And here's another episode! Oops, I mean chapter. Sorry. XD

Ash woke up in the nurse's office on a scratchy white cot. His light brown eyes flittered around the room, noticing the corny posters about staying healthy and exercising. His memory was failing him at the moment and he couldn't remember why he was here. However, when Ash raised his head up, he quickly fell back, moaning and groaning. He had a huge, horrible headache.

"Good to see you awake."

Ash turned his attention to the bubbly nurse. Her name tag read—CANDY—in big bold bubble letters, like she wrote them herself. She had ocean blue eyes and her hair was in pigtails. If Ash didn't know any better, he'd think that she was a student at his school. Candy wore a pair of oxfords and black slacks. Her shirt was a cute little smock with puppies running around on it. In her hand was a thermometer.

"W-what—"

"You passed out, I suppose." Candy interrupted Ash's question with her thermometer. "I think Gary Oak might've brought you."

The thermometer beeped wildly, mimicking Ash's beating heart. Gary Oak—the bully, the once promising young man—brought him here? Candy must be mistaken.

"Anyway, your fever is quite high. Not high enough to be sent home, but I'll give you a bag of ice and a few pills, alright?"

Ash nodded as Candy left to fill out some information. It left Ash alone to ponder his questions.

Why exactly would Gary even bring him to the nurse's office? It was totally out of his behavior. Well, his new one anyway. Once upon a time, Gary was nice, caring, and a great student. He went out of his way to help all of his teachers and fellow students. Then, he was gone for about a good month. When he came back, Gary was cold-blooded and ruthless. He disobeyed his teachers, formed his own little terrorizing group, and stopped caring about his grades. Now, people rarely even said his name for anything good. Ash knew deep down that Gary had to carry him. He was the only person that was around when he fainted. Anybody else probably would've just left him there.

Candy came back with a small cup with two pills and a bag of ice. She handed them both to Ash.

"Now, I have a pass for you back to class, if you want to go. If you take a look at the time, you really have no point."

He gazed over at the clock and saw the time. It was about 9:58. His Literature class let out at around 10:05. Candy was correct.

"Take these two pills and apply the ice pack when you need it. I think the only reason you fainted was because of stress. Your blood pressure was quite high. Is something going on?" She asks, politely.

"No," Ash replied, a bit harshly. He didn't mean to sound like that, it just happened. Candy obviously didn't hear it, or she just chose to ignore it.

"Alright. Come back if you need me."

Ash nodded and looked around for his stuff. Amazingly, Gary had even brought in his backpack. It was sitting in the corner near his cot. Ash scooped it up and put it on, careful not to spill the pills he had.

"Oh Ash!" Candy calls from somewhere in the back.

"Yes?"

"Try and keep out of Gary's arms…would you?"

Ash blushed softly. What did that comment mean? And why did he blush? He found Gary Oak repulsive. Candy was right. He must've been feeling really hot.

"Right!" He called back, leaving the nurse's office. He hoped he wouldn't have to be back for a while.

Gary was smoking a cigarette. Class? Nah. He might've gone if his thoughts weren't so scrambled. He helped Ash Ketchum. Him! It angered him to no end. Gary wanted to leave Ash in the hallway, where he thought he rightfully belonged, but something compelled him not to. So reluctantly, Gary picked him up in the hallway and raced off towards the nurse.

Ash was light, like Gary figured. It almost required no effort to pick him up. He got a short distance down the hallway before he realized that Ash's backpack was still in the hall as well. Muttering a curse word, Gary went back and picked it up, grunting at its weight.

'Ash picks this up…?' Gary thought as he navigated the hallways. Thankfully, everybody was in class. He wouldn't have to worry about the sudden class change or the staring and whispers of the other students. That was definitely one thing he didn't need. It would go against everything he now stood for.

Gary looked down and watched Ash. He was unconscious. His raven black hair fell over into his face, hiding a bit of his freckles. Something stirred inside of Gary, right in the pit of his stomach. He quickly looked away from Ash, focusing on getting him to the nurse. Gary couldn't really remember why he started bullying Ash. They weren't rivals or anything, just two different people.

"Hello?"

Gary jumped, making Ash stir for a moment, before falling back asleep.

"What?" Gary asked, turning towards the sound of the voice. He saw the nurse, Candy Waters, smiling at him. He relaxed a bit.

"Is everything alright?" She asked, walking towards the pair. Candy was holding a red lunchbox.

"Ash fell," Gary replied simply. He noticed the lunchbox. "But if you're going on break…"

"Oh no, it's fine," Candy says, fishing out her office keys. "Students come first. Follow me."

Gary followed Candy to her office, semi glad that Ash would be getting the attention he needed. When they got into the office, Candy instructed him to lay Ash down on the cot and tell her all that happened.

"Well…," Gary started awkwardly, "Ash and I were arguing about poetry—"

"You like poetry, Gary?" Candy interrupted, while taking Ash's blood pressure. This intrigued her a bit. Just like everybody else in the school, she'd heard about Gary's reputation. Bringing in a fellow student had already surprised her, but the mention of poetry made her regain some hope. Candy was a bubbly individual and always saw the good in people. She believed that Gary Oak still had some good in him somewhere, despite everybody else giving up in him.

"No!"

"Okay," Candy replied, dragging out her O. "Ash seems to be fine. Do you want to—"

The moment Candy said that, Gary bolted out of the door. That's all he needed to hear. He didn't want to stay with Ash. Gary dropped him off. He did his good deed for the foreseeable future.

Now Gary was here, smoking a cigarette, somewhat disgusted at his behavior.

'The old Gary wouldn't do this,' He thought, throwing and stomping on his cigarette. 'The old Gary would've stayed…'

The old Gary was the phrase he often heard when people were referring to him. Gary could remember a day when people weren't so disappointed in him. He could remember a day where he could pick up a student's books when they got knocked over, or spared a few dollars at lunch for somebody else that didn't have it. Now, he was the one knocking over the books and mocking the kids that didn't have anything.

'But that was before…'

Gary couldn't even think the rest of that sentence. It still hurt inside. The loss of his parents crushed him, mentally and physically. He was left in the care of his grandpa (affectionately called Gramps) who was a professor in a local school. His grandpa was rarely at home, leaving Gary to do whatever he wanted to.

The school bell rang and kids flooded from every direction. They all headed towards the buses, the parking lot, or to the sidewalks to walk home. Gary stayed right where he was. There was just something he had to see.

Meanwhile, Ash was getting swallowed in the dismissal rush. Unable to see his friends, he just kept his eyes forward. He wasn't going to take the bus today. Ash was going to walk. He eventually grew annoyed of the rush and broke off, catching the attention of Gary. Ash looked up and the two locked eyes. For a very brief moment, the dismissal rush was forgotten. Brown eyes collided with green.

Ash felt the intensity of the gaze so much, he fell down. Nothing fell out of his backpack, but he quickly raced away, passing Gary in his haste. Gary felt it as well, but didn't know how to react. His groupies came.

"Hey Oak, you better now?" One of them asked. Gary turned to look at them.

"I guess."

Gary and his gang walked off, in search for something to bully.