Ash's next words,

"He never even apologized. And I don't think I am his most important friend because he never made me feel like one. In fact he made me feel like a fool because I..." Ash Ketchum suddenly stopped speaking, and looked a little alarmed for some reason.

But it was enough for Gary. He could feel his lower lip trembling and his eyes were burning with unshed tears. He knew he needed to get away from here soon or else he would start crying in the middle of a party. He never cried in public, and he cried very rarely to begin with.

He vaguely heard Brock saying something about the medicine being ready, and saw him approaching Ash and May with the two flasks clutched in his hands.

Gary turned around and made his way down the staircase as fast as he could. He saw May's brother and friend standing at the foot of the stairs. Both shot him questioning looks but he ignored them.

He saw Tracey talking to the trainers from Unova a little distance away. Gary was glad about not having to stop and talk to him since he wanted to get away from this party as soon as possible.

He had almost made it out of Ash's house, when he bumped into someone near the door, as a result the gift which he had bought for Ash fell down.

"Oh, I am so sorry. Here, take this," the person whom he had collided into picked up the gift and handed it to him. She was a pretty blond girl, with blue eyes, dressed in an elegant pink dress and a matching pink hat. A cute Sylveon was standing beside her.

"I don't want it," Gary muttered and gave the package back to her. He was suddenly feeling really angry about buying that expensive present for Ash.

"Wha-? But why?" the girl asked him sounding confused.

"It was for Ash but now it's of no use," he spoke more to himself than to the girl.

"Is it a birthday present for him?" the girl asked gently, still looking confused by his behavior.

Gary felt a little annoyed at her. Why was she asking him all these questions again? She was just another one of Ash's new friends. Friends who were important to him and whom he cared about, not hated behind their back like he did with Gary.

"Yeah, and I think you should give it to him instead. He would definitely appreciate it more if anyone other than me gave it to him," Gary replied, and before the girl could say anything in response he rushed past her.

Gary ran all the way until he reached his grandfather's lab. Once inside the house he hurried into his room and sat down on the edge of his bed.

He remembered every single word that Ash had said that evening and before he knew it tears were making their way past his eyes and down his cheeks.

Gary Oak wasn't the sort of person who cried often if at all. He remembered the last time he had cried. He had been eight years old back then and had just made the harsh decision of breaking his friendship with Ash. Now eight years later, he was crying again and once again it was because of Ash Ketchum.

Hope you liked it!